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GARDEN AND FOREST

A JOURNAL OF

MmORTICULTURE, LANDSCAPE ART AND FORESTRY

Conducted by
CHARLES S. SARGENT

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

ILLUSTRATED

VOLUME IX. JANUARY TO DECEMBER, 1896
Pre SBR

New York

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

1896

a

SS eee
a”
_

— On

_
»

[a ai >) as

. a
Copyright, 1896, by THE GARDEN AND Forest ohne Co.

—— C}

All rights reserved. i. ay

“a

Fel

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

Abelia floribunda .. 377
Aberia Caffra.s...csecssecss cscces 4
Abies pectinata, forms
Europe...s.eeeeeeeereeere ce eeeees 273
Abutilon La Geena o- 438
Souvenir de Bonn... 98, 108
Acacia Melanoxylon in California.. 348
tortuosa...... eee e eect eeenee 62
Acacias, species of... ++ 426
Acalypha Sanderiana «2 414
Acanthads, showy - =. 66
Acanthus longifolius. 284
mollis ...-+++ - 116
Acer cissifolium .....----- 184
Achimenes, cultivation of...------+ 327
Acidanthera bicolor...--++ 378, 403
Aconitum lycoctonum....+.++++++++ 330
Napellus..... - sa 330)
Adenocalymna comosum .« 17
Adhatoda cydonicetolia... 46
Adiantum Bessonianum. Heep el
emarginatum..... 493

lineatum ...... se eeeee ese es 244
Adirondack Reservation, plunder of
the......- Scaisietes a1 101
Adonis Amurensis.
vernaliS...seeeeseeeeerseerees 167
Advertisements, regulation of pub-
licly displayed... .++sses++s+2+++ 149
/®sculus Californica . =e) 4035518.
Africa, south, flora of ......+---++++
Agapanthus maximus Krelagei

aoe 442

umbellatus....--+ » 404
Agave heteracantha. 73)
Aglaonema Curtisii..-.---+ + 474
Agriculture, college course in 470

depression in..-..+.-+-+ 391

home classes in II
Agrostis nebulosa... 357
Aira caryophyllea. 173
Ajuga, species of . - 256
inveia quinata .... ++ 480
Allamanda Williamsi- 367, 379
Allamandas, species of e303
Allen, C. L., article by 196

Allium giganteum ....
Margaritanicum.
Alliums ....---ee-eeeseee
Alnus Oregona in Alaska.
Aloe plicatilis....-. c
Allosaurus acrostichoides...-. +--+
Alpine plants, peculiarities of....-.
Alpinum in the Botanic Garden of
Tiibingen, the....-. -+++ee+ee-+++ 372
Althzea ficifolia... ‘

Alyssum Wiersbeckii......-+++++++ 207
Amaryllis Belladonna 347. 374
cultivation of 66
hybrid ..... 487
Amorpha canescens ..- 298
Andromeda Japonica .. 184
Mariana ...... 140
Andromedas.......-.--- 129
Andropogons, species of. T53
Anemone Caroliniana... - 298
Japonica .... 424
ranunculoide: 188
Whirlwind .... 407
Anemones, Japanese. 188

species of...... «+ ee As 236

Anemopzegma racemosum .« 383
Angelonia salicarizefolia 414
Anguloa uniflora..... 144
Annuals, garden... 128, 306
Anona Cherimolia.. wey 14)
Anthericum vittatum .... 457
Anthurium Sanderianum . 333
Antidesma Dallachyanum. I4
Antirrhinums ......+ . 128

for florists .... 16, 530

Apodanthera undulata .. Pace lO3
Aponogeton distachyon,........... 18
Apple, a fungous disease of the
Blenheim Orange .....--
crop, the......-.-
the Vermont
culture......-seee-

INDEX TO VOLUME Ix.

Apple orchards, will it pay to plant
TMOTE vise ciaraje.cie.s:sia/alarorsiviors ovsisiie
Ralls’ Genet...

=E310
Tompkins King... 10
trees, dwarf.. ee 3L0
in Illino ++ 360
twig blight.....--++.++ os 467
Apples, American, in England. .120, 210
220, 500, 510, 530
in England, flavor of. ...-161, 183
in Oregon........+sseeeees++ 160
—— thinning... +380, 450
top-grafting... 9
two varieties in one fruit. 380
Aquatics in California.....-...--+- 498
Aquilegia Jonesii......--- 365*
truncata......- 233
Aquilegias, species 0! 217, 236
Aralia spinosa... 320
Aralias, cultivation of. 307
Arbor day in Spain....--..+++:+++++ 270
Arboretum of the Puget Sound Uni-
VETSILY .... eee eee ee eeeeeeeteceeeces TIO
Architectural League, annual exhi-
bition of the ..........-+eeeees ahtraes
Ardisia crenulata.... 2
Aristida, species of. 153
tuberculosa... 372
Aristolochia elegans......- 497
Aristolochias, species of.. 383
Arizona, Cactus garden in 432
Arnebia echioides.. 295
Arnica montana... .- ae: 314
Arnold Arboretum, notes from,.208, 269,
476
Arpophyllum giganteum.......-+++ 176
Artemisia caudata.... 393
species of.. 323

stellarina......+.+« nt
Artichoke, Jerusalem, a variety of.. 448
the Globe ves ncssasiecrcieeeiais 307
Artistic supervision of public works, 461

Arundinaria macrosperma...-..+++ 172
Arundo donax .......+4+ + 457
versicolor - 457
Asclepias speciosa. - 298
tuberosa....- +299) 393
Ash, the American.....-.++++++e00+ 23
Ashes, utilizing coal...-.. 434
Asparagus, cultivation of.......-- 7» 157
rust. 394, 420, 428
Asperula agurea setosa...... «+--+ 299
Aspidiotus destructor in Marque-
sas Islands..... semeed'era/sistelesiewiale/='s 209

Aspidiums, Californian........
Aspidistra lurida, hardiness of
scale in California, the...
Aspidium cristatum >< marginale. 444*,

450

munitum.....
simulatum...
Asplenium Bradleyi
ebeneum....
Trichomane

Aster alpinus......-- 247
speciosus. . 256
infirmis......- 464*
Asters..e.eesees $128
in Indiana. 393
longifolius. 504*
native...-- 350
Astilbe Chinensis.....--+ 296
——-— Japonica, propagating. 187
Astragalus Monspessulanus. 256
Astrocaryum argenteum,..- 6
Atriplex canescens......+.- 194
Audubon, home of ae 26:
Society in Boston,.......+-++ 250

Autumn-flowering hardy bulbous
plants.......+--
plants
the garden in.
Avena sterilis......
Azalea, Diamond....

*"Massachu- 228

Azaleas at Brookline,
SEttS.cccccccscccseccces © Fansieisiele'’ 248
cultivation for Easter. 148
in England........-- . 254
cultivation Of.........+ee+e%8 187

B

Baccharis halimifolia.........++--+
Baden-Baden, Max Leichtlin’s gar-
Cen at. .-.sccccncnssseccncesceoees

Bailey, Prof. L. H., article by
Balls from plant hairs in stomachs
of animals. .....+--+:+2++ +

Bamboos, cultivation of. eesee, S57.
in English gardens. ..206, 239, 354
Bambusa Fortunei and other species. 457
Bananas, importations of 50, 53°
wintering.. - 458
Baptisia exaltata. - 237
Barber, John H., ar 426, 474
Barberries, edible....... Peri ee (ossJ
Barker, M., articles by.. 407) 427
Barnard College, botany in. «eel 40:
Bartram,John ....-.-----++- 12
Bartram’s garden to-day. zao%
Basellarubra.....- Vrs 417
Bauhinia Galpini 397
diphylla.... sees 397
Baxter, Sylvester, article by. fee 312
Bay Ridge, New York, nurseries at. 148
Beach, S. A., article by...-.+++0+-+ 454
Beal, Prof., W. J., article by.......- 2
Beans, bush, Cultivation of, under
PIASS sac emnisele Ghuaseasecicsminet? eis 84
cultivation of garden 194
Lima.......s-ccees abe 387
string, good varieties of.. 295
Beaumontia grandiflora....... 384
Bedding plants, propagating... 107
remoyal to outdoors.. 186
Bees, killed by spraying .-..---.--- 170
Beet sugar, manufacturing, in Cali-
fornidiace dip eebiecinemscaseat.Osae 420
Begonia Baumanni. 25 S28
Evansiana.....-- Seats)
Gloire de Lorrai -. 404
gracilis Martiana... -esOe
— manicata...-...-+- Bao Sy
Socotrana....... 64, 97, 107
umbraculifera ...-.+-+-+++++ 98

Begonias, cultivation of, indoors....
late-flowering...
notes on ..--
Rexinesaleaicnsi i
winter-flowering. .
Bell, Stephen, article by.
Benincasa cerifera....-
Berberis buxifolia
Fremontil
Nepalensis.
Nevinii...
ruinosa
—— Sieboldii.......
varieties of edible.
vulgaris in winter...
Bertolonias, cultivation of......
Bessey, Prof. Charles E., article by.
Betonica rOsea....sseeeeeeeeesseces
Bifrenaria tyrianthina.
Bignonia, species of.
venusta
Birds, autumn, in the Pines.......-
relation to horticulture...
song. destruction of...
Birch pest, a ...-- x
Biscutella Wisli muslelsieia
Blackberries, winter protection for.
Blackberry plants, cultivation of...
Boltonia asteroides
Bomareas, the.....
Bone meal, nitrogen IM....-+-+ +++

Books Reviewed :

Agriculture. R. Hedges Wallace.
American Florist Directory......
Grape-growing and Wine-
making. George Husmann....
—w— Highways. N.S. Shaler..
Bamboo garden, the. A. B. Free-
man Mitford .......+-.-+++ 206,
Camping in the Canadian
Rockies. Walter Dwight Wilcox

Contributions from the United
States National Herbarium.. 6g, 289
Culture of Hemp and Jute in the
United States, the. Charles
Richards Dodge.....-.++++++++ 529
Die nordamerikanische Holzarten
und ihre Gegner. John Booth.. 479
Down the Lane and Back. Uncle

Matt’ ss ccasscececsecnscesetscecc 39
Economic Entomology. John B.
Smiths ss.ss eas 6a oes aS + 499
Evolution of Horticulture in New
England, the. Daniel Denison
Sled Gigaanisass se’scsser. ames 168
Familiar Trees and their Leaves.
F. Schuyler Mathews ......---+ 359
Favorite Flowers of Garden and
Greenhouse. F. Warne & Co.,
TLONAOMN: ces sice maaibecalsauis oe sne =: 433
First Principles of Agriculture.
Edward B. Voorhees........++++ 309
Greenhouse and Stove Plants.
Thomas Baines.... ...0..s+0+- 269
Hand-list of Coniferze Grown in
the Royal Gardens at Kew ..... 199
Hand-list of Orchids Cultivated
at Kew..... inletakeipra/ a ale geeloresis aac 129
Hand-list of Trees and Shrubs
Grown in the Arboretum of the
Royal Gardens, Kew...... 433, 459
History of Gardening in England,
a. Hon. Alicia Amherst........ 109

How Birds Affect the Farm and
Garden, Florence A. Merriam. 439
Illustrated Flora of the Northern
United States, Canada and the
British Possessions, from New-
foundland to the Parallel of the
Southern Boundary of Virginia,
and from the Atlantic Ocean
westward to the 102d Meridian,
an. Nathaniel Lord Brittonand
Addison Brown
L’Hortus Boissierianus. Eugéne
Autran & Theophile Durand ... 469
Lessons in Elementary Botany for
Secondary Schools. Thomas H.

MacBride.....ccecesesceeseeess 79
Manual of F Dr. W
Schlich.. Socciaaeeee 6 87599 218

Minnesota, st Annual Report
of the Chief Fire Warden
Ofsiei<ieis\cis 4008 08's gemeen ne oq ins - 279
Missouri Botanical Garden, Sey-
enth Annual Report. Published
by the Board of Trustees, St.

Louis, Missouri.........+++++-- 319
Natural History of Selborne. Gil-

bert White.......eeceeeereseeees I
Nursery Book, the. Prof, L. H.

Bailey scseecscccse os cevcscesee 409

Nut-culture in the United States.
United States Department of
Agriculture ....0.++-seeeeeenr es 189

Nut Culturist, the. Andrew S., Ful-
ler eee

Old-time Flower Garder

Alice Morse Earle... ..-
Pines, Physical and Mec
Properties Of ... ..seeeeee seers 219
Plant Preedine: L. H. Bailey..-. 149

Potato-culture on the Island of
Jersey. Rey. Charles B, Merrill. 230
Silva ot North America. C. S.
Sargent..... -seseeseerre eeeeee 499
Spraying for Fruit Diseases.
Prof. B. F. Galloway ........+ +
Spraying of Plants, th E. G.
Lodeman .....-
Survival of the Un!
Bailey.....ess+eeeeees Seieisisiels aiera 519
Thoughts from the Writings of
Richard Jefferies. Selected by
H.S. H. Waylen.....eeeeeeee es 29
Traité des Plantations d’Aligne-
ment et d’Ornement dans les
Villes et sur les Routes Dé-
partementales. A. Chargue-
TAU. ccc cs cceecccesececcsseses 179

1vV

Trayeller’s Notes, a. James Her-
Ibert Velichssiseessescesceaesa se
West Virginia, Plants of..........
White Pine, the: a Study, with
Tables of Volume and Yield.
Gifford Pinchot and Henry S.
SGFAVES co ocic sotaiedes-a be denies $5 oy 249
Window and Parlor Gardening.

209

N, Jénsson-Rosesicsccsicrieees 9
Bordeaux mixture, making... = 509
Border, the hardy plant... 305

the herbaceous.......... 255, 314
Boston flower show. ..139, 369, 379, 468
parks, planting in the....... 229
Botanic Garden, Cambridge, Eng-
(antes ccs ra esioces pha ake sok cebyat as
Edinburgh. 483
—— of the “University of
Pennsylvania...-...+.. ..s..+++++ 70
pOnaeee in the West
ES ccs isioe Sion.s ceed ob daa ong gr 510
‘cp “Tours, Mitpeatirs i
bedding plants imiesssccsesccns oe 98

gardensis.s=..

Botanical discoveries in southern
KChinids..esscctedians i evabsaeeawess A4X

journey through New M

(eee ae 322
Botany in Barnard College. + 40
Bougainvillea glabra. mn Oy

spectabilis.... ... 7
Bougainvilleas, species of . Page|
Rouquets, church........ + 338
Bourbon, flora of.. 2 ag
Bouteloua eriopoda 323

species of. - 172
Bowiea volubilis........... 95
Box-elder on the Plains, the 35.33
Brachychiton acerifolium.. 388
Brachycome iberidifolia 306
Brandegee, T.S., article by.......- 164

Brandis, Sir Dietrich, articles by 318, 320,

338, 348, 358, 368, 378, 389, 399, 408, ”
42

rasénia pelttitas.,. ic). sseseeecass¥) 393
Bridge over the Kent at Levens

Hal ws.dvnsts sip Cel eisbhiaseatens 22*
Bridges in Pennsylvania, old

StONE. cee eeeeee cer eeececenseevees 67
Britton, Prof. N. L., articles by,

352, 362

Britton, Prof. W. E,
47, 286, 398, 434, 526
+ sees 357

Briza gracilis..

Brodizea coccinea + 493
species ot... + 266
Bromus brizzeformis s ae

inermis
Brotherton, Wilfred A., article by.. s te
Browallia speciosa major......+..- 368

species of..... = 277
Brunsvigia gigantea. + 4c3
Josephine.. + 403
Bryanthus Breweri.... 343
Buckeye, the Californian . 518

Buckleya distichophylla
Bud varieties, value of.

Buddleia Colvillei...... ‘
Bulb-farming for the south-west 87
in Scilly... 346
Bulbous plants, autumn-flowering. .
347» 374
Gesirablesec.deasede ss 8

Bulbs for indoor planting P
North Carolina, for forcing... 18
the best Dutch
Burberry, H. A., article bv........
Burma, the Teak forests of.311, 318, 3290,
339, 348, 358, 368, 378, 389, 399, 409, ae
42

Cc

Caccinia glauca....... spieee Sud
Cactus garden, Arizona. = 432
Caladiums, cultivation of. - 137
fancy-leaved ... + 357

in England... = 14)
Calamus ciliaris. 288
Calandrinia longiscap 417
Calanthe Regnieri.... + 176
Veitchii.. 54
Vestita ascites aed = 64

rubro oculata 54

Calceolaria alba .....2. sesses.ses 204

California, a home acre in southern 17,

Coast Range, the flora of the. 192,

213, 233

forest reservations, the ..... 131
LOSS 1s secaew is sin ons en: 505 298

fruits at home..... . eee: 377
—- shipment to London.. 370
LEMONG sicscs ss ccc cewsseanes 477
oranges. . . 28, 218
a and the frost.. « 56
plant notes from.. 7, 57, 248, 240,

388, 307

plants, some new............ 460

the mountains of 81
Calliandra Portoricensis. 397
Callicarpa Japonica,... waricie 209

UCPUPEA.. +++. eee 410, 439

Callirrhoé involucrata .... 256, 298, 305
Calochorti in California .........168, 493

Index.

Calochortus luteuS .......2+++e+e+0+ 249
Plummerze
Calpurnia aurea.

Calycanthus lzevigatus . 434
occidentalis .... 233
Calypso borealis. 272

Camassia Cusickii
esculenta.
Cambridge, England, botanic gar-
dens).53.:
Camellia Sasanq
Camellias cosseens ope
Cameron, R., articles by ..
76, 137, 176, 188, 236, 255, 266, 296,
306, 316, 336, 347, 496, 527
Camoensia maxima. ....-..+. 473, 480
Campanula Carpathica and yarie-
Hesiriness duces i.ctdeme 2500 257,
Japonica .. = 327
Loreyi....- .
macrostyla
-—— Pallasii ...
persicifolia ..
grandiflora .
rotundifolia
Camphor-trees in Formosa
Camptosorus rhizophyllus..
Canna, Antoine Chantin..

Austria....
Egandale ..
—- Geoffrey St. Hilaire...
Ttalidiss<es'ecens
Madame Crozy x flaccida... 22
Madame Pichon ....... . 244
the Orchid ii tacecss + 350
166
» 16
FE 264
winter treatment Olice de acea “458
Canning, Edward J., articles by 18, 27.

29;,67; 77) O7e 116, LAs 166, 197, 217,
287, 305, 355, 388, 397, 398, 416,
427, 449, 497

258,

Cantaloupe, the Osage.
Cantaloupes, Asiatic....
Caparn, H. A., article by....
Card, Prof. F, W., articles by.
Cardamine paucisecta . siveheren B72 dOy
Carex Japonica variegata
Carnation rust siisse..seees es 100; 220
Carnation Society, American, meet-
ing of the....
Carnations, bacteriosis of....
cultivation of...

new and old.....
new, in Englan
summer-blooming.. .

Carpenter, M. A., article by 269
Carpinus Caroliniana .. 385
Carr, F. E., articles by 78, 98
Carrierea calycina..... ee? 402

Caryopteris mastacanthus, 108, 377, 397,
407, 424

Cascade Range forest reservation
in darger, the.
Cask, immense, i
Cassia Marylandica ........
Castalia ampla....

Castanea dentata .... 304
Catalpa, Tea’s hybrid. 23
Catananche lutea ... 306
Cattleya Apollo.... + 473
Gitfina sds 506
elongata..... 424
Gaskelliana.... 247

Hardyana.. 354
Mantini...... 514
speciosissima Ernesti 244
Trianz...... 4
Triumph .. 473
Walkeriana. «+ 506
Cattleyas, cultivation of........ 247. 437

Cauliflower, cultivation of,
Blassiscses HathCaesitd Adee ELEe aoe 84
Ceanothus Americanus

500
diversifolius,.... 214
sorediatus. . 214
thrysiflorus. 272

Cedrella Sinensis.. » 279

Cedrus Atlantica.. o. 412"

Celastrus scandens. - 47, 492

Celery, cultivation of. wasTJs 186, 286, 290,

0, 38

Gelosiassscss% Sreagacyossae ceasseee 28
Central Park, an April scene in.... 332*
Cephalotus follicularis...... Sees
Ceratostigma plumbaginoides + 307
Ceratonia Slligla. “ane nee Ene = 520
Cercidiphyllum Japonicum... 126
Cercis Canadensis 224
Cestrum elegans.. > 27
Chameecyparis Nootkatensis in

Alaska. ss cceessaeessnaeaye® <n ® 60
Chameerops stauracantha.. ney J
Chamberlin, John, article by 268
Chapparal...... aiteiche tooo apm ae 483
Chautauqua grape belt, geological

history of the......... siberenceraahiro
Chemisal..... Seer Es)
Cherimoyer.... 14) 57
Cherries, Choke, utilizing. 388, 408, 518
Cherry, Japanese Weeping..... ... 237

Queensland
the Cornelian ves. ; ese
Chestnut, the Dauphin......

as «614

Chestnut, the Numbo............... 10
trees, second growth in West
Virginia.........- REET or td tae cd

China, southern, botani al discov-
eries in...

Chinese soap-trees
Chimonanthus fragrans
Chionodoxas........
Chironia baccifera
Chloris, species of....
Chorozema ilicifolium......
Christ, Dr. H,, articles by.-

Christmas greens, the trade in

trees, trade in... wees 530
Chrysanthemum, Mayflower +
Chrysanthemums, pent of.. 490

cultivation of..

307» 386, 457, 470
—— early.... Ter
—— in Boston
—— in Chicago
—— in England ..
—— in Philadelphia
in St. Louis...

ter iewass ars
names and colors of.....
out-Of-doorsiss.ss.%2-5-
Churches, floral decorations for 338
Cigar boxes, wood used for.. 50
Cinerarias, the garden... « (04
Citrus decumana...... eos - 163
City lots, vacant, farming on....91, 100,
139

Clarkia elegans..........-.+++++
pulchella.. .......--
Cleanliness in parks and streets
Clematis Addisonii ....
integrifolia....
paniculata.....74*, 182*, 379 407
recta ..e0.i, .

Suksdorfii.......
Clerodendron Balfourii
foetidum.......
viscosum.....
Clerodendrons, cultivation of.
Clethre

canescens
Clianthus Dampieri....
Climbers and other plants in North:

ampton, Massachusetts.......-.- 258
greenhouse... 166, 383, 517
winter-killed...... .. 217

Climbing plants in the Pines 492

Clitoria heterophylla........ os 417

Clover, crims0n.is.cevessseees sues 78
balls from plant hairs

Olives tas cbesee eek vena, Shsse toe seO.

Cnicus Pitcheri...... baa
Cobzea macrostemma .
Cochlearia Anglica........
Cockerell, Prof. T. D. Ai; articles

by....--s seeks ueELQp 199, 200) 4445, 518

Cockscomb Celosia.i..sscee-sscese- 355
Codman, Philip, death of. 450
Coe, E. F., article by..... 337
Ccelogyne cristata. 145

Sanderiana. epee

virginalis... 144
Coix Lachrymee 357
Colchicums, species of.. « 375

Collins, Dorcas E., artic le by
Commelina ccelestis...... .
Compass plant, the...... :
Conandron ramondioides . ~
Coniferze in Kew, handboole betics
Conifers, forms of some European.
252, 273
on the grounds of the Kansas
Agricultural College .....-.+ 453;
planting, in August...
Conyolvulustricolor.... .. «
Corbett, Prof. L. C.,
DY di wahieesnes
Coreopsis Drummondii
for window culture.
grandiflora....
Japonica....
lanceolata
TOSCO tes.
Coriaria Nepalensis.....-.
Corispermum hyssopifolium
Cork for paving........++
Corn, Indian, handbook on.....
insects which injure.. 290
wild, in North Amer-

stalk borer. me
sweet, cultivation o
Cornus mascula.....-...-++
species of....
Coronilla Capadocica
scorpioides....
Correvon, H., article by
Corydalis nobilis. ......
Corylopsis pauciflora.
spicata..........
Cosmos at Buenaventura.
early flowering. .

Cotoneaster, species of.
Cotton in India and Egypt.

Cotyledon gibbiflora... 67
metallica...... wa - 116
Cowell, John F., article by....4..... 408

Craig, W.N., articles by..17, 26, 55, 197,
127, 184, 216, 246, 257, 285, 286, 366, 415,
436, 466, 506

Crassula quadrifida.
rubicunda.... :
Crepis rubra.... 1
Crinum amabile
Kirkii.

-378, 404,
+ +3249
Crinums, hardy. ae
Crocosmias in England
Crocus speciosus.....-
Crocuses, autumn-flowering..
Crops, sunshine and cloudiness in
Telation t0....2 vse saci cess ewecen
Crotalaria retusa
CileniuiMiscs se seseetene
Cucubalus baccifer..-co.5 2.
Cucumbers, cultivation of......
of, under glass... .84,
Cuphea strigulosa....
Zimapani....
Cupressus Macnabiana at home
thyoides..6....scanecen
Currants, cultivation of
market varieties.
propagation of..
Cuscuta squamata...... biiwsee sles gre
Cyanide of potassium as an insec-
ticide in glass houses .......++-+
Cyanophyllum magnificum.
Cyclamen,-Persicum .........-.+126,

Cycnoches chlorochilon..... ....-.
Cymbidium cyperifolium .
Dewioaiue tee Seaede
Cynara Cardunculus.
Scolymus.......-+
Cynorchis grandiflora.
Cypress, the Bald.....
wood,
Cypripedium Baron Schroeder.
bellatulum.
Boxallii....
—— Charlesworth
insigne...+ w+»
Mastersianum.
montanum...
nigritum..
Sanderee.
esate
Thayerianum...... ..see.ses
Cypripediums at Langwater gar-
CNSissees steesy ete
cultivation of. -
NALLVE. +000
TNREW . oes wc en wes vee
poisonous qualities in some.
Cyrtanthus hybridus.s-soc..s6) see
parviflorus. .
Cytisus elegans.
hybrid...
proliferus os
TACEMOSUS,. o 0.000 eee eee e038;

D

Dactylis glomerata ..
Daffodils in California.
in England .......
in the grass.
Dahlia imperialis....
Dahlias in Philadelphia.
Daisies, the lesson of the
Dalea fruticosa .....
lanata.....
scoparia.

cultivation of...135, 187, 386, abe,

487
473

323
Dandridge, Danske, articles by. sentQss

218, 237, 248, 268, 279, 299, 316, 458, 476,

8

Daphne CneoruM<icsnsceceenes 208, 136
Indica: ccc. -. 6, 126
Mezereum . 6, 12
Dasylirion Texanum . ees 73
Dates, production of.. + 230
Davallias, the,......... - 316

Davenport, George E., articles by.. 444,
8

484
Dawson, Jackson, articles by .. 208, 386,

Delavay, Abbé, death of....... 210,
Delphinium cardinale. .
elatumsss rem cemicnie
Delphiniums in England
Dendrobium Ainsworthii
AUTEUM.. 200550
Burtordiense..

Curtisii.
Dalhousianum
Hookerianum .
Johnsonez ..
Macarthize,

sarmentosum. .
splendidissimum.
thyrsiflorum ....
Treacherianum .
Dendrobiums at the Harvard Bo-
tanic, Garden's saci<sicwscnccrsicisiemen
in Mr. Chamberlain’s gar-

LGN cece cnaeces es ncekees censors

476
220

389

Dendrolene as an insecticide....... 488

Dendromecon rigidum. . + 233
Dendrophyllax Fawcettii . - 423
Deschampsia caespitosa + 172
AEXN0SAjewesicissis ss - 172
Desmodium penduliflorum - 377
Deutzia gracilis in pots ... - 187
IGEMOUNEL oe sisisieie scleicioreis 284%
Dewberry, Austin’s Improved + 420
CultivationiOfveccievssceimier ee) 60)
Lucretia..... siaigiw's > aig 120
Dianthus czesius =e3n5)
Chinese .. ea,
species of. + 256
Dichorisandras . + 307
Dictamnus albus ....... - 266
Didymocarpus Malayanus. e314
Dieffenbachias, cultivation of = 307,
Diervilla Japonica ..........+ 404*
Dimorphotheca Echloni. + 284
Dipladenia amabilis .. - 379
atropurpurea + 404
Sanderi 494
Dipladenias.. 399
DISA Smiemeese ceri wets 284

Ri Gee aierate sissies cisisin sto c'sm cis eareen, OR
Dock, M. L., articles by... 114, 122, 212,
293
Dodder on garden vegetables ..... x63"
Dodecatheon Hendersonii......... 483
Dog-tooth Violets on Mount Ra-
Niches Snieainse scare SOAS
Dogwoods, red-stemmed . fon
Doronicum plantagineum_ excel-
SUM open atiaee here peste see ce 20

Downes, Annie Sawyer, article
by.. » 439
Draczena australis = 26
Broom fieldii. See LSS |
Drosera, species of...... debesieE X72 333

E
Easter, cultivation of flowers for... 148
Echinacea purpurea .......... +29 336
Eczema from Hyacinths.. Sao byi
Edinburgh Botanic Garden. may teh}
Egg-plants, cultivation of .... - 26
Eichornea azurea .... . 285

Flzeagnus multiflora in Wisconsin.. 228
INITONUTUS eteeceataseesescce' Ses ce)
Eliot, Charles, articles by
Elliottia racemosa nore h sc}
Elm beetle, work against . 199, 217
the American... Seema.
the White ...
Elymus glauca...
Emilia sagitatta .- Sateen Bite 300
Endicott, W. E., articles by. 287, 427, 466
Engineering, the artistic element

cece es acceaenae 41I

UM. eee ee even ee nees

Engle, H. M., article by... 57
English fruit market, the......... 43
Entomology, bulletin of practical... 440

Ephedra pedunculata.......
HEUPUTCA eee ces jens.
Epidendrum elegantulum.

Epping Forest ..... sisislasie'e + 301
Eranthemum tuberculatum . = 27
Eranthis hyemalis...... - 167
Eremurus, hardiness of . 187
EE PaMth USyeesiere cise. sysisie = 253

Ravenne .. - 457
ITI Ga Suseemm ci eoctaisicins . 187

as market plants . + 138

cultivation of...... 16
Eriodendron anfractuosum 520
Eriogonum gig nteum... + 307
Erysimum Perowskianum + 306

pulchellum....... - 236
Erythrina Sandersoni . + 443
Erythronium giganteum. . 272

Erythroniums, rare .....
on Mount Ranier.
Escallonia Philippiana ..
Eucalyptus calophylla.
corymbosa....

ficifolia ........... « 420
in New South Wales.... + 90
melliodora, durability of + 229

Euchalzena Mexicana........
Eucharis candida.......
Prandiflorausces se
HUCOMIS#SPECiES Of weseceemecie nese 374)
Eulalia Japonica and other species. 457
Eulophiella Pectersiana............
Euphorbia atropurpurea E
corollata ....
fulgens......
Jacquinzeflora .
pulcherrima...
zygophylloides......
Evergreens, broad-leaved .... .
Evonymus alatus .......
obovatus ... .-.--.
scale in Japan, the ....
Ewbank, Rey. Henry, article by.... 442
Examination, competitive, where it
Mavalallagenecencnesis- cheeses sox
Experiment station, agricultural, in
VAI Galeesiseiicineisistartuicionee nese soon 470

Index.

Experiment stations and fruit-grow-

IN Gs sietaia. w Saisie 4 Ralarae ewtlaa ead £tia-ccjey- (50
the proper work of.... 321
stations, variety tests in the.. 461,

518
Eysenhardtia orthocarpa........... 62

F
Farm school in England, a..... siae's 203
Farming, self-reliance in.. a2
Faxon, Charles E., article by mrAGa
Fermentation, uses of......... 280

Fernald, Merritt L., article by.
Fernéries, indoor.........-. mieiecsininin en OO.
Fernow, B. E., articles by.. .33, 202, 249
Ferns, filmy, in the dwelling-house.. 266

Habits of:.... seeeloy pOS
in California %

in New Mexico 323

two rare........ - 418
Fertilizers and flowers. + 36x
for orchards.... 0418, 517

eee 39

Festuca glauca....... Ay
Fibres, commercial... 4, 270
Fir, forms of, in Europe ose 273
Floating plants........ asee1 308

Elora'of Nebraska ..0<5 go.ca.sccecee (50
of sand dunes in northern
Untiandecsesevrcenses 553057 215020303
of the California Coast Range,
192, 213, 233
Florilegium Harlemense....... 440,
Flower and fruit mission, New York. 430
carnival in San José, Califor-
MLisie's c:e.0-5 ebb essen Caisse $ hafsianinae eto)
garden in autumn.... rie
in early summer. .237, 246
in midsummer.
the hardy.. ..
growing, co-operation in.
show at Boston ........ ‘
Flowers and fertilizers......... erat
and fruits at the American
Institute Mairi yaeeieces oa ve
changing fashions in.
cut, retail prices of... ea
early wild, in Calitornia.178, 179
in Greenland......... 370
Kansas wild....... - 298
preparing for winter.. \ 326
spring.....----. +++++177, 196, 208
in the cool greenhouse. 147
the arrangement of......-... 318
wild, the massing of. - 358
Foliage, unnatural colors in........ 471
Fontanesia phyllyraeoides.......... 279
Forage-plants, experiments with.. 190
Forbidden truit...... aiaisevelepeies sie LOST
Forcing, hardy plants for.......... 426
Forest, a German view of the value
ODN Gace setae on Seco eee nee OL
areas, evaporation from..... 520
conditions in the southern
Sierras..... Baty mebO)
Epping.... .
lands in Massachusetts..... 2
PPOtECHON fees vcitseasve887y 99), 228
reservation in the Allegha-
nies. Sia Cheeta ee ae a eee AT Se
the Boudinot, in Penn-
sylvania.......-.++- seces cosvecee 180
the Cascade Range... 111
servations, private ...... #0..530
against

Tr

Minnesota, meeting of. 39
New Jersey, meeting

seeceee 220
meet-

in Pennsylvania........ 52
in the United States. .
on waste landsin Holland..
policy of European nations,
what is the..... atsisil ta vaiaipts sasecsees 33
resolution adopted by Gen-

eral Federation of women’s clubs. 250
stationat Santa Monica, notes

FL OMMsteis asacicis 82 .6enceieleia areiaya 4260, 474
whatis....

Forests and floods. 440
destruction of E34u
AME SWEGEN oe cine sinje se esis mein 470

of India, some timely lessons
THOME esis bis say aicia:steiste sabi TOL; 21T
of Russia, the-.....0. 05 F 350

the reproductive powers of
OU ire eisla cieialeistsietnecicracsonten inate cre son
Fothergilla Gardeni 22
Fouquieria splendens......... s+.+. 73
Frames, cold, protection of...
in winter, care of....

Francheschi, F., articles by.
Fraxinus anomala......-.

French, J. D. W., article by.....-... 229
Fritillaria alpina. ; fi

lanceolata 483
latifolia... as, ZOO
Meleagris... ay 200

Fritillarias, species of. .
Frost, power of plants to
stand ssasee
rotection against, i
herds Sepsis a tesex ee
water against Gees acess. 43
Fruit associations, some Ameri-
can

aseeseese 187
with-

, in England
market, English.........
selling, the business of......
Fruits, bush, winter protection for.. 298
California, at home ...
evaporated, in New York...
in western New York, injury
Dy COM Tics eae ceece ses Pre ae trie or

preservation of, by vapor of
alcohol...... F
the study of varieties o
Fuchsias, cultivation of.......

Fuller, Andrew S., death of... + 100
Funkia, species of...... a Raz
SUPCOLU ata ecicesaacs 6 24

G
Gaillardia grandiflora.............. 425

SUAVIDg seenme eee
Galanthus Elwesii, F. Fell......-.+. 93

nivalis, forms of...... 467

Olgze Reginz...... wee 442
Gallaher, Frank M., article by . 502
Garden, a factory .... oe

a natural ..... 7
an architectural ...
an autumn.......-
delights of a rough.
in autumn, the
in winter, the ...
Mr. Chamberlain’s.
the fluwer.........
the rock..
—thewild.......
the wild flower ........
work, flower, spring ........ 177
Gardeners and farmers, codpera-

HOM AM ONE aren cceeeeGe hs te eeus, - 346
Gardeners’ Society, American, or-
ganization of..... ence wansssainpacedhO!

the New York .. aD
Gardening, various motives for.... 341
Gardens, botanical..... ...... 352, 362
—— English, unsuitable tor
AMELICH 54-ssicveass Per emieriee st
Royal, at Kew
the pillage of suburban
Gaura, GQCcineassisss.s.cc<s
Gentiana acaulis .....
Geranium Robertianum
Geraniums, notes on..
Gerard, J. N., articles by
138, 146, 165, 177, 196, 209, 217, 226, 277,
427) 437, 467, 508, 516
Gerard, W. R., articles by. ace, 262, aie
292, 302, 326, 378
Gerbera Jamesoni...... as Seen §3G5, 442
Germantown, notes from.. 199, 316, 358,

= 5p 107) 212,

Gifford, John, articles by ....... 63, me
Ginkgo-tree in autumn . Seno A509
Gladioli..... Shee cals lae beta, mee 400

the origin of garden . - 446
Gladiolus Nanceianus..... 403

primulinus. 324

species of ... 378
Glass, cultivation under 467
Gleditschia triacanthos 23
Gléeichenias:...i0ss0.. 06 Beer]
Gloxinias, cultivation of 97

Glyceria aquatica .........
Goff, Prof. EK. S., articles by..
Goldring, William, articles by. 244, 253,

264
Goodale, Mrs. D. H. R., articles by. 303,

402
Goodyera pubescens...........2+++ 396
repens... +++ 396, 439
Gooseberries, notes on....
Gooseberry, the Columbus
Grape, Campbell’s early....
Concord, bud

) see + 420
variation of

the vitesuiwcinescecisanestccrrcseeece ON
McPike . 390, 530

the Mills . 306

the Mission. 193

the Worden igse se 3C0!

Erte wees aiptacotajnisie tae Ske

and shaddocks.. 162*

Grapes, cost of a pound of 49
UI LOW asso wielane sera 9

in the Chautauqua distr + 390

under glass ........ eseis 400
Grass, insect enemies of... 462, 463*
pampas, cultivation of ...... 197

Grasses and forage plants, experi-
MENESIWIth sos sista asian obesticlsina nari 2 00
hardy ornamental.........+. 457

Vv

Grasses in the United States....... + 430
on the sand dunes in Indiana 372
ornamental .........0.6. 337» 356

some native ornamental. 152, 172
Green, Prof. Samuel B., articles by. 498,

518

Greenhouse notes... 16, 47, 107, 487, 526
Planthiis25 5 a7 6, 497
burned by the sun..... 286

spring flowers in the cool.... 147
WOPK in Jul Vie ee scsceous osee 277
Greenhouses, iron versus wood for. 346
Greenland, flowers in. =, 370
Grevillea Hillii....... = ,26:
robusta.... + 16

Griffinia hyacinthina .... 487
Gymnocladus Canadensis. 23
Chinensisi: sce cewecs.ccpess ce: S02
Gymnogramme triangularis vee 493
Gypsophila acutifolia bee 330:
Gmelinii ...... 266
paniculata 267
species of . 290
- Stevenii...... 267

H

HaAKea IAuring yeres) sess souabayecasd7d
Halesia....... :
Halsted, Prof. Byron

., articles by.

; _ 303, 394

Hamburg, Germany, international
garden exposition at............ + 100

Hardy plant notes... 244-287, 296

plants for forcing..........- 426

Harris, Dr. R. P., articles by...356, 404,

422
Harshberger, Dr. J. W., article by.. 522
Hastings, Thomas, article by.. .... 241

Hatfield, T. D., articles by..6, 16, 27, 37,
38, 46, 76, 78, 85, 97, 108, 116, 117, 128,
136, 138, 147, 148, 157, 166, 177, 187, 207,
216, 224, 227, 248, 256, 267, 278, 294, 296,
307, 32° 3475 367, 377 SH 406, 426, 436,

43%, 457» 45%, 479, 497, 9 510, 52

Harvard Botanic Garden notes 7
from.... 18, 27, 54, 66, 76, 137, 176, 188,
224, 236, 255, 266, 296, 306, 316, 336, 347,

: r .~ .,. 499 527
Heaths in America, cultivation of.. 16
Hechtia: ATReNtEA. 25.5 ciewice sone + 98

Helenium Hoopesii
tenuifolium. .
Helianthus at Kew.
ciliaris.....
—— divaricatus.........
multiflorus, a form of

TIQIGUB cg oaee
in Prospect Park
Helleborus niger.....
orientalis......
Hellriegel, Hermann,
Olea seis
Hemerocall

flava..
tulva..
graminea.......

Hemlock for the tanneries.
Henry, G. A., article by..... ..
Herb Robert....... ee tGhs en
Herbaceous border. .
Herbs, medicinal and aromati
Hersey, Edmund, article by..
Hesperis matronalis.....
Hibiscus Archeri.

Chinensis An 50
Syriacus.. 77
the Swamp...se.e..0.-- 32
Hickories, propagation of ......... 77
Hill, Rev. E.J., articles by..32, 219, 258,
288, 353, 372, 382, 393, 396, 407, 478
Hippeastrum Ackermanni......... 148
reticulatum....... ee 333
stylosum... wei e+ 333
Hippeastrums, cultivation of. - 487
in England. . 184
noteworthy....... + 136
Hitch your wagon to a star........ 251
Hoffmannseggia drepanocarpa 63

stricta....
Holcus lanatus..
Holland, reforesting

oe ee eeerlyesG. SOS
seevees 173

waste lands

INS whes dt deeetesseg sted 423
Hollyhocks........0+.- + 310
groups Of....-+...04 269

Home classes in agriculture.
grounds, planting of.

Honeysuckles, bush.........eese00. 229
Hop-vine, use of the shoots as a
vegetable.... aoe eee SIO
Hordeum jubatum + 392
Horner, L. F., article t «+ 427
Horse-radish, cultivation of mei xa,

Horsford, F. H., article by... 44

Horticulture at Cornell, class work
experimental 509

Horticultural education.......... os 32

°
vi Index.
Horticultural sch i
Dancanins ri oes pal women in as K Loman eh Gustavus, death of. s00 Mulberey eee snsenceees oes 42
teases nberry, the ullugo Cambessides » B22
Society, Iowa, meeting of..-. 8 © K-empferia rotunda........ ...... 16 Lomaria gebba blechnoides .... -. 1 Gervais bozos 5
Nebraska, meeting of. 48 7 ; ae
s “8 ee corn. MORON caars waiese COELPUIED See vcieees s<8 208 Municipal art..... 2
New . ansas agricultural college, coni- irsuta...-.. zee ++ 344% playgrounds. 501
Eri New Jersey, menting || Mere onthe grounds of wenn, $6 Balan SE Magner spelen og 00 By
avibeniecsie i comes wild flowers... vag. ¢ 298 Japonica .. c + 427 Muscari azureum Freynianum 196
Pennsylvania, extibie Kearney, Jr., T. H., eniaas by. 152, 168, sempervirens 496* GlEQANG so sciecirawnrcs ay . 196
ida Durie eee 468 172 species of.. + 386 Polat ir eecre eee 196
mibatine iofec ss 38 Kedzie, Prof. R. C., article by.....- 43 Loniceras, flowering ° ae S09 ovitsianum subcosrruleum. 196
Waslecn New Yaak. Keffer, ‘ProEAGharies A., article by. 321 Lopezia coronata ...... tkegee. XS Mushrooms, cultivation of, ........-
qieeting Oli. scitscerads 40.58 68, 78 Kendrickia Walkeri.... ......e+++. 443 Mycology in the southern states.
Horticulture and health........ oat Kennedya prostrata ses 158 9 Myosotis alpestris ;
Hoskins, Dried, article bys. Kentucky, October in. 449 Lotus, the Egyptian, ereranon of., 328 cultivation of. :
Hadlleti eine Kew, landscape pe TES ea 523" Lowia longiflora....... ° 514 palustris ssc. ).ccuesess eeeens 216
House plants of easy cultivation. 20 Kinney, Eepaty Jetir amie y fee maxillarioides 5
Housing tender plants. p 86 Kniphofia Nelsoni......+.0++ . 494 Luculia gratissima . 8
Houttuynia Californica teehee - pauciflora.: pee: ee ee ee
Te PRET Tit ESN sta i va héfias at Baden- Baden «+ 442 acl ert ctna a in Europe 400
H é as eee ae reuteria paniculata..... «18, 290 oars DENS 5
unnewelly cae by. ze7 Riaeuet wisn ©! 332 Lupinus polyphyllus - es
Tanne fell ices article by. Bs Krelage, Ernst H., article by. .. 446 Lycesteria formosa. .
Hyaciiths, Sade dle laig ahs nee Krigia Virginicds::.cisscsines esas 303 Lychnis Chalcedonica. Names, plant, of Indian origin. 252, 262,
Hyacinthus candicans oF Kruckeberg, Jennie, articles by.118, 168 ceeli-rosea 282, 292, 302
Ho Gud Boek 207 Kuhnia eupatorioides.............. 303 Flos-cuculi . Napcea .eeeee seer es eee es eee ee eeeee 2
ybrid Rocheas. i 126 379 Sieboldii . N Bee
Hedranges paniculata : oe Si dii arcissus, cultivation of , 174, 209
quercifolia.. : ee viscaria . Men ys hy brids of... Ore)
the clit, ere Lycoris squamigera .. 187, 323, es 374 Nestaniuine! blight ofa eae 290
ihe ee lelaae one ae Lyman, J. D., article by Seat eeeeeess 392 Madame Gunther’s hybrid... 327
apiece aoe: L Natick, Massachusetts, notes from.. 278
eulavatlaa ee as : Nebraska, flora of the sand hills
Hyariastele wenalandiaga. “oe . y Of ueias sets cbse mae nee ne emer= 60
Hi yavoahioa eee ‘ae ecko re aaenes bersnercipp eer: a _ State Horticultural Society,
Hydrocotyle Asiatica : + 410 cultivation o va 326 lc ates prremecien aby oe
moschata didaied Phakee -- 416 lLactucaCanadensis...........-.+++ 408 = McCluet, G. W., article by.... 20 a Oe a eee
Hymenocallis macrostephana...... 403 Ladybird beetles, experiments with.. 200 McKay, A., article by... Ge Kermesiana a2
Leelia hela endl varieties. <...c.5, 63 McWilliam, George, article by..... 399 striata.....+.. : te
. umnalis..+++.+++- ++ 107 MacDougal, D. T., article by ...... 372 Nemesia strumosa ..... see 308
pre maniana, +» 105 MacElwee, Alex. article Diy ines 605, 375 Nepenthes, cultivation of 177
7 =a Petras eee Coen. Macheeranthera tanascetifolia...... 74 Nepeta, species of ......... 207
Teslio Cattle Sneitt a ME De 505 Madison Square, New York, plan Nephelium Longana. sine (502
Iberis Tenoreana . 20 Tnwrersiniene indica : Bai oa eee ; filliam, J ir al “ache B gee New eee ae
llex laevigata . nate ara 386 La Mance, Lora 5., articles by.. 87, 297, Moguclia cordata..... _ ‘ i: 5 ad obs meeting of .. ae Seceully, 220
Illinois, waste planting i in....+. o. 322 358, 408 Kobus.. Htural Si z
Imantophyllum Bye remeifarars ; 2e Lanes and woods, despoiling.....-. 33° stellata meeting of. Bagge be Society,
Imantophyllums... 16 Landscape-art, practical side of.132, 271, Watsoni. New Mexicans a botanical j ae
India, forests of. . 191, 2ir, 317, Arh 329, i 281, 309, 312, 322. Magnolias, pink cones of ; inreuehiy: , - i journey 5
339, 348, 358, 368, 378, 389, 399, 409, 418, angvater ganicne, ro a3 jae eo Maherpia glabrata ....... z Newport through Engl ish eyes .... 362 3
Fiitant acbe capa leduial 42 a , prip : verticillata .... . New York Botanical Garden. .. 60 j
eas » architectura — s Larch Sa Mate, fertile cross of ie & oe He 4 flower and fruit ao d
ee ee ee es , crosses
avis Ae pit Limca Gok at Larkspurs ia a'wild paren ¢ : ities es o eosinthe ~ 20) ) ee ee ey
: Ba, 202, 302 Latania Commersonii........ =. gO Mamillariz ja : fasurata « pone Sa pale oa5 Gardener ste the “re "0 .
Indiana, northern, flora of the sand Lathyrus latifolius.. tee - 330 Mammee apple at Kew. : ee Society meeting of ve ore. 68 78 :
rates Obese nes $3353).372) 382, 393 ere and other ‘specie a aie Mannie. Woodward, article by.. 373 Niagara Falls, danger to. .. 160
eee pests in Madeira «oe 338 apenleevatreear ae ch ap e sugar in Vermont heat native “plants at. + 268
sree as species of..... sees e: ree! Tiny
aera in glass houses, cyanid Lavatera teuleees 104* Marguerite Caradiisheces..: each nena be cees si
of potassium aS an....-..seeeeeee 16 species of...... «s 164 Marica c le ee a8 PEER vevettet= pear poe OS
haests infesting lawns , 463%, aye Lawn-infesting insects... .90, 463%, 472* Martynia althaefolia. Tie ane omoen yeas a
in greenhouse. .....-.++- 167, 277 the essentials of a geod seeee 106 fragrans ....... Nicotianas, crossing...... .. a
injurious to ht winter Learned, J. E., article by.. Masdevallia Henrietta 1) 10 Nitobe, Inazo, arti a 3
work among.. fa eae 96 Lec Francis W., article by- Shuttryana .....2....05 ee ae Nolina recurvata a ae ar
Iowa State Horticultural “Society, Leersia lenticularis.......+-..000++ Masdevallias at Langwater Gar- North Carolina bulbs for forcing... ote
Meetinit Ob yetseusss¥euers cts «) Legislation in Ohio against conta- dens 1 Nort Prof i
puntos dowel Su diseases of fadlitrestrce. s60’ Mason POE ECE Gy cl) 1k Newldes come eae
leptophylla.. Lechilie, wae articles bie sees 196, 438 Massey, Prof. W. F., article by. + 3B Nuphar oclyeenalerem a os aes ee
ae ola Sadness tonnes 0 noe thea .: oY 477 May, John N., article icoremtereteistorn = 459 Nurseries at Bay Ridge, New York. 148
= ee “ apanese. te Mies 339 393 Meehan, Joseph, articles by.. 138, 148, ——- inspection against injurious
s ee ae ene eset on es ie 298, 317, 358, 388, 439, 488, ae ineece eehess
: siebe tase : egasea, species Of .........-.+--- 20! ursery lands.....
Douglasiana « eed Lettuce, baesip a eae a a ey at sane Malabathricum. -- 3 Nurserymen’s Association in Chi-
Teac e Geauriee i sete 7 a enter an, a ceases ss 572 cago, meeting Of <i ctwcceense 259, 260
Keempferi fh Ny a plants burned by he sun... . 286 ane ee Be eee 791 289, 299
Lorteti . 245 Leucojum Carpathicum...... + 93 Menyanthes tr oie io he Cesc pea
apina ssds: va . 214 Leucophyllum Texanum.. 74, 398 Mertensia Virginica.......... ...-- 209 =Nym hoe fulgens 2
macrosiphon 88 Leucothoé Catesbzei - 2 Mespilus Germanica 98 yop) g' 379
orchioides .. 466 —— recurva.... . 224* WMesean Craven pte Sore aa ae esi or, 226
Robinsoniana . fi 283 paaitis eotto . 393 Mexico, economic plants of 530 lilacina.........e.005 3
— Se eer 283 TASES ee + 393 Meron See eae: . 113 Marliacea chromatilla. -- 428
xiphioides. a8y Lichens about Chicago ie 280 Miltonia BICuAnE Wares: uf aH reer ee aie pines
DTIEHS ene reas seas e26 Lilies, cultivation of . oaeeTd 8, 196 vexillaria ......- : oe MRineoaae aa > = a8
pene ee 427 a qivenese = articles of food annie cultivation of. 447 stellata Eastoniensis. yt:
rats 437 rata ie eaeaee aoe oe saee ba cae aeas ne ee BS Mascot ast 388 tetragona..........-+ + 134%
Irrigation in fruit culture ae Henryi... ae : 334 jake oes a ba ha gy p08 ert pice pea os
in horticulture... ae es Japonicum Colchesteri 287 forest studies in harayo pile eae
methods Of ces 48 Lowiiisenssrds 207 Forestry Association, meet- ——a hybridizing .. : af
ne errs +» 496 priate : Pe ing oS Le Ae cern eee in California ....<. 002. ss. 498
hueeehaaciriens 20 3 ‘Oresinyiin.jcecs-se=se
2 Superbum......sseeccenes 333 provisions against fire in
Wallichianum superbum.... 388 Misch, Emil, article by...
7 Washingtonianum........... 448 Missouri Botanical Garden, damage
% ven REECE for autumn-flow- by betas thee es tie ete 70 oO
“ BAA ‘ 374 otanic Garden, notes from. 98,
Lily blight . 106, 116,
. sa 517
Lily-of-the-valley, cultivation of. 177, bee Mistletoe in Texas. II Oak, K d
ij Racuamee sens 3 lak; elope’ Sises. ts) esp hane eee 6
Hen Pare Ghose Been 269 Le ec tige Narnia peltatum........0: 334 Mlodziansky, A. K., articles by. 7 92 : pruner, the os agF
lee toe go, revis . inaria alpina .. 54 374 Momordicas, species of.. . 66 the Corlc...<.. «+ 520
ba ae es eactcesceends AOS PTRER hr paevors iat - 394 Monolopia major.......- 306 = Oaks at Paxtang, the.. 293*
BEGLTR BASLE A om Teena pes ilis. os 267 Montbretias, cultivation of. * 378 five ornamental - 432
poquemontia abutiloties pine eer eer 150 species Of.. ....-++-+-- « 348 Odontoglossum citrosmum. .. - 447
e a . 397 avum.... = 267 Monuments and statues, the sur- crispum, new forms of 2
anusia gracilts......-.. + 232 perenne. 6 d i i t4
Raraing ScARAInGrOTa: ef ig ae » 23 Prose matey te cs ei viene ; SEES qi Halli X crispum...... 33514:
Jatropha hastata.... 7 77 Lippia io antha.. 103 wea enlee npet Pe Spee eee eo
pga wee ele soem censo a2f) -UIPpradodantha : tess reset sHO3* NESE isis. ccice exe ciecinseeses sess R
tee Dre ae reyes eee Ree 08 ea autumn color o - 449 Morris, Dr. D. o Wattianum.... . on
anes eatrica a Yee. 179 issochilus cristatus ...... . 144 Morus rubra. Odontoglossums, Cultivationicriaaee 4
5 rticle by.. 22 ~=Lloyd, F E., 1 =
y rancis article by 146 Mountain trails in Missouri Odor of flower: f 19
Ones Ls Ri, t s, time of develo,
le See eles e ees . 188 Lobelia Gerardi.........+- -- 474 Mucunaatropurpurea..... ment of ..5<s.s56 scgeeeemceee y. 230
gz rupestris 62 CENULOT os sd.c00.09 28 - 288 Mueller, yon Baron Ferdinan (Enothera Havardii si £3

Juniperus communis. -+..+. eseae ter 114 Lobelias at Baden-Baden......... 2 442 OL’ sass dan caiee eee cement se rics Missouriensis. 257

Index. vil

Cnotheras in Kansas............. 298 ‘Peas, cultivation of.... ... Sent 186, 285 Pleurothallis Roezlii....... Seen 200, 547 Reinwardtia tetragyna............ 7
species of........ good varieties of. +190, 294 Plum culture in Vermont. ++.» 508 Renanthera Storiel.....

Oliver, G. W., articles by. +17; 27> 53, 96, mildew: ‘Ofsessscasee nc waece's 320 =ISCAIG; Aso sinse wesc ursas -- 444 Restio subverticillatus.

1X7» .3275 167, 176, 197, 226, 247, 266, 277, perennial... + 277 Plumb, Prof. C.S., articles by. 2, 442 Rhamnus crenata....
288, 308, 327, 356, 357, 377, 457 Peat, fibres of, for fabrics 280 Plumbago Capensis.. -98, 397 Rhodanthe Mangles

Olives 'in,California .. 2.66 sic0.si006 110-—- Pecttis angustifolia. . 232 Larpente.. +397, 426 Rhododendron Calitornicum .

O'Mara, Patrick, article by. - 439 Pellaea densa..... + 233 Plumieria alba... 57. —Eos............ ae95's ewe

Oncidium incuryum...... 387 SPECIES Of. ..s.5005 ee ags Plums, American 398 PWIPeNS ers cautes ataesk © ‘
ornithorynchum. 5 sr Pennisetum longistylum . 357) 457 in Lowa. ... ws) oo Indicum obtusum album ....
Wheatleyanum .........-... Ruppellianum..... 336, 397 Japanese... .. ,130 ——maximum.......

Onions, cultivation of....... 186, 294, ae Pennsylvania, forestry in........... 52r North American. 135 mucronulatum.

Ophiopogon Jaburan variegatum... 397 Horticultural Sorte exhibi- pollination of 330, 390 —— Nobleanum.

Opuntia arborescens............ Ix tion by. Fisk's + 468 Poinsettias.... ++» 496 —— Otto Forster.

in the south-west. = -2* meeting of... 38 cultivation of.. 486, 496 ITEeCOX..«

Rafinesquii..........-- 393 Pennypacker, Isaac R., article by.. 67 Poison oak in California. + 494 Snirnowii.
ie - 432 Pentapterygium serpens a a ecatelatose Sige 124 Poisoning plants. .....-. 8 VRBEVI ns cseaeeeonas
vulgaris. . pEaos Pentas Carnea....seccccesesecsecess 497 Polemonium Richardsoni.. Rhododendrons at Welles!
Whipplei. . an ee Pentstemon glaucus peuRs chest 246 Pollard, ae Figsaas, article by. 462 in England... csiaes ;

Orange crop in Californ .-28, 218 | Pentstemons, cultivation of.. - 86 Pollen, Vitality areas 120 why they do not flower.

Oranges, California, and the frost.. 56 for borders, treated as an- Polygonum a Mera cur sere. HHOCOdsscceses sees eva enre
California early......--.s+.0. 508 Nidloerecsscicste esha eeus naeekee S37 cuspidatum........... . 380 Rhodotypos kerrioides......
SeEedlInGversa Rewtee ss 203 species ee ree 256 elegans ..... -. 67 Rhus (aromatica) Canadens

Orchard fertilizers... : . 517. Pepper-tree for house culture, the.. 38 equisitiforme....ccs.se.seeces 443 glabra, in winter.....

Orchards, apple, in “Tasmania. - 260 Peppers, Beene Ol taverae setae 26 orientale pumilum album.... 336 —— microphylla......
fertilizers for........ . 418 Perennials, choice.. - 246 Sachalinense..c02.ec0003 semi-alata Osbeckii.
in western New York, ‘injury HAP Yo sveeewesees + 266 Poplar, the black..... Richardia albo-maculata, .

by cold weather............ Sac 190 Perfumery products, new - 112. Poppies, cultivation o: 19 Elliottiana........

planting. ... 39 Peristrophe speciosa....... < ~166 fall-sown and perennial ..... 226 Riddellia tagetina..........-
pruning of. wesseeeees+s 39 Persea gratissima, the fruits of..... 460 ICeland ssictabesnsises -. 236 Ridgway, Robert, article by.

Orchidinotes cde stvenies iss 247, 437, 447 Persimmon, the American... Populus Fremonti ra Seppe Rigidella immaculata 3

Orchids in the Malay eepacaer . 500 Phacelia, species of...... heterophylla 13* Roads, country, and yillage Streets, 2
NEWeveeseoie 6 52, 354 Phajus erandifolius Potato, blight.. 188, 310 improved go
AU KOWivisssc sicediesss <is= 03 Humblotii. culture . 110, 230 improvement of, in Ontario.. 500
at Langwater Gardens. . mis ee Ay, Mishmiensi: i SGAD ves eux cis xowiiw + 440 Roadsides in autumn..... .........
cultural notes on. 45, 106, 130,150 +Phalaris paradoxa < . 357. - Potatoes, bacterial disease of + 470 native plants along.
hardy native.....0-:.0cee0-++ 237 Phellodendron Amurense........... 255 food ‘valuie-Ofs.cs.0%05.< ee Robinia Neo-Mexicana 322

—— hybridizing ..

. 446 Philadelphia, chrysanthemums 1n.. 468 sweet, cultivation of. ... Pseudacacia, in California. e 348
in England...

- 264 Philadelphus Lemoinei........ .276, 280 Powell, G. Howard, articles by..... ace. Robinson, B. L., article by

on Mount Deser’ - 439 Yokohama -- 238 474, 498, 513. Robinson, William, death of. 390
pollination of...... sie(0 (490 Phlomis tuberosa.. - 267 Pratt, H.'G., articles by...s<.6. 328, 348 Rock garden, plants for the. 207
winter- Sowers, « 527 Phlox Carolina. . sa 267 Preservation of Natural Beauty, the 331 Rodriguezia pubescens ..... 348
Oreodoxa oleracea.. . 152 ovatus... 216,267 Price, Sadie F., article by.......... 418 Rolfs, Prof. P. H., article by + 274
Tegia. os.eeass «152* species of 208, 354 Primroses, blues st. cote ie -O8 Romneya Coulteri..... +... ++ 249
Ornithogalum nutans. ~ 200 Phloxes; Nard yo cwevaccs se vceweceect 400 hy brid . + 296 Rosa levigata...... 313
revolutum... + 323 PErendialyiesicciscs veeaseey 316, 447 eae. Forbesii 16 Lawrenceana 184
Orpet, E. O., articles by...45, 65, 76, 86, Phosphate, deposits in Pennsyl- imperialis. . 126 mrultiflora.s%: isess p's 300
128, 137, 157 177; 187, 208, 2375 247, 2775 WAliAvaesee ped si ses ni ace seeesoce2r0 obconica ae 5tS polyantha remontant. 226
278, 307, 327, 336, 348, 366, 387, 397, 416, Photinia villosa...... 7489 BICHON sc ceccvetcnas Eare37 Watspnllis sis vsiks eens oe 245
437» 447, 450, 486, 505, 528. Phragmites communis........ 172 DINGS eters risis cicin oer 53 ROS6; A Sports avassiencctesgsed eae 328

Oryzopsis membranacea.......... 172 Phyllanthus roseus purpureus - 98 Primulas, cultivation of 147, 196, 208, ao American Beauty, out-of-
Osmanthus ilicifolium.. - 476 Phylloxera in France..... ipeiseis oa.400. = eringle,:C: Gi, article by. issisesees 102 COOLB pees suisse re sseamenirereeies +. 388

Ouvirandra fenestralis . 167. +Physalis Franchetti. 160, 384. Privacy in suburban lif 309 Beauté Lyonnais. ;

Oxalis Ortgiesii pubescens... + 470 Privet, the Japanese.. Belle Sie nt

sensitive. . . 127 +Physianthus albens. - 128 Prosopis Ves Sea 233 Bridesmaid .
versicolor. - 27 Phyteuma Michelli... - - 257. Prunesin Oregon .. 180 Carolina. .
@xeralpulchel lis sce ctetsisins erectile 384 Phyteumas, species Of Noe ae . 256 Pruning shrubs.. 48 Lob he ae ea
Picea excelsa, and forms of « 252 Prunus Americana neeeees, 295 Crimson Rambler.
medioxima........+ «273 Besseyi, as stock for the Harrison’s Yellow...........
obovata...... + 273 PEACH icevvsee con su Pema ry et Helen Keller...
Sitchensis in Alaska........ 69 dasycarp 156 La France, out-of-
P Pinchot, Gifford, articles by. 99, 118 Grayana .. +. 174 lucida.....sssessesceees 5
Pine, rate of growth of te iui, 92 maritima. 135, 410 Madame Abel Chatenay....,
rate of growth of the Long- Mume.. wae TSO Marchioness of Devonshire, 416
Paddock; W., article |bY<<.<.0.---% 464 Gate i cata a5 tix’ oes seis stsias NigTAbpoecce ae 735 Marchioness of Londonderry, 416
Pzonia corallina -» 187 seed, sowing white & Pseudo-cerasus ... 174 Marjorie.....:+.seoce sssvea 350
tenuifolia.. 200, 209 southern, for pavements species of flowering: 208 —— Mavourneen. 416
Wittmanniana . -187,209 ~——— hardiness of.......... 208 spinosa flore pleno ees. 174. ———M.H. Walsh.. 270
IDEA OUIIES eniejsiais aiciwis ware wes) s sietaiain' stele mele 217 the Austrian..... = pee etes triloba... se E50). 174 Mrs. John Laing.... + 416
the chrysanthemum- Hower ed 266 the Scotch... wus Pseudophceni in the United States. 152 Mrs. Pierpont Morgan.. Ror , 416
(ise) cod oodednanuaeer Ene SUSI cepa sewtie cee sacmee 502 tenis: CHidsiteisceeessswaledersg'ise oe 474 Mrs. R. b. Sharman Craw-
Peony, Margaret Atwood 410 the Wihiteiccsese 202, 249, 392, 402 Pterisanthes polita. .. rspe! FOVGsdasugueep eaaaeceeeaT yeas oo 416
Mikado... - 410 Pineapple growing in Florida..... 274* Pterostyrax hispidum 260 Mrs. W.C. Whitney +. 416
Palm notes..... : F Pineapples, imports of. + 100 Pueraria Thunbergiana 388 gardens for America. 26996.
Palms on Lord »+.+. 390 + +Pines, Augustin the......... - 332 #Pumelow, the.... ..... = 163 Souvenir du President Carnot 416
tree, of the United States... 151 climbing plants in the + 492 Purdy, Carl, articles by... “192, 233, 227, Rose,N.J., articles by, 6, 38, 67,77, 114,
Palmettos, the tannins of the.. | 3Be early autumn in the.... + 412 233, 238, 242, 272, 448, 482, 488, 493 147, 158, 167, 178, 188, 288, 295, 314, 426
Pampas grass, Sul anen of. + 197 physical and mechanical Puschkinia Libanotica. 8 Roses, a garden of single..........
Pancovia Delavayi....... + 502 properties Of .........-+-se-+-00-s 219 Putnam, B. L., articles by at Natick, Massachusetts...
Panicum sanguinale. + 323 spring in the . » 173 Py cnostachys ‘urticifolia Cultivation off sv.. cesses
virgatum..... - 357 Pinguicula caudata eye Pyrethrum uliginosum forcin Bybee: pel sia APS
Pansies, cultivation 0 + 296 Pinus leiophylla... « 102 Pyrus arbutifolia..... hybrid. tie
Papaver orientale...... - 246 Montezumze. 102 COFONATIavs ccs eecesecs’s in England... we(is sa ace4 5/2
Paper pulp, manufacture of.. sido muricata.. Neer} species of flowering Lord Penzance’s Sweet-brier. 320,
Park, Cor! ears Hook, opening of.... 270 palustris... . = 298 415
East River, New Vork....... 7° — rate of gr ors of, 72 MEW ohacg dur cus eyeanes panes 415
ee at the Dalles of the pumilis..... « 462 notes on 487
St Croix accskiGrsaljarcisse’/icceatsel (OO: PUNGENS, 6... sevecseeccccenes 462 out-of-doo 438
Jackson, in June. eeiriasirisis cinie 288 Strobus.. -190, 462 —— pruning of . 136
lands and their boundaries... 421 Teeda..... see 92 Q tea weeseee 364
service, the need of an effi- Teocote...... 102 NOW 5 o66 side sievlesens ceesese 276
CLEM by aclnisieis seleiec saceisiesiciasie'= siele sy LOL Pippin, Grimes’ Golden 80 Royal Horticultural ‘ciety annual
work near Boston Ose op pey es the Albemarle. + 200 Quercus, Galifornica’ sst.tsvisssss 146* exhibition of.... 5
Parkinsonia aculeata. . nme ATA Pitcairnia Altensteinii... 189 coccinea . B43 Rubus deliciosus..
Parks and streets, cleanliness in... 251 Pittosporum phyllir. eoides. eee 07, Douglas 483 Pheenicolas
Boston, planting in the.. PIANGHPEESsices ess sess. sss cunssecs. 5i* -—— imbricaria + 433 spectabilis
county Plank, E. N., articles by.62, 73, 113, 193, alustris . = 433 Rudbeckia maxim 336
public trees in Aon 232, 322 —— Phellos... 433 speciosa ..... 336
the obliteration of public.... 161 Planning, the necessity of, in plant- Prinus.. + 369 the double golden . 376
Parkway, a river........ - 381 Hite Goon aonet. seterese 342 —— rubra. ra, 433 Russelia juncea . 98
Parrotia Jacquemontian: a'X73 Plant, names of Tndian « origin, 252, 262, Texana ae ee} Russian Thistle... 20
Persicassservccecsess + 299 282, eos 302 velutina.. 433
Parthenium integrifolium 333 registration, a bureau ot . 504 Quinces, Missouri Mammoth ...... 100
Paspalum elegans..... eee - 357 Planting Out.....sccccseesecsces eres 186
Passiflora incarnata.. + 317 Plants, crossing, early experiments
Passifloras, species of. - 384 ID, cesiscns scence svescioacan Ss
Payetta Indica........ - 288 defending other plants.
Pea; New, Lifessasie» 1.0000 340 floating. R
Peach, a dwarf stock for the. 448 hardy, May- flowering. ve Sabal Mexicana. I
crop, the Delaware... 368 new, in England in 1895... 433 ¢ Palmetto... I
the Crosby.......- - 470 our native, in winter... 47 Radish seed, fall sowing............ 350 Sabbatias ............ 33
trees, spraying. 5, X20 Platanus Mexicana....... - 98 Radishes under glass.. Saintpaulia ionantha..... 3
Peaches, cultivation of occidentalis. .... 42, 5r* Ramondia Pyrenaica.. Salix alba, red form ot 4
in Georgia.. Platycodon grandiflorum ee sh207, Raspberry plants, cultivation of.. - 376 vitellina. 4
Pear, Clapp’s Favorite Mariesii .. 288, 327 Rattlesnake plantains ...... -306, 439 daphnoides, variety of...... 4
Tdahojeceeccas me tete) Playgrounds, municipal ieee en5Ox Redwood forests, flora of, in “April, 272 species on sand dunes sin. In-
SIUPs {hes veceascnsscdsscceems 498 Pleione, species of....... medicines aO7; the increase of........ 238 Giana ..ccconteccece chaehatanh ales 382

Vill
Salyiaargentead ace e2ctie <ndeeas sar 256
officinalis -
pratensis. .
species of +128, 207, 414, 497
San José scale.. 29, 41, 69, 449, 490
Sanchezia nobilis..-.-.+-..2-.++- 98, 438

Sand dunes of northern Hiesihes and
their fora. sees screw 3+ 372» 382, 303
hills of Nebraska, tra ofthe. 60
Santa Barbara, California, notes
TEES IM- ce eswees 248
Santa Monica forestry station, notes
from -426, 474
Sand, Luther G., article by. +e+ 139
Sanvitalia procumbens..... + 306
Sapindus Mukorossi... » 502
Sapucaia nuts..... i:
Sarda melon .
Sargent, Prof. io S., articles by. .64, 84,
103, 162, 404, 424
Sassafras bushes in the shrubbery. 279
ripened fruits of the......... 350
Saunders, Prof. William, degree
conferred NPOd sae eleuey eoseae
Saxifraga crassifolia
Stracheyi..
Scabiosa Hookeriana.
Scale and other insects, introduction
of, into New Mexico, :.s<..40s++2. 30
Schaueria calycotricha.....
Schizophragma hydrangeoides
Schizostylis coccinea..... ..... :
Schomburgkia Thomsoniana. .
School grounds, decoration of......
Schwarz, G. F., article by...... ...
Scilly Islands, flower-farming in.... 190
Scott, William, articles by.16, 55, 84, 226,
316, 376, 387, 406, 457, a4

Scutellaria Formosana..........+.-- 98
Species Of.sescsc045% ass 297
Sears, Prof. F. C., articles by...396, 453,

454, 462, eel
Seavey, Fanny Copley, articles by..

x16, 328, 338, 449, 479, 7

Sedum .carneui.s ss. soesusesicsiawet
ppectabileieciss.sdess seaaun’ 426
Seeds, free distribution of, by gov-
ernment..... Sawlnand bie Dee enn ¢ 130, 482
garden, quality of........... 130
produced in pairs, germina-
HOW OL si sieoe constea cue ts tob ay ++ 160
Seiglingia acuminat os 323
pulchella....... 323
aie pans lepidophylla.. 73
SHIS... sarees 74
Selaginel as, species of 516
ea enks White’ 's natural history
Si Ch Eh ESeN eb d Bbb.d Chee. b eb eed be. Ly
Balentpedilien Sargentianum. ae
Self-reliance in farming. . 42
Senecio Bourgei 126
Petasitesiy.pcicsansviseawenye 27
Serenoa serrulata, tannic acid in
FOOLS OLsseeseceseovssssceves vers 279
Shaddocks and grape-fruit........ 163*
Shinn, Charles H., articles by.. -87, 198,

227, 248, 289, 343, 382
Shrubbery in winter, the.. .........

Shrubs and climbers winter-killed. . ay
at Kew, hand-list of......... 433
autumn effects of.. » 458
earl spring-flowering... 129, 170

hardy, for winter-flowering
in the greenhouse....

late-flowering.... . - 377
native and foreign 202) 2t2
pruning... .......-. is
spring-flowering in Eng-

| F a(6 Was ae ee arse iste ted SEBO:

with ornamental “trui
Sicana odorifera..

jo
replat Wi to (s brea tena eae oe 305
Siegesbeckia ‘orientalis. .. 38
Sierra, the wild gardens of the 343

Sierras, southern, forest conditions
1 Thesisereses neg rarieaisds seeds 502
Silphium laciniatum. .

terebinthinaceum.. + 408
Slingerland, M. V., paper by 36
Slug, the pear. 498
Small fruits. ..00.6+0++ + 376
Smilax for florists’ use.... 439

rotundifolia in winte + 47

Species Of Naliversc<avces se 492
Bae College, botanical garden

teense Peewee eee cease ewww eereeee 20

notes from 18,
27, 38, 67, 77, 97, 116, 147, 197, 217, 258,
287, 305, 356, 388, 397, 416, 427, 449+ 497

Smith, Gregory, article by..

Smith, Prof. J. B., articles by.

Snowdrops, autumn eS base wr ede cea
Sobralias, a collection of
Soil, fertility Ofssaciteectetace hans
moistures, the conservation
Ol iesigeoi cds reise nied ek aee 48, 401

Soils, management of hill

Solanum cernuum... 346
Gitrullefolittmeseseepaseesctes 217
Jasminoides grandiflorum... 397
Seaforthiahtmiisss i set's 307
Wendlandii

Solidago odora, use of, for tea. 320
species of, in Indiana. » 303

Sonerilas, cultivation of........ ... 307

Index.

Sophora secundiflora. . .. 62

South Dakota, drying of small lakes, 200
Spathoglottis ‘plicata neg seats eeas 354
Spinach, cultivation of 2 5i0.
leaf miner. ... + 190
Spireea, Anthony Waterer 204, 299,
237

astilboides, Per spect a ba 187
palmata and other opener! + 296
Spiraeas, species of vrs. eee, 2OQ
Spiranthes cernua. 439
Spraying for fruit diseases 1 230

injury to bees by..
Spring flowers, the earliest. es
work in the garden,.... -.-. 136
tied forests and our wood pulp
supply nee, B03
come of, in Europe. ..+.0+++= 273
trees of eastern North Amer-
ica, the 351*
Squash, the Hubbard, cultivation of. 207

Stachys. Betonicass ii ieicccise ne cree 306
Stachytarpheta Indica weg Aly
Paiute bills cigs Seseee ae sg cee 417
Stanford University, grounds of the. 227
Stanhopea Warscewicziana........- 410
Statice Halfordi..... see 496
ER gett: Eta Baetacted pt op" ee ee | 336
Statues and monuments, the sur-
FOUNCINES Of ccs vane wees arnscrs s+ 71
Stauntonia hexaphylla 426
Stellaria Holostea..... - 236
Sternbergia lutea.... 414
macracantha.....

Stevens, Kinton, death of...
St. Helena, vegetation of.
Stipa, species “Of.. - zy
St. Louis, chrysanthemums ir Ives =. 479
Stone, G. E., articles by
Strawberries and irrigation.
cultivation in a barrel 420
cultivation uf.79, 257, 270, 277, 377

. 520

FettilizalOniOl secs din see cones 520
forcing, under colored glass. 20
good varieties of........ 295, 307

spraying sate et cee e eee ee 530
subirrigation ‘of . » 38
the protection of. 475
time for transplanting....... 350
Strawberry in New England, the... 82
Streets, village and country roads.. 2
Streptocarpi in England........ 183, 266
rake Heer ob Jamesoni. ... -46, 296
Strobilanthes anisophyllus. - 66
Dyerianus.. 98
isophyllus +. 66
Stuartia Pseudo-Camellia ......... 34*
Sturgis, R. Clifton, reference to ar-
HELA DY: sbacaet ose 271, 281, 309, 312, 322

Sturtevant, Edmund D., articles by.. 7,

57, 178, 249, 388, 397, 498
Stylophorum il Sot danni
Styrax Americana..
grandiflora...

254

Suburban life, privacy in..271, 281, 309,
312
UCCULENT Plaiicti see cscn eee ted eo 116

pupiner Towers pent, experi-
ence with..
Sundews, the.-
Sunshine and cloudiness in r elation
FO OLOPS ley cchernischinaaeeraneuee
Swanley College, England
Sweden, forests in.
Sweet peas, cultivati NOs ws
MG We ves ee ashy

Tr
Tagetes lacera.. -' 67
Talinum teretifolium. ts 304, 490
Tanneries, hemlock for. . «+ 222

Tannin, value of some North ‘Amer-
ican trees, the. ices ensccetcees cies . 162
Tannins of the Palmettos - 182
Taplin, W. H., articles by. .186, 257, 2775
307, 386, 438, 467, 487

Taxodium distichum,..i<.5sess<eas 463
Taxus baccata...... 261*

species of.. cs 261
Teak forests of Burma, the.- “gin, 318,

329,339, 348, 358, 368, 378, 389, 399, 409;

418, 428

Tecoma. etandiflora..iceseseesecsses Add
radicans....... ++ 492
Smithii ane "66, 126

Tender plants, the propagation of.. 307
Teosinthe and Maize, fertile crosses

OL reed npasnimmwgeleaie i as 522
Terraces, hillside. ss... =TZO:
Texas, a botanical journey in....62, 73,

113, 193, 232
Thalictrum, Delavayi.............. 442
Thermopsis Caroliniana 2
MOIS ie sige sansa aie, 237.

Thistle, Russian. 20
Thladiantha dubia, 268, 444
Thrinax in Florida........ 162
in the United States. 152
Thunbergia elata........: 08
laurifolia...... ‘ =
Tigridias, autumn- flowering eee

Tisdale, Wm. M., articles by.28, 56, Be
3175 477» 508

Tomatoes, cultivation of.....37, 157, 186,
286, 387

— under Biase: aaisteee'e 98, 526
quality in......... «se 395
training. eva. " 67
Toumey, Prof. j- W., articles by 2) 432
Townsendia sericea - 298
Toxylon pomiferum.. e235
Trachymene ccerulea.... - 306
Tracy, Will W., articles by.. a 26, B75
194, 207, 37, 395

Tragopogon, crossing..........++6. 32

Travesia palmata... + 247

Treat, Mrs. Mary, articles by..173, 3325
412, 452, 492
Trécul, Auguste, death of... ...... 400

tee; anew Ghineséigs, -eqstes dees. 92
planting, a novel method of.. 228
society in New York

city .. sess eeeeeeee 250
Trees and shrubs at w, hand-list
OL Lis b6:i'd oon -bapd adh ha ee eor sales ge 433

autumn planting of.... 380
in flower at German-
LOWE Suitere erst st warenes Open prac 199

autumn effects of. 458
forest growth of.. 518
in public parks... 5Ir
in Visalia, California 382
insect attacks on.,..... 440

lifting, to a street grade...... 350
of minor importance for

western plantings .....i0ssceeees 23, 42
on the sand dunes in Indiana. 373
Stet. oc sess cccrsneercer cece 3
dangerous enemies to. 141
two, for California planting.. 348
Tremen, Dr. Henry, death of....... 460
Triartia Bungerothii. ee i 6

Trias disciflora. 364
Tribulus grandifloru 113
MAXIMUS ies ase 113
Trichocoronis Wrightii. 62
Trichomanes radicans...... 418
Tricker, William, articles by..... 86, 167,
eee 328, 334, 356, 424, 447
Tricyrtis hirta..... ++ 479
Trillium ovatumn............ + 272
—— sessile Californicum......-.. 272
Trimble, Hentys: nana pice 133) 162, 182
Tripsacum.. ists E53
Tritoma uvaria. 4 resid
Trollius Asiaticus. 216, 236

Caucasicus..
Europeeus. .
SPOCLES Oly cysidexevewnssabacets 2c0
Troop, J., articles by. «+. 106, 488, 517
Trumpet flower, native species ee 453
Tsuga Mertensiana in Alaska.. 69
Tuberoses in England.. 374
Tubingen, the alpinum in the Bo-
tanie: Garden: afi yes va sess eeseae
Tulbaghia alliacea .
Tulipa Greign.....
sylvestris ..
Tulips in England

223
Turnips, blanched tops of. 150
Tussilago Farfara.. 197
Tylophora aristolochioides..... ... 416
sublanceolata obtusata. .... 416

U

Ukiah, California, a cafion near.482, 493
Ulmus racemosa »..... cece ecsece ee 64
Underwood, Prof. Lucius M., +) ap-
pointment to Columbia College... 280
Underwood, Lucien M., article | by.. 263

Ungnadia speciosa .. + 199
Uniola latifolia... 172
paniculata 172

Utricularias........ ss.essssccceeee 333

v

Vaccinium ovalifolium. . iibseds. 70.
Valentine, C. S., article by... ia) 168
Valeriana Sitchensis..... + 516*
Vallota purpurea..... 347
Vanda Charlesworthi - 53

ceerulea..... ee ers

Sanderiana... 473
Vandas, hybrid, from. see ts wi 350
Van Ness, J. H., article by.s:ss0.225 448

Van Rensselaer, Mrs. Schuyler, ar-
UGlesibyicgscacanesee Aueis eh 7 jcOom 142

Vegetables, cultivation of.. +17, 84, 127,
124, 285, 204, 376, 436, 480

the study of varieties of .... 482
Vegetation succeeding barrenness.. 350
Verbascum elymplaur Lope b eles 246
pannosum....... 246
Verbena mutabilis .......--..- 417
Vermont Horticultural meeting 508

Veronica longifolia subsessilis
Bpecice and varieties of.
IteiNiCavacsesesmeesas
Viburnum peceliel ae
erosum, aan
Lantana.. pes fic
macrocephalum.
species of.

Viburnums at Natick, Massachu-

SCHS Eee me Se me eek ketene mone s talst 278
Victoria regia, warming tanks for.. 86
Vigna strobilophora.......--..+.+++ 20
Vines, American, in France 49°
Viola:cucullataia: ceceasne 207

pedata F 197
Violas, bedding... 334
species of.. 230
Violet culture in pots 4c6
Farquhar..... 183

the California..

510
Violets, cultivation of. 367
notes on....... 437

Virgilia-trees in flower ......-.+.+-+ 230
Vitex Agnus-castus...

Vitis Colne ese « 480
Doaniana.. 454*
-_— pterophora.. 315
rotundifolia, ‘as affected by
phylloxerg: st: 6.2catcetem eee 490
Ww

Walsh, G. E., articles by .......222, 363

Washington, D.C., notes ‘from the
Botanic Garden.......... 17, 27) 53: 965
E19) 527) th eit 197, ee 247, 266, 277,

, 308, 327, 356, 357, 377)
Washingtonia filamentosa, Sat Sa ee
SUPA IN, sos a ogee hae ceen eee 133
Washingtonias in the United States. 151
Waste planting in Illinois + 322
Water Chinquapin.,...... 373"
garden at Willow Grove, the. 328
tHEl vec tae sem ene rear ine 165
in plants, physiology of +470
Water-lilies and extreme heat. + 356
from seed. . 334
Marlizest ec. 334
Waterer, Anthony, death of ..- Lie 496
Watson, W., articles by. .3, 14, 23, 43, 52,
63, 83, 93, 104, 124, 144, 154, 173, 183,
206, 223, 283, 293, 313, 323, 333, 345; 354,
364, 374, 383, 403, ye 423,433) 434 443,
473» 483, 494, 514, 523, 52:
Watsonia Fietlvatio Arden ee 7a

Watsonias, species of......
Waugh, Prof F. A., articles by..

8 233
42, 149» 108, oe 398, 458, 488

Weeds, lestelaned against. <6. 80
Weldenia candida............ 125
West Virginia, notes from...... 98, 218,
237, 248, 268, 279, 299, 458
plants Of. . Rorriccses
White Cedar in New Jersey, ‘distri-
bution. of; issn scecseweunemeeeeres 63

grubs, a contagious disease of 519
Widdenpioaie Whytei. 73
Willow, laurel-leaved 398
red-barked....
— white-barked..
yellow-barked. ..
Willows, species in Indiana.
Wineberr y, the Japanese..
Winter-blooming plants...
Wintergreen, cultivation indoors... 96
Winter, the garden in..............
killing of blossom-buds
of plants.

- 269
9 463%, 472"
+ 497
+ 493

Wire-worms
Wissadula rostrata...
Wistaria, the American
Wislizenia refracta..

rim §
Women’s clubs and forestry, Peppa os is
Wood pulp supply and our Spruce
FOPEEtS . oo. 6a5 600 tanesne peneseeee 363
Woods and lanes, despoiling....... 330
protection of their beauty. 357

Woodwardia radicans.......
Woolson, G. A., articles by..

237, 296, 417

x

Xanthium spinosum ..
Xanthrina Texana .......decssecsss (02

Wy
Yarrow as a lawn plant............ 408
Wewstrees tics tons cinch 261*
Yucca angustifolia 290
elatai,c..«

gloriosa.. avec
Yuccas, notes on ‘the names ‘of o
=== Bpeciesioli nics scccsine eteone 270)

Zz,
Zephyranthes candida . 375
Zinnia Haageana....... 407
Zinnias, improvements in. ++ 327
Zinziber officinale.. ..... 530

Zizania aquatica.,

153
Zizyphus vulgaris ... 269
Zygadenus paniculatus. . 272

Zygopetalum grandiflorum.. .
Perrenondl issisaseueqeds ones 144

joa

:

A
Aquilegia Jonesii .........sesseeree 365
Aspidium cristatum marginale... 445
simulatum 485

Aster infirmus.....
longifolius,....

B

Bartram’s House, John.......-. 122, 123
Berberis Nevinii............-. 415
Bridge over the Kent atLevens Hall. 25

Cc

Canna italia, HYD sess 5.010 aos oe 135
Cedrus Atlantica.....-2-2-. seeeeee 417
Central Park, view in, April 7, 1896. 335
Chestnut, the Dauphin...
trees, second growt
Virginia .... 0... -0-cee cence escees
Chrysanthemum, Mayflower an
Glematis=Addisoniies.<-.s.-5 cesass 325
paniculata in a Massachu-

setts garden., 75
in wild garden at

Westbrook, Long Island......... 185

SukedUrhiseeteoieees clek ss 255
Columbian Exposition, World’s,

general plan........ 204

Cypress, Bald, in Bartram’s garden. 125

Db
Deutzia Lemoinei.........0.s0-000+ 285
Diervilla Japonica
Dodder growing on Onion leaves .. 367
Dog-tooth violets on Mount Ranier. 505

Index.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

gE
Elm, White, at Dauphin, Pennsyl-
VATA Ehipiee oteGraie's' -<-csnwisiaiergssiheiaia'eauirs 215
Evonymus obovatus........-0++++05 385
F
Forbidden-fruit, as sold in New
MOLY Getsisaisiie tv ce sh neseerisiisearar LOS
G

Grape-fruit, as sold in New York... 163

I

Indian Harbor, Long Island Sound. 243
Insects, lawn and grass infesting.. 463,

464, 472
J
Jackson Park, Chicago, revised plan
bee ere aisles ait p aa lcinitaiees some seas 205
kK
Kew, landscape effects at.........- 525
qx

Larix occidentalis ....-.ssesse-saes 405

Larkspurs in a wild garden ts 305
Lavatera insularis.... .... Scie, S05,
PeucGthoé TEcurvalsc sii. e'cseiac.csos se 225

Lippia iodantha..
Lonicera hirsuta.
hirsuta Sullivantii 2
sempervirens epee perce

MI

Madison Square, plan for the im-
PFOVEMENT OT .cnis gins aisies 143, 158, 178

presentarrangement of 143

Magnolia stellata in a New Jersey

garden SS aeweee sede desea sese eer tes 195
8
Nelumbo lutea, the water ee aes
pin, ina Massachusetts pond.... 375
Nolina recurvata.+....sssssesssee ss 95
Nympheea stellata,var. Eastoniensis 475
tetragona....csccosecsscesces 134
@
Oaks in the Churchyard at Paxtang,
Pennsylvania ..........+.-seeeeee 295
Opuntia arborescens on the Tucson
PSST cizixiais'sminie,.: wine! asisielaie'g\sialaieloe = 5
Oreodoxa regia, in Florida......... 155
Dad
Pergola at Amalfi, Italy............. 245
Picea alba on the Maine coast..... 355

Pineapples under sheds in Florida,
the cultivation of. .

2
Platanus occidentalis. a2
Populus heterophylla.............5 15
Pumelow or Shaddock, globular
Pri bs sisepdisetiseie ct sic ees oaenioy dames 163
pear-shaped fruit..... 168

1X
2

Quercus Californica in Oregon..... 145
rR

Restio subverticillatus.............. 435
Rhamnus crenata....

Rhodendron (Aza
taawmialbuinsss 666. 8atsseclatece

Ss
Spruce, the White, on the Maine
COASt. cen ceesecrecceece cess ++ 355
Stuartia Pseudo-Camellia...... Pa

T

Taxodium distichum in Bartram’s
garden.... .
Taxus baccata

WV

Yew-tree, an Algerian. ,.......0... -265

JANUARY 1, 1896. |

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO,

Orrick: Tripung Buitpinc, New York,

Conduct by « « . «2 « « e ©. 0 e Professor C. S. Sarcent.

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1, 18096.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

EDITORTALP ARTICLE — Whi ite'S'Se IDOKNG siecsreacs sa idetsicigs simecieiecls sisicgcb sedis oes 858 z
Village Streets and Country Roads ...............-. Professor W. F. Beal. 2
Opuntia arborescens in the South-west. (With figure.)

Professor F. W. Toumey. 2

W. Watson,

ForEIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter........-.eeeceeeee eee

fe)

BRANT SN ODES aisracivs ccisieastesiateelscis eerie, elelvies |
CutturaLt DrpartTMenT :—The Garden in Winte 5
Plants for Winter-blooming 6

Pal niwNotesiesc.cce cise esueaece a eke 6
Asparagus Culture for City anc age Lots.. 7
CorRESPONDENCR :—Class Work in Horticulture at Cornell 7
Notes from Southern California.................--Edmund D, Sturtevant. 7
Poisoning Plants vofessor F. W. Card. 8
MEETINGS oF Societies :—Meeting of the lowa State Horticultural Society....... 8
RECENT PUBLICATIONS ......-.000 sees eeeee 9
INGLES ementeen se aise centeiaaias scietaswiaisjoe aia a(sjasareisicieisieeri= love cic icieks 10
ILLusrraTion :—Opuntia arborescens on the Tucson Desert, Fig. 1 5

White’s Selborne.

HAT are known in a general way as Books about

Nature have appeared in such abundance during
recent years, that one is rather surprised in taking up the
announcement of any publisner if he does not find one or
two new ones, and, perhaps, a new writer in the list. This
may be considered a wholesome tendency in literature,
although the man who invades the privacy of nature for
the distinct purpose of writing a book will write like a spy
or an eavesdropper and try to tell what will please his
readers. The man who flees to nature as he plunges into
some other form of dissipation simply to escape the weari-
ness of spirit which comes from artificial life, will also cer-
tainly fail to find anything in what he sees, and still less in
what he feels, that is worthy of description. The man with
no faculty forclear-seeing, no imagination, no insight and
no sense of humor who writes about nature (and there
have been more than one such in our unhappy country)
cannot make an entertaining or a useful book, even on such
an inspiring theme. From books of this class it is a delight
to turn to an inspired book, one which throbs with the
pulse of a self-sustaining vitality. Zhe Natural History of
Se/borne was written before the love of Nature had become
a fashion, and Gilbert White did not write it as a matter of
conscience or of duty. No book was ever more spontaneous,
and it is, therefore, one of the few books which the world
will not willingly let die. It has delighted clean-minded
men and women for more than a hundred years, and the
beautiful new edition of it just issued by Messrs. Appleton
& Co. of this city is in no way a doubtful venture. Every
new generation will find for it a widening circle of readers,
and although the scene is laid beneath the soft skies of
southern England, it will delight the dweller in the prairie
states who has never crossed the sea as thoroughly as it
delights one who knows the Hampshire heaths and Sussex
downs by heart.

It seems almost as much of an impertinence to attempt
any analysis of the charms of this delightful old book as it
is to offer explanations for our enjoyment of a woodland
walk. Indeed, the sources of our pleasure in the two cases
are identical, for in this book, more than in any other of its

Garden and Forest. I

class that was ever written, the author entirely forgets him-
self, and very rarely even records an impression, but sim-
ply holds before the reader the exact pictures which present
themselves to his eye. Wedo not mean by this that the
Natural History gives no idea of the personality of its
author. There is the constant evidence of that sympathetic
kinship with every living thing which discovers love and
order and intelligence everywhere, and there is the faint sug-
gestion ofa pleasanthumor. But whatwe really know of the
man—his sincerity and kindliness, his broad charity and his
reverent love of nature—is found in an atmosphere that
hangs over every page rather than in any distinct expres-
sion. Thoreau was primarily a poet, and he held that
“the poet writes his own biography.” To him human life
was everything; nature at its best did nothing but reflect
the man, and, therefore, this recluse, who seemed to live
quite apart from his fellow-men, is now the most distinct
figure in American literature. White was not a poet,
though he constantly trod on the borderland of poetry.
He chronicles phenomena for their own sake, and not at
all for their relation to him, and yet we cannot help feeling,
by some subtle sympathy, the impressions they left on
him, so that the man himself in his essence is set before us
in his pages almost as distinctly as if he, too, were con-
sciously writing his biography. Thoreau declared of him-
self that he was a mystic as well as a natural philosopher,
but there was nothing transcendental about Gilbert White.
He was no seer of visions and no dreamer of dreams. He
simply went about contentedly scrutinizing with the in-
quisitive eye of a child everything that came within the
range of his vision, and he wrote down these impressions
which came to him with all the freshness of new discov-
eries in language as simple and direct as a child’s. He did
not attempt to lift his subjects into the higher realms of
imagination ; he never told the world what manner of food
they furnished for his spiritual nature. We cannot think
of him pronouncing a Fern as Thoreau did, “another
sacred scripture helping to redeem life,” but he painted the
Fern itself so clearly that the reader can apprehend for him-
self its message of law and love.

This brief contrast between the two men who, standing
a century apart, represent, perhaps, what is best in the
literature of nature, is made not to set one before the other,
but simply to give a hint of the range of their diversity.
Our literature would be distinctly poorer if deprived of
some of the eagle flights of Thoreau’s imagination, and
certainly nothing was ever written to fill exactly the place
of the Nelural History of Selborne. No more sane and
wholesome book was ever penned. Jefferies was as keen-
sighted a naturalist as White, and much more of a poet,
but he had none of the serenity of a strong nature, and his
work is feverish. He asked the reader into the fields to see
him worship nature, and then begged for commiseration
because his Deity would not satisfy all the cravings of his
morbid desires. W..ite does not say, as Thoreau does, that
his profession is to find God in nature, but no one can
accompany him in these rambles through Selborne with-
out feeling

That he, and we, and all men move
Under a canopy of love
Broad as the blue sky above.

But it is impossible tosay anything new of a book that
has delighted the world for so many years. There is no
need to speak of the singular clearness and beauty of the
style which is the very perfection of descriptive English,
nor to repeat that by his acuteness of observation White
anticipated one, at least, of the discoveries of Darwin. It
may be interesting to Americans, however, to know that he
realized that the waste from forest-fires was not so much
the wood that was burned as the destruction of future pos-
sibilities of the soil, on which point he says:

About March or April such vast heath-fires are here lighted
up that they often get toa masterless head and, catching the
hedges, have sometimes been communicated to the under-
woods, the woods and coppices where great danger has ensued.
The plea for these burnings is that when the old coat of heath

2 Garden and Forest.

is consumed young will sprout up and afford much tender
browse for cattle ; but where there is large old furze the fires
following the roots consume the very ground, so that for hun-
dreds of acres nothing is to be seen but smother and desola-
tion, the whole circuit round looking like the cinders of a vol-
cano, and the soil being quite exhausted, no traces of vegeta-
tion are to be found for years,

The American public is to be congratulated on the oppor-
tunity to possess an edition of this classic in such a tasteful
dress and with many attractive pictures of Selborne as It is,
which probably differs less than we might suppose from the
Selborne of White’s day.

Village Streets and Country Roads.

OR the enjoyment of prospects on streets, good side-
walks and well-made roadways are necessary. In
the business portion of a village there is not much oppor-
tunity for growing trees successfully, but many other
details go to make a favorable or unfavorable impression
on citizens and visitors. Neat arrangements for hitching
horses are appreciated by persons who are driving. A good
and durable device is in use in the city of Hudson, Lenawee
County, in this state. When the main streets were paved
the merchants combined and put in three-inch gas pipes of
uniform height for posts, with a rail of the same pipe passed
horizontally from post to post on which are rings. A really
good sign is a rarity ina village, and generally the signs
of stores and offices are unattractive or disfiguring. Modern
plate-glass windows of generous size help to give a town
an enterprising air, as do cleanliness and freedom from all
sorts of rubbish. The tasteful arrangement of goods in
the stores is no small attraction, but a mixed variety is
often allowed to remain in a window for months with little
attention from the proprietor.

Any attempt to make country highways attractive is
even more rare than an adequate appreciation of beauty in
village streets. Some of the roads near which I have lived
for the past twenty-five years I have made objects of ob-
servation and study. About twenty years ago a double
row of American Elms, more than a mile long, was planted
along the entire front of the Agricultural College farm.
The trees in the street were forty feet apart and ten feet
from the fence. alternating with others forty feet apart, four
feet inside the fence. In all such designs for planting the
idea seems to prevail that long, straight rows of one kind
of tree, planted at uniform distance, must in time make a
grand display. Such results are, however, rarely realized.
In this instance the ground is far from uniform in fertility,
and the trees are very uneven in size, some now having a
diameter of trunk five times that of others nearly the same
age. The shapes of the tops differ a good deal. Some
trees are crowded by other trees along the road which
have come up of themselves, and by orchard trees in adja-
cent fields. Occasionally a tree has broken off or been
split down. In several instances trees have died, leaving
unpleasant breaks in the rows. ‘This season some were
much damaged by two or three kinds of insects, while
others were less molested. To the west, over a gently
rolling surface on the same road, nature and the orderly,
old-fashioned pathmaster have been at work. Native trees,
shrubs and perennial herbs in great variety have taken
possession of the road on either side, and the fences are
hidden from sight for much of the distance. Here is
a great variety of woody growth and some views such
as an artist would select for sketching. I noticed in
half a mile five or six kinds of Oaks, three of Poplars, two
of Elms, two of Ashes, three sorts of Hickories, eight of
Willows, three of Dogwoods, several kinds of Viburnums,
one kind of Hazel, a Sumach, three kinds of Maples, a Blue
Beech, Ironwood, Basswood, Wild Plum, Wild Crab-apple,
Sassafras, Butternut, Black Walnut, Grapevines, Virginia
Creeper, Button-bushes, two sorts of Wild Roses, Raspber-
ries, several sorts of Thorns, Asters and Golden-rods in va-
riety. Bunches of second growth or sprouts, where trees or
shrubs have been cut down, make pretty clumps, and

[NuMBER 410.

groups of Hawthorns are beautiful when in flower, as also
in autumn when full of fruit. There are bunches of Wil-
lows beyond a bog of Sedges, and over the Willows fes-
toons of Virginia Creeper. On the knolls certain sorts
prevail, in the lowlands others are found, while the wet
places have still a different combination. The highway is
in excellent condition most of the year.

To my way of thinking there is much more to admire
along this highway of half a mile, where nature has made
her mixed planting, than along the highway where stand
the double rows of American Elms. And _ this illustration
has a special application to village planting. I would
plant along the village streets, or leave, if already there,
some Hawthorns, Dogwoods, Virginia Creepers, Grape-
vines and a mixed lot of native trees and shrubs. Of
course, they should not remain as thick as in the highway
referred to, but choice selections could be placed or left in
certain suitable spots. ‘To a considerable extent the same
general rule applies to the planting of roadsides in the
country and to streets in the village, although trees for
shade are more essential in the village.

But owners too often do as others have done, cut away
all native plants, seed to grass and plant Maples thirty feet
apart, exactly one or exactly ten feet from the fence. Along
the road already referred to I recently sold an acre to each
of two Germans, and made the request, which they seemed
to assent to, that I might suggest some of the wild shrub-
bery that ought to be left. They built houses and began
so-called improvements by cutting out all wild shrubs and
trees, leaving only a few trees, which they trimmed up
from the ground. Still farther west on the road under con-
sideration a pathmaster has several times cut all the young
trees and shrubbery, excepting a few nearly in line by the
fence. He even cut down some of the largest and finest
trees a foot or more in diameter because they were not near
enough to the line to suit him.

In planting trees for streets I should first seek some
native species, taking care to place each in soil suited for
its best development. Once in a while a stubborn planter
will persist in a straight row of Sugar Maples, and by so
doing the streets become an object-lesson, as they should.
It is well enough to plant trees thickly along the street,
but the trouble begins when half or two-thirds of them
should be removed to give the others room to make fine
specimens. Not one man in a thousand has the foresight
and the nerve to take out some of the pretty young trees
before all become crowded, slim and unsightly. Then it
is usually too late, and all are left to struggle with each

her.
en W. J. Beal.

Agricultural College, Mich.

Opuntia arborescens in the South-west.

HIS large Cactus, the Tasajo of the Mexicans, which

grows to beatree on the Tucson plains (see fig. 1, p. 5),
was among the first of these plants described from the south-
west. It was brought back, with a number of other inter-
esting Cacti, by Dr. A. Wislizenus, from his tour to Mexico
in 1846 and 1847. His plants were entrusted to Dr. George
Engelmann that he might study and describe the many
novelties included in them ; and since its discovery it has
been cultivated by Cactus-growers, but it is not as popular
as many of the smaller and more compact species.

This Cactus has a much more extended range than any
other of our cylindrical Opuntias. It is found to some
extent on the mountains and high plains of western Texas ;
extends northward into Colorado to the head-waters of the
Arkansas and Platte rivers; westward to south central
Arizona, and southward far into Mexico.

Although it has frequently been reported from the plains
of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, in this
Territory it does not occur north of the great rim which
separates the northern plateau from the southern plains.
Throughout northern Arizona its place is occupied by the
smaller, but closely related, Opuntia Whipplei, which ex-
tends west nearly to California and east into New Mexico.

ee oats ea aa

' where it is mingled with O. arborescens.

JANUARY 1, 1896.] ©

A plant, much larger than O. Whipplei, was found a num-
ber of years ago by Dr. Schott south of the Gila River,
extending to Tucson. Dr. Engelmann considered this
plant a variety of O. Whipplei (O. Whipplei spinosior).
As before stated, O. Whipplei has a very limited range, and
is confined to the southern portion of the Colorado plateau
at elevations of from 5,000 to 7,000 feet. The so-called
variety is confined to the low southern plains, growing
at elevations of from 1,500 to 3,000 feet above the sea,
After extended
field observations, I conclude that O. Whipplei spinosior
is much more closely related to O. arborescens than to the

- more northern plant, and may more properly be considered

a variety of that species.

Opuntia Whipplei is readily distinguished from related
species by its usually small size; subprostrate habit of
growth ; numerous, erect, small, elongated branches, glis-
tening, white, loose spine-sheaths, and small, densely tuber-
culated, sweetish fruit, which does not turn yellow on
ripening, but late in fall withers and dries on the plants.
On the other hand, it is almost impossible to separate the
southern variety from QO. arborescens. Both are large,
upright, loosely branched plants, with distinct trunks, fre-
quently ten to twelve inches in diameter. The branches
are horizontal or pendulous and arranged in whorls. When
fully ripened the fruits of both are yellow and well-filled
with juice. The seeds are numerous, dark-colored when
moist, but becoming white on drying.

The greatest distinction seems to be in the flowers, but
here there is so much variation no specific distinction can
be drawn. ‘The large magenta-colored flowers of Opuntia
arborescens usually have numerous broadly obovate petals,
while in the other plant the petals are fewer, much nar-
rower and acute at the apex. - The flowers of the latter vary
in color from greenish yellow, as in O. Whipplei, to pink,
purple and magenta. It is possible to find plants showing
all of these variations only a few rods apart, and even flow-

ers on the same plant show considerable variation.

The flowers of Opuntia arborescens appear in this lo-
cality during April and May, remain open for two or three
days, and are fertilized mostly by bees. These insects,
attracted to the flower, enter between the style and sta-
mens, passing down to the base of the style to get the
nectar. The numerous sensitive stamens immediately
bend forward toward the style, closing over the insect and
hiding it from view. It necessitates quite an effort on the
part of the insect to escape, but it finally forces its way
from beneath the stamens and climbs to the top of the
slightly elongated stigma, whence it makes its escape,
thoroughly dusted with the pollen from the numerous
stamens. Ina few minutes the stamens assume their nor-
mal condition and the flower is ready for the reception of
other insects. I have frequently seen as many as three
honeybees enclosed in a single flower.

The twenty to thirty pulvilli on the ovary are at first
armed with a number of slender spines which are decidu-
ous in December as the fruit begins to turn yellow.
Throughout the summer the tubercles on the ovary are
very prominent, but as the fruit ripens it increases consid-
erably in size, becomes much more succulent, and as a
result the tubercles are no longer prominent. The fully
matured fruit is frequently two inches long and one and a
half inches thick. After ripening the fruit remains on the
plant through the winter and sometimes through the next
summer. The persistency with which the ripened fruit
hangs to the plant gives rise to the popular idea that the
fruit does not mature until the second year.

Occasionally flowers develop at the pulvilli of a matured
fruit, and other fruits are formed on the old one. In such
cases the fruit is proliferous, but of two seasons’ growth.
Most usually the fruit is clustered at the extremity of the
branches of the previous year’s growth, and during late
summer, autumn and winter the verticillate branches are
pendulous from its weight.

The spines persist for several years, increasing in num-

Garden and Forest. 3

ber each year from the upper end of the pulvillus. The
trunk and large limbs are destitute of spines, but are cov-
ered with a dark brown rough bark in elongated ridges.
The reticulated wood is used to some extent in the man-
ufacture of light furniture, fancy articles, canes, picture-
frames, etc. A factory was established in Salt River Valley
some three years ago for the purpose of manufacturing
articles from this wood. ;
J. W. Toumey.

University of Arizona

Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.

Denprosium Catocyne.—This is the largest-flowered of
the Sarcopodium section of the genus characterized by
short, erect pseudo-bulbs, springing at intervals of two
inches from a stout creeping rhizome and bearing a pair of
leaves, the general appearancesuggesting Bulbophyllum, or,
as in the species under notice, a Ccelogyne. Sir Trevor
Lawrence exhibited a plant of it in flower last Tuesday ;
otherwise I have never seen it in flower since it bloomed
at Kew about seven years ago. Isaw a group of healthy,
recently imported plants of it in the Clapton nurseries of
Messrs. H. Low & Co. a few days ago. The species was
described from a plant flowered by the late Mr. John Day
in 1871. It has pseudo-bulbs two inches long, elliptic-
oblong leathery leaves six inches long and solitary flowers
in which the sepals are lanceolate, the base of the two lat-
eral forming a broad chin; the petals are linear and the
lip is large, fleshy, scoop-shaped and colored deep purple
on the front lobe, pale yellow with purple streaks on the
side lobes, the other parts of the flower being dull yellow
with reddish lines and blotches. In size the flower is about
equal to C. brunnea, but fleshier. The species is a native
of Moulmien.

Denprosium ‘TREACHERIANUM-—This belongs to thy same
section as Dendrobium Ccelogyne, which it resembles in
habit, but the pseudo-bulbs are close together, longer
and angulate, the leaves shorter, and the scape bears from
two to ten flowers, which are two inches long with linear
segments, colored pale rose-purple and a rose and dark
crimson fleshy lip. It was introduced from Borneo in 1881
by Messrs. Low & Co., but is rare in cultivation, probably
owing to the difficulty most cultivators experience in keep-
ing it healthy. Sir Trevor Lawrence is, however, an ex-
ception in this respect, for he exhibited a plant this week
which bore three spikes, carrying twenty flowers, which
was deservedly awarded a first-class certificate and cultural
commendation. A figure of this species was published a
few years ago in Zhe Bolanical Magazine, t. 6591, from a
plant flowered in a hot moist stove at Kew. It was named
by Reichenbach in compliment to Mr. W. H. Treacher, a
government official at that time in Labuan.

Puayus Misumiensis is a handsome species, of which two
examples are now in flower in a warm house at Kew, one
of them being the plant described by Mr. Rolfe two years
ago as a new species under the name of Phajus roseus,
and erroneously stated to be from west tropical Africa (Aew
Bulletin, 1893, p. 6). The other was imported from Calcutta
this year as P. Mishmiensis, and the two are identical.
P. Mishmiensis is a native of Assam, Sikkim and lower
Burma, and has been known to botanists since Lindley’s
time, although only lately introduced. I believe Messrs.
Low & Co. have some recently imported plants of it. In
habit it resembles P. Wallichii, but is smaller ; the scape is
two feet high and bears a dozen flowers, each about one
and a half inches across and colored rose-pink when first
opened, changing to buff before fading. ‘There area few
whitish spots on the lip and a ridge of white hairs down
the centre. It thrives under the same treatment as P.

grandifolius.

Metastoma Marasaturicum.—This is an old garden plant
of considerable beauty which has fallen into general neg-
lect, except in the Edinburgh Botanic Garden, where this
year it formed a pyramid twelve feet high, clothed from top

4 Garden and Forest.

to bottom with mauve-purple flowers two inches across.
It is planted out in a bed of light soil ina sunny position in
a large stove, and it has grown to its present size froma
small plant in about two years, Grown in a pot this plant
is scraggy in habit and flowers only indifferently ; it is
evident, therefore, from the success met with at Edinburgh
that liberal. treatment gives exceptionally good results.
This is equally true of Pleroma (Lasiandra) macrantha,
which, for several months, has been a sheet of flowers in a
sunny greenhouse at Kew, where it is planted out and
trained along wires close to the roof, exactly as if it were a
Gloire de Dijon Rose. Melastoma Malabathricum is a
native of India, where, according to Sir Joseph Hooker, it
is called by the English “Indian Rhododendron,” being
common from sea-level up to 6,000 feet. It is a variable
plant, as is shown by Mr. Bentham, who included under it
no less than twenty-four species of another botanist, Naudin.

Rep-BaRKED WiLtow.—A beautiful winter effect is ob-
tained at Kew by planting this Willow on the margin of
the lake in a conspicuous place, so that the glow of its
shining crimson stems gives warmth of color quite equal
in effect to that produced by the Siberian Dogwood. This
Red Willow is said to be a red form of the common White
Willow, Salix alba. It forms a handsome bush, but to get
the full value of its color in winter it requires to be well
pollarded every spring. It is a first-rate garden plant.
Here it is called Sanguinea.

YELLOW-BARKED WiLLtow.—This is another variety of the
White Willow, and is known at Kew as Salix alba vitellina.
It is used in the same manner as the red-barked variety ; in
fact, the two are planted together, so that the golden yellow
wands of the latter heighten the effect of the red shoots of
Sanguinea.

WuitTE-BARKED Wittow.—This is a variety of Salix
daphnoides which is grown by Mr, A. Waterer in his Knap
Hill nursery as 8. acutifolia. It is remarkable for the white-
flour-like bloom which clothes the stems and makes them
look as if it had been whitewashed. ‘These three Willows
should be in every garden where shrubs are valued.

RrEp-stEMMED Docwoons.—There are several varieties of
Cornus alba which are remarkable for the shining red color
assumed by the bark of the younger shoots in winter. The
best of them is one which at Kew bears the name of C.
alba variegata, the stems of this being as red as sealing-
wax. What is generally grown under the name of C.
Sibirica (really a variety of alba) is a shade or two darker
in color, and therefore less effective. It may not be gen-
erally known that to obtain a plentiful crop of red-barked
shoots on these plants the old stems must be cut out level
with the ground every spring; this induces the develop-
ment of long sucker-stems, and these always asSume a rich
color in winter. The difference between a specimen thus
treated and one left unpruned is so great that they do not
appear to be of the same species. At Kew these Dog-
woods are planted in large masses in open sites on the
lawns, and the color they give all through the winter is
most valuable. They are planted in large round beds, and
among them are placed spring-flowering bulbs with flow-
ers whose colors harmonize with the red of the Dogwoods.
Other red-stemmed Dogwoods grown at Kew are C. amo-
mum, a native of North America, which has purplish
shoots; C. stolonifera, also American, with red-purple
shoots, and C. Baileyi, a Canadian species, with brownish
red bark. This last was figured in Garpen anp Forest,
1890, page 465.

Commerciat Fisres.—The importance of fibre-yielding
plants is shown by the fact that in 1893 the value of raw
fibrous material imported into the United Kingdom alone
was £50,000,000, and of the goods manufactured from this
material £74,000,000. It is also shown by the corre-
spondence conducted at Kew in relation to fibre-yielding
plants, and the information published from thence in the
Kew Bulletin. The Assistant Director, Dr. D. Morris, C.M.G.,
whose experience both at Kew and in the colonies consti-
tutes him an authority upon the subject, has told the whole

[NUMBER 410.

story of commercial fibres in a series of lectures delivered
before the Society of Arts, and since published in an illus-
trated pamphlet ‘of forty-two pages.* The history and
origin of fibre industries, the character and value of the
various fibres, the nature and peculiarities of the plants
that yield them, with other interesting information, are set
forth with that care and thoroughness which characterize
all Dr. Morris’s work. The pamphlet will, therefore, be the
recognized referee upon all fibre questions for some time to

come, and, consequently, it wil! be valued by all who are ~

interested in fibres commercially or botanically. As an
instance of what Kew has done and continues to do in fos-
tering plant industries the following is an example: The
closing of the ports in Madagascar consequent upon the
war with France sent up the price of Raffia bast, hitherto
obtained only from that island. Several species of Raffia
likely to yield a fibre are known to be abundant on the
west coast of Africa. The curators of the botanical sta-
tions in our colonies were therefore advised from Kew to
look into the matter, and, if possible, collect and send
home samples of the fibre from the Palms there. The
result has been the important discovery that Raffia as
valuable commercially as the best hitherto obtained from
Madagascar can be had in any quantity from our posses-

sions in west Africa.
London. W. Watson.

Plant Notes.

CattLeya Trran®.—This noble and most popular of all
Orchids is now in season. Wherever Orchids are grown
it will be seen in its full beauty during the Christmas and
New Year’s season in an infinite number of varieties, from
the costly forms with pure white flowers through all the
delicate shades of blush and rose and crimson. There is
great variety in the coloring of the lip, the throat being
generally yellow or orange, while the apex of the lip is
more or less intensely colored in purple, bright rose, violet
or magenta. This species is becoming more and more
popular every year, and as it is inexpensive and easy of
culture it will, no doubt, soon be one of the most useful of
midwinter flowers. The flowers are lasting and the plant
will keep beautiful in a dwelling-house much longer than
almost any other flowering plant. Orchids will undoubt-
edly be useful as house-plants when they become more
generally known.

HELLEBoRUS NIGER.—The Christmas Rose is the only
hardy herbaceous plant flowering in midwinter, and as
such deserves to be widely known and cultivated. The
buds, as in the case of many other herbaceous plants, are
formed during the preceding summer, ready to. burst into
flower during the earliest warm spell in midwinter. The
flowers open more readily during the Christmas season
if there has been a severe frost during the preceding
months, but even with hardly any frost it is gener-
ally possible to have a rich supply of Christmas Roses
during the holidays. Any failure in this respect is usually
due to a lack of moisture. The freshness and snowy purity
of the large-flowered Christmas Rose, H. niger altifolius, is
unrivaled when forced under glass. Protected against all
destructive winds and droughts in December the buds will
soon swell and develop if the plants are kept moderately
cool and moist and in a sunny position. The foliage and
buds must be kept constantly wet, for if the buds are
allowed to dry but a little, the beauty of the flow-
ers will be marred. This need of moisture explains
why the flowers expand and develop so remarkably well
under the snow. When the warm rays of the sun in Feb-
ruary melt the snow which snugly covers the leaves and
buds, there is a constant moisture which seems to be essen-
tial for the preservation of the leaves and for the unchecked
growth of the buds. All the varieties of H. niger may be
forced, either in pots, when large clumps should be lifted

* William Trounce, Gough Square, Fleet Street, E.C. Price, one shilling,

JANUARY I, 1896.]

and potted in the fall and stowed away in cool frames, or a
frame may be placed over the plants where they grow in
the open ground. Where there are only a few plants hand-
glasses are useful. Plants will flower earlier when potted,
partly because they may be kept more fully under control.
A cool and moist place in a Carnation-house is also a very
good place for forcing Christmas Roses.

Among the varieties Helleborus niger angustifolius is the
smallest as well as the earliest. The flowers of this form
are slightly greenish during the first days, at least, and
gradually assume a reddish tint. This form differs but

Garden and Forest. 5

Cultural Department.

The Garden in Winter.

Dee is the one month in the year when the garden
in this latitude is most nearly at rest. We are apt to think
that our plants are perfectly quiet at this season, when frost
and snow usually prevail, yet a garden is never at rest if
planted with hardy plants and bulbs which flower at different
seasons. The summer rest is, perhaps, the only one many of
the hardy bulbs know. They start into growth when the cool
rains fall in autumn, and it is as natural to many of them to
flower in frosty winter or early spring as for others to bloom in

Fig. 1.—Opuntia arborescens on the Tucson Desert.—See page 2.

slightly in appearance from the type, but the flowers are
smaller. H. niger maximus, or altifolius, is the largest as
well as the purest white of the varieties. It must be re-
membered when the plants are forced for house decoration
that the foliage must be preserved in its full beauty. The
leaves in themselves are very handsome deep glossy green
and of an elegant habit. They contrast beautifully with
the white flowers and form a pleasing background to
them. The calyx, which is the showy part of the
flower, is persistent ; it does not fall, but fades gradually
into a reddish gray as the carpels develop.

summer warmth. Such hardy plants—to speak of the com-
mon ones—as Primulas, Saxifrages, Aralias, Aubrietias, Spanish
Irises, Muscari, Sedums and even Crocuses, show green leaves
all winter, and though these are often prostrated by frost,
a few hours of sunshine starts them up vigorously. Ifa bulb
is in the habit of flowering at a certain time it may be depended
on to start into growth in due season and make constant
progress toward maturity under very adverse conditions. The
energy expended in growth develops warmth, so that even in
a frozen investment there is some progress. It is only solidly
frozen earth which will keep many of the Snowdrops under
ground after this time of year, and they will always appear
after two or three mild days in January. Looking over the

6 Garden and Forest,

garden at Christmastide I found many of them just peeping up,
forced by an unseasonable spell of mild weather. It would be
interesting to know by what peculiararrangement the leaves and
flowers of these and many other plants are enabled to pass
through such trying temperatures without disruption of their
cells orapparentinjury. Another interesting thing in the garden
in winteristhe germination of the various seeds which have fallen
or have been sown. Scilla seeds were germinating the other
day, and no doubt I should have found seedlings of Snowdrops
had I looked for them, and, perhaps, of other plants which
start under slight encouragement of warmth at this season.
One of the primary lessons that the experimenter in hardy
plants learns is that seeds of many of them have peculiar habits
of germination difficult to tabulate. Some seeds, as those of
Hollyhocks, will sometimes germinate on the plant in wet
weather, and others germinate quickly enough, but a large
majority require a certain seasoning and cannot be made to
start without it, even though apparently well ripened. This
is one of nature's little devices to perpetuate the species
by deferring the germination to a fitting season, and we can-
not always make haste even when we have fresh seeds at hand.
Such seed the plantsman buries in earth or stratifies for such
time as may be necessary for its ripening ; if, in the mean
time, it is frozen up a few times, it receives a quickening. The
growing of seedlings is a fascinating pursuit too little appre-
le impatient gardeners.
laters ST. 7 F. N. Gerard.

Plants for Winter-blooming.

| i eee il FULGENS is among the most beautiful of
winter-flowering plants, and its long wreaths of brilliant
scarlet flowers are effective for conservatory and house deco-
ration. Although considered a difficult plant to establish, we
have been fortunate enough to secure the conditions neces-
sary for its successful cultivation. It is a subshrubby peren-
nial which may either be pruned annually and grown on from
year to year into large specimens or be grown from cuttings
every year. The plan of annually raising new stock is gen-
erally the better one, and only where the proper conditions
can be provided in partial rest from water during the latter
part of the flowering season and during winter should old
plants be grown on. These old plants are especially suited for
training on pillars, rafters and walls and for conservatory
decoration, and used in this way no more effective plants
could be chosen,

Soft cuttings are taken with a heel, and placed at once ina
propagating-bed with a bottom temperature of sixty-five de-
grees, Fahrenheit. They will be rooted in about thirty days,
and then are potted into thumb-pots in light soil, with some
charcoal for drainage. As they are needed they should be
shifted, without disturbing the roots, into four, and ultimately
into six, inch pots, in which size they bloom. We give them
manure-water frequently during the summer. The plants
grow luxuriantly, and before the flowering season they are
very much pot-bound, a fact to which our success is probably
due. A gardener of my acquaintance considers October a
critical month in the cultivation of this Euphorbia, as his plants
generally fall at this time. Although he is careful, he thinks
his loss due to overwatering, perhaps once only ata time when
the nights are cool and before fire-heat is in general use.
Upon turning out several pots to show the condition of the
roots we found all the feeders dead. With regard to fire-heat
his experience and mine are the same, but my plants, being
pot-bound, were in less danger of injury from overwatering.
They are now well rooted through the pots into a gravel-bed,
getting about all the moisture they need in this way.

A plant of Daphne Indica is enough to fill a large conserva-
tory with its pertume. It is ungainly, not easy to grow, and
difficult to propagate from cuttings, which may in a measure
account for its comparative rarity. The practice of grafting
D. Indica and other greenhouse species does not seem to be
generally adopted in this country, owing probably to the diffi-
culty of obtaining good hardy stocks. D. Mezereum, the prin-
cipal species used in European countries, is doubtfully hardy
here. The usual plan when propagating from cuttings is to
take matured side shoots in the autumn and place them in pots
in acool greenhouse to callous over winter. In spring they
are started in a gentle heat, and may be expected to root in
four to six weeks. I have not, however, succeeded well by
this plan, and last spring I tried taking half-matured shoots
with a heel, and placing them in an ordinary propagating bed,
without bottom-heat. They all calloused and some were
rooted in two months; all were then potted into three-inch
pots ina mixture of loam and peat and a little sand, with some
charcoal for drainage, and they are now bushy little plants

[NUMBER 410.

about eight inches tall, and most of them have matured a
small umbel of bloom,

Libonia Penrhosiensis is a handsome evergreen winter-
blooming subshrub, a hybrid between the well-kuown L. flori-
bunda and Jacobinia (Sericographis) Gheisbreghtiana. Grown
every year from cuttings taken early in spring and planted
outdoors tor the summer, the plants make neat little bushes
about a foot in diameter and a foot high, which can easily be
lifted and potted into six-inch pots. The flowers are tubular,
orange red, about an inch long, slightly labiate, and horizon-
tally exserted in small panicles from the axils of opposite
leaves. They are produced successively, and in sufficient
numbers to make the plants effective and at the same time
never untidy fora month or more; and when out of bloom
these handsome little bushes of refreshing green are still

serviceable.
Wellesley, Mass. LD: Hatfield.

Palm Notes.

Hydriastele Wendlandiana.—This rare and beautiful Palm is
rare in this country. It is a tall and slender Australian spe-
cies, with stems somewhat resembling those of Seaforthia
elegans, but more slender, with regular ringed nodes. The
stem, which under greenhouse cultivation is sometimes
seen as high as ten or fifteen feet, carries a leafy crown of
long, spreading, pinnate leaflets, with from twenty to thirty
pinne, sometimes over a foot long, those of the apex confluent
at the base and very irregular, with a square-cut ragged and
toothed apex and slender petioles, sheathing at the base. This
is a moisture-loving tropical Palm of great value for small con--
servatories, and one of the small Palms that ought to be intro-
duced and grown more commonly. The pots should be com-
paratively small and well drained, the soil rich and fibrous,
and during summer too much water can hardly be given.
The species thrives best in a deep shady and warm position. In
direct sunlight the leaves always become stunted and dis-
figured. Seeds are hard to obtain, but germinate readily when
fresh.

Astrocaryum argenteum.—This ornamental Palm isa native of
the tropical valleys of the United States of Colombia and neigh-
boring countries. It has a distinct and peculiar beauty, with
leafy crowns of silvery foliage and numerous black needle-like
spines, very long and exceedingly fine and sharp. The leaves
are wedge-shaped, pinnate and closely set at the apex of the
stem. The lower pinne are comparatively narrow and dis-
tant, while the upper ones, especially in small specimens, are
very broad and confluent, with a torn and toothed apex. While
the upper surface is bright green, the lower side is covered
with a silvery tomentum which makes the species highly orna-
mental. Specimens grown in conservatories and greenhouses
are generally seen ina stemless condition, with bushy crowns
about twice as wide as high, owing to the almost horizontal
position of the leaves. Like most silvery plants, these Palms
grow in the full glare of the sun, often in apparently dry and
barren positions. Under cultivation they will thrive anywhere
in a moderate shade or ina quite sunny position. They are
of easy culture, doing well under ordinary treatment with mod-
erate heat and moisture.

Triartia Bungerothii—Sometimes when growing in moist
places Palms assume a peculiar and curious habit. The stem,
which from the first grows upward, is very slender, almost
thread-like, and consequently unable to support the great
weight of the plant in a more mature state, but as the plant
increases in size adventitious roots are formed from the stem ;
like strong and slender buttresses, these support the stem high
in the air. As the Palm increases in size stronger roots are
thrown out for support. T. Bungerothii is the most beautiful
example of this type. It is a rather small Palm with a stem
one or two inches in diameter, and, as seen in greenhouses,
from four to six feet high, smooth and polished. The leaves
are pinnate, with very broad, wedge-shaped pinne, irregu-
larly disposed along the slender rhachis and obliquely cut and
ragged on the edges. The leaves are beautifully green and
shining. Lateral roots at first very slender ; later on often half
an inch in diameter, not unlike the well-known adventitious
roots of a Screw Pine. This species will thrive in ordinary
rich and fibrous soil in a half-shady position and an average
temperature of seventy degrees.

Latania Commersonii.—This species is often grown in con-
servatories and greenhouses under the name of Latania rubra.
It is one of the most beautiful and ornamental of all fan-leaved
Palms, and a native of Mauritius. The leaves are spreading,
eighteen inches to two feet in length, as commonly seen in
cultivation, with from fifteen to thirty long and slender wedge-

JANUARY I, 1896.]

shaped segments finely toothed at the edge and bordered with
a narrow band of a reddish color. The slender petiole is but
slightly longer than the blade and of a reddish chocolate hue.
L. Commersonii is a dwarf species of elegant habit and de-
sirable for all decorative purposes. As a small plant it is more
graceful than Livistona Sinensis, but of a duller coloring. In
conservatories and greenhouses it is thus far very rare, being
found only in some of the larger establishments. Rich fibrous
loam, with an addition of leaf-mold, well-decayed manure and
sand, forms an excellent compost. The drainage must be
good, and during summer an abundant watering is necessary,
as well as frequent sprayings. Although a tropical Palm, it
will do well inany warm greenhouse in a half-shady position.

Chamerops stauracantha.—This picturesque and graceful
Palm has large palmate leaves divided into four to eight broad
linear segments one foot or more long of a very dark green
color. The petioles are very slender, not unlike the petioles of
the well-known Thrinax, and about twice as long as the blade.
The stem is covered with thin fibrous sheaths and protected at
the base with enormous-branched spines of a needle-like sharp-
ness. Leaves, in ordinary greenhouse specimens, are from
eight to fifteen. This Palm is quite unlike the common types of
Chameerops in foliage and habit. Itis of astriking and unique
beauty, and as it requires no special treatment deserves to be
more generally grown. As yet itis very rare and expensive.
It thrives best in a partial shade, and with ordinary greenhouse

treatment in any rich and fibrous soil.
Newark, N. J. Y NV. Fen Rose.

Asparagus Culture for City and Village Lots.

PN OPARAGUS, considered as a vegetable, has some pecu-
liarities which distinguish it from other plants of the
kitchen garden. The growing plant is very beautiful. Its
feathery masses of graceful foliage, its peculiar shade of green
in summer, the bright red berries contrasted with the rich
yellow of the maturing plant in the autumn, make it well
worthy of a place among ornamental plants, particularly in the
shrubbery border. In cultivation the plant is injured rather
than benefited by frequent stirring of the soil; all it asks is
abundant room, not less than five feet square to each plant,
and liberal feeding. It takes time to establish itself, but when
this is well done a little care and free manuring each year will
keep it permanently and enormously productive, a single plant
under the Argenteuil system of cultivation having furnished
thirty-seven pounds of the choicest asparagus in a season.
The beauty, the ease of culture, the permanency and pro-
ductiveness of the plants, and the fact that asparagus, even
more than most vegetables, should be used when perfectly fresh
—should be cut and cooked the same hour—warrant the culti-
vation of this plant in places where the attempt to grow other
vegetables might not be wise. A few plants can be introduced
with good effect in highly kept pleasure-grounds. A few can
be set in the corner of the fence or beside the shed in places
too contracted to warrant the attempt to have a garden of any
kind. In fact, there are very few town and village places that
could not easily furnish the family with an abundant supply of
this vegetable at a trifling expenditure of labor, and without
detracting from the beauty or usefulness of the grounds. As
a guide to those who may wish to undertake asparagus cul-
ture in the way suggested, I give the cultural methods fol-
lowed in the Argenteuil district of France, which has the repu-
tation of producing the finest asparagus in the world. A
considerable proportion of that grown there is the product,
not of Asparagus farms, or even of fields and beds, but of sin-
gle plants or clumps standing by themselves, or in groups of
from five to twenty scattered here and there in any open space
that may chance to be left in corners or between trees and
buildings. Wherever there is an unused bit of ground five
feet in diameter, which is not in dense shade or liable to be
covered with water, there the Argenteuil gardener sticks in
a plant, gives it good care, and is well repaid for his labor.
The method of cultivation is simple. The spot is put in
good tilth and made moderately rich; a vigorous plant is care-
fully set out so that its crown will be about four inches below
the surface-level; weeds are kept down by shallow surface
cultivation, and in the fall, after the tops are fully matured
and dead, the surface for a circle of five feet in diameter is
covered with rich and well-rotted manure. As early in the
spring as possible this manure is well-forked into the surface,
and the starting weeds kept down by shallow hoeing until the
plant has made sufficient growth to take care of itself. The
third season the treatment is the same as in the second, espe-
cial care being taken to take out any seedling Asparagus-
plants which may spring up, they being treated as the worst

Garden and Forest. 7

of weeds. The fourth season the harvest commences, though
if the plants have made a good growth a few cuttings are made
the third year, but it is considered better practice to wait. until
the fourth, in order that the plants may become well estab-
lished. The manure is spaded in as early in the season as
possible, and as soon as the first shoots appear at the surface
the soil is heaped over the crown of the plant in a mound
about a foot high, which serves to blanch the growing shoots.
In gathering, the shoots are broken as far as possible below
the surface. The covering soil being friable from its abundant
manuring enables one to secure much longer shoots than if it
were level. Care is taken to remove all the shoots at each
picking and not to prolong the season farinto the hot weather,
so that the plants may have a chance to make a good growth
in preparation for the next season’s crop. At the close of the
season the mound of earth is leveled with the surface, and
about two quarts of fresh wood-ashes and a handful of salt are
scattered: about each plant and hoed into the surface. The
treatment given the fourth year is repeated, and the shoots
gain in number and size as the plant increases in age.
Detroit, Mich. Will W. Tracy.

Correspondence.

Class Work in Horticulture at Cornell.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—You have said so much in recent numbers on the sub-
ject of horticultural education that I make bold to send you
a brief account of certain class work as it is now conducted
in this university. Course No.1 in horticulture is a term’s
work in “The Evolution of Cultivated Plants.” Necessarily,
much of the discussion turns upon the general theories of
evolution and a sweeping conspectus taken of the natural his-
tory of the plant-world, The course consists of lectures, but
the following account of the incidental work will show some-
thing of the scope of instruction. This may be of interest,
because we are told that no attempt exactly like it has hereto-
fore been made in this country, and, perhaps, in the world, to
apply current philosophical speculations to horticulture,

Aside from the regular class work, the. students were called
upon during the term for two original essays, one upon the
subject, ‘‘Expound the Philosophies known as Lamarckism,
Darwinism and Neo-Darwinism,” and the other, ‘‘Why Do
Plants Vary?’ Each student was also obliged to read and
assimilate chapter iii. of Wallace’s Darwinism; Weismann’s
original essay on Heredity ; a chapter of Cope’s Orfgin of the
Fittest; two chapters of Herbert Spencer's Principles of
Biology; chapter xv. of Darwin’s Origin of Species; Gray's
essay on The Flora of Japan. These exercises were selected
in order to acquaint the student with some of the leading
types of philosophical writing. The final examination com-
prised the following questions :

(1) What do you understand by the term evolution as techni-
cally used at the present time? (2) Name five reasons for the
belief in organic evolution. (3) What are the dominant causes
of the variation of plants? (4) In what directions does climate
modify plants? (5) What is Neo-Darwinism? (6) Explain
how bud variation is possible. (7) What, if anything, is the
philosophy of pruning? (8) Expound the one chief agency

which man can employ in the amelioration of plants. (9) Why
does nature cross plants? (10) To what extent has agriculture
modified plants ?

Student,

Cornell University.

Notes from Southern California.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :

Sir,—There are two species of Bouganvillea in cultivation
here, which are extremely showy. One under the name of B.
glabra, with very bright bracts, produced in great abundance
through the summer and sparingly in winter, so that itis never
without flowers. I havea specimen of B. glabra, as known in
eastern greenhouses, which is not worth growing compared
with the other, its bracts being a dingy rose-color and the plant
flowering only once in the year. Both have smooth foliage. If
the plant I speak of is B. glabra Ishould be pleased to know the

correct name of the former. B. spectabilis, with bracts of
rich crimson magenta, usually flowers from February to April.
For some reason it has been in bloom with me during the past
three months. This has pubescent leaves and bracts rather
larger than the other.

Another climber which has been flowering out of season is
Bignonia venusta. It bloomed in some gardens during Octo-
ber and November, its usual season being January to March.

8 Garden and Forest.

We have no more showy winter-flowering vine than this. Last
February I saw one vine which covered a large portion of the
roof of a carriage-house with a mass of its brilliant orange
flowers. During November Dahlia imperialis gave us much
pleasure. A plant eight feet high, with a panicle of large,
drooping white bell-shaped flowers at the top, appears more
like a ‘ree Lily thana Dahlia. It flowers too late for open-air
cultivation in the east, but it might be grown in tubs and re-
moved to the greenhouse before frost. It would make a fine
companion to Chrysanthemums at the fall exhibitions, Poin-
settias are now in their glory, with dozens of fine heads upon
a single plant, producing a blaze of scarlet color, Lucula
gratissima is just passing out of flower with me. Its large,
hydrangea-like trusses of pink flowers, with a rich fragrance
somewhat resembling Apple-blossoms, make it a most desir-
able plant.

Among the wild flowers here there is no absolute pause in
the season of bloom. Though there has not been rain enough
to permeate the soil since last March and the hills are brown,
yet ina walk of half a mile I have just gathered seven species
of wild flowers.

A new society has just been organized in Los Angeles, its
principal object being the establishment of a botanical garden.
It has, therefore, chosen the name of ‘ Botanical Society.”
The use of several acres of land within the limits of our largest
public park has been granted to the society for this purpose.
Flower shows will also be held under its auspices.

Los Angeles, Calif. Edmund D. Sturtevant,

Poisoning Plants.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—Plant physiologists tell us that the roots of plants have
little or no power of selecting their food and can be poisoned
like animals. Lindley further states that substances which are
poisonous to animals will prove poisonous to plants. In order
to put these questions to a practical test certain experiments
have been conducted by Mr. R. A. Emerson, a student in the
horticultural department of this university. Solutions were
made in ordinary city water with alcohol in the proportions of
1 to 20, I t0 100, 1 10 1,000, I to 10,000; corrosive sublimate, I to100,
I to 1,000, I to 10,000; pure sulphuric acid in the same propor-
tions; aconite, powdered extract of root, I to 1,000 and I to
10,000 ; white powdered arsenic, I to 1,000 and I to 10,000, and
strychnine and crystalline sulphate, 1 to 1,000 and I to 10,000.

Twenty water cultures were made, each containing one Bean
and one Corn plant, which were started in soil three weeks
before, and when transferred to the water solutions were
four to five inches high and well rooted. For these cultures
six-inch pots, holding about three pints each, were used, being
painted outside and the hole in the bottom stopped with plas-
ter of Paris. In addition to cultures in each of the sixteen solu-
tions already mentioned, four were made in. ordinary city
water to serve as a check upon the others. Similar plants were
also pottedin soil and watered with each of the solutions used
for water cultures. All were watered at once and whenever
the majority seemed to need it, one of these solutions being
used instead of clear water, except in the case of check plants.

The behavior of the plants under these different conditions
was as follows :

In the 1 to 20 solution of alcohol: Both the Bean and Corn
plant in the water culture wilted slightly within two days, but
had nearly revived two days later. At the end of ten days the
Corn was nearly dead, and wholly so at the end of two weeks.
The Bean was alive after three weeks, but dead in four weeks.
In the soil cultures watered with this solution the plantsshowed
no-effect at first, but the Bean failed to produce flowers, like
most of the others. The Corn plant died within three weeks,
but at the end of four weeks the Bean was still alive and
slightly improved in appearance. In the weaker solutions no
effect was noticeable under either method of culture. Being
in open vessels the alcohol doubtless evaporated somewhat
from these solutions, which were renewed about once a
week.

In the one per cent. solution of corrosive sublimate in water
cultures both plants were dead within two days, the Bean being
bleached to the very tips of the leaves. In soil both were
badly wilted at the end of two days and were dead in less than
a week, the Bean dying first. In the solution one-tenth as
strong, in water cultures, both plants were wilted within two
days and dead within a week. In soil the plants were not visi-
bly affected even at the end of four weeks. In the weakest
solution, in water cultures, the plants wilted in a few days, but
were both alive at the end of four weeks, though very light-

[NUMBER 410.

colored and not much larger than when placed in the cultures,
No visible effect was produced on the plants in the soil.

In the one per cent. solution of sulphuric acid, in water cul-
tures, both the Bean and Corn were wilted in two days and
dead in four days, the Bean-stalk being bleached. In soil the
Corn was not as large as in untreated soil, but showed no indi-
cation of dying at any time during the experiment. In the
next solution at the end of two days the Bean in water culture
was badly wilted and dead in four days. The Corn was slightly
wilted in two days and dead in ten days. No visible effect was
produced on the soil cultures. In the weakest solution no visi-
ble effect on soil cultures, and the water cultures only slightly
less vigorous than those in pure city water.

In the solution of arsenic (one-tenth of one per cent), the
plants in water were wilted in one day and both were dead at
the end of two days, but no apparent effect was produced upon
those in soil. In the weakest solution the plants in water were
badly wilted after two days, but lived for some time. At the
end of four weeks the Bean was dead and the Corn light-col-
ored and not growing. In soil the Corn was smaller at the
close than that under ordinary conditions, but its color was
good.

In the aconite solution (1 to 1,000) both plants in water were
wilted in one day, and continued so during the second day,
but at the end of four days had revived. Plants in soil were
not affected. All the plants continued their growth during the
four weeks that the experiment lasted, the Beans blossoming
and forming pods the same as those treated with city water.
In the weak solution of aconite results were precisely the same.

In the strychnine solution (1 to 1,000) both plants in water
wilted ina day. The Bean was badly wilted the second day,
and died within three weeks. The Corn soon revived, and at
the end of four weeks was nearly as vigorous as that in city
water. In soil cultures the plants were not affected. Plants
treated with the weak solution behaved exactly the same as
those treated with aconite. :

Plants in the aconite and strychnine solutions wilted even
sooner than those in corrosive sublimate and arsenic, but,
with one exception, revived in four days, while the latter were
dead in two days. Additional plants taken from city water
and placed in aconite and strychnine cultures after the first
plants had revived did not wilt.

The experiments seem to suggest the following conclusions :

I, Irritant poisons, such as arsenic, corrosive sublimate and
sulphuric acid, kill plants in water cultures in a very short
time, except in .or per cent, solutions, and in such solutions
plants were less vigorous than in city water.

2. The neurotic poisons, alcohol, aconite and strychnine,
killed no plants, with the exception of the very strong solution
of alcohol, and one plant treated with strychnine.

3. All the poisons used, except alcohol, affected Beans more
quickly and more severely than Corn. Alcohol, on the con-
trary, affected Corn more than Beans.

4. The poisons produced much greater effects in water than
in soil cultures.

The strongest solutions of aconite and strychnine contained
only one-tenth of one per cent.; hence it is possible that a
stronger solution might have a different effect, yet the same
strength of arsenic and corrosive sublimate killed plants very
quickly. These results are more striking when it is remem-
bered that from twenty to forty times as much arsenic or cor-
rosive sublimate is required to prove fatal to animals as of
strychnine sulphate. The irritant or corrosive poisons, how-
ever, attack and decompose tissue ; hence may be expected to
injure plants as well as animals. The neurotic poisons, on
the other hand, effect only the nerves of animals, and are,

therefore, less likely to injure plants.
Agricultural College, Lincoln, Neb. fF. W. Card.

Meetings of Societies.
Meeting of the lowa State Horticultural Society.

‘THE thirtieth annual meeting of the Iowa State Horticul-
tural Society, which met in Des Moines on December roth,
was largely devoted to fruit-growing. The subject of Plums
received much attention. The opinion prevailed that the
most profitable varieties for lowa are those belonging to the
Americana and Chickasaw types. Mr. Silas Wilson, of Atlantic,
said: “It may be interesting to many of our people to know
that many of the Americana and Chickasaw varieties of plums
have sold in the markets of Denver and Salt Lake City in com-
petition with domestica varieties, bringing fifty to sixty cents a
peck, while those of European origin were begging at twenty-
five to thirty cents a peck. There can be no question about

JANUARY I, 1896.]

the value of the Americana and Chickasaw varieties for culi-
nary purposes as compared with those of the domestica type.”
Of the Americana type he placed Wyant first because of its
productiveness and quality; Hawkeye second, a fine large
plum of good quality, which produces a better tree than
Wyant. He also considered the De Soto, Forest Garden,
Rockford and Wolf excellent. Of the Chickasaws, Milton
should be placed first, the earliest of all of our native plums,
ripening at Atlantic July roth. Second place should be given
to Charles Downing ; quality excellent, a good keeper, with a
fine color. Of European plums, the Tutge, a seedling that
originated in Benton County, Iowa; the Communia, originated
in north-east Iowa, has been before the public a much longer
time. Mr. Wilson insisted that in order to grow good large
plums of the native sorts there should be little fear of giving
too high cultivation or too much manure, as no fruits seem to
respond more readily to high feeding than our native Plums.

Mr. H. A. Terry, of Crescent City, in a paper on ‘ Propaga-
tion of Plums,” considers the Hawkeye, De Soto, Hammer,
Wolf and Wyant best of the Americanas ; Milton and Charles
Downing best of the Chickasaws. An extensive grower of
commercial Plums, J. G. Berryhill, of Des Moines, thought the
season of plums could be prolonged by introducing the Japan
varieties ; some of those now grown in Iowa do not mature
their wood ; in fact, these are still experimental in lowa. They
are good growers and produce good fruit. He considers the
Miner a most profitable Plum, but it will not bear if planted by
itself. It needs to be associated with some good pollen bearer,
like Forest Garden or Wyant. C. L. Watrous also testified to
the superiority for Iowa, at least, of our native Plums over the
foreign kinds. C.G. Brackett, as director of state horticul-
tural experiment stations, found that foreign kinds met with
little favor at most of the experiment stations. They are sub-
ject to black-knot and bear but little.

Of Grapes, the old varieties, Concord, Worden and Moore’s
Early, still meet with most favor. Mr. Elmer Reeves stated
that the best general-purpose grape is the Worden. He
thought, however, that in the state of Iowa more money can
be made in growing cherries and strawberries than by grow-
ing grapes of any variety. Mr. M. J. Wragg estimated the
net profit from an acre of Grapes in six years at $140, while the
net profit from an acre of Cherries the same length of time
was estimated at $1,087. The best Cherries for commercial
orcharding in Iowa are Early Richmond, English Morello,
Dyrhouse. Of the Russians, Cerisede, Ostheim, Bessarabia,
Brusslar Braun have met with most favor, especially in north
Iowa.

The subject of Top-grafting the Apple in Commercial
Orchards was considered by William Bomberger. It is a well-
demonstrated fact that the hardiness of variety may be very
materially advanced by top-working. R. P. Speer, of this so-
ciety, has strongly advocated this method for several years.
The Ben Davis, Arkansas Black, Jonathan, Grimes’ Golden,
Fameuse, not hardy in central or northern Iowa, are produc-
tive, and withstand natural influences much better when top-
worked on Duchess, Hibernal, Virginia Crab or Tetofsky.
Account must be taken of the growth of the variety which is
top-worked. Mr. Bomberger says, ‘In producing the trees it
would be best to confine operations principally to the Virginia
Crab, but on light prairie soil Haas is good, and to it could be
added the Duchess to work slow-growing varieties upon, as
Red June, Early Joe, Wealthy, and for moderate growers
Benoni, Dyer.” He advocated the use of top-working in town
lots that will admit of but few trees. The entire fall list could
be on one tree, as Wealthy, Haas, Snow; the summer list could
be grown on another tree, as Duchess, Red June, Sweet June,
Benoni ; the winter list on another, as Ben Davis, Jonathan,
Grimes’ Golden and Janet. A pleasing lot of combinations
can be made, not only in regard to color but flavor and
time of ripening.

Professor J. L. Budd, in a paper on The Management of our
Hill Soils, said the tree rows or small fruit-rows should run at
right angles to the slope of the hill. Hence the rows may be
straight or curved, depending on the character of the slope.
Hill land may so vary in slope that the rows may be straight at
one point and curved at another. The cultivation is all inone
direction. If the slope is quite abrupt, Currant or Gooseberry
bushes can be planted between the rows to form a network of
roots to prevent the water of heavy rains from breaking
through the ridges. In south-east France this is called ‘‘ zone
planting.” While it may not be necessary in many parts of
Ohio to practice zone planting, the writer said it could be
used with advantage on the Missouri slope, and more attention
should be given to it so that moisture and fertilizing elements
can be saved. In his annual report he referred to the unusual

Garden and Forest.

drought conditions and its effects upon the quality of the
fruit, as follows: ‘Over the state, and, indeed, over all the
prairie states, where the fruit was not destroyed by the May
freeze, all orchard fruits set a full crop. But at picking-time

-the size and perfection of the fruit were varied bysoils and sub-

soils to an extent not before observed. Trees standing on
porous soils and subsoils down to the water-level gave crops
of large and perfect fruit with unusual high color, but they
did not keep as usual, unless they were picked early.” Buton
soils underlaid with blue clay or hardpan too near the sur-
face, Cherry and Plum trees showed more or less imperfec-
tion of foliage, and the fruit was smalland imperfect.

Professor Herbert Osborn, in a paper on Spraying in Theory
and Practice, said that kerosene emulsion can be used in con-
densed form in winter for scale insects, and the possibility of
the invasion of the San José scale should lead all orchard dis-
tricts to be prepared to meet it. Professor Pammel’s paper
treated of botanists and botanical discoveries of the last decade.
He said that horticulturists have been specially benefited by the
study of fungous diseases and the discovery of effective germ
killers. They have also been greatly benefited by the dis-
covery of such botanical facts as the appropriation of atmos-
pheric nitrogen by leguminous plants.

Recent Publications.

Window and Parlor Gardening. By N. Jénsson Rose.
With illustrations by the author. Charles Scribner’s Sons.

This neat little volume is correctly described in its sub-
title as a guide for the selection, propagation and care of
house-plants—a subject well worth a handbook, since it is
perfectly true, as the author states, that the practice of
growing plants in windows and apartments is one of the
most rational and instructive of home amusements. Many
people undertake to grow house-plants, and the fact that a
large proportion of them make discouraging failures is
proof that some plain instruction is needed in the princi-
ples which underlie success in the art. Mr. Rose’s book
begins with a few pages on plant physiology, with instruc-
tive illustrations, and then follow chapters on the various
appliances needed, on the methods of growing plants from
seed and from cuttings, with full directions for giving
proper supplies of water, light and air. Then follows a
list of the plants which will thrive best in living-rooms,
with a description of their appearance and habits and
special needs. The reader will find here many plants
which are rarely seen in windows, but which will thrive as
well as a Geranium; indeed, one of the most useful fea-
tures of the book is this invitation to test unknown or
neglected plants for windows, for the trial of new things
will give a zest to the pursuit that nothing else can furnish.
The cultural directions are plain and judicious, and they
have evidently been prepared by one who has experience
and who writes out of the abundance of experimental
knowledge. Very rarely does a book of this size contain
so much direct and helpful instruction, and, no doubt, its
neatly printed and well-illustrated pages will help to make
many a home more pleasant and cheerful.

Notes.

The California Wine-makers’ Association have sold eighty-
five per cent. of the dry wine of the present year’s crop at
prices which yield a good profit to the growers. This is the
first time for years that there has been a combination between
the makers of wine and the growers of grapes, and the result
isa profit for all and the avoidance of glutted markets.

Gilbert White writes in The Natural History of Selborne
that when timbers were wanted to repair the bridge at the Toy,
near Hampton Court, there were found in a small wood in Sel-
borne, consisting of a few—we wish he had told just how many
—acres, twenty Oak-trees of the dimensions called for, namely,
fifty feet long and twelve inches in diameter at the little end.
Indeed, several of them were found to answer the description
at sixty feetlong. The trees were cut probably about 1745, and
it is interesting to know that a century anda half ago Oaks of
this size were sold at twenty pounds apiece.

Dandelions were opening on the sheltered lawns in the parks
and gardens of this city wherever the sun shone on Christmas

Io Garden and Forest.

and several days during the holiday week. Of course, Chick-
weed, which is another immigrant, was showing its white
flowers, but it does this almost any day in winter when the
thermometer is above the freezing point where it is in a
sheltered and sunny position and is not covered with snow.
During the past week, however, the flowers have been unusu-
ally abundant, the bright green foliage of the prostrate stems
being starred all over with little white blossoms which look so
delicately beautiful that one almost forgets that the plant is
a disagreeable weed.

Several varieties of the European Chestnut have come into
cultivation in this country during the past few years, among
them the Numbo, which is sometimes said to be an offspring
of our native Chestnut and sometimes of the Japanese species,
but it is really European. The burs are usually single, and
this is, perhaps, one reason why the nuts are so large. The
Numbo will weigh two or three times as much as the so-called
Spanish chestnuts, and it is, therefore, more popular, The
Paragon will average about twice as large as our ordinary wild
chestnut, and it is a most promising variety.

The New York Gardeners’ Society was regularly organized
in this city on December 21st by representative private gar-
deners from Long Island and many other sections of this state,
New Jersey and Connecticut. The following officers were
elected to serve one year: J. M. Logan, president; William
Plumb, Charles Webber, Peter McDonald, vice-presidents ; Wil-
liam Anderson, treasurer ; J. I. Donlan, secretary. A comnnuittee
to draft rules and by-laws was formed, with William Falconer
as chairman. The next meeting will be held on Saturday
evening, January 4th, at 51 West Twenty-eighth Street, when
all private gardeners who care to join an association for mu-
tual advantage and the advancement of horticulture are
invited to be present. Such an association ought to be useful
in many directions, and it ought especially to be helpful in giv-
ing variety to future flower shows in this city, which have
hitherto mainly consisted of plants and flowers exhibited by
commercial growers to the exclusion of the rarer plants and
well-grown specimens which are alone to be found in private
collections.

But 2,000 boxes of Florida oranges have reached this city
thus far against 500,000 boxes during the same term a year ago,
when the crop of that state was estimated at 6,000,000 boxes.
With half the crop frozen on the trees the season closed
abruptly early last February, whereas the previous season
Florida oranges were in our markets nearly the year through—
from September 2oth, 1893, to August, 1894. The few now
offered cost $3.50 to $5.25 a box at wholesale, fully double the
prices of last year. The main portion of the West India crop,
amounting altogether to 400,000 barrels, has already been sold
in the United States. Jamaica oranges are now commanding
prices so high as to make rather slow sales, $4.50 a box being
asked for the best repacked fruit by wholesale dealers. ~The
crop of the Valencia district, in Spain, is variously estimated
at 3,000,000 to 6,000,000 cases, which contain 420 to 714 oranges
each. This fruit has recently been in unusual demand here,
large lots selling readily for $5.50 a box, while Sicily fruit,
rather immature and unsound, brought about one-third as
much. The Sicily crop is said to reach fully 10,000,000 boxes.
Car-loads of Navel and seedling oranges are now coming from
California, and, although some of the fruit is as yet lemon-
colored and tinged with green, it is of good weight and quality
and promises well for the ripe fruit later on. The total pro-
duction in California is estimated at three and a half to four
million boxes.

The California fruit-growers who ship their products to San
Francisco complain that they made no profit last year because
of low prices, although fruit at the commission-houses and
retail stands has been dearer in that city than it was in New
York or any of the large eastern cities. They complain that
when the market is glutted tons of choice fruit are dumped
into the bay by commission men to maintain prices, so that
California really produces hundreds of tons that are never mar-
keted. In New York the truck-farmers and market-gardeners
are making this same complaint against the middlemen. One
of them lately stated to a correspondent of Zhe Tribune that
Long Island celery, for which they received from sixty cents
to a dollar for a dozen bunches containing six roots each, are
sold at retail fora hundred per cent. profit, and the same is
true of cauliflower, turnips and other vegetables which come
into the Gansevoort market in hundreds of wagons every night.
The complaint of the farmer is that the greengrocers combine
and hold off from buying until the farmers are forced to accept
any offer, so that they can return home for another load, and
that the expenses for stands, for stabling, etc., eat up all the

[NUMBER 410.

profits. On the other hand, the grocers lay stress on theirhigh
rents, losses through credits, and particularly on the deteriora-
tion of vegetables on their hands, since they are so perishable
that in summer the losses from wilting and decay amount, per-
haps, to twenty-five per cent. of what they sell. There is no ques-
tion, however, that for such perishable articles as fruit, vege-
tables and milk, consumers in cities pay extravagant prices when
compared with those which the producers receive. The wasies
and expenses of distribution are enormous, and it is a fact that
the consumer could pay much less for what he uses and the
producer receive more for what he raises, while a reasonable
profit would still remain for the middleman.

There is much uncertainty about the origin of the Apple
now known as Tompkins King and formerly called King of
Tompkins County. Some people hold that the original Tomp-
kins King tree stands at Jacksonville, six or seven miles
north-east of Ithaca, and in a recent lecture to one of his
classes Professor Bailey showed a picture of the tree, now
about sixty years old and two feet in diameter at the ground.
It was plain, however, that the tree had been grafted, and,
therefore, it cannot be the genuine seedling. It was brought
from Dutchess County to Rockland County by the early
settlers, where it was known as the Flat Spitzenburg, and
it came originally from New Jersey, though from just what
point no one knows. In Tompkins County the tree became
best known, where the fruit is large and showy, and would
rank ten in the scale of quality in any apple exhibition. It does
not thrive, however, over as great an extent of territory as many
other apples. The tree is broad, the apples are heavy and they
are likely to fall in heavy winds. It is not as productive as
the Baldwin and some other varieties. The fruit is borne on
the outside of the tree, so that when it comes to be picked it
does not fill so many barrels as other varieties do which make
less of ashow. The trees, too, are short-lived. They begin
to die at the base and the bark peels off in strips. Professor
Bailey has observed in some places where Baldwins and
Greening trees are just in their prime that the Tompkins tree
is already going to pieces. It is not so short-lived, however,
in Tompkins County and in the adjoining region as it is in
other parts of the country. Professor Bailey is not prepared to
say whether this failure is due to climate or some varietal
weakness, but the fact is that it is an apple of comparatively
local merit, and is most profitable in this particular section of
New York state. It is almost entirely unknown south of
Mason and Dixon’s line and west of Michigan.

The showiest pears now offered in the choicest collections of
fruits are Forelles, from California, known also as German
Trout pears. They are of medium size, a clear yellow, with
brilliant red cheek, and sell for fifty cents to one dollara dozen.
Another pear sure to attract attention is Block’s Acme, speci-
mens of which weigh as much as two pounds each and
measure fourteen inches around. These immense pears are
uniformly pyriform, crisp, sweet and slightly musky in flavor.
The sun-ripened fruit shows a glowing red on the exposed
side, but these midwinter specimens, which were gathered
before they were ripe, are olive and russet colored. They cost
$3.00 a dozen. Winter Nelis, Winter Seckel, Easter Beurre and
Beurre d’Anjou are also seen in the best shops. Catawba
grapes from the Lake Keuka district, this state, fresh-looking
as when gathered more than two months ago, cest but twenty-
five cents for a box holding nearly three pounds. Cornichon
and Emperor grapes, from California, are becoming scarce,
and command thirty-five cents a pound for the best. Heavy-
shouldered bunches of rose-tinted Almerias, weighing two
pounds and more apiece, sell for thirty-five cents a pound. Lus-
cious-looking Gros Colman grapes, from England, theimmense
clusters cut with a section of the woody vine, sell for $2.25 a
pound. Other beautiful fruits which now add to the rich and
attractive displays are hot-house Mandarins, from Hacken-
sack, three to five on a stem, with fresh-looking foliage, and
costing $2.50 a dozen. Oranges from Jamaica, with stems and
leaves, bring $1.50 a dozen. Beautiful pineapples, from
Florida, with luxuriant-looking tops, are $1.00 each, and per-
simmons still come from the same state. The choicest vege-
tables are no less delicate and bright than the fruit. Hot-house
tomatoes are coming from Pennsylvania, and slender stems of
asparagus about as long as a finger, from along the Hudson
River. Asparagus is also being received from California,
Domestic and foreign nuts in large variety increase the interest
of high-class fruit-stores, such as that at the corner of Sixth
Avenue and Fiftieth Street, where, besides well-known and
rare nuts in the shell, the meats of almond, hickory and pecan
nuts are kept in stock. These all cost seventy-five cents a
pound.

January 8, 1896.|

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrick: Trisunge 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, JANUARY 8, 1896.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Piant Notes
CuLtuRAL DeparRTMENT :—Seasonable Greenhouse Notes.
Buphorbiaacquinchora’s s.ciiwccjicsececsencessscese
Notes on Garden Vegetables ......... eamectcmice ns: aise
Plants in Bloom at the United States Botanic Garden
INOleSionsBerOoniaSertss veclereiaisl atiee steals tater cla nie crocs
Koelreuteria paniculata...........-.+..-. Saqnnicn
Notes from the Botanic Garden of Smith’s College.
CORRESPONDENCE :—Habits of Ferns
North Carolina Bulbs for Forcing..
IRIECENT, PUBLICATIONS 202.0 cccecsscccsccs
PERIODICAL LITERATURE: +0. ,eccecess ares
NOTES cctecishiocscisiciscesisleisaesinisicisecicciessiee'cis E 2
ILLUSTRATION :—Populus heterophylla, Fig. 2.....-.-.eeeeee eee eens eevee leatte 15

2-0. A. Waugh. 18
ward F Canning. 18
WEBB. 18:
- Professor IV. F. Massey. 18

What is Forestry?

HE question is often asked us what the word forestry,
which appears now so frequently in American period-
icals and newspapers, signifies in its technical acceptation.
Judging by the number of different things this word is
made to stand for, its meaning is not generally understood
in the United States, where the term forestry is made to
cover any and all operations in which trees play any part
whatever, with the exception of those of the lumbermen,
whose business it is to turn them as quickly as possible
into money.

Forestry is the art of maintaining and _ perpetuating
forests. It is successful in proportion as the forest yields
‘the largest annual income in perpetuity. [Forestry is not
the planting of trees in parks or in the streets of cities. A
man who sets a wind-break on the western prairies is not a
forester, although it has become the fashion in this country
to call him so, just as the man who lays out the flower-
beds in one of our cities bears the official title of city
forester. A knowledge of trees does not make a mana
forester any more than a knowledge of grasses makes a
man a good wheat farmer. A landscape-gardener may
know trees perfectly, from his point of view, but his point
of view is not that of the forester, the one planting for
beauty, the other for profit of a more tangible character.
The word is certainly used vaguely, and this vagueness,
by confusing the whole subject in the popular mind, in-
creases the difficulty of those who are working to establish
a scientific system under which forests in the United States
can be successfully and properly managed.

Forestry as a branch of scientific agriculture is less than
three centuries old, although in Japan silviculture in a
restricted sense has been practiced for more than a
thousand years. Its importance, however, to the welfare
of the community is considered so great by the most
enlightened nations that men of first-rate ability have
found reward in bringing this art in a comparatively short
time to its present standing of almost an exact science.
In Germany and France no other branch of agriculture is
more carefully studied and practiced, and, in the long run
—that is, in periods of centuries—no other pays a larger
return upon the invested capital.

Garden and Forest. II

In this country we have wasted in less than a century
enough forest to have supplied for all time a considerable
part of the world with lumber, just as we have robbed
through ignorance much of our best arable land of its
fertility. What seemed boundless wealth of natural re-
sources has made us reckless, and wealth has melted
away before we realized what the end was to be. It is
fortunately easier to restore plant-food to exhausted soil
than it is to build up a forest once destroyed. The Caro-
lina phosphates have brought back the lost fertility to
many cotton fields of the south, and the wheat fields
of western New York now produce a larger average
yield than those of the Willamette Valley, in Oregon,

which men not many years ago boasted were to
be productive forever. The wasted forest, too, can
be rendered productive again, and it is within the

possibilities of science not only to do this, but to
make any forest more productive, and, therefore, of more
value, than it could have been without the intervention of
forestry. Just as the care of the gardener makes the fruit-
tree more productive of fruit, the care of the forester makes
the timber-tree more productive of timber. When we
come to realize that forestry is just as important a part of
the economy of the nation as wheat-growing is, and under-
stand what forestry really means, we shall certainly
attempt to take advantage of the experience of other coun-
tries and adopt those general principles of forest manage-
ment which they have found successful. The great diffi-
culty we have to encounter in this country, however,
will be the establishment of a continuous management free
from political interference and uninterrupted by current
events. A forest crop may take from one to three centuries
to come to maturity. During all this period, if it is to earn
a fair return, it must be managed consistently under a plan
made before the seeds are sown and intended to cover
every operation in the forest, including its regeneration
when the original trees have passed to the saw-mill.

The necessity of permanency, the idea that a forest can
and should last and continue productive for all time, can-
not be repeated too often in discussions of this subject ;
and if the Government of the United States decides to
manage the forests on the public domain in the hope that
their productiveness in timber will increase rather than
diminish, the public must understand that forestry is not
possible unless it is permanent and that politics will destroy
the best forest as swiftly and surely as it will destroy the
efficiency of an army ora navy.

Durine the year past we have commented on efforts
in several states to furnish to farmers, and especially to
fruit-growers, instruction which is at once practical and
scientific. Some of this work has already proved to be of
substantial value, and all of itis promising. Not altogether
novel in character, but with some distinct features of its
own, is a project of the New Hampshire College of Agricul-
ture and Mechanic Arts, from which circulars for a non-
resident course of study under the title of Home Classes in
Agriculture have just been sent out forasecond year. This
is nothing more than a phase of University extension,
which recognizes the fact that since few persons can go to
college, the college, so far as practicable, will go to the
homes of the people. What the New Hampshire College
definitely proposes is this: If ten or more persons in any
grange or agricultural organization will read certain books
and pamphlets on different subjects named in the list the
college will furnish one or more lectures upon such subjects,
provided the simple expenses of the lecturer be paid. The
books, will also be furnished at a reduced rate.

It is very often the case that the isolated lectures at insti-
tutes produce little permanent good, because the hearers
come with no special preparation in that line of thought,
and although they may be amused they fail to get the full
benefit of the teaching. On the other hand, a long reading
course is alarming to the majority of people, so that
the present proposition offers a medium between these

12 Garden and Forest.

extremes, giving the people of each locality an opportunity
for a short course of study on one or more subjects in
which they are specially interested, with the use of a few
books at small cost and the privilege of instruction
from a specialist to whom they can apply for such
particular information as they need. Books are named
for courses of reading on the following subjects, and
others will be added as the circumstances demand :
Apple Culture ; Small Fruits ; the Principles of Agriculture ;
Vegetable Culture ; Field Crops; Dairying ; Soils and Till-
age; Floriculture ; the Enemies of Crops. There can beno
question that a class of men and women, whether young
or older, who enter with seriousness into such relations
with the college faculty and with the books they recom-
mend, will derive immediate practical benefit in their
calling, and, what is of much more importance, they will
receive a mental stimulus and enlargement of thought
which will give them more accuracy of observation and
breadth of view.

Japanese Lilies as Articles of Food and Commerce.

ILIES possess the quality of combining beauty with
is gastronomic value; indeed, in Japan they are con-
sidered even more useful than ornamental, and in books
on horticulture and botany we find these plants treated
more frequently under the group of edible than of orna-
mental subjects; that is, far more account is made of the
bulbs of the Lily than of its flowers. I do not mean that
the beauty of the many varieties, in their manifold shapes
and sizes, in their rich coloring of crimson, pink-ver-
milion, yellow, white, purple and orange, is not appreci-
ated by us ; far from it,and not a flower garden is regarded
complete without them. At the same time, there never is
a well-chosen menu which does not include this bulb
among its dainties. Moreover, from time immemorial we
find Lilies thus mentioned, both for their utility and beauty.
No wonder, as different varieties grow wild and luxuriantly
on hills and along dales throughout the length and breadth
of the country, our forefathers could but notice their flow-
ers, conspicuous even in the rich flora of Japan, and a little
examination could not fail to convince them of the abun-
dant store of nutritive material in their bulbs. According
to Miquel, and to Franchet and Savatier, there are no less
than seventeen Japanese species of Lilium, but these include
a large number of varieties.

The Ainu, an aboriginal race supposed to have once in-
habited the whole country, but now confined to a few scat-
tered hamlets on the northern islands of Hokkaido (Yesso
of older maps), where they still subsist by fishing and hunt-
ing, depend for their vegetable diet chiefly on the bulbs of
Lilium Glehni. From the bulb of this plant, called
Turep in their language, the Ainu extract a compara-
tively pure kind of starch. This they make into a hard
cake with a hole in the middle, through which a string is
passed to hang it by. We can easily imagine that our
ancestors may have done likewise, since many varieties
flourish in the south, although the climate and the soil
there are not as favorable to the growth of Lilies as are
those of the Hokkaido, whether we consider the color or
number of the flowers or the size of the bulbs. On Hok-
kaido we often meet with a stalk bearing as many as thirty
flowers, and that without any fertilization. Especially
where there is moisture do they thrive well. By the side
of brooks, which are found everywhere in the mountain-
ous districts of the country, our eyes are constantly greeted
by the various members of this charming family. Even
in their wild state the flowers of Lilium auratum attain a
size of over six inches in diameter. ‘The bulbs of nearly
every variety are edible, but those of wild growth always
taste sweeter than those under cultivation. It is said that
over one hundred different varieties were known to the
gardeners of past centuries, though at present only a little
over half that number are cultivated.

The two kinds most used for culinary purposes are the

[NUMBER 411+

Lilium tigrinum, known here as the Oni-yuri (literally, the
Ogre Lily), or Ryori-yuri (the Cooking Lily), and the
Lilium concolor, var. parchellum. This latter is also
called Hime-yuri (the Princess Lily). Chemical analysis
has shown that we have not been deceived in our appreci-
ation of this plant. It proves that the bulbs contain no
small amount of nitrogenous matter. I will here give the
result of the analysis made at the Government Sanitary
Bureau :

Water, ‘ F ; : ; : 69.630
Nitrogen, ; ; : : : + 3 402
Kathe : : F : : ‘ 0.015
Starch, . : : : : : - 19.100
Dextrin, — . i 7 : : : 1.915
Glucose, : : . ; ‘ +s 16020
IRECtOscwmes: 5 : : : 2.444
Fibre, . : ‘ - : ‘ Pes Gy. (0)
Ashi: F . ; : : 5 1.350

Total per:cent., + ‘ - 98.587

From this table it is clear that the Lily-bulbs furnish an
important source of nutriment. A little plot of six feet
square can be made to yield from sixty to seventy bulbs, and
at this rate an acre will produce some eighty thousand
bulbs. There are produced, according to official statistics
of 1888, four hundred and thirty thousand pounds of bulbs
in the market gardens of Japan, valued at nine thousand
and three hundred yen. ‘These numbers do not and can-
not include those raised in private gardens. In price they
range from half a cent to two cents apiece, according to
their size and to the season. They are usually boiled and
eaten with sugar; otherwise they would be too bitter to
be palatable. When they are boiled soft they remind us
of beans, both in their consistency and taste. The bitter-
ness seems to lie especially along the edge of the bulbous
scales; and, consequently, by slicing the edge before
cooking greater sweetness is insured. The bulbs are
also very often boiled with rice. The starch made
from them will keep indefinitely, and was, therefore, in
former times, stored to ward off the sufferings of famine.
The variety Longiflorum, Thunb., called the Teppo-yuri
(the Gun Lily), otherwise known as the Riu-kiu-yuri, be-
cause of its supposed original habitat, is esteemed for its
flowers, but its bulbs are too bitter for kitchen uses. They
give, however, starch of excellent quality. A variety
known as Aka-kanoko, which grows to the height of
four feet, with flowers spotted crimson, has bulbs of a
purplish color, bitter, and altogether unfit for cooking, but
furnishing starch of no mean quality. The best way to
cook the bulbs for the American table is, we have found
from experience, to boil them and use them as salad,
with a dressing of cream and eggs. The small bulblets
that appear at the axils of Lily-leaves can also be eaten
roasted, and the petals of some varieties growing wild in
Hokkaido make an exceedingly pretty salad.

This reminds me that some years ago a Harvard profes-
sor said that the future food-supply of America could be
greatly and advantageously increased by acclimatizing
foreign, and especially Japanese, edible plants. I was,
therefore, pleased to hear, recently, that the Department of
Agriculture has been circulating reports regarding the cul-
tivation and culinary uses of Lilies. But, as it will take
some time to naturalize them in America, the importation
of bulbs will not at once be perceptibly decreased. In
fact, these bulbs have for some years been an article of
export to Europe and America, and we at one time thought
that they would soon become naturalized abroad, and
were afraid the trade in them must.soon cease, but thus far
it shows no diminution. Take, for instance, the amount
exported from but one firm in Yokohama, the Ueki-shokai,
in 18902—some 913,880 bulbs were sent out, including
thirty-one different varieties. Among them the so-called
Mountain Lilies (Yama-yuri) were by far the most im-
portant, their number amounting to 550,569. The next
most important variety was the Gun Lilies (Teppo-yuri),
and these amounted to little over 136,000.

January 8, 1895.]

The following table gives later statistics of the extent of
foreign trade in Lilies, as exported from the country at

large:

COUNTRIES. 1894. 1893. 1892.
Australia...... Ij550 Vente... 105.en.... ‘610 Yen.
Hrances wn. c. Tp 300r 268 ME ASh at ZO Temas’
Germany...... T2600 =< mG hODMen’. .... 2. 2020n as
Pmeland! $32.1. 29,630 ‘* BON 7SA eee... 74S ge
Hongkong. ... 4,328 ‘. O48orf .:..° 2,166,"
WnitedsStatess19,410: 2's -...12:679,, <* < OAOl
Other countries, 737 “ emlGZO) pt 30a

Total, 68,224 Yen. 65,428 Yen. 33,478 Yen.

The Yama-yuri, mentioned as playing such an important
part in exportation, is of wild growth, and, although its
good qualities are appreciated at home, the Japanese con-
sider it inferior for table use to the Ryori-yuri, and the de-
mand for it here is not so great as for the latter. During
an epidemic of cholera a few years ago it was, however,
sold in large quantities to supply the deficiency of starchy
food in the market.

The readers of GarDEN anD Forest may be interested
to know what care is taken in raising the bulbs. In
‘October or November, when the stems of the Lilies
wither, the bulbs are gathered; but, as they are too small
for trade in this natural state, and, moreover, as they are
so often more or less bruised when dug out, they are planted

-ina garden to undergo artificial cultivation for a year or

two—a process of fattening, as it were, for the market.
Those designed for export to European countries require
particular care, since they must endure the heat of the
Indian Ocean during their journey. Then, too, European
taste demands large bulbs, and plants with about twenty
flowers, which only bulbs of two years’ artificial cultivation
can bear. Americans, on the contrary, like smaller bulbs,
and desire plants that bear only half a dozen flowers.
Bulbs of one year’s rearing, therefore, meet their wishes ;
but these die the next year, and hence the regular annual
exportation of new bulbs to the United States.

The Yama-yuri is indigenous to Kadsusa, Shimosa, Sa-
gami and other central provinces. The transplanted bulbs,
reared in a rich garden mold, become quite strong after a
year’s growth, but those intended for food are not allowed
to flower. Sometimes, when the soil is not of the proper kind,
the bulbs, though they may grow large in size, are decid-
edly inferior in weight. Perhaps on this account they do
not do well in Europe, except in the Netherlands, the clas-
sic land of bulbs. Some of our best bulbs measure a foot
or a foot and two inches in circumference, and weigh as
much as a pound. 1 may state here that for choicest
cooking only the twelve best scales are selected froma
bulb; indeed, usually eight or nine scales only are taken
from each. The size and shape of the bulbs are most
remarkably affected by the time when the flower buds are
nipped; and some Lily gardeners think the right choice of
this time is the most difficult and delicate part of their
labor. When the bulbs are harvested, they are cleaned
and then packed in boxes large enough to contain forty or
fifty. In price, they range for export trade, according to
size (taking for granted that the quality remains the same),
from 2.20 to 2.50 yen per hundred for the largest ; 1.20 to
1.50 for the next size—of, say, ten inches in circumference ;
and 60 yen or so for bulbs of a year’s growth, which are
usually about eight inches.

In view of the fact that the Lily, at least according to Dr.
Hehn (Cultivated Plants and Domesticated Animals in their
Itigraton from Asia to Europe), came from Media by way
of Armenia and Phrygia, and that it now has found its en-
trance to America, it is interesting to note that the annual
importation of the same plant from Japan completes the
circle, as it were, in its journey round the world. Dr.
Hehn’s opinion as to the original habitat of this plant
is by no means a conclusive one. His arguments are
founded chiefly on philological affinities, and, though I in
no wise assume to contradict his assertions, I may serve him

* A yen is equivalent to an American silver dollar.

Garden and Forest. 13

and the public by furnishing a few further linguistic state-
ments which may possibly suggest that the original habitat of
the Lily is still further east. The English word *‘Lily” comes
from the Greek ‘‘leiron” (White Lily), which in turn is
derived from the Persic ‘‘laleh.” When we take into con-
sideration the absence of the sound of “L” from the Japa-
nese language and the substitution of “R,” does “ Yori”
become unlike “laleh”? ‘“ Yori” in its turn gives place to
“Yuri.” Such a variation will seem the more likely when
we remember that in our language the change from ra,
rt, ru, re, roto ya, yl, yu, ye, yo is of very frequent occur-
rence. Moreover, we observe that Dr. Hehn derives the
Greek “krinon” (Colored Fire Lily) from the Persian Susa or
Shushan. Now, in the oldest Japanese records the Lily is
called Sai, from which Sai-yuri. In some districts it is
called Saku or Sasa, thus nearly approaching Susa.. This
philological digression may amount to little; but I wish
only to pass it on for what it is worth to those better author-
ized than myself to speak in that line of inquiry.

Sapporo, Japan. Inazo Nitobe.

Populus heterophylla.

NDER the name of black poplar the wood of this tree
is now manufactured in considerable quantities in
southern Alabama and in some parts of the Mississippi val-
ley and is used as a substitute for yellow poplar (the wood
of Liriodendron) in the manufacture of cheap furniture and
the interior finish of houses. The Swamp Poplar, as this
tree has usually been called, is one of the most interesting
Poplars of North America, where there are no less than nine
species. Although one of the rare trees of the Atlantic sea-
board, it was the first American Poplar known to science,
it having been described in the Natural History of Carolina
as early as 1733 by Mark Catesby, who published an ex-
cellent figure of a sterile branch. It long remained, how-
ever, very imperfectly known, and its true position among
the species of the genus was not established until Professor
Britton correctly described the structure of the flowers in
1887. One of the remarkable things about this tree is the
bark of large trunks. On other Poplars the mature bark is
divided into broad rounded, more or less connected, ridges,
which are roughened by small, closely appressed scales, but
the bark of Populus heterophylla is broken into long, nar-
row plates, attached only at the middle and sometimes per-
sistent for several years, so that an old trunk resembles that
of a Shellbark Hickory. This peculiar bark is shown in
our illustration on page 15 of this issue, made from a pho-
tograph of a tree in a swamp of the Wabash River in south-
ern Illinois, for which we are indebted to Dr. Jacob Schneck,
of Mt. Carmel, Illinois.

Populus heterophylla is a tree often eighty or ninety feet
in height, with a tall trunk from two to three feet in diameter,
and short, rather slender branches, stout branchlets, marked
with elongated pale lenticels, and filled with a thick orange-
colored pith, and large, slightly resinous broad acute buds.
The leaves are broadly ovate, short-pointed or rounded
at the apex, heart-shaped, truncate or rounded at the
broad base, which is usually furnished with a deep nar-
row sinus, and are finely or coarsely crenate with small in-
curved glandular teeth ; they are thick and firm in texture,
dark, rather dull green on the upper surface, pale and glau-
cous on the lower, from four to seven inches longand from
three to six inches broad, turning dull yellow or brown in
the autumn before falling. The flowering aments appear
from March at the south to the beginning of May at the
north ; those of the staminate tree are broad, densely flow-
ered, about an inch Jong, and erect when the flowers first
open, and then gradually become pendulous by the elonga-
tion of the thick peduncle, being sometimes when fully
grown two and a half inches in length. One of their pecu-
liarities is the brittleness of the rhachis, which, as Professor
Britton has pointed out, is easily broken by the wind before
the ament has attained its full length; the scales are
narrowly oblong-obovate, brown, scarious, divided at
the apex into numerous long, thread - like red - brown

14 Garden and Forest.

lobes and fall as the ament lengthens. The aments of
the pistillate tree are slender, pendulous, few-flowered,
and from one to two inches long with thin gla-
brous stems; their scales, which are concave and en-
fold the flower, are linear-obovate, brown and scarious,
laterally lobed, fimbriate above the middle and caducous.
The ovary is ovoid, terete or obscurely three-angled, with
slightly concave sides crowned by a short stout or elon-
gated style, deciduous from the fruit, and by two or three
much thickened and dilated two or three lobed stigmas,
and is surrounded at the base by the thin and scarious
wide cup-shaped deciduous disk, which is irregularly
divided into numerous triangular or linear acute teeth.
In maturing the fruiting aments become erect and from
four to six inches long and the petioles half an inch in
length. The capsules ripen in May, when the leaves are
about a third grown, and are ovate, acute, dark red-brown,
rather thick-walled, two or three valved, and about half
an inch long.

The most northern place where Populus heterophylla is
known to grow naturally is in a swamp near North
Guilford, Connecticut. It grows also near Northport,
Long Island, on Staten Island, and southward near the
coast to southern Georgia, through the Gulf States to
western Louisiana, and through Arkansas to south-eastern
Missouri, western Kentucky and Tennessee, and southern
Illinois and Indiana. In the North Atlantic states the
Swamp Cottonwood grows in low wet swamps and is rare
and local, but becomes more common in the South Atlantic
and Gulf regions, and is abundant in the valley of the
lower Ohio River, in south-eastern Missouri, eastern
Arkansas and western Mississippi, growing to its largest
size on the borders of swamps with the Texas Oak, the
Swamp White Oak, the Red Maple, the Sweet Gum
and the Sour Gum. Apparently it has not been found yet
anywhere in Florida, although as it is common on the
delta of the Mobile River in southern Alabama it might be
expected to grow as far east, at least, as the valley of the
Apalachicola River.

Populus heterophylla was introduced into European
gardens before the end of the last century, and is still
described in nearly all catalogues of trees cultivated in
Europe. It probably, however, is exceedingly rare there
as it is in cultivation in this country. Planted a few years
ago into the Arnold Arboretum, it has proved perfectly
hardy in the climate of eastern Massachusetts, but, like
other cultivated Poplars, it suffers seriously from insects
boring in the trunk and branches.

Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.

ANONA CHERIMOLIA.—A pot-grown plant of this, the Cheri-
moyer of the Andes of Ecuador and Peru, fruited this year
in the Palm-house at Kew, and on its being noted in Zhe
Gardeners’ Chronicle attention has been called to its merits
as a useful fruit-tree by several who have essayed its culti-
vation inthis country and elsewhere. It was the subject of
some interesting observations in the Kew Bulletin in 1887,
where it is described as a tree fifteen to twenty feet high,
with loose, spreading branches and ovate velvety leaves.
The fruit is about the size of an ordinary hen’s egg, and it
has a leathery skin inclosing a rich brown-yellow firm
pulp. As in most plants which have beena long time un-
der cultivation, there are numerous varieties, more or less
differing as regards the size and character of the fruit, but it
is generally agreed that the Cherimoyer is the most deli-
cious of its kind, the flesh being firm, of a flaky character,
and possessing a slight agreeable acidity mingled with a
luscious sweetness. The flowers are pendent and velvety ;
they are generally closed in the day and open at night, giv-
ing out a delicate odor like that of Magnolia fuscata. The
Cherimoyer is common in the mountains of Jamaica, and
it is said to have been cultivated from time immemorial

[NUMBER 4II-

in Chili. It is also cultivated in Madeira, whence the fruits
are sometimes sent to the English market. It also grows
and fruits freely at a high altitude in Ceylon. There is
abundant evidence of its being adapted for cultivation in
the open air in subtropical climates such as that of Florida
and other of the southern states, and that it will fruit under
glass has been proved at Kew and elsewhere. I tasted a
fruit produced at Kew and am, in consequence, able to en-
dorse all that has been said in its praise as a dessert fruit.
The Creoles say that it is the most delicious fruit in the
world. Cultivated on somewhat similar lines to those
which are successful for the peach, the Cherimoyer would
probably soon take a prominent place among favorite fruits.
A figure of a plant in fruit is given this week in Zhe Gar-
deners’ Chronicle, where it is stated that in Constantinople
the fruits are obtainable from December to February.

Sarpa Merton.—Last year seeds of this interesting Melon
were distributed from Kew among the principal gardens of
the colonies and England. They had been obtained from
Kabul by Dr. Aitchison, who stated in the Kew Bulletin for
January that.in western Afghanistan this variety is grown
as a field-crop and is exported to India in great quantities
during the winter, where it is much appreciated. The word
Sarda means cold, and it appears that the fruits of this
Melon only develop the rich flavor for which it is held in
high repute in India when exposed for a time to a compar-
atively low temperature. The fruits collected from the
plants while the season is hot and there is still no frost,
are, comparatively speaking, of ordinary quality, but when
the night frosts set in they are covered to prevent
their being frozen, and are collected when not quite
ripe. They then ripen slowly, keep well through the
winter and improve in flavor the longer they are kept.
Fruits have been grown this year in the Queen’s garden at
Windsor, and Mr. Thomas, the gardener, speaks highly
of them. They were nearly a foot long, yellowish, netted,
and the flesh was yellow, firm, very sweet and of good
flavor. se

Aseria Carrra.—Attention has recently been called to
this plant in colonial and English papers on account of its
usefulness for fences and also for its edible fruits. When I
was in South Africa nine years ago I saw some excellent
fences of it, yards in thickness and absolutely impene-
trable, owing to the number and strength of its stout
straight spines, from two to six inches in length, which
clothe the interlacing branches. It appeared to be as
accommodating as the common Quick (Crataegus) is in this
country and to grow as rapidly. Its fruits are spheroid, an
inch in diameter, yellow when ripe, with a juicy acid pulp
and an agreeable odor. At the Cape it is known as the
Kei Apple, from the Kei River, in Caffraria. It is used for
jam-making, and Professor Macowan, in a note recently
published in Zhe Cape Journal of Agriculture, says that
mixed with tomato it would make a first-rate jam. It fruits
annually in Mr. Hanbury’s garden at Mentone, on the
Riviera, whence samples are sometimes sent to Kew. The
raw fruit is too acid for most palates, although this acidity
is reduced by overripeness. The plant is easily multiplied
from seeds or cuttings.

QuEENSLAND CHERRY.—There are so very few edible fruits
in Australia that the discovery of this quality in a species of
Antidesma, native of that country, is noteworthy, especially,
too, as this genus belongs to the Spurgeworts (Euphor-
biaceze), an order exceptionally poor in edible-fruited spe-
cies. A. Dallachyanum, the species under notice, is a
shrub which, according to Mr. Bailey, who described it,
has “fruit equaling in size that of large cherries, with an
acid flavor like that of red currants, and, like them, capable
of being made into a rich-colored refreshing jelly, grateful
to the parched palates of persons suffering from fever.”
Fruits of this plant have lately been received at Kew. A.
Bunius, a native of Java, also yields edible fruits used for
jam-making. The Queensland Cherry would be worth a
trial in the southern states. Seeds of it could be obtained
from New South Wales.

oo

si lla a iat

SAE EPL ET AIT hen Pee ae ee ee

JANUARY 8, 1896.]

AppLe, BLENHEIM OranGE.— This is one of the best three
apples grown in English gardens, the other two being Cox’s
Orange Pippin and the Ribston. The history of the first-
named is somewhat remarkable. It was told recently ata
plant exhibition in Oxford, and. is as follows: “Mr. G.
Kempster, who lived at the end of the last century at
Woodstock, in Oxfordshire, when a young man, discovered
a plant growing in a crevice in the window-sill. He care-
fully removed and planted it. In due time it becamea
tree and bore apples, which were at first called Kempster
Pippins, and which were so fine and of such excellent flavor

6 LR pe,

Garden and Forest. 15

LomaRIA GIBBA, Var. BLECHNOIDES.—A supposed bigeneric
hybrid Fern has lately been sent to Kew by Mr. A. MacLellan,
of Newport, Rhode Island, whosaysit is from Lomaria gibba,
crossed with Blechnum Brasiliense. There is no reason
why such a hybrid should not occur, these two plants being
much more closely related than is indicated by their names.
On the other hand, L. gibba is a variable plant, and I in-
cline to the view that this and other supposed hybrids of
the same kind are merely sports from that plant. At Kew
there are plants of L. gibba which are as broad in both
barren and fertile pinne as the Blechnum and others showing

Fig. 2.—Populus heterophylla.—See page 13.

that they soon became famous. In 1811, the gardener at
Blenheim, the residence of the Duke of Marlborough, near
Woodstock, placed some of the apples on his Grace’s table,
and he so highly approved of them that the name was
changed to Blenheim Orange. The original tree was
standing in 1826. In September, 1822, five apples were
gathered from it weighing from fifteen to twenty-one
ounces.” Where it thrives, this Apple is one of the most
profitable; it does not fruit freely until the trees are of
large size. It is good both as a dessert and as a cooking
apple. It is ripe from November to February.

intermediate characters. The late Mr. T. Moore described
in 1868 a seedling under the name of L. gibba major,
which is very similar to Mr. MacLellan’s plant, and it was
said to be a cross between L. gibba and L. ciliata. Healso
refers to a cross between L. gibba and the Blechnum which
occurred at Chiswick in 1870. Messrs. Veitch & Sons had
a broad-leaved L. gibba, which was at first called Blech-
num platyptera. This is identical with Mr. MacLellan’s
plant, the name now adopted for it by Mr. Baker being L.
gibba, var. blechnoides. Finally, the late Dr. Asa Gray sent
to Mr. Baker fronds from a Fern which he described as

16 Garden and Forest.

follows: “ Here are fronds of a Lomaria gibbain which the
outer fertile fronds are all Blechnum and the inner Lomaria.
I send fronds of these also for comparison.” Ferns display
a most extraordinary disposition to vary under artificial
treatment, and this is especially true of those which have
long been in cultivation and are largely grown, as, for in-
stance, Adiantum cuneatum, Pteris serrulata, Gymnogramme
calomelanos, etc. In the face of this it is better to look
upon all such seedlings as that of Mr. MacLellan’s asa vari-
ation rather than a hypothetical hybrid. W. Watson.

London.

Plant Notes.

ScHIZOSTYLIS CoccINEA.—Many plants of the Iris family are
useful winter-flowering subjects, and among these none are
more grateful and floriferous than this bright and showy
African plant, often called the Crimson Flag. In habit of
growth it resembles many kinds of Iris, the leaves being
long, narrowly sword-shaped or almost linear, equitant,
springing froma fleshy rhizome. The flowers are large,
sessile, eight to fifteen in a bracteate spike on tall, leafy
peduncles. The color is a bright red or scarlet. The
perianth consists of six uniform, acute segments, united into
a tube at the base, the entire width of the limb being about
two inches. The time of flowering is from October until
after Christmas, the flowers remaining in perfection a
considerable time. It flourishes out-ofdoors in England,
but as it is of little importance in this country, except for
indoor use, it should be grown chiefly for this purpose in
pots or for cut flowers. Late in spring or early summer
the plants should be divided, from three to five buds being
left on each root. These should be planted out in a bed of
loose humus-rich soil six to eight inches apart. During the
summer, when dry weather is prevalent, the bed should be
occasionally soaked, so as to insure a robust growth. In
the fall the plants may be lifted, cleaned and potted for
winter use. They should be kept in a sunny position in a
cool greenhouse, where they will flower without forcing,
some coming earlier, others later, thus giving a succession
of flowers for months. After flowering the plant may be
left in the pots and stowed away in a frame or cool green-
house until the time comes to divide them and plant out-
of-doors for the next winter's use.

Cultural Department.

Seasonable Greenhouse Notes.

RIMULA FORBESII is a charming little plant for cool
greenhouse decoration in winter, its delicate yellow-
throated lavender flowers, borne in verticils from ten to
twelve in each on scapes a foot or more in length. Thescapes
stand erect during the opening of the first few umbels, and in
this condition they are very serviceable for bouquet work.
Later, unable to support the weight of flowers, they arch grace-
fully over the sides of the pots, making charming subjects for
the front row of the conservatory. The plants are tufted, with
fiddle-shaped leaves, slightly pilose. The whole plant is cov-
ered with a delicate white farina. P. floribunda is another
tender species, a fit companion for P. Forbesii, with yellow
flowers, also in verticils, or whorls, in erect scapes. Both are
easily raised from seeds, and usually enough are found scat-
tered under the benches, self-sown, where they seem to
thrive, if anything, better than under pot-culture. Some self-
sown plants are growing on the walls of the Violet-house, and
really it is hard to tell where they get their support from.

Here in America, for some reason, we have not generally
made the true Heaths a success. They are frequently seen,
but it is seldom any but E. Caffra and E. Melanthera suc-
ceed thoroughly. It is argued that the true Heaths not
being natives of the North American continent, our climate is
unsuited to them, and, furthermore, the peat necessary in their
cultivation must be such asis obtainedfrom moors where they
abound, and this cannot be obtained here. The most success-
ful growers import their peat from Europe. The varieties
already named will grow almost anywhere and succeed well
in common loam in the open garden, providing plenty of
water is given them during the growing season. They also

{NUMBER 411.

lift well in the autumn, which is another advantage. One thing
must be remembered, that a period’ of rest must intervene
before the plants are brought into bloom. After this they force
fairly well, but I have noticed that such as have been brought
in early have lost the greater part of their lower foliage.
Antirrhinums have recently been added to the florists’
stock in trade. The purchasing public appreciate them, and
they have proved a profitable acquisition. It is evident, how-
ever, that considerable selection will be necessary before they
are thoroughly adapted to the florists’ needs, just as we have
had to do with other plants which are properly herbaceous, as
Carnations and Mignonette. It seems to me the ideal variety
is one which does not develop more than ten or twelve flowers
onaraceme. More flowers would require more energy from

the plant, which would mean fewer flower-stems ; besides, the .

lower flowers on a large raceme would wither before the upper
buds open, and in this way a large number of extra buds
would be worthless. The dwarf varieties will probably come
soonest into favor, and already we have one white variety,
Star of the North, fairly well fixed, coming true from seed.
Grevillea robusta in a small state is one of the handsomest
foliage plants we have. Its graceful Fern-like leaves and pyra-
midal habit make it an acceptable plant in any grouping. Itis
equally useful for bedding purposes, and helps well to break
up the monotony of a too even piece of summer bedding. It
can also be used as a centrepiece in any circular design. Seed
sown now will germinate in five to six weeks in an ordinary
greenhouse, and the young plants grown in pots should make
pretty plants trom one to two feet high by next winter. It is
seldom the plants remain in presentable shape for more than
two years, and they can hardly ever be pruned back into ac-
ceptable plants. It is better to raise a few seedlings every

year. Good loam and ordinary cool greenhouse treatment
are all they need. G. Hillii is a very distinct species, but little
known, Itis much slower in growth. We have a handsome

specimen now four years old and five feet tall, just a single
cane, but with foliage down to the pot; the leaves have a dis-
tinctly classical cut. They are widely and irregularly pinnate,
staghorn-like, deep shining green on the upper surtace and
covered with a closely appressed, shining, silver-gray pu-
bescence on the under sides, as also are the upper part of the
stem andthe young unfolding leaves. It isa peculiarly effective
plant when used singly in church decoration, being very
effective under artificial light.

Draczena australis is a common but acceptable plant when
small, and I know of plants that have been used in a dwelling-
house window for a year which have scarcely lost a leaf. Seed
is cheap and germinates freely in an ordinary greenhouse tem-
perature in about five weeks. Good soil, good drainage and
plenty of water are the only requirements. Young plants,
however, do not lift well when planted out. They should
always be established in pots first; afterward they will hold the
original ball of earth.

Our French Cannas have been repotted after a season of
comparative rest, though, really, they have been growing all
the while, but slowly. Now, started in a higher temperature,
they will soon make strong stems and bloom finely during the
spring months, Those who have roots of good varieties of
French Cannas, and can find room, will lose nothing by grow-

ing them through the winter ; all the growth made is so much.

gain. We have never known any constitutional injury to
result, and our plants have invariably bloomed well during the

succeeding summer.
Wellesley, Mass. 1. D. Hatfeld.

Euphorbia Jacquinezeflora.

Shetee showy winter-flowering plants have been in bloom
for the last four weeks, and their long wreaths of bright
orange-scarlet bracts still retain their beauty and are a cheer-
ing addition to the greenhouse flora at this season. The plant
may be used to good advantage as a climber if planted in a
permanent situation against a wall or pillar, well cut back after
flowering and freely encouraged to grow through the summer.
A method usually more convenient is to grow it in bush form
in pots or boxes, For this purpose we raise young plants from
cuttings every spring. The old plants may be cut down and
grown on a second year, but the young plants always prove
the more vigorous and produce much finer flower-sprays.
For cuttings, well-ripened wood should be chosen. They
strike better in an intermediate than in a warm house, and as
they suffer easily from damp are better placed in an open
propagating-bed than in a close propagating-frame. If they
are to be flowered in boxes the one shift after striking will
suffice. If intended for pots they will require about three
shifts. We find boxes more convenient for their growth, but

ae we in a ons ee SS ae Sh

Lint nae

JANUARY 8, 1896.]

they cannot always be used to the same advantage for decora-
tion as plants in pots. Thorough drainage is in all cases essen-
tial, as the plants require plentiful supplies of water during the
growing season, and thrive best ina rich fibrous soil. They
should be planted out-of-doors in June for the summer. At
first they will require a little protection, but when hardened off
a little may be fully exposed to air and sunshine. They will re-
quire pinching back once or twice to get them to break, but this
should not be overdone, as a few fine long shoots are prefera-
ble to a number of smaller ones. A plant with four or five
shoots generally proves the most satisfactory.

Tarrytown, N. Y. Witliam Scott.

Notes on Garden Vegetables.

Wyte one week’s exception, the weather of December was

abnormally mild, and outdoor gardening operations
could be carried on without hindrance. For two weeks we
had an entire absence of frost or precipitation of any kind, and
the ground was as dry as it ever is at seed-time in early April.
It is unusual to see tree-planting, digging, plowing and similar
operations in full progress‘on both Christmas and New Year's
days, but I observed quite a number busily employed on
such work during holiday week. But trying weather must be
near, and winter protection should be made ready tor every-
thing which needsit. Tlis is the best time to complete digging,
trenching, draining and road-making operations. We like to
dig and enrich all the ground possible at this season, as it gives
the vegetable garden a neater appearance, improves the
ground by allowing the frost to penetrate and pulverize it, and
greatly lessens the strain in spring. While the ground is open
a fresh plantation of Horse-radish may be made at leisure.
Onions seem to do fully as well on the same land year after
year; we have known them to succeed without a change for
over twenty years. Asa general rule, however, a rotation of
crops is advisable. With plenty of ground at command, this
is more easily carried out than where the space is limited; in
our own case, by trenching a piece of ground each year, and
thus practically renewing it, we secure good returns.

Our perennial borders have recently had a mulching of
well-rotted and broken-up manure, for herbaceous plants, with
hardly an exception, like liberal fertilizing. Too often they are
starved for want of it. Helianthus multiflorus plenus and
some tew other Sunflowers are doubtfully hardy here and
occasionally winter-killed unless protected. We usually place
a few forkfuls of leaf-mold or half-rotted leaves over the
crowns of such plants ; cocoanut-fibre refuse also is servicea-
ble for covering Lilies and other bulbous plants, which are
more injured by excessive moisture than by frost. Pansies in
the open we have protected by covering lightly with leaves,
over which we lay a few Spruce-branches to keep them in
place. Those in frames we cover with dry leaves when hard
frozen, and remove them about the end of February; it is
necessary to place over them strong sashes with good glass,
as the plants are liable to rot if the leaves become wet and
heavy and air is not freely given. Half-hardy biennials, such’
as Canterbury Bells, Antirrhinums, etc., do not require any
sash protection until severe frost, but they need free ventila-
tion during favorable weather. Beds containing Tulips, Hya-
cinths and Crocuses should now have a coating of light strawy
manure. Crocuses and Snowdrops in sheltered nooks are
already above ground, and on New Year's day we noted
Violets and Pansies in flower in the borders.

A common practice prevails of allowing old stools of Horse-
radish to stand in gardens year after year. These become dense
and the roots matted, so that they are small and tough, and the
ground completely impoverished for some distance around.
It isa good plan to trench out all the roots and start a fresh
bed, carefully removing even the smallest pieces of root, as
every one will grow. In planting a new bed we select the
straightest and thickest roots, each with a crown attached, trim
from them all side-rootlets, and plant with a dibble in deeply
trenched well-manured ground, a foot apart each way, burying
the crown three to four inches below the surface. The result
will be fine crisp roots next year.

Celery in the open has kept remarkably well during the
present winter; a sufficient body of leaves has now been
placed on our supply to secure it from severe frosts. At the
recommendation of a friend in the south of Scotland, we
earthed up half a trench of Kalamazoo Celery with leaf-mold
instead of the ordinary garden soil. On opening into this
trench on December 24th we found it to be the whitest,
most free from blemish and best-flavored celery we had. The
difference between it and the part earthed up with loam is very
striking. The leaf-mold, being light and more porous than
loam, allows air to more easily reach the plants; there is less

Garden and Forest. 17

danger of breaking the rather brittle stalls in using it, and it is
a better frost-resister than ordinary loam. Leaf-mold is not, as
a general rule, to be had in sufficient quantities on private
places to use for Celery blanching, but as it can be easily
wheeled away when the Celery is lifted and used for any other
purpose, it is certainly worth giving a trial. So many good
practical gardeners fail to carry celery through the winter that
any discovery of a means to preserve it should be of service.
When lifted and stored in cellars or frames a great proportion
of the heads rot and the stalks lack that sweet nutty flavor
characteristic of those kept outdoors where they grow.
Frames containing Parsley, Lettuces, or any of the Brassica
family, need abundance of ventilation on all fine days. We
look over these once a week to remove decaying leaves. A
bed of leaves in which a few barrow-loads of horse-manure are
mixed makes a capital bed for Lettuces, and we find no diffi-
culty in having a supply all winter by these means. Leaves
alone give a gentle heat which keeps Lettuces growing nicely.
Sowings indoors of Lettuce, Radish, Cauliflower (such as forc-
ing Erfurt) and Tomato are seasonable.” The Lettuces can be
transferred to frames when of sufficient size. Radishes, if no
bed is at command for them, do nicely pricked off in boxes.
For an early supply of tomatoes, such varieties as May’s
Favorite, Chemin Rouge or Comrade are very good. By the
time these plants are large enough to place in their fruiting-
pots or plant out the weather will be sufficiently warm to allow
of their being grown in almost any ordinary greenhouse.
Plants which commenced to ripen toward the end of October
are still fruiting finely. In about a month we will remove
these and place another batch in their places which are now in
three-inch pots. Our third lot is now in six-inch pots, and
will shortly be shifted into their fruiting-pots. These plants
will yield a good crop in March. To make certain of a good set
artificial pollination 1s still necessary, and decaying foliage and
laterals are removed to give the plants as much sunlight as

possible. ;
Taunton, Mass. W. N. Craig.

Plants in Bloom at the United States Botanic
Garden.

HE flowers of Reinwardtia tetragyna closely resemble

those of the better-known R., trigyna, often called Linum
trigynum. They are of a lighter yellow and much more freely
produced ; in fact, the plants, if not looked after, have a ten-
dency to flower themselves to death. This species is a very
desirable one for the greenhouse at this season, and it lasts
quite a time in bloom. Cuttings of it should be put in during
the early summer, and if given liberal treatment they will be
well-furnished plants in eight-inch pots by autumn. There is
nothing difficult about their culture. Old plants can be kept
over, but it is preterable to take off the young shoots for cut-
tings and discard the old ones.

Schaueria calycotricha, better known as Justicia calotricha,
is an old favorite which well repays a little extra attention, as a
few plants of it help to brighten up the greenhouse during the
dull months. The individual flowers are about an inch in
length, bright yellow, the calyx and bracts being of the same
color. The flowers are arranged in a terminal head. The
successful flowering of this plant depends on keeping it in a
healthy growing state during the summer. It is very liable to
the attacks of scale insects.

Bignonia venusta can be depended on to give two crops at
least of flowers during the year, the principal one with us
coming in about Christmas. Where there is an abundance of
roof-room ina large conservatory, this vine should certainly
have a place, as it is by far the most showy of the species
suited for indoor cultivation. We cannot expect to have it in
a satisfactory condition if the roots are confined in a pot or
tub; it should be planted out in a well-drained position, raised
a little, if possible, from the level of the floor. There is no
danger of the plant occupying too much room if grown to,
say, one or two stems and the lateral growths kept in bounds
by trimming; this operation should be gone through twice
annually—once at the end of January, and again after it is
done flowering, shortly after midsummer. The growths which
push out after pruning should be allowed simply to hang down,
because when in bloom they show to better advantage. The
corymbs of flowers are both terminal and axillary, coming on
the strong growths in great profusion; sometimes the shoots
are covered with flowers for four or five feet of their length.

Another Bignoniaceous vine, called Adenocalymna como-
sum, is now in gorgeous bloom, The flowers, which are
bright yellow, are arranged in upright racemes springing from
the axils of the leaves and at the ends of the shoots. This vine
does not require pruning to make it flower, but simply to keep

18 Garden and Forest.

it within bounds, as it seems to delight in smothering every-
thing within reach. Some of the books give its height as only
ten teet; the specimen in the garden here is at least sixty feet
high, and J do not doubt that it would grow twice that height
if allowed to. GWwo

Washington, D. C.

Notes on Begonias.

EGONIA NITIDA has been in cultivation for more than a
century and still holds its own with the latest introduc-
tions of this large genus. It isa West Indian species and was
introduced from Jamaica in 1777. It flowers nearly all the
year round, but is most useful in winter. At this time some
large, bushy plants, from three to four feet high, are laden with
pink-colored flowers. The stems are fleshy and slightly woody
at the base; the leaves are four to six inches across, glossy
green, obliquely ovate, and crenated at the margin. The flow-
ers are produced plentifully in terminal and axillary panicles and
are of a deep rose color. Thestaminate flowers measure one
inch anda half across and have two broad and two narrow
petals, while the pistillate ones are not as large and have five
equal petals. The flowers last well when cut, and are specially
useful at this season. Young plants are easily obtained from
cuttings made from the young growth and root freely at any
season. We find the two or three year old plants most useful,
as they produce more flowers than the youngerones. In May
the old plants are cut back and taken outof the pots, and most
of the exhausted soil removed from the roots. They are then
planted out in the garden in a shady position, where they are
left until the first week in September, when they are potted
and put intoa warm greenhouse. When the pots are well filled
with roots, weak liquid-manure is given about once a week.
We use this fertilizer for all the strong shrubby kinds. For
good, healthy plants and plenty of flowers Begonias need good
light and sufficient room between the plants, so that air can
circulate freely among them.

Begonia Gogoensis isa species with variegated leaves, intro-
duced from Gogo, in Sumatra, by Messrs. James Veitch &
Sons, of Chelsea, in 1882. This Begonia is valuable as a foliage
plant, and when well grown makes a distinct specimen.
The leaves are peltate and oval in shape and measure from
six to nine inches in length. When they are young they have
a bronzy metallic hue, but when older they are a deep velvety
green interlaced with the paler midribs and veins. When the
leaves are full grown the under side is of a deep red color.
The petioles are reddish, four-angled and about six inches long
and rise from a short tuberous stem. This species is now in
bloom ; the flowers are not showy, being small, of a rosy pink
color, and produced in loose panicles on erect peduncles which
raise the flower slightly above the foliage. B. Gogoensis is
grown in an intermediate house the year through, in a slightly
shaded position during the hot months of summer. It flour-
ishes in a light, loose, rich soil.

Begonia manicata is an excellent free-flowering species, and
large plants are handsome at this time with their abundant crop
of flowers. It is a robust plant and easy to grow. In the latter
part of May, when the weather is favorable, the plants are taken
out of the pans, divided and planted out singly in the garden.
Early in September they are lifted and some of them put into
large shallow pans, over the edges of which the large leaves
soon hang, so as almost to hide them. Large masses of this
Begonia are more showy than small individual plants, and they
have a pleasing effect now when in bloom. The short stems
are clothed with smooth shining green leaves that are ovate,
obliquely cordate and measure six to eight inches in length ;
they have many scale-like hairs on the under side. The pink
flowers are produced on long peduncles and are arranged in
large loose panicles. A variety of this plant grown here is
named Aureo-maculata, and is a handsome foliage plant when
well grown. Its leaves are large and glossy and prettily marked
with creamy white blotches.

Another old favorite is Begonia fuchsioides, which has been
cultivated since 1847. It makesa good pot-plant, but is in best
condition when planted out in a cool greenhouse and trained
to a pillar or tied loosely to a stout stake. Under good treat-
ment it attains a height of five or six feet, and its stems are
clothed with numerous ovate green leaves about one and a
half inches long. The flowers are borne on drooping branched

panicles and their color is a rich scarlet.
Botanic Garden, Harvard University.

R. Cameron,
Keelreuteria paniculata.a—I am well acquainted with a few
specimens of this desirable little tree at McPherson, Kansas.
These examples are twenty-one years old; they are healthy
and sound, withstanding the dry weather and the hot winds to

[NUMBER 411.

which they are exposed in a clearly successful manner. For
about ten years they have been blossoming and bearing fruit,

and are altogether very interesting
g
Manhattan, Kansus. a F. A, Waugh.

Notes from the Botanic Garden of Smith College.

Lopezia coronata.—This plant is now in flower in the cool
temperate house, and is certainly a most striking and beautiful
plant for any cool greenhouse. The flowers are disposed in
racemes at the ends of the branches ; they are white, with the
under side a rosy purple. The plant branches so gracefully
as to give it, when in flower, a candelabra appearance. The
leaves are alternate and about one inch long, ovate, with very
short petioles. Clusters of smaller leaves or undeveloped
branches are situated in the axils of the leaves. Itis a native
of Mexico and belongs to the family Onagracez. I find the
best way to grow Lopezias is to take cuttings about the end of
February (they root readily in the propagating bed), afterward
potting them in small pots, and plant them out during sum-
mer. I lift them about the middle of September, keeping
them well shaded till established. I should think this plant
would make an excellent one for commercial use, either for
cut flowers or pot plants, as it remains in flower several
weeks.

Aponogeton distachyon.—This plant is a most beautiful sub-
ject foran aquarium inacoolgreenhouse. It has been in flower
in a cool house here for several weeks. The leaves are
narrowly elliptical, entire, about eight inches long by two wide,
and float on the surface of the water. The flower is rather
remarkable, a two-spilked scape, and looks as though the scape
had been split at the upper end to form the spikes. Instead of
petals there are small, white ovate bracts, alternately disposed
on the spikes. The pistils, which are apparently four-cleft, are
situated at the base of the bracts and surrounded by a num-
ber of stamens with dark brown or purplish anthers. The

flowers rise just above the surface of the water and havea _

very sweet perfume. It is a native of the Cape of Good Hope,
and is sometimes called Cape Pondweed. Like most aquatic
plants it delights in a rich soil; a good sandy loam, with plenty
of rotten cow-dung, suits itadmirably. Itis also very essential
that it be placed in a light position with an abundance of air
on mild days. It belongs to the family Naiadacez, and is
closely related to the lace-leaf plant of Madagascar, Ouvirandra
fenestralis. According to /ndex Kewensis, Ouvirandra is now

included under Aponogeton, 4
Northampton, Mass. Edward $. Canning.

Correspondence.

Habits of Ferns.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—If one visits the forest at this season, before the
ground is covered with snow, he will find the Christmas

-Fern, Allosaurus acrostichoides, and other evergreen species

with fronds procumbent. In summer these same species
stand nearly upright, the fronds of A. acrostichoides being
especially firm and rigid. As winter approaches, however, the
plants become prostrate, and so protect themselves from being
broken by the heavy snows and winds of the winter months.
About the middle of September I took from the woods three
plants of Allosaurus acrostichoides, put them in pots and
brought them into the house. They stood the transplanting
well and proved very ornamental until about the middle of
November, when these plants, like those outside, became
prostrate. Cold weather could not have been the ruling factor
in bringing this about as these plants were in heated rooms. It
seems rather strange that this lying down of the fronds takes
place at sonearly the same time with plants placed undersuch
different conditions. It would be interesting to know if this
old habit can be broken up by continued cultivation under
changed conditions, and if so, how long it will take to over-

come it.
W. EL B.

Experiment Station, New Haven, Conn.

North Carolina Bulbs for Forcing.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—Some time since you noted the fine appearance of bulbs
grown in this state and sent to a firm in New York, and re-
marked that though apparently much superior to the imported
bulbs, it remained to be seen whether they would force as well.
About the same time the firm to whom these bulbs were sent
wrote to me that it was hardly worth while to grow the Chi-
nese Narcissus here, for the bulbs, though very fine, would

JANUARY 8, 1896.]

not bloom in water as the Chinese ones do; at least, that had
been their experience with bulbs grown in Bermuda. I then
put some of our bulbs in water, and at the same time some of
the imported Chinese. To-day our bulbs area mass of flow-
ers, while the imported ones are just showing buds. I have
been accustomed tothe forcing of bulbs for thirty years and
have never seen any bulbs do better than those we grow here.
In addition to the Narcissus Tazetta, we are forcing some of
all the bulbs we grow, including various Narcissi, Tulips,
Lilies, Roman Hyacinths and Freesias, and all, without excep-
tion, are first-class. I believe our bulbsof Lilium candidum
will at least make twice as many flowers as the French bulbs,
Roman Hyacinths are excellent, and Freesias are extra fine,
though our house (we have but one) is rather too warm for
them. Weare confident that bulbs grown in North Carolina
will compare favorably with any in commerce for forcing, as

well as for any other use.
North Carolina Agric’l Exp’t Station, Raleigh, N.C. Weak Massey.

Recent Publications.

Agriculture. By R. Hedges Wallace.
J. B. Lippincott & Co.

The natural laws on which profitable agriculture is based
are of universal application. There is no agricultural
science for America which is not true for the latitude of
England or of Australia, and yet the art of agriculture
varies widely when it comes to be adapted to the climate
and soil of different countries. This little book discusses
the science proper. Although prepared by a lecturer and
examiner in the Department of Agriculture in Victoria, it
treats of those broad principles which not only underlie the
practice of agriculture, but gives the reasons why this prac-
tice varies under different conditions. For an American
text-book it might be more immediately useful if the illus-
trations were drawn more generally from American plants,
American crops, American machinery and American sur-
roundings generally ; nevertheless, it would be hard to put
within a brief compass a clearer and more comprehensive
statement of the essentials of agricultural science. Subjects
of such fundamental importance as the composition of
plants, their methods of assimilating food, the physical
and chemical properties of soil, the effects of cultivation
on land and crops, the use of natural and artificial fer-
tilizers, the rotation of crops and many more elemental
problems are so treated that the student who masters these
pages ought to be able to carry out intelligently the daily
routine of farm procedure. Of course, we do not expect in
such a compendium any of the refinements of biology or
botany or chemistry, and, in fact, these would be out of
place, since the author is careful not to confuse these
special sciences with the science of agriculture, the object
of which is solely the production of crops and the breeding
and feeding of animals. Questions are added to each
chapter, and this old-fashioned method of instruction adds
materially to the value of the book. SBesides this, the
important words which constitute the topics of a given
paragraph are printed in broad-faced type, and this,
although it does not add to the beauty of the page, makes
it much easier for the student or for one who is hastily look-
ing the book through to pick out the thread of the argument.

We are glad to see that this book has been put on the
reading list in the University extension movements in some
states where provision is made for agricultural instruction.
Part of it, at least, or a book arranged on a similar plan,
might well be adopted as a text-book in all the common
schools of the country. It is universally admitted that the
study of the natural sciences ought to have some place in
every curriculum as a factor in wholesome intellectual devel-
opment, if for no other reason. In our high schools and
colleges the principles of astronomy are taught, not because
the students expect to become expert astronomers, but sim-
ply to broaden their field of view and exercise certain
powers of thought and imagination. The elements of
chemistry and botany and geology and other sciences are
taught largely to discipline the mind and furnish it with
material for use in civilized society, and there is no reason

Philadelphia :

Garden and Forest.

19

why the study of agricultural science should not be recog-
nized for its value in furnishing mental training and exer-
cise. No branch of study would have a more immediate
effect in establishing habits of careful personal observation,
and certainly one familiar with the elements of this science
would derive a life-long pleasure from it, even if he never
made direct practical use of his knowledge. One who has
an intelligent idea of what is going on in the orchards and
gardens, the grain fields and pastures about him in any
country where he may chance to be, is more adequately
equipped and lives a fuller life than he does to whom all
procedures on every farm and vineyard are mysteries—
mere movement without any intelligible plan or purpose.

Periodical Literature.

M®: W. BOTTING HEMSLEY, in an interesting review of
Dr. Cordemoy’s recently published Flora of Bourdon,
calls attention to the following facts :

“ Bourbon is about the same size as Mauritius, from which
it is now separated by about a hundred miles of sea, though
it seems probable that they were joined at some remote period.
The mountains rise to an altitude of more than 9,000 feet, or
nearly three times the height of the highest summits in Mau-
ritius, and the isiand presents a great variety of climatic con-
ditions. At 7,000 to 7,500 feet ice is sometimes found
as late as November.

“ Formerly nearly the whole island was covered with forest
from the seashore up to an altitude of about6,Soofeet. But for
half a century all the available land in the lower region has
been cleared for cultivation, and the native vegetation is re-
placed, where not actually under cultivation, by toreign weeds.
At the present day the forest region commences at 600 to 2,500
feet;

‘““Most of the prominent and useful forest-trees are com-
mon to Mauritius, as are all of the Palms. But what is more
remarkable, few of them are found elsewhere, though many
of the genera of the region extend to Madagascar. In fact,
there are very few genera peculiar to either Bourbon or Mau-
ritius, but several restricted to the two, indicating that these
islands are separated remnants of a formerly more extensive
area of land. On the other hand, peculiar species are very
numerous in both islands. Dr. Cordemoy and his collabora-
tors (for he has not worked outall the orders himself) describe
upward of two hundred species of flowering plants as new,
in a total of less than a thousand. More than seventy of these
new species are Orchids, and the author expresses his convic-
tion that many terrestrial species yet remain undiscovered, as
they are, many of them, very small and inconspicuous, and
their period of vegetation is of very short duration. Indeed,
as it is, the number of species of Orchids enumerated is 172,
or more than double the number of any other order of flower-
ing plants. The island is also exceedingly rich in Ferns and
Lycopods, which number together about 220 species. It is true
that the author takes a narrower view of species than he prob-
ably would do if he were dealing with the Ferns of the whole
world; but even after deducting twenty per cent. on this
account there remain nearly a third more than there are in the
Fern-flora of New Zealand. Not only are the species numer-
ous, but between thirty and forty genera are represented. Tree
and Filmy Ferns are present, though they do not abound to
the extent they do in the far-away southern country.

“The intermediate and upper zones of vegetation comprise
species of Phillipia, dwarf shrubby Ericaceew, Hypericum,
Phylica (very numerous in south Africa), Psiadia, and shrubby
species of Senecio, prominent among which is the endemic
S. Ambavilla. Faujasia and Eriothrix are other characteristic
shrubby Composite. Plants of an alpine character are entirely
wanting. Cardamine Africana is the only native Crucifer, and
Stellaria villosa, the only member of the Caryophyllacee.
There are, however, two endemic species of Ranunculus high
up on the mountains. Agauria salicifolia is an_ericaceous
shrub or small tree common to Bourbon, Mauritius, Mada-
gascar and the mountains of tropical Africa. Altogether it is
an exceedingly interesting flora.”

As early as the middle of the last century Bourbon was vis-
ited by the French botanist Commerson. The result of his
investigations was not published, although his plants are still
preserved in the herbarium of the Museum at Paris. In 1795
another French botanist, Aubert du Petit-Thouars, visited
Bourbon, where he remained for three years, publishing, after
his return to Paris, important worics on the botany of this and

20 Garden and Forest.

the neighboring islands, including Madagascar. Gaudichaud,
another French botanist, visited the island in 1818, but his col-
lections were lost in the wreck of the French man-of-war
Uranie. Returning to the island seven years later in the
Bonite, he subsequently wrote the botany of the voyage
which, although still incomplete, Mr. Hemsley pronounces
one of the most interesting of the earlier contributions to
peninsular floras.

Notes.

A correspondent of Zhe Gardeners’ Chronicle, writing from
the Botanic Garden in Grenada, West Indies, states that the
Avocado pear, the fruit of Persea gratissima, is one of the
few vegetable substances which are relished by cats. Itis said
that these animals will leave milk when an opportunity offers
and eat this fruit voraciously.

In one of the late bulletins of the Cornell Experiment Station
the Russian Thistle is spoken of as one of those weeds whose
mission is to educate the farmer and ameliorate the soil.
Weeds only prosper on fields which have been mismanaged,
and judicious tillage and cropping will keep them down. If
the Russian Thistle spreads seriously it will be because our
scheme of farming makes room for it by not keeping the land
in full use.

The experiment has been recently made in France of forc-
ing Strawberries under different colored glass, with the fol-
lowing results: (1) The best and earliest fruit was raised under
ordinary glass ; (2) orange-colored glass stimulated the vege-
tation, but was prejudicial to the quality, size and earliness of
the fruit ; (3) the plants under violet glass yielded a great deal
of fruit, but it was small, inferior in quality and not early; (4)
red, blue and green glass all proved detrimental to the plants
in the experiment.

The botanical garden at Smith’s College, Northampton,
Massachusetts, is only a litthe more than three years old, but
during the past year more than one thousand trees and shrubs
were added to the collection, and the same number of herba-
ceous plants. Five glass houses were built during the year,
including a large Palm-house, so that there are now seven
greenhouses altogether. The policy of the college is to make
the garden primarily educational, but it is also interesting
from an ornamental point of view.

During last week 8,625 barrels of apples were shipped to
this city for local trade, making 505,000 barrels since Septem-
ber Ist, an increase of 124,864 barrels over the supply for the
same period last season. The exports from this port for last
week amounted to 1,734 barrels, 220,455 barrels since Septem-
ber 1st, and nearly 3,000 barrels less than during the same weeks
last season. Northern Spies, Virginia Wine Saps and Kings sell
for the highest price, $4.00 a barrel to retail buyers, followed
closely by York Imperials; Greenings, Baldwins and Ben
Davis cost fifty cents a barrel less.

Among house-plants easy to manage, Joseph Meehan men-
tions Begonia maculata and B. Saundersii ; Ruellia macrantha,
with its large trumpet-shaped rosy purple flowers; Ardisia,
with its clustered berries ; Cypripedium insigne, which will
thrive among other plants under ordinary window-culture and
its flowers will remain open for six weeks or two months;
Rubus rosefolius, with double white flowers; Streptosolon
Jamesonii, with abundant orange-colored flowers in late win-
ter, and Libonia Penrhosensis, which is covered with its crim-
son bloom throughout the winter months.

Fruit-growers in the Hudson River Valley consider the
Lucretia dewberry as profitable as any of the blackberries,
because it ripens early, and as grown there it is large, uniform
in color and of good appearance, while the plants are very
productive. These are set about six feet apart each way ; the
vines are allowed to creep over the ground and are well
mulched at the beginning of the winter. Five or six of the
strong shoots from each hill are tied to a stake in the spring
and the rest are cut off and removed, and this insures clean
fruit and protects the plants from being bruised when it is
gathered.

Florida is now sending limited quantities of lettuce, cucum-
bers, squashes and tomatoes to northern markets, besides
egg-plants, string beans and peas, the latter selling at fancy
prices when choice. Lettuceis also coming from Louisiana, and
new-crop cauliflower, spinach, kaleand radishes from Virginia,
and beets from South Carolina. Tomatoes, from California,
sell for twenty-five cents a pound, and celery from the same
state at twenty-five cents for a bunch of three stalks. Tender

[NUMBER 4II.

green stalks of asparagus, fifteen inches long, a dozen to a
bunch, have been credited to California, but these are grown
under glass in northern Illinois. They sell for $1.00 a bunch,
and two dozen blanched shoots less than half as long, from
glass houses in this state, cost seventy-five cents. The cran-
berry crop of the United States, while considerably larger
than that of 1894, is still insufficient for home use, and some
have recently been imported from Europe. Other impor-
tations are new potatoes and beets from the Bermudas, and
cabbage from Denmark.

Monsieur Charles Naudin announces in the last number of
the Revue Horticole of the year the flowering, in his garden at
Antibes, of Vigna strobilophora, the beautiful leguminous vine
discovered by Mr. C.G. Pringle in Mexico in 1893, and de-
scribed by Dr. B. L. Robinson. A figure of this plant, which
promises to be a first-class addition to garden vines, was pub-
lished in this journal (vol. vii., page 155), and seeds collected
by Mr. Pringle were distributed, through the agency of the
Arnold Arboretum, among American and European collec-
tions. At Antibes the seed sown in 1894 has produced stems
several yards in length, which were covered during October
and a part of November of last year with racemes of purple
and rose-colored pea-shaped flowers. According to Monsieur
Naudin, ‘“ V. strobilophora will rank among the most orna-
mental of the Mexican plants cultivated in Europe, and will
make a sensation in northern greenhouses as well as in the
gardens of southern Europe, where it will be especially valua-
ble for covering treilises and summer-houses.”

Small even sized Tangerine oranges, from California, of
bright orange-red color, now bring a dollar a dozen in the
fancy-fruit stores. The few coming from Florida are of un-
even size, the color varying from lemon to russet, and these
command the same price a dozen, as much as $14.00 a box
being obtained for them at wholesale. Tiny Mandarins, from
Italy, cost sixty cents a dozen. Small shipments of unusually
fine oranges are coming from Citra, Florida, and sell for $1.00
a dozen, grape-fruit from the same section commanding $2.50
to $3.00 a dozen. The choicest Navel oranges from California
are offered at $1.20 a dozen. Large showy Japanese persim-
mons, in excellent condition, cost sixty cents to $1.20 a
dozen. California strawberries, with considerable suggestion
of the luscious summer fruit, are in moderate supply at
seventy-five cents a box, and the first hot-house strawberries
from Hackensack, New Jersey, cost $3.00 for a cup holding six
or seven immense berries. Lady-apples, brilliant and lus-
trous, cost thirty to fifty cents a dozen. Lychee nuts, from
China, sell for thirty cents a pound, the best pecans from
Texas bringing the same price, and new-crop Paradise nuts,
from Brazil, fifty cents a pound. English filberts, or cob nuts,
in their husks, are also offered in the best stores, and cones of
Pinus Pinea, each scale enclosing two edible seeds known as
Pignolia nuts.

The highest grades of roses were among the flowers that
sold most readily during the holiday season, when choice
American Beauties brought $36.00 a dozen in the retail shops.
New Year’s sales were more active than in recent seasons,
and holiday prices were fairly maintained then, though they
had fallen fifty per cent. and more by the Saturday following,
when a half-dozen sprays of purple lilac cost $2.00, the white
variety bringing a third more. New carnations, as Maud
Dean and Lily Dean, then commanded $2.00 a dozen; the
popular pink William Scott and deep red Meteor $1.50, and
Lena Saling and the scarlet Tidal Wave $1.00. Mignonette has
been one of the most popular flowers, the largest spikes cost-
ing as much as fifty cents each. Easter lilies have sold wellat
$3.00 a dozen, and Marie Louise violets at $2.00 for a bunch of
fitty lowers. Spikes of white Swainsonia cost fifty cents a half-
dozen. Other cut flowers seen in florists’ collections were
lily-of-the-valley, forget-me-not and heliotrope. Narcissus,
hyacinths and tulips have been forced into flower in large
quantities, but have failed to supersede more seasonable
flowers. Among flowering and fruiting plants the most deli-
cate, as the most showy, are thickly flowered Ericas. Cycla-
mens and Primulas of many hues and bright-colored Azaleas
enliven the florists’ windows, as do well-berried plants of
Ardisia crenulata and Otaheite Orange in abundant fruit.

The death is announced, at Anhalt, Germany, in his sixty-
sixth year, of Professor Hermann Hellriegel, the distinguished
agricultural chemist, whose name will be associated with the
discovery that organisms growing in the root tubercles of
many leguminous plants help to fix the free nitrogen of the
air and make it available as plant-food.

ad a

ao

J

JANUARY 15, 1896.]

GARDEN ANID 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, JANUARY 15s, 1896.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

EprrortaL Articte :—Municipal Art Again . SaGaneaseeuss\s hs eters 21
Bridge over the Kent at Levens Hall. (With ‘figure. : Beatrix Fones 22
ThesRetailierices Of, Cut-PlOWersicecs swinetic sie osc recientes recs oes MBC 22
Trees of Minor Importance for Western Planting.— FLA. Waugh. 23
FoREIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—Gleichenias ...--... .++-- -.W. Watson. 23
ID ANTINOTES teeters re mte cleincisrareraicstovere ola'sratscare\ajste'ajasle.cisie: -a/a:ey ulelnrmintelsie-s ate(e.s civic:sierstess 24
Cutrurat DeparTMENT:—About Glicran een eee ere Sass ees W.P. 26
How to Grow Peppers and ieee pins -- Will W. Tracy. 26
FreesiaS.....0...cseeseeees -. WN. Craig. 26
Oxalis versicolor. Gee areata aiatatete's araiciayatatele Renoir Con (ae (@ 27
Notes from Harvard Botanic Gardens scextne dozalelccseatectaee ce R. Cameron. 27
Ardisia crenulata.. AA NSO OB OaG LEN oHa OS CERIO acs ean erates T. D. H. 27
Reinwardtia trigyna.., Bleeemiciets Edward F. Canning. 27
CorREsPonDENCE :—The Pr’ ospects tor Californ: nia’s Orange Crop. Wi, AZ, Tisdale. 28
Meetincs oF Societies :—lhe New Jersey Horticultural Society 29
RecENT PUBLICATIONS - 29
NOTES..200 -25---5 30
ILtusrration :—Bridge over the Kent at Levens Hall, Fig. 3 25

Municipal Art Again.

FEW weeks ago we alluded to the report of the Fine
Arts Federation of this city on the location of the
proposed monument to the soldiers and sailors who died
in the war for the Union, for which a quarter of a million
dollars had been appropriated by the Legislature. The
legally appointed trustees of this monument fund had
invited an opinion from the Federation, which consists of
members of ten different societies in the city which are
connected with various branches of the arts of painting,
sculpture and architecture, and the Federation gave its
reasons for considering the vestibule of the park known as
the Plaza objectionable as a site. Further than this, and in
order to give a definite and practical character to their
views, the associated artists named another site and
gave the reasons why they considered it an appro-
priate one. The commission did not adopt this report,
but, on the contrary, voted in favor of the site condemned
by the Federation. We expressed our regret at this deci-
sion, because we believe that if the city is to be made
attractive by works of art these must be designed by artists
of the first rank and their positions must be selected by
men whose taste and training have fitted them in a pecu-
liar way for’deciding questions of this character. A com-
mittee of thirty picked men, three from each one of the
affiliated societies, devoted a great deal of time and study
to this subject, and no argument is needed to show that
their judgment on such a point ought to be worth more
than the offhand opinions of men who do not pretend to
have any special education or experience to prepare them
for work of this character.
The last number of Zhe Engineering Magazine contains
an instructive article on the Value of Good Architecture in
_ Cities, in which it is shown how insignificant are the efforts
to supply American cities with monumental and architec-
tural adornment, when compared even with the second-
rate cities of the Old World. Taking the City Hall Park of
New York, for example, and the streets that surround it, at-
tention is called to the fact that although this is a compara-
tively small space the buildings on the east and west are
sufficiently distant from each other to escape any appearance
of crowding. Not to speak of the meaningless public
building occupied by the general government as a post

Garden and Forest. 21

office at the southern end of the park, ten million dollars
would be a conservative estimate of the amount expended
within the last decade upon the great buildings which now
look down upon the little City Hall in the centre of the
green. This sum of money, if it had been expended in
Paris, for example, would have probably secured for that
city one monumental building anda series of structures,
each one of which would have been a genuine municipal
ornament. Without criticising the buildings about this
park, it is safe to say that, with one or two possible excep-

tions, if they were all destroyed no one would feel that the
city had lost any priceless art treasures; and yet this is the
very heart of the municipal life of the metropolis of the
New World, and it is the one point in the city where care-
ful artistic treatment is desirable, and where splendid
surroundings would be constantly exerting their influence
upon the taste and ministering to the pleasure of tens of

thousands of people who daily pass through it. If the
contemplation of objects of art which embody noble

thoughts is more wholesome than the daily contact with
objects which offend the sense of beauty, then the city
which does not furnish dignified buildings, monuments
and statues does not live up to its opportunities and fails
to minister as it should to the wants of one part of our
nature.

We hear much of republican simplicity, and it is some-
times argued that buildings of impressive proportions and
lofty purpose are wasteful and contrary to that utilitarian
spirit which is the foundation of our material progress.
But the truth is that purity of line in buildings is not at all
inconsistent with usefulness, and that an ugly structure
may cost as much as one which has real value as a work
of art. Itis not the want of money, but the failure to ap-
preciate the real worth of architectural beauty, that makes
so many of our streets commonplace and featureless. We
do not mean by this that our people, as a rule, lack good
taste. It is only vulgarity and snobbishness which con-
sider anything good enough for Americans. Our na-
tional, state and municipal authorities go on constructing
public buildings which not only are lacking in ordi-
nary comfort and convenience, but which have nothing
in the way of stateliness or beauty to show for the
vast sums that are every year expended upon them.
And yet when by some happy chance some really
meritorious building or monument or fountain is set up
the plain people who are stigmatized as lacking the
zsthetic sense at once recognize its value and look upon
it with genuine satisfaction and pride, for they are quite as
able to appreciate the beauties of a well-designed park or
fountain or statue or building as any in the world.

One reason why we have no more good public structures
lies in the self-reliant and self-sufficient feeling of men who
are elected to office, and who assume, therefore, to decide
upon questions of art with the same positiveness and
assurance with which ae decide matters of their own
private business. So-called self-made men have too little
respect for expert opinion in any direction. They consider
themselves able to decide all serious questions, and ques-
tions of art they are apt to consider too trivial for any
study. They seem to imagine that the artistic and the
practical are in everlasting conflict, and they have not
begun to learn the truth that the highest art in the laying
out of a park or the construction of a building is simply
the exaltation of ils greatest practical value. The artistic
view of a question is not something opposed to what is
known as the common-sense view of the same matter.
For example, the Report of the Fine Arts Federation
on the site of the soldiers’ and sailors’ monument
was a document full of hard, practical sense, and
it set forth reasons for the conclusions reached that
any man of ordinary cultivation could weigh. The fact
is that the view of artists upon such a question is
nothing but the view of the educated community, only
the artists by their training are able to seize upon the real
points at issue and present them in an orderly way for the

22

approval of the intelligent public. The artists and special
lovers of art in any community are simply that part of the
people who have thought the most about art matters,
and what is the view of the artists to-day on a question of
municipal decoration would be the view of every man of
ordinary cultivation in the city if the same question was
properly presented to him, and it will be the popular view
in a year.

Bridge over the Kent at Levens Hall.

HE bridge illustrated on page 25 is a good example of

the form of construction most often seen in the north
of England and in Scotland. Built of the common service-
able stone of the neighborhood, these bridges look as if
they had laughed at the elements for generations, and
would continue their defiance for many a year to come.
On the high road between Milnthorpe and Kendal this
one crosses the Kent in the park of Levens Hall, where
lovers of the curious may still see the topiary marvels
created by the gardener to James II. In the home grounds
the gently flowing river is bordered by tall grasses, the
large leaves of the Coltsfoot and great tufts of purple
Loosestrife, while in the deer park trees dip to the water as
it saunters past. From the lawn in front of the house the
little island, on which the pier rests, makes a pretty fore-
ground to the bridge, which rises, gray and solid, above
the waving tangle of flower and sedge.

Bridges of this sort would be just as appropriate here as
in the old country, and would, of course, be more durable
than the wooden constructions which are every year
washed away by the dozen in the spring freshets. The
initial cost, to be sure, would be greater, but in the long
run the stone would prove more economical, since trifling
repairs are needed, and these at comparatively long
intervals. Here and there, in out-of-the-way parts of this
country, stone bridges are still to be seen, but the struc-
tures which are now being built are almost without excep-
tion of wood or iron. If village improvement societies
would turn their attention in this direction much could be
done to restore streams, now defaced, to their original
beauty. The simple lines and quiet color of this Ivy-
draped bridge in Westmoreland are what make it satisfying
to the eye and an added charm to the stream ; it is made
from the stone of the country, and the native plants grow
about it as. familiarly as though it were a bowlder playfully

deposited there by Nature in the ice age. :
ee York. y § Beatrix Jones.

The Retail Prices of Cut Flowers.

N one of the two articles on the New York Cut Flower
] Company which appeared in GarprEn anp Forest dur-
ing last November, it was stated that the retail price for
cut flowers in this city seems unnecessarily high to Ameri-
cans who have lived abroad, where they learn to con-
sider choice flowers a necessity rather than a luxury, and
examples were given showing the relative prices of roses
and violets, which here are nearly twice as high as in
southern Europe. By some persons this is attributed to
the large profits of the commission houses, while others
hold that the retail dealers receive the lion’s share of the
great advance in price over that received by the grower.

The retail florists of this city number about two hundred,
not including a large class of street venders known as the
Greeks, and representative dealers give many reasons, which
seem convincing, for the prevailing scale of prices. In the
first place, it is necessary to keep so large a stock of many
different kinds of flowers that the capital required is con-
siderable. Not a few firms, founded twenty or more years
ago, have a history of moderate, steady growth from very
small beginnings, sometimes less than one hundred dollars
having constituted the original capital. But the same con-
ditions which have affected the jewelry, dry goods, house-
furnishing and other lines of trade have revolutionized the
florist's business, and now a very modest establishment

Garden and Barcel

[NUMBER 412.

needs at least $5,000 to begin with, while double that
amount is necessary to open a tasteful and attractive store
in a good location, and a first-class business in a fashiona-
ble locality cannot be successfully started without a much
larger investment. Furnishings and decorations in a
store are expensive necessities, which may easily take
$2,000 or more, besides the heavy outlay for horses
and delivery wagons. A van, too, is a necessity, since
these immense enclosed vehicles are heated and ven-
tilated to insure the safety of tender and valuable stock,
such as large decorative plants. Fancy baskets, silver
bowls and artistic jardiniéres of many forms and all colors
and shades are required in a first-class establishment, and
one such house has in regular use 200 pedestals needed in
the grouping of plants in decorations. While $50.00 is a
minimum daily investment for cut flowers, the largest
stores handle 5,000 to 20,000 individual flowers, for which
they pay from two cents to $1.50 apiece.

Taking the year through, it is, perhaps, not too much to
say that twenty-five per cent. of the stock bought is not
sold, and is a total loss, and it is easily possible on many
days to have half the stock represented in flowers aggra-
vatingly removed from freshness. Roses, bright-colored
and deliciously fragrant, which would furnish delight-
ful home decoration for several days, are stored in the ice-
box at the close of a day only to be just too widely blown
for the next day’s trade. At their best, roses and Bermuda
lilies are the longest keepers, and may be successfully
carried three days, while heliotrope withers and blackens
in a day, and. the welcome fragrance of violets becomes a
death-like and offensive odor after from twelve to twenty-
four hours, though their color is still clear and bright. The
resentment against paying what seems exorbitant prices
is, perhaps, directed more generally against violets than
any other particular flower, their quiet unobtrusiveness
making the price all the more startling. But these modest
little flowers now cost the retail buyer $2 00 a hundred,
and it is a good business day that sees his stock of them
exhausted, and anything short of this means actual loss.
For example, four small bunches left over represent $8.00
of lost capital. The critical selection of the customer
leaves a dozen to twenty roses and carnations out of every
hundred to be sold in a lower grade for less money, and a
few lilies out of every twenty-five are sure to be bruised
and. of course, made worthless whenever they are han-
dled. All this signifies that one hundred per cent. advance
in price means a much smaller profit than these figures
imply. Indeed, the perishable nature of flowers makes
them more uncertain than almost any article of commerce.
Even the most delicate fruits and hot-house vegetables can
be held over in cold storage and their appearance be pre-
served until they are to be eaten—that is, they do not need
to be kept for a long time after they are sold, simply for
appearance sake—while the duration of the beauty of
flowers is their essential value.

One of the most important conditions for success is
the judicious selection of stock as to variety and quan-
tity. Twenty years ago Safrano, Bon Silene and the
old white Lamarque roses constituted almost the entire
variety of this class of flowers, whereas now of pink varie-
ties alone the dealer is obliged to have at least halfa dozen
Tea roses and nearly as many Hybrids. Although cus-
tomers do not know the names of the different roses, yet
they know the distinctions of shade and form between
Mrs. Pierpont Morgan, Belle Siebrecht, Madame Cusin

and Bridesmaid, and insist on being precisely satisfied. If

the desired variety is not on sale, telephone and telegraph
are at once brought into requisition, with the result that

these special flowers cost the dealer more than he receives

for them. Cases like this are aggravated by the short
notice now given to dealers. Formerly several days were
allowed for the filling of a moderate-sized order, but now
a florist must be equipped to complete the decorations for
a sumptuous entertainment in afew hours. In the matter of
color modern taste has come to be very exacting, since great

Oe EE eT Ne OTe ee ee ee | RnR ge ee ne SAT Ay Oe a] ee oe

laa ns Se

JANUARY 15, 1896.]

care is taken to select flowers ofa tint which will be in effec-
tive harmony or contrast with the other decorations of a
room or a table, or of a gown. Even in white the flowers
must match the exact tone, whether ivory or cream or pearl,
and samples of dress materials are often sent to the florists
with orders. ‘To meet these demands the larger stores are
compelled to have a superintendent, skilled bouquet makers
and buyers who command large salaries.

The cost of material given away nowadays would almost
have paid the expenses of an ordinary flower store a quarter
ofacentury ago. Boxes which cost fifty cents each, ribbons
where cotton cord was formerly used, expensive lavender-
colored tinfoil, fine papers of various textures, corsage pins,
and the greens which are used for filling amount to a round
sum ‘in the course of the year. Twenty years ago a ball bou-
quet was made of Bon Silene roses and Ground Pine, and the
regulation price of five dollars left a fair profit for the dealer.
Now abunch of choice loose flowers costs twenty-five dollars,
because no culls can be used, and only perfect long straight-
stemmed flowers. Where Geranium leaves were once accept-
able for foliage, modern taste demands the use of expen-
sive fronds of Adiantum and Asparagus. Then it should
be remembered that the season in this city begins
with the week of the Horse Show and ends with Easter,
with many breaks caused by holiday visits to country
places and to the south, so that whatever money is made in
the year must be made within a comparatively few weeks.
This necessitates fora part of the year long hours and hard
work for many employees, with no holidays.

All this means high prices for the most fashionable
flowers, and yet the business is making a steady and
healthy growth. More flowers are sold every year, and
more growing plants are used for decoration. As a
general rule, too, the popular taste is becoming more
refined, and not a few of the retail dealers are exerting a

wholesome influence in this direction.
New York. AE-Be-C,

Trees of Minor Importance for Western Planting.—I.

HE Kentucky Coffee Tree, Gymnocladus Canaden-
sis, has not received the attention it deserves in
ornamental planting in the United States. It is indigenous
as far west as central Kansas, to my knowledge, and grows
thriftily and with comparative ease even on dry upland.
Itis not difficult to handle in the nursery while young. The
tree has in all stages of growth picturesqueness and charm.
Its foliage is beautiful, and while it gives a distinct variety
in the foliage-texture of any planting, it is not so conspic-
uous as to appear obtrusive, nor does it bring any note of
disharmony to the composition. In winter, after the foliage
is shed, the large, dark seed-pods persist, adding to the
picturesqueness of the gray branches and making alto-
gether such a piquant effect as an artist might long seek
for. The tree is sound and healthy, and not subject to
insect attacks, so that 1am ata loss to understand why it
‘is not more frequently used. Some twenty-year-old speci-
mens recently examined in McPherson County, Kansas,
have a height of twenty feet, and have been bearing seed
for eight or ten years.

The Honey Locust, Gleditschia triacanthos, is native to
pretty much the same western situations as the Coffee Tree,
which it resembles in more points than one. Though the
foliage is not so compoundly pinnate as in the Coffee Tree,
it is much finer and gives an even more emphatic touch
of shimmering tremulousness to the masses which it com-
poses. This effect is much heightened by the glossy sur-
face of the leaves, which reflect the sunlight at every move-
ment, and-this becomes more important in a country which
has twice as much sunlight in a year as New York state.
This tree thrives throughout Kansas and Oklahoma in al-
most all situations in which any other trees grow, though
it is, perhaps, a trifle shy of the drier uplands. I have seen
many handsome specimens in several western states. It is
said to be attacked sometimes by borers, but I have never
had evidence of serious trouble on this score.

Garden and Forest.

23

The American Elm was omitted from my notes of west-
ern timber-trees in GARDEN AND Forest, December 18th, 1895,
because I have not seen it planted for timber. For ornament,
and especially for streets, it is a great favorite in the west,
though its popularity has, | think, been somewhat declin-
ing in recent years. The young trees are grievously worked
by borers in many cases. I especially noted several hun-
dred large nursery-grown trees along the streets in Norman,
southern Oklahoma, which had been totally destroyed the
first year, with hardly a single exception. The long, slen-
der, exposed trunks of these trees, however, offered an
unusually fine harbor for the insects. Lower-headed trees
with cleaner bark should be chosen for planting, and it
seems as if some other defensive measures might be
adopted.

At Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, I also noted Tea’s Hybrid
Catalpa used as a street-tree. The trees had only recently
been set from not very good stock, and so gave small oppor-
tunity for judgment; but, so far as my observations went,
they helped to confirm a prejudice which | had already
formed against all Catalpas for street-trees.

The American Ash has sometimes been used asa timber-
tree in the west, and has, I think, been carefully tried in
the well-known plantings at Farlington, Kansas. I have
never seen it much used for any purpose, and the only
really satisfactory record of it which I have ever made is
taken from several trees which came up from seed as under-
growth ina planting of Ailanthus, Catalpas and Cottonwoods
in a timber-claim in McPherson County, Kansas. In this
situation they did well, and when examined a few months
ago were good, straight trees of eighteen or twenty feet
high. They are now twelve years old. I have once or
twice seen them planted in solid blocks, without shade, in
timber-claims, but I never saw them successful under such
treatment. I remember also a close planting of Ash in
blocks on the Kansas Agricultural College farm, and my
impressions of their success as a forestry venture were not
flattering ; but for good reasons they had not come under
such systematic and sympathetic treatment as might have
developed a better showing. This Ash is also sometimes
used as a street-tree, but nowhere with great success, so
far as my observations have gone.

Maples have been extensively used in western towns as
street-trees, the Silver Maple being in a large majority. In
some places public squares have been planted with them,
and the result is generally entirely satisfactory. All things
considered, it is probably the best street-tree for the west,
though it has its faults, to be sure. Some seasons it is
quite defoliated by a lepidopterous larva, which adds a con-
siderable unwelcomeness of its own to the unsightliness of
the naked trees. But these ravages do not occur every
year, and some of the people who, a few years ago, cut
down fine large Maple-trees on this account were undoubt-
edly hasty.

University of Vermont. EF. A, Waugh.

Foreign Correspondence.
Gleichenias.
HEN well grown the Gleichenias form handsome
specimen plants. They are among the most
attractive of the Ferns cultivated in the cool fernery at

Kew, where the conditions as to temperature, moisture,
etc., appear to exactly afford their somewhat special

requirements. This house is one of the most recently
erected ; it is built of light iron, with wood sashes, the
panes of glass ten inches wide, the roof span-shaped, with
a lantern ventilator, the position being from north to
south. A central stage and two side stages, the latter a

yard from the roof, formed of thick slate, resting on an
iron frame and covered with small coke, accommodate a

collection of all kinds of Ferns which require a minimum
temperature in winter of from forty-five to fifty degrees.
I describe the house because it is ihe first of those at Kew

set apart for Ferns that has proved suitable for Gleichenias.

24

Three years ago a collection of species and varieties of
Gleichenia, at that time only a few inches high and
planted in four-inch pots, was obtained for this house.
‘These plants are now each from three to four feet in
diameter, their stem-like fronds interlacing and forming a
thick bush of elegant green, prettily crimped pinne.

The treatment these plants have received is as follows:
They are potted in a mixture of peat, silver sand and
nodules of sandstone in shallow pots or pans. The soil is
pressed firmly about the roots, and any straggling rhizomes
pegged down close to the soil.
at all times, and this is perhaps the chief essential in the
cultivation of Gleichenias. If a plant has lost fronds,
turned brown, or made stunted growth, it has proved to
be due to insufficient watering. I have been told by
travelers that Gleichenias generally grow in sunny, dry
situations in countries where they are wild, but I know
from experience that under cultivation they do not
like bright sunshine, and they revel in moisture at the
root.

Gleichenias are remarkable in the structure of their
fronds, in which respect they resemble the Lygodiums,
several species of Davallia and one of Gymnogramme,
The true stem is a creeping rhizome from which spring
the fronds, which have wiry stalks, generally dichoto-
mously branched many times, and bearing numerous ele-
gant, deeply cut, pinnatifid branches or pinne. ‘These are
what are usually looked upon as the fronds proper, the
long wiry portion being popularly supposed to be stems.
The sori are capsular, in cups formed by the usually
reflexed edges of the ultimate divisions or teeth of the
pinne ; they contain few spores, which are matured on
cultivated plants and are used for their propagation. Be-
ginners are apt to collect and sow only the spore-cases
after the spores have escaped, which they do at an early
stage. The pinne should be collected when the capsules
are green and plump, and kept in paper in a dry place till
the capsules burst and release the spores. They should be
sown in pots of very sandy peat and covered with a pane
of glass. Although the wiry growths are really the stalks
of the fronds, they may be used for the purpose of multi-
plication, as they frequently bear axillary buds. A stock
of plants can be obtained by planting a specimen in a pre-
pared bed of sandy peat and pegging down the fronds,
especially fixing the apical fork close to ora little below
the surface of the soil. Many Ferns have proliferous or
bud-bearing fronds, the most familiar of all being the
Aspleniums of the bulbiferum type.

Gleichenias may be grown into very large specimens.
I have seen them fully six feet in diameter and as leafy
and healthy as a well-grown Asparagus plumosus.

There are about thirty species of Gleichenia scattered
widely over the tropics both of the Old and New World,
extending into Chili, Australia, the Cape, etc. Some of the
handsomest, especially of the truly tropical species, have
not yet been introduced into cultivation, although many
attempts have been made. The following are cultivated
at Kew and in other gardens in England :

G. circinaTA.—Rhizomes covered with black-brown
scales; stalks of fronds brown, clothed with gray wool;
pinnee (fronds) six to eighteen inches long, dull olive-
green above, silvery below; the segments linear, one to
three inches long, one-eighth of an inch wide; the teeth
rounded, flat, or forming shallow cups in some of the
varieties, of which there are five at Kew, viz., Backhousiana
Mendelii, semivestita and Speluncee. These are all natives
of Australia and New Zealand and have long been in
cultivation.

G. picarpA.—Rhizomes nearly glabrous; stalks brown,
hairy only when young; pinne bluish green, the seg-
ments very narrow and divided into numerous very small
rounded teeth, the margin of each of which is recurved and
forms-a small purse-like cavity, which is partly closed
with fine rust-colored hairs. This character distinguishes
dicarpa from all the other species. The varieties of it

Garden and Forest.

Plenty of water is given’

[NUMBER 412.

grown here are alpina, glauca and longipinnata, all natives
of Australia and New Zealand.

G. picnotoma.—The stalks of this species are thin, some-
what zigzag, hairy when young, smooth and shining
brown when old; they are dichotomously branched, each
pair of pinne being subtended by a pair of smaller in
the axil or fork, from which springs the continuing stalk.
The pinnee vary in length from six inches to a foot, and
in width from one to six inches; they are not unlike the
fronds of a Nephrolepis. This*species is usually unsatis-
factory under cultivation, but at Kew it grows well under
the conditions above described. It is quite distinct from
all other Ferns. It occurs in all tropical countries, and
there are numerous forms of it.

G. FLABELLATA.—Rhizomes as thick as goose-quills, olive
green, clothed with black hairs; stalks erect, smooth,
dark brown, unbranched for some distance, bearing a
cluster of repeatedly forked pinoz about nine inches long,
flabellately arranged, more or less parallel and gracefully
arched; the teeth are half an inch long, shining dark
green. There is a large specimen of this very striking
Fern at Kew. It is a native of Australia and New Zealand,
where it sometimes forms masses many feet through.

G. RupEsTRIS. —Stalks of fronds thin, wiry, glaucous when
young, smooth ; pinne as in G. circinata, but with thicker,
rounder teeth, and always quite flat; they are glaucous
green above, silvery below. Var. gigantea has. the seg-
ments nearly a quarter of an inch wide and is a noble
Fern ; var. glaucescens is more distinctly glaucous than the
type. Native of Australia. W. Watson.

London,

Plant Notes.

LeucotHoi Catrspa1.—Certainly few people can realize
the winter beauty of this shrub or it would be more often
seen in northern gardens. ‘The flower-buds are developed
in autumn in the axils of the persistent leaves of the year,
and are formed like elongated pointed cones, about half an
inch in length, with closely imbricated scales. As the
weather grows cold the scales turn deep red, the same color
suffusing in a slighter degree the ends of the zigzag stems
and the upper leaves, and their petioles, vigorous young
branches and their leaves being often as richly colored as the
flower-buds. The lower leaves for the most part retain
their brilliant lustrous green color, and the contrast between
the upper and lower parts of the plant only adds to its
beauty. Leucothoé Catesbai is a shrub with recurving
stems from three to six feet in length, persistent, tapering
thick and leathery leaves, and short spike-like racemes of
nodding waxy bell-shaped flowers. It is a common under-
shrub in the region of the southern Alleghany Mountains,
where, from Virginia to Georgia, it inhabits the moist banks
of streams, usually growing in the shade of trees. It was
one of the earliest of the Appalachian plants cultivated in
Europe, and English gardeners soon learned its value. It
has always been propagated in English nurseries, but in
this country has remained comparatively rare in gardens.
It flourishes in damp situations and in peat soil, growing
equally well in the shade and in full sunlight and is beau-
tiful throughout the year. When it is desirable to unite the
margins of a plantation of evergreen trees or large shrubs
with the ground, or to plant the shaded banks of a brook
flowing through a rocky gorge, there is no better plant for
the purpose than this Alleghany shrub, which possesses a
constitution that enables it to bear uninjured the severe
climate of New England. All the North American Leuco-
thoés, of which half a dozen are distinguished by botanists,
are first-rate garden plants ; and they are all easy to culti-
vate, with the exception, perhaps, of the beautiful Leuco-
thoé Davisia, which inhabits the high Sierra Nevada of
California and has not yet been satisfactorily tested in our
gardens, although it was introduced into England as long
ago as 1853 by the collector Lobb. Like many other Cali-
fornia plants, however, it is difficult to manage in the east,
and probably will never become a popular garden plant here.

JANUARY 15, 1896.]

Garden and Forest.

page 22.

ns Hall.—See

26 Garden and Forest.

Cultural Department.

About Currants.

HE marked development in recent years of the interest in

currants as a market fruit has naturally been accompanied
by the introduction of many new varieties and some old varie-
ties under new names. The newer candidates for favor include
the Eclipse, North Star, Red Cross and Wilder of the red kinds,
and Marvin's Seedling, Caywood’s Seedling and White Ver-
saillaise of the white kinds, and several other sorts. None of
these have been fruited here long enough to determine their
productiveness.

North Star, introduced from Minnesota, makes @ vigorous
upright or somewhat spreading growth. The color of the
fruit is much like that of the Red Dutch; bunches medium
length; fruit probably large under good cultivation, but varying
from small to large. Red Cross, from seed of Cherry tertilized
by White Grape, was originated by the originator of Brighton
Grape. The fruit is medium to very large, milder-flavored
and lighterin color and somewhat later in season than Cherry.
Habit of bush, upright, vigorous. Eclipse is a good grower
and bears bunches trom two and a half to three inches long.
The fruit varies from small to large; color good, somewhat
lighter than that of Fay; flavor comparatively mild. Wilder,
from seed of Versaillaise, originated about eighteen years ago
with Mr. E. Y. Teas, Irvington, Indiana. It isa good grower,
bearing fruit medium to very large, less.uniform in size than
Fay, and somewhat lighter in color. It appears to be worthy
of extended trial as a late kind.

Among the red Currants that have been in full bearing at
this station during the last three years, Cherry has been one of
the most desirable of the large-fruited kinds. Fay yields longer
bunches and more uniformly large fruit than Cherry, but it
does not make as satisfactory a bush, nor has it been as pro-
ductive in this locality as the Cherry. Neither of these kinds
will remain on the bushes in good condition for shipping as
late as will Victoria, Prince Albert or Wilder. On account of
its thin skin and abundance of fine-flavored juice, Cherry is
liked at fruit-preserving establishments for making into jam,
but it is necessary to evaporate away more Of its juice in mak-
ing jelly than it is with some other varieties. Fay and Prince
Albert are especially liked for making into jelly, because of
their large size, thin skin and rich pulp.

Prince Albert is a vigorous grower, more upright even than
Red Dutch. When well grown the fruit will pass for large.
Of all the varieties in full bearing here during the last three
years it has given the highest average yield, and London Red,
also known as Short-bunched’ Red, has taken second place.
The London Red, like Cherry, has short clusters, with stem so
short as to make it difficult to pick. The fruit varies trom
medium to large and is similar to Red Dutch in color and
quality. One ot the most valuable of the kinds that produce
medium-sized fruitis Victoria, also known in Canada as Ruby
Castle or Raby Castle. The bush is avery strong grower, up-
right and very productive. The cluster of well-tormed. buds
at the end of the shoot, the bluish gray color of the buds and
the rather pale green foliage’ are quite characteristic of this
variety. The clusters are of good medium length. The fruitis
late in coloring, has a bright red color, and will keep on the
bushes in good condition later than either Cherry or Red
Dutch.

The market demand for white currants is quite limited, and
the number of new white varieties is not so great as the num-
ber of newly introduced red sorts. White Grape and White
Dutch still remain the standard sorts. White Imperial has not
yet fruited here. Caywood Seedling is a very productive white
kind, with spreading or drooping branches. The fruitis large,
attractive and of good quality. Marvin's Seedling is similar in
color to White Grape, larger in size and rather more acid.
White Versaillaise has long, well-formed clusters slightly
darker in color than White Grape ; berries larger, less juicy and

about the same in acidity as White Grape.
Geneva Experiment Station, N. Y. W. P.

How to Grow. Peppers and Egg-plants.

HERE are few vegetables which so often disappoint

growers by failing to produce fruit as Peppers and Egg-
plants. It seems to be an easy matter to grow plants which
by the last of August are large and vigorous, but in many cases
only an occasional plant is productive. Conditions of soil,
climate and culture might cause such failure, but I think it is
most often the outcome of little-understood peculiarities of
Solanaceous plants. The Tomato, Egg-plant and Pepper are
annuals and natives of a tropical climate. The seed does not

[NUMBER 412.

start until the growing season, and then the plants have the
advantage of a uniformly favorable degree of moisture and
heat, in which they grow rapidly and steadily from the starting
seedling to the ripening fruit. This is their normal habit of
growth, and any interference with it is sure to result in less
perfect development and fruitfulness. A temporary check,
which would have no permanent influence on Peas, Beans or
Lettuce, will materially lessen the fruittulness of a Tomato,
Pepper or Egg-plant, even though it does not lessen its ulti-
mate size and apparent vigor. I could give details of experi-
ments which go to prove this fatt, but readers will recall
instances where a_ single volunteer Tomato-plant which
sprang up after the started plants were set, and in the favora-
ble weather grew steadily without check, was noticeably more
productive, though no larger, than those that were trans-
planted. If individual plants of Egg-plant and Pepper are
noted, those which have grown most steadily and been least
checked in transplanting will prove the most productive
plants. The practical lesson of these observations is that the
utmost care should be taken in starting plants of this class
to secure steady and unchecked growth.

Sowing the seed should be delayed until there is just time
enough before setting the plants in the open ground for the
seedlings with a moderate rate of growth to reach the size
most desirable for handling and transplanting. Special care
should be taken to so control light, heat and moisture as to
secure the steady growth of the plants. To start the seed so
early or grow the plants so rapidly as to be forced to hold them
back or let them get soft and spindling through want of room
is sure to result in a poor crop of fruit, no matter how prom-
ising the plants look in July. The ground should be well
prepared and so fertilized as to give the plants a well-balanced
food ration; and the plants set and the ground cultivated so as
to avoid, as far as possible, the least check in the growth of the
plants. es

Detroit, Mich. Will W. Tracy.

Freesias.

MONG winter-blooming plants which furnish flowers for
cutting few equal in usefulness or popularity these Cape
bulbs. Within the last few years the price of flowering bulbs
has been so much reduced that they are now sold at very low
rates, and no one possessing a greenhouse can afford to be
without them ; we have seen very good pots and pans of them
grown in windows where the temperature has not been too
high. A great many house-plants are ruined by heat, and
Freesias are impatient of high temperature until their Hower-
spikes show, when they will endure a lijtle forcing. If opened
in strong heat, however, the flowers lack the substance of
those grown cooler, and they fade sooner.

For our earliest batch, from which we usually begin to cut
flowers at Christmas, we plant our bulbs about the middle of
August, using boxes four inches deep, well-drained with
broken crocks or clam-shells, over which is placed a layer of
sphagnum-moss. The compost used consists of equal parts
ot loam, leaf-mold and well-rotted cow-manure, with a good
Gash of sharp sand and some pulverized charcoal to keep the
whole porous. A box twenty-four inches by twelve inches
willcarry fifty bulbs, Theseare covered two inches deep with the
compost; atter being boxed a good watering is given and the
boxes are placed ona bed of ashes ina cold trame and covered
with some strawy manure to prevent the drying out of the
soil. As soon as the young shoots appear this covering is
removed; the sashes are only used over the plants to throw off
heavy rains, and, later in the season, to protect irom frost; the
more steadily the plants are kept growing the better will be the
returns at flowering time.

We house these first lots early in October, and place the
boxes on a shelf in a Carnation-house close up to the light.
From the beginning of November until the flowers commence
to open, stimulants are applied at each alternate watering. We
find sulphate of ammonia and sheep-manure water the best
liquid foods, and we use these almost as strong as for pot
Chrysanthemums, Freesias, if well grown, should average
trom twelve to twenty inches in height when in bloom, with
four to five side branches on each spike; the starved speci-
mens too often seen average from six to nine inches in height,
and are ruined by too much heat, being grown too tar from the
glass and in too poor compost.

By putting ina few boxes of bulbs each month from the
middle of August to the middle of November a succession
of bloom may be had from Christmas till Easter. We hold
our late batchesin a cold frame until Chrysanthemums are
quite over. Freesias increase about three-fold each year, and
home-grown bulbs, we find, produce much finer flowers than

JANUARY 15, 1896.]

the larger ones from California. After the flowers are cut we
place the boxes under the benches and gradually withhold
water. About the middle of July we shake the soil out and
pick the bulbs out in two sizes ; the smaller ones, like garden
peas, are sown broadcast, rather thickly; these make fine
flowering bulbs for the next season. For use in the conserv-
atory, Freesias grown in pots or pans are very effective, their
delicate odor and free-flowering properties making them in-
dispensable. By sowing seed in pots or pans and thinning
them out (as the seedlings cannot be successfully transplanted)
good flowering bulbs may be had the second season, but bulbs
of good quality are now so cheap that few go to the trouble of
raising them in this way. Freesia refracta alba is the most
largely grown and popular of the three sorts in commerce.
F. Leichtlinii, with creamy yellow flowers, may be added ;
stray bulbs of it are usually to be seen mixed in with those of
F. refracta alba, We. No Graie

Taunton, Mass,

Oxalis versicolor.

sake trouble with most of the species and varieties of Oxalis
lies in the fact that their flowers remain closed for a con-
siderable portion of the day ; especially is this the case in mid-
winter, when some of them only open in clear sunny weather.
Few of the species are very attractive unless they are in full
flower. The species known as O. versicolor, however, is a
notable exception to this rule, as the flower-buds and closed
flowers are quite as attractive to many people as the fully
opened ones. The petals, when closed, are so arranged that
they overlap each other to a certain extent, the overlapping
edges of the under surfaces being a reddish pink color, and
the remaining part white aud greenish yellow at the base, and
this combination of color in the closed flower makes it very
attractive. When expanded the flowers are about an inch in
diameter, and upper surface of the corolla is pure white. This
species is not of robust growth; the leaves, which are small
and divided into three linear leaflets, do not spring directly
from the bulb; long slender stalks are first produced, which
form bunchy growths at the apex, from which spring an aston-
ishingly large number of leaves and flowers. The plant is
particularly well adapted for planting in baskets, as the
branches hang over the sides. It begins flowering here about
the middle of December, and continues for at least three
months; this is in a house where the temperature is kept just
high enough to prevent freezing. The pear-shaped bulbs are
small, and in starting I set them singly in thumb-pots, using
peat loam and sand in equal parts. When the growths are an
inch or two high they are transferred to baskets lined with
sphagnum-moss, when a richer soil is used, and in this they

are planted rather closely.
Botanic Garden, Washington, D. C. G.W. O.

Notes from Harvard Botanic Garden.

ey a greenhouse here, where the temperature ranges from
forty to forty-five degrees, there is a showy group of plants
of Senecio Petasites which invites special attention. This plant
is an old inhabitant of gardens, having been grown for more
than three-quarters of a century, but it is seldom seen now. It
is of special value at this season for those who have large con-
servatories to be kept gay during the dull months of winter.
The plants are seldom kept more than one year, but if large
specimens are desired the old plants may be cut back late in
spring, and when the weather is favorable in early summer
they may be planted out in the garden. They need plenty of
room, as the old branches soon break and make large hand-
some specimens. Cuttings struck in spring make the most
useful plants for us. When the plants are through flowering
one or two are kept for stock plants. They are cut back, and
in a few weeks they make young shoots, which make the best
cuttings when they are three or four inches long. It takes
them about two weeks to make good roots in the cutting-
bench. After they are well rooted they are put into three-inch
pots, and in May they are planted out in the garden. They
soon begin to grow, and about the first week of July they are
cut back so as to make them branch. They generally make
three or fourstems, but those stems are never cut back during
the remainder of the season. If extra-large panicles are
wanted, the young plants should be grown toa single stem.
Just before there is danger of frost the plants are lifted, and
are large enough now for eight-inch pots. As they are gross
feeders they need a rich compost, and before they blossom
weak liquid-manure is very beneficial.
This Senecio is a stout, erect plant with round stems, which

Garden and Forest.

27

attain a height of three or four feet or more. The stems are
clothed with large circular leaves, which are cordate at the
base and dark green above and paler beneath. The leaves are
from six to twelve inches broad, and their petioles are nearly
a foot long. The large terminal panicles measure a foot and
a half in length and are developed in November, but the
flowers do not open until the second week in December, or
sometimes later. The flower-heads measure more than an
inch across, and the color of the disk florets are brownish, and
those of the ray are of a bright yellow. When the plants are
in full bloom they are very attractive, tor not only are the
flowers showy, but they are also fragrant. It is a Mexican
plant, and when first introduced was known as Cineraria
Petasites.

Half a dozen large plants of the showy Cestrum elegans are
blooming freely now in pots. These plants make handsome
objects when planted out ina bed or border in a cool green-
house and trained to a pillar. In such a position, if properly
treated, they blossom nearly all the year round. Twoor three
year old plants, grown in pots, we find most serviceable, as
they branch more freely and are more graceful than younger
plants. The season of blossoming of plants grown in pots is
regulated by the time the plants are rested and pruned. When
they are through flowering we find they do much better after
along rest. This rest is brought about by withholding water,
and it helps to ripen the soft wood. In June they are pruned
close to the old stem, leaving only one or two buds of the
previous year’s growth. They are then turned out of the pots,
and after most of the exhausted soil is removed they are
planted out in the garden. If syringed regularly they soon
make young branches, and their naked and ragged stems are
soon hid with green leaves. When they are taken up in the
fall they need plenty of pot-room and good rich soil. They
begin to blossom in December and continue for two or three
months. The purplish red, tubular flowers are produced in
dense terminal cymes on long, graceful branches a yard or
more in length.

Eranthemum tuberculatum is a handsome species intro-
duced from New Caledonia in 1863. At this time its pure
white star-like flowers, which are about one inch across,
are produced plentifully on the thick, bushy plants. They are
about a foot high, branching freely into slender twigs which
are thickly covered with small oval leaves. This Eranthemum
is grown as a stove plant here, and after blossoming it is cut
back and kept slightly dry for a short time. In spring it is
potted in a rich open soil and the plants are placed afterward
near the roof-glass, which induces them to makeshort, healthy
growth. Cuttings made from the young growth root easily if
given slight bottom-heat, and they soon make nice little plants
if given good treatment.

Botanic Garden, Harvard University. R. Cameron.

Ardisia crenulata is one of the prettiest of all berried plants
for winter decoration. The berries are vermilion-red, and
one crop holds over until another is ripe, so that it is an avail-
able plant at all seasons. It is a shrub of very slow growth,
taking four years to make a specimen a foot or eighteen inches
high. This is the most useful size, since the plants afterward
become leggy and need cutting down and restarting in fresh
soil in slightly smaller pots. They are easily raised from
seed, and usually enough self-sown seedlings are found under
the benches. Ordinary greenhouse temperature is sufficient
after the fruit is set, but during the blooming season a slightly
higher temperature is advantageous in securing a good setting
of berries. Good peaty soil and firm potting is essential, as
the plants will remain in good condition for two or three years
in the same pots. The plants are subject to scale asa pest,
and it is only by frequent syringing with a decoction of
tobacco-water and fir-tree oil or kerosene emulsion that they

can be kept clean. a
Wellesley, Mass. ASS ORY of

Reinwardtia trigyna.—This good old plant is now a blaze of
beauty in the warm temperate house. It is rather remarkable
that one so rarely meets with this plant either in private or
commercial collections, yet it is just upon one hundred years
since it was first discovered and sent to England. It is a sub-
shrub, though it perhaps is best to take cuttings each year
(unless large specimens are wanted) and throw away the old
plants. The leaves are ovate, entire, and about one inch in
length, alternately disposed on the branches. The flowers are
ofa rich golden yellow, about the size of a silver dollar, soli-
tary in the axils of the leaves in the lower parts of the branches,
but crowded at the upper ends of the branches. The petals
are fugacious, which is the only drawback to the commercial

28

use of the flowers, but the large quantity of buds keeps the
plants in bloom several weeks. It belongs to the family Lina-
cee, and is also known under the name of Linum trigynum.
It is interesting botanically in that it has three pistils, as its
specific name implies, which is rather uncommon in dicoty-
ledonous plants. Cuttings rooted in February and planted out
during the summer in the open ground, kept watered during
dry weather and pinched occasionally to keep them shapely,
will make nice plants by fall, when they may be lifted and
placed in a warm greenhouse, where they well repay the little
trouble spent on them. It is a native of the mountains of the

East Indies. :
Northampton, Mass. Edward F. Canning.

Correspondence.

The Prospects for California’s Orange Crop.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—Unless some unexpected calamity should destroy the
orange crop of California, the state will send to market this
year the finest and largest crop of this fruit ever gathered
here. The output is estimated at ten thousand car-loads, two
thousand car-loads in excess of any previous year, and com-
prising three million boxes. At $3.50 a box in the east, their
value will be ten anda half million dollars, approximating the
gold production of California for 1894, which was about
thirteen million dollars.

Shipments of last season’s oranges to the east continued
until late in the summer. During the week ending May goth,
224 car-loads left Riverside, the largest shipment ever sent
from any one place during the same period. The first car-
loads this year went from Porterville and Oroville, in the
northern part of the state, a region which has been grow-
ing oranges for some years in but small quantities. It
is evident, however, that the northern Citrus belt, of which
Butte County is the centre, will prove a strong competitor for
early shipments and high prices, with the larger and better-
known orange-growing districts more than five hundred
miles to the south. Riverside sent the third car-load of oranges
east this year, and Redlands the fourth. These shipments
were at least three weeks earlier than the first shipments of
last year. The ruling price here has been $2.50 a box. These
early oranges answer for Christmas decorations, but they were
not fully ripe and not really fit to eat. No California oranges
are at their best before the first of February, and, as far as
establishing a permanent demand is concerned, these early
shipments do more harm than good,

A vigorous effort will be made this year to market the Cali-
fornia fruit to the best advantage, and to market it all. For
this purpose the Southern California Fruit Exchange endeav-
ored to secure control of the entire crop. The growers are
naturally anxious to make the most of the absence of Florida’s
competition, and the Fruit Exchange, which handled about
half of the orange crop last year, argued that the best way
was toform a combination of all the growers in southern Cali-
fornia, and practically to control the markets. This exchange
has a central executive board, composed of representatives
from eight subordinate exchanges. Its plan is to have repre-
sentatives in each distributing centre of the east to watch
the markets, to see that they are all fully supplied and
that none are overstocked. Orders are subject to the su-
pervision of the executive board, and shipments are to be
made ona pro rata basis. That is, if the market at any given
time is estimated to demand, say, two per cent. of the total
crop, each district forwards two per cent. of its crop. Pro-
vision is made for meeting undesirable foreign competition by
cutting prices, the consequent loss to be prorated among all
the exchanges. In brief, this is a daring plan to control the
marketing of a perishabie product, which is not uniform in
quality, like oil or sugar or coal, and the market value of
which has always been determined by a number of uncertain
factors. The extension of this work through the year, so as to
include the shipments of green and dried deciduous fruits,
has also been contemplated.

As oranges are a luxury, there can be no arbitrary fixing of
the price, but it was urged that systematic coéperation among
growers would develop new markets and obtain a foothold
among the old ones. The possibility of this was shown by
the successful work of the exchange last year, after the
Florida freeze, in forcing the California fruit-upon the
markets of New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore. The
necessity of such codédperation was argued from the fact
that the growing orchards of California will, in the near
future, produce from 15,000 to 20,000 car-loads of fruit a

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 412.

year, the consumption of which will demand an active
representation in all the markets of the United States. This.
would amount to four and a half to six million boxes, the
latter amount being the estimated Florida crop which was
destroved by frost last year. California expects competition
from Florida as soon as the latter statecan grow new orchards.
Land in Florida is cheap, and the probabilities are that growers
will set out new orchards and take their chances of the
weather.

These facts are understood in California, and certainly made
a strong argument for coéperation. The plan, however, failed
of support. The friends of the exchange claim that they will
ship this year about sixty per cent. of the entire crop of the
state. Its opponents state that not more than forty per cent.
will be handled by it. There are several principal reasons
for the partial failure of this plan. The first is the competition
between localities in southern California. The quality of the
fruit grown here depends upon climate and soil, which vary
to an extent that an eastern man can hardly understand. The
principal orange-growing region of southern California is
within a belt not more than one hundred miles in either
direction, and within this territory there is a wide diversity of
climate. The best oranges are grown in the interior, away
from the fogs and dampness of the ocean, and at an altitude
of from one thousand to fifteen hundred feet. The fruit
reaches its perfection in the San Bernardino Valley, where the
heat in summer is sometimes oppressive and where even the
winter climate is very warm. Here are grown the fancy Navel
oranges, which, in the absence of the best Florida oranges,
will be the finest fruit of the kind that can be procured this
vear. These oranges are in demand wherever they are
known, and many growers are unwilling to place them in any
prorating or pooling arrangement with inferior fruit. Some of
the younger orange-growing localities are in better position in
this respect than the older ones, because they profited by the
experience of the latter in regard to the varieties which they
planted, with the result that the seedling and inferior varieties
were almost entirely discarded.

A second consideration was that the exchange method
practically does away with f. o. b. (free on board) sales. The
price is determined by the executive board in the west and by
the several agents at the principal distributing points in the
east. The judgment of the latter is also final as to whether a
car-load of fruit ordered for any particular market shall be
forwarded to that market or not. These are distinctions
which might work against the growers of the finest fruit. If
the theoretical plans of the exchange could be carried per-
fectly into practice there might be no discrimination, but it is
hard to convince the grower of the best fruit that he will not
suffer from coédperation with growers of fruit of a less de-
sirable quality. Probably not more than one-fourth of the
oranges sent from California this year will be strictly fancy
Navels. Many growers of Navel oranges believe that they can
sell them to responsible dealers and can know before the car
goes forward what the price is to be, an advantage which they
are naturally unwilling to abandon.

In former years the orange growers of California have
suffered greatly from the dishonesty of middlemen. Some-
times no returns whatever would be made on shipments
and no attention would be paid to correspondence. Some-
times the broker would pocket the proceeds, if any, and
draw upon the producer for the freight. The despair and
exasperation of an orange grower who has produced his fruit
upon land representing an investment of a thousand dollars
an acre and shipped it to market two or three thousand miles,
can be imagined under such circumstances. When com-
plaints were made and the dealer could be found, there was
always the excuse that the fruit was in bad order, and, as it
had long since disappeared, there was no way of verifying or
disproving his statements. Such extreme instances as these
have been less frequent for the past two or three years than
formerly ; but it has been a common thing fora dealer to re-
ject a car, after he had ordered it by telegraph, if he found,
after making the contract, that he could do better as regards
quality or price. Theagents of the exchange will be on the
ground to look after such matters as these. They will know
whether fruit reported in bad order was really so, and dealers
who violate their contracts will be blacklisted, on investigation,
and thus be prevented from repeating fraudulent transactions.
Moreover, reputable dealers will be protected from the com-
petition of men who do not pay for their goods or do not
carry out their contracts. The exchange will guarantee the
quality of all the fruit which it sells, and this fact will necessi-
tate a similar guarantee on the part of all other shippers.

California growers confidently believe that their oranges

JANUARY 15, 1896.]

will take precedence as regards quality over all importations
from foreign countries. The results of the present season
will be watched closely and will have an important bearing
upon the future of an industry which represents millions of

investment. .
Redlands, Calif. Wim. M. Tisdale.

Meetings of Societies.

(ae twenty-first annual meeting of the New Jersey Horticul-
tural Society was held in the State House in Trenton last
week, and it was very successful in point of attendance, in the
character of the discussions, and in the display of fruits. In the
course of his report, the secretary, Mr. Henry L. Budd, stated
that the fruit farmers of the state, although they had much to
complain of, came out ahead of their brethren, the value of
the apple crop alone being greater than that of the general
field crops. The great importance of frequent tillage had been
made more manifest during the year than ever before. In
former years fruits have been so abundant without cultivation
that it had come to be an accepted truth that orchards in
sod-ground are as profitable as those which receive frequent
tillage, but this year experience and observation both showed
that every cultivated orchard in the state yielded better
where the soil was stirred as often as once a week and
not allowed to become compact, so that the moisture could
rise to the surface and pass into the atmosphere by evapora-
tion. Over a large part of the state no moisture fell for ninety
days, and the value of frequent surface-tillage was evident,
especially in the Corn fields. Under ordinary cultivation the
crop did not reach more than fifteen bushels an acre, while
seventy-five bushels an acre were often reported from neigh-
boring fields where the surface had been frequently broken,
so as to become a protecting mulch. The struggle with weeds
had been largely responsible for teaching this truth, as not one
farmer in ten would have tilled his land but for these vigorous
schoolmasters.

Where the products of market-gardens and orchards and
vineyards are marketed, and where it is necessary to haul
fertilizers to insure crops, the secretary named good roads as
an important element in success. When it costs fifteen cents
a basket to haul truck over dirt roads and three cents on
macadam roads the value ofa smooth road is evident. But,
besides this, good roads make it possible for the farmer to get
to the market when the prices are good, instead of being com-
pelled to wait in spring or after hard rains until the mud dries.

Professor Voorhis, Director of the Experiment Station,
explained the experiments going on in regard to fruit and
vegetables, and announced as an important part of the work
in the near future a study of methods of forcing vegetables
and fruit for the early market. The station had been making
some statistics of the production of the various fruits for com-
mercial purposes, with the following result for last year:
Taking the state through there were 18,749 acres devoted to
Peaches, 6,104 acres devoted to Apples, 3,700 acres devoted
to Pears, 64 devoted to Cherries, 27 to Quinces and Plums. Of
small truits, 3,926 acres were in Strawberries, 2,847 acres in
Blackberries, 1,052 acres in Raspberries, 839 acres in Grapes, 85
acres in Currants, 20 in Gooseberries, making a total of large
and small fruits 37,423 acres, to which, perhaps, ten per cent.
ought to be added to*cover orchards and fruit gardens
not reported. The number of fruit growers in the state was
3,058, so that the average acreage of each would be twelve and
a quarter acres.

Mr. J. H. Hale, of South Glastonbury, Connecticut, who has
had great success in raising peaches, said that he cultivated
the ground in his orchard thoroughly and pruned the trees for
form until they began to bear, after which he pruned them for
fruit. After they had come out in bud he trimmed them,
leaving the twigs that had budded. This was a great advan-
tage when the winter had killed part of the buds. This prac-
tice sometimes left an ugly-shaped tree, but a very valuable
one. After the peaches had formed he pulled off the diseased
ones, then thinned out the others until they hung four inches
apart. Next year he will thin more severely, so that the fruits
will be six inches apart. He fertilized heavily with potash and
bone and pulled up a tree, root and branch, at the very first
appearance of yellows. He took the greatest pains in picking
and handling his peaches to make sure that they were in the
very best condition, so that every basket was exactly what it
seemed to be, the bottom layer being as good as the top. He
then advertised his method and sold his fruit on the reputation
for honest packing he had made. He declared that he re-
ceived fifty cents a basket more by so doing and he felt better
by dealing honestly with the consumers.

Garden and Forest.

—C

Mr. Charles Parry thought it was impossible to exterminate
the San José scale here in the east, but that we should try to
introduce the natural enemies of this insect, as had been done
in California. The difficulties in fighting this pest are due to
its rapid increase and the difficulty of detecting it. The treat-
ment of the trees with a wash of caustic potash in December
and of whale-oil soap in February last year left only a few
scales to escape, and he thought another treatment this year
would probably finish the work. The trees madea fine growth
the next summer, but because of the severe cutting back
necessary three or four crops would be lost. The hydrocyanic
method as used in California was considered too expensive, if
anything else would possibly do, especially as it had to be
repeated every fourth or fifth year. He considered the intro-
duction of such predaceous insects as teed on these scales, or
of their diseases, the only safety. Some parts of California
which were at one time badly infested are now practically
free. Of the fifteen hundred species of ladybirds known to
science as helpful, one-half eat various scale insects. They
will work where a man cannot.

Professor Smith did not consider the case so discouraging.
He did not believe that ladybirds could do as much for us as
for the Californians, because our damper climate was inimical
to them. Then, too, the ladybirds have but one brood a year,
thus giving the scales a chance to gain largely on them, both
before and after their time. Even in California spraying is
still practiced. The action of insecticides is quite different on
the Atlantic and on the Pacific sides of the continent. Kero-
sene emulsion is good here, but comparatively useless in Cali-
fornia, though lime and sulphur are effective there. The
predaceous insects are worth importing on trial, though fewer
of them will be likely to succeed here than in California.
Keiffer Pears are only infested in large orchards, though where
they are near other varieties they are not hable to be attacked.
A good wash can be made of fish-oil, with plenty of caustic
potash, the office of the oil being to hold the potash while it
eats into the scale. He never knew scales to get from one
orchard to another or to isolated trees by any ordinary methods,
so he considered the spread of the trouble not likely to be
rapid. At Egg Harbor City Apple-trees of four or five years’
bearing were infested, but they had been frequently and
thoroughly sprayed with Bordeaux mixture, and the coating
of lime thus given had kept the scale in check.

Mr. Charles Black, of the Fruit Committee, reported that the
Crosby peach was not handsome enough in appearance for
this section, but it was good to have when no other tree bears.
The Elberta was all that had been claimed for it—one of the
best, hardy and vigorous. Lemon Free was reported as a
promising late variety. In Strawberries the Cumberland was
still valuable on heavy moist soils. Pearson's Seedling, not
yet introduced, produced forty crates from a quarter of an
acre by the 6th of June. It is good on upland as well as low-
lands. The Mary was pronounced very good in Burlington
County, but other growers pronounced it a failure the first
year, while the second year it was fine, although a trie soft.
Among Potatoes the Carman No. 1 was said to be the best in
yield of marketable tubers.

Mr. S. D. Willard thought the Columbus Gooseberry, intro-
duced by Ellwanger & Barry, the most promising large Ameri-
can Gooseberry. It makes good wood, and the fruit is large,
egg-shaped, white and free trom mildew. The Triumph would
not make wood for Mr. Willard in New York, but Mr. Baird
said it grew strong in Monmouth County.

Recent Publications.

Thoughis from the Writings of Richard Jefferies. Selected
by H.S. H. Waylen. Longmans, Green & Co., New York.

This is a beautiful little book with an artistic cover
enclosing some one hundred and twenty-five pages of text
in heavy-faced type, red initial letters and with broad mar-
gins, and somehow the reader feels that the works of
Jefferies should never be printed in any other way. No
one would think of putting the robust thoughts of Thoreau
in sucha dress, but there is nothing robust in this anthology.
Sometimes one sees a display of fierce energy, but even
this seems more like the exhausting effort of delirium than
the manifestation of quiet natural strength. Unfortunately,
the genius of Jefferies is not displayed at its best in extracts
like these, and the reader who is unfamiliar with his works
will hardly get an adequate idea of his real merits. Those
who know his writings will relish them because they

30 Garden and Forest.

suggest the context and recall impressions which are left
by entire essays. One closes the book with something of
sadness, and, in fact, an hour with Jefferies never has the
exhilaration of an outdoor walk, although no one de-
scribes what he sees more accurately, and few men ever
had more of genuine poetic insight. He lacks, however,
the serenity of real greatness, and, although it would be
unfair to say that there is anything like querulousness in the
tone of his writings, there is a certain discontent as of one
who had made a failure in the battle of life and is not
ready to accept the situation with patience or subordination.

Notes.

Diseases of Carnations is the subject of a bulletin which will
be issued by the Indiana Experiment Station next month. As
it is expensive, owing to elaborate illustrations, only a limited
edition will be published, and, therefore, Carnation growers
who desire to see it should send their names as soon as possi-
ble to C. S. Plumb, Director, Lafayette, Indiana.

A newspaper in Denver states that seventy-five acres of
ground near that city are covered with glass for growing
winter vegetables, such as Lettuce, Radishes, Onions, Spinach
and Cucumbers. Car-loads of mixed vegetables, like celery,
cauliflower, parsnips, etc., are sent every day to St. Louis,
Kansas City and other points to the east.

Mr. Edson S. Bastin and Professor Henry Trimble begin in
the January issue of 7he American Fournal of Pharmacya
series of papers on the botany, histology, chemistry and
economic properties of some of the important coniferous
trees of North America. In the first paper, after a general
account of the family, which is divided into two suborders,
the Pinoidez and the Taxacee, Pinus Strobus, of which the
photograph of a branch is reproduced, is described, and the
tannin contained in the leaves and bark is determined, 25.7 of
tannin being found in the absolutely dried leaves, 9 37 in the
dried bark of the stem, and 6.48 in the root bark.

There are a good many complaints about the careless and
dishonest packing of fruits in this country, but it seems that
growers beyond the sea are not altogether above criticism in
this matter. In a paper on the fruit supply of Covent Gar-
den, read before the Horticultural Clubin London last month,
Mr. George Monro said that he was informed by the proprietor
of a large wholesale store in Manchester, where both English
and American apples were on sale, that one thousand barrels
of American fruit were sold against one hundred bushels of
English fruit, and this was simply because the packing of the
English apples could not be depended upon—there being no
proper selection or grading in the English packages of fruit.

The Lemon growers of southern California think that the
fertility of the soil of that state and its adaptability to the pro-
duction of citrus fruits will enable them to compete with the
product of southern Europe in spite of the low price of labor
there and the small cost of freight from Mediterranean ports.
It is not expected in Lemon-producing districts of Europe that
a tree will fruit before the sixth or seventh year, and it will do
well if it yields three boxes of fruit the tenth year. In Califor-
nia a Lemon-tree is expected to pay expenses the third year,
and it should yield from five to ten boxes of fruit in the sixth
year, while it is not an exceptional occurrence for trees ten years
from planting to produce twenty-five or thirty boxes of fruit.

Rhubarb, forced in cellars, is already in our markets, a dozen
small stalks selling for fifteen cents, and also young carrots,
grown under glass on Long Island and in New Jersey. New
okra is coming from Cuba, and parsley, Romain lettuce and
kohl-rabi from Bermuda. Last week’s Bermuda steamer
brought twelve crates of onions, the first of the season, which
sold at $2.00 a crate, wholesale. Chervil, delicate and fresh-look-
ing, from hot-houses on Staten Island, is selling in considerable
quantities, as also tarragon, and spring lamb has made an
active demand for mint and for peas. Besides peas from
Florida, a considerable supply is received from California.
These are well filled out and tender, in baskets holding a half-
peck, and cost seventy-five cents.

The so-called Paradise nuts, known in English markets as
the Sapucaia nuts, are rather more common in our fruit stores
this winter than they formerly were, and sell for fifty cents
or more a pound. These nuts are closely allied to the Brazil
nuts, although they are superior in flavor and more whole-
some. They are about two inches long or rather more, and
half as thick through, with a corky shell furrowed lengthwise,
and they are the true seeds of the large, urn-shaped woody fruit

[NUMBER 412.

of Lecythis Zabucajo. This pericarp is six inches across and
half an inch thick. Itis very hard, and has a lid which fits
tightly at the top, and which, when the fruitis quite ripe, is easily
lifted off, and this gives the general name of Monkey Pot to the
several trees ofthis genus. These trees grow in the forests of
Brazil, Guiana and Venezuela, where their great trunks are
seventy-five or more feet high, carrying a broad head of
glossy leaves. Sapucaia nuts keep for a long time, and some
of those in the market here have been held for more than a
year.

The florists’ windows throughout the upper part of the city
are now interesting and beautiful in their attractive displays of
forced flowers. In a Fifth Avenue establishment flowers of
the golden-banded Lily, Lilium auratum, make a rich show at
this unseasonable time. Sprays of Calanthes bearing seven to
fifteen flowers are occasionally seen, and cost $1.00, and those
of Odontoglossum crispum command $1.50 to $6.00. Other
Orchids now offered are varieties of Cypripedium insigne,
Phalzenopsis Schreederiana, P. amabalis and Cattleya Triane.
Asmall group of Cattleyas in a large window bedded with
Adiantum cuneatum edged with Lycopodium, was one of the
most artistic and refreshing window arrangements last week.
Small plants of Azaleas, extremely well flowered, made a
nosegay effect in their dressing of white crépe paper, and
branches of Pussy Willow seemed to deny winter in the bright
glossy brown bark and silvery catkins, while Draczenas,
grouped among Palms and other green-foliaged plants, were
hardly less showy and effective than flowering plants.

According to the Morthwest Magazine, a great fruit fair was
recently held at Spokane, Washington, and although the
admission fee was fixed at the nominal sum of ten cents and it
was necessary to construct a great building of timber and can-
vas, after all expenses had been paid the net profits amounted
to $1,000, which was turned over to the treasurer of the Bureau
of Immigration, under whose direction the fair was held.
There were 52,000 paid admissions, the visitors coming on
cheap fares from all parts of Washington, Idaho, Oregon,
Montana and British Columbia. The trains carried from one
thousand to three thousand people every day, and the aggre-
gate number of strangers entertained by the city often ran up
to five thousand daily. Although the exhibition was open to
all products of the soil, fruits were the principal objects of
display, and there were tons of fresh fruits, dried fruits and
canned fruits. Seventy varieties of apples were exhibited, not
to speak of other green fruits, besides a profusion of cereals,
grasses, flax, broom-corn, sugar-cane, melons, tobacco, hops
and native wines, so that fifty thousand feet of floor-space
under roof and canvas were occupied. When we consider
that the fruit industry of this region is comparatively young,
both the exhibition and the interest it excited were remarkable.

To make good the shortage of oranges in the United States,
caused by the loss of the Florida crop, many remote countries
are being drawn upon, Jamaica, Mexico, north and south
California, Spain and Sicily have each contributed to our mar-
kets, and cases of oranges from the Holy Land have recently
been put on sale in Chicago. This fruit is said to be light-
colored, oval, carefully packed and in excellent condition. It
was grown in the district between Jerusalem and Jaffa and
sold for $4.00 a case. Only meagre reports of the effects of
the freezing weather in California on the last days of the
year have gone out from that state. Conservative business
men here who have much to lose by the failure of the
California orange crop, and every reason to wish for
heavy shipments of choice fruit, estimate that as much
as eighty per cent. of the oranges in the Riverside
district are frozen on the trees, while Redlands, Arlington
Heights and other elevated sections suffered little injury.
The intense cold continued during the nights of Decem-
ber 29th and 3oth, the anniversary of the fatal freeze in Florida
the year before. The thermometer is said to have registered
as low as seventeen degrees, Fahrenheit, at Riverside, and
since the trees were killed in Florida at fifteen degrees, the
groves themselves may have suffered, and this would be a
more serious matter than the loss of a single crop. Hardly
ten per cent. of the crop had been marketed, prices for
Navels here being $4.25 to $4.50 a box at wholesale. Some
oranges frozen in transit during the same period of severe
weather have brought but $1.60 to $1.80 here, and the depres-
sion of prices will continue for fruit now on the way and sus-
pected of having suffered on the trees, In the event of serious
injury in California the Mediterranean supply must now be the
main dependence, and the quantity of oranges and lemons im-
ported from Italy, Sicily and Spain last season, 2,222,044 boxes,
is liiely to be greatly increased.

JANUARY 22, 1896. |

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrick; Trisung Buitpinc, New York.
Conducted by . . . . © « « « » » « Professor C. S. SARGENT.

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22, 1896.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE,
EpiroriAL ArticLes :—Horticultural Education .......... esses cece sees ee eeeees 31
GeorgeiNicholsoneweccssis csciccecinecsiccas. seen enevescncsserensiac 32

Early Experiments in Crossing Plants ....
The Box-Elder on the Plains.........-.- ..+.
What is the Forest Policy of European Nations?...........+

Piant Nores :—Stuartia Pseudo-Camellia. (With figure.)..........0 ...es-eeee. 34

CuttuRaL DeprarTMENT :—Winter Work among Insects Injurious to Fruits,

MV. Slinglerland. 36
CultivationiohtheplomatOs se acisis ncreasee(cjowis cals ossisis s ocse Will W. Tracy. 37
Winter-flowering Begonias... risteie
Siegesbeckia orientalis .......
Cytisus racemosus...-.........

. Professor Charles E. Bessey. 33
B. E. Fernow. 33

‘Edward F. Canning. 38
Tel BLA ab

Coslogyneleristatar ese nntscacisc sels ctcieisiain sieteeisnicsclarnicra wales seicieinle cece N. FR
CorrgsPONDENCE :—The Pepper-tree for House Culture. -B.L. Putnam. 38
MeetinGs oF Societies :—Horticulture in Pennsylyani -+ 38

Minnesota Forestry Association 39
RECENT PUBLICATIONS .....2+00eeeeees 39
INOTES seeioteecieiasiseen cise ses 40
ILLUsTRATION :—Stuartia Pseudo-Camellia, Fig. 4.. 35

Horticultural Education.

N a recent number of this journal it was held that the
study of horticulture and agriculture in their scien-
tific aspects has a distinct value as a factor in furnishing
exercise for certain powers of the mind. Every one admits
that the natural sciences should have a place in the cur-
riculum of colleges and schools as elements of wholesome
intellectual development, if for no other reason ; and, per-
haps, no science furnishes better mental training and
exercise than agriculture and horticulture when their prin-
ciples are systematically studied. This does not imply
that there should be no such a thing as direct technical
training in horticulture and agriculture as arts, but the fact
‘should be emphasized that the mental exercise and disci-
pline furnished by horticultural education in its broad
sense is equal, and perhaps superior, to that furnished by
the study of any other science. No kind of mental appli-
cation will be more effectual in forming habits of careful
observation and comparison and in securing those orderly
methods of thinking which are of the greatest use in the
examination of many of the problems which confront us
in our daily life.

In an article in a recent number of Sczence on Horticul-
ture at Cornell, we are glad to see that this view is set forth
with considerable fullness by Professor Bailey, who con-
tends that horticulture as studied at that university is
capable of adding much to the value of a course of liberal
academic training. Professor Bailey illustrates the merits
of horticulture as a science by showing some of its uses
and applications in discussing the theory of evolution,
which is perhaps now the most important conception with
which the thinking world has to deal. In supporting the
hypothesis of evolution, horticulture shows the develop-
ment of life in actual operation. More than six thousand
species of plants are cultivated, and most of these have
been broken up into varied forms by the touch of man.
Some species have produced thousands of distinct forms,
and the methods of the production of many of them are on
record. In place of arguments as to the probable influence
of climate upon plants the horticulturist cites definite cases,
so that there is no conjecture about the matter. Instead of
speculating upon the transmission of acquired characters
the horticulturist furnishes proofs of such transmission.
Paleontology brings disjointed evidence in regard to the

Garden and Forest.

3I

influence of selection and probable changes from environ-
ment, while the horticulturist brings examples before our
eyes to prove that he can modify and mould vegetation at
his will. The horticulturist creates new species and shows
you numbers of cultivated plants of which no one knows
the original form, because the ones with which we are
acquainted are so unlike the type that the two can never
be connected. This is only a single line of inquiry, and
other illustrations quite as striking can be given to show
that there is an abundant field for scientific research and
profound thought in horticultural science as such.

The value of agricultural colleges as training schools for
those whose purpose it is to practice agriculture and _horti-
culture is conceded, and there is no question that they have
been very helpful in making expert farmers and gardeners,
in increasing the products and profits of cultivation and
in improving the conditions of rural life. But, aside from
the strictly educational value of the broader way of study-
ing the science of crops, it must be remembered that this
scheme of instruction has also its immediate practical
value. The student who masters principles is more thor-
oughly equipped than one who only learnsrules. Of course,
it requires a somewhat mature mind to grasp the scien-
tific laws on which the practice of horticulture is based, but
when once this is accomplished the student can make his
own applications, and he is not only less liable to make
mistakes than one who is generally ignorant of the princi-
ples upon which his practice is founded, but he will con-
stantly be stimulated to use his mind rather than his hands,
and to get that enthusiasm for rural life which is essential
to the highest success. Horticultural and agricultural
education, as distinct from mere training, is not always
possible, but where the course covers several years this
broader method is certainly preferable, and this not only
because it insures better practice in the rural arts, but
because, as a part of a general education, it makes more
capable and self-reliant men and women.

In reference to the methods at Cornell, Professor Bailey
says:

The teaching there aims not so much to make farmers as to
educate farmers’ sons and daughters. Its fundamental idea
is to give those students who anticipate a rural life such a
breadth of training as will put them in touch and sympathy
with the traditions of education, with all the larger movements
of the day, and enable them at the same time to understand
the fundamental reasons of their own occupation. There is
less attempt to apply this teaching upon the university farm
than there is to instill the desire to master the underlying prin-
ciples of horticulture. Teaching is done by class exercises
and by laboratory work, as it is in other scientific and technical
subjects at the present day. If the student hears a lecture on
the rotation of crops he goes for a walk with the professor over
the fields of the farm and the adjoining lands and there
observes the good and bad points of farm management. If he
hears a lecture upon Winter Tomatoes he also goes with the
instructor or alone, or from day to day, and studies the Toma-
toes as they grow under glass. Besides this, he has his mind
opened by thinking upon economics, language, history and
general science as much as upon some of the particular sub-
jects with which he is to deal ina more intimate way. The
student should be a citizen before he is a farmer.

Our great progress in the mechanic arts is due to the
application of science to the various branches of manufac-
ture in cheapening processes, making them more effectual
and utilizing by-products. The arts of agriculture and hor-
ticulture have the same need of science, and advancement
in either of them must be in the same direction. Unlike
manufacturing industries, however, which are mainly car-
tied on by large forces of men under a single directing
head, the work of agriculture is scattered over thousands
of farms. The number of men superintending these opera-
tions—that is, of men who must rely upon their own
knowledge—are in’ much larger proportion to the mere
laborers than are the skilled superintendents in the field of
manufactures. For this reason there is no class of persons,
taken as a whole, who stand in greater need of such an
education as will enable them to conduct their work with

32

intelligence. The experiment stations are doing much for
cultivators of the soil by publishing the results of scientific
research and making experiments which are too costly for
farmers to carry out. But the hope of agriculture in the
future in this country must rest, after all, on a wider
system of education. The rural industries will prosper
just as the whole rural population becomes more enlight-
ened and are enabled to bring to their daily work minds
drilled and equipped for active thinking as well as muscles
trained and strengthened for expert handiwork.

Tue latest and forty-eighth volume of Zhe Garden is
dedicated to George Nicholson, curator of the Royal Gar-
dens at Kew, for his work among trees and shrubs. In his
dedication the editor takes occasion to state that ‘we do
but express the general feeling of the horticultural world
toward the important national establishment of which Mr.
Nicholson is the distinguished practical head. We recog-
nize with considerable pleasure the great improvement in
the present cultivation and disposition of the collections at
Kew compared with past times, an improvement due to
the proper recognition of the general desire to see pic-
turesque and artistic gardening in the nation’s own garden
as well as the purely botanical. We believe this has been
accomplished without any loss on the botanical side ;
indeed, we learn that the collections are now much richer
in species, as well as in botanical interest, than ever they
were. Every gardener is grateful for this improvement at
Kew which we owe to the present staff of which Mr. Nich-
olson is a distinguished member, having been appointed
curator at the same time as Mr. T. Thiselton Dyer was
appointed director on the retirement of Sir Joseph Hooker
in 1886.” In this country Mr. Nicholson is well known as
editor of the useful Dichonary of Gardening. In 1893 he
visited the United States as a judge in the Horticultural
Department of the Chicago Exposition and made many
friends here.

Early Experiments in Crossing Plants.

N the reference to Thomas Andrew Knight and his work
in GarpEN anp Forest gf December 25th, p. 512, a
statement is made from which a wrong conclusion may be
drawn. Professor Bailey isreported as saying: “He was
the first man, so far as I know, who advised the use of
cross-fertilization for the purpose of producing new varie-
ties and for the purpose of improving existing ones. A
similar work was taken up by Darwin.” The emphasis
may be on Knight's important work in experimenting with
varieties which already existed rather than in the produc-
tion of new varieties by the crossing of species. But the
coupling of the name with that of Darwin seems to refer to
cross-fertilization in general, for Darwin experimented both
with species and varieties. Possibly a distinction is made
between a hybrid, between different species and a cross
between different varieties, but this is scarcely valid on the
scientific side. Nageli has said of it: ‘This distinction may
sometimes serve a practical purpose, but is frequently con-
fusing and deceptive, for it supposes a difference that is
merely one of degree.” * However this may be, Kohlreuter,
an earlier experimenter than Knight, also used varieties as
well as species in his extended investigations on cross-fer-
tilization, and so anticipated Knight in this respect also.
His object differed from Knight’s, for it was to prove the
sexual nature of plants, a question about which botanists
were still contending. Like Darwin’s experiments in cross-
fertilizing plants to prove his theory of the origin of species,
KG6hlreuter’s work was almost purely scientific in its aim,
but he was a pioneer in what has proved of immense prac-
tical benefit. Some account of his earliest work, and that
of Linnzus, along similar lines, may be of interest.
Kohlreuter was a Swabian, born at Sulz, on the Necker,
where he produced his first hybrid plant in 1760. In 1764

* Botanische Mittheilungen, vol. ii., p. 188 (note), in an essay on “ Die Bastard-
bildung im Pflanzenreiche.”

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 413.

he was made Professor of Natural History in Carlsruhe, a
chair which he held till his death in 1806. Detailed accounts
of his earliest work were published at Leipsic at different
times from 1761 to 1766.; The results of subsequent ex-
periments appeared in the Zransactions of the Imperial
Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg. Like the work of
Conrad Sprengel on the agency of insects in fertilizing flow-
ers—in which he was anticipated by Kéhlreuter—published
in 1793, his experiments for a time passed out of sight or
attracted but slight attention. The revived interest in the
subject from the labors of Knight and Herbert in England,
Gaertner and Wiegman in Germany, Godron in France,
not to mention others, called attention to them once more.
Knight's efforts to improve fruits and vegetables, which
began about 1787, were evidently made in ignorance of
what Kohlreuter had done, and his discoveries were to
that extent independent. So scholarly a man as the Rev.
William Herbert, who did much splendid work in crossing
plants, says that he began his investigations “ignorant of
the experiments of K6éhlreuter.” He gave the first account
of his investigations before the Horticultural Society of
London in 1819. { K6hlreuter’s work, being purely scien-
tific in its character, did not enlist the codperation of horti-
culturists like the later work of Knight and Herbert, which
had, or was soon given, a practical bearing. Botanists,
being mostly devoted to systematic botany, were indifferent
or even opposed to such labors. This attitude of botanists
and failure of horticulturists to see the bearings of such
experiments on their art, may to some extent explain the
temporary oblivion into which Kohlreuter’s earlier work
passed.

His first success was in crossing Nicotiana paniculata
and N. rustica. From the seed produced other plants were
raised. Various other experiments followed, sometimes
with varieties of one species, more frequently by crossing
different species. Though some of the conclusions he
derived from his experiments have proved erroneous,
partly because he mixed up certain a priori ideas with
them, to him is largely due the credit of placing the theory
of the sexuality of planis on a firm foundation. Little
ground for doubt was left after his careful experimentation,
conducted on the strictest scientific lines, and the sex of
plants became a fact without dispute, though it had been
broached as far back as the time of Aristotle. Kéhlreuter
claimed that this Nicotiana cross was the first one arti-
ficially produced to which absolute credit could be given.
There was a bare possibility of their spontaneous produc-
tion among plants in a wild state, but the antecedent
probabilities were against it.

Prepossessions, based partly on such ideas, partly on the
great infertility of hybrids and their tendency to revert to
one of the parent species, especially when left under con-
ditions to be fertilized by their pollen, hardly left Kéhlreu-
ter in a state of mind to do full justice to Linnzeus, who
was also investigating this subject. The great Swedish
naturalist had a lively imagination and drew too much
upon it, but every case of the crossing of plants he and his
pupils discovered or artificially made cannot be disproved
as easily as Kohlreuter and others have thought they
might be, so he sets aside the claim of Linnzus to the
production of a hybrid Goat’s-beard in 1759, calling it but
a half hybrid at the most.

In 1757 Linnezeus found a Tragopogon in his garden,
which he named T. hybridus. It sprang up in a bed
where he had planted T. pratensis and T. parvifolius.
Winter came on before the seed matured, and he was not
able to test its power of reproduction. The next year he
fertilized the plants artificially. He removed the pollen of
T. pratensis by rubbing it off early in the morning, and a
little later in the day brought pollen from T. parvifolius to

+ Dr. Joseph Gottleib Kéhlreuter’s Vorlanfige Nachricht von einigen das Geschlecht
der Phlauzen betreffenden Versuchen und Beobachtungen. (Reissued by Engelmann.)
Leipzig, 1893.

+ All the references in Herbert’s book on the Amaryllidaceze and its supplement
(London, 1837) are to the acts of the St. Petersburg Academy, unless a doubtful
allusion to “ one concerning Nicotiana” is to those begun in 1761.

JANUARY 22, 1896.]

its stigmas. The heads were marked by a thread. Seeds
were formed, which being sown germinated in the autumn
and in the following year bore flowers, which were
purple, with a yellow base. These also bore seed that
matured. An account of the plant was given by Linnzus
in a prize essay on the six plants sent to the Academy of
Sciences of St. Petersburg in 1760.* It is mentioned in a
later paper read at Upsala in 1762 by one of his pupils as
being annually propagated by seed.+ Focke, who has
given usaconvenient summary of what is known of hybrid
plants, both spontaneous and artificially produced, calls
this plant of Linnzeus “the first hybrid intentionally pro-
duced for scientific purposes,” and adds that the objections
which have been brought against its hybrid character by
Kohlreuter and others “are not sound, since they deal
with plants of the second generation.” | The seeds of the
hybrid seem to have reverted to T. pratensis, which was
one of the grounds of Kohlreuter’s objections, and of his
disbelief in the spontaneous production of crosses when
the plants were left free to be pollenized by their parents.
A spontaneous cross between these species has, however,
been reported from the Danish islands of Laaland and
Fiinen, “the outer flowers brown-violet, the inner yellow.”

A limitation is made in the above cases to crosses pro-
duced artificially for scientific purposes, for it can scarcely
be disputed that Thomas Fairchild, the nurseryman and
florist, of Hoxam, near London, had before 1719 artificially
crossed Dianthus caryophyllus and D. barbatus. This has
since been cultivated under the names of Fairchild’s Sweet
William, The Mule and D. hybridus hort. The authority
given for this is Richard Bradley, an English writer on
horticulture and husbandry of the first half of the last cen-
tury. Hence the credit for the earliest authenticated cross
intentionally made is due to a man engaged in the practical

k of gardening.
Peniceedk E. J. Hill

The Box-Elder on the Plains.

HAVE been interested in studying the problem of the
I distribution of native trees upon the Great Plains and
their adaptation to the peculiar conditions which prevail
over this great central region of the continent, and no tree
has attracted my attention in this region more than the
common Box-Elder, or Ash-leaved Maple, Acer Negundo.
As it grows upon the Plains it is a stocky tree with a trunk
ten or twelve inches in diameter and not more than six or
eight feet in length, bearing a rounded bushy top, giving
to the tree, as a whole, much of the appearance of a well-
grown Apple-tree in an eastern orchard. It occurs along
the streams in Nebraska from the Missouri River to the
Rocky Mountains, and here and there in favored localities
it has pushed away from the streams a mile or so. It
appears to be perfectly hardy, and I am sure that I have
never seen the slightest indication of injury from the
greatest exposure to severe cold.

The Box-Elder has been used very freely by the settlers
who took up “tree claims,” and for many years, until
the repeal of the timber-claim law, there were millions of
these trees planted every year in the state of Nebraska
alone. The young trees transplant easily and are
readily handled, the per cent. of loss usually being very
low. Then, again, it isa very simple matter to grow the
trees from the seeds, which insures the low price of the
young trees. A few years ago I visited a large establish-
ment in southern Nebraska where from eight to ten mil-
lions of young Box-Elder trees were grown each year.
The winged fruits were collected in the autumn and care-
fully protected in a great barn, and in the spring these
were sown in drills, just as a farmer sows any of his crops.
In a short time the little plants pushed through the soil and
began to shoot upward. The fields of Box-Elder seedlings
were cultivated from time to time, and when a few inches

* Amenitates Academicia, Gilibert ed., 1787-88, vol. i., p. 212.
t [bid., p. 182.
$ Phanzen Michling@, pp. 221, 430.

Garden and Forest.

i)

high properly thinned to prevent overcrowding. The crop
of trees required little more care than a crop of Corn, and
not as much as a crop of Onions or Sugar Beets. Late in
the autumn they were taken up by the aid of a special plow,
gathered into bundles and stored away in damp, cool cel-
lars, ready to be sent out in early spring. Few trees are
as easily propagated andhandled. In fact, one could very
easily cover hundreds of acres with this tree by simply
planting the seeds and caring for the young trees a few
years.

The wood is light and easily cut and split, and makes
good fuel. The tree might very profitably be grown for
supplying fuel, its rapid growth giving it a special fitness
for this purpose. Something, too, might be said for it as
an ornamental tree. Its rather regular top and light green
foliage, which is usually free from insects, make it desira-
ble for the grounds near the house.

University of Nebraska.

Charles E. Bessey.

What is the Forest Policy of European Nations ?

HENEVER we are about to advocate or inaugurate

a new national policy it is wise to see what other

nations are doing or have done in the same direction, even
though we may not see proper to imitate them.

In regard to its public lands, the policy in the United
States has been for the Government to get rid of them as
quickly as possible, until in 1891 a new policy was feebly
inaugurated with reference to forest-lands by giving the
President power to set aside and reserve such areas as he
saw fit. This policy has, however, not as yet been safely
established, and arguments for upholding it and for secur-
ing further application are still in order.

In Europe the tendency at the end of last and beginning
of this century had also been to divest the Government of
this kind of property under the misapplication of the theo-
ties of Adam Smith and the doctrine of individual rights,
urged to its most extreme consequences. France, during
and after the Revolution, took the lead in this dismember-
ment of its forest property, selling during the years from
1791 to 1795 nearly one-half of its state forests and contin-
uing to reduce the area until there remained in 1874 but
one-fifth of the original holdings of the state. Many of the
German principalities followed the same policy, selling off
the forest-lands which had been preserved in the Govern-
ment for centuries.

But during the last fifty years or so of this century a
reaction set in; the fearful consequences of unrestricted
exercise of individual ownership over this class of property
had made it plain enough that the necessity of a change
arising from communal interests had come, and now it can
be stated that the policy is entirely reversed, that all
European nations have the tendency, not only to hold their
forest property in Government hands, but to extend it in
area and in efficiency, and also to exercise stricter control
over the use of private forest property wherever damage
to communal interests might result thereby.

Instead of selling, most Governments now buy. There
is, to be sure, also selling of Government forest property,
but only for the purpose of making the Government forest
property more efficient, of consolidating it and of making it
serve to the best advantage the purposes of protection to
agricultural interests. Thus, in Prussia, agricultural land
under forest is exchanged or sold for non-agricultural land
or devastated forest property, and servitudes resting on the
state forest property from olden times are sometimes
removed by cession of forest-lands, so that the bare statis-
tics of the increase in the area of state forests do not tell
the whole story.

In France, since 1870, no sales have been made, and by
gradual acquisitions a small and steady increase of forest-
land has taken place. The difference between the areas in
1872 and 1892 was over 300,000 acres, the state holdings
representing now about ten per cent. of the total forest area,
and in addition the state has spent in the neighborhood of

34

$40,000,000 toward reforesting dunes and devastated
mountain-sides, and in the budget for last year for its
Forestry Department nearly $1,000,000 of the $2,500,000
appropriated for the department is set aside for such exten-
sion of forest area and improvement of the existing one.
In addition, the private property is controlled entirely as
regards clearing; that is to say, no clearing may be done
without the sanction of the Government authorities.

In Prussia, which represents about two-thirds of Ger-
many, the policy of selling also prevailed in the beginning
of the century, but since 1831 a constant increase has taken
place, the increase in the old provinces from 1831 to 1892
being but a small fraction, but in the entire monarchy from
1870 to 1892 it amounted to 280,000 acres. Here, espe-
cially, the apparent small increase is due to the fact that
much land was exchanged or given to get rid of servitudes,
obligations which were a charge on the forest property.
For this purpose 125,000 acres were ceded, besides the
payment of fully $20,000,000 in money, all of which repre-
sents an increase in the efficiency of the remaining forest
property. Altogether, between the years 1867 and 1895,
over 22,000,000 marks were spent in increasing the forest
area, and the budget for 1895-96 contains an item of
2,000,000 marks for the purpose of- acquisition. In addi-
tion it is of interest to note that during the last twenty-five
years the conservative management has resulted in increas-
ing the stock of wood in the state forests by over 25 per
cent., in spite of the fact that the annual cut has increased
by 40 per cent., while the receipts have increased by 50
per cent., although the expenditures, and especially the
salaries of the forest officials, have been increased during
the same time. The net income was of the gross receipts—
in 1830, 61 per cent.; in 1870, 52 per cent.,, and in 1893, 47
per cent. The control of private forest property in Prussia
is, perhaps, least developed in the German states, the
necessity for such control being probably less on account
of the situation of the larger part in the plains country, and
also because the large holdings of the great proprietors
were less liable to dismemberment or mismanagement.
The belongings of the communities, however, are under
the same control as in France, and legislation looking
toward greater control of private property wherever com-
munal interests are involved is in preparation.

In other German states we may note an increase of 4
per cent. in the state forest area for Bavaria between the
years 1873 and 1890—an increase of over 3 per cent., by
purchase, for the state forests of Wiirttemberg, the one state
in Germany where clearing is also absolutely controlled
by the state authority. A small increase is notable in
Baden and Saxony, so that we see Germany, as a whole,
is increasing its state forest property.

In Austria the selling craze lasted until about 1872, and
now the state is the only great purchaser, buying, besides
minor lots, in 1886, 60,000 acres; in 1888, over 230,000
acres, and in 1891, 210,000 acres in single purchases.

Italy, to be sure, has been too poor to enlarge its state
property, but the laws of 1877 and 1890, which provide for
reforestation of denuded mountain lands with financial
assistance to the communities from the Government ex-
chequer, exhibit the conservative tendency of the Govern-
ment and its recognition of the fact that a strong communal
interest attaches to this kind of property.

Even Russia, though probably the least-developed of the
European countries, and largely in the pioneering stage,
holds on to its Government possessions, provides for their
rational administration and extends the same where this is
desirable. In the extreme north, where more than one-half
of the country is still covered with woody growth, no
forest policy, probably, is carried out. In the central
states and Baltic provinces, representing one-quarter of
the total area, where the percentage of forest land sinks
below 30 down to 17 per cent., a conservative forest man-
agement of the Government forests after the pattern of
Prussia is established; and in the prairie country on the
southern third of the empire large amounts of money are

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 413.

spent by the Government in planting forests or assisting
private owners to do the same. Russia, therefore, does not
sell any of its real timber-lands, excepting where commu-
nities do not own their timber, and, therefore, the state
property is liable to depredations, when the Government
tries to obviate the difficulty by maklng the community
owner. In addition a very elaborate law exists for the
purpose of preventing mismanagement, which places the
approval of working plans, of making clearings, etc., in
the hands of a specially constituted committee for each
department, and the Government itself must secure the
approval of this democratic committee for its operations.
Finally, while England has not any forest area worth
speaking of, for India, at least, the same policy of conser-
vation and of increasing Government control is notable.
Her Indian forest policy was inaugurated about 1873.
From 1882 to 1892 the reserve forests were increased from
46,213 to 59,743 square miles, and the total forest area
under the control of the Government from 71,972 to 114,966
square miles. Strong efforts are being made to place
the entire forest under the direct control of the Government.
We see, then, that these nations, having learned from
sad experience, reversed in time their policy and act upon
their knowledge that forest property is best preserved in
the strong hands of Government, which is permanent, as
the forest cover in the mountain must be to secure favora-
ble agricultural conditions. Must the United States learn
also from her own experience, or can the lesson be learned

from the experience of others?
Forestry Division, Washington, D. C. B. E. Fernow.

Plant Notes.
Stuartia Pseudo-Camellia.

HE genus Stuartia, a member of the Tea or Camellia

family, named in honor of John Stuart, Marquis
of Bute, is distinguished by its deciduous membranaceous
oblong-ovate serrulate leaves, large solitary axillary flowers
with five or six sepals and five or six obovate crenulate white
petals, and by its five-celled pods with one or two seeds
in each cell. The genus is confined to eastern Asia, and
to eastern America, where there are two shrubby species ;
one of these, Stuartia Virginica, grows only in the coast
region of the southern states and bears the largest and
most beautiful flowers of any member of the genus which
is now known; the other, Stuartia pentagyna, is common
on the lower slopes of the southern Appalachian Mountains,
where it sometimes grows in great profusion, especially in
eastern Tennessee. In Japan and China there are two or
three species of Stuartia. Only one of these, however,
Stuartia Pseudo-Camellia, is a common plant in Japan; the
others are either confined to the southern islands or are
extremely rare, and neither of them is found in our gar-
dens. Little is known of Stuartia in China beyond the
fact that one of the species of southern Japan extends to
the mainland, where it is not improbable that other
members of the genus will be found.

Stuartia Pseudo-Camellia (see illustration on page
35) isa tree upward of fifty feet in height, with a trunk
sometimes two feet in diameter, and in the mountain
forests of central Japan, where it is abundant, is always
a conspicuous object, owing to the smooth, bright red
bark, which peels off in great thin flakes like that of the
Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia), and gives the tree its name
of Saru-suberi, or Monkey Slider. The handsome dark
green leaves, which insects do not mutilate yet in our
gardens, and the large delicate flowers, whose beauty is
heightened by the contrast between the purple stamens and
the white petals, need no special description, for, in gen-
eral appearance, they resemble those of our native species.

Thirty years ago Stuartia Pseudo-Camellia was sent to
the United States by the late Thomas Hogg. It was propa-
gated with other Japanese plants in the Parsons’ Nursery,
at Flushing, Long Island, and flowered several times in the
neighborhood of this city some years before its flowers

JANUARY 22, 1896.]

unfolded in Europe, where it is now rightly considered one
of the most attractive garden shrubs.

In Japan Stuartia Pseudo-Camellia grows freely up to
elevations of three thousand feet above the level of the sea,
and in the United States is perfectly hardy as far north as

Garden and Forest.

35

but once established they go on improving for many years,
and are among the most beautiful and desirable of shrubs.

Pyrus coRONARIA.—Few small trees are more desirable
than the Crab-apples from Japan and Siberia, which we

Fig. 4 —Stuartia Pseudo-Camellia.—See page 34.

eastern Massachusetts, the specimen from which our il-
lustration is made having been produced in the Arnold
Arboretum. Stuartias can be raised from seed and by layers,
which, however, take some time to produce roots. They
require deep rich soil, delighting in a compost of peat and
loam ; they grow slowly and do not begin to flower early,

have often commended in these columns. But our native
Fragrant Crab, as it is sometimes called, ought not to be
neglected, especially when parks or large grounds are to
be planted. The beauty of this tree was appreciated by
the early settlers in this country, and the Swedish traveler,
Kalm, notes that in Pennsylvania and New Jersey single

36

trees of this species were even then often planted near
farm-houses on account of “the fine smells which their
flowers afford.” It has been a favorite garden tree in
Europe for more than a century, and our European corre-
spondents have commended it as having few rivals among
ornamental Pears and Apples, although of late years it
seems to have been somewhat neglected. When at its
best in the lower Ohio valley and in the states west of the
Mississippi River it is a bushy tree sometimes thirty feet
high, with a trunk more than a foot through, breaking
into stout spreading branches eight or ten feet above the
ground. Usually it grows smaller, and sometimes is little
more than a shrub with stiff contorted branches. Its small
size and attractive habit give it a value for wood borders,
shrubberies and even for small gardens. Its pale pink or
rose-colored flowers appear ten or twelve days after the
petals have fallen from other Apples. They are nearly two
inches across when fully expanded and have a delightful
odor. The waxy, translucent fruits, which are from an inch
to an inch and a half in diameter, hang gracefully on long
stems and remain on the branches until after the leaves
have dropped in autumn, when their greenish orange color,
flushed with scarlet as they ripen, and their delicious
fragrance make the tree quite as ornamental as it is in
une.

: Breconia Eyanstana.—This plant, often called Begonia
discolor, is a native of China and Japan. It is much the
hardiest of all the Begonias so far as known, and we have
often commended it for this quality as well as for its beauty.
The plants, of course, die down root and branch every
year with the first frost, but the bulblets, which form plen-
tifully at the bases of the leaf and flower-stems, will
have fallen to the ground; these sprout just as soon as
warm weather commences the next year, and soon develop
into blooming plants. Mr. Oliver writes that this Begonia
has become naturalized in the Botanic Garden at Wash-
ington, not in one place only, but in several, for over thirty
years. Itseems to like positions for hibernating which
are not affected in the least by sunshine. On the north
side of a house, close to the wall, it comes up abundantly
every year—in fact, far too abundantly, for many of the
plants have to be pulled up to give the remainder a chance
to develop. The bulblets do not receive any protection
whatever in the way of mulching; they are invariably left
to take care of themselves. The rock-garden is another
spot where this Begonia is at home; those bulblets which
fall on the shady side of the rocks survive the winter with
ease, while those which are exposed to the sun, owing,
perhaps, to successive freezings and thawings, are killed.
After the plants are up a certain height a little decayed
manure thrown over the roots accelerates the growth of the
plants and produces a heavy crop of flowers. Some inter-
esting experiments have been made at the Washington
Gardens with this plant, where new colonies have been
started with bulblets from plants growing out-of-doors, and
also from those whici: have been grown for years in a hot-
house. While it is an easy matter to start a new colony in
a Suitable place with plants or bulblets grown outside, it
is difficult to get a plant from indoors to perpetuate itself in
the open air. The plants from the hothouse form bulb-
lets enough, but in winter they require protecting by dry
leaves or some similar covering for a season or two.

Cultural Department.

Winter Work among Insects Injurious to Fruits.

\ | R. M. V. SLINGERLAND, of Cornell University,

makes some timely observations on this subject in
the current number of Zhe American Agriculturtst, the prin-
cipal points of which are here reproduced :

The burning of fallen leaves and other rubbish in or near
fruit plantations of any kind will prevent many insect pests
from obtaining winter shelter near their food-plants, and those
pests already in hibernation will be killed. Many of our worst

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 413.

insect pests, as the plum curculio, thus hibernate in rubbish.
It isa good practice to scrape off the rough bark from the
trunks and larger branches of fruit-trees, for many caterpillars
of the codling moth (then in their little cocoons of silk), the
hibernating adults of the pear psylla, and the hibernating eggs
under the scales of the oyster-shell bark-louse and the scurfy
bark-louse will be dislodged or killed. A coating of white-
wash or some similar wash will tend to keep the bark clean,
thus rendering it less attractive as a hibernating place for
insects.

If fruit-trees are pruned at any time during their dormant
period, the prunings should always be burned. These prun-
ings will often bear the wintering eggs of the different kinds
of plant-lice (as the apple and cherry aphides and the hop
aphis, whose eggs are laid on Plum-trees) that appear in such
great numbers on the trees in the spring and summer, The
half-grown caterpillars of the cigar-case-bearer are also then
snugly tucked away in their little curved cases attached to the
bark of the twigs, and many would thus perish on the prun-
ings. This insect has recently come to be a serious Apple
pest in western New York.

Trees infested with the oyster-shell bark-louse, the scurfy
bark-louse, the San José scale or any other scale insect should
be thoroughly washed with whale-oil soap in a solution of
one or two pounds to a gallon of water. It should be remem-
bered that the wash must come in contact with the insects to
kill them. With this wash, or with a strong kerosene emul-
sion, manyof the adults of that dreaded pest, the pear psylla,
then in hibernation in sheltered places on the bark, can be
killed.

The New York Plum-scale, which has recently caused great
destruction in western New York Plum orchards, can be fought
to the best advantage only when the trees are dormant, as the
scales are then young and tender and lie exposed on the bark.
Badly infested trees should receive a thorough spraying with
kerosene emulsion (Hubbard-Riley formula diluted four times)
in the fail, in the winter if possible, and another very thorough
application early in the spring before the buds swell.

The eggs of several insect pests can be collected and de-
stroyed during the winter, thus greatly reducing the numbers
of the pest the next season. The eggs of the Apple-tree tent
caterpillar are glued together in a large, conspicuous mass,
which usually encircles a twig; it is a short job to look over a
tree and remove these egg masses. The eggs of the white-
marked tussock-moth form a very conspicuous large, white,
froth-like mass on the bark of the trees, or on near-by fences
or buildings ; this is the insect that is ravaging the shade-trees
in several of our large cities. It was nearly exterminated in
Rochester by offering prizes to the school children for collect-
ing the eggs ; the children collected millions of the frothy egg
masses. The eggs of the four-lined leaf-bug, a serious Cur-
rant pest in some localities, are laid in slits cut in the shoots
near the tips; the white ends of the eggs project out of the
slit, and one can thus quite readily determine the infested tips
and cut them off. The long ragged scars or slits often found
in Raspberry-canes, or in the twigs of fruit-trees, are the work
of the snowy tree-cricket, done in laying its eggs; this is the
only damage done by the insect. The infested canes or
branches are readily seen, and should be removed. When the
eggs of any of these insects have been collected, they should
always be burned. If left on the ground they will hatch as
readily there as on the tree or bush, and the young will easily
find their way to their food.

Currant-bushes and Raspberry-canes are often infested with
borers; two kinds, a beetle and a moth, work in currants.
Usually the infested shoots can be quickly detected in the
spring when growth begins, and all such should be removed
and burned at once, thus destroying the developing insect life
they contain. The hydrocyanic acid gas treatment, so exten-
sively used in California, will probably never come into general
use among New York fruit growers. It is too expensive, and
most of our insect pests can be effectively combated by other
means with less labor and expense. There is scarcely any
question about its efficiency against all insect life, especially
scale insects ; we have been unable to find a living San José
scale on trees treated with the gas. It is the most efficient and
practicable method for our nurserymen to use in fumigating
their stock to prevent the distribution of the San José scale, the
pear psylla, the bud-moth and other serious pests. There is
no longer any doubt that some New York nurserymen are
sending out these insects on their stock; and the time may
soon come when they will be compelled to resort to fumiga-
tion with the gas to protect their trade, and the matter is
worthy the careful attention of nurserymen throughout the
country.

JANUARY 22, 1896.]

Cultivation of the Tomato.

| phe Tomato is an annual, a native of tropical America, and

under normal conditions completes its cycle of life in
from one hundred and fifty totwo hundred days. For the first
ninety to one hundred and twenty days the plant gains at a
constantly increasing rate in size and vigor, acquiring a sort of
momentum of growth, and then commences to mature its
fruit, expending moreand more of its strengthin this way until
the plant becomes exhausted and dies. The preliminary accu-
mulation of vital energy is essential to perfect fruitfulness, and
if it is not established or is lost through a check in growth the
plant will endeavor to develop it by extending the growing
period into that in which under normal conditions its undi-
vided energy would be expended in the production of fruit.
A temperature of about seventy degrees in full sunlight is
essential to the best development of the plant during the grow-
ing period, and one ten degrees higher is most favorable for
the maturing of the fruit, and the plant will not thrive if either
the air or soil is much colder. As in its native home favorable
conditions of heat and moisture are during the growing sea-
son very constant, we are not surprised to find that the plant
has little ability to endure unfavorable conditions. Ina tem-
perature of forty-five degrees or less, either of the soil or air,
the plant not only will not grow, but will lose vigor and vital
energy, the injury being proportioned to the duration rather
than the degree of cold, although a freezing temperature for
an hour will kill it.

In the latitude of Detroit the average temperature at noon is
notas high as seventy degrees until about June Ist, and it is
only during August and September that the average noon
temperature reaches eighty degrees. It is thus evident that
in order to secure a perfect development of the Tomato in
this latitude we must extend the season artificially, and the
only practical way to do this is to start the young plants under
glass. If we sow the seed about April roth, supply the neces-
sary conditions of light, air and heat to secure a natural,
healthy and vigorous growth, the seedlings will be as large as
it is practicable to transplant by June Ist, which is as early
as favorable conditions of soil and air can be expected, and if
we then set out the plants without seriously checking their
growth they will reach their full size and acquire the vital
energy necessary to the production of a maximum crop of
fruit by July 20th or August Ist—as soon, that is, as favorable
weather for the ripening of the fruit can be expected. The
common practice Is to plant the seed much earlier, often as
early as March Ist; this gives ninety days before the conditions
are such as to make it safe to set the plants in the open ground,
and if the plants grow naturally they would reach their full
size and be far too large for transplanting without most serious
check. On the other hand, to grow the plants so slowly that
at the end of ninety days they are still of a size suitable for
transplanting, is to fail to develop any of that momentum of
growth which is essential to perfect fruitfulness. Such plants
can never in our climate give a maximum crop of fruit, though
they may reach full size.

It seems, then, that a careful consideration of the character
of the plant and the climatic conditions we have to meet will
lead to the adoption of the following as the best method of
adjusting them: Sow the seed between April 1st and roth in
boxes of light, loose soil, kept ata temperature of about sixty
degrees and moderately moist. As soon as the plants have
started true leaves, transplant into small pots or other boxes ;
if in boxes, they should contain three to five inches in depth
of light rich soil, and the plants should be set four inches apart
each way. If pots are used, the plants should be repotted into
larger ones often enough to prevent their becoming pot-bound.
A day temperature of sixty to seventy-five degrees should be
maintained, with the soil and air moderately but constantly
moist. Above all, an abundance of light and air must be pro-
vided, a necessity which makes a special hotbed, or a well-
protected cold-frame where the soil has been well warmed up,
a better place to grow plants than a greenhouse. In the mean
time the ground where the plants are to be set should be
thoroughly prepared by first a deep cultivation, then an evenly
spread dressing of well-rotted manure, which should be well
worked in. Plowing or spading and cultivating should fol-
low, and after an interval of a few days another cultivation as
deep as possible, and the land should again be cultivated just
before setting the plants. The purpose of this is to form a
deep bed of well-warmed and friable soil in which the finely
divided fertilizer shall be well mixed, and which willretain as
much as possible of the spring rains. This thorough prepa-
ration of the soil is the prime secret of successful Tomato cul-
ture, and it is much cheaper and better to do the necessary
deep cultivation before the plants are set. In this latitude the

Garden and Forest.

of

danger of cold storms is rarely over, and the soil is rarely
warm enough to warrant the setting of plants before June Ist,
and where the ground is well prepared and the plants well
grown there is no advantage in putting them out till the con-
ditions are favorable for rapid growth.

Give the plants but little water, barely enough to prevent
wilting, for four or five days before, and a liberal watering two
or three hours before setting. In putting out the plants be
careful to save as many of the roots as possible and to get
them into the ground in a natural position without being
kinked or crowded together, and, if it is practicable to do so,
soak the ground about the plant after setting, butif this is done
care should be taken to draw some dry earth over the wet soil,
so as to prevent its baking and cracking. A few days after the
plants are set stir the surface soil with a hoe or rake, and
repeat this every few days as long as the size of the plants will
permit. If the preparation of the ground has been thorough
there will be no need of deeper cultivation, which would do
more harm than good. If a smaller quantity of extra-fine fruit
is preferred to a larger yield of that which is simply good, it
will be better to stake or trellis the plants. For this purpose
we have found nothing better than four two-inch square stakes,
about six feet long, driven into the ground in a square of
about sixteen inches around the plants. From four to six
branches are allowed to grow up within the space enclosed
(the others being removed as they appear), and are held therein
by strings around the stakes, kept in place by occasional tacks.
We think, however, that, except in very heavy and wet soils,
more satisfactory results will be secured from unpruned plants

which are allowed to rest on the ground. ;
Detroit, Mich. 8 Will W. Tracy.

Winter-flowering Begonias.

EGONIA, Dr. Nacthingale, is a garden hybrid, evidently

closely related to B, nitida. Like that plant, it is deliciously
fragrant. Its habit is better than the type, being less angular.
The panicles and also the individual flowers are larger and
of a clear bright rose-color. It is very floriferous, never at
any time being out of bloom.

After two years I have succeeded in growing well-flowered
plants of the distinct and beautiful hybrid known as Gloire de
Sceaux. A figure of it appears on page 185, vol. vii., of
GARDEN AND FOREST, which, as stated in the accompanying
description, does not do it justice. It is a neatly growing
bushy plant, about a foot anda half high, well furnished with
nearly orbicular, deep bronzy green leaves. The flowers
appear near the ends of the branches in short scape-like pani-
cles, and, unlike most of the shrubby kinds, the male flowers
are the largest, showiest and most persistent. The flowersare
clear pink, sepals and petals rounded, and nearly equal in size.
This is the only characteristic of the pollen parent, Begonia
Socotrana, visible. In foliage and general habit it resembles
its seed parent, B. subpeltata. We grow it in good rich loam
with plenty of drainage and in a shady position in a greenhouse
at an intermediate temperature.

Begonia Haageana is a very interesting and beautiful spe-
cies, evidently related to B. Scharffiana. It makes a handsome
specimen plant, whether in bloom or not. The leaves are
light bronzy green, irregularly ovate, tapering and covered on
both sides with a rather bristly pubescence of reddish brown
hairs. It flowers sparingly all the year round in large rambling
panicled cymes of light pink flowers. Both the sepals and
petals in both the male and female flowers are covered on the
outer surface with brownish hairs, a character not common
among Begonias. Outside this type the only other kind I
remember with this peculiarity is the well-known B. metallica.

Begonia Credneri is another of these hairy kinds. The whole
plant is stouter, with a more deeply bronzed tint. The leaves
are rounder and more bluntly pointed. The inflorescence is
quite erect; the flowers nearly white, and almost covered on
the outside of the sepals and petals, and the ovary with bright
red hairs. It is quite as handsome a plant as B. Haageana, but
not so free in growth.

Paul Bruant, a short-jointed, erect-growing, bushy kind, with
irregularly cordate, deeply cut and wavy deep green leaves, is
one of the best I know of, for window decoration. The flow-
ers occur in large drooping panicles, reddish pink in color.
Only the female flowers are persistent, and with large red-
winged ovaries make a very pretty effect. I have known a
plant to remain well in bloom for six weeks in an ordinary
house window.

When Mr. Veitch, of London, was here a year ago, he was
surprised to see large, well-flowered specimens of one of their
recent hybrids, President Carnot. It is a robust-growing
hybrid, and had been a small plant the spring previously,

38

Planted out for the summer, with unrestricted root-room, it
had made strong canes four feet long and very stout, without
blooming, having been used for tropical effect, for which it is
extremely well adapted. It lifted well, ripened the stout wood
it had made and bloomed profusely all winter long. This year
I thought to make neater specimens by growing them in pots,
but results prove the plants have not the stamina fora goodshow
of bloom, The panicled cymes are very large, drooping from
near the ends of the branches, and if the branches be long, as
when the plants are grown out-of-doors, they have a somewhat
leggy appearance. These branches root easily any time dur-
ing the summer, develop the panicles which show in the bud
state when the cuttings are taken, and make neat little speci-
mens which can be planted out the succeeding summer. The
individual flowers are very large. The whole flower, includ-
ing the large winged ovaries, are bright coral-red, from which
we may probably trace its parentage, on one side, to the old
B. (rubra) corallina.

Ferdinand de Lesseps is another of these large hybrids into
which the blood ot the bronzy leaved Begonia olbia has been
some way infused. This is evident in the short, almost hid-
den cymes, and in the reddish bronze under-surface and mar-
gined leaves. This, also, is better for a season out-of-doors,
needing ageand well-ripened growth to bloom well.

Wellesley, Mass. T. D. Hatfield,

Siegesbeckia orientalis.—Last June we received from the
Royal Botanic Gardens, Buitenzorg, Java, a large number of
packages of seeds, principally natives of that island. I sowed
the greater portion as soon as they arrived, and have been
much interested in watching their developments. The above-
named plant was in the collection, and though by no means
ornamental, it is interesting botanically. My first impression
of the plant when it began to flower was a miserable weed.
It is an annual, and belongs to Composite. The leaves are
cordate, with coarsely serrated margins, four inches long by.
two inches wide. The flowers are small and yellow, and
rather inconspicuous, but the flower-heads have, in addition
to the scales with which Composites are surrounded, five
spreading, rather long, involucral scales, which are covered
with glandular hairs, each having a drop of viscid fluid at the
tip. These hairs catch insects, apparently with the same ease
as Droseras, as there are numbers of small insects caught on
the plants we have here. Whether these insects are of any
use to the plant after being caught is a problem for botanical
students to solve. I donot know of any insectivorous Com-
posite, and possibly the viscid glandular hairs are for a pro-
tection for the flowers from small insects, yet from their
spreading position and the smallness of their number this is
hardly probable. Many plants have sticky hairs on the stems
and flower-stalks, to prevent ants and other insects climbing
and stealing the nectar; as, for instance, Browallias, Cupheas,
Primulas, Plumbagos, etc., but I do not remember ever
seeing them hold insects, as this plant does. S. orientalis is
by no means a rare plant, as it is largely distributed through
the tropics, under the name of S. droseroides, apparently
from the resemblance of its involucral scales to the leaves of
Drosera. It is well worthy of a place in botanical collections,
and I find it does best in the warm temperate house.

Edward F. Canning.

Northampton, Mass.

Cytisus racemosus.—This is a common greenhouse shrub,
and one of few plants with yellow flowers which are available
to any extent for winter and spring decorations. It can be had
in bloom from January onwards. By regularly pruning into
bushy shape, plants may be grown for many years and make
large specimens. This is practiced only in private places ; for
commercial use new stock is annually raised. Cuttings are
taken from half-ripened wood and put in pots filled with sandy
peat, or in a cool propagating-bed to callous. Afterward, a
bottom-heat of sixty-five degrees, Fahrenheit, will induce new
roots, and the cuttings should be ready for potting off in two
or three weeks. They should be grown continuously in small
pots for the first season, as it is almost impossible to lift plants
which have not previously formed a ball of earth. Small plants
rooted lastspring and grown to asingle stem in four and five
inch pots are perfect pyramids from one to two anda half
feet high, showing bloom for nearly the entire length of the

stem. :
Wellesley, Mass. TD ie

Celogyne cristata——Next to Cattleya Trianz, this is the most
useful Orchid of the midwinter season. The abundance of its
snowy flowers, its dwarf habit and dark glossy foliage make it
truly beautiful at this season. The flowers, which measure

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 413.

about four inches across, are produced in loose racemes rest-
ing on the foliage. Except for the rich golden-yellow fringes
inside the lip, the color is pure white. The bracteate peduncle
springs from the base of an oblong, shining, bright green
pseudo-bulb of a walnut’s size. The pseudo-bulbs are formed
on creeping stems, and bear one or two long strap-shaped
leaves of a dark green color. A cool well-ventilated house in
a northern position is best in summer, and during the flower-
ing season the plants should be kept in the coolest part of the
greenhouse. While growing they need frequent syringing and
watering and occasional fertilizing with weak liquid-manure.
Newark, N. J. N. FR.

Correspondence.

The Pepper-tree for House Culture.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :

Sir,—Your recent article on the Pepper-tree leads me to add
that it is readily grown from seed and makesa pleasing window
plant. I havea plant now over five feet high, with the char-
acteristic drooping branches. Daily showering.seems to in-
duce floriferousness. It has thus far never borne fruit. It is
peculiarly free from all insects save the scale, which
seems to have a special liking for it. I have tried in vain to
discover why the apparently spontaneous movement of the
leaves in water is at times so much more marked than at
others, and suspect your statement that “in wet weather the
leaves emit a pungent odor,” has given me the clew.

Klinger Lake, Mich. B. L. Putnam.

Meetings of Societies.

Horticulture in Pennsylvania.

es thirty-seventh annual meeting of the Pennsylvania
Horticultural Society was held in West Chester last week.
In the interesting report of the Fruit Committee it was said
that in the south-eastern counties of the state the fruit crop
was unusually abundant, being in many sections the heaviest
known, while in the greater part of the state there was a slen-
der crop, owing to late spring frosts anda dry summer. In
the north-eastern part of the state the Pear blight was more
destructive than it has been for twenty years. Peaches only
yielded from one-tenth to a quarter of a crop; Cherries in the
south-east gave a small crop, Early Richmond, Montmorenci
and Napoleon Biggareau being the best varieties. Of black-
berries there were practically none, and but few raspberries
and strawberries. It was reported also that the San José scale,
which seems to have established itself securely in the east,
had already been found in half a dozen different parts of the
state.

The subirrigation of Strawberries was discussed in a paper
by Mr. Martin Brinser, of Middletown, who stated that there
were two ways of practicing this. One was by supplying water
through tiles laid underground, and the other by subsoiling,so
as to hold the rain-water. This last method is quite satisfac-
tory where there is a compact soil beneath. Deeper plowing
makes a deeper reservoir, which holds more of the winter and
early rains. After plowing deeply the land can be subsoiled so
as to loosen the soil to a point sixteen inches below the sur-
face. In this way Mr. Brinser had produced excellent crops of
cherries during the last dry year. In addition to the subsoil-
ing, Mr. Brinser used frequent shallow culture, which furnished
a dust mulch, so that during the dry weather moisture could
always be found an inch below the surface. Mr, Ingraham, of
West Chester, said that he had tried subsoiling several rows
of Strawberries at the foot of a hill, and the beneficial results
were plain. Mr. H. M. Engle argued that while some lands
were aided by this practice, he had found that in loamy open
subsoils not much benefit was derived. Mr.H.D. Van Deman,
formerly Pomologist for the United States Government,
thought that subsoiling was one of. the very best practicable
methods of storing up water for crops. A layer of finely pul-
verized soil resembles a sponge, and if it were three inches
thick it would hold half as much as one six inches deep, and
one one-third as much as one nine inches deep. Subsoiling
has the practical effect of under-draining—that is, it makes a
wet soil drier and makes a dry soil wetter. The deeper a hard
soil is loosened up the more moisture it will hold, and plants
require all they can get in this latitude. The object is to hold
the winter rains in a reservoir rather than to allow them torun
off. Professor Heiges told of some scions he had received
from Oregon with their buds all started. He grafted them and
then planted them in ground from which the surface soil was

JANUARY 22, 1896.]

thrown off, and the trench was then deeply spaded. After
planting his trees he had the surface soil thrown back, and, in
spite of the dry weather, ninety-five per cent. lived, and he
believes that he would not have saved one-quarter of them if
he had planted without such careful preparation.

Mr. Calvin Cooper, in speaking of fertilizers, urged farmers
to secure their own nitrogen with the help of leguminous
plants, in doing which they will be able to get some potash
besides. Another member claimed that on the cyanite grass-
lands about West Chester commercial fertilizers gave no ap-
preciable returns, while on the lighter soils farther south he
had a farm on which he used four hundred pounds of com-
plete fertilizers to the acre, and nothing else. He hadcontinued
this practice for ten years, sold everything off his land and yet
his crops were increasing. Mr. Van Deman thought we did
not sufficiently consider the fertilizing value of tillage, since
this practice liberated the plant-food in the soil. He thought
that millions of dollars were wasted every year in the purchase
of commercial fertilizers. It was best for farmers to buy a
high grade of muriate of potash, as it contains the least foreign
matter, and either bone or dissolved South Carolina rock for
phosphoric acid and then try to get nitrogen by trapping it
from the air and soil water with leguminous plants. When we
can catch nitrogen so readily we ought not to buy such an
expensive material for orchard purposes. Some soils have
enough potash, but it does not leach out if more is applied.
An excess of nitrogenous plant-food makes a leafy, succulent
growth, and some Peach growers in Delaware, who have
plowed under heavy crops of Crimson Clover, have found that
there was enough nitrogen in this green manure to hurt their
trees. It is their practice now to cut the Clover and turn
under the roots, which contain all the nitrates necessary.
Potash and phosphoric acid are the two elements most needed
in orchards. In a subsequent paper, Mr. Van Deman said that
potash, phosphoric acid and nitrogen were of no use unless
they were dissolved, and they could not be dissolved without
water. Sap is plant-food dissolved in water; then nature
mulches with leaves and the like to hold the water. As fruit
growers cannot follow nature’s way they should mulch by till-
age. Plant deep, make a basin to hold water in and cultivate
to keep it there. In speaking of irrigation, he said that a one-
inch pipe with six-feet head ought to irrigate an acre. Mr,
H. M. Engle, of Marietta, said that an inch pipe with eighty
pounds head had supplied a quarter of an acre and they paid.
eighteen cents for a hundred gallons of water. Some of his
crops paid for this expenditure, and others did not.

The pruning of orchards was the subject of an address by
Mr. Calvin Cooper, who stated that he had set out an orchard
thirty-four years ago, forcing its growth while young, and now
his trees are overgrown and declining when they should be in
their prime. Fourteen years ago he set out another orchard
on comparatively poor ground, used no fertilizers and pruned
the trees freely. He starts the tree with three branches anda
leader and allows branches above, but leaves an open top.
The best sprayer he could find three years ago would not
reach the top of these large trees. Two years ago he cut off
from ten to fourteen feet from the top of each and thinned
them out, and now he gets good fruit. He uses an Excelsior
sprayer, making three applications of Bordeaux mixture and
Paris green and occasionally some clear copper sulphate
before the buds swell, if the scab was bad the year before.
Varieties that do not grow upright he prunes so that the last
bud is on the lower side of the limb, while those which tend
to spread have the last bud on the upper side, When pruning
is done in winter the bark is bruised less than at other seasons,
and it will not hurt the tree if the wood is slightly frozen, but
it is better to prune at some time when the tree is en-
tirely dormant. Mr, Gabriel Heieter, of Lancaster, pushes his
trees as hard as he can all the time, then puts ina crop to check
growth and throw them into bearing, and afterward feeds
again. He thought that Apples must bear a crop every year
if they are to be profitable. This means strong feeding and the
control of insects and fungi, so that the leaves will be kept on
the tree to make apples mature later and thus keep better.
The finest fruit grows on young trees or on the young wood
of old trees. Ona rich soil a young tree will bear two or three
crops in succession, and then, as the fruit-buds begin to
crowd, it will bear only on alternate years. An annual bearer
has its fruit-spurs separate. The top should always be kept
young by going about the tree with long pruning-shears and
taking out old spurs. A vigorous tree will be less liable to
danger from frost than weaker ones,

The last afternoon was devoted to the subject of orchard
planting, in which Professor Bailey made the principal address
and answered many questions. Inhis opinion the hope of old

Garden and Forest.

39

orchards is to plant new ones. His advice was to make the
land rich and deep to hold moisture, although he thought that
subsoiling would be of only temporary value. We never have
rain enough ina summer to grow crops, and hence the need
of tile draining, subsoiling and the use of deep-rooted plants
to break into the subsoil as much as possible. The ground
should be plowed in the fall, or some other device should be
used for catching the winter rain. Clayey lands after hoed
crops often run together and puddle if they are fall-plowed.
For fertilizers Clover was advised for nitrogen, and two hun-
dred to four hundred pounds of high-grade sulphate of potash
and about the same of bone should be used every two or three
years. Four-fifths of the orchards planted never amount to
anything from lack of care, and this makes the field a more
profitable one for those who give proper attention to selecting
varieties and growing them properly. In his own orchard he
is taking pains to work his trees over with scions from indi-
vidual trees that are known to be doing well, and he willspray
at least twice, once just before and again just after blossoming
time,

The Minnesota Forestry Association.

ae annual meeting of this vigorous organization was held

in Minneapolis last week, and, among other important
matters discussed, was a proposition submitted by J. M. Cross,
Esq., to the purpose that the state shall receive donations of
stump-lands from lumbermen on the condition that they and
their heirs shall receive one-third of the proceeds for one hun-
dred years, after which they will revert to the state. One-third
of the proceeds is to go to the state for the care of the land, and
the remaining one-third to whatever institutions the donor
may indicate. This proposition received much approval, and
was submitted to a committee for action. The value of these
stump-lands was a subject of much discussion. Most of them
in the state are burned over and the seeds and seedlings
destroyed. They should be taken in hand at once after they
are cut.

Prairie forestry was another subject which commanded
much attention. The failure of the Cottonwood for general
planting was noticed, and the Ash and Bur Oak were spoken
of most favorably, and after them the Hackberry.

The instruction in forestry at the University was shown to be
more considerable than was generally supposed, since, under
other names, it covered most of the branches of the subjects
which are studied in Europe. Prairie forestry now receives
the most attention, and the students have the actual care of a
plantation of twenty acres. The care of natural forests has not
received much attention, since, as yet, there has been no
demand for skilled foresters. Experiments in caring for
natural woodlands were strongly recommended, so as to
secure data from which a policy could be formed. It was said
that estimates could be made from observation in the woods
we already have which would furnish facts or principles which
could be used in constructing a system for the preservation of
forests, and especially for their protection against fire.

Attention was called by D. R. McGinnis, of the St. Paul Com-
mercial Club, to the fact that the water-supply of interior conti-
nental regions is diminishing the world over, and that the
people of Minnesota had reason to use intelligence in pre-
venting such droughts as threatened the interior of this con-
tinent.

A summary of the year’s work seemed to show a substan-
tial gain, especially in the improved management of the state
lands and the establishment of a system of protection against
fire. Other good work is under way, with a promise of favora-
ble results.

Recent Publications.

Down the Lane and Back. By Uncle Matt.
Sons, London and New York.

This little book is a talk with children about a few of the
weeds and wild flowers which one would naturally find
along a country roadside in England. The illustrations
are admirable, and the text is so instructive that we think
it is a mistake that some one has not modified it so that
it will suit an American wayside as well as an English one.
This is the first book of a series, each devoted to a ramble,
and their character can be seen from such taking titles as
Through the Copse, A Stroll in the Marsh, Across the
Common and Around a Corn-field. After all, many of the
flowers described have made themselves as much at home

T. Nelson &

40

in America as they are in England. Here are Nightshade,
Buttercup, Dandelion, Mallow, Bindweed, Marsh Mari-
gold, Meadow-Sweet, Plantain, Harebell and Silver-Weed
running wild—either the identical ones figured, or such
near relatives that the picture of one will answer for both—
while the Corn Bluebottle, Ragged Robin, Wild Hyacinth
and many more can be found domesticated in country
gardens, so that the little books can be used to a consid-
erable extent as manuals for young botanists even on this
continent.

Notes.

It is estimated that in Ventura County, California, alone
15,000 tons of Lima beans and 7,500 of other beans are raised
annually.

We learn from Le Petit Républicain de [ Aube, published at
Troyes, France, that Monsieur Charles Baltet received the Prix
Montyor for his book, L’Horticulture dans les Cing parties du
Monde, from the Société Académique of that city at its meet-
ing held on the 18th of December last.

The latest results of comparative experiments with bone
meal and other phosphatic fertilizers seem to show that the
superior value hitherto given to the undissolved bone is due
to the nitrogen which it contains and not to the phosphoric
acid. As a phosphatic fertilizer bone meal gives no better
results than the mineral phosphate.

In an address recently delivered in Munich, Dr. Baur, Rec-
tor of the Ludwig-Maximilian University, mentioned that sixty
per cent. of the wood now yielded by the state forests of the
kingdom of Saxony is used in the manufacture of paper pulp.
In other European districts there is likewise a great and grow-
ing demand for timber for this purpose. And the extent of
the demand in this country may be divined from the fact that
pulp mills have been built at seven places in the single county
of Penobscot, in Maine, and that the daily product of three of
these mills constitutes a train-load of paper pulp, usually
consisting of eighteen or twenty car-loads.

Dr. D. T. MacDougal has taken pains to verify the results of
former experiments, which show that the leaves and stems of
adult plants of Cypripedium spectabile and C. pubescens exert
a poisonous influence on thehumanskin. Later tests with both
these plants and C. parviflorum establish the fact beyond doubt
that all three of these species are poisonous. The irritant
action is found to be due to a secretion of the glandular hairs.
On account of the extremely small quantity of this secretion
its exact chemical nature has not yet been ascertained, but it
was found soluble in alcohol and gave the reaction of an oily
substance. The irritant action of the plants increased with
their development and reached a maximum effect during the
formation of the seed capsules.

A memorial has been addressed to Congress by the legisla-
tive assembly of Arizona, asking that the lands covered by the
famous “petrified forest” should be reserved as a public park.
They form an area about twelve miles square and lie in the
heart of the Apache country. But, despite the remoteness of
the spot, curious tourists have already wrought much damage
to the singular and beautiful petrifactions, commercial enter-
prise has been active in the exportation of specimens, and
even the residents of the country who do not try to make
money out of the “forest” seem also to be active in willful
depredations. It is reported that, not long ago, a cow-boy
rode his horse over the most remarkable petrified trunk,
which forms a natural bridge above a ravine, in the mischiev-
ous hope that he might thus break it down. There are no
settlers uponthis tract of land, and therefore its reservation
would not injure or even inconvenience any one, while it
would preserve an array of natural curiosities which are unique
of their kind and as interesting to the lover of the picturesque
as to the scientific student.

For many years the boxes in which plug tobacco was packed
in the United States were made of Sycamore lumber (Platanus),
which, owing to its properties of great strength and freedom
from all odor, made it the favorite wood for this purpose. It
is now stated by Hardwood, however, that there is not enough
Sycamore lumber manufactured in the United States to supply
twenty-five per cent. of the plug tobacco boxes used annually,
and that Gumwood, Liquidambar, is going to be the popular
wood for this purpose, if it is not so already. Formerly the
plugs were pressed by powerful machinery directly into the
boxes, which therefore had to be made of some strong wood.

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 413.

Most manufacturers now, however, have iron or steel moulds
into which the plugs are pressed into a body of exactly the
size of the wooden boxes in which they are marketed. This
plan allows the use of lighter boxes without cleats or corner-
pieces; and many of these light boxes are now made from
three thin layers of Gumwood, the middle layer being placed
transversely to the other two and the whole solidly glued to-
gether under great pressure. Gum boxes made in this way
are said to be substantial and durable. Rock maple and black
birch are also used in some factories for tobacco boxes, but
probably not to any great extent.

We have often spoken with regret of the wanton destruction
of song-birds in this country, not only because their beauty
and melody are a delight to all who live in the country, but
because they are such important auxiliaries in the war against
insects injurious to vegetation. This wholesale butchery is by
no means confined to our own country. A recent number of
the Fortnightly Review states that forty thousand larks daily
come into the London markets, where poulterers sell them by
the bushel. Besides those sold for table purposes, there are
thousands killed for their feathers, their wings, when dyed so
as to counterfeit tropical birds, being worn for ornaments.
Large numbers are also trapped to let fly at shooting-matches,
and many moreare sold to be confined, not as household pets,
but by gamblers, who, strangely enough, keep them and bet
on their powers of song, although how such matches are
decided one can hardly understand. All this makes agricul-
ture and horticulture more difficult in England, where, under
any circumstances, it is none too prosperous. But whatseems
surprising to Americans is that public sentiment in England
will allow the extermination of a songster which seems to be
such a favorite and holds so high a place in the poetical litera-
ture of the language.

A few boxes of grape-fruit from southern Florida and, per-
haps, fifty barrels from Jamaica made up last week’s supply
for this city. The Jamaica output is nearly exhausted; much
of this fruit now coming is of hybrid origin, and other, no less
inferior, is gathered from old and neglected trees. This small
thick-skinned fruit sold for $5.00 a barrel, while large speci-
mens, with the fine quality of skin known in the trade as silky,
readily brought $7.00 to $8.00 a barrel at wholesale, and the
choicest from Florida commanded $10.00 a box. On Monday
of this week a dozen barrels from Jamaica were eagerly bought
up on the dock at $12.37 each, and owing to the scarcity and
prevailing high prices so small a lot as two boxes was included
in a large shipment of citrus fruits received from California on
the same day. Grape-fruit has been known in this city only
about twenty years, and so little was it appreciated fifteen years
ago that some of each lot from the Bahamas was reshipped to
England, where the prices, $7.00 to $8,00 a barrel, were double
those obtained here for a very limited quantity. During the
last five years the demand has increased rapidly, and each of
the past few years has seen the supply doubled, until this sea-
son of scarcity due to the freezing of the trees in Florida last
year.

In the recently published report of the Dean of Barnard Col-
lege, in this city, which covers the year 1895, we read: “In
view of the importance of her work, the responsibility she
carries, and the learning and ability that enable her to bear it,
the title of Professor of Botany has this year been conferred
upon Dr. Gregory, with the approval of the President of
Columbia College. Her department is doing its full share of
university work, besides containing successful classes of
special students and undergraduates. It has this year four
candidates for the higher degrees and five for the Barnard
Certificate. Its exhibit at the exposition of the Academy of
Natural Sciences attracted much favorable attention. The
department is one which has been of interest and usefulness
to the community. But, though its progress is gratifying, it is
also expensive. Professor Gregory reports that it is impossible
to carry out our plans in regard to advanced work with our
present equipment. A much-needed course in plant physi-
ology, for instance, calls for materials and apparatus which are
not at ourcommand.” Thestate of things which the Dean thus
makes plain seems to offer a good opportunity for practical
benevolence to some person of botanical tastes who is like-
wise interested in the higher education of women. Certainly
there is no pursuit in which certain qualities which have
always been considered characteristically feminine ought to
make themselves felt to better advantage than in the higher
branches of botanical research. We mean those qualities of
patience, perseverance, careful attention to details, preciseness
in observation and delicacy in manipulation which this branch
of science conspicuously demands.

JANUARY 29, 1896. |

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrick: TripunE Buitpinc, New York.

Conducted by ». . ~~. + + «+ + « « Professor C. S. SARGENT.

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

==

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 1896.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE

EprrortaL ARTICLES :—The Shrubbery in Winter .........eeeseeeee sees eee oan AT
PGhe;Sany) OSeiSca le any N Ewa) ELSE Viaisterc:cie'a'0/a10's cjoleieis sinjeisiniaieteiseiatelsir uinielsie 4
SelfrelianceinsRanmin ge. clos ls ccm steecicia ce > siete cise aie “Professor L. H. Batley. 42
Trees of Minor Importance for Western Planting.—Il....... FA. Waugh, 42
Water against Frost........-seescee ceessenceseeees Professor R. C. Kedzie. 43
FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—The English Fruit Market ............ W, Watson. 43
New or LittLE-KNown Piants :—Chrysanthemum, Mayflower, (With figure.).. 44

H. Horsford. 44
E. O. Orpet. 45
-7.D. Hatfield. 46
. G. Van Rensselaer. 47
ofessor W. E, Britton. 47

CutturaL DEPARTMENT :—Lily bent HEED EOE Ce DHCOD GE ReR renter re
Cultural Notes on Orchids..
Greenhouse Notes...
CorRgSPONDENCE :—John Br :
Our Native Plants in Winter.............

. Meetincs or Societies :—Nebraska State Horti ultural, Society 48
The Western New York Horticultural Society 49
RECENT PUBLICATIONS 49
NOTES..0+0 coceccrecees 50
45

The Shrubbery in Winter.

N another column a correspondent calls attention to
some winter effects in the wild shrubbery which inter-
ested him, and, perhaps, it is worth while to repeat what we
have often said—that when home-grounds are planted there
are many cases where more attention should be given to
their winter aspect. Where a houseis occupied in summer
only, the principal aim should be to make it attractive at
that season. There are many trees and shrubs which are
conspicuously beautiful in spring and autumn, and, of
course, there are places where the selection of species and
varieties should be made with special reference to these
seasons. But where a country house is occupied in winter
it can readily be seen that in some part-of the grounds
commanded by the windows of rooms appropriated for
winter use provision should be made for the prospect at
this season. In the middle of this century it was not un-
common to havea glade or lawn in such a position bounded
by Spruces, Firs, Hemlocks, Pines and other conifers with
such broad-leaved evergreens as Kalmias, Rhododendrons,
American Hollies, and some herbaceous plants with per-
sistent foliage, like Yuccas, for example, and the whole
brightened by a few shrubs with colored fruit, like the
Carolina Rose, Black Alder, Cockspur Thorn, Snowberry
and Bittersweet. Such an arrangement has some merits,
although the idea that this green foliage brought in a touch
of summer when January was at its bleakest was rather fan-
ciful. Any effort to produce summer scenery in winter
must be a failure, as, indeed, it ought to be, for what is
desirable at a particular season in the landscape is an effect
which will harmonize with the prevalent tone of that sea-
son, rather than one which conflicts with it, As a matter
of fact, however, there is no hint of summer in the winter
aspect of evergreens. In freezing weather their darkened
foliage only emphasizes the strength of the cold, and the
particular human interest they have at this season is their
hospitable suggestion of shelter against the driving winds.
Whatever is especially home-like and companionable or
genial in their winter appearance is not that they remind
one of summer verdure, but that they are sturdy enough
not only to brave the wildest weather, but to give us some
protection against its blasts.

Garden and Forest. 4l

Following the fashion imported from the mother country,
coniferous trees were too exclusively planted in the early
years of the century, and we can all remember country
houses which were half-smothered in summer under the
gloom of their heavy foliage. Perhaps the reaction against
this has been too decided, and some of these trees which
are beautiful at all seasons are too much neglected. Nev-
ertheless, there is an abundance of beauty and variety to
be found in deciduous trees and shrubs at this season,
and in any scheme of planting for winter effect in this
climate they should have the largest place. Most trees
have a beauty in winter which is quite as distinct and
individual as it is in any other season. Indeed, this
is the best time for studying the peculiar structure or
framework of a tree—that is, for noting how its branches
diverge and the manner in which they break into spray.
The special characteristics of a particular species, whether
of dignity or grace, are shown as well when the trees are
stripped of their summer garments as at any other time,
and never until the leaves are gone can we mark the pecu-
liar beauty of the different figures made by the interlacing
branchlets against the sky. There is no need to speak of
the endless varieties in the shade and texture of the bark,
both of trunk and limb and spray, and it is well known
that the richest colors in a winter landscape are those of
the warm browns of a distant wood. The colors of the
small twigs are especially varied, too,and the tinted mist
which hovers over a shrubbery a few hundred feet away is
collected from the mingled colors of the bark on the smaller
branches.

This brings us to a point in planting shrubbery for win-
ter effect which we wish here to insist upon. In former
articles we have given lists-of various shrubs which are
ornamented with brightly colored fruit until midwinter, but
we have notso often named those whose bark lends a pleas-
ing color to the short days of the year. The glossy green
branchlets of the Kerrias, the golden bark of the Willows
which warms into still brighter yellow with the approach of
spring, the ashen gray of some of the Viburnums and the
scarlet twigs of the Dogwoods make pictures of unfailing
beauty, either against the glittering snow or the brown
earth. Taking the Cornels alone one is surprised to find
the variety of form and color they display at this season.
Our common Red Osier, Cornus stolonifera, with its broad
leaves, pale flowers and bluish white fruit, is ornamental
allsummer. Its leaves turn purple and yellow in autumn,
and now its purple-red branches sustain its beauty in mid-
winter. There is a variety of the plant, too, with golden-
yellow bark, specimens of which have been exhibited by
Mr. Warren Manning at the Massachusetts Horticultural
Society, and it is distinct and striking. Cornus alba, the
common European Red Osier, which is often sold by
nurserymen as Cornus sanguinea, is another bright-barked
plant. Itis a variable shrub, and one strain, which is called
alba Sibirica, has stems of almost vermilion. Cornus circi-
nata, too, one of our native species which is found on
wooded hillsides, in addition to its beautiful flowers and
light blue fruit, has red and yellow stems which are some-
times finely mottled, while Cornus candidissima has an
ashen gray bark of a singularly soft texture. Certainly a
group of these Cornels pro; perly arranged gives a pleasing
stretch of varied color, and with judicious selections from
other families, by harmonious aout te: a most interesting
feature can be added to our winter landscapes.

The San José Scale in New Jersey.

N our report of the late meeting of the New Jersey State
] Horticultural Society, brief mention was made of a
paper on the San José scale by Mr. Charles R. Parry, in
which he described its destructive nature, the spread it had
made in the state of New Jersey, and asserted, from his own
observation and from information obtained during his visit
in California, that certain natural enemies were controlling
it in that state,and that the growers had ceased to regard

42

it asa pest to be dreaded, largely because of these natural
enemies. ‘These enemies, certain ladybirds imported from
Australia against the fluted scale, Mr. Parry had tried
unsuccessfully to introduce into New Jersey, and he argued
that the best hope for the control of this destructive pest
in that state lay in securing a supply of them. The paper
brought out some discussion, and it was held by some of
the most careful observers that differences of climate would
prevent the ladybirds from being as effective here as they
are in California. Since this meeting we understand thata
flying visit through the infested regions has been made by
the Entomologist of the New Jersey Experiment Station,
who has discovered that Mr. Parry’s assertions concerning
the spread of the scale were unfortunately too well justified.
In many orchards where the presence of the scale had not
been previously suspected it was unpleasantly conspicu-
ous, and one case was discovered where the insects had
been carried for nearly, if not quite, a milein astraight line,
probably by the agency of birds. In the course of an
address before the New Jersey State Board of Agriculture,
held at Trenton January 14th, Professor Smith called atten-
tion to these facts and to the danger threatening the fruit
industry of the state. So much alive were the farmers to
the importance of the subject-matter that, after some dis-
cussion concerning the probability of a successful importa-
tion, a resolution was adopted, asking the Legislature of
New Jersey for an appropriation of one thousand dollars
for the purpose of importing into the state of New Jersey
such of the predaceous or parasitic insects as might be
found feeding upon the scale in California or elsewhere.
The resolution was unanimously adopted, and was at once
referred to the legislative committee and will be pushed as
soon as the Legislature reconvenes. Thereis no doubt as
to the importance of the matter, and there is no doubt that
the state of New Jersey owes it toso important an industry
as that of fruit-growing to offer it every possible measure of
protection. The sum asked for is ridiculously small com-
pared with the possible benefits, and there seems to be at
least a fair chance of success. Of all the Atlantic fruit states
New Jersey is worst infested and has most to lose, while
offering unusual facilities, from its numerous closely set
orchards, for the spread of the scale.

Perhaps it is worth stating that the late Dr. C. V. Riley,
by whose advice the predaceous insects that so com-
pletely destroyed the Cottony Cushion scale were intro-
duced into California, after visiting that state early in 1895,
argued at a meeting of the Entomological Society of Wash-
ington that an attempt should be made to import the coc-
cinellids from the Pacific to the Atlantic coast. The opinion
of so conservative a man ought to have some weight in
a question like this, and we think that there is sufficient
probability of success to justify the experiment.

Self-reliance in Farming.

N a recent editorial article in this journal it is said that
one advantage of a broad education in agriculture is
that it makes more self-reliant men, and I am prompted to
add a few observations on this subject. For many years the
farmer has been scolded on every hand for follawing the
ways of his father and grandfather in managing his
farm. This steady rain of adyice, urging him to turn
from the accustomed ways of his fathers, was freely offered
even before there was sufficient knowledge of a true
science of agriculture to give the advice any specific merit.
If the farmer must take up new ways, it was not too much
to ask that these new ways be defined and described. But,
for the most part, no adequate method of revolution was
proposed, although it was easy to see that there was reason
enough for a change. Under the circumstances, the farmer,
of course, did little or nothing. He felt that little could be
gained by jumping from the frying-pan when the chances
were that he would land in the fire. He accepted the
advice as good on general principles, but he saw no way
of paying mortgages with it.

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 414.

Now all has changed. With the advent of the experi-
ment stations and the Babel of new teaching, there are
methods and to spare for the improving of farming.
The farmer will be scolded no longer. He will convert
himself to the new ideas forthwith, and he will ask for.
advice and help in every emergency; for, were not the
stations and the agricultural colleges made for his benefit ?
But, really, the great danger now is that the farmer will
lose something of his accustomed balance and self-reliance,
and desire a doctor from an experiment station whenever a
strange bug or a perverse soil perplexes him.

Every experiment station is burdened with questions
which it cannot answer, and never can answer. They are
local questions—questions which do not have to do with
principles, but with the particular matters which pertain to
the one farm or to the personality of the farmer. The com-
monest question of this type is, ‘‘What varieties shall I
plant?” Now, this question no one can answer for
another. It is purely a local and personal question. For
myself, I invariably refuse to advise. I am willing to say
that 1 know some varieties which please me, and to name
them, but I cannot advise any one else to plant them. The
question really shows that the questioner has not yet mas-
tered and adopted the fundamental principle of the modern
teaching, which is that every man must manage his farm
as seems best for his particular conditions and aspirations.
If he asks what varieties of apples he shall plant for drying,
or what he shall plant for the foreign markets, then a more

direct answer can be given him; and the questioner has*

arrived at the point of observing that successful farming is
not copying after others, but is the working out of a local
problem,

All this is equivalent to saying that the experiment station
and the agricultural college do not exist for the purpose of
managing everybody’s or anybody’sfarm. More than ever
before, the farmer must collect opinions and evidence,
then weigh them and choose. The stations should enun-
ciate principles—illustrating them by concrete examples—
rather than lay down rules. TL, Bee

Cornell University.

Trees of Minor Importance for Western Planting.— II.

HE Russian Mulberry was brought to America in

great numbers by the Mennonites, who, during the
decade following 1870, settled in large colonies in Marion,
McPherson and Harvey counties, Kansas. By them it was
introduced to their American neighbors, and was quite
extensively planted in that vicinity. Many of these plant-
ers seem to have expected too much of it, for it has evi-
dently declined in favor in recent years. As grown in this
section, it is notably polymorphous in fruit, foliage and form
of the head. Varieties appear bearing pure white fruits,
and others deep black ones. Occasionally a tree of the
black-fruited sort appears to be wonderfully productive. I
have seen the fruit sold in the market, bringing six to ten
cents a quart, but the demand is not great, and the bargain
is a poor one for both buyer and seller. The fruit cooked
with gooseberries or other very acid amendments is pala-
table, and in the absence of blackberries and raspberries is
not altogether to be despised.

Throughout central Kansas and eastern Oklahoma Morus
rubra is native to the streams, and though not common,
wild or cultivated, makes a good tree. In the scattered
instances where I have seen it planted it gives a uniformly
vigorous growth, with clear straight trunk, symmetrical
top and dark rich foliage. It seems to me that it should
have had a more extensive trial in timber plantings.

The western limit of the Sycamore, Platanus occidentalis, _

runs through Salina, Marion and Winfield, Kansas, and
Guthrie, Oklahoma. East of this line it is neither abun-
dant nor uncommon along streams, and within its natural
territory is sometimes used as a shade tree or for streets.
It seems to be well adapted to street-planting. The best
planted specimens I have seen are at Manhattan, Kansas,

where one tree in particular, standing by itself and having _

JANUARY 29, 1896.] =

a remarkably straight and symmetrical form, has always
met my warmest admiration.

The Hackberry is indigenous over as great a longitude
as almost any western tree, yet it has very seldom been
planted. I know of no plantings from which any judgment

of its value might be formed.
University of Vermont. Et A Waugh.

Water against Frost.

F course there is no way of protecting plants or crops
from injury when the temperature falls several de-
grees below the freezing point, but for light frosts the practice
of burning any material that will form a dense smoke has
been found useful in vineyards by forming a canopy over
the field, which prevents the escape of heat by radiation
from the ground. Protection by water is, however, more
practicable than protection by fire, and we condense the
following notes from an article by Professor Kedzie, of the
Michigan Agricultural College, which appeared originally
in the bulletin of the Michigan State Weather Service:

The vapor of water in the atmosphere may control excessive
changes of atmosphere in two ways: (1) By condensing into
water, it liberates enough heat to raise through one degree the
temperature of a thousand times the amount of water con-
densed, and hence it arrests the fall of temperature by giving
out heat. In this way the beneficent dew becomes a warming-
pan for chilling fields. (2) Vapor of water in the air as well as
clouds prevents the escape of heat by radiation from the soil,
and the consequent cooling of the air by night. But for the
vapor of water in the air we should have a frost every night in
the year. Professor Tyndall says that the removal for one
summer-night of the aqueous vapor which covers England
would bring about the destruction of every plant which a
freezing temperature could kill.

If the farmer is forewarned of the approach of a slow frost
he may do something to avert the calamity. The old plan of
a tub of water under a fruit-tree with a rope reaching from the
tub into the branches may serve a useful purpose. The
evaporation from the water in the tub and of the water carried
up through the rope may spread a water blanket about the
tree. Of course, such an appliance, while of some use in a
small garden, would be futile on the farm. The shallow cul-
tivation of hoed crops draws by capillary action upon the
reservoir of water in the subsoil and keeps the surface soil in
a condition which prevents the rapid distribution of soil
moisture, and in this way saves the fields from frost by a cov-
ering as impalpable as air, but as effectual as eider-down. One
night the Indian Corn in Michigan was almost entirely killed
by frost, but a few fields on the banks of rivers and the borders
of lakes were spared. In these fields the Corn-stalks next
morning were dripping with dew. There had been but one-
eighth of an inch of rain in two weeks, but evaporation from
river or lake had moistened the air and staved off the frost.
If the air over the whole state had been as moist as it was
along the rivers a heavy dew would have fallen everywhere,
and the corn crops would have been saved. Beds of Coleus
and other tender plants which have been thoroughly wet down
with cold water in the evening have escaped frost in October
when other plants near by were killed, and grapes have been
saved by drenching the vines with water. Strawberries and
Grapes in blossom may be saved in the same way if a good
supply of water and a sprinkling hose are available when there
is threatening frost. Even after severe frosts grapes have
been saved by thorough drenching with water early in the
morning.

Mr. E. P. Powell says that the best preventive against frost
is a thorough spraying with water during the evening and night.
By this means the danger from a fall of two or three degrees
can be averted, and this will often save a whole crop.

Foreign Correspondence.
The English Fruit Market.

NE of the leading salesmen of Covent Garden Market,

Mr. G. Munro, lately dealt with the subject of the
fruit-supply of England in a paper read before the Horti-
cultural Club. It is difficult to arrive at even an approxi-
mate estimate of the annual consumption of fruit in the
United Kingdom, but as the bulk of what is placed upon the
market passes through Covent Garden, Mr. Munro is ina

Garden and Forest.

43

position to gauge the supply with some approach to accu-
racy.

There are between seven and eight hundred porters
employed day and night in Covent Garden Market in un-
loading and delivering English produce, and one hundred
and fifty on the average employed on the foreign supply.
Many English growers, and not afew among the foreigners
who send fruit to England, find it advantageous to consign
their produce direct to large centres all over the country,
such as Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow and Edinburgh. Mr.
Munro stated that the English are becoming much larger
fruit-eaters than they were, the demand having increased
to such an extent that the principal growers find it more
profitable to become specialists. “The grower who sends
the largest quantity of a good article regularly, makes a
large connection for his goods, large consignments often
selling to better advantage than small ones, though the
quality of the latter may be equally good.”

Where the foreign grower competes with the English in
supplying the same kind of fruit he generally succeeds for
the following reasons: 1. He packs his fruit carefully and
honestly and never fails to grade it. 2. He grows only
sorts that are sure to sell, and in such quantities that he can
keep up a regular and continuous supply. This is shown
in regard to apples, which are rarely a profitable crop with
the English grower, notwithstanding the suitability of our
climate for this fruit and the fact that English apples are far
better in quality than any foreign. “I was in a large
wholesale store in Manchester this autumn where they had
English and American apples side by side, and on asking
the quantity of each sold I was informed about three thou-
sand bushels of American against one hundred bushels of
English, and simply because the packing of the latter could
not be depended upon.”

Apples are imported into England nearly all the year
round, commencing in April from Tasmania, followed by
supplies from France, Italy and Germany, and in winter
from the United States, Canada and Nova Scotia. American
apples are better in flavor than those from Tasmania, and,
as a rule, they sell at prices which would scarcely remune-
rate the English grower. Mr. Munro does not deal with
the question of cost in producing, nor yet with the relative
uncertainty of the seasons in England.

Pears are imported chiefly from France, Italy and Cali-
fornia, the latter arriving in excellent condition and being
of good flavor. About a thousand cases weekly of Cali-
fornian pears, chiefly Easter Beurré, arrive in December,
and about six times that quantity in September. Straw-
berries, currants and cherries are imported in enormous
quanties from France and Spain. Plums, such as the
Green Gage, are received from Italy, France and Germany
for a period extending over about three months before the
English crop is ripe, as many as ten to fifteen thousand
flats being often sold daily in Covent Garden alone. Thus,
the English consumer gets a surfeit of these fruits by the
time the home supply is ready.

Pineapples are received in shiploads from the Azores,
and although the prices they realize are much lower than
they used to be, the supply is steadily increasing. The
cost of producing pineapples in England is so great that
an English-grown pineapple is a novelty in the market.
Pineapples are also received from Aftica and Florida.

Bananas are sold in increasing quantities annually, the
quality of the fruit being superior to what it was before,
now that choice sorts are grown and greater care taken
in the transport. There are much better sorts known even
than the best of those grown by exporters now, and if only
growers will take trouble to secure these the demand for
this most delectable of fruits will increase greatly. The
ordinary banana of the fruiterer is mawkish and poor in
flavor compared with the fruit of such varieties as Ran-
Kela, Champa and Pisang Rastalei. Mr. Munro stated that
the bananas received in London and Liverpool in Novem-
ber last, from the Canary Islands alone, numbered nearly
thirty-seven thousand bunches.

44 Garden and Forest.

Peaches and nectarines grown in England, if of good
quality, find a ready sale, and suffer nothing from the com-
petition of foreign supplies, which are either of inferior
sorts, unripe, or too much damaged to find much favor.
Expert growers of these fruits contrive to maintain a supply
from April to November by cultivating a variety of sorts
under different temperatures. Mr. Munro says there were
often a thousand boxes of English-grown peaches and nec-
tarines disposed of daily last year in Covent Garden. I
have tasted here peaches from California which compared
favorably with the English-grown fruit.

Grapes are in greater demand than ever. Enormous
quantities are imported from the Cape, Spain, etc., yet cul-
tivators in this country find this fruit a profitable invest-
ment, the acreage of glass devoted to it being largely
mcreased every year. I am told that good grapes grown
under glass in England pay at one shilling per pound.
The varieties cultivated are chiefly Alicante, Black Hamburg
and Gros Colman. About one thousand tons of English-
grown grapes are now annually marketed in this country,
and nearly twice that quantity are received from the Chan-
nel Islands, where grape-culture has become a staple
industry. Even Belgium sends forced grapes to the English
market, about two hundred tons being received from that
country last year, a prohibitive duty practically closing the
Paris market to them.

Cucumbers at one time were largely imported from the
Continent, but now English growers supply the Continental
markets as well as their own. Mr. Munro estimates the
supply of this fruit from March to the end of July at about
fifty thousand per day.

The increase in the consumption of Tomatoes in England
within the last ten years has been phenomenal. ‘They
are a certain source of profit to the beginner with limited
capital, being easily grown and marketed and readily sold.
The quantity of house-grown fruit that passed through
Covent Garden Market alone from March to November is
estimated at two thousand tons, and this is probably only a
tithe of what is marketed throughout the country. I know
a market grower in the provinces who cannot sell apples
and pears at any price, while his tomatoes offered direct to
the same consumers sold readily at sixpence per pound,
the price asked for six pounds of apples. My friend pro-
poses to leave the supply of apples and pears to the
foreigners, and to devote himself entirely to tomatoes and

cucumbers.
London. W. Watson.

New or Little-known Plants.
Chrysanthemum, Mayflower.

HIS plant was raised in 1892 from seed of Fascina-
a tion by Mr. John N. May, of Summit, New Jersey,
and it was exhibited for the first time in the autumn
of 1893, but it received comparatively little notice on
account of the fact that it was rather too early for the
great exhibitions. It was distributed in the spring of 1894,
and at the autumn exhibitions that year it took prizes
wherever it was shown, while the flowers sent to market
by Mr. May brought higher prices than those of any other
variety. The plants had a remarkable sale last spring, and
in the autumn the flowers took the leading prizes in most
of the great cities of the United States wherever white varie-
ties were in competition. It is a first-rate flower for com-
mercial purposes, and ranked last year in our leading
markets as the best of its season. It is a sturdy grower,
with large handsome leaves and remarkably stout stems,
carrying erectly massive, though not coarse, blooms
of a pure white color and of firm texture. It has
the light and somewhat fluffy appearance of many
Japanese incurved varieties, and the florets are wavy-
twisted, the lower ones being reflexed (see fig. 5, page 45).
It was at its best this year during the last week of October
and a few days into November, though, with careful man-
agement, Mr. May thinks it can be carried well into the

[NUMBER 414.

middle of the latter month. Last year the largest flowers
measured eight to nine inches through and from twenty-
two to twenty-five inches over from the lower petals on
one side to the same point on the other.

Cultural Department.
Lily Blight.

Ap chs Lily blight, which has not troubled plants in this
locality to any extent for a number of years, was noticed
here last season on a good many species. It seems to attack
Lilium candidum first, and spreads from it on to the other
early sorts. I have noticed the blight on the fall growth of the
leaves of L. candidum, and have wondered if it did not winter
on these and spread in spring from them. It was noticed as
late as December, after cold weather had set in. Of course,
one’s opinions formed from a single year’s experience may
not be correct, but, from what I have seen, I am led to believe
that a timely and thorough application of the Bordeaux mix-
ture will overcome it to a great extent, if not entirely. I was
surprised to note that our native Lilies were among the first to
be troubled. L. Canadense, L. superbum and L. Philadelphi-
cum were troubled, but it did not apparently injure their bulbs.
It may be that, though the mixture was applied to these after
the disease had made considerable progress, it prevented its
descending to the bulbs. L. Humboldtii and L. croceum bulbs
seemed to suffer more than any others noticed. L. Parryi was
cut down by it, but the bulbs were left apparently sound. L.
giganteum and L. cordifolium both were injured. A bed of
the two or three varieties of L. speciosum, which had come
up very early and had been nipped by the late spring’s
frost, were cut back by the disease, while other lots of this
same Lily were not touched. The bulbs of L. speciosum
were not apparently injured, except that they did not make
any growth. The blight had made a good foothold before I
was prepared to apply the remedy, and on this account I
believe that if I had “taken it in season very little damage
would have been done. It had gone so far that the flower-

buds of L. Leichtlini began to droop and they seemed past .

help. I was surprised to see these recover after the first appli-
cation and develop good-sized blooms. A friend who had
been troubled with the disease, in another state, had advised
me to cut down at once all stalks that had been affected. I did
so with every plant of L. croceum, and they were injured in
the bulbs the most of any. I believeif [had not cut them down,
but had used the mixture on them, I would have saved all of
the bulbs. I noticed that some species could be entirely cut
to the ground with the blight and still no apparent damage
was sustained by their bulbs. Others, like L. Humboldtii and
L. croceum, would be affected.
been planted very late, the bulbs having been brought that
same year from Burma. As soon as these began to form
leaves of any size they were attacked by the blight. I applied
the remedy several times very thoroughly, and saved nearly
all. They gave very fine blooms and were the last Lilies to
flower, some buds opening after the leaves had frozen turning
dark.

I think the best time to apply the remedy is before it shows
itself, or immediately after. It will not do to wait long after
the first spots are noticed. The mixture should be applied in
a fine spray to the upper surface of the leaves and also to the
stalks, so as to.completely cover them. I found that the mix-
ture was more effectual when used soon after it was prepared.
To facilitate the application of the mixture I prefer to have my
Lilies in rows, two or three abreast, and the rows far enough
apart to admit a narrow cultivator. In beds it is almost impos-
sible to touch all of the leaves and stems in the centre of the
bed with the mixture. Of the Tiger Lilies, the variety called
Splendens seemed free, or nearly so, while both the common
Tiger Lily and the double Tiger Lily were affected.

The blight was noticed more orless on about every species
I had, but on some of them it was very light. I noticed that
L. Henryi seemed least affected, although it was near plants
of L. candidum. This species, if it will stand cold weather, is
one of the,surest to succeed. Young Lilies, too small to
bloom, were soon cut back. The blight seems to prefer their
more tender leaves. A lot of small L. Canadense cut back in
this way very early in the season were transplanted and the
bulbs seemed to be perfectly sound. Young bulbs of L. Wal-
lacei were affected, and when these were reset many had to be
discarded. These had been entirely killed down to the ground
before the mixture was applied.

A bed of L. Nepalense had —

Garden

JANUARY 29, 1896.]

Fig. 5 —Chrysanthemum, Mayflower.

The Lily blight is not new to this town. It was noticed here
by Pringle fully fifteen years ago. It seems to come and go
like the Potato blight, which it closely resembles in many
ways. A part of last season was quite favorable to the devel-
opment of both in this section.

Charlotte, Vt. . anal Horsford.

and Forest.

ee page 44.

Cultural Notes on Orchids.

HE close observer of this class of plants, whether a culti-
vator ora plant physiologist, cannot fail to remark that
there are certain periods of rest and activity that are well
marked by the plant itself. Sometimes these periods do ne
conform to our seasons, but, for the most part, the plants adapt

46 Garden and Forest.e

themselves to the changed conditions under which they
are placed, and respond to a rational system of treat-
ment. It often puzzles the grower to know what to do with
a plant that has apparently made its growth for the season
early in the fall months and then makes another start, the
later growth having to finish up during our winter months
under adverse conditions as to light and air, the two most
potent factors after warmth and moisture. This is frequently
the case with newly established plants which have not quite
adapted themselves to the changed seasons. Sometimes it
occurs in the case of well-grown plants that have been in a
collection, perhaps, for years. We have come to the conclu-
sion that to try and retard this tendency by keeping the
plants overdry at the roots is to cripple seriously latent
energies; to place them in a warmer temperature with
more moisture to encourage this growth results in throwing
the whole mechanism of the plant out of gear. We have
found it best to ignore the fact that anything abnormal is going
on and to let nature rectify its own error, if errorit be. Often
this seems to be merely a safety valve tor the escape of a
superabundance of vigor, for, excepting the newly established
plants, this peculiarity is confined to plants that are the most
robust.

European cultivators, to whom we have been indebted
hitherto for our works of reference on this subject, have laid
great stress on the ripening up of growths by withholding
moisture, but, aside from the fact that this system is not prac-
ticable here, owing to the greater amount of sun we get and
the much larger amount of artificial heat required to maintain
the proper temperature for the plants. All these conditions
tend to exhaust the store of moisture, which in the case of a
Cattleya bulb, whether old or new, averages over ninety per
cent. Aside from these facts, the most advanced cultivators
in Europe are beginning to see the fallacy of this system and
to teach a more rational treatment.

It is also easily seen by the interested student that there are
times when a plant is putting forth new efforts in the way of a
bunch of young live roots from the base of the last-made
growth. Often this is by way of fortifying itself for the crown-
ing effort of producing flowers, and sometimes of recuperation
afterward. In either case it will be found good practice to take
advantage of these signs and to give any encouragement pos-
sible, such as new material and a larger pot if this is deemed
necessary, remembering that decayed inert matter about
epiphytal Orchids is death to roots, whether young or old.
Care should be taken to remove every particle of decay by
directing a jet of water on the mass before placing in new
material. It would have been considered bad treatment by
the authors of the reference-books to repot a Cattleya at the
approach of the dull winter months, but it will be found here
in practice that any day of the year is a good time, provided
the plant shows signs of renewed activity at the roots, a sure
index that will never betray either the plant or the cultivator.

Cypripediunis are to be regarded more as terrestrial plants.
They will take water freely all the year, and may be repotted
at almost any time. This is a good time, as the roots are, for
the most part, dormant, or have but few growing tips, and
these are not so easily injured as the brittle white roots of the
epiphytes. Ifa Cypripedium holds tenaciously to the pot in
which it is, as is often the case with older plants of C. insigne
and its hybrids, it is well to soak the roots in water the
day before potting, and, if it is necessary, to break the pot to
liberate the roots. The broken parts will easily separate
when charged with moisture, and this is true of Cattleyas and
other genera. It is not economical to spare the pot when the
contents represent, possibly, as many dollars as the pot does
cents. For such Orchids as require a quantity of water at all
seasons it is safe to use sphagnum-moss liberally in the potting
material. Cypripediums and Odontoglossums belong to this
class. Dendrobiums, we find, do well in moss alone, for it
can be easily washed out each year and new living moss added,
but for Cattleyas we have for several years used no moss, and
only the best grade of Osmunda-root. The moss, we find,
only hastens the decay of the fibre, and when the latter is used
alone there is no danger from overwatering, and the compost
is well aérated at all times, a condition favorable to the devel-
opment of good live roots, apparently the basis of vigor and
success.

Much can be done to render the atmosphere agreeable to
the occupants of our plant houses besides the ordinary appli-
cations of moisture on the paths. An occasional damping
down with some liquid stimulant is desirable, and we have
found that a minute proportion.of sulphate of ammonia in the
water has a beneficial effect, giving a healthy green color to
the foliage. A quantity of Oak leaves brought in twice a year

[NuMBER 414.

and placed under the centre benches helps to give off ammonia.
These should be well treated with air-slacked lime to prevent
snails and other insects from coming forth, but Iam told that
the lime would help to impoverish the supply of carbonic acid
gas, and in this way not bea benefit, although liberating the
ammonia contained in the decaying leaves. Fresh air, as often
as available, is one of the chief essentials to keeping a healthy
atmosphere. This is not easy when the temperature is far
below the freezing point outdoors, but a system of ventilators
near the heating pipes makes it easy to warm the air as it
comes into the house. Even in hot weather this is the better
way to change the air in preference to opening wide the top
ventilators and letting out all of the carefully balanced mcis-
ture-laden atmosphere we have been at so much trouble to
prepare. Greenhouses are seldom constructed with openings
in the brick-work for ventilation, but this is most essential for
successful culture and should be more insisted upon than it is.
Water also that is taken from the supply-pipes direct is far too
cold in winter for spraying or watering. Here it averages
forty-five degrees in the winter months, and it is not well to
use it for spraying a house at from seventy to eighty degrees.
We have in part overcome this difficulty by placing on the
warmest flow-pipes a cylinder holding sixty gallons, and
taking the water from this to the warm houses. The water is
let in at the base of the cylinder and out at the top, and in this

way we secure a supply of tepid water adequate to our needs

at all times when fire heat is used.

White scale is the worst enemy the Orchid grower has to
contend with ; it comes on the plants as they are received from
the woods, and increases at a rapid rate, but a fine jet of water,
as from the Stott sprayer, will, if used with a good force, effec-
tually rid the plants of this pest, and without the least injury
to them.

In successful plant-culture it is the trifles that tell. Some-
times they are inappreciable to the cultivator himself and a
puzzle to others, but more often they are wholly at the will of
the careful student who avails himself of the signs given by
the plants themselves. Asystem that is haphazard is likely to

give results that correspond.
South Lancaster, Mass. E. O. Orpet.

Greenhouse Notes.

VCs the common practice of banking flowering and
foliage plants in the conservatory for effect may be agree-
able from one point of observation, and may be excused when
following architectural lines, it is more advisable generally to
show as much as possible the individual character of the
plants. Lately Ihave seen some very fine trained standard
plants effectively used in this way. One of these, Adhatoda
cydonicefolia, I found in the greenhouses belonging to Mrs,
Pauline Durant, of Wellesley. This elegant rafter-plant, allied
to the Justicias, and belonging to the Acanthacez, was intro-
duced from Brazil in 1855. It is naturally of straggling growth,
and in forming a standard one stout stem had been carried
upward six feet and attached to a strong support. From a
head made the branches diverged in all directions, arching
outward and downward, some of them reaching the ground,
forming a perfect pyramid. Nothing more beautiful than this
plant in flower can be imagined, with bunches of large labiate
pink-colored flowers borne on the tips of the branches. It is
an easy plant to grow, propagating freely from cuttings in an
ordinary propagating-bed, or they may be put in pots of half
light loam and sand and stood in a warm shady corner of the
greenhouse. Although usually recommended the treatment
accorded tropical plants, they will grow well out-of-doors in
summer, and will bloom quite freely in December in a green-
house of intermediate temperature.

Streptosolon Jamesoni is another plant which by careful
training can be grown into a handsome standard. It grows
rapidly when young, and training must begin as soon as the
plant is a few inches high, since it branches freely and would
soon be out of hand for training purposes. At Mr. H. H.
Hunnewell's place at Wellesley there is now a beautiful speci-
men in bloom, with a clear stem of about four feet, and above
this an unevenly globular head of the same diameter. Some
branches are longer than others, and some drooping, with just
enough variation in length to offset an otherwise formally
trimmed appearance. The flowers are borne in loose terminal
corymbs at the ends of the branches ; they are narrowly cam-
panulate, with an irregularly rotate limb of brilliant orange-
color. A second crop of flowers follows closely on the first,
from laterals developed while the first crop is open, and with
a little trimming away of dead flowers the plant remains fairly
effective during the remainder of the winter. The best results
are obtained by continuous pot-culture. Those we have

Pe Se ee ee ee ar

JANUARY 29, 1896.]

planted out have grown too rampantly, and have been with
difficulty established in pots when taken up in the autumn.

All who have seen Richardia Elliottiana are captivated by its
beauty. In habit it more nearly resembles R. albo-maculata,
and in the manner of its growth our common Ariszema, bloom-
ing in early summer and afterward going to rest. It increases
very slowly, the bulbs developing eyes only when two or three
years old, and these are with difficulty established when
removed. It is an expensive plant and likely to remain so
until some more successful way can be found of propagating
it. A silver medal was awarded Mr. Joseph Tailby, of Wel-
lesley, by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, before whom
he exhibited two years ago. The plant bloomed also about
the same time with Mr. Robinson, at Mrs. Ames’ gardens,
North Easton, Massachusetts. Both plants have borne seed.
Examination of the spadix of the common Calla shows the
male and female flowers distinctly divided. They are appar-
ently so in R. Elliottiana, but closer examination shows addi-
tional stamens scattered, or masses of anthers, which are
apparently sessile among the female flowers, and these are the
only ones in which the pollen is ripe at the same time as the
stigmas, all the upper staminate part of the spadix having
shed its pollen long before, as in the common Calla. This
would seem to bea natural provision for self-fertilization, and
accounts for the fecundity of the species, as the plants which
have borne seed must have been self-fertilizing, as only one
plant bloomed at one place at a time.

Mr. Tailby has tried pollenization with the “little green”
Calla, and also with the common Arisema. Seedlings, so far,
show only the characters of the female parents. I think it is
unlikely that so wide a cross should be productive of any other

result.
Wellesley, Mass. TL. D, Hatfield.

Correspondence.

John Brown's Grave.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—Every student of American history must be glad to
know that on the roth of January the Adirondack farm which
holds the grave of John Brown was transferred to the posses-
sion of the state of New York, to be kept in perpetuity as a
public park. And every one who has visited the farm itself
must rejoice that John Brown chanced to be buried in so
beautiful a place. Chance, however, is hardly the right word
to employ in this connection. It is well known that John
Brown was not born in this place, but chose it as his residence,
fixed upon the exact spot for his future grave and transported
from Connecticut to this spot the tombstone upon which the
names of some of his forefathers were cut.

This now historic farm lies within the limits of the village
called North Elba, in Essex County, about three miles from
the village of Lake Placid. But while the latter has become
a popular summer resort, with several large hotels, North
Elba is hardly more than a village in name. It contains only
a few houses, and one may easily drive through it without
suspecting that he has reached a place which claims a per-
sonal identity. Then, to reach the Brown farmhouse one must
turn southward from the highway and follow a narrow, wind-
ing and somewhat rising road through a thick tract of wood-
land for the space of, perhaps, half a mile. Suddenly the forest
ceases and one emerges upon a wide and beautiful plateau
largely surrounded by impenetrable-looking woods, beyond
which to the north are glimpses of stately mountains, while
toward the south the ground slopes away, affording a more
extended panorama of hills and far-off noble peaks.

Had this approach been carefully planned it could not have
been more beautiful or more dramatically impressive. Level
green areas as large as the one contained by the Brown farm
are rare in this elevated part of the mountain country, and
rarely are the painful signs of man’s forest depredations so
wholly shut out from view. It seems like a fertile, hidden
oasis in a land where tangled forests alternate with mournful,
fire-swept, barren tracts and with little farmsteads which seem
almost as unproductive and are almost as ugly. Within this
lovely circle of woods all looks luxuriant and complete, and all
is absolutely peaceful ; and in thecentre of it, close to the farm-
house, rises the singular, isolated, large-rounded bowlder
which John Brown selected as his tombstone.

Nothing is cut upon this bowlder, under the shadow of
which he now lies, except his name and the date of his death,
in plain large letters. Close to it stands the small old stone
which he brought from Connecticut. Blossoming Roses and

Garden and Forest.

47

other shrubs twine about them, and the little plot thus formed
is surrounded by a simple rustic paling. There is no attempt
at ‘‘art” and none at ornamentation, except such as Mother
Nature could contribute ; therefore the effect of the spot is as
beautiful as it is impressive, and it is to be hoped that, now it
has become a public possession, nothing will be done to
“improve” any part of the farm. It should remain as it is—
as John Brown saw it and as his family left it. The cottage
should be placed in charge of a guardian, of course, but no
gardener should be let loose upon the land; and, I think, if a
landscape-artist were asked for his advice he would decide
that nothing, or very little indeed, should be done to it.

The farm comprises 244 acres, and in the year 1870 was pur-
chased by a number of public-spirited persons in order that it
might be preserved from destruction. Miss Kate Field started
the subscription for this purpose, and has since been active in
urging the transfer of the place into official keeping. Since
1870 a fund has accumulated from the rental of the house and
land ; and, the newspapers of the moment assert, this fund is
to be used “in the erection of a monument on the farm to
John Brown’s memory.” Had I not read these words I should
not have been so strongly prompted to write about the place
just here and now. But just here and now it should be very
plainly said that no money could be expended in a worse way
than in building a monument of any possible kind in the beau-
tiful and characteristic spot which I have tried to describe. Its
charm, its individuality, its impressiveness, spring from its
purely and simply rural character. To build anything ambi-
tious in such a scene, in the vicinity of John Brown’s humble
little low-browed wooden house, would be an artistic sin of
the deepest dye. There would be no excuse forsuch an act
even if the grave were wholly unmarked. Were this the case,
only a stone of small size and of the simplest possible sort
should be erected. But John Brown already has a monument
which he selected himself, and which, in its simple appropri-
ateness to the character of the site and to the character of the
man himself, has a greater beauty, dignity and significance
than anything that mortal hands could make. No man in
America needs, near the place where his body lies, another
monument as little as does John Brown. If there is money
lying idle, and if it ought to be used to commemorate his name,
leta monument be built, but not on the Adirondack farm ;
anywhere else, but not within sight of John Brown’s grave.

New York City. M. G. Van Rensselaer.

Our Native Plants in Winter.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—The beauty and value of some of our native shrubs,
as regards their winter aspects, impressed me more strongly
than ever during a stroll along the banks of a stream and
through a forest one warm sunny afternoon in last December.
The ground was bare, save where it was carpeted with fallen
leaves, Hepaticas and evergreen Ferns. Here and there stood
groups of Sumach, Rhus glabra, making crimson spots in the
landscape. In cultivation this is a desirable shrub, for, though
its autumn effects are sufficient to command a place for it in
every garden, it is beautiful through the summer also. The
smooth glossy leaves show white beneath when upturned in
the breeze, and during the latter half of the season its effec-
tiveness is enhanced by the crimson cone-shaped fruit, which
is carried late into the winter and long after the leaves have
fallen.

The Barberry, too, Berberis vulgaris, thrives luxuriantly in
New England, where it is now well established as a wild shrub.
The abundance of this species growing beside the path, with
its bright scarlet berries, frost-bitten, it is true, but still clinging
to the spiny branches, lent a certain brightness and cheer to
the surrounding landscape which were fairly exhilarating.
Along the banks of the stream Choke Cherry bushes were
covered with dense tangles of Greenbriar, Smilax rotundifolius.
The prickly and vivid green stems were so closely interwoven
as toform an impenetrable screen even in winterafter the leaves
had fallen, and the blue-black bé@rries clustered against it
helped, by contrast, to make it ornamental. The Bitter-sweet,
Celastrus scandens, grew there, too, and of all the native
shrubby climbing plants none is more attractive when
the orange-colored pods open and disclose the bright scarlet
seeds.

We are fortunate in having plants that remain beautiful
when vegetation is taking its winter rest, and I wonder why
they are left outside in the planting of home-grounds, and
foreign shrubs introduced which are less beautitul, and often
useful for summer effects only. Date oe

Experiment Station, New Haven, Conn, WE. Britton.

48

Meetings of Societies.
Nebraska State Horticultural Society.

HE prevalent financial depression and seasons of

drought, instead of discouraging horticultural enter-
prise, has in Nebraska seemed to quicken it, and the
twenty-seventh annual meeting of the State Horticultural
Society was more largely attended and enthusiastic than
any of its predecessors. The deficiency in rainfall of the
last three years, not before equaled in severity for forty
years, has served to emphasize the importance of better
culture, so that every grower is on the alert to adopt the
best possible methods.

IRRIGATION.

Mr. Lute Wilcox, of Colorado, gave a practical talk on
methods of irrigation, illustrated by charts, which served to
make his statements very clear. To show the importance of
his subject he stated that Colorado has $100,000,000 invested in
its irrigation plants. The average grade of irrigation-canals is
two feet a mile. Sometimes it falls as low as eighteen inches,
and in case there is much silt in the water it may need to be
as much as three feet. The ditch-walker carries the key to the
public gate and governs the amount of water that each land-
owner can have, and laws are very stringent against any
attempt to steal it. From one-fourth to one-third of the water
is lost by evaporation, so that it is most important to carry the
water the least possible distance to the point where it is to be
applied. The furrows for distributing the water have a fall of
one inch in from 66 to too feet. In ordinary work these are
not closer than forty teet apart, and in some cases several hun-
dred feet. Grades in the land are overcome by means of
check-dams. Water must never be put on land unless there
is an opportunity to drain it away; otherwise the land will be-
come over-wet and worthless. The furrowsystem is the most
practical, and is especially adapted to fruit-culture. In orchard
work two furrows are generally used between each row of
trees, the furrows passing along under the tips of the branches,
What is known as a lath-funnelis inserted in the lateral to sup-
ply each space between rows. Thisis made by nailing four laths
together so as to leave an opening about one-half by one inch.
This supplies the water just about fast enough, so that it
requires little or no attention. A slowly running stream well
managed does best work, and with astream of this size the
ground will be sufficiently watered in from five to twenty
hours. This will not need to be repeated oftener than once in
three weeks. Rows for irrigation should not be over 300 feet
long. The furrows are made with a one-horse shovel-plow.
If water is applied to one side of the tree only it will cause the
tree to lean toward that side. To determine whether the land
needs water, take up a sample of the soil five or six inches
below the surface; if this will ball in the hand no water
should be applied. One thousand barrels. of water at each
application is sufficient for an acre. In young orchards it is
sometimes customary to run four furrows between each row
of trees instead of two. Cultivation is just as essential as irri-
gation, and can no more be dispensed with in irrigated than in
unirrigated sections. Special tools have been devised for
orchard cultivation which will pack the lower layers of soil
just as little as possible. The aim is always to get the water
to soak four or five feet into the soil. For this reason it is
important that the land should be thoroughly subsoiled before
planting unless the subsoil is so open as not to require it.
Water should never be applied to trees when in bloom. The
most important time to irrigate orchards is when the buds are
forming for the next year’s crop. In eastern Colorado this
occurs in August. No further watering is given until just as
the trees go into winter quarters, or just before the ground
freezes. This year the Colorado people are irrigating in
January. Water should never be allowed to come in contact
with the trunk of the trees, and for this reason the flooding
system is not well adapted to orchard work. The greatest
enemy to irrigation is the evaporation caused by the rays of
the sun. This entails much additional labor in the matter of
cultivation. It requires two men to irrigate and care for fifteen
acres of orchard during the season.

Subirrigation is too costly for any ordinary crops, and in
orchard work the roots are sure to fill up the tiles. A machine
is in use which makes and lays a continuous tile in position
beneath the ground at the least possible cost, but even then
the cost is $400 per acre. The equivalent of seven inches in
depth over the entire surface of the land is considered a satis-
factory amount to apply at one time in Colorado, and three

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 414.

applications usually suffice for the growing season. The water
used in winter is in addition to this. Potato growers, however,
are now coming to give nine or ten irrigations. If possible to
avoid it, no water is applied until the tubers begin to form,
but thereafter it is given every ten days. If is very injurious
to let Potatoes stand for two or three weeks and then apply
water again, as that induces a second growth.

In the discussion following this paper it was stated that one
million acres can be irrigated in Nebraska from canals now
under construction, and probably one million acres more from
canals proposed. The point was also made that with the
greater rainfall and diminished evaporation in Nebraska much
less water would be required for the same area than in
Colorado,

THE CONSERVATION OF SOIL MOISTURES,

Professor T. L. Lyon, of the State University, said that
this is a subject of paramount import west of the Missouri
River; it is estimated that fifty per cent. of the rainfall of the
eastern states is lost by running away on the surface and by
percolation, while in Nebraska only about ten per cent. is lost
in the same way. The primary cause of droughts in this
region is not insufficient rainfall, but excessive evaporation.
Nebraska soil contains a large proportion of silt and compara-
tively little clay. The finer the particles the closer they will
pack, hence the result is that the lower layers of our soil are
exceedingly compact. A loose soil will allow water to sink
into it much more rapidly, and will also retain this water much
better, than a compact soil. From these facts it is easy to see
the value of subsoiling as a means of retaining moisture. Its
value, however, depends upon the condition of the subsoil. It
is beneficial when the subsoil is compact, but may be useless
or even injurious when the subsoil is open and sandy. The
work should preferably be done in the tall rather than in the
spring,in order to retain to the fullest extent whatever mois-
ture falls during the winter and early spring months. Next in
importance to subsoiling should be ranked fall plowing, as this
accomplishes the same object, though in a less degree. Fail-
ing in this the earlier in the spring the work can be done the
better. Thorough and frequent cultivation during the sum-
mer is most important. The same qualities of soil which
make the subsoil compact also make it a good carrier of water
by means of capillarity. The layer of loose soil formed by
cultivation simply acts as a mulch or blanket to prevent evap-
oration. This point was illustrated by lighting two lamps,
in one of which the wick had been cut apart and a piece of
hemp sewed between to break up the capillarity. In this case
the blaze quickly died out. For the same reason it is advanta-
geous to plow stubble land as soon es the grain is off. This not
only aids in conserving moisture, but the land is then in better
condition to plow than later on.

SUNSHINE AND CLOUDINESS IN RELATION TO CROPS,

In a paper on this subject by Professor G. D. Swezey, of the
State University, it was stated that May is the cloudiest month
in Nebraska and September the clearest. Taking the length
of the day into consideration, it is found that the greatest
amount of sunshine is found in July, which in turn is followed
by August and September respectively. Not very much is
known regarding the intensity of sunlight here, but it is known
to be greater than in more humid regions. With normal rain-
fall the conditions for the growth of crops are almost ideal,
since the greatest amount of sunshine occurs when the crops
are ripening their fruits. The evaporation of this region is
excessive, however, and partly by reason of the large amount
and greater intensity of the sunlight.

STRAWBERRIES AND IRRIGATION,

This was the subject of a paper by Mr. J. W. Stevenson, who
uses windmills with one and a quarter inch pipe laid on the
surface of the ground, and finds the results very satisfactory.
Pieces of rubber hose prove useful for connecting the pipe.
This allows more freedom in laying pipes, and they can be
easily taken apart and carried by one man from place to place
as required. He thinks the windmill the cheapest power for
lifting water, but it is liable to fail in the time when most
needed, hence it is desirable to supplement the windmill with
steam or horse power if necessary. He finds it a simple mat-
ter by means of wires and proper adjustments to attach a
windmill to a pump in a well several hundred feet away. He
believes heartily in subsoiling, and uses a tree-digger for this
purpose, preferring it to the ordinary subsoil-plow. The land
should then be thoroughly saturated with water during the fall
or winter. When irrigating in warm weather it is necessary to
cultivate the following day in order to prevent the ground

JANUARY 29, 1896.]

from baking. No harm results from the direct application of
cold water as pumped from the ground, as he uses no reser-
voir and applies the water directly as pumped.

The Western New York Horticultural Society,—I.

OR fifty years fruit-growing has been one of the lead-
ing industries of western New York, and the annual
sessions of the Horticultural Society at Rochester are
largely devoted to orchards, vineyards and small fruits.
The long experience of the members of this society and
the efficiency of its officers make its gatherings the most
important convention of fruit growers held in this country.
The meeting of last week was no exception to the general
tule. More than five hundred members were registered
as present; the exhibition of fruits and of implements
designed to facilitate fruit-culture was large and varied,
and the addresses, as usual, had a genuine practical value.
The large hall was filled at every session, and well-known
horticulturists were present from Michigan, Ohio, Con-
necticut, Maine, Virginia, Canada and the Hudson River
Valley. Mr. W. C. Barry was elected president for the
next year; Wing R. Smith, of Syracuse, vice-president ;
S. D. Willard, of Geneva, second vice-president, and John
Hall, of Rochester, secretary and treasurer.

THE PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS.

President Barry, in speaking of the increased usefulness of
this society, took occasion to commend the professors of agri-
culture and horticulture in Cornell University and in the
experiment stations, who have helped materially not only by
their presence, but by carefully prepared papers, to make the
sessions of the society profitable. He also acknowledged the
debt which the fruit growers of the present owe to the pio-
neers who founded this society and who had sufficient enter-
prise to collect different fruit plants from abroad, and by
testing different varieties and experimenting in methods of
culture had left an invaluable body of experience. The dry
weather of the past year, which injured all crops, and espe-
cially small fruits, has impressed growers more than ever
with the necessity of providing for a permanent water-supply,
and it is generally felt that every care must be taken to save
the raintall. Underdraining, deep plowing, hillside reser-
voirs, wind-power, should all be tried, and every other
method of securing that moisture which is absolutely essen-
tial to the production of crops. In reference to the marketing
ot fruit, Mr. Barry considered ita mistake to sell and ship it at
the time of gathering. In many cases this is unavoidable,
because growers have no place to store their fruits and there-
fore dispose of them hastily and often unprofitably. Ordinary
farm buildings cannot be successfully used. It is advisable
on every fruit farm to havea structure, even if a temporary
one, which is suited for storing fruits. If these can be held
back for a month, or even a fortnight, until the rush to market
is over, good prices can usually be realized, and very often the
increase in price thus secured will, in one season, nearly or
quite pay for the building. This building may be of moderate
size at first, and can be enlarged as necessity requires. Well-
equipped houses for retarding the ripening of truits and for
cold storage are expensive, both to build and to maintain, but
in any section where fruit-growing is carried on largely a com-
pany can be formed and a building constructed for common
use, but for ordinary cold storage for single farms one can be
built at small cost, and when once used it will be considered
indispensable.

In regard to the fertilization of orchards, Dr. Van Slyke was
quoted to the effect that farm-yard manures need to be supple-
mented with fertilizers containing phosphoric acid and potash
to make a proper food for orchards. With every ton of
stable manure it is well to mix from fifty to one hundred
pounds of acid phosphate and from twenty to fifty pounds of
crude muriate or sulphate of potash. Unleached wood-ashes,
ground bone and potash salts are better than stable manure.
A peck or half a bushel of ashes to a bearing tree, with three
or four pounds of ground bone, is what is needed. Two
pounds of potash salts can be substituted for the ashes. When
unleached ashes of known purity can be bought at home they
are worth buying if they do not cost too much. But all the pot-
ash and phosphoricacid they contain can be had much cheaper
than by paying $10.00 a ton for ashes, Muriate of potash and
bone meal cost two and a half cents a pound, and 150 pounds
of it will furnish as much phosphoric acid as a ton of ashes,

Garden and Forest.

49

and both together will not cost half as much as ashes ordi-
narily do. Mineral manures can be handled quickly and
at little expense. In short, few people realize how much it
costs to distribute such a bulky fertilizer as barn-yard manure.
Orchards which have outlived their usefulness should be cut
up into firewood and not allowed to occupy valuable ground
and breed destructive fungi and insects. In their place new
orchards should be planted on ground perfectly prepared and
well planted with a proper selection of trees. We have
now remedies and preventives which enable us to keep in
check insects or diseases which threatened the destruction of
orchards and vineyards a few years ago. Spraying has be-
come almost as common as cultivation, and we should test
every new help, even to the importation of natural parasites
to help us in our war against insects. ;

Among the members of the society who have died during
the year, and to whom Mr. Barry paid special tribute, were the
venerable John J. Thomas, first president of the society, who
died in his eighty-fifth year—a modest, capable man anda
trusted authority, eminent in the practice and in the literature
of the art of horticulture ; Charles E. Cook, one of the largest
fruit growers in the region of western New York and the in-
ventor of a fruit-gatherer which is widely used; the brothers
Moulsen, old nurserymen, of Rochester, both of whom had
passed their fourscore years ; the brothers Thomas and Edwin
Smith, of Geneva, who for forty years have been eminent as
nurserymen and fruit farmers, and Ethel C. Sherman, who had
been tor many years secretary of the Horticultural Society of
Wyoming County.

THE COST OF A POUND OF GRAPES.

Mr. John W. Spencer, in speaking on this question, said, in
part :

The Chautauqua grape belt, in the Lake Erie valley, is about
fifty miles long, hemmed in on the south side by a ridge of
precipitous hills, and the breadth of the valley available for
fruit-culture varies from three to five miles. “Through the
centre of the valley runs a zone of gravel once the beach of
the lake when it discharged into the Mississippi Valley through
the gap where Chicago now stands. Between this beach-level
and the present shore of the lake there is a belt of clay, and
on the hillside a zone of glacial till. The gravelly land was
once the highest-priced and bore better crops of grain, the clay
was the best grass land and the hillside was a sheep pasture
covered with mulleins and briars. At first the gravel was
thought the most eligible for grapes, but now vineyards are
found on the clay and the glacial dritt, on which latter place
the grapes are as good in quality and sometimes yield as
much in quantity. The cost of the various processes in culti-
vation, such as cutting the curls, stripping brush from the
wires, stretching wires, tying, tillage, etc., from spring up till
the time of harvest, is about $9.00 an acre. How mucha nine-
pound basket costs depends on the manand his soil. In vine-
yards where there are no missing vines, and all are thrifty and
even, an acre will yield a thousand baskets, and often twelve
hundred, but the average grape grower of the region does well
if he gets five hundred baskets, and the careless vine dresser
gets all he deserves if he has two hundred and fifty. With five
hundred baskets to the acre each one will cost one and eight-
tenths cents. But this nine dollars which has been expended
since early spring does not take the grapes to the freight-car,
and, indeed, it pays tor only one-quarter of the journey. The
cost of baskets, handling, picking, packing, attendance in
various ways and hauling is yet to be met, so that harvesting
the grapes cost $27.00 more an acre, making a total of $36.00.
In 1894 grapes were 113¢ cents a basket at the car door, or
$58.75 an acre, which lett $22.75 of profit. Out of this must be
taken the taxes, interest, wear of implements, posts, crates
and sometimes fertilizers, which, of course, vary in individual
instances.

Fruit-growing is every year becoming more and morea profes-
sion which combines skill and science, and the man who is
best paid is he who raises the most difficult products. Fifty
men are competent to produce crops where there is one com-
petent toraise mushrooms, but mushrooms bring fifty times
as much a pound as grapes. The exceptionally skilled horti-
culturist can find a better business than growing grapes. The
man who raises five hundred baskets to the acre pays twice as
much for cultivating the same product as the man who raises
a thousand, but thedifference is only $9.00 an acre. Superior
skill only tells in raising acrop. Large yields do not cheapen
the cost of harvesting and transporting. Superior fruit does
not bring superior prices under coéperative selling, as is done
in Chautauqua. The straggling bunches of the careless manare
dumped into the same cars with those of the mostskilled grow-

50

ers, the car-load is sold as a whole, and the pay is made
pro rata according to the number of baskets, so that coépera-
tive shipping has disadvantages as well as advantages, and it
is the skilled grower who suffers—that is, he does not reap the
full reward of his superior knowledge.

Notes.

Since October Ist, 792,431 barrels of domestic potatoes have
been offered in the markets of this city, 296,031 barrels in
excess of the supply a yearago. During the past week there
were received 30,934 barrels of the home crop, besides small
shipments from Europe, Bermuda and the West Indies.

The first Florida strawberries of the season may be had at
$1.00 to $1.25 for a quart box. The only Tangerine oranges
now available are tiny specimens from California, and these
cost the excessive sum of $10.00 a box, wholesale. The few
Mandarins offered are from Italy, and thirty-four half-boxes
of this fruit from Sorrento, landed on Monday, sold for $5.50
on the dock.

Another part of the important //ora of Nebraska, edited by
members of the Botanical Seminary of the University of
Nebraska, already noticed in these pages, has been issued.
It is part 21 of the whole work, and is devoted to the Rosales,
the author being Mr. Axel Rydberg. In this group are treated
Rosacez, Czesalpiniaceze, Mimosacee and Papilionacee, these
three families being formed from the Leguminosz as limited
by Bentham, the Saxifragaceze, Crassulacew, Hamamelidaceee
and Grossulariaceze. The editorial committee of this impor-
tant work, Professor Charles E. Bessey, Roscoe Pound and F.
E. Clements, announce that part 8, devoted to the Fungi Im-
perfecti, is approaching completion.

Formerly Cuban and domestic cigar boxes were all made
from the wood of the Spanish Cedar, a species of West Indian
Cedrella, but now the demand for boxes to hold cheap domes-
tic cigars is so great in this country that other woods, stained
to resemble Spanish Cedar, are largely used for the purpose.
The wood of the Tulip Poplar, Liriodendron, is considered
the best of the North American woods for this purpose, al-
though chestnut, butternut, elm, basswood and cottonwood
have been tried. Cigar boxes are also now very largely made
in the United States with veneers of Spanish Cedar cut in thick-
nesses of from eighty to one hundred and twenty sheets to
one inch and mounted on cheap American woods like cotton-
wood or basswood.

A report of the importations of bananas into the United
States during 1895, issued by Bennett, Walsh & Co., of this
city, shows that 186 cargoes of this fruit have been landed.
Jamaica furnished more than any other country, 4,108,620
bunches coming from that island. Bocas del Toro, a port of
the United States of Colombia, and Bluefields, each sent out
more than 2,000,000 bunches, and a like total came from
Belize, Livingston and Honduras, and also from Banes and
Cabanes, with nearly as many from Port Limon. These, with
importations from minor ports, amount to 16,720,127 bunches.
Of this grand total 5,088,119 bunches arrived in New Orleans,
4,548,572 in New York; Mobile comes third with 2,449,618, fol-
lowed by Philadelphia with 2,026,780, Boston 1,637,802, Balti-
more with less than a million, and Charleston with only 41,000
bunches.

Well-blanched celery from California sells at $1.10 for a
bunch of a dozen stalks; that from Rochester brings $1.00 a
dozen, and, while less white and showy, is considered of higher
quality. Small heads of cauliflower from California cost thirty
to sixty cents each, and larger heads from France bring sev-
enty-five cents. Brussels sprouts from the latter country sell
for twenty-five cents a pound, and artichokes for the same price
each. New string beans, beets and egg-plants come from
Florida, besides tomatoes. The latter sell for twenty cents a
pound, the price, also, of California tomatoes, the hot-house
product, bringing thirty-five cents. Peppers, from Cuba, cost
forty cents adozen, Other vegetables now in season in our mar-
kets are celeriac, new leeks and onions, Spanish onions, sweet
potatoes, Savoy and Danish cabbage, the green Hubbard and
yellow squashes. Tender blades of sorrel and dandelion,
grown under glass on Long Island, are in considerable de-
mand, and sell, respectively, for fifteen and twenty-five cents
a quart.

Currants are grown successfully at the Geneva Experiment

Station on a southern slope with soil of rather a heavy clayey
loam and a clay subsoil. This is well drained by lines of tiles

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 414.

two rods apart. The bushes are set four feet apart in the rows,
and the rows are from six to seven feet apart. A forkful or two
of stable manure is thrown around each bush in autumn and
turned under, but not deeply, in spring. The ground is culti-
vated two or three inches deep near the plants, and rather
deeper midway of the rows at the first cultivation, after which,
by shallow tillage, the surface is kept stirred and free from
weeds until August. In fall the five-year-old canes are cut
away with the broken branches with all those that droop to the
ground, and all but one or two new shoots of one season’s
growth. No unvarying rule can be followed in pruning, but it
is thought that generally a cane reaches its greatest produc-
tiveness during its fourth or fifth season. If a cane still
appears vigorous after its fifth year’s growth and well filled
with buds it is allowed to remain longer. Under this treat-
ment the bushes make enough wood and yield abundantly.

The council of the New Mexico Agricultural Experiment
Station has passed a series of resolutions which have been
sent to the stations of the different states, relating to the injury
done by the introduction of scale and other insects from the
West Indies and Central America into the southern states.
After setting forth the fact that some of these insects may live
over a large portion of this continent, as does the West Indian
Diaspis Amygdali, which is now attacking Peach-trees as far
north as Washington, and that experience in California has
proved it possible to prevent by inspection the introduction of
many pernicious insects, it is recommended that quarantine
officers be appointed by the agricultural experiment stations of
the several states, and paid out of the funds of these states, to
be stationed at Key West, Mobile, New Orleans, Galveston and
other ports, to examine plants introduced, to destroy those
found infested and to issue a certificate for those which have
been passed. It is also recommended thata skilled entomolo-
gist be appointed by the Department of Agriculture to travel
in Mexico, Central America and the West Indies, make collec-
tions of injurious insects, investigate their habits and transmit
his collection, with report, to the National Museum.

A writer in the Scottish Geographical Magazine, speaking
of Formosa, states that the clearing of the forests of Camphor-
trees there is going on at a very rapid rate. Many of the trees
are cut up for making camphor ; others are sawn into planks
and knees for the building of boats. For over thirty years
there has been a constant demand for camphor, and yet the
Chinese Government has done nothing to prevent the reckless
waste of these forests, and has taken no steps for the replanting
of the tracts which are useless for cultivation. It is said that in
the mountains of the interior Camphor-trees are still abundant,
and there is no immediate fear that the supply will run short ;
but the increased demand for camphor in these days of smoke-
less powder will hasten the destruction of the trees, and it is
therefore to be hoped that under the administration of the
Japanese Government, which as a result of the war with China
has come into possession of this territory, care will be taken
to insure a future supply by planting these waste lands. The
trees grow very rapidly and reach a height of forty feet in
twenty years, and probably trees which are fifty years old will
be large enough for all the ordinary purposes to which the
timber is applied. To secure the camphor, distilleries of mud
bricks some ten or twelve feet long, six feet wide and four
feet high, are built on the hillsides, with five to ten fire-holes a
foot apartand the same distance above the ground in each.
An earthen pot full of water is placed over each fire-hole, and
above it a tube a foot in diameter passes through the structure
appearing above it, The tube is capped by a large inverted
jar with a packing of damp hemp between the jar and the
cylindrical tube, which is filled with chips of wood, about the
size of the little finger, resting on the perforated lid covering
the jar of water, so that when the steam rises it passes up to
the inverted jar or condenser, absorbing the resinous material
from the wood on its way. While the distillation is going on
an essential oil is produced and is found mixed with the water
on the inside of the jar. When the jar is removed the beady
drops solidify, and crude camphor, crystallized like newly
formed snow, is detached by the hand, placed in baskets lined
with Plantain leaves and sent away to the nearest town for sale.

Publisher’s Note.

A portion of the issue of GARDEN AND FOREST last week was
printed on paper of a different color from that ordinarily used.
Subscribers who return such copies will be furnished with
others printed on our regular paper.

FEBRUARY 5, 1896. |

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrick: Trisung Buitpinc, New York,
Professor C. S. SARGENT.

Conductediby! ccs) = we 6 ee

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1896.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

EDITORIAL ARTICLE —Plane-lrees, (With figure.).. 2 .cccccssncsces coocssence =e 51
Forest Lands in Massachusetts.........-.ee00-+ + ih C.S. Plumb. 52
ForEIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter............. ----.W. Watson. 52
CuLturaL DEPARTMENT :—Hybridizing Nymphieas. tee ee neces eeeee G. W. Oliver. 53

OrchiGPNotes tietsisttons afs:es seis sieicie,eleiancaie clnjere siajelsimiais's
Forcing Hybrid Perpetual Roses ..-.++ -- William Scott. 55
Garnation NOteS: cass ssicicavelectses sees: + o.scesieu cacwadececcie W. N. Craig. 55
CorRESPONDENCE :—California Oranges 8 and the Frost........... Wm. M. Tisdale. 56
Notes from Southern California.. CoCo ae LEdmund D. Sturtevant. 57
Tericatlontinelorticn turesecespese seen uicss siecle esarsicces A.M, Engle. 57

-R. Cameron. 54

MEETINGs oF SocieTIEs :—Nebraska State Horticultural Society.—II aoe 58
The Western New York Hor’ eeu pecieie ins einen ee
American Forestry Association.. + 50

NOTES..... ..-- 60

IntustratioN :—The Western Plane, Platanus occidentalis, 55

Plane Trees.

TONG before Xerxes encircled the Plane-tree of Lycia

with a band of gold to mark his admiration for its
beauty the peoples of the east venerated these trees for
their massive trunks and wide umbrageous crowns of beau-
tiful and cheerful foliage. The Persians, and after them the
Greeks, formed their groves and shaded their dwellings
with Plane-trees, which were the first shade-trees planted
by the inhabitants of the valleys of north-western India.
The Romans, who shared with the Greeks their admiration
for the Plane-tree, carried it to Europe and planted it in all
the southern countries which they overran. This Plane-
tree of the east is Platanus orientalis, and its native land
extends from the Grecian islands and peninsula to Afghan-
istan and Cashmere. The Oriental Plane is one of the
noblest of trees, and fabulous stories are told of the great
age, the enormous trunks and the far-spreading branches of
some old specimens. Such stories are, perhaps, somewhat
exaggerated, although large Plane-trees still exist in eastern
Europe. A portrait of one of these old trees, now standing
in the court of the Janissaries in the old Seraglio, in Con-
stantinople, was published in our third volume, and gives
an idea of the size this tree attains and the massiveness it
preserves, even in very old age. The Oriental Plane is still
the favorite shade-tree of southern Europe, where for two
centuries, at least, it has been planted in the streets and
squares of modern cities. Itwas brought to this country
not very long ago, probably, and thrives in all the middle
states, where it has proved itself an excellent street-tree ;
and it supports even the climate of New England.

In the flora of the Old World there is a single member
of the genus Platanus, or Plane-tree, and North America
now contains the others, only four or five in number,
although the genus was once more widely distributed and
richer in species, and during the tertiary period of the
world’s existence grew in Greenland and Arctic America,
and then spreading southward inhabited central Europe
and midcontinental North America, regions where no Plane-
trees now occur. The entire absence of these trees from
the flora of,eastern Asia is an anomaly in plant geography

Garden and Forest.

51

which is not easy to explain, for tertiary plants of circum-
polar distribution which have survived to the present time,
like Platanus, are generally found in the existing floras of
eastern America and eastern Asia, and it is exceptional to
find one of these genera represented only in North America
and Europe.

There are strong points of resemblance in all the trees of
this genus ; the structure of their flowers and fruits is prac-
tically identical ; they all grow toa very large size, with
enormous stems covered below with dark scaly bark, and
above and on the branches with smooth, thin, light gray
or greenish bark separating easily in great thin scales,
which, in falling, expose large irregular surfaces of the pale
yellow, whitish or greenish inner bark ; they all produce the
same peculiar leaf-buds enclosed in summer in cavities of
the enlarged bases of the leaf-stalks, and their lobed leaves
are all of "ample size and of the same color and texture ; the
wood of all the Plane-trees is hard, heavy, light red- brown,
and contains broad and very conspicuous medullary rays,
which make it attractive as a furniture wood and. for the
interior finish of houses ; and it is only by the shape of the
leaves and by the amount and character of the pubescence
which clothes their lower surface that the different species
can be distinguished.

Of the Plane-trees of the New World three species grow
within the territory of the United States and two exclu-
sively in Mexico. Of the Mexican species one is a little-
known and rather problematical tree of the south; the
other, Populus Mexicana, inhabits Nuovo Leon and the
states to the south of it. This tree is frequently planted in
the plazas of the cities of north-eastern Mexico, and is
perhaps the handsomest of all Plane-trees, the under sur-
face of the mature leaves being clothed with a thick coat
of snowy-white tomentum which, as they flutter in the
wind, makes a beautiful contrast with the dark, rich green
of their upper surface. This tree, although it has been long
known to botanists, seems to have escaped the attention of
the horticulturists of southern Europe, where it may be
expected to flourish and become an ornamental tr ee of the
first class.

Of the species of the United States the most widely dis-
tributed, the largest and the best-known is Platanus occi-
dentalis of the east. Although not the tallest deciduous-
leaved tree of the United States, perhaps, it is the most
massive of them all, and the largest tree which grows on
the continent east of the California Sierra Nevada. On the
rich bottom-lands of the basin of the lower Ohio River the
Plane-tree sometimes attains the height of one hundred
and seventy feet, and forms a trunk ten or eleven feet in
diameter above its much-swollen base. Trunks of this
size are usually hollow from old age, and such great trees,
which were common when the Mississippi Valley was first
settled by white men, are now rare; and each year sees
their numbers decrease. In the second volume of this
journal the portraits of two of these trees growing on the
bottoms near the junction of the White River with the
Wabash were published, and on page 55 of the present
issue will be found that of another tree in the same region
made from a photograph for which we are indebted to
Dr. Jacob Schneck, of Mount Carmel, Illinois, the centre
of the richest and one of the most interesting tree regions
of this country.

Platanus occidentalis is one of the common inhabitants
of the borders of streams and lakes and of rich bottom-
lands, and is distributed from southern Maine to the north-
ern shores of Lake Ontario and to eastern Nebraska, and
southward to Florida and western Texas. It is occasion-
ally cultivated in the eastern states and in Europe, although
as a planted tree it is much less common than the Old
World Plane, which is a more desirable street and park
tree here, as our native species suffers more seriously from
a fungus which every spring destroys the young leaves in
the seaboard states, causing them to turn brown and
wither, as if the trees had been scorched by fire. This pest
is so serious that the trees are often stunted and deformed

52

in their efforts to produce new crops of leaves to replace
those killed by the fungus, and the planting of the western
Plane cannot be recommended. The wood of this tree is
now used in very large quantities in the United States in
making furniture and in finishing houses. Formerly it was
almost the only material used in the manufacture of the
boxes made for packing tobacco, but the demand for wood
for this purpose has become so great that that of other
trees is now often substituted for plane-wood in the manu-
facture of tobacco cases.

The second of the North American Plane-trees, Platanus
racemosa, inhabits the banks of streams in California,
where it is distributed from the valley of the lower Sacra-
mento Riversouthward through the interior valleys and coast
ranges of the state, and finds its most southern home on San
Pedro Martir, a high mountain half-way down the penin-
sula of LowerCalifornia, where several other California trees
have retained a foothold. It is one of the largest and most
beautiful of the deciduous-leaved trees of California, and is
very common on river-banks in the neighborhood of the
coast from Monterey to San Diego, growing often to the
height of more than a hundred feet and forming a trunk
eight or nine feet through and sometimes erect and free of
branches for half its height, but more often divided near
the ground into several secondary stems which are erect or
inclining, or often prostrate, for twenty or thirty feet at the
base, and then turn upward toward the sky.

The third species of the United States, Platanus Wrightii,
bears the name of the indefatigable botanical collector,
Charles Wright, who discovered it nearly fifty years ago in
southern Arizona when he was connected with the survey
undertaken to establish the boundary between the United
States and Mexico. It inhabits the banks of streams in the
cafions of the mountain ranges which stretch along our
south-western boundary from the Rio Grande to the Colo-
rado, and, like most of the trees of these mountains, belongs
to the flora of northern Mexico rather than to that of the
United States. As it appears in the sombre cafions of these
sun-baked mountains Platanus Wrightii, which frequently
attains the height of eighty feet and makes a trunk four or
five feet through, is a splendid object, rising high above
the Walnuts, Willows and Alders with which it grows, and
spreading far its great limbs, clothed in pale sea-green bark.
From other Plane-trees it differs in this coloring of the juve-
nile bark and in the shape of the leaves, which are divided
by narrow sinuses, sometimes nearly to the centre, into
from three to seven, but usually into five, elongated, acute
lobes, and are often deeply cordate by the downward pro-
jection of the two lower lobes. The Arizona Plane-tree is
the largest deciduous-leaved tree in the mountain forests of
the south-west and one of the most distinct and beautiful
trees of the genus.

Forest Lands in Massachusetts.

HE town of Washington, Massachusetts, is located
at the highest point on the Boston and Albany Rail-
road. About Washington, as a centre, a large area of land
is given up to second-growth timber, and a view from the
top of one of the higher summits of the mountain range
extending north or south from the railway will disclose a
large territory growing up to forests. Last summer I made
a carriage-drive over a considerable section of Berkshire
County, where this timber-land could be readily seen.
Numerous observations were also taken from high points
not ordinarily visited. Among these was Becket Mountain,
2,194 feet above the sea-level, from which a view is secured
extending from the Catskills on the west to the Holyoke
range on the east.

A person unfamiliar with this region would be surprised
at the amount of land now occupied by growing timber.
Leaving out of consideration the immediate vicinity of the
towns, and a few rural homes about Lenox and Stock-
bridge, clearings are the exceptions, and not the rule.
Driving east or south from Lee extensive forest tracts are

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 415.

found. The country is rapidly becoming reforested. These
lands have a very low valuation. During the past year
Pittsfield and New York parties have been purchasing
extensively in Washington, so that already it is claimed
that one syndicate controls some 5,000 or more acres, for
which four dollars an acre have been paid. This land, it
is understood, is to be fenced, and, rumor has it, will be
kept as a game preserve. The people occupying this
region, so far as I have been able to learn, have no faith
in the future prospects of the forests as a source of revenue.
Hardwood, delivered, brings three dollars a cord in the
local market, and this price hardly pays the hauling over
poor roads. The supply of saw-logs is quite limited; tan
bark is comparatively scarce, and the railroads get their
ties cheaper elsewhere. The country is now rapidly grow-
ing up to forests more extensively than ever in recent
years.

Nevertheless, I believe that the timber resources of these
New England hills will have a significant value in the
future. The sources of timber-supply of the country are
becoming more and more restricted. Michigan, Minnesota
and Wisconsin no longer have extensive areas of tim-
ber. The big timber-fields adjacent to the good ship-
ping points are becoming scarce. In Massachusetts and
New England are many small forests twenty to thirty
years old that are producing promising crops of timber for
the future. Within ten or twenty years they will begin to
yield a revenue from timber-supply, without taking cord-
wood into account, and such lands as these ought to be
safe investments for the farmer and for the future.

And this suggests a field for investigation for the agricul-
tural colleges in the several New England states. As an
example, would it not be desirable and appropriate for the
Massachusetts Agricultural College to secure a block of,
say, one hundred or more acres of cheap land in second-
growth timber, and use it as a permanent field for syste-
matic forestry?) Many problems of a practical nature could
here be investigated that cannot be considered on the high-
priced land where the college stands. Here could be
maintained a summer school of forestry, where, for two or
three months, students might repair to study under condi-
tions at present unavailable in New England, if not in the
United States. The summer school is now accomplishing
work in many directions, but the first summer school in
forestry is yet to be created.

A block of such timber-land might be made a great source
of instruction and benefit to the farmers of Massachusetts,
andthe practicability oftimber-culture in the state could have
a fair trial. The farmer needs to be educated as to the pos-
sibilities of these rough hills for forest purposes. He has
neither the time nor the money nor the training which
would enable him to make these investigations for himself,
and the state can well afford to help him and set the exam-
ple if this will encourage the study and practice of scientific
forestry by the people.

In the mean time the timber reserves of the state are
growing, and some day their value as a source of income

will become manifest.
Lafayette, Ind. C. S. Plumb.

Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.

New Orcuips.—The productions of the hybridist are the
only noteworthy recent additions to garden Orchids, and
there are only few of these that call for special mention.
Cypripedium Miss M. Ames, a hybrid between C. Curtisii
and C. concolor, raised by Messrs. F. Sander & Co., is
remarkable in form and in the yellowish green wax-like
flowers tinged with rose. The pouch is pinched laterally,
as in C. concolor. Another Sanderian hybrid, named Said
Lloyd, raised from C. Godefroyae and C. venustum, has
yellow and pale brown flowers, heavily blotched with
chocolate-brown; is sufficiently distinct to find favor with

FEBRUARY 5, 1896.]

collectors of hybrid Cypripediums. Another hybrid addi-
tion to this genus is a cross between C. callosum and C.
Druryi, raised at St. Albans and named A.R. Smith. It has
large yellow and dull brown flowers, which are not as
attractive as the characters of the parents would lead one
to expect. Oncidium Wheatleyanum, although not new, is
a rare plant in English collections. It was shown in flower
this week by Sir Trevor Lawrence. I should call it a form
of O. varicosum, with a large blotch of red-brown at the
base of the deeply lobed labellum.

Denpropium Jounson®.—A well-flowered example of this
Australian Dendrobe was among the plants exhibited at the
Drill Hall this week by Messrs. F. Sander & Co. It is a
distinct species, but disappointing horticulturally, the seg-

_ments of the flowers being too narrow and the pose of the
inflorescence wanting that grace and fullness which charac-
terize the pick of the Australian members of this genus.
The flowers are smaller than those shown in published fig-
ures of this species.

Vanna CuHarvLeswortsHit.—Baron Schroeder exhibited a
plant of this rare Vanda last Tuesday. It is supposed to
be a natural hybrid between V. coerulea and V. Bensoni,
and was described by Mr. Rolfe in Zhe Orchid Review last
year, page 323. The flowers are two and a half inches
across, nearly white, veined and marbled with rose-purple,
the sepals and petals resembling those of V. ccerulea in
texture and form, while the lip is like that of V. Bensoni.
The leaves are narrower than those of V. ccerulea and the
scapes are erect, the plant exhibited having two scapes,
with an aggregate of seven flowers.

Cypripeptum Masterstanum.—This hitherto rare species
was imported probably from Borneo to Kew nearly twenty
years ago, and was described by Reichenbach in 1879 from
materials supplied by Messrs. Veitch & Sons, and named in
compliment to Dr. Masters, F.R.S., the distinguished editor
of The Gardeners’ Chronicle. It has broad leaves about a
footlong,deep green with paler tessellations, and erect scapes
fifteen inches high, each bearing a large flower, probably
the largest in the genus. The dorsal sepal is orbicular,
bright green, with a broad margin of white and a fringed
edge; the petals are horizontal, spathulate, nearly two
inches long, dull red, with black-purple warts near the base
and along the upper margin ; the pouch is very large and
inflated and is colored reddish brown, shaded with green and

' spotted with purple. Messrs. Sander & Co. have succeeded
in rediscovering and importing a large quantity of plants
of this species and offered 5,000 plants of it for sale by auc-
tion recently. The plants were in excellent condition and
realized fair prices.

PrimuLa Sinensis.—A special feature of the last meeting
of the Royal Horticultural Society was a large collection of
the forms of Primula Sinensis, exhibited by Messrs. H.
Cannell & Sons, Swanley, who have long held a foremost
place among the trade growers and breeders of this useful
winter-flowering greenhouse plant. Seven large houses
are filled with it in all its best forms, about ten thousand
plants being grown annually for seeds. The best white
variety is one called White Perfection, which has short-
stalked large heads of flowers, each one and a half inches
across, conspicuously imbricated, the segments wavy and
crisp-edged. Equally beautiful and large in flower is a
carmine-pink variety called Cannell’s Pink. These two
varieties come true from seed and are very floriferous.
They have, however, one fault, from a purely decorative
point of view, a fault common to nearly all the improved
strains of this Primula—namely, the flower-stalks are too
short, and, consequently, the plants have a squat, stubby
look even at their best. Messrs. Cannell are, however,
alive to this defect, and for several years now they have
aimed at producing a race with looser, tallertrusses. They
have made considerable progress in this direction, their
Pyramidalis strain, bred from a loose, tall-stalked variety
known as White Lady, crossed with the short-stalked, large-
flowered forms, being a decided improvement. Twenty
years ago long-stalked Primulas were discarded as weedy

Garden and Forest.

53

and lacking finish, but Messrs. Cannell were fortunate in
securing this White Lady variety, which had been kept for
years in the famous garden of Sir George Macleay, at
Pendell Court, and with its aid they are rectifying the mis-
takes, or, at any rate, are going back to strains ignored or
repudiated by recent breeders. These fine varieties come
true from seeds, a remarkable fact, but one about which
there can be no question. A new variety called Cannell’s
Gem, with rich carnation-pink flowers, of which a few
plants in flower were shown by Messrs. Cannell, is certain
to be popular on account of its color. It has yet to be
tested as a seed-bearer, as sometimes a beautiful variety is
practically barren when fertilized with its own pollen.
Swanley Blue is a deep mauve-flowered variety, which is
the nearest approach to a true blue Chinese Primrose so

far produced.

London. W. Watson.

Cultural Department.
Hybridizing Nymphezas.

(ee is generally supposed that Nymphzas are difficult to
hybridize, an opinion based on the numerous failures to
cross some of the species. Most of these attempts, however,
have been made with species which are not closely related to
each other; for instance, the pollen of N. ccerulea has been
tried on flowers of N. odorata or N. alba, and pollen of N.
Devoniensis or N. rubra on some white-flowering hardy kind.
It is difficult to imagine a cross between the species men-
tioned above, because their habits of growth are so widely
different.

For several years I have experimented in hybridizing some
of the kinds with satisfactory results, but my successes have
been scored when the seed parent and pollen parent were
closely related. To show how easily Nymphzas are hybrid-
ized one has only to take a plant of the white-flowered N. gra-
cilisand flower it in company with any of the Zanzibar section.
The result will be that, without any other interference than
that effected by the wasp-like insects which infest the blooms,
itis next to impossible to get seed that will come true. The
seedlings will show foliage almost similar to that of N. gracilis,
but the flowers will be either light or dark purple, instead of
white, and in shape pretty nearly intermediate between the
Zanzibar varieties and N. gracilis. Again, if the true dark
purple-flowered N. Zanzibarensis be isolated trom the lighter-
flowered form called azurea and from all others related to it,
many of the seedlings raised from it will have flowers every
bit as deep in color as those of the parent, whereas if seed-
lings be raised froma plant which has grown in company with
its lighter-flowered forms those seedlings will have flowers of
an intermediate color.

In the night-blooming section all the kinds are easily crossed,
and any one having the facilities, who will spend a half hour
or so over a bloom, can have hybrids of his own raising.
Take, for instance, the well-known Nympheza Lotus, which, so
far as my experience has shown, sets and ripens more seed
than any other of the night-bloomers, unless it be its variety
dentata. As the seed parent I prefer N. Lotus to N. dentata,
as its flowers are of sucha graceful outline. When crossed
with N. Sturtevantii, for example, they preserve the cup-
shaped form and make a splendid bloom. The ideal cross
between these two well-known kinds is seen in the hybrid
which has been named Smithiana. In form the flower partly
resembles each parent, being larger than that of N. Lotus, the
seed parent, and a trifle smaller than that of N. Sturtevantii.
The color is not intermediate between them, however, but is
a delicate blush.

I have never been able to gather seed from N. Sturtevantii,
although I have watched it every season since it was sent out.
The pollen grains from its flowers are efficacious enough on
other flowers. N. Smithiana, too, has not set any seed so far.
The first season's flowers of this hybrid were rather disap-
pointing, being quite small; this was partly due to a great
profusion of growths from the little tuber which was set out
along with the plant. All of this section, by the way, ought to
be planted without tubers, as they are then more apt to con-
centrate their energy in one crown and produce very much
larger flowers.

The large white-flowered Nymphza dentata sets seed every
time when properly fertilized with pollen from N. Devoniensis
or N.rubra. Every intervening shade between the white and
deep red may be obtained, such as is seen in the hybrids

54

named O’Marana, delicatissima and Deaniana. The hybrid
with very dark flowers named Columbiana is a puzzle to me,
as it is a cross between the kind with very dark-colored leaves
which goes under the name of N. rubra and N. dentata, the
first-named being the seed parent. One would suppose that
a hybrid between these two well-known kinds would have
flowers of a light red or pink color, but the flowers of Colum-
biana are darker than either of the forms of N. rubra or N,
Devoniensis. Another peculiarity which the plant possesses
is that the flowers are much smaller than those of either of the
parents.

In order to make sure of: success in hybridizing Nympheas
one or two little details should never be neglected. The first
thing to do is to make ready for each flower a wire screen in
the shape of a hood, the mesh to be small enough to keep out
the smallest insects ; this screen ought to be large enough to
completely envelop the flower when it is fully expanded; it
should be attached on one side toa stout stick, and merely
placed over the flower by thrusting the end of the stick into
the soil in which the plant is growing, taking care that the
bottom of the screen is beneath the water, but before this is
necessary the flower which is selected for seeding must be
prepared carefully, and this is the most important part of the
work. Begin just before the flowers expand in the evening,
select a flower which is about to open for the first time, open
the petals gently and remove every vestige of the stamens ;
this can be done perfectly with the thumb and forefinger. At
this period of the flower’s existence the pollen is unripe and
there is not the least possibility of any of it getting on to the
rayed stigma of the flower. After the operation is completed
place the hood over the flower and let it remain till next morn-
ing. At the same time another hood should be placed over
the flower selected as the pollen parent, taking care that it also
is about to open for the first time; this will remove any possi-
bility of insects visiting it and mixing pollen from other flow-
ers with its own. Now, during the forenoon of the next day,
just before the Lilies are about to close, examine the pollen-
bearing flower, and if, as is likely to be the case, the pollen is
ripe, Shake it over the one from which the stamens were re-
moved, and, as a further means of insuring success, nip off a
few of the stamens and place them in the centre of the impreg-
nated flower; next draw three or four of the inner petals
together by their tips and join them by a pin, replace the
hood, and if the flower sets any seeds at all it is reasonably
certain that they cannot produce anything else than hybrid

seedlings. z
Botanic Garden, Washington, D. C. G. W. Oliver.

Orchid Notes.

ALANTHE VEITCHII is one of our most useful winter-
flowering Orchids, and even small collections should not

be without this showy plant. For the past month it has made
a good show of flowers here, and they will last for several
weeks yet. Our plants are grown in five-inch pots, with one
pseudo-bulb in each pot. As the plants are without leaves
when they blossom, we find it easier to arrange them when
they are in small pots among other foliage plants, which make
a good groundwork for them. There are three dozen plants
in bloom now; they have flower-spikes a yard or more long.
When the plants have finished flowering water is entirely with-
held, and they are kept on a dry shelf which is near the glass
roof, where they get an abundance of light, so as to harden and
mature the pseudo-bulbs better. The repotting is done in
March, when the young growth is about an inch long and just
as the young roots start to grow. The plants are turned out of
the pots and all the exhausted soil removed from the roots.
The dead roots are cut back to within an inch of the pseudo-
bulb, and this short piece of root which is left helps to keep
the plants in place until they make new roots. Good drainage
is very essential, and the pots are almost half-filled with broken
crocks. Over the drainage is placed a layer of fern-root to
prevent any clogging. When potting the plants the pots are
filled up moderately firm to within an inch of the top. The
plant is then placed on the top of the soil, and about half an
inch more of compost is added, so as just to cover the base of
the bulb. If the plants are not perfectly firm then they are tied
to a small stake, which keeps them in position until the roots
take hold of the new compost. A place where they get plenty
ot light suits them best after they are potted, and they are,
therefore, placed on a shelf near the glass in the stove. After
potting they need very little water for several weeks. If too
much moisture is given at this stage the young growth turns
black. When the plants have made good roots and fairly sized
leaves they need an abundance of water. About July, the

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 415.

young bulbs begin to form, when weak liquid-manure can be
given twice a week until the pseudo-bulbs begin to lose their
leaves and the flowers begin to open. When the plants are in
bloom they only need enough water to keep the flowers in
good condition.

This beautiful hybrid was raised by Mr. Dominy at Veitch’s
Exeter nursery in 1856. It was obtained by crossing Calanthe
rosea, then known as Limatodes rosea, with the pollen of
Calanthe vestita. It flowered for the first time in 1859. The
pseudo-bulbs are flask-shaped, six or seven inches long, and
the leaves are large, plaited and light green in color. The
long graceful spikes have rich, bright rose-colored, white-
throated flowers two inches across.

Calanthe vestita is a handsome species that has been culti-
vated for nearly half a century. Although it is not quite as
showy as the above hybrid, it is well worth growing and makes
a good display at this season. It has roundish pseudo-bulbs -
with broadly lanceolate acuminate leaves, which are about a
foot and a half long. The flowers are produced in long nod-
ding hairy spikes. They are milky white, with a yellow blotch
on the lip in front of the column, and they measure about two
inches across. This Orchid was first discovered by Dr. Wallich,
an Indian botanist, in 1826, but was not introduced to cultiva-
tion until 1848. Then it was collected in Moulmein by Dr.
Kane and sent to England.

Calanthe vestita rubro oculata is a handsome free-flowering
variety also in bloom. It has large delicate white flowers with
a blotch of rich crimson in the centre.

Dendrobium Linawianum is a mass of handsome flowers.
It has upright, deeply furrowed stems, which are a foot or
more high and are swollen at the internodes. The young
stems have oblong, obtuse leaves, which are about three inches
long. The very beautiful flowers are produced in pairs from
the joints on the two-year-old stems. The flowers measure
more than two inches across, and the sepals and petals are
oblong, acute, white at the base, and are of a rosy purple color
in the upper half. The lip is ovate, reflexed, being of a bright ~
crimson-purple and has a crimson spot on each side of the
disk. This plant is grown in a basket, and when it requires
rebasketing it is done in spring after it has flowered. It thrives
in a mixture of fern-root, sphagnum and lumps of charcoal.
During the summer monthsit is grown in the stove, hung up
near the roof, where it gets plenty of light, heat and moisture.
When it has finished its growth for the season, which is about
September, it is removed to a cooler house, where it gets
plenty of light and air, so as to ripen its pseudo-bulbs. It
needs very little water during the early part of winter, when it
is resting, just enough to keep it from shriveling. When it
shows flowers it is taken into a warmer greenhouse, where it
is watered carefully until all the flowers are developed. They
last in good condition for about three weeks.

The sweet-scented Dendrobium aureum is also flowering
now. Althoughit is not quite as showy as some other species
of this genus, itis quite distinct and useful. Its flowers are
produced in twos or threes from the nodes of the two-year-
old stems. They measure about two inches across, the sepals
and petals being acream color. The lip is large and reflexed,
velvety above, buff-yellow, streaked with dull red, and the
column is orange-red. The flowers, before they perish, change
their color to a deep golden yellow. During spring and sum-
mer the plant is grownin a hot, moist house, and in the fall it
is removed to acooler one. In winter it is kept dry and hung
in a place where it can get all the sunlight it needs. It grows
best in baskets in a mixture of fern-root and sphagnum. This’
Dendrobium is East Indian, and is said to have a wider distri-
bution than any other species of this genus. It has been col-
lected in eastern Assam, on the Khasia Hills, in Nepaul, the
Madras Presidency, southern province of Ceylon, in Moulmein
and in the Philippine Islands.

Dendrobium Ainsworthii is a beautiful hybrid between D.
aureum and D. nobile. It was raised in the collection of the
late Dr. Ainsworth, Manchester, England, and flowered for the
first time in 1874. It makes a useful winter-flowering plant,
and its fragrant flowers are very pleasing now. They arepro-
duced on the mature pseudo-bulbs and measure more than
two inches across. The sepals and petals are white, with a
slight tinge of rose. The lip is white, with a large central
blotch of an amaranth color.

Another hybrid with the same parents as the above, but
raised by Veitch, of Chelsea, is D. splendidissimum, which is
also in bloom. The flowers of this hybrid are larger than
those of the preceding, and more glossy. The sepals and
petals are white and tipped with rosy mauve. The lip is white
with a slight touch of yellow in it, and a rich deep purple blotch

in the centre.

Botanic Garden, Harvard University. Ines Cameron.

FEBRUARY 5, 1806.]

Forcing Hybrid Perpetual Roses.

NE of the most important points in selecting hybrid Per-
petual Roses for forcing is to procure such plants as are
budded well down on the stock; plants budded high invaria-
bly become exhausted much sooner than those budded lower,
when subjected to the trying ordeal of forcing year after year.
The time to introduce the plants into heat must be regulated
with reference to the time the flowers are wanted ; about four-
teen weeks is generally required from start to finish. It is
necessary that the plants be first subjected to a thorough freez-
ing to insure their breaking away freely. Pruning is also
important, and in no case should the young shoots be left too
long, about three good eyes being sufficient.

Fig. 6.—The Western Plane, Platanus occidentalis.—See page 51.

A night temperature of forty-five degrees will be quite suffi-
cient for the plants at first, increasing to fifty degrees as growth
advances and until the buds are well formed. After this time
sixty degrees will do them no harm so long as the atmosphere
of the house is not kept too dry. The first growth is probably
the most critical in the whole process, as during that time there
is greatest danger from stagnation. If water is applied too
freely before the plants have had time to produce fresh roots
the result will be a sickly stunted growth in place of the de-
sired strong, vigorous break. We find light syringing twice
daily and the maintenance of a moist atmosphere all that is
required for the first three or four weeks, When the plants

Garden and Forest.

55

are growing freely, and especially after the flower-buds are
set, frequent applications of liquid-manure will be found help-
ful, and the odor from the manure will assist in keeping down
red spider and help to darken and strengthen the foliage.
After blooming, repotting or top-dressing should be seen to,
according to the requirements, and the same careful treatment
continued, every encouragement being given to the plants
until the growths have been matured. They may then be
hardened off gradually, and toward the beginning of June they
should be placed out-of-doors, the pots being plunged to the
rims in ashes. The most suitable forcing varieties are Ulrich
Brunner, Paul Neron, Magna Charta, Baroness Rothschild and
Earl of Dufferin. ‘The last two varieties are somewhat subject
to mildew, and should be placed in the warmest end of the

house.
Tarrytown, N. Y.

Witliam Scott.

Carnation Notes.

aq ae propagation of cuttings for plants

for next winter can be begun now.
We have already inserted cuttings of one or
two slender growers like Lizzie McGowan,
as it is well to start these early to have
strong plants in the fall. Our main batch
of Carnation cuttings will beinserted dur-
ing February, although we find that such
easily propagated kinds as Daybreak,
William Scott and Tidal Wave make
sufficiently large plants if not put in until
March. If the sand in the propagating
bench has been already used for other
cuttings it should be removed and fresh
material supplied, with which more satis-
factory results will be obtained. At the
bottom of our bench we put a layer of
clinkers and coarse cinders; over this is
placed a layer of sphagnum moss, and
some three inches of sharp sand is ample
for all propagating purposes. This should
be pressed down firmly and watered with
a rose can before the cuttings are in-
serted. From four to five weeks generally
elapse before the young plants are ready
to box off, and with careful attention at
least ninety per cent. of the cuttings should
take root. The percentage lessens some-
what later in the season. We finda bot-
tom-heat of about sixty degrees about
right. Care must be taken not to allow
cuttings to wilt before being put in the
bench, and to protect them from the sun's
rays until rooted. Neglect of these simple
precautions is the cause of many failures.
Too much stress cannot be laid on taking
cuttings from the strongest and healthiest
plants, those produced on the flower-stems
being the best. If plants are weak or dis-
eased it is far better te buy stock froma
reliable florist who makes a specialty of
Carnations than to run the risk of perpet-
uating disease, with consequent disap-
pointment.

We have recently boxed off our cuttings
rooted for outdoorsummer-blooming, and
we keep them on a shelf close to the
glass. In about six weeks these will be
potted off singly into three-inch pots, ora
size larger if the plants are extra-strong.
In this latitude it is risky to plant out until
the middle of May. By that time, with
judicious topping and careful attention,
the stock will be of good size. Only a
limited number of sorts flower satisfactorily out-of-doors.
Mrs. Fisher is still the best all-round variety, and with us is a
mass of bloom and buds from July to November. Other
kinds which have proved a success are William Scott, F.
Mangold, Daybreak and one or two unnamed scarlet seedlings.

If plants on the benches have not yet been cleaned it is well
to get this work done before the spring rush commences.
That the plants yield better returns after being cleaned any one
can testify who has tried it, yet many growers continue to leave
the diseased, decaying and dead leaves on their plants the
season through. Such foliage on Violets, Roses or Chrysan-
themums is more noticeable than on Carnations, but the health

56

of the plants demands its removal from all these. Cleaning
Carnations takes considerable time, but it can be done when
other work is not pressing, and its benefits will be seen as the
flowering season progresses. Where rust has obtained a foot-
hold too much vigilance cannot be exercised. Every affected
leaf should be picked off and the plants dusted with lime.
Some growers think its spread is checked, but we are still
awaiting a cure for it here. I think that keeping the plants
picked clean, having proper atmospheric conditions, and pay-
ing attention to temperature and ventilation does as much to
check the disease as any remedy I have seen tried. A number
of prominent Carnation growers advertise their stock as being
absolutely free from rust, and I believe there are men in the
trade who do their utmost to send out perfectly clean plants,
yet for the last year or two novelties have been sent out at
high prices after being well boomed, which have turned out
to be rusted beyond redemption. It is both an injury to the
sender out and the buyer to place such stock on the market.
Introducers of new varieties should state explicitly whether or
not their introductions have taken disease or not, and no kind
should be sent out, however good, if not clean. The Ameri-
can Carnation Society, at its forthcoming exhibition in New
York, which promises to eclipse anything of the kind ever
held, requires that plants must be shown as well as cut flow-
ers of all novelties entered for certificates. This is a move in
the right direction, and the inspection of the stock once or
twice during the season by a committee of competent judges
is better still. This will have the effect to lessen the number
of novelties put on the market yearly and to improve their
quality.

At this time of the year burst calyces and slender flower-
stems, consequent on sunless weather, are very common, and
clear, bright weather and freer ventilation are needed to check
these defects. The benches now require rather more frequent
waterings, and slightly stronger stimulants aregiven. With
heavy firing red spider is apt to get a foothold on the plants
which the heat from the hot-water pipes strikes most strongly.
Syringing with a good pressure on bright mornings is the best
preventive. We give our plants a night temperature as near
fifty degrees as possible, with a drop to forty-five degrees on
very cold nights. The top ventilators are opened a little each
day when the temperature has risen over sixty degrees. Dis-
budding is now practiced by most florists and gardeners, and
the larger blooms and stouter stems are proofs of its merits.

The interest of prominent Carnation growers is at present
centred on the New York show and convention, and a number
of promising novelties which will be staged there. It will be
interesting to note how last year’s seedlings—a number of which
were certificated—appear this year. Among whites Storm
King was one of the most admired last year at Boston. In this
locality it does not appear to be much of a success and com-
pares unfavorably with Alaska, which is good almost every-
where and proves itself to be the finest novelty of last season's
introduction. It has a better stem than Lizzie McGowan and
a better formed flower, and is likely to lead the latter popular
variety by anotherseason. Brideof Erlescourt has been thrown
out nearly everywhere, being badly diseased. Bridesmaid,
which some growers claim is a serious rival to William Scott,
will never, I think, attain half the popularity of the last-named
sort. It has not averaged more than one flower to the plant up
to this time, and other growers near-by report the same thing.
Rose Queen blooms more freely than Bridesmaid, but is of a
less pleasing color; it has a agood stem, but the calyx bursts
badly and the plants take rust. Peachblow is too flimsy for a
market flower. Della Fox, similar in color to the well-known
Daybreak, will be largely grown about Boston another year.
Those qualified to speak predict well for Myers & Santman’s
seedling. Maud Dean, one of Mr. John N. May’s varieties, is
also likely to be in considerable demand next spring. Day-
break has a sprawling habit of growth, and a novelty as free
blooming, identical in color, and like William Scott in habit,
would, no doubt, supersede it. Among dark pink shades Tidal
Wave is still hard to beat when well grown. Lena Saling, a
little paler in color, to be sent out this spring, and another of
Mr. May’s certificated kinds, is a promising sort. Meteor,
sent out by Mr. C. W. Ward, although it has not proved nearly
so floriferous as F. Mangold, is now yielding us a few very
handsome flowers of arich crimson-scarlet color. The plant
is a clean and vigorous grower. There is a good opening for
a new scarlet Carnation, as no kind now grown is altogether
satisfactory. Hector is still the best we have here. Witha
stem like Mr. Hill’s Jubilee, it would bean ideal scarlet. Portia,
Emily Pierson and E. G, Hill all lack size. The Stuart is not
usefulin this locality; it has a grand stem, but the flower
comes streaky, and it is only semi-double. Eldorado, yellow,

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 415.

raised by Mr. Shelmire, looks very well with Mr. Nicholson, of
Framingham, Massachusetts. It has a large, well-formed
flower, but rather weak stem. Among variegated sorts the
contest seems to lie between Helen Keller and Minnie Cook.
Those who are growing both seem to prefer Mr. Chitty’s
variety. Helen Keller is fine when grownas Mr. Edwin Lons-
dale grows it. A few plants we have are doing well this year,
but most of the florists say a large proportion of flowers fade
before opening, and there are few perfect ones.

W. N. Craig.

Taunton, Mass.

Correspondence.

California Oranges and the Frost.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :

Sir,—The exaggerated and conflicting reports which have
gone east in reterence to the freeze of December 29-30 in
southern California are partly explained by the fact that only
recently has the full extent of the damage done become
apparent. Growers, dealers and newspaper correspondents
are naturally unwilling to make definite statements until suffi-
cient time has elapsed for the full effects of the frost to show
both upon the trees and the fruit.

It is now apparent that the Riverside crop is practically
ruined. Riverside is the oldest orange-growing section in
southern California, and the largest producer. Her crop this
year was estimated at 3,400 carloads, out of a total of 10,000
for the state. The estimates of the loss have been placed at
from 50 to 90 per cent. It is unquestionably much nearer the
latter figure than the former, and the frost was so general that
probably not fifty carloads of absolutely uninjured fruit could
be picked from that now remaining on the trees. Much
of it has fallen to the ground as a result of rain. Some of
the young orchards are apparently dead, and the leaves are
falling from the trees in many of the older ones. The propor-
tion of trees actually killed will be very small, but in many
orchards the trees have been so badly injured that the yield
for a year or two will be greatly decreased.

Next to Riverside, Ontario and Pomona suffered most. In
these districts the young trees are somewhat injured, and frost
which would produce such a visible effect upon the trees must
have frozen many of the oranges. But probably not more
than fifteen per cent. of the oranges in these localities have
been injured, and this would amount to only a few score car-
loads. None of the trees have been killed, and the damage
will not materially affect their production another year.

Allowing for the fruit shipped east before the trost, which
was something over 400 carloads, and the highest reasonable
estimate of the frozen fruit, there are still left in southern
California from 5,000 to 6,000 carloads of oranges which are
uninjured, and which include a large proportion of the very
finest fruit. It may be difficult for the eastern’man to under-
stand how orchards within a few miles of those frozen escaped
entirely, and I will state some facts about topography and
climatic conditions which may help to explain it.

The orange-growing sections of southern California lie prin-
cipally in a series of valleys extending from Los Angeles
seventy miles eastward to Redlands. These valleys vary in
width from two miles to twenty. They are bounded on the
niorth, south and east by mountain ranges. They are traversed
on the north by the Santa Fé Railroad, and on the south by
the Southern Pacific. It is up-grade all the way from Los
Angeles to Redlands, the most easterly town, 1,300 feet above the
sea. The only other orange-growing sections are Orange County,
immediately south of Los Angeles, and portions of San Diego
County, a hundred and fifty miles still farther south. The
relative importance of these sections may be seen from the
following estimate of their respective crops for this year: Los
Angeles County, 3,750 carloads; Riverside, 3,400; San Ber-
nardino, 1,700; Orange, 800; San Diego, 180.

Frost in southern California always depends upon purely
local conditions; it is never the edge of a cold wave from the
north, as was the case in Florida a year ago. The mountains
and deserts to the north and east prevent this. It occurs
usually during the longest nights of the year, and is a result of
the rapid cooling of the earth after sundown and rapid radiation
of the earth’s heat through a rarified atmosphere. This cool-
ing process begins soon after nightfall and continues until
sunrise, the cold growing greater as the night advances, and
being greatest just before sunrise. There is greater liability
to frost in dry seasons than in wet, because radiation is more
rapid through a dry atmosphere than through one which is
charged with moisture. Low-lying lands suffer most, because
the coldest currents of air settle closest to the ground, while

FEBRUARY 5, 1806.]

the warmer currents linger longest on the higher slopes, and
also because the lower lands do not receive the rays of the
morning sun as quickly as the higher altitudes. This item of
the sunrise is an important one where the frost is a constantly
increasing factor for destruction through the night, and where
the amount of damage is largely dependent upon the length
of time that the cold endures. Trees and fruit which would
perhaps withstand cold for three hours would be ruined
should the same degree of cold continue for six or eight
hours.

These facts were fully illustrated in the recent freeze.
This season has been very dry. Only a slender thread of
snow rests on the highest mountains, where usually their
slopes are covered halfway to their bases. The total rainfall
up to the night of the frost had been less than two inches.
The air was dry and heavily charged with electricity, and the
frost occurred at a time when the days had been for weeks
unseasonably warm. The frost was preceded by a high, dry
wind, which swept the air of every particle of moisture. This
wind died away before night. The cold set in soon after night-
fall, and continued until sunrise. The lowest point reached by
the thermometer, at Riverside, was 17 degrees ; the lowest at
Redlands, fourteen miles distant, but on higher ground, was
26 degrees. This difference of eight or nine degrees made the
difference between the destruction of the crop at Riverside
and its escape uninjured at Redlands. Most of the other sec-
tions of San Bernardino County which grow oranges are, like
Redlands, on high ground, being the warm, sunny slopes of
the foothills. They escaped, except in a very few of the low-
est and most exposed localities, in which there was damage,
so slight, however, as to be practically of no importance what-
ever. In Los Angeles and Orange Counties there was frost,
but not enough to injure the oranges to any great extent.
These sections are nearer the coast, and the air is not so dry
as in the interior. The location of Pomona is in the middle
of a wide plain, and is therefore more like that of Riverside
than some of the other localities, and the district suffered
accordingly. The United States weather observer at Los
Angeles had the following to say about the frost at Pomona in
his report for January 7th: ‘The temperature, December 30th
last, at sunrise, ranged from 23 to 27 degrees, which was no
doubt correct, as the flowers and vegetation showed the fact.
There were but few oranges or lemons injured by the frost ;
many orchards suffered none at all, and the tender growth of
lemon trees and lemon blossoms were untouched. Very
young citrus trees were damaged in some places, but old trees
none worthy of note.” This report was, perhaps, as accurate as
could be made at the time, but later observations have shown
that the damage was greater than at first estimated. It will be
noted that the temperature was lower than at Redlands, though
higher than at Riverside.

Admitting that the crop of Riverside County is practically
destroyed, we still have nearly all the crop of Los Angeles
County, or, approximately, 3,000 car-loads. The crops of
Orange and San Diego Counties, originally about 1,000 car-
loads, have not been hurt by the frost; but the bulk of
these are grown near the coast, and are not as fine as those
grown in the interior. They are frequently infested with scale,
and have to be washed. They are much more acid than the
interior orange, and lack the rich, burnished color which the
hot winds from the desert give the latter. They are also much
slower in ripening, and for this reason most of the crop is still
upon the trees in these localities. In San Diego County some
oranges are grown in the sheltered valleys back from the
coast, and are of excellent quality, but the coast- grown
product is a sour fruit, of a light, almost lemon, color, and
full of ‘‘rag.”” However, the whole product of this county,
180 carloads, is too small to be of much importance at pres-
ent. In San Bernardino County there are about 1,000 carloads
left, nearly all of which are the very choicest fruit that Califor-
nia produces. The original estimate of the best portion of this
county was: Highlands, 200 carloads ; Redlands and Crafton,
7oo, and Colton Terrace, 100. Of these about 350 cars have
gone forward, most of it as early fruit, at a high price. There
was no damage whatever in these districts by frost. This
makes about 5,000 carloads of fruit left unharmed. Much of
the fruit still upon the trees at Riverside will be sold, and the
amount will be anywhere from 300 to 1,000 carloads.

The early shipments of oranges were, in the opinion of
many, a blunder. The best of the fruit was immature, and
could not possibly give the consumer a favorable notion of
the California orange. The action of growers and shippers
after the freeze was still more injudicious, if not actually dis-
honest. A demand was made upon all the outside districts
for packers, and frozen oranges were rushed out of Riverside

Garden and Forest.

ay

at the rate of fifty carloads a day. A few shipments were also
made from Pomona. False and contradictory reports were
sent out through the associated press and other agencies,
which confused the eastern buyer. It is also alleged that
frozen oranges were packed under the brands of localities
where no damage had been done. The Southern California
Fruit Exchange, which was organized ostensibly to protect the
growers, did its share toward demoralizing the market by
injudicious shipments. This hasty and ill-advised action is to
be regretted, as it has caused a loss of reputation greater, per-
haps, in the end, than the million dollars or more actually lost
in the value of frozen fruit.

The fruit most badly frozen is now upon the ground, aban-
doned as worthless. One packer at Riverside threw away, last
Thursday, twelve carloads, for which he had paid $7,000. The
loss will come heavily upon some of the packers who had
bought early, and took their chances of a frost. Badly frozen
oranges rot and fall to the ground after a few days, especially
if there is rain. Fruit that is frost-bitten, but not frozen, will
remain upon the tree. The juices evaporate through the skin,
and the pulp becomes dry and tasteless. Sometimes the flavor
is injured, although there is no apparent change in the appear-
ance of the orange. The remainder of the fruit forwarded
from Riverside this year will doubtless be open to suspicions
of these undesirable changes, but this will be only a small pro-
portion of the total still remaining for shipment.

It is absurd to compare this partial disaster with the destruc-
tion of the Florida orange groves a year ago. Riverside has
about 7,000 acres of bearing groves, and if all of them had
been destroyed, instead of the possible five or ten per cent.
that have been destroved and the twenty or thirty per cent.
that have been injured, the loss would have been balanced by
the new groves coming into bearing in other localities.

There has been heavy loss at Riverside three years during
the past six, and the frost of this year seems to indicate that
the location has not justified the heavy plantings made there.
Experience now shows that the higher lands are best adapted
to citrus culture. It also shows that California is only upon
the northern edge of the true citrus belt. The sheltered,
sunny, foothill lands have never lost a crop through frost, but
to come within six or eight degrees of loss every year is not a
pleasant experience for the grower who anticipates a return of
from $300 to $600 an acre from his orchard. If the market
recovers, as it should, from the demoralizing effects of the
frost, the best groves will pay very handsomely this year, and
will be as good a hard-times investment as any one could wish.

Redlands, Calif, Wm, M. Tisdale.

Notes from Southern California.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—Mr. Watson's remarks upon the Cherimoyer (page 14)
lead me to say that this fruit isssuccessfully grown here insome
localities. Along the foothills on the northern side of the
beautiful Cahuenga valley, near Los Angeles, quite a number
of trees have been planted. From the garden of Mr. Jacob
Miller I have had specimens quite four inches in diameter. A
more delicious fruit I have never tasted. In flavor I would com-
pare it to a combination of the pineapple and the strawberry.
The flesh of those produced here is creamy white. It ripens
here during March, April and May, and good specimens retail
at twenty cents each. In this same garden (Mr. Miller's) are
growing a number of uncommon trees and plants. A Coffee-
bush, some eight feet high, produces annually a profusion of
fragrant flowers and ripe berries. A good-sized Carob-tree
bears pods regularly. There is also a grand specimen of
Plumieria alba (Frangipani), four or five feet high and as much
in diameter, which blooms abundantly during late summer and
autumn, filling the garden with fragrance.

The belated rains have at last arrived, and the landscape is
fast assuming the greenness of spring-time. The farmers are
now shipping from this favored locality green peas, string
beans, tomatoes and ripe strawberries, and in the water garden
Aponogeton distachyon is flowering freely. _

Los Angeles, Calif. Edmund D, Sturtevant,

Irrigation in Horticulture.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :

Sir,—In your report of the meeting of our Horticultural
Association at West Chester, Pennsylvania, on irrigation, | am
reported as saying that we paid eighteen cents for a hundred
gallons of water; the figures should have been fifteen cents
for a thousand gallons. When I said that a one-inch pipe with
eighty pounds pressure will irrigate a quarter of an acre, |

58

meant that such a pipe running a day would answer for one
application. As the subject ot irrigation has become of un-
usual interest, permit me to add some of our experience. We
have used water to a considerable extent for two seasons past,
and are satisfied that it pays on some crops even when bought
by the gallon. The past summer we used not less than 125,000
gallons on Potatoes, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Celery, Horse-
radish, Sweet Corn and Strawberries.

The first consideration is not only will it help the crops, but
will it justify the expense, and when we pay for water by the
gallon the expense rises as rapidly as the water flows from the
pipe. Where the water can be pumped or collected by dam-
ming a stream, the increased use. does not increase the cost,
and if the first cost is not too high irrigation would be profita-
ble in very many cases. There are few summers without one
dry spell at least, and when this is not too long it will pay to
irrigate many crops even at the price weare paying, butinacon-
tinuous drought, such as that of the past season, the expense
will be too great, except, perhaps, on a few fancy crops, such
as Strawberries, Celery and Cauliflower.

Subirrigation is the best method for field crops, but for mar-
ket gardening a full supply of water is needed on most crops.
Crops that require only a short season cannot wait long for

rain and then reach pertection.
Marietta, Pa. A.M. Engle.

Meetings of Societies.

Nebraska State Horticultural Society.—II.
HORTICULTURE IN EASTERN NEBRASKA.

CAREFUL discussion of the comparative advantages of

fruit-growing here and in other sections was presented by E.
T. Hartley. Mr. Hartley has given special attention to the advan-
tages of the Colorado fruit-growing sections during the past
season, and has come to the conclusion that the prospects of
eastern Nebraska are as good as those of Colorado. There is
a great deal of booming in the matter of fruit-growing as well
as in other lines. We are inclined to make too much of our
successes and too little of our failures, to report the returns
from exceptional trees, unusual prices, etc. Reaction is the
inevitable result of such a course. He has no desire to ignore
the disadvantages of Nebraska, but believes that when both
advantages and disadvantages are carefully compared we shall
find a balance in our favor, Nebraska has seen forty years of
prosperity, and it is unlikely that its whole character will now
change. It is only a matterof common observation that other
states have seen similar periods of depression from time to
time. Moreover, orchardists have suffered less than other
classes during this time. While Corn has in countless in-
stances failed to produce any crop whatever, orchards which
have been well cared for have given fair, and in some cases
heavy, returns. It is also a significant fact that while corn is
now selling at fifteen or sixteen cents a bushel, apples are
bringing from $2.50 to $3.00 per barrel at wholesale. When we
consider carefully the cost of drainage, the disadvantage of
working among stumps and stones, the cost of irrigation, the
backward civilization and other disadvantages which must be
encountered in the different sections of the country, we see
that our own location is not so unfavorable after all. There
are many drawbacks to irrigation—first, the cost of the water-
right and fees, then the increased cost of cultivation, together
with numerous annoyances that an outsider never dreams of.
Mr. Wilcox stated that it requires two men to irrigate and care
for ten acres of orchard, while in Mr. Hartley’s orchard two
men and one team will care for one hundred acres. He can
cultivate the whole of his orchard while the men who use irri-
gation are plowing out the furrows to apply the water. Then
these furrows must be gone over with a hoe to correct irregu-
larities, remove clods, etc., and this may take more time than
to make the furrows in the first place. The short rows which
irrigation demands increase the cost of cultivation materially.
Even if a crop can be secured every year by means of irriga-
tion, itis not likely to prove as profitable as the same amount
of labor applied to more land, but with a crop only every other
year. Transportation is just as important as production. In
this matter the Colorado growers work under a very serious
disadvantage. In fact, Mr. Hartley presented figures, gathered
on the ground, which seem to show that after the crop is all
grown and ripe upon the tree at Grand Junction it then costs
over two dollars a barrel to gather, pack, ship and market it
in Denver or Pueblo. Mr. Hartley found that at Grand Junction
he must pay twenty cents a dozen for peaches grown there,
while in Denver the same peaches were selling at two dozen
for fifteen cents. This year has demonstrated the ability to

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 415.

produce fruit in eastern Nebraska in spite of drought. More-
over, with the small fruits, which yield a large return from a
small amount of ground, it is possible to profitably lift water
by means of windmills to help out the rainfall. This cannot
prove profitable for ordinary farm crops, for there is too little
margin in the possible product of an acre. The loss of water
by seepage and evaporation is too great also, even if reservoirs
are employed, to make the undertaking feasible, except for
those crops in which the market value is high. Hard winds,
cold waves and frosts have been much more injurious than
drought even during these recent dry years. Many orchards
have proved an unexpected blessing to their owners during
these trying years.

E. M. Pollard, of Nehawka, gave results of work and statis-
tics to show that orcharding in Nebraska had proved a profita-
ble venture with them thus far. They make a specialty of
apples and cider. The cider is heated to about 150 degrees,
Fahrenheit, by steam and run into heated barrels while still
hot. By this means the cider is kept sweet, provided only
that the package is completely air-tight. They also employ
vinegar generators, by which they can secure first-class vin-
egar from fermented cider in thirty-six hours. They find it
very difficult to compete against the cheaper corn vinegar,
which is nearly everywhere sold as cider vinegar. From the
best statistics which he could get he finds that the average
price to the grower of apples in Nebraska during the lastseven
years has ranged from $1.50 to $3 00 per barrel. They now set
eighty trees to the acre, but with only forty trees to the acre, at
an average price of fifty cents per bushel, the returns would
be twice as great as can be realized from corn, even if the
yield should be but one bushel a tree, while it ought to
be five bushels. He deprecates the continued planting of
the Ben Davis Apple. In the better family trade, which they
aim to supply, he finds it difficult to dispose of this variety,
and in their newer plantings it-is discarded altogether. Many
of the Apples of good quality which succeed in the east fail
here, but the Swaar does well.

ARE THE BIRDS FRIENDS OF THE HORTICULTURIST ?

This was the question discussed by Professor Bruner, of the
State University, and he made a strong plea for these feathered
inhabitants of our fields and gardens. Seventy-five per cent.
of the food of birds consists of insects. Moreover, when we
consider their ability to withstand cold and their powers of
endurance, it is apparent that they must require much fuel to
maintain the bodily functions, and consequently must be hard
eaters. There are fifty more species of birds found in Nebraska
than are reported from any other state except Texas. There
are undoubtedly more than 75,000,000 birds in Nebraska for
half the year. These, upon the most conservative estimate,
destroy thousands of bushels of insects. The winter birds
subsist largely upon weed seeds, thus causing marked depre-
ciation in the spread of these nuisances. Numerous figures
were quoted showing the contents found in the stomachs of
different birds when examined for that purpose. The quail is
one of the best friends of the farmer and horticulturist, for it
destroys millions of chinch bugs. The flicker also eats
chinch bugs. Professor Bruner believes that the unusual
destruction of fruits caused by birds within the past few years
has been primarily owing to their lack of water. Upon this
point, however, many of the growers did not agree with him.

The Western New York Horticultural Society.—IlI.
THE INVISIBLE FRIENDS AND FOES OF THE FARMER.

Cy this subject Professor Roberts said:

The soil teems with invisible plants or low vegetable organ-
isms which prepare it for higher growths by making available
the combined nitrogen in the soil. These invisible plants need
a certain amount of air, moisture and warmth for development
and growth. They are ever at work breaking down the crude
material and transforming it into plant-food, and the fruit
grower, like other cultivators, must learn that, like higher veg-
etables, these flourish best when their home is warm, mellow,
dark and moist. Since there are from three to six thousand
pounds of potential nitrogen in the first foot of an acre of
fairly fertile soil the advantage of multiplying these nitrifying
organisms is apparent. The cultivation of the soil unlocks
this vast storehouse of food and puts it into circulation.
Proper cultivation not only promotes the process of nitrifica-
tion, but it makes available phosphoric acid and potash, so
that these considerations point to a short rotation, frequent
plowing, partial soiling and the use of leguminous plants
whose roots gather free nitrogen from the air. The objects of
cultivation are primarily and chiefly not to make the soil porous

FEBRUARY 5, 1896.]

so that the roots of plants can enter it easily, but to promote the
invisible vegetable growth and chemical action of the soil which,
while holding on to the water as minutely divided, will allow flow-
ing water to pass downward into the subsoil. Water is nature’s
universal carrier, and it transports all nutrients into and out of
the circulation of vegetables in growth. It not only lifts up
tons of solid matter through the stems and trunks of trees and
smaller plants, but it breaks rock and levels hills and trans-
ports them to the sea. Nearly all the moisture used by plants
is brought to them by the silent forces of capillarity, and if the
soil isin proper physical condition moisture flows upward to
the roots of vegetation from the reservoirs in the subsoil as
certainly as it runs downward by gravitation.

_ This is the underlying principle of successful husbandry—
an ample reservoir for stored moisture to tide plants over
critical periods held by capillarity in well-prepared soils
which contain no free water. Under-drainage and deep
tillage furnishes this reservoir, and two or three inches of sur-
face soil tilled until it is loose, light and porous prevents the
water from evaporating and passing off into the air, so that it
is retained in the soil where it must be drawn up through the
roots of the plants.

MISTAKES IN ARRANGING HOME GROUNDS,

In speaking of this subject, Mr. W. W. Parce, of Rochester,
mentioned the disposition to plant something or to build some-
thing everywhere—fences and hedges where none were
needed, flower-beds and fountains ora statue to occupy the
centre of a lawn which should be open turf. Another error
is the mania for making grounds look artificial, formal terrac-
ing where nature’s way would answer better, rows of trees and
shrubs instead of natural groups, trees and shrubs trimmed
into unnatural shapes. In many grounds, such trees as Kil-
marnock Willows, White Birches, variegated Altheas, Purple-
leaved Plums, Irish Junipers and Smoke-trees and a few
other trees of singular form, made up the collection, with a
Geranium bed, and one of Coleus, anda dozen Rose bushes, each
of adifferentshape. If aman were to dress himself in articles
of such staring contrast he would be arrested. In this locality
most of the trees and shrubs are deciduous, and there arenone
with variegated foliage except fora week or two inthe autumn.
This suggests the use of similar plants in natural grouping,
and although itis not desirable to turn a dooryard intoa primi-
tive wildwood state, it is true that those places which are
treated in what is known as a natural manner are most attrac-
tive. Highly colored plants and flowers should be kept out of
the foreground, where peaceful scenery and restful forms are
needed. To produce these quiet, homelike effects, groups
and single specimens of treesand shrubs which are not of such
pronounced types as to catch the eye by their peculiarities,
should be used, for of these last we will grow weary on long
acquaintance.

EVAPORATED FRUITS IN WAYNE COUNTY.

Mr. B. J. Case regretted that large quantities of cheap and
worthless apples, half-ripe, badly pared, not thoroughly cured,
and treated with too much brimstone were sent out as evap-
orated apples. This year dealers have returned load after load
when they have not been up to standard. Fruit like this can
be delivered at the station for from five to seven cents a pound,
but it is not fit to eat. In 1893 heavy storms blew down thou-
sands of apples that were hardly fit to feed to hogs, and these
were all evaporated. Fifty car-loads of this stuff were marketed
in Wayne County. It is no wonder, therefore, that good apples
were cheap in 1894 and that they did not bring good prices in
1895. When consumers have received this unpalatable and
unwholesome product once they refuse apples the next time.
We can learn much from fruit growers in California in this
matter, where everything is done neatly and only ripe fruit is
used, To hold our market we must keep a uniform product,
pare more cleanly and dry more thoroughly, so that the
product will keep. They are learning, however, in Wayne
County, and first-rate evaporated apples are now sure to
bring good prices, and so are first-rate raspberries, of
which a million pounds are produced in this county. Berries
are stored by packing in a dry barrel and kept in a cold place.
Apples, to hold their color, must be packed in boxes and put
in cold storage by the first of May. A load of apples well dried
in 1891 and put in storage in February, 1892, is now as good as
itever was. Good work is done by evaporating apparatus of
all grades and sizes, but the upright-flue system seems the
most thorough, and the hot kiln the cheapest. There are no
apples evaporated in this state which will grade ‘‘fancy” in
Boston. Some will in New York and Chicago. One-sixth of
the Wayne County product will grade ‘‘ fancy” in Boston, and
five-eighths “prime.” Of the prime there are two grades—

Garden and Forest.

59

one dried on wood and the otheron wire. On account of the
German law prohibiting the importation of wire-dried fruit,
wood-dried apples bring a higher price when Germany is buy-
ing freely.

THE EXPERIMENT STATIONS AND FRUIT-GROWING.

On this subject Mr. W. D. Barns said, in part, that the prime
work of the stations should be scientific—that is, they should
investigate principles, but they should also make practical
tests in matters which involve too much expense for the indi-
vidual fruit grower. For example, they should try different
methods of irrigation and ascertain what kinds of fruits are most
benefited by it. Of course, we must look to the stations to
find whether the San José scale and other insects are liable
to be a continuous and growing pest here, and, if so, how they
are to be suppressed. The stations, too, might well try to find
some substance which will stick to a glossy surface so that it
can be used as a vehicle for fungicides and insecticides. But,
however good the stations’ work, the growers will get no
benefit from it unless they read thestation literature. Itshould,
therefore, be the duty of every one to interest his neighbors to
send their names to be put on the mailing list. At every insti-
tute names should be gathered not only of farmers, but of the
special lines in which they are interested, so that each one
will receive just the literature that he needs.

American Forestry Association,

HE characteristic feature of the annual session of the

American Forestry Association at Washington, last week,
was the hearty coéperation of several leading public men,
especially of the chairmen of the Public Lands Committees of
the Senate and of House of Representatives, the ex-chairman of
the House Public Lands Committee, and now leader of the
minority, and the Secretary of Agriculture. Secretary Morton
presided at a largely attended evening meeting, which was
addressed by Senator Dubois and Representatives Lacey and
McRae. The Secretary has long been known as an enthusias-
tic advocate of rational forest management, and his opening
remarks pointed out from a statistical point of view the folly
of depleting our forest resource and the evil consequences to
agriculture. It was to be expected, however, that the founder
ot Arbor Day, which is Mr. Morton’s distinction, would enter
heartily into a movement tor the preservation of the national
forest domain, but more notable and significant were the em-
phatic utterances of Senator Dubois, in whose state ot Idaho
much of the best of public timber-lands remain, which are
looked upon by the people as their rightful property, to be
used at will. Mr. Dubois displayed a familiarity with the forest
conditions of his state hardly to be expected from one who
had not made the subject a special study. He expiained the
causes Of the failure of the timber agents to protect the forests
on the public domain, and expressed his earnest hope for the
early passage of some such comprehensive legislation as is
proposed in the bill introduced by Senator Teller (S. gr4).

Congressman Lacey discussed in a delighttul way the de-
struction and repair of our natural resources, and the audience
was fascinated by his wit and his poetic pictures of the rich
woods and running brooks, once so abundant, and now rap-
idly disappearing. Asa means of repairing our natural forest
resources he considered Government action indispensable.
He argued that the Government alone can hold tracts either
long enough or large enough to effect the great climatic pur-
poses involved in the preservation of the torest cover. The
laws providing for timber reservations were a great Step in this
direction, but it was also necessary to provide tor their use. A
thorough system of cutting this timber rationally ought to
be provided under which the wants of the people might be
satisfied. But this should be done with such system as to pre-
serve them as a whole.

Congressman McRae, who was chairman of the Public
Lands Committee in the last House, and is a member of the
committee at present, spoke of the proposed legislation for an
administration of the forest reservations. H.R. 119, which,
being reintroduced by him with the same number, goes by the
name of the McRae bill, although not ideally the best, contains
such features of administration as it would be possible to get
passed at present, when improvements might be made after-
ward from time to time. This bill was actually passed both in
the Senate and the House of the last Congress, but failed by
unavoidable accident to go to conference committee and to
become a law. He expressed the belief that at the present
session its passage might be effected.

The Forestry Association is to be congratulated on having
secured from three legislators of such prominence emphatic

60 Garden and Forest.

expressions of sympathy with their purposes, and the country
at large will join in the hope that their expectations of success-
ful legislation may be realized during the present session.

From the report of the Executive Committee it was learned
that the membership of the association had rapidly grown to
over 600, and it now feels strong enough to support a regular
monthly or bimonthly publication, and steps to establish such
a publication are presently to be taken by the Executive Com-
mittee as well as to secure an affiliation with the various state
organizations.

Notes.

According to official statistics the importations of lemons
into the United States during the past ten years amount to
$38,500,680.

In the February bulletin of the well-known Thayer Fruit
Farms, it is stated that after the land is put into high cultiva-
tion the actual cost of bringing an acre of Blackberries or
Raspberries, well set and with no missing hills, to a good bear-
ing age, is from $125 to $150.

Fruits are usually considered luxuries, but Mr. G. C. Snow,
of Penn Yan, New York, presented many analyses to the horti-
cultural meeting at Rochester to show that at present prices
more heat-producing and life-sustaining power could be bought
for the same money in the shape of fruits than of most other
articles of diet.

Professor Massey sends us a photograph of some flower-
ing plants of the Chinese Narcissus trom bulbs grown in
water. The specimens are very well grown and seem to dis-
pose of the objection that bulbs grown in North Carolina will
not flower in water. Professor Massey writes that he has Dutch
Hyacinths in bloom under glass, Trumpet Narcissi and Fre-
sias, from home-grown bulbs, which are quite as good as any
imported ones.

In a recent lecture, Professor Goodale stated that one
who wishes to see the showy plants of the tropics at their best
ought not to go to the jungle or forest where they are widely
scattered and in many instances crowded out of proportion
and not in the best health. Under the care of an intelligent
gardener all their caprices are humored and they thrive
better than they do where they have to shift for themselves.
In a stove like that of Mr. Hunnewell, at Welles'ey, Massa-
chusetts, and in similar places, where the treasures of the tor-
rid zone are gathered together from the entire circuit of the
globe, these plants have a brilliancy of bloom and a perfection
of form which are rarely seenin their natural abode.

Oranges have been in light demand for several weeks past,
due to the unsound condition of the last of the Jamaica crop
and to the injury by frost to the California fruit. Valencia
oranges have been selling at a loss recently, but a cargo which
arrived in sound condition early last week realized satisfactory
prices, and sold for $4.00 to $4.62 a box in wholesale lots. On
Saturday, however, practically as good oranges trom Spain
brought only $1.50 a box. Lemons, too, are selling at low
prices, Messina, Palermo and Malaga furnishing the main sup-
plies. Bananas share in this depressed condition, and the
highest grade of fruit from Port Limon commands but $1 15 a
bunch at wholesale, while smaller bunches sell for forty cents
each.

Mr. Smith Hawley, of Luddington, Michigan, in a lecture
before the Horticultural Society of that state, said that the pic-
ture so often seen in agricultural papers of a man standingon
a wagon and throwing spray into Apple-trees as he was drawn
along isa delusion. To do thorough work one must go all
about a tree and throw spray upon it from every direction.
When this work is properly done the trees will retain their
foliage until the snow falls; it will be bright, healthy and in
good working order long after unsprayed trees are bare. As
a result, trees will produce much fruit on off-years, and the
truit, because properly ripened, will keep better than that
grown on trees weakened by the attacks of fungi and insects.

A class of advanced students who are fitting themselves to
be professional horticulturists meet once a week at the resi-
dence of Protessor Bailey, in Ithaca, New York, fer the purpose
of an informal discussion of current horticultural topics or
matters of history and criticism. There are about a dozen of
these students, who are most of them Bachelors of Arts or
Bachelors of Science, graduated from different agricultural
colleges or universities, and they together constitute a class of
mature and trained men such as probably have never before
been brought together in this country for the express study of
higher horticulture. The topic last week was The Lindleys—

[NUMBER 415.

their times and work. Other topics have been The Downings ;
Jethro Tull and the Tillage of Land; The Commanding Fac-
tors in New York Pomology.

The recent subscription of $10,000 to the endowment of
the New York Botanical Garden by Mrs. Esther Hermann
increases the fund to $260,000, besides $5,000 worth of plants
contributed by Mr. James A. Pitcher. Some 250 species of
trees and shrubs, besides those already in Bronx Park, where
the Garden is to be located, have now been placed in a tem-
porary nursery, and the construction of roads and erection of
buildings may be begun during the present season. The
Finance Committee of the Board of Managers will be glad to
receive subscriptions from any one who wishes to follow Mrs.
Hermann’s generous example. All persons intending to con-
tribute can communicate witn Mr. James A. Scrymser, chair-
man of the Finance Committee, 107 East Twenty-first Street,
or with Mr, J. Pierpont Morgan, Treasurer, 23 Wall Street, New
York. Inquiries as to the scope and progress of the enterprise
will be answered by the Secretary, Professor N. L. Britton, 41
East Forty-ninth Street, this city.

The St. Louis Lumderman says that there is no wood which
equals the Cypress in value, of which so large a proportion of
the total supply still standing is put into market every year.
The president of the association predicts that in ten years there
will be but seven mills cutting Cypress in Louisiana, in twenty
years but four, and in twenty-five years none. This means
that within ten years from sixty to seventy-five per cent. of the
Cypress will be cut and sold, and that probably half of all the
Cypress now standing will have been marketed before the end
of the century, and yet the production is now only about two
billion feet, say, one-thirtieth that of White Pine, the wood
with which it mainly competes. Cypress belongs to the finer
class of woods, and it certainly seems short-sighted to sell it
for less money than it must soon be worth. Itis not abundant,
nor is it rapidly reproduced, and it is practically certain that
when the present supply is used up that will be the last of
cypress lumber as a commercial product.

Mr. Rydberg prints in the third volume of the Con¢rzbutions
from the United States National Herbarium an interesting
paper on the flora of the sand-hills of Nebraska, a region ex-
tending from the ninety-eighth to the one hundred and third
degree of west longitude and from the Niobrara River on the
north to the North Platte River on the south-west. This isa
region of shifting surface and of sandy soil, which is carried
away by the wind when it is not held down by the roots of plants
or otherwise protected. Someattempts at agriculture have been
made in this region, but a farmer, after breaking his field, may
find it transformed into a deep hollow and its soil deposited
miles away, perhaps, in a great drift which serves as the
foundation for one of the hills which are the characteristic
feature of the region. Probably once covered by a forest of
Pines, the only trees of the region now are Willows and
Poplars, confined to the river-bottoms, the largest part of its
flora being composed of grasses, sedges and low leguminous
plants. A Thistle, the Cnicus Hookerianus variety, of Gray, is
elevated by Mr. Rydberg to specific rank as Carduus Plattensis,
a plate accompanying his description.

In a bulletin issued by the Chemical Division of the Experi-
ment Station of Minnesota on the composition, digestibility and
food value of potatoes, a cross-section of a tuber is given, in
which the relative amount of water and other compounds is
graphically illustrated. Three-fourths of the potato is water.
One-fifth of it is starch, with limited quantities of fat, fibre, ash,
malic acid and pectose or jellies. Only two and a_ halt
per cent. of protein occurs, and only about half of this is
digestible. It is noted that early varieties of potatoes con-
tain less starch and a larger proportion of protein, because the
protein or nitrogenous compounds are tormed in the early
part of the growth of the tuber, while the starch is added at a
later stage. For starch-making the medium-sized and later
varieties are preferable, but in excessively large potatoes the
jellies and other substances replace the starch. A large part
of the limited quantity of albumen in potatoes is often
lost in cooking; since when they are placed in cold water
to boil much of this material will be extracted while the
water is warming up, and, therefore, most of the vegetable albu-
men is lost. If the tubers are placed directly in boiling water
the albumen is coagulated and retained. Peeled potatoes, when
placed in cold water and boiled, lose four-fifths of their albu-
men. Potatoes not peeled, and started in hot water, lose only
one-fiftieth. This means that when a bushel of potatoes are
improperly boiled as much protein is lost as is contained in
two pounds of beefsteak.

FEBRUARY 12, 1896.|

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrick: Trisung 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, FEBRUARY 12, 1896.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE,
EpirorraL ArticLe :—A German View of the Value of the Forest.............-. 6x
A Botanical Journey in Texas.—l.....c.eeeecnecseeeeeeesceces E. N. Plank. 62

Distribution of the White Cedar in New Jersey..........-... John Gifford. 63
ForeIGN CoRRESPONDENCE :—Mr. Chamberlain’s Garden............ W. Watson. 63
New or Litt_e-kNown Piants :—Rhododendron mucronulatum. (With figure.)

2S. S.

4

Sa fates ie ates stels ele 'ainsfein E. O. Orpet. 65
= 4 -.-R. Cameron. 66
-Alex. MacElwee. 66
wsee ee F. Francheschi. 66
Edward F, Canning. 67
teGiseeeaey 2iVs peste (07
Tsaac R. Pennypacker. 67
..G. A. Woolson. 67

C. S. Valentine. 68
ral Society.—III... 68

CurturaL DEPARTMENT :—Amaryllis
Showy Acanthads..........-.
A Few Momordicas..
Notes from Santa Barbar
Crassula quadrifida, Cotyledon gibbiflora .
“The PleioneS= ise seccencss

CoRRESPONDENCE :—Ol!d
Training Tomatoes
Habits of Ferns..

MEETINGS OF SOCIETIES :

Peninsula Horticultural SOCiety ccsene as .seciesssecieecsecwisicser ses 68
RECENT PUBLICATIONS 69
INOTES swincios aes ecce-c0e jo
It_ustrRaTion :—Rhododendron mucronulatum, Fig. 7...........seeeee eee eee ees 65

A German View of the Value of the Forest.

E recently attempted to answer in a general way

the question, “What is Forestry?” To give some

idea of the importance of this science to the people at large

we now quote some passages from an address delivered by

Dr. Franz Baur, in November last, on the occasion of his

inauguration as Rector of the Ludwig-Maximilian Univer-
sity in Munich.

This address was a discussion of the peculiar place held
by the forest in national life, or, as Dr. Baur expressed it,
“in the housekeeping of a nation.” In the course of it he
showed that forest preservation has not only a strictly
economical, but also a social-political and ethical side.
* At the time,” he said, “of the despotic rule of Napoleon L,
near the beginning of this century, Germany lay econom-
ically exhausted, and through the pressure of necessity the
axe was used more vigorously against German forests than
in normal times. It was then that E. M. Arndt, who loved
his fatherland above all else, exclaimed, ‘Now, in many
lands, the axe which is laid against the tree is laid against
the people itself.” Evidently, in using these words, he
thought less of a decrease in the revenues from the forests
than of a lasting injury to the character of the German
people through persistent forest destruction. And, in a
similar spirit, W. von Riehl wrote these significant words :
‘Hew down the forests and you will ruin our historic
burgher society. By destroying the contrast between field
and forest you will take from the German people its princi-
ple of life. Man does not live by bread alone. Even if
we should need wood no more, we should need the woods.
Even if we should no longer require the dried products of
the forest to warm our bodies, we should still require the
living forest to warm our souls.’ The truth of these words
grows ever clearer with the rapid development of our indus-
trial life. Already in our great factory towns there live
millions of people who exhaust themselves during the week
in crowded, and often unwholesome, workrooms, and on
Sundays and holidays seek indispensable recuperation for
mind and body in the fresh green forest.”

This, according to Dr. Baur, is one peculiarity of the
forest among the economical treasures of a nation—the
fact that it has a spiritual, an ethical, as well as a purely

Garden and Forest.

61

economical, importance. And from this he deduces the
truth that the management of public forests should not
be regarded in a narrowly business-like way, as a mere
matter of present capital and present interest. The forests
of a nation should be looked upon as a great national trust.
They should be so controlled that, while the present gen-
eration is enabled to draw from them as large a revenue as
possible, at least as large and varied a revenue should be
secured to future generations. ‘The dissatisfied directors
of our forest finances,” he adds, “who always consider
the present profit they yield too small, would be in better
spirits if they more clearly realized this radical peculiarity
of the forestry question.” It is true that forests may be
made to yield a satisfactory revenue, but since they mature
slowly, instead of giving an annual crop, like wheat or
barley, they cannot, like many other sources of national
wealth, be regarded solely from the money-making stand-
point, and, still less, can they lend themselves to the
modern wish to secure immediate returns upon invested
capital, and to meet, with speculative rapidity, the chang-
ing needs and tastes of a community.

After briefly surveying the past history of European
forests, during the long periods when no official care was
taken of them, and during the more recent periods when a
right realization of what this care ought to be, in extent
and in kind, he explained that there are still European
countries, like Spain and Denmark, where the need for
scientific forestry is not yet appreciated ; and of the United
States he said: “Even in the primeval forests of North
America, once believed to be inexhaustible, irreparable
damage has already been wrought. Eager for quick profits,
the great lumber syndicates of that continent still continue
the work of destruction ; yet, even there, the necessity for
some thought for the future has been recognized, and mil-
lions of acres have been set apart as forest reservations—
that is, even in this comparatively new country, it has
come to be a recognized fact, as it is in the Old World, that
if the wounds inflicted on the forest through lack of fore-
thought are to be healed, the cure must be worked by the
state rather than by rich private landholders. Even the
popular assemblies of most of the German states are no
longer willing that their forests should be at the mercy of
private interests.”

Dr. Baur adds, that in addition to lumber, fuel and other
staple products, the forests produce vast quantities of berries,
fruits, flowers, mushrooms, mosses, basket-material and
materials for decoration, the value of which cannot be
accurately computed, although it certainly amounts to
millions of marks annually, and hundreds of poor families
in Germany, who would otherwise be destitute, depend
upon these products for a livelihood,

The unique value, however, of forest-lands as sources of
refreshment, enjoyment and inspiration for the souls of men
is something which should always be insisted on. If one
imagines Heidelberg, for instance, denuded of its forests,
or Baden-Baden or Carlsbad, one can understand the im-
portance of forest surroundings to an urban community.
Nor are economic interests ignored even when this point
of view is taken. Were these cities denuded of their
forest environment the multitudes of travelers who now
frequent them and bring gold to the hands of their inhab-
itants would conspicuously diminish.

No government, says Dr. Baur, in conclusion, can
administer a forest as it may administer a factory, where it
writes over the door, ‘‘No admittance except upon busi-
ness.” Todo this would be to destroy the value of the
forests as a possession of the people. Their portals must
be thrown wide open, not only to the architect, the painter,
the musician and the poet, not only to the scientific student
and the seeker after health, but to the public at large. And
in this country one needs to add, the public at largeas well
as the government must be taught to realize that, whilethe
forests should be utilized by all they should be injured by
none, for they are the property, not of this generation only,
but of generations yet to be born.

62 Garden and Pores

A Botanical Journey in Texas.—I.

URING the month of May copious and almost con-
D tinuous rains fell throughout most of Texas, and
from Louisiana to Mexico all farm crops were growing
luxuriantly and all nature was rejoicing, when, on the
second day of June, I started to make a long and tortuous
botanical trip from San Antonio to El Paso, a distance of
over six hundred miles. Western Texas was at its best,
the trees and plants dressed in full holiday attire, with new
shoots longer and more drooping than they are in drier
seasons, leaves greener, flowers larger and handsomer.

Lovers of nature must have noticed the beauty of all
forest scenery in the full growing time of the trees, when
the varying tints of green in the newer leaves mingle with
the deeper hue of those that are fully developed, and no
such lover would soon tire of contemplating a grove of
Yellow Locust in June and after a drenching rain has
washed their leaves.

Botanizing from the windows of swiftly moving railway
cars istoo careless observation for the purposes of science,
except in regard to well-known and conspicuous species,
which, of course, may be recognized. As far west as San An-
tonio. occurs the French Mulberry (Callicarpa), the Box-Elder,
which will be found at intervals as faras the mountain cafions
of central New Mexico and southern Colorado, and the
Honey Locust which about San Antonio is either native or
naturalized. Wild China or Soap-berry, Sapindus, in full
blossom, is common in woods throughout our entire
journey.

After we cross Medina River the ripe crimson fruit of
Rhus microphylla renders that shrub conspicuous and adds
variety and beauty to the forest scenery. Travelers who
have been over this route in times of long-continued
droughts are now surprised to see in the clearing of every
ranchman and small farmer luxuriant fields of rank tall Corn
and other grains growing in a region which they had
thought to be only a dreary waste. A stop for a day-at
Sabinal gave me an opportunity to botanize along the river
and among the hills. Sabinal signifies a Cypress grove,
and the Cypress-trees grow along the river. Some indi-
vidual trees are three to four feet in diameter. Most of
them, however, like the Buttonball-trees of Kansas, have
outlived their usefulness. Yet there are thrifty and vigor-
ous trees here, which, left to themselves, will long pre-
serve the significance of the name of the river and that of
the little village near by.

Going from Sabinal we soon reach the valley of the
Leona and of the near-by Neuces River. The valleys of
those rivers are the lowest of any river valleys between the
San Antonio and the Rio Grande Rivers. Irrigated farm-
ing there is already begun, and, doubtless, will be carried
on to still greater success. Near Nueces River large Tree
Acacias appear. That river, too, is about the eastern limit
of Willow Catalpa, Chilopsis, which we shall see at different
points far up into New Mexico. So Fallugia, with a still
more northern range, grows southward to the Nueces.

A wide, deep and swiftly flowing current of water fills
the river-bed, where two years ago I walked for miles with-
out seeing a drop of water, and where on the dry sands I
collected Fallugia, the small-fruited Walnut, other shrubs
and many rare smaller plants. The country here assumes
a more rough and mountainous aspect. The shrubs are
sturdier in their growth and the flora generally is changing.
The almost ubiquitous Mesquit is nearly everywhere and
heavily loaded with young fruit. Because the Mesquitsome-
times grows on the most barren hills it must not be supposed
that the species does not recognize better opportunities
when they present themselves. Those individuals now so
forlorn, or, at least, their ancestors, have seen better days.
In such localities they simply persist from a time when,
perhaps, different climatic conditions prevailed here, or
before a nomadic husbandry had made their homes a prac-
tical desert. Indiscriminate general grazing will make any
country a desert.

NUMBER 416.

No station on the Southern Pacific Railway, so easily
accessible as Spofford, gives botanical tourists opportunity
to find Acacia tortuosa. It grows a few rods above the
station on the right-hand side of the road as one goes up.
The flower-clusters of this species are very like those of A.
Farnesiana, but its generic habit and its long Mesquit-like
pods lead to its easy identification. It is hardly fair treat-
ment of a peculiar and handsome shrub to call this species,
as some botanists do, Mexican, as it is by nativity and resi-
dence a United States species. If the touristcan stop offa
day at Spofford he will have time to visit Las Moras River,
where he may find the remarkablesemi-tropical white Water-
lily, and the largest of our species of Castalia, C. ampla.
I found it in the waters of that river, just in the rear of Fort
Clark, and in full blossom on the twenty-second day of
January, 1893, which, so far as I am informed, is the first
time that the species has been identified as growing in
Texas, or in North America, outside of Mexico. And ifthe
tourist be curious in the so-called small things of science,
he may chance to find in the same locality pods of the
beautiful Red Bean, Sophora secundiflora, containing eight
beans. The pods are sometimes fitted to hold only a single
bean.

My stop at Del Rio was opportune to inspect the early
summer flora, as I had already the late summer flora of
that region. The Yellow Water-lily (Nymphza), so com-
mon in the waters of San Filipe River, at Del Rio, varies
somewhat from the more eastern forms of that species.
The tabs of its leaves are produced, and end in an acumi-
nation giving to the leaves an elliptical outline. San Filipe
River is about the southern limit of Eysenhardtia ortho-
carpa, with its upright fruit, as indicated by its name, while
the pods of its southern congener, E. amorphoides, are
reflexed. Nogal, Juglans rupestris, is very common along
the river, where it sometimes grows into a large tree.
Its fruit is small, but two or three times as large as that of
the shrubby form.

From beyond the Sabinal to beyond the Pecos, at least,
the honey-yielding shrub of western Texas, which Mexi-
cans call Huajillo, and botanists know as a Pithecolo-
bium, grows in great abundance. The groves of this
species in flowering time are the favorite pastures of the
bees, and at other times they are hardly less pastures for
domestic animals, which largely subsist upon its leaves
and fruit. Meanwhile the species finds time to manufac-
ture in large quantities a strong and pleasant perfume.
This species, Acacia Farnesiana, one or two other native
Acacias and two or three species of Mimosa yield from
their flowers such an abundance of strongly fragrant vola-
tile oil that it might be profitable for perfumers to utilize
them.

Both species of Siphonoglossa near Del Rio were in blos-
som at the time of my visit. They are curiously made and
good-looking plants. Near them were growing Krameria
canescens, another Krameria and a handsome shrubby
Lippia producing its flowering stems in whorls around the
main axis. XanthrimaTexanum, a handsome yellow-flow-
ered composite, is common throughout central and western
Texas, extending northward to southern Kansas. Chrysop-
sis villosa is an inhabitant of most of the region of the
plains. Itis a variant species. Several of its forms have
been exalted to named varieties, an honor of.which no one
of them is really worthy.

Trichocoronis Wrightii, a western composite with vari-
ously cut leaves and rayless white flowers, is a plant of
devious ways of living. It floats in the river, produc-
ing rootlets at the nodes of its stems. In shallow waters
it roots in the soft bottoms. Where no water is to be found
it grows equally well in the richlimon. The species prob-
ably located at Del Rio on account of the perennial waters
of the San Filipe. The handsome Centaurea Americana of
Arkansas and the Indian Territory extends through Texas
to Mexico, and the small-growing Virginian Thistle bears
it company all the way. Cuscuta squamata, one of the
Love vines, grows abundantly on the alkaline soils of

I TT a eT On a eT Oe eT ey ee

& fatd as

oe net ae oy ee ee

FEBRUARY 12, 1896.]

western Texas. It lives generally upon composite, and
more rarely upon Malvaceous plants. Helianthus cilioza
is its favorite host, which it sometimes kills.

Ephedra pedunculata, a slender-growing species, too
weak to stand alone, ascends as high as any of its con-
geners by associating with stronger friendly plants and
rising with them. It is found at various stations along our
way. Apodanthera undulata, an important member of the
Squash family, inhabits western Texas and extends into
New Mexico, with its large leaves, white flowers and ribbed
fruit. The very handsome shrubby little Dalea, D. formosa,
is seen at various points along our route and high up on
Mount Franklin, at El Paso. Hoffmannseggia drepano-
carpa is a Texan of long and respectable standing in good
plant society. It is also common at Las Cruces, New
Mexico, on the high mesa between the town and “Little
Mountain.” Fine specimens, and of larger growth than I
have elsewhere seen, were growing near Albuquerque.

La Junta, Colo. Li. N. Plank.

Distribution of the White Cedar in New Jersey.

N the peculiar climate and soil of the coast plain of
New Jersey the White Cedar, Cupressus thyoides,
a very valuable soft wood, finds a suitable environ-
ment. These trees produce many seeds even while very
young, and these are widely disseminated by the wind.
‘The trees grow with great rapidity, and there are extensive
neglected areas where it can be profitably cultivated; and
yet White Cedar is becoming scarce, owing to the demand
for its timber, and no attempt is made to prevent its exter-
mination. Less desirable species, which are fit only for
fuel, have been and are still allowed to usurp its place.
In the northern part of the state it grows ina very few
isolated localities. Botanists have found it near the south-
ern end of Greenwood Lake, swamp at Kingsland, New
Durham and Secaucus swamps, meadows near Newark,
Bergen Point and South Amboy (see Ca/alogue of Plants,
Part 1., vol. ii, Final Report of State Geologist of New
Jersey). But there is another station about a mile from
High Point, and the posts and rustic work of the inn there
are made from white cedar cut in this swamp. One is
surprised to find a typical isolated swamp of White Cedar
in a very thrifty condition growing in a little valley near
the New York state line and fifteen hundred feet above sea-
level. Other plants, such as the Pitcher-plant, Sphagnum,
etc., which are common in the swamps of the southern
part of New Jersey, are growing with the Cedar.
May’s Landing, N, J. John Gifford.

Foreign Correspondence.
Mr. Chamberlain’s Garden.

HE eminent statesman who is now Her Majesty’s

Minister for the Colonies, the Right Honorable Joseph
Chamberlain, has for many years taken a keen interest in
Orchids, as well as in gardening generally, and his garden
at King’s Heath, near Birmingham, has long been famous
for the collection of plants it contains, Mr. Chamberlain
being as keen an amateur gardeneras any in England. He
knows his plants well and watches their growth and
behavior with all the zest of a cultivator ; indeed, I was
informed by his Orchid grower, Mr. Burberry, that he
almost daily inspects the collection and discusses the details
of its management with the same thoroughness as he
exhibits in his more serious work. Mr. Chamberlain’s only
recreation is his garden. Only a few weeks ago he wrote
to Kew an account of some interesting observations he had
made on hybrid Orchids with a view of ascertaining the
prepotency of their respective parents, and this at a time
when matters of state requiring the most delicate handling
were under consideration. Mr. Chamberlain takes an
interest in Kew, and it is partly due to his desire that Kew
should be well equipped, that the completion of the large

Garden and Forest.

63

temperate house has been undertaken ata cost of about
twelve thousand pounds.

Highbury, the residence of Mr. Chamberlain, stands on
an eminence looking south over the open country. The
garden is not large, only about fifteen acres, but it is laid
out with great taste in what is known as the natural style.
Hollies, Rhododendrons and Conifers are its main features.
Surrounding the garden stretch about a hundred acres of
meadow-land so planted with trees as to form an important
adjunct to it. The farming of this landis the hobby of Mr.
Austin Chamberlain, M.P., who lives with his father at
Highbury. Another son, Neville. manages an extensive
estate in the Bahamas, devoted chiefly to the cultivation of
Sisal.

The houses at Highbury are grouped about the residence,
most of them being connected with it by a glass corridor
some hundred and fifty feet long, one end of which opens
into the conservatory, and this again into the drawing-
room. The conservatory contains a rockery, cascade,
fountain, etc., and is tastefully planted with Palms, Tree
Ferns and Bamboos, with other plants intermixed. A large
specimen of Anthurium Chamberlainii is a striking object
in this house. Introduced accidentally from no one knows
where, this grand Aroid flowered for the first time at High-
bury about twelve years ago, when it was named by Dr.
Masters and figured in Zhe Gardeners’ Chronicle. The only
other example of this species is at Kew, where it flowers
frequently and is now ripening seeds. The Highbury plant
now has a stem as thick as a man’s wrist and three feet
high, bearing about a dozen enormous sagittate leaves.
This plant also is ripening seeds. In one of the houses
there is a batch of plants which are the outcome of cross-
ing A. Chamberlainii with A. Andreanum; the flowering of
this cross is looked forward to with considerable interest.

The corridor is draped with a selection of greenhouse
climbers, and planted along one side with ornamental foli-
age and flowering plants. A large mass of Hedychium
Gardnerianum filled a circular bed in the conservatory and
looked particularly attractive in January, with its rich green,
glossy leaves and spikes of fruit colored orange arid scar-
let, and more effective even than the flowers. Cultivators
unacquainted with this character in Hedychiums sacrifice
their winter value by cutting off the spikes as soon as the
flowers fade.

A dozen houses open at right angles from the corridor,
each containing some special kind of plant. There are
also several houses behind these again, and a large lean-to
range, recently built, is filled partly with Dendrobiums and
other sun-loving Orchids, and partly with fruit-trees. Zonal
Pelargoniums are favorites with Mr. Chamberlain, a house
being filled with the best varieties to flower in winter.
Primula Sinensis is well grown in Birmingham, several nur-
serymen there being famed for its cultivation. A house is
devoted to it and to Cinerarias at Highbury. Winter-flow-
ering Begonias are also a special feature there, especially
the hybrids from B. Socotrana.

The Orchids are the principal attraction, about a dozen
houses being filled with them. Mr. Chamberlain does not
apparently care for Cypripediums, the only species I no-
ticed there being C. Chamberlainianum, of which a plant
bore a scape one and a half feet long with sixteen flowers,
or, rather, that was the total number borne, this species
being disappointing in its habit of developing only one, or
at most two, flowers at a time. A house filled with Cat-
tleyas in good health, and another with Leelias, chiefly
forms of L. anceps, were remarked. ‘The latter were rep-
resented by big specimens of the white varieties, that
named Sanderiana by one plant with seventeen scapes
bearing from three to five open flowers each; a second
specimen, just over, had borne nineteen scapes with an
aggregate of seventy-three flowers. The rare variety Daw-
soni was in flower, and Chamberlain’s variety, equally rare,
was in good condition. The white varieties of L. anceps
are not damaged by fog to the same extent as the type.
Dendrobiums are favorites at Highbury, and many rare

64 Garden and Forest.

species are represented there. D. glomeratum, a recent
introduction, had slender pseudo-bulbs two feet long bear-
ing clusters of flowers one and a half inches wide, remark-
able for their small infolded labellum and rich glistening
mauve-crimson color. D. cymbridioides, with the habit of
Coelogyne and slender racemes of pale yellow flowers,
lined with red-brown on the lip, wasin flower. I have not
seen this plant elsewhere. A very fine example of D. Fal-
coneri was suspended in the corridor, where it hangs all the
year, and grows and blooms freely. Hybrid Dendrobiums
of many kinds, not yet flowered, and, from their parentage,
likely to be useful additions, were noted in one of the warm
houses. A similar number of unflowered hybrid Cattleyas
and Lelias occupied a shelf in the Cattleya-house. Den-
drobium nobile nobilius, with a dozen pseudo-bulbs, each
a yard long and as thick as a man’s thumb; grand exam-
ples of D. Wardianum, D. crassinode, the rare D. Lowi-
anum and such popular hybrids as splendidissimum,
Cassiope, etc., were noted either in flower or in bud.

Miltonia vexillaria and M. Roezlii are exceptionally well
grown at Highbury, and in the same house with the latter
I noticed a good example of the miffy Phajus tuberculosus,
A house filled with forms of Cattleya gigas and Coelogyne
cristata; another with good varieties of Odontoglossum
crispum and allies, and another with Masdevallias revealed
careful and skilled management.

Cool Orchids generally are well represented at High-
bury, and in the middle of January the display of bloom
was rich and varied. Odontoglossum coronarium is grown
there astonishingly well in a cold house on a turf of fibrous
peat resting on a wood-raft and placed close to the roof
glass in a shaded position. Here it has formed a mass
two feet through of healthy pseudo-bulbs and leaves, anda
short time ago it bore seven strong spikes of flowers. Epi-
dendrum vitellinum is also an exceptional plant under Mr.
Burberry’s care. Odontoglossum citrosmum, O, Cervantesii,
Oncidium macranthum, O. Leopoldii, O. Andersonianum
and many others were remarkable either for their flowers
or healthy vigorous growth.

Mexican Orchids are well grown, the secret of success
being, no doubt, the light houses in which they are accom-
modated and which are never shaded. A house partly
filled with Phalzenopsis was a source of anxiety to Mr.
Burberry, who finds what many others have found in the
continued cultivation of this genus, namely, that the plants
are apt to go wrong without any apparent cause.

Tea Roses and Carnations are largely grown under glass,
these being the favorite flowers of Mrs. Chamberlain.

A novel feature of the houses at Highbury is the posses-
sion of electric light, which is so fixed that at night by
touching a button Mr. Chamberlain can transform his
houses into a veritable fairyland, which can be inspected
by his guests with comfort and without any risk of catch-

ing cold. W. Watson.

London.

New or Little-known Plants.

Rhododendron mucronulatum.

HIS deciduous-leaved shrub, raised in the Arnold

Arboretum from seed gathered on the mountains near
Pekin, and sent in 1883 by Dr. Bretschneider, at that time
surgeon of the Russian Embassy in the Chinese capital, is
closely related to the Siberian and Manchurian Rhododen-
dron Dauricum, although, for garden purposes at least, it
will, perhaps, be well to consider it distinct. In American
gardens it is now a robust shrub from three to four feet in
height, with slender stems, and branches clothed during
their first year with smooth, rather light yellow bark. The
leaves, which do not unfold until after the flowers have
begun to fade, are oblong, gradually narrowed to both
ends, and mucronate at the apex, very finely serrate, thin
and firm, dark green above, pale and pubescent below,
from two to two and a half inches long, about an inch
wide and short-stalked, turning in the autumn, before fall-

[NUMBER 416.

ing, bright scarlet. ‘The flowers are broadly campanulate,
about an inch across, and light clear rose-color, with broad
rounded corolla lobes, and are produced in two to four-
flowered clusters; they appear in eastern Massachusetts
during the last week in April, before those of any other
plant of this class, and at a time when comparatively few
other shrubs are in bloom. ‘Their brilliancy and cheerful-
ness and the splendid color the leaves assume late in the
autumn make this little Rhododendron, which is very hardy,
a most desirable inhabitant of northern gardens.
Rhododendron mucronulatum * (see illustration on page
65 of this issue), which the Russian botanist Maximowicz,
who made a special study of these plants, considered
merely a geographical variety of Rhododendron Dauricum,
inhabits south-eastern Siberia, Russian Manchuria and
northern China. C. SS:

Plant Notes.

Beconta Socorrana.—Plants that produce abundant crops
of flowers in northern gardens during the short sunless
days of November and December are not very numerous,
and every addition to their number is eagerly welcomed by
gardeners. Last year we spoke of the value of the winter-
blooming tuberous-rooted Begonia Socotrana, and the sight
of a house in December filled with plants of this Begonia
in the neighborhood of Boston has served to confirm the
good opinion of it we have already expressed. The bulbs
begin to grow and are potted in July, and the first flowers
appear at the very end of October and continue to open for
six or seven weeks, the plants being well covered until
after Christmas. The flowers are large, of a beautiful clear
pink color, borne in ample open clusters and raised well
above the large bright green, lustrous, peltate leaves.
Flowering plants stand well in conservatories, and are
admirably suited for the decoration of dinner-tables ; and
cut flowers remain in good condition for nearly a week in
the temperature of an ordinary living-room. B. Soco-
trana is so easy to cultivate, and increases so rapidly by the
development of new tubers, giving such large results for a
small outlay, that it will probably become a popular florist
plant as soon as it is better known and its value for late
autumn and early winter decoration is understood.

Uxmus racemosa.—The American Elm, or White Elm, as
it is sometimes called, has so long been a favorite tree for
ornamental planting and has been used so universally
along country roads and city streets, by lonely farm cot-
tages as well as in urban parks and the grounds about
stately villas, that our other native Elms have been quite
overlooked. There is an excuse for excluding the Slippery
Elm from public grounds and streets because it is difficult
to save it from the predatory small boy, whose appetite is
tempted by its fragrant and mucilaginous inner bark. Nev-
ertheless, this tree transplants easily, grows rapidly into a
beautiful shape, and is worth a place in any private collec-
tion. The beautiful Cedar Elm, Ulmus crassifolia, ranges
too far south for our climate, although in Texas it is one of
the most graceful of our forest-trees. The Wahoo, too, U.
elata, another attractive tree, is also doubtfully hardy north
of Washington, but there is little excuse for neglecting to
plant the Cork Elm, U. racemosa, also locally called the
Hickory Elm and Rock Elm. It is a useful tree with hard
close-grained wood that polishes well and is valuable for
every purpose where strength, toughness and flexibility are
required, so that it is well worth planting as a timber-tree.
But it is also attractive as a shade-tree for its distinct and
handsome appearance. Atits best it is a hundred feet high,
with a trunk three feet through, a narrow rounded head, and
leaves which are deep green and glossy above, paler and
covered with a soft pubescence below. In autumn these
turn to a clear bright yellow. It does not grow as rapidly
as the White Elm, but it is a vigorous thrifty tree, and

* Rhododendron mucronulatum, Turezaninow, Bull. Soc. Nat. Mosc. X., 155
(1837); #0. Baicalensi-Dahurica, ii., 208.—De Candolle, Prodr., vii., pt. ii., 327-
Rhododendron Dauricum, p mucronulatum, Maximowicz, AZém. Acad. Sct. St.
Pétersburg, sev. 7, xvi., 43 (Rhododendree Asize Orientalis).

SF tte ce APS ee a oe ee PT eT

ES ee ee ee ed eee

ft

FEBRUARY 12, 1896.]

certainly does not deserve the utter neglect with which it
has been treated... The tree has acquired its common name
from the broad, irregular corky wings with which the stiff
branchlets are usually furnished.

Cultural Department.

Amaryllis.

U PON looking over the stock of mature bulbs of Amaryllis
at this time I find that many need encouragement as the
flower-spikes are just showing up. It is sometimes desirable

Garden and Forest.

Ay

65

until warm weather this early start will give the bulbs a long
season of growth, and the foliage will be sufficiently matured
on the arrival of frost in autumn to allow that the pots be put
on their sides under the stages, or in some convenient place in
the greenhouse of no special value for other plants. If the
pots are stood on an earthen bottom after the leaves have died
off it will be found that very little water will be needed during
winter, as the pots will absorb enough moisture from the earth
to keep the roots from becoming too dry. Amaryllis of the
hybrid section, such as are generally grown, are almost truly
deciduous; but a few roots are sure to remain in a living
state, and the more there are the better will be the start made
from this time on. The effort the plant is required to make in

Fig. 7.—Rhododendron mucronu'atum.—See page 64.

to have them come on in succession, and in this case it is best.
not to repot all the bulbs now, but only those that are most
advanced, starting the others later as they require. We have
found, however, that it is not well to retard Amaryllis-bulbs to
any great extent beyond their natural flowering time. Last
year the display would have been of little value to us before
May, and an attempt was made to keep them for this time, but
the spikes received a check, and were not nearly so fine as if
encouraged to come on steadily from the time they were
potted. Indeed, many did not develop beyond the bud-stage.
On the other hand, if started now and kept in moderate warmth

producing the large flowers is considerable, as may be easily
seen by the shrunken condition of the bulbs that were plump
and fat before starting to grow, and it takes them all summer
to recuperate and lay a foundation for the following year. :

At potting-time it will be found that there area number of
young offsets clustered around the parent bulb. It is pretera-
ble to keep to a single bulb in a six or seven inch pot after the
flowering size and strength has been attained, and these offsets
may be planted around the edge of other pots to grow on
separately. If space is limited, later on in early summer they
may be planted out in the open ground, where they will make

66

a good growth if carefully protected from frost, to which
they are most susceptible both in spring and fall. Flowering-
size bulbs may be planted in pots of large size, several in a
pot, but lam of opinion that for decorative purposes they are
more serviceable when dotted in among a groundwork of
green, owing to their scant foliage. A setting of Adiantum
cuneatum is especially useful for this purpose. Another rea-
son wiy pots of a small size are to be preferred is because of
the ease with which these can be stored in winter. They will
stand on a very narrow margin next the walks under the
benches, not too near the heating pipes. It will have much to
do with the popularity of Amaryllis when it is realized how
easy it is to store the pots when the benches are crowded with
other occupants.

For potting material we use a good sound loam made rich
with the addition of bone ground moderately fine. Bone-meal
should not be used, this being apt to close the pores of thesoil
and prevent proper aération, a most important point in the
culture of all pot plants. To assist aération we use coarse sand
and charcoal dust, and if the loam is naturally heavy or reten-
tive some leaf-mold or material from an old Mushroom bed
to lighten it. Amaryllis have thick succulent roots and like a
rich, free-rooting soil.

It is also desirable to place the pots where the soil contained
in them will be at least as warm or a little warmer than the
temperature of the structure in which they are. To accom-
plish this the great English growers place them in a gentle
bottom-heat of some fermenting material until the flowers are
developed. But thisis not necessary if the pots are placed on
a bench over the heating pipes, and some non-conducting mate-
rial, as sand, put between the pots. A part of a propagating
bench is as good a position as one could desire. The roots
will start and grow without any check, and sometimes the
quantity of bloom is doubled by this means,

Thrips are the one enemy to be avoided in Amaryllis cul-
ture, and their work is shown by the under sides of the foliage
turning red in spots. A wash with any approved insecticide
will banish them if followed up once or twice at intervals of a
few days. No shade is needed at any time, except to prolong
their beauty when the flowers expand, the Amaryllis being a
native of south Africa and a sun-loving plant.

This is a good time to sow seeds of a good strain. These
have a peculiar black envelope like tissue-paper. The germ
is small in comparison with the envelope, and the whole is
easily lost from overwatering before germination takes place.
To avoid loss, the seeds should be pressed into the soil on
edge when sowing them, covered lightly with very sandy soil and
placed in a temperature of seventy degrees, Fahrenheit, until
they are well up. Seedlings will be found to keep their foliage
during winter until the flowering stage has been reached ; this
varies from two to three years. As soon as the plants are
strong enough to bloom the leaves will die off each year in
autumn. Young bulbs must, therefore, be given encourage-
ment during winter and summer fromstheir infancy until they
show signs of maturity, and after that they must have an annual
rest of four to five months. There are evergreen species of
Amaryllis in cultivation that have been derived partly from A.
aulica, which is evergreen, and from a packet of seed it is often
noted that some plants are obtained whose leaves never die
down. These are the exceptions, and must be treated accord-
ingly, as an attempt to dry off the foliage will most likely result

in no bloom the following year.
ar,
South Lancaster, Mass. at Or pet.

Showy Acanthads.

ERISTROPHE SPECIOSA, introduced from the East In-
dies about seventy years ago as Justicia speciosa,
was for some time a favorite winter-flowering plant; but
like many others cultivated then it is now seldom seen.
When well grown it is a pleasing subject for an inter-
mediate house in the winter months. Many good Acan-
thads are neglected because they are almost useless for
cutting purposes, their flowers being fugacious. It is unfortu-
nate that many persons like plants only for their usefulness
for cutting, especially as not a few of our most showy flowers
have short lives. Although the flowers of this plant do not
last long when cut, they are produced plentifully on the plants
for several weeks. Peristrophe speciosa is an erect plant,
branching freely, and its stem and branches are thickly clad
with opposite, ovate, acuminate, pale green leaves. The flow-
ers are about one inch long, and the twisted tube is a pale
purplish color, while the two elliptic oblong lips are a rich
carmine-purple. One-year-old plants give the most satisfac-
tion, as they are more neat and compact than older ones. The
tips of the young branches make good cuttings, and if rooted

Garden and Boreas

— [NuMBER 416.

in April and planted out in the garden in May they make large
plants by the end of August, when they should be taken up. ~-

Another Acanthad that deserves special notice at this time
is Strobilanthes anisophyllus. It isa handsome, graceful and
very floriferous plant; in fact, every twig and branch is loaded
with flowers. The graceful branches, about one foot and a
half long, have opposite unequal, lanceolate, acuminate leaves.
Its flowers are of a pleasing lavender color. The showy part
is the corolla, which is more than one inch long and about
three-fourths of an inch wide at the mouth. It was introduced
from Sylhet in 1823 and was known under the generic name
Goldfussia. Another species which flowers at this time, S.
isophyllus, makes a compact little bush, but is not so graceful
as S. anisophyllus. The stems and branches are more erect,
and its leaves equal or nearly so. Its flowers are lavender color
and about the same size as those of S.anisophyllus. Both are
easy plants to grow. Cuttings of the young growth made in
March root easily witha little bottom-heat. When well rooted
they should be put into small pots, giving another shift into
larger potsas needed. As soon as the weather is warm they
should be planted out in the garden, where they grow vigor-
ously if given plenty of water. To get nice bushy plants the
young points of the branches must be cut back regularly until
the last week in July. They may be taken up about the last
week in August, when they will be large enough for six-inch
pots. They thrive in a compost of good loam, mixed with a
small quantity of dried cow-manure and some leaf-mold and
sand, and flower well in a temperature ranging from fifty-five
to sixty degrees. :

Botanic Garden, Harvard University. Le. Cameron.

A Few Momordicas.

HIS genus, which contains some twenty-six species of
annual, or, ina few cases, perennial climbers, is distin-
guished by the neat appearance of the foliage, small yellowish
flowers, the male peduncles of which bear a bract. The fruit
is usually bright-colored and fleshy, bursting open when ripe.
Momordica balsaminea, the Balsam Apple, has deeply and
much laciniated palmate leaves of a dark green color and
short, smooth orange-colored fruit. This species is often con-
founded with M. Charantia, the common Balsam Pear, the
leaves of which are palmate like the other, but the lobes are
rounded and not deeply sharp-pointed. The fruit is yellow,
elongated and covered with many angled tubercles. The fruit
preserved in spirits is commonly used asavulnerary. Another
species which we had here last summer was M. Martineseum.
I can find no record of suchaname. The flowers are whitish ;
leaves a little like those of M. Charantia, and fruit resembling
that of M. balsaminea in shape, but paler in color. Theseeds
were in a collection sent from the West Indies to the Uni-
versity six or seven years ago and had been in the museum
since.

The Momordicas are easy of culture, and the seeds, if placed
in the ground where they are to grow, after danger from frost
is past, will quickly spring up. Given a few strings or wires to
run upon, and left to themselves, they will quickly form a nice
screen, and, what is more important, will retain their dark green
elegant foliage until pretty late in summer, even after all other
cucurbitaceous climbers are withered.

Allied to Momordica is the genus Luffa, which has no bract
on the male peduncle and has a long cylindrical fruit or pepo,
which at length becomes dry and fibrous within. They are
climbers somewhat coarse in appearance, having large leaves
and yellow flowers. The chief interest in these plants lies in
the fibrous fruit which often attains a length of two feet or more.
As it ripens, the outer skin becomes dark and dry; thena little
circular lid at the tip opens and gives the elliptical black seeds
a chance to drop out. The skeleton of the fruit can be used
as a wash-cloth, whence the common name of Wash-cloth
Gourd. Prepared by softening and bleaching it issold indrug
stores for use in the bath-room. There are many species
known, but L. A’gyptiaca is the most common form. They are
easily grown, though, like the rest of the family, they do bestin

a very rich open soil.
Botanic Garden, Univ. of Pa. Alex. MacElwee.

Notes from Santa Barbara.

Tecoma Smithii.—Plants of this shrubby hybrid, raised from
seed received about a year ago from its originator, Mr. Edward
Smith, of Adelaide, South Australia, are in bloom now, and,
for the sake of variety at least, will prove a welcome addition
to our flowering shrubs. It must be confessed, however, that
both the parents of this plant—namely, Tecoma velutina, with
yellow flowers, and T. Capensis, with scarlet flowers—have

ft ae

FEBRUARY 12, 1896.]

more intrinsic ornamental value than this new intermediate
form, which partakes of the characters of both.

Berberis pruinosa.—This recent introduction from Tibet,
through the French missionaries, proves to be a neat and
attractive little shrub, the new growth, the underside of the
leaves and the abundant berries being all pure white and the
flowers sulphur-yellow. Here it flourishes in full sunshine, as
does its antarctic congener, Berberis Darwinii, from southern
Chile and Fuegia. A fine bush of the latter, literally covered
with its rich orange blossoms, is just making a suggestive con-
trast with the numberless bunches of the crimson-flowered
tropical Passiflora princeps, which covers an extensive trellis
close by.

Polygonum elegans.—This is a half-shrubby Buckwheat, grow-
ing about two feet high and twice as much across, with nearly
leafless wiry stems and myriads of small white flowers.
It makes a first-rate plant for the rockery or the herbaceous
border, besides being useful for cut lowers. Itis a native of
Mount Gargano, in southern Italy, and will prove satisfactory,
even if grown in pots.

Tagetes lacera.—This is one of a large number of new plants
lately discovered by Mr. Brandegee in the extreme south of
the peninsula of California. It makes a pretty compact bush,
four to five feet high, well furnished to the base with
finely cut metallic-green foliage, having the peculiar smell of
other Marigolds, and bears a profusion of yellow flowers,
mostly produced in winter. Small plantscan be well bloomed
in pots.”

Pittosporum phyllireoides.—This is a striking species from
the desert regions of Australia and quite distinct in habit
from all others with which we are familiar. It resembles an
evergreen Weeping Willow, with yellowish, rather small soli-
tary flowers in the axils of the leaves, succeeded by far more

conspicuous yellow elliptical fruits. .
Santa Barbara, Calif. FF. Francheschi.

Crassula quadrifida.—This plant is now in full bloom in the
succulent house, and is one of the best of the species. The
leaves are thick and leathery, ovate spathulate in form, at first
sessile, afterward forming a short petiole, and arranged decus-
sately on the stems. The flowers are borne in terminal pani-
cles; the under sides are bright pink and the upper a very
light pink. The parts of the fower are all in fours. The indi-
vidual flowers do not exceed half an inch in diameter, but the
quantity produced makes it a very attractive plant. It is,
moreover, weil adapted for a hanging basket, as the lower
branches droop gracefully round the pot in which it is grow-
ing. Itis also an excellent window-plant, as the leaves are of
good texture, well able to withstand a dry atmosphere and at
the same time it requires but little water.

Cotyledon gibbiflora.—This plant is now in full bloom in the
same house and is better known under the name of Echeveria
metallica. The fleshy leaves are about six inches long by two
wide, arranged alternately round the top of a short thickened
stem, and of a metallic color. The flower-stalks, which are
some two feet in height, grow from the axils of the lower
leaves and are clothed with small leaves alternately disposed.
The flowers of this plant are singularly beautiful, and are what
are termed perfect flowers, all the parts being present. The
calyx is composed of. five spreading sepals, much the same
color as the leaves. The corolla is of a rich salmon, and com-
posed of five upright petals. There are ten stamens and five
pistils.

Perhaps it may be added, in this connection, that one of the
best ways of drying succulent plants for herbariums is to dip
the specimen in very hot water, when it may be pressed with
as much ease as any ordinary plant, and the flowers will retain
their color.

Northampton, Mass.

Edward F. Canning.

The Pleiones._This group of very dwarf, large-flowered
Orchids is now generally included under the genus Ccelogyne.
The plants, although quite beautiful, are seldom seen in this
country, but deserve to be grown even in choice collections.
They are natives of Assam, Nepaul and Sikkim, and
plants with shriveled pseudo-bulbs close to the ground and
deciduous foliage of a membranous texture. The flowers are
produced in great abundance, but are almost sessile and soli-
tary white or rose-colored, with or without yellow veins in the
lip. Some are exceedingly showy, others are chiefly of botani-
cal interest. All flower freely under cultivation—almost
resembling certain varieties of Crocus when seen at a distance.

The flowers appear before the leaf, or, in other words, during’

the period of rest, which occurs at different times for different
species. Most comnton is Pleione lagenaria. The sepals and

Garden and Forest.

67

petals of this species are of a rosy lilac, the lip being pure
white, with yellow and crimson bars and veins. ‘The leaf is
solitary, membranous and plaited, springing from a peculiar
wrinkled, bottle-shaped pseudo-bulb. P. humilis is another
common kind, with flowers smaller than those of the first-
named species, almost white, with the lip marked with brown
and crimson or yellow. The flowers are numerous and ap-
pear late in fall. P. maculata is one of the finest of all, with
pure white sepals and petals and liv barred with crimson and
yellow. The flowers appear late in fall. P. Hookeriana is one
of the smallest of the section, very dwarf, with rose-colored
flowers produced in spring, at the same time as the leaves.
P. Wallichiana has large, sweet-scented flowers of a bright
rose-color. All the species do best in shallow pans, in equal
parts chopped peat, sphagnum and silver sand and an addition
of well-decayed cow-manure. A cool, airy position is most suit-
able tothem. During the growing season an abundance of water
should be given, and then gradually withheld as the young
bulbs have reached a normal size. The plants should then be

allowed to rest until the buds begin to appear.
Newark, N. J. War yocies

Correspondence.

Old Stone Bridges in Pennsylvania.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—Your picture of an English stone bridge again reminds
me that such bridges are numerous in south-eastern Pennsyl-
vania—one over the Pickering Creek, just above where it
empties into the Schuylkill River, in Schuylkill township,
Chester County, forming part of the old highway to Phila-
delphia, along which the armies of Washington and Howe
encamped and marched in the autumn of 1777. Valley Forge
is two miles’ below, There are stone bridges, some of them

-with several arches, over the Perkiomen, the Manatawney, the

Brandywine and other streams in south-eastern Pennsylvania.
The one over the Perkiomen, in Montgomery County, built in
the last century, partly with money raised by a lottery, is the
subject of these appreciative lines which I find in ‘‘ The Per-
kiomen Region”:
The bridge of old-time masonry, intact,
Untouched by passing flood or rising tide,
A monument unshaken, stanch, compact,
Standing so firm and strong, to pick our pride,
Asks us, who builds to-day, with conscience pure,
The sterling structures that shall still endure ?

But, besides the poetess, the county commissioners and
judges of Chester and Bucks Counties have lately been draw-
ing a comparison between the durability of the old stone
bridges and the new and ugly iron bridges. This investiga-
tion shows that the iron structures cost tor repairs, painting,
etc., every year, more than the stone bridges have cost in half a
century.

Philadelphia, Pa. Isaac R. Pennypacker.

Training Tomatoes.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :

Sir,—Referring to the Tomato-trellis described on. page 37,
I would say that for several seasons I have used wire netting
in my garden for training Tomatoes in preference to stakes
and strings. Netting three feet wide, securely tacked to strong
stakes set at intervals of three and a half or tour feet apart was
formerly used, but greater width is desirable. This forms a
perpendicular trellis about four feet high, as the wire should
be placed ten or twelve inches from the ground. Stakes two
by four inches are heavy enough if braced the first season,
although I have used three-inch hard-hack fence-posts. A
light strip of wood may be run across the top for staying the
upper edge of the wire, but this is not essential unless heavy
blankets are to be used for protection against light frosts in
autumn. Raffia, once used for tying the vines to the wire,
will never be superseded by strings ; it is always soft, pliable
and strong, never stretching in wet weather or slipping if
properly tied.

This method of training Tomatoes admits air on all sides
and does not interrupt the sun’s rays. The fruit ripens evenly,
is easily picked and readily protected on cold nights.

An ideal trellis of this sort was developed in a neighbor's
garden the past season. Ten-foot stakes and netting two feet
wide were used. But.the growth of the Ponderosa is phe-
nomenal, and two other strips of netting were added, with a
space of a few inches between them. The result was a hand-
some screen fully eight feet high, thickly decorated with crim-
son fruits. The aspirations of the vines, however, were

68

unsatisfied, and a foot more of netting would have been
covered, The expense of such an arrangement is light, and
the profit and pleasure arising from clean well-ripened fruit is

satisfactory in every way. 4
Pittsford Mills, Vt. G. A. Woolson.

Habits of Ferns.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—Regarding the habits of Aspidium aristichoides (see
page 18), I think that an examination with an ordinary lens
will show that the fronds become prostrate through the decay
of the tissue at a point not farabove the ground. Tomy mind,
these fronds are not ‘protecting themselves from snow,” but
anticipating death, in order to give way to the new fronds next
spring. They are always when prostrate entirely limp at this
point just above the surface.

A specimen at present in our window was taken from the
forest in November last. The matured outer fronds are pros-
trate, but the younger inner ones are as perfectly erect as ever.
At the time this plant was dug most of its neighbors had per-
fected the size ot their fronds, and were then wholly prostrate.
The specimen in question was selected because of its evidently
less mature, and still erect, fronds. It is much admired by
visitors, few of whom know that it is one of our native Ferns.

Cranford, N. J. C. S. Valentine.

Meetings of Societies.

The Western New York Horticultural Society.—III.
WILL IT PAY TO PLANT MORE APPLE ORCHARDS ?

Mr. Willard thought that apple-growing was still too much
neglected. Orchards once profitable are now decaying ; many
are practically worthless, and in western New York there are
not enough young trees planted to take their places. The
acreage of other fruits is increasing, but the one kind of fruit
which a young farmer should plant, because he will be sure
in later life to reap the benefit of such an outlay, is the Apple.
The scab is the worst foe of Apple orchards, and the great
need is scab-proof varieties. The old Baldwin is one of the
kinds which are the worst affected. If badly attacked one season
the effects will continue the next year. The disease can be
held in check by spraying, and the trees should be strength-
ened by strong feeding. Varieties known to be almost scab-
proof should be selected, such as Duchess of Oldenburg,
Sutton’s Beauty and Hubbardston. Sutton’s Beauty is the best
variety we have, and will be free from scab in seasons when
the Baldwin is ruined. Mr. Willard had one tree with Long-
field and Baldwin grafted on the same root. Longfield bore
good fruit and smooth, when the Baldwin apples were worth-
less. Mr. Morris, of Ontario, said that Canadian apples sold
better in the market than the United States apples, not because
of freedom from scab, but because they were packed better.
Mr. Woolverton said that the Government of Ontario sent
three different teams of men to show fruit-growers how to
spray. They did the work well—sprayed in thirty different
places six times—and it was a very helpful experiment. He
found the Cranberry Pippin not superior in quality as a winter
apple, but scab-proof. It commands a good price in Liverpool
and Glasgow, and has been shipped, when carefully selected
and wrapped in tissue-paper, to New South Wales. The Bald-
wins did not stand the journey as well as the Cranberry Pippins,
which were considered the best apples there. Mr. Fowler said

that while the Ben Davis was not found in fancy-fruit stores .

the pie-bakers bought it by the carload. With many people
the Cranberry Pippin was no better than Ben Davis. The
Wealthy is apt to overbear, but, if thinned out, is an excellent
apple, and is practically scab-proof. In Chicago the Ben Davis
brings $2.50, while Snow apples brought out trom cold storage
sold for $6. Mr. Van Deman said that the Mississippi Valley,
from Ohio to Kansas, was the true home of the Ben Davis,
and that the season was not long enough for it in New York
or Ontario. He spoke of the York Imperial as a good business
apple. Stark is not high enough in color, and is astringent in
quality. What the market demands is a rich, bright apple.
York Imperial is far better in quality than the Ben Davis. The
best fruit of this variety is grown in Pennsylvania, and it
stands high in Liverpool markets. Mr. Hale thought that there
was no better outlook for fruit-planting than winter apples of
high quality and bright color. It would pay in New England.
He proposed next spring to plant Sutton’s Beauty, feed it well,
thin the fruit, and then watch and spray.
THE CULTIVATION OF THE DEWBERRY.

According to Mr. J. A. Wilcox, the growing of this fruit

began about twenty years ago, but not until within a dozen

Garden and Borece

[NUMBER 416.

years has any attention been given to it ina large way. Of
about a dozen varieties the best for this region is the Lucretia,
and often where it is said to have failed the roots planted were
not truetoname orthe plants have received impropercare. Mr.
Wilcox had increased his plantation from year to year, and with
continued satisfaction, and only regretted that he did not do so
more rapidly. This Dewberry was found in West Virginia by
a Mr. Williams, of Miami County. Some plants were sent to
his father and five to Mr. Alwell, in Illinois. These last grew
and matured, and from them all the stock has come. Dew-
berries do well on gravel, clay, loam and sandy loam. They
ripen the earliest on gravel, but the loam is the best in dry
seasons. They should not be planted where the roots will
heave or where the snow will blow off. They need all the
sunshine they can get and, therefore, should never be planted
under trees, although wind-breaks help them. They can be
transplanted with the green shoots started, if three or four
inches of the roots are kept, and they should be set about three
inches deep, with the soil compactly pressed about the roots, in
rows six feet apart, with the plants three feet apart in the row.
The plants should be kept clean and the surface loose by fre-
quent cultivation, and a growth of from three to six feet may
be expected the first year. Plants increase from the tips, which
often will color at the ends when they are ready to root. These
tips should be covered to encourage rooting. They will be
ready for this covering at different times, so the field should
be gone over two or three times to get them all. If covered
too soon the tip will keep growing and not root, and the cov-
ering will need to be repeated. When the buds start in the
spring plants should be pruned, and all the wood that has been
winter-killed should be taken out. Three canes three feet
long, or, as the bushes get older, five or six canes may be left.
A wire trellis, preterably three wires, the lower one being three
feet from the ground should be used, and the vines well spread
on the wires. The berries should be picked every other day
as soon as they are well formed and colored, and they will not
turn red if left in the sun after packing as blackberries do.
Cultivation after harvesting is not advised, nor is it advised
while the plants are in blossom, but the special merits of the
Dewberry are its large size and early ripening. Last year the
fruit was fit to market on the 30th of June, which was earlier
than usual and some two weeks ahead of blackberries. The
berries average twelve cents a quart, and the vines yield
2,000 quarts an acre, or under heavy fertilization 3,000
quarts. The demerits of the fruit are that it is not quite as
good as the best blackberries, and the plants are not perfectly
hardy. Itis safest to protect even old plants, and it requires
more skill to grow them than it does the bush berries. So far
the plants are comparatively free from disease, the most
serious one being an insect which bores at the base of the
stalks.
THE BUSINESS OF FRUIT-SELLING.

Mr. J. H. Hale, of Connecticut, said that the marketing of
fruit begins properly with selecting the right varieties and
planting them properly. For complete success the fruit grower
must go to the wholesale market, to the retail market, and, if
possible, to the consumer, to learn just exactly what is wanted.
In this way the grower can, to a certain extent, educate the
market, which is also a good thing, but he must understand
primarily what the people want. The more time a grower
spends in the market the better is the form in which his goods
will be placed. A fine appearance opens the consumer’s
pocket-book, and then quality keeps it open. To makea real
success one must have a genuine affection for his fruit. He
must believe in it, and he must impress this beliefon his pack-
age. After he has done all this he must go to the dealer and
tell him what he proposes to do andimpress this sincere inten-
tion upon him. The commission man must be made his
partner, and the grower should only take asa partner a man
who honestly loves his business, takes an interest in it for its
own sake and for his reputation sake, as well as for mere
money. The grower should induce the marketman to come
and look at his orchards, even if he has to pay his fare. Then
he can say, ‘I know this fruit, I know how it is picked, I saw
it packed and taken care of,” and he will receive more for it
than if his interest was not thus aroused. To catch the eye
the fruit must come as near to maturity as possible to get its
proper color, and it will then hold the consumer, too, as its
finest flavor is only developed in these last hours. The rule
should be: Pick quickly, store promptly in a cool place, cure
carefully, pack honestly, and use such packages as the market
demands, as, for example, baskets for Philadelphia, boxes for
Chicago, etc. Honesty is the best policy; well-graded fruit
will sell for forty per cent. more than ungraded fruit from the
same locality. The Chautauqua grape shippers lose much in

FEBRUARY 12, 1896.]

losing their individuality. An established reputation is worth
a good deal. Certain growers habitually receive twenty-five
per cent. more for the same fruit than their neighbors because
the dealers know their grades. The use of printers’ ink pays.
Buyers ought to know what growers have to sell. There is a
growing demand for the very best. Mr. Hale’s own first-grade
peaches sell the easiest, and they bring $2.50 a basket; the
third grade sells the slowest, and for these he only gets seventy-
five cents,and sometimes only fifty. This year his Georgia
orchard came into bearing. He hada man in each large city
who devoted his entire time to placing his peaches during
their short season. He never ships'to more than one man in
any place. These chosen men were enterprising; they had
informed retailers of what was coming, so that the crop was
picked, packed and railroaded as rapidly as possible to a mar-
ket already waiting for the product. Mr. Hale attributes
whatever success he has made largely to methods of market-
ing. There is certainly not enough profit in the fruit business
to let this practical end of it run itself.

PEACH-GROWING.— This industry is profitable in western
New York, if conducted on strictly business principles.
Peaches have the advantage of coming into bearing earlier
than Apples. The fruits should always be thinned, so that
they remain from six to eight inches apart on the branches.
The trees will grow on almost any soil, if the cultivation is
adapted to it, but, according to Mr. Hale, a light loam is an
ideal Peach soil, except for Crawford’s Late. The fourth-year
trees on light land are twice the size of those on clay. Perfect
drainage is essential, and thorough cultivation. The Crawford
is the most tender type of Peaches, while Elberta is one of the
hardiest, ranking with Mountain Rose and Stump. Mr. Hale
thins when the peaches are about the size of a walnut. He
prunes to a single stem at planting, with three main branches
shortened in to six inches or more, and cuts away the limbs
which interfere. He wants low-headed, well-branched trees
shortened back every year about a half of the growth. He
prunes for form, but does not prune until the buds are swollen,
so that he can be sure to cut away dead wood. In this way he
often gets badly formed trees, but they bear fruit. The dis-
tance trom the ground to the first branch is from fifteen to
twenty-four inches.

Peninsula Horticultural Society.

HE ninth annual meeting of the Peninsula Horticultural
Society was held in Denton, Maryland, a fortnight ago.

The Fruit Committee reported the Tennessee Strawberry as
one of the most promising. It is as early as Meek and pro-
duced well the past season. Greenville is one of the most
desirable for ordinary growers. Timbrell and Marshall have
not met expectations. Brandywine, on the lower part of the
peninsula, shows a tendency to rust; Lady Thompson lacks
productiveness, but is highly praised by many who have fruited
it; Bubach is the most extensively grown. The Strawberry
weevil, Anthonomus signatus, seriously injured the perfect
flowering varieties in the vicinity of Denton the past season.
The best preventive is the single-crop system and burning
over the fields soon after the berries are picked.

The Blackcap Raspberries have not proved a profitable crop,
and the early red varieties have almost entirely superseded
them. The Miller is largely planted and has proved productive
and a good shipper. Loudon is promising. Marion isa stout
grower. The Wilson Blackberry has been partially discarded
for a few years, butis now coming to the front again and has
been quite largely planted. Maxwell and Eldorado are on trial ;
the latter, though producing fine crops of large berries, may
prove too late in ripening. Lincoln is worthy of a trial.

Many Peach orchards failed the past season on account of
the destruction of the blossoms by a fungus which was aided
by the moist condition of the atmosphere. Yet the reports
show that from two-thirds to three-fourths of a crop brought
remunerative prices. Elberta has proved one of the most
desirable varieties. The Committee on Peaches reported that
the area of young orchards is on the increase in western Mary-
land. While the last season’s crop was below the average in
yield, satisfactory prices were secured by the growers, and the
money was received as soon as the fruit was loaded into the
cars.

Plums and Apples have been largely planted during the
year. The Japanese varieties of Plums give the best satisfac-
faction; Abundance, Burbank and Ogon being most exten-
sively planted. An acreand three-fourths of land near Smyrna,
Delaware, which was planted five years ago with one hundred
and fifty Abundance, ten Kelsey and ten Ogon trees, between
the rows of which were 1,200 Currant-bushes, netted the owner
$650 during the past season.

Garden and Forest.

69

A marked feature of the meeting was the display of fruit
from Delaware and Maryland. There were 250 plates of
apples exhibited, comprising ninety varieties, several varieties
of pears, chestnuts, walnuts and filberts. A striking contrast
was shown between the apples from trees sprayed during the
season and from those not sprayed, the fruit from the former
being much fairer and of better color than that from the un-
sprayed trees.

The San José scale appears to have gained a foothold in
numerous localities in Maryland, and vigorous measures will
be necessary to prevent extensive damages to the fruit interests
of the state in future. Mr. R. S. Emory, of Chestertown,
has been making a vigorous fight the past year to exter-
minate it in portions of his Pear orchards, which have become
badly infested. He stated that whale-oil soap, manufactured
from oil containing its original impurities, had proved effectual
in destroying the scales. He used two and a half pounds of
the soap to one gallon of hot water, and sprayed the hot mix-
ture on the trees after the leaves had fallen. Mr. Emory has
one block of almost 300 Pear-trees, planted in the fall of 1888,
which were found to be nearly covered with the scale in the
fall of 1894. Since that time he has repeatedly treated them
with various insecticides, such as kerosene emulsion, whale-
oil soap, etc. At this time the hot mixture of whale-oil soap
appears to have been effectual in freeing the trees from the
scale. The Delaware Experiment Station officials reported
that 116 suspected orchards in Delaware had been visited and
the trees examined during the past season. The San José
scale was found in thirteen localities in the state. The infested
trees, in nearly every instance, were at once destroyed, and
others have been treated with insecticides under the supervi-
sion of the station entomologist. The society urges the pas-
sage of laws that will prove effectual in preventing the spread
of injurious insects and fungal diseases, and, whenever prac-
ticable, to exterminate the same.

Mr. J. J. Rosa, of Milford, Delaware, a successful grower of
Sweet-potatoes, gave an interesting talk on his method of cul-
tivation. The Big Stem Jersey variety gives the best satisfac-
tion. The plants are grown by the use of bottom-heat, and
from a bed ten by forty feet he took more than ten hundred
thousand plants. The potatoes are stored soon after digging,
and kept at a uniform temperature of sixty degrees. The
yield in 1894 was 650 baskets of marketable tubers from an
acre and 200 baskets of culls. The baskets held five-eighths of a
bushel each. The receipts from four and a half acres of Sweet-
potatoes in 1894 were $433; in 1895 the crop from the same
land was sold tor $650.

Mr. H. E. Van Deman, ex-United States Pomologist, was re-
elected President ; Mr. W. Webb, Secretary and Treasurer. The
next annual meeting will be held in Milford, Delaware.

M. H, Beckwith.

Delaware Agricultural Experiment Station.

Recent Publications.

Number 6 of the third volume of the Con/ributions from
the United States National Herbarium is devoted to a list of
plants collected by Mr. Frederick Funston on the shores of
Yakutat Bay, in Alaska, and prepared by Dr. F. V. Coville,
of the Department of Agriculture. One hundred and sixty-
eight species are included in the list, to which is prefixed
Mr. Funston’s interesting Field Report, from which it
appears that Picea Sitchensis, the Tide-water Spruce, is the
common tree of the region, growing to a height of seventy
feet and extending from the level of the sea to an altitude of
2,200 feet on the slopes of Mount Tebenkof. ‘This tree
plays an important part in the economy of the Alaska
Indians ; with it they construct their houses and canoes ;
it is used in the manufacture of oil-crates, bows, arrows
and other implements, and the small roots, boiledand split,
are employed in basket-weaving. The Hemlock, Tsuga
Mertensiana, is found scattered through the forest of
Spruces with about the same vertical range as that tree,
although it is much less abundant and of smaller size. The
third conifer found by Mr. Funston in this region was asingle
individual of the Sitka Cypress, Chamecyparis Nootka-
tensis. The common deciduous-leaved tree is the Red
Alder, Alnus Oregona, which Mr. Funston noticed in great
quantities in the forest region, especially on the edges of
open glades, along the banks of streams and on the moun-
tain sides, where it ascends to higher elevations than the
Spruce, extending up Mount Tebenkof eight hundred feet

70

higher than the Spruce and Hemlock, or to about three
thousand feet, growing on these high slopes in jungles so
dense as to be almost impenetrable, and constituting one
of the most serious obstacles to mountain climbing,

A Blueberry, Vaccinium ovalifolium, a shrub four feet in
height, forms a large part of the forest undergrowth near the
coast. The dark purple berries, rather larger than peas, are
collected in great quantities by the Indians, who use them
fresh and preserve them for winter, drying the fresh berries
by artificial heat. In September, immediately after the close
of the fishing season, nearly all the women and children
devote themselves to collecting and drying blueberries for
winter. The fruit of Rubus spectabilis, the well-known
Salmon berry of the north-west coast, ripens in August and
is also an important article of food among the natives.
This fruit is usually crushed in a wooden bowl and eaten
with sea-oil, and is not preserved for winter use.

Notes.

Mr. James A. Pettigrew, late Superintendent of Parks in
Milwaukee, has been appointed Superintendent of Parks in
Brooklyn, in place of Rudolph Ulrich, who has resigned his
position, -the resignation dating from the first of March.

The Botanic Garden of the University of Pennsylvania is
hardly more than a year old, and consisted originally of six
acres of very rough land, Already a little lake takes the place
of what was a gravel pit; there are bog and aquatic gardens, a
rock garden, a bulb garden, an Iris garden, an herbaceous
garden and a great many trees and shrubs, so that more than
three thousand species are already represented. Professor J.
H. Mactarlane is Director, and Alexander MacElwee the head-
gardener.

The herbarium of the late John H. Redfield, of Philadelphia,
which is extremely rich in Ferns from all parts of the world
and in North American plants generally, containing all the sets
made during the last fifty years in the western and south-
western parts of the country, is to be sold by the Philadelphia
Academy of Sciences, to which it was bequeathed under Mr.
Redfield’s will. The money derived from its sale, as well as
that lately obtained from the sale of his botanical library, will
form the nucleus of a Redfield fund of $20,000 his friends hope
to raise tor the benefit of the Botanical Department of the
Academy, which Mr. Redfield served taithfully for many years
as curator.

East River Park is one of the comparatively new pleasure-
grounds of this city which includes two blocks on the river, in
one of the densely inhabited districts of the city between
Eighty-fourth and Eighty-sixth Streets. A correspondent of
The Sun of this city writes to say that just as soon as the im-
provement of the land was begun and the place grew in attrac-
tiveness the character of the neighborhood at once changed
for the better, the houses became neater, cleanliness was more
general, there was less dissipation, for the people now sit in
the park instead of in the saloons. Altogether the change
wrought in a congested neighborhood is reported as remark-
able, and it furnishes a strong argument for providing more
open spaces in the tenement-house districts.

Not long ago Mr. J. L. Normand, of Marksville, Louisiana,

sent to this office what he considered the fruit of Benincasa
cerifera, but which seems to be the fruit of Sicana odorifera,
a Brazilian cucurbitaceous plant. This fruit is about a foot
long, three inches in diameter, with rounded ends, of a deep
crimson color and delightfully fragrant. In its natural state it
does not appear be at all edible, but Mr. Normand has made
some preserved preparations which he considers worth some-
thing. Benincasa ceritera, the so-called White Gourd of India,
is more nearly spherical, greenish in color, covered with a
waxy bloom, andis used while green in making curries. If
seeds of this Sicana are started early in pots and the plants set
in rich soil after all danger of trost is over, they make a large
growth in a single season. One of Mr. Normand's plants
climbed, it is said, to the top of a good-sized dead tree and
produced two hundred fruits, which weighed from four to six
pounds each.

A few Florida oranges are included in the stock of the
best fruit stores, and cost $1.00 each. A limited quantity
of Navel oranges from that state recently secured by the
old retail fruit house of W. & C. Smith, on lower Broad-
way, is selling for from seventy-five cents to $2.00 a dozen.
Previous to the freeze in Florida a year ago last December

Garden and Forest.

>. [NUMBER 416. |

$4.00 a box for grape-fruit was a high price in the wholesale
markets of this city, but in view of the unusual scarcity as
much as $18.00 a box is now asked, and retail dealers are
forced to sell this fruit at $6.00 a dozen. The experiment is
being made of introducing some bitter oranges from the
Bahamas, to take the place of grape-fruit, the initial importa-
tion last week selling at $2.00 a box. Selected pineapples from
Havana cost fifty cents each at retail, and large smooth Cayenne
pineapples from Florida, beautifully colored and with luxuriant
tops, command double this price. Showy Lady-apples from
Missouri bring twenty cents a dozen. Long Island Newtown
pippins, mottled and brightly colored, and the green and russet
Albemarle pippin from Virginia cost sixty cents a dozen for
selected fruits. Pint boxes of small but well-colored strawber-
ries from Florida cost fifty cents. The first Charleston straw-
berries were seen here last week.

Besides celery from this state and New Jersey, this vegetable
is now supplied by some of the middle western states and
Calitornia. The latter state is also sending tomatoes, the prin-
cipal field-grown supplies coming from Key West, Florida,
and Cuba. Smooth, even-sized and beautifully colored toma-
toes from Pennsylvania hot-houses cost thirty-five cents a
pound. Lettuce is coming from Louisiana in small lots, the
dependence being on Florida, South Carolina and Virginia.
Egg-plants, beets and string-beans also come from Florida,
and new peas from the same state cost $1.00 a half-peck. The
first Florida cabbage of the season has been forwarded, but is
not yet fully grown. The regular winter supply of, home-
grown cabbage is nearly exhausted, and that imported trom
Denmark now constitutes the main supply. Norfolk is send-
ing kale and spinach, and Bermuda is contributing a variety of
new crop vegetables, as potatoes, onions, carrots and beets.
Asparagus from Charleston brings $2.50 a bunch; a dozen
long shoots from near-by hot-houses, and enough of a luxury
to be held together by narrow ribbon, cost $1.00, and the less
crisp and fresh product from western glass houses may be had
for sixty cents. Large mushrooms of uniform size and even
color from Long Island forcing-houses are offered at $1.00 a
pound, some hardly less attractive costing sixty to seventy-five
cents.

Beds of many colored Tulips and other gay bulbous flowers,
which made gardens of the florists’ windows a few weeks ago,
have given way to other suggestions of approaching spring,
as branches of Pussy Willow thickly set with downy catkins,
and of Forsythia, the golden bells in luxuriant flowering on the
nearly leafless stems. Small plants of Heaths continue to be
a conspicuous offering, although many of the best plants are
still in the greenhouses of cultivators and will not be seen in
city stores until the Easter season. The window exhibits of
florists are more than a display of stock, and in the best estab-
lishments are both tasteful and artistic. A crowded window
of thickly placed plants, without reference toarrangement or
color, is rare enough to impress this fact. Groups of Cine-
rarias are likely to make exasperating masses of color, but a
few of these plants in the window of a store on Fifth Avenue
appeared to really pleasing advantage, the bouquet-like mass
of flowers set in the immense leaves. Pink and white Azaleas
are among the best-flowered and most beautiful plants now
seen, and Cytisus racemosus and the more delicate flowers
and foliage of Acacia dealbata give the touch of yellow which
seems necessary in a collection. In one window the moss-
draped trunk and branches of a tree constitute the main attrac-
tion, with Orchids growing from the bark and openings, an
owl and hornet’s nest being added for more realistic effect.
In another a great vase of Bride roses was easily the most
attractive object in a collection of cut flowers,.and large deep
buds, the edges of the outer petals beautifully recurved, made
a richer show in their ivory whiteness than any of the more.
brilliantly colored flowers. An exceptional stem of this par-
ticularly well-grown lot measured four feet, the average being
more than two feet in length. Marie Louise violets, in bunches
of fifty blossoms, command $1.50. Tiny spikes of a dwarf
mignonette, very attractive in their neat form, cost thirty-five
cents a dozen, and great spikes of the same flower measuring
nearly a foot in length cost fifty cents each. The brightest and
showiest bits of color are made by neat little buds of Papa
Gontier roses, which sell for the reasonable price of a dollara
dozen. Sprays of white and purple lilac are included in the
best offerings of cut Mowers. An original effect with the
charm of simplicity is a window measuring, perhaps, seven
by eighteen feet, the margin framed with a wire foundation
fitteen inches wide, hidden with smilax and dotted with
Bridesmaid roses. A mass of well-grouped Palms set back
some six feet furnish the satisfying picture tor this beautiful
frame. :

FEBRUARY I9, 1896. |

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrick: TRIBUNE Buitpinc, New York.

Conducted by . « . - - « «© « « « « Professor C. S. SARGENT.

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY to, 1896.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

EpirortaL ARTICLE :—The Surroundings of Statues and Monuments.... AGS
Rate of Growth of the Long-leaf Pine..... ........+.-+4 4. K. Mlod: cy.
A Botanical Journey in Texas.—II.... ..-.& WN. Plank.
Piant Norss :—Clematis paniculata. (With figure
CutturaL DEPARTMENT :—Notes on Begonias.....-
Dipladenias.......-
Notes on Geraniums.
Cypripedium insigne
Jatropha hastata......
CorRESPONDENCE :—Propaga

Carr.

g
Glagsives=.

Growing Lettuce under eo 78
Cypripediums at Langwater Garden -.T. D. Hatfield. 78
MEETINGS oF SocieTIEs :—The Western New Society.—lV... 78
RECENT PUBLICATIONS ..-+-+-+ sees 5 79
NOTES....0 cece ce cece secscce seers cccees cance nner censteeee seseeess e- 80
ILLUSTRATION :—Clematis paniculata in a Massachusetts Garden, Fig. 8......... 75

The Surroundings of Statues and Monuments.

E have often said that in this country the placing of
outdoor statues and monuments is not properly
considered. Such works cannot have their most effective
exposure nor can they increase the attractiveness of their
surroundings, unless they are artistically adapted to the
special character and the special arrangement of neighbor-
‘ing objects. The effect of its environment upon the work of
art, and the effect of the work upon its environment should
be considered with equal care. And this care can be rightly
bestowed only if the site is selected before the monument
is designed. At the very least, the general character of
the probable site should be thoroughly well understood in
advance.

The folly of disregarding these plain truths has recently
been shown by the attempt to secure a monumental statue
of General Sherman for the city of Washington. Excep-
tionally fine sites for monuments of all kinds exist in that
city ; and from all accounts the models recently put on
exhibition are interesting and varied in character. Yet the
first thought excited in the minds of all who have examined
these models seems to have been the difficulty of deciding
between them, for the reason that no one had any idea
where the accepted design would eventually be placed.

One of the newspapers of the city remarked that with
this thought, as it inevitably arose, came “a feeling of in-
justice, not to the artists personally, for they all share alike
in the disadvantage, but to their art itself, in asking for
competitive designs without any indication of the kind
of location the proposed monument is to occupy. It will
readily be seen how a design of superior excellence in
itself may fail of success because not so well suited to
certain finally chosen surroundings as another of less
merit; also that every artist was placed in a trying
dilemma, whether to try to adapt his work in a blind sort
of way to all possible surroundings at the sacrifice of
artistic completeness and strength, or to design with a
view to an imagined combined effect of statue and envi-
ronment at the risk of being thrown out for want of these
conditions.”

Garden and Forest. 71

Some of the competitive designs were elaborate construc-
tions with terraces, balustrades or parapet-walls. Others
showed the chief equestrian figure upon a highly wrought
pedestal adorned by subordinate figures or groups; and
others presented this figure in isolation upon a simple
pedestal. The mere fact that, among the designs of the
last-named class, the pedestals varied conspicuously in
height, complicated judgment upon the intrinsic merits of
the works by bringing in the question of appropriate
placing. And, of course, the more elaborate the composi-
tions were, and the more dominant their architectural ele-
ments, the greater became the importance of the matter of
placing and environment.

Four of these varied compositions were eventually
selected from the many. But just here an evil only too
common in American practice once more has obtruded
itself; thatis, the decision of the distinguished sculptors who
had been selected as experts to pronounce upon the merits
of the models was not fully accepted by the representatives
of the Army of the Tennessee, the donors of the statue.
Only one of the four models which has received the
honor of published preference, and the author of which
has been admitted to the final competitions, was among
the four which the expert jury pronounced the best,
After such a bad beginning, the Committee of the Army
of the Tennessee has now to decide upon the site
it prefers, and to obtain official permission to use it. It
is stated that this choice will be made before the four prize-
takers begin to elaborate their ideas for the final competi-
tion. Butit is already too late to utilize the fine artistic
opportunity to the full. The committee must be confused
in its selection of a site by the varying character of the four
models for which it has shown its preference; and when
the site is chosen more than one of the competitors will
be forced to alter his idea conspicuously, or, perhaps, to
recast it into a composition of an entirely different kind.
This fact is made plain when we say that one of the chosen
designs shows a very tall pedestal, surmounted by an
equestrian statue, adorned with large reliefs and surrounded
by allegorical figures, all raised upon an elaborate archi-
tectural base, while another shows a much lower pedestal
with an exedra behind it; that is to say, one of these two
monuments should be equally conspicuous from all points
of view, while the other should be so set that the front view
would be much more important than any other.

The proper method of procedure in a case like this would
have been to choose a site at the very outset, after consult-
ing with the experts who were to judge the models in
regard to the general character which would be desirable
for the monument itself. Thus, an intelligent choice among
varying sites could have been made, and, on the other
hand, the artist would have had a definite, or, at least,
general idea to work upon. Or, still better, in a city where
monumental sites are so fine and so diverse as they are in
Washington, two or three sites of different sorts might have
been chosen, with the understanding that it was open to
each competitor to decide for which one he would prepare
his design, and that his design would then be judged upon
its intrinsic merits, as adapted to that special situation and
no other. Thus the danger of possible loss through the
checking of some fine idea by too narrow a limitation of
opportunity would have been avoided, and yet the sculp-
tors would not have been obliged to adapt their work “in
a blind sort of way to all possible surroundings at the sac-
rifice of artistic completeness and strength,” or else “to
design with a view to an imagined combined effect of
statue and environment” which it might prove impossible
to realize in fact.

When it comes toa decision between the merits of works
offered in competition, as little as possible should lie in the
scale besides the intrinsic excellence of the respective
models. And this state of things can be brought about
only if the competitors have in advance a clear idea with
regard to the special site, or, at least, the special kind of site
for which their work is desired.

72 Garden and Forest.

Rate of Growth of the Long-leaf Pine.

HE rate of growth of the Long-leaf Pine, Pinus palustris,

given in the accompanying table, is based upon the
measurements of sixty-five trees from various stations
within its range. The measurements of the individual
trees were extended enough to enable the Division of For-
estry, with a sufficient number of properly selected trees,
say, from 400 to 500 of a species, to make a complete investi-
gation regarding its growth and progessive development.
But while the biological laws of this species cannot be
determined until a greater number of trees is examined, the
rate of growth may be more or less clearly demonstrated
by the analysis of the individuals already measured.

Heicut Growrn.—The growth in height of Long-leaf
Pine is comparatively slow for the first four or five years
(about three or four inches); for the next two or three years
the height growth has not been fully investigated, though
it is also said to be slow. The most rapid stage of height
growth begins with the seventh or eighth year, and con-
tinues to the 30th or 35th year, and amounts to from 16 to
17 inches annually. A tree 30 or 35 years old is from 37
to 44 feet high. From the 3oth to the 5oth year the annual
growth in height begins to lessen, and is not more than 12
inches. A tree 50 years old is from 56 to 60 feet high.
From the 50th to the 80th year the height growth rapidly
decreases to about six inches annually, and grows less and
less up to the age of from go to 100 years, when the tree
reaches its full height growth—that is, from 76 to 80 feet.
That Long-leaf Pine actually reaches about its full height in
from go to 100 years is easily learned from the measure-
ments of old trees which in from 225 to 300 years reacha
total height not exceeding 108 to 118 feet.

DramETeR GrowtH.—The diameter accretion of Long-leaf
Pine is rapid for the first 30 years, when its trunk thickens
by 1.6 inches (bark excluded) for each decade. For the
next 50 years there is noticed a slight decrease in the
diameter accretion, and for each decade only 1.4 inch is
produced. A tree 80 years old at breast-height is 13 inches
in diameter, including bark ; this decrease of diameter ac-
cretion continues with age, being 1.2 inches for each decade
between 80 and 100 years, 0.9 of an inch between 100 and
120, and 0.8 of an inch between 120 and 140 years. From
the 140th year the diameter accretion falls very rapidly, its
increase not exceeding 0.3 to 0.4 of an inch for each of the
successive decades.

While the diameter accretion decreases with age—that is,
while the rings become. narrower from the centre of the
tree to its periphery—the areas formed by them on the
cross-sections, excluding the 20 central rings, are almost
equal for the third, fourth, fifth and sixth decades. With
the seventh decade, though, there is an increase of the
areas, compared with those of the previous years; that
increase is almost the same for the successive decades up
to 140 years inclusive. Thus, dividing the time of the
diameter growth into two periods, the areas of every 10.
rings on the cross-section are almost equal within the lim-
its of each period. It will be readily understood that each
ring must be thinner with the increase of diameter.

Mass Accretion. —Speaking of mass accretion, it will be
more convenient to consider separately the annual increase
of the volume of a tree and that for certain periods. We dis-
tinguish two kinds of annual accretion : one, an average
annual increase of the mass, produced for the total age of
tree, which can be easily obtained by dividing the volume
of the tree by its age. The other, called current accretion,
is simply the increase of volume of a tree for a given year
of its age.

From the table given below it will be seen that both
current and average annual accretions, being scarcely per-
ceptible for the first years, become gradually larger and
larger till they reach their maximum point, and, remaining
at those points for a couple of years, begin to decrease first
gradually and slowly, then rapidly. It will be seen, also,
that while the current accretion, passing its culmination

NuMBER 417.

point, becomes smaller and smaller, the average annual
accretion still increases, approaching the maximum and
becomes almost equal to the current accretion when the
tree is between 160 and 170 years of age. The age of a
tree, when its average annual accretion becomes equal
to the current accretion, is equal to that of the maxi-
mum point of the average annual accretion. The same
is true with regard to all species.* The difference will
be only in the age at which different species reach the
stage of maximum growth. It depends a great deal upon
the conditions under which the species is growing—that is,
soil, moisture, climatic and forestry conditions. Thus the
correlation between the current and average annual accre-
tion is of great economical value, for it determines the time
when a species reaches the stage of its maximum growth.
The rotation for Long-leaf Pine, should it depend on the
stage of maximum growth, would lie between 160 and 170
years.
RATE OF GROWTH OF THE LONG-LEAF PINE.
(Published in advance by permission of the Division of Forestry.)

ad Se, Volume. Periodical accretion. A
a. |e? % Ass a 8
SH2lnge| 8 : 5 2
Sm lsoe| £ : g Sigh ese
SE EES) 5 $| 8 }2lesel ¢ | 3] 8
ee 58 tl =, Tree. |’ Log. 8 B e gb ae s
Gn | eel 2) gia lea| © | es] s
ge [he | = A BSB ae ele
ja [8 s)
a. ~ [| Cubie | Cubic a Sq’re] Cubic] Cub.| Cub.
Ins. |{Feet. | Feet.| feet. | feet. Ins. |Feet| feet. | feet. | feet. | feet.
10) en g | 0.12 Ist] 1.4) 9 |O.01) 0.12/0.01 0.01
20 | 3.8 23. || 120 2d} 1.814 Jo 04) 1.08/0.06)0.11
30 | 5 5} 37 3535) 3d] 1.6)14 }o.07| 2.150. 11/0.21
40 | 7.0 16 | 48 | 7.06) 5.61] 4th} 1.2/11 |o.08) 3.71/0.18|0. 37
50 | 8.1] 24 | 56 }10.75| 9.30] 5th] 1.2] 8 |o.08| 3.690.21\0. 37
60 | 9.6 34 | 62 |15.26)13.99] 6th} 1.4) 6 jo. 12) 4 51j0.25]0.45
70 |I1.5) 44 | 67 |2 16/23 11] 7th} 1.6] 5 Jo.17| 8.golo 35/0.89
80 |13.0, 52 2 133.18/32 27] 8th! 1.6) 5 jo.19) g.02/0 41/0.90
90 |14.5 56 76 |43.57|42 66] oth] 1.2] 4 Jo 16'10 3910.48) 1.04
100 |16.0, 60 | 80 |55.85|54.94]roth} 1.2) 4 |o.17,12.280.56)1.23
120 |18.0. 65 | 87 |76.87)75 eee 1.8] 7 ]o.3021.0210.64,1.05
140 |19.5| 72 | 93 |96.44/95-49 pa 1.6] 6 jo 29 19.620.69 0.98
160 |20.5 80 | 98 12. 3}ri1.5)tote 0.8] 5 |o.16|15.86\0.700.79
180 |21.3' 85 |103 t22.ofran.2|tZth 0.7| 5 |0.12|10.7 |0.67|0.53

But in fixing the rotation there ought to be taken into
consideration the so-called stage of maximum value—that
is, the stage when a cubic foot in the tree has its greatest
value. For instance, one cubic foot in a tree 160 years old
is worth $0.05 ; the same cubic foot in the same tree when
it is 180 years old will be worth $0.07. With age the tree
increases not only its mass, but also the value of the mass
laid up previously, because the boards made from the old-
est tree, being of a larger size, will bring a larger price.
For Long-leaf Pine under the conditions of its present
growth a rotation of 200 years is suggested as being the
most economical that can be adopted.

In the table is shown the increase of volume for every
ten years ; we call it periodical accretion. A close exam-
ination of the figures given will give an idea as to the rate
of volume growth of Long-leaf Pine.

Quite different would be the case under forestry manage-
ment. In our records of tree measurements there are two
whose environments in the forest are the same as those that
would take place under management. Tree No. 314 (see
table below), fifty-three years old, is from a moderately
dense forest, the crowns of the trees being equally closed
from all sides, thus forming a favorable roof-cover for that
age. A Long-leaf Pine up to 90 to 100 years—that is, when
it has reached its full height—being surrounded by
neighbors of the same age—is competing with them for

* A mathematical proof of this law is given by Eger in Allg. Forst und Fagdzeitung
for 1842, p.175. Another, by means of calculus, is found there for 1870, p. 482.

DeWeese Se ee een

SO ee ater,

3
3

FEBRUARY Ig, 1896.]

light, and thus striving to increase its height growth, to
be the first in stretching out its crown and to be the first in
attaining the end of its biological destination to bear seeds.
The trees are increasing their height vigorously, the trunks
are regular in shape, clear of limbs, straight, and their
diameter is not decreased so rapidly in proportion to the
height. The forester will maintain the full cover in
order to get all the advantages of the serviceable strug-
gle among the individuals until they reach their full height.
Then he should break the roof cover to give perfect free-
dom to the crowns, and to get all the light possible, which
will increase the width of the annual ring, and thus the
volume of tree. Tree No. 309, 140 years old, and tree No.
19, 149 years old, have perfectly free crowns and stand, as
the record states, in the open forest. That would be
exactly the condition under which they would be placed

in a properly managed forest.
The following are the measurements of these trees:
“ We =F Height. | Volume Accretion.
a i ae Tree. | Log | Tree | Log. | iNetage |Current.
| |
BITAC eG 3 T2560") 35 19.96 T7204" | O37. | 0.42
309 | 149 Qhe5i || LOz | 86°] 142.18 | Tar. 13 0.99 2.40
LQ 160/025) 5) | LDL | 83 | 176.96 | 170.23 eat | ok ae)
i

Comparing these figures with those given in the ble. it
will be seen that while Long-leaf Pine, under its present
conditions, is not of much value when it is fifty years old,
producing only four cubic feet in a log twenty-four feet
long and eight inches in diameter ; the same Pine, properly
situated, would produce four times as much in a log thirty-
five feet long with twelve and one-half inches in diameter.
Not only would it grow well, giving an average annual
accretion of 0.37, instead of 0.21 cubic feet, but it also
promises to be thrifty in the future, for the current accre-
tion is o 42 instead of 0.37. The difference in the rate of
growth will be more appreciated when compared at the
age of 140 to 160 years. While a tree in a dense forest
forms a log of 67 to 82 cubic feet, in the open forest the
tree produces 148 to 177 cubic feet in a log of a larger size ;
while the 140-year-old tree, with deficiency of light,
increases its volume for the next twenty years 16 cubic
feet ; the same tree with plenty of light in eleven years
gives an increase of 36 to 37 cubic feet. This shows plainly
that Long-leaf Pine in its rate of growth is very sensitive to
light conditions. That Long- leaf Pine is a light-needing
species may be also shown by the measurements of trees
growing under shade and cover of neighboring trees. In
the tree records there are such trees noted 70 to 120 years
old with a total volume not exceeding 4 to 8 cubic feet.

It is left to the reader to draw his own conclusions as to
what would be the profit to the southern states should the
Long-leaf Pine be placed under forestry managementin that

section. 2
Washington, D.C. A, K. Mlodziansky.

A Botanical Journey in Texas.—II.

ONTINUING our journey up the Rio Grande, late in the
afternoon we reached Shumla, a railway station

about three miles beyond the Pecos River, but much nearer
the Rio Grande. Early in the morning of the next day,
equipped for a botanical ramble, I visited the Pecos River,
a long stream extending from its junction with the Rio
Grande through Texas and nearly across New Mexico. In
years of rain itis alargestream. The railway bridge across
the river at this point is a marvel of engineering science,
being the highest bridge in North America. Its extreme
length is twenty-one hundred and eighty feet, and it is
three hundred and twenty-one feet high. The river here is
very narrow, as is the bottom of the cafion through which
it flows, and the bridge practically spans the entire valley.
The extreme height of the bridge is so great that it appears
too light and airy to support even its own weight, much

Garden and Forest.

73

less the weight of the heavily loaded trains that cross it.
A narrow winding path leads down the left bank of the
cafion to the river, and it is only when the visitor reaches
the bottom of the cafion that he realizes the great height
and magnitude of the bridge. :

The vicinity of Shumla proved a good locality for botan-
izing. The bluffs adjoining the Pecos are, perhaps, as
much as any portion of western Texas, a favorite haunt of
the Resurrection Plant, Bird’s Nest, or, as Mexicans call it,
Siempre vive, the Selaginella lepidophylla of botanists.
Individual plants everywhere on the bluffs crowd their
neighbors and car-loads of them could now be gathered,
and, perhaps, have been gathered here. This species is
remarkable for the plan that it has devised to save itself
from dying of thirst. Its broad laciniate leaves, which in
wet times are completely spread and prostrate, as dry
weather comes on coil themselves so tightly that their
upper faces remain freshand green, while their lower faces
become faded and dry, giving to the plant the appearance
of a rounded dead mass of vegetation, something like a
small bird’s nest. The plant is not dead, but sleeping,
and when the rains come, or when immersed in water, it
quickly revives and opens its green surfaces to air and sun.
The plant roots deeply in the crevices of rocks, so that it
requires the use of a trowel, or several vigorous kicks from
a stout shoe, to loosen its hold.

Sotol, Dasylirion Texanum, the great native forage plant
of this region, is common on the high mesas and mountain
sides. It becomes five to eight or more feet tall, with two
or three feet of the upper portion of its stems covered with
greenish liliaceous flowers. Domestic animals could hardly
subsist here without this provision for their wants by
nature. They eat, in the winter, the cabbage-like head
which this plant forms in the late summer to protect the
growth and inflorescence of the coming year. Agave hete-
racantha, the Lechuguilla of Mexicans, is common from
Devil River to New Mexico. Its thick and radical
leaves are serrated with ugly curved spines. There are
several species of Agave growing in western Texas and in
New Mexico, more species, probably, than have been
allowed. They differ principally in the arrangement and
color of their flowers and in the size and form of their
fruits. There appear to be two species with bright yellow
flowers. The genus needsa thorough revision by a mas-
ter workman, but only after a year or more of careful col-
lection and study of the species as found in Texas, Mexico
and New Mexico. The common Century Plant grows nat-
urally in the lower Rio Grande region of Texas, though I
have never seen it credited to that state.

The most conspicuous and, perhaps, the most remark-
able shrub growing upon the mesas of western Texas is
St. Jacob's Staff, Candle Wood, Ocotillo, Fouquieria splen-
dens. It isa tall shrub, more nearly related to Tamarix
Gallica than to any other native or naturalized shrub of
Texas. It usually branches from the base or near it. The
stems are strict and thickly armed from the base to the
summit with pairs of strong spines, from whose axils fas-
cicles of thick roundish leaves proceed. The structure of
the stems is largely cellular, but the outer portion of them
is woody, dense andhard. The bases of the spines appear
to arise in the cellular Bete leaving the wood full of holes
in their decay, apparently upon the plan on which Opuntia
frutescens forms its wood. The bright scarlet flowers are
borne in long terminal racemes. When in hall blooom it
is certainly one of the most attractive of Texas shrubs.
Though I have seen thousands ofindividuals of the species,
yet none of them were “almost leafless,” as we are told
that all of them are. Perhaps they may become so later
in the season. Mexicans use the stems of this shrub for
fence palings. They sometimes grow and make a living
fence. The species iscommon from Devil River to New
Mexico.

It may be said in commendation of the plants of this arid
region of the country that they appear to have carefully
studied the conditions under which they live,and have we il

74 Garden and_ Forest.

learned the art of self-preservation ; and they have not only
lived, but also have found time to make their flowers attrac-

tive by their beauty, and often fragrance. Selaginella
rupestris grows on damp rocks near the river. It is over

most of Texas and common in some of its numerous
forms. Close by the bridge I found a fine Lucena. It
was already in fruit, with long pods nearly grown. Low
species of Dalea are common on the hillsides, and Hoff-
mannseggias make pleasant company for them. There are
more and handsomer species of those genera of the Pea
family along this route than I have met before. Later in
the day a visit was made to the near-by Rio Grande, The
cafion of that river here is deep and narrow—its walls of
rocks so rough and precipitous that a descent to the river
was impracticable. -But the rains had brought nearly all
the vegetation into growth that is ever seen here, and rare
and peculiar plants invited an examination of their varied
attractions. Ferns were abundant on the shaded sides of
the great rocks; the species were about equally divided
between Cheilanthes and Pelleea. A form of small Oak
with sinuate spinose leaves was common in the ravines.
The crowning glory of the hills from Nueces River to
the Pecos in the early days of June is Leucophyllum
Texanum. It is now in full flower, and its great profusion
of light purple bloom literally gives to the hills their own
hue.

The Pecan-tree is said to grow upon the upper waters of
Devil River, which: is its most western Texas limit. In
order to keep up its popularity the Pecan has developed a
new and valuable variety with a very thin shell. It would
seem that in this variety Nature had exhausted her powers
in nut-making. The variety is known as Paper-shelled
Pecan.

Pin Clover, Erodium cicutarum, a forage plant of some
renown, is rarely to be seen in Texas. Here it has to shirk
for itself, no attention being paid to it as a cultivated plant,
so it is very slow in getting a foothold. Xanthium spino-
sum, a Clotbur, armed with cruel spines, is liable to become
a great nuisance throughout the entire central portion of
the United States. As yet it is very rare in Texas, but if it
is allowed to gain a hold on farms it will have no success-
ful rival unless it be the Russian Thistle, Salsola; and a
man or a beast of good sense would prefer to walk through
a field of Russian Thistles rather than through a field of
spiny Clotburs.

Macheranthera tanascetifolia is not uncommon in the
region which we are traversing. It is now a handsome
low-growing Aster with Tansy-like leaves and typically
purple flowers. A form with white flowers is frequent.
One with rose-colored flowers is rarer. Along Big Creek,
near Hays City, Kansas, I found a station where Nature
herself had massed the three colors into a miniature par-
terre of great beauty. The species is sometimes seen under
cultivation in gardens, and there are few handsomer native
composites.

Nothing of value has been added to botanical knowl-
edge or classification by subordinating the genus Mache-
ranthera or the genus Diplopappus to the Aster, a genus
already large and unwieldy. The species of either of the
degraded genera are less liable to be confounded with spe-
cies of Aster than are species of Erigeron and of a half
dozen other genera which, as well as they, might suffer. A
plant already located, without great reason for a change,
should be allowed to remain in its place, though it might
as well have been placed elsewhere. That which in science
is established should not without great cause be changed,
and only then upon the verdict of a competent jury after a
fair trial of each case upon its merits.

Several species of Wild Flax (Linum) grow in western
Texas, and the cultivated plant is becoming established
along most of the railways of the state. From its associa-
tions with the dawning of our civilizations we all are to
see the venerable old species everywhere. The cultivation
of Flax and the manufacture of linen from the tough fibres
of its bark began in prehistoric times. Linen was doubt-

[NUMBER 417.

less the first plant product used, next to Fig-leaves, for
apparel by the human race.

Gaillardia suavis is sometimes to be seen in western
Texas, though commoner farther eastward. Here it usually
furnishes its flowers with insignificant rays, and wears a
very different general habit from the rayless forms of the
species as seen in Kansas.

Before leaving Del Rio, apricots, peaches, plums and
green corn of roasting size were on sale in that city, all

p - 5
raised on irrigated lands. EN Phe

La Junta, Colo.

Plant Notes.

Clematis paniculata.

E have already published a figure of this plant (vol.
iii, p. 621), as well as the reproduction of a photo-
graph showing a plant four years old from seed (vol. v.,
p- 91), but no apology is needed for the accompanying
illustration of a plant on the grounds of Henry S. Hun-
newell, Esq., Wellesley, Massachusetts.
climber was discovered in Japan about 120 years ago by
Thunberg, and it is said to have been introduced a hundred
years ago into European gardens. It was probably first
sent to this country by Thomas Hogg, and was established
in the Parsons’ nurseries, at Flushing, thirty yearsago. It
was so rarely seen in cultivation that it was practically
unknown until 1889, when mention of it was first made in
this journal. Why it was not more rapidly disseminated
can hardly be understood, except that sometimes its seed
fails to ripen in the autumn, and, in any event, it germi-
nates slowly. When planted in the spring the great pro-
portion of it does not come up until the second year, a
habit which it has in common with many other species of
this family. It grows rapidly, however, when once started
and makes strong plants, so that it remains a matter of sur-
prise that so little was known of it until it was discovered
how readily the plant can be grafted on our native Clematis
Virginiana, and still better on C. stans. It ought to be said
that the root-stock is only needed to sustain the plant in its
infancy, for the base of the graft should always be set
beneath the soil, where it will soon throw out strong thick
roots of its own to supersede the parent root. ‘Time is in
this way saved by grafting, although, when well-ripened
seed is sown in autumn in a box and wintered in a cold
frame, the plants will appear the following spring and will
bloom at two years old. y
We have already described this Clematis so often that little
needs to be said about it, and, indeed, it has now become
so common that almost every one who takes any interest in
garden plants is familiar with its character. It is perfectly
hardy, although part of it is killed back every winter, and,
indeed, it grows more strongly and is better furnished at
the base when cut back hard every spring. Shoots start-
ing from the ground when the roots are in deep rich soil
will often grow twenty feet in a single season.. In this
respect the plant resembles Clematis flammula. It differs
from C, flammula, however, in having comparatively large
leathery leaves and in producing flowers in long axillary
panicles.
across and carried in such wild luxuriance that the foliage
is entirely covered during the first half of the month of Sep-
tember in this latitude. The flowers are followed by heads
of fruits which turn to a clear red, each one with a long
silvery tail, so that these feathery tufts seem to hover over
the leaves, which persist all through autumn, usually as
green as they are in midsummer, but sometimes changing to
copper-color and afterward to a dull bronze. The flowers
have a distinct fragrance, which is likened by some to
that of Hawthorn and by others to that of Hyacinth. Alto-
gether, this vigorous, floriferous and long-lived Asiatic
climber is one of the very best for porches or screens, while
in parks, large grounds and along roadsides it might well
be used, like our own Virgin’s Bower, to clamber over shrub-
bery and drape them with its long stems covered with
myriads of white star-shaped flowers.

This beautiful -

The individual flowers are an inch or more

A bee Re ete Rn es

acl Era aR A ELE tlc

Pane

dee
2,

neh

Garden and Forest.

FEBRUARY 19, 1896.]

See page 74.

Fig. 8.—Clematis paniculata in a Massachusetts Garden.

76

Ipoma@a Briccsu.—This species has been in full flower for
several weeks in one of the conservatories of the Botanical
Garden in Washington. As grown there Mr. Oliver de-
scribes it as very showy, resembling somewhat the well-
known Ipomecea Horsfallize. It has a more profuse growth,
however, than that species and bears double cymes of
flowers in the axils of the leaves. The color of the
flower is unlike that of any other known species of
Ipomoea. It is described as a rich magenta-crimson,
but the color varies in depth in different parts of the corolla
and in different flowers. The tube is about two inches in
length, and this expands to a diameter of two inches. The
Washington plant is growing in a ten-inch pot, and, judg-
ing from the number of open flowers and buds, it is won-
derfully floriferous, each leaf on the strong shoots having a
cluster of flowers springing from its axil. If it will grow
and flower outside as satisfactorily as it does inside it will
be a valuable addition to our list of summer-flowering
vines.

Cultural Department.

Notes on Begonias.

Peon PHYLLOMANIACA is, perhaps, the most inter-

esting species in the genus. The striking peculiarity of
this plant is that it produces from its stems and petioles innu-
merable viviparous buds or young growths, which make
young plants, if taken off and inserted in sand. It is an upright-
growing plant, with succulent, hairy, green stems; eight or
nine inches is about the length of the leaves and they are of
a light green color. In shape they are obliquely cordate, atten-
uated, slightly laciniated and fringed. The pale rose flowers,
which are produced in axillary cymes, rise slightly above
the foliage. They measure about one inch across, are not
very showy, but make a pleasing contrast at this time with the
green foliage. It comes from Brazil and does best here when
grown in a cool greenhouse during the summer months, and
in the winter it thrives in a temperature ranging from fifty-five
to sixty degrees, Fahrenheit.

Begonia Verschaffeltiana is a splendid winter-flowering plant
and is now a mass of flowers. It is a large, strong grower and
needs rich soil to develop its large cymes of flowers. In a
deep, roomy pan we place three or four plants, which make
an effective display while in bloom. In early summer they are
turned out of the pans, the exhausted soil removed from the
roots, and each plant or stem is then planted separately in the
garden. By fall they make large healthy plants, and when the
nights begin to cool they are lifted and put back into pans
again. When replanted in the pans three or four plants about
the same size should be selected, so that they will grow to-
gether evenly. If the plants get leggy they can be cut right
below the thick head of leaves and inserted in sand in the
propagating bed, where they make roots in a short time. This
Begonia is a hybrid between B. corolinzfolia and B. manicata.
It has large succulent stems clad with large ovate acutely
lobed leaves, which have long green petioles. The flowers
are in large showy cymes and raised well above the foliage on
long stout peduncles.

The flowers of Begonia sanguinea are not showy, but it has
handsome leaves and makes a good foliage plant when
treated properly. It has erect red stems which are slightly
woody at the base and are well covered with leaves from four
to six inches long and sometimes longer. They are subpeltate,
obliquely cordate, succulent, shining bright green above and
deep red below. The plant is in bloom now and the red pedun-
cles are nearly a foot long, carrying small white flowers pro-
duced in branching cymes. Young shoots are easily rooted
in spring, and if they are potted on during the summeras they
require it, by early winter they will make handsome plants.
They are grown in the greenhouse during thesummer as they
make better foliage. If they are planted in the garden care
should be taken when lifting them in the fall that the leaves
are not torn, as this disfigures the plants.

Begonia pellata isa handsome foliage plant, introduced from
Brazil in 1815. What makes the plant so distinct and easily
recognized is that its stems, leaves and petioles are completely
covered with asoft silvery tomentum. It makesa good stove
foliage plant and has a very uncommon silvery color. When
well grown it has large peltate, ovate acuminate, thick and
fleshy leaves nearly a foot long. The small white flowers are
produced at this season in cymes on tall erect peduncles. It

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 417.

is not as free-growing as many Begonias, but with careful cul-
tivation it can be grown into a handsome specimen.
Botanic Garden, Harvard University. R. Cameron.

Dipladenias.

pee recurring season reminds us of the value of these

Brazilian climbing plants for the greenhouse, and there
is a possibility of their soon becoming much used for planting
outdoors in summer, since there is every reason to believe
that they will be as well adapted for this purpose as for indoor
use. Full sunshine is indispensable and rain will not injure
the blooms, and in a warm position, with light soil, they will
be sure to succeed. We havea batch of seedlings from seed
saved last year, and as some of the plants have already
bloomed we look forward to seeing them all flower during the
coming season. Seedsare not often produced in this genus,
but I have personal knowledge of three instances where it has
been secured and plants raised from it. It is also an easy
matter to propagate Dipladenias from cuttings of one or two
joints each, made from well-ripened growth. When rooted
they must not be potted in material that will become impacted,
We use nothing but fern-root fibre to grow them in. With
this it is impossible to overwater the plants, and it holds
enough moisture in suspension to satisfy their needs. We use
manure-water when the plants are in active growth and bloom.
Loam in the soil has been the cause of more failures than
anything else. It is necessary to grow the plants in full sun-
shine, even in the hottest summer months, and plenty of water
should be used to spray with, as insects are liable to increase
rapidly if they once get a foothold. It used to be considered
indispensable to keep Dipladenias in a warm house at all sea-
sons, especially when at rest in winter; the temperature of the
Rose-house in summer for daytime, and fifty degrees, Fah-
renheit, during night in winter, is best suited to them. It is
difficult to imagine a prettier sight than a low span-roofed
house with the roof covered with Dipladenias. The sprays of
bright pink flowers shade off to crimson as they get older, the
same sprays blooming continually from May until November.
The growth of Dipladenias is not so rampant as is that of most
tropical climbers, and is easily kept within reasonable limits.
Last summer Roses were grown successfully in the benches
underneath, and there are positions in every greenhouse where
these plants would do well. We grow D. protusa, D. ama-
bilis and D. Brearleyana, all of which are good, the latter the
richest-colored and largest-flowered of all. We cut the plants
back at the close of the blooming period each winter, when
they go to rest naturally, and keep them drier until they show
signs of starting again at about this time. They are then
repotted in pots or pans a size larger. At potting time it will
be seen that these plants have large tuberous roots, not unlike
Dahlia roots in shape, but more woody. These are the reser-
voirs of vitality and are easily injured, but if handled carefully
there need be no check to the plants. Water should be ap-
plied with great care until active growth begins in the warm
spring months. When the plants are grown in full exposure
to the sun in an unshaded house, the pots containing the plants
ought to be shaded bya layer of moss or other non-conduct-
ing material to prevent injury to the roots from the heat. We
also put a layer of moss on the surface of the potting material
in hot weather to show the condition as to moisture, and find

this beneficial.
coulda E. O. Orpet.

South Lancaster, Mass.

Notes on Geraniums.

ee may safely be said that the common Geranium, hybrids of
Pelargonium zonale and other species, is the most popular
exotic plant under cultivation. Through all the changes in
popular fancy and through all the ridicule heaped upon bed-
ding plants in general, the Geranium almost alone has been
spared. Few plants have so many good qualities and are in so
many ways fitted for the amateur and the novice. Geraniums
are almost entirely free from disease and are very seldom
troubled with insect pests. With common garden-soil, sun-
shine during the middle of the day and the temperature of an
ordinary living-room, one can hardly fail to have them bloom
all winter long, and, in fact, they are the brightest of window-
plants everywhere. The only practicable danger is the ten-
dency to overwater during the earlier winter months. It is
safer always to err on the side of too little than too much.
Wherever bedding plants are used they are indispensable,
and usually most effective when planted in masses, and
scarcely less so when the free-blooming green-leaved varie-
ties are edged with the variegated forms. They rarely com-

aver,

FEBRUARY 19, 1896.]

bine well with other plants, and are generally seen at their
worst when associated with Coleus. [call to mind, however,
an effective bed at Kew, where Verbena venusta, one of the
erect-growing, purple-flowered species, had been planted
among the silver-leaved Geraniums.

The types are scarcely recognizable in the many superb
varieties we now see. One of the parents, Pelargonium in-
quinans, a species of erect habit, zoneless leaves and compact
umbels of short, round-petaled, scarlet flowers, is more nearly
exemplified in the variety known as General Grant than in any
other cultivated variety I know. P. zonale is the otherspecies,
and this is characterized by shorter-jointed growth, more
diverse habit and less compact umbels of longer-petaled
pinkish flowers. It is probable that other species have en-
tered into the parentage of the many florists’ varieties, and
even so, it is hard to see how so many fine crims»%n and
salmon-colored varieties could have originated.

Geraniums flower freely when given generous treatment,
and, however grown, are attractive in appearance. They are
not now grown into specimen plants so generally as they used
to be. Many years ago it was customary to accord them a
year’s special treatment, aud many old gardeners do this now.
During this time they were not allowed to bloom, Plants in-
tended for specimens are grown from cuttings taken in the
autumn. During the next year they are tied out, stopped and
otherwise trained into the desired form. A good foundation
of short, well-ripened growth is made during the summer, and
for the winter the plants are rested in a cool house on shelves
near the glass. With the lengthening days of spring it would
almost be impossible to keep them from blooming if this were
desired. The immense quantity of flowers such plants will
produce is surprising to people unfamiliar with this treatment.
A gorgeous setting of these well-trained specimens is always
an attractive feature in the floral display in the tent near Mr.
H. H. Hunnewell’s residence at Wellesley, Massachusetts,
during the early spring months.

Ivy-leaved Geraniums, forms of Pelargonium peltatum, have
increased in popularity during recent years, owing mainly to
the introduction of some fine double varieties. Generally
double Geraniums, especially among the Zonale type, are not
considered as handsome as the single varieties, but they are
more serviceable for cutting. The double Ivy-leaved varie-
ties rival in beauty the double Zonals. The stems are longer,
the flowers larger, more double and more delicately colored,
mostly in rose and scarlet shades, and the individual flowers
on some recent importations measure fully one inch across.
Owing to their prostrate habit, Ivy-leaved varieties are well
adapted for hanging baskets, and several of these formed an
interesting feature of the display above alluded to. But after
the brightness of the Zonal display had departed, and the
plants had been removed to undergo another summer's pre-
paratory treatment these Ivy-leaved varieties bloomed on in

ood condition for nearly the wholesummer.
e Wellesley, Mass. y TERIOS Flatfield.

Cypripedium insigne.—This popular Lady’s-slipper is one of
the best Orchids of the present season. Very floriferous, it is
seen in a great number of varieties of a more or less bright
yellow color, with the dorsal sepal marked with brighter or
fainter black or maroon spots, and more or less white on the
upper half. The foliage is always bright green and quite
attractive. This species is the parent of innumerable hybrids
and varieties which all bear a resemblance to the type. Some
are rare and costly, but, perhaps, of no higher ornamental
value than the species itself, which is now as cheap as a good
Begonia or Cyclamen. This Orchid can be grown by anybody
in a warm apartment or greenhouse. It thrives well in a mix-
ture of peat and sphagnum-moss in well-drained pots. Occa-
sional watering with liquid-manure is very beneficial. Light
sprayings of the foliage in summer and a pure and warm
atmosphere are essential to success. In December or January
the flowers expand and keep in perfect condition for months.

Newark, N. J. Nig sil Ge

Jatropha hastata.—This is a curious and interesting stove
plant. Thestem is somewhat pear-shaped, being much more
swollen toward the base than the top, and it seldom branches,
The leaves are few in number, usually not more than four or
five, and arranged alternately round the upper end of the stem ;
they are hastate, as the specific name implies, and lobed
with from three to five lobes. The leaf-stalks are about five
inches long, and the blade is rather larger than the palm of the
hand. The plant is deciduous and generally loses its leaves
in December. On the stem between the leaf-stalks are what
appear to be undeveloped leaves, not unlike small forked
spines, which become hard with age; these and the upper

Garden and Forest.

77

portion of the stem are covered with a sticky substance,
apparently to prevent insects or ants from climbing up the
flower-stalks (which rise immediately from the summit of
the stem) and stealing the nectar secreted in the Mowers. The
flower-stalks appear early in the year and are about five inches
in length; the inflorescence is corymbose. The flowers are
moncecious, the pistillate fowers being borne in the axils of the
forked inflorescence. The flowers are all borne on short pedi-
cels of a bright coral color, and these are not only more beau-
tiful than the flowers themselves, but they persist long after
the flowers have fallen away. As the plant rarely branches,
and the flowers are moncecious, it is somewhat difficult to
propagate. Last February I used a camel’s-hair brush to bring
about artificial fertilization, and I succeeded in getting a pod
of seed, which is just ripening. Jatropha hastata is a native of
Cuba and belongs to the Euphorbiacez. It delights in a warm
temperature and a soil composed of half loam and half good
fibrous peat, with a little silver sand added, in well-drained
pots. During the growing season plenty of moisture is needed,
but when the leaves begin to mature, water should gradually
be withheld and the plant allowed a season of rest. /
Edward F. Canning.

Northampton, Mass.

Correspondence.
Propagating Hickories.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—How shall I go to work to propagate in quantity differ-
ent varieties of the Hickory—tor example, some which bear
remarkably large and thin-shelled nuts? I have been told that
it is next to impossible to graft them. :

Morristown, N. J- iS, Ale

[We have referred this inquiry to Mr. Jackson Dawson,
who says that although he has never tried to graft a Hickory
out-of-doors, and it is true that these trees are somewhat
difficult subjects, nevertheless he does not hesitate to say
that with proper stock and precaution they can be as readily
propagated under glass as most of the so-called difficult
plants. He has experimented with most of the species,
and has succeeded with all he has tried. This success with
several species and varieties of Hickory has been gained
without any special preparation of the stock, and, in fact,
most of the time he has gone to the woods and dug up the
stock after he had received the scions. Of course, this made
the work still more uncertain, and yet in the worst cases he
has saved twenty-five or thirty per cent. of the grafts.

“My method,” writes Mr. Dawson, “has been to side-
graft, using a scion with part of the second year’s wood
attached, binding it firmly and covering it with damp
sphagnum until the union has been made. The best time
I have found for the operation under glass has been during
February, and the plants have been kept under glass until
midsummer and wintered the first year in a cold frame.
In all genera I find certain species which may be called
free stocks—that is, stocks which take grafts more readily
than others. Thus, nearly all the Oaks will graft readily on
Quercus Robur ; the Birches will graft more easily on Betula
alba than on others; so of the Hickories, observation has
led me to believe that the best stock is the Bitter Nut,
Hicoria minima. This species grows almost twice as rap-
idly as the common Shag-bark Hickory, and while young
the cambium is quite soft. I should advise any one who
wishes to propagate Hickories on a large scale to grow
stock of this species in boxes not more than four inches
deep. In this way all the roots can be saved and there
will be no extreme tap-root, and when shaken out of the
boxes the plants are easily established in pots and ready for
grafting. Iftaken up in the ordinary way from the woods
it requires almost two years to get them well-rooted, and
often the stocks die for want of roots after the graft has
really taken. If grown in rich soil the stocks will be large
enough to use in one or two years. I should then pot them
early in the fall, keeping them from heavy frosts and bring-
ing them into the house about the first of January, and as
soon as they begin to make roots I should side-graft them
close to the collar and plunge them in sphagnum moss,

leaving the top bud of the graft out to the air. The graft
ought to be well united about the last of March, when the

78

plants should be taken from the sphagnum and set in the
body of the house to finish their growth. After carrying
them over the next winter ina cold pit they could be planted
out the following spring and the second year they could
be set where they are to remain, unless they are trans-
planted every second year.”—Ep. ]

Growing Lettuce under Glass.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :

Sir,—The conditions under which Lettuce has been forced
this winter have differed materially from those of the past two
seasons, and a succession of almost sunless days, with damp
and warm weather, has made it difficult to grow Lettuce
heavy enough to count much when it comes to be weighed up
for market. Prices have been the same as in recent years. We
have been obliged to keep part of the steam lines on the houses
and the ventilators raised partially to prevent rotting off, and
even with this treatment the bottom leaves decay as soon as
the plants get large enough to touch each other, and when
ready for cutting the plants do not weigh more than half as
much as they should.

We are using both subirrigation and surface watering in
growing Lettuce, and while there is some difference in favor of
subirrigation, it is not enough to pay for the extra cost of con-
structing the beds. We have one house, twenty-two by sev-
enty feet, with solid benches, and two and a half inch tile laid
eight inches apart crosswise of the benches, and soil about
eight inches deep. The tile gives good drainage and ventila-
tion through the bed, but the watering is all done from above.
Last year in this house we grew two crops of Lettuce and one
crop of Cucumbers, which sold for exactly $400.

Adjoining this house we have another, twenty-two by sev-
enty feet, with solid benches and cemented bottoms. The tile
in this house runs lengthwise, and is connected with open
troughs at the ends and centre. The soil is about the same
depth asin the firsthouse. The beds are watered by subirriga-
tion through the tiles, the water being turned into the troughs
at the two ends and centre of the house. We find this method
convenient, and in dark cloudy weather it is more effective
than surface watering, because the ground can be kept moist
without wetting the leaves. But, as already stated, it will not
pay for the extra labor and cost of constructing the benches
unless there is a more marked difference than has shown
thus far.

Lettuce is selling now at fourteen cents a pound in the Cleve-
land market. It takes two weeks longer to grow the plants to
marketable size than it did last year, and then they do not
weigh nearly as much. If we sell half as many dollars’ worth
out of our houses this winter as we did last we shall think we

have done fairly well.
Ther, oO. St eeCarre

Cypripediums at Langwater Gardens.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—The collection of Cypripediums in the greenhouses be-
longing to Mrs. F. L. Ames, of North Easton, Massachusetts,
is one of the largest in the United States. Among Orchids,
Cypripediums have a beauty all their own; some others are
more brilliantly tinted, but are only attractive when in bloom,
and even then the stems of some of them, as of many Cat-
tleyas, are awkward, to say the least. The beautifully mottled
foliage of the Cypripediums vies in attractiveness with the
curiously shaped and oddly marked flowers.

This collection is rich with many hybrid forms which have
been raised here. Cypripedium Jack Ames is a cross between
C. Lawrenceanum and C, ciliolare. The plant is much larger
than either of its parents, The foliage is particularly largeand
handsomely shaded in light and dark green. The prominent
violet markings on the dorsal sepal are characteristic of the
seed parent. The warted, or black hairy spotted, petals are
characteristic of both, although in the number and distribution
of the spots it more closely resembles C. ciliolare. The gem
of all is the primrose-yellow C. insigne Sandere. Among sev-
eral so-called yellow varieties this is the only one worthy the
name. If there is anything to mar its beauty it is the merest
trace of brown on the lower part of the dorsal sepal and a
scarcely distinguishable margin of white on the upper edge.
The hybrid Juno (C. Faireanum x callosum) resembles in
many respects C. callosum. The curiously twisted petals
characteristic of C. Faireanum are very prominent.. C. Win-
nieanum (C. Druryi x villosum) is a handsome kind with a
dark brown line along the centre of the dorsal sepal and a wide

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 417.

margin of white. Orion (C. concolor x insigne), as might be
expected, is a pretty hybrid with pale yellow flowers spotted
with brown. Minnie Ames, a handsome dwarf hybrid be-
tween C, concolor and C. niveum, is white, suffused with
purplish pink dots. In Alectro the large dorsal sepal is nearly
white. The petals are recurving, violet-spotted, on a green
ground. Aphrodite is between C. niveum and C, Lawrence-
anum. It is distinguished by a white groundwork on the dor-
sal sepal, with violet lines running through and violet spotting
on the other parts of the flower.

Cypripedium Niobe (C. Faireanum X Spicerianum) has
the good qualities of both parents. Its foliage is beautiful, and
it has the graceful recurving petals of C. Faireanum. C. Sal-
lieri aurem (C. Villosum X insigne) was known as the
yellow Cypripedium until the appearance of C. Sandere. It
is a distinct and beautiful hybrid. It loses none of its beauty
by comparison with C. Sander, and would never be discarded
on account of it. C. Sallieri aureum is rather orange-green
than yellow, with a few dark spots on the dorsal sepal, and is
white on the upper part. The rare C. Chamberlainianum is
among the most beautiful and attractive of Orchids. It alone is
worth going a long way to see. The type is unique. The
foliage is very broad, flat and attractively variegated. The
large sepal is green, with a lighter-colored margin and dark
lines. The petals are long and twisted, screw-like, and deeply
colored with a violet and brown metallic-like lustre. The
edges of the petals are hairy. The pouch is violet, dotted with
purple, with a band of orange about the mouth. The stami-
node is very large and bronzy green. C. (Selenipedium)
Schrodere is the finest of its type. The whole of the flower
is bright reddish pink, prettily spotted with lighter shading on
the infolding lobes of the orifice of the pouch. C. Germinya-
num (C, villosum xX hirsutissumum) is a beautiful flow-
ered hybrid with the purplish pink petals characteristic of C.
hirsutissumum, the dorsal sepal bronzy green, with lighter
shadings. C, Leeanum giganteum is the best of all the varie-
ties of this type. The dorsal sepal is very large, and, with the
exception of a line along the centre, it 1s white. The petals
are orange-green, with lines and markings of reddish bronze.
T. D. Hayward is a cross between C. Druryi and C. superbiens.
The groundwork of the large sepal is white, with bright violet
lines running through it, and a heavier medium line. The
pouch is silvery pink, and the petals pink, with a deeper line
along the centre. In C, Measuresianum the petals and pouch
are both reddish bronze. The dorsal sepal is green, with
deeper lines and margined with white. Creon is another
beautiful hybrid. The large sepal is almost wholly purple,
there being merely a narrow margin of white. C. (Selenipe-
dium) Brysa (reticulatum X sedeni, var. candidulum) is still
among the best hybrids of the New World type. The whole
of the flower is white, tinted with rose. The infolding lobes
of the pouch are spotted. C. Phcaederz (Lindleyanum x
sedeni, var. candidulum), another of this type, is deeper in
tone than Brysa. It has the vigor of C. Lindleyanum, and is
also a very free bloomer. Like all the Selenipedium type, it is
seldom out of flower, and there have been as many as seven
flowers open at one time on one flower-stem.

Wellesley, Mass. DEAD: Hatfield.

Meetings of Societies.

The Western New York Horticultural Society.—IV.

CRIMSON CLOVER IN HORTICULTURE.

Mr. George T. Powell read a paper on this subject in which
he said that this crop was attracting attention, largely because
it isan annual and grows at a season when the land is other-
wise unoccupied. The frequent failure of Red Clover is a
discouraging feature of our agriculture. Crimson Clover ger-
minates quickly and develops rapidly. On Mr. Powell’s farm
leaves had been seen forty-eight hours after the seed was
sown. In Delaware and New Jersey hundreds of acres are
sowed with the seed after other crops have been harvested,
and in one field from which fifteen tons of tomatoes had been
gathered seed was sown in September, and in January plants
were dug with the roots three feet long. With Mr. Powell a
block of Pear-trees where this Clover had been sown gave a
much better crop than an adjoining block where there had
been none. Sweet Potatoes, followed by a crop of Crimson
Clover, and when planted in the same place next year, showed
an increase of yield, owing, it is thought, to the plant-food
gathered by this plant. As a special protection for an orchard
against drought, Rye four feet high was chained and plowed
under, and Crimson Clover sown on the field in July made a
great growth. It is a good winter covering and mulch; it

FEBRUARY 19, 1896.]

brings valuable fertilizers to the surface as well as collects
nitrogen ; it checks the late growth of trees so that they will
ripen their wood, and inall these waysit is a useful crop for
orchards. A growth of Crimson Clover six inches high will
‘add nitrogen to the soil which would cost $16.00 in money. A
growth thirteen inches high will add $25.00 worth of the same
plant-food to an acre. Where this Clover fails the cause is
usually poor seed.
IRRIGATION IN FRUIT CULTURE.

Although the artificial application of water has been prac-
ticed for some time in our western states, it has not been con-
sidered heretofore essential to fruit culture in the east. But
Mr. Hale, in an interesting address, argued that an extra water-
supply would be necessary in the horticulture of the future in
the eastern states. The cultivation of fruits requires careful
labor; much capital has been invested in plants and planta-
tions, with facilities for handling, and the grower ought to go
astep farther and insure his crop. Mr. Hale had lost half a
crop by drought many times. A neighbor of his had invested
$800 in a ram and reservoir, seventy feet above his fruit gar-
den, and had applied water at the rate of one inch a week for
three weeks, and thereby increased his product in quantity 150
per cent., while it was otf much better quality, so that while the
abundant berries on the irrigated land brought eleven cents a
basket, the smaller crop on the other land was bringing but
nine cents. The increased value of his fruit on three acres
paid in one year the cost of his plant. Another neighbor ran
a stream through open ditches and doubled his product on
an average of nine years, although there was only one severe
drought during the time. Last year was a dry one in Connec-
ticut, but on the firstof August there came three inches of rain
at the home farm, with not a drop at the other orchard. The
result was that sixty per cent. of the fruit in the home orchard
was classed as extra, while only twenty per cent. in the other
orchard reached that grade. In the home orchard twenty-
eight per cent. only was in the second-best grade, while forty
per cent. was in the second grade in the dry orchard, the re-
mainder in both being of two lower grades. This one shower
made a gain in the home orchard of from $1,200 to $1,500.
Mr. Hale has planned to irrigate his farm by putting in a six-
inch pipe from a spring-fed reservoir on high ground and a
four-inch pipe farther down. The farm is like most of those
in the Connecticut valley, long and narrow, sloping back from
the river, and the pipe has been laid along the contours of the
highest ground, with a hydrant every two hundred feet. He
has not devised completely ascheme for distributing the water,
but he is sure this can easily be done, and he thinks there is
not one farm in ten where water cannot be secured for irriga-
tion at an expense which would be met by the increased
product. A man near Pittsfield, Massachusetts, buys water
trom the city at ten cents a thousand gallons, and has put ina
pipe to distribute it. He has no doubt that it will pay a good
dividend on grass crops, and much more on fruit. It is just
possible that the fruit may be of lower quality, but that is by
no means certain, but certainly it would be larger, more beau-
tiful and more salable. Windmills are too uncertain, because
when water is wanted itis wanted badly. Steam power is used on
some farms near Boston, and Mr. Hale believes that if eastern
men who have put their money in western irrigation plants
had invested it at home it would have yielded a rich return.

NEW STRAWBERRY CULTURE.

Mr. L. J.’Farmer explained the great change in the methods
of growing Strawberries during the last ten years. In fertilizers
we are now using large quantities of potash and phosphoric
acid and less nitrogen. In transportation we use light cheap
crates as gift packages. In the actual cultivation we have made
less progress, and there is stil] too much hand labor. The old
way was to set the plants early and cultivate all the season.
The new way is to take up the plants at the usual time, trench
them in and then transplant to the field about the first of June.
The trench is made deep by the plow and the plants are set
against the landside, twenty-four to the foot, and left until set
out. The rest of the soil is worked deep until planting-time,
so that the white grubs are turned up for the birds and the
weeds are killed. The plants are sprayed the first season, as
can easily be done in this close row, and should be done every
week. If planted in ground that has not been affected by old
beds they will need no further treatment. He wets the plants
before moving them; takes abundant earth with the roots, and
they keep right on growing. In transplanting it is not neces-
sary to pinch off the leaves, as the plants arelike potted plants,
only better. In the field the rows are five feet apart and the
plants a foot apart in the row. If confined to one berry, he
would plant the Parker Earle,

Garden and Forest.

79

NUT CULTURE.

There is much encouragement to plant our native nuts and
some of the foreign ones. As arule, our indigenous trees are
good bearers, and, in Mr. Van Deman’s opinion, they produce
nuts of better quality than foreign ones, The Chestnut is receiv-
ing the most attention now, and there are a few well-marked
native varieties of value. Although they are smaller than the
European varieties, they are of better quality and very produc-
tive. The best are Delaney, Excelsior, Griffin, Hathaway,
Morrell and Otto. Rocky hillsides and other places unsuitable
for tillage can be used with profit for nut-trees, and they can
beset about buildings and in pastures. The European varie-
ties seem more profitable. It seems to be a rule that the more
pubescence the nut has the better its quality. European varie-
ties are more fuzzy than the Japanese, and less so than the
American sorts. The most prominent of these are the Para-
gon, Numbo, Ridgely and Hannum. Japanese Chestnut-trees
have a more dwarf habit, and the nut has a bitter skin. They
graft quite readily on American seedlings, and the best varie-
ties introduced are Alpha, Early Reliance, Grand and Superb.
Among the Hickories the best nut-tree is the Pecan, a native
of our southern states, and the Shell-bark Hickory, common
throughout the north-eastern states. A firm in Pennsylvania
ships more than twenty tons of hickory nuts every year. The nuts
should be planted in rough places four feet apart each way and
thinned as they grow. Seedlings are variable, and so they must
be grafted. The principal varieties are Hale's, a large thin-
shelled sort, Leaming, Curtis, Elliott and Mulford. Among
the Walnuts, our native Butternuts may, perhaps, be improved,
but the so-called English Walnut is the best of the family,
although it is difficult to growas far northas New York. There
is no doubt that nut-trees are hard to graft and to bud. Evapo-
ration should be prevented until the sap begins to flow. When
the sap starts the grafts should be put in underground. The
scions should be cut so as to have the pith all on one side, or,
if necessary to graft above the ground, they should be covered
well to prevent all evaporation possible.

Recent Publications.

Lessons in Elementary Botany for Secondary Schools.
By Thomas H. MacBride, State University of lowa. Bos-
ton: Allyn & Bacon.

With so many excellent elementary text-books on the
science of botany, any newcomer is apt to find a crowded
field. But the new year has brought a new botany, which
is in a measure a new departure. The plant-lover who has
learned his plants in the woods, who has been impressed
with the wonderful order and beauty of the trees as
they spread their naked branches against a wintry sky,
and watched the swelling of the Cottonwood-buds in
early spring, seen the Box-Elder twig take on an added
color as the warm days approach, and admired the orderly
arrangement of the scales in the bursting Lilac-buds, has
often wondered that no book-maker has adapted a botany
to what he sees abouthim. The boys and girls begin their
study of botany usually just after the Christmas holidays,
when all the land is bare, while the text-books have usually
begun with the germinating seed, or the tiny seedling.
Professor MacBride has been impressed with this incon-
gruity and has endeavored to prepare a book adapted to
the season when botanical study usually begins. In doing
so he wisely places in the hands of pupils twigs of the
trees and shrubs growing all about them—and with which
many of them never become acquainted. The author has
an important secondary object in view, for in his preface
he says: “We have before us the spectacle of a great
nation absolutely ignorant of the principles of forestry. If
the schools can so shape botanical instruction as to make
it practical in the direction of a better appreciation of the
value of a tree, they may in so doing advance, not the
cause of science only, but of humanity.” This sentiment
will find emphatic approval in the heart of every tree-lover,
and it isa pleasure to add that Professor MacBride’s book
goes far to fill the purpose noted.

It is a modern book and demands a modern teacher.
The days when a student could “ pass” in botany without
ever having handled a plant, gaining his limited knowl-
edge from the text-book, are over. The book under consid-

reie)

eration has little of the didactic in its method. The pupil
is forced to study the plant, and the book is merely inci-
dental—a part of the apparatus he uses in reaching his
determinations. With the whole realm of outdoor nature
as a laboratory, twigs, buds, seeds, seedlings, leaves, buds
again, flowers and fruit are inspected in turn, and with the
passing season the pupil knows something of his plants
and has thought little of his book. This is the true
method, and a welcome addition to efficient helps in
teaching.

Notes.

In regard to the statement that the Idaho Pear is hardy where
other varieties fail, Dr. T. H. Hoskins writes that he does not
find it sufficiently hardy for north-western Vermont, or, at
least, not more hardy than Flemish Beauty or Ondaga. The
trees will live until they begin to bear, but producing fruit and
resisting cold winters together prove too severe a strain upon
them. The only Pears which have succeeded in northern Ver-
montare the Russian varieties, which are entirely at home and
yield abundant fruit,

A correspondent of The Independent writes that the original
Apple-tree from which the variety known as Grimes’ Golden
Pippin has been distributed, is still standing two miles from
Wellsburg, West Virginia, at the head of a deep ravine. The
tree is about a hundred years old, and Mr. Thomas Grimes,
who originally brought the fruit to notice, has but recently
died. The tree is untrimmed, neglected and shows many
signs of age and decay, and there is nothing about it to indi-
cate that itis the parent of trees scattered all over the world,
for even in Australia Grimes’ Golden is a famous apple.

A spar of Douglas spruce, which has been one of the con-
spicuous landmarks at Kew, where it has been used for thirty-
five years as a flagstaff, has become decayed at the base, so
that it was necessary a short time ago to cut off several feet of
it. A new piece has been spliced on and strengthened by iron
bands, and the staff is once more erected. The spar was pre-
sented to the Royal Gardens in 1861 by Edward Stamp, Esq.,
and was cut in the woods of British Columbia. Its total height
is 159 feet, of which twelve feet are sunk in a brick pit. The
age of the tree was about 250 years and its total height about
180 feet.

Mr. J. Hale says that a Peach-tree three or four years old
should nat be allowed to bear more than 250 peaches, one four
or five years old not more than 300, and a full-grown tree not
more than 500. This means that the peaches should be at
least six inches apart. Five hundred peaches make six to
eight baskets of fancy fruit. Three thousand peaches to a tree
would sell for less money and ruin the tree. Mr. Hale puts
step-ladders under the trees and begins to thin when the
peaches are about three-quarters of an inch in diameter, and
every fruit that is diseased or stung by the curculio is carried
away to be burned. The rest of the thinnings are thrown on
the ground and left there.

Oranges are in plentiful supply from the Pacific coast and
the Mediterranean, and continue to sell at low figures, although
there has been an advance of fifty cents a box during the past
fortnight. While Florida oranges are extremely scarce and
consequently high-priced, $1.00 apiece, as stated by us last
week, is evidently an error, that being the rate for a dozen,
Grape-fruit, the high price of which we noted last week, has
since then continued to advance, and the limited importations,
now at the close of the season, are commanding extraordinary
sums. A few days since two barrels of small-sized grape-fruit
realized the extraordinary price of $20.00 each in this city, and
seven barrels were sold in Philadelphia for $22.00 each.

The floral decorations at Delmonico’s on Monday evening
for the last of the Patriarchs’ balls of this winter, while the
most elaborate of the season, were characterized by marked
simplicity. In the ball-room the rich cream-colored walls,
delicately touched with gold, served as an admirable back-
ground. Graceful festoons of wild smilax, from Alabama,
depended from the cornice. The unconventional treatment of
the large mirrors which comprise the sides of the room was in
striking contrast with the profusion of Orchids used in previous
years. A hidden trellis of wire half-covering the upper part of
each mirror in irregular outline was gracefully covered with the
smilax and roses, the effect being that of a wild Rose-bush clam-
bering at will. An effort had been made to use Bougainvillea
glabra for color instead of Bridesmaid and Madam Cusin roses,

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 417.

but persistent search in New York, Philadelphia and Boston se-
cured only enough for one mirror. La Reine tulips, in heavy
garlands, afforded the color-relief between the windows, and
the chandeliers and music-balcony were gracefully orna-
mented with roses and asparagus. This color-effect was con-
tinued in the corridor, where the walls were heavily banked
with pink azaleas, luxuriant plants of Kentia Belmoreana, their
immense drooping leaves contrasting with bushy plants of no
less graceful Arecas, and with young trees of native New
Jersey Red Cedar. Well-grown plants of Nephrolepis davilli-
oides furcans massed with tulips and other pink flowers
formed banks for the mirrors in this sheltered promenade.

A bulletin has just been issued by the Division of Botany of
the United States Department of Agriculture on Legislation
Against Weeds. Laws against noxious weeds are already on
the statute books of twenty-five states, and as these are all
quoted a comparison between them is interesting. In mostof
them the common names alone of the weeds to be suppressed
are used, and, therefore, in some cases it is doubtful what
species is meant. Again, the laws of Wisconsin and Minne-
sota proscribe species which do not grow in those states,
and by amisuse of technical names Wheat and Oats are pro-
scribed in a late Minnesota law. In the Iowa law against
Thistles the common name of the Canada Thistle is followed
by the botanical name of another plant, and since the law is
evidently meant to apply to one species it may be doubtful
which of the two is meant. A table of all the proscribed weeds
in the different states is given, and Mr, Lyster H. Dewey, who
has prepared the bulletin, observes that although the Canada
Thistle is proscribed in almost all the states, it Is not as gen-
erally troublesome as this would indicate. In two of the states
Sweet Clover is proscribed, a plant which is rarely harmful as
a weed, and in certain places it has been found valuable as a
renovator of the soil and asa forage-plant. In the southern
states, where the Nut Sedge, the Giant Ragweed and the Wild
Onion are most serious pests, there are no laws whatever
against weeds, while Arizona is the only state of the Rocky
Mountain region and in the Great Basin which has passed such
a law, although this region is inhabited by many native weeds
which are particularly aggressive, and many introduced weeds
thrive with great vigor in irrigated fields. The most interest-
ing part of the bulletin is the chapter on the essential provi-
sions of a general state weed law, which we commend to the
legislatures of the various states, most of which are now in
session.

On the 5th of February, Mr. Frank H. Nutter read a paper
at Taylor's Falls, Minnesota, in which, after discussing in a
general way public parks and reservations, with their history
and treatment, he gave a preliminary report on the proposed
interstate park at the Dalles of the St. Croix, where something
like four hundred acres of land, partly in Minnesota and partly
in Wisconsin, have been acquired as a public reservation. The
Falls proper are not high, but the Dalles, with their lofty and
precipitous rocks on either side, stained with brilliant colors
from oxides of copper, or painted with Lichens and Moss,
make a most interesting passage of natural scenery. Mr.
Nutter says it would be difficult to find a more attractive com-
bination than the cheerful sparkle of the upper rapids with its
tributary brooks, the gloomy grandeur of the Dalles them-
selves, the quiet beauty of the lake, the sunny intervale dotted
with park-like shade-trees, the lofty hills on the Wisconsin side
and the gorges across the river, the picturesque cliffs, the
plateau on the western bluffs, with its stretch of virgin forest
and a westward prospect over rolling farm-lands. Mr.
Nutter has madea hasty survey of the place, and, therefore,
does not propose anything like a complete plan, but he feels it
necessary to State that any comprehensive improvement on this
reservation should be based upon a design prepared after a
thorough study of the subject as a whole and in detail, so that
whatever is done should be done with an eye to what the park
shall be as a unit when it is completed, It isa pity that an ele-
mentary statement like this needs to be made to an intelligent
American audience, but we very much fear that the people of
the east, as well as those of the west, will need to be reminded
of such truths over and over again before landscape-garden-
ing assumes its true rank among the arts of design. Of course,
Mr. Nutter is right when he says that the future possibilities of
such a park, it it is enlarged according to his suggestion,
should not be developed by the addition of exotic shrubs and
the obtrusion of much artificial adornment, but rather by fos-
tering, protecting and emphasizing its natural features, for a
true artist in landscape is the one who strives primarily to
develop the poetic charm of the place and preserve its spirit
in the line of the sentiment which it naturally inspires.

FEBRUARY 26, 1896. |

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrick: Tripung Burtpinc, 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, FEBRUARY 26, 1806.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

EpstortaL ARTICLE :—The Mountains of California............ceccesceeceeeeeee 8r
The Strawberry in New England...........- . ---- GE. Stone. 82
ForREIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—Orchids at Kew W, Watson. 83
New or Litt§-KNown Pants :—Viburnum erosum. (With figure.).....Q.S.5. 84
CutturRAL DgparTMENT :—Vevetable Notes -.-.....s.0++-+- eee ee William Scott. 84
Seasonable Notes on Chrysanthemums -T. D. Hatfield. 85
Pentstemons.... Serinartd -£. O. Orpet. 86
Warming Tanks ictoria regia. liam Tricker. 86
CorresPonpDENcr :— Daffodils in California. - Charles H, Shinn. 87
Bulb-farming tor the South-west..... -Lora S. La Mance. 87
Tue Forest :—Forest Protection.—I........-..+..-.0+2s-0+-2++ Gifford Pinchot. 87
Exuisitions :—Eleventh Annual Exhibition of the Architectural League of New

VIO) BAe ee eepeeere tetas ne mretea loin mnlaiauneietc eyerers cise sia'nic;3\6 MM. G. Van Rensselaer. 88
American Carnation Society AIO CRUCEHE OLehe Ee omne aaoerta ls)
PVECENth an tee On thal tSasomtetcistisestalaisiemis tire catsincies ois eteineeisineisiaelere 89
INOTES ncetite caries siesslsiceinss\sisjsecs sle'sssnivitinis wntinceiesss wi vaneinaic go
ILLustRATION :—Viburnum erosum, Fig. 9..-....+..+- sseeceeeveeees 85

The Mountains of California.

HE two great mountain ranges of California, united at

the north by a transverse and broken mass of high
ridges, but otherwise distinct—the Coast Range rising to
elevations of from 2,000 to 8,000 feet and composed of
innumerable spurs and rolling hills, enclosing many long
valleys opening to the sea, and the Sierras separating the
great central valley of California from the deserts which
extend from its eastern base to the Rocky Mountains—are
‘the predominant fe&tures of the state. The Sierras have a
total length of five hundred miles, with a width of some
seventy or eighty miles, and several of the highest peaks
ascend to over 14,000 feet above the sea-level, Mount Whit-
ney, its culminating point, being the highest mountain in
the United States, with the exception of some of the Alaska
giants. One of the most beautiful of mountain ranges, it
possesses extraordinary interest in the history which is
printed on its ice-swept pages, and in the forests of coni-
fers which now clothe its slopes; and in the fascinating
book whose title appears at the head of this article Mr.
John Muir tells this history and describes the forests, their
trees, and several of the animals which live among them,
speaking out of a full knowledge and with the feeling and
affection of a devoted lover of nature. No one has had
such opportunities for studying the Sierras, or knows them
so well; and no one, it may be said, has done so much to
preserve their beauty by securing the establishment of the
Sierra Forest Reservations. Summer after summer, witha
blanket twisted over his shoulders and a bag of dried bread
crumbs and a pouch of tea at his belt, without a gun orany
companion but his own thoughts, he has tramped over the
whole range, tracing the lines of extinct glaciers and
exploring the highest peaks and the most remote and inac-
cessible gorges ; only descending to replenish his scanty
stock of food and passing long winters in a hut in the
Yosemite Valley in order to become familiar with his
beloved mountains and trees in winter as well as in sum-
mer. Interesting as is the story which he tells of the
gradual modeling of the Sierras into their present form by
the action of ice exerted through countless centuries, it Is
of the Sierra forest and the Sierra trees, of which Mr. Muir
has succeeded in drawing pictures of life-like accuracy and

Garden and Forest.

SI

remarkable beauty, that we must speak to-day. <A para-
graph like the following, describing the forests of the central

~ ierras, which seem to live in the picturesque language
of which Mr. Muir is master, is a good example of his
method :

Here, too, in the middle region of deepest cafions are the
grandest forest-trees, the Sequoia, king of conifers, the noble
Sugar and Yellow Pines, Douglas Spruce, Libocedrus, and the
Silver Firs, each a giant ofits kind, assembled together in one
and the same forest, surpassing all other coniferous forests in
the world, both in the number of its species and in the size
and beauty of its trees. The winds flow in melody through
their colossal spires, and they are vocal everywhere with the
songs of birds and running water. Miles of fragrant Ceanothus
and Manzanita bushes bloom beneath them, and Lily gardens
and meadows, and damp, ferny glens in endless variety of fra-
grance and color, compelling the admiration of every observer.
Sweeping on over ridge and valley, these noble trees extend a
continuous belt from end to end of the range, only slightly
interrupted by sheer-walled cafions at intervals of about fifteen
or twenty miles. Here the great burly brown bears delight
to roam, harmonizing with the brown boles of the trees be-
neath which they feed. Deer, also, dwell here and find food
and shelter in the Ceanothus tangles, with a multitude of
smaller people. Above this region of giants the trees grow
smaller until the utmost limit of the timber line is reached, on
the stormy mountain-slopes at a height of from 10,c00 to
12,000 feet above the sea, where the Dwarf Pine is so lowly
and hard beset by storms and heavy snow, it is pressed into
flat tangles, over the tops of which we may easily walk. Below
the main forest-belt the trees likewise diminish in size, frost
and burning drought repressing and blasting alike.

In the chapter devoted to the forest all the principal Sierra
trees are described, not in the dry and often obscure language
of the botanist, but in the words of a literary artist who
has studied them in all their varied aspects; and of all the
descriptions of trees which we have read these are the only
ones which enable the untraveled reader to form, without
the aid of a photograph, a really correct-and accurate idea
of the appearance of the tree in question. Take, asexam-
ple, Mr. Muir's description of the Juniper of the high Sierras
(Juniper occidentalis) :

The Juniper is preéminently a rock-tree, occupying the
baldest domes and pavements, where there is scarce] a handful
of soil, at a height of from 7,000 to 9,500 feet. In suci: situations
the trunk is frequently over eight feet in diameter, and not much
more in height. The top is almost always dead in old trees,
and great stubborn limbs push out horizontally that are mostly
broken and bare at the ends, but densely covered and em-
bedded here and there with mossy mounds of gray foliage.
Some are mere weathered stumps, as broad as long, decorated
with a few leafy sprays, reminding one of the crumbling tow-
ers of some ancient castle scantily draped with ivy.

Here, in a few words, is a description which presents
the living tree to our eyes as clearly as if it was standing
before us as we read, and it is this clearness and simplicity
in description which seems to us to be the great charm and
merit of the book.

Of especial interest are Mr. Muir's studies upon the his-
tory, distribution and age of the Sequoia gigantea, one of
the most interesting as it is the largest of American trees.
The Sequoia grows in a widely interrupted belt from the
middle fork of the American River to the head of Deer
Creek, a distance of about 250 miles, the elevation of the
belt above the sea varying from 5,000 to 8,000 feet. At the
north the Sequoia occurs only in small isolated groups,
which are sometimes from forty to sixty miles apart, but
south of King’s River it is not restricted in groves, but
extends across the broad basins of the Kaweah and Tule
rivers in noble forests for a distance of nearly seventy
miles. South of the cafion of the south fork of King’s
River there is a forest of Sequoias about six miles long and
two miles wide. This is the most northern assemblage of
this tree that can be called a forest, the very finest being
found, however, on the north fork of Tule River. It
has long been known that in the northern groves there are
comparatively few young trees or saplings, and this fact
led to the belief, before the discovery of the southern
forests, that the Sequoia was gradually dying out. But in

82

the southern forests Mr. Muir finds “that for every old
storm-stricken giant there are many in all the glory of
prime vigor, and for each of these a crowd of eager, hope-
ful, young trees and saplings growing heartily on moraines,
rocky ledges, along watercourses and in the moist alluvium
of meadows, seemingly in hot pursuit of eternal life.”

The largest Sequoia Mr. Muir has measuredisin the King’s
River forest, and is thirty-five feet eight inches in diameter
inside the bark four feet from the ground. Such a tree he
believes to be more than five thousand years old. His
observations upon the age of the Big Trees are interesting
and important. The stump of a tree in the Calaveras
grove, when examined many years ago by Professor Asa
Gray, showed about 1,300 layers of annual growth, and
led him to believe that the reputed age of these trees had
been greatly exaggerated. A tree cut in the King’s River
forest, however, of about the same size as the Calaveras
tree, and not very old-looking, Muir found to be 2,200
years of age, while the King’s River giant displayed over
4,000 rings in an incomplete section which he was able to
examine. ‘No other tree in the world,” he says, ‘so far
as I know, has looked down on so many centuries as this
Sequoia or opens such impressive and suggestive views
into history.” It has generally been believed, too, by
naturalists that the Sequoia was once far more widely dis-
tributed over the Sierras than it is at present. Mr. Muir,
however, has reached the conclusion that it has never been
at any time since the glacial period more abundant than it
is now, his careful examination failing to reveal a single
trace of its previous existence beyond its present bounds.
Sequoias, apparently, do not die a natural death, and,
barring accidents, appear to be immortal, living on indefi-
nitely unless destroyed by man or fire, smashed by light-
ning or thrown down by storms or by the sliding down of
the ground on which they stand. When one of the Big
Trees falls, the trunk, which is practically indestructible by
the action of the weather, may remain on the ground for
centuries, and when it is finally destroyed by repeated
burnings, a great trench, caused by the weight of the fall-
‘ing tree, permanently marks the place where it has laid.
Such trenches exist in all the Sequoia groves and forests,
but beyond their limits Mr. Muir has searched for them in
vain—conclusive evidence, it would seem, that the Sequoia
belt has not undergone any great diminution since the
close of the glacial epoch.

The Sequoia was probably one of the first trees that ob-
tained a foothold on the Sierras after the ice-sheet began to
break up into individual glaciers, and its distribution in
isolated groves and forests may be accounted for, as Mr.
Muir suggests, by the fact that when it first appeared
on the exposed ridges the intervening space was occupied
by glaciers. The Sequoia belt, therefore, attained its great-
est development at the place where, owing to topographical
peculiarities, the ground had been most perfectly protected
from the main ice rivers that pour down from the summits
long after the smaller local glaciers had melted. Contrary
to the now generally accepted theory that the Sequoia
which existed in the Arctic Circle during the tertiary epoch
reached California from the north, Mr. Muir believes “that
as the Sequoia forests present a more and more ancient
aspect as they extend southward, the species was dis-
tributed from the south, while the Sugar Pine, its great rival
in the northern groves, seems to have come around the
head of the Sacramento Valley and down the Sierra from
the north,

We wish space would permit us to speak of the chapter
devoted to the Douglas squirrel, the great Sierra forester, as
Mr. Muir calls him, the devourer and incidentally the dis-
seminator of coniferous seeds, and of the other animals and
birds whose habits he describes with such delightful fresh-
ness; but for these we must refer our readers to the book
itself. During the last fifty years a number of books in
which nature and natural objects have been discussed in
what may, perhaps, be called the poetical method, have
appeared. None of them, however, in our judgment, com-

Garden and Forest.

NumeBer 418.

pare with Mr. Muir's production in truthfulness of observa-
tion and beauty of expression, and The Century Company
has done a useful thing in collecting in a volume these essays
on the Mountains of California, which first appeared in
slightly different form in the pages of Zhe Century Magazine.

The Strawberry in New England.

T is well known that this fruit has been cultivated for cen-
turies in the Old World, but some misconception seems
to exist in regard to the date of the cultivation of the Straw-
berry in New England, as well as to its abundance in early times.
In the last report of the Connecticut State Board of Agriculture,
page 66, a member stated that hecould not find that the Straw-
berry was cultivated here in gardens previous to 1824. Dr.
Timothy Dwight, in his delightful volumes of Zravels in New
England, published in 1821, though written earlier than 1817,
gives a list of five different varieties of Strawberries, four of
which he had under cultivation in his garden. He mentions
the following varieties: The Red Meadow, White Meadow,
Field, Hudson and Hautboy. Dr. Dwight says: ‘‘The Meadow
Strawberry of this country is the best fruit of the kind which
I have seen. It is rather larger than the Chili Sweet, and more
prolific. It also improves greatly by culture. I have seen
several which were four and a half inches in circumference,
many which were four, and bushels which were between three
and four.” And he further states: ‘‘I have cultivated the
Wild Meadow Strawberry more than twenty years, and during
that time it has increased to twice its original size.”

In regard to the Field Strawberry, he says that it ‘‘is sweeter,
ten days earlier, but much smaller, than the Meadow Straw-
berry, and has not increased in size by a cultivation of eight
years in my garden. The plants become immediately much
larger, but the fruit has not been changed at all.” He also
mentions the Hautboy and Hudson varieties as having been
in cultivation for many years in his garden. The former
variety is a well-known European form ; the latter is a form I
am not familiar with, although I suspect it to be an old culti-
vated variety common in these days. These statements of
Dr. Dwight, who died in 1817, show that the Strawberry was in
cultivation in New England before the beginning of this
century.

He, moreover, states that the Hautboy Strawberry, Fragaria
elatior, has been found growing spontaneously in two dis-
tinct and remote localities in Connecticut. This statement, if
true, would undoubtedly indicate that they were introduced
through the agency of birds.

The White Meadow Strawberry which he calls attention to
is a mere sport or variety of the ordinary Red Strawberry. It
is also mentioned by Dr. Dewey in his Plants of Massachu-
setts, 1890, page 59, aS occurring plentifully in the Berkshire
Hills.

In regard to the abundance of the Strawberry in early times
there appears to be some misconception also. Every one is
aware that there are few places in Massachusetts where it
would be possible now for one to gather more than a few
pints of strawberries in a whole day. In early times, how-
ever, when there was more virgin soil than there is to-day in
New England the wild Strawberry was very abundant, and
frequently grew to a much larger size than at present; and
even within the recollection of men now living this fruit was
by no means rare in this state, neither is it in Nova Scotia and
New Brunswick to-day. William Wood, an early visitor and
accurate observer, states in his Mew England Prospect, pub-
lished in 1635, that ‘‘there is likewise growing all manner of
Hearbes for meate and medicin, and that not onely in planted
Gardens, but in the woods, without either the art or helpe of
man. . There is likewise Strawberies in abundance, verie
large ones, some being two inches about. One may gather
halfe a bushell in a forenoone.” And in 1643 Roger Williams
wrote: ‘This berry (Strawberry) is the wonder of all the fruits
growing naturally in those parts; it is of itself excellent, so
that one of the cheiftest doctors of England was wont to say
that God could have made, but never did, a better berry... .
In some parts, where the natives have planted, I have many
times seen as many as would fill a good ship within a few
miles’ compasse. The Indians bruise them in a mottar and
mixe them with meale and make Strawberry bread.” Straw-
berry bread appears to have been in common use among the
Indians, as we find it mentioned by other writers, notably
Gorkin, who was a co-worker with Rey. John Eliot among the
Nipmucks and other Massachusetts tribes. These statements,
with many others which could be cited, show conclusively
that the wild Strawberry was once very abundant here in New

FEBRUARY 26, 1896.]

England, and undoubtedly the principal reason for the decline
of this wild fruit is the exhaustive conditions of our soil. In
early times the clearing of an old wood gave rise to abundance
of these berries, and they were noted as being abundant in
our meadows. The Strawberry, however, is not the only
natural crop that has changed. Many of our meadows, which
now produce a crop of grass hardly worth cutting, once sup-
ported a luxuriant growth of the Fowl Meadow Grass, * thick
and long, as high as a man’s middle, some as high as the
shoulders, so that a good mower might cut three load a day.”
To-day, however, hardly less should be expected, since for
generations crops have been removed from the soil without
the_return of any plant-food, whereas in olden time, before
the advent of the white man, everything was allowed to decay
where it fell, which meant a considerable yearly increase of

organic matter to the soil.
Agricultural College, Amherst, Mass. G. £. Stone.

Foreign Correspondence.

Orchids at Kew.

HAND-LIST of Orchids cultivated in the Royal Gar-
dens, Kew, has just been issued and may be obtained
from the Curator, price sixpence. This is the fourth of the
series of catalogues of the Kew collections of living plants
printed within the last two years, the other three being
part I. of the hardy trees and shrubs, Ferns and Fern allies,
and hardy herbaceous and alpine plants. ‘The intention
of the Director is to catalogue the whole of the collections
of living plants at Kew, the total number of species being
estimated roughly at twenty thousand. A list of the coni-
fers is already in the printers hands, and this will be
followed by the second part of the hardy trees and shrubs.
These lists are of horticultural value because, while they
comprise a large number of species of more or less interest
to botanists, they also include practically all the plants
cultivated in gardens for ornamental or economic purposes.
No pains have been spared to make the nomenclature accu-
rate and in accordance with the views of recognized
authorities. Many garden names are reduced as synonyms
or errors, but through lack of sufficient material or informa-
tion some which are provisional have been retained. The
author of the name, habitat of the plant and, where possi-
ble, a reference to a published figure are given with each
species. The value of these lists must be evident to any
practical horticulturist who has to deal with large collec-
tions and to whom the almost hopeless confusion of names
by dealers and others must have often presented difficulty.
By dealing thus thoroughly and comprehensively with the
whole of cultivated plants, Kew has rendered great service
to horticulture, whose followers, it is to be hoped, will adopt
' the names preferred by the Kew authorities and thus bring
about uniformity where, till now, there have been confusion
and doubt.

The Orchid list enumerates 200 genera and 1,800 species
(including about fifty garden hybrids) as being represented
by living examples at Kew. The greater proportion of
these are what are popularly known as botanical curiosi-
ties, which would not find favor with those who are
interested in beautiful flowers, but which, nevertheless, are
worth a place at Kew, where the main object is botanical,
and to represent the order in as comprehensive a way as
possible. As an example I may cite the genus Pleuro-
thallis, of which there are forty species at Kew, but not
more than half adozen of them would be looked at a second
time by the ordinary collector. The genus Bulbophyllum
is represented by sixty-four species, Cirrhopetalum by
thirty-one, Angreecum by thirty-nine, Dendrobium by one
hundred and forty, Masdevallia by eighty, Oncidium by one
hundred and eight species, and so on.

This collection has been slowly built up in various ways,
partly by purchase or exchange, partly through the kind-
ness and interest of travelers and residents in countries
where Orchids abound, and by the generosity of some of
the collectors and cultivators of Orchids in this country.
Many of the plants are small, perhaps obtained from a
scrap taken from a specimen sent to the herbarium for

Garden and Forest.

83

identification, all such that come into the Kew net being
good fish.

The introduction to the hand-list contains some interest-
ing information about the Kew collection in particular, as
well as about Orchids in general. The accommodation for
Orchids at Kew is not first-rate, only two houses to which
the public are admitted being available for their display,
and these are so ill-adapted for the cultivation of Orchids
that they are practically only show-houses in which the
plants are placed when in flower. The bulk of the collec-
tion is grown in some half-a-dozen small houses to which
the public cannot conveniently be admitted. It would,
however, be possible to provide houses which would be
suitable for the culture of Orchids, and to which the public
might have free access.

Orchids have been continuously cultivated at Kew from
their earliest introduction into this country. The varied
fortunes which have attended the collection practically
reflect the history of the progress which has been made in
the art of growing Orchids under artificial conditions.

The first exotic Orchid which was introduced into English
gardens was Bletia verecunda, which was obtained from
Providence Island, Bahamas, by Peter Collinson, in 1731,
and flowered in the following year in the garden of Mr.
Wager. About the year 1778 Phajus grandifolius was im-
ported from China by Dr. Fothergill, and a full-sized colored
figure of it is given in the first edition of the Hortus Kew-
ensis under the name of Limodorum Tankerville. A pecu-
liar interest attaches to this plant because it was in it and
at Kew that in 1802 Francis Bauer, who was “resident
draughtsman for fifty years to the Royal Botanic Garden,”
discovered and figured the “nucleus of the case,” an all-
important body, the first description of which was pub-
lished by Robert Brown in 1833.

In the first edition of Aiton’s Hortus Kewensis fifteen non-
British species are enumerated as cultivated at Kew. Sir
J. E. Smith wrote: ‘‘ We have scarcely seen any one spe-
cies of this genus (Epidendrum), except in a dry state,
before the year 1787, when E. cochleatum flowered at Kew,
nor was it till October, 1782, that E. fragrans, of Swartz,
exhibited its rich and elegant bloom in the same rich col-
lection. At present several species are to be seen flowering
in the spring and autumn.”

In the second edition of the Hortus Kewensis (1813) 115
species are enumerated, of which eighty-four are exotics
belonging to thirty-nine genera. In 1848 the number of
species cultivated at Kew had increased to 755, and in 1872
the number of species and varieties was 851, belonging to
138 genera. Since then the collection has grown steadily.
The collection of Orchids in the botanic gardens at Glas-
nevin, Dublin, is almost, if not quite, as rich in species as
that at Kew.

The essential cultural requirements of Orchids were not
known till long after they had attracted the attention of
horticulturists. It is interesting to note the struggles of our
great-grandfathers to discover the conditions most suitable
for them. We who know all about it are surprised that any
intelligent cultivator should have tried to grow epiphytic
plants “in common soil in pots plunged to the rimina
tan bed.” Teak baskets, sphagnum moss, peat fibre and
charcoal appear to us to be exactly what any intelligent
schoolboy would have recommended as supplying the right
material for an epiphyte. But, like all useful discoveries
and inventions, simple as they appear to us, they were not
worked out without much thought, experiment and the sac-
rifice of many plants. One of the shrewdest of botanists
working in the van of the horticultural art of his time, Dr.
Lindley, stated in a paper read to the Royal Horticultural
Society in 1830 that “high temperature, deep shade and
excessive humidity are the conditions essential to the well-
being of Orchids.” Thirteen years later another Orchid
authority, Mr. Bateman, recommended the same treatment,
adding that a resting season was necessary. ‘This treat-
ment became the only orthodox one, and was persisted in
for upward of thirty years.

84

Two men, however, broke away from the current tradi-
tion, and with conspicuous success. One of the first of
these was Joseph Cooper, gardener to Earl Fitzwilliam, at
Wentworth (1835). <A still bolder innovation was adopted
shortly afterward by Paxton, at Chatsworth. In both cases
the essential innovations were lower temperature and in-
creased ventilation. The old tradition still, however, held
its ground; plants perished under the barbarous treatment
they received in the hot-houses of this country almost as
fast as they were imported. To such an extent were the
losses felt that Lindley, in a remarkable article published
in Zhe Gardeners’ Chronicle toward the end of 1859, pro-
nounced their treatment “a deplorable failure,” and which
Mr. Bateman also some years later characterized as “ in-
credible folly.”

Even within the last twenty years considerable advance
has been made in the art of Orchid culture. We now
recognize that fresh air at all times is essential, that many
Orchids enjoy bright sunshine, that while some require
plenty of moisture all the year round, others require it only
for a portion of the year, and that some even thrive only
when treated as if they were Cacti. The temperature for
exotic Orchids varies from a purely tropical to that of a few
degrees above freezing point, and while some species
during growth are kept in a hot steamy atmosphere, and
after growth is completed are removed to comparatively
cool and dry conditions to afford them a rest, others suffer
if the conditions are not fairly uniform all the year round.
W. Watson.

London,

New or Little-known Plants.

Viburnum erosum.

HIS isone of a small group of North American and

Asiatic Viburnums whose leaves are furnished with
small linear stipules. It is a stout shrub five or six feet in
height, with slender much-forked branches covered with
orange or reddish brown bark. The leaves are oblong-
ovate or oblong-obovate, acuminate, gradually narrowed,
wedge-shaped and often unequal at the base, erose-serrate,
with slender spreading rigid teeth, stellate-pubescent, mem-
branaceous, dark yellow-green on ihe upper surface and
pale and rather lustrous on the lower, and rusty-pubescent
on the under side of the thin midribs and in the axils of the
remote primary veins; they are from two to three inches
in length and from an inch toan inchand a half wide, with
stout pubescent petioles about a quarter of an inch in
length. The flowers appear in May in lax pubescent long-
stalked corymbs about three inches across, with linear-
lanceolate scarious reddish bracts and bractlets. The
corolla is rotate and greenish white, with rounded lobes
about half aslong as the stamens. The fruit is red, with a
flat stone, slightly thickened and obscurely two-ridged on
the back, and furnished with a short mucro at the apex.

In Japan Viburnum erosum inhabits the southern island
of Kiushiu and southern and central Hondo, where it is not
rare at elevations of three or four thousand feet above the
sea in the mountain districts crossed by the Nakasendo; it
also inhabits Formosa, southern and central China and
Corea.

Viburnum erosum* has been cultivated in the Arnold
Arboretum since 1880, having been received in that year
from the Parsons’ Nursery in Flushing, Long Island ; and
the flowering branch in the illustration on page 85 of this
issue is from a specimen grown in the Arboretum ; the fruit
represented on the plate is from a wild Japanese specimen.
Of considerable interest botanically, Viburnum erosum is
less desirable as an ornamental plant than several of the
North American and Japanese species now to be found in
gardens. GAS S35:

* Viburnum erosum, Thunberg, FV. Ya/., 124 (1784).—De Candolle, Prodr., iv.,
327.—Maximowicz, J7é2. Biol., x., 666.—Franchet & Savatier, Exum. Pl. Fap., i., 200.
—Hemsley, Jour. Linn. Soc., xxiii., 351.

Viburnum erosum, var. Formosanum, Hance, Ann. Sc7. Nat. sé7. 5, Vey 216 (1866).

Viburnum dilatatum, B. Formosanum, Maximowicz, . c., 666 (1880).

Garden and Forest.

[NumpBER 418.

Cultural Department.

Vegetable Notes.

Ao the cultivation of Cucumbers during the win-

ter months is somewhat troublesome, they are compar-
atively easy of management during the longer and _ brighter
spring days. Plants from seeds sown at the end of February
will give a supply of fruit from about the middle of April until
plants outside begin to bear. The starting of seeds is some-
times troublesome on account of damping off just after germi-
nation has begun; this can be prevented by careful planting,
A little study of the habit of the seed will show that the embryo
breaks through the shell at the point or thin end, the root
being first produced. The seeds should be set so that the
root can go directly down into the soil and the top shoot
upward. If the seeds are sown at random the little plant, after
germination, is sometimes in a position from which it cannot
extricate itself. They should be sown in small pots in a light
sandy soil and placed in a good bottom-heat ; as soon as the
plants are up they should be removed to a light situation
near the glass, but shaded from strong sunlight. They must
be shifted into larger pots as soon as they are strong enough,
using a heavier soil than before, and which the roots will
now be able to take hold of. When planted into their permanent
quarters a few tobacco-stems spread about will help to keep
off the black fly, which is always a ready enemy. It is neces-
sary to keep the atmosphere moist and to syringe twice daily
on bright days, but the syringing must be done lightly, as the
leaves are tender and easily damaged. On this account smok-
ing should never be resorted toasa means of destroying the fly,
but if this pest becomes troublesome fresh tobacco should be
spread over the pipes and sprinkled with water. This should
be done when the pipes are warm and the house is closed,
A night temperature of sixty degrees is sufficiently high,
with a rise of fifteen degrees through the day. The plants may
be slightly shaded to advantage when the sun is bright. We
have tried several varieties, but find none equal to Telegraph
for quality, productiveness and free growth.

A sowing of Cauliflower seed for frame work should be made
toward the end of February, and the last batch should be planted
indoors. It is not advisable to plant indoors any later, as the
bright sunlight proves too much for them after the beginning
of April. No matter how carefully they are watered and aired
after that date the plants will flag on bright days. This flag-
ging has the effect of injuring the quality and reducing the size
of the head, and also induces a number of heads to come hard
aud open and unfit for table use. While in frames the plants are
not subjected to the same drying influences and can have more
air by removing the sashes during favorable weather. If the
soil in the frames has already been used fora similar purpose,
about a foot of it should be removed and replaced with well-
enriched fresh soil. For this, as for greenhouse work, the
dwart varieties, such as Snowball and Dwarf Erfurt, should be
chosen, since they give the best returns in the least space.

Sowings of Boston Market and Tennis Ball Lettuce should

be made in flats for planting in frames later on, and of Golden .

Queen for indoor work. We find this latter variety resists heat
better than any we have yet tried and can, therefore, recom-
mend it to keep up the supply. During the winter months it
can be grown at a night temperature of fifty degrees, while
such varieties as Rawson’s Hot-house and Boston Market do
better ten degrees lower, The latter varieties would probably
take from ten to twelve weeks to mature, while Golden Queen,
at a night temperature of fifty degrees, can be had fit for use
in eight weeks from the time of sowing. It also does well ata
lower temperature, though the growth is correspondingly
slower, andit is questionable if it pays to maintaina high temper-
ature for Lettuce during winter, except in cases of emergency.

Early Warwick and Red Valentine Bush Beans still prove
the most suitable varieties. Successive sowings may bemade
in benches or in pots. They are convenient in pots during the
spring months, as they can be shifted about to economize space
in the benches. The Beans are sometimes hard to start for
lack of bottom-heat, but the pots can be set directly over the
pipes, and if kept well supplied with water the seed comes up
quickly. Ten-inch pots are a convenient size. They should be
only two-thirds filled with soil when the seed is sown, the

other third being added after the plants are large enough to.

permit of it. Five or six plants are enough to a pot of this
size, but it is better to sow plenty of seed and thin out after the
strongest plants can be selected. If subjected to a dry atmos-
phere red spider is apt to be troublesome, but syringing may
be freely practiced, and this will help to keep the plants clean.
A light situation and full exposure to sunlight suits them best.

Tarrytown, N. Y. William Scott.

FEBRUARY 26, 1896.]

Seasonable Notes on Chrysanthemums.

WV the distribution of new Chrysanthemums we may
say the season of these flowers for 1896 has commenced.
With the watchful cultivator it has never ended. When the
last flowers are cut we gather our stock for the coming season,
study notes, and secure what we can of the new varieties
which have impressed us favorably when visiting our neigh-
bors and at the exhibitions. As often happens, the stock of
some varieties, much sought after, is limited, and so we are
propagating and growing all winter long. The bulk of our
stock plants are yet in cold frames. They have not been
frozen during this uncommonly mild winter, so that cuttings
have been taken as needed. It is only during recent years that
we have come to pay due attention to our stock during what

_—-—

Garden and Forest.

85

the season before for specimen blooms. I have tried this plan,
but with indifferent success. Young plants taken as cuttings,
when old plants were started, outgrew them in four months,
which is only about half a season’s growth. I am told that
one gardener, following the English practice, grew some plants
all last season for the sole purpose of making specimens of
them this. It is to be hoped that these plants will be exhibited,
so that we can have an opportunity of judging between the
English and American methods.

Experience shows that cuttings root better during the month
of March than at any other time. Later, as the sun gains
power, the air grows drier and closer attention must be given
to the work of propagation. Indeed, I am acquainted with
good gardeners who have been unable to understand why
they lost a large percentage of cuttings during the late spring

Fig. 9.—Viburnum erosum,—See page 84.

may be termed the resting season. It has been too much the
custom to shove the plants under benches and pay little or no
attention to them until they were needed. We were certain
in this way of some sort of cuttings, but experience has proved
that it is advantageous to have our stock hardy, healthy and
exposed to air and sunshine on every available opportunity.
Some growers now even take the trouble to grow plants in the
open garden exclusively for stock.

As stated in previous notes, our plants intended for speci-
mens were started a month earlier than usual, and we have
lately moved them into six-inch pots. Ordinarily we should
now have them in four-inch pots. In this stage they would be
early enough for all practical purposes and would make quite
large specimens. Some English growers start plants in De-
cember and grow on old plants which have been cultivated

months. During the months of May and June a close, well-
shaded propagating frame is essential, and complete satura-
tion for the first four or five days. It is hard to remedy the
results of exposure even for a few hours, except in moist
weather, or evening and early morning. The value of new
varieties has almost invariably been estimated with a view to
specimen blooms, and judges have never required that exhibi-
tors of such varieties should show growing plants. It has, there-
fore, been with difficulty that those interested in specimen plants
have been able to select such as are useful for their purpose
among novelties. But, so strong is the desire to be abreast
of the times, that in nine out of ten places one visits he will
find growers relying on untested novelties and discarding many
available varieties which have been tried and found suitable.
I have done this myself. Due credit, however, is always given

86 Garden and Forest.

to novelties shown in first-class condition, so that, while not
relying upon them, wealways grow to the best advantage such
as are most promising. Our list of varieties suitable for speci-
men plants has been made with care, and, although extending
over a number of years, is by no means large. Practical expe-
rience must alone guide, and when looking over the lists I
often see kinds noted as suitable for specimen plants which
have not proved so with me. To give an idea how few plants
are really suitable for this purpose I will say that Crystalina, a
dwarf early white, and Mrs. S. T. Murdock, pink, were the only
real good ones found among all the introductions of 1895. The
most promising varieties for 1896, so far as I have seen, are
Mrs. Perrin, pink; Gretchen Buettner, white; Violescent,
blush, and Columbine, bright bronze, the latter being espe-
cially recommended.

It has been said that the popularity of the Chrysanthemum
is on the wane. No doubt, the Japanese varieties have been
overdone, but that the Chrysanthemum will ever become un-
popular I do not believe. There will rather be a return to a
larger variety of types, and many of the old kinds will come
into favor. Already we see this. We shall see more pompon-
flowered varieties grown as pot-plants. They are handsome
in all sizes and shapes, and, being naturally bushy in habit, are
less formal than trained specimens; they are nice, too, for
cutting in sprays. Anemone-flowered varieties have a beauty
all their own. They do not mix well with the large Japanese
or formal Chinese sorts, but they supplement them, and small
plants are very effective in grouping, far more so than the
large-flowered varieties.

Varieties fresh from the introducers usually come with the
balls of earth pressed closely about the plants. I find it a good
plan to carefully loosen the soil by gentle pressure betore
placing them in new soil. Of late years, mainly for want of
space, I have put mine in flats, with plenty of room for branch-
ing, placing them on shelves near the glass. Here they make
good stocky plants. I take the tips off as soon as the plants
become hardened, and root them. These often make better
plants than the original stock. Such varieties as I wish to grow
solely for specimen blooms I cut in hard. This encourages
shoots of the sucker type, and these make the very best cut-
tings. Leaf-eyes of any exceptionally rare variety, such as
Philadelphia was last season, or Mrs. Perrin will be this, may
be rooted quite as easily, and some of the finest blooms have

been raised in this way.
Wellesley, Mass. Leda Flatfeld.

Pentstemons.

Aes old-fashioned border flowers are no longer so carefully

tended as they once were by the specialists, and itis a
rare thing now to find a good collection of Tulips, Auriculas,
Carnations or Picotees. In the old days the number of plants
in cultivation was small in comparison to what it is to-day;
the limits of horticulture were circumscribed for those of
moderate means, and the result was that these classes of plants
were taken in hand by enthusiasts who became identified with
one or more of each and made a close study of them, with the
result that they were improved to the utmost limit, and there
are no better kinds to-day than there were a generation ago.
The old-time exhibitions have largely died out, too; many, if
not most, of the plants formerly displayed it would be impos-
sible to obtain now. This must not be considered a retro-
gression altogether, but rather an indication that gardening is
too broad a subject to be restricted to exhibition limits, and
border Carnations, Tulips, Auriculas and Pentstemons are
grown now to be enjoyed in the garden instead of on the show
board with the regulation frilled white paper collars round
each bloom.

It is more especially of the Pentstemon that I wish to speak
as I saw it at its best in English gardens last August. At Kew
especially, in the public parks and everywhere in home gar-
dens, large beds were devoted to them, and the colors were as
brilliant as those of Gladioli, and with about the same range of
colors, too, but with more elegantly shaped flowers. The flow-
ers were as large and the spikes as tall as well-grown Foxgloves,
and admirably adapted for house decoration when cut. The
season of bloom, too, lasted for two months I was told, and it
seemed there were few plants that could give such returns for
so little trouble. When asking about the sorts I was told that
they were in all cases seedlings raised from a sowing made
early in the year and set out in summer, the plants being
treated as annuals instead of perennials; in this way winter
storing was dispensed with. Seed was saved. from the best
flowers each year for the display to follow. Now, it at once
occurred to me that the progenitors of this race of garden
Pentstemons are all north-western American plants, the domi-

[NuMBER 418.

nating blood being that of Pentstemon Hartwegii, its brilliant
scarlet being very evident, while the more sombre purples and
blues were derived from P.Coboca and others. As now grown,
however, they are distinct enough in themselves to lose any
identity with any particular species.

There seems to be no reason why we cannot have beds of
these fine border flowers as easily as they are obtained in Eu-
rope. There may becultivators of Pentstemons here, butI have
notseen them. Here we have made a start in the right direction
by securing seeds from several sources and the plants are well
up now; the results will be noted later in the summer, but
there seems to be no reason to doubt that the experiment will

b :
e a success E. O. Or pet.

South Lancaster, Mass.

Warming Tanks for the Victoria regia.

[TURING the past season the Victoria regia was grown most

successfully in some of our public parks and gardens for
the first time, and excited much interest in aquatic gardening.
Where the Victoria can be grown well it is always a surprise
to those who are not familiar with it, and every one is im-
pressed with its queenly rank among Water-lilies. To secure
a perfect specimen it is necessary to have an artificially heated
tank, for our season is otherwise far too short. The plantcan-
not be safely set out until settked warm weather, or about the
end of June or beginning of July. With continuous summer
weather the plant attains only fair proportions when cool
nights and shortening days are upon us, but with artificial
heat a tropical temperature can be maintained for six or eight
weeks before warm weather sets in, and the plants will have
reached good proportions and be a source of enjoyment
throughout the summer months. Few plants are grown en-
tirely under glass during the whole season, although there are
advantages in such treatment. It is much more enjoyable,
however, to inspect these marvels of the tropics in the open
air rather than under a glass roof in summer’s heat.

Plants for the open-air pond or tank should have attention
now. The seeds may be sown any time before the second
week of March in water kept at a temperature of eighty-five to
ninety degrees, Fahrenheit. They will germinate in about
twenty days. The plants make rapid growth and will require
repotting at intervals before becoming pot-bound or exhausted
in small pots. If this detail is attended to the plants will make
satisfactory growth and be of the first size for planting out when
the season arrives. The plants should be kept steadily grow-
ing from the seed-leaf to the mature plant. The matter
of heating tanks for Victoria regia and for other trop-
ical aquatics has received attention from many culti-
vators since the Victoria was first introduced. Several
systems, more or less satisfactory, have been adopted, but I
feel sure that the best and most satisfactory has yet to be
adopted. Ifasystem of hot-water heating is already in use
in the establishment, it is advantageous and economical to
adopt this for heating the tank, Buta long stretch of piping
in one tank is not practicable, as the heat is soon given off and
a great portion of it is therefore useless. I have used hot
water under pressure for heating tanks in connection with the
greenhouse plant, and found in shailow tanks, eight inches
deep, that one one-inch pipe through the centre of the tank is
as effective as a one-inch flow and return pipe through the
same. The return pipe is cold almost always, except during
hard firing in severe weather in winter. Steam-heating in the
ordinary way is to be condemned. It is unreliable, unsteady
and dangerous, and needs constant and careful watching. At
the point of contact, where the steam-pipe enters the tank, the
water will be very hot, the steam condensing as soon as it
enters the submerged pipe, and little heat is conveyed a few
feet farther along. Consequently atank twenty feet long would
be very hot at one end and many degrees colder at the other.
Having recently had a house one hundred feet long fitted up
for aquatics and heated by steam, I endeavored to have a large
tank heated by the same system, and to overcome the diffi-
culties mentioned I selected a two-inch pipe to run through
the centre of the tank on the floor. Through this pipe the
steam-pipe (one inch) was conveyed, making the ends of in-
gress and egress perfectly water-tight, and thus forming anair
space between the steam-pipe and the radiating surface of the
two-inch pipe. By such an arrangement the steam-pipe at no
time comes in direct contact with the water, and the air space
is uniformly heated through the entire length. The water in
the tank is also uniformly heated and an even temperature is
maintained. This plan obviates the objections to the ordinary
steam-pipe submerged, and it is the best method I have found
for warming the water in Lily-tanks by steam-heat.

Riverton, N. J. William Tricker.

ee ee ee

FEBRUARY 26, 1896.]

Correspondence.
Daffodils in California.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—It is probable that more Daffodils are in bloom now
(February rst) on the farm of James Shinn, near Niles, Alameda
County, than can be found in all the rest of the state put
together. The original stock was imported about thirty years
ago by the late E. P. Sanford, of Oakland, a prominent drug-
gist, whose garden was for many years one of the notable
features of that town. When the growth of Oakland made the
sacrifice of the garden necessary, part of the stock of Daffodils,
then greatly increased, was taken to Niles, and received a judi-
cious amount of neglect for many years.

At the present time the Daffodils have taken possession of a
large part of the available garden area. They are allowed to
grow inclumps for five or six years without separation, and
then it becomes necessary to extend the plantation further and
further into the surrounding orchard. The surplus flowers are
sent to San Francisco for sale, and the following items from
the beginning of the present season will serve to show how
well suited the climate is for this flower :

Three dozen flowers were shipped as early as January 17th ;
by the 24th the daily cutting was thirty-five dozen, and by the
31st it had reached 300 dozen, with the supply still increasing
and destined to continue for several weeks.

We have been trying to identify the leading variety repre-
sented here. Ninety-nine out of a hundred flowers are a large,
firm, rich-colored, single Trumpet Daffodil, much resembling
the Ard Righ, though earlier; at least, earlier than imported
Ard Righ bulbs when planted alongside of them. We have
planted a good many named varieties which may develop bet-
ter qualities in course of time, under the favoring conditions,
but at present nothing among the yellow Trumpet varieties is
equal to our own stock in earliness or excels it in general
effectiveness.

As a rule, Trumpet Daffodils bloom here under open-air
culture by the middle of January. The Paper-white Narcissi
are in bloom by December Ist, and often a fortnight earlier,
They are still blooming (February Ist), while the Trumpets
are approaching their prime. A few double Trumpets are
now in bloom, but the majority will not appear for a fortnight
or more, and, in fact, the double forms of the Medii-coronatz
group are not at all prominent until the single Trumpets have
gone. Various types of the Polyanthus Narcissus are natural-
ized in large clumps in the shrubbery, as are many others of the
true Daffodil sections, but none of the clustered Narcissi seem
quite as much at home as do the single Trumpet Daffodils.

Niles, Calif. Charles H. Shinn.

Bulb-farming for the South-west.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—Recent experiments indicate that certain favored sec-
tions of this country are as well adapted as Holland to the
production of an extra quality of bulbs, and this is a matter
worth investigating since America imports these bulbs by the
million every year. Here and there through the south
favorable reports have been made. In particular, Professor
Massey, through the columns of GARDEN AND FOREST, has
called attention time and again to the possibilities of North
Carolina in this direction. The South Ozark region, in my
opinion, is another promising field for bulb-growing on a
large scale. This region, according to a recent isothermal
map, consists of about three tiers of counties, five or six of
which are in south-western Missouri, and ten or twelve in
north-western Arkansas, together with a strip of Indian Terri-
tory adjoining them. From the greater height of the moun-
tains and the different slope of the ranges this belt of land has
a warmer climate than the country to the north, south and
west of it, and the conditions of local rainfall are much modi-
fied also. The distinctions of soil are even more marked.
Although rough and broken, it has a peculiar quality that pro-
duces remarkably fine fruit. This is the country which sent
out the big red apples to win the world’s prize and make
Arkansas famous at the Columbian Exposition.

This same quality of soil produces as noticeable a develop-
ment of bulbous plants. Except Hyacinths and Crocuses,
which, while they do not really run out, do only fairly well,
other spring bulbs multiply so rapidly and grow so large as to
suggest competition with Holland. Tulips, particularly the
later sorts, increase wonderfully, and the bulbs are large and
plump. But, above all, this isa paradise for Narcissus. Six
undersized bulbs of one of the varieties of the Incomparabilis

Garden and Forest.

87

section were planted nine years ago, and lifted last fall, when
their increase nearly filled a half-bushel. More than that,
many of the bulbs were larger and heavier than any imported
ones I eversaw. Impressed by the fine appearance of Ozark-
grown bulbs, I have for several years tried various members
of the Narcissus family for forcing, and can say positively that
they are all excellent for this purpose. I have tried the Poly-
anthus varieties only slightly, but they promise well also, and
seem to show no sign of tenderness,

Summer bulbs also do exceedingly well in this same region.
Gladioli and Tigridias produce bulbs, or corms, of prodigious
size, and whereas eastern growers complain that their largest
bulbs of Gladiolus do not give as fine flowers as those of
smaller size, the larger our bulbs grow the longer are the
flower-spikes and the larger the individual flowers. It would
seem that a Gladiolus or Narcissus farm might prove a paying

venture here,
Lora S. La Mance.

Pineville, Mo.
The Forest.

Forest Protection.—I.

The fourth volume of Dr. Schlich’s Manual of Foresiry
deals with the very wide subject of Forest Protection.
It is a translation and an adaptation of Der Forsischuls, by
Dr. Richard Hess, Professor of Forestry in the University
of Giessen, by Mr. W. R. Fisher, of the English Forest
School at Cooper's Hill. Mr. Fisher has improved upon
Dr. Hess, not only by a very important addition from his
Indian knowledge of forest subjects, notably with respect
to forest fires, but also by drawing from the resources of
French literature on the subjects of torrents and dunes, and
by adding the results of the more modern research on the
constitution of woody plants from the works of Robert
Hartig. The result is a thoroughly practical book, pecul-
iarly distinguished by the range of experience made
tributary to its pages. It has the further conspicuous
merit that the translation does not continually suggest the
German phrase behind it, but, on the contrary, is uniformly
simple and direct. This use of English construction is
especially gratifying because of the striking contrast it
offers with other recent translations from German works,
in some of which the English is so involved and distorted
by the retention of the German structure of the original as
to be almost unreadable.

“Forest Protection,” so runs the definition, ‘‘has for its
object the security of forests against unfavorable external
influences, as far as lies within the power of their owners,”
consequently the whole subject of forest law is outside the
range of the present treatise. Within the boundary thus
defined the attempt is made to lay the foundations of suc-
cessful forest protection through a knowledge of the
phenomena and causes of all possible damage, of all pre-
ventive and remedial measures, and of how to apply them.
More than in any other similar book with which I am
acquainted, the attempt has been made to facilitate origi-
nal and independent study and decision by furnishing
a sufficiently wide basis of acquaintance with the causes
of injury.

Following upon the definition of Forest Protection and
the description of its position in forestry there is a very
brief and interesting notice on the historical development
of Forest Protection, which traces it back to the religious
care of sacred trees in groves. Later on forests were pro-
tected chiefly as the resting-place for wild game. A curious
illustration of this point of view is contained in John Man-
wood’s black-letter Treatise and Discourse of the Lawes of
the Forrest, published in London in 1798, which is, I believe,
the earliest English book on the subject. On page 15,
which lies before me, he says :

And hereupon the Latinests haue framed this latin woord,
Foresta, for a Forrest, being compounded of those two
woords, fera, and Statio, so that Foresta est ferarum Statio,
which is, that a Forrest is a safe abyding place for wild beasts.
And euen according to the same manner, immitating the
Latinests, we haue framed this English woord, a Forrest,
being compounded of these two woords, For, and Rest: And
because a Forrest is a safe abyding and priuiledged place for

88

the king’s wild beastes for rest, which two woords (For and
Rest) being put together and made one woord, is Forrest, or
a Forrest, taking his name ot the nature of the place, which is
priuiledged by the king for his wild beastes, to have their safe
abyding in for rest,

It should be added that a more recent philology derives
the word “ forest” from the Latin ‘‘fores,” meaning ‘‘ out-
of-doors.” But, although we have discarded Manwood’s
definition, both of the word and the thing it denotes, the
traces of the view he represents still remain in the Scotch
‘‘deer forests,” which often do not contain a single tree.
Nor will it be apt to disappear even in this country while
great game preserves, such as the Yellowstone National
Park, continue to be of like conspicuous public service.

The question of boundaries, with which the book pro-
ceeds, is of comparatively little interest to us, because forest
boundaries, such as are here in question, do not exist in the
United States ; but the second chapter, which deals with
protection against avoidable damage in the use of the
forest, is of direct value. The sections on bad felling and
careless conversion are full of excellent practical advice,
and, with a few additions and subtractions, would be
models for use inthis country. Among others less appli-
cable the author recommends the following precautions,
which are not only germane, but are deserving of wide-
spread use in this country :

Measures for the prevention of mischief are: (1) Employ-
ment of competent and trustworthy woodcutters, and careful
supervision of their work. It is generally advisable to employ
the same men year after year, and to withdraw from the gang
all those who fell badly, and encourage the best men by in-
struction and higher wages. (2) Throwing trees on to bare
spots and not among young growth. (3) Careful felling of
coppice with sharp instruments and with a clean and sloping
cut. (4) Avoidance of throwing felled trees on to rocks, stones
or other stems; felling uphill or sidewise, so that there may
be a minimum of breakage.

Forest pasture is another practical matter intimately con-
nected with the needs of forestry in the United States.
Speaking of the damage done by goats the author says:

To take some out of the many instances of the destruction
of forests by goats: In the Tyrol and southern Switzerland,
and in the Himalayas, fine forests have been completely de-
stroyed by them, and in Ajmereand Merwara, whose hillsides,
where vegetation once flourished, have been laid almost bare,
with nothing left but deformed, thornyshrubs. In France, since
1665, goats have been excluded from all forests managed by
the State Forest Department, and no legal right can be en-
forced to graze goats in private forests, as the grazing of these
animals is considered incompatible with the maintenance of
the underwood.

It is true that conspicuous damage on a large scale has,
so far, been done in the United States only by sheep, and
that notably onthe Pacific slope. Similar damage, longer
continued, and. therefore, with far worse consequences, has
taken place in the Alps of southern France. To this the
writer does not refer, but the extent to which the summer
pasturage of sheep was carried there may be gauged by
the fact that flocks of fifteen to twenty thousand head were
frequently driven into the mountains from the lowlands.
Monsieur Boppe, the present Director of the French Forest
School, mentioned in a lecture which I had the pleasure of
hearing that one flock, which he had himself seen, occu-
pied seventeen hours in passing over a bridge thirteen feet
wide.

The third chapter, on Forest Offences, has only a poten-
tial interest here, and the same is true of the chapter on
Forest Servitudes. It will be an enormous advantage when
Government forest management comes to be introduced,
that rights of user cannot accrue on the public lands of the
United States. In India, on the contrary, nearly all of the
Government forests were at one time burdened with these
rights. At present they have been settled (which does not
at all mean extinguished, but only limited and defined) on
about 80,000 square miles of Government forest-land, while
50,000 more are still under settlement. With an annual
budget of about eighteen million rupees, Mr. Ribbentrop,

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 418.

the present Director General of Forests to the Government
of India, estimates that the cost of prescriptive rights to the
Forest Department is at least equal to that of its whole
establishment. Yet,in spite of this fact, the forests yield
an increasing net annual revenue, which now amounts to
nearly three million dollars. Ciera Pee

New York.

Exhibitions.
Eleventh Annual Exhibition of the Architectural
League of New York.—I.

POSTERS and book-covers, jugs, curtain-poles, hat-racks

and burnt wood table-tops are not things of the highest
intrinsic importance, and they have but the slightest connec-
tion with architectural art; yet, in this architectural exhibition,
scores of things of these and similar kinds, and of designs for
such things, have good places on the well-lighted walls of the
galleries, while a series of very interesting park and garden
designs, including some of the most important of Mr. Olmsted's
recent works, are consigned to the walls of the entrance cor-
ridor, where they cannot be seen at all until the approach of
evening commands artificial illumination. Moreover, while
all the hat-racks and the poker-work and the American de-
signs for Chinese rugs are carefully paraded in the catalogue,
it makes no mention whatever of these valuable designs in the
corridor. The Architectural League’s Hanging Committee and
Catalogue Committee seem to have united to declare what has
often been said by outsiders—that almost every one in America
knows the value of landscape and garden art better than the
architects, who ought to be the foremost celebrators of its
importance. Certainly the League cannot complain if the
practitioners of this art refuse to contribute again to its exhibi-
tions.

The most interesting thing in the whole exhibition, to the
general public, and the most instructive, were it properly
displayed, would be Mr. Olmsted’s scheme for the _per-
manent disposition of the quondam Fair Grounds at Jack-
son Park, in Chicago. It is a masterly piece of work in con-
ception and in execution. The good sense, the imaginative
force and the artistic skill shown in remodeling the features of
land and water and the architectural elements bequeathed by
the Fair, and forming them into a coherent, varied and beau-
tiful lake-side pleasure-ground, are as great as those that were
shown by the original transformation of a desert swamp into a
sumptuous place of palaces. This design will soon be repro-
duced in the pages of GARDEN AND FOREST.

Among the other designs by Mr. Olmsted and his associates
which have been relegated to the corridor’s outer darkness are
those for the grounds of Biltmore, Mr. Vanderbilt’s place in
North Carolina; for Auldwood, Mr. Hoagland’s place at Sea-
bright, on the sandy New Jersey coast ; for Bleak House, Mr.
Winans’ place on the rocky shores of Newport; for Mr. D.
Willis James’ inland place in New Jersey; for the grounds
surrounding the mansion which Mr. Hunt built for Mr. Ogden
Goelet in the heart of Newport; for the grounds of Washing-
ton University, at St. Louis; for Seneca Park, in Rochester,
and for South Park, in Buffalo. These form a remarkable
series of varied works, showing many types of garden and
park design from the almost strictly formal treatment appro-
priate on a small Newport place, where the house is an adapta-
tion of a stately French chateau, to the markedly naturalistic
treatment befitting a site like that of the Rochester Park, where
water plays almost as prominent a part as land in the general
effect. Had they been displayed as they should have been,
conspicuously, in some position of especial honor, the League
would have shown that it understood the meaning of art in the
noble sense of the word, and realized the intimate relationship
between gardening art and architectural art, and the public
would have been interested and instructed as we cannot hope
will now prove to be the case.

When the architectural designs in the galleries are studied the
action of the two committees seems all the more inexplicabie ;
for they reveal among our architects a growing sense of the
need for gardening art in connection with all buildings which
do not stand upon crowded city streets. Chief in impor-
tance, perhaps, is the elaborate design of Messrs. Carrére and
Hastings for a large country house set at the end of a long
narrow, rocky point projecting into Long Island Sound, and
approached through a natural forest with which it has
been united by formal gardening arrangements, conceived
ona larger scale than has often been seen in this western
world. This scheme, I hope, may soon be reproduced in these

FEBRUARY 26, 1896.]

pages ; and likewise an interesting suggestion of Messrs. Bell &
Langton’s for the rearrangement of Madison Square in this city.

Many pictures of country houses, whether good or bad in
themselves, gain interest by the incorporation of their envi-
ronment in the architect's design. I do not mean that this
environment is always better imagined than the house itself,
or even as well imagined; merely that any proof that our
architects are coming to realize the interdependence of the
two arts is very welcome. One common fault is still the un-
due prominence of stretches of gravel in the vicinity of the
main front of a house. Of course, it is often involved in the
mistake of incorporating the carriage-entrance with this front.
But there are instances where the carriage-drive runs to an
entrance in another side of the house, yet, nevertheless, a
gravel path cuts off the main fagade from the lawn, not only
offending the eye by its own barren line, but preventing any
proper system of planting about the house to connect it inte-
grally with the soil and give it an air of harmony, unity and
repose. Summer days are few in our climate when a
lawn is unfit to tread upon; and, to preserve its beauty
and that of the house itself, other entrances than the
one which should lead immediately to the grass might
well be used upon these days. Messrs. Rossiter & Wright
have grasped this idea in several excellent designs.
A striking instance of too much gravel, necessitated in part
by a faulty placing of entrances, is Messrs. Parfitt Brothers’
«Three Houses at Hill Crest,” No. 112. In their ‘‘House at
Cedarhurst,” No. 127, Messrs. Romeyn & Storer have drawn no
gravel line between the main front and its lawn; but they have
based the semicircular porch upon a wide rectangular stretch
of flagstones, not even raised to form a terrace, which makes
an ugly blot upon the lawn, and has not as much excuse in the
way ot possible convenience as a path,

No carriage drive reaches the door in the long facade of
Messrs. Renwick, Aspinwall & Owen’s ‘‘ House at Baltimore,”
No. 148; but the straight path which approaches it, between
two stretches of grass surrounded by low hedges, is absurdly
broad—almost one-third the width of the facade. Apparently
to relieve the barren effect thus produced, the centre of this
path has been filled with a group of flower-beds, which, of
course, as they are evidently out of place, merely add to its
ugliness, and also interfere with the convenience of pedes-
trians. Equally bad, in another way, is Mr. A. P. Valentine,
Jr.’s, ‘ Plan of a House and Home Grounds,” No. 179, where
there is no grass at all, but a meaningless arrangement of
multiplied straight-lined paths intersecting monotonous shrub-
beries ; and still worse is Messrs. Jardine, Kent & Jardine’s
‘First Study for a Country House near New Yerk,” No. 226.
Here the large house stands upon a high terrace, and below
this the foreground is filled with wide, contorted paths and
large flower-beds of graceless and inharmonious shapes,
encircling an oval basin of water which is not brought into
any relation with the architectural lines beyond it. More
ambitious and more interesting is Messrs. Snelling & Potter's
“Sketch for a House at Tuxedo,” where the disposition of the
paths and drives is both sensible and pleasingly symmetrical.

In pleasing contrast with garden arrangements appropriate
to our climate is the entrance path to a cottage at Burlingame,
California, shown in a water-color drawing by Mr. A. Page
Brown, No. 330. Among the distinctively rural structures
which seem particularly good I may note Messrs. Wainright &
Munoz's ‘Golf Club Houseat Seabright,” No. 76, and Mr. Atter-
bury’s ‘‘ Model for a House on an Adirondack Lake,” No. 373.
This is an interesting example of a large house kept low, as is
appropriate in the indicated situation, and built of stone and
unhewn logs. It may be thought, however, that in the Adiron-
dack woods a shingled roof would have more of the virtue of
fitness than the tiled roof which the house now bears.

Several well-designed tombstones of a simple kind prove
that we are gradually learning that it is not only large and
costly memorials to our dead which demand an artist’s care.
Among them are Mr. Robert Brown's ‘‘ Memorial Cross,” No.
175, and the ‘John Hancock Memorial,” No. 167, by Mr.
Schweinfurth, the designer of the excellent simple tombstones,
a series of which were published in GARDEN AND FOREST, vol.
ii., p. 198. Very beautiful in a more elaborate way is the late
Mr. Hunt's design for the Belmont tomb at Newport.

A dignified and wholly appropriate design is Messrs. Cady,
Berg & See’s ‘‘Memorial Gateway for Yale University,” No.
339, with simple brick piers and delicate elaborate wrought-
iron work. In a series of beautifully executed water-color
drawings, Messrs. Howard & Cauldwell suggest a number of
gateways for the new parks in the northern part of New York
city. Their conceptions are excellent, in so far as the modest
size and open, unobstructive air which should characterize the
entrances to naturalistic parks are concerned. But the partic-

Garden and Forest.

89

ular architectural style chosen for their piers and pillars seems
less well imagined. Something more simply classical would
be more pleasing toa cultivated taste and more in keeping
with the general character which American architecture bids
fair to develop, than these rather heavy, baroque, seventeenth-
century motives. Anda singular carelessness of the require-
ments of scale is seen in the same artists’ ‘' Birds’-eye Perspec-
tive of Proposed Park and Approach to Grant’s Tomb,” No. 181.
It is a good idea that Morningside Park and the Riverside
Drive should be connected at this point, and that in this way a
dignified vista should lead the eye toward the tomb when ap-
proached from the east. The idea is well carried out by makinga
wide, straightavenue form each end of the approach, while half-
way between the two parks it broadens out into an open space
covering the area of four city blocks, But this area is designed
by Messrs. Howard & Cauldwell in a way that would be appro-
priate to asmall courtyard. The features they have selected
are so few and of sucha character that only after long study
does the observer realize how wide the included area really
is. Quite a different scheme, and one of many more parts,
would be needed to give the space of four city blocks a suit-
able effect. And, by the way, our general ignorance in regard
even to the nomenclature of gardening art is shown by the fact
that this bald and strictly formal arrangement is called a‘ park.”

In conclusion, it may be said that, while the drawings in
this exhibition show a commendable growth in the desire to
utilize the resources of gardening art, they prove that our
architects have still a great deal to learn, not merely with
respect to its right management, but also with respect to its
ideals and the difference between its various branches. They
prove how very wiseit was, even insucha caseas that of the Goe-
let place at Newport, where only strictly formal gardening ele-
ments were desirable, to combine the work of a landscape-
architect like Mr. Olmsted with that of an architect like

Mr. Hunt. iar
New York City. M. G. Van Rensselaer.

American Carnation Society.

i fifth annual convention of this progressive society

brought together from various states the largest and most
enthusiastic gathering of specialists in Carnation-culture which
has ever metin this city. The Carnation has reached a lead-
ing place among commercial flowers, and there are, of course,
novelties enough every season to tempt the most conservative
grower who expects to keep his hold on the best market.
Every year he sees fine profits made by some enterprising
growers of kinds which take the popular fancy while the old
kinds are scarcely paying the coal bills. Little wonder, then,
if the Carnation exhibition which was held at the Grand Cen-
tral Palace, in connection with the annual meeting, had very
much the air of a speculative exchange, only the beautiful
flowers softened what otherwise would have been its hard
business aspect. There were many thousand flowers on the
tables, but, as is usual in trade exhibitions, in not a great num-
ber of varieties. All the favorite varieties were shown in great
profusion, and generally in the finest possible condition, ex-
cept, possibly, the favorite Daybreak, which, curiously enough,
while most plentiful, was in no single instance up to its best
condition. Of previous introductions Bridesmaid took the
honors for best pink ; Storm King was the best white shown,
and Meteor, Helen Keller and Bouton d’Or were the best of
their respective colors, and all well shown, The most striking
novelty for 1896 was Della Fox, a seedling from Myers & Sant-
man, Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania. This is said to be a cross
between Grace Wilder and Daybreak, and is a most captivat-
ing shade of pink of the Daybreak quality, but much darker
than that popular kind. In size, form, habit, etc., Della Fox
apparently left nothing to be desired.

The exhibit of Mr. Hill, of Richmond, Indiana, was the centre
of interest, as it comprised mostly novelties finely grown and
most beautifully shown in masses tastefully set up in large
vases. Mr. Hill’s Jubilee has been seen here before, and it is
likely to take the lead among the dark scarlet flowers, Abun-
dance (1896) is a deep pink with rather short stems, and likely
to be valuable for its freedom, especially when grown outside.
Triumph, which is a purer pink, is thought to be very promis-
ing and of a high class. Armazindy is a scarlet flake of the
largest size, hardly as refined as Helen Keller. Mr. Hill re-
ceived a certificate for Flora Hill, a grand white, which lias
been grown three years, but is not ready for the market. The
judges also gave a certificate and ninety-two points for Mrs.
McBirney, a fine flower of the Daybreak order. Mr. J. N. May,
being a judge, had nothing in competition, but made a most
tasteful and attractive display of Mrs. Pierpont Morgan Roses,
flanked by handsome Carnations, of which Maud Dean, when

90 Garden and Forest.

offered, is sure to meet with favor as a fancy distinct variety of
the first class, it being a dainty pink with depth of darker color
at base of the petals. Fora darker pink none seems to us more
pleasing than Mr. May’s Lena Saling, inclining, as it does, to
the salmon. It is of great diameter, but not very deep. Peter
Fisher, of Ellis, Massachusetts, exhibited the greatest variety
of seedlings, and received honorable mention for Edith Foster,
a promising white.

In spite of the numerous varieties of the Carnation, many of
which to the layman seem much alike, there is room for
others, for, after all, there are very few which, like William
Scott and Daybreak, will grow in every soil and for every one,

Notes.

Strawberries, from Florida, are selling at the reasonable rate
of fifty cents for a quart of well-grown fruit, and more deli-
cate strawberries from near Charleston, protected under glass
without any artificial heat, sold on Monday for $1.00a box at
wholesale. No better oranges are ever offered here than some
of the last Jamaicas, now being sold at fifty to seventy-five
cents a dozen. The last of the Jamaica grape-fruits will soon
be followed by the earliest of this fruit from California.

The Smooth Brome Grass, Bromus inermis, of south-eastern
Europe, is commended in a recent bulletin of the South Da-
kota Experiment Station as a valuable grassin that state, both
for permanent pastures and for meadows. Other grasses at
their best may give a better quality of hay, but none has been
tried there which yields as good a return one year with
another. All kinds of stock eat this Brome Grass readily, and
anaftermath springs up immediately after it is cut, so that it
makes good grazing for fall and early winter. It is hardy
against cold and has great drought-resisting powers and is one
of the very earliest grasses to Start in the spring.

Four species of Eucalyptus in New South Wales are called
Ironbark, the best of which is the so-called White or Gray
Ironbark, E. paniculata. This wood is very heavy and hard ;
its most characteristic property, however, is a certain gum-
miness ; when planed it shows more or less parallel lines of
close fibre which resemble horn, and between these in the
parts where the grain is more open are shallow pits filled with
a resinous substance. The best Gray Ironbark is very pale,
and can hardly be excelled by any wood for its combined
strength and durability. Railway ties made of this wood,
which have borne the heaviest traffic of the main line near
Sydney for twenty-five years, are said to ,be as sound as they
were when they were laid.

No insects are more dreaded by the general farmer than
wire-worms, and we are glad that Mr. M. V. Slingerland has
republished the essential parts of a bulletin, now out of print,
which gave a detailed account of three years of experiments
with these pests. A few recent observations are embodied in
this new bulletin, so that the information is brought up to date.
The practical summary of the whole is that there is no reliable
way of protecting seed by poison or of destroying immature
wire-worms in the soil. But the life-history of these worms
shows that they live for three years at least in the larval state,
and when fully grown they change to soft white pupe in July,
and the insect assumes its adult form in August. Singularly
enough, the insect remains in the cell until the following April
or May—that is, nearly an entire year—and they perish when-
ever the soil is disturbed so as to break these earthen cells.
Of course, this indicates that if infested fields are plowed after
the 2oth of July, thoroughly pulverized and kept stirred up,
many of these cells will be broken and the tender beetles de-
stroyed. Wheat or rye may be sown after this cultivation.
Farmers who practice a short rotation of crops and fall plow-
ing will not be troubled seriously with wire-worms.

The windows of the flower shops have a suggestion of the
Lenten season in their less rich and profuse dressing with sim-
ple blossoms for home use, instead of the more brilliant and
gay flowers used for public social functions. The one striking
decoration in the up-town Broadway establishments early this
week was the large section of a tree, bare and wintry-looking,
draped with Florida moss, the rich chrome and greenish gray
of bark and moss, enlivened by luxuriant long sprays of Bou-
gainvillea, all illuminated by tiny electric lights. This particu-
lar window held, with other flowers, a varied collection of
choice Orchids, but, as a rule, the kinds of flowers which ap-
peared most abundantly suggested the garden and meadow
and woodland rather than the greenhouse and conservatory.
Tulips of various colors and narcissus of many forms were

(NuMBER 418.

most plentiful and sold for $1.00 a dozen. Roman hyacinths
were among the most popular flowers. Dutch hyacinths
showed the effect of the season in the unprofitable price
of fifty cents a dozen, and freesias were plentiful at thirty-
five cents a dozen. Four or five branches of lilacs,
each carrying two panicles, cost $1.50, and a tight little
nosegay of. large single California violets the same price. A
bunch of forget-me-nots, the winning little flowers peeping
from luxuriant stems and foliage, could be had for fifty to
seventy-five cents, and a dozen stalks of lily-of-the-valley
brought but seventy-five cents.

Mr. B. E. Fernow, in an article in The Independent, to show
that permanently good roads are an important element in any
rational system of forestry, cites the example of the little city
of Goslar, in the Harz Mountains, of Germany. This old town
owns a forest of 7,500 acres, which the citizens treasure as one
of their best investments, because it not only furnishes them
outing grounds and good sport in the way of hunting, but with
a sure and continuously increasing revenue. Under conserva-
tive management the annual cut is 350,000 cubic feet of wood,
and the net income from the sale is, in round numbers, $25,000
a year, or $3.50 an acrea year, which is a good return trom
soil unfit for agriculture. Formerly the district was. without
good roads, but in 1875 the forest manager persuaded the city
fathers to appropriate enough money to construct a first-class
road system, which was gradually completed. In 1891, $25,000
had been spent on roads, and 141 miles of these roads were in
good order. The manager kept an account of the influence of
this improvement on the profits and cost of his forestry opera-
tions, and he was able to show that the annual cost of logging
had been reduced by $2,450, the cost of hauling by $2,520, and
the result of the sales due to the fact that much formerly un-
salable material could now be disposed of and all could be
transported more conveniently was increased by $3,255, be-
ing a net increase of $8,255, or nearly thirty-three per cent.
of the amount invested in road improvements. On one road
which was macadamized and maintained for a year at a cost of
$7,440 an instructive comparison was made between the cost
of hauling 470,000 cubic feet of wood over the old and over
the new roads. On the old road 4,273 loads were required of
110 cubic feet each, and costing $3.60, or amounting in total to
$15,282.80. On the new road the same quantity was moved in
2,652 loads of 177 cubic feet each, and the cost, at the same
price a load, was $9,547.20, which means that the saving in
haulage alone was $5,735, or seventy-five per cent. of the cost
of the road in one year.

Among many sorts of fresh vegetables now in the regular
stock of first-class dealers is asparagus from Missouri, which
costs forty cents for six long white shoots, while the best from
South Carolina costs $2.75 for a generous-sized bunch, and a
dozen long green stalks from hot-houses in Illinois bring
$1.10. Cauliflower is coming from near-by hot-houses, Florida
and France, and costs fifteen to fifty cents a head. New peas,
from Florida, the pods small, but well filled, cost ninety cents
a half-peck, and well-grown string-beans from the south com-
mand thirty cents a quart. Okra, from Cuba, costs ten cents a
dozen, and egg-plants, from Florida, bring twenty-five to thirty-
five cents each. New beets come from Florida and Bermuda,
a half-dozen bunched with the tops costing ten cents, and loose
ones fifteen cents a quart. Kohl-rabi comes from the same
localities, and cost fifteen cents for three. Tomatoes, from
Florida, firm and well ripened, bring twenty-five cents a pound,
the hot-house product from Pennsylvania costing forty cents.
Tender radishes from near-by hot-houses may be had for
seven cents a bunch, and rhubarb, grown under glass
on Long Island, for ten cents. The supply of celery is
partly drawn from Florida. Rochester furnishes some which
is better blanched than that from the south and _ of
sweeter flavor, while that from California is entirely white
and brings seventy-five cents to $1.50 for a dozen stalks.
New cabbage, from Florida, is not yet plentiful and costs
twenty cents a head, that from Germany bringing half this
price. Parsley comes mainly from Bermuda at this season.
Dandelion, from Boston and near-by hot-houses, costs twenty-
five cents a quart; Romaine lettuce, from Bermuda, fifteen
cents a head; hot-house lettuce, from Boston, ten to fifteen
cents, and larger heads, from Florida, ten to twenty cents each.
Heads of chicory, with blanched centres, and the broader-
leaved Escarolle cost fifteen cents each, while importations
from France, the large heads fresh as though just gathered,
command twenty-five cents. Mushrooms bring ninety cents
a pound. Hot-house carrots cost five cents a bunch, and those
from Bermuda seven to ten cents, and hot-house cucumbers
from Boston are a luxury at thirty to thirty-five cents apiece.

STE Ne be ey mae ORE nae ae ae Ree RR

Marcu 4, 1896. |

EGAKDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrick: Tripung Buitpinc, New York.
Professor C. S. SARGENT.

GonductedUbyByst ss os: 5 sie) es ernie

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 1896.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

EpirortaAL ARTICLE :—Farming on Vacant Cit
Rate of Growth of Loblolly Pine ....
FoREIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter.
New or Litt.E-KNown Piants :—Nolina recur
IPEANTSNOTES cajseiecioasaie cies F
CuLtuRAL DEPARTMENT :—
Cephalotus follicularis............-... “3 :
uchSiaS Am GiGlOXIMIAS seater (seine 1s aoxc'arcecieie'nialejai en =ieiaieieis-ers T. D. Hatfield.
Edward F. Canning. 97
Withelm Miller. 97

Lettuce under Glass............000 meipeteisaiain(s ec saieisicieisecjaeinie

9
The Mexican Plane Tree.. --B.H. 98

Recent Plant Portraits........... 98
Tue Forest :—Forest Protection 99
REcENT PUBLICATIONS ..-..--++ 99
NOTES ..0.0 caccccccecccscccscssces ++ 100
PEMUSTRATION—NOlINareCuryala, PIG. TO. cs cicccuseies cose cae ccecasiencweseuscectle 95

Farming on Vacant City Lots.

URING these times of agricultural depression the

profits realized by farmers, even under the best con-
ditions, are meagre enough, and, therefore, when Mayor
Pingree, of Detroit, first conceived the idea of utilizing
vacant city lots for the growing of potatoes by the unem-
ployed of that city—that is, by men who were generally
quite ignorant of the theory and practice of cultivating the
soil—the experiment was looked upon as visionary, if not
‘Tidiculous. The result of the first year’s cultivation, how-
ever, which enabled nearly one thousand families to sup-
port themselves through the winter by their crops alone,
stimulated certain public-spirited citizens of New York to
make a similar effort here, and the result is published in
No. 1 of the periodical Mo/es, published by the New York
Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor. Of
course, the philanthropic aspect of this experiment is the
one of prime importance. The result proves that many
persons who own vacant land would prefer to have it cul-
tivated instead of lying idle and unproductive, and that a
very limited area will suffice to raise enough vegetables to
contribute largely to the support of a family through the
winter. It proves, too, that very many of the destitute
people in tenement-houses are willing to work and can be
made to support themselves with a very little help advanced
asaloan. Besides this, the project offers a natural plan for
giving to the people who dwell in stifling tenement-houses
opportunity to work for themselves in the open air and
under healthful conditions. It gives mothers the advan-
tage of taking their children out of the heated houses and
giving them a taste of rural life. It enables the superan-
nuated and partially crippled to support themselves. In
addition to these advantages, the entire scheme has a sub-
stantial business basis, with none of the odious and de-
pressing suggestions of a charity.

Naturally, however, the educational side of this vacant-
lot farming will have a special interest to readers of a
journal devoted to the art of cultivating the soil. Whatever
is the fundamental reason for the widespread discontent
with rural life now prevalent, for the general exodus from
the country to the town, for deserted farms and the depre-

Garden and Forest.

gl

ciation in the value of land, every one admits that the one
thing needed to insure a living profit from the cultivation of
the soil_is greater skill and higher intelligence applied to
agricultural practice. A very striking proof of this is given
in another leaflet published by this same association, and
entitled Az IZngury into the Causes of Agricultural Depression
in New York State. An observing agent—a Pennsylvania
farmer named J. W. Kjelgaard—was employed to travel
through the agricultural districts of New York for the pur-
pose of making inquiries and reporting on the various
phases of this problem, and he observed a singular air of
prosperity in the farms about Ithaca which he had not
met with elsewhere. The reason for this was discovered
to be that an agricultural experiment station was in the
centre of this fortunate area. This is a significant fact, and
Mr. Kjelgaard reported that all farmers agreed that the sta-
tion was an obvious help to them. He found, too, that a
hundred miles from Ithaca one man who had taken a course
of agricultural training at Cornell University was carrying
the benefit of his knowledge to his neighbors, so that they
were plainly profiting by it. Correspondence with the other
stations brought out the fact that the stations were all bear-
ing excellent fruit in this direction. Farmers in distant
parts of the state not only write to inquire as to the best
methods of cultivation of particular crops, and how to ward
off the ravages of disease and insects, but they actually
come to the station in considerable numbers to see and to
learn.

In every city where this vacant-lot farming has been
successful the soil has been cultivated in accordance with
the teachings of science. The original ignorance on the
part of some of these tenement-house farmers as to the
simplest principles of plant structure and plant growth was
almost pathetic, but pains were taken to show them how
land should be broken up, how the fertilizer should be used,
how the seed should be sown, and how the plants should
be set, with the reasons for these operations. Every pro-
cess from the very beginning to the end was carefully
supervised, so that this vacant-lot farming, apart from its
direct pecuniary profit, had a much more important func-
tion as a school of agriculture. Itnot only furnished health-
ful and profitable work for a great many people, but it
gave these same unskilled people an opportunity to use their
minds ; it encouraged thought and aroused sluggish intel-
lectual processes. These people are actually learning a
trade, an honorable and profitable trade, and learning it in
the best way pdssible. A man who raises half an acre
of potatoes and early vegetables under wise direction need
no longer call himself unskilled, and it is his own fault if he
is shiftless. It may be added that these tenement-house
farmers learn a great many things besides the mere culti-
vation of land. They learn, for example, how to sell—
that is, how to transact business in the most effective way.
Of course, potatoes and vegetables sold from a miniature
farm at wholesale prices would not pay ordinary wages.
But the potatoes, instead of being sold by the barrel, are, in
many instances, handed out by the quart and half-peck at
the best retail prices. In this way these small farmers
learn the value of quality in their products. They find that
they can take a bunch of choice radishes, freshly picked
from the ground and carefully put up, and sell it for five or
six cents when the market rate is only two or three cents.
The quality of some of the products of this experiment may
be estimated by the fact that the second prize at the late
Live Stock Show in this city was awarded to the potato
exhibit from these vacant-lot farms.

We cannot but assume that many of these tenement-
house farmers who have had the advantage of this year of
schooling will discover that there is a happier and whole-
somer life for them outside of the congested districts of
great cities. It would not be surprising if some of the
graduates of these schools, who have learned to make a
livelihood by truck-farming, should go into the rural dis-
tricts and instruct farmers in their own calling. Now, it is
the ambition of the country boy to get to the city, while the

g2

inhabitants of even the most crowded city districts have an
absolute antipathy for the country. If this system can be
made to work in one or two cities, why should it not be
made to work in all, and why may we not hope that if this
practice is adopted generally and intelligently in different
cities that this will prove the beginning in a small way of
the return from the city to the country ; ? Andif, under capa-
ble instruction, agriculture can be made profitable in city
lots, and if the good example of experiment stations is
visible in better farming all about them, why should not
actual instruction in agriculture be made a part of the cur-
riculum of ruralcommon schools? It certainly is not too
much to hope that we can have advanced dairy schools in
the grazing districts and experimental instruction in fruit
culture, or in truck-farming, or in any other branches of
agriculture in the locations best adapted to each.

We have only touched upon a few of the points which
are suggested by this instructive pamphlet, which is pub-
lishedin this city at 105 East Twenty-second Street, andcan be
bought for ten cents. No public-spirited man or woman can
read it without feeling that a new and promising outlet for
philanthropic activity is here presented, while any one
interested in the cultivation of the soil will find here sub-
ject-matter for reflection and a new and striking proof of
the value of intensive farming. The illustrations, from
photographs of natural scenes, are a most helpful addition
to the text, which, it may be added, is a clear, straightfor-
ward and forcible piece of work from a literary point of
view.

Rate of Growth of Loblolly Pine.

HE rate of growth of Loblolly Pine, Pinus Tada, may

be fairly indicated by the analysis of 47 individual
trees, which were selected for the study in the Division of
Forestry on various sites within the geographical range of
the species. The comparison of the growth of Loblolly
Pine on sites of different descriptions also throws some
light upon the silvicultural requirements of this species,
and suggests forest conditions favorable or unfavorable to
its development.

Heicut Growrn.—The height growth of Loblolly Pine is
very vigorous. For the first 10 years it reaches a height
from 18 to 20 feet, thus producing from 22 to 23 inches
annually. The second decade seems to be the period of
most rapid height growth, during which period the annual
accretion gradually increases and reaches the maximum
between the r5th and 2oth year, that maximum being
somewhat more than 24 inches. With the third decade the
annual accretion begins to lessen, though the height growth
is still vigorous, and gives an annual increase from 15 to 16
inches. A tree 30 years old is 50 feet high. From the 3oth
year the decrease in the height accretion becomes more
noticeable ; for the next 20 years the stem lengthens only by
20 feet, or by an annual increase of only 12 inches. A tree
50 years old will be 70 feet high. From this age the annual
height growth decreases considerably, being nine inches for
the sixth and seventh decades, and six inches for eighth
and ninth decades. Thus a tree at the goth year of its age
reaches a height of 95 feet. At this age the Loblolly Pine
actually reaches its full height growth for the height accre-
tion after go years becomes in most situations insignificant,
and does not exceed more than from three or four inches
annually.

Though such a rate of growth in height may be looked
upon as a rapid one, still we learn from the analysis of the
individuals taken from sites of better descriptions that the
capacity of this species is considerably greater than that
shown by the average of all the trees analyzed ; for which
the forest conditions, to be sure, were far from being favor-
able ones in all cases. We find among the trees measured
one 36 years old with a height of 77 instead of the 56 feet
average. The excess of 21 feet is due to the more favora-
ble conditions under which it grew. The tree was taken
from a grove of the same age and size, and dense enough

Garden and Forest.

NUMBER 419.

to keep the individuals constantly in a struggle for light,
forcing them to lengthen their boles and to lift their crowns
above the others. Another tree taken from young growth

of Long-leaf Pine mixed with Loblolly Pine reached in 44
years a height of 76 instead of 65 feet. We find also in the
tree records two individuals 100 years old, with a total
height of 118 instead of the average 98 feet. These in-
stances show that the height growth of Loblolly Pine could
be considerably increased by | proper care,

Diameter Growrn.—The stage of most rapid diameter
growth of Loblolly Pine occurs in the first 10 years, during
which it forms a stem of two anda half inches at breast
height (bark excluded). The second decade shows a de-
crease to 2.3 inches, the third to 2.2 inches, the fourth to
two inches; a tree 40 years old would, therefore, be about
10 inches in diameter at breast height, including the bark.
The diameter accretion continues to decrease with age,
being 1.8 inches for the fifth, 1.6 inches for the sixth and
1.5 inches for seventh decade. A tree 80 years old at breast
height is 17 inches in diameter, including bark. From the
Soth to 1ooth year the diameter increases with two inches,
and the average accretion for the 1oth decade becomes less
than one inch. The diameter growth of Loblolly Pine,
then, follows the same law which was observed for Long-
leaf Pine—that is, the diameter accretion invariably de-
creases with age, while the area accretion remains almost
the same. From the table of growth given below itis seen
that, with the exception of the first three decades, the areas
formed on the cross-sections for each of all the successive
decades are almost equal, while the width of the rings
changes gradually from two anda half millimeters, which is
the width of a ting for the fourth decade, to 1.2 millimeters,
which is the width of a ring of the roth decade. This law
has a biological significance. It shows that the mass in-
crement, allotted to each of the stages of growth into which
the tree development may be divided, is equally distributed
over the years constituting the period. The successive
layers being spread over a larger surface area are, therefore,
successively thinner. The value of this law will be more

appreciated if looked at from a practical forestry point of _

view. It establishes a definite relation between the area
accretion and the number of years required for 1ts forma-
tion ; it says that the ratio between them is a constant one.
This constant factor may be obtained from the analysis of
a large number of trees, and once determined, it may be
applied i in anticipating the average diameter dimensions of
a tree at any given age, for then a simple multiplication of
the factor and age is required to establish the area, and
hence the diameter for that age. The knowledge of the
dimensions of a tree at any given age, and hence the
knowledge of the future yield and increment of the forest
at any given period of its life, is the corner-stone on which
forestry economy bases its financial calculations. |

Mass Accretion.—The rate of volume growth of Loblolly
Pine is subjected to the law observed to be tme with regard
to all other species. It begins comparatively slow, in-
creases gradually with age until it reaches its maximum
point, remaining at. that point for a few years, then enters
into a stage of growth where the volume accretion becomes
smaller again. From the table given below it is seen
that Loblolly Pine produces for the first 50 years 25 cubic
feet and grows with an average annualaccretion of half a
cubic foot. For the next 25 years it produces as much as
for the first 50 years. A fee 70 years old has a volume of
49 cubic feet. From the 7oth to the rooth year the volume
accretion equals 40 cubic feet, and the total volume of a
Loblolly at 100 years is 89 cubic feet. In the table is
shown the increase of volume for every 10 years.. Exam-
ining the last two columns of the table it will be seen that
while the current accretion, passing its maximum point in
the ninth decade, begins to lessen, the average annual
accretion still increases, approaching its maximum between
100 and 110 years. By that time the average annual accre-
tion will become equal to the current accretion; that sig-
nifies, as we already know, that here Loblolly Pine reaches

MARCH 4, 1896.]

the stage of its maximum growth, and the rotation for maxi-
mum production would lie between 100 and 110 years. It
may be said, unhesitatingly, that Loblolly Pine is a rapid-
growing species. It produces in 100 years wood almost
double the amount of that of Long-leaf Pine; it grows well
under the conditions in which we find it now; it grows
better on sites of better descriptions ; it requires a good deal
of moisture; it needs plenty of light and is sensitive to
light conditions, especially when it is approaching the state
ot maturity ; it does better when mixed with other species
than when left to itself.

RATE OF GROWTH OF LOBLOLLY PINE.

(Published in advance by permission of the Division of Forestry.)

x sy Volume. Periodical accretion. -

Sz Eas -| 3 | g | £

rare aed g es| &

os £/2)2is3] € |es] 3

£5 |Bs=| 3 | Bas hfe e | ae eB

s-jga | & a ie Picka ee

(ayo lee cs o

ie Cubic | Cubic |Sqire Cubic} Cub.) Cub
Ins. | Feet.! Feet.| feet. | feet. Ins. |Feet| feet. | feet. | feet. | feet.
Io | 3.4 18 | 0.6 Ist} 2.5/18 |0.03} 0.6 |0.06.0.06

20) (5,56 S7a| 340 2d 2.3)19 0 08 2 4 |O. 1410.2
30.1 7.8) 2 (eye paste a lie Aas 30)5222/13./0.14) 5.7 |0.29 0.57
40 {10.0} 35 | 61 116.6 |15.4 | 4th} 2.0]/11 jo.17] 7.9 jo 4110.79
So j11.8} 44 | 70 |25.3 [24.1 | 5th} 1.8] g jo.19/ 8.7 j0.51\0.87
60 |13.3] 52 | 78 135.6 |34.5 | 6th) 1.6] 8 jo. 19/10 3 |o 59 1.03
79 |15.5|.60 | 85 }49.0 /47 8 |:7Ih| 1.5) 7 |o.21/13.4 Jo 70/1.33
80 |17.1| 68 | 90 |62.4 j61 4 | 8th] 1.4] 5 Jo.21/13.4 |o.78|1.34
90 |18:7| 76 | 95 |78.0 |77.1 | oth] 1.1] 5 jo.19)15 6 |o.87|/1.56
Too |19.5| 80 | 98 |89.4 |88.5 J1oth) 0.9) 3 0.16/11 4 Jo. 891.14
I10 |20.2| 83 |100 |96.0 |95.2 |11th|'0.8) 2 |o.13! 6.6 |o.87/0.66

| |

Among the trees analyzed we note a few which found
all the requirements of this species necessary for rapid
development. Tree No. 216, tor years old, was taken from
ayoung growth of Long-leaf Pine, with the scattering mature
Loblolly Pine. Tree No. 297, 100 years old, was taken froma
moderately dense forest of Pinus Teeda, mixed with Cuban
Pine, Liriodendron, Magnolia, Laurel Oak, with an under-
growth varying in density, of Red Bay and Andromeda.

RATE OF GROWTH OF THE TWO BEST LOBLOLLY PINES.

Height. Heeeteon Volume.
Tree No. Tree No. . Tree No.
Age.

26 207 26 207 26 | 297

Feet. Inches. Cubic feet.
10 20 20 bee Sez Te 133
20 48 50 80 10.2 852 13.6
30 60 70 10.4 13.8 18.0 31.4
40 33 80 13.0 17.6 8240) Ze
50 85 88 15 0 20.0 eat 61.4
60 go 95 170 22.8 69.5 toe Acad
70 95 100 19.0 24.8 gt .6 1og. 1
80 100 105 20.4 26 2 112.3 T23K5
go 105 112 21 6 274. 129 7 147.8
100 118 28.6 167.3

Tree No. 26, g2 years old, was taken from an open forest
of Loblolly Pines, intermixed with various Oaks and Gums,
with a dense undergrowth of the deciduous species named.
In all cases there was a sufficient supply of moisture ; in
all cases the forest was a mixed one, and the different spe-
cies, due to difference in age and habits, formed a canopy
of varying height, a roof of two, three or four stories. Each
story had its favorable influence: the first, formed by the
undergrowth, protected the ground from the burning sun ;
the second and the third shaded the trunks and cleared off

Garden and Forest.

93

the limbs of the taller trees, whose perfectly free crowns
received all the light necessary to make them thrifty. The
dense position of the many trunks of all species constitut-
ing the forest checked the winds, preventing the litter,
the manure of the forest, from being blown away and the
moisture from being rapidly evaporated. The rate of
growth of the favorites is remarkable in consequence.
Tree No. 216, 101 years old, formed 167 cubic feet in a
trunk 111 feet high and 26 inches in diameter at breast
height. The second table gives the progressive develop-
ment of the diameter, height and volume growth of trees
No. 26 and No. 297.

Comparing these figures with those given in the table of
average rate of growth, it will be seen that Loblolly Pine
for the first 50 years, if properly managed, would produce
double the amount of wood which it produces under the
usual natural conditions. It will be seen that for 65 to
70 years Loblolly Pine could form a trunk of the same
dimensions, with the same amount of merchantable timber,
as that which it forms now in 100 years. The rotation
consequently could be brought down to the 7oth year. In
other words, by the employment of knowledge and skill,
each dollar could have been realized 30 years earlier and
could have earned in the 30 years, at three per cent. com-
pound interest, $1.42, which is lost by the absence of

forest management. = ;
Washington, Dec. A, K. Mlodsiansky.

Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.

Aponis Amurensis.—This interesting plant was described
and figured in Regel and Herder’s Plante Raddeane, and in
a Japanese work, entitled /uko /uso Shin Dsu, there isa
series of no less than twenty-one colored figures represent-
ing distinct varieties and showing that this species must
have long held a prominent place among garden-plants in
the far east. There are double and single flowered varie-
ties, others yellow or greenish yellow, or orange or bright
red. Plants of a yellow-flowered variety are now flower-
ing In the rock-garden at Kew, probably for the first time
in Europe. In habit this species resembles Adonis Pyre-
naica, but it differs from that species in not having hooked
achenes. The flowers on the Kew plant are yellow, over
an inch across and not unlike those of the common A.
vernalis. The leaves are comparatively long-stalked, loose
and finely cut, suggesting the leaves of a Carrot. It is pos-
sible that some of the bright-colored varieties of A. Amu-
rensis have been introduced from Japan into American
gardens, but, so far as can be ascertained, they have never
been grown in England, and, judging them by the pictures
in the Japanese work above named, they are well worth a
place in the garden to flower in early spring.

Lrucojum carpaTHicum.—This name was given by Her-
bert to an exceptionally large-flowered variety of Leucojum
vernum, the Snowflake which grows wild in the south of
England, and is one of the most charming of the early har-
bingers of spring in the garden. Plants of the former were
exhibited this week by Mr. Ware, the Tottenham nursery-
man, and were awarded a first-class certificate by the Royal
Horticultural Society. The leaves are broader, the scapes
taller and the flowers about twice as large as in the type, and
as each scape bore two flowers the effect of a tuft of plants
in bloom was exceptionally pleasing. The nodding bell-
shaped flowers were over an inch in diameter and white,
with a conspicuous spot of bright green near the tip of each
segment.

GaLantuus Etwesn, var. F. Fert.—This is an unusually
large-flowered variety of the king of Snowdrops, but I have
seen plenty quite as large among the millions of this plant
that stud the lawns, borders and wild gardens at Kew. It
is impossible to speak too highly of a plant which is almost
dirt cheap if procured from big dealers, and which can be
dibbled into lawns and borders by boys to produce a dis-

94 _ Garden and Forest.

play of flowers fora month or more in the dawn of the
year.

Irts styLosa.—This beautiful and deliciously fragrant Iris
has been flowering freely in the open air at Kew since the
middle of December, and is likely to keep on till well into
the spring. Planted against the south wall of a greenhouse,
with its roots pressing against the bricks, it has formed
dense tufts of elegant linear leaves a foot or so high, and
rising among or above these are numerous flowers of a
lavender-blue, blue-purple or white color, and varying in
size from four inches to two inches in diameter. There are
some half a dozen named varieties, all beautiful, all very
fragrant, and a bunch of them in a vase in a room in mid-
winter is in every sense adelight. They last three or four
days if cut just as they are unfolding, and they are pro-
duced in such abundance that half a dozen plants will keep
up a constant supply of cut flowers if the weather be not
too severe. Although an old species, this Iris is compara-
tively little known, probably because it will not thrive
away from a south wall. The Kew plants were placed in
their present position as an experiment, and it has proved
a perfect success. The species is wild in Algeria, and I
believe it is grown by the Scilly nurserymen. I see it is
called I. unguicularis by Mr. Baker.

Biue Primroses.—A purple-blue-flowered sport from the
common Primrose, Primula vulgaris, has for several years
past been in the possession of Mr. G. F. Wilson, of Wey-
bridge, but it has lately passed into the hands of Messrs. J.
Veitch & Sons, who now hold a fine stock of it, and by
whom a large batch of it was shown at the Royal Horti-
cultural Society’s meeting this week. In foliage, vigor and
floriferousness the blue-tlowered variety does not differ
from the type, and it grows freely out-of-doors wherever
the common Primrose thrives. The plants shown had been
lifted from the open ground and planted in five inch pots,
each with a tuft of rich green leaves and from twenty to
thirty open flowers. ~The color varied from a rich purple-
blue, nearly true blue, in-fact, to deep purple and lavender,
a ring of yellow or red occurring at the mouth of the tube
in some of the varieties. 1 learn from Messrs. Veitch that
about twenty per cent. come blue from seed. A senti-
mental objection was raised to a blue Primrose because it
was said a Primrose should be yellow, but I am of opinion
that these blue Primroses will become popular for the gar-
den in spring.

CYRTANTHUS PARVIFLORUS.—This species was described by
Mr. Baker in 189t from specimens flowered in England
and others collected in the Transvaal. A beautiful example
of it was shownat the Drill Hall this week by Mr. Woodall,
of Scarborough, who grows it in a cool greenhouse,
where it is as floriferous and free as Cyrtanthus Mackenii.
The genus may be divided for horticultural purposes into
two groups, namely, one represented by C. Mackenil, C.
lutescens and C. parviflorus, which are as easily managed
as Lachenalias; the other, represented by C. rectiflorus and
C. Macowani, which are beautiful in flower, but difficult to
cultivate. The addition of C. parviflorus to the easily man-
aged lot is a decided gain. It produces leaves and flowers
together, the former being bright green, linear and a foot
long, the latter in elegant umbels of about a dozen borne
on scapes eighteen inches long ; each flower is tubular, an
inch and a half long and colored bright scarlet. The plant
was well worthy of a first-class certificate. I can recom-
mend this for its red flowers, C. Mackenii for its white and
C. lutescens for its yellow flowers, as good useful green-
house plants.

LacuEenatia Netsont.—When well grown this is one of the
most useful of all spring-flowering bulbous plants for the
greenhouse. It was raised by the gentleman after whom it is
named about twelve years ago from Lachenalia aurea crossed
with L. tricolor, and it combines the best qualities of both.
In the garden of Lord Suffield, Gunton Park, Norwich, it is
grown better than usual, a group of plants sent by him to
the Drill Hall this week exhibiting excellent cultivation.
They were in six-inch pots, which were almost hidden by

[NUMBER 419.

the drooping foliage, and each pot contained from twenty
to thirty scapes a foot high, and each bearing about twenty
expanded flowers of a deep glistening yellow color, the few
globose buds at the apex of each scape being colored bright
red. I told the story of Lachenalias and their cultivation
in GARDEN AND Forest about a year ago. They are of that
class of plants which are apt to be overlooked by cultiva-
tors or discarded as weedy and unsatisfactory through
initial failure with them. When once understood, however,
they are very easily managed and they are worth growing
for the supply of cut flowers in early spring.

THe Garven Crneraria.—A few months ago aspirited dis-
cussion was carried on in several scientific journals with
reference to the origin of the popular greenhouse Cinera-
rias, some authorities holding that they are the product of
several species crossed in the early part of the present cen-
tury, while others held that, although there was no evi-
dence of a hybrid origin in the plants themselves, there
was plenty to show their close relationship with the annual
C. cruenta of the Canaries. To test the two theories, C.
cruenta was crossed at Kew with the garden Cenerarias,
a similar cross being made by Messrs. Veitch. The plants

obtained are now in flower at Kew and in the Chelsea nur- .

sery, and some of the latter were exhibited this week
under the name of C. Langleyensis. There is no essential
difference between these and the common garden kinds ;
indeed, beyond being a few inches taller and having flow-
ers a trifle smaller and looser, they do not differ at all. On
the other hand, a cross between the garden Cineraria and
C. L’Heritieri, the other hypothetical parent of the garden
race, is now in flower at Kew, and this is widely different in
habit and flowers. Here we have strong evidence of a
negative character in support of the view that C. cruenta

is the sole parent of the garden Cineraria.
aa : W. Watson.

New or Little-known Plants.

Nolina recurvata.

SPECIMEN of this south Mexican Liliaceous plant
A in Professor Sargent’s garden, in Brookline, near
Boston, has flowered this winter, this being the first
time that this species has flowered in the United States,
so far as we have been able to learn. In Septem-
ber, 1861, a plant in the garden of Monsieur Beaucarne,
at Eename, in Belgium, produced a panicle of stami-
nate flowers. This is the only other case we find recorded
of this species flowering in cultivation, although, as it was
introduced into Europe in 1845 by Van der Maelen, of
Brussels, and widely disseminated in gardens many years
ago, its flowering in those of southern France or Italy may

not be an uncommon occurrence, especially as an allied”

species,
Riviera.

Nolina is a genus of about a dozen species distributed
from the south Atlantic states and Texas to southern Mexico
and Lower California, distinguished by its arborescent or
abbreviated caudex, elongated unarmed leaves, and po-
lygamo-dicecious flowers produced in loosely racemose or
compound panicles with lanceolate bracts and bractlets.
The flowers are small, greenish white and articulated on
slender pedicels in one to four flowered clusters ; the peri-
gone is campanulate and composed of six nearly equal
spreading oblong-ovate segments ; the stamens, which are
usually described as shorter than the segments of the peri-
gone, are in Nolina recurvata nearly twice as long; they
are inserted on the base of the segments, and composed of
tapering filaments and ovate or oblong versatile anthers
attached on the back, and in the pistillate flower reduced
to anantherous staminodia ; the ovary, which in the stami-
nate flower is abortive or wanting, is sessile, three-celled,
with three nearly sessile or short-stalked -stigmas and two
ovules ascending from the bottom of each cell. The fruit
is thin and dry, usually three-winged, indehiscent, although

Nolina longifolia, frequently blooms on_ the

Be oe Mi eae tah > ie.

co

MARCH 4, 1896.]

sometimes bursting irregularly at maturity, one to two
celled, with an obovoid or globose seed in each cell.

Of the dozen species of Nolina which have been de-
scribed by botanists at least nine inhabit the territory of the
United States, including the type of the genus, Nolina
Georgiana. Of the United States species nearly all are
stemless or form short thick stems rarely more than three
or four feet high, but Nolina Bigelovii, of the mountains of

Fig. 1o.—Nolina recurvata.—See page 94.

San Diego County, California, often produces a taller
trunk, and may, perhaps, properly be considered a tree ;
and in Lower California Nolinas grow to a still larger size
with stout trunks and broad heads of foliage. All the
Nolinas, with, perhaps, the exception of Nolina Georgiana,
are desirable ornamental plants, especially for dry warm
regions, although many of the species flourish when culti-

vated in pots and protected from cold in glass houses. Of

Garden and Forest.

95

the life histories, specific characters and distribution of
Nolinas remarkably little is yet known, considering the
length of time some of the species have been cultivated
and their value as decorative plants.
The flowering plant of Nolina rec
trait appears on this page, is one of a pair imported
from Belgium nearly twenty years ago. It is four feet ten
inches in height from the surface of the soil to the base of
the crown of leaves. The is two inches in
diameter at the apex and twenty inches across
the bottom of the bulb-like base, and is covered
with pale rugose bark. The leaves are lanceolate,
gradually narrowed from the broad clasping base,
thin but very tough, nearly three feet long, three-
quarters of an inch wide near the middle, where
they are broadest, dark green and lustrous except
at the apex, which is brown and scarious, con-
spicuously veined, and roughened on the pale
margins with minute serratures, closely imbri-
cated, and pendulous. Early in I t

urvata, whose ps )T-

stem

December the

pale yellow glabrous panicle appeared, an
was fully grown*at the end of six weeks,

when it was four feet high, with a stout pe-
duncle furnished with leaf-like bracts nearly two
feet long, and slender branches slightly angle
above, flattened below, twelve or fourteen inches
long, and produced from the axils of leaf-like
bracts, clasping, white, and more or less
with pink at the base, and six or seven inches
long; the secondary branches, which are in-
serted at acute angles, are slender, six inches
long at the base of the branch, and not more
than two inches in length at the apex; on these
the flowers, which are all staminate and fall a
day after they open, are remotely scattered,
usually in one, or, occasionally, in two or three
flowered clusters, and are borne on_ slender
pedicels about an eighth of an inch long from
the axils of scarious white bractlets from an
eighth to a quarter of an inch in length. The
flower when fully expanded is a quarter of an
inch across, and slightly and pleasantly fragrant,
with white boat-shaped, nearly equal, segments,
which are rounded at the apex and not more
than half as long as the stamens; these spread
outward and are composed of flat white fila-
ments, narrowed upward from a broad base and
crowned with oblong, cordate, slightly emarginate,
light yellow anthers. The ovary is reduced to a
cushion-like three-lobed body covered with nectar.

Nolina recurvata* requires the same treat-
ment as the Agaves, and can be wintered in a
dry house in which the temperature is not al-
lowed to fall much below forty degrees, Fahren-
heit. It is an excellent plant for the summer
decoration of terraces and other exposed situa-
tions, as its tough leaves are not torn by wi
or burnt bythe sun. Like the Yuccas, Agaves and
other so-called succulent plants, it will, of cour
flourish in southern California in the op

ingec

s

Plant Notes.

BowlEa votusiLis.—This interesting plant, dis-
covered in 1866 in south Africa by J. Bowie, a
botanical collector for the Royal Gardens, Kew,

London, and named in his honor, belongs to
the Lily family. As its specific name indicates, it is
twining plant and admirably adapted for the pill

supports of a greenhouse, and it has a bulb not

* Nolina recurvata, Hemsley, Bot
Beaucarnea recurvata, Lemaire
1445, f. 254.—/U. des Serres, xviii., Misc.,
Soc., xviii., 234
Beaucarnea stricta, Lemaire, 1. c. (1
Pincenictetia tuberculata, Hort.

96 Garden and Forest.

large Globe onion. It apparently does not produce leaves,
but, instead, green, abortive-panicled inflorescences. The
way these abortive panicles branch from the main stem is
remarkable, the axils being below the branches instead of
above, which gives the plant the appearance of growing
upside down. The branching also is very irregular. A
few inconspicuous flowers are produced at the extreme
upper end of the stem; these are small, green, with white
stamens ; they produce seed, however, by which the plant
is propagated. A specimen is now flowering in the Botanic
Gardens of Smith College, and Mr. Canning writes that it
does best in a light rich soil, like all bulbous plants requir-
ing a season of absolute rest. At the first signs of growth
the bulb is turned out of the pot, all the old soil shaken off.
After being repotted it makes all its growth in about three
weeks. It then commences to flower and lasts in flower
about three months. As soon as the flowering period is
_over the plant begins to show signs of maturity, when
water should gradually be withheld. A temperature of
fifty-five suits it well.

Macnorta Kosus.—Of the Japanese Magnolias which
become large trees, perhaps the best for cultivation in our
north-eastern states is M. hypoleuca, which is still a rare
tree, although it was introduced into this country more than
thirty years ago by Mr. Thomas Hogg. This is one of the
species whose flowers appear after the leaves are spread,
and in form and habit it is somewhat akin to our native
M. tripetala. There is no doubt, however, that M. Kobus,
which also grows to a height of eighty feet in Japan, will
in time become one of the most striking ornaments of our
parks and pleasure-grounds. We have just been observing
a specimen some twelve years old, and after the severe
weather the smooth reddish bark of the branchlets looks
fresh and healthy and every bud is plump. There is no
doubt of the hardiness of the tree even in New England, and
it grows with as much rapidity and vigor as any other spe-
cies. It belongs to the section in which the flowers appear
before the leaves, being classed in this respect with the
well-known Chinese Yulan Magnolia andits various hybrids
and varieties. Its blossoms are pure white and fragrant,
and when fully expanded as much as five inches across.
Although this species was also among Mr. Hogg’s intro-
duction, the tree is comparatively rare in American gar-
dens, and as it does not seem to flower freely when young
few persons have ever seen it in bloom. If, however, it
flowers as abundantly here as it does at home when it
arrives at full age it will present a magnificent spectacle in
early spring. The Magnolias, both native and Asiatic, are
celebrated, as a class, for their handsome flowers and large,
beautiful leaves, and our climate is especially suited for
their cultivation. M. Kobus, so far, seems as thrifty here
as in its native forests. It has been developed, however,
in a climate where moisture never fails, and long experi-
ence alone can prove whether its constitution can endure
the strain of a series of summer droughts such as some-
times occurs in this country.

Cultural Department.

Indoor Ferneries.

oa cases may afford ideal facilities for indoor Fern-
culture, nevertheless their size and expense are formida-
ble drawbacks to many devotees of the Ferns. One authority
claims to have an improvement on Mr. Ward’s invention
which secures better ventilation by sliding panels, but the
principles are much the same in all cases—namely, an atmos-
phere free from soot, too much light, heat, moisture and
change. Another essential is good drainage ; much pleasure
and profit, however, may be developed with a bell-glass and
soup-plate.

Three such glasses stand in a north window of my house; a
ten-inch chestnut shelf, partially supported by light iron brack-
ets, having been inserted in place of the regular sill for this
purpose. The largest shade, a ten-inch glass, rests upon the
rim of a plate well on in its second century, which, apart from
its zesthetic value, has the intrinsic merit of possessing a

[NuMBER 419.

broader rim than modern ware, thus affording desirable space
between the glass and the plants within, Broken crocks and
porous matter from coal-sittings fill the bowl of the plate and
make excellent drainage; leat-mold or soil taken from the
native haunts of the Ferns is placed over this in the shape of
a mound, I am often asked how I keep the Ferns and Mosses
in place, and my reply is that hairpins are useful for many
purposes, and when the house supply of these falls short
deftly concealed toothpicks are passable makeshifts.

Overcrowding is to be avoided; only three varieties are
growing under the glass referred to. Of these Asplenium
ebeneum is most conspicuous because of the sentinel-like
precision of its narrow fertile fronds. It isa Fern of good
substance, rich color and gloss; the barren fronds are prop-
erly subordinate, spreading themselves in loose rosettes after
the manner of its more dainty relative, A. Trichomanes. A
specimen ortwoof the Walking-leaf, Camptosorus rhizophyllus,
add variety in shape of frond and shade of color, relieved by
gray lichens and red berries of the Wintergreen.

From a branch of a rustic twig firmly inserted in the midst
of the pile there hangs a tiny basket, from which emanates a
graceful plant, spreading and filling the upper part of the glass
and showering pink petals on the mossy carpet below ; this
plant is none other than the common herb Robert, Geranium
Robertianum. :

The second glass is devoted chiefly to fine specimens of
Cam ptosorus rhizophyllus, Polypodium vulgare and Asplenium
Trichomanes ; unsuspected prothalliums bave added an Aspi-
dium or two, which, with various mosses and stray wildlings,
are all confined by an eight-inch glass. Here the Walking-leaf
grows with the wildest luxuriance, nearly every frond rooting
at its apex, but, lacking proper environment, the rootlets are
held forlornly in the air, or else, as in a case recently observed,
they lodge themselves in a cluster of Wintergreen leaves and
skeletonize them in a short time, a parasitic performance
which I have never seen recorded of any Fern.

A groove inside the scalloped edge of a glass dish just fits
a six-inch bell-glass, and is the prettiest receptacle of the three.
Saving a frieze of moss and a few berries, Asplenium Tricho-
manes, the English Maidenhair, has entire sway ; a dainty and
bewitching little plant and _ historically interesting, as the
vaunted hair-restorer of earlier times, Parkinson, the cele-
brated apothecary of 1640, tells us that ‘it both stayeth the
shedding of the hair and causeth it to grow thicke.” Gerard
is even more explicit: ‘The lye wherein it hath been sodden
or laid to infuse is good to wash the heads, causing the scurffe
to fall off and hair to grow in places that are peld and bare.”

Change of air is as necessary to plant-life as to animal-life.
The shades should be removed fora few minutes every day,
and to insure a constant supply of air and prevent damping off
a match or two can be sometimes inserted under the glasses.
A gentle shower-bath of tepid water should be given once in
ten days, after which the plate may be tipped to allow’surplus
water to drain off; this is essential, fora water-logged condi-
tion is disastrous. In spite of extreme vigilance, with every
supply of fresh moss comes an invoice of pests. Wormsand
snails breed with such rapidity to prey upon tender fronds and
the pulp of berries that constant watchfulness must be exer-
cised againt these marauders.

The growth and longevity of Wintergreen berries under
glass is remarkable. Rooted and fruited specimens, put in
late in the fall, not only send up young shoots in March, but
hold their fruit in good condition for months. A cluster of
nine large berries which had been fourteen months under
glass was destroyed by tiny mollusks—dwellers in pointed
shells about a quarter of an inch long. After this I observed
that a fluted specimen of brown Thallophyte was an excellent
trap—possibly a breeding-ground—for the glistening shells
were easily seen and destroyed on it. The addition of a tuft
of exquisite moss brought disaster to a cluster of three per-
fect berries and broke their record of seventeen months. A
novel spectacle was then before my eyes: the gable-end of the
residence of a full-grown mollusk was protruding from the
biggest berry of all, while at the foot of the plant were two
more ofits kind. Truly, life under glass furnishes ample food
for thoughts not strictly horticultural.

Vermont. Gaze Woolson.

Cephalotus follicularis.

HERE a collection of cool greenhouse insectivorous
plants are grown this little species can be successfully
cultivated without much extra care. In European collections
it is usually seen growing under bell-glasses in the full sun.
Conditions such as these do not suit its requirements here
when the sun gets powerful, unless continual attention be

MARCH 4, 1896.]

given to airing and shading, and even then the atmosphere is
apt to become too dry. The Cephalotus does not need a high
temperature; it ought to be kept in the coolest part of the
house, but it certainly delights in an atmosphere heavily laden
with moisture. I prefer to grow it, especially in summer, in a
roomy glass case, shaded on the sunny side with a piece of
light cloth, which in dull weather can be removed altogether.
In the case I put about six inches of sphagnum moss and
plunge the pots in it; such plants as Dionaea and the Droseras
do splendidly under similar conditions ; in fact, it is about the
only way in which they can be grown to perfection, so that the
glass structure can be made to contain quite an interesting
collection.

The Cephalotus must have material to grow in which is free
from any decomposed matter. A good mixture consists of
equal parts of fibrous Orchid peat, pulled apart into quite
small pieces; live Sphagnum moss, chopped fine; coarse-
grained sand and broken charcoal. Too much care cannot be
used when renewing the material about the roots. The best
time to perform the operation is about the end of March be-
fore the plants start into growth. Itis seldom we see a plant
too large for a four-inch pot. Drain the pots well, putting a
large piece of broken pot over the hole and some smaller
pieces over that again ; pot as firmly as possible without injur-
ing the roots, keeping the plants well above the rims of the
pots; finish off with the growing points of Sphagnum, and
water thoroughly. When the plants are put in smaller-sized
pots than fours it is a good plan to plunge them in larger ones,
using small gravel to fill the space between the pots; this not
only helps to keep the roots cool in summer, but is‘an impor-
tant aid to the drainage.

The Cephalotus belongs to the Saxifrage family, and is not
related to any of the other well-known insectivorous plants ;
most of its leaves are in the form of pitchers, a trifle resembling
those of the Nepenthes; although small, they are as handsome
in appearance as any of the Nepenthes. The plant is a native

of west Australia. ,
Botanic Garden, Washington, D. C. G. W. Oliver.

Fuchsias and Gloxinias.

LD Fuchsia bushes which have been resting in cool quar-
ters may now be brought into genial warmth and pruned
of all dead and surplus growth. Asarule, these plants make
the most effective specimens when trained as pyramids. It
often happens, however, that varieties of a naturally weeping
habit have so crowded the lower branches during the previous
season’s growth that these are much weakened and do not
trim out well into shape. Such plants may be formed into
standards by cutting out all the lower branches. They are
equally effective in grouping. Repotting should be deferred
until there are signs of root-activity and some budded growth
is made. Fuchsias are gross feeders, and an abundance of
well-decayed manure should be mixed with the soil used for
them. The drainage must be free and water be given spar-
ingly until the plants are in active growth. From this time
onward their culture is simple. All that is required is to keep
the plants in shape by taking out the tips of the strongest
shoots and all flower-buds until within a week or two of the
time they are required to bloom. Such plants as are not
wanted for growing on will come in useful for odd corners, or
for use in mixed subtropical beds. Not the least attractive
feature in an amateur’s garden last summer was a bed wholly
composed of Fuchsias, arranged with excellent taste and
trimmed with care, until it became a perfect mound of bloom.
Some plants of the yellow-leaved variety, Wave of Life, were
used as an edging.

During the early spring months cuttings of such varieties
may be rooted as it is wished to retain, for old plants are not to
be relied upon to winter over. These cuttings often make
attractive plants during the season, shifted on into six orseven
inch pots, and they are a most convenient size for hall, piazza,
or table decoration. It is hardly necessary to draw attention
to the many beautiful florists’ varieties which are mainly
hybrids between Fuchsia triphylla, F. fulgens, F. corymbiflora,
F. serratifolia, F. macrostema and others, for, whether species
or hybrids, they are all beautiful. Particular attention should
be drawn, however, to some of the winter-flowering kinds,
natives mostly of South America. F. corymbiflora is one
of the most beautiful of these. It is a rambling plant when
grown naturally, and best suited for a pillar, rafter, ora wall
where it can get plenty of sunshine. I do not know of any
American gardens where it is grown, but presume it is plen-
tiful enough in European gardens, and could easily be ob-

_ tained. One sort I know as F. speciosa and another as

Garden and Forest.

97

Lord Beaconsfield, of similar character, are both good winter
bloomers, with extremely long, showy red flowers. Then
there are some dwarf, small-tlowered kinds, almost hardy
everywhere in England. It is seldom they are killed outright,
however much they are cut above ground. I remember F.
Riccartorie and F. gracilis among these, and believe they are
varieties of F. macrostema, a native of Chili. F. gracilis makes
a handsome basket plant.

Tubers of Gloxinias are disposed to start with little or no
root moisture. Of late years we have rested ours in the pots
they bloomed in, and although kept in the coolest quarters
we can give them consistent with safety they have made
considerable leaf-growth. It seems natural that they should
start during the month of February. Enforced rest, such as
is given when the tubers are talen out of the pots and stored
in sand, has always appeared to me unnatural; even if all the
plants live over, which is doubtful, their vitality will be les-
sened. Since I have kept my plants in pots I have found live
roots at all times, even though there was no sign of life above
ground, and active roots quickly form with the merest trace
of moisture as soon as the sun gains power. Last season I
grew along a batch of old tubers without repotting, and with
the aid of weak liquid-manure, given when the plants were in
good growing condition, they increased in size and flowered
better than they did the year before. It does not seem to me
that success depends as much on the nature of the soil as upon
location and careful watering until root-action is well
established. Situation is more important than it would appear
to be, as all growers of experience will agree. Good light, but
not direct sunshine, after March begins, and plenty of fresh
air are essential.

Small bulbs from seeds sown last July are beginning to start,
and these will grow into good specimens, coming in as a
second batch. Seeds sown now will give a good percentage
of seedlings for bloom during the autumn months. Seeds
should be sown on pans of fine soil previously moistened,
and later, as moisture is needed for germination, it should be
given on the subirrigation plan—that is, from below.

Wellesley, Mass. T. D. Hatfield.

Native Cypripediums.—Last November we secured several
clumps of Cypripedium spectabile and C. parviflora. These
were potted in a mixture of peat and loam and placed ona
temporary shelf under one of the stages in the cool temperate
house. About the middle of January they began to show signs
of growth. They were then placed in a light position in the
same house, where they could also get abundance of air, and
kept well supplied with water. They made strong growth, and
have now perfected their flowers, which are truly beautiful
and greatly admired by the many visitors to these greenhouses,
It is the opinion of many that the exotic species of Cypripe-
dium cannot compare with these native ones for brilliancy of
color and grace of form. Like many other plants, they come
to far greater perfection when grown under the protection of a
greenhouse than when growing in their native wilds and buf-
feted by wind and storm. They also last in flower considera-
bly longer. C. parviflorum has also a delicate perfume. We
hope to try several other native Orchids in the greenhouses
another year besides Cypripediums, and suggest that the ex-

eriment is worth trying elsewhere. :
Dranepen, Mass. s Edward. ae Canning.

Begonia Socotrana.—This plant, which was recently recom-
mended in GARDEN AND FOREST for its ease of multiplication
and abundant flowering from October to December, has a
greater significance for the plant breeder. It is highly prob-
able that the gulf separating the shrubby and tuberous sections
of Begonias is to be crossed by this single drawbridge. The
shrubby plants have the best leaves and the poorest flowers,
while the tuberous Begonias have less showy leaves and
flowers with great possibilities of development. We ought to
have the best flowers with the best foliage and habit. The
tuberous Begonias flower in the summer and die down yearly,
while most of the shrubby forms are perennials, blossoming
in the winter, when color is scarce. In b. Socotrana the two
sections seem to meet on common ground. The bulbs pro-
duced above ground unite the plant with the tuberous section.
It is a waste of time to try to cross the two sections directly ;
the shrubby plant shouldbe crossed with B. Socotrana and
B. Socotrana with the tuberous Begonias, and these two
primary hybrids with each other. The intermediate character
of this Begonia, developed on an isolated island two hundred
miles from Africa, has been insisted upon by Nicholson, in
his Gardeners’ Directory, as the clue tor plant breeders to
work with.

aN Oe | ay) fe
Cornell University. Wilhelm Miller.

98

Correspondence.

Bedding Plants at the Botanical Garden, St. Louis,
Missouri.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—Among the bedding plants used at the St. Louis Botanic
Garden last year nothing was prettier than Lantana Californica ;
its dwarf growth, spreading habit and abundant production of
soft yellow flowers in corymbs all being desirable characteris-
tics, and as seen here it is always in bloom. To do their best
the plants must be two years old. Younger ones will not
flower satisfactorily.

Nothing in the garden was more charming than beds of
Plumbago Capensis. Its lovely shade of blue is unusual in
bedding plants at any season, but in late autumn, when the
Plumbago seems to be in perfection, blues of any shade are
extremely rare, and this especial shade combines most happily
with the yellow of the Lantana mentioned, and the two can be
associated in one bed advantageously by using the informal
Plumbago in the middle, surrounded by the dwarfer and more
regularly shaped Lantana.

A unique effect was produced by a closely filled bed of Rus-
selia Juncea. Its rush-like foliage and bright scarlet Penste-
mon-like flowers are both pleasing and unusual. As grown
out-of-doors here Clerodendron Balfourii was a_ revelation.
The plants were crowded with thick masses of peculiarly
attractive blossoms. In the St. Louis climate, when cut back
hard, it makes a desirable bedder. The pretty, but unassum-
ing, Thunbergia elata made a pleasing bed where allowed to
creep over the ground and form a close mat. It is always in
bloom. Sedum carneum was used to replace early-flowering
plants, such as Pansies, which can never be depended on to
flower through the season in this warm dry atmosphere as
late-sown ones are expected to do in Chicago.

A large mass of single scarlet Chinese Hibiscus made a fine
effect as seen against dark green trees and surrounded by a
grass plot of at least four times its own area. Plants about five
feet high were used in the middle, and each circle was set with
plants of lower growth, the result being a mound of rich,
glowing flowers set among their handsome, polished leaves.
Tree-shaped plants of Crape Myrtle were surrounded by lower
ones of Phyllanthus roseus purpureus, the foliage of the latter
being in nice harmony with the flowers of the Crape Myrtle.
Just inside the main entrance to the garden two beds of Eu-
phorbia splendens flanked the way with good effect. Their
gem-like blossoms and writhing, spiny stems seemed appro-
priately set against the gray limestone lodge at the gateway.

Among foliage plants two comparatively new ones, Strobi-
lanthus Dyerianus and Euphorbia altropurpurea, were largely
used. The first is especially commended by the authorities
here for its power to endure strong sunshine without flinching
or changing color, while the Euphorbia is liked in mixed
groups. Sanchezia nobilis looked remarkably well, its green
leaves, each about twelve inches in length and beautifully
veined with deep cream color, being highly decorative. Its
endurance of strong sunlight also makes it desirable in this
hot, dry climate. The new Abutilon, Souvenir de Bonn, pos-
sesses the same good qualities and retains its distinct variega-
tion throughout the season. Two hardy foliage plants, Arte-
mesia stellarina and Salvia officinalis, are found useful here,
the latter especially holding its variegation perfectly in the

hottest weather.
St. Louis, Mo.

Fanny Copley Seavey.

Lettuce under Glass.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—We have recently had several days of clear, sunshiny
weather, and the Lettuce crop has responded wonderfully to
the change. Now thatthe plants have started into vigorous
growth there is little trouble from rot, prices are better, and
altogether the outlook is less gloomy.

One mistake every autumn heretofore has been our failure
to get the soil composted early enough for the Lettuce crop.
When the soil is first put intothe houses it seemsa little green,
and the firstand second crops never do as well as the third
and fourth. To avoid this condition for next year we stacked
our soil and manure early last fall and turned it once or twice
before winter set in. It will be handled several times during
next summer, and for use next fall we expect to have some
soil that will be right for the first crop. Our soil is made of
half well-rotted manure and half clay loam from the river bot-
tom. We also use a little nitrate of soda as a top-dressing
among the plants.

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 419.

After the present crop of Lettuce comes off the houses will
be planted.to Cucumbers and Tomatoes. We find that cucum-
bers pay’us far better than tomatoes, as the price of tomatoes
here is not more than half that paid in other markets. At the
prices paid to the State Experiment Station in Wooster, toma-
toes are more profitable than cucumbers, while with us the
past two years tomatoes have not paid more than one-fourth
as much as cucumbers.

We plant ourCucumber seeds in pots orin sods, and when the
plants are just beginning to fall overand to run they are placed
in the benches about four feet apart each way. We are able
to get a small crop of Lettuce from between the plants before
the room is needed by the Cucumbers. As soon as they begin
to blossom we have a hive of bees ready to place in each
house, which saves us much time and labor in fertilizing the
blossoms. The Cucumber crop from the greenhouses lasts
about six weeks, and we continue cutting long after the crop
comes in from the cold frames; in fact, as we do not try to
grow a crop following the cucumbers we keep the houses
very moist and as cool as possible, and have them bearing
even up to the time cucumbers come in from the garden. The
same method is practiced with Tomatoes, but the main crop
is marketed during June. On account of the low prices in this
market we shall only grow a few of them this year.

It is impossible to successfully grow both crops in the same
house. Cucumbers need a high temperature, plenty of water
and a humid atmosphere, while Tomatoes have to be watered
sparingly and the air kept dry. We have learned to avoid the
error of growing the two together by costly experience. We
have tested the Telegraph Cucumber in a moderate way for
two years and have so much confidence in it that we shall try
to grow it for the midwinter market next season.

Lakewood, Ohio.

F. E. Carr.
>

The Mexican Plane Tree.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—Referring to an article on Plane Trees in No. 415 of
your journal, I beg to ask if Platanus Mexicana is decidedly
preferable (and better in appearance) to P. orientalis as a
street-tree ; if it will grow in the United States, and where it
can be obtained ; also, if it has certain preferences as to soil or

treatment, or peculiarities in the mode of growing?
New York. Brel

[Platanus Mexicana is more beautiful than P. orientalis
in the silver-white coloring of the lower surface of the
leaves. It is a smaller tree, however, and of less symmet-
rical habit. It may be expected to grow in the United
States only in western Texas and southern California. So
far as we know it is not cultivated except in Mexico, and
probably seeds could be obtained only by employing some
one to collect them from wild trees or from trees planted in
such cities as Monterey or Salteo.—Ep. |

Recent Plant Portraits.

N the February issue of Zhe Botanical Magazine Stern-
bergia macracantha, which is described as the finest of
all the Sternbergias, is figured. From the well-known
Sternbergia lutea this plant differs in its larger flowers with
long perianth tubes and in the fact that the leaves are pro-
duced in spring, and not with the flowers in autumn. The
figure is from a plant which flowered last year in the Royal
Gardens, to which it was sent by Mr. E. G. Whittall, of
Smyrna, to whose zeal and activity the lovers of good
bulbous plants are so much indebted.

In the same issue Begonia umbraculifera is first made
known to science. It is the second of the genus in which
hermaphrodite flowers have been noticed, and differs from
all other Begonias in its peculiar habit with its simple,
stout, erect stems, four feet in height, furnished with
a few remote distichous, reniform, orbicular, peltate, fleshy
leaves and bearing long-stalked supra-axillary flower-clus-
ters, their stems concurrent at the base with the inter-
nodes above them. The flowers are white, rather small,
chiefly male, and crowded into small corymbs with a few
female and bisexual flowers.

The other plants figured in this issue of Zhe Bofanical
Magazine are Scutellaria Formosana, an erect shrub with
small blue flowers ; Hechtia argentea, a representative of

Marcit 4,. 1896.]

a genus distinguished from the other genera of Bromeliacez
by its small white subunisexual flowers, and represented by
about ten species, inhabitants of Mexico and the south-
western United States, and Bifrenaria tyrianthina, a Bra-
zilian Orchid with rather showy purple flowers.

The Forest.

Forest Protection.*—II.

lees the forest against game is a matter which
may lay claim to our interest simply as a branch of
its natural history. We have not yet reached that re-
finement of forest management which alone makes it
important. Nevertheless, the capacity of our native game
for destruction is worthy of remark. Of all the game ani-
mals of this country the beaver has the greatest power for
injuring the forest in proportion to its size. The writer was
fortunate enough to visit the small colony of beavers on
Mr. Rutherford Stuyvesant’s place in New Jersey, and was
amazed at the number and size of the trees cut down ina
year by a single family of beavers.

Within the deer tribe in America, so far as my informa-
tion goes, the moose is by far the most destructive, as,
indeed, might be inferred from its size and power. “From
time to time,” says a recent writer in Yores/ and Stream,
“we came upon places where the young trees, Moose-
wood and Maple saplings, had been broken down, gen-
erally at a height of seven or eight feet above the ground,
and where other trees of the same variety had been
stripped of their bark. . . . This was accomplished, not,
as writers used to assert, by riding the trees down between
the forelegs, but by means of a twist of the powerful neck
of the animal. A moose, like other deer, has no upper
teeth, and the barking of the trees is accomplished by a
long upward sweep of the jaw.”

The food of the moose consists very largely of Maples,
at least five species of which, of arborescent size, occur
within its usual range. It feeds also on the White Birch,
on several species of Viburnum and Willow and on other
deciduous trees and shrubs, and occasionally strips the bark
from the Balsam Fir. The enormous strength of the great
deer is strikingly illustrated in the following extract from a
recent issue of Shooting and Fishing : “Turning his head,
he (the moose) caught a White Birch as large as my arm
between his antlers, and with as much apparent ease as
you would bend a willow twig between two fingers, twisted
his neck and broke it squarely over. The tree was certainly
three inches through.”

Among birds, grouse devour buds in great numbers, and
blue jays are very destructive to seed. The wild turkey
also consumes large quantities of certain seeds, often pull-
ing up young Chestnut seedlings in their first spring to
devour the nut out of which they grow. Woodpeckers, on
the other hand, are said to deserve protection.

The general breadth of view already referred to as charac-
terizing this work is pleasantly shown in the introduc-
tion to the discussion of injurious insects. The statement
preliminary to the description of individual harmful species
indicates the position of the insects in the animal kingdom,
and gives the divisions of the class itself, with their charac-
teristics. A section is devoted to the distribution of insects,
and others to their life-history, their numbers and to the
useful kinds of forest insects. ‘The latter is especially valu-
ble, from one point of view, since the idea so generally
prevails that insects of every sort are to be classed together
as injurious.

The following sentences, coupled with the general state-
ment that conifers are far more susceptible to attack than
broad-leaved trees, may serve to give a succinct view of
the relation of insects and the forest.

The greatest number and the most harmful species of inju-
rious forest insects belong to the orders Coleoptera (beetles)

7* A Pe LL ied by Dr. W. Schlich, C.I.E. Vol. iv., Forest Protection, by
W.R. Fisher, B.A.- London; Bradbury, Agnew & Co. ;

Garden and Forest.

99

and Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths). Next in importance
to these come the members of the orders Hymenoptera (bees
and ants) and Orthoptera (locusts and termites). The orders
Diptera (flies) and Hemiptera (bugs) only include species
which are moderately or slightly injurious, and the Neurop-
tera (lace-winged flies, etc.) include no injurious species. . .
In India and other hot countries, the family of termites, or
white ants, ... is probably more destructive to vegetable
substance, though chiefly when no longer living, than any
other insect family.

Among the Coleoptera, those which are of greatest
interest to us are the bark beetles of the genus Tomicus,
which are extraordinarily destructive to Spruce forests.
The singular dying out of the Adirondack Spruce over large
areas at the same moment, which was fora long time unex-
plained, has been found to be due to a bark beetle closely
telated to the European species here described. That we
are not alone in suffering from them appears from the fol-
lowing extract : “Some details may be given of the latest
plagues of bark beetles in the Bavarian and Bohemian for-
ests. In the former about 24,700,000 cubic feet of wood
was killed in six forest ranges. The beetles were occasion-
ally so numerous as to obscure the sun. Accompanying
Tomicus typographus were T. chalcographus, Hylastes
palliatus, etc. In the Finisterau range 1,000 woodmen
were engaged to fell and bark the trees, and, as local labor
was insufficient, Bohemians and Italians were recruited for
the work. In the Bohemian forest the damage done was
even on a larger scale: between 1872 and 1874, on 9,012
hectares (22,530 acres), 3,632,050 cm. (127,964,000 cubic
feet) of wood, or about 450 cubic feet per acre, were felled,
Thus, altogether, in Bohemia and Bavaria, 152,600,000 cubie
feet of wood was killed by these insects.”

Another species, Hylurgus piniperda, while it is re-
sponsible for far less damage than the species of Tomicus,
has interest in that it attacks Pines instead of Spruce,
and among them our own Pinus Strobus, where. it
has been planted in Europe. Nothing is said of the Elm
beetle, which has been proving so extremely destructive to
both native and European species of Elms in the north-
eastern United States. This species is not a native. Among
the Lepidoptera, all species destructive on a large scale are
moths. One of the most dangerous is the Pine moth, Gas-
tropacha Pini, the caterpillar of which feeds upon the
needles, and of whose depredations Mr. Fisher says: “In
1878, in Plietnitz, in West Prussia, forty-five millions of
caterpillars were destroyed by means of tar rings, at a cost
of 7s. per ten thousand caterpillars. In woods under sixty
years old the hibernating caterpillars were collected at a
cost of 20s. per ten thousand. The value of the annual
increment of wood saved was 8s. per acre, as against 7s.,
the cost of the tar rings.”

Another moth whose depredations are yet more danger-
ous is the Black Arche or Nun moth, whose attacks are
chiefly confined to the Spruce. Some idea of the severity
of this pest may be gathered from the fact that in East
Prussia, between 1853 and 1863, trees containing 467
million cubic feet of wood were killed by the Nun moth.
The damage done in the neighboring Russian province
was still more serious, so that in Russia and Prussia
together about six and one-half billion cubic feet of timber
was killed. It is but just to add that a part of this damage
was to be attributed to bark beetles, but it is probably true
that they would have done little harm except for the weak-
ened condition which followed the attack of the Nun.

The account of dangerous insects concludes with an
interesting list, which names, under the head of the kind of
tree attacked, the insect enemies of every part of it.

New York. Gifford Pinchot,

Notes.

A correspondent of Zhe Rural New Yorker writes that for
giving young trees astrong, healthy growth in the nursery he
has found no fertilizer as good as the combination of six hun-
dred pounds of pure steamed bone and a hundred pounds of
nitrate of soda applied in the spring, while later in the season

160

two hundred pounds of miuriate of potash can be added to the
acre. For the supply of phosphoric acid ground bone in some
form is unexcelled.

Do not be in a hurry when the first warm days come, in
March and April, to take the litter from the Strawberry beds.
This blanket should not be entirely removed until the growth
of the plants actually begins, although it is well to lift it upand
loosen it with a fork after the snow has gone, so as to allow the
ground to dry out sooner and to give the plants light and air.

At the late meeting of the American Carnation Society in
this city, Mr. E. G. Hill declared that he felt assured, from ex-
periments with different varieties, that arsenic will check the
dreaded rust on Carnation plants, and in some cases eradicate
it. He began by using arsenic at the rate of one pound to
forty gallons of water, but, of course, since the arsenic would
not dissolve this is nota satisfactory way to apply it. He finally
used Fowler’s Solution, at the rate of one ounce to eight gallons
of water, spraying the plants with it in the usual way.

An inventor in California has perfected a machine for mak-
ing fruit-cans which can be operated bya child, and which,
according to the accounts, is very effective. Sheets of tin are
fed into the machine at one side and sixty-four cans of
any given size are turned out every minute at the other. All
the joining of the seams and soldering are done by the ma-
chine, and a California dispatch says that a few of them in one
factory would be able to supply all the cans used on the Pacific
coast for fruit, vegetables and fish at-one-tenth of the present
cost.

Professor Troup, of the Indiana Experiment Station, writes
in The North American Horticulturist that sixty-seven trees of
Missouri Mammoth Quinces near Indianapolis, and ten years
old from the graft, yielded last year 140 bushels of the finest
selected fruit. Quinces of this variety are said to ripen ten
days earlier than Orange quinces; they are much larger, of
firmer texture and quite as highly flavored. Professor Troup
adds that the failure of a Quince-tree to produce a good yield
is more often due to neglect than to any deficiency of soil or
severity of climate.

The sixtieth year of the existence of the Hamburg Garten-
bau-Verein is to be celebrated in 1897 by an international expo-
sition devoted to gardening in all its branches, and lasting
from the end of April until September. There will be a spring
exhibition of about five days’ duration early in May, a Summer
exhibition lasting a week in June, and an autumn exhibition
extending over ten days in September, with several exhibitions
arranged for intervening periods in addition to such features
as can be maintained continually throughout the season. It
is to be hoped that American growers and dealers will be rep-
resented at this exposition, not only by displays of decorative
plants, but by those of commercial value and interest. Roomy
conservatories are promised, and an adequate list of premiums
and medals will be issued. All persons interested in this
project are invited to communicate with Professor Dr. E.
Zacharias, Hamburg, Germany.

Since the 2oth of January the weather in California has been
extremely warm, and practically no rain hasfallen. The rains
in December were unusually heavy, but their effects have
all disappeared since then in the heat and drought that has
followed, so that not only the Wheat growers of the San Joa-
quin valley and the southern counties are threatened with
serious loss, but the orchards are already suffering from lack
of moisture. For twenty years past there has been no Feb-
ruary when the temperature ranged so high and the rainfall so
low. Almonds were in blooma week ago and Apricots are in
full flower, the orchards being as far advanced as they usually
are in the latter part of March. If frost should come, as it
sometimes does at this season, the crop of peaches and other
fruits would suffer seriously, and preparations are being made
on a large scale for protecting vineyards and orchards against
sudden falls of temperature to the freezing point. The plan
most generally recommended is to kindle slow fires and then
use water in a very fine spray.

In speaking of the city-lot farms which have been made the
subject of an editorial article in our presentissue, Mr. Kjel-

aard, the superintendent, recently stated as an interesting
eature of the work last year that the most successful farmers
were women. This year lots will be furnished to any woman
who deserves them, so that if her husband is earning small
wages she can help to support the family. One woman who
was especially successful last year, when applying for a lot for
next season, reported that she had still some potatoes left
which she hoped to sell, and vegetables enough to carry her

Garden and Forest.

[ NuMBER? 419.

through the winter. Last year when she applied for work her
husband was employed on a small salary and they were very
poor; now she has $200 in the bank. It may be added that
there have been many applications from the country, not
only from New York, but Massachusetts and Connecticut, by
landowners who want the services of these city farmers, and
some of them are now arranging to accept these offers and
take up farming as their occupation.

Five-pound baskets of Catawba grapes, from western New
York, are still seen in the fruit-stores in fresh condition, and
sell for thirty cents. There have been no hot-house grapes in
the city for a week or longer, and the last importation from
England commanded the extreme price of $4.00 a pound at
retail. Besides a small shipment expected during this week,
the dependence for choice grapes will be mainly upon Al-
merias until April, when the graperies of Rhode Island will
supply this luxury. The favor in which grape-fruit is held is
shown by the keen competition for the limited quantities now
arriving from Jamaica. On Monday of this week $30.00 a bar-
rel was the average price realized at a wholesale auction sale
in this city. Large shaddocks sell at retail for fifty cents each,
the same price asked for smaller grape-fruits, and the invoice
of a Kingston steamer which landed herea few days ago included
one hundred and twenty-six barrels of Forbidden Fruit. Any
form of citrus fruit which can possibly be marketed as grape-
fruit is being collected and shipped in this time of scarcity.
The market is now clear of California oranges which were
injured by frost in the last days of December, and California
Navel oranges of really excellent quality are now offered at
sixty cents a dozen. A good grade of Jamaica oranges, re-
packed, sells for $8.00 a barrel in wholesale lots, and the less
desirable Cuban truit, from groves neglected until the failure
of the Florida supply, brings $7.00 a barrel for selected
oranges. The recent cold weather has prevented shipments
of apples from the interior of the’ state, and less than 12,000
barrels reached this city during last week, besides about 2,000
barrels for export. The highest grade of Winesap apples,
from Virginia, commands the readiest sale at high prices;
these cost $5.50 a barrel. York Imperials may be had for fifty
cents less, Northern Spies, Ben Davis and Baldwins following
in the scale of prices, with choice Greenings selling at $4.00.

While most of the pineapples sold in the United States have,
within recent years, come trom Cuba, the cultivation of this
fruit in Florida has rapidly increased, and last season 50,000
crates were shipped from sections in that state other than the
Keys. The output from the central and northern part of the
state this year is estimated at 35,000 crates, while, but for the
damage to new plantations by freezing a year ago, a crop
amounting to 250,000 crates was counted upon for the next few
months. The Bahamas formerly furnished the main supply,
which was carried in small sailing vessels taking four to five
days to reach this port, while unfavorable winds made a voy-
age of twenty days not unusual. Most of the pineapples now com-
ing from Nassau and other ports of this group are consigned
to Baltimore, where they are canned. As many as 5,500,000 of
these pineapples have reached that city within the past four
years, and large quantities are canned on the islands. Nearly all
the Cuban pineapples come to New York, 200,000 barrels and
more constituting the imports fora year. These pineapples are
all grown near Havana, and shipments continue throughout
the entire year. The season begins, however, in the middle
of March and continues at its height for four months, while
the Bahama season is a month later in opening. Some of the
choicest pineapples have in recent years come from the Indian
River section of Florida, and exceptionally large and high-
grade fruit comes from Porto Rico, The comparatively small
supplies from Jamaica include some excellent varieties which
are in special demand. The delay of a day in the transporta-
tion of this perishable fruit may mean a heavy loss, and
twenty-four hours of warm, damp weather may injure a cargo
to the extent of fifty per cent. of its original value. No vessels
specially fitted for carrying pineapples are yet in service, and this
tender fruitis closely packed in steamers carrying sugarand other
heating articles. Quick transportation in steamers equipped
with improved ventilation and the best storage facilities, as
are already in regular use in the banana trade, would open
up new possibilities for this department of the fruit trade. At
this time when, besides the shortage caused by the loss in
Florida, the trade in Cuba is affected by war, prices have been
high. The grade known to wholesale merchants as Havana
XX, thirty-five pineapples being required to fill a barrel, now
commands $9.00 a barrel, and this is also the importers’ price
to wholesale buyers for barrels holding forty-five and ninety
of the fruits, . ;

MARCH II, 1896.|

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrice: Trisunz Buitpinc, New York.

Conducted by »..... Professor C. S. SARGENT.

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 1806,

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

EpirortaL ARTICLE :—The Plunder of the Adirondack Reservation............. 101
Notes of Mexican Travel.—XI. (With figure.)...-........- G
Notes on the Names of Yuccas..........-+.64-

ForEIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter.. re ae + Watson. 104

Cutrurat DrpartMent :—The Essentials of a Good Lawn. seveeeee Fe Tr00p. 106
Orchid Notes. cic oe sccein sancsee vase casitwle cs sesees ce vesigeseses Emil Misch. 106
(BE PONIaSOCO MANA scieteye sles e/eieie sinieletele eles sie(eteysisi $s ~181670'9 a eisjeye/e a MN. Gerard. 107

Seasonable Greenhouse Notes...... 6

Caryopteris mastacanthus, Abutilon Souvenir ‘de Bonn
CorrgEsPpoNDENCE :—Decoration of School Grounds . er

John Brown’s Grave.. AS apPRObDocPMMpoNd
INECENTEUBLICATIONS jewisljeisrsia'secvessisciece serecisness
INOTES Meaatetc nfo siete <teislaaisnisisaieiseicicies'salc siscisisis sinmiaia’sr ete 6 poten te ce eects eeceeee 110

The Plunder of the Adirondack Reservation.

NDER a resolution of the Assembly of this state, passed
on the 3d of May, 1895, a committee of five was
appointed to investigate certain alleged depredations on
the Adirondack state timber lands. The committee, of
which Mr. Howard Payson Wilds was Chairman, and
Thomas H. Wagstaff, Secretary, have just made a unani-
mous report, based on some fifteen hundred type-written
pages of testimony, from which it appears that a great
portion of the timber owned by the state has been practi-
cally without any protection during five years past, and
that any one who chose to do so could cut and sell it
without molestation. The sixty-five witnesses examined
at different points were lumbermen, contractors, jobbers,
sawmill-owners, foresters, farmers and residents of the
neighborhood of the state lands, and nearly all of them
testified with reluctance. The facts obtained from them,
after rigid examination, relate to 125 different lots owned
by the state, and embracing altogether more than 35,000
acres of land. How much timber has been cut and sold
from these lands can only be estimated roughly by the
summary of the testimony given in this report, buta glance
at the record showing that this lot ‘was nearly stripped of
marketable timber”; that the next one was “ well lumbered
over”; that “500 acres were cleaned of everything mar-
ketable,” and so on, suggests a very large sum total. The
reason why it is difficult to obtain testimony was stated
by one of the foresters: “They are all neighbors, and
they all want to trespass some if they get a chance, and, as
a trule, they won’t squeal on each other. If a man does,
and it is known, they turn him down pretty quick.” The
loss, then, of an enormous amount of timber, alocal public
opinion which justifies the pillage of the state lands, and
the inadequacy of the machinery provided by the state for
protecting its forests are the three facts which stand out
prominently in this report.
It is difficult to say who is the leading criminal in the
chain of agents, which extends from the chopper up to the
mill-owner, The owners of sawmills and pulp-mills find

Garden and Forest.

TOT

in the Adirondacks a source of cheap lumber, and so long
as they want wood somebody will be ready to furnish the
logs either from his own private lands or from the public
lands adjoining them. The mill-owners buy the logs, after
they are cut, of agents who sublet contracts to jobbers, and
these to gangs of choppers, so that the contract passes
through many hands before it comes to the man who
actually does the work. In every case where timber was
cut beyond the boundary of private property, and upon the
state lands, each witness would transfer the responsibility
to the next man in the line, and the final trespasser almost
invariably declared that if the boundaries of the state land
had been better defined he would never have crossed them.
As a matter of fact, in most cases no monuments mark the
boundary except an occasional tree blazed many years
ago. On most of the land the blazed trees are down or
destroyed along most of the lines. Many of the lum-
bered lots have been burned over and the old marks are
all obliterated. The only accessible descriptive data as to
the boundaries of the state lands are those which have
been furnished in the lists published by the State Forest
Commission, in the local assessment rolls and in the forest
map published in 1893. It may be true, therefore, that
there have been cases where trespass has been committed
from inability to find the state line, but one searches the
testimony in vain to find that any precautions to prevent
the state lands from being cut over were taken by those
who let the job. No surveys are made, no boundaries are
pointed out, the men are left to cut where they will, and in
case of trespass the responsibility is thrown upon the job-
bers, who are men of little property and willing to take
chances. These depredations of timber, then, may occa-
sionally be committed by jobbers through ignorance, and
more frequently through recklessness ; but they are often
committed intentionally and defiantly.

Now, it is not to be believed that the lumber contractors
do not know or understand the general location of the
state lands, for whenever they assert some pretended right
or color of title to the timber on some of these lands they
can find the lines readily enough, and they at once assume
the ownership of it and cut andhaulitaway. Asarule, this
cutting and hauling has been a matter of general knowledge,
and yet no one has molested contractor ‘or jobber, and hav-
ing ventured once to cut timber without trouble or expense
they do so again, knowing that the settlement will be easy
even if they are detected in the trespass. In general the job-
bers cut where the contractors and lumbermen employ
them, and they cut without investigation or concern as to
whether the land belongs to the state or not. The common
workmen are still more indifferent as to the ownership of
the land so long as sae make a living from their work.
All this is done : so openly that concealment i is impossible—
indeed, it is never attempted—and yet it is a fact that
seldom, if ever, have trespassers been caught in the act of
cutting or hauling timber on state lands by the forester in
the discharge of his duties. This officer rarely visits the
state lands during the lumbering season, and he waits till
the following spring to prosecute his investigations, such
as they are. Rarely, indeed, has any careful “search been
made by a a state official to ascertain the extent of trespass,
or to identify the trespasser, or to trace the disposition of
the timber. The most that has been done is to report the
matter to the State Forest Commission with a recommen-
dation as to what sum should be charged for the logs in
case of settlement. No prosecution has been carried on in
any case for trespass, the depredators being always dealt
with as innocent trespassers. At least, it does not appear
that a single prosecution for the statutory penalty has ever
been made in any of the frequent cases of trespass shown
in this investigation, although thousands of trees have been
cut for which the penalty should have been enforced.
Logs have sometimes been seized and sold for what was
offered, or they have been left to lie where they were found,
because no one in the neighborhood of the land or of the
lumberman was willing to bid against the trespasser.

102

Occasionally the logs are traced, but the settlement for
them is made in accordance with the recommendation
of the forester on the stumpage value and for a quantity
agreed upon, often without regard to the facts in the case,
and seldom, if in any single instance, has the adjustment
for timber cut on state lands been based on a value above
the market rate for like timber standing. The trespasser,
then, has one chance of profit by cutting his timber with-
out any cost. If his trespass is reported he has another
chance of profit from an understatement of the quantity of
timber charged as taken, and he has still another chance by
settling with the state at market rate, or lower still for
stumpage.

It is very plain that unless some radical change is made
in the law and in public sentiment or in both there will
soon be no timber left on the state lands, atleast on the small
and isolated parcels of such lands. It is even contended
by some that the forests are so vast, the number of persons
united by an interest in the cutting of timber so great, and
the state police force so small that it is impossible to pre-
vent timber thieving. It is doubtless true, as is claimed by
the Forest Commission, that the state lands in the main
forest, scattered like the black squares over a checker-
board, and interspersed with private holdings, are hard to
patrol with the small number of foresters at command, and
it would be of great advantage to the state to buy up these
scattered parcels within the reservation, to provide more pro-
tectors and place them where there is the greatest liability
to depredation. Again, as this report insists, these forest-
ers should be residents of the special locality assigned
to their care, and they should devote their entire time to
duties as forest guardians and travel over their district at
least once a month, It should be their duty to follow up
every clue and prosecute for recovery and punishment to
the full penalty of the law, and they should be charged with
the duty of enforcing all laws relating to the forest preserve.
No one can doubt that these trespasses on state lands could
then be materially lessened, if not altogether stopped.
Property-owners and contractors would soon learn to know
where their own boundaries were if they were sure of
punishment when they transgressed them. That it is pos-
sible to protect the timber on state lands is evident from
the fact that private owners are rarely troubled by timber
thieves, because it is known that the full penalty of the law
and the full value of the timber cut or taken will be exacted.
A like enforcement of the rights of the state and of the
penalty for every violation would operate in the same way
to stop trespassers on state lands. There is a fine of $25.00
for every tree unlawfully cut, but this extreme amount is
never exacted, and this report rightly insists that, in addi-
tion to a money penalty, every one who cuts or aids in
cutting or transporting state timber should be held guilty
of a misdemeanor. ‘The penal code provides for malicious
injury and destruction of timber on state lands, and a per-
son who willfully cuts down, destroys or injures any timber
standing or lying on lands of the people of the state is pun-
ishable by imprisonment and fine, or both. But this does
not reach depredations on timber within the forest reserve,
nor does it prevent the violation of the constitutional prohi-
bition for the sale and removal of timber on the reserve. It
is, therefore, recommended that depredations on the forest
reserve—that is, the felling and removal, or the causing to
be felled or removed, of any timber on the state lands, or of
receiving with knowledge timber taken from the state
land without the authority of law—be made a misdemeanor
in addition to the fine.

Beyond question, it should be made a criminal offense to
-steal timber from the state, but without a compelling pub-
lic opinion behind it such an act would never be enforced.
What is needed more than law is an aroused public con-
science. A man is treated like a thief by his neighbors if
he steals their timber, but so long as they consider him an
innocent trespasser at the worst if he chances to be detected
in appropriating the timber of the state, the public forests
will be a public prey.

Garden and Forest.

NuMBER 420.

Notes of Mexican Travel.—XI.
CUERNAVACA.

Y eleventh Mexican journey was limited to the last

three months of 1895. I found the rainy season
drawing to a close when I reached my field at the end of
September. Everywhere over south Mexico evidence of
abundant rains was given by a better-developed vegetation
than I had ever before seen. Not a few scarce plants
which had hitherto eluded my endeavor to secure speci-
mens in sufficient number for my large distribution, now
easily yielded me ample material. In quest of these I
tramped once more several familiar fields. I saw the de-
lightful Jalisco region smiling with plenty, as always; its
people happy and enterprising. Greatly increased traffic
over the railroad attested their awakening activity—their
really getting into line with the world’s progress. A better
illustration could scarcely be found of the civilizing and
developing power of the railroad, and the Mexican Central,
encouraged by such results, is advancing its line farther
into this fertile state.

Again I visited for a few weeks the remote state of
Oaxaca, traveling the dry and heated cafions of the lowland
district of Cuicatlan as well as the elevated and heavily
forested mountains to the north of its capital. .My delight-
ful occupation during the sunny days of the tropic autumn
was the gathering of new or rare species located the pre-
vious year, as well as those which now surprised me by a
seeming first appearance. Of nearly everything there was
in this season a profusion. A chief object in climbing
again the Sierra de San Felipe above the city of Oaxaca
was to secure a full complement of specimens of Pinus
Teocote, found there by Liebmann fifty years ago. The
species occupies, almost to the exclusion of other trees,
certain ridges on the flanks of the mountain at an elevation
of about 9,000 feet over sea-level, the soil of which is a red-
dish clay—dry, hard and poor. In such conditions it is a
slender tree of inferior, or, at best, but medium size, with
hard and resinous wood of reddish color. P. Montezume,
at the same elevation and below, mingles with the Oaks in
more fertile and moister soil, while above, and especially
on the summit ridges, it sometimes forms solid forests, the
best-developed individuals of which (those standing in
summit valleys) are three to four feet in diameter.

Several weeks of my brief season, while the course of
vegetation’ was at its best, but swiftly passing, were de-
voted to work in a charming field which was to me a fresh
one. Such was the country surrounding the city of Cuer-
navaca, which lies beyond the mountain-wall that forms
the southern rim of the Valley of Mexico. Colonel Hanys-
son, who, with irresistible energy, is opening waterways
and steelways over the Mexican Republic, had carried his
Mexico, Cuernavaca «& Pacific Railroad almost to Cuerna-
vaca, some forty miles south from the metropolis, making
the dreaded diligence ride over frightful lava-beds and over
mountain heights a thing of the past. Finding now so
easy of access a region whose praises had long been sung
to me, the temptation to reconnoitre its vegetation, before
traveling far away, was not to be resisted. The ride by
train revealed magnificent scenery—the grandest seen in
Mexico; and from my three days’ trip I returned with so
large a load of plants that I moved over to Cuernavaca and
settled down to work there. Other regions might wait.

The Cuernavaca train, issuing northward from the Buena
Vista Station, in Mexico City, first swings around to the
west over salt meadows, then turns southward just back of
the heights of Chapultepec, crowned with national build-
ings, to pass over Scott's battle-field of Molino del Rey,
through Tacubaya and other suburban towns, most inter-
esting with their magnificent villas, surrounded by parks
and gardens, and over dry glades bristling with plantations
of Maguey. About ten miles out the foot of the Sierra
de Ajusco is reached. Here, after passing through a scat-
tered forest of Pinus leiophylla, a symmetrical tree of
medium size, with the slenderest leaves and densest among

MARCH 11, 1896.]

Pines, we are confronted by lava-beds covering the moun-
tain-side and spreading for miles over the valley at its
foot, a wild waste, almost impassable even on foot,
black, brown or red rock, but half-concealed by vegeta-
tion. Down the slope innumerable streams of molten
lava once poured, crowding upon and overrunning each
other, heaping up ridges and hillocks or plowing out chan-
nels, seething and swirling, and, as they cooled, cracking
into chasms, or, by upheavals of crust, forming frequent
little grottoes. Right over this pedrigal, through devious
loops and up toilsome grades, our train mounts to the sum-
mit of the Sierra. To scan the scenes through which we
pass yields intense interest. This pedrigal is seen to be a
preserve of plants from far and near. For beauty, it is like
a flower garden. From nooks and crannies of the rough
rocks, or from open patches amid masses of lava, spring
Dahlias and Begonias, Senecios and Stevias, Pentstemons
and Salvias, flowering shrubs and flowering trees—blooms
in every color to make the scene bright and pleasing.
On driest crags stand great Cotyledons and Sedums, and
in the partial shade of little grots rugged walls are
softened by delicate Ferns. Thus, on a gigantic scale, nature
has here wrought at wild gardening with surpassing
results. One catches glimpses of a thousand pieces of rock
work which the gardener would covet and long to trans-
port to his city parks. Higher up the scene changes for a
brief space to one of extreme desolation, where fragments
of lichened rock strew the slope. Then, as we near the
summit over such open slopes, our eyes turn to survey the
Valley of Mexico, that wonderful valley, in the praise of
whose beauty and grandeur the Spaniard exhausted the
riches of his language. No better point of observation
could be chosen. We are some 2,000 feet higher than the
level of the valley, and are here sitting at our ease in a
railway train. Nothing obstructs our view of the entire
valley some fifty miles in breadth. We look down upon
the great city in its midst, with its two hundred towers and
domes ; see the causeways, marked by bordering lines of
Willows and Australian Gum-trees, which radiate from it
across green meadows; count scores of villages nestling
amid greenery and shade, and trace the shining lakes,
white-rimmed by bare alkaline flats. We follow the com-
plete circle of mountains which embrace this valley. Over
against us in the south-east, and seemingly face to face with
us at this height, dominating all the circle, stand the two
great snowy mountains which are the crown of all the
scene.

Crashing through rock-cuts on the verge of the summit
we are swiftly borne into a thin forest of Pinus Monte-
zumee, with scattered lines of Cupressus Benthami along
watercourses, then out over open grass lands, broken by
fields of Wheat, Barley and Potatoes, and on among abrupt
knobs of volcanic rock, with Juniperus tetragona finding
congenial conditions in their scanty soil. A mile or two
away on our right the bare peak of Ajusco rises some
3,000 feet above us; and nearer on our left are several
prominent’summits of rounded outline. Below us and
near we mark a minor crater like those strewn eastward
over the valley, a depressed cone of regular form and show-
ing asunken top. After a dozen miles of this mountain
plateau, called the Serrano de Ajusco, we enter near its
southern border a heavier forest of Pinus Montezuma.
This forest extends far down the southern slope of the
mountain, but other species of trees gradually take the place
of the Pine.

Cuernavaca is situated at the foot of the southern slope
of Ajusco, where the cold storms which sweep the Gulf
coast in winter can hardly gain access; hence it enjoys
the perfection of a winter climate. Fields of tender vege-
tables, like tomatoes and squashes, planted in November
for fruiting in winter, attest the absence of frost. Its sum-
mer climate is also agreeable, for its elevation of 5,0co feet
above sea-level precludes oppressive heat. Moreover, the
rain is said to fall here mostly by night. From this point
one has a nearer view than from the City of Mexico of the

Garden and Forest.

103

great snowy summits rising above forested slopes; and
here the interest of the view is greatly enhanced by the
striking contrast afforded by an intermediate range of bare
ted rock, disordered masses, serrated, castellated and
pinnacled beyond description. Above and about the town
the mountain side is furrowed by many ravines so deep
as to receive the name of barrancas. Below the town
these open out into a wide valley which is green through-
out the year with plantations of cane. Streams of pure
water course down through every street, and fountains are
frequent. To this charming spot Cortez came to build his
palace and enjoy the fruits of his conquest; to this quaint
and quiet ‘town, verdant and shady under bright, warm
skies, was attracted the ill-fated Maximilian to make him-
self a secluded home, and hither he was wont to ride by
night to hide from assassins in the thick wood of his high-
walled garden.

The several barrancas of this neighborhood, with their
brooks and waterfalls, their thickets of shrubs, their cliffs
and bluffs, shaded or exposed, dry or wet, and the swampy
meadows at their bottom offered mea field for botanizing
which I have not seen excelled. The mountain woods
more distant were hardly less inviting. The character of
its plants indicates that this region belongs to the same
floral zone as Oaxaca and Guadalajara, and I detected here
twenty-five or more species which have been late dis-
coveries in those fields. This fact may indicate that the
botanists, Bourgeau and Bilimek, who followed Maxi-
milian here, shared their master’s fear, for these plants
were growing within easy distance from the city; but,
better than that, this district was still treasuring its own
quota of undescribed plants to reward my eager search.
The most conspicuous among the new plants found about
Cuernavaca is Lippia iodantha, Rob. and Greenm. (see fig.
On page 105), a shrub five to ten feet in height. Its small,
yellow flowers are borne in purple bracted heads nearly
an inch in diameter, and these profusely cover the branches
of the plant, making it a lovely object through many weeks

of the autumn. ;
Charlotte, Vt. C. G. Pringle.

Notes on the Names of Yuccas.

OR many years after their discovery by the botanists

of the commission which established the boundary

between the United States and Mexico, at the close of the

Mexican war, misapprehension as to the specific rank and

distribution of the baccate-fruited Yuccas of our southern

territory existed, all the early collections being extremely
meagre and unsatisfactory.

The first species of this group which was described is
Yucca baccata (Torrey, Bot. Mex. Bound. Surv. [1859] ).
It is a plant with a short subterranean stem, or with a stem
lying prostrate on the surface of the ground, glaucous con-
cave leaves much roughened on the back, flowers often
more than four inches in length—that is considerably
longer than those of any other Yucca now known, and
succulent black fruits furnished at the apex with short beaks.
Yucca baccata inhabits arid plains and valleys in southern
Colorado and Utah, and northern New Mexico and Arizona,
and apparently never forms an upright stem or descends
from the high Colorado plateau into the southern deserts.
It was first collected by Dr. J. M. Bigelow in New Mexico,
and the earliest mention of itis on page 147 of the fourth vol-
ume of the Pacific Railroad Reports. When Torrey described
his Yucca baccata afew years later in the Mexican Boun-
dary Report, he referred to it a Yucca which had been
collected by Thurber, near Parras, in Cohahuila, and sug-
gested the varietal name of Macrocarpa for a large arbo-
rescent Yucca which Dr. Bigelow had tound on the plains
of western Texas, alluding at the same time to a Yucca
which Dr. Parry had gathered near Monterey, in California.

Dr. Engelmann, in his studies of Yucca, published in
1873 in the third volume of the Zransactons of the St. Lours
Academy, in which the characters of the genus and its nat-
ural sections are established, considered the Parras plant

104

of Thurber and the western Texas plant of Bigelow identi-
cal, and southern or arborescent forms of the stemless Yucca
baccata (Yucca baccata, # australis) connected with that
species by Parry’s California plant.

In the spring of 1887 I was in Nuovo Leon and was able
to establish the fact that the flower panicles of the large
arborescent Yucca of that part of Mexico are pendulous
(GARDEN AND Forest, i., 78, fig. 13-14), a character peculiar,
so far as is now known, to this tree ; and that it had been
described in 1873 from young plants in European gardens
as Yucca filifera. It is this species, as shown by Thurber’s
specimen (No. 1857) in the herbarium of Columbia College,
which appears in a picture on page 490 of the second vol-
ume of the Personal Narrative of the American Boundary
Commission, where a wide-branched tree bears numerous
erect panicles of flowers which display the zeal rather than
the accuracy of the artist.

These erect panicles of the artist's imagination caused
some confusion in Professor Trelease’s paper on Yucca in
the Fourth Report of the Missouri Botanical Garden, in which
he recognizes the fact that the Yucca of the plains of west-
ern Texas is a distinct species for which he proposed the
name of Yucca australis, joining with it, however, Thur-
ber’s Parras tree, which he recognized as distinct from
Yucca filifera, the name proposed in an earlier paper for
the Nuovo Leon, Parras and western Texas plants.

This arboresent Yucca of western Texas, which is the
largest Yucca of the United States, is quite distinct from the
stemless Yucca baccata, not only in habit and size, but in
the color, shape and smoothness of the leaves and the
character of their fibrous margins, the long pendulous
branches of the panicles of flowers, which were well
shown in the illustration in our last volume (p. 415); In
the size and shape of the flowers and the size of the fruit.
This plant having been first described as Yucca baccata,
var. macrocarpa, should when raised to a species bear the
name of Yucca macrocarpa, which I now propose for it.*

The confusion with the name Yucca macrocarpa is in-
creased by the fact that in 1881 Engelmann gave it to an
arborescent Yucca of the mountains of southern Arizona,
which in 1873 he had described as Yucca Schottii, under
the impression that the two plants were distinct, a view
which the abundant material collected during the last few
years shows to have been erroneous.

The synonymy of Yuccas has been further compli-
cated by the use of the specific name, macrocarpa,
for the Yucca found by Parry near Monterey, California,
and always considered identical with Torrey’s Yucca
baccata until the naturalists of the United States De-
partment of Agriculture connected with the Death Valley
Expedition showed it to be distinct, and called it Yucca
macrocarpa in the belief that it might be the same plant as
Torrey’s Yucca baccata, var. macrocarpa, of western
Texas.

The habit of this southern California Yucca, the color,
surface and margins of its leaves, and the size of its flow-
ers abundantly distinguish it from the stemless Yucca bac-
cata of Torrey and from Yucca macrocarpa of Texas. It
is without a name, and I propose to call it Yucca Mohaven-
sis,f as it is most abundant and grows to its largest size on
the Mohave Desert, this, too, being the name which Dr
Coville, the botanist of the Death Valley Expedition, gave
it in his manuscript notes of the expedition. Ge ide!

* The synonymy of this plant would be then:
Yucca macrocarpa.
Yucca baccata, var. macrocarpa, Torrey, Bot. Mex. Bound. Surv., 222 (1858).

Yucca baccata, /3 australis, Engelmann, Trans. St. Lou?s Acad, iii., 44 (in part)
(1873).

Yucca baccata, Sargent, Forest Trees North Am. roth Census U. S.,ix., 219 (in
part) (1884).

Yucca filifera, Trelease, Res. Missouri Bot. Gard., iii., 162 (in part) (not Chabaud)
(1892).

Yucca australis, Trelease, 2. c., iv., 190 (in part) (1893).
+ Yucca Mohavensis.

Yucca filamentosa,? Wood, Proc. Phil. Acad , 1868, 167 (not Linnzeus).

Yucca baccata, Engelmann, Z. ¢. (in part) (not Torrey) (1873). Trelease, Ref.
Missouri Bot. Gard., iv., 185.

Yucca macrocapa, Merriam, North American Fauna, No. 7, 358, t. 14 (Death
Valley Exped., ii.) (not Yucca baccata, var. macrocarpa, Torrey, nor Yucca macro-
carpa, Engelmann) (1893).

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 420.

Foreign Correspondence.

London Letter.

DENDROBIUM SARMENTOSUM.—This is a new species allied
to Dendrobium barbatulum and lately named by Mr. Rolfe
from specimens now flowering at Kew and which were
received from Burma. It forms an erect cluster of crowded
proliferous, slender pseudo-bulbs, eighteen inches high, with
deciduous leaves and axillary flowers, usually in pairs and
developed freely by the last matured growth. The flowers
are only about an inch across, white, with a yellow stain
on the front of the labellum, and a few thin lines of red on
the side lobes. A well-flowered specimen is attractiveasa
flowering plant, but its chief charm is in its powerful violet-
like odor. Messrs. Low & Co., of Clapton, also lately
imported this species from Burma, and they exhibited it in
flower last week under the name of D. fragrans. This,
D. aureuny D. luteolum and D. Kingianum are worth a
place in every collection of tropical Orchids on account of
the sweet perfume of their flowers. They all flower in
winter, examples of them being in flower now at Kew.

Denprogium Curtisi, a hybrid between D. aureum and
D. Cassiope, raised by Messrs. F. Sander & Co., resembles
D. endocharis, but promises to be stronger and more florif-
erous. Its pseudo-bulbs are from six to twelve inches long
and bear numerous flowers two inches in diameter, white,
with a dull crimson blotch on the base of the lip.

DENDROBIUM PALLENS, a new hybrid between D. Findlay-
anum and D. Ainsworthii, raised in the garden of Sir
Trevor Lawrence, is a beautiful addition to the numerous
hybrid Dendrobes now in cultivation. Its flowers are
large, white, faintly tinted with rose, the long cordate lip
having a blotch of pale yellow in front. It is very free and
appears to be a vigorous grower. A _ certificate was
awarded to it.

Denprosium Burrorviense, a hybrid between D. aureum
and D. Linawianum, raised in 1892 by Sir Trevor Lawrence,
was exhibited splendidly in flowerby him last week. It has
flowers as large as a good variety of D. nobile and colored
pale rosy mauve tinged with yellow, the odor being equal
tothat of D. aureum. This is another hybrid that deserves
to rank with the best of garden Orchids.

OponToGLossuM RETUSUM.—One of the most interesting of
the many rare Orchids shown at the meeting of the Royal
Horticultural Society held last week was a plant of this
Odontoglossum from the collection of Mr. Woodall, Scar-
borough, who has had the plant many years and finds it is
happiest when grown quite cool. Sir Trevor Lawrence
possesses a plant of it, and these two are the only examples
known. It has the pseudo-bulbs and habit of a Cochlioda,
to which it is evidently closely allied, but it differs from the
several garden representatives of that genus in the stout-
ness, length, branching and number of flowers upon its
scape. This in Mr. Woodall’s plant was twisted several
times around stakes, and it bore at least one hundred flow-
ers as large as those of Cochlioda Noétzliana, their’ color
being rich orange shaded with crimson. O. retusum was
described by Lindley from a specimen collected by Hart-
weg on the mountains of Saraguro, Peru.

HovuLietra TIGRINA.—A plant in flower of this rare species
was shown last week by the Hon. Walter Rothschild. It
was first described about forty years ago by Lindley from
specimens imported and flowered by Monsieur Linden,
whose collector, Schlim, found it in Ocana, Colombia, at
an elevation of 4,800 feet. I have never seen it in flower
before. The plant shown had broad, plaited, erect leaves
nearly two feet long and bore two short erect scapes, one
with two, the other with four flowers, each of which was
four inches in diameter, the sepals ovate, concave, straw-
colored, with dull rose spots and reticulations, the petals
smaller, acute, with a lobe on each side and colored like
the sepals, and the singularly formed, fleshy two-horned
lip white, spotted with crimson. Although not so attrac-
tive as Houlletia Brocklehurstiana, it is as good a garden
Orchid as the other half-dozen species of Houlletia known,

MARCH ITI, 1896.]

but like their allies, the Stanhopes, they do not find gen-
eral favor, notwithstanding the large size, rich colors and
aromatic odor of the flowers of most of them.

Leuia Eyermaniana.—An importation of this beautiful
Lelia was sold recently by auction under the name of
L. Marriottiana. It was first flowered by Messrs. Sander
& Co. in 1888, when Reichenbach gave it the former name
and suggested that it was a natural hybrid between L.

Garden and Forest.

105

pale rose-purple, with tinges of a darker color on the seg-
ments, which are blunter than in typical L. furfuracea.
MaspDEVALLIA SHUTTRYANA.—Sir Trevor Lawrence raised
this hybrid in 1892 from Masdevallia Shuttleworthii and
M. Hareyana. It has also been raised by Mr. Chamberlain,
where it has lately flowered, and as the flowers of the latter
plant are larger and of a brighter color the varietal name of
Chamberlainiana was accepted for it by the Royal Horti-

Fig. 11.—Lippia iodantha, n. sp. Rob.

majalis and L. autumnalis. Two years ago a number of
plants of it were sold by auction for L. majalis. Some of
these were obtained for Kew, where they flowered freely,
as many as eight flowers being borne by some of the
scapes. They have flowered again this year. Thereis not
much to distinguish this from L. furfuracea, except its free
habit and many-flowered scape Mr. Rolfe thinks it is a
natural hybrid between L. majalis and lL. albida. The
flowers are as large as those of L. autumnalis and colored

& Greenm. ined.—See page 102.

cultural Society. It is a remarkable hybrid, having short
oblanceolate leaves, single-flowered scapes eight inches
high and large flowers, somewhat like those of M. Shuttle-
worthii in shape, colored rich rosy mauve, tinged with red,
the tails bright orange. Hybrids such as this are worthy
additions to garden Orchids. The name is an attempt to
hybridize the names of the parents.

MaspbrvaLiia Henrietra, raised in the garden of Mr. F. L.
Ames, Massachusetts, in 1893, from M. Shuttleworthii and

106

M. ignea, was exhibited in flower last week by Sir Trevor
Lawrence, and was awarded a certificate. It bears some
resemblance to the last-named hybrid, differing mainly in
the color of the flowers, which are yellow, tinged with
rose and red-brown.

PLEUROTHALLIS RoEzLtu.—This, which is one of the most
remarkable of the three or four hundred species of Pleuro-
thallis known, is represented in the collection of Sir Trevor
Lawrence by a very large healthy specimen which was
exhibited last week bearing six flower-scapes springing
from a cluster of healthy green leaves, the blades measur-
ing a foot in length and the petioles six inches. Eachscape
was a foot long, nodding, and bore about a dozen partially
opened, inflated, crinkled flowers nearly two inches long
and an inch across and colored deep claret-purple, the
color of Veratrum nigrum. English cultivators were first
made acquainted with this plant in 1885, when it was
shown in flower in London by Monsieur Godefroy-Lebeuf,
of Paris. There is a plant of it in the Kew collection which
was raised from a leaf of Monsieur Godefroy-Lebeuf’s
plant, Pleurothallises being readily multiplied in this way.
According to Veitch, P. Roezlii was first described in 1862
under the name of P. laurifolia, a name which is descrip-
tive of the sturdy healthy green leaves of the plant. It is
a native of Colombia.

CyprIPEDIUM NIGRITUM.—Collectors of Cypripediums may
like to know that Messrs. Low & Co. have plants of this
practically unknown species. It was first described in
1882 by Reichenbach from specimens supplied by Messrs.
Wallace, of Colchester, who had imported it from Borneo.
It has the leaves and habit of C. virens and the flowers of
C. barbatum, but smaller, darker, with narrower, paler
petals and smaller, more numerous marginal warts. The
dorsal sepal is only an inch long. Reichenbach said it
was near C, barbatum, but quite distinct. Plants of it have
recently flowered in the Clapton nursery, and have been
determined by Mr. Rolfe.

SELENIPEDIUM SARGENTIANUM has an_ exceptionally tall
scape, a plant of it now in flower at Kew having a scape
two and a half feet high. The flowers are developed singly
on the upper portion, and they are about three inches
across, yellowish green, with red margins to the segments.
It is not likely to become a general favorite.

London.

W. Watson.

Cultural Department.

The Essentials of a Good Lawn.

HIS is the season when we are often asked how to estab-
lish a good lawn and insure its permanence. Downing
names three essential requisites: (1) Deep soil; (2) proper
kinds of grass, and (3) frequent mowing. For this climate I
would add a fourth—that is, plenty of water. The air of an
average American summer is not so well adapted to the pro-
duction of a fine lawn as is the humid atmosphere of Great
Britain. There, not so much attention need be given to the
richness of the soil, as the moisture takes its place ina mea-
sure. But in this country the soil should be deep and rich,
with a subsoil capable of retaining moisture, but not in excess.
If the subsoil is hard and tenacious it should be well under-
drained and trenched, or subsoiled to a depth of sixteen or
eighteen inches, so as to create a reservoir for holding mois-
ture which may be drawn upon by the plants as needed dur-
ing dry times. This matter of subsoiling does not receive the
attention it deserves in our climate. Many persons seem to
think that if the surface soilis in good condition nothing fur-
ther is needed. Such persons should bear in mind that it is a
deep soil only which will furnish moisture for grass roots
through continued drought, so that the lawn will remain green
during the entire summer and autumn.

Again, too much attention cannot be given to the prepara-
tion of the soil before the seed is sown. It should be plowed
and replowed, cultivated, harrowed and rolled until the whole
is thoroughly pulverized and mixed to a depth of ten inches.
This work should be done in the fall, and then the plot should
be left to settle all winter before the seed is sown. The foun-
dation will then be firm. This not only makes a compact bed
which the tender grass roots need, but it will insure the lawn

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 420.

against those little knolls and hollows which are so objection-
able in appearance and do so much to obstruct the use of the
mower.

Only two kinds of Grass are really worthy of consideration
for this climate. These are Kentucky Blue Grass, Poa praten-
sis, and Red Top, Agrostis vulgaris. There are a few others,
such as Rhode Island Bent Grass, a finer kind of Agrostis,
which may be sown, but it is more expensive and little supe-
rior to a good strain of Red Top. A little Sweet Vernal Grass,
or White Clover, may be added, but neither is essential. The
coarser Grasses, such as Timothy, Orchard Grass or Meadow
Fescul, should never besown ina lawn. They are short-lived
and too coarse and stiff to make a soft, velvety carpet. There
are many lawn mixtures advertised and sold at high prices;
some of them are good and will make excellent lawns ; but, if
analyzed, the best of them will be found to consist mainly of
Blue Grass and Red Top, which may be bought in the market
for from $1.50 to $2.50 a bushel.

To seed properly, from two to three bushels will be required
to the acre, owing in some measure to the amount of chaff
mixed with the seed. This should be sown as early in the
spring as possible, so that the young plants may become well
established before the hot dry weather of midsummer. The
sowing of oats with the seed has been recommended as a pro-
tection to the young Grass-plants, but I have never yet found
that a strong, gross-feeding plant like the Oat would furnish
protection to a delicate, slow-growing one. On the contrary,
the so-called protector will rob the weaker plant of 1ts nourish-
ment. Red Top germinates much more quickly than Blue
Grass, and will furnish all the protection necessary, besides
covering the surface with a green coat almost as quickly as
Oats will. After the Blue Grass gets its roots well established
in deep rich soil it will need no further protection, but will
assume entire control in a very short time.

The third essential is early and frequent mowing. If the
grass is allowed to get too large before being cut, the stubble
will be too stiff, and we lose that soft velvety character which
is only produced by frequent mowing. It is time to begin as
soon as the grass is tall enough for the mower to catch it. A
few annual weeds which may make their appearance during
the summer will do no harm, as they will be kept down by the
mower and not allowed to ripen their seeds ; but such peren-
nials as the Docks, Dandelion, Plantains and their kind should
be dug up as soon as they can be seen, and water must be in
constant supply to feed the grass, keep it green and growing.
The deep-soil preparation will help to do this, but he is fortu-
nate who can draw on some reservoir for occasional irrigation.
Where water is always abundant less care need be given to
fertilization, otherwise it will be well to top-dress the lawn
early every spring with thirty or forty bushels of unleached
ashes and three or four hundred pounds of bone-meal or
superphosphate to the acre. This will keep the grass in thriv-
ing condition. Barn manure is too unsightly, and should not
be used except in localities where snow covers the ground all
winter, and then it should be raked off as early as possible in
the spring. By following out the suggestions given here in
providing the four essentials, we may have as fine lawns in
this country as they do in England; lawns which will last a
lifetime and be a continual source of pleasure to all who see

them.
La Fayette, Ind. Sie Troop.

Orchid Notes.

Dee THYRSIFLORUM is usually an easy plant

to manage, and yet we often hear of its failure to bloom.
While it is growing it should be helped as much as possible to
make a strong, unchecked growth until December, when it
should begin to rest. In January and February the plants
should be dried until the pseudo-bulbs show signs of shrink-
ing, and then water should be given. If this is kept up the
bulbs ought to be one or two inches long by the middle of Feb-
ruary. If dried too completely the buds blast, if kept too moist
new growths are encouraged at the expense of flowers. Den-
drobium Hookerianum and D. Dalhousianum, in order to be
flowered successfully, need more severe drying. It treated as
evergreens they flower sparingly. Indeed, I have known
specimens of D. Dalhousianum to be five feet high that have
not bloomed for years. With a good root-system and large,
healthy pseudo-bulbs a little shriveling does not hurt them
in the least.

Vandas which have flowered well havea tendency to give
a second crop and should have the stems nipped out. Second
flowering will debilitate the plants, and the lower leaves will
be lost and those which remain will turn pale. Vandas, An-
grecums, Aérides and Phalznopses should not be dried as

MARCH II, 1896.]

severely as Dendrobiums, Lelias, Cattleyas and the like, which
have a reserve in their pseudo-bulbs to prevent any sudden
dangers from a longer drought than is necessary.

Potting should now be attended to, and Lelias, in particular,
need working over wherever the peat is sour or sodden. If
the plant has settled too low or has overgrown its receptacle
it should be repotted. Some willonly need a little new fibre
tucked under them here and there. L. autumnalis and its
varieties which have shown a good Start in the roots need
immediate attention. After covering the bottom of a basket
with potsherds a thick layer of peat fibre should be added
with the fibrous material loosely shaken out. After trimming
old shoots close up to the stem and cutting out any diseased
or bruised pseudo-bulbs, basket them with more peat. If
proper-sized pieces of fibre are used and skillfully worked in,
little or no wire will be needed. When finished the plants
should be entirely inside the margin of the basket and raised
above the edge. A little live sphagnum can be used on the
top layer when basketed. By all means have the plant firm,
the stems not buried, and ina position that allows the devel-
oping break to push on unobstructed. When finished, hang
up and do not water for three or four days, to avoidany dan-
ger of starting decay at the roots. In a week or two baskets
may be top-dressed with live sphagnum and watering can be
increased. An intermediate house suits these plants and they
need abundant light and air, although, of course, they never
should be subjected to a draft. If Vanda Catharti has made
a good growth and appears healthy, but refuses to flower,
bend the stem to an oblique position, and this wil! sometimes
have the desired effect. A light form of Cattleya Schrcedere,
with a beautifully marked and wide throat of orange, is now
very handsome. The good forms of any recently imported
plants can now be gone over and selected. Albinos usually
have the outside of the base of the leaf of the same color as
the remainder, while the usual forms are mottled with pink or
red at the point of attachment. Albinos should be tried a

second year before they can be considered lasting. They
often assume a pinkish tinge after the first year.
Missouri Botanic Garden. Emil Misch.

Begonia Socotrana.

T is difficult to understand the force of Mr. Miller’s remark
on page 97 that the effort to cross Begonia Socotrana directly
with the fibrous-rooted section would be a waste of time. In
B. Gloire de Sceaux (Socotrana X metallica) we have had fora
decade a very beautiful hybrid which is valued wherever it is
known. B. Bijou (Socotrana x insignis) is also a distinct and
pleasing hybrid, perhaps not so well known. Monsieur Le-
moine’s hybrids Triomphe de Lemoine and Triomphe de
Nancy, crosses between 8B. Socotrana and perhaps B.
Roezlii, are interesting plants with succulent stems and
rather stiff habit, having very numerous persistent flow-
ers. These plants offer much encouragement to hybrid-
izers, and it is singular that they have not been followed
by crosses with other herbaceous kinds which would be
more likely to prove valuable than crosses between tuberous
kinds to ordinary cultivators. B.Socotrana was quickly taken
in hand after its first flowering in 1881, and though a number
of hybrids have been offered by Veitch and Lemoine they do
not seem to have become at all common in cultivation.
Veitch’s productions—John Heal, Adonis and Winter Gem—
are not rapidly propagated, and I found Adonis, the one tried
here, an obstinate plant. The Lemoine hybrid, Gloire de
Loraine (Socotrana x Dregii), has wonderful racemes of flow-
ers which persist for many weeks, but the plant is of a rather
stubborn character, and it can scarcely be classed among
varieties likely to become popular. In fact, it is not clear that
tuberous hybrids are desirable unless they prove to be readily
reproduced from seed. Tuberous Begonias are short-lived,
and, with the exception of B. Marliani, they require frequent
propagation from seed or cuttings. In view of such crosses as
have been made it would appear that the infusion of the blood
of B. Socotrana militates against the latter mode of propagation.
Begonia Socotrana is very interesting botanically and horti-
culturally. It is distinct, but scarcely as beautiful as many of
its interesting relatives, for, among the numerous species and
hybrids of Begonias are a great many which, if well grown, are
most charming plants both in foliage and flower. They are
easily cared for, but, as a rule, the plants have one serious
fault. If one may use the expression, their articulations are
very unstable, and a sudden falling of temperature, a little gas
or carelessness in watering will cause them to shed their leaves
and flowers with great promptness. The small-flowered kinds
are ashandsomeas those with large flowers, and we do not need

Garden and Forest.

107

any addition to the size, an illusion or delusion which too often
misleads the hybridizer. Butif we could have a few additions
to the herbaceous kinds possessing some of the stability of B.
Socotrana, with little or none of its resting or deciduous habit,
they would be great gains and be appreciated by all lovers of

greenhouse plants.
Elizabeth, N. J. F. N. Gerard.

Seasonable Greenhouse Notes.

ITH lengthening days and increasing sunlight greater

watchfulness in such matters as temperature, ventilation

and watering is necessary. All possible potting should be

completed before the spring rush commences, and nothing

left undone which may as well be done now as later in the
season when other work is pressing.

The propagation of bedding-plants will now require atten-
tion. Coleus quickly roots in a bottom-heat of seventy-five to
eighty degrees. Ifa few old plants have been kept for stock
and judiciously pinched in a moderately warm house plenty of
cuttings may be procured. The tips taken from these young
plants late in the season may be inserted. The old plants are
liable to attacks of mealy-bug and should be consigned to the
rubbish heap. Alternanthera delights in a warm moist atmos-
phere, and nothing equals a good hot-bed for these conditions.
We cut our old plants well back, and these givea plentiful sup-
ply of cuttings ina week or two. If there is likely to be any
shortage of Zonale Pelargoniums, cuttings inserted now will
make good plants by bedding-out time. We find the middle
of March early enough to start a lot of Madame Salleria Gera-
niums; this variety still remains unequaled for borders.
Fuchsias, Lantanas, Heliotropes, Stevias and many other plants
require propagating now, and the cutting-bench should be
fully occupied. Geraniums which have been carried over win-
ter in boxes of sand with only sufficient water to prevent
shriveling have recently been placed in two-inch pots ina
warm house. These are shifted about April Ist to four-inch
pots in which they make neat little plants.

Cannas are among the most useful of summer bloomers ;
this is a good time to start the main supply. We cut the roots
up, leaving an eye to each piece and pot in small pots, in light
sandy loam. A temperature of not less than sixty degrees
should be afforded them, and if bottom-heat can be used it is
all the better. A shift into five-inch pots when the smaller
pots are well-filled with roots will make good plants by the
middle of May. Tuberous Begonias can now be started in
boxes of light compost, and should be watered sparingly until
well started. These we transfer to pots later on, and we find
that tubers started laterin the season and planted out from
boxes do almost as well. Seedlings make excellent plants
the first season. We sowed our seed early in February ; when
sufficiently large to handle these are pricked off into shallow
boxes, and from these transferred to a gentle hot-bed where
they are planted four inches apart each way, in light, rich
compost. Strong plants are produced by the first of June.

Our earliest sowings of Asters and Stocks are now in rough
leaf, ready to prick off. Of Asters we find Queen of the Earlies
the best for an early crop, while Boston Florists’ Stock comes
in much ahead of any other sort we have tried. The latter
makesa useful pot-plant, and we usually have some in flower
for Easter by sowing in December. The main batch of Asters,
Stocks, Zinnias, Phlox Drummondi, Gaillardias, etc., we sow
about the middle of March. Petunias, Lobelias, Verbenas and
a few other kinds are started a month earlier. Salvia splen-
dens and its varieties, Compacta and Le President, are so easily
raised from seed that it is not worth while keeping any plants
for propagating purposes, and seed sown now will produce
good-sized plants by the time they are required. As bench and
shelf room is now pretty fully occupied, boxes of newly sown
seeds can be stood several deep after being watered. This
prevents the surfaces from drying and germination is likely
to be better better than when the boxes become more dry and
require almost daily waterings. Sowings may be made now
of Aralias, Grevilleas, Solanums and similar plants useful for
winter decoration. Such seeds as Cannas and [pomeea nocti-
flora hybrida germinate more quickly ifsoaked in warm water
for twenty-four hours before sowing.

Every one having a glass house plans for an attractive show
of flowers for Easter. Easter Lilies constitute the most impor-
tant crop and the one most difficult to have exactly on time.
We like to see the buds distinctly on Lilium Harris, L. longi-
florum and L. candidum when Lent begins, and then, whatever
vagaries of weather may follow, by forcing or retarding, the
flowers may be had on time. A good deal of nice calculation
is required to get all Easter flowers in at the right time. Green

108

aphis will injure Lilies if allowed to get a foothold, and they
must be held in check either by dusting the tips with tobacco-
dust, syringing with tobacco-extract dissolved in water, or by
fumigation. Callas are useful for decorative purposes; we
grow the large tubers of C. Aithiopica in ten and twelve inch
pots, placing three and five to each pot. The variety Little
Gem, while not of value as a winter bloomer, is now com-
mencing to flower freely, and is useful to mix with other plants.
Grown in eight-inch pots these will each have five to eight
open flowers by Easter. Callas are gross feeders, and strong
liquid food twice a week improves them. Spirceas are among
the most useful plants for Easter. We prefer S. grandiflorum
to the older S, Japonica. S. astilboides makes an elegant plant ;
it is taller in habit than the others, with handsomely cut and
showy foliage and minutely branched panicles of white flow-
ers; it requires two weeks longer forcing than the Japonica
type to bring it into flower. Spirzeas must have plenty of room
to develop their foliage, stimulants and copious waterings.
They are easily injured by tobacco-smoke, and it is well to re-
move them to another house while any fumigation is going
on. Ihave seen many fine lots completely ruined by neglect
of this simple precaution.

Easter comes a week earlier this year than last, and Hy-
drangeas will require considerable forcing to have them in
good flower. The heads on our plants are now showing white,
and will be well expanded by the required time. We have had
to retard Cytisus racemosus and I[ndian Azaleas, but they
are now being carried into heat. Bulbous plants, such as
Hyacinths, Tulips and Narcissus, require some three weeks
from the time they are housed until they are in ower. If the
weather is very warm and sunny they may need holding back: ;
if the reverse, some extra forcing may be necessary. Paris
Daisies, especially the white variety, Grallert, are useful grown
in six and eight inch pots, Plants of Antirrhinums in six-inch
pots, carrying five or six spikes, are effective, and can readily be
brought into bloom for Easter in an ordinary greenhouse tem-
perature. We purpose trying the white Swainsonia galegifolia
as a decorative plant this year for the first time. Its beautiful
white sprays of flowers should make it extremely popular, and
it is of easy culture. Calceolarias and Pelargoniums will both
be somewhat late for Easter this year. Neither of these plants
tolerate forcing, so it is useless to attempt to hurry them for-
ward. Green aphis is very partial to both, and we pack plenty
of tobacco-stems among our plants. A cool airy structure suits
them, and they relish frequent syringings overhead until the
flowers begin to expand. The flowering Begonias are among
the most cheery objects in a greenhouse at this season, and
florists are giving more attention to their cultivation. While
they have comparatively little value as cut flowers for decora-
tive purposes, as pot-plants they are unexcelled. A good batch
of cuttings for next winter’s crop should now be inserted.
Later in the season the old plants grow finely if planted out in
a partially shaded border. For midwinter blooming Begonia
incurvata (called also carminata) deserves special commenda-
tion; we have just put in cuttings of this excellent variety.
The old plants if cut back give abundant cuttings from the
base, and these are preferable to those taken from flowering
wood. The Cornell Experiment Station is trying to get together
a complete collection of Begonias, and itis hoped all gardeners
and florists will send to that institution varieties and species
it may not have. A primary object in making the collection is
to establish correct nomenclature of Begonias.

Taunton, Mass. W. N. Craig,

Caryopteris mastacanthus.—This neat subshrubby member of
the Verbena family is said to be hardy as far north as Boston.
Thomas Meehan & Sons, of Germantown, State that they have
thoroughly tested it for the last five years in their nurseries,
and that it has been only slightly winter-killed. As the howers
are produced on the current year’s growth this is no disad-
vantage, for, no doubt, like many other plants of this charac-
ter, it will be benefited by being pruned annually. The plant
branches freely from a woody base. The leaves are ovate
and hoary, with adpressed, silky hairs in greater abundance on
the lower surface. The flowers are lavender-blue, in dense
axillary clusters, and are produced in great profusion during
the months of September and October. It is one of the easiest
of plants to manage, and in the greenhouse has been quite
free from insect pests of all kinds. Our half-dozen plants were
raised from cuttings taken from a plant purchased last spring.
They made neat little bushes of ovate pyramidal form about
two feet high. We grew three in six-inch pots, and they made
the best of decorative plants. Those kept indoors ripened
seed abundantly. The plant can be easily increased from cut-
tings as well, so that it will be plentiful.

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 420.

Abutilon Souvenir de Bonn is the best Abutilon with parti-
colored leaves that I have seen. The variegation is white
and confined toa rather heavy banding on the margin of the
deeply cut palmate leaves. It is a highly decorative plant,
however used, and small specimens in pots are especially
beautiful. For foliage contrasts in informal gardening it is
most effective. The variegation does not seem to interfere
with the vitality of the plants, and they are always healthy and
vigorous, Unlike many Abutilons, it naturally forms a stocky
bush of pyramidal form and never needs staking. The red-
striped orange flowers contrast well with the foliage, as is not
the case with the Thompsoni forms, which have yellow varie-

gation,
~'Wellesley, Mass. T. D. Hatfield.

Correspondence.

Decoration of School Grounds.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—The subject ef ornamenting our country roadsides
with trees and shrubs has lately been treated interestingly in
your columns, and I wish now to call attention to the tasteful
planting of grounds about country schoolhouses. They stand
atpresent, as a rule, as ‘ragged beggars sunning,” without
so much as a Sumach or Blackberry vine to adorn them.
Not infrequently the playground is altogether omitted, and
the children play in the road. Certainly the school-build-
ings in the country that are provided with pleasant grounds
are exceptional, and although in a few instances sites have
been chosen near native groves with pleasing results, planting
is almost wholly neglected. This oversight where land is avail-
able and trees and shrubs can be procured at little or no cost,
evidences lack of thoughtfulness on the part of the rural popu-
lation rather than lack of taste. Children enjoy planting trees
and seeds, but, as with other things, soon tire of the labor
and care of cultivating unless stimulated by some unusual
motive. The idea of ownership or proprietorship has been
tried in many places with success, and children have been led
to take pride in trees and shrubs placed under their care. As
many children do not possess attractive homes the influence
of a prettily decorated schoolhouse and grounds would add a
much needed elementin their education. The advantages to
be derived by children trom pleasant surroundings seem to
have had little or no place in the arrangements for their earliest
impressions at school in the country, where of all places the
most natural beauty may be provided with the least exertion.
Since childhood is the most impressible period of life it cer-
tainly is better to have schoolhouses and grounds comforta-
ble and tastetul rather than inconvenient and unsightly. The
remembrance of hours spent years ago in shady woods,
among wild Howers and ferns, under orchard trees, or in old
gardens, remains with usas we advance in hfe when later expe-
riences are forgotten. Washington Irving wrote: “I thank
God | was born on the banks of the Hudson! I think it an
invaluable advantage to be born and brought up in the neigh-
borhood of some great and nobie object in Nature. I used to
clothe it with moral attributes and almost to giveit a soul.” He
traces to his companionship with 1t whateveris good or pleasant
in his character.

Compatatively few are born with what are usually termed
grand objects about them, but none in the country need be
deprived of much thatis refreshing and ennobling to the mind,
provided the attention is early called to it.

Dorcas E. Collins.

White Pigeon, Mich.

John Brown's Grave.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—The letter of Mrs. Van Rensselaer, in your issue of
January 29th, in regard to the recent purchase by the state of
New York of the John Brown tract, reminds me that it may
be worth while to reproduce part of an article printed in Kaze
Field's Washington, under date of September 26th, 1894. This
account was given to Miss Field by the Rev. H. C. Lyon, who
lived in North Elba tor several years and knew many of the
Brown family personally.

“Tt is more than likely that of the tens of thousands who
have visited the grave of old John Brown, at North Elba, in
the Adirondacks, not fifty have ever heard the history of that
inscription so deeply chiseled in the great granite bowlder
near the grave—‘John Brown, 1859." This bowlder, with its
clear-cut letters, will always be regarded as the real memorial.
Itis true that the thin stone slab which formerly marked the
grave of Captain John Brown, the grandfather of John Brown,

MarcH 11, 1896.]

stands at the head of the grave, and additional inscriptions
record the names of John Brown and three of his brave sons,
who died for the cause of freedom. It was the wish of John
Brown that his name might thus be linked with that of his
grandfather, who was a soldier of the Revolution. But long
after this frail and ancient tablet has crumbled into dust, the
giant bowlder, with its classically beautiful inscription, will
commemorate the name and fame of the Friend of the
Oppressed.

“To the late Colonel Francis L. Lee, of Boston, Massachu-
setts, of the Forty-fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volun-
teers, belongs the credit of establishing this imperishable
memorial. For many years Colonel Lee had spent the summer
months at his country home, ‘Stony Sides,’ on Lake Cham-
plain, near Westport, New York, only about thirty miles east

- of North Elba, and had always entertained a high regard for
the noble qualities of Brown, even before his exploits in Kan-
sas had revealed to the world the stuff of which he was made.
The year following the close of the war, 1866, Colonel Lee
made a pilgrimage to North Elba, accompanied by some mem-
bers of his family and the Hon. GeorgeS. Hale, ot Boston, tak-
ing with him Mr. Andrew J. Daniels, otf Westport, a skillful mar-
ble-worker. To Mr. Daniels Colonel Lee intrusted the task of

_ cutting those large, deeply furrowed letters and figures in the
flinty rock.”

This cutting took many days, owing to the extreme hardness
of the rockin which the letters are cut. This same hardness
will protect the mighty bowlder trom the hand of the vandal
relic-seeker for all time. I wish also to add my protest as a
native of Essex County against putting any artificial monument
over the grave of the rugged old man who lies buried among
the surroundings of his own choice “with his face to the
south.” If there is to be a monument built from the accumu-
lated funds spoken of in the letter, let it be at Harper’s Ferry
or some other place where it will suit its surroundings, but not

on the old farm. b
Chestnut Hill, Mass. Francis W. Lee.

Recent Publications.

A History of Gardening in England. By the Hon. Alicia
Amherst. London: Bernard Quaritch. 1895. °

Miss Amherst’s book is sure to be useful to any serious
student of the history and literature of English gardening,
and should also have a place in the library of every lover
of gardens who takes an interest in the growth and devel-
opment of an art which has a long past, since it started,
we are told, in Eden. The History of Gardening gives
evidence of long and careful preparation, and the author has
grouped her facts so skillfully and with such a keen sense
of historical perspective that the work is likely to become
a classic of the craft with which it deals. Externally the
book is attractive in its green cover, with the two quaint
men digging and planting in an impossible garden, the
sole decoration of which seems to consist in one or two
microscopic twigs. The illustrations are less satisfactory,
as in many cases the photogravure process has failed to
reproduce the differences in light and shade of the actual
scenes. The bibliography at the end is large and full,
but, although there are some advantages in the chrono-
logical arrangement over one that is alphabetical, the
latter is plainly more convenient. The short index of
names, however, furnishes a much needed help to one who
wishes to consult a given author. It would double the
working value of this list if in another edition a little more
information were given about the books on such points,
for example, as whether or not they are illustrated, what is
the best edition, etc.

The author begins by a few words on the probable want
of gardens among the rough and warlike tribes which
inhabited Britain before the Roman conquest, but passes
on to the early Saxon times, when the monks, in their quiet
communities, cultivated herbs and simples, while protecting
learning and the refinements of life from the boisterousness
of the medizeval world. An amusing part of the book is
that in which Miss Amherst treats of the expenses of
monastic gardening as shown in the pipe-rolls and chartu-
~ laries of the period, where one may see from the charge
“for labour of labourers in extracting ‘mosse’ from the

Garden and Forest.

109

cloister green, 6d.,” that weeds grew and had to be pulled
up as much in the middle ages as they do now. The Hor-
tulanus, or Gardinarius, was an important person in the
Priory, since he had charge, not only of the garden, but of
the orchard, vineyard, moat and fish-ponds, and it was also
his duty to see that the church was decorated with suitable
flowers.

As soon as England began to recover from the many
wars which kept people shut up in walled towns and in
castles, where want of space prevented any but the most
necessary cultivation, gardens multiplied, and an associa-
tion of gardeners became so powerful that they forced the
Mayor and Aldermen of London to recall an order which
had been issued forbidding them to hold a market in front
of the church of St. Austin.

The literature of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries
is full of references to sweet-smelling flowers and green
lawns, while some of the illuminations in old manu-
scripts of that time are views in gardens where ladies
sit upon turf seats and weave “gerlonds” of roses or
periwinkles. Later, in Tudor times, when houses did
not need to be surrounded by high walls, and people
had time to think of something besides fighting others
and defending themselves, the pleasure-grounds began to
be more elaborate, and the topiary artist, who in later times
was to create such extraordinary objectsin Yew, was called
in to pleach alleys and hedges. Galleries and mounts also
make their appearance, and tflower-beds fenced with brightly
painted trellises. In short, one feels that here is the fresh
and fair beginning of the simple, hearty country life which
has continued to grow until the present time. Miss Am-
herst also shows that in the reign of Elizabeth gardening
did not lag behind the other gentle arts, since Bacon’s
well-known essay was only one of the many treatises on
the subject which were written about that time. The gar-
den became a part of daily life, insomuch that the architect,
John Thorpe, designed the surroundings for his houses,
thinking the plan of the garden important enough to require
an artist for its proper and harmonious distribution. The
author also glances at the humbler kitchen-garden, where
the list of vegetables has constantly grown longer and
the methods of cultivation more technical.

In the time of the Cavaliers and Roundheads the love of
gardening grew steadily in favor, both with the working
classes and the gentry, as shown by the well-known Royalist
names of John Evelyn, the author of Sylva, and Lord
Capel, whose famous garden was at Kew. Toward the
end of the seventeenth century the influence of the pom-
posity of Versailles was felt in England, since Le Nétre is
said to have been ordered by Charles II. to make designs
for the elaborate alterations at Hampton Court, which were
afterward only partly carried out. It was natural when
William and Mary were on the throne that Dutch garden-
ing should become the fashion, and accordingly we see a
great remodeling of old places going on, largely under the
superintendence of Hollanders, who, doubtless, brought
with them the taste for cultivating Tulips, which became a
mania in their own country.

Miss Amherst’s sketch of the rise of landscape-gardening
is most interesting, since she shows how the reaction
against the excessive formality of the later gardens created
a style which, in its affected simplicity and naturalness,
grew to be quite as artificial as the one it had superseded.
The author also emphasizes the enormous amount of dam-
age done to fine old places by the ‘‘improvers,” who cut
down avenues of grand old trees because they considered
them neither “pensive, picturesque, nor sublime.” <A
short account of the progress of horticulture in this century,
with a few appreciative remarks on some modern gardens,
closes this attractive book. Its mass of well-ordered and
well-digested information, with constant reference to origi-
nal authorities, gives it a genuine value, and it has the
charm of being written in an easy, flowing style which is
never dull. It is altogether the best existing treatise on the
subject, and it is not likely soon to be superseded.

IIo

Notes.

The Puget Sound University owns what is called a residence
park of some twelve hundred acres south-west of the city of
Tacoma, and it is proposed to devote some two hundred acres
of this, where the soil is most suitable, to an arboretum of
such trees as will grow in the remarkable climate of that
region. The amount of land available is so ample that room
can be given for a large collection. Some ten thousand young
plants of two hundred and fifty species, native and foreign,
already form the nucleus of the proposed tree museum.

As a proof that more Olive-trees have been planted during
the past season than ever before in California, a recent dis-
patch to the 7ribune states that a single nurseryman in
Pomona has sold 200,000 trees, that Mr. Andrew McNally, the
Chicago publisher, is planting an Olive orchard of four hun-
dred acres in Orange County, and Mrs. Adlai Stevenson is
preparing 340 acres in San Bernardino County for Olive-trees.
All the Olive groves in southern California were profitable last
year and the demand for California olives constantly exceeds
the supply.

Mr. William Falconer, editor of Gardening, has accepted the
position of superintendent of the park system of Pittsburg,
Pennsylvania, which has been vacant since the death of A. W.
Bennett. Mr. Falconer has been in this country some twenty
years, and during the latter half of this time he has had charge
of Dosoris, the well-known estate of Charles A. Dana, Esq., on
the northern shore of Long Island. He has had an unusually
wide experience in the various branches of gardening, and the
new parks of Pittsburg are sure to be managed with intelli-
gence and skill.

A Farmers’ Bulletin on Potato Culture has just been issued
by the United States Department of Agriculture, which, while
not intended as acomplete treatise, contains many helpful sug-
gestions in relation to a crop which is grown in every state and
territory of the Union, and which amounts in value every year
to a hundred million dollars. Such questions as when to
cut tubers for seed, the quantity of seed per acre, the size of
the pieces, the value of mulching, and the proper methods of
harvesting and storing are discussed in the pamphlet, which
contains twenty-three pages and is filled with useful matter.

An effort to explain the physical geography of one of those
narrow but well-defined areas to which the successful cultiva-
tion of certain classes of fruit is often confined, is found in
Bulletin tog of the Cornell Experiment Station, and entitled the
Geological History of the Chautauqua Grape Belt. This region
is very plainly defined, and the inquiry was undertaken to
determine, if possible, the reasons tor the existence of this
particular belt, and to ascertain whether its limits might be
profitably extended. The work has been done by Professor
R. S. Tarr, of Cornell University, and it contains much inter-
esting research, both on the soil and on the climate of the
Chautauqua Grape fields, and gives reasons why they are
specially adapted to all the fruits common in this latitude.
Altogether, it seems to be a peculiarly favored spot, and Pro-
fessor Tarr suggests that even the Tobacco plant might be
profitably grown there.

In a bulletin rather more than two years ago concerning
Japanese Plums in North America, Professor Bailey stated that
these Plums are the most important type of fruit introduced
into North America during the last quarter of a century, and
deserved to be carefully tested in all parts of the country. Of
course, this did not mean that the Japanese Plums were supe-
rior to the European Plums of the Prunus domestica type, for,
wherever these will succeed, they are still more valuable,
although the Japanese can be added to give a variety. The
advantages of the Japanese Plums are that they are adapted to
a wider range of country than the European type, and among
other desirable features which they possess in various degrees
are earliness, productiveness, freedom from black-knot and
leaf-blight, with long-keeping quality and beauty of fruit.
Several of them compare favorably with the Lombard in
quality, but it must be admitted that they are generally inferior
to the best European Plums.

The first California grape-fruit of this season to reach this
city was sold on March 3d and comprised a car-load, or 300
boxes. Much of it was small and below the desirable sizes of
fifty-four and sixty-two to a box. The best realized $8.00 at
wholesale, a few boxes containing from I50 to 200 of the fruits
bringing but $2.00 each. Nevertheless, the entire lot averaged
$6.00 a box. The color was light and the weight not heavy
enough to insure first quality. Some shaddocks, trom the Barba-
does, are now forced into the market; these are of irregular

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 420.

form, their uninviting lemon color marked with green. Alto-
gether pleasing are the handsome Forbidden Fruits from Ja-
maica ; theseare large, spherical, the smooth skin a rich orange-
color and of oily texture. The fruitis free from bitterness and
exceedingly juicy. These have realized $7.00 to $8.00 a box.
No Tangerines or Mandarins have come from California
during the past fortnight, and the season for them is nearly
ended. The limited stock on hand is offered at $3.00 to $4.50
a box. The supply of pears for the remainder of the season 1s
now practically controlled by one firm. Winter Nelis are
offered at $550 to $6.00 a box to wholesale buyers, Easter
Beurres bringing a half-dollar less, and large russet P. Barrys
$4.50 to $5.00.

The extensive mycological herbarium of Mr. J. B. Ellis, of
Newfield, New Jersey, has been purchased by the Board of
Managers of the New York Botanical Garden, and will be de-
posited in the fire-proot museum building of the Garden which
it is proposed to erect in Bronx Park. The purchase also
includes a considerable portion of Mr. Ellis’ library, and the
collection will be brought to this city within a short time and
placed in a fire-proot storage warehouse until it is finally
placed iu the Garden. The herbarium represents the work of
nearly fitty years devotedly given by Mr. and Mrs, Ellis to the
study and accumulation of Fungi from all parts of the world,
It is especially rich in North American species, being very
nearly complete in that regard, and containing all or nearly all
the types described either by Mr. Ellis alone or in coéperation
with Dr. M. C. Cooke, Mr. B. M. Everhart, Mr. E. W. Martin,
Professor W. A. Kellerman, Rev. A. B. Langlois, Mr. E. D. Hol-
way, Mr. B, L. Galloway and others. Itis put up in volumes,
there being some 250 volumes of published exsiccati, includ-
ing all but a few of the earliest distributed sets, and more than
150 volumes of a general collection, the whole completely in-
dexed on a card catalogue. There are also more than too tin
cans and boxes filled with fleshy fungi. This important
acquisition will make the new institution a centre of interest
for students of these plants, and with the other collections
already secured will make a substantial foundation fora great
herbarium.

An array of vegetables, such as may be seen any Saturday
morning in our large markets and first-class green-grocers’
stores, presents almost as wide a range of color as a collection
of flowers, Besides this diversity of color there is the delight-
ful freshness and crispness of stems and foliage and the beauty
of plump roots with clinging soil, while the whole place is
pervaded with the wholesome and satisfying earthy smell
which reminds one of spring in the country. Green is, of
course, the prevailing color, and is seen in many shades and
tints now, especially in herbs for seasoning, and salads, The
fine-leaved chervil, delicately fragrant tarragon, and the more
pungent mint are abundant, while curled parsley, rank-grow-
ing chives in their native sod, forced dandelion, corn salad,
spinach and kale, tight bunches of perfectly grown watercress
and ‘celery, heads of curled endive, escarolle, Romaine and
other lettuces, each has its particular tint, and the so-
called French salad is specially noteworthy for the white
midribs and pale lemon-colored blades of its leaves. Ex-
cepting Sugar corn and Lima beans, all the summer vege-
tables may now readily be had in abundance, although prices
have advanced recently, owing to cold weather in northern
Florida and the other states of the south Atlantic coast. The
main supplies now come from along the coast of southern
Florida. New egg-plants, small, glossy and rich purple in
color; snowy white cauliflowers, in their green envelopes;
choice grades of asparagus in generous-sized bunches, and
long grass-green peppers, with occasional splashes of red, are
heaped among masses of golden pumpkins, rusty green okra
and French artichokes and the earthy brown celeriac, long
light straw-colored parsnips and pale green squashes. Neatly
piled heads of imported cabbage, glossy and rich purple-red,
are showy beside the dull red of beets. Russet-colored
mushrooms and oyster-plants, the less well-known kohl-rabi,
waxy green cucumbers, fresh-looking well-filled pea-pods and
yellow and green string-beans are in all well-stocked offerings
of vegetables. New leeks and spring onions are shown, and
full-grown onions, in all sizes, in satiny skins of silver, red and
yellow. There are slender stalks of bright pink rhubarb, and
field tomatoes lacking summer richness of coloring. Sweet
potatoes, red-jacketed Bermuda potatoes, clear white and pur-
ple turnips and the dull cream-colored rutabagas are common
enough. Perhaps no one vegetable makes so decided an
impression on the eye as a lot of carrots, especially when
these small clear lemon-yellow roots are lighted up bya neigh
boring gas-jet.

Marcil 18, 1896.]

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrick: Tripung Buitpinc, New York.

Conducted by . +. - « + « « « « « Professor C. S. SARGENT.

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 1806.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.
EpitoriaL ArticLes :—The Cascade Range Forest Reservation in Danger..... IIL

SOMROLE CECA LLU S ceretateiatelss stetete ste ete cielstetaisjee ecln.= i.e. 2 si0/e gieicatniaiaislie's:o 112

New Perfumery Products ........eceesee00+ 6+ <8 ~F M. Gerard. 112

A Botanical Journey in Texas.—IL..-...-.--.40- . BN. Plank. 113

Juniperus communis.......-....+.-..- mete LVingay OSes (XU

The Dauphin Chestnut. (With figure.).....-. 000+ seeeeeeeenes M, L. Dock. 114
CutturaL DeparTmMeNT:—Hardy Shrubs for Winter Flowering in the Green-

Mau sSeasmemtentetrtele cietaete lps stetasclenn)aicinistaiaiera(nin.<\> o.c/<.0, Edward F. Canning. 116

Imantophyllums.. 2... .cc.s cc cces ccccee cece tece ce tccecscens T. D. Hatfield. 116

Acanthus mollis. Boe nino . Edward F. Canning. 116

Succulent Plants. gece -.--Fanny Copley Seavey. 116

SHES UGE WSiseeiars sam ialale «care efeicieishewie'emise sineiaise, an ais ecb sie G. W. Oliver. 117

Cuphea Sirisulosa. cs persee cs Sesca sens se teeaes ce .T.D. Hatfield. 117

CorRESPONDENCR :—A Home Acre in Suuthern California.... Fexnie Kruckeberg. 118

The Aspidistra Scale in California............Professor T. D. A. Cockerell. 118

Tue Forest :—Forest Protection.—IlI... .-- Gifford Pinchot. 118

RECENT PUBLICATIONS ........eeeeeeees

ee es 119
INODES Mecemecor tise aetinesbss ccnmceielesse —mccmicle & 120
ILLUSTRATION :—The Dauphin Chestnut, Fig. 12.....+---.2eeeee ce ceeeeeeeceeeee 115

The Cascade Range Forest Reservation in Danger.

HE effort now on foot to restore to the public domain

for entry and sale a large proportion of the land which
makes up the great Cascade Range Forest Reserve, in
Oregon, will cause little surprise. We wish it could be
added that it causes no apprehension. The simple truth
is that it is only one more evidence that these forest areas
which have been reserved by Presidential proclamation
will be attacked one after:'the other and again and again
by powerful well-organized forces of men who have a per-
sonal interest in getting possession of them. Of course, so
long as there is no specific legislation for managing these
reservations, no provision for punishing skin-hunters, tim-
ber-thieves or sheep-herders, the forests will be open to these
and other marauders. League after league of the finest
timber in the world has been wastefully chopped down or
burned over; league after league of young forest growth
has been girdled and trampled to death by the millions of
sheep that have been pastured on national property. These
wounds, bad as they were, might heal over, at least par-
tially, in the slow process of time, but attacks like the one
on the Cascade Range mean the final and total destruction
~ of the woods and the utter defeat of the purpose of the law
which made the creation of these reservations possible—
the one law in all the great mass of legislation relating to
our public domain which had in it any immediate promise
for the future of our forests.

The assault upon this particular reservation is wanton
and selfish to the last degree, and it is to be hoped that the
Secretary of the Interior will stand firm and refuse to turn
this area over to private use and reverse the policy of hold-
ing it as the property of the people forever. Before this
Cascade Reserve was created a long and careful investiga-
tion was made by competent members of the Geologidal
Survey and others, so that its resources and possibilities
are all well known. It embraces high mountain ranges
where there is a large rainfall and snowfall, just the place
where a forest cover is absolutely necessary to the adequate
and equable water-supply of the plains below. Only
limited portions of the region are fit for agricultural
use and the rugged slopes are adapted to forest growth
alone. Oregon has been inhabited for fifty years, and

Garden and Forest.

III

yet but very few settlers have made their homes within
this great area, a fact which of itself proves that it is nota
desirable place of habitation. Very little mining land is
included in it, and although much good timber is standing
there, the lumbering on the Coast Range is better, so that
there is no urgent need of felling the forests of the reserva-
tion. Of course, the wandering sheep-herders who gain
a subsistence by preying upon the national property are
clamoring for more land to devastate, and they are espe-
cially urgent now since they have been driven northward
from the forests of California, which they have laid waste.
Altogether, turning over these mountain forest lands to
private use will only benefit a few individuals, and of that
particular class whose very occupation it is to destroy the
forest and break up those beneficent conditions which, in
the end, will benefit the greatest number of people for all
time to come.

We are glad to see that the executive committee of the
American Forestry Association adopted vigorous resolu-
tions at its meeting on March 4th against the opening of
this Cascade Reserve either in whole or in part, and that
they have addressed a memorial to the Honorable Hoke
Smith, Secretary of the Interior, protesting against any
action that threatens the integrity of the reservation or a
reversal of the policy which has created them. We are
glad to see, also, that they take broader ground than that
of a mere protest against a special case for special reasons.
They show very plainly that the mere reservation of pub-
lic lands is not a policy with any life or force in it. They
recognize, also, that even if the reservations could be kept
rid of trespassers, either by the army or any other force,
this alone would not give them their proper place in the
national economy nor establish their proper relations with
the people and the people's interests. The forests must
be saved where they are needed to protect and
enrich the plains, but they must be saved for use. The
people have a right to demand that they shall be pro-
ductive, and increasingly productive wherever this is
possible. Beyond question, also, the settlers in regions
adjacent to the Government forests ought to be able to
draw from them the supplies that will in many cases be
absolutely necessary to their existence. Some of them
may contain land more suitable for agriculture than for the
production of timber, and a wise national policy will not
fail to provide that every acre can be turned to its highest
and most fruitful use. In short, all the necessary and
reasonable demands of the people which do not conflict
with the essential permanence of these reserved lands as
forests must be fairly and frankly met.

It is very plain that not an acre of the national domain
which is now in forest, whether within or without one of
the reserved areas, is safe until some comprehensive
scheme of administration is put into active operation.
There must be some authority to decide what part of the
public forests shall be held under Government control, and
which shall be allowed to pass into private hands; and
then some broad scheme of managing these forests which
will commend itself to the enlightened public opinion of
the country must be adopted and enforced. Simply shut-
ting up and fencing in large tracts of forest is no policy at
all. The ultimate policy must clearly be conservative.
The forests are first of all to be protected, but they
must also be judiciously worked and used. They must be
carefully husbanded and their productive power preserved,
but they must furnish supplies to settlers and others, and,
under proper restrictions, access must be had to all the
resources of the region, whether agricultural, mineral or
forestal. A wise forest policy is not opposed to any legiti-
mate right of the people in the forest. It is really the
only certain way to establish and perpetuate these rights.

We cannot protest too strongly against this assault on
the Cascade Reservation, but we may as well face the
certainty that if this attack fails another and a more violent
one will soon be organized. No reservation will be secure
until all of them, together with all the national domain

112

which it is intended. to hold in forest, are placed under a
wisely regulated forest service—a service which will be
for protection primarily, but never for stagnation, and
always for development and use.

Aw Audubon Society has lately been organized in Boston,
in the hope of arousing the community to the fact that the
fashion of wearing feathers means the cruel slaughter of
myriads of birds and threatens the extermination of some
of the most beautiful of those which inhabit the United
States. Its purpose is to discourage wearing and buying
for ornamental purposes the feathers of wild birds and to
further the protection of our native species. The circular
of the society cites as an instance of the evil it would
restrain the aigrette which is now so commonly worn by
ladies, and which is made from the feathers of the Egret, or
Snowy Heron, the plumes being obtained by killing the
mother at the time of the year when she is hatching or
rearing her young, so that, in nine cases out of ten, her death
causes the death of her brood. The result of this has been
that the Snowy Heron, one of the most beautiful of Ameri-
can birds once common in the southern states, has already
become exceedingly rare, and its extermination must be
only a question of a short time longer unless the fashion in
aigrettes changes or their use can be discouraged.

A subscription of $1 00 and a written agreement not to
purchase or encourage the use of feathers of wild birds for
ornamentation entitles any one to become a member of the
society, which includes among its officers some of the most
distinguished men and women of the commonwealth. The
objects of such a society appeal not only to lovers of
nature, but to every man, woman and child interested in
the prosperity of the country, for birds are the farmers’ and
gardeners’ friends, destroying annually countless millions
of insects which, without their aid, would devour the profits
of the husbandman. Sucha cause should have the support
of all civilized men and women, and such societies should
be organized in every state to carry on an active campaign
against the wickedness of a fashion which destroys beauty
and life to gratify human vanity in one of its lowest
forms.

Miss Harriet E. Richards, Boston Society of Natural His-
tory, Berkeley Street, Boston, is the secretary of the society,
to whom applications for membership should be addressed.
There is no annual assessment.

New Perfumery Products.

HE perfumer’s art has not until recently availed itself
of chemistry or strictly chemical operations. | Pri-
mary articles have been the results of enfleurage, dis-
tillation, percolations, expression, decoction or similar
operations. The basis of all good perfumes is, and proba-
bly always will be, the spirituous extracts which are pro-
duced from a few flowers, mostly rose, cassie (Acacia),
jasmine, orange, jonquil and violet.

This extract is produced by washing the pomade or
grease which has absorbed the molecules of odor from the
fresh flowers, the latter process being known as enfleurage.
Alcohol has a greater affinity for the molecules than the
grease, and hence quickly robs it of odor. It is evident, of
course, that a more direct process could not be used, as
alcohol applied directly to the flowers would absorb detri-
mental organic compounds. This extract supplies a mel-
low floral body to compounds or perfumes which is not
otherwise obtainable. Except the rose, none of the flowers
mentioned above are distilled for their essential oil. This
product in the case of the rose, reduced with spirits, has an
entirely different odor from the enfleuraged product, and
the same may be said of any flower which it is possible to
treat both ways. The simple addition of essential oils to
spirits produces a compound lacking in body and richness.

With a basis of these floral extracts the skillful perfumer
undertakes to produce synthetically any desired odor, add-

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 421.

ing, as his experience suggests, various essential oils or
infusions of roots, leaves, seeds, resins and animal matters,
the latter usually to insure permanency or to bind the some-
what various scents composing the combination. These
scents all vary, according to their molecular arrangement,
and have such differing evaporating points that an expert
can analyze a complicated perfume by simply picking out
the separate primary odors as they become successively
prominent in the evaporation.

The perfumer’s art has been brought to great perfection
in the production especially of pleasant ‘ bouquets,” and,
in a minor degree, simple floral scents are made, which,
with nice labels and some imagination, are enabled to pass
as fair representations of the odors of popular flowers.. A
delicate sense of odor is a rare gift, and few persons are
familiar with the true scents of the most ordinary flowers,
and the ordinary consumer is not critical, requiring only
that the article be fragrant pleasing and lasting. Fashions
change in perfumery, and it will be noticed in any assem-
bly that the present taste is for pronounced odors of the
most offensive type.

The chemist has lately had some rare successes in syn-
thetical work and has given the perfumer some products
which simulate floral odors with fidelity. One of the
newest products of chemistry is ionone, or artificial odor
of violets, with which in combination the perfumer is now
enabled to produce an extract of violets which not only
simulates quite perfectly the odor of violets, but is of remark-
able permanency and, more important, has certain striking
qualities which appeal successfully to the popular taste.
Very perfect extracts of violets are made from the flowers,
but if pure these are very delicate and evanescent. Ionone
is an interesting chemical compound produced by starting
from citrol (a constituent of oil lemon). It is impossible to
accurately estimate the exact limits of the new chemical
products as used industrially, but as they all seem to depend
somewhat on oxidation to develop the full odor, their
weak point would naturally be an eventual degeneration,
unlike natural products whose oxidation is extremely slow.

Another commercially valuable odor is artificial musk,
Musk Baur (or, chemically, trinitroisobutol toluene), which
is successfully used as a base or binder in many perfumes
where its presence would not be suspected by thelayman.
Terpinol (Laire) is a direct product of spirit of turpentine,
which in combination reproduces the odor of Lilac blos-
soms perfectly. ‘The old-fashioned extract of Heliotrope
of the perfumer was, at the the best, a fiction, and usually
unstable and unsatisfactory also from its dark color, which
stained linen. The Piperonal or Heliotropine of the chem-
ist produces, with Jasmin spirit and coumarin, an extract
perfect in odor and so colorless as to be known as extract
of White Heliotrope.

Coumarin is the odorous principle of Tonka Bean, Wild
Vanilla, Woodruff and Sweet Grass (Anthoxanthum odo-
ratum). It is now prepared synthetically and is practi-
cally used as a substitute for the natural products, largely
in scenting tobacco.

Vanilla is a minor article with the perfumer, being used:
most largely for flavorings, but, as it seems to be asso-
ciated with the trade, it may be well to note that vanilline,
or artificial vanilla, has proven a commercial success, and
largely replaces the seed-pod of the Orchid.

There are various other synthetical products which are
in a more or less forward state, notably those which seek
to replace neroli and the rose, but they are scarcely out of
the experimental state. For a long time the maker of soap
haS been using ethers and aldehydes, which are cheap
sources of:such odors as oil of wintergreen, oil of bitter
almonds, etc. The chemist has now classified most flower
odors into a few typicil sections, as the indoloid, aminoid,
parafinoid, benzoloid and terpinoid, according to the molec-
ular arrangement of the odoriferous principle. These sec-
tions do not include the great number of flowers with the
honey scent, as sweet pea, honeysuckle, etc., whose
molecular arrangement has not been determined with cer-.

Marcu 18, 1896.]

tainty. With the constant progress in organic chemistry
there does not seem any reason why any desired odor

should not be artificially produced.
Elizabeth, N. J. ae J. N. Gerard.

A Botanical Journey in Texas.—III.

LPINE is a pleasant mountain-girt town of two or three
hundred Americans, and, perhaps, of as many Mexi-
cans. It is the county seat of Brewster County. This
year it was plain that the town and surrounding country
had been left out in the almost universal distribution of
rains over Texas, still in damp places numerous plants were
in blossom. The little Zinnia grandiflora and taller Ber-
landiera lyrata are common, and as both species are found
in Kansas they were old friends. More gladly I found
here, for the first time, the rather handsome Martynia fra-
grans, Toloache of Mexicans. Grewsome tales are told of
its vicious nature, and Mexican girls are said to use it to
rid themselves of their rivals in love, since the plant, it is
claimed, produces gradual insanity and finally death to the
victim who eats it.

In our journey from Alpine to Marfa we crossed in the
night the highest point reached by the Southern Pacific
Railway between New Orleans and San Francisco, a dis-
tance of nearly twenty-five hundred miles. That point,
Paisano Pass, is 5,082 feet, and Marfa itself is 4,682 feet
above the sea. Its flora, therefore, may be considered
alpine in its character. It is the highest mesa that we shall
find in the state. The orography of western Texas, while

‘neither grand nor sublime, is interesting and pleasant tosee.
We are now about seventy-five miles from the Rio Grande,
and shall not again see it until near our destination.

There is a small arroya winding around Marfa. Its
sands are not even damp, but along it grow large clumps
of Fallugia, now white with its rose-like flowers; huge
Yuccas, so tall that their flowers cannot be reached; the
handsome Willow Catalpa and fragrant Acacias. A small
solitary Hackberry (Celtis) grows near by, even to fruiting
capacity. Its leaves arethick and hard almost as a board,
but still doing the tree that bears them their natural service.
Care has been taken to collect specimens of Hackberry
from Kansas and Missouri to western Texas and New
Mexico, to learn finally, if possible, what specific differ-

-ences may be made of its largely variant forms.

Near the dry watercourse I found a few living indi-
viduals of a tiny dark red-flowered Oxalis, which botanists
hitherto appear to have failed to notice and describe.
Microrhamnus ericoides, a queer little thorny shrub, was
growing in company with Acacias. It was out of blossom,
but well loaded with nearly ripe fruit, Another species of
Zinnia with purplish flowers grows here with Z. grandiflora.
It looks as if it was here for its health. The handsome
Eupatorium is commoner here than I have seen it else-
where; so are Perezia Wrightii and the littie P. nana, the
last-named species being very small, but it has learned,
with the other members of the genus, to deposit the brown
wool at the roots. Dr. Havard’s Evening Primrose, Géno-
thera Havardi, I met here for the first time. It is a hand-
some small-growing species. Just at close of day its bright
yellow flowers pop wide open, and almost illumine the
surrounding darkness. A low-growing Asclepias begins to
appear at Alpine. It bears large clusters of purple flowers.
We shall meet it more or less often to New Mexico.

Populus Fremonti, the commonest western Cottonwood,
is now often seen either in cultivation or wild. Itisa
smaller tree than P. monilifera, with smaller leaves, which
are usually truncate at the base, the basal portions being
destitute of serratures. The pistillate forms are now loaded
with fruit, which is dropping. The copious light down
attached to the seeds is a fine plaything for the wind, which
scatters them everywhere to the annoyance of the people,
who should plant out only staminate trees, which bear no
seeds. They might easily raise such trees from cuttings of
trees of that form. ;

Hoffmannseggia stricta is the most abundant species of

Garden and Forest.

{ae

that genus over the entire alkaline region of the south-
west. Its tuberous roots are collected and eaten roasted
by Mexicans. It is sometimes called ‘‘ Wild Potato.”
Mexicans call it “Camote del Raton,” which being inter-
preted is The Rat’s Potato, alluding to the wood rat of
this region, which loves this root as well as the natives and
eats it as readily, and unroasted. This species is becoming
shy in seed-bearing, perhaps because it propagates itself by
its roots as well as by its seeds, and the two methods
seldom long exist harmoniously in the same plant.
Lepachys Tagetes is common along our entire route. It
grows in the driest places if it is necessary, but, like all
sensible plants, preferring more favorable conditions. It is
a lower and more rigid plant than its congeners, with
shorter rays that are often purple. The species extends
northward to Colorado, and in Kansas to the Saline River.

Riddellia tagetina is one of the most common composites
from the lower Rio Grande region to Colorado, and to
south-western Kansas, where I have seen the prairies of
Clark County yellow with its flowers. It often assumes a
rounded conical form, with its yellow flowers half-hidden
among the green leaves, when it is very handsome. The
large-flowered Lepidium alysoides is found at this station,
its clustered stems, when in full bloom, often presenting a
mass of white flowers a foot or more in diameter. Tribulus
maximus, a widely distributed species growing in Cuba
and Florida to Mexico and California, and northward to
Colorado, and in Kansas to the thirty-ninth parallel, is very
abundant in all this region. It is a prostrate plant, often
spreading three to four feet, with three to five pairs of leaf-
lets, and bearing diurnal small yellow flowers, succeeded
by a bur-like fruit; hence its generic name. Its south-
western congener, T’. grandiflora, has a more limited range
in the United States. It is more erect in habit, with five
to seven pairs of larger leaflets and large orange-red flow-
ers. This species is very handsome when in blossom, and
is sometimes seen in cultivation.

In the lowlands, as we have come up from the Nueces
River, thousands of stately Yuccas grow. ‘Their wand-like
stems and large lily flowers gave, as we passed them, a
scene of chaste beauty not soon to be forgotten by those
who from the car-windows observed them. There are few
more showy native plants in cultivation or wild, in Texas,
or in the country, than the golden-flowered Columbine,
Aquilegia chrysantha. It is found in western Texas and
extends into New Mexico. The Tree Cactus, or Cane Cac-
tus, Opuntia arborescens, enjoys the dry but mild and
healthful climate of the elevated plains of western Texas,
and of the region northward to Colorado. The abundant
and, when ripe, yellow fruit of this species makes it almost
as conspicuous in late summer as its handsome purple
flowers do in early summer.

Among many rare and peculiar plants of western Texas
is Dry Whisky, Mamillaria fissurata. Mexicans know it as
“Peyote.” This queer Cactus is said to be a powerful
intoxicant. Nature gives us so many stimulants that it
almost seems that they are made for use. The common Mis-
tletoe, Phoradendron, is abundant and grows to a large size
on the western Cottonwood from lower down the river to
New Mexico. Its stems are sometimes two or more feet
long. In Texas this species, including variant forms, grows
upon Hackberry, species of Elms, different Oaks, Mesquit,
Ash, Osage Orange, Cottonwood and Forstiera. I have
never seen it growing upon Apple-trees, as it does in some
more eastern states. It is sometimes so voracious as to
kill all limbs upon which it grows above its point of union
with them. Botanists are, doubtless, in error who think
that this species comes into Texas from the west; itis much
more common in central and eastern than it is in western
Texas. It grows in the Indian Territory, Arkansas, south-
east Kansas, Missouri and eastward across the country.

Houttuynia Californica is the name of aremarkably made
western plant. It is not likely to be found so far from the
river as Marfa, but it is common along the Rio Grande
from Texas up as far in New Mexico, at least, as Albu-

1i4

querque. On the alkaline flats near that city it is the com-
monest weed. The species extends also to California. It
is a semi-aquatic, growing. one to two or more feet tall,
bearing few leaves and a close spike of small white flow-
ers, with a bract of the same color at the base of each
flower, the whole inflorescence being surrounded by an
involucre of petal-like white leaves. Its nearest relative
here, but a remote one, is the Lizard’s-tail, Saururus cer-
nuus, of our north-eastern states, a plant also found in
eastern Texas and westward to the ninety-seventh meridian

or near it.
E. N. Plank.

La Junta, Colo.

Juniperus communis.

HE common Juniper, the Paria of the European conif-
erous trees, grows over wide areas, especially in
the north, on barren, gravelly and stony soil, almost
unavailable for cultivation, In a great number of varieties,
from the dwarfed, procumbent forms of the higher Alps and
the extreme north, to the small but handsome trees of the
lower plains, this despised but bright and cheerful plant
lends a great diversity and beauty to the landscape. In
most regions it is associated with purple Heather and
cross-leaved Heather, Empetrums growing in immense
tufts, and dwarfish Birches gnarled and twisted by high
winds and starved into peculiar shapes. The Blueberry,
the Cranberry and other ericaceous plants abound in the
beautiful glades formed by these ever-varied trees. Under
its sharp branches the young seedlings of Birch and Alder
find protection against the destruction of browsing cattle,
and so to some extent the more valuable trees in a young
state are sheltered and guarded from injury. Unlike our
Red Cedar, the Common Juniper is of a bright green color,
particularly during winter and spring, but there are also
more or less silvery or glaucous varielies intermixed, such
as the Swedish Juniper, which, after all, is a rather unat-
tractive plant. The more common conical, irregularly
pyramidal or roundish forms of a bright green color, found
all over northern Europe, are, on the other hand, very
beautiful. The Juniper woods offer a peculiar irregular
and varied aspect. Trees of large size, twenty to thirty
feet in height, form the centre of numerous irregular groups
around which the younger plants in many different sizes
spring up in abundance. There are always wide vistas of
Heather and Blueberry, patches of Eagle Ferns, and here
and there, under clumps of Birch, Alder and Hagberry
(Prunus Padus), many kinds of Ferns and herbaceous plants.
The Juniper is the advance-guard of the forest. It
appears in masses where the forest has been destroyed ; it
nurses the young seedlings into trees, and when the shade
of other trees in due time becomes too great, it disappears,
to spread over more open ground nearby. ‘The wood of
the Juniper is hard, whitish and very fragrant. Many use-
ful things are made of it, such as tankards and drinking-
cans, which are often carved in beautiful and artistic
designs, wooden spoons, paper-knives, pails and vessels of
many descriptions, and handles for many different utensils.
The wood is valuable in many ways, strong and durable,
and when burned for fuel gives off a refreshing fragrance.
It is often used in gardening for poles and stakes, beautiful
and very durable fences for enclosing cottage gardens and
many other purposes. The fruit, a berry of bluish color, is
gathered and used in the preparations of drinks and liquors,
particularly for the flavoring of the non-alcoholic home-
brewed ale, so common in Scandinavia, which always
stands on the table of the “Stuga” in a can of Juniper
wood, ready for the thirsty traveler.

Because so common, it is not esteemed at its full value
as an ornamental tree, but as such it possesses qualities far
superior to many of the Arbor Vitas and Junipers com-
monly grown in gardens. Unfortunately, it is not easy to
establish, unless raised from the seed or cutting in a nursery
and frequently transplanted. Light gravelly, sandy and
stony soils, and preferably moist positions, are the best.
Here it retains its more pleasing characters— freshness and

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 421.

brightness of color. Its most natural, and also most pleas-

ing, associates in the garden,as well as in the wooaland,

are White Birches, Spruces and plants of the Erica family.
Newark, N. J. NV. Fie Rose.

The Dauphin Chestnut.

HESTNUT-TREES of stately proportions and dignified

expression are of such frequent occurrence through-
out the eastern states that mere size does not entitle any
one tree to be singled from the many, but there are others,
as, for example, the great Chestnut at Dauphin, Pennsyl-
vania (see page 115), whose surroundings, as well as their
appearance, give them a claim to distinction. Dauphin is
a small town on the Susquehanna, directly above the
water-gap in Second Mountain, and lies between the
river and mountain, with a stream, Stony Creek, running
through the town. The most attractive point for the vis-
itor is a small and now apparently abandoned farm on a
shoulder of the mountain, almost overhanging the river,
less than five minutes’ walk from the railway-station, and
little farther from the town. In what is still rather open
ground stands the great Chestnut, six feet in diameter, and
of unrivaled dignity, and, although one of its limbs has
been blasted by a stroke of lightning, there is no other
tree in the vicinity that equals it in impressiveness. The
land on which it stands is high enough on the mountain-
side to possess forever an unobstructed view of one of the
most beautiful reaches of the Susquehanna, which has cut
far into the broad lateral valleys and spreads like a lake
between the Dauphin water-gap and the next upper
one, four miles above. The wild shrubbery growing
along Stony Creek includes Ilex opaca, the only place it is
found in this region, and on the mountain-sides are famous
Laurel thickets, but the charm of the knoll where the Chest-
nut stands is in its far-reaching view.

Places like this shoulder, or promontory, assert the fact
that people care less for mere beauty than for many other
things. The place is a rest and refreshment, and to the
casual visitor suggests itself as an ideal spot for a small
park or reservation, and it is only one of thousands equally
beautiful scattered through the country that might now, at
very slight expense, become places of recreation for each
growing town.

As a general thing, the only places of recreation now to
be found in central Pennsylvania, with exceptions, of
course (and notably at Reading and Harrisburg), are
grounds leased by or belonging to railway and trolley
companies. The trolley companies well deserve their
dividends, for they have made accessible to the general
public many points that were either kept as private
grounds, or because of their distance from towns and
cities could not be reached by women and children who
now visit them daily by thousands in summer.

Leaving aside the larger centres, there is hardly a town
of the type represented by Dauphin that has not close at
hand some special point—a spot generally valueless for
agriculture—such as this abandoned farm, with its primeval
Chestnut. Sometimes it is a waterfall, and these are very
rare in central Pennsylvania, or it is a grove of trees, or
extensive meadows, or bluffs like Chiques Rock, but there
is not a town or village that does not possess one spot
worth reserving for public use.

Fifty years from now, when parks and playgrounds will
be as much a feature of ordinary life as the water-supply
and police are at present, our present apathy in providing
for the helpless members of the community will be incom-
prehensible ; but, apart from that provision, perhaps it will
also be felt that the most valuable portion of a town or vil-
lage is not that possessing the most expensive architecture,
butthat wheresome elements of natural beauty may be found.

Perhaps some time the original meaning of Pennsylvania
(from the Welsh “ Penn,” for headland), the “head wood-
lands” * may be recalled, and the most distinctive feature

* Hazard’s Annals of Pennsylvania, p. 500.

Marcu 18, 1896.] Garden and Forest. 115

*)

Fig, 12.—Lhe Dauphin Chestnut,—See page 114.

116

of our Susquehanna scenery will be looked upon as some-
thing besides an obstacle in the way of railway enterprise,
and receive full appreciation of its hygienic and esthetic
value.

M. L. Dock.

Ann Arbor, Mich,

Cultural Department.

Hardy Shrubs for Winter Flowering in the
Greenhouse.

W HERE large quantities and a variety of flowers are needed,

either for cutting or greenhouse decoration, many of the
early-flowering shrubs are invaluable. But to flower these
successfully, most of them need to be specially prepared for
the purpose. We lift ours from the borders in the spring
previous, selecting healthy, shapely specimens, and put them
in pots or neat tubs. Any long or straggling roots are cut
back, so that a ball of good fibrous roots may be made. The
pots should then be plunged in ashes or other light material to
protect them from the hot, drying winds of summer. The
shrubs must not be shaded, but exposed to full sunlight in
order to get well-ripened wood. Due attention must also be
paid to watering. Toward the endof November or beginning
of December we:place them ina deep frame, admitting air on
all fine days. About January Ist we bring into the greenhouse,
where they are to flower, about one-third of the whole num-
ber. About the 15th of January the next lot is brought in and
the remainder about February Ist. A succession of bloom
through February, March and April is thus providedfor. The
greenhouse is kept at a temperature of fifty degrees at night,
with a rise of fifteen degrees by day. A list of the hardy shrubs
I have found excellent for this purposeincludes Forsythia sus-
pensa, every branch being loaded with its beautiful golden
bells; Spireeaa Thunbergii, S. Van Houttei, Deutzia gracilis
and D. scabra, Amelanchier Canadensis, Pyrus baccata and
P. Japonica, Berberis Aquifollum, Prunus Cerasus, P. Sinen-
sis and P. Persica, Nanthorrhiza apiifolia, Syringa Persica,
Ligustrum lucidum, var. coriaceum, and Daphne Cneorum,

These should all be potted in the spring. The following
may be lifted in the fall, taking care to choose those plants
well set with buds: Rhododendrons, both the evergreen and
deciduous kinds; Andromeda Japonica and A. floribunda,
Erica Tetralix, Vaccinium vacillans and Leucothoé Catesbai.
Of this last named we have some gocd plants in five-inch pots
along the front edge of the stage, and their dark shining leaves
with racemes of cream-colored flowers, sessile in the axils,
have a particularly pleasing effect. Daphne Cneorum, with its
rosy pink, sweet-scented flowers, is also useful for the front
edges of the stage.

Many other shrubs besides those I have enumerated might
be used for this purpose, and we intend to try a greater variety
this coming season.

After the shrubs have finished flowering we repot them,
removing as much as possible ot the old soil and filling in with
good rich soil. They are kept in the greenhouse until spring
is well advanced, when they are gradually inured to the out-
side and again placed in their summer quarters. I ought,
perhaps, to have mentioned that where these shrubs are flow-
ered principally for cutting, it would be necessary to pot up
fresh plants each spring, and those that have flowered, instead
of being repotted, should be planted out for a year or two.
Edward F. Canning.

Botanic Garden, Northampton, Mass.

Imantophyllums.

OTANICALLY, Imantophyllums are Clivias, and all culti-
vated kinds, according to competent authority, should be
classed as varieties of Clivia nobilis. For gardening purposes
they are distinct enough, and may be continued under the
better-known name, which was given to them as descriptive
of their long leathery leaves. Their characteristics are a root-
stock reduced almost to a crown, shortly stoloniferous above
the ground and hidden by the sheathing bases of the leaves.
These are two inches wide, from two to two anda half feet
long, and distichously arranged. Apparently from the centre,
but slightly along one side, rises a stout umbellate scape
about eighteen inches long, bearing from twelve to twenty-six
tubular orange-colored flowers. In Imantophyllum minia-
tum, which is the handsomest and best known of the earlier
introductions, the petals and sepals are nearly equal in size
and spreading. The flowers measure between two and three
inches acrossand areas wide as deep. In I. cyrtanthiflorum the
sepals are much shorter than the petals, which are-about two

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 421.

and a half inches long. The flowers are pendulous, tubular,
and scarcely half as wide as they are long, but they are brighter
and more lustrous; the lower halfof the petals is white, making
a pretty contrast.

It is evident that nearly all the forms we now have are
crosses between these two kinds. They can scarcely be called
hybrids, as competent authorities declare only one species
exists. Few of them are worthy the names bestowed upon
them. Some are remarkable for vigor, with little or no com-
pensating increase in size, form or coloring. Few have varied
much from the type of I. miniatum, or are superior from a
decorative point of view. August Van Geert and Williamsii
are the best known of these so-called hybrids. The object of
the raisers of new varieties, no doubt, has been to get the good
coloring of I. cyrtanthiforum infused into seedlings from I.
miniatum, retaining the erect, spreading Howers of the latter.
Mr. Harris, gardener to H. H. Hunnewell, Esq., states that out of
forty or more seedlings raised by him none departed from the
I. miniatum type. Mr. Harris called my attention a few days
ago to one of the finest varieties either of us had ever seen.
Every good quality of I. miniatum was evident, with the good
coloring of I. cyrtanthiorum, The upper half of the
segments is glowing orange-scarlet, and under sunlight
quite lustrous, while the lower half, forming, as it were, a
throat (for the segments are distinct, though touching), is
white. The filaments and anthers are yellow. This variety
was sent to Mr. Hunnewell by James Veitch & Sons, Lon-
don, as number thirty-three. Mr. A. H. Fewkes, of Newton
Highlands, Massachusetts, exhibited a handsome variety a few
years ago at Horticultural Hall, Boston. It is a handsome
kind and similar to number thirty-three. The flowers are
equally as large and the coloring quite as good, but in form it
is not quite as well finished.

It is practicable in the United States to bloom Imantophyl-
lums twice in aseason, Those in bloom now can be forced
into growth in a moderate temperature, stimulated with liquid-
manure, and be ready to be placed out-of-doors in June in
shady quarters, with less water, to ripen. They can be forced
again in September or October. A full sun treatment has been
recommended, but has not proved satisfactory with us. The
leaves easily burn, even in winter, and as they are remarkably
persistent and produced only at intervals, such disfigurement

remains for a year or more.
Wellesley, Mass. TD: Hatfield.

Acanthus mollis.

fae plant is now in flower in the cool temperate house,
and though, perhaps, it might not be called pretty, it is
stately. Itis, properly speaking, an herbaceous plant, and not
hardy in this climate, its native home being Italy. The flowers
are arranged decussately on the spike. I counted thirty-four
flowers and buds on one side. Acanthus mollis is the plant
in which Goethe first observed the dissemination of seeds by
projection when on a visit to Italy. A. mollis latifolius is also
in flower now, and of the two this is much more robust. The
leaves are large and handsome and of a deep shining green.
They are heart-shaped, deeply and regularly incised and
toothed; like those of A. mollis, they are all radical, and as
beautiful as Palm leaves. This variety is a native of Portugal
and is also known under the name of A. Lusitanicus. From
the leaves of this plant architects have chosen their models.
Its bold and graceful appearance makes it a good subject for an
isolated position in the garden or lawn. Two conditions are
absolutely necessary—a deep rich soil, and, like most plants
with a large amount of respiratory surface, a good supply of
water. In England these plants and also A. longitolius are
used largely in rock gardens. The imposing effect produced
by their use in the rock garden at Kew, ina prominent posi-
tion, is impressed on my mind. They are propagated by seeds

and by division of the roots. .
Botanic Garden, Northampton, Mass. Edward Te Canning.

Succulent Plants.

ye unusually attractive show of succulents now quite-fills a
small house in the Missouri Botanic Gardens, ’and one or
two species appealed to me ina new way for supplying cut
flowers and winter-blooming house plants. A mass of Coty-
ledon (Echeveria) metallica, with fower-stalks three feet high,
was strikingly ornamental, and this would make an attractive
plant fora small conservatory or the window-garden, where
these can be easily grown. And nothing could be prettier for
bouquets than large panicles of the delicate white and rose flow-
ers of Crassula quadriffida. They last almost indefinitely when

ee A ey. On ee) ee

eee ue Sea

Marcu 18, 1896.]

cut, and their character fits them to replace such flowers as
the tiny blue Statice and the lace-like Gypsophila paniculata,
which are invaluable for furnishing the misty, delicate veil
indispensable to good flower arrangement. Besides these two
succulents, others in bloom were Kalanclhce crenata, Mesem-
bryanthemum heterophyllum, Cotyledon clavifolia; C. pachy-
phytum and another Cotyledon that was unnamed and seemed
to be between C. stolonifera and C. retusa, C. strictiflora, C.
agavoides, Aloe variegata, which is highly decorative when
in flower, and A. macrocarpa in bud.

Among many fine species in this very complete collection
the rare Aloe elegans, A. umbellatum and A. brachystachys,
var. minor, with spines scattered all over the under side of the
leaves, were noted. A pleasing feature of this unexpectedly
satisfying house was the Nasturtiums trained along the rafters
on the southern side, all in full Hower. They seemed a happy
choice, having themselves a succulent look, and they were
sufficiently removed from the plants beneath to prevent an
unpleasant contrast between the blue-green tone prevailing here
and the less agreeable yellow-green of their own foliage.
With varieties of Nasturtiums having blue-green leaves the

effect would have been perfect.

Brighton, Ill. Fanny Copley Seavey.

The Sundews.

COLLECTION of Droseras, carefully grown, are not only

highly interesting on account of their carnivorous habits,
but they are beautiful plants to look at. The kinds most fre-
quently seen in our greenhouses are principally natives of the
northern hemisphere; these, while very showy, cannot com-
pare in beauty with some of the species from the Cape of Good
Hope, New Zealand and Australia. The leaves of all the spe-
cies are closely covered with glandular hairs, the apices of
which, while the leaves are in a healthy state, are continually
covered with a thick fluid which serves as a kind of tanglefoot to
gnats and mosquitoes. This fluid is liable to become dried up
during the heat of the day if the plants are exposed to the hot
burning sun, but next morning they are as heavily coated as
before. If kept in an open place, where the insects have free
access to the foliage, it becomes unsightly in a short period
from the enormous numbers of insects entrapped ; these in-
sects are conveyed by the sensitive hairs to the middle of the
leaf, in which position they are left to decay.

Drosera dichotoma, under favorable conditions, will grow
over a foot high. Itis the handsomest of all the Sundews, a
well-furnished plant making a gorgeous display, owing to the
reflected glitter from the innumerable little globules of fluid,
especially when the plants are under the electric light.
There is an allied form, whether or uot a distinct species

~. I am unable to say, which has leaves divided into two

primary lobes, and these again into four. It is a stronger
grower than the above, with the leaves not so_ highly
colored. Both of these plants are propagated by the roots cut
up into small pieces, covered with chopped sphagnum and
placed in heat where they will sprout ina few weeks. D. Ca-
pensis Is one of the showiest of the species in which the leaves
are arranged in the form of rosettes. This plant has quite a
stout stem above ground, and as it persists in sending out
ene or more thick strong roots from this stem yearly it must
be lowered in the pot as the stem elongates. D. spathulata
forms a very showy rosette of leaves. It keeps quite dwarf; in
fact, it grows almost level with the material in which it is
potted. All through the summer and late into the fall the
hairs are bright red incolor. If kept in too hot a place they
will turngreen. This kind is easily raised from seed, of which
each plant bears annually an abundant supply. The flowers
are pink, arranged at the ends of very long stems. A good
way to grow this species is to pot the seedlings into thumb-
pots, using very porous soil. After they have made a few
leaves they should be top-dressed with live sphagnum and a
number of them plunged in a large seed pan, with gravel be-
tween the pots, and the whole finished off with moss.

Botanic Garden, Washington, D. C. G. W. Oliver.

Cuphea strigulosa.—This is one of an attractive genus, popu-
larly represented by the Cigar-plant, Cuphea platycentra. All
the cultivated kinds are natives of the New World, the majority
belonging to Mexico. C. strigulosa comes from the Andes,
It forms an attractive little bush and is an interesting addition
to winter-blooming greenhouse plants. Our plants were raised
from seed sown last spring and planted out for the summer.
The plants grew about one foot high. The branches are wiry
and clothed with opposite shortly petioled, ovate leavesabout an
inchlong. Curiously, the leaves become alternate from the point

Garden and Forest.

Ly

where the flowers appear. The flowers are orange-red, pen-
dent, in short panicled cymes, and, though never in profusion,
continue all winter long. The showy part of the flower is the
tubular, spurred calyx. It is slightly labiate, with a curved,
pouch-like lower lip, from which an uneven lot, or bundle, of
purplish filaments and anthers protrude with pleasing effect.
The petals in some species of Cuphea are abortive, or
reduced to mere points. In the species under notice they
are represented by two short maroon-colored limb-like append-
ages, which look like the standards of a papilionaceous flower.
Cuttings root easily, and, no doubt, the plant will prove useful

for outdoor decoration. : a
Wellesley, Mass. T. D. Hatfield.

Correspondence.

A Home Acre in Southern California.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—It would, perhaps, be interesting to eastern readers to
know how we treated the acre of land which constitutes our
home grounds. We bought this little tract in South Pasadena,
California, twenty-one months ago, being attracted to it by the
great Live Oaks on and about it, trees that were not started in
tin cans and set out with geometrical precision, but specimens
which grew from chance acorns dropped fifty or a hundred
years ago. Four of these great Oaks, standing just where they
ought to be, give our place its name of ‘Four Oaks.” One
of these trees is especially dear to the family Druids for hav-
ing mistletoe upon it. On the border of these Oaks, and partly
in their summer shade, stands our comfortable dwelling- house.

As late as the middle of April we began tree-planting, there
being only one late Peach and three large Apricot trees on the
acre, beside a little leafless tree some three feet high, which
we could not then identify. We set out twelve budded
Orange-trees, four Lemon, four Olive, a Grape-fruit and a
Citron-tree, fifteen deciduous fruit-trees, a hedge of Black-
berry and Raspberry plants, a large bed of Strawberries, four
Guava bushes and eight Grapevines, and laid out a general
kitchen garden, including a large herb bed.

The returns of the first year were something marvelous.
The Strawberries bloomed a little and fruited ; the red Rasp-
berries bloomed freely and surprised us with much fruit; the
Blackberries fruited quite a little in the fall and winter. The next
spring the deciduous fruit-trees, after being pruned, were three
and four feet across and became white with bloom, and eight
to ten fruits were allowed" to set and ripen on each of the
Peach-trees. The Orange and Lemon trees bloomed freely,
and six to twelve oranges were left to set and ripen on two
Washington Navel-trees. The Olive-trees are eight and ten
feet high.

The Strawberry bed proved a failure when winter rains set
in, as the crowns were set too low and rotted. Subsequently
plants were set in slightly elevated rows, and in four weeks
one single stem bore forty-eight berries, and many stems held
up twenty-five. The fruiting of the Grapevines in their second
year, seventeen months from planting, surprised us also.
From two Muscat vines we gathered fullystwo pecks of fruit.
The Mission vines did nearly as well, and all of them bore a
little fruit. We give our vines long pruning to grow them over
a trellis for want of room to grow them in bush form, as is
common in California. In limited grounds the vines are
trained over atrellis and the arbor in turn becomes useful as
a substitute for a lath-house. In ourclimate, where the atmos-
phere is so dry, a great many plants require lath-house protec-
tion, and space must be spared for this shelter. The Strawberry
Guavas fruited heavily during the second autumn after their
planting.

In the ornamental grounds a Loquat-tree has not yet fruited,
but has increased its size threefold since planting, and a Rus-
sian Mulberry-tree, forty feet high, has developed from the
leafless and unknown withe, three feet high, when we bought
the acre. It fruited heavily, but its fruit is so much coveted
by the many beautiful birds that we did not try to harvest any.
Other trees thriving are a Persea gratissima (Alligator Pear),
an Aralia papyrifera (Chinese Paper-tree), a Eugenia Mitchelli
(Surinam Cherry), a Camphora Officinarum (Camphor-tree), a
Jacaranda mimosifolia, a Eucalyptus ficifolia (Red-Howering
Eucalyptus), and a Ceratonia Siliqua (St. John’s Bread-tree).

In anticipation of ripe fruit the year around, we have planted
Orange and Lemon trees. These fruits are always on the tree
ready for use, if allowed to remain, the old fruit getting a little
dry before the new is fully ripe. We have early peaches and
apricots to ripen in June, and some later varieties. One peach
(Pickwick Late) ripens in the latter part of November, Necta-

118 :

rines ripen in July, and many Plums. Our Plum-trees include
Kelsey Japan, Burbank and French Prune; a Bartlett Pear-tree
ripens fruit in August. Strawberries can be kept in fruit the
year around. Blackberries come into fruit as early as latter
April, and continue until the middle of December. There
were green leaves and a little bloom scattered through the row
during all of last year. Red Raspberries bear two crops, the
first fruit coming the latter partof April, and the second bloom
starting in September, making a continu us crop, with lessened
vigor in August, until January. There have been scattered
bunches of delicious fruit on our row during the entire year
of 1895. Black Raspberries do not thrive here; they are very
dry, and we were disappointed in our one plant. Our early
Grapes came into fruit in August, not as early as our neigh-
bors’, and the late varieties lasted into December.

A high wire fence was arranged about the Citrus orchard,
and a flock of Plymouth Rock fowls housed there. Four
movable hen-houses are located wherever fertilizer is needed,
and the orchard is cultivated every month.

In our vegetable garden a pretty effect is produced byalong
row of Swiss Chard next to the dark green Alfalfa. We plant
Lima Beans in March, and they bear prolifically until the latter
part of July, when they rest some four or six weeks, and in
September come up anew from the same roots, and bear quite
as well until the slight frosts about New Year's. Spring
Squash-vines cut off in August will become green at once and
bear a second crop, as will also Melon-vines. We plant Peas
in September and October for winter use, and in February for
summer use, the frost not being heavy enough to damage
them. Tomato-plants may be kept over, and do well the sec-
ond year. Onion and herb seeds are planted in October. The
herb-bed contains Sage, Peppermint, Thyme, Dill, Summer
Savory, Sweet Marjoram, Lavender, Borage and Caraway, and,
with the exception of Dill, Summer Savory and Caraway, these
are green the year through. We have a bed of large and small
Chilis and Lettuce during all the year. Lettuce is sown in a
seed-bed, and some of it is always ready to transplant. A
plant transplanted in February, with bottom-heat, will more
than cover the largest dinner-plate by the last of March.
Asparagus is ready for use in February, and the second year
our bed furnished large fine shoots into June.

We have about fifty varieties of Roses, which bloom the year
around, the flowers being most perfect from March to June or
July. Grass is very tedious to growin southern California, the
least bit of shade from a shrub turning it yellow. We have no
grass because our front yard is shaded by the Oaks, but we
cultivate Violet-lawns instead—one of Swanley (white), one of
Czar and one of Giant California. The lawn of Czar Violets
gives bloom the year around, and all are green. We have be-
sides other Violet plots. Our row of Freesias is in luxuriant
bloom from February until May. Chrysanthemums flower
from September to January, and can be coaxed to bloom on
into March.

Our Palms are small now, but thrifty. Two plants of Phoenix
reclinata, set out soon after our arrival, are six and eight feet
across ; they are in the open ground. Our Kentias are potted
and kept in sheltered places from wind ; we have Kentia Fos-
teriana, K. Belmoreana and K. Canterburyana; also a Seaforthia
elegans, potted. A Washingtonia filifera and W. sonora are
thriving in the open, and so are plants of Erythea armata and
E. edulis. Under one Oak is a rockery to make an exposure
for Ferns, and here seven of the native sorts are doubling the
size of wild ones. But a tale of the rockery flowers would
make a book.

Outside of the labor of watering, a gardener can keep one
acre in fine shape by doing two days’ work each week, after
the kitchen garden is planted. Watering is an item in this
land of perpetual summer, with rain in only four months of
the year, and is a daily necessity at twilight in many parts of
the garden. To one who delights in this kind ofa playground,
considering that the skies in daylight are blue and cloudless
eight months in the year, with never a horrible thunder-
shower, the labor with hose and spray is not a heavy exercise.

Lincoln Park, Calif. Fennte Kruckeberg.

The Aspidistra Scale in California.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—In 1869 Signoret described Chionaspis aspidistre, found
on Aspidistra in cultivation in Europe. Maskell in 189t re-
ported the species from Areca Catechu in India. Mr. E. E.
Green (in litt.) has detected a variety of it in Ceylon, and has
been so good as to send me specimens. This Ceylon form is
found on Musszenda frondosa. Finally, Mr. Craw has found

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 421.

the species on leaves of Aspidistra lurida, from Japan, exam-
ined in the course of his quarantine work.

It was believed that the insect had not effected a landing on
our shores, but now Mr. S. A. Pease, Horticultural Commis-
sioner for San Bernardino County, California, sends me
some, mixed with Aspidistus ficus, on Aspidistra, from
San Bernardino. So long as this scale is confined to orna-
mental plants in hot-houses or gardens it is, perhaps, to be
considered as of comparatively small importance ; but a form
found by Takahashi on Orange, at Tokio, Japan, is extremely
close to it, and may even be specifically identical. This latter,
which I have named Chionaspis latus, seems to me to bea
valid species, but Mr. Hubbard, of the Department of Agricul-
ture, for whose opinion I have great respect, believes that there
is only one species concerned. Should his view be correct,
we must regard C. aspidistre as ratheradangerousscale. The
male scales of these insects are white and tricarinate; the
female scales mytiliform, reddish brown. That of C. latus is
much broader than that of C. aspidistrae, but individuals of the
ee are sometimes quite broad, though not so broad as C.
atus,

According to Mr. Pease, this Chionaspis was brought from
Japan to San Francisco two years ago on plants which were
fumigated, and then sent from there to Redlands. The
original plants were used there for propagation after having
been dipped in kerosene emulsion to insure disinfection.
The scale must, nevertheless, have come from the original
stock, and this well illustrates the necessity for destroying,
not merely fumigating, imported plants infested by exotic scale

feanele
Insects T. D. A. Cockerell.

New Mexico Agricultural Experiment Station.

The Forest.

Forest Protection.*— III.

be URING the present century,” says Professor Hartig,

in his Diseases of Trees, ‘‘and especially dur-
ing the last few decades, the forests of Germany have
been threatened with dangers of a magnitude formerly
unknown. These have been occasioned by the gradual
relinquishment of natural regeneration, and by the substi-
tution of pure even-aged woods for woods consisting of
trees of different species and of various ages, but most of
all by the displacement of broad-leaved trees by pure
coniferous woods. It is especially noticeable that enemies
from the animal and vegetable kingdoms find favorable
conditions for rapid development in our modern forests, so
that the complaints of increasing devastation of woods
appear to be by no means unfounded.”

Of late years a vigorous reaction against the former
methods of forest management has been taking place in
Germany under the leadership of Karl Gayer, Professor of
Forestry in the University of Munich. Among the reasons
urged, the greater safety of mixed forests against the attacks
of both insects and fungi is conspicuous. The danger of
devastation from each of these sources is great in pure
forests, especially if they are composed of coniferous trees.

The attacks of fungi never reach the extensiveness of
insect depredations, a most fortunate circumstance, since
the means of resisting them are almost entirely indirect,
and very inefficient at the best. Such remedies as exist are
prophylactic and disinfectant, and the most important of
them is to avoid woods of a single species and to keep the
forest in general good health. Measures against insects,
on the contrary, are often direct and effective, where the
relatively heavy expense can be borne. I may add that
owing to a copyist’s error the destructiveness of insect
pests was not treated in my last paper with the emphasis
which it abundantly justifies.

Among the conspicuous American fungi closely allied
to the European species described in the volume under
discussion are those of the genus Acidium, to which the
Witches’-brooms and other excrescences on various species
of American Firs and Pines are due. Polyporus sulphureus,
a fungus destructive to the Oak in Europe, also attacks

= A Manual of Forestry, by Dr. W. Schlich, C.I.E. Vol. iv., Forest Protection,
by W. R, Fisher, B.A, London; Bradbury, Agnew & Co,

Marcu 18, 1896.]

Oaks in the United States, and other species of the genus
have been noted in this country by Dr. Mayr. The White
Pine and several of the conifers of the Pacific slope suffer
from injuries inflicted by members of the genus Trametes.
In Europe, T. radiciperda is the parasitical fungus most
dangerous to coniferous woods, of which it destroys the
roots and the lower part of the stem.

In discussing means of protection against fungal dis-
ease, Professor Hartig says: ‘‘The best prophylactic mea-
sure against the occurrence and spread of an epidemic is
the formation of mixed woods. Infection, both below and
above ground, is least likely to occur when every tree is
isolated by being surrounded by others of a different spe-
cies. On ground which is infested by root-parasites, or
which contains resting-spores whose vitality is preserved
for many years, it may be advisable, under certain circum-
stances, to abandon the cultivation of some particular
species of tree.”

It may fairly be asked how these matters bear upon the
forest questions that confront us here. Their value, to my
mind, lies very largely in the emphasis they give to the
good qualities of mixed forests. If we must plant forests,
a remote contingency east of the Mississippi, but an imme-
diate necessity in many places west of it, the question of
what kind of forests requires an answer. To specify the
kinds of trees is by no means a Solution of the problem.

Mr. Fisher’s discussion of the injury done by frost is
unfortunately not clear; nor has he improved upon the
usefulness of Dr. Hess’s description, although he has brought
to the subject the results of more recent investigations.
A statement of the action of frost upon the tissues of
plants, on the points of which both Hartig and Prantl
agree, is somewhat as follows :

As the temperature of a plant descends pure water is
separated from the cell-sap and withdrawn from the inte-
rior of the cells, which lose their turgescence. (Tur-
gescence in a plant cell occurs when the cell is suffi-
ciently supplied with water. It is the prerequisite of
growth.) The concentrated sap remains in the interior of
the cells, while the water freezes in the intercellular spaces
outside of them. Rapid thawing, to which the major part
ofall injury from freezing is due, does harm because it
allows insufficient time for the reabsorption of the water
through the cell-walls. Consequently it either remains
between the cells, where it stagnates and eventually dis-
colors the plant and causes its decay, or it evaporates and
the plant dries up. In either case the cells lose water.
On the other hand, if the amount of water withdrawn from
the cells is small, or if the thawing is sufficiently slow to
allow reabsorption, the plant recovers. It is in this defi-
ciency of water in the cells that the harm done to green
vegetation by freezing always lies. In frozen wood, since
for the most part intercellular spaces do not occur in woody
tissues, the water separates from the sap and freezes inside
of the cell. The effect of severe frost may be noted in the
narrower annual rings found during the years when it
occurs.

Rime or hoar-frost is a very dangerous enemy to trees of
allages. The damage done by ice-storms is at times most
incredible. In the southern Alleghanies I have seen trees
six or eight inches in diameter broken off short, and in
many places the ground so littered with branches torn off
by the weight of ice that progress on foot was a difficult
matter. Snow is far less harmful to old trees than rime,
while hail does serious damage only to the very young.

The process by which frost lifts young seedlings from
the ground is somewhat as follows: When the moisture in
the surface soil freezes it expands, rises and carries with it
the young roots of the seedlings imbedded init. As the
ground sinks back to its original level when the thaw
comes, the numerous fibres of the roots cannot drop back
into the holes from which they were drawn, and the seed-
ling remains at the height to which it was raised by the
freezing. A repetition of this process finally lifts it so far
above the ground that the roots lose their hold upon it and

Garden and Forest.

11g

the young tree falls over. This may be one of the most
extensive causes of damage in nurseries, where the process
of replanting often becomes extremely expensive. To guard
against the evil effects of low temperature and storms many
ingenious protective rules are laid down, but they need not
be quoted here.

A curious form of damage to young growth mentioned
by Mr. Fisher is from heat reflected by the trunks of old
trees standing among seedlings in early youth. I have
noticed similar damage in the vicinity of trees with large
shining leaves, such as the Balsam Poplar. Such facts sup-
ply still another reason, where there are already so many,
for keeping the leaf-canopy uninterrupted in the forest.

The matter of protection against winds, except in so far
as it regards the planting of wind-breaks, and, perhaps,
occasionally the maintenance of unbroken forests on the
summits of hills, has very little application in the United
States at present. The means taken to guard against it
nearly all require for their execution a degree of refinement
in methods which is still many years in the future. The
danger and injury are here, but the remedies are out of
reach.

The chapter on forest fires contains much interesting
material from Indian experience, especially as regards
measures of protection. It is more nearly adapted to the
question of fires in the United States than any other similar
treatment which I have seen. Indeed, Indian experience
in this matter resembles that of the United States, at least in
the enormous areas devastated and the enormous interests
to which the fire is destructive. As a striking instance of
the divergence in the European and American points of
view and scope of experience, it is curious to note in a sec-
tion entitled Register of Fires that the burning of 5,675
acres in the year 1800 in the Black Forest is still thought
worthy of record, as well as that of 3,300 acres in Prussia
in 1857, and of 3,250 acres on the Liineburg Heath in 1880.
On the other hand, our own fires of 1881 and 1894 are also
mentioned, and the great destruction in Canada in the year
1863.

In happy contrast again is the statement that the average
number of fires a year in Prussia from 1860 to 1880 was but
twenty-nine, and the average area burned over only 1,335
acres. Here is a condition utterly beyond us at the mo-
ment, but for which we may look and work with confident
hope. Thirty years ago the attempt at protection against
fire was just beginning in British India. Now it is effective
over more than 24,000 square miles, and at a cost per square
mile of somewhat less than $3.00 per annum.

One of the subjects which demand most earnest investi-
gation in this country is the natural history of forest fires.
Already some material has been gathered, such as an ex-
ceedingly interesting paper by Mr. Austin Cary in the
report of the Forest Commissioner of the state of Maine for
1894, and certain articles by Mr. H. B. Ayres, of Minnesota ;
W. W. Ashe, of North Carolina, and John Gifford, of New
Jersey ; but, on the whole, the vast body of information
which must exist in the minds of those who know the forest
best has not been adequately formulated, nor have the
investigations needed to give accuracy and completeness
to such a statement been undertaken. Such a field is far
too promising to be long neglected.

In conclusion one sentence must be quoted, for in it lies
the gist of the whole matter. Speaking of countries like
India, Mr. Fisher says, “ More than half the battle against
forest fires is won when the protection of the forest from
fires meets with sympathy from the neighboring villagers.”

New Voule Gifford Pinchot.

Notes.

At the exhibition of flowers at the Farmers’ Club in this city
a vase of Mr. Fisher's new crimson seedling Carnation at-
tracted much attention. This variety commended itself to the
experts at the late meeting of the Carnation Society for its size,
form, fragrance and other good qualities.

Vol. i., No. 1, of a little ten-page monthly entitled Horticud-

120

ture, and published at Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, has just come to
this office.
tical instruction on the cultivation of fruits, vegetables and
flowers. It costs twenty-five cents a year.

The stormy weather of the past week has made dull trade in
the fruit markets, and shipments, too, have been interfered
with. Oranges are commanding somewhat better prices,
while lemons continue so cheap as to involve heavy losses to
importers. About 110,000 boxes of oranges and 320,000 boxes
of lemons are now on the way from Mediterranean ports.
Cocoanuts are abundant, some 95,000 having reached this port
during last week. The supply of Cape Cod cranberries is be-
coming small, and some fancy berries have recently sold at
wholesale for $11.50 a barrel.

The vacancy in the Department of Botany at Cornell Uni-
versity, made by the resignation of Professor A. N. Prentiss,
has been filled by promoting to his place Mr. George F. Atkin-
son, who has been Associate Professor. Assistant Professor
Rowlee has been promoted to the highest grade of Assistant
Professor ; Mr. E. J. Durand has been appointed Instructor, and
K. M. Wiegand, Assistant. Under the reorganized scheme of
study, courses in comparative morphology, mycology and
algology are offered by Professor Atkinson and Instructor Du-
rand, and courses in comparative histology, systematic botany
and dendrology by Professor Rowlee and Mr. Wiegand.

Mr. F. E. Emory, Agriculturist of the North Carolina Experi-
ment Station, has just issued an interesting circular on hillside
terraces—that is, a succession of comparatively level benches
arranged on sloping ground to prevent the soil from washing
away. All who have seen the unsightly gullies in the rolling
lands of the south and who appreciate the enormo's loss of
plant-food which is washed away every year will reccgnize the
importance of any device which will arrest this waste. The
method of constructing these terraces is carefully explained,
and the value of the practice has been proved by ten years’
experience. Itis a misfortune that the bulletin is printed on
such poor paper that the illustrations have little value.

The frost which came in California last week after the warm
weather did considerable damage to Almonds, Apricots, Cher-
ries and Peaches in Sonoma and other counties, but the
fruit prospects in the state generally are said to be unusually
bright. In spite of the freezing weather at the end of the year
the shipments of oranges from Southern Calfornia have paid
a better average, perhaps, than ever before. Over 2,400,000
boxes have been shipped eastward, and 800,000_boxes still re-
main ; the price offered has averaged $3.50 a box, of which the
grower gets a clear $2.00, or $300 an acre. As it will be some
years before Florida can actively compete in this fruit, invest-
ments made in Orange groves in Southern California are likely
to continue profitable.

Kaffir Corn, one of the so-called non-saccharine Sorghums,
has been found to flourish well in Kansas, Oklahoma and Ne-
braska, where the soil warms up early and where droughts are
severe. It might flourish well in the east in dry seasons if it
were not planted until the soil was thoroughly warm. Fifty,
and even more, bushels of seed have been grown to the acre
in Kansas, and frequent tests have shown that the seed is
almost equal in feeding value to Indian corn, but it is princi-
pally useful asa forage crop. Kaffir Corn, Jerusalem Corn,
Milo Maize, Brown Darra are all varieties of this group of
Sorghums which are especially useful on account of their
drought-resisting qualities; both as forage and for the grain
which they produce they have been proved to be more desir-
able than the so-called saccharine group of Sorghums.

Professor Taft, of the Michigan Agricultural College, says
that the Peach growers in that state who have sprayed their
trees with the Bordeaux mixture, in order to prevent curled
leaf and rot, have found a decrease in the number of their trees
attacked by the yellows. Some of these orchards, where the
disease had never failed to appear in previous years, have been
entirely free from it for two seasons, while its ravages have
been continued in surrounding orchards. This does not prove
that the disease can be prevented by using fungicides, but
since itis known that the yellows is highly contagious and that
it probably is spread by germs of some kind, it is possible that
trees kept covered withcopper sulphate are protected against
it. Peach growers who spray their trees just before the buds
start in spring, and once or twice after the blossoms fall, will
certainly find that this treatment will pay against rot and leaf-
curl, even if it fails to arrest the progress of the more dreaded
yellows.

Garden and Forest.

It is edited by M. Crawford, and it is full of prac- -

[NUMBER 421.

In the absence of statistics relating to forestry in this coun-
try acircular of factsand figures regarding our forest resources,
just issued by Mr. B. E. Fernow, Chief of the Division of For-
estry, is an interesting little document. The data given are,
of course, only approximations, but they give estimates as far
as practicable on such important points as the extent of our
forest area, the character of the forest growth in different
regions, the amount of timber standing, the annual cut and
value of these products, the amount of exports and imports
and the extent of losses by fire. This is followed by a brief
description of the principal centres of production of the lead-
ing commercial timbers, including the White pine, the Red
pine, the Bull pine (Pinus ponderosa), the Long-leaf pine, the
Cuban pine, the Short-leaf pine, the Loblolly pine, spruce and
fir, the Douglas spruce, hemlock, Bald cypress, Red cedar,
redwood, oak, hickory, ash, poplar, cottonwood and other
hard woods.

Not long ago two men were convicted of plundering the
lanes of Devonshire, England, of the Ferns which give them
such beauty. Five hundredweight of Fern roots were found
in their possessionas the results of former raids, anditis not dif-
ficult to imagine how the banks and hedgerows will be changed
in appearance after such wholesale pillage. In speaking of
this case Zhe Gardeners’ Magazine says that if these plants
should receive proper care, so as to lighten up the gloom of
some city or town room with their foliage, the case would not
be so bad. But these raiders select a time when the roots are
least likely to survive removal, especially after they have been
carelessly stored. These spoils of shady lanes are hawked
about for sale, it seems, in open barrows, and are often noth-
ing but rootless crowns, and as they are often baked in the
glare of city streets for days together, not one in a thousand
will ever survive to make a good specimen, Obviously many
buyers are found, however, or the trade would not exist, and
yet it is said that very few nurserymen in all the country find
it worth while to raise or distribute even the most beautiful
varieties which have been developed from the common British
Ferns.

Mr. Theodore L. Mead, of Oviedo, Florida, writes an inter-
esting note to the Orchid Review on the Vitality of Pollen. He
has had success in hybridizing Leelias and Cattleyas with pollen
which had been kept after removal from the flowers for two
weeks, and in some cases even more than a month. On other
occasions he has failed with pollen that had not been kept so
long, and he well says that it would be instructive if other ex-
perimenters would state how many good pods they have
secured from pollen which has been kept three weeks or more,
and especially if they would specify the conditions as to dry-
ness, darkness, ventilation and the like, which seem important
in keeping the pollen alive. His own method has been to put
the pollen in paper packets, and these are kept in tin boxes.
He has found no advantage in enclosing it in gelatine capsules
or other almost air-tight coverings. Mr. Mead thinks that the
pollen parent has much to do with the length of time required
for ripening seed, and gives many examples which show what
he considers a tendency toward a mean between the normal
time for ripening seed of each parent. It must be admitted,
however, that the real cause of the variation of the periods of
ripening between crossed and uncrossed capsules has not been
satisfactorily determined.

The stock of apples to be depended upon for the remainder
of the season is smaller than usual at this time of year, not
many more than 100,000 barrels being held in the entire coun-
try. Since September rst about 650,000 barrels have come to
this city, 265,000 of which were exported. The New York
Tribune says that the export trade has been large and fairly
profitable, notwithstanding that transatlantic countries, as a
rule, had full crops. The foreign apples, however, were mostly
early ones, which were mainly consumed before New Year's,
so that a good market existed for American apples. London,
Liverpool and Glasgow, as usual, were the best markets, and
some satisfactory shipments were made to Paris. Not a few
apples have come east from Kansas and Missouri, and some
choice Pippins are now on the way from Oregon, the fruits
separately wrapped in paper and packed in boxes holding a
bushel, These are intended for export. Altogether, this sea-
son, 750,000 barrels of American apples have been exported,
including the Canadian output. As but few more will go
abroad, the total foreign shipments will fall short of last year,
when 1,438,155 barrels were exported, the largest amount
ever sent out of this country in a single season, excepting
only 1891-92, when 1,450,336 barrels were sent to foreign
markets.

MARCH 25, 1896.|

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrick: Tripung Buitpinc, New York.

Conducted by » . . - » « « « « « « Professor C, S, SaRGenr.

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 1806.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

E;DITORVALWA-RTICLES p=] ON DI DALIGAMM src oicracscwniniessies snieiswisis)eiawalesisiscevice vennsiae L2E
The Niagara Reservation in Danger.

Bartram’s Garden To-day. (With figures - AL. L. Dock. 122

-. WW. Watson. 124

ForEIGN CoRRESPONDENCE :—London Letter.

IBEANTONOTRS ico cteieiccsis eisiere|cisiete sieierc?slsjeln:sisie!eelsirisia nists giaidin'sinjs sinicisiocinin. gaa \cigie's c.dieaie d:0.0 126
CuLttuRAL DepaRTMENT :—Vegetable Notes.. ~W.N. Craig. 127
SensitVeRO xalit setae nisece etijaceterumestcicesssis6 sie ensivicln aces G. W. O. 127
Garden Annuals. . ..£. O. Orpet. 128

Physianthus alben
CorrEsPponDENCE :—Early
RECENT PUBLICATIONS .

ed DEH. 128
v .

INOTES cdesicticicceis clove wle sisciee oslo sseicieinices scievclssiiceces -cslece chee, ccebsesscceneesie 130
ILLUSTRATIONS : :—John Battram’s House—east breuk Hie: Ea gemtey ieeeieele seen see 122
John Bartram’s House—west front—Fig. r4.. Speen ces
Bald Cypress, Taxodium distichum, in Bartram’s Gar den, Fig. 15. pesapace 125

John Bartram.

HE facts relating to the preservation of John. Bar-

tram’s garden, detailed on another page of this issue,
stand for an expression of civilization which is pregnant
with possibilities. John Bartram was a Pennsylvania
farmer, possessed of good understanding, remarkable pow-
ers of observation, uprightness of character, courage, a
strong will and much industry. His love of plants showed
him his field for doing good in the world, and made him a
traveler and discoverer at a time when no other American
was interested in botany. Through his friendship with
Franklin he made the acquaintance of many of the most
distinguished men of science in Europe, and his corre-
spondence stimulated his activity and increased his useful-
ness. For many years in the eighteenth century John
Bartram was the principal agent for the interchange of
plants between North America and Europe, and to his
efforts can be traced the introduction of many American
trees into the gardens of Europe, and the planting in this
country for the first time of several of the inhabitants of
Old World forests. The first garden established in America
for the study of plants was made by John Bartram ; and
his example led to the formation of the second American
botanical garden, that of his cousin, Humphry Marshall,
the author of the first book on American trees written by
an American and published in America. John Bartram’s
reputation as a botanist, his admirable character and will-
ingness to impart the information he had gathered in his
long journeys, and the fame of his garden, made his home
by the Schuylkill the Mecca of plant-lovers in America
and gave scientific importance to Philadelphia.

John Bartram’s garden, judged by the standard of our
day, was a very humble one, and the plants which it
contained are now all perfectly familiar to us, but, in his
time, they were familiar to no one, and had been gathered
slowly and laboriously at the cost of dangers and hard-
ships which we cannot now even picture to ourselves.
The city, of Philadelphia might have selected within its
boundaries some other site which would have been more
desirable in location and natural features for a park, but in
honoring the memory of John Bartram in this manner it

Garden and Forest.

121

has done something which is of far-reaching significance.
As a people we preserve and sometimes even attempt to
embellish places of historic interest, buildings which are
famous on account of the events which have taken place
within their walls, and objects which appeal to our patriot-
ism—the old State House in Boston, Mount Vernon, the
headquarters of Washington at Newburg, the Liberty
Bell and battlefields of the War of Secession ; but this is
the first time in this country that the memory of a man
who served his country by going into the forest and
gathering trees and seeds and making them grow, and
then sharing his discoveries with others. has been honored
with a memorial like this, which will keep Bartram’s vir-
tues and his services in the minds of men as long as Phila-
delphia continues to be a city.

This Bartram memorial seems to us to mean a great
deal, to be full of hopefulness for the future of this country ; ;
to mean that the whole science of rural life and the love of
fields and forests is really to be a part of our national life.
And, if this is true, it is the evidence that men and women
are going to turn to the soil for rest and recreation ; that
the love of Nature and of growing things, which the Bar-
tram memorial stands for, will gradually so enlarge and
broaden us that life in this country will be fuller and better
and more beautiful than it has been in the past; that public
sentiment, stimulated by the love and knowledge of Nature,
will make it possible to preserve our forests from ruin, to
maintain urban parks safe from the inroads of greed and
ignorance, to prevent the destruction of beautiful scenery,
and to make this wide land fruitful and attractive for all
time. John Bartram served his country well in his own
generation, but his life in the influence it can now be made
to exert has a power for usefulness which neither he nor
any of his generation could have imagined.

Last week we spoke of certain dangers which threat-
ened the forest reservations in the wild mountain regions
of the west, but it would be a mistake to suppose that land
which is set apart for public use in the older-settled por-
tions of the country is any more safe than it is in Oregon.
A plan is now on foot to take the Niagara Reservation
out of the control of the Board which has managed it so
wisely, and the meaning of this seems to be that certain
capitalists are anxious to obtain franchises so that they
can speculate on the Falls as a water-power. Even if the
people were suffering because this) mighty force was
running to waste, that would be no reason for giving it
away to any private corporation. But, so far as we can
see, there is no mechanical or material necessity for
destroying the grandeur and sublimity of the great cata-
ract which is recognized as one of the wonders of the
world. Its uplifting influence on the minds and imagina-
tions of thousands of visitors certainly ought to count for
something. A spectacle which enlarges and educates the
mind, and opens it to noble thoughts, may be as truly a
potent force in a civilized community as the electricity
which the plunging river may be made to generate. We
apprehend that the enlightened people of the state and of
the country would feel the obliteration of Ni iagara as a
distinct and personal loss, even if every ounce of its force
were utilized to run some machine to provide for man’s
material wants. A community which erects immense
advertising boards, to shut out or mar some refreshing
prospect, and allows objects of great natural beauty to be
desecrated, is plainly on the road to savagery. It certainly
is no evidence of thrift or progress in its highest sense
that we are willing to sacrifice all the higher emotions of
our nature for purely material results. It is not an
evidence of civilization that we permit the banks of our
great rivers to be scarred by cuts and fills in constructing
railroads, when they could have been built equally w ell
without such an offensive exhibition. It ought to be a
matter of more than local concern that the rugged battle-
ments of the Palisades are being blasted down for paving
blocks and building stones. And yet a member of Con-

122
gress or of the State Legislature hesitates before he intro-
duces or votes for a bill which is simply to protect natural

scenery for his own sake. He seems so fearful of. being
sneered at as sentimental or unpractical, that he is com-
pelled to manufacture some excuse for doing what is
plainly dictated by enlightened public policy. Before any
provision can be made for protecting the Palisades, Con-
gressmen have to be assured that they have a military or
strategic importance, which, no doubt, is true. It ought to
be enough for the country to know that this wall of rock is
the most dignified natural spectacle near the chief mari-
time city of the continent. A people, entrusted with a
possession like this, deserve to be stigmatized as vandals

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 422.

that he bought land on the west bank of the Schuylkill and
built the main portion of his house (see pp. 122 and 123),
and it is the second wife’s name that appears on the panel
in the south gable, “John and Ann Bartram, 1731.”

The land lay along a beautiful reach of the Schuylkill,
between Gray’s Ferry and Point Breeze; the greater por-
tion was rolling, other portions were marshy, but Bartram
irrigated, drained and improved these swampy reaches,
adding more land, until he possessed upward of six hun-
dred acres. After his death this was divided and subdi-
vided, but throughout all changes and divisions the greater
portion of the Garden remained intact, and was owned by
those who were either attached to it, or interested in it, so

Fig. 13.—John Bartram’s House—east front.

if they do not transmit it unimpaired as a secure inherit-
ance to their children.

It cost years of effort to wake the people up to the
point of organizing some protection for Niagara ; certainly
there ought to be enough public virtue left in the state to
restrain the Legislature from facing about to undo one of
the best pieces of work ever accomplished.

Bartram’s Garden To-day.

HE near approach of the two hundredth anniversary

of John Bartram’s birth should arouse a widespread
interest in the work now in progress at his Garden, under
the auspices of the University of Pennsylvania.

John Bartram was born at Darby, Pennsylvania, on
March 23d, 1699; he received his early education in that
vicinity, where his body now lies. He was twice married,
and it was about the time of his second marriage, in 1728,

that in its life of more than a century anda half it has
suffered less change than any other portion of the estate.
The original Garden comprised about five acres, begin-
ning on the higher ground, a short distance west of the
house, and extended beyond it toward the river. All of
this land is included in the tract of about twelve acres, pur-
chased some five years ago from the Eastwick estate by
the city of Philadelphia. The city now owns, but has not
yet taken possession of, land adjoining on the north, and it
hopes shortly to acquire more of the Eastwick prop-
erty adjoining on the south. The acquisition of. the Bar-
tram property, through the instrumentality of Mr. Thomas
Meehan, the press, and the generosity of public-spirited per-
sons throughout thecountry, is generally known. From time
to time articles have appeared in the Philadelphia papers
reflecting on the management. Many of these displayed
a complete misunderstanding of the character of the place
and its requirements, and most of them an ignorance of

bse.

i

Nee CR SE Ls Te ee re Ce ee ee ee eon eT eee

MARCH 25, 1896.]

affairs, legal and financial, which needed consideration. It
has seemed curious that in Philadelphia so little gen-
eral interest has been shown in this unique place,
for there are some repairs which should have been
made earlier if means had been available. But, on the
whole, delay has not been a misfortune, for it has given
those best fitted for the work time and opportunity to
formulate plans whose value will become apparent with
time.

Suggestions for “beautifying” have been made, the very
thing to avoid, for it would destroy the air of antiquity
which, pervades the place, and which even the suburban
squalor apparent in some portions cannot destroy. One

Garden and Forest.

t23

far as present conditions permit, of restoring the house and
grounds to original conditions. In labeling specimens the
historic ones will have brief histories attached, in addition
to botanical and popular names. Apart from association, the
buildings are well worthy of preservation as examples of the
constructive methods of the first half of the eighteenth
century. They stand about midway in the grounds, where
the higher portion ends and the slope to the Schuylkill
begins, and are reached, as in Bartram’s time, by a private
lane that runs in from Darby Road, and which is bor-
dered by forest trees, among them some beautiful Willow
Oaks.

The lane skirts the upper part of the orchard where

Fig 14—John Bartram’s House—west front.

enthusiast on the subject of beautifying shed abroad some
quaint and curious botanical information. After stating that
‘*the wild growth of underbrush has choked the rare shrubs
that still survive, and none of these plants is still labeled so
that the visitor may identify them,” went on to describe one
of the trees (Mossy Cup Oak, Quercus macrocarpa) as ‘‘a
huge and spreading Oak which bears acorns with a fringed
cup, the like of which no one to-day has ever seen, and
whose original habitat is unknown.” Besides this, there
were ‘‘varieties of the British A‘’sculus, American Horse-
chestnut, Buckeye, Cottonwood, and several supposed to
belong to the tropics, such as the Magnolia, Cypress and
Chinquapin Oak.” Glib ignorance of this sort will, it is
hoped, be dispelled by the educational work, admirably
planned by the University authorities, to follow their present
practical work of retracing paths and boundaries, removing
dead wood, giving crowded specimens light and air, repair-
ing broken stonework, filling in washed-out places, and, so

Bartram experimented successfully with irrigation. Neara
group of White Pines a diverging path runs diagonally
from the lane across the orchard, past a fine Yew, and on
to the west entrance to the house, where lane and path
meet again at the doorway, after having passed through
the oldest part of the Garden. Near the house they cross
a railroad cut (really a picturesque feature, its rocky walls
curtained with herbaceous plants and vines) that marks
the site of the old kitchen garden ; between this and the
house was the flower garden, and portions of the beds are
yet outlined by Box borders that were planted about fifty
years ago.

The path is, perhaps, rather more attractive than the
lane, but those who know their “Letters” will follow the
lane. From its entrance into the grounds, across the
bridge, past the barns and to the house-door it is like turn-
ing the pages of the earlier Collinson letters. Tirst come
the “narrow-leaved Oaks” and “noble White Pines”

124

close by the bridge is “that curious tree from the Jerseys”
(Hackberry, Celtis occidentalis); near the west door a
“Sugar-tree’’ and Horse-chestnut ; the latter, perhaps, the
one that Bartram believed to have been the first to blossom
in America.

The house is built of heavy gray stone blocks, mortar-
covered on the older western part and on the gabled ends.
The front, which is of a later date, is built of still heavier
blocks, and shows some attempt at ornamentation in the
stone window-frames and bases and capitals of the porch
columns. Still later, Bartram placed over his study window
the panel with its inscription—

Tis God alone Almyty Lord

The Holy One by me adored

John Bartram 1770.

That a great part of the house is the work of Bartram’s own
hands we know from that letter to Jared Eliot, where he
describes his method of quarrying and working stone, and
says: ‘‘I had been used to split rocks to make steps, door-
sills, window-frames, pig and water troughs. I have split
rocks seventeen feet long and built four houses of hewn
stone, split out of the rock with my own hands.”

The woodwork over the porch and stone and_ brick
addition on the south were added in this century. The
western doorway was the original entrance, and through
it one steps down into the house. The rooms are, with one
exception, small, and are floored with the original heavy
oak boards. In one of the rooms a cupboard in the wall
beside the chimney is shown as the place where Bartram
kept his seeds. This is doubtful, when the great quantity
he kept on hand is considered, and, in spite of the thickness
of the wall, this cupboard must have been a rather warm
place.

The little “study” is an indisputable fact ; from it one
can pass out to the enclosed porch, with its stone floor, and
have a good view of the grounds in front. The Box-trees
planted about the house are of such enormous size that they
interfere with all views, yet one would not have them de-
stroyed. Near the upper corner of the house is the “Thorn”
sent by Collinson, and near the south end is the Pear-tree
of which Collinson wrote to Bartram almost a century and
a half ago, “It has been thy pleasure to wait, but mine to
hear of the delicious pear raised from Lady Petre’s seed ;
but she, dear good woman, is gone to rest.”

From the house to the river the land falls gradually, but
directly in front of the house is a terrace, with remains of a
Box-border along its outer edge, where it is upheld by a dry
stone retaining-wall, pierced by two narrow flights of steps.
From the terrace, paths originally led by circuitous routes
through the ground and down to the river; one of them
ran near the greenhouse, whose lines are still visible, a
short distance from a very beautiful Yellow-wood, Cladras-
tis lutea. Further down, this path runs near the great
Cypress, Taxodium distichum (see p. 125), brought from
Delaware by Bartram, and now nine feet in diameter.
Later on this path joins one along the river-bank. It
is on this river-path that one finds the curious cider-press
cut by Bartram in an outcropping ledge; and at the present
southern boundary of the grounds there is an effective
group of Beeches growing on another ledge that juts into
the river.

In the southern part of the grounds are the fine Magno-
lias; one of them, M. acuminata, undoubtedly that brought
from ‘up Susquehanna,’ and discovered on Bartram’s jour-
ney with Conrad Weiser to the Five Nations’ Council (1743).
Near by grows the “Rose Bay,” as they first called the
Rhododendron, and a noble Mossy-cup Oak, one of the
finest trees on the place.

Not many years before his death, Bartram, probably in
acknowledgment of the courtesy of a life-membership pre-
sented him by the trustees forty years earlier, gave the
“ Philadelphia Library Company” some of his most valua-
ble books, several of them presentation copies from the
authors ; among these latter is the fine edition of Dillenius’
Historia Muscorum, of which he says, ‘‘I take this work to

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 422.

be the completest of the kind that ever was wrote, for Solo-
mon did not write of any plants lower than Hyssop, so
we may conclude he knew as little of mosses as of
America.” It is the intention of those now in authority to
collect, if possible, relics from their present owners and
form a Bartram museum in one of the rooms of the house.
As yet the precise lines upon which this will be formed are
unknown, but a mere collection of relics will only be inter-
esting to those who know something of Bartram’s lifework.
It is to be hoped that the collection will include copies of
the ‘‘ Letters” and the “Observations on the Inhabitants,
Climate, Soil, Rivers, Productions (Animals and other mat-
ters worthy of notice) made by Mr. John Bartram in his
travels from Pennsylvania to Onondago, Oswego and the
Lake Ontario.” Printed by J. Whiston and B. White, Fleet
Street, “1751s

Then, if a collection of portraits (old engravings prefer-
ably) of Bartram’s correspondents could be hung in one of
the rooms, and a series of charts of his journeys arranged
in chronological order, there would, no doubt, soon be an
understanding and appreciation of the work of this remark-
able man.

Of nearly forty correspondents, all were men of distinc-
tion in their time, and some of them for all time. His jour-
neys began with botanical trips in his own neighborhood,
grew in distance and wealth of observation, and culmi-
nated when he was nearly seventy, in the exploration of
four hundred milesof the St. John’s River, Florida. Outof his
great but unfulfilled desire to explore the Mississippi
Valley grew that idea of exploring the Missouri country,
discussed immediately after the Revolutionary War, by
Franklin, William Bartram and the Marshalls. This discus-
sion and hope became almosta reality ten years afterward,
when Dr. Wistar wrote to one of the Mar-halls that “ Mr.
Jefferson and others are much interested and think
they can insure a thousand guineas to any one who under-
takes the journey, and can bring satisfactory proof of hav-
ing passed across to the South Sea. Ifthee can come to town
and converse with Mr. Jefferson, I am confident no small
matter will stop them.”

Something happened, for ten years later, when the expe-
dition started in 1803 that was to give us the Oregon coun-
try as proof of having reached the South Sea, we know it
was led by Lewis and Clarke, but Jefferson’s instructions to
them read like extracts from Bartram’s letters.

If some of this may be learned in the house where Bar-
tram wrote and pondered it will lift the work of protection
and restoration, now in progress, far above the plane of

mere preservation of an historic place.
Ann Harbor, Mich. ML, Es Dock:

Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.

PycnosTacuys URTICIFOLIA.—F lowering specimens of this
beautiful Labiate plant have lately been received at Kew
from a garden in Rotherham, where they were grown from
seeds imported from south Africa. The plants grew toa
height of three feet in a year under greenhouse treatment
and produced terminal spikes of rich blue flowers, of the
same shade as the flowers of Salvia patens. The species
was first described and figured in Zhe Botanical Magazine
in 1863 (t. 5365), where it is said to have been raised and
flowered by Messrs. Backhouse, of York, from seeds sent
by Dr. Livingstone, who collected it on Mount Zomba,
near Lake Nyassa. It flowered with Messrs. Backhouse in
January. It is well worthy of cultivation, and would
probably thrive out-of-doors in summer. The genus is
allied to Plectranthus and Coleus. Pycnostachys urticifolia
has nettle-like green leaves, and the flower-spikes are from
four to six inches long. Sir William Hooker anticipated
for it great favor as a garden-plant, but it appears to have
gone out of cultivation. Its reintroduction from Living-
stone’s country is therefore satisfactory.

PENTAPTERYGIUM SERPENS.—This is a Himalayan ally of

ne

PON ne ee ee es OP

;

iis it tiie,

MARCH 25, 1896.]

Vaccinium which has been cultivated at Kew for the last
fifteen years and has flowered every year in a greenhouse
about this time of year(March). It is a beautiful plant; the
arching stems, rising from a woody root-stock to a length
of five feet, are partly clothed with shining, green, myrtle-like
leaves and fringed for nearly their whole length with pen-
dent tubular flowers an inch long and colored blood-red,

with darker V-shaped lines. The flowers remain fresh

Garden and Forest.

125

WELDENIA CANDIDA.—I noted this plant in 1894, soon after
its introduction to Kew from Guatemala, where it occurs
only on the crater of the Volcan de Agua. Since then it
has improved under cultivation, and it has been in flower
in a cold house along with Cape Heaths all winter. The
stems, which are about nine inches long, are formed of the
closely folded bases of the leaves, as in a Crinum, the leaf-
blades forming a spreading rosette about eight inches in

Fig. 15.—Bald Cypress, Taxodium distichum, in Bartram's Garden.—Sce page 124.

upon the stems for about two months. Such a specimen
as this at Kew takes about twenty years to grow, but, once
acquired, it is a most valuable plant for the conservatory,
practically looking after itself if only a little water be given
to it now and then, and when it comes into flower it is
universally admired. It can be multiplied from cuttings of
the young branches. Mr. Elwes, who collected this plant
in the Himalayas, found it growing upon trees with
Coelogynes, etc.

diameter. The flowers are developed two or three at a
time from a central capitulum, each flower having a tube
two inches long and a spreading limb of three ovate con-
cave segments about an inch across; they are of the purest
white, with a cluster of pale yellow anthers. The root-
stock is fleshy, and during the autumn the plants are
allowed to rest for about two months. The genus is mo-
notypic and is allied to Tradescantia. It is propagated by
division of the root-stock.

126

Hysrip Rocugas.—Rochea jasminea and R. coccinea are
two well-known greenhouse plants, the former, with short
crowded stems bearing small heads of erect, tubular, white
jasmine-like flowers; the latter, often’called Kalosanthes,
with taller thicker stems and larger clusters of bright red
flowers. These two were crossed a few years ago by a
Belgian horticulturist, and the progeny were distributed by
Monsieur Pynaert, of Ghent. They are now popular with
some of the growers for market near London, large num-
bers of them being grown in the convenient “ forty-eight”
pot, and sold for about a shilling each when in flower.
They form dense tufts of stems about nine inches high,
each bearing an erect umbel of white, carmine, rose and
bright red flowers. They bloom in early summer. No
plants are more easily grown, a light frame or greenhouse,
such as suits a Pelargonium, an open soil, plenty of water
during the growing season and frequent stopping of the
stems in the early stages being the chief of their require-
ments.

Tecoma Smiruir is still flowering freely here, so that
plants have been in flower now for the past four months.
They are single-stemmed plants, two feet high, clothed
from base to top with healthy pinnate leaves and bearing
at the apex a beautiful cluster of from twenty to fifty flow-
ers, which are rich yellow, faintly tinged with red on the
outside of the corolla. This is a greenhouse plant for the
million. It can be grown as easily as Chrysanthemums,
and it never fails to flower if the following directions are
observed ; (1) Cuttings to be struck in early spring in heat ;
(2) the plants must be limited to a single stem, all laterals
to be removed as soon as they start; (3) when the buds
show at the apex lateral shoots will push near the top,
which must be removed, or they will prevent the buds from
developing ; (4) the plants should be kept in a cool airy
house or frame from October till the flowers are over.

Dapuneé Inpica.—This is one of the choicest of green-
house plants when it is successfully cultivated, but it has
fallen into neglect because of its miffiness. I believe this
is due entirely to the fact that the plants supplied by nur-
serymen hitherto were grafted and not grown on their own
roots, Daphne Mezereum or D. Pontica being used as stocks.
Messrs. Low & Co. have, however, discovered that cuttings
of D. Indica will strike root readily if planted in small pots
in a hot frame in early spring, and that plants thus rooted
grow freely and flower profusely. A few plants of this
Daphne placed about in conservatories when in flower give
off a most pleasing odor. I have seen good specimens
grown by setting the plants ina rich border in a sunny
position in a conservatory. Several plants have survived
the past three winters against a warm south wall out-of-
doors at Kew. The species is a native of Japan.

Primuta Impertatis, the Royal Primrose from the high
mountains of Java, continues to thrive here in a cool house
or frame. It is apparently a biennial, seedlings flowering
when two years old and then perishing. Plants have been
tried in various sheltered. positions out-of-doors at Kew,
but they have always succumbed to the first severe frost.
In Cornwall, however, it can be grown out-of-doors per-
manently, for plants have lived ina garden at St. Austell
for two winters, and the winter of 1894-5 was a record one.
I believe this plant would sport freely and produce variety
in color and size in places where the conditions were excep-
tionally favorable to its growth. It has, no doubt, consid-
erable capabilities if placed in the hands ofa clever breeder
favorably situated. A Primula with a rosette of leaves
nearly two feet across and erect spikes three feet or more
high, bearing whorls of deep yellow flowers like those of
P. Japonica, is essentially a plant to be looked after.

Perstan CycLamen.—Growers of this plant in England
have lately proved that although German growers are suc-
cessful, English are even more so. Exhibits from some of
our leading metropolitan cultivators of the Cyclamen were
lately pitted against plants from the best of the German
growers, and the English plants were better, both as to

‘quality of strain and cultural excellence. I have lately

Garden“and Forest.

[NUMBER 422.

seen establishments where from ten to twenty thousand
plants of this Cyclamen are raised annually. The seeds
are sown in September and the seedlings are treated as
stove plants till about the following June. By the end of
the year they are bouquets a foot through of healthy leaves
and from twenty to fifty expanded flowers. Two-year-old
plants have been grown near Kew which measured twenty-
six inches in diameter and bore a hundred and fifty
expanded flowers ; all this, too, in an eight-inch pot. Great
improvement in the size and color of the flowers has been
made in the last few years ; a rich blood-crimson break
being very much favored now.

Senecio Bourcart.—This is a handsome winter-flowering
greenhouse plant, a near ally of Senecio cruenta, the parent
of the garden Cineraria, and a native of the same country
—-that is, the Canary Islands. Plants of it have been in
flower for the past month at Kew; they are about a yard
high, the leaves are pale green, the under surface clothed
with soft white wool, and the petioles bear ear-like lobes,
as if the leaf had attempted to be pinnatifid. The flowers
are larger than those of S. cruenta and of a rich purple
color. Itis probably an annual. Breeders of Cinerarias
may find it useful. A figure of it was published in Zhe
Botanical Magazine in 1853 (t. 4994) under the name of
Doronicum, and it is there spoken very highly of as an
ornamental greenhouse plant. We are indebted to the
Cambridge Botanic Gardens for its introduction.

W. Watson.

London.

Plant Notes.

CercIDIPHYLLUM JApontcum.—We have lately received a
photograph of one of these trees growing on the grounds
of a correspondent on the banks of the Hudson, which
represents a specimen some twenty-five feet high and of
perfectly conical shape. The tree at this stage of its
growth is certainly beautiful, and as it seems to be per-
fectly hardy and not subject, so far as observed in this
country, to any serious disease, there is no reason why it
should not take high rank among our ornamental trees. In
Japan it becomes a large tree, and in moist, deep, rich soil
it often attains a height of a hundred feet. Sometimes it
grows witha single stem three or more feet in diameter
and rising fifty feet without branches, but usually a cluster
of stems unite together at the base into a stout trunk and
then diverge gradually. The photograph of a tree of this
kind, with a trunk circumference of twenty-one and a
half feet, was reproduced in vol. vi. of this journal, page 53.
When young the tree is fastigiate, the branches hugging the
trunk closely, with the apparent purpose of protecting it
against the rays of the sun, which seem to injure it at early
stages of its growth. At this early season the slender
branches of the trees hereabout are plump with sap, the
red-brown bark is bright, and the leaf-buds, apparently, are
already beginning to swell. In fact, the Cercidiphyllum is
among the first trees to show its leaves in spring. These
are at first a bronzy red, with bright red stalks and narrow
red stipules, and they present a striking appearance at this
season. Neither the flowers nor fruit are conspicuous, but
the foliage, which is abundant when the tree stands in rich
soil, and rather thin in more sterile situations, is a dark
green during summer and turns to a clear yellow in the
autumn. The Cercidiphyllum is a valuable timber-tree in
Japan, producing a wood which somewhat resembles that
of the Liriodendron, to which it is closely allied, and the
Ainos of Japan use it for canoes as the Indians of our own
country once used the wood of the Tulip Poplar.

MaHeERNIA VERTICILLATA.—This is a subshrub or woody
perennial which has been cultivated for seventy-five years,
and yet itis seen more rarely now than it was thirty or forty
years ago. The bright yellow bell-shaped flowers are very
pretty and abundant, and it used to be seen often drooping
about vases and sometimes in hanging baskets, for it is not
a compact upright grower, but rather spreads around ina
straggling fashion. In Florida, where it flourishes out-of-

a aia

rat are

SESH NO MN a a ou Si ge Nl

* itd ihe

MARCH 25, 1896.]

doors, in a single season it will creep over the ground so
as to cover a space a yard across, and in a window at the
north or in a cool conservatory it will bloom through the win-
ter and spring, and it may also be flowered out-of-doors in
the summer-time. After all, perhaps, the most interesting
quality of this plant is its fragrance, the flowers being as
sweet as Lilies-of-the-valley, so that, indeed, it takes rank
with Boronia megastigma among the plants which are con-
spicuous for a distinct and pleasing odor.

Cultural Department.

Vegetable Notes.

ape weather experienced here during early and middle
March has proved uncommonly severe, and the proba-
bilities now are that the ground will not be in suitable condi-
tion for seed-sowing and planting until later than usual. We
have taken advantage of recent severe weather, when there
was no snow, to have manure carted or wheeled on all ground
not dug in the fall. This work should on no account be left
until the earth is soft, when the operation is both disagreeable
and laborious. Pea-brush has recently been secured and
pointed ready for use; also Bean-poles. These and other
seemingly unimportant little duties performed now will ma-
terially lessen the strain when the busy season is in full swing.

Lettuces planted out in frames early in February are now
well headed and ready for cutting. Plants set out in October
gave us aconstant supply until these came in. Later batches
have recently been planted in a gentle hot-bed, while additional
sowings are made fortnightly. We find no difficulty in having
a constant supply of lettuce during all the winter. White-
seeded Tennis Ball still proves the best all-round variety with
us. A sowing of Radishes is made between the Lettuce rows.
From February onward these are ready to pull before they
interfere with the Lettuce. An early sowing of Carrots, of the
French Horn variety, and Beets have recently been thinned
out. We grow rows of Radishes between these crops, and
they are ready to use before the Carrots and Beets areof much
size. Our earliest batch of forcing Erfurt and Snowball Cauli-
flower are now in four-inch pots, and will be transferred toa
gentle hot-bed about March 25th. A later sowing recently
made will give us nice plants by the time they can safely be
set outdoors in this latitude. Early Cabbage have just been
pricked offin a frame. We have just made our first hot-bed
for Cucumbers, having delayed it somewhat owing to the se-
vere weather. This, and, indeed, all other vegetable frames,
will need to be well matted up on cold nights, and careful at-
tention must be given to watering and ventilation. This is a
suitable time to make a sowing of Egg-plant and Peppers, and
as greenhouse space is just now pretty well occupied, the
seeds may be started in a Cucumber-frame. Parsley planted in
frames last fall will now be making good growth; an occa-
sional soaking with liquid-manure will improve it. Care should
be taken at this season to use tepid water for all plants in
frames. Soaking them with water of almost ice coldness
drawn from a faucet outdoors chills the plants and checks
growth.

Our earliest sowing of Celery is now almost large enough to
prick off. We use equal portions of White Plume and Paris
Golden for a first batch. We still have some good heads of
Kalamazoo in the trenches outdoors, which will give us a sup-
ply until Easter. This winter has not been favorable for keep-
ing Celery in the open, since there has been a succession of
freezings, thawings and heavy precipitations. But we are more
convinced than ever that it keeps best banked up where it is
grown, while the flavor is vastly superior to the stored heads
usually seen on the markets, Tomatoes for our main outdoor
crop have just been sown. These make strong plants by the
middle of May, which is quite as early as we can plant them
out here with safety. An earlier batch has just been boxed off.
These will be grown along and transferred to six-inch pots
later in the season. By planting-out time they will have one
or two bunches of fruit set on each plant, and under favorable
conditions will give ripe fruit by the end of June or first week
in July. The most satisfactory forcing kind we have grown
this winter is Eclipse, a variety introduced by a Scotch firm of
seed merchants two or three years ago. Plants in ten inch
pots are carrying bunches with from six to ten fruits on each,
averaging about a dozen bunches per pot. The fruit is uniform
in size, fully as large as Chemin, but without the three-cor-
nered appearance of that useful variety. Comrade, which we
have grown a few pots of, gives some remarkably large
bunches. Some have as many as fifteen fruits on, but the

Garden and Forest.

127

fruit is more irregular in form than Eclipse. May’s Favorite is
a good forcing variety and sets well after February. It proves
much better than President Cleveland. Nicholson’s Hybrid as
an early-winter forcer is excellent; it lacks size, however, and
compares unfavorably with some other kinds after this season.
Our tallest batch of plants for indoor culture are now in four-
inch pots; an earlier lot is ready to transfer to fruiting-pots,
and will be grown where space will permit in our cooler divi-
sions. Artificial pollination is now unnecessary. Giving the
plants a shake about the middle of a bright day will distribute
the pollen. Laterals and decaying foliaze must be removed
each week and sufficient foliage cut away to give the fruit all
the sunlight possible. The plants require copious supplies of
water, and we scatter a handful of sheep-manure or Bowker’s
fertilizer on each pot once a week, in addition to liquid stimu-
lants. That this treatment is appreciated the network of roots
on the surface of the pots testifies. Where Mushrooms are
grown wood-lice are apt to prove rather troublesome. We
find that by placing a small wisp of straw in a dry corner of
the bed most of them will congregate there, and they can be
easily destroyed with scalding water. If not looked after they
will do untold mischief to the crop. We find that home-made
Spawn gives us better results than English Milltrack, and gives
us mushrooms two weeks ahead of the imported spawn.
Onions produce so much finer bulbs under what is some-
times called the new culture, although in reality it is a very old
practice which has been adopted for the production of speci-
men bulbs, that even market growers find it pays to adopt it.
Our seed was sown in shallow boxes about February 20th on
the shelf of a cool house. In a few days these will be trans-
ferred to a frame and gradually hardened off. All varieties
are improved in quality by being raised in this way and pricked
out; some kinds, such as Giant Rocca, Prizetaker and Silver
King, more so than others. All who have not given this mode
of culture a trial should do so.
Taunton, Mass. WN, Cratg.
Sensitive Oxalids.
HERE are at least four species of Oxalis in common culti-
vation the leaves of which are sensitive to the touch.
They are O.(Biophytum) sensitiva, O. (Biophytum) dendroides,
O. Ortgiesi and O. bupleurifolia. The two varieties of O. Bio-
phytum are, of course, closely related, and in appearance are
pretty nearly alike, the first being the more sensitive and
preferable as an ornamental plant for the conservatory or win-
dow garden. The flowers are almost stemless and produced
in the heart of the pretty rosettes of leaves which terminate
the branches. The leaves are pinnate, with from twelve to
twenty pairs of leaflets. On being touched these leaflets close
downward until those on opposite sides of the leaf-stem touch
each other, just the reverse way in which the common Sensi-
tive-plant, Mimosa pudica, closes its leaves when interfered
with. From some cause this plant sets seeds poorly with me;
although I have grown the same specimen for over ten years,
it has never yet reproduced itself from seed. The upper part
of the leaf is bright green, the under side of a reddish hue. It
is quite an interesting plant to have in a greenhouse, as it will
close its leaves on the slightest provocation. O. dendroides
takes alarm less easily, and sometimes, especially when it is
grown cool, it scarcely closes its leaves at all when touched.
The reproductive qualities of this species are such that when
introduced into a greenhouse it is not long in permanently
establishing itself; the seeds set very freely, and it would seem
as if they all germinated, for they come up in every conceiva-
ble place where it is at all possible fora plant to live. It is
especially at home in the pots of other plants, and so pretty is
it when growing in this way that one grudges to pull them out.
Its flowers are on long stalks clear of the leaves. The rosettes
are arranged in the same way as in O. sensitiva, and they are
green on both sides. The plant does not have the same
branching habit as O. sensitiva; the flowers of both are pink-
ish white. O. Ortigiesi isa well-known plant in our green-
houses, the whole plant, excepting the flowers, having a
brownish metallic hue toit. The flowers. which are borne on
long stalks, are bright yellow in color. The leaves are trifo-
liate, and when disturbed droop downward. The stem is of a
succulent nature, and young plants are easily raised from cut-
tings. O. bupleurifolia isa dwarf shrub; it has leaves unlike
any of the other four; when the plant is in a young state or in
poor health the leaves are not developed at all, but, instead,
there are leaf-like formations called phyllodes, which, when
the plant is strong, develop trifoliate leaves at ihe extremities,

. 5) . .
This species has yellow Howers in the axils of the phyllodes,
It is propagated trom cuttings, and, apart trom its sensitive

nature, it is of little horticultural value.
Botanic Garden, Washington, D.C,

128

Garden Annuals.

| Rea is now generally admitted that for the best and most con-

tinuous display of flowers during the whole of the summer
season annual plants are essential. Perennials can be relied
on for early flowers before tender annuals can be even planted
out, and they will alsofurnish a late fall display after the advent
of frost. The most approved practice, therefore, is to so com-
bine the two that there be no intermission, and this is not
difficult if a little care in selection and a little foresight in
planting be exercised. We have this week made such sow-
ings of the earliest annuals as may be deemed necessary, and
at a later date, say at the end of this month, the general sow-
ing of all such seeds as are planted each season will be
made, and this will be found a good time if a hot-bed or
a greenhouse be at hand to place them in after being sown.
The old-time plan of sowing in a hot-bed is not to-day super-
seded. There is no better place to obtain the proper condi-
tions that insure even germination and a sturdy aftergrowth
than a hot-bed of moderate heat if an inch or two of earth
be spread over the fermenting materials to prevent an
excess of steam. This is also a good place for plunging the
pots or pans, buta warm greenhouse is most generally used
where it can be commanded, although it is not at all essen-
tial.

For the sowing of all seeds it is well to compound the soil
in such a way that it will neither become hard on the surface
so as to prevent the young cotyledons from pushing through,
nor dry out too quickly. No mistake is more fatal to success-
ful germination than allowing the soil to become dry just as
the seeds are about to sprout, and to avoid this we set the
pans or pots altogether in a warm place and cover them with
paper until germination takes place, when they are taken out
as fast as the cotyledons are well developed and set apart ina
lighter position ; this covering will prevent too rapid drying,
will also tend to guard against extremes of temperature, and is
altogther the best way to save labor in watering and get the best
returns for work and care. Soil for seed-sowing must always
be made light in texture as well as weight by the addition of
plenty of leaf-mold, and if the compost from a spent mush-
room-bed is available it is well to add at least one-third of this,
sifting the whole well, and after the seeds are sown covering
them with soil that has passed through a sieve with a mesh
no coarser than one-eighth of an inch. A sprinkling of sand
over the surface of the top will prove a good index as to state
of the soil as to moisture, asit is then possible to see at a glance
if water is needed. These little details may seem frivolous,
but are in themselves the secret of success in getting good
returns from seeds that are either slow to germinate or of
weak vitality.

It may be well to name a few of the annuals that we have
found to fill all the requirements for display in the garden
and to be at the same time available to cut for house deco-
ration; and it may be added here that if a plant does not
produce flowers that are fit for this latter use it is hardly worth
while to grow it. There are so many plants now that are good
for both purposes that we have a sufficiently long list of these
alone to choose from ordinarily. Zinnias we regard as indis-
pensable to even the smallest garden ; they have done more
toward filling the place of the scarlet Geranium than all the
other forces together ; they are easily raised from seed, and
give a profuse and abundant bloom for at least three months ;
we use the tall and dwarf strains—a double row, one of each,
makes a fine effect in a long border, or if used in the mixed
borders they may be planted in groups where other plants are
likely to die down early in the season, as sometimes happens
with early-blooming perennials, and they will cover the ground
and give a bright effect just when it is most needed, during
the early fall months. Good Asters are as essential as Zinnias,
but we here also prefer the tall kinds with long stems, such
as those known locally as Boston Market, for early use, and the
new branching kinds which are admirable later. There are
so many strains of Aster now on the lists that it is perplexing
to know just which to select, but it is safe to add some each
of the old standard kinds from the Peony and Victoria sec-
tions, for example, as these are as good as any for a display,
and they also havea good length of stem.

There has been an amazing improvement of recent years in
the Antirrhinums, and seed of good strains will produce
flowers that would hardly be recognized as the old-time Snap-
dragon. They are continuous bloomers from the time they
begin until after frost, and may be even taken up and put in
the greenhouse for a winter crop if kept from flowering fora
few weeks before lifting, when they will give aspring crop of
bloom that is mostacceptable. The annual Scabious are good,
too, for cutting, and give a great profusion of bloom ; these

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 422.

may be sown outdoors when the soil is warm and will do best
in this way, but a few started now will give earlier flowers.

The new Japanese Ipomceas are well worth a trial if a good
strain is secured, but there are some that are inferior, and this
has brought into bad repute a most interesting novelty among
summer flowers, one ot the best of its kind fora number of
years. The flowers are of almost all shades of blue, purple,
crimson, pink and many other intermediate shades, all of
silkiest lustre ; many of them, too, are double, and the foliage
is in many cases beautifully marbled or mottled with silvery
white, or golden bronze. These Morning Glories are peren-
nials, but are better raised from seeds each year, unless some
specially good variety is worth keeping over in the green-
house. The seeds are hard-shelled and need to be scratched
through the outer shell with a knife and put in water for afew
hours till they swell, and if planted then they will germinate
ina dayortwo. These plants are useful for fences, piazzas,
arbors and any other place where a climber of quick growth
is desired for the summer months.

The Celosias are worth trying ; in fact, they have been suc-
cessfully tried in some places as summer annuals in the border.
We hope to make trial of them more extensively this year.
Though they have generally been grown in pots, they will do
much better in the open ground if strong when set out, and
the season of bloom isso long as to make them specially valu-
able in the border. Care should be taken to save the weak
seedlings, as these often carry the best plumes, the strong vig-
orous growers often making no plumes worth the name even
in pots where root-room is restricted. Last summer I saw
the new Nemesia strumosa splendidly in bloom in Mr. Cham-
berlain’s garden, at Manchester, and when well grown, as these
were, there are few annuals so showy for a sunny position.
They have been somewhat disappointing here, but this was
evidently due to a failure to understand all their necessities.
The seed must be sown in pots to insure germination, they are
so small.

In a dry, sandy, poor soil, which must sometimes be occu-
pied, there are a few annuals that will do better than in richer
compost ; indeed, I have failed altogether to flower the scarlet
Salvia in the ordinary border, where they never stopped to
bloom, but kept on growing until frost cut them off. In dry
positions, however, where the soil is poor, they will produce a
blaze of color, and are not to be despised as cut bloom for
house decoration. Petunias of the improved strains are also
well adapted to such soil, where they grow rapidly and flower
profusely, and a margin of Portulacca will complete a pretty
effect in a spot not easy to make beautiful under other treat-
ment. With Sweet Peas, as with Asters, it is a difficult matter
to select the kinds to grow from such a long list, but, given the
colors that are desired, they should be planted as soon as the
frost is out of the ground and it is possible to work it conve-
niently. Wedo not like to plant in the same place year after
year, but always take out the soil to the depth of at least
eighteen inches, placing at the bottom of the trenches good
manure, filling up to within six inches of the top and then sow-
ing the peas. It is then possible to add a little more earth
later on at staking-time, and still Jeave a trench to pour on
water when it is needed. They are very thirsty in the flower-
ing-time, and we leave the hose running in the trench all
night, to their great delight. The annual sales of Sweet Pea
seeds have come to be one of the most remarkable features of
modern horticulture. They are grown by the ton in California,
and no better samples are to be found. There is no excuse for
foreign-grown seeds, and, indeed, we hear little of them now,
compared with what we heard a few vears ago. Even
English novelties are now sent to California, where they are
grown to secure stock for selling. Theclimate is well adapted
to them, and their cultivation has been reduced to a profitable
system. I find that other seeds grown in California as well as
Sweet Peas are well acclimated, and thrive better here than

those of European origin do.
South Lancaster, Mass. LEGO: Or pet.

Physianthus albens.—This is a pretty climbing Asclepia-
daceous plant from Brazil. The common name, White
Bladder-flower, is simply a translation of its botanical name.
Although an old plant, and once quite common, it was not
until last summer that I chanced to see it, when I was at once
attracted by the large number of cutworm moths which the
flowers had entrapped. For this reason it was named the
Cruel-plant by the late Dr. George Thurber, of Passaic, New
Jersey, who thus describes the contrivance: ‘The anthers are
so placed that their spreading cells form a series of notches in
a ring around the pistil. The insect, in putting its proboscis
down for the honey, must pass it into one of these notches,
and in attempting to withdraw it the end is sure to get caught

MARCH 25, 1896.]

in a notch, bootjack fashion, as it were, and the more the in-
sect pulls the more its trunk is drawn toward the end of the
notch, Thus caught, the insect starves to death.” The plant
is quite easily propagated from cuttings. The usual plan of
cultivation is to trim plants in, which have been blooming all
‘summer, and keep them rather dry during the winter in an
ordinary greenhouse. It is very effective trained to a post or

trellis.
Wellesley, Mass. Y fa O fea a &

Correspondence.

Shrubs which Flower in Early Spring.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :

Sir,—Will you be kind enough to give a list of shrubs which
flower very early in the spring? I havea lawn with a warm
and sunny exposure, and I should like to border it with a
shrubbery which will make some sort of floral display before
the great mass of spring-flowering shrubs are in bloom.

Bordentown, N. J. R.A,

[Perhaps Chimonanthus fragrans would survive the win-
ter in our correspondent’s latitude, though it is not reliably
hardy much north of Washington. Its remarkably sweet-
scented flowers appear very early. The long wands of
Jasminum nudiflorum are covered with bright yellow
flowers very early, also, but this, too, is doubtfully hardy
except from Philadelphia southward. Corylopsis pauci-
flora, which was brought from Japan some years ago by
Dr. Hall, is perfectly hardy. It belongs to the Witch
Hazel family, and bears pale yellow flowers. C. spicata,
a rarer shrub, is hardy in Philadelphia, and its flowers are
more showy and interesting, of richer color and with an
odor which reminds one of Violets. Fothergilla Gardeni,
a native of our southern Appalachian region, is also a
member of the Witch Hazel family, and, although it
has been grown in English gardens for more than a cen-
tury and a quarter, it is rarely seen in American gardens.
It is perfectly hardy, and the flowers, which appear before
the leaves at the end of all the branches, cover the plant
with brush-like masses of long white stamens, which have
a very curious and beautiful effect. It is a shrub of good
habit all summer long. The old-fashioned Cornelian
Cherry, Cornus mascula, with its abundant small yellow
flowers, is a first-rate plant, and later in the season its
cherry-like fruit is attractive. Daphne Mezereum, a
stiff upright shrub with fragrant rose-colored flowers,
should come in the list. Our native Andromeda flori-
bunda, an exquisite shrub with evergreen leaves, and
the Japanese Andromeda, a more spreading shrub with
broader panicles of handsome white flowers, should both be
planted. Two Chinese Bush Honeysuckles, Lonicera fra-
grantissima and L. Standishii, both display their odorous
flowers before the leaves appear. The native Leather Wood,
Dirca palustris, the Yellow Root, Xanthorrhiza, the fragrant
Sumach, Rhus aromatica, all have inconspicuous flowers
which appear very early, and the last two are useful for
connecting the turf on the borders with the taller plants in
the rear of the shrubbery. Some of the Currants, like Ribes
saxatile, R. alpinum and the native R. aureum, have
handsome and fragrant flowers. The little Heath, Erica
carnea, rarely more than a foot high in this latitude, is very
interesting in early spring on rockwork, and, of course, if
thereis a place for the Mayflower, Epigzearepens, thisshould
not be neglected. Some of the bush Cherries, like Prunus
tomentosa, P. Davidiana, and the Sweet Almond, P. Amyg-
dalus, are very desirable, and they will be still in bloom
when Spireea Thunbergii opens its profusion of pure white
flowers and the Forsythias are in the full splendor of their
bloom. For full descriptions ofall these shrubs and for fig-
ures of several of them we must refer to back volumes of
GaRDEN AND Forest.

A place like one of the small openings in the Ramble of
Central Park, if bordered with shrubs of this sort, might be
made especially attractive. Into the border some of the
Hazels and other plants with conspicuous catkins could be
admitted, and behind the border would be a suitable place

Garden and Forest.

129

for early-flowering trees, among which the Swamp Maple
and the Red Bud and tall shrubs, like our Spice Wood, could
be made prominent. Shrubs, like Magnolia stellata, with
very showy bloom, perhaps, might be discarded from a
quiet nook like this, and even Forsythias might be too
glowing in color. But, certainly, such a lawn would be
most interesting just after winter has relaxed its hold.
—Ep. |

Recent Publications.

The Spraying of Plants. By E. G. Lodeman, Instructor
in Horticulture in Cornell University. With a preface by
B. T. Galloway, Chief of the Division of Vegetable Pathol-
ogy, United States Department of Agriculture. New York:
Macmillan & Co.

The literature of horticulture must more and more from
this time on fall into the hands of professional men and
students. There is so much of science attached to the art
of horticulture, so much detail, such an accumulation of
experimental facts and methods, that it is now beyond the
powers of the layman to digest and collate these stores.
The coming literature may not be in all respects better than
the old, but it will be different in type, and it will certainly
gain in freedom of treatment and in the breadth of its mis-
sion, and it will be freer from provincialism and dogmatism
and hereditary errors. .Mr. Lodeman’s book on spraying
is a noteworthy illustration of the modern horticultural
treatise. Ten years ago spraying against insects and fungi
was practically unknown as an important, or as even an
accredited, operation, and yet here is a volume of four
hundred pages devoted to the subject. All the practice has
been developed since Downing, Barry and Thomas and
other authorities wrote or revised their books, and the
special literature on the subject is now so extensive that
only a specialist can master and classify it for use. Two
hundred and thirty closely printed pages are given to the
history and principles of spraying, in which the gradual
advancement of our knowledge is set forth, together with
the principles which underlie the practice. The remainder
of the book is taken up with specific directions for the spray-
ing of cultivated plants, with descriptions of the most im-
portant insects and fungous diseases affecting them and the
method of treating each. Mr. Lodeman has gathered the
results of an immense amount of experiments, both in
Europe and America, and his book can be trusted, not only
as a manual of practice, but as a true and well-classified
record of our knowledge on this subject at the present time.

We have received the interesting Hand List of Orchids
Cultivated at Kew, and find it a very useful little manual for
all who have to deal with these plants. The brief preface
contains many interesting historical facts in relation to the
growth of the collection there, and the list comprises nearly
two thousand species and garden hybrids. Wherever pos-
sible there is a reference made to a figure, and as the list is
only printed on one side of the leaf there is abundant
room for annotations. There are many collections where
Orchids which bear the fashionable and popular flowers are
more largely represented than they are at Kew, but this
one is particularly strong in the so-called botanical Orchids,
which are absolutely essential to the student who wishes
to gain a complete knowledge of the family. Of course,
dried specimens of the botanical Orchids can be had in
herbaria, but a living plant is better for purposes of study
than a dead one, and it is by an examination of living plants
alone that we can observe the contrivances for cross-
fertilization which so interested Darwin and many other
naturalists.

Notes.

One of the most striking features in some of the florists’
windows now are exceptionally long and full-flowered spikes
of Gladiolus, probably the variety Shakespeare. The large
flowers are white, with light stripes of carmine or rose color

130

at the base of the petals. Trailing Arbutus is also becoming
quite abundant. The greater proportion of it now comes from
North Carolina.

According to a correspondent of 7he Gardeners’ Chronicle,
the most interesting collection of Coleus ever made has been
on exhibition this year at the Royal Botanic Garden, in Portici,
Italy. The plants are of the most varied dimensions, from
dwarf forms a foot high to the gigantic varieties six feet in
height, with branches covering a circle ten feet in circumfer-
ence and stems five inches in girth. The leaves of some of
the plants are as much as eighteen inches long and thirteen
inches wide, and they have broken into a wonderful variety of
colors.

At the recent Fruit-Growers’ meeting at Worcester, Massa-
chusetts, complaint was made that the Japanese Plums were
short-lived and not hardy, and that the cold this winter had
killed all the fruit-buds and many of the limbs on some of the
trees. To this it was replied by Mr. Hale that when these
Plums were first sent out they were budded on Peach stocks,
and this may be a reason for their lack of hardiness and their
liability to disease. Nevertheless, it is not wise to plant these
Plums very largely in central and northern New England until
more thorough tests of their value have been made.

In a list of 106 varieties of Sweet Peas tested at the Cornell
Experiment Station last year the few classified as ‘‘ very good”
are said to have some superlative merit—that is, they are better
in some points than those which have attained the accepted
standard of excellence in the modern improved Sweet Pea.
The varieties in this list are these: Adonis, Apple-blossom,
Blanche Ferry, Boreatton, Butterfly, Captain of the Blues, Car-
dinal Wolsey, Countess of Radnor, Duchess of Marlborough,
Emily Henderson, Empress of India, Improved Painted Lady,
Isa Eckford, Lemon Queen, Mrs. Gladstone, Tangier Scarlet.

The prices of California oranges have advanced somewhat
with the greater scarcity of the West India fruit, and Navel
oranges from the Pacific coast sell readily for $3.00 to $4.00 a
box at wholesale, seedlings commanding $2.50 to $3.25. Ja-
maica oranges bring $9.00 to $10.00 a barrel, repacked, and the
few now coming from Havana sell for $5.00 to $6.00 a barrel,
in original packages. Of oranges from the Mediterranean,
Catanias now bring $3.00 to $3.50 a box, and Valencias $4.75 to
$6.00 a case. The stock of California Navel oranges, it is esti-
mated. will be exhausted by about the middle of April. Asmall
lot of Florida oranges which arrived here the latter part of last
week sold for $5.00 to $6.00 a box.

In the new Hand List of Orchids, published at Kew, aftersome
preparatory statement as to the modern practice of cultivating
these plants, the writer adds that after all a considerable num-
ber of species submit to horticultural conditions with great
reluctance. Among these are Cattleya citrina, Dendrobium
Maccarthiz and many species of Oncidium. That the proper
method of cultivating these plants will be discovered in the
future there is little doubt, since species which are generally
difficult prove amenable to treatment in special cases, as, for
example, Diacrium bicornutum is generally found intractable,
and yet itis grown at Kew with little trouble, while it seems
impossible to grow Disa grandiflora there with anything like
the success attending its cultivation in Edinburgh and Chats-
worth.

The Gardeners’ Chronicle gives a picture of a new hybrid
Rhododendron which has been raised at Veitches’ Chelsea Nur-
series and named Eos (The Dawn), perhaps because it is the
forerunner of a new race of warm greenhouse Rhododen-
drons. It differs from the beautiful race obtained by crossing
Rhododendron Javanicum upon R. jasminiflorum in the bright
carmine and scarlet color of its flowers, as well as in their
form, their profusion and their persistency, since they last
from three to four weeks in perfection. The pollen parent is
R. Malayanum, a species widely distributed over Malaysia.
Besides the three species already named, the new hybrid has
among its ancestors on the female side R. Lobbii. From the
table of its pedigree given, it appears that besides the four
species named, there are four hybrids among its progenitors,
and since all these plants are in cultivation, an interesting
opportunity is offered to trace the influence of each in the suc-
cessive crossings.

A bulletin on Chrysanthemums from the Cornell Experi-
ment Station is interesting, not so much from its choice of
varieties among the older sorts or its test of novelties as it is
for certain suggestions for reformation in classification, nomen-
clature and the like. Everybody agrees that no flower should
receive a vulgar or a bombastic name, and the naming of
plants after Mrs. Judge This or Field Marshal That should be

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 422.

discontinued. Particularly interesting is the study of variation
in the forms of florets and some attempt to get rid of the con-
fusion in catalogues about the way they are described. For
example, it is important to know whether these florets of a
given variety are ligulate or whether their margins are in-
curved, because single, intense, vivid colors are best displayed
by a ligulate floret. In the variety Crimsona the general effect
is red, but in Miss Helyett, which is of a similar shade, the
margins are turned in so as to show the under side, and
this produces a different effect altogether. There is an inter-
esting discussion on problems of color, with notes about cul-
tivation, and, altogether, the pamplet is a neat monograph,
which, while it contains nothing that is new, will encourage
observation and study on the part of growers and lovers of
these flowers.

The efforts of Secretary Morton to stop the shameful waste
of money in the distribution of seeds have been brought to
naught by a joint resolution of Congress which directed him
to go on, as in former years, and spend $150,000 for the pur-
chase and distribution of seeds, bulbs, plants and cuttings
through the various members of Congress. In accordance
with this, Secretary Morton has sent out a circular to seeds-
men, giving directions about putting up the seeds, which
must be true to name and up toa certain standard of purity
and germination, and free from smut, ergot, eggs and larve of
insects, and seeds of certain specified weeds. The seeds will
altogether weigh some 300 tons, and they are then to be
divided among the members of the House and Senate into
450 separate packages. A few of the items are 1,300,000
packets of Lettuce, 130 packets to the pound; 1,200,000 pack-
ets of Radish, 60 packets to the pound ; 1,040,000 packets of
Beets, 400,000 packets of Cucumbers, 460,000 packets of To-
matoes, 320,000 packets of Garden Peas, 1,000,000 packets of
flower seed of not less than seventy-five choice varieties, aver-
aging 300 packets to the pound, with full cultural directions and
description of growth to accompany each variety. The joint
resolution became a law without the President's signature so
late in March that it was not possible to undertake the dissemi-
nation of certain kinds of seed. The list selected includes
such kinds only as could probably be purchased and distrib-
uted in time for planting throughout the country. With each
item a percentage of purity and germination is given, and the
seed will be tested by some employee of the Division of Botany
in the Department of Agriculture, and Secretary Morton
reserves the right to reject any lot which falls below the
standard.

The cost of the seed is but an inconsiderable fraction of the
cost of a vegetable garden, but the quality of the seedisa
matter of too great importance to be neglected. It may look
bright and plump and yet be worth little for planting. As a
rule, our seedsmen are as particular as other tradesmen, but,
after all, the planter is too often disappointed in his seed. In
older countries legal restrictions have been thrown around
this business, and in Germany alone there are forty seed-con-
trol stations, and many more in other European countries, and
the quality of seed is said to have improved steadily since these
stations were established. In order to obtain aclear idea of the
actual condition of the garden seeds sold in Rhode Island, the
Experiment Station of that state made some careful studies on
the subject last year, and the report of the tests made
appears in a bulletin just issued. A standard variety of
each of thirteen common vegetables was selected and a
sample of each was bought of nineteen different dealers in
March last. The seed was generally clean and there was no
indication that impurities had been intentionally introduced.
In nearly two-thirds of the samples these impurities
amounted to no more than one per cent. The seeds
were then subjected to sprouting tests to ascertain their
germinating power. In sixty-four out of 233 samples only five
per cent. or less of dead seed was found, but in twenty-three
others half of the seeds failed to germinate, and in twenty,
three-fourths of the seeds were useless. This shows that
some seeds are much better than others, and the buyer
has no means of knowing the quality of the article he is get-
ting, while the dealer who sells seeds of standard vitality and
purity gets no advantage in price over his careless or con-
scienceless competitor who sells seed which is comparatively
worthless. In several of our states the quality of commercial
fertilizers is tested, and buyers now are more likely to secure
the worth of their money in plant-food than they were before
chemical manures were subject to inspection. Honest manu-
facturers, too, get the benefit of a state guarantee. It seems
possible that some official guarantee of the quality of vege-
table seeds could be devised which would protect the buyer
and the careful seedsman in the same way.

APRIL 1, 1896.]

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orricz: Trisung Burtpinc, New York.

Gonducted “by: 3:6. 5 © <6 © © « «« Professor C. S. Sarcenr,

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 1806.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE
Epsror1AL_ Articies :—The California Forest Reservations.........+.eeeeeeee0++ I3I
Women’s Clubs and Forestry........ OCR RCO NOE Cre ator 132
What Would be Fair Must First be Fit.......... 7 «+ Charles Eliot. 132
Salt and Sugar in Washingtonia filamentosa,....-......... Henry Trimble. 133
New or LittLE-KNOWN PLants :—Nympheea tetragona, Georgi. (With figure.)
B. L. Robinson. 134
(Gerri red al tere ees (WVVd TD EL OLLTEY)elelwiaiosu lure Sieiaieis'erepiisieis'¢:0:avaielsia'eia's aisle < eTele'a'sjsis sie.scie-s 134

IPEANTENOTES c—=N Ofth AmMeriCAD!PINMBisesccjersnes ae soot cciss seni scesimeivesaee.s
Cutturat DeparTMENT :—Cyclamens from Seed..

Hippeastrums......

mataieapels Beth Day. 135
T. D. Hatfield. 136

Seasonable Suggestions.........+.+...-.- -.T. D. Hatfield. 136
Dendrobiums at the Harvard Botanic Gar - Robert Cameron. 137
Galaditmsic ces eens: cetpectioss sonisecswsisterre weeees Ze O. Orpet. 137
Plants for Conservatory and Window Garden..........-00.--0005 T. D. A. 138
The Climbing Hydrangea ........... dapncdoas - Joseph Meehan. 138
CoRRESPONDENCE :—Ericas as Market Plants.........-......ee+00s FN. Gerard. 138
Farming on Vacant City Lots..Zuther G. Sand, Stephen Bell, Gregory Smith. 139

Exuisitions :—Boston Flower Show

NOTES..2. 2 cesses sees ee ceee ee eeee ee eeree ee

ILLustRations :—Nympheea tetragona, Fig. 16
Hybrid Canna Italia (reduced), Fig. 17

The California Forest Reservations.

T is unnecessary, perhaps, to remind our readers that
the reservations of the public domain made by the
Government are of two classes: First, the so-called national
parks, comprising the Yellowstone National Park, the Yose-
mite National Park, the Sequoia National Park and the
General Grant National Park. These four parks comprise,
together, about three million acres, the two last named,
which are situated in Tulare County, California, having
been established for the preservation of portions of the
Sequoia forests. They are now all under the strict control
and efficient protection of the army of the United States.
Second, there are seventeen forest reservations, compris-
ing, altogether, about seventeen million acres, or 26,500
square miles, a territory more than half the size of this state,

and scattered from Alaska to Arizona, New Mexico, Colo-

rado and Wyoming. These reservations have been with-
drawn fromsale and entry, but receive no more protection
from fire, timber-thieves and sheep-herders than the non-
reserved lands. The largest of the reservations, comprising
nearly five million acres, includes, it will be remembered,
the Cascade Mountain Range from the Columbia River
nearly to the borders of California. An attempt is now
being made, as was pointed out in these columns two
weeks ago, to deprive this reservation of its value by
opening a considerable part of it to entry. Next in extent
is the Sierra Forest Reservation of more than four million
acres, stretching along the southern Sierras for over two hun-
dred miles, from the Yosemite National Park to the moun-
tains east of Bakersville, with an average width of about
fifty miles and containing the principal Sequoia forests.
Some interesting and reliable information concerning the
actual condition of this reservation and of the Yosemite
National Park is found in the seventh number of the Sverva
Club Bulletin, which has just reached us. It contains the
minutes of a meeting of the Sierra Club, a body of men
interested in mountain exploration and in the forests of
California, held November 25th, 1895, and, besides other
matter, an address of the President, Mr. John Muir. and a
report on the Sierra Reservation made by Professor William
Russell Dudley, the distinguished botanist of the Leland
Stanford, Jr., University. Mr. Muir, whose knowledge of

Garden and Forest.

131

the Sierras and the Sierra forest is unequaled, passed six
weeks last summer, it appears, in the Yosemite National
Park, about the headwaters of the Tuolumne, and his
remarks on theresults of the four years’ protection the park
had received from the Federal Government are important
and encouraging. He says:

When I had last seen the Yosemite National Park region
the face of the landscape in general was broken and wasted,
like a beautiful human countenance destroyed by some dread-
ful disease. Now it is blooming again as one general garden,
in which beauty for ashes has been granted in fine wild meas-
ure. The flowers and grasses are back again in their places
as if they had never been away, and every tree in the park is
waving its arms for joy. In what we may call homceopathic
doses, the quiet, orderly soldiers have done this fine job, with-
out any apparent friction or weak noise, in the still calm way
that the United States troops do their duty. In my wanderings
this summer I met small squads of mounted soldiers in all
kinds of out-of-the-way places, fording roaring bowlder-choked
streams, crossing rugged cafions, ever alert and watchful;
and knowing, as we do, the extreme roughness of the topog-
raphy of the park in general, our thanks are due these quiet
soldiers for unweariedly facing and overcoming every diffi-
culty in the way of duty. And always it is refreshing to know
that in our changeful Government there is one arm that is per-
manent and ever to be depended on.

This testimony confirms what we have always believed,
that the moral force exerted by a small troop of United
States soldiers was capable of exerting an enormous in-
fluence in keeping marauders in the public reservations in
check, and that by keeping out the sheep-herders soldiers
could preserve the forests not only from the sheep, but from
most of the fires which are set by the herders to improve
the pasturage.

The observations recorded by Professor Dudley, who
passed six weeks last summer in exploring the Sierra Forest
Reservation and studying its condition, are equally in-
structive. The following is part of his report :

Where the sheep pass on the mountain slopesand summits,
there, indeed, is the trail of destruction and death. Before them
may be a pretty stretch tinged with hosts of red or yellow
Mimulus. Behind them is the dust of a harrowed field. Be-
fore them may be a level meadow in the forest, such as none
but an alpine sun ever shone upon; velvet-green is the tender
grass, a thousand Asters of one form and color here, a thou-
sand Dodecatheons of another form and color there, tiny rills.
of cold spring water dancing everywhere. Behind the herd
are no flowers, the green grass has been reaped as by the
reaper Death, the water is foul and festering. To pass from
the trampled meadows of the reservation to the protected
meadows of the National Park was a lesson in patriotism. The
nation that could so effectively preserve the inoffensive plants,
merely through the presence of a handful of its soldiers, was,
indeed, a nation worth living for. ;

Professor Dudley, in the course of his journey, gathered
a good deal of testimony from the mountain and foot-hill
people in regard to the changes which had occurred during
the past twenty years in the vegetation of the region which
is now the Sierra Reservation. Their evidence all points to
the fact that the undergrowth in the mountain forests has
greatly decreased since they have been pastured by sheep.
A horse can now be ridden through these high mountain
forests, where twenty years ago it would have been prac-
tically impossible, on account of the underbrush, to have
wandered from the beaten trails. The destruction caused
by the sheep, which live on the young twigs of undershrubs
and on annual plants, is greatly increased by herders who,
in the autumn, on leaving the woods set fire to the under-
growth in order to insure an abundant growth of tender
sprouts the following spring. Ranchmen and fruit-farmers
of the valleys, who are dependent on the water of mountain
streams, are now firm in the belief that the decrease in the
undergrowth diminishes the flow of streams during the
summer, considering, as is undoubtedly a fact, that the
destruction of the underbrush has more effect on the
stream-flow than the destruction of the large trees. The con-
dition of White River is cited by Professor Dudley as proof
of this general proposition. Formerly this stream is said

132

to have flowed in midsummer at least twenty-five miles
lower than it does at present, being now dry almost to its
source, 8,500 feet above the sea-level. Living springs once
abounded on the ranches in the White River valley, which
now all run dry in midsummer. There is hope for those
who desire the preservation of the Sierra forests in the fact
that the valley rancher detests the sheep-herder, whom he
regards as a foreigner and a parasite, who intends to return
sooner or later to France, or Portugal or Ireland, carrying
with him his gains pilfered through sheep-raising on land
not his own.

The condition of the woods on the reservation was often
such as to cause Professor Dudley the greatest concern.
Fires some time in the past have swept over a large part of
it; not an old Sequoia has escaped fire, and most of the
Pines and Firs bear evidences of the ravages of the flames.
In the region south of Nelson’s Fork of the Tule River the
number of overripe or decayed Fir-trees is enormous,
and these trees, dying apparently from old age, in falling
are carrying down young trees and furnishing the best pos-
sible material for destructive forest fires. Professor Dudley
was everywhere reminded of the lamentable contrast be-
tween America and Germany. The latter has forest schools
and trained foresters, who cull out the ripe timber, remove
and sell it for the Government. In America, whose forests
are unexcelled in variety, beauty or value, we have no
efficient system for preventing their destruction by fire,
no schools for training a class of men to husband and de-
velop the enormous forest resources of which we are the
spendthrift heirs.

As a relief from this gloomy picture it is pleasant to learn
from the testimony of ranchers and hunters that last sum-
mer there were probably not more than a third as many
sheep in the Sierra Reservation as had invaded it the pre-
vious year, a decrease accounted for by the presence of the
United States soldiers in the adjacent Yosemite National
Park, which had alarmed sheep-herders and scattered their
flocks.

In concluding his address Professor Dudley called the
attention of the club to the fact that there are still large
tracts of Redwood-trees standing in the coast-range region
of California, and urged the establishment by the Govern-
ment on unsurveyed lands of a Redwood reservation.
This should be done, and done speedily, as we have more
than once insisted. The Redwood is only inferior in size
and interest to the Sierra Sequoia. Its value as a timber-
tree and its accessibility doom it to destruction, and if the
demand for Redwood lumber increases in the future as it
has in the past, another generation will see the destruction
of these peerless forests. The Redwood grows only on the
California coast-ranges, and unless the Government will
create a Redwood reservation, as it has a Sequoia reserva-
tion, the majestic trees which have been growing for two
or three millenniums will be swept away forever.

We commend a careful study of this number of the Sierra
Club’s bulletin to all who are interested in the national for-
ests and in the welfare of California. The address of the
Secretary, Mr. Elliott McAllister, from whom probably
copies can be obtained, is Academy of Sciences Building,
San Francisco.

Ir is an unpleasant truth that, in spite of all that has been
written and said on the necessity of forest protection in this
country, the great mass of people still need to be instructed
on this point, and since no comprehensive and efficient
forest policy can even be devised without a more culti-
vated public sentiment, and since the best of laws would
fail to be enforced without the quickening of the public
conscience, every effort to arouse interest and disseminate
knowledge on the general subject of forests, their uses
and their management, is an occasion for gratitude as well
as encouragement. We, therefore, commend, as an exam-
ple to similar bodies, the action of the New Jersey State
Federation of Women’s Clubs at its recent meeting in Tren-
ton. A prominent place in the programme was given to an

Garden and Foresa

[NUMBER 423.

address on the ‘Forest Interests of New Jersey” by Mrs.
Edward D. McCarthy, of Plainfield, who explained in a
clear way the different forest conditions which pre-
vail among the mountains in the northern part of the
state, in the Pine plains of the south and on the shift-
ing sands of the seashore, together with descriptions
of the special beauties and uses of the woods of each
region ; and then gave convincing reasons for the adoption
of a conservative forest policy in each. The history of
the steady growth of sentiment in favor of good forestry
throughout the country was graphically sketched, and then
practical ways were pointed out in which women could
reinforce the propaganda. Work was suggested through
schools, libraries and public discussions ; by offering prizes
to school children, and having in every district exhibits of
maps and photographs illustrating the results of wanton
forest destruction and scientific forest management; by
joining forestry associations ; as clubs and classes by taking
up a systematic study of the forest in its economical aspect,
and, more than all, by the cultivation of a sympathetic love
of trees and of natural beauty and order out of which will
grow village improvement societies with forestry commit-
tees and the like. There is no doubt that Mrs. McCarthy
was justified in the statement that if the women of New Jer-
sey took hold of this matter in earnest, ‘‘ within a year a
State Forest Commission would be organized, a radical and
practical fire policy would be so enforced throughout the
state as to save the remnants of our forests, and courses
of instruction would be founded which would teach us to
value them and use them aright.”

In connection with this address, and illustrating it, was
an admirable exhibition in an adjoining chamber. This
consisted of a series of maps, showing the forest reserva-
tions in the west and the forest area of New Jersey; large
photographic views of the Palisades, in which nature and
nature's defacement were contrasted; views to show
the desolation wrought in various parts of the country by
criminally careless methods of lumbering ; pictures of the
expensive engineering work in southern France, made
necessary by stripping the mountains of their forest cover.
Besides these, pictures of noteworthy trees and attractive
landscapes and the instructive leaf charts of Grace Anna
Lewis were disposed in an artistic way about the walls, while
on the tables were pamphlets on tree-planting, forestry and
village improvement, sample copies of periodicals devoted
to forestry, a sheet for the registration of names of all who
wished to enroll themselves as taking an interest in the
subject, anda circular for distribution containing a brief
list of books relating to forestry, village improvement and
tural life. The arrangement of this exhibit was so effec-
tive that itseemed a pity that it must be transient, and the
suggestion that every library and schoolroom should have
something of this kind as a general help in the education
of public sentiment was felt by all who saw it.

What Would be Fair Must First be Fit.

CONSTANTLY increasing number of Americans are
desirous of securing some measure of beauty in the
surroundings of their every-day lives. These people are
not content with things as they are. They want more and
more of pleasantness in and around their own houses and
about their village, town or city as well.

To these earnest and inquiring people come a numerous
company of writers and would-be missionaries, who, how-
ever, preach strangely differing gospels. First to appear
are the gentlemanly agents of the commercial nursery-
men. These bring many books of pictures of more or less
lovely and rare plants, shrubs and trees, and say, ‘ Look,
you can make your surroundings beautiful if you will plant
some of these interesting and lovely things. You ought to
screen that ugly fence with Roses, scatter ‘specimen orna-
mentals’ about your grounds and put a bed of Cannas
before your door.” Next come the more pretentious

2 os a

APRIL 1, 1896.]

landscape-gardeners, who prescribe curves for paths and
other approaches as being more “natural” than straight
lines, and then propose plantations to fit or account for the
curves. These gentry talk much about Nature and affect
to consider formal treatment of ground and planting a sort
of profanation. They are of many schools, for some will
urge the planting of Purple Beeches, Blue Spruces and all
manner of exotics, while others say, “ You will do well to
use few but wild native shrubs. What can be lovelier than
this wayside group of Red Cedar, Bayberry and Wild
Rose?” Thirdly, come the modern American architects,
whose technical training has been acquired at the Parisian
Ecole des Beaux Arts. These hold up their hands in holy
horror at the landscape-gardeners of all schools, and say to
the inquiring public, “ Let us show you how wrong these
men are! What you really need to make your surround-
ings beautiful are straight avenues, terraces and balus-
trades, a ‘rampe douce’ at your door and a sun-dial in an
old-fashioned garden.”

This is no fanciful picture of the strange conflict of mod-
ern doctrine concerning beauty in the surroundings of daily
life. It is no wonder that the inquiring public is bewil-
dered. Controversial papers and books are continually
appearing. Bad language is employed by all parties, but
the modern architects appear to be decidedly the most
skilled in its use. Such adjectives as asinine, silly and
ridiculous are not uncommon in the writings of Messrs.
Blomfield, Thomas and Seddings, who, however, are
English and not American controversialists.

How absurd all this quarreling seems when once a
moment can be obtained for sober reflection. Is beauty,
as a matter of fact, often won by following shifting fads or
fashions, by heaping up decorations, by gathering archi-
tectural or botanical specimens, however remarkable or
even lovely? On the contrary, it is by wrong-headed
attempts to win beauty in these impossible ways that the
ignorant rich and their imitators so often succeed in put-
ting pretentious ugliness in place of simple loveliness and
charm; witness the greater part of Newport and many
another once pleasing region now sophisticated and de-
stroyed.

Little or no thought being given to the fundamental
arrangement of lands and buildings for convenience and
beauty, an attempt is often made to retrieve the situation
by adding decorations, such as statues, fountains and
bridges, or, more generally, a selection from the marvelous
products of modern nursery gardens. In those rarer cases
where some real attention is devoted to the all-important
fundamental arrangement, the design is apt to be strictly
limited by the supposed requirements of the particular style
of treatment which may be selected. The picturesque,
the gardenesque and the formal styles are soberly dis-
cussed ; but selection is apt to be made according to fancy
merely, and the results, as in the first-mentioned class of
cases, are generally amusing or striking rather than beau-
tiful. A house scene filled with irrationally curved paths
is seldom lovelier than one which is decked with a collec-
tion of contrasting specimens. A private country house
approached by an unnecessary triple avenue and fitted
with steps and terraces broad enough for a state capitol is
equally amusing in its way.

The cause of the failure to attain to beauty in these and
all similar cases is doubtless the same; it is (is it not?) the
common lack of rationality at the foundation.

How is it that so much of the natural scenery of the
world is beautiful and that so many myriad kinds of living
things are lovely? The fact may not be explicable, but “it
is one of the commonplaces of science that the form which
every vital product takes has been shaped for it by natural
selection through a million ages, with a view to its use,
advantage or convenience, and that beauty has resulted
from that evolution.”

How is it thatso much of the humanized landscape of the
world is lovely? Is not the same natural law at work here
also?. The generations who by their arduous labor made

Garden and Forest.

ro}

the scenery of Italy, England and the valleys of New
England what each is to-day
wrought with a sad sincerity.
Themselves from God they could not free,
They builded better than they knew,
The conscious (earth) to beauty grew.

In New England, for example, the hard-worked men of
the last century cleared and smoothed the intervales, left
fringes of trees along the streams and hanging woods on
the steep hillsides, gathered their simple houses into vil-
lages and planted Elms beside them, for ‘‘use, advantage
and convenience” merely, and yet beauty is the result.
Truly,

this is an art
Which does mend nature, change it rather ;
But the art itself is nature.

The moral to be taken to heart by the sophisticated and
selfconscious seekers after beauty in our present day is
obvious. Success in achieving the beautiful is to be hoped
for only when we bow to the law of nature and follow in
the appointed way. Special purpose is the root, and fitness
for purpose the main stem, of the plant of which beauty is
the flower. As William Wyndham wrote to Humphrey
Repton, “lands should be laid out solely with a view to
their uses and enjoyment in real life. Conformity to these
purposes is the one foundation of their true beauty.”

Thus, the right planning of the arrangement of lands for
private country-seats or suburban houses, for public squares,
playgrounds or parks, for villages or for cities, is not a
question of “the gardenesque” or “ the picturesque,” “ the
artificial” or “the natural,” ‘‘the symmetrical,” or ‘‘ the
unsymmetrical.” Whoever, regardless of circumstances,
insists upon any particular style or mode of arranging land
and its accompanying landscape, is most certainly a quack.
He has overlooked the important basal fact that, although
beauty does not consist in fitness, nevertheless all that would
be fair must first be fit. True art is expressive before it is
beautiful; atits highest itis still the adornment of a service.

The modern practitioners of renaissance architecture
need especially to be reminded that they have not a
monopoly of the lovely. “Symmetry is beautiful, but so,
also, is the unsymmetrical relation of the parts toa whole
in Nature.” Since all natural landscape, save that of the
plains and the oceans, is unsymmetrical, it follows that
humanized landscape is also generally and fittingly infor-
mal. Such landscape properly becomes symmetrical or
formal only occasionally and for good reasons. The roads
ofa hilly park rightly curve to avoid obstacles or to secure
easy grades; but a particular spot within that park,
intended for the gathering place of crowded audiences at
band concerts, is rightly graded evenly and symmetrically
and shaded by trees set in rows. Again, the fields and
woods ofa country-seat are rightly disposed picturesquely,
while those outdoor halls and rooms of the mansion called
the terrace and the flower-garden are just as rightly treated
formally and decoratively. The naturalists are justified in
thinking formal work often impertinent and out of place.
The formalists and the decorators are justified so long as
their work is rooted in usefulness and adaptation to purpose.
“ Each has its proper situation ; and good taste will make
fashion subservient to good sense,” wrote Humphrey Rep-
ton. It is to be hoped that our quarreling faddists may
take to heart this saying, and may turn themselves to the
advancement of Repton’s real and much needed art of
arranging land, vegetation, buildings and the resultant
landscape for the use and delight of men.

Charles Eliot.

Brookline, Mass.

Salt and Sugar in Washingtonia filamentosa.

ECENTLY, while examining: this Palm for tannin, I
was impressed by the sweet and salt taste of the

fresh tissue. J.ess than one per cent. of tannin was found,
but, as the specimen contained 68.97 per cent. of moisture,
this raised the amount of tannin to 2.73 per cent. when cal-
culated for absolutely dry substance. The quantity is too

134

small, however, to give the tree any value on account of
its astringency.

Attention was then directed to the sugar content of the
specimen with better results, for the amount found, when
calculated for dry substance, was 15.50 per cent. Since
this amount was not materially increased by first treating
the infusion with acid, it was probably a glucose sugar.

The ash in the absolutely dry specimen was found to be

Fig. 16.—Nymphcea tetragona,

11.86 per cent., over one-fourth of which was sodium

chloride (common salt), the actual amount of salt being

3.09 per cent. of the dry substance of the Palm. The
locality in which the tree was grown might have had some-
thing to do with the amount of salt present.

The specimen analyzed was a cross-section of the trunk
at the base of the leaves, and in the fresh state was suff-
ciently fleshy to be easily cut with a knife, but in drying it
became hard and woody.

It was received through the kindness of Dr. F. Franceschi,

of Santa Barbara, California.

College of Pharmacy, Philadelphia, Pa. Henry Trimble.

New or Little-known Plants.
Nymphea tetragona, Georgi.

ROBABLY the earliest figure of this small but attractive
Pp Water-lily is that of Gmelin in his Fora Sibirica, iv.,
t. 71 (1769). The woodcut which he gives as Nymphea
alba minor, although rather stiff and crude, is unmistakably
of this plant. Georgi’s name, N. tetragona, used in 1775
in his Bemerkungen emer Reise 1m Russischen Reiche, i.,

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 423.

220, is apparently the first published binomial for the spe-
cies, although from Sims (Bos A/ag., xxxvii., under t. 1525)
we learn that Pallas had found the same plant in his Siberian
travels, and called it tetragonanthos, a name probably un-,
published until mentioned by Sims. Both specific names
allude to the quadrate form of the floral receptacle or even
of the flower itself.

In his Paradisus (t. 68) Salisbury named and figured a
Castalia pygmeea, a native of China. This was later trans-
ferred to Nymphea by the younger Aiton as one of his
unnamed collaborators (/or/, Kew, ed. 2, 1ii., 293 [1811]),
and Sims, who in the Bot Mag., xxxviil., t. 1525, gives an
excellent representation of it, admits in his synonymy that
the Chinese plant is identical with the older Siberian N.
tetragona, to which it is now generally reduced.

Our knowledge of Nympheea tetragona as an American
plant is comparatively recent, dating from 1888, when Dr.
Morong characterized and figured (of, Gaz., xili., 124, t. 7)
as Castalia Leibergi what he regarded as a new species
from northern Idaho. The types had been secured by Mr.
John B. Leiberg in a small pond near Granite Station, on
the Northern Pacific Railway. It requires, however, no
specialist in aquatic plants to see from Dr. Morong’s plate,
above cited, that he had before him the flowers of a
Nymphea with the pinnately veined leaves of a Nuphar.
A careful study of some of his type material not only con-
firms this view, but shows that the Nymphea is identical
with the Asiatic N. tetragona, Georgi. In 1890 Professor
Macoun stated (Caz. Canad, P/., v., 300) on the authority of
Professor Britton that N. tetragona had been found in the
Misinaibi River, in northern Ontario, by Dr. Robert Bell,
and in ponds along the Severn River, Keewalin, by Mr.
James Macoun. These plants appear to be the same which
Lawson (Zrans. Roy. Soc. Canad., ser. iv., 1888, 113) erro-
neously referred to Castalia odorata, var. minor.

With our present knowledge of its distribution, Nymphzea
tetragona (see figure 16 on this page) appears to be rare
and local in America, but between its widely separated
occurrences in north Idaho and north Ontario future and
more careful exploration may well show a number of inter-

mediate stations. .
Gray Herbarium, Cambridge, Mass. B. L. Robinson.

Canna Italia.

N page 520 of vol. viii. of this journal we quoted from
an article by Monsieur Edouard André an account of
a new race of what he called Italian Cannas, which had
been produced by Messrs. Dammann at their grounds near
Naples. It was said that a member of the firm, having
concluded that he could produce nothing novel by con-
tinual interbreeding of the large-flowered varieties, deter-
mined to introduce some new blood and began to
experiment with Canna flaccida as one of the parents. This
species is a native of the southern United States, of medium
height, with large flowers, in which one of the petals is
specially developed. The first success was achieved from
seed of Madame Crozy with a fine variety of C. flaccida as
the pollen parent. The result was a plant named Italia,
the flower of which was said to be of unusual size, of a
geolden vermilion color and peculiarly opened or flattened
so as to resemble the flower of Kampfer’s Iris. One of the
flowers of Italia figured in Zhe Gardeners’ Chronicle was
said to have been five and three-quarter inches across.
This new Canna has recently flowered with F. R. Pier-
son & Co., of Tarrytown-on-the-Hudson, and although the
color of the flower does not exactly coincide with Monsieur
André’s description, the plant is certainly most interesting,
and the flowers havea singular and striking beauty. An illus-
tration of a truss of these flowers from Mr. Pierson’s plant,
reduced to less than half the natural size, will be found on
page 135. It will be seen that the petals are unusually
broad, and that two of the inner ones are held above
the three outer ones a trifle, thus producing something
of the effect of a double flower. In this arrange-
ment it differs from that of any other Canna with

~

APRIL I, 1896.]

which we are acquainted. The general color-effect is
rather yellow than vermilion, the outer petals being almost
entirely yellow, with a pleasing shade of carmine at the
centre, and the inner ones almost entirely carmine,
with a narrow margin of yellow, while a distinct satiny
lustre adds to the richness of the combination. The flowers
when fully open are about six inches across, larger than
those of the best of the American seedlings. Perhaps the
truss will not be as large and full as those of some of our
seedlings, but the second trusses of Mr. Pierson’s plants were
considerably larger than the one in our illustration, and held
wellup onalongstem. The flowers of Canna flaccida are
rather frail, and it is therefore possible that this hybrid may
lack substance, but this is only conjecture, as it has not yet
been grown here out-of-doors. The foliage is a light green,
and the plant seems to be of taller habit than most of the
Crozy seedlings.

Plant Notes.

North American Plums.

HE value of some of the North American Plumsas orna-
mental plants is hardly appreciated yet by the planters
of parks and large gardens. Of the species of the eastern and
northern parts of the country the Canada Plum, Prunus
nigra, is the earliest to flower; this is a tree which, under
favorable conditions, occasionally attains the height of
thirty feet, with a short stout trunk separating into a number
of upright ridged branches armed after their first year with
short, lateral, spur-like branchlets. The fragrant flowers
appear in New England late in April or early in May,
before the leaves, and completely cover the head of the
tree; they are about an inch and a quarter across, with
pure white petals, which turn reddish purple as they fade,
and are borne on slender dark red pedicels. This is the
native Plum which is so often planted as a fruit-tree in
Canadian gardens, and is sometimes found naturalized by
roadsides in northern New England, where it is supposed
to have been introduced by the Indians.

Even more beautiful is the Wild Plum of the middle
states, the Prunus Americana of botanists, which is distin-
guished from the Canada Plum by its long, slender, pendu-
lous branches, which form a wide, graceful head. This tree
does not expand its flowers until after the petals have fallen
from the Canada Plum, and the flowers are smaller and
often do not fade until after the young leaves have begun
to unfold. A well-grown specimen of this tree covered
with flowers is an object of extreme beauty, and the only
objection to it is the rather disagreeable odor which the
flowers emit. Left to itself the Canada Plum produces
numerous suckers, so it is usually found in dense broad
thickets of many stems, but with the aid ofa little judicious
pruning and attention it can be made to grow into ashapely
tree, often more than thirty feet high. It is most orna-
mental, too, in early autumn, when the branches are borne
down with its abundant crops of small fruits, which, after
they have attained their full size, are orange-color, with
bright cheeks, later becoming bright red.

Very useful, too, as an ornamental plant is the Beach
Plum, Prunus maritima, which, in cultivation, grows to a
much larger size than it often attains in its home, close to
the sea ; as a garden plant this shrub covers itself early in
May with innumerable small white flowers, which wreath
the branches from end to end and have the merit of last-
ing in perfection for a considerably longer time than those
of many other Plum-trees. The fruit, too, varies much in
size, in edible quality and in color, being occasionally a
clear amber, instead of the usual purplish red.

These three Plums can be easily raised from seeds; they
grow rapidly and are perfectly hardy and not very particu-
lar about soil. Among the early-flowering trees if the
shrubberies of the Arnold Arboretum none have excited so
much admiration during recent years as a number of large
specimens of Prunus Americana, which flower with remark-
able profusion.

Garden and Forest.

135

Cultural Department.
Cyclamens from Seed.

ee Cyclamen may be grown to perfection in an ordinary
window without bcttom-heat, and with as little trouble as
would be given to a seedling Geranium, and those who never
have grown it from seed have no idea of the ease with which
it may be brought to flowering size. Success with these plants
is possible if a seed is put here and there in the soil where
other window plants are growing, and the young seedlings
are removed as soon as they are large enough to bear trans-
planting.

If it is desired to bring the plants to blooming size as early
as possible, the seed should be sown as soon as ripe—which
will be in late winter or early spring—in shallow seed-pans or
boxes, in a soil composed of leaf-mold, well-decayed stable-
compost, and somewhat coarse sand in about equal parts and
thoroughly mixed. Glass may be laid over the top of the box
to assist in keeping the surface of the soil moist. The seeds
will germinate in from fifteen to twenty-five days. The first
leaves are nearly round, dark green above and of a dull red-
dish hue on the under side and cannot easily be mistaken for
anything else. The later leaves are heart-shaped, and are
mottled or marked on the upper side with grayish green.

Fig. 17.—Hybrid Canna Italia—reduced.—See page 134.

As soon as the seedlings have made the third leaf they
should be transplanted into other pans or boxes of similar soil,
disturbing the roots as little as possible, and they may be
moved again, if necessary, before September or October,
when they should be placed in the pots in which they are to
bloom. The seedlings should have plenty of light, but when

136 Garden and Forest.

young they should be shaded from the direct rays of the sun.
The bulbs should be set with the crown or upper part even
with or alittle above the surface of the soil. In all transplant-
ing or repotting of this bulb the roots must be disturbed as little
as possible.

For the first six months the bulbs grow slowly, but after-
ward they increase in size more rapidly, and will bloom—if it
is their season of bloom—when about one inch in diameter ;
and will increase in size and blooming power as they grow
older. A mature bulb, say three inches in diameter, will bear
hundreds of flowers in a season, producing from twenty-five
to fifty at once, and continuing to bear thus lavishly for
about three months each season.

The Cyclamen comes into flower in January or December,
though seedlings at their first blooming season may be some-
what later than this, and they will bloom if they have been well
cared for when alittle less than a year old. The plants require
considerable moisture, but the soil should not be be kept wet,
—that is, not saturated with water. Excessive moisture would
be fatal to the seedlings. Neither must they be allowed to
become dry, or their growth will be checked. They do not
require great heat. An even temperature of about sixty de-
grees will produce the best results. During the summer
the seedlings may be kept upon a porch, or on the north side
of the house where they will get the morning sun only. They
should be washed or sprayed occasionally to keep down the
red spider, which sometimes attacks them.

The plant has a neat, dwarf habit of growth, and bears its
flowers, which are white, pink blush, red, or striped and mot-
tled, on slender stems well above the foliage. After blooming,
the bulbs require a season of rest, and water should be par-
tially, but never wholly withheld, until it is time to repot them,
in late summer, for winter use.

This plant is best propagated from seed, though some have
succeeded in growing it from large leaves. The stem of the
leaf is placed in water in a sunny window, and after a timea
small bulb may form on the end of the stem, which is then
transferred to Suitable soil and treated as a seedling.

Seedlings do not always resemble the parent plant in the
color of their flowers, and often new and valuable varieties
are produced. It is this element of chance that helps to make

‘the growing of bulbs from seed such a tascinating pastime.

Considering the number of its flowers the Cyclamen does
not seed treely. When the seed is ripening the stalks bend or

curl down until the seed-pod rests on the soil.
South Kankanna, Wis. Beth Day.

Hippeastrums.

eS new Hippeastrums, now in bloom in the greenhouses
of H. H. Hunnewell, Esq., Wellesley, Massachusetts, are
remarkable for immense size and fine coloring. They came
from Messrs. Veitch, of London, and the selection being
left to them there is no doubt they represent the highest
attainment of the hybridists’ art up to this time. They are
certainly great improvements on the older kinds. These nov-
elties are altogether free from the green lines and reticulation
on the petals so commonly seen in the earlier hybrids.
Messrs. Veitch grow their plants in houses specially con-
structed for them. They are potted or top-dressed, as need
be, immediately after the flowers fade. They are continued
ina fairly high temperature, with abundance of water—man-
ure-water alternating frequently, until the annual growth of
leaves is fully matured. After this less and less water is given ;
butitshould never be altogether withheld. The leaves will fade
away, but may not do so entirely. Some hybrids remain with
considerable green all the year round, and common sense
suggests that these have slightly more water. Hippeastrums
respond to artificial hybridization so freely that several garden-
ers hereabout are growing large numbers of them with pleas-
ing results; for while they may get few which come up to the
highest standard, there are, nevertheless, many highly decora-
tive varieties which are useful at all times in winter. These
seedlings are grown without rest until they bloom. The
majority will bloom at two years, but probably the better
varieties will need to be grown three years before they flower.
Where a special house is provided, cocoanut fibre or litter is
used asa plunging material. These imported varieties had
made roots over the edges of the pots during last season’s
growth. In houses specially constructed for them it makes no
difference whether the roots are in the pots or outside, for the
plants bloom where they grow. With our facilities it is dif-
ferent ; where no general collection is grown no special cul-
ture can be given.
Hippeastrum Johnsoni is one of the earlier hybrids.
Although the flowers are small, by comparison, it is still a

[NUMBER 423.

handsome kind. A neighbor who grows it largely for market
succeeds well by plunging the deep flats in which he grows
them out-of-doors for the summer. This suggests the idea
that raising Hippeastrums might become part of the bulb
industry proposed for the south. Some tew are already
offered by Californian growers, but, as far as I have seen, they
are quite common kinds. A few of the choicest types should
be imported as a basis to work on. My experience with the
few I have is that they are hardier than is generally supposed.
By an oversight some pans were left out last year until the
middle of November. What few leaves remained were cut off
at once, but the bulbs were uninjured, and they have flowered
well this winter.

Mr. F. L. Harris, gardener of Mr. H. H. Hunnewell, exhib-
ited a collection of Hippeastrums at a recent meeting of the
Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and received honorable
mention for them, The most noteworthy were Calabar, scar-
let, with orange shading and crimson reticulation. The flow-
ers were eight inches across and finely recurved. Olympia
resembles Calabar, except that the markings are better defined.
The flowers are equally as large, but not so finely formed.
Madonna is a most chaste and beautiful variety. It 1s creamy
white, with light scarlet pencilings. The petals are wavy and
finely revolute. Fresca is crimson, with maroon lines and
reticulation, It is the best of all the dark-colored varieties.
The flowers are eight inches across and beautifully formed.
Cupid is the gem of the group. The flowers are creamy white,
with a heavy reticulation of crimson. They measure six
inches across and are finely formed. The habit is dwarf, and
the plant bore two large scapes of four flowers each, ina seven-

inch pot, showing high culture.
Wellesley, Mass. Se T. D. Hatfield,

Seasonable Suggestions.

LTHOUGH April is close at hand, winter still reigns, and
practically nothing has been done in the garden. We
might attempt some pruning, but, with the exception of Grape-
vines, which should be pruned before the frost leaves the
ground, it is better to leave shrubs until the weather is settled.
Especially where the ground is heavy, much harm may come
trom treading on it. Roses of the Hybrid Perpetual kind will
need cutting below the frozen growth. In varieties such as
La France and other hybrid Teas it is best to leave on as much
sound growth as possible, and Paui Neyron, Ulrich Brunner,
Marie Baumann and the majority of sparsely thorned varie-
ties also. As a rule, the heavily thorned varieties will bear
harder pruning. The Prairie Rose, Scotch, Persia, Dawson
and rambling Roses, such as the Multiflora group, need no
more pruning than 1s required to clean off decayed growth.
Hydrangea paniculata and all other flowering shrubs which
bloom on the current year’s growth may be spurred well in,
and Yellow-barked Willow and Red Dogwood will be brighter
in the autumn if pruned yearly ; but spring-flowering shrubs
should not be touched until past blooming, beyond clearing
away dead growth, and, in fact, this is all that is necessary at
any time. Climbing plants need looking over and bare spaces
covered. Wistarias which have covered their allotted space
should not be allowed to develop useless canes. All slender
spiny shoots with light-colored bark must be cut away. Cle-
matis paniculata may be cut back to within five or six feet of
the ground and tied into shape. This yearly pruning keeps
the vines well clothed below, where there would be only con-
gested growth from the live tips. All planting of trees and
shrubs should be done early, as drought too often quickly fol-
lows the breaking of winter. There should be at least a yard
of good loam to every plant, and this canonly be counted upon
to last a year or two, before the area of deep soil will need
extension. If herbaceous borders need replanting or filling
from the reserve garden this work must be done at once. The
common practice of digging borders in spring is objectionable.
It is a work needing extreme care, and is seldom done ina sat-
isfactory way. We only clear away leaves and litter remaining
from the top-dressing of manure lain over winter. The rock-
garden is still frost-bound and covered with pine-needles, but
as soon as practicable it will be cleaned and receive a top-
dressing of lawn fertilizer. This mixture we have found to
answer perfectly, having discarded barnyard-manure in its
favor. The latter carries too many weed-seeds, and as only
hand-weeding is practicable, the work of keeping the place
clean is quite tedious.

Spring-bedding must be prepared for. Pansies, Forget-me-
nots, Silene pendula and Daisies are used in masses with bet-
ter effect than in mixed beds. Dutch bulbs have been used,
but these are short-lived and seldom satisfactory, as itis hardly

APRIL I, 1896.]

possible to get a perfect bed. Later we have special effects in

nooks and corners of the shrubberies, with Foxgloves, Canter-

bury Bells, Sweet Williams, Larkspurs and Hollyhocks. .
Wellesley, Mass. T. D. Hatfield.

Dendrobiums at the Harvard Botanic Garden.

ENDROBIUM SECUNDUM deserves mention as the most
distinct species of this showy genus, in bloom here at
present, although its flowers are not as gorgeous or as delicate
in color as those of many other species. It is an erect plant,
its stoutest stems being about twenty inches high and three-
fourths of an inch in diameter. The young stems of last sum-
mer’s growth are clothed with ovate leaves three or four
inches long and an inch and a half in breadth. The flowers
are produced in racemes, are four inches or more in length,
from the upper part of the leafless one or two-year old, or
even older stems. The small rosy purple flowers, about fifty
or sixty in number, are arranged thickly along one side of the
rachis. The sepals and the slightly smaller petals are ovate,
the lip a lighter shade of color than the other parts of the
flower, with an orange blotch at the apex. The spur is long
and rather broad and blunt. A plant carrying several racemes
is very striking, and, although the flowers are small, they last
in good condition for several weeks. It does well planted in a
pot, using fern-root and sphagnum asa compost. During the
summer it is grown in the stove, and when its pseudo-bulbs
have grown their full length water is withheld by degrees and
it is shifted into a cooler and drier house, suspended near the
roof-glass, and with only enough water to keep it from shrivel-
ing. When the racemes begin to slow on the upper part of
the stems it is taken back and treated more liberally. If it
needs shifting into another pot this is done after the plant has
flowered.

Another distinct species in bloom now is Dendrobium aggre-
gatum. It is a dwarf evergreen plant, growing some four
inches high, with oblong-ovate pseudo-bulbs two inches in
length. The loose pendulous racemes of yellow flowers, pro-
duced from the side of the pseudo-bulb, are six inches long,
and made up of ten or twelve flowers. When the plant blos-
soms well the light and graceful racemes hide the sides of the
basket. The flowers are golden-yellow when they open, but
in a few days they turn to an orange-yellow. This Dendrobium
is usually cultivated on a bare block of wood, but here we grow
it in a small shallow basket, using fibrous peat for a compost.
It is kept during summer in the warmest house and needs lib-
eral watering and frequent syringing. When the pseudo-bulbs
are full grown less water is needed, and late in the fall it is
removed to a cooler house, where it rests until the flowering
season. With the above treatment it produces an abundance
of flowers every year. It was introduced into English gardens
from India more than sixty years ago.

The handsomest yellow-flowered Dendrobium in bloom is
D. fimbriatum oculatum. This is a strong upright grower, its
long cane-like pseudo-bulbs attaining a height of nearly three
feet. The upper half of the stout stems when young is
clothed with green leaves, which are six inches long. The
flowers are produced from the ripened stems in drooping ra-
cemes, which contain from half a dozen to a dozen blossoms.
The individual flowers measure two inches or more across and
are of a rich orange-color, with a deep maroon-purple spot at
the base of the lip. The lip is the most conspicuous part of the
flower ; it is margined with a deep golden-colored fringe. If
the flowers are kept dry and not too much moisture in the
house they last two or three weeks. This Dendrobium is
planted in a deep basket in fern-root and sphagnum and sus-
pended near the roof-glass. When it is making its new growth
it requires stove-heat and abundance of water. After it has
completed its season’s growth it requires to be kept dry and in
a slightly cooler temperature until it begins to show flowers.

Dendrobium superbum isa fine species, easy to grow and
flowers freely every spring. It does best in the stove, ina
basket suspended near the roof-glass during the summer
months. After it has completed its growth it needs a good
rest in a slightly lower temperature, and in a position where it
can get all the light possible. This is a strong-growing, droop-
ing, deciduous plant, and has stout pseudo-bulbs nearly a yard
long, with oblong lanceolate leaves five inches in length. The
pale purple flowers are large, measuring three to four inches
across, and are produced in pairs from the joints of the new
growth. They last well and the plants are handsome for
some time.

Some of our plants of Dendrobium chrvsanthum are in
bloom now, but on a number of them the buds are just begin-
ning to show on the long pseudo-bulbs. This Dendrobium is
treated differently from the other species mentioned in these

Garden and Forest.

137

notes. Itis grown in the stove the year round, as it rejoices
in heat and moisture. When the pseudo-bulbs have finished
growing less water is needed, but at no time is the water
withheld long enough to permit the compost to become quite
dry. Itis one of the easiest species to grow when properly
treated. Some ofthe pseudo-bulbs are nearly four feet Jong
and a mass of golden flowers. The only deficiency the plant
has is that its flowers do not last long. It does best when
grown ina basket suspended from near the roof, where its
long graceful stems will show to the best advantage. The
beautiful golden-yellow flowers are produced on the young
leafy stems and they measure about one inch and a half
across.

The most useful and the best-known species is the old Den-
drobium nobile. Even the smallest collection can boast of
plants of this handsome Orchid. Among a number of plants
of this showy species in bloom here, the variety named D.
Sanderiana stands out conspicuously and seems one of the
most distinct. It has magniticent flowers, large and very bril-
liant in color.

Botanic Garden, Harvard University. Robert Cameron.

Caladiums.

Le is not surprising that bulbs and other tuberous-rooted

plants occupy so prominent a place in decorative garden-
ing, for without these there would bea greatloss of decorative
material. Plants which accumulate nutriment for another
year in bulbous or tuberous roots can be stored away during
their resting season in a very small compass, and the advan-
tage of this is obvious. It is necessary to prepare each year
for considerable summer decoration, and at the same time
provide space in the greenhouses for the growing of cut flow-
ers. No plants are more useful for summer decoration than
the fancy-leaved Caladiums. There has been quite a revolu-
tion in this class of plants since their cultivation was taken up
in Brazil by skilled operators under the best possible condi-
tions. At the World’s Fair in Chicago an education was
afforded by the fine examples of Caladiums seen there, and
which showed brilliant colors and excellent cultivation, the
fine effect being obtained in but a few weeks and continuing
throughout the season. The newer kinds, to that time prac-
tically unknown to us, were made familiar, and these are no
more difficult to grow than the older kinds of less brilliant col-
oring. We have fairly tested this new Brazilian set of Cala-
diums for several seasons. The cost isreasonable, and they
are very effective. A setto be found in English nurseries sur-
passes them in one respect, that of dwarf habit. Iam told that
this habit was brought about by crossing the larger high-
colored varieties with the dwarf red variety Caladium minus
erubescens that we grow as a companion to C. argyrites. The
resulting progeny is superb in coloring, dwarf in habit, and
excessively high in price at present, but someday we hope they
will be obtainable. Among other things we have noticed that
the varieties that have foliage of pale color and thin texture,
often without a trace of green in their composition, are also
very sensitive to sunlight, and practically of no value for gen-
eral decoration such as we need for terrace or piazza, and are
of little use except in the greenhouse, owing, perhaps, to the
lack of chlorophyll. But as conservatory plants they are very
beautiful; the transparency of the leaves, through which it is
possible to read a newspaper, gives them interest in a collec-
tion. The varieties of higher colorare all that one could desire,
and there are, I think, as many as sixty in all. We had theset
complete at the start, but many of them were practically iden-
tical, and more were undesirable owing to the dull tints, and
the original number is reduced consequently. But the dis-
tinctive character of the collection is due to the influence of
this Brazilian strain. It is to be desired for us that are not Por-
tuguese scholars that the raiser in future give to his infants
names that could be pronounced by an Anglo-Saxon tongue.
I shall not attempt to put the names in type here, for they can
be seen at a glance in lists of Caladiums, and there is the
consolation that the plants are at least as distinct as their
nomenclature.

A few remarks about their cultivation to those who wish to
try them: Caladiums are distinctly tropical, being found di-
rectly under the equator, and cannot be treated to too high a
temperature, as we understand this particular in greenhouse
work. It is in the manner of resting the tubers that many fail,
but we always shake the tubers out of the pots in autumn and

place them in the warmest part of the boiler-room, each kind
being provided with a new label and placed in dry sand in
small pots, or in such asare large enough to accommodate the
tubers. In this way a large number may be stored in small

space without the loss of a single individual, care being taken

138

when they are shaken out to clean all decayed portions away
and to rub on a little charcoal-dust if there is any sign of decay.
Since we have taken the precaution to place a handful of sand
under the tubers at potting-time they have almost entirely
escaped from the rot that used to give a great deal of trouble
at their bases. Tobe of the most use to us Caladiums must
be started early in the season, so that they shall be well grown
in the early summer months and the foliage well developed
and in acondition to stand exposure at that season. We start
them early in the year for this reason, and this makes it possi-
ble to store them away under the benches at the time in fall
when all plants must be got under glass, and the space occu-
pied by a collection of Caladiums is needed for winter-flower-
ing plants. This early start, therefore, gives us a twofold
advantage. But those who have not a warm house command-
ing at least a temperature of sixty-five at night had better wait
until later in spring, when it is attainable, for a good brisk heat
is necessary to get a free growth of large well-colored foliage.
Caladiums like a light rich soil. We add a large proportion of
spent mushroom-bed material to a compost of leaf-mold and
loam, made porous with plenty of sand, and later in the sea-
son, if necessary, liquid stimulant is given. The aim is to pro-
duce the greatest leaf-development, and, on the whole, it is
easy to accomplish.

I am glad to find that there is an operator at work in Florida
on this family of plants, and we have now in course of trial
some two dozen or more varieties raised in that state, where
they thrive outdoors with great vigor. It is not too much to
expect that we may have in the near future a race of American
Caladiums equal to those we have hitherto received from

abroad. E. O. Orpet.

South Lancaster, Mass.

Plants for Conservatory and Window Garden.

Chorozema ilicifolium.—This elegant leguminous plant bids
fair to become one of the most popular of its class. It forms a
dwarf, globular bush when well trained, producing numerous
few-flowered racemes of bright yellow flowers, tinted red,
from March until lateinsummer. The leaves are aboutan inch
long, dark green and leathery, with wavy, spiny-toothed edges,
not unlike Holly leaves, but smaller. The branches are very
slender; young plants should, therefore, be well pinched in
order to form compact specimens. The variety ‘‘nana” is
naturally dwarf and compact. The genus contains several
other extremely showy and attractive plants, all of which
flower later in the season than the preceding kind. One of
the most beautiful of these is Chorozema cordatum, a species
not uncommon in cultivation; the flowers are yellow, with
reddish keel and produced in great abundance in drooping
racemes; the leaves are cordate and spiny-toothed. C. Hench-
mannii is a rare scarlet-flowered species with acicular, spiny-
pointed leaves. It flowers early insummer. C.diversifolium
is a very showy plant with bright orange-colored flowers in
numerous nodding racemes late in spring. C. varium has
erect racemes of bright red and yellow flowers and cordate,
somewhat spiny, leaves. The Chorozemas are easier to grow
than most other New Holland plants ; they will thrive in any
moderately light and warm greenhouse or conservatory. In
the conservatory they may be trained on pillars near the glass,
in sunny positions. They are excellent house plants, too,
rivaling Cytisus racemosus in usefulness for this purpose.
Propagation by means of seeds is the simplest method of in-
creasing them. The seeds should be sown as soon as ripe, in
shallow boxes, in a compost of sandy loam and _ leaf-mold,
which should be kept ina light but comparatively cool place
insummer. The young seedlings must be transplanted early
and pinched frequently during the first season. Older plants
may be plunged in a cool frame in summer in a half-shady
position. In potting the soil must be pressed firmly down
around the roots, as a loose potting often proves fatal. Water-
ing and spraying must be carefully attended to in summer,
and the roots must on no account be allowed to become dry.

Imantophyllum cyrtanthiflorum.—This is a very valuable and
floriferous spring-flowering plant of the Amaryllis family.
Like the more common Imantophyllum miniatum, it has
quite beautiful aud attractive foliage, the leaves being long,
dark green, slightly curving and distichous. The flowers are
almost bell-shaped, of a very bright salmon color, produced
in large, many-flowered corymbs, on scapes from two to three
feet high. This is considered a hybrid between Clivia nobilis
and the above-mentioned I. miniatum. It is best grown in
large pots or tubs in which it is allowed to increase and form
large masses of foliage. The compost should consist of rich
fibrous loam, with a liberal addition of cow-manure and some

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 423.

sand. During the growing season plenty of water is needed,
but the plants should never be allowed to dry as much as
Hippeastrums, as they are ornamental throughout the year.
The roots are fleshy, the plants form no bulbs, but increase
readily by means of side-shoots or offsets which may be used
for propagation. All Imantophyllums form ripe seeds if fer-
tilized, and they may, therefore, be propagated with the greatest
as i :
ease by this means TDAH.

Wellesley, Mass.

The Climbing Hydrangea.—We often hear complaints that
Hydrangea scandens is tardy in starting to grow. The
usual way of raising it is by layering. Numerous roots push
out wherever the shoots touch the ground, in the same way
as they do from the English Ivy, but when the layers are sev-
ered from the parent shoots and set out by themselves they
scarcely grow at all for a year or two. Its near relative,
Schizophragma hydrangeoides, behaves in the same way, It
is becoming the practice to pot the layers when taken from the
parent pliant, and keep them in frames or in a cold greenhouse
for a season; after this they may be set out with more cer-
tainty of thriving. Both of these vines are gross feeders, and
they should be abundantly supplied with manure, especially
when well started. It must not be forgotten that all climbers
grow much faster when they are supplied with supports. The
Climbing Hydrangea needs a rough surface, and when it once
attaches itself it grows rapidly. Decumaria barbara, a closely
allied climber, is not at all like the Hydrangeas in habit of
growth, but from the start pushes on rapidly. Though a
native of our southern states, it is perfectly hardy in Philadel-

phia and much farther north.
Germantown, Pa. Foseph Meehan.

Correspondence.

Ericas as Market Plants.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—The festivals of Christmas and Easter are now two
events of the first importance to the commercial florists, for
at these times the demand for plants and flowers reaches its
highest mark. Especially at the latter festival does thereseem
to be an almost unlimited outlet, especially as then the range
of choice is much greater thanit is in the dull weather of the
early winter.

Naturally there are many would-be gleaners at the harvest,
and every grower at this season exerts himself to produce his
specialty in its finest form and greatest abundance. For the
modern flower grower for the market is a specialist in very
few plants. Competition has driven him to grow only those
plants which he best understands and can grow to the greatest
perfection or most economically.

Among the choicest plants grown for the market are the
Ericas, or Cape Heaths, but often sold in the city shops as
Scotch Heather. Notso many years ago Heaths were driven
out of private greenhouses by the Orchids, and those beautiful
plants are seldom or never seen in collections. As is well
known, they require cultural skill of a high order, and only
the softer-wooded kinds are now grown as market plants by a
few specialists. Among the best growers of these plants in
this locality is Louis Dupuy, a young Frenchman, whose
houses are located on a warm southern slope in Whitestone,
Long Island. There I found the other day Heaths in allstages,
from cuttings to three-year-old plants, the mature ones ready
for the Easter market in hundreds and, perhaps, thousands.
Judging from the health and thriftiness of the plants here one
might suppose them as easily grown as Geraniums if he did
not know to the contrary. Like all good growers of plants,
Mr. Dupuy has nocultural secrets. Learning his business on
the Continent, Mr. Dupuy found, in undertaking the culture of
Heaths here, that, like many other plants, they required dif-
ferent treatment in their environment, and he has broken
away somewhat from the traditional practice so rigidly adhered
toabroad. In the first place, they are potted in none of the
fancy soil mixtures usually recommended in the books, but

“simply in good light soil, with plenty of sand, the local article,

in fact. Of course, the successful culture of Heaths is a matter
of careful, unremitting attention as to air and watering. I sup-
pose the secret of Mr. Dupuy’s success may be summed up
in the sympathetic culture of each plant as an individual. I
learned, also, thata tight greenhouse isa poor place for Heaths.
According to Mr. Dupuy’s experience on both sides of the
ocean, he gets as much growth from a cutting in one year
here as is secured abroad in two, and his two-year-old plants
are as large as European ones at three years old. The one-
year-old plants here were very bushy and about nine inches

APRIL 1, 1896.]

high, and in four and four and a half inch pots. This
is the most popular size. Those unsold are cut down after
flowering and grown on in six-inch pots, and make plants
about eighteen inches high and as much through, This, of
course, refers to the varieties now in flower, which are mostly
Erica persoluta alba for white, and E. Mediterranea for pink.
For Christmas there are grown here E, Wilmoreana, one
known as E, nigra and E. gracilis vernalis. Even earlier there
is a form of E. gracilis autumnalis, a favorite English variety.
There were a few plants of E. cylindrica just coming on, which
have large tubular corollas of a beautiful coral-color. Accord-
ing to recent investigations, Heaths and a number of plants
naturally growing in soil rich in humus have their roots much
modified, and flourish most successfully when their roots are
covered by fungoid growths. This is given as an example of
most important plant association, or the so-called symbiosis,
as the mycelium of the fungus is said to act as the absorber
of nutriment from organic matter instead of the usual root-
hairs, which fail to develop in such cases. It will be noticed
that Mr. Dupuy’s potting-soil is not favorable to fungal devel-
opment, but I brought a specimen plant away for examination
of the roots. Under a microscope of high power it was seen
that no parasites infested the roots of the plants, and the root-
hairs were very abundant. This proves nothing against the
scientific theory, but it does seem to prove that the Ericas
have an adaptability not always suspected, and will grow per-
fectly in what might be considered unnatural conditions. The
same painstaking care shown in the culture of Heaths was
evident in all the plants on the place. There were fine dwarf
plants of Hydrangea Otaksa, well-grown Lilies, Genistas
(Cytisus), Azaleas, Spirzeas, Daisies and a number of beauti-
tully lowered Acacia armata, a plant of great distinction,
leading to coveteousness. Mr. Dupuy also grows Carnations and
hybrid Roses—Ulrich Brunner at the moment. Sweet Peas
were grown cleverly in pots, a device rather novel, but useful,
as they can be shifted about as space permits when the plants

now crowding are cleared out.
Blizabelhy No Tae ¥. N. Gerard.

Farming on Vacant City Lots.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—On reading your editorial on the cultivation of the
vacant lots I was struck with the humanitarianism and practi-
cability of this plan to help the now almost helpless poor.
Apart from scientific aspects of the case, with which GARDEN
AND ForEST chiefly has to do, the economics of such ques-
tions, particularly the relation of men to the soil, is a matter of
supreme importance, on a proper adjustment of which the
weal or woe of a country largely depends.

This might be illustrated by the almost uniform prosperity
of settlers in new countries, where civilization barely begins,
but where land is easily accessible, contrasted with the con-
stantly recurring seasons of depression in the more densely
settled countries where civilization attains highest develop-
ment, but where land is not to be had except at exorbitant

rices.

I would, therefore, urge the further discussion of this mat-
ter in the hope that, by a free exchange of opinion, a simple
and, therefore, practicable plan may be evolved whereby the
needy masses may be enabled to get access to the idle lands
on terms which, without recourse to charity, will afford a
proper recompense for their labor, security for their crops, and
work no injustice to the owners of legitimate investments.

News Volk: Luther G. Sand.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—Your editorial, “Farming on Vacant City Lots,” is
timely and interesting. The educational side of the scheme
has a special interest for me, but chiefly in its politico-
economic aspects, for it will help to explode Malthusian falla-
cies about overpopulation, restricting immigration, regu-
lating hours of labor, limiting apprenticeship, and the like.
The earth is large enough and fertile enough for ten or twenty
times its present population, and the bringing together of idle
hands and idle lands will alleviate this horrible poverty that
festers in our great cities. 9

The assertion that ‘anybody who wants work can find it
is utterly false ; I have ‘been there” myself. The Detroit plan
proves that a large number, at least, of the very poor will work
if they are given a chance at the land. This opportunity will
be worth infinitely more to them than all the charity that wealth
can offer. It will put them on their mettle and infuse into them

Be gndependence of true manhood. Stephen Bell.

Garden and Forest.

139

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—It seems to me that had the writer of the editorial in
GARDEN AND Forest given thesame careful thought to the sug-
gestion regarding the cultivation of vacant-lot gardens that has
generally marked the discussion of technical subjects in that
paper, his conclusions would have been different.

There is danger in this proposal; the scheme in my
opinion is the entering wedge for land confiscation. Let the
masses once realize that with free access to land they can
make their own living; give them that free access in the
name of charity, and it will not be long before the philan-
thropic features of the case will be forgotten, and access to
land will be demanded as a matter of right, and questions of
title between the state and the individual will be subjected to
the same remorseless scrutiny and review as similar questions
between individuals are decided now.

You see the danger to property owners? Even now the
right of the landlord to ground-rent is being questioned, that
right which may be roughly defined as a privilege to appro-
priate a part of the earnings of the labor which must use the
land. Suppose lot owners allow the use of their land fora
few years without recompense—in other words, charitably
donate the rent to their tenants—a time must necessarily come
when rent will have to be collected or the lots vacated. Is it
likely that the people who have “squatted” on the property
for years will pay or quit without trouble? Besides their un-
willingness to give up part of their earnings to the landowner,
is it not probable that their husbandry, presupposing it suc-
cessful, will have created a powerful public opinion antago-
nistic to the landowners, as such ?

While it cannot be denied that some beneficial results have
to be credited to the experiment at its present stage, there can
be little doubt that these are due to exceptional circumstances.
I believe itis not claimed by its originators that the ‘“ potato-
patch plan” isa panacea; and their moderationin this respect
is justified by every feature of the case. Nothing short of
renting the land at a fair valuation will enable the tenants to
maintain their self-respect; and in case advances are made
for seeds, living expenses, etc., the security usual in such cases
should be given to the lender. No other plan will meet the
exigencies of the case and remove all fear in the future of a
dangerous spirit of independence among the classes whose
necessities are now the object of philanthropic solicitude.

New York. Gregory Smith.

Exhibitions.
Boston Flower Show.

T the exhibition of spring flowers given in Boston last

week by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society the three
most interesting features were, first, a collection of Persian
Cyclamens from the gardens of Mr. N. T. Kidder, of Milton.
The plants were exceptionally well flowered, with abundant
foliage and large clear-colored flowers of good substance.
Better-grown and more beautiful plants, perhaps, have never
been produced, although a large and evenly grown collection
of the same plants were shown by Mrs. B. P. Cheney, of
Wellesley. Second, a plant of the Japanese Crimson Rambler
Rose, two years from a graft, grown by Mr. Jackson Dawson,
of the Arnold Arboretum. The plant was five feet six inches
high and almost as deep through, covered to the pot with
healthy foliage and with more than a hundred clusters of
flowers. Whatever may be said of the beauty of this variety,
which some people think less attractive than the single white-
flowered Rosa multiflora, from which it has sprung, or than
the hybrid Dawson Rose, this specimen shows its possibilities
as a pot-plant for winter or spring decoration. The flowers
are of a glowing color, which outshone that of the Indian
Azaleas near it, and under electric light it was still more
lustrous. The society’s silver medal was awarded to this
plant. The third striking feature was a well-grown plant
of the Australian Acacia Drummondii, about eight feet
high and five or six feet through, exhibited by Dr. Charles
Weld, of Brookline. This also received the society’s silver
medal. Other noticeable exhibits were the Catherine Mer-
met Roses shown by Mr. William H. Elliot, of Brighton, and
the fine hybrids by David Nevins, of Framingham, and a col-
lection of hardy shrubs forced at the Bussey Institution and
exhibited by Mr. Charles Dawson, who is exceptionally suc-
cessful in the management under glass of early spring hardy
flowers. Among these were Andromeda Japonica, A. flori-
bunda, A. polifolia, A. speciosa, Daphne Cneorum, Leuco-
thoé Catesbzei and a peculiar Gorse, Genista Germanica.

140

Notes.

The Ceylon Forester gives the dimensions of a Banyan-tree
at the Admiralty House at Trincomalee, the girth of whose
central trunk is nineteen feet six inches at three feet from the
ground, the full height of the tree being sixty-six feet and six
inches, and the circumference of the circle shaded by its
foliage being 541 feet.

At the recent meeting of the Massachusetts Fruit-growers’
Association at Worcester it was stated that the canning of good
apples was constantly on the increase in obedience to a
steadily growing demand for them, especially abroad, Great
Britain alone last year having taken 20,000 dozen. The canned
product is so attractive that the demand for evaporated apples
is diminishing. ;

Some experiments made in Belgium recently tend to throw
doubt upon the truth of the assumption that insects are
guided to flowers by the brightness of their colors. Bril-
hantly colored Dahlias were covered so as to expose only the
disks, and butterflies and bees sought these flowers with the
same eagerness and frequency as those which were fully ex-
posed. The conclusion by Plateau was that the insects are
guided more by their sense of smell than by their perception
of the bright colors,

A Buffalo correspondent writes that he finds Linum (Rein-
wardtia) trigynum one of the best of the few window plants
which flower in early winter—that is, before ordinary bulbs
are brought forward. Beginning with the last of November the
Linum will rival the Chinese Primrose in profusion of bloom,
and if the two are placed together in a cool window where the
temperature is kept above actual freezing the golden yellow
flowers of the Linum will appear to admirable advantage
among those of the Primroses, and both will keep on flower-
ing until late in February.

Mr. Joseph Meehan writes to confirm what we have stated
about the shy way in which Magnolia Kobus blooms when
young. He speaks of a beautiful specimen in Germantown
with a trunk four feet in circumference at a foot from the
ground, just below its separation into several large limbs.
The tree is twenty-two feet high, with a spread of twenty feet
across, and very symmetrical in shape. This tree has flow-
ered as yet but very little, although it is doing so more freely
every year. Large as it is, he thinks it carries no more than a
hundred flower-buds this spring, while a tree of M. conspicua
of the same size would have thousands. The flowers are not
large and the buds at present are not. more than one-third the
size of those of M. conspicua.

.. Green peas have recently been shipped from Florida
in comparatively large quantities, this vegetable, with mint,
being in more especial demand as an accompaniment to spring
lamb. Seventy-five cents a half-peck is the current price.
Tender and fresh-looking string-beans, also from Florida, sell
for twenty-five cents a quart, and some late okra, from Loui-
siana, costs ten cents a dozen. But little cauliflower is coming
from Florida, and the dependence has been on the California
supply, which finds ready sale at twenty-five cents a head, a
limited quantity from France selling for sixty cents. Boston
hot-house cucumbers sell at fifteen cents each, and mush-
rooms from Long Island and New Jersey at ninety cents a
pound. Large stalks of asparagus, as fine as any grown in
northern gardens later in the season, are now coming from
South Carolina, and sell for sixty-five to ninety cents a bunch.
Egg-plants from Florida and Cuba cost twenty-five to thirty
cents each, and celery, from Florida and California, $1.25 fora
dozen stalks. Beets are coming from Florida and the Ber-
mudas, and other field crops arriving from these islands are
kohl-rabi, carrots, onions, potatoes, parsley and Romaine let-
tuce. Tomatoes from Florida and Key West cost twenty-five
cents a pound, and the near-by hot-house product thirty-five
to fifty cents. Other new-crop vegetables now in market are
white squashes and cabbage from Florida, and lettuce from
Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina. Some of the first-class
fruit and vegetable stores now include in their varied stock
yams, from the Bahamas, These rough-skinned, irregularly
shaped tubers find not a few curious purchasers, fifteen cents
a pound being the price asked for this popular food of the
West Indian negroes.

The sales of cut flowers during the Lenten season, which
closes with this week, have been more satisfactory to the deal-
ers than in former seasons, and informal dinner and theatre
parties have made considerable demands until now, in Holy
Week, when but few flowers are sold. While there have been
not a few muggy days during the weeks when plants and

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 423.

flowers have been forced for Easter, the weather, altogether,
has not been unfavorable, and the quality of flowers is, per-
haps, higher than ever before. To growers whose stock is
developed to the point of hardening off sunless days are now
comparatively harmless, though a hindrance to any whose
plants are belated in development. The uptown flower-stores
began on Monday to receive their Easter stock. Lilies, as
usual, are most conspicuously associated with the season, and
after these azaleas are most abundant. Acacias are among the
most popular plants, as are Heaths, the light-colored Erica
gracilis and the rich pinkish lavender of the more densely
flowered E. globosa being varieties frequently seen. Among
the newer and rarer offerings of this season are Asparagus
Sprengeri, luxuriant drooping plants of which, in ten-inch
pots, are offered at $4.00. Spirazaa compacta is evidently sup-
planting the old S. Japonica, the larger and denser flower-
trusses of the former proving much more durable. Genistas
are somewhat less generally grown than formerly, due to the
fact that the flowers fall so soon, acomplaint also made against
the still less popular Hydrangeas, which are specially suscepti-
ble to injury from lack of water. In cut flowers carnations are
remarkably fine this season, and it is said by expert buyers
that ten good flowers are obtainable this year for one a season
ago. Helen Keller is just now the most expensive variety,
costing one-third more than William Scott and other standard
sorts. In roses, Meteor, Bridesmaid, Bride, American Beauty
and Mrs, Pierpont Morgan are the favorites in this order,
and Baroness Rothschild, Merveille de Lyon and extra-fancy
buds of American Beauty have a demand of their own at
prices as high as $18.00 a dozen. The greatest novelty is, per-
haps, Moss Roses, dainty plants appearing in one of the Broad-
way window displays, while small sprays, each carrying a
delicate bud, are more frequently seen. Sweet peas, lilacs,
Poet's narcissus, forget-me-nots, gardenia and Cape jessamine
appear in all the collections.

Firm, well-grown and richly colored strawberries are now
quite plentiful, a well-packed quart box costing sixty-five to
seventy-five cents, while the more delicate berries from hot-
houses near Hackensack, New Jersey, cost $1.50 for the same
quantity. Grape-fruits from Jamaica, carefully carried over in
cold storage, bring fifty cents each, and selected Navel oranges
from California sell for $1.00 a dozen. New limes from
Jamaica, smalland not fully colored, cost $2.50 for one hun-
dred, and the first new-crop Jamaica oranges have already
followed upon the old crop. While not fully matured, these
are in demand at $4.50 to $8.00 a barrelin wholesale lots. A few
tangerines are still shown in collections of citrus fruits. Fresh-
looking Catawba grapes, covered with bloom, cost so late in
the season but thirty-five cents for a three-pound basket, and
heavily shouldered bunches of Almerias, with rich pink color-
ing, sell at fifty cents a pound. The first native-grown Black
Hamburg grapes, from Pennsylvania graperies, now com-
mand $5.00 a pound, and large bunches of immense berries
of Gros Colman, cut with a piece of the woody vine, are a
luxury at the same high price. These come from the Isle of
Wight. Thestaple apples seen in the wholesale markets are
Roxbury and Golden Russets, Baldwin, Ben Davis and Greenings,
these ranging in cost from $2.50 to $4.25 a barrel to dealers. In
fruiterers’ collections Ben Davis apples sell at sixty to seventy-
five centsa dozen, and Newtown pippins at seventy-five cents
to $1.00. A showy red apple, known as Willow Twig in the
trade, is of more delicate coloring than the Baldwin and resem-
bles Northern Spy in its crisp and juicy quality. A few bright-
cheeked Lady apples are carried over for use in making up
fancy baskets of fruits. Winter Seckel, Winter Nelis, Forelle,
Easter Beurre, P. Barry and the large Acme pears are offered
at seventy-five cents to $3.00 a dozen, The best shops include,
besides fresh fruits, attractive and varied displays of nuts and
of preserved fruits. Among many sorts of nuts that may now
be had are large Pecans from Texas, American filberts, Eng-
lish cob nuts in their hulls, Paradise and Souari nuts from
South America, large Italian chestnuts and the so-called Lychee
nuts, besides the commoner domestic nuts, whole and skill-
fully shelled. The array of preserved fruits is almost endless,
and olives of many sorts and sizes, from tiny, bean-shaped
Crescents to large oval Queens ; maroons, crystallized ginger,
crystallized fruits from France, and crystallized semi-tropical
fruits from California; layerand pulled figs andthe candied
product, the familiar Fard dates, besides a section of the stem
thickly set with this fruit, each in a fancy box, and dates stuffed
with Pecans ; German prunes, in pound boxes, costing sixty
cents, and large, meaty French prunes, in jars holding two
pounds, for $1.00; Guava and other domestic and imported
jellies, including Japanese and Indian preserves, are a mere
suggestion of the tempting and wholesome stock,

APRIL 8, 1896.]

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrick: Trisung Buitpinc, New York,

Conducted by . .. +. + « « « « « Professor C. S. SarGent.

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 1896.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.
EprrorraL ArticLes :—Dangerous Enemies of Street Trees......++.....eeeeee ee 341
Sowinow White Pine Seed. siscjecsuiaciss, pelzi=\s\t/es/laisisieie ois siaials eis aibicjaide-eie'e 142

Proposed Plan for Madison Square, New York. oe Hews )

1. G. Van Rensselaer. 142
-W. Watson. 144
neis E. Lloyd. 146
~F¥. N. Gerard. 146
-T. D. Hatfield. 147

ForREIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter......
Piant Norges :—Quercus Calitornica. (Witl
CuttuRaL DEPARTMENT :—The Earliest Spring Flower
Orchids at Langwater Gardens .......--.-.---.++005
IBOMA LEAS ice selierssleiatein © wieicia winnie is)ainele.cias cm saisje\s
Seasonable Flowers in the eel Grecpboues:

Clianthus Dampieri... Bere jajaeteerat tatiraiy sieicistsiete'sie\sie'vivie.s asi.si6:2 147
Hippeastrum (Aclrerinian niece bie Yh sate ace cance (cs Gea sees o a Die 148
Hardiness of Aspidistra lurida.. Joseph Meehan. 148
CorRESPONDENCE :—Nurseries at Bay Ridge. sisi aie is cis imte mati ars M. iG Ae

Protection for a Public Interest......
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
NOTES... o00) cece sc ccce cc ccse ce cece se asce cs tectenetecer nceee
ILLUSTRATIONS +"Present Arrangement of Madison Squar cs Fig. 1 18

Suggestion for the Improvement of Madison Square, by E. Hamilton Bell

and Daniel W. Langton, Fig. 19 ..--..0-++sseeeeeeee seen ee ees Bistenisis 143

Quercus’ Californica, in Oregon, Figs 26.c0.00 22s ectseececasseceseetsnes 145

Dangerous Enemies of Street Trees.

OW much the beauty and comfort of public high-
ways, and especially of streets in towns and Cities,
are increased by a border of thrifty and symmetrical
trees can be appreciated by those who have driven under
the avenues of Live Oaks and Laurel Oaks in some of our
southern towns and cities or beneath the long arches of
Elms a century old which can be found occasionally in
New England, and yet not one town or city in a hundred,
take the country through, is able to show a row of street-
trees of any considerable length which are what they ought
to be. As we have often explained, mistakes are made at
the very outset by selecting short-lived trees like the Syca-
more Maple, or those which lack vigor like the European
Ash, or others with brittle branches like the Ash-leaved
Maple, or Poplars whose trunks are soon riddled by borers.
And even when the proper kinds are selected no adequate
care is taken to insure anything like wholesome growth by
a proper preparation of the ground in which they are to
stand, although there is no more excuse for planting a tree
in imperfectly prepared soil than there would be for sow-
ing wheat on an unplowed field. If the young tree has
abundant food for its roots and room for its branches to
spread, and is properly anchored until it gets firmly set, it
probably is left unmulched, and therefore exposed to
drought and changes of temperature, or it has no guard
against the teeth of horses, no opening in the asphalt about
its base to receive water, or itis mangled by some ignorant
tree-trimmer and its wounds left bare to invite the rot fun-
gus. The hopeless part of the case is that its natural pro-
tectors, the people about it, have no affectionate interest in
it. They see it languish without any attempt to revive it.
They do not consider one who wounds and bruises it a
public malefactor.

No doubt, the way to insure satisfactory street-trees is
to put the whole business in the hands of a skilled com-
mission. There is no reason why a man should be allowed
to select the tree to plant along the street before his house,
or to plant it in his own crude way, any more than he
should be permitted to build his own sewer or his own
sidewalk to suit his personal whims. Where there isa
commission of men who understand their work like those

Garden and Forest.

141

in Washington every tree is inspected before it is planted,
so that specimens of even growth and similar shape are
secured. They are then scientifically planted and cared
for, and, more than that, they are systematically pruned,
an operation which street-trees need above all others.
Until the planting and care of these trees is considered an
important municipal matter, like providing a water-supply,
and one which as truly demands expert ability, the trees in
our streets will be likely to excite commiseration rather
than pride. Reformation in our city practice as to street-
trees will come like other reforms, only after a strong pub-
lic sentiment is enlisted in its favor.

Because there is no such sentiment—that is, because the
trees have no active friends—they suffer from another cause
which is one of the most serious dangers at present threat-
ening them. Since the increased use of electricity, wires
for telephones and trolleys are run through every village
and almost every country road, so that no tree which
stands on the public highway is out of danger from the
axes of linemen. Occasionally some indignant citizen has
mustered courage to bring these vandals into the courts,
and in some cases exemplary damages have been secured,
but the destruction seems to go on unchecked all over the
country. In a late number of the Afchigan Cyclist, Mr.
Charles A. Garfield writes that a gang of telephone men
utterly destroyed, with no apparent reason, the most beau-
tiful Maple-tree in the southern part of the city of Grand
Rapids. It had been trained and pruned into comeliness
and had become a delight to every one who passed it, but
in five minutes its beauty was destroyed forever. These
marauders unloaded poles upon shrubbery and dug a hole
for a post in the midst of a group of shrubs by the road-
side, and when remonstrated with they replied that they
thought this was wild brush which ought to be cleared
away. This pole with its weight of wire stood at a street
corner, and to make it steady, guy wires were wrapped
about a noble Walnut which had been cherished for more
than fifty years ; its branches were cut and its trunk half-
girdled. Professor Beal added that his experience corroborates
entirely that of Mr. Garfield. Two fine White Oaks nearhim
had half their tops cut away and the limbs were left where
they fell. A thrifty young Elm and an elegant Beech, trees
with trunks more than a foot in diameter, had most of the
branches on one side cut away and reduced to stubs from ~
one to six feet in length. Reports of this kind come from
all parts of the country, anditis time that some associations
like village-improvement societies or forestry associations
should unite to try their rights before the law.

What is primarily needed in all such cases is a public
sentiment which appreciates the value ofa tree, for when
the use and beauty of these wayside trees are thoroughly
understood their owners will defend them as they will
any other property. Meantime, the natural enemies of
trees are increasing. The imported Elm-leaf beetle has
become a pest of the first magnitude, and although we
may expect that its ravages will be checked by natural
causes after a time, this may not happen aes many of
our finest trees are killed, for certainly no tree can endure
defoliation for several successive summers w ithout loss of
constitutional vigor and early death. Science has taught us
how to meet-these attacks as well as those of the tussock-
moth, the bag-worm and other pests of this sort, and the
matter has seemed so important that the Division of
Entomology of the United States Department of Agricul-
ture has issued a special circular on the subject in advance
of a more complete article which is prepared for the Year
Book of the department. There is no need of repeating
here what has been frequently said about the necessity of
spraying, the proper material to use, and the time of appli-
cation. The serious question to be dealt with is the spray-
ing apparatus, especially where there are large trees which
areinfested. Hand pumpshave been used by the Gipsy-moth
Commission of Massachusetts for trees in streets and parks,
but since it is necessary to work rapidly to get over the
trees just when the remedy will be most effectual a steam

142

apparatus would be altogether preferable. The most ap-
proved apparatus is described, but the special suggestion
which will be most valuable for towns and cities is that an
old steam fire-engine can be readily arranged for this spray-
ing work among the shade-trees. Indeed, a steam fire-
engine without any modification is a valuable aid against
many kinds of insects which can be washed from the
branches and foliage by the simple force of the water. But
in cities of any size a fire-engine is occasionally retired,
and a little work by a competent steam-fitter would trans-
form it into an admirable insect destroyer.

If the city authorities refuse to do this work, codperation
by citizens can accomplish much. Private individuals can-
not invest in an expensive apparatus for the few trees on
their own grounds, and, therefore, combination is essential,
and here, as this bulletin points out, is an opportunity for
the new business of spraying at a given price for each tree.
Mr. W. S. Bullard, of Bridgeport, Connecticut, has con-
structed several cart sprayers, and during the months of
June and July he sprays the trees on the grounds of private
individuals and along the streets in front of them under
contract, guaranteeing to keep them in fair condition during
the season. His work has been directed solely against the
Elm-leaf beetle, the only insect of importance in Bridge-
port, and last year any one driving through the streets of
that city could easily pick out the trees which had been
placed under his care. These were green, while others
were brown and nearly leafless. Of course, if every owner
of property or resident would agree to employ a tree-
sprayer there would be no need of the coédperation of the
city authorities, but some might be unwilling to do this.

After all, as we have repeated, the ultimate protection of
the trees rests upon public opinion, and it is to this end the
circular suggests the banding together of citizens in a tree-
protectors’ league. Last summer one of the Washington
newspapers in every issue through the summer contained
a coupon reciting briefly the desirability of protecting the
shade-trees and enrolling every signer as a member of
such a league, pledging him to do his best toward de-
stroying the injurious insects upon the city’s shade-trees
adjoining his residence. If every household could be
made to take a proper interest in this matter the work
would be half done. What is needed is intelligent work
at the proper time—the burning of the webs of the fall
web-worm in May and June, the destruction of the larve
of the Elm-leaf beetle about the bases of the Elm-trees in
late June and July, the picking of the eggs of the tussock-
moth in winter and equally simple operations for other
insects when they become especially injurious. The sub-
ject is one worth the attention of the Agricultural Depart-
ment, and we hope this paper prepared by Professor L. O.
Howard will be widely read and heeded.

In a recent issue of Zhe American Cultivator, Mr. J. D.
Lyman, of Exeter, New Hampshire, describes a plantation
of White Pine made about forty years ago in Enfield, Con-
necticut, by Omar Pease, one of the colony of Shakers
which settled in that place toward the end of the last cen-
tury. A sandy plain, which had been cropped with Corn
and Rye until what little fertility it had ever possessed was
exhausted so far as the production of profitable farm crops
was concerned, was planted with the seeds of the White
Pine. Two quarts of the Pine seed were mixed with rye
or buckwheat sufficient to sow an acre of ground, the seed
being scattered as if the crop of grain was the only object
of the sowing. In this way from year to year, as Pine
seed could be obtained, rather more than two hundred
acres were sown. After the death of Omar Pease one of
his fields, about forty acres in extent, covered with Pines a
foot high, was plowed up in the belief that it would pro-
duce Rye more profitably than Pine-trees. Nothing has
been done to the land since the seed was sown, and noth-
ing has been done to the trees, which now cover something
over one hundred and sixty acres. Omar Pease’s good
work ended with sowing the seeds. Neither he nor any of

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 424.

his successors have ever thinned the plantation, and Mr.
Lyman finds many Pines growing in a space where there
should be only one, and his belief is that the trees have
made less growth than they would have, had the planta-
tion been properly thinned from time to time. He adds:

In one place, selecting what appeared an average growth, I
found ninety trees on four square rods, or 3,600 to the acre.
Cutting what I thought an average tree I found, as nearly as I
could judge by counting rings in stump and rows of limbs,
that the tree was forty-three years from the seed. It was forty-
nine feet high and seven inches in diameter at the stump, In
another part of the plantation I found eighty-four trees to the
square rod, or 13,440 tothe acre. An average tree was here
2 8-1o inches in diameter at the stump and twenty-nine and
one-half feet in height; as it had twenty-seven rows of limbs
I concluded that it started from seed about thirty-one or thirty-
two years ago. Properly thinned from time to time there
would have been of these trees some four hundred to the
acre and they would have been about eight inches in diameter
at the stump and, perhaps, four or five feet taller. The first
trees, instead of being seven inches in diameter, would, by
proper thinning, have been about one foot.

It is a prevalent idea, supported by the results of many
experiments, that it is a difficult matter to raise White Pines
from seed sown in the open ground, the young seedlings
of this tree being very susceptible to exposure to the full
sun. Omar Pease, by demonstrating that poor, sandy land
in New England can be seeded with White Pine as success-
fully and easily as it can with the far less valuable Pitch
Pine, has rendered the country a service, and his plantations
can, perhaps, be made to serve a valuable object-lesson for
demonstrating the necessity of thinning young White Pine
forests in order to secure the largest results in the shortest
time.

Proposed Plan for Madison Square, New York City.

N another page are reproduced the plan of Madison
Square, in this city, as it is to-day, and a plan for its
rearrangement which was shown at the recent Architectural
League Exhibition, by Messrs. Bell & Langton, landscape-
architects.

Sixty years ago few buildings, except rural ones, stood
north of Union Square, and the area now called Madison
Square was an open tract some ten acres in extent, in the
centre of which stood a House of Refuge for unruly boys
—an altogether neglected and unsightly tract, of which
the only useful feature was a little pond used for skating in
the winter. When the House of Refuge burned in 1839,
efforts were made to improve the place, but nothing sub-
stantial was accomplished until the mayoralty of James
Harper, between the years 1844 and 1847. This was some
ten years before Central Park was thought of, and although
Downing had already done some of his best work, he had
not yet laid out those urban squares in Washington which
first showed American eyes what might be accomplished
in this direction.

When studied on paper the plan of Madison Square shows
the working of design, not of accident; yet its treatment
is so petty and monotonous, so wanting alike in broad
unity, in effective variety and in conspicuous points of
interest, that, we believe, few New Yorkers realize that it
has any plan at all. When seen from the encircling streets
it has a pleasantly verdurous and shady look, and it con-
tains some very good trees, an Elm which stands near its
north-easterly corner, opposite the University Club, being
the most symmetrical and beautiful tree which New York
possesses south of Central Park. But its trees are not prop-
erly grouped—they are simply scattered about. Hs lack
of shrubs permits the surrounding houses to reveal them-
selves too clearly from all points of view, and deprives it
of that charm of mystery, contrast and surprise which may
be achieved even within very narrow limits if shrubberies
are artistically employed. It affords no proper place for
the display of flower-beds, and none for the proper placing
of statues, The one virtue of the design is that those who
wish to cross the park diagonally may do so with reason-

ApRIL 8, 1896.]

able directness. And its chief defect is that its many minor
paths cut up its lawns so pitilessly that the eye nowhere
rests upon a quiet, reposeful stretch of green.

Truly naturalistic schemes of park design are, of course,
more difficult to manage well on a small than on a large
scale; and they are not as appropriate as others when the
architectural surroundings of the pleasure-ground are of an
obtrusively urban sort. Therefore, Messrs. Bell & Langton
have sensibly conceived their rearrangement of Madison
Square upon semi-formal lines. It may appear that in
drawing their main paths anew they have made diagonal
circulation less direct; but measurements show that, if
anything, they have shortened the diagonal courses. By
suppressing the minor paths they have won space for wide
lawns. Yet the accommodation for strollers and for play-
ing children, and for rows of seats as well, which is lost in

a

; ee

NO oe, a iy
aie Z V es

Samak — ae AY_

Fig. 18 —Present Arrangement of Madison Square, New York.

this way, is more than made good by the broad mall which
forms the central feature of their design, the two parallel
paths which lie beyond its flanking flower-beds, and the
large open circles which surround the basin that now exists,
and the one which they indicate as balancing it toward the
_north, The formal flower-beds, thus properly conceived as
important parts of a formal scheme, would be effective and
delightful in themselves and would increase that beauty of
general effect which they ruin when they are intruded into
a purely naturalistic scheme. The Farragut Monument
(A) is left in its present place, -while its back is screened by
shrubs, as was intended when it was built. The statues of
Seward and Conklin (B, B), which now look as though
they had been dropped down by accident, are properly
incorporated with the more formal part of the pleasure-
ground. The kiosk (C), a necessary convenience, has

Garden and Forest.

143

tightly been removed toa less conspicuous station and
discreetly screened by foliage on all sides.

In explaining their design Messrs. Bell & Langton say
that the improvements they suggest would be accom-
plished with “no sacrifice worth mentioning of the existing
trees,” while those that would necessarily be removed would
be compensated for by their new central avenue. They
point out that “the careful planning of the shrub-planting
has isolated the formal centre” of their design from the
noisy streets on all sides, although particular care has been
taken to avoid interference with the cooling breezes so
grateful in summer. “It would probably prove advisable
in execution,” they add, “to follow the accepted rule of
utilizing a number of species, though we propose so to
concentrate these as to make effective masses of one or
two kindred species which blossom or fruit at the same

season, thus providing a constant succession of attractive
blossoming throughout the year. But a more satisfactory
and artistic proceeding in a city like New York would be
to treat the entire park as a unit, filling it with trees and
shrubs all of which reach their prime of beauty at the same
season. Thus, if Madison Square were so planted as to
blossom in May, it might be made an object of enjoyment
and pilgrimage not only to New Yorkers, but to the resi-
dents of the entire neighborhood. When this blossoming
season was over, the flowers in the formal garden, set in
the green park, would take up the succession and carry it
through the year. One of the other parks might be so
planned as to bloom later in the summer, and yet another
to be at its prime in the autumn.”

This is an interesting suggestion, yet there are some rea-
sons against its adoption in a large and busy city like New

144

_ York. The pleasure of the majority should be chiefly con-
sidered. The majority of those who enjoy our small parks
are the persons who have the habit of frequenting the
same one day by day, or who pass it perforce in their
daily round to and from their places of business, or whose
windows look out upon it. And these people might—I do
not say that they would—prefer to have their park display
as many as possible of the beauties characteristic of each
season in turn rather than to find it supremely attractive
at any one season.

But, be this as it may, Madison Square would be im-
proved for all seasons if it were rearranged according to
Messrs. Bell & Langton’s plan. This does not mean that
the plan is faultless. In the first place, its authors were
obliged to accept the trees as they stand instead of con-
ceiving their plantations as an harmonious whole. Then,
this fact puts difficulties. in the way of shrub-planting ; for,
while many shrubs grow well under trees if they are planted
when the trees are, and become well established before the
ground is shaded, it is harder to induce them to thrive when
set after the associated trees have attained their growth.
And, finally, an actual mistake may be pointed out in the
new plan: lawns which run to sharp points are undesira-
ble in public pleasure-grounds because unruly feet are
almost certain to trample upon these points, and also be-
cause the grass will dry out and the lawn-mower does not
easily reach them. Neveriheless, considering the attendant
difficulties, the plan is interesting. It is published here
less with the idea that Madison Square may actually be
renovated according to its indications than in the belief
that a comparison of it with the existing state of the Square
will be instructive to those charged with the arrangement of
new small parks in this and other cities. Sometimes, even in
small urban parks, conspicuous features may prescribe a
naturalistic method.of treatment. This was the case, for
example, on Mount Morris Park, in Harlem, where the
existence of a bold rocky hill, as tall as the surrounding
houses, inspired the reservation of the tract around it.
But such instances are very rare. As a rule, a formal or
semi-formal manner of treatment, resulting in a pleasure-
ground which is properly to be called a large garden rather
than a park, must be most appropriate for restricted areas
in the heart of a great city. And Messrs. Bell & Langton
show that such a manner of treatment need not exclude
variety in design, abundance of shade, the reposeful effect
of wide green lawns, or even such seemingly unstudied,
yet artistic, arrangements of trees, shrubs and grass as
may produce pleasingly naturalistic impressions and il-

lusions. 7
New York City. M. G. Van Rensselaer.

Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.

LissocHiLus cristatus.—This is a beautiful terrestrial
Orchid in the way of Lissochilus Krebsii, and evidently as
likely to thrive under artificial treatment as that species,
hitherto the only one of the thirty species known that
deserves to rank with good garden Orchids. L. cristatus
was named by Mr. Rolfe on its first flowering at Kew in
September, 1892, having been received from Uganda, where
it was collected on the hills by Mr. Buchanan. It has
lately flowered also in a garden in Liverpool and the scape
has been sent toKew. The pseudo-bulbs are ovoid, the
leaves narrow, lanceolate, thick and somewhat fleshy, and
about a footlong. The scape is erect, thirty inches long,
and it bears ten flowers, each oneand a half inches across ;
sepals small, dull purple; petals broadly oval, nearly an
inch long, flat, purplish crimson in front, bright yellow
behind ; lip saccate, with a distinct spur; the mouth wide,
the front lobe short, with prominent ridges, bright yel-
low, with a maroon-colored tip; column short, purplish,
with a green apex. L. Krebsii grows and flowers freely at
Kew in a warm greenhouse, and L. cristatus promises to
do equally well under similar treatment. It is an Orchid

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 424.

which, if a few hundred plants were placed on the market,
would secure ready buyers.

CypripEDIUM SANDER#.—One thousand plants, recently
imported, were sold by auction here last week under this
‘‘provisional” name. ‘The description states that this is
the best Cypripedium for cutting purposes ever introduced,
and that from photographs and measurements received
with the plants this species is believed to be far and away
the largest of the genus yet discovered. Here is a descrip-
tion of the flower :

Dorsal sepal broadly spear-shaped, the basal portion, median
line and veins a warm crimson-maroon, the central portion a
clear canary-yellow tinged with green and with a broad margin
of pure white. The lateral petals, disposed at right angles to the
pouch and dorsal sepal, are of great breadth, much broader
than in any other Cypripede we know of; most distinct and
beautiful in color, the upper half of each petal is of the same
color as the basal portion of the dorsal sepal, the lower halves
being a clear yellow, slightly shaded in some instances with
maroon. The pouch is unique in shape, being much narrower
and more elongated than any other in the genus; in color it is
yellow shading into ochre. Most beautiful and quite novel in
shape.

I cannot identify this vague description with any known
species of Cypripedium, unless it be an ally of C. villosum.
The plants were in excellent condition, and we shall, no
doubt, soon be in a position to judge whether it deserves
all that the venders say of it. At the same time protest
must be made against this growing practice with Orchid
dealers of giving new names to plants on the chance of
their proving new when they flower.

An importation of ‘‘a new and magnificent Cypripedium
from the Malayan archipelago” was sold by auction this
week. Is it likely that this is identical with the preceding?
The collector in this case states that he discovered the
plants in an island devoid of civilization, and that this “is
certainly the grandest Cypripedium I have ever seen, and
should prove cne of the most sensational productions of
late years.” In this case the vender has omitted to give
the plant a name.

C@LOGYNE viRGINALIS is still another ‘‘ provisionally
named” introduction of which a hundred plants were sold
in London this week. It is described as a new species
with large, well-shaped pure white blossoms in the way of
C. cristata, and deliciously fragrant. They are produced in
great abundance during the winter months. The exigen-
cies of trade may justify this kind of proceeding, but it is
utterly bad in a botanical sense.

ZYGOPETALUM PERRENONDI.—This is a beautiful hybrid
which has been raised by Monsieur A. Peeters, nursery-
man, Brussels, from Zygopetalum intermedium and Z. max-
illare Gauteri. It was exhibited last week and was awarded
a certificate by the Royal Horticultural Society. It bore
a stout scape of five flowers, each nearly three inches
across, the sepals and petals lanceolate, spreading, with
recurved margins, colored green, with bands of dark
brown, and the lip of the same shape as Z. Mackayi,
colored intense violet-blue, with reticulations of a darker
shade.

Mirronia BLEvANA AuUREA is a variety of this remarkable
hybrid, in which the flowers are four inches across and the
white labellum is conspicuously marked with yellow at the
base. It was shown last week by Monsieur Peeters and
received a first-class certificate.

ANGULOA UNIFLORA:—An importation of this well-known
Orchid, the type of the genus, in fact, was sold in London
a few weeks ago under the “ provisional” name of Anguloa
albo-magna. Some of the plants have flowered lately and
prove to be identical with the plant figured in Zhe Bofanical
Magazine, t. 4807. The flowers are of medium size, white,
tinged with rose and spotted with pale red.

EPIDENDRUM ELEGANTULUM is a new Veitchian hybrid in
which there are two parts of E. Wallisii and one of E. En-
dresii, the two species named having been first crossed
and the product crossed again with E, Wallisii. It was
shown in flower last week and obtained a first-class cer-

APRIL 8, 1896.]

tificate. The flowers, which are in terminal panicles on
leafy stems, are one and a half inches across, the sepals
and petals ovate, concave, fleshy, dark brown, with reddish
eye-like spots, and the flat, fringed lip is white and yellow,
with rose-colored spots.

Cymsipium Low1o-EBuRNEUM.—Sir Trevor Lawrence has
emulated Messrs. Veitch & Sons by crossing Cymbidium
Lowii and C. eburneum, but reversed the parentage. The
result is a hybrid of superior merit to that raised by Messrs.
Veitch, the flowers of Sir Trevor's plant being ivory-white,
with plane segments and a labellum conspicuously marked
with a V-shaped blotch of crimson. It was shown in
flower last week and was awarded a first-class certificate.

Garden and Forest.

145

6,000 feet. I think they would thrive with you if fastened
onto the south side of a tree trunk in a sheltered spot out-
of-doors. I do not say that the plant would safely pass
through a winter like that of 1894-95, but I think it would
live outside through an average English winter. Ten to
fifteen degrees of frost are often experienced where I gath-
ered these plants, and the winds are often cold and cutting.
You might make the experiment, and the result would
probably be interesting.”

Contrerz.—A hand-list of Coniferee and Taxaceee grown
in the Royal Gardens, Kew, has just been issued, and may
be obtained from the curator, price threepence. It com-
prises 227 species, with 340 varieties, belonging to thirty

Fig. 20.—Quercus Californica, in Oregon.—See page 146.

Lexio-CaTtLeya Doris, a hybrid between L. harpophylla
and C. Trianz, raised simultaneously by Messrs. Veitch &
Sons and Mr. Norman Cookson, is an enlarged L. harpo-
phylla, the lip only bearing distinct evidences of the Cat-
tleya in its size, shape and tinge of purple. It received a
certificate last week.

CeLocyne cristaTa.—We grow this plant either in a stove
or a warm greenhouse temperature, but, according to a
correspondent in Saharumpur, in the north-west provinces
of India, it is found wild under conditions which seem to
indicate a hardier constitution than is commonly attributed
to it. He writes: “The plants I send were collected from
the face of exposed rocks at Mussoorie at an elevation of

seven genera. The arrangement of the genera differs in a
few particulars from that followed by Bentham and Hooker
in the Genera Plantarum, and the species are referred to the
genera under which they have been placed by the latest
authorities. Dr. Masters, F.R.S., the acknowledged au-
thority on the nomenclature of conifers in this country,
has assisted in the preparation of the list, which is prefaced
by an interesting historical introduction by Sir Joseph
Hooker, who has always taken a peculiar interest in this
group of plants, and to whose exertions, when Director at
Kew, the extent and richness of the collection of Conifer
at Kew is largely due. In 1877 Sir Joseph's interest in
conifers was one of the main influences which induced

146

him to undertake an extensive journey in western North
America, and the collection of cones, etc., which he then
formed is now in the Kew Museum. The synonymy of
Coniferee revealed by this list is appalling. Cultivators of

Gist a will find the list valuable. W. Watson,

Plant Notes.
Quercus Californica.

7 ELLOGG’S Oak, a western. representative of the Black
Oaks, is found distributed throughout the length of
Calitornia in the coast mountains and on the western slopes
of the Sierras, and in Oregon as far north as Eugene, ten
miles north of that city being its most northern limit.

This tree, a photograph of which is reproduced on page

145, is one of large dimensions and of fine, open, widely
branching and symmetrical habit. The trunk is rather
short, but is thick and stout. The bark is dark in color
(whence the popular Oregon name, Black Oak), one and a
half inches thick and rather deeply fissured longitudinally.
The twigs and leaves when young are clothed with a dense
white pubescence, which, however, soon disappears. The
dark twigs are then smooth, straight and more slender than
those of the Garry Oak, giving the tree a cleaner, more
open appearance. The leaves are oval in outline, the lobes
cut moderately deep, and these and the lobules pointed with
delicate spines. The petioles are short and slender. The
scales of the cups are thin, ovate, obtuse, flat and imbri-
cated and light brown in color.

The wood of this tree is especially worthy of notice. The
heart-wood has a reddish hue, the sap being darker and
lacking the red color. The pores of the wood are numer-
ous and slightly wavy ; the medullary rays are well marked
and not broad, but thick and pronounced in the tangential
and radial cut. Samples of the wood, even in an unpol-
ished state, are always admired. The tangential cut is
noticeably rich in figure, and the waviness of the vessels,
too, is more marked than in the radial or quartered cut. It
ought to be a great favorite for decoration and interior fin-
ish. It is, however, a little-known and still less appreciated
wood.

The bark is said to be rich in tannin and brings about
twice as much in the market as Hemlock bark.

The tree here reproduced is an old Jandmark standing in
Eugene, Oregon. It is something more than four feet in
diameter and is known in that locality as ‘‘ Henderson’s

Big Oak. Francis E. Lioyd.

Pacific University, Forest Grove, Oregon.

Anpromepa Martana.—A correspondent sends to this
office a branch of Andromeda Mariana in flower, with the
inquiry whether this shrub is ever planted for ornament.
Whether the branch was cut from a plant forced under glass
or whether it had merely been cut from a wild plant and
brought into flower by placing it in water, we are not in-
formed. We have never seen the latter method tested,
although, without much doubt, this Andromeda, like many
other plants whose flowers are produced on last year’s
wood, would open its buds if treated in this way. The
flowers themselves, however produced, ought to be suffi-
cient evidence as to the desirability of this shrub for plant-
ing, at least in certain situations. It is found along the
coast as far north as Rhode Island and is abundant in the
Pine region of New Jersey and in Long Island.in moist and
sandy situations. It is a comparatively low shrub, rarely
four feet high, with shining, leathery, deciduous leaves,
and large, white, waxy, bell-shaped flowers clustered
along the branches of the preceding year’s growth. It
thrives without any special care, if planted in deep loam,
particularly if some peat is mixed with it. It is one of the
handsomest shrubs of a genus which includes such. excel-
lent native plants as Andromeda speciosa and the ever-
green A. floribunda. In autumn its long wand-like
branches retain their foliage late, when it, turns to an in-

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 424.

tense scarlet color. It is said to poison sheep which
browse upon its leaves, and this gives significance to its
common name, the Stagger-bush.

Irts Asratica.—This is hardly to be classed among the
winter-flowering Irises, although it was flowering in a cool
house with Mr. Gerard a few days ago. It is an attractive
plant, akin to I. pallida, but inferior to good forms of this
species in the size of its flower and in distinction of habit.
The flower is of fair size, dark purple, and under artificial
light shows a reddish hue. There is a quite distinct
blotch of darker purple on the lip of falls. The scapes are
four-flowered. In a cool house, however, there are no
winter-flowering Irises as satisfactory as I. stylosa and its
varieties. If well cared for during the summer they make
strong growths and flower continuously during the winter
under any protection secure from frosts. The plants are
fairly hardy in this latitude, but the usual weather condi-
tions are too rigorous to admit of good flowers in the open.
This plant seems a favorite in the open in southern England,
but the latitude of Richmond, or possibly Washington,
would probably be as far north as they could be grown
with any satisfactory result in the garden.

KNiIpHoFIA PauciFLoRA.—This is a distinct species of
what is generally a showy genus, and it will flower very
early with little encouragement but only a botanist would
recognize this as one of the Red-hot Poker plants. The
tubular flowers, slightly less than one inch long, are borne
sparsely on one side and at the top of a thin scape some
eighteen inches long. They are of a light straw-color and
pretty, rather than striking. The leaves are very narrow
and deeply channeled.

Cultural Department.

The Earliest Spring Flowers.

We the flowering of the first Daffodils one feels that the
spring has fairly arrived now at the end of March. Nature
has broken no promises this season, for the weather has been
uniformly bad, for the garden at least, as the temperature
has been at all times low, with little chance for the winter-
flowering plants to progress, and only a rare flurry of snow to
protect green foliage.

The impatient Snowdrops even have been discouraged this
year, and though they have been peeping since the holidays
they have waited for March. Some belated snow, melting
quickly, with less rigorous weather, has reminded the alpine
bulbs that it was time to waken ; and for the last fortnight the
garden has been rapidly gaining cheerful bits of color. Of
course, those early plants will vary in their lowering time very
much from year to year as the weather permits, but there are
other influences also at work each year. For instance, the
vigor of a plant at flowering time depends on the growth made
after flowering the previous year, and a weak growth one year
will retard its flowering time the year following.

A number of new Snowdrops received from Mr. Whittall,
who had collected them in different locations, are not found
to be specially distinct from those already known, but those
which last year were found in flower on Mount Taurus in May
were here among the earliest to open, Chionodoxas are becom-
ing plentiful, but the brightest blue effect in the garden is
made by the early Squills, Scilla Sibirica, which also came
from Asia. These Scillas are not only earlier than the typical
S. Sibirica, so long grown in gardens, but they are brighter in
color. They are now (April Ist) in full flower, though the
ordinary ones are scarcely started. The white variety, how-
ever, is rapidly advancing, and is rather earlier than the white
form of S. bifolia. Yellow Crocuses, C. aureus, have been
flowering bravely for some weeks, and very cheerful their
color is. Early spring and late fall Crocuses suffer many per-
secutions from the weather, which they do not withstand very
well, and natural selection does not seem to have been very
active among them,

At present Iris Rosenbachiana is the handsomest individual
flower in the garden. This hardy plant from Bokhara has the
largest flowers of any of the early Irises, and they are some-
what variable in color, the ones now open being a rich vinous
red. A few Irises of the Reticulata class have flowered, the
dainty I. Kolpakowskyana and a nice form of I. Krelagii, and
there are a few collected ones in the corner, which, aside from
being wildings, are interesting since they came from Mrs.

APRIL 8, 1896.]

Barnum, of Harpoot, only a few weeks before the troubles
broke over the American Mission.

The forerunner of the Daffodils is Narcissus minimus, which
is as bright as itis dainty. Itis a very miniature Ajax, quite
small enough to serve in the corsage of a fairy.

Elizabeth, N. J. F. N. Gerard.

Orchids at Langwater Gardens.

] Pree EO eee ts ROEZLII was among many new and

rare Orchids in bloom recently at the gardens of Mrs. F.
L. Ames, North Easton, Massachusetts. It is really more
curious than beautiful, and valuable rather on account of its
rarity. The Langwater plant is probably the finest specimen
in cultivation. It bears eighteen spreading scapes of pendent,
irregularly globose flowers of deep wine-color. Itis here grown
in a basket in the Masdevallia house, and, apparently, is quite
athome. It has also been noted by Mr. Watson, in his Lon-
don letter (GARDEN AND FOREST, No. 420).

The Masdevallias in this collection have frequently been
referred to in GARDEN AND Forest. Seedlings and hybrids
multiply with great spontaneity. A small specimen of the
strangely curious M. muscosa is ina six-inch pan, the plant
being not more than ten inches in diameter and six inches
high, but it carries thirty-six hairy scapes of yellow flowers. It
is chiefly interesting on account of the sensitive character of
the lip. Watson, in his book on Orchids, says: ‘‘ At Kew, in
1887, asmall plant of M. muscosa flowered tor the first time
in England. It had short thick leaves, erect, hairy flower-
scapes and flowers half an inch across; the lip was hinged
and had a concave blade one-fourth of an inch long, in the
middle of which was a raised yellow disk. On touching this
disk the lip moved upward and closed with a jerk, and it was
found that any small insect on alighting on the lip was at once
trapped and held for twenty minutes, when the lip opened
again, Charles Darwin, who regretted never having seen a
sensitive Orchid, would have been delighted had he seen this.”

It is difficult to trace the parentage of many of the natural
hybrids originating here. What they are may be generally
surmised. The majority are evidently between M. Lindeni,
M. ignea and M. Harryana, Rebecca, namedin honor of Miss
Ames, is a brilliant orange, shaded with crimson. Another
unnamed kind is a most beautiful violet-purple. M. Lowii is
very rare. It is remarkable for the violet papilla covering
three-fourths of the length of the sepals, their bases being
bronzy, and tips, or tails, white. In M. Hincksiana the sepals
are yellow, deepening toward the tips ; the centre of the fower
is white. This lovely hybrid is a cross between M. ignea and
M. Tovariensis. The flowers of M. bella are most curiously
formed; the long tails cross over the triangular-shaped flowers
in such a way as to suggest some large insects ; and flowering
as they do, from willow baskets suspended above one’s head,
the effect is heightened. The specific tithe would suggest
beauty, but in this respect the flowers were not to be compared

with many others.
Wellesley, ee Delp Hatfield.

Bomareas.

HESE remarkable twining plants are nearly related to the

Alstrcemerias. They are natives of the mountain regions
of Central America, Colombia and Peru, and have been known
in gardens some twenty years or more. As yet they are rare
in America, although especially adapted to a bright, sunny
climate like ours. They thrive well in moderately warm green-
houses in the north, and are probably quite hardy farther
south. All are very floriferous and deserve to be. grown for
the sake of their large, gorgeously spotted flowers, which are
generally very brightly colored. Some flower in early spring,
others throughout the summer, the flowers being produced in
large umbels or cymes on terminal or lateral shoots. The
leaves are more or less lanceolate, with parallel veins. The
stem is slender and grows froma fleshy root to a height of
twelve or fifteen feet, and even higher under favorable condi-
tions. Among the several species cultivated the most com-
mon, as well as the most attractive, are the following: Boma-
rea Carderi, a magnificent Colombian species, with broadly
lanceolate leaves six or eight inches long and very large bell-
shaped flowers on long peduncles, collected in loose, many-
flowered pendulous cymes. The three outer segments of the
perianth are rose-colored and three inner ones paler, and all
spotted near the apex with numerous dark purple spots ;
B. Schuttleworthii, another very showy species, with flowers
two inches long in drooping umbels, with the outer segments
orange-scarlet and inner ones yellow, all greenish and
spotted near the apex; B. oligantha, with very much smaller

Garden and Forest.

147

but very attractive flowers, about an inch long, funnel-shaped,
with the three outer segments sepal-like, reddish green and
smaller than the inner ones, which are broader, tawny yellow
and but faintly spotted.

The Bomareas delight in a rich, fibrous soil and require
plenty of water during the growing season, which commences
early in spring. Late in fall the stems are cut down to the
ground and the roots are kept in the soil in a dry state. They
do best planted out in an openand sunny positionina cool con-
servatory or greenhouse where they may have plenty of air in
summer, The propagation is best effected by means of seeds,
which germinate quite easily when fresh, and if sown in shal-
low pans in a warm propagation-house, but as this method is
somewhat slow they may also be increased by a careful

division of the fleshy roots.
Newark, N. J. N. F. Rose.

Seasonable Flowers in the Cool Greenhouse.

T is not difficult to have cool greenhouses attractive at this
season, even where but few rare and expensive plants are
available. Just now our own houses are gay with Cinerarias,
and the individual blooms seem to increase in size each year,
some of them being three and a half inches across. Primula
Sinensis is nearly over, having been flowering since the second
week in December. P. obconica is at its best, and our largest
plants, in eight-inch pots, each carry from fifty to seventy
flower-scapes. P. floribunda, a pretty little yellow species from
the western Himalayas, deserves to be grown more extensively.
We sow our Primulaseed early in April, and as soon as the
seedlings are large enough they are pricked off into boxes four
inches deep, with a soil composed principally of leaf-mold.
They remain in these boxes in the greenhouse, or ina well-
shaded frame, till August, when they are potted. They grow
very rapidly during the fall and are shifted on as they require
it into larger pots. Treated in this way they are very little
trouble and very satisfactory. The later species of Narcissus
are now in flower, and one of the very best is the variety of
N. bicolor, commonly called Grandee. The perianth segments
are a pale sulphur color, which contrasts beautifully with the
rich golden corona. The flowers are about three and a half
inches in diameter, and each bulb produces two and often
three. Of course, the fragrant Poet’s Narcissus is good for
late bloom. Ixias and Ornithogalums are just coming into
flower. English Daisies, in four-inch pots, are useful for
the front edge of the stages. The varieties Longfellow (pink)
and Snowball (white) are very good when they come double,
but a great many seedlings are apt to come single or semi-
double. Myosotis alpestris, besides being a good spring
bedding plant, does well in a cool greenhouse. Schi-
zanthus pinnatus has been flowering profusely for the last two
months ; its beautiful sprays of white and lavender-colored
flowers last a long time when cut. Calendula pluvialis, the
Cape Marigold, is another annual which does well in the green-
house, but it unfortunately closes its flowers early in the after-
noon. Aquilegias are useful where a varied supply of lowers
has to be kept up. Last September we lifted some clumps of
A. Canadensis and A. atrata; these were potted and kept in a
cold frame till the end of January, when they were brought
into the greenhouse, where for the past three weeks they have
madea fine show. The double-flowered pink Lychnis flos-
cucull is just now at its best.

In the warm temperate greenhouse stocky plants of Fuschia
speciosa and Rose of Castile, in five-inch pots, are flowering
profusely. Torenia Fournieri and Impatiens Sultani have
been flowering all winter and are very beautiful, though of no
use for cutting. Swainsonia galegifolia, with its beautiful
sprays of pea-shaped flowers and pinnate foliage, is one of the

‘best winter-flowering plants we have, and Abutilon, Golden

Bells, is proving an excellent free-blooming variety. Some
cuttings of a double-flowered form of Tropwolum_ Lob-
bianum, received here last fall, are now in flower, and though
to many the flowers are not as attractive as the single kind, it
is the most profuse blooming Tropzwolum I have ever met
with. :

Botanic Garden, Northampton, Mass. Edward Pie Canning.

Clianthus Dampieri.—It is thirty years since this plant was
first brought from the deserts of Australia, and, though ex-
tremely beautiful as well as interesting, many persons have
never seen it in ower. Its common name, the Glory Pea, is
a translation of its generic name, and since it belongs to the
Pea family and bears flowers of the brightest scarlet it well
deserves the title. It is also called at times the Parrot’s Beak,
from its sharply curved and pointed keel. The lower part of

148

the standard carries an almost black-purple boss. These hand-
some flowers are borne on five-angled stems proceeding from
the axils of the leaves in clusters of four or five, and they are
individually four inches long by one inch wide. The pinnate
foliage is pale green, covered witha silvery down. The plants
should be propagated by seed sown singly in four or five inch
pots, which should be well drained. The soil is better if pre-
pared of about equal mixtures of loam, leaf-mold and sand,
with a little charcoal to prevent its becoming sour before the
roots have filled the pots. If sown in smaller pots the roots
are liable to be hurt in transplanting, and any injury happening
to them while young means sure death to the plant. Neglect
of caution in this particular has given the Glory Pea the repu-
tation of being difficult to cultivate, but when treated as recom-
mended above it is not a very untractable plant. Seeds sown
at this season will germinate in a temperature of sixty degrees,
and if properly cared for the plants flower well in the green-
E spring.
house late in the following winter or spring E¢.C

Northampton, Mass.

Hippeastrum Ackermanni.—The Hippeastrums are espe-
cially adapted to the American climate. Whether grown in-
doors as conservatory or house plants, or in the open ground
in the southern states, they grow and flower very profusely.
The above old-fashioned species is one of the most common
plants now seen in windows and apartments. The plants are
generally large and robust, with two or three scapes, each
bearing several very large and showy crimson flowers, which
last in perfect beauty for several weeks, if kept in a moder-
ately cool place. The culture of this species is so simple
that anybody ought to succeed in growing it with very moder-
ate attentions. The growing season begins early in spring or
late in winter, and from that time until September abundant
watering is necessary. Afterward water should be given more
sparingly, and in the bright autumn months the bulbs will
ripen thoroughly. The leaves should not be allowed to die
for want of water, even when stored away beneath the benches
ina greenhouse. H. Johnsoni is a less common species with
a white band down the middle of each segment of the peri-
anth. It is of equally easy culture. All species require arich,
fibrous soil.

TD,

Wellesley, Mass.

Hardiness of Aspidistra lurida, Some remarks on Aspidistra
lurida which I recently saw in GARDEN AND FOREST remind me
to say that it is quite hardy in Philadelphia. Your correspon-
dent, Mr, E. J. Canning, found it hardy when living in this
vicinity, and I have recently seen a large number of plants
used ina narrow border, close to a building, and they have
withstood the winter perfectly. It may be hardy much farther
north than this, and if so it will prove a most useful dwarf
evergreen, and quite unlike any other which we now have at
command. I[tisa Chinese plant, and possibly plants from seed
gathered in the extreme northern part of its natural range might

endure New England winters.
Germantown, Pa. Foseph Meehan.

Correspondence.

Nurseries at Bay Ridge, New York.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—A visit to the nurseries at Bay Ridge, an outlying
suburb of Brooklyn on the Bay shore, cannot fail to be inter-
esting to the flower lover and highly instructive to the practi-
cal cultivator at this season. Here, in the three large estab-
lishments of John Dean, James Weir’s Sons and John M.
Keller, seventy-five glass houses were last week closely filled
with Easter plants. Many of these structures are 200 feet long,
a few stretching 230 feet, with a span of twenty-two feet. As
much as 60,000 square feet of glass and four acres of ground,
perhaps, is in use in each one of the places. The enormous
trade in cut flowers and plants in cities the year through can
scarcely be conceived by the occasional buyer of a corsage
bouquet ora plant in the holiday season. At Weirs’, for exam-
ple, there are twenty-five greenhouses. For the Easter trade
these were largely planted with Lilies, as many as 2,600 pots
of this seasonable plant extending 200 feet through the
middle of several of the houses. A house of equal length was
a continuous bed of the delicate Maiden-hair Fern, Adiantum
cuneatum, the plants in five-inch pots. Another was given up
to climbing Asparagus, one to Smilax, another to Palms,
Araucarias, Rubber-plants and the like, and the most brilliant
effect of all was a house of General Grant Geranituums, some
2,200 of the plants being in full glow. Besides 30,000 bulbs of
the Bermuda Lily in different stages of forcing, some being

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 424.

brought on for use as late as Decoration Day, there were im-
mense collections of Azaleas and Hydrangeas, at least 1,000
plants of each being covered with bloom, the latter very fully
flowered and with unusually thrifty foliage. On the side
benches in these houses were bedding-plants for the spring-
planting trade, as Geraniums, Coleus, Ageratum, Vinca, Lan-
tanas and rosy stretches of Alternanthera. One house was
given over to propagating. Marguerites occupied 100 feet of
space, and Spirazeas as much more, while there were 5,000
Hyacinths forced into flower. This great establishment is
exclusively devoted to plants for the Easter trade, to spring-
bedding plants and Chrysanthemums. An idea of the quan-
tity of stock handled in the city retail flower-shops may be had
when it is realized that in the two stores of the Messrs. Weir in
Brooklyn, besides all that is grown at Bay Ridge, as many as
5,000 to 20,000 roses alone, and some thousands of other cut
flowers, are each day bought in New York City, and also during
the planting season a great van-load of bedding stuff.

In each of these great nurseries Lilies were in greatest
abundance, Azaleas following in numbers. In Mr. Keller’s
twenty-eight houses Genistas of both the two common market
varieties, Cytisus racemosus and C, Canariensis, were conspicu-
ous, and, besides the standard plants of the season, there wasa
large and interesting variety in which were forced Rhododen-
drons, Lilacs, the beautiful broad-leaved Kalmias, Andromeda
speciosa, with its dainty bell-shaped white flowers, which are
disguised by retail dealers under the name of Canterbury
Bells; Metrosideros, the striking Bottle-brush plant, and beau-
tifully berried plants of Ardisia crenulata. In one large space,
fifty by eighty feet, obtained by the removal of the dividing-
walls of three houses, seven broad benches of Hydrangeas
gave an impression of rude vigor, the roof being utilized for
baskets of Cattleya Triane and Oncidiums.

In Mr. Dean's houses Azaleas were the most striking feature.
The best specimen plants were comprised in about a dozen
selected sorts, Niobe, alarge double white flower, with lemon
tinge at the base of the upper petals and almost bud-like centre,
was the best white shown, while Bernhard Andrea alba, of
snowy whiteness, was also attractive. Dr. Moore was the best
pink, a single flower with closely twisted centre, of clear bright
solid rose-pink and satiny sheen. Another good flower of this
color was Madame Van der Cruyssen, less even in tint, the
upper petals distinctly splashed with crimson, and the flower
more open at the centre. Empress of india was a delicate true
pink with a white edge. The richest color in the entire collec-
tion was that shown in the clear rich crimson of the flowers of
Le Flambeau. These were rather small, single, almost en-
tirely free from spots, with only a faint marking of a deeper
shade. Vervaneana showed immense flowers with the inner
petals twisted, the outer edge of the petals white, the middle a
bright splash of pink. Other notable sorts were Mademoiselle
Marie Vervaene, distinct red and white stripe, resembling the
Helen Keller carnation; Czar Alexandre III., brick-color,
splashed with red; Souvenir du Prince Albert, clear medium
shade of pink, irregularly edged with white, double, small ;
Hermione, rich deep pink, very double; Versicolor, a large
single flower of most distinct effect, the petals greenish white,
boldly striped and splashed with brick-red, this color some-
times occupying a solid quarter of the flower. Besides these,
varieties having special merit were Simon Mardner, Louise
Pynaert, Sakuntala, Comte de Chambord, Madame de Grevé,
Antigone and Etandard de Flandre. These varieties were all
free from unpleasant tints, the 3,000 plants having an average
size of fifteen inches in diameter and eighteen inches in height,
in six-inch pots. Of course, there were specimens of much
larger size. Easter being a movable feast, the same sorts are
not the best for all years, but these were the best kinds this year.

This season of trade, the largest of the entire year, preced-
ing, as it does, the regular spring business, needs long prepa-
ration. Indeed, the work tor Easter laps over more than a
year. The Lily-bulbs are ordered immediately after Easter
and delivered from Bermuda in July, when they are at once
potted and placed out-of-doors ; in the fall, after the Chrysan-
themums are removed from the houses and severe frost is
threatened, the Lilies are brought indoors and kept in a night
temperature of forty to forty-five degrees until Christmas or
New Year’s, when they are urged forward in a higher temper-
ature. One bulb is planted in a six-inch pot, and beautiful
effects are produced by grouping five or six plants in twelve-
inch pots. These masses are three to four feet high and carry
thirty-five to forty flowers, the rich foliage being almost as
strikingly decorative as the flowers. The Bermuda Lily is
grown in preference to Lilium longiflorum, because its flowers
are more easily produced in abundance under less favorable
treatment, and they lastlonger. This Lily is sometimes called

APRIL 8, 1896.]

soft, not because this is its real character, but because it has
been forced too hard. L. longiflorum fails entirely under too
severe urging, the buds coming blind, or not appearing at all.
The two sorts potted on the same day will show flowers on the
taller-growing and more spreading Bermuda Lily by Thanks-
giving Day, while the older longiflorum, of more sturdy and
upright habit, cannot be flowered before February. An im-
portant and exacting detail of cultivation is the examination of
every lily as soon as it expands, for the removal of the pollen
before it is ripened and has been shed and made its yellow
stain on the pure white flowers. This is done by hand and
requires going over the stock once and even twice a day. It
may be worth while saying that no Ascension Lilies or Callas
were seen in any of these collections. While the regular stock
of Lilies is each year produced from freshly imported bulbs, in
some of these large nurseries the Lily plants, when returned,
are dumped out-of-doors and picked over later in the season.
The best bulbs are planted in July or August in frames and
protected over winter. These plants bear, during the next
spring, one or two flowers each, for the six to ten of the first
efflorescence, the blossoms being useful for funeral orders.
The stock of Azaleas is imported from Belgium in October,
and these, with the Lilies, Spiraas, Genistas, Hydrangeas and
other Easter plants, are started indoors at the same time and
under thesame general conditions. They are all carried along
in gentle heat, Lilies being pushed forward about the begin-
ning of Lent, the general idea being that it takes six weeks to
get them into bloom from the forming of the bud. Azaleas,
as a rule, need a shorter time to be brought into flower, though
there is considerable difference in this respect in different
varieties. Hydrangeas, which are propagated from cuttings
made at the beginning of March a year ago, need longer forc-
ing, and are started on in December. These are usually
planted out in the open ground in summer, but Messrs. Weir
last year kept them in pots and plunged them. The plants
of Genistas are carried over from year to year, and when
new ones are propagated it is from cuttings which require
several years to bring them into flowering condition. Genistas
are not often sold, but loaned for the Easter season. When
returned to the cultivator they are repotted and pruned and
plunged out-of-doors until autumn. The stock of Spirazas
comes from Belgium, and its treatment is not unlike that of
the other plants noted. Besides the old Spiraea, Astilbe Ja-
ponica, and the increasingly popular A. compacta, there are
this year some of the old-fashioned Spiraea palmata, with bright
rose-colored trusses and handsome, deeply pinnate raspberry-
like foliage. Bulbous plants, as Narcissus, Tulips and Hyacinths,
are, of course, profusely grown in pots and pans for dressing
up in baskets, and many cut bloomsare sent to the stores.
After the stock is sufficiently advanced the temperature of
the houses is reduced from the forcing heat of sixty-five or
seventy degrees to fifty degrees, to harden off the plants. On Mon-
day following Palm Sunday the work of removal of the plants
begins, and during frosty weather the carting over muddy
roads in immense padded wagons and heated vans is of itself

an enormous undertaking.
New York. We Bs |Cs

Protection for a Public Interest.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—The bicycle has been taking people into the country of
late and setting them in touch with nature, teaching them
what they have never known before—that a landscape could
be beautiful or interesting or inspiring. As the exuberant
wheelman, who has just pulled himself up the hill, lifts his
feet from the pedals and comfortably settles himself for a
coast down the other side, he is peculiarly susceptible to the
view from that hill-top. If he finds the coasting good he is
likely tocome tothathillagain; and itis notlong before he feels,
and justly feels, that he has a right to the enjoyment of that
prospect, with all its inspiration and refreshment. Imagine
his feelings, then, when some day, as he pauses out of breath
for his usual eye-feast, he finds a huge board curtain drawn
across the landscape, and on it a screaming advertisement of
the virtues of somebody’s ‘‘germ destroyer.” He knows that
he has been robbed of what is his by right. Ifa painted land-
scape by Turner or Corot has a high money value, why shall
we not estimate the real thing as worth something, and why
should not its wanton destruction be counted a crime? If
some man in the pursuit of his private business should blow
up the Smithsonian Institution or an art museum he would
meet with prompt punishment, yet the anarchist who paints
signs does the same thing all summer long in the rural and
suburban districts, and never hears a whisper of reproof.

Garden and Forest.

149

Why not legislate against such an evil? It is a mistake to
suppose that the venders themselves delight in this method of
advertising. They are driven to it, perhaps, by competition,
but by a competition which they would gladly evade. The
advertising and bill-posting agency preys upon the dealers on
one side, and inflicts itself on the public on the other. The
agency alone would have to suffer if this unpleasant species of
advertising were suppressed,

Could legislation reach this evil? Probably. The most
feasible plan is, perhaps, that. proposed in the Rural Adver-
tisements Bill, which was brought before the English Parlia-
ment at its last session. The proposition was to tax all publicly
displayed advertisements by the square foot. Such a tax could
be easily levied and apportioned, and there would be no one
but the bill-poster to lament if this tariff should be made pro-
hibitory. This would be protection in a proper sense—protec-
tion in the enjoyment of one of our natural inheritances and
against a nuisance. Suppose the patent-medicine man should
follow me all day crying out in my ear that his nostrum was
just the thing I needed to make me young again, would not
the police interfere in my behalf? “And why should a man
assail his fellow-citizens’ eyes with greater impunity than he
assails their ears? All that such a plan of taxation would need
anywhere would be some one to draft the bill and watch it
through. Even the sign-painter would rather look for new

employment than hire a lobby to defeat it.
University of Vermont. fF, A. Waugh.

Recent Publications.

Plant Breeding. By L. H. Bailey. New York:
Millan & Co,

This little manual belongs to the Garden Craft Series, of
which the excellent Horticulturist’s Rule Book was the first
number. It consists of five lectures setting forth those prin-
ciples of evolution upon which any successful efforts at
improving domestic plants must be based. There are few
subjects upon which popular knowledge is so imperfect as
the origination of new vegetable forms, and a compact
treatise on its essentials is evidently needed, for until the
horticulturist ceases to regard each novelty as a chance
phenomenon without looking at the laws under which these
organisms vary, there can be no sustained progress in the
development of plants in any desired direction. The first
lecture in Professor Bailey’s little book treats of plant-
variation and its philosophy, and after stating the fact of
the individuality of the seed and of the bud, the principal
causes of individual differences are explained, and then the
reasons for choosing certain varieties and methods of
fixing these, so far as these can be fixed, are discussed,
The next lecture treats of the crossing of plants with refer-
ence to their improvement, after which a few concise rules
are laid down for breeding domestic varieties, with specific
examples. The book concludes with a practical chapter on
the structure of flowers, and especially of their essential!
parts, with directions for manipulating them in crossing.
This last topic is carefully illustrated and shows the simple
tools needed, with such plain directions for using them, that
any person of ordinary skill can do the work. There is an
intermediate lecture, which consists of extracts from Verlot
on the varieties of ornamental plants, Carriére’s account of
the varieties of ornamental plants with a list of bud varieties
and Focke’s interesting discussion on the characteristics of
crosses. This little manual, with a glossary and complete
index, comprises nearly three hundred clearly printed
pages, and it ought to be in the hands of every studious
horticulturist. If it does nothing else it will show him the
limitations of his field and warn him against attempting
impossibilities. But, besides this, it will point out the
directions in which he can hopefully experiment and give
him the assurance that he is working in the realm of law
and not in one of chance.

Mac-

Notes.

Another Canna, named Austria, and of the same strain with
Italia, which was described and figured in our issue for April
1st, has flowered with Mr. Pierson at Tarrytown. We have
not seen the flower, but, according to reports, it is even more

150

beautiful than the first one. It is very large, of a perfect yel-
low, with pencilings of scarlet on the two inner petals so faint
as to be hardly visible. Whether these flowers will have suffi-
cient substance to be valuable for out-of-door bedding remains
to be proved, but, beyond all question, they are superb when
grown under glass.

The blanched tops of Swede turnips are much used as a
vegetable in England, but when they are grown with offensive
surroundings, as is occasionally the case in old mushroom
beds, of course they are inferior. A correspondent of Zhe
Gardeners’ Chronicle writes that untrimmed turnips placed
close together in a box, the bottom of which is covered with
a few inches of damp sand and then loosely covered with a
mat, will soon show a small forest of shoots of perfect flavor
and free from the objectionable ‘‘turnipy” taste. Many per-
sons consider them quite superior to the best grown sea kale.

Linseed-oil meal is rich in plant-foods, and if these were
rated at their cost as obtained from nitrate of soda, dissolved
bone-black and muriate of potash a ton of linseed-meal would
have a fertilizing value of $18.00, and would be worth for fer-
tilizing purposes about $26.00 as the ordinary mixed fertilizers
are sold. A late bulletin from the Ohio Experiment Station
calls attention to the fact that inasmuch as this meal is now
selling at $16.00 a ton the farmers who are buying fertilizers
can get plant-food in this way at reasonable cost. The oil
meal is so rich in nitrogen that fertilizers containing consider-
able phosphoric acid and potash should be mixed with it. By
actual experiment in the Ohio station it was found that half a
ton of oil meal worth $8.00 gave as much increase on an acre
of Wheat as a compound commercial fertilizer which cost
$11.00.

The Association for the Improvement of the Condition of
the Poor in this city, under whose auspices the system of
vacant-lot farming was conducted last year, have arranged for
a series of lectures and object-lessons in different parts of
Westchester County, of this state, with the view to the im-
provement in methods of horticulture and agriculture, Pro-
fessors from the different agricultural colleges and experts in
dairy practice and cultivation of different crops speak in the
different towns on such subjects as Strawberry-culture, Apple-
culture, Insects Injurious to Fruit, How to Suppress Epidemic
Diseases among Plants, etc. This is practically an extension
of the institute work and schools of horticulture which have
been conducted in other parts of the state with signal success,
and it is hoped that this new venture will prove equally helpful
as an educating force.

Ata late exhibition of flowers before the New York Farm-
ers’ Club, Mr. W. A. Manda, in connection with an interesting
display of Orchids, delivered an address in which he said that
many of these plants do not require so much moistureas is com-
monly supposed, watering once or twicea day and syringing the
leaves daily being sufficient for them. He added, that at least
twenty-five species and varieties could be grown as easily as
Palms, and that a good place for some of the cool Orchids in
summer is out under an Apple-tree. He named Dendrobium
nobile and D. Wardianum, Cypripedium insigne, C. villosum
and C. Boxalii as varieties which could be grown in any win-
dow. Even Dendrobium Calceolus, of which he had on exhi-
bition a magnificent specimen, he pronounced a plant which
could be perfectly well grown in an ordinary window. The
cardinal point in Orchid culture is that they must certainly
have a season of growth and a season of rest, which are in
their homes seasons of rain and seasons of drought, and this
indicates the proper treatment. The more growers learn
about Orchids the more fresh air they give these plants.

The past week or ten days has probably been the most dis-
astrous term of the season to fruit merchants, owing to unfa-
vorable weather and dull sales. The prices of Mediterranean
oranges fell twenty-five to fifty cents a box, and of lemons ten
to twenty-five cents. California oranges were affected by this
decided drop, and some car-loads of Navels were withdrawn
from sale toward the end of last week on account of unsatis-
factory prices. Lighter receipts of the Sicily fruits are expected,
and delayed spring weather hoped for, when better prices are
anticipated. Sicily oranges of the highest grade and desirable
sizes sold last week to wholesale merchants for $2.50 to $3.00
a box, Valencias at $2.75 to $4.00, and California Navels at
$1.20 to $3.50. A small shipment of Cayenne pineapples, large
and of extra quality, came from Florida during the past fort-
night. They were grown under glass, near Orlando, and sold
at $1.50 apiece in the fruit shops. Itis between seasons now
for this fruit, the first of the new crop, some 350 barrels, being
due to-day from Cuba, but there will be no regular shipment

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 424.

of this fruit from Havana for two weeks. The season for
Bahama pineapples opens about the middle of May, and for
those from Floridain June. The first pineapples from Cuba
in 1894 arrived here April roth, and last year April isth. It is
feared that shipments from Cuba will be interfered with by
the war there, although importers depend upon more general
forwarding from all over the island, so that any deficiency
from particular sections usually depended upon will thus be
made good. Evena moreserious drawback is the injury to
the crop by storms over a year ago, and more recently by lack
of winter rainsand unusually cold weather and strong winds
during March, conditions which have prevailed generally
throughout the West Indies, and which have made the crop
late. The season for strawberries in Florida is nearing an
end, and the best berries now coming from that state, smaller
and less luscious than the perfect fruit of a week ago, cost
forty-five cents for a quart box at retail.

The flower-stores of this city made a meagre sidewalk dis-
play, in comparison with that of former years, on the day
before Easter, owing to windy and cold weather. Some of the
best establishments made no outside sign of the great floral
festival. Occasionally a line of pyramidal Box-trees stood out
in wind-break fashion, but even double rows of these gave
way before the sharp blasts. Indoors the plants were more
fully and perfectly flowered than ever before in this market,
though to an onlooker buyers seemed very few. Among the
most beautiful and satisfying effects were plants of Lilac just
beginning to open, the light and graceful thyrses singularly
dainty in the unfolding of the flowers above the tender foliage.
Genistas abounded in small plants a foot high for house use,
and in tall, spreading specimens for church decorations. The
long drooping wands of the closely flowered clear yellow
Cytisus Canariensis was particularly satisfying in contrast with
the muddy color and more rigid form of C. racemosus.
Lilies and Azaleas were, of course, foremost in quantity, and
there were Hydrangeas and Spireas, the old form with its open
andairy habit being moreattractivethan the newer variety known
ascompacta. There were strong shrubby little plants of Kalmia,
bright and striking dashes of color in spikes of Metrosideros,
fruiting Otaheite Oranges, plants of Andromeda speciosa, the
branches thickly strung with the delicate white bells ; vigorous
large bushes of Acacia, the straight thick spikes often a foot
and a half long and densely covered with globe-shaped
feathery clear lemon flowers to within four or five inches of
their extremities. Heaths were more abundant than ever
before, while occasional forced specimens of Spirzea Cantoni-
ensis and S. Thunbergii were seen, covered with snowy
bloom. Cinerarias were happily missed, with their usually
decided and coarse colors; although not yet common,
the new dwarf Bougainvillea is proving that it is a good
plant for Easter flowering. Vigorous plants of Magna Charta
Roses in promising bud and dainty pots of Moss Roses were
among the scarcer plants. With the usual display of bulbous
flowers gay and cheery beds of Pansies were pleasing and
appropriate, and an occasional pot of well-flowered Primroses
came as a pleasant relief to the more striking colors. Among
the less common cut flowers there were Orchids in unusual
variety, considerable quantities of anthuriums, spikes of
gladiolus, stems of white snapdragon and tight bunches of
trailing arbutus from the south. The real phenomenon of the
Easter trade in this city was the hideous attempt at decorating
the flower-pots with crépe paper and ribbons. The result was
more than grotesque—it was absolutely vulgar. In one win-
dow off shades of red, blue, purple, pink and yellow, besides
white and parti-colored papers, with ribbons of conflicting
tints, and arranged with no reference to the colors of the
flowering plants, made a most offensive display. Presuma-
bly well-grown plants were disguised in crimped and ruf-
fled swaddling clothes, which reminded one of the attempts
of a rural dressmaker to revive the full-skirt styie of 1860.
A few color combinations noticed were Genistas in bronzy-
yellow paper, with pea-green ribbon shown against the
glaucous foliage ; pink Azaleas surrounded by broad ribbons
of the bright shade known as American Beauty, and dull pur-
ple-flowered Rhododendrons shrouded in long gowns of white
crépe secured by belts of dull purple ribbon. Occasionally
the better taste and deft hand of some woman was seen, as
where long boxes containing single yellow narcissus with rich
blue-green foliage were simply covered with a band of yellow
paper and a spare use of yellow ribbon of the same shade to
match the flowers. Carnations were in meagre supply,
one dealer, for example, being able to secure but 7,000
flowers to fill orders amounting to 10,000, Prices for these
flowers ranged from $1.00 to $2.00 a dozen for the ordi-
nary sorts, $3.00 being asked for the popular Helen Keller.

APRIL 15, 1896.]

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrick: Tripunge 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 15, 1896.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.
EprrorraL ARTICLES :—The Tree Palms of the United States. (With figure.).... 151
Forest Reservation in the Alleghenies....... 2.0... .2----eeeeee eens 152

Some Native Ornamental Grasses.—I......-4.--+++000 Y hee f Kearney, Fr. 152

.- A. Correvon. 153

Alpine Pl nts and some of their Peculiarities...... ...-
.W. Watson. 154

FoREIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter........-.+-+.+++

CutturaL DeparTMENT :—Pruning Shrubs......--.---+s+eeeeee eens Rew Henry. 156
Growing Tomatoes.........++-s+eeeeee ie -Si 157
Asparagus... Bane Seieieer = ine aD veh Hatfield. 157
Hovea elliptica.. a ceslehscwieres De 157

W. 5. a 158
op Loe Gade. TES

Mahernia glabrata. Kennedya (Maryattz) prostrata major.
CorRESPONDENCE :—The Plans of Madison SQUATC <1 eee cseccssccsiee we /
Meetincs oF Societigs :—Forestry in Pennsylvania.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS -
NOTES..0.+ saceeccccoccccce
ILLusTRATIONS :—Oreodoxa regia, in Florida, Fig. 2 aI.

Plan of Madison Square, New York, Fig. Onn Bop uORtE BDC SEG TRE Des ao ode

The Tree Palms of the United States.

NUMBER of Palm-trees live on the southern borders

- of the United States, adding special interest to the
forest flora of this country, which, rich in many forms of
the common trees of the northern hemisphere and in many
special and peculiar types, is extraordinary in the variety
of its composition and in the size and beauty of its indi-
viduals.

Of these Tree Palms of our country the best known is
the Cabbage Palm, or Cabbage Palmetto (Sabal Palmetto),
of the coast region of the south-eastern states, where in the
immediate neighborhood of the sea it ranges from an island
off the mouth of the Cape Fear River in North Carolina to
southern Florida, and along the Gulf coast to the Apalachi-
cola. This tree is interesting to botanical geographers as
the most northern arborescent Palm in the world; and
probably nothing so delights and instructs northern trav-
elers in the south as their first introduction to a grove of
these plants. The large terminal leaf-bud of this tree and of
many other Palms is cooked as a vegetable—a fact to
which it owes its common name.. The custom is an
extravagant one, as the removal of the bud, which is never
replaced, kills the tree, and as young vigorous trees pro-
duce the most succulent buds it is rather remarkable that
the species has escaped extermination in a region abound-
ing in negroes who are credited with a special fondness
for cabbages which can be had without agricultural fore-
thought or labor. But if it has survived the vegetarian it
will not long survive the maker of scrubbing-brushes, who
now uses the fibres of the sheaths of the young leaves in
his industry. To obtain his material the top of a young
plant with its bud is cut off, trimmed down to a disk of
about eight inches in length, and then, after the soft edible
core has been removed, boiled to separate the fibres. The
removal of the top kills the plant, as we have already said,
and as one concern in Jacksonville, Florida, alone con-
sumes 7,500 buds a week, the time is not very far distant
when the Sabal Palmetto will become a rare tree. The
buds, which are now mostly procured from the west coast
of Florida, where the Palmetto is most abundant, are worth
at the mill only six or seven cents each, and it is not prob-
able that the extravagance and wastefulness of this brush

Garden and Forest.

I51
industry is-exceeded by that of other in the United
States.

A rude stockade made of the stems of the Palmetto on
one of the islands in Charleston harbor, and manned by
less than a hundred Americans under Moultrie, repulsed, on
June 28th, 1776, Sir Peter Parker's British fleet and decided
the fate of the Carolinas. A year later South Carolina placed
on her official seal, in memory of this victory, a Palmetto
erect, emblematic of its strength, and below it an Oak-tree
torn from the ground and shorn of its branches to recall the
fate of the oaken ships of her oppressors ; and the Palmetto
state took her place in the Union. In these days the trunks
of this Palm are found as serviceable against the attacks of
the teredo as they were in withstanding British shot, and
make excellent wharf-piles for our southern coast.

A second arborescent Sabal enters our territory. This is
Sabal Mexicana, a tree which is widely scattered along the
Gulf-coast of Mexico and, crossing the Rio Grande, follows
its Texas’bank for a distance of some thirty miles from the
coast, growing to a height of fifty feet on fhe rich bottom-
lands of the river, where it is associated with the Texas
Elm, the Texas Green Ash, the Mimosa and other trees
peculiar to that region. In habit it resembles the Carolina
Palm, but the leaves are rather larger, the flower-clusters
are three or four times longer, with stouter branchlets, and
the seeds are more than twice as large and much darker in
color. In Texas the leaves of this tree are cut off almost
as fast as they appear, being highly prized as thatch for
buildings. Itis occasionally planted as a street tree in the
towns along the lower Rio Grande, and in some of the
Mexican states this Sabal is regularly cultivated to produce
leaves from which cheap straw hats are made in great
quantities.

The third of our arborescent Palms inhabits the Colorado
Desert in southern California. Found by the Jesuit mis-
sionaries, who settled in California, on the low shores of
the depression of the desert which once held the waters of
a great arm of the sea, the Washingtonia was taken to
decorate the gardens of their southern missions. Some of
these mission trees have now grown toa great size, and
not long ago two of them standing near an old well in San
Pedro Street, Los Angeles, were nearly one hundred feet in
height, with trunks nine feet in diameter at the base.
Specimens of such a size are rare, and on the desert and
in the dry mountain cafions which this species selects for
its home, and where it is subject to the constant hardship of
drought, wind and fire, it is rarely more than fifty or sixty
feet tall. Nature, in thatching the trunk with a thick cone
of dead pendent leaves extending from the base of the
living crown of foliage nearly to the ground, has furnished
Washingtonia with the best possible protection against the
drying winds of the desert. But, unfortunately, this thatch,
which becomes as dry as tinder, is very inflammable, and
usually falls a prey to the fires of Indians who find that it
prevents them from climbing the tree to gather the fruit, or
of untaught white men who enjoy the sight of the mass of
dead leaves sane eene ina flash of flame. The tough
outer rim of the trunk, fortunately, does not burn easily
and through uncounted ages Washingtonia has survive d
hardships of environment and the vandalism of man from
a time, perhaps, when its broad and splendid crown of
foliage was reflected in waters which have disappeared
with its less robust and enduring forest companions.
But, whatever may have been its history and its hard-
ships in the past, the lines of W ashingtonia have at last
fallen again in pleasant places, and, nourished by the
waters of limpid mountain streams, it is growing now
in countless thousands in all the gardens and parks of
southern California; and in all the countries of southern
Europe this lonely denizen of the desert has become a
rival in stately-beauty of the Palms of every semitropical
country.

Washingtonia is now known to contain a second spe-
cies, an inhabitant of western Sonora and Lower California,
and very like our California tree, except in some unimpor-

any

152

tant botanical characters and in its more slender habit and
smaller size. First considered a species of Pritchardia by
Wendland, the German authority on Palms, our California
Palm was afterward made the type of his genus Washing-
tonia. Some later students of the Palms have now united
Washingtonia again with Pritchardia, but the structure
of the flower with its free stamens, the armed petioles,
and its geographical distribution appear sufficient grounds
for considering Washingtonia generically distinct.

The two Sabals and the Washingtonia are the only Palms
which belong to the flora of North America, and one of the
Sabals, which only just enters our territory, is really Mexi-
can. ‘The other arborescent Palms in the United States are
all tropical species and are confined to the shores and keys
of the extreme southern part of Florida which are covered
by a purely tropical vegetation, and where three genera are
represented.

The first of these is Oreodoxa, an American genus of
about four species. Three are lofty trees, the loftiest, per-
haps, of all the American Palms, and true princes of the
vegetable kingdom, while the fourth is a humble inhabit-
ant of the high slopes of the Andes of Ecuador, only re-
markable as one of the most alpine of all Palms. The
largest species, Oreodoxa oleracea, the Cabbage Palm of
the Antilles, sends up a slender trunk nearly two hundred
feet in height, surmounted by a long, green, polished cylin-
der of petiole sheaths and a crown of long, arching, grace-
ful, pinnate leaves frequently twenty feet long and six feet
wide. Its tall pale stem and beautiful head make this Palm
a favorite in gardens, and it is planted in all tropical coun-
tries and often in long and stately avenues, as in the Botanic
Garden of Rio de Janeiro, which owes its fame to its Palm
avenue. Economically, Oreodoxa oleracea is one of the
most useful of the American Palms. The bud of young
leaves, like that of the Palmetto, is eaten as a vegetable ;
the sheathing bases of the leaf-stalks, which are eight or ten
feet long, are used by the negroes as cradles, and are split
into surgeons’ splints ; from the inner coat of these sheaths
vellum-like paper is made, and mats are manufactured from
their fibres. A kind of sago is obtained from the pith of
the stem, and oil is pressed from the seeds. The long stems
are split longitudinally and, freed of the spongy interior,
are used as gutters, while from the hard rind-like exterior
rim beautiful canes and many small objects are made.
Another West Indian species, Oreodoxa regia, the Royal
Palm, is a tree often one hundred feet high, with a trunk
which is often largest near the middle, but otherwise gen-
erally resembles the Cabbage Palm and is equally graceful
and beautiful. This species, which is common in Cuba,
extends into southern Florida, where it inhabits two or
three hummocks on Rogue's River, about twenty miles east
of Caximbas Bay on the west coast, Long’s Key and the
shores of Bay Biscayne near the mouth of Little River.
The presence of a lofty Palm in southern Florida was
hinted at more than sixty years ago, and the fact is men-
tioned in the preface to Nuttall’s orth American Sylva, but
it was not until 1859 that this Palm was known to be Oreo-
doxa regia. In that year Dr. Cooper found it on Bay Bis-
cayne, and twenty years later Mr. A. H. Curtiss established
the fact of its presence on Rogue’s River and Long’s
Key.

The portrait of a young tree of this species near the shores
of Bay Biscayne appears in our illustration on page 155 of
this issue. It is made from a photograph for which we
are indebted to Mr. James M. Codman, of Brookline, Mas-
sachusetts ; and, although it does not display the loftiness of
the full-grown tree, it shows the slender stem and graceful
head of the most beautiful of the Palms of the United
States.

The next genus, Pseudophcenix (see vol. i., p. 353, fig. 55),
is monotypic and confined to two of the southern keys. It
is a small and not particularly handsome tree, with long,
arching, pinnate leaves and large orange-scarlet, usually
three-lobed, fruits. The flowers of this species, of which
there are probably not more than two or three hundred

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 425.

individuals in existence, unless it grows elsewhere than in
Florida, are still unknown.

The last of our genera, Thrinax, is exclusively West In-
dian and Floridian, with a few species of small trees and
shrubs distinguished by large handsome fan-shaped leaves
often silvery white on the lower surface, minute flowers,
with calyx and corolla confluent into a short cup, and
small fleshy or dry fruits. The Florida species are not well
known, and there are probably four arborescent species on
the keys, although at present no other North American
trees are so little known as this group of Palms.

At a recent meeting of the West Virginia Academy of
Science a committee was appointed consisting of Dr.
A. D. Hopkins, Chairman ; Dr. J. L. Goodknight, President
of the West Virginia University ; Dr. J. A. Myers, Director
of the West Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station ;
Judge Okey Johnson, Dean of the Law Department of West
Virginia University, and L. C. Corbett, Professor of Agri-
culture and Horticulture, West Virginia University, to inquire
into the subject of forest protection, and draft bills for the
establishment of a system of forestry reservations in the
middle Alleghenies ; the bills to be submitted to Congress
and the state legislature.

The committee state that by referring to a map it will be
seen that there is an area in the middle Allegheny Moun-
tains, principally in West Virginia, but extending through
a portion of Maryland and Virginia, and into Pennsylvania
and North Carolina, in which the sources of a number of
important rivers are found, namely, the Monongahela,
with its tributaries ; the Elk, Gauley, Guyandotte and Big
Sandy, all of which belong to the Ohio River system ; the
principal tributaries of the Potomac and James, and also
the source of the Tennessee River. In addition to this
important system of river sources, the region embraces
possibly a million and a half acres of virgin forest, with a
considerable area of cut-over brush and waste land. Much
of the continuous forest area lies in large bodies, and con-
sists largely of Black Spruce, Hemlock, White Pine and
valuable hardwood timber, making it a region of extreme
importance, not alone to the states in which it occurs, but
to the entire region drained by the several rivers men-
tioned, embracing a large portion of the United States east
of the Mississippi River.

It is, therefore, evident that the protection of the forests
in this region is a matter worthy of consideration by the
Secretary of the Interior, the Forestry Inquiry Commission
of the National Academy of Science, the Rivers and Har-
bors Committee of Congress and the Representatives in
Congress from West Virginia, to whom resolutions have
been sent reciting the dangers to the forest and recom-
mending prompt action.

The committee further states that it will hold itself in
readiness to furnish, as far as may be, any information
regarding the region embraced in West Virginia, and will
gladly codperate with other academies of science, scientific
and forestry associations and individuals, in obtaining and
presenting facts bearing upon the subject. We need hardly
add that we are in full sympathy with this movement.
This journal has repeatedly advocated the establishment of
a reservation to preserve a portion of the southern Appa-
lachian forest, so rich in the variety and magnitude of its
trees and so incalculably valuable from its position.

Some Native Ornamental Grasses.—l.

N the temperate zone grasses are, next to forests,
Nature’s chief decorative material. With them she
covers the dark earth and colors half the landscape. But
apart from their esthetic value when growing together in
meadow or greensward, individual grasses have a beauty
that is not half appreciated. For grace of form and delicacy
of coloring many of our native grasses are full worthy of
cultivation, although but few of them have received the

APRIL 15, 1896.]

attention of the horticulturist. To many gardeners Arundo
Donax, Miscanthus Sinensis (Eulalia Japonica) and Pampas-
Grass, all foreigners, represent the sum total of what is
beautiful among these plants. Ribbon-Grass, Phalaris
arundinacea picta, is occasionally seen in old gardens.
Hair-Grass, a species of Aira; Quaking-Grass, a species of
-Briza ; Sea Oats, Uniola paniculata, and Hare’s-tail, Lagu-
rus, are still sometimes grown for ‘‘ winter bouquets.”
Some small grasses are now and then used for edgings.
With these the list of widely cultivated ornamental grasses
is practically closed. But any one who keeps his eyes
open may find about him, in field and swamp and wood-
land, species quite as handsome as any of these and as
worthy of a place in garden and lawn.

There are some strikingly ornamental species of Crown-
beard or Broomsedge, Andropogon. The Silvery Broom-
sedge, A. argyreeus, common in dry fields in the south-
eastern states, is one of these. With its heads of silvery
white bearded spikes, itis a very showy grass. Indian-
Grass, or Wood-Grass, A. nutans, is another species that
might, with cultivation, lend itself to decorative purposes.
It is often met with in glades and along the edges of woods.
In autumn the tall, straight stems bear handsome open
panicles of silky brown spikelets. These grasses are rela-
tives of the Indian A. squarrosus, whose root-stocks furnish
the aromatic perfume, vitivert. None of our native Broom-
sedges appear to have this quality, although a member of
a related genus, Elionurus tripsacoides, found in low Pine-
barrens along the Gulf coast, has the vitivert fragrance.
Another species of Elionurus, E. barbiculmus, is a pretty
grass, native of the arid uplands of the far south-west. It
has fine thread-like leaves in tufts and slender bright white
hairy spikes.

Nearly all the species of Erianthus—a group related to
the sugar-cane—are handsome plants. The Old World
Erianthus Ravenne is sometimes seen in cultivation.
There are several in the south Atlantic and Gulf states,
growing mostly in swamps. E. alopecuroides is the largest
of these, while E. contortus—-so named from its twisted
awn or beard—is, perhaps, the most beautiful. It is a tall
grass with a dense, pinkish panicle, which has a silky lustre
due to the soft hairs on the spikelets.

Gama-Grass, Tripsacum, is a large plant of the eastern
United States, more common southward. It has tall culms
or stems and broad, ribbon-like dark green leaves resem-
bling those of Indian Corn, to which itis close akin. It was
formerly much esteemed asa forage-producer. The “ head”
is rather curious than beautiful, consisting of one to three
spikes, which are very hard when ripe and break up into
several joints. In the southern states it is often planted in
cemeteries.

- Indian or Tuscarora Rice, Zizania aquatica, sometimes
known as Water Oats, is common on the muddy banks of
tidal rivers near the Atlantic and about lakes and ponds in
the north-west. The fruits are much relished by water-
fowl of various sorts, and the seeds are on that account
often sown. As it isa large showy grass, and of a decid-
edly odd appearance, it is very suitable for planting about
artificial lakes. Another grass worth cultivating in such
places is the Catch-fly Grass, Leersia lenticularis, a near
relative of rice. It is a native of deep swamps in the south-
eastern states. The broad leaves are often striped with
white, as in Ribbon-Grass. The round, flattened spikelets
are fringed with stiff bristles like those on the leaves of
Venus’ Catchfly. To this resemblance, rather than to any
ability of its own to capture insects, it doubtless owes its
popular name. Carolina Water-Grass, Hydrochloa, inhabits
pools and streams in the Pine-barren region of the south
Atlantic and Gulf states. The slender stems root in the
mud at the bottom, while the short leaves, purplish under-
neath, float on the surface. At flowering time the whitish
spikelets are thrust above the water. This grass has flow-
ered in the ponds of the Fish Commission at Washington
and might be grown in ornamental pieces of water, though
it would probably not prove hardy much farther northward.

Garden and Forest.

153

As one of the few purely aquatic grasses it is something of
an oddity.

The Triple-awn Grasses, Aristida, are often of very
attractive appearance. One of the showiest is A. spici-
formis, a denizen of Pine-barren swamps near the coast
from North Carolina to Florida. It has a conspicuous
spike-like head, densely bearded with pale green awns.
A. purpurea, abundant in the prairie region, is a handsome
plant with very long purple awns. The related Feather-
Grasses, species of Stipa, are nearly all of them ornamental.
In New Mexico and Arizona occurs a variety of the Old
World Stipa pennata, the true Feather-Grass, which has its
long bent awns beautifully plumed, like the tails to the
fruits of Clematis. S. Kingii is a singularly delicate little
grass, and S. Richardsoni is remarkable for the grace of its
panicles. The best known of the Feather-Grasses is the
Porcupine-Grass, S. spartea, whose long-awned, sharp-
pointed seeds do great injury by working into the flesh of
sheep. S. viridula robusta, a tall plant with a long green-
ish panicle, is widely known in the west as Sleepy Grass,
and is said to act as a narcotic poison upon stock eating it.
IZ: H. Kearney, Jr.

Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.

Alpine Plants and some of their Peculiarities.

HE vegetation which thrives on high altitudes, whether on
the Swiss Alps, the American Andes, the Himalayas or
on the mountains of Oceanica, shows a distinct personal char-
acter, noticeable even to the most indifferent of travelers.
There plants are usually stunted, short-stemmed or stemless,
with flowers relatively exaggerated in size, whereas on the plains,
tall herbs with highly developed and luxuriant foliage bear
insignificant blossoms, generally smaller than the leaves. On
the mountain tops everything is different, the large flowers
are almost sessile, with scarcely apparent and only slightly
developed foliage, which at a very high level is often clothed
with a fine close down, so as to better withstand the effects of
cold nights. In many cases the foliage is glabrous, when it is
also usually coriaceous (with tissues especially adapted to resist
the frosts of alpine climates), and the leaf of a firm, close, thick
texture is provided with a solid epidermis and covered with a
waxy coating which enables it to withstand the effects of the
sun as well as those of an excess of humidity.

Species that grow in the shade and in well-protected spots
show neither the one nor the other of these characters. Their
foliage is soft and delicate, whereas such woolly plants as the
Edelweiss, several species of Senecio, Artemisia, etc., as well
as species having smooth, generally thick and glossy leaves,
as, for example, the Alpine Azalea, Azalea procumbens, and the
Alpine Rose, Rhododendron ferrugineum, are usually encoun-
tered on arid, unsheltered slopes. Another fact soon noticed
is, that while the flora of altitudes exposed to the heat of the
sun generally produces large, brilliantly colored flowers, that
of shady situations on the contrary shows very small, pale
blossoms, often entirely out of proportion to the size of the
plant. The influence of the sun and its effect on vegetation is
here more striking than elsewhere.

Annual species, so abundant at lower levels, are but rarely
met with on alpine zones. There the very short summer
granted to them will not permit of their accomplishing the
complete cycle of their existence in a single season. The only
alpine species that are not perennial are a few species of Pedi-
cularis and some of the Gentianacez.

Alpine plants are always branched from the base, with
perennial root-stock and stems spreading on the ground, from
which the plant seems to seek the much required protection
against the inclemency of the nights and the severe days that
are but too frequent during the short s»mmer that is accorded
to them. Species that on the plains form shrubs, and even
majestic trees, are represented on the mountains by dwarfed
ones, which decumbently spread, often rise only a tew inches
above the ground. Salix, Azalea procumbens and_ Betula
nana are good illustrations of the stunting effect of alpine
climate. The presence of curiously constructed little plants
is often noticed along the fissures of rocks, small round cush-
ions, composed of a multitude of tiny rosettes closely crowded
together and covered with minute imbricated leaves that
perish through the winter, and during the flowering season
are so densely covered with a profusion of sessile corollas that
the foliage entirely disappears under the wealth of flowers. In
the clear light of our Alps these tufts of brilliant blossoms pro-
duce a marvelous effect, enlivening the rocks and arid sands

154

‘ and giving a unique aspect to the vegetation of our mountain
summits.

All the activity and energy of the plant is brought to bear on
the development of the flower with its reproductive organs.
It is easy to understand, considering the conditions under
which they thrive, that alpine plants should require sometimes
several years to accomplish the cycle of their existence and
that they need more than a single season in which to produce
flowers and seeds. I have devoted much time and care to the
study and observation of the gradual growth of alpine plants,
and [ am sure that certain large tufts of Androsace Helvetica
and A. pubescens, for example, have had more than a hun-
dred years of life. It is not hard to realize that the difference
of climate should materially alter vegetable forms. Our
humid, relatively short and warm winters, with the slow inter-
mediary spring season, followed by a hot dry summer, admits
of the gradual development of stems and leaves, and forms a
violent contrast to the climate of higher regions, There the
winter lasts nine months, or often more (as in certain narrow
valleys which are filled with snow trequently for years at a
stretch), and is followed suddenly by a short summer that is in
every way entirely favorable to rapid vegetable growth. As
soon as the snow melts, owing to the influence of the foehu,
the sirocco or other warm currents of air usually prevalent in
the mountains, the tawny color of the old decaying vegetation
changes rapidly in a few days, sometimes in a few hours, toa
brilliant green. As if by enchantment, the fields and rocks
become animated, are clothed with verdure, and everywhere
the beneficent fertilizing insects busy themselves over flowers
which, without their triendly interference, would remain
sterile. Some plants are so impatient to unfold their blos-
soms that they cannot wait for the melting of the surround-
ing snow, but push their flowers up through it, piercing it
easily, thanks to the dark color of their stems. This is often
observed on alpine pastures in the cases of Soldanella and of
the Crocus. But one questions how can that be if the plant
has remained dormant for eight or nine months. To which
the answer is, that the plant has been far from inert during the
winter, because, if it were so, it could not survive. Life and
action continue, sap and juices move, but slowly, and the
plant undergoes a gradual growth, the proof of which is as
follows: On the eastern slope of the Jura I have studied a tuft
of Soldanella for some successive seasons. My first observa-
tion was made during the last of October, as the winter was
about to set in, and the next day snow was falling rapidly, pre-
paratory to covering the ground for six long months. The
little plant had reached maturity, its sap was retreating into the
roots and it seemed about to die. At the first note of spring-
time I returned to the locality and carefully brushed the snow
from the spot noted the preceding fall, and found the plant
alive, showing flower-buds, though still very small, in the
centre of the little tuft. It had developed its buds in the same
way that the trees on the plains do theirs even during the most
rigorous of winters. The life of the plant is not reduced to as
dormant a state as is generally supposed to be the case, which
the breaking through of the snow by the early flowers of the
Soldanella and the Crocus readily goes to prove. As is well
known, the activity of the roots (and those of alpine plants are
very numerous) is concentrated almost exclusively on the re-
productive organs. The development of the foliage, which
contains the organs of respiration, is generally remitted to the
latter part of the summer, during and after the maturity of the
seeds. After the long winter's rest the plant enters into a pro-
digious and astonishing activity. The summer days are of
fourteen or even of sixteen hours of consecutive duration of
intense pure light; the sun is hotter there than at lower levels
and water is plentiful, whether in liquid form or in that of
vapor. An abundance of light, an adequate amount of hu-
midity anda profusion of roots and rootlets are the sources of
life that keep these little plants in action.

Let us now examine the conditions that cause the dwarfing
of alpine plants. In the first place, physiological experiments
have proved that it is during the night that the lengthening of
tissues and the gradual expansion of the plant occurs. In the
daytime, the greater the insolation, the less growth they ac-
complish, and the alpine night being so extremely cold, there
can scarcely be a question of nocturnal development of moun-
tain plants. It is under the influence of attenuated solar rays
and during the warm dusks that the plants are able to increase.
The powerful, exceedingly hot sun of high altitudes causes the
brilliancy and size of the corollas, but also prevents the equal
expansion of stems and leaves. These latter have only the
very short space of time between the setting of the sun and
the beginning of the glacial night for their growth, and conse-
quently they also profit by the short, cloudy, moist and tepid

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 425.

days that precede the setting in of winter to put forth new
leaves and buds. This is the general rule, though there are
scattered exceptions to it.

The flora of polar countries has a very different aspect from
that of our mountains, though it has many species common
to both. There the sunlight is less intense, as well as more
constant, lasting as it does tor half of the year, but it is also
more diffuse, the solar rays being forced to pierce a much
thicker atmospheric stratum, and consequently the stems of
plants are more highly developed, floral colors are paler, the
foliage is less rigid and thick, and the blossoms are smaller.

I have preserved in my herbarium some specimens of plants
common to both arctic and alpine regions, and the same spe-
cies show a very different form as found growing in the Swiss
mountains and in the boreal zone. Silene acaulis with us is
truly stemless and the flowersare sessile, while in Lapland the
name no longer applies, as there the much smaller flowers are
borne on peduncles measuring as much as ten centimetres.
There are also other causes that go to explain compression of
form in the vegetation of higher altitudes. Extreme violence
of storms and winds would destroy anything that did not cling
close to the soil, and icy nights force the plants to seek shelter
from the earth, which retains more heat than the air. Later
the extreme dryness of the atmosphere again obliges them to
look for protection from the ground, as the heavy dews that
provide the necessary amount of humidity required tor their
existence are preserved in its light and porous soil. This
same mountain soilis entirely different from that of the level
country, and is light, very porous and composed of decayed
vegetation and the pulverized rock common on the mountain.
That rock, whether calcareous or granitic, gives a chemical
character to the earth that greatly influences the plants which
thrive onit. Thereisa flora of granitic regions, another of cal-
careous or siliceous regions, and that especially so on high
mountains, as the alluvial soil of the plains is toc great a mix-

ture for any appreciable influence to be felt.

Director of the Alpine Garden at Geneva. HT. Correvon.

Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.

CaLpurNIA AUREA.—This is the Natal Laburnum of resi-
dents in south Africa, with whom it takes the place of the
common Laburnum of gardens in more temperate regions.
It has been in cultivation in a sunny greenhouse at Kew
for the last ten years, and 1s now a small tree about nine
feet high, with the habit, foliage and flowers of the com-
mon Laburnum, the main difference being in the smaller
flowers of the Natal plant. For countries where the tem-
perature is too high for the common Laburnum the Cal-
purnia would be valuable. It grows freely from cuttings.

CyTISUS PROLIFERUS is a shrub indigenous to the Canary
Islands, of which seeds were distributed from Kew in 1879
to Australia, India, etc., on account of its leafy branches
being useful as fodder. “Its great value is manifest from
the fact that it requires no irrigation, that it can grow in
comparatively barren land and that its branches can be cut
off three times during the year, resisting perfectly well a
long dry summer.” Sheep are said to be very fond of it
and to thrive well when fed upon it; it is also reported to
be good for and relished by cattle and horses. In Australia
it is said to feed animals into condition more rapidly and
in a greater degree than any other food except corn, and it
grows rapidly in any kind of soil, growing to a height of
twelve feet or more in four years from seed. It flowers
freely from May to September and is a favorite with bees.
Dr. Schomburgk wrote in 1891 that he “considered it to be
one of the most valuable trees ever introduced into Aus-
tralia.” Plants of it are grown at Kew for the decoration of
the conservatory. Here it forms a copiously branched
elegant shrub six feet high, not unlike the common C.
racemosus, except that the branches are longer and stiffer
and they are clothed in spring with paper-white flowers.

Camectias as hardy shrubs are receiving attention in the
south of England, where they are proving as hardy as the
common Laurel and as floriferous as the Pontic Rhododen-
dron, so that the leading nurserymen in Devon and Corn-
wall are working up large stocks of them. At Kew they
are hardy, and this year they are flowering well. C. re-

ApRIL 15, 1896.] Garden and Forest. 155

ticulata, the Pzeony-flowered species from the mountains of time in our southern states. The white Azalea Indica

Hong Kong, is thriving in the open against a wall. We have has proved hardy, with proper care, in the latitude of this
only lately awoke to the value of Azalea Indica as a hardy city. —Ep. |
shrub, and the Camellia bids fair to accompany its coun- Ruopopenproy, Orro Forster.—This is a hybrid between

Fig. 21.—Oreodoxa regia, in Florida.—See page rs2.

tryman in its migration from the greenhouse to the openair. Rhododendron Veitchianum and R. Edgewot wo ol
[Those who have seen the great Camellias in the old the most distinct of the Himalavan speci 1

gardens at Drayton Manor, near Charleston (see vol. ii, a few years ago by Mr. O. Fi r, of Lehenhof

p- 129), can realize the splendor of these trees at flowering from whom plants of it were secured for Kew, where it is

156

now in flower in the temperate house. It has inherited all
the good qualities of the flowers of both of its parents and

none of their bad qualities of habit. It forms a shapely
shrub four feet high, clothed with dark green, wrinkled

ovate leaves, and bearing loose clusters of large elegant
pure white fragrant flowers. Among the hybrid Rhodo-
dendrons grown for the greenhouse I should place this by
the side of Countess of Haddington, Henryanum, Kewense
and fragrantissimum.

Ruopopenpron Nosireanum.—This and its near _ allies,
Rhododendron altaclerense and R. Russellianum, all three
hybrids between the Himalayan R. arboreum and forms of
R. Catawbiense, have been beautiful here since the middle
of January. They were raised in England more than
fifty years ago, and for a long time they were in great
favor, but they have long been supplanted by later-flower-
ing hardier sorts. In a mild winter, however, such as the
past has been here, they are a most attractive feature of the
Rhododendron garden, the Kew plants, for instance, having
been so full of beautiful flowers that horticulturists gen-
erally have wondered why such handsome winter-flower-
ing shrubs are not in every garden.

‘Ruopopenpron rutcens,—This is one of the most beauti-
ful of the Himalayan Rhododendrons and one of the har-
diest. It forms a somewhat scraggy bush, six feet high at
Kew, sixteen feet in the Himalayas, with smooth purplish
bark, elliptic rounded leaves dark green above, the under
surface covered with rust-colored tomentum. The young
growths are enclosed in strap-shaped imbricating dark red
scale-leaves. The flowers, which are bell-shaped, are in
dense heads six inches across and each flower is about an
inch across and of the brightest glistening blood-red color,
unequaled in brilliancy by any other Rhododendron. I
am informed that on the high mountains of Sikkim the
effect produced by the numerous bushes of this Rhododen-
dron when in flower is indescribably brilliant. There are
several big bushes of it in full flower out-of-doors now at
Kew. Unfortunately, there is a close resemblance between
this species and the comparatively worthless R. campanu-
latum (cruginosum), except in the flowers, and this resem-
blance has led to the latter being generally grown for R.
fulgens. So far as I know, this species has not been used
by “the breeders of garden Rhododendrons, although in its
hardiness, rich color and time of flowering its claims are
superior to other species which have.

RHODODENDRON PR&COX.—In favorable springs, such as
that now being experienced in England, this Rhododen-
dron is exceptionally effective, producing in great abun-
dance its compact heads of rosy-lilac flowers in February
and March. The habit of the plant is not unlike that of the
Swamp Honeysuckles, and it resembles them in being
practically deciduous. Itis a garden hybrid between R.
Dauricum and R. ciliatum, and was raised about thirty
years ago by Isaac Davies, of Ormskirk, in Lancashire, to
whose skill as a breeder of Rhododendrons we are indebted
for some of the best in cultivation. R. praecox is as hardy
as the hardiest of shrubs, and it a handsome bush when
clothed with its glossy green Myrtle-like leaves. Its only
drawback is its early-flowering habit, the buds unfolding in
February, when they are often destroyed by frost. Where
it cannot be grown out-of-doors permanently it is worth a
place among greenhouse plants, a few bushes grown in
pots in the open air during the summer and protected from
severe cold till midwinter, when they may be started in a
little heat, being very useful for the decoration of the con-
servatory in February.

Prunus Mume.—This plant, said to have been intro-
duced from Japan into France twelve years ago, but as yet
scarcely known in gardens here, is this year very attrac-
tive at Kew, the flowers being as large as those of the
Almond, of the same color and. deliciously fragrant. It is
distinguished by the pale green color of its twigs, the long
pointed Apricot-like form of its leaves, and its globose,
slightly velvety fruits, containing oval convex stones.
When in flower the shoots are quite leafless. It is quite

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 425.

hardy and flowers a fortnight earlier than its ally, P. triloba.
The flowers are semidouble. It was distributed by Messrs.
Baltet Brothers, Troyes, under the name of P. myrobalana
flore roseo plena, and it has also been called P. cerasifera.
The Japanese nurserymen offer named varieties of it, with
flowers varying from white to rose-purple. It is said to
force well.

Prunus Dasycarpa, the Black Almond, is also flowering
freely this year. It is supposed to be a garden hybrid.
The twigs are black, and the flowers, which are an inch
across, are white, with rose-tinted stamens and reddish
calyx lobes. It seems to be a good, early spring-flowering
TEE:

Prunus Triropa.—An old plant of the double-flowered
form of this grand Plum has, for many years, been one of
the principal attractions among trees which blossom in early
spring at Kew. It is trained against a south wall, where
it makes hundreds of wand-like shoots every year, each
about a yard long and clothed from base to apex with clus-
ters of rosy pink flowers over an inch across, double, beau-
tiful both in bud and when fully expanded, their beauty
being enhanced by the bright green of the budding leaves.
It is ‘impossible to ees too highly of this plant as a shrub
fora south wall, for, although it is quite hardy and flowers
freely when treated as an ordinary bush or tree, it is never
so beautiful as when grown againsta wall. The Kew plant
is on its own roots. After flowering all the shoots are cut
back hard, and this induces the plant to make long new
shoots as above described. We have no more beautiful
Plum from the east than this. It was introduced from
China in 1857 and has been known in gardens as Amyg-
dalopsis Lindleyi. Plants of the single-flowered form are
also in cultivation, having been introduced from Japan by
Professor Sargent a few years ago.

SPRING-FLOWERING SHRUBS.—The exceptional mildness of
the past winter, followed by an unusually warm and sunny
spring, has made gardens here more attractive than I ever
remember to have seen them. Shrubs of all kinds have
flowered profusely and earlier than is their wont, while the
spring-flowering herbaceous plants have been wonderfully
good. That grand shrub, Forsythia suspensa, has been
wreathed in golden flowers everywhere ; Hamamelis arbo-
rea has been equally prolificin bloom. All our first comers,
which generally get nipped in the bud with frost,,have been
asuccess, such as Rhododendron Dauricum, R. praecox, R.
Rhodora (now beautifully in bloom), Corylopsis spicata,
Magnolia stellata, M. Soulangeana, M. conspicua, Plums,
Almonds, Peaches of all kinds, Prunus Davidiana, which:
is better than ever. Roses are in full leaf, and the Lilac
bushes promise to be in bloom in a few days. With bright
sunshine all day and a temperature of seventy degrees in
the shade on several occasions and the entire absence of
frost, such a state of things in the garden in March is not

to be wondered at.
dese : W. Watson.

Cultural Department.
Pruning Shrubs.

i ee = is the season of frequentinquiry as to when and how

deciduous shrubs should be pruned. To this it must
be answered that the knife ought to be used at different
times and in different ways, according to the object to be
served, and that no branch should ever be cut away unless an
intelligent reason can be given for removing it at that partic-
ular time. Every one ought to know that shrubs which bloom
early in the spring form their flower-buds on the wood made
the previous year, and that if this wood is removed now it will
to that extent curtail the production of flowers. Witha view,
then, to the production of more flowering branches it is evident
thatsuch shrubs as the early Spireeas and Forsythias should be
pruned as soon as the flowering season is over, and this will
induce the growth of new wood, which will produce flowering
buds for next spring. On the other hand, shrubs like the late.
flowering Tamarisks and Hydrangeas should be pruned at
once, if ‘this has not already been done, in order to insure
flowering wood for late summer and autumn, since these

APRIL £5, 1896.]

plants blossom on the wood of the current year. But a shrub
is more than a flowering plant, It is beautiful in summer for
its foliage, and in the winter for its form and the tints of its
branches, and it should be pruned, therefore, with a view to its
continued use and beauty. Althaeas and Tamarisks cut back to
bare poles in the autumn have no beauty until midsummer of the
following year. Severe pruning, as a rule, leaves a disfigured
plant. Pruning shrubs to the form of a globe ora cone, or to
a single level like a hedge is a horticultural atrocity. Remem-
bering what has been said about the relation of the time of
flowering to the time of pruning, it is best not to remove large
branches to the extent of interfering with the typical outline of
the plant. It is as good a time now as any to thin out the
weaker and overshaded branches and those which interfere
with each other. Of course, this will not supersede the neces-
sity of summer pruning. Suckers and surplus wood can be
removed in the growing season, when the wounds will heal
more quickly than in cold weather or when the plants bleed.
When the flowering wood is shortened in after the bloom is
over the overstrong shoots can be stopped in midsummer
without injuring the shapeliness of the shrub, and this will
hasten the development of the flower-buds and help to ripen
the wood into good condition for the winter. This is especially
true in wet seasons. If the luxuriant growth is then stopped
the vital energies of the tree will be turned toward developing

buds and fruit.
Hartford, Conn. G. A, Henry.

Growing Tomatoes.

ON page 37 of the present volume of GARDEN AND FOREST

will be found a most instructive article on cultivating the
Tomato, by Mr. W. W. Tracy, of Detroit, in which he called
attention to the habits and surroundings of this plant in its
native tropics. Under natural conditions, from the time the
seed germinates until the plant is exhausted by bearing fruit,
there is not any check in its growth from chill or other unto-
ward circumstances, and it has consequently acquired a con-
stitution which resents any check. When, therefore, the
plants are exposed to a temperature of forty-five degrees they
not only stop growing, but they lose vigor and vital energy,
even although they are not killed. This indicates the true
method of cultivation which was clearly described by Mr.
Tracy—that is, a thorough preparation of the ground before-
hand by frequent stirring ; sowing the seed as late as from the
first to the tenth of April; keeping the plants growing steadily
in a good cold frame and not setting them out until cold
storms are over, which is not much before June Ist in his
latitude.

In the current issue of Zhe Rural New-Vorker Mr. Tracy
cites some instances to show that this most reasonable theory
works well in practice. A field of Tomatoes in Oakland
County, Michigan, treated in the usual way—that is, with the
seed sown in March, planted in rich ground in such a way that
they were checked for about ten days, after which they com-
menced a rapid growth, so that they soon surpassed in size
the plants in an adjoining field from seed sown three or four
weeks later and set out in ground that had been cultivated
several times in such a way that they received no check. In
spite of the vigorous growth of the stalks and leaves, the first
field yielded less than three hundred bushels to the acre, and
the second yielded about eight hundred bushels of excellent
fruit. Of course, there were differences in cultivation. For
example, the second field was cultivated every week, and
sometimes oftener, and care was taken to stir the surface only,
while the other field was cultivated three times, as deeply as the
implement would run. Nevertheless, this will not altogether
account for the difference in the yield, and it appears plain that
Mr. Tracy’s suggestions will be found very useful to all who
study them so that they can adopt the practice understandingly.

New York.

Asparagus.

N O early vegetable is looked for more eagerly than the first

dish of asparagus. A bed of Asparagus once established
is permanent, and it is essential, therefore, that the work of
preparing the bed should be done thoroughly. A well-drained
sandy loam is best. Our location is a dry one, but we have never
known the bed _ to suffer even in the driest season. In heavy
soils some artificial means must be adopted to relieve the soil
of excessive moisture. Where Asparagus 1s grown in the low-
lands it is customary to cultivate it on ridges six feet wide,
three rows to a ridge. The intervening hollows, or trenches,
are filled during summer-time with the litter gathered from
the manure which has lain on the ridges all winter. When

Garden and Forest.

157

thoroughly decomposed this is thrown up again, with an addi-
tional dressing, and the trenches again left open during the
winter. This plan will be a good one to follow in all heavy
soils, and in such cases there is another advantage, that of
having earlier Asparagus than could be grown in beds on the
level. The beds being permanent, the ground must be deeply
trenched with good loam to take the place of poorer soil. Six
inches of good manure should be worked in deeply, as Aspara-
gus-roots penetrate the ground for fully two feet, and this also
is a safeguard against drought. It is not, however, recom-
mended to make the plantation deep. Our original bed is now
twenty years old, but it is equal in bearing and quality to plan-
tations six years old. It is later, and this may be accounted for
by the fact that crowns are yearly formed below, or behind,
the main one, so that now the original roots, once near the
surface, are from fifteen to eighteen inches deep.

Travelers in Europe often remark on the succulent quality
and delicate flavor of asparagus as served in Paris, comparing
American-grown as Stringy and coarse-flavored. The French
method of culture, to which alone is ascribed the excellent
quality of the vegetable there, is described in Robinson's
Parks and Gardens of Parts. A planting was made here six
years ago according to the instructions given in this book, and
with most interesting results. Trenches four feet apart were
dug to the depth of six inches and the soil well pulverized.
All along these, at three feet apart, mounds were made a foot
in diameter and six inches high. The young plants were
placed with their crowns on the top of the mound, and the
roots spread in all directions along the sides, and finally banked
up even with fine soil. This method of handling the roots is
of considerable importance, and may be followed to advantage
inany case. Regular development is insured, and the results
in our case were surprising. It certainly is a more rational
way than bunching the roots or squeezing them into holes that
are not large enough for them.*

Each season the stems have been stayed with stakes to
prevent the unavoidable injtiry from wind, liable to unpro-
tected plants. .In a closely planted bed this would not be
necessary. Care was taken that these stakes were inserted
far enough away not to injure the crowns. All seed capsules
were picked off and everything done to secure the fullest
development of the crowns. One, two, three years passed,
and the hills were banked with fine soil to bleach the pushing
shoots. But something was wrong, for the grass was stringy
and tasteless, and the French method was abandoned. Nev-
ertheless, for private gardens, whether one wants it blanched
or not, finer and better asparagus can be grown in this than in
any other way, and we would recommend it to all.

When the cutting season is past, which is usually when peas
come in, we have given an additional coat of salt with no
injury to the growing plants and with advantage in destroying
millions of small weeds. There is an excellent artificial ma-
nure, specially prepared for top-dressing. In city gardens this
will be preferable to barnyard manure.

Asparagus roots are sometimes lifted in the autumn and
forced under benches in the greenhouse during winter. The
results are seldom satisfactory, and the shoots are at best
weak, stringy and tasteless. The plan adopted at the place of
H. H. Hunnewell, Esq., and now in good practice, after sev-
eral years’ preparation, is to mark a bed out, which can
be framed over when ready to force, and cover it with hot-
bed sash. The bed is enclosed in the autumn, well matted
and shuttered and banked, so as to exclude frost. When
February comes, sunlight and air are allowed on all bright
days, so that by the middle of March good, natural-looking
heads push through, and these are as well flavored as any we
get atany time. Cutting is continued until the open-air crop
is wellin, and then the bed is allowed to take its natural course,

Wellesley, Mass. T. D. Hatfield.

Hovea ellipticaa—New Holland plants are unfortunately little
known or they would be’ very highly appreciated, and none
more so than this one. The Hoveas are much like Choro-
zemas in many respects, but differ generally by having in-
tensely purple or blue flowers. H. elliptica is of a rather strag-
gling habit that can be improved under cultivation by means
of pinching and pruning. The leaves are rather small, alter-
nate, rounded-lanceolate, mucronate. The intensely blue and
very beautiful flowers are produced in short axillary racemes
in great profusion from March until early summer, The stems
are very slender, with somewhat hairy branches, and grow a
couple of feet high only, under cultivation. Hoveas are gen-
erally propagated by seeds, which grow treely when fresh. They
* The method of cultivating Asparagus in France was explained with great full-
ness by Monsieur Henri L. de Vilmorin, in Gaxpgn anp Forest, yol. iii., p. 557.

1538

should be sown in shallow pans in a compost of fibrous peat,
loam and sand and kept in a warm and shady position until
germinating. Watering should be attended to regularly and
with great care, as the young seedlings are apt to damp olf if
the roots are kept too dry and the top too moist. The seed-
lings should be pinched frequently to form bushy plants, and
keptin a moderately cool and light place in summer. In win-
ter they thrive best in a warm greenhouse or conservatory.

Washington, D. C. (OF

Mahernia glabrata—This is a very desirable greenhouse
plant, flowering from March until early insummer. It has a
rather straggling habit, but can be grown into a neat and com-
pact specimen by proper pinching and training. The Oxalis-
like flowers are yellow, nodding, very fragrant and borne
in pairs on long axillary or terminal peduncles chiefly on
lateral branches; leaves lanceolate, pinnatifid, or coarsely
toothed, and the stems are slender and wiry. The plants
when well grown are very floriferous, and, although not
among the showiest, they are, at least, among the sweetest
greenhouse and window plants of this season. After flower-
ing they should be allowed to rest and ripen, and any long and
straggling shoots may then be pruned back. They should
afterward be repotted and plunged during the growing period
outside ina cool frame. Plenty of water is necessary in sum-
mer. In winter they should be kept quite cool until February
or March, when a warm and light place near the glass is prefer-
able to any other. Mahernias are generally increased in sum-
mer by means of cuttings of soft-wooded iateral shoots, which
will strike in a cool propagating-bed in a temperature of about
sixty degrees.

Kennedya (Maryatte) prostrata major.—Few twining green-
house plants can surpass this showy species, which flowers
very freely in March and April ina cool conservatory. It is
the only really valuable and floriferous greenhouse climber
among the Leguminosz, and it deserves wide and general
cultivation for its graceful habit and beautiful flowers. Like
all Kennedyas, it is a perennial herbaceous twiner, a native of
Australia, where the genus is indigenous. It differs from
K. prostrata in having lighter-colored and larger flowers, in
the more rounded and hairy leaflets, and in being profusely
floriferous. The trifoliate leaves are very handsome, with
roundish oblong wavy-edged leaflets about two inches long.
The slender stems often grow as long as twenty feet and carry
numerous axillary clusters of intensely deep scarlet flowers.
All the green parts of the plant, stems and branches, as well
as the foliage and stiples, are very hairy. All the Kennedyas
are readily propagated from seeds, which ripen in any mode-
rately warm and sunny position. They should be sown as
soon as ripe in a light compost, and may be grown out-of-
doors during the first season. They grow very rapidly and
require an abundant supply of water in summer, but may be
kept considerably drier in winter. They are best planted out
in prepared bedsin sunny positions in the conservatory, where
they can be trained on pillars and rafters, producing the most

beautiful effect in spring and early summer.
Newark, N. J. P 8 y N. Fs Rose.

Correspondence.

The Plans of Madison Square.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—All persons interested in park-making will certainly be
grateful for the two plans of Madison Square in your last issue
and the study of their comparative merits by Mrs, Van Rens-
selaer. Perhaps still further discussion may be helpful, and I
therefore write to say that it is hardly correct to classify the
old plan as belonging to the naturalistic class. I draw a heavy
line (see fig. on this page) to show how symmetrical it is except
where it has been distorted in two or three places. Curved
lines are not necessarily natural. Of course, the building (C)
ought to be less conspicuous than it is, and the revised plan
corrects this. Plainly, too, the statues are introductions of a
later date, and the original designer is not responsible for
placing them where they are. They might be well removed
to the points (NN). If this were done I do not discover any
great superiority in the proposed plan over the old one. The
area is so small that the insertion of a bit of rectangular treat-
ment surrounded by a curvilinear treatment seems incon-
gruous. Nor is it large enough for a ‘variety of design,
abundance of shade, an effect of wide green lawns with seem-
ingly unstudied, yet artistic, arrangement of trees, shrubs and
grass, which produce pleasingly naturalistic impressions and
illusions.””. An attempt to accomplish all this in so contracted
a space must result in confusion. Let us have symmetry

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 425.

where this is needed, but curvilinear symmetry and rectangu-
lar symmetrv ought not to be mixed up in so small a place.
Mrs. Van Rensselaer has noted one serious mistake in the
new plan—that is, the sharp points in the grass-plats—and she
might have added that the few conifers introduced tend to

VE : My, Vis

a eee at ; cy
©) j OC

7
4

Fig. 22.—Plan of Madison Square, New York.

spottiness. Again, instead of dividing the rectilinear garden
by a short straight avenue of trees running from circle to circle,
would it not be better to surround and frame in the flower
garden with them rather than bisect it? Perhaps trees are not
needed at all, for the flowers need all the sunshine they can
get. Mrs. Van Rensselaer is certainly right when she states
that parks in restricted areas had better be formalized. But
the central oval of the original plan might be adorned with
flowers as advantageously as the central feature of the pro-
posed plan, and the trees about this oval might be placed
symmetrically and at even distances if it was thought proper
to emphasize the symmetry of the centre of the place; and
this would be advisable if the monuments were placed at the
points (NN). Undoubtedly the trees in the old plan should be
better grouped, or set in some symmetrical relation, andsome
symmetrical shrub arrangement is needed especially outside
the central oval. With proper grouping of the trees symmetric
places might be found for formal flower-beds and balanced sites
for statues. Altogether, if there could be some rearrangement
in the planting to make the symmetry of the present plan more
evident, it strikes me as better than the new ones.

I should be greatly pleased to hear some other opinions on
these points, and trust that some artist will furnish you with
other plans designed without any regard to the square as it
now exists. Messrs. Bell & Langton have been hampered by
their efforts to save standing trees, so that they were allowed
very little freedom of treatment, and it is not fair to criticise
their plan as an original work.

New York City. S.A:

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—I observe that in both plans of Madison Square, pub-
lished in your issue for April 8th, the paths which converge at

APRIL 15, 1896.]

the circles are very inaccurately centered—that is, the axes of
the paths do not point to the centres of the circle, and if the
designs were executed as shown on the map the result would
be disastrous. This, however, may be simply carelessness on
the part of the draughtsman. I should add that both plans
ought to show greater seating capacity. Seats ought to be
recessed so that the feet of those using them will not be inthe
way of pedestrians, because the paths as wide as those in the
pians give no more than the necessary walking space.
New York, TERN OAINYS

Meetings of Societies.

Forestry in Pennsylvania.

A NOTABLE event was the spring meeting of the Pennsyl-
vania Forestry Association and Arbor Day celebration,
which occurred in Philadelphia on Friday, April roth, with the
cooperation of the trustees and faculty of the University of
Pennsylvania and the trustees and faculty of the Drexel Insti-
tute. The planting ceremony comprised afternoon exercises
in the chapel of the University of Pennsylvania. Perhaps so
enthusiastic an audience never before assembled in the inter-
ests of forestry in America. The Governor of the common-
wealth, Mayor of the city, Provost and faculty of the University,
chief of the National Forestry Division, the State Forest Com-
missioner, the president of the Pennsylvania Forestry Associa-
tion and other public officials, the members of the Pennsylvania
Forestry Association and friends of forestry and of the Univer-
sity made up part of the audience, but the impressive feature
of the great gathering was the hundreds of earnest young men,
students of the University. The spontaneous ringing applause
when telling points were well made by the speakers was
doubtless inspired by patriotism sometimes as much by pro-
test against the wasteful destruction of forests or the proposal
of forest reform, but the effect in the direction of wiser forestry
policy was none the less strong on the minds of the audience.

Provost Harrison, in opening the meeting and giving it into
the charge of Mr. John Birkinbine, President of the Pennsyl-
vania Forestry Association, said that Pennsylvania once had
the greatest relative forest area of any of the colonies north of
Virginia, and now has the least relative forest area of the
states north of Virginia, excepting Connecticut. Mr. Burkin-
bine explained that his interest in forestry was aroused in con-
nection with the hydraulic and metallurgical factors in railroad
building. Governor Hastings was then introduced, and spoke,
among other things, of the far-seeing wisdom of Penn, who
aimed at the planting and preservation of the Oak-trees for
ships and of the Mulberry-trees for silk ; of two rows of trees
along every street of the city, and the clearing of only five out
of every six acres of forest by the settlers. Mayor Warwick's
fancies and facts completely captured the audience. He said
much of Shakespeare's poetry was due to his having yielded
to the influence of nature in the Stratford and Coventry country.

Professor Rothrock, State Forest Commissioner, then read a
letter from General Paul A. Oliver, of Wilkesbarre, giving a
history of the scion of the Penn Treaty Elm, to be planted in
connection with these exercises on the University campus, as
a memorial to William Penn. Some account is already re-
corded in GARDEN AND FOREST, vol. v., p. 312, and vol. viii.,
p. 240. The little tree to be planted now was taken from a
shoot of the Oliver tree on the 1st of March, 1893. Nathan C,
Schaefer, Superintendent of Public Instruction, made an
effective address, and, describing the love of German students
for trees about their alma mater, called upon the loyalty and
care of the students of the University of Pennsylvania for this
historic grandchild of a great tree.

Mr. Fernow, representing the National Government, said
that the American people had made two great mistakes, one
moral, the other economic; one in the treatment of the In-
dians and the other in the treatment of the forests, and that
Penn, in whose memory this tree is to be planted to-day, made
neither of these mistakes. He said the planting would be a
memorial of moral rectitude and advanced national economic
thought. .

The planting of the trees on the campus facing the main hall
then followed, Governor Hastings doing the actual planting.
In the name and by the authority of the commonwealth of
Pennsylvania, the Governor commanded Provost Harrison
and the University generally to care for the tree. The Provost
accepted the trust, and promised also that trees would soon be
planted along the entire three miles of streets surrounding the
University, the plans for the work being already in hand.

At the evening meeting, in the Drexel Institute, the first ad-
dress was that of Governor Hastings, who spoke on the neces-
sity of preserving the forests of Pennsylvania. After sketching

Garden and Forest.

159

graphically the original. extent and wealth of our unbroken
Appalachian forests which stretched from Maine to the Gulf,
he showed how rapidly these had melted away before the axe
of settlers, whose descendants were continuing this destruc-
tion while other nations had been taught by a disastrous expe-
rience to begin with infinite pains and cost the work of forest
restoration. Leaving aside the broader economic and sanitary
value of our forests, he quoted figures to show that the annual
product of our forests was fifteen times as great as that of all
our gold and silver mines, and more than double that of all
the minerals as well as the natural gas, and slate and building
stone which are dug from the earth ina year. Coming to his
own state, he said that during the last ten years the timber
crop of Pennsylvania had aggregated more than two hundred
millions of dollars. Three-fourths of the timber in the state
had already been marketed, the railroads had invaded the
woods where streams were not large enough to float the logs,
and the portable sawmill was making havoc with the smaller
growth on the hills and the wood-lots on the farms. He gave
Commissioner Rothrock as authority for stating that if the
land in Pennsylvania unfit for farm purposes, and now worth
not more than $1.00 an acre onan average, could be protected
from the axe and the brand, the value of the timber crop on
this land at the end of fifty years would bea billion and a half
of dollars, or an average of thirty million dollars a year, and
this estimate makes no account of the saving of life and prop-
erty from frequent floods, or of the improvement to agricul-
ture and other industries and the promotion of the public
health, which would certainly follow. He asserted that these
tremendous interests make it the essential duty of the com-
monwealth to restore and protect the forests on the highlands
of Pennsylvania wherever this is possible. This great waste
forest area should be under proper guardianship and no
interest of such public importance should remain in private
hands. It was the welfare of the people at large, pure water,
public health, which forest destruction threatened. Altogether
the Governor made a strong and reasonable plea for state
action in the interest of the state at large.

In the course of a very instructive paper, Mr. B. E. Fernow,
head of the Forestry Division of the Department of Agricul-
ture, said that there are two points of view from which we may
look at the forestry movement: first, the one which a thinking
lumberman and forest-owner ought to take when he considers
only the perpetuation of supplies of useful material which the
forest can yield, and, secondly, the broader one which the
statesman and every patriotic citizen is bound to take in addi-
tion to the first—that is, he must consider the réle which the
forest plays as a factor in our civilization, as a general condi-
tion of the country which, if irrationally altered, must lead to
the misery of the whole community. The influence of the
forest upon the conditions of river-flow, climate and health
can rarely concern the private owner who is interested only
in the profit which he can draw from his property, and this is
the reason why the state, which alone is as long-lived as the
forest, should guard the essentials of its future welfare. The
questions relating to our forest are not those whose adjust-
ment can be deferred without detriment. Whether our cur-
rency be of silver or of gold, whether our tariff be high orlow,
whether our products are carried across the sea by English
ships or by our own merchantmen, are matters which can be
decided in the future ; but whether fertile land shall be turned
into deserts, forests into wastes, brooks into torrents and riveis
changed from means of intercourse and power into forces of
desolation—these are questions of immediate importance
which must be solved at the proper time. Mr. Fernow went
on to show the particulars of the devastation of the French
Alps and of the efforts to recover them. He explained that the
same processes are wasting the fertility of our own territory,
where vast regions are doomed to impoverishment unless we
begin at once to arrest the loss, He advocated strongly the
passing of the McRae bill, now before Congress, which,
although crude and primitive, is, at least, a definite and rea-
sonable attempt at a rational forestry system for the property
of the General Government.

Dr. Rothrock, State Commissioner of Forestry, followed
with some well-selected lantern views illustrating the condi-
tions of the naked hills and water-sheds of the state. One of
these showed ascene in Sullivan County where ridge stretched
beyond ridge for miles covered with an unbroken torest, mak-
ing a natural sanitarium, and this was contrasted with another
which was a scene of absolute desolation where the hills had
been first lumbered over and the remaining trees destroyed
by fire. Two beautiful pictures from Centre County showed
the sources of streams in timbered regions where water was
saved for the state use, and two others from Clinton County
showed scenes of ruin, where the water had rushed off in a

160

deluge from the naked hills, destroying life and property in
its course. Instructive, too, were the contrasting illustrations
of what a street-tree ought to be, and of an actual scene in one
of the Philadelphia squares, in which trees unsuitable for a
city planting had been selected and then butchered by an
ignorant pruner.

All the addresses were wise and temperate, and the exer-
cises throughout were instructive and stimulating, just such
exercises, indeed, as are needed for popular education in all
parts of the country.

Notes.

Plums proved the least satisfactory of all fruit crops in west-
ern New York last year, and the reason assigned was that the
crop of 1894, the largest ever known, proved such a drain on
the vitality of the trees that they did not have strength enough
for a crop the succeeding year. A marked exception to this
rule was found in trees of the old variety Reine Claude, which
gave a full yield of as large and fair fruit as ever.

Of the vegetables imported into New York during last week,
Bermuda sent 14,068 crates of onions and 1,346 crates of other
vegetables ; Cuba, 2,366 crates of onions and 440 crates of
other products; the Bahamas, 871 crates of tomatoes. Other
receipts from the south were 4,600 barrels of kale, 12,700 bar-
rels of spinach, 7,750 crates of cabbage and 5,100 crates of
other vegetables, while 8,500 packages came over the Penn-
sylvania Railroad. Of course, this is only a partial record of
the supply.

Strawberries from Florida have been quite abundant, but
the fruit is of irregular size and quality, though in fair condi-
tion. Some Hoffman seedlings of extra grade have come
packed in ice boxes and sold at fifty to sixty cents a box, at
retail. In other grades those carried in refrigerator cars have
shown the best average quality, and prices have been thirty-
five to forty-five cents a box at retail. Other methods of trans-
porting this perishable fruit are in freight lots in small ice
boxes and by express in open crates,

Bananas are in plentiful supply in this city and sell rather
slowly. During last week 49,900 bunches were imported here,
against 63,500 bunches during the corresponding week a year
ago. They sell for eighty-five cents to $1.35 a bunch on the
docks in truck-loads. Cocoanuts, also, are plentiful—a cargo
of 398,000 from St. Andreas having arrived a few days ago,
besides the large stock on hand. San Blas, St. Andreas, Bar-
acoa and Kingston are the forwarding ports, and prices here
range from $24.00 to $30.00 a thousand.

A very complete handbook on Indian Corn is contained in
the report of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture for the
quarter ending March 31st of this year. It fills more than one
hundred pages, and has been written by experts in the various
fields, and contains a surprising amount of information upon
such points as cultivating and handling the crop, harvesting
and storing the fodder, the merits of different varieties, the
feeding value of the meal, diseases of the plant, etc. This is
followed by a briefer treatise on the Sorghums and their use
both for grain and for forage as estimated by Kansas growers.
It is a useful little pamphlet, and yet the Secretary of the Board
of Agriculture has not found it worth indexing.

Some time ago we gave a brief description of Physalis Fran-
chetti, a near relative of P. Alkekengi, often seen in old gar-
dens, where it is called the Winter Cherry or the Strawberry
Tomato, on account of its well-flavored fruit enclosed in the
swollen calyx. The new species was brought recently from
Japan by Mr. Veitch, and from a colored plate of it in the last
number of 7ke Garden it must be a striking plant. The
calyx is about seven or eight inches in circumference and of
singularly glowing colors—a mingled orange and scarlet of
varying tints. A group of these plants grown in deep soil
would give a rich and bold effect, and when cut the inflated
envelope of the fruit lasts fora long time. A correspondent
of The Garden says that some of these fairy-like balloons are
still bright, although they have been cut more than a year,

Along some of the more public business streets of Philadel-
phia, on market day mornings especially, interesting little
collections of woodsy herbs are offered for sale by colored
folks from out of town. One such little sidewalk-stand last
Saturday offered bunches of the spicy leaves of the Creeping
Wintergreen, or Checkerberry, which lacked the gloss, but
were almost as varied and brilliantly colored as Galax leaves.
Calamus, slender Sarsaparilla roots and the thicker Dandelion
roots, with the bark of Wild Cherry, Sassafras and Prickly Ash,

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 425.

all sold for some asserted medicinal value. Then there were
fresh Catnip, clumps of the grassy young foliage and roots of
Star of Bethlehem, leaves of Dandelion for salad, little nose-
gays of Trailing Arbutus, and plants of the same well rooted in
the glistening sand of The Pines of New Jersey, and patches of
moss. There were plants of Peppermint, too, the straggling,
co bare, stems showing little green and purple leaves on
the ends.

We have alluded to the danger which threatens Niagara
Falls since several great corporations, eager to secure power
for nothing, are struggling for the privilege of taking water for
their private use from what is now a publicstream. Attention
has also been called to the fact that surveys by the Govern-
ment Engineer seem to show that the level of the Great Lakes
has fallen within the past twenty years, and is still falling, and
it is interesting to inquire, therefore, what will be the effect of
the great Chicago drainage canal in the same direction. The
Niagara is the outlet of the lakes, and any lowering of their
level will, of course, be felt at the Falls. Zhe American Archi-
zect doubts the propriety of draining a navigable lake for the
purpose of floating the sewage of a city down upon the people
of southern Illinois and the states below. But, besides this,
the whole country has an interest in the Falls of Niagara,
which will be affected, no one seems to know how much, by
the Chicago canal.

According to a recent publication of the Department of Agri-
culture on Nut Culture in the United States there are about
250,000 Cocoanut Palms of all ages on the eastern coast of
Florida, some 25,000 of which are bearing. On the shores of Lake
Worth some 50,000 trees, old and young, are now growing, and
nothing can be more picturesque or graceful than the soft, yel-
lowish green leaves of these groves. Many of the leaves are
as much as twenty feet long and as perfect throughout as’an
ostrich plume. Florida growers bury the nuts until they sprout,
and then plant them in holes some two feet deep and twenty
feet apart. The sprouted nuts are covered with good
earth, and as the plant grows the earth is filled about it until
it is level with the surface. The tree is fruitful near the salt
water in Florida south of Lake Worth on the east, and Char-
lotte harbor on the west, including the keys. It begins to
fruit in from five to seven years from the planting of the
nut, but when removed inland it is not fruitful and does not
thrive. On Key West there are some trees over fifty years old.

In Bulletin No. 40 from the Oregon Experiment Station, we
learn that for commercial purposes there are practically only
seven varieties of Apples grown in that state. Of these the
Spitzenberg is the most generally planted and the best liked,
and this is followed in the order of their acreage and reputa-
tion by the Ben Davis, the Newtown Pippin, the Baldwin, the
Red-cheeked Pippin and the Northern Spy. The first orchards
which were planted as minor appendages to farms where the
fruit was only grown for home use have been allowed to be
preyed upon by various pests until they are nearly valueless,
so that the orchard area has actually decreased in recent years.
New orchards are now being planted on a considerable scale,
and organized efforts have been undertaken to combat the
insects, of which the San José scale, the green aphis and the
woolly aphis are the most serious pests, and the latter can
hardly be annibilated since it lives both at the root and the top
of the trees. On the branches the woolly aphis can be con-
trolled by caustic washes, and it is to be hoped that some
variety of Apple will be found with roots that can resist its
attacks.

It has long been a common opinion among farmers in this
country and in Europe, that where seeds are produced in pairs
one ot these will germinate the first year after ripening, and
the other will not germinate until the second year. Experi-
ments with the seed on a spilelet of Wild Oats, Avena fatua,
and the Sandbur, Cenchrus tribuloides, have shown that there
was no foundation for this belief, but with the Cocklebur,
Xanthium Canadense, it has been discovered that the germi-
nation of both seeds in a pairin one season is exceptional.
Very interesting are the details of some studies by Professor
J.C. Arthur as given in a paper read at Springfield, Massachu-
setts, at the last annual meeting of the Society for the Promo-
tion of Agricultural Science. He proved that neither of the
two seeds had the advantage over the other in any physical
protection, but he discovered at last that there was a constitu-
tional difference in the character of the protoplasm of the
embryos, so that one seed has a short resting period and the
other a very long one—that is, the seeds are distributed in
time, one of them germinating a year, at least, later than the
other, instead of being scattered in space.

APRIL 22, 1896.]

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orricz: Trisung Buitpinc, New York.

Conducted by . . . .. «+ © « « « « Professor C. S. SARGENT.

ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST-OFFICR AT NEW YORK, N. Ye

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 1896.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

EprrortaL ArticLes :—The Obliteration of Public Parks..... ee) LOT
The Flavor of Apples in England a =
Thrinax in Florida
The Tannin Value of Some North American
Grape-fruit and Shaddocks. (With figures.)..
New or Litt.Le-KNowN Prants :—Lavatera insularis.

enry Mpinbe.
-D. Morris. 163

‘(With figure. 5)

T. S. Brandegee. 164

CuttuRAL DeparTMENT :—The Water Garden,......-.-----e eee ee FN. Gerard. 165
(Ganmnas ese ete entsne ctelen cesse cieinaieo .- svetalefeicisinlula\a\ n/ayeisjelentaies sia T. D. Hatfield. 166
Greenhouse Climbers .......--..-++- 5 . Edward F. Canning. 166
Ouvirandra fenestralis...... sc cesses sscestensessenssecens William Tricker. 167
Cyanide of Potassium as an Insecticide in Glass Houses.. «G. WO. 167

Kzempteria rotunda, Eranthis hyemalis, Adonis vernalis... ... N. FR. 167
CorRESPONDENCE :—Buckleva Again.....-.... essen eee eeeen ee T. H. Kearney, Fr. 168
Calochortus in Southern California -» Jennie Kruckeberg. 168

RECENT. PUBLICATIONS ..20..scncccccsssccessccnecettcesce en ccecennccseneeeeenes 168
NOTES....2 seceess 169
ILLUSTRATIONS : :"Pumelow or Shaddock, globular fruit, Fig. 23. ste eeseiaieeaciata! LOS}

Pumelow or Shaddock, pear- -shaped POUL tye MAS 2e sale: cieiormcie ecetese aie) wie eceicione 163
Grape-fruit, as sold in New York, Fig. 25 aia:
Forbidden-fruit, as sold in New York, Fig. 26

.

The Obliteration of Public Parks.

HE consolidation of three great libraries of this city

has revived the project of erecting a monumental
building to contain them in Bryant Park, where the reser-
voirnow stands. Whether the reservoir ought to remain
where it is or be taken down depends, of course, on its
usefulness. It ought to stand as long as it is needed for
the water-supply of the lower part of the city, and while it
serves this purpose it will continue to be a dignified struc-
ture with a distinct esthetic value. If, on the other hand,
it is of no real use, it should be torn down, for, however
well proportioned its lines, a mass of stone like this can
have no real beauty unless it means something. If its
removal is once determined, arguments for erecting the
library on its foundations are something like these: It is
the duty of the city to erect such a building. somewhere ;
the location is central and accessible ; the city will have to
pay nothing for the land; no park space will be curtailed,
because the library will occupy fewer square feet than the
reservoir does, and Bryant Park, which adjoins it, will be
enlarged rather than encroached upon.

On the other hand it is argued by a large and influential
class of citizens, some of them trustees of the consolidated
libraries, that if the city acquires a block of open ground it
should by all means retain it for park purposes. Under a
mandatory law the proper officers of the city have within a
few weeks condemned two areas larger than that covered
by the reservoir, one on each side of Broadway in thickly
settled districts, and they will soon begin to tear down the
buildings now occupying this land and convert it into parks.
This has already been done at Mulberry Bend. Another
block wil be condemned within a year, and the city is
authorized by law to spend a million dollars per annum for
this purpose. It would seem, therefore, a singular incon-
sistency to continue the purchase of park land in the heart
of the city every year and then to cover up park space
which is already owned by the city.

At a recent public meeting in behalf of free libraries, Mr.
Andrew Carnegie asserted that he would never advocate
the surrender of a foot of park land for any other purpose
than for a library of the particular kind which he favored.
And this is precisely what makes these repeated attacks

Garden and Forest.

161

upon public parks so dangerous. The reasons for each
proposed infringement seem overwhelming to the promo-
ters of this particular movement, and in general these are
projects which in themselves are hig! aly praiseworthy.

Rapid transit was a crying need, and therefore the city
gave a railroad corporation permission to invade the Battery
and to make a blackened ruin of a large portion of that
beautiful green. Now equally strenuous advocates are
asking for the confiscation of a still greater portion of this
park for a loop for the same railroad. When the city
wished to give land fora great federal building a large por-
tion of City Hall Park was sacrificed in the same way,
another piece was covered over by the Tweed Court House,
which also was called a public necessity, and now, ‘‘ for this
purpose only,” some friends of this library wish to cover
up another possible park. The trouble is that next year
there will be other reasons quite as cogent for using some
other park for some other purpose. Mr. Carnegie would
be willing to give a park for a library, but for nothing else.
There are other people who hold that the city owes a debt
of gratitude to the Academy of Design which it can only
liquidate by giving this institution a ‘building place in one
of the parks. In ‘the name of charity another association
may soon demand park room for a hospital, and even now
some enterprising citizens are asking for a section of
Central Park to be devoted to a permanent exhibition for
the glory of the metropolis.

The only safe rule is to refuse absolutely to divert a sin-
gle foot of park space from its legitimate use. If the city
can afford to give any of its public land it can still better
afford to give money. Why is it not wiser to give the
library enough to buy the land it needs than it is to give
away park space and then pay a million dollars for a park
of the same size somewhere else? If the reservoir is torn
down, this will be the only open space along Fifth Avenue
from Twenty-third Street to Central Park, and every foot of
the land is needed for a pleasure-ground. The policy of de-
molishing solid blocks of buildings to secure open spaces
shows that the people have begun to realize that these are
essential to their health and comfort. Having learned this,
they should be educated to consider every encroachment
upon the park space of the city as an invasion of their rights,
which they should be prepared to resent as they would
resent the destruction of any other public property.

We have received a circular from the Royal Horti-
cultural Society, London, in which special prizes are
offered for dessert apples and pears. These are called the
Veitch Prizes for Flavor, and they are offered at every fruit
and flower meeting of the society for the coming year,
with a first and second prize for the best-flavored apple
and a fitst and second prize for the best-flavored pear. Six
fruits of each variety must be shown, and the judges are at
liberty to cut any three of them. The exhibitor must guar-
antee that the fruit exhibited has been grown entirely out-
of-doors, and he must state on the name-card whether it
was grown on a wall, bush or standard, together with the
aspect of the tree and its geographical location, the nature
of the soil in which it stands, and when he knows it, ithe
stock on which the scion was grafted. The fruit is judged
by points, twelve being the maximum, and these points
are distributed in the following proportion: For flavor,
six ; for quality, three ; for appearance, two, and for size,
one. It is explained that “quality” is intended to mean
the degree of smoothness or meltingness of the flesh (the
absence of grit), or in the case of early apples, crispness
and juiciness of the flesh may be considered. Quality,
therefore, refers mainly to the texture of the flesh. Appear-
ance, of course, includes color and beauty of form ; but size,
which counts only one-twelfth in the estimate, does not
mean that the largest fruit receives the highest marking.
There is a type size which invests the fruit with its greatest
value for table use, and this is counted perfection. Enor-
mous specimens are not preferred, since beyond a certain
point size is a defect in dessert fruits.

162

We have seen oranges in Florida judged somewhat in
this strict fashion, but certainly it is not common in Ameri-
can exhibitions to lay such a stress on flavor and quality
as is indicated in this schedule. Every one will admit that
in our exhibitions great size and showy appearance count
for more than they deserve. For dessert fruit, a beautiful
appearance is certainly an advantage ; but, after all, quality,
if we use the word to include flavor, ought to be the con-
trolling element of its value. In our home market it is
true that a beautiful apple or pear will find a readier sale
than one which is less attractive in appearance, although it
may be better in quality. We apprehend that this condi-
tion of affairs prevails to some extent in England, and yet
these prizes would seem to indicate that English horticul-
turists lay more stress on quality than we do here. If itis
true that the English market demands high quality and that
it will demand it more urgently in the future, it is worth
while to inquire how long it will be profitable to ship Ben
Davis apples to Great Britain. This variety has keeping
qualities and appearance, and the trees are very productive,
but it is inferior in flavor to many other sorts, and it is
well for those who are raising apples for export to consider
whether more attention should not be given to the quality
of the fruit. No doubt, the time is coming when quality
will count for more at home than it has done, and the
growers who select varieties for the good texture and
high flavor of their fruit will probably make no mistake,
even for the home market.

Thrinax in Florida.

N 1875 Dr. A. W. Chapman found growing on the Florida

keys one of the West Indian Thatch Palms, Thrinax
parviflora, Swartz, a tree twenty or thirty feet high, as it
grows in Florida, with a slender stem not more than
five inches thick, orbicular leaves three or four feet in
diameter, bright green above and pale below, and a short
slender-branched spadix with coriaceous sheaths pubescent
above the middle and often ciliate on the margins at the
apex. The flowers open in the autumn and are raised on
stout spreading pedicels; the perianth is obscurely six-
lobed; the six or nine stamens are composed of slender
filaments and introrse anthers, and the large funnel-formed
stigma is oblique at the apex. The fruit, which ripens in
the spring, is globose, black, a quarter of an inch in diam-
eter, with thin dry flesh closely investing a membranaceous
endocarp. The seed is tawny brown and marked by deep
vertical furrows caused by the enfolding of the seed-coat
into the ruminate albumen. The pedicellate flowers, the
thin dark flesh of the fruit and the grooved seeds with
ruminate albumen are typical of Thrinax as the. genus was
first described, and plants with these characters are now
grouped together in a section, Euthrinax.

In 1879 Mr. A. H. Curtiss found on No Name and Boca
Chica keys another Thrinax which has been referred to
Thrinax argentea, Desfontaines, but it now turns out to
belong to another section of the genus (Porothrinax), and
appears to be undescribed. In Porothrinax the flowers are
nearly sessile; the fruit is yellowish brown, with a crusta-
ceous pericarp, and the seed is dark brown and lustrous,
without grooves, much depressed at the base, and the
uniform albumen is penetrated by a deep broad basal
cavity. The size of the fruits suggests the name of
Thrinax microcarpa* for this species. It is a tree rarely
~*Thrinax (Porothrinax) microcarpa, Sargent, n. sp. Flowers solitary, ebracteo-
late, articulate on broad disk-lilke pedicels; perianth cupular, white, six-lobed, the
lobes broadly ovate, acute, half as long as the ovary; stamens six, inserted on the

base of the perianth; filaments broad and flat, tly united below, slender and
terete above, exserted; anthers oblong, emargi attached on the back, versatile,

ate,

refl-xed and extrorse at maturity; ovary ovate, sessile, one.celled, orange co'ored,
gradually narrowed intoa short stout style dilated into a broad funnel-formed truncate
stigma; ovule solitary, basalar, erect, Fruit pisiform, one-eighth of an inch in
diameter, tawny brown, short-stalked, bearing at its base the enlarged persistent
perianth of the flower, tipped with the remnants of the style; pericarp crustaceous,
of {wo coats. Seed subglobose, depressed at the base; raphe obscure: hilum
basal, pale, conspicuous ; testa membranaceous, bright chestnut-brown, Embryo
apical in uniform albumen penetrated by a broad deep basal cavity. A slen-
der tree: twenty to thirty teet ; leaves terminal, orbicular, coriaceous, pale green
above, silvery white below, more or less coated while young with hoary tomentum,
especially on the lower surface, plicately multifid, the divisions induplicate, with

thickened ribs and margins; rachis short, slightly convex, gradually narrowed and

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 426.

more than thirty feet in height, with a trunk eight or ten
inches in diameter covered with smooth pale blue rind,
flowering in the spring and ripening its fruit late in the
autumn. The leaves are from two to three feet across and
split to below the middle or near the base of the leaf almost
to the rachis into divisions which are an inch wide at the
middle of the leaf, and rather less than a quarter of an inch
wide at its base. Thrinax microcarpa grows on dry coral
soil on No Name Key, Bahia Hunda Key and the shores of
Sugar Loaf Sound, Florida.

On the Marquesas keys and on some of the small keys
east of Key West there is another Euthrinax whose flow-
ers are still unknown. It is a low tree with a short thick
trunk raised above the surface of the ground by a cluster
of stout roots, large orbicular leaves with blades longer
than the petioles, and fruit which differs from that of any
of the described species of Thrinax by the thickness of the
fleshy succulent pericarp. Portions of a leaf and a few
fruits of another Porothrinax, to be distinguished by its
much larger fruit,-were collected by Dr. A. P. Garber at
Cape Sable in October, 1879, and are preserved in the Gray
Herbarium.

The flowers, fruits and leaves of these two trees, with
information as to their distribution, size and uses, are
specially desired. (COAYTSY,

The Tannin Value of Some North American Trees.

“TANNIN is found in the bark of nearly all trees, yet little
attention is paid to the economic possibilities of this con-
stituent. When timber is cut for lumber the bark is usually
wasted. =
There appears to be no record indicating the amount of
tannin in many of our native trees. No doubt, all of them
have been tried at various times in the tanning industry, and
the barks of a few of them are used at the present time. The
following list of results recently obtained will indicate in a cer-
tain degree the value of a number of barks, but, as nearly all
of them were collected during autumn or winter, the percent-
ages of tannin given probably indicate the minimum amount
contained therein :

Ashin abso-| Tannin in

Barks. Locality. Moisture. | lutely dry | absolutely

bark. dry bark.
Taxus Canadensis ....|Pennsylv’nia 10 80 5.64 20.46
£ DACCALA mater qe Bengal, India) 14.3 6.19 22.83
Libocedrus decurrens. Oregon...... Ge i7 yay 7.14
Thuya occidentalis... .| Philadelphia. 5.0L 6.46 6.13
8 Sigantedynes ase a 6.93 6.10 8.16
Cupressus thyoides, ,.|New Jersey.. 34.75 2.88 4.44
Juniperus Virginiana. . Philadelphia. 8.64 6.3 7.30
4 Californica. California... aLy/ 9.23 8.10
4: occidentalis |Oregon...... rae 5.60 5-17
e communis, .|Philadelphia. 5 95 6.49 5.66
Taxodium distichum../Alabama.... 6.61 3.88 4.28
Sequoia sempervirens. California... 7-99 0.64 1.63
‘6 gigantea..... th 6.45 0.37 2.77

Taxus baccata can hardly be considered a native tree, but the
foregoing results are given for comparison, and they indicate
a close relationship in the constituents of the two species,
although growing in widely different parts of the globe. The
amount of tannin found in these specimens indicates that the
bark of Taxus would make an efficient tannin material.

Libocedrus, Thuya occidentalis and gigantea and all the .

Junipers contain sufficient tannin to make them valuable in
the absence of richer material. Taxodium and Cupressus
under some circumstances would also be valuable. The
column headed “locality” in the foregoing chart indicates the
place where these particular specimens were collected, and
not in every case the place where the trees are native, for it
was necessary to get a few of the samples from nursery stock
near Philadelphia.

My thanks are due to Miss Alice Eastwood, of San Francisco,

rounded at the apex; ligula orbicular, thick, concave, lined with hoary tomentum ;
petioles slender, flexible, biconvex, unarmed; vagina elongated, light brown, the
fibres slender. Spadix elongated, interfoliar, compound ; primary branches short,
slender, compressed, erect and spreading; secondary branches flower-bearing,
slender, pendulous; spathes coriaceous, elongated, acute, deeply divided at the
apex, tomentose above the middle ; bracts acute, scarious, caducous.

No Name and Boca Chica keys, Florida, A. H, Curtiss, 1879.

‘es

ety
Core So

D

Ries Reb Re

APRIL 22, 1896.]

California; Mr. A. E. Wild, Bengal, India; Mr. E.I. Applegate,
Klamath Falls, Oregon, and Dr. Charles Mohr, Mobile, Ala-
bama, for specimens kindly furnished by them.

College of Pharmacy, Philadelphia, Pa. Flenry Trimble.

Grape-fruit and Shaddocks.

URING my recent visit to New York I was much
interested to notice the considerable demand that
existed there for grape-fruit,* from the West Indies. It
appears to be very strongly recommended by the medical
faculty for its refreshing and tonic properties, and, in con-

Fig. 23.—Pumelow or Shaddock, globular fruit. Diameter, 6 inches; weight,
49 ounces; flesh pink, with good flavor.

sequence, the use of it has become an important feature in
the diet in American cities. The fruit I saw in New
York called grape-fruit consisted of various sorts and quali-
ties, and there is little doubt that much confusion exists as
to what is really grape-fruit as distinct from the allied
Citrus fruits passing under such names as Pumelow,} Shad-

Fig. 24.—Pumelow or Shaddock, pear-shaped fruit. Diameter, 5 inches; length,
6 inches ; weight, 32 ounces; flesh pinkish, flavor fairly good.

dock, Forbidden-fruit, Paradise-fruit and others. The chief
characteristics of all these fruits distinguishing them from

* It is so called because the fruits grow in clusters like a bunch of grapes.
} It is invariably spelled Pomelo in the United States.

Garden and Forest.

163

the different varieties of the Orange are associated with the

size and color. They are all, or nearly all, larger than the

largest orange, and they are uniformly of a pale yellow

color. In texture the rind may be smooth or even polished.

It is seldom rough, nearly always firm and not very thick.
I

Pa c —_

Fig. 25.—Grape-fruit, as sold in New York. Diameter, 5inches ; weight, 31 ounces;
juicy, thin-skinned, excellent flavor.

The pulp is pale yellow or greenish white, sometimes pink
or crimson ; the vesicles of the pulp (juice bags) are more
distinct than in the orange; very juicy, somewhat sweetish,
with a distinct, but agreeable, bitter flavor. The pith sur-
rounding the segments possesses more of the bitter than
the pulp, but is less agreeable, and on that account is never
eaten. In shape these fruits vary a good deal. Some are
quite globular, others somewhat flattened at the top and
tapering below, forming a pear-shaped body. Even in the
globular fruits the top is more or less flattened. There are
none, I believe, pointed at both ends.

Having indicated the general characters of this class of
Citrus fruits I may venture on a brief sketch of their origin
and history. It is agreed by all authorities that these fruits
are quite distinct from the other groups of the Orange

Fig. 26 —Forbidden-fruit, as sold in New York. Diameter, 3'{ inclies; 4 inches
7 long; flesh pale pink, skin thick.

family, such as the true Oranges and the Citrons.. They
have, therefore, been kept apart and ranged under the
giant Citrus, Citrus decumana. In this species the tree is
twelve to eighteen feet high, with a flat crown and spread-
ing branches, usually with no spines. The leaves are
elliptic-rrounded at both ends, emarginate (that is, with a
notch at the apex) and crenulate (having the edge marked
with small depressions); the under side of the leaf is softly
hairy, with the wings broad, crenulated as in the leaves
and bordered with fine hairs. The flowers are in clusters of
from three to nine, large, white and fragrant. The fruit is
either globose or pear-shaped, forming many seedling varie-
ties without distinct names. This is supposed to bea native
of the islands of the Pacific, whence it had been brought

164

to southern China, Japan and India. It was introduced
to the West Indies, according to Macfadyen, from China
by Captain Shaddock, whose name has since been given
to it. The term Shaddock may be correctly applied to any
of the larger members of the giant Citrus and is equivalent
to the French pompelmouse, which is another form of the
Dutch pomplemoes. The word Pomelow, so widely used
in India and Ceylon, is supposed to be a contraction of
“pomum melo,” the melon apple. The largest Pumelows
in India are said to reach “two feet in circumference and
weigh ten to twenty pounds.” The best sort, according to
Bonavia, is “the thin-skinned red pumelow of the Bombay
market.” This is of a globose shape, juicy and ‘of the color
of raw beef internally.” There are, however, numerous
grades in size, some being almost as small as oranges. In
India the varieties do not appear to have recognized names.
Elsewhere the smaller fruits have been variously called
Paradise apples, Forbidden-fruit and Grape-fruit.

As regards the proper classification of the West Indian
varieties, I cannot do better than record that put forth by
Dr. James Macfadyen, the learned author of the Y/ora of
Jamaica, which, however, he never lived to carry into more
than one volume and part of another. Referring to the
large-fruited sorts, he states: “There are two varieties of
Shaddock. In var. A. maliformis the fruit is globose,
with the pulp of a pale pink color, approaching to a very
light yellow. In var. B. pyriformis the fruit is more or
less pear-shaped, and the pulp is of crimson color, more or
less intense. The second of these varieties is the more
esteemed, being sweet and juicy, and having only in a
slight and palatable degree the acridity which abounds in
the first. I may remark that I have always found the pear-
shaped variety good, whereas it is seldom the case with
the round-shaped fruit. There cannot be a doubt but that
if budding, as is done in China, were more generally prac-
ticed, instead of trusting to propagation by seed, that the
fruit would be much improved.”

The smaller Pumelows or Shaddocks are ranged by
Macfadyen under a distinct species which he calls Citrus
Paradisi. The tree is described as thirty feet high, of
handsome appearance, with suberect branches and sharp
at the apex. The leaves are oval, rounded and smooth on
both sides. The flowers have linear petals and the stamens
are twenty-five in number. The differences between this
and C. decumana appear to consist in the more erect habit
of the plant, in the rounded (not emarginate) leaves, and
in the linear rounded (not oblong-obtuse) petals. With
regard to the fruit he remarks: ‘“ There are also two varie-
ties of this species: var. A. pyriformis, Barbadoes Grape-
fruit ; var. B. maliformis, Forbidden-fruit. The pear-shaped
variety, as the Shaddock, possesses most of the sweet prin-
ciple, and is, on the whole, a preferable fruit.” This clas-
sification was made by Macfadyen nearly sixty years ago,
therefore, long before these fruits were so widely distributed
as now in other parts of tropical America. He was so
accurate and skillful an observer that, as far as the New
World fruits are concerned, we cannot very well improve
upon it. It is doubtful whether the small-fruited sorts he
places under C. Paradisi really deserves specific rank, but
that point does not affect the main question with which
we started, namely : What are the differences, if any, exist-
ing between the Shaddock and Grape-fruit? In summing
up the results of the investigation we may say that
all the larger-fruited sorts may be called indifferently
either Pumelows or Shaddocks. These are merely the
eastern and western names for the same thing, and are
perfectly interchangeable. No distinction appears to have
ever been made between them. There are two well-
marked varieties, one being globose, with the flesh of a

. pale pink color, and the other pear-shaped, usually with a
deep pink or crimson pulp. As regards the small-fruited
sorts, these, according to Macfadyen, may be either glo-
bose, when they are called Forbidden-fruit, or pear-shaped,
when Grape-fruit is the older name. The name Forbidden-
fruit (from a fancied connection with the Garden of Eden)

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 426. *

is tolerably old in the West Indies. Tussac, in the F7/ore
des Antilles, published in 1824, gives a good figure of the
typical Shaddock, which he translates into the French
Chadec. In vol. iii., pp. 73, 74, he states: “J'ai eu occa-
sion d’observer a la Jamaique, dans le jardin botanique
d’East, une espéce de Chadec dont les fruits, qui n’excedent
pas en grosseur une belle orange, sont disposés en grappes ;
les Anglais de la Jamaique donnent a ce fruit le nom de
‘Forbidden-fruit, fruit defendu, ou smaller shaddock.”
Later on he refers to the same fruit in the following words :
«C'est une assiette de dessert trés distinguée et fort saine”
(p. 74). In the illustrations here given are shown the
various fruits as known in the New York market. The
names attached to them do not, however, correspond to
Macfadyen’s classification. In the case of the Forbidden-
fruit and grape-fruit they are exactly reversed. As usually
happens when a name has become familiar in commerce,
it is eventually applied in a much wider sense than the
original one. Thus, the term grape-fruit has become so
general that any moderately large fruit, provided the skin
is pale yellow, thin and smooth, and the pulp of a delicate
flavor, is designated by it. The fruit commonly called
grape-fruit in New York is really the Forbidden-fruit of the
West Indies. The true grape-fruit is pear-shaped, and,
according to Macfadyen, when obtainable at its best, is
preferable to the Forbidden-fruit. The fruit shipped from
the Bahamas as grape-fruit is usually round, with a polished
yellow skin of a silky texture and very heavy. This is
probably one of the best of its class, and quite equal to
Macfadyen’s pear-shaped variety. Next comes some excel-
lent fruit from Jamaica, no doubt that already referred to
by Tussac under the name of Forbidden-fruit, a smaller
shaddock. According to the New York estimation, this
would be almost a typical grape-fruit, supplying ‘‘une as-
siette de dessert trés distinguée et fort saine.” :
D, Morris.

Kew.

New or Little-known Plants.
Lavatera insularis.

OUR species of Lavatera have been described from the
islands situated off the western coast of North America.
L. assurgentiflora was described by Dr. Kellogg from culti-
vated specimens raised from seed said to have come from
the small rocky island lying south of Santa Barbara, known
as Anacapa. ‘This species is commonly cultivated in west-
ern California as an ornamental plant or as a wind-break.
It grows very rapidly and thrives well, but must be pro-
tected from cattle and rabbits, which are very fond of it and
would soon kill it. Californians of Spanish descent claim
that the seed of this species was brought from Europe by
the padres and raised by them about the old missions.
There is a very similar form in the Mediterranean region,
where many species of Lavatera grow. L. assurgentiflora
has been found on San Miguel, Santa Rosa and small rocky
islets about Santa Catalina Islands.

Another species is known only on Guadaloupe, an island
far out in the ocean west of Lower California, and another
is peculiar to San Benito, a group of islets nearer the Mexi-
can mainland and north of Cedros Island.

Lavatera insularis (see figure on page 165) is supposed
to be a native of the Coronados, small rocky islands
belonging to Mexico, situated near the mainland in plain
view of San Diego. The distribution of this species must
be extremely limited, for, according to Mr. A. W. Anthony,
the well-known ornithologist, to whom I am indebted for
my information, it grows only in one cafion of the largest
island. A great part of the year, from lack of water, it is
in a dried-up condition, but cultivated plants well watered
bear leaves and flowers throughout the entire year. Plants
growing in my garden at San Diego, nearly two years old
from seed, are quite attractive in appearance, and seem
very different from any of the cultivated Lavateras of Cali-
fornia.

The cultivated plant, already as large or larger than

APRIL 22, 1896.]

those of the island, branches from the surface of the
ground and grows into a perfectly hemispherical shape
about four feet in diameter, and shows a disposition to
increase in breadth rather than in height. i

The flowers are yellowish white, striped and tipped with
purple, and would not be conspicuous even if they were

Garden and Forest.

1605

Cultural Department.
The Water Garden.

HE Water Soldiers still lie quietly at the bottom of the tank,
but the hardy Nymphzas have suddenly wakened and are
unfolding their leaves, though yet their leaf-stalks have not

1. A flowering branch, natural size.

Fig. 27-—Lavatera insularis.—See page 164.

>. Vertical section of a flower, natural size.

not completely hidden by the leaves. Although full of
flowers and fruit, they are completely concealed by the
almost unbroken hemispherical covering of soft green

leaves. ao
San Diego, Calif. Tints: Brandegee.

lengthened. Some other hardy aquatic plants need even less
encouragement, and Aponogeton, the beautiful and fragrant
Cape Pond Weed, has already ventured to float a leaf at the
surface. It is, perhaps, not well enough known that hardy
Nympheas are among the most reliably hardy plants, pro-

166

vided that they are established and have a covering of water,
if only a few inches over their crowns.

A few of the species and varieties have been well tested
here for several years, being completely frozen in ice each
winter without injury. Last winter all the Pond Lilies were
left exposed in the shallow water of the tanks and were frozen
up for most of the season, and none were at all injured. It
seems that the rhizomes of these plants having comparatively
large air cells are not injured by the temperature of ice, and
this being formed around them isa protection from exces-
sively low temperature. We had, as usual,.a temperature
under zero several times during the winter.

As it is about time to prepare a water garden it may be well
to again call the attention of flower fanciers to this most
attractive, fascinating and still novel specialty of gardening.
Of course, if one has a natural pond the growing of Nymphzas
is too obvious a decoration and too simple an operation to talk
about, but ina common every-day dry yard the water garden
charms, if only with its unexpectedness, and the modest owner
of a few feet of water surface need not envy a broad expanse
where the muskrats would probably eat up his good tubers.
My first water garden, composed of three Nymphezeas in three
sunken washtubs, backed and edged with subaquatic plants,
was much prettier in effect than anything possessed since in
more ambitious tanks which are more practical than zesthetic,
and I should advise any one to whom expense was an object
to commence the culture tentatively in the same way that I
did, Of course, this is a very modest beginning, and the plants
do not have much chance to expand, but it is sure to give sat-
isfaction toany one really fond of seeing things grow. Itisonly
with aquatics that one discovers the full effect of warmth and
moisture on plant life. Nymphzeas are, of course, the first
choice for water gardens, and one should be careful not to
introduce other plants, especially in large gardens, unless they
are tender and will disappear in winter. Hardy aquatic
plants have a wonderful capacity for growth and increase, and
are very difficult to eradicate if once established. One finds
many curious life habits among the water plants, as the Water
Soldier, Stratiotes aloides, which will soon rise from the bot-
tom, and, floating at the surface, flower and sink, again to
form a colony of young plants spread around the parents in
the familiar “hen and chickens” style. There is another
plant, interesting to the botanist and biologist, Spirogyia, which
is often sent out by the florist with the Nymphzeas. This is a
great pest in a pond, and new plants should be examined and
all traces removed. This appears in dark green threads, which
increase so quickly in warmth that it is difficult to eradicate

from among other plants.
Elizabeth, N:J. %. N. Gerard.

Cannas.

HE freedom with which Cannas can be grown makes them

everybody's plants, and it is not uncommon to see them
growing thriftily in the backyards of crowded portions of the
city. They are effective in every stage of their growth, and a
mass of them in bloom is always pleasing.

Aftera rest of a month our last season’s plants were grad-
ually started and kept rather dry until active growth com-
menced. They began to bloom again in March, and after
resting for a couple of weeks during May, which can be
brought about partly by withholding water, they will be planted
out again and will bloom for the remainder of the season.

Since the production of the Crozy type of Canna this has
been the standard by which others have been judged, and
nothing better, at least in form, was looked for, although new
colors have been expected. These we have had in abundance,
but as the type has always been so well defined it has been
easy to decide on the merits of a novelty, and no introducer of
any standing would risk his reputation by sending out inferior
varieties. Now we have a new type, said to be a hybrid be-
tween Canna flaccida and the Crozy strain, one of which,
Italia, has already been figured and described in GARDEN AND
Foresr, and another, Austria, has also been noticed as bear-
ing still larger flowers of similar form, pure yellow, with the
exception of scarlet pencilings on the centre petals.

The introductions for the year of the Crozy type show an
advance principally in larger flowers of symmetrical contour,
full, and turned out on all sides of the stem so as to show a
vertical face. Collectively, therefore, when best developed, they
form a pyramidal spike. In beauty of outline and in the regular
arrangement of its flowers, F. R. Pierson, a magnificent crim-
son with a golden throat, is the best of its type, and it is not
likely soon to be excelled. Flamingo approaches it, although
the short side spikes give the whole cluster a slightly more
rounded appearance. Asan element of beauty a head made

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 426.

up in this way is not so attractive as one bold spike. For bed-
ding purposes it will be superior on account of the long time
one flower-stem will remain in good bloom, Trilby claims
favor as the Orchid Canna, and under glass it is exceedingly
beautiful. It is bright yellow, with clearly cut scarlet markings
in the centre, and the Jarge flowers have more substance than
many of its color.

Pierson’s Black Beauty is a seedling from President Carnot.
This old variety is conceded by all who have grown it to be
the best of all the bronzy-leaved varieties which have also
attractive flowers. No doubt, J. D. Cabos and J. C. Vaughan,
bronzy-leaved varieties, with handsome salmon-colored
flowers, were both derived from this. Black Beauty eclipses
them all in the color of its foliage and is equally effective in
bloom,

Among yellow-banded Cannas of the Crozy group, Queen
Charlotte, of last year, took a leading position. But the
specialist has been at work in the mean time, and will intro-
duce Little Billee as an improved seedling from Queen Char-
lotte. It is dwarfer and said to be superior for massing. Under
glass it certainly is a most attractive variety, and, compared
with Queen Charlotte, it is slightly deeper in tone. Madame
Alphonse Bouvier is another so-called Orchid Canna of singu-
lar beauty. The ground-color is scarlet, with an irregular
orange band continued into the throat. Souvenir Antonin
Crozy remains the best of all the true Crozy type, and it is
doubtful if any of this year’s introductions will equal it in
beauty. Ami Pezeux competes with F. R. Pierson among
maroon shades. All through the flower are scattered dots of
a deeper hue in the same way as the so-called yellow Cannas
are spreckled with red. Madame Rozain is a deeply toned
Madame Crozy, with the addition to the characteristic yellow
band of a yellow throat, which rather increases its effective-
ness. Céted’Or is described as strikingly effective for bedding,
with saffron-colored flowers. It is compact and dwarf.

Among older varieties, Alphonse Bouvier stands at the
head. It is not of the idea) form; the terminal spike per-
versely droops. While flowers continue to expand on this,
others tale its place later, also spreading out. They continue
to open in large effective clusters for a long time. Its lustrous
maroon-colored flowers are unsurpassed by any variety known.
Another of exactly the same type is Helen Gould, and this is
bright amber. It was one of the most striking varieties ina
large group here last summer. Although introduced several
years ago, Paul Bruant is as yet little known. It is one of the
best of crimson-flowering Cannas for pot-culture. Ona plant
in a ten-inch pot are three well-developed flower-stems carry-
ing good heads of bloom, which would make this an effective
decorative plant in any grouping. Florence Vaughan has
been a surprise this season as a pot-plant, being the earliest to
bloom and the most floriferous of any of the so-called yellow-

flowered varieties.
Wellesley, Mass. T. D. Hatfield.

Greenhouse Climbers.

V7 REEING not long ago the greenhouses of the Massachu-
setts Agricultural College, at Amberst, I was much
impressed with the luxuriant display which was made there
by well-grown specimens of common _ climbing plants.
They were in every case planted out in the borders, which is,
no doubt, the best way of treating climbers, which are, in most
cases, impatient of having their roots restricted. There are
two large octagonal houses, in addition to a number of others.
In one of these Asparagus plumosus is trained up the pillars
which support the roof, and is festooned from pillar to pillar
with particularly graceful effect. In the other octagonal house
a fine plant of Plumbago Capensis occupied one pillar and was
covered with its beautiful blue flowers, A handsome Cherokee
Rose, a plant often commended and described in GARDEN
AND FOREST, occupied a considerable portion of this house.
Growing with it asa companion plant was a very fine speci-
men of the climbing Perle des Jardins, which was carrying
great numbers of its lovely yellow flowers. Another pillar was
occupied by that excellent climber, Jasminum revolutum, with
its compound corymbs of bright yellow flowers and dark
green pinnate leaves. This is one of the few vines which
insect pests do not take to readily. In another house was a
large plant of Passiflora princeps, with pendulous racemes of
red flowers. P. quadrangularis, var. acubifolia, was also grow-
ing in the same house, and, in my opinion, this is the best of
all the Passion flowers. The stem, as its name indicates, is
four-angled ; the alternate leaves are cordate, six to eight inches
long and four to five inches wide and mottled with yellow,
resembling the Acuba leaves very closely. The flowers are
white outside, and of a dull reddish color within, and very

APRIL 22, 1896.]

odoriferous. A good plant of Aristolochia Sipho was also
showing its usefulness as a greenhouse climber as well as
being a hardy one. Cobzea scandens occupied the end of
another house and was bearing hundreds of its purple, cup-
shaped flowers.

In a house devoted to Cacti and other succulents, was a
large specimen of Pereskia aculeata, the Barbadoes Goose-
berry, which covered a space of about ten feet by fifteen.
Pereskias belong to the Cactus family, but this species is so
unlike any of the other members, that, except for the flowers,
which are of a creamy white color, one would almost fail to
see the connection. It produces true leaves in abundance of
a bright green color, and the stem is round and woody.

A good specimen of the noble Cereus triangularis was also
doing well in this house. These greenhouses have been built
several years, and the climbers have become so well estab-

- lished that they are now displaying the best effect which can
be produced by intelligent cultivation, persisted in for a series

of years. :
Botanic Garden, Northampton, Mass. Edward Of Canning.

Ouvirandra fenestralis.

Pes plant has been too long regarded as an aquatic frealk

difficult to grow and apt to die without any apparent rea-
son. Thisis not true. Like many other plants, when their
peculiarities are understood, the cultivation is simple, and this
singular and interesting plant ought to be found in every col-
lection of stove plants, and, of course, no aquatic house is
complete without it. It grows in Madagascar on the borders of
streams, the leaves being merely a network of vascular tissue
resembling lace, or, as its specific name implies, a lattice
window. In well-grown plants they are from twelve to eigh-
teen inches long and about one-third as broad, oblong, with
an obtuse apex, and spreading out almost horizontally beneath
the surface of the water. When young they are light green,
but they change to a deeper color as they mature, when the
midrib is a bright yellowish green. The plant grows freely at
a temperature of from seventy to seventy-five degrees, Fah-
renheit, or from a little lowerin longer days. During a cold
spell, when the temperature is likely to fall below the mini-
mum, warm water can always be added, and the top of the
tank covered with shading material, or even paper, to retain
the heat. Little shading is needed during the winter, although
some may be needed after the first of March. There is no
necessity of covering the water with such plants as Azolla or
Salvinia, because they grow densely and would hide the plant,
even if too much shade, with high temperature, did not weaken
its growth, so that the leaves would become drawn, narrow
and soft.

The Ouvirandra is not particular as to soil. I have grown it
with success in different composts, and it surely will thrive in
any mixture consisting of fibrous loam, rotted manure and
sand. My preference is to have the soil rather heavy; in fact,
the greatest success I have achieved has been with soil like
that used for Nymphezas—that is, turfy loam, well-decayed
manure and a little sharp sand. Any wooden tub or kerosene
barrel cut in two makes a good receptacle, only, of course, this
latter should be burned out before it is used. Glass aquariums
are well adapted to the cultivation of these plants, and they
afford the best opportunity for inspecting them. When the
tubs or other receptacles are clean there is no need of chang-
ing the water when any scum arises or dust settles upon it.
Pure water can be added with a hose to flush the tub, and the
plants themselves will keep the water clean as they are good
furnishers of oxygen. They do not suffer from insects, and
they are no more difficult to grow than the well-known Apon-
geton distachyon, with which genus Ouvirandra is now

included. oe P
Riverton, N. J. William Tricker.

Cyanide of Potassium as an Insecticide in
Glass Houses.

JX interesting series of experiments has lately been car-

ried out at the Department of Agriculture, under the
direction of Professor Galloway, Chief of the Division of Vege-
table Pathology, in the way of checking the ravages of the
black-spotted mealy bug, Orthezia insignis. This pest is a
native of South America; it was first noticed, I believe, in
some greenhouses in the state of New York about five
years ago. Since that time it has spread in all directions,
and is getting to be quite as troublesome on certain plants as
the mealy bug and green fly are on others. It was described at
length in a bulletin issued last year by the Hatch Experimental
Station. Some time ago Professor Galloway was impressed

Garden and Forest.

167

with the idea that the method in use in Florida and elsewhere,
whereby the Orange-trees are fumigated under tents with this
cyanide, could, with certain modifications, be utilized in
checking the devastations of the Orthezia, and the results, as
seen in an exhibition at the propagating-gardens last week,
have proved highly satisfactory. A house containing 15,580
cubic feet of space, which is used at present for storing
Coleus for bedding purposes, was selected for the work.
The Coleus is one of the favorite plants of the pest,
although it is frequently found on a number of others, among
which are the Chrysanthemum, Lantana and Alternanthera.
The plants in the house selected were infested to such an
extent that they were considered almost unfit for use this sum-
mer. The fumigation of the house took place after seven
o’clock in the evening, as the presence of light nullifies to a
certain extent the influence of the liberated gas. The ingre-
dients used were three pints of water, the same quantity of
sulphuric acid and five and a half pounds of cyanide of potas-
sium; this was divided into three equal parts and placed in
three two-gallon jars placed at equal distances along one of
the side benches and close to the ventilators; the water was
first poured in the jars, then the sulphuric acid, and through
the open ventilator from the outside the cyanide was added.
In less than two minutes the gas had evidently reached to all
parts of the house. Twenty minutes later the ventilators,
both top and bottom, were raised from the outside, provision
having previously been made for this, as the presence of the
gas after that period among the plants is considered hurtful to
them. Aftercareful inspection that evening and next morn-
ing not a live Orthezia was to be found, and after strong sun-
shine not a leaf appeared injured; even. tender fronds of
Adiantum cuneatum were uninjured. The common mealy
bug and one or two species of scale insects were also killed.

G. WO.

Botanic Garden, Washington, D.C.

Kempferia rotunda.—Although a very old and well-known
plant, this is usually grown for its foliage, but its exceedingly
beautiful flowers are really its greatest charm. The flowers
are borne in spring or summer before the leaves, which
should be allowed to die down late in fall, and the plants may
be kept in a dry state until January or February, when they
should be placed in moss in flat pans with the roots but slightly
covered. Or they may be planted and grown from year to
year in an ordinary light compost and allowed to rest in win-
ter. When brought into a brisk heat the leaves and flowers
soon begin to grow. The flowers, not unlike Meadow Saffrons
in form and color, are almost sessile, and produced directly
from the root in great profusion. They are sweetly fragrant
and of a bright rosy red color, or sometimes paler, each one
lasting only a day, but succeeded by new ones for a long pe-
riod. Kzmpferias look best in masses when a number of
flowers show at the same time. The leaves when fully de-
veloped are about two feet long, erect, broadly lanceolate and
narrowed toa broad petiole at the base. The color is a dull
olive-green, with one or two brownish longitudinal bands, so
that the plant is quite effective even when out of flower.

Eranthis hyemalis.—There is, perhaps, no brighter and har-
dier spring flower than the little Winter Aconite, which flowers
here much later than in Europe. It isa very dwarf perennial
with fleshy tuberous roots which produce a couple of pel-
tately divided leaves each and a solitary flower of a bright
yellow color early in spring. Eranthis is nearly related to the
Hellebores. The flower is about an inch across, with six
petal-like sepals and inconspicuous petals and nice little
bunches of yellow stamens in the centre. The flowering stem
is simple, and has three deeply lobed involucral leaves. It is
much used in Europe in rough places among trees and
shrubs, especially on sunny southern slopes ; unfortunately, itis
not always easy to naturalize in such places here. When grow-
ing and flowering in masses in early spring the effect is very
rich and beautiful. It will grow in any moderately rich garden
soil, but prefers one that is light, loamy and well drained.

Adonis vernalis.—This is one of the early spring flowers that
ought to brighten every garden, whether large or small, at this
time of the year. It is, however, hardly known, and the coun-
try homes which should now be gay with flowers have hardly
a bud to show that spring has come, Adonis vernalis is not
unlike a large Anemone in shape, but the color isa very bright
yellow. The flowers are set off by light feathery foliage. The
species grows toa height of eight or ten inches and forms
masses of foliage and flowers as early as the latter part of
March in favored localities. It is a very desirable plant for
naturalizing in bare places in shrubberies and among rocks.
As it is perfectly hardy, it will generally ‘look out for itself,

168

once established. It thrives best in a rather moist position
where it is partially sheltered from the sun, but will not grow
well in too deep shade. It is easily propagated by means of

seeds or divisions and requires no special culture.
Newark, N. J. LV. ee R.

Correspondence.

Buckleya Again.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—Three years ago, in May, I visited Wolf Creek, a small
hamlet consisting of some half-dozen scattered houses, about
five miles below Paint Rock, the original locality of Buckleya
distichophylla. The post-office is situated at the mouth of a
stream of the same name that rises in the high mountains
near the North Carolina line, and, after winding among the
hills for some seven miles, empties into the French Broad.
Here Buckleya was found at several points along the river,
from about two miles above to a half-mile below the creek. In
only one spot was it found away from the river-bank, and there
not more thanan eighth of amiledistant. In the locality in ques-
tion some two or three dozen plants grew on the steep wooded
bank of a small pond—half water, half quicksand—among
Cherry Birches, two or three Oaks and the Big Laurel, Rhodo-
dendron maximum. The presence here of Hemlocks, Tsuga
Canadensis, makes it probable that at some not very distant
time this colony was also growing on the river-bank, for Hem-
locks are almost entirely confined to the banks of the larger
watercourses in the Alleghanies. The probability is increased
by the fact that only a stretch of low bottom-land intervenes
between the pond and the river.

About two miles above Wolf Creek the largest number of
individuals found in any one place were discovered on an
abrupt rocky bluff overhanging the river. In this sheltered
spot there were probably 120 specimens growing under the
shade of various large trees, along with Yellow-wood, Cladras-
tis lutea, and the Sweet shrub, Buettneria fertilis (Calycanthus
leevigatus). Between these two stations the plants were scat-
tered along the river—a half-dozen or so here and there—near
the water’s edge, usually growing with the Sweet-shrub, Leu-
cothoé recurva, Hemlocks and Red Birches. All the speci-
mens found were on the left bank of the river; none were
discovered on the right bank. Buckleya is said to have been
found on a bluff on Wolf Creek, about half a mile from its
mouth, but I did not come across it there.

The largest specimens grew on the bluff two miles up the
river, where they attained a height of ten or eleven feet, but
the average shrubs are only six or eight feet high, with a stem
diameter of about one inch at base. In habit Buckleya is more
like a small tree than ashrub. It prefers a rich shaded soil,
but sometimes grows in almost pure sand. Itis a handsome
plant in every part. The foliage is light and graceful. The
female flowers, drooping at the ends of short twigs, with their
crown of four sepal-like bracts, are much more conspicuous
than the small staminate blossoms. The bark, reddish brown
in color, with conspicuous lenticels, somewhat resembles that
of the Cherry Birch. The wood is white and has a beautiful
fine grain. A quantity of the nuts, or rather drupes, were sent
to me during the following autumn by Master Harry Allen,
who wrote that they are produced in great abundance. The
1argest ones are nearly an inch long. When dry they are light
brown in color and deeply furrowed lengthwise. Although
rich in oil, they are not unpleasant to the taste, being quite
sweet and with a tlavor somewhat like that of filberts. The
shrub is well known at Wolf Creek, but has received no more
distinctive local name than that of ‘the bush with queer
nuts.”

There seems to be no great danger of its immediate extinc-
tion. Its occurrence in several different places is one security
against this. Then it is usually confined to places rather diffi-
cult of access and unfavorable for agricultural purposes. In
spite of the apparent disadvantage of a separation of the sexes
in so rare a plant, it matures a great quantity of fruit. In May
I found numerous vigorous seedlings among the older plants,
especially in the two larger colonies. Moreover, it is highly
probable that further search along the banks of the French
Broad, between Paint Rock and Wolf Creek and below Wolf
Creek, may discover other stations. As far down the river as
Newport the conditions are very similar to those about Wolf
Creek, so that its absence, rather than its presence, there would
be surprising. At any rate, itis pleasant to know that this rare
and handsome shrub is not quite as near extinction as has been
supposed.

Department of Agriculture, Washington, D, C. ORR e f Kearney, Fie

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 426.

Calochortus in Southern California.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—Calochortus Weedii is found in great abundance about
the foot-hills of Passadena, but the plant does not Hourish
equally well in all places. The finest flowers I have found are
on the north-eastern slope of the highest hill near the summit,
where another hill to the north cuts off the cold mountain
winds. The plants appear in early March among the Sage-
brush, where the soil is red and loose, and it may interest your
readers to know that the very sturdiest of them come out of
the gopher-holes, where the bulbs are at least eighteen inches
deep. In some former year a seed chanced to fall into one of
these holes, and the dust sifting over it neatly buried it, where,
perhaps, it found more moisture than its neighbors nearer the
surface, Atall events, the plants in gopher-holes grow with
unusual vigor and their flowers are exceptionally large and
brilliant. The terminal flowers are largest, and they are seen
scantily in the early part of April, while the lateral buds follow
until the middle and the upper part of the slopes are luxuriantly
covered with the white flowers. I have often gathered twenty
of them in the space of three square feet, the tallest being on
stems three feet long. The seed-cups open by July, when the
ground is literally alive with snakes. Few of the seeds reach
the ground, however, as the small birds relish them and often
pick into the three-cornered capsule before it is ready to open.
C. Weedii, with pink flowers, is found on the bench-lands of
the Cafion La Canfida, where it may be the color is modified
by unusual exposure.

The mauve-colored flowers of Calochortus purpurascens
are found in a few places on the bench-lands which look over
Arroyo Seco, These are very large, and the yellow pubescence
extends from the centre of the flower fully half the length of
the petals, making a most beautiful combination of color.
These flower later than the ordinary white ones. They are
not as tall and less branched. C. claratus bears a beautiful
canary-colored flower, and is found on the high hills overlook-
ing the Cahuenga Pass.

Los Angeles, Calif. Fennte Kruckeberg.

Recent Publications.

The Evolution of Horticulture in New England. By Daniel
Denison Slade. Putnam’s Sons, New York and London.
1895.

Dr. Slade’s lifelong services to the art of horticulture are
gratefully acknowledged by all lovers of the art in this
country; and this little book, published just before his
death, will be welcomed as a memorial of its author no less
than for its own sake. It is somewhat overweighted by
its title, for it is an attractive sketch rather than a scientific
history of the progress of horticulture in New England
since the time when the first colonists landed; but its
delightful typographical dress and its simple pretty binding
are entirely in accord with its character.

The volume begins with a brief sketch of the history of
horticulture in the mother country, and then takes up the
main subject from the very outset. It is impressed upon
the reader that, in the early seventeenth century, New
England was a forest-clad country, as regards its islands
no less than its mainland, “the only exceptions to this con-
dition being the salt marshes, the bogs and the higher
ranges of mountains.” An old chronicler relates that “the
salvages are accustomed to set fire to the country in all
places where they come and to burn it twice a year—that
is, at the spring, and the fall of the leaf. The reason that
moves them to do so is because it would otherwise be so
overgrown with underweeds that it would be all a coppice
wood, and the people would not be able in any wise to
pass through the country out of a beaten path. This cus-
tom of firing the country is the means to make it passable,
and by that means the trees grow here and there, as in our
parks, and makes the country very beautiful and com-
modious.” Nevertheless, much of the work of the
early settlers was in clearing away the forests which
obstructed agriculture and horticulture—how much it is
hard for those who know eastern New England now to
imagine until they have read many such notices as that
which speaks of “a necke of land called Nahant” as being
‘“* well wooded with Oakes, Pines and Cedars.” ‘Their first

APRIL 22, 1896.]

efforts in planting are carefully followed from year to year
and from place to place by Dr. Slade, and the quotations
from old writers, which show what plants they brought
with them from the old country, are not more interesting
than those which reveal their estimate of those which they
found indigenous in the new. Their optimistic descrip-
tions of the native fruits and berries certainly reveal that
determination to look on the bright side of painful new
conditions and to make the most of comparatively unat-
tractive novelties which must always mark the successful
colonist. Of course, Old World names are so often applied
to different New World things that the task of interpreti-
nation is not always easy. For example, Wood, writing
in 1629, says: “The Hornebound tree is a tough kind of
wood, that requires so much paines in riving as is almost
incredible, being the best for to make bolles and dishes, not
being subject to crack or leak.” The tree in question
which, Wood explains, grows “with broad speard armes,”
was probably the Tupelo, the wood of which was used by
the Indians for the purposes he notes, and which, along
the Massachusetts shore, is still popularly called the Horn-
beam. Growing wild, says the same writer, were “Straw-
berries in abundance, very large ones, some being two
inches about: one may gather halfe a bushell in a fore-
noone. In other seasons there be Gooseberries, Bilberries,
Resberries, Treackleberries, Hurtleberries, Currants, which
being dryed in the Sunne are little inferior to those that our
Grocers sell in England. This land likewise affords Hempe
and Flax, some naturally and some planted by the Indians,
with Rapes if they bee well managed.” The local Walnut-
tree, says Wood again, “is something different from the
English Wallnut. These trees bear a very good
nut, something smaller but nothing inferiour in sweetnesse
and goodnesse to the English Nut, having no bitter pill.
There is likewise a tree in some parts of the Countrey that
beares a nut as bigge as a small peare’—the Butternut.
And, he continues, “the White Thorne affords hawes as
bigge as an English Cherrie which is esteemed above a
Cherrie for his goodnesse and pleasantnesse to the taste.’
But of the native New England Cherries even Wood could
not speak in praise. ‘The Cherrie trees yeeld great store
of Cherries, which grow in clusters like grapes; they be
much smaller than our English Cherrie, nothing neare so
good if they be not very ripe: they so furre the mouth that
the tongue will cleave to the roofe, and the throate wax
horse with swallowing those red Bullies, as I may call them,
being little better to the taste. English ordering may bring
them to be an English Cherrie, but yet they are as wilde
as the Indians. But the Plummes of the Country be better
for Plummes than the Cherries be for Cherries; they be
blacke and yellow, about the bignesse of a Damson, of a
reasonable good taste.”

But, despite their readiness to be pleased with their new
possessions, the settlers were lavish importers of products
familiar at home. For example, among the articles ordered
to be sent to New England by the Massachusetts Com-
pany in 1629, were “ Vine-planters, wheat, rye, barley,
oats, a hogshead of each in the ear; beans, pease, stones
of all sorts of fruits, as peaches, plums, filberts, cherries ;
pear, apple, quince kernels; pomegranates, woad seed,
saffron heads, liquorice seed, madder roots, potatoes, hop-
roots, hemp seed, flaxseed, currant plants and madder
seeds.” It is interesting to trace as far back as this the
importation of the Woad-waxen which now so beautifully
covers parts of Essex County ; but Pomegranates certainly
have not acclimatized themselves so well in New England.

More or less extensive orchards were early established.
The first is believed to have been that of William Black-
stone, to whom, in 1633, were granted “fifty acres ae
near his house in Boston, to enjoy forever.” In 1765 this
orchard was spoken ofas still producing fruit, and its exist-
ence at even later dates is recorded. Blackstone himself
afterward removed to Reheboth and planted the first orchard
within what are now the borders of Rhode Island.

Wood, writing between 1629 and 1633, mentions many

Garden and Forest.

169

fruitful gardens in the regions about Boston, where, in his
time, Boston itself was not the largest town. ‘‘ The greatest
Towne in New England,” he says, was Dorchester, and a
mile away lay “ Roxberry, which is a faire and h andsome
Country-towne, the inhabitants of it being all very rich.’
And Boston is described as being ‘‘ two miles North- east
from Roxberry,” and “although it be neither the greatest
nor the richest, yet it is the most noted and frequented,
being the Center of the Plantations where the monthly
courts are kept. Here likewise dwells the Governour:
This place hath very good land, affording rich Corne-fields
and fruitful gardens,” Brookline is noticed as a place called
Muddy River, two miles from Boston, where the inhabit-
ants of that place “for their enlargement have taken to
themselves Farm-houses ; where is good ground, large tim-
ber, and store of Marsh- land and Medow”—a description
which is not out-of-date to-day.

In 1632, Conant’s Island, in Boston harbor, was granted
to Governor Winthrop, and was thereafter called ‘‘The
Governour’s Garden.” Josselyn, writing in 1639, reported
that he had received from there ‘“‘halfa score very fair Pip-
pins there being not one Apple tree nor Péar
planted yet in no part of the Countrey but upon that
Island.”

But it was not long before the town of Boston was filled
with such trees, and Mylne Street (now Summer Street) was
especially a street of gardens. The one owned by Gamaliel
Wayte was planted in 1692, and long remained famous;
and in the eighteenth century this and neighboring towns
were well entitled to boast of their horticultural products.
Paul Dudley, writing of Roxbury in 1726, said, ‘‘Our
apples are without doubt as good as those of England and
much fairer to look upon, and so are the pears, but we
have not got all the sorts. Our peaches do rather excell
those of England, and then we have not the trouble or
expense of walls for them ; for our pear trees are all stand-
ards, and I have had in my own garden seven or eight
hundred fine peaches of the Rareripes growing at a time
on one tree. Our people of late years have run so much
upon orchards that in a village near Boston, consisting of
about forty families, they made near three thousand barrels
of Cyder. This was in the year 1721. And in another
town of two hundred families, I am credibly informed, they
made near ten thousand barrels.”

Many of the fine ornamental gardens laid out in Boston in
the eighteenth century were preserved until comparatively
recent days—for example, the one attached to the Faneuil
mansion, nearly opposite King’s Chapel, with which, Dr.
Slade relates, he himself was intimately acquainted.

But it is impossible to follow his account of the progress
of New England horticulture down to the present day ; nor
is his book of the sort which lends itself well to the
reviewer's ordinary process of condensation and exposi-
tion. We have preferred not to attempt this, but, instead,
to quote a few paragraphs from its earlier pages, which
may suggest to our readers the interest of all the others.

As he reaches more recent times, Dr. Slade speaks of the
great good done by the Massachusetts Horticultural So-
ciety, founded in 1829, and notices many of the charming
suburban country places for which the environs of Boston
have long been famous —places which, alas, must for the
greater part soon perish before the steady advance of the
city’s streets. Nor does the volume lack some pages
devoted to the consideration of gardening as a fine art—as
an art of arranging surfaces of ground so that they may
please the artistic sense—which are instructive as well as
agreeable reading.

Notes.

One of the prettiest early yellow flowers is that of Iris
orchioides, which was introduced into cultivation by Dr.
Regel from the mountains of Turkestan. It is perfectly hardy
and flowers with the early Daffodils. These flowers are not
very large, but they are a pure rich yellow, with small blotches
of olive or purple on the fall, The leaves at the time of flow-

170

ering are hardly six inches long, but the flower-stems are a
foot or more in length, and each one bears in succession three
to six flowers. The bulbs increase rapidly, and a colony of
the plants at this season is one of the most interesting features
of the herbaceous garden.

A circular has been sent out by the Division of Forestry of
the Department of Agriculture which calls attention to the
recent forms of legislation against forest fires and summarizes
the existing acts now in force in the different states. The most
complete law is said to be that of Minnesota, which is quoted
entire, while the provisions of the Maine law are given with
some detail.

It has been often argued that when orchards are sprayed
with arsenical poisons while the trees are in blossom a great
many bees are killed. The bees are not only useful as honey
gatherers, but they are very helpful in fertilizing the flowers.
Some experiments made last year at the Ohio Station show
conclusively that bees may be killed in large numbers by spray-
ing while the flowers are open, and since this practice is never
necessary at that time for the destruction of injurious insects
it Should be avoided. The trees should be sprayed just before
flowering and as soon as the blossoms have fallen, but never
while they are in bloom.

The American Architect and Building News speaks appreci-
atively of the timber tests made by the Forestry Division of
the Department of Agriculture, and adds very justly that when
engineers, architects and builders are expending hundreds of
millions of dollars every year for timber, that the collection
ot accurate information as to the qualities of our different
woods is a matter second only in importance to the preserva-
tion of the forests. Itis to be hoped that Congress will not be
so short-sighted as to adjourn without making an appropria-
tion for continuing the tests which have been going on now
for several years. Of course, the value of such work depends
largely on the number of experiments made. Only when tests
are made in large numbers and under many conditions can
we have confidence in the trustworthiness of the accumulated
data in regard to the range of strength and other qualities of a
given species.

The unusually hot weather during the second week in April,
when the thermometer rose to ninety degrees, Fahrenheit,
has hurried all spring-flowering shrubs into bloom. Before
the hot weather began—that is, up to the 1oth of April—no
shrubs were in bloom in this vicinity, except occasionally a
Daphne Mezereum, and Mr. Joseph Meehan wrote that Prunus
Davidiana was flowering in company with the Daphne in
Philadelphia. Last week, however, Magnolia stellata had
burst into bloom, and is now much past its prime, and M.
conspicua and M. Soulangeana were hardly a day behind it.
The Forsythias and our native Spice Wood opened about the
same time, and with them Cornus mas and the early bush
Honeysuckles. Before this paper is read the Peach-trees
will be in full bloom as the result of a week of August
weather in the middle of April. It will be unusually good for-
tune if we are not visited by a severe freeze before another
paper is published.

Mr. J. H. Hale, President of the Hale Georgia Orchard Com-
pany, says, in the current number of the /ruzt 7rade Fournal,
that from personal examination of the Peach orchards in that
state he finds the prospects better even than last year, when
Georgia had the best peach crop on record. The frosts that
occurred during blooming time this year thinned out the pro-
spective crop considerably, but it is difficult to find anywhere a
single tree that is not now carrying a fair crop of fruit, while
there are many trees so overloaded that .if two-thirds of the
fruit would drop off there would be more than enough left for
a full crop. In the orchards in which Mr. Hale is directly in-
terested, comprising 100,000 trees, Elberta is stated to be the
only variety that is not greatly overloaded. The total crop of
the state is estimated at fifty per cent. larger than that of last
year, allowing for the first crop of several hundred thousand
young trees in the Fort Valley section. The season is fully ten
days in advance ot last year. Mr. Hale concludes that good
Georgia peaches of the Alexander type should be plentiful in
northern markets by the 15th of June. New York fruit mer-
chants are anticipating the first Florida peaches before the
close of April.

Asparagus is now coming from as far north as Charleston
and Norfolk, and the New Jersey crop is looked for any day.
Fifty to seventy-five cents a bunch is the price at this time.
Beans from Charleston cost twenty-five to thirty cents a
quart, and peas from the same section seventy-five cents

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 426.

a half-peck. New white turnips, from Virginia, may be
had for ten cents a bunch. Well-grown white squashes from
Florida cost ten to fifteen cents each, and southern tomatoes
twenty-five cents a pound, the northern hot-house product
bringing forty cents. Hot-house cauliflowers cost thirty-five
to fifty cents each, lettuce ten to fifteen cents a head, and
cucumbers twenty cents each—those from New Orleans filling
out the needed supply at slightly lower prices. Mushrooms
sell for ninety cents a pound.

Bulletin No. 59 of the Indiana Experiment Station treats of
the bacteriosis of Carnations, an almost ever-present disease
of these plants. It is easily detected, now that the cause is
known and has been studied, but for years the leaves of the
plants turned yellow and dried up before the cultivator’s eyes,
and not until half a dozen years ago was the true cause of the
trouble known. Investigation has shown very plainly the
presence of a true parasitic bacterium in the leaves of the
Carnation ; the germ has been separated and cultivated, and
other plants have been artificially infected with it, so that there
is no question as to the correctness of the diagnosis. This
bulletin, which has been prepared by Professors J, C. Arthur
and H.L. Bolley, gives a full history of the germ, which is
called Bacterium Dianthi, and explains how it enters the plant
and how it acts to destroy its host. It seems that no variety
of Carnation is entirely exempt from the disease, but weakly
varieties like Buttercup, Sunrise and La Purité are most
affected. Poorly grown plants more readily succumb than
those well grown, and partly starved or stunted plants are
especially liable to attack. As it is necessary that there should
be sufficient moisture on the leaves to enable the bacteria
to move about and enter the pores, and thus gain access
to the interior of the leaf, it is plain that keeping the foliage
dry will prevent the disease. The trouble is that in this case
the red spider might be as fatal as the bacteria. Dry foliage
is in a direct line with the requirements of the plant, which is
by its structure adapted to a dry atmosphere ; its thick, smooth
leaves and firm epidermis, and the waxy bloom of its surface,
are all devices for conserving moisture. The true treatment,
therefore, is to water the ground between the rows of Carna-
tions with a stream of water, beneath a wire netting which
is so arranged as to lift up the foliage. Spraying overhead
should be practiced only occasionally, and on bright days, when
the water will dry off quickly, and the water should contain a
small amount of ammoniacal copper carbonate, as the germs
cannot live in even a very weak solution of this compound.

The sudden change twelve days ago from persistent cold and
rainy weather to midsummer temperature has affected the
fruit market here in many respects. Oranges, for example,
during last week declined fifty to seventy-five cents a box.
Some I,too barrels of Jamaica oranges, variously known in the
trade as Late Bloom and New Crop, are a part of the regular
offerings. The quality of this crop, which appeared early this
season, is unusually fine. Besides the usual receipts of Medi-
terranean oranges, California Navels continue plentiful, Ex-
ceptionally large specimens of the latter, sixty-four to the box,
desirable mainly for decoration, sell at $3 00 a box wholesale,
while those of average size, 112 fruits to the box, and the yet
more desirable size, 126 to the box, command $3.50 to $4.00.
The hot weather caused an advance of fifty cents a box in the
prices of lemons. Grape-fruit is still seen in the collections
of retail dealers, but the extremely high prices of the past few
months are not maintained by these belated specimens. Two
cargoes of new-crop pineapples, altogether 2,500 fruits, reached
this port from Cuba during last week, and somewhat larger
invoices are expected during this week, the quantity in the
corresponding periods of last year having been two or three
times as great. The price now ranges from ten to twenty-
five cents each, at wholesale, whereas a year ago the same
grade broughtsix toeighteen cents. The first California cherries
of the season reached here on April 16th from Vacaville. The
variety, Early Purple Guigne, was of fairsize, but lacked the deep
rich color of fully ripe fruit. They sold at retail for $1.25 a pound.
Although strawberries continue to come from Florida, and
the first shipments from North Carolina are already in our
markets, prices are higher than they were several weeks ago.
Last Saturday good strawberries sold for seventy cents a
quart box by the crate, and some exceptionally fine fruit
brought the remarkable price of ninety cents a quart at whole-
sale. On Monday seventy-five cents was the lowest price
asked for a single box of choice fruit. The probable reason for
higher prices for southern strawberries so late in the season is
the increasing demand from buyers for hotels and restau-
rants.

APRIL 29, 1896.]

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrick: Tripunge Burtpinc, New York.

Conducted by . .. - + + + « « « « Professor C. S. SARGENT.

ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST-OFFICER AT NEW YORK, N. Yo

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 18096.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

EpirorraAL ARTICLE :—Park Worl: near Boston........eecesceee sees eeeeeeteeees 171
Some Native Ornamental Grasses.—lI....- T. H. Kearney, Fr. 172
Spring in the Pines...........essseeeeeeeee ees -Mrs, Mary Treat. 173

ForEIGN CORRESPONDENCE :-—London Letter.-...-..--.++00-2 665 «0... W. Watson. 173

New or Litt£-KNown Piants :—Rose, Mrs. Pierpont Morgan. (With figure.) 174

CuLtuRAL DepaARTMENT :—Orchid Notes.......-.--esee eee eeee ee Robert Cameron. 176
The Cultivation of Nepenthes... -G. WO. 176
Flower Garden Work . . O. Orpet. 177
Chrysanthemums. .... 3» Le De 277

Barly Spring Flowers ..... .¥, 'N. Gerard. 177
Talia SYIVEStTIS. i... ...- 01 cose cece sscecnccceces «NV. $. Rose. 178
CorRESPONDENCR :—Madison Square Again.

(With figure.). Ses Caparn, 178
Early Wild Flowers in Southern Californis Be ciaioi ieee sete E. D. Sturtevant. 178
Early April in Southern California. . 2 -Imogene E, Fohnson. 179

RECENT PUBLICATIONS ...0-c0sccesncencsccccccsccsssscescescsccssccsncescaceeecs

INOTES sce wic(cacciciciestssceascecrcasisieeavesselsesesecelsesineeces

ILLustrations :—Rose, Mrs. “Pierpont Morgan, Fig. 28......
Proposed Plan of Madison Square, Fig. 29 .

Park Work near Boston.

N 1893 the Legislature of Massachusetts passed an act

which enabled the cities and towns surrounding Boston
to codperate with that city in securing open spaces for the
use of the public, and the Metropolitan Park Commission
was created to select and control these spaces. To the
original Commission of Inquiry when it was making a pre-
liminary study of this great park system the landscape-
architect reported that long and continuous open areas, to
be of the greatest benefit to the whole population of the
‘metropolitan district, ought to be situated (1) on wooded
and rocky hills; (2) along brooks and rivers, and (3) by
the shores of the Bay and the sea. This thought, sug-
gested by the geography of the district, has been steadily
adhered to, and all the reservations created by the Com-
mission belong to one of these three classes. In the report
of the landscape-architects for 1895, published not long
ago, it is stated that the areas now or soon to be controlled
by the Commission include more numerous large pleasure-
grounds than are governed by any public authority in
North America, with the exception of the Governments of
the United States and Canada. They comprise the Blue
Hills reservation, five miles long; the Middlesex Fells
reservation, two miles square; Stony Brook reservation,
two miles long; Charles River reservation, including the
semi-public river-banks, five miles long ; the Mystic Valley
parkway, two miles long, and the Revere Beach reserva-
tion, three miles long. The development of a work of such
magnitude has more than a local interest, and the annual
reports of the landscape-architects, as they give a record of
the progress of the work and unfold the design, make a
series of documents of the highest value to all who are
interested in providing recreation-grounds for a large pop-
ulation.

To descend to the details of the work reported duiing
the year just passed it is to be noted that the chief atten-
tion has been given to revising the boundaries of the pub-
lic lands. Commissioners who purchase land for public
use are not in the habit of making any serious study of
boundary problems, nor are they adequately equipped, as
a tule, to settle them intelligently, and therefore almost
every park in this country is disfigured or, at least, fails to

Garden and Forest.

171

produce the highest effect because details which are essen-
tial to its completeness have been omitted or some incon-
gruous feature has been included. It is not tobe expected
that a park line which follows property lines between
private owners will include all that is essential and exclude
what is not essential to its highest value. A sad example
of this is to be found in our own city, where large park
areas have been purchased with their boundary lines estab-
lished by chance or, at least, without any serious study
of their actual significance. Considerable care was exer-
cised in the purchase of metropolitan park lands for
the greater Boston, and yet we find in the report of Messrs
Olmsted, Olmsted & Eliot that many amendments in the
boundaries of all these reservations need to be made. A
strip of land is added here to permit the construction of a
boundary road without injuring a row of fine trees; a
winding tongue of land is added there to give access to
the same park from an important highway ; a triangle is
added here and a sliver of land is added there, an irregular
and useless tract is restored to its owner in another place—
in short, the whole ground has been subjected to a thorough
study, so that whatever is essential to the charm of the place
may be retained, and every facility for reaching it by
cheap and rapid transportation provided.

Meanwhile it is to be noted that no haste is made toward
building substantial stone-filled and graveled carriage-
roads through the reservations. It is true there are road-
ways now existing and others which have been built under
the authority of local superintendents, and these, to a cer-
tain extent, have opened the reservations to the driving
public, but it is admitted that these roads do not exhibit the
scenery of the reservations as advantageously as it ought
to be exhibited and asit will beshown in the future, and they
possess bad grades and bad lines. Nevertheless, before a
comprehensive scheme of permanent roads can be studied
it is certainly better to adopt the plan of the Commission
and avoid all expensive constructions, The money availa-
ble for such wheelways is well devoted to the clearing out
of new walks and bridle-paths, and marking them with
guide-posts, until the completion of the study may make it
possible to give the permanent carriage-ways their best
location.

These reports furnish salutary reading for all persons who
think that the sole, or even the chief, work of a landscape-
architect or a professional designer of parks is to make pretty
pictures of flowers, and grass, and shrubs and trees, or to
erect structures for merely ornamental purposes. Unfor-
tunately, too many landscape-gardeners have no more
elevated professional ideals than “this. They do not recog-
nize the fact that true art is not the servant of some tem-
porary fashion, but something that is to endure, and must,
therefore, have a permanent basis in the necessities and
aspirations of human life. In these immense areas of
rugged hills and wooded slopes, sunny glades and spark-
ling watercourses, the greater Boston has” acquired a prop-
erty in scenery which has a positive and inestimable value
for the health and refreshment of the people whose lives
must be passed in the noise and confusion and rectangular
ugliness which seem to be the essential conditions of life
in aed crowded cities. It is evidently not the pur-
pose of the designers to trick out the noble features of
these northern landscapes with exotic vegetation or with
incongruous bits of architecture, but to restore and re-
tain, as far as possible, the original poetic charm of
the place, which is its essential value. Balustrades and
terraces and parterres of flowers or any other artificial
ornaments are sorry substitutes for a real woodland walk
ora group of noble trees Jike the Waverly Oaks, or a look
over the restless sea. It is real nature and not affected
naturalism that soothes the city-wearied spirit and has a
genuine sanitary effect upon a mind harassed with busi-
ness cares. Among these wild hills and shady defiles and
extended views the active business man is furnished with
the most certain relief from that nervous exhaustion which
comes from the excitement and stress of city life, and the

iz

poor can find that refreshment which the rich secure by
expensive travel and luxurious establishments in the coun-
iry. Public pleasure-grounds are possessions of rare value
when treated with the full knowledge that they are to
ineet the elementary wants of the human soul by men
who have a reverent love for nature, and whose primary
aim is to develop the latent possibilities of the scenery on
its poetic side and make these kindly influences accessible
to all. They are more to be prized, shall we say, than
great cathedrals or libraries or museums of science or art.

In the report of the landscape-architects for the Park
Department of the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, the
most interesting portion is that which relates to the Cam-
bridge Field, a tectangular playground, which is to havea
central building asa meeting- place and shelter from show-
ers, a band- stand, a check-room for deposits of clothing,
skates and other articles, closets and wash-rooms, and a
counter for the sale of light refreshments, etc. Inasmuch
as experience has proved that whenever such a playground
is treated in a makeshift way people are apt to abuse it, it
is urged that the finish should be of the best, with arrange-
ments ample and attractive, so that as soon as it is open it
will become a success and will help to form good habits in
the people who frequent the place. After explaining that
the cost of maintaining the central building would be prac-
tically nothing, because some wor thy person would take
the position of caretaker without avy other pay than the
privilege of selling refreshments, sharpening skates, etc.,
the landscape- -architects add :

Believing as we do in the great practical, usefulness and
value of the proposed building, we have, as you know, made
it the central and dominating feature of our design for the
whole field. In rural parks, buildings are rightly kept subor-
dinate to the scenery; and to this end they are often given
picturesque forms, such as blend easily with the foliage. In
such parks buildings are best when half-concealed or even
hidden. In aconfined, level, formal and generally rectilinear
public ground, like Cambridge Field, buildings should cer-
tainly, so itseems to us, both stand forth openly and possess
a dignified architectural character. A rural cottage would be
as incongruous in a formal square as a classic mansion would
beina rough New England pasture. If, therefore, the Com-
mission cannot afford at this time to set up an appropriately
substantial architectural structure, we would suggest that build-
ing be for the present postponed. The site allotted to the
building on the plan may be kept open, and the two necessary
but temporary small closet buildings may be conveniently
placed in the spaces which are marked on the plan as intended
tor the children’s and girls’ playgrounds. We are quite sure
that this course will prove wiser than would be the immediate
construction of any building which would not correspond in
style and appearance, as well as in use and convenience, with
the general plan for the Field.

We are glad to know that a building of dignified charac-
ter has been designed and that work will ‘begin on it at
once, and we agree with the landscape- -architects that such
a house will so enhance the value of the Field to all who
may frequent it, and particularly for women and children
and babies, that it will more than repay its first cost.

Some Native Ornamental Grasses.—II.

OUNTAIN RICE, Oryzopsis membranacea, is a re-
markably pretty grass, with large open panicles of

white, silky, hairy spikelets. In the Rocky Mountain region,
where it abounds, it is esteemed as one of the Bunch Grasses.
One of the plants that have received the name of Hair-
Grass is Muhlenbergia capillaris. It is impossible to ex-
aggerate the beauty of this plant with its red-purple,
hair-like panicles that bend before the lightest breeze.
Muhlenbergia Texana, a species inhabiting the dry plains
of the south-west, has a similar, but much smaller, panicle.
Tussock-Grass, Deschampsia cespitosa, native of the
cooler parts of both hemispheres, is a rather elegant grass.
Especially so is a variety found in the mountains of Colo-
rado and Wyoming, with tufts of short fine leaves and a

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 427.

panicle tinged with bronze and purple. In the Appalachian
region D. flexuosa is not infrequent, dwelling upon rocky
ledges. The slightly bending panicle is of a chestnut-brown
color, and has a certain delicate grace that makes it a very
attractive plant.

The group of grasses known to botanists as the tribe
Chlorideze comprises more showy and ornamental species
than almost any other. Some of the species of Chloris,
the genus from which the tribe takes its name, are culti-
vated for their beauty. They are easily recognized by their
flower-clusters, consisting of slender spikes digitately ar-
ranged like those of the common Crab-Grass. In Florida
two species, C. glauca and C. Swartziana, are notable for
their elegance. They are smooth, glaucous plants with
brownish spikes. C. elegans in the arid region of the
south-west is a showy grass with densely bearded white or
pinkish spikes. The Grama or Mesquit grasses of the
prairies and the still drier region to the south are all of
them pretty. Among them, Bouteloua breviseta, a rare
western Texan species with rigid stems and leaves and
short spreading spikes, is particularly ornamental. Not
less so is B. prostrata, which grows in tufts spreading out
on the ground, and bears short, curiously curled spikes.
Some of these small Gramas would be good plants for
edgings.

The Toothache-Grass, Ctenium, of moist Pine-barrens
in the south Atlantic and Gulf states, owes its popular
name to a reputed virtue of its pungent root-stock. It is an
odd grass and a handsome one. Its brown spikes are
wide-spreading when young, but as they mature they
curve inward, after the manner of a wounded centipede.
This is one of our few fragrant grasses, the older plants
having an odor like that of the Balm of old gardens.

Among the Melic-Grasses, Melica, there are some pretty
species. The unarmed Nodding Melic, M. nutans, whose
slender clusters of nodding whitish and purplish spikelets
are to be seen in May on river bluffs in the eastern states,
is worthy of mention. M. spectabilis, found in the Rocky
Mountain region, has large showy, red-tinged spikelets and
culms with a bulb-like base. One of the few of our native
grasses sometimes seen in cultivation is Uniola latifolia, a
truly beautiful plant with broad leaves of a singularly rich
green and drooping panicles of flattened spikelets. It is a
native of river-banks in the eastern states, especially south-
ward. It has a preference for rich soil. Sea Oats, Uniola
paniculata, is of quite a different aspect. Its stems and
leaves are rigid and glaucous. The whitish panicles are
very conspicuous, and are sometimes gathered and dried
for winter bouquets. Sea Oats is found from Virginia to
Texas on ocean beaches, where its strong root-stocks do
cood service in holding the drifting sands. The common
Reed, Phragmites communis, is one of our largest and
showiest grasses, much resembling the closely related
Arundo Donax. It abounds in the coast marshes, where it
grows with Cord-Grass, and about inland lakes and ponds.
It deserves a place in every park or pleasure-ground where
marsh or water plants can be grown. Another grass suit-
able for cultivation in aquatic’ gardens is the Reed Meadow-
Grass, Glyceria aquatica, a large species often growing in
shallow water. It grows wi ild across the continent north-
ward, Water-fowl relish the seeds, which are produced in
great quantity, and fish are said to eat them.

Squirrel-tail Grass, Hordeum jubatum, is a handsome
grass with lustrous pale green or purplish spikes. On ac-
count of the long awns or beard it is sometimes a trouble-
some weed, It is quite an ornamental grass, but has a
great drawback in the tendency of the spikes to break up
as the seed ripens. This habit, perhaps, once existed in |
the related Barley, but has been cured by long cultivation
and selection. Arundinaria macrosperma, the Big Cane of
the southern states, is our only woody grass. It is not a
handsome plant—is decidedly unsightly, in fact. But, as
it forms almost impenetrable thickets, it might be useful
for hedges and wind-breaks where the climate is sufficiently
mild and the soil is sufficiently moist.

APRIL 29, 1896.]

Besides these indigenous grasses there are a number
introduced from the Old World and naturalized in various
parts of the country that might be referred to in passing.
Velvet-Grass or Meadow Soft-Grass, Holcus lanatus, is quite
conspicuous in grass-lands by reason of its whitish color
and the often beautifully pink or purple tinted panicle.
Hare’s-tail, Quaking-Grass and Hair-Grass, Aira caryo-
phyllea, are pretty grasses, sometimes cultivated, chiefly
in Europe, for dry bouquets. They are mostly natives of
the Mediterranean region, but now grow wild in various
parts of North America. Arundo Donax, from southern
Europe, is said to be established in Virginia and along the
lower Rio Grande.

Only a few of our beautiful native grasses are mentioned
here. Thére are others quite as handsome; and from the
four quarters of the earth hundreds of ornamental species
could be gathered. Grasses have been too long neglected
in the flower garden. Planting them in the shape of lawns
to be kept closely mown is not enough, for it does not
allow the often graceful and delicately colored flower-clus-
ters to be seen. Grasses are easily cultivated and require
but a minimum of care. That they are more hardy than
most plants, and less easily injured by transplanting, is
shown by the readiness with which the natives of one coun-
try are naturalized in another when accidentally introduced
To what extent some of them may be improved for orna-
mental purposes by cultivation and selection remains to
be seen ; but, even as they are, many of them have quali-
ties that entitle them to the recognition of the horticulturist.

7. H. Kearney, Jr.

Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.

Spring in the Pines.

AM writing on the roth of April, and vegetation is
further advanced than it ordinarily is at this date. and
yet ten days ago, after an unusually cold March and early
April, all vegetation in the Pines seemed at a standstill and
the season was unprecedentedly late. But ten days of
August weather, following hard after frost, has aroused the
latent forces of nature to an activity which has been almost
startling. We can hear and see the buds swelling and
bursting, especially in the early morning and evening.
Whether we look or whether we listen,
We hear life murmur, and see it glisten;
Every clod feels a stir of life,
An instinct within it that reaches and towers,
And creeping blindly above it for light,
Climbs to a soul in grass and flowers.

No one ever saw the Bloodroot pushing up and _ spread-
ing its white petals insuch haste to meet the sun. Trailing
Arbutus and Pyxie, due to flower long ago, were held back
by the cold, but under the genial influences of an hour
they were both in full bloom. The red keys are hanging
on the Swamp Maples, and the White Maples have already
shed their flowers. March checked the Filbert and Alder
tassels, which were shedding their pollen as long ago as
February, so that there were some fresh catkins still left to
open with the sudden warmth. The bursting buds of the
Bayberry are crowding off the old but still green and fra-
grant leaves from the stem, and the spicy aroma about the
Sassafras tells us that its flowers are opening. The
Amelanchiers have been somewhat tardy, but they are
now covered with bloom like the other early-flowering
trees. Some of the dwarf Willows in the Pines are exceed-
ingly handsome now, with their flowers ranked thickly
along the stem ; the deep scarlet stamens, just before they
shed their pollen and later as they expand into yellowish
fluffy flowers, make them most desirable shrubs for a
spring garden.

After all, the bursting of the leaf-buds and the sudden
expansion of the leaves seem more wonderful, if possible,
than the opening of the flowers. To-day a tree is envel-
oped in a soft haze of light yellow or a greenish mist and
to-morrow it waves boughs of foliage dense enough for
shade, and in the deciduous woods here the range of varied

Garden and Forest.

i723

color is beyond all description. In the garden, Cherries
and Plum trees are fragrant with their white flowers, while
Peach and Almonds with their rosy blossoms add to the
picture. Even the Apple-trees are showing the pink tips
of their flower-buds, an unusual spectacle in mid-April. The
Japan Quince and Exochordas, the early Spireeas and For-
sythias are at their very best, and so is the Akebia with its
chocolate blossoms.

The effect of this midsummer weather upon the birds is
amusing. It is very plain that they imagine they are be-
hindhand in their work. Three robins have constructed
nests near my house, two of them building after the normal
fashion, with mud foundations, but the third evidently feels
called upon to do something out of the ordinary, and is
trying to found her house on a few dry twigs and a quan-
tity of chicken feathers. The nest is in a Hemlock near the
ground, so that we have no difficulty in watching its
progress. The bird hurries to the chicken-yard and selects
long feathers, so that she can weave them in with the
twigs. But itis a novel kind of architecture for her, and
she is making an untidy mess of it. Her mate does not
assist in the building, but perches himself on the naked
branch of a Mulberry-tree near by, and when she arrives
with her load of feathers he looks at her in such a comical
way that one can almost hear his comments on her work.
Plainly she has caught the spirit of the age, and, like the
new woman, she will not be bound to the traditions of her
race. <A pair of golden-winged woodpeckers are making
an excavation in a Maple within a few feet of the house.
These large and beautiful birds are joint partners in this
work as well as in other household affairs. One of the pair
will work vigorously for a time, and then, promptly re-
sponding to a call, the other will come to take its place at
the hole, while the first retires to a distance and keeps
guard. Let me approach ever so cautiously that side of
the house where the tree stands and the watching bird will
sound the alarm, the tapping ceases instantly and the head
of the worker is thrust out to investigate. If I approach
nearer it flies away, but if I slowly move off it soon begins
work. Thrushes, wrens, song sparrows and vesper spar-
rows are filling the air with glad music; insects are buzz-
ing among the flowers and butterflies are flitting here and
there ; in fact, the whole scene is filled with action where
but ten days ago every sign of life was locked up in frost.

Vineland, N. J. Mary Treat.

Foreign Correspondence.

London Letter.

Parrotia JAcQuemonTiANa.—This is now flowering for the
first time in the arboretum at Kew. It differs from Parrotia
Persica in having smaller flowers arranged in a conical head
and surrounded by ovate petaloid whitish bracts nearly an
inchlong. The flowers are developed before the young leaves.
When mature, the leaves are orbicular or obovate, distinctly
toothed all around the edges, dull green, and they do not
assume the bright colors in autumn so characteristic of the
Persian species. The former is a native of Kashmir at an
elevation of from 5,000 to 9,000 feet, where it forms a
Hazel-like bush, six to twelve feet high. Dr. Aitchison found
it in abundance in Afghanistan in the interior of the hills,
forming much of the shrub jungle there. He says the long
slender stems and pliant branches are used in wicker-work
and for the handles of farm implements. As a garden plant
it is not as valuable as P. Persica, which at Kew forms a
beautiful shrub or small tree, bearing large glossy green
leaves all summer, which in autumn change to the richest
hues of orange, red, brown and yellow.

WipprinctonrA Wayter.— The Milanji Cypress, as_ this
plant is popularly known, has been largely distributed from
Kew by means of seeds and young plants. It bids fair to
become a useful garden plant, and also, in countries favor-
able to its growth out-of-doors, a valuable timber tree. It
was discovered in quantity a few years ago on the moun-
tains of British Central Africa, where it forms large forests,

174

and the wood is so valued there that Sir H. H. Johnston,
Her Majesty’s Commissioner in that territory, has taken
steps to protect the remnants of the forests and to plant
more on an extensive scale. According to areport recently
made there are about 150,000 large trees covering some
thousand acres, with an average of forty cubic feet of
timber in each tree, which is valued at three shillings per
foot. The destruction from forest fires, etc., has recently
been so great that “it is no exaggeration to say that five or
six years’ more delay in the assumption of control over the
remaining forests would have meant the entire extinction
of this unique conifer.” It grows to a height of about 150
feet, the trunk being six feet in diameter at the base.

Prunus Pseupo-cerasus.—English horticulture has only
recently become acquainted with the valueof this beauti-
ful spring-flowering tree, but now it is certain to be soon
abundantly represented. I first saw it in the nursery of
Mr. A. Waterer, at Knap Hill, where it was called Prunus
Watereri. Messrs. Veitch & Sons exhibited it last week
before the Royal Horticultural Society, and in the last issue
of The Gardeners’ Chronicle there is an excellent illustration
of it. Young trees of it at Kew are at the present time
literally laden with beautiful, large, rose-tinted or white
flowers in crowded clusters ; a yellow-flowered variety is
also in bloom at Kew. ‘The Japanese nurserymen recom-
mend it as a street-tree, and offer about a dozen named
varieties characterized by white, various shades of pink,
greenish white, single and double flowers. The wood is
also said to be invaluable for engraving. As a spring-
flowering tree P. Pseudo-cerasus deserves to rank with the
Almond, double Red Peach, P. triloba and P. Mume. The
last-named is also offered in considerable variety by Japa-
nese nurserymen, who call it the queen of Japanese trees.

PRUNUS SPINOSA FLORIPLENO.—One of the most attractive
shrubs in flower in the arboretum at Kew isa bush of a
double variety of the Black Thorn, its branches being
thickly clothed with clusters of pure white flowers, com-
posed of many petals spreading outward and showing a
bright green eye. The black bark of the branches heightens
the effect of the pure white, and when the sunlight is upon
it the bush appears to glisten like snow. This is a plant of
exceptional merit, and is as hardy as the Black Thorn.

Prunus TrILoBA.—I omitted in my last letter to empha-
size the fact that this plant should not be grafted on to
another species, as is too commonly the practice among
nurserymen. Grafted plants of it invariably. die young.
It may be increased by layering or from suckers, and when
on its own roots it goes on happily for many years.

Prunus Grayana.—This is now in flower at Kew. It
does not appear to differ from Prunus Padus, the Bird
Cherry. The Kew plant was obtained from Dr. Dieck.

Brerperis Nepatensis.—This noble species is hardy only
in the warmer parts of England. In Cornwall it is repre-
sented by large specimens, and I have seen it about fifteen
feet high in a garden near Dorset. At Kew it does not
grow well, and is injured by frost in winter. The foliage
of healthy plants is very ornamental, being pinnate, a foot
or more long, with leaflets four or five inches long of a
glossy green color. The flowers are in terminal erect
heads nearly a foot long, very crowded, and colored bright
yellow. According to Sir Joseph Hooker, it occurs in the
temperate Himalaya at an altitude of from four to eight
thousand feet, and also in the Nilghiri mountains. A form
of it known in gardens as Berberis Bealei, a native of Japan,
has even larger leaves than the type. It is grown in the
temperate house at Kew, and I have seen very fine speci-
mens grown as pot-plants for the conservatory. I saw a
magnificent specimen of it in the garden of Colonel Tre-
mayne in Cornwall, where it is grown as B. Japonica, var.
Bealei.

BERBERIS BUXIFOLIA.—This Chilian species, known in
gardens as Berberis rotundifolia and B. fascicularis, a
variety of the common B. Aquifolium, are two of the most
attractive shrubs in flower here now. Bushes of the former,
six feet high and eight feet through, are covered with pend-

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 427.

ent balls of bright golden yellow, and suggest B. Darwini.
The other plant is remarkable for the numerous clusters
and bright yellow color of its flowers, far brighter than any
other form of B. Aquifolium.

SAXIFRAGA STRACHEYI.—Flowering examples of this spe-
cies were shown a fortnight ago by Mr. G Paul, and
obtained a first-class certificate. Although introduced from
the Himalaya by Sir Joseph Hooker in 1851 and cultivated
out-of-doors at Kew for many years, it has not become
popular, probably because it is not so hardy as its ally, Saxi-
fraga ligulata, although it is handsomer than that species. At
Kew it is grown on the rockery, where its thick contorted
prostrate stems embrace and nestle against the gray stones
in a partially shaded position. Here it has grown freely
and flowered profusely every year. The leaves are decidu-
ous and the flowers are developed in March or April before
the new leaves appear. In colder localities it ought to be
protected in winter or lifted and placed in a frame till
danger is over. The flowers, which are borne in large
cymose clusters, are an inch across, white, tinted with rose.
There is a yellow-flowered variety. 5. Stracheyiis a native
of Kashmir at an elevation of 8,000 to 14,00 feet.

PincurcuLa caupata.—A few pans of this pretty Butter-
wort help to liven up the greenhouse in the early months
of the year. At Kew it is grown along with the Mexican
Orchids and thrives satisfactorily. The plants go to rest
in winter when they are kept moderately dry. They are
again started into growth in February by repotting them
into new soil and placing them on a shelf in a temperature
of about sixty degrees. At present they are in full flower
and are as effective as large-flowered Masdevallias. A
stock of plants can easily be raised by breaking off the
outer leaves from the plants when at rest and planting
them in sand in a propagating-house. It is now fifteen
years since this species was introduced from Mexico by
Messrs. F. Sander and first flowered at Kew. If a number
of plants are grown and started in batches a succession of
flowers may be had from spring until late in the autumn.
Seeds are ripened freely, and from them some variation in
flower-color has resulted. Good varieties have flowers two
inches across and of a brilliant crimson color.

Narciss1.—Flowers of these plants among grass. are a |
delightful feature if tastefully planted. I have lately seen
attempts at this kind of wild or natural gardening in some
of the London parks which are an utter failure, owing to
the formal massing of the bulbs. Anything in the nature
of a strict outline must be avoided. At Kew the bulbs are
planted so as to look as natural as possible, here and there
a thick colony with a few stragglers and smaller clusters,
finally thinning down to nothing. They are most effective
when planted on lawns where trees are numerous and
especially where conifers and deciduous trees are mixed.
In such situations a glade-like effect is obtained. In one
part of the garden the Incomparabilis and Poeticus varie-
ties have been planted so extensively among the grass that
they present the appearance of a meadow overrun with
Daffodils. The bulbs of these plants are now so abundant
and cheap as to place such a display as is here described
within the means of all gardeners.. But the bulbs must be
planted with taste. We. Walser:

London,

New or Little-known Plants.
Rose, Mrs. Pierpont Morgan.

HIS comparatively new Rose (see opposite page), which

is much admired, and promises to be an important
commercial variety, is a sport from the well-known Tea
Rose, Madame Cusin. It is a strong plant of good habit,
and it grows vigorously under glass, making sturdy stems
with luxuriant foliage and producing a flower on every
shoot. Good judges pronounce it the most prolific of all
Roses for greenhouse cultivation. The flowers are larger
than those of Madame Cusin, and when fully developed are
as large as those of the Hybrid Perpetual class, being at

APRIL 29, 1896.]; Garden and Forest. Ly

176

their best four and a half or more inches across and very
full. The color is an even shade of cerise-red, with a deli-
cate tint of lemon at the base of the petals, which makes
an exceedingly brilliant combination under. artificial light,
while it is pleasing at all times. The petals are broad and
heavy, and they last a long time on the plants, and when
cut. To give an idea of their keeping qualities, Mr. John
N. May, of Summit, New Jersey, with whom this plant
originated, cites the fact that a dozen of these roses were
cut. with long stems on the 26th of December, 1894, and
sent to England. They were kept until the 15th of January,
when they were exhibited at the Royal Horticultural So-
ciety of England, and, although they had then been cut
twenty days, the judges found them in sufficiently good
order to deserve an award of merit. Cut roses of this
variety have been repeatedly shipped by express from New
Jersey to Omaha, Denver and other remote western cities,
where they arrived in perfect condition.

Cultural Department.

Orchid Notes.

ete abies REGNIERL is a useful terrestrial Orchid. Just
as C. vestita and its varieties and C, Veitchii are going
out of bloom, the flowers on this plant begin to open and con-
tinue until near the end-of April. It is a deciduous plant,
losing its leaves just before the flowers open, and it is, there-
fore, destitute of leaves while the plants are blossoming. If the
plants are arranged among the handsome-leaved Cypripe-
diums the deficiency of foliage is not observed, and the
rac.mes show to good advantage. The pseudo-bulbs are four
inches long or more, flask-shaped and jointed, and the flowers
are in racemes on long stems, which attain a height of two
and a half to three feet. The flower-stem grows straight for
about eighteen inches high and the remainder bends over
gracefully. The flowers are ot pleasing colors, the sepals and
petals white, and the lip rosy-pink, This Calanthe, like all
the deciduous ones, needs a thorough rest. Atter the plants
are done blossoming they should be put in a dry warm place
and water entirely withheld. Assoonas they begin to grow,
the plants should be turned out of the pots, all the exhausted
soil removed and the old roots shortened back within about an
inch of the pseudo-bulb. They should then be planted singly
into four or five inch pots, according to the size and strength
of the pseudo-bulb. Fibrous loam, with a small quantity of
lumpy dried cow-manure, makesa good compost. After the
plants are potted but little water is needed until the roots have
taken hold of the fresh soil. When the pots are well filled
with roots a weak solution made from fresh cow-manure
should be given once or twice, as the plants may need it.
Little water is needed when the pseudo-bulbs have attained
their full size, and when the plants are in bloom they need just
enough water to keep the flowers from drooping. -

One of the handsomest Cypripediums in bloom now is
C. hirsutissimum. The flowers are very pleasing, the dif-
ferent shades blending admirably; they measure five or six
inches in diameter and are produced singly from the young
growth on large scapes which measure nine to twelve inches.
The dorsal sepal is large, of a reddish purple color, with a mar-
gin of clear green. The lower sepal is rather small and also
of areddish purple color. The petals are large, spathulate,
twisted, hairy along the margins and narrowed down to the
base. The lip is deep green, tinged with lighter green. The
flowers of this plant, like many others belonging to the genus,
if properly looked after, will last for many weeks. Theleaves
are dark green, strap-shaped and nearly a foot long. C. hir-
sutissimum lies heat and moisture and grows well here in the
stove.

Another good Cypripedium, and one that flowers freely
and is also easy to grow, is C. Boxallii. It is a stemless
plant and has thick, dark green strap-shaped leaves, which
measure nearly a footin length. The large showy flowers on
our plants are produced singly on erect scapes. The dorsal
sepal is of a greenish color and the edges are white, with
numerous purple spots. The petals and the lip are of a green-
ish yellow, tinged with purple. The flowers are distinct and
have a shining appearance. It is of easy cultivation, and
although often recommended for an intermediate house, it
does well here in a stove temperature and produces large
flowers freely. The flowers have exceptional lasting qualities,
and some have been on the plants for more than two months.

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 427.

A large plant of Arpophyllum giganteum has blossomed sat-
isfactorily here. Itis grown in a large square basket which
is suspended near the roof-glass, and has produced fine, large
spikes of rosy-purple flowers. It is a strong-growing plant,
with drooping, strap-shaped leaves twelve to fifteen inches
long; when first developed they are of a bronzy color, but
later they take on a deep green. The inflorescence is a dense
spike made up of numerous small rosy-purple flowers pro-
duced on stout stems. This Arpophyllum grows vigorously
planted in a deep basket in fern-root mixed with sphagnum-
moss. While growing it needs plenty of water and abundance
of light. The temperature of the house where it grows ranges
from fifty to fifty-five degrees, Fahrenheit. It is a native of
Mexico and Guatemala, and was introduced trom. there to
England in 1839.

Botanic Garden, Harvard University. Robert Cameron.

The Cultivation of Nepenthes.

EPENTHES need close attention at this time of year when
they are just beginning the period of most active growth.
It depends altogether on their treatment for the next month
or two whether the pitchers will be abundant. These last for
the better part of a year on the plants, andonsome kinds even
longer. Without these curious adornments the plants, like
some Orchids without their flowers, are anything but attrac-
tive to the ordinary observer,

Old plants of Nepenthes, as a rule, do not give as abundant
crops of pitchers as plants one and two years old, but they are
usually larger than those on young plants.

All the sorts are interesting, but they are not all easy to grow.
The cultivation of some species is but little understood, and,
indeed, the conditions under which some grow naturally can-
not be imitated in a greenhouse. For instance, Burbidge, in
his Gardens of the Sun, says in Borneo some species thrive
luxuriantly on the summit of a hill on which, during daytime,
the heat to a European is almost unbearable, while in the early
morning the temperature is so low that a heavy winter over-
coat is needed by the traveler. Those forms and hybrids
which have originated in gardens are much to be preferred to
the species on account of the ease with which they can be
grown. The hybrid called Mastersiana is one of the very |
best, as with ordinary care a good-sized and very prettily col-
ored pitcher at the end of each leaf may be counted upon. It
is also one of the easiest to rootfrom cuttings. The pitchers
average six inches in length and two and one-half inches in
diameter, and the color is dark red. Nepenthes Dominiana is
an old garden hybrid, very free-growing, and has the further
merit of succeeding in a lower temperature than most of the
others. The color is yellowish-green spotted with brown.

Quite a number of American hybrids have been raised in
recent years, and these include some specially beautiful sorts.
One, named Nepenthes Morganiz, is almost rose color, and
forms a very symmetrical plant if kept dwarf. N. Arnesiana,
N, Siebrechtii and N. Dormanniana are closely related to each
other, evidently springing from the same parentage. The
pitchers are very large and more nearly round in outline than
the first three named. N. Claytonii has long, narrow, dark-
colored pitchers.

A very essential point in the cultivation of Nepenthes is the
frequent use of the knife. Itisa mistake to allow young plants
to grow tall. If they do not show signs of forming pitchers
they should be cut back to within three or four leaves of the
root, and even when they do form pitchers after a sufficient
number of leaves show, the growing point should be nipped
out, This will cause the pitchers which are developing to
become much larger than if the shoot is allowed to grow.

The material in which to grow these plants should consist of
rough fibrous peat and chopped sSphagnum-moss in equal
parts, and a third part made up of rough sand, charcoal and
broken pots, all thoroughly mixed together. The plants thrive
best in wooden baskets suspended from the roof of the green-
house. They should be protected from strong sunshine and
from currents of air. They delight in a hot moist atmosphere
and need an abundance of water when in active growth, most
of it to be supplied by frequent syringings. When the material
in which they grow becomes decomposed it should be care-
fully washed from the roots and renewed, an operation to be
performed only when the plants are not in active growth.

Propagation is effected most readily from cuttings of the
ripe growths. If the ends of the cuttings be pushed through
the holes of inverted three-inch pots and “plungedin sphagnum-
moss in a close frame they will send out strong roots in a few
weeks. The plants should then be potted off singly in small
pots, care being taken to bruise the roots as little as possible.

Botanic Garden, Washington, D.C, G. W. O.

APRIL 29, 1896.]

Flower Garden Work.

SENG has opened very late this season, and now, on the
tenth of April, frost is still in the ground in many places.
Outdoor work has been considerably retarded, but if steady
warm weather sets in soon this will make a more prosperous
year than early warmth followed by hard frosts.

It was feared that the losses from severe cold would be
great owing to the low temperature early in the winter before
much snow had fallen. This fear has proved well founded
with the hardy Roses, at least, and many gaps will need filling
up. This work should not be delayed longer than need be
after the soil can be stirred, and dormant stock is the best to
procure. We used to think that Roses on their own roots were
best, but subsequent experience of the New England climate
has disproved this, and there is no doubt that wherea gardener
is sufficiently intelligent to distinguish between the brier-shoots
that will sometimes sprout from the stock, that the grafted or
budded Rose is the most vigorous and the hardiest, and will
produce better returns in the garden than Roses that are on
their own roots. Another mistake often made is the planting
of too many kinds in the hope of getting up a large collection
of hardy varieties. Our experience has been that of the known
kinds of reputed hardy Roses not more than one in ten is to
be relied on year after year in this climate, and it is safer to
use fewer kinds and plant more of them. Pruning is again
reduced to a very simple operation this season. It consists
in cutting out the dead portions and leaving the live ones, and
this in most cases is too hard pruning to get the best returns,

The Narcissus border looks well and promises a good show
of bloom soon. We feared that lack of protection had hurt
these bulbs, but there is every prospect of as good a show as in
former seasons of the kinds regarded as suitable for this cli-
mate. Itis well to go over the beds and stir the soil upa little as
soon as itis dried up sufficiently to close up the surface left
open by frost. This will help to retain the moisture that is in
the soil for future dry periods. If it is intended to use the
blossoms for indoor decoration it is wise to put a slight mulch
over the beds to prevent April showers from splashing the
flowers with soil. This often happens, and a slight mulch
saves the blooms from disfigurement.

Mixed herbaceous borders should be looked over now to see
that none of the smaller growing plants have suffered from
frost. It happens frequently that these are raised out of the
ground by the action of frosts, and they will need to be re-

_placed carefully and made firm. Mertensia Virginica has
seeded freely here in the borders, and the young plants are
often lifted out of the soil in this way. It is one of the prettiest
of spring flowers of which too manv cannot be had, but they
need this attention at this season. Primula Sieboldii that are
planted outside are covered in the fall as are the Polyanthus,
and they then winter over well, but all coverings must now be
removed to anticipate growth which will soon follow.

Beds of Lily-of-the-valley not covered with manure in the
fall will be helped now by a covering of some good material,
not too lumpy, so that the young shoots can come through
freely. This will enable them to build up a strong growth for
the next year’s flowering. We always cover these plants in the
fall, and the covering acts as a mulch as well as a fertilizer. It
is not removed in spring, but left to enrich the plants perma-
nently. It is surprising how the plants show their appreciation
of this little attention. This is a good time to make a bed of
the Lily-of-the-valley. The best Berlin pips or crowns should
be procured and planted about eight inches apart each way
in good soil in a position shady during the heat of the day, and
they will be sure to give entire satisfaction in after years.

Any other planting in the mixed borders should be deferred
until the plants already in place have made aa little start, or
some plants will be disturbed that should not be. After such
herbaceous plants have made a little growth the root-action
will go on with little check and will make a strong growth the
coming year, provided the soil is well prepared beforehand.
Plants that have been raised from seed with a view to trans-
planting in the garden must be well hardened off before setting
out, as, though they may be perfectly hardy under normal con-
ditions, they have been rendered as susceptible to cold as if
they were of tropical origin and are as easily injured at this
season. A few weeks in the cold frames, with plenty of air on
warm days and nights, will make them sufficiently hardy to
plant out in their permanent positions at the end of this month,
or a little later in some localities. It is a part of each year’s
work at this time to look carefully through the borders to take
out all self-ssown seedlings that are not needed. These will
come up in quantity all over the beds, and are usually weedy,
poor variations from the type plants, so much so at times as to
give rise to the suspicion that good forms of some garden

Garden and Forest.

177

plants revert to the original types. But more often it is be-
cause the better and weaker plant has been made yet weaker
by seeding freely, and its place is soon taken by a host of its
progeny that in many cases are worthless. Phlox, Aquilegias
and Larkspurs are plants of this description, and seedlings
should be rigidly excluded from the borders other than those
in semi-wild places. Here they may be allowed to care for
themselves, and it does not take long for them to revert to the
original types if left to their own devices. ‘The strongest sur-
vives, and in most instances it is the weediest.
South Lancaster, Mass. EO} Or pet.

[This article was written before the untimely warm wave
of mid-April, and should have appeared last week. Its
sugges'ions, however, are still seasonable.—Ep. |

Chrysanthemums.

Gee stock plants of Chrysanthemums in cold frames will
now furnish us with abundance of thrifty cuttings, and
these will make much more satisfactory plants than stock
secured from dealers. No grower ever thinks of getting a
specimen bloom from a dealer’s plant—that is, by growing it
on. What he hopes for is to get his plants early enough to
start them into new growth and take fresh cuttings. This he
can do if he receives them in March. April is too late. Some
of the stock sent out this season has been poor and late.
There is no reason why dealers should not send out good
strong stock. They know the importance of it as well as the
grower does.

During the first week of May we shall put in our first lot of
cuttings for specimen blooms. A month later will do if only
medium-sized blooms are required. The cuttings will root
easily without bottom-heat. A close propagating-frame is
best, and the cuttings should be inserted with as little delay as
possible. It will be necessary to shear off a few leaves and
the tips of the upper ones. If allowed to lie on the wet sand
they will be liable to decay, and damping may set in through-
out the bed. Abundant watering’ will be required for the first
week or so, and, in fact, we keep our cuttings drenched. The
frame will be better for being kept closed and well shaded
during the daytime and opened at night. Roots should begin
to form in a week or so, and gradually the young plants should
be more and more exposed to better light and air. They will
be ready to pot off in three weeks. Nocheck must be allowed
from this time forward, for, whether intended for pots or
benches, they must be kept in active growth.

There is no doubt the growing of large blooms has been
overdone and that we shall see more medium-sized flowers.
The plants would then be more diversified, and naturally make
a more effective display. As cut flowers large blooms are im-
posing and very effective for the decoration of churches and
other large buildings. They are less suitable than smaller
flowers for artistic work in the parlor and for table decoration.

Our specimen plants will soon be ready for the final shift
into ten and twelve inch pots, in which they will bloom, It is
important that the drainage be free, anda little broken charcoal
helps to keep the soil sweet. The soil recommended for pre-
vious transfers will do for this, although it may be heavier.
We pot moderately firm, but never pound the soil. Watering
must be done carefully until the plants are well started into
growth, but on no account should they become waterlogged.
Stopping must be done almost daily, and it is important that

the plants be kept regular in outline. a
Wellesley, Mass. fw OR 2 f

Early Spring Flowers.

Aas unexpected is due at any time in the garden, and in the

short interval since my last note a few days of untempered
sunlight have brought the Lily-pads to the surface of the water,
burned up the early flowers and developed a succession of late
spring flowers in abundance. It is, perhaps, not too late to
offer a few hints as to the very early plants, which are practi-
cally all bulbous ones. The best early color-effects in the gar-
den here are to be had from the blue flowers, as this color
harmonizes better with the prevailing bare earth. For this
color we depend on Scillas, Irises, Muscari, Crocus Imperati
(reddish purple) and Chionodoxas. We have earlier flowers
than these in the Snowdrops, but, however welcome and fasci-
nating these may be, they are not very effective with us as
garden plants, for at their flowering time the grass, which
would prove an effective foil to their beauty, seldom shows a
trace of green. There are also white forms of all the blue
flowers mentioned, the white Scilla Sibirica and white Chiono-
doxas being especially beautiful, but they are, unfortunately,

178

not to be had in quantity and do not increase truly from seed.
My friends who work constantly in growing seedlings of
choice or abnormal varieties of such plants always have plain-
tive tales of reversion to the type, or failures to secure im-
proved forms. The Chionodoxas seemed to me to be won-
derfully varied this year, but while, perhaps, a dozen quite
distinct forms could be picked out, it does not seem worth
while to name them, except C, Luciliz, C. Sardensis or C.
grandiflorum, Of these, C. Sardensis varies the least, having
only two forms, a dark purple with either a white or dark eye.
C. grandiflorum would cover all the broader-petaled large-
flowering kinds, mostly slaty blue, with red and white varieties.
C. Luciliz would well name all the others with purples and
white, blue and white, pure white, and pink. C. Tmolu has
a claim to name, appearing very distinct in masses, but it
would soon disappear among C. Lucilize. In fact, no collection
of Chionodoxas could be kept distinct very long, for they come
plentifully from seed, and this is mostly cross-fertilized by the
insects of the season. These flowers are visited here mostly
by a winter-flying insect, which is either the Chrysanthemum-
fly orasimilar insect. And as it is simply out to eat, and not
to store nectar, it visits all lowers indiscriminately, or in rota-
tion, and carries pollen not only to the various Chionodoxas,
but the Scillas (of the same family) as well. The cross, Chio-
noscillas, is often noted by gardeners.

The Narcissi are now in full glory. They are all so satisfac-
tory that it seems invidious to mention names, only more of
them should be planted in grass. The best varieties to select
for this purpose are the cheapest obtainable, being naturally
the most vigorous. But even the Daffodils look pale in con-
trast with the rich yellow of Iris orchioides, one of the most
satisfactory plants of the season, free-flowering, beautiful, dis-
tinct, perfectly hardy and rapidly increasing from year to year.
It is, perhaps, the best of the bulbous Irises. The first of the
always welcome Tulips have opened, and there is a promise
of great bloom, though, as usual, there are too many imma-
ture or one-leaved plants, which will not flower

Elizabeth, N. J. oe lV. Gerard.

Tulipa sylvestris.—This Tulip grows sparingly in deciduous
woods in most countries in Europe. It is one of the most
attractive of wild flowers, and it is as eagerly sought after by
botanists as the rarest of Orchids. Its chaste yet bright color,
graceful habit, in which it is superior to most cultivated
Tulips, and its delightful fragrance make it one of the most
desirable plants for naturalizing in wild parts of a park or gar-
den, The flower, which is comparatively long, is more closed
than those of the garden varieties, bright yellow within, slightly
tinged with green on the outside. The leaves are linear,
rather long and narrow. The species grows preferably in
moist, open glades in level woodlands where the soil is deep
and rich, without being wet, but also in more shady positions
among trees and shrubs, whereit flowers more sparingly than
in the warm, bright sunshine. It forms little, scattered groups
of great beauty, but is now becoming rare. The bulbs are

much smaller than those of most other Tulips.
Newark, N. J. eae F. Rose.

Correspondence.

Madison Square Again.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,— Your correspondent, S. A., in No. 425 of GARDEN AND
ForESsT, criticises the plan of Madison Square by Messrs. Bell
& Langton because the centre of the park is formalized. I
think the criticism just. He points out the symmetrical ar-
rangement of paths as they exist, and says that the place is too
small to contain formal as well as naturalistic effects. A seven-
acre piece of ground is certainly too small for effects of wide
green lawns if the centre is taken up with a rectilinear scheme
covering more than an acre anda half. But seven acres are
enough for naturalistic effects of respectable extent. Your
correspondents (rightly, as I think) agree that formal features
are desirable in a park of this kind. I do not believe, however,
in the value of ‘‘symmetry” in lines of travel on a place of
this size. This symmetry is not very obvious even on paper
until emphasized by black lines, and it might be apparent to
an observer hovering over it in a balloon. But how shall one
who strolls into the square know that the path in which he
walks is balanced by a similar on the other side? Artists
in landscape too often forget that their paper plans are decep-
tive. Cannot effects of wide green lawns, abundance of shade
and so forth be combined in seven acres with the popular
formal effects? I think they can by relegating the formal de-

Garden and Forest.

(NUMBER 427.

sign to a part of the ground where it will not interfere with the
appearance of size. I enclose a design as a suggestion.

The points of merit in this plan I think are these:

Lines of travel sufficiently direct are provided in all direc-
tions. Little attention is paid to the symmetrical look of the
paths on paper, but much to the definite and harmonious
effect of their lines when laid out, a point of distinct esthetic
value. The formal design is put at the narrow end of the
park, where it cannot interfere with the apparent extent of the
ground, A circle is chosen (150 feet diameter) as the simplest

pn > 22s 3% Ep (2 EI PD Pep DRIP” Bh

LR
SCALE OF FEETY

f
ae Y?

Fig. 29.—Proposed Plan of Madison Square.

and most obvious geometrical figure. It contains a row of
trees along the circumference (surely an admirable place for
seats in the shade), a Lily-pond and flower-beds. It is suffi-
ciently separated from the naturalistic part of the park by trees
and shrubbery.

Most of the existing trees are retained, and a good deal of
shrubbery is added, to made the park interesting in detail as
well as in general effect.

BB are the statues, C the kiosk, A the Farragut monument.

At the junctions of paths is plenty of room tor seats.

Planting is intended to conceal the asphalt as much as pos-

sible.
Pittsburg, Pa. HT, A. Caparn.

Early Wild Flowers in Southern California.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—Spring-time comes here after the first heavy rains,
which may be early or late. The rainfall during the past win-
ter has been so limited that we have had the unusual experi-
ence at times of something like drought in the rainy season,
and this has interfered greatly with the regular growth of
native plants. In February, Dodecatheon Meadia, which the
children call Shooting Star, was in bloom, and with it came the
oddly colored rich brown flowers of Paonia Browni. The
scarlet-flowered Gooseberry was also in bloom, and a shrubby
Lupin with long spikes of purple-blue flowers, sometimes six
feet high, with ahead as many feet through, wasalso in flower.
In March the Eschscholtzia, or California Poppy, was in full

APRIL 29, 1896.]

glory, covering acres near the base of the Sierra Madre Moun-
tains, above Pasadena. In the rear of my house, in the suburbs
of Los Angeles, a mountain peak rises to the height of fourteen
hundred feet, and from its summit on a clear day I have seen
with the naked eye the rich golden color of these Poppy fields
twelve miles away. Another but much less common member
of this family is Dendromecon rigidum, with pure golden-yel-
low flowers, containing nota trace of orange, but otherwise
resembling those of the Eschscholtzia. I have lately seen speci-
mens of it six or seven feet high and five feet in diameter and
well furnished with bloom. It certainly is a plant worth‘intro-
ducing to our gardens, although it is transplanted with diffi-
culty and is hard to raise from seed. It is in full flower dur-
ing March and April, but continues to bear a few flowers for
several months. This isthe only member of the Poppy family
known to me which is a true shrub, but Dr. Franceschi reports
that on an island near Santa Barbara there is a less rigid
species called D. flaccidum. The first of the Calochorti to
appear here is C. Catalinee, with large white flowers delicately
shaded with purple and dark spots at the base of the petals.
Los Angeles, Calif. E. D. Sturtevant.

Early April in Southern California.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—A note of what one sees and hears during a stroll
through a California garden in a morning in early April may
interest eastern readers, whom we think of with some com-
passion as we read in telegraphic dispatches of snow-storms
and freezing weather. Giant Callas lift their creamy chalices
under the bay-window above the dark green of such leaves as
I have never seen elsewhere, and against the side of the house
tall Fuchsias are trained and thousands of their pendulous
flowers are swinging in the breeze, while up the pillars and
along the frieze of the portico great starry blooms of hybrid
Clematis show white and shades of blue. On either side of
the steps are huge bushes of Heliotrope, and a tangle of Cobzea
scandens has climbed up an angle of the building and is cov-
ered with flowers of exquisite form and changing color.

Out in the garden are bushes of Marguerite, seven or eight
feet in diameter and nearly as high, white with daisy-like
flowers, but they are still more impressive when seen in the
light of a full moon, when they have a fairy-like grace and an
indescribable silvery glitter. The Lilacs have done blooming.
The Laurestinus is almost done, but the Snowballs and Phila-
delphuses are in perfection. The show Pelargoniums are just
opening, although the Zonal Geraniums are always in bloom.
A few late Tulips linger in the bulb-beds with a few Narcissi,
Ranunculi, Anemones, Ixias and Spiraxes. German Irises,
with their wealth of color and Orchid-like texture, are making
a noble display, and the Japanese Iris, a midsummer flower
with you, will soon appear. Carnations are to be gathered
every day, and the Chinese Honeysuckle which riots over a
stone wall is also constantly in flower. Sweet Peas are open-
ing on long wire trellises; Verbenas are gorgeous masses of
color; Tropzolums are ablaze with spicy blossoms. half-
hidden in lush-green foliage, and the velvety faces of the Pan-
sies now wear their best expression in this cool damp weather.

But the glory of the garden now is the Roses, for, although
we have Roses every day, this is the time of their perfection.
Tea Roses are especially handsome now, not only on account
of their flowers, but on account of the young foliage in shades
of olive, bronze and red, while the sprays of the Lady Banksias,
sometimes twenty feet long, are covered for their entire length
with tiny fragrant blossoms of white and yellow. Of course,
it is impossible to describe a Rose or a Rose garden, but one
who visits the southern coast of California at this season always
feels that the cool beauty of the white La France, the blaze of
the General Jacqueminot and the deep gold of the Maréchal
Niel are never seen in such perfection elsewhere.

Los Gatos, Calif. Imogene E. Fohnson,

Recent Publications.

Traité des Plantations @ Alignement et d’Ornemeni dans les
Villes et sur les Routes Départementales. Par A. Chargueraud,
Professeur d’Arboriculiure de la Ville de Paris. Paris: J.
Rothschild. 1896.

The unfavorable comparisons which an American visit-
ing Europe must make between the trees in his own cities
and those which he finds in the streets of Paris and other
Continental cities will be explained when he remembers
how carelessly and inefficiently tree-planting in American
cities is performed, when it is done at all, and then learns

Garden and Forest.

179

by reading this manual how carefully and systematically
the work is done in France. Tree-planting in Paris is done
by studiously considered and intelligent rule. The amount
of soil and its quality for each tree is established, the par-
ticular variety of tree is selected with reference to the width
of the streets and the height of buildings, and every pre-
caution is taken to insure success by the selection of
healthy, carefully pruned individuals, which are planted in
the most thorough way, by protecting them from injury and
by providing them, by an elaborate system of underground
pipes, with a sufficient and regular supply of moisture. As
a rule, in this country, any tree, however crooked, ungainly
or defective, is good enough to plant in our streets and
public parks, and the operation of securing shade for our
city streets usually stops after the tree has been thrust into
a hole, as often dug in masons’ débris as in good soil, until
the time comes, a few years later, when the professional
tree-butcher or the lineman of some wire company comes
along and disfigures it for life. In Paris, however, good
trees are considered of sufficient importance to authorize
the expenditure of time and money to secure them. From
the official figures of the Department of Public Works of
the city of Paris it appears that the cost of planting a street-
tree sometimes amounts to 215 francs and 25 centimes, or,
roughly, from $40.00 to $50.00. This includes the cost of
the tree, which is put at only $1.00, the digging of a suita-
ble hole and filling it with good soil, the drain-pipes, tree-
protectors and an open iron grille which allows air and
water from the sidewalk to reach the roots. Where the
soil, however, does not require renewal and the grille and
drainage-pipes are omitted, the cost of the planted tree is
usually not more than $2.50.

Professor Chargueraud recommends that city trees should
be planted in a continuous strip of soil not less than twelve
feet wide and three feet deep, although he acknowledges
that in Paris, in order to save expense, planting spaces are
sometimes reduced to a width of nine feet. Where isolated
trees are planted he recommends pits at least twelve feet
square and four or five feet deep.

In Paris, in spite of all the care which is bestowed upon
street-trees, the average period they remain in good condi-
tion does not exceed forty to forty-five years, so that of the
hundred thousand trees which form the street plantations
of the city two thousand are renewed annually, although
Professor Chargueraud believes that if the best possible
care is given them they can be made to continue in a
healthy condition for a much longer period.

Minute directions are given in this manual for all the
operations connected with the selection and care of city
trees. It contains an account of the insects which are
specially destructive to them and a descriptive list of the
trees which have proved most useful in the streets of Paris,
a second part of the work being devoted to discussing the
problems relative to plantations along rural highways.
The book is illustrated with three hundred and thirty-three
engravings, which explain the text in an admirable manner.
A large part of this volume ought to be translated and pub-
lished in this country, with its illustrations, for the benefit
of park commissioners, park superintendents, the mayors
of cities, and other city and town officers whose duty it is
to provide American streets with trees. They will find in
it, we feel sure, much that is new to them; it will show
them, too, that a good tree cannot be obtained without an
expenditure of considerable money and without intelligence
and technical training. As a people we spend millions on
park roads, boulevards and parkways, doing this work as
well as it is done anywhere, and then scrimp on the cost
and care of the trees which are their chief ornament and
alone make them desirable and valuable additions to
urban equipment.

Notes.

The third part of Dr. Bretschneider’s learned Dotanicon
Sinicum, published by Kelly & Walsh, of Shanghai, has ap-
peared. It is devoted to botanical investigations into the
materia medica of the ancient Chinese.

180

During the last fiscal year about $130,000 worth of plants,
trees and shrubs were exported from this country, while the
plants, trees and vines imported as nursery stock amounted in
value to $632,500,

The mild winter and early spring in California have hurried
the fruit-trees into blossom so that orchards and vineyards
were considerably in advance of what they usually are at this
season, when for three successive nights the mercury fell
below the freezing point, an almost unparalleled temperature
at this season. Of course, in certain sections this will injure the
grape crop, the early cherries, peaches, prunes, apricots and
other fruits, but it is hardly safe to trust the dispatches which
state that half of the grape crop is ruined. It is interesting to
know that fires and smudges which were kindled in many
places proved an effectual protection against the frost. Here
is a problem for experimenters. It would seem that the re-
sources of modern science ought to be able to warn and pro-
tect the tillers of the soil against forces which, if unchecked,
bring such overwhelming disaster.

On last Monday the choicest Hoffman strawberries, large
and richly colored, cost forty cents a quart, and good fruit
could be had for twenty-five cents, andeven less. Handsome
Acme pears of immense size are still offered in the high-class
fruit stores and cost twenty-five cents each. The last speci-
mens of Winter Nelis cost seventy-five cents to $1.50 a dozen,
and Easter Beurres command $1.50 to $2.00. P. Barry will
follow these sorts and continue until summer pears are on the
market. Besides the usual sales, these pears are in especial
demand for baskets sent to voyagers leaving on ocean steam-
ships. Almeria grapes cost seventy-five cents a pound, and
well-ripened but small berried Black Hamburgs, from com-
mercial graperies in Newport, Rhode Island, bring $4.00 a
pound. The latter have been offered in limited quantities for
three weeks, but the season is later than usual on account of
the dull weather of February and March, Navel oranges from
California cost fifty cents to $1.00 a dozen, and Rodi oranges,
the celebrated Mediterranean summer fruit, are already here.
Sapodillas, from Cuba and from Mexico, are in considerable
demand, one down-town dealer having promptly sold 500 of
these fruits at forty cents a dozen. Souari nuts, from Vene-
zuela, are still occasionally seen, and cost thirty cents a
dozen.

Instruction as to methods of propagating and cultivating the
American Persimmon, with suggestions for its improvement,
forms the subject of a bulletin just issued by the Indiana
Experiment Station. Although there are many excellent varie-
ties of this fruit growing wild, it has been much neglected.
One reason for this neglect is that the fruit of some trees,
even when thoroughly ripe, never loses the peculiar astringent
property which the green fruit always contains. Another is
that when cultivation has been attempted from seedlings or
suckers the plants usually died or produced inferior fruit, or were
infertile, and even if by chance a good variety was secured, a
long time always elapsed before the trees came into bearing.
But new methods of propagation have been introduced,
so that trees can be brought into bearing in from three to
five years from the bud or graft, and henceforward we
may expect a reasonably rapid improvement in this fruit,
not only by cross-fertilization, but by selection. We have
often called attention to the fact that there are Persimmons in
Japan with fruit as large as that of the market varieties grown
in Florida and southern California, and which thrive at
home in a climate as trying as that of New England. It cer-
tainly would seem worth while for our experiment stations to
hybridize our native plants with some of the hardier strains of
the Asiatic species.

In his address at the Arbor Day forestry meeting in Phila-
delphia, Mr. B. E. Fernow called the attention of the citizens
of that city to the interesting fact that for seventy years they
had been in possession of a forest reservation 13,000 acres in
extent, which might furnish a field for study and practice for
Philadelphians who are interested in forestry problems. The
tract mentioned lies in Centre County and was given to the
city of Philadelphia by Dr. Elias Boudinot, President of the
First Continental Congress, as a trust fund, the income of
which he directed to be applied to supply fuel to poor per-
sons in the city of Philadelphia at cost prices. The property
originally contained some of the best timber in the state of
Pennsylvania, but being difficult of access and far from mar-
ket it received little attention from the city authorities until early
in the sixties, whena portion of the timber was cut under leases,
but a much greater portion was stolen, destroyed by fire or lost
through conflicting titles. Mr. George E, Kirkpatrick, Superin-

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 427.

tendent of the Minor City Trusts of Philadelphia, in reply to an
inquiry, has kindly furnished us with some of these facts, and
he adds that the work of reforestation was begun in 1888 and
has been continued to as great an extent as the limited means
at the disposal of the commission will permit. The Chestnut
and Oak which sprang up to take the place of the Pine and
Hemlock have been retarded, of course, by frequent fires, but
the land has been leased to a gunning and fishing club and the
rental received assists in paying the expenses of protection
against fire and trespass. The property is admirably situated
for a game preserve, having a frontal of thirteen miles on the
Susquehanna, being mainly rough hill land, far from settle-
ments, containing within its limits many trout streams and
naturally stocked with deer, bear and pheasants.

Asparagus is now coming from South Carolina, Maryland,
Delaware and New Jersey in heavy long white stalks and the
more slender green shoots, the best costing forty-five to fifty-
five cents a bunch. New yellow crook-neck squashes, from
Florida, cost ten cents each. Okra, from Cuba, small and
fresh-looking, may be had for ten cents a dozen. French arti-
chokes, from California and from New Orleans, are plentiful
at fifteen cents each, the larger ones from France costing
twenty-five cents. Showy white celery, from California, costs
thirteen cents a stalk, that from Florida being a little lower
in price, and now mainly sold for use in salads. The best
table celery is that just beginning to come from Bermuda, and
costs twenty cents a stalk. Bermuda onions are in abundant
supply, 30,000 crates having been landed from the last steamer,
together with 300 barrels of potatoes. The latter are becoming
scarce, and command as much as $8.00 to $10.00 a _ barrel
wholesale, seventy-five cents a half-peck being the retail price.
Havana potatoes, at sixty cents a half-peck, are in favor, and
many buyers prefer them for their mealy quality to those from
Bermuda. New potatoesare also coming from Florida, the price
for well-graded stock being $6.00 to $8.00 a barrel to wholesale
dealers. Large plants of Romaine lettuce, from the south,
cost twenty cents each, and tender field or corn salad fifteen
cents a quart. Mint, taragon, chervil, tansy, and waldmeister,
the popular green used by Germans in making their May
drink, are all seen in the retail markets. The dependence for
cucumbers and tomatoes at present is on the northern hot-
house product, the former costing twenty cents each, and the
latter forty cents a pound. Firm white heads of Dutch cab-
bage and new southern cabbage cost ten to fifteen cents each.
Other vegetables now noted in most collections are celeriac,
salsify, kohl rabi, new turnips, leeks, peas, string beans and

peppers.

A bulletin from the Oregon Experiment Station states that
prunes are now the favorite orchard crop in Oregon, where
the trees are sure to bear; no adverse climatic conditions need
to be overcome, the finished product is not perishable, and the
danger from insects and fungi are not so serious as with other
fruits. The trees suffer from some pests, but these are noth-
ing to compare with the codlin moth in the case of the Apple
and Pear, and until the curculio and black-knot come from the
east it can be said that the Prunes in Oregon are free from
disease. The Italian Prune, also called the Fellenburg or Ger-
man Prune, a dark purple fruit with a heavy bluish bloom, is
the favorite in Oregon, and it is superior in quality and size
and productiveness to any other Prune as grown there, It is
larger when dried than the French prune, and its acid flavor
is more agreeable to the taste of most people. The French
or, as it is known in Oregon, the Petite Prune is a general
favorite in the commercial world and among fruit growers
where it thrives. As grown in Oregon it is medium-sized to
small, violet-purple, with a bright bloom, sweet and rich, with
a large proportion of solids and sugar, so that it shrinks less in
drying than other varieties. The lack of acid, however, gives
it an insipid flavor and renders it almost worthless when fresh,
It does well only on light dry soil and in a warm dry climate,
and these conditions are only found in Oregon in the Umpqua
and Rogue River valleys. The Silver prune, a light yellow
fruit and firm, juicy, sugary flesh when properly dried, is as
good as any prune in size and flavor, but since the public
demands that a white prune shall be sulphured the quality is
somewhat injured by the process, and in some markets a
prejudice is created against it. The Reine Claude will never
be a great commercial fruit, but asa fancy product it is unsur-
passed, being in quality equal to the best raisins or figs. A
few other varieties are sparingly cultivated. Steam in pipes
seems to furnish the most efficient and economical heat for
drying the fruit, especially in large establishments, and those
who contemplate building evaporators are advised to prepare
for steam-heat.

May 6, 1896.]

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrick: Trisung Burtpinc, New York,

Conducted by . «. . - ~. + « « « « « Professor C. S. SaRGent.

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MAY 6, 18096.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

EprroriaL ArticLes —The Need of an Efficient Park Service...........-
Proposed Forest Reserve in Minnesota......-...--.

Clematis paniculata in a Wild Garden. (With figure.)..
mMherlannins OLthe PAlMEttOSs accesses vicsenctcasese :
ForEIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter

-Henry Trimble, 182
see. W. Watson. 183

BAN TEIN ODESie cele eteieticte prea claisiee “cists se maysisieecie'tisiccist Siecle dacs sce he ae cic=s 184
CutturaL Department :—Vegetable Garden Notes ~W.N. Craig. 184
Seasonable Work sccssiescccisisiscccis: tcselnisinceetpess W. H. Taplin. 186
Sprinpslowenln pe Plants ere vcmcsiicclecisleisiesisieie's sieve -...E. O. Orpet. 187
lower Garden Notes\sadscsc cis ssevies scesin seas T. D. Hatfield. 187
Helleborus orientalis, Anemone ranunculoides ..............2...M. % R. 188

diviecdisieals-steie's R. Cameron. 188
.--L R. Fones. 188

Pitcairnia..........-.- bette eee e eter eee neces
CorresPoNDENCE :—Potato Blight.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS ...0.0sceccccscccccccs ccs cee tv erecenceccscseecenerenenenes 189
NOTES. .0- 2 cesses cece escent ee seee ee teseeeeetenceetee: cneetees sete eneeeeceeee 190
ItLusrraTion :—Clematis paniculata in a Wild Garden, at Westbrook, Long

MSL ET peaks re 0 etre are ioraintne winfaieateica'e/olnia.e vila pm wiatnlnlaynsieia cr afajausa(ars'(a'steis(s'< </6 185

The Need of an Efficient Park Service.

O matter how carefully a park may be designed or
how completely it provides for the wants of all
classes of the community, it must fail, of course, to
serve its highest purpose unless the details of the plan are
intelligently carried out. Skill in construction and mainte-
nance is just as essential as sound common sense, cre-
ative faculty and refinement of taste in the design.
In works of any magnitude it is impossible for the
designer to do more than give general directions to the
men in charge of the different branches of construction,
and he must trust to their knowledge to interpret sympa-
thetically the maps and drawings and other data furnished
for their guidance. This is equally true as regards main-
tenance after the work of original construction has been
accomplished. In a large system of parks like that of
Boston or New York it is not possible for the superinten-
dent to do more than pay a hurried visit to some of them
once a week. A head foreman in charge of a park
of considerable size can at the best spend but a small part
of any day with each of the gangs of laborers under
him. It is, therefore, plain that unless every foreman, be-
sides the ability to manage men, has a thorough knowledge
of every detail of the work going on under his control,
there is no assurance that the park is growing along the
lines marked out by its creator. Indeed, it is certain that
his plan will be marred and his purpose defeated.

Of course, there must be an organized body of skilled
gardeners in every park—men who know how to plant and
prune, who have a knowledge of the essential laws of
plant growth, who are familiar with the ways and habits of
different species of trees and shrubs and herbs, so that the
place that each one is to fill is understood. In some Euro-
pean countries it is not difficult to secure trained gardeners,
but every one who has an estate to manage here knows
how difficult it is to find them. It may be doubted whether
any park in a city of considerable extent in the United
States is adequately equipped in this line. But, besides
gardening proper, there is much park work, such as
repairing walks and roads, working among trees and
shrubs, grading and sodding and matters of that sort,
which requires a familiarity and skill in their details, and

Garden and Forest.

181

this skill only comes from long practice under careful su-
pervision. Efficient park officers, from the superintendent
down, and an organized corps of workmen who can be
trusted always to do the right thing at just the right time are
plainly essential to the proper maintenance of any park
which has a design to grow up to and well-considered
plans for making its charms most easily available to
visitors.

Let us suppose that this truth had been realized by the
commissioners who controlled and managed the New York
parks thirty years ago, and had been held steadily in
view by their successors. They would not only have
always had a competent landscape architect and a general
superintendent of executive force, adequate training and
experience in his profession and a sympathetic appre-
ciation of the artistic side of the work, but by a system of
selection and promotion among the subordinates they
would have had at disposal a thinking machine prepared
to set itself to work at any moment and ready to meet any
emergency. The history of the parks here, however, and
it is paralleled, no doubt, by like experience in other cities,
shows that they have been under the control of an ever-
changing board of commissioners, most of whom have had
little intelligent interest in parks or park management.
Instead of clothing the superior officers with power and
then holding them responsible for their subordinates, it has
been the practice of the commissioners to look with jealousy
on every exercise of independent authority by these officers
as a mutiny against the supreme power of the board.
Until very recent times the great bulk of the force has been
selected by the political chieftains in the different wards,
and too often the men, as soon as they had become suffi-
ciently experienced to be useful, have been replaced by
others who had no training whatever. All these facts are
so well known that they sound like a tale of little meaning,
but when we think of the square miles of park property
owned by this city from Pelham Bay to the Battery and
realize how its possible value can be depreciated by falling
into unskilled hands, the subject of securing efficient park
service is certainly worth the attention of the public-spirited
people of the city.

A few days ago a visitor to one of the most beautiful and
picturesque of our new and undeveloped parks noticed a
gang of men turned loose by the wayside and pruning
shrubbery with brush hooks. Not far from this was a
blazing bonfire under a group of young Hemlocks. One
slight puff of wind might have carried the flames into the
dry foliage, and even if the wind did not come the heat
from the fire would in a few moments have destroyed a
dozen trees. Fortunately, there was authority at hand to
arrest the progress of the flames at once, and on inquiry it
was learned that this portion of the park was in charge of
a new and highly recommended foreman who, on his own
responsibility, was “clearing up things” in this wild
fashion. It is stated, too, on authority that in all the force
there is not a sufficient number of skilled foremen to
place in independent charge of the different parks to carry
on the ordinary spring work which must be done every year.
One result of this lack of persistent and intelligent care is
that there are parts of Central Park where the plantations
already seem past their prime.

May we not hope that when the long-prayed-for millen-
nium of municipal reform arrives every member of the force
of our city parks, from the executive head down, will know
just what ought to be done and how to do it, and that park
commissioners will allow their employees to vote as they
please, but will hold each man to rigid account for the
special work he is selected to do.

Arter the almost unparalleled destruction of property
and of life by forest fires in Minnesota less than two years
ago it is hardly to be wondered at that the new law against
these fires in that state is the most effective of all that have
been enacted in the various states of the Union. But the
advocates of sound forest policy in Minnesota have

182

not rested here, they are making a determined move
toward acquiring, in the name of the, state, a large area on
which it is proposed to restore and preserve the forest. We
have received a circular containing a synopsis of the plan
proposed by Mr. Judson N. Cross, of Minneapolis, at the
meeting of the Forestry Association of Minnesota, held in
January of this year,and since the plan is novel and has
far-reaching possibilities, all persons to whom the circular
is sent are requested to. express their opinions as to the
details and to send any recommendations for changes,
together with reasons for the same, to the Secretary of the
Association, Mr. J. O. Barrett, Brown’s Valley, Minne-
sota.

The plan is essentially this: (1) The Legislature is to
constitute state, county and town boards of forestry. For
the sake of economy the town board of supervisors willact
as a town forestry board, the county commissioners will
constitute the county forestry boards, and the state forestry
board of nine members is made up of the State Land Com-
missioner, the Professor of Botany in the Agricultural Depart-
ment of the State University, the chief officer of the Climate
and Crop Service of the United States Weather Bureau in
Minnesota, and one member appointed by each of the fol-
lowing associations, namely, the State Forestry Associa-
tion, Farmers’ Institute, the Board of Regents of the
University, the State Lumbermen’s Association, the Board
of Public Health and the Fish and Game Commissioners.
These are to serve without pay, except for actual expenses,
and an executive committee of three is to be selected by
the entire board. (2) Owners of Pine lands which have
been lumbered over and other lands, especially if they are
rocky, rough or sandy, and will probably not be utilized
for agricultural purposes for some years, may deed that
land to the state when this course is recommended by the
town and county forestry boards. This land is deeded for
forestry purposes only, all rights in minerals, coal, oil, etc.,
being reserved. Land so deeded shall be exempt from
taxes, because it is dedicated to public use. (3) This land
shall be called the Reserved Forest Area, and it shall be
under the charge of the State Forestry Board, who is to
care for it as the Legislature may direct. (4) Of the future
income to be derived from such lands, one-third shall go
to the state to reimburse it and the towns and counties for
care and protection and loss of taxes, one-third to the per-
son deeding the land and his heirs for a period of, say, one
hundred years, after which it is to go to some institution,
the other one-third to go to some designated institution or
the State University. (5) The state shall have full power
to lease low meadow tracts where such are needed as_pro-
tection against fire, or for pasture where this will not inter-
fere with the growth ofthe forest-trees. Itshall have power
also to sell dead and down timber, which it is supposed when
the adjoining lands are settled up will bring in a large
income, and generally the state is to have full power of
control, even the power of alienation of certain tracts when
recommended by the State Board of Forestry in such
cases, for example, as where the growth of towns, the
building of railroads, water-power, etc., may necessitate
such alienation.

Of course, this is the merest outline of the scheme, and
we have omitted many of the details given in the circular.
We call attention to it, however, as a step forward, that the
great prairie states, as well as New York and those in the mid-
dle Appalachian region, are taking serious thought ofsecuring
and maintaining large areas in permanent forest. Experi-
ence in Europe and in India has demonstrated that such
areas owned by the commonwealth will prove a source of
revenue if properly managed. Besides, they will furnish
examples which private forest-owners will be eager to fol-
low. More than all, a community which is sufficiently
far-sighted to take such action will see to it thatthe heights
and slopes which are the sources of water-supply to the
valleys below are kept covered forever as the only se-
curity against those disasters which the reckless destruction
of forests on highland or lowland has invariably brought.

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 428.

Clematis paniculata in a Wild Garden.

OME time ago it was suggested in these columns that
Clematis paniculata would be an admirable plant for
use where it could clamber over wayside shrubbery, after
the fashion of our native Clematis Virginiana, which never
shows to such good advantage as it does when festooning
a fence stake, or brightening with its flowers the dark
foliage of the Viburnums or Dogwoods which supportit. No
doubt, this thought was suggested by having seen the vine
making itself at home in the thickets on the borders of a
pond in Westbrook, the estate of W. Bayard Cutting, Esq.,
on the shores of the Great South Bay, Long Island. But it
was the Rhododendron season then, and one could only
imagine what it would look like in September. “On page
185 of this issue, however, is a picture of a portion of
the border of one of the Westbrook ponds, taken when
the Clematis was in bloom, and it shows the great abun-
dance of its lowers and the graceful way in which it adapts
itself to the spirit of the scene. A mass of Rhododendrons
would become tiresome if they bloomed all summer, and
the snowy glitter of these Clematis flowers would be
oppressive if they opened in spring and continued until
autumn, But, after all the shrubs have done flowering, this
sudden burst of bloom in early autumn is singularly effec-
tive, and the cluster of gray feathers attached to the ripened
seed later on are in perfect accord with the autumn colors
of the foliage which accompany them.

These shores at Westbrook furnish many suggestions
for a wild garden, by which we do not mean a garden
left to run wild, but one planted and tended so as to
give that appearance of untamed luxuriance, of careless
and unstudied grace which suggests perfect freedom.
Myricas and Dwarf Willows, Clethras and Iexes, Beach
Plums and Dogwoods and other shrubs native here
unite to form that diversity and intricacy of growth, that
mystery of shadow, that air of negligence or wayward-
ness which belongs to the wildwood and gives no hint
of ‘dressed grounds.” The coarser and more aggres-
sive species are watched and restrained, however, from
oppressing and crowding out the more fragile and deli-
cate kinds, and the picture shows that tall reeds and
grasses have been introduced, and these against a back-
ground of soft masses of Pine leaves help to complete a
very perfect picture. A little way back from the pond there
is a secluded walk now approaching close to the shore and
again receding from it and broadening out into a space for
a rustic seat, where glimpses of the water can be caught
through the dense leaves. Of course, the native shrubs
that have been named, with many more, naturally form the
great mass of the vegetation on the shore, forthe world can
furnish nothing more suitable and beautiful. But this Japa-
nese Clematis is only one of the exotics which help to give
variety to the picture. It is proved here that many of the
wild single Roses of other lands, like Rosa Wichuraiana and
R. multiflora, are adapted to this unconventional life as
thoroughly as the Roses of our own swamps, and yellow
Irises from Europe seem quite as happy amid these wild
surroundings as our native Blue Flag. All this is art, but
it is the art which conceals art. To create such a scene
requires patience, a knowledge of plants and the prophetic
eye of taste; but, after all, studies of this sort furnish one
of the most satisfying diversions for the owners of country
estates. There are many other places than the borders of
ponds which are adapted to wild gardens of a type similar
to the one figured here, but water, still or flowing, gives a
distinct advantage in many ways, especially in the light
and openness it secures and in the reflected pictures, broken
or perfect, which it adds to the scene.

The Tannins of the Palmettos.

N the many accounts of the uses to which the southern
Palmettos are applied the reader is frequently left in
ignorance as to whether the Scrub Palm, Serenoa serrulata,

ie wi

May 6, 1896.]

or the Cabbage Palm, S. Palmetto, is intended. For in-
formation concerning the former, the papers by Dr. J. B.
Read (American Journal of Pharmacy, 1879, page 169) and
by Rusby, Bastedo and Coblentz (Aldwmni Journal of the
College of Pharmacy of New Fork, 1895, page 169) may be
consulted.

The Cabbage Palm has not been written about so much,
nevertheless it is used extensively in a variety of ways;
the Cabbage is a valuable article of food, and the wood is
employed in constructing wharves and other works where
a wood is needed to withstand the attacks of the teredo.
Both Palms are used in the manufacture of brushes, brooms,
etc., in which their fibre is available. One of the exhibits
in the Agricultural Building of the recent Cotton States
Exposition at Atlanta was composed entirely of products
manufactured from the two Palmettos.

The reports which have circulated in regard to the tanning
value of the Palmetto have, no doubt, always referred to
the Scrub Palm, and excellent leather has been and is made
from it. A recent sample yielded the following percent-
ages on analysis :

Ash in absolutely ‘Tannin in abso-

Moisture. dry material. lutely dry material.
Stem, above ground, 8.56 5.68 5.48
Root, 7 46 4.43 7.58

The stem examined was from above ground, and the root
was a Section of that part proper, and not of the under-
ground stem.

The tannin is associated in the plant with a large pro-
portion of red coloring matter, which has a tendency to
make a dark leather. When finally separated the pure
tannin gave reactions with iron salts and with bromine
water, which indicated its close relationship with that from
Oak bark. An ultimate analysis confirmed this by yielding
the following percentages :

Carbon, 61.22
Hydrogen, 4.85
Oxygen, 33-93

100.00

Something over a year ago a tanning extract made from
the Scrub Palm appeared in the northern markets under the
name of “syrup of tannin,” but, as it contained a consider-

“able quantity of the red coloring and not over seven per
cent. of tannin, it did not find purchasers. Dr. Charles
Mohr is authority for the statement that this extract indus-
try has been abandoned. If a high-grade extract were
offered at a reasonable price, there is no doubt but tanners
could be found who would use it.

The question has often arisen about the tanning value of
the Cabbage Palm, and recently, through the courtesy of
Dr. J. H. Mellichamp, of Bluffton, South Carolina, two
specimens have been received and examined. One wasa
section from a medium-sized tree five feet from the ground,
and the other a section of the same tree a few inches below
the sheaths of the living leaves near the top. On analysis
they yielded the following percentages :

Ash in absolutely Tannin in abso-

Moisture. dry material. lutely dry material.
Section near ground, 10.04 7.80 1.79
rm “top, . 8.35 378 1 54

The section near the top, being more porous, dried out
more rapidly in transit, and, therefore, yielded less moisture.
The tannin percentages indicate that this species is not
likely to ever have any value asa tanning agent. Someof
the cortex was separated from the lower section, and it was
found to contain just about the same percentage of tannin
as the whole section.

The credit has frequently been given to tannin for en-
abling the wood of this Palm to withstand the attacks of
the teredo when placed under water, but it is evident, from
the foregoing figures, that this property must be attributed

to something else.
College of Pharmacy; Philadelphia, Pa, Flenry Trimble.

Garden and Forest.

Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.

Frora or SoutH Arrica.—Botanists and horticulturists
interested in south African plants will be gratified to know
that the Systematic Flora of that region, commenced in
1860 by Harvey and Sonder, but completed only as far as
the order Campanulacee, is being carried to a conclusion
at Kew under the direction of Mr. Thiselton Dyer. Part 1
of vol. vi. has just been published. Price, seven shillings
and sixpence. The volume, of which this is the first install-
ment, will be of more than ordinary interest, as it will
include the whole of the plants familiarly known as ‘‘Cape
Bulbs,” which have been popular in gardens for a century
or more. We owe to south Africa more beautiful garden
bulbous plants than to all the rest of the world put together.
Thus of Irideze alone, of which there are between 700 and
800 species, about one-half of them are natives of south
Africa. These occupy over 160 pages of the publication
under notice, which has been entirely elaborated by Mr.
J. G. Baker, who has long been the accepted authority on
this and allied orders. Among the larger genera included
are Gladiolus, 81 species; Morzea, 45 ; Babiana, 26; Tri-
tonia, 32; Ixia, 23; Lapeyrousia, 24; Watsonia, 15. The
descriptions are in English. The work is published by L.
Reeve & Co., under the authority of the Governments of
the Cape and Natal.

Tue JournaL of THE Roya HorticuLturaL Society for
March contains several papers of exceptional interest. Mr.
Francis Darwin has a paper on ‘“‘Etiolation as a Phenome-
non of Adaptation,” in which the occurrence of white or
bleached leaves or flowers in various plants is commented
upon. Mr. Freeman-Mitford’s valuable paper on hardy
Bamboos will serve as a guide to the cultivation and an
authority upon the nomenclature of these plants to those
who do not possess his beautifully illustrated book upon
them. Mr. A. W. Sutton contributes an account of the
Potato from its introduction to its present development.
His grafting experiments with the Potato and Tomato go
to show that neither stock nor scion was affected by the
union. Mr. Sutton is in a position to speak with authority
upon the best varieties of the Potato as grown here now.
Dr. Masters’ paper on substitutes for Larch, which in the
British islands is too often ruined by fungoid diseases, will
be useful to foresters. The results of various trials at Chis-
wick among vegetables and flowers are given in better
style in this number than before.

APPLES AND Pears. —It is difficult for the would-be planter
of only good sorts to make a selection from the hundreds
that are grown and catalogued by dealers in fruit-trees.
With a view to the formation of a definite list of the best
varieties the Royal Horticultural Society offer this year
special prizes for the best-flavored apples and pears. Six
fruits of each variety must be shown, the judges to cut any
three of them. The fruits must be grown out-of-doors and
the place, conditions as to soil, etc., stated. If grafted the
name of the stock must be given. The judges will allot
points to quality, appearance and size as well as to flavor.
Enormous specimens will not be preferred, as beyond a
certain point size becomes a defect. A prize of ten shillings
will be awarded to each apple. By this means it is hoped
that an authoritative list of apples and pears of first-rate
quality will be obtained. At present we are too much at
the mercy of the dealer who supplies sorts which are said
to be excellent, but which are too often worthless. Of
course, the conditions under which the tree is grown are
an important factor. I have in my garden trees that are
generally admitted to be good, but which have never yet
borne good fruit. [This subject was discussed on p. 161
of this volume.—Ep. |

Streprocarrt.—The success of Messrs. Veitch & Sons in
crossing and improving these plants has been marked, and
this year they have some striking new seedlings. The
monophyllous species, such as Streptocarpus Dunnii and S.

184

Wendlandii, are remarkable for their numerous flowers and
bright colors, but they are unpopular with cultivators be-
cause of their ungainly leaves. The hybrids between
these and the multi-leaved species, such as S. Rexii and S.
Galpini, have several leaves, but they also are more or less
one-sided. Three years ago Kew introduced a species
with numerous large leaves and many-flowered scapes,
known as 8S. Fanninii. This was crossed with other sorts,
and from the hybrids thus obtained Messrs. Veitch have
bred some most promising seedlings. It is impossible to
say how far breeders may go with these plants. Already
we have great variety of color, size and quantity of bloom,
but it is evident that there are still better results within
reach. The plants are very easily managed ; they may be
had in flower at any time of year, and their flowers are
useful in various ways. Messrs. Veitch grow them by
thousands planted out in frames facing south and heated
to the temperature of an ordinary greenhouse. In the
spring they are lifted and potted up te flower.

Hipreastrums.—These plants continue to occupy the atten-
tion of skillful cultivators and breeders, but I question if
much improvement has been made in them in recent years.
Certain changes in form, size or color blending have been
made, but the flowers are often what may be justly termed
inartistic, notwithstanding the satisfaction of the breeder
when he produces a flower with broader segments or more
fantastic colors. Itis easy to carry these so-called improve-
ments too far, as witness the dumpiness and total lack of
elegance in the Chinese Primrose and Cineraria as now
admired by fanciers. The Camellia was spoiltin the same
way, so that we have gone back to the once despised sin-
gles and semidoubles. In my opinion, Hippeastrums
may be too large in flower, and they may also be too for-
malin shape. I have lately seen new varieties valued at
ten and even twenty guineas, which, although perhaps
coming nearest the ideal of the florist, were less pleasing to
the layman than varieties valued at as many shillings.
Color improvement is after all the principal desideratum in
the Hippeastrum ; its original form is good enough. Several
amateurs are now working with a view to better color,
among them being the Right Honorable Joseph Chamber-
lain, M.P.

Carapiums.—These plants have grown in popularity in
recent years. This is, no doubt, due to the improved varie-
ties raised, chiefly, I believe, in France and Belgium, and
also to their being wonderfully well grown by the two
nursery firms which make a specialty of them, namely,
Messrs. J. Laing & Sons, Forest Hill, and Messrs. J. Veitch
& Sons, Chelsea. I saw a large houseful of them in the
latter placea few days ago. The plants were in twelve-
inch pots and were simply great globose masses of large,
richly colored leaves of the most varied hues. Among the
best of them were some new seedlings raised by the late Mr.
C. F, Bause, one of the most skillful of breeders in England.
These seedlings are remarkable for brilliancy of color and
dwarfness of habit. They are named Her Majesty, Lady
Mosley, L. Bause, Sir Henry Irving, etc. There are eleven
of them altogether, and I see they are offered by Messrs.
Veitch at prices varying from halfa guineatoa guinea. Is
it generally known that Caladiums are excellent plants for
the tropical aquarium? Planted in a bed of mud, or in pots
partially submerged in a tank of warm water they grow
vigorously and color superbly.

DarropILs are now by far the most popular of all spring-
flowering bulbous plants. Our public gardens are painted
yellow with them, lawns as well as flower-beds being dec-
orated with their flowers. New sorts are appearing almost
weekly, and several specialists are devoting their gardens
wholly to the cross-breeding of Daffodils. A conference
and exhibition of Daffodils was held this week in the gar-
dens of the Royal Botanic Society, Regents Park. Mr.
Baker, F.R.S., presided, and addresses were given or
papers read by such well-known authorities as Mr. F. W.
Burbidge, M.A., Mr. W. Robinson and the Rev. S. Bourne.
Magnificent collections of the flowers came from Messrs.

Garden and F Grest.

[NuMBER 428.

P. Barr & Sons, the leading growers of Daffodils among
nurserymen, Mr. T. Ware, Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons, and
numerous amateur growers. Cups and medals were
awarded for new varieties. Mr. Baker, in opening the con-
ference, spoke of the enormous increase in the popularity
of the Daffodil within the last twenty years, due, no doubt,
largely to the fact that it was a democratic flower, respond-
ing to the attention of growers of the most limited means
and yielding freely its flowers, which in form and color
were artistic and pleasing. ‘The reign of the Daffodil is

assured.
London. W. Watson.

Plant Notes.

ACER CissiroLium.—This Japanese Negundo has been
fruiting in this country for many years, and we have in-
vited attention to it in every volume of GarDEN AnD Forest,
and yet in half a dozen catalogues of the leading nurseries
of the country, which we have just examined, we do not
find it offered for sale. We may add that the same is true
of other trees and shrubs whose merits have been proved
long ago in the Arnold Arboretum and made known again
and again in these columns. This Box Elder is beautiful
at all seasons, and being somewhat formal in habit and
comparatively small, it is one of the limited number of
desirable trees for planting as single specimens on a lawn.
It is a compact round-headed tree with a gray trunk, slen-
der, light green leaves in summer, which turn to brilliant
orange and red late in autumn. The young shoots have a
habit of growing and producing new leaves all summer, or,
at least, long after other trees have finished their yearly
growth; and these young leaves at the extremity of the
branches, showing the delicate shades of red and pink
which characterize spring foliage, give a peculiar sprightli-
ness to the general expression of the tree. It grows rapidly
and is more hardy than the Japanese Maples, which are
varieties of Acer Japonicum and A. palmatum.

AnpromEDA Japonica.—Recent English horticultural papers
speak of the beauty of this shrub as exhibited at the spring
flower shows, and a correspondent of Ze Garden writes of
great masses of it in flower at the Knap Hill Nurseries of
Mr. Anthony Waterer and of a fine group of it by the Palm-
house lake at Kew. In vol. vi. of GARDEN anpD Forest, page
254, Professor Sargent writes that the plant is a tree in its
native home, where he had seen specimens thirty feet high
with stout well-formed trunks six or eight feet in length. In
our north-eastern states it grows rather more freely and has
a more graceful habit than our native Andromeda flori-
bunda, which is closely related to it, and when at its best,
with its broad, drooping panicles of large white bell-shaped
flowers, it is one of the most interesting of evergreen
shrubs. It cannot be trusted to bloom, however, in our
climate, although it is perfectly hardy, for the flowers open
so early that they are almost certain to be killed by cold
weather. Farthersouth, where it would flower in February,
it would certainly be a most desirable shrub.

Rosa Lawrenceana.—The Fairy Rose, as this plant is
appropriately called, is uncommon in cultivation, and
Herr Leichtlin has but recently distributed it among plant
fanciers. It is a double form of the white-flowered Rosa
Indica minima, and while it may, perhaps, not prove per-
fectly hardy in this latitude, it is well worth cultivation by
those who fancy dainty rather than big flowers. The plants
make many-branched bushes, with very small leaves and
dainty little pure white flowers less than an inch in diameter
when expanded.

Cultural Department.

Vegetable Garden Notes.

qe month of April, 1896, must go on record as one of the
most remarkable ever experienced for sudden changes of
temperature. Until the 1oth instant we were unable, owing to
cold weather, to do any outdoor work, such as seed-sowing.
A week of phenomenal heat followed, when the thermometer

185

Garden and Forest.

MAY 6, 1896.]

‘eg1 aded vas—y

Us]

T

YOOIGISAAA Ie fu

186 Garden and Boresun

recorded ninety degrees in the shade on one occasion and on
several days reached eighty or eighty-five degrees. Such
forcing weather brought things forward with a rush, and
although Peas, Onions and similar crops were sown from ten
days to a fortnight later than in 1895, they are at this time more
forward than they were a year ago. Now we are havingacold
dry spell, with trost almost nightly, and vegetation is making
slow progress. A more perfect season for seed-sowing could
not be desired. There have been but two showers so far
during this month. With warmer nights and more moisture
crops will make rapid growth. The tropical weather in the
middle of the month tempted many to plant large patches of
Sweet Corn and Beans in this locality. Each year some of
these crops are sown at this time, and they are always cut to
the ground by frost by the middle of May. Last year there was
a killing frost on May 17th, when all tender crops were de-
stroyed. In this part of New England it is not really safe to
plant out such vegetables, as Tomatoes, Peppers and Egeg-
plants, before May 20th. We preter to have good stocky
plants in cold frames until that date, and there we teel they are
safe, whereas by planting out a week earlier there is uncer-
tainty about their safety whenever the night turns chilly and
the weather-vane points north or north-east.

Our early sowings of Peas have recently been earthed upa
little and pea-brush placed among them; the ground will re-
quire frequent stirring with the hoe or cultivator to loosen the
surface and keep down weeds. An iron rake drawn over the
ground between rows of seeds when they first appear will stir
the ground nicely and destroy multitudes of almost invisible
weeds. Occasional sowings of such kinds as Stratagem,
Heroine, Champion of England and Shropshire Hero have
recently been made, the seed of these being covered more
deeply%than at our earliest sowing. Peas do much better sown
while the ground is comparatively cool, as they naturally prefer
a cool and moist climate. Later batches sown after hot dry
weather sets in never give such good returns as those planted
earlier. For sowings made after this time we choose our
moistest ground, and it is helpful to mulch between the rows
with grass or meadow hay. Mulching serves a twofold pur-
pose in keeping the ground moist and cool. Where seaweed
is obtainable it is one of the best things to use for this pur-
pose, and it is also excellent for protecting Celery kept in
trenches during the winter. A friend sent us on April 15th
some fine heads of Boston Market Celery grown on Cape Cod
and preserved in this way.

We find it risky to sow any Sweet Corn or String Beans be-
fore May toth. Sowings made much earlier have come
through all right, but the later-sown ones give better returns.
Our earliest batch of String Beans in frames is now showing
flower. A later sowing made in sashes from which Violets
were taken are in second leaf. The sashes are thrown off
these during the daytime, but it will be necessary to cover
them at night for some time. Our earliest batch of forcing
Erfurt Cauliflower is now giving some nice heads for cutting.
These and, indeed, all vegetables in frames require plenty of
water and stimulants. The ground will require occasional
stirring among Lettuce, Carrot, Beet and other crops in frames,
and weeds must be allowed no foothold. Artificial pollination
will make early Cucumber set better and swell faster. We
make our first sowing of these and of Melons in the open about
May 6th, scooping out a hollow space for the seeds, which we
cover with a sixteen by twenty-four sheet of glass. This is
kept on until the plants are well established, ventilation and
water being afforded as required. To those who do not pos-
sess hand sashes or other protecting appliances this will be
found a cheap and useful method, and the plants do decidedly
better than if started in pots or turf in heat and then trans-
planted.

Onions raised in boxes have recently been planted out in
rows eighteen inches apart, allowing six to eight inches be-
tween the plants, according to the variety. Onions do so much
better pricked out that we purpose relying on this method
exclusively in future. Not one-fourth of the seed necessary to
sow the rows is required, and, although a little time is needed
to set out the plants, it is more than counterbalanced by that
saved in thinning and weeding those treated in the regulation
way. Some persons object to large-sized onions, and where
this is the case it is best to stick to the old method. Onions
like the ground pretty well primed, but on no account should
it be allowed to become baked. The hoe must be kept con-
stantly used in the cultivation of these and all other vegetable
crops at this season, before weeds make any headway.

Our first batch of Celery was pricked off into boxes some
time ago, and is now ready to transfer to a frame, from whence
it will be planted in the open about the end of May. We have

[NumBeErR 428.

recently made a sowing of Boston Market, Giant Pascal and
Kalamazoo for a winter crop. The ground now occupied by
early Peas will be utilized for this Celery laterin the season. A
sowing of Golden Self-blanching Celery made now will give
some fine heads in the fall. This variety rusts very badly
during hot weather if not kept well watered. Sown now it will
give good solid heads until Christmas. This is a suitable time
to make sowings of Sweet and Pot Herbs, Brussels Sprouts,
Savoy and Drumhead Cabbage, Leeks and Okra. Martynia we
sow about the end of May. Successional sowings of Beet, Let-
tuce, Radish and Turnip may be made, andif Parsley has been
forgotten in the spring rush, a row of it may be sown now.
Tomatoes for the earliest outdoor crop have just been shifted
into six inch pots, and fruit will be set on these before they are
planted outside, insuring an early crop. The plants for the
main crop are now in boxes ina frame. It is better to thin or
pot off the plants if they get crowded and are in danger of be-
coming spindling. Short stiff plants are best. A long lanky
plant which needs a stake to support it before it is many inches
high cannot be expected to give satisfactory returns. Plants
now fruiting indoors require at this season an abundance of
water, and we give liquid stimulants three times a week, in
addition to scattering a handful of sheep-manure on the top of
each pot once a week. The plants require looking over at
least once in ten days, when superfluous growths, decaying
foliage and necessary tying can be attended to. Our latest
batch indoors has recently been placed in fruiting-pots, and
fruit is just commencing to set on these. These plants, with
others still bearing heavy crops, will furnish us with plenty of
tomatoes until the middle of July, after which an outdoor
supply can be relied upon until the middle of October.
W.N. Craig.

Taunton, Mass.

Seasonable Work.

flee removal of many bedding plants to outdoor frames at
this season relieves the overcrowded condition of the
greenhouse, and affords the opportunity to harden off the
plants before placing them in the open ground. The various
cool-house plants grown for this purpose, for example, Gera-
niums, Verbenas, Ageratums, Alyssum, Sedums, Phlox Drum-
mondii and many others of like hardiness, will be in better
condition if placed out ina frame before this time, and from
May tst more tender plants may also be put in similar quar-
ters. These will naturally require more care in ventilation for
the first few days, so that they may not receive any check.

This partial clearance of the greenhouse will make it possi-
ble to shift on and spread various summer-blooming plants
required for the conservatory next season. Among plants
deserving special attention in this particular none are more
prominent than the tuberous Begonias and Gloxinias, for while
tuberous Begonias are valuable as bedding plants in some
favored sections in this country, in the main they are more
satisfactory for indoor decoration. Considerable space and
light are needed for their full development, although some
protection from full sunlight is also necessary when they are
grown under glass. The young plants should be potted on
before they become badly starved, for once stunted they sel-
dom fully recover. The large-flowered garden varieties of the
tuberous Begonias are not the only ones of value to the private
grower, and well-grown specimens of Begonia Boliviensis,
B. Chelsonii, B. Weltoniensis and B. Froebelii add much to
the beauty and interest of a collection. The latter species is
particularly striking, with its boid foliage and strong spikes of
brilliant red flowers. Most of the Gloxinias should now be
ready tor their final shift to the pots in which they are to
bloom, six-inch pots being generally large enough for this
purpose. About the time these plants show bloom they will
be benefited by an occasional watering with weak liquid-
manure. Gesneraceous plants in general are shade lovers,
and Gloxinias are no exception to the rule. In watering, the
foliage should not be wet to any great extent, or the leaves
become rusty.

Various relatives of the Gloxinias also demand attention at
this season, among others Achimenes and Tydza, both genera
including many beautiful forms well adapted for conser-
vatory decoration during the summer months. Large baskets
filled with Achimenes would be a revelation of beauty to those
not familiar with them, and they are not really difficult to cul-
tivate. Thrifty young plants should be used for this purpose,
and should be planted all around a wire basket of large mesh,
the basket being lined with moss to retain the soil. Thorough
watering is required by the Achimenes while in growth, and
the basket should be hung in a partially shaded location and
not exposed to strong draughts.

May 6, 1896.]

Cyclamens for next winter will also require attention now,
and these plants should never be starved while young. Com-
paratively few growers save the old corms from one season to
the next unless it be those of some particularly fine form,
young plants being easier to manage and usually more satisfac-
tory. Rather open soil and good drainage are essentials in the
cultivation of Cyclamens, and perfectly clean pots should be
used for them. Watering should be done carefully. Frequent
light syringing is helpful during hot weather, but this should
not be done late in the afternoon, as the foliage should be kept
moderately dry at night. Plenty of fresh air and some shading
are also necessary, and a sprinkling of chopped tobacco-stems
spread among the pots will tend to discourage aphis and thrips.

Holmesburg, Pa. W. H. Taplin.

Spring-flowering Plants.

ggHe recent exceptionally warm weather has brought into
bloom most of the early spring flowers with magical
rapidity, and in a week the face of nature was transformed
from winter sere to the bloom and beauty of spring. Fortu-
nately, cooler days have followed without frosts to injure this
growth, and there is promise of a favorable spring season,
The past winter was exceptionally fatal as to plant-life, and
many of the shrubs considered hardy have been injured sadly.
Magnolia Soulangeana has all flower-buds killed, and many
other of the smaller plants of various Magnolias have been
severely killed back. I observed to-day the first flowers open
on the plant of M. Kobus (Thurberii). This plant is quite an
old one, and was presented to Dr. Thurber when it was named,
but it has not bloomed till now. It is not one of the showiest
species, but is a vigorous grower of compact habit and of
brightest green in summer. The newer M. Watsoni has been
killed to the ground. The plants were small, but were well
established last year, and, indeed, it bore flowers last spring
that were much admired, and it was considered a genuine
acquisition to the list of garden shrubs. It may possibly prove
hardy if protected in a sheltered position, and it would be of
interest to learn how it has behaved in other localities.

Pzonia corallina and P. Wittmanniana are two of the rarer
species of Peony not often seen in cultivation, and belong to
the very early-flowering type of which P. tenuifolia is the best-
known representative. Neither of the first named has flowered
here before, owing, as we thought, to tenderness of the early
shoots ; the buds were to be seen, but they did not develop
properly, but it would seem now that the failure was due to
lack of flowering strength, for, now that the clumps are well
established, they are both about to fower. Several species of
Peony are great additions to gardens when they are obtaina-
bie, but, for some reason, we do not often see them in lists,
probably owing to the greater demand for the showy garden
forms of P. herbacea, but those that flower so early in the year
have a value of their own. The flower-buds of these are now
showing color, while those of the garden forms are scarcely to
be seen above ground.

In years past we have noted the beauty of Puschkinia Liba-
notica, and each year it is among the very first to open its
blossoms in the outdoor garden, defying frost and snows, and
only waiting for a few bright days to expand its pretty flowers.
It is very similar to a Scilla, and might be easily taken for one,
but the bells are of a very pale blue, almost white, with a dis-
tinct dark blue stripe down each division of the bell-shaped
perianth. Here it is not only hardy, but seeds freely each
year, and from a half dozen bulbs first planted we have now as
many as fifty large and small. The seeds seem to grow freely
where they fall, tor they have never been collected or sown in
the regular way, but with the non-disturbance of the soil by
digging or otherwise we have quite a little colony of this pretty
spring flower.

I think, also, that for the past three or four years the pretty
Fritillaria aurea has been noted for its good ways, and the
temptation is strong to speak of it again now; itis the only one
of the Fritillaries that I know that will thrive in the outdoor
garden in this latitude. F. Meleagris will exist for years, but
not so as to give any pleasure to its possessor, and the Crown
Imperials are very uncertain in their habits, but F. aurea has
been perfectly happy here for the past three years. The color
of the flowers is a bright yellow outside, checkered with black
squares within in a very pretty fashion. It is also very easy to
increase from the number of young bulbs formed round the
older ones. The western F, pudica is also one of the prettiest
of the native Fritillaries, but is too tender for this section to do
well; it is a modest little flower with a charm all its own, but
is best grown in pots indoors in winter.

There has always lingered a suspicion as to the absolute
hardiness of the Eremuruys in an open, much exposed loca-

Garden and Forest.

187

tion, and until last fall we have always given it a protection of
straw, but by accident this was omitted last November, and
many were the doubts as to the result. When spring came
we had deep frost without snow for protection, and many
things suffered in consequence, but not so the Eremuri, for
they are coming up stronger than ever and seem to have
enjoyed the cold on the whole. The two species we have are
E. robustus and E, Himalayacus, but soon we hope to try
more of them, the difficulty being to get them in good strong
roots of the rarer kinds, the demand being apparently greater
than the supply. There need be no more doubt as to the har-
diness of these fine border plants.

A plant long known in gardens as Amaryllis Hallii here in
New England proves to be Lycoris squamigera, and under the
latter name has been recently made plentiful by importers of
bulbs from the east. As A. Hallii it has been cultivated in a
garden at New Bedford for many years, and was _ possibly
brought there by some of the trading ships that used to start
from that port, and as a hardy bulbous plant it has great merit.
It is the only really hardy member of the genus that we can
cultivate here, and there wasa doubt as to whether the bulbs
recently obtained were identical with the older ones long
known here. Iam glad to see that they have come through
the winter without any harm, with no protection whatever,
and are growing freely, though not large enough to bloom
this season ; there appears to be no doubt that we can depend
on the two being identical and within easy reach of cultivators.

South Lancaster, Mass. ym Of Or pet.

[Lycoris squamigera was originally brought from China
by Dr. George R. Hall, of Bristol, Long Island, and was
distributed as Amaryllis Hallii by the Messrs. Hovey, of
Boston. The plant was described and figured in GarpEN
AND Forest, vol. iii., p. 176.—Ep. |

Flower Garden Notes.

ZALEAS which have been forced for Easter decorations
should now have all weak shoots and premature growth
which usually accompanies the blooms cut out. The whole
plant should be evened over, and, if trained, tied into shape. If
growncontinuously in pots this is a good time to repot them.
Azaleas, however, are slow-growing plants; they do not need
shifting often, and generally, if some of the old soil is taken
away and some fresh added, the plants will continue in good
condition for two or three years, and old plants often for a
longer time. They must be repotted when thoroughly pot-
bound ; and in such cases it is advisable to chip away a quan-
tity of the old soil, leaving a rough surface about the ball of
earth so that it will easily compact with new soil. As close a
shift as possible is sufficient, so long as the new soil can be
worked in firmly between the pot and the ball. Itis better,
however, where it is possible to devote a properly prepared
piece of garden soil, to plant them out for the summer, They
do not needless care; they simply do better when the condi-
tions of success are understood. A rather tenacious loam is
best, in which abundance of well-decayed leat-soil is well com-
posted. The ball of earth should be stirred as recommended
for potting, and the new soil worked in about them quite
firmly, scarcely more than covering the top of the ball. A basin
should be left in which water will collect.

Astilbe Japonica and the newer Spirza astilboides and their
varieties, now out of bloom, may be cut up and planted out.
With two years’ growth these will be ready to force again. If
this practice is followed there should be no need of importing
roots for forcing, since as good clumps can be grown here as
in Europe.

The practice of growing Deutzia gracilis in pots isa good
one. They can be grown several years by shifting on from
small pots to ten-inch size. Beyond this size they become
unserviceable, when they can be turned into the shrubbery.
By striking afew cuttings of green shoots taken at this time it
is quite easy to keep upa succession.

Erica Caffra, var. densa, and E. melanthera, two easily forced
Heaths, may be trimmed into shape and turned out for the
summer. Heaths are usually recommended for shaded places,
but we have found these do quite well in the full sun, provid-
ing they are plentifully supplied with water.

Cytisus racemosus is now extensively used for spring decora-

tions. The long stems, clothed with graceful racemes of
fragrant yellow pea-like flowers, are effective among foliage
plants. The Cytisus is easily grown and bears hard treatment.
Such as have been in bloom may be cut back and turned out,
providing they have balls of earth, but young plants struck

this winter are better if kept in pots. Shifted along from three

188

to six inch pots they grow intoa convenient size for almost any
kind of decorative work. To some of the plants we allow only
one stem, and these make a perfect column two feet high.
Others are stopped and grow mostly into pyramidal form, and
some into compact bushes. Old bushes soon get leggy and
out of shape. C. elegans, the silver-leaved kind, is by far the
handsomest. It is generally found difficult to root. By stump-
ing an old plant in and taking stem cuttings with a heel we
have never had any difficulty in rooting it.

A few small plants of Rhodotypus kerrioides have been
blooming in a cold frame since the first of April. No doubt,
this handsome Japanese shrub would be well adapted for
forcing in the same way as Deutzias, and would be a valuable
addition to the limited number of shrubs available for this pur-
pose ; so also will the Crimson Rambler Rose. All who saw
the specimen exhibited by Mr. Jackson Dawson, of the Arnold
Arboretum, at the spring show of the Massachusetts Horticul-
tural Society were delighted with it.

Old stools of Japanese Anemones in pots are starting in cold
frames. Last spring they were repotted, and we intend to
carry them through this season with a top-dressing of rich soil
and liquid-manure later. We shall keep them in cold frames
until all danger of frost is past, as experience has shown that
they easily become blighted by even light spring frosts. Such
disfigurement will last a whole season.

Violets and Carnations will be planted out as soon as the
work can be reached. Such frost as there shall yet be will not
injure them. Of Violets we shall grow only the Farquhar
for dark blue. This Violet will entirely supersede the Marie

Louise. Itis superior in size of bloom and length of stem,
and in color itis equal. So far as tested it has proved easy to
manage.

The bulk of stock used for winter blooming in the green-
house can be planted out forthe summer. In this respect we
have the advantage of the English gardener, who must grow
many of these plants in pots under glass. Mignonette, Sweet
Alyssum and Shirley Poppies will be sown, and Stocks, Asters,
Coreopsis Drummondii, Scabious, Phlox cuspidata, Verbenas,
Marigolds, Zinnias and other useful annuals for cutting will be
planted out as soon as settled weather comes. These we
keep together. Last year we found Caryopteris mastacanthus
valuable for cutting in the autumn, as well as being a useful
plot-plant. The graceful sprays of sweet-scented lavender-

blue flowers are very effective.
Wellesley, Mass. v gong OF Hatfield.

Helleborus orienta’is,—Besides the Christmas Rose, the genus
Helleborus contains several very showy and attractive species,
known in England under the name of Lenten Roses, because
they flower during the Lenten season. With us they are some-
what later unless grown in a cool trame, when they may be
had in great profusion at Easter. The species most beautiful
as well as most varied is the not uncommon Helleborus
orientalis, which grows somewhat taller than the Christmas
Rose, producing more slender and leafy stems, each bearing
several large rose-colored flowers. As in the case of all
Hellebores, the sepals form the showy part of the flower;
they are from three-quarters of an inch to an inch long,
rounded and spreading, of a dull rosy color, persistent, and
gradually becoming green. The leaves are evergreen,
smaller, and with more narrow segments than those of the
Christmas Rose; pedate, with about nine oblong-lanceolate
segments, which are coarsely toothed or serrated. There are
some beautiful varieties, merely differing in size and color,
such as Guttatus, with large white flowers, the sepals of which
are dotted all over with small rose-purple spots; Punctatus,
with smaller and more numerous dots; Antiquorum, almost
pure white, slightly tinged with red and greenish gray. As all
the Hellebores are woodland flowers, delighting in moist veg-
etable soil, in rocky woods, where the air is continually cool
and moist, they should be treated accordingly. The leaves
are best preserved in somewhat shady positions, but the
plants flower more abundantly in moderately sunny places, if
not too dry. Rocky borders of small streams, under decidu-
ous trees, offer many opportunities for growing these charm-
ing plants successfully in ideal positions.

Anemone ranunculoides.—One of the most common, as well
as most attractive, spring flowers of northern Europe is the
Golden Windflower, Anemone ranunculoides, which flowers
considerably later than the common white Windflower, among
which it grows. It is seldom, if ever, found in low, flat woods,
preferring steep hillsides, where it grows in rich leaf-soil in
comparatively deep shade. The leaves are smoother, less cut
than those of A. nemorosa, palmately three or five parted,
with deeply toothed almost trifid segments. The stem-leaves,

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 428.

forming the involucre, are tripartite, petiolate, shiny green.
The flowers, which, in favorable positions, measure nearly an
inch across, are bright golden-yellow, from one to three on a
stem. The plant grows from five to eight inches high; the
creeping rhizome is rather thick and fleshy, producing several
leaves, I have never seen this handsome species in American
gardens, but it would, however, prove a very charming acqui-
sition, providing its naturalization is possible.

Newark, N. J. N. Te Te

Pitcairnia.—This genus includes many handsome plants, and
although they are easy to grow and have large showy flowers
and bracts, specimens are rarely seen outside of a botanic gar-
den. The genus belongs to the Pineapple family and is nearly
related to the Tillandsias. While they come from tropical
America they are grown here in a temperature ranging from
fifty to fifty-five at night, along with Billbergias, ASchmeas
and Tillandsias. They do best in a position where they
have plenty of light, and in bright weather require frequent
syringing. The compost for potting them should consist of
fibrous loam, chopped fern-root, leaf-mold and sand in equal
parts. Itis important to have the pots clean and well drained,
as the plants need plenty of water while they are growing.
For the past three or four weeks a large plant of Pitcairnia
Altensteinii has been attractive and much admired. The plant
has a very short stem, but it has graceful leaves which meas-
ure three feet and a half in length and about two and a half
inches in breadth. The inflorescence is a simple subspicate
raceme, and the peduncle measures two feet in length. The
bright red bracts on the peduncles are about two inches in
length, and long after the flowers are gone they retain their
clear color. Indeed, the bracts are more showy than the
flowers. The corolla is long and narrow, measuring about
three inches, and of a whitish color. This showy Pitcairnia
was introduced from western Venezuela in 1840. It is some-
times found under the generic name Puya and also as Pitcairnia
undulatifolia.

Botanic Garden, Harvard University. R. Cameron.

Correspondence.
Potato Blight.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—I have just read with interest Bulletin 113 of the Cor-
nell ExperimentStation, This bulletin treats of Potato diseases,
and among others describes and figures the “ early blight ” as it
occurs at Ithaca. My interest in this topic was increased by
the fact that I have now in press a bulletin on Potato blights,
the publication of which has been delayed some time await-
ing engravings. Among these illustrations which are to
appear in our bulletin is one agreeing essentially in the dis-
eased characters of the leaf with the beautifully colored plate
which Mr. Lodeman has labeled ‘ Early Blight.” The condi-
tions represented in our leaf (and they are unquestionably the
same in the leaf figured in the Cornell bulletin) are, however,
distinctly different from the ‘*Macrosporium blight,” or
“early blight,” as that disease has been described in various
parts of America, France, New Zealand and Germany. It will
only add more confusion to a subject already sadly confused
if we do not sharply distinguish the two disorders. To this in
my lectures before students and farmers’ institutes during the
past winter I have used the name ‘ Tip-burn” of the potato, to
designate this latter trouble as distinguished from the true
“early blight” or Macrosporium ‘spot disease.” In fact, we
must distinguish at least four, and, perhaps, five, distinct forms
of the so-called “ blighting ” of Potato leaves, which commonly
occur in the north-eastern United States. So far we have
names for but two. Of these the “late” or Phytophthora
blight is now quite generally recognized and distinguished.
Beyond this all is confusion, since the term ‘early blight,” as
popularly used, has been broadened to cover all:forms of pre-
mature dying Potato leaves from causes other than attacks of
the fungus Phytophthora infestans. I was thoroughly im-
pressed with this fact during a trip made to Wisconsin last Au-
gust, in which I had opportunity to examine blighting Potatoes
at various points along the way. Upon my return I wrote to
each of the experiment stations in north-eastern United States
asking for specimens of Potato leaves showing the Macros-
porium or ‘early blight” as it occurred in that locality. The
material thus collected, together with a considerable amount
collected in other ways during the past four years, has been
carefully studied by my assistant, Mr. Tracy, and myself. The
diseased conditions represented clearly fall into several classes
as to cause, These are;

nD

May 6, 1896.]

First: The “late blight” or mildew caused by the fungus
Phytophthora infestans.

Second: The ‘early blight,” Macrosporium disease, or
‘leaf spot” disease, due to the parasitic attacks of the fungus
Macrosporium Solani, E.& M. This is characterized by the
appearance of numerous sharply defined dark spots scattered
irregularly over the leaf. These spots, enlarging slowly, dry, and
the tissue is by this drying thrown into irregularly concentric
elevated rings. The character of these rings is peculiar, and
forms a valuable method for hasty identification of the disease
as it usually occurs. These spots may or may not originate
from flea-beetle punctures. It is agreed by all investigators
that this fungus most readily attacks plants or leaves thathave
passed their period of greatest vigor. It is, as Dr. Sorauer
says, one of the ‘“Schwacheparasiten,” but, nevertheless, a
most destructive parasite when well established in a field.

Third: ‘‘ Tip-burn,” a disease characterized by the drying of
the leaves at the tips and margins, not necessarily associated
with any fungus attacks, but attributable to physiological con-
ditions surrounding the plant, especially to dry hot weather
with insufficient water-supply, and aggravated by insect attacks
or any other conditions which lessen the vigor of the plants.
This is clearly the trouble figured in the Cornell bulletin as
“early blight.” Mr. Lodeman’s account of the physiological
conditions leading to this disease is excellent and in accord
with my own observations, but, as already indicated, we must
clearly distinguish this third disease from the second, both as
to cause and appearance. Of course, various fungi and bac-
teria capable of existing as saprophytes soon invade the tissue
which has died from ‘‘tip-burn,” and these soon complicate
and often aggravate the disease. As shown in the material
examined, the nature and extent of these secondary fungus
invasions varies considerably in different localities according
to conditions. These invading fungi are exceedingly interest-
ing, and have received considerable study; a discussion of
them would, however, be out of place in the present sum-
mary.

Fourth « Arsenical poisoning” from Paris green or other
arsenites applied as insecticides. In case of extremely strong
application of these arsenites the leaf may be entirely killed or
large areas ‘‘ burned” within a short time. Usually, however,
its action is slower and longer-continued. Its effects are then
apparent as dead spots centering about flea-beetle punctures
or other mutilations in the leaf. These spots continue slowly
to enlarge for some time, and, as a result of the slow death and
drying of the tissues, the surface of each is thrown up into
distinctly concentric elevations or ridges forming “ringed
spots” so similar to those caused by the attacks of Macrospo-
rium Solani that they are extremely deceptive. There is,
however, a distinctly different color to the spot, as a rule, and
the rings are more regularly circular in the poisoned spots.
These arsenical poisonings are of very common occurrence,
and are unquestionably responsible for much of the confusion
regarding ‘‘ early blight.”

Fifth : Dead spots sometimes occur on the margins of leaves
or surrounding flea-beetle punctures or other injuries which
are not invaded by fungi, and do not seem attributable to
arsenical poisoning. They develop the characteristic rings,
and resemble spots caused by the Macrosporium or the arsen-
ical poisoning, but are often, at least, due to dry heat, as sug-
gested by Dr. W. C. Sturgis in the Report of the Connecticut
Experiment Station for 1894. In this case they should be asso-
ciated as to cause with ‘“tip-burn” rather than with ‘“ early
blight. LR. Fones.

Experiment Station, Burlington, Vt.

Recent Publications.

WNut-culture in the United States. United States Depart-
ment of Agriculture. 1896.

Six years ago Professor H. E. Van Deman, who was at
that time Pomologist of the Department of Agriculture,
sent out circulars of inquiry to all parts of the United
States where there have been any systematic efforts
at planting nut-bearing trees for the production of their
fruit. Wild nuts have always been so abundant in this
country that there has been little need of cultivating the
native sorts. Our native pecans, shellbarks, walnuts and
chestnuts vary widely in size and quality, but it has been
the popular belief that a long time would be required to
raise the improved varieties in any quantity, since propa-
gation is slow and grafting in many instances difficult.

Garden and Forest.

189

Nevertheless, there have been many individual instances
where success has been won with improved kinds of our
native Chestnuts and the foreign sorts, with the English or
Persian Walnut, with the Almond and the Pecan, and there
have been hopeful experiments with the Shellbark Hickory
and in the extreme south with the Cocoanut. A very good
account of what has been really accomplished will be
found in this book, which is a compilation of the answers
to the replies made to Professor Van Deman’s circular, and
published by the Department of Agriculture. The text
makes about one hundred quarto pages, to which are added
sixteen full-page plates, some of them colored, and there is
a carefully prepared index. The cultivation of the Almond
is already established in southern California, and seedlings
of excellent quality are constantly produced, and it seems
to have become a matter of common observation that the
best variety in any locality is some seedling which origi-
nated there. The cultivation of the Persian Walnut, too,
has become well established in southern California and the
exports are increasing annually. Perhaps the largest cul-
tivated Walnut grove in the world is one in California,
which contains seven hundred acres. The account of
hybrids between different species of Walnut from eastern
Asia with the California Walnut, our Black Walnut and the
Persian or English Walnut suggests the possibility of pro-
ducing trees of widely varying form and habit, although
no distinct improvement in the fruit has yet been accom-
plished.

Perhaps the most interesting chapter in the book is that
on the Hickory, especially the section which relates to the
Pecan, a tree which equals in importance, if it does not sur-
pass, the Persian Walnutandthe Almond. This tree willthrive
over a large area and the fruit varies very considerably,
so that by selection it is possible to get large, thin-shelled,
delicately flavored nuts. Large orchards are being planted,
and in many cases trees which bear inferior nuts in the
forests are cut out so as to leave room for those which bear
better ones. A grove of this sort—that is, a grove made by
thinning outa forest of 450 acres on the Guadaloupe River,
in Texas—has produced $2,000 worth of nuts in a year.
One of the plates represents a wild Pecan-tree which
had been top-budded four years earlier with five choice
varieties, and it already shows a vigorous head of young
shoots bearing nuts. If this method is practicable with
large trees it will not be difficult to utilize the abun-
dant wild trees of the south for the production of choice
nuts. A good account of the experiments with Shell-
barks is also given, and the story of the improved

-varieties of Chestnuts, with which the readers of this

journal are familiar, is told at length. It seems proba-
ble, too, that from Delaware southward the English Hazel-
nut can be successfully grown, and there are some of
our native Hazels in the north which bear nuts as large
as imported filberts, with thin shells and altogether of supe-
rior quality. Many of the species of Pine on the Pacific
slope, including Arizona, have seeds that the Indians use
as food, and they are marketed in large quantities in some
of the cities of California. One of the plates of this book
is devoted to the seeds of these Pines, twelve different sorts
being figured. Some of them are large, soft-shelled, of a
delicious flavor, so that they are valued both for dessert
and confectionery purposes wherever they can be had.
These nuts are generally harvested by the Indians, who
heat the cones until they rattle out, having been roasted in
the process. Whether any of these species will reward the
planter if brought into cultivation is a matter of the merest
conjecture.

Little needs to be said of the miscellaneous nuts, native
and imported, several of which are grown in a small way in
different parts of the country. The general subject, how-
ever, is most interesting, and this bulletin is valuable for
bringing together in a condensed form about all that is
known of it at the present time. The truth is, that the sum
total of our knowledge is now very slight indeed. Few
fields offer greater attractions to the workers in our experi-

190

ment stations than this, and the time ought not to be far
distant when nut-trees can be propagated with the same
ease and rapidity as our ordinary orchard fruits.

Notes.

Egyptian onions are already seen in the wholesale markets,
the first shipment of 250 crates having arrived a few days ago.
The Havana product isabout out of market, but nearly 30,000
crates came from Bermuda last week.

Pineapples, from Cuba, continue to come in limited quan-
tities, about 5,000 barrels having reached this port during last
week. The extremely high prices commanded by the earliest
receipts of small lots of this fruit are broken in view of larger
supplies. From eight to eighteen cents apiece is now the rate
by the hundred. The first cargo shipments are expected by
the middle of May, when the Bahamas will also contribute to
the supply.

New potatoes are now coming from California, Louisiana,
Florida, Cuba and Bermuda, and prices at wholesale range
from $6.00 to $10.00 a barrel. The highest grade of sweet
potatoes, from Vineland, costs $5.00 in barrel lots. During last
week 16,072 barrels of domestic potatoes were brought into
this city, and since October Ist 1,091,516 barrels have been
sold here, besides 5,986 sacks from Europe and 11,805 barrels
from Bermuda.

The apple export season is now nearly ended, 154 barrels
having been shipped from New York last week, while 267,319
barrels were forwarded to Europe from this port since Sep-
tember Ist. For home supply 4,622 barrels were received
here during the six days ending with last Saturday, and since
September Ist, 687,212 barrels. Choice Ben Davis apples now
cost the retail buyer $5.50 a barrel, Baldwins $4.50, Roxbury
Russets $4.00, and Golden Russets $3.50.

More than two hundred tons of cut Narcissus flowers are
sent every year from the Scilly Islands to England. In addi-
tion to these, the bulbs raised here, which have excellent free-
flowering qualities, constitute an important branch of trade.
Mr. F. W. Burbidge states that in the crowded manufacturing
centres of England these flowers and bulbs are as cheap as
they are beautiful, and are largely bought by artisans, so that
flower-farming in the Scilly Islands, at least, is not a business
which depends for support on the luxurious rich, but one which
brings freshness and beauty into the homes of the people.

The Spinach Leaf Miner is a small white maggot which tun-
nels through the leaves of Spinach, Beet and Pigweed, and it
has been multiplying with such rapidity in the market-garden
district of Long Island that the cultivation of Spinach willhave
to be abandoned unless it can be controlled. There seems to be
no period of the year during which insecticides can be applied
with success, and the only feasible plan of controlling it is to
destroy all the Pigweed and plow old Spinach fields late in the
fall and early in the spring. A bulletin has just been issued
from the Geneva Experiment Station on the subject in which
the insect is fully described and figured.

We have received a copy of the American Florist Company's
Directory, a list of the florists, nurserymen and seedsmen in
the United States and Canada, to which is added a list of the
park superintendents and directors of botanical gardens and
cemeteries. Besides this there is a comprehensive catalogue
of the Chrysanthemums, Cannas, Roses and Carnations which
have been introduced into cultivation in this country, together
with the names of the introducers, the date of introduction and
a brief description of each plant. A list of the officers of the
most important horticultural societies in the country, with a
brief history of other important associations in some way con-
nected with the nursery, flower and seed trade, complete this
compact and highly useful volume.

A bulletin of the Maine Experiment Station makes the fol-
lowing record of some of the comparatively new varieties of
wrinkled Peas as tested last year. Station (Gregory), mod-
erately vigorous grower, five to six peas in a pod, quality good,
edible in from forty-five to fifty-five days from planting ; Morn-
ing Star (Childs), growth rather less vigorous, five or six peas
ina pod, quality excellent, edible in from forty-five to fifty-five
days; Exonian (Thorburn & Co.), vines of medium height, but
very slender, foliage noticeably light-colored, six peas to the
pod, edible in from fifty to sixty days ; Early Woodside (Smith),
rather dwarf, six peas to the pod, quality good, edible in from
sixty to seventy days; Echo (Burpee), moderately vigorous,
seven peas to the pod, edible in from sixty-five to seventy-five

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 428.

days ; Nott’s Excelsior (Maule), dwarf habit, about a foot high,
five or six peas to the pod, maturing in from fifty to fifty-five
days, an excellent pea.

The March issue of the Bulletin de la Société Centrale Fores-
tiére de Belgique contains an interesting note on a plantation
of White Pine (Pinus Strobus) about two and a half acres in
area, situated near the railway station of Gedinne, in the prov-
ince of Namur. The trees, which have been planted twenty-
five years, have already been thinned three times since 1888,
the thinnings having been sold for six hundred francs, or in
round numbers $125. Two thousand two hundred trees are
now standing, and their measurement shows that the planta-
tion contains three hundred and fifty-four cubic metres of
timber, equal to an annual growth of more than fourteen
cubic metres over the whole area. It is stated that the White
Pine is distinguished in Belgium by its rapid growth and hardi-
ness, resisting the severest cold and the effects of late spring
frosts, and growing, when mixed with other trees, more
rapidly than any of its associates.

The eighth report of the Mississippi Experiment Station
gives the results of a series of experiments with grasses and
forage plants which have been conducted there now for eight
years past for the purpose of ascertaining what plants will
restore fertility to the soil most rapidly while giving fair re-
turns in hay or pasture, which ones will make the best perma-
nent meadow, which ones are most suitable for permanent
pasture, especially for winter grazing, and which hay-producing
plants are of the best temporary use. Five hundred and
eighty-six species have been tested on different varieties of
soil, the seeds having been sown under different conditions in
all parts of the state. When this work was begun it is said
that no hay was grown in Mississippi except that used for
home consumption, and thousands of tons were brought into
the state every year. The average yield per acre has since then
been more than doubled, and in 1895 it was eighty-four per
cent. above the average yield of the whole United States and
114 per cent. in excess of the average yield in the northern and ~°
central states of the Mississippi valley.

In the last number of Zhe Country Gentleman, Mr. S. D.
Willard, of Geneva, states that the extreme cold weather of
January has proved very disastrous to the orchards in the
great fruit region of western New York. Of Plums, the French
Damson, which is grown in a limited way, is the only variety
which is likely to give any crop at all. Such entire failure
has never been known since the growing of plums became a
recognized industry in this section, and it proves that the
fruit cannot endure a temperature of twenty-two degrees below
zero. The extremely dry autumn which left no moisture in
the soil to supply the demands of evaporation may have aided
in the injury, and yet the trees held their leaves very well and
developed a good stand of fruit-buds and were in apparently
good condition to withstand such winters as are usually expe-
rienced. With the exception of Hill’s Chili, few varieties of
Peach-trees show a single live bud. SourCherries will set an
average crop, while of the sweet varieties Elkhorn and Wind-
sor are in much the best condition. This last is a compara-
tively new variety which originated in Windsor, Ontario, and
was disseminated by Ellwanger & Barry. It is of fine quality
and beautiful appearance and its hardiness will give it addi-
tional value.

Andrew S. Fuller, widely known as a writer on subjects re-
lated to agriculture and horticulture, died suddenly of heart
failure on Monday at his home in Ridgewood, New Jersey, in
the sixty-eighth year of his age. Mr. Fuller was agricultural
editor of the New York Weekly Sun for more than a quarter
of a century, and at different times he had been connected
with The Rural New-Vorker, The Tribune, The Agriculturist
and American Gardening. He was the author of several
popular books on arboriculture, small-fruit culture and the
propagation of plants, and he had recently completed a treatise
on nut-culture, which he considered his most important work.
He was an authority in some branches of entomology, an
enthusiastic student and experimenter in his chosen field, and
was absorbed in his favorite occupations until the very hour of
his death. He had gathered about him at Ridgewood achoice ©
collection of trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants, which he
grew with rare skill and distributed with unfailing liberality.
His orchard of nut-bearing trees was especially interesting, and
itis sad to think that the world will lose the benefit of Mr.
Fuller’s trained habits of observation as he watched the beha-
vior of the numerous varieties he was testing and reported on
the value of different modes of treating them.

MAY 13, 1896.]

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrick: Trisung 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 13, 1896.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.
Epstortat, ArticLe :—Some Timely Lessons from the Forests of India... ..... 191
The Flora of the California Coast Range.—I............+..005 Carl Purdy. 192
A Botanical Journey in Texas.—1V.........+-.0-5-+ LZ. N. Plank. 193
Piant Notrs:—Magnolia stellata. (With figure.)..........+..eeeeee ee eee ee eee 194
CutturaL DeparTMENT :—Culture ot the Garden Bean.. Will W. Tracy. 194
Flowers of the Season..... 7 +2. % M. Gerard. 196
Notes from Baden-Baden Max Leichtlin. 196
Canna Notes..... G. A. Woolson 196

The Lily Garden.......... ete pa mnalegcnatnreto talon toe Le 72s 200

Saxifraga crassifolia, Menyanthes ylophorum diphyllum,
Edward ck Canning. 197

Pampas! GrasswVdola pedata. so... desswiensseev snes .G. W. 0. 197

ip "iifred ‘A. Brotherton. 107
- Charles H. Shinn. 198
Professor 7. D, A. Cockerell, 198
cadena Danshe Dandrdge. 198
- Professor F. A. Waugh. 198

‘bussilawosParfaras.-2¢s-.0.s006
Corresponnence :—The California Frosts
The Evonymus Scale in Japan..
Notes from West Virginia.....
Maple Sugar in Vermont..

RRCENTELUBLICATIONS nse nGais hates seureaSe etme sas oasuscheCedessscencasavese 199
INCOMES setete en eeeicltte tale ete ain cleinleisinc/ale (es aeiaieivlets s(siaisipas, —isiwisie's ait «. “sishejaloe oa see's aie 200
ILLUSTRATION Magnolia stellata ina New Jersey Gardent hig saz scr jcmtesmcioe 195

Some Timely Lessons from the Forests of India.

NDIA has given to the world the most conspicuous
example of a national forest policy adopted over a vast
area. It is not, like Europe, a forest-producing country
throughout, and while its tropical and subtropical climate
differs widely from our own, we can pick out climatic par-
allels between portions of India and of the United States
more readily than we can between the United States and
Europe. India contains evergreen forests of great density
and luxuriance, and large areas like our own great interior
plain, where no natural forest growth can exist, and be-
tween these extremes we find every variety of condition
in regard to water-supply, evaporation, etc., most of which
can be repeated in our own country. Under the sway of
the Mohammedans, which lasted 750 years, the forests of
India were recklessly destroyed, chiefly by fire, to pro-
vide grazing ground for cattle, and under the British rule
which followed vast areas of Government land were alien-
ated, only a small portion of which was fit for agriculture,
and as herds multiplied more forests were wiped out by
fire. Meanwhile the large construction of railways and the
increased demand for timber and fuel consumed the forests
with incredible rapidity under the management of the lum-
ber speculators and contractors, who had present profits in
view, with no thought of the future. Americans need only
look at home to see how forests can be devastated simply
by clearing lands for cultivation, regardless of the future,
and by unchecked log gging and generally careless treat-
ment. The analogy between the forest conditions and the
forest abuses of the two countries is so clear that Mr.
Berthold Ribbentrop, the present efficient Inspector-General
of Forests in India, during a recent journey in the United
States wrote for our instruction a brief statement of some
of the salient features of the Indian forest policy. This
paper is too long to publish entire in this journal, but we
select a few points in the recent forest history of India
which will, perhaps, be found specially instructive to
American readers.
When the Indian Government began to find the timber
fail for local public works it recognized at once the neces-

Garden and Forest.

191

sity of a more conservative use of forest products, but it
was years before the people of the country recognized the
indirect value of forests upon agriculture and came to
believe that no high degree of civilization can exist perma-
nently without some systematic and adequate forest man-
agement. Our own country is now passing through this
educational stage—that is, the people at large are only
beginning to learn these truths. Just at this critical period
the British Government secured the services of Mr. (now
Sir Dietrich) Brandis, who recognized at once that conserv-
ative management could only be initiated by the Govern-
ment, the greatest landlord of the empire, and that it was
necessary to acquire and maintain possession of a large
area of forest-land and secure legal and executive powers to
protect it. This was an uphill struggle, largely because
there were so many prescriptive rights to use the forest for
various purposes. Without explaining the interesting legal
complications involved, it is sufficient to say that Mr.
Brandis preferred to make an early settlement with the
holders of forest rights and take possession under a modi-
fied condition of possession rather than enter into long and
uncertain legal controversies fora more complete ownership.
Our own Government would meet with no such obstacles,
for no one has rights of pasturage or rights to cut a given
amount of timber on our national forest domain. What
Mr. Brandis did then was simply to settle those rights—that
is, to define and limit them and to prevent any increase of
them in the future. Under these laws 80,000 square miles
have up to date in India been formed into permanent
forest reserves, in which the rights of the state and the
adverse rights of the communities and private persons have
been finally determined. Fifty thousand square miles more
are in process of settlement, making 130,000 square miles
in all.

As soon as it was resolved to protect the forest proper-
ties of the state and exploit them under direct Government
supervision, a few officers were appointed with a staff of
subordinates. These officers were generally selected from
the military or medical staff, perhaps because they had
some knowledge of botany or were considered specially fit
for some other reason. A knowledge of technical forestry
was not insisted upon then, and Mr. Brandis was the first to
bring such knowledge to bear on the question. As soon as
he was appointed Inspector-General he saw the need of
technically trained assistants, and he at once took steps to
organize a technical department, and brought over two
trained German forest officers in 1866—Messrs. Schlich and
Ribbentrop—both of whom have been his successors in
office, and at the same time he made arrangements for the
professional education of young Englishmen in France and
Germany. Before these trained officers were available the
staff was augmented by the appointment of young officers
in India, who began their service in lower grades, and were
promoted as they learned by experience. Later on, how-
ever, and especially since the establishment of the forest
school at Cooper's Hill, every addition to the force has
been a trained forester, except on one occasion, when a
large number of officers were suddenly needed to take
charge of new forests. The number of officers in the con-
trolling grades now amount to two hundred, and they
have the prospect of regular promotion and_ pension.
In 1878 a forest school was also established in one
of the north-western provinces at Dehra Dun, in which
the education was at first superficial, but since 1887
it takes rank with the best institutions for educating
a subordinate staff in any country of the world. The
support of this school and the rest of the forest estab-
lishment costs four millions of rupees a year, and this
expenditure must soon be largely increased, as the subor-
dinate staff is now too small to keep pace with the ever-
increasing work. On the other hand, the revenue has more
than kept. pace with the growth of the expenditure. The
net average surplus for fiv e successive five-year periods,
beginning with 1867-8 and ending with 1891-2, is as fol-
10WS: (I) 1,339,000 rupees; (2) 2,129,000 rupees ; (3)

192 Garden and Forest.

2,689,000 rupees; (4) 3,848,000 rupees; (5) 6,186,000
rupees ; the cash surplus for the year 1891-2 being about
seven anda half million rupees, with a tendency to grow,
in the face of constantly increased expenditures for fire
protection, constitution of reserves, amelioration of forest
estates, surveys, working-plans, road-building and the like.
In addition to this annually increasing direct income, the
Government forests have yielded immense quantities of
products to right-holders and other privileged persons.
The annual value of this outside yield represents, at least,
as much as the entire amount spent on the whole forest
establishment. Besides this, the value of a well-ordered
forest area to the country which lies below it can never be
estimated. It is an interesting fact, however, that in one
district in the Punjab, lying at the foot of a small mountain
range, comprised of friable sandstone, the Government
suffered an annual loss from land revenues alone amount-
ing to 90,000 rupees a year, owing to the devastation of
the fields which followed the destruction of the forests over
a comparatively small mountain area. Losses like this are
reduced every year since forest destruction has been ar-
rested. Besides this, the forest improves steadily and the
increase of its capital value is enormous, although it can
be hardly expressed in figures. The sum of the matter is
that, although in India ten million rupees are spent every
year in administering the state forests, a liberal and grow-
ing surplus is realized from the annual growth of the
produce, and besides this, large amounts are harvested by
right-holders, the agricultural and climatic conditions of
the country are substantially benefited, while the forest is
not infringed upon either in area or immature stock, but is
steadily growing in productive capacity.

We are certainly justified in taking heart and hope at
what has been accomplished in India during thirty years,
for there is no reason to doubt that the same thing can be
done in America, where the Government still holds pos-
session of large timber areas. President Gibbs, of the
National Academy of Science, in his reply to the request of
the Hon. Hoke Smith, Secretary of the Interior, who had
asked that body to undertake an investigation of the sub-
ject of forestry in this country, has stated the points to be
considered by the Commission as follows :

(1) The question of the ultimate ownership of the forests now
belonging to the Government—that is, what portions of the
forest on the public domain shall be allowed to pass either in
part or entirely from Government control into private hands ?

(2) How shall the Government forests be administered so that
the inbabitants of the adjacent regions may draw their neces-
sary forest supplies from them without affecting their per-
manency ?

(3) What provision is possible and necessary to secure for
the Government a continuous, intelligent and honest manage-
ment of the forests of the public domain, including those
in the reservations already made or which may be made in the
future?

Most of these questions have received an actual and prac-
tical answer in the management of the Indian forests. It
is admitted that the social conditions of the two countries
are entirely different; but so are the climatic conditions of
India and Europe, and yet Sir Dietrich Brandis and his
successors have proved that the laws of forest growth are
the same the world over, so that forests in India can be
made to grow in productiveness and in value by adopting
the same principles upon which the successful forestry of
Europe has been founded. In the same way the broad
principles of law upon which this forest policy has been
built do not differ in different lands. Here, too, there must
be a trained corps of foresters. Here, too, the Govern-
ment, the only permanent possessor of the soil, must
manage its own forests if there is to be any stable policy.
Here, too, there must be an adjustment between local
needs and the rights of the commonwealth. If once
public opinion is educated up to adopting and enforcing
such legislation as may be recommended by experts of
recognized ability, we shall soon have legislation looking
toward the selection of suitable tracts for conservative

[NUMBER 429.

forest treatment. If the Government will hold, protect and
manage these national forests, disposing only of their annual
increase, the time is not far distant when there will be a
paying demand for these products, and when private
forest owners will realize that it is to their interest to follow
the example of the Government and place their forest
property under similar control.

The Flora of the California Coast Range.—I.

HE Coast Range is the general name for the great
mountain system which stretches along the coast
from southern California to Puget Sound. It is not a con-
tinuous range, but a broken mass of parallel ridges from
forty to seventy miles wide, with many other chains
transverse to the general trend of the range, and enclosing
numerous valleys, large and small, of widely different alti-
tudes. Great streams rising in the Sierra cut through it here
and there, while other streams rising in the range itself pour
directly into the Pacific at various angles, and through the
depressions where they flow fogs and wind pour in to
modify greatly the local climates. At some points broad
plains or low rolling hills lie next to the coast, and at others
high mountains along the ocean shut out the wind and fog
from the country behind them. San Francisco Bay exer-
cises a marked influence on the climate of a large area, and
all these factors tend to produce diversity of temperature
and moisture in an apparently capricious way in places
near together; in fact, no two places have the same cli-
mate and rainfall. In the Sierra Nevada the frostless belt
lies at a certain altitude; in the Coast Range there is no
warm belt, but isolated warm spots which depend on alti-
tude, prevailing wind, fog and exposure. The result is that
the climates here can only be ascertained by experience.

The rainfall is even more capricious than the tempera-
ture. In every rain there is a considerable difference in
the precipitation between Ukiah and the Insane Asylum,
three miles away across an open valley, being invariably
less atthe latter place. Little Lake, twenty miles from here,
has a greater rainfall. Mendocino City, on the coast, has
an annual rainfall of more than fifty inches, while seventy
miles away, Colusa County, in the Sacramento Valley, has
eight inches, and at points in Shasta County, at the head of
the Sacramento Valley, the rainfall has been as great as
120 inches. The geological formation of the ranges and
the character of soils constantly vary, and in the rougher
sections they vary widely at very short intervals. Under
such conditions the flora of the Coast Range cannot be
other than interesting, and it is hardly probable that there
is amore captivating field for the botanist in the world.
Plants are much localized, and frequently found there out
of their usual range. To the enthusiast in natural science
the study of these endless variations and their causes is a
source of constant pleasure.

Nowhere in the range is there greater variety than in
the area comprised within Mendocino and Lake counties.
Here we have a narrow table, or hill-slope, next the ocean
originally covered with Pinus muricata, sand dunes and
salt lagoons. A few miles back high table-lands lie
between the deep-cut river channels, covered with a tan-
gle of low shrubbery. Up the river cafions on the ocean
side, and fringing the valleys, the great coniferous for-
est begins, and after a few miles the Redwood begins
and stretches to the tops of the range which, at twenty
miles from the sea, forms a barrier 2,000 feet high between
the coast and the interior. This barrier range, diversified
by masses of Douglas Spruce, Oak woods, thickets of
Chemisal or mixed shrubs, open grassy slopes, tiny moun-
tain meadows or wide enclosed valleys, and with small
patches of Redwood in cafions or cool slopes on its land-
ward side, is a most interesting field forthe botanist. Mid-
way of Mendocino County a prominent ridge crosses the
mountain range, towering up from five thousand to six
thousand feet above its lofty neighbors, snow-capped until
summer, its lower slopes covered with forests of Yellow

q
4
a

May 13, 1896.]

Pine or Sugar Pine. This is the San Hedrin Mountain,
while farther east Mount Hull, Snow Mountain and Mount
St. John are higher still, each having a geology and flora
peculiarly its own. Rising at the base of this range Eel
River flows north-west to the ocean, while near by the
Russian River flows to the south. The banks of the first
are rugged and rich with conifers, while the basin of the
latter is the home of a large and varied family of Oaks.
East of the Russian River valley is another great barrier
range, smooth and round topped, its higher slopes a vast
even growth of brush, its lower slopes grassy and dotted
with Oak woods, and its cafions treasure-houses to the
lovers of trees and flowers. High on these shrub-covered
mountains are little vales which are also mines for the
flower lover.

Beyond these lies Clear Lake, thirty-five miles long, sur-
rounded by high mountains, and although 1,300 feet above
the level of the sea, it furnishes congenial homes for Orange
groves. Further to the east another lofty. Pine-covered

“range divides Clear Lake from the headwaters of the Sacra-
mento and offers a region, half-alpine, rough and hard, yet
of surpassing interest. I have been collecting in this won-
derfully diversified region for sixteen years, and yet there
are numberless fields that I have not explored, and every
year Iam reminded how little I really know of them. I
shall try to convey some faint idea of the characteristic
trees and flowers of some of these sections, always keep-
ing in mind that twenty othersuch belts might be cut from
the Coast Range, each quite as interesting to the naturalist
and without any danger of monotony, while the whole
series terminates at the north in that wild Olympic range
between Puget Sound and the ocean, one of the most strik-
ing and least-known of our nation’s possessions.

Ukiah, Calit. Carl Purdy.

A Botanical Journey in Texas.—IV.

Ieee. Marfa very early the thirteenth day of June,
we arrived in the afternoon of the same day at El
Paso, one of the best-known cities of Texas, situated at the
extreme western limit of the state. The city contains about
twelve thousand inhabitants. Itis the capital of a county
of the same name, which covers eight thousand four hun-
dred and sixty square miles. EI] Paso is nearthe one hun-
dred and sixth meridian, near the thirty-second parallel,
and the average annual rainfall for the last nine years is
about ten and one-half inches.

Across the river, and nearly opposite El Paso, is the
Mexican city, Cuidad Juarez, the two cities standing near
the head of the “Pass,” a nearly level valley extending
many miles down the river, and probably an earlier lake-
like expansion of it. Centuries ago the beauty of the Pass,
and its adaptability to irrigated agriculture, led to the estab-
lishment of a Spanish colony and mission at Juarez, which
is one of the oldest cities of America, and Baron Humboldt,
who visited this locality early in our century, speaks in
praise of the Pass, of the Mission, of the vineyards there
and of the Mission grape.

The vicinity of El Paso is one of the principal seats
in Texas of successful agriculture by irrigation. At the
tiver rapids, about a mile above the city, low dams
have been built letting the water of the river into the main
ditches on each side of it for distribution to the fields of
grain, vegetables and fruit. At this immediate point most
of the farming is done on the Mexican side of the river.
But on the American side, farther down the river, and near
Ysleta, fields of Wheat, Barley, Corn and other grains are
common. Alfalfa, the great forage plant of irrigated lands,
is the commonest farm crop. Its growth on such fields is
wonderful, three or four cuttings of it being made in a sea-
son. At Juarez are venerable Pear-trees, two or more feet
in diameter, larger Apricot trees than I had seen before, vine-
yards, Apple orchards, and occasionally a Quince-tree, and
this where cultivated trees, as well as cultivated smaller
plants, live only by irrigation.

Garden and Forest.

ls,

While in Mexico I visited the extensive orchards and
vineyards of Dr. Alexander, a sturdy hospitable German of
the old school, who bought his grange of ason of the priest
who entertained Baron Humboldt in his home at the time
of his visit to the Pass. The vineyards of Dr. Alexander
contain about thirty thousand vines of the Mission
Grape, which was probably introduced into this country
by the Spaniards. Little is known of its origin or of
its introduction to America. The fruit when ripe is dark
purple in color, of fair size, well clustered and full of thick
sweet juice, fermenting into a rich strong wine. Its leaves in
general outline resemble those of the southern Muscadine,
but they are larger and more deeply lobed, the larger
leaves sometimes approaching in form those of our com-
mon Ampelopsis. The trunk readily takes a tree form and
requires no trellis. The vine has simply adapted itself to
the climatic conditions of the country to which it has been

transferred, since no poles for trellising grow here. The
grapes begin to ripen early in the month of August. Sep-

tember is the wine-making month. It is said that the wine
would be better if the grapes remained on the vines until
November. But for obvious reasons it is necessary to
gather them much sooner.

On an average each vine yields an annual crop of ten
pounds of grapes. The pure juice of fourteen pounds of
grapes will afford a gallon of ripe wine. A glass of this
wine kindly proffered by Dr. Alexander, although but ten
years old, was well matured for its age, healthful. full of
good cheer, and vivacious. Long experience has led my
host to conclude that the Mission Grape is the only
variety that is well adapted to the conditions of climate and
soil which exist in the El Paso region, and that will afford
at the least cnst of production a good potable wine.

In the streets, yards and parks of El Paso I saw growing
western Cottonwood, Silver Poplar, Lombardy Poplar,
Willow Catalpa in handsome tree form, Barbadoes Flower
Fence, or, as some people call it, Bird of Paradise Tree (Ca-
salpinia pulcherrima) ; Jerusalem Thorn, Yellow Locust
(Robinia), Silk Tree (Albizzia), Mexican Elder (Sambucus),
China Tree (Melia), Paradise Tree (Ailanthus), Wild China
(Sapindus), Osage Orange (Ioxylon), English Ivy (Hedera),
Virginia Creeper (Ampelopsis), Red Mulberry, Morus, and
others. There are thousands of acres of land in this great
valley now vacant, but capable, under irrigation, of becom-
ing highly productive. Nature is doing all that is in her
power to assist in redeeming and fitting the alkaline flats
for agriculture. She is employing several Hoffmann-
seggias, some Daleas, a half-dozen species of Atriplex,
three or four Amaranths, a species of Lepidium, Suzaedas,
Bigelovias, Helianthi, Sesuvium, ‘Trianthema, coarse
Grasses and Sedges and other plant laborers, to change
and purify the soil by their living, and by their death and
decay to add to its permanent fertility. The refuse-matter
of the streets and stables should be utilized for the same
purpose, and then the only great need would be a perma-
nent supply of water for irrigation.

As it is now, irrigation at El Paso is far in advance of
actual agriculture. Probably three times the amount of
farm and garden products might be raised with little addi-
tional expense for water. But the river-bed itself is some-
times as dry and dusty as the unsprinkled streets of the
city. Irrigation is yet in its infancy. A dam sufficiently
strong to hold the accumulated floods of the Rio Grande
and of other large rivers would involve an expense of
millions of dollars and heavy damages for overflows, and
could exist here only by international agreement. In time
such structures might be worth far more than the cost of
building them.

The general features of the flora around El Paso are
somewhat peculiar. Species of the Pea family have de-
creased, while species of the much smaller Malva family
have increased in numbers. Species of Composite, espe-
cially shrubby species, are very numerous. Cruciferae hold
their ground, species of Lesquerella being unusually abun-
dant. Certainly two, perhaps three, species of Agave rep-

194

resent the Amaryllids. A Dasylirion, several Yuccas and
a few smaller species of other genera stand for the Lily
family. Amaranths and Chenopods give character to the
vegetation of the alkaline flats, while species of Prosopis,
a: Baccharis and “ Cachamilla” Arrow-wood, Pluchea bore-
alis, not a very good Pluchea, though as well in that genus
as anywhere, attend them.

Wislizenia refracta, of the Caper family, was met here
for the first time, and in the prime of its flowering. Itisa
plant of queer habit and of queer ways ; sometimes spread-
ing, it is usually erect and two to four feet tall. It bears
its flowers in long terminal racemes. In fruiting the pe-
duncles bend backward; hence the significance of the
specific name of our plant.

Biscutella Wislizeni, a rather handsome Crucifer, grows
in the damp sands of the “draws” of the mesas and in the
mountain dells. This species, too, wears a peculiar habit
which makes its recognition easy. It bears its rather large
white flowers in pairs. They are succeeded by rounded
pods, so as to appear, as its generic name signifies, like two
little shields. It is the ““Spectacled Plant” of Dr. Havard’s
catalogue of the plants of southern and western Texas. _

Martynia althzefolia is common in fertile places. This
species produces rather large flowers, which are purplish
on the outer and yellow-spotted on the inner side. The
plant sometimes spreads over a square yard of ground.
Atriplex canescens, which is common from the lower hio
Grande far northward, has not missed this locality. Several
other species of that genus have settled here. A. elegans
appears to be the beauty and the pet of the genus as seen
around El Paso.

Helianthus ciliaris, the odd one of our species of that
genus, is one of the chief groups of plant-workers that
Nature is employing to remove alkali from the low bottoms
of the river. It is a low-growing species, and it is kept too
busily at work to enable it to take the time to make its
flowers large and gaudy, nor is it able to hold its head as
high or to dress in the style of its taller and more aristo-
cratic relatives of the species of Helianthus.

This entire region abounds in rare and peculiar forms of
plant-life. A botanist could well employ a year’s time in
the county of El Paso. I know of no other short ramble
that a botanist or a tourist could take and see so much of
living nature that should interest and instruct himas a half-
day’s walk from El Paso up the Santa Fé Railway by old
Fort Bliss to the smelter and back along the other railway
to the city, especially if the walker on his return leave the
railway when about a half-mile from the city, taking the
wagon-road over the hills. He could see Acacias, the curious
Screw-bean, Arrow-wood, Cassias, Willow Catalpa, Hyme-
noclea, Wislizenia, Biscutella, Daleas, Lepidium, Tribulus
grandiflora, Martynia, Riddellia, Baileya, Janusia, many
handsome and strange Grasses, and many more extreme

western Texas and Mexican species.
La Junta, Colo. EE. N. Plank.

Plant Notes.

Magnolia stellata.

HE flowers of all our native Magnolias open after the

leaves expand, and some of the Asiatic Magnolias,
like the beautiful M. hypoleuca, belong to the same class.
But there is another well-known group of species and
hybrids which form their flower-buds completely during
the summer, and these open early in the spring before the
leaves appear, when their abundant large flowers always
make them objects of popular interest. The best known
of these is the Yulan Magnolia, M. conspicua, a large
shrub, or often a symmetrical tree, twenty-five or thirty
feet high, which bears large lily-like, pure white flowers.
M. Soulangeana has the same habit as M. conspicua, but
smaller white flowers, streaked with purple at the base,
which open a few days later. This is a hybrid between
M. conspicua and M. obovata, a Jarge shrub, with flowers
cream-white within and deep purple on the outside. In

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 4209.

its original form the latter plant is comparatively rare. M
Lenné, a widely spreading bush, somewhat resembles it.
and it may be a hybrid between M. obovata and M. con-
spicua.

Magnolia stellata, which was introduced from Japan
nearly thirty years ago by Dr. Hall, after whom it is
often called M. Halliana, is now becoming quite com-
mon, and its general form is well shown in the illustra-
tion on page 195, although, for some reason, the flowers
were not as abundant this year as usual. This speci-
men stands on the grounds of the late Mr. Francis
Jenkins, of Jersey City Heights, and was planted some
twenty-five yearsago. It is twelve feet high and has a
diameter equal to its height. The flowers usually appear
a week before those of the Yulan Magnolia, although at the
right of the illustration there can be seen a portion of a
plant of M. conspicua, which the warm weather this year
hurried into bloom with M. stellata. The flowers of
this species are pure white, three or four inches in diame-
ter, and they have not the somewhat disagreeable odor of *
the other early-flowering species, but are delicately fragrant.
The petals are narrow, and they spread out into a star
shape, which justifies the specific name. The plant has
good foliage and is interesting at all seasons. Besides its
other good qualities it is perfectly hardy ; it begins to flower
when it is hardly two feet high, and it will flourish in any
ordinary garden soil. Like all other Magnolias, M. stellata
should be transplanted in spring after the growth has started.
If the fresh roots are bruised earlier than this they are liable
to decay, but the wounds will heal over readily when the
vital forces of the tree are active.

Cultural Department.

Culture of the Garden Bean.

ii we study the characteristics and growing habits of both

the dwarf and tall-growing or pole garden Beans, we shall
find that while they are rapid growers and good feeders, with
a root-system which can collect food from a drier and coarser
soil than most garden plants will thrive in, they are not able to
profit much from fresh and “ unmatured” fertilizers, and will
do best on soils which have been made rich by dressings
applied during preceding years rather than the current one;
also, that of the three elements of plant-food, nitrogen, phos-
phoric acid and potash, it is the last two which the Bean plant
seems to find it most difficult to collect in sufficient quantities,
so that application of these two elements, in such form and so
mixed with the soil that the roots can readily take them in, is
most likely to increase the yield and improve the quality of
this crop. We shall also find that the plants are very suscep-
tible to injury from an oversupply of water, particularly at the
root, and a well-drained soil is essential to even a fair growth.
Lastly, while the plants seem vigorous and are rapid growers
under favorable conditions, there are few of our garden plants
which are so easily discouraged and succumb so quickly to
unfavorable conditions, or to any injury, particularly if it be to
the root. The plant seems to lack recuperative power, and a
mutilation of the root, which would be little more than a stimu-
lant to Corn, Cabbage or Lettuce, will stunt or even kill a
Bean plant.

If we keep in mind these characteristics of the plant we will
be able to cultivate it more intelligently and with greater suc-
cess. We should plant our Beans in the driest and warmest
part of our garden. As early as possible in the spring the
Bean plat should be thoroughly spaded and fined to the full
depth of fertile soil; and unless it is already very rich, we
should apply (after the spading) a liberal dressing of well-
rotted manure, ora dressing of from four to twelve pounds
of fine ground bone, and one peck to one bushel of wood
ashes to the square rod. Care should be taken to spread
the fertilizer evenly, and to work it well into the surface
soil. A week or ten days later work the ground over
again and repeat this deep and thorough cultivation every
week or ten days until after the seed is planted and the
first true leaves have appeared. After this the soil should be
stirred or tramped on as little as possible, though any starting
weeds should be destroyed by raking or shallow hoeing which
merely cuts the surface. The secret of a good bean crop,
either in the garden or field, as far as cultivation is concerned,

MAY 13, 1896.]

is to put the soil into the finest possible tilth before the seed is
planted, thus avoiding the injury to the plant which would
inevitably result from stirring the soil after it is filled with
roots. The labor spent in preparing the soil for the crop is

Garden and Forest.

195

and early sorts, like the Mohawk and Black-eyed Wax, quite
early, but the bulk of the crop should not be put in until the
ground is warm and settled warm and dry weather may be
expected. Just after the fall of the early apple-blossoms is

Fig. 31.—Magnolia stellata in a New Jersey Garden.—See page 194.

not wasted, for if it is well done there will be no need of later
cultivation, and surely it is easier and cheaper to do all neces-
sary cultivation before planting than after.

In garden culture it may be well to plant a few of the hardier

usually the best time to plant Beans. As the seed is usually of
good vitality and so large as to be little liable to loss we should
use only a few more seeds than we expect plants.
yield and a poorer quality is often the outcome of overseeding

A poor

196

and consequent crowding. If the dwarf sorts are planted in
drills a plant once in four to eight inches, or two once in
about sixteen inches, are enough, and more than three to five
plants should never be left in a hill. It is well tosow somewhat
thicker than this and thin out as needed when the plants have
formed the first true leaves.

The tall-growing varieties need some support, and we
have found that they “take to” an inclined much better than
to a vertical pole, hence our plan is as follows: We plant the
seed in hills twenty to thirty inches apart in rows running
north and south, and drive a six to eight foot pole slanting at
an angle of about twenty-three degrees to the north; on the
south side of each hill we saw off the tops to a line and con-
nect them with cords. The plants will climb these poles much
better than if vertical, and the pods hanging free are more
easily gathered, while the vines festooned over the cords at
the top are very beautiful. As soon as the plants are well up
all necessary thinning, and in caseof the tall varieties poling,
should be done, and the ground be deeply and thoroughly
cultivated ; after which care should be taken not to compact
it by tramping any more than absolutely necessary. In clean
ground most of the weeds will have been started and killed by
the early cultivation, but if any appear they should be destroyed
yesh attr by raking or hoeing. Will W. Tracy.

Flowers of the Season.

T might be added to the recent note on Tulipa sylvestris
that this is an excellent species to naturalize in the grass or
wild places, owing not only toits vigor, but also to its peculiar
root-action, which conducts the young bulbs away from the
flowering place of the parent. Owing to this habit this Tulip
spreads satisfactorily and continues in vigorous condition
since it occupies new ground. Of course, it is necessary to
plant in good open soil. Good forms of T. sylvestris are of a
rich deep yellow, very fragrant and of a charming habit, the
stems being slightly pendulous at first and only carrying the
flower pertectly upright as it matures. ’T. sylvestris seems to
be widely distributed, and it varies very much in size, though
the smaller varieties may enlarge under good treatment. The
best form in my garden is an Italian one from Dammann.
The flowers are not much pointed and have green markings
on the outer petals; they are of large size, quite in contrast
with some recently collected ones which are not much larger
than a Snowdrop.

Thanks to Holland, one can buy a beautiful display of color
for very little money now, and the mixed Tulips of the cata-
logues should satisty any owner of a garden not given to fads.
However, a nice clump of some special variety or species is
always satisfactory. If only one were to be chosen! would pre-
fer Tulipa Greigi, which is the most brilliantin coloring, of fine
form, and has handsomely variegatedleaves. These are now
becoming reasonable in price. Gesner Tulips pale before
these, but are very satisfactory. I planted over my Tulips last
tall some young plants of Arabis alpina, which covered up the
bare earth, and the combination of the small white flowers
under the Tulips was rather effective.

The Poppies have commenced to flower this week, led by
Papaver alpinum, which seems less generally grown than P.
nudicaule (the Iceland Poppy), one of its near relatives. The
type has finely divided glaucous leaves, but does not differ in
form of flower. There are yellow, white and red varieties, and
some specially dainty ones which show just a suffusion of
coloring in the white. These plants are perfectly hardy if
their crowns are kept above the wet ground. It is better to
sow seeds each spring. Seeds sown now will produce good
flowering plants in late summer, and a majority of them will
winter over safely the first year, at least, and be a delight at
this time. The seedlings are not at all difficult to transplant if
their long roots are borne in mind.

This is also the time of the Primroses, of which one never
has too many. The modern strains of hybrid Primroses, of
which Dean’s is the best, are perfectly hardy and endure our
warm summers, yet such is the uncertainty of the climate that
last winter left me scarcely a plant alive. However, this may
not happen again in another decade, and a new stock is easily
grown trom seed, This is a good time to start them, when
their beauty is most persuasive. Primula cortusoides has win-
tered perfectly, the creeping rhizomes being frost-proof and
the plants deciduous. They are graceful in flowering habit,
but their reddish purple color is not pleasing.

Every one knows the big Crown Imperials, but I fear few
know the beauty of the dwarf Fritillaries, many of which are
now in flower. There is an endless variety of these plants,
but one should commence with F, Meleagris, or Snake’s-head

Garden and Forest. °

[NuMBER 429.

Fritillary, which has large pendulous flowers, white or brown
or reddish, the latter curiously checkered. The Dog-tooth
Violet, too, is generally known, though its beauty is not fully
appreciated. The California forms are, perhaps, not more
beautiful than those of the east, but they differ in effect and
are well worth attention. They do well with mein a moist
border in a very stiff soil. There has been a small procession
of rhizomatous Irises in flower, and their numbers are daily
increasing. They seem to come in about the following order:
I. rubro-marginata, very dwarf; I. Chamzeiris, yellow; I. Olbi-
ensis, dark purple; I. lutescens, light lemon; I. Statelle,
creamy white ; I. pumila, purple, and variety alba.

These flowers are all now in bloom, and they are not rare,

expensive or difficult to secure.
Elizabeth, N. J. FY. IN. Gerard.

Notes from Baden-Baden. =

RITILLARIA LATIFOLIA, var. nobilis, is a dwarf plant
only three to five inches high, but the deep vinous-red
bells are as big as a small hen’s egg, and these enlarge under
cultivation. A very pretty species is F. alpina; its small widen-
ing bells are of a chocolate color, having a bright deep yellow
ring, making it very handsome,

Muscari azureum Freynianumis the largest form of azureum.
It is very early and flowers here early in March, when its tur-
quoise-blue spikelets make it very showy. M. elegans, newly
introduced, has comparatively narrow and rather long spikes
in shades of bright blue, with a tinge of violet. M. Szovitsi-
anum subcceruleum is very striking, the pale sky-blue spikes
giving it particular beauty. M. polyanthum, which I have
introduced from Asia Minor, is somewhat late, but is, perhaps,
the most showy of all. From four to six spikes come trom one
bulb, and these are very large, of a bright, deep and pure blue
which at once attracts attention.

Iris Assyriaca is new and a showy species. It is a Juno of
the Caucasica stamp, with ample foliage, and the flowers, of a
milky white, or sometimes with a shade of blue, are produced
in numbers all along the stem. From five to seven are open

at once, and they last for three weeks. F 5
Baden-Baden. y Max Letchtlin.

Canna Notes.

a ee thoroughly prove the capabilities of a Canna the neces-

sary conditions must be provided. These are good soil,
with cow-manure added, an abundance of water and plenty of
space. Two wheelbarrow-loads of cow-manure are often
allowed for a single bulb. One load should be spread on the
top of the bed and the soil forked out, and another dumped in
the excavation. The well-mixed soil should then be thrown
back and the bed neatly finished for low-growing marginal
plants. A pail of water in the morning and liberal spraying
with the hose at night is advisable.

The season of 1895 added two more Cannas to our tested
list. Antoine Chantin (Farquhar) proved highly satisfactory.
Its habit is graceful, with abundant foliage of a light but vivid
shade of green, which contrasts charmingly with the flowers.
I know of no other Canna which produces so many blossoms
to a flower-stalk. I have counted from six to ten lateral clus-
ters on a single stalk, seven or eight of them in bloom at one
time. The color is pleasing and true to the description given—
cherry-salmon,

Geoffrey St. Hilaire was less satisfactory. It isa good strong
grower, but stiffin outline, and the leaves are not so purple or
chocolate-colored as we are led to suppose. The flowers are
said to be deep orange or capucine-red. The shade of red is
far from agreeable and out of all harmony with the foliage.
Dark-leaved Cannas should never be planted near a highway
if the hose is to be used, as dust from every passing vehicle
settles and sticks remorselessly upon the wet leaves.

Pittsford Mills, Vt. G, A, Woolson.

The Lily Garden.

THE Lily borders on my ground are now offering the best
evidence that the failures so often noted are caused by
carelessness or by want of knowledge of the requirements of
these plants. For many years I have advocated the practice
of mulching Lilies deep enough to keep the frost entirely
away from their bulbs, since careful experiments have made
it evident to me that their hardiness is generally overesti-
mated. It is frost, as I believe, which causes entire failure
of many of the more beautiful sorts and seriously injures the
most hardy ones.

In my experiments I have found it almost impossible to
decide as to the method of planting which affords the greatest

ee STE eT

May 13, 1896.]

satisfaction; whether in the mixed border, in groups, in beds
with each variety kept separate, or in beds with all the species
mixed without the slightest regard to class or order. For the
past three years in our private garden we have adopted the
latter plan, and in this way we havea Lily bed in which there
are flowers from early in June until September.

Frost in winter and drought in summer are alike fatal in
their results. All Lilies seem to like a loose moist,soil which
is well drained. Two of our native species, Lilium Canadense
and L. superbum, grow freely in wet marshes or swampy
grounds, their native habitat, but they both succeed better
when planted in dry ground if properly mulched in summer,
so that the soil is always moist and cool, and the same condi-
tions best suit all other Lilies.

Our beds have been planted three years, the bulbs being
placed singly about eighteen inches apart each way. They are
a mass of strong-growing healthy plants ; not a single variety
has dropped out, and in many instances where but a single
bulb was planted there is nowa clump of six, notwithstand-
ing that each spring all the small bulbs that form at the base
of the stems the year previous have been removed. This plan
should always be practiced, not only to increase stock, but to
give the old bulbs all the plant-food within reach. The beds
are covered about the firstof December with coarse litter from
the stable; we prefer that from the horse and cow stables
mixed. Thisis put on to the depth of three inches, the paths
between the beds being also covered to prevent the frost from
working its way down from the outer edges to the bulbs. This
has proved ample protection, and during the last six years the
frost has never reached a bulb. L. auratum, which is gener-
ally considered a difficult subject to manage, has averaged
three stems from a single bulb. Some of these are now (May
6th) two feet high and nearly three-fourths of an inch in
diameter. Plants of L. monadelphum, which are quite as diffi-
cult to manage, are proportionately strong ; L. Hansoni, which
is provokingly slow to propagate, has this year nearly doubled
in numbers, each stem being equally as strong as the single
‘stems of last year. The delicate little Lilium tenuifolium and
its nearly related L. Chalcedonicum are proportionately strong.
Many of the latter will bear fifteen to twenty flowers on a single
stem this year. Immense is the only word that fitly describes
plants of L. speciosum. Last year we had forty flowers ona
single stem, and this year we hope for what we have been try-
ing for years to obtain—fifty howers from a single spike. This
is not from the Monstrosum section, a class we do not grow,
leaving those for tastes that crave unnatural forms.

Lilium Brownii and L. Colchesterii produce flowers that for
the brief period of their existence are equal to the best Lilies,
and their near relatives, L. longiflorum and L. eximium, which

~ are not reliably hardy, if the beds are only mulched so as to

exclude all frost will thrive with as much vigor as L. tigrinum,
which nothing can kill.

On the ioth of April we raked off the coarsest of the mulch,
leaving the remainder, which is so fine as not to obstruct free
growth of the more delicate kinds. As this is carried into the
soil by the rains, we shall add more, using only that which is
well rotted and fine. This is the only cultivation given, and
all that seems required. We find the less we stir the earth
the better, as the whole surface of the bed is a mass of fine
roots, and anything which disturbs them injures the plants, not
only for this year’s production of flowers, but for the develop-
ment of the bulbs, upon which future success depends.

Floral Park, N. Y. C. L. Allen,

Saxifraga crassifolia —This is one of the best of earliest-flow-
ering hardy plants. The leaves are from six to eight inches
long by four wide and obovate in outline. The flower-stalks
rise directly from the root-stock, and the Howers, which are of
a deep pink color, are borne ona thyrsoid panicle. This plant
is used largely for spring bedding in England, and when set
among blue and white Dutch Hyacinths the effect is very good.
The large leaves of the Saxifrage give furniture to the beds
and help to keep the soil cool and moist, thereby prolonging
the flowering season of the Hyacinths. As this Saxifrage is
quite hardy it may be used effectively for the same purpose
here. It is easily propagated by division of the root, or by
seed, which should be sown in the greenhouse early in Feb-
ruary, and the seedlings grown on all summer for planting in
the beds in the fall. We have another Saxifrage here which I
have always known as S. cordifolia. The leaves are somewhat
larger and heart-shaped, and come into flower about ten days
later than S. crassifolia. According to /udex Kewensis these
two species are now considered identical, though they appear
to be sufficiently unlike, horticulturally at least, to be distin-
guished by different names, Both are natives of Siberia,

Garden and Forest.

197

Menyanthes trifoliata.—This pretty subaquatic or bog plant
is now in flower, April 29th, on the edge of an ornamental
pond in this garden. The stems are prostrate and the leaves
trifoliate, with sheathing petioles. The flowers are borne on
erect spikes from nine to twelve inches long. The individual
flowers are white, with beautifully fringed petals, and are
about half an inch in diameter. It belongs to the Gentian
family, and is commonly called the Buckbean.

Stylophorum diphyllum.—This plant may well be considered
as a standard herbaceous plant. It is one of the earliest to
flower, and continues on well into the summer. The fistulate
stems rise above the foliage, and the flowers are borne in an
umbel at the summit. They are bright yellow, about two
inches in diameter. Most of the leaves are radical, pinnatifid,
and about one foot long. The stems have two opposite leaves
just below the flowers, from which the specific name is given.
It is easily propagated either by seed or division of the root.
Edward F. Canning.

Botanic Garden, Northampton, Mass.

Pampas Grass.—Last spring we raised some plants of Pam-
pas Grass.from seed, about a dozen in all. As soon as they
could be handled they were put into thumb pots and then into
three-inch size, and subsequently planted out along with other
grasses. In the fall they were lifted and divided up into as small
pieces as possible, put in three-inch pots, kept in a cool house
and potted on and divided again, until now there are about a
hundred nice healthy plants in four and five inch pots. They
make their thick succulent roots so rapidly that it is surpris-
ing how soon they fill the pots. In this section of the country
the plants occasionally get winter-killed if left unprotected.
A good way to protect old plants is to place over the
crowns old cement barrels with the ends knocked out and fill
them up with dry leaves. This protection will carry them
safely through very severe winters.

Viola pedata.—The Birdsfoot Violet is probably the showiest
of our many beautiful native Violets, and the ease with which
it is cultivated should make it quite a favorite among spring-
flowering plants. The plants succeed well in soil just the
opposite to that in which they grow in their native haunts. In
this locality Viola pedata is found principally in sandy vege-
table mold, but in a border of heavy wet loam in which I put
several plants three or four years ago, it thrives and flowers
well. Of the three distinct forms which I have met in a wild
state the commonest is the variety Bicolor, with the two
upper petals very dark purple, the under ones pale lavender ;
this variety is especially showy. The monocolored form has
the petals much the same color as the under petals of Bicolor.
The third form is by no means common ; the colorsare rather
startling, the two upper petals being dark, as in Bicolor, with
the lower ones pure white. This isa shy bloomer and does
poorly under cultivation. Ina fully exposed part of the rock-
garden here several pockets are given up to their cultivation.
The soil provided is the same as that in which they grow natu-
rally. Every year young plants come up thickly from self-sown
seed. These are weeded out, as the old plants remain quite
vigorous year after year. On the approach of hot weather the
plants are given a top-dressing of leaf-mold annually, and for

two or three weeks the display of bloom is gay. Ee
Botanic Garden, Washington, D. C. . = G.W. O.

Tussilago Farfara.—This imported weed, commonly called
Coltsfoot, has given me much satisfaction as an ornamental
plant since it possesses much beauty and fills an important
place in the lower garden. Some years ago I planted several
of these plants upon an embankment of red clay, sand and
muck on the north side of one of the wings of the house,
where it was exposed to the direct sunshine only in the after-
noon. The plants speedily clothed the embankment, densely
covering it with large tropical-looking foliage all summer long,
while in March or April, before a leaf appears, it sends up
many scaly stems five to eight inches long, bearing handsome
rich yellow heads of flowers nearly an inch across, but fully
open only in the sunshine. Besides, it endures our severest
droughts and looks flourishing and healthy all summer long.
It should, however, receive some protection in winter, as
every part of the prostrate rhizomes, or root-stems, left uncov-
ered is sure to be killed if exposed to the freezing and thawing
of our changing winter, and this will be sure to destroy many

of the curious flower-buds which form in autumn, All the
parts covered, however, will be sure to live. The flowers are
really pretty, but its foliage is its chief beauty. The leaves
rise on long (eight or ten inches), thick purple stems, and at-

tached directly to the creeping rhizome, or root-stalk, and are
at first covered by a dainty covering of wool, which soon dis-

198

appears, and the leaves become of a beautiful rich shining
green, with purple veins, round and broad, heart-shaped,
angular, their greatest breadth equaling their length—that is,
from six to eleven inches where broadest. I know of no low-
growing plant that produces such a rich mass of large tropical-
looking foliage. I heartily recommend this plant for densely
covering embankments, slopes, stream or lake borders, where
the soil contains clay, sand and muck or rich loam, But it
should exclusively occupy the ground where planted, as it will

crowd everything else out. a
Rochester, Mich. Wilfred A, Brotherton.

Correspondence.

The California Frosts.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—The mean temperature of February was five degrees
above the normal, while the mean temperature of April has
been five degrees below normal. We have had very severe
frosts in nearly all parts of the state, and, of course, vineyards,
orchards and gardens have suffered. It will be impossible to
determine the exact extent of the loss for a fortnight or more,
but the best authorities think that the cherry crop of the state
is lessened one-half. Almonds and Apricots also have suf-
fered severely. Contracts are being made for wine grapes,
delivered in autumn, at something like three times the price
offered a month ago.

I lately visited the Sacramento Valley. At Chico I found that
the crop of the famous Bidwell orchards was practically de-
stroyed, excepting peaches, half a crop, andapples. Even the
vegetable gardens in this district have suffered so severely
that in some cases replanting several times over became
necessary. One orchard of two hundred acres of large Almond-
trees will not produce enough this year to pay for picking.

The spring frosts have not yet seriously injured the Citrus
fruits, so far as I can learn; it is the deciduous fruits which
have suffered most. Prunes have escaped fairly well in many
cases ; some districts will have a very light crop, and much
fruit may yet fall from the trees. There is hope, of course,
that higher prices may be the result, and so the net yield of
many orchards will be kept up to the average, but the fruit-
growers feel discouraged over the outlook.

The truthis, that California, like all other places, has fluctuating
seasons, and if we plant immense areas in fruits, often with-
out any scientific study of the locality in question, we must, of
course, learn by experience. There are all kinds of climates
here, some of them adapted to a wide range of vegetation.
The chief characteristics of the climate of the leading horti-
cultural districts are dryness of atmosphere and coolness of
the nights.

The southern states excel California in raising sweet potatoes,
melons, cotton and many other crops which require a moist,
warm atmosphere. Cassava, sugar-cane and rice do not thrive
as well in any part of California, so far as tested, as in the
warmer coast regions of the southern states. Occasionally en-
thusiastic Californians attempt to introduce Cinchona into cul-
tivation, or Coffee, Vanilla, the Cocoa Palm or Pineapples, but
without success. Even our mildest and most perfect climates
are fortunately far removed from the ferra caliente type.
Every part of California is subject to the influence of our great
mountain ranges. In ten thousand valleys and sheltered nooks
up and down the Coast Range, or along the giant Sierras,
vineyards and orchards are and will be planted in spite of
occasional trying seasons which determine unfit locations, and
readjust the industry to actual climatic conditions. New
orchards will be more wisely planted ; unprofitable orchards
will be grafted over, or will give place to other crops. Dif-
ferent districts will settle down to the production of whatever
fruit they can best produce, and we shall no longer hear, as
now, of hundred-acre orchards of Apples, Peaches, Prunes,
Cherries, Almonds or Walnuts, planted where the Apple,
Peach, Prune, Cherry, or whatever else it may happen to be, is
foreordained to bean uncertain crop. There is enough suit-
able land in California for all these industries, but it necessarily
takes a good many years to trace out the minor isotherms.

Niles, Calif. Charles H, Shinn.

The Evonymus Scale in Japan.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—In the Report of the Department of Agriculture for
1880, Professor Comstock described Chionaspis evonymi,
which had destroyed nearly all the shrubs of Evonymus lati-
folia at Norfolk, Virginia. At that time it was supposed to

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 429.

occur also on Orange, but this proved to be an error, the spe-
cies on the Orange being distinct. More recently the Evony-
mus scale has appeared on cultivated Evonymus in Europe,
and in Italy economic entomologists have been at some pains
to devise methods for its destruction.

Mr. Craw now sends me some twigs of the Japanese Evony-
mus on which are numbers of the same scale, mixed with a
few Aspidiotus rapax. The plants arrived from Japan, and
were destroyed by Mr. Craw in his capacity of horticultural
quarantine officer. The occurrence is of peculiar interest, as
showing the probability that Japan is the true home of this
destructive scale.

While writing I may mention that Mr. Craw also sent a leaf
of Aspidistra on which were many Aspidiotus ficus. It was
from Osaka, Japan; 850 plants were destroyed. This insect
is well known in America also, but it is a matter of special
interest to note that very many of these scales trom Japan
show from one to three parasite holes, indicating that A. ficus
has an important parasite in that country which it might be

ll to introd I :
well to introduce here TD. A CHEE

Agric’l Experiment Station, New Mexico.

Notes from West Virginia.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—On the landscape-gardener devolves the delightful task
of helping Nature to make beautiful pictures of our homes.
Here, in amateurish fashion, we try to imitate his work and
devise harmonious effects each year.

By the front piazza is a group now in luxuriant bloom, con-
sisting of the pink and white varieties of the double-flowering
Almond, with clumps of Mertensia Virginica from a neighbor-
ing pasture-field, hiding the stems of the shrubs which are
apt to be bareand unsightly. The lovely shades of pink and clear
blue are relieved by the pure white ot the Snowy Almond, and
there are no high colors near to mar the effect. But the salient
features of the garden now, on this second day of May, are the
large-flowering Dogwoods, mingled with Red-buds, against
a dark background of Cedar; the groups of flowering Apples
and Cherries, and the beautiful mass of Exochordas and Xan-
thoceros in a prominent position on a little knoll. All this
conspicuous bloom, together with many handsome red and
white Japan Quinces and white Spirezeas and a few white
and purple Magnolias, is making the grove a lovely wilderness
of flowers.

The rock-garden is very fascinating and has taught me many
lessons of late. I have learned that Alyssum saxatile, Santo-
lina and some other herbaceous perennials disappear in win-
ter in a stiff clay soil, and that Hellebores cannot resist our hot,
dry summers without plenty of watering. I have had reluc-
tantly to give up the whole charming Heath family, with its
beautiful Andromedas, Kalmias, Rhododendrons and Azaleas.
They refuse to be happy in our most carefully prepared beds
of peat and rich mealy loam. Our dry summers wither them,
our winter suns scorch them, and they pine and dwindle and
disappear. Only one member of the family remains with us,
and that without special care. This is the fragrant Clethra
alnifolia. I used to think I could, by constant care, keep Rho-
dodendrons in comfortable health. They did not increase
much in size, but they bloomed for me as long as they lived,
though that was nota long period, and constant renewals were
necessary to keep their border presentable. Now the last
lingerer has vanished from Rose Brake, and they are among
our extinct species.

But if Rhododendrons despise our stiff clay soil, Roses
revel in it, and Pzonies thrive amazingly on the strong food
we give them, and a multitude of beautiful plants are hurrying
forward to fill up the vacancies in the shrubberies. Nature
will not grow everything everywhere, and that is just the rea-
son that each locality has its own distinctive charm.

Shepherdstown, W. Va. Danske Dandridge.

Maple Sugar in Vermont.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—The maple-sugar season of 1896 in Vermont began
under difficulties. In many cases the weather made pleasant
promises early in the season, which it failed to keep. Nearly
all sugar-makers tapped their trees during the first week in
April, and some as early as March 25th. But the cold, raw
winds of succeeding days greatly interfered with the sap-flow.
Later, however, the weather turned warmer; and for a week
or two sugar-makers had all the sap they could handle. Some
who have large sugar-orchards were forced to work nights as
well as days. The season, as a whole, was much shorter than

MAY 13, 1896.]

usual, the bulk of the sugar having been made up within ten
days. By April 15th most makers had finished, and by the
zoth all were through. \

The crop is probably below the average in quantity, but is
said to be considerably above the average in quality. Constant
improvement in methods and facilities of manufacture of
itself tends to raise the quality of the product year by year.
The use of improved evaporators gives cleaner and lighter-
colored sugar than could be made in the old-style kettles ; and
the prejudice against the lighter-colored article is rapidly dis-
appearing. It is probable that, without reference to this year’s
crop, the quantity of maple sugar made in Vermont is on the
increase. The increase comes both from the working of a
larger number of trees and from better methods of manu-
facture. :

The prices realized for sugar and syrup vary greatly in dif-
ferent parts of the state and at different seasons. Some of the
first sugar put on the market brought the makers sixteen to
seventeen cents a pound, while a great deal was sold in the
country markets at seven to ten cents. Probably the bulk of
the crop sold up to date brought the makers ten to twelve
cents. Syrup sold generally at from sixty to ninety cents a
gallon, though many makers put their best product up in one-
gallon cans and sold on private markets at $1.00 a gallon.

The Vermont farmer feels that his sugar orchard is one of
his best pieces of property. It has been estimated that such
property pays an annual dividend of ten to twelve per cent. on
the investment. Whereas a few years ago there was quite a
tendency to cut Maple-trees and clear away the sugar orchards,
the present feeling is rather to encourage the extension of the
maple-sugar industry. Vermont is proud of the high standing
which her maple sugar has achieved in the market, and she
gives hearty support to the laws which enable her to give con-
stant assurance that the standard will be maintained.

Last year’s run of sugar was also somewhat below the aver-
age, which is probably about 15,000,000 pounds, not counting
syrup. This is greater than the output of any other state in
the Union.

There are a great many Red Maples throughout the state
which are sometimes tapped without distinction between them
and the true Sugar Maples. Some makers are really unable to
distinguish the twospecies. Others consider both equally avail-
able as sugar producers. Still another faction consider the
sugar of the Red Maplesinferior and do not tap the trees, though
they may be thickly intermixed with the true Sugar Maples
which are being tapped. The preponderance of opinionseems
to be against admitting the Red Maple to a full equality with
the Sugar Maple as a sugar producer. Fo aeek:

University of Vermont.

Trees and Shrubs in Flower at Germantown.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—I am writing on the 8th of May, and trees and shrubs
are much farther advanced than usual at this date. The first
Pear-blossoms rarely open before the 5th of May. Now the
petals have all fallen and the fruit is quite perceptible. The
various varieties of the common Lilac, Syringa vulgaris, are
now at their best, but this is little in advance of their usual
season. The plant here that most deserves special mention,
however, is Ungnadia speciosa, the Spanish Buckeye, which is
now flowering here, and perhaps it has never flowered out-of-
doors before so far north as this. Our plant came from Texas
some ten years ago, and it has been killed almost to the ground
every year, although it started up again vigorously each spring.
For some reason it went through last winter without any pro-
tection, and is now flowering finely. The rose-colored flowers
are large and handsome, opening in pairs, with two or three
pairs clustered together. Unlike other Buckeyes, its leaves are
pinnate, and the young shoots remind one of the Walnut as
they burst forth. It becomes a tree of considerable size in
some parts of Texas, and, no doubt, with some protection it
could be made to flower in this latitude every year. Other
trees and shrubs in flower which attract attention now are the
Paulownias, the beautiful Magnolia Fraseri, the Silver-bell
Tree, some of the Thorns, our native Crab, the Flowering Dog-
wood and its varieties, Viburnum Lantana, Xanthoceras, the
rare Neviusia from Alabama, Exochorda, sometimes called
the Pearl Bush, a near relative of the Spirceas ; Rhodotypus,
Kerria, Spireea Thunbergii, which is almost past its best;
S. prunifolia and S. Van Houttei, which is just in flower; the
Tartarian Honeysuckle and some of the early-flowering Tam-
arisks and the hardy Azaleas. The list, however, could be

made twice as long.
Germantown, Pa. 8 Foseph Meehan.

Garden and Forest.

199

Recent Publications.

Hand-list of Conifere grown in the Royal Gardens at Kew.
—Students and cultivators of coniferous trees will find this
hand-book a helpful guide to the plants cultivated in the
Royal Gardens, and a useful key to the synonymy and
geographical distribution of the species of this most impor-
tant order. Two hundred and twenty-seven species, with
340 varieties, belonging to thirty-seven genera, are enumer-
ated. In the preface, which was prepared by Sir Joseph
Hooker, who for more than half a century has devoted
special attention to the study of these plants, we learn
something of the increase of knowledge with regard to them.
Of the Abietineze, Linnaeus, in 1753, knew but ten species,
all of which were included under his genus Pinus. In
1789, when the first edition of Aiton’s Hor/us Kewensis
appeared, the number of known species had increased to
nineteen; in 1841 the number had increased to fifty-two,
and in 1866, when Parlatore published his classical mono-
graph of the Coniferee in De Candolle’s Prodromus, one
hundred and sixty-two species of Abietineze are described.

Among some of the interesting plants in the old Kew
Pinetum is aspecimen of Ginkgo biloba, introduced in 1754,
and originally trained against a wall like a fruit-tree. The
Deodar, Cedrus Deodara, was introduced in 1831. It
has not proved satisfactory at Kew, and has disappointed
the expectations formed of it, while the Mount Atlas
Cedar, Cedrus Atlantica, grows with great rapidity. One
of the most conspicuous trees in the garden is a speci-
men of Pinus Laricio, planted in 1825 and still in good
condition.

The value and interest of the Kew collection of conifers
is greatly increased by the facilities afforded by the tem-
perate house for growing to a large size representatives of
genera which are not hardy in the English climate, like the
Araucarias, the New Zealand, Malayan and New Caledo-
nian species of Agathis, a genus related to Cunninghamia
and Araucaria, and the Tasmanian Arthrotaxis, Tetraclinis,
Callitris and Actinostrobus, Widringtonia Whitei, the Milanji
Cypress, from the mountains of eastern equatorial Africa,
an interesting timber-tree probably of great economic
value, the Fitzroyas of Tasmania and Patagonia, and sev-
eral others. .

Some idea of the richness of the Kew collection in hardy
conifers will appear in the fact that twenty-six varieties of
the common Picea excelsa, or Norway Spruce, are culti-
vated, while of the ordinary Yew no less than thirty-seven
garden varieties are enumerated. The arrangement of the
genera and the names and synonymy are those now gen-
erally adopted by Dr. Masters, the learned editor of Zhe
Gardeners’ Chronicle and the English authority on conifers.

The value of the Hand-list, which is sold in the Royal
Gardens for threepence, is very greatly increased by a full
index of the names and synonyms of all the plants which
it enumerates.

Notes.

’ Professor William Saunders, Director of the Experimental
Farm in Ottawa, has received the degree of Doctor of Laws
from Queen’s University for work done in advancing agricultural
science and for work of a similar character in connection with
the Royal Society.

Now is the time for beginning work against the Elm beetle,
and all persons who have any responsibility for trees in public
grounds or private places should prepare at once for an active
campaign. The TownImprovement Association of Plainfield,
New Jersey, did a timely thing last week by inviting Mr.
Southwick, Entomologist of the New York Park Department,
to deliver a lecture, with illustrations of the most dangerous in-
sects and the most approved machinery for holding them in
check. If the people of Plainfield follow Mr. Southwick's
plain directions they will not be lamenting over the defolia-
tion of their street-trees this year.

The early-flowering bush Honeysuckles, like Lonicera
Standishii and its near ally L. fragrantissima, whose odorous

200

flowers appear before the leaves, opened here fully a month
ago, but just now L. Morrowi is covered thickly with its little
white flowers somewhat in advance of the Tartarian Honey-
suckles. This is a beautiful plant, and later on it makes a fine
appearance whenin fruit, although, perhaps, not quite as inter-
esting in late June as L, Ruprechtiana with its dark red bloom-
covered berries. These two are among the very best of gar-
den shrubs for this latitude, being perfectly hardy and of
admirable shape and easily propagated. L. Morrowi comes
from Japan and L. Ruprechtiana from Manchuria.

The single-flowered form of Pzonia tenuifolia is rare in gar-
dens, although, like many other single-flowered Pzonias, it is
handsomer than the double-flowered variety. The segments
of the leaves of the single-flowered P. tenuifolia are rather
broader than those of the plant more generally grown, which is
also beautifulin form and color. Both are perfectly hardy, and
once planted they need only ordinary care to flower abun-
dantly every spring. Another beautiful flower whichis rather
ahead of its time is the Satin Flower, Ornithogalum nutans, a
plant of the Lily family, with a raceme of half a dozen nodding
bell-shaped flowersan inch long with white perianth segments
flushed with pale green without and shining like satin within.
It is an old-fashioned flower and it does not deserve the neglect
into which it has fallen,

Professor W. F. Massey writes to Zhe Southern Planter that
he begins to doubt whether the Albemarle Pippin is simply
the Newtown Pippin modified by soil and climate. During
last winter he has had winter apples sent from the best Pippin-
growing region of Albemarle, produced by trees which had
been brought from the north. They were not identical with
the genuine Albemarle Pippin, but were distinctly the northern
Newtown Pippin. He thinks there is danger that the growers
of what is known as the Albemarle Pippin will lose their pres-
tige if they continue to get Newtown Pippin trees from northern
nurseries and plant them in the hope of getting Albemarle
Pippins. The only safe course, he thinks, is to propagate from
the original Ragged Mountain stock and consider the apple as
a distinct variety. Whether it is so or not is a matter for
pomologists to discuss. If the two varieties are not distinct
he believes that it will take generations to change the northern
form to a genuine Albemarle Pippin. He adds that WineSaps
and York Imperials grown in the Piedmont country are becom-
ing the most popular apples in the northern and foreign mar-
kets, and that both in Virginia and North Carolina there are
thousands of acres where these varieties can be grown, to one
acre where the Albemarle Pippin will thrive.

Some time ago we published an article relating to the appre-
ciable drying up of the small lakes of Minnesota and of South
Dakota. From this it appeared that throughout the whole
area of these states the larger lakes had diminished in volume,
and the smaller ones have dried up. The monthly Weather
Review, published by the Department of Agriculture and
edited by Professor Cleveland Abbe, in speaking of these facts,
says that the average rainfall for ten years past may have been
slightly below the normal in these states, but not so much
below as to justify the conclusion that this change in the lake
levels is due to any great change of climate or meteorological
condition. The true reason for this drying up of the lakes is
said to be the cultivation of the soil and the artificial changes
in drainage. Every acre of virgin prairie plowed up and culti-
vated begins to evaporate into the air the moisture that it
formerly held, every new drain that is dug helps the water that
once settled in the soil to flow off into the river. Agriculture
begins with an effort to drain rich lowlands that are too wet
and ends by artificially watering the dry uplands and warm
lowlands—that is, we begin by evaporating and draining off
the water that we eventually wish to get back again. To all
this it may be said that the advocates of underdraining uplands
claim that this practice by changing the texture of the soil and
in other ways actually leaves more available moisture for the
roots of crops than could be found in the same soil before the
drains were laid. That is, it is held that underdraining is a
good defense against drought.

Professor John B. Smith, of the New Jersey Experiment Sta-
tion, writes to Zhe Rural New-Vorker that he is about leaving
for California to study the character of the ladybird beetles,
which feed on scale insects in general and upon the San José
scale in particular, so as to determine which of them offer the
best chance of surviving in the east. When he has selected
the California insects he will distribute them at different places
in New Jersey and in Florida, and colonies will also be sent to
Maryland and Virginia, so as to give these insects from the

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 429.

Pacific coast as many chances of becoming acclimated as pos-
sible. Itmay be that they will survive without any trouble in
Florida, and from Florida colonies can be easily sent north.
If they survive in Virginia it will be easy to select specimens
to send to New Jersey hereafter, and the chances are that each
generation will become a little better fitted to sustain our
changeable climate. The reason forall this is that the San
José scale, introduced irom California some years ago, 1S
increasing rapidly in the east, and no applications have been
as yet successful in arresting their progress. On the Pacific
coast there are natural enemies like the ladybirds introduced
from Australia, which hold the scales in check, and although
there are many difficulties in the way of introducing insects
from one climate to another where they differ so widely as the
Pacific coast climateand our own, still there is ground for hope
that some species, if properly selected, might endure our
climate. At any rate, itis worth trying, and the Legislature of
the State of New Jersey, at the request of the Board of Agri-
culture, appropriated last winter a thousand dollars for the
experiment. Professor Smith’s mission and its results will be
watched with interest.

Bidwell peaches, from Florida, the first of this fruit seen this
year, were sold here on the 7th instant, and now command
$1.00 to $1.25 a dozen at retail. Peaches from New York state
hot-houses, the white skin beautifully marked with pink, cost
from $2.00 to $10.00 a dozen in boxes holding six neatly
wrapped fruits. Cherries, from California, are coming in lim-
ited quantities, owing to injury to the crop by frost, and not in
the best condition, but are of fair size and color. They cost
$1.00 a pound. The first cherries of the season from North
Carolina reached New York on Monday, but were small and
unattractive, and met no demand. Richly colored strawber-
ries, from Charleston, of large size, long and green at the tip,
on Saturday sold for thirty cents a quart box at retail, and the
first Downings, from Maryland, more spherical and even deep
red in color, brought twenty-five cents. Cups of Sharpless
strawberries, from near-by hot-houses, containing a dozen
immense fruits, cost fifty cents, and smaller berries twenty
cents. These are decorated with their own foliage. Navel
oranges, from California, may still be had for seventy-five
cents, and grape-fruit, from Jamaica, for $1.00 to $2.00 a dozen.
Limes cost from thirty to fifty cents a dozen. Shipments of
Jamaica oranges continue, and one steamship last week dis-
charged 228 barrels of this fruit at this port, besides 14,000
cocoanuts. Porto Rico pineapples of the largest size, with
luxuriant tops and three to six heavy shoots at the base, com-
mand seventy-five cents each. Lychee nuts are seen in all the
best fruit-stores, and, more rarely, cocoanuts in their outer
shell, and Brazil nuts in round shells five inches in diameter,
each enclosing from eighteen to twenty-four individual nuts
closely packed together.

The windows of the uptown flower-stores still make attrac-
tive displays of choice flowers in simple and harmonious
arrangements. One window of the four in one of the best
establishments, on Saturday, showed half a dozen small vases
containing loose, graceful masses of the yellow Sweet Sultan,
Centaurea moschata, the clear lemon-fringed flowers standing
out effectively above the Asparagus with which the floor was
loosely carpeted. The only other decoration in this window
was an immense bronze vase bearing a mass of the bold and
striking Parrot tulips, with their confusion of rich yellow,
green and crimson splashes and stripes, relieved by handsome
glaucous foliage. Neat and tasteful flat bamboo baskets in
their natural color, for orders for cut flowers, were displayed by
another firm. Here the clean and cool-looking white tile
flooring made a suitable summer relief for vases of Moss
rosebuds, a bright mass of Meteor roses, sprays of flowering
Almond and Dogwood, and boughs of Apple-blossoms. The
most conspicuous flowers were clumps of late single crimson
tulips, with purple-black markings at the base of the petals.
Other showy exhibits were groups of light gladiolus, the bright
red Peonia tenuifolia, and William Scott, Tidal Wave and
Helen Keller carnations, while among less showy offerings
were the delicate white blossoms of Swainsonia, the yellows
flowered Alyssum_ saxatile, lily-of-the-valley, handsomely
marked pansies, violets and sweet peas. The excessively hot
days in April forced hot-house plants into early and profuse
flowering, some kinds being urged six weeks ahead of the
rightful season, Except in the case of carnations, which had
been in scant supply, a glut naturally followed. Now that this
is past there is sufficient scarcity of roses and some other
cut flowers to hold up wholesale prices, and the season
for flowers grown under glass will undoubtedly be short-
ened,

MAY 20, 1896.]

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrice: Trisung Burtpinc, New York.

Conducted by . . . .~. « « « « « « Professor C. S, SARGENT.

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 1806.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.
EprrortAL ArticLES :—The Reyised Plan for Jackson Park, Chicago. (With

MAPS.) ooececssaccenccsessccceccsecsectesscnseccsseneeneenas veecees 20%

Shrubs, Native and Foreign. Bae cae tetas bane Od

Product of White Pine per Acre...........+- .+++- -.B. E. Fernow. 202

ForREIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—Bamboos in English Gardens.......... W., Watson. 206

CuttruraL DeparTMENT :—The Hubbard Squash and How to Grow It,

Will W. Tracy. 207

The Rock Garden.........-+ pfoiste eeinrelainiea(icts's Sisisfacatis's ws) Tes T. D. Hatfield. 207

Notes from the Arnold Arboretum.. ‘ackson Dawson. 208

Flower Garden Notes ....0+..ceeecetsecsccesceser ses --.£. O. Orpet. 208

Carex Japonica variegata, Allium Magaritanicum..

NOTES....- «.-
Ittustrations :—General Plan World’s Columbian Expositio
Revised Plan tor Jackson Park, Chicago.........-++++

The Revised Plan for Jackson Park, Chicago.

T the exhibition of the Architectural League, held in
this city last winter, there was a plan for the improve-
ment of Jackson Park, Chicago, prepared by Messrs. Olmsted,
Olmsted & Eliot, of which we spoke at the time, and we
have since then secured a reduced sketch, which we present
to our readers on page 205, although, of course, many of
the finer details are not evident as they were in the
original. On page 204 we present for comparison the plan
for the World’s Fair site, which covered the same area, and if
we had space it would be interesting to republish a copy of
the original plan of Jackson Park, made in 1871 by Olmsted,
Vaux & Co., and which contained many of the fundamental
ideas which were developed in the later creations. The
plan of the World’s Fair grounds, on page 204, was originally
published in volume v., page 291, of this journal, and the
description then given would be found of interest in con-
nection with the present design. The elements of the
scenery of the park are: (1) the broad view of Lake Michi-
gan commanded from the Shore Drive and the Concourse
on Sunrise Bluff; (2) the spacious fields between the
lagoons and the lake and between the lagoons and the
south-west entrance, each presenting broad, quiet land-
scapes of the simplest pastoral sort, which are pleasingly
commanded from the adjacent drives and walks; (3) the
lagoons, with their intricate and bushy shore-lines, their
beaches and bridges, their almost complete seclusion,
with a scenery in strong contrast to that of the lake-shore
and fields —scenery which can be enjoyed not only from
the shore, but particularly from the boats.

The decision ‘to retain the Art Building of the World’s
Fair for the Field Columbian Museum made it necessary
to revise all the road-lines, together with the walks which
had been designed for the original park and some of those
which had been retained during the Fair, so that the sur-
roundings of the great building should be in harmony with
it. The Circuit Drive is now symmetrical to the right and
left of the north and south axis of the Museum, and the
straight road across the north front has been moved farther
away. The pond south of the buildings is to be recon-

Garden and Forest.

201

structed into a symmetrical basin with architectural out-
lines, and since the character of the planting on the margins
of the lagoons will make them unsuitable for skating and
will not permit the public to walk along the water margin,
the Museum Basin provides for a broad walk a foot above
the water-level, so that the basin can be used for sailing
toy-boats and skating. In connection with these domi-
nating architectural works provision has been made for
considerable decorative planting of a formal kind. The
large conservatory which it had been determined to build
in Washington Park has been appropriately placed in the
formal grounds about the Museum, where it will not be in
view from any important part of the building and where
the differences in the style of architecture of the two will
not be unpleasantly obvious.

The North Haven and Wooded Island will remain sub-
stantially as they were during the Fair, although the shore
of the lagoon is to be more varied with islands and bays.
The west shore of the west lagoon, where the water seemed
too narrow, will be carried a little farther to the west.
The south end of this lagoon will be widened and extended,
leaving a long and narrow island where the Electricity
Building stood. The sites of the Government Building and
Manufacturers’ Building will be turned into slightly undu-
lating meadow, which will be used for tennis and other
lawn games. The Grand Basin in the Court of Honor will
have its outline changed into irregular forms, and it will
become the northern end of the South Lagoon and the Mid-
dle Bay. The view from the West Lagoon Drive is mainly
to the eastward over to the lagoon, and therefore the space
between the drive and the west boundary of the park would
be of comparatively small landscape value, except as af-
fording a screen of foliage against the city, and therefore
two athletic grounds have been planned here, one for men
and one for women, and a smaller space for small children
and infants, with suitable buildings, on the general lines of
similar grounds in Charlesbank, Boston, which have proved
very successful.

In the south-west corner of the park will be a sixty-acre
field with a slightly rolling surface, which will not only
have great value as a piece of landscape, but may be used
for field games of all kinds. It will be restricted, however,
to the use of boys and girls of grammar-school age, not
only to diminsh the wear ofthe turf, but to lessen the dan-
ger to visitors by stray balls, which would be more dangerous
if thrown or batted by men. For the first time a special
provision for bicycles has been made in the shape of a
path around the ball-field, with a large stand, surrounded
by shade-trees, for refreshments and the social reunions
that are apt to take place. This bicycle-path is not for
speeding, but for such promenading as is provided for
equestrians.in London at Rotten Row. <A bridle-path also
makes a complete circuit of the path south of the Colum-
bian Basin.

The point of land between South Haven and the lake is
to be treated as a wild, wind-swept series of dunes. The
ground will have the form of dunes and will be planted on
the slopes toward the lake with Beach Grasses and Sedges,
Beach Pea, low shrubs and other perennials. Back of the
dunes Red Cedars, Prostrate Junipers, Beach Plums and
other bushes appropriate to sand dunes will be grown with
Beach Pine and other native Pines on the lee or western
side of the highest bluff, of which advantage is to be taken
to afford a commanding view for persons in carriages, as
the Concourse at this point will rise to a height of twenty-
five feet above the lake. The University of Chicago hav-
ing developed since the original plan was made, and being
situated on the north side of the Midway Plaisance, an
opportunity has been provided here for boat-racing and
boating carnivals, and the series of basins connected by
narrow canals in the original plan has been changed to a
canal uniformly a hundred feet wideand long enough for
a mile race. The bridges to carry streets across the canal
will have a hundred-foot span, so as to offer no obstruc-
tion to navigation. A broad walk on either side of the

202

canal affords facilities for thousands of people to view the
races and carnivals without danger of damaging the
grounds. Since the lagoons in the park are entirely unsuit-
able for racing or other spectacles which would cause great
crowds to assemble on the shores, this will afford oppor-
tunity for wholesome sport without danger to delicate
natural planting.

A mound from six to eight feet high, with a compara-
tively gentle slope all round the north, west and south sides
of the park, is to be constructed for the purpose of conceal-
ing the city streets even in winter, and to reflect back as
much as possible the noise of city traffic. These mounds
are to be covered by trees, spaced sufficiently far apart to
permit them to grow low branches, and dense shrubbery
plantations will be grown outside of them and under them.

This is the plan in general outline, but we have omitted
mention of the facilities for boating and yachting and many
provisions for public accommodation apart from those
which directly help to the enjoyment of the landscape.
There are an unusual number of such introductions, and
the skill of the architect is shown by placing these, not
only so that they will do as little damage as possible to the
turf and the plantations, but in such a way that they will
not injure the beauty of the prospects and will interfere
as little as possible with visitors who come to the park for
the enjoyment of the landscape, for quiet and for secluded
recreation. Besides the structures we have mentioned, like
the conservatory, the museum and the like, we might name
the picnic shelter at the north-east corner of the park,
the Germania restaurant, the bath-house, the music court,
the various field houses connected with gymnasium grounds
for men and women, with the tennis lawns and ball ground,
the Japanese temple, the casino, the service yards and
administration buildings, the life-saving station, the Belve-
dere, with numerous shelters, boat-houses and landings,
carriage-sheds and many other artificial works which by
their nature detract from the beauty of the landscape, but
which all have been concealed by grading or subdued by
foliage. That is, in preparing all these attractions and
conveniences the primary purpose of the park has never
been lost sight of. The landscape is the essence of the
park. The green pastures and still waters—pictures of
peace—the outlook over the great inland sea, all the com-
manding charm of the place, has been preserved and
heightened for the refreshment of city-wearied senses. A
study of the map is like a visit to the country. One can
plainly trace long lines of view which offer every advantage
for enjoying the scenery. ‘There are scores of these vistas,
and they control the outline of the lagoons and islands, the
grading and alignment of the roads and walks and the
shape and character of the plantations. Some of them are
purely natural and others are directed to bridges or build-
ings, which, of course, will be carefully designed. Especial
attention is called to the extension of the south lagoon
which lengthens the charming view through the middle of
the park lengthwise of the lagoons, with the Belvedere at
the southern boundary of the park as an objective point
for the long vista from the north end of the east lagoon.

Shrubs, Native and Foreign.

HE uncertainties of gardening are apparent this

spring in the neighborhood of Boston, where many
shrubs, usually considered perfectly hardy, have suffered
during the past severe winter, which has left others, that
might have been expected to have suffered, untouched. Allthe
species of Forsythia, usually remarkable for the profusion
of their flowers, have practically been flowerless this spring,
although their wood is uninjured. The Japanese Weeping
Cherries, Prunus pendula and Prunus Miqueliana, which
have usually been considered perfectly reliable, have lost
all their flower-buds. Ordinary Cherry-trees have been
nearly flowerless, and Pear-trees promise but a scanty crop
of fruit. Spiraea Thunbergi has lost, as usual, the tips of
its branches and most of its flower-buds, and the Wistarias

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 430.

are without flowers. Well-established plants of Deutzia
Sieboldiana are in many cases killed to the ground, and
Deutzia gracilis has lost more of its wood than usual.

On the other hand, Ghent Azaleas, which frequently lose
their flower-buds in severe winters, promise this season an
exceptionally large crop of flowers. Rhododendrons of the
Catawbiense type are uninjured in foliage and flower-buds,
and conifers generally are in better condition than usual at
this time of the year. Apple-trees are covered with bloom,
and all the various Japanese, Chinese and Siberian Crabs are
covered with flowers. The Japanese Pyrus Toringo and
its lovely double-flowered variety, Pyrus Parkmanni, have
never been more beautiful, and the value of these plants in
decorative planting has never appeared greater than it has
this spring. All the Magnolias of the Yunan section, with
the exception of Magnolia Kobus, which still remains flow-
erless, have bloomed profusely, and have this season been
unusually satisfactory, as the flowers have been untouched
by frost or rain. All the varieties of the common Lilac are
as full of flower-buds as usual, and Syringa pubescens is
uninjured, and in a few days will cover itself with its
charming fragrant flowers. The flower-buds, however, of
Syringa oblata of northern China have been greatly injured,
although the semi-double flowered hybrid of this plant,
with Syringa vulgaris, has escaped injury. This is the
earliest of all Lilacs to bloom, and for this reason, although
the flower-clusters are not large, it is a desirable plant.
Cornus florida, which in the latitude of Boston often loses
its flower-buds in severe winters, is uninjured this year ;
and the severity of the winter has made no impression on
the flower-buds of the American Judas-tree, Cercis Cana-
densis. The bush Honeysuckles are all uninjured, and
native Viburnums, Roses and Cornels will bloom as usual.

A winter like the last one emphasizes the fact, if it needs
emphasis, that our native shrubs are best suited for our
climate, and that foreign plants, however hardy they are
usually, are more liable to suffer than native species.
Many exotic shrubs, even those which are considered the
hardiest, are disfigured in spring by dead branches, and
when such shrubs are used in great numbers, as they have
been in the Boston parks, the labor of cutting out the dead
wood is so great that it is rarely attended to, and shrub-
beries present a shabby appearanceallsummer. Our native
shrubs, of course, die sometimes during severe winters or
lose part of their branches, but, as a rule, they are in better
condition after a hard winter than any of the exotic spe-
cies, and with each succeeding season we feel more and
more convinced that for planting on the large scale which
must be practiced in public parks, or on large private
estates, the most satisfactory material will be drawn from
the native flora.

Product of White Pine per Acre.

NE of the elements that need to be known in order to
() discuss the profitableness of forestry is the amount
of useful wood which can be produced per acre. On this
point the most erroneous and extravagant notions exist,
and many calculations are made on paper which can never
be realized. The rate of growth of a tree at a given age is
supposed to continue indefinitely, and this rate is applied
to an acre of trees, the number per acre being guessed high
enough to makea good showing, and then the total amount
of wood, or at least a large percentage of it, is supposed to
be usable, and thus we can compute astonishing yields
for the future.

The latest contribution to these rosy prospects is con-
tained in an article by Mr. Edward Hersey, Superintendent
on the Bussey Farm, near Boston, on the value of the White
Pine as a timber-tree, which, besides several surprising
statements regarding the felling time for Pine, contains the
following :

Careful measurements and estimates of the product of many

acres of Pine timber in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, have
led me to the conclusion that where there is no other timber

May 20, 1896.]

mixed with the Pine, ona warm, loamy soil, in a growth of
from thirty to thirty-five years, one hundred thousand feet of
box-boards may be obtained ; but on an average soil the usual
thirty years’ growth has been found to be about fifty thousand
feet, when but little other wood is mixed with it. The expense
of cutting, drawing, sawing and drying is from $5.00 to $6.00
per thousand feet, which, at the present price of box-boards,
would leave the owner of the land about $2.50 per thousand
on the stump, or $125.00 per acre. This sum would pay a
good interest on the investment if the land had cost not more
than $15.00 per acre when the Pines first started to grow.

Supposedly, the writer, when speaking of feet, does not
refer to the usual unit of board measure, but to the super-
ficial foot with a five-eighth-inch thickness to which
box-boards are usually cut. Translating his measure,
therefore, to the generally accepted board measure, the
100,000 and 50,000 feet represent 62,000 and 31,000 feet,
B. M., respectively. These amounts he claims can be
grown in thirty to thirty-five years.

To simplify further, we may translate this measure into
cubic feet of forest-grown material. It is well known that
in sawing there is a necessary waste in sawdust and slab
amounting, according to the diameter of the log, to from
twenty to seventy-five per cent.—the smaller loss on large,
the larger loss on small logs. A straight log ten inches
across at the smaller end and ten feet long will waste sixty-
five per cent. in common mill practice—that is to say, of
the 5.4 cubic feet of wood in the log 3.5 feet are lost, and
only 1.9 cubic feet reappear in the boards as they fall from
the saw. In other words, to produce one thousand feet,
B. M., one needs to have, noteighty-three (that is 1000-12)
cubic feet of log, but 240 cubic feet.

Since in growths of from thirty to sixty years the amount
of ten-inch log material forms only a small part, the wast-
age on the average would be considerably greater. Yet, to
throw the advantage altogether to the other side, we will not
only admit no larger wastage, but in addition assume that all
the wood from base to top can be utilized, although the
useless tops will in reality average, according to size, from
ten to fifty per cent. and more of the total growth of wood
per acre. We would then require for Mr. Hersey’s claim
7,400 cubic feet of wood on the acre for the smaller and
twice that amount for the larger output, claimed by him as
possible, at from thirty to thirty-five years of age. Although
the White Pine is among our best producers, both these
figures are absurdities, into which the writer has probably
fallen by underestimating the age of the growths which he
measured. The Division of Forestry has during the last
two years made careful and accurate measurements of
many acres and some five hundredsample trees of varying
age from various conditions, which go to show that these
estimates are from fifty to a hundred per cent. too great.
Unfortunately, not a sufficient number of acre yields of the
age of thirty to thirty-five years has been measured to per-
mit their use for argument, but it will suffice to show that
groves of forty and fifty years of age do not produce the
amounts claimed, and that it would require a good stand
of sixty to seventy years’ growth and more to produce any-
thing like the larger figure of 14,800 cubic feet.

It so happens that among the acres measured there were
three from three localities in Plymouth County, Massachu-
setts, the very region to which Mr. Hersey refers. Their
record is as follows :

All the trees over All the trees over All the trees over

3 inches. 6 inches. ro inches.

No. | Age. | Number. | Volume. | Number. | Volume. | Number. | Volume.
I 52 328 6,559 313 6,517 182 5,064
2 50 415 5479 340 5,279 116 2,681
3 | 45 475 5,831 376 55545 136 | 3,111

i

All three stands were considered well stocked. The last
one is of special interest, as it originated by sowing a piece
of pasture (seventeen acres) to Pine just forty-five years
before it was measured, and was considered specially well

Garden and Forest.

203

stocked ; the owner claimed to have cut fifty cords to the
acre, which he calculated equal to 30,000 feet, board meas-
ure, a rather incredible result, even when the total volume
of the trees over six inches is supposed to yield box-boards.

Even if we admit the entire wood production of trees
over three inches in diameter on the best acre given above
amounting to 6,559 cubic feet to cut box-boards, this would
fall short by twelve per cent. of Mr. Hersey’s figure,
although the trees were twenty years older. In reality,
only the trees over ten inches, or eight at best, could be cut
even into box-boards. The best average production of
wood per year per acre (all included) during the first fifty
years appears to be round 150 cubic feet, which for the age
of thirty-five years would make the yield 5,250, of which
less than one-half might be fit even for box-boards, and
15,000 feet, board measure, would be quite a remarkable
result. The acres of thirty to thirty-five years measured,
which, however, we do not consider good, cut fifty per
cent. less.

In growths forty years old, of which we have a number
measured, there will be 400 to 500 trees, in the average
about 425 to the acre. According to the greater or less
number the diameter classes vary; no trees will have
reached a diameter over eighteen inches, and only few, not
more than twenty-five to thirty at best, over fourteen inches,
the majority falling in the diameter class of six to ten
inches, and the number between ten and fourteen inches is
rarely over 150, the total volume varying between 4,000
and 6,000 feet peracre. At best 20,000 feet, board measure,
may be cut, more likely much less.

There is no doubt that by judicious thinning at the right
time and in the proper manner the yield could be increased,
but not even with the best practice would this increase
amount to more than twenty-five or thirty per cent., indi-
vidual development rather than increase of total yield in
the final harvest being the object of the thinnings.

Mr. J. D. Lyman, of New Hampshire, has a growth of
White Pine two-thirds of an acre in extent, fifty to fifty-five
years of age, which he has thinned so that in 1894 only
146 trees remained, or 223 to the acre. As a result a very
considerable development of the individual trees is notice-
able, but not much in the total volume per acre. Most of
his trees are over ten inches in diameter, at least sixteen of
them are over fourteen inches, and the best measured 22.2
inches, the height being seventy to eighty feet. The cal-
culated volume corresponds to a production of 7,185 cubic
feet of wood an acre, which under very careful practice
might cut 30,000 feet, board measure. The best forest-
grown tree, fifty-four years of age, which we have found
standing on this ground was eighty feet high, with a
diameter at base of eighteen inches, and a diameter of four
inches at sixty-five feet, containing altogether seventy-two
cubic feet of wood, sixty-five of which were capable of
being cut into lumber, This tree at thirty years of age
was only 10.8 inches in diameter; at forty years fourteen
inches, and the four-inch top diameter was then at about
fifty-five and sixty feet respectively. If we assumed it
possible to have 300 such trees standing on an acre, which
would be twelve feet each way, the total amount of wood
at fifty-four years would be 21,600 cubic feet, of which
19,500 would make lumber cutting, say, round 100,000
feet, board measure. This would be an ideal stand, which
general practice can hardly hope to attain.

In all the above calculations it must not be overlooked
that we have made reference only to box-boards—that is,
the lowest quality of boards, extremely knotty. If the
object were to grow saw-timber with the largest amount
of clear material the results would be entirely different,
since that would require the growing of a much larger
number of trees per acre until the twenty-fifth or thirtieth
year, when the individuals would develop in length and
by the close stand clear each other of branches, but the
diameter development would suffer. Then they should be
thinned to develop diameter, but it would be necessary to
give considerable time before good sizes are developed ;

204 Garden and _ Forest. [Nowiizr 430.

REFERENCES.

, ARIZONA,

ex UB,
ap
Ase
Q

H} 7. FLORIDA
I] 8.GEORGIA &

12, KANSAS,
13. HENTUCKHY.
14, LOUIS/ANA,

INE,
Rh] /6. MASSACHUSETTS,

RST
WAY

92. W1ONTANA.
I] 23. WEBRASKA
24. WEVADA.

34 ] ISH
H] 25. VEW HAMSHIRE g ‘ ee) y 3) ul
| WEW JERSEY, = \ Hs leat

ASS

—s

25.

26

27

28

99

30

31

32. YY
33. PENNSYVANIA, A Yy
34. RHODE ISLAND. KY

oF
3
3?
38
39
40
4/
42
5
44.

SF SIE

PH
I
GERFEAD

5. CAROLINA. 87 > f en pe
6, 5.DAKOTA, © \ Ni NOHO SSS SOG
<

GREAT BRITAIN,
MEXICO.

GERMANY.

L ECUADOR.
GUATEMALA,

« COSTA RICA

- JAPAN.

« ARGENTINE REPUBLIE:

- BRAZIL, R/O.

SN ROANHOD>

GENERAL PLAN
APRIL 1892.

1000 bad StOp eS: 000 FEET.
198 f° 2 We ad 390 490 590 METRES,

May 20, 1896.] Garden and Forest.

me

ee
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Ss

PERNT y (hie

Re ae i ‘ Ti
4B t94s ONSER

30] 3X [CORNE

x

[f= COL UBT” BASIN

SS 7 fy ACRES
— EZ

=e =

Zs

Thay Oy
- OO RRS
= (CSE
SS) ES

SSS
CE Sz

BALES FIrELO
FOR BOYS AND GIRLS

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——_
a

60 ACRES

EZ
4)

be yee.
4 23-52
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9 205

Re) fe Z y S “>
3S SEN ?
BELVEDERE
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205

REVISED PLAN
FOR

JACKSON PARK

DEGEMBER 1895

SCAIGE.
200 400 600 800 1000"

N° 104

OLMSTED OLMSTED ELIOT Landscape Arch®

BROOKLINE .MASS

206

before the trees are 90 or 100 years it would not pay to
cut them, and then 100,000 feet, not of common box-boards

but of good lumber, may well be expected.
Forestry Division, Washington, D. C. P B. Ei. Fernow.

Foreign Correspondence.

Bamboos in English Gardens.

URING the last six or eight years considerable atten-
tion has been given by certain English and French
horticulturists tothe Bamboos that are sufficiently hardy to
be cultivated out-of-doors in the warmer parts of the king-
dom. Previous to this period Bamboos were practically
unknown as ornamental plants for the garden, the only
species grown generally being the plant then known as
Bambusa Metake, while Arundinaria Falconeri, often erro-
neously called A. falcata, was cultivated in a few gardens
where the conditions were exceptionally favorable. In
1866, Colonel Munro prepared a monograph of Bambusacee,
and in his introductory remarks he stated that ‘‘a large num-
ber of Bamboos are now in cultivation, and, perhaps,
twenty species at Kew alone. I am informed there are at
least fifty in Paris. Few of these, perhaps of Arundinaria
only, are hardy in England, or even in the warmer parts of
Ireland.” There has been a collection of hardy Bamboos
at Kew for at least twenty years, and, according to aletter
from the late Canon Ellacombe to Sir Joseph Hooker in
1879, he had then in his garden at Topsham, near Exeter,
“flourishing most vigorously, a collection of twenty Bam-
busze, all named by General Munro.” Nothing, however,
appears to have been done to prove the value of Bamboos
for the outdoor garden until Kew, Mr. Mitford and Sir E.
Loder took the matter in hand. The Kew collection was
formed partly by purchase from the Japanese nurserymen,
from Monsieur Marliac, of Temple-sur-Lot, and from the col-
lection formed by the late Monsieur Lavalléé at Chateau du
Segrez, near Paris. A garden was made specially for them
in a sheltered, picturesque position, and the collection,
consisting of about forty sorts, was set out in groups and
masses. At the same time Mr. Mitford had decided to
make a feature of hardy Bamboos in his lovely garden at
Batsford, near Stratford-on-Avon. He has always taken an
interest in Kew, partly from his love of plants and also
from his having held for some years the position of secre-
tary to the minister in whose department the Royal Gar-
dens are. Probably the collections at Kew and Batsford
are equally rich in number of species and varieties of Bam-
boo, and the success met with in their cultivation in these
two gardens appears to be on fairly equal lines. Mr. Mit-
ford has utilized the resources of Kew in naming and work-
ing out the history, cultural requirements, etc., of Bamboos
in a most interesting book,* in which he states that the
task of preparing it has not been an easy one, and would
have been impossible but for the kindly help and encour-
agement which he received from Sir Joseph Hooker, Mr.
Thiselton Dyer and several members of the Kew staff. The
outcome of Mr. Mitford’s thoroughness and perseverance in
working up material for his book is a work of considerable
value, both to botanists and horticulturists. It embraces
all that is known of all the hardy Bamboos in cultivation
in England; consequently it will be accepted as the recog-
nized authority on all matters appertaining to these plants
for some years at any rate,

The book is divided into chapters which treat upon the
formation of the Bamboo garden and the positions and
best time of planting for the plants; their propagation ;
the uses of and customs and superstitions connected with
Bamboos ; their classification according to easily recog-
nized characters of habit, culm, leaf, sheath, etc.; descrip-
tion and history of each species ; the future possibilities of
these “Royal Grasses” ; a plea for Bamboos (“ Apologia

* The Bamboo Garden, by A. B. Freeman Mitford, C.B,. Macmillan & Co.

Price,
zos. 6d.

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 430.

pro Bambusis meis”), and a list of the Japanese names of
Bamboos, with their botanical equivalents.

Mr. Mitford is preéminently qualified to write about Japa-
nese Bamboos from his having resided for some years in
Japan. He is the author of Zales of Old Japan, described
as “pictures of Japanese life and manners not worked out
in the monotony of minute detail, but dashed in with bold,
telling touches.” His Bamboo book may be described as
a happy combination of scientific accuracy, reliable prac-
tical directions, and a skillful, charming style. Even the
descriptions of the species are drawn up in such a way as
to interest even readers who know nothing of Bamboos.

Mr. Mitford, while modestly calling his book a descrip-
tive list, claims an attraction for it “in the admirable
drawings furnished by Mr. Alfred Parsons.” I confess to
a feeling of disappointment with regard to these drawings.
They may be art, but they are of no value either to the
gardener or botanist. Photographs of representative plants
would have been more acceptable.

The number of species described in the book as having
proved hardy at Batsford and Kew is forty-five. Of this
number thirty-six are natives of China and Japan, one of
the United States, five of the Himalayas, the other three
being of doubtful habitat. These are all distinct and not
difficult to recognize after a little practice. They present
considerable variety in thickness and height of stem,
size, color and form of leaf and in their manner of
growth. Most of them grow with astonishing rapidity and
are evergreen even through severe winters. The only
drawback Bamboos have is in the somewhat shabby ap-
pearance assumed by some of the sorts in April and May,
the result of the trials of winter. Against this, however,
may be pitted the perfectly healthy appearance they wear
throughout the autumn and winter, when most plants are
looking their worst. There can be no doubt that Bamboos
will add a considerable attraction to the garden, and as
they are not particular as to soil, living and growing in
gravel, or even sand, if only they can obtain a good supply
of moisture, they are available for all gardens where the
climate is not too severe for them. At the same time they
well repay liberal treatment in regard to soil and manure.
All the species described by Mr. Mitford “have stood
through four winters and twenty-six degrees of frost, and
they have resisted an even more deadly enemy than frost
in the droughts of 1892, 1893 and 1895. . . . As for Phyllo-
stachys nigra, nigno-punctata, Boryana, Henonis and
viridi-glaucescens, they simply laughed at the thermometer,
and were as bright at the end of the winter as at mid-
summer.”

The following extract may be taken as a sample of the
style of the author ; it is also interesting as a description
of his own garden at Batsford, one of the most charming,
most informal and, at the same time, richest in grand
effects to be seen in England:

As I write I look out upon a great rolling track of park-land
studded with patriarchal Oaks that were saplings in Plantagenet
and Tudor days, giant Ashes, Elms and Thorns planted in the
reign of good Queen Anne. Far be it from me to introduce
any change into such a scene. It is thoroughly English and
perfect of its kind; no impious hand should dare to tamper
with it. But farther up the hill there is a spot snugly screened
from the cruel blasts which come from north and east, where,
when the great Oaks and Elms, shorn of theirsummer bravery,
are mere gaunt skeletons, there is still some shelter and some
warmth. Here, amid the sparkling glitter of a Holly grove,
are all manner of beautiful evergreens, rare Pines, steepling
Fir-trees, Rhododendrons, Cypresses, Junipers. A tiny rill
trickles over the green velvet of the rocks, with Ferns peeping
out of crannies in which many an alpine treasure is hushed to
rest, waiting the warm kiss of spring and the song of the birds,
that, like Orpheus with his lute, shall raise the seeming dead
from the grave. Tall Rushes and gracefully arching Bamboos,
hardly stirred by the wind, nod their plumes over a little
stream from which the rays of a December sun have just
strength enough to charm the diamonds and rubies and sap-
phires ; a golden pheasant, all unconscious of a human pres-
ence, is preening his radiant feathers by the water-side. Itisa

MAY 20, 1896.]

retreat such as the fairies might haunt, and where in the bitter
Christmastide a man may forget the outside world, and for
one too brief hour revel in a midwinter day-dream of glorious
summer.

There is much thoughtful writing upon gardening in
general, as well as upon Bamboos in particular, in Mr.
Mitford’s book which is certain to rank with the very best

poolsior horticultural literature. W. Walson.

Cultural Department.
The Hubbard Squash and How to Grow It.

N\EEN we consider the great improvement that has been

made in the quality of almost all garden vegetables dur-
ing the last half century, it isa remarkable fact that the Hub-
bard Squash, known and cultivated nearly a hundred years
ago, continues to be the most popular variety. There has
been improvement in uniformity of form and color, and last
fall careful inspection of a forty-acre field, grown for seed,
failed to discover more than twenty-five fruits which showed
any signs of mixture or of being off type. But, while the stock
has evidently become more fixed in external character, there
are those who maintain that it has deteriorated in the quality
of flesh; that the rich, dry, sweet, chestnut-like quality which
made this sortso popular fifty years ago is lost. I think this
apparent loss is due to other causes than the deterioration of the
stock. There are no plants of our gardens in which the quality
of the fruit isso dependent upon conditions of soil and climate.
Gardeners know that it is quite impossible to grow a really
good Melon in cold, wet soil, and that one ripened in a cold,
damp atmosphere is certain to be lacking in flavor and sweet-
ness. The same thing is true of squashes, and to develop the
nut-like dryness and sweetness they must be grown in warm,
dry soil and thoroughly ripened in warm dry weather. Unlike
most plants of the garden they will produce more fruit and of
a better quality on plants of moderate vigor of growth than on
those of rapid and rank growth. Again, Squashes, like
Beans, are more benefited by applications of potash and phos-
phoric acid, but are unlike the legumes in seeming to get
much good from these elements when in a comparatively
slowly soluble form.

To grow good table squashes, then, warm, dry, moderately
rich soil should be selected and cultivation be begun as early
in spring as possible. A liberal dressing of wood ashes is
necessary, a full bushel to the square rod beingas littleas should
be used. Just before planting, which we do about the 2oth of
May, the ground should be plowed and harrowed and marked
out for hills about ten feet apart each way. At the intersec-
tions a handful of guano, hen-manure or superphosphate
should be scattered, and also one of fine ground bone-dust or
flour. Thoroughly mix this with the soil fora space two feet
in diameter and plant from twelve to twenty seeds, scattering
them well, as in this way one or two plants can often be saved
from cutworms and striped bugs, which would have destroyed
all if the plants had been close together. We do not know of
any certain protection against the striped bug. Dusting with
wood ashes, with lime fresh slacked, with a little sulphur,
sprinkling with dilute gas-tar water, or with liquid manure
made from fresh hen-droppings, are each more or less effective
and will sometimes seem to keep the insects off, but at others
utterly fail to do so. My advice is to use any or all of them.
The lime and ashes should be diluted with bran and plaster,
or, better still, with tobacco dust ; if used abundantly there is
danger of killing the leaves with strong alkalies. As soon as
the large squash bugs appear they should be trapped under
pieces of board or shingle laid near the plants and examined
in the cool of the evening when the bugs will be found hiding
on the under side and can be easily caught and killed. Give
as little cultivation as possible, only enough to keep the ground
clear of weeds, and the surface broken after heavy rains.
When the plants are well started thin out, leaving two or three
to each hill, and when these are three to four feet long remove
the surface soil under a joint twelve to eighteen inches from
the root. Press the vine down into it and fasten it, so that the
stem will arch up between this point and the root and cover
with earth. If the soil is at all dry water thoroughly, covering
the wet surface with dry earth. The vine will make root from
the buried joint, and in this way it will often escape death
from the borer working at the collar.

In spite of all claims to the contrary, I am certain that the
quality of squashes is often affected by the fertilization of the
flowers with pollen from some inferior stock. In garden cul-

Garden and Forest.

207

ture it is quite feasible to prevent this by going over the patch
at evening and preventing the female flower, which would
naturally open the next morning, from doing so by tying the
tip of the blossom, and treating a few male flowers in the same
way. About nine o’clock the next morning pick the male
flowers; carefully tear away the corolla and fertilize the
opened female flowers by dusting or rubbing some of the
pollen from the male flower over the pistil, then closing and
retying the female flower. While there will be failure to accom-
plish the purpose in some cases, enough self-fertilized fruits can
easily besecured fora fullcrop,and any others which may appear
can be cut out. As the fruits mature they should be protected
from the sun unless they are well shaded by the leaves. When
fully ripe, which may be known by their developing a shell so
hard as not to be easily penetrated by the thumb-nail and by
the part resting on the ground turning to a rich yellow, they
should be gathered and stored in an open building until there
is danger of freezing. In gathering, care should be taken not
to break the stem of the fruit, the vine being cut instead, and
also not to injure the surface.

Grown and treated in this way the Hubbard Squash will be
found to have all its old-time excellence. The causes of infe-
rior quality are that it is grown in too rich and wet soil; late
sowing, so that it does not mature until cold wet weather
sets in; and leaving the fruits on the vines exposed to injury
from hot sun and cold nights after maturity. |. ;

Detroit, Mich, Will W. Tracy.

The Rock Garden.

Tas rock garden grows in interest every day as one after
another the plants come into bloom. In looking it over
this season we find an unusual number of self-sown seedlings.
Many of these are in themselves desirable plants, but their
number must be reduced or they would make a weedy effect.
Campanula Pallasii needs thinning out. It is a handsome
biennial, and effective when properly placed. Here it borders
a natural shrubbery, and being aggressive takes possession of
the ground beyond the limits allotted to it. When it extends
into the shrubbery, along with some Sunflowers, Helianthus
levis, we do not object, but outside these limits it must be
weeded out. Papaver nudicaule comes up everywhere, but it
is so graceful that we let it grow quite freely, It is short-lived,
and hundreds of the plants die every year. There are plants
in all stages of growth—some in bloom now, and seedlings to
bloom in the autumn. Some hybridization has been effected
with the P. alpinum form, so that now we have white and sev-
eral shades of orange, and some have become double. A
double Iceland Poppy is not, however, to be regarded as an
acquisition.

Viola cucullata is taking up too much space. In spring-time
it is a hard matter to root the numerous tufts of attractive pur-
ple and white flowers. Gray's A/anual says of this Viola,
“flowers rarely white.” All our plants were originally the
variety cucullata, var. striata, and it was with pleasure some
five years ago that we found a pure white-flowered variety
among them. Now ithas spread to all parts of the rock gar-
den, to the exclusion of the purple form, which will need arti-
ficial propagation. Saponaria ocymoides, formerly of the.
variety splendens, has so far retrograded that it is now a
weed. The beautiful Heuchera sanguinea fails to come true
from seed, freely hybridizing with the commoner H. Ameri-
cana. Aquilegia Canadensis seems to have improved by
contact, probably with some of the early-blooming cceru-
lea hybrids. We have some purple ones among them, but
it is hardly probable they are hybrids with A. glandulosa or
A. Bertoloni, A. Olympica possibly. Alyssum Wiersbeckii
has spread itself agreeably. It is the brightest and best of all.
Its long-branched spikes of bright yellow flowersare delicately
fragrant and make a handsome bouquet in themselves. Tufts
of Iris graminea, var. hamatophylla, occur in pleasing con-
trast with the large Rock Cress, Arabis albida. Iris verna,
with lavender and yellow crested flowers close to the ground,
is really pretty, and is atthe same time one of the few tragrant
kinds. We were pleased to find an uncommonly pretty and
scarce British scurvy grass, Cochlearia Anglica, come through
the winter in good condition. It was the first plant to flower,
excepting the Chionodoxas and Squills, and was nearly a week
ahead of the Rock Cress. The flowers are pure white in dense
tufts, looking neat for a while, but it will evidently, like many
other plants of this character, look ragged later, and end itself
in going to seed. The same happens with Iberis Tenoreana,
one of the handsomest of rock Candytufts. It is also tender,
and with lessened vitality in producing seed it seldom goes
through the second winter. We secure it by taking a few cut-

208

tings. We are on safer ground with native plants. Mertensia
Virginica takes care of itself, and is not likely to become
obtrusive. Its life above ground is short, being past, leaf-stem
and all, by midsurnmer. Its nodding panicles of incomparable
blue are always welcome.

Phloxes of the subulata type are the most charming spring
flowers we have. Their color tones are most penetrating ; a
patch six by six feet, of the old variety atropurpurea, will catch
one’s eye from a hillside half a mile away, while P. reptans,
an equally handsome kind with colored flowers, will scarcely
be noticeable at that distance. P. reptans grows nearly one
foot high with us, and the stems are long enough to pick.
P. subulata Sadie isan American-raised sport from the com-
mon white Moss Pink. It is lavender-blue and unique among
the true subulata type. It is thrifty and early, always fresh and
green, whereas many of the imported varieties get winter-
burned.

Rosa Wichuraiana, the so-called Memorial Rose, is badly
killed, but there are plenty of live shoots left to cover the
ground anew. Megasea purpurascens and M. cordifolia have
also suffered severely. They are naturally evergreen, and
when their winter coat of leaves is lost new ones must be made
at the expense of the old root. Under such conditions the
Megaseas will be gone ina few years. Campanula garganica
looks fresher than ever.

We have introduced strangers to our rock garden who ex-
pected to see statuary and fountains, and others who thought
we should arrange it in beds or tiers of pockets as more con-
venient to getat. The garden is wild and without labels, and
is as natural-looking as any other bit of bank. It is hard, how-
ever, to get the names grounded into one’s memory, and fresh
additions every year increase the difficulty. Apart from the
rock garden proper we have a piece of wild garden along a
sheltered slope. Itis in part shaded by sparsely planted Oaks,
and grassed over to be kept green, but not to the extent of a
trim lawn. Many beautiful plants can be introduced here.
Native plants and such as could be mown over with a scythe
without injury are desirable. There are enough to makea
lovely spring picture. Blood-root, Sanguinaria Canadensis,
Mertensia Virginica, all the Subulata Phloxes, Violas, Aqui-
legia Canadensis, Silene Pennsylvanica, S. Virginica, Anemone
nemerosa, A. deltoidea, A. ranunculoides, Erythroniums,
Thalictrum anemonioides, Claytonia Virginica, Trilliums of
several kinds, Mularias, Hypoxis, Bluets, Decentra Canaden-
sis and many others should be included.

sat anne Macs, LoD, flatfeld.

Notes from the Arnold Arboretum.

Posis of Amelanchier oligocarpa which were obtained
from the mountains of New Hampshire are the earliest of
the Shad-bushes to flower here, and they are really among the
most pleasing of dwarf American shrubs. In its native habitat
this Amelanchier is rarely more than a foot high, and when
grown carefully on good soil it does not exceed two feet in
height. The young leaves as they open are tinted red, some-
thing like those of the large forms of A. Canadensis. The bark
when bruised has the peculiar odor of the Wild Cherry, which
I have not observed in any other species or variety of Amelan-
chier. Another fine Amelanchier is called, I believe, a variety
of A. Canadensis, and known as spicata, and sometimes ro-
tundifolia. If not a good botanical species, it is certainly a very
distinct plant for garden purposes. It comes into bloom late,
and is just now, May 12th, in its prime, when the others are all
past their bloom. As grown here it is a low dense shrub,
which produces snow-white flowers very freely.

Nurserymen who are looking for new things would do well
to get a stock of these on their own roots, orif they would graft
them from two to four feet high on some good Thorns they
would set plants which would be genuine novelties for the
shrubbery. Some of the low-growing Prunuses, too, ought to
be looked after. P. pumila, which rarely in its native state
exceeds a foot high, although it becomes larger under culti-
vation, is a beautiful plant on its own roots, and so are P.
maritima and P. Alleghensis, but if they were grafted as
standards on P, Americana or P, Myrobalana they would
make neat, compact-headed plants, which certainly would
be novel, and, no doubt, useful in shrubberies. P. incana is
the most ungainly in habit of any plant in the whole family,
and yet, if it could be in any way made into a shapely
plant, its pinkish purple blossoms, which come in clusters,
would be greatly admired. The first of the Apple-trees to come
into bloom are the varieties of Pyrus baccata, with blossoms
of all colors, from pure white to deep crimson. Among the
newer forms of P. spectabilis the variety Riversi is strikingly
beautiful this year. It is completely covered with its sweet-

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 430.

scented, double, rose-pink flowers. The habit of this specta-
bilis group may also be called fastigiate, as compared with the
generality of Apples, and they do not begin to flower as early
in age as some of the other kinds of Apples, but they make up
for this by persistent flowering afterward, for there is seldom
a year when they do not bloom profusely.

Complaints are made that Daphne cneorum is doubtfully
hardy, and itis true its foliage often burns in exposed situa-
tions in winter-time, but if the plants in autumn are furnished
with a scanty covering of hay or dry leaves the foliage will
keep bright all winter and they will come into blossom in early
spring. The delicately scented pink flowers of this prostrate
plant have been abundant here for a week or more. The
Redbuds, as usual, opened with the lowering Dogwoods, and

“it cannot be too often said what a fine forest border or back-

ground to a shrubbery these two trees make at this season.
One of our native Honeysuckles, Lonicera ccerulea, is just com-
ing into flower. It is a neat and pretty shrub, not only on
account of its lemon-colored flowers, but on account of its
good foliage and the bright blue berries which follow. Just
now the Rhodora is in its prime, and it is to be regretted that
so good a dwarf shrub should be so neglected in landscape
work, It certainly would fill an admirable place in connection
with the Andromedas and Leucothoés when planted near
the water. Perhaps it is youthful associations which make
these plants so pleasing, but every boy brought upin the
north where there was a peat meadow must know these flow-
ers, and his memory will be stirred by sight of them.
Arnold Arboretum. Fackson Dawson.

Flower Garden Notes.

apt is one of the most interesting parts of the year in the
garden, even with the extreme heat and dryness of this
particular season. April showers have this year been very
rare and are sadly needed.

The show of Apple-blossoms at this time is the feature of
the country where apples are grown in quantity, and asa flower-
ing tree alone it has few equals. The flowering Crabs are,
perhaps, quite as pleasing, with more variation of coloring,
and for this reason are finding favor with planters. There is
a set of some ten kinds in flower here. They are beautiful
planted in a large crescent-shaped bed, the ground being cov-
ered with late-flowering Tulips, the Parrot, Gesneriana and
Darwin varieties mixed. The combination of Tulips is
extremely beautiful now, when the early border kinds are all
past. A little later the Oriental Poppies that are planted
between will come on and give a second display, and when
the Tulips are dying down Zinnias will be planted over them
for a late summer effect. We thus get four distinct displays
from the same bed with only the annual planting of the Zin-
nias. This plan is, perhaps, adapted only to beds of largesize,
so that there isa mass of color in its season.

Lily-of-the-valley is now in full bloom, much earlier than
usual, owing to the heat, but the flowers are not so fine as in
some years, because of the lack of water. If care is taken to
thin them out every three years or so it is surprising how
much better they will grow than those forced under glass in
winter, provided the best variety of crowns are planted, such
as are used for culture under glass.

Hardy Primroses are not esteemed very highly, and it is a
question if there are any species that are to be regarded as
proof against the severity of our winters. With a little protec-
tion some will prove very satisfactory at this season. A few
hundred of the garden Polyanthus, raised from seeds a year
ago and grown all last summer in shade under the Elm-trees,
are a beautiful show at present. All the gradations of color
in yellows and reds, mixed together with none that clash, make
a very pleasing effect in a shaded position. Last fall, just
before frost-time, a covering of straw about six inches thick
was placed over these plants and removed early this spring.
This is all the care taken, besides seeing that plenty of moisture
was provided during the growing period, Primula Sieboldii,
the Japan Primrose, is now at its best, treated in the same
way. We find this useful for cutting, the erect stiff stems
being better than those of the Polyanthus when grown under
the same conditions. It is deserving of much wider cultiva-
tion. I do not remember to have seen it elsewhere, and it is
usually regarded as a tender spring-flowering plant, but is
hardy enough to stand out over winter, with covering. The
typical P. Sieboldii is a rich, deep rosy purple color and is the
best variety to grow, though there are numerous other kinds,
some called white. But there is not the purity of color one
would expect, and the same remark applies to the many other
varieties of P. Sieboldii in commerce, the type being still in

So ee RO ee ee ee

MAY 20, 1896.]

advance of the ‘improved ” varieties. There is alsoa set of
double Primroses, common in English gardens, the colors
varying from rich deep red to lavender, yellow and pure white.
We have never been able to get the red-flowering sort, but
we have the other colors and grow them in quantities in frames
for early spring flowers, treating them the same as Violets.
They have proved as hardy as the Polyanthus during the past
winter and quite as satisfactory in the open border, under the
same treatment. These are true Primroses, having one flower
only on each stem, this being the point in which they differ
from the Polyanthus or many-flowered Primrose.

All the yellow-flowered Narcissus are past, and we have only
the Poet’s varieties left, but these are very beautiful now,
planted in the grass under Apple-trees in an orchard. This is
the proper place for the stellate-flowered kinds, without doubt.
Not only are the rich borders unfitted to them, but the flowers
to be seen at their best need a green setting such as the grass
affords, and under trees the grass is thin and is allowed to grow
until hay-time, when the Narcissus have about matured their
foliage, and may be cut off without injury to the bulbs. All of
the Poeticus section, also Barrii, Leedsii and incomparabilis
are eminently adapted to this mode of culture, and lam not
sure that some of the large yellow Trumpet kinds would not
do better under this system, but this is a matter for further
trial. Some Narcissi dwindle away and some thrive in rich
soil. Those that disappear probably have good reason for
doing so, and it is fair to assume that, provided they are hardy,
it must be from uncongenial soil.

Mertensia Virginica has been beautiful for two weeks past,
and is still as blue as the Myosotis. It is one of the best spring
flowers we have, and as a companion for it may be recom-
mended Corydalis nobilis, the noble Fumitory, a near relative
to the Dicentras, with foliage similarly cut, and large clusters
of flowers of bright yellow, with dark brown centres. It is a
difficult plant to transplant, owing to the nature of the root-
stock. Any one who has moved roots of the old Bleeding-
heart will remember the half-decayed state of the thickened
roots, and the same peculiarity applies to Corydalis nobilis, so
much so that it takes a year or two for the plants to fully re-
cover from aremoval. But it is a valuable plant for spring
blooming and a fitting companion for Dicentra eximia, the
best form of this being now in full bloom. It is one of the
best native plants we have for the open border, though it
comes from Tennessee and Georgia.

Trollius Europzeus and T. Asiaticus have proved so well
adapted to this climate that a trial of the other cultivated sorts
has been made, and a complete set of those grown in Euro-
pean gardens were obtained last year. These are now in
bloom, with the exception of T. patulus and its white variety,
the plants of which did not live. The double T. Japonicus
is a real gain, owing to the brilliance of its orange-yellow color,
and so is T. napellitolius, which is a fine large flower, but the
improved garden forms sent are no better than those raised
here from seed of T. Europzeus and T. Asiaticus, and are not
so well suited to our climate. It is desirable when a good
form from seedling plants appears in the garden to save seed
from it. Plants raised in this way often have exceptional
value, and some of the best globe flowers we now have we
secured by this means.

Paonia Wittmanniana is now in flower. It comes in before
P. tenuifolia, and has single cup-shaped creamy white flowers,
with abundant yellow anthers and traces of purple at the base
of the cup. Itis interesting as a species, and also on account
of its early flowering season. P. tenuifolia will be in bloom in
a day or two, and there are few more desirable garden plants
than the early-flowering Ponies, including the tree varieties,
and they come at a season when there are no rosebugs to

d tl :
Serene E. O. Orpet.

South Lancaster, Mass.

Carex Japonica variegata.—This is one of the most elegant of
the dwarf Grasses and is perfectly hardy in this latitude. The
narrow leaves are twelve to eighteen inches long and deeply
channeled, and vary in color from nearly pure white on poor
soil to those with interlinings of white and green on moregen-
erous nourishment. It flowers in April or May on triangular
stems, which are long and pendulous and scatter the abundant
golden pollen in every breeze. But the plantincreases rapidly
by underground shoots. It is especially desirable for a front
row in the border, and would be very attractive in a green-
house if grown in shallow pots for decorations.

Allium Margaritanicum.—This is a rather uncommon Onion
from Asia Minor, which is a distinct and hardy species well
suited to the rockery. Its rounded leaves are about six inches
high and the flowers are clustered in a globe of about an inch
diameter, forming a hairy-like white ball, Like all the hardy

Garden and Forest.

209

Alliums this species seeds freely and will maintain itself under

adverse conditions.
Elizabeth, N. J. FolVuiGes

Correspondence.

Why do Blossom-buds Winter-kill ?

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—In your issue of May 6th, Mr. Willard is quoted in a
note as saying that the failure of the plum crop proves that the
fruit cannot endure a temperature of twenty-two degrees
below zero. Mr. Willard has had more experience than I, but
itseems to me that he is only considering one of the factors
in hardiness of plants. The fact that fruit does not endure a
certain degree of cold one winter is no proot that it may not
endure even a lower degree under different conditions.

Here, we ordinarily think of fourteen or fifteen degrees
below zero as fatal to the peach crop, and as we often have a
lower temperature than that but few Peaches are planted.
During the winter of 1894-5 the thermometer several times
ranged below twenty, and once sank to twenty-five below zero,
and yet only half the Peach-buds were killed, and the trees
produced a good crop the season following. Last winter,
with a minimum temperature of only five degrees below zero,
fully one-third of the Peach-buds were killed. I do not know
just what conditions made the buds more hardy one season
than another, neither do I know why part of the buds ona
tree should be more hardy than the rest. Even in the axil of
the same leaf one bud may be killed and the other live.

Other organic substances show the same differences. In a
half-bushel basket of potatoes exposed to the cold in a cellar,
I have often found frozen tubers scattered through the basket
and the rest not frozen. In the blossom-buds of the Cherry
and Plum one or more may often be found killed, while the
rest have escaped.

When we first began to spray our Peach-trees to prevent the
fruit from rotting, the Bordeaux mixture used was not prop-
erly prepared, and as a consequence a large part of the leaves
on the sprayed trees fell off prematurely. The next spring it
was found that there was a larger {proportion of live buds on
the trees from which the leaves had fallen than on the rest of
the same variety. My explanation at the time was that the
buds become less hardy in proportion as they are more devel-
oped. We know this is true in the spring. The question at
once arises, at what stage in the development of a bud is it
the most hardy, and how can we best control that develop-
ment? This seems to mea promising field for some careful

study. 2
G. W. Mc Cluet.

Ilinois Agricultural Experiment Station.

A Destructive Scale in the Marquesas Islands.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—Mr. Craw sends me part of a Cocoanut-leaf and a leaf
of some tree called “Vee,” from the Marquesas Islands,
thickly infested by a scale insect. He received the specimens
from Mr. J. Wilkinson, of Tanata, who reported the insect as
very destructive, remarking that ‘‘it breeds faster and attends
to business better than anything else in our little world.” The
scale proves to be the Aspidiotus destructor of Signoret, de-
scribed in 1869 from specimens received from the island of
Bourbon, where it was very destructive to Cocoanut Palms,
and also infested Guava and other plants. In 1891 Maskell
recorded it on Cocoanut in the Laccadive Islands, and I have
shown that it is common in the West Indies. Mr. Wilkinson
thought it had reached the Marquesas from California or New
Zealand, but it is not known in either of these localities. Care
should be taken that it is not introduced into southern Cali-
fornia or Florida. na ae? :

Agric’l Experiment Station, New Mexico. L. D. A. Cockerell,

Recent Publications.

The second part of the botanical series of the publica-
tions of the Columbian Museum of Chicago contains an
account of the plants of West Virginia, by C. F. Millspaugh,
curator of the Department of Botany, and Lawrence W.
Nuttall, prefaced by a short account of the topographical
and climatic features of the state, its botanical history and
an account of the special features of the flora. Two thou-
sand five hundred and eighty-four species, varieties and
forms of plants have been detected in the state, including
more than a thousand species of Fungi and Lichens, and

210

1,309 species of flowering plants. It is claimed that West
Virginia contains a greater amount of hard-wood timber in
its forests than any other state, and the authors are con-
vinced that “nearly or quite two-thirds of the state remains
uncleared, and by far the greater portion of the uncleared
land is still in virgin forests, where the axe of man has
never found its way, and where magnificent specimens of
forest growth stand thickly side by side and reach a tow-
ering height, no finer view of standing timber may be had
within the confines of the Union. These splendid forests,
covering over sixteen thousand square miles, yield nearly
every species found in the north. Here trees grow to such
size that ordinary methods will not suffice to handle them,
and are frequently so densely compact that the light of day
scarce penetrates their shade, and pathways must be cut
before the axemen can find room to work.” Among the
principal timber-trees enumerated are the White Ash, the
Beech, the Black and Yellow Birch, the Lindens, the Chest-
nut, Wild Cherry, the Hemlock, the Hickory, the Sugar
Maple, the White and Chestnut Oaks, the White Pine, the
Red Spruce, the Tulip-tree and the Black Walnut.

Notes.

More than ten thousand cases of apples reached the London
market on a single steamer on the second of May from Tas-
mania. Permains and Ribston Pippins were reported of the first
quality and evenly graded, and brought at wholesale from $2.50
to $3.25 a bushel, and a small quantity from Victoria brougnt
$4.50.

New potatoes are coming from as far north as Georgia and
South Carolina, as are cabbage, string-beans, beets and carrots.
New beets are also coming from Louisiana, and the first pep-
pers of the season from that state arrived last Saturday. Peas
from Maryland are in the markets, the bulk of supplies of this
vegetable coming from Virginia. Cucumbers, from glass
houses near Savannah and Charleston, are offered with field-
grown stock from Florida. From near-by points, grown under
glass and in the open, are new onions, lettuce, cauliflower,
beets, sorrel, dandelion, kale, spinach, rhubarb and radishes.

Huckleberries of good quality, from North Carolina, may
be had in this city for thirty cents a quart. The first black-
berries, from the same state, were offered here two weeks
ago, but these were small and not desirable. The first Peento
peaches from Florida reached New York last Saturday and
are now selling atretail for $1.50 a dozen, the price asked also
for Bidwell peaches. While strawberries have been plentiful
enough, those of prime quality are scarce, owing to continued
dry weather. This fruit is now coming from as far north as
Maryland, and Delaware berries are looked for in a few
days.

We learn from Thomas H. Kearney, Jr., of the Division of
Agrostology, in the Department of Agriculture, Washington,
that Buckleya distichophylla has been collected by Master
Harry Allen, near Newport, Cocke County, Tennessee, about
sixteen miles below Wolf Creek, so that its known habitat is
greatly extended. It will be remembered that Buckleya is one
of the rarest of North American shrubs. It was described and
figured in this journal, vol. ili., page 236, and on page 168 of
the present year Mr. Kearney gave an interesting account of its
discovery at several points near Paint Rock, which for many
years was considered the only place where it was found in a
natural state.

A protracted drought so early in the yearas this is phenome-
nal, but all the country hereabout is now suffering tor lack of
water. When pasture-fields in the middle of May look as
brownas they do in August, and there is no grass growing in
the meadows, and even the Plantain leaves are curling up on
the lawn, the outlook tor the farm and garden is not promis-
ing. The extreme hot weather forced flowering plants into
bloom earlier than usual, but the flowers came all at once
when they should have been spread over at least a fortnight.
A torced growth is always feeble and the flowers lasted but a
little while. The season of Tulips and Daffodils was never so
short. Meanwhile, vegetable seeds lying in the ground, which
is almost dust-dry, show no signs of germination. These
droughts, which now seem to come every year at one season
or another, are so destructive that no garden is safe without
some appliance for irrigation.

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 430.

A correspondent in writing of the Flower Carnival in San
José, California, which was one of the earliest towns in the
northern part of that state to revive the old Spanish custom,
says that the town was filled from the sixth of May to the ninth
with great crowds from every direction. More than one hun-
dred acres of flowers liad been planted in vacant lots about the
town and cared for by the organization which prepared the
pageant, and, besides these, car-loads of material were brought
in from other places, and the entire Santa Clara valley was laid
under contribution for flowers used to decorate the innumera-
ble floats and vehicles which made up the grand parade or to
be strewn about lavishly in this Battle of the Roses. The
streets were decorated with arches and the houses with flowers
and boughs of Douglas Spruce and Redwood, while the gray
moss which streams from the White Oaks was largely used in
mural decorations. The procession was three miles long,and
some of the floats were considered wonders of art. Among
the leading participants were the school children from the city
and other points in the valley, each school competing fora
prize for the most beautiful and original design.

A bulletin lately issued by the Agricultural Experiment Sta-
tion of Pennsylvania gives an account of the phosphate
deposits in Juniata County which were discovered last year.
It has long been known that there was a narrow belt of unus-
ually fertile soil along the two central ridges of this county,
and it was in this belt that the discovery was made. Along
the outcropof the Oriskany sandstone, between this and the
overlying Onondaga limestone, is a decomposed mass of marls
and sands in which the phosphate material is found. The
seams lie conformably with the stratification of the country and
can be easily traced. Trenches give evidence of a persistent
belt of phosphate which can be easily mined, is accessible to
railroad, and encloses valuable material enough to constitute
anindustry. The material is not of a grade equal to that of
the southern phosphate, but it will bear transportation to a
moderate distance. What renders the discovery of special
interest, however, is the fact that almost exactly similar geo-
logical conditions exist in many parts of the state, so that there
is warrant for the belief that further explorations may develop
phosphate deposits in various parts of the commonwealth,
and it so this may result in an important addition to the agri-
cultural resources of the state.

In regard to the sale of American apples in England, Messrs.
J. C. Houghton & Co., of Liverpool, who deal in high-grade
apples at wholesale, write that early in the season fine King
apples always sell well, and last year they brought as high as
$5.62 a barrel, although this fruit generally ranges at whole-
sale at from $4.00 to $5.00. As the season advances King
apples become softer, and Baldwins, which are always appre-
ciated in the English market, take their place, in a measure,
at prices of from $3.00 to $4.25. Greenings are usually in good
demand for culinary purposes, but not being used for dessert
do not command the prices paid for more attractive-looking
red apples. York Imperials last year were in high favor, and
sound large fruit brought from $4.25 to $5.63 a barrel. Ben
Davis, Winesap and Spitzenberg are all well known and appre-
ciated, and bring about the same prices as Baldwins. Golden
Russets usually sell for low prices while other apples are
coming forward freely, but in the spring, when most varieties
are exhausted, they frequently command full prices, and sales
have been recently made at from $4.25 to $5 40 a barrel. New-
town and Albemarle Pippins are regarded there as the very
best American apples, and during last season they brought
at auction as much as $8.37, but when arrivals were heavy,
prices ruled at from $3.75 to $5.25. Of course, these prices
apply to selected fruit, for small and inferior Albemarle and
Newtown Pippins bring less than other varieties. In fact, it is
hardly worth while for Americans to export small apples to
compete with those from the European continent and English
orchards. Where the Americans have the advantage is in the
size and color of their fruit and in the convenient form in
which it is packed—that is, in barrels. Only the larger and
best-colored apples of any variety should be sent if good prices
are to be assured.

The death is announced of the Abbé Delavay, for many
years a missionary in Yun-nan, the south-western province of
China, where he made large collections of plants, discovering
in one small region more undescribed species than have fallen
to any other one botanical collector of this generation. Among
the plants discovered and introduced into Europe by him are
numerous species of Primula, Rhododendron and other plants
destined to keep green the memory of this brave, zealous and
indefatigable priest.

MAY 27, 1896.]

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrick: Trisung 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 27, 1896.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.
+ 211
newts 212

EpiTor1AL ARTICLES :—Forest Fires—Another Lesson from India
Shrubs, Native and Foreign...

The Dauphin Elm. (With figure.)...... .L Dock. 212
The Flora of the California Coast Ragges —Il.. Carl Pur ay. 213
Prant Nortes.. So0GR GoSEORbS00 AO BCEAO CHO CB EOSC ence COTS Erne tee 214

CULTURAL DEPARTMENT: “Carnation Notes.. «+. W.N. Craig. 216

The Hardy Flower Garden........- -+ BD: Hatfield. 216

BIIRe ee ec O Mes eee teres csaiae veteiaeatalalarelelelercieisielnncin ie cin.e\s (cin bicimwiais n= aiass FN. G. 217
Shrubs and Climbers Winter-kided, Solanum citrullifolium,

Edward $. Canning. 217

CorRESPONDENCE :—The Elm-leaf Beetle.........:ceeeeeseee eet eeeeeeees W. F.C. 217

Close of the California Orange Season.. - Wm. M. Tisdale. 218

Notes from West Virginia..... ie Dandridge. 218

A Natural Garden. : kev. E. F. Hill. 219

URCEN TREURTICA TIONS ciate eis slerayelei= lst wie alate els siciaieisis'e:s/=\s is thoieigiers'<]s'sia'sintsieisivieisie's etsle's'e's 219
NOTES....~ ... ==! 220
Intustration :—White Elm at Dauphin, ‘Pennsylvania, Fig. 32.. . 215

Forest Fires—Another Lesson from India.

HE unusual drought which prevails throughout the
eastern United States has made the forests more
liable to fire than usual at this season, and as we write
there are destructive conflagrations in the woods of south-
ern New Jersey, western Pennsylvania, Long Island, the
Adirondacks and all of the New England states. It is the
same sickening story of standing timber, saplings and
seedlings vanishing together in smoke, while the soil is
burned to absolute sterility, or, at least, is left in a less
productive condition for new forest growth. In many
cases, too, fences, orchards, fruit gardens and farm-build-
ings have been swept away, so that the whole thing means
dead loss for the present, and loss of hope for the future,
without any palliation or compensating advantage. Next
spring, if the weather is dry when farmers who live onthe
forest border begin to start their brush fires, the woods will
burn again, and careless campers, locomotive sparks and
the reckless tramp who owns a match will all aid in the
work of destruction. This will be repeated the spring fol-
lowing, and so on, but it is evident that an end must come
to this wanton destruction at some time in the future.
Intelligent people in various parts of the country are com-
ing to understand that the loss of the forests is not simply
aloss to their owner, but a loss to the community. The
legislatures of different states are enacting laws which, if
properly enforced, would protect the woods. States like
Maine and Minnesota have taken the lead in this legisla-
tion, and if the laws would enact themselves there would
be few more forest fires. But, as we have repeated over
and over again, what is primarily needed is an educated
public opinion. As soon as it is generally understood by
the people who live near the forest that it is as truly to their
personal interest to stop a fire in the woods as it is to stop
a fire in their own buildings there would be good laws, and
these laws would be enforced.

This we have asserted often, because the statement is
based on reasonable grounds, but we never realized to the
full that it had been demonstrated on a large scale until we
carefully read the paper by Mr. Ribbentrop, to which
allusion was lately made on page 191. Under the sway
of the Mohammedans in India, the wandering tribes fired

Garden and Forest.

211

the forests year after year to provide grazing grounds for
their growing herds of cattle. Under the Pritish rule the
herds multiplied and new areas were cleaned by fire. The
woods were everywhere looked upon, as they were in the
early history of this country, as barriers against progress,
obstructions which must be swept away to make room for
profitable agriculture. At lastit began to be felt in India,
as we are ‘beginning to feel here, that wood is worth
something. The Government began to realize that large
portions of the forest area in the Indian Empire would be
burned unless special measures were adopted for their pro-
tection. Fifteen thousand square miles were set apart for
special patrol and protection in 1883. Twice that area is
now protected, and the rest of the forest which is not under
this special care has secured much greater immunity from
fire. The protected areas include not only the ever-
green woods, and those which in marshy regions are self-
protected, but large areas of dry forests which were
formerly subjected to yearly or, at least, to oft-recurring
conflagrations. Besides this, fire is kept out of the com-
paratively unprotected woods, and this is largely due,
according to Mr. Ribbentrop, to the spread of knowledge
among the agricultural population. Their growing interest
in the protection of the woods has led to a careful use of
fire in their vicinity.

The Indian Forest Department has thus proved clearly
that it is possible to protect large forest areas from fire even
in the very driest climate by a well-considered system of
patrol, and their experience has also proved that the exam-
ple set by Government has caused the agricultural popula-
tion to pay a greater respect to forest covering. Of course,
in this country, where labor is comparatively scarce and
dear, a system of forest guards will be more expensive,
but, on the other hand, the education of the people is
much higher than it is among Indian peasants, and, as
Mr. Ribbentrop well says, “the feeling of the people in
respect to a conservative forest policy has more to do with
successful fire protection than any number of fire-breaks
and watchers.” No doubt, the way to begin to protect
forests is to pay for their protection. No scheme for volun-
tary help is trustworthy. Strict laws are necessary and
the enforcement of them requires men and money, but this
will be the cheapest process in the long run, for the people
will soon learn to be careful how to use fire in the danger-
ous neighborhood of forests, and they will soon be helpful
in enforcing the laws rather than harmful in opposing them.

Since the above was written we have received a circular
issued by the Forestry Division of the Department of Agri-
culture, which discusses the question whether protection
against forest fires is practicable, and the answer is that
although these fires cannot be altogether prevented by any
system, there is abundant experience on this continent to
prove that it is practicable and simple io protect large
forest areas against fire, and that itis practicable to burn
the débris of the lumbermen’s chopping, and to do both
cheaply. In support of the first proposition the report of
the Commissioner of the Crown Lands of the Province of
Ontario for 1895 is quoted. Here a system of fire-ranging
is established under which a number of men are enlisted
from May to September wherever there is special danger.
The men who own licenses to cut the lumber, and who are,
therefore, interested and who are familiar with the topog-
raphy, are allowed to nominate the men employed, the
Department reserving the right to reject or remove any one
who neglects his duties. These rangers put up posters
containing the fire act throughout the territory under their
charge and hand the laws in pamphlet to settlers, so that

everybody becomes familiar with their provisions. They
are authorized to employ assistance when the fires break
out, and when these assume dangerous proportions they

are required to notify the Department and the licensee, so
that both may be represented. The Department bears half
of the expense, andat the end of the season, diaries, with
sworn accounts and reports on the fire losses, etc., are sent

212

in. Last summer was an exceptionally dangerous one,
being the driest for years, and yet owing to this close
supervision no large destruction of timber took place, and
altogether the service has proved admirably adapted to
accomplish the end for which it was established.

On the second point a large firm of lumbermen in Michi-
gan testify that they always burn the débris from their
operations in the fall or spring when the ground is damp,
and the wind is in the right direction, so that the fires will
not spread. This has proved perfectly successful, and for
years they have not suffered from any destructive forest
fires. The open chopping dries out more quickly in the
spring than the neighboring timbered land, consequently
the fire burns in the open and stops as soon as it
comes to the woods. Only common sense and ordinary
judgment are required to point out the proper time to burn
the choppings and thus remove a menace to uncut timber.
These lumbermen consider this burning over a good insur-
ance, and the cost is so trifling that it would be criminal
carelessness on their part if they did not guard against
losses to themselves and to their neighbors.

The cost of the protective service in Ontario was about
three and a quarter cents a thousand feet, while the cost of
burning the débris by the lumber companies was $5.00 a
square mile, or one-tenth of a cent a thousand feet of lum-
ber cut. At this rate the cost of burning throughout the
great lumbering states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minne-
sota would be less than $35,000 a year, and this would
prevent losses which foot up to millions of dollars annually.
If to this precaution a service similar to the one in Ontario
were carried out at the same expense it would appear
that for $100,000 a year each of these states could have a
well-organized service of special guards which would pre-
vent nearly all the forest fires. To get some conceptron
of what is really lost in these fires, and to show how insig-
nificant in comparison to this the expenditure of any ordi-
nary sum for protection would be, the following computation
by the Forest Commissioner of Pennsylvania is quoted :

The most obvious consequences of forest fires, serious as
these may be, are by no means of the greatest importance.
Loss of logs, of bark, of standing timber, young and old, of
fences, and occasionally of buildings, is not less than a million
of dollars annually to this commonwealth (Pennsylvania). The
indirect or the consequential damage to the state is many times
greater. In fact, it is so great that it appears incredible until a
careful study of the whole subject is made. For example, it
is fairly within bounds to assert that if all the unproductive
land now vacant and uncared for within the limits of the state
were protected from forest fires for, say, forty years, the tim-
ber then growing would be worth not less than $1,200,000 000.
Now, it would seem that if this growth were destroyed by fire
when buta year old, thedirectloss to the commonwealth would
be absolutely unimportant. The same might be said if we
were to see it destroyed at two, three, four, or even five years
ofage. But when we remember that in burning these seed-
lings which are but a year old we destroy a crop which, in
point of time, is one-fortieth of its way on to a money value of
$1,200,000,000, the damages, if expressed in figures, must equal
not less than $30,000,000 as the loss to the commonwealth.

Shrubs, Native and Foreign.

ONTINUING our remarks on the effects of the winter

on trees and shrubs in eastern Massachusetts made in

our last issue, it can be said generally that the flower-buds
only of shrubs which bloom early in the season have suf-
fered, and that, in spite of the severity of the winter, nearly
all later-blooming plants are flowering profusely this sea-
son, with the exception, perhaps, of a few varieties of Rho-
dodendrons of doubtful hardiness, which have lost their
flower-buds, although their foliage is untouched. Even
shrubs which ordinarily suffer in very cold winters are now
covered with flowers, like the Halesia or Silver Bell Tree,
which has never been more beautiful than it is this year.
The variety of this plant raised by Mr. Meehan in his nur-
sery at Germantown, and already figured in this journal
(vol. v., p. 535), is covered with flowers and promises to

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 431.

become a first-rate addition to our shrabberies. The fact
that Fothergilla Gardneri, which was figured in this journal
last year (vol vili, p. 445), has escaped the winter untouched,
and has been loaded with its lovely white flowers, is evi-
dence of the value of this southern shrub for northern
gardens. Among shrubs which flower the middle of May,
none surpasses it in shapeliness of habit or in profusion of
bloom. It is one of those shrubs which grow in attrac-
tiveness each year, and which, as has already been said
more than once in these columns, should be seen in all
collections of hardy plants.

Rhododendron Vaseyi (vol. i., p. 377) has been covered
as usual with its lovely pure pink flowers, and the value of
this species in northern gardens appears now to be fully
established, although in England it is said to be much less
satisfactory than it is here.

All the bush Honeysuckles are flowering profusely, dis-
playing in their flowers a considerable range of colors
from deep rose to white and to clear yellow. On the whole,
this is one of the most satisfactory groups of shrubs. They
are all perfectly hardy, of excellent habit and neat, clean

foliage; they always bloom freely, and their flowers are ~

followed by brilliant scarlet, yellow or black fruits which
cover the branches in early or late summer, when few
other plants bear conspicuous. fruits. Through cross-
breeding and selection there is now a large number of
these Honeysuckles from which the planter can select, and
by massing many plants with a reference to the color ot
their flowers or of their fruit remarkable effects can be
produced.

Among Apple-trees, our native Crab, Pyrus coronaria, is
the latest to bloom. ‘This is a small tree of excellent habit
and large fragrant pink flowers which, as they do not ap-
pear until after the leaves have partly grown, are some-
what hidden by the young foliage. They are, however,
more fragrant than those of any other Apple-tree, and the
bright waxy fruit, which hangs gracefully on long slender
stems, is also fragrant.

All the Thorn-trees, native and foreign, are blooming
abundantly this year, and no one who has not seen a well-
established collection of these trees and shrubs can form an
idea of their beauty at this season or of the uses to which
they can be put in the decoration of parks and large gar-
dens. ‘The fact that they live to a great age, blooming
profusely every year, adds to their value.

Among Barberries for northern gardens not one com-
pares with the Japanese Berberis Sieboldii (vol. iii., p. 249).
The bright yellow flowers of this shrub contrast brilliantly
with the large lustrous foliage, and this late in the autumn
assumes magnificent tints of scarlet and orange. Forsome
reason this shrub has remained rare in collections, while
the less desirable Berberis Thunbergii has become in the
neighborhood of Boston one of the commonest garden
plants.

The Dauphin Elm.

HE White Elm as a street-tree is conspicuously rare

throughout central Pennsylvania, and at present is
probably less planted than any other native tree. Fine
specimens may be found in the older streets of cities and
about old country seats, yet there are many otherwise
intelligent people who believe that the Elm does not thrive
in Pennsylvania or, indeed, south of New England.

Some two years ago Dr. Rothrock pointed out the fal-
lacy of this idea, which, no doubt,was developed from the fact
that the tall high-branching Elm, so associated in the popu-
lar mind with New England towns and scenery, is replaced
almost entirely in Pennsylvania by the type described by
Dr. Rothrock* as “branching symmetrically upward and
outward from near the ground, forming a large, round
head, while the tips of the branches droop until they almost
suggest the Weeping Willow.” It is to this type most of
the Elms in and near the Susquehanna Valley conform,

* Forest Leaves, February, 1894.

May 27, 1896.]

and though the finest specimens are found in low ground,
as “Old Elm” at Paxtang, with a diameter of almost five
feet, others like the Elm at State Street entrance to the
Capitol grounds, Harrisburg, live in entirely changed con-
ditions without evidence of deterioration. ‘The State Street
Elm has a diameter of three and a half feet, and stands in
what was originally swampy land. In 1785 it was already
a large tree, and was one of the landmarks in laying out
the town. The land has long since been drained, and the
tree has endured everything that a street-tree has to suffer,
yet, in spite of escaping gas, encroaching pavements, dust,
blizzards and electric linemen, is still a beautiful tree and
dignifies the entrance-way it adorns.

The great Elm at Dauphin, known locally as the Seven
Brothers (see page 215), also belongs to the low-branching
class, and with a circumference of twenty-four feet anda
spread to branches of almost a hundred feet, is one of the
most notable trees in the lower Susquehanna Valley, and
if a single tree probably the largest. Its local name refers
to the main branches of the tree, and not to the trunk,
which, if compound, is formed of not more than four boles.
’ Those who have known the Dauphin Elm longest, how-
ever, consider it one tree, and state that they have seen a
distinct increase in its size during their lifetime.

The Elm stands on the river-bank, midway between the
lock of the Pennsylvania Canal and the river, at this point
only a hundred feet apart. The crest of the bank is about
thirty feet above low-water mark, and the tree-trunk, which
extends from near the crest some distance down the sloping
bank, has pronounced differences in form on the upper
more protected side, and the lower side, exposed to fresh-
ets. The lowest divergence of branches occurs on the side
facing the lock, where the branching begins two feet above
the ground; on the river-side the lowest divergence is four
feet above the base of trunk. Owing to the peculiar fea-
tures of the ground and encroaching foliage of trees on
both sides of the canal, it is impossible to get a good view
of this remarkable tree when it bears its great canopy of
leaves. Through the summer its crown rises, dome-like,
above the surrounding mass of foliage, and may be distin-
guished from points on the opposite shore of the Susque-
hanna River, here almost a mile in width.

The picturesque beauty of the Susquehanna at this point,
with the bold cliffs of the Narrows below, and the wide
bays of the river running inshore above, is too wellknown
to call for any description, but the traveler by rail goes
faster and faster through this part of the country, and the
real Susquehanna is almost a sealed book, except to rafts-
men and canoemen, and will continue to be so unless, with
the application of electricity, travel upon the canals follow-
ing its course becomes once again a possibility.

The Dauphin Elm has been held in grateful remem-
brance by thousands of men and animals who in the more
than sixty years of the canal’s existence have enjoyed a
brief rest in its shade, as they halted on their weary march
from the mountains to tidewater. Besides this army of
humble-folk, many well-known travelers passed beneath
the Elm in the twenty years when packet travel was the
ordinary means of transit through this part of the state,
and Dickens in his American Noles has given his impres-
sions of the journey.

The immediate surroundings of the Elm suggest a
consideration of the present status of trees, especially
those of commanding size. They appear to have no rights
that any one is bound to respect, and yet there is nothing
unreasonable in the idea that a tree of distinction should
receive a certain amount of consideration. It is not an
exaggeration to state that generally in the rural districts,
the difficulty of seeing all of a tree is in direct propor-
tion to its size. A tree of medium size will serve as a prop
for spades and hoes and fence-rails, but with increase in
size comes a greater opportunity to pile up, until in the
case of a Chestnut whose crown and blossoms I saw last
summer and supposed it to have a trunk somewhere, the
visible connection between the spreading limbs and the

Garden and Forest.

213

ground was formed of several agricultural implements, a
broken wagon, some railroad ties and a stable door. The
ordinary treatment of trees at present depends entirely on
the point of view, and this in matters of greater importance
than trees is largely a matter of condition and education. A
man has an undoubted legal right to cover his own trees with
barn doors, if he feels so disposed, but, with the growth of
sentiments such as were expressed at the Forestry meeting
recently held in Philadelphia, it is reasonable to hope that
the time is passing quickly when a stately, beautiful tree,
such as the great Elm, will suggest itself simply as a way
station for tools, or as ihe party wall of a henhouse.

The photographs of the Elm and the Dauphin Chestnut
(page 114, No 421, GarRDEN AND Forest) were taken by Mr.
George Roberts, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Ann Arbor, Mich. MW. L. Dock.

The Flora of the California Coast Range.—II.
THE MENDOCINO COAST BARRENS.

HE rivers of western Mendocino County run a short

course to the sea, the larger ones rising in a high
barrier range, which, running north and south, divides the
county. Their course cuts through high mountain chains
clothed densely with Redwood forest. The ranges de-
crease in height as they approach the ocean, and in the
last few miles of their course the rivers are tidal canals
hemmed in by steep slopes covered with Redwood, Fir,
Abies grandis, and western Hemlock. Groves of Alder, which
here reaches its best development, are found in the few
narrow bottom-lands. The underbrush is varied and luxu-
riant. Ferns riot everywhere, and the common Brake,
Pteris aquilana, attains giant proportions, sometimes form-
ing dense masses eight feet high. From the tidal rivers the
steep slopes rise for half a mile and suddenly open on small
rolling table-lands, locally called barrens, or, very inap-
propriately, prairies. These barrens, found between all
the larger streams along the coast, are sometimes four
miles wide, while at some points they cover only a few
acres. They are all of the same altitude and geological
formation and appear to be the remains of an extensive
table-land, through which the streams have furrowed out
their present courses.

These barrens are an interesting field for botanists, and
from an esthetic point of view most picturesque. They
are slightly uneven, breaking into swales at the sides and
bordered by an irregular line of forests. On the ocean side
the land drops by heavily wooded slopes and gullies until
the point is reached where the ocean has gnawed it away
into rocky bluffs, and the skeletons of the older lands are
seen in islets, rocks and reefs far out to sea. Fogs roll
inland over the barrens and the air is always fresh and
moist. Everywhere are masses of trees and thickets, with
occasional open groves of Pinus muricata, the Prickly Pine,
the black trunks of the trees rising fifty feet high, with
scanty leaves, uneven limbs, and shrinking inland from the
prevailing ocean winds, the cones of many years still
clinging to them, or, perhaps, all life gone and the skeleton
only adorned by the ever-persisting open cones.

In the lower areas, which are so Hat that the water stands
there in pools in the winter, and where the scanty covering
of peaty soil above the impervious clay would seem inca-
pable of supporting life, there are thickets almost impene-
trable of the north coast Cypress, Cupressus Goveniana,
slender, straight, cone-covered, and mingled with them the
north coast Scrub Pine, equally slender and straight. When
this dense growth reaches a height of ten feet perhaps a
bush fire will sweep through it, leaving a denuded space
or skeleton stems, and the fire which consumes the thicket
opens the cones and seeds the land abundantly for another

tangle. In the hard struggle for existence these little trees
fruit when a foot high. Dense tracts of them stretch
monotonously away in every direction. The overflow

from brackish pools and from dammed springs gathers
along the sides in swales with decper soils and in small

214

bogs, where Kalmias, Rhododendrons and the Deer Fern,
Lomarea Spicant, form dense masses, with a growth of
Sphagnum in the more springy parts. In the more gen-
erous soil clean, symmetrical, well-developed specimens of
two. Pines are found, the broad, conical Pinus muricata, its
dark long foliage contrasting strongly with P. contorta,
with its delicate cones and short light green needles.
Lilium maritimum finds a congenial home in these low
swales, rooting in the clumps of Deer Ferns or Rhododen-
drons, and throwing up slender stems from three to five
feet high, with dark green leaves in ample whorls and deep
red tubular flowers, harmonizing well with the surround-
ings. Further down these swales are bordered with Red-
wood and other timber trees until they join the main forest
which encloses the barrens.

The higher barrens are covered largely with the tiny-
leaved Manzanita, Arctostaphylos nummularia, with scat-
tered Pines and Khododenrons and a few of the larger
fuzzy Manzanitas, A. tomentosa... Ceanothus diversifolius,
a low-growing sticky-leaved plant with blue flowers, a
beautiful shrub when in bloom, and C. sorediatus, a rigid
spiny shrub, not without beauty when covered with its
bright bloom, are found here. The small-leaved Manzanita,
as I saw it last February, when it was festooned with tiny
bells, was a most interesting plant. Little ones only six
inches high were in flower, looking like the dwarfer Ericas,
and the larger ones were masses of bloom. The plant is
five feet high at its best. In the mixed growth on the bor-
ders of the swales and in the deep wood grows Rhododen-
dron Californicum, the loveliest of California shrubs. In
the higher heaths it is a low, many-stemmed bush with
gnarled charred stumps which have survived many fires.
In the wood borders it is a tall shrub; in the deep wood it
is twelve or fifteen feet high, its glossy evergreen leaves
suggesting those of the evergreen Magnolia, and the pink
blossoms in this moist air are produced for a long season.
Even the rough woodsmen admire it, and it is a most
impressive plant, even to an unobserving visitor.

The Huckleberry, Vaccinium ovatum, is everywhere.
Here it takes a low compressed form, while in the wood it
is tall and slender. It flourishes in the fogs, and late in
autumn the bushes are black with juicy berries which only
feed the birds. On the borders of the woods and through-
out the cleared or burned lands the wild Blackberry, Rubus
ursinus, more properly a Dewberry, trails over the ground
and drapes every stump, fallen log and bush. It is per-
fectly at home here and produces in profusion fruit of the
largest size. It is sought by parties of campers who leave
their homes in the hot interior valleys in July for a few
weeks of the cool foggy air of the Coast Range, with inci-
dental berries. The Thimble Berry, Rubus Nutkanus, a
shrub attractive in leaf and flower and with palatable fruit,
thrives in the cool wood borders. Sallal, that is the fruit of
Gaultheria Shallon, is another edible berry which grows on
a low ericaceous shrub in dense mats on the woodsides.

In the higher portions a burn will show thousands of tall
yellow flowers of Zygadenus paniculatus; the dwarf dark
purple-flowered form of Brodizea laxa is not uncommon,
and a little Gentian, with many annuals, is also to be
seen. The Cypress, which when crowded is often seen in
its dwarf form here, becomes a beautiful and symmetrical
tree. In the rich woodland borders its slender and beauti-
ful trunk is forty feet high and scarcely seems to taper.
Younger trees of the Western Hemlock are exquisitely
lovely; the light green foliage and drooping terminal
branches give it a weeping effect that I have never seen
elsewhere. Groves of perfect young specimens of Abies
grandis are found in the cleared woods.

Ukiah, Calif. Carl Purdy.

The Pitch Pine is our most cheerful tree, especially in the
early year when it is full of light, in perfect harmony with the
yellow earth and the spring sun, and warms the landscape with
its ingrained sunniness. Yet men cut down these trees and
set imported Larches about their houses,— 7horeau.

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 431.

Plant Notes.

Rusus peticrosus.—This Rocky Mountain Raspberry, or
Bramble, as it is often called, is one of the most beautiful as
well as the most hardy of shrubs which bloom in May, and
yet it is comparatively little known to cultivation, although
it was discovered by Dr. James, the surgeon of Long's
expedition, as early as 1820. This year the flowers opened
the first week in May, and although the flowers of all
shrubs forced into bloom by the unseasonable weather
have been unusually fugacious, the long arching branches
of this Rubus are still well furnished with a succession of
the large white blossoms. These are pure white, saucer-
shaped, resembling small Cherokee Roses, and nearly two
inches across. The plant, when left to itself, has a low,
somewhat spreading growth, and old plants assume some-
thing of a straggling habit. This is obviated by cutting
back the branches after the flowering season, and it becomes
a stout, well-shaped shrub, with light brown or gray bark
and leaves on long slender red petioles. The fruit, which
does not form abundantly here, is by no means delicious,
as its name would indicate, but consists of three or four
dry and almost tasteless carpels, although some improve-
ment might be made in it by selection. The plant is best
raised from seed, as itis rather hard to propagate from cut-
tings. Its perfect hardiness and the beauty of its flowers
make it a most desirable shrub.

Iris Lupina.—The Wolf's Ear Iris is found in Mesopo-
tamia and Central Asia, and is one of the introductions of
recent years. Like the other Oncocyclus Irises, this is a
spring-flowering plant, and coming from a country of rain-
less summers, it naturally becomes dormant soon after flow-
ering and wakes into life again when the fall rains begin.
I. lupina varies materially from I. Susiana, the best
known of this section, especially in the form of the flowers,
the falls being lance-shaped and the standards being oval, not
orbicular, as in I. Susiana and most other Oncocyclus Irises.
Like other Irises of this section, it has scanty, narrow and
dwarf foliage, and the characteristic coloration of narrow
veins ona ground of contrasting color. In this case the
veins are purplish brown on a yellow or greenish yellow
ground, a combination familiar in some Cy pripediums, and
altogether quiet, dainty and indescribable. Of course, lan-
guage always fails to give any adequate description of the
colors of flowers, especially when they are unusual shades
of primary colors, but it is quite as impossible to describe
the infinite varieties of forms which give individuality to
every Iris. Altogether, I. lupina is well worth growing for
its distinctness and beauty of form and coloring. It has
flowered nicely with Mr. Gerard, who, after many experi-
ments, has finally adopted as closely as possible the method
of culture worked out by Herr Leichtlin. The rhizomes,
which are reliably hardy, should be dried off a few weeks
after fowering and kept perfectly dry until late in the year.
These Irises are treated in Mr. Gerard's garden as if they
were hardy bulbs whose leaves are not frost-proof. After
ripening them up they are stored in perfectly dry earth in
a cool cellar and planted out at the end of November, at
which time the ground is too cool to encourage growth.
Planted out in a perfectly open border, without protection,
they make no growth until after early frosts are over, and
if they were properly grown the previous year their flower-
ing is a matter of course. This season they have required
artificial watering, as there has been practically no rain
here since March. Every one who has bought Oncocyclus
Iris roots, especially of the new kinds and those which have
been collected, has been struck by their apparent weakness,
and this suggested to Mr. Gerard that it might be well to
grow them on so as to secure stronger plants. The result
was strong roots, but no increase of flowers, so that with his
present experience he is not prepared to say that strong roots
and luxuriant foliage are conducive to successful flowering.
On points like this, however, it is not well to be dogmatic.

Nicotiana arrinis.—This Tobacco plant has probably in
most places superseded the old scentless white-flowered

MAY 27, 1896.]

species which was formerly a favorite in many gardens.
Nicotiana affinis is a stately plant with pure white flowers
with long tubes and spreading lobes, the upper two of
which slightly reflex. Itis a perennial, but the roots sel-

Garden and Forest.

215

transplanted in the fall from outdoors and grown in a cool
temperature make strong blooming plants in March or
April, and are not only as showy and attractive as one
could desire im any greenhouse, but they furnish excellent

Fig. 32.—White Elm at Dauphin, Pennsylvania.—See page 212.

dom survive the winter here. This is of little importance
as it produces seed freely, which germinates plentifully in
the border, and the plant is more valuable late in the year
than in early summer. It is still more valuable in a cool
greenhouse during the early days of spring. Young plants

cutting material, and in vases for house decoration will
remain ina good condition fora week. This is owing,
perhaps, largely to the fact that they escape the insect
fertilization which makes them so short-lived out-of-
doors,

216

Cultural Department.

Carnation Notes.

Cys plants intended to bloom next winter are still in pots
and boxes, and will remain there until toward the end of
the month. They are standing in a cold frame, and the sashes
are not placed over them unless the night is likely to be frosty
or rainy. Usually our stock is planted out by the middle of
May. Experience has shown us that even a light frostis a
severe check to plants. In the fall of the year they will stand
a temperature.several degrees below freezing without injury,
but at this season of the year, after being brought along with
fire-heat, they are in a much more tender condition, and a
freezing which would have no apparent effect on them in Sep-
tember or October would greatly cripple the plants now. Last
year we had much trouble with cut-worms. During the latter
part of May they ruined a good many plants, and would have
wiped out the entire lot had they not been fought persistently.
This season cut-worms appear to be more numerous than ever,
and we prefer to keep our young stock in boxes until they are
lessened. If any of the readers of GARDEN AND FOREST can
recommend a radical cure for this pest it would be a decided
service to many growers. We have tried about every remedy
we have heard of, but none have been successful. Paris green
mixed in fresh bran and scattered among the plants poisons
some of the cut-worms, but the majority avoid the poison and
keep to the Carnation foliage. Lime, tobacco-dust, hellebore,
etc., whether dusted on the plants or scattered about the stems,
do not in the least check their ravages. Carbolic acid, mixed
with water at the rate of one pint of acid to fifty gallons of
water, and sprinkled with a rose-can over the plants, did not
seem to be any deterrent, nor was Paris green or sulphate of
copper, used in a similar way. Hand-picking with a lantern,
although a slow method, if persisted in nightly is as efficacious
as any remedy I know of. This season we have trapped a
large number by scattering succulent leaves of Cauliflower and
Cabbage among Phlox, Strawberries and other affected plants.
There ought to be some means of wiping out this pest, but
growers in this locality seem to be of opinion that cut-worms
and rose-bugs cannot be destroyed unless insecticides are used
strong enough to injure or kill the plants.

Plants in the benches indoors require plenty of water during
such hot weather as we are now having. We recently gave
our benches a mulching with well-rotted cow-manure, after
having previously tied up the plants and slightly loosened the
surface. There is no reason why good blooms cannot be had
indoors until planting-time comes around again if the neces-
sary water, stimulants and syringing are supplied. Syringing
with good force on mornings and evenings of clear days will
benetit the plants and keep red spider in check. Of course,
plenty of outdoor blooms may be had by the middle of July
from stock specially grown for summer flowering ; but those
produced under glass are cleaner than those grown outside,
although their stems may not be so wiry.

A good deal has recently been written in the horticultural
press concerning Fowler's arsenical solution as a cure for Car-
nation-rust. Mr. E.G. Hill, the well-known Carnation grower,
of Richmond, Indiana, who exhibited some of the finest blooms
at the New York Carnation Show last February, states that a
one-ounce bottle of the solution mixed with eight gallons of
water and applied once a week, so as to thoroughly wet all the
foliage, cleared up some of his worst cases of rust after
three applications given at intervals of a week, that the
diseased leaves turned black, after which they were gathered
and destroyed. We have tried this arsenic cure on a few
affected plants of Rose Queen and Daybreak, but can-
not see that it has checked the disease, and the leaves
have not become discolored. We experimented with the
solution in different strengths and find that by applying it
at the rate of one ounce to two gallons of water the rust is
apparently killed after two applications. As a further experi-
ment we tried the solution on a few plants at the rate of one
ounce to one-half gallon of water and failed to detect any
injury to the plants, although possibly repeated syring-
ing with this strength might result in injury. There is no
question but the dangers of rust have been exaggerated
to some extent, but it is, nevertheless, the worst toe the
Carnation grower has to fight. We have tried copper solu-
tions with only a moderate amount of success. I believe a
great deal may be done to prevent the spread of rust by clean-
liness in the houses and by careful hand-picking of any affected
plants when they first show the disease. But when whole
houses are attacked it will not pay to use such measures, and
from an experience with Fowler’s solution I am satisfied that
it will destroy the rust if applied somewhat stronger than Mr.

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 431.

Hill recommended. Ithas not been claimed that it will pre-
vent spread. A longer trial is necessary, on a more extensive
scale, to thoroughly settle how far the arsenical solution is a
success, but it has proved a benefit in our own case, and we
feel certain, if given a fair trial, it will be of advantage to others.
A good deal of labor is involved in spraying whole houses of
plants so as to thoroughly wet them all, but as most private
places grow only a few dozen, or at most a few hundred plants,
the work can readily be accomplished.

Of last year’s introductions, Alaska is likely to prove the
best. It is a persistent bloomer, with a stout wiry stem, flowers
of good size and form; and the plant is a vigorous grower.
Eldorado, yellow, raised by Mr. Shelmire, is well liked in this
locality by those who have grownit. Its flowers have brought
as much asa dollar and a half a hundred at wholesale in the
Boston market. It flowers more freely than Bouton d'Or, Gold-
finch or Buttercup. Meteor, asa crimson, while it gave some
fine flowers early in the year, cannot be classed as a prolific
bloomer, and compares unfavorably with the older F. Man-
gold. Rose Queen and Bridesmaid were by no means suc-
cesses last winter, and we purpose trying them again next year.
Rose Queen burst its calyx badly, and Bridesmaid, while of a
pleasing shade, did not give more than one or two flowers on
each plant. Stock of these varieties was started earlier this
year, and possibly by having larger plants next September the
returns next winter will be more satisfactory. Nicholson has
done indifferently this year, nearly every plant having died out,
and this experience is common. With the introducer at Fram-
ingham it is at this time doing well, but we do not believe it
will be grown much after next season in this locality. William
Scott is still proving far superior to all other pink varietiesand
is growing and flowering better than ever betore, with no sign
of disease. Lizzie McGowan continues to do splendidly in this
neighborhood and is grown in preference to other white sorts.
A few growers near Boston still cling to Mrs, Fisher, and as a
summer bloomer it is unexcelled, but it compares unfavorably
with Lizzie McGowan in winter. For some reason, however,
Lizzie McGowan is not well grown by some of the leading
Carnation growers in this section. Asa rule, their soil is light
and sandy ; we find it succeeds best in a heavy clayey loam.
WN. Craig.

Taunton, Mass.

The Hardy Flower Garden.

ae month of June is the most interesting of any in the
hardy flower garden, and the plants not in bloomare fresh
and green. The tall Leopard’s Bane, Doronicum plantagi-
neum, var. excelsum, is just past its best. It is about two feet
tall and quite showy, and, with the Dandelion, one of few com-
posites in bloom so early in the season. The common Marsh
Forget-me-not, Myosotis palustris, and particularly the variety
semperflorens, does well in the borders, and lasts for years if
it is well watered during the summer months. M. alpestris is
earlier and more tufted, blooming densely during the early
spring months. It is a perennial in its native country, the
European Alps, while here it is little better than an annual, and
to succeed with it a new stock must be raised every year.
Polemonium Richardsoni, a medium-growing Jacob’s-ladder,
does better in a rather moist shady place than in the full sun-
light, as we lately discovered. Some yellow-flowered kinds,
which we did not think much of, might have done better had
we tried them in shade. Phlox ovatus is the earliest of border
Phloxes, and quite showy.

The Globe-fowers, Trollius Europzeus and T. Asiaticus, are
among the choicest of border plants. They are rather stately,
though not tall, with neatly divided and attractive foliage. The
flowers are yellow, and, as the name implies, quite globular,
being incurved in the same way as a Chinese Chrysanthemum,
T. Asiaticus is the dwarfest and earliest, and the flowers are
also a slightly deeper shade of yellow. The Day Lilies are
among the handsomest of border plants, and they are thor-
oughly hardy. They are not aggressive, but when established
will thrive under adverse conditions. I know an old cottage
garden, much shaded and pestered with tree-roots, where
these Day Lilies grow thriftily and never fail to bloom well.
Hemerocallis graminea is the earliest, followed by H, flava and
H. Mittendorffiana. H. Thunbergii is an autumn-blooming
kind, and the finest of all. It has been offered many years by
a leading firm, but is still scarce.

Lychnis Chalcedonica is never lost. It will grow wherever
it has a chance. Its heads of bright scarlet flowers compose
well in bouquets. If cut down when going to seed it will start
afresh and bloom in the autumn. The Ragged Robin, the
double L. Flos-cuculi, has lately been offered, I believe, asa
specially new thing. It is an acquisition, new or old. The

May 27, 1896.]

charming panicled cymes of pink flowers are very effective
when massed in the front line of the border. The true Gera-
niums, or Cranebills, are all attractive, bright and healthy-
looking. Our spotted Geranium maculatum is regarded with
favor, and where not native is cultivated. G. sanguinea, alow-
growing European species, is in bloom from spring until frost.
G. pratense is a beautiful plant, whether we look at its hand-
somely cut palmate leaves or branched panicles of purplish
blue flowers.

Oriental Poppiesare, without doubt, the showiest of all border
flowers. Their blooms are short-lived, but Sorgeous while
they last. Among others we have P. pilosum, °P. Tupifragum,
P. nudicaule and P. alpinum, with the annual varieties, P. som-
niferum, P. Rhoeas and the Shirley Poppies.

Pzonia tenuifolia is past, P. paradoxa and P. decora are
opening, while the Albiflora and Officinalis groups are one
week later. Paeeonias and German Iris together in bloom make
a beautiful effect, as do blue German Iris and blue Columbines
in a bed of Ghent Azaleas all in bloom together. Dicentra
spectabilis, the Bleeding-heart, is attractive on the shady side
of a shrubbery border. Here it is well placed, as in an exposed
sunny place it starts early into growth and is scorched by
spring frosts.

Perennial Larkspursare shooting up fast. There arenumerous
kinds, mostly of hybrid origin, with Delphinium elatum as seed
parent, at least in the originalhybrid. D.formosum is among
the handsomest. D. Sinensis is a pretty dwarf species, which
we have in blue and white varieties. In intensity of blue it is
unapproached, Foxgloves make a striking show. They are
most effective for the interior of shrubberies, but in full sun-
light they die out quickly. Sweet Williams make a distinct
display, and usually border the shrubberies. Columbines are
abundant, but being biennial in character and coming and
going quickly they are not obtrusive. Some garden varieties
may run out, but Aquilegia Olympica is as good as ever, and
A. Canadensis, we think, has improved. I recently noted pur-
ple forms, and to-day I find one with clear yellow flowers,
excepting only purple spurs; in every other respect it is of the
A. Canadensis type. In addition to German Iris, we have I.
tenax and I. oxysepala, neat native species with attractive
mauve-colored flowers. I. oxysepala is sweet-scented.

Wellesley, Mass. T. D. Hatfield.

Tree Peonies.—These are among the most uncertain of flow-
ering plants in latitudes exposed to even moderately late
frosts. They are perfectly hardy, and even if they sometimes
unfold their leaves early these are seldom injured by ordinary
spring cold, but there seems to be a critical time in the growth
of the plants just after the unfolding leaves expose the flow-

_ering buds. At that time these buds seem to be very tender,
and a slight frost or even a sudden check some day from a
low temperature seems enough to prevent their further growth
for the season, The time during which the buds are so sen-
sitive appears to be short, and it will sometimes be found that
buds which have been exposed a day or two later than others
escape damage. To flower these plants with certainty it is
evident that we must take care to furnish temporary protec-
tion for a few nights when the buds are in this tender condi-
tion. There is some difference in time of moving of the
Moutan Peonies, and the only flowers we have this year are
on Gloria Belgarum, and this exception is, perhaps, due to the
fact that they unfold later than the others. A well-grown Tree
Peony with fine flowers is one of the most beautiful of garden
plants, but one seldom sees in cultivation varieties which are
comparable in beauty to the modern herbaceous kinds. A
few fine single-flowered kinds have been introduced from
Japan in recent years, the best of these being the white-flow-
ered ones, which are sometimes pure in color and sometimes
tinged with pinkin the centre. With their golden stamens,
and often fringed petals and glaucous foliage, they are the per-
fection of form and coloring. But if I were to grow but one
Moutan Pzeony it would be Reine Elizabeth, a splendid flower,
very double, of a very pure salmon-pink color, deepening
toward the centre, and of enormous size. Fortunately, it is
not a rare plant, but it requires, like all Paeonies, a generous
treatment and a few years of vigorous growth to make a
good specimen. Gloria Belgarum is much lighter in color,
an enlarged form of the ordinary light pink type. ¥.N.G

Elizabeth, N. J.

Shrubs and Climbers Winter-killed—Though the past winter
was not extremely cold, its effects upon some shrubs and
climbing plants in this locality have been very disastrous. We
had less snow than inany winter in the recollection of the oldest
inhabitant, and, no doubt, this was one reason for the unusual
number of fatalities. One of the oldest of the college buildings

Garden and Forest.

217

has been well clothed for years with Ampelopsis Veitchii, and
last summer this was in perfect health ; now not more than
one-third of the plants are alive. All the plants in a large bed
of Diervillas planted three years ago in a moist situation, and
uncommonly vigorous last summer, are now killed to within a
foot of the ground, while others on higher and drier ground
suffered less severely. Some nice bushy plants of Magnolia
Soulangeana are killed back almost to the ground. Itea Vir-
ginica shared the samme fate. A fine specimen of Chionanthus
Virginica, standing in a very exposed position, has only barely
escaped ; it is now just starting into growth, while others in
more sheltered locations are in flower. Some old specimens
of Rhus Cotinus have suffered severely where exposed. Many
of the evergreens are also badly browned. Last summer was
an exceptional season for growth. Some of the Magnolias
made shoots over four feet in length, and other shrubs in pro-
portion. But the new wood did not ripen and could not with-
stand the cold. All the shrubs named are considered perfectly
hardy here.

Solanum citrullifolium.—This Solanum, one of the annual
species, is now flowering in the greenhouses here. It grows to
ahout one foot in height. The leaves are about three inches
long by two wide, obovate and pinnatifidly lobed, with stem
and midrib covered with short prickles. The flowers are bright
blue, with yellow stamens, and about one and a half inches in
diameter and borne on shortracemes. The corolla is deeply
five-cleft. I have not yet tried it in the garden, but it looks as
though it might prove a good garden annual. We received
the seeds from the Munich Botanic Gardens.

Ledward F, Canning.

Botanic Garden, Northampton, Mass.

Correspondence.
The Elm-leaf Beetle.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :

Sir,—I have some old and beautiful Elms about my house,
and the Elm beetle is already beginning its work on their
leaves. Please let me know the most successful way of fight-
ing these insects, and I should be also pleased to have some
suggestions as to the best way to protect trees on the public

streets.
Springfield, Mass. Wo FaeG

[All the most successful methods of combating the Elm-
leaf beetle have been published in this paper from time to
time, but the safest way to attack the beetle itself is by
spraying with some compound of arsenic. A good formula
for a spraying mixture is one pound of London purple, six
pounds of lime and four quarts of flour in a hundred gal-
lons of water. The lime prevents injury to the foliage by
free arsenic, the flour makes the drench somewhat pasty
and adherent. Of course, the mixture must be kept stirred,
and it must be applied in sufficient quantities and with
enough force to touch the surface of all the leaves. On a
private place any of the numerous hand-pumps will be
found effective, and to reach the top of tall trees an extension
pole, such as is used by Dr. FE. B. Southwick in the parks of
this city, will help to spray any tree that is not more than
fifty feet high. The first section of this pole is sixteen feet
long and three-quarters of an inch in diameter; the second
one is a quarter of an inch in diameter and eighteen feet
long ; the third is a bamboo bound to the top of the second
one, and it is also eighteen feet long. The second pole has
two rings or bands at its base, so that it can run up or
down, and is hoisted or lowered by a small rope and pulley.
The hose is a quarter-inch orifice and made of rubber-cloth
insertion, which is strong and light. For larger trees one
man can climb up in the branches, and then by using the
pole the entire head of the tree can easily be sprayed. Of
course, there are various nozzles like the McGowan, the
Cyclone, and almost any of them are effective. The spray-
ing should begin as soon as the beetles commence to work,
which is when the leaves are rather more than half-grown,
It should be repeated every three weeks all summer long,
and if the poison is washed off by drenching rain the spray-
ing should be made oftener.

‘As soon as the larvee begin to climb down the tree the
large limbs and the trunks should be sprayed with the
kerosene emulsion. This is made by boiling together six

218

pounds of soft soap, four quarts of kerosene, two quarts of
crude carbolic acid and two gallons of water. This is then
diluted in one hundred gallons of water, and it should be
sprayed on the trunks and wherever the larve are seen,
and the ground about the base of the trees, where the
insects are found in the form of pupe, should also be
sprayed, This last work should be very thoroughly done,
because the insects can be easily attacked and killed in
this way, and their destruction at that season will prevent
the ravages of the beetles next year.

Of course, in large towns, or wherever there are large
estates, several owners can unite together and purchase a
steam spraying outfit, by means of which much more rapid
work can be done. Several men can be employed at once
to manage different lines of hose, and while two or more
men are directing the spray into as many trees the same
number are climbing adjacent trees, so that the engine and
its attendants are occupied all the time. If the nozzle is
moved rapidly about, a large tree can be sprayed in three
minutes. Some arrangement for climbing large trees with-
out using telegraph-clamps, or creepers, as they are called,
ought to be devised, because these sharp metal points
penetrate the bark and leave the tree a prey to other insects
and fungi. Spraying is not an expensive matter where
there is any codperation, and the machine can be used
against other insects, like the tussock moth, which attacks
trees of other species. In several places in the country
enterprising men have gone into the business of spraying
fruit and shade trees—that is, they have one or more com-
plete outfits of machinery, which they send with skilled
men to operate them, taking the contract for a certain num-
ber of applications during the season at the proper time.
No one now attempts to grow orchard fruits on a large
scale without facilities for spraying against insects and
fungi. It is just as necessary to use these remedies in the
case of trees planted for shade or ornament as it is for trees
planted for fruit. —Ep. ]

Close of the California Orange Season.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—The orange season is practically at an end in California.
There are a few scattering car-loads of Mediterranean Sweets,
St. Michaels and Valencias still to go forward, but all of the
Navels have been sent east. About 5,600 car-loads have been
shipped, and the early estimates varied between 8,000 and
10.000 car-loads.

The prices realized have been the best for the past five years.
A large proportion of the Navels weresold at from $2.50 to $2.94
a box, free on board in southern California. The average price
for good Navels has been about $2.20, which nets the grower
the satisfactory sum of $1.70 a box. Seedlings and other
varieties have also sold well, but the crop of these has been
smaller than in tormer years. A result of these conditions
has been to createa great demand for Navel nursery stock,
both north and south, the demand for these trees exceeding
the supply. Two or three years ago there was a general dis-
position to test the Mediterranean Sweet and other late varie-
ties. But the Navel has been such a favorite in the markets
of the east this winter that it now holds undisputed place as
the representative California orange.

That Orange groves are still considered a good investment
is shown by the proposed plantings this season. There will
be a considerable addition to the acreage of southern Califor-
nia, particularly in San Bernardino County, where the crop has
been large, not appreciably damaged by frost, and sold at good
prices. Investors in the northern part of the state, encouraged
by the returns from the early shipments from Palermo and
Oroville, will also make some extensive plantings. It is stated
that one orchard to be planted near Palermo, if the trees can
be obtained, will consist of fourteen hundred acres. Prime
trees in the nursery three or four years ago were worth from
$1.50 to $200 each. Then there was a collapse in prices,
owing to overproduction, and an almost total cessation of
demand, until trees sold as lowas ten cents each. Hundreds of
acres of nursery stock were grubbed out and burned. This year
there is a demand, not only from California, but from Arizona,
Mexico and Florida. Prices have risen to fifty and seventy-
five cents a tree, and it is predicted that the Navels will be
worth at least a dollar apiece next year. Many nurserymen

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 431.

who have a stock of late varieties are budding them over to
Navel buds, although it is a disputed question whether the
resulting trees are strong and healthy. As it requires four
years to mature a tree for transplanting from the seed there
will probably be good prices for all the trees now in the
nurseries,

Reports from different parts of southern California indicate
that the Orange-trees are setting heavily, that the climatic con-
ditions have been favorable so far, and that, barring hot winds
in the summer and frosts next winter, the coming crop will be
a large one.

About forty per cent. of this year’s crop has been handled
by the Southern California Fruit Exchange, and those who
have adopted this method of sale are said to be very well sat-
isfied with the returns; the Exchange has received the highest
prices in its history.

Some criticism has been made about the statement which
appeared in the issue of GARDEN AND Forest for February
5th, as to the degree of cold in Riverside on December 29th
and 3oth, last winter. It has been argued that it was unfair to
place the lowest record of the thermometer at Riverside at
seventeen degrees, and in other near-by places but twenty-six
degrees. Nevertheless, the mercury did fall to seventeen
degrees at one point near Riverside, although this degree of
cold was not reached anywhere else. But the injury resulted
not so much from an extremely low temperature as from its
long continuance below freezing-point. The effect of this was
not only seen in ruined fruit, but also in some groves in that
locality from which the leaves have fallen and new foliage is
appearing. To make the best of the matter, the frost was a
very serious calamity and the results show that the original
statements were substantially correct. At least 1,500 car-
loads of oranges were rendered unsalable by the frost at Riv-
erside, and the 500 car-loads shipped east immediately after
the frost was damaged and brought reduced prices, so that lit-
tle was realized above the cost of picking, packing and for-
warding. The total shipments to this time are about 1,goo
car-loads, and there are said to be about 100 car-loads now
remaining in Riverside. Much of the fruit sent from River-
side since the frost, exclusive of the first 500 car-loads, has been
sold at good prices, some of it as high as $2.75 a box free on
board. Just what proportion was first-class fruit and what of a
lower quality Ido not know. Of course, it is unfair to make
comparisons, and to state that any section was more seriously
damaged than the facts warrant. The loss by frost this year
was a loss not to any single locality, but to all of southern Cali-
fornia, since it emphasized the disagreeable fact that the
Orange groves of this section are liable to a certain degree of
damage by frost.

In spite of this fact, Orange groves are held to day at very
good prices. The best are not for sale at any reasonable price.
Good young orchards from five to six years of age may be
bought at from $500 to $600 an acre. Others are held higher.
One that I know of, of twenty acres, the crop of which brought
this year $2,300, at six years of age, is held at $18,000. It is
expected to produce a very much larger cropnext year. From
$800 to $1,000 an acre is the ruling price for such bearing
groves, in the best localities, as are for sale. An acquaintance
quoted to mea return of $325 an acre from an orchard of old
seedling trees. The largest yield that I have heard of and
believe to be authentic is one of $18,000 from forty acres, an
average of $450 an acre. These oranges were Navels, and
were sold at the highest price. The best five acres in the tract
brought a ret»rn of $800 an acre. I believe an average profit
of $100 an acrea year to be reasonable and not an overestimate,

Redlands, Calif. Win. M. Tisdale.

Notes from West Virginia.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—We have been fortunate in escaping drought through
local rains. Our pasture-fields were seldom greener, but
farmers only six or eight miles away complain that the
ground is dry as powder, so that the Corn has not begun to
germinate. The Yellow Locust, which is more abundantly
planted in this neighborhood than any other tree, is. past flow-
ering,and the Clammy Locust, Robinia viscosa, and its varieties
are in tull bloom.

A groupof young Laburnums and White Fringe trees is now
the most beautiful object in our shrubberies. These trees
are most effective when planted together. Both have hand-
some foliage and drooping flowers which open at the same
time. Some bushes of Scotch Broom, planted near them,
combine to makea sunny picture of their little shrubbery. The
Chionanthus Virginica, or White Fringe, is, perhaps, the most

MAy 27, 1896.]

beautiful small tree we have. When in flower it is adorned
as for a bridal morn, with a delicate white veil of bloom which
resembles nothing so muchas filmy lace. In the damp, cool
weather we are now having this exquisite bloom has lasted
for ten days, fresh and dainty as at first. The Chionanthus
delights in rich soil and should not be crowded in with other
shrubs. Given plenty of room it develops into a symmetrical,
well-rounded little tree. The Laburnums are here planted ten
feet apart, where they receive partial shade from large Tulip-
trees, in company with, but not crowded by, the Fringe-trees.
The flowers of Phlox divaricata, now passing out of bloom, vary
from a striking shade of deep purplish blue through lead-color
to white. We bring it from the woods and plant it in the wild
garden, among the rocks, under the shade of Oaks, in com-
pany with Delphinium tricorne, Columbine, Wild Geranium,
early Crowfoot, Stellaries, Rue Anemones and Maiden-hair
Fern. The latter we have to water constantly through the
summer, and with all our care have little success with Ferns
on our dry uplands. They do not grow naturally in our woods,
but we find small ones in abundance on the cliffs of the Poto-
mac, where they cling to the face of perpendicular rocks and
peep from their crevices in company with Columbines and
other delicate wild flowers.

Yellow Lilies—Hemerocallis flava—and German Irises of
pure white, lemon-yellow and delicate gray-blue, form a fine
group on the lawn against a green background of shrubs.
Near-by, and in striking contrast, is a bold mass of double
Peonies in deep crimsons, carminesand flesh colors. These are
really gorgeous in coloring and require hardly any care. We
never disturb them ; they grow so densely that no weeding is
necessary, and a heavy mulching of manure in the fall, lightly
worked into the soil in the spring, is all the attention they need
to make them increase in size every year.

We found the first rose on the tenth of May. It was the
very early Cinnamon Rose; Rosa rugosa and the Persian and
Austrian Briers followed quickly after; and then came R. mul-
tiflora and such old favorites as the Hundred-leaved Rose, the
Hermosa, Giant of Battles and the Roses of Provence, The
Crimson Rambler is now in bud, and Madame Georges Bruant
is just opening a few dew-filled cups. Monsieur E, Y. Teas,
Ulrich Brunner and Pierre Guillot are the handsomest deep-red
Roses here, and all of them show a few fresh flowers.

Shepherdstown, W. Va. Danske Dandridge.

A Natural Garden.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—It is easy to find in the neighboring sand region natural
gardens which, in variety of plants and in beauty and distribu-
tion of colors, equal those arranged by art. One of these was
observed early in May. The area comprised about one hun-
dred and twenty by fifteen to twenty feet in width. The fresh,
but thin, grass formed an even turf and furnished a lively
green foil for the various plants scattered over its surface. It
sloped away from a sandy knoll at one end to wet ground and
pools of water at the other. Sitting on the knoll one could
readily distinguish most of the plants which made up the pic-
ture and study their colors and arrangement.

The brightest and most abundant flower was the Painted
Cup, represented by both yellow and scarlet varieties and
many shades between. The Wood Betony carried spikes of
flowers of a pale yellow hue, set among the prettily divided
pinnatifid leaves clustered at the base. Bluets peeped out
from the midst of blades of grass, and in the wet ground and
shallow water were Marsh Marigolds. The Strawberry and
large-flowered forms of the Windflower added a dash of
white. On the knoll were bunches of Viola pedata with large
pale blue flowers, and in the damper ground V. sagittata
showed a deep shade of rich violet-purple. There were dainty
little cups of the Dwarf Blueberry, white, tinged with rose,
though its chief contribution to the scheme of color came from
the deep red-brown of the newly expanding buds and leaves.
The most stately plant was the Swamp Saxifrage, raising a
panicle of greenish flowers on a stout hairy scape, from the
midst of large lusty leaves. Here and there in dryish spots
were the flat-topped clusters of whitish flowers of Comandra
umbellata. The Wild Lupine was approaching flowering, and
held above its symmetrical leaves clusters of blue and white
buds. Maianthemum Canadense was plentiful, also in bud,
and mainly noticeable for its broad smooth leaves of lively
green. The grass-like Luzula campestris was in fruit, and the
Cotton-Grass was beginning to show the long white down
bursting from the rusty scales of the maturing fruit. Ferns
were springing up, and the Flowering Fern vied with the
Dwarf Blueberry in the color of its fresh foliage. The stout

Garden and Forest.

219

hairy fronds of the Cinnamon Fern were beginning to uncoil,
and stood in yellowish or rusty brown bunches. Stems of
Equisetum rose beside the Marsh Marigolds or crowded the
pools with slender columns. In the grass the beautifully com-
pounded leaves of a Thalictrum were making their appear-
ance, Small shrubs of Salix humilis and S. longifolia were
scattered about, displaying cinereous and silky leaves. A
diminutive Gray Pine, barely more than a foot high, stood in
the grass, its short stiff needles giving to the wild garden a
touch of the adjoining woods and Pine-clad sand hills, and
though below the Willows in stature, it was still a tree in form

and dignity,
Chicago, Ill. £E. ye ffill,

Recent Publications.

Circular No. 12, issued by the Division of Forestry of the
United States Department of Agriculture, is devoted to the
physical and mechanical properties of the southern Pines.
The data contained in this circular are condensed from
20,000 tests and an equal number of measurements and
weighings, and it is published now to make the informa-
tion speedily available, while fuller details will be given in
a special bulletin. The importance of trustworthy informa-
tion regarding the Pines of the south is evident from the
fact that they furnish most of the hard pine material used
for constructing purposes in the country, while the annual
cut is certain to increase rapidly as the soft pine supplies
of the north decrease. The Pines under consideration are
first the Long-leaved Pine (Pinus palustris), the Cuban Pine
(P. heterophylla), the Short-leaved Pine (P. echinata) and
the Loblolly Pine (P. Tada). The names of these timbers
in the market are often used interchangeably, and the ma-
terials are mixed in the yard, and trustworthy microscopic
distinctions of the wood of the four species have not yet
been found. There is a very interesting paragraph in which
the diagnostic features of the different woods are given to
assist the identification of the species. This is followed
by a table giving the bending strength and compression
strength of the wood of each species, together with the
relation of the strength to the weight. An interesting study
of the distribution of the weight and strength throughout
the tree furnishes a basis for a diagram which distinctly
sets forth these variations in the different species in a
graphic way. There are brief chapters on the influence
of locality and of moisture, on the behavior of different
woods in shrinking, the effects of kiln-drying and the influ-
ence of immersion in water on the strength of the different
woods. The tests have proved conclusively that timber
which has been bexed or bled for turpentine is quite as
strong as that which has not been so treated if it is of
the same weight, that the weight and shrinkage of the
wood is not affected by bleeding and that the bled trees
contain practically the same amount of resin as unbled
trees, the loss of resin referring only to the sap-wood. The
results of tests of strength with large beams and columns
are most interesting. When we consider the care with
which these experiments have been made, the large num-
ber of trees and test pieces which have been used and the
uniformity of the methods employed, it will be seen that
this work is of serious value, and, perhaps, it is the best
original work that has yet been accomplished by the For-
estry Division. It ought to be added that this circular is
written with a conciseness and a clearness which deserves
the highest commendation.

Notes.

No. 7 of the third volume of the Contributions to the United
States National Herbarium is devoted to a continuation of
Professor Coulter’s study of Cactacez, containing a prelimi-
nary revision of the North American species of Echinocactus,
Cereus and Opuntia.

Professor N. L. Britton, of Columbia College, has been ap-
pointed Director of the new botanical garden to be established
in Bronx Park, in this city. Professor Britton has been Secre-
tary of the Board of Managers ever since the project took form,

220

and it is due to his untiring labors more than to any other
cause that the scheme has been organized under such promis-
ing auspices.

There were abundant rainfalls in central and northern Cali-
fornia last week, and these were followed by frosts which did
serious injury to the young shoots of the vines in Napa and
Sonoma valleys. So far this year has been an exceptionally
trying one for the orchards and vineyards of California.

The auction sales of plants in this city have been unusually
large this spring, and common garden plants of good quality
have brought so far remunerative prices. The demand is so
great that special sales have been held almost every week,
when the prices realized were as good on the average as those
on the regular days.

Last week brief mention was made of the intrepid explorer
and botanist, Father Delavay, so widely known for his botanical
researches in China. It is worth adding here, as indicating the
scope and magnitude of his labors, that, according to the Bud-
letin of the Botanical Society of France, Father Delavay dis-
covered in the difficult mountain regions of Yun-nan more
than fifty new species of Rhododendron, as many species of
Pedicularis, forty new Gentians and as many Primulas. He
sent to the Herbarium of the Jardin des Plantes about four
thousand species, of which one-half were new.

A bulletin just issued by the New York Experiment Station
treats of the Carnation rust, which is considered, after all, one
of the most serious enemies of that plant, although it is not so
much dreaded as it once was. The pamphlet contains whatis
known at present of this disease, and will prove interesting to
all students of fungi as well as all those who grow these plants
to any extent. The following treatment is recommended:
Grow varieties the least subject to rust.. The variety William
Scott, for example, is nearly rust-proof. Cuttings should never
be made from diseased stock, and it should be borne in mind
that plants may be diseased and not show it. If there is any
danger of the presence of the disease the cuttings should be
dipped in a solution of potassium sulphide of the strength of
one ounce to a gallon of water, so as to kill any spores which
may cling to them, Fresh sand should be used in the propa-
gating-bench. From the time they are struck until the plants
are exhausted by flowering they should be sprayed every week
with potassium sulphide or copper sulphate. Before the plants
are brought in in autumn the houses should be fumigated
thoroughly with sulphur. There is no known method of
wholly preventing infection in the field, but plants grown all
summer under glass can be more easily managed.

An unusually successful meeting of the New Jersey Fores-
try. Association was held in Plainfield on Thursday last. In the
afternoon, after a business meeting, there was a lecture by
Professor B. D. Halsted on Diseases of Trees, which called
forth an animated discussion as to the practical methods of
keeping trees in health. In the evening Mr. Fernow, Chief of
the Division of Forestry, delivered a lecture from which we
hope to make extracts in some future number. There was a
very instructive exhibition of photographs, maps and other
illustrative matter, and the arrangements for exciting the
interest of school children were made a feature of the meet-
ing. On Friday the officers of the Forestry Association and a
number of the members, together with the Palisades Com-
missioners, were taken up the river in one of the boats of
the Pennsylvania Railroad Company to see how the cliffs had
been mutilated by quarrying. Messrs. J. J. R. Croes and W.
D. Morse, of the Palisades Commission, explained the pro-
posed measures for protecting this territory as a national park
and forest reserve. John Gifford, the State Forester of New
Jersey, who has lately traversed this district on foot, explained
the character of its forests and the advantages to be derived
from having a school of forestry so near toa city like New
York.

California cherries, large and showy, are now coming in
large lots, the first car-loads being due here this week. Among
varieties now here are Rockport Bigarreau, handsome and
large, pale amber, marked with red, of good quality, and highly
esteemed for canning and for shipping. Governor Wood is
another good light-colored cherry now in season, and the first
Royal Annes arrived last Monday; these were small, how-
ever, and fair specimens will hardly be seen within ten days or
a fortnight. Black Tartarians are, perhaps, more plentiful than
any other variety. A fair price at retail is fortycents a pound.
The first apricots of this season arrived on Saturday, and while

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 431.

some are of fair size and coloring, even the best are immature,
and find slow buyers in the wholesale markets. Strawberries
have been in scant supply and of inferior quality for the lack
of rain, but are now beginning to come in better form, The
best from Maryland commanded on Monday twenty-five cents
a quart. Florida peaches cost $1.00a dozen. Gooseberries may
be had for twenty centsa quart, and huckleberries for thesame
price. Almeria grapes are still shown in the best retail fruit-
stores and bring seventy-five cents a dozen. White Muscats and
Black Hamburgs, from Newport graperies, sell for $2.50 to
$3.00 a pound. Rodi oranges, from the Mediterranean, and
California Navels both command high prices, and since the
stock is not heavy, and strawberries have been in rather
scant supply, there is sufficient demand to sell this fruit at $4.50
to $500 a box, wholesale. The Navel oranges now on the
market are mostly from cold storage, but some seedling
oranges are still coming from the Pacific coast. Lemons have
been cheap, and nearly 220,000 boxes are now on the way to
American ports. Pineapples are coming from Cuba and the
Bahamas ; 16,286 barrels were received from Havana during
last week, and two schooner-loads are due this week from the
latter islands.

Messrs. James Lindsay & Son, fruit salesmen, of Edinburgh,
Scotland, have written us some interesting notes about Amer-
ican apples, some of which we present to our readers to sup-
plement the statement of Messrs. J. C. Houghton & Co., of
Liverpool, England, which was given last week. In the Edin-
burgh market, as in other markets of Great Britain, the best
grades of well-colored apples are in the highest demand, such
as Baldwins, Northern Spies, the genuine Spitzenbergs, York
Imperials and Romanites, from Virginia, which last are quite
different from the fruit of the same name from other parts of
the United States, the latter being a pale, undecided color,
instead of dark rich-looking like the Virginia fruit. Baldwins
are inclined to ripen quickly, but their quality is liked and they
always command a ready sale, bringing from $4.50 to $5.50 a
barrel. The Northern Spies are favorites, especially those
from Canada, which seem to be superior in keeping quality to
those grown farther south. Many apples are exported as Spitz-
enbergs which do not have the shape of the genuine fruit and
which are quite inferior in flavor and have none of that dis-
solving quality which distinguishes the true fruit. The King
apples, especially those from Canada, take the first rank on
account of their color, their flavor, their fine fibre and the rich
look of their flesh, and they always bring good prices. Of
course, the Newtown Pippinis the favoriteamong green apples,
and those grown in Virginia of the finest favor and most melt-
ing quality, in ordinary seasons range from $5.00 to $7.50a bar-
rel, but owing to their abundance this year prices ruled lower,
It should be noted that there are two kinds of Newtown Pip-
pin which reach Great Britain, one of which is gritty, hard and
inclined to be dry, resembling somewhat the Swaar. They are
more beautiful, however, than the Virginia Newtowns, which
do not look as bright, being of a greenish yellow with a small
red spot. The Rhode Island Greening is always in demand
for cooking purposes, and Greenings grown in Canada have
superior keeping qualities. The prices rule from $3.50 to $3.75
with a fair ordinary supply, but when the importations are
excessive they have fallen as low as $2.75 a barrel. There is
little demand for Russets, except when other apples are scarce.
During the season of abundance they are neglected and sell at
low figures. The York Imperial is a comparatively new apple,
but as it has arrived this season it commands good prices on
account of its size and bold appearance, It has brought from
$4.00 to $4.50 generally, but when other kinds are scarce it
has sold for as much as $5.50. Rome Beauties have not been
known much until recently, but being of good keeping quality
and bright color they command ready sales, although they are
rather dry in quality. Ben Davis has little to commend it except
fair keeping qualities, and thereis no active demand for it when
there is anything like a fair supply of other kinds. Winesaps
from Virginia are much sought for here. They have a rich
deep color and superior flavor, excellent keeping quality, and
they carry well, so that they have everything to recommend
them. They generally sell at from $4.50 to $6.00 per barrel.
The so-called Winesaps from other parts of the United States
are often poor and soft. This may be due to lack of care in
thinning and sorting, but, as it appears in the English markets,
the even-sized, beautiful fruit from Virginia is quite as distinct
as if it was a different variety, as perhaps itis. In richness of
fiesh the true Winesap can hardly be surpassed. The Fameuse
is also a great favorite on account of its Havor and the absence
of any grit in the flesh, while the smooth texture of its skin is
near perfection.

JUNE 3, 1896.]

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrick: Trisung Buitpinc, New York.

Conducted by . . . . «6 « © «© «© » Professor C. S. SARGENT.

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 1896.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

EprrortAL ARTICLES :—County Parks.... 0.2.2. sees ee eeee eee e ence ceceeces belive 221
The Pillage of Suburban Gardens .. 222
Hemlock for the Tanneries............. EL W. 222
ForzIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—Tulips.....-.-.+++++ W. Watson. 223
Piant Nores :—Leucothoé recurva. (With figure.)..........0.eee sees ee ee eee eee 224

CutturaL DEPARTMENT :—Notes from Harvard Botanic Garden..7. D. Hatfield.
Flower Garden Notes....... ..+.-. 5 Gs eaicie Fe LVaGevards
Nymphezea gigantea ....G, W. Oliver.
Rex Begonias.......
Chrysanthemums.....

CorREsPoNDENCE :—A New Hy
The Stanford University Grodeds:.
Elzeagnus multiflora in Wisconsin..
A Novel Method of Tree-planting........
Larch Sack-bearer (Coleophora Daricella). .
Why Rhododendrons do not Flower.......

RECENT eee ons

NorEs..

Z
Willian Scoit. 2

«Lar Dt 2:

ee arem q ‘Carl Pode 2
2

2:

2:

2

2

. ... Charles Howard Shinn.
Ret ree eicinite pe Professor E. S. Goff.
eee obec? Fred W. Card.

- FD. W. French.
LH. H. Hunnewell.

County Parks.

ANY of the justifying reasons for the establishment of
parks in cities will not apply to the conditions of
country life. There is no need in the country of spacious
open areas as antitheses to closely built stone blocks ;
there is no need to provide spaces for the admission of air
and sunshine; there is no need of providing grass and trees
as arefreshment to eyes and minds wearied by the con-
stant prospect of rigid and rectangular enclosures. Never-
theless, grounds for associated recreation are quite as
desirable in the country as in the city, and since the com-
mons of our earlier history have gradually passed under
private control there is an increasing need of provision for
associated recreation which can only be met by devoting
certain lands to public use forever. Of course, this is not
a novel idea, but it is one which is rarely presented, and
we are, therefore, glad to see that in a late bulletin from
the Natural History Laboratories of the State University of
Iowa the subject is discussed by Professor T. H. Macbride,
who sets forth certain reasons why County Parks, as he
calls them, should be established, especially in the western
states. By a county park he does not mean simply public
land like that owned by Government, which can be claimed
and plundered by the first comer, nor, indeed, land which
can be made use of by the public indiscriminately and with-
out restriction, but land devoted specifically to public
enjoyment as a holiday-ground for all the people, rich
and poor. In most of our older towns and villages there
are to be found greens or squares; annexed to a few of
them there are public groves for picnics and other open-air
festivities ; but what is particularly meant here is a space
belonging to a larger community, like a county or several
adjacent townships, which would be sufficiently attractive
to invite farmers and others who live within a radius of
some miles, and large enough to accommodate several
parties at once with their vehicles. Of course, such a
place should be well watered and there should be woods
for shade, and if it contains some romantic glen or water-
fall, or other picturesque feature, it would be so much the
better. Professor Macbride argues that such parks are
needed at once—in Iowa, at least—and that they would
have a genuine educational value both on the scientific and

Garden and Forest.

221

ethical side, and would minister directly to the health and
happiness of the community.

In the first place it is urged that the usual experiences of
country life are even more weary and monotonous than
the conditions of city life. In the farm, and shop, and
mine, day after day, season after season, year after year,
there the same ceaseless round of toil is repeated, and into
it no idea of recreation or refreshment ever enters. A sad
picture is painted of the effort of the rural population ofthe
west to outwear its labor-saving machinery, but every
observer will testify that this remorseless grind is quite as
serious an evil in the east, and that unless something is
done to brighten life in the rural districts and preserve the
mental and physical health of the people, the generations
which follow this will see its effects in dwarfed minds and
infirm bodies. The farmer and his family come in con-
stant contact with nature, it is true, but their days are
passed in painful efforts to wrest a living from the land, to
struggle against untoward conditions of climate and to fight
for existence with other forms of life continually. If
country people could be lured into a pleasure-ground to
spend a day now and then in social mood among the grass
and trees and free from care, the practice would, no doubt,
have an inestimable recuperative value.

It is not apparent how such county parks could be made
useful to furnish lessons in forestry, as Professor Macbride
suggests, but every one will agree with him that a well-
kept county park would be a perpetual object-lesson in
the best means of preserving and enhancing the essential
landscape beauty of any given area, and that this would
suggest ways of making home-grounds attractive. That
little thought is given to this matter in any part of the
country is a matter of common notoriety. This is so
unusually true that a farmhouse well adapted to its use,
built to harmonize withits surroundings, and with grounds
planned and cared for so as to develop all that is naturally
attractive in the home-scene is so rare as to excite com-
ment at once.

The third reason for the establishment of county parks—
in the west, atleast—is most interesting. In the older east-
ern states itis a matter of lamentation that nothing except
the bolder original features of the country remain to show
what its primitive form and beauties were. The native
animals are often extinct, many of the plants are on the
way to extermination, the primeval woods are gone. In
the more newly settled portions of the country there: are
places which are still occupied by the original flora, and
these can now be rescued before they are laid waste. This
is a matter of importance, both from the standpoint of
science and of intellectual progress, for it is well said that
**such is the aggressive energy of our people, such their
ambition to use profitably every foot of virgin soil, that
unless somewhere public reserves be constituted our so-
called civilization will soon have obliterated forever our
natural wealth and leave us to the investigation of intro-
duced species only or chiefly.” No doubt, the organization
of county parks would preserve many of these localities
as they were, and the very names that are given to some
places in lowa for possible reservations kindle the imagi-
nation and suggest scenes of picturesque beauty of cliffs
and glens, cool springs and foaming brooks, groves of Pine
and wooded hills. There is little doubt that even in the so-
called prairie states there are picturesque places in almost
every county which would make ideal spots for public rec-
reation-grounds.

How such parks could be cared for is the serious ques-
tion. New York, following the example of Massachusetts,
has a general law in which places of great natural beauty,
as well as of historic interest, can be set apart for public
use forever. It would not be difficult to frame laws which
would enable a county or a township to hold land for pub-
lic use. The life of the early settlers of the country was a
long fight against inhospitable conditions, so that Ameri-
cans seem to have inherited a tendency to destroy every-
thing thatis natural. But we apprehend that the employment

222

of a few caretakers clothed with police authority would be
all the protection needed until the people began to appre-
ciate the value of a public playground, and the strong
public sentiment for protecting it would soon be estab-
lished. In older countries the people have the freedom of
many of the most splendid parks and woods in the world.
The greens or squares in our little villages are not defaced,
for everybody cares for them and public buildings suffer
little wanton defacement. The same would probably be
true of larger grounds, so that the necessary requirements
and restrictions in their use would be obediently and grate-
fully complied with as soon as the people realized that
these grounds were their own, and that they were dedicated
forever to the enjoyment of themselves and their children.

Tue remarkable increase of bicycle riding in the past
year adds a new menace to suburban gardens and
orchards. Bicycle riders returning to town from the
country with big bunches of flowers tied to their handle-
bars are familiar objects in the suburbs of all our large
cities. It is safe to assume that a large part of these flow-
ers have been gathered without the consent of their owners.
Pilfering of this sort is often the result of ignorance or
thoughtlessness, and the press of the country can do a real
service in teaching a stricter morality than now prevails in
the United States upon this point. Flower-stealing, how-
ever, is not always the result of ignorance, and it is not an
uncommon sight to see women driven by liveried servants
with carriage-loads of stolen flowers. Such women have
not the excuse of poverty to plead in explanation of their
thefts, and no amount of teaching, unless it comes through
the judges of police courts, will enlighten their minds on
this point. People who grow flowers are always willing
to share them with their less fortunate neighbors, as the
success of the flower missions throughout the country
abundantly proves, but no one, however public-spirited or
generous, likes to be taken advantage of or to see his trees
and shrubs broken to pieces, or to feel that any rare or
interesting plant, whose development he is watching, may
be pulled up by some vandal who is very likely to throw
it away again before he has carried it a hundred yards, thus
adding insult to injury. This ignorance and lawlessness,
where plants and flowers are concerned, are serious draw-
backs to the cultivation of gardens near our cities, and
they cast well-deserved reproach on people who would not
take five cents’ worth of anything else which did not be-
long to them. This evil is increasing every year, and it is
liable to increase until public sentiment against it is thor-
oughly aroused, and laws against depredations of this
character are promptly and rigorously enforced.

Hemlock for the Tanneries.

N north-western Pennsylvania the bark-peeling of the
Hemlock-trees begins early in May and continues
through the summer until the middle of August, and
during that time thousands of trees are destroyed and
miles of rich woodland denuded. There is no more
destructive process to the wooded sections of the country
than that of bark-peeling, and unless something is done
soon the fine forests of Hemlock in Jefferson, Clearfield,
Elk, McKean, Warren, Forest, Cameron and Potter coun-
ties will be destroyed from the face of the earth. In recent
years the discovery and cultivation of Canaigre in the south-
west have promised some abatement of the injury to the
forests, but it will be a long time before the Hemlock will
cease to be the most profitable source of tannic acid.
Several large tanneries have been erected in the northern
tiers of counties, and since 1872 the industry has been a
large and thriving one here. Several of them consume the
hemlock bark that grows on a thousand acres of wood-
land every year. When the first tanneries were erected
the trees were stripped of their bark while standing and left
to die and decay in this condition. There may be seen

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 432.

miles and miles of these skeleton trees to-day, but such a
wasteful process is no longer pursued. When the Pine
timber of Pennsylvania became exhausted, a new value
was given to the Hemlock-trees, since the owner of the
sawmill will not only sell the lumber but supply the tan-
neries with bark. In some cases the tanneries erect their
own sawmills.

An early spring starts the sap in May and loosens the
bark so that it can be peeled off easily. Then the men go
into the woods by the hundred. The bark-peeling is done
altogether by contract. One contractor engages his men,
and makes an agreement with the tanneries to supply so
many cords of bark. The contractor has to cut roads
through the woods that will admit of sleighs in winter and
carts in summer, and the products of his men’s labor must
be piled close to these roads. His contract is a cast-iron
one, and he has to live up to it to the very letter. A cord,
according to the tanneries, contains 2,200 pounds, and
when measured in volume it must be eight feet long, four
feet high and four feet wide. Sometimes the contractor
agrees to cut and cure the bark by weight, and then much
bark can be used thatis not the regulation length of four
feet.

It takes about two thousand feet of logs to peel a cord
of bark, and on the average in the Hemlock forests of
northern Pennsylvania it takes one acre to produce ten
cords of bark and 20,000 feet of logs. The contractor
makes roads through the forests about sixty feet apart, and
the logs and bark are piled between them. When the forest
Tuns up on the sides of the hills and mountains the felled
trees have to be trimmed and carted down to the roads in
the valley, making the work doubly difficult. The peelers
go into the woods in gangs of four and cut down the trees,
trim off the limbs, peel the bark off, and cut them into the
proper size logs. Each gang is composed of two log-cut-
ters, one spudder and one fitter. The fitter goes first and
selects his tree and cuts a ring around it through the bark
close to the roots, and then another four feet up; the bark
is then split down one side from ring toring, and thespud-
der comes along and inserts his spud into the slit; with a
few deft strokes he peels off the whole piece of bark as
clean as a boy rings a chestnut-whistle when the sap is
flowing in the spring of the year.

The choppers then follow, and with their axes and saws
they soon bring the tree to the ground. The tree is
trimmed when it has fallen. The fitter measures off the
bark on the giant tree, and the spudder peels it off the
same as before, and then the logs are cut to the length
desired.

In this way the gangs of men will go through the Hem-
lock forests, each set of four peeling off from five to eight
cords of bark a day and cutting the trees up into logs. One
such gang will peel 250 cords of bark in a season and cut
half a million feet of logs. The sawmills are ready to
work as soon as the bark-peeling begins, and one good
mill will eat up the logs from 250 acres in one year. The
hemlock lumber cut in northern Pennsylvania in this way
amounts to over 80,000,000 feet ina season. This means
that over 40,000 cords of bark are peeled and 4,000 acres of
forests stripped in a year.

The fitters, spudders and wood-choppers in the Hemlock
forests receive only moderate wages, although the work is
probably the hardest connected with lumbering. The
tuling prices paid to bark-peelers is $1.25 per day and
board, but good spudders can secure $2.00. The jobber
who takes the contract receives about $1.35 to $1.50 per
cord for gathering the bark, and from forty to fifty cents a
thousand for the cut logs. This jobber then employs his
men, and expects to make his wages in getting good
work out of them. The tanners own most of the woods,
and these prices are merely paid to the men for gathering
the bark and cutting the logs. The bark-peelers are a
typical class of men, who make their wages in gathering
the hemlock-bark in summer and live by gunning and
doing odd jobs in winter.

JUNE 3, 1896.]

The hemlock industry has indirectly helped farming in
this region, for it has created a home market for many of
the farmers’ small products. In the bark-peeling season
there are thousands who come to the woods who buy their
butter, eggs, cheese, fresh fruits and vegetables direct from
the surrounding farmers. Many farmers who owned Hem-
lock tracts sold them to the tanneries for good prices, and
others merely sold the trees on the land, and had the
pleasure of seeing their farms cleaned of the trees. Itis true
that the stumps remained, but these were burnt or rooted
out by degrees. More than this, a few of the farmers, see-
ing the great inroads made into the forests, cultivated the
young Hemlock saplings and even planted others, and in
time there may be a new industry for them in forest-plant-
ing. In the winter season the hemlock-bark has to be
carted to the tanneries, and the local farmers find that they
can take their teams into the woods and make good wages
in a season of the year when farm-work is at a standstill.
Many a farmer has made enough cash in this way to pay
off mortgages and buy new machinery for his work.

The tanners have naturally made the most profits out of
the woods. This is no more than any one could expect,
as they invested the capital and did most of the head-work.
The price paid by them for the bark has run all the way
from $3.00 to $6.00 per cord, but never more than the latter
figure, and thousands of cords have been sold by them all
the way from $10.00 to $15.00 per cord. At present, how-
ever, there is less profit in the business, and old prices may

never return again.
New York. Gaz. W,

Foreign Correspondence.

Tulips.

R. J. G. BAKER, F.R.S., lectured at the last meeting
of the Royal Horticultural Society on the genus
Tulipa, the botany of which has been a special study with
him for many years. A large collection of the flowers of
Tulips, representing both species and garden varieties, was
sent to the meeting from Kew, Messrs. Barr & Sons, Messrs.
J. Veitch & Sons and others. The time was in every sense
propitious, Tulips generally being at their very best, and
the display made by them in public and other gardens this
year being very much greater than anything, perhaps, ever
seen before in the neighborhood of London, at any rate.
The every-day, somewhat gaudy Tulips of the Dutch gar-
dens are being gradually supplanted here by more beauti-
ful sorts. English Tulips and their sisters, the Darwin
Tulips, are finding general favor. The botanical varieties
and many of the species or subspecies are also becoming
favorites in horticulture. English nurserymen are now
growing them largely, for the Tulip is quite at home under
the conditions afforded in most parts of England. The
display it makes is of fairly long duration, and the charm
of the best flowers is equal to anything we get from hardy
spring flowers.

Mr. Baker admits about one hundred distinct botanical
species, some of these being, perhaps, only subspecies, in
a broad sense. When he monographed them about twenty
years ago there were only forty-eight, but since then about
fifty additions have been made, chiefly by Russian col-
lectors. This accounts for the unattractive names many of
them bear, such as Kolpokowskiana, Kesselringii, Kauf-
manniana, Ostrowskyana, etc. About fifty species are culti-
vated in the Royal Gardens, in addition to a large number
of the named varieties, and for the past three weeks or so
they have been a magnificent feature.

The genus is limited in its distribution to the north tem-
perate regions of the Old World, being concentrated in
central China. It is represented in North America by the
nearly allied Calochortus ; these two genera, Calochortus
and Tulipa, together having the same distribution as Lilium.

' The genus Tulipa is divided into two sections, namely,
Eutulipa, the true Tulips, and Orithyia, the latter being
characterized by a short style, the true Tulips having the

Garden and Forest.

223

stigma sessile on the top of the ovary. The Orithyias are
only of botanical interest, T. sylvestris, the little yellow-
flowered native, being the only one met with in gardens.
The characters relied upon to distinguish the species are in
the bulbs as well as in the flowers, so that botanists are
sometimes at a loss when asked to determine the species
from flowers and leaves alone. Most of the big-flowered
handsome garden Tulips belong to the group represented
by T. Gesneriana, of which an enormous number of forms
are known, some wild, some of garden origin. This spe-
cies has been a favorite garden flower for over two hundred
years, all the old Tulips, out of which what is known as
the Tulip mania had its origin, being forms of T. Gesneri-
ana. Mr. Baker is inclined to look upon such so-called
species as T. Ostrowskyana, T. Batalini and T. Schrankii
as wild forms of this ancient, polymorphic plant.

What are known as English or Breeder Tulips are se-
lected forms of T. Gesneriana, in which the petals are
unicolored, save a large eyelike blotch of yellow or white
at the base of the cup. The value of the variety in the
eyes of a Tulip fancier depends upon the clearness and
regularity of this eye and the uniformity of the shade or
color of the rest of the flower. It is remarkable that the
Darwin Tulips, the beauty of which is now generally ad-
mitted, are practically sorts which were discarded by the
breeder because of the intensity or heaviness of their color
and the blue-black eye at the base of the cup. They are,
too, stronger and taller in scape than the English Tulip.
Of their beauty it is, in my opinion, impossible to speak too
highly. Messrs. Barr & Sons have about ten thousand of
them in flower in their Tooting nursery, the collection ex-
hibited by them last week being greatly admired. It is
due to Messrs. Krelage & Sons, the Haarlem nurserymen,
that they should be credited with the discovery and distri-
bution of this fine section of garden Tulips. Of the many
sorts in flower at Kew these Darwin Tulips are the most
admired. Messrs. Barr have sorted them into about twenty
colors and named them, but at Kew they are all mixed
indiscriminately in a large bed on a lawn, where they pro-
duce a rich kaleidoscopic effect.

Breeder tulips are peculiar in their habit of changing
color, “rectifying,” as the fanciers term it, after a time.
There does not appear to be any cause, time or season for
this change ; it may happen when the bulb is six years old
ornot till it is sixty, practically not at all. The change is
a very decided one as regards color, those flowers with
yellow eyes becoming feathered all over with that color on
a ground color more or less like that of the flower before
the change takes place; those with white eyes being
feathered with white, the former are called Bizarres, the
latter Bybloemens. The value of the rectified flower depends
upon the clearness of the yellow or white, upon the reg-
ularity of the feathering or flaming, the size and form of the
petals and shape of the cup being also of importance.
Tulip fanciers pride themselves on having the Breeder and
rectified flower side by side, and at exhibitions of Tulips
they are generally placed together. When once a Tulip has
“rectified” it never returns to the Breeder state; this can
only be obtained by means of seeds, and from these may
come all sorts except the one desired.

Long cultivation, selection, cross-breeding, etc., may
account for this behavior in this species of Tulip. So far as
I know it does not occur in any except Gesneriana and its
near allies. Afew years ago Mr. Baker named at Kew a beau-
tiful Tulip with enormous rose-crimson flowers and a large
blue-black eye-like base, calling it T. macrospila. For a
time it kept true, and a large stock of it was worked up
entirely from offsets. Then it began to break, first produc-
ing a paler-colored form, and afterward feathered or “ rec-
tified ” flowers, in which the eye was either like the type or
pure white. From this it would appear that no reliance
can be placed upon the colors of some of the Gesneriana
tulips. Fortunately, ‘‘rectification” does not mean dete-
rioration, but generally a decided improvement in color
attractions.

224

Mr. Baker called special attention to Tulip Greigii, a
native of Turkestan, introducedin 1873. It has broad green
leaves, spotted with dark brown and enormous flowers of
a rich scarlet color, richer than in any tulip, while in the
elegance of the curves assumed by the petals it is distin-
guished from all other species. So far, however, cultiva-
tors have not been successful with it, and it remains still a
rare plant. Mr. Baker thinks it might pay to try it under
various conditions in various climates. If only such a
Tulip could be produced in quantity, as the Dutch, for
instance, produce the common Tulips, it would be the most
popular of all. American horticulturists might act upon
this hint.

The cultivation of Tulips is easy, but there are several
important points to be remembered, and the first of these is
that if grown in the same soil for several years in succes-
sion the bulbs are apt to falla prey to a fungus, the soil
becoming what is called Tulip-sick. To avoid this it is
necessary to either change the soil every three years or so,
or to transfer the Tulips to other quarters. The second point
of importance is that of harvesting. If the Tulips are
planted in beds that are required for other plants in sum-
mer they must be lifted carefully about the end of May and
‘‘heeled in” clean coal ashes or light soil till the leaves
have faded. Then the bulbs should be cleaned and laid
in baskets or trays in the sun to ripen before they are finally
placed in store to await replanting in October. Choice
species and varieties should be lifted and replanted in a
little fresh soil even when they occupy permanent positions
in the garden. Some of the species, such as T. Hageri,
T. linifolia and T. Eichleri, do well and look well when

lanted among grass in the wild garden.
Gaara ae ad W. Watson.

Plant Notes.

Leucothoé recurva.

HE value of the northern native plant Leucothoé race-
mosa for the decoration of the parks and gardens of
the northern states has often been insisted on in the pages
of this journal. It is a hardy, fast-growing shrub which
sometimes attains the height of ten feet; its slender
branches are covered with ample dark green leaves which
late in the autumn, long after those of every other tree and
shrub cultivated in gardens have fallen, assume a brilliant
and beautiful scarlet color, and its handsome waxy white
cup-shaped flowers are produced in long, erect or slightly
curved terminal racemes from buds formed the previous
autumn and covered during the winter with closely imbri-
cated bracts. The splendor of color of the leaves of this
shrub in the late autumn makes it one of the most desira-

ble hardy plants for our northern gardens.

Although of lower stature, Leucothoé recurva, a native
of the southern Alleghany Mountains and botanically
closely allied to Leucothoé racemosa, is almost as desirable
a garden plant. It is a shrub with slender ashy gray stems
three or four feet in height, slender divaricate branches
covered with bright orange-red bark, thin ovate-acute leaves
and elongated spreading and recurved racemes of hand-
some waxy white flowers which open late in May when
the leaves are about half-grown.

Leucothoé recurva inhabits shady, rather dry hillsides,
and is distributed from south-western Virginia to northern
Alabama, growing usually at elevations of from two to
three thousand feet. Introduced into the Arnold Arboretum
in 1885, whence it has been gradually distributed among
the botanic gardens of Europe, it is still rare in cultivation.
Mr. Faxon’s drawing, reproduced in our illustration on page
225 of this issue, which is the first that has been published
of this interesting shrub, is from wild specimens gathered
in Virginia and North Carolina.

Cercis CaNnADENsIs.—The American Red-bud, or Judas-
tree, was described two hundred years ago and was grown
in English gardens as early as 1730. Like many other in-

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 432.

habitants of our forests, however, it has been comparatively
neglected by planters in this country, although it is one of
the most desirable of small trees all the season through,
from the time in early spring when its deep red calyxes
and rose-pink petals are clustered thickly along the
branches with the opening leaves, until the autumn, when
these leaves turn to a clear bright yellow. There is no
more striking combination in our wood borders than these
abundant flowers of the Red-bud mingled with the white
ones of the Flowering Dogwood and of Crateegus mollis.
We have often spoken of this tree, but we make no apology
for again calling attention to it as an admirable garden
plant, which is perfectly hardy as far north as New Eng-
land, and is one of the most effective of trees to place
against a background of dark conifers. It thrives in bot-
tom-lands naturally and on swamp borders, but will grow
in any good soil, and when allowed a chance to spread it
becomes a rather low flat-topped tree, although under
favorable conditions it reaches a height of fifty feet. It
grows rapidly and begins to flower when it is quite small.
The European Judas-tree, Cercis Siliquastrum, is not
hardy in the northern states, nor is Cercis Chinensis, a
shrub with large rich-colored flowers, which is often seen
in gardens south of Philadelphia, where it is usually called
Cercis Japonica. Like all other native plants, our Red-bud
seems to harmonize with the scenery of the country in
which it has developed, and it cannot be too often repeated
that our native Crabs, Hawthorns and the Flowering Dog-
woods and arborescent Viburnums cannot be excelled for
massing and composing park pictures.

FoTuHEeRGILLA GarpEent.—This is another native shrub
belonging to the Witch Hazel family, which has already
been described and figured in this journal (see vol. viii., p.
446). It was also introduced into English gardens nearly a
century and a half ago, and yet comparatively few people
in this country or in Europe have ever seen it. Neverthe-
less, in early spring it presents a beautiful and striking
appearance with its brush-like masses of long, white, con-
spicuous stamens produced at the end of branches before
the leaves appear. It is a comparatively rare shrub of
southern range, and yet it is perfectly hardy at the north,
and this spring, in spite of a singularly trying winter, it has
flowered with unusual abundance. It is a shrub of good
habit, attaining a height of some five feet, well clothed
with rich-colored foliage, and is an admirable plant all the
season through.

Cultural Department.

Notes from Harvard Botanic Garden.

ae herbaceous grounds of the Harvard Botanic Garden
are very attractive at this season. A vast number of
plants are raised and tested yearly, and while some are of
botanical interest only, there are many beautiful plants of dis-
tinct horticultural value. A gardener will find few better places
to study them.

Among many Columbines is seen the true Rocky Mountain
species, Aquilegia ccerulea. From seed gathered in eastern
gardens it becomes variable, hybridizing freely with the com-
moner kinds. Some of the Ccerulea x Chrysantha hybrids are
handsome, and groups of all shades of red, white, yellow and
blue, associated, have a striking effect. The Globe-flowers,
Trollius, make an interesting group. Only T. Asiaticus and
T. Europzus are in bloom now. Old Honesty, Lunaria bien-
nis, is showy as one sees it here. But itis only a biennial, and
soon becomes ragged. Viola declinata, var. losisepala, is pretty
and distinct. Its color is reddish violet, almost a self, except-
ing only a white eye. Patches of Cerastiums, including a giant
from Japan, afforded means of comparing the value of these
low-growing evergreen Mouse-ears for garden effect. A clump
of Helenium Hoopesii, with large orange-yellow, star-shaped
flowers, caught one’s eye in the distance, since there are few
flowers of its color at this time. Bleeding Heart, Dicentra
spectabilis, established its value as a garden plant when prop-
erly placed. Two little pink-flowered Erigerons, E. glabelli-
formis and E. Coulteri, struck me as likely to be useful plants
for naturalizing in grass. They certainly would be pretty if
they would do as well as their larger congener, E. Philadelphi-

JUNE 3, 1896.]

cus. Verbascum Olympicum is the grandest of all the Mul-
leins. Its bold-branched spikes are closely covered with
irregular salver-shaped lemon-colored flowers, The promi-

nent violet-colored filaments and anthers, so conspicuous in
nearly all the Verbascums, are scarcely noticeable in this one.
The whole plant is densely covered with a sulphury pubes-
These Mulleins are scarcely distinguishable from the

cence.

Garden and Forest.

225

Emodi is out of bloom, and is developing its large and beauti-
ful pod-like fruit. P. peltatum is now open. These are both
interesting, if not exactly beautiful, plants with classical-look-
ing leaves. Funkias here show their value as shade-plants,
succeeding, Mr. Cameron tells me, where it is difficult to get
anything else to grow. Orobus vernus is past bloom and now
in the seed-pod. These Vetches are hard to establish, and

Fig. 33-—Leucothoé recurva.—See page 224.

Celsias. Echium Caucasicum is a fine dark blue Boragewort.
A most graceful spring-blooming plant is Amsonia Tabernae-
montana. It grows about two feet high. Its terminal thrysoid
panicles of blue flowers are delicately tinted with a metallic
lustre. Itsucceeds only on moist subsoils, rooting deeply, and
is impatient of removal. Primula Japonica has proved quite
hardy on the rock garden, and is nowin bloom. Podophytlum

appear to enjoy shade; the only chance of success is with
seedlings. O. palustris is later in blooming, of a delicate pur-
ple color. The vernal Snowflake in bloom was a reminder of
days gone by. Itsucceeds only in sheltered places. In shade
also are several patches of Cypripedium pubescens. These
plants will not succed on a dry subsoil. Vancouveria hexcan-
dra is a low-growing and interesting member of the Barberry

226

family. The only visible sign of the relationship is in the
flowers, which are formed almost exactly like those of the Bar-
berry. It is herbaceous, and the foliage in the autumn be-

comes bronzy and quite ornamental.
Wahlen Mae T. D. Hatfield.

Flower Garden Notes.

C)Re must have a firm will these pleasant spring mornings
‘ to follow up closely the necessary cultural work, each
night brings forth so many distractions of flower and foliage.
It is much pleasanter to linger over the newly expanded
charms of color and form than to do the necessary prosaic
work.

In spite of a dry season the hybrid German Irises have flow-
ered as profusely as usual, with no shortening of stems or de-
crease in size of flowers, and at about the accustomed season,
The fragrance prevailing now is from masses of forms of Iris
pallida, an Elder-like scent, this Iris being the most fragrant of
the family, and the best strains being among the handsomest
of the bearded Irises, both in form and coloring.

Of other Irises lately in flower, I. Germanica macrantha has
been glorious with immense blue purple flowers about
twice as large as the ordinary variety. The reddish purple
flowers of I. Kochii are also bold, distinct and handsome.
Of the varied Irises in a collection of these flowers perhaps
the forms of I. variegata will usually prove the most attractive.
These are flowers with yellow standards and usually reddish
falls, and are mostly bright and attractive, though not of the
largest size. Professor Forster’s hybrid Iris Parvar (paradoxa
X variegata), which has before been described in GARDEN AND
FoREST, has again proved to be as reliable as its male parent.
It has had no protection or special care in the border, and has
shown none of the miffiness of its Oncocyclus parents, though
resembling it much in foliage and still more in some features
of the flowers, which area beautiful dark vinous red. Another
hybrid, Lupina x Ciengialti, did not show so much influence of
the Oncocyclus parent and formed surface-creeping rhizomes,
which unfortunately succumbed to a wet winter. This was a
flower of a very odd hue, a degraded heliotrope. Lately I
have had the pleasure of flowering a few more of Professor
Forster's seedlings, which it may be interesting to note as a
suggestion to growers who may havea fancy for hybridizing
uncommon things. It is not possible to give more than a
hint of the curious hues thus produced. I. Parkor (paradoxa x
Korolkowi), with narrow foliage, flowered with a curious
bloom, reddish purple with darker linings and dark signals,
orbicular falls and rather modified standards—that is, not ex-
cessively large as compared with the falls. I. Korolkowi x
vaga resembled closely one of the forms of I. Korolkowi,
venosa, I think, a flower of small size, fawn color,
with dark linings and beautiful styles of a golden brown,
and in one stage with a distinct olive reflection. This
hybrid produced apparently fertile seed-pods. The reverse
cross, I. vaga x Korolkowi, bore flowers which were dissimilar
in form and coloring, the latter being a light red-purple. The
standards are tall and pointed. It is several years since I. vaga
(Leichtlini) flowered here, and my memory does not serve for
a close comparison. These plants must be soon dried off and
kept dormant until late in the year. Another hybrid, I. Parsamb
(paradoxa x Sambucina), not yet flowered, may be expected
to grow without special care, I. sambucina being as reliable
asitis homely. Irises cross so readily and seed so freely that
hybrids are produced with little trouble. There are countless
hybrids of the bearded species, but there is still a wide and
promising field among the newer species for interesting trials.

Fall-sown annual Poppies are now flowering as the spring
seedlings are germinating. One cannot always carry over
these fall seedlings from seed scattered in September, but in
latitudes no more rigorous than this it is always worth while to
make the trial at the risk of loss. Some seasons it is neces-
sary to thin them out, in others few survive, but the survivors
are strong plants, far better than can be produced by sowings
at other times. Perennial Poppies now in flower are gorgeous,
and usually even arrest the attention of those indifferent to any
less conspicuous color, but they are not as handsome as the
annual Tulip Poppy, P. glaucum, whose flowers, scarcely
inferior in size, are of a most effective rich and satisfying
crimson.

There does not seem to be any special reason why an ama-
teur should take any unnecessary trouble with his garden, and
it has always seemed to me that under this head was included
the replanting of hardy Water-lilies in the tank boxes each
season, most disagreeable and chilly work. My Nympheeas in
the tanks are in ordinary soap boxes, and have not been
replanted for three years, They are running riot now, flowers

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 432.

are plentiful and as large as the average, and there is more
foliage than space on the water, so that it is fair to infer that
these plants do not really require the manures rich in humus
which are usually advised. This is not strange when one re-
members that still waters, not too often changed, accumulate
available plant-food from decay of insects and organic matter.

In the centre of my plant border is a Rose bush, now three
or four feet high, covered with dainty pink and white single
flowers not much over an inch in diameter. This Rose
is remontant and bears several crops of flowers during
the season. I notice that flower fanciers are quiet before
this plant and are usually glad to pocket a few hips, which it
bears plentifully. This Rose is the R. polyantha remontant
introduced a few years ago, of which seeds are offered in
the catalogues. It comes readily from seed, from which it
flowers in three months, and the plants are perfectly hardy
here. In three or four years it has had no winter-killed

branches. The flowers vary in coloring and in number of
petals.
Elizabeth, N. J. JF. N. Gerard.

Nymphea gigantea.

6 blue-flowered Nymphza gigantea of Australia is un-

fortunate in having a specific name which is also applied
to a variety of N. odorata. I have been unable to see any-
thing very attractive in this variety of odorata, especially for
Lily ponds where there is a limited water-surface. The com-
mon N. odorata is preferable, as it flowers profusely in smaller
quarters than does its variety. The Australian species is un-
doubtedly one of the finest of the genus, Unlike any other
kind, the flowers can be used either open or closed, for when
once they open they close up in the evening in such a way
that the outer covering only hides part of the petals. It is,
therefore, very desirable for cutting. Unfortunately, this
species has the reputation of being difficult to grow, and it is
said that young plants go to sleep without any apparent cause ;
but so will any Nymphea having tuberous roots. If the
plants are kept in active growth all the time there is little
danger of their going to rest. When starting the tuber into
growth, it often makes one or two water leaves and then
remains stationary for months. This was my experience at
first, and I found that the tubers were planted too shallow in
the soil, and when they did sprout, as they almost always do,
with stolon-like growths, the roots did not get a chance to take
hold of the soil, which as a rule is loose at the surface and
very much mixed up with a confervoid growth. Two inches
beneath the surface is a safe distance. As soon as the tuber
develops two or three fairly good-sized leaves, it is an ex-
cellent plan to sever the stolon-like growth from the tuber
and pot it carefully in loam and sand and grow it on in this
way. Ifit has no check from a sudden change in the tem-
perature of the water, it will form a blooming plant just as
quickly as any of the Zanzibarensis varieties. The little tuber
should be put back in the soil to sprout again, which it will
do several times over, without any apparent diminution in
vigor. In fact, Ihave sprouted a tuber more than a dozen
times during a summer and kept it over till the next season,
evidently as sound as ever. By keeping a few plants in a
small state all the time we have an unceasing supply, and if
one plant fails when put out there are others ready to take its

lace.
ene G. W. Oliver.

Botanic Garden, Washington, D. C.

Rex Begonias.

J ia popularity of these plants is more or less injured by the
fact that quite accurate artificial imitations are so often
seen. Of course, these shams can be easily detected by any
close observer, but the real plants themselves have, to some
eyes, a made-up artificial look, and the prevalence of counter-
feits in shop windows helps to strengthen the impression that
they are stiff, unnatural and undesirable. Nevertheless, many
of them are really beautiful, rich in color and not devoid of
grace in form and habit. The varieties of the large-leafed
section of these Begonias B. Rex is the principal projenitor of,
may be counted by the hundred, and new varieties are con-
stantly being produced, all laying claim to some special
points of superiority in coloring, form of foliage or habit of
growth. Of somewhat recent introduction, and quite a depar-
ture inform of foliage, is Countess Louise Erdody, which has
the two lobes at the base of the leaf wound in a spiral way
suggesting the appearance of a snail's shell. The entire
leaf shows a rich metallic lustre, the centre a dark silver shad-
ing to coppery rose toward the margin. The plant is a free
grower and makes a striking specimen, Leaf-cutting is prob-

JUNE 3, 1896.]

ably the most practicable method of increasing the newer and
rarer sorts, but well-matured leaves should be selected, and
after the stronger nerves on the under side of the leaf have
been cut they should be laid in sharp clean sand, afew pebbles
being placed on top to keep them down. The sand should be
kept moist, but not sodden. Little plants soon begin to make
their appearance on the surface of the leaf, but it takes some
time before they attain much size. A much more speedy pro-
cess for the older sorts, from which plenty of leaves can be
obtained, is to cut away the principal part of the leaf, leaving
only a little of the base, and about an inch of the stalk. If this
is insertedin the propagating-bed like an ordinary cutting,
roots will soon be emitted from the end of the leaf-stalk, while
fresh growths will break away from the old base. By this
method good-sized plants can be had in a much shorter time.
Divisions of the plants may also be used as a means of
increase where only a few are wanted.

Ordinary greenhouse treatment, with moderate shade and
plenty of moisture, suits the general requirements of these
plants. They like an open, well-enriched compost, with free
drainage. During the early winter months they should be
induced to rest by being kept moderately dry, and when the
days begin to brighten and grow warmer they should be
repotted and started afresh. It is not advisable to shake them
out severely, but is better to remove only alittle of the old soil
and usea larger size pot. During the summer months they may
be used for house decoration, for grouping with other
plants around piazzas and other shady places, and for window
boxes or vases, but they should never be exposed to the direct
rays of the sun or they are apt to either burn or lose the more

delicate tints of their foliage.

Tarrytown, N. Y. William Scott.

Chrysanthemums.—Plants intended for specimens have had
their final shift, and are now well rooted in the new soil. Their
growth will be rapid from this time onward, and frequent top-
pings will be required to keep them well balanced. We shall
soon select the most promising plants and spread them into
shape witha few of last year’s stakes. These will be removed
when the final tying out is done. When these bushy plants
are left unspread the central stems are weakened and the
leaves turn yellow and decay. Light develops them, and the
object particularly now is to produce as many growing shoots
as possible as a foundation for the future plant. Only the tips
of the shoots should be taken, and none must be allowed to
getaway. When this happens byan oversight, and it is neces-
sary to cut out two or three inches to bring the shoot back to
the level of the others, it will be noticed that such shoots rarely
break well. I am frequently asked how I manage to keep my
plants so even and bushy, and how oftenI top them. The
stopping is done every day without fail. Liquid-manure must
not be given until the plants are quite vigorous and becoming
pot-bound. A month hence will be time enough. Cuttings
intended for single blooms ought to be ready for potting or
boxing off, as is most convenient. These, again, will be ready
for benching by the 20th of June. First-class blooms can be
grown from plantings made at this date, and medium-sized
ones from plantings made a month later. This year we are
growing a number of Chrysanthemums in eight-inch pots
intended to carry from ten to a dozen medium-sized blooms.
Large blooms are not available for all kinds of decoration, and
medium-sized ones are useful for dinner-table work.

Wellesley, Mass. Le Ds Fi.

Correspondence.
A New Hybrid Canna.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—During a recent visit to Santa Rosa, California, I called
upon Luther Burbank, and among other things was shown a
new hybrid Canna which, when introduced, wiil probably
create as great a sensationas Madame Crozy did. This plant is
not a seedling of the well-known strains so deservedly popu-
lar, but is a hybrid between Madame Crozy, which has so long
been the standard of excellence, and Canna flaccida.

Canna flaccida is a native of Florida, of a dwarf habit, and
not a strong grower. Its exquisite light yellow flowers would,
in spite of these defects, give it a high place in the garden
were they not so very ephemeral. So frail and fleeting are
they that an hourin the morning often measures their term of
existence. I remember well that it was days before I gota
sight of the flowers on a blooming plant of my own. The
flower of C. flaccida is unique among Cannas in having

Garden and Forest.

227

something of the grace of an Iris and a peculiar silvery sheen
that is very beautiful.

For years Mr. Burbank has been trying to make a cross in
which some of these fine qualities of Canna flaccida might
be united with the vigor and lasting qualities of the Crozy
strain, but while many seedlings were grown and bloomed,
all, with a pertinacity which is so often the despair of the
hybridizer, followed one of the parents, and that Madame Crozy.

Last summer, in the third generation of hybridized seedlings,
the new seedling appeared, and any one knowing Canna flac-
cida would have instantly recognized its parentage. Only a
single seedling among thousands, yet Mr. Burbank feels that
it well repays the trouble.

In the new and as yet nameless Canna are united, happily,
the Iris-like form, the satiny sheen and the large size of Hower
of Canna flaccida, while the Crozy blood, giving to the plant
a vigor of growth even surpassing either parent, and a lasting
quality to the flowers about the same as Crozy possesses, is
only apparent in the coloring in a lemon more intense than in
flaccida, and a few reddish spots in the throat.

A marked feature of the new race is the development of
some of the minor petals which in the Crozy strain are all but
rudimentary. In the new Canna they are broad and flat, giving
a bold fullness of outline until now quite unknown in Cannas.

Considering the predominance of Canna flaccida in this
seedling, the most critical point is its keeping qualities. In
this regard it is not quite the equal of Crozy. The flower
opens up a clear lemon-yellow never before known in Cannas,
and is unspotted, except for a few dots well in the throat.
With age it becomes lighter in color, and in ordinary weather
will last about as long as Madame Crozy, and I think for exhi-
bition it is superior to any other Canna.

The foliage is of a light green, the growth a little stronger
than that of Madame Crozy, the flowers well carried above the
leaves and somewhat larger than those of the Crozy type.

The breadth of petal in the new strain isa marked feature
which we can expect future hybridizers to still further develop.

Ukiah, Calit. Carl Purdy.

[The photograph of a flower of this new hybrid with
one of Madame Crozy for comparison shows it to be
almost identical with the variety Austria, which we have
already described, although there seems to be more scarlet
in the lower petal than is found in the flowers of Austria.
It seems strange that in such widely separated countries
Mr. Burbank in California and Dammann in Italy should
have raised plants at about the same time which are so
nearly identical, but these coincidences are common.
When seen together the two plants may show differences
which we cannot observe in the photograph, but their
comparative value, of course, can only be determined by
actual trial, Dammann’s hybrids, Italia and Austria, have
raised the standard of perfection in the flowers of these
plants, but the question whether they will have substance
enough to stand out-of-doors in this climate has not been
settled, and it may be that the southern blood derived
from C. flaccida will be seen in a lack of sturdiness. It is
to be hoped that an opportunity will soon be offered to try
the California hybrid by the side of the Italian one. —Ep. }

The Stanford University Grounds.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—The other day I visited Palo Alto, in Santa Clara County,
and spent some time in the beautiful grounds which were the
pride of the late Senator Stanford. Much has been written
about the University, but I have seldom seen anything in print
about the possibilities for future work in forestry and horticul-
tural experiments offered by the great Palo Alto estate. The
original San Francisquito Rancho of 1,400 acres was added to
by Senator Stanford at various times since 1870, until the prop-
erty now embraces over 8,000 acres, all of which is dedicated
to the uses of the University. The University also owns the
famous Vina Ranch of 55,000 acres, in Tehama County, and
the Ridley Ranch of 21,000 acres, in Butte County. It is evi-
dent that when Stanford University is ready to establish courses
in forestry, viticulture, pomology or any and all other depart-
ments of agricultural science, whatever lands are needed can
easily be set apart, while the operations of the various farm
divisions can be made to give much practical training to stu-
dents. All the estates—in part valley, in part foot-hills—offer
a very wide range of soils and climates. In these respects, as

228

in many others, Stanford University is especially fortunate.
The home estate, Palo Alto, lies at the base of the Coast Range
foot-hills, near the southern line of Santa ClaraCounty. Ihave
heard this portion of the mountains of the backgrounds called
the Sierra Morena; in fact, the whole Coast Range easily
divides into a multitude of smaller groups, separated by val-
leys and cafions.

The site of the University is in a land of Oaks, both decidu-
ous and evergreen. One lordly group of Redwoods, thrust far
out from its companions, twenty miles from the coniferous
forests, lying toward the sea and ten miles from the nearest
hills, has been a landmark from earliest Spanish days. Hence
arose the name of the estate, Palo Alto—tall tree. Spanish
priests and explorers of the closing years of the eighteenth
century, riding hour after hour through the wild Mustard and
chapparal of the unfenced valley between Santa Clara Mission
and the drifting dunes of Mission Dolores, well knew this great
evergreen spire, 200 feet high, at the crossing of the San Fran-
cisquito. Once it was a group growing from a mass of roots,
as is the fashion of Redwoods. We havea record of three
trees standing among lesser ones, then of two, but now there
is only one, the sentinel of the whole valley, the University
tree, par excellence. It was long ago bulwarked with great
care against winter floods, and it has passed into college litera-
ture. Thus Sequoia sempervirens has become the guardian
tree of Stanford, even as Quercus agrifolia is the preéminent
tree of Berkeley.

Senator Stanford was always a lover of trees. He spent
much time upon his plantations, and he never allowed a
healthy Oak-tree to be removed. About three hundred acres
of the richest valley land at Palo Alto were long ago planted
with a great variety of shrubs and trees. A large part of these
shrubberies and woodlands can be made of immediate scien-
tific value. Nearly every species which the various nurseries
of California can furnish is represented here, and doubtless
there is much that it would be hard to find elsewhere, for
Senator Stanford was a liberal importer of rare plants. The
Arizona garden, for instance, could only be duplicated at very
great expense, because Senator Stanford’s opportunities as a
railroad man were unusual. He was able to send men out
into the desert and collect the finest and largest specimens of
desert plants, bringing them in wagons to the nearest point on
the railroad, where they could be loaded on his freight cars.

In driving over the grounds one sees superb specimens of
both the Sequoias and of nearly all the other California coni-
fers. Among many fine Araucarias, I noted a noble Araucaria
Bidwilli, with trunk fourteen inches in diameter and shaft rising
to a height of fifty feet. Very large Hawthorns in full bloom,
groups of fruit-laden Oranges and Lemons and many brilliant
flowering trees give color to the May-time woodland. Nothing
is as yet labeled, and the University botanists and foresters ot
the future will have a great deal to do in putting this raw ma-
terial in shape. But it is magnificent material.

The general impression, which is all I have undertaken to
give in this brief article, is that of enormous undeveioped re-
sources for future educational work in the right hands at the
right time. The estate already has greenhouses and propa-
gating-houses, which can be enlarged when necessary. All in
all, the garden, the shrubberies, the woodland, the orchards
and vineyards, taken collectively, are equivalent, in some
respects, to a twenty years’ start. This is chiefly because the
Stanford estate was laid out on a grand scale to begin with,

and is nowhere cramped. .
Niles, Calif. a Charles Howard Shinn.

[Some account of the original design of these grounds
by Mr. Olmsted, together with a diagram, will be found in
vol. i, of GARDEN AND Forest, page 507.—Ep, ]

Elzagnus multiflora in Wisconsin.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :

Sir,—In the spring of 1892, six plants of this shrub,
the Eleagnus longipes of many gardens, were set on the
grounds of the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station
at Madison. Two of these plants were set in the lawn,
and they have been protected each winter by covering with
earth or coarse manure. The other four were set in the nur-
sery and have received no winter protection other than that
afforded by snow a portion of the time. The experience
gained from these two plantings enables us to judge some-
thing as to the climatic conditions that this plant is capable of
enduring.

The winter of 1893-4 was considered rather a mild one for
this locality. Wehad one cold period during which the mini-

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 432.

mum thermometer registered below zero each day for six days
in succession, the lowest point reached being eighteen degrees
below zero. The unprotected plants in the nursery killed back
a little at the tips and produced no flowers the following
spring, but none of them were seriously injured. The pro-
tected plants on the lawn were alive to the terminal bud and
yielded a fine crop of fruit the following summer.

The next winter, 1894-5, was more severe. During nineteen
consecutive days, in January and February, the minimum
thermometer registered below zero every day but one, when
it registered plus two degrees. Three of these days the mer-
cury descended to fourteen degrees below zero, one to six-
teen, one to seventeen and one to twenty-one degrees below,
the last being the lowest point reached during the winter. The
snow in the nursery during this cold period was deep enough to
cover about the lower half of the stems of the Elaagnus shrubs,
and all of the part that reached above the snow was killed,
while that below the snow-line not only survived but bloomed
freely the following spring. The protected plants showed no
injury whatever.

The past winter was unusually mild. The mercury was
below zero on eleven different days, but did not register lower
than minus thirteen degrees. The plants in the nursery killed
back a very little at the tips, but the flower-buds are uninjured.

From these observations we can summarize as follows:

With a minimum of minus thirteen degrees flower-buds
were uninjured and stems were very little injured. With a
minimum of minus eighteen degrees, wood was not much
injured, but flower-buds werekilled. Witha minimum of minus
twenty-one degrees, accompanied by prolonged cold, exposed
wood was destroyed, but wood and flower-buds covered with
snow were uninjured. No injury has resulted at any time
where protection of earth or coarse manure was given.

1 find that seeds of Eleeagnus multiflora buried in sand beneath
the soil germinate freely the following spring, especially when
washed from the pulp. The seedlings, however, appear quite
delicate, and I think, with us, must be taken up in autumn
and wintered in the cellar, At least a covering of earth dur-
ing the past mild winter was not sufficient to save ours from
destruction,

It is unfortunate that the fruit of Eleeagnus multiflora has so
much of astringency. There is no reason to doubt, however,
that varieties may be obtained that are without this quality,
and then we shall have a valuable addition to the list of small
fruits which can be depended on in this climate.

University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis.

E. S. Gof.

A Novel Method of Tree-planting.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—The obstacles to fruit-growing on the plains have led
to various methods of culture peculiar to the region, and many
experiments have been and are still being tried in the hope of
more fully overcoming these obstacles. One of the most note-
worthy of these is that known in Nebraska as the Leonard
method of tree-planting, from the name of the grower advo-
cating it, The greater part of this region is underlaid bya
subsoil that, while, perhaps, not so hard as that commonly
found in the eastern states, seems to be so hard that the
roots of Apple-trees do not penetrate it to any great extent,
but spread out near the surface. This, taken in connection
with the small rainfall and greater evaporation of the region,
seems to be unfavorable to the full development, health and
longevity of the tree. The new method of planting is based
on the theory that if it is possible to penetrate this subsoil and
reach a softer and moister layer beneath, the tree will have
access to more water and be able to form a deeper root-sys-
tem, thereby becoming less subject to the influences of surface
and atmospheric conditions. Accordingly large holes, six or
eight feet in diameter, are dug deep enough to get through
the harder subsoil layers, if possible. If this cannot be done
the hole is dug six or eight feet deep, then from the bottom a
hole is bored with a post auger, three or four feet deeper,
reaching a moister layer of soil, if possible. The whole is then
filled with surface-soil, raising it ten or twelve inches above the
level of the surface, to allow for settling, and the tree planted
in this position, The method has not been in use long enough
to determine its value, but it is being watched witha great deal
of interest. Trees planted in this way have made a very prom-
ising and vigorous growth, but it should be added that Mr.
Leonard gives ideal cultivation, and it is impossible to say how
much of this growth would be brought about by the cultiva-
tion alone. In order to give the matter a comparative test,
Apple, Plum and Cherry trees have been planted in this way at
the station-farm the present spring, while alternate trees in the

JUNE 3, 1896.]

same row have been planted in the ordinary way. Here the
methods of culture will be the same for each, and it is to be
hoped the merits of the system will be shown. It will be
interesting to remove some of these trees as they grow older,
in order to see what effect planting in such an immense
earthen flower-pot will have upon the habit of root-growth. In
this planting the holes were dug about six feet in diameter and
six feet deep, with a post auger-hole three feet deep in the
bottom of each.

No doubt, most orchardists will say at once that this involves
altogether too much work, and it does mean a good deal of
work, but it is less expensive than irrigation, which we may
sometimes think would bring us almost ideal conditions.
These holes can be dug and filled at a cost not exceeding a
dollar a tree. Now, reflect that a good Apple-tree in full bear-
ing is worth at least as much as a good dairy cow, and then
ask how many dairymen would hesitate to pay one dollar more
for a healthy, vigorous, productive cow than they would for
one not quite her equal. The important question is not the
expense of doing the work, but the effect which such planting
will have on the subsequent life of the tree, and no one can
answer that question satisfactorily ahead of time.

Agricultural College, Lincoln, Nebraska. Fred W. Card.

Larch Sack-bearer (Coleophora Laricella).

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—In the spring of 1894 I noticed that the tips of the leaves
of the trees in my Larch plantation of five acres had become
yellow or brown, as if touched by frost, and later on in many
cases the whole leaf dying. This continued through the grow-
ing season, many of the trees attempting to put forth a new
growth. Not being able myself to discover the cause of this
trouble, I sent samples of the twigs and leaves to Professor
C. H. Fernald, of the State Agricultural College, who informed
me that they were infested with the Larch sack-bearer, as he
named it. The caterpillar was so minute and so concealed
under cover of the leaf that I had not observed it. On reéxam-
ining the trees after this explanation I soon discovered the
caterpillars in countless numbers ; they bore into the needles,
so that the upper ends shrivel up and turn yellow and brown.
Professor Fernald wrote me that this insect was first reported
in this country by Dr. Hagen in 1886 on European Larches in
Northampton, Massachusetts. He also stated that he had ob-
served it on some Larches in Amherst, but had never heard of
it elsewhere until my trees were brought to his notice. In
1895 the insects were apparently undiminished in numbers, and
this spring they have appeared again; as a consequence, the
growth of the trees has been checked,

My trees, although European Larches, were not imported,
but came from Douglas, Illinois. The question arises, where
did these pests come from? Have they been slowly increasing
in numbers from a small and unnoticeable family, or has the
horde dropped down from some unknown quarter? On page
311 of vol. iv. of Schlich’s Manual of Forestry may be found
the best description of this moth that I have seen. It is com-
mon in Great Britain and Germany. As to remedial measures
not much has been attempted on account of the magnitude of
the task. On one section, however, the lower branches have

urnt. Fs
been cut off and b ¥. D. W. French.

Boston, Mass.

Planting in the Boston Parks.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—Two years ago I wrote to your journal about the care
of the Boston parks ; since that time no improvement has taken
place. The most conspicuous illustration of what I mean can
be seen in that section of the Back Bay Fens nearest the city.
For some reason this section was planted with a general mix-
ture of anything and everything that was at hand, and a more
curious collection it would be hard to imagine. Garden shrubs
are crowded in with Spruces, showy perennials appear in most
unexpected and inappropriate places, and just now weeds and
dead wood abound in the most prominent portions.

The use of certain garden shrubs on the edge of a marsh
seems to be rather questionable, butadmitting their appropri-
ateness, surely if they are to remain some care should be
taken of them. At present, crowded in among plants of coarser
growth, some dead and others half-covered with deadwood,
they present a truly pitiable appearance. In many cases the
dangerous practice of planting strong-growing vines among
shrubs has been indulged in to a great extent and the evil
results are already apparent, so that it really seems as if Bos-
ton would be better off if her parks were half as large and
twice as well taken care of,

Garden and Forest.

229

Trained men are needed to take care of our parks after they
are planted, a constant thinning and pruning of trees and
shrubs must be kept up, and for such work men of skill and
experience are needed.

In the meanwhile we keep on in the same way, every year
extending our park system (already too large), planting more
and more ground and leaving our old plantations to fight it

out among themselves,
Wellesley, Mass. Ve aie ef

Why Rhododendrons do not Flower.

To.the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—I have read your note in GARDEN AND FOREST on the
influence of the past winter on the flower-buds of Rhododen-
drons and other shrubs. I am convinced that Rhododendron
buds in this neighborhood were injured in the severe cold
snap of the roth of October, when the thermometer fell sud-
denly to twenty-three degrees, Fahrenheit, and the most of the
mischief was done at that time. The buds on several half-
hardy varieties here, which were housed in cellars on the first
of November, have been more or less injured, some varieties
losing all their buds and others having only a few flowers in a
truss. This must have been done before the plants were
moved into their winter quarters. J remember that the same
thing happened ten or twelve years ago,

Wellesley, Mass. HA. H, Hunnewell.

Recent Publications.

A Traveller's Notes. By James Herbert Veitch, F.LS.,
F.R.H.S. Published for private circulation by James
Veitch & Sons, Royal Exotic Nursery, Chelsea.

All persons who keep themselves acquainted with current
horticultural literature will remember the series of letters
from the far east which appeared three or four years ago
in Zhe Gardeners’ Chronicle. Mr. Veitch has brough these
together, revised them, added certain connecting links
which make the narrative continuous, so that the text and
notes, with the illustrations, make altogether a quarto
volume of considerably more than two hundred pages.
The tour made by the author was through India, Malaysia,
Japan, Corea, the Australian colonies and New Zealand,
and the work is chiefly descriptive of the vegetation of
those regions observed from a horticultural: point of
view. Mr. Veitch’s object was to study the conditions
under which the plants of these countries have been devel-
oped, with the view of learning something about their
cultural requirements when transplanted into British gar-
dens, and also to make a search for such new plants as
might seem worthy of introduction into cultivation. On the
first page of the text we read of impressive groves of
Cocoanut Palms, and all through the book the reader is
among plants, garden plants generally, with descriptions
of their appearance, habits and uses. Wherever a botanic
garden was found its treasures were carefully noted, and
one who takes even a cursory glance through these pages
will get a fair idea of what trees and plants are most used
for decorative purposes in the countries through which
Mr. Veitch’s long journey extended. There is an interest-
ing map and numerous photogravures and reproductions
of photographs by the author, many of which are remark-
able, both for the interest of the subject and skill in treat-
ment. Of course, they are largely devoted to plant life,
but incidentally we see much of the splendid architecture
and scenery of the far east. The pictures are beautifully
printed and the mechanical execution of the book through-
out is unusually attractive.

Notes.

The Agricultural Gazette, of New South Wales, gives the
following as an example of the durability of the Yellow Box
timber, Eucalyptus melliodora: A tree was cut down in March,
1849, and a log fifteen feet long and fifteen inches in diameter
was placed while green as the ground plate or sleeper to sup-
port the posts of a veranda. About three-fourths of it was
under ground, where it has remained ever since, and it is
apparently as sound as the day it was cut. Another log of the

230

same kind of tree, which had been used as a sleeper and has
been partly imbedded in the ground for forty-three years, does
not show any decay even in the sapwood.

Virgilia trees are flowering in the parks and gardens about
New York this year with unusual profusion. The weight of
the blossoms is so great as to give the branches a still more
drooping habit even than they naturally possess, and as they
wave slowly in the wind the long racemes of pure white flow-
ers among the light green and delicate foliage make a picture
which cannot be excelled for beauty and grace, especially
when seen against some dark background like a mass of
conifers.

Since the account of Mr. Burbank’s new Canna, which
appears in the correspondence columns of this issue, was in
type, we have again received from Mr. Frank Pierson speci-
men flowers of Austria, the new Italian hybrid. The color is
a luminous golden-yellow, very pure and lighter in tone than
that of the Canna Italia and but faintly shaded at the base of
the petals. The splendid flowers stand above the foliage on
long stems ; they are flat, spreading, bold in appearance and
nearly six inches across.

During the five business days’ of last week 2,420 cases of
evaporated apples were received by wholesale merchants in
this city, and 2,226 packages of other dried fruits. Since Sep-
tember Ist 159,061 cases of evaporated apples have been
handled in this market, and 678,221 packages of other sorts of
dried fruits. During last week 7,096 packages of evaporated
and dried fruits left this port, and since the season began, nine
months ago, 323,780 packages have been exported. Besides
apples, evaporated and dried raspberries, blackberries, huckle-
berries, cherries, plums, prunes, peaches, apricots are now
being sold.

Willow Twig, Cooper’s Market, Ben Davis and Roxbury
Russet were comprised in 1,397 barrels of apples shipped to
this city during last week. The highest grade of Willow Twig
brings $5.75 a barrel at wholesale ; Ben Davis, $5.00, and Rox-
bury Russet, $3.25. Cherries from near-by points are offered
at fifteen cents a pound, retail. Cultivated blackberries of good
size and quality, from North Carolina, cost twenty cents, and
huckleberries, from the same state, an equal price. Green
gooseberries are in limited supply, and sell for fifteen cents a
quart. The first watermelons of the season came from Florida
early last week, and sold at from sixty to seventy-five cents,
wholesale.

One of the most important vegetable productions of Persia
is the crop of dates which are grown to great perfection in
many parts of the country. The Date Palms begin to yield at
about three years of age, reaching their prime at thirty, anda
good yield for one tree is from eighty to one hundred pounds.
The flowers are fertilized by hand, one male tree supplying
pollen for perhaps forty pistillate trees. The dates used for
export are those that grow at the summit of the trees. From
the action of the sun they become hard and dry and are thus
easily packed, while those on the lower branches remain soft
and are kept for local consumption. The exports of dates of
the country could be easily doubled by planting fresh groves
of Palm.

The first sugar corn of the season, from Florida, is now
offered in our markets at seventy-five cents a dozen ears.
Peas are coming from New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia.
All the summer vegetables, but Lima beans, may now
be had well grown and ripened, excepting tomatoes, which
for the past few weeks have been poorly colored. Potatoes
have been plentiful and cheap, the best Bermudas cost-
ing $4.00 a barrel at wholesale, those from Florida $3.00,
and trom New Orleans $2.50. As many as 15,000 barrels of

this staple arrived from the south during last week. Owing
to dry weather the bulk of the stock is small. The supply of
domestic potatoes from last year is still considerable. During

five days of last week 40,806 barrels of the latter were received
in this city, besides 2,875 barrels from Bermuda and the West
Indies. In the same time Bermuda sent 21,205 crates of onions,
and 5,967 bags came from Egypt.

One of the remarkable and often observed correlations be-
tween the scent of flowers and the animals who visit them
is the development of the floral odor just at the time
when the insects fly. Professor Kerner cites the example of
certain species of Honeysuckle, Petunia, some Orchids and
other plants which smell faintly or not at all in the daytime,
but give off abundant odor between sunset and midnight, just

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 432.

when the insects fly which feed on them. Various Pinks and
Pelargoniums, which are visited by small night moths, exhale
a strong odor of Hyacinth at twilight, but give off no scent
during the day. On the other hand, many flowers which are
visited by bees and butterflies in the daytime become scent-
less at sunset, like the ornamental Clover, Trifolium resupina-
tum, which smells of honey in the sunshine and becomes scent-
less when the bees return to their hives in the night. The
same is true of the Grass of Parnassus, and a species of
Daphne, which grows in the Pyrenees and emits a delicate
violet odor during the day, but has no smell whatever after
nightfall.

If the fruit-growers of the country suffer from diseased trees
and vines, which can be prevented by spraying, it will be their
own fault, as the literature which gives full directions for the
prevention and cure of these ordinary diseases is increasing
every month, A farmers’ bulletin, entitled Spraying for Fruit
Diseases, contains the latest authoritative directions which we
have seen. It is written by Professor Galloway, Chief of the
Division of Vegetable Physiology and Pathology, and gives the
method of preparing the various fungicides, the special qualities
of each and the proper time and the best means of applying
them. The various diseases of the Grape, Apple, Pear, Quince,
Cherry and Plum which yield to treatment are also briefly, but
accurately, described, and all this within the compass of a
dozen pages. In the final paragraph fruit-growers are urged
to bear constantly in mind that the treatments are not curative,
but preventive, and that it is, therefore, necessary that the
spraying should be made at the proper time and in a thorough
manner. Of course, a saving of both time and money will
follow where experienced and trustworthy labor and first-class
machinery are used, and the plants will be more certainly pro-
tected. Poor help, cheap makeshift machinery and lack of
personal and intelligent supervision by the fruit grower him-
self are the chief causes of failure.

We have been interested in a little pamphlet on Potato Cul-
ture on the Island of Jersey, written by the Rev. Charles B.
Merrill, of Beloit, Wisconsin, and published at Medina, Ohio.
It is a complete description of the methods of raising Potatoes
for the great markets of London and Liverpool in the Channel
Islands, and shows how what is called high-pressure garden-
ing can be made to pay on small areas. The details of the prac-
tice in the Island of Jersey might, perhaps, not be strictly adapted
to our different climates and soils, but as the principles of plant
growth are the same the world over there is much in these
pages to make American farmers reflective. Ina soil which
has been cultivated for a thousand years and which has grown
richer all the time, where careful tillage makes it easy to work,
and clean cultivation has practically exterminated weeds, the
Jersey farmer has a great advantage to begin with, but he does
not neglect his crops for this reason, but gives them all the
more care. He mellows the soil deeply, fertilizes it freely
with manures which have been made as fine as possible by
rotting, grinding or liquidizing, spares no expense to secure
the best of seed, of which he plants thirty or forty bushels to
the acre, and sets the tubers in a particular way in every
hill, cultivates thoroughly, harvests with the greatest of care,
markets the crop as soon as it is gathered, and then hauls it
over the smoothest of roads so that not a single potato is
bruised or chafed on the road. The seed is never cut, but
the whole tuber is planted, and then all the vigor is thrown
into two or three strong shoots, rather than into a dozen weak
ones. The result of all this care is abundant and paying crops.
Seven thousand and seven acres, or one-third of the crop-land
of the whole island, was planted in 1894, and 60,605 tons were
exported, with 15,000 tons kept at home for seed and food.
The average yield of the whole per acre was 333 bushels, or
more than ten tons. The average price received an acre was
$343, or an average net cash of $260, The highest yields tothe
acre were 500 to 600 bushels, and the highest receipts to the
acre were from $500 to $600. This was not an exceptional
year, but for twelve years past the yields and prices have
ranged about thesame. In other words,during these twelve years
more than twenty millions of dollars—that is, more than $300 for
each acre of the Potato area every year have been brought into
this country. Potato-culture is such a settled and sure source
of profit that itseems to have no element of experiment or
uncertainty, so that the cash rents of land range from $25 to
$65 an acre a year, and the lands sell for from $600 to $1,500
an acre, if they are offered, which is rarely done, except be-
cause of death or misfortune. Though most of the farmers
till their own land, yet applications for rent are continuous,
and farmers whose fields are in fine condition have been
offered and have refused $70 an acre annual rent,

JUNE 10, 1896.]

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrice: Trisunge Buitpinc, New York.

Conducted by .« . . ..-« ¢ « « « e Professor C, S. SARGENT.

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JUNE to, 1896.

TABLE OF CONTENTS,

EpitoriaL_ ARTICLES :—Where Competitive Examination may Fail....
Daffodils in the Grass. .
A Botanical Journey in Texas.
The Flora ot the California Coast Range,
The Reproductive Powers of our Forests.
EAN OLES cee tet ae eeeaeieeecelsinias nod cice cele seateaisie es ce cise selneincasieiccle mais
Cutturar DeparTMENT :—Notes from the Herbaceous Border..Rodert Cameron. 236
lower Garden NOLES eececciesinc sscecsais sciens.cers vee ooo a O. Or pet. 237
Herb Robert..... SSBO).cOD0 SOBRE EE oEOEen DOACe -G. A, Woolson 237
CorRESPONDENCE :—Notes from West Virginia... aa anske Dandridge. 237
OMe aL Dy DhONMIN Ssecite ic cms eleicise sini le ssisie's sew tie emir sles Carl Purdy. 238
The'Increasejof ‘Redwood Forests......c0+seeesesvecseenesscs Carl Purdy, 238
AtWaldiGarden'scsecccsssseccaseoes a RE Sn ONC stag Sa mre et}
Recent PuBLICATIONS .... we
INOTES sviccioacess'= nee
ILLusTRATION :—Second-growth Chestnut-trees, in West Virginia, Fig. 34... .. 235

Carl Purdy.
LZ. C. Corbett. 234

(With figure.).

Where Competitive Examination may Fail.

PAG cna a month ago the office of landscape-gardener
and forester for the city of Philadelphia was to be
filled, and the Board whose duty it was to name the man
decided to open the place to competitive examination
instead of making it a subject of personal patronage.
Precisely what the duties of a city landscape-gardener and
forester may be in Philadelphia we do not know. He
probably has charge of the street-trees and superintends
the construction and planting of the small parks, and if
these are his functions the examination would give a fair
idea of the knowledge of the applicant in this particular
field. There were questions in surveying, in drawing as
applied to landscape-gardening, and in road-building. No
attempt was made to ascertain how much the applicant
knew of general horticulture, but there were twelve care-
fully prepared questions relating to trees and the way to
plant, protect and care for them, so that a comparison of
the answers given by the nineteen candidates would, no
doubt,-enable good judges to select the man whose knowl-
edge on this subject was the most comprehensive and
thorough.

The only question relating directly to landscape-garden-
ing was the following: “ What is the chief point to be con-
sidered in laying out the grounds for a public square?”
This might furnish the text for an essay which would ena-
ble the judges to learn some of the views of the writer on
the general subject of designing small urban parks, but lit-
tle more than this could be hoped for. Indeed, it would
be a difficult task to discover by a written examination
whether a man has creative artistic talent. If a city wished
to make an intelligent selection of an architect to design a
municipal building it would not choose the man who could
answer the most questions about architecture. One who
wished a landscape painted would hardly think of select-
ing an artist by competitive examination of this kind. But
it requires just as much constructive skill to adjust a piece
of ground to varied public uses as it does to make a build-
ing which in all its parts shall be adapted to a given pur-
pose, and it requires as much taste, at least, to prepare this
ground so that it will make an impressive appeal to the
imagination through the eye as it does to make a beautiful

Garden and Forest.

231

building. By an examination we can ascertain whether a
man is a good critic in any branch of art, but it will give
no adequate idea of his creative capacity. The proper way
to judge of a landscape-architect is by his works, just as we
judge of a landscape-painter, or a sculptor or a poet.

Again, if we wish to be informed as toa man’s executive
faculty—that is, his capacity for administration, for man-
aging men and getting things done in the right way—we
naturally study what he has done, or observe what he is
doing, rather than cipher up what percentage of his answers
to certain questions is correct. A competitive examina-
tion conducted by eminent experts was held in one of our
large cities some years ago, and the candidate whose papers
were easily first in quality was appointed chief gardener
of an extensive park system. He had a thorough knowl-
edge of the shrubs and trees and plants used in our parks,
he knew how to propagate them and how to cultivate
them, but after his appointment it was evident that he had
no idea of proper grouping and arrangement, no refinement
of feeling, no taste for simple natural beauty. Besides this,
he lacked the power of organization and command, and he
made a miserable failure.

All this means that while the service in public parks
should certainly be kept out of politics, and no one should
be admitted to subordinate positions without examination,
there is no certainty of securing an efficient administrative
head of any departmental work by any such competition.
Wherever we need moral power, the force of will, the
ability to control others, we must select a man who has
displayed these faculties in other positions. And the same
is true where artistic talent is in question. A man may be
able to write an instructive essay on landscape art without
possessing a particle of faculty for original design, just as
one may be a competent critic of architecture or sculpture
or painting without any talent for invention or construc-
tion in either of these arts.

Daffodils in the Grass.

HE different varieties of Narcissi are beautiful any-
where, whether grown in large masses for commerce
or in beds in the flower garden, but they never are more
attractive than when seen among the grass along a wood
border. On the 14th of April a conference on Daffodils,
with an exhibition, was held in Regents Park, London, and
Messrs. Barr & Son had planted thousands of Narcissus-
bulbs in groups of from 150 to 200 of each variety in the
turf of the park the autumn before, so that they would be
in bloom for this occasion, and the display thus made was
said to have been a most interesting feature of the meeting.
The cheapness of these bulbs, the ease with which they can
be made to bloom, the fact that they can be grown any-
where, on lawns as well as in flower-beds, their satisfying
variety in form and color, have made them the most popu-
lar outdoor flower in England, and they are rapidly increas-
ing in public favor in this country, although comprehensive
collections of all the different sections, including the expen-
sive novelties, are not yet common here. And yet we can
grow, with proper care, quite as beautiful Daffodils in this
country as any which England can show. Unfortunately,
however, our climate is such that not so many of the dif-
ferent varieties can be naturalized in the grass. The Poet's
Narcissus, different varieties of the Star section, the Jon-
quils and some of the Trumpets can be made at home in
the grass. Almost any of them will bloom for a season or
two, but which particular ones will grow persistently and
increase from year to year no one can tell until they have
been tested in different soils. Most of the varieties like
some cool moist place and in well-drained meadows which
are covered with snow most of the winter, and where the
soil is a trifle stiff many of them will be sure to succeed.

In the admirable paper of Mr. William’ Robinson, read
before the conference to which we have alluded, he speaks
of one menace to the best effect of Narcissi in the grass ;
and that is the practice of scattering them evenly overa

232

meadow or pasture. Such monoionous planting destroys
all sense of relief and repose. Where one square rod is just
like all the rest the eye soon wearies and craves something
with distinct features and variety of expression. This
suggestion should be heeded by all who attempt the natu-
ralization of such plants as Narcissus, Scilla campanulata
and other bulbous plants in the turf. Just as Water-lilies
are much more effective when they are planted in groups
with a stretch ofsmooth water beyond them, so these Daf-
fodils are infinitely more beautiful when there are reaches of
grass between the different masses. For this turf-planting
does more than furnish individual flowers for our delight.
It ought to make a charming picture in the distance. If
the bulbs are planted along the border of a meadow, closely
here, more openly there, resembling somewhat a pictur-
esque shore-line with capes and bays and detached islets
about which the smooth turf flows like a lake, the picture
will have some artistic meaning. Mr. Robinson well says
thata passing cloud will often give a good form for an
isolated group and will be specially instructive since it is
more compact toward the centre, as groups of Narcissi
should be in the grass.

We should like to see more fields and wood borders in
this country garnished with flowers in this way. Some of
our native weeds naturally arrange themselves into pic-
tures of this kind, but most of them are destructive of the
grass crop. The leaves of Daffodils, however, ripen before
the grass is fit for mowing, so that the bulbs will be ready
for another year’s bloom before the machine passes
over them. They work trifling harm to the hay crop
and yield a harvest of beauty whose value cannot be
estimated.

A Botanical Journey in Texas.—V.

ARLY on the morning of the second day of July I
left El Paso for a visit to Mount Franklin, This isa
vast longitudinal pile of rocks upon gravel and sand, and
of sand and gravel upon rocks, and of mud deposits upon
both, the whole resting upon granite, which on one side
of the mountain is reddish in color, while on the other side,
and nearer the river, it approaches white. In some places
the granite seems to have intruded into the other material.
Mount Franklin itself is nearly isolated, most of the range,
of which it appears to be a remnant, having gone down the
river to assist in filling the Gulf of Mexico, or having been
used nearer home to fil the old lake-like expansion of the
river.

Measurements made by Captain Ruhlen, of the United
States army, give the mountain an elevation above the level
of the Court-house yard of 3,000 feet, and of 6,700 feet above
the level of the sea. It is, therefore, one of the highest
mountain peaks of Texas. The stories told of the rugged-
ness of the slope and its difficulty of ascent were fully con-
firmed by experience. I found no springs of water, and for
ten hours wandered in thirst over the mountain. Once in
western Kansas I passed thirty hours without food, though
with plenty of creek-water to drink, and the recollection of
this hardship consoled me, so philosophy triumphed, and
my work was probably as well done and as many plants
were collected as there would have been if I had been
fully watered and fully fed.

Since I visited the mountain to see and to collect its flora
and search for rare and unknown plants, the more difficult
and unusual way of ascent was taken through a precipi-
tous ravine half-way up the mountain, thence to a different
rock formation, and along the crest of the mountain until
the topmost crag was reached.

Standing on the mountain-top and looking around for a
new plant, the well-known habit of the handsome ever-
green Sumach, Rhus virens, showed itself at the base of a
crag just below me. It is evidently more daring and
climbs higher than any of its congeners. R. microphylla
and R. trifoliata are lower down on the mountain. At my
feet was the humble Paronychia Jamesii and Selaginella

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 433.

rupestris in the crevices of rocks. Lechuguilla, Agave
heteracantha, is by far the commonest tall plant upon the
high mountain, and furnishes it with its visible green. Can-
dle-wood and Solatare not far below it, all of them ascending
to about 6,000 feet. The rather rare and extreme western
Pepper-Grass, Lepidium lasiocarpum, is common on the
mountain, and only there, so far as I have observed it. It
is a low apetalous species with hairy fruit, as its specific
name indicates.

The most interesting shrub on the mountain is a Lippia
with rounded crenated leaves and spikes of small white
flowers. It is handsomer than L. ligustrina, and fully
equals that species in the strength and sweetness of its per-
fume. The general habit of the shrub is like that of Salvia
ballotefolia. It is also to be found lower down among the
foot-hills. Malvaceous plants are common higher up as
well as lower down. Some of them are very handsome.
With the rest, Abutilon parviflorum, with small yellow
flowers, is abundant, especially in the lower ravines. Pectis
angustifolia and P. prostrata are common on the mountain
slopes and among the foot-hills. Both species are hand-
some little plants and lemon-scented. The former extends
northward to central Kansas, where its human neighbors
call it, by way of nickname, “ Camphor-plant.”

More species of Boerhaavia grow on and around the
mountain than I have seen elsewhere. They all are semi-
erect spreading plants, peculiar in their habit, their manner
of growth, their flowers and fruit. Each is very like the
other, and to know one of the species is to know most of
them. A low-growing and handsome Asclepias is abun-
dant on the mountain. It is probably A. uncialis, as it is
not more than three or four inches tall. Torrey’s Lycium,
L. Torreyi, a tall shrub, is very abundant around El Paso.
Its purplish flowers are followed by small red berries,
which are used for tarts and jellies. There is another
Lycium here, a much smaller species, with whitish flowers.

A curious and interesting plant bearing the rather pleasant
name of Janusia gracilis is abundant in the ravines of the
mountains, ascending to an altitude of, perhaps, a mile. It
is found also among the foot-hills. It is a low, slender
climber with yellowish flowers, which are usually borne in
pairs. They are succeeded by samara-like fruits, which
readily distinguish the species. It belongs to the family of
plants which keep bright the memory of the old Italian
botanist, Malpighi, the author of the Ana/fomy of Plants and
the father of microscopy. Of larger shrubs on the mountain
and among the foot-hills, not already noticed, a Cercocar-
pus, Fallugia junco, Crown of Thorns (Kceberlinia) are
present, and Ptelea angustifolia, as distinct from its con-
gener as nature ever makes it, which is not saying very
much for its specific rank.

In all regions where dryness of the atmosphere produces
aridity of the soil the vegetation is largely limited to quickly
growing, annual, deeply rooted bulbous plants and woody
perennial plants. In the short rainy season the annuals
quickly spring up, blossom, perfect their seeds, and die.
The seeds sleep in the soil until the rain comes again, when
they repeat the processes of their ancestors. The bulbs,
too, sleep, but they are always ready to grow. Within
three days after a rain the ground may be literally white
with flowers of Cooperia, where not an individual was to
be seen before the coming of the rain. There is always
water in the soil, though it may not be measured. Deeply
rooting bulbs and the roots of woody plants are able to
reach that water in sufficient quantities to enable them to
live and to keep a slow life. The decay of their worn-out
roots adds constantly, not only to their stock of pabulum,
but also to the stock of fluid to infuse it. The living every-
where are drawing their subsistence from the dead.

Texas, from near the Gulf to New Mexico, is the native
place of at least five species of Ephedra, a remarkable
genus of gretaceous Gymnosperms. All of them are low,
humble shrubs, with green and sometimes shreddy bark,
and few or no leaves. We wonder that Nature should stop
to make such strange freaks of vegetation. We wonder

JUNE 10, 1896.]

still more that she should make them so that we literally
class them withthe mighty Redwood and Sequoia. People
who associate strange properties with strange appearances
ascribe all sorts of remedial effects to these plants. Most of
those are withoutreal foundation. The largest and most pecu-
liar of our species, Ephedra trifurca, is very common round
El Paso on the mountain and on the mesas. This species
sometimes makes itself into a neat little miniature tree,
with a clean trunk fifteen to twenty inches long, two to
three inches in diameter, and with a round and symmet-
rical head of branches. People about El Paso and in New
Mexico call this species the “‘ Brigham Young Weed.”

Larrea tridentata (L. Mexicana) is by far the commonest
shrub in this locality among the hills. A bath in a warm
infusion of its leaves and twigs is said to be a remedy for
rheumatism. In this region plants that depend on rain for
their growth have become very easy and slack in their
manners and observe noset time to flower and fruit. On
the thirteenth day of June the hills around E] Paso were
yellow with flowers of Larrea. Three weeks of rainless
weather followed, and the thousands of individuals of that
species showed hardly a flower. Other rains came, andin
a few days the hills were again yellow with a new crop of
flowers.

Western Texas is full of plant wonders, and no plant here
is more peculiar and attractive in its own way than the Screw
Bean, Prosopis pubescens. As a shrub this species outdoes
its reputed cousin Mesquit, P. juliflora, but the latter far
excels the former as a tree. ‘The fruit of the Screw Bean,
as its nickname indicates, is a departure in fruit forms, and
readily shows the species. Its short, clustered pods are
twisted into screw-like coils and again coiled. In the future
some daring botanist will again separate generically P. pu-
bescens from P. juliflora, whose pods, though clustered, are
straight and sometimes eight to twelve inches long and con-
taining from six or less to twenty-four or more beans.
Uniting these species under thesame genus was a complete
waiver of the form of the fruit as a generic character.

Euphorbia Fendleri, E. lata and other rare species of that
genus grow on the mountain, with several Erigonums,
Galiums, a large-fruited Yucca, a strange shrub, and other

species.
eae Colo. E. NV. Plank.

The Flora of the California Coast Range.—III.
CUPRESSUS MACNABIANA AT HOME.

1X miles south-east of Ukiah is Red Mountain, and its
bold dome, rising 2,300 feet above the sea, is visible
from almost any point in the thirty miles of valley which
stretches north and south from its base. It is easily dis-
tinguished from the surrounding mountains of nearly as
great an altitude, by the brick-red soil on all exposed
places, which shows enough even in the brushy portions
to warrant the name. It is a great mass torn from some
other geological formation and set down in a great chain
of chemise-covered mountains. It. differs from its neigh-
bors no less in flowers and trees than in soil, and is a fine
example of these isolated sections which are a feature of
our state. Forty miles to the east, across two higher
ranges, is a region in which the geological conditions and
flora which distinguish Red Mountain are reproduced on a
greater scale. The mountain is almost completely detached
from the main range by a stream which, rising on the north-
west face, completely encircles and drains the mountain.
The eastern side of Red Mountain is covered with the
most curious forest I have ever seen. A body of Cupressus
Macnabiana, about a half-mile square, and scarcely mixed
with any other tree, covers it completely. The trees are
only from twelve to twenty feet high, as a rule, but, like
the miniature trees of the Japanese gardeners, they have all
of the appearance of great age. Old and gnarled, tough
and twisted, covered with moss, and with limbs broken,
they look like the old forests of Cedar of Lebanon as they
are pictured. A forest a hundred feet high, looked at

Garden and Forest.

233

through the large end of a telescope, would give the same
impression. A fire has swept through one side, and the old
trunks, standing black and naked, aid the deception. Only
the surrounding objects by which to aid the sight, keep
one from being quite carried away by thedeception. These
trees, dwarfed so strangely by the arid soil and bleak cli-
mate, are very old.

The west face of the mountain is no less curious. Here
the Cypress forms a dense thicket, from six or eight feet
high in the open hills, to fifteen feet high in the gullies, and
stretching over the whole mountain-side till it breaks into
cliffs at the cafion. Where the fires have burned over, the
little seedlings, are coming up, but in no such profusion as
I saw in the thickets of Cupressus on the coast. Here, at
the most, there would be one tree in three or four feet.
The little seedlings having the soil to themselves, are of a
fine green and quite shapely, and many grow into hand-
some trees. A few seeds carried down the stream to grav-
elly flats in the valley have formed an open grove of
specimens as handsome as any ina park of perfect pyra-
midal form and very broad at base. Handsomer trees are
seldom seen.

Many of the lesser shrubs and flowers are quite as dis-
tinctive of Red Mountain as the Cypress. One Ceanothus
in particular I have never observed except in such soils.
It is much like a Holly in leaf, and forms a low bush. The
flowers are white. The stream which flows down the east
side has a broad bed heavily grown with a coarse grass
which retains the soil and furnishes a home for many flow-
ering plants. For fully a half-mile Lilium pardalinum, in
a large spotted form, grows in abundance and forms great
clumps. As I have seen itin July, the stem four to seven
feet high and the cajion fairly filled with a wavy mass of the
grand recurved red and gold blossoms, I thought it the
finest floral sight I had ever seen. Our common Colum-
bine, Aquilegia truncata, is a fine plant and the parent of
some good garden plants. It flowers in May and June. In
the grass and on the wet rocks of the numerous little falls
a form with viscid leaves grows in profusion, and, unlike
the type, blooms constantly through the summer season.
The flowers are more of an orange color than the type. A
variety of Stachys, with tomentose leaves and a pleasant
fragrance, is almost as common, and in the wettest places
one can see large beds of an Orchid much like a small pur-
ple and brown Lady’s slipper. Thisis Epipactis gigantea,
a pretty species well worth cultivation. A large clump
graces my Fern-bed, and rapidly increases, blooming freely
every year.

Few Ferns grow here, but a Pellzea (P. densa) is abun-
dant in the loose rock which has broken from the cliffs
above, and in the rock crevices as well. It grows in large
bunches, and the small dissected fronds are quite hand-
some when the winter rains wake them from the long
summer sleep; very delicate, too, the light green new
growth resembling a Maiden-hair. Calycanthus occiden-
talis is not uncommon in the Coast Range and is one of
our finest waterside shrubs. It is rather prettier than the
eastern C. floridus, and, like it, the bark, leaf and fleshy
chocolate-colored flowers have a pleasant odor. It espe-
cially likes the clayey soil of this cafion, and in some local-
ities the growth is ten to twelve feet high and completely
fills the gulch. Inclefts of the rock a rare Brodixa grows
quite out of its range, for it is common forty miles east-
ward. The flowers are white, and it prefers the courses of
streams.

The higher slopes are also rich in rare plants. One of
the most attractive is Dendromecon rigidum, a shrub from
two to eight feet high, slender, with light lance-shaped
leaves and a blossom almost exactly like a light-colored

Californian Poppy, except in size. This beautiful Tree
Poppy in our region is confined to high altitudes. A well-
developed bush is not soon to be forgotten. Morning

Glories are everywhere in our state. A very common one
with good-sized white flowers grows in grain fields and is
a troublesome weed, pretty as it is. Red Mountain, in

234

Morning Glories, as in everything else, is odd, and: the
creeping form which 1 saw in bloom one morning in May
had halberd-shaped leaves densely clothed with woolly
hairs and a fine white flower. Thestem crept about a foot.
Ukiah, Calif. Carl Purdy.

The Reproductive Powers of Our Forests.

T the present time the guard ranges of the Alleghany
Mountains, which extend into Monongahela County,

West Virginia, are covered with a mixed deciduous. forest
of second-growth trees. This is one of the best examples
that have come under my personal observation of the natural
power of forest reconstruction. During the early half of
the present century this region, embracing several thousand
acres lying along the north bank of the Cheat River, was
the seat of an active iron-making industry. The moun-
tains afforded a bog ore which was accessible and of great
value.
and as the iron industry became established a demand for
charcoal was created, and to meet this demand the woods
were harvested and converted into charcoal. This industry
began about 1789, and was most. active from 1822 to
about 1852, and continued in a small,way until in 1868.
The largest proportion of the timber removed for charcoal

purposes was cut during the most active period of the

industry and before the middle of the century.
As soon as the charcoal burning became unremunerative

from the exhaustion of the timber supply and the substitu-

tion of coke for charcoal in the reduction of ore, these
lands, which were too steep and rugged for profitable agri-
culture or grazing, were allowed again to fall into the hands
of Mother Nature. Itis true that fire has done much injury
from time to time, but even with the adverse conditions of
soil, exposure and frequent fires, there is to-day upon these
mountains a forest of second-growth Chestnut, Poplar and
Oak worth many times the value of the land at the time the
iron furnaces closed—a convincing example that our for-
ests will reproduce themselves. This we are told is all
well enough for the moist mountain districts of the Alle-
ghanies, but will not hold in the deforested areas of Michi-
gan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. There is no ground for
this argument, for when the forests were removed no
rational system of reforestation was attempted. Even the
protection of the area from fire has usually been neglected,
and this alone will suffice to explain. why the land stripped
of its forest-cover still remains bare.
powers have not been allowed an opportunity to assert
themselves. Trees cannot grow solong as fires are allowed
to run periodically over the exploited tracts; what might
take place, were they suppressed and prevented, is another
question upon which some light is thrown in the following
remarks by Mr. H. B. Ayers, of Carlton, Minnesota, on
Forest Fires* :

Even men of intelligence and prominence in the lumber
business have said, ‘‘Why prevent fire? Pine will never come
in again after the marketable timber is once cut.”
tion needs the strongest possible denial ; the men who make
such an assertion deserve ridicule. They were looking for
saw-logs, and could not have looked for much else, for loggers
in cutting often leave on an acre a hundred thrifty and vigor-
ous young Pines from four to ten inches in diameter and from
twenty to a hundred feet high after the log-timber is cut, and
on pine-stump land that has escaped fire three years thousands
of little Pine seedlings may be seen springing up. In order to
be able to refute such misstatements utterly I have here the
minutes of the exact location where young Pines in excellent
condition for timber-growing may be seen, and right by may
be seen burnt land cut the same year that could not be put
into a condition as promising for timber for less than twenty
dollars an acre. In fact, so favorable a soil, mulch and shade
can hardly be made at once on that burnt land at any price.
Several such acres on (sections) 16, 56, 22 were staked off and
the trees counted; on one from which 32,000 feet had been
cut three years before were thirty-two thrifty sapling White
Pines, eight to eleven inches in diameter and thirty to eighty

* Minnesota State Horticultural Society Report for 189 5, pages 443-9.

Garden and Forest.

The mountain slopes were then heavily wooded, ,

Natural reproductive

This asser-_

[NUMBER 433.

feet high ; ten Poplar, eight to fourteen inches in diameter and
sixty feet high ;.1,600 Poplar sprouts, one-half to one inch in
diameter and five to twelve feet high ; a light underbrush of
Hazel and Vine Maple; and under all this were 1,267 little
White Pine seedlings two years old and four to six inches high.
Another acre on the same section had 200 trees of White and
Norway Pine averaging eight inches in diameter and forty-five
feet high. Are not these worth saving ?

This is a specific example of what may be expected from
one of the families of trees which it is most difficult to per-
petuate. Pines, as a rule, grow only from seeds ; they can-
not be managed under the coppice system, yet this single
observation, carefully carried out and recorded, is suffi-
cient to set the most skeptical to thinking.

In the deciduous: forests which occupy the outlying
ranges of the eastern mountain systems the problem is less
difficult, as most of the desirable species readily reproduce
themselves from the stump. The accompanying illus-
tration (see page 235) shows what may be accomplished if
only a little care is given, the forest represented being
of Chestnuts about forty years of age. I have other
photographs to represent the reproductive powers of
the Ash, Magnolia and other species.

. The history of this region clearly shows the influence of
the rise and decline of the iron industry on the forest, the
benefit of the substitution of coke for charcoal and the
beneficial results in the way of reforestation when such
lands are simply left to themselves and partially protected

from fires. L. C. Corbett.

Agric’| Experiment Station, West Virginia.

Plant Notes.

_ ToxyLon pomIFERUM.—Since the recent rains the large
leaves of the Osage Orange-trees in Central Park have ex-
panded to nearly their full size and have begun to take on
the gloss which is characteristic of them, and few trees of
their size have a more pleasant expression at this season.
Downing says of this tree that it is rather too loose in the
disposition of its branches to be called beautiful, but it
often grows in a compact spreading shape, and owing to
the size and the abundance of its leaves it casts a dense
shade. Although it grows in parts of the Indian Territory
and Texas where the temperature is comparatively high, it
will flourish as far north as New England, and, in spite of
the fact that it has been developed in the region of abun-
dant rain, it also flourishes on the dry prairies of the west.
Besides its hardiness, the tree grows rapidly and is subject
to few diseases and insect enemies, so that it is, altogether,
desirable for ornamenting parks and gardens. The pistil-
late trees have large orange-like fruits, which add to their
beauty in the autumn, and it has a certain half-tropical or
foreign air that arrests the attention. It is easily grown
from seeds and cuttings, and is much used for hedges. In
this latitude some of the trees reach a height of forty feet,
and with almost as great a spread of branches, but in the
valley of the Red River they grow sixty feet high, with a
trunk two or three feet in diameter.

ViIBURNUM MACROCEPHALUM.—This plant bears larger snow-
balls than either of the other species or garden forms which
bear cymes of pure white sterile flowers. In an early
volume of GarpEN AnD Forrest Mr. Hemsley wrote that
wild specimens of Viburnum macrocephalum were sent to
him by different collectors in China, in which but few of
the outer flowers were neuter, but the plant is only known
here in its sterile form, and it has been grown in England
ever since Fortune discovered it in the gardens of Shanghai.
The flower-clusters are as large as those of Hydrangea
hortensis. It differs somewhat in habit from the other
Snowballs, being rather low, of rigid and widespread
branches. Itis hardy enough to survive the winters in
New England, but it does not flourish there as it does in
Philadelphia and southward, where the flower-clusters often
reach six inches in diameter, making it one of the most con-
spicuous of flowering shrubs. The old-fashioned Snowball,
or the sterile form of V. opulus, is rather the most graceful

JUNE 10, -1896.]

plant -of the three, but the Cranberry Tree, its fertile
form, is still more desirable, just as V. tomentosum is more
beautiful than its sterile form V. plicatum.
of V. macrocephalum has never yet been introduced to cul-
tivation.

Camassta Cusicxtt.—This species was figured in the first
volume of GarvEN anpD Forest (see page 174), and experi-

Garden and Forest.

The wild form’

235

this purpose. These flowers are nearly white when they
, open, but they turn toa pale blue. Like most bulbs this
Camassia delights in an open or sandy soil, and it is espe-
cially necessary that the bulbs of this species, which are
sometimes as large as a hen’s egg, should be planted deeply.
The common C. esculenta, the edible Quamash of the
Indians, is a smaller plant altogether, and not nearly as

Fig. 34.—Second-growth Chestnut-trees, in West Virginia.—See page 234.

ence has proved what was then predicted, that it would be
an excellent garden plant. It is perfectly hardy, and after
a winter which has proved so disastrous to many bulbous
plants this native of the west has been flowering well on
spikes two feet high, with sometimes as many as forty nar-
row-petaled, star-shaped flowers on a single spike. They
keep well when cut, and the plant can be commended for

e

hardy as C. Cusickii, although it has a variety, Leichtlinii,
with creamy white flowers two inches across, large leaves
and robust stems, which seems able to withstand our win-
ters without protection. Leichtlin’s Camassia, however,
does not open its flowers until late in the afternoon and
blooms in the evening. C. Fraseri, sometimes called the
wild Hyacinth, has an almost naked stem and a short spike

236

of pale blue flowers at the summit. This species flowers
better in full light, but the flowers fade quickly in the sun-
light. C. angusta has also been cultivated here, and it
makes a good hardy border plant. The Camassias belong
to that section of the Lily family which includes the Hya-
cinth, the Grape Hyacinth, the Star of Bethlehem and the
Scilla, to which species it is nearly allied, although it has
a stouter habit and a leafy stem. Most of the species have
grass-like leaves rising from the base of the stem, and, with
the exception of C. esculenta, they are hardy plants which
need no extra care or coddling.

Cultural Department.

Notes from the Herbaceous Border.

ae most showy of the early yellow-blossomed Composite
is Helenium Hoopesii. This compact, handsome plant is
perfectly hardy without protection in the winter. Although
it grows as freely and is as easily raised as H. autumnale and
its varieties, yet itis notso common in gardens. The plants
produce seeds freely, and if they are sown early in spring and
the young plants are well attended to during the summer and
fall they will make goed large-flowering plants for the follow-
ing year. This fine Helenium thrives here in an open posi-
tion and ina rich open soil. The height of the plant is not
much over two feet, but with good culture it attains a height
of three feet. Its stems are well clothed with leaves; their
sturdiness is very useful in plants of this height, as no staking
is needed. Sometimes the flower-heads are produced singly,
but oftener several on astem. The flower-head is of a bright
orange color and measures fully three inches in diameter. This
is a native plant and was named in honor of Thomas Hoopes,
who first collected it.

The Columbines make a fine display now. The genus
Aquilegia has many species, and every one, with all varieties,
is worthy of a place in any garden. Perhaps the different
species belonging to this genus are more easily cross-fertilized
than any other in the garden; hence the great difficulty in
getting plants true that are raised from seed where a collection
is grown. To get the seed true the plants ought to be grown
in isolated places, and even then there is no certainty that
insects have not been at the work of crossing. In our wild
garden, although it is quite a distance away from our general
collection of Aquilegias, I see this year that A. Canadensis, the
only species grown there, has been cross-fertilized with some
other species, probably with A. vulgaris, from the appearance
of the flowers and foliage of some of the seedlings in bloom
now. The Aquilegias grow freely here, with the exception of
A. glandulosa, and this plant never looks happy here. I have
raised it several times from seed; the plants grow and blos-
som once and then dwindle away and die.

The Rocky Mountain Columbine, Aquilegia ccerulea, is, in
my estimation, the most delicate and most beautiful species
in this lovely genus. It grows here from one to two feet high,
the height of the plants varying in different parts of the gar-
den. They are neat and compact, and when two or three are
planted ina clump they are very pleasing when in bloom,
and before they blossom and afterward the much-divided
foliage is distinct and graceful. The flowers are produced
plentifully for four or five weeks, and are of asky-blue color.
‘The sepals are sky-blue, ovate in shape, spreading, and meas-
ure fully one inch and a half in length. The blades of the
petals are white and about half the length of the sepals, but
they are elongated into a long, narrow straight spur which
measures nearly two inchesin length and is also ofa blue color,
Most of the plants that are in bloom now of this Columbine
were raised from seed which was collected in the Rocky
Mountains. It makes a choice border plant, and is also very
suitable as a rock-garden plant. A. Canadensis is the most
floriferous of all the Columbines. It produces young plants very
plentifullyin our rockeries from self-sown seed. A. viridiflora,
a Siberian species, is not.a showy plant, but its flowers are
greenish, and therefore of an uncommon color, and it is
worthy of a place in the rock-garden. A. vulgaris and all its
varieties grow well here. At this time a small bed of plants
that were raised from seed last year is making a very pleas-
ing display. This showy plant is as much at home here as it
isin Europe. It grows just as well under the shade of trees
as it does where it gets plenty of sunshine. There are many
varieties of this Columbine, and most of them have pleasing
colors. Some of the double-flowered varieties are very showy.
A, atropurpurea makes a bold plant, growing to the height of

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 433.

two feet or more, and it has dark purple flowers measuring
about one and a half inches in diameter when fully expanded.
It makes a good border plant, growing freely in a light, rich
soil. The double-flowered A. Sibirica is useful when planted
in the second row from the front of the herbaceous border.
Our plants are about eighteen inches high, and the erect, dark
purple double flowers are very distinct from all the other
Columbines, There are many others in bloom, such as A.
ccerulea lutea, A. attrata, A. Caucasica and A. oxyacantha.

In a slightly shaded place the Globe-flowers have been blos-
soming for two or three weeks. They grow best here in a
deep, rich, damp soil. Trollius Asiaticus has a compact habit
and a height of twelve to fifteen inches, and it bears its golden-
yellow flowers in great abundance. This plant does not pro-
duce seed readily, but it is easily increased by division of the
roots. It comes from Siberia and is quite hardy here. The
European Globe-flower, T. Europzeus, blossoms also at this
time. Before its flowers appear the plant looks like a Ranun-
culus, but when in bloom it is easily distinguished by its pale
yellow globular flowers.

The Snowdrop Anemone, A. sylvestris, is a compact,
perfectly hardy and very reliable perennial. Its large pure
white flowers are produced singly above the foliage. A.
Pennsylvanica is not very satisfactory as a border plant, but in
the wild garden it makes a splendid mass of white. It ought
to be given plenty of room, as it spreads rapidly after it gets
established. The Japan Anemones have proved very unsatis-
factory here for the past two years. Many of our plants have
been winter-killed.

The beautiful Iceland Poppies are very floriferous. They
do not thrive as well here in the border as they do in the rock
garden. To have them at their best in the border the ground
must be well drained, so that water will not remain about the
rootsin winter. They multiply rapidly here from self-sown seed.

For an early summer-flowering plant nothing in the border
has the grace and beauty of well-grown specimens of Dicentra
spectabilis. Not only has this plant beautiful flowers, but it
has handsome Fern-like foliage. Like many other perennials,
it does not show its beauty and habit well until it gets large and
well established. Some of our plants measure four feet in
diameter, and they are exceedingly handsome when in flower.
It is so common that many persons affect to despise it, but
there is no other plant which can fill its place at this season.

In an open position in the rock garden a large patch of the
hardy and free-growing Erysimum pulchellum is completely
covered with sulphur-yellow flowers, which give a welcome
distinctness of color along the front row of the herbaceous
border. When it is in blossom the plant measures about a
foot in height and is very compact in habit.

Lunaria biennis, hardy biennial, as its name implies, and bet-
ter known by its common name of Honesty, is well worth
growing for its large terminal racemes of violet-lilac flowers.
After these are gone the silvery flat seed-pods are ornamental.
The color of the flowers is uncommon among hardy plants
at this time, and they are a very welcome addition. Plants
raised from seed in spring if planted out in the garden in light
warm soil bloom the succeeding summer,

The Horned Pansy, Viola cornuta, and its varieties are blos-
soming now, and will produce more or less flowers all sum-
mer. V. lutea is another hardy Violet that grows well here
and blooms all summer. V.Munbyana was raised from seed
last year and planted out in the border. It lived through the
winter unprotected, and has been in flower for the past month.
It is a Strong-growing plant and has violet-colored flowers as
large as those of V. cornuta. It is an Algerian plant. Another
beautiful little Violet now in flower is V. declinata, var. losi-
sepala. The seed of this plant came from Sweden last year.
It has proved quite hardy here, and in a slightly shaded spot it
is blossoming treely. It is a low plant, about six inches high,
and has small Pansy-like Howers. The color of the flowers is
very uncommon, it being of a dark pink.

Along the front row of the border there are some compact
dwarf plants of Gypsophila repens, producing immense num-
bers of small white airy flowers. This is also an important
plant for the rock garden. The rosy pink flowers of large
masses of Saponaria ocymoides contrast well with the white
ones of this Gypsophila. Cerastium arvense makes a fine mat
of white close to the ground, but if used in the border it must
be kept within bounds. A near relative of the Cerastium is
Stellaria Holostea, which makes a much better plant for the
front row of the border. In fact, it is the best dwarf white-
flowered plant we have in the border since Arabis albida
ceased blossoming.

Although Linum perenne is not a very robust plant here,
when it once gets established it makes nice shapely plants,

oe

JUNE 10, 1896.]

which are crowned with fair-sized flowers of a pale blue color.
A white-flowered variety in bloom seems to be more robust
than the typical plant, and is very attractive.

Thermopsis mollis is not often seen in gardens. Although

it comes from the mountains of south Virginia and North
Carolina, it is quite hardy here, and gives perfect satisfaction.
Its habit is almost perfect. When well established it makes
compact bushy specimens a yard high. The flowers are yel-
low and produced in long, nearly erect racemes, and they last
in good condition for two or three weeks. Ina slightly damp
soil and away from the shade of trees it grows freely if not too
often disturbed.
_ The best early Salvia is S. pratense, a handsome European
plant, which grows as freely as our commonest weeds. It is
about two and a half feet high, and the flowers are produced
in whorls of four to six flowers in spikes from twelve to
eighteen inches long. The corolla is bright blue and measures
one inch in length, the upper lip being much arched and the
lower one broad. There is also a white form of this plant in
bloom which is showy, making a good companion for the blue
one. This, too, is a thrifty plant, growing well in any common
garden soil.

The Japanese Primula Sieboldii is one of the most satisfac-
tory and one of the most decorative of Primroses. It grows
best in a warm sheltered position, where it is covered with
leaves in the winter. The flowers last much longer in a place
where the sun does not strike them during the hottest part of
the day. There are some large clumps of this Primrose now
at their best, and much admired by visitors. Since it was intro-
duced from Japan in 1865 many varieties have been raised.
The flowers measure more than an inch across and are pro-
duced in umbels on stout stems from nine to twelve inches
high. Each variety has a different shade of color, and those
grown here are of different shades of rose, The roots creep
just below the surface of the soil, and they form buds, thus
giving an easy means of increasing the plants, and if it is pro-
vided with a good situation and proper soil this Primrose
grows rapidly.

Botanic Garden, Harvard Univers'ty. Robert Cameron,

Flower Garden Notes.

“Paes recent showers have made a great improvementin the
borders and made it possible to plant out annuals to be
added at this time for effects later in summer, when most of
the perennials are past. This arrangement has, in past sea-
sons, proved desirable for the best results during the entire
season. Mixed borders are superseding herbaceous borders
and include bulbs for the early spring. A border made up in
this way will be interesting from April until November frosts.
The best feature of the garden now is the set of the more
recent Japan Tree Peeonies. We have added twenty of these,
and they are a great advance over the older ones, which are
mostly shades of pink, and I suspect are in many instances
nothing more than the stock used by the Japanese for graft-
ing. The newer varieties are of all colors, from pure white to
deep rose, and some are single, beautiful, large cup-shaped
blossoms of purest coloring. They area decided acquisition in
the garden at this time, and, no doubt, will prove as hardy as
the older varieties. It will, however, be safer to draw the
earth about the stems in the fall for the first year or two, to
avoid loss, before they are well established. I find that all of
these plants are grafted, cleverly as usual by the Japanese gar-
deners, but they do not seem to have been wise in the selection of
the stock; it shows decided tendencies to sprout from the roots.
These sprouts would soon choke out the better scion if allowed
to grow, and planters must use care that this does not occur.
This is the only thing that can be said against these plants, and
it may be remedied in later importations by the use of some
stock that is not so apt to send forth shoots from adventitious
root-buds,

The hardy native Orchids are mostly intractable under cul-
tivation, beautiful as they are when growing wild. They all
need special care in the selection of positions in the garden if
any success is to be had. Two of the Cypripediums are quite
reliable, or at least we have found them so for the past five
years, planted on the shady side of the Rhododendron beds.
C. pubescens is now beautiful, and C. spectabile will follow
later. The latter is the most lovely native Orchid, and few
exotics of this genus can compare with it. It is all the more
satisfactory to know that it can be cultivated in gardens in
moist black soil, such as Rhododendrons delight in.

Baptisia exaltata is now fine: It is not a common plant,
though B. australis is often seen in gardens. B. exaltata is
much taller, with larger flower-spikes, and is altogether the

Garden and Forest.

237

better plant. It isa good companion to the Lupins ‘that are
now at their best. Lupinus polyphyllus gives a great variety in
itself, the white form being in pleasing contrast with the
various shades of blue and purple. I[ find it is necessary to
save seeds of the best varieties and sow them. The parent
plants seed freely, and these seeds germinate in the borders,
but the self-sown plants deteriorate and the better varieties
are soon lost in this way.

Many of the earlier-Hlowering plants are dying down now,
and it is a good opportunity to plant near these such annuals
as are desired to cover the space for the balance of the sum-
mer. The frequent showers will enable them soon to take
root, and little care will then be needed in the borders, except

c nw :
to keep down weeds E. 0. Orpet.

South Lancaster, Mass.

Herb Robert.

OMPARATIVELY few flowering plants mingle well with
Ferns on rock-work or in the wild garden. Of these our
native Herb Robert has no superior. Its dainty pink blossoms
peeping out here and there among cool green fronds add just
the warmth of color needed. The chief beauty of the plant is
in the delicate design and varying color of its much-divided
leaves, which are pale green in early summer, deepening into
richer tones as the season advances, but always fresh-looking.
Leaves with rich autumn colors are to be found at all sea-
sons, and they often tempt the botanist to a hard climb for an
unknown blaze of color just out of reach. For indoor culture
the plant has considerable merit. In -December a few young
plants which had been frozen stiff were taken indoors ; none of
them wilted and nearly all proceeded to grow with more or less
enthusiasm. One of them ona platter with Mosses and Ferns,
and left pretty much to itself, was a great success, and its branch-
ing stems attained a spread of forty inches with no care save
an occasional! sprinkling and clipping of seed-pods before they
matured. Herb Robert attracts us to-day by its delicate
beauty, but the old naturalist valued it chiefly because of its
supposed medicinal ‘‘ vertu” in the disease known as “Sir
Robert’s Plague,” from which it is said to have derived its
name, Geranium Robertianum. The significance of Cranes-
bill is obvious. The Scotch Highlanders are responsible for
the uncouth title of ‘‘Red Shanks,” given in reference to the
lovely red stems which support the leaves. Another name of
grave significance for this shy wilding is Death-come-quickly,
and in Northumberland lore to uprootor find a plant uprooted

is considered a forerunner of fate. .
Pittsford Mills, Vt. G. A. Woolson,

Correspondence.
Notes from West Virginia.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—Our Japanese Weeping Cherry has been flowering ever
since its proper blooming time in April, and is in blossom in
June, when our sweet cherries are ripe. In April the lower
limbs hung out a few half-blighted blossoms, while the upper
part of the tree showed no signs of life. It was badly injured
by the cold of last winter, but has been gradually recovering
and opening its flower-buds from the lower limbs upward,
until now only the top of the tree is bare. The blossoms are
a sickly pinkish white, and open a few ata time as the tree
recovers strength. Thunberg’s Spirzea failed to bloom from
the same cause, but the Double-Howering Peaches were very
fine. Hard-shelled Almonds bloomed, and so did Nectarines,
while Apricots of the same age, and in the same enclosure,
did not havea flower. Magnolia Kobus and M. Soulangeana
were full of bloom at the usual time, showing their great
power of enduring cold. Paulownias seldom flower with us,
and only after an unusually mild winter. This year only afew
of the flower-buds matured, a cluster of buds displaying but
one perfect flower, the rest shriveling up without opening.

In spite of the vagaries of the weather, it has been a good
season for gardening purposes, and the Roses are unusually
beautiful and profuse. A group of Penzance Sweetbriers
planted this spring and last year is making rapid growth.
These hybrid Sweetbriers are not as fragrant as the type, and
the flowers must be beautiful, indeed, if they are really an im-
provement on the Eglantine. The latteris now sprinkled with
its dainty pink cups, to be succeeded later by showy pips,

which give it a new beauty even when winter shall have
robbed it of its last fragrant leat.
Sweet Williams are making the flower borders bright and

gay. There are almost too many magentas and dull crimsons
among them, but the light and the bright pinks and the deep

238

red kinds, mixed with the white and Auricula-eyed varieties,
make a very cheerful group. The Sweet William is one of
the flowers that one associates with cottage gardens and with
thrifty and happy homes. It appeals to old association, to
memories of our youth, and flourished along with hardy
Pinks, Columbines, Everlasting Peas, Lilies-of-the-valley and
Wallflowers in the gardens of our childhood. No rare novel-
ties will ever quite take the place of these old favorites.

The early Mock Oranges are out of bloom, but a very beau-
tiful specimen, which was labeled Philadelphus Yokohama
when it came from the nurseries, is now flowering profusely.
Its bloom is delicately fragrant, and the flowers are larger and
of a purer white than the commoner kinds. The expanded
flower measures an inchand a half across. This Philadelphus
is one of the most beautiful shrubs at Rose Brake.

In the wild and rock gardens the Yellow Lilies are still very
showy, and the Orange Lily is very effective in a bold group
against a background of shrubbery. The cold, damp weather
of last May lengthened the blooming period of this Lily, which
has been flowering for three weeks, but is now nearly over.
More delicate beauties are the little groups of Tunica Saxifraga
and the pretty pink Lychnis Flos-cuculi, which also remains in
bloom a long time.

Honeysuckles and Roses are ‘making the air fragrant, and
one opulent Magnolia, M. glauca, with its rich odor and creamy
cups of bloom, claims our admiring homage as queen of the

week.

Shepherdstown, W. Va. Danske Dandridge.

Some Rare Erythroniums.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—In 1891 the late Sereno Watson published his revision
of the American Erythroniums. Mr. Watson gavea very care-
ful study to the subject, and his work gives the student a safe
guide, although in one or two instances his species seem
so close together that only the skilled observer can distinguish
them. No really new species have been added since Watson’s
revision, but several good color forms have been brought to
light, of which Erythronium Johnsonii is the most notable addi-
tion to the flower garden. It is to be expected that a thorough
exploration of the forests of the Pacific slope will bring to light
many color forms, if not new species. Few know what vast
tracts of the north-west have never been explored at all by
trained botanists. Nothing emphasizes this so much as the
fact that many species collected by the early explorers have
been lost sight of and have come to be considered as mythical,
I have found several species of great beauty which were not in
any of the great herbariums and were thought to be errors of
the authors. Even in localities near the homes of skilled ob-
servers, species are sometimes so local as to be easily over-
looked.

Perhaps the most striking of the Pacific coast Erythroniums
is the group related to E. revolutum. Only one of this group
is much known in our gardens. E, revolutum, var. Bolanderi,
better known as E. Smithii, has long been in cultivation. Of
the others, a few of E. Johnsonii were sent out last year, and
the rest are unknown in the garden.

To be appreciated properly the Erythroniums should be
seen in their own homes; in the shaded cafions among the
wood plants, with their mottled leaves of immense size, almost
as beautiful as the flowers, and their tall graceful scapes and
lovely lily-like flowers, I can imagine no more beautiful mass
than a large bed of these Dog-tooth Violets,

In all of the Revolutum group the leaves are mottled; in the
type and Erythronum Johnsonii the mottling is in rich brown
or mahogany; in the others in green and white. As com-
pared to the E. giganteum group, the scapes are stout, the
flowers have more substance, and the petals, while recurved,
yet more widely spreading; the stamens have broad awl-
shaped filaments, and the auricles at the base of the inner
petals are very prominent in all of the group and pressed
closely to the filaments. E. revolutum and its varieties are
hardly as graceful as the exquisitely formed E. giganteum (E.
grandiflorum of our gardens), but excel it in the substance and
coloring of the flowers.

Erythronium revolutum (type) is a plant of medium size,
leaves mottled in mahogany, scape one to three flowered. In
color it varies from almost a pure white, with a most delicate
greenish caste and brown and purple markings at base of
petals, to a rich yellow similarly marked.

Erythronium Johnsonii is in leaf and habit the same, except
that in my own garden it is one-flowered. In coloring the
flowers are a bright clear red, shading to dark red toward the
middle, and the centre a fine orange.

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 433.-

Erythronium revolutum, var. Bolanderi (E. Smithii), is a
native of the Redwood forests of the northern part of Mendocino
County, California. Its northward range has not been deter-
mined, as from its own habitat an almost unknown (botan-
ically) region stretches to the north. This species is of low
habit, the leaves mostly mottled in white, seldom more than
one-flowered, and the widely spread blossoms opening a pure
white and at last becoming purple.

I had the pleasure this spring of discovering a new variety of
Erythronium revolutum, or, perhaps, only rediscovering this
beautiful plant. Its leaves are mottled in white and green.
The scapes, as I saw them in large beds, were tall, ranging
from ten inches to nineteen inches high. The petals are nar-
rower than in the other forms of E. revolutum. Of those seen
a very few were white, deeply suffused with pink, on opening,
and soon changing to a deep wine-purple. In by far the
greater number of instances they opened up a delicate pink,
and turned while still fresh to wine-purple. This is the largest
of the group.

Its home is in the Redwood region of Mendocino County,
In a note in his revision Watson says about Erythronium revo-
lutum: ‘“ Described by Smith as having purple flowers, and an
original specimen in Herbarium, Kew, bears the note by Sir
W. J. Hooker, fl. rubr, purp., but it is rarely that the petals
assume the purple tinge in drying, and the ground for the
statement is unknown. No purple-flowered species is now
found on Vancouver Island where Menzie's specimens were
collected.” ;

My new form corresponds very closely to Smith’s descrip-
tion, and I have no doubt is identical. It is certainly strange if
the counterpart of a species collected over a hundred years
ago, and not since seen, should be found so far away.

Ukiah, Calif. Carl Purdy.

The Increase of Redwood Forests.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—In an article in your paper a few years since I called
attention to the rapidity with which the woodlands in the Coast
Range of northern California are encroaching on the grassy
and brushy portions. Close observations since and conversa-
tions with many observing people confirm my statements. A
point upon which I did not then touch was recently brought to
my notice in a conversation with an intelligent pioneer. The
Redwood forest of to-day is a tangle underfoot and a mass of
broken limbs and fallen trees, all overgrown with Huckleber-
ries and various Ceanothus and other undergrowths, which
make travel, except by roads or trails, almost impossible
across country. The pioneer referred to tells me that in the
earlier days a man could go by horseback from the valleys in
the interior to the coast in almost any direction, as the woods
were almost free of undergrowth. He was told by the Indians
then that they made a yearly practice of firing the grass—I pre-
sume, both to drive out the game and to clear the way. Now
roads in every direction cross the forest belt, and the interests
of the settlers are against sweeping fires, so that they are be-
coming less frequent with each year.

Here in the valleys the interest of every sheep rancher is
against fires, and they do not sweep through close-cropped
ranges as they did when the grass grew waist-high.

Ukiah, Calif. Carl Purdy.

The Wild Garden.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—No spotin the flower garden yields me as much pleas-
ure as that which is devoted to the native plants which I gather
from the woods and fields. While the Crocuses were yet in
bloom, the snow-white blossoms of the Bloodroot appeared,
quickly followed by the Dog-tooth Violet and the beautiful little
Dicentra cucullaria, or Dutchman’s Breeches. Soon after these
followed two species of Trillium, and then the sky-blue Lung-
wort, Mertensia Virginica, with Phlox polemonium and dif-
ferent Violets. By the middle of May the feathery spikes of
Tiarella were giving place to the graceful native Columbine
and Sweet Cicely. Aside from the beauty that this plot fur-
nishes, here isan opportunity for studying the habits of various
plants which one does not enjoy unless they are constantly
under the eye. The most interesting problem is the constant
struggle for existence or for mastery among them. If let alone,
the wild Columbine, Viola cucullata, Thalictrum cornuti, Gera-
nium maculatum, Lysimachia quadrifolia and Onoclea sensi-
bilis will soon smother out their neighbors. Lungwort,
Bloodroot, Moon Seed, some of the Vetches, Spring Beauty,
Dog-tooth Violets, some of the Ferns like Osmundas and

JUNE 10, 1896.]

Aspidiums, will increase rapidly, and yet they are not objec-
tionably aggressive, Trilliums, the low Phloxes, Cypripe-
dium pubescens, Lilium Canadense, Dicentras and the delicate
Maiden-hair Fern will increase more slowly, and yet at a suffi-
cient rate to show that they are permanently established. Of
course, to keep up the variety one must be constantly thinning
out the more aggressive varieties and give aid to the more

modest ones.
Harmonsburg, Pa. Bele P,

Recent Publications.

The Bamboo Garden. By A. B. Freeman-Mitford, C. B.
Illustrated by Alfred Parsons. Macmillan & Co.: London
and New York.

In the great family of Grasses there is no more interest-
ing group than the Bamboos, some of them giants a hun-
dred feet or more high and others pigmies of the humblest
proportions, but all distinguished by a characteristic grace
which makes them as beautiful as they are generally use-
ful in the regions where they thrive and where the whole
social and industrial economy of the people are associated
with and dependent upon them. Where they abound they
largely help to give character to the scenery, but here in
the north there are hardly more than half a dozen which
are reliably hardy. In the soft and moist airs of England
a greater number of species will thrive, and all who are
familiar with current garden literature have read the
instructive writings of Mr. Mitford in the London Garden
and elsewhere. He has been an enthusiastic student and
cultivator of all these plants that can be made at home in
England, and this beautiful book is the result of his many
years of labor. It has been illustrated by Mr. Alfred Par-
sons, whose drawings give a fair idea of the decorative
quality of the different species. We cannot help but think,
however, that it would have been better to have something
more accurate, even if less artistic. figures that would, at
least, enable one to identify the various species. Even the
reproduction of photographs would have been more useful
in a treatise of this sort, although these always lack some-
thing of esthetic value. Chapter I, gives an interesting
account of the plants in general and of their characteristics,
especially as they appear in cultivation ; and this is fol-
lowed by minute directions on the methods of propagation
both by seed, by division, by cuttings from the base of the
culm, and by pieces of the rhizome. In writing of the
choice of position, Mr. Mitford not only explains the quality
of the soil, exposure and cultivation which the plants need,
but he explains how to plant them for producing the best
effect. On this point he says: “A good background is of
the first importance to show off the beauty of the Bamboo.
A bay in a clump of Hollies or conifers will afford a most
appropriate setting. The tall columns waving their dainty
green foliage against such a backing under a gentle sum-
mer breeze are the embodiments of all that is graceful,
while the tender leaves look like a flight of delicate green
butterflies hovering in the air. A group planted on a lawn
may be effective, but Bamboos are seen at their best when
-their bending columns are shown in contrast against softer
and darker foliage.” It may be added that suggestions of
this sort as to methods of planting in an effective manner
are scattered all through the book, so that there is much
useful instruction on the general arrangement of gardens
and the views are almost invariably sound. The greater
portion of the book is taken up with a description of spe-
cies, beginning with those which are natives of China and
Japan. These are by no means dry botanical details, but
an effort to give descriptions of these plants that will indi-
cate their value for ornamental coloring, although every
paragraph shows careful study of their habits and observa-
tions which are of genuine scientific value.

Mr. Mitford thinks that these plants are destined to be-
come much more largely used in extra-tropical gardens
than they have ever been. He calls attention to the fact
that the famous gardeners laughed at him when he began
to plant his newly imported and starveling canes, but unex-
pected success has attended his efforts at acclimatization,

Garden and Forest.

239

and he thinks that there are many other species than those
we now grow which can be made to beautify our gardens.
There are Bamboos growing high up on the Himalayas
which are only known by herbarium specimens, and one
species, at least, in the Andes grows at an altitude equal to
that of the summit of Mont Blanc, and he thinks there are
many others waiting to be discovered on mountain heights
where ice and snow are at home. He notes the fact that
all the Bamboos that have proved hardy in England have
the veins of their leaves checkered or tessellated, and by
something of a coincidence the hardiest of the Palms also
have tessellated leaf-veins. He thinks, therefore, that when-
ever a Bamboo is found at a great altitude, at least high
enough to be surrounded by non-tropical vegetation, a leaf
structure of this kind will be almost a guarantee of its
hardiness.

A delightful chapter is one entitled Apologia pro Bam-
busis meis, which is a justification for his passion and a
plea for his reeds. He objects to that affectation of severe
taste which would banish everything from English pleasure-
grounds but English shrubs and herbs, and yet he plainly
belongs to those who see in the teachings of the architec-
tural school of gardening a menace to what he considers
the more beautiful and effective way of planting. Many
readers will sympathize with his criticism of the “acres of
paving-stones surrounded by balustrades, and bespattered
by jets of greater or less size, which were dear to the
French architects.” Perhaps we cannot better conclude
this review than by adding some other quotations.

In these heavy masses of masonry there is only dignity for
those who admire that which is costly. The poetry of garden-
ing lies in another direction. Who can conceive a Dryad
making her home in an Orange-tree incased in a green wooden
tub? What nymph who respects herself would bathe her
dainty limbs among the glorified squirts of Sydenham ?
Another test: Coulda painter paint these formal gardens of
ashlar? Could a poet find inspiration in them? Would Saint
Bernard say of them what he said of the woodland: * Aliquid
amplius invenias in sylvis quam in hbris’?

He who would lay out tor himself a paradise—I use the
word in old Parkinson’s sense—cannot do better than to set
out to drink in wisdom in Japan. Not in the Japanese gardens,
for nowhere is the gardener’s work more out of tune with
Nature than in that country of paradoxes; but on the moun-
tain-side, in the dim recesses of the forest, by the banks of
many a torrent, there the great silent Teacher has mapped out
for our instruction plans and devices which are the living refu-
tation of the heresies of stonemasonry. There are spots among
the Hakoné Mountains of which the study of a lifetime could
hardly exhaust the lessons. The sombre gloom of the Cryp-
tomerias, the stiff and stately Firs, Pine-trees twisted and
gnarled into every conceivable shape, flowering trees and
shrubs in countless varieties, combined with the feathering
grace of the Bamboo, and all arranged as if the function of
each plant were not only itself to look its very best, but also to
enhance and set off the beauty of its neighbors, present a
series of pictures difficult to realize.

The Japanese are true lovers of scenery ; no people have a
keener feeling for a beautiful landscape; to them a moon
rising over Mount Fuji is a poem, and their pilgrimages to see
the Almonds in blossoms, or the glories of the autumn tints,
are almost proverbial, and yet, strange to say, in their gardens
they seem to take a delight in setting at defiance every one of
those canons which Nature has laid down so unmistakably for
those who will be at the pains to read them. The Japanese
garden is a mere toy that might be the appanage of a doll’s
house. Attached to some of what were the Daimios’ palaces
in the old days there were some fine pleasure-grounds, well
laid out, rich in trees and daintily kept. The gardens of the
Mikado, by the shore of the bay of Yedo, are beautiful. But
the average Japanese garden is such as I have described it—a
mere whimsical toy, the relic of an art imported from China,
and stereotyped on the willow-pattern plate. ....

The truth is that in every good garden there is a poetical or
spiritual beauty with which these crude and flaunting artifices
(topiary work, grottoes, carpet-bedding and the like) are out of
tune; the air which breathed o’er Eden still in some mystic
sense pervades our groves. ‘God planted the first garden” ;
and if man was formed in His image, may we not believe
that certain more favored spots still reflect the idea ot that first
Divine Garden? To catch the spirit of these is the supreme

240

art of the gardener, and leads him to the realization of the
next proposition of the text, “the purest of human pleasures.”

I look upon gardening as one of the fine arts, and, rightly
understood, not one of the least difficult. The painter or the
sculptor makes his effects at once, and obliterates, or models
and remodels, until he has attained that at which he is aiming.
But the gardener has to consider, not what his work is now,
but what it will grow into ten, twenty, fifty years hence. He
has to take into account, not the present aspect of his mate-
rials, but what are their capabilities in the future and their
relative powers of development. If he has a background
ready made to his hand he is lucky, but if he has to make it he
has to do so with trees which are mostly far slower of growth
than the more immediately effective plants which it is their
office to set off. He has to balance questions of soil, light,
moisture. All this involves not only the poetic sense, but also
great and patiently acquired knowledge, He has no Alladin’s
lamp wherewith to bid trees spring from the earth and form a
sheltering background, yet background is the soul of all gar-
dening, rarely, alas! seen at its best by him who has devised
it. If the background be unfitting all the work is thrown
away. Color, form, light and shade, grouping, all have to be
studied in the composition of one of those living pictures
which the gardener paints with living materials.

Notes.

An examination of trained and experienced gardeners for
positions in the New York Park Department will be held on
Friday, June 12th, by the New York City Civil Service Boards.
Application blanks may be had at the office of the Board in the
new Criminal Court Building.

The people of New York city have again shown their appre-
ciation of open spaces in the general protest against the plan
to build a public bath-house in Tompkins Square, and a de-
tached section of the recently condemned blocks at Division,
Suffolk and Hester Streets has been set aside for the building
which would have destroyed the park-like character of Tomp-
kins Square.

From September Ist, 1894, to August 31st, 1895, Sicily sent
to the various ports of the United States 2,047,000 boxes of
lemons. From September Ist, 1895, to May 31st, 1896, the
receipts were 2,057,000 boxes, or 10,000 boxes more for nine
months than for the entire previous year. During the same
nine months 678,000 boxes and 156,000 cases of Mediterranean
oranges were imported, probably 200,000 boxes less for this
year than for the twelve months ending August 31st, 1895.

The New York Florists’ Club and New York Gardeners’
Society announce a flower show, tobe held at the Newsboys’
Home, on Duane Street, this city, June 20th. The exhibits
will practically be contributions, since they will be distributed
among some 20,000 children after the show. Many commer-
cial growers have arranged to exhibit bedding plants, bulbs
and seeds, and persons who do not care to enter into compe-
tition are invited to send plants and cut flowers for distribu-
tion. Schedules of classes of exhibits and other information
may be obtained from James I. Donlan, Secretary Exhibition
Committee, 51 West Twenty-eighth Street, New York city.
The express companies have generously agreed to carry the
exhibits and contributions free of charge.

At the recent meeting of the New Jersey Forestry Associa-
tion, Mr. Fernow called attention to the fact that this state was
once well wooded everywhere. If at that time the virgin tim-
ber on such soils as were not fit to be made into farming-land
had been cut with care and systematically, and the fires kept
out, it would produce now and continue to produce forever
an income of not less than $5,000,000 to $10,000,000 annually,
giving employment to a large number of people. Now,
through the mismanagement of former years, the 2,500,000
acres of land unfit for anything but wood crops do not yield
$1,000,000 of values, or less than one-tenth of what they would
yield under management. Few persons realize what the wood
crops mean in the economy of a nation.

Hemerocallis flava, or, as sometimes called, the yellow Day
Lily, is still opening its pure colored flowers, and when seen
near a group of white Pzeonies, or among the gray-blue and
purple varieties of the German Irises, no combination can be
more beautiful. This isan old plant, but one of the most useful
in the herbaceous border. All it wants is room, food and sun-
shine to make a magnificent display. The individual lily-like
flowers last but a single day, but the buds will open in water,
so that a single stall will last a long time. A large vase filled
with a mass of these long-stemmed flowers makes a really

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 433-

imposing display. Almost as good in color and form, and
flowering a mouth or so Jater, is H. Thunbergii, which is less
common, but quite as desirable. There are several other spe-
cies in cultivation of varying merit, but all are good.

From fifty to a hundred car-loads of strawberries are
shipped every day from Hammonton, New Jersey, and as
raspberries and blackberries come into market the output will
be still greater. It was formerly the practice of the berry-
farmers in southern New Jersey to send their fruit to commis-
sion men individually, but under that system berries often
came into Philadelphia, the nearest market, when it was prac-
tically full, so that whole car-loads were often dumped into
the Delaware River because there was no demand for them.
In later years, however, a codperative union has been formed
here as well as in many of the other districts where small
fruits and orchard fruits a‘'e grown, and all the product goes
through this organization. These unions keep in communi-
cation with all the markets of the country, and they are
prepared to ship the fruit where itis in most demand, so that
hundreds of crates are sent from New Jersey as far west as
Chicago, and, indeed, the largest profits are often realized from
these long shipments. Philadelphia is so largely supplied by
berry-fields close at hand that shipments to New York, and
even to Boston, from Hammonton are large in comparison
with those to the nearest important city.

Peas from Long Island sell for thirty-five cents a half-peck.
Asparagus, from New Jersey and other near-by points, costs
twenty to thirty cents a bunch, and cauliflower from the same
sections fifteen to twenty-five cents a head. New beets, car-
rots and turnips from this state may be had for five cents a
bunch. Squashes from South Carolina cost ten cents each,
and cucumbers from the same state are plentiful and com-
mand but thirty-five cents a dozen. String beans from Vir-
ginia sell for thirty-five cents a half-peck, and sweet potatoes
or yams, from Florida, at the same rate, the Vineland supply
being, of course, exhausted. Celery, from Florida, is suc-
ceeding the northern and western crops, and costs twenty
centsa single stalk. Okra at ten cents a dozen, and eggplants at
twenty-five cents each, come from Louisiana, and tomatoes
from Florida and Mississippi. The latter cost fifteen cents a
pound, the hot-house product selling for double that price.
The best Bermuda potatoes bring thirty-five cents a half-peck,
and onions from the same islands cost ten cents a quart. The
largest cargo of Bermuda onions received this season arrived
last week, when the steamer Trinidad discharged 40,000 crates,
and 32,000 crates were due by the steamer Muriel on Monday
of this week.

Nine car-loads of California fruits were sold in: this city last
week, mostly cherries. The variety Royal Ann, known also
as Napoleon Bigarreau, brought the highest prices, and other
well-known sorts were the white-fleshed Cleveland Bigarreau,
sweet and of rich flavor; the handsome amber-colored Rock-
port Bigarreau, with red markings; Centennial, beautifully
marbled and splashed with crimson on a pale yellow ground ;
the favorite dark cherry, Black Tartarian ; the somewhat later
Black Republican, the excellent English variety, Black Eagle,
and May Duke, Queen Victoria, Purity and Governor Wood.
Apricots of good size and coloring now in our markets are the
French variety Royal, perhaps the most popular apricot in
California. The large, slightly oval fruit has a dull yellow skin
and orange cheek tinged with red. The stone is free, and the
firm juicy flesh has a vinous flavor, The Newcastle, more
brilliant in color, is also seen, and the small Pringle, valuable
mainly for its extreme earliness. Alexander peaches are
coming from California, large and attractive, and Clyman
plums, mottled reddish purple, with beautiful blue bloom.
During last week 119,700 bunches of bananas were sold at the
wholesale auctions in this city. Blackberries, huckleberries,
cherries, peaches, plums, apricots, muskmelons and water-
melons make an attractive display on the fruit-stands. The
showiest strawberries seen here in several years are immense
specimens of the variety Mary, from Essex County, New
Jersey, and a new seedling from Virginia. The former.is of a
deep rich color, fairly regular in size, the largest measuring
six inches around at the stem-end. Twenty ot the fruits fill a
quart box, and these sold on Monday at thirty cents. The
seedling from Virginia was equally large, perhaps less even in
form, lighter and more brilliant in color and less firm. Great
American is another beautiful berry now in season, large,
remarkably even and regular in form and a rich color, These
berries sold for twenty cents a quart. Peaches are now coming
from Georgia and Florida, the latter state sending the best
which have ever come from that region. These sell at $1.00
for a box containing twenty-five fruits.

JUNE 17, 1896.]

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrick: Trisung Burtpinc, New York.

Conducted by . . . «=. + © + « « « Professor C. S. SARGENT.

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 1896.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE,
(With plan and figure.)

Thomas Hastings. 241
Pinus Muricata.... sccsecseee ncccasccscenssssnecccccacancenns Carl Purdy. 242
ForeIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—Notes from the Temple Show... William Goldring. 244
PPANTIEN OTESt occ acl nectar sae sleisisac sinc sicnsistee cisin assis sieisieiessie wel Gu'eic sieiee as ~isainw sic 245
CULTURAL DEPARTMENT : —Flower Garden Notes..... 5 -W.N. Craig. 246
Choice Perennials ..0.... scree cosvessescetacerccnecereccos R. Cameron. 246

Orchid eNotes viseisias sie emicigaicie'sacscsie's ia
Trevesia palmata, Chinese Dianthus.......
CorRESPONDENCE :—Notes from Santa Barbuira..
Notes from West Virginia......-.....-..
Azaleas at Brookline..........
Notes from Southern California...
~ RECENT PUBLICATIONS..-.++s++eeeeeeeee

EpitorraL Article :—An Architectural Garden.

.-- Charles ie Shinn. 248
Danske Dandy tdge, 248
ajateisie ior Tig das Hatfield, 248
LL. D. Sturtevant. 249
. BE. Fernow. 249

NOTES 2. 00 2 cee cc eens erent een tence teeter nett tener mee eee een Stee eeeeeenreces 250
ILLUSTRATIONS :—Indian Harbor, Long Island Sound............+-+- Serene ete en 243
Pergola at Amalfi, Italy, Fig. 35.+++++2+-seeeeeeeeeeeeer eee e eee eere ere eee ee 245

An Architectural Garden.

HE location of the house of Mr. E. C. Benedict, on the
Indian Harbor property, is certainly one of the finest
on Long Island Sound. The old Indian Harbor Hotel (once
known as the Americus Club, of Tammany fame) was built
on this point some years ago, and was still standing when
the present work was begun. This beautiful point of land,
almost entirely surrounded by water (on the west side by
a landlocked harbor), and rising as it projects toward the
water, so that the point on which the house is situated is
the highest point of the site, is exceptional. It is covered
with beautiful wild woods in a good state of preservation
(see plan on page 243).

The site of the old hotel was adopted for the present
house because of its height and proximity to the water, its
beautiful outlook, and also because this portion of the land,
being very rocky, is less wooded and needed architectural
treatment. The materials used in the main construction
of the building are either stone or brick, covered with a
stucco composed of cement and marble dust. The roofs,
where apparent, are covered with red Italian tiles, while
the architecture and landscape work are somewhat Italian
in character.

At the entrance, a stone lodge, somewhat picturesque in
its treatment, and stone walls across the point, with
wrought-iron gates, are builtamong the Oak-trees in such
a way as to harmonize with the natural beauty of the spot.
After passing the lodge, a drive of about an eighth of a
mile through absolutely wild woods leads gradually to the
architectural features of the house and its surroundings, a
few flowering bushes in groups being the first indication
of cultivation. At the point where the different roads to
the stable, service house, docks, etc., meet, a semicircular
stone bench and wall are built, beyond which avenues of
symmetrically planted trees lead through the natural woods
to a formal entrance with stone walls and grilles. Beyond
the grille, a broad and formal avenue, with six rows of trees
symmetrically planted, leads through a formal landscape
to the inclined drive or ramp, and to the flight of stone
steps, both of which lead directly to the porte cochére. The
house is at the apex of the property and also of the general
composition.

Garden and Forest.

241

The formal landscape is thus treated as a gradual transi-
tion or introduction between the perfectly natural woods
and the absolutely formal portion of the composition—the
house and terraces immediately surrounding it, with ramps
and staircases, etc. This principle of general treatment in
landscape prevails in all the fine works of Europe and other
parts of the world. In Versailles, forinstance the Chateau
on the town side is treated with an entirely formal paved
court, a theatre forming one wing of the court, a chapel the
other, an elaborate entrance, grilles and walls enclosing it
on the fourth side. The other facade of the Chateau faces
beautiful parks, terraces and fountains, the axis of the
Chateau being an extended vista, so that the eye glances
first over entirely formal surroundings, and gradually,
through a less formal garden, until it reaches the natural
landscape beyond.

This effect has been sought on the land side of Mr. Bene-
dict’s house, though, of course, in a very much less ambi-
tious and extensive way, owing to the limitations of the
site. On the waterside, the terraces, with overhanging bal-
conies and balustrades and stone walls, have been treated
so as to follow the outlines of the rocks and to lead grad-
ually from the architectural to the natural, the immediate
surroundings of the house being formal terraces and terrace
gardens. When approaching the house, whether from the
land side or from the water side, the transition from the
natural to the artificial is gradual, and in itself natural, the
whole landscape forming a beautiful foreground or frame
for the crowning feature—the architecture. When looked
at from the house the treatment forms a foreground, lead-
ing gradually to the natural, and at the same time framing
the landscape.

The treatment, in detail, comprises the main house,
which is L-shaped, the hollow of the L being south and
east, which gives not only the most beautiful outlook, but
also the best exposure for sunlight and cool breezes. The
treatment of the gardens within the terraces is formal, with
hedges, flowering plants, gravel paths, balustrades, steps and
vases with Palms and Bay-trees. The trellis-work, or per-
gola, is somewhat similar to the celebrated one at Amalfi,
an illustration of which is given on p. 245. It is to be cov-
ered with large-leaved vines, and to lead from the main
house to the smaller house, which is built for the use of
members of the family.

From the main house a flight of steps leads to the dock,
which is placed at an angle to suit the channel, permitting
the landing of passengers from a large yacht directly atthe
dock. On the upper landing a semicircular seat, surrounded
by columns and covered with a trellis of vines, forms a
half-way resting-place. A pavilion which overhangs the
rocks overlooks the tennis-court on the land side.

The boai-house, in the hollow, is the dining-room of the
old hotel, moved down and altered for the purpose. The
terraces and walls along the trellis and the east and south
sides of the house are the old foundation walls of the Indian
Harbor Hotel, restored and altered as to details and crowned
with balustrades and other features. A picturesque path
leads from the stone seat at the entrance, along the water
edge and along the trellis-work, down over the rocks, all
around the property, following the water's edge. Between
the stable and the mainland about five acres of land have
been made by building bulkheads and dredging the land-
locked harbor, so as to permit of its use for the anchoring
of yachts. These five acres of made land will ev entually
be used, in part for vegetable and flower gardens, and in
part for grazing lands; asmall farm is located in the woods
north of the made land. East of the stable, on the bulk-
head that has been constructed to reclaim the land, a large
coal and ice house, engine house and repair shops have
been provided, as well as a dock which will permit a large
yacht to be laid alongside it during the winter in a per-
fectly landlocked harbor.

In carrying out the details of the scheme much blasting
for cellars and other features was required, furnishing prac-
tically all of the stone needed, not only for the foundation

242

of the buildings, but for sea walls, roads and much of the
filling, so that in altering the profiles of the land little or no
extra material was required beyond soil and dirt filling for
the top surface. Where masses of large trees were needed
holes were blasted in the rock, which is naturally full of
fissures, and were filled with soil, in which the trees have
been planted.

In this design. it has been the endeavor of the architects
to make an interesting ensemble of buildings and grounds
in a ground plan studied from the artistic point of view.
The forms are irregular, and as unbalanced as the letter L,
yet with symmetry and circulation such as they hope will
give interesting vistas in every direction. A good plan of
house and grounds, as seen on paper, aside from the ques-
tions of arrangement, has proportion, form, scale, color,
values and character. The drawing of such a plan will
awaken as much enthusiasm in the educated architect as
does the picture in the painter or the statue in the sculptor.
This plan should be thoroughly studied and practically fin-
ished before the architect has more than a vague idea of the
design of the exterior of the building. The plan involves
and determines the entire composition ; the silhouette or
outline of the whole is really projected on the plane of this
drawing. If the relations to each other of roads, paths,
buildings and other features are well studied and look well
on paper, they are almost sure to prove successful when
seen in perspective after the work is completed. Such a
comprehensive plan does away with the necessity of per-
spective drawing as a help to architectural as well as land-
scape study, and leaves it no place except to explain a
building to a layman. The many elevations of the several
buildings on Mr. Benedict’s place have been evolved from
the general scheme, and are the natural expression of the
whole plan. No one elevation of the houses would give
any idea of the entire scheme, as the greatest interest cen-
tres in the general composition of the grounds and rela-
tions of the buildings to each other, or what the French
call “the plan général.” They have a very characteristic
name for this portion of the composition, which is the
“sauce of the architecture.” It is this portion of the design
which unites or marries the building with its natural sur-
roundings. Most of the same principles of composition
obtain in the planning of this portion of the work, as in the
planning of the buildings themselves. The silhouette must
make first of all an agreeable ensemble with the silhouette
of the buildings.

While the landscape or surroundings should govern the
general composition of the building in the beginning, the
building should in turn, when completed, influence and
govern the arrangement and composition of that portion of
the landscape work which comes in immediate contact
with it. This landscape work is to surround and support
the building, serving both as frame and as pedestal. The
accessories of the architecture, such as the terraces, balus-
trades, paths, fountains, open spaces and vistas which

come nearest to the building, and other architectural
features, are really a part of the building. While the

plan of the surroundings does not need to repeat the form
of the building itself, it should everywhere recall its prin-
cipal axis and lines, and it should accentuate its general
silhouette, just as where there is a pavilion or important
feature in the building there should be a circulation in the
surroundings leading up to it. Fountains, balustrades,
statues, and rows of trees, when desired, should be clearly
indicated in plan. All these things, with the plan of the
building itself, should hold together in one ensemble, while
there may be interesting details in the form of niches in the
verdure for statues, or recesses for seats, or vases, and
small round or square breaks taken off the angles where
two paths meet. All these forms should be studied almost
exactly in the same way as if they were in the plan of the
building itself.

The day is coming when the public and honest critics
will demand of design in architecture and landscape some-
thing more than mere taste and refinement of details—

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 434.

something more than a house planted in the landscape
without design, or roads winding in meaningless curves
through scattered trees, without unity—and this can be only
when the plan is looked upon as something more than
merely a question of convenient arrangement, and the pic-
turesque as something more than an eccentric accumula-

tion of accidentals and good details.

New Vorle. Thomas Hastings.

Pinus muricata.

HE characteristic Pine of the Mendocino coast region
is Pinus muricata, which here fills the place which
farther south is occupied by the kindred Monterey Pine,
P. insignis. A hardy adaptable tree it is, making the
best of all conditions, and only asking to be near its be-
loved sea. Hanging to the sides of the steep ocean bluffs,
where the spray dashes, its growth is all on one side and
horizontal. Standing on the bold headlands in groves, the
wind-scarred veterans on the outside bend from the wind
and protect the inner ranks, while within the sheltered
park-like areas the favored trees develop into sym-
metrical and beautiful dark-leaved specimens. Standing
alone on some wind-swept point, tall, gnarled and pic-
turesque, the growth one-sided, with only a single living
limb perhaps, and this one reaching out horizontally for a
long distance and terminating with a dense tuft of green
leaves, while the dead limbs are decorated with the cones
of years, the tree is always in keeping with its rugged sur-
roundings.

At Fort Bragg, Pinus muricata covers the sandy plains
with a dense wood of straight slender trunks, the weaker
dying out and leaving finally open deeply shaded groves
carpeted with leaves, and the trees fifty or sixty feet high.
All the oceanward slopes of this high rocky coast were
once, with few exceptions, covered with forests of this
Pine, but it has had to give way to green fields and gar-
dens. Itmakes good lumber, but the supply far exceeds the
demand, and each year sees large areas of pine woods
chopped down, and in the fall fire sweeps through the
tangled mass of limbs, vines and underbrush, and makes
way for the plow.

Back from the coast a mile or two, where once the Red-
wood held sway, this Pine appears as a hardy colonist;
rising from a heavy thicket of bushes of half a dozen sorts,
and a network of logs and fallen trees, it disputes the mas-
tery of the upper air with lusty sprouts of Redwood, vigor-
ous descendants of the original occupants, with Fir and
Hemlock. In the rich soil of these woods it reaches its
best estate, and trees of fine proportions and seventy feet
high are not uncommon.

Still farther from the coast in the barrens a hard battle
has been waged for ages without material gains to either
side. The struggle is for the possession of a poor thin
soil, and colony after colony of Pinus muricata, P. contorta
and Cupressus Goveniana have occupied the disputed ter-
ritory for eight or ten years, only to be swept away by the
resistless fires. A few groves where underbrush is thinner
have managed to hold their own for ages; a few live to
form groves of handsome trees perhaps twenty years of
age, but more only reach the height of six or eight feet.
A little farther back, where the barrens cease and the Red-
wood forest begins, the last Pine is seen at a distance of
less than five miles from the ocean.

The cones of Pinus muricata are very persistent and the
seeds are retained in them for many years. The coast is
a region of summer fogs, and the sun is seldom hot
enough to open the cones, and it oftener happens that they
are never opened until a fire furnishes the needed heat, and
in sweeping away one wood seeds the soil for another.

The wood is valueless for lumber. If left on the ground
it will in a few years fall to pieces of its own weight. As
an ornamental tree it should rank high. It is easily trans-
planted, the foliage is a fine dark green and dense, and it
has a good, round-headed form.

Ukiah, Calif. Carl Purdy.

JUNE 17, 1896.] Garden and Forest.

243

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Foreign Correspondence.

Notes from the Temple Show.

HE chief event of the week has been the great annual
exhibition of the Royal Horticultural Society held in
the historic gardens of the Temple, within the boundaries
of the City of London. Here in these Temple gardens, four
centuries ago, grew the famous white and red Roses, the
badges of the rival houses of York and Lancaster, where
now there is only friendly rivalry among rosarians in dis-
playing the perfect charms of the descendants of these his-
toric Roses.

The gardens are an ideal spot for a large show, but much
too small for such a prodigious ‘gathering as this, and,
besides, there is no opportunity of making a really effective
display with splendid material such as one sees in Paris and
Belgium, where the arrangement of exhibits is considered
of primary importance. The most brilliant groups of plants
become monotonous and insipid if arranged in a flat way
unrelieved by foliage, and the true way to arrange a show
is to combine as muchas possible the color and the greenery
in pleasing harmony. This cannot be done well unless the
exhibition surface is diversified, as in the permanent show-
ground in the Regents Park, where at various places there
are raised points from which visitors can obtain a survey
of the whole display. This exhibition clearly showed the
gradual change that is coming over flower-shows in this
country compared with those of a few years ago. Huge
pot-plants, laboriously trained and formal in the extreme,
have almost disappeared, and their places are taken by
more easily grown plants and groups of a miscellaneous
description. Prominence is now given to the popular
classes of plants, and particularly to Roses, Carnations and
hardy perennial flowers, and where a few years ago ten
kinds of hardy flowers were shown there are a hundred
now. Plantsmen of the old school lament this change, but
there is no doubt that popularizing easily grown and beau-
tiful plants has done permanent good to horticulture.
There was, however, in this huge exhibition a conspicuous
dearth of real novelty both in new plants and flowers and
in arrangement.

Among the Orchids, which, perhaps, occupied more
space than any other class, were several remarkable nov-
elties, particularly of forms of Cattleyas and Leelias.

The certificated varieties were Cattleya Mossize, C. Bea-
trice, C. Arnoldiana and Charles Ingram, all of exquisite
beauty, but not easily described, as they resembled each
other, differing only by mottle tints. The two forms of
Lelia purpurata named Arthur Wigan and Lewisi were
extremely fine, the latter having pure white sepals, with
lilac-mauve lip. Of C. speciosissima there was a splendid
variety named Ernesti, the flowers much above ordinary
size, of a lilac-mauve, with lip spotted and blotched with
crimson. Messrs. Linden, of Brussels, showed what was
the cynosure of the Orchids. This was an exceptionally
large-flowered form of Odontoglossum crispum, named
angustrum, with the petals heavily blotched with chocolate-
red. Messrs. Low showed another similar form, Lowiae,
and still another named Miss V. Ellis, also with heavily
spotted flowers, thirteen on a spike. These were the chief
novelties among the collections, but the varieties were
numerous.

New Cannas were plentiful, though only one received an
award. This was Madame Pichon, of French origin of
course, a plant of good dwarf habit. Flowers large, rich
yellow, heavily spotted with vermilion. Of the newer sorts
shown the best were Progression, Kénigen Charlotte,
L. E. Bailey, Edward Meig, Paul Marquant, and a finer
half-dozen could not be selected.

Carnations were in true form and numerous, though, of
course, all from under glass. Several varieties were con-
sidered worthy of certificates. ‘’wo Malmaisons, named
Lord Rosebery, deep crimson, very large, and Lady Grim-
ston, creamy white, striped with rose, were the best of a
large collection. Of Tree Carnations, the best of the new

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 434.

sorts were Cardinal Wolsey, dark apricot, striped with
crimson ; Mrs. Hambro, a beautiful pure white ; Mephisto,
dark crimson ; Loveliness, pale pink. These new sorts are
real acquisitions.

Roses formed probably the greatest attraction of the
show, for, considering the early date, they were splendidly
grown, huge specimens trained in a globular way so as to
travel without injury. Our Rose growers seem now to
have become more successful with early Roses than for-
merly. Perhaps they have taken hints from American
growers, but certain it is that we get forced Tea Roses in
March, April and May that are superior to those grown in
the open in July. The now widely known Crimson Ram-
bler was shown, forced into bloom, as it will not be in
flower outside for a week or more. It is a very showy.
Rose, though it does not last long in bloom. A new Rose,
quite as fine for the garden and much earlier, is Paul's Car-
mine Pillar Rose, a single-flowered variety, of the color of
the old General Jacqueminot.

The pot Roses that seemed particularly fine for forcing
were Caroline Testout, Mrs. J. Laing, Duke of York, Ulrich
Brunner and Madame de Watteville. There was one new
Rose certificated, named Grand Duke A. de Luxembourg,
from Messrs. W. Paul—a fine globular flower, pale pink,
flushed outside with a deeper tint.

Foliage plants included a few good novelties, and some
of these were certificated. Of Palms there were Phcenix
Reebelini, a small-growing Date Palm, with slender recurv-
ing leaves, and a fine decorative plant. Calamus ciliaris,
an old Palm shown by Messrs. Sander to illustrate how fine
itis ina small seedling state for table decoration, a pur-
pose to which it is put throughout India. It is a capi-
tal Palm for decorative florists, as it is easily raised from
seeds and the old plants can thus be replaced. Among
the new Ferns, Adiantum lineatum, from Monsieur Lin-
den, is likely to prove a useful addition to decorative kinds.
It is a dwarf, compact grower, the deep green fronds
streaked with silvery pencilings. It reminds one of A.
macrophyllum in size and form of fronds. Pteris Boultoni,
a form of the variable P. serrulata, is also fine for room
decoration. Davallia Truffautiana is an exceptionally dis-
tinct species with a tendency to form a stem. It has grace-
fully arching fronds and is very handsome.

Caladiums were among the brightest features in the
show, and, although easily grown, they obtained a great
deal of admiration from those who appreciate finely grown
plants. Among several new kinds certificated were Silver
Cloud, silvery white and flushed with pink; Duchess of
Connaught, green and carmine veinings ; Sir Julian Gold-
smid, white ground, crimson veins; Duchess of Teck,
greenish white and pale rose—four first-rate sorts.

Trees and shrubs are rarely shown well at these exhibi-
tions, the chief among them being Rhododendrons and
Azaleas, though there were no conspicuous novelties among
these beyond a good variety of Azalea named Diamond,
from Messrs. Veitch. ‘This is distinct from any other sort
Iknow. It has rather small flowers, but an abundance of
them, of a soft pink, with crimson blotches. It looks like
across between A. mollis and a Ghent variety. A. Mon-
sieur Desbois was the finest new Mollis variety shown, but
it does not eclipse the new Antony Koster for brilliancy of
yellow and profusion of flower. A variegated form of
Hypericum Moserianum named tricolor was certificated.
It is a pretty-leaved sort, but it is doubtful if it will keep its
color in the open air. Buddleia Colvillei is a beautiful spe-
cies, well shown by Mr. Gumbleton from his warm garden
at Cork. It is a beautiful shrub with long graceful panicles
of rose-pink flowers. It is, unfortunately, too tender for
open-air culture-about London, but is quite worthy of
greenhouse culture. It is from the Himalayas.

Among all the hardy flowers there were but two that
were conspicuously new. One was Trollius Caucasicus,
Orange Globe, a first-rate variety, eclipsing all others in size
of lower and habit of growth ; its flowers are two inches
across, ofa bright orange-yellow, like those of T, Japonicus.

JUNE 17, 1896.]

The other novelty was the double form of the Welsh Poppy,
with flowers about the size and form of the double-flowered
Kerria Japonica and of a rich orange-yellow, originated
with and shown by Messrs. Backhouse, of York. After it
has been got out of its nursery stage it will prove a first-

rate showy hardy flower. William Goldring.

Kew.

Plant Notes.

SpanisH Irtses.—The great masses of hybrid German
Irises which have lately filled the garden with color are
now missed, but an easy consolation may be found in the
Spanish Irises, which so closely succeed them. ‘There area
brilliancy and a clearness of color about these bulbous

Garden and Forest.

245

Irn1s Lortetrt.—This has been the latest of the Oncocyclus
section in flower this season. This Palestine Iris is by
some considered the most beautiful flower of the family,
and is certainly charming, both in form and coloring. It
may be briefly, if crudely, described as a pink I. Susiana,
though there are said to be forms with violet markings. As
it is now flowering with Mr. Gerard, the flowers resemble
good forms of I. Susiana, both in sizeand form. The large
standards are white, with many pink lines. The falls ar
doited with pink and have a deep rose signal. The styles
are tinted a shining golden brown. This species, though
recently introduced, is now obtainable at a moderate price
and should be grown by all fanciers of choice plants. If
the rhizomes are kept in dry soil until late in the autumn

Fig. 35.—Pergola at Amalfi, Italy.—See page 241.

Irises which have always made them favorites. In fact,
they are so well known by gardeners that it would seem
superfluous to say anything about them were it not for the
fact that even the most common flowers seem‘to be un-
known to many gardens. Briefly, it may be said that these
Irises have narrow claws and standards and possess a wide
range of coloring in whites, yellows, blues, browns and
their combinations. The bulbs, which are inexpensive,
should be ordered with the Dutch bulbs, preferably in
named kinds. They are perfectly hardy and need no pro-
tection in this latitude. They show foliage above ground
during the winter when the season is at all open. The
special care required is to keep them moist while growing,
as otherwise they are likely not to flower.

and planted out after the ground becomes cold there should
be no care required in their cultivation beyond keeping the
soil moist during the growing season, which soon ends. It
is better to plant them in the open garden rather than in a
sheltered place, where the supply of moisture early in the
year may prove insufficient.

Rosa Watsonu.—The leaflets of this Rose are either
three or five on each leaf, long and narrow, none of them
being much more than two lines in breadth. The most
peculiar feature of the plant is the coloring of the leaf.
The ground color is greenish yellow, the veins being
marked with deep green, forming hieroglyphic-looking
characters along the margins, and these markings are
more pronounced when the plant is grown indoors. It

246

forms a neat little bush and seems to be entirely hardy.
The flowers are exceedingly small, but little more than
half an inch across when fully expanded. The color is
white or pinkish white.

CAMPANULA PERSICIFOLIA GRANDIFLORA.—The Peach-leaved
Bellflowers have been favorites in gardens for many
decades, especially the white forms. Mr. Backhouse has
recently introduced a specially fine form with extra-large
flowers of perfect purity of color. The plants are hardy
perennials. They are readily increased and bloom pro-
fusely at this season. This is one of the most attractive
recent introductions in hardy plants, and its neatness of
habit is by no means universal among hardy perennials.

Cultural Department.

Flower Garden Notes.

eee copious rains have been of great benefit to the
flower garden, and all bedding-plants as well as hardy
perennials are now growing luxuriantly. Seldom, at this sea-
son of the year, have lawns looked more fresh and flowering
plants been more thrifty. Tender plants are now becoming
well established, and the beds will require hoeing after heavy
rains to loosen the surface. Dead trusses should be removed
from Geraniums, and Coleus, Alternanthera, Stevia, Achyran-
thes and other foliage plants be pinched once a week. During
dry weather we give our beds a thorough soaking once in four
days with a sprinkler, and continue this until the plants have
erown sufficiently te cover most of the space allotted to them.
Tuberous Begonias flourish in a moist shady location; they
can scarcely be overwatered, and a mulching of fine rotten
manure is beneficial. Any bedding-plants left over should be
planted out, given away or thrown on the rubbish-pile. On
many places a few plants are seen dotted here and there in the
houses or frames, a useless claim on space and labor.

Perennial borders are at their best during the month of
June. Ponies, Papaver orientale, Aquilegias, Iris Hispanica
and I. Germanica, Pyrethrums, some of the Campanulas,
the double-flowered Lychnis viscaria, Heuchera sanguinea,
Anthericums, Hemerocallis, Dictamnus and Thalictrums are
now at their best. Biennials, including Canterbury Bells,
Sweet Williams and Rockets, are a mass of bloom. Antirrhi-
nums, wintered in a cold frame and planted out in April, are
just commencing to flower, and continue to do so most of the
summer; they are among the most beautiful and useful plants
for the mixed border. Seeds sown in March yield nice flower-
ing plants by July and August. A good many of the later-grow-
ing perennials will now require staking ; if left unsupported
too long the plants are liable to break or the stems to be
twisted, when it is difficult to tie them upneatly. Delphiniums
which are now flowering should be securely staked, as winds
and heavy rains break them down badly. Weeds grow rap-
idly during weather such as we are now having, and many of
them will have to be removed by hand.

Early Stocks are now in flower. A later batch has just been
planted out, and we usually sow the last lot about the end of
June, and this provides a succession of flowers until October.
We make several sowings of Asters during the season, using
Dwarf Chrysanthemum, Dwarf Victoria and the Pompone
varieties for the last sowing at the end of June. The earliest
lot of Queen of the Earlies and Comet, which commence to
flower about the middle of July, are now growing strongly.
Liquid-manure is applied when they commence to branch out.
Sweet Peas sown out-of-doors commenced to flower here the
first week in June. The trenches they are sown in are three or
four inches below the level of the ground, so that the plants
may be more thoroughly soaked with water during dry
weather; we have recently mulched about the rows with spent
mushroom-manure, to keep the roots cool and moist. Hybrid
Perpetual Roses have commenced to bloom fully a week
earlier than usual, and will be at their best by the middle of
June. They have made extra growth this season, and have so
tar not been attacked by rose-bugs or any other pest. We
give our beds a dressing of green cow-manure early in May
and the sprinkler is allowed to run on the beds during dry
weather. Only by adopting such means can we obtain really
satisfactory blooms. Although the past winter was severe on
flowering shrubs and killed back Deutzias, Weigelias and some
of the Spirzeas, Roses came through safely. The new Crimson
Rambler proved to be one of the hardiest, standing out almost
unprotected and being killed back but little. Our last planting
of Gladioli is not made until the first week of July. We thus

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 434.

have a succession of bloom from July until October. Those
planted last do not furnish as fine spikes nor mature as good
bulbs as the earlier ones, but Gladioli are so cheap and increase
so rapidly that this need be no drawback to late planting. We
find Gladioli specially useful for decorative purposes in Sep-
tember and October, when many other flowers have a rather
disheveled appearance.

Carnations grown for summer flowering will soon require
staking to keep the flowers clean. Some of our plants are
already in bloom. The stock being grown for winter flower-
ing needs looking over once a week to insure necessary stop-
ping. The plants are growing unusually well this season, the
showery weather having suited them to a nicety. We use the
hoe or hand cultivator to free the soil after every rainfall.
Violets which were not planted out this year until toward the
end of May, owing to rainless weather, are now commencing
to grow nicely. A mulching of pulverized rotted manure will
be given these a little later. The hoe and cultivator must be
in frequent use at thisseason. Weeds and insect pests can only
be kept under by unceasing care and watchfulness. Weeds
exhaust nourishment from the soil needed by other plants
and are an eyesore, There are few places where thorough
cleanliness is observed, in some cases owing to lack of assist-
ants to do the work, or to the employment of men whose knowl-
edge of gardening is slight, but who work cheaply. But more
frequently those in charge are at fault in not planning their

work properly. W. N. Grate.
WV. Craig.

Taunton, Mass.

Choice Perennials.

ERBASCUM OLYMPICUM is the finest of all the Mulleins,

and as it is perfectly hardy in this locality it ought to be
grown in every garden where there is a choice collection of
perennial plants. The plants grown here were raised from
seed two years ago and are flowering now for the first time,
and only the strongest plants have blossomed. This fine
Mullein is easily raised trom seed, and the seedlings make
large strong plants the first year, with vigorous long leaves.
In spring the leaves of the previous year are replaced by new
ones ; they are distinct and conspicuous and of a whitish color.
The leaves are revolute, broad lanceolate, acuminate and
woolly, measuring from twelve to eighteen inches. The flowers
are bright yellow and measure more than one inch in diame-
ter. The stout, erect flower-stems are from four to five feet
high and are branched from near the base like a candela-
brum. The plant isexceedingly showy and can be seen from
a considerable distance. It is grown in the border here in an
open position and in deep rich soil. I think it would make a
good rock-garden plant where large plants are needed in a
high open position. It is a native of the Levant and was intro-
duced from there in 1883.

Another Mullein which I received last fall from Rae Broth-
ers, Norwood, Massachusetts, under the name of Verbascum
pannosum, is now in flower. Before the plants blossom they
can hardly be told from those of V. Olympicum, but as the
two species are in flower at the same time they are easily com-
pared. The Olympian Mullein is by far the showier plant;
nevertheless, V. pannosum is a distinct plant and makes a
good perennial. The sulphur-yellow flowers measure over
an inch in diameter and are produced in a stout, dense, erect
spike.

A little more than a year ago I received seed of Pentstemon
glaucus, variety stenosepalus, and raised several dozen
plants. They were grown in the nursery-bed all last summer
and planted in their permanent places in the fall. It has proved
to be one of the most satisfactory Pentstemons we grow. Every
plant Iset out in the fall lived through the winter and all are
blossoming freely now. Any species or variety in this genus
that proves hardy and grows satisfactorily is valuable, as so many
Pentstemons are not reliable in this climate. This plant grows
about fifteen inches high and its leaves are slightly glaucous.
The radical leaves are subovate and the cauline ones ovate-
lanceolate. The violet-purple flowers are produced in com-
pact panicles and the flower-trusses last for several weeks.
P. glaucus is found in the mountains of Colorado and Utah.

The Oriental Poppies, Papaver orientale, have made a
gorgeous display for the past two weeks, and many buds have
to open yet. My experience with seedlings of this handsome
Poppy is that they do not make much of a show until they are
three or four years old, because the plants are too small and
not able to produce enough blossoms to prolong the display
for more than a few days. The plants we depend on for our
display of this showy perennial measure more than a yard
across and produce a large number of blossoms. Although
the individual blossoms are short-lived, one good feature is

JUNE 17, 1896.]

that they do not all open at one time. From the time the first
blossoms open until the last ones expand is about two weeks,
and sometimes longer.

Many species of the genus Allium are not desirable garden
plants, but at this time two showy species are blossoming. A.
Moly is a European plant with large showy yellow flowers, pro-
duced in compact umbels. This bulbous plant is ten to twelve
inches high and it is well suited for planting along the front
row of the herbaceous border. Another showy species is A.
Ostrowskeanum, which has large showy umbels of purplish
flowers. Both of the above Alliums are perfectly hardy, and
can be obtained in autumn from the bulb dealers. If planted
then they will blossom about the end of May or early in June.

Gentiana acaulis is a beautiful little alpine, which has blos-
somed better here this year than for several past years. There
is no plant in the garden, when it is in blossom, that has such
pure blue flowers. The flowers are very large, compared with
the size of the plant, camipanulate in shape, and measure two
inches in length. The plants are grown here in a slightly
shaded moist spot among pieces of limestone and are pro-
tected slightly in winter.

Aster alpinus grows very nicely in our rock garden, where
its blue heads of flowers are produced plentifully. It is a
dwarf plant from six to eight inches high, and its flower-heads

measure two inches across.

Harvard Botanic Garden. R. Cameron.

Orchid Notes.

eR OUGH the exertions of collectors it is possible to have
Orchids in flower abundantly throughout the entire year,
and the succession is unbroken in a good representative col-
lection. The durability of the flowers, both on the plants and
when cut, makes them especially useful for decorative pur-
poses. The flowers of some species are fugacious, but
generally this peculiarity is, if not the result, at least the
characteristic that accompanies a powerful odor. The kinds
with no perceptible fragrance sometimes last for months in
perfect condition,

One of the most useful species at this time is Miltonia vexil-
laria. Itis a temperate-house plant, or one that requires a
temperature that does not vary much during the whole year.
Hence we grow it in winter in what would be termed a warm
house, and in summer the plants are placed in the coolest
place possible. While there is considerable variation of tem-
perature between midwinter and midsummer, we have no
plants that thrive better or give more satisfaction. Last season
we hada plant, one bulb of which produced forty-one flowers,
and we learned that this Orchid will sometimes attempt more
than it can continue indefinitely, and that the fowers should
be thinned so as not to tax the energies of the plant. M. vex-
illaria comes from a region characterized by daily rainfalls
throughout the year. Even in the dry season there are mists
and showers. While distributed over a wide range of latitude,
from northern Colombia to Ecuador, its altitude is well defined
-and uniform wherever it occurs, mostly on the western slopes
of the Cordilleras. It there has the benefit of the precipitation
of moisture-laden winds from the Pacific. This moisture is
an important item in the cultivation of the plants, for without
it they will speedily be disfigured by thrips. Tobacco stems
strewed about the pots will keep this pest away, and they are
capital absorbents of moisture as well. After flowering, the
plants take a short time to recuperate, and then start to grow
in early autumn, when they should be repotted. They should
be repotted each year, for owing to the great amount of water
they require the compost would be injurious to the plants if
allowed to remain more than one year. The growing period
lasts throughout the winter, and care must be taken that no
checks occur from want of water or insects, or their flowering
will be affected unfavorably.

Each year at flowering time Cattleya Gaskelliana proves its
superiority. I know of no other Cattleya which makes as fine
specimens inso shorta time ; itdoes not deteriorate as do some
other species. Plants that were purchased less than four years
ago in six-inch pots are now in twelve and fourteen inch pans,
The leading growths double in number each year, and if care
is taken all will flower freely. The fact that some Cattleyas
fail to flower at times may often be traced to excessive
vigor and insufficient rest or maturing. If C. Gaskelliana for
any reason fails to bloom, it is sure to start into a second
growth, which must be encouraged liberally until finished.
Our climate is apt to induce plants to make this second start,
and English cultivators keep their plants dry to check the ten-
dency. This would be ruinous here, as it would weaken the
plants. If the plants are encouraged they will usually be well
matured by winter, and will then flower well insummer. Our

Garden and Forest.

247

plants failed to bloom well at first, and we were told to put
them out-of-doors after the fowering season was past. The
coolest and most airy house was chosen instead, and the next
and each succeeding year has proved the need of plenty of air
for Orchids during the summer months. If C. gigas and C.
Gaskelliana flower well this year it will take them so long to
become strong and plump that they will not start into growth
again before winter. It is an old idea that the greatest factor
in making a tree fruitful is to have it bear acrop of fruit.
Fruiting checks excessive vigor and immature ripening, and
this is true of Orchids as of other plants.

The best time to pot Cattleyas is before they begin to make
new roots or when they are making them. There are two
well-marked divisions of the genus, from the cultivator’s point
of view—those that flower directly after growth is completed,
as C. labiata, C. gigas, C. Gaskelliana and others; and those
that rest for a time before flowering, as C. Triana, C. Mendelli
and C, Percivalliana, The last-named we repot directly after
the flowers are cut, as the plants start to root at once. But
with the other division the system is changed, for if we waited
to repot until after flowering, many roots would be active and
badly injured in the operation. So they are repotted as soon
as signs of growth are observed. With C. labiata this often
occurs in December. C, Gaskelliana is repotted in January,
when the other kinds are also ready, so that all Cattleyas are
potted during the winter months, when time can be best given
for it to be properly done. Nothing but the best fibre from the
roots of Osmunda cinnamomea is used. This material takes
years to decompose if used alone, but if moss is added it
speedily becomes sour and inert, and when the roots touch it
they perish.

Many cultivators are taking up the most interesting work of
hybridizing and raising seedlings. It is a fascinating experi-
ment when success attends the work, and not without some
profit if conducted on proper lines. There is still ample room
for original research for all engaged in the work. It is simple
enough untilit comes to germinating the seeds. We find the best
medium for this purpose is fern-fibre, as already stated, taking
care to keep it in a condition bordering on saturation. If the
minute barleycorn-like seeds become dry after sowing they
will not change to the pleasing little green, pegtop-like, thal-
loid bodies that denote the first distinct stage of germination.
These bodies are even more susceptible to drought than the
seeds. I have heard of a successful operator in this work who
never sowed seeds on the soil of a valuable plant, and the rea-
son is obvious, for the great amount of moisture necessary to
bring about successful germination is enough to injure the

plant.
South Lancaster, Mass. PRON Orpet.

Trevesia palmata.—This plant is also called Trevesia Sun-
daica, and more commonly Gastonia palmata. The leaves are
very large, attaining a diameter of two anda half feet. The
leat divisions, instead of being widest at the base, are narrower
there than nearer the apex, being contracted at the part where
the division takes place, and this gives the leaves a very odd
appearance. Onan old plant growing in the bed of a cool
greenhouse at Washington there are growths twelve feet long,
and all theirlength is clothed with its princely foliage. It is a
native of India. T. eminens is also well worth growing. The
leaf divisions are more numerous and not quite so broad as
in T. palmata, and they do not have the peculiar formation in
the leaf divisions of that species. Good-sized specimens can
be grown in pots, and they are valuable for veranda decora-
tion in summer or for house decoration in winter. Cuttings
from one to two feet long can be rooted in sand if the atmos-
phere surrounding them is kept moist and ata temperature of
at least sixty-five degrees. Stems denuded of the foliage will
sprout if treated in the same way as Draczena canes.

Chinese Dianthus.—I have better success in the cultivation of
Chinese Pinks in treating them as annuals than as biennials,
My plan is to sow them quite early, say, in the middle of Feb-
ruary, and when the seedlings are large enough prick them
off, three in a three-inch pot. After a week or two the plants
are removed to a frame where they get abundance of air to
harden them off and develop a stubby growth. When planted
out in well-prepared soil they start growing immediately. By
the middle of May numbers of them are in full bloom, and
with attention in the way of watering and cultivating during
summer they flower constantly and make a display that few
annuals surpass. Seeds of the different varieties can be
secured in separate packages. Planted near each other they
hybridize so easily that the owers of plants raised from seed
the second year show marked variations in color. A batch of
plants raised this year from German seed are especially fine.
Plants kept over the winter start off well in the spring, but in

248

a short time they become straggling and flower irregularly,
and the flowering season of the two-year-old plants is shorter
than that of fresh plants. Our soil is a stiff clay, and they un-
doubtedly relish being planted in freshly prepared soil. This
year I tried a mulch of rotted manure about the old plants, but
it did little good. Most of the kinds set seed freely.

Botanic Garden, Washington, D.C. G. WO.

Correspondence.

Notes from Santa Barbara.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—Every visitor to Santa Barbara notices the great number
of fine specimens of Araucarias, chiefly A.excelsa. Thecityis
becoming famous for these trees, which are well adapted
totheclimate. Some of these superb trees area hundred feet in
height, and give a very distinguished appearance to the princi-
pal streets. Comparatively speaking, the lack of fine Califor-
nian species of conifers is quite as striking as the presence of
fine exotic species. The coarse and stiff Monterey Cypress,
which is more admirable in its native grove at Cypress Point
than anywhere else, is far too common in the public squares.
There seems to have been a period, about twenty years ago,
when many towns in California planted formal, orchard-like
blocks of cheap trees, and called them parks, often surround-
ing them with close-clipped hedges of Cypress. In several
such cases I remember that the Monterey Cypress was the
only tree planted ona five-acre square ; in others the BlueGum,
Eucalyptus globulus, was selected by the Town Council.
Santa Barbara's public squares are not so bad as this, but they
are distinctly below the high standards set by the taste and skill
displayed in its private gardens and nurseries,

Santa Barbara has had the good fortune to possess many
citizens of wealth, leisure and love for plants, so that its private
collections contain specimens hardly found elsewhere in the
United States, as visitors can see by referring to any good
handbook of the city or to Dr. Franceschi’s interesting pam-
phlet on the exotic flora of the region, which includes the
suburbs of Goleta and Montecito.

Among the choice specimen plants which the visiting bot-
anist would wish to see are the fine Seaforthia elegans on the
grounds of Mr. Eddy, and the large Cocos plumosa in the
Stevens garden at Montecito. There are also the splendid
Damara Pines in Mr. Sawyer’s garden. I also noted several
large Casuarinas, C. quadrivalis, particularly one at Goleta, and
some choice specimens of Ficus macrophylla and F. elastica.
At Carpenteria one finds the Ford collection, which includes a
ereat variety of rare deciduous trees. There are weeks of
pleasure and profit to the botanist in looking up the fine speci-
men trees of this district, and probably one could find many
not yet catalogued. Nor is there any place in southern Cali-
fornia where the ordinary commercial nurseries contain a
wider range of plant-life, nor so much that is difficult to find
elsewhere.

The grounds of the. old Mission are well worth a visit.
Ladies are seldom admitted into the enclosed court-yard, but
gentlemen, upon request, are usually shown through. The
healthfulness of many of the plants within this sheltered square
is surprising, and I saw here the finest Araucaria excelsa of its
size that I remember to have found anywhere. The court has
been photographed more than once, but its quaint, old-fash-
ioned beds, its Ivied walls, its windless quiet and perfect peace
all need to be seen to be appreciated. In the old Mission
orchard are a few seedling Pear-trees, planted a century ago,
and still bearing fruit. The ancient Olives are not doing
well; only three or four can long survive. The gentle Ger-
man priest who showed me around explained that several
varieties ‘‘were very good, indeed; better than any we can
buy.” Others were only fit to cook. Eight or ten distinct
types of Pears were in the orchard. The best will be grafted
at some of the experiment stations, so as to keep alive these

old Spanish pioneer varieties. ;
Niles Calif. y Charles H, Shinn.

Notes from West Virginia.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—The Crimson Rambler is among the latest Roses to
blossom in our garden, and a small specimen set out last year
is just opening its flower-buds. Planted in a wild part of the
garden in ordinary soil and left untended it has made satisfac-
tory growth, and is a pleasing addition to the Wilderness, as
we call the rock-brake over which it scrambles. Rosa
Wichuraiana is even later in blossoming, but is now in bud,

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 434.

Frequent heavy rains have marred the beauty of the Roses
and beaten down the heavy-headed Pzeonies, which are near
the end of their fowering, though a few Chinese Pzeonies are
still in bloom. But few shrubs are in flower now. Weigelias
and some Deutzias are past their prime. The Golden Elder
and the common Wild Elder are showy now, the former
coming into blossom a week earlier. The flowers of Opulaster
opulifolia aurea have faded, and are succeeded by interesting
clusters of dull red carpels, which are no less attractive and
contrast well with the golden-yellow.of its foliage. Oak-leaved
Hydrangeas will soon be in flower, and these symmetrical,
well-rounded shrubs, with their large handsome foliage and
bold balls of flowers, are showy for several months. A group
of small shrubs composed of Itea Virginica and Ceanothus
Americanus, or New Jersey Tea, is now in flower, These
plants are visited by rose-bugs, but the pests are less numerous
than usual, perhaps owing to the frequent rains.

The borders are gay with Sweet Williams, Snapdragons,
Petunias and Linarias. A beautiful white Pentstemon forms a
large clump in the rock-garden, and has been blooming for
some time. Groups of Astilbe Japonica are attractive now,
flowering more profusely than usual. These Astilbes seem to
need much moisture, as they do well only in wet seasons at
Rose Brake. Rockets, or Dame’s Violets, are still in bloom,
and Hollyhocks and Yuccas are opening their flowers. Ma-
donna Lilies, planted in a large group where they have been
undisturbed for years, have thrown up numerous flower-
stalks, and every stalk has many buds. They form a fine
group against the background of Deutzias, and are now the

most conspicuous feature of the lawn. -
Shepherdstown, W. Va. Danske Dandridge.

Azaleas at Brookline.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—From the middle of May until the middle of June there
is a grand show of Indian Azaleas under canvas on the grounds
of Professor Sargent, Brookline, Massachusetts. As soon
as the first plants begin to go out of bloom, others, retarded in
deep shaded pits, take their place, so that the exhibit is always
fresh-looking. It is, without doubt, the finest collection in the
country. From a limited number of privileged visitors a few
years ago thousands of persons now enjoy this remarkable
collection annually. The plants have been exhibited in superb
condition for several years past, and this uniform success is
attributed to thesystem of cultivation practiced here. As the
treatment accorded the plants immediately after the flowering
season has much to do with success or failure, it may not be
out of place to review the methods of cultivation at this time.

As soon as the plants return from the exhibition tent they
are trimmed of all dead flowers, weak shoots, and otherwise
pruned into shape. They are then turned out of the pots, all
loose soil shaken off, and the original ball of earth combed
over with a rake used for this purpose. This is done every
season, and the plants do not form any considerable quantity
of roots during the winter, which is, in fact, their resting sea-
son. The system of potting in the autumn places the plants in
better shape for convenient handling during the remainder of
the season. This treatment is too radical for most gardeners,
and few, even inthe immediate vicinity. can be persuaded to fol-
low it. With success by continuous pot culture they are sat-
isfied to continue old methods. After a thorough dressing-
over the plants are transferred to a specially prepared piece of
ground, in which at least one-third of good leaf soil and a little
sand has been well composted. The soil is carefully compacted
about the plant, so that the new soil and the old ball of earth
areasolid mass. It is essential that the density should be
uniform and kept so, and the plants are repeatedly examined
during the summer to see that the soil is kept firm about the
ball. Ifthe soil is loose water will run over it and pass into
the ground around the ball, so that while the surface may
appear moist for a time, it is, in fact, dry an inch or two below.
To see that the plants are never dry is the important part of
their summer cultivation.

Where all are beautiful it is scarcely necessary to describe
the many varieties in detail, and there are many seedlings as
handsome as the best named varieties. There is a fine old
plant of the flesh-tinted verschaffelti; other distinct sorts are
Countess de Chambord, blush white; E. Mazel, vermilion ;
Decora, reddish pink; Iveryana, a perfect sheet of tinted
white ; Bride, white ; Criterion, blush ; Exquisite, pink. Worthy
of special note are several large plants of the handsome
climber, Trachelospermum jasminoides, trained on pyramidal
wire shapes. These are stood in prominent positions about the

entrance porches. F
Wellesley, Mass. IRB) Hatfeld.

JUNE 17, 1896.]

Notes from Southern California.

~To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST;

Sir,—The beautiful “Mariposa Lilies” seem more delight-
ful and satisfying each year. In a former letter I mentioned
Calochortus Catalinze as being in bloom. Following this came
C. luteus and its varieties. I have recently seen a bed of these
in cultivation here ; the flowers were larger and more abun-
dant than on plants in a wild state, and suggested choice
yellow garden Tulips on a branched stalk. Some of the
blooms when opened flat measured four inches across. They
were of a rich yellow color, with yellow hairs and brown mark-
ings in the centre. One particular plant bore flowers of an
old-gold shade. The plants were from fifteen to twenty-four
inches high and sent out scattering branches from the ground
upward, with one to two flowers open at a time on each
branch. If this family of bulbous plants could be successfully
grown in the eastern states it would certainly be a great gain
there.

Romneya Coulteri is now in bloom in my garden. The first
flowers are generally the largest of the season. I have just
measured one which is six and three-fourths inches across ;
its snow-white petals are beautifully crisped throughout their
entire surface. The stalks are seven feet high and of this
season’s growth.

Inga pulcherrima was often found in mixed collections of
greenhouse plants in the Atlantic states twenty years ago.
Eight years ago I planted it in my garden here, and it is
now a fine specimen some seven feet high. During April it
made a gorgeous show, being clothed from top to bottom
with its brilliant scarlet flowers, in form resembling an upright
tassel of silken threads. It also flowers somewhat sparingly

during the summer and autumn,
Los Angeles, Calif. E. D, Sturtevant,

Recent Publications.

The White Pine: a Study, with Tables of Volume and Freld.
By Gifford Pinchot and Henry S. Graves. New York: The
Century Co., 1896.

We welcome the appearance of this little book as a sign
that, beyond the general interest of laymen in forestry mat-
ters, there is supposed to exist now sufficient interest in the
technical side of forestry to warrant such entirely technical
discussion as the one before us. The lumber business has
relied hitherto, and, no doubt, will continue for some time
to rely, upon the crudest exploitation or cutting over of the

virgin woodlands, without any idea of devoting time or
money or thought to their treatment as continuous crop
producers. As long as virgin supplies exist that. may
readily be made accessible, the incentive to a change of
this method will be small. We believe, however, that with
the exhaustion ofthe bulk of the White Pine—the great staple
of our lumber market—which is threatened in the near fu-
tue, an awakening to the needs and the possibilities of forest
production as a business may be looked for, when informa-
tion of this nature will be sought after more eagerly ; and
the booklet may serve to stimulate inquiry in that direction,

Hitherto efforts to gather such knowledge have been
confined to official agencies, and it is, therefore, a further
ground for gratification that private interest could be induced
to furnish the funds for such an investigation. Although
the little duodecimo contains not more than 102 pages,
widely printed and margined, the construction of the tables
it contains represents an amount of labor which no one who
has not had to do with similar work can fully realize. We
cannot, however, admit that this is the ‘‘first systematic
description of the growth of a North American tree” in
view of the published reports by the New York, New
Hampshire and Maine Forest Commissions, which treat
more or less exhaustively of the growth of the Spruce,
albeit in a different manner and in some respects less, yet
in other respects much more Satisfactorily. Nevertheless,
this is a commendable effort of two young American forest-
ers to apply their knowledge of European forestry methods
to the study of one of our most important timber trees.
And even if nothing more is gained than to make clear the
point of view from which the questions of technical forest
management and forest finance must be approached and

Garden and Forest.

249

the manner of obtaining the basis for it, the authors and
publishers will have done good service to the cause of
forestry.

In silvicultural direction the contents are rather scanty,
the main importance evidently having been laid on the
question of the rate of growth and yield of the White Pine.
This is a complicated and difficult problem in the evenly
grown European forests under management, much more
so in the very uneven conditions of our virgin woods, and
much more so than the authors have realized. Although
they repeatedly acknowledge the limitations of their oppor-
tunities and defects of their methods, they have failed to
fully appreciate the extent to which these defects influence
their results. They have, indeed, failed to realize the
extremely varying character of tree-growth, which makes
such wholesale averaging as they have employed entirely
unreliable, except witha very large number of data. Hence
they are oversanguine when “they confidently believe
that they (the results) will be found reliable, not only for
the region where they were obtained, but also for other
portions of the habitat of the White Pine.” In this expec-
tation they will certainly be disappointed, fortunately for
the prospects of profitable forestry and of our best crop
producer, the White Pine, as we will be able to demonstrate
when the much more extensive measurements from many
localities collected by the Division of Forestry are pub-
lished, which will show their results regarding rate of
growth twenty-five and even fifty per cent. out of the way,

The data, therefore, may, at best, only be used as ap-
proximation to conditions in the region of Pennsylvania,
where they were gathered, and for this purpose it would
have been desirable if more of the detail of the measure-
ments had been given, from which the reader or the prac-
titioner could have made his own deductions, avoiding the
many suppositions which have figured in the construction
of the tables, and which, in the absence of the possibility
of verification, to some extent shake confidence in their
value. In several directions it is impossible to make out
exactly what their method has been; it would appear, for
instance, that while 160 trees were analyzed, no use was
made of these analyses in constructing the curves of rate of
growth ; these seem to be based on what is called the
average tree of the group, which in our uneven stands is a
most unreliable basis for standard values.

It would lead us too far to point out in detail the flaws in
the procedure, especially as this would require explanations
of a technical nature, which our space does not: permit at
this time. Suffice it to say in general that, while the meth-
ods employed may be adequate enough for rapid approxi-
mate determination of the contents of a given area, they
certainly are not admissible for the establishment of stand-
ard tables. The construction of yield tables of normal
growth can, indeed, not be done by simply dividing the
contents of an imperfect stand by its density, for the trees
in a normal stand develop entirely differently, and hence
are not, either in the number or diameters, height or
volume, proportionate to those of an imperfect stand. The
authors owe us, and would find it difficult to furnish, proof,
that for any practical or financial purposes, such as the
book claims to have been written for, “this method is suf
ficiently correct.”

Nevertheless, while these flaws render the work of less
directly applicable value, and do not, as the authors sup-
pose, settle in the main the absolute amounts of the rates
of growth and production, the tables illustrate very well
the nature of the problem and give an idea of the relative
values. They also contain much of interest to the forester
and lumberman. The latter will especially welcome those
tables which exhibit the percentages of merchantable timber
at various ages, the length of lumber, the proportion of
sapwood and the contents of standing trees of different
diameters.

We are glad that the era of technical forestry literature
under private editorship seems to be fairly started by this
publication, and hope that our criticisms will only serve to

250

increase the interest in the same and lead to further efforts

in similar directions. ;
Forestry Division, Washington, D, C. B. i. Fer now,

Notes.

On St. Mary’s, one of the Scilly islands, whose flower-farms
furnish the supplies for the London market, it is reported that
goo,co0 Narcissus bulbs alone were planted this year. St.
Mary’s is but nine miles in circumference.

A correspondent of the London Garden speaks of the beauty
of a mass of Rhododendron Vaseyi which was flowering in the
Azalea garden at Kew. When it is remembered that this plant
was discovered only ten years ago the record that it has already
made on both continents as a good shrub is quite remarkable.
There is reason to hope that by hybridizing it with other spe-
cies a new race of early-flowering Azaleas will be established.

A preliminary meeting of citizens of New York interested in
tree-planting in the residence portions of the city was held
May 22d, and it was proposed to regularly organize the asso-
ciation and elect officers on Thursday, June 25th, at 3.30 P. M.,
in the rooms of the Wool Club. Mayor Strong has consented
to the use of his name for President, and many well-known
citizens have signified their intention to become members. The
annual dues of the society will not exceed $5 00, and the receipts
will be used to publish pamphlets and in disseminating in-
formation to the public on the best methods of planting shade-
trees on streets, the best sorts for this purpose, etc. Applica-
tion for membership may be made to Cornelius B, Mitchell,
64 and 66 White Street, this city.

Peppers, eggplants and muskmelons, grown under glass by
students in the Department of Horticulture, Cornell University,
were on sale in New York last Saturday, along with the same
vegetables grown in the open in southern states. The peppers
were extra-large, firm and crisp, and brought seventy-five
cents a dozen, those from Florida and Louisiana realizing
twenty-five to fifty cents. The melons, while small, were of
good substance and excellent flavor, and commanded forty to
fifty cents, those from the south bringing fifteen to thirty-five
cents each. Owing to the continuous supply of southern egg-
plants during the winter and spring, their abundance during
the past fortnight, and the consequent lack of novelty, the egg-
plants found almost no demand ; those from Florida cost ten
to twenty cents each.

Seven hundred and seventy-five members have already
enrolled themselves in the Audubon Society established afew
weeks ago in Boston and already commended in these
columns. The object of the society is to preserve our native
birds by discouraging the use of their feathers in personal
decoration. Among the vice-presidents of the society are the
senior Senator of Massachusetts, the President of the Massa-
chusetts Historical Society, the President of the Massachusetts
Society for Promoting Agriculture, and many other well-known
citizens and a numberof women distinguished for their artistic
and social attainments. Any one can become a member of
the society by agreeing not to purchase or wear the feathers
of wild birds and paying $1.00. The Secretary, to whom all
communications should be addressed, is Miss Harriet E. Rich-
ards, Boston Society of Natural History, Boston. There are
no annual dues.

At the meeting of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs
recently held in Louisville, Kentucky, the following resolution
was adopted: Resolved, that whereas there is nothing of more
paramount importance to the welfare of state and nation than
the preservation and economic development of our national
resources, and whereas it is everywhere apparent that the
wicked and wasteful destruction of our forest cover is a direct
robbery of these resources and should be checked by every
measure both of private endeavor and of legislative enact-
ment, and whereas it is self-evident that if these threatening
conditions are realized and public sentiment aroused an incal-
culable benefit would be conferred on our entire nation, be it
resolved that, as federations of women's clubs and as indi-
vidual clubs, as far as possible we pledge ourselves to take up
the study of forest conditions and resources and to further the
highest interests of our several states in these respects. This
measure, presented by members whose intelligent interestand
energy have already definitely furthered forestry work in sev-
eral states, was ordered printed and circulated among the 1,500
clubs in the Federation in the United States, and it is pro-
posed to follow up this beginning with pamphlets and lectures,

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 434.

The market for string-beans last week is said to have been
the poorest of any in the experience of produce dealers in this
city. The enormous quantity of nearly 65,000 packages was
received, many of which were barrels. The remarkably low
price of thirty to fifty cents a barrel prevailed on Monday, and
with stock coming in faster than it could be disposed of from
North and South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey,
any offer sufficient to cover the cost of freight was accepted
later in the week. Twenty to twenty-five cents became the
rate for Norfolk shipments, and those from North and South
Carolina, less fresh, owing to the longer journey, brought but
ten to fifteen cents a barrel, not enough to make good the cost
of transportation. Many thousands of barrels were placed in
cold storage, but the experiment is hardly likely to prove profit-
able, as on the first indication of better prices fresh stock
will be hurried in from Maryland and New Jersey fields. There
is also a surplus of cabbages, cucumbers, tomatoes and other
vegetables. This condition iscaused by the prolonged drought
in the south and consequent delay in the maturing of crops,
so that the southern produce is now coming in at the same
time with vegetables from near-by states. On last Friday
15,000 bushels of cucumbers reached this city, and these sold
for forty to seventy-five cents a bushel. On the same day 7,000
bushels of tomatoes were received, which realized but seventy-
five cents a bushel at wholesale.

Red currants, from Maryland, on Saturday sold for fifteen
cents a pound, and raspberries, also the first of the season,
brought ten cents for a pint of the black fruit and fifteen cents
for a cup holding a third of a quart of the more delicate red
berries. Huckleberries, from North Carolina, have been quite
plentiful, and so have blackberries from the same state and trom
Maryland and Delaware, costing eighteen centsa quart. Straw-
berries from Maryland and Delaware are becoming scarce, and
some of the best varieties from New Jersey, like the Gandys,
have passed out of season. The dry weather in April and
early May caused short crops in this state, and most of
the berries are small. Some fancy strawberries from Hilton
and Irvington-on-the-Hudson were in special demand last
Saturday. They were extremely large, of rich color and
lustre, and with choice specimens of the variety known
as Mary, from Essex County, New Jersey, brought sixty-five
to seventy-five cents a quart. Prices ranged from fifteen to
twenty cents for small, ordinary fruit, twenty-five to thirty
cents being an average price for good fruit. Supplies have
been coming from western New York insmall lots until last Sat-
urday, when the refrigerator-car service began, insuring a fair
supply for this week. Watermelons, from Georgia, are already
plentiful and cheap enough to be common on fruit-stands
and in greengrocery stores in the poorer sections of the
city, anu the largest selected melons can be bought for
forty to fifty cents. Thirty car-loads arrived here during last
week.

We have spoken before of the damage the extreme cold
weather in western New York last winter did to fruits. A cor-
respondent of Zhe Agriculturis¢, writing from Genesee County,
where there are tens of thousands of trees of the Duchess
Pear, says that most of the older dwarf trees escaped with little
injury, though many were killed. They flowered, but the
bloom was sickly and the pears failed to set. The foliage is
now withering and adventitious buds have started out on the
large limbs and trunks until they are in some cases almost
covered with leaves. Within a year or two past many of these
old Duchess trees have been grafted with Clairgeau, which is
less liable to disease, but probably seventy-five per cent. of the
grafted trees are killed to within two or three inches of the
ground. Trees of Bartlett, Howell, Anjou and Seckel show
healthy foliage, but are carrying no crop. They have proved
their ability, at least, to endure cold that kills the Duchess and
Clairgeau. From a half to two-thirds of the Peach-trees of all
varieties are dead. Green Gage and German Prunes show a
few blossoms, the other varieties not one, while on Coe’s
Golden Drop, Bavay, and even the old Damson, much of the
wood is killed. Half of the trees of the sweet varieties of
Cherries are already dead. The old sour Morello bloomed
and a small crop set. Among the Grapes, the inferior Clinton
is unhurt. Worden, Cottage and Martha are very little injured,
while Duchess, Prentiss, Jefferson and Victoria seem dead to
the root. A vine of the Lindley, which seems to have been one
of the writer’s favorites, was destroyed, with the exception of
one branch which lay on a roof and was covered with snow.
This is now making pew wood. Altogether, this shows that
fruit which will endure climates where the mercury often falls
to ten, and occasionally to fitteen degrees below zero, cannot
endure such a degree of cold as thirty degrees below,

JUNE 24, 1896.]

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrick: 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, JUNE 24, 1896.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

EpirortaL ARTICLE :—Hitch your Wagon to a Star.... ee sees eee e eens ence ee eee eee 251
Forms of Some European Coniters.—l..... -- Dr. H, Christ, 252
Plant Names of Indian Origin.—I ............-..eee eee eees W.R. Gerard. 252
ForEIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—Rhododendrons and Azaleas William Goldring. 253
IPPANT: NOTES. co eics, cede! sieled.e,d waelataie)s soit soe siejaie(s anes cidjainn n'a eceanisis anes @isaneeias 254

New or LittL&-KNoWN PLANTS :—_Clematis Suksdorfii. (With figure.).......... 255
Cutrurat DeparTMENT :—Notes from the Herbaceous Border...... R. Cameron. 255
The Rock Garden.. : T. D. Hatfield. 256

..W.H. Taplin. 257
WN. Craig. 257

Clerodendrons...
Strawberries.
CorReSPONDENCE :—A Garden of Single Roses .
Climbers and other Plants in Northampto
Pyrus coronaria.......-+s-eseeeeeeee ee Rev. LE. F. Hill. 258
MEETINGS oF SocieTIEs :—The So-called Exhaus Shy abandSs.sigesss 259
INGLES Sess iclteie cca ce's aia(eisis ou isicisien'e(aie cinisie cji=/elslelsint=.« cies rininiseseiase eai=s .o0se,si\eces ai 260
ILLUSTRATION -—Clematis' Suksdorfii, Figs 36...esii seccecccesccescssbeescdsecenes 255

tward F. Canning. 258

Hitch your Wagon to a Star.

OLONEL WARING may not have remembered this
counsel of Emerson when he set out to clean the
streets of New York; but he certainly began with a lofty
aim, and of this the city was reminded in a striking way
a few days since when his well-disciplined force of men
and horses marched down Fifth Avenue under the eyes of
applauding thousands and were ceremoniously reviewed
by the Mayor. It was a remarkable spectacle when one
imagined how impossible the mere idea of a ‘“Street-
cleaners’ Parade” would have seemed two short years ago,
and what one would have seen-had the men and the carts
and the horses of that time filed by in procession. It was
an inspiring sight when it was recalled through what a
storm of distrust and abuse Colonel Waring had to make
his way when he proposed to turn politics out of his de-
partment, and especially when he put his men into uni-
forms—and white uniforms at that. The banner bearing
the prosaic legend, “ Four Hundred and Twenty Miles of
Streets Cleaned Every Day,” had an air of poetry to all who
realized that those miles had really been cleaned, and be-
yond this one accomplished fact there stretched before the
imagination unbounded possibilities of municipal improve-
ment and refinement along a hundred hitherto untrodden
paths.

Our streets are not yet as clean as streets should be;
but the fault does not rest with the chief or with the men in
white uniforms. It lies partly with our rough and ill-kept
pavements, and partly with the untidy habits of our people.
Therefore the astonishment with which our people beheld

‘the manly-looking men, the well-bred, dignified officers,
the neat, brightly painted carts and the well-groomed
horses, which now are thought none too good for the
humblest kind of municipal service, drove home a doubly
significant lesson. Our people were taught respect for
municipal work of every kind—for every sort of civic ser-
vice ; and let us hope, at least, they were taught that they
should try to help the actual servants of the city in the
prosecution of their tasks. Especially hopeful, from this
point of view, was the presence in the parade of the school
children, girls as well as boys, who have banded them-
selves together to keep watch over the cleanliness of our

Garden and Forest.

251

streets. For, it hardly needs saying that it is easier to train
up children to be moral, in public as in private ways, than
to reform the immorality of adults.

Colonel Waring aimed high when he insisted upon
securing the best workmen to be had, put responsible
educated men in control of them, and supplied his depart-
ment with the best tools of every sort. Therefore
the clean white uniforms on parade were not grotesque,
but made an impressive and an instructive sight. The
lessons thus taught do not hold good for New York
alone, or for great cities alone. The spirit shown by the
head of the Street-cleaning Department here should animate
every city official all over the land, every town officer and
every selectman or village ruler under whatever name.
The intensely practical American people possess a deep
vein of idealism. They are too busy to give much heed to
its murmurs, but once a strong enough appeal is made,
they respond with surprising alacrity. Our dump-cart has
been hitched to a star, and so we are growing proud of our
street-cleaners and more sensitive in regard to other munici-
pal matters. Already the laborer has learned that a city’s
uniform is not a badge of slavery or inferiority, but, like a
nation’s uniform, a sign of respectability and honorable
office. Looking at these white uniforms, the people under-
stand that even a street-sweeper can be pleasant to be-
hold, and that no servant of the public should be allowed
to present himself before the public untidy. With the chil-
dren to help us, we shall soon blush for our ill-kept pave-
ments, shall grow ashamed to litter our streets with papers,
shall take better care of our doorsteps and yards.

What a huge and hurried and overpopulated and neces-
sarily dirt-amassing city like New York can do, and what
its overbusy people can learn, surely may be done and
learned in those country towns and little villages where
the conditions are infinitely more favorable and the people
are far less severely taxed in body andin mind. It is much
easier to hitch the car of cleanliness, orderliness and beauty
to a star in the country than in the town. Efforts to reach
the highest ideal should be earnest and unrelaxing, but
they are not worthy of the name if they are prosecuted in
a hurry, or superficially. The aim should be the loftiest,
but if workers are few and resources small, the field may
well be limited. It is better to make one street as orderly
and beautiful as possible than to putter about a dozen
streets in an irregular, futile way. It is better to put a sin-
gle little park or square into perfect condition than to make
a couple of new paths and set out a few new trees and
shrubs in every open space in the town. It is better to
choose a single fine young tree of an appropriate sort, to
plant it in the very best way, and to tend it carefully, than
to choose a hundred carelessly, plant them cheaply and
give them scant attention. It is better to cultivate a single
Rose-bush lovingly than to fill a whole border with Rose-
bushes and then neglect and starve them.

If the good taste of our people and their habits as to
cleanliness and order are to be judged by the quality and
care of their public buildings, public streets and public
grounds we certainly need a good deal of education in this
direction. The great proportion of our municipal and state
buildings have little artistic value, their walls are scribbled
over by idlers, and they are generally defaced, dirty and
ill-kept. Few people ever think that it is a mark of untidi-
ness to throw paper and other litter into the public streets.
Indeed, most people toss rubbish of all sorts into the high-
ways as if they were built as a receptacle for refuse. Unless
watched by policemen, visitors in public parks too often
break offarmfuls of flowers and shrubs, walk on the grass
borders where paths are provided, and never think that as
part-owners of the place they ought to do as much to pro-
tect and beautify it as they would to their own private
grounds. The object-lesson of clean streets here and the
league of children to save them from becoming a dump-
ing-ground for all that is unclean marks an era in our
municipal history. It is not too much to expect that with
such examples here and the work of village-improvement

252

societies all over the country the time will come when any
one who willfully defaces a public building or litters up a
public place will be looked upon as a criminal. Most
surely, any one who does not respect the rights of society
stands in the attitude of a public enemy. Society certainly
has the right to demand that its highways and public
grounds shall be kept clean and wholesome. One who is
willfully guilty of the unspeakable nuisance which may fill
the air with microbes of consumption and other diseases
as surely deserves punishment as one who willfully pollutes
the city water-supply.

Forms of Some European Conifers.—-I.

HE Spruce, Picea excelsa, appears on the Swiss Alps

in several remarkable forms which are not, strictly
speaking, varieties, but peculiarities of development of the
trunk or of the branches. I do not know if American den-
drologists have observed analogous modifications in the
Spruces which inhabit North America, but this subject
would certainly be worth investigating.

As is well known, the normal form of the European
Spruce has branches obliquely ascending or horizontal,
with spreading branchlets. Among the trees of this’ type
may be found, especially on steep declivities, a pendulous
form with pendent branches and long, slightly branched,
very slender branchlets descending vertically and giving
to the tree the aspect of a Weeping Willow.

In another form, the pyramidal, the branches ascend at
narrow angles, giving to the tree the habit of the fastigiate
Cypress or of the Lombardy Poplar. Another special form
is the strigosa, with very numerous slender horizontal
branches furnished with numerous branchlets spreading
from all sides of the branch. This form resembles the
Larch in habit, often in a most remarkable manner.

A form which is rare in the Alps, but common in the
north of Norway and Finland, near the northern limits of
the range of the species, is columnaris. In this form the tree
is small and feeble, with short tufted branches which form
anarrow column. The Swedish botanists consider that this
diminutive form is due to the effects of the early and severe
cold of the winter which checks the growth of the branches.
I only know this form in our Alps by a note and figure in
the Journal Suisse a’ Economie Foreshire (1896, Number 4),
but in this instance it is only the upper part of the tree
which assumes the columnar form, while the lower part
presents the ordinary aspect. Individual Spruce and Fir
trees (Abies pectinata) often occur on the Alps of columnar
habit, but these are usually large trees whose branches have
been shortened by the attacks of insects.

Another form of the Spruce produced by exterior influ-
ence is the Nana, whichis always striking from its regular
pyramidal habit with short, slender, tufted branches, which
have the appearance of having been trimmed by one of
Louis the XIV.’s gardeners. Such trees are rarely more than
six feet high, and their dwarf habit is due simply to the
browsing of goats or of chamois, whichin winter are fre-
quently driven to food of this sort.

The inhabitants of the Alps distinguish by special names
(Géants, Epicéas Protecteurs, Epicéas de Tempéte, etc.)
the individual trees which, near the upper limit of the
forest, often stand alone in open pastures, where they
frequently grow to an enormous size and from time imme-
morial have sheltered cattle and their guards from tem-
pests.

The form furcata, with a trunk divided usually five or six
feet above the surface of the ground into two or three stems,
is not rare; but the most curious form is that which I shall
call stolonifera. I have seen it only once in a park near
Geneva, where there is a group of large trees growing on
a gentle slope, with their long lower branches on the
ground. Ata considerable distance from the trunk these
branches have rooted and produced saplings which have
already grown to considerable size, one branch even
repeating this phenomenon a second time at a considera-

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 435.

ble distance from the first point of rooting. This remark-
able development, which resembles the growth of a Straw-
berry-plant from astolon, has not been produced artificially,
but is entirely natural, and the trees which are already old
afford one of the most curious spectacles imaginable.

ff. Christ.

Bale, Switzerland.

Plant Names of Indian Origin.—I.

N a manuscript dictionary of North American plant
names, of which I began the compilation many years
ago at the suggestion of Dr. Gray, and which has reached
voluminous proportions, there are many strange words,
some of foreign and others of American origin, the mean-
ing of which is not generally known. Many of these words
have found their way into recent dictionaries, some unac-
companied with any explanation, while the etymology
assigned to others is entirely erroneous. Among the unex-
plained native plant names there figure in considerable
number words of aboriginal origin, which are invariably
marked in dictionaries as ‘ North American Indian,” a very
vague statement in view of the fact that within the limits of
the United States alone there are represented fifty-eight dis-
tinct stocks or families of Indian languages that differ as
radically from each other as they do from the Aryan or
Semitic families. Of these linguistic stocks, the Algonkin,
which occupied a much more extensive area than any
other, has given us the majority of the plant names that are
really of aboriginal origin (for all that are thus specified in
dictionaries are not Indian). Next in point of numbers
come names derived from the Aztec through Spanish ; then
those borrowed from the Carib dialects of the Greater and
Lesser Antilles; then a few from South American Indian
languages ; and, finally, one or two each from the Timu-
cuan, Muskhogean, Siouan, Salishan,Chinookan, Shahaptian,
Shoshonean and Wakashan families of the southern and
western states.

To The Sun (New York) of June 30th, 1895, I contributed
an article on the words that have been introduced into
English from the Indian languages of North America.
These words were divided into three categories: (1) Ani-
mal Names, (2) Plant Names, and (3) Miscellaneous Words.
Of most of the words of the first and third classes I gave
translations, but of the plant names I offered merely a bare
list, with the intention of elaborating this part of the sub-
ject at some time in the future and in some journal where
the matter would meet the eye of those who are familiar
with plants and their popular names, and to whom the
subject is of more interest than it is to the general public.

I present the list, thus amplified, herewith, premising
that a study of this kind is attended with considerable diff-
culty. Were there but a single family of Indian languages,
the interpretation of any given word, unless it were a de-
rivative from an archaic root of lost or uncertain meaning,
would, after a study of the different dialects, be compara-
tively easy. But such being far from the case, and our
Indian-English plant names having been borrowed from
different linguistic sources, it becomes necessary in the
first place to find out as nearly as possible where they
originated (not always an easy matter), and then to ascer-
tain the language now or formerly spoken in the locality ;
otherwise one might be led into gross error, for there are,
perhaps, few Indian linguistic families that do not contain
in their vocabulary words similar in sound (and in form
when written) to words in another and entirely distinct
language. Thus, to give but a single example, Wahoo is a
Dakota (Siouan) name for a certain tree, another Wahoo is
a Muscogee (Muskohegean) name for a tree also, while
still another word, Wahoo, is the Micmac (Algonkin) name
for an egg.

Having traced the word to the place of its origin and to
the language to which it belongs, we may find, as in fact
we sometimes do, that the language is extinct and has left
behind it but meagre traces of its vocabulary, or that it has
not as yet been sufficiently studied, radically and gram-
matically, to permit of an analysis of its words. Numerous

——_ ee ey

JUNE 24, 1896.]

examples of such cases will be found in the following list.
Much is gained, however, if the word has been properly
assigned to the language to which it belongs.

Another difficulty is due to orthography, especially that
used by the colonists, who, through a mishearing or mis-
apprehension of the strange sounds of a strange language,
wrote the same word in various forms, thus rendering its
interpretation a question of the ear rather than of the eye.
Good examples of this are afforded by the words Persim-
mon and Hickory.

The following list is, perhaps, not complete. I have
omitted from it a few words that are found in books and
are thought to be Indian (apparently for no other reason
than that they are not English), but which require further
study. Ina study of North American plant names, it must
not be forgotten that this country was settled by people of
various nationalities, who naturally applied to our plants
names derived from their own language. Among the
numerous examples of such names may be mentioned
Farkleberry, Fetterbush and Tupelo, a word that has
always been thought to be Indian. Some of these foreign
words have been so badly corrupted by English-speaking
people as to be unrecognizable at first sight. As examples
of such words I may mention Bilsted, Bonsemkrenia, Lash-
Horn, Snargel, Sangrel, Klimmeth, etc. It must not be
thought, then, that a word of uncouth appearance which
is not English, and which apparently does not belong to any
European language, is naturally North American Indian.

Amote (Chlorogalum pomeridianum).—A name trans-
ferred to the plant from that of a saponaceous pulp which
is formed by bruising. the alkaline and mucilaginous bulb,
and which is used for washing clothes.
amolli, or hamoli, the Aztec name for soap.

Atamasco (Zephyranthes Atamasco).—‘ The Indians in
Virginia do call it Attamusco” (Parkinson, Paradisus, p. 87).
The word means “stained with red,” and alludes to the
color of the flowers.

Camass (Camassia Fraseri).—A Chinook Jargon word,
with variants: Camas, Cammas, Quamash and Quamish.
The name is from Nootka (Wakashan) chamassish, “sweet-
tasted,” alluding to the saccharine taste of the bulb when
cooked.

CancHaLacua (Erythraea venusta), and also a general
name for the various species of the genus in California, as
well as in Panama, Ecuador and Chili. The name isa
Spanish corruption of Araucanian (Chilian), cachan-lahuen,
meaning “ pleurisy herb.” :

Casuaw, or CusHaw (Cucurbita verrucosa).—The “Cu-
shaws,” says Beverly (Aust. Virginia, ed. 1705, p. 27), “are
a kind of Pompion, of a bluish green color, streaked with
white, when they are fit for use. They are larger than the
Pompions, and have a long narrow neck.” Beverly adds
that ‘‘perhaps this may be the Ecushaw of J. Hariot”; and
Dr. J. H. Trumbull (Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, vi., 71) remarks
that “in Hariot’s Virginia the name [Cushaw] is: given as
Ecushaw.” But these references are erroneous, since no
such word as Ecushaw occurs in Hariot’s Briefe and true
reporl of the new found land of Virginia (1585).. _Neverthe-
less, in order to account for the name Cashaw, or Cushaw;
we must suppose the former existence of the Virginian
(Algonkin) word ecushaw, or escushaw (properly askushaw ;
Cree, askisiw), which would mean “it is green,” ‘‘ unripe” ;
from the same root as the word Squash, g. v. Bartlett
- (Dict. of Americamsms) notes that the word is sometimes
spelled Kershaw.

CassEna (Ilex vomitoria) —From cassiné (as spelled by the
French explorers of Florida in the sixteenth century), a
name in the language of the Timucua Indians (a family
long ago extinct) for an exhilarating beverage prepared
from the leaves of the plant. The word has the appearance
of having been borrowed, and modified by a prefix and
suffix, from the Muscogee name é@ssz, “ leaves,” abbreviated
from éssi lupiiski, ‘little leaves.” The Timucua borrowed
several terms from the Muskhogean dialects.

New York, W. R. Gerard.

Garden and Forest.

The word is from |

253

Foreign Correspondence.

Rhododendrons and Azaleas.

HE Rhododendrons are now at their highest state of
perfection, and for many years there has not been
such a profusion of bloom as this season, doubtless owing
to the dry and warm summer of last year, which conduced
to the formation of flower-buds instead of the growth of the
plants. The public gardens and parks about London are
brilliant with Rhododendrons and Azaleas, and especially
Hyde Park, where, each year, a special feature is made of
the finest specimens of the best sorts from the famous Knap
Hill nurseries, in Surrey. This year Azaleas and Rhodo-
dendrons have mingled in bloom in a remarkable way, for
generally Azaleas are past their best before the Rhododen-
drons are fairly out. One hears divided opinions as to
their respective merits, and popular favor leans decidedly
toward Azaleas now that the great number of varieties
show so many subile shades in their brilliant tints. But,
really, they should not be compared with each other, and
it is best to separate them, as is done at Kew, where in the
Azalea garden one can only havea distant glimpse of the
Rhododendrons. This principle should be followed whether
planting on a large or small scale. This week I was one
of the multitude who visited the famous Knap Hill nur-
series, where the display of Rhododendrons excels that to
be seen anywhere else in England. Here many acres of
these American plants make a sea of bloom, the variety and
brilliancy of which form a scene of indescribable beauty.
Each year I think it quite the most impressive floral sight I
have seen anywhere. But I went to Knap Hill especially
to see the novelties that are sure to appear each season in
such a vast collection, where systematic hybridizing is car-
ried out thoroughly. Having regard to the multitude of
splendid named varieties the standard of perfection is neces-
sarily a high one with Mr. Anthony Waterer. Every seed-
ling that does not.conform to his ideal is rejected, although
many persons might regard some of the rejected seedlings
worthy of a name on account of the color or some excep-
tionally fine feature. In his opinion the perfect Rhododen-
dron must first of all be of good constitution, with large
and broad foliage, which he generally secures by breeding
from the Catawbiense type. The flower-truss must be
massive and a perfect cone and the flowers large, of per-
fect form and with short foot-stalks,-so as to hold them-
selves together and not be injured by wind orrain. Then,
if the seedling conforms to all these conditions and proves
itself distinct in color from any known named variety it is
given aname. Toany one with a less fastidious taste than
Mr. Waterer there are at least a score of new seedlings that
are well worthy of a name, but probably only a fourth of
that number will be so distinguished, and the others will be
sold as unnamed seedlings. ‘Two of the seedlings were
named on the day-of my visit. These were G. A. Sims and
Nancy Waterer. The first is quite the most brilliant hybrid
Rhododendron I have seen, and is almost of the same tint
as the original R. arboreum. | It is almost needless to state
that it has high qualities in size of truss and flower and
luxuriant foliage. ‘Its color stands out the most striking
among a thousand others. The Nancy Waterer variety, on
the other hand, is remarkable for delicacy of tint, and is,
perhaps, now the finest of the white and spotted-flowered
class.. It has a huge truss, and the immense flat flowers
show spreading petals of a pure warm white, the upper
petal adorned with a large and conspicuous blotch of rufous
tint. Both these superb varieties will, no doubt, be dis-
tributed this season. A seedling will probably be selected
to be named Persimmon, after the winner of this year’s
Derby, it being Mr. Waterer’s invariable custom to name a
Rhododendron after the winner of this classic race. It is a
good practice, as it fixes the date of a new variety. I be-
lieve the only exception to this custom was the year when
the horse Common won the Derby. It was, perhaps,
thought that the name might be misconstrued.
Passing from the seedling-ground we were showed about

254

in the general collection, and it would be a difficult task
to mention all the splendid sorts that fixed my attention
there. A few first-class kinds which Mr. Waterer named
as peculiarly adapted to gardens in America were Mrs. C.
S. Sargent, one of the loveliest of all varieties, best described
as a pink Everestianum, as it partakes of all the good quali-
ties of that sort; F. L. Ames, Mrs. S. Simpson, Mrs. Hun-
newell, Mrs. Price Lade, Lady Gray Egerton, Mrs. R. S.
Holford, Sigismund Rucker, Sappho, J. Marshall Brooks,
Martin H. Sutton, Marchioness of Lansdowne, H. W. Sar-
gent, H. H. Hunnewell, Harry Veitch, C. S. Sargent. The
last named isin bud this week, and is valuable on account
of its lateness.

The seedling Azaleas, to the crossing andraising of which
Mr. Waterer has given so much time and care of late years,
are wonderful, all the more so, considering the scanty
material that has been worked upon. In size of flower
they rival the Rhododendrons, while for exquisite and
subtle shades of tint they are beyond description. One
sees the most fiery scarlets, the richest yellows, the purest
whites, and every gradation of color between these
extremes. Unfortunately, none of these seedlings can be
described individually by name, as Mr. Waterer is even
more reserved in naming the Azaleas than the Rhododen-
drons. Only a few of extraordinary merit are so distin-
guished. So many worthless old varieties are named that
all but those having the highest qualities are sent out simply
as Knap Hill Azaleas. Iam inclined to think that some sorts
of exceptional merit will receive names this year, especially
some of the very large flat-flowered forms, and a new type
of double-flowered sorts that I saw for the first time. One
of these has a dense cluster of clear pink flowers on long
branches that recall at once some of the finer sorts of
double-flowered ivy-leaved Pelargoniums. These double
flowers last so long and carry their blooms so well that
they are especially adapted for cutting, and will some day
be a valuable addition to market florists for cut flowers.

At Kew and a few other places this year a great feature
among Rhododendrons has been the new race of hybrids
that have sprung from the Fortunei type. They afford a
a new phase of beauty as regards form of flower and color,
but do not conform in truss with the standard fixed for the
other race. The flowers have long foot stalks and loose
trusses, and therefore cannot hold themselves up in rough
weather. They are, nevertheless, a decided gain, and it is
only a matter of time to remedy the defects if careful selec-
tion and crossing is persevered in. At Kew some of these
hybrids have been lovely, particularly those recently
named Mrs. Thiselton Dyer and F. Thiselton Dyer. Accord-
ing to Mr. Watson they are the result of intercrossing R.
Fortunei and R. Thomsoni. They are of luxuriant growth
and have large trusses of widely open flowers, ranging
from a blush white to a deep rosy red, and invariably a
conspicuous blotch of carmine on the upper petal and a
blotch of deeper hue at the base of the corolla. Mr. George
Paul, of the Cheshunt Rose nursery, has been working at these
hybrids in the same direction, and he has produced some
remarkable ones which may in time become first-rate varie-
ties. JI do not think these will be suitable for America,
except in the western and southern states, as they flower
much earlier than the Catawbiense and other hybrids.

Roses. —The long spell of drought and heat has retarded
the opening of buds’on Roses, and the plants have had a
hard struggle with insect pests, but there is one race of
Roses that seems to defy these drawbacks and is on the
high tide of beauty. These are the Ramanas Rose hybrids,
Rosa rugosa, and no flowers are more delightful at Kew
this week. Two of the Continental varieties are flowering
profusely. One is a pure double white named Coubert. It
is much like R. rugosa in habit of foliage, more dwarf and
bushy, while every shoot carries a cluster of deliciously
scented flowers of the purest white. The other variety is
Belle Poitévine, which is like Coubert in habit, but the
semidouble flowers are carmine-purple and scented. These
are first-rate garden Roses, as they continue a long time in

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 435.

bloom. Two other hybrids are quite distinct from the lat-
ter in growth, as they tend rather to a rambling habit and
long shoots. These are the Dawson and Mrs. A. Waterer.
The Dawson has pale rosy pink flowers in profusion all
along its spreading slender shoots. Mrs. A. Waterer is a
cross between R. rugosa and General Jacqueminot, and
was raised some years ago by Mr. A. Waterer, Jr., at Knap
Hill. It is a spreading grower, and every shoot is densely
wreathed with double flowers of a deep crimson and pos-
sesses a most powerful perfume. These two Roses are
unquestionably among the finest we have for planting in
places where they can spread about in a free way. All
who see them are charmed with them. I wrote last week
about Paul’s Carmine Pillar Rose, which is the finest early
variety I know, the profusion of large, single, brilliant
crimson flowers being highly effective. It is still in perfec-
tion, and is associated this week with Crimson Rambler,
which bids fair to become one of the commonest garden
Roses. Every garden should include this half dozen Roses.

We are having a glorious season for trees and shrubs,
and some Magnolias have never been finer in this country.
We are now enjoying the grand American species, M. tri-
petala and M. Fraseri, both noble trees in or out of
flower. The aromatic fragrance of these two Magnolias
and of M. glauca perfumes the Azalea garden at Kew. The
most remarkable flowering shrubs at Kew this week are
the dwarf Leguminosea, Cytisus scoparius Andreana,
quite the most beautiful of its tribe, and in splendid condi-
tion this year. There are two new hybrid Cytisus raised
at Kew worthy of special notice. One has been named C.
Kewensis. It is a cross between C. Ardoini and C. alba,

_and is quite intermediate between those species as regards

the flower, which is about the size of that of C. alba and
pale yellow in color. It is distinct from either in habit,
being quite prostrate, and spreading on the ground. There
is a mass a yard across, and the flowers are so profuse that
the foliage, which is trifoliate, is hidden. This is a valuable
acquisition among dwarf shrubs for the rock garden, or on
any position where its slender shoots can fall over a ledge
to display the graceful growth of the plant. Another form
of it from the same cross differs in the much deeper yellow

and rufous color of its blossoms. Sty S
Kew. Witham Goldring.

Plant Notes.

Styrax GRANDIFOLIA.—The so-called large-leaved Styrax,
although a native shrub, is rarely seen in American gar-
dens. Itis a first-class ornamental plant and should be
better known. It has recently been in blossom in the
Meehan nurseries in Germantown, Pennsylvania, and its
white flowers are well set off by the large and generally
obovate leaves, which are green above and soft gray and
downy beneath. The blossoms are borne on elongated
racemes and they open successively from the base toward
the tip, so that flowers near the apex are still opening long
after those first expanded have fallen. It is a large, vigor-
ous shrub when well grown, sometimes attaining ten or
twelve feet in height, but it only reaches its best develop-
ment in the southern states, where itis most at home. Al-
though it will grow wellin many places where the climate
isnot much more severe than at Philadelphia, it is not likely
to thrive much farther north than New York, and is not gen-
erally considered hardy in New England.

Sryrax AMERICANA is more dwarf and more hardy than
S. grandifolia and will live and flower a good deal farther
north. It flowers at the same time asS. grandifolia. The
pure white flowers are open, bell-shaped, pendulous, soli-
tary, or in very short and few-flowered racemes, and they
havea faint but distinct and sweet fragrance. The leaves are
small, or from one-third to one-half the size of those ofS. gran-
difolia, and they are green and smooth or nearly smooth on
both surfaces. The habit of the plant is open, and it will
thrive as far north as Massachusetts without protection in
winter, although it is not found wild north of Virginia.

el ee!

Vee ee ae

JuNE 24, 1896.]

PHELLODENDRON AMURENSE.—This tree, which in general
appearance resembles the Ailanthus, and is almost as rapid
a grower, has proved itself desirable for street-planting. It
is especially valuable for the southern and western states.
Insects do not appear to attack it, probably owing to the
rank balsamic odor of the sap. The leaves, which are pin-
nate, with a terminal leaflet, sometimes attain a length of
more than three feet. The trees are dicecious, and the fruit,
which is freely produced when the sexes are in close prox-
imity, is small and borne in clusters, which are almost
black when ripe. Phellodendron amurense is also known
as the Chinese Cork-tree. It is perfectly hardy about Phila-
delphia and as far north as central Massachusetts.

Fig. 36.—Clematis Sulcsdorfii.

1. A flowering branch, natural size. 2. A flower, natural size.

New or Little-known Plants.
Clematis Suksdorfii.

HIS little-known Clematis of the Flammula section
resembles in habit and foliage the widely distributed

and variable Clematis ligusticifolia, the western representa-
tive of our common eastern Virgin’s Bower. From Cle-
matis ligusticifolia it appears to differ in its much smaller

-and fewer-fruited carpels, the ripe heads being not more

than an inch in diameter, including the curling tails. The
leaves are quinate, with glabrous leaflets from an inch to
an inch and a half in length, and the spreading or reflexed
white sepals are coated with pubescence on the lower
surface.

Garden and Forest.

3. A fruiting carpel, natural size.

255

Clematis Suksdorfii (see illustration on this page) was
first distinguished by Mr. W. N. Suksdorf, who found
it in July, 1881, on the banks of the Klickitat River, in
Washington.*

Cultural Department.

Notes from the Herbaceous Border.

EMEROCALLIS DUMORTIERL isa distinct, free-growing,
ornamental, hardy perennial. It is more floriferous

than H. flava, although, perhaps, the flowers are not quite so
pleasing in color. It grows fast in a suitable position, and
small plants obtained a few years ago are now two feet in

4. A head of fruits, natural size.

diameter. One of these plants has just borne seventy Hower-
scapes. H. Dumortieri has long, narrow, tapering deep g green
leaves, measuring eighteen inches or slightly more in leng eth.
The numerous flower-scapes are nearly erect, about two feet
in length, and they comprise three or four fowers. The indi-
vidual flowers are of good size, orange-yellow and tinged with
brown on the outside, Like all other De ay Lilies, the flowers
are ephemeral, but they open in succession and the scapes do
notall blossom atthesame time. The flowers lack the fragrance
of those of H. flava. Itisa fast grower, and for large speci-
mens the plants should not be crowded. A fairly rich soil,
and not too much shade, suits it well. This Day Lily is a
native of Japan and eastern Siberia. It is also known by the
specific names rutilans and Sieboldii. H. flava has blossomed

* Robinson, Syx. Fl. N. Am.,i., pt. i.,

41 (1895).

256

well this year, and its large, clear yellow fragrant flowers are
conspicuous at a considerable distance.

Some of the Pentstemons are beautiful now. The more
tender species are unsatisfactory when grown all the year
through in the border, Theysucceed the first year after being
raised from seed, but if left in the border during winter the
plants are weak in the spring and do not grow satisfactorily
the second year. However, many of them will stand lifting in
the fall, and they keep well in a cold frame during the winter.
Whenever the ground is suitable for working in spring they
can be planted in the border again, where they soon begin to
grow. Other beautiful tender species make stronger, healthier
and more compact plants if raised annually from seeds sown
in January.

Fortunately, we have a number of species as hardy and as
easily grown as Our commionest perennials. Those with weak
constitutions are, however, well worth this extra trouble of
lifting, as is shown by a batch of the beautiful Pentstemon
secundiflorus now in bloom here. The height of this Pent-
stemon is about fifteen inches, and the stems are clothed with
narrow, smooth, lanceolate leaves. The flowers are in long
panicles. The showy corolla is fully one inch long and of a
mauve-purple color. This handsome speciesis found in the
mountains of Colorado, and is said to be common at an alti-
tude of eight or nine thousand feet. P. diffusus is quite hardy
here and is flowering freely now. In spring the plants are cut
well back and all the dead and weak growths removed. They
soon make young shoots with nice healthy foliage. It is a
vigorous grower and has stems nearly two feet in height, with
opposite dark green oblong-lanceolate and deeply serrated
leaves. The flowers are ofa light purple color, showy, are
produced in dense panicles and last forsome time. P. pubes-
cens is another reliable species easy to grow. The flowers
of this plant are in pleasing contrast with those of the other
Pentstemons now in blossom. There seem to be two forms
of P. pubescens; one which we have here grows nearly
two feet in height, while the other hardly reaches a foot.
The leaves are light green; the lower ones measure more
than three inches and are lanceolate in shape. The drooping
flowers are ina loose thyrse. The upper part of the corolla is
of a dull purple, and the lower half of a whitish color. P.
ovatus is perfectly hardy, growing from two to three feet high,
with short thyrses of rather small showy purple flowers. P.
laevigatus digitalis makes fine vigorous plants and has flower-
stems a yard long, with plenty of whitish flowers. The dwarf
plants of P. confertus (ccerulea-purpurea) bear pretty blue-
purple and violet-colored flowers. P. Clevelandi has showy
crimson flowers, but the plants do not seem to be perfectly at
home here.

The Bellflowers are beginning to blossom, and they are
always pleasing and attractive. The strong-growing kinds
grow well in any ordinary well-enriched garden soil. The
dwarf kinds are best adapted for the rock garden, although
some of them, such as Campanula Carpathica and its varieties,
are among our best plants for the front row of the herbaceous
border. The Peach-leaved Bellflower, C. persicifolia, has
opened its blue flowers in long showy racemes. Its white
variety is an extremely handsome perennial, and always at-
tracts a great deal of attention at this season. C. Sibirica is a
biennial hardy species, floriferous, and making a neat and com-
pact plant. Its height makes it especially useful. Its stems
are branched and measure about eighteen inches. The large
flowers are purple-violet in color and are produced in pani-
cles. C. latifolia macranth is a thrifty plant with long stout
stems three to four feet high. When well flowered it is a
handsome sort. The flowers are large, of a purplish blue
color and are in a spicate raceme. C. nobilis is a distinct plant
about two feet high, and the form now in bloom has reddish
violet flowers. C. Portenschlagina is a dwarf species suitable
for the rock garden. At this time it is one mass of almost
erect, small, light blue-purple flowers. It does best if it has a
slight protection in the winter.

Salvia argentea, now in flower, is a bold silvery leaved bien-
nial from southern Europe. It has distinct and attractive
foliage, and small groups of the plants in the border are very
noticeable. Its leaves are large, wrinkled, lobed and silvery,
and vary in size from six inches to one foot in length; both
sides of the leaf are covered with loose white wool. The height
of the plant when in bloom is about three feet. The flowers
are produced in whorls of from six to ten flowers in large pani-
cles. The corolla is of a whitish color. The plant is more
valuable for use as a foliage plant than for its flowers.

The Phyteumas are blooming better this year than they have
done for some time. The showiest one in bloom is P.
Schenchzeri, a plant from the European Alps, and it is quite

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 435.

hardy here. It is about one foot in height, with ovate-lanceo-
late leaves, and those on the stem are linear lanceolate. The
deep blue flowers are produced plentifully in spherical heads.
Other species flowering now, and with blossoms of the same
color as the above plant, are P. Michelli and its variety, with
long narrow leaves, and P. orbiculare. They do best here in
the rock garden in a position where they get plenty of light,
although they grow fairly well in the border in well-drained soil.

The blossoms or flower-heads of Helenium Hoopesii are still
in good condition on the same plants of which I wrote three
weeks ago. The lasting qualities of the flower-heads of this

handsome Composite are excellent.

Botanic Garden, Harvard University. LR. Cameron.

The Rock Garden.

HE rock garden continues attractive. Scattered patches of

the Alpine Bugle, Ajuga Genevensis, are very handsome,
and no blue-flowered rock plant can compare with it in depth
of color—a rich indigo-blue. This species is the best of the
genus, but all are pretty. A. pyramidalis is a giant among
them, with spikes nearly a foot long, in whorls of light blue,
labiate flowers. A bronzy leaved form of A. pyramidalis is
used extensively in England for spring bedding. A. reptans,
in the typical form, is, perhaps, the least attractive, but the
white-flowered variety and the one with variegated leaves are
well worth growing. Gypsophila repens is neat and pretty at
all times. Just now its glaucous foliage is almost covered with
the small starry white owers. G. cerastioides, from the Hima-
layas, is scarcely hardy ; whatever growth is made in summer
is lost in winter, and it soon dies out. Some Rock Roses
(Helianthemum) were lost last winter in exposed places. The
orange-colored varieties appear to be hardier than the purple
varieties. Callirrhoé involucrata, the Poppy Mallow of the
west, is one of the prettiest of trailing plants. The stems are
annual, and all start from a parsnip-like root-stock. The flow-
ers are rose-colored, with a white centre, and arise, scape-like,
from the axils of the leaves, throughout the length of the
stems, from spring until autumn. It is an admirable little
plant and can be confidently recommended for planting on
rather dry slopes, The roots die out in a few years, but there
are always seedlings enough to take their places. Poppies are
general favorites. Though many of them are strictly border
plants, all fitin well in the bolder groups on the rock garden.
Blue Columbines, yellow Day Lilies and scarlet Poppies, espe-
cially the new hybrids of P. orientale, all go well together. In
another group we may have the yellow Foxglove, Digitalis
ambigua, Geranium Ibericum platypetalum, Violets with hand-
somely digitately palmate leaves, and Iceland Poppies. Such
groups among carpets of Phlox subulata and other plants
which scarcely rise above the ground make very interesting
contrasts.

Aster alpinus speciosus is by far the best of all the dwarf
perennial Asters. The flowers are nearly two inches in diam-
eter, with a large yellow disk and mauve-colored ray-florets.
It is hard to distinguish many of the single-Aowered Dianthus,
especially those with deeply fringed flowers, and which come
from the Alps of Europe. D. arenarius, D. Monspessulanus,
D. fragrans, D. suavis and D. squarrosus are names of
kinds we have had. These varieties have merged so much in
the seedling forms that it is difficult to make sure of their iden-
tity. D. atrorubens is distinct, with heads of deep red flow-
ers; D. latifolius is a strong-growing kind, with large flowers.
The Indian Pink, D. Chinensis, common now, is really beauti-
ful, especially the single varieties. Although grown mostly
as annuals, we have had plants live for several years. D. del-
toides, the Maiden’s Pink, is beautiful, and when once estab-
lished takes care of itself.. The Fire Pink, Silene Virginica,
does well here. It must be allowed to run wild, as under cul-
tivation it is difficult to grow. It is little more than a biennial,
and it needs to be planted where it can sow itself freely. It is
now perfectly at home in shady spots it has found for itself.

Astragalus Monspessulanus is represented here now by only
one good plant. This subshrubby member of the Milk Vetch
family should last for years, and go on increasing in size if
favorably situated. Evidently we have not yet found its needs.
Itis uncertain whether summer's heat or winter’s cold does most
harm; it is to be noted, however, that the plants ripen prema-
turely, and it may be that the summersare too hot. The leaves
are handsomely pinnate and arise from a creeping root-stock.
The pink, pea-like flowers occur in short, decumbent spikes
laidamong the leaves with pretty effect. Violas include an
interesting number of varieties and hybrids of Viola cornuta
in white, yellow, violet and purple colors, They are showy,
but short-lived ; generally we have plenty of seedlings. The

JUNE 24, 1896.]

Horned Rampions, Phyteumas, are interesting and lovely
allies of the Bellworts, Campanulas. Phyteuma Michellii is a
neat tufted kind, with blue flowers in heads on stalks nearly
a foot long. In the bud state the corollas appear pointed.
This peculiar pointed condition continues for a long time, for
even when the flowers are openit is only in the lower part of
the corolla that the lobes separate, and often the tips remain
united when the function of blossoming is past.

Campanula Carpathica in several varieties is now opening,
with its allies C. ccespitosa and C. turbinata. These will con-
tinue until frost. Cinothera Missouriensis opened its first
flowersa few days ago. They are altogether out of propor-
tion to the size of the plant; in fact, 1 do not know another
Evening Primrose with flowers as large. The large-winged
capsules are also remarkable, and on this account it was once
named macrocarpa. Ramondia Pyrenaica has been in
bloom for nearly a month. The flowers are few, on branched
scapes, rotate, and violet-colored. It is, perhaps, more inter-
esting than beautiful. It is the Rosette Mullein and was once
named Verbascum myconi. It grows on the Pyrenees and in
fissures of rock, often facing vertically, and is considered a
difficult plant in cultivation; as is often the case with other
plants difficult to grow, we are liable to set down the cause to

the severity of the winter. is
Wellesley, Mass. TL. D. Hatfielé.

Clerodendrons.

PAY MONG the many summer-flowering plants well adapted

for conservatory decoration few are more showy than the
climbing Clerodendrons, and while these are by no means
new plants, they are uncommon enough to attract attention
when well grown. They are not difficult to cultivate; liberal
treatment during the growing season and a subsequent period
of rest to ripen the wood are among the chief requisites,

Where space will permit, these plants may be planted out
in a prepared bed and trained up on a trellis or on wires
strung along the roof of the house. Grown in this way they
are, however, less under control in regard to the time of
blooming, and pot-culture is for this reason more convenient.
By liberal treatment is implied a rich soil, abundant moisture
and a fair amount of heat. But little shading will be found
necessary at any season, except during the period of flower-
ing, when some protection from strong sunshine will help to
prolong the life of the flowers.

The Clerodendrons are strong-rooting plants and require a
fair amount of pot-room. Young plants may be shitted on
quite rapidly at thisseason, using as a foundation for the com-
post some good loam, to which should be added a sprinkling
of sand, a small proportion of bone-dust and about one-sixth
of dry cow-manure. If the loam is inclined to be clayey I
prefer to use a portion of peat with it in order to render it
more open, but this is not necessary with friable, turfy loam.
As the growth progresses the shoots should be supported by
stakes, wires orstrings, and thorough syringing will be required
to prevent the attack of red spiders. By September the growth
will be sufficiently advanced to begin the ripening process;
this is brought about by gradually withholding water and giv-
ing abundant ventilation. The plants may be held in this
dormant condition until spring by keeping them dry and in a
temperature of about fifty-five degrees. They should then be
pruned moderately, the growths tied down to a suitable trellis,
and with thorough watering and frequent syringing a good
break of flowering shoots will result.

Nothing has been said about repotting the plants in the
spring; itis preferable to defer this operation until after the
plants have bloomed; otherwise a rank growth of wood and
tew flowers is likely to be the result.

The propagation of the climbing Clerodendrons is quite
easy, and may be effected either by cuttings of two or more
joints in length, and formed from firm young growths, or by
means of root-cuttings. The lattershould be made from the
thicker roots, cut up into about two-inch lengths and buried to
a depth of half an inch in pots of sand or in sandy soil. In
either case the cuttings should be placed in a warm propa-
gating-frame.

Among the species and varieties to which these notes will
best apply are the well-known Clerodendron Thompsone ;
this is probably the most abundant bloomer of them all, and
produces panicles of bright crimson flowers which project
trom showy pure white calyces. C.splendens, a strong-grow-
ing and large-leaved species with scarlet flowers, and the form
known as C, speciosissima, which is an improvement on its
parent, C. speciosa, is stated to be a hybrid between C. Thomp-
sone and C. splendens, and is also an admirable variety ; the

Garden and Forest.

“affected with leaf-blight during the autumn.

257

flowers are deep rose in color, and the calyces are also some-

what tinted with a similar color. ; ;
Holmesburg, Pa. W. A. Taplin.

Strawberries.

rs first gathering of this fruit was made this year on May
30th, fully a week earlier than in ordinary seasons. The
earliest sort to ripen was Leader, which came in three days
before Michel’s Early. Leader has proved itself much the best
variety with us; its berries are of good size and form, and ofa
fine rich crimson color. In flavor and quality Michel’s Early
is, however, slightly superior. For our main crop we grow
chiefly Bubach No. 5, Belmont and Marshall. Marshall did
rather indifferently with us last year and the foliage was badly
It stood the win-
ter as well as any kind, and this year is giving a heavy crop of
large, handsome berries, the two-year-old plants being espe-
cially thrifty. For exhibition purposes Marshallis the best
strawberry of which I know, and some marvelously fine
dishes have been shown at the Boston Strawberry show dur-
ing the past three seasons. Complaints are quite general,
however, that it winter-kills badly and is not a profitable
variety for market-growers to handle. It is a vigorous grower
and is easily distinguishable from any other sort. The fruit
is of a beautiful rich crimson colorand of fine flavor. Bubach
No. 5 and Belmont are more grown in this locality than any
other varieties. The extensive Strawberry fields in Dighton,
Massachusetts, which supply Boston and other large New
England markets, grow more of these two sorts than of all
others combined. We have tried Parker Earle for two sea-
sons ; it is a good late variety and sets an immense quantity
of fruit, more, in fact, than it can properly mature. It is usurp-
ing Sharpless to some extent, although a little inferior in flavor.
Timbrell is proving an extremely productive sort, of superior
flavor, but the rather peculiar mottled appearance of the fruit
will operate against its being grown extensively for market.
We begin to layer our plants for a new plantation about
June 2oth, using three and four inch pots for the purpose. We
do not sink these pots in the ground, and one good watering
a day suffices when they are stood on the surface. As soonas
the pots commence to fill with roots we remove the plants and
stand them in a batch where they can be more conve-
niently watered. We like to have the plants set out by August.
The earlier this is done the better the prospects are for a fine
crop the following year. We plant in heavily manured ground,
allowing the plants eighteen inches apart in the rows and the
same distance between the rows. Between every fourth
row we leave a two-foot path. We do not find it profitable to
fruit the plants more than two seasons. The finest fruit is
produced the first season, but two-year-old plants give
the heaviest yield. After planting out our runners we give the
bed a thorough soaking of water, and also whenever the
ground becomes dry while the plants continue to grow.
W. N. Craig.

Taunton, Mass.

Correspondence.

A Garden of Single Roses.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—Although the many different varieties of single Roses
have often been described in GARDEN AND FOREST, it may be
of inéerest to some to know the result of a small garden
formed of the different varieties of these plants.

In the spring of 1894, about twenty small Roses were planted,
mainly obtained from the Arnold Arboretum, and after two
seasons most of these plants have become good bushy speci-
mens, covered with bloom each spring. While some of these,
especially the Japanese varieties, are well known, most of
them are seldom seen, except in our public parks, where they
make a fine effect planted in large masses.

The earliest Rose in my collection is the European Rosa
alpina, a plantof vigorous growth, forminga large dense bush
of a somewhat stiff habit. Its foliage isa pleasing light green,
and itseems to be well adapted for a garden hedge. It is
closely followed by Rosa blanda, a charming plant of graceful
habit ; both of these Roses have fine pink flowers, with but
few thorns, and are well worth growing. Another early Rose,
and perhaps the best of all, is the Scotch Rose, Rosa spinosissi-
ma, alow-growing plant with fine dark foliage, and an object of

. great beauty when covered with its garlands of white flowers.

Its foliage-is retained very late in the autumn, and this makes
it especially valuable. There is a counterpart of this Rose

258

called Rosa grandiflora, the only apparent difference being
the larger size of the flowers borne by the latter.

After these early Roses, the better-known Japanese Rosa
rugosa appears, the white form of which is excellent. It has
the advantage of being a constant bloomer, and, near the sea,
it is covered in autumn with large, showy hips. Also from
Japan is the large-growing Rosa multiflora, its innumerable
tiny white flowers greatly resembling the bloom of the Black-
berry. Itis equally valuable grown as a large bush oras a
climber. Another pretty plant that can be treated in the same
way is the Field Rose, Rosa repens, with its modest white
flowers and delicate foliage.

Among the more striking Roses the Copper Austrian Brier,
Rosa lutea punicea, easily heads the list, with petals scarlet
above and yellow beneath, while Rosa rubrifolia is conspicu-
ous on account of the deep purple color of its foliage. Ifa
suitable place can be found for Rosa Wichuraiana to grow in
it will certainly be of great value, with its fine glossy foliage
and small white flowers. At Dosorisit has been grown suc-
cessfully as a climber, but treated in this way here its long
shoots were killed during the past winter, although other
plants allowed to creep on the ground were uninjured. We
have but one native climbing Rose hardy in the north, Rosa
setigera, but itis one of great beauty, blooming when most
other Roses are past. Grown on a trellis, or allowed to hang
over a steep bank, it forms a handsome object with its large
pink flowers. Rosa lucida and Rosa Carolina, our native
upland and lowland Roses, are both well worth growing,
especially the former, which makes a large, strong bush, with
fine glossy foliage. Last, but not least, is the well-known
Sweetbrier, Rosa rubiginosa, which has made itself so much
at home in our fields and pastures as to be almost a native,
and whose delightful odor permeates the whole garden. Last
year a set of hybrids from this Rose was sent from England
that promise to be of great value. Although a large bush of
the common Sweetbrier was badly injured by the unusually
severe winter, these small plants are all in good condition and
are now coming into bloom. They fully equal the description
accompanying them. They have ali retained the delightful
3rier odor and are of a great variety of color. The best one I
have is the variety called Lord Penzance, resembling some-
what the Copper Austrian Brier, in paler tones, with the same
combination of yellow and deep red. Lady Penzance is a very
light pink, delicately shaded with yellow. Meg Merrilles is a
deep crimson, while Lucy Ashton is almost white. If these
Roses prove to be as vigorous in growth and as free bloomers
as the common type they will be a most welcome and valuable
addition to our gardens.

Of course, a list of this character could be almost indefi-
nitely extended, but those I have mentioned will make a col-
lection of considerable variety, and include, I believe, the
most distinctive forms. All of these are hardy at Boston,
and are not particular about soil or treatment, and, with me at
least, have few enemies of any importance. If it is not con-
sidered desirable to grow them by themselves, they make
excellent subjects for the general shrubbery. A little farther
south the list could be greatly extended, especially by the addi-
tion of Rosa moschata nivea. This beautiful Rose, after pass-
ing through two winters with but slight injury, was killed to
the ground this year. It is strong-growing, throwing out arch-
ing stems from six to eight feet long, covered with white
flowers of great beauty.

There have been many hybrids formed lately from these
Roses, one well-known one, the Dawson Rose, having small
semidouble pink flowers and retaining the habit and‘hardi-
ness of its parent, Rosa multiflora. A pink form of R.
Wichuraiana has, I believe, been created, and undoubtedly
many more will follow.

As an edging for the larger-growing Roses, the small Fairy
Roses, Rosa polyantha, can be used. Unfortunately, these
Roses are not very hardy, but they are so easily grown from
cuttings that they should be more generally planted.

Wellesley, Mass. Tie apciseia &

Climbers and other Plants in Northampton.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—A Wistaria Chinensis sixty-five feet high and covering
a width of thirty-five feet, is not often met with in this coun-
try, but a plant of the above dimensions is now growing on a
southern exposure against the main building of the State Luna-
tic Asylum, located at Northampton, Massachusetts. The
stem at eighteen inches from the ground is three feet in cir-
cumference, and Mr. J. Thornley, the head gardener, informed
me that the vine was planted there twenty-seven years ago,

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 435.

and that a year ago more than one-half was cut away to make
room for needed improvements to the building. It is very

vigorous and looks as though it would, if allowed, soon cover
the whole building. It is a magnificent sight when in full
bloom, but this year, owing to the unusual winter, it has not
produced half the usual number of blossoms.

On an eastern aspect of the same building is a fine specimen
of the climbing Hydrangea, Schizophragma hydrangeoides,
which occupies a space forty-five feet high by about thirty wide.
It is now in full bloom, and a magnificent sight with its large
corymbs of Hydrangea- like blossoms against the dark, shin-
ing green leaves. Fora large building of brick or stone this
climber, in my opinion, is without a peer. It requires no
attention in the matter of pruning or training, as it clings to
the walls by its aerial roots, and is perfectly hardy. It is a
native of Japan, and is easily propagated by cuttings or seeds.
This vine was planted about thirteen years ago, but must soon
be cut away foran extension to be made to the building.

The late Dr. Pliny Earle, who presided over this institution
for many years, was a great lover of trees, shrubs and natural
scenery, and many fine specimens of trees may be seen in the
grounds. Among some I noticed particularly was a good
specimen of the English Oak, Quercus Robur, also a fine Eng-
lish Ash. Near one corner of the building was a Magnolia
acuminata thirty-five feet in height and a perfect specimen.
Some fine groups of Exochorda grandiflora, Cercis Canadensis,
Amelanchiers and many other spring-blooming shrubs are to
be found here. Fartheraway from the building are tracts of
woods which have received intelligent care. The greenhouses
belonging to the institution contain a useful collection of
foliage and flowering plants, the Begonias being exceptionally
well ¢ grown and the "Roses remarkably vigorous.

Edward F. Canning.

Botanic Garden, Northampton, Mass.

Pyrus coronaria.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—The native Crab Apple has rarely appeared so beauti-
ful at the time of flowering as in the spring just past. As was
remarked in GARDEN AND FOREST, May 27th, the flowers do
not appear till the leaves are partly grown, so that they are
somewhat hidden by the young foliage. Thisis less noticeable
here than in the east, for the interval between the opening of
the leaf-buds and flower-buds is shorter. But this year the
season was peculiar ; their development was practically syn-
chronous, and the leaves were so small when the flowers were
fully expanded as to be obscured or almost hidden, enough of
the green color coming into sight to set off the pink and white
of the buds and flowers and make a beautiful combination.
The flowers were uncommonly plentiful. It is doubtful if
a finer display could be made by any native floral tree than
the wild Crab showed under these conditions, especially when
the trees stood alone, or partially in the open ground border-
ing the Oak woods, or lined the banks of a stream. They
were so bright as to be visible a long way off, masses of pink
dotting the meadows and pastures, or appearing in relief
against the groves of Oak, around whose expanding leaves of
yellow and red and hanging tufts of Howers a misty light was
playing. All combined to make a fairy scene of the woods
and fields in those summer days in spring, a picture long to
be remembered, They were a month in advance of their
usual flowering season, which in ordinary years is from the
2oth of May to the end of the month. This year they began
to open by the 25th of April, and I saw them at their ‘best on
the 29th—a month earlier than I found them in flower last year,
when in the higher parts of the finger-lake region of western
New York,

Another feature of the blossoms this year struck me as
unusual, They are generally so fragrant as to perfume theair
for some distance away, and the first reminder of their pres-
ence in the denser parts of the woods may be a sniff of the air
laden with their delicious aroma. The fragrance in the season
just past was so subdued as to be barely perceptible when
standing close by the trees. I have wondered whether this
loss of fragrance was made at the cost of their rapid develop-
ment, because more time was needed for its perfection. I have
since remarked the same condition in the case of our wild
Grapes. Seasons peculiar as this has been are rare, when the
cold of the early part retarded vegetation, and a continuous
summer heat suddenly setting in hastened growth with
remarkable rapidity. It is difficult to correlate observations of
this kind, but the facts were evident and may well be kept in

mind. :
Chicago, IIl. 12, Fe Ffill,

JUNE 24, 1896.]

Meetings of Societies.
The So-called Exhaustion of Nursery Lands.

HE most vital question with nurserymen at the present

time is that of the unproductiveness of lands which
have grown one crop of trees. All nurserymen declare
that one crop of fruit-tree stock cannot immediately follow
another with any assurance of success. This important
question received Serious consideration in an address by
Professor L. H. Bailey before the American Association of
Nurserymen at Indianapolis last year, in the tenth report of
the New York State Experiment Station and in Bulletins
102 and 103 of the Cornell Station. Professor Bailey dis-
cussed the subject more specifically at the meeting of the
Nurserymen’s Association in Chicago, on the 11th instant,
and some of the points which he made are here given :

a. THE FERTILITY OF THE SOIL.

There are two analytical means of determining the fertility
of the land. One method determines the chemical constitu-
tion, and the other the mechanical or physical condition.

Chenuistry determines the amount and kind of plant-food in
the soil, but it cannot tell just how useful this food may be to
the plant. This depends upon the physical condition of the
land, or upon the relation of the soil to warmth, moisture, air
and mechanical constitution. The plant is not simply a passive
agent, taking in the food which is presented to it, but itis
actively engaged in searching for and appropriating food.

The actual fertility of the soil depends, therefore, upon the
plant as well as upon the land. The better and more com-
fortable the plant, the more food it can appropriate from a
given soil; hence that soil is practically the richer. The
chemist does not determine the physical conditions which
make the plant comfortable and active. In other words, the
amount of plant-food in the soil is only one of the elements in
the fertility of the land.

In most instances as much depends upon the physical con-
dition of the soil as upon its chemical constitution, and in
many cases even more depends upon it.

Soil is derived from two sources—rock and organic matter.
Each is essential to it. Without the rock matter it would lose
body and staying qualities, Without the organic matter it
would lose life or heat and activity.

Nature adds the organic matter to the soil by growing plants
upon it and then incorporating their remains with it. Every-
where the process of soil-building is now going on, The longer
the soil is in crops the richer it becomes, although the relative
amount of mineral matter which it contains is decreasing at
the same time.

Nature makes the soil richer, then, both by fining and digest-
ing the mineral matter and by ameliorating its physical condi-
tion through the incorporation of humus or organic matter.

This fining process must ultimately cease, but the addition
of humus never ceases. The final and complete enrichment
of the soil, therefore, must come largely as the result of the
incorporation of humus with it. :

The chief value of this humus is not to directly afford plant-
food, but to improve the conditions of temperature, moisture,
aeration and the like.

6, MAN'S TREATMENT OF THE LAND.

Man’s chief desire is to remove organic matter from the
soil. He consumes the plant product. As a consequence,
cultivated soils soon tend to become hard, dense, heavy and
lifeless, and the more clay-like the land the more pronounced
is the result.

The best and richest farm soils are those which are loamy—
that is, those which are friable, soft and dark-colored. This
loamy condition is brought about by the addition of stable-
manures and green crops.

Every ordinary soil tends to lose its humus sooner than its
plant-food, and most so-called exhausted soils are injured in
their physical condition rather than exhausted of their fertility.

It follows, therefore, that the addition of mere plant-food
cannot entirely restore the generality of worn-out lands. The
physical condition must always receive first attention. The
addition of commercial fertilizers is not a fundamental correc-
tive of poor lands in the vast majority of cases. It should be
considered as a supplement to the treatment of the land by
means of tillage and cropping.
~ Ifman’s reward from the cultivation of the land is so unlike
nature's, it follows that one cannot copy the practices of nature
in the treatment of theland. Yet, in every generation, there

Garden and Forest.

259

are men who proclaim that because nature neither plows nor
tills, therefore man should not. The only infallible guide to the
proper treatment of the soil is experience, not science, nor
speculation ; but science explains the laws and directs the
application of them when once experience has discovered
them.

In fact, experience is law, for experience that persists is that
which gives consecutively uniform results under like condi-
tions. All experience proves that frequent tillage and the
addition of humus quickly and invariably ameliorate and
improve the soil. It is folly to attempt to controvert the facts
by mere specuiation. On the other hand, experience proves
that the addition of chemical fertilizers does not invariably
visibly benefit the soil; therefore the value of such applica-
tions must depend upon local or transient conditions.

¢. THE NURSERY LANDS.

The best nursery lands, at least in New York state, are those
which contain much clay. This soil is the most easily injured
by unwise or careless treatment and by the loss of organic
matter.

The nursery crop occupies the land for three to five years.
During all this time the land receives no addition of organic
matter, and finally even the roots are taken out of it. In very
many cases the trees are planted and dug when the soil is wet
or very dry, and, therefore, quickly and very seriously injured
in its ‘‘ grain,” or its physical condition.

Nurserymen find thatif the lend is rested in Clover or Grass for
afew years it willagain grow trees. This rotation, like all others,
is a means of ameliorating the physical condition of the soil
as well as the chemical condition of it. A part of the rotation
must aim at the incorporation of humus. Therefore every
famous rotation has a rest crop in it.

An incidental advantage of any rotation is the variety of till-
age imposed by it. A rotation of tools and of methods, and
seasons of working the land, is often as important as the other
results of alternate cropping.

[Extended figures of chemical analyses of nursery stock
were presented, showing that the amounts of potash, phos-
phoric acid and nitrogen which such stock removes from the
land is really very small, and less than that removed by simi-
lar bulk or weight of corn or wheat. Experiments now being
made by Professor Bailey were cited, and these showed that
the addition of concentrated or chemical manures to nursery-
lands does not promise very important results; but. Professor
Bailey has greater hopes from experiments in the sowing of
Crimson Clover and other cover crops in the nursery rows,
and in the use of stable-manures., He cited instances of excel-
lent results following the addition of stable-manure to nursery-
lands between the trees in the fall; an instance was given of
a piece of land so treated which has grown excellent Plum-
trees for twenty consecutive years. Examples werealso given
to show that there is no necessary reason why nursery stock
should not follow nursery stock as well as wheat follow
wheat, except that the land is usually more clay-like, the rota-
tion or cropping is longer, andthe addition of humus or fibre
to the soil is less. ]

ad, THE CONCLUSIONS,

The difficulty then is not one of amount of plant-food, so
much as of the availability of that food by improving the phy-
sical conditions of the soil. The soil must be warm, soft,
mellow, and the plant must be comfortable.

The trouble is, not that nursery trees take so much from the
soil, but that the rotation is too long, the fibre is burned out of
the soil, and much of the working of the land is untimely.

Certain lands are not readily injured by nursery cultivation,
and these may grow several continuous crops of trees.

Now and then the nurseryman can augment the growth of
his stock by extra attention to tillage (it is assumed that he
always tills well) and by the addition of some quick nitrogen
compound, as nitrate of soda; but these are generally only
temporary correctives. The complete or fundamental cor-
rective for nursery-land is rotation; but the length of this
rotation may often be shortened, or even entirely reduced by
the judicious intracultural use of stable manures and cover
crops.

The conclusion was made that the physical condition of the
soil is a subject of greater or earlier importance than its
chemical constitution; that the value of rotation of crops lies
largely in its ameliorating effect upon the physical condition ;
and that nursery-lands are no exception in demanding such
rotation. Instead of thinking it strange that trees do not readily
follow trees, we should rather think it strange if they did.
Because the crop is of several years’ duration, it becomes
necessary that the alternating cropping should also be ex-

260

tended. A system of rotations must be practiced in blocks of
years, not in single years. But this alternating cropping can
be greatly shortened by giving greater attention to the addition
of fibre to the soil while the nursery stock is growing. There
are instances in which the alternation may be made short, and
some in which there need be hardly any. Professor Bailey said
that he did not look for a general corrective of the depletion of
nursery-lands, therefore, by the addition of concentrated or
chemical fertilizers, but by better management of the lands.

Notes.

Lima beans, from Virginia, the first of this season, sell for
forty centsa half-peck, the pods but poorly filled, and Windsor
or Broad beans at the same price. Corn is now coming from
southern New Jersey, and costs fifty cents a dozen.

It was reported not long ago that among the twenty young
women thus far graduated from the Horticultural College at
Swansey, eight were growing fruit or vegetables for the mar-
ket, one was the manager of a bulb-growing nursery and two
were the managing gardeners of large estates, while the other
eight were utilizing their acquirements at home.

The old home of the naturalist, Audubon, in Pennsylvania,
is on the south bank of the little River Perkiomen, about three
miles to the eastward of Phoenixville. The house, which is

locally famous as the Mill Grove House, was built nearly a ~

century and a half ago, and stands on a knoll which affords a
fine prospect. It is of stone, solid and substantial, thickly
overgrown with Ivy and shadowed by a number of tall Pines,
under the branches of which Audubon produced some of his
best work. In spite of certain interior changes, the chimney-
corner where his studying was done still remains as he knew it.

The large white flowers and the purple stamens of the native
shrub Stuartia Virginica were lately seen in flower in the
Meehan nurseries, in Germantown, Pennsylvania, and the buds
of S. pentagyna were about opening. A large specimen of
Pterostyrax hispidum, twenty feet high and as many feet
across, was covered with hundreds of racemes of drooping
white flowers. These give a fringe-like character which re-
sembles somewhat that of the Chionanthus. It seeds freely.
Cedrela Sinensis was again in flower in these nurseries, as it was
last year, the greenish white flowers borne on panicles two to
three teet in length, and pendulous from the ends of the
branches. The tree resembles Ailanthus glandulosa in ap-
pearance, but the flowers are entirely without odor.

A large variety of fruits is now shown in this city. All
the berries are offered, as raspberries, blackberries, huckle-
berries, strawberries, currants and gooseberries. Cherries
from western New York are plentiful. The first Le Conte pears
are here from Florida, with the last apples from cold storage.
The first grapes of the season, Niagaras, also came from
Florida last week. Botan plums are coming from the same
state, and the small Chickasaw and showy Wild Goose plums
from the southern Atlantic coast states. There are apricots,
peaches, plums and cherries from California, besides peaches
trom Florida and Georgia. Oranges and lemons are, of course,
seen in the collections, and occasionally grape-fruit in excel-
lent condition ; medium-sized smooth specimens cost twenty
cents each. Watermelons are coming by the car-load and by
steamer; one boat from Savannah on Friday discharged thirty-
three car-loads. Some large ripe muskmelons have been com-
ing from New Orleans, but most of this fruit from South Caro-
lina and Florida is small and immature.

The smudge fires which are kindled in orchards to raise a
screen of smoke as a protection against frost are only effective,
says Mr. F.C. Barker in the /rrigation Age, on a broad flat
expanse of land, for in narrow valleys the cold air flows down
from the hill-sides underneath the smoke. The smoke, like
clouds, only acts as a screen to prevent radiation. Of course,
the heat from the fires has practically no effect in reducing the
intensity of the cold, but the efficiency of the fires may be
greatly increased by spraying them with water, so as to add
vapor to the atmosphere, and in this manner raise the dew-
point, which is reached at a higher temperature when the
vapor of the air is increased. Without this spraying the heat
would otherwise establish an upward current of warm air
which would rise above the space which required protection ;
while if water is sprayed on the fires the heat is utilized in
forming vapor which is distributed through the lower strata
of air, where it is most needed. As soon as this vapor is con-
densed at the dew-point this latent heat is set free and tends
to raise the temperature.

Garden and ereee

[NUMBER 435.

The Apple orchards of Tasmania, from which a great deal
of fruit is shipped to England every spring, have a very dif-
ferent appearance from those of western New York, for exam-
ple. The trees are planted closely, sometimes twelve feet
apart each way, but usually sixteen feet apart each way.
They have a short main trunk or none at all, with from
five to nine main branches starting as nearly as possible
from the ground and forming an inverted cone open in the
centre. Each of these branches is kept covered with fruit
Spurs as nearly as possible down to the ground, and, therefore,
a large portion of the apples are borne below the point where
Our own trees carry any fruit at all, Summer pruning Is prac-
ticed before the apples have matured, so as to check prolific
growth and encourage fruiting, and partly to let the sun in and
give the apples color. This also is the reason for having the
centre of the tree open, because the fruit does not color as
well as it does in climates which are drier and more sunny.
In some cases a Stake is driven into the ground near the trunk
and passes up through the centre of the tree, and the branches
are supported by binder’s twine attached like umbrella braces to
this central stake. In other cases props are used to hold up
the limbs. A very interesting description of these orchards,
with illustrations showing the low and closely pruned trees
loaded with fruit, is found in 7ze Garden and Field, published
in Adelaide, South Australia.

The American Association of Nurserymen held its twenty-
first annual meeting at the Sherman House, in Chicago, on the
toth and 11th instant. Of the various horticultural trade or-
ganizations of this country this association holds the chief
place in the broad and catholic spirit of its management. Its
purpose is the serious acquisition and diffusion otf knowledge
in all that pertains to the growing of woody plants, not only in
the nursery, but in the orchard and on the lawn. Its member-
ship is comprised almost wholly of the owners and managers
of nursery businesses, and these are men whose sympathies
are necessarily as broad as the cultivation of plants itself. A
large part of its function must always be social, but its meet-
ings are happily free from that type of conviviality which is often
the discredit of trade or specia! gatherings. The chief interest
in the Chicago meeting centred in questions relating to customs
tariff on nursery-stock, and a committee (W. C, Barry, J. H.
Hale, N. H. Albaugh) was appointed to aid in securing addi-
tions to the present tariffs ; in the laws designed to prevent the
free exchange of nursery-stock for the purpose of checking the
spread of the San José scale and other pests, and which were
condemned because considered to discriminate unjustly and
to fail of their ostensible purpose ; in the causes for the decline
in prices of nursery-stock; and in the means of maintaining
the productiveness of nursery-lands. The association is to
meet in St. Louis in 1897, and its new officers are Silas Wilson,
Iowa, President ; E. Meissner, Missouri, Vice-President ; George
C. Seager, Rochester, New York, Secretary; N. A. Whitney,
Illinois, Treasurer.

It will be of much interest to the scientific and gardening
world to learn the extent of the damage done to the Missouri
Botanical Garden by the destructive tornado that recently
visited St. Louis. The garden was in the direct path of the
wrecking wind at its extreme western point. As this was the
starting point of the destruction the garden suffered less
severely than the region just to the east, though the damage
was considerable, more especially in the timbered portion.
Something like 160 trees were either uprooted or broken off so
near the ground that it was found necessary to take them out.
Many of these were rare and choice plants, and an estimate of
their value would be impossible. More than 250 trees were
seriously damaged, many of them having their tops almost
entirely carried away. Some of these, by judicious pruning,
will, in a few years, grow to be beautiful trees again, while it is
probable thata few will die. The shrubbery was badly whipped,
but the damage to it was comparatively slight. The herba-
ceous plants were almost totally destroyed in the exposed
places, but these are now all replaced by reserved stock. The
grounds are rapidly being putin order, and ina monthitis ex-
pected that all vestige of the storm will have been cleared
away and only the vacant places left to indicate its awful work.
It is fair to say that the damage is not so great as to mar the
beauty of the garden nor to impair its usefulness as a place of
instruction. In these particulars it will not suffer in the least.
The injury to the buildings was mainly in broken windows and
damaged roofs. The glass portion of the roof of one large
greenhouse was entirely demolished, and the roof of the
southern half of the herbarium and library building was car-
ried away. By prompt action of the employees in the library
building its contents received no damage whatever.

JuL

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

I, 1896. ]

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO,

Orricze: Trisuns Burtpinc, New York.

Conducted. by ss 4 «= = » # »°s « «, Professor C. S. SARGENT.

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JULY 1, 1896.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE,
(With Egure: ia Pewcereia baime iain clare eiere eietarsielatgte siete 261
*. R. Gerard. 262
. Lucien WL ‘Under’ wood. 263

Epitor1aL ARTICLE :—Yew Trees.
Plant Names of Indian Origin.—I1 .
Mycology in the Southern States . 5

FoREIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter....-.-... ---++-+ William Goldring. 264

CuttruraL Department :—Filmy Ferns in the Dwelling-house..... G. W. Olzver. 266
Notes on Hardy Perennials..... ....-...+.eess-2 es eeee es Robert Cameron. 266
Rhododendrons at Wellesley...-.....-+.--+++ a... 2. D. Hatfield, 267

CorRESPONDENCE :—Native Plants at Niagara Falls = Sohn Cham berlin. 268
Notes from West Virginia.........,..00ese0ee [Danske Dandr idge. 268
phe: Wainter- Killing, Of PlaniSicccsetessesiceee sss caccsrece M. A. Carpenter. 269
The Larch Sack-bearer and a Birch Pest........+...-:-0s.0008 she G. ise 269

RECENT PUBLICATIONS ....-..- ; « 269

NoreEs..

Ittustration :—An Algerian Yew-tree (Taxus baccata), Fig. 37

Yew Trees.

N England the Yew-tree has long been a favorite with
planters, and the oldest trees in Europe are believed to
be Yews which were old enough to influence the selection
of the sites of some of the oldest churches now standing in
Great Britain, or were planted when they were built. Some
of these trees are certainly four or five centuries old, and
their enormous stems and broad picturesque heads of dark
foliage are fitting emblems of the longevity of the British
mation. In Europe the Yew-tree has furnished, from the
time of the ancients, the best material for the bow, and
long after the Anglo-Saxon Conquest Yew-tree bows were
the principal weapons of the English. In the United States
the Yew has never been much planted, and is compara-
tively little known here in gardens. In the New England
and other northern states the European species is not hardy,
and in the middle states, where it flourishes, there has been
less general interest in planting and gardening, during this
generation at least, than in New England. Many fine old
Yew-trees, nevertheless, may be seen in the neighborhood
of this city and in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Baltimore
and Washington, and the fact that this tree has remained so
rare in this part of the country can only be accounted for
by the fact that its slow growth has deterred Americans,
who want quick results, from using it more generally. But
now that it is known that the Japanese Yew, Taxus cuspi-
data, is perfectly hardy in the northern states and that it
grows more rapidly than the European tree, it is probable
that the Yew will play a more important part in the deco-
ration of American gardens than it has before. The Japa-
nese Yew is an inhabitant of Manchuria, Corea and Yezo,
where it is scattered through the forests of Oaks and other
deciduous-leaved trees, and where it rises to the height of
fifty feet, often forming a tall straight stem two feet in
diameter. <A favorite with the Japanese, it is often found
in their gardens trimmed into grotesque and fantastic
shapes. The Japanese Yew was introduced into the United
States thirty years ago through the agency of the Parsons’
Nursery, in Flushing, Long Island, but gardeners are only
just beginning to learn its ‘beauty and value.
Taxus, which is confined to the northern hemisphere, is
widely distributed through North America, Europe, north-

Garden and Forest.

261

ern Africa and Asia, six species being recognized by bota-
nists. The species, however, all resemble one another,
except in habit and in some trivial leaf characters, and
might as well be considered geographical forms as species,
all six being practically identical in the structure of their
flowers and fruit and in the character of their bark and
wood. Three of these so-called species inhabit the United
States ; one is endemic in Mexico; one is widely scattered
through Europe, northern Africa. and Asia, and the fourth
is found only in eastern Asia. Of the species of our United
States flora, one, Taxus Canadensis, whichis a low shrub with
wide-spreading, prostrate branches and a stout stem, is a
common inhabitant of northern woods, forming dense car-
pets or low thickets in their shade from Newfoundland to
the shores of Lake Winnipeg, and southward through the
northern states to New Jersey and Minnesota. This plant
is occasionally cultivated in northern gardens, where it
might be used much more freely than it has been to cover
moist ground shaded by trees. The other Yews of the
United States are arborescent in habit, one being found grow-
ing in Florida and the other in the Pacific states. The
Florida Yew, Taxus Floridana, which is one of the rarest
of the North American trees, inhabits the bluffs and ravines
of the eastern bank of the Apalachicola River, where it
grows with the Florida Torreya in the territory extending
southward from Aspalaga to Bristol, in Gasten County, for
a distance of about thirty miles. Taxus Floridana is a
bushy tree, rarely thirty feet high, with a short trunk occa-
sionally a foot in diameter, and many stout, spreading
branches. Although discovered as long ago as 1833, the
fruit was seen for the first time last winter, and this hand-
some bushy tree appears to have remained unknown in
gardens until the past winter, when living plants were
introduced into Mr. Vanderbilt’s arboretum on his estate at
Biltmore, in North Carolina.

The second arborescent Yew in the United States, Taxus
brevifolia, often attains a height of eighty feet, with a tall
lobed trunk two or three feet in diameter. An inhabitant
of the shady banks of mountain streams, damp ravines and
deep gorges, growing usually under the shade of larger
evergreens, it is distributed from Queen Charlotte’s Islands
and the valley of the Skena River in British Columbia
southward on the Coast Mountains to the shores of the
Bay of Monterey, in California; it also inhabits many of
the interior ranges of British Columbia and the Cascade
Mountains, ranging eastward over the mountains of eastern
Washington and Oregon to the western slopes of the Rocky
Mountains of Montana, and occurs on the western slopes
of the Sierras of northern and central California, between
elevations of five and eight thousand feet. The wood of
this tree furnished the Indians of the north-west coast with
the material from which they made their bows, the handles
of their spears, their paddles and fish-hooks ; and the white
man finds it the most durable material for his fence-posts.
Introduced into English gardens forty years ago, the west-
ern Yew is occasionally found in European collections.
Unfortunately, this beautiful tree has not yet shown its
capacity to withstand the severity of our eastern climate.

Of the fourth American species nothing is known beyond
the fact that fifty years ago a German botanist collected
specimens of a Yew-tree in southern Mexico, which was
afterward described in Germany as Taxus globosa. Bota-
nists who have traveled in Mexico in recent years have
seen nothing of this plant, and there is nothing to say about
it except to comment on the interest which would attach
to its rediscovery.

The Yew-tree, however, in which the world has been
interested since the time of the Greeks, is the Old World
Taxus baccata. This is not only the best known ofall the
plants of the genus, but it surpasses them all in the rich-
ness and beauty of its dark lustrous foliage and in its size,
individuals one hundred feet high, with trunks five or six,
or even ten, feet in diameter being known. ‘The Old World
Yew, which usually grows in shady situations on the north-
ern slopes of hills or under the cover of deciduous-leaved

262

trees, and is rarely gregarious, is spread all over western
and central Europe, reaching southern Scandinavia on the
north and ascending the mountains of southern Europe and
northern Africa; in Asia it ranges from the Mediterranean
to the temperate Himalayas, where it is common in the
north-western provinces up to elevations of ten or twelve
thousand feet above the sea, and where it appears to attain
its largest size, and to northern China and Manchuria. The
wood of this tree is strong, hard, flexible, elastic, easy to
split and very durable. These qualities make it valuable
to the manufacturer of bows, and no other wood which
has ever been tried for this purpose equals that of the Yew.
It is considered more valuable than that of any other
European tree for cabinet-making, and for this purpose it
is largely used for veneers. In India the Yew-tree is ven-
erated and the wood is burnt as incense, its branches are
carried in religious festivals, and the powdered bark is
employed medicinally.

Stories of the poisonous properties of the Yew-tree have
been rife for more than two thousand years, and in Europe
numerous instances are cited of fatal results following the
medicinal use of the leaves, and of the death of animals
which had eaten them. There is no record, however, of any
evil results from the browsing on Yew leaves in the United
States; in India domestic animals are said to be regu-
larly fed on Yew branches, and in Europe cases are
reported of animals which have been gradually accustomed
to a diet of Yew. The sweet, juicy red pulp which covers
the stones is palatable to most people and is eaten without
producing any ill effects ; and flour made from the seeds has
been successfully used in Europe to fatten poultry. It is
hardly possible that the different species of this homomorphic
genus can vary in toxic properties, or that the Old World
Yew is more poisonous in Europe than it is in India, and
the whole subject of the poisonous properties of the plants
of this genus needs more careful investigation than it has
received.

In the decoration of European gardens Taxus baccata
has played an important part, especially during the seven-
teenth century, when, cut into all sorts of fantastic shapes,
it was the pride of French, Dutch and English gardens.
The Old World Yew is unsurpassed as a hedge plant, and
is still one of the most generally planted evergreens in
western and central Europe, where many abnormal forms
are Cultivated, the most distinct of these being the Fastigi-
ate or Florence Court or Irish Yew, found many years ago
on an Irish mountain, the Dovaston or Weeping Yew,
and varieties with gold-colored or silvery leaves. The
readers of this journal are doubtless familiar with the ap-
pearance of the cultivated European Yew, with its com-
pact bushy juvenile habit and its more mature pyramidal
head, but in our illustration on page 265 of this issue they
can see the portrait of a wild Yew-tree, a venerable speci-
men growing on the upper slopes of an Algerian moun-
tain. Our illustration is from a photograph made by
Monsieur Maurice L de Vilmorin, of Paris, who has
obligingly placed it at our disposal.

Plant Names of Indian Origin.—II.

ATALPA.—This word was first used by Mark Catesby
(Nat. Hist. Carolina, Florida, etc., i., p. 49; 1745), who
gives no explanation of its origin or meaning. Speaking of
the Catalpa, he says : ‘‘ This tree was unknown to the inhab-
itants of Carolina till I brought the seeds from the remoter
parts of the country.” By the “remoter parts of the coun-
try’ is probably meant Georgia, where the tree is indige-
nous, and into which Catesby made excursions while living
in Carolina, between 1722 and 1726. This was formerly a
part of the domain of the Muskhogeans. Believing that
the word was derived from one of the dialects of this family,
I submitted it to Mrs. A. E. W. Robertson, of Muscogee,
Indian Territory, who has a profound knowledge of the
Muscogee language, and who tells me that it is undoubt-

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 436.

edly from that dialect, and isa slight corruption of ku/ihlpa,
meaning “winged head”—the name, to use her words,
referring to the “shape and marking of the flower, with its
winged border.” From a supposition that the name was
derived from that of a tribe of South Carolina Indians, the
word was corrupted at an early period to Cataba and
Catawba. Patalpha, another corruption of the word, is
applied in the Lower Wabash and White River Valleys,
Indiana, to Catalpa speciosa. ; ;

Cuapote (Diospyros Texana).—From Mexican-Spanish
sapote, which is from Aztec /sapot, a general name, in
composition, in that language, for sweet, fleshy fruits.
The name of the Mexican persimmon was ///sapoll, mean-
ing ‘‘black fruit.”

Cuia (Salvia Columbariae).—The Aztec name, according
to Molina ( Vocab. Mexic.), for the “oily seeds” ofsome plant.

Cuicatore.---A popular name in southern California for
Argemone hispida. It is from Aztec chica/loil, meaning
“that which is spiny.”

CHINKAPIN, or CHrInquapIn (Castanea pumila).—‘‘ Many
goodly groves of Chincomen-trees, with a huske like unto
a chesnut” (R. Hamor, in A érue discourse of the present
estate of Virginia (about 1614]). The last syllable, mez, in
the above word is an Algonkin inseparable suffix, meaning
“seed,” ‘‘nut,” or fruit.” The erroneous change to pm,
a suffix meaning ‘‘root,” was made at quite an early
period, as early, at least, as 1682. Captain Smith (Ast of
Virginia, about 1606-8) and Strachey (Z7ravaile info Virginia,
about 1610) give the name in the reduplicated form,
chechinquamin and chichinquamin. ‘This renders the
meaning of the first part of the word a little doubtful ; but
I think that, of the two possible interpretations, ‘‘ rattle-
nut” and “scratch fruit,” the latter (which would refer to
the stiff spiny character of the involucre) is the more prob-
able. By the Pamlico Algonkins, further south, the fruit
was called sapéimmen (Hariot, 1585), which may, perhaps,
be regarded as the southern equivalent of sabémin and
jabémin, ‘‘pierce-fruit,” names in Cree and Odjibway,
respectively, for the prickly fruit of Ribes Cynosbati.

Cinque (Triosteum perfoliatum).—A name of the plant
given by Clayton (f/ora Virgin.). Rafinesque (Aled. Fior.,
ii, 269) speaks of the plantas the ‘‘ Sincky of the Indians.”
The name, except as a synonym in works on Materia
Medica, is probably obsolete. If Indian, it is an Algonkin
word, and either from szznegeu, “it is stony,” or an abbre-
viation of semnegemin, “stony seed,” referring to the bony
character of the nutlets.

Cramoun.—A name in Massachusetts for Kalmia latifolia,
thought to be of Indian origin. Ifso, it is a contraction of
kullamoun for kunnamoun, ‘‘spoon material.” The wood,
which is soft when fresh, becomes hard and dense,
and was used by the aborigines for making spoons.

Coaxum (Phytolacca decandra).—This name, with its
variants Cocum and Cunicum, is a word of Indian (Taras-
can) origin, but not of Indian application. Rafinesque
(Med. F1., ii., 25) says that the Phytolacca is the ‘‘Coa-
kum of northern tribes,” and this statement has been
repeated. The “northern tribes” in this instance were
the colonists of Massachusetts, who formed the word
through a corruption of Mechoacan, an old pharmaceutical
name for a purgative root derived from the Mexican prov-
ince so called, and afterward extended to the roots of other
plants that had similar medicinal properties. _Mechoacan
is a Tarascan word, meaning ‘‘ fish-land.”

CocasH (Aster puniceus).—From Natick (Algonk.) koko-
shki, ‘‘it is very rough,” a name referring to the hispid
character of the stems, which has given the plant one of
its popular names—that of the “rough-stemmed Aster.”
The name was applied also by the Indians (and is still
applied) to Erigeron Philadelphicus, because of its rough,
hairy stems.

Conosu.—A name for several plants having similar medi-
cinal properties—namely, Cimicifuga, Caulophyllum and
Acteea. It is from cohosoo, meaning “it is spiny,” or
“bristly” or ‘‘rough to the touch,” the Indian (North-

JULY 1, 1896.]

eastern Algonkin) designation, not of the plants, but of
their medicinal rhizomes, which are of a more or less rough
and jagged nature when dry.

Coontr.—A name usually appropriated to Zamia integri-
folia, but a general term among the Seminoles for bread
roots. There are several variants of the word, such:as
Coonta, Coontia and Koonitie. It is apparently from kéna
(kén in composition), ‘‘ground,” and a/a, ‘‘under.”

Cuscatomrny, with variants: Cruskatominy, Kiskitomas,
Kiskitomis, Kisky Thomas, Kiskytom and Kitkytom.—A
name in the vicinity of New York city (Long Island and
Staten Island) for the nut of Hickoria ovata. Dr. J. H.
Trumbull conjectures that the name alludes to the thinness
of the shell of the nut of the Shagbark Hickory, and that it
implies one that may be ‘‘cracked with the teeth.” If this
is so, it is acorruption of a word that may be compared
with Abnaki (Algonk.) oosekooskadamen (contracted skoos-
kadamen), ‘‘he crushes it with the teeth.”

Danoon (Ilex Cassine)—a word first used by Catesby
(1722-6). It has been supposed to be Indian, but it cannot
now be referred to any language formerly spoken in the
southern states.

Dockmackte (Viburnum acerifolium).—A word of Mohegan
Algonk.) origin, meaning ‘‘it is cooling.” ‘‘The oldest
Dutch settlers in Columbia County, New York,” says Eaton
(Manual of Botany), ‘tellus that the Indians in that vicinity
considered the external application of the leaves of the
Dockmackie as a sovereign remedy in every kind of inflam-
matory tumor.”

Docacuamus, or DoGackerME (Cornus circinata).—A cor-
ruption of Penobscot (Algonk.) damaganatkwimosi, ‘‘ pipe-
stem bush.”

Hackxmatack (Larix Americana).—A corruption (an ana-
gram, really) of tacamahac, an early name in Massachu-
setts for the same tree. The name has been transferred to
several other conifers, such. as Thuya occidentalis, Pinus
contorta, P. Murrayana and Juniperus communis.

Hickox (Chrysobalanus Icaco).—Through Carib-Span.,
from zkakoo, the name of the plum-like fruit in the female
dialect of the Caribs of the Lesser Antilles. Cocoa, in the
name Cocoa-plum (Corker-plum in Florida), is a variant of
the word.

Hicxory.—This word, or rather the word of which it is

-an abbreviation, was the name neither of a tree nor its
fruit, but of an emulsion prepared by the Virginia Algon-
kins from the moker-nut (Hickoria alba), and used as an
ingredient in their cookery. Strachey (7ravaide ilo Virginia,
p. 129), speaking of the ‘‘walnuts” of the country, says,
after mentioning the black walnut and the butternut:
“The third sort is . exceeding hard-shelled and
hath a passing sweet karnell; this last kind the Indians
beat into pieces with stones, and putting them, shells and
all, into morters, mingling water with them, with long
woodden pestells pound them so long togither untill they
make a kind of mylke, or oylie liquor, which they call
powcohicora.” This word (properly, pakohikoré) means,
literally, ‘‘itis brayed.” As a name for the emulsion so
called, it corresponds to the English expression “ brayed-
stuff,” or “that which is made by braying.” The word is
from the root pak, “ to strike,” or “ beat”; whence also the
name Pecan, g. v. The changes which this word has
undergone up to the present, starting with it as the name
of a food preparation simply, are, chronologically, as fol-
lows: pokahiquara, pokahichory, pokerchicory, pokikerrie,
pockery, pohichery, peckikery, pieck-hickery, hickery,
hiquery, hickory, hiccory, hickorie and hiccora. The
orthography now adopted was first usedin 1682, in An
Account of the Province of Carolina (reprinted in Force’s
Tracts).

The word hickory as a name, in what were formerly Span-
ish possessions, for a chocolate cup, is from Mex.-Span.,
jicara (formerly xicara), a chocolate cup, from .xca//, the
Aztec name (1) for a small variety of gourd, and (2) for a
roundish cup or bowl used for drinking purposes. Hickory,
a name for several small species of Mamillaria, belongs to

Garden and Forest.

263

the language of the Tarahumari Indians, who inhabit the
Sierra Madre, near the frontiers of Mexico.

New York,

W. R. Gerard.

Mycology in the Southern States.

Gee the later development of botanical
study in this country, it is not a little singular that
the two earliest students of American fungi commenced
their labors in a single state, and that that state was North
Carolina. Schweinitz and Curtiss described their species
largely from the south. Their species, like many others of
that day, were very briefly described, and a very large
number of them have never been seen since their original
discovery ; this arises from two conditions: (1) The inher-
ent difficulty of identifying the plants from the descrip-
tions, and even from the types, some of which are lost, and
(2) the fact that very little field work has been done in the
southern tier of states since their time.

If we should draw a line across the country along the
northern boundary of North Carolina the area south of that
line, made up of thirteen entire states and about two-fifths of
California, will represent about one-third of the United
States, exclusive of Alaska. Let us examine briefly into
the field work in mycology that has been accomplished in
this portion of our territory. Leaving North Carolina
where the two pioneers labored, and South Carolina, which
was later explored toa considerable extent by Ravenel, we
come to Florida, which has been lightly skimmed bya few
transient collectors, Dr. Martin, Calkins, Nash, the writer,
and the two enthusiastic workers at the subtropical labora-
tory, but not a tithe of its riches has been brought to light
and the region of its really tropical flora is even yet
untouched. From Alabama the late Judge Peters and
Beaumont both contributed somewhat to the Berkeley and
Curtiss series, and later Professor Atkinson made consider-
able collections in the central eastern portion of the state
during the short time he was connected with the Alabama
Polytechnic Institute.

In Mississippi, Professors Tracy and Earle, in the mo-
ments stolen from professional work, have brought out a
preliminary list of Mississippi fungi containing over 350
species, of which one-sixth were undescribed, and they have
already a large supplementary list ready for publication.
In Louisiana, Hale collected a few species in the early
days, and more recently Father Langlois has done a
highly creditable work in the collections he has made
largely in a single parish. From the vast state of Texas
what have we to represent itsrich flora? (1) A list of 149
species by M, C. Cooke, collected by Lindheimer, Wright
and Ravenel. (2) A partial bulletin from the experiment
station devoted to parasitic fungi, and including a list of 95
species, many of which are included in the preceding.
(3) A brief review of the fungous flora of the state by
Ravenel, which incidentally mentions a few species. All and
only this from a state that probably supports a larger fungous
flora than any single state ofthe Union. In 1891 the writer
spent a few hours in the city of Austin, and with a half hour
to spare strolled out to one of the arroyos within the city
limits. On this stroll, which was taken in a dry, unfavor-
able season, six species of fungi were gathered. Three
were new to science, and three represented rare and highly
interesting genera, two of which are unique and scarcely
represented in any of the larger herbaria. The incident is
unimportant in itself, except as it shows what quantities of
material are in store for those who commence the explora-
tion of this almost unknown territory.

Until the last three years southern California has been a
terra incognita in mycology, but during that time Professor
McClatchie has made a highly creditable commencement
in the region about his institute.

From the remaining states in this southern tier, Georgia,
Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona, no sys-
tematic field work has ever been done, and probably two
hundred species would cover our knowledge of their aggre-

264

gate mycologic flora, the larger portion being collected by
Professor Tracy on a single trip across the territories.
Surely there is room for abundant field work throughout
this entire third of our area. The exact knowledge of the

higher plants is slender enough; any one who has spent -

even a little time in the area covered by Chapman’s Flora
is painfully aware of that, but in the field of cryptogamic
botany the work has been much less thorough.

And to whom must we look for the exploration of this
vast unknown? Naturally to the experiment stations scat-
tered throughout this area, for they represent the leaders in
scientific matters throughout this belt as in no other por-
tion of the country. The other colleges, including some
that are recognized as state institutions, are mostly strictly
literary in their tendencies, and in many of them depart-
ments of science, particularly the newer biologic sciences,
receive a littke encouragement. Throughout this entire
area there is scarcely a professor of botany outside of the
experiment stations, and the private workers who are suffi-
ciently interested in exploration to be of service can easily
be counted on the fingers of a single hand.

There is need of just this sort of exploration, and there is
need of it now, before more serious modifications of the
original flora occur than civilization has already brought.
Considerable is being done at some of the stations, but at
others less, and at some nothing. <A few have not even a
botanist, much less a mycologist, on their staff. The work
of investigation of plant diseases is proper, and must be
carried on; the studies of ecology and physiology and
pathology are opening up new fields of exploration, and
must needs be attended to, but with all these varied inter-
ests there is great need that the cryptogamic flora of the
southern third of the United States be brought to light.

While I make this plea for work in mycology, I do not
forget that our knowledge of the Algz of this region is
vastly less than that of any other group, and even the
Spermaphytes, too often studied from imperfect dried ma-
terial, instead of in their native haunts, will follow closely

on. .
Auburn, Ala. Lucien M. Underwood.

Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.

E in London are now in the height of the gardening
season, and every one in the horticultural world
seems to be working at high pressure. This is most evident
at the periodical gatherings at the Royal Horticultural
Society’s headquarters. I thought on Tuesday last that I
had rarely seen a more bewildering assemblage of novelties
among all classes of plants than was shown there, and
seldom has the hall been so full of plants, flowers and
people. It was an eloquent sign of the healthy and active
state of horticulture in this country at this time.

I cannot comment upon all the new and remarkable
exhibits that interested me, but will pick out a few that the
fraternity on your side might like to know about. Begin-
ning with the Orchids, which, by unwritten etiquette, are
presumed to hold the right of first mention, there was such
an extraordinary display of these that not even at the Great
Temple show was there sucha gathering of the choicest
and rarest kinds. I need only mention that the exhibitors
included Baron Schroeder, Sir Trevor Lawrence, Hon. Wal-
ter Rothschild, Sir F. Wigan, Messrs. Crawsboy, Ingram,
Cobb and Gaskell among amateurs, and Messrs. Veitch,
Sander, Low and Williams among nurserymen, and from
this list orchidists may know that the choicest Orchid col-
lections were represented. There were, however, compar-
atively few that obtained certificates or awards of merit.
The only first-class certificate was given toa splendid form
of Miltonia (Odontoglossum) vexillaria, called Memoria
G. D. Owen, which has the large flowers of the finest forms
with the color of the smaller autumn or late-flowering
variety, and so peculiar were the markings that it brought
out the general remark that it more resembled the expanded

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 436.

wings of a gorgeous butterfly than any Orchid known. It
is certainly the most lovely variety yet seen in this coun-
try. Among the many new Cattleyas and Leelias, one
from Mr. Ingram, named Leelio-Cattleya Pytho, a cross
between L. elegans Turneri and Cattleya Loddigesi, was
thoroughly deserving of its award of merit. The flowers
indicate intermediate characters, the sepals and petals being
deep rose-pink, with the broad lip of a deep hue passing to
white. Another Lelio-Cattleya is a variety of Mardelli
from Messrs. Sander. It differs from the type by the lip
being deeper and richer in color, and with a conspicuous
lemon-yellow blotch in the throat. It is a cross between
L. elegans and C, Luddemanniana, and, no doubt, is a seed-
ling variation. A splendid variety of Odontoglossum crispum,
named Lord Sherborne, won an award on account of its dis-
tinct color, which is white, flushed with rose, and heavily
blotched with reddish brown. These were all that the
committee distinguished by awards, but among the collec-
tions there were some Orchids in superb condition, the
names of some of which will be sufficient for specialists
who might like to know whose they are. Baron Schrceder
had the gorgeous Lelia-Cattleya eximia, with four flowers,
perhaps the largest of all Cattleyas, and extremely rich in
color; L.-Cattleya Canhauriana; Cypripedium platyte-
nium, still among the rarest of Orchids ; Sobralia xantho-
leuca; S. macrantha Kienastiana, with gigantic flowers,
and fine examples of the rarely seen, but old, Lelia majalis.
Sir Trevor Lawrence’s collection was chiefly of rare botan-
ical Orchids, as they are called—that is, they are not
showy. Mr. Rothschild had in his lot a new Catasetum,
named splendens leucanthum, a natural hybrid, recalling
in size and and form C. Bonigerothi, the flowers of ivory-
white, of thick texture and adorned with emerald-green
blotches at the base of the petals. Messrs. Veitch had sev-
eral of their finest hybrids, and among them the new Disa
Langleyensis and D. Kewensis, raised at Kew, both first-
rate and decidedly coming Orchids. One of the finest
things in Messrs. Sanders’ group was Sobralia Amesiana,
with beautifully formed flowers of a delicate white, suf-
fused with rose-pink. There were many varieties of Cat-
tleya Mossize, as this is just the season for them; although
there are countless varieties, those shown named Mrs.
Egerton Grey and E. Ashworth, both from amateurs, are
worth noting,

Among the collections of other plants the Cannas were
remarkable, being the finest I had ever seen, especially
those from Messrs. Cannell, of Swanley. There were many
novelties, but the committee are evidently very careful in
giving certificates and awards. Among all the lot but two
received awards of merit. One of these, from Messrs.
Veitch, was called Austria, a variety with one of the largest
flowers I have seen, and of a rich warm yellow, with only
faint freckles of red, the best yellow yet seen here. The
other award was to Messrs. Paul for one called George
Paul, very large and of good shape, with rich orange-scarlet
spike, massive, the foliage bronzy red. Some of Messrs.
Cannell’s new sorts I thought were exceptionally good,
especially those named Paul Meylan, deep orange-red ;
Golden Queen, a fine yellow; Pierson, intense crimson ;
M. H. Debrouse, yellow, spotted with scarlet; Avilan, a
finely formed flower, yellow, spotted with crimson, and
Senateur Montefiore, orange-scarlet, blotched with red.
Veitch’s collection included such fine varieties as Alphonse
Bouvier, Comte de Bouchard, L. E. Bailey and Progression.
The best in Messrs. Pauls’ lot were Czar Alexander III. and
J. G. Baker, both first-rate. The collection included new
Cannas from a large number of cultivators, but there was
no great advance shown over the exhibits of previous sea-
sons. It seems as if growers of new Cannas need some
new raw material to work upon so as to obtain a new break
in color,

Roses were plentiful and in perfection. Among a few
new varieties, one of the most remarkable was a white
form of Rosa rugosa with fringed petals, named fimbriata.
It is decidedly distinct and pretty. It is in flower at Kew,

Juty 1, 1896.]

where it is pure white and strongly perfumed, but at the
show the flowers were blush white. Another variety that
won an award was R. rugosa Rose Apples, which is semi-
double and pale pink, very floriferous and quite distinct as
a garden Rose. Messrs. Paul had also a new single Rose
in the way of Carmine Pillar. Itis of an intensely brilliant
scarlet, large and abundant, and will make a showy Rose
for the garden. It is named Royal Scarlet. The hybrid
Briers raised by Lord Penzance were shown beautifully
by Cooling, of Bath. There are many varieties now, but
several are too much alike. The four which I consider rep-
resent all the characters in these hybrids are all beautiful.

Garden and Forest.

265

awards of merit to them, notwithstanding that there is now
such a multitude of first-rate sorts. All the sorts were
what are here called border kinds, in distinction to the
tree kinds which flower in winter and are grown under
glass. The best yellow I have seen was Admiration,
shown from Blenheim by the Duke of Marlborough. It
has flowers as large as a Malmaison, very full and ofa
clear yellow like Penshurst. Mr, Martin Smith, now the
most prominent amateur Carnation fancier, obtained
awards for Nabob, of a rich terra cotta like Reynolds Hole,
but a larger and bolder flower, and Her Grace, with large
flowers of a delicate pink that do not burst the calyx.

Fig. 37.—An Algerian Yew-tree (Taxus baccata).—See page 261.

These are Amy Robsart, Rose Bardwardine, Anne of Gier-
stein and Lady Penzance. They range in color from an
orange-red to a rich crimson-rose and are all extremely
floriferous and with strong perfume. Some masses of them
now in full beauty at Kew on the lawns are the attraction
of crowds of visitors, and that fact isa good criterion of the
value of a garden plant.

Carnations were shown in large numbers, and rarely has
there been at one show such a gathering of new sorts.
Half a dozen were considered so good and distinct by the
committee that they could not do otherwise than give

The well-known raiser Mr. Turner, of Slough, had a large
and fine collection and won awards with Delos, brilliant
scarlet with a rich Clove scent; Virgo, a yellow ground
flaked and margined with scarlet, and Ness, best described
as a scarlet Clove. Several others cquld have been picked
out of this collection as good as those certificated, such as
Loveliness, pale pink; Corunna, yellow ground; Lady
Biddulph, a fine Malmaison type, and Little John, vivid
scarlet. These are all worth including in the choicest
selections.

The Delphiniums, from Mr. Kelway, of Longport, now

266

the most noted raiser of these valuable border flowers, had
an extensive display of superb varieties, the majority seed-
lings. But it is difficult to describe them as they differed
only by subtle shades of purples and lilacs. One I singled
out as very remarkable, and, in fact, is the only variety I
have yet seen with ivory-white flowers, and is a decided
break from the prevailing tints. It may lead up to some
remarkable seedlings with variegated flowers.

The Chrysanthemum-flowered Ponies from Messrs.
Wallace, of Colchester, attracted much attention, as they
are distinctly different from the full double sorts. Mr.
Wallace told me he imported them direct from Japan,
where they have evidently made a point in selecting this
peculiar type of flower. The flowers are large, with broad
shell-like outer petals, while the inner petals are narrow
and incurved like a chrysanthemum, or rather like an
anemone. One can see a future for this type of Peony,
though perhaps they will never rival the glorious French
varieties with huge globular double heads.

The most remarkable cultural exhibit in the show was a
collection of Streptocarpus grown to perfection by one of
the best vegetable gardeners in the country. The plants
represented all the finest of the Kew and Chelsea hybrids,
and every plant carried quite a sheaf of several scores of
blossoms. They were quite a revelation to most people,
and especially to the men who raised the hybrids, as they
never thought that such perfection could be attained in
such plants. The collection was the greatest advertise-
ment Messrs. Veitch could have for their hybrids, and, no
doubt, it will give an impetus to Streptocarpus culture. Of
the miscellaneous exhibits may be mentioned the pretty
Californian Brodiza Howelli lilacina, which was con-
sidered worthy of a first-class certificate. It is much richer
in color than the type, and the same exhibitors, Messrs.
Wallace, also showed B. ixioides erecta, distinct from the
type in its larger flowers and more erect umbels. They also
had a number of lovely Californian bulbous plants, Calo-
chorti and the like, besides Japanese Lilies, of which the
new form of L. Japonicum, called Alexandra, was remark-
able. It may be best described as a pure white Lilium
Krameri. Messrs. Veitch showed some choice Japanese
shrubs in flower, including Cornus Kousa, Styrax Japonica,
Indigofera decora alba, and Cesalpinia Japonica, all of
which have proved hardy in their nursery in Surrey,
though all regarded as doubtful plants generally in this

ges Wilham Goldring.

Kew.

Cultural Department.

Filmy Ferns in the Dwelling-house.

1? may seem strange to some to be told that Filmy Ferns are

good house plants, as their fronds are of the thinnest pos-
sible texture and they require to be continually kept in a very
humid atmosphere, but they can be grown successfully by
keeping them all the time in a glass case. An inexpensive
case can easily be constructed with three large panes of glass
for the top and for the two sides, and two smaller ones for the
ends. The size of the panes can be determined by conve-
nience and the kinds of Ferns it is intended to grow. The
bottom of the case should consist of a stout piece of wood, and
on top of this a zinc pan to prevent water getting through, and
also to provide a constant supply of moisture, The glass can
be kept in position with four pieces of oak-wood with the
bark on and a quarter section grooved out the entire length.
The pieces can be nailed to the wooden frame, and at the top
fastened with wire or pieces of wood running all the way
round, finished off so that the glass top will lie perfectly flat.
The kind of soil in which I find Filmy Ferns to succeed best
consists of rough peat or fern-roots, pieces of broken pots,
bricks or sandstone in equal proportions. Some rough sand
should be added, and lumps of charcoal the size of small
Hickory nuts,all mixed together thoroughly. Some rough gravel
should first be put into the zinc pan and this covered with
some that is a little finer. Instead of planting the Ferns out in
the case I prefer to keep them in pots or small seed pans, and
success depends greatly on the manner in which they are
potted. One-third of the pot should be filled with small pieces of

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 436.

broken pots for drainage, and the remainder filled with a suffi-
cient quantity of the soil to keep the plant when finished off
well above the rim. The soil should be firmly pressed about
the roots and pieces of charcoal or standstone be used to keep
it firmly in place. When placed in the case the spaces around
the pots should be filled in with different kinds of rocks. The
tallest plants should be in the centre, or if the plants are all
about the same size some should be stood on pieces of flat
stones. The rocks will soon become moss-grown and present
a beautiful appearance. After the Ferns are potted and
arranged the first watering should be done with a fine sprink-
ler so as to settle the soil; after that they must be watered
through the spout of a small watering-pot, as the fronds should
not be watered overhead. If water is kept in the zinc pan all
the time it will be found that the plants will require but very
little water. A window facing north is the best position for
them, and if put in a more sunny place they must be shaded.
In fact, the sun should never be allowed to shine on them as
it dries up the moisture which condenses on the fronds much
too rapidly.

In the selection of kinds to be cultivated there are a great
many tochoose from. The greater number are only of botani-
cal interest, but there are several ornamental-leaved species
suitable for this purpose. One of the best is Trichomanes
reniforme, a native of New Zealand, with almost transparent,
kidney-shaped leaves. The variety of the Killarney Fern,
T. radicans, which grows wild in some parts of Alabama and
adjoining states and is named Alabamensis, is well adapted
for this work, as it is dwarf and grows very easily. T. trichoi-
deum is well worth trying; the divisions of the fronds are
almost hair-like, presenting a beautiful appearance when well
grown. Small plants of Todea superba have a very orna-
mental appearance; they can be kept for some time ina
small state if given only limited root room; otherwise they
soon become too large foraglass case. Among the Hymeno-
phyllums, H. demissum, H. hirtellum and H. pulcherrimum

all thrive under ordinary conditions. i
Botanic Garden, Washington, D. C. G. W. Oliver.

Notes on Hardy Perennials.

ICTAMNUS ALBUS, oftener found in gardens under the
name D. Fraxinella, is an extremely efféctive plant when
well grown. We find the form with rosy or purplish flowers
more robust, and it makes much larger and more effective
plants here than that with white flowers. This perennial plant
has been cultivated in gardens for a great many years, and few
perennials have a better and more effective habit. It has stout
stems standing erect without staking, andattains aheight of two
feetand sometimes more with good cultivation, It has very dis-
tinct shining pinnate leaves. The flowers are produced in erect
terminal racemes, and they last for two or three weeks in good
condition. Itdoes best here in a deep, partially moist soil and
in a position where it is shaded from the sun during the hot-
test part of the day. We find that it thrives bestif not disturbed
too often.

Along the back row of the herbaceous border large plants
of Clematis recta are in full bloom and are imposing at this
time. This hardy perennial Clematis is anideal plant for such
a position, but requires careful tying to a strong stake about
four feet in length. If this. is neglected the showy white
corymbs are not seen to advantage at flowering time. There
are several forms of this plant, some of them blossoming a
week or sometimes nearly two weeks before the others open
their flowers. The typical plant is from four to five feet high
and well clothed with pinnate leaves, the leaflets stalked, ovate,
acuminate and entire. The flowers in many of the forms are
produced in dense corymbs, although some _ have loose
corymbs and are less valuable as decorative plants. One dis-
tinct variety now in flower makes a neat border plant attaining
a height of from two to three feet, andit has loose corymbs of
white flowers. This plant is known as C. recta lathryfolia.
C. integrifolia is a neat distinct border plant with stems two
feet high and stands erect without any support. The leaves
are entire, rather scattered on the stems, ovate-lanceolate and
smooth. Thenodding blue flowers are produced singly on
rather long peduncles at the ends of the stems. Although it
is not as showy as some plants belonging tothis genus, it has
its own place and works in nicely in the third row from the
front in the border.

A plant that attracts a good deal of attention in the border is
Gypsophila Gmelinii. This Siberian plant has an elegant
habit; it isabout eighteen inches high and spreads out a yard
or more in diameter. The loose, spreading stems are pro-
duced from a_ half-woody root and. form around, compact

Jury 1, 1896.]

plant. The innumerable white flowers are produced in loose
airy panicles. G. paniculata is a handsome plant, but this
Gypsophila has a better habit and has larger and.more showy
flowers. Itslong roots penetrate deep, and it needs a deep
light soil and an open sunny position in the border, or an
exposed position in the rock garden. G. Stevenii is another
plant with a light and graceful habit. It is about a foot and a
half high and has panicles of small white flowers at this time.

Phlox ovata of Linnzeus and P. Carolina are now both classed
under the name P. ovata. They are excellent garden plants
and distinct enough, especially for garden purposes, to retain
their specific names. P.ovata is a neat showy plant with erect
stems not much more than a foot high, and terminated with
crowded, showy, reddish purple flowers. Its radical leaves
are ovate, acute, rather fleshy, and the cauline ones are ovate-
oblong. This plant blossoms here from two to three weeks
earlier than the plant we used to know as P. Carolina. The
Phlox formerly known as P. Carolina is just beginning to open
its flowers. It is quite a distinct plant, growing several inches
taller than P. ovata, and has longer and more tapering
leaves and light purple flowers. Both kinds are easily grown
in a light rich soil and a sunny position, where they increase
rapidly. A collection of hardy plants is not complete without
both forms of this plant.

Lindelofia spectabilis is a neat compact Boraginaceous
plant. It is about eighteen inches high and has oblong-
acuminate leaves, and at this time rather showy racemes of
sky-blue flowers. It grows in a sunny position and in light
sandy soil. It is easily raised from seed and blossoms the
second year.

A plant that makes a good companion for Clematis recta in
the back row in the borderand that blossoms at the same time
is Phlomis tuberosa. This noble labiate plant is very showy
when properly grown and well placed. It is tall-growing, with
stout, leafy, erect stems, which attain a height of five feet, and
it needs no stake. The purple-rose flowers are borne plenti-
fully in dense whorls along the upper part of the stems. It is
quite hardy and produces an abundance of seeds annually,
from which plants are easily raised.

Linum flavum makes a neat border-plant and grows well in
the rock garden, where it makes a yellow mass of color at this
time. It has slightly woody stems at the base, which are
about one foot long and are nicely clothed with narrow
lanceolate-acute sessile leaves. The showy yellow flowers are
in corymbs and are most bright on sunny days. Near the
front of the border it makes a welcome color at this time.

In a slightly raised and sunny position in the rock garden a
large bed of the double form of Lychnis viscaria, with bright
red flowers, is now conspicuous. This plant is useful and
attractive also near the front of the border, where its bright
flowers can be seen from a distance. The erect stems of the
well-known L, Chalcedonica are now crowned with dense clus-
ters of scarlet flowers, which are prominent among other flow-
ers. There are several good varieties of this plant, one
with white flowers; but the form with double scarlet flowers
makes a handsome perennial.

Thermopsis Caroliniana has blossomed well in the border
this season. It is effective placed at intervals in the back row
of the border. Its habit is good, and if not crowded too much
by other plants it will make strong stout stems that need no
staking. The stems grow four feet high and are terminated
by dense erect racemes of showy yellow flowers a foot in
length. A deep and partially moist soil suits it well, and it
makes stronger stems if it is not shaded by trees.

Botanic Garden, Harvard University. Robert Cameron.

Rhododendrons at Wellesley.

ie is only during recent years that the Rhododendron has

taken its proper rank in the garden. As anevergreen flow-
ering shrub it has few equals. For planting along avenues, for
belting trees, for massing or for forming a single specimen on
the lawn it is especially appropriate. Its bold rounded corymbs
of broadly campanulate or rotate flowers, surrounded by an in-
volucre-like whorl of handsome leaves, are borne in the greatest
profusion wherever the plants succeed. During the last few
years the number of available varieties and range of coloring
has been constantly extended,

In the cultivation of Rhododendrons the location and the
composition of the soil are matters of considerable importance.
It is a mistake to suppose a sheltered southern aspect is abso-
lutely necessary, and the reverse is nearer the truth, as evena
slight experience will show. Many years ago Mr. H. H. Hunne-
well enclosed a portion of his garden, planting dense hedges of
Spruce-trees as a shelter from northerly winds and to protect

Garden and Forest.

267

the choice tender varieties, especially those brightly colored
kinds in which there is a considerable infusion of the Hima-
layan R. arboreum. After many failures, he at last found
that such varieties as he expected to grow there did better in
more exposed places, screened to some extent by belts of
trees or taller varieties of hardier Rhododendrons.

The composition of the soil is also important. A cool, moist
subsoil should be secured wherever this is possible. A good
peaty, though porous, loam, with a fair admixture of leaf-soil,
may be recommended as best, and this should, at least, be four
feet deep; would be even better deeper. This, however, must
be largely a matter of experience. Rhododendrons may, and
often do, succeed well in good common loam and leaf-soil,
providing they are weil watered and mulched during the sum-
mer. For mulching, a good coating of well-decayed cow-
manure will answer well. A heavy clayey loam, in which the
natural drainage is poor, appears to be the worst of all soils for
these plants. Moisture at the roots is absolutely essential
during summer, and in dry spells of weather it must be arti-
ficially applied. Any evidence of suffering may not be seen at
once. The roots penetrate far below the frost-line, and if
when winter comes they lack the proper supply of moisture,
the damage resulting will be seen before spring in injured
foliage and dead flower-buds which have failed to properly
ripen in the autumn. It is only by close study that these facts
are discovered. An ordinary observer would be sure to assign
the cause to the severity of the winter. By carefully examin-
ing the weather records in regard to this matter, Mr. Hunne-
well has always found that Rhododendrons suffer most
after a very dry summer and autumn. On the approach
of winter a covering of Oak-leaves about a foot in depth will
afford protection to the roots, equalizing the thermal condi-
tions of the soil throughout the winter; and these leaves when
decayed fertilize the soil. If there is objection to the un-
sightly appearance of the leaves during summer, a covering of
pine-needles will smooth over the surface. Lacking these,
sweepings of short grass from the lawn will answer the same
purpose. ;

It is upward of forty years since Mr. Hunnewell began a col-
lection of Rhododendrons. At that time only seedlings were
imported, and it was not thought possible to grow any of the
choicer named varieties in this country, especially in the
New England states. Some of these seedlings to-day are
noble plants, upward of fifteen feet in height and as
much in diameter. R. Everestianum was one of the first
really good varieties to prove thoroughly hardy. With
good cultivation the plants increased in size and beauty,
and there was a desire for more variety of coloring, especially
an admixture of scarlet shades. These could not be obtained
without some degree of infusion with the R. arboreum type.
In his endeavor to acclimatize the beautiful large flowers,
common in Europe, Mr. Hunnewell had the coéperation of
the noted English specialist, Mr. Anthony Waterer, who has
made a particular study of raising varieties for the New Eng-
land climate. R. Ponticum, which is tender here, but hardy
in Europe, had hitherto been used asa stock for these hybrids,
in most cases entering into their parentage also, and this is
why so many plants imported years ago did not stand well.
Mr. A. Waterer substituted our native R, Catawbiense from
the hill regions of the south, as that is hardy in New England.
It does not appear that our northern R. maximum has
been used to any extent, though, no doubt, it is just as
well suited for this purpose. It is a late bloomer. With
only partial success at first, and with failures enough to
discourage all but the most persevering, the work of acclima-
tization has been continued until now a score or more of the
choicest and best Rhododendrons once thought tender here
have proved themselves hardy. All hybrids in which the
Himalayan type is well marked may be set down as _ unre-
liably hardy. The narrow, sharply tapering foliage is a sure
indication that the weight of parentage lies with the more
tender kind. There are many fine plants of this class,
healthy in every way, which are uncertain bloomers, and only
a few trusses open, often with but few flowers. But it does
not count much with a true lover of these grand plants if a
few do not bloom every year. Many kinds bloom too much,
and it is surprising that they can continue to do so.

Recent experience has again shown that the loss of flower-
buds may not be altogether due to extreme cold, for on plants
of some tender varieties, lifted and stored in well-protected
cellars, the buds remained apparently intact, but the flowers
within the sheaths were killed. Perhaps the buds were not
thoroughly ripened, or even advanced too much, flushed by
autumn rains and bright days. I merely suggest this question
for consideration, as itis only on the leading and most vigor-

268

ous shoots that the buds are injured, and always quite as much
so on the healthiest plants. Occasionally, when all the upper
buds are flowerless the weaker side branches will bear fully
developed flowers.

The successful acclimatization of so many doubtful varieties,
embracing new, rich and distinct colors, has been surprising,
But it has not been done without attention to the minutest
details and a regular system of records. The frequent removal
of a variety from one place or position of exposure to another
has been necessary to ensure a thorough test, and this has
been done when less interested cultivators would have con-
signed the variety under test to the rubbish heap. Often it
has been a question of kill orcure, and then the most unsightly
plants have been removed to a swampas alast recourse. This
swamp is a low piece of ground, near the water-level, alto-
gether composed of peaty soil, and is occasionally flooded.
Nevertheless, it has become a recruiting ground, and from the
road there is quite a show of bloom, This is remarkable when
it is remembered that all the plants, when removed here, were
considered almost beyond recovery. In this connection it is
worthy of note that our locally native species, R. maximum,
grows naturally in swampy places, and when planting on
higher ground, good deep soil and plenty of water must be
provided for it. The remarkable success achieved here has
been due almost entirely to close attention to these details.

Distinctly spotted varieties of lighter shades are still lacking.
A recent importation for trial includes some of this character,
which it is hoped will prove hardy. Some of these have the
broader, rounder leaf, the almost certain criterion of hardiness,
while others have narrower leaves, and can almost at once be
set down as doubtfully hardy.

Hybrids in which the blood of our native Rhododendron
Catawbiense prevails are the hardiest in constitution, and from
these some of the hardiest and best rose and scarlet shades
are derived. The following varieties have been thoroughly
tested, and have proved entirely hardy: Album grandiflorum
is an old variety, and there are many large plants here; in
point of beauty its magnificent trusses of pink flowers, chang-
ing to white, are scarcely exceeded by any of the newer kinds.
Lady Grey Egerton, silvery blush, with grayish brown spots, is
strikingly effective. Charles Bagley is cherry-red, with a fine
truss and foliage. Caractacus is deep crimson, and every-
where recommended. Lady Crossly, salmon-pink, with broadly
campanulate flowers, is represented by some fine plants. Lady
Armstrong, seen in many places, was once thought tender,
but is now regarded one of the best hardy varieties, handsome
in foliage as well as truss; the flowers are rosy red and much
spotted. Charles Dickens seems to me the most striking of
all the red Rhododendrons, Sefton is another grand variety
which has only within the last few years proved hardy ; it is
deep maroon, with a large truss, large flowers and handsome
foliage. Kettledrum is hardy and distinct, rose-colored. Other
proved sorts are Old Port, plum color; Alexander Dancer,
beautiful warm red, and one of the earliest and best; John
Waterer, free, dark crimson; Maximum Wellesianum, blush,
changing to white; Delicatessimum, also blush, changing to
white, and late, the handsomest of all for individual speci-
mens—it is fully a week later, blooming with the Mountain
Laurel, Kalmia latifolia, and it is largely associated with them
for effect ; Mrs. Milner, rich crimson.

Some varieties not yet in the market are here for trial. They
are in all respects the best in their line of color yet sent out.
H. S. Hunnewell is white, with brown spots, compact and
free. F.L. Ames is of the best type, and one which must
become the ideal; the individual flowers are very large, round
and smooth, witha white centre and pink edge; it is free from
the fringe characteristic of many of the older varieties.
Charles S. Sargent is a red rose-lowered kind, with a compact
truss and good habit. Mrs. C. S. Sargent is said to be the
pink Everestianum ; it resembles the older variety in some
respects, but the flowers are larger.

Under canvas there is an exhibition at Wellesley of distinctly
tender varieties, all of which are removed to cellars in winter.
These additional three hundred or more varieties embrace
the most beautiful colors known among these plants, but it is
hardly probable they will come into general cultivation, on
account of the special conditions required. Princess Mary of
Cambridge is a beautiful blush with a deeper edge; out-of-
doors this variety has stood the winter well, and, though some
buds were killed, it still shows a few perfect flowers. Kate
Alice Waterer has fine trusses of erect flowers, rosy edged,
with a white centre, upper petals blotched with brown. Other
tender varieties are Mirandum, red-rose, beautiful truss; Mrs.
Shuttleworth, scarlet, light centre, much spotted—a distinctly
beautiful variety; Mrs. Simpson, white, beautifully spotted ;

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 436.

John Walter, rich crimson; Ralph Saunders, deep crimson,
finely marked; Mrs. Join Clutton, almost pure white. This
partial list can give only an inadequate idea of this rich collec-
tion, and all who can make it convenient should visit Welles-
ley during the flowering season, when Mr. Hunnewell opens his

grounds to the public.
a Wallesiers Mass. y Tepe Hatfield.

Correspondence.

Native Plants at Niagara Falls.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—Nature never fails to give us her overtones when she
plays her great symphonies, any more than do the great com-
posers. We cannot fail to catch the softening and mellowing
thus lent to the musical strain, for hearing is involuntary, but
we must so often be taught to see what is right before us, and
our teachers are so few, that we not infrequently miss all but the
most dazzling part of the outdoor picture. The devotee of field
science is never more aware of this than on visiting Niagara
Falls. Standing a fortnight ago on Prospect Point, perhaps
the most striking scenic spot in the world, I leaned over the
edge of the sheer and partly overhanging wall and looked
down, not at the great sheet of water, but at the rocks that
continue the gorge northward.

There is often scarcely a handful of soil to the square foot,
and sometimes apparently none at all on the face of the great
precipice, yet it is clothed with wild plants almost from top to
bottom. So hidden are they by the perpendicular wall and the
artificial coping above it that any of them are hard to make
out, but new discoveries are made at every change of posi-
tion. The Columbine, Aquilegia Canadensis, loves the spot
so well that its bright red blossoms appear sometimes after
they have disappeared from gardens. The plant is the most
venturesome and hardy of any there, and appears in a rock
crevice where nothing else but the bare wall is seen. It is dif-
ficult to understand how it subsists or even clings to the wall,
but it is content and holds out no hands for sustenance except
to the humid air. One or two wild Roses are there, and the
Wild Gooseberry sends up sturdy stems near the top of the
wall. A Spiraea, probably tomentosa, is at home, and Golden-
rods, Rhus toxicodendron and probably Rhus radicans, as it
is everywhere about the Falls, and Ampelopsis quinquefolia.
Creepers are rampant, hardly less so than in the woods on
Goat Island, where the wild Grape attains great size and runs
freely over the tops of quite tall trees. The wild Grape on the
edge of the gorge was just setting its crop and showed.a luxu-
riance of bunches that would charm a vineyardist. Bitter-
sweet and Solanum Dulcamara are also there. These vines
do not venture far down the wall, as they need soil, but they
are inthe spirit of the place and are seen rising from its base
and sometimes making their way far up the moist surface,
while the Aquilegia and some smaller greenery, that it is hard
to make out in the distance, crop out of every seam and ridge
and terrace from base to summit.

It is this acceptance of the wild spirit of Niagara that makes
its flora so acceptable. The soil is naturally thin and sterile,
so that the effort to turn the river bank on the mainland into
a cultivated park is so far indifferently successful, and the
ambitious evergreens that were planted on Bath Island are all
gone. But this makes no difference with the wild plants ; they
flourish everywhere and are as indifferent to the soil as any
but actual air-plants can be.

The wildest of our native plants do not yield naturally to
cultivation, because they demand atmospheric conditions that
cannot be transplanted with them. The result is that they lin-
ger awhile out of their native element and then disappear.
Let Niagara pretty generally alone and it will never want for
flora that is appropriate to it. There is very doubtful need of
the forest-tree nursery that is made to disfigure a part of Goat
Island, or the thicket of Snowberry, Symphoricarpus racemo-
sus, that begins to shut in the drive from Bath, Island.

Buffalo, N. Y. Fohn Chamberlin,

Notes from West Virginia.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—Last June I planted an innocent-looking little tuber of
Thladiantha dubia in a bed of choice bulbs, and soon had a
large vine, with scabrous heart-shaped leaves and yellow
flowers about as pretty, though not as large, as those of a
Pumpkin. It wandered all over the bed, hiding and choking
finer plants, and had to be confined to the margin by pegging
down. As it did not commend itself to me as worth saving, [

JuLy 1, 1896.]

did not take it upin the fall, andsupposed I had seen thelast of it,
but this spring it appeared again in twenty different places, per-
sistent of life, hard to exterminate, and destroying better plants.
Among choice exotics it is a pest, as it will soon overrun
everything else. Fora quick-growing screen, trained over a
trellis, it may be useful, but there are many things that are
prettier for such a position. T. dubia is a perennial of the
Gourd family, and its home is north China and India.

In a large collection of Spirzas flowers can generally
be found from the first balmy days of April until the sharp
frosts of lateautumn. In our collection several species and
varieties are now in flower. One of these is S. Billardii, which
is not a favorite with us because the panicles of bloom, bright
pink at first, fade to an ugly brown and give the bush an un-
tidy appearance. It is a Spiraea of rapid growth and large size,
and remains in bloom a long time. The fresh flowers are
pretty for vases, mixed with the white bloom of S. sorbifolia,
which is now waving its graceful plumes in one of the lower
shrubberies. S. sorbifolia is another rapid grower, and it
spreads inconveniently by many suckers, encroaching on its
neighbors and robbing them of light and air. A handsomer
variety, S. Lindleyana, does not thrive with us, as our sum-
mers are too hot and dry for it. It needs much moisture, and
should be grown on the margin of a stream or pond. S. Lind-
leyana has never bloomed for us, and in times of drought it
dwindles and shrivels up, sometimes withering to the root, and
yet retaining vitality enough to sprout out again in the fol-
lowing spring. Another Spirzea now in bloom is labeled S.
Blumei, and has blossoms that are somewhat similar to those
of S. Billardii, though the panicles are not so long nor so stiff
and upright in appearance. It lacks also the very long sta-
mens that characterize S. Billardii. The Spiraea Anthony
Waterer has begun to flower, and is the most beautiful of the
smaller shrubby Spirzeas. We have planted at its base a large
clump of Plumbago Larpente, not yet in bloom. Late last
summer, when the two were in flower together, the effect of
the rich blue of the one and the deep carinine of the other was
exceedingly pretty. S. callosa Fortunei superba is still in beau-
tiful bloom, and it seems to me as fine in its way as the new
Anthony Waterer, and is of much stronger growth. The color
of the flowers is a rich deep carmine. Sprays of the two varie-
ties are so similar in tint that it is hard to tell them apart.
Anthony Waterer, however, has the great merit of blooming
until cut down by frosts, while Fortune’s Spireea will soon be
out of bloom.

The Purple Fringe is showy now. The fringe is a soft mist
of color in which gray, green, yellow and pinkish tints seem to
mingle, but I do not see any trace of purple as yet. It is most
beautiful when, after a shower, it retains the drops of rain in
its intricate meshes, looking like some fine embroidery
sprinkled with tiny diamonds.

An interesting shrub now in bloom is Zizyphus vul-
garis. This has handsome foliage with small varnished
oval leaves and green inconspicuous flowers, which are suc-
ceeded by bright red berries. From the berries is made the
jujube paste of commerce. Our single specimen of this shrub
grows very slowly, and has never matured its fruit. Itis in a
part of the grounds where it receives a natural protection of
Oak-leaves every fall, and it has survived several very cold
winters. In Washington it grows to a large size.

A beautiful white Jessamine planted near it is protected in
the same manner, and has lived out-of-doors for many years,
though it has not reached a large size. It is blooming now
and is dainty and delightfully fragrant,

We use Hollyhocks in front of the carriage-house and other
outbuildings as well as in the wilder parts of the grounds, and
they are now very showy. A rich carmine-colored single
Hollyhock combines well with some pure white ones, and
makes a fine display. In one place these plants are arranged
in a scale of color from white through blush, pink and crimson
shades to darkést maroon. The handsomest group Of all, how-
ever, is one which arranged itself. Seedlings sprang up about
an old clump and were allowed to remain as they grew. In
this group the colors blend harmoniously, and the effect is at
the same time gay and stately.

The Japanese Privet is nowin bloom, and its ower clusters
are almostas handsome as white lilacs. It flowers more pro-
fusely than any other Privet in our shrubberies, and the spread-
ing growth of the shrub and its handsome foliage, which is not
quite so dark as that of the Californian variety, make it a desir-
able shrub. I always find the bees busy about these Privet
flowers. Lime or Linden trees are also favorite marts for
honeybees. You can tell when the Linden blooms by the ear
as well as by the eye. These flowers are pretty for table dec-
oration, They are not veryshowy, butare cool-locking and fra-

Garden and Forest.

269

grant, and a bunch of their drooping sprays on the lunch-table
in a pale blue bowl has been much admired.
Danske Dandridge.

Shepherdstown, W. Va.

The Winter-killing of Plants.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—Having noted with interest the accounts in GARDEN
AND ForREST of the varying degrees of injury to shrubs and
trees in different localities, caused by the severity or pecu-
liarity of the past winter, I note a few incidents which have
been observed at Fresh Pond, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The plants were all young, having been planted on the grounds
during the previous spring, mostly in nursery-rows, and were
naturally more delicate than established plants. They had all
made a healthy and vigorous growth the previous season.
The heavy rains in the fall left the ground thoroughly satu-
rated for the winter, and on the low places, where the moisture
was in excess, the effect was disastrous to hardy and tender
plants alike.

The only plant that suffered total destruction, whether on
low or on elevated land, was Ligustrum Ibota, which was
killed to the ground. Only a very few plants have made any
growth from the bottom, and these but a weak start. Ptelea
trifoliata was killed back in varying degrees, and in some cases
the entire plant was lost. Lonicera brachypoda, which I had
supposed would make growth from the root, was entirely
killed back, and only about fifty per cent. have made a start
from the root this season. Of Magnolia acuminata about fifty
per cent. were killed to the ground.

Liquidambar styraciflua suffered little injury, as did Gymno-
cladus Canadensis. Of the plants collected and planted out in
the fall the main loss was from decay of the root, probably
caused by being too wet and heaving in the early winter, thus
exposing the roots and freezing them out. Spring planting of
such small collected plants seems preferable, or that well-

drained land be selected for fall planting.
Mount Auburn, Mass. M. A. Carpenter.

The Larch Sack-bearer and a Birch Pest.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—The note by Mr. J. D. W. French in a recent issue of
GARDEN AND FOREST (page 229) regarding the presence of the
Larch sack-bearer, Coleophora laricella, in the vicinity of Bos-
ton, may be supplemented by the statement that it has been
known for a good many years at the Arnold Arboretum, and
its presence here was incidentally referred to in GARDEN AND
FOREST, vol. v., page 87.

Some of the foreign Birches in the Arboretum and other
localities about Boston have been killed by the attacks of
boring larve of a beetle belonging to the genus Agrilus, and
probably an introduction from Europe. The insect bores into
the trunk and limbs, ultimately killing the tree. Its presence
is often indicated by slight swellings of the bark. Badly
infested trees should be cut down and burned before the bee-
tles emerge in early summer, and an application of dendro-
lene on the bark would prevent oviposition, although, fora
time at least, destroying the beauty of the white trunks.

FG. fac:

Arnold Arboretum, Jamaica Plain, Mass.

Recent Publications.

Greenhouse and Stove Plants.
don: John Murray.

This is one of those publications which are always useful
in the gardener’s library. It begins with a brief treatise on
the different groups of plants which are grown in the green-
house, intermediate house and stove, and the general treat-
ment of Palms, Ferns and Lycopodiums. The great part
of the book, however, is taken up with an alphabetical list
of the different genera of plants in cultivation under glass,
in which the various species are described as to their gen-
eral character and appearance without going into botanical
minutiz. The comparative beauty and value of each are
estimated as near as may be, the uses to which it is best
adapted, with a rather full discussion of the best methods
of propagating and cultivating. There are numerous full-
page illustrations, which have been carefully prepared, and
a good index makes the contents of the book readily avail-
able. The old methods of attacking the ordinary insects
are given, but some of the newer devices which are used

By Thomas Baines. Lon-

270

against these pests in American greenhouses are not men-
tioned. The various fungous diseases to which plants
under glass are subjected are hardly alluded to, and the
book seems to have been prepared before the modern
methods of preventing rust and other contagious diseases
were discovered. It is a large octavo of 361 pages.

Notes.

A summer meeting of the Nebraska State Horticultural
Society at York, Nebraska, is announced for July 22d and 23d.

During the week ending June 24th there arrived at this port
22,200 boxes of Sicily oranges and 125,750 boxes of Sicily
lemons. In the same term of 1895 the receipts were 13,500
boxes of Mediterranean oranges and 64,350 boxes of lemons.

The latest parts of Engler & Prantl’s Die Naturalischen
Phlanzenfamilien, Numbers 131-135, inclusive, which have
reached us, are devoted to the Rutacez, Simarubacee and
Burseracee, elaborated by Engler; Meliaceze, by Harms, and
a continuation of the Labiate, by Brequet.

Professor W. H. Jordan has been elected Director of the
New York Experiment Station at Geneva, and will be suc-
ceeded in the Maine State College and Experiment Station, at
Orono, by Professor Charles D. Woods, now of the Storr’s
Experiment Station, Middletown, Connecticut.

Probably the largest Cedar of Lebanon in the British Isles is
one at Stanford Court, Worcester, which is about two hundred
years old, and its branches shade a circle one hundred and
sixteen feet in diameter. The trunk is twenty feet nine inches
in circumference, and that of the largest branch is more than
eleven feet.

A correspondent of the Country Gentleman writes that new
Strawberry-plants should not be allowed to bear the first sea-
son, but that fruit-stems should be picked off as soon as they
appear. Too many plants should not be allowed in the same
space, as they consume the moisture, and, therefore, all suffer
from drought and produce small berries. As a rule, each
plant needs from four to six inches square of space to mature
good fruit.

It is seldom that universal satisfaction with a new plant can
be chronicled, but from every side we hear approval for the
new Rose, Crimson Rambler, which isnow in flower in many
gardens for the first time. The plants, properly grown, are
always remarkably vigorous and make thick long shoots. The
flowers are produced in large clusters, even on small plants,
and are of a pleasing crimson color. It.is evidently perfectly
hardy in all sections.

The second annual meeting of the Josselyn Botanical Society
of Maine will be held in the State Normal School Building in
Farmington, Maine, from July 7th to 1oth. The society is
composed of representative persons interested in Maine bot-
any. The teaching of botany in schools, the study of fungi,
mosses and aquatics, and the preparation of flowering plants
for the herbarium are among the lecture subjects, and there
will be field excursions.

The finest Corn fields in Lebanon valley, in eastern Penn-
sylvania, says the Public Ledger, of Philadelphia, are those on
the 600 acres belonging to Isaac S. Long. The planting is
done with great care, there being precisely the same number
of stalks in each row. Mr. Long provides against delay in
growth in cases of replantings in the fields by planting one
seed of corn in each of 5,000 Hower-pots set out in the open.
At replanting time this year a hole was made wherever a stalk
was missing and one of the young plants transferred from a
pot. The potted stalks have grown well and are as large and
thrifty as those first started in the field.

Corlears Hook Park, in this city, was formally opened to the
public on Monday evening of last week by the Mayor and Park
Commissioners, Some 15,000 citizens being present. The park
comprises about ten acres ina thickly populated section of the
east side and fronts on the East River. The tract has been
sodded, planted with trees and shrubs and provided with
seats, and conveniently arranged broad walks laid with con-
crete. A shelter built of Indiana limestone, in Roman style,
extends along a part of the western border. The Lookout, as
this building is known, is intended to serve as a resting-place
for the mothers and children of the district, and cost $37,000.
The park, which is on the site occupied by manufactories,

Garden and Forest.

(NUMBER 436.

stone and lumber yards until two or three years ago, is already
a verdurous and refreshing spot. A series of public concerts
is arranged for Monday evenings through the summer.

Among the exhibits at the Rose and Strawberry show of the
Massachusetts Horticultural Society, in Boston, last week, was
the new seedling hardy Rose named M. H. Walsh, which last
year received the first gold medal ever awarded to a new Rose
by the society. The exhibitor was Hon. Joseph S. Fay, of
Wood's Holl, M. H. Walsh, gardener. This Rose, which com-
bines the qualities of vigorous habit, good color and substance,
is thought by some to be the best of all the hardy dark red
Roses. The petals shade from a deep red at the base to bril-
liant crimson at the tip, and some of the fully expanded flowers
measure six inches across. The stock has been purchased by
Peter Henderson & Co., of New York, who will send it out
next year.

Arbor Day, which every one knows to be an American insti-
tution, has been adopted in Spain by royal command. On
March 26th, of this year, the Queen Regent and her Court went
with the young King to some grounds lying about two miles
to the eastward of Madrid. There the King ceremoniously
planted a Pine-sapling, and afterward the same act was per-
formed by each of the two thousand children who had been
chosen as his associates from the public schools of the city.
All expenses were defrayed by the city, and each child re-
ceived a medal bearing the inscription, ‘‘ First Féte of the Tree.
Instituted in the Reign of Alfonso XIII., 1896.’ Similar fétes
are to be held yearly hereafter until the environs of Madrid are
well planted. Nor will the children be allowed, as so often
happens in this country, to think their work finished with the
mere act of planting the trees. They are to be taken periodi-
cally by their schoolmasters to inspect their plantations, and
will be taught to foster tree-planting wherever and however it
may hereafter be in their power so to do.

Twenty-six car-loads of California fruits were sold in this
city last week. The season for cherries is nearly ended, but
large and showy specimens of Royal Ann, Black Tartarian,
Black Republican and Napoleon Bigarreau are still seen.
Among varieties of plums now coming from the Pacific coast
are Burbank, large greenish yellow, with a flush of pink;
Prunus Simoni, large, Hattened with deep cavities at base and
apex, yellow flesh with aromatic flavor, the fruit large and
brick-red in color ; Cherry, pale red; Royal Hative, light pur-
ple; Clyman, mottled reddish purple, with beautiful blue
bloom ; Abundance, Koning Claudie, Saint Catherine, and Trag-
edy prunes. Montgamet apricots are the largest and best
specimens of this fruit now in season; other good sorts in
market are the English variety Moorpark ; Peach, a little earlier
than Moorpark, deep orange mottled with brown; and the
French variety, Royal. The well-known Alexander, Briggs’
Red May, Hale’s Early and Governor Garland peaches are
coming from California. New figs and Harvest apples are
also arriving from the western coast, and Madeline, Sugar and
Bartlett pears. With these new crop fruits are offered last
year’s P. Barry pears, held in cold storage.

The Fournal of Commerce of this city in a recent éditorial
on new fibres states that artificial silk is now successfully
made from wood pulp. The pulp is boiled in nitric and sul-
phuric acids, a process suggestive of gun cotton making, and
is then squeezed under hydraulic pressure, washed in water,
dried, and agitated in alcohol and ether. Its inflammability is
also counteracted. After passing through a filtering process
it appears like a solution of gum and is forced by pneumatic
pressure through pipes that lead to glass tubes, each of which
ends in a microscopic aperture. The gummy _ substance
emerges as a filament very much like that spun by the silk-
worm, and so fine that six or eight or ten are joined for spin-
ning into a thread. This artificial silk is said to take dye better
than natural silk and to have a higher lustre; the strength of
the threads is only four-fifths that of natural silk. Dress goods
and other products of the artificial silk imported from France
are sold in London. A factory for its production is now being
built near Manchester, and six weaving establishments have
contracted for the output. In Europe and America chemists
and mechanics have been working to cheapen the preparation
of Ramie, and a new process is soon to be tested in a factory
in Brooklyn. Besides the remarkable strength of Ramie fibre,
its high lustre makes it available as an adulterant, if not a
substitute, for sllk, It is stronger than hemp and lighter than
duck, and if it can be produced cheaply enough it will be avail-
able for sails and cordage and for wearing and household
fabrics.

LS eer ee

JuLy 8, 1896.]

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrice: Trisung Buitpinc, New York.

Conducted by ». . ~~. «6 © « « « « Professor C. S. SARGENT.

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JULY 8, 1806.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

EDITORIAL, ARTICLE :—Privacy in:Suburban Lifeiniscvisescissee sess esevesiecustss 271
PRheiRed wood loragntA priltices ceccisacrteisis vic a/cia seem alsisisssies Carl Purdy. 272
Forms of some European Conifers.—ll.... -.-- Dr. H. Christ. 273
Pineapple-growing in Florida. (With figure rofessor P. H, Rolfs. 274

BBRUANT ENOTES cree geceetle mais a sca selalsicNcimainieitieesinsina sige ole asa aarsis clajnsie's cleo 2+ 276
CuLturat Department :—Seasonable Work . -W. H. Taplin. 277
PGE Mic MCAS ae sreetette atte ea te wleterelal ese tataieiecteslems) nice tom ieiese elev ojeinciaie

Strawberry Culture: 0s .sec scene cesencccsessaee ee
Rrowallias.......-
Coronilla Capadocica..

CorrgESPONDENCE :—Notes from
Notes from West Virginia...... ....+-+

RECENT PUBLICATIONS ....--..+++

INGOT ES emcictes cauieGivensie dowd visc diseieeics rd

IttusrraTion :—The Cultivation of Pineapples under Sheds in Florida, Fig. 38,. 275

220G. WO. 297
+s--L..0. O. 278
7. D. Hatfield. 278
anske Dandridge. 279

Privacy in Suburban Life.

N an article on “Suburban Homes” in Zhe Cosmopoliian
for June, Mr. R. Clipston Sturgis says that more indi-
viduality, more separateness, more seclusion should be
achieved in the arrangement and planting of the grounds
about suburban houses of the better class than is usually
achieved or even desired in America to-day. This senti-
ment is not only in the interests of beauty as such, butstill
more in the interests of humanity. The article goes on to
say that the lives led by the owners of such houses should
be more individual, more private, more truly domestic and
more closely in touch with nature, and that this cannot be
accomplished unless the character of their environments is
changed.

This is sound doctrine, and Mr. Sturgis preaches it with
an attractive enthusiasm which, however, is not altogether
wise in the special line it takes. The text is the English
suburban garden as permitting and determining English
habits of suburban life. But the local obstacles are not
noted which stand in the way ofa widespread acceptance
in America of the gospel of privacy and seclusion upon
this particular Anglican basis. And, therefore, many read-
ers may fail to be convinced of the truth of the gospel
itself. Our wish just now is to show the soundness of the
general statements before we try to point out the errors
made in their application.

Speaking first of English suburban houses themselves,
Mr. Sturgis says that, whether old or new, owned by the
rich man or the artisan, they have “an air of comfort and
quiet dignity, they look substantial, respectable, self-con-
tained, inviting; in a word, they are homelike.” Our
own, on the contrary, are usually “frame houses, looking
unsubstantial and temporary. They convey no suggestion
of dignity and retirement. They do, indeed, look hospitable
and open, and have an air of saying, ‘All mine is yours ;
pray, enjoy it!’ They even invite you to look in on their
grounds and through their open windows, where the Eng-
lish house says, ‘ Don't come in unless you know us.’ But
notwithstanding all this, I think on account of all this they
are not so pleasant to look upon nor so sweet to live in.”

There is truth in these words, and a great part of the dif
ference they mark might profitably be done away with.

Garden and Forest.

271

As long as economy—which, most often, means necessity
—bids the American build with wood, it will be more diffi-
cult to give a look of permanence and stability to his house
than to the Englishman’s; and upon this look, of course,
must largely depend its air of dignity. Butit is by no
means impossible to achieve stability and dignity of effect
even with wood. The main trouble is not with our mate-
rial, but with the way in which we use it, preferring showi-
ness to quietness, variety to harmony, over-elaboration to
simplicity, loudness to modesty, evident costliness to a
well-bred reticence.

But the outer aspect of a house, while it may reveal the
owner's character and thus give an insight into his probable
habits of life, does not actually mould and determine these
habits. They are more directly moulded and determined
by the disposition of the interior of his house. It is impos-
sible to lead a comfortable, sensible, profitably occupied,
quietly amused, genuinely domestic life in a house that has
been planned and furnished “for show.” Many American
houses seem to have been built rather as places which may
be proudly exhibited to visitors, or in which troops of
guests may be sumptuously entertained, than as places in
which the occupants, each in his or her individual way, will
find the needs and desires of personal existence agreeably
and adequately met. They areas well fitted for occupation
by one family as by another, and they are not really well
fitted for occupation by any family which finds its best
pleasures in hours of privacy and domesticity.

We do not say that the majority of American suburban
homes are of this kind. Even their exterior aspect is often
more Satisfactory than that of similar houses in other lands,
as English architects have been the readiest to proclaim.
And many appear unsatisfactory on the outside (owing,
perhaps, to the architect’s, rather than the owner's, lack of
good sense), which, when one enters them, present a very
different face. Probably we exaggerate the relative num-
ber of those which are really undomestic within as well as
without, because the house built “for show” is the one
most often exhibited. But against the environment of our
suburban houses a much stronger indictment can be brought
than against the houses themselves.

The character of the life that is led in a suburban house
is determined, at least for seven or eight months in the
year, very largely indeed by the character of its grounds.
If the grounds are not beautiful, the sense of beauty will be
dulled and distorted in those who perpetually gaze upon
them. If they are planned for display, as ministers to pride
and vanity, the general mental attitude of the family will
be unfavorably affected. If they are not well adapted to
outdoor repose or activity, and to the development of a
personal interest in nature and her products, they will not
be lived in; the days of the family will be passed indoors
or passed away from home; and the true enjoyments, like
the true refining, softening and cultivating influences of
rural or semi-rural life, will be altogether missed. And if
the grounds are adapted to outdoor living they must have
a good measure of privacy—of seclusion. The English
suburban place, says Mr. Sturgis, “gives the householder
quiet, rest and retirement.” These are the results of sepa-
rateness, protection, privacy; and it is their possession
which fosters, not only the typical English love of nature,
but the typical English form of domestic life—reserved,
intimate and thoroughly domestic, yet hospitable in the
best sense of the word, because the truest hospitality is
that which admits the outsider into the most homelike
home.

Quite different from this is the current American ideal of
beauty, comfort and convenience as expressed in the sur-

roundings of suburban homes. In colonial days we
approached more nearly to the English ideal, as is

shown by such streets as still exist in towns like Salem
and Annapolis. Asarule, the English house is set back
from the road, while the American colonial house is set
upon it, or very near to it. But privacy for the grounds is
in both cases achieved. Here they lie behind the house,

272

overlooked by the windows of its chief apartments; in
England they are protected from the street by high walls or
hedges. After colonial days we more frequently set our
houses back from the street without giving them the full
protection of the high English enclosure. But until within
recent years they were separated, and, in general effect, at
least, to some degree secluded, by walls or hedges or
palings of moderate height and by screening plantations.
Each still had individuality ; each looked like a home, even
though it gave evidence that its owners loved entire seclu-
sion less than their English cousins. Within recent years,
however, there has been a widespread desire to abolish
the last semblance of separateness—of privacy. In count-
less old towns and villages the barriers have been de-
stroyed, and each man’s garden merges in his neighbor’s,
while all merge indistinguishably in the grassy bor-
der of the street. On many new streets the most
admired type of place seems to be one where there is
an abundance of well-kept grass and a great overabun-
dance of graveled drives and walks; where there
are no large trees nor luxuriant shrubberies, but a
casual sprinkling of small supposedly “ornamental” trees
and isolated shrubs; no masses of freely flowering plants,
but many gaudy beds of clipped foliage-plants or formally
arranged flowers, dropped, like chromos ona green wall,
upon the bright emerald expanse of the lawns. Here,
indeed, is no privacy, no seclusion, no possibility of out-
door repose, or of outdoor activity, except in the form of a
game of tennis played under the eyes of the whole town ;
and, of course, there is no more beauty than there is com-
fort or convenience. Itis idle to think that people who
live, or children who are brought up, in a place like this,
will learn to love the country, or will be civilized and sweet-
ened by the influences of nature. They are actually worse
off than the dweller in cities; for he may at least know
what natural beauty really is and appreciate it when he has
the chance to see it, while they confuse natural beauty
with the barren ugliness they have themselves produced,
and can have no eyes or heart for its charm when it really
lies before them.

Truly, Mr. Sturgis’s appeal for more privacy, more seclu-
sion, more individuality in our suburban homes needed to
be made. The explanation of the belief that he has not
made it along just the right lines must be postponed to
another day.

The Redwood Flora in April.

URING the month of April I left my home in the
D interior valleys and rode to the Mendocino sea
coast. The air was sharp and the high mountains in the
north-east were covered with snow, but the valleys and
hillsides about them were in the full springtide of
bloom, and flowers were everywhere. Ten miles of
mountain climbing, and the summit of the range which
separates the valleys from the coast region is reached at
an elevation of 2,300 feet. The elevation seemed to
make little perceptible difference in grass or flowers,
although the woods showed the influence of the sea
breezes in greater vigor. A mile to the westward the be-
ginning of the great Redwood forest could be seen, and
north, south and west, as far as the eye could reach,
stretched the noblest forest in the world. Half of all the
Redwood forest was in view, and from the Russian
River, south of here fifty miles, to Alaska, stretches an
almost unbroken wood. A few miles down a _ tortuous
grade and the forest’s vanguard is met. The first Redwoods
were fine specimens, five to seven feet through and hun-
dreds high. This was at Orr's Springs, and a small grove
on the mountain side contains some of the largest trees in
Mendocino County's forests.

In the cold and deeply shaded cafion, vegetation was
backward, and our pretty Wake Robin, Trillium ovatum,
so like the T. grandiflorum of the eastern woods, was
nearly gone. A few still retained the deep purple petals

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 437.

to which their pure white flowers change with age.
Trillium sessile, var. Californicum, was in blossom in the
small openings along the stream. In our part of California
they are at first white with a purple centre, and later take
a purple tinge; about San Francisco Bay, and in the
southern Sierras they are a red purple, while a flower
reached me this season from the Big Tree region of the
Sierras which was of that velvety black purple one sees in
some Arums. In February, when I was last in the Red-
wood region, Cardamine pausisecta was in bloom, a very
attractive little plant with the lower cordate leaves purple
beneath and mottled in white and purple above. The
flowers are rather attractive, white, with the purplish caste
so common in these woods. In April it was still in bloom
in cold spots.

For miles down the cool canon, in groups of a few, or
occasional beds of hundreds, Erythronium giganteum was
conspicuously beautiful. This is the Dog-tooth Violet of
the Californian Coast Ranges and beloved of all children.
As E. grandiflorum it is the best known of the many
Pacific coast Erythroniums in the garden. The straw-
colored flowers with orange centres recurve to the stem.
In these woods they grow very large, and I have seen
them frequently with eight to sixteen on a stem, and three
to four inches across. In April they are in full bloom and
worth a pilgrimage to see. The leaves are as large as a
man’s hand and mottled in mahogany.

On down through the dense woods, past openings
cleared by the loggers of the big coast sawmills, and
through small openings, on which, for some unexplainable
reason, the forest never grew, but which support a luxuri-
ant growth of grass, the road passes. In places rock
masses were to be seen clothed with Ferns, Polypodiums
and Adiantums, the latter just throwing up their young
fronds.

A glimmer of pink in the deep woods between two Red-
woods shows where a colony of that dainty Orchid, Calypso
borealis, has established itself in the mold. It is a rarity in
these woods, and the flowers duly prized. Miles below,
the road leaves the cafion, and by a grade along the
mountain side ascends to the ridge which divides two of
the principal streams of the Redwood belt. The grade is
on the north side of the canon through dense woods, and
the flowers are correspondingly backward. Where it
crosses a small stream the Sword Fern, Aspidium munitum,
var. rigidum, grows in great beauty, and the new fronds
are well developed. This Fern, rare in the interior, grows
in great numbers in all of the cahons and shaded woods
of the immediate coast region. On a shaded bank by the
roadside the Wood Anemone, A. nemorosa, was in full
bloom. In February it was blooming in warm places.

On the south side of the ridge the flowers were farther
along. Ina little opening I saw many Zygadenus panicu-
latus in flower. The branching stems were two feet high,
and the greenish white bloom not unprepossessing. Along
the road I noticed the pink Lathyrus venosus, our Wild
Pea; handsome plants of Cynoglossum grande, with pur-
ple, white-centred flowers, and the first flowers of Ceano-
thus thrysiflorus, a handsome shrub, which on the coast
takes possession of the cleared woods and attains the size
of a small tree; Blue Blossoms it is called here, and it de-
serves a high rank for beauty. When the long slopes are
wavy masses of its blue flowers it is a lovely sight.

In the timber the Blueberries grow tall, five to seven
feet. At this time they are beginning to blossom, but the
pink flowers are not as showy as the dark red new growth
which was starting. Most of the greens of the Redwood
are dark and sombre at maturity, but the new shoots a light
ereen, and with the fresh plumes of the brake, now just
unfolding, the feathery shoots of the Douglas Spruce and
the foliage of the Sweetbrier the woods are lighter than at
any other season. Ata wayside ranch, as the little clear-
ing on the steep hillside is called, the Apples are in flower.
The road again returned to a river-side, and for miles was
through a forest which was cut about twenty years ago.

JULY 8, 1896.]

The thickets of sprouts encircling the stumps are already
from forty to fifty feet high, and dense masses of Douglas
Spruce and Fir (Abies grandis), seedlings since the woods
were cut, are nearly as tall. No one seeing the second
growth in the Redwood forest needs to be told that only
intelligent forestry is needed to make them furnish a vast
and inexhaustible supply of timber. A very large propor-
tion of the large trees now standing are sprouts from an
older growth, as is attested by the grouping, the one-sided
trunks and the hollows between the individuals of the
groups showing where the old trunk burned or rotted out. The
stream was used by the loggers for years in getting their
logs from the forest to the mill at the seaside, and their chan-
nels are cut deep and their beds smoothed by the irresisti-
ble force of the great logs driven by a strong flood current.
Mosses and Ferns clothe the bed and bottom, and over-
hanging the sides the deciduous Rhododendron occidentale
grows in plenty. From the floor of aside cafion, into which
the road now turns, great trees, the finest yet encountered,
tower to a height of three hundred feet. The woods are
dark and cold, the ground covered with the creeping Salal,
Gaultheria Shallon. By the side of the sluggish stream
the Lady Fern grows and Trillium ovatum is still fresh in
the deep shade. In a little bog in a clearing the handsome
Scarlet Currant, Ribes sanguineum, is in full glow, and ata
distance of twelve miles from the ocean Rhododendron
Californicum, our large-leaved evergreen Rose Bay, is first
seen. Other miles of noble woods are passed through,
alternating with clearings, where the lumber was cut for
ties, and neat homes now take the forest’s place, or the
trees have just been felled, and the tie-maker having cleared
the débris by fire is now hewing out the trees, and the ten-
der young growth is springing from the charred groups.
In the woods the evergreen Barberry, Berberis Aquifolium,
is in masses, now bearing racemes of yellow flowers, and
the Wood Sorrel, with its pink-purple flowers, carpets every
surface not already occupied. The cold banks above the
roadside are crowded with Ferns, among which the
Maiden-hair, Adiantum pedatum, appears, and burned
woods are yellow with a Wood Violet, Viola sarmentosa.

The barren is always the same, except when lighted up
by the Rhododendrons, the first of which were just bloom-
ing in the tangle of Scrub Pine, Cypress and bushes. A
few miles of this dreary, but interesting, waste and the last
seaward slope is descended through a half-cut forest, a per-
fect tangle of great, almost naked trunks, their limbs swept
off in the fall of the Redwoods, but still vigorous, standing
in among myriads of tall young trees of Pinus muricata,
Abies grandis, the lovely Weeping Hemlock, Tsuga Mer-
tensiana, and young Redwoods, the logs and brush over-
grown by Blueberries, Salal, Salmon-berries and Rubus
Nutkanus, all bursting into new leaf, with great glowing
pink clumps of Rhododendron, here in the fullness of their
exquisite flowering.

A vista of the sea, of a rock-bound coast and dashing
surf, of green slopes covered with grain, and Mendocino is
reached, with houses embowered in Fuchsias, and hedges
of Callas in blossom and Marguerites everywhere, while

Foxgloves run riot down the cutters
5S bs 2
Ukiah, Calif. Carl Purdy.

Forms of some European Conifers.—II.

HAVE already spoken of certain forms of the European
| Spruce which are not varieties in the botanical sense,
but modifications of development. ‘There is, however, on
the Alps a single botanical variety of much interest, because
it shows the close relationship of our European Spruce with
other species of the genus. It is the form medioxima of
Nylander. This tree grows in more or less isolated groups
on the central ranges; in the Haut Valais, in Engadine,
and also, although less commonly, on lower mountain
ranges, and may be distinguished by two characters from
the ‘ordinary Spruce-tree. “From this it differs, first, by its
shorter, much thicker and more rigid leaves, which are
more obtuse and marked by four white stomatiferous bands

Garden and Forest.

273

which give to this tree a certain resemblance to the Fir,
Abies pectinata. Secondly, the fruit is shorter, with more
delicate scales, flat and rounded at the apex, the cone
being only about half the size of the cone of the ordinary
type, with only about two-thirds as many scales. These
scales are flexible, with entire margins, the whole cone
resembling in a singular manner the cones of the Black
Spruce of America. There is a tree of similar form
in Finland and Sweden, while the Picea obovata of Siberia
is only a more accentuated variety with cones which are
similar, although still smaller. Picea obovata is closely
allied to the American species, and our alpine variety
medioxima is the representative of a series of species of the
extreme north, which has been preserved on the moun-
tains of Europe since the glacial epoch.

I will now consider the forms of the Fir, Abies pectinata,
found on our mountains. It is a tree very uniform in
habit, showing fewer modifications from the normal type of
growth than the Spruce. Nevertheless, itis possible to dis-
tinguish the form alpestris, which, although not common,
is found occasionally at elevations of three to four thousand
feet above the sea-level. It is a rather feeble tree with
short and rather erect branches, so that the white surfaces
of the leaves are presented to the eye, giving the tree a
strange appearance. Mention must also be made of the
form candelabra, which may be seen scattered here and
there through the Jura and on the Alps, although always
isolated in alpine pastures. It is a splendid tree, often of
enormous dimensions, with elongated horizontal lower
branches which become very stout and develop lateral shoots
which grow straight up and have the appearance of young
perfectly developed Fir-trees, with the appearance of little
trees grafted on the old branches. These great Fir-trees
present a most curious aspect, resembling candelabras of
eight or ten or more branches. Apparently our Fir is lia-
ble to grow into this form anywhere within the area of its
distribution when it is not crowded by other trees. Unger
& Kotschy figured it in their work on the Island of Cyprus,
and it does not appear to be rare in Greece. Of purely
botanical varieties of the Fir, a form with pointed leaves is
common in south-eastern Europe. Trees with this pecu-
liarity of foliage have been described as Abies Apollinis
and A. Regina- Amalia. They can only be distinguished
from the tree of central Europe by their pointed “leaves,
These on the ordinary form are confined to the upper and
fruitful branches, although they sometimes occur on
branches near the middle of the tree. On A. Cephalonica,
of the island of Cephalonia, another form of the common
Fir, the pointed leaves are the most numerous, appearing
even on seedling plants.

It may, perhaps, be interesting to sketch the distribution
of the Spruce and Fir in Europe, as the regions occupied by
these two trees are so different. The Spruce is a tree of the
north of Europe, being found in the south only at high
elevations. The Fir, on the contrary, is a tree of the moun-
tains of temperate Europe, unknown in the north, and
descending southward over the mountain ranges of the
Mediterranean basin. The Spruce covers the plains of
Russia from the Ural Mountains, crosses Finland, Scandi-
navia, the Baltic Provinces, and enters Germany from
Lithuania, but in the west it leaves the plains and covers
the mountains of Germany to the Vosges, reappearing on
the mountains of central France, and finally disappears in
the Pyrenees without entering the Spanish peninsula. It
covers the Alps, but does not enter Italy, and becoming
rare on the mountain ranges of eastern Europe it does not
show itself beyond Transylvania, where it is replaced by
Picea orientalis, or extend to the Caucasus. The Fir,
on the other hand, has its centre of distribution in the Ger-
man mountains and in the Alps, growing on all the ranges
from the Pyrenees to the Carpathians and on those of
Greece and European Turkey. It does not descend into
the plains or extend into the Caucasus, where it is replaced
by Abies Nordmanniana. It extends, however, along the
Apennines to Sicily ; it is common in Greece at elevations

274

of from three thousand to four thousand five hundred feet ;
it does not, however, exist on the mountain ranges of Spain,
where, in the south, it is replaced by Abies Pinsapo, a spe-
cies with quadrangular leaves. 2

4 . H. Christ.

Bale, Switzerland.

Pineapple-growing in Florida.
LOCATION.

NLIKE the cultivation of Oranges, which is a general

industry in Florida, Pineapple-growing is extremely
local. While there is one general region whose main in-
vestment is in Pineapple-growing, there are several smaller
districts which make this a prominent industry. The
northernmost place where this industry is carried on toa
considerable extent is Orlando. The surface of the coun-
try is level and only slightly raised above the water in the
lakes. There is no eminence which can be dignified as a
hill. The soil is generally sandy, with considerable vege-
table matter intermixed, as a rule, and, as a whole, excel-
lent for Orange groves, except that much of it needs
draining. Well-drained and elevated places are the best
for Pineapple-growing. Unbroken tracts fifteen or twenty
acres in extent, with all the requisites naturally suitable
for this crop, are not common. This section is far enough
south to be protected from most of the heavy winter frosts,
and but few light frosts occur. Such a heavy freeze as
occurred in December, 1894, is fatal to Pineapple cultiva-
tion. Slight frosts are not unknown here as late as the
2oth of March.

Avon Park is located about sixty miles south of Orlando,
in a high, dry, flat woods country. Flat woods is the local
name for the level Pine woods land. This district has a
greater elevation than Orlando and is more exempt from
slight frosts. Asa whole, this section is rather drier than
typical Orange land. ‘I’his district has no railway commu-
nication, consequently the industry cannot be carried on
very extensively.

Myers is located on the south banks of the Caloossa-
hatchee River, and about 150 miles south of Orlando.
While Pineapples are not extensively cultivated here, the
industry is of sufficient importance to attract the notice of
commercial carriers. The fruit has to be carried in small
sailboats and transferred to cars at convenient points.
While the land is usually low, it is at some places rolling,
and usually covered with Pine-woods. The Pineapples are
grown largely, however, on the drained land. ‘The ideal
land for Pineapples is not met in this section. This is
more than compensated for in the fact that frosts rarely
occur, and even the most severe freezes have not been
sufficient to destroy the oranges or pineapples in this sec-
tion. A frost is exceptional in this part of the country.
Tomatoes are grown here for the winter markets. When
the railroad shall have reached this section it will doubtless
become one of the important centres for raising pineapples.

The keys are coraline islands skirting the southern coast
of Florida. They range in size from a few square rods to
many acres, and from sterile to fertile. Here are ideal con-
ditions for the cultivation of Pineapples. The climate is
largely affected by the trade winds and Gulf stream, and
the year is divided into wet and dry seasons. On many of
the islands frosts are almost unknown. The formation
permits free drainage. The industry began on_ these
islands, but it is not carried on so extensively nor so in-
tensively as on the mainland.

East Coast is the general term given to the section along
the Atlantic coast from the north end of the Indian River
to the lower end of Biscayne Bay. The Pineapple section
of this country begins near Melbourne, or a little north, and
stretches about 200 miles south. On the west shore of the
Indian River, or, more properly speaking, on the coast of
the mainland, the land is made up largely of sand dunes,
and for some distance back from the immediate shore the
country has the character of old sand dunes overgrown
with vegetation. The soil is generally rather coarse sand,
with usually a slight amount of vegetable matter, it often

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 437.

running as low as three per cent., and Pineapples have
been planted on land containing even less vegetable mat-
ter. This high, dry, sterile sand is considered the ideal soil
for Pineapples by the growers of the east coast, and can be
obtained in unbroken blocks of hundreds of acres. The
sand dunes sometimes rise to the dignity of hills, but all
have a gentle undulating character. It should be under-
stood that the portions planted to Pineapples are not the
newly formed sand dunes, nor always those on the imme-
diate coast. At several places, as in Jensen, the Pineapple-
fields run down to the edge of the water, there being no
barren sand dunes in this section. The land some miles
back in the country has not been used for Pineapple-grow-
ing, though much of it is suitable. The section imme-
diately north of Melbourne is visited by slight frosts about
once in three or four years, and freezes sometimes occur,
but if the winds happen to be from the north-east, as they
usually are during frosts in the interior, there is no great
danger to the islands or along the immediate coast of the
Indian River. The warmth given off by the adjacent
waters is usually sufficient protection, and this whole sec-
tion is more exempt from freezes than any other portion of
the state in the same latitude, consequently Pineapple-
growing without protection is carried on much farther
north along the east coast than in any other part of
Florida. Though the freezes of December, 1894, and Feb-
ruary, 1895, were severely felt, the damage was compara-
tively light, as was shown by the amount of fruit shipped
from this section during the summer of 1895.
SOIL.

The ideal soil for Pineapple-growing, as stated before, is
high, dry sand, with but a very small percentage of vege-
table matter; not that the latter is disadvantageous, but
there are other conditions governing the introduction of
vegetable matter which are at times detrimental to the
growth of this plant. There is no doubt that low sandy
land containing much vegetable matter, when well drained
and made perfectly dry, is a favorable soil for this crop.
It is not uncommon to select sterile land and supply the
vegetable matter as a fertilizer, usually in the form of cot-
ton-seed meal. Drainage is of first importance and may
be natural or artificial, and irrigation is needed. Flat land
must be drained during the rainy season and irrigated dur-
ing the dry, to obtain the best results. The field is prepared
with much more care than is usually given for a vegetable
crop. All débris is removed. Slight depressions are filled
in and sharp elevations cut down, so as to make the land
either quite level or gently undulating.

CULTIVATION.

After the field has been thoroughly cleared it is laid off
in checks. The usual distances are from one and one-half
feet to two and one-half feet. Roads are provided for
travel and to cart the gathered fruit, and these vary from a
few feet to ten or fifteen rods apart. The breaking of the
leaves is injurious to the crop, and most of the work has to
be done by hand. During its early growth a hoe of the
ordinary sort may be used, but laterit is necessary to use
a shuffle hoe, to cut the weeds under the leaves. The root-
system of this plant is weak and the plants cannot stand
alone, but require the support of their neighbors by brac-
ing themselves with their leaves. Various kinds of ferti-
lizers have been used, with varying degrees of success.
Stable manure is desirable where it can be obtained ata
reasonable price. The industry is too new to give definite
information, and it is only certain that some kind of ferti-
lizer should be used.

VARIETIES,

The Red Spanish variety is probably most widely grown
and one of the earliest introduced. While stil! quite popu-
lar it is being rapidly crowded out by finer varieties. It is
grown largely on the keys. It is a small fruit of good
flavor. Smooth Cayenne has one desirable feature which
serves at the same time as a means for recognizing it—
that is, the edges of its leaves are quite free from serrations.

leh i

JuLY 8, 1896.]

The fruit grows large, of fine texture and good quality.
Enville City is another strongly marked variety of the bet-
ter Pines. In place of the central strong leaves usually
produced at the apex of the fruit many small crown slips
grow. Besides these varieties there are others that pro-
duce large fruit of good quality.

PROPAGATION,

There are two general ways of propagating Pineapples.
The most common and desirable method is from buds
which form at the ground-level, or just below, and come
up in the form of young plants. These produce a crop
about a year earlier than the slips. They are usually called

Garden and Forest.

275

others very sparingly. The seeds may be planted and
germinated in the ordinary way.
SHEDS.

It has long been an established fact that pineapples
grown indoors in England are of finer texture and superior
flavor to those grown in the open air of the tropics. The
structures used in Florida are novel. Posts are set at con-
venient distances from ten to twenty feet apart in checks.
Suitable rafters are then placed from post to post uniting
them in rows. Crosswise of these rows is laid one-by-four-
inch sheeting, allowing a distance between the slats just equal
to the width of a slat, so that one-half of the space is cov-

Fig. 38.—The Cultivation of Pineapples under Sheds in Florida.—See page 274.

suckers. Slips is the ntame applied to smaller plants that
are produced immedia ely below the fruit. Sometimes they
are allowed to remain on the plants until they are large
enough to be set in the field. A fruiting plant will often
produce twenty or more, and the slips are the most prolific
way of reproduction, though not the most desirable, since
they take a year longer to come to maturity. The crown
of the Pineapple when taken out and planted will produce
sets. This has,been resorted to with high-priced varieties,
but is not usually practiced. It is quite generally believed
that Pineapples do not produce seed. This, however, is
quite as erroneous as the belief that pineapples grow on
Pine-trees. Some varieties produce seed quite freely and

ered. The illustration on this page showsa shed constructed
near Palm Beach. The posts have been tied together both
ways; the picture represents a view across the slats, mak-
ing the cover appear continuous. The posts are long
enough to raise the shed from six to nine feet above the
ground, giving room for cultivation. Lumber can be
obtained from the mills at $6 or $$ a thousand feet; the
cost of sheds varies from $400 to $600 per acre. At first
they were constructed to prevent injury from slight frosts,
but as they were allowed to remain during the summer it
was soon discovered that the fruit was considerably larger
than that grown in the open field. The size of the fruit is
not the only advantage, but the texture is more tender and

276

the flavor much better. Later it was discovered that these
Pines come into bearing during various portions of the
year, thus giving marketable fruit in November and until
the close of the pineapple season. The pioneers in this
work were regarded as visionary, and it doubtless took a
great deal of courage to invest about $4,000 for building an
eight-acre shed, but now this plan has been extended to
such places as Palm Beach, where Cocoanuts flourish and
the danger of frosts is very slight. When it is remembered
that a single fruit of good size and quality sells for $1.00
in the pinery at Christmas it is readily seen that this pro-
tection is profitable, even in the extreme south, as few fields,
even on the keys, are never visited by frosts. There are
no pineapples grown under glass for commercial purposes
in Florida.
EXTENT OF THE INDUSTRY.

Professor H. J. Webber, Eustis, Florida, special agent for
the Division of Vegetable Pathology and Physiolog y,
United States Department of Agriculture, gave the follow-
ing figures in his paper before the Florida Horticultural
Society: number of acres in Pineapples in 1894, in the
Avon Park region, 100; Orlando region, 30; Myers, 3; on
the keys, 300; the East Coast, 2,056—making a total of
2,389 acres. The figures were obtained by diligent inquiry
in visits to many fields of the regions. The freight depart-
ment of Florida railroads shipped, according to the same
paper, 56,209 crates, orabout 3,000,000 fruits in the same
year. This does not include the local consumption, those
sent out of the state by express, nor those carried from the
keys in boats and not transferred to railroads.

POT. Rais:

Agricultural College, Lake City, Fla.

Plant Notes.

Irts HExacona, La Mancr.—Another season’s growth of
this Arkansas variety confirms the first impression as to its
being a handsome form. Among the many Irises it would
be difficult to name the most beautiful and pleasing, but
this has claims to be numbered among the choicest of a
generally handsome family. There are others of more deli-
cate and quaint hues, but the color of this is as nearly blue
as is found in flowers. The flowers are wide-spreading
with flat segments, and three or four are borne on short
pedicels on one side of a leafy prostrate stem. It is per-
fectly hardy and has long, thick, creeping rhizomes. The
white-flowered form of Iris hexagona, discovered in Florida
by Mr. Mead, does not prove to be hardy here.

HypRANGEA QUERCIFOLIA,—Of the plants now in bloom in
shrubberies this bush is conspicuous by its large cymes
of showy flowers. The heads are pyramidal in outline.
The sterile flowers are quite numerous and entirely hide
the fertile ones on the inside. On first opening the sterile
flowers are rich creamy white, changing eventually to a
pinkish tinge. The plant in a young state has a Tather
straggling, or one-sided, appearance, but when it grows
older it becomesa compact and neat bush. The leaves are
five-lobed and quite large. The petioles and young wood
are densely covered with a rusty colored downy substance.
Perhaps the reason it is not more abundant in collections
is the difficulty of propagation. It is exceedingly slow in
rooting from cuttings at any season of the year. Hydrangea
quercifolia is found growing in partly shaded places in
Florida, Georgia and westward, and is quite hardy in most
of the northern states.

Puitapvetruus Lemorner.—A figure of this hybrid plant
was published in 1889 in the second volume of this journal,
when it had not flowered in the United States and nothing
was known of its value here as a garden plant. Philadel-
phus Lemoinei had been raised by Monsieur Lemoine
of Nancy, who, in 1884, had crossed the Old World Philadel-
phus coronarius with Philadelphus microphyllus, a native
of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Philadelphus
Lemoinei has now been grown in the Arnold Arboretum
for six years and has proved itself perfectly hardy and a

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 437.

most desirable and beautiful garden plant. The stems,
which are about two feet high, were clothed last week
with fragrant white flowers which are intermediate in size
and in the time of opening between those of the two
parents. For a small garden where the common bush
Syringas are too large Philadelphus Lemoinei will supply
in miniature their white flowers and delightful perfume. It
is a temptation which too frequently is not resisted to over-
praise new plants, but in this case it does not seem easy
to say too much of the merits of a shrub which Monsieur
Lemoine has good right to consider one of his most im-
portant contributions to the flora of gardens.

Yertow Rosrs.—Hardy yellow Roses have produced
exceptionally large crops of fine flowers this year in many
northern gardens, and the beauty of these plants has never
been more striking. There are two yellow-flowered Roses,
Rosa sulphurea, often called Rosa hemispheerica, and Rosa
Eglanteria; the former has been known in European gar-
dens in a double form since the sixteenth century, but it
was not until 1830 that the single form was discovered. It
is a native of Asia Minor, Armenia and Persia, and in 1859
the single form was described by the Swiss botanist, Bois-
sier, under the name of Rapinni. So far as we know,
neither the single nor the double-flowered form of this
Rose is in our gardens, and it is believed to be more tender
than Rosa Eglanteria, which is also often called Rosa lutea,
and is a native of western Asia. This is the single-flowered
yellow Rose of old gardens, and as a garden plant is one
of the most charming shrubs in cultivation. A form of this
plant, with the petals dark copper-colored or red on the
upper surface and yellow on the lower, is one of the most
distinct of Roses. The origin of this form, which is com-
monly called the Austrian Copper Brier, is uncertain. It
has been in gardens for more than a century, and has a
rather weak constitution, and is hard to keep for many
years at a time except in specially favorable situations.
The Persian yellow Rose is the double-flowered form of
Rosa Eglanteria, and a common plant in many old gar-
dens. It is not always a free bloomer, and the flowers do
not open satisfactorily in this climate, but this year the
platits have been generally covered with large well-formed
blooms. MHarrison’s yellow Rose, which is the common
yellow Rose of American gardens, is supposed to be a
hybrid between Rosa Eglanteria and the Scotch Rose,
Rosa spinosissima, but nothing is known of its history, and
we shall be glad of any information our readers may be
able to give us concerning it. It is a hardy free-blooming
plant, but the flowers are less beautiful and fragrant than
those of the double Persian yellow Rose.- The flowers,
like those of all the varieties of Rosa Eglanteria, have the
perfume of the Sweetbrier.

New Hysrip Roses —A season or two since Mr. W. A.
Manda crossed Rosa Wichuraiana with various other species
and varieties, Eglantine, a number of the most attractive
Teas, American Beauty and General Jacqueminot. The
hybrids have lately been shown at South Orange, planted
out on bare sandy banks, in positions where 50 Wichu-
raiana is especially valuable and attractive. In character of
foliage and habit of growth they resemble the prostrate
rambling parent, but the crossing has produced a most
remarkable series of free-flowering plants with handsome
fragrant flowers. One attractive hybrid has clusters of pink
single flowers similar to those of the Sweetbrier. Another,
pure pink double flowers, the buds of which resemble in
miniature the Bridesmaid. There are also several forms
with double white flowers. One of these with a delicate
pink hue is peculiar and distinct, the numerous small,
rounded petals being reflexed and perfectly imbricated, an
arrangement not usual among Roses. Mr. Manda has also
a number of other forms, mostly pink or rose in color, and
varying in shape and number of petals, which he proposes
naming and offering next year. ‘These hybrids must meet
with great favor with planters, as they add a brilliancy or
warmth of color to a valuable Rose.

JULY 8, 1896.]

Cultural Department.
Seasonable Work.

[ERE various insect pests with which we have to battle now

indoors make quite a catalogue, among the most common
being white, black and brown scale, and various intermediate
forms of these insects, red spiders, thrips (both black and yel-
low) and mealy bugs of several varieties and degrees of
fecundity. For the latter a hot-water bath may be used suc-
cessfully in some cases, at least with plants having sufficiently
tough foliage to endure such treatment, but careful experi-
ments should be made before submitting valuable plants to
this ordeal. A method I have used for this operation was that
of placing a metal vessel—for example, a large galvanized iron
pail—on an oil-stove, the pail to be filled with clean water
heated to a temperature of 130 degrees, Fahrenheit, and by
proper regulation of the oil flame this temperature may be
maintained without a variation of more than two degrees. A
thermometer should be suspended in the bath in order that
any material variation of temperature may be at once cor-
rected.

Immersion in water at this temperature (130 degrees) for a
period varying from thirty to ninety seconds resulted in no
injury to the foliage of the plants thus treated, and in some
instances every mealy bug on the plant was killed, while in
others an occasional insect escaped, possibly by being pro-
tected from contact with the water by asurrounding air-bubble.
The plants thus treated were Palms, and included Areca lutes-
cens, Latania Borbonica, Kentia Forsteriana and Cocos Wed-
delliana. ;

Ata slightly higher temperature, ranging from 135 to 138
degrees, Arecas and Latanias did not seem to suffer in the
least, but Cocos and Kentia were both injured, the latter
most severely. The plants subjected to the second experi-
ment were apparently in the same condition as to growth and
health as the specimens used for the first, and the injury was
not at once apparent, but became quite noticeable five or six
days afterward. Some forms of scale were also killed by a
water-bath at 135 degrees, but others appeared to be but litde
affected thereby. Of course, these simple experiments do not
prove hot water to bea panacea for the insect-ills of plants,
but they may encourage further research for information on
this line.

The so-called fumigation of plants by means of a mixture
of dilute sulphuric acid and cyanide of potassium has been
reported in some horticultural journals within the past three
months, but is a process that should only be attempted with
extreme precaution, The reaction from this admixture (if I
am not mistaken) is a strong solution of hydrocyanic acid, one
of the most deadly poisons even by inhalation. Some idea of
its strength may be had from the fact that the medicinal solu-
tion of this acid as prepared by chemists only contains two per
cent. of the pure drug, while the solution procured by the pro-
cess above noted probably contains from twelve to fifteen per
cent. of the pure acid, and is, therefore, extremely dangerous.

Holmesburg, Pa. W. #. Taplin.

Perennial Peas.

FU VERLASTING or Perennial Peas are capital garden sub-
jects where low-growing or trailing vines are desired.
~ They are mostly vigorous, making a rapid and strong growth
each season and flower freely. The best known of these are
varieties of Lathyrus latifolius, of which the pink and red forms
are most common. The white variety, however, is the better ;
the flowers have perfect purity of color, but are not fragrant.
These forms are grown from seed, which germinate too freely
in the borders. The white variety does not always come true
from seed, and is better propagated by the side-shoots, which
may be torn off early in the year when the plants start, or it
may be propagated from the old vines used as cuttings in the
fall. Thereare named kinds with bright-colored flowers which
have been selected and propagated, but L. rotundifolius (or
Drummondii) is the best of the colored kinds. This is also a
vigorous species with vines of about the same length as those
of L. latifolius. The flowers, which have smaller standards
than these, are of a pleasing garnet hue. It does not seed very
freely. L.tuberosus is a small-leaved, fine-stemmed plant,
desirable as a trailer, and has dark red flowers. The tuberous
roots are perfectly hardy and the plants are inclined to wander
in the border,
The California Perennial Peas, Lathyrus splendens, L. bacti-
florus, L. violacea and L. sulphureus, do not make much
progress here, and as yet have not flowered. They are of thin,

Garden and Forest.

277

rather delicate growth, but with slight protection may prove
hardy, as those left outside survived last winter. —_—
Elizabeth, N. J. 7s LV, G:

Strawberry Culture.

NUMBER of varieties of Strawberries are regarded in

different sections as standard kinds, and it is puzzling to
find some growers condemning sorts that others consider
indispensable. The reason is that Strawberries are extremely
local in their behavior, and soil and exposure havea great deal
to do with the result; and the returns from a given variety
vary as much as the localities in which the fruit is grown. In
this climate a soil that has a clay bottom is not regarded suita-
ble for Strawberry culture, as the plants suffer in spring from
upheaving after the frosts. Our subsoil is gravel, and though
it makes watering and mulching necessary, we get the best
possible results each year. We plant a new bed in the sum-
mer months as soon as the runners have strong roots, and
then destroy the bed that has borne for two summers. It does
not pay to attempt to get a third crop from the plants; they
lose vigor, many die out entirely, and the soil seems to be
exhausted by the end of the second season. It is economy to
plant at least a few every year so as to keep up the fertility of
the varieties and to make sure of a good supply of the fruit.

We have tried many kinds, mainly to find out those best
suited to our purpose, and each grower should experiment for
himself if the varieties he has do not give satisfaction. We
have sifted down to Michel's Early for the earliest, Parker Earle
for second, and Gandy for late varieties, and these are suffi-
cient for our needs. The Marshall has not been a success in
this section ; it winter-killed severely and made a poor crop
this season. Weshall not plant more of it this year.

As soon as all the fruit is gathered we clean the beds of all
weeds and mulch. The soil in each alternate row is then
lightly forked over and three-inch pots of soil plunged about
the plants to receive the runners as soon as these are large
enough. The runners will soon root, and when a wet season
starts in, as usually happens in early August, we have the
new ground ready and set out the young plants two feet apart
in the rows and three feet between the rows. All runners
should be kept off the young plants during the fall growing
time. When setting outthe plants care should be taken to set
the cut ends of the runners of every two rows pointing toward
each other. The next year all the runners will be thrown into
one alley, and each alternate alley will be left free for use in
watering the pots in dry weather. This plan involves little
trouble at planting time and will save a great deal of time and
labor the next year. A slight mulching in fall is necessary in
this latitude, and we leave the mulch on late in spring to pre-
vent the plants starting too early and having the early bloom
killed by late spring frosts. It must, however, be taken off later,
so that the surface may be well stirred up and a little fertilizer
strewed round the plants. The lawn clippings should then be
used as they are raked up ; no better material can be had as a
mulch to keep the earth cool and moist and to keep the fruit
clean and free from grit. Wegeta good crop the first sum-
mer after planting, and this is when the largest fruit is gath-
ered. In the bed that is bearing the second season the greatest
quantity is produced. This ends the usefulness of the beds,
which are afterward made over for fall Cabbages. The ground
that will be planted later with young plants is now occupied
with early vegetables, such as Spinach, Lettuce, Beans, Beets
and others that will be past when the ground is needed for the
Strawberry plants. In this way no time is lost nor ground
wasted, as happens when spring planting is practiced. The
plants are great feeders, and it is wise to provide liberally for
them when starting a new bed. It should be dug or plowed
deep to induce the roots to go down. Deep cultivation is one
of the best possible remedies for dry periods, and each year
seems to bring just such experiences with it. -

South Lancaster, Mass. E. O. Or fet.

Browallias.—These are among the most satisfactory of the
annual flowering plants. They seem torevel in our hot, dry,
summer weather. Nosoil appears to be too poor for them to
make a creditable showing in, although they grow and flower
more freely in that which has been enriched. Browallia Roezli
is probably the most showy of the genus, and, next to B. speci-
osa major, has the largest flowers ; these are lavender-colored
on the outer part of the corolla and whitish near the centre,
with a yellow eye, a most pleasing combination of color. This
species has the further merit of producing a large number of
flowers at one time. B. elata purpurea has much darker
flowers than the type; they are quite a dark shade of purple
with a white eye. In fading, however, the flowers assume a

278

whitish shade which detracts from their beauty. The same
may be said of B. speciosa major; when the flowers of this
beautiful variety are two or three days old they have a washed-
out appearance. B. demissa was the first of the number to be
introduced into cultivation. It isa rank grower; the flowers
are small and of a pale purple color. B. Czerwiakowski is an
upright-growing kind, with large leaves and pure white flow-
ers. Although Browallias succeed well enough sown in the
open border, they come into flower late in the season. Ifsown
indoors and planted out about the first of May they are contin-
ually in bloom until frost, and it is well worth the extra trouble

to treat them in this way.
Botanic Garden, Washington, D. C, Go;

Coronilla Capadocica.—This genus contains but few species
that are regarded as hardy. Coronilla varia is, perhaps, the
best known, and is a desirable species, and C. Capadocica,
which is quite distinct, has proved to be a good garden plant
and perfectly hardy. It is of prostrate habit, sending up in
summer numerous spikes of the brightest golden-yellow flow-
ers, which remind one of the blossoms of Lotus corniculatus,
except that they are much larger. C.Capadocica is a native of
Asia Minor, and is another of the many fine garden plants for
which we are indebted to the energy and perseverance of Mr.
Whittall. Plants grown here produce seeds freely and afford
a ready means of propagation. As with all leguminous plants,
it is best to start the seeds where the plants are to remain per-
manently, as it sometimes takes years for the plants to recover
from the check caused by removal.

South Lancaster, Mass. y fe. OL 0:

Correspondence.

Notes from Natick, Massachusetts.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir.—When Mr. H.S. Hunnewell started his new place in
Natick, close to the Wellesley line, some five years ago,
he scarcely realized the magnitude of the task he had under-
taken. He built his house ona knoll in the woods on one of
the high points of the locality. When he went there it was
almost as nature had left it. The ground was broken by
numerous hollows and ledges, so that much blasting had to be
done in order to bring about a gracefully undulating surface.
The place is the reverse of formal, and it would be a difficult
matter to make it so. The advantages of such a splendid
location have been fully made use of, and with progressive
spirit and foresight characteristic of the owner, and under the
able guidance of his father, Mr. H. H. Hunnewell, it will ulti-
mately became one of the finest estates in New England, where
a thoroughly natural style of gardening may be seen. The
grounds are approached by a beautiful drive nearly half a mile
in length, following to some extent a natural valley. The
gradients are steady, but not steep. Where any cutting has
been done it has been carefully graded, so as to be scarcely
noticeable, and planted with shrubs and trailing plants, but not
in a way to suggest anything artificial. The drier ledges are
gradually being covered with suitable plants, including Yuccas,
Sedums, Sempervivums and some alpine plants.

At the entrance to the drive there is a notable piece of old-
fashioned stone wall built by the owner’s grandfather, and it is
in good condition to-day. It is valued as a remnant of old
times, and the approaches are made to conform with it. The
place is entered through a cutting, and there being little to
suggest our approach the effect is most pleasing when it first
opens.

rhe natural soil is scanty, but of good consistency, and rests
on a clayey subsoil. The grading has been tedious and costly,
as the ground is full of stones, interspersed with bowlders of
the large size. Some weighing as much as fifty tons have
been moved and judiciously placed. Here and there through
the trees a glimpse of these imposing and interesting features
of the landscape is had. When fortified to the depth of a foot
or more the soil is of the best possible composition for trees
and shrubs of all kinds. Belting the wooded background
there is already a fine collection of ornamental foliage and
flowering shrubs. There has been a splendid show of bloom
this spring. All the shrubs are growing rapidly, and already
give a finished appearance to the place. For the quickest and
best effects new places should be begun in this way. The
planting of coniferous trees, shrubs and evergreens in general
can be better done later. With these results come slowly, and
much thought is required to properly formulate a plan with
a view to effects later on. Many landscapes are utterly ruined

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 437.

by improper planting. A desire for immediate effects is in
nearly every case the cause. The artist is not always to be
blamed. Generally, when he hands over the place to the
owner, his responsibility ceases. But it should not. As the
trees and shrubs grow they need frequent thinning out. Prac-
tical advice should be from time to time sought with regard to
what is best to remove and what best to leave.

The area available is beyond all needs. The north side of
the residence is scarcely touched. Here, no doubt, there will
be formed an extensive collection of evergreens, ornamental
as well as flowering. For alpine plants there are unlimited
possibilities. Thus far the flowering and ornamental foliaged
deciduous shrubs have been arranged in groups composed, in
the main, of allies. Considered with regard to effect, nothing
is lost, while for comparison and selection one has an excel-
lent opportunity to judge of their various merits. The Vibur-
nums are together. “They afford wonderful variety. V.
opulus sterilis, the Snowball-tree, or Guelder Rose, is their
most familiar representative. It is a remarkably handsome
shrub where it succeeds well. Weighed down with pendulous
heads of the large-rayed sterile flowers, it is a striking object.
Scarcely less beautiful is the type when loaded down in the
autumn with bunches of large red berries. This is known as
the Cranberry-tree. Equally handsome is V. plicatum, the
Snowball-tree of Japan. The flower-heads resemble those of
the Guelder Rose, but are erect, and the habit of the plant is
more rigidly spreading. V. plicatum tomentosum is known
as the fertile form, and is also a beautiful shrub, Conspicuous
in this group is V. latanoides, with large, oblong, prominently
veined woolly leaves. V.cassinoides has handsome shining
olive-green leaves and umbels of Elder-like, sweet-scented
flowers. V. acerifolium is distinct, with its Maple-like leaves.
V. Sieboldii is a strong-growing kind with ribbed leaves and
open umbels of white flowers. V. prunifolium has handsome
Plum-like foliage.

Roses, although scattered through the place, are all repre-
sented in one group, andare remarkably healthy and free from
insect pests. The rose-bug does not appear to thrive here.
With us, in older gardens, it is often a question whether we
shall disfigure our plants by the use of a multitude of insec-
ticides, only to be partially successful, or give up their cul-
tivation.

The Rose is a difficult genus when we come to examine
the species and varieties; though often similar they may be
distinct. Rosa alpina and R. blanda appear almost identical
to a casual observer. To distinguish them when in leaf it is
necessary to examine the bark. R. blanda is unarmed, except
on the young shoots, while in R. alpina the prickles are scat-
tered all over the bark, almost to the ground. R. Carolina is
locally native. R. lucida has broad, shining foliage and deep
pink flowers. The Burnet, or Scotch Rose, R. spinosissima is
among the most beautiful. The stems are so densely covered
with reddish spines as to give the whole plant a bronzed hue.
Its large white flowers are produced in the greatest profusion,
so that bushes of it, wherever seen, are conspicuous objects.
R. spinosissima grandiflora is a well-named variety, some-
what larger in all respects. R. foliolosa, a charming little Rose
from Texas, has blush or sometimes pure white flowers.
The blooms are large for the size of the plants and very fra-
grant. It comes into bloom later, as does R. nitida, with
striking bronzed foliage and reddish pink flowers. R. multi-
flora will soon be a cloud of bloom, to be succeeded later
by a profusion of bronzy hips. The Prairie Rose, in soft
colors, is opening its large buds and will continue in bloom
untillate ; while that giant among Briers, R. rugosa, the earliest
and the latest, continues to bloom abundantly.

A few other flowering shrubs are worthy of special note.
There is now a gorgeous display of Kalmias. These do better
here than anywhere I have seen them. There are many hun-
dreds, in all sorts of positions. They appear to do best on
northerly exposures. Ligustrum Ibota is a hardy and most
graceful Japanese Privet, worthy of general cultivation.

Herbaceous plants have not been neglected, and for the
most part are kept by themselves, as they should be. They
do well enough associated with shrubs for a while, in new
shrubberies, and make pretty effects. As the shrubs increase
in size and extend their root-area, it becomes harder to keep
herbaceous plants in good health. The roots of the shrubs
drain the borders of all moisture. Dictamnus Fraxinella is a
strikingly handsome member of the Rue family and is here
represented by a large group. Pzeonies in another place, Yel-
low Foxgloves, Digitalis ambigua, and the common kind,
D. purpurea, are always beautiful. Lilium Hansoni is show-
ing up well. There are Day Lilies of several kinds and none
handsomer than the old Hemerocallis flava. H. Mittendorf-

JuLy 8, 1896.]

fiana, with orange-yellow flowers, adds variety, and leter, all
through the summer months, the handsome H, Thunbergii
will continue to bloom. A fine group of Lupinus pollyphyllus
shows what a handsome border plant it is. Trollius, Pop-
pies, Larkspurs and Columbines add to an already fine collec-
tion, with hosts of others to follow in succession for the

remainder of the season.
Wellesley, Mass. LeuLD: Hatfield.

Notes from West Virginia.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—A vigorous and beautiful shrub at Rose Brake is a
Fontanesia which was bought for F. phyllyreoides. Thisshrub
or small tree is described as weeping in habit, but our speci-
men isa young tree, tall and straight, with handsome narrow
leaves and no tendency of the limbs to grow downward. It is
about six years old, twelve feet in height, and has small yel-
lowish flowers in clusters. It is possible that this Fontanesia

is of erect habit while young, and that the branches droop ./*

when the tree or shrub has attained maturity. It seems-to be
a rare plant, asI can find no account of it in the botanies [|
possess. ;

This year we have our Cannas in a large round bed about a
tall clump of Arundo donax, which grows with us to the height
of twelve feet. Groups of Yuccas stand near. Three varieties
of these beautiful plants are now in bloom. Yucca flaccida
was the first to open its flowers, but the more common Y., fila-
mentosa attains the largest size here. Sometimes the flower-
stalks measure seven feet in length. The blossoms look a
little dull by daylight in contrast with the pure white Madonna
Lilies, but seen on a moonlight night they have a beau-
tiful pearly lustre which is like that of no other flower, and this
gives them an indescribable grace and charm, Y. recurva,
Y. angustifolia, Y. filamentosa and its variety flaccida are
perfectly hardy here. So also is Y. stenophylla, which has not
yet bloomed for us. Y. superba lives, but does not grow very
fast and does not flower. It is protected by a covering of dead
leaves in winter.

Cedrella Sinensis, planted in this semi-tropical shrubbery I
am describing, in company with Aralias, Paulownias and a
beautiful Japanese Acacia, is now a tall, symmetrical young
tree, more refined and elegant in appearance than the Ailan-
thus, which it resembles. It is twenty feet in height, eight
years old and has not bloomed. Neither has the Japanese
Acacia, which is labeled Acacia Nemu, ever given us a flower,
although it is olderthan the Cedrella. It is described as bear-
ing rosy flowers, but [ suppose our climate is too cold for
them, although the tree stands our winters without protection.

Sassafras bushes are so ornamental that we think them
worthy of a place among the handsomest exotic shrubs. We
have two or three of them in a group near our Japanese
Maples, and there is a charming rivalry between them. Some-
times I think the Sassafras bears away the palm for variety
and beauty of color inthe new growth. Then the odd shapes
of the leaves, the erect habit of growth, the tender coloring of
the young shoots and the refreshing aroma of the whole
plant make it one of the most desirable of our native trees,
It should be planted for its rich coloring in the fall, as well as
for its vernal beauty.

Shepherdstown, W. Va. Danske Dandridge,

Recent Publications.

The first annual report of the Chief Fire Warden of Minne-
sota, appointed under “an act to provide for the preserva-
tion of the forests of the state and for the prevention and
suppression of forest and prairie fires,” approved April 18th,
1895, has been published. Under the act as quoted above
the supervisors of towns, mayors of cities and presidents
of village councils are constituted fire wardens. The chief
fire warden may appoint fire wardens, and in case the fire
force of any locality is inadequate to prevent or suppress
forest fires he may appoint temporarily additional fire war-
dens. It is the duty of the fire wardens to post placards
containing an abstract of the penalties proposed under the
act, to prevent, if possible, the setting of forest and prairie
fires, and, as far as practicable, to control fires. For this
purpose they may call to their assistance any able-bodied
male person over eighteen years of age. They must
cooperate with the fire wardens of adjoining districts, and,
in the absence of these, may direct the work of control and
extinguishment of forest fires outside their own districts.

Garden and Forest.

af)

They are obliged to arrest without warrant every one
found violating any provision of the act and to make
complaints against such persons before a magistrate.

Under the act companies operating railroads within the
state of Minnesota are obliged to use efficient spark-arrest-
ers on all locomotives, to keep clear of all combustible
materials their right of way to the width of fifty feet on
each side of the centre of the main track, to prevent their
employés from leaving fire or live coals or hot ashes in
the immediate vicinity of woodlands or lands liable to be
overrun by fires. Engineers, conductors or trainmen who
may discover that fences and other materials along the right
of way, or that woodland adjacent to the railroad are burn-
ing or in danger from fire must report the same promptly
at the nexf, telegraph station that they may pass. In dry
seasons railroad companies must give particular instruc-
ons to their employés for the prevention and prompt
“extinguishment of fires, and must cause warning placards
to be posted at their stations in the neighborhood of forest
and prairie grass lands. They must concentrate such help
as shall be available to effectively extinguish fires occurring
along the lines of their roads.

The State Auditor is made Forest Commissioner, with
authority to appoint a deputy to be known as Chief Fire
Warden, who is entrusted with the enforcement of the pro-
visions of this act. The Chief Fire Warden has general
charge of the fire warden force of the state and may
appoint temporarily fire wardens for any territory. He may
incur an expense not exceeding $5,000 in any one year for
special assistance to prevent or suppress fires during periods
of peculiar danger. It is made his duty to investigate the
extent of the forests of the state, with the amounts and
varieties of the timber contained in them, the damages done
to the forest by forest fires, the causes of such fires, the
methods used to promote the regrowth of timber, and any
other matters of interest relating to the forests. This infor-
mation, with his suggestions, shall be included in a report
which he is to make annually to the Forest Commissioner.
The salary of the Chief Fire Warden is $1,200, and each
fire warden receives for his actual services $2.00 a day.
Men called on in emergencies to assist in extinguishing fires
are to receive $1.50 aday. Two-thirds of this shall be paid
by the company where the service is performed and one-
third by the state. No county is allowed to expend more
than $500 of public money in any one year under the act.

The first annual report of the Chief Fire Warden treats of
the organization of his service, a list of the fire wardens of
the different counties, general directions for the extinguish-
ment of fires, a report on the forest and prairie fires of 1895,
in which it appears that in an aggregate area representing
about six million acres of prairie country there were dur-
ing the year, according to the report of fire wardens, one
hundred and five fires, which burnt over about 73,000 acres,
while only about 8,000 acres of forest were burnt over, with
an estimated damage ofonly $1,325. A considerable space
is devoted to the remarks of the fire wardens on forest fires,
and this part of the report might, perhaps, have been reduced
in bulk by more careful editing. An account is given ofthe
Minnesota forests, with the amounts and varieties of the
wood andtimber growing inthem by counties. The methods
and importance of the logging industry are touched upon,
with replies from a number of lumbermen relative to exist-
ing methods of lumbering. The regrowth of White Pine
and the utility of forests are discussed. The statement of
expenses shows that only $2,020 were expended during the
year in this serious effort at forest preservation. The report,
which contains one hundred and eighty-eight pages and is
accompanied by a forest map of Minnesota, will be found
of special interest to every one interested in checking the
destruction of property through forest fires.

Notes.
A large tanning establishment has recently been erected at
Astor, Florida, for the purpose of utilizing the tannic acid con-
tained in the roots of the Saw Palmetto, Serenoa serrulata, for

280 Garden and Forest.

tanning leather. This tannery, which is furnished with eleven
large tanks, is said to have capacity enough to tan all the hides
produced in Florida.

During June 520,000 bunches of bananas were sold at whole-
sale in this city, 16,000 bunches more than were imported in
the same month a year ago.

The United States Consul at Havre, France, recently sent
home some samples of new textile fabrics which were exhib-
ited at the State Department in Washington. They were
woven from the fibres of peat, which, as they proved, can be
bleached to whiteness and will then take any dye. These fab-
rics are said to be especially advantageous from the fact that
they have antiseptic qualities which will prevent them from
harboring disease germs. :

Professor R. L. Watts, the horticulturist of the Tennessee
Agricultural Experiment Station, has written a short treatise
on Onion-culture, which has been published as a farmers’
bulletin by the United States Department of Agriculture. Itis
one of those useful little monographs which the department is
issuing from time to time, and which are very successful in
selecting the important phases of a subject and treating them
thoroughly, and yet concisely and in a practical straightforward
way, which cannot but be helpful to any careful reader.

We have spoken in another column of the value of the
hybrid Philadelphus Lemoinei as a flowering shrub in this
country, and we have just received a note from an English
correspondent who states that masses of this shrub were
among the most attractive features of Kew Gardens in the
middle of June. The plants were set in large groups, and
although they were no more than two feet high they were
covered with their white and fragrant flowers, while the light-
colored folhage makes them attractive all the summer through.

At a wood-pulp mill at Elsenthal, in Austria, a trial was
recently made to show how quickly living trees could be con-
verted into newspapers. At 7.35 o’clock in the morning three
trees were felled. By 9.34 the wood had been stripped of its
bark, cut into suitable pieces for the mill, converted into pulp
and pressed into paper. Then it was passed from the factory
to a neighboring printing-press, and the first printed and
folded copy of the journal was ready for perusal at ten o’clock,
just 145 minutes after the axe had been laid to the standing
trees.

Bulletin No. 1 of the Geological and Natural History Survey
of the Chicago Academy of Sciences is devoted to an account
of the Lichen flora of Chicago and vicinity, by William Wirt
Calkins. It is the initial number of a series of publications in
which the Chicago Academy of Sciences proposes to discuss
the botany, zodlogy and geology in the neighborhood of
Chicago. The area which it is proposed to include in the sur-
vey is about fifty miles square, leaving, after deducting the
water-covered portions, nearly 1,800 square miles, and com-
prises all of Cook and Du Page counties, the nine northern
townships of Will County and a portion of Lake County,
Indiana.

The famous Great Tun long shown to tourists in Heidelberg
Castle, in Germany, and hitherto the largest in the world, is
greatly exceeded in size by one recently constructed on the
St. George Vineyard, at Fresno, in California. This cask is
thirty feet in height and about twenty-six in diameter and holds
79,000 galions of wine, while the Heidelberg cask holds about
42,000. It is built of redwood obtained from the forests of
Humboldt County. The lumber required would have sufficed
to build a large house, and two car-loads of steel hoops were
needed to bind the immense staves together. As these had
to be absolutely free from flaws of every kind, not one piece
of timber in ten was found perfect enough for use.

Cork has been tried as a paving material in Vienna and Lon-
don with much success. It is granulated, mixed with mineral
asphalt and other cohesive materials, and compressed into
blocks of suitable size, which are embedded in tar and rest
upon a concrete foundation six inches in thickness. The
advantages claimed forcork pavements are cleanliness, noise-
lessness, elasticity, durability, moderate cost and freedom from
the slipperiness which, in wet weather, makes asphalt pave-
ments undesirable. Moreover, unlike wooden pavements,
they are non-absorbent, and therefore inodorous. Samples
taken from a London street near the Great Eastern Railway
station, where traffic is very heavy, had been reduced in thick-
ness by less than one-eighth of an inch after being in use
almost two years.

Professor Lucius Marcus Underwood, at present Professor
of Botany in the Mechanical and Agricultural College of Ala-

[NuMBER 437.

bama, hasbeen appointed to the position at the head of the
botanical faculty of Columbia College in this city, recently
resigned by Professor Britton when he was offered the post
of director of the city’s new Botanical Garden, and now
made Professor Emeritus, Professor Underwood has. partic-
ularly devoted himself to the study of cryptogamic plants, and
is an authority on the Ferns and their allies and on several
groups of fungi. Previous to his appointment to the chair he
now fills he had been Professor of Botany at Syracuse Univer-
sity and at De Pauw University. He represented the United
States at the international botanical congress held in Genoa in
1889, has been vice-president of the botanical section of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science, and
has published numerous botanical papers. He will begin his
work at Columbia in the autumn.

A large consignment of fruits from Victoria was exhibited
not long ago in London. There were apples of many sorts, all
in good condition, together with pumpkins, custard-melons
and pineapples. Some of the English papers seem to be espe-
cially exasperated at the fact that the English markets should
be filled with apples when the home-grown fruit is said to be
the best in the world, and it is recommended in a leading
paper that the Chambers of Agriculture should send out half
a dozen men to study the system of fruit-growing pursued in
Canada, the United States and Australia, so as to instruct Eng-
lish fruit growers against such injurious competition. But no
amount of instruction would help English farmers to grow
custard-melons and pineapples at home, while early winter
and late autumn apples are not to be found in June except in
the southern hemisphere. No doubt, English fruit growers
can improve on their methods, but they never can grow
enough fruit for home consumption, and it ought to be a mat-
ter of self-congratulation in England that her commercial rela-
tions and facilities are such that she is able to get the best of
fruits from her colonies and elsewhere all the year round.

It is well known that fermentation of different kinds is due to
the action of certain yeast-plants, and that different plants give
different results. In butter-making, for instance, it is now the
practice to cultivate in marketable quantities the varieties of
ferments which will give the best quality and flavor to butter.
It has been proved, too, that the bouquet of different wines
depends largely on the ferment which develops in the juices
of the grape, so that there are many distinct wine-yeasts culti-
vated and sold, the different varieties giving special bouquets
to the wines in which they are used. More recent experiments
show that the best of the wine-yeasts can be used in the fer-
mentation of cider and the juice of berries, so that it is said to
be possible to make a wine from cider which possesses the
bouquet of Rudesheimer. At the recent horticultural exhi-
bition at Berlin one of the most interesting exhibits in the
scientific section was a collection of these clean yeast-cultures
in gelatine, as well as of the injurious yeasts and microphoto-
graphs of both. Since the keeping quality and flavor of the
wine both depend so largely on the quality of the yeast which
brings about the fermentation, these microscopic plants have
assumed great importance in agricultural economy.

An interesting bulletin has just been issued by the Rhode
Island Experiment Station on Apple Culture, which has received
anew impetus in that state since the spray pump has been
used as a means of warfare against pests, so that neglected
orchards in that region are now being pruned and fertilized
until they have become productive and valuable. Apple-trees
have come to be regarded as cultivated plants which must be
regularly supplied with food, and since the roots extend wide
as well as deep it is found necessary to apply fertilizers over
the entire space where they spread. Apple-trees need much
moisture, and when this is lacking the fruit falls unripe and
the winter varieties decay prematurely. Mulching is essential,
and if the tops of the trees are allowed to shade the ground
and prevent the free movement of air currents over the roots
during drought the value of the mulch is greatly increased.
The form of the tops in different varieties naturally differs, but
all need a large leaf area exposed to the light if good crops are
expected. The Greening, for example, forms a more spread-
ing top than the Baldwin or Roxbury Russet, but the limbs of
the last two droop to the ground in mature trees. Strong
light promotes the formation of the fruit-buds, and the inter-
lacing of the branches of adjacent trees is unfavorable to their
formation, a fact which is graphically illustrated by pictures of
twigs grown in the sunlight and in the shade. Directions for
combating the various fungi and insects are fulland complete,
and itis suggested that poultry can be used to good advantage
against the apple maggot. Altogether this is a valuable

paper.

JuLy 15, 1896.] ,;

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrick: Trisung Buitpinc, New York.

Conducted by . .. .. «© « « « » « Professor C. S. SARGENT.

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 1896.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Epiror1AL ArtTICcLE :—English Gardens Unsuitable for America........-...-+++ 281
Plant Names of Indian OPT O Tis UE Taos sjepeiateiavaiataiie's’ese‘efessiatets V.

ForEIGN CoRRESPONDENCE :—London Letter

New or Litt.e-KNown Piants :—Deutzia Lemoinei.

Prant Nortes.. :

CutturaL Depart MENT :—The Vegetable ‘Garden..
Greenhouse Plants Burned By the Sun........
Garnation INOlessiieics siele tse siawe cscs 5
The Hardy Plant Border .
ERHew low. eriGarden aeesaiessa\evateielsiseaisiolaicine’ovaie

WV. E. Britton. 286
Sisisiatvie ine W. N. Craig. 286
-Edward F. Canning. 287
eeisicier W.E. Endicott, 287

Notes from the Botanic G. rden, Washington.. --G. W. Oliver. 288
GalamiuSyGlliani Ses. sistmesces sek coclactcersceisacis\sc NV. F PR. 288
CorrgSPONDENCE :—Jackson Park in June. «Rev. Es F. Hill. 288

Some American Fruit Associations.. Char les HT, Shinn.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS .....-...000

INOUE Samiceithewcciaecmaciacisecthisa.

English Gardens Unsuitable for America.

E spoke last week of the energetic plea made by

Mr. R. Clipston Sturgis in Zhe Cosmopolian for a
change in our current methods of planning and planting
the grounds of suburban houses. We plan them rather for
display than for use, and we secure neither beauty nor
convenience. We leave them unshielded by walls or
hedges ; we provide them with no sheltered umbrageous
spots for repose and domestic or friendly intercourse out of
sight of the passers on the road; we furnish them with no
vegetation whose care and enjoyment may foster a love
for nature. Our suburban places are, therefore, monoto-
nously alike and generally ugly. They lack individuality,
they have no homelike atmosphere, and they lose their
rightful effect in forming home-loving habits. We practi-
cally make them a part of the public street, and therefore
those who own them live indoors or seek their pleasures
away from home.

There is need, indeed, for a radical change in our ideals
of what a small suburban place should be, but the right
ideal for American adoption is not suburban gardens like
those of England. Mr. Sturgis illustrates his article with a
plan and some pictures of an actual English suburban
place of four acres. It stretches away from the high road
in a long and relatively narrow rectangle. The house
stands close to the right-hand boundary line, separated
from the road in front. by narrow, but dense, plantations
and a curving entrance-drive. To the left of it lies a formal
garden. Back of it is a large lawn for tennis and croquet,
and back of the formal garden is another lawn surrounded
by flower-beds. Beyond these are two smaller lawns, one
of them encircled by flower-beds again, and all these
lawns are defined by hedges. Then across the whole
width of the place stretches a plantation of large trees,
irregularly disposed and broken by little open glades, and
hidden by these, at the rear end of the place, are the stables
anda kitchen garden. All the paths are straight except
where they wind through the plantation of large trees.
The approach to the stable runs close to the boundary
line, passing the kitchen entrance of the house under a
range of great Elms, while the opposite border of the place

Garden and Forest.

281

is likewise protected by trees overshadowing a straight
foot-path.

This is an excellent design of its kind. Perhaps, ina
four-acre place, the average American would prefer less
formality and more naturalness of effect. But this is a
matter of taste, to be largely determined by the character
of the surroundings of the place, the modeling of its sur-
face and the vegetation it bears. And certainly Mr. Sturgis
is right when he praises an arrangement which, putting the
house in one corner of the grounds and the stable in
another, and cutting them with no obtrusive lines of
gravel, leaves all their planted portions an unbroken whole,
to produce the full effect possible with such dimensions.
Our usual American plan of setting the house exactly or
nearly in the middle of its grounds is the worst that could
be imagined, destroying all possibility of either unity or
breadth of effect in their disposition. Twoand two are not
equal to four in gardening art. If this English house had
been placed in the middle of its four acres neither half of
the grounds would have looked one-third as large as the
whole place must appear to-day.

But in considering places like this as models we should
note the fact that American are unlike English conditions,
and especially so in two important ways—namely, the
price of labor and the character of the climate. A suburban
place covering much less ground than four acres may,
indeed, be made charming and private and homelike by
an intelligent arrangement of trees and shrubs, fruit-trees
and kitchen gardens, lawns and hedges and flower-beds.
But such a place needs a large amount of persistent and
skillful care. Even the clipping of the grass, when it is cut
up into many narrow borders, is time-consuming labor.
And flower-beds in a climate like ours, very hot and often
very dry, must be sedulously tended, or they quickly be-
come distressing instead of pleasing to the eye. In Eng-
land labor is cheap; in America it is very dear. The
majority of our suburban householders cannot afford to
keep a skilled gardener. At the most, they keep only an
“all-round man,” who divides his time between the horse
and the household chores and the garden. Very often they
depend upon a peripatetic gardener for such occasional
days or hours of attention as their gardens imperatively
require. And many of our readers must have sad memo-
ries of the difficulty of obtaining the aid of this person in
suburban districts or rural villages.

But, it may be said, the members of the family should
care for their gardens themselves. English people do this
to a very great extent. English women especially seem
born with a love for gardens, a passion for flowers, and
count no time or trouble too great to bestow upon them.
Such work is physically wholesome and mentally whole-
some, too. If our gardens were planted in the English
way, so that privacy would be secured to those who labor
in them, our women and girls would be better employedin
caring for them, during a part of the day at least, than in
swinging in hammocks or promenading the streets, or even
in driving ponies or riding the seductive bicycle, if only
the American climate were like the English. English
women live in a temperate clime. We live in a land
which is almost arctic in winter and almost tropical in
summer. ‘When the sun shines in England, even in July
or August, it gives out a moderate, supportable heat.
Upon us it shines with scorching force even in those early
weeks of spring when the hardest part of gardening work
must be accomplished ; and any one who has attempted
gardening work knows that to stand and stoop and potter
about in the hot sunshine is even more exhausting than to
walk or to ride a bicycle, or to play tennis beneath it.

Then the moisture of England facilitates Nature’s gar-
dening processes to a degree of which the untraveled
American can hardly conceive. And the long northern
twilights give a chance for leisurely, comfortable garden-
ing wholly denied us by our swift-coming darkness.
This latter fact is of much significance in one direction.
It especially affects the outdoor possibilities of the men of

282

the family. After the longest day’s work the Englishman
has time for games of tennis before dark, and for much
lingering among his plants; and it is in these twilight
hours, when the father is at home, yet when outdoor pleas-
ures are still possible, that the domestic life of the English
suburban family of the middle class is seen atits best. In
short, the English climate helpfully smooths the path ofthe
amateur gardener, but the American climate puts many
steep difficulties in his or her way. Almost every Eng-
lishwoman takes instinctively to gardening as soon as she
has the chance, while only an occasional-born enthusiast
tends her own plants in America. But if the women were
to change places, their characteristics in this respect would
pretty surely be exchanged. It is a difference in climate
more than in natural tastes and aptitudes which makes the
contrast that every one notes to-day.

The conclusion of the matter is that the rich man, in
America as elsewhere, may dispose his garden pretty much
as he pleases, but the man who must count cost, while he
may have a garden as beautiful as any Englishman's, and
as secluded and protected, should plan it in a different man-
ner. He should plant such things as will produce the
greatest possible amount of beauty with the least possible
amount of care. He should not screen his garden with
hedges, which need much attention, are apt to suffer from
our hot winter suns, and are with difficulty repaired when
a break in them occurs. Rather, he should build a light
paling of iron or wood and cover it with hardy vines which
can be easily renewed if disaster overtakes them. Thus
he will secure protection in summer when he wants to live
in his garden, and in winter, when he can no longer live in
it to the same extent that the Englishman may, its snow-
clad charms will be partially visible as a refreshment to
the eyes of passers in the street. He should keep his spaces
of grass compact and simple so that they may be cut and
watered with the least possible expenditure of time and
skill. He should put his tennis-lawn, if possible, in some
retired spot, for in a hot American summer it will be quickly
worn into shabbiness. He should plant such trees and
shrubs as will best withstand our fierce alternations of heat
and cold, and such, again, as will need the least amount of
care. And his flowers should, for the most part, be such
as willcome up year after year without the gardener’s
coaxing, while he should so dispose them along the bor-
ders of his shrubberies or palings that, if they grow a little
wild, they will not strike a discordant note or look like
things deprived of the care that is their due. As to fruit-
trees and vegetable gardens, he may better dispense with
them and trust to the neighboring shop or commercial gar-
den unless he is a true enthusiast or is sure of ample assist-
ance to keep them productive.

As much seclusion, as much variety, as much beauty
may be produced in this way as with English methods of
planting. Fitting places where children may play, and
where their elders may lounge or read, or talk with their
friends protected from intrusive eyes, can easily be pro-
vided. An abundance of shade can be secured, and an
abundance of floral color and gayety ; for our land is par-
ticularly rich in those flowering shrubs which surpass any
flower-beds in grace and charm of effect, and need no
attention save an annual pruning. A place intelligently
planted with hardy shrubs and creepers may be rich in
color from end to end of the year, even though it contains
no smaller flowering plants. But these, too, may easily
be had in kinds which need little attention and which,
beginning with the bulbous plants of early spring, will keep
up their brilliant harvests until the frost kills the last
Golden-rods and Asters. The true American type of subur-
ban garden, varying from half an acre to three or four acres
in extent, has yet to be evolved. When it is evolved it will

excite the wondering admiration of even the English vis-

itor. It will be created and cared for at comparatively little
cost. It will make the towns where it is many times
repeated widespread bowers of perpetually changing
interest and charm ; and it will make of each home a truly

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 438.

homelike spot, attractive enough and individual enough to
lay strong hold on the affections of the children who grow
up within it, natural enough to foster their love for Nature
in her loveliest forms, and yet protected enough to give
them full opportunities for the development of united, home-
keeping, truly domestic habits of life.

Plant Names of Indian Origin.—III.

IpecacuanHa (abbreviated to Ipecac, and with variants :
Picac, Peca, Hippo, etc.)—A name for several North Ameri-
can plants, of which the roots, like those of the officinal
Cephaélis, possess emetic properties (Podophyllum, Euphor-
bia, Gillenia, etc.) The word Ipecacuanha is derived,
though Portuguese, from Tupi (Brazilian) tpé-caa-g0éne,
meaning, literally, ‘ ‘roadside emetic plant.’

KINNIKINNICK (Arctostaphylos Uva-ursi, Cornus sericea
and C. circinata).—A word belonging to one of the North-
western Algonkin dialects (probably Odjibway), and
meaning “that which is mixed.” The word is used with
reference to objects of different kinds mixed in a dry state,
and by hand, asimplied by the ‘‘ characteristic” n preced-
ing the verbal suffix. The name is applied by the Indians
to a mixture of two-thirds tobacco and one-third sumac
leaves (gathered when they begin to turn red), or inside
bark of Cornus sericea. The preparation varies, however,
in different localities and among different tribes, the pro-
portion of tobacco sometimes being not more than one-
fourth. Our Indians early discovered what it took modern
chemists and medical men long to find out, namely, that
vegetable substances of an astringent nature (due to tannin)
have the property of de-nicotinizing tobacco, thus depriv-
ing it of its poisonous principle and preventing its injurious
effects upon the nervous system. All the plants used for
mixing with tobacco abound in tannin. The word is some-
times spelled Killikinnick.

Kousg, or Kousg-root (Peucedanum ambiguum).—From
kowish, the Nez-Percé (Shahaptian) name of the root, which
is used by these and other Indians for making bread.

Knackxaway (Ehretia elliptica).—A corruption of Mexican-
Spanish anaqua, shortened from anacahuite, which is from
Aztec nanahuaquahuttl, “ lues venera tree,” so called from the
medicinal use of the roots.

Lennikpi (Liriodendron Tulipifera).—A name erroneously
transferred by herbalists, herb doctors and herb dealers
from Tilia Americana. The word is Delaware (Algonkin)
and means “ the true tying- sate “the tying-bark par
excellence:

Mauocany (Swietenia Mahavont)-oeeym Taino (Carib
dialect of Hayti) mahagoni. The name has been extended,
with various specific epithets, to one or more species of
several genera of trees, such as Betula, Gymnocladus, Per-
sea, Cercocarpus, Catalpa and Rhus.

Maize (Zea Mays).—From Taino (Haytian Carib) mzazz,
or mahiz.—As Dr. J. R. Bartlett remarks : ‘The word is
never used in common language in the United States.
Indeed, few would understand it.”

Maycock (Cucurbita Pepo).—From Powhatan (Algonk.)
macock, or mahcaug, “a fruit like unto a muskmillion, but
lesse and worse” (Strachey). ‘Macdquer [plural], ac-
cording to several forms called by us Pompions, Mellions
and Gourdes, because they are of the like formes as those
kindes in England” (Hariot’s Briefe and true report of the
new found land of Virginia: 1585). ‘Their macocks are
a sort of Melopepones, or lesser sort of Pompions. Of these
they [the Virginians] have a great variety, but the Indian
name macock serves for all, which name is still retained”
(Beverly’s Hist. Virginia, p. 27). Professor Schele de Vere
(Americanisms) notes that the name is still in use. The
name is the equivalent of the Delaware machgachg,
“pumpkin, ” and of Odjibway, makak, “box,” ‘ochestes
“barrel” ; Cree, makkak, y parcel, ” “cask,” etc. The word
means “ that which covers”; from the root ak, “to cover,”
with the impersonal prefix m, used for forming an appella-

SY ES eee

JuLY 15, 1896.]

tive from a verbal root, and the inanimate participial suffix
k. The name alludes to the hard rind or shell (hack).
Strachey gives the diminutive form macaugs as the name for
grape-stone, or plum-stone, and maucaugzwins (“little mau-
cauq ”) as the name for a bell, the European bell probably
having been likened by the Indians to a gourd rattle.

May-pop.—A name for the fruit of Passiflora incarnata ;
altered from maycock (obsolete), a corruption of Powhatan
(Algonk.) maracock, “a fruict by the naturalls so called”
(Strachey). Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull thinks that inas-
much as our P. incarnata is so like P. edulis, the home of
which is in Brazil, that botanists have been unable clearly
to distinguish between the two, “we may infer that the
fruit and its name were originally derived from the same
South American source” (Amer. Jour. Sci., xxvi., 130).
According to this view, maracock would be ultimately
from the Tupi name mburucuia (meaning “ fruit of a vine”),
which Marcgrav wrote maracuia and murucuia, and which
was adopted in the form merécoya by the Caribs of the
Lesser Antilles, by way of which the fruit, with its Tupi-
Carib name, would have reached the country of the Algon-
kins before the arrival of the Europeans.

Mesquite (Prosopis juliflora).—There are many variants
of this word, such as Meskit, Mesquit, Mezquit, Mezquite,
etc. The name is, through Mexican-Spanish, from Aztec,
misquilt, which, according to Hernandez (Rerum Aled. Nov.
fispan. Thes.), was originally the name of the sweet edi-
ble pod. The word cannot be referred to any Aztec root,
and may have been borrowed, possibly, from Araucanian
mizgut, or Kechua misqw, both meaning “honey,” or
anything “sweet” (one of the English names of the tree
is Honey-pod.)—The name, with various qualifying adjuncts,
has been applied to several grasses that abound on the
prairies among the Mesquite-trees.

Nopat (Opuntia Engelmanni).—A Mexican-Spanish name
for the plant in Texas, from zofalh, a term generic in Aztec
for Cactus-plants.

Nenpo, or Nonpo (Ligusticum acteifolium).—A name
said by early writers to be from the language of the Vir-
ginia Indians. The statement is somewhat indefinite, as
there were several different Indian languages spoken in the
extensive territory known under the general name of Vir-
ginia. The word cannot now be traced.

Papaw, or Pawpaw (Asimina triloba).—A name, says Dr.
Gray in his North American Genera, doubtless given to the
fruit from a fancied resemblance in its appearance or taste
to the true Papaw of tropical America, the name of which
is, through Spanish, from Taino (Carib of Hayti) abadai.

Pecan (Hicoria Pecan).—Pagén or pakdn, signifying
that which is “struck” or “pounded” with an instrument
in order to crack it, is the Algonkin general term for hard-
shelled nuts. To the Illinois Indians, the fruit of H.
Pecan was ¢he pakan par excellence. From them the early
French settlers in Ilinois and Louisiana borrowed the
word in the form pacane, whence the English name of the
nut.

Pembina (Viburnum oxycoccus).—A French-Canadian
corruption of Cree (Algonk.) mépimindn, meaning ‘ water-
berry.”

Be ceaen (Diospyros Virginiana).—This name, from the
time of the earliest settlers, has been variously spelled :
pushemin, pichamin, pessemmin, putchamin, puchamine,
parsemena, persimena, pissmien, putchimon, pitchumon,
phishimon, persimon, possimon, pishamin, parsimmon and
persimmon. The last-mentioned orthography, the one now
adopted, was first used in 1669 by Shrigley. As stated
under the word Chinquapin, the suffix mez means “ fruit.”
The prefix, varied push, pers, puch. poss, etc., is susceptible
of several interpretations; but I think that it can be safely
referred to the Algonkin root pos, varied dialectically to
pash and pes, meaning primarily “to penetrate,” whence
the twofold meaning of “to fill up” and “to choke.” The
word would thus, in its original form, have meant “ choke-
fruit,” a very apposite name in view of the nature of the
berries, which, when not fully ripe, are, as Strachey ob-

Garden and Forest.

283

serves, “harsh and choakie, and furre in a man’s mouth
like allam.”

New York. W. R. Gerard.

Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.

RIGIDELLA IMMACULATA.—A group of seedling plants of
this interesting Irid is now in flower in asunny greenhouse
at Kew. Although introduced into cultivation by Hartweg
over fifty years ago from the mountains of Guatemala, it
does not appear to have won favor as a garden plant, not-
withstanding the rich color and elegant form of its flowers.
In habit the plants suggest Tigridias, the leaves being
erect, ensiform and plaited; the scapes area yard high,
branched, with clusters of green folding spathes from which
are pushed the drooping rich crimson flowers composed of
a campanulate cup an inch long and three reflexed seg-
ments nearly as long again as the cup. The flowers are
fugitive, but they succeed each other rapidly. Only two
species of Rigidella are known, the other being R. flam-
mea, a native of Mexico, which, according to Mr. Baker, is
larger in flower than R. immaculata. To cultivators of
choice bulbous plants this plant may be recommended on
account of the form and brilliant color of its flowers.

Ir1s Ropinsonrana.—A figure of this, the largest of all
species of Iris, was published in GarpEen anp Forest, vol.
iv., p. 352, froma plant flowered at Kew in that year. The
same plant is now in flower again. It bears twelve spikes,
each about eight feet high, the first flowers opening on May
21st. More than one thousand flowers had been devel-
oped since that time, the highest number open on any one
day being 113 on June 13th. The flowers last only one
day, but there are some open every day. Each flower is
about four inches across, pure white with blotches of golden
yellow at the base of the three largest segments. Even
when not in flower this Iris is as ornamental as the New
Zealand Flax, Phormium tenax. It rarely flowers under
cultivation. I attribute its present floriferousness to its
having been lifted in March last and replanted in fresh soil,
the check thus given, no doubt, having induced the devel-
opment of flower-scapes. The speciesis a native of Lord
Howe's Island. It requires a sunny position in a warm
greenhouse and plenty of water at all times.

Marica c&RULEA.—This is by far the handsomest of the
dozen species of Marica admitted by Mr. Baker, but it is
rarely met with in cultivation. At Kew it is grown along
with the Agaves in a warm, sunny greenhouse, where it is
planted out in gravelly soil. Here it forms a tuft of ensi-
form leaves a yard long, and in early summer develops
numerous scapes five feet long, bearing clusters of flowers
near the apex. These open in slow succession ; they are
four inches in diameter and of a rich blue color with lines
of yellow, brown and white at the base of the outer seg-
ments. On some days the display of flowers is rich and
delightful. I believe this species is naturalized in Jamaica,
and, according to Mr. Baker, it has been found in west
tropical Africa, although it is a native of tropical America.
When grown in pots it is not nearly as satisfactory as when
planted in a bed of gravelly soil, as above described ; atany
rate, I have never seen it anywhere so happy and floriferous
as in the succulent house at Kew.

Irs Srprrica.—All the forms of this Iris are easily culti-
vated, and they flower most freely in early summer. At Kew
they are most effective when planted in masses on the mar-
gin of the lake, the moisture at the root evidently being to
their liking. A few roots planted as an experiment three
years ago have now become large clumps, which this
month have been perfect sheafs of rich lilac-blue flowers.
The white variety, called flexuosa, is rare in cultivation
now, although one of the oldest of garden plants.

Ir1s Kamprert.—We have at last succeeded with this
plant, a bed, or rather bog, about six yards square in one
corner of a lake being crowded with large beautiful flowers.

284

We find that it is a mistake to plant it in a position where
it gets flooded or submerged in winter. Some seedlings
three years old grown in an ordinary border are also in
flower. No Iris makes such a beautiful display as this, and
we are indebted to the Japanese gardeners for a wonderful
range of variation in color among the plants of it imported
from that country. According to Mr. Baker its correct
name is I. levigata.

Irts xrpHiorpEs.—The English Iris is one of the most
valuable of all bulbous plants to use for early summer
effect. It may be purchased for about three dollars a
thousand, and if planted in beds on a lawn in September it
grows and flowers as profusely as the freest of garden
Tulips. In some gardens it becomes naturalized, and I
have seen it come up among Potatoes, under Gooseberry-
bushes and promiscuously in the flower-beds with all the
persistency of a Dandelion. No Iris is more useful for cut-
flower purposes and no Iris looks more beautiful when
tastefully arranged in a vase. Every garden of any preten-
sions should have some beds of it. Almost equally valua-
ble is the Spanish Ins, I. Niphium, which has smaller
flowers and blooms about a month earlier than the English
Iris. In some of our big metropolitan gardens these two
Irises are planted yearly in many thousands. They are so
cheap that. one need scarcely trouble to lift them where
they are in danger of being hurt by cold or wet. At Kew
they are lifted toward the end of July and covered with dry
soil till planting time again.

DimorrHoTHeEca Ecuioni.—I noted this plant a few weeks
ago as a new introduction of promise from south Africa,
describing the flowers from collector’s notes. Plants of it
are now in flower at Kew, and these prove the flowers to
be as large as those of the Paris Daisy, or Marguerite,
white, with a dull purple disk and the ray-florets tinged
with blue-purple on the under side. The partially opened
flowers are pretty in their variegated appearance, and when
fully expanded they are chaste and elegant. The plants
are about a foot high, branched freely, clothed with obo-
vate dark green fleshy leaves, and the flower-heads are
borne on erect axillary scapes about nine inches long.
Plants of it are flowering freely in a border out-of-doors
and in pots in a cold greenhouse. ‘The species is said to
be a subshrubby perennial, but we do not know enough
about it to be able to say if it will prove perennial under
cultivation here. <A figure of it will shortly be published in
The Botanical Magazine.

RENANTHERA StoRIEI.—Reichenbach described this as a
new species in 1880, when it flowered for the first time in
cultivation in the Clapton nursery of Messrs. Low &Co. It
is a native of the Philippines, and in floral beauty it sur-
passes the beautiful Chinese Renanthera coccinea, which it
resembles in habit and general appearance, differing in
having wider sepals and petals, and in color, R. coccinea
being uniform scarlet, while R. Storiei is crimson, with
blotches of a darker shade, and yellow lines on the side
lobes of the lip. A plant of it in flower was shown last
week by Sir Trevor Lawrence; the spike was about
eighteen inches long, branched, and it bore about fifty
flowers, each two and a half inches across. A colored
figure of R. Storiei was published in Williams’ Orchid Alum
in February of this year, prepared from a plant flowered in
the Holloway nursery. R. Imschootiana is a third species
of similar character to the two above named. I described
this in Garpren anv Forest in July last year.

Disas.—About four hundred spikes of Disa-flowers are
now a feature of the cool Orchid-house at Kew. They vary
in length from a foot to nearly three feet, and in the num-
ber of flowers upon each from a dozen to twenty. D.
Kewensis is the most beautiful, surpassing D. Veitchii in
the rich rose-pink of the flowers, the shorter scapes and the
much larger number of flowers upon each. D. Premier
and D. Langleyensis are also first-rate garden Orchids.
When grown as at Kew the two species, D. racemosa and
D. tripetaloides, are good decorative Orchids. Mr. H.
Bolus, the eminent Cape botanist, says these are much

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 438.

finer under cultivation here than he has ever seen them in
a wild state. They all require cool-greenhouse treatment,
plenty of water, an open peaty soil and shade from direct
sunshine. As soon as the plants have flowered they are
shaken out of the soil, the suckers taken off and potted
singly in small pots and watered liberally. In November
they are again potted into three-inch pots, in which they
remain until they flower. They make a display of flowers
for about two months.
W. Watson.

London.

New or Little-known Plants.
Deutzia Lemoinei.

HIS hybrid between Deutzia gracilis and Deutzia

parviflora was raised by Monsieur V. Lemoine, of
Nancy, and was exhibited by him in April, 1894, before the
French National Horticultural Society. Deutzia gracilis,
which is a low shrub with slender branches, lanceolate
leaves and short axillary racemes of white flowers, is a
native of the mountain valleys of southern Japan, and is
now one of the most popular garden shrubs, both in the
United States and England, although in the northern states
it suffers considerably from the cold of severe winters.

Deutzia parviflora (see GARDEN anD Forest, i., 263, f. 57)
is a native of northern China and Manchuria, and isa
hardier plant than Deutzia gracilis and the most beautiful
member of the genus which has been introduced into our
gardens, where it grows to the height of three or four feet,
with stout erect stems and compact corymbs of large white
flowers. The hybrid which Monsieur Lemoine has suc-
ceeded in raising between the two very distinct plants by
fertilizing the stigmas of Deutzia parviflora with the pollen
of Deutzia gracilis, is nearly intermediate between them.
The branches are stouter and more upright than those of
Deutzia gracilis and more numerous and shorter than those
of Deutzia parviflora. The flowers are about three-quarters
of an inch in diameter and are borne in loose many-flow-
ered panicles terminal on axillary leafy shoots, with pure
white broadly ovate rounded spreading petals and reddish
yellow stamens. Monsieur Lemoine has found that his
new hybrid forces well and believes that it will supplant
Deutzia gracilis for this purpose, as it surpasses it in beauty
and floriferousness. At Nancy, where Deutzia Lemoinei
has grown rapidly, it has proved very hardy, flowering in
different soils and exposures.

Our illustration (see p. 285) is made from a plant which
flowered last winter under glass in the Arnold Arboretum.
Its value and hardiness in the open ground has not, we
believe, been satisfactorily tested yet in this country.

Plant Notes.

ACANTHUS Loncirotius.—This plant, from southern Europe,
has generally been treated as a greenhouse perennial, or,
at least, when grown in this country it has been provided
with the shelter of a cold frame during winter. So far as
we are aware, it has not been treated as hardy until Mr.
Cameron, of the Harvard Botanical Garden, two years ago
left some strong plants where they had grown in the border
during the summer, giving them no protection but a coat-
ing of Oak-leaves thrown about them after the ground
became frozen. Every one of these plants lived through
the winter and flowered beautifully last summer. Mr.
Cameron writes that these plants are now in first-rate con-
dition, with larger foliage and more numerous spikes than
they carried last year, and the plant has once more proved
that all it needs during the winter is a covering of the leaves
of Beech or some other trees. It is a stately plant, and its
immense leaves and curious spikes of rose-purple flowers
are very attractive. It needs a light rich soil and ought
not to be shaded in any way.

ALLIuM GIGANTEUM.—This plant, which came from cen-
tral Asia, is a difficult subject, to say the least, in this cli-
mate, and in some gardens it invariably refuses to flower.

JuLy 15, 1806.]

Mr. Endicott writes that it has bloomed with him the first
time this year and proves to be exceedingly beautiful, car-
rying a spherical head of flowers on a stem a yard tall.
More than a hundred florets unite to form a ball of a bright
rosy color, which at first was some four inches across. As
the early flowers faded, however, new buds pushed out
beyond them and opened, making a stilllarger growth, and
thus the fresh appearance of the whole was preserved at
least twice as long as the existence of the individual blos-
soms. We should like to hear from other readers as to
their success with this plant.

ErcHornEA AzuREA.—It is not often that we see this

Garden and Forest.

285

the under side of the stems run deep into the water outside
of the receptacle in which the plants are anchored. Mr.
Oliver writes that at Gardiner Hubbard’s place at Twin
Oaks, near Washington, District of Columbia, a tub of this
plant grown in this way had 180 spikes of flowers at one
time, and was a most pleasing spectacle. In ponds with
natural sides another good plan is to dig out some of the
soil, replace it with rich material, and then insert the plants.
The species is a native of tropical America, being found
from Jamaica to south Brazil. The flowers are of no use for
cutting, as they wilt in a very short time when taken from
the plant.

Fig. 39.—Deutzia Lemoinei._See page 284.

aquatic in perfect condition in Lily-ponds and fountain-
basins, although its cultivation is of the easiest. The
growths must, from their nature, float on the surface of the
water, and the ideal home for them is a pond where the
water is only about a foot deep, where the long roots can
become fixed in the bottom. If it is desired to grow it in
a fountain-basin, a box or tub should be sunk only a few
inches below the surface of the water, the soil may be half
loam and half manure, and pieces of the plant may be stuck
in all about the margins; they make astonishing growth,
and seem to derive nourishment from the rich compost all
through the season, notwithstanding the long roots from

Cultural Department.

The Vegetable Garden.

PEAS.—The early and second early varieties of vegetables
are now cleared away and the ground vacated by them has
been prepared for our winter supply of Celery. Peas have
done uncommonly well this year. The cool, moist weather
during the first half of June and the absence of prolonged dry
spells has caused them to make extra fine haulm, and the yield
of pods is about double that of last year. There has been but
little choice between the earliest varieties, First of All, Alaska,
Lightning and Invicta all doing well. McLean’s Advance still
proves itself unexcelled as a second early variety. Among

286

the main crop varieties none surpass the old Champion of Eng-
land ; it gives double the yield of any other sort we grow. Evo-
lution, Stratagem, Yorkshire Hero and Telephone, while supe-
rior to and more popular now than the older variety in Great
Britain, do not approach it in all-round good qualities here.
Our latest sowing is now well started. We use Advance and
American Wonder for our last batch and sow them where a
sprinkler can keep the ground moist. It is scarcely worth
while to sow Peas as late as the first of July unless plenty of
artificial moisture can be supplied.

CELERY.—The earliest planting of Celery is now growing
nicely, and to continue it in good condition it is absolutely
necessary to keep the plants well watered. If they once get a
thorough drying up at the root they fall easy prey to rust and
will not make good heads. Rust on the stems and foliage is
the greatest fear of Celery growers. That excellent variety,
Golden Self-blanching, is especially susceptible to its attacks if
planted out very early. We have proved that if the trenches
can be kept well soaked with water and the plants in a good
growing state there is little trouble with this disease. Our win-
ter crop of Celery has just been planted out on the ground pre-
viously occupied by early Peas. We plant in double rows in
trenches twenty inches wide. Experience has taught us that it
pays to grow this crop where the plants can be watered with the
hose and our stock can all be readily watered by hand. To
ward off the attacks of rust and leaf-blight we have had good
results from spraying the plants with Bordeaux mixture. We
give several applications during the season to all our stock,
continuing until growth is almost completed. It does not take
long to spray a few trenches, and three or four applications
during the season will, in many cases, save the crop from ruin.

SWEET CORN.—Last year we made our latest sowing of Mam-
moth and Stowell’s Evergreen on July 3d, and Crosby sown on
July 15th gave us good ears until nearly the end of October.
As a general rule, July 4th is as late as we can put in any variety
with hopes of getting a picking, although in a favorable
season we have had good returns from Crosby sown as late
as July 20th. The cultivator must be freely used between the
rows ; the ground will bake more or less after every heavy
shower, and to hold moisture in the ground and encourage
growth it should be frequently stirred. From present appear-
ance our earliest variety this season will be First Crop Sugar,
Cory and Crosby being a few days behind.

TOMATOES.—Tomatoes are now ripening freely outdoors on
such early sorts as Sutton’s Earliest of All and Eclipse. Plants
still fruiting indoors freely can be dispensed with by the mid-
dle of July. Many private growers now train their plants to
trellises or tie them to stakes in preference to allowing them
to ramble over the ground at will. An occasional tying and
rubbing off of superHuous shoots and side laterals is all the
labor required, and fifteen minutes each week will keep a
hundred-foot trellis in excellent order. It is already necessary
to think about next winter’s crop, and a sowing ofa good early
variety like Nicholson’s Early Chemin, or Eclipse, made by
the middle of the month, will give ripe fruit when the outdoor
supply is spent. The young seedlings should be pricked off
and potted on to keep them growing nicely and of a stocky
habit. They are best kept outdoors until the early part of
September. .

CUCUMBERS.—A sowing of White Spine Cucumbers in the
open is still seasonable, while the English varieties for frame
culture can be sown until the middle of the month and pro-
duce good crops without artificial heat. Two or three plants
set out ina piece of bench in an ordinary greenhouse in rich
compost and liberally treated, will yield an astonishing quan-
tity of fruit. Plants in frames are benefited by having the
glass whitewashed during the hot summer months, and plenty
of water and liquid manure are essentials to a good crop. If
black or green aphis appears, fumigation will be necessary,
care being taken not to give it too strong and to thoroughly
syringe the plants and to ventilate freely early the next
morning.

MISCELLANEOUS.—Lettuces have done very well this season,
and very few have run to seed. To keep upa regular supply
we make fortnightly sowings. The following all prove them-
selves good summer varieties here : Salamander, Black-seeded
Tennis-ball, Henderson’s New York and Sutton’s Cabbage, the
last-named being the best. We sow String-beans until August
toth with good results. Mohawk and Valentine are good
varieties. Brussels Sprouts, Savoys and others of the Brassica
family should now be planted out and growing freely ; any
vacant ground cropped with Curled Borecole or Savoys will
yield good returns. A little chemical fertilizer forked in the
ground before the plants are set out will materially assist them.
Asparagus beetles are apt to be troublesome in July and

Garden and Borese

[NuMBER 438.

August. A spraying with Paris green at the rate of one pound
to one hundred gallons of water will clear them out. We sow
Beet seeds early in August for a winter supply. This is a
suitable time to sow Endive to give good heads for blanching
in the fall. Onions are doing well now; a scattering of a
special fertilizer fortnightly during the rest of the growing sea-
son will help to produce extra-fine bulbs, and careful hoeing is
now necessary in order not to break the tops. Peppers and
Egg-plants are liable to be broken later in the season by high
winds, and we tie each of our plants to a stout stick. To secure
fine fruit on Egg-plants plenty of liquid-manure should be
applied once a week. If spent and decaying crops are
cleared away, and all vacant ground filled with successional
crops, the vegetable garden will continue attractive in appear-
ance. Weeds now grow apace, and hoeing and cultivating will
for some time be one of the principal operations.
Taunton, Mass. WN. Craig.

Greenhouse Plants Burned by the Sun.

6 hes burning of foliage by the sun’s heat is a common
occurrence in forcing-houses and conservatories, and is
usually caused by irregularities in the glass, these often being
thickened portions which serve the purpose of a lens and
focus the sun's rays upon a point at a certain distance from the
glass. It was formerly supposed that burning was caused
entirely by air bubbles and sand spots in the glass, but some
good authorities now claim that these do not cause burning.
During the latter part of last winter the leaves of Lettuce-
plants growing on the centre bench of one of our forcing-houses
were burned slightly. The house extends north and south, and
second-quality, double-thick glass was used in its construction.
In certain places a band of strong light was thrown across
some of the plants, and close below it a shadow corresponding
in width to the bright band. These two bands were found
where the glass was lapped, and extended the entire width of
the pane, which is fourteen inches. There are several laps in
the roof of the house where this occurs and bands of varying
degrees of intensity are formed on sunny days. A _ ther-
mometer placed in one of the brightest bands registered
twelve degrees higher than when held just outside the band.
If the house temperature reached a high point at a time when
there was little moisture in the atmosphere the additional
increase of twelve degrees in temperature would doubtless be
sufficient to burn the plants. b
The presence of the dark band, with the light band directly
above it, shows that the amount of light which should fall
upon a space, say, three inches wide, was made to fall upon a
space of about half that breadth, leaving the other half a dark
shadow. At first I was inclined to suppose it was caused
entirely by the lap of the glass, the light being either reflected
from, or refracted through, the edges of the panes; yet other
laps close by cast scarcely a shadow, and there was no
bright band. Examination of these panes of glass ex-
posed the real trouble, an irregularity reaching across the
lower end of the upper pane in each case. This was evidently
the ‘block-end” of the glass, and a curvature was quite no-
ticeable, the convex surface being above. The panes producing
the most intense bands were the most curved. This curva-
ture would tend to converge the rays toward some point, or,
rather, line, beyond the plants, acting much like alens. There
may be a difference in thickness, too, but both surfaces are
curved, the upper convex, the lower concave; thus it seems
probable that the trouble was caused entirely, or almost en-
tirely, by the sun’s rays being refracted while passing through

the curved glass. y
Agric’] Experiment Station, New Haven, Conn. W. FE. Britton.

Carnation Notes.

HE outdoor stock is looking extremely well with us this

season. The plants are benefited by the copious rains of
the first half of June and are twice as large as the plants of a
yearago. The plants for winter flowering are looked over
once a week and tipped. If left longer than a week and
allowed to run up almost to flower the plant is exhausted when
the pinching back is done, and fails to develop as shapely a
specimen later on. Among the newer introductions Della Fox,
Armazindy, Triumph and Abundance are all making good
growth. Jubilee is at present rather small, but appears to be
of a naturally robust habit, and may make good plants before
lifting-time. Jubilee is the only variety we have which has
unmistakable signs of rust. We spray these plants with
Fowler’s Arsenical Solution once in ten days, and this kills the
spores as they appear. Summer varieties growing out-of-
doors are now flowering freely ; the earliest and most florifer-

‘
4
“q
¥

JULY 15, 1896.]

ous of these are Daybreak, Mrs. Fisher and a scarlet and
crimson seedling which we only have under number. None
of the introductions of 1895, such as Meteor, Bridesmaid,
Alaska and Rose Queen, appear to be of any value as summer
bloomers. The hand cultivator and hoe are used after every
rainfall to stir up the soil among the plants; they will not
thrive if it is allowed to become baked and slimy on the sur-
face. A few minutes suffice to stir up a good-sized bed witha
hand cultivator, and if an iron rake is drawn between the rows
to remove foot-marks the beds will have a neat appearance.
When to discontinue the tipping of winter-flowering plants
depends on the time the plants are required to be in bloom
and the date at which they are to be housed. We generally
stop topping about August loth ; naturally, late-blooming kinds
are best untouched after August Ist, while some vigorous-
growing and earlier sorts may be pinched until August 2oth.

Plants under glass are still yielding us a large crop of extra-
fine bloom. The most satisfactory bloomers during the
present hot weather are Lizzie McGowan, Hector, William
Scott and Madame Diaz Albertini; the poorest bloomers are
Bridesmaid, Rose Queen, Meteor, Thomas Cartledge and
Bouton d’Or. Alaska is the only one of last year’s novelties
which is proving itself an acquisition; it has not flowered so
freely as Lizzie McGowan, however, taking the whole season
through, and we do not think it will supersede the last-named
popular variety. Daybreak during hot weather does only mod-
erately well, and the flowers quickly fade in color when ex-
panded. The same is true, to some extent, of William Scott,
which requires picking before being fully expanded to hold its
color. Nicholson is blooming rather sparingly, but Tidal
Wave continues to flower quite freely. Helen Keller yields us
some nice blooms, which are, however, smaller than those
produced during the spring months.

It is well at this time to pay some attention to the compost-
heap. The soil forour benches was mixed up early last spring,
and was turned over a few weeks ago. Early in August we
turn it over again and mix some bone-dust through it. It is a
common thing to see compost-heaps grown over with rank
weeds all through the summer months. After carefully pre-
paring and mixing such heaps it is surely careless to allow
weeds to extract a large part of the nourishment from them,
A few minutes’ labor once in two or three weeks will suffice
to remove all weeds, thus making the compost-heap more
pleasing to the eye as well as assuring better growth and
bloom for the Carnations to be grown in the soil during the
coming winter. These items may appear small to many, but it
is only by attention to such details that success is attained.

W. N. Craig.

The Hardy Plant Border.

GES cher. are beautiful and attractive hardy plants,
most suitable for the front of the herbaceous or shrubbery
border, and they are not fastidious as to soil, provided they
havea sunny position. The perennial kinds are easily propa-
gated by division, seed or cuttings. (E£nothera rosea,a Mexi-
can species, is one of the best of the half-hardy kinds. It grows
to a height of onefoot. The toothed leaves are small, and the
flowers are about four inches in diameter, of a delicate rosy
pink color. This species is also useful grown as a pot plant.
O. taraxacifolia is also very useful. The stems are prostrate
and the leaves resemble those of the common Dandelion.
The flowers are borne singly on stalks six inches long; they
are four inches in diameter and ofa pale pink. O., Fraseri, a
native of the centrai and southern states, grows to a height of
eighteen inches. The leaves are sessile, lanceolate, from three
to nine inches long by one inch wide, and the flowers are
about two inches in diameter, orange color, and borne on short
stalksin the axils of the leaves. O. fruticosa, var. linearis, is a
low-growing, somewhat shrubby species, with small linear
leaves and yellow flowers an inch and a halfin diameter. This
species is, perhaps, the most floriferous of them all, not only
in number of flowers, but inthe length of time it is in bloom,
O. fruticosa, var. Youngi, has larger leaves and flowers of a
deeper yellow, and grows somewhat taller. O. tenella, an
annual from Chili, grows about one foot in height. The leaves
are small and lanceolate in outline. The flowers are about
one inch in diameter, of a purplish color, and borne on short
stalks singly in the axils of the leaves.

Lopezia minima is a neat little annual belonging to the same
family as Zinothera. It grows to a height of one foot. The
leaves are ovate-lanceolate, from one to three inches long by
three-quarters wide. The flowers, which are small and pink,
are borne on short stalks singly in the axils of the leaves below,
but become crowded at the summit. It is a native of Mexico,

Taunton, Mass.

Garden and Forest.

287

Cuphea Zimapani is now flowering in the borders here. It is
a native of Mexico and grows about two feet in height. The
stem is much branched and covered with viscid hairs. The
leaves are opposite, obovate in outline, an inch and a half long
by three-quarters wide, on short petioles. The flowers are
much larger than those of most Cupheas, and are of a deep
purple color. Itis a very interesting plant, though not par-
ticularly showy, and is well worthy of a place in the hardy
plant border. It is easily propagated either by seeds or
cuttings.

We have seventeen species and varieties of Veronica in the
collection here. Of the spicate fowering kinds we have one in
flower now under the name of V. rosea, a pink-flowered kind,
and an exceptionally good one. It grows about two feet high
and the stems are much branched. The leaves are borne on
short petioles, lanceolate, two inches long by three-quarters
wide and serrate edges. The flower-spikes are two to six
inches long. Though it came to us under the name of V.
rosea, I suspect that it is a variety of the well-known V. longi-
folia. Pink-flowered Veronicas are not common, but this kind
ought to become very popular. [have not yet tried if it repro-
duces itself from seed, but it is easily propagated either by
division or cuttings. It has proved itself perfectly hardy here
without protection. V. longifolia, var. subsessilis, a Japanese
variety, is the best of blue-flowered spicate varieties with which
Iam acquainted. It grows from two to three feet in height.
The leaves are six inches long by two wide, ovate-lanceolate in
outline and with serrate edges. The flowers are carried on
large terminal spikes and are of an intense blue. Itis perfectly
hardy here without protection. V.incana has been in flower
here for the past three weeks. I consider this species next in
value to the one just described. The bright blue spikes of
flowers are in striking contrast with the hoary leaves. It is a
native of north-western Europe, and is readily propagated
either by seed or division. Among the prostrate species I
consider V. rupestris the best. It is a native of southern
Russia, and is useful both in the rock garden or the front of
the herbaceous border. It is spreading, without becoming
“weedy,” and forms a perfect carpet of bright blue flowers
i te 2 Edward F. Canning.

Botanic Garden, Northampton, Mass.

The Flower Garden.

lee spotted Calla, Richardia albo-maculata, is very pretty
and satisfactory if properly grown. I remember two beds
of these plants on a lawn, each containing about one hundred
and fifty plants. They were planted in rich soil and had been
well-watered and cared for from the beginning, and formed
masses of broad foliage much finer and larger than that of the
species commonly seen. The flowers of this Calla are, I think,
much finer than they used to be. Ten years ago they seldom
opened very wide; they were always half-closed and appeared
unpromising, but cultivation seems to have changed all that.
When the flower is past its best it closes up and the spathe
turns green, but when in its prime it is as open and as perfect
in color and shape as the Calla of older days. I spoke a year
ago of some curious formations among these flowers. This
year I find several of a new type in which the outer half of the
spathe is green, with white spots, exactly like the leaves,
except that the texture is like that of the spathes. A handful
of the flowers with a number of the leaves makes a handsome
ornament in any room. The blossoms last a long time and
give a feeling of coolness ona hot day.

I like to grow a few plants of Hyacinthus candicans in pots
every year. They will grow five feet high in a six-inch pot,
and yield as good flowers as they would in the open ground,
though the foliage is less massive. Potted in January they will
bloom in May. Itis singular that bulbs thus forced and dried
off in June are no better for the next year’s forcing than those
grown in the open ground and dried off in October.

Lilium Lowi has just passed out of flower. It is a beautiful
kind with drooping white flowers thickly spotted inside with
rose. These blooms are about three inches long, the seg-
ments not at all reflexed nor even turned outward ; indeed, the
shape reminds me of Fritillaria pallidiflora. L. Japonicum
Colchesteri, so-called, is now in full beauty; it is one of the
most beautiful of Lilies, much superior to L. Browni, which is
flowering near by, and its fragrance, though strong, is not in
the least heavy or disagreeable. L. Nepalense is coming on
rapidly, a species of singular coloring, very striking rather than
very pretty.

I was surprised to see in one of your recent issues that Ca-
massia esculenta needs covering in winter; with me it is

288

perfectly hardy, flowering every year, though I give it no pro-
tection at all. Perhaps it is worth while to say that the Per-
simmon, said in Ze Gardeners’ Chronicle to need the shelter
of a wall in England, is perfectly hardy here. I have three
trees, ten feet high, raised from seeds sent from North Caro-
lina, which at this moment are in full leaf, though they were
twice exposed last winter toa temperature of seventeen de-

grees below zero. ,
ETGinton, Mass. W. E&. Endicott.

Notes from the Botanic Garden, Washington.

ARLY in the season I planted out some seedlings of
Lobelia tenuior (L. heterophylla). Although an old plant,
having been introduced over fifty years ago, I saw it for the
first time at Kew Gardens last year in the lobeliaceous bed.
It has flowers surpassing in brilliancy any other blue Lobelia
with which I am acquainted. The flowers are large, many
borne on small plants. At the time I saw it in flower it oc-
curred to me that it would stand our hot summers better than
the varieties of L. erinus. This has proved to be a fact, and
plants of the latter which were put out in the grounds here
have succumbed to the heat several weeks ago. L. tenuior is,
however, still growing and flowering in a most gorgeous man-
ner, and even if it should not last much longer it is well worth
cultivating for the display it makes in the early months. There
are white and also red flowered forms. The white form has
flowers fully as large as those of the blue form, but the red one
is small-flowered and not veryattractive. The species is figured
in Curtis’s Botanical Magazine (3784), but the flowers there
given are smaller than those on the plants here and also on
those seen at Kew last year. There are dwarf forms of it
growing to a height of about eight inches, while the type
reaches a height of two feet. It is a native of west Australia.

In one of the greenhouses of the Washington Botanic Gar-
den a large plant of Pavetta indica has been in fine flower
fora month or longer. The genus is a near ally of Ixora, and
the general appearance of P. indica suggests species of that
popular stove-plant. In this species the flowers are pure
white in large terminal panicles. It is seemingly a difficult
subject to manage successfully in a pot. The plant in the
greenhouse has been planted out for at least twelve years.
Until this season it has flowered sparingly, but during the last
month there have been upward of fifty panicles of bloom fully
expanded at one time.

At the time of the introduction of Platycodon grandi-
florum Mariesii, by Mr. Maries a few years ago, it was said
to be dwarfer than the type, with larger flowers. Some six
or eight years ago I raised a number of plants from seed.
They all flowered the first season, the plants at the time of
flowering being only about three inches high; the flowers,
even then, were larger than those of Platycodon grandiflora.
Since that time the growth has each year been larger, until
now the plants are taller by several inches than any plant of
the typical P. grandiflora | have ever seen. Some of the flow-
ers measure three inches in diameter. This genus does not
seem to suffer much from protracted dry spells, as the thick
fleshy roots go deep down into the soil in search of moisture.
The hot sun wilts the flowers in the middle of the day, but
they freshen up again when it becomes cooler.

Botanic Garden, Washington, D. C. G. W. Oliver.

Calamus ciliaris—The genus Calamus contains some re-
markable species of climbing Palms, natives of India, Java and
other extra-tropical countries. Aside from their economic
importance, a few species are valuable plants for the conserv-
atory, with graceful habits and exquisitely beautiful leaves.
They often flower under cultivation, especially C. viminalis,
which is a rather common species of interest as furnishing the
cane used for seats, chairs, screens and other work. C. ciliaris
is, however, the most ornamental of all, and is frequently seen
in well-equipped establishments. It is used for decorative
purposes in the same manner as Cocos Weddelliana, to which
species it is superior from an ornamental point of view. The
leaves are from six inches to a foot long, closely pinnate, with
from thirty to forty pairs of linear-lanceolate pinne. The
petiole is comparatively short, clothed with rough, reddish
hairs and a few coarse hooked spines; it forms an almost
globular sheathing base considerably thicker than the slender,
spiny stem. The upper surface of the leaves is covered with
fine white bristles and the edges are finely fringed, the almost
invisible hairs being a quarter of an inch long on specimens of
robust growth. Opposite each leaf peculiar hooked and
jointed tendrils are formed, which eventually become very

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 438.

long and thread-like in appearance. These tendrils are very
effective supports when the species grows among other plants,
as the hooks, which are disposed in numerous pairs on the
inside, are exceedingly strong and sharp. The flowers are
generally borne in summer on long whip-like shoots from the
axils of the upper leaves. The inflorescence is a remarkable
transformed branch, supplied with tendrils and forming sev-
eral clusters of flowers, having the proper position of leaves
with the peduncle sheathed at the base. The flowers are
placed on small spikelets in groups of three—one larger
female flower in the centre and two male flowers, all incon-
spicuous and of a greenish yellow color. All species of Cala-
mus require great heat and moisture, a close atmosphere and
considerable shade. They thrive in a compost of equal parts
rich fibrous loam, leaf-mold, sand and cow-manure. Strong
plants form numerous suckers at the base, which are used for

ropagation.
Pee aan N. FA Me

Correspondence.

Jackson Park in June.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—Those who came to the Columbian Exposition in 1893
are likely to retain an interest in Jackson Park for a long time.
Its dilapidated condition since the closing of the Exposition,
through the destruction of tlie buildings by fire and by their
dismantling and the removal of the débris, together with the
work of restoration, can be fully realized only by those who
visit the park frequently and watch the changes. In a sense
they are to be congratulated. Those who can pass over the
interval of dilapidation and restoration, and remembering the
park of the Exposition, may yet be permitted to see the per-
fected Jackson Park of the future. And yet I confess to a
degree of fascination in watching the transformation of so
unsightly a piece of ground into the well-ordered and beauti-
ful place it has partly become already.

Aside from the Fine Arts building, now the Field Colum-
bian Museum, the lagoon immediately south of it and a few
other minor features, the portion that has been least changed
or interfered with is the Wooded Island. The changes which
have occurred are such as are mainly due to time, making it
more mature in appearance and increasing its attractiveness.
At the time of the Exposition all wore the marks of newness,
of planting to meetan emergency, however well it was done.
The use for advertising and commercial purposes was every-
where apparent. Now such uses do not obtrude, the pleasure
is unalloyed, and the visitor sits in the shade of the trees or
traverses the paths with a feeling that all is designed for enjoy-
ment. As a place of quiet seclusion, of complete change
trom the noise and turmoil of a busy city, a relief to the eye
that has tired of rows of buildings and paved streets, it
approves itself at once, and shows the wisdom as well as the
need of setting apart such spots for rest and recreation. The
teeming thoroughfares of the city just by are as effectually
closed to sight and hearing as ifthey were miles away. Even
the waters of the great lake are mostly hidden, and passing
vessels do not interpose and suggest the world of com-
merce.

This state of seclusion, so welcome to the tired denizen of
the city, has been produced by the growth of the trees and
shrubs which border the enclosing lagoons. Three years
have made such changes as to add much to the beauty and
effectiveness of this border. It now servesa purpose in shut-
ting off fromsight the rest of the park withits driveways and
carriages. At the time of the Exposition this would have been
a defect, for had the border reached its present stage much of
the beautiful architecture which it was a delight to look at from
the island would have been hidden. The Willows have
attained such a size that their limbs stretch out over the water
or droop gracefully toward its surface. When viewed from
the opposite shore the quiet lake or sluggish stream of the
country-side is suggested, and the plantings are asserting them-
selves so well and gaining so natural a lookas to leave the im-
pression that they might have stood there for an indefinite time.
Seen from within the Willows, with their lighter foliage, make
an effective foil for the mass of shrubbery and scattered trees
which stand between them and the lawns. There are many
shades of green in this mass of foliage and many forms of
leaves. Flowering shrubs in their season add to the variety,
but such kinds have, in the main, been selected as are not
obtrusive in color. In June the Mock Orange admirably diver-
sified the picture with the quiet beauty of its white or creamy
flowers set in the surrounding green, and many of the plants

JuLy 15, 1806.]

were so laden that the branches drooped from the weight of
bloom.

The principal floral attraction of the island in June has been
the Rose garden. This comprises an acre of ground in the
form of a quadrangle, which was laid out in beds and winding
paths and planted with hardy and half-hardy Rosesat the time of
the Exposition. These have been maintained, and draw thou-
sands of visitors during the flowering season, while the later
and monthly-blooming Roses keep up a succession of flowers
and are attractive throughout the summer. A low trellis, now
well covered with rambling Roses, encloses the garden, and
from the surrounding path it is easy to look over the hedge
and survey the garden and its varied colors as a whole.

The work on the revised plan of Jackson Park has progressed
far enough to show how the northern end and the portion
between the West Lagoon and Stoney Island Avenue, which
forms the western boundary, will look when completed. All
this section is now open to the public, the drives, walks and
principal parts of the lawns being done, and the plantings
largely made. A low ridge has also been raised throughout
its length and parallel with the avenue. This has been planted
with trees and shrubs, and in time the city will be screened
from sight. There is now a completed driveway beginning at
the south-west corner and running parallel with the ridge, and
the lawns between the trees are substantially done. These
portions of the park have been the first to receive attention,
being the most accessible, and in part necessary to shut out
the view of the city. The work of the present season is made
plain by reference to the map of Jackson Park published in
GARDEN AND FOREST, May 2oth, 1896, page 205. This com-
prises the carriage-way and walks beginning with the en-
trances at Sixty-third and Sixty-fourth Streets, which pass south
of the Wooded Island and East and West Lagoons to the
shore of Lake Michigan, where they turn northward along the
paved beach till they intersect those already finished in the
neighborhood of the Restaurant or German building of the
Exposition. This carriage-way will soon be completed, and
the work will go on with the part lying between it and the
lagoons. At the present rate of work throughout the season
this part, taking in the sites of the Transportation, Mining,
Electricity, Liberal Arts and Government buildings, and some
outlying portions, will be mainly finished and open for public
use before winter. Altogether a litthke more than half the area
of the park will then be improved. .

Chita Ill. 2 BF, Hill,

Some American Fruit Associations.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—In some ways California and Oregon fruit-growers will
always feel the need of better organization than do those
growers who are able to visit their commission men every day
or every week in the year. Local causes long ago led to the
formation of local and district unions in California. Some
consist of all the fruit-growers in a given valley or township
or county ; generally, however, those who are engaged in one
line of fruit-growing unite. Thus we have the Saratoga Prune-
raisers’ Association, the Santa Paula Lemon-growers’ Exchange,
etc. Some associations are formed exclusively for drying
fruit, but most of them handle the product in whatever way
seems at the time best. These smaller associations have now
trained many efficient business men fit to handle large enter-
prises with profit to themselves and others. Hence, we are
entering upon an era of very active organizations of much
broader scope. Mr. T. H. B, Chamblin, for instance, was
trained at Riverside in the difficult task of uniting the orange-
growers there. He has organized dozens of similar bodies
throughout the southern counties, and these are bound to-
gether by the great Southern California Fruit Exchange. At
this time four-fifths of the orange-growers of southern Cali-
fornia, embracing nearly all the growers of real standing, are
connected with the unions, which have proved themselves of
great value. ; ¢

The raisin-growers of central California, particularly of the
Fresno district, are now being organized on much the same
lines. The prune-growers of Santa Clara valley are already
working together. Many other classes of California fruit-pro-
ducers have formed associations, and in a few years more there
will be a State Union of much importance. The process has
gone further in Oregon, where problems were less complex,
and their Oregon Fruit Union is already codperating with
Washington unions as the North-west Fruit-growers Associa-
tion. All attempts to establish associations in communities
that are not sufficiently educated and are not ready to take up
the work have been entire failures. Strong and active unions

Garden and Forest.

289

are in existence elsewhere, notably in New York, as the
Chautauqua Grape-growers’ and Shipping Association ; alsoin
Georgia, in Missouri and in Illinois, in Michigan, and, in fact, in
nearly all the great fruit-producing districts of the United
States and Canada.

Last month, in response to a call, delegates from nearly all
the fruit unions in America met in Chicago, May 2oth, 1896,
and organized the American Fruit-growers’ Union, adopted
laws, elected an Executive Board and other officers and
opened general offices. The delegates present reported that
they controlled more than 50,000 car-loads of fruit.

There are, of course, several ways to handle fruit. It may
be sold by the grower for spot cash, or on time to some local
agent or commission house; it may be consigned for sale to
some dealer or association; it may reach the consumer
through the open auction-houses or through closed auctions—
that is, at auctions where only dealers can offer bids. I am
not advocating, in these brief historical notes, any one way as
always best for the grower, but I am certainly bound to record
my Own impressions, which are that the more intelligent and
enterprising fruit-growing communities are becoming coép-
erative and aim tocontrol their crops until those crops are sold.

Leading men of the unions tell me that it is not the intention
to revolutionize present methods of fruit shipment, nor is it
their object to work in any other way than in complete har-
mony with reputable commission and fruit-jobbing houses.
They endeavor to adopt, modify and improve the present sys-
tems, to protect the markets, to ascertain which are reliable
houses, to act as general receivers of fruit and distribute it
wherever it is needed, and, in brief, to simplify the whole sys-
tem, reducing expenses all along the line. It seems certain
that organization of this kind, if honest and intelligent, must
benefit both producer and consumer, must prevent waste and
loss, must enable small growers, by combination, to deal on
better terms with transportation companies, auction-houses and
large buying firms. Commission-houses who buy f.o0. b., and
then refuse to accept the car-load, under false pretenses, be-
cause the market has meanwhile dropped, are not able to do
this with a strong state or national union employing an able
lawyer and ready to protect every one of their shippers. On
the other hand, the shippers themselves, if in fault, will be
taught better methods of grading and packing, and brought up
to the standards of the various associations and to the changing
requirements of the markets.

The management of successful local unions is extremely
business-like and economical. Salaries are not large, ex-
penses are kept down, the tax of a cent or less a box which is
levied upon fruit passing through their hands is all accounted
for, and any surplus credited back; the members get all the
dividends. This American Fruit-growers’ Union proposes to
take, as a Maximum, one dollar a ton for its services and ex-
penses, and it expects to save members a good deal more than
this amount by contracts which reduce commissions of middle-
men and by systematizing distribution.

One of the most suggestive features of all codperation is its
promise of closer human alliances. The fruit-growers become
business men and women, which is excellent; they learn how
to help each other, which is even better. In one place I know
of there are only three fruit-growers out of, perhaps, two hun-
dred who have not learned this lesson of coéperaticn. These
three claim that they make as much, or even more, by staying
out; they also receive a benefit from the unions, which have

increased the profits of all growers. :
Niles, Calif. S a Charles H,. Shinn,

Recent Publications.

No. 8 of the third volume of the Contributions of the
United States National Herbarium is devoted to the Flora of
the Black Hills of Southern Dakota by P. A. Rydberg. The
region is one ofspecial interest geographically as the meeting
place of several different floras, those from the east, from
the Saskatchawan, from the prairies and table-lands west of
the Missouri River, and from the Rocky Mountains, min-
gling here. ‘‘In the foothills and the lower parts of the hills
proper the flora,” Mr. Rydberg tells us, “is essentially the
same as that of the surrounding plains, with an addition of

eastern plants which have ascended the streams. In the
higher parts the flora is of more northern origin. Most of

the plants composing it are of a more or less transconti-
nental distribution, but often characteristic of a higher lati-
tude. Some can be said to belong to the Rocky Mountain

290

region. The only trees of western origin are Pinus pon-
derosa scopulorum and Betula occidentalis; the others are
eastern or transcontinental. The flora resembles, there-
fore, more the region around the Great Lakes than that of
the Rockies.” Mr. Rydberg’s report is based on his own
botanical exploration made in 1892 as a field agent of the
Department of Agriculture, and covering three months
from about June rst. His collection contained a little over
seven hundred Phanerogams and vascular Cryptogams.

Notes.

Yucca angustifolia is not as robust nor stately a plant as Y.
filamentosa, which is more generally known in cultivation. It
has the advantage of flowering two weeks earlier, however,
than the other species, and for this reason alone it is desirable
in a collection of hardy perennial plants.

The health officer of San Francisco recently examined eight
samples of fruit jellies bought in the open market, and not one
of them proved to be made of sound ripe fruit. Several apple
jellies were colored, while one in tin contained turnip pulp,
colored with analine dye to represent strawberry jelly.

Eggplants from New Jersey are among the later offerings
in vegetables, and cucumbers from the same state and from
Maryland. Tomatoes from New Jersey are plentiful and of
good quality and are crowding southern-grown stock out of
market. Peas, beans, sugar corn, peppers, cabbage and
squashes are all coming from near-by points. Asparagus is still
in fair supply and of good quality, and costs twenty-five cents a
bunch.

Professor Halsted writes that complaints have come to him
from several directions of the blight which attacks the leaves
of Nasturtiums before they are fully grown, showing colored
spots which are watery at first, but soon become blotched with
brown. The disease seems similar to the bacterial blight of
the Bean, anda microscopic examination of the germs suggests
that the organisms may be the same, This theory is still fur-
ther corroborated by the fact that one of the worst cases of this
blight which has been brought to Professor Halsted’s atten-
tion was on plants growing within a few feet of a field of
Beans badly affected with the bacterial disease,

There are few trees in flower during the first weeks of July,
and for this reason the large branching panicles of small but
bright yellow flowers on the ends of the branches of the
Kcelreuteria always make this tree a conspicuous object at
this season. Owing to abundant rains for a month past its
foliage is thick and abundant, and it always is of the deepest
and darkest green, which strongly brings out the pure color
of the flowers. The Kcelreuteria is a comparatively small
round-headed tree, useful not only as a single specimen on
the lawn, but interesting also when planted on a wood border,
which the flowers light up at this season in an attractive way.

A writer in Zhe Garden speaks in praise of the annual spe-
cies of Gypsophila, like G. elegans, a plant which grows to a
height of one or two feet, with a loosely spreading panicle of
small white or rosy flowers. G. muralis, a lower plant, with
pink or purple flowers on very slender pedicels and with very
narrow linear leaves, is also an admirable plant for cutting,
and can be used like the well-known perennial G. paniculata
to give a misty surrounding for brighter flowers. Both of
these annuals will come up from the seed every year, and,
although they start rather late, they mature rapidly and will
flower in early July. Seed started in a cold frame will produce
flowers much earlier, of course. G,. muralis has already
become naturalized in a few places in this country.

Mr. Elijah A. Wood, writing to the American Florist, says
that when Chrysanthemums have been overfed, as they some-
times are at this season, the trouble can be detected by the
light and sickly color of the foliage. Of course, the liquid-
manure must be stopped at once, a little charcoal and lime
should be sprinkled on the soil, and until the plants have
regained their color they should have no liquid fertilizer, when
a very weal solution can be used to begin with. Soot from
soft coal is very useful for Chrysanthemums which are sick
from overfeeding. It can be sifted upon the soil and washed
down gradually to the roots of the plants, or a bag of it can be
hung in a barrel of the water which is used for watering the
plants. Of course, it should be used ina very diluted state.

Frequent rains during the past month have made small
fruits unusually plentiful, and prices of blackberries, raspber-

Garden and Forest.

' [NUMBER 438.

ries, huckleberries and gooseberries have been lower than for
some years. Beach plums, from Delaware and Maryland,
have found but few buyers, Wild-goose plums, from the same
state, selling for nearly twice as much. The best grapes now
in market in this city are Niagaras from Florida, and Moore’s
Early from South Carolina. Muskmelons are coming in con-
siderable quantity from North and South Carolina, the best
Jenny Linds and Christinas being from the neighborhood of
Norfolk, Virginia, The supply of watermelons is not so great
as during the past month, and prices are higher than they have
been, the best realizing $25.00 in lots of 100. Sweet Bough,
Astrachan and Harvest apples, from Delaware, Maryland and
near-by points, bring fair prices for good fruit, hand-picked
and well packed. All the standard varieties of peaches are
now arriving from South Carolina and Georgia, but most of
the fruit is lacking in color or size or soundness, and this is
true also of the moderate shipments from Delaware and Mary-
land. The thirty-four car-loads of California fruit sold here
during last week included one car of cherries, probably the
last for this year, of the large showy Royal Ann variety.
Plums, peaches, apricots and Bartlett pears made up the prin-
cipal offerings from the western Coast.

Eighteen insects are known to infest the seed of Indian Corn,
twenty-seven attack the roots and the subterranean part of the
stock, seventy-six feed upon the stalk above the ground, a
hundred and eighteen upon the leaves, nineteen upon the
tassel and silk, forty-two upon the ear in the field, two on the
stack fodder and twenty-four on the corn when stored, either
whole or ground. No doubt there are many other insects
than these which injure the corn to a limited extent, but that
is no assurance that they will not prove formidable in the
future, since the two insects most destructive at the present
time, namely, the corn-root worm and the corn-root aphis,
were almost unknown a few years ago, even to entomologists.
A rather complete treatise on the insects which injure the
seed and root of Indian Corn has just been issued by Dr. S. A.
Forbes as a bulletin of the Illinois Agricultural Experiment
Station, although it is, with some alterations, an abstract from
the author’s report as State Entomologist of Illinois, first
published rather more than a year ago. Before a detailed
discussion of the injuries to seed and root which covers
rather more than eighty pages, there is a valuable collection of
practical hints which aid the cultivator to determine where and
what kind of insects are at work upon the crop, and how they
are to be routed. Altogether, it is a most instructive and use-
ful little monograph for popular use, and it is to be commended
for the perfect system with which the subject is treated, since
the orderly mode of discussion and procedure enables any
layman immediately to get at what he wants.

In a late issue of The Florida Agriculturist the Messrs.
Neylans, of Tampa, Florida, give an interesting account of
their experience in cultivating Celery in that state. Seed-sow-
ing is begun in August and continued until November, the
later sowings insuring the largest number of plants. When
the plants are about six inches high they are transplanted on
ridges four feet wide, two rows on each ridge, the plants being
set from five to six inches apartin the rows. The celery is
blanched when it is mature, which is told by the color of the
tops. Boards one by twelve, sixteen feet long, are used, stood
up on each side of the rows. The blanching is said to be the
most important cultural detail, and must be learned by expe-
rience; if continued too long the celery will not keep, and if
not long enough it will not be in good marketable condition.
The time required for blanching is influenced by the weather.
It takes about six months to raise and blanch a crop from the
sowing of the seed. There is a thorough system of irrigation
from artesian wells, and the water is run between the rows in
dry weather. Irrigation is considered a necessity for this crop
in Florida. Commercial fertilizers have been used exclusively
for the past eight years, about three tons to the acre, at a cost
of $75.00 an acre each year, and the ground is very fertile.
The sales on the farm for the last five years have averaged
$1,000 to the acre, the crops, besides Celery, being Potatoes,
Cabbage, Lettuce, Spinach, Beets, Carrots, Radishes, and some
Squashes, Cucumbers and Tomatoes, but the soil is too rich
for the latter crop. On eight acres of Celery, comprising last
year’s sowing, $1,500 was netted; the expenses were about
$500 an acre. This success has only been achieved after ex-
periments and losses, and six acres of the variety Giant Pascal
planted three years ago proved an entire failure. The
Golden Self-Blanching variety is the only kind now grown. It
is intended, however, to try several other varieties this year,
as it is difficult to grow plants of Golden Self-Blanching in the
hot weather of summer and autumn,

JULY 22,

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

1896. ]

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orricz: Trisung Buitpinc, New York.

Conducted by . . Professor C. S. SARGENT.

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 1806.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

EprrortaL _ArticLes :—The Lesson of the Daisies......-+..seeesecsescccssecss 291
Did the Woodpeckers Kill the Hemlocks?. SCOR ee aC

Plant Names of {ndian Origin.—IV ...... ae ..W. R. Gerard. 292

The Oaks at Paxtang. (With figure.). «++. 42 L. Dock. 293
ForgIGN CoRRESPONDENCE :—London Letter. ...W. Watson. 293
Cutturat DeparTMENT :—Vegetable Notes . -.+++-T. D. Hatfield. 294
Msfew! GoodiGardensllants- coe ‘sicie's eteiasis sclera vic'y eisise bs sie.siece beso os N. FR 205
Soot pee G. A. Woolson. 296

Campanula rotundifolia .. ..........-.
Seasonable Flower Notes . - .++- 7. D. Hatfield. 296

Hardy Plant Notes...... opeetene «Robert Cameron. 296
Pee Ses tL itches Wl Ds mentee teeiefalstomaieyalirceeleteia= (a <2.¢/ nie a:sjacisis em \ejeieisieieleiee w sies2 297
(GORRESPONDENGE | — Che OalePruner sce cas ceinsawins os seine scnisc ons ve sais LPs: Si 207

Lora S. La Mance. 207
-- Foseph Meehan. 208
. ofessor Fred W. Card. 298
Professor F B.S. Norton. 298

Inthe Mountain Trails........
Hardiness of Southern Pine...
Winter Protection tor Bush Fruits.
Kansas Wild Flowers.... ........

Notes'from) West Virginia... cs. ioe cscicce scene ane -Danske Dandridge. 299
RECENT PUBLICATIONS ........-0- rise eemiteel eee elerps(cisias, | 200
IN ONES = fretefetietats atetetietstetelsiate rs sialic ietetat=tetalataateraialsteisalelataisieta) "a aie’eleisjatet=1 slats Bieivle'e,aieia'a sieves 300
IcustraTION :—Oaks in the Churchyard at Paxtang, Pennsylvania, Fig. 4o..... 205

The Lesson of the Daisies.

O one who has chanced to make a somewhat extended
tour through the farm-lands of any part of the mid-
dle states during the last of June or the first of July can
have failed to notice how large a fraction of the area was
white for the harvest—a harvest not of grain, but of Ox-
eye Daisies. Fields of Buckwheat at the height of their
bloom were never whiter than many lowlands which once
were rich meadows, and many hillsides which once were
rich pastures. The daisies are so prevalent and luxurious
this year that a stranger might suspect that all the farmers
had gone into the business of floriculture, but a few ques-
tions will soon dispel this illusion, for the growers of the
Daisies very rarely appreciate their beauty. It-is a genuine
and destructive invasion, and yet the Daisies have not con-
quered the meadows; they have merely stepped in to
occupy and possess the soil which the grass had aban-
doned. The worst of it is that the great majority of the
tillers of the soil do not apprehend tke true condition of
things, and while they bewail the fate which forces them to
harvest daisies instead of grain or hay, they do not realize
the fact that they have invited the attack and encouraged
the invaders.

Occasionally a farmer is heard to ask how these weeds
can be killed, but he does not realize that if by some rapid
process they could all be dispatched new legions would fill
their places at once if the conditions which they enjoy
remain. What farmers need to comprehend is that without
some radical mistake in the management of their land the
Daisies never would have gained such a foothold. All
plants, including weeds, settle and thrive where the com-
petition for life is such that they can enter into it and pros-
per. A good stand of Grass leaves no room nor any hope
for weeds. It is not in well-tilled fields that Canada
Thistles flourish, but in neglected pastures and by the
roadsides. In the contest with the best agricultural prac-
tice they cannot prevail. It is in the untilled plains of the
west or in the tilled regions where there is mile after mile
of plowed land producing only eight or nine bushels of
wheat to the acre year after year, without any rotation,

Garden and Forest.

2g1

where the Russian Thistle is a natural and inevitable
intruder.

The remedy for weeds is to keep the land busy with a
good crop on it, and this means that the farmer must give
persistent and connected thought to his business. If the
Daisies crowd out the Grass, it is because the meadow has
been neglected and the grass has begun to fail, and
wherever there is a vacancy by the failure of the grass
every enterprising weed finds a rightful opportunity to
establish itself If the farmer asks, therefore, what will
kill the Daisies, there is one answer: better farming.
Weeds find nourishment and a home wherever there is
waste ground, which means ground not’ profitably occu-
pied. Widespread areas of Daisies, Buttercups, Wild Car-
rots, Mustards and the like are, therefore, the types and
measures of the prevailing ignorance of farmers respecting
the very fundamental principles of their calling. The one
good thing that weeds can accomplish is to prove by their
presence that there is a weak point in the established sys-
tem of agriculture ; the only way to turn their visits to ad-
vantage is to heed this instruction by revolutionizing farm
practice and organizing some profitable rotation which will
exclude them.

If farmers cannot interpret the teachings of the weeds it
certainly would be advisable for the agricultural experi-
ment stations to help them in this particular. The exist-
ence of these invaders means that what the farmers of
these states primarily need is more instruction in funda-
mental matters concerning the handling of their land. We
are glad, therefore, to see that many of the stations are
turning to this subject, and that they are doing more than
merely furnishing botanical descriptions of the various
noxious plants. The Cornell Station, forexample, in a bulletin
entitled Reflections Upon Weeds, gives some sound primary
instruction in agricultural science. It is to be hoped that
both this station and others will continue work of this sort
even if they forego to some extent experimentation in
higher fields. So long as the farmer needs elementary
teaching it ought to be furnished to him, even if takes the
time of officials who ought to be searching for scientific truth.
A late bulletin of the Geneva Experiment Station upon the
principles which underlie the application of commercial
fertilizers deals with the simplest matters, matters with
which every intelligent farmer ought to be familiar, and
yet there is no doubt that every word of itis needed. The
time may come in America, as it has come in some older
countries, when the common schools instruct children in
the principles of agriculture—so that in fundamental points
of practice the ordinary farmer will know what to do, and
will be able to tell why he does it. Until that day arrives
every effort to increase his knowledge of principles deserves
encouragement.

AN interesting correspondence has been forwarded to us
by Volney Rogers, Esq , one of the Park Commissioners of
Youngstown, Ohio. An observing citizen who, Mr. Rogers
says, is usually correct in his judgment on such matters,
wrote him to call attention to the destruction of several
large Hemlocks in the beautiful park of that city, adding
that the injury was caused by the work of the yellow-
bellied sapsucker. He therefore suggested the employment
by the Park Board of an active young man with a small-
bore shot-gun to thin them out. Mr. Rogers replied that,
in his opinion, the Hemlocks have been dying partly
because of two dry seasons, and partly because they have
been thinned out for driveways, so that their trunks and
roots have been exposed to the sun. He added that some-
times roots of considerable size have been cut along the
paths and drives, and this mutilation may have weakened
the trees. Fires have also swept through the timber in
certain places.

Of course, it is not safe to pronounce an opinion on a
question like this without closer investigation, but we
should advise Mr. Rogers to keep the “active young man
with the small-bore shot-gun” out of his Hemlock groves

292

and encourage the birds to come there and stay. The sap-
sucker, Sphyrapicus varius, does drill holes in trees for the
purpose of getting the elaborated sap and parts of the cam-
bium layer, and in very exceptional cases quite young
trees have been injured by them. The damage, however,
is too insignificant to justify the persecution of these birds
in view of the immense benefit they do in other ways. In
Ohio the bird is only a migrant, at all events. Mr. Frank
Bolles (see Zhe Auk, vol. viii., July, 1891) concludes that
while in their breeding-grounds these birds may some-
times destroy forest-trees, the damage is insignificant ina
well-wooded region. Moreover, it is certain that the sap-
sucker, or yellow-bellied woodpecker, is the only species
at all guilty. Now, the active young man with a shot-gun
would undoubtedly kill every kind of woodpecker he saw ;
indeed, many other species are called sapsucker; for
instance, the downy woodpecker and the hairy woodpecker,
and both of them are very beneficial to trees. The public
need instruction as to the value and preservation of these
birds much more than they need encouragement to destroy
them. When we think how much the entire agricultural in-
terest of the country, and all that this implies, depends on
the activity of birds, it is enough to lead one to take their
side in every case where their habits are called in question.

On the other hand, the Hemlock is one of the trees which
are particularly sensitive to any change of their surround-
ings like the cutting away of trees, so as to let in the wind
and sun. Besides this, all trees are very impatient of
changes in the water-content of soils where they have be-
come established. If the water is increased about their
roots by damming, or if by draining it is taken away from
them, they invariably suffer, and many species will never
recover from a shock of this sort er live long enough to
adapt themselves to new conditions. We apprehend that
Mr. Rogers is correct in attributing the destruction among
the Youngstown Hemlocks to the hand of man rather than
to the pecking of birds.

Plant Names of Indian Origin.—IV.

PiesissEwa, or Prpstseway (Chimaphila umbellata).—This
is a word of Cree (Algonk.) origin, and, giving the letters
the value that they have in English, should be spelled
pisiswayoo, It means “he reduces it to very small parti-
cles.” In Algonkin grammar, an inanimate object (such as
a plant, for example) cannot be the subject of an active
verb, and, since, in the word under consideration, the agent
is an animate being, the name must have been transferred
to the plant from that of some Indian medicine man who
had obtained a reputation from his use of the herb as a
lithontriptic in the treatment of gravel. The name, there-
fore, belongs to the same category of words as Joepye, or
Jopi, which was applied in New England to Eupatorium
perfoliatum, from an Indian so called. This name is ap-
parently a corruption of a word meaning “he makes liquid
hot,” alluding to this Indian’s use of hot infusions of the
plant in order to induce profuse perspiration in the treat-
ment of typhus.

Powitcu (Pyrus rivularis).—A Chinook Jargon word often
used with the adjunct tree. It is from the Chinook name
of the tree, Péwitsh, or pawutsh.

Poxe (Phytolacca decandra).—An abbreviation of Pow-
hatan pokan, or pokone ; the same word as Puccoon, g. v.
The name as applied to Symplocarpus foetidus is English,
and the application of it to Veratrum viride is due to the
latter being confused with the former, owing to the fact that
the two plants often grow in company, and, to the unprac-
ticed eye, bear a slight resemblance to each other in early
spring when their leaves first appear. Hence both have
received the same popular names.

Puccoon (Lithospermum canescens and Sanguinaria Cana-
densis).—From Powhatan (Algonk.) pokone, which is from
(or from the same root as) an Algonkin name for “ blood.”
Strachey (TZravaile into Virginia) describes ‘‘Pocones, a
small root that groweth in the mountains, which being

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 439.

dried and beat into powder, turneth red,” etc.; and his
editor (R. H. Major) notes that this is the ‘‘ Anchusa Vir-

giniana of Linneeus,” quoting from Plukinet: ‘ Puccoon -

indigenis dicta qua se pingunt Americani.” Clayton’s
Flora assigns the name to Sanguinaria. In the north it
has generally been given to Lithospermum canescens,
though it must be regarded as a general name for plants
that yield a red dye.

Porato (Solanum tuberosum).—Through Carib-Span.
patata, from Taino (Haytian Carib) ba/afa, Batatas edulis,
from which the name seems to have been transferred to
the tuber now so called by John Gerard, ‘‘ because,” as he
says, ‘‘it hath not onely the shape and proportion of [sweet]
Potatoes, but also the pleasant taste and vertues of the
same” (Herbal., p. 927).

Seco (Calochortus Nuttalli).—A Pai Ute word, generic with
these Indians and others of the same (Shoshonean) lin-
guistic stock, for edible bulbous roots. The word is some-
times spelled Sago. 5

SENEGA, or SENEKA.—Polygala Senega, from the use of
its root as a remedy for snake bite among the Seneka In-
dians, attracted the attention of Dr. Tennant, of Virginia, in
1734, who brought it to the notice of Dr. Mead, of London,
in 1738. It was at that time called Senega rattlesnake-
root. If, as is sometimes stated, the plant was so called
after the Seneka Indians, the word is not of aboriginal
origin, since the name by which they are known in Eng-
lish is a corruption of one applied to them by the Dutch
settlers, their lroquoian appellation being Tsinontowane-
haka, ‘inhabitants of the great mountains.” Charlevoix,
however (1720-22), speaking of the name of the plant,
says: “Cest apparement le nom que lui donnent quelques
sauvages”; and Clayton (Flor. Virgin., 1743) says:
“Seneca Indis Pensilvan.” Clayton’s statement would
make the word either Iroquois or Algonkin. If Algonkin,
it belongs to the Delaware dialect, and is either from
‘sinnegayoo, “it is stony,” or an abbreviation of ‘szamegepin,
“stony root,” alluding to the hard knotty character of the
plants’ root-stocks, the medicinal part. Again, Adair (His¢
of American Indians, 1775) mentions the word seneeka as
the Cherokee name of the ‘‘ fern snake-root” (Botrychium
Virginicum?). The Cherokees belong to the Iroquoian
family. The true origin of the name Senega, or Seneca, is
therefore doubtful.

SaLaL, or SaLtaL (Gaultheria Shallon).—A Chinook Jar-
gon word, from the last two syllables of k/kwu-shdla, the
Chinook name of the fruit of the plant.

SASKATOON, Or SkKATOON (Amelanchier Canadensis).—A cor-
ruption of eastern Cree (Algonk.) msdéskawalomin, the fruit
of the misdskwa/, a word meaning ‘‘it is much wood,” or
“entire wood,” which may allude to the quantity of wood
available for making arrows that the tree yields. The wood
is highly prized by the Crees for this purpose, as well as
for making pipe stems.

Savoyan (Galium boreale, G. trifidum and Coptis trifolia).
—From Algonk.-French savoyanne, formerly tisavoyanne,
from Micmac “ssawhianne, “skin-dye.” The plantsabove
named were used by the Indians of Canada for coloring
articles which they made of prepared skins.

SKOKE (1) (Phytolacca decandra).—From Natick (Al-
gonk.) m’skokz, “red,” “bloody,” alluding to the color of
the juice yielded by the fruit. (2) Symplocarpus foetidus.
The name, as applied to this plant, is an abbreviation of
Delaware (Algonk.) skwdékwinsh, ‘‘skunk-weed.” Skoka is
a variant of the name.

Soro, (Dasylirion Texanum)—Through Spanish, from
Aztec sofolin, a word compounded of sod, “linen,” and
olin, “ bulrush,” from the linear leaves of the plant, and,
probably, the economic use made of its fibre.

SeuasH (Cucurbita Melopepo and C. verrucosa).—An
abbreviation of Narragansett (Algonk.) askifasquash, plural
of askitasg. ‘* Asktitasquash, their vine apples, which the
English from them [the Narragansetts] call squashes” (A
key into the language of America. Roger Williams, 1643).
Both the first and last syllables of the word belong to the

;

4
B
a
4
i

JULY 22, 1896.]

2

same root, meaning ‘‘immature,” “unripe,” ‘‘green.”
From asku/, the stem of askufu, “it is immature,” ‘‘it is
green,” with the formative suffix asg, we have asku/asg as
the name for a cucurbit that might beeaten while ina green
or unripe state.

“Whereas the Pompion is never eaten till it be ripe,
these [squashes] are never eaten after they are ripe” (Bev-
erly’s Hist. of Virginia).

Tacamauac (1) (Populus balsamifera).—A West Indian
(Aruban ?) name for a balsamic resin derived from Ela-
phrium tomentosum, transferred to a resin produced by the
Balsam Poplar, and then to the tree itself. (2) (Larix
Americana). As in the preceding case, a transfer to the
tree of the name given to a balsamic turpentine yielded by
it, and used medicinally for the same purposes as the
tacamahac of commerce, the properties of which are
analogous to those of the turpentines.

New York. W. R. Gerard.

The Oaks at Paxtang.

a ETWEEN South Mt. and the Endless Mountains

lies the most considerable body of valuable land the
English are possessed of This valley is every-
where enriched with limestone. The Endless Mountains
come next in order, ridges with even tops and nearly of a
height, and to look into the lower lands is but, as it were,
into an ocean of woods, swelled and depressed here and
there by little inequalities, not to be distinguished one part
from another any more than the waves of the ocean.”
—Analysis of a Map of the Middle British Colonies in
America, by Lewis Evans, Philadelphia, 1755.

A remnant of the once immense Appalachian forest sur-
vives in the venerable Oaks at Paxtang, Pennsylvania,
that curiously enough owe their preservation to the very
men who made the first clearing in the ‘‘ocean of woods”
covering that part of the Great Vale which extended from
the Schuylkill to the Susquehanna, and known as the
Lebanon Valley. The land where they settled, at the
western end of the Lebanon Valley, a few miles south of
the Endless Mountains, and not far from the Susquehanna,
formed part of the disputed territory bought from the
Shawanese in 1696, but was not finally ceded to the English
until 1736. Years before this last treaty was signed John
Harris had established his trading-post on the river, and
of several settlements made by Scotch-Irish Presbyterians,
one of the earliest was the then frontier settlement of Pax-
tang, in a minor depression or “inequality ” of the valley.

By 1732 there had been such an increase in numbers at
Paxtang, and Derry, ten miles eastward, that the congrega-
tions united in calling the Rev. John Bertram as joint
pastor, and for a time each congregation worshiped in
its own log meeting-house. The one at Derry satisfied its
people for generations, but the primitive structure at Pax-
tang was replaced under the energetic ministry of the cele-
brated Parson Elder by the existing stone church, whose
corner-stone was laid in 1740. Lineal descendants of the
founder and builders compose most of its present congre-
gation.

The land originally granted to the church consisted of
one hundred acres, at half-pence sterling rent. This acre-
age was afterward reduced to twenty, and at present the
church holding does not exceed eight acres in extent. It
lies near the crest of the northern slope of the valley, and
except for the portions occupied by the parsonage and
grounds, the myrtle-covered graveyard, and the church,
with its surrounding open space, is entirely in woodland.
The woods are of mixed species and notatall noteworthy,
except for the Oaks, which literally overshadow the other
trees to such an extent that they form no part of the im-
pression. There are six White Oaks, with trunks ranging
from more than three to nearly five feet in diameter. The
largest one, the subject of the photograph reproduced on
page 295 of this issue, measures four feet eight inches,
and stands not far from the front entrance to the building.

Garden and Forest.

293

Two others are near the lower margin of the woods, and
another, near the graveyard, screens the silent past from
the too close approach of the busy present, which with
house-lots and avenues touches the very border of the
church enclosure.

From the margin of the woods there is a beautiful out-
look into the valley over the surrounding country, and
across the river to the broken spurs of the South Mountains,
known as the York Hills. While the valley itself has de-
veloped into a succession of suburban villages, country
seats and model farms, the Oaks, and the church they
surround, have changed little since colonial days. The
church is built of limestone, which does not ring much
harder than the mortar cementing its blocks, and though
the interior has been remodeled in accordance with
modern ideas, the exterior was fortunately left intact,
and preserves the uncompromising severity of its origi-
nal lines. John Bartram, in his journeys through the
Great Vale, often passed close to the Oaks, but it is
doubtful if he ever lingered at Paxtang, as he had no love
for the Scotch-Irish, and the only feeling he held in com-
mon with that fighting race was the wish “to bang the
Indians stoutly.”

In 1763 the Oaks looked out over a turbulent scene, as
the Paxtang Rangers, disregarding the protests of their
venerable Parson Elder rode off to Conestoga to deal pun-
ishment to the Indians who they thought had been treated
too leniently by the authorities. The leader of this expe-
dition was the same Capt. Smith who, twelve years later,
and within ten days after the news was received of the
battle of Lexington, had ready armed and equipped for
service the company that was the second to reach Boston
from south of the Hudson. This same company formed
part of Arnold’s expedition to Canada, and some of the
members never returned from the assault on Quebec.

Generation after generation has passed out from under
the shadow of the Oaks into the world, and the recent
Scotch-Irish Congress, held in Harrisburg, has drawn
attention to the veneration with which this church is re-
garded, a feeling intensified by the unchanged state of its
immediate surroundings, and especially by the presence

of its noble Oaks.
Harrisburg, rents M. L. Dock.

Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.

A Farm Scuoor.—The present Duke of Bedford takes a
keen interest in the agriculture and market-gardening of
this country. Several years ago he established in Woburn,
Bedfordshire, an experimental fruit-farm for the purpose
of demonstrating new methods of culture and bringing into
notice good varieties of all kinds of hardy fruits suitable
for cultivation by farmers and others. He has lately added
to this generous gift by placing at the disposal of the
County Council a farm of 275 acres close to the Woburn
fruit-farm, and has erected lecture-rooms, dormitories and
other accommodation for the education of boys in the
science and practice of farming. Every branch of farm
and garden practice is taught by precept as well as by
practice. The boys are granted free scholarships by the
County Council; in other words, they are to be taught and
housed free of charge for a period of two years. They are
selected from the sons of agricultural laborers and small
farmers. This school-farm, which is modeled on the lines
of similar institutions on the Continent, is said to be the first
of the kind ever established in this country.

SEEDLING Orances.—An interesting report by Mr. H. J.
Webber, to the United States Department of Agriculture,
dealing with the reproduction of varieties of Orange and
other members of the Citrus family in Florida, is reprinted
in Zhe Gardeners’ Chronicle. It is noteworthy on account
of its setting forth that the varieties of Citrus are reproduced
true from seed, in opposition to the general belief that good
commercial varieties of Orange, Lemon, Lime, Shaddock,

204

etc., can only be reproduced by grafting. I have been
informed that the inferiority of the oranges sent to market
from some of the islands of the West Indies is due to the
neglect of the cultivators to perpetuate good varieties by
means of grafting, relying only upon seedlings. To remedy
this state of things select varieties have lately been intro-
duced, and planters have grafted them upon the inferior
stocks already established. If Mr. Webber’s statements
are correct, and they appear to be based upon careful
observation, all this trouble is unnecessary. With regard
to other selected varieties of fruits of similar character to
Citrus—that is, Apples, Pears, Persimmons, Peaches, etc. —
seeds are useless as means of reproduction. We should
like to hear at greater length the experience of growers of
choice oranges in the southern states.

CaLCEOLARIA ALBA.—This is a perennial herbaceous shrub
which at Kew has grown from a seedling to a wide bush
five feet high in two years. It is planted against a south
wall which affords it a little protection in winter ; whether
it is hardier than this has not yet been tested. At the
present time it is beautifully in flower, and it promises to
make a display for about two months at least. Probably
it might be grown dwarfer and utilized as a summer bed-
ding plant. The stems are slender, erect, at first green and
succulent, becoming brown and woody with age; the
leaves are linear, two to three inches long, and they bear a
few marginal teeth onthe upper half. The flowers are in
erect terminal panicles, strong shoots bearing panicles a
foot long and six inches wide, with about one hundred
expanded flowers, which are pure white, half an inch in
diameter, the lower lip or “ purse” being much larger than
the upper, and folding over so as to present the appear-
ance of round, inflated white bags. The species is a native
of Chili, from whence it was first introduced by Lobb, who
sent it to Messrs. Veitch, with whom it flowered in 1844.
It appears to have been again lost to gardens until recently,
when Herr Max Leichtlin reintroduced it. Cuttings of it
strike quite freely.

EscaLionia Purtippiana.—This beautiful hardy shrub was
introduced from Valdivia in 1878, when it was described
and figured by Dr. Masters in 7ne Gardeners’ Chronicle. It
was discarded by some cultivators as being too tender, and
by others as a poor unattractive shrub. A few, however,
saw merit in it and keptit. I first saw it in full glory ina
garden in Ireland three years ago, where it had grown into
an elegant pyramidal bush ten feet high and was crowded
with white star-like fragrant flowers in June. This year it
has shown its full beauty at Kew, where it occupies two
large circular beds skirting one of the principal walks. The
shoots are elegantly curved, the leaves are small and they
are almost entirely hidden by the myriads of white star-
like flowers which clothe them from base to point. Their
fragrance, too, is delightful. The effect of the Escallonia
is heightened by the admixture of the flowers of Liliums, a
common feature at Kew, almost every bed planted with
low-growing shrubs having some species of Lilium grow-
ing happily with them. The Escallonia is not hardy in the
north of England, but in countries where the winters are
not severe it is an evergreen summer-flowering shrub of
quite exceptional merit.

RuHopDODENDRON SnirNowit.—Zhe Gardeners’ Chronicle for
this week contains a life-size picture of a flower-truss of
this Rhododendron, which was introduced from the Cau-
casus by means of seeds sent from the Botanic Gardens,
St. Petersburg, to Kew in 1886. The plants at Kew flow-
ered for the first time in the open air in May, 1893, but this
year the flowers have been larger and more attractive.
They are similar in size and general appearance to the
flowers of R. Catawbiense and colored a soft rose-purple,
with a few dull red spots on the upper segment. The spe-
cies is remarkable in having the under side of the leaves
clothed with a thick felt-like layer of pale yellow wool,
which becomes dull brown as the leaves get old. The
plant grows slowly, branches early, is evergreen and quite
hardy, and it possesses a special interest for the cultivator

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 4309.

of Rhododendrons. As a breeder it is likely to prove
valuable, and that it will cross with the garden Rhododen-
drons has already been proved at Kew, where there are
now seedlings raised from an undoubted cross between it
and some good varieties of the popular Catawbiense
hybrids.

WaTERER’S SprrzA.—The most attractive shrub at Kew in
July is this beautiful variety of Spireea Bumalda. Beds of
it twelve feet across in conspicuous positions on the lawns
are covered with large flat trusses of glowing crimson
flowers. With a little attention this effect may be retained
till the autumn, the attention needed being nothing more
than the removal of the old trusses as they fade. If these
are cut away daily—* delightful occupation for the young
ladies after breakfast,” says my friend Mr. Waterer—the
lateral shoots continue to push up fresh heads almost till
the frost comes to stop them. As a pot-plant we have not
found this Spireea worth the trouble, but in beds and bor-
ders it has proved itself worthy of the recommendation
given to it by its introducer, who sent it out as the best
summer-flowering hardy shrub introduced in recent years.
It is easily propagated from soft summer cuttings or by
division.

Rose, Crimson Ramprer.—The display made by this grand
climbing Rose has been exceptionally brilliant for the past
three weeks. Planted in a border among tall herbaceous
plants, with a pole twelve feet high to support the stems,
which are held loosely up by a kind of wire crinoline fixed
to the pole, the shoots have formed a massive sheaf of rich
green foliage and large clusters of flowers which can be
seen “a mile off.” For pillars or as a clothing to pic-
turesque tree trunks no Rose can be more suitable. It
must be planted in a rich deep soil and be kept watered in
dry weather. The old shoots—that is, those that flowered
last year—should be cut out or thinned out, so as to make

room and throw vigor into the new shoots which are

pushed up from the base, and grow toa height of ten or
twelve feet in a few weeks. These stout Willow-like shoots
produce the finest bunches of flowers. This thinning treat-
ment is good for all the climbing Roses if abundance of
bloom is required. I hear that some nurserymen supply
grafted plants of this Rose; they are almost as useless as
grafted Raspberries would be. The suckers pushed up
from below the soil every year are the life of this Rose.

W. Watson.

London.

Cultural Department.

Vegetable Notes.

E have tried a number of the round-seeded early Peas,
but find none better than Alaska. Besides being as early
as the earliest, it is, like all blue-seeded varieties, superior in
flavor and makes a better appearance on the table. Kentish
Invicta resembles it, but is a few days later. If sown when
Alaska is above ground it comes in just right for succession.
The only value round-seeded Peas have is their earliness. The
wrinkled varieties are always preferred on account of their
superior table qualities. Notts Excelsior and the Chelsea,
among dwarf kinds of the American Wonder type, are the best
we have grown. Passing to bush wrinkled varieties, in point
of earliness Station Pea has proved a worthy successor to the
old Alpha. This variety of late years has been uncertain.
Without doubt, Horsford’s Market Garden and Bliss’s Abun-
dance are the two best early midseason Peas of medium
height. Juno follows them about ten days, and even in date
with Champion of England. No word of praise is necessary
for old Champion of England, still the standard of excellence
among large green-seeded kinds. It is always good.

We have again followed the transplanting system for our
Onion crop in preference to sowing the seed in drills, and we
are more convinced than before that it is the best plan for pri-
vate places. Half an ounce of seed sown ina box in the green-
house or ina hot-bed in February (or even in the autumn
and held over in cold frames) will, when transplanted into
flats and hardened in cold frames, plant quite a large plot. A
foot apart for the rows and three inches between the sets is a
good allowance for distance; and if the ground is rich the
onions will be exceptionally large. Prizetaker is an excellent

at oe

JuLy 22, 1896.]

red-skinned variety; Southport Yellow Globe is also a splen-
did onion. Large onions are not always in demand. Small
varieties ripen early and make a convenient size for boiling.
Adriatic Barletta is a very good small onion, and sown thickly
in drills it comes in splendidly for pickling.

The Mohawk isa very early and hardy Snap Bean. It is flat-
podded, and, like all of this kind, is not equal in table qualities
to the round-podded varieties, which are not so hardy. We
have a new one, the Warwick, which bids fair to rank high in
quality for an early bean. The Lyonnaise is also new to us. It
is a poor, rambling grower, and not very prolific, but the beans
are of excellent quality. To those who prefer a wax bean, the
Valentine Wax is a splendid article.

Strawberries have had a favorable season. None excel
Bubach No. 5 in productiveness, or Triomphe de Gand in
quality. Parker’s Earle is healthy and wonderfully prolific.
The berries have a sharp, pleasant flavor. It is probably the
best all-round berry for family use. Salamander and Mignon-
ette Lettuce stand better than any, and both make good solid

heads.
Wellesley, Mass. LD! Hatfield.

Garden and Forest.

295

and become a feature of the scenery if the flowers were not so

persistently destroyed.

Campanula persicifolia.— This beautiful Bellflower grows
wild in grassy and open deciduous woods in most countries of
Europe. It delights in partially moist ground around springs
and rivulets or on rocky hillsides, where it grows in scattered
tufts among the grass. The species itself has pale blue flow-
ers, but there is also a pure white variety common ina wild
state. The stems are simple, bearing a few very large termi-

nal and axillary flowers at the top. The root-leaves, which
give the species its name, are broadly lanceolate, slightly
acuminate; the stem-leaves, on the other hand, are quite

small, linear-lanceolate, very dark green. There are double
and semidouble varieties with white or blue lowers, common
in gardens, but the species itself and its simple white variety

are the best for general use. They may be grown in rich soil
in thickets and shrubberies or in open spaces in woods, Both
are readily increased by means of seeds, and should be raised
in a nursery-bed to be planted out the second year.

Convolvulus tricolor—This dwarf and floriferous annual

TE reer

‘ys 4

Fig. 4o.—Oaks in the Churchyard at Paxtang, Pennsylvania.—See page 293.

A few Good Garden Plants.

Hesperis matronalis.—The many varieties of the Dame's
Rocket, as this beautiful plant is often called, are well known to
everybody. Not so the species itself, which, however, is both
more attractive and graceful than any of its popular forms. It
grows to a height of about two feet, bearing loose terminal
racemes or panicles of violet-red flowers, w hich are very fra-
grant, especially in the afternoon and evening. The stems
are slender and covered with bright green leaves from six to
eight inches long, mostly lanceolate, radical ones stalked and
largest, those of the inflorescence bracteate. It flowers late in
spring, in May or June, and is especially effective when run-
ning wild in old gardens and orchards, or in groves and hedge-
rows. This is one of the most easily naturalized plants, and it
increases rapidly by means of self-sown seeds where they are
allowed to ripen. In the vicinity of New York it grows in cer-
tain parts of Bronx River Park, where it would rapidly spread

deserves a more general culture, as itis one of our most beau
tiful summer-flowering plants. It is now seldom seen any-
where, and if reintroduced would be considered a novelty by
many. For summer bedding several of the hardy annuals are
far superior to many of the greenhouse plants ahdokt for this
purpose, and Convolvulus tricolor is among the best of them.
The flowers are produced from the axils of the leaves in great
abundance throughout the summer. The corolla measures
nearly two inches across, the limb being of a beautiful blue,
the throat bright yellow and the intermediate part pure white
the flowers are beautiful and effective. The leaves are chiefly
ovate or spathulate on the lower half of the stem, rather thick
and hairy. The stem grows a foot or more high, and when
the plant is used for bedding purposes it should be pinned
down to the ground so as to forma uniform mat of leaves and
flowers. The seeds should be sown on the spot very early in
spring.

Arnebia echioides.—Few hardy

herbaceous plants are more

296

showy or desirable than this. It belongs to the Borage family,
and is nearly allied to Lithospermum, and although very easy
to grow it is comparatively rare, except in continental Europe.
It isa native of Armenia, but, nevertheless, perfectly hardy
farnorth. The habit is quite dwarf; it seldom grows more
than a foot high, forming loose tufts which for a long time in
summer are covered with the large pale yellow flowers
marked with five black or maroon spots in the same manner
as Nemophila maculata. They are about three-quarters of an
inch in diameter and produced in loose terminal spikes. This
species grows best ina half-shady position inrocky or gravelly
soil. It may be grown with success in rockeries in the shade
of light-foliaged trees. The propagation is best effected by
cuttings of the root or by seeds or division. The seeds should
be sown in a warm frame or cool greenhouse early in spring,
and the young plants may be planted out permanently the
same summer,

Streptosolen Jamesonii.—This is well known asa winter-flow-
ering greenhouse plant, but it is an exceptionally valuable
bedding plant also, producing an abundance of showy flowers
throughout the summer if properly grown. By means of
pinching it may be kept very dwarf and compact, the young
shoots producing flowers constantly as long as a healthy
growth is maintained. It is appropriate in beds in company
of such plants as the Cupheas and Browallias. The plant will
grow several feet high if not checked; it has rather small
ovate, deeply veined, shiny green leaves and large terminal
corymbose panicles of orange color, more or less suffused
with scarlet. Streptosolon may be grown in the same manner
as the well-known Cigar-plant (Cuphea platycentra) ; it is prop-
agated in a cool greenhouse early in spring by means of her-
baceous cuttings, which root freely. The plant will be most
satisfactory if grown in a rich and moist soil in an open and

sunny position.
New York. N, Fs it

Campanula rotundifolia.— Harebells swinging to and fro from
invisible seams in rocky cliffs always charm the eve with their
airy grace and exquisite color, and they are highly satisfactory
for indoor decoration as cut flowers. No matter how wilted
they may be they quickly revive in warm water, and every bud
develops with conscientious fidelity, lasting for weeks with
increased delicacy of color. For cultural use, however, as a
house plant, Campanula rotundifolia is a failure ; all its growth
is twisted, distorted and abortive. When planted in a pot and
set on a bracket for veranda use it is unsurpassed, for it will
bloom there from the last of June, through the entire season,
if the seed-pods are not allowed to mature. The marvelous
strength and elasticity of the slender stems render them proof
against summer gales, heat and neglect. In selecting plants
for this use look around the sloping base of ledges where stray
specimens have well-developed roots, and where their natural
soil can be secured for potting. Harebells take kindly to arti-
ficial rock-work and will grow in any soil, but willnot succeed
with level culture ; a certain freedom from the ground must
be given, for the lovely plant revels in movement, and it needs
the opportunity to sway ‘just as the breezes come and go.”

Pittsfield, Vt. G. A, Woolson,

Seasonable Flower Notes.

EEDS of Pansies to be used for bedding next spring should
be sown now. We find the Lyonnaise Perfection a good
strain at a moderate price. The flowers are large, and there
is a considerable range of coloring. The seed should be sown
lightly in drills. A good plan after sowing is to put a covering
of light litter over the bed until the seedlings are up; this
keeps the ground moist and also prevents the soil being
washed when watering. All small seeds sown during sum-
mer-time come up better when treated this way. Myosotis
alpestris should also be sown now. It is the best Forget-me-
not for early spring flowering. In its native country, the Al-
pine regions, it is a perennial; with us it is little better than an
annual, and for bedding purposes should be treated as such.
Seedlings should be ready for transplanting by the end of
August and put in nursery-beds about six inches apart. They
will make good stools before winter sets in. M. palustris
semperflorens is another good Forget-me-not well worthy a
place in the spring garden. It is about two weeks later in
blooming than M. alpestris. We used it as an edging to a bed
of Silene pendula, and coming into bloom at the same time it
made a very pretty contrast. This species is a true perennial,
creeping and rooting as it goes. Ina moist and rather shady
situation it will continue in bloom all summer, S. pendula is
among the showiest of spring bedding plants. It has often

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 439.

proved hardy with us unprotected, but whenever we have
sown it in a cold frame and protected it as we do Pansies, not
so much from frost as from alternate freezing and thawing, we
have lost the greater part of our batch. We find we have bet-
ter success by sowing in a box in the greenhouse in late
January. Two or three hundred seedlings transplanted in
boxes, and hardened on shelves in a cool house, may be put
out into cold frames in March and bedded out when favorable
weather comes,

Hybrid Primroses are among the most charming of spring-
flowering plants. Years ago we lad a large number of good
varieties, which were used to decorate the spring garden.
Although most effective when in bloom, they are not well
adapted to the bedding system. When transplanted in spring
their rather fleshy roots do not take hold of the soil quickly
enough to support a somewhat ample leafage, so that when-
ever the sun shines directly upon the plants they wilt badly.
They do best when permanently planted, and are very effective
on moist shaded slopes. A few plants set out in the woods
near a Spring eight years ago bloomed abundantly this season.
Our original lot are nearly all gone. They seemed to lose
constitution by frequent removals, as when used for spring
bedding they had to make way for summer bedding, to be
moved back the following spring. We have raised a new lot
this spring, and intend to set the plants in the autumn when
summer bedding plants are past; there should thus be time
for them to become established before winter sets in and they
should stand better the coming spring. Along with the hybrid
Primroses come plants of Primula Japonica. P. denticulata
capitata and P. cortiisioides will be tested for their value as
spring bedding plants.

Foxgloves, Hollyhocks, Canterbury Bells and Sweet Williams
are now ready to plant in nursery-beds. The two first-named
make good pot-plants for piazza decoration, and with Deutzia
gracilis, Astilbe Japonica and Chinese Hydrangeas make
effective groups. These hardy plants have the advantage over
tender plants in that they bear exposure better during the cool
spring months than tender plants like Fuchsias and Pelar-
goniums.

Coreopsis Drummondii has proved a first-rate winter-bloom-
ing plant for cut flowers. In order to have good plants ready
to take into the greenhouse when cool weather comes we sow
a little seed now out-of-doors. Toward the end of the month
a littke good Mignonette-seed should be sown indoors for

winter flowers.
Wellesley, Mass. Lf, D. Hatfield.

Hardy Plant Notes.

Ore of the handsomest hardy perennials in bloom at this
time is Spiraea palmata. When in a favorable situation it
increases rapidly and small plants quickly develop into bold,
showy clumps. The most complete success is secured with
the plant here only when itis set in a slightly damp place and
a fairly rich soil, where it makes stems three or four feet high,
which carry large broad clusters of rosy crimson flowers. If
itis planted in the border it must be watered freely or it will
make a miserable plant not much more than one foot in
height. Our plants do nicely ina moist spotin the rock-gar-
den, where they areshaded from tle sun during the hottest
part of the day. There isa good form of this plant with white
flowers. A few weeks ago a bed ten feet in diameter of the
American Goat's Beard, S. aruncus, was an imposing sight.
This plant is the noblest and boldest of the herbaceous species
belonging to this genus. It isof easy cultivation and readily
accommodates itself to almost any situation or soil. Our
largest groups of this plant are grown in an exposed position
in good rich soil. They grow five feet or more high and pro-
duce large compound panicles of white flowers. Other plants
grown under large Oak-trees, where they are shaded nearly
all day, do not grow as tall as those in the open, but they blos-
som well and they have compact panicles of flowers. S. astil-
boides is a good Japanese plant that is perfectly hardy here
and makes a good border plant. It is about two feet high and
the whitish flowers are produced in stout, erect, spicate
panicles.

Astilbe Chinensis is just beginning to open its flowers. It is
a fine perennial, growing freely ina rich, moist soil. It has
stout, erect panicles, two feet in height, of dull rose-colored
flowers, which are held well above the dark green foliage.
This species blossoms later than A. Japonica.

The Speedwells are excellent border plants, and from early
spring until fall some species or good variety embellishes the
borders or rockeries. Quite a number of species are blossom-
ing now, the following the most distinct and decorative ones:
Veronica incana, a distinct plant with silvery leaves, its flower-

JULY 22, 1806.]

stems from twelve to fifteen inches high, the blue flowers pro-
duced in showy racemes. V. longifolia,a common garden
plant, showy and effective in blogm; it is about twoand a half
feet high and has long blue racemes of flowers; several dis-
tinct forms of this plant are grown here—one form has rose-
colored flowers ; anotheris pubescent, while anotheris glabrous.
The best variety of this species blossoms a week or two later
and is known as V. longifolia, var. subsessilis. V. spicata
makes a neat and compact border plant, growing from one
foot to eighteen inches high, and has a short, dense spike of
bright blue flowers. The white-flowered variety of this species
blossoms at the same time and makes a fine contrast with the
numerous blue-flowered kinds. They thrive in a rich open
soil and do best away from the shade of trees.

Salvia sylvestris makes a compact plant three feet high and
has showy spikes of deep purple flowers which last in good
condition for several weeks. S, numerosa is a stronger-grow-
ing plant with flower-spikes of a purplish color. S. Sclarea is
a distinct species three feet high, and its stems are thickly
clothed with long, ovate, wrinkled, hoary leaves. The flowers
are in panicles and the corolla is of a bluish white color, while
the calyx is white. Inasunny place in the border those Salvias
grow freely. They produce an abundance of seeds, from
which young plants are easily obtained.

The best of the Skullcaps in bloom now is Scutellaria Baica-
lensis, better known in gardens as S. macrantha. This plant is
valuable, as it produces an abundance of dark blue flowers for
many weeks during the summer months. It is a Siberian
plant, about a foot in height, or slightly more, and has sessile,
lanceolate obtuse leaves. The individual flowers measure
about an inch in length and are borne plentifully in simple
racemes, Near the edge of the border it makes a neat plant
and grows easily in good enriched garden soil. The alpine
Skullcap spreads quickly, but if kept within bounds it makes a
showy plant. It is procumbent in habit and has short spikes
of purple flowers. Another species well worth growing, having
a neat habit and showy flowers, is S. scordifolia. The seeds of
the plants now in bloom here were received from Sweden last
year. It is like a good Brunella, but has much larger and
more showy flowers, which are borne ina dense short spike.
It is about a foot in height and grows either in a sunny posi-
tion or in the shade.

Many of the Catnips are too weedy for ordinary border
plants, but an exceptionally good one now in bloom is Nepeta
macrantha. This is a handsome species, aud has as showy
flowers as some of the Pentstemons. The square stems are
more than a yard high and sparsely clothed with opposite
lanceolate serrated leaves. The flowers are in long loose
racemes a foot in length. The corolla is the showiest part of
the flower, and measures an inch in length and half an inch in
diameter at the widest part, and is of a purplish color. N.
grandiflora is the next showiest species of this genus now in
bloom.

The Chinese Bellflower, Platycodon grandiflorum, has just
begun to open its large bell-shaped flowers. This handsome
plant has all the good qualities that a good hardy perennial
plant requires. It has a good habit, with stout erect stems
which need no support to keep them upright, and has clean
healthy foliage, with large open showy flowers, deep blue, or
sometimes nearly white. Itis perfectly hardy and grows easily
in any well-enriched garden soil. Our largest plants are about
a yard high, but the height of the plants varies. The flowers
are produced in clusters at the ends of the branches, but they
do not all open at the same time. The flower measures from
two to three inches in diameter. This Platycodon is easily
raised from seed, and if sown early in spring the plants will
blossom the first summer when they are about six inches high.
This plant is also known as Campanula grandiflora, and is a

native of China and Japan.
Botanic Garden, Harvard University.

The Best Dutch Bulbs.

HE Dutch Bulb Society lately took a vote on their
choice of the best varieties of Hyacinths, Tulips, etc.,
with the following result :

Six white Hyacinths (single and double).—La Grandesse,
Grandeur a Merveille, Mont Blanc, L'Innocence, Madame van
der Hoop and Baron van Tuyll.

Six blue Hyacinths (single and double).—Grand Maitre, King
of the Blues, Charles Dickens, Queen of the Blues, Czar Peter
and Regulus.

Six rose-colored Hyacinths (single and double).—Gigantea,
Moreno, Noble par Mérite, Roi des Belges, Lord Macaulay and
Gertrude.

Robert Cameron.

Garden and Forest.

297

Three Hyacinths, yellow and orange (single and double).—
Ida, King of the Yellows and Sonora.

Three purple Hyacinths (single and double).—Haydn, Sir
William Mansfield and Adelina Patti.

Twenty-four Tulips (early single).—Pottebakker (464 votes),
La Précieuse, Keizerskroon, Vermilion Brilliant, Proserpine,
Joost van Vondel, Rose Griselin, La Reine, Rosa Mundi,
Chrysolora, Yellow Prince, Duchesse de Parma, Thomas
Moore, Kanarienvogel, Wouverman, L’Immaculée, Duc van
Thol (scarlet), Ophir d'Or, Zilveren Standaard, Nelly, Rose Lui-
sante, Rembrandt and Gouden Standaard, with 189 votes.

Twelve Tulips (double).—Murillo, Tournesol, Imperator
rubrorum, La Candeur, Salvator Rosa, Tournesol (yellow),
Rose Blanche (see colored plate Revue de l'Horticulture Belge
of June Ist), Rex rubrorum, Vurbaak, Mariage de ma fille,
Alba maxima and Raphael. The first had 461 votes, the latter
198 votes.

Correspondence.
The Oak Pruner.

To the. Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—I have at my home in Auburndale a beautiful Oak
afflicted by some disease which causes the small branches to
fall to the ground. Can you tell me what the matter is and
suggest treatment? =

Boston. Dy RY ea

(Our correspondent’s Oak is afflicted with the larve of
the Oak Pruner, Stenocorus putator, which is unusually
abundant this year in the neighborhood of Boston. In its
adult state it is a slender long brown beetle, sprinkled with
gray spots, and varies from four anda half inches to six-
tenths of an inch in length. It lays its eggs in July, each
egg being placed close to the joint of a leaf-stalk or of a
small twig near the end of a branch of an Oak-tree. The
grub hatched from the egg penetrates the following season
to the pith of the branchlet and continues its course toward
the body of the tree, and by devouring the pith forms a
cylindrical mine several inches long in the centre of the
branch. Having reached its fullsize it cuts off the branch
at the lower end of its burrow by gnawing away the wood
from within, leaving only the ring of bark untouched ;
then, retiring backward, it stops up its hole in the trans-
verse section with the fibres of the wood and awaits the
fall of the branch, which is broken off and precipitated to
the ground bya slight breeze. The presence of the grub
is not discovered until the branch falls, and there is nothing
to do but to gather up the branches as fast as they fall and
burn them, and in this way prevent the spread of this
pest. — Ep. ]

In the Mountain Trails.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—I have just returned froma three-weeks’ drive through
the same mountain region near here where we had journeyed
ten years ago, andI remember that we then considered the
popular novelist’s pictures of the moonshine regions and
picturesque backwood characters had not been overdrawn.
Such utter shiftlessness and entire absence of concern for any-
thing beyond the merest animal existence could only be con-
ceived by one who had passed the windowless huts from which
poured out droves of half-naked, shock-haired children, ‘‘jest
fer to see the stranger’’; the few weedy fields, almost hidden
from sight by the brush in the fence corners ; the scrub cows
and razor-backed hogs that never saw pasture or pen; these,
together with the absence of schoolhouses and churches, told
of the general do-nothingness of the population.

But ten years have wrought great changes, and during a
drive of more than four hundred miles through one of the most
out-of-the-way regions in America, we saw but a half-dozen
windowless houses and fewer barefooted women. We saw
orchards dotting the hillsides, enclosed yards about most of
the houses, and nota few comfortable and roomy dwellings,
built with some faint pretensions to beauty. In the larger val-
leys there was a sprinkling of fairly well-tilled farms, and a
growing taste for the beautiful as expressed in occasional
shrubbery and flowers.

This last surprised us above all else. Ten years before we
had observed almost no attempts at flower-gardening, and
there are still some districts with no flowers but the wild ones,

298

and many more where the attempts at ornamental gardening
are of the crudest. Nevertheless, the growing taste in this
direction was marked. It was interesting to observe the evo-
lution of the flower-garden, The first plant cultivated was
inevitably a Zinnia, the next was usually a Castor-bean,
and after these a considerable variety was seen about the more
ambitious houses. I neversaw as many Zinnias before, nor
such poor ones. If there are any who have a passion for
Zinnias, these enthusiasts would have their love put to a severe
test if compelled to gaze for three weeks, as we did, at ragged
single Zinnias, dul! in color and shaggy in outline. We passed
at least ahundred homes where the sole flowers were these
forlorn, neglected things that had less beauty than the Mullein
by the roadside. Nevertheless, some one had sowed them,
some one had hoed them, some one had taken pleasure in
them, and it may be that they will be forerunners of much
garden beauty in the future. If so, welcome even the Zinnia.

Uncle Sam sends his mail-bagseverywhere. Onthe roughest
mountains we passed the carrier with mail-bags thrown over
his saddle, or met the faster stage with the familiar letters,
“U.S. Mail,” painted in great letters upon the sides. The
catalogues that our florists scatter broadcast all over the land
in this way bear fruit even in this unpromising field: Once
we were treated to a genuine surprise. We had been riding
over roads so rough as to be almost impassable, and for two
days we had scarcely seen an excuse fora flower, save those
of Nature’s planting. Suddenly we came to a house sur-
rounded by a wide lawn. Long beds and borders were ablaze
with scarlet and pink Geraniums, and gay Balsams, Helio-
tropes, Asters and Marigolds, and we stopped the horses to
look long at the tempting beauties displayed by some one who
is doing true mission work in teaching order, industry and
love of the beautiful.

On the whole, therefore, the incipient efforts at ornamental
planting, though small and weak, are yet encouraging in this
remote and mountain-locked region, and, no doubt, the time
is coming when the wilderness and the solitary place shall be
glad, and the desert shall blossom as the Rose.

Lora S, La Mance.

Pineville, Mo.

Hardiness of Southern Pine.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—About three years ago I obtained from North Carolina
a dozen young plants of Pinus palustris and set them out in
the spring. Unfortunately but one survived the transplanting,
but your readers may be interested to know that this has
proved quite hardy here where it has stood out for two win-
ters, with no protection whatever, and has suffered no harm.
Among other plants which are usually considered too tender
for our winters, Ilex crenata, from Japan, has proved perfectly
at home here, so has Skimmia Japonica, a broad-leaved, slow-
growing evergreen. Magnolia grandiflora loses its foliage
nearly entirely every winter, but the branches are always
unhurt. For general planting it is never worth while to use
trees or shrubs which are not sure to thrive, but it is interest-
ing occasionally to have specimens of some striking sorts
outside of the limit of their assured hardiness. Thus, Aucuba
Japonica can usually be trusted here out-of-doors, and so can
the beautiful Crape Myrtle, Lagerstrcemia Indica.
Foseph Meehan.

Germantown, Pa.

Winter Protection for Bush Fruits.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—There are, perhaps, a dozen essential factors that go
to make up the conditions of success with any one crop. But
if one of these factors chances to be neglected, instead of
reducing the resulting crop one-twelfth, as might seem to
be the case, it may reduce it to zero. As if this were not
enough, there is still the cost of production to be deducted.
In other words, while the faithful observance of any one essen-
tial factor will not insure success, the neglect of any one may
bring absolute failure. The Blackberry bushes on the Nebraska
Experiment Station farm present a striking example of this
truth at the present time. The past winter has been one of
the mildest ever experienced in this section, yet rows of
Taylor Blackberry, left uncovered for comparison, are killed to
the ground, the canes presenting one continuous row of
brown, until the new shoots sprang up from the root. Rows
right beside these, which were laid down and covered with
earth for protection, are alive and plump throughout and
throwing out vigorous leaves and promises of fruit. In this
case it is evident that while laying down and protecting the

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 439.

canes does not insure a crop, the neglect-of it does insure
failure.

It is instructive to note in this case that it is not severe cold
that causes the death of the canes, since the lowest point
reached at any time during the winter was only five degrees
below zero in January, and in no other month did it fall below
zero. Comparing this with the temperature which the Taylor
Blackberry endures in the eastern states, it will be readily seen
that the injury must be assigned to some other cause. The
most probable reason seems to be the excessive dryness of
the soil and atmosphere during the winter months. Little rain
or snow falls, as a rule, during this time, and uncovered canes
are almost continuously exposed to drying winds. Even the
winter protection afforded by laying downand covering did not
suffice to bring the Red Raspberries through in such condi-
tion as to promise a crop, although the effect was noticeable
in the greater proportion of living wood. The fate seems to
be the same every winter so far as injury to uncovered canes
is concerned. Heretofore none have been laid down, and the
result has uniformly beena complete failure. It may be added,
that having thus guarded against the drying winds of winter the
even more trying ones of summer are to be encountered, and
the problem of counteracting these is as yet largely unsolved.

Lincoln, Nebraska. Fred W. Card.

Kansas Wild Flowers.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—The hillsides and prairies of Kansas are decked with
many beautiful flowers from April until October, and I have
selected for notice a few which I think would be of the most
interest to those who grow flowers for pleasure or profit.
All of them are confined almost exclusively to the west
and may be called Kansas plants. Some of them have been
cultivated, but not to any great extent that I know of. I have
seen a few in cultivation here, but for the most part their
adaptability to cultivation in other localities is yet to be tested.
All of the plants mentioned I value in the natural state, but
many of them could, doubtless, be improved by cultivation
and selection.

Anemone Caroliniana is a small daisy-like flower which dots
the smoother prairie pastures with red, white and blue flowers
early in the spring.

Callirrhoé involucrata is usually found in sandy soil, and
with its large reddish-purple mallow-like flowers and much
cut leaves spread out on the ground gives the bottom-lands a
very attractive appearance. [This plant is quite common in
eastern gardens, where it blooms all summer, and springs up
from self-sown seed year after year.—ED.

Amorpha canescens, the Lead-plant, one of our small shrubby
prairie plants, has been cultivated to some extent and is very
attractive when in full flower. It is much branched from the
root, and the fine compound leaves, covered witha gray pubes-
cence, contrast well with the dense purple spikes of flowers
with their golden-yellow stamens. [See vol. vil., p. 275.—ED.]

The Cnotheras, or Evening Primroses, are very abundant
here and produce some of our largest flowers. Professor F.
A. Waugh has already described them so fully that I will only
call attention to his article in vol. viii., p. 253.

Gaura coccinea is a low-branching plant, six to twelve inches
high, and bearing a profusion of small rose-colored or scarlet
flowers, which have a pink-like fragrance. Itis found in the
more sandy bottoms.

Mentzelia ornata is one of the most showy of Kansas flow-
ers, where it grows on the rocky hills of the western part of
the state. The flowers somewhat resemble those of the Night-
blooming Cereus; they open in the afternoon and evening,
expanding their yellowish white petalssome three inches. The
plant is often called here the White Mound Lily.—[See vol. vi.,
p. 63.—ED. |

Townsendia sericea is one of the earliest composites of the
state. The low plant is almost stemless, and the large white
or pinkish flowers are almost on the ground on the hilltops
which they adorn in April.

Helianthus petiolaris, the Sand-hill Sunflower, is one of the
prettiest Sunflowers of the Sunflower state. It is much like the
too common H. annuus, but more graceful, smoother, and
the flowers are smaller and brighter.

Asclepias speciosa bears the largest flowers of any of our
Milkweeds. It is a large-leaved, white, woolly plant with
showy drooping umbels of purple flowers of the peculiar
Milkweed form. It has a heavy sweet fragrance like most of
the species of Asclepias.

Ipomeea leptophylla, the bush Morning-glory, is a peculiar
and beautiful plant. Unlike most of our Ipomceas, it is an

JULY 22, 1896.]

upright, branching, shrub-like perennial, growing from an
immense woody root weighing from ten to one hundred
pounds. The flowers are a pink-purple and about three
inches long.—[See vol. vii., p. 436.—ED. | ;
Euphorbia zygophylloides is much like E, petaloides of the
east, but is more densely and finely branched and covered with
small white or pinkish flowers, which are useful for cutting,
like those of E. corollata, or Gypsophila paniculata, to mingle

with larger ones of a more positive color.
State Aceicultaral College, Manhattan, Kan. F. B.S. Norton.

Notes from West Virginia.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—Our little collection of shrubs and trees embraces nearly
five hundred species and varieties, and, although at this sea-
son comparatively few of them are in bloom, yet I find that
one can still gather from them large and beautiful bouquets
for the decoration of the house and table. A vase in my room
is filled with branches of white Althea, or Hibiscus Syriacus,
and another is decorated with the graceful white plumes and
pinnate foliage of Osbeck’s Sumach, Rhus semi-alata, var.
Osbecki, just coming into flower. This Sumach is not a shrub,
but a tree of very rapid growth, and bids fair to attain a large
size. Planted five years ago it is now fifteen feet in height, the
main stem divided into two near the ground. It is very
attractive at this time because of its conspicuous bloom and
semi-tropical appearance, but will be even more beautiful in
the fall when it puts on its lively coloring of red and orange.
[Osbeck’s Sumach is not yet in flower in the latitude of New
York. It is a hardy and shapely tree here, but as there are no
leaves on its larger branches it has not a compact appearance.
It has also the drawback of throwing up suckers even at a con-
siderable distance from the trunk, Its late period of flowering
gives it a distinct value, but in limited collections there are
trees which are preferable to it for general purposes.—ED. |

Parrottia Persica is now a beautiful young tree ten feetin height,
clothed to the ground with dense and very elegant foliage. It
is one of the finest specimen plants we have. Unfortunately,
a web-worm has found it out, while its near relative, our
native Witch Hazel, is untouched. It may be added that its
flowers are not conspicuous, but that its autumn coloring is
quite as brilliant as that of our native small trees. Although
it comes from southern Europe, it is quite hardy as far north
as New England. The Fontanesia spoken of some time ago
is more attractive now than when in bloom, as every twig is
furnished with small light green carpels, which contrast pret-
tily with the darker green of the narrow leaves, Near-by, Calli-
carpa Japonica is showing numerous small clusters of light
pink flowers, very freely produced, and these will be succeeded
by curious mauve-colored berries moreshowy than the flowers,

The wild garden is bright with tall red and yellow Lilies,
masses of light blue and pure white Funkias and many other
handsome flowers. Heliopsis Pitcheriana planted in a fence
corner is a cheerful sight with its large, bright yellow flowers
in generous profusion. This wild garden has a distant back-
ground of pink and white, double and single flowering Altheas,
or Hibiscus Syriacus, with showy blossoms nestling amid the
cool green of their varnished foliage. In the foreground many
Platycodons with their blue and white blossoms mingle with
the Lilies and make a fine display. Here a tall, well-grown
plant of Cassia Marylandica is at home and has attractive com-
pound foliage and yellow flowers in axillary racemes and ter-
minal panicles. It is four feet in height and comes up from
the root every spring, only blooming in wet seasons. It grows
in a wild form in our marsh, where it blooms profusely every
year. The bright blue flowers of Lady Larpent's Plumbago,
Ceratostigma plumbaginoides, are beginning to show them-
selves at the foot of the Spirzzaa Anthony Waterer, which is
still blooming profusely. The ground in this wild garden is
partly covered with Asperula agurea setosa, a delicate little
annual, not showy, but very lovable with its clusters of small
light blue flowers and refreshing perfume. Near-by isea
blooming mass of lemon-scented Thyme, another inconspic-
uous plant whose fragrance gives it value. .

Shepherdstown, W. Va. Danske Dandridge.

Recent Publications.

The Nut Culturist, Wllustrated. By Andrew S. Fuller.
New York: Orange Judd & Co.

It is a pity that Mr. Fuller did not live a few months
longer to see the publication of a book which he has had
in preparation so many years. He was certainly one of

Garden and Forest.

299

the pioneers in observing and experimenting on what is
now recognized as an important subject, and which is
destined to become, beyond doubt, an extensive industry
in this country. Even now, however, the practical knowl-
edge which we have of propagating our native nut-trees
is not very large, but Mr. Fuller was the leading authority
on this matter in the country while he lived, and his writ-
ings have done much to encourage experiments in the way
of securing and planting improved varieties of our native
nut-trees and of such imported species and varieties as can
be grown profitably in this country.

This compact little treatise of 390 pages contains separate
chapters on the almond, the beech-nut, the castanopsis, the
chestnut, the hazel-nut, the hickory-nut and the walnut, and
then there are brief accounts of many other miscellaneous
nuts whichare either found in the country or in our markets.
Mr. Fuller believes that the best known of the walnuts—
that is, the Madeira nut or Persian walnut, which has been
in cultivation for many centuries in different countries and
climates—can be grown with a little care in our easiern states
as easily as our native butternuts. Thereare now acclimated
specimens growing here and there which are hardy and
productive, and from seedlings or scions of these we can
experiment until we have a strain which would be perfectly
trustworthy in this climate. A comparatively large space
is given to the different varieties of hickory-nuts, including
the pecan, and Mr. Fuller advocates the planting of Hick-
ories as roadside trees, because they are quite as ornamental
as any other trees and yield abundant crops. Indeed, in the
introduction of his book Mr. Fuller makes a long argument
in favor of using nut-trees for roadside planting. Hesees no
reasonable excuse for planting miles of Elms, Maples, Ashes,
Willows and Cottonwoods by the roadside, where the Shell-
bark Hickory, Chestnut, Black Walnut, Pecan and Butter-
nut would thrive equally well, yielding in addition bushels
of the richest nuts and increasing in productiveness for
one, two or more centuries. Mr. Fuller himself states that
when young he selected the popular shade-trees, all of
which flourished, and when they were twenty years old
they began to be admired for their beauty, although their
roots robbed the soil of the adjacent fields considerably.
When his trees had become thirty years old the best of
them were probably worth $2.00 apiece for firewood, or
$1.00 more than the nurserymian’s price at the time of
planting. If he had set nut-trees forty feet apart he would
have had 130 trees in every single row a mile long, or twice
as many, counting both sides of the road. With a hardy
strain of Persian Walnuts, with Hickory-nutsas good as those
borne by Hale’s variety, or with American or foreign Chest-
nuts grafted to good varieties it would be safe to count on
a hundred bushels for a double row of trees a mile long at
twenty years from planting, and this would mean a con-
siderable present income, with the promise of an increas-
ing supply for a hundred years. There are some disad-
vantages in the use of nut-trees for planting in the street,
it is true, and yet we are inclined to think that Mr. Fuller's
argument is fundamentally sound, especially as there is a
steady increase in the demand for good nuts, and the best
American nuts have increased largely in value during the
last three or four decades.

The book is illustrated with helpful cuts, and having
been issued so soon after the publication of the monograph
on the same subject by the Agricultural Department at
Washington this long-neglected subject ought now to begin
to attract that attention which its importance demands.

Notes.

Perhaps the showiest of the Milkweeds about here is Ascle-
pias tuberosa, which is now conspicuous with its deep orange
flowers, but some of the other species, like A. rubra, are also
worth a place in the hardy plant border.

Spirazea Anthony Waterer, like all varieties of this type, hasa
disagreeable dead-and-alive look if the flowers are allowed to
wither and go to seed. The proper way to treat this shrub is

300

to cut off each flower-cluster as soon as it has begun to fade,
and then the plant will continue to show its rosy pink bloom
until autumn.

One of the largest Oak-trees in this country, says Weehans’
Monthly for July, is a Red Oak in a forest of Pemiscot County,
Missouri. The straight trunk of this tree, recently measured
by Colonel George B. Bowles, of Affton, St. Louis County, has
a circumference of twenty-seven feet near the ground and
nineteen feet eight feet above, and is clear for sixty feet to the
first limb.

The receipts of new southern potatoes at this season have
been smaller in this city than the average for the past five
years, and yet the prices have been lower than they ever were,
partly because there were so many old potatoes on hand when
the season began, and partly because there has been a light
call for them in that part of the country which receives its sup-
plies from this market. Good sound potatoes sell for sixty
cents a barrel, fair ones bring no more than fifty cents, and
poor ones even less, which means that the season has been a
disastrous one to the southern potato grower.

Although Coreopsis grandiflora and C. lanceolata are native
plants, they were rarely seen in gardens until a few years ago.
They are beautiful in a wild state, but they grow much more
vigorously when well cared for. A mass of either of these
plants will beautify any garden by the wonderful profusion of
their long-stemmed clear yellow flowers. They are so easily
produced that no garden should be without them. Another
indispensable plant is the old-fashioned Lychnis Chalcedonica,
which was once more common than it now is in country gar-
dens. Its flat clusters of flowers of the most vivid scarlet
make a conspicuous feature at this season in the hardy herba-
ceous border.

The authorities at Kew experienced considerable difficulty
at first in making Lilium giganteum at home there, but it
finally has found exactly the conditions it likes in the Bamboo
garden, where it seems to be permanently established and
naturalized. Not only do the soil and situation suit the plant,
but nothing could be more effective in appearance than the
tall and stately spikes of great white flowers amid the feathery
masses of the Bamboo. It ought to be added that, besides
these Lilies, there are enough other flowering plants here to
emphasize by their contrast the beauty of the noble Grasses,
so that the Bamboo garden is really one of the most attractive
spots in the gardens at Kew.

According to 7he Country Gentleman, Mr. Schuyler Worden
is still living in the village of Minetto, Oswego County, New
York, at the age of nearly ninety years. It is more than thirty-
five years ago since he planted a quantity of seeds of the Con-
cord Grape, and it was the most vigorous of these seedlings
which is the parent of the widely distributed variety known as
the Worden. It was not placed in the hands of nurserymen
for introduction, and for many years it was spoken of slight-
ingly and said to be nothing more than the ordinary Concord,
and thousands of Concord vines were sold as genuine Wordens.
In recent years, however, the Worden has taken its true posi-
tion as one of the very best of black grapes. The original
vine is said to be still growing where it was first planted.

The first horticultural school for women in Germany was
‘ opened at Friedenau, near Berlin, in the autumn of 1894, and
it will graduate its first class of seven members next fall. One
of the graduates will then assume the position of teacher in a
similar school recently established at Riga, in Livonia. On the
first of October next still another institution of the kind will be
opened on the estate of Baroness Barth-Harmating, near Plauen,
in Saxony. The courses of study extend over two or three
years, and include not only the various branches of horticul-
ture, but also fundamental scientific instruction and such
knowledge of business methods as is needed for the successful
prosecution of commercial gardening. Emphasis is laid upon
the fact that the new work thus made possible for women is
suitable for those of the cultivated classes, and not for unedu-
cated or semi-educated rustics.

At the midsummer meeting of the Minnesota State Horti-
cultural Society much time was given to the discussion of
plans for forest development and protection, and the proposi-
tion of Captain Cross, of which we have already made mention,
to make the state a trustee of the cut-over Pine-lands, was
endorsed and a resolution in favor of an enactment by the next
Legislature to this effect was adopted. It was also resolved
that encouragement be given to the project of setting apart a
small area of well-timbered state lands to be operated by the

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 439.

University according to the best systems of forestry, for the
purpose of illustrating the advantages of good forest manage-
ment. In other words, according to Mr. H. B. Ayres, who
introduced the resolution, an effort ought to be made to
demonstrate that good forest management when applied to
well-wooded lands is more profitable than the present method
of lumbering,

In the earlier volumes of GARDEN AND FOREST we spoke of
the value of the Japanese Rosa multiflora and published a por-
trait of it in vol. iii., page 4o5. Although it was described by
Thunberg more than a hundred years ago it was only recently
brought into cultivation, but within the last few years it has been
disseminated extensively throughout this country from the
Arnold Arboretum, where it was raised from seed sent by
Herr Max Leichtlin as long ago as 1874. It is rather remark-
able that this plant, like the Cherokee Rose, another native of
eastern Asia, has been thoroughly naturalized in some parts
of the southern states for a long time. Dr. Carl Mohr writes
us from Mobile, Alabama, that it has been established in that
section for three generations at least, where it grows quite as
luxuriantly as the Cherokee Rose, and keeps its hold of the
soil more firmly when it once gets possession. The southern
plants seem identical with those raised in the Arboretum,
except that the flowers vary from rose-color to almost pure
white. A figure in the Botanical Magazine also represents the
petals as pink or slightly shaded with pink, but the plants raised
in the Arboretum all bore pure white flowers. So far as we
know there is no record of the introduction of this plant into our
southern states, and, perhaps, the time and manner of its arrival
will remain a mystery as profound as that which shrouds the
introduction of the Cherokee Rose.

The Revue del’ Horticulture Lelge reports an interesting case
at Jaw which was tried before the Tribunal of Commerce at
Bruges, in which Monsieur Vincke brought action against
Messrs, Sander & Co. for one thousand francs, the price of a
plant of Cypripedium Harrisianum in flower, which, when
purchased, showed remarkable coloring. Next year, however,
when the plant bloomed the flowers were of the ordinary char-
acter, and, therefore, the Messrs. Sander claimed that it was
according to the custom of trade for the vender of a plant to
guarantee the existence of special characteristics. Mr. Vincke
held that there was no such guarantee, that the plant was
bought in flower as it stood and that the Messrs. Sander took
the risk of the yariety being a permanent one. The court held
that since the plant was offered without stipulation or without
any guarantee that the color of the bloom was fixed, and that
since there was no concealment or attempt to deceive, the
conditions did not justify the annulment of the contract. Since
hybrids and their offspring are specially prone to vary, and
this is true of Chrysanthemums, Roses and other commercial
flowers as wellas of Orchids, buyers under this decision always
take some risk. What the practice of the trade is in this coun-
try when new varieties are sold we are not able to state, but
we never knew a novelty which was guaranteed by the seller
to retain the special character which made it valuable.

Pears and plums made up most of the forty-six car-loads of
fruit which arrived at this market from California last week,
and the different colors of the plums and prunes now on the
fruit-stands make them very attractive. The apricot yellow of
Prunus Simoni, the light purple of Royal Hative, the salmon
of the Peach, the yellow and purple of Kelsey’s Japan with its
rich bloom, the cherry-red of the Burbank, the darker red of
the Satsuma under its thick bloom, the yellowish green of the
Washington, the reddish purple of the Duane with its lilac
bloom, the still deeper purple of the Tragedy, all these tints
and many more make a feast for the eye, while in addition to
their beauty the fragrance of this fruit, with that of the peaches
and pears, apples and apricots which are still occasionally
seen, makes another distinct attraction. These plums and
prunes are bringing fair prices, but California peaches have
now to come into competition with those from Georgia and
meet with a slow sale. A few peaches are coming from Dela-
ware and Maryland, but the best now, and these are fairly.
good, come from Gecrgia and South Carolina. Moore's Early,
Delaware and Niagara grapes are coming from as far northas
North Carolina, many of them immature and sour. Perhaps
a well-ripened Niagara grape would taste well in midsummer,
but somehow we associate their best flavor with cooler nights
and they seem like an anachronism, Nyack Pippins, Sweet
Bough and Astrachan apples, when hand-picked, are worth
from $1.50 to $2.50 a barrel. Le Conte pears, from Florida,
are worth $3.00 a barrel, and Bartlett pears of full size and fair
color, from California, sell for $2.00 a box.

JuLy 29, 1896.]

GARDEN .AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orricz: Trisung Buitpinc, Ngw 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 29, 1896.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Epitor1aL ArtIcLE :—Epping Forest.....
Plant Names of {ndian Origin.—V
Delights of a Rough Garden..

Prant Notes :—Viburnum cassinoides. “(With figure. yee

CutturaL DeparTMENT :—The Haney, Plant Border...
Some Good Annuals. .
The Propagation of Tender Plants.
Chrysanthemums. ...2.:.000..-c50-5
The Globe Artichoke
Floating Plants, Clerodendron foetidum.¥

CorresponpENCE :—Edible Barberries..
Privacy in puberban Pifeeees eee

Edward F. Canning. 305

Robert Cameron. 306

.W. A. Taplin. 307

ease’ 7. D. Hatfield. 307

cinncisielee O., Oppel. 307.

--G. W. Oliver. 308
WwW.

FRECENT PUBLICATIONS 22-200 cess ccsesececensscccesceses see ee eee ee 309
NOTES. 00.0 scene sis asce cesses coscetecene cs nccsaseneserebeessece se scecssecens ee0 310
ILtustRaTion :—Viburnum cassinoides, Fig. at. renee seca caer esenes 305

Epping Forest.

ORESTS in English law, according to Blackstone, are
“waste grounds belonging to the king, replenished
with all manner of chase or venery, which are under the
king’s protection for the sake of his recreation and delight.”
Three hundred years ago Manwood wrote: “A forest is a
certain territory of wooddy grounds and fruitful pastures
priviledged for wild beasts and foules of forest, chase, and
warren, to rest and abide in in the safe protection of the
king and for his princely delight and pleasure.” In this
legal sense and in the colloquial language of former times
in England, trees were only incidents, and not essentials, of
a forest. Ofcourse, forests were largely wood-clad, but the
trees were considered of use chiefly as a game cover just
as the pasturage was valued for the support of the game.
In England at the present day, as in our own country and
in other European countries, the terms “forests” and
“forestry” are applied to stretches of woodland which
produce fuel, timber and what are known as_ forest
products, and a forest need not be a game preserve.
What is now known as Epping Forest is the remnant of
a once extensive royal hunting-ground which embraced a
large portion of the county of Essex. It was gradually
reduced as portions of it were disafforested until, in 1640,
it embraced some 60,000 acres, 12,000 being unenclosed
wastes and woods, and the remainder to some extent cul-
tivated, but subordinated to the hunting rights of the
crown. As suburban land increased in value and the
utilitarian spirit of the age began to consider it a crime to
allow land to lie idle which might be cultivated, the bounda-
ries were gradually contracted until in 1850 there were
only 6,000 acres which were not fenced in, and during the
next twenty years, under some injudicious legislation, half
of this was enclosed and more or less built upon. About 1860
several persons of influence organized a Commons Preser-
vation Society to resist encroachments upon open spaces
belonging to the people, and began to take action in regard
to the common land about London, and after a legal
contest which lasted fifteen years the courts decided the
case in favor of the Corporation of London, which had
been fighting the battle for the society and the people, with

Garden and Forest.

301

the final result that 5,542 acres were saved for the people
to be theirs by inalienable right for recreation and enjoy-
ment forever.

As itnow exists, Epping Forest is a long and comparatively
narrow stretch of rolling woodland and grassy spaces not
enclosed, and in many places pastured on by the cattle of
the commoners who still hold this right. The interesting
fact in relation to this great pleasure-ground and the many
small outlying spaces that belong to it is that within an
hour's ride of the heart of the city of London this long
stretch of wild woodland remains devoted to public use.
The act which put the forest under the management of the
Epping Forest Committee, which consists of twelve mem-
bers of the Court of Common Council and four verderers
resident within the forest and elected by the commoners,
provides that “the Conservators shall at all times, as far as
possible, preserve the natural aspect of the forest.” This
injunction accords entirely with a very strenuous public
opinion which holds that the Forest shall “remain a forest
and not be civilized into a park.” To this end the Forest
contains scarcely any roads except the regular county
traffic roads which traverse it; there are no * gravelled or
asphalt paths, no trim borders, no exotic shrubs or trees.
There is a Green Ride, which is a turf wood-road travers-
ing the forest, and visitors can wander at will through the
groves and thickets, but they will find no attempt to
sophisticate the landscape. The natural underwood grows
at will among the trees, the native sedges and grasses are
left about the fringes of the little ponds, the shrubbery by
the wayside consists of Wild Roses, Broom and indigenous
bushes. Shy dark-brown fallow deer can be seen occa-
sionally in the dense cover, and the beautiful little roe deer
also makes its home in the thick woods, and generally
the place is as untamed as nature can make it. To
one driving along the main road the dense undergrowth
on the forest border looks quite impenetrable, but, once
within it, there is no difficulty in walking among the trees,
although one can easily get lost in the woods almost within
the sound of the roar of London. The visitor who. canters
over the Green Ride in company with some one who
knows the forest thoroughly, especially if he has the good
fortune to be guided by Mr. McKenzie, the Superintendent,
who succeeded his father in the position and who knows
every foot of it and allits varied beauties, can pass days
of delight in exploring its many attractions. As the result
of careful study, points have been selected on high ground,
where by cutting away a few trees broad and refreshing
views across the forest can be secured, and there are ele-
vations which command smiling pastoral landscapes in
Essex on the north and east and Hertford on the west, while
from one point at least the dome of St. Paul’s can be seen
hanging against the southern sky, while the base of the
cathedral and all the city lies hidden in the mist.

To Americans accustomed to the luxuriance and variety
of our own forest growth the Epping woods are somewhat
disappointing at first, because they are made up of so few
species, and still more so because the trees over such large
areas have been pollarded—that is, cut back, branch and
stem, every fifteen years to seven feet from the ground to
furnish fuel for the commoners. This mutilation of the
trees has now been discontinued, of course, but when left
to themselves these pollards become shock-headed speci-
mens which have little beauty. Of course, there are many
fairly good trees, although none of them match the vener-
able Oaks of Sherwood or the Beeches of Burnham. In
High Beech, Monk Wood and some other parts of the
forest, groves of good trees rise above the level of the
others which have been unsparingly robbed of their tops
for generations. In spite ofits maltreatment, however, the
great central mass of the forest, which lies in a single
block some four miles long and covers four thousand
acres, is a wild and beautiful wood of Oak, Beech, Horn-
beam, Crab, Maple, Thorn, Birch and Holly, and one can
find unalloyed pleasure in riding along its bridle-paths or
wandering through its intricate by-ways. The names

302

Monk Wood and High Beech call to mind the fact
that in this forest, as in every other part of England, there
is hardly a hill or vale or even a thicket which has not
a name which it has borne for generations. Wintry Wood,
Epping Thicks, Broad Strood, Honey Lane, Long Running,
Black Bushes, Fairmead Bottom, Round Thicket, Button-
seed Corner, The Hawk Wood, The Great Shrubbage,
Rushy Plain and many more are picturesque reminders of
some feature, or interesting as preserving some bit of local
history. It isa pity that some of our own park-makers
could not take a lesson from this habit and use the old names
of the places which they have converted into pleasure-
grounds when any such exist, instead of inventing some
sentimental compound often from another language.

This adhesion to the old name in the forest is part of the
conservative spirit which insists on letting everything
alone, so that even when a tree falls the branches are cut
away and the trunk is left to serve as a seat where the vis-
itor may rest. And just here comes a problem which will
grow more and more puzzling as time goes on. The peo-
ple who insist that the forest must remain justas itis ought
to know that these mutilated pollards are anything but
natural, that they are permanently disfigured and will
never make respectable upright trees. The managers of
the forest are aware of this, and they know that the pol-
lards stand too thickly for their own wholesome develop-
ment, while the dense growth of their spindling branches
will destroy the beautiful undergrowth which took posses-
sion of the ground when the lopping of the trees let in the
light and air. They are aware that these clipped and arti-
ficial trees should be severely thinned out, and although
some of the gnarled and twisted trunks should be left
for their picturesque qualities, a vigorous use of the axe
is the one thing which the forest most needs. And
yet in England, as in America, whenever a tree is felled
the people raise a clamor as if it were a desecration, when
really this is only helping nature to reassert herself and
encourage genuine woods to take the place of an unnatural
growth. Young trees in abundance are coming up, and
if an opportunity were only given to them the whole terri-
tory could be renovated in fifty years and be a thousand
times more lovely than it would be if let alone.

And another problem will soon be pressing. Many
parts of the forest are now thronged with visitors, but
other parts are often so lonely that one can find in them
almost the solitude of some of our primeval woods. As
the giant city sweeps to the north and envelops the
Forest the numbers of people who come to refresh them-
selves in its dark recesses will multiply. It will then be
more difficult to preserve the charm of natural forest con-
ditions. The undergrowth will be trampled to death ;
there will be need of drainage to make dry walks, and
this will sap the life of some of the trees ; the by-paths
will be worn wider; the turf in the green roads will be
ruined. Then will come the same problem which presents
itself to the park-makers in our own country, where land is
set apart for refreshing the bodies and the minds of invad-
ing multitudes—the problem how to provide for human
convenience most completely and yet save as much of the
poetic beauty of the wood as possible.

Plant Names of Indian Origin.—V.

Tamarack (Larix Americana).—‘ The numerous descend-
ants of the Dutch in New Jersey call it [Larix] Tamarack”
(Michaux, Amer. Syva). The name was in use in Penn-
sylvania also at an early period. If the word were Indian,
as all dictionaries tell us, it would be Algonkin and belong
to the Delaware dialect of that language. But no meaning
can be extracted from it in its present form, and I have not
been able to find any other. The Algonkin root /am means
“to cut,” and ak, as an inseparable suffix, designates a
“standing tree,” but the presence of the r renders the word
meaningless. If we reject this letter, we have a word mean-
ing “tree cutter,” an eastern Algonkin name for the beaver.

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 440.

Two explanations suggest themselves: (1) The word may

bea corruption of tacamahac, another early name for the |

same tree, or (2), more probably, an alteration of tamarick
(for Tamarix, the species Gallica of which is sometimes
called “Cypress” in England), and which may have been
fancifully applied to the American Larch by the early colo-
nists from England, to which the European species is not
indigenous. Inalist of New York plants given in Macauley’s
History of New Fork (1829), the popular name ‘‘ Larch” is
accompanied with its proper scientific designation, but
opposite the name “‘tamarac” is placed the genus name
Tamarix, without any indication of species. It is evident
that the compiler of the list regarded the word tamarack as
a corruption of tamarisk, vulgo tamarik or tamrik. The
Larch does not seem to have been put to any important
economic use by our Indians, and there are, therefore, but
few Algonkin names for it. None of those in my possession
bears the least resemblance to the word under considera-
tion. The name has been transferred to several western
conifers.

Tit, or Ty Ty (Cassandra calyculata, var. angustifolia). —
A name of the plant in one of the Indian languages of
Florida. It probably belongs to a dialect of the Timucua
family, now extinct, but which formerly occupied most of
the peninsula. A root is sometimes, as in the word under
consideration, reduplicated in Indian languages (especially
in the Carib dialects, to which the Timucua is supposed to
have been related) to indicate that the object specified by
the name thus formed is of very common occurrence or
exists in great abundance. Such is the case with the Cas-
sandra, which, according to Williams (Zerrdlory of Florida,
1837), grows in crowded masses and constitutes the prin-
cipal shrub of the Florida ‘‘galls” and swamps. The
name has been applied also to Cliftonia ligustrina.

Tosacco (Nicotiana).—From /odaco, the Taino (Haytian)
name for a Y-shaped inhaler, the branches of which were
inserted into the nostrils, while the stem was thrust into
the smoke of the burning herb. The name of the plant
(N. Tabacum) in the same language was cohiba.

Tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum).—Formerly spelled
tomata, from Aztec /omadl, through Mex.-Span. tomate.
It is stated in Appleton’s Cyclopedia that the name
means “ water-berry”’; but this is an error. The word is
from a radical oma (the meaning of which in this connec-
tion cannot now be ascertained), with the suffix #, used in
the Aztec language to form nouns. As faras we can judge
from its applications, it seems to have been used simply as
a name for ‘‘fruit” without restriction (as in the case of
isapoil, “sweet fruit,” and xoco//, “sour fruit”) as to char-
acter. Hernandez, in his chapter ‘‘De Tomatl” (Zhes.
Rerum Medic. Mex., ed. Reccho, 1649, p. 295), describes
several different kinds of fomad/, and, among them, the
xilomall, or “gourd tomate,” * which his editor identifies
as the Poma Amoris (the Lycopersicum esculentum of
modern botany). The word, with qualifying prefixes, was
the name of the fruit of several different genera of plants—
Lycopersicum, Physalis, Solanum, Saracha, Phytolacca,
Arbutus, Quercus, etc.

Tuckanor (Orantium aquaticum).—‘‘ Out of the ground,
the [Virginia] Indians dig earth-nuts, wild onions and a
tuberous root they call Tuckahoe, which, while crude, is
of a very hot and virulent quality ; but they manage to
make bread of it” (Beverly's Ms¢. of Virginia). This was
probably Peltandra alba. Clayton’s #Vora assigns the name
to the subterranean production called by Fries Pachyma
cocos, sometimesstyled Indian Loaf (‘ad panem confici-
endum Indi utuntur”—Clayton), and, by the Pamlico Al-
gonkins, okeepen, “earth-root” (Hariot). The name was
generic among the eastern Algonkins for round or roundish
roots, and was also the name of an Indian ‘‘loaf,” because
of its shape, just as we say “roll” for bread so fashioned.
The word is from p’/ukweoo, “it is round,” ‘‘it is shaped
like a ball.”

* So called from its resemblance, in shape, toa small Mexican cucurbit called
xicalli,

JULY 29, 1896.]

Tute (Scirpus lacustris, S. Tatora and Cyperus flavicans).
—Introduced through Spanish from Aztec éu//i or folli, a
general name in that language for bulrushes.

Wauoo (1) (Euonymus atropurpureus).—From Dakota
(Siouan) wahoo (the first vowel nasalized), meaning “arrow-

wood.” Spelled also Waahoo and Whahoo. (2) (Ulmus
alata). From Muscogee (Choctaw-Muscogee) dhdhwi, a

word of unknown meaning.

Wamparin (Nelumbo lutea).—From one of the western
Algonkin dialects, probably Odjibway. It means ‘‘ white
root,” and refers to the color of the inside of the farina-
ceous edible tubers.

Wampre.—A name of South Carolinian origin, assigned
by Drayton (View of S. Carol, 1802) and Shecut (fora
Carolinzensis, 1806) to Ariseema triphyllum; by Elliott
(Bot. S. Carol, 1817-24), Barton (Vlora Philad., 1818),
Darby (Bot Southern States) and others to Pontederia cor-
data, and by Rafinesque (Jfed. Flora, 1830) to Peltandra
alba. Of the four languages formerly spoken in what is
now the state of South Carolina, the name can be referred
only to the Shawnee (Algonk.), in which the word would
mean ‘‘it is white.” In the case of Arisaema and Peltan-
dra, this would refer to the color of the inside of the farina-
ceous root-stocks, which, after being boiled or roasted, in
order to destroy their acridity, were eaten by the aborigines.
As applied to the Pontederia, it would refer to the color of
the farinaceous seeds, which likewise were used by the
Indians as a food material.

Wurestwoe (Erechthites hieracifolia).—From Cree (Al-
gonk.) zwzpprszwok, ‘‘they are hollow,” like a tube.

Wicxory (Dirca palustris).—An Algonkin word meaning
“tying bark”; Abnaki, wighebi ; Delaware, wigebi ; Odjib-
way, wigob, etc. The tying-bark par excellence of the
aborigines was the bast of the Linden, and it is that to
which the above Algonkin names refer.

Wicxvp, or Wicurp (Epilobium angustifolium).—An altera-
tion of the foregoing word ; transferred from some species
of Osier used as withes.

Yamp, or Yampan (Carum Gairdneri).—From the Snake
or Shoshone (Shoshonean) name for the root, which is
highly esteemed by these and other Indians as an article of
food.

Yaron, Yapoon, Yaupon, or Yoron (Ilex vomitoris).—Prob-
. ably a derivative from Catawba (Siouan) vap, oryvop, “tree,”
“shrub,” or from ’yaphd, “leaf” (“tree-hair”?). (The Mus-
cogee name of the plant was dsst /upiilski, “small leaves,”
usually abbreviated to dssz, ‘‘ leaves,” literally, ‘‘ hairs” (of
plant). The leaves, having been extensively used by the
southern Indians for the preparation of an exhilarating
beverage (called “black drink” by the early British
traders), gave theirname to the shrub itself as well as to

th ti d fi it.
Se eee Bybee cont W. R. Gerard.

Delights of a Rough Garden.

N offering suggestions on gardening to the enthusiastic
beginner it is usual to lay down at the outset a few
unmistakable rules for his prudent guidance: Undertake
no more than you can care for with thoroughness. Neat-
ness is the first essential. Be content with small begin-
nings, and so on indefinitely. ‘
The pleasures of the opposite plan, the rich satisfaction
of a big, rough garden, in which beginnings and complete
successes are somewhat loosely connected, and yet where
freedom and beauty do live together in harmony, these
attractive possibilities seldom find an advocate. On the
strength of an experiment now in its fourth year I beg
leave to put in a plea for the garden in which neatness is
not a first essential. It seems quite possible to make a
kind of treaty with Nature, in which she consents to do for
a rough, yet much-loved garden filled with all sorts of
tentative beginnings of loveliness, that which she does with
so much charm for any old, abandoned garden left wholly
to her possession. The lover of wild beauty, who loves

Garden and Forest.

393

tamed and cultured beauty also, may find an opportunity
for gardening upon this scale on any little country place of
a few acres. With grass and trees, and, if possible, a varied
surface to begin with—and these are everywhere in our
eastern states the commonest conditions—there is abun-
dant opportunity for the evolution of a beautiful garden.

The opportunity need not be restricted by the theory
that every inch of ground broken must be kept under strict
and exact cultivation. Roughly blocked out, with here and
there an oasis of shrubbery established, a group of trees
set, a screen of vines thrown up, a fence-line bordered with
hardy perennials, the free garden on a bold scale may be
the source of great enjoyment to the originator, even while
its actual splendor is still the gift of the imagination.

Obviously the first step in making a garden which is to
wander at will over one or many acres, must be a careful
study of the best capabilities of the ground. A great num-
ber of rare, beautiful and costly plants, brought together at
random, may represent, not beauty, but vulgar profusion,
although they may be cared for with the greatest outlay of
laborand the most exact precision ; neither is mere mechani-
cal order a thing of charm. With a good general plan, in
which every feature is carefully considered and given its
due place, every step accomplished helps the general effect.
Variety in unity, multiplicity with harmony, these do not
come as a matter of course or unsought where man has
meddled. There must be a why for the place of every
tree, every shrub, every winding path. Ifsomething quite
different would do just as well there is proof positive ofthe
lack of a well-thought-out plan.

Yet “I like itso” may bea sufficient reason. One of
the great merits of this liberal scheme of gardening is the
greater room it affords for the play of individual fancy. So
many elements enter into the pleasure that we take in nat-
ural objects—association, with its subtle appeal, or that
delight, not to be analyzed, which we receive from the
sight of a special tint of color or quaintness of form, indif-
ferent to one, to another a vivid joy; or the coveted pride
may be the culminating glory of a definite period, as Lilac
time or Rhododendron days—these are the delicate influ-
ences that may help to shape our own rough garden. At
the bottom there is the delight of making it one’s own.
For man’s delight in expressing himself is one of the
deepest and most obstinate of human instincts. To make
a little paradise of a bit of earth that bears upon its bosom
the fruits, the flowers, the greenery that we love best, a bit
of common soil expressive of our loves and likings, our
individual tastes and aversions, this is one of the unfath-
omable joys of life. This is worth years of spring-time and
long wintry sleep ; years of wooing and winning, of. coy-
ness and final fruition.

One of the delights of a rough garden is its continual
surprises. With the habit of tucking in seeds, cuttings,
roots and bulbs, as occasion serves, planting and sowing
without formality, there is something very delightful in the
apparent spontaneity with which unlooked-for bloom and
beauty often come to light. Broad mixed borders in which
hardy plants are irregularly grouped (not without a con-
stant study of the advantages of contrast and relief) make
this the simplest matter possible. The Iris or the Lily bulb
is buried, the seed is sown and the ground occupied staked
to prevent accidents ; suddenly, as it seems, a new shape
of delicate beauty greets the eye. A big rough garden
gives an encouraging opportunity to experiment. Tiny
bulblets (as those found on the stems of Tiger Lilies) are
gathered on a country ramble from the wayside garden of
a dismantled house; they fill a vacant bit of space, and
soon a great clump of solid green lifts its flame-like spires,
to last in their place how long? A hundred years it may
be, so some one has said. At midsummer you find a hedge
of Hollyhocks in bloom. You gather a handful of seed as
they ripen, and give them room in a remote corner. The
green rosettes of the young plants cling to the ground,
almost unnoticed and unremembered, but another year and
who can ignore that marshaled magnificence? Not an-

304

nuals and biennials merely, but shrubs and trees also
increase and multiply with extraordinary ease in the rough
garden, where the discipline is not too severe. Fruit and
flower, shade and fragrance, homely use and stately adorn-
ment mingle happily here in the garden held in partnership
with Nature.

Fruit-trees, hardy shrubs, climbers and flowering peren-
nials, the chief elements required for the formation of a
garden of this type, are now supplied in unprecedented
variety and at trifling cost. It is surprising that more sum-
mer residents in the country do not taste for themselves
the full flavor of this inexhaustible recreation and delight of
making all sorts of exquisite and delightful things grow

where not one grew before.
Amherst, Mass. es Di LH. R. Goodale.

Plant Notes.

Viburnum cassinoides.

HE value of the eastern American Viburnums as gar-

den plants has been pointed out over and over again
in these columns. With larger acquaintance and better
opportunities for watching them in cultivation, our admira-
tion for this group of plants increases, however, and we
offer no excuse for recurring to it again. Nearly all the
species are good garden plants, the only exceptions being
the Hobble-bush, Viburnum lantanoides, the most beauti-
ful, perhaps, of the entire group, but an exceedingly diffi-
cult plant to manage in cultivation, and Viburnum pauci-
florum, a diminutive boreal and alpine representative of
the Opulus section of the genus. The flowers of this slender
shrub are not particularly showy, and in the Arnold
Arboretum, at least, where a great deal of attention has
been given to the cultivation of these plants, it has never
flourished. It is certainly needless to speak here of the
Cranberry-tree, Viburnum Opulus. Every one knows
this tall shrub either in its natural state, with flat cymes
surrounded with large white ray-flowers, or in its sterile
form, in which all the flowers are neutral and it is the gar-
den Snowball. This shrub grows all through the northern
temperate zone, and the best form in cultivation is one
which came originally from northern China, and was first
raised in the Arnold Arboretum.

Viburnum pubescens and Viburnum acerifolium are both
low shrubs of good habit with abundant white flowers and
brilliant autumnal foliage. Viburnum dentatum and Vibur-
num molle are large shrubs with glossy, sharply cut leaves,
ample clusters of white flowers and beautiful bright blue
fruit. The former flowers at least two weeks earlier than
the latter, which, although of more southern range, is
equally hardy and equally desirable as a garden plant.

Our two tree Viburnums, Viburnum Lentago and Vibur-
num prunifolium, the first of more northern range, are well
suited to decorate American parks, where they can be used
with great effect on the borders of wood roads or the mar-
gins of woods in company with native Thorns, the Flower-
ing Dogwood, the Red-bud and several other small trees
for which the silva of eastern North America is specially
distinguished. These two Viburnums are plants which last
a long time and continue to improve for many years. In
good soil they often grow twenty feet tall and make heads
at least twenty feet through. Like all the plants of this
group, they are distinguished in appearance, and it is a
pleasure to see them at every season of the year.

But the best garden plant among our Viburnums is
Viburnum cassinoides, of which a figure appears on page
305 of this issue. It is a common inhabitant of northern
swamps, and is distributed from Newfoundland to the Sas-
katchawan and southward to New Jersey. In its native
swamps this Viburnum is a straggling shrub sometimes
twelve feet in height, but in cultivation it makes a very
compact symmetrical bush five or six feet tall and broad.
The leaves are thick, leathery and rather dull green, and
the flowers, which are pale straw-color, or nearly white,

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 440,

are produced in compact, pedunculate, flat, five-rayed
cymes four or five inches in diameter.
by abundant fruit, which is pale green at first, then bright
rose-color, and finally dark blue-black, berries of the three
colors often appearing together in the same cluster.

Viburnum cassinoides has been used in great quantities
to decorate the margins of the roads through the Arnold
Arboretum, and seedling plants show a decided tendency
to vary both in the size and form of the leaves, in the size
of the flower-clusters, which are flat or rounded above, and
in the color of the flowers. This tendency indicates that
if large numbers of plants are raised from seeds individual
plants may surpass in some particular of foliage, habit or
flower any of the plants of the normal type, and a desirable
variety may be established. Although it has been said
many times before in this journal, we cannot refrain from
saying again that among the hardy shrubs of all countries
there are very few which surpass Viburnum cassinoides in
beauty and in all those qualities which make a shrub
desirable.

CasTaNEA DENTATA—The American Chestnut is one of
the small number of our forest-trees of the first size which
is conspicuous for its flowers, and since it blossoms in mid-
summer when it has no rivals in this respect it attracts
still more attention. These flowers, which appear in tassel-
like masses, are made up of aments from six to eight inches
long, the green stems covered for the whole length with
crowded flower clusters. ‘Their cream-colored blossoms
show to the best advantage among the dark green leaves,
and in early July Chestnut-trees in flower, whether stand-
ing by themselves or in the forest, are striking objects in
the landscape. But the Chestnut is beautiful at every sea-
son, and a full-grown tree, with its broad, dome-like head
and massive trunk, appears as sturdy as any Oak. The
foliage is rich glossy green, and it is rarely injured by fun-
gous diseases or insects. No tree grows so rapidly on the
dry gravelly hillsides of the north-eastern states, and for
various purposes it is one of our most useful timber-trees.
It has the peculiar merit, too, of throwing up shoots from
the trunk which become large enough for fence-posts or
railway-ties in a few years, so that a Chestnut forest can
be cut over every thirty or forty years, and continue pro-
ductive for generations. The abundant nuts of this tree
are much better in flavor than those of the Japanese or
European trees, and there is little doubt that by proper
selection a strain of nuts of large size could be produced,
and when the population of this country increases so as to
make it necessary to husband our home food supply, our
own Chestnut-tree may become as important for the pro-
duction of nuts as its near relatives in southern Europe.

HEMEROCALLIS AURANTIACA Major. —A year ago it was stated
in one of Mr. Watson’s letters to this journal that a first-class
certificate had been given to this handsome Day Lily by
the Royal Horticultural Society. In the last number of
The Garden received here there is a good picture from a
photograph of a plant in flower. We have never seen this
plant flowering in this couniry, but as it appeared in the
Botanical Garden at Oxford a few weeks ago it was worthy
of all the commendation which has been bestowed upon
it. In form and habit it seems to resemble Hemerocallis
fulva, so common in old-fashioned gardens, but the flowers

They are succeeded _

77

‘tg

are much larger, fully six inches across, and of a uniform

deep yellow. It has especial value since it flowers after
H. flava, which we have often commended as one of the
best of garden plants, with its fragrant lemon-yellow flow-
ers on long naked stems. A large vase filled with the long-
stemmed flowers of either of these Day Lilies is a very
imposing object. H..Dumortieri is another good plant,
although its deep orange-yellow flowers are borne on
shorter stems and they have no fragrance. It is admirable,
however, for massing on shrub borders like the old H. fulva,
or Mahogany Lily, as it is sometimes called. H. Thun-
bergii is another garden species which ought to be
better known, for it is quite as easy to grow as any of the

JULY 29, 1896.]

rest. Its flowers are borne on long stems and they are a
clear yellow, of a lighter tint even than thoseof H. flava.
It has the merit of being later than any of those mentioned,
and is at its best here in the latter half of July.

Cultural Department.
The Hardy Plant Border.

7 MASS of the common Prickly Pear, Opuntia vulgaris, has
been one of the most attractive features of the hardy
plant border for the past month. The flowers are two inches

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Garden and Forest.

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; 305

them in winter, though I believe they are perfectly hardy with-
out. The plants are easily propagated from seed or by break-
ing up the stems in early spring.

Callirrhoé involucrata, a prostrate malvaceous plant, is just
now one of the best things in flower in that family. The beau-
tiful crimson flowers are two inches in diameter, and are fine
for cutting, the flower-stalks being from eight to twelve inches
long. It blooms continuously from July until October. It is
a perennial and delights in a good rich soil and an open posi-
tion. Sida indica, another malvaceous plant, is in flower here
for the first time. The stems are eighteen inches high and
much branched. The leaves are cordate, three inches long
by two wide. The flowers are carried singly on short petioles

14 Vy ry
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Meda et pA St 17
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Fig. 41.—Viburnum cassinoides.—See page 304.

in diameter, and of a bright yellow color and produced in
great numbers, each of the flattened stems bearing from three
to seven flowers. O. Rafinesqii has also flowered well. The
flowers of this species are rather larger and have more sub-
stance than those of O, vulgaris. O. oplocarpa is a larger-
growing species than either of the preceding; the flattened
stems are more rhomboidal in outline, and of a bluish green
color. Opuntias should be massed to be seen at their best.
They are not particular as to soil, but they require an open
sunny position. We usually throw a little light covering over

from the axils of the leaves; they are about one and a half
inches in diameter and of a pale buff, a color unusual among
flowers. The whole plant is covered with soft downy hairs.
Commelinas deserve to become more popular than they are
at present. A bed of C. ccelestis, a Mexican species, is just
now in full bloom. The plants are of bushy habit, one foot high,
with sheathing oblanceolate leaves three to six inches long by
two broad. The flowers are in clusters and produced on stalks
two to four inches long. The color is of the brightest blue ;
they close, however, about noon, but they are particularly
.

306

beautiful in early morning. They have thickened fleshy roots
and must be lifted before winter and stored in sand, as Dahlia
roots are, and they must not be allowed to get dry. C. Hass-
karlii, an East Indian species, is more spreading and weedy in
habit, though the flowers are of the same color as those of
C. ccelestis.

Last year we received a plant from Thomas Meehan, of Ger-
mantown, Philadelphia, under the name of Betonica rosea,
and this is one of the best perennials we have. It belongs to
the Labiate family and growsa foot and a half high. The
leaves are opposite, oblanceolate in outline, four inches long
by two wide, with crenated edges. The flowers are in close
terminal whorls and of a lovely rosy pink color. This plant
has often been mistaken for an Orchid. According to the
Index Kewensis, the name of this plant is now changed to
Stachys grandiflora. A mass of the .well-known and useful
Stachys Betonica is now in full bloom, and the purple spikes
of flowers make a good display at this season. The variety
grandiflora has much larger leaves and flowers than S. Be-
tonica, but does not appear to flower as freely. They both do
well in almost any position, but they like best a moist rich soil.

Trachymene ccerulea, a west Australian umbelliferous an-
nual, is now flowering in this garden. The stems are two feet
in height and branched. The trifoliate leaves are sessile and
about three inches long by two wide and deeply lobed. Both
stem and leaves are thickly covered with soft hairs. The
flowers are light blue in color and borne in a simple umbel
from two to three inches in diameter. The flower-stalks are
about eight inches in length. I consider this one of the best
annuals we have. Erysimum Perowskianum is another good
annual belonging to the Mustard family, and which deserves
to become popular. The plant grows to about one foot in
height and is of a bushy habit. The leaves are lanceolate, four
to six inches long by half an inch wide, and sessile. The
flowers are borne on erect racemes andare of a reddish orange
color and sweet-scented. Both plant and flowers closely re-
semble some of the dwarf forms of the English Wallflower,
It stands the sun well and flowers almost all summer. It is
most useful for the front of the herbaceous border and for cut-
ting purposes. It is a native of the Caucasus.

Catananche lutea, a composite annual, is of a low straggling
habit, but is very showy and useful for cutting. The leaves
are sessile, six to eight inches long by two wide, with toothed
edges. The flowers are yellow, with a chocolate centre, and
about two inches in diameter. C. ccerulea is a perennial spe-
cies, with blue flowers, from two to three feet high.

Edward F. Canning.

Botanic Garden, Northampton, Mass.

Some Good Annuals.

“Ps dwarf compact Swan River Daisy, Brachycome iberidi-
folia, makes a handsome bed at this time. It is only some
eight inches high, and the many-branched stems are termi-
nated by loose clusters of small, blue, Cineraria-like flowers.
The flowers are produced abundantly, and a single flower
measures one inch across. The white-flowered form of this
plant is very desirable and makes a good companion for the
one with blue flowers. To secure the best effect a number of
plants should be massed together in a light sandy soil and an
open sunny position, where they keep on blossoming for
many weeks.

Another showy genus from Australia is Rhodanthe, now
included in Helipterum, although for garden purposes it is

‘distinct enough to be kept separate. R. Manglesii is a distinct
plant, a foot in .height, with erect, glabrous and corymbosely
branched stems. The bright rose-colored flower-heads are
produced on long peduncles. The flowers are ‘ everlasting,”
and when dried are useful for winter bouquets. A lightsandy
soil and a sunny position also suits this plant well. It also has
a white-flowered variety and a form with double flowers, both
of which are desirable garden annuals.

Sanvitalia procumbens is a dwarf Mexican annual that was
introduced from there in 1798. It is a slender, trailing plant
about six inches in height, and its compact habit makes it use-
ful for edging beds or planting in masses in small round beds,
where it makes a conspicuous yellow mass of color. The
flower-heads are small, but they are produced in great num-
bers. The form with double flowers is very desirable and
grows with as much ease as the typical plant.

Monolopia major is an annual composite plant from Cali-
fornia that has showy terminal, solitary, sulphur-yellow flower-
heads about an inch in diameter. The plants grown here are
about fifteen inches high, and they have narrow entire leaves
and are attractive now with their distinct flowers. This plant

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 440.

grows freely in any ordinary garden soil, but prefers a sunny
situation,

The genus Phacelia contains many showy garden annuals
which are easy to grow. P. viscida is a showy species with
branched stems, a foot in height and broadly ovate, sub-
cordate leaves. The blue flowers are of a good size and borne
on racemes. P. tenacetifolia makes a handsome bed of biue.
It grows about eighteen inches high, and the flowers are car-
ried in dense spike-like racemes, P. divaricata is a desirable
plant; so is P. Parryi, a dwarf species about six inches high,
with fine large flowers of a dark violet-blue. All these species
flower plentifully and the plants are very attractive for some
length of time.

A small bed of Lychnis cceli-rosea in the garden has been
very bright for several weeks, and is much admired. The
plants are about fifteen inches high and are just now allablaze
with bright rosy purple flowers. This Lychnis is well adapted
for growing in masses, and in this way it is most effective. It
was introduced from the Levant one hundred and eighty years
ago, but is now rarely seen in gardens here.

The annual Bellflowers when well grown make neat plants,
and they produce a good supply of showy flowers. Perhaps
the most singular plant in the genus Campanula is C. macro-
styla. The height of the plants grown here is about fifteen
inches and the stems and leaves are bristly. The lower leaves
are ovate-oblong and acute, while those on the upper part of
the stems are ovate-lanceolate, hispid on both sides and ciliated
with bristles. The flowers are large and borne singly onstout
hairy stalks, and their color is dull purple, reticulated with
violet. The length of the stigma is the most remarkable part
of the flower, and the large calyx is interesting. This showy
Bellflower is a native of Asia Minor. The seeds from which
our plants were raised were received from Mr. J. N. Gerard,
Elizabeth, New Jersey, who said they came from Asia Minor.
We have grown this plant many times before, but the plants
now in bloom have larger flowers than the ones we once grew.
The plant ought to have a place in every garden of any pre-
tensions. Another good annual Bellflower is C. Loreyi, a plant
that comes from the south of Europe. It makes nice, com-
pact, bushy plants about nine inches in height, with stalkless
shining leaves. The flowers are produced in quantity, so that
the plant is quite decorative when its blue-violet flowers are in
good condition. The white-flowered form of this plant is
common and makes a neat and distinct plant. A position near
the front of a sunny border, in light and fairly rich soil, is best
suited to their wants.

The genus Clarkia has a few showy species and varieties
which are common and useful garden annuals. These native
annuals are very effective, robust in growth and showing a
profusion of showy flowers fora long time during the sum-
mer. Clarkia elegans is a much-branched plant, having long
leafy racemes. It is about two feet high and has lanceolate-
dentate leaves ; the petals entire, broader than long, and are
of a lilac-purple color. There are quite a number of desirable
varieties of this plant; some of them have white flowers,
others rose, and the double-flowered kinds are good. C. pul-
chella is another species with a good habit, and it is also very
floriferous. The height of this plant is about eighteen inches,
and its stems are clothed with linear leaves. The pretty flow-
ers are of a purple color and plentifully produced. The
varieties of this species make desirable plants. Clarkias grow
freely in rich light sandy soil and a sunny position, and as
their flowering season lasts for some time they are well adapted
for planting in small beds. They should be planted six or
eight inches apart each way as they grow fast and do not make
such stocky plants unless they have plenty of room to show
their character and develop themselves properly.

Emilia sagittata is a pretty composite nearly related to the
Senecios. Its bright orange-scarlet flower-heads are produced
very plentifully on long slender stems and they measure about
one inch across. A small piece of ground planted with this
Emilia makes a good mass of a bright taking color just now.
In a light sandy soil and a sunny position it will produce a
wealth of flowers for two or three months.

Crepis rubra, or sometimes found under the name Bark-
hansia, is a serviceable annual about a foot high, and it has
large showy flower-heads. This plant is the best species
belonging to the large genus. Crepis has one hundred and
thirty species, but most of them are weedy and inferior as gar-
den plants. The red flower-heads are borne singly on long
stems, and they measure Over two inches across. The white-
flowered variety is also desirable. All these annuals are raised
from seed sown about the beginning of April in pots, or boxes
if a large number of plants are needed, in a moderately warm
greenhouse. When the seedlings are large enough to handle

ee a ee

JuLy 29, 1896.]

they are pricked into boxes or pots of fine soil. In a week or
two they are large enough to put into small pots and then
removed to a frame where they are kept until the weather is
warm enough to plant them in the garden. Some will think
that it is unnecessary work to putthe seedlings into small pots,
but experience has taught me that itis by far the best way to
grow them. When planting time comes they are rooted in a
nice solid ball of earth and never stop growing when put in
the ground.

Harvard University Botanic Garden. Robert Cameron.

The Propagation of Tender Plants.

Neer MME is a good time for the propagation of various

warm-house plants, for, while some care is required to
avoid the damping off of cuttings of tender plants, many will
root rapidly now and become well established before winter.
Among these are such admirable kinds as Cyanophyllum,
Spherogyne, Medinella, Rudgea microcephala and the Ne-
penthes. They will all root more readily in single-eye cuttings,
unless short, stocky side-shoots of firm young growth can be
secured, the latter forming useful plants more quickly than
thesingle eyes. The cuttings should be firmly planted in small
pots singly, and, as a rule, they will form roots more quickly
in cocoa-fibre than in soil. They should be kept rather close
during the daytime in a propagating-frame or under a bell-
glass, and have more air at night to prevent any undue accu-
mulation of moisture.

The Nepenthes will, I think, make more stocky and short-
jointed plants from side-shoot cuttings than from eyes, and
plants of this description produce better pitchers. The Aralias
can also be propagated to advantage now; some root quite
readily, while others require grafting. A. leptophylla, A.
Guilfoylei, A. reticulata, A. filcitolia and A. Chabrierii usually
root in a reasonably short time, but the beautiful A. Veitchii
and A. Veitchii gracillima root rather slowly under this treat-
ment, and can be increased more rapidly and surely by graft-
ing on A. reticulata or A. Guilfoylei. If kept rather close and
well shaded in a propagating-frame the scions will soon unite
with the stock and will grow away freely ina warm house after
removal from the frame. These two (A, Veitchii and its form)
are well worth the extra trouble, both being highly decorative
in the greenhouse and also valuable for vases and veranda-
boxes during the summer.

The Dieffenbachias also, of which there now is quite an
extensive list, can be propagated at this season quite easily,
cuttings with foliage being not absolutely necessary for this
purpose. A specimen that has become leggy and unsightly
from the loss of its lower leaves will furnish good material for

_ the propagating-bench. Thestem should be cut into pieces of
a single joint; the cut surfaces should be dipped into slaked
lime to prevent decay, and planted in sand. In most cases
they will send out roots and start into growth in a few weeks.
Poinsettia cuttings may also be taken now in order to furnish
the dwarf specimens in five or six inch pots, useful for winter
decorations. These cuttings must be watched closely to pre-
vent wilting of the foliage and also overwatering.

The Bertolonias and Sonerilas form pretty little speciinens
when several young plants are placed in an eight or ten inch
pan in light rich soil, and the plants for this purpose can be
rooted in a very short period during the warm weather. One
point to be remembered in their cultivation is pinching off the
flower-buds as they appear, to insure large leaves and strong
growth.

Dichorisandras are but little grown, though at least two of

them are worthy of a place in a collection of stove-plants. D.
musaica and D. undata are both interesting and pretty, and
form handsome specimens when several young plants are
grouped in a pan.
_ The various Begonias required for foliage and for flowers
during the coning winter will also require potting on before
they become stunted, and a basket of well-grown B. glauco-
phylla scandens is an attraction for the conservatory.

Holmesburg, Pa. W. H. Taplin,

Chrysanthemums.

(CEE intended for specimen plants should
now be gotten into shape. Up to this time it has been the
object to develop as many growing shoots as possible. Except
for afew runaway shoots, no more stopping will be required.
If stopping has been properly carried out the tying of plants
into a neat bushy form will be comparatively easy. It is a
good plan to keep this work well forward. It is a difficult
matter to properly adjust the shoots of plants which are over-
grown, especially when the season is advanced. Some injury

Garden and Forest.

307

must necessarily result to the roots from severe staking, and
the sooner the plants are well spread out, and as many stakes
put into the ball of earth as it is expected to use, the better it
will be. We always aim to complete this work some time
during August so as to interfere as little as possible with root
development later on. After staking out is finished the use
of manure-water should be discontinued for a week, or until
root action is again well established.

In growing fifty or more plants fora season there is some
peculiarity about each variety which a careful cultivator will
not fail to notice ; whether it is in the soil or the manner of
potting, or in the porosity of the pot or in natural conditions
peculiar to the plant. Some varieties will take more water
than others. It is of the utmost importance that this circum-
stance should be carefully noted. It would be an easy matter
to overwater Ivory or Cullingfordii at any time, or G. W. Childs
early in the season, though later it will take an abundance of
water. Louis Boehmer, Golden Hair, Minerva, Jos. H. White
or W. H. Lincoln might be watered ten times a day without
injury. If these conditions are noted they should be kept in
mind when using manure-water. Weak plants may be ben-
efited by stimulants if they dry out freely, but if slowly it is
better to use it sparingly. That weak plants need or will bear
more than stronger plants is the reverse of true.

We have tried many kinds of stimulants with varied results.
The safest are the best. Unless the exact strength of chemi-
cal fertilizers is known it is best to avoid them. Drainings
from the barnyard contain nearly all the elements of a com-
plete plant-food. If collected in a basin they should be well
stirred before being used, as all the valuable ammoniacal salts
lie at the bottom. They should be diluted to one-twentieth
part to begin with, and made stronger as experience dictates,
Sheep manure is excellent when used either as a top-dressing,
half and half, with loam, or ina bag to leach out its strength in
a tub of water. One pound to tengallons of water makes the
liquid about right for use. Sheep manure is highly charged
with ammonia, and its action is quickly seen. If beneficial
the foliage will be greenand fresh-looking ; if injurious itsoon
changes to yellowish green. When this misfortune happens
it is due to the manure being too strong, and it must be dis-
continued at once. Root injury is the cause of the trouble,
but by keeping the plants underwatered for a week or two
they will generally recover. I have had this injury happen
more thanonce. Some of the plants affected not later than
the end of August have come out healthy, and they have been
among the winning groups at the Boston show.

Many of the plants intended for specimen blooms will be
showing the July bud. Except for a few varieties, it is best to
discard it. It it appears on Edwin Molyneux, on plants which
have been rooted in March, toward the end of the month of
July and up to the 15th of August, it should be retained. This
variety needs special management in this respect, and buds
taken before or after the dates given nearly always produce
blooms out of character.

The terms ‘‘crown” bud and “ terminal” bud are confusing
to many people, even to some growers. ‘ First” bud and
“last” bud would be more easily understood. The crown
bud terminates the stem at one stage of its growth, the ter-
minal bud is so named because it is the last bud formed.
Shoots proceeding from below the first bud may bear termi-
nals, or last buds. Often, however, on plants from cuttings
rooted during May there will be a second or modified crown
bud, below which true terminal, or last bud, shoots proceed.
It is not an easy matter to define these buds with the terms we
have. There are invariable structural characters, but a prac-
ticed eye only will note them. All crown, or first buds, are
bracteate, and occur singly. All terminal, or last buds, are
bractless, and occur in‘clusters of from three to ten buds.

Having discarded the first crown bud when it appears in
July, we are left to take one of the other two. Either bud is
good, and growers are guided by experience. The terminal,
or last bud, is generally a few days later in maturing, but
is better in color, though not so heavy in build. Where head-
room is a consideration, the August bud is the better.

Wellesley, Mass. T. D. Hatfield.

The Globe Artichoke.

Aig is one of the table luxuries that has rapidly come into

use in recent years, and now in all gardens of any preten-
sions we see it cultivated for the succulent portion of the
flower-head. The plant, Cynara Scolymus, is a perennial, and,
indeed, were it not of culinary value, would be prized as a
border plant of no mean pretension, owing to the huge this-
tle-like heads of showy blue flowers and elegantly cut luxuri-
ant gray-green foliage.

308

Cynara Scolymus is but a cultivated form of C. Cardunculus,
and is not known ina wild state. The latter is the Cardoon of
gardens, and differs but little in appearance from its relative;
it is cultivated, however, the same as Celery and cooked when
the tender heart is blanched. It is seldom seen here, and is
rarely used except by French cooks. In France great atten-
tion Is paid to the cultivation of both these vegetables, and it
is safe to say that nowhere else are such fine heads or such
highly improved varieties to be seen. The Messrs. Vilmorin,
of Paris, have done much toward bringing about this desira-
ble result, and last summer they showed heads in London that
created much comment in English journals. This improve-
ment is largely the result of careful selection, together with
good culture. ‘One plant, one flower” is a maxim there, and
no doubt this is sound advice, as we have proved this season.
The side shoots produce heads of inferior size and flavor, and
they are rarely large enough to send to table, especially after
larger ones have been used.

Another reason why we have missed perfection is in trust-
ing wholly to seed for our plants, for itis possible to treat Arti-
chokes as annuals, saving one good head for seed to raise
another year under glass, These will all flower the first sea-
son if sown early in the year, and we have such plants now
showing flowers. But the objection to this practice is that
seedlings vary, and the tendency is too often to revert. The
variation is quite marked in the individual plants. Sometimes
a specially good form will make its appearance,-and here is
the opportunity for the cultivator to lift the plant in fall, winter
it over in the greenhouse, and carefully divide it as often as
offsets are produced, with portions of root attached. All these
should be set out in favorable spring weather. It is not wise
to trust to seed for reproduction of these plants.

Artichokes will thrive here in any soil that is naturally well
drained in winter. They can be protected from the cold with
success, but moisture is fatal when the plants are dormant,
though they need a large amount in the growing season. We
set the young plants at least three feet apart. It would be
better to have the rows five feet from each other to prevent
damage to the leaves when walking between the rows. The
soil is made very rich to start with, and the surface coveredin
summer with a mulch of some non-conducting material, such
as lawn clippings or straw from the stable. This answers
another purpose in keeping down all weeds. We find that a
top-dressing of salt also helps to keep down weeds, and is be-
sides a good fertilizer for the plants. Many growers use seaweed
for this purpose, as the Artichoke is of maritime origin.

In young plants of the first year it is well to cut off the
flower-stem as soon as the head is cut; we find that the effort
to flower is sometimes too much, and the plant dies without
making any buds for its reproduction next year. Individual
plants sometimes act as if they were annuals, and if these die
out a gap is left in the beds. When cold weather sets in they
must be protected for winter. We have tried various plans
with greater or less success ; if superfluous leaves are cut off
and the plants tied up closely to the tops and the earth banked
up to this height, ora few inches above, just before the arrival
of frost, there is no danger of their dying from cold. To make
sure to keep out moisture we nail two boards together and
place these along the ridge of the bank to effectually throw off
snow and water. In very severe sections it may be well to
place leaves or straw about the banks of earth to help protect
the plants. We have found it better not to do this until hard
frosty weather has set in, so that the field mice that will most
surely be attracted to this harbor will not be able to penetrate
the earth and devour the hearts of the plants; they are very
partial to these morsels, and seem to scent them from afar,
but if the soil is well frozen on the outside the covering will
tend to prevent its thawing, and the plants are safe from all
danger. We have lifted the plants and put them in a cellar to
winter over; also placed them in an unheated structure, but
in each instance the results were unsatisfactory, owing to the
loss from damping off of the crowns. Cold will arrest this in
the open ground, and if they are uncovered in spring as soon
as the weather favors the removal of the cover there will be very
rapid growth and an abundance of fine flower-heads, provided
the side-buds are picked off. Itshould be added that, when
tying up the plants previous to covering them with earth, a
stake should be placed to each one. This will materially assist
in the operation and will be valuable in indicating where the
crowns are when opening them up in spring. Otherwise some
are sure to be injured. Before uncovering we put ina lot of
rich manure in the trenches, and this is covered up with the
earth as it is leveled.

It is not too much to predict that if more care is taken in the
cultivation of this fine vegetable there will be a much greater

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 440.

demand for it. Where it is necessary to produce a large

quantity of vegetables for home use, of as much variety as

possible, the Artichoke will be found a desirable change, and

it is not, on the whole, difficult of cultivation if a few require-
ts are b i ind.

ments are borne in mind E. 0. Orpet,

South Lancaster, Mass.

Floating Plants.—Among the aquatic floating plants—that is,
those which grow with their foliage lying on or above the
water and their roots submerged—which are well adapted for
growing in company with the more pretentious Nymphzas
and Nelumbiums, are several which alter their appearance
according to their surroundings to such an extent that they are
sometimes taken for distinct species. The leaves of Salvinias,
for example, when allowed to float on the surface of a large
tank or pond, have a flattened-out appearance, and the plants
are weak compared with specimens grown in the full sun ina
confined space where the sun does not reach the root-like pro-
cesses in the water. When grown in this way, the leaves—
that is, the upper ones—are almost folded together, and very
large, the plants crowding each other, in some cases two or
three inches above the line of the water. In a confined space
the spore capsules are produced most abundantly, while they
are seldom seen on plants which float about in the open water.
Azolla pinnata is another plant which behaves much in the
same way. Pistia stratiotes, when the plants are crowded
together so that the sun does not reach the roots, form very
thick leaves and flower abundantly; but if the plants are
grown singly in a tank so that the sun has access to the roots
they soon turn sickly. ;

Clerodendron fetidum.—This plant, better known as Clero-
dendron Bungei, is one of the showiest among the many fine
species of this genus. It is a native of China and has been in
cultivation for a long period, unfortunately asa stoye or green-
house plant. It has been reported lately from a good source
to be one of the finest hardy plants for the southern states. It
is hardy in most winters, even as far north as Baltimore. The
plant may be said to be herbaceous, as it throws up annual
stems to a height of from three to four feet, each stem crowned
with a very large corymb of bright pink flowers. When in
full bloom a colony of plants in a suitable place in the garden
makes an effective display. The leaves are large, heart-shaped
and opposite to each other on the stems. As a greenhouse
pot-plant it is not successful, since a plant in a six-inch pot
does not have sufficient root room to throw up a fair-sized
growth; moreover, when the plant is sickly it isa favorite one
for mealy-bug and scale insects. Propagation may be effected
either by cuttings of the young growths or by dividing the
plants. If wanted in large quantities the thickest of the roots
should be washed free from the soil, cut up into pieces about
an inch inlength and placed one inch deep in boxes of sand.
They will sprout within two weeks if keptin a growing tem-

perature. G. W. Oliver.

Botanic Garden, Washington, D. C.

Correspondence.

Edible Barberries.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—I see that the nurserymen’s catalogues enumerate
several varieties of edible Barberries, some white, some red,
some violet. Will you tell me which of the species bear the
best fruit ?

Asbury Park, N. J. W.

[Most persons do not find Barberries very grateful to
the taste, and they are generally neglected when other fruit
can be had. However, when made into jams and jellies
they are considered by many both wholesome and _ pala-
table, and the acid berries themselves without any prepara-
tion are relished by some persons. The fruit most used is
that of the European Berberis vulgaris, and this varies very
much on different plants in shade and size and flavor. By
cultivation and selection varieties with black, purple, violet,
yellow and white fruits are now offered for sale, and there
is aso-called seedless variety. All of these are forms of the
common European Barberry, and, perhaps, the fruit which
most nearly approaches the normal red color may be gener-
ally rezarded as the best for culinary purposes, as the pale
or whitish fruits are often poorly developed. B. vulgaris has
become so common and so thoroughly naturalized in our
eastern states that is often regarded as a native plant. No

JULY 29, 1896.]

doubt, by careful selection with a view to securing large

j gardens and shrubberies as_ well.

"i

and juicy fruits, better and more edible varieties than any
we now have could be produced.

The Mahonia or Oregon Grape, Berberis Aquifolium, is
well known for its dark evergreen Holly-like leaves, large
clusters of bright yellow flowers, and large grape-like fruits
covered with a dense blue bloom. This fruit is said to be
much used and valued in some parts of the Pacific states.
B. buxifolia, sometimes called B. dulcis, is a narrow-leaved
evergreen species, a native of Chili and Patagonia. In
Sweet’s Flower Garden the fruit is said to be used in its
native country, “both green and ripe, as we use gooseberries
for making pies, tarts and preserves, for which it is most
excellent. The berries are round, black, about the size of
a Black Currant, and are produced in great abundance.”
This species is not very hardy in northern gardens.

Many of the other species of Berberis, of which there are
a great number, produce juicy fruit which can be util-
ized. Among the least valuable from a domestic point of
view is the fruit of the showy Japanese species, B. Thun-
bergii. This is not as juicy or pulpy as that of most other
species, although it is more ornamental in winter after the
fruits of others have dried and faded. —Ep. |

Privacy in Suburban Life.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir.—In the June number of Zhe Cosmopolitan Magazine,
Mr. R. C. Sturgis, a well-known Boston architect, published an
article pleading for more privacy in our homes and deploring
the bare and forlorn appearance of our average suburban
towns. This article has been noticed in GARDEN AND FOREST
by two editorials, but, to my disappointment, although agree-
ing with Mr. Sturgis in deploring the present state of affairs,
the remedy suggested by him of adopting the English methods
of treating small places is declared to be unsuitable for our
country.

If, however, we look in Europe for other examples, we seem
to find none that so well suit our climate and mode of life.
The chief difficulties that lie in the way of our adopting the
methods as described by Mr. Sturgis apparently consist in the
greater cost of labor with us and in the different character of
our climate. To the first objection it may be answered that,
although the price of labor is greater here, our suburban pro-
prietor is receiving a salary correspondingly larger than that
of his English cousin. As regards our climate, we hear a
great deal of our scorching sun in summer and intense cold in
winter, yet there is an abundant supply of trees, shrubs and
flowers that thrive admirably with us; and, in fact, with the
exception of evergreen shrubs, we are fully as well supplied
with material for planting as they are in England; neither is
the lack of moisture very severely felt in most small places,
where the abundance and cheapness of our water-supplies
allow a free use of the hose. The difficulty of growing flowers
in our climate has always been greatly exaggerated ; once the
soil has been properly prepared they require but little care.

I cannot agree with the advice you give to place flowers in’

the front edges of the shrubberies ; with but few exceptions
they give poor results when robbed by the roots of shrubs.
Such places can be better filled with spring bulbs of Crocus,
Narcissus, etc., that will enliven the border in the early spring
and whose decaying leaves will be covered later by the
branches of the shrubs. A separate p'ace should be reserved
for flowers alone; it was formerly the custom to reserve the
front yard for a flower garden, but a much better arrangement
is to place it on one side, where it can be more easily screened
from the highway as suggested by Mr. Sturgis. It can be con-
nected with the house if desired, but in any case it should be
screened on at least two sides by shrubs. Such a garden filled
not with scarlet Geraniums and Coleus, but with our fine
perennial flowers that come up year after year and require but
little care, would be a constant source of delight to its owner.
The true reason for the bareness of our suburban towns is
the result of an unfortunate fashion which claims that by
removing all fences and boundaries a more park-like effect is
produced. This fashion, although it has never received the
sanction of our leading landscape-architects, has met with
great success, and in this part of the country the fences have
almost entirely disappeared, and with them, unfortunately, the
The crusade which Mr.
Sturgis is leading against this fashion seems worthy of the

Garden and Forest.

309

assistance of GARDEN AND Forest, and his suggestion for
improvement ought not to be condemned unless some scheme
that is definitely better is proposed. The vague allusion toa
future American suburban garden, which is not described in
detail, hardly meets the case.

Some solution of this problem of suburban homes would be
of great interest to American architects, and if GARDEN AND
FOREST were to give us aseries of articles on the treatment
of small suburban lots, they would, I think, be gladly copied
in our architectural papers. Unfortunately, the architect is too
often forced to do work that more properly belongs to the
landscape-gardener, for, although for estates of more impor-
tance, the client will usually consent to the employment of a
landscape-gardener, in the case of a lot of small size such a
request from the architect is rarely accepted. The architect
is then placed in a quandary and not unnaturally looks to a
paper like GARDEN AND FOREST for assistance. After all, the
main point in Mr, Sturgis’s article is a plea for privacy; the
question of more or less formality in the arrangement of our
grounds wili always be a matter of individual taste, depending
largely on the style of the house and the general lay of the
land, although our suburban lots being usually level, a formal
arrangement would seem to be the simplest. The high walls
of England covered with Moss and Ivy are undoubtedly out
of place in our dry climate, but the same result of privacy can
be attained during the summer months at least, when such
privacy is most needed, by either belts of shrubs and trees or
hedges. It is argued against the use of hedges that gaps may
occur in them, but this will apply also to a row of trees or a
garden-edging, and when properly planted such gaps occur
but rarely. The labor of trimming a hedge is slight and
requires little skill, and we have a large number of deciduous
trees and shrubs admirably suited for such purposes. In spite
of our much-abused climate we are unusually fortunate in a
large choice of the so-called garden trees that are especially
weil adapted for small places, and a border of Crabs, Thorns
and Magnolias, with smaller shrubs in the foreground, can
give us as good effects as any produced in England, while
serving as a screen from the highway as well.

Our houses, too, oftenstand bare when they should be cov-
ered with vines, and the foundation walls are unscreened
when low shrubs should be planted against them to join the
house to the ground. Few people realize how greatly a house
is influenced by its surroundings ; the old Colonial Homestead,
stripped of its twin Elms and its enclosed garden gay with
flowers, would lose the greater part of its charm.

In conclusion, allow me to ask the readers of GARDEN AND
FOREST to study the interesting plans which Mr. Sturgis has
published, and I believe they will find that their leading fea-
tures can be profitably adopted in American gardens as well
suited to our climate and our mode of life. .

Boston. Architect.

Recent Publications.

first Principles of Agriculture. By Edward B. Voorhees,
A.M. Silver, Burdett & Co., Boston, Massachusetts.

This little book of two hundred pages does not consist of
elementary treatises upon the various sciences which are
the foundation of agricultural practice. It is simply meant
to be an orderly presentation of such principles as are
needed for the instruction of pupils in country district
schools where the study of primary agriculture forms a
part of the curriculum. Mr. Voorhees is the Professor of
Agriculture in Rutgers College, and his experience has led
him to believe that scientific agriculture can be taught in
these schools in a sufficiently clear and simple way and to
a sufficient extent to make what is learned there a safe
guide in the ordinary operations of the farm and to consti-
tute a proper foundation for future study. The scientific
facts here stated seem to have been well selected for their
purpose—that is, for example, what is said of the origin
and formation of soils, of their composition and the means
of improving them, are all up to a certain point subjects
which can be treated within the comprehension of any
bright boy or girl, and made most interesting. Whether
this book will fulfill its purpose, however, depends to
a large extent upon the teacher, who ought to have a
much wider and profounder knowledge of chemistry, bot-
any and biology than the elementary principles which are
here enunciated. The facts are clearly stated, and in accord-

310

ance with the latest researches, so that the teachings of the
book can be trusted as sound.

A thoroughly successful text-book on agriculture, for the
use of public schools, is not an easy work to produce, for
its author needs much more than a knowledge of the sub-
ject. The facts should be presented to young minds in
such a way as to arrest attention and make their journey
through these new fields attractive at every step. It would
seem that pictures and an abundance of illustrative exam-
ples are features which could not be dispensed with.
Abstract statements are dry to young people when concrete
examples may be full of life. Mr. Voorhees is going over
ground where comparatively few authors have trodden,
and he has not many examples for his warning or profit.
No doubt, experience will show where this book can be
improved, and when one better adapted to its purpose ap-
pears it will probably differ from this one not so much in the
range of subjects treated as it will in a more vivacious and
pointed way of stating facts and greater care in leading up
to them by natural and easy stages.

Notes.

The apple export trade has already begun, and on last Sat-
urday a shipment of Summer Queens and Alexanders was
made from this city to Liverpool.

Black Republican and Royal Ann cherries are still coming
from Oregon, but there is littke demand for this fruit now,
when it is no longer at its best, and when eastern fruits are
abundant and in large variety.

The pineapple season is now nearly closed, 2,500 barrels
having arrived from Havana last week and about 4oo barrels
during the early part of this week. Small supplies of this fruit
will continue to come from Florida during this month and
August.

The sale of the first car-load shipments of California fruits to
England this season occurred at Covent Garden, London, last
Friday. In the absence of French fruit good prices were anti-
cipated, but, although the California fruit was in sound condi-
tion, it was not of the requisite quality to command the highest
prices. Not a few of the Bartlett pears in 3,800 half-boxes
comprised in the shipment were small, and prices ranged
from eighty-seven cents to $2.62, while plums realized $1.87 a
crate. Prices in this city last week ranged from seventy-five
cents to $2.10 for Bartlett pears and from sixty-five cents to
$2.15 for plums.

The pomologist of the United States Department of Agricul-
ture writes to Meehans’ Monthly that the true name of the
apple Rawles’ Janet is Ralls’ Genet. The apple was said to
have been named for Monsieur Genet, the Minister of the
French Government to this country during Washington's
Administration. Monsieur Genet had apples of this kind sent
from France for his own use, and Mr. Jefferson so admired
them that he procured scions and gave them to Caleb Ralls, a
nurseryman of Virginia, for propagation, who introduced the
tree under the nameof Genet. The apple has also been called
the Jefferson Pippin, which authenticates ina measure the fact
that Jefferson was connected with its introduction,

In Belgium, and in some other parts of Europe, the young
shoots of the Hop-vine are cooked and served in the same
way. as asparagus. The shoots used for this purpose are
blanched while passing through a mass of leaves or litter with
which the stock is covered when they are to be used in this
way. Itis said that Hop-shoots have been used as a vegetable
in England, although they have never been utilized as an arti-
cle of commerce as they are in the Low Countries. There is
nothing new about this, for, as a writer in Zhe Gardeners’
Magazine reminds us, Gerard speaks of the practice in his
Herbali, published three hundred years ago. Weare notaware
that hops have ever been used in this way in America, and we
should hardly expect them to compete successfully with
asparagus.

In reply to many inquiries addressed to the Cornell Experi-
ment Station, Mr. E. G. Lodeman has collected as much as
possible of the scattered experience of those who have grown
dwarf Apples. The fact is, however, that these trees have
been so sparingly and so carelessly grown that very little defi-
nite evidence of any value has been obtained. It is probably

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 440.

true that apples on dwarf trees are handsomer.and of a better
quality than those grown on standards, so that the dwarf trees
may, perhaps, be profitably used for growing varieties for
fancy or dessert use. Such trees can be easily sprayed and
the fruit can be easily thinned. Paradise stock is evidently the
best to use, but Mr. Lodeman concludes that he cannot advise
the planting of dwarf Apple-trees for any commercial reward.
Experiments with these trees are worth making even for this
purpose, and they certainly are for other purposes.

The so-called late blight has been very destructive to Pota-
toes for some years in many parts of New England, but
Bulletin 38, issued by the Rhode Island Experiment Station,
declares that it can be kept in control by the proper use of
Bordeaux mixture. It does not seem to be necessary to treat
the plants before the outbreak of the blight, whose presence
can be recognized easily by the sudden blackening of large
patches on the mature leaves and the peculiar odor given off
by the decaying tissue. When the blight appears the plants
must be promptly treated, however, and all their parts thor-
oughly covered with a film of the mixture in order to save
them. The coating can be seen after the leaves have dried
off, and if it is found imperfect the machinery and method
should be inspected, changed if necessary, and the operation
repeated until the job is well done. Spots of the liquid upon
scattering leaves may do a little good, but spraying all the
plants completely is the only assured safety.

-In his report on the flora of Wyoming, Professor Aven
Nelson remarks that the power to withstand frost which has
been so remarkably developed in mountain floras is an un-
ceasing cause of wonder, and the great beds of Phlox, Mer-
tensia, Gilia, Actinella and other plants which he saw blooming
freely when the night temperature fell to from five to twenty
degrees below the freezing-point, suggested questions which
are difficult to answer. Professor Nelson thinks that reduced
atmospheric pressure plays an important part in preventing
injury to plants, for the same species at lower altitudes would
certainly perish in such cold. As an illustration of this he
states that late in August, 1890, he noted a plot of Potatoes in
full blossom at an elevation of some 9,000 feet. For three suc-
cessive days he watched these plants, which then showed no
trace of injury, although every night there were heavy frosts
and ice formed in exposed water-pails. Such a degree of
cold would, of course, have killed Potato plants, growing at
the sea-level.

oe

In Paris, where wood has been, to a large extent, substituted
for asphalt and other paving material, southern pine is very
largely used for blocks, These are laid on a concrete founda-
tion, and, as is well known, the streets are less noisy and the
pavement is considered more durable than any other. It would
seem that if yellow pine pavement is the best for Paris, where
public works are constructed with a view to the greatest
economy, combined with utility, the same material could be
used in America, especially in our southern cities. Experi-
ments with wood pavement in New York and Chicago have
been discouraging, but it may be that the fault was as much
in the construction as in the material. In a climate where the
ground freezes to the depth of three or four feet the founda-
tion of the road would be unsettled to a degree unknown in
London or Paris, and this upheaving may suffice alone to
account not only for the stability of roadways, but of walls in
England which endure for centuries, while they crumble and
tumble here when only a few years old.

It is claimed by some persons that Cottons grown in India
and Egypt are superior to the ordinary varieties grown in the
south, and owing to the increasing importation of the staple
into this country the experiment stations have been cultivat-
ing several varieties of Cotton from India and Egyptin order |
to compare their properties with our native forms. Of course,
nothing definite can be determined about these plants until
they have become acclimated by some years of careful culti-
vation, At Auburn, Alabama, experiments have been made in
naturalizing these plants with the effort to secure the best
results, so far as the health of the plant is concerned, that the
soil and climate will permit, and cross-fertilization was then
tried in order to unite the best properties of the foreign Cot- —
tons with those of the superior grades of American varieties
to produce an exceptionally good plant. Last year several —
hundred crosses were made between American and foreign —
species, and from the seeds gathered the station has been
quite successful in growing these cross-bred plants. Of course,
it is too early to pronounce with definiteness the final results
of these trials, but they will be watched with interest.

AUGUST 5, 1896.]

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrick: Tripung Buitpinc, New York.

Conducted by .. . Professor C, S. SARGENT.

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 1896.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

EprrorraAL ArtIcLe :—The Teak Forests of Burma...... « 31I
A Wild Garden. (With figure.).............- as poeceaeersn ee 312
Suburban Homes......ee+seeceeeeceeeeeees - Sylvester Baxter. 312
ForEIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter.......-+0 02sec eee ee eres W, Watson. 313
CuLrurAL DeparTMENT :—The Herbaceous Border........+++se225 +55 N. FR. 314
Vitis pterophora.....eeeee cee ee ceee ee eeee cee eees cteeee ee Alex. MacElwee. 315

The Davalllas mies William Scott. 316
Midsummer in the Flower Garden.. elds nS iO

The Oak-leaved Hydrangea, The
CorresPponpENnck :—An Old Novelty .......+++-+5-

: obert Cameron. 316
Notes from Germantown. .....-.-0eeeeeeeseneeeeenee

Joseph Meehan. 317

California Fruits at Homes... .eceoveseseccsersese+secces Wim. M. lisdale. 317

The Arrangement of Flowers....--+-++++ eeeeee sees eeseeeee Dorothy Root. 318
Tue Forest :—The Burma Teak Forests.—I....-..-.....++ Sir Dietrich Brandis. 318
RECENT PUBLICATIONS «2... 0+ seeeeseesereeeeeees iii =

NOTES... 000 ceee scenes eee ete seers ee cene crete eres eeeey
[LttustraTion :—Larkspurs in a Wild Garden, Fig. 42..

The Teak Forests of Burma.

E have more than once invited attention to the

administration of the forests of India by the Eng-
lish Government as the best example of a forest policy
carried out consistently and persistently over a large area.
And while India differs widely from America in climate as
well as in social and political conditions, the success
achieved here in checking the reckless destruction of tim-
ber and restoring wasted forests to their normal vigor and
productiveness, offers lessons of encouragement which
Americans can study with profit. Indeed, the analogy
between the condition of our own forests to-day and those
of India forty years ago is so clear, and the forest abuses of
the two countries so similar, that Mr. Ribentrop, the In-
spector-General of Indian Forests, wrote out. for us some
of the salient features of the Indian forest policy for the
instruction of Americans, and his statements we have
already presented to the readers of this journal. The one
capital result of the system of management inaugurated
and carried out in India by Sir Dietrich Brandis is that
these eastern forests are yielding an increasing revenue
year by year—that is, they are not only paying expenses,
but they are becoming more and more productive. It is
almost discouraging to feel the need of repeating over and
over again that this improvement of the forests is a funda-
mental purpose of all good forestry. Every one admits
that it is bad husbandry to crop farm-lands with no regard
to their productiveness in the years to come. But it is
quite as wasteful and unscientific to treat a forest in this
way as it is to exhaust agricultural lands.

It is because of the direct value as an object-lesson to us
of the work of Sir Dietrich Brandis that we have asked
him to give, with some detail, the history of his manage-
ment of the Teak forests of Burma, and the introductory
article of this series appears in this number. Any one who
carefully follows this series and notes in how brief a time
Sir Dietrich collected sufficient data to make a preliminary
working plan, must be convinced that if our forests were
put in charge of some one with a good knowledge of the
principles of forest management and a good supply of
executive force, there would be little difficulty in beginning
at once to lay the foundations for a permanently success-

Garden and Forest.

Sit

ful policy. Again: Persons who are well informed on this
subject invariably assert that private enterprise cannot be
trusted to conduct operations that ought to extend over an
indefinite period of time. It is natural that a lumberman
should conduct his work so as to get the maximum profit
—that is, the greatest profit for himself—and not for the
coming generation. The history of the forest operations
in Burma establishes this conclusively. The story of the
temporary abandonment of its original policy by the Gov-
ernment, of the destruction and loss which this change
entailed, and of the return to a sound system, is a most
instructive chapter in this history, and one which ought to
furnish a conclusive reply to all those who believe that the
management of forests can be entrusted to any power with
a shorter life than that of a nation.

Another point for our instruction is the fact that officers
of the army were found at the outset eminently fitted to
help in building up a forest administration until the time
when professionally trained foresters were available. This
does not mean that military force was employed against
timber thieves and herdsmen, but it means that we need
not wait for a complete corps of specially skilled foresters
before we lay the foundation of a thoroughly scientific
forest administration. ‘These young and active officers, in
good health, trained to orderly habits and inured to work
in the open air and exposure, can be trusted under good
professional guidance to carry out the foundation work,
and, perhaps, do as much as Colonel Pearson and Colonel
Bailey did under Sir Dietrich Brandis, before skilled men
like Schlich and Ribentrop were to be had. The experi-
ence in India also proves that in a dry hot climate forests
can be protected from fire if we are willing to pay for such
protection at first. If we do this the people themselves
will soon learn that it is to their interest to be cautious with
fire in the neighborhood of forests and they will be eager
to help extinguish fires when accidentally kindled. Dis-
patches from the north-west during the past week have
told that leagues upon leagues of magnificent timber have
been burned. Of course, no increased yield in the future,
and, in fact, no certain yield can ever be expected so long
as such destruction is possible. Unless we have some far-
sighted policy like that adopted for Burma with regard to
forest fires we must abandon all hope of anything like
practical forest management.

But it is not our intention to anticipate the lessons so
clearly set forth in the valuable forest history which Sir
Dietrich Brandis has furnished. There never was a time
more appropriate for careful thought on questions of
this kind than the present, when the Commission ap-
pointed by our National Academy of Science is studying
the forests on the public domain for the purpose of recom-
mending what part of the national forests shall pass into
private control, how they can be adminstered so as to
furnish the supplies needed for regions lying adjacent to
them without decreasing their permanent value, and how
a continuous, intelligent and honest management of these
forests can best be secured. ‘The points of practice which
have been considered most essential in India are, accord-
to Sir Dietrich : (1) An immediate collection of data as to
the most useful kinds of timber, their rate of growth, and
their requirements for the best development. (2) The spar-
ing use of the timber, with the cutting carefully regulated,
either by area or by volume. (3) Such a selection of trees
to be cut as will best maintain the most valuable species.
(4) Constant effort to increase the proportion of the more
valuable kinds. (5) A forward-looking plan which secures
a sustained and, if possible, a steadily increasing yield, °
even if this calls for the sacrifice of a boom at the outset.
(6) The reservation of as large areas as possible for state
forests, since it will be easier to give up land hereafter
needed for cultivation or other purposes than it will be to
acquire new forest-lands. It ought not to be impracticable
to frame a system of forest management for this country
which would contain all the essential features of the plan
which has proved such a conspicuous success in India.

312

May we not hope that Congress can be induced to take
such action as will make it possible to put a plan like this
to the test of actual experiment, and that the people can be
educated, not only to sustain the national legislature in
enacting such laws, but to demand their passage and
enforcement ?

A Wild Garden.

O form of gardening gives greater and more lasting
pleasure than that which aims to naturalize wild or
garden plants in positions where they will appear to be grow-
ing naturally and without the intervention of the gardener’s
art. As an illustration of what can be accomplished in this
way we published some weeks ago a view in Mr. W.
Bayard Cutting’s garden at Oakdale, on Long Island,
showing the effects obtained by planting the Japanese Cle-
matis paniculata by the border of a pond embowered in
native trees and shrubs, and on page 315 of this issue is a
view of a wild garden at Auburn, New York, in which
Mrs. Herbert Wadsworth has succeeded in naturalizing the
common perennial Larkspur on the border of a small arti-
ficial pool fed by a natural spring. Although this garden
was only three years old when Mrs. Wadsworth took the
photograph which is reproduced in our illustration, the
Larkspurs have taken a firm hold of the soil and have
already spread more than twenty feet from the spot where
the roots were first planted. The native Water-lily dots the
surface of the pool, and its borders are gay with the flowers
of the Marsh Marigold, the Blue Lungwort, and of many
other native spring-flowering plants, and of Asters, Golden-
rods and Sunflowers in their season ; and from a miry bog
hole covered with sedges and coarse grasses a charming
little wild garden has been made. The original cost of
such a garden, except in intelligence and taste, is small ;
it costs little to maintain, and with a little care in removing
a few too vigorous-growing plants every year it will go on
increasing indefinitely in naturalness and beauty.

Suburban Homes.

Pee eee for the improvementof suburbanhomes which

does not apply to the conditions prevailing in the aver-
age American suburb is likely to succeed. That is a defect
of Mr. R. Clipston Sturgis’s article, recently discussed in your
columns, full as itis of valuable suggestions. Even ifitapplied
to American conditions it would touch but a fraction of our
suburban populations. It concerns a more distinctively rural
life, like that of our quiet country towns. In our suburbs it
would apply only to the homes of the wealthy or the very
well-to-do.

Our suburbs are the overflow of great cities and comprise
three or four distinct classes of population. First in numbers
comes the artisan or laboring class, living there for the sake
of cheaper rents or the possession of their own homes. Then
comes another large class, consisting of clerks, bookkeepers
and upper-grade employees in city establishments. They
occupy humble but comfortable dwellings. A third class gives
to the more attractive aspects of suburban life their peculiar
tone, largely made up of city merchants or tradesmen, or men
receiving salaries running between $2,000 and $5,000 a year.
Greater cheapness of living, better air and more elbow-room
are leading considerations with this class. Fourth may be
reckoned the men of considerable wealth, whose tastes lead
them to rural life and who possess the conspicuous country-
seats to be found in nearly every suburban community. It is
chiefly to the third class that efforts at improvement must be
addressed. If successful here the force of example will be
likely sooner or later to prevail with the others.

The average modern suburb is a depressing place. Itgives
little promise of the results which have been predicted for the
much vaunted ‘‘suburban movement” asa relief from con-
gestion and other ills of city life. It promises, instead, to dis-
tribute those ills over areas so extensive as to make remedial
measures increasingly difficult. In place of clean pavements
we have miles of ill-kept streets, muddy or dusty according to
the weather. Endless rows of cheap wooden structures stand
grimy with dust, and so absolutely stupid in their expression-
ess ugliness that it seems as if really intelligent people could

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 441.

not existin them. These suburbs are the children of cheap
transit and real-estate speculation. The leading motive in
their creation is the sale of the greatest number of square feet
of land for the largest possible price afoot. Large communi-
ties are thus created overnight, as it were, entirely without
the proper civic equipments of a modern town. Beautiful rural
pastures are converted into human deserts. About New York
and Boston, for example, there are municipalities of this char-
acter which have not so much as a square foot of public
ground outside of the streets and the land occupied by school-
buildings. As homes for children the urban slum districts of
to-day, with their new and beautiful play-grounds and improved
tenement construction, will soon be preferable to them. Even
though in these districts the houses may be chiefly owned by
their occupants, the development of a really homelike life,
which must necessarily include beauty as a factor, cannot be
looked for among them.

It is to the creation of new suburbs, therefore, that we must
chiefly look for improvement. To this end there would doubt-
less have to bea radical departure in the size and shape of house-
lots, the planning of houses, and, perhaps, to a considerable
extent the laying out of streets. So greata change would make
the reform one of great difficulty, although it might be too much
to say that it is impracticable tor that reason. The force of
example has been so potent in other directions that it should
not be too much to look for eventual success. If a sufficient
number should once find. the change desirable, the power of
example would in time secure its general adoption.

What has already been accomplished in the way of subur-
ban improvement indicates that more radical changes should
be possible. The lines that have led to the present aspects of
our better class suburbs are fundamentally wrong in certain
respects, but, nevertheless, they have developed a great deal
that is good. The removal of fences from street and boundary
lines involved the overcoming of a conservatism that was
rooted deep in our domestic traditions. Yet the aspect of
openness, of spaciousness thus conferred, possessed a charm
so great that the force of example was powerful enough to
make it general in less than a generation, in spite of the
manifest objections to this practice. Therefore, areturn to the
best that went with the loss of the old, while retaining also the
best that was gained with the new, should be possible as soon
as it can be shown how desirable it is.

One inestimable thing that has been gained by this trans-
formation is the spirit of orderliness that characterizes our
better class suburbs and rural towns. The openness of aspect
that has been given to suburban grounds necessarily entails
careful attention. The lawn-mower has, therefore, become
almost as indispensabie as the broom in the suburban house-
hold. This spirit has been carried so far as to produce a sense
of bareness in the unrelieved carpets of turf that are altogether
too common a feature. The vulgarity of the florid tapestry
carpet, so much in favor within, has too commonly set the
example for the ornamentation of the lawn carpet without,
with horrific combinations of color and design in the way of
bedding and foliage plants. But bad example and the lack
of good example are chiefly responsible for these errors in
taste, and there is evident in many quarters a gratifying ten-
dency toward the judicious employment of shrubbery in the
development of the house-grounds.

Efforts at reform should be directed both toward a consid-
eration of what can be done under existing conditions and
what should be done toward the establishment of new condi-
tions. In addition to the desire for cheaper homes that car-
ries multitudes to the suburbs, there are also the still more
important motives of a desire for more agreeable and health-
ful conditions—purer air and sunshine, rural quiet and pleas-
anter surroundings in sight of grass, flowers, shrubs and trees.
These gains are all too frequently but temporary. The ten-
dency is toward their gradual effacement. The effort should
be to make them permanent. So far as the more undesirable
portions of our suburbs are concerned the sooner they are
entirely urbanized the better. The movement toward urban
amelioration, as witnessed in the improvement of congested
districts, may be depended upon for their betterment. For
the grade above this the outlook seems more hopeful. The
cost of suburban house-lots will probably always remain so
large as to make the extent of the average householder’s pos-
sessions very limited. The problem is how to make the most
of these conditions. What can be done with the present
average lot? A frontage of fifty feet and a depth of one hun-
dred feet is the standard size in many suburbs. A reduction
in depth and a corresponding increase in width would be
desirable. While this makes a lot of something less than an
eighth of an acre, the average suburban lot contains consid-

OE ee ee et | ee ee

AucusT 5, 1896.]

erably less than a tenth of an acre. Comparatively few lots
average a quarter of an acre, and within ten miles of a great
city the possession of as much as half an acre fora homestead
is usually a mark of affluence. Even the most modest of Mr.
Sturgis’s designs would exceed this limitation,

One may, to be sure, secure larger homestead areas by
going farther from the city, where land is cheaper. With the
remarkable development of quick transit facilities this recourse
is becoming increasingly practicable. Such outer suburbs are
usually accommodated by express trains, and in this way a
place twenty or twenty-five miles from the city is practically as
near as one from five to ten miles away. It may be said, how-
ever, that building-land in the remoter places is likewise thus
given practically the same value as that nearer at hand. Theo-
retically this is true. But, fortunately, the supply of land is
still immensely in excess of the demands for dwelling-places.
With the widening of the circle that limits the suburban zone,
as measured by the growth of transit facilities, the amount of
land available for home-building purposes increases in geo-
metrical ratio. It therefore becomes correspondingly difficult
to monopolize such lands for the speculative real-estate enter-
prises that now curse the environs of every large city with
their hideous huddlings of ramshackle wooden boxes. With
so much land lying unoccupied on every hand it seems neither
right nor reasonable that when thousands eagerly seek homes
amid the more agreeable rural surroundings they should be
squeezed into indecent proximity in neighborhoods that pos-
sess few of the advantages of either town or country. It
seems likely that the more ideal suburban conditions will be
established in these outer zones, at present chiefly occupied
by woods and pastures. But it should be remembered that
for the advantages of good streets, sewerage, water-supply,
light, ete., a fairly compact population is required unless the
cost to the individual is carried beyond the means of the
average man. These necessities are what should really fix the
value of building-land, and the size of house-lots should be
made as large as may Besse be consistent with these con-
ditions.

But meanwhile we must take the best of existing condi-
tions, What is the best that can be done with lots of the
present average size? The detached dwelling of the closely
built suburb has few, if any, advantages over the house in the
city block. There is air on all sides, to be sure, but the sub-
urban house is apt to be deprived of needed sunshine by the
close proximity of neighboring dwellings. As usually built
upon, the land has little use for purposes of household recrea-
tion, and both outdoors and in, owing to surveillance from
overlooking windows and from the street, there is less pri-
vacy than in the city dwelling.

With a lot of, say, 4,000 square feet the house occupies, as a
rule, from 1,200 to 1,500 square feet. Some advantage might
be gained by giving more careful consideration to the ques-
tions of air and sunlight in planning and placing the house.
But the huddling system of detached dwellings is so radically
defective that no great improvement can be looked for in this
direction. A very material gain, however, might be made by
adopting some plan of building in blocks or in semi-detached
dwellings. Let us take an acre of land, for instance. With
ten dwellings, this would give 4,356 square feet to each house-
holder. With 1,500 square teet occupied by each house we
would have 28,560 square feet left for outdoor space. If the
ten dwellings were built in a block there would not only bea
very considerable economy in construction, but, after deduct-
ing a reasonable space for yard-room, there would remain at
least half an acre to be used in common for garden and play-
ground purposes. An average block, bounded by four streets,
would give a very much larger area for use in common.

An objection to this plan might come from the difficulty of
securing unity of action among individual owners. For this
reason it might work better for a tenant than a_householding
system, the ‘rent including the cost of maintaining the open
space. Under the initiative of some liberal building enterprise,
however, the plan might be adapted to householding require-
ments. The maintenance of the open space held in common
might, for instance, be vested in some trust, or, perhaps, pub-
lic “authority, the cost to be assessed annually upon the indi-
vidual owners. Perhaps codperation to this extent might
lead to other forms of coéperation, as in a common laundry
for the block, and possibly a coéperative kitchen.

The better class suburban street has a certain attractiveness
in the well-kept lawn spaces in front of the houses, with usually
a uniformity in the distance of the building-line from the
street. As arule, under any form of improv ement over exist-
ing methods, it would probably be desirable to retain this
space free and unobstructed, for the sake of the pleasing

Garden and Forest.

313

appearance of breadth which it gives to the street. Then, how-
ever, let the rest of the ground “be screened from the public
eye at the house-line, either by shrubbery, lattice-work, wall,
or balustrade, as may seem desirable. In combination with
a judicious disposition of veranda and terrace space—taking
care that the former does not exclude needed winter sunshine
from the house—the better class suburban dwelling may thus
be provided with charming opportunities for outdoor life with
practically all the seclusion obtainable within. As for the re-
quirements of those whose grounds range from half an acre
upward, these should be carefully studied in each individual
instance. Inthe development of the park-like suburban neigh-
borhoods, which are increasingly in favor for the residences of
the well-to-do, the services of a landscape-architect are usually
demanded. In the development of the plan a provision for
outdoor seclusion in connection with each home site needs
thoughtful consideration with reference to the design as a
whole.

Malden, Mass. Sylvester Baxter.

Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.

Yucca ELATA.—A collection of Arizona species of Yucca
was obtained for Kew about three years ago, and among
them was a plant, with a five-foot stem, of Y. elata, which
is now flowering in the temperate house. It has a scape
eight feet long, bearing a branched panicle of flowers,
which are milk-white, very fragrant, about three inches
across when fully expanded, and are apparently of good
lasting qualities. The plant is ornamental when not in
flower, with its head of dark green linear leaves with white
marginal fibres, and reflexed dark brown persistent dead
leaves almost hiding the whole of the lower part of the
stem. Itis one of the handsomest of all the Yuccas, I
believe. This is the first time this species has flowered in this
country. It might be called an arborescent Y. angustifolia
so far as leaf-characters go, but there is a wide difference
between the two in inflorescence. The latter is hardy at
Kew, where about fifty examples, almost full size, are a
féature on a sunny slope in the Bamboo garden.—[See vol.
li, p. 569.—Ep. |

CLETHRA CANESCENS.—Flowering examples of this shrub
were exhibited this week by Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons and
were awarded a first-class certificate. The species is a
native of Japan, Java, the Philippines, etc., and was intro-
duced from the first-named country about twenty years
ago by Messrs. Veitch, with whom it has proved hardy in
their Coombe-Wood nursery. It formerly bore the name
of Clethra barbinervis. It has stalked oval or obovate
leaves three to five inches long, the margins serrate, the tip
acuminate, the surface hairy and the nerve-pits bearded.
The flowers are borne on erect slender racemes and they
are pure white. In general appearance this species is most
like the North American C. alnifolia, which is one of our
most useful summer-flowering hardy shrubs. In the green-
house one of the most attractive shrubs at this period of
the year is C. arborea, a native of Madeira. It is a hand-
some evergreen at all times of the year, and when clothed
with its elegant racemes or compound panicles of white
Lily-of-the-valley-like flowers in July and August it is
greatly admired.—[See vol. vi., p. 257.—Eb. ]

ELLIOTTIA RACEMOSA. —Collectors of rare hard y shrubs in

this country are eagerly inquiring after this plant, of which
there is a healthy example at Kew, probably the only one in
Europe. Here, however, all attempts to propagate it have
failed. I believe that some nurserymen in the United States

possess this plant, possibly they have succeeded in work-
ing up a stock of it; if so we would much like to know
how itis done. Itis stated that this ne monotypic
genus is no longer to be found wild in the United States,
the only locality where it used to be found having been
swept by fire. The plant has never flowered in E ngland.
Perhaps some one acquainted with it under cultivation will
kindly furnish an account of it for publication in GarpEN
AnD Forest.—[See vol. vii., p. 206.—Ep. ]

Rosa La&vicata.—The Cherokee Rose is not a success in

314

English gardens, failing to flower even where it grows
freely. Breeders of Roses here look upon this species asa
likely one to cross with the commoner sorts. Lord Pen-
zance records his failure to cross itin one year when he
managed to get a few flowers. The distinct character of
the foliage of Rosa laevigata would be an additional attrac-
tion to the Hybrid Perpetuals.

Dipymocarpus Marayanus.—This is a new introduction of
Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons, who exhibited plants of it in flower
this week and obtained for it a first-class certificate. A
figure of it has also been prepared for publication in Zhe
Botanical Magazine. The genus, which is closely related
to Streptocarpus, comprises about seventy species, natives
of India, Malaya and southern China. Ihave seen a con-
siderable number of them tried as garden plants, but they
do not thrive under cultivation here. Apparently, however,
Didymocarpus Malayanus is an exception. It is not un-
like the common Streptocarpus in habit, having green ovate
hairy leaves and erect few-flowered scapes four inches high,
the flowers nodding, tubular, two inches long and colored
primrose-yellow. The plant requires stove treatment. No
doubt Messrs. Veitch will try to cross it with Streptocarpus,
and possibly with valuable results, the color of the flowers
being novel. I believe the main difference between Strep-
tocarpus and Didymocarpus is that in the former the valves
of the fruit are spirally twisted, and in the latter they are
straight. D. Humboldtianus and D. Griffithii are some-
times to be met with in cultivation, :

Apiantum Bessonranum.—This is a new seedling or
hybrid Fern which Mr. James O’Brien, of Harrow, has
introduced from Trinidad and exhibited before the Royal
Horticultural Society this week, who awarded it a certifi-
cate. It is supposed by some to bear indications of a
hybrid origin from Adiantum tenerum and A. trapeziforme.
The pinne are large, thicker in texture, more rounded in
form and more crowded on the frond than in A. trapezi-
forme, while in habit the plant is more compact and
crowded with fronds than either supposed parent. I
should prefer to look upon it as a sport from A. tenerum,
from which, in the opinion of Mr. Baker, A. Farleyense, A.
Lathomi, A. Ghiesbreghtii, A. Victorize, A. Bansei, A. rhodo-
phyllum and A. princeps have probably all sprung. -What-
ever its origin or affinity, A. Bessonianum is a distinct Fern
which is likely to become a favorite with growers of deco-
trative Ferns.

ZYGOPETALUM GRANDIFLORUM.—A healthy plant bearing a
raceme of two flowers of this rare species was shown this
week by Sir Trevor Lawrence. It is remarkable as being
the largest-flowered of all the Zygopetalums, and it is
anomalous in having Huntleya-like flowers and pseudo-
bulbs. Reichenbach called it Batemannia grandiflora. It
was introduced from Colombia by Linden, and first flow-
ered in this country about thirty years ago. The pseudo-
bulbs are ovoid, furrowed, each bearing two leaves, which
are lanceolate and about a foot long. The scape is about
six inches long and bears from two to. five flowers, each
four inches across; sepals and petals equal, lanceo-
late, green, with longitudinal brown stripes; lip broad,
three-lobed, white, with purplish raised lines and a semi-
circular crest, conspicuously toothed and colored red and
yellow. The top of the column is white. The plant is
grown in a moist tropical house at Burford Bridge, where
Sir Trevor Lawrence has an exceptionally rich collection
of Zygopetalums, both tropical and temperate.

C@LoGyNE SANDERIANA.—Reichenbach first described this
plant in 1887 from specimens introduced from the Sunda
Islands and flowered by Messrs. Sander & Co., St. Albans.
It is one of the most beautiful species of this large genus,
and when grown as was a specimen exhibited by Messrs.
Sander & Co. this week its beauty is exceptional. The
plant under notice bore six pendulous spikes, each carrying
six or eight flowers, and each flower when flattened out
measured nearly four inches across, and was colored milk-
white with a few brown lines and a blotch of yellow on

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 441.

the ip. The pseudo-bulbs in this species are ovoid, about
three inches long, angled, wrinkled when old. The leaves
are about a foot long and three inches wide. A cultural
commendation was awarded to Messrs. Sander for their
fine production. Coming from the Sunda Islands this spe-
cies requires tropical treatment. Messrs. Sander & Co.
grow it along with Phalznopsis.

Denprozium Macartuim.—One of the rarest and most
beautiful of all Dendrobiums is this species, which is pecu-
liar to the forests of Ceylon, from whence it has frequently
been imported since its first introduction to Kew in 1855.
No one has yet succeeded in keeping it in health in this
country longer than two or three years ; consequently, it
has always been in demand. Collectors do not, as a rule,
concern themselves over such nice botanical questions as
the extermination of a plant from the wild flora of a coun-
try. On the recommendation of the Director of the Botanic
Gardens at Ceylon the Government of that colony has,
therefore, issued an order forbidding the collection of this
and other rare Orchids in the Crown forests without a
special permit. Sir Trevor Lawrence exhibited this week
a well-flowered example of it, and it has also flowered
recently in the tropical Orchid-house at Kew. Plenty of
heat and moisture from June till November, followed by a
rest of about two months in an intermediate temperature
and dry atmosphere, are the conditions most congenial to it.
W. Watson.

London.

Cultural Department.

The Herbaceous Border.

Lychnis Sieboldii._Of the several varieties of Lychnis ful-
gens the one known as L. Sieboldii is the most distinct on
account of its pure white flowers. It is a Japanese variety of
great beauty, growing a foot or eighteen inches high and pro-
ducing its large flowers throughout summer if grown in suffi-
ciently moist and rich soil. The petals are broad, slightly
lobed, the corolla being more compact and rounded than in
any other variety. The leaves are mostly ovate-oblong, shorter
and more rounded than those of the species and covered with
soft downy hairs. This variety is. generally propagated by
means of division, but it will also come true from seeds. It
grows best ina rich and moist soil and prefers slightly shady
positions. All varieties of L. fulgens, as well as the species
itself, may be planted with excellent effect in the outskirts of
woods or in open shrubberies.

Linaria alpina—vVisitors to the Alps or other European
mountain regions cannot fail to notice a beautiful tufted plant
growing in moist crevices of rocks and covered with attractive
flowers of a deep violet-blue, witha bright golden throat. The
leaves are linear, or almost terete, nearly an inch long and
placed four in a whorl around the slender stems. The flow-
ers, which measure about half an inch in length, are spurred
and produced in terminal loosely capitate racemes throughout
the summer, This plant is one of the most desirable and
effective rock-plants, easy to grow almost anywhere and
readily increased by means of seeds. If grown in exposed
and sunny positions it requires an occasional watering to de-
velop the best qualities. It thrives best in slightly shady
places in a deep and moist fissure, or where it is protected by
overhanging rocks or ledges, or close to a waterfall, where the
air is moist and cool. Under favorable conditions it forms
quite large tufts, and is then very effective.

Arnica montana.—From the latter part of June through the
month of July, when American woods are almost devoid of
flowers, the Mountain Tobacco, or Arnica, is one of the
great attractions in all open deciduous woods in northern
Europe. The flowers are about two inches in diameter, with
numerous rather narrow ray-florets, of a very beautiful shade
of yellow, between salmon and orange, abundantly borne on
slightly leafy scapes eight inches to a foot high, which bear
one or more flower-heads. The leaves are about six inches
long, lanceolate, entire and quite smooth. They grow in tufts
among the grass in high and dry woods, mostly in gravelly or
sandy soil. The Arnica well deserves to be introduced in
woods and natural parks.
with good effect.
seeds,

Caccinia glauca. — This is a composite herbaceous plant,

I It may also be grown in a rockery
It is propagated by means of division or

AuGusT 5, 1896.]

growing from one to three feet high. It is of a robust,
spreading habit, with thick glaucous stems and large glandu-
lous leaves from three to six inches long, the radical ones
very variable, but mostly spathulate or tongue-shaped, those
of the stem elliptic or ovate, with coarse, hairy edges. The
flowers are of a beautiful azure blue,an inch or more in diam-
eter, with lanceolate, accuminate petals and a thick, fleshy
and spiny calyx, collected in loose scorpioid racemes. The
flowers are most abundant in Juneand July, but the plant
flowers for a long period. It will grow well in a comparatively
dry gravelly soil in exposed and sunny positions. The Cac-
cinia ripens plenty of seeds and may easily be propagated by
this means. It is a perennial and very hardy.

Dianthus cesius.—This species, which is popularly known as
the Cheddar Pink, looks very much in habit like a small Car-
nation, the leaves being very smooth and glaucous and grow-
ing in close, dwarf tufts only a few inches high. The flowers
are deliciously fragrant, of a bright rosy-red color, borne singly
on slender stems. The Cheddar Pink is very useful for edging
flower-beds and borders, and is especially attractive in large
masses in rockeries, or it may be planted in gravelly soil on

Garden and Forest.

315

cuttings in a warm house it grows rapidly and forms stems
which are square, with wavy wings, fringed with ciliate hairs
on the angles. The leaves are of a pleasant light green color,
three-parted, the divisions toothed; opposite the leaves are
borne branched tendrils, which have the power of twining or
clasping anything within reach. These tendrils also possess
adhesive disks, like those of Ampelopsis, by which they can
attach themselves to a smooth surface, or they sometimes
insert the disks in crevices or cracks in the wall or wood-
work, wedging themselves fast by accessions of cellular tissue.
They are also interesting from the fact that they produce two
to four long aerial roots from each of the joints of the stem.
These are of a reddish color. They are from three to eighteen
feet long, and would probably have grown longer if the roof
of the house had been higher. On reaching the ground they
shrivel at the tip and then produce a branch-root a few inches
further up, but I only noticed one instance where the root took
hold of the soil. They form a screen-like festooning which
reminds one of the Japanese curtains in our houses. As the
plant finishes its growth for the season and begins to ripen its
stem a swelling takes place near the tip; this usually extends

Fig. 42.—Larkspurs in a Wild Garden.—See page 312.

bare sunny hillsides, a position in which it is generally found
in a natural state. Like the Carnation, it may be increased by
means of cuttings or layering, or more slowly by means of
seeds, which should be sown in rich and porous soil in a cool
frame and transplanted once or twice the first summer, after
which it may be planted out permanently. It may be grown
in any soil not too wet, but it retains its beautiful dwarf and
compact habit best in poor soil and in open and sunny
positions. NFR.

New York.

Vitis pterophora.

PNGCOUELE of tubers of this Vitis, often called gongyloides,
were received at the Botanic Garden of the University ot
Pennsylvania from the Cambridge Botanic Gardens, England.
This is a very interesting plant to the physiologist as well as a
suitable climber for the stove-house in summer. The species
is indigenous to a few districts in Brazil and Peru, where it is
usually found growing in the forests. Started from tubers or

through two joints. When fully grown it is oblong, about one
inch in diameter, and of a dark green color.

When the stem is thoroughly ripened the tuber falls to the
ground, and will grow if properly taken care of. Thisis prob-
ably the means whereby the plant propagates itself in its native
habitat, and is, no doubt, the method whereby the species is
preserved over a long period of drought. The tubers are
tenacious of life, and instances are known of their retaining
vitality fora year. Neither flowers nor fruit are known.

The old stem, if cut into pieces of two eyes each and placed
in a pan of coarse sand, will root in about three weeks. These
plants should be potted in four-inch pots ina rough loamy soil
well drained. They need plenty of water and should be
syringed freely once aday: When the roots have reached the
side of the pot the plants should be shifted into seven-inch
pots, in the same kind of soil, and staked up securely. They
will grow in these pots for the summer if watered freely, but
would be helped by another shift into ten-inch pots. They
should be trained along the rafters of the roof, or they will
climb along wires if leftto themselves. The light green foliage

316

will provide desirable shade to the tender subjects beneath.
It is decidedly a stove-house plant and will stand plenty of
heat. The species is clean and not subject to any disease nor
the attacks of any insect, so faras I have noticed—very desir-

able features in hot-house climbers.
Norway, Pa. Alex. MacElwee.

The Davallias.

HIS extensive genus of stove and greenhouse Ferns sup-

plies many beautiful and interesting varieties suited to
different uses, as they range from a few inches to more than
three feet in height. They look the best and are most at home
in the rockery, where they creep and twine over and about the
rocks; but all of them are more or less suited to pot-culture,
while quite a number are well adapted for growing in hanging
baskets or on blocks of cork. They are, generally speaking,
plants of easy culture. They succeed better in a rather light
situation than under heavy shading, but should always be pro-
tected from the direct rays of the sun. Probably the most
practicable method of propagation is by division. Raising
from spores is asomewhat delicate matter with a majority of
the varieties. Even some of the more robust growers, such
as Davallia Mooreana, are hard to procure by this method,
while D. Fijiensis plumosa, though less robust and much finer
in texture, comes much more readily. All the varieties, how-
ever, can be easily increased by division. The surest method
is to procure fair-sized rooted portions of the rhizomes. Noth-
ing is gained by making the divisions too small, with a view
to procuring more plants, as the rate of loss is certain to be
larger, while those that grow take much longer to become
useful plants. If they once get into a stunted state it is gener-
ally difficult to bring them into healthy growth again. If
grown as they ought to be, ina fibrous compost, the divisions
can generally be removed with part of the compost adhering
to the roots, and should be potted firmly in small pots half-
filled with crocks, in a mixture of fibrous peatand sphagnum.
For the first few days a close shady situation should be pro-
vided and frequent sprinklings will help to keep them up until
fresh growth has started. For the next shifts pans are prefer-
able to pots, as they allow of freer drainage and prevent stag-
nation, trom which Davallias suffer readily. For use in rock-
work, well-established plants are required and great care must
be taken that ample drainage is provided in pockets or
crevices where they are to be placed. The compost for filling
these pockets may be composed mainly of fibrous loam and
peat in about equal parts, with a little leaf-mold and rough
sand. The addition of a few broken pieces of charcoal and
sandstone is of advantage, as they keep the whole as rough and
porous as possible. The difference in the height of the many
varieties provides plants suitable for almost any position in the
rockery, the larger, of course, being suitable for the background
and the smaller for the foreground. Watering is an important
detail in the cultivation of these plants. In the rockery, espe-
cially, this is often carelessly done, the hose being turned on and
an indiscriminate drenching given. By using the watering-
pot moisture can be supplied in more suitable quantity and to
the plants which need it. Davallias must never be allowed to
suffer for want of-water, but overwatering is equally hurtful.
The compost named above is equally well suited for potting

urposes. ann
eenien NEN. — William Scott,

Midsummer in the Flower Garden.

OLLYHOCKS are still in beautiful bloom. We find that
we can keep up a succession of these flowers by trans-
planting some of them in May just before the formation of the
flower-buds. This checks their growth, and it takes some
time for the plants to become reéstablished. By break-
ing off the tops of the flower-stalks the flowers are increased
in size, and sometimes under careful cultivation they will, if so
treated, throw out branches which later on will be loaded with
bloom.

Pardanthus Sinensis has been blooming for a fortnight in a
group with tall orange and red Lilies, with which it harmonizes
perfectly. In the same company can be seen the white Snow-
drop-like bells of Hyacinthus (Galtonia) candicans and some
large blue Campanula-flowers, and the whole mass makes
a charming picture against a background of climbing Roses,
now out of bloom, scrambling over a young Mulberry in the
wild garden.

Another showy group for a wild garden is made up of bright
scarlet Lychnis, deep red Monarda didyma and white Achillea,
the Pearl, which last has the merit of holding its blossoms for
several weeks. The ground here is carpeted with a little blue

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 441.

Lobelia. Bare spaces of earth are not desirable in the borders,
and it is necessary to spend some thought on the best selec-
tion of carpet plants. The most satisfactory plants for this
purpose are not rampant growers, and they are better if they
have rather inconspicuous bloom. Such plan's as the old-
fashioned small-flowered sweet Mignonette, Woodruff, annual
Candytuft, Sweet Alyssum and the dainty little perennial
Tunica saxifraga are good for this purpose. , Portulaca makes
a fine display on dry soils, but its bright many-colored blos-
soms do not always blend harmoniously with their sur-
roundings.

Tall perennial Phloxes are coming into flower, and, while
they are all showy plants, should be used by the planter with
great discrimination. Some of the magenta and solferino
colored Phloxes are in accord with few other flowers and ought
to be weeded out wherever they appear. Butajudicious selec-
tion of the many handsome white, light-colored, bright-eyed
and carmine varieties make a showy bed, and these plants are
particularly useful at this time for cut flowers. A mass of these
is used by us against a background of limestone-rocks, and
here the effect is good. D.D

Rose Brake, W. Va.

The Oak-leaved Hydrangea.—Our native Hydrangea querci-
folia isone of the best of the Hydrangeas, although the large-
flowered panicled Hydrangea from Japan is much more often
seen in American gardens. Our native species resembles in
its mode of flowering H. paniculata rather than its variety
grandiflora, having a long thyrsoid panicle which carries on
spreading branches a few clusters of perfect flowers and large
sterile flowers at their extremities, which change slowly from
white toa dull red. The Oak-leaved Hydrangea is a good
shrub here all the year around, and in autumn its deep plum-
colored foliage 1s very attractive. In Georgia and Florida,
where it is found wild, it reaches a height of fifteen feet and
becomes almost tree-shaped. Here it is rarely more than four
feet high, a broad spreading graceful shrub, which flowers
every year. It is notreliably hardy much north of this latitude,
but another native, H. radiata, found inthe Appalachian region
of North Carolina and Tennessee, endures even New England
winters, and it is a striking shrub for the snowy down which
covers the under side of its leaves.

The Cornelian Cherry.—Cornus Mas is one of the oldest of
cultivated Cornels and it is one of the best of exotic Cornels
for American planting. Our native Dogwoods are all admira-
ble shrubs or small trees, but none of them are so showy in
very early spring as the Cornelian Cherry when it is covered
with compact clusters of little bright yellow flowers disposed
throughout the entire length of its branches. These flowers
appear even before those of our native Spicewood, which,
although it flowers with equal profusion, is not as bright in
general appearance. The Cornelian Cherry, however, is a
beautiful plant at the present season also for its mass of clean
foliage, and later for its bright-colored fruits. Altogether it is
one of the most satisfactory of small trees for American plant-

ing which come from central and southern Europe.
New Brunswick, N, J. aS:

Correspondence.
An Old Novelty.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—One of the novelties offered in flower-seeds last spring
was Coreopsis Japonica. Those who have sown this seed will
be likely to be disappointed when their plants blossom. We
procured seed from two reliable seedsmen, and expected to
add another species to our collection of Coreopsis. The
plants are in bloom now, and prove to be a native species that
has been grown in gardens for many years, and known as
Helenium tenuifolium. It is an annual plant, and in Gray’s
Synoptical Flora of North America is said to grow from
Arkansas to Mississippi, Florida and Texas, becoming a
naturalized weed throughout the southern Atlantic states. It
would be interesting to know if these seeds were collected in
Japan or if some one has deceived American and European
seedsmen. We had one package of seeds from a reliable seeds-
man in England and another from one in Boston. The plants
from the two packages, which were kept separate, are now in
bloom, and they are exactly alike. Means should be taken to
find out where this seed came from originally last spring. A
way to guard against an evil like this would be to put the
author's name after the specific name—that is to say, when a
person offers a novelty and calls ita new species he ought to
give his name, and this should be put on every packet of seed
sent out. Another novelty sent out in seeds last spring is

AUGUST 5, 1896.]

Campanula Japonica. We have seedlings of this plant, but
they have not blossomed yet. The plants look now much like
seedlings of Platycodon grandiflorum growing near by. Were
these sent out by the same enterprising person who intro-

duced the so-called Coreopsis Japonica ?

Botanic Garden, Harvard University. Robert Cameron.

Notes from Germantown.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—In the flower-border the double-flowered Hemerocallis
fulva is one of the showiest plants now in bloom. Double
flowers of this class are not, as a rule, attractive, but these
flowers last longer than those of the species and they make a
much finer display.

It ought to be moregenerally known that Tritoma uvaria is
quite hardy here. Some of these plants are now nicely in
flower and they have been unprotected for two winters past.

The double-flowered Rudbeckia, called Golden Glow, is
displaying its first flowers. They are a good clear yellow and
quite double, and from the number of buds appearing the plants
promise to make a good display later on.

Passiflora incarnata is in flower. It lives out-of-doors here
only when leaves are placed about it in winter to prevent the
frost from getting to the roots. When we treat our plants in
this way we are rewarded with an abundance of beautiful

flesh-colored flowers.
Germantown, Pa. Foseph Meehan.

California Fruits at Home.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—Nearly all the fruits of California now find their way
east, and even to England, where they are gradually winning
wider markets. Enterprising growers have partially succeeded
in devising methods of shipment which carry the different
fruits to the consumer in satisfactory condition. A statement
of the prices and qualities of these handsome fruits where
they are grown may interest the eastern reader. Many per-
sons in selecting southern Calitornia as a place of residence
count the luxuriance, the abundance and the cheapness of its
fruits as one of the principal inducements, believing that a
plentiful supply of fresh fruit every day, as an article of diet,
is healthful and wholesome as well as enjoyable.

In California, as elsewhere, the larger towns always have
the greatest variety of fruits in the market, because they draw
their supplies from all of the smaller places, most of which
have their specialties. The choicest fruit also, and the earliest,
naturally seeks the largest market. San Francisco, forinstance,

' buys fresh figs from Palm Valley, an isolated and torrid nook
inthe mountains adjacent to the Colorado desert, some weeks
before they appear in the markets five hundred miles nearer
the place where they are grown. These early figs bring fifty
cents a pound. Inthe same city oranges have been offered
at from eight to ten dollars a box a month in advance ot the
ripening of the crop in southern California. These oranges
were grown in Salt River valley, Arizona, but the supply is
very limited.

The winter supply of fruit is, of course, less than that of the
summer. Few persons in California eat oranges before the
first of February, although, nominally, they may be had inany
month, They are at their prime between the first of March
and the first of July. The strawberry, in favorable years like
the two seasons last past, is in market every month. The win-
ter fruit is usually large and handsome and takes the eye of the
tourist, but it is not sweet and wholesome until about the first
of March, when the warmer suns of spring give it more sugar
anda betterflavor. In April, when strawberries usually sell
in New York for sixty cents a quart, they retail in southern
California tor eight cents, and the firstcropis atits best. There
are three principal crops a year, with short intervals between.
In the winter, when scarce, they usually sell for twenty or even
twenty-five cents a box. They are in good flavor from March
to Christmas and frequently sell as low as four cents.

The apple is, as everywhere, a principal winter and summer
fruit. Apples of excellent quality are grown in the higher
lands, both in the north and the south, but not in sufficient
quantities to supply the home demand. In the south they first
appear about the middle of July and are in market until the
following May. In the fall largequantities are imported from
Oregonand otherstates. Three cents a pound is considered
cheap for good sound fruit, and eight cents is about as high
as the price goes, apples then being regarded as a luxury for
the rich. Figs, pears, guavas, grapes, Japanese persimmons,
lemons and limes, with imported pineapples and bananas,

Garden and Forest.

317

make up, with the apples and oranges, the bulk of the winter
display upon the fruit-sellers’ stalls.

In April the loquat makes its appearance, the earliest fruit
of the year and one of the least desirable, except as a novelty.
Itis a small, oblong yellow fruit and contains two huge seeds,
which make up the bulk of the material inside of the tough
skin. It has an odd, subacid flavor which some people affect
to enjoy, but it is not a fruit of commercial importance, either
at home or abroad. Currants come late in May. They are
not grown to any extent in southern California, and command
a price which is considered high, rarely selling for less than
ten cents a pound. Memories of the currant jelly of the east
bind many housewives to the practice of purchasing them, no
matter what the price may be. In June several fruits are
added to the slowly increasing list. First, we have cherries ;
the earliest are imported from the north and bring twenty-five
cents a pound. These are the same brilliant, glossy, highly
flavored cherries that bring tancy prices in the east. The black
varieties are the first, but are soon followed by the white, red
and yellow sorts in great profusion. None of them sell, how-
ever, atless than ten cents a pound. It has been found that
cherries flourish at the same altitudes and on the same soils
as apples, and very fine fruit is now being grown in southern
California in the mountain valleys at an altitude of about three
thousand feet. Here the Black Tartarian and the Governor
Wood flourish admirably. In the north this favorite fruit has
been brought to great perfection and has always repaid its cul-
tivators most handsomely. Afterthe cherries, in June, come
apricots, peaches, raspberries, blackberries, dewberries, plums
and prunes. In July we get the first fresh figs, nectarines,
pears, melons and grapes, and all these fruits, with the addi-
tions later of pomegranates and persimmons, last until the
first of December or even longer.

The black raspberry is rarely seen in California markets,
and in many portions of southern California the red raspberry
is arecent truit. This, doubtless, is due to the fact that peo-
ple were too busy at first in the new towns with matters of
greater importance to pay much attention to small fruits, for
the red raspberry as grown here is delicious and produces
profusely. There are many varieties of blackberries and dew-
berries. These small fruits usually bring fitteen cents a box
when they first appear and drop quickly to eight or even five.
California apricots and peaches cannot be had in perfection in
the east. They must be grown with little or no irrigation and
fully ripened on the tree to be at their prime. Then they are
truly delicious. They are very cheap, retailing most of the
season at two cents a pound, or even less. The luscious and
varied California grapes are also sold at the same low price as
apricots and peaches. Fresh figs are also very cheap after
they have ceased to beanovelty. Favorite varieties of grapes
in the home market are the Sweetwater, the Muscat and the
seedless Sultanas of the white sorts; the Rose of Peru, the
common Mission, the Black Morocco, the Black Hamburg
and the Cornichon of the darker varieties, and the ever-popu-
lar Flame Tokay. Some of the highly perfumed eastern sorts
are grown in California with moderate success. But most of
these varieties require trellising, and this is a refinement as
yet beyond the average hurrying Californian. He prefers to
cut his vines back to the stump every season rather than to
train and prune them over trellises.

Bananas are imported from points in Central and South
America and from the Hawaiian Islands. They usually retail
at thirty cents a dozen and are in the market practically all the
year. Thered sort is never seen in California. Pineapples
are brought from Florida in the winterand from the Hawaiian
Islands in the summer. They are always expensive, selling at
from fifty cents to a dollar and twenty-five cents each. Pears
are always cheap in California. The Bartlett is the favorite,

but Winter Nelis and Seckel are later varieties that find
ready sale. The huge, ungraceful Pond pear is grown and
sold asa curiosity and frequently attains a weight of three
pounds, but is not valued for its flavor. It is useless to enume-
rate the varieties of plums. This brilliant, showy fruit adds
greatly to the beauty of the fruit-seller’s display. These fruits
bear transportation and are familiar to the eastern consumer.
The common prune when ripe and fresh is delicious and

sweeter than many of the other plums. Melons are produced
by the thousands of tons, both north and south. In the smaller
towns they quickly come down in price to the small sum of
five to ten cents each, at which they can be bought during four
or five months. The muskmelons enjoyed in San Francisco
are among the pleasantest recollections of a residence in that
city—great, handsome, juicy, highly colored, delicately fla-
vored fruits, in unequaled variety. I do not think that better
melons can be raised in any part of the world.

318

The flavor of the nectarine is between that of a peach and
a plum, and it has, I think, more acid than either of those
fruits. It is grown more for drying than for consumption
when fresh. Like the other fruits of its class, itis sold ata
very low price. Persimmons, pomegranates and pomelos are
offered for sale, but they are all among the fruits that one has
to learn to like, and the demand is, therefore, limited. Cali-
fornians are still shy of the pomelo, which has long been con-
sidered a door-yard curiosity, and the average buyer hesitates
at paying from five to ten cents each for these tart, ill-shaped
monstrosities. Probably they do not yet appreciate this fruit
at its true value except in a commercial sense. The pome-
granate makes an attractive table decoration, but the task of
extracting nutriment from its pretty red seed-cells is a tedious
one. The persimmon is a mushy thing, and not in popular
favor among so many better fruits. The Guava is a perennial
producer, but sells best in the autumn ; theStrawberry variety,
in particular, has a very delicate flavor. It is not particularly
popular as a fresh fruit, being cultivated principally for the
delicious amber-colored jelly made from it. The cherimoyer,
or custard-apple, is said to be grown in a few localities suc-
cessfully, but it does not appear in the markets.

The prices here quoted are the ordinary average retail rates.
Under unusual conditions they may be higher or lower. It
will be seen that one need not have a very long purse or take
the trouble to grow his own fruits in order to enjoy an abun-
dance of the very best. The customary retail price of oranges
during the season is from ten to twenty-five cents a dozen,
except on the stands that cater principally to the tourist trade,
where the prices are doubled. In the orange-growing dis-
tricts nearly every door-yard has its trees to grow fruit for
home use.

California is becoming known for fruits, flowers and fiestas.
Its flowers are certainly beautiful. Its fiestas, or gala days, are
more elaborate and more numerous every year, and afford
innocent entertainment to thousands of residents, both perma-
nent and temporary ; but its constant succession of varied and
luscious fruits is a pleasant feature of life in California even
greater than these others, because it is one which all can

appreciate. . .
Pealands, Calit Wine Me Tisdale,

The Arrangement of Flowers.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—My garden lies in a hidden corner at the foot of a steep
hill, sheltered among the evergreen Balsams and graceful
Birches. It is a long terrace, sloping to a short level space,
and losing itself in the deep woods beyond. It is a wild, old-
fashioned garden, flowers growing from the top of the steep
terrace to the bottom, and they seem to fall like a curtain to
the path at the foot. A flight of stone steps leads from the top
of the terrace to the flower-beds below. ' Looking over the
lovely mass of flowers I wonder how to cut and arrange them
to their best advantage, and Nature herself answers and
teaches me.

In one corner a long row of brilliant carmine perennial
Peas blooms profusely, and hundreds of buds open to the sun-
shine every morning. Below them, its branches all about and
over them, grows the dainty veil-like Baby’s Breath, Gypsophila
paniculata, Nature seemingly weaving it in and out. among
the Peas to soften the glow of their vivid color. In this way
I arrange them in the house, using glass vases so as not to take
away from the delicate effect of the whole. Filling the bowl
with clear spring water I place the clusters of Baby’s Breath
first, and then arrange one by one the Peas, until it all looks
like asmall piece of the garden outside,

Near the woods, in a dark corner, grow the Pansies, the
always cool atmosphere keeping the flowers large and rich
all through the summer. They grow in bunches, and dozens
of the rich clusters stand up together. Back of them, a little
way in among the trees, are thick beds of soft, damp moss,
with here and there a delicate Fern. Growing so near together,
it strikes me that nothing can be better to bring out the beauty
of the Pansies than the bed of spongy Moss. Placing a piece
of it on a long platter or round dish, with the little Ferns fring-
ing the edge, I saturate it with water, and then stick in one by
one the Pansies, pushing the stems down into the moss until
hardly a glimpse of it is to be seen.

Hundreds of scarlet Poppies grow on the sunny slopes,
blooming among waving tutts of grass ; next to them are the
clear yellow fairy-like Iceland Poppies and the bright blue Corn
Flower. A few field Daisies have found their way into this
mass of color; one would have blind eyes, indeed, not to per-
ceive that with these materials could be fashioned a bouquet

Garden and Forest.

that would tempt a French woman to putit in her bonnet and
remind the German of his fatherland. In a tall glass vase scar-
let Poppies are arranged with waving Grasses, yellow Iceland
Poppies looking like huge sunny Buttercups, German Corn
Flowers and field Daisies. The effect is like a little piece of
foreign lands brought into New England.

As the season advances the Sunflowers open their great
smiling heads to the sun ; something must be done with them ;
they, too, mustdo their duty in decorating the house, but how ?
They are so large and stiff that itis a hard problem to solve.
Nature has done it for me; a clusterof Golden-rod, uninvited
and uncared for, has persistently taken its place among the
finer flowers. I take the hint, and in a bunch of stiff Sunflow-
ers mix those graceful, fringing heads, softening down the
unyielding mass until the whole has become a delight to one’s
eye, and to memory long after the bunch in reality has faded.

The lessons in my garden have been many and never-end-
ing. To lighten up a bunch of dark-colored Pansies with a
few light yellow ones, or bring out the pink tints of the cinna-
mon Rose by combining it with the delicate Forget-me-not,
Nature may have already taught you. Many flowers show off
their beauty best alone, some in great masses, and some in
clusters of afew. Every one knows how to arrange them by
themselves ; these few examples are tocall attention to arrang-
ing different flowers into happy combinations. The beauty
of a flower is often enhanced when it is helping to bring out

the beauty of other flowers.
psa fea Dorothy Loot.

The Forest.

The Burma Teak Forests.—I.

{2 has been suggested by my friends in the United States

that an account of the first introduction of regular forest
management, forty years ago, in the Burma Teak forests,
might be useful to those who desire to see-good forest man-
agement established in North America, and particularly to
those who are themselves working in this direction and en-
deavoring to make the forests a source of steadily increasing
wealth instead of devastating them. Some of the readers of
this paper may feel an interest in Burma because there it has
been given to the self-denying labors, to the faith, charity and
courage of American missionaries, beginning with Adoniram
Judson, to convert the larger portion of the Karen tribes into
one Christian nation, rising steadily in morality, in education,
and in power, and to spread the light of the gospel also
among Burmans, Chins and Shaus,

But apart from those who are actually engaged in forest
work, I am afraid that this paper may not be more interesting
than my previous communications on forest management in
Germany. The subject is heavy, and hardly admits of light
popular treatment. In forest management we cannot do with-
out facts and figures, and these are not entertaining. Instead
of dry facts and figures I would gladly place before the reader
a picture of the woods in which the Teak-tree grows, in com-
pany with a great variety of other trees, mostly towering over
dense Bamboo forests, pleasant and shady in the beginning of
the dry season, from November to January, when the dew is
heavy and everything is fresh and green; black and desolate
in March and April, when everything is dry and parched,
when the jungle fires have passed over the ground, the trees
are leafless and the rays of a fierce sun are almost unbearable
—green again during the rains from May to October, when the
broad pyramidal flower panicles of the Teak-tree, with small
white flowers on numberless slender branchlets, make their ap-
pearance among the large leaves at the ends of the branches.
It would give me pleasure to describe another class of forest :
with ground carpeted with a variety of herbs and Ferns, Pteris
quadriaurita being prominent, while large, bright green funnels
of Asplenium Nidus nestle between the branches of the Teak-
tree and hugespecimens of Platycerium Wallichii are attached
to the trunk.

More interesting, even to the gardener and botanist, than
the Teak-producing tracts, would be those where the Teak-
tree is absent, the extensive gregarious forests of Dipteroray-
sus tuberculatus, the Eng ben of Burmans, during the hot
season the branches covered with a profusion of gorgeous
tree Orchids, while during the rains, between the large leaves
of the young Eng plants, the ground is carpeted with a wonder-
ful display of showy and delicate species of Impatiens, all in
full flower ; or the evergreen forests of Tenasserim, forming a
dense unbroken mass of foliage from the ground upward to
a height of 200 feet, the space between the old trees being filled
with shrubs that thrive in deep shade, and with young growth

[NUMBER 441.

et od

AucGusT 5, 1896.]

of the various trees which constitute the forest. These young
plants grow very slowly, waiting until one of the old giants
falls, when they push up rapidly toward the light and even-
tually fill up the gap. Scattered here and there, huge speci-
mens of Antiaris toxicaria raise their round massive heads
to a height of 250 feet from the ground.

What I should like better still would be to invite the reader
to leave behind the hot forests of Teak and Dipterocarpus
of the Sitang valley, and to ascend with me the hills east of
Toungoo, passing through fields and gardens of prosperous
Christian Karen villagers, among whom, shortly before I came
to Burma, drunkenness, idleness and deadly feuds were the
order of the day, and where the work of American mission-
aries and their faithful Karen assistants have introduced order,
industry and sobriety. Here the crests and slopes of the
higher hills are occupied by extensive evergreen forests,
partly Pinus Khasya, often with an underwood of Cycas
pectinata ; partly, a great variety of Oaks, Chestnuts, Magnolia
and other trees, the underwood consisting of species of Rho-
dodendron and large shrubs of Vaccinium, all in full flower,
with the curious Fern, Brainea insignis, and tufts here and there
of large-flowered Cypripedium.

Such an account of the Burma forests might possibly please
the readers of GARDEN AND FOREST; but, unfortunately,
Forestry is not Botany, it is hard and dry business, and more-
over it is business of a peculiarly difficult and intricate char-
acter.

PLANS FORMED.

In January, 1856, I took charge of the Teak forests of Pegu.
Teak forests they are called, but the Tealk-tree only formsa
small proportion of the forest. In most cases trees form the
upper story of the wood, while the lower story consists
ofa dense mass of Bamboos, from thirty to sixty feethigh. The
constitution of these forests has of late years been carefully
examined in a large number of districts, and it has been found
that the proportion of Teak to other trees, not counting Bam-
boos, as a rule varies between ten and twenty per cent.
Taking the Bamboos into account, it may be said that Teak
hardly ever forms more, and, as a rule, much less than ten
per cent. of the entire growing stock. A remarkable fact
should here be noticed. On the island of Java the Teak, there
called Djati, forms pure forests of considerable extent, in
which very few other trees are found. In Burma, in Siam
and_in the western peninsula of India, the Teak, unless
planted, forms pure woods only under exceptional circum-
stances, here and there, on deep alluvial soil in valleys or in
the plains.

The chief aims, which I had proposed to myself in 1856,
were threefold: (1) To protectand, as far as possible, to improve
the forests, to arrange the cuttings so as to keep well within
the productive powers of the forests and to ensure a perma-
nent and sustained yieldfrom them. (2) To make the innabit-
ants of the forests and the people in the vicinity my friends
and allies. (3) As soon as possible to produce an annual
surplus revenue.

The province of Pegu had been annexed to the British
Indian Empire in December, 1852, in consequence of a war
which the then King of Burma had provoked. Lord Dalhousie,
at that time Governor-General of India, was a real statesman.
Rangoon, the capital of Pegu, had long been known a3 an im-
portant place for the export of Teak timber, and Lord Dal-
housie had determined that this source of wealth should not
be wasted but should be preserved. I landed in Calcutta in
December, 1855, and fortunately at once found opportunities
for obtaining information regarding the state of things in Pegu,
and for framing a general plan of action. The outlines of this
plan I had the honor of submitting to His Excellency. Lord
Dalhousie listened with great attention, and when I had con-
cluded, he said: ‘‘ Dr. Brandis, if you succeed in carrying out
these excellent plans, you will confer a lasting benefit upon
the people of Pegu. I hope you may succeed, and you will
have my full support in the matter. I hold it to be the duty
of the Government of India to preserve the forest resources of
Pegu and not to allow them to be wasted as the forest re-
sources of other provinces have been wasted. Unfortunately
I must leave India soon, but I trust that my successors will
take the same view as myself of the Pegu forests. Should it,
however, thus happen that at any time the Government of
India were not fully alive to the necessity of preserving the
forest resources of Pegu, I hope that you will remember what
I have told you.” ee:

Lord Dalhousie left India in March, 1856, and died in 1860,
Those who may have the patience to follow me through the
history of forest management in Pegu will see that had it not

Garden and Forest.

319

been for Lord Dalhousie's words the whole undertaking would
most probably have come to nothing. And there was another
point: Lord Dalhousie had selected the very best man for the
government of the newly acquired province, Major (after-
ward Sir Arthur) Phayre. Through the wisdom and deter-
mination of that great and good man, Pegu was speedily
converted from one of the most unruly and wild countries
into a flourishing and well-peopled country. What the popu-
lation of Pegu was at the time of annexation is not known. In
1856 it amounted to 700,000, and in 1881 to 2,500,000,

Under the orders, and with the unchanging cordial support
of Major Phayre, I gradually put my plans into execution. A
few days after landing at Rangoon selected a large area, with
one and a quarter miles of river frontage, above the town,
where | established a timber depot for the collection and sale
of the timber to be brought down from the forests. At that
time Rangoon was a small place and the land then made over
to me for forest purposes was of little value; it is worth
several millions now.

At annexation the Teak forests had, by proclamation, been
declared the property of the state, and this was in accordance
with established custom, for under the King of Burma Teak
had been a royalty, all Teak-trees were the property of the
King, and Teak timber was a monopoly. So far the position
of the Government was safe on paper. But I knew that some-
thing more was wanted, and that the most effective plan for
acquiring full control of the forests would be to keep all oper-
ations in the forests in my own hands, to bring out the timber
on Government account, and to sell it at Rangoon by public
auction. This plan I hoped would enable me to give the in-
habitants of the forests and the people who had hitherto done
the work of dragging and floating the timber profitable and
steady employment, and thus would make them my friends

and allies. eae E
Bunn, Germany. Dietrich Brandis.

Recent Publications.

Seventh Annual Report of the AMissourt Botanical Garden.
Published by the Board of Trustees, St. Louis, Missouri.

The Missouri Botanical Garden now contains 301 named
species of trees, 561 named species of shrubs and 1,129
named species of hardy herbaceous perennial plants. The
herbarium includes nearly 250,000 specimens, being fairly
representative of the vegetable life of Europe and the
United States, with many specimens from less accessible
regions. Ina circular printed last May and reprinted in
this volume, Dr. Trelease called attention to this material
for the study of botany, and adds that every facility will
be given to advanced students who wish to make re-
searches in botany and the cognate sciences. The her-
barium is especially rich in certain named groups which
have been monographed by the late Dr. Engelmann and
others, and it is supplemented by a large collection of
woods. The library contains some 8,000 volumes, 10,000
pamphlets, and this report includes a carefully prepared
catalogue of the pre-Linnean library which was presented
to the garden by Dr. E. Lewis Sturtevant, of South Fram-
ingham, Massachusetts, and consists of nearly 500 selected
botanical works) which were published before the
time of Linnzeus. We are glad to learn that these
rapidly accumulating facilities invite more investi-
gators every year. Itis gratifying also to know that the
receipts from the magnificent endowment were larger last
year than ever. Besides the catalogue of the pre-Linnean
library, this report contains a study of the Juglandacee of
the United States, by Dr. Trelease, with twenty-five full-
page plates, a study of the Agaves of the United States, by
Miss A. Isabel Mulford, with thirty-eight plates, and a
monograph on the ligulate Wolffias of the United States,
by C. H. Thompson. Some of the reproductions of photo-
graphs are excellent examples of what can be done by
process work. There are many others which show with
equal clearness that no process can make a good picture
out of a bad photograph. In works of permanent value,
herefore, where photography is employed, perfection in
detail is essential, and this can only be assured when a lens
of the best quality is used by a skilled operator.

320

Notes.

At the sale of the second large shipment of Calfornia fruits
to England this summer better prices were realized last Friday
than in the previous week. Bartlett pears brought from $1.43
to $1.87 a box, and plums advanced fifty cents a box.

Well-blanched celery is now coming from New Jersey,
western New York and Michigan, and costs fifty cents for a
dozen stalks. Asparagus may still be had at twenty-five cents
a bunch. The quality of tomatoes offered has improved within
the past fortnight, and smooth firm specimens of such sorts as
Acme and Beauty cost fifty cents a half-peck.

The leaves of one of our Golden-rods, Solidago odora, are
used in some parts of the country asa substitute for tea, In
the last number of J/eehans’ Monthly it is stated that the plant
is in very common use by German families of the interior of
Pennsylvania. It is even an article of trade. Men gather the
leaves in summer-time and peddle them from house to house
in the winter.

Lord Penzance last year cut the hips from some of his hybrid
Sweet-briers rather late in the season, in order that his plants
might not be exhausted by ripening the fruit. He was sur-
prised to find that most of these plants bloomed freely a
second time in late summer and kept flowering until severe
frost. It is suggested that if the flowers had been cut as soon
as they faded the autumnal flowering might have been still
more abundant.

In former volumes we have called attention to Isotoma
longiflora, a perennial plant from the West Indies, and belong-
ing to the Lobelia family. It is quite distinct and showy
in late summer, bearing snow-white long-tubed flowers more
than an inch across. In the last number of the /loriszs’
Exchange Mr. Oliver calls attention to the fact that this plant
blooms at the same time with its relative, our native Cardinal-
flower, and the two when planted together make a very
effective combination. Plants will grow abundantly the first
year if seed is sown early enough.

It is well known that late Peas often suffer seriously from a
mildew, Erysiphe communis, a near relative of the powdery
mildew of the Grape. ‘he disease not only attacks the leaves,
but the pods, stems and leaf-stalks, so that the entire plant
seems to be covered. Frequent cultivation mitigates the
trouble somewhat, but not entirely in hot dry seasons, so that
it is good practice to sprinkle, or better, to spray the plants
with a solution of copper sulphate at the rate of one pound to
500 gallons of water. This prescription is recommended ina
bulletin of the Michigan Experiment Station.

The Angelica Tree, or Hercules Club, Aralia spinosa, must
be seen in the Big Smokies before its beauty can be fully esti-
mated. There in the rich soil along the streams it often has a
trunk eight inches in diameter and becomes a tree with wide
spreading branches and thirty-five feet high. It is just hower-
ing now in Central Park, and its immense feathery panicles of
white flowers, with their lilac fragrance, arrest the attention of
every visitor. It is interesting at every season for its armor
of large prickles, its broad, graceful decompound leaves often
a yard across and its enormous panicles of black fruit.

Refrigerator-cars are indispensable in these days when fruits
and other perishable products are to be transported to any
considerable distance, but their use is expensive and ice makes
much additional weight. Many experiments have, therefore,
been tried to discover some better and cheaper method of
carriage for long distances. In California fruit has been trans-
ported in tight cars filled with some gas in which the micro-
scopic germs of decay cannot live, For some reason this
method has not yet proved practicable. The latest experi-
ment in this line is a car built of wood and paper with several
dead-air spaces and a live-air space at the floor-level. The car
is then filled with sterilized air, or air in which the germs of
the various ferments have all been killed. This air is pumped
from the locomotive into the train after having been heated
until it is sterilized. Before it gets into the car it passes
through a coil of pipe surrounded by ice and is thoroughly
cooled. The air is drawn out by another pump, so that the
car is kept constantly filled with a fresh supply of sterilized
air. The inventors have much faith in this project, but it has
not been tried to such an extent as yet to prove its practical
value. ;

The occurrence in the stomachs and intestines of horses,
cattle and sheep of balls composed of hair taken into the
stomach little by little while animals were licking their coats,
is well known. Balls made up of plant hairs—that is, of the

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 441.

so-called beards or awns of oats, barley or other grain—have
also been reported. Crimson Clover has long been used in
Europe as a torage-plant, and nothing appears to have been
published there regarding its liability to form such accre-
tions, but a leaflet recently prepared by Professor Coville, of
the Department of Agriculture, records several instances where
horses have evidently been killed in this way. The mature
calyces of Crimson Clover, as well as the stalks, are covered with
hairs one-eighth of an inch or less in length, and they are stiff
and barbed. If overripe clover is fed to horses there is dan-
ger that these bristly hairs will accumulate in the stomach and
intestines in spherical balls, which will increase in size and
hardness by addition of the same matter to their surfaces.
When a ball has reached a sufficient size, whether aftera few
days or several weeks, it closes up the intestines, and after sev-
eral hours of intense suffering the animal dies. Since the hairs
on this plant do not become stiff until it has passed the flow-
ering stage, it should never be fed to animals after it is fully
ripe. Of course, the practice of feeding the straw of this clover
after it has ripened and has been threshed for a crop of seed
is dangerous. These Clover hair balls are often four inches
in diameter, with a surface texture like fine, firm felt.

Raspberries are now quite out of season and currants are
past their prime. Blackberries are no longer at their best,
Staten Island and the Hudson River furnishing the bulk of
supplies, which bring fifteen cents a quart for the choicest.
Huckleberries, from the Pocono and the Shawangunk Moun-
tains, are still plentiful, and cost thirteen cents a quartat retail.
New apples include such varieties as Nyack Pippin, Orange
Pippin, Sweet Bough, Sour Bough, Astrachan and Duchess of
Oldenburg. Much of this fruit is immature and small, but
barrels of large hand-picked specimens sell for $1.25 to $1.75
in the wholesale markets. Sound showy Willow Twig apples,
from last year, held over in cold storage, are still occasionally
seen. These are sold at sixty cents a dozen. Other out-of-
season fruits are Hart’s Late oranges, from California, and
grape-fruit from Jamaica. New limes are plentiful and sell for
seventy-five cents a hundred at retail. Pineapples cost from
fifteen to fifty cents each. Georgia peaches, which continued
until the first of August, are now succeeded by Troth, St. John,
Mountain Rose and Crawford varieties, from Maryland and
Delaware. With the last Le Conte pears from the south the
first Keiffers are appearing. Bartletts of good size and color
are coming from New Jersey, and also such kinds as Catherine,
Bloodgood, Clapp’s Favorite, Belland Scooter. Concord grapes,
from Georgia, may now be had, and Niagaras and Delawares
from North Carolina. The stock of muskmelons from Mary-
land, Delaware and New Jersey is below the average in quality
this season. Altogether the finest specimens seen here this
year are in occasional small shipments received from Mont-
real. These large, heavily netted fruits sell for $1.00 apiece.
Watermelons are becoming less plentiful and are declining in
quality ; large ones cost fitty cents each.

All readers of Mrs. Alice Morse Earle’s Customs and Fash-
ions in Old New England will turn to her article entitled Old
Time Flower Gardens, in Scribner's Magazine for August,
with the assurance of finding a trustworthy statement of facts,
combined with a most pleasant play of fancy. The illustra-
tions are singularly effective, and they help the text to carry us
back to the days when Johnny-jump-ups, Flowers-de-luce and
Bouncing Bet were to be found every year in the same place
in the home garden. Perhaps, if we could see some of these
old gardens reproduced to-day the actual flowers wouid be
less fair than those which we see in memory, but there are
some suggestions from these colonial times which even the
modern artist in landscape would do well to heed. Fortu-
nately, the best of the old plants are good plants still, and, per-
haps, they are more abundantly planted now than they ever
were. Mrs. Earle makes outa long catalogue of what was to
be found among the plantings of the Puritans in New Eng-
land, what the Dutch women cared for in New York, what
such flower lovers as John Bartram and Edward Shippen
made abundant near Philadelphia, and what were found in the
beautiful terraced gardens about Virginian homes. The per-
sistence of some of the old-time plants is noticed by Mrs. Earle
as one of their strong traits. And there is poetry as well as
pathos in her statement that the sites of colonial houses now
destroyed, and the very trend of the old roads, can be traced
by the cheerful faces of these staying flowers which have
escaped from the trim gardens where they were once planted.
The situation of old Fort Nassau, in Pennsylvania, so long a
matter of uncertainty, is said to have been definitely deter-
mined by the familiar garden flowers found growing on one
of these disputed sites.

AvGUST 12, 1896.]

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO,

OrFicE: Trinung Buitpinc, Naw York.
Professor C. S. SARGENT.

Conducted by . » ». 1. es ss oe

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12, 1806.

TABLE OF CONTENTS,

22

EprrortAL_ ARTICLES :—The Proper Work of Experiment Stations.........
Hormal) Gardens.esinsecsesss, esses cine

Waste Planting in Illinois cer Professor Charles A. Keffer. 322
A Botanical Journey through New Mexico.—l.........- pee es peated gece)
ForEIGN CoRRESPONDENCE :—London Letter........0.--0-eseeeeeeeee W. Watson. 323
New or LittLe-KNown Prants :—Clematis Addisonii. (With figure.).......... 324
CULTURAL DEPARTMENT :—ROSES. 2... 6.000 vececesscccssnscncccces F. N. Gerard. 326
Preparing for Winter Flowers 5 .- 7. D. Hatfield. 326
PA GHIMENMES ;<. oamsaletancle's anisle.= ears -.-G. W. Oliver. 327
Some Novelties.—I....~...---. aeecsene -.£. O. Orpet. 327
CorRESPONDENCE :—An Interesting Sport.........-.e0--ee eee iseecoeue H. G. Pratt. 328
From the Missouri Botanic Garden.... . Fanny Copley Seavey. 328
The Water-garden at Willow Grove ........-.---.-eeeeeeeeeee W. Tricker. 328
Tue Forest :—The Burma Teak Forests.—II 329
NOTES..c0- eeeeseeeee eee 330
ILLusTRATION :—Clematis Addisonii, Fig. 43. 25

The Proper Work of Experiment Stations.

T is only twenty years since the establishment of our
first state agricultural experiment station, and now
there are more than fifty of them, manned by nearly six
hundred persons, and costing a million dollars a year. This
implies a substantial taxation of the whole people in the
interest of the farmer, but it is only one part of a system
which has been organized for his instruction. Besides the
various land-grant colleges, the shorter agricultural courses
in most of them, the farmers’ institutes and migratory dairy
schools, there are boards of agriculture with paid secre-
-taries, and exhibitions of crude and manufactured products,
all of which, together with the agricultural and scientific
press, are endeavoring in one way or another to instruct
the farmer in scientific truth, or in manual practice.

The resultant of all these educational forces will, of
course, be most beneficent when they are properly corre-
lated—that is, when all together provide the most compre-
hensive instruction, and when each is doing what it is best
fitted to accomplish. Now, what shall be the specific place
of the experiment station in thisscheme? Very plainly, the
basis of the whole structure should be accurate scientific
knowledge. There is abundant room for the so-called prac-
tical man to report the results’ of his work. But, after all, the
one thing most difficult to discover, and the one thing most
useful to know, is the laws and facts—that is, the pure
science—which is to be found at the root of all successful
practice. The stations are supposed to be officered by men
who have the training and temper which fit them to do
this work. They constitute a body of skilled investigators
who have opportunities and equipment for this work which
no one else possesses to such a degree. It would seem
clear, then, that the more closely the stations adhere to the
primary purpose for which they were created the more
thoroughly they will do their part in this complex system.

We have lately read two papers which, from different
standpoints, give support to this view. One of these, enti-
tled “Permanent Elements in Experiment Station Work,”
was read by Dr. A. C. True, before the Association of Agri-
cultural Colleges and Experiment Stations ; and the other,
entitled “Conservatism in Scientific Agriculture,” by Dr.W. H.
Jordan, at Trenton, New Jersey. Dr.True’s paper is primarily

Garden and Forest.

321

a protest against the shifty methods of appointment and
administration as now practiced, anda plea for a perma-
nent tenure of office among the station workers, without
which there can be no unity and continuity of purpose,
and no esprit de corps, to insure loyalty and enthusiasm.
Dr. True added, and he might have added with greater
emphasis, that a permanent staff, or at least a well defined
and persistent administrative purpose, is needed because
the most important investigations of the station are those
which must be carried on over long periods of time.
Of course, all this work must be executed with faith-
fulness and the results recorded with accuracy, but the
final answer to the tests which are made may not be
given for years ; and it is this patient waiting, this refusal
to adopt what is partial and temporary as_ finally
and entirely true, which gives experimental work its gen-
uine value. The individual farmer cannot prosecute
investigations of this sort; neither can societies. which
are made up of practical farmers and gardeners. They
can only be conducted by persons who are devoted
to this line of work exclusively. And this means that the
best and most effective work of the stations will be the
study of principles which may take years to establish.

Dr. Jordan goes a step farther. He admits that it is a
true function of a station to show in what way existing
knowledge may be utilized by experiments which serve as
object-lessons. He might have added that wherever prin-
ciples are known and established it is the proper func-
tion of the station to publish them as widely and reiterate
them in as many ways as possible, so long as real knowl-
edge is disseminated. But he states truly that some of the
conclusions published by the stations on the basis of hasty
tests will find no place in the permanent records of scien-
tific progress except as warnings. The people who pay for
this work are impatient to see something for their money,
and they drive the stations to field trials of fertilizers, to
experiments in feeding animals, conducted so loosely and
hastily that no safe conclusions are possible. This means
that there should be less haste in promulgating conclusions
which have not been reached byarigidinquiry. It means
that the stations shall not be nervously anxious to show some
immediate and apparently practicalresults when they ought
to be making more severe scientific investigation. Such in-
efficient station work is negatively bad, because it is done
at the sacrifice of time and opportunity which are needed
to search out the fundamental truths of pure science, and
it is positively bad, because wrong teachings mean delay
and disaster in agricultural practice. The people are
blameworthy for much of the crude station work, because
they are impatient while their teachers are making what
seems to be slow progress in solving nature’s problems.
It is true, as Dr. Jordan states, that the work which lives
longest and exerts the greatest influence upon the art of
agriculture is of that purely scientific kind that is carried
on with infinité pains in the laboratory by men who do not
themselves appreciate what will be the far-reaching influ-
ence of their labor.

The stations in this country have already done an inesti-
mable amount of good for agriculture in helping the farmer
to repel the attacks of insects and of diseases which injure
his crops, in improving the quality of his fertilizers and
foods, and in many other directions, and when we remem-
ber how few men there are in the country who are com-
petent to make experiments and deduce from them scien-
tific principles, it is more than surprising that they have
accomplished as much good as they have. [Every year,
however, it should be less difficult to secure an efficient
staff, and every year there is less excuse for wasting time
with inconsequential plat trials with fertilizers, or com-
parative tests with peas and strawberries. That the stations
have done as well as they have is due to the fact that they
have so generally adhered to the strict line of scientific
work. The more closely they confine themselves to work
of this sort, the more certainly the results they achieve
will educate the farmers of the country up to the belief

322

that their hope is not in luck or in guesswork but in
exact knowledge, and they will then turn naturally for
help to these institutions instead of trusting to tradition or
being influenced by prejudice or superstition.

Tue article of Mr. R. Clifton Sturgis, in the June number
of The Cosmopolitan, which has been mentioned several
times in these columns, contains an interesting paragraph
on the formal planting of home-grounds. When quite
small places are in question, Mr. Sturgis is certainly right
in pleading for a considerable measure of formality in their
disposition. He says:

I know that there is a prevalent dislike to formality in gar-
dening, and many good authorities point out, with some
seeming show of reason, that we can never hope to attain
more beautiful results than does Mother Nature herself, and
that the nearer we approach her wild luxuriance the more
beautiful our work will be. Now, while this may be true of
the forest, the mountains and the great stretches of sea-coast
dunes or inland prairies, it is not true if applied to the treat-
ment of a comparatively small and necessarily formal piece of
ground. I say necessarily formal, for the moment we put a
house on the ground and arrange approaches we have madeit
formal, and if under these limitations we attempt, as is some-
times done, to avoid this formality, and seek to hide our
approaches and make our house seem part of the rock on
which it stands and as irregular in its plan and outlines as the
rock, we get a forced effect which may possibly be picturesque,
but which is not restful in any way and which has not the
elements of a permanent home. If our piece of land is neces-
sarily formalized when we place our house upon it, it is better
in every way that the surroundings should show the restrain-
ing influence of man’s hand and bear the impress of his
thought; and, moreover, the grounds should show that they
have been considered in connection with the house. Order is
the real keynote of the small house and the small place. To
accomplish this the house and the place must be studied to-
gether, and the owner or the architect should know something
of the outdoor as well as the indoor needs, so as to give each
its due consideration. ... . To this end formality of treatment
is necessary, and if necessary we may be pretty sure that it
may be and ought to be beautiful, as the fulfillment of need is
true beauty.

Waste Planting in Illinois.

LMOST all the groves planted in the prairie states have
had for their object the protection of homesteads,
and have, therefore, been placed without regard to the char-
acter of the soil in which they stand. They usually occupy
rich fertile soil, and in this respect, as in others, they are
not exponents of the best forestry practice, which would
confine them to lands of least value for tillage. At Ridott,
Illinois, Mr. Thomas Hunt has made a plantation of about
ten acres of ridge land, a poor clayish soil from one to two
feet deep, underlaid with laminated limestone, which is
much broken by cross fractures. Mr. Hunt attempted to
cultivate this land fora number of years, but finding it too
poor for farm crops he planted trees upon it in 1873.

In one part of the grove European Larch was set in a
mixture of hardwoods, including White Elm, Green Ash,
Black Walnut, Box Elder and other species. In the remain-
der, rows of White and Scotch Pines, Norway Spruce, Arbor-
vitae and Larch were alternated with rows of Willow, Elm,
Ash, Poplar, etc. In the winter of 1895 more than half the
Larch were cut from the deciduous part of the grove, and
averaged two good fence-posts a tree. The remaining
stand of trees is only fair, and a considerable growth of
weeds and grasses among them indicates the need of a
denser leaf canopy. In the other part of the plantation,
however, the conifers have almost shaded out the hard-
woods, and their dense cover makes weed growth impos-
sible. The Larches are the tallest, with the Pines and
Spruces of about equal height, averaging thirty-five feet.
White Cedar is somewhat oppressed by the others, but is
making fair growth. Seventy White Pines, measured as
they come, averaged six inches in diameter, breast-high,
last spring. This represents an average width of annual

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 442,

ring of about one-third ofan inch; certainly a very satisfac-
tory growth considering the site. Mr. Hunt has not only
taken a large number of fence-posts from this otherwise
useless land, but he has remaining a thick stand of timber
that is constantly increasing in value, and which promises
a yield fairly comparable to that of his more fertile acres.
Washington, D C. Charles A. Keffer.

A Botanical Journey through New Mexico.—I.

HE last day of July, 1895, found me at Las Cruces,

the first station of importance on our way up the Rio
Grande from E] Paso. Las Cruces is a pleasant little city
of four or five thousand inhabitants, of whom more than
half are Mexicans. It is the seat of the Agricultural Col-
lege of New Mexico. The valley of the Rio Grande here
is wide and but little above the level of the river, which is
treacherous and shifting, and often changes its course, as
the old river-beds show. In the vicinity of the city irri-
gated agriculture is conducted on a more extended scale
than it is at any other point in the territory. The condi-
tions of soil and climate are especially adapted to the oper-
ations of gardening, and orchards and vineyards abound.
Not only are the home wants of the people fully supplied,
but also large quantities of vegetables and fruits are
exported. Later, and during the early winter, as I went
northward, I often saw as fine fruits as any country affords
on the fruit-stands of the villages and cities. On asking
the sellers whence the fruit came, the replies often were,
“*from Las Cruces, New Mexico.”

Mexicans here do most of the farming. Some of their
ways are exactly those of the days of Abraham. Oxen and
donkeys tread out the grain, the men and women winnow
it by throwing it with flat wooden shovels into the air. So
they literally tread the wine-presses with their bare feet,
while the purple juice bubbles up between their swarthy
toes. They often, too, ferment their wine in leathern bot-
tles. But not only are railways and telegraphs, telephones
and electric-cars in New Mexico, but also such other civi-
lizers as the reaper, the threshing-machine and the fanning-
mill are already here, and in a few years these primitive
methods of farming will only live in the memory of the
oldest inhabitant.

A lofty range of mountains, whose numerous jagged
points rising above the mountains proper have suggested
to the people the name of “ Organ Mountains,” are in full
sight from the city and not far away. Early in my stay
Professor E. O. Wooten, of the Agricultural College, invited
me to visit these mountains with him. We left the city just
as the sun was rising, and a ride of about two hours car-
ried us to the foot-hills of the range. It was an hour or
more before we had made our way through a long, deep
and wide cafion to the perpendicular wall of rock, a hun-
dred or more feet high, over which poured a miniature
stream, forming at its base a pool of bright, pure water,
which afforded us drink and kept our melons cool.

Among the many trees growing in the mountains we saw
the south-western Locust, Robinia Neo-Mexicana, a hand-
some small tree, and worthy of general cultivation for the
beauty of its red flowers. It protects itself by larger and
stouter spines than the eastern Yellow Locust needs, and
its abundant fruit is thickly covered with bristly hairs.
Rosa Fendleri, growing in a deep ravine near a spring, was
near neighbor to the Locust, and a tall Berberis, a stranger,
loaded with red fruit. It bears leaves different in form
from those of B. trifoliata. I should have called it B.
Fendleri, but Professor Coulter tells us that the berries of
that species are blue.

In the cafion, up which we came to our camping-place,
we found Mullugo Cerviana. Itis along way from Las
Cruces to Llano Texas, where I saw it first and last, and
exchanged congratulations. So it doubtless may be found
at many stations between those places. Here M. Cambes-
sides bears its relative company. This species once formed
the genus Glinus. Its degradation, perhaps, was uncalled

AUGUST 12, 1896.]

for. Now that the change has been madeits restoration to
generic rank may not be advisable. Both species are so
diminutive when growing among other plants that they
may easily be overlooked. Later I found larger specimens
of M. Cerviana growing commonly on the mesa between
the city and ‘Little Mountain.” Two handsome small
species of Phlox grow abundantly on the mountain sides,
while Janusia and other El Paso plants are not uncommon
in the ravines.

I have met few localities where as many interesting and
handsome Ferns may be found as these mountains afford.
Gymnogramme Ehrenbergiana is not uncommon on shaded
moist rocks. In company with it grew Notholzena ferru-
ginea, N. sinuata and the peculiar N. Hookeri. Several
species of Pellaea, including P. Wrightiana, abound. This
species grows northward to Saline River and “ Rock City ”
in Kansas, and eastward in that state tothe bluffs of Marias
de Cygne River, in Morris County, its most eastward
reported station. We were in the mountains to find these
and other Ferns in their best development, and we enlarged
and enriched our collections with fine specimens of them.

Ipomeea incana, a widely distributed species in one of
its many forms, is here; so are Dalea formosa, Linum
rigidum, Erigeron flagellaris, Dryopetalon runcinatum,
Aster ericeefolius, Lesquerella purpurea, Solanum tuberosum,
var. Krameria parviflora, Oxalis Vespertilionis, Clematis
ligustrina, Heuchera rubescens, Perezia nana, Gaura parvi-
flora, which is almost everywhere ; G. coccinea, also com-
mon; Gossypianthus rigidiflorus, taking its generic name
from its cottony flowers ; Portulaca lanceolata, P. stellaria
and many common and rare plants.

As we rode home a full moon was shining on the banks
of the irrigating ditches. The old river bed, the sand hills
near the river, the elevated plains and “ Little Mountain”
each furnished additions to our botanical knowledge and
collection of plants. CEnothera Jamesii, a lofty Evening
Primrose, is abundant along the ditches. CE£. coronapifolia
I saw in the sand hills; it extends far northward. Mau-
randia Barclayana and Antirrhinum maurandioides are
ornamental climbing plants, and are often seen in cultiva-
tion; they are very dissimilar in habit, and it is strange
that they should be confounded, as they often are.

Near the water several species of Willow grow. The
whitened form of Salix fluviatilis is very common, and we
shall see it as far north as we go. Along the bank of a
ditch a grove of Ash-trees were loaded to bending with
immense clusters of nearly ripe fruit, and this was a revela-
tion to me. Lepidium intermedium, Tribulus maximus
and rarely T. grandiflorus grow along the railway, while
Secuvium, Trianthema, Bigelovia Rusbyi, Helianthus cili-
osa, several Chenopods and Amaranths and species of
Atriplex are abundant in alkaline soils. Near the river
Eclipta alba grows, a queer, rayless and usually spreading
composite ; near it are Equisetums, a Flaveria and Pluchea
borealis. Dalea scoparia, an exclusively western species,
begins to appear in western Texas ; it is on the sand hills
near the river. We shall often see it as we go up the Rio
Grande. It is a strong woody species, forming large
clumps and often becoming four feet tall. D. lanata is a
common western species, delighting to grow on river sand.
It has followed the Red River through Texas and the In-
dian Territory to Arkansas. It is also common in Kansas
from Medicine Lodge River, near where it leaves that state,
westward to Colorado. Sometimes it spreads into broad
patches three to four feet across. D. fruticosa is a very
handsome species, to be seen from central Texas to Mexico
and westward and northward to Colorado. It becomes a
handsome bush or a miniature tree, and is well worthy of
cultivation, as most of the species also are.

In the arid regions of central United States numerous
species of Artemesia, Wormwood, make their home. They
are not anthelmintics, but the officinal Wormwood of
Europe and of old gardens in this country was supposed
to be a mind strengthener and a curative for so-called men-
tal diseases. All of the species are coarse, rayless, usually

Garden and Forest.

323

shrubby, and sometimes viscid plants. They are generally
known as Sage and Sage-brush. That common name, and
the general lack of accurate botanical knowledge among
the people, has led some persons to use the ‘leaves of
various species as seasoning for their sausages. Some of
the species, too, are used in domestic practice as a remedy
for colds and chills and fevers, and rarely infused as a table
drink. In all of those ways the harmlessness, if not the
efficacy, of the species is shown. Artemesia filifolia, which
is common around the city, without plant egotism, may
claim as much beauty as any of the species. A species of
grouse, common in all the mountain region, is said to feed
so much upon the buds and seeds of those plants as to
render its flesh unpalatable from its bitterness. The birds
are known as sage hens.

This rainy year has brought out the grasses of New
Mexico in great profusion of species as well as of their
individuals. The vigor of their growth is as great in pro-
portion as the number of the individuals present. About a
half dozen species of Boutelona are here; among them
peculiar B. eriopoda. That it may be distinct from all other
members of the genus, and always able to know itself, this
species has developed a densely woolly band around its
culm below each node, an effectual, but an odd, specific
character for an uneducated grass to plan and make for
itself.

Seiglingia (Triodia) pulchella is very abundant through-
out all of this region. This year specimens of it are un-
commonly large and fine. The handsomerS. acuminata is
more rarely to be seen. This species has a wider range
than has before been given to it. During my botanical
rambles in Kansas I found it quite abundant over that state
west of the ninety-ninth meridian—near Hays, Ellis County,
Twin Mounds, Rooks County, in Cheyenne County and in
the upper Arkansas valley so common as to give character
to the vegetation there. Panicum sanguinale is almost
everywhere. Here also are P. lachnanthum, P. obtusum,
P. colonum, Buffalo Grass (Bulbilis), Bermuda Grass (Capri-
ola), several species of Chloris, Trichloris, Andropogon and
of other genera.

Las Cruces and the Organ Mountains are only a few
miles distant from the Mexican border. They are also
near the boundary of Texas. Botanizing in the v icinity of
this city is, therefore, to become acquainted with the flora
of northern Mexico and of extreme western Texas as well
as to know the plants of southern New Mexico. Las
Cruces is west of the one hundred and sixth meridian and
also west of the north-south centre of the territory.

North Platte, Neb. E. N. Plank,

Foreign Correspondence
London Letter.

Lycoris squamIcEeRA.—Plants of this Japanese Amaryllid
are now flowering in the open air at Kew for the first time.
They are established in a south border against a tropical
fernery, conditions which suit the Belladonna Lily, and
Mies are evidently suitable for the Lycoris. The scapes

e from two to three feet high, solid, and bearing from
ans to eight flowers, which in size, form and general charac-
ters are very similar to those of the Belladonna, the most
marked difference being in the minute stigma and bluish
tinge of the Lycoris. Plants of Amaryllis Belladonna, var.
blanda, are also in flower, this variety being about a month
earlier than the type. The Lycoris is not a success as a
pot-plant, but in a warm sunny border against a south wall
it gives no trouble, growing freely, and every bulb pushing
up ascape. If it were not for the difference in the seeds
between Lycoris and Amaryllis one might doubt the wis-
dom of keeping the two genera separate. L squamigera
was distributed a few years ago under the name of Amaryl-
lis Hallii (see vol. iii., p. 176, fig. 32, and vol. viii, p. 84).

OrNITHOGALUM REVOLUTUM.—This is one of the few species
of Ornithogalum which deserve to rank as first-rate garden

324

bulbs. It belongs to the same section of the genus as O.
Arabicum and O. thyrsoides, differing from them in having
narrow leaves and slender scapes, while the flowers, though
smaller, are at least as attractive in being numerous and
prettily marked. The bulbs are about an inch in diameter,
the leaves nine inches long and half an inch wide; scapes
erect, a foot long each, bearing a subumbellate raceme of
about twenty flowers, which are one and a half inch
across, star-like, glistening white, the lower half covered
with a blotch of deep olive-brown. The species is a native
of south Africa, from whence it was introduced and culti-
vated in England nearly a century ago. It has lately been
reintroduced from the Cape to Kew, where some potfuls of
it are now flowering in a cool greenhouse.

GrapioLus prrMuLINUs.—When Mr. Baker described this
species from a newly imported bulb six years ago it was
much weaker than it is now. About a dozen spikes of
flowers are now at their best in a sunny border, and in
length, sturdiness and number of flowers they almost equal
Gladiolus dracocephalus or G. Quartinianus ; indeed, one
might describe G. primulinus as a G. Quartinianus with
yellow flowers. The scape is three feet long, and it bears
about ten flowers arranged loosely on the upper third. The
flowers are remarkable in having the top segment curved
downward, completely hiding the inside of the tube and
three lower segments, while the pair of upper lateral seg-
ments are broad and spread outward wing-like. When they
first open the flowers are greenish yellow, afterward be-
coming primrose-yellow, with a few dust-like spots of red
about the base of the segments. It is a promising garden
plant.

Crinum Powe it.—Fine masses of the rose, rose-crimson
and white-flowered forms of this hybrid Crinum are con-
spicuously in flower in sunny borders at Kew. A batch
of seedlings obtained at Kew by crossing the white C.
Moorei with C. longifolium (Capense) is now flowering for
the first time, and while they are a shade paler in color
than C. Powelli true and the flowers somewhat larger, they
are not sufficiently distinct to be worth naming. The prac-
tical lesson this batch teaches is that in four years one may
obtain a big batch of a beautiful hardy Crinum by crossing
the common C. longifolium with the equally common C.
Moorei.

Leiria Lucastana.—This distinct species was introduced
three years ago by Messrs. F. Sander & Co., from Brazil,
and named by Mr. Rolfe in compliment to Mr. C. J. Lucas,
of Horsham, a well-known amateur collector of Orchids.
Judging by its béhavior so far under cultivation, it does
not flower freely. It was exhibited in flower at a recent
meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society, and a plant of
it is now in flower at Kew, where a figure has been pre-
pared for publication in Zhe Bolanical Magazine. It is a
dwarf species, the fusiform pseudo-bulbs being about three
inches long, the leaves, three to four inches, thick and
fleshy, as in Laelia Digbyana, and the scape short, erect,
two or three flowered, each flower two inches across, the
segments equal and spreading, bright purplish-mauve, the
lip channeled, recurved, very wavy and colored saffron-
yellow, white near the tip. The Kew plant is kept in a
moist tropical house while growing, and rested in the Cat-
tleya house. Its nearest ally is L. crispilabia.

CyNORCHIS GRANDIFLORA.—When introduced from Mada-
gascar three years ago it was feared that this terrestrial
Orchid would prove difficult to keep. So far, however, it has
behaved exceptionally well under the following treatment.
After flowering, the plant is placed ona dry shelf in an
intermediate temperature and allowed to rest until Febru-
ary. It is then shaken out, the tubers repotted—a mixture
of peat and sphagnum—and placed in the tropical house on
a shelf near the glass. When new growth pushes through
the soil, water is given freely and the plant is kept well
supplied until resting time comes round again. Under this
treatment the plants have made healthy leaves over a foot
long, and in July developed stout scapes as long as the
leaves, each bearing one or two flowers one and a half

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 442.

inches across, the large four-lobed moth-like rose-purple
lip being their most attractive feature, the sepals and petals
being smaller and colored green, with purple spots.

Puayus Humerotiu.—Few cultivators can boast of hav-
ing grown and flowered this plant several years in succes-
sion. The best-grown examples I have seen were in the
nursery of L’Horticulture Internationale at Brussels, but
these were recently imported plants. Mr. White, the clever
Orchid grower in charge of Sir Trevor Lawrence’s collec-
tion, while recording his own failure in the management of
this plant, gives the following cultural directions for it
which he had from an enthusiastic amateur who is success-
ful in the cultivation of Madagascar Phajuses. I quote
them from Zhe Gardeners’ Chronicle : After trials in various
warm and intermediate temperatures, some few plants
were placed in a shady position in the cool Odontoglos-
sum house, where, under ordinary treatment as to water-
ing, ete., they quickly regained health, producing good
leaves and strong flower-spikes. He now considers it to
be one of the easiest of Orchids to manage. The compost
recommended for it is fibrous loam, leaf-soil and sphag-
num in equal parts, with a liberal sprinkling of small
crocks. Water sparingly till vigorous root action is evi-
dent, and then increase the supply. This Phajus is in
flower now at Kew, but here it is grown in a tropical tem-
perature, and consequently the leaves are much damaged
by yellow thrips. The species was introduced about
sixteen years ago by the French collector, Humblot, who
discovered it in the interior of Madagascar at the same
time as he discovered the beautiful P. tuberculosus.
Although P. tuberculosus is difficult to manage, yet it has
proved a most valuable plant in the breeders’ hands, being
one of the parents of several of the most beautiful of all
Phajuses, hybrid or species.

Hieiscus ArcHEert.—Four years ago the Rev. S. Archer, of
Barbados, sent to Kew a number of seedling Hibiscuses
which he had obtained by crossing varieties of the com-
mon H. Rosa-sinensis with the Zanzibarian H. schizope-
talus. Most of the seedlings were wanting in distinguish-
ing features except one, which proves to be a happy
blending of the two parents. It has a loose scrambling
habit, leaves intermediate in size, and flowers which in
shape, laciniation of petals and long pendent stalks resem-
ble H. schizopetalus. In size, however, they are about four
times as large, and in color a rich crimson, equal to the
color of the best variety of H. Rosa-sinensis. This beauti-
ful hybrid is named in compliment to its raiser. In one of
the houses at Kew there is a large bed filled with a selec-
tion of varieties of H. Rosa-sinensis, including double and
single flowered, yellow, pink-purple, crimson and scarlet
forms. They flower freely, being planted out in a bed of
rich soil where they get plenty of sun and air.

London.

W. Watson.

New or Little-known Plants.

Clematis Addisonii.

HIS rare Clematis, which is closely related to the
Leather-flower, Clematis Viorna, was confounded

with another species by botanists until a few years ago,
when its distinctive characters and history were made
known by Professor Britton.* It is a vigorous, glabrous,
tufted perennial with stout, erect or spreading purplish
stems two or three feet in length. The lower leaves are
simple or entire, or rarely two or three lobed, elliptic-oval,
sessile and clasping by the broad base, deep blue-green
above, glaucous below, from two to four inches in length,
and much longer than the upper leaves, which bear stout
tendrils on the back or ends of the midribs, and are pinnate,
with from two to four ovate sessile leaflets, or rarely entire.
The flowers are solitary and are borne on stout peduncles
from two and a half to three inches in length and terminal,
or terminal on short axillary branches; they are nodding,

* Britton, Jem. Torrey Bot. Clud, ii., 28, t. 3 (1890).

Aucust 12, 1896.] Garden and Forest. 325

broadly ovate, conspicuously narrowed below the apex, plumose dark brown styles from an inch to an inch and a
three-quarters of an inch in length and one-half of an inch quarter in length.

in width, with thick leathery sepals, dark violet-purple, Clematis Addisonii inhabits the Alleghany Mountains

VP
Fig. 43-—Clematis Addisoniii—See page 324.
except at the acute reflexed yellow tips, and numerous

stamens about as long as the sepals. The fruits are flat,
nearly orbicular, thick-margined and silky pubescent, with

from south-eastern Virginia, where it grows on the banks
of the Roanoke River, near Roanoke, to Tennessee and
Georgia, but does not appear to be anywhere very abun-

326

dant. Since r890it has been growing in Professor Sargent’s
garden in Brookline, Massachusetts, where it was sent in
1890 by our correspondent, Miss Anna Murray Vail, and
where it has proved perfectly hardy and flowered freely
every year during five or six weeks after the first of June.
The illustration on page 325 of this issue is made from this
cultivated plant.

Dr. Robinson has pointed out* that forms intermediate
between Clematis Addisonii and Clematis Viorna occur,
One of these intermediate forms is considered a hybrid by
Dr. Britton. The bright flowers of Clematis Addisonii make
ita good plant for the rock or wild garden, and, like its
brighter-flowered relative, the Texan Clematis coccinea, it
may prove valuable in the production of natural hybrids.

Cultural Department.

Roses.

i] Bey pete one may grow and experiment with all manner
and species of plants, hardy and otherwise, the conclusion
will generally be inevitable that the Roses stand preéminent
as garden plants, and their flowers are the most acceptable at
all times. Yet, though these plants are so generally loved that
a garden is poor indeed which does not contain some speci-
mens, it can scarcely be said that they are generally satisfac-
tory plants in the garden of the careless cultivator, except
possibly in the early summer, when the hardy varieties usually
cultivated are at their best. At other times in such gardens
they suffer neglect, crowding and starvation, with the inevita-
ble result of defoliation by innumerable insect pests. Then,
having invited these guests, we complain of their presence and
condemn the plants rather than our own carelessness. Yet
there are no plants more easily grown under comparatively
simple conditions.

Probably, if more general attempts were made to grow the
Teas and other continuously flowering kinds, more satisfac-
tion would be found in actual results of flowers, and the plants
would be apt to receive the required attention during the sum-
mer. Ofcourse, during the dry, forcing weather of our ordi-
nary summers the blooms will not mature slowly enough to
gain large size or great substance, but even at the warmest
time there will always be charming flowers in fair abundance
from a collection of the Roses of this section. The choice
must be somewhat a matter of experiment, as the different
varieties will not do equally well everywhere. In my mod-
erate experience the hybrid Tea, La France, is the first of
ever-blooming Roses in abundance ot flowers and perfect hardi-
ness. One plant has grown in my garden fifteen years with
no protection in winter. The climbing La France is as shy in
flowering as the parent is prolific. Of other pink Roses, the
Bridesmaid and Madame Testout are satisfactory in the open,
and the old Bourbon, Hermosa, is still handsome enough for
a place in the garden. For a pillar Rose it far exceeds the
Climbing Hermosa, though its summer flowers are not too
frequent. In fact, for this climate we have no continuous-
flowered climber which is not usually cut to the ground in
winter. The beautiful Gloire de Dijon is the nearest approach
to such a desired variety, but its laterals seldom survive the
winter, though otherwise it is perfectly hardy here.

It is not my intention to make a list of Roses, for there are
endless varieties of Teas, and varying tastes, but there is one
comparatively new variety, Kaiserin Augusta Victoria, which
seems to me a great gain for the garden. This white flower is
of fine form and greatsubstance, and the plants are of the most
sturdy habit. Lestitshould be thought that Ihave somesecret
for the successful cultivation of Roses, it may be as well to
explain that, according to my best knowledge, they require
simply abundance of fresh air, best provided by comparative
isolation (few plants suffer more from crowding), a com-
paratively stiff soil with some humus, of which cow-manure
provides probably the most suitable, with abundance of bone-
meal well worked into the bed on first making; and to make
a satisfactory bed there should be two feet of this compost.
Thirdly, there should be an adequate supply of water at all
times, both to provide for growth and to deter insect pests.
There is no better insecticide for a Rose-bush than a strong
stream of water from a garden hose frequently applied. Of
course, there are times when Nature brings on her destructive
battalions in such force that one is compelled to employ
harsher measures, but one year with another I do not find that

* Robinson, Syx. 7. N. Am.,i., pti, 5-

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 442.

the insects in my garden get more than their small share of
food. It seems much the fashion now to hunt insects with the
microscope and many wonderful insecticides, but one can
garden more comfortably and quite as satisfactorily in the old-

fashioned way without them at most times.
Elizabeth, NJ F. N. Gerard.

Preparing for Winter Flowers.

I T is time now to prepare for winter-flowering bulbous plants.
The first to need attention are the Lachenalias. In general
appearance these South African bulbs resemble Squills; the
flower-stem, particularly, is like that of Scilla campanulata.
The foliage is heavier and more or less mottled. We keep
our bulbs in the soil in which they were grown last season,
and although dry, ona shelf, the bulbs will start into growth
if left much beyond this date. If they have done well there
will be a large number of bulblets formed about the original
bulb, which also remains good, and many of these will be
large enough to bloom this season. Such as are undersized
can be grown one year in boxes, and with good culture they
will be large enough to bloom the following season. There
are many species and varieties of Lachenalias. L. tricolor is
the handsomest and the kind most commonly grown. Its varie-
ties, Nelsoni and Aurea gigantea, are especially fine. While
the flowers of L. tricolor are red, yellow and green, nicely
blended, those of the last two named are nearly yellow, and
practically so at the distance of a few feet, especially when
massed, as they always should be. L. lutea gigantea, as its
name implies, is a very strong-growing kind. When well
grown its flower-stems exceed a foot in length, clothed nearly
the whole of their length with beautiful pendent bells.
Lachenalias are easily raised from seed, and if sown as soon
as ripe the seeds will germinate ina few weeks, and bulbs will
be formed large enough to bloom in a little more than a year.
The bulbs may be grown either in pots or pans, as conveni-
ence suggests. We find they do well planted at the rate of
six bulbs to a six-inch pot. The soil should be rich and con-
tain a fair admixture of leaf-soil and sand. The drainage must
be free, as an abundance of water is needed during the grow-
ing season, Itis not necessary to bring the pots into a cellar
or to bury them, as is usually done with Dutch bulbs. An
ordinary cold-frame will do well enough, and ifshaded tosome
extent it will do better. In well-protected frames these African
bulbs may be kept growing all winter, and I have known these
and Freesias pass through two or three degrees of frost with-
out injury when leafage was well advanced. As we need our
plants for winter decoration they are kept in a genial tempera-
ture so as to have them in bloom about New Year’s Day. This
cultural treatment may be given to all African bulbs, or such
as we find in gardens here.

Few people realize how many beautiful bulbous plants can
be grown in the winter-time with very little fire-heat. In fact,
forcing, as we understand it, is not at all congenial to a large
number of bulbous plants so grown. Except the tender Afri-
can bulbs here noted, all so-called Dutch bulbs are brought to
the greatest perfection when grown in cold-frames and brought
into heat only when well advanced.

Snowdrops, Dog-tooth Violets, Squills, species of Hyacinthus,
Grape Hyacinths, Fritillarias and many Asiatic Tulips and
Irises are never so interesting as when grown in pans in cold-
frames. A large number of them are not well suited for out-
door planting in this country. The breaking up of our winters
is too severe and prolonged. A fine day or two in early spring
brings them into bloom only to be frost-bitten and miserably
set back. When grown in frames they may be left undis-
turbed until early in February. The bulbs will have been
growing all the winter, though but little of them is visible
above the soil. When watered and aired on sunny days it is
surprising how soon they will come into leaf and flower.

It is a mistake to suppose the moving of bulbous plants can
be left until frosty weather. Nearly all hardy bulbs commence
root-growth in August. There may be no visible upward
growth, but when root-action takes place there must be im-
portant natural changes occurring within the sheaths of the
bulbs. Potting and replanting should be done without delay.
A long season of undergrowth is necessary, and, no doubt, the
reason why store bulbs so often do poorly is because the time
for this natural function has been delayed. On the 3d of
August I moved some bulbs of Grape Hyacinths and found
them started. Snowdrops, Chionodoxas and Squills were still
dormant. To digress a little, these bulbs were raised from
seed sown two years ago. They are all large enough to han-
dle, and some will bloom next spring. The intention is to
plant them in grass on a protected slope which is quite sunny

AuGusT 12, 1896.]

until some scattered Oaks come into leaf. The bulbs, how-
ever, will have flowered and commenced going to rest before
the Oaks are in full leaf. . ;

Tender plants for greenhouse decoration during winter are
making good growth. Stevias and Bouvardias are kept
pinched in order to have them bushy. Superfluous eyes and
root growths are cut away from tender Hydrangeas, and only
such growth left as will be required to bloom next winter and
spring. Some will be grown to four shoots and some only one.
The heads produced in this way are immense, and if the plants
are properly regulated with regard to height they will be fairly
uniform. To have well-flowered plants next spring requires
attention now, and the growth must be restricted, so that the
wood which is made will properly ripen ; in this way very little

pruning will be necessary next spring. :
Wellesley, Mass. T. D, Hatfield.

Achimenes.

N this neighborhood most of the varieties of Achimenes are
useful summer plants, both for greenhouse decoration and
for rock-work. It is somewhat strange to see Achimenes
growing in company with Silenes, Dianthus and the like, but
the list of hardy herbaceous and alpine plants suited for rock-
work, and which survive our hot summers, is so small that we
are driven to the necessity of utilizing plants from warmer
countries. By the beginning of August the majority of hardy
plants are out of bloom, and the Achimenes serve to brighten
things up considerably. For use in the rockery the tubers are
started as late as possible, say, about the beginning of May.
We use five-inch pots, filling them with a compost consisting
of leaf-soil, sand and old manure which has been passed
through a half-inch sieve, to within an inch anda half of the
rims. About ten of the tubers are placed at equal distances
from each other over the surface, which is finished off with
about three-quarters of an inch of finely sifted soil. Placed
near the light they will in a few weeks be ready to take the
places of plants in the rockery which are past for the season,
such as Pansies, native Violas, at least those kinds which re-
produce themselves freely from seed, the annual Silenes,
Delphiniums, Dianthus and a host of others. I find it the best
plan to plunge the pots, instead of planting them out, as in this
way the tubers are easily lifted in the fall. All that is neces-
sary is to lift the pots and store them in a warm dry place
under the greenhouse bench. While they are out-of-doors
they should, of course, never be allowed to suffer for want of
water during dry spells. The tubers which are formed out-of-
doors are much superior to those formed in the greenhouse,
and it is advisable to use those grown outdoors for greenhouse
work the following season, saving the previous season's green-
house tubers for the rockery. By this method they increase
very fast. In starting the plants for the greenhouse all that is
needed is to cut away the old stems from the plants in the five-
inch pots, scrape away a little of the surface soil, give them a
thorough drenching and afterward a top-dressing of sandy
soil, water with a fine rose and put them near the light in a
warm house. As the plants need more pot room they should
be potted in eight-inch seed-pans as the final shift, using the
same mixture as already stated, with abundance of drainage.
If the shoots grow too close togethera few twigs placed among
them, bending the outer ones toward the sides, will be found
to answer well. A great deal of time may be spent in tying
each shoot to small sticks ; this is necessary if very symmetri-
cal specimens are desired, but they look much more graceful
when allowed to grow ina natural way. Those intended for
indoor use can be started so as to have them in bloom almost
at any season of the year. A great many varieties are in culti-
vation ; the colors of the flowers are principally rose, white,
orange, purple, crimson and scarlet. Those varieties with
rose and purple flowers are the strongest-growing.
Botanic Garden, Washington, D. C. G. W. Oliver.

Some Novelties.—I.

OT the least interesting portion of the year’s work in the
garden is the testing of the novelties offered by the deal-
ers. Every season most of them have to be taken on trust
from the great European growers, from whence many are
derived, and others are of American origin, and it is satisfac-
tory to note the increasing value of the latter over those of
foreign origin, and as well as their better adaptation to our
needs and that of the climate. It may be worth while to speak
of some annual and perennial plants which have been tried
here from various sources.
The Imperial Japanese Morning Glories are among the more

Garden and Forest.

327

remarkable novelties of last year, and it is surprising that they
have not been introduced from Japan before; there is won-
derful variety among them, quite as much as promised, the
foliage of many being beautifully mottled with white, and these
when separated at planting-time and placed together make a
very beautiful effect, not unlike the variegated Hop that came
out with such a flourish a year or tvo ago and proved to be
such a weed. I have heard complaints as to the germinating
qualities of the seeds of these Ipomceas, and also that they did
not grow so freely as might be desired ; we found no trouble
in getting the seeds to grow after carefully drawing a sharp
knife round each and soaking them in water for a few hours,
and planting a fewat atime as fast as they became distended
with moisture ; if they did not swell we used the knife again,
and the young plants were above the soil ina very few hours
after planting. We did find that the plants grew slowly in
pots, and no progress was made until they were set out in
warm weather, and I fancy it would save time and trouble
another year to keep the seeds until the end of May, soak and
sow out-of-doors where they are to remain. We have set
them round bean poles in the border, and these are already
clothed to the top and flowers are coming rapidly of exquisite
colors, some having the appearance of being double, owing
to the way they are ruffled.

Madame Gunther’s Hybrid Nasturtiums are being treated
similarly as to poles, and it is surprising how beautiful an
object is a group of chmbing Nasturtiums when they have a
chance to climb. The flowers are shown off to the best advan-
tage, the plants do not overrun other things in the border, and
as this strain is really a fine one, the effect is pleasing and
promises to last until severe frosts put an end to this display.

The Sweet Pea Cupid, to say the least, has enjoyed a good
entrance into garden life, and is also all that has been claimed
in advance, but I fail to see in it any practical value as com-
pared with others that are tall. Its stems are so short as to be
of no value when cut, and there are many better plants of
dwarf habit that seem to be more useful than Cupid, even if
one could get the seeds to grow freely. There seems to be
either a constitutional weakness about white-lowered Pea
seeds, or something more difficult to explain. Seeds of Emily
Henderson germinated very poorly under exactly the same
conditions as the others that came as well as could be desired.
Possibly when the stock grown is larger we shall get more of
them to grow. It is singular that this same dwarf Pea should
have occurred also in two different parts of Europe as well as
in California. Blanche Ferry is a kind much in favor, and we
have for years saved our own seeds of it; we think ours must
be specially good, for they came into flower sooner and are
really better than the Blanche Ferry Improved, tried this year
for the first time. Katherine Tracy, we believe of the same
origin as the last, is altogether one of the best. It must be a
selection from Blanche Ferry, for we have seen it so grown
by a florist in this state who found the beautiful shade of clear
pink the same color as the Daybreak Carnation, very much
appreciated in the Boston market, and he grew a quantity of it
last winter in the greenhouse, but he had not quite got it fixed,
and there was still a tendency to sport, none of which is appa-
rent in Katherine Tracy as we have it now. The season has
been very favorable for Sweet Peas; no watering was neces-
sary, owing to the frequent showers, and they are better than
we remember to have seen them.

We shall soon have as many varieties of Zinnia as of Asters :
each year adds to the number, and all have merit, for, consid-
ering their utility and easy culture, there is nothing to equal
them; there are tall ones and dwarf, and now we have the
Lilliput to use as a front row ofall, and of the three I rather
think that the little ones will be most liked for cutting when
better known. There isa refinement and finish about these
little gerns that all others lack, and the colors, too, are good
and welldefined. In a long border devoted to annuals the
three kinds of Zinnia are a distinct success. Hitherto it has
been difficult to get an annual that would tone down from the
dwarf Zinnia to the plants used for a margin.

Campanula Japonica was a surprise when seen in the seed-
lists. We had no knowledge of Japanese Campanulas, and our
knowledge has not been increased in this direction, for we
were led to expect great things of a perennial Campanula that
flowered the first year from seed, the flowers being of an in-
tense glossy blue, semidouble, and produced in great profu-
sion. All of this has proved true except the name, which
should have been Platycodon Mariesii, and we should thennot
have purchased the seeds.

Another name, Coreopsis Japonica, had a rather interesting
look in the seed-list. I had an idea that this genus was a
purely North American one, and no authority that we have

328

access to tells to the contrary, but here was a new bushy va-
riety with large canary-yellow flowers produced from June till
frost. If we except the name, all of the rest promises to come
true, but I doubt if it is a Coreopsis, It has much greater
affinity with the Heleniums, so far as I can gather from Gray’s
scholarly work on the North American Composite.—[See
page 316 of our last number.—ED. | E. 0. Orpet.

South Lancaster, Mass.

Correspondence.

An Interesting Sport.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :

Sir,—While passing through one of our principal Rose
nurseries lately I saw in a row of the Augustine Guinoisseau
(white La France) variety where a shoot the size of one’s finger
had sprung up this season to the height of nearly three feet,
and there parted into four or five umbel-like branches. On
one of these was a well-developed flower of the true type and
on another an equally well-developed flower of La France. I
have seen a good many sports, but I believe none so well
defined as this in its primal condition. This, perhaps, may
be accounted for in the fact that Augustine Guinoisseau is
itself a sport from La France, and here it is sporting back to
the original sort. An effort will be made to propagate from
both the shoot and the stem on which the sport appeared, and
the result will be watched with much interest. Possibly we
may sometime know the reason for the production of these
sports, but it is certain we do not now. In the mean time we
can be thankful that Nature by pe peculiar diversion has
given us some of her choicest benefactions, 4
aia Calif. HT, G. Pratt.

From the Missouri Botanic Garden.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—The loss at the garden from the cyclone was not as seri-
ous as its friends feared, and since the removal of the wreck
one unfamiliar with the grounds might not note the vacancies.
The pile of cord-wood down beyond the arboretum is elo-
quent, however, to those who know its history; for, after
burning the roots and waste branches, there remains about
too cords of fire-wood, representing 450 trees of large or
fair size that were either uprooted, broken off, or so badly
mutilated as to be useless. Trees of tender or light root-growth
were torn from the ground, but by far the greater part were
snapped off at from five to six feet above the ground. A few
were broken off higher up, as, for instance, a splendid White
Pine at least sixty feet high (the best in the grounds) that stood
in the enclosure surrounding the old Shaw residence. It was
snapped off at about ten feet from the ground.

The trunks were not twisted, and it is believed that the
damage done at this point was not due to the rotary motion of
the storm, but to the fierce gale that accompanied and followed
it. The moving storm-cloud seems to have come closer to
earth farther along on its course to the north-east, its main
fury being apparently reserved for the high ground around
Lafayette Park. The chief loss at the garden is among trees.
Catalpa and Osage Orange trees were practically exterminated.
The loss of the Catalpas is keenly felt by the garden authori-
ties, as there were some remarkably fine and large specimens
among them, several with trunks more than two feet in diam-
eter, Other trees whose loss is greatly deplored are two or
three of the best and largest specimens of Tilia heterophylla in
cultivation; two of the best-grown and largest-known speci-
mens of Rhamnus catharticus, symmetrical round-topped
trees, from fifteen to twenty feet high, and with trunks eight to
ten inches in diameter. These were said by Mr. Nicholson, of
Kew, when he visited the garden a few years ago, to be the
largest he had ever seen. A Kentucky Coffee-tree, while not
so large (forty feet high), was particularly shapely and well
grown, and is greatly missed. Other noteworthy losses are a
picturesque English Hawthorn, about fifteen feet in height,
that was a noticeable feature of the Shaw dwelling-house
grounds; a fine Corsican Pine that stood near the main en-
trance to the garden; the largest specimens of Magnolia
Fraseri and Copper Beech on the grounds; and a number of
Tulip-trees, including a good one near the house and one in
the arboretum that Professor Trelease especially regrets as
being a tree that Mr. Shaw took pride in and pointed out to the
Professor as the tallest tree in the grounds when he assumed
the directorship of the garden some twelve years ago. The
tree was then too feet high.

Neither time nor money can replace such features, but the

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 442.

loss that can be represented by figures reaches four thousand
dollars. This only covers the expense of removing débris
and repairing walks, fences and buildings. The damage to
buildings comprises the loss of the skylight of the Linnzean
house, the roof of one wing of the Gate house, part of the roof
of the herbarium and the demolition of an old stable. Iron
and other fences were injured in various parts of the grounds,
some shrubs were ruined, and walks and beds were wrecked,
but the feeling is that things might have been much worse.
This feeling is strengthened by the fact that a part of the unim-
proved ground is shortly to be reclaimed.

Before the storm Messrs. Olmsted, Olmsted & Elliott had
been engaged to design the landscape work in the new part,
and in addition to plan for changes to be gradually made in
the old grounds, to bring them into harmony with the new.
The thinning out done by the tornado, or in consequence of
its mutilation, will result in greatly simplifying and hastening
the alterations in the old grounds, and increases the opportu-
nities for bringing them rapidly into relation with the land-
scape effects of the newly improved section.

Brighton, IIl. Fanny Copley Seavey.

The Water-garden at Willow Grove.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—No pleasure-ground is considered at the present time
complete without a water-garden, and the new park at Willow
Grove, fifteen miles from Philadelphia, on the Old York Road,
has this year included one in its attractions. The sheet of
water planted has pleasing shore lines, and itis spanned by a
graceful bridge at its narrowest part, the bridge being built of
red stone and covered by the Japanese Ampelopsis. The
piece of ground lying between the two main divisions of
water is planted with hardy Grasses, Bamboos and other sub-
tropical plants, including a large specimen of Livistonia. Near
the shores are some effective flower-beds, although the scar-
let blaze of a great mass of Geraniums at one point is too near
the soft colors of the Water-lilies, which are now in bloom.
The water-garden issome five hundred feet long and averages
fifty feet wide, and here are planted, in groups, a large variety
of the hardy and tender Nymphzeas and Nelumbiums. The
hardy sorts were set out the last of April, and a number of
flowers opened in June. On the 28th of June the first flower
of Egyptian Lotus appeared, and early in July there was a pro-
fusion of these flowers and the plants were making luxuriant
growth. The tender Nympheas were planted the latter part
of May and some produced flowers the first week in July.
Until last October the site of the park wasea farm in a high
state of cultivation, the natural soil being loam, with a tena-
cious clayey subsoil. In the construction of this section of the
park much grading was necessary. The top spit was valua-
ble and was utilized, after the grading was completed, as atop
soil for planting shrubbery, bedding-plants, etc. It also
afforded excellent soil for planting the aquatics. The soil in
the water-garden was excavated to the depth of three feet;
afterward from fifteen to eighteen inches of the top soil was
placed in the bottom. The outline of the pond is laid in
masonry and is kept below the ground-level, which slopes
gently to the edge, and the sod covers the masonry. Besides
this pond there is also a Victoria pond, fifty by sixty feet, which
is heated by steam from the adjacent power-house.

The Egyptian Lotus is succeeding well. It bears transplant-
ing under proper conditions, but must not be set out too early.
Natural conditions and suitable locality should be provided, and
the tubers should show signs of starting. Among the early-
flowering Nymphzas those of the Odorata type are noticeable.
A clump of variety Rosea fifty feet across is a charming sight,
as is also a mass of Sulphurea, the exquisite yellow flowers
lifted above the water on erect stalks. The southern variety,
Gigantea, is superb. If this is started in pots the flowers, as
well as the leaves, will be larger and stronger when the plants
are established. All the hybrids of the European species, N.
alba, are strong robust growers and free and continuous in
flowering until frost, and they are doing well here. N. alba
candidissima and N. albida are among the best white flowers ;
N. carnea is a soft pink ; Marliac’s Rosea is the choice of the
hardy red ones, and N, chromatella is well known as a rich
yellow. These are all well represented, as are also a number
of the tender Nymphzas, embracing all the colors from pure
white, pink, red, crimson, blue, purple and yellow.

Altogether this new garden well shows the advance in culti-
vating aquatic plants. Fortunately, those who desire to visit
it will find themselves traversing the most interesting trolley-
road that leads out of Philadelphia, winding through delightful
scenery, by rich fields, luxuriant pastures and wooded hills.

AuGUST 12, 1896.]

The rural beauty of the undulating verdurous landscape is
undisturbed by suburban “improvements” of any kind, and
many of the dwellings are the solidly built, picturesque stone
farm-houses of a century ago, now the homes of wealthy citi-
zens, Perhaps, nowhere near a large city in the east cana
more satisfying trolley ride be enjoyed. The park itself is
planted with taste. The wide walks and avenues follow grace-
ful lines, and groups of flowering shrubs and trees and well-
kept turf are established. An avenue of Pin Oak-trees will in
time make a striking feature, and stretching away on either

idea iful Chelten Hills. ;
See ee ul Chelten Hi W. Tricher.

The Forest.
The Burma Teak Forests.—I]I.

FIRST EXPLORATION OF ‘THE FORESTS.

Eo in February I set out on my first tour into the forests,

from which I did not return until late in May, at the com-
mencement of the rains. The province of Pegu, as then con-
stituted, comprised the valleys of two rivers running parallel
from north to south. I went up the Sitang valley as tar as the
town of Toungoo, and after crossing the hills which separate
these valleys, returned by the larger of the two valleys, that of
the Iraauddi River. The Teak-producing forests are on the
hills on either side of these rivers, and I explored these hills, as
far as time permitted, in different directions. I have said that
the Teak-tree forms a small proportion of the forest. Its com-
panions are Bamboosand a large variety of other trees, at that
time none of them possessing any market value. That was
forty years ago when the country was thinly inhabited. Now,
with a population of three millions, with a number of large
and wealthy towns, several kinds besides Teak are used for
building and other purposes, and the trade in Bamboos has
become considerable. But so large is the forest area that the
open country in both valleys is readily supplied from the out-
skirts. From the remoter forest tracts it does not yet pay to
bring away anything but Teak. The other kinds, with few ex-
ceptions, are without value now as they were forty years ago.
With admiration I beheld the magnificent stems of Termi-
nalia, Anogeinus, Lagerstrcemia and other trees, with clean
cylindrical boles branchless to a great height; most of these
trees with beautiful dark-colored heart-wood. These trunks
would yield huge beams and magnificent planking, and I
found it difficult to understand that Teak should be the only
marketable timber. When I asked my Burmese companions
to explain, they laughed and pointed to a large Terminalia
which the storm had blown down. A magnificent piece of
timber nearly roo feet long, the heart-wood dark purple,
beautifully mottled, as if made to furnish the most elegant
furniture. ‘Next year, should the master come here, he will
find this tree a long heap of brown mold, unless, indeed, the
jungle fires should have destroyed it.’’ And this saying of
theirs was afterward invariably confirmed by my own experi-
ence. It is chiefly the durability of Teak timber in a tropical
climate which gives it the high market valueit possesses. Teak
has other valuable qualities besides durability. Among tim-
bers it holds the place which the diamond maintains among
precious stones and gold among metals. There are a few
other trees in Burma with heart-wood as durabie as that of
Teak, but the wood of these kinds is so hard and heavy that
they can only be worked with difficulty, and the timber
cannot be floated. Teak is easily worked, does not warp or
split, takes a beautiful polish, and, if properly treated, floats
without difficulty.

EARLY WORKING PLANS.

To establish a regular system in a forest of that description,
where Teak was the only marketable tree, obviously was a
singularly difficult, nay, at first sight, an impossible task.
Each Teak-tree cut would make room for valueless trees of
other kinds, while less seed would be shed and consequently
fewer Teak seedlings would spring up. Under these circum-
stances one plan only was feasible—to cut sparingly, to select
the trees to be cut with the greatest care, and simultaneously
to increase the proportion of Teak in the forest by planting.
These essential points I kept in view from the very beginning,
though, as regards planting, it was not possible to take action
upon a sufficiently large scale, until several years later.

Cuttings, however, had to be made in order to produce
money. I knew perfectly well that unless the forests could be
made a source of annual net revenue to the Government,
regular forest management was not likely to be maintained.
These cuttings, however, I was determined should be regu-

Garden and Forest.

329

lated by a well-considered plan, the object of which would be
the maintenance and not the exhaustion of the forests. In
order to prepare such a plan it was necessary to know the
rate of growth of the Teak-tree, the quantity of growing timber
in the forests, and the proportion of the different age classes
in each district. In 1856 very little was known regarding the
rate of growth of Teak. ‘The timber of that tree has well-
defined concentric rings, marked like the annual rings of Oak,
Ash and other kinds, by a belt of numerous large pores.
Subsequent researches have proved that these concentric rings
actually represent a year’s growth, the dry season being the
period of rest corresponding to the winter of temperate cli-
mates. In 1856, however, this had not been fully established.
Fortunately there were at the Botanic Gardens in Calcutta and
in gardens elsewhere Teak-trees the age of which was known.
These I measured, and these data, together with what was
known regarding the rate of growth of the Teak-tree in Bom-
bay and on the island of Java, enabled me to form a prelimi-
nary though very imperfect idea regarding the rate of growth
of this tree.

The growing stock of timber and the proportion of the differ-
ent age classes constituting this growing stock, would ordi-
narily be determined by the examination of numerous sample
areas, carefully selected, so as to represent the different types of
forest. This plan, I soon found, was out of the question.
The hilly country, where the Teak-producing tracts were
chiefly found, was of enormous extent, several thousand
square miles, stocked with forests extremely variable in their
character. Large areas of forest without Teak intervened
between the Teak-producing tracts, and in these the propor-
tion of Teak varied extremely. No topographical survey of
the country had been made and no maps existed to guide me
in determining the area of the Teak-producing forests. The only
guide [had in that respect at that time,and during the greater part
of my service in Burma, were rough sketch maps of the forests,
based upon route surveys with prismatic compass and chain,
which I prepared while exploring the forests with the aid of
native assistants whom I had trained for this work. Yet it
was necessary, within the short time I had at my disposal
before the rains set in, about three months and a half, to
collect sufficient data to enable me to frame a preliminary
working plan. Hence I set to work and took in hand suc-
cessively each forest district which lay near the route which I
had fixed upon. Each district was traversed in different direc-
tions, and on my march I counted all Teak-trees seen within a
certain distance on either side of the track pursued. In form-
ing forest districts I was guided by geographical features and
the configuration of the ground. The hills which separate the
two main rivers are drained by numerous smaller streams,
which eventually join either the Sitang or the Iraauddi River.
The catchment area of one of these streams was, as a rule,
assigned to one forest district. It took me some time to select,
among my Burmese followers, a staff of competent men to
assist me in these valuation surveys. When I had organized
matters and had myself made sufficient progress in the Bur-
mese language to enable me to carry on my exploration work
in the forest without an interpreter, for the interpreter I had
brought from Rangoon could not stand the hard work in the
tropical heat of the Burma forests, I had already examined
several districts, so that I had formed a general idea regarding
the character of the forests before I commenced my valuation
surveys. In the five districts which remained an area aggre-
gating 3,840 acres was surveyed, and on this area were found
2,423 Teak-trees of the first and 2,503 trees of the second class.
It should here be mentioned that in Burma the lumbermen
had always been in the habit of measuring the trees by girth,
and not by diameter, and this practice I adopted without hesi-
tation, though the results are less accurate than those obtained
by diameter measurement. The unit of measure among Bur-
mans at that time was not the foot, but the cubit. This also I
adopted, and accepted it as equivalent to eighteen inches. The
first question which presented itself to me was to select a mini-
mum size, below which no tree should, as a rule, be felled,
and this I fixed at four cubits, or six feet, in girth. Hence all
trees above that size were termed first-class, while second-class
trees were those between three and four cubits, or between
four feet six inches and six feet, in girth. The data which I
had collected regarding the rate of growth of the Teak-tree led
me to the conclusion that the mean age of trees in girth three
cubits, or four feet six inches, was thirty-nine years, and that
of trees four cubits, or six feet, in girth was sixty-two years.
Hence the conclusion seemed justified that the smallest trees
of the second class would attain first-class size within a period
of twenty-three years. Later researches have shown that these
results were too favorable, and that in the present condition of

oo"

the forests the growth is much less rapid than what was as-

sumed in 1856. joel F
Bonn, Germany. Dietrich Brandis.

Notes.

According to the Pacific Rural Press, another car-load of
redwood has just been shipped from California to Nuremburg,
Germany, for making lead-pencils, which is another indication
that the Cedar forests of Europe, which formerly supplied
wood for this purpose, are nearly exhausted.

The beauty and fragrance of the Sweet Peas make them
such general favorites that the Everlasting or Perennial spe-
cies, Lathyrus latifolius, is too often overlooked. The white
variety is especially desirable at this season. The flowers are
borne on long-stemmed racemes, and, although they have no
odor, they are unsurpassed in the purity of their color.

Evaporated apples of the crop of 1896 are already in market,
and stock left over from last year is less in demand as the sea-
son advances. Dried huckleberries of this season are offered
at eight cents a pound by the wholesale dealers, raspberries
at fifteen cents, and new southern dried cherries at ten cents a
pound in large quantities. Royal apricots, from California,
are also here, and cost nine cents a pound,

Potatoes have been coming into the wholesale markets of
this city in more than adequate supply and prices have suf-
fered correspondingly, so that seventy-five cents a barrel was
an average price last week. Sweet potatoes also are being
handled without profit to the grower. Prices declined steadily
last week from $1.75 and $2.00 a barrel on Monday until on
Friday, when the highest-grade yellow sweet potatoes, from
New Jersey, in large barrels, brought as little as $1.00, and red
sweet potatoes, from North Carolina, commanded but fifty to
sixty-five cents a barrel.

Plants which have spines and other contrivances for pro-
tecting themselves are often used by defenceless plants as
shelters. Professor Kerner notes that certain wild Vetches
and umbelliferous plants, which would furnish good fodder
for grazing animals, are regularly found in the prickly hedges
along the roads and under spiny bushes, which form a belt
around forests. These bushes not only defend their own
foliage, but also the delicate plants which have been estab-
lished under their protection. This is no partnership or
symbiosis, however, for the advantage is all on the side of the
plants protected. The armed bushes receive no profit or re-
turn from the plants they defend, and they do not protect them
intentionally.

A correspondent writing of Mrs. Shepherd’s garden at Bue-
naventura, California, says that she grows two crops of seed
from Cosmos every year on the same ground. Seeds of the
new strain when sown early follow the customs of California
annuals and become more dwarf, while they seem to hurry
into bloom earlier every year. New shades of color are said
to be coming into the Howers and modifications of habit in
various ways, so that a field of the new early Cosmos in full
bloom is a beautiful sight. No doubt, this is all true, but so
far the new strains as grown here cannot compare with the
older kinds in grace of form, although they may equal them
in richness of color. A first-rate strain of early-flowering Cos-
mos would bea boon to eastern gardens, for the plants here
are always cut down by frost while at the height of their
bloom.

Mr. Joseph Meehan, in a late number of The Country Gen-
dleman, gives an account of his way of planting conifers in
August. The hole to receive the tree having been dug before-
hand, the tree is lifted and placed in its new position and soil
is filled in until the ball is about covered. Water is then given
in abundance, and it may be stirred about with a stick until it
is of the consistency of mush and will settle closely about the
roots. No tramping is required, but after soil and water have
settled, say in four or five hours, the remaining soil needed is
filled in and a mulch is put about the roots. Of course, all
conifers do not transplant well at this season, most of the
Pines which have not many fibrous roots being exceptions.
The reason why this is a safe season for planting is that the
soilis warm like that in a propagating-bench, and when the
roots are kept moist the tree will throw out new roots like a
cutting. If the trees are more than six feet high the tops
should be sprinkled with water for a few nights to check too
rapid transpiration, until they have become thoroughly estab-
lished.

Garden and Forest. .

[NUMBER 442.

Professor F, A. Waugh has lately prepared for the Vermont
Experiment Station a bulletin on the pollination of Plums, a
matter which has been the subject of much investigation dur-
ing recent years. It is well known that Plums are uncertain
about setting fruit, and a part of this uncertainty seems due to
the fact that the blossoms do not fertilize themselves. Pro-
fessor Waugh explains how cross-pollination is provided for
by the defectiveness of the flower parts and by other natural
adaptations. There isa general agreement among horticul-
turists and botanists that cross-fertilization is desirable, and it
seems that since the American varieties of cultivated Plums
have been derived from several distinct species they can
best be made fruitful by crossing with varieties that are closely
related to each other botanically. The bulletin is instructively
illustrated, and in addition to Professor Waugh’s own obser-
vations it contains the quoted opinions of many eminent horti-
culturists. We have acquired considerable knowledge as to
the pollination of Plums, but there are many questions of
practical bearing and theoretical interest that invite investiga-
tion. The hope is expressed that this bulletin will direct
attention to some of these unanswered questions and encour-
age others to make observations in this line. The bulletin
closes by suggesting several subjects for inquiry, and many
more will occur to the investigator who takes hold of the sub-
ject in earnest.

The importations of lemons during July in this city amounted
to 222,975 boxes, 235,600 boxes having been received last yearin
the same month, and 358,350 during the same term in 1894.
Prices have advanced rapidly with the hot weather. Last Fri-
day the cargo of the steamship Karamania realized $1.1234 to
$4.75 a box for Palermo lemons, while the Sorrento fruit
brought $3.25 to $5.62%, and Majori lemons commanded
$3.50 to $6.12%. At the same sale Rodi and Sorrento oranges
brought $2.6214 to $5.1214 a box. During July 387,680 bunches
of bananas cameinto this port, against 535,475 bunches received
in the same month in 1895. The supply of cocoanuts has been
very large, 827,800 bags having been received here last month,
while but 194,000 bags constituted the supply in July, 1895.
Seventy-five car-loads of California fruits were sold here
during last week. Owing to the large quantity received and
the intensely hot weather prices declined steadily, and
Bartlett pears sold for $1.10 to $1.50a box. At these prices
nothing whatever is returned to the grower, since the cost for
freight alone is something more than $1.00 a box, besides
expenses for commissions, boxes, paper, nails, packing, etc.
California peaches are of good size and color, and some of the
best ever seen in eastern markets, as the Decker, are now
coming from that state. Owing to the heavy receipts of this
fruit from Delaware and other near-by states, prices have been
low, and Crawfords from the Pacific coast sold last week for
fifty-five to eighty cents, exceptionally fine lots bringing $1.00
a box. Plums and prunes are offered in large variety and
moderate quantity, prices ranging from $1.10 to $1.50 a box at
wholesale.

Last year the English papers made protest against the rob-
bing of country lanes and woods of Ferns, to be sold in the
cities, and just now they are raising what seems to be a justi-
fiable cry of alarm against the spoliation of all kinds of green-
ery which beautify the country landscape. The Gardeners’
Magazine, for instance, declares that the heaths and open
places about London are rapidly being stripped of everything
green except grass and such well-armed plants as Brambles
which can protect themselves against the dwellers of the town,
who, on their incursions into the country, tear to pieces and
carry away everything green unless it is defended by thorns.
Of course, it is natural that the residents of towns should
admire things green, and the desire may be natural to deck
their homes with souvenirs of their rural outings. But as the
excursionists increase innumber with improved facilities for
travel, the indulgence of this desire means the annihilation of
the vegetation concerned. These people should be taught to
confine their admiration to the plants and flowers when grow-
ing in beauty in their native habitats, instead of carrying their
draggled fragments home until they are quite exterminated.
Any one who has noticed the trolley cars and excursion trains
on their return to this city must have observed how large a
proportion of these excursionists carry armfuls of wilted Ferns,
branches of shrubs and herbaceous plants. Of course, these
fragments of vegetation will have no beauty by the time they
reach their destination. Their native haunts are left desolate
for the time, and since no vegetation can endure such pluck-
ing year after year many of the beautiful plants within picnic
distance of the city will be practically exterminated, unless
some measures are taken to protect them,

AucusT 19, 1896.]

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrick: Tripungz Buitpinc, New York.

Conducted by Professor C. S. SARGENT.

ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST-OFFICER AT NEW YORK, N. Yeo

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10, 18096.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

EpitortaL ArtTIcLes :—The Preservation of Natural Beauty...-...-...-.+-see0++ 330
Grape-frult ...cccssccecseee scececcesener conse scenes tecense: sesenees
An April Scene in Central Park. lee figure.)..
The Pines in August... re
FoREIGN CORRESPONDENCE London Letter. issti ates
CuttuRaL DeparRTMENT :—Water-lilies from Seed
Notes from the Herbaceous Border .......-

rs oe Treat. 332
-W. Watson. 333
-W. Tricker. 334
«Robert Cameron. 330

Some ‘Novelties.—Il... 20.12. ccceccccesescccscereccsessecess E. O. Orpet. 336
Solanum Wendlandii. seep: Oi Os337)
CorrgsPONDENCE :—The Compass BPianf aeebree aces os sacs car temaceeaceae S. 337
Rhododendron maximum in Gonnechcutiiss. sess. cseseneace E. F. Coes 337

Church Bouquets......essesereeececeereees Fanny Copley Seavey. 338

Tue Forest :—The Burma Teak Rovers —lIL.. scene e Str Dietrich uae 338

RECENT PUBLICATIONS ..-. ++ +++ Soenlnie ee visleleiwinjsin aia(sieleiv sis'e|etcis Sporn Skil

INOTES Storie tase cic sks wc dbesias/so sein sie cules een sec csacen'cmseesineci ese lstesissincenae 340
ILLUSTRATION :—View in Central Park, April 7th, 1896, from a photograph
taken by Lucien C. Laudy tor the American Museum of Natural

History, Fig. 44...-.cecsessee se tece ee eese cr cees ce cenecenee cee ceeeee 335

The Preservation of Natural Beauty.

T is now more than five years since the body known as
the Trustees of Public Reservation was incorporated
under an act of the Legislature of Massachusetts, for the
purpose of preserving tracts of land which were distin-
guished for their natural beauty or for their historic asso-
ciation. This was the first organization of the kind ever
established, so faras we know, and it seemed tous then, as it
does yet, a proof of more than ordinary enlightenment and
public spirit in the society out of which it grew. We
expressed the hope then that this might become a set-
tled policy throughout the country, for it certainly is not too
much to expect that a community of civilized people would
take upon themselves the duty of preserving and transmitting
to their children the treasures of beauty which they have
inherited, or of protecting from defacement and ruin
places made memorable by patriotic sacrifices and noble
deeds and preserving them for the inspiration of their de-
scendants. New York has enacted a similar law, and
steps have been taken for saving some of our revolutionary
battle-fields and other noteworthy places from desecration.
The movement for saving the Palisades in New Jersey is
the outcome of a similar sentiment, and so is the rescue
and devotion to public use of that magnificent river gorge
known as the Dalles of the St. Croix, between the states of
Minnesota and Wisconsin. The acquisition of Niagara by
the state of New York and of Valley Forge by Pennsylvania
are noteworthy results of the same feeling.

It was the example of Massachusetts which suggested an
article in Ze Spectator, of London, in which it was sharply
pointed out that it was quite as important for a nation to
secure sites of great natural beauty as it was to buy fine
pictures. And since Snowdon had already been in the
market, and the waterfall of Lodore was advertised for sale,
it was urged that a national trust for places of historic in-
terest or natural beauty was a necessity. Such a trust was
therefore organized, and the trustees were made up of men
eminent in letters and in public life. In a recent number
of The Spectator, Miss Octavia Hill, who was one of the
original incorporators of the trust, writes that the wild
heathy promontory known as Barras Head, one of the

Garden and Forest.

33!

headlands which enclose King Arthur’s Cove at Tintagel,
could be secured fora comparativ ely small sum ; and, no
doubt, there are enough people interested in the Arthurian
legends and the poetry that has gathered about them, to
rescue this delightful spot and dedicate it to public use for-
ever. In the same letter it is stated that a lovely bit of old
English architecture, a clergy-house built before the
Reformation, ina Sussex village, had been acquired as an
inheritance from the middle ages. It is encouraging to
see good work like that in Massachusetts bearing fruit
across the sea, and we are sure that men and women of
public spirit, who urge a policy of this sort upon the Gen-
eral Government and the government of the separate
states, will minister to some of the noblest and purest
emotions that animate the human soul, while they will
accomplish a work which is eminently practical, even
from the sordid dollar-and-cent point of view, and add a
distinct pecuniary value to all property which surrounds
these places.

The setting apart of the great forest reservations of the
west by the General Government is, of course, a different
matter. But the establishment of Yellowstone Park and
the acquisition of the great battle-fields of the Rebellion are
justified only by a sentiment that the places which are
remarkable for the sublimity and beauty of their natural
features, or which have been consecrated by heroic struggles
for principle, are, or ought to be, possessions of the people
asa whole. But if the people, speaking through their rep-
resentatives, have asserted their rights in such conspicuous
instances, they certainly must feel that their unwritten
rights are often invaded by private persons and corpora-
tions when they find the scenery which they have enjoyed
all their lives needlessly defaced. In some cases laws
have been enacted to protect them in this matter. In this
city the obtrusive ugliness of signs and advertisements
within a certain distance from park territory can be miti-
gated by the action of the Park Board, but all over the
country, landscapes are blotted out by billboards and made
hideous by the paint pot of the advertiser, and there is no
redress against the outrage. Ifa private citizen is willing
to devote his property to such use he can violate the sensi-
bilities of his neighbors and of all who travel on the high-
way with impunity. Since there is law against offensive
smells and useless noises, there seems to be no injustice in
compelling property owners to respect that love for beauty
which, to some degree, is implanted in the nature of every
one. A loathsome sight is certainly as disagreeable as a
foul smell.

What is needed primarily is not, however, law, but a
sensitive public conscience which will impel every citizen
to respect the feelings of his neighbors. In a truly enlight-
ened community a corporation which was building a rail-
road would not needlessly gash and scar the landscape.
They would no sooner think of destroying the beauties
which are the inheritance of all than they would of reck-
lessly destroying property, for which they would be held
in pecuniary damages. We can remember a White Oak-
tree which had stood beside an old highway in New Jersey
for generations. It was a stately tree before the war of
the Revolution. It was an essential feature in a beautiful
prospect, and it had been admired and reverenced by
thousands who traveled on that road until they felt a per-
sonal interest and proprietorship in it. One day the owner
of the abutting land cut down this tree for apparently no
reason whatever, for it did no injury to the land, and the
log was left to rot by the wayside, but every one who
has passed the stump since that day feels a sense of
bereavement. A noteworthy landmark of the country is
obliterated. The whole place is distinctly less interesting,
and will be forever.

The sum of the whole matter is that while the estab-
lished boards of trustees for acquiring public reservations
mark an advance in public sentiment, and while these
organizations are already doing a noble work and deserve
the fullest sympathy and most substantial aid, what we

332

need still more is a wider appreciation of and love for
natural beauty. The people who take a genuine delight in
natural scenery and are conscious of its soothing influence
are not likely to deface or destroy it. Besides this they
can realize that others have rights in the general beauty of
the land in which they live, and they can be persuaded to
respect those rights. Neither you nor I may have a legal
property right in Niagara or the field of Gettysburg, but
every American would feel that he was robbed of some-
thing to which he had a moral right if either of these places
were turned over to sordid use. The sublimity, the poetry,
the inspiration of places like these are a common heritage.
These influences should be guarded as jealously as any
other common right.

Unoer the title of “The Coming Fruit,” Dr. D. Morris, of
Kew, not long since wrote a letter to The Sa/urday Review,
urging upon the people of the West India Islands to estab-
lish groves of Grape-fruit trees of the best quality. When
passing through New York in the early part of this year,
Dr. Morris was very strongly impressed by the quantity of
this fruit which the New York market was demanding, and
our readers will, perhaps, remember an article in the
present volume of Garpen anp Forest, on page 163, in
which he gives a sketch of the origin and history of the
Shaddock, Pomelo, Grape-fruit, Forbidden-fruit and other
varieties which belong to this group of Citrus fruits, and
are botanically classified under the species Citrus decu-
mana. They are quite distinct botanically from true
Oranges, Citrons or other groups of the Orange family,
and since they have mostly been raised from seed with lit-
tle care given to selection, they vary widely in quality.
The frost which ruined the Orange groves of Florida has
temporarily shortened the supply, and Dr. Morris quotes a
paragraph from this paper recalling the sale of small-sized
grape-fruit at thirty dollars a barrel. This means a retail
price of at least a dollar each, and is, as Dr. Morris sug-
gests, probably the highest price ever paid for specimens of
the orange tribe.

No doubt, it will be a long time before there is any over-
production of grape-fruit, since the demand for it increases
every year, and it is constantly becoming more popular as
a breakfast fruit. It is beautiful, is said to have medicinal
value, and the more it is used the more highly it is rel-
ished. Beyond question it would be a profitable fruit to
raise in the West Indies, and probably the English people
will in time prize it more highly than they now do, and
furnish an additional outlet for West Indian groves. Since
the Florida frost this country has absorbed almost the
whole West India supply, although much of it has been
very inferior in quality. How does it happen that the
enterprising orchardists of California have not been awake
to the situation? There is no reason why they should not
supply the east during a part of the year with all the grape-
fruit needed. The limited quantities thus far received from
California have lacked weight and juiciness. Wherever the
fruit is grown it should be borne in mind that the highest
success will only come with the use of the best varieties.
There is no need to grow the thick-skinned and bitter
sorts, or those with a dry, cottony pulp, when there are
varieties both of the apple-shaped and pear-shaped fruits
with silky skin, full of juice and of a most delightful
flavor, with just enough bitter to give it piquancy and sug-
gest its tonic quality.

An April Scene in Central Park.

Y the time this paper reaches our readers it is to be

hoped that the weather will be cooler, but as we write
the country is passing through one of those periods of intense
heat, accompanied by a high percentage of humidity, which
are characteristic of our climate. The deaths in this city
and its suburbs, directly due to the temperature, during
the past week are numbered by hundreds, so that the
cool picture on page 335 seems like a mockery, or, at least,
not especially seasonable. We present it at this time,

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 443.

however, not primarily because of its beauty, although on
the day when it was taken there were many portions of
Central Park where the branches of conifers, bending be-
neath their weight of snow, made strikingly beautiful com-
binations. Just now, however, it will help to illustrate in
a forcible way the character of our short spring season if
the date of this snow-storm is taken in connection with the
weather which immediately followed. On the fourth of
April last the thermometer registered twenty-four degrees,
Fahrenheit, and on the day preceding the mean between
the lowest and highest temperature was two degrees below
the freezing-point. Just one week later the mercury had
risen to seventy-nine degrees, where it remained for two
days, then rose on the 16th as high as eighty-seven de-
grees, and on the 18th, only eleven days after the snow-
storm, it touched ninety-one degrees, which is about the
temperature of these August days, when men and horses
are dropping dead in the street from the heat. Nor did it
at once subside to what may be called normal April
weather, but it kept about eighty degrees for several days
following. Of course, a temperature like this forced early
vegetation into something like a hot-house growth. As
the result of this August weather the Yulan Magnolias
burst into bloom in mid-April, close after M. stellata, with
the Forsythias, our native Spice-wood, Cornus mas, the
early Bush Honeysuckles and some of the Prunuses, while
the Peach-trees were in full bloom only a few days later.

All this can be readily understood by persons who are
familiar with our spring weather, but it is so remote from
any experience of our English readers that they can hardly
appreciate such an abrupt transformation. As a rule, the
early bulbous plants commence to flower in England sev-
eral weeks before they do in this country, and then slowly
and gradually there follow two or three months of spring
weather until summer arrives in earnest. It may be prac-
tically winter here while Daffodils in England are at their
best. But in a few days the season here will be abreast ot
the year in London, as our summer follows hard upon the
heels of winter. One morning the woods will show a mist
of tender green and the next they will appear almost in full
leaf. Of course, such climatic difference as this must be
taken into account when we undertake to grow plants
which have developed under widely different conditions.
No doubt, the people of England prefer their springs, and
we can understand how attractive their slowly developing
spring gardens must be. But we do not forget that the
sudden leap into summer also has points of interest for the
lover of nature, wild and cultivated. The new creation is
a fresh surprise to us every year, and the suddenness with
which vegetation bursts into life never fails to bring new
surprises.

The Pines in August.

HE Pines near the coast are brilliant now with the

Swamp Hibiscus. This magnificent plant, with large
showy flowers five and six, and some even seven inches
across, are thickly scattered over large areas. Some of the
plants bear pure white flowers, others are white with a
deep crimson eye, while others have varying shades of
rose and peach-blossom color. It grows fairly well in the
garden. Three or four summers ago I planted a small
seedling in the border ; to-day it has six stout stems with
numerous branches laden with flowers, and is one of the
most conspicuous things in the garden. Some of the
flowers are seven inches in diameter, pure white, with
a crimson eye. Kosteletzkia is a handsome plant of
the same family, much like the Hibiscus, only smaller
every way ; the rose-purple flowers are about two inches
across and do not vary in color like the Hibiscus. It is
quite common near Wildwood, but not so abundant as the
Hibiscus. Not far from Kosteletzkia the Glade Mallow,
Napzea, is growing in a place where I supposed no con-
spicuous plant could escape me, yet here it was in an open
damp place near a railroad. It is a tall herb with very
large leaves, and the flowers are so arranged that with the

AUGUST Ig, 1896.]

first glance I took it to be an umbelliferous plant. It is
not specially handsome, but it is rare and unlike most of
the Mallow family ; more like a Sida than any other mem-
ber of the order. Parthenium integrifolium is another plant
that I had not found until this summer. It is a composite
two to three feet high, with a flat corymb of white woolly
flowers, and it remains in bloom a long time.

Clethra is an unusually handsome shrub just now, the
long spikes of white fragrant flowers almost completely
enveloping the bushes, which are very free from insect
depredators both on foliage and flower, are perfect. This
shrub merits a place in every flower garden ; it is easy of
culture ; in fact, it will grow fairly well without any culti-
vation. I havea dozen or more plants in my wild garden,
which receive no special care, and they are now full of
flowers. The Button-bush is also attractive and grows
everywhere in damp places. In the thickets wild Roses
are still blooming almost as luxuriantly as in June. The
Trumpet Honeysuckle is lovely, too, and combines well
with the Roses, while Hypericums and Spirzeas also add
their charm to every mass of shrubs.

The two species of Meadow Beauty, Rhexia Virginica
and R. Marianna, are both conspicuous among the Grasses
in the damp Pines, along with Polygala lutea and P. san-
guinea, while the Lysimachias and Swamp Loosestrife and
the pretty Coreopsis rosea are all here, and the flaming
Cardinal Flower stands above them all. The humming-
birds and brilliant butterflies collect about the flower, seem-
ingly attacted more by its brilliancy than Ly the sweets it
furnishes.

Our Lilies are very showy now, especially L. superbum,
with its great pyramid of nodding deep orange flowers,
spotted on the inside with deep purple. Although it is
called the Swamp Lily and grows naturally in low, wet
ground, it thrives well in any position not too dry, and is
especially handsome when grown in peaty soil like that
usually furnished for Rhododendrons. Apios tuberosa is
clambering among the shrubs and plants, catching hold of
whatever it can reach, and often rising above its more
showy neighbors, laden with short dense racemes of sweet-
scented dull-purple flowers. Mikania scandens is also
climbing among the bushes with panicles of flesh-colored
flowers. The delicate rose-colored Sabbatias are coming
into bloom, their dainty star-like blossoms thickly scattered
among the feathery Grasses. They are among our most
graceful wild flowers. Several species of Gerardia are
showy now. G. purpurea and G,. maritima, G. tenuifolia
and G. auriculata are here, and in the more dry Pines we
find the yellow ones, G. flava and G. quercifolia.

All through August the Ponds are more attractive than at
any other time. Pond Lilies are still blooming, together with
a host of other lovely flowers. ‘The little Lake Flower is
here, and so is the widely distributed Water-shield, Brase-
nia peltata. At least four continents can claim this plant.
It is common in Japan, Australia and Africa, and I have
read that it had been found in South America, but I believe
this is not as yet well authenticated. The curious Utricu-
larias, purple and yellow flowered, are abundant among
the Lilies, and the little sacks are well-laden with the
entrapped larvee of mosquito, chironomus and entromos-
cans, and the Droseras in the more shallow places are
entrapping the winged creatures, holding and folding their
leaves around them in such a way that one seldom

escapes.
ena, N. J. Mary Treat.

Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.

OpontocLossum Wattianum.—This is one of the most
beautiful of all Odontoglossums. It first flowered in the
nursery of Messrs. F. Sander & Co. in 1890, when Mr.
Rolfe described it as a probable natural hybrid between
O. luteopurpureum and O. Lindleyanum. 1 saw a second
plant of it in flower last week which appeared to bear

Garden and Forest.

333

evidences that O. Harryanum was one of its parents. It
has tall-branched scapes, bearing numerous flowers with
sepals and petals as large as, and colored similarly to,
those of a good form of O. luteopurpureum. The lip is,
however, its most striking feature; it is about two inches
long and an inch wide, the margins fringed and slightly
incurved, the apex acuminate, and the color white, with a
few large blotches of magenta-purple on the apical half
and numerous small spots of the same color on the basal
half. The lip hangs almost vertically, so that its colors are
well displayed. Hybrid Odontoglossums, so-called, are
generally disappointing as well as enigmatical, but O. Wat-
tianum, whatever its origin, is a gem which all Orchid
growers may honestly covet. Itis to be hoped that Messrs.
Sander & Co, will succeed either in propagating a stock of
it or in importing it in quantity.

Sopratias. —A large and well-cultivated collection of these
plants is now to be seen in the nurseries of Messrs. F.
Sander & Co., where they receive special attention, grow-
ing and flowering like weeds. There are few more pleas-
ing Orchids than a good specimen of Sobralia macrantha
or S. xantholeuca when in full flower, while a collection
of adozen or more distinct species and hybrids bearing
numerous large variously colored flowers is a picture to
delight the eye of any Orchid fancier. The best of the
hybrids are S. Amesiana (xantholeuca x Wilsoni) and S.
Veitchii (macrantha x xantholeuca), the former raised by
Messrs. F. Sander & Co., the latter by Messrs. J. Veitch &
Sons, and also by Messrs. Sander. Perhaps the most beau-
tiful of all Sobralias is the white form of S.:macrantha.
This has enormous flowers of the snowiest white, except
the rich yellow of the lip. S. Wilsoni was introduced from
Central America in 1890. It is allied to S. Warscewiczii
and has large white flowers tinted with rose and a yellow
blotch on the lip.

Hipreastrvm styLosum and H. reticutatum.—These two
closely allied species of Amaryllis are now in flower in
the stove, and they are decidedly beautiful, even when
compared with those more gaudy offspring of the genus
now so popular in the garden. Hippeastrum stylosum was
first introduced three-quarters of a century ago, but it ap-
pears to have been lost forsome time until again secured
by Mr. O’Brien. It has bright green leaves an inch broad,
an erect stout scape bearing an umbel of from three to
eight flowers which are four inches long, trumpet-shaped,
the upper part of the segments elegantly recurved and the
color a close network of broad lines of rose-madder on a
groundwork of a paler hue. H.reticulatum is not so rare
a plant, and is grown here and there for its white-striped
leaves (I have never seen a plant of it with wholly green
leaves). Its flowers are like those of H. stylosum, but ofa
brighter red color, the reticulation also being more marked.
It is an old garden plant, having been grown by Messrs.
Lee, of Hammersmith, more than a century ago. Neither
of these species has played any part in the production of
the race of hybrid Hippeastrums.

ANTHURIUM SANDERIANUM.—This is the name borne by an
extraordinary seedling or hybrid Anthurium which I
recently saw in flower at St. Albans. It resembles the
hybrids raised from A. Andreanum and allies in its leaf
characters, robustness of growth, etc., but it differs from
all others in having a spathe which isalmost a normal leaf
in nervation and size, while in color it is scarlet in the
lower half, bright green in the upper half. The spathe in
Aroidez is, of course, generally understood to be a slightly
modified leaf, but it always differs widely in shape and
structure from the true foliage. Imagine a plant with an
inflorescence like that of A. Andreanum so far as regards
rachis, spadix and form, but in place of the ear-like spathe
colored bright scarlet, a large cordate leaf attached to the
spathe colored scarlet and green. In the distance this
spathe has the appearance of the leaf of a gaudily colored
Caladium. The plant bore about half a dozen inflorescences
in various stages of development, all showing the same
peculiar character.

334

Litium _Hewry1.—While a considerable number of species
of Lilium have suffered more or less severely from the ex-
cessive heat and drought recently experienced here, Lilium
Henryi has, on the contrary, exceeded in growth and vigor
all previous experiences. I am inclined to believe that
sunstroke is the cause of the sudden collapse of fat healthy
stems of L. auratum, probably also of L. pardalinum and
others, almost a failure here this year. But L. Henryi is
now nine feet high, with healthy green leaves down to the
base and a score or more of orange-yellow flowers and
buds. It has not gone back in health in the slightest since
its first introduction from China, some eight years ago,
although it has been left in beds in the open without dis-
turbance. It seeds freely and the seeds germinate readily.
A solitary plant of it is not effective, but a quantity grow-
ing together, as, for instance, in the case of L. pardalinum,
make a stately picture. I might mention here that I saw
in the nursery of Messrs. F. Sander & Co. the other day a
large healthy batch of the rare L. Philippinense, one of the
most elegant of the Longiflorum group. It requires green-
house culture in this country.

Marutiac’s Water Litres.—The exceptional length and
heat of the summer we are now experiencing—it began in
April, and so far has been almost tropical—has favored
some plants, and particularly the hardy Nymphzeas, which
in some gardens have flowered freely as well as grown
luxuriantly. The new red-flowered varieties have improved
under its influence, or, rather, I should say, their good
qualities have revealed themselves so clearly that they are
sure to find general favor as hardy aquatics. They do not
grow so vigorously as the common Nymphezas, except,
perhaps, that called Marliacea chromatella, which appears
to be by far the freest grower; they are, therefore, plants
that must have special care and be kept in positions where
they are easily seen and got at. Some who have tried them
in lakes or large expanses of water have for this reason
decided to remove them into tubs or small tanks. When
seen at close quarters they are most beautiful. I know no
flowers that grow in water in the open air in this country
with colors so charming as those of the varieties called
Robinsoni, ignea, fulva and odorata rosea or exquisita.
The. best forms of Laydekeri are also first-rate.

LIMNANTHEMUM PELTATUM., better known, perhaps, by the
name of Villarsia nympheoides, is a most charming
aquatic Gentian with floating leaves exactly like those of a
Nympheea and numerous erect-stalked bright yellow flow-
ers.. It is a native of the British Islands as well as various
parts of Europe. In England, perhaps, the only locality
for it is in various reaches of the Thames. It is abundant
in a backwater separating the old deer park at Richmond
from Kew Gardens, and it is also a conspicuous object in
the lake in the latter establishment. If not already intro-
duced into the United States, it is worthy of introduction,
which may be possible either by seeds or rhizomes. No
plant makes a more delightful picture on the water than
this, which is in flower from June to August. It has lately
attracted the attention of Mr. Grant Allen, who has con-
tributed an interesting article upon it to the Daily News.
Last year a pretty plate of it, prepared by Mr. Moon, was
published in Zhe Garden. Mr. Allen aptly likened the
flowers to those of a Melon or Cucumber, but they are
much more elegant in outline and delicate in texture, while
the fringe of hairs surrounding the stamens adds a special
charm. [This plant is common in aquatic gardens here,
where it becomes almost a weed which it is difficult to
exterminate.—Ep. |

Beppine Vioras, or Tufted Pansies, as some prefer to call
them, have increased rapidly in popularity during the last
ten years. This is the result of considerable improvements
made by breeders in the constitution of the plants and in
the colors of the flowers. In all good gardens they are
now largely used for spring and summer bedding. They
succeed where the larger-flowered Pansy fails, and they
make a perpetual display for several months. They have
become so important that a society has been formed in

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 443.

their interests, and next week a conference will be devoted
to them in Regents Park, when papers will be read by their
votaries and the results of a trial of seedlings be made
known. An exhibition of the plants and flowers will be
held at the same time. This year has, perhaps, been one
of the most unfavorable for these Violas. ‘hey have not
been a success at Kew, notwithstanding liberal supplies of
water during the hot dry weather. In gardens where the
soil is colder and less gravelly than at Kew they have done
better. They are most useful for early summer effects, and
as they are easily kept from year to year and as readily
multiplied as Verbenas they are sure to remain in favor.
London. W. Watson.

Cultural Department.

Water-lilies from Seed.

dR aes is always a fascination in raising plants from seeds.
It requires some mentalexertion and more or less patience,
for while some seeds take but a few days to germinate, others
require several months, and Water-lilies are among the uncer-
tain plants. Naturally, seed is sown when thoroughly ripe,
but the conditions are not favorable for immediate germina-
tion in all instances, and they lie dormant until the proper
season or conditions for growth arrive. In the case of Water-
lilies (Nymphea), both hardy and tender, the seed, if ripened
early in August and self-sown, will germinate in a few days.
Seeds of the Zanzibar type can hardly be kept until they can
be cleaned before they germinate ; but later on if the seed is
sown naturally and deposited in the tank or pond where it has
grown it will lie dormant all winter, germinate early in spring
and produce flowering plants the same season. Thus, in New
Jersey, Zanzibar Lilies may be grown as a hardy annual.

As to the vitality of the seeds of aquatic plants much depends
on their condition, the temperature, etc., when they are stored.
Nature suggests that aquatic seeds should be sown as soon as
ripe, or deposited in humid surroundings for safe-keeping.
In some instances this is an inviolable law, many species
refusing to grow if allowed to become dry and remain so for
but a short period. This is true of Victoria seed, Euryale,
Nymphea gigantea, and almost all of the hardy Nymphzeas,
Sagittarias and others. This is the season for ripening Nym-
phza and other seed, and persons desirous of experimenting
with Water-lilies in the way of raising seedlings will do well to
note these suggestions. Seeds of all varieties of hardy Nym-
phzeas should be sown now, and the earlier they are sown the
larger the percentage that will germinate. If seed cannot be
secured before fall it may be sown then, but if left until next
spring the percentage to germinate will be small, indeed, and
with some varieties (unless extra care is taken in keeping them
over winter) nota seed will grow. In natural ponds, where
the seed is deposited during the latter part of this month, it
remains dormant until spring, when with lengthening days
and increasing temperature the seed readily starts and grows
rapidly. Nature should be followed as closely as possible
where artificial means must be adopted. Where only a few
varieties are grown the seed may be sown in four-inch pots or
in shallow pans, using fine soil similar to that used for other
flower seeds, and covering the soil with fine sand after the
seed is sown. The pots should then be stood in water, not
submerged at once, but thoroughly saturated. They should
remain in this condition for two days and then be submerged.
If seed pans are used the seed may be sown thinly and remain
undisturbed should they germinate before spring. The pans
are always handy to move. If the seed is sown in pots a shal-
low tub or tank is most convenient to keep them in. To
secure them against being upset, an ordinary tub may be filled
two-thirds with ordinary soil. The potsshould be plunged to the
level of the soil and kept filled with water. The tub may remain
out-of-doors in the open sunshine until fall, when, with its
contents, it should be stored in a cold house or cellar until
spring. But if the seedlings appear during autumn they
should be kept growing in congenial quarters. Seeds may
also be sown in a tub filled two-thirds with good soil, and the
seeds covered with sand. They should be protected from
freezing in winter and in spring, and placed out-of-doors
again. The seed comes up readily and the plants may be set
in permanent quarters without the trouble of pricking off, and
will produce flowers the same season. Seeds of the Zanzibar-
ensis type, if sown now thinly in pans, as already recom-
mended for hardy varieties, will make nice plants this fall and
may be held over till spring, when they will become good

lants early in the season. :
P everion Ned. W. Tricker.

335

Garden and Forest.

AUGUST Ig, 1896.]

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336

Notes from the Herbaceous Border.

TATICE LATIFOLIA is a hardy perennial which is very
attractive in our borders just now. Its distinct character,
its widely different appearance from any other plant now in
bloom, and its usefulness for cutting unite to make it most
desirable. We have well-grown plants with large masses of
flowers four feet across. They are set at intervals about ten
yards apart in the border, where they show up conspicuously
beside such plants as Rudbeckia speciosa.’ The minute light
blue flowers are produced in broad spreading panicles two
feet or more in height. These panicles are singularly light
and airy, but they last in good condition for several weeks,
and, of course, are very useful for cutting. When mingled
with other flowers they have the same effect as Gypsophila
paniculata—that is, they are so light that they surround the
whole as with a mist or halo, softening the colors and outlines
of.the stronger and brighter flowers in the. mass. Our plants
are well established anda single plant produces a number of
panicles which form a dense round mass, composed of count-
less ramifications of flowering branches. The leaves are rad-
ical, broad, oblong elliptical, eight to ten inches in length
and thick and leathery. To get good specimens this Statice
must be planted in deep rich loose soil, in a sunny position.
It is a very deep-rooting plant and does not suffer much from
a dry summer. I have dug up plants whose thick roots were
more than three feet down in the soil, and a deep, light laose
soil is thus required. This plant never thrives so ‘well-if dis-
turbed often, and it ought to be put in a position where it can
be left fora number of years. About every fourth year we
dig up all the plants from our herbaceous border and ‘trench
and enrich the soil. _We are always careful to dig down deep
under this Statice and get itup with a good ball of earth. It
is easily raised from seed, but it takes the plants a number of
years before they make a display of bloom like old-established
plants. The native country of this plant is Siberia, and it was
introduced from there mere than a century ago. There area
number of other Statices in bloom now, but none of them are
as good as this one.

The Wolfsbane, Aconitum lycoctonum, is a desirable bor-
der plant that thrives and blossoms here every season... A
thrifty, stout, angular-branched perennial about four feet high,
it has showy cream-yellow flowers, which are produced in
dense, elongated clusters at the ends of the branches. The
leaves on this plant have long stalks, are reniform in outline,
and are deeply incised and toothed. It thrives best here in a
slightly shaded moist position, and if it has a favorable situa-
tion it is not so particular about the kind of soil it is grown in.
The common Monkshood, Aconitum napellus, isalsoin bloom
in the-border, and isa showy plant when well grown. It is
some four feet in height, with dark green smooth or. slightly
downy deeply cut leaves. The flowers are showy and curved
in long erect terminal panicles two feet in length. Another
Monkshood which blossomed here this summerand promises
tomake ashowy border plant is A. ranunculifolium. This
species has a raceme of creamy yellow flowers more than a
yard in length. Last year it was raised from seed which came
from the Botanic Garden at St..Petersburg. The Monkshoods
are all more or less poisonous and ought to be kept in the
herbaceous border or in places away from the kitchen garden.

In the back row of the herbaceous border large plants of
Gypsophila acutifolia are blossoming freely now. This is a
strong-growing plant and attains a height of nearly five feet.
Its stems are clothed with glaucous acute leaves. The flowers
are of fairly good size, and they are produced in enormous
large trichotomous panicles. Lepachys pinnata is a striking
plant when well grown, Here it is four feet tall, the stems
well clothed with pinnate leaves. Its flower-heads are pro-
duced abundantly and the showy part of the flower-head is the
long, drooping, hght yellow ray-florets. It is quite hardy and
does best ina light rich soil and an open position,

One of the early perennial Sunflowers suitable for the back
row of the herbaceous border is Helianthus rigidus. It grows
about four or five feet high and the flower-heads are raised
well above the foliage on long stems. Rudbeckia maxima is
acceptable when not too tall: Its smooth glaucous foliage
introduces a pleasing contrast of color among the other plants
in the border at this time. It is a handsome species with
stout erect stems clothed with large ovate or oblong leaves.
Its flower-heads are large and produced singly, or nearly
always so, on long peduncles. The ray-flowers are a pure
yellow, and, being over two inches in length, make a showy
head. The long columnar disk is conspicuous. .In rich soil
this plant grows eight feet high, but in a poor light soil its
height is generally five or six feet.

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 443.

Rudbeckia speciosa is a compact, showy and desirable bor-
der plant. Near the front of the hardy herbaceous bed it is
now making a great display. It is about two feet in height and
its stems are clothed with roughish hairy, irregular-toothed
leaves. Those on the upper part of the stem are sessile and
lance-shaped, and those on the lower part are petioled oval
lance-shaped. The showy flower-heads are produced at the
ends of the branches and they measure about three inches
across. The ray-flowers are an orange-yellow color, while the
globose disk is nearly an inch in length. This Rudbeckia
grows well here in a sunny position in the border, and the
plants are of good size, measuring eighteen inches across.
Such clumps produce a large number of flower-stems and
make a fine display while they are in bloom. The plant shows
the effect of dry weather sooner than any other plant in the
border.

Echinacea purpurea is a distinct composite plant well worth
a place in the border on account of the singular color of its
flower-heads. It is a rigid stout perennial from three to four
feet high, and its lower leaves are ovate and long-petioled,
while those on the upper part of the stems are ovate-lanceo-
late. The stems are terminated by a large showy flower-head.
The ray-flowers are distinct in color from most of the Com-
positze that adorn our gardens at this time, and are of a rosy
purple color and two inches or more in length. A light sandy
soil seems to suit it best.

The Japanese variety of Veronica longifolia named Subses-
silis is in perfection now, and is one of the finest hardy Speed-
wells in our collection. It grows from two to three feet high
here, and has shortly petioled leaves from two to four inches
long. It has showy, dense, stout spikes of deepest purple-
blue flowers. The plants are attractive and always win ad-
miration when in bloom, It succeeds best here in an open
position in good deep loamy soil. It is easily increased by
division. This is a comparatively new plant, having been
introduced from Japan less than twenty years ago.

Veronica Virginica is in bloom now, and its whitish blos-
soms are quite distinct. The flowers are produced in long
dense-clustered spikes. The plants are about four feet in
height, the leaves produced in whorls along the stems. More
than a year ago seeds of the Japanese variety of this plant were
received from the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. Plants
raised from the seeds blossomed this summer. The habit and
color of the flowers are like those of our native species, but
the Japanese variety blossomed more than a month earlier;
in fact, before V. Virginica had any signs of flowering. The
plants, too, are more compact in habit than those of our spe-
cies, but, perhaps, this difference will be changed with age.
V. Virginica and the Japan variety grow well in the border in

a sunny position.

Botanic Garden, Harvard University. Robert Cameron.

Some Novelties.—II.

| Boelet beech orientale pumilum album is the catalogue
name of anew and really desirable garden annual. It grows

about two feet high, begins to bloom early in June, andis covered’

now and promises to continue to produce its spikes of white
flowers until frost. The plant is of good habit and would look
well as an isolated specimen, or, better, when used next to or
between Zinnias in a border. We hope to ripen seeds so as to
have plenty for another year; only three came out of the
packet purchased, but they came quickly and began to bloom
when very small.

Cosmos as grown so far north is rarely enjoyed to its full
extent outdoors owing to the frosts that usually cut it down,
but last year we saw in Messrs. Suttons’ trial-grounds a new
race of early-flowering Cosmos which seemed to have merit,
and this year it has been very generally distributed. We have

had them in bloom for a month, so that they have got pre--

cocity, also the variety of colors, butitstill remains to get good
full flowers such as we see in the later varieties, but, doubt-
less, this will soon follow as the California cultivators get to
work on them.

Crotalaria retusa, the annual golden-yellow flowering Pea, it
it does not soon get to growing, will, I fear, not produce its
racemes six to ten inches long of golden Sweet Peas. Hitherto
it has absolutely refused to grow in spite of all coaxing, I
wonder if this has been the experience of others.

Pennisetum Ruppellianum is the name of a new species of

ornamental perennial Grass. The older and better-known spe-’

cies, P. longistylum, is one of the best known of border
Grasses, and this one, according to promise, will produce
crimson-purple plumes instead of white; a small packet of

AUGUST 19, 1896.]

seed has given us a nice lot of plants that promise to bloom
later. It should be stated that these Pennisetums are not
hardy, but can be easily wintered over with Tritomas and other
half-hardy plants of similar nature. Beds of ornamental
Grasses are very striking in suitable positions as isolated beds
on the turf. Arundo donax and its variegated form, the three
Eulalias (E. variegata, E. zebrina and E. univittata), the Penni-
setums, and asa margin Ophiopogon Jaburan variegatum, are
all admirable. This last is very beautiful, and perhaps the
prettiest hardy variegated plant we have, and, though not a
Grass, is very similar in appearance until the pretty spikes of
blue flowers appear.

Spireza Anthony Waterer is doing equally as well here as in
its birthplace. Mr. Waterer remarked last year that its color
was said to be not so good as when first exhibited, and the
doubt presented itself that, perhaps, our hot sun might tend to
fade the flowers, but no such effect is apparent. Very small
rooted cuttings procured last spring are now flowering from
every little twig, but next year, when the plants are stronger,
we may expect to see it at its best. It is a dwarf shrub, but
will prove very valuable for use as a marginal plant in deco-

rative shrubbery, or even for summer bedding; it flowers”

perpetually.

Our greatest success this season has been with border Pent-
stemons treated as annuals. It was noted earlier in the year
that this was the method now adopted by English growers,
instead of keeping them over as rooted cuttings. The flower-
spikes are very numerous now and will continue for some
time in succession. It is a great satisfaction to know this,
for many would grow them if it were known that the plants
need not be wintered over. I doubt if the old plants will prove
hardy, although the parents of this race are native North
American plants; yet their identity is not easily traced now
after about seventy years of hybridization. The colors vary
from pure white to deepest crimson and purple, and the spikes
resemble those of Foxgloves, but the flowers are in this strain
much larger; the only thing they seem to insist on is rich
moist soil, and we hope to mature seeds for a larger display

another season.
South Lancaster, Mass. EE: 0; Or pet.

Solanum Wendlandii.—Last year this plant was very fine
in the greenhouse later in the season, but was too rampant
for any but a very large structure, so we have this year tried
it out-of-doors in the border, where it has been in bloom
during the past few weeks, and will a little later make a fine
display ; each small shoot has a terminal flower-cluster of the
prettiest shade of lavender-blue, and as the plant is hard-
stemmed it is easily wintered over and may be set out again
year after year. It is a native of Central America, and the
most beautiful of all flowering Solanums known to cultivators.
We find it easy to propagate from young shoots taken from
the plant grown in the greenhouse; those taken from strong
growth of a planted out specimen last fall did not root
owing to the abundance of sap in them. It is best to take
them from pot-plants and root them in an open bed of sand ;
in the propagating-case all will rot off.

South Lancaster, Mass. MORN OP

Correspondence.
The Compass Plant.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—lIs it true that there is on the prairies a Compass Plant,
which is a safe guide for persons who get lost? I mean, do
the leaves of this plant always point north and south so accu-
rately that it would be a safe guide for one who was lost on the

trackless prairie ?
New Brunswick, N. J. S:

[This letter was referred to the Rev. E. J. Hill, of
Chicago, who is familiar with the flora of this region, and
writes as follows:

“The Compass Plant, Silphium laciniatum, may be
taken as a fair guide for distinguishing a general north and
south, from an east and west direction. There is a ten-
dency in the leaves to polarity, so there is also in the
Prairie Dock, S. terebinthinaceum, which, so far as I know,
has not been spoken of as a Compass Plant. And yet if
one runs his eye over a field where these plants occur he
would probably find seventy-five per cent. of them with
their edges pointing in a north-south direction. But in
both cases it is necessary to take into account the age of

Garden and Forest.

337

the plant, and even the wetness or dryness of the season.
It is the young plants which show the polarity best, or the
leaves which become the radical leaves of the flowering
plant. These twist more or less on the petioles, so as to
present their faces to the east and west. But when the
flower-stalk arises they are liable to drop away in various
directions, some plants in a way so disorderly that no use
could be made of them as a guide, others keeping their
polarity very well. This is the case also, but in a less
degree, with plants not sending up a flower-stalk, but
whose leaves at the season are large and heavy. Those
standing up stiffly show the best polarity, some quite
effectually. The sessile leaves of the flower-stalk so twist
the lower portion as to have the edges near the extremities,
or the upper half, up and down, and with the meridional
tendency. But this is hardly more so in the Compass
Plant than in the stem-leaves of the Prickly Lettuce, Lac-
tuca scariola, which, when standing in the full sunlight,
twist in a similar way and have the meridional tendency.
In a dry season, or with a lessened production of paren-
chyma, there is a diminished polarity. Professor B. D.
Halsted (Botanical Gazelle, July, 1887, page 161) has also
noted this. In the cases he mentions the parenchyma was
so reduced that the polarity was virtually destroyed, and
the leaves would be useless asa guide. The way to use the
plants as a guide, so far as I have observed, would be to
take the mean of many observations. By doing so one
might approximately, or, in cases, quite accurately, hit upon
north and south,

“Professor C. E. Bessey (American Naturalist, August,
1877, page 486) has some accurate observation on this
plant, with instructive tables showing the amount of varia-
tion. Of ninety-three leaves taken but one was accurately
north and south. All the rest deviated from 15’ to 89° 30’,
virtually east and west. Hesays: ‘Taking the bearings
of all the leaves observed we find that about thirty per
cent. did not vary more than five degrees, forty-two per
cent. not more than ten degrees, and ninety per cent. not
more than forty-five degrees from the meridian.’ Dr.
Engelmann (Works, page 533, an extract from Zhe Gar-
deners’ Chronicle, February 26th, 1881), after describing the
arrangement and position of the leaves of the plant,
gives his opinion of their polarity by a reference as fol-
lows: ‘Sir Joseph Hooker’s remark about the appearance
of a plain covered with this Silphium from a railroad train
is quite correct, and any change in the direction of the road
becomes visible at once through the altered appearance of
the leaves of the Compass Plant.’ This indicates a degree
of reliability on its guiding power.”—Eb. ]

Rhododendron maximum in Connecticut.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—It is not generally known that there are at least three
stations in the state of Connecticut where Rhododendron
maximum thrives with luxuriance under conditions which are
apparently most congenial. Such a group exists near the
town of Milton, Litchfield County. A visit to this place when
the plants were in flower gave me an opportunity to observe
a truly wonderful sight. The site is a thickly wooded swamp
well up in the mountains, where forages, apparently, there has
been accumulating a peaty formation until the soil is entirely
of vegetable origin for a depth of at least six to eight feet, and
so soft and yielding that the larger growth of Hemlock, Yellow
Birch and Black Birch, Black Ash, American Elm, Red Maple,
etc., find no sufficient support, as is clearly shown by the
many that have been blown down, and the others that do not
stand perpendicularly. Iwas informed that this basin does not
overflow, neither is there standing water in sight, but the soil
has the appearance of having grown above the water-level by
slow accumulations, and now acts like a sponge, keeping moist
continually by absorption, while the heavy tree-growth over-
head tends to maintain an equable temperature. It is suffi-
ciently moist to maintain a-‘most vigorous growth of Sphagnum
and other moisture-loving Mosses, many of the woods Ferns,
Boxberry, Gold Thread, Partridge-berry, etc.

This group of Rhododendrons occupies an area of about

338

250 feet in diameter, and is almost circular, with a detached
group about I50 feet away, covering an area some twenty-five
feet square. A thorough search of the vicinity, including the
damp, mossy, wooded margins of the swamp, where the
Kalmia produces seedlings freely, revealed not a single seed-
ling plant of this Rhododendron.

The only apparent means of perpetuation and increase
seemed to be by natural layering. In fact, it is quite impossi-
ble to pick out an independent specimen from the group, as
the multitude of overlapping branches, heavy with most luxu-
riant leaves, force one another to the ground, where they take
root, and the vigor of the new root-system establishes in each
case an almost independent plant, while remaining part of the
great system of layers. This network of layers, forming the
great group, has become a thick and impenetrable mass of
stems and heavy foliage, reaching in places to a height of ten
or fifteen feet and hugging the ground at the margins. A
study of the mass would lead one to infer that this species of
Rhododendron, at least, will thrive luxuriantly in a soil made
up entirely of vegetable mold, provided a certain degree of
moisture can be maintained ; also that it finds a most conge-
nial home under the shade of tall trees, where the sunlight
finds its way through the leaves but sparingly.

The preservation of this interesting groupshould be assured
in some way, either by purchase or by the enactment of laws,
to protect the plants from the depredations of visitors, who
come in increasing numbers each year, I am told, breaking
them down and taking away by the wagon-load not only the

flowers, but often masses of roots and branch.
New Haven, Conn. E. F. Coe.

Church Bouquets.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—The floral baseballs that in many places appear for
bouquets are, perhaps, never so distressing as when seen in
churches. To sit for an hour before the imprisoned flowers,
cruelly crowded into a space only large enough for half a
dozen, and with no spray or leaf to veil their misery, is a mis-
fortune of itself, and it is intensified by the frightful combina-
tions of color too often used. Simple combinations, good in
design and coloring, of the material at hand from week to
week throughout the season, would make a series of object-
lessons that surely might fitly accompany the sermons in
many acountry, village or suburban church.

I have taken great pleasure in supplying bouquets for a
church of this village lately, and the attention they have
attracted, as well as the favorable comments heard, seems to
prove that this is an opening for unobtrusive yet effective
floral missionary work. I have not used imported hot-house
flowers, nor anything strange or unusual, although sorely
tempted to do so once or twice by delightful gifts of Orchids
from more sophisticated regions, but merely the every-day
material available in gardens or wildwood.

The examples have included such simple arrangements as a
glass rose bowl filled with Nasturtiums in variety, with buds
and leaves; jars of the branches of wild Crab Apple, culti-
vated Cherry and Apple blossoms, and once (a delightful find)
of English Hawthorn, the branches mingled with delicate
sprays of Bridal Wreath. These were all disposed openly in
jars or vases of harmonious tints—clear glass seeming always
a safe choice.

Necessity often led to combinations, and the first and most
refined of all seemed at first glance most difficult to treat. In
a slender white and light green Japanese vase ten inches high
I placed, perhaps, two dozen May-apple blossoms (Podophyl-
lum) on their full-length stems, removing the green umbrella-
like leaves from all but about five or six, and below them an
encircling, but not overcrowding mass of Maiden-hair Ferns.
Another Sunday a crystal rose bowl held a loose bunch of

nodding Bluebells with their own foliage, some of the flowers.

being as pink as the buds, and others flesh-colored, or nearly
white. An extremely decorative bouquet was made of splen-
did pink Pzonies of immense size, veiled in the “smoke” of
the Purple-fringe tree. This was for a special occasion, and
was very large. A receptacle was constructed to suit it by prop-
ping an ordinary glass fruit-jar in an olive-green, horizontally
ribbed jardiniére seven anda quarter inches high and seven
and a half across at the top, slightly larger below. With clear
rose-pink Pzonies the combination is magical if the flowers are
judiciously distributed among the feathery heads and massed
more closely toward the base of the bunch.

A highly glazed vase nine inches high and seven and a half
inches in diameter in the largest part, fluted vertically into
melon-shaped divisions and shading in color from yellow-

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 443.

green at the base through greenish yellow, and reddish yellow
to deep yellow-red at the neck, was made to serve for a good
many bouquets despite its odd coloring. Nearly anything
looks well in it except pink, rose, crimson or magenta flowers.
Quite a family of bouquets that appeared from time to time in
this vase were based on red, yellow-red, yellow and white
Zinnias mingled with Gladioli of harmonious hues, with their
own leaves, and the different small-flowered white Clematises,
Cinnamon-vine, useful and delightful for bouquets and house
decoration generally, and, still Jater in the season, with trails of
Hop-vines. The gracefully drooping clusters of hops seem to
lend themselves to such work in the most obliging fashion.
This combination was varied by the use of perennial Sun-
flowers, certain red, yellow and white Dahlias, white Speciosum
Lilies, etc., as opportunity offered, and occasionally a spike of
Water Hyacinth was set against a background of scarlet just
above the dark red of the vase, which carried out the color
scheme by showing through its drooping drapery. For a fea-
ture of all of these bouquets was the use of the fine white lowers
of the vines among the stiffer ones to give softness, and long
branches trailing from the vase, as it stood on a small table,
quite to the floor inside the altar-rail. Big bunches of Golden-
rod and Asters looked wonderfully well in it, and nothing that
went to church in the green-yellow-red jar attracted, nor de-
served, more attention than some branches of pure yellow
leaves from a Hard Maple relieved by the first spray of the
scarlet, green, red and yellow foliage of the soft Maples that in
certain favorable seasons transform some of our common-
place village streets into long aisles of shimmering cathedral

colors.

Brighton, Ill. Fanny Copley Seavey.

The Forest.
The Burma Teak Forests.—III.

GIRDLING OF TEAK.

I T willnow be necessary to explain thata Teak-tree before itcan

be cut must first be killed by girdling it. The only practi-
cable method of bringing the Teak timber of Burma to mar-
ket is by floating it. To the water’s edge the logs are dragged
by oxen, by buffaloes and by elephants. The dragging is done
during the rains and the early part of the dry season, when the
ground is moist and slippery, so that heavy timber glides easier.
Down the smaller streams the logs are floated singly during
the rains, and when they reach the main stream they are col-
lected and formed into rafts. Teak timber has about the
weight of Oak or Chestnut; unlike the wood of Pines and other
coniferous trees, it does not float unless it is perfectly dry, and
from time immemorial this has in Burma been effected by
girdling the trees. A broad circular cut is made through bark
and sap-wood right into the dark brown heart-wood, which, when
first cut, has a beautiful golden yellowish brown color. In
Teak, as in all trees with a distinctly marked heart-wood, the
sap ascends through the sap-wood only; hence, if the com-
munication of the sap-wood below and above the girdle is
interrupted, the tree is killed. Within two or three days the
leaves wither and the tree dies. But if the smallest thread of
sap-wood is left the tree continues to live. Timber well girdled
dries completely and seasons evenly, for it is on all sides freely
exposed to sun and wind. Smaller trees dry sufficiently if left
standing after girdling for one or two years ; larger trees must
stand longer. Whena Teak-tree is felled green that side of
the trunk which is in contact with the ground takes a long time
to dry, the timber seasons unevenly, it is less useful and less
durable, and when thrown into the water it does not float
readily.

This excellent practice, as a matter of course, I maintained,
but one of the many battles I had to fight during my Indian
career was against those who condemned this practice as use-
less, as barbarous, as injurious to the timber, and likely to
damage the reputation of Burma Teak, while others described
girdling as the outcome of German theories. In reality it was
an old Burmese practice, to which the good reputation of
Burma Teak was mainly due.

ANNUAL YIELD FIXED.

The next question which presented itself to me after my first
tour through the forests in 1856 was, what proportion of the
first-class trees might be cut annually in the different forest
districts. Although the proportion of first and second class
trees had been found to vary much in different localities, yet,
upon the whole, I considered myself justified in assuming that
there were as many trees of the second class in the forests as
of the first class; further, that the younger trees, those of the

AUGUST_I9, 1896.]

third and fourth classes, were sufficiently numerous so as
eventually to replace those of the second. Lastly, the data col-
lected regarding rate of growth of the Teak-tree seemed to
justify the assumption that within a period of twenty-four years
all trees of the second class would grow upinto first-class trees.
On the ground of these data it was decided to spread the
girdling of the first-class trees standing in the forests over a
period of twenty-four years. The forest districts were grouped
into six main divisions, a plan of operations was made for six
years, and it was settled that one of the six divisions should be
taken in hand each year. The valuation surveys seemed to
justify the assumption that there were not less than 585,000
first-class trees in the forests, one-fourth of which, it was pro-
posed, should be girdled during these first six years. For the
selection of the trees to be girdled definite rules were laid
down, the most important of which was that never more than
one in four of the first-class trees in one locality should be
girdled; that isolated trees should be spared, and that trees
overshadowing groups of young Teak, as well as old trees and
those which showed signs of decline, should be girdled in
preference to others.

These provisions related to the Pegu forests only. In 1858,
however, those of the adjoining provinces of Martaban and
Tenasserim were added to my charge, the system ot linear
valuation surveys was Steadily continued, so that in 1860 the
Teak-trees of the different classes had been counted upon an
aggregate area, in the different districts, of 35,000 acres. The
plan ot girdling was continued for another six years to the end
of 1867 on the same principles as those adopted for Pegu in
1856. During these twelve years, from 1856 to 1867, the num-
ber of trees girdled amounted on an average to 24,300 a year,
This was in the three provinces, the forests of which at that
time were under my charge in Pegu, Martaban and Tenas-
serim, which, together with Arrakan, were subsequently united
in one province under the designation of British Burma.

WORKING PLAN OF 1868.

In November, 1862, I was called to Calcutta to organize
forest administration in the other provinces under the Govern-
ment of India, but, though I no longer had charge ot the Burma
forests, I paid frequent visits to my old province and endeay-
ored, as much as possible, to regulate the working of its
forests. Thus, in 1868, [ spent three months in Burma in order
to prepare, with the aid of the local officers, a new working
plan for the forests. Like that of 1856, this working plan was
based upon the result of linear valuation surveys, and upon
what was known regarding the rate of growth. The valuation
surveys extended over 39,700 acres, or three per cent. of the
area to which the working plan was intended to apply. The
total area was divided into torty-seven districts under five main
divisions, and upon the results of the valuation surveys,
together with the knowledge which the local officers had
acquired regarding each district, an estimate of the number of
first-class trees in each district was based. For the entire area
this estimate amounted to 934,000 trees, six feet in girth and
upward. The estimate of 1856, it will be remembered, was
for Pegu only. As regards rate of growth, convincing proof
had been obtained that the concentric rings visible in Teak
timber actually represented one year’s growth. For younger
trees this proof was obtained by the examination of trees raised
in the Nilambur plantations, the oldest of which were then
twenty-five years old. For older trees a feartul cyclone of
October, 1864, had furnished the data; it had blown down a
large number of old Teak-trees of known age planted near
Calcutta, and sections of the stems were at once examined.
Accordingly, the rate of growth was now based upon the
counting of annual rings on butt ends of logs collected at
the Rangoon timber depot. Iwill not weary the reader with
details, suffice it to say that while the rate of growth assumed in
1856 was toorapid, thatof 1868 was much tooslow. No less than
seventy-two years were supposed to be necessary to bring up
a Teak-tree in the forests from a girth of four teet six inches
to six feet, against twenty-three years in 1856. The second-
class trees having also been found to be less- numerous than
those of the first class, it was decided to spread the removal of
the latter over a period of eighty years. Thus, the maximum
annual yield was fixed at II,600 trees against 24,300, the mean
number actually girdled during the first period ending in 1868.
This yield was fixed for five years only, because it was hoped
that rapid progress would now be made in the selection and
demarcation of the forests permanently to be maintained as
such, and that when the boundaries of these forests had been
laid down special working plans for each forest district would
then be prepared.

Garden and Forest.

' blood.

339

DEMARCATION OF RESERVED FORESTS.

However, in those days it was not all plain sailing in regard to
forest matters in Burma. The theory had beenadvanced that
the right thing to do would be altogether to abandon the care
of the natural forests, to cut the marketable timber which they
contained as speedily as possible, and for future timber sup-
plies to rely entirely upon plantations to be made on the out-
skirts of the forests, or outside the forests in localities less
feverish, where labor could be had at all seasons of the year.
Vigorous progress in demarcating reserved forests was not
made until 1876. Fortunately, after the five years had expired
for which the working plan of 1868 had provided, girdling
operations were carried on cautiously and sparingly. The
result, highly beneficial as regards the development of the
growing stock of Teak, was that during the period from 1868-9
to 1878-9 only 7,900 trees annually were girdled.

This may be termed the second period in regard to the
working of the forests. The third period commenced in 1880,
when I again spent four months in Burma. At that time
a considerable area of reserves had been tormed, and the work
of demarcation and settlement of state forests was progressing
steadily. It was time now to treat the reserves and those
areas intended to be included within reserves differently from
the tracts intended to be given up for the extension of cultiva-
tion. In the reserves girdling would hereafter be regulated
by special working plans, while outside all marketable trees
might at once be girdled. Pending the preparation of special
working plans, girdling operations within the reserves were
conducted very sparingly. Upon these lines the work was
carried on during the fifteen years from 1879-80 to 1893-4.
At first the trees girdled outside prevailed, but gradually, as
special working plans were prepared, the trees girdled in these
areas increased. In 1893-4 the number girdled within the
limits of reserves equaled those girdled outside.

Dietrich Brandis.

Bonn, Germany.

Recent Publications.

American Grape-growing and Wine-making. By George
Husmann. New York: Orange Judd Company. 1896.

This is a new edition of a well-known book, so com-
pletely revised that it is almost a new one. Besides the
original and general directions for viticulture which were
prepared for the central and eastern parts of the United
States, there has been added an interesting set of expe-
riences in the form of short letters from growers of central
Ohio, the Grape district of central New York, the Chau-
tauqua belt, the Hudson River Valley, south-western
Missouri, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas. These
experiences are very brief, but since they have been pre-
pared by such men as George W. Campbell, Hermann
Jaeger, Samuel Miller and T. V. Munson they ought to
have considerable authority as regards the varieties suited
to different regions.

The chapters devoted to wine-making do not pre-
tend to go into any elaborate explanations of the special
processes and refinements of the art, but simply to
set forth in a plain way the rules which are necessary for
the grower who wishes to make a palatable wine for home
use and to enable the small vineyardist to produce an arti-
cle which will be salable. All that the novice needs to
know of cellars and cellar furniture, of the methods of
gathering and pressing and fermenting, is here briefly
told, and there is an enumeration of the varieties which are
best adapted for making various kinds of wine. Grape-
growing in California, where the Vines are all of the Vini-
fera type and where the climate has little resemblance to
that of the east, is quite a different art from grape-growing
here, where the varieties are all selected and improved
native sorts, with only an occasional infusion of foreign
Wine-making in the east and in the west differs

“quite as widely. With grapes as cheap as they have been
- for several seasons at wholesale, it ought to be possible in
, California, in New York, and especially in our south-western
‘ states, to make a wine that is at once cheap, pure and

3 p I

ay
ae

and palatable. If this has been done to any large extent
in America the fact does not seem to be generally known

among wine drinkers,

340

Notes.

According to The Gardeners’ Magazine, candidates for de-
grees in horticulture in the Victoria University, in addition to
their written papers, will be tested by a practical examination
to show their proficiency. It would be interesting to know more
specifically what is the nature of this practical examination.

Mr. Carman speaks in high praise of the Pea, New Life,
which he considers the most productive and valuable of its
season. On the 6th of July the vines were two feet high, vig-
orous and of uniform growth, and the straight bright green
pods, three to four inches long, each contained from five to
eight seeds of the largest size. The peas mature just before
those of Stratagem and Heroine.

A correspondent of The Rural New Yorker writes that
the Crimson Rambler Rose does all that has been claimed for
it, is especially good in foliage and in the abundance of its
large clusters of flowers. He notes two defects, however, one
of which is that it is not as fragrant as a good rose should be,
and the secondis that the flowers which open first begin to
drop their petals before the others expand, and in this way the
beauty of the whole cluster is marred.

At the exhibition of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society
on August 8th, a silver medal was awarded to Mr. Robert
Cameron, of the Harvard Botanic Garden, fora display of the
flowers of showy annuals. The collection filled two hundred
large vases and embraced 140 species and varieties. Mr.
Cameron also received from the same society on the 25th of
July a silver medal for the flowers of perennial herbaceous
plants, which filled 150 vases and consisted of eighty species
and varieties.

In the making of wine in California there is considerable
loss on account of the undue heat, which arrests fermentation
before the proper time, so that the wine must be graded as
inferior or else made into brandy. Professor Hayne, of the
University of California, has devised a machine for reducing
the temperature of wineat fermentation by bringing it into con-
tact with cold water pipes. The apparatus has been tested
successfully at the University, and it is to have a practical trial
at once in one of the largest vineyards in Sacramento
County.

For some years inventors have been trying to transport fruit
in cars filled with carbonic acid gas. Inasmuch as the germs
of fermentation cannot live in this gas it is assumed that no
ice would be needed, and since this is both heavy and expen-
sive it is thought that fruit can be transported for long dis-
tances much more cheaply in the new way. A car-load of
fruit in one of these gas cars was lately sent from San José,
California, to Chicago, but the result was not satisfactory, It
is reported in the local papers that the fruit had not rotted, but
owing to the extreme hot weather it had almost been cooked.
Ice will still be a necessity in very hot weather unless some
means of keeping the car cool is added to the antiseptic advan-
tages of the gas.

We have received from Mr, William Tricker flowers of
Nympheea Sturtevantii, which was figured in this journal, vol.
vil., page 354, and also of N. O’Marana, which we described
in our last volume, page 95. The latter flowers are consider-
ably larger, being nearly a foot across, with heavier stems and
of a pink so deep as to be almost red, but since the petals of
this flower grow darker with age they may have been origi-
nally of no richer color than those of N. Sturtevantii. Alto-
gether the new Lily seems an improvement upon its
parent—it is a cross between N, dentata and N. Sturtevantii—
especially since Mr. Tricker says that it is more floriferous,
that it grows more freely, and, in fact, quite as freely as any
other plant of its class.

A correspondent of the Arizona Gazette writes that the set-
ting apart of the San Carlos Reserve for the Apache Indians
twenty years ago has preserved “the largest continuous belt
of torest in the United States,” namely, that which clothes the
Mongallon and the Sierra Blanca. In southern Arizona the
forests have largely been sacrificed to the interests of the
stockmen and lumbermen, and the rich, fine soil that once
covered hill and valley has already been scoured and gullied
until in many places nothing but the rock skeleton of the
landscape remains. The writer urges that this San Carlos
forest, which has thus far been saved with some that lies adja-
cent, ought to be rescued and set apart as a forest reserva-
tion since the Salt, the Verde and the Little Colorado rivers
all take their rise and receive their supply trom this source.

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 443.

Mangoes from the West Indies are rather more common in
the fancy-fruit stores than usual this year, but whether it is
because only inferior varieties are sent here, or because the
fruits are picked too green, the fact is that none of the sam-
ples which reach this city justify the high esteem with which
this fruit is held in the tropics. Asa rule, in the West Indies
little care is taken to select and improve varieties, and, no
doubt, the seedlings of this tree, Mangifera Indica, vary quite
as much as apples do. Mammee apples of fair size are also
now to be had, and are often four or five inches in diameter.
In its native habitat the fruit is often as big as a child’s head
and of a beautiful yellow color. The flesh has an aromatic
flavor, and as received here it is palatable when served with
wine and sugar. Alligator pears, the fruit of Persea gratissi-
mum, come here in much better condition than the two fruits
named above, and there isan increasing demand for them on
account of their firm, marrow-like pulp, which is more often
served here as a Salad than in any other way.

Mr. Joseph Meehan writes to 7he Country Gentleman that
Clapp’s Favorite is esteemed about Philadelphia as the very
best of early pears. This fruit should not be condemned
because it rots at the core when overripe, as this can be
avoided if one knows how to ripen it properly. The first pick-
ing in that part ot Pennsylvania was made this year before the
end of July, and in late seasons it should be picked before the
middle of August. The fruit is gathered in three installments
about a week apart to have a succession, and if it is put in a
close closet it will be in fit condition to eat in a week or ten
days. Of course, it does not keep well—no early fruit does—
but when ripened in this way itis a beautiful fruit, perfect
throughout, juicy and refreshing. One good quality of this
variety is that it rarely fails to bear a good crop. In a little
orchard well known to Mr. Meehanit has not missed a good
crop tor ten years, and now when there is not a fruit on Tyson,
Sheldon Jones and Belle Lucrative, and but a tew on Bart-
lett and Lawrence, trees of Clapp’s Favorite are bending with
their load of fruit.

There never has been a more trying week for fruiterers and
greengrocers in this city than the last. With a temperature at
ninety-five degrees fruit ripens so rapidly that it must be sold at
once or notatall. Pears which were green in the morning were
dead ripe in the afternoon and hardly fit to use next day. This
trouble was aggravated by an unusually large supply, and since
buyers had little energy for anything beyond the effort to keep
themselves cool with iced drinks, it is littke wonder that all
kinds of fruit were sold at sacrificing figures. Tragedy prunes
are about past and Gros prunes are just beginning to arrive.
Highly colored apples of fine size when carefully collected and
packed are selling fairly, but ordinary kinds hke Orange Pip-
pius can hardly be given away. Early apples are always an
uncertain crop for growers, as they must be disposed of
quickly, being almost as perishable as peaches. Besides this,
tew summer apples are of such high quality as the later ones.
But, after all, the very best of sauce is made with the summer
fruit, and good fresh-apple sauce is quite as appetizing and
wholesome as any berries or other truit of the season.

The great Hale Peach orchard, in Georgia, covers 1,078 acres,
600 of which are in bearing trees, and the remainder in nursery
stock, There are avenues running north and south through
the orchard 500 feet apart, with a cross road every 1,000 feet.
There are two large packing-houses a hundred teet long and
forty feet wide and two stories high, and a lodging-house or
hotel has just been built for the help. Last year some four
hundred helpers camped in barns, wagons, tents, etc. At
picking-time about five hundred men and women, chiefly
colored, and seventy-five horses and mules are employed,
while fifty men and thirty mules are employed the year round.
At the lodging-house rooms and beds are free, and board costs
$2.50 a week, while families and parties can furnish their own
food and have it cooked tor themselvesif they choose. This year
the curculio attacked the Peaches, and Mr. Hale waged prompt
war upon the insects, jarring the trees and catching the insects
in sheets tacked to light semicircular hoop frames. Two of
these were brought together abouta tree which was struck by
a rubber-padded club, and the insects which dropped were
then thrown into buckets and carried by boys to barrels in
wagons and drawn away to be burned with the stung fruit
which dropped with them. Fifty men were busy for nearly
two months, from early April onward, at this work, which cost
$4,000. But while in other orchards trom sixty to ninety per
cent. of the fruit was lost, and in some orchards the entire
crop, the Hale orchard alone had a full crop, and many of the
trees were so overloaded that they required severe thinning
by hand.

_AuGUST 26, 1896.]

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrick: Trisungz Burtpinc, New York.

Conducted by . .. .- + © © « « « Professor C. S. SARGENT.

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 1896.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

EprroriAL ArticLes :—Various Motives for Gardening
The Destruction of the Nation’s Forests.

The Necessity of Planning.

The Wild Gardens of the S

New or Litt.e-KNown PLants :—Lonicera | : ;
FoREIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter.........0 ses eeeee ee eeee Watson. 345
Cutturat DeparTMENT:—Funkias...... . A ae ; Ca MEF ON. 347
Autumn-flowering Bulbous Plant: -T.D. Hatfield. 347
Orchid Notes.. Reps ceaaiieveap'e . £. 0. O. 348
CoRRESPONDENCE :—Two Good Trees for yee sage LH. G. Pratt. 348

- +. Charles Eliot. 342
aes Charies H. Shinn. 343

Tue Forest :—The Burma Teak Forests.—IV.. : Sir Dietrich Brandis. 348
INOTES fines sects scsclecnnccesjecs sede aise Sees ER Ree Gest Rak 50
ILLustRaATIons :—Lonicera hirsuta, Fig. G5ivienas

Lonicera hirsuta Sullivantii, Fig. Bienes <elsreiat's'sia Sint slas’s aie sitisiealecstee

Various Motives for Gardening.

E have just received a letter from a valued corre-
spondent in which he says that he cannot under-
stand the insistence of Garpen anp Forest upon planning
and planting for general effect. He delights in his garden,
but his pleasure is not associated in any degree with the
landscape as he understands it. He loves plants, he appre-
ciates the beauty of flowers, he enjoys their companion-
ship and he reads with interest everything that is said
about new or old ones which any way broadens his knowl-
edge of their habits and helps him to cultivate them more
successfully. He finds abundant comfort in gardening of
this kind, but he sees nothing to attract him in landscape-
gardening. No doubt, this statement represents the inner-
most feeling of many people who take a genuine interest
in horticulture, and it is often expressed to us in one way
or another. With peopleof this taste and temperament the
garden exists for its plants, and the plants are not grown
for the sake of the garden. That is, a garden in this view
is a place where a collection of plants is carefully attended
and enjoyed for their individual beauty and other interest-
ing qualities, and with no purpose of forming, in connec-
tion with the house, any picture which is to be studiedand
enjoyed as a whole. Perhaps the majority of all who are
interested in gardens sympathize with the view of our cor-
respondent, and they find a real pleasure, and pleasure of
a most refining and refreshing kind, in their practice. It
is our belief, however, that they might do all this, and at
the same time gain a new and ever-growing satisfaction if
they gave thought to the general modeling and arrange-
ment of the whole scene as well as to its individual
details.

No doubt, the word “landscape” is something mis-
leading when the term landscape-gardening is applied to
small areas, but, then, we have no phrase to take its
place. In the design of a village plot we may have
nothing to do with the material that was in Lowell's
mind when he said, “A real landscape never presents
itself to us as a disjointed succession of isolated par-
ticulars, its lights, its shadows, its melting gradations
of distance.” In ordinary use, the word “landscape”

Garden and Forest.

341

conveys an idea of some spaciousness—a foreground,
a middle distance and a distance—but, nevertheless, it is
possible even in a limited space to carry out a scheme
which as a whole makes a distinct and consistent ap-
peal to the eye and to the imagination. Such a gar-
den must embody and express some idea which the
observer can feel and appreciate. It may be made a
type of coziness or of simple homelike restfulness or of
inviting hospitality or even of studied elegance, but to
achieve such a result is not easy. Nevertheless, a moder-
ate-sized house-scene may be a genuine work of art
which displays the creative touch of genius. This only
comes to pass when the true artist discovers the hidden
poetry of the place, and knows how to handle and adjust
all his material to give the theme its full and complete
expression.

Landscape-gardening of this type is much more than the
arrangement of plants and trees so as to exhibit harmo-
nies of form and color. It is possible to make beautiful and
effective arrangements without attempting any such expres-
sion as we have alluded to, and yet the arrangement of plants
solely for the sake of their form and color may be truly
artistic. It requires the same kind of skill which groups cut
flowers into effective bouquets or arranges them into effec-
tive table decorations, or which creates a charming mosaic
pavement out of bits of different-colored stone. No doubt,
our correspondent, who loves each plant as an individual,
will understand that he can enjoy his Ascension Lilies and
his Delphiniums just as thoroughly as he now does if they
were planted together, so that each would heighten the
beauty of the other, or he can appreciate in what exquisite
harmony his whiteand yellow Eschscholtzias dwell together,
or how the attractiveness of his white and scarlet Poppies
is emphasized when under a glowing sun they are seen
against a mass of dark foliage. Whatever name is given
to the art which achieves such pleasing combinations it
certainly is worth study, and it brings with it a high order
of pleasure. Without it there can be good formal arrange-
ments in connection with architecture, no success in regu-
lar planting which ought to be an essential feature in many
small and geometrical areas. This kind ofart differs, per-
haps, from what we generally know as landscape-art, in
that it appeals more directly to the esthetic sense and can
hardly be said to move the emotions.

Now, the man who loves his plants for their own sake
may still arrange them so as to make an effective display
of form and color, or he may subordinate them to the cre-
ation of a landscape picture which expresses some idea,
some inner meaning, but no one can justly find fault with
him if he goes on as he is now doing and enjoys his plants
simply for what each one is to him. His garden will be

a constantly increasing solace and refreshment and he will
ie a keen delight init. Itis gardeners of this sort who
make a personal acquaintance with their plants and by an
intimate study of them discover all their secrets, their habits
and even their whims. They find something new every
morning, something to invite study or admiration. They

are the men who become our ablest instructors in all points
of culture. Mr. Olmsted has somewhere called this art-
specimen-gardening, to distinguish it from parterre-garden-
ing and landscape-gardening proper.

A MEMBER Of the New Jersey Forestry Association asks
us for an approximate estimate of the number of acres of
timber-land still owned by the National Government.
Unfortunately, we have no information on this point
which is sufficiently accurate to base a guess upon. Aside
from the forest reservations the Government may possess
so-called forest-lands to the extent of twenty-five million
acres or of twice that amount. This area is passing into
private hands and vanishing at the rate of a million acres
a year, or, perhaps, two million, no one knows. The
stumpage value of the timber stolen every year may bea
million dollars, or more, but no one knows. Noone knows

342

how much timber the flocks and herds destroy, nor how
much is annually burned up. We do know that every year
corporations and individuals are acquiring title to hundreds
of thousands of acres of forest-land which should be kept
in forest forever. We do know that there are no laws to
properly protect our forest. We do know that even the
inadequate laws on the statute-books are not enforced.
We do know and we have known enough for years to
make our neglect of this great property, with all its benefi-
cent possibilities for the future, a national disgrace. Cer-
tainly the Forest Commission which is now in the field
ought to be able to make a report which will stir the coun-
try and drive those who make and administer our laws to
some efficient action.

The Necessity of Planning.

HE daily work of the architect and the landscape-

architect is popularly supposed to consist in orna-
menting lands and buildings so as to make them appear
beautiful. Rooms may be inconveniently and awkwardly
shaped, but they can be “beautified”’ by rich furniture and
upholstery. Whole buildings may be irrationally planned,
but they may still be made ‘‘ artistic” by means of mould-
ings, carvings and mosaic. House grounds and college
grounds, private gardens and public parks may be sense-
lessly, as well as ineffectively, arranged, but they may still
be glorified by yellow and purple leafage. In short, “The
world is still deceived with ornament.”

On the other hand, although all seekers for the truth
concerning beauty have discerned elements which defy
analysis, such special students have nevertheless deduced
from the visible and historical facts a whole series of fixed
principles, which are quite as surely established as any of
the other so-called laws of nature. Among these, perhaps,
the most important is this, that ‘in all the arts which serve
the use, convenience or comfort of man, from gardening
and building down to the designing of the humblest utensil
which it is desired to make beautiful, utility and fitness for
intended purpose must be first considered.” It is to be
remembered that this is not theory but law. Asa matter
of fact and experience satisfying beauty is not won unless
the law of nature is obeyed.

That faithful and well-reasoned planning for the accom-
plishment of purpose is necessary to the success of the
work of architects of buildings is now generally understood.
“A plan” isa skillful combination of convenience with
effectiveness of arrangement. “A design” is made up of
plan, construction and outward appearance, and by no
means consists of the latter only. Indeed, the external
aspect of a structure depends directly on the mode of con-
struction, the construction depends, in turn, on the plan,
and the plan on the purpose in view ; with the result that

‘the whole appearance of the building inevitably and natu-
rally expresses this purpose.

If it be true that expression, character, and even beauty
are thus most surely won, in the case of buildings, by
keeping decoration subsidiary and designing with purpose
in view from the start, it is equally true of all the wide
field of architecture, using the word in its broadest imagi-
nable sense. ‘Architecture, a great subject, truly,” says
William Morris, ‘‘ for it embraces the consideration of the
whole of the external surroundings of the life of man; we
cannot escape from it if we would, for it means the mould-
ing and altering to human needs of the very face of the
earth itself.” A bushy pasture or a smooth green field in
forest-clad New England is as truly a product of human
handiwork as a green meadow in treeless and dusty Utah,
yet each is beautiful, and neither owes a particle of its
beauty to decoration. The English deer-park, with its
broad-spreading trees, or the church-yard, with its ancient
stones and yews, the typical Yankee farm with its low
buildings and great Elms, or the Live Oaks and quaint
structures of the plantations of Louisiana, these and all
similarly interesting landscapes are interesting, not because

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 444.

they have been decorated, but because they are strongly
characterized and highly expressive. Their moving beauty
is the natural product of straightforward work for the
adaptation of land and landscape to human needs and uses.

Believing these things, it will be impossible for us, when
a tract of land is newly dedicated to some special purpose,
be it that of a suburban lot, a railroad-station yard, a new
village, a country-seat or a public park, to stand by and
see it thoughtlessly laid out and then, perhaps, turned over
to the decorators. We shall insist on premeditation and
careful fundamental planning, knowing that therein lies
the best, if not the only, hope of happy results. Once pos-
sessed of faith in that law of nature in accordance with
which beauty springs from fitness, we shall be ready to
agree that, when purpose is served, formal gardens, recti-
linear avenues and courts of honor are not only permitted,
but commanded. On the other hand, we shall be equally
strenuous in demanding studied planning and adaptation
to environment and purpose in the laying out of whatever
work may need to be done to make the wildest place of
private or public resort accessible and enjoyable. Positive
injury to the landscape of such places can be avoided only
by painstaking, while the available resources of scenery
can be economized only by careful devising. So with the
whole range of problems which lie between these ex-
tremes. No work of man is ever successfully accomplished
without taking thought beforehand; in other words, with-
out planning.

And, strange as it may appear, opposition to such plan-
ning for effective results will not, in practice, be found to
come from those who attempt decoration only because
they know not how else to attain to the beautiful. Just as
the literary class in China ruinously opposes change of any
kind, so there is with us a comparatively small, but influ-
ential, body of refined persons, far too well educated to be
“deceived by ornament,” who most unfortunately, though
unintentionally, assist in the triumphs of ugliness by
blindly opposing all attempts to adapt land and landscape
to changed or new requirements. Enjoying the pleasanter
scenery of their surroundings as it exists—certain shady
roads, or some lingering fields or farm-lands—these esti-
mable people talk of “letting Nature alone” or “keeping
Nature natural,” as if such a thing were possible in a world
which was made for man. No, the “moulding and alter-
ing” of the earth goes forward of necessity, and if those
who ought to be leaders will not help to guide the work
aright, the work will surely be done badly ; as it is, in fact,
done badly in the neighborhood of all our great towns.
To refuse to exercise foresight and to adapt to pur-
pose in due season, is simply to court disaster. Instead
of hanging back, it ought to be the pride and pleasure
of these very people to see to it that proper plans are
seasonably laid for the widening of roads so that fine trees
shall not be sacrificed, to see to it that electric-car tracks
shall be placed only in suitably selected and specially
arranged streets, that public reservations of one type or
another shall be provided in accordance with some con-
sistent general scheme, and that such reservations shall be
saved from both decorative and haphazard development
by the early adoption of rational and comprehensive plans.
There is needed a little less selfish contentment in the
the doomed landscape of the present, a sharper sense of
responsibility to the future and a living faith in that law of
God, in obedience to which everything which is well
adapted to use and purpose is sure to be interesting and
expressive, and if not beautiful, at least on the way to be.
Charles Eliot.

If you would make acquaintance with Ferns you must forget
your science and approach them as something strange, and
with no introduction from a learned man. Nothing is easier
than to find out the position of the fruit dots, or the character
of the indusium. Butif you are to beaffected by Ferns, if they
are to amount to anything, signify anything to you, be another
sacred scripture and revelation to you, helping to redeem your
life, this end is not so easily accomplished.— 7horeau.

Brookline, Mass.

SS

AUGUST 26, 1896.]

The Wild Gardens of the Sierra.

UR California Sierra is five hundred miles long and
seventy miles wide. The elevation is from 6,000 to
nearly 15,000 feet. No great mountain range is more easy
of access or better adapted to outdoor life. John Muir
calls it not the Snowy Range, but the Range of Light, so
marvelous are its sunbursts of morning, its clear noonday
radiance from glacier-polished rocks and gleaming snows,
its golden rivers of sunset, its alpine moonlights and star-
lights, its glories of blossoms of every hue, but chiefly
white, blue, scarlet, golden, and all sorts of clear, vivid
colors.

Wonderful are the peaceful mountain lakelets that find
places on no maps—pellucid, transparent, hidden in shel-
tered hollows of glacial valley-basins, at the tips of ancient
moraines, or strung like beads on mountain streams, as in
Lake Hollow in Tolumne Cafion, where ten such lakes lie
close together. These snow-fed pools begin to throw off
the chains of winter in May, June or July, according to the
altitude, and then their margins suddenly run riot with a
most bewildering variety and multitude of plants. Thou-
sands ofattractive lakelets exist in the Sierras ; in the Merced
district alone, Muir notes 131 of not less than five hundred
yards in circuit ; other thousands of hollows, once occupied
by lakes, have now become green and blossoming mea-
dows, while some are in the transition state—cold swamps
where the Droseras grow, and one may look for Darling-
tonia, or find in deeper channels the Nuphar polyse-
palum.

The margins of these countless lakelets are soft with
Mosses, pale green Hypnums, silky and lustrous Dicra-
nums, dark Polytrichums and other Musci; green and pur-
ple Sphagnums, slender, flat-branched Selaginellas, and a
multitude of as delicate plant-carpetings. In such wet
places rise the tall stems and graceful white perianths of
Spiranthes Romanzoffiana, the Sierra Ladies’ Tresses, with
white and greenish Habenarias. Sometimes one finds the
white-racemed Hastingsia, Sagittaria variabilis, or the
Damasonium Californicum of Torrey, with many species
of Juncus in the water edges. In a few cases, the ripe,
salmon-colored capsules of the Bog Asphodel, Narthecium,
gleam over the lesser water plants ; and along the moister
levels, whole acres of tall Veratrums, or False Hellebore,
uplift their broad leaves and heavy spikes of dull cream-
colored and greenish flowers. Mingled with the Rushes
are bright green Quillworts, Iscetes, and the cordate-leaved
Caltha Leptosepala. Every inch of ground is occupied
with overflowing plant-life.

Bright-hued Mountain Grasses, Stipas, Festucas, Trise-
tums, Bromi, Calamagrostes and many more give soft
hues of brown, purple and gold as they bloom and ripen
on the sunny slopes or beside the blue lakelets. Beetles,
ants, dragon-flies, Vanessas, Papilios and many other
species of butterflies in busy armies crawl and flutter
through the warm summer land; mountain quail and
grouse are in the thickets of dwarf Pines, Oaks, Poplars
and Willows. Robins, swallows, grosbeaks and goldfinches
are nesting or singing in tree-tops by rushing rivers and
waterfalls ; while the water ousel, swift bird-wonder,
flashes through the spray, and the saucy Douglas squirrel,
Sciurus Douglasi, makes a lively part of every scene.

But I have hardly begun to describe the variety of plant-
life upon the shores of the lakelets in the alpine meadows
’ and on the descending rock slopes. Around such lakes
are vivid golden Ranunculi in many shades, Ranunculus
Andersonii, R. oxynotus, R. alismeefolius and others; pur-
ple-beaked Dodecatheons, dwarf Mimuli, yellow or pink,
with crimson-spotted or copper-red hoods; bee-haunted
Limnanthes, white and pale yellow ; rose-tinted Claytonias ;
tall, fragrant Trifoliums, red, white or purple-flowered,
massed by dripping springs against still statelier Aralias,
Ferulas and Heracleums, or grouped with white and yel-
low Hosackias by the edges of splintered granite rocks,
while underfoot are nodding Pearlworts, modest little Stel-

Garden and Forest.

343

larias and Cerastiums and the water-loving Lobelia carno-
sula. Creeping Violas, white, yellow and blue, are blos-
soming by thousands in the warm half-shade ; under the
trees one may at rare times find the delicate Anemone mul-
tifida ; the Aconitum Fischeri lifts its pale blue flowers and
pubescent stems through acres of orange-yellow and red-
spotted Lilies, L. pardalinum, and near it is the pale lilac
of Clarkiarhomboidea. By some of these alpine lakes the
dwarf Willows are mingled with purple-flowering Kalmias,
fringes of Cassiope and fragrant Vacciniums, Symphoricarpi
and Loniceras, which by September add their glowing
white and orange-red berries to the reds and rose-purples
of the dwarf Mountain Ribes.

If a mountain torrent falls into the lake hollow you shall
find many Saxifrages, white, creamy brown or purple,
hanging to the damp rocks. Primula suffrutescens will be
there also, and where the spray dashes are white-blossom-
ing Rubus leucodermis. On almost every sheltered, soil-
covered shelf of rock millions of creamy yellow and
purple-shaded Erythroniums begin to blossom as the snow
melts and linger until the lake-shores fairly waken. Hidden
at the bases of the crags are multitudes of Asters and
Aquilegias (A. truncata), and if one climbs far enough he
can find the large-flowered blue and white A. coerulea.

The blossoms of the hill-sides, ravines and rocks are so
many and so varied that every cafion and lake-basin has
its distinctive features, anda complete list would be merely
a catalogue. Rose or flesh-colored Dicentras hide among
the grasses ; Silenes, pink, white, scarlet or purple, cluster
about rock points ; Castilleias, yellow-red and fire-tipped,
deepening to almost crimson ; vivid scarlet Zauschnerias
and crowded glowing masses of blue Lupines illuminate the
landscape ; white and rose-colored Phloxes ; Pentstemons
of pink, violet and blue; close-knit corymbs of rose-hued
Spireeas; the almost prostrate, dense-clustered scorpioid
spikes of Spragueas ; silky, glistening cups of Lewisia re-
diviva—these, with an enormous number of wonderfully
glowing Composite, clothe the dry, granite dust and fur-
rows of the dark rocks. Helianthi, Wyethias, Erigerons,
Golden-rods, Heleniums, and many others great andsmall,
by lake-shores and streams and to the limits of alpine
vegetation, mark the sway of the Compositze in the Sierras.
Often the color-scheme is strongly blue and gold for miles,
for the tall Forget-me-nots, the lovely Gentians, such as
Gentiana Amarella, G. simplex and G. calycosa, the fine
alpine Linums, Lupines, Larkspurs and other vividly blue
flowers quite hold their own with the rich Composite.

Especially brilliant, also, are some of the alpine Ericacee,
such as Bryanthus Breweri, that dwarf evergreen with
thick, obtuse, Heath-like leaves and saucer-shaped rose-
purple blossoms gleaming upon high and rocky peaks of
the Sierras. Another lovely Heath is the white or rose-
colored Cassiope, a suffrutescent evergreen, with finely
imbricated foliage. These grow far above the Oaks and
the dwarf, trailing Manzanitas, where Hemlock Spruces,
Tsuga Pattoniana, and mountain Pines, Pinus albicaulis
and P. monticola, are the outposts of the great Sierra forests.
Still one finds golden Composite, brighter and more lumi-
nous than ever, in great congregations close to the edges
of the glaciers. Again, as far down by the lake hollows,
the Mosses and other forms of lesser plant-life take the
place of the glowing hosts of the mid-Sierra. The Wood-
sias and larger Ferns disappear, but Pellaeas, Allosori,
Cheilanthes and Cystopteris have grown in the shadows of
granite crags and in crevices of the giant mountains all the
way from the land of Lilies, of wild Sierra Roses and of
thickets of white-flowered Prunus emarginata. On the gray
pinnacles, among sky-blue Flaxes, silvery Astragali, with
cream-white and purple flowers and mottled pods, rattle
sharply in the winds. Alpine Sages creep up from the
Nevada desert plateau and make the eastern horizon gray.
The blue and white Polemoniums, the hoary Lithospermum
pilosum and other flowers of the highest peaks are found

here in gardens of their own. : <7
Niles, Cale. Charles H. Shinn.

344

New or Little-known Plants.
Lonicera hirsuta.

HIS native twining high-climbing Honeysuckle (see
illustration on this page), although now rarely seen
in cultivation, is well suited to enliven the garden with its
ample dark green foliage and terminal and axillary clusters
of bright orange-colored hirsute fragrant flowers, which

open in June, and in fading turn to dull purple or brown.
Lonicera hirsuta inhabits rocky banks or climbs over

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 444.

With Lonicera hirsuta is grown in the Arnold Arboretum
a climbing Honeysuckle (see illustration on page 345),
which is intermediate between Lonicera hirsuta and Loni-
cera Sullivantii in the color and pubescence of the leaves
and flowers, and may bea natural hybrid between these
species. Nothing of its origin is known beyond the fact
that it was raised from a cutting taken from a plant which
long grew in the Harvard Botanic Garden at Cambridge.
The specimen in the Arboretum is a vigorous plant with
glabrous stems, light green leaves destitute of the bloom

Fig. 45.—Lonicera hirsuta.

bushes and fences, and is distributed from the province of
Ontario along the northern shores of Lake Superior to the
Saskatchewan, and southward to Pennsylvania and Michi-
gan. In gardens it may be used to cover trellises and
arbors, to grow over coarse shrubs and to climb into small
trees; and as a garden plant it is superior to the much
more commonly planted Lonicera Sullivantii (see GarpEN
AND Forest, vol. iii., p. 187, f. 34), which is a less vigorous
plant and more frequently disfigured by insects and
disease.

which distinguishes those of Lonicera Sullivantii, and pale
and covered below with short pubescence, and orange-
colored flowers slightly pubescent on the corolla-tubes.
Although more vigorous in habit and general appearance,
this plant resembles Lonicera Sullivantii, but the pubes-
cence on the lower surface of the leaves and the color and
pubescence of the flowers suggest a hybrid origin. The
plant cultivated in the Botanic Garden of Copenhagen as
Lonicera media (Coll. G. Nicholson, No. 4132) appears to
be the same thing.

AUGUST 26, 1896.]

Foreign Correspondence
London Letter.

Swantey CoLuecz is a teaching school of horticulture for
young men and women, most of whom are residential, the
course of training being two or three years of practical
horticulture combined with class-room work. Sir William

S

Garden and Forest.

345

in the practical branch, for education nowadays was some-
what too bookish. Speaking of foreign competition he
remarked that it was interesting to notice how foreigners
were taught to use their hands. In the matter of railway
work he had seen abroad men who were able to pack into
three trucks the material which in Great Britain went into
four; this, of course, resulted in a great saving of money.

Fig. 46.—Lonicera hirsuta > Sullivantii—See page 344.

x. Flowering branch, natural size. 2. Flower of L. hirsuta, natural size.

Hart Dyke, Bart., M. P., who presided recently at the prize
distribution among the students, said the college was abso-
lutely unequaled in the educational system of the country,
for it was the only school where the students, male and
female, paid attention to both the practical and the theo-
retical side of horticulture. It was specially satisfactory
to him to know that the governors took a deep interest

3. Flower of hybrid, natural size.

4. Flower of L, Sullivantii, natural size.

There were few pleasanter occupations than gardening;
certainly it was a better way of obtaining a livelihood than
by working ina mine or a factory, or sweating in some
den. During the proceedings it was remarked that for
every woman who had left the college a lucrative and sat-
isfactory appointment had been found. It is well that
attention should be called to the wisdom of practical teach-

346

ing, the tendency lately having been to set up a bookish
knowledge of horticulture as preferable to that obtained by
actual practice, on the assumption that the man who could
talk or write about work was more likely to be a compe-
tent performer than the man who can work but cannot
deliver orations or write essays about it.

Royat Garvens, Krw.—The following paragraph has
been published in Zhe Zimes and other papers. It may be
said to indicate unusual interest on the part of the general
public in. the work and development of Kew: “Some
important alterations are now being carried out at Kew.
The temperate house, projected by the late Prince Consort,
was originally designed to comprise a central structure,
two octagons and two wings. The wings were not added ;
but the Government has now granted the necessary funds,
and already such progress has been made that the south
wing is nearly completed, and the north wing will be con-
structed at the earliest possible date. When finished, the
temperate house will be one of the most striking and prob-
ably the largest of the kind in existence. Its central ave-
nue will be six hundred feet long, and there will be a clear
view from end toend. This, it may be added, will be just
double the length of the present largest house—the Palm
house—in the gardens. The south wing will be used espe-
cially for the accommodation of succulent plants, Agaves,
the taller Cacti, and the like, from such subtropical countries
as the Cape, the highlands of Mexico, and the Canary
Islands. Limited in the area of their growths, the plants
have hitherto been necessarily confined in tubs, but in their
new quarters they will be out in beds, where they may be
expected to flower and add a new attraction to the Royal
Gardens.”

CopERATION AMONG GARDENERS AND Farmers.—The British
Produce Supply Association has been formed to encourage
the cultivation of fruit, vegetables, etc., in the United King-
dom and assist in its distribution among consumers. Lord
Winchilsea is the principal mover in the scheme, which
already has made considerable progress toward organiza-
tion. The scheme now includes not merely the existence
of a central body in London for the collection and distri-
bution of British produce, but the formation of a network
of local associations throughout the United Kingdom,
working in complete harmony with the central body in
accordance with the general principles laid down, yet each
having its own administration, and arranging, in turn, for
the thorough organization of its own district. The first of
these local bodies is now being formed in south Lincoln-
shire, with Sleaford as the centre, the idea being that, in the
initial stage, operations shall be commenced in that county
under the personal supervision of Lord Winchilsea, and a
more or less perfect model secured, which can be copied in
other counties afterward. Some little anxiety had been
felt as to the actual extent to which the farmers and market
growers themselves would support the movement, for while
the £50,000 required to begin with by the central body in
London has been readily subscribed by six hundred and
fifty leading landowners in the country, it was felt that the
success of the movement as a whole would largely depend
upon the help given by the producers in the formation and
carrying on of the local associations. The result shows
that the scheme has been received with great favor in south
Lincolnshire, where, indeed, there is hardly a cultivator of
any standing at all who has not taken shares in the Slea-
ford association, and thus secured a personal interest in its
future welfare.

Tue Royat Horticutturat Society is this year endeavor-
ing to extend its influence to the provinces of England
by means of deputations of representative horticulturists
which attend plant exhibitions, where, by giving lectures,
awarding prizes and in other ways showing an interest in
the exhibits, they add to the importance of the occasion and
give valuable assistance. Exhibitions at York and at Chester
have already received this attention from what is now
known as the “parent” society of horticulture. At Chester
last week the President, Sir Trevor Lawrence, Dean Hole

Garden and F orest.

[NuMBER 444.

and Mr. F, W. Burbidge were the principal representatives
of the society, taking part in the conference by reading
papers. That by Sir Trevor was on the History of the
Royal Horticultural Society; Dean Hole discoursed hu-
morously on Garden Craft, and Mr. Burbidge dealt with
the Literature of Horticulture. The Dean was particularly
happy in his gibes at the people who pretend to love hor-
ticulture, but neither know nor care anything aboutit. He
also struck the right note when he warned gardeners
against too great an anxiety to improve nature, such efforts
too often ending in disfigurement or worse. Statues, mud-
banks, stagnant pools and brickbats were also ridiculed as
abominations in the garden.

Iron versus Woop ror GREENHOUSES.—Some horticultur-
ists, whom I think I may term old-fashioned, are preju-
diced against the use of iron instead of wood in the
construction of plant-houses because of the supposed
coldness of the iron and its excessive contractility in cold
weather. From actual experience, I should say there is
practically nothing in this objection, and looking at the
enormous difference between the amount of light possible
in an iron structure compared with one of wood I should
say that, bar expense, the argument is all in favor of iron.
I have lately seen several large new conservatories which
support this contention, those built of iron, or, better still,
of cast-steel, being lighter, more elegant and horticulturally
far superior to the wooden ones, although these latter are,
according to the architect, as light as they can be with
safety. An architect does not understand that every inch
of opaque roof-surface is a loss to the plants, and that the
most perfect roof for a plant-house, were it possible, would
be one of entire transparency. Where wood is used on
account of cheapness it should be reduced to the lowest
possible minimum, the panes of glass being as wide and
strong as possible. It should not be forgotten that stout
glass is in itself a great stiffener in structure. The expe-
rience of horticulturists in your country ought to be of
value, the extremes of temperature with you being a greater
test than what we experience here.

BuLs-FARMING IN Scitty.—The small group of islands off
the extreme point of Cornwall have lately become impor-
tant horticulturally as sources of the best samples of Nar-
cissi bulbs. Originally started with the object of growing
forced Daffodils for the English market, the farmers soon
found themselves overstocked with bulbs, but on market-
ing the bulbs the prices realized were so satisfactory that
the bulbs are now looked upon as of greater importance
than the flowers. The growers grade the bulbs annually,
sending the largest and best to the bulb dealers, planting
the second size for flowers and to grow on, while the small
ones are put into the nursery-beds. English dealers prefer
Daffodils from Scilly before those from Holland. Other
bulbous plants besides Narcissi are being tried on the same
lines. The development of this lucrative industry is due
to the enterprise of T. A. Dorien-Smith, Esq., of Tresco
Abbey, who devotes a considerable portion of land to
experimental bulb-culture and invites his neighbors to copy
his most successful efforts.

SoLanum cERNuUM.—The August number of Zhe Botanical
Magazine contains a figure of this species, which, for some
years, has been a conspicuous plant in the temperate house
at Kew, under the synonymous name of Solanum jubatum.
It has an erect, unbranched woody stem ten feet high,
bearing a head of large spreading oblong leaves two feet
by one and a half feet, dark green, leathery, silvery on the
under side, and, when young, clothed on both sides with
long brown scurf-like hairs, the petiole and stem being
permanently clothed with similar hairs. The flowers,
which are borne in short cernuous cymes about the bases
of the leaf-stalks, are white, with yellow anthers, and on
strong plants they are produced in sufficient abundance to
make a good show. The principal value of the species,
however, is as a striking foliage-plant for a cool green-
house, its large, bold foliage and tree-like habit adapting it
for large conservatories. It may be propagated from cut-

§

AUGUST 26, 1896.]

tings. So far as I know, Kewis the only garden where this
Solanum is cultivated. It is a native of Rio and Minas

Geraes.
London. W. Watson.

Cultural Department.

Funkias.

THE genus Funkia is both handsome and useful, and will
accommodate itself to almost any soil or situation. From
early spring, when the young leaves are first developed above
the ground, the plants are ornamental, and in midsummer
they give a profusion of beautiful flowers. During the re-
maining part of the summer, after the blooming season is
past, no plants in the garden have more ornamental foliage.
They even vie with the best of tropical plants in this respect.

A few years ago I tried to induce good showy herbaceous
plants to grow under the shade of some large old Hemlock-
trees, but failed to establish any of the sorts tried. In another
part of the garden I noticed some stray plants of Funkias
growing luxuriantly under the shade of Maples, and soon after
I planted the ground under the Hemlocks with several species
of Funkias. They have been there for several years now, and
have grown luxuriantly and flowered profusely every summer,
The small-leaved kinds are desirable for edging large beds,
while the large-leaved sorts should be grown where they are
not crowded by other plants. In such a position a single plant
will soon develop into a large handsome specimen four or five
feet in diameter. All the species mentioned in these notes are
perfectly hardy and need no protection whatever in winter.
They are all herbaceous, and the best way to increase the
plants is to divide them just before they begin to grow in the
spring. I have transplanted plants in early summer when the
leaves were full-grown, with success. If they are disturbed
during the summer they ought to be taken up with a good
ball of earth and plentifully watered.

The Funkias, or Plaintain Lilies, are liliaceous plants, and
come into bloom just as the last of their near relatives, Heme-
rocallis, are passing out of flower. The specific names of the
plants belonging to this genus are very much confused, per-
haps owing to some of the species having so many different
forms. After carefully comparing our plants with the speci-
mens in the Gray Herbarium, the species in the genus can be
reduced to about five, with a number of varieties.

Funkia lanceolata is the species with the narrowest leaves ;
they are green, five inches long, three inches across and
lanceolate, tapering at both ends. The petioles are from ten
to fourteen inches long and their edges are short and not

incurved. The scapes of flowers are undeveloped, and are as

yet hidden among the leaves on our plants; when they are
fully grown they rise above the foliage in short racemes of ten
or twelve flowers, each flower being in the axil of a bract;
they will be in perfection next month. The perianth is of a
lilac tinge and about one inch and a half long and trumpet-
shaped. There are several good varieties of this species. The
variety albo-marginata, as grown here, is a larger plant in all
its parts than the species. Itsleaves are seven inches long and
three broad, and they are edged with a white line which is
constant. Its petioles are more broad than those of the spe-
cies and are broadly channeled. It blossoms earlier than the
species, and the first flowers are beginning to open on our
plants. Undulata is another variety grown here which has
crisped variegated leaves, with large blotches of white. This
variety is the first one to blossom here, and it has finished
flowering. This plant and its varieties are natives of Japan,
and the species was introduced from there in 1829.

Funkia ovata is a desirable plant, with handsome, dark
green, shining ovate leaves, which make it pleasing even with-
out its blossoms. The size of the leaves varies greatly on
different plants. Some of our plants have leaves three inches
broad and five inches in length, while others, although they
are all grown near one another, have leaves over five inches
in breadth and nine inches inlength. The petiole of the leaf
in this species varies in length from six to twelve inches, and
is deeply channeled and the edges are not incurved. This
species has been blossoming for the past three weeks. The
scape is about a foot and a half in length, and the flowers are
produced in racemes of fifteen to eighteen blossoms, which
are held well above the foliage. The individual flowers are
of good size, blue on the outside, the inside streaked with
white. This species is a.native of Japan, northern China and
eastern Siberia, and was introduced trom there a little over a
century ago. Itis figured in The Botanical Magazine under
the name Hemerocallis ccerulea.

Garden and Forest.

347

Another good species in bloom now is Funkia Sieboldiana.
Its foliage is more handsome than that of the other species
described; it is as easily grown as any and produces flowers
freely. The elegant glaucous leaves are broadly cordate-ovate ;
they measure about seven inches in breadth and ten to
twelve inches in length, and have petioles about a foot in
length. The flowers are of a pleasing pale lilac color, and the
racemes begin to open just above the foliage. This Funkia
is also a native of Japan and was introduced from there in
1836. A variety of this plant grown here has yellow margined
leaves and makes a desirable foliage plant. ;

Funkia subcordata blossoms a little later here than F. Sie-
boldiana. It has not quite as handsome foliage as some of
the other Funkias, but what it lacks in foliage it makes up
in beautiful flowers. It is a distinct plant; the leaves are pale
green, ovate, with a cordate base; they are about five inches
in breadth and eight inches in length. The petioles differ from
those on any of the other species, their edges ebeing incurved
until they meet. The large white flowers are produced plen-
tifully in good-sized racemes on well-established plants. This
plant is quite a favorite in gardens in Cambridge, and is gener-
ally known as F. grandiflora.

Harvard University Botanic Garden. Robert Cameron.

Autumn-flowering Bulbous Plants.

tae SQUAMIGERA is now finely in bloom here and also

at the place of H. H. Hunnewell, Esq. There is now nodoubt
about the hardiness of this beautiful Chinese Amaryllad. In
its manner of growth it resembles the well-known Belladonna
Lily, Amaryllis Belladonna. Each has a separate season for
growth and blooming. The Lycoris makes its growth early in
spring, throwing up its leaves before frosty weather leaves us.
Its foliage never has been injured. The leaves disappear
about the end of June, and the flowers appear during August.
The flower-scapes are self-supporting, about two and a half
feet in height, each carrying umbels of from seven to eight
flowers. It is hard to describe the color exactly; in fact, there
are several—four of them, at least—blending and fading as
the flowers open and mature. Yellow and lavender show in
the opening flowers; blue and salmon tints in the mature
ones. The perianthic lobes turn upward more than in the
true Amaryllis, and there are other minor distinctive charac-
ters, but for practical purposes they are alike, and for garden-
ing purposes they can hardly be separated.

Amaryllis Belladonna will be in bloom in a month or so.
This species is tender. It commences its leaf-growth as soon
as the flowers fade, in the same way as the Nerines. The
leaves remain green until June, so that a longer period of rest
intervenes between the maturing of the bulbs and blooming.
Its handsome rosy pink flowers are larger than those of the
Lycoris, but less erect in the umbels. In southern Europe the
Belladonna Lily is hardy. With us it requires cool-greenhouse
cultivation. The bulbs are best separated when at rest, the
smaller bulbs being kept from the blooming ones. Good deep
pans are preferable to pots. Rich loam, with a little charcoal,
will be a good compost in which to grow the bulbs. Like all
the Amaryllis family, they need repotting seldom. They will
bloom on for years with only a top-dressing of fresh soil given
just before the growing season.

Vallota purpurea, the Scarborough Lily, is also in bloom.
This is another lovely autumn-blooming member of the Ama-
ryllis family.. It is a native of south Africa, and not unlike
some of its allies, the Hippeastrums of the southern hemi-
sphere of the New World. It is partly evergreen, and will not
bear resting to the extent the deciduous bulbs will, though less
water is required for a month or two prior to the blooming
season. The flowers are crimson, borne in erect-flowered
umbels about a foot high. Nerine Fothergillii and N. Sarni-
ensis, the latter known as the Guernsey Lily, are charming
south African members of the same family. The flowers are
brilliant scarlet in the firstnamed ; salmon-colored in the lat-
ter. The leaves appear before the flowers fade. They con-
tinue all winter, resting during the summer-time.

All these popular autumn-flowering bulbous plants are
easily grown. Ordinary loam suits them well, and they sel-
dom require potting. During the growing season abundance
of water is required, and less when resting. They will go to
rest and resume growth without special treatment. Though
all, with the exception of the Lycoris, are tender, inasmuch
as they will not bear more than a few degrees of frost, they
are distinctly cool-house bulbs, and do best in a moderate
temperature.

Montbretias are among our brightest autumn-blooming bulb-

348

ous plants suitable for border culture, and with the Gladiolus,
Tritomas and Galtonias help to make the garden gay when
summer-blooming plants are becoming ragged or are going
to rest. The Montbretias may be conveniently described as
miniature Gladioli, resembling them in the foliage, and also
in the one-sided way of blossoming. The flowers, which are
stellate rather than campanulate (as in the Gladiolus), are pro-
duced abundantly, and the bulbs increase rapidly, so that in
gathering a bouquet we can afford to cut some to the ground,
taking leaves as well. Used in this way they are serviceable
for indoor decoration. M.crocosmizflora is the best known.
It is a bigeneric hybrid between M. Pottsii and Crocosmia
aurea. There are besides several seedling forms which have
received names. M. Rayon d'Or is yellow, flushed with red;
M. Gebe d’Or, pure yellow, distinct and handsome.

Wellesley, Mass. ge oF Hatfield.

° Orchid Notes.

Rodriguezia pubescens.—This is one of the most beautiful of
Orchids, considering the wealth of bloom produced from com-
paratively smali plants ; the sprays are long, arching gracefully,
and the flowers are of the purest white, with a trace of yellow
on the lip. This plant is not new, it having been well known
at the time of its introduction, just fifty years ago, but like
many other Orchids, as, for example, Cattleya labiata, it be-
came scarce after a time, and not until the rediscovery of the
Cattleya did this Rodriguezia appear again. Both Orchids
come from the same part of Brazil, Pernambuco. Our plant,
in a small pan, had twelve flower-spikes, and it was exceed-
ingly pretty when in bloom, but owing, probably, to the intense
heat at the time and the amount of moisture present in the
atmosphere, the flowers only lasted a few days. They seem
to be self-fertilizing, asa number of the caps containing the
pollen were found on the bench under the plant, some at quite
a distance, as though they were forced off by some mechanical
means, such as those developed in Catasetum and other
genera, and a day or two later many of the seed-vessels began
to swell. The flowers were evidently impregnated without
artificial aid, not common among Orchids, though there are
well-known exceptions to the rule. It would be interesting to
learn if other cultivators have had the same experience with
this Rodriguezia, as I can find no record of this in any work to
which I have access. We find it best grown in a pan or other
open receptacle suspended in the warmest house; the roots
are slender and seem to avoid the compost of living moss as
much as possible, preferring to grow out and breathe in the
moisture in the atmosphere. It was tried among the Cattleyas
for a time, for we thought this ought to be the place for it, as
it is found growing with them, but some of the young growths
soon began to decay. It evidently was not warm enough
there, so it was taken back to the warmer house, where it has
prospered. When reintroduced into cultivation, like many
more plants, it was thought to be new, and was named afresh
R. Lindeni, but it was speedily located in published descrip-
tions of the earlier part of the century, and will henceforth, no
doubt, be often seen in gardens.

Cypripedium Thayerianum.—Horticulture is said to be pro-
gressive, and we venture to think that botany or botanical
nomenclature is also, and if the attempts constantly made to
classify and rearrange the work of the hybridist are to be
taken seriously, ordinary cultivators will never be able to keep
pace with the progress. Cypripedium Boxalli has for nineteen
years been generally regarded as a well-marked variety of C.
villosum. The flower is different structurally, and there ap-
pears to be no evidence of forms merging into the type
species, but a late writer on the subject, Hansen, in Zhe
Orchid Hybrids, has suddenly decided that C. Boxalli must
henceforth be considered the same as C, villosum, and a host
of hybrids having the former for one parent must then be
considered as synonyms, and cultivators will have to begin to
learn over again the names of the plants they possess. C.
Thayerianum is one of these; it is the result of a cross be-
tween C. Lawrenceanum and what is known as C. Boxalli
atratum, a dark form, having the large flowers and rich wine
coloring of C. Lawrenceanum, with the high polish of C.
Boxalli atratum over the whole surface of the flower. Among
hybrid Cypripediums it is considered one of the best, and it
improves each year in size and coloring, is of healthy vigorous
growth and was raised by the Messrs. Sander, of St. Albans,
England. It remains to be seen whether Mr. Hansen’s many
innovations will be generally accepted by botanists, but from
the cultivators’ standpoint it will make confusion worse con-
founded. The above is only one of the many reforms sug-

iy E. 0. 0.

South Lancaster, Mass.

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 444.

Correspondence.

Two Good Trees for California Planting.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :

Sir,—For the Pacific coast, I believe, there are no more val-
uable timber trees for cultivation than the’ common Locust,
Robinia Pseudacacia, and Blackwood, Acacia Melanoxylon.
Either, when planted in groves, will send up tall, shapely
trunks that, under ordinary conditions, will grow to a diameter
of eighteen inches in as many years.

The wood of the Locust has long been in demand for mak-
ing trenails for ships and for wagon hubs, but it is little infe-
rior to Hickory for any carriage work, and when freedom from
decay is a prime requisite it is far superior. It is also excellent
for tool-handles, and can be made into furniture of great
strength and beauty. It takes a fine finish, as the grain is
close and the color a pale yellow. For fence-posts it can
hardly be excelled, its lasting qualities being equal to Cedar,
but it is too valuable at present forsuch use. The rough por-
tions and limbs make excellent fuel—equal to Beech and
Sugar Maple. In short, there are few uses to which hardwood
is put to which the Locust is not adapted. It may be well to
say that here it is not afflicted by the borer that has worked
such destruction in the western states.

The Blackwood has a more restricted field of usefulness
than the Locust, but for certain things is the equal of any tree.
There is no better tree for street purposes, and the wood is
little inferior to Black Walnut for most uses to which the latter
isadapted. It does not work so kindly, however, the grain
being somewhat interlocked or ‘‘eaty,” as it is technically
termed; but for turned work in furniture, such as spindles and
the like, and for balusters or grill work in house-finishing,
nothing is better. And then for fuel itis the equal of any
wood Hickory, Being an evergreen and a profuse bloomer
in early spring this tree is desirable in many places where
deciduous trees are not. Atall timesit isa pretty tree, with
full, well-rounded top and dark shining lanceolate foliage that
does not hold the dust so as to destroy its clean and refresh-
ing appearance. It propagates readily from seed and trans-
plants without difficulty.

Why these two valuable trees have not been more exten-
sively grown has always been a mystery to me, especially
when the country is dotted over with groves of the compara-
tively worthless Blue Gum, Eucalyptus globulus. Some day
it will be different.

H.-G. Pratt.

Fruitvale, Calif.

The Forest.
The Burma Teak Forests.—IV.

TIMBER OPERATIONS COMMENCED,

pe previously stated, Teak timber, in order to become fit
for floating, must be killed by girdling, and the trees thus
killed must be allowed to stand for two or three years after_
having been girdled. Under the working plan prepared in
1856, girdling operations commenced in 1857, and the trees
that were girdled that year could not be floated and brought
to market until 1860. Fortunately, however, I had found, in
the forest districts explored by me, large quantities of dry
timber, partly felled, partly standing, trees previously girdled
or that had died from natural causes. Due notice had been
given early to all those who had previously, under the king of
Burma, worked the forests to remove their timber. When
the time fixed by that notice had expired, the timber in the
forests became the property of the Government. Considerable
quantities of dry timber was thus available; by employing
the people inhabiting the forests or living in the vicinity, I got
this timber dragged to the water’s edge and floated to the Ran-
goon timber depot, and by dealing with the Karens and Bur-
mans direct, and not through middlemen, I was able at the
outset to give them profitable employment, to make them my
friends and allies and to enlist their interest in the protection
ot the forests. Most of the old timber in question was small
and could be dragged by the cattle they had, by oxen and buf-
faloes, for in those days, with a few exceptions, these people
ownedno elephants. Gradually, as the work increased, I fur-
nished them with funds to enable them to purchase elephants.
In this manner the business extended, gradually but steadily.
During the first four years, 1856-7 to 1859-60, mostly old timber
was extracted, and only 16,000 tons a year were brought to
market, the ton of Teak timber measuring fifty cubic feet.
After that time, in consequence of the girdling operations
which had been carried on regularly since 1857, the quantity

AUGUST 26, 1896.]

increased, and during the four years from 1860-1 to 1863-4 the
average annual yield amounted to 29,000 tons. Ten years
later, during the five years ending 1873-4, the mean yield had
increased to 45,000, and twenty years later, during the five
years ending 1893-4, to 68,000 tons a year. Altogether, under
this system, one and a half million tons of Teak timber were
extracted from the forests of British Burma during the thirty-
eight years from 1856-7 to 1893-4. This result had been accom-
plished by girdling during the same period 660,ooo trees. The
whole of these 660,c00 trees, and. many more, were mature
when operations were commenced by us.

FORESTS ORDERED TO BE THROWN OPEN
ENTERPRISE.

Under the system which to this day regulates the opera-
tions of lumbermen in the United States, the whole of the
mature trees which were standing in 1856 would have been
girdled at once. Large quantities of timber would thus have
been brought to market within a short period, instead of being
spread over a long series of years. It has already been men-
tioned that Rangoon in those days had derived its importance
mainly from the export of Teak timber and the shipbuilding
trade carried on by means of the Teak timber brought from
the forests. Teak at that time was the chief article upon which
the prosperity of that town depended, for the export of rice,
which since has given it a much greater importance, had at
that time hardly begun. The merchants of Rangoon naturally
desired to see their business increase rapidly, and as soon as
they realized that the system introduced by me in 1856 would
limit the quantity of Teak brought to market they commenced
a vigorous opposition against it. Personally I made a point of
keeping on good terms with them, and they tried hard to
induce me to allow them to enter the forests and to cut the
whole of the marketable trees. With much show of reason
they contended that ships built of teak would soon be a thing
of the past, that iron would, in shipbuilding as well as for all
other purposes, replace the use of wood. Within a few years
the demand for teak would diminish, prices would fall, and
in the end teak would be a drug in the market and the Teak
forests would be valueless.

At that time the Sepoy mutiny of 1857 had saddled the Gov-
ernment of India with an enormous debt, and the disturbed
state of the country had considerably diminished the public
revenue. Under these circumstances the merchants ot Ran-
goon urged, as the only proper course, to take advantage of
the high market rates for teak then ruling, and, by the sale to
them of all mature timber standing in the forest, to realize
large sums and thus immediately to produce a large revenue
from the forests. More than this, they urged that a business
transacted on so large a scale would givea great impulse to
the prosperity of Rangoon. These considerations, they main-
tained, imperatively demanded the acceptance of their propo-
sals. They appealed to my sense of duty toward the Govern-
ment which I was serving, to my ambitionand to my common
sense, and they pictured in the darkest colors the disastrous
consequences ot a refusal to back their proposals. And with
justice they added that they, the merchants, stood not alonein
their views, but that these views were shared by the majority
of the public officers and European residents of the province.

When my friends found that [remained firm, and that Major
Phayre, the commissioner, refused to yield to their representa-
tions, they went to Calcutta, and backed by the influence of
the large and powerful mercantile firms of Calcutta they suc-
ceeded in inducing the Government of India to order the com-
missioner to throw open the Pegu forests to private enter-
prise. The orders were sent to Rangoon in February, 1861.
These orders had to be carried out, but, fortunately, we were
not required to throw open the whole of the forests at once.
By that time incessant hard work in examining the forests by
means of linear valuation surveys and by constant height
measurements, especially of the younger classes, had taught
me which districts were valuable and which were less so.
Those districts, therefore, in which the growing stock of teak
timber in regard to height, quantity and distribution of age
classes was most promising, were for a time retained under
control of the Forest Department, while the rest were thrown
open to private enterprise in accordance with the orders
received. A large portion of these, the whole of the forests
west of the Irawaddi River and others in Martaban, were let
upon twelve years’ leases, with the permission to girdle. In other
districts permits in some cases for three, in others for six years
were granted, under which the permit-holder, on payment of
certain rates, became the proprietor of the timber extracted by
him, being, however, limited in his operations to the timber
girdled by the forest officers,

TO PRIVATE

Garden and Forest.

349

CHANGE OF FOREST POLICY OF GOVERNMENT.

Subsequently a different view of the question was taken by the
Government; the arrangements which had been made could
not, however, be canceled. The mischief had been done, but,
fortunately, it had been limited to the less valuable districts.
The really valuable forests, which in 1861 had been retained in
the hands of the Government, had been saved, and this made
it possible to maintain a good system of management. As
regards those forests for which leases or permits had
been granted, they were resumed when the term expired, and
some of the permits had to be canceled sooner, because it
was discovered that the agents of the permit-holder had illicitly
girdled Teak on a very large scale.

The experience thus gained served to demonstrate the fal-
lacy of the popular opinion which had been long maintained,
and which had been defended with eloquent enthusiasm, that
the management of the Burma forests could be safely left to
private enterprise.

It will be remembered that the third of the great aims which
I had proposed to myself in 1856 was as soon as possible to
produce an annual surplus revenue. This, however, was more
easily said than done. During the first two years the outlay
necessarily greatly exceeded the income, and it was only in
1858-9 that the sales at the Rangoon timber depot yielded a
large surplus, which, however, was barely sufficient to cover
the deficit of the first two years. This result had been accom-
plished entirely by the sale of the old timber found in the
forests when operations were commenced. As the fresh-
girdled timber came in, after 1860, the surplus rose steadily.
During the eleven years from 1868-9 to 1878-9 it amounted
to 543,000 rupees a year on an average, while during the ten
years from 1879 80 to 1888-9 it came on an average to 945,000
rupees a year, and during the five years ending with 1893-4 to
1,870,000 rupees.

Up to 1879-80 the whole of this surplus revenue was derived
from Teak timber, the increase being due partly to the larger
quantity and the better quality of the timber brought to mar-
ket, partly to the gradual and, in spite of occasional fluctua-
tions, fairly steady rise of prices. In 1856 the declared value
of Teak timber exported from Rangoon was forty rupeesa ton
of fifty cubic feet, and during the five years ending in 1893-4
it fluctuated between seventy-two and eighty-two, being on an
average seventy-five rupees.

OBSTRUCTIONS IN RIVERS CLEARED,

One important fact must here be noted, which has greatly
aided the realization of a steadily increasing revenue. When
I commenced work in 1856 I found that all Teak-producing
tracts on the outskirts ot the forests, and those in the hills
which were near good floating streams, had been completely
cleared out, the stumps alone of Teak-trees remaining with
the half-burnt tops and branches of the trees. Large areas of
Teak-producing torest, however, had, fortunately, been closed
against the extraction of timber by obstructions in the rivers.
These obstructions were of two classes. Some were caused by
the silting up of mountain streams coming down from the hills
with great velocity, carrying with them masses of sand silt and
rubbish, which they deposited on enfering the level country of
the main valley. Some streams were more liable to silt up
than others, and some of the richest Teak localities near the
open country had been protected by such obstructions. In
the majority of cases it was sufficient to clear the silt away,
but in some it was necessary to dig canals in order to regulate
the course of the river, and thus to open it for the floating of
timber. The other class of obstructions was caused by bowl-
ders and barriers of rock in the bed of the hill streams. A
large extent of the most valuable Teak-producing tracts in the
hills had on that account never been worked. Early on my
first tour in 1856 I had discovered and examined some of the
most formidable of these rocky obstructions in two large
tributaries of the Sitang River and had explored the forests on
the hills drained by these streams. I then had formed my
plans for the removal of these obstructions, but at that time
my position was not sufficiently secure to take action. Begin-
ning with 1858, however, blasting parties were employed for
the removal of these obstructions. Men trained to that kind
of work not being available in Burma, parties of Coringa work-
men were brought across the Bay of Bengal from the Coro-
mandel coast to start the work. The undertaking was not an
easy one. The places where the rocks had to be blasted were
in the midst of the forest, far away from any village, difficult
of access, in deep unhealthy valleys. Hence, after the Coringa
men had done a few years’ excellent work, the fever of the
Burma jungles had decimated their ranks, and it became diffi-
cult to replace them by men from their own country. This

oo7

difficulty I had foreseen, and had associated with them a band
of Red Karens, hardy, but most unruly, mountaineers, whom
I had attached to me personally, who had been my most faith-
ful followers and had enabled me to explore the forests rap-
idly and thoroughly. The Coringa blasters were Hindus, very
skillful, intelligent and exceedingly cautious. With them no
accident had ever occurred. The Red Karens, on the other
hand, were impulsive, bold, but exceedingly careless, and
severe accidents became numerous. However, the work went
on, and is being continued year by year to this day, gunpow-
der having been replaced by dynamite. The number of these
rocky obstructions was very large, but gradually they are all

disappearing. Pee E
Sac Gennacy: Dietrich Brandis.

Notes.

The Royal Gardens of Kew were visited by seventy-three
thousand persons on the August bank holiday this year.

A plant of the Mammee Apple is now flowering for the first
time in the economic house at Kew. The plant is ten feet
high and in a large pot, and some of the flowers have set for
fruits. Some of these immense fruits, which come from the
West Indies, are now to be seen in our fancy-fruit stores.

According to The Orchid Review, Mr. H. T. Clinkaberry,
gardener of C. G. Roebling, Esq., of Trenton, New Jersey, has
succeeded in raising some hybrid Vandas from seed. _V. tri-
color was taken as the seed parent and it was fertilized with
pollen of V. Sanderiana. It is to be hoped that the plants will
live to produce flowers.

The Gardeners’ Chronicle speaks in high terms of the new
hybrid Tea Rose, Marjorie, which strikingly resembles in color
Margaret Dickson. The flower, however, is not so large, but
has the advantage of being fuller in the centre and more com-
pact, while the plant is of dwarfer habit and produces flowers at
the end of every shoot. It was raised by Mr. Alexander Dick-
son, Newtownards.

At the recent Florists’ Convention Mr. James Dean said that
the new type of Canna, popularly called the Orchid Canna, of
which Austria, Italia and Burbank were examples, had grown
well with him when planted out, and, although they had
burned some in the sun, he thought that under certain condi-
tions they might succeed. As greenhouse plants, of course,
they are magnificent.

Meehans’ Monthly states that if Radish seed is sown in late
September in a frame where the temperature is kept as much
as ten or twelve degrees above the freezing point the roots
will be large enough for use soon after Christmas. Of course,
frost will not hurt them, but they will not grow unless the tem-
perature is above the freezing point, and with care good,
fresh radishes can be had in this way until spring.

Mr. Joseph Meehan calls attention to the fact that our native
Asters, many of which are admirable plants for the autumn
garden, will grow readily from seed. Gather the seeds from
the plants of good species and varieties when they are ripe in
the autumn and sow them at once, covering the bed with a
light layer of forest leaves. Transplant the young seedlings
next spring when they are large enough, and they will blossom
the same year,

The ripened fruits of the Sassafras are not often seen upon
the tree, for they are borne very sparingly as arule, and eaten
off by the birds. In particular years and places this fruit is
very abundant, and when ripe at this season they are highly
ornamental. In one of the parks above the Harlem in this
city there isa fine tree, and the blue fruits, borne on fleshy pedi-
cels, and thick calyx lobes of a deep rose color in abundant
clusters are strikingly handsome as they appear among the
rich green leaves.

Last week the receipts of California fruit were larger than
they have ever been in this market for the same length of
time, ninety-seven car-loads having been sold at auction, The
weather has been favorable so that the fruit has not been hur-
ried to its ripening, and the desirable varieties of prunes,
plums, peaches and pears have brought fair prices. Wor-
den and Niagara grapes of fair quality are now coming
from the Hudson River Valley district, and among the apples
from near-by points Alexander and Gravenstein are bringing
the highest prices. Nectarines in the fancy-fruit stores are
handsomer than usual and readily command $1.00 a dozen.

A. L. Goldsborough, in Zhe Strawberry Culturist, contends
that the best time for transplanting Strawberries in his latitude
is between August 15th and October 15th. The main expense

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 444.

in Strawberry-culture is in weeding, and when planted in late
summer or early autumn the ground can be entirely rid of
these pests before the plants are set, whereas when they are
set in spring it would be almost impossible to keep the weeds
down. In a small garden two feet apart is wide enough for
the rows. Any time after a rain young plants can be taken up
and every portion of soil should be shaken from the roots to
get rid of weed seeds and the eggs of insects. The ball of
earth isa delusion. Instraightrows, where plants have light and
root-space without limit on two sides, four inches apart is ample.

Sometimes when the grade of streets or grounds is to be
raised it is desirable to elevate the trees at the same time.
Near Philadelphia, according to Meehans’ Monthly, trees fifty
feet high and with trunks eighteen inches in diameter are lifted
with very little check to their growth in the following way:
A trench is dug around a tree so as to leave a ball ot earth,
and when it is dug to the proper depth the earth is spaded
from under the ball on one side and a block set under the
roots asa fulcrum. Two guy ropes are then attached to the
tree, one on the side where the block is set and the other
opposite it. When the rope toward the block is drawn the
tree is tilted and the mass of roots is lifted up on the opposite
side. Earth is then packed under the elevated rootsand then
the rope on the side is drawn. This lifts the roots on the block
side and more earth is placed there. In this way the tree by:
being swayed backward and forward, having earth thrust
under it at each tilt, is soon elevated as many feet asis needed
and stands on the summit of a firm mound of earth.

The forests of Russia, exclusive of those of central Asia,
Caucasia and Finland, extend over a space of 478,000,000
acres, or about forty per cent. of the total area of the empire
in Europe. This amounts to about five acres to each inhab-
itant, which might suffice to meet the requirements of the
country in this respect if the ratio of the forest to the popula-
tion were uniform. But in reality in the densely populated
regions of southern Russia woodlands are scarce, while in the
four most northern provinces there are nearly seventy acres of
forest to each inhabitant. The disadvantages of this unequal
disposition of the forest are aggravated by the immense dis-
tances which separate the thinly wooded districts of the south
from the rich forests of the north, by the lack of water com-
munication and the cost of carriage by rail. Plans for refor-
esting parts of the denuded area are therefore under consid-
eration by the Government, and since private owners cannot
be trusted to look forward to future supplies there is no doubt
that the empire will assume the guardianship and administra-
tion of these forests.

In 1883 a disastrous eruption desolated the island of Krakatoa
and left it covered with a layer of cinder and pumice-stone to
a depth of three to one hundred and fifty feet, and this was so
intensely hot that it destroyed all animal and vegetable life.
Three years after the eruption the place was visited by Dr.
Treub, whose observations are interesting, since they show
how absolutely a barren island may become covered with
vegetation. In writing of this incident, Mr, W. Botting Hems-
ley says in Knowledge that the island is about three miles
across, with an altitude of 2,500 feet, one side presenting an
almost perpendicular wall to the sea and the other sloping
steeply. It is twenty miles from Sumatra, twenty-one trom
Java, and the nearest point where there is any vegetation is an
island ten miles away. Cinders and pumice-stone are not fer-
tile, but moisture and chemical action are helpful, and one
class of plants prepared the way for higher ones. The first
spores to germinate were those of filamentous alge carried by
the wind and sea, and caused a certain amount of disintegra-
tion. Individually the plants are microscopic, but they multi-
ply enormously and form a green film-like tissue over the
surfaces where they grow. The action of these organisms and
their own decay form the medium in which the spores of
Ferns brought by the wind germinated and developed, and
Dr. Treub found eleven species of Fern, some of them
already common. These prepared the soil for plants of a still
more complex organization, and, although they were as yet
rare, Dr. Treub found that fifteen species of flowering plants
had already established themselves. These were partly sea-
side plants whose seed had floated to the island, partly plants
whose seed were dropped by birds or carried by the wind,
since eight species were found on the mountainous interior of
the island. Last year Dr. Treub visited Europe, and on his
homeward voyage he passed within view of the island, which
was then covered with vegetation. This is a most instructive
lesson in the natural distribution of plants on account of its
being the result of actual observation,

SEPTEMBER 2, 1896.]

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrick: Tripung Buitpinc, New York.

Conducted by « «. . «+ 6 «© « « « « Professor C. S. SARGENT.

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1896.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.
EprroriaL_ ArticLes :—The Pipa trees of Eastern North America. (With
figure.)... Sects 5
Rotanical Gardens. —
The Sand Dunes of Northern ‘In
ForEIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter......
Cucrurat Department :—The Osage Cantaloupe
The Chinese Hibiscus as a Lawn Plant......
, Water-lilies in Extreme Heat..........-
Ornamental Grasses........-+
Fancy-leaved Caladiums........-.00..:sses00s
Corresponnencr :—To Protect the Beauty of the Woods
The Massing of Wild Flowers..........+.+0005
Notes from Germantown, Pennsylvania ..
Tue Foresr :—Vhe Burma ‘leak Forests.—V......

Atala 351
{Professor ‘N.L. Britton. 352
. Kev. £, F. Hill. 353
-W. Watson. 354
--&. BP. Harris. 356
-G. W. Oliver. 356
++ Win. Tricker. 356
caiard Fe ees 356

5 -G. W. O. 357
2G Shakes 357
ora S, La Mance. 358
iB - Joseph Meehan. 358
. Sir Divtrich Brandis. 358

RECENT PUBLICATIONS ....-..s00-+5 i mies tiieeieisey 350
INGRES ame taenatecteiieeeiaic swe lelaielelals ¢ eee eee nse e eee: cesses: see tecse eee 360
ILttusrRaTION :—The White Spruce (Picea alba) on the Maine “Coast, Fig. 47...-. 355

The Spruce-trees of Eastern North America.

HE best descriptions and figures of the Spruce-trees
ale which are indigenous in the eastern United States
were published in London in 1803, in the first of Lambert's
splendid folios devoted to the genus Pinus. Before the
appearance of this work botanists referred all our Spruces
to two species, the Black Spruce and the White Spruce, but
Lambert, from material obtained in Newfoundland, recog-
nized a third species which he called the Red Spruce.
This species, however, has generally been neglected by
botanists, who have either overlooked it entirely or have
considered it a variety of the Black Spruce, although the
late Dr. Lawson, of Halifax, who had exceptional opportu-
nities for studying these trees in their native forests, insisted
that the Red and Black Spruces were distinct trees, and his
views will certainly be shared by every one who sees them
alive and understands their distribution and peculiarities.

The Black Spruce, the Picea nigra or Mariana of bota-
nists, is an inhabitant of cold, wet sphagnum swamps,
where it rarely grows sixty feet high or lives a hundred
years. It is a tree of open habit, with rather remote
branches which sweep downward in slender, graceful
curves. Theslender branchlets are covered with fine rusty
pubescence, and the leaves are blue-green and very glau-
cous. Thecones are broadly ovate and from three-quar-
ters of an inch to an inch and a quarter in length, with
rigid scales conspicuously erose on the margins; they are
strongly incurved at the base, dark purple when fully
grown, and remain on the branches for many years. Trees
stunted by wet and cold often begin to produce cones
when only four or five feet high. The Black Spruce is
common in Labrador and Newfoundland and ranges to
Hudson’s Bay and much farther north-westward, but
probably does not reach the shores of the Pacific Ocean
or as high latitudes as the White Spruce, although the con-
fusion which has existed with regard to these trees makes
it impossible to speak with confidence of their distribution
in the Arctic Circle, or even on the waters of the upper
Mackenzie River; it is common in the maritime provinces
of Canada, following down the Atlantic coast to New Jer-
sey, although south of Cape Ann itis not common in the coast
region, being confined to a few isolated swamps ; it ranges

Garden and Forest.

351

westward to Manitoba and northern Minnesota, and south-
ward to Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, and is said
to grow in elevated swamps on some of the high mountains
of Virginia. The Black Spruce, however, is a rare tree on
the Appalachian hills, although Black Spruces do occur on
the White Mountains of New Hampshire and in several
Pennsylvania swamps. It is, however, the only Black
Spruce of the states surrounding the Great Lakes and the
only Spruce which reaches the Atlantic coast south of
Cape Ann. As a timber tree the Black Spruce has little
value and probably has never been manufactured into lum-
ber, except, perhaps, for local use. In cultivation it loses
its beauty early, growing thin and straggly, and is one of
the least desirable of all conifers as an ornamental tree.

The Red Spruce is a tree often one hundred feet and
occasionally one hundred and twenty feet high, with a tall
trunk three or four feet in diameter; short, slender, slightly
pendulous branches which form a narrow, compact, pyra-
midal head ; stout branchlets clothed with rusty pubescence
and dark green lustrous leaves. The cones are oblong and
from two inches to two inches and a half long, w ith» thin,
rigid, entire or obscurely erose scales, and are straight at
the base, light green, sometimes slightly tinged or streaked
with purple, and fall within a year after ripening. The Red
Spruce grows in Labrador and Newfoundland ; it occurs in
the Canadian maritime provinces, although less commonly
than the Black and White Spruces, and follows down the
Atlantic coast to the neighborhood of Rockport, Massa-
chusetts ; it is the common Spruce-tree of all the interior
regions of New England, New York and Pennsylvania, and
ranges south along the Alleghany Mountains to the high
peaks of North Carolina and Tennessee. As far as the
United States is concerned, it is an Appalachian tree, and
does not extend into the lake region. It is the upland
Spruce of the northern states and the common timber
Spruce of New England, New York and Pennsylvania,
nearly all the spruce lumber of these states being ob-
tained from this tree, which is the Black Spruce of lum-
bermen and most botanists.

The Red Spruce, which was formerly occasionally planted
as an ornamental tree in New England, has generally es-
caped the notice of gardeners. In cultivation it is a beau-
tiful long-lived tree of excellent color and habit, with the
general appearance of the Oriental Spruce, Picea orientalis,
which, in the northern states at least, does not surpass it in
beauty, while it is less hardy and grows less rapidly.

The White Spruce, Picea Canadensis, differs from the Red
and Black Spruces in its stouter, pale and glabrous branchlets
and larger buds, in its bluer and more glaucous foliage,
althougl 1 on some Black Spruces the leaves are as glaucous
as those of the White Spruce, and in the thin entire cone-
scales, which are so flexible that a dry cone is easily
compressed between the fingers, while the cones of the
other species break under slight pressure. The strong,
disagreeable, wildcat odor of the bruised leaves of the
White Spruce distinguishes it from all other conifers, making
it easy to recognize “this tree at all seasons of the year. The
White Spruce is common in Labrador and Newfoundland
it is probably the common Spruce of the subarctic and
arctic forests which stretch across the continent, and ap-
pears to reach the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains of
British Columbia, and possibly crosses their northern exten-
sion to the Pacific coast in Alaska; itis the common Spruce
of the St. Lawrence valley, extending down the Atlantic
coast at least to the shores of Casco Bay, in Maine, and in
the interior it finds its southern home on the high mountains
of northern New Englandand New York, northern Michigan,
Wisconsin and Minnesota and the Black Hills of Dal kota,
where, apparently, itis the only Spruce-tree. The WhiteSpruce
is occasionally manufactured into lumber in northern New
Hampshire and New York, although it is so rare in these
regions that it cannot play an important part in the lumber
supply ; it is more abundant in Maine, and it is the princi-
pal timber Spruce in New Brunswick and the maritime
provinces ; and the wood of this tree is probably the only

352

Spruce lumber which has floated down the St. Lawrence
and reached Europe from Canada.

As an ornamental tree the White Spruce is the best of the
whole genus to plant in Canada and our northern states.
Its value as an ornamental tree for the north is shown in
Prince Edward Island, where rows of this tree have been
planted by the roads crossing the island, or have been left
standing when the forest-covering made way for tillage.
These trees, which are often of great size, are perfect in
form and color, with branches which often sweep the
ground, and compact pyramidal heads. Cultivated in the
northern states, the White Spruce flourishes as far south as
southern New England, growing to a large size, retaining
its lower branches and its dense habit for many years and
displaying great variations of color. Farther south it is
affected by heat, and often becomes disligured by the
attacks of red spiders. It is the best of all conifers for
northern wind-breaks and hedges,:and it is unfortunate
that the Norway Spruce and other foreign trees of doubtful
value in our climate have been allowed to supersede the
White and Red Spruces in northern plantations.

Our illustration on page 355, from a photograph made
by Dr. J. T. Rothrock on the Maine coast. gives an idea
of the appearance of the White Spruce growing near the
southern limits of its range and fully exposed to the fierce
blasts of the Atlantic. These stunted wind-swept trees
bear, however, little resemblance to the broad cones of
verdure which under more favorable conditions the White
Spruce raises to the height of more than a hundred feet.

Botanical Gardens.—I.

HE following is a portion of the Vice-Presidential

address before the botanical section of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science, delivered at
Buffalo, New York, August 24th, 1896, by Professor N. L.
Britton, the Director of the New York Botanical Garden.
The paper will be concluded in our next number.

ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT —The cultivation of plants within
small areas for their healing qualities by the monks of the
middle ages appears to have been the beginning of the modern
botanical garden, although these medieval gardens doubtless
took their origin from others of greater antiquity. Botanical
gardens were thus primarily formed for purely utilitarian
objects, although the esthetic study of planting and of flowers
must doubtless have appealed to their owners and visitors.
Their function as aids in scientific teaching and research, the
one which at present furnishes the dominating reason for
their existence, did not develop much, if any, before the six-
teenth century, and prior to the middle of the seventeenth
century a considerable number existed in Europe, in which
this function was recognized to a greater or less degree, of
which those at Bologna, Montpelier, Leyden, Paris and Upsala
were, perhaps, the most noteworthy. The ornamental and
decorative taste for planting had meanwhile been slowly gain-
ing ground, as well as the desire to cultivate rare or unusual
species, and during the eighteenth century attained a high
degree of development. Many persons of wealth and influ-
ence fostered this taste, and became, through the employment
of men skilled in botany and horticulture, generous patrons of
science. The world was searched for new and rare plants,
which were brought home to Europe for cultivation, and
many sumptuous volumes, describing and delineating them,
were published, mainly through the same patronage. The
older gardens were essentially private institutions, but as the
rights of the people became more and more recognized the
many existing establishments and an increasing number of
newly founded ones became, to a greater or less extent, open
to the public, either through an admittance fee or without
charge. The four main elements of the modern botanical
garden have thus been brought into it successively: (1) The
utilitarian or economic, (2) the esthetic, (3) the scientific or
biologic, (4) the philanthropic.

These four elements have been given different degrees of
prominence, depending mainly upon local conditions, some
gardens being essentially esthetic, some mainly scientific,
while in our public parks we find the philanthropic function
as the underlying feature, usually accompanied by a touch of
the esthetic and scientific.

Garden and Forest.

- generally depend on financial considerations.

[NUMBER 445.

THe ECONOMIC ELEMENT.—In the broadest extension of this
department of a botanical department there might be included,
to advantage, facilities for the display and investigation of all
plants directly or indirectly useful to man, and their products.
This conception would include forestry, pharmacognosy, agri-
culture, pomology, pathology and organic chemistry, and, in
case the management regards bacteria as plants, bacteriology.

The display of the plants may be effected by growing such
of them as will exist without protection in the locality ina plot,
more or less individualized, commonly known as the economic
garden, while those too tender for cultivation in the open are
grown in the greenhouses, either in a separate house or sec-
tion, or scattered through the several houses or sections, in
the temperatures best adapted to their growth. The display of
plant products, best accompanied by mounted specimens of
the species yielding them, by photographs and by plates, is
accomplished by the economic museum, where these are
arranged in glass or glass-fronted cases, suitably classified and
labeled. It is believed that the most useful results are ob-
tained by arranging this museum by the products themselves,
and thus not in biologic sequence, but bringing together all
drugs, all fibres, all woods, all resins ; where the same product
is used in more than one industry, the exhibit may be dupli-
cated, more or less modified, without disadvantage.

The investigation of economic plants and their products is
accomplished through the scientific department, and few
valuable results can be reached unless the scientific equip-
ment is well developed. The two departments must work
conjointly, both on account of the necessity of knowing just
what species is under investigation, its structure, distribution
and literature, and in order that the most approved and exact
methods may be used in the research. Any idea that the
scientific element can be dispensed with in connection with
economic studies is palpably untenable.

Teaching and research in agriculture, pomology and plant
pathology are so well organized in America through our
national Department of Agriculture and our numerous agri-
cultural colleges and schools that there is no great necessity
for providing elaborate equipments for these branches in
botanical gardens. But in case the endowment of a garden
were sufficiently large to enable them to be successfully prose-
cuted, in addition to their more necessary work, there can be
no doubt that important additions to knowledge would be
obtained. On the other hand, no such liberal allowances have
been made with us for forestry or pharmacognosy, and re-
search and instruction in these sciences must prove of the
greatest benefit to the country.

THe A’sTHUTIC ELEMENT.—The buildings, roads, paths and
planting of a botanical garden should be constructed and
arranged with reterence to tasteful and decorative landscape
effect. The possibilities of treatment will depend largely upon
the topographical character of the area selected and the natu-
ral vegetation of the tract. The buildings required are a fire-
proof structure or structures for museums, herbarium,
libraries, laboratories and offices; a glass-house with com-
partments kept at several different temperatures for exhibi-
tion, propagation and experimentation, or several separate
glass-houses ; and to these will usually be added dwelling-
houses for some of the officers, a stable and other minor build-
ings. The character, number and sizes of the buildings
In placing the
structures intended for the visiting public, considerations of
convenient access, satisfactory water-supply, and the distribu-
tion of crowds must be borne in mind, 1n connection with the
landscape design. The planting should follow, as nearly as
possible, a natural treatment, except immediately around the
larger buildings and at the entrances, where considerable
formality is desirable for architectural reasons. It is especially
desirable that as much natural treatment as possible should
be given to the areas devoted to systematic planting—herba-
ceous grounds, frutecetum, arboretum. The rectilinear
arrangement of plant-beds found in most of the older gardens
has become abhorrent to landscape lovers, and the sequence
of families desired can usually be quite as well obtained by
means of curved margined groups.

The cultivation of decorative plants, and especially the fos-
tering of a taste for them, and the bringing of unusual or new
species to attention and effecting their general introduction,
are important functions of a botanical garden. For the accu-
rate determination of these plants, information concerning
their habitsand structure, and suggestions regarding the con-
ditions of their growth, the <esthetic side, must rely on the
scientific.

THE SCIENTIFIC OR BIOLOGIC ELEMENT.—The important
relations of the scientific department to the economic and

ee se eee ae

MS ee heey ee a

SEPTEMBER 2, 1896.]

zesthetic havealready been alluded to. Thelibrary, herbarium,
museums and laboratories are the sources whence exact infor-
mation regarding the name, structure, habits, life processes
and products of plants are derived, and they are the more
useful as they are the more complete and thoroughly equipped.
It is practically impossible for any one library to have all the
literature of botany and related sciences ; any one herbarium
to possess an authentic and complete representation of all
species of plants; or any one museum to be thoroughly illus-
trative; absolute perfection along these lines cannot be
obtained, but the more closely it is approximated the better
the results. The research work of the scientific department
should be organized along all lines of botanical inquiry, includ-
ing taxonomy, morphology, anatomy, physiology and palzon-
tology, and the laboratories should afford ample opportunities
and equipment for their successful prosecution.

The arrangement of the areas devoted to systematic plant-
ing and the proper labeling of the species grown are impor-
tant duties of the scientific department. The sequence of
classes, orders and families is usually made to follow some
“botanical system.” Itis highly desirable that this should be
a system which indicates the natural relations of the families,
as understood at the time the garden is laid out, and be elastic
enough to admit of subsequent modification, as more exact
information relative to these relationships is obtained. The
weight of present opinion is overwhelmingly in favor of an
arrangement from the more simple to the more complex, and
this will apply not only to the systematic plantation, but to the
systematic museum and the herbarium.

The scientific possibilities of a botanical garden are the
greater it an organic or codperative relationship exists between
it and a university, thus affording ready facilities for informa-
tion on other sciences.

THE PHILANTHROPIC ELEMENT.—A botanical garden oper-
ates as a valuable philanthropic agency, both directly and
indirectly. Its direct influence lies through its affording an
orderly arranged institution for the instruction, information
and recreation of the people, and it is the more efficient for
these purposes than a park, as it is the more completely
developed and liberally maintained. Its indirect, but equally
important, philanthropic operation is through the discovery
and dissemination of tacts concerning plants and their prod-
ucts, obtained through the studies ot the scientific staff and by
others using the scientific equipment.

NUMBER AND DISTRIBUTION OF BOTANICAL GARDENS.—There
are somewhat over 200 institutions denominated botanical gar-
dens, but only a few of them meet the requirements of the
foregoing sketch. Some are essentially pleasure parks, with
the plants more or less labeled ; most ot them pay some atten-
tion to taxonomy and morphology; many to economic botany,
while a small number are admirably equipped in all branches
ot the science.

I have drawn freely on Professor Penhallow’s first annual
report of the Montreal Botanical Garden, published in 1886, for
the following approximate statement of the number in different
countries :

Algeria, 1; Australia, 3; Austro- pone 13; Belgium, 5;
Brazil, 2; Canada, I j Canary Islands, - Cape of Good Hope,
35 Ceylon, Tene hili; China, 1; Cochin China, 1; Denmark,
23.0 Ecuador, rs; Egypt Tes France, 22) * Germany, 36; Great
Britain and Ireland, 12; Greece, 1; Guatemala, 1; Guiana, I;
Holland, 4; India, 7; Italy, 23; Japan, 1; Java, 1; Malta, 1;
Mauritius, 1; Natal, I ; New Zealand, 1; Norway, 1; Peru, 1;
Philippine Islands, 1; Portugal, 3; Reunion, 1; Roumania, 2;
Russia, 16; Servia, 1; Siberia, I ; : Spain, 25 Straits Settlements,
Ts Sweden, (VG Switzerland, 43 "Tasmania, 1; United States,
10; West Indies, 6.

The Sand Dunes of Northern Indiana and their
Blorae It

HE higher sand dunes by the south-eastern shore of
Lake Michigan begin about twenty miles from
Chicago and extend to Michigan City, forming a belt from
one to three miles wide, ‘which becomes narrower as it
sweeps around the shores to the north-east. A spur runs
westward from Millers, Indiana, and comes nearly up to
the boundary of Illinois, making a narrow belt of sand
hills, bordering the north side of the marshy tract through
which the Calumet River sluggishly winds. Between this
belt and the lake is a region of low sand ridges and
sloughs, approximately parallel with the shore and the
Calumet, which here drains an area once under the waters

Garden and Forest.

358

of the lake. These ridges rise but a few feet above the
lake-level, so that the region is swampy and has a flora
differing from that of the higher dunes. The drier areas
and narrow ridges form the Pine-barrens proper, in which
the Gray Pine prevails.

The dune region is a confused mass of hills and hollows,
the deeper depressions being shallow ponds. The features
of this region have been shaped by two prevailing wind
currents from the north-west and the south-west. The
former predominates, and is most active in autumn and
winter. Coming across the lake it takes up the sand washed
ashore by the waves and drives it in upon the land, so that
a severe storm from this quarter on the lake is accompa-
nied by a corresponding oye of sand among the dunes,
and the sharp particles are piled in drifts as fantastic in
shape as those made by snow. This wind makes the prin-
cipal ridges generally parallel with the shore. But winds
from the west and south-west act upon these moving ridges

-and throw up others with an axis nearly north and ‘south.

The shifting sands as they are blown along bury lower
ridges and fill up hollows lying in their pathway. Their
vegetation shares the same fate. Some have been so long
undisturbed that Pine-trees thirty inches in diameter are
found growing on the ridges. Those from six inches to a
foot in diameter are seen on dunes quite near the shore.
As some of the highest dunes rise from eighty toa hundred
feet above the level of the lake, they are capable of cover-
ing trees of considerable height which may be growing in
the hollows. This shifting of the sand in large masses is
practically confined to a strip scarcely more than half a
mile wide along the shore, for the greater part of the hills
have been secured by the growth of vegetation. This cap-
turing of the dunes must have begun upon their southern
or eastern margin, or the old lake beach, and has worked
its way toward the lake till it now holds the greater part of
the area once covered by the waters of Lake Michigan
when the land at its southern end stood at a lower level,
and the discharge was south-westward to the Mississippi.
The work went on till in places it has come close to the
shore. But in the region of the higher dunes in this belt of
shifting sands, though a dune may be captured and held
for a long time, there is no permanent security. Where
the winds have full sweep near the shore and fresh ma-
terial is supplied by the sand constantly washed up by the
waves, there is a tendency ever to beat back the vegeta-
tion. There is a ceaseless struggle between the opposing
forces, sometimes one, sometimes the other, prevailing. It
is plain to be seen that if the trees were removed from the
dunes back from the shore they would in time be blown
farther inland and encroach upon the arable ground. A
belt of these sand hills, with their covering of vegetation,
must be preserved as a screen, or artificial barriers will
have to be provided. As they are of little account for
tillage they are likely to remain, and however much of the
sand may be taken away for filling and grading in swampy
areas, the supply is so great and is so continuously re-
newed that it is practically inexhaustible. The greatest
danger comes from fires, but they are guarded against
more than formerly, even with the multiplication of rail-
roads as a constant menace. Fortunately, also, the Oak-
trees and many of the shrubs have roots or subterranean
shoots which the fires do not reach, and they quickly renew
themselves if their exposed parts have been destroyed.

The changes to which the dunes have been subjected at
some period of their history help to explain one of the
peculiar features of their flora and its mixed character.
Plants are repeatedly found mingled with those naturally
looked for in such localities that contravene our ideas of
their adaptations to certain habitats currently accorded

them in books, and generally in harmony with expe-
rience. Judged by such standards they are out of place.
Doubtless some of these plants have a greater flexi-
bility in adapting themselves to changed conditions

than is usually granted them, but the principal reason
for their presence in such places must be the supply of

354

those elements favorable to their growth. This becomes
evident by the study of the formation of these sand hills.
The burying of vegetation provides them with organic
matter which more or less pervades them throughout. It
is not abundant, but is enough to support the thin growth
which covers them. At the time of the falling of the leaves
in autumn or early winter we have a special lesson show-
ing how vegetable matter is caught and preserved, Every
bunch of grass or weed of any kind which the less active
winds of summer have allowed to grow becomes a lodg-
ing place for leaves moving about with every breeze, and
is soon surrounded by a ring of them. They are quickly
loaded down by the shifting sand, to be buried with the
plants which have caught them, or carried elsewhere along
with the uprooted plants. This process annually repeated
adds to the vegetable matter of the dunes, and sands which
to the eye seem so purely silicious have more or less plant-
food diffused among them, Where the vegetation has
been undisturbed for a long time and the surface is well
protected, a layer of vegetable mold two or three inches
deep, mixed with some sand, accumulates, especially on
the sheltered slopes and in the hollows. When such areas
are near the shore they may be assailed by the wind and
carried away, or the mold may be buried more or less
deeply by the sand sifted in among the trees.

Nor are the dunes as devoid of moisture as would natu-
tally be inferred. Their bases are saturated with water
from the lake or from neighboring sloughs, and an_ unfail-
ing supply is obtained for wells driven six or eight feet into
the ground at this low level. This water comes to the sur-
face of the hills by capillary action, and by digging down
a foot or two the sand feels cool and moist. The roots of
the plants not only run deep, but they are very finely
divided and offer many points of contact with the soil.
When the wind in destroying a dune exposes a section of
its surface these roots are found to pervade the sand with
a close, fine network, and are left as a dense fringe hang-
ing from its upper edge. Some may be traced seven or
eight feet vertically, though the stem of the plant itself
rises but a foot or two above the surface of the ground.
Some run a long distance horizontally. Those of Artemisia
may be traced five feet or more in this way, though they
become almost hair-like in diameter soon after leaving the
main root. When the surface of the ground in places
exposed to the direct rays of the sun becomes very warm
the heat does not penetrate deeply, for much of it is reflected
from the smooth surfaces of the particles of sand. Hence
it is not common on the dunes to see plants drooping and
withering even in quite dry weather. The earlier annual
plants which have less depth of root are most likely to be
affected. The supply of moisture from the base of the
hills and from the vapors of the lake goes far toward coun-
teracting droughts, so that in this respect the vegetation of
the dunes is more favorably situated than that often grow-
ing on richer soil. Ef. Hill

Chicago, Ill.

Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.

CartLtEya Harpyana.—This supposed natural hybrid
between Cattleya gigas and C. aurea first flowered in Eng-
land about ten years ago, whenit wasimported withC. gigas.
It was named and figured by B. 8. Williams in his Orchid
Album, v., t. 231. Itis by far the most beautiful of all the
Cattleyas of the labiata group, and, notwithstanding a con-
siderable range of variation revealed in the plants of it
flowered in European collections, it continues to be one of
the most highly prized, and, I might add, highly priced, of
garden Orchids. The most beautiful form of it yet seen
was sent to the last meeting of the Royal Horticultural So-
ciety by Baron Schroéder under the name of Clarke’s variety,
and was awarded a first-class certificate. The flowers are
large, of a lustrous rose-purple color, the well-formed
spreading lip rich maroon in front, crimson in the throat,

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 445.

with deep yellow reticulating veins. A flower of an ordi-
nary variety of C. Hardyana was shown with it for pur-
poses of comparison. C. gigas is one of the noblest of
Cattleyas, its only fault being a shy flowering nature. The
form called Sanderiana or imperialis isthe freest, and some
of the latter so nearly resemble C. Hardyana that one feels
disposed to look upon the latter as a sport simply from
C. gigas.

SPATHOGLOTTIS PLICATA.—There are now three well-marked
varieties of this Malayan ground-Orchid in cultivation,
namely, the type which has leaves two feet or more long,
a scape about a yard high bearing a short raceme of about
a dozen flowers each an inch orso in diameter, the sepals and
petals rose-purple and the long-clawed lip: paler, with a
yellow crest. The second is the white-flowered form called
alba, of which the only plant I know is in the Kew collec-
tion. This differs from the first-named in having flowers
with white segments and a yellow blotch on the lip. The
third is a new introduction recently flowered in Messrs.
Sander & Co.’s nursery at St. Albans. This is remarkable
in having smaller leaves, a scape only a foot long and
flowers half as large again as those of the type. It is
named Spathoglottis plicata, var. Micholitzii, in compli-
ment to the collector who found it in Perak. These plants
grow best when suspended near the roof glass ina hot
moist house, their pseudo-bulbs nestling in a light sandy
compost and surrounded by sphagnum, which should be
kept saturated all through the growing season. S. aurea,
S. Kimballiana and S. Wragi, all first-rate East Indian
Orchids, thrive under the same treatment.

New Hysrin Orcuips.—Among the new plants exhibited
this week at the meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society
the following hybrids deserve special mention: Cypripe-
dium Excelsior, var. Mars, raised by Messrs. Sander & Co.
from C. Rothschildianum and C. Harrisianum. It has a
white dorsal sepal with purple lines, the petals drooping,
greenish, with numerous black-purple spots and the pouch
dark purple mixed with rosy llac. Leelio-Cattleya Seraph,
raised by Mr. C. L. Ingram, of Godalming, from L. elegans
and C, citrina. It has short fusiform pseudo-bulbs, erect
scapes and medium-sized flowers with spreading greenish
yellow sepals and petals and a white and purple lip. The
characters of C. citrina are not apparent in the hybrid.
Cattleya Marriottiana, from Sir William Marriott, and said
to be the result of a cross between C. gigas and C. Eldo-
rado, does not differ appreciably from the last-named
except in having smaller flowers. This cross would appear
to be interesting as a case of reduction in size in all the
vegetative characters of the two parents, an unusual occur-
rence in plant hybridization.

Harpy Bamgoos.—A comprehensive collection of these
plants from the nursery of Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons formed
a special feature at the last meeting of the Royal Horticul-
tural Society. This enterprising firm has not been slow to
work up a stock of hardy Bamboos to meet the demand for
them consequent upon the success of the experiments in
their cultivation in the open air at Kew and the various
books, papers and lectures specially devoted to them.
Some of the species were awarded first-class certificates,
notably Bambusa palmata and B. Kumasaca, two of the
most distinct and attractive, the former being remarkable
for the large size, thickness and rich green color of its ever-
green leaves, borne on stems three to five feet high; the
latter for its elegant habit, the stems being perfectly erect,
two or three feet high, branched below and bearing ovate
dark green leaves quite distinct in pose and outline from
all other hardy Bamboos. The growth made by. these
plants this year under the influence of exceptional sunshine
and heat has far surpassed anything done in previous sea-
sons. The collection at Kew is now looking magnificent.
Tt is difficult to overrate hardy Bamboos as effective shrubs
for open-air gardening.

Puioxes.—The herbaceous border or isolated bed on the
lawn are beautiful at this season of the year with forms of
Phlox suffruticosa, the parent of the popular garden Phlox,

SEPTEMBER 2, 1896.]

Considerable improvement both in habit of growth and
size and color of flowers has been made recently by
breeders of Phloxes, the difference in these characters of
newer sorts, compared with the old ones, being most
marked. No floral picture in the open air surpasses a bed
filled with the best varieties of Phlox, and no picture is
more easily made. The plants are supplied small in pots
for a few pence each in spring by Dobbie & Co., Rothesay ;
Lemoine, of Nancy, and other nurserymen who make a
specialty of them, and these, if planted in well-manured
soil in a sunny position, grow rapidly and flower freely the

Garden and Forest.

Hage)

series, has faith in old favorites, no nurserymen in England
doing so much to keep them before the public or to revive
a taste for them, should they have gone out of favor, as he.
When Verbenas were neglected Mr. Cannell took them in
hand and soon brought them into favor by means of won-
derful exhibitions of their flowers at almost all times of the
year. He has done equally valuable work with Zonal
Pelargoniums, Primulas, Coleuses, Cannas, Dahlias and
Begonias. Recently he has paid particular attention to
Cockscombs, and his exhibition of them at the late meet-
ing of the Royal Horticultural Society will, no doubt, cause

Fig. 47—The White Spruce (Picea alba) on the Maine Coast.—See page 35t.

first year. The stems should be staked early, otherwise
they are apt to be twisted off by wind; they must also be
watched against mice, which are fond of nibbling the bark
off all round the base of the stems and so destroying them.
The plants are at their best the second or third year after
planting. A bed filled with one good variety, such as
Etna or Coquelicot (flame-red), or Sylphide or Lawrence
(pure white), or Carillon or Toreador (beautiful clear pink),
is most pleasing in effect and makes a display during the
greater part of the summer.

Cocxscoms Crxosta.—Mr. Cannell, of the Swanley nur-

many horticulturists to devote a frame or two to the culti-
vation of these most extraordinary plants. Grown in five-
inch pots, with stems less than six inches high and combs
nine inches by four inches, colored almost every shade
from white to deep crimson, Cockscombs are decidedly
decorative as well as interesting. The feathered form of
this Celosia, sometimes called Pyramidalis, is equally
useful. In the London parks it is used as a bedding-plant,
and at Kew it is one of the most effective plants in the con-
servatory in July and August.
London,

W. Waison.

356

Cultural Department.

The Osage Cantaloupe.

pHs is a product of accidental hybridization between the
Banana Cantaloupe and the Jenny Lind, or one of the
numerous netted Melons. Several hybrids of the Banana
Melon have been produced; some like the Osage, others
quite different. The Osage is a green Melon, with salmon-red
flesh, a small cavity, a strong perfume; is in some cases
markedly ribbed, in others nearly smooth, and in others
netted. Before it ripens it has an odor, and when it is ripe the
peculiar characteristic perfume, like that of the Banana Melon,
will filla room. When fully ripe the flower-end becomes soft
and is greenish yellow, and the same color prevails at the bot-
tom of the grooves when decidedly ribbed. At the fower-end
is the peculiar discoid mark so common in several well-known
netted Melons. The flavor is excellent and closely resembles
that of the Banana Cantaloupe when grown under favorable
circumstances of soil, climate and season.

[he Banana Cantaloupe is not a curiosity simply when well
grown, but it so seldom is well-grown that it has been allowed
to run out. Fruits of this variety have been produced which
were three feet long and weighed seventeen pounds. I had
one two feet long that produced an ounce of seeds and had
no open cavity. A cross-section showed three narrow V-
shaped fissures running through it, united at the central ends,
and containing theseeds. The flavor was pronounced first-class.

The origin of the Osage was detected in the peculiar odor of
the Melon, in its yellow ground-spot, in its yellow seeds, in its
flavor and in its red flesh. One fruit showed its origin, as
it presented the Banana Melon on the lower half, and the
netted Melon onits upper. This hybrid is only partly settled
as a distinctive variety, and still has a disposition to run into
one or the other parent. The interior seems to be settled, but
the exterior varies. In form it is round or oval, and weighs
from four to eight pounds. Green Melons and red-fleshed
ones are not popular. Netted and green-fleshed fruits are
most so. The Jenny Lind Melon was called the ‘Centre
Melon” sixty years ago, when the great Swedish singer was a
little girl, It came from Asia Minor, and has been grown from
half a pound to four pounds in weight. The highest bouquet
is in the smallest fruits of a green interior.

My attention has been particularly directed to the Osage
Melon of late because this is a bad Melon year, and the only
good ones I have had have been of the Osage variety. I think
the experiment of hybridization between the Osage and Jenny

Lind, or Netted Gem, worth trying. ‘
Philadelphia, Pa. ie Ri Li LLAX tis

The Chinese Hibiscus as a Lawn Plant.

IBISCUS ROSA-SINENSIS and its many beautiful varie-
ties have been utilized about the grounds of the execu-
tive mansion this year with fine effect. At the west end of the
mansion, near the State, War and Navy Buildings, there are
large groups of them associated with Japanese Maples and
Bamboos. The Hibiscus plants are kept dormant all through
the winter; if kept dry in the fall they lose their leaves during
the winter months and they are easily carried over ina struc-
ture the temperature of which is just high enough to keep out
the frost. In the spring, if it is necessary, the plants are
shifted into larger tubs or pots and simply plunged in the
ground where it is intended they should remain during the
summer; this is a much better way to treat old plants, for
when they are planted out they make too much growth at the
expense of a rich display of flowers, but when young plants
are wanted to grow rapidly into specimens they make very
quick progress when they have unlimited root room. The
best time to propagate is in the fall after the new wood is ripe ;
take the ends of the shoots from four to six inches in length for
the cuttings, after they are well rooted, pot in three-inch pots,
shift into fives in the spring, say about the beginning of May,
plunge in an open frame; by the beginning of August they will
be ready for a shift into eight or ten inch pots, and the growth
they will make before cold weather sets in will bring them to
a height of about three feet, with nice bushy heads. The fol-
lowing summer they will make very ornamental plants for the
lawn or for planting in beds.

There are numerous varieties, differing from each other
chiefly in the color of the flowers. The double-flowered kinds
are not so free-flowering, neither are they as strong-growing as
the single-flowering varieties ; the individual flowers, however,
last a much longer time in bloom than the single ones. The
variety grandiflorus has a fine bold light crimson flower, and

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 445.

isa free bloomer. The under surfaces of the petals are much
lighter in color; on one side they are marbled with a creamy
white color. The leaves are small, sometimes deeply cut and
toothed. Brilliantissimus has quite large heart-shaped leaves,
very regularly toothed ; the flowers are of a brilliant crimson,
the under surfaces being very little lighter, shining near the
base. The petals after the first day or so are a trifle reflexed ;
this is the best of the single varieties. The variety rubra plena
has very double flowers, the outer petals reflexed to such an
extent as to forma ball; in color it is intermediate between
grandiflorus and brilliantissimus. Lucien Linden has double
flowers, but they are small and badly shaped, the color yellow-
ish white and pale crimson, the latter color predominating.
Calleri has double, buff-yellow flowers, probably the easiest to
manage of the doubles. Luteolus plenus has light yellow
flowers ; the bases of the petals are deep scarlet. There are
numerous other forms, but those given above are the most

distinct. G. W. Oliver.

Botanic Garden, Washington, D. C.

Water-lilies and Extreme Heat.

UROPEANS who have noticed the good qualities of
Nympheas that have been enhanced by the almost
tropical weather experienced this season, are better able to
judge of our superior advantages under which we can culti-
vate all varieties of Nymphzeas, especially the tropical varie-
ties, as well as the different varieties of Nelumbiums in the
open air. What Mr. W. Watson says of the new torms of red
hardy Nympbeeas (page 334), that they improve under extreme
heat, is equally true in the United States, only more so, but
this does not hold good of other forms of red or pink Water-
lilies. During the past heated term Nymphza Marliacea
rosea and N, Marliacea carnea depreciated very much in size
and color, the flowers of the former not being so good as those
of the latter in its best form, and produced very sparingly. The
same remarks apply to our native pink forms of Water-lilies,
N. odorata rosea, and Caroliniana and exquisita, as well as N.
tuberosa rosea; the flowers were smaller, lighter in color and
the sepals occasionally sunburnt, consequently the flowers
were somewhat deformed. Marliac’s Chromatella and N.
odorata sulphurea depreciated only in size; the color was ex-
tremely rich, All varieties of hardy white Water-lilies decreased
in size and quantity of bloom likewise. It is cheering to note
the marked difference with all the above-mentioned Lilies
after a week of normal weather. The pink varieties have
improved in color, and all are improving in size and quantity
of flowers. An exception must be made with N. odorata
rosea ; this may be attributed to the crop of seed just ripen-
ing, as it produces seed freely, and while a plant is bearing a
crop Of truit it can hardly be expected to continue its produc-
tion of choice flowers at the same time. The tropical weather
experienced here early in August had a marked effect on all
the tender Nympheas; they grew luxuriantly and produced
most charming flowers of more intense coloring than I have
noticed before, nor did they lack in size or numbers. Victoria
regia made remarkable growth, producing three leaves and
four flowers in seven days. Nelumbiums also made remark-
able growth and Howers.

Though we do not always experience so long a heated term
so that the temperature of the water rises to one hundred de-
grees, yet, as a rule, Our Summers are hot, and during the
height of the season the hardy varieties of Water-lilies deterio-
rate more or less according to location. The fact is patent,
that the tender varieties are well adapted to our summer sea-
sons and are indispensable for water gardens. They are as
easy of culture as any of the hardy kinds, grow more luxuri-
antly, flower profusely, do not suffer through extreme heat and
continue to blossom until cut down by frost. The color of
the flowers is not equaled by the hardy varieties, and another
point in their favor is that they are within the reach of all, as
they can be purchased at a very low price compared with

some of the hardy kinds. :
Riverton, N. J. Wim. Tricker.

Ornamental Grasses.

jae value of Arundos, Miscanthus (Eulalias) and Erianthus
as decorative plants in the garden, and of their plumes
for cutting, is well known; but aside from these there are a
number of annual and dwartfer perennial kinds whose flowers
are particularly graceful and useful, either in making bouquets
of themselves, or in giving to other flowers that lightness and
gracefulness so necessary to well-arranged vases of flowers.
We reserve one border entirely for them, and have this

SEPTEMBER 2, 1896.]

year some twenty-five species. We sow the seeds the second
week in April rather thickly in four-inch pots placed on a gen-
tle hot-bed. The seed germinates in a few days, and by the
time the weather is fit tor planting out the Grasses will be
about two inches high. We then split up each species into
eight or more little clumps, and plant them about ten inches
apart so that each species forms a small square. I find this
way of raising Grasses far more reliable and easier than sow-
ing the seed in the open border. A collection of these Grasses
may be obtained from any reliable seedsman.

Of the species which have flowered in our border thus far
this season I find the following to be of especial value:

Agrostis nebulosa, an annual growing about eighteen inches
high, with panicles of extreme fineness ; in fact, one could
hardly imagine anything more delicate and airy. It is com-
monly called ‘Cloud Grass.” Nicholson's Dictionary of Gar-
dening describes this species as ‘panicles resemble, when
developed, a cloud resting over the ground.” Bromus brize-
formis, an elegant species growing about two feet high, with
panicles of drooping spikelets, each spikelet measuring three-
quarters of an inch long by half an inch wide. Briza gracilis,
a low-growing Grass with panicles of small triangular spikelets.
This species is commonly called the “ Litthe Quaking Grass.”
Coix Lachryma, growing toa height of three feet. The flowers
are borne in axillary pendulous racemes, and are more curious,
perhaps, than pretty, but the leaves, which are one foot long
by one inch wide, are particularly graceful. The seeds of this
species are large and round, very unlike Grass seeds in gen-
eral. The common name of this species is ‘‘Job’s Tears.”
Phalaris paradoxa, an annual growing about two feet high,
with flowers arranged in a close spike resembling the Fox-tail
Grass. Paspalum elegans, a beautiful species growing about
three feet high. The flowers are in close terminal panicles
and are of a beautiful silvery gray color. The leaves are
about four inches long by one wide. Panicum virgatum,
a perennial species, about four feet high, with very large ter-
minal panicles of flowers of a reddish brown color. The
leaves are from one to two feet long by half an inch wide.
Avena sterilis, growing about three feet inheight. The flow-
ers are in large spikelets, arranged in drooping panicles, and
are very handsome. The common name of this species is
«“Animated Oats.’ It is an annual and a native of Barbary.
Pennisetum longistylum, no doubt the best of all the spike-
flowered Grasses. The spikes are some five inches long, and
the long styles make them very beautiful. It grows about
three feet high and the leaves are long and narrow.

Botanic Garden, Northampton, Mass. Edward ve Canning.

Fancy-leaved Caladiums.—The collection of these plants at
' the nurseries of John Saul fills three good-sized houses. The
number ot kinds grown is somewhere in the neighborhood of
three hundred; most of the varieties have been imported
directly from Brazil; many of them are very distinct. While
most of them are highly colored, slow to grow and increase,
there are a great many kinds which make splendid specimen
plants for the greenhouse, and there are quiteanumber useful
for the decoration of the summer garden. Those kinds which,
from their appearance, are likely to be of use for summer
planting out-of-doors are carefully tested in the open ground ;
one of the best for this purpose is named Cataguazes. When
full grown it is about three feet high, the leaves are green on
the outer edges, the centres are white and spotted all over with
large pinkish white blotches. Pentado has greenish yellow
leaves spotted thickly with pink and white ; this variety is only
good for the greenhouse; it is slow-growing, but very showy.
Baron de Mamore has blood-red veins, the remaining part of
the leaf being thickly mottled with white ; a splendid variety
either for pot-culture or for bedding out. Carolina has leaves
light green at the margins, pink centre bordered with white;
good for pot-culture only. J.C. Schmidt has dark metallic
foliage ; the principal veins are deep pink. Capivari has green
leaves blotched with white and pink; good for outdoors.
Jurana has heart-shaped leaves. with green margins, bright
pink centres, but is of no use outside. E.G. Henderson is a
variety with an uneven leaf-surface, pink veins and pink
blotches on a green ground; a very good bedder. Ludde-
mannii has pink centre, green, blotched with white; good out-
of-doors. Diana is after the style of the well-known Triomphe
de l’Exposition, the foliage being somewhat paler than that
grand variety. Candidum is probably the best of the light-
colored ones. In Baron de Rothschild the principal veins are
very deep red, with the same color in blotches all over the
leaf; it is one of the best kinds for pot-work. It is found to be
a trifle more difficult to keep those highly colored kinds over

Garden and Forest.

ey |

winter than it is to keep the more robust sorts; the safest way
is to put the tubers either in dry sand or sawdust and keep in

a warm dry place. E
Botanic Garden, Washington, D.C. G. W. O.

Correspondence.

To Protect the Beauty of the Woods.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—It may not be generally realized that scientific forestry,
though of inestimable value to a growing country, may in
time despoil the woodland scenery of much of its highest
charm. If this is so, what is the remedy? It seems to me
that it might be desirable to include in the prospective man-
aging boards of our forest interests, whether state or national,
some person or persons whose influence should count for the
zesthetic value of our forests. In such a staff of directors, for
instance, as was proposed by Mr. Judson N. Cross, of Minne-
apolis, in his scheme for restoring and preserving the Min-
nesota woods (see page 181), might it not be proper under
these conditions to include some authority on art—somebody
with a recognized understanding and appreciation of the beau-
tiful in Nature ?

When I say that scientific forestry tends to mar the beauty
of woodland scenery, I refer to the changes in outward ap-
pearance that natural forests undergo asa result of some of
the methods prescribed by scientific forestry. On the whole,
such forests in time assume a strikingly artificial look. They
show the evidence of man’s handling and interference for
some purpose. The trees, where planted or svstematically
sown, stand in monotonous rows or squares. The transition
from undergrowth to standing forest is often abrupt and un-
pleasant. Again, there is not infrequently a systematic lopping
of the lower branches, through which the crowns of the trees
are raised to an awkward and unnatural height. Ata distance
the artificiality of such woods is still more obtrusive. They
are apt to look patched and pieced together, incongruous in
outline and form of surface and discordant in combination of
color. An irregular stripe of young Beeches, for instance,
may be followed bya patch of full-grown Pines, and this in
turn by a bare spot ready for an aftergrowth. Asa rule, there
is wanting that graceful outline, soft blending of shades and
fitness in detail that Nature, left to herself, so well knows how
to produce.

In detailing these effects of scientific forestry I have only
tried to show that scientific forestry methods do, in fact, influ-
ence undesirably the outward appearance of forests. The
effects I have spoken of are mostly the results of important
principles of forestry and cannot be sweepingly removed.
And yet something may, perhaps, be done to mitigate their
effect. It is plain, of course, that, on the whole, forestry must
be allowed free scope. It should be remembered, however,
that forestry is an art as well as a science, and that, according
to the conditions of soil, climate, and so forth, cases may arise
where one method would serve nearly as well as another. If
in some way the primeval aspect of a characteristic bit of
scenery might be preserved without seriously departing from
the main principles of the best forest practice, might not
such a departure be justified ? I have in mind a part of the
woods belonging to the city of Stuttgart, Wuerttemberg, which
lie several miles from the city on a hill. In this case an order
was given several years ago that these woods should at no
time be cleared, like the surrounding forest, but that refores-
tation should be effected through natural seeding or planting
under, in order that the dense beauty of the green forest might
stand uninterruptedly an agreeable sight to the citizens. We
may, perhaps, assume, or, at least, hope, that our system ot
forest management will be more pliable and elastic than forestry
systems of European countries, because our civil institutions
are less rigid and bureaucratic than theirs ; which leads me to
believe that instances like the one I have cited might with us
be made of still wider application. It is even conceivable that
special cases might arise where the exceptional beauty of the
landscape might warrant an entire subordination to it of the
question of material gain aimed at by forestry.

Aside from this, the critic I have proposed could exercise
his powers in certain other specific ways. He could, for in-
stance, select exceptionally beautiful or otherwise remarkable
individual trees for special protection and preservation. It
occurs to me that the selection of wooded areas for ‘* County
Parks,” as they were described in your editorial article for
June 3d, might likewise be entrusted to his care.

In this way it would be possible to retain something of the

358

pristine beauty of our scenery, and some of the best influences

of Nature, so constantly threatened in various ways by “ prog-

ress and civilization,” might be preserved.
Nuenden, Germany.

The Massing of Wild Flowers.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :

Sir,—Public parks and extensive private grounds have more
to do in moulding public opinion in horticultural matters than
all the learned works of floriculturists or landscape-gardeners.
Theirs is an illustration that he who runs may read. Their
mistakes and their successes are patterned after on every
hand. Because of this it isa pleasure to note that those with
roomy grounds are beginning to look to our native shrubs,
vines and flowers for a part of their planting.

As yet there is one fault to be found with nearly all of these
trials. They rarely show the breadth and plenitude of Nature
at her best. There is a narrowness of scope, a paucity of
effect, the more noticeable that it is in direct conflict with the
teachings of Nature. It is true that around our villages and in
long-settled portions of our country desirable native plants are
scattered, and found mostly as single specimens. How could
it be otherwisé when efforts to exterminate them have been
going on for years unchecked? But away from the homes of
men and the haunts of cattle the scene is changed. Dame
Nature scorns the puny achievements of the modern gar-
dener. Look over the unbroken expanse of a wild prairie in
June and July, and you will see acres upon acres, one vast sea
of flowers. I have myself seen ona western plain hundreds
of acres, one waving sea of Phlox in billows of white, mauve,
pink and crimson, dashed with the flame of thousands of wild
red Lilies. The finest park can show nothing as grand or as
impressive.

While such a display of this is beyond the power of man to
obtain, there are numberless other examples of Nature’s uses
of wild flowers that may readily be adapted to extensive
pleasure-grounds. A low strip of ground, perhaps a quarter
of an acre, completely carpeted with sky-blue Houstonia
ccerulea, is one such object-lesson; a tiny rivulet flowing
between banks thickly fringed with Lobelia cardinalis and L.
syphilitica in vivid spikes of scarlet and blue, is another, and
a solid mass of Cypripedium spectabile filling a little wooded
dell with rank, lush growth, a hundred of its royal banner-like
blooms in flower at one time, is yet another example of
Nature’s lavish massing.

It is not a difficult matter to secure these wild-flower carpet-
ings. First choose a judicious location and favorable soil,
then dot here and there plants such as you wish to occupy the
ground, Let them seed and spread after their own fashion,
and in a few years they will have taken complete possession
of the plot. Here at Oak Lawn we have found, to our cost,
that some wild flowers will not only fulfill this mission of car-
pet-bedding, but will invade the regular precincts of the formal
flower garden if not persistently weeded out. Conoclinium
ccelestinum and Verbena aubletia are especial nuisances, the
wind taking their light seeds and carrying them here, there
and everywhere. Sabbatias, native Irises, Agaves, Phloxes,
Violets and Dodecatheons are more satisfactory, forming well-
defined clumps or masses, but not spreading bevond bounds,

Pineville, Mo. Lora S. La Mance.

G. F. Schwarz.

Notes from Germantown, Pennsylvania.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—Few shrubs make a handsomer display in late August
than the chaste tree Vitex Agnus-castus. There are three
varieties with white, blue and lilac-purple flowers, respectively,
borne on spikes about six inches long, produced on the ends
of shoots of the present season’s growth. The scarcity of
shrubs with blue flowers makes the variety of this color most
desirable, perhaps. This shrub gets partly winter-Killed with
us, but this does not hurt it in the slightest. On the contrary,
the shoots seem to start more vigorously from the base and
give finer flowers than they otherwise would. Where it does
not partly winter-kill it would be best to prune it back well in
spring, as is done with Hydrangea paniculata grandiflora.
There is a species from northern China, Vitex incisa, which is
said to be hardy in New England.

The pink cones on many Magnolias are both interesting and
beautiful at this season of the year. M. tripetala makes the
best display of any species, the pods being of good size and
rosy pink in color, The Japanese M. hypoleuca has larger
pods, being six inches in length on small trees, but the color
is not as bright as those on our native tree. Magnolias are

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 445.

worth planting for the beauty of their fruit alone, for certainly
a this season of the year no trees are more ornamental than
these.

The Crape Myrtle, Lagerstrce mia Indica, though its tops get
winter-killed here in severe winters while the piant is young,
is able to withstand the cold when well established. The
common pink one is now in bloom about Germantown, and
the specimens draw the attention of every passer-by. The
varieties with white and with crimson flowers seem quite as

hardy.
1 Foseph Meehan.

Germantown, Pa.

The Forest.
The Burma Teak Forests.—V.

REVENUE DERIVED FROM OTHER KINDS OF TIMBER.

HE removal of these obstructions placed at my disposal a
large extent of good Teak localities that had never been
touched by the axe of the lumberman, and fortunately the exist-
ence of this wealth of growing timber was unknown to my
friends, the merchants of Rangoon.

It has already been stated that up to 1879-80 nearly the whole
surplus revenue was derived from the sale of Teak timber. In
1860, however, as soon as the financial success of forest admin-
istration in these provinces had been secured, large quantities
of other woods, not teak, sound, carefully selected pieces of
those kinds which were likely to prove useful, were brought
down from the forests to Rangoon. At the monthly sales
these timbers were sold at the Government timber depot with
the view of bringing other kinds of timber to public notice.
At that time these operations yielded no profit, nor was this
anticipated. They cost a good deal of money, but the object
I had in view was attained. A demand gradually sprang up
for several kinds, and among others one kind, Pentace Bur-
manica, a Tiliaceous tree, formerly quite unknown to trade,
was discovered to be useful tor tea boxes and furniture. After
I had left Burma in 1862 these operations were discontinued
for some time; they were, however, afterward resumed and
yielded a small surplus of 30,000 rupees a year On an average
during the three years ending with 1878-9.

As population increased in Burma, and as cultivation ex-
tended, the trade in other kinds of timber and bamboos
increased considerably. Outside the demarcated reserves the
cutting of other trees, not Teak, is and always has been free
for the extension of cultivation as wel! as for the domestic and
agricultural requirements of the people residing within a cer-
tain distance, usually five miles from the forests. Timber
and bamboos exported for trade, or used for the manufacture
of cutch (the extract of the heart-wood of Acacia Catechu, an
excellent material for tanning), are paid forat fixed rates. From
the demarcated reserves bamboos and timber of other kinds
are exported under special arrangements. But, as already
mentioned, the total revenue derived from bamboos and
woods of other kinds forms a small proportion only of the total
surplus forest revenue.

YIELD OF TIMBER AND REVENUE.

The result of working the forests of lower Burma, under
the system commenced in 1856, will be better understood by a
glance at the following figures, exhibiting for five unequal
periods, during the thirty-eight years from 1856 to 1893, the
number of trees girdled, the timber extracted from the torests
and the net revenue realized. In 1886 the kingdom of upper
Burma was annexed to the British Indian Empire. The present
figures relate to lower Burma only, that is to those provinces
which in 1856 were known as Pegu, Martaban and Tenasserim,
and which, with Arakan, were until 1886 known under the
designation of British Burma:

Timber extracted Annual net

Trees girdled annually. revenue.

Periods. annually. 1 ton = 50 cub. ft. Rupees.
12 years, ’56-’57 to 67-68, 24,300 25,200 208,000
Ir * ?68~'69 ‘* ’78-"79, 7.900 45.4c0 542,900
Io § = ?79~"80 ** 788-89, 18,009 28,700 945,000
5 *& 28g-*90 'F 793-94, 20, 300 68,000 1,870,000

The system of girdling the trees several years before they
are cut has this effect, that the girdled timber constitutes, as it
were, a store which is drawn upon gradually at the conveni-
ence of the persons employed in extracting the timber. Thus,
a large proportion of the timber girdled during the first period
of twelve years was not brought to market until many years
later, and served to swell the out-turnof the second period.
Again, the diminished girdlings during the second period took
effect in diminishing the timber extracted during the third

TE Oe ek Ce

SEPTEMBER 2, 1896.]

period. Apart from this temporary decrease, the annual yield
of the forests in timber has risen steadily, and, as already
stated, the net revenue has increased largely, and this was
mainly due to the increased quantity, and the improved quality
of the timber brought from the forests and to the rise in the
selling rates of Teak timber.

At the outset too favorable a view was taken of the rate of
growth of the Teak-tree, hence the large mean annual gird-
lings of the first period. In 1868 we erred in the opposite
direction, hence the small number girdled during the second
period. The total number of trees girdled during the thirty-
eight years in question was, as already stated, 660,000, or at
the rate of 17,400 a year. To the present time special
working plans have been prepared for eleven forest dis-
tricts in the Iraauddi and two in the Sitang valley, aggregating
865,260 acres. For this area (thirteen districts) the number of
trees to be girdled annually has been fixed by these working
plans at 13,680, or fifteen trees on I,o0o acres, The aggregate
area of reserved forests in lower Burma in 1894 amounted to
four million acres. A portion of this area has been reserved
for the sake of other valuable trees, chiefly Acacia Catechu.
The annual yield of the Teak localities, when special working
plans shall have been prepared for all, may safely be estimated
at 40,000 trees a year. It is most satisfactory that, although
in 1856 much too rapid a rate of growth was assumed,
nevertheless the girdlings during the first period were consid-
erably below what may be regarded as the probable normal
yield of these forests. It is, however, possible that the full
number stated in the returns—upon which the figures here
given are based—was not girdled. In thosedistricts where the
work was carried on in 1857 and 1858 no competent officers
were available to superintend the work.

The aggregate net revenue which these forests have pro-
duced during the thirty-eight years in question has amounted
to 27,240,000 rupees. During the first two periods, until 1879,
the rupee was worth on an average two shillings, but, owing
to the depreciation of silver, its value has since diminished
steadily, until during the five years of the last period itaveraged
fourteen pence. Expressed in gold, the aggregate net revenue
from these forests during this period of thirty-eight years has
amounted to £2,093,000. During the five years ending with
1894 the mean annual surplus revenue has amounted to
£109,080, or $545,400. Onan area of four million acres this
amounts to sixpence an acre, a rent with which no forest pro-
prietor in the United States would be satisfied. But it must
be remembered that Teak and Acacia catechu, at present prac-
tically the only marketable trees, form less than one-tenth part
of the whole growing stock, and, what is more important, that
all the easily accessible portions of the forest had previously
been cleared out, and that a large portion of the annual expen-
diture is devoted to the improvement of the forests by plant-
ing and otherwise.

The disastrous consequences which in 1860 the merchants
of Rangoon predicted would inevitably follow if the system
initiated in 1856 were persevered in, have not taken place; the
use of iron has increased all over the world, and yet Teak tim-
ber is not a drug in the market; its price has risen steadily. It
has chiefly been the wonderful development of the British
Indian Empire since that time which has thus increased the
demand for Teak timber. The millions inhabiting that empire
are prosperous, teak is the best timber in a tropical climate,
hence the export of this article from Burma to other parts of
the Indian Empire has increased largely, A portion only,
however, of this timber is the produce of the forests in lower
Burma. Those of upper Burma andof that portion of Siam
which is situated within the catchment area of the Salween
River also yield large quantities. At the commencement of
the period of thirty-eight years here adverted to, the quantity
exported annually from Rangoon and Moulmein amounted to
86,000 tons. During the five years ending 1893-4 it has averaged
182,000 tons. This shows the increase in the demand for Teak

i during that period.
eee eee epee Dietrich Brandis.

Bonn, Germany.

Recent Publications.

Familiar Trees and their Leaves.
trated by F. Schuyler Mathews.
& Co.

This book, with its attractive cover and well-printed
pages and illustrations, is another effort in a popular style
to help those who have but little botanical knowledge to
identify the different trees encountered by the roadside or
in the forest. In a briefintroduction Professor Bailey says :

Described and illus-
New York: D. Appleton

Garden and Forest.

359

“There are two ways of knowing trees: one is the way of
human feeling and sympathy through which a tree be-
comes a part of one’s self as the sunshine does and is
identified with every hallowed experience. Another way
is the botanical or analytical way which scrutinizes every
detail, is essential to truth but not to feeling, and is so
likely to restrict and dwarf the vision and the sympathies
as to make the tree but a laboratory filled with curiously
fashioned mechanism.” All this may be true, but we never
chanced to meet with a man whose appreciation of the
beauty or poetic charm of a tree was dulled because he
knew so much about it. We have never yet been
acquainted with an astronomer whose scientific attain-
ments prevented him from feeling the sublimity of the
starry heavens, nor with a geologist to whom the land-
scape was less lovely because he was familiar with the
history of its rocks and. knew the laws of the great forces
which had moulded its surfaces. It is certainly true, how-
ever, that many persons who would like to know some-
thing about trees have neither the time nor the inclination
to take up the systematic study of botany ; and yet a book
whose direct purpose is to help beginners to distinguish
one tree from another by means of their leaves will be of
little use unless it describes these leaves accurately and
compares them so as to bring out their resemblances and
differences. If this is done correctly it is science, and true
descriptive science as faras it goes. There can be no
question as to the usefulness of a book which leads the
beginner to examine and compare the leaves and barks
and fruits of trees for the purpose of identifying them, for
these features can be seen at almost any time of the year,
and unless one knows them familiarly and thoroughly he
never can become acquainted with the different species.
If trees are taken up as part of a course of botanical study,
with shrubs, herbs, grasses, etc., their flowers or repro-
ductive organs are likely to be the leading characters inves-
tigated. These are often minute, hard to secure, and
they usually remain but a few days. It is, therefore, much
more natural for one who simply wishes to learn how to
recognize trees to use a manual in which the leaves are the
features mainly relied on for determining them. To serve
this purpose Professor Apgar has already prepared an ad-
mirable little manual, entitled Zhe Trees of the Northern
United States, and by the help of a key and drawings of the
leaves it is quite easy for any one to make sure of the name
of any tree of which he has secured a specimen branch.
This book of Mr. Mathews is a good one, too, because in
the main the drawings are accurate and the statements are
clear and true, which means that it is good botany. It
would have been more helpful if it had been more sys-
tematic—that is, more scientific. In preparing a manual
to enable students to distinguish the leaf of a Willow from
the leaf of an Oak or any other tree, there can be no better
way than to make a drawing of a leaf which is as nearly
typical as may be, and then give a description in the old-
fashioned way. This Mr. Mathews has done fairly well.
The drawings would have been more useful if the scale
as compared with the natural size of the leaf had been
given in each instance. They are usually spirited and
accurate, but since Mr, Mathews tells us that he draws any
leaf which he may come across, whether typical or not, he
frequently draws those like the Crab-apple, on page 60,
which are not of the usual form. The serrate, heart-
shaped leaves of our Lindens are distinctly oblique at the
base, but this last character is not shown at all, while the
unlobed form ofthe Mulberry-leaf shows an inequality which
itdoes not have. The strong, curved, parallel ribs are strik-
ing characteristics of all our Dogwoods, which the draw-
ings fail to emphasize. Perhaps Butternut-leaves with nine
leaflets can be found, but they almost never have so few,
and the double buds of these trees are usually so con-
spicuous that when the twig on which the leaf appears is
added this character might well have been introduced.
We have also observed occasional inaccuracies in the de-
scriptions and a few obscure and erroneous statements, but

360

in the main the book is a trustworthy guide. It will serve
a good purpose if it encourages any reader to observe trees
more closely, for, after all, books of popular science can do
little more and nothing better than to stimulate habits of
personal investigation.

Notes.

The great Botanic Garden at Buitenzorg, in Java, has the
richest collection of Palms in the world. There are three hun-
dred determined species and a hundred which appear distinct,
although they are yet unnamed, besides varieties of known
species, so that it may be said that there are at least four hun-
dred different Palms cultivated there.

The Gardeners’ Chronicle for August 22d contains the first
part of a monograph by Mr. J. G. Baker on the genus Brodizea
and its allies. There has been so much confusion in the
nomenclature of these American bulbous Liliaceze that botan-
ists and every one who grows these beautiful plants will feel
under obligation to Mr. Baker for classifying and describing
the species.

Trees of Magnolia cordata in this vicinity are giving a
second crop of bloom this year, which, in truth, is nota very
uncommon thing, but owing, perhaps, to theabundant rainsand
warm weather the bright canary-yellow flowers are rather
more abundant than usual. This is now classed by botanists
as a variety of the Cucumber-tree, M. acuminata, but the color
of its flowers, its broader, more darkly green and more per-
sistent leaves make it quite a distinct tree for garden pur-
poses.

The so-called Japanese Wineberries, Rubus phcenicolasius,
have been marketed, it seems, in limited quantities at Portland,
Oregon, and in other cities on the Pacific coast during the
present season. It is said that the fruit appears to be larger
and better than it has been in former years, and it commands
about the same price as Black Cap raspberries. We have
never seen any of the fruit in this market, and should like to
hear the experience of any persons who have grown this berry
for sale.

Half-dead conifers by the hundred have been removed from
Central Park during recent years, but too many still remain to
mar the beauty of the landscape and often to impair the effect
of well-grown adjacent trees or prevent younger ones from
attaining symmetrical development. On the western edge of
the East Drive, opposite McGown’s Pass Tavern, there are a
dozen decaying and unhappy-looking Spruces which could be
cut out to the immediate profit of their neighbors and to the
improvement of a picturesque bit of road.

At the last session of the Ohio Legislature an act was passed
to prevent the spread of contagious diseases among fruit-trees,
especially the yellows and the black-knot, The act provides
for the destruction and burning of trees and fruits infected by
the yellows, and, in accordance with its provisions, the experi-
ment station has just issued a bulletin giving full informa-
tion relative to the different diseases, with illustrations and
with regulations and directions for marking and destroying
the trees by the fruit commissioners of the various town-
ships.

All kinds of fruit are now so abundant in this city that only
the very best qualities are salable at remunerative prices. The
best Bartlett pears in large barrels have brought $4.25 at
wholesale; the few Seckels which have come to market have
sold for as much as $5.00a barrel. Plums are coming gen-
erally now from western New York, and good Green Gages
bring only twenty-five cents a basket, and the best Lombards
‘ and Egg plums no more than forty cents. Grapes are abun-
dant and cheap. A few Tokays, from California, brought
$2.00 a box, but, of course, they have not as yet much color.

The city of Leipsic is encircled as far as the eye can reach
by a monotonous plain. Many years ago the City Council
ordered that all the refuse and ashes of the town should be
deposited at a certain point in a suburb which is imaginatively
called the Valley of Roses, a suburb which in reality shows no
valley and is chiefly devoted to the cultivation of prosaic
edible vegetables. Gradually this ash-mound, which has been
named Mount Georgi, in honor of the burgomaster who de-
creed it, has risen to the imposing height of some 120 feet, and
the Council recently appropriated the sum of ten thousand
marks for the purpose of covering it with vegetation and
erecting upon its summit an outlook tower which they assure
the world will be a most attractive point of pilgrimage. Ameri-

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 445.

cans who read of the long effort which the citizens of Leipsic
have been making to enliven the landscape ought to feel
some compunctions of conscience at their neglect of the
original and striking natural beauties of their own cities which
are so often despised and destroyed.

The last number of Zhe Garden contains a beautifully
colored plate showing various hybrids of the Pheasant's-eye
Narcissus, and in a brief, but instructive, article the Rev. G.
H. Englehart calls attention to the wide range over which hybrid
Narcissi have expanded, so as to embrace greater variety of
form and color, since the blood of Narcissus poeticus has
been introduced. Stately and beautiful as the Trumpet Daffo-
dils are, there would be a considerable sameness among them
without the Poeticus blood. Secondary crosses between N.
incomparabilis and N. poeticus give the most brilliant scarlets
and oranges by infusing the red in the eye of the latter into the
highly colored hybrids which have already derived their color
from the first cross. One of these figured hybrids has a cup
of apricot-scarlet, another of clear yellow, with a perianth as
purely white as that of N. poeticus itself. Mr. Englehart also
notes that by intercrossing good forms of the Pheasant’s-eye
Narcissus and by seed selection this species is capable of great
increase in size and enrichment of color, showing solid, bold,
well-formed flowers almost twice the size of those of Poeticus
ornatus and with large eyes deeply suffused or margined with
fiery red.

Mr. George A. Cochrane, in writing to the Country Gentle-
man about foreign markets for our tall apples, says that the
fruit crop in Europe for this year is likely to be no more than
fair, but that there will still be an active demand for American
apples if carefully selected and well packed. There are many
varieties of fall apples growing in New England and New York
which have been thought too tender for the long voyage
across the sea, but since the introduction of fast steamers they
could be exported with profit if packed in boxes holding half
a barrel, with each piece of fruit wrapped in paper, as oranges
and lemons are transported. The boxes recommended are
similar in style to ordinary orange boxes with a middle piece,
making two apartments, and nailed so as to leave a space of
at least a quarter of an inch between the strips. Duchess,
St. Lawrence, Alexander, Gravenstein, Snow and Wealthy,
which will not carry safely in barrels, will carry perfectly well
in these boxes, and in some instances a case ot well-packed
and well-selected fruit will bring as much as a barrel. It
should be borne in mind that in England crisp apples with a
hard meat are preferred. Soft-meated or mealy fruits, such as
Porter, Williams and Astrachan, are not favorites.

Bulletin No. 45 of the Illinois Experiment Station is taken
up witha record of the different kinds of Apple-trees which
have been planted on the experimental farm of the University
of Illinois, during the past twenty-seven years, and the follow-
ing are the varieties which have given promise of the highest
and most continuous value, taken in the order of their season
of ripening: William Prince, Red Stripe, Hicks, Cole’s Quince,
Large Yellow Siberian Crab, Jefferies, Sharp’s, Utter, Jonathan
of Buler, Sweet Bellflower of Wyandotte County, McLellan,
Higby Sweet, Mansfield Russet, Westfield Seek-no-further,
Coon’s Red, Ned, Indiana Favorite and Royal Limbertwig. The
descriptions of all these apples and many more are given with
great care and will be found a valuable supplement to the
fruit lists of the Pomological Society or of local state societies.
It is rather a singular fact that good authorities like Downing,
Warder and Thomas differ so widely in their descriptions of
the various characters of apples. One, for example, will
describe the flesh of a certain apple as white, while another
will call it yellowish. The truth is, as stated in this bulletin,
that there are individual characters which it is impossible
to describe accurately or minutely, but which, nevertheless,
distinguish the variety. These are rarely all present in any
one specimen, and it is not uncommon to find a number of
specimens together, each of which or all of which lack some
one very characteristic mark. Asa rule, the more minute the
description the more likely it is to fall into error. This comes
(1) from individual variation, (2) from variation with the sea-
son, (3) from slight peculiarities, climatic differences, etc.,
because apples grown in one locality differ in form, quality
and other characters from those grown in another. Descrip-
tions which have been made of the same variety in different
seasons often vary more or iess, and sometimes vary so
widely as to justify the supposition that they were made for
different varieties. Fruit which is undoubtedly of the same
variety is not always the same on different trees, and summer
pruning and other cultural conditions are often potent in caus-
ing variation,

SEPTEMBER 9, 18096.]

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrick: Trisung Burtpinc, New York.

Conducted by . . . . + + + « « « « Professor C. S. SARGENT.

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1896.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Epitor1aL_ ArmTICLes :—Fertilizers and Flowers.......seeeeeeeeeeeee Ceo IH ee 361
Newport through English Eyes... DODE SEBO OREC ESO eer nee res 362
Botanical Gardens.—II..........-.s0seeeneee eeeee Professor N. L. Britton. 362

The Wood Pulp Supply and our Spruce Forests. ..........++:0-5 G. E. W. 363
FoREIGN CoRRESPONDENCE :—London Letter.........+- -W. Watson. 364
Prant Notes :—Aquilegia Jonesii. (With figure.)........sseeeeeeesee cers eee es 365

CutturaL Department :—Dodder on Garden Vegetables. (With figure.)

Professor Byron D. Halsted. 365
WN, Craig. 366
E. O. Orpet. 366
7. D. Hatfield. 367
Gs Howard Powell. 368
, | Sir Dietrich Brandis. 368

Carnation Notes.
Violets...
Seasonable Flower Notes...
CorRESPONDENCE :—The Delaware Peach ice op.
Tue Forest :—The Burma Teak Forests.—VI..
Exurpitions :—Autumn Flower Show at Boston.. vee
Notes.
ILtustraTions :—Aquilegia Jonesii, Fig. 48.....
Dodder Growing on Onion Leaves, Fig. 49

Fertilizers and Flowers.

URING recent years there has been an immense
increase of popular knowledge relating to the use
and action of fertilizers upon the growth of crops. So
much instructive literature on this subject has been dis-
seminated by our agricultural experiment stations, by
the addresses at farmers’ institutes and societies and in the
agricultural and horticultural newspapers, that farmers and
truck-growers use manures much more intelligently and
effectively than they did a few years ago. In many cases
they buy different chemicals and mix them so as to form a
fertilizer which combines nitrogen, phosphoric acid and
potash in different proportions, and they are careful to
apply it to different soils and upon different crops, so thata
certain amount of each of these nutriments in an available
form is supplied for their roots. ;
Now, it is understood that the soil is something more than
a storehouse for plant-food. Aside from its chemical con-
tents, its structure and texture are of great importance,
since it must be so formed mechanically that it will retain
the plant-food in a watery solution so that the roots can
take it up and yet be sufficiently open to allow the admis-
sion of a proper amount of air, which is just as necessary
to the parts of the plant below the surface of the ground as
to the parts above it. No cultivators take greater pains
and show greater skill in securing soil that is just in the
proper mechanical condition than florists do, and a large
amount of the success in floriculture depends on the skill
with which the soil is prepared so that its particles will be
neither too small nor too large—neither too loose nor too
binding. But, somehow, the question of scientific fertiliz-
ing has not yet received as much study by florists as by
truck-growers and farmers. Owing to the small amount of
soil to be enriched, it costs but little to use an abundance
of whatever fertilizer may be at hand, and long practice
has given flower-growers skill to note whether a plant
seems overfed or starved, and they give or withhold as the
case may be. Nevertheless, it is quite possible that some-
times a plant which seems starved is abundantly provided
with all sorts of nutriment except a single one, while
another plant which is overfed may only have a surplus of
one ingredient.

Garden and Forest.

3601

Professor R. C. Kedzie therefore did a wise thing when
he read an address, at the late convention of the Society of
American Florists, devoted to the application of fertilizers to
plants for flower-growth. In a familiar way he told how
nine tenths of the substance of cultivated plants—carbon,
etc.—comes from the air, and that of the remaining
elements almost all of them are found in abundance in
ordinary garden soil, and explained that the florist needed
phosphorus, nitrogen and potash for his plants, just as the
farmer needs them for his crops. He showed them how
potash stood at the very portals of vegetable life to help the
chlorophyll cells in their work of active as similation ; he
showed how phosphorus is closely in touch with the prin-
ae of life from the very beginning, and is needed espe-
cially in the development of the root and leaf of all young
plants ; he showed, too, how the highest products of plant
life are all rich in nitrogen, and that when this element is
supplied in abundance there is a luxuriant growth and the
leaves acquire a particularly dark green color; and just
here he made a practical suggestion. A _ riotous leaf-
growth is increased by the application of nitrates, but it is
sometimes accompanied by the arrest of fruit formation,
and the flowers become sterile and fall off and few
flower-buds are formed. Now, the superphosphates have
a direct tendency to the formation of flowers and fruits, and
in this fact may be found a corrective for the tendency of
nitrogenous manures to excessive leafage just as the farmer
uses the soluble phosphates to hasten the setting and ripen-
ing of his crops. An instance in orchard practice was cited
which illustrated this point. A large collection of Pear-
trees had been set out on rich ground, and they grew
vigorously until the trees were of large size, but they bore
no fruit. The farmer was advised to give the orchard a
liberal dressing of plain superphosphate, which he did,
with the result that the orchard produced a crop of pears
in one year that sold for enough money to pay for the
whole farm. Now, since the woody growth of a Pear
orchard can thus be turned to fruitfulness, it might seem
that the plants which have been forced into making a great
leaf-growth by nitrate of soda might be induced to ener-
getic flowering with a superphosphate, and in this way the
alternate use of the two kinds of manure could be turned
to practical advantage.

But this is only a single example of what might de done
by the use of different nutrients. Well-rotted stable manure
contains all the elements of plant-food, and it has a benefi-
cent effect on the mechanical condition of many kinds of
soil. It probably helps, too, in another way by furnishing
a congenial home for the various bacteria and other organ-
isms which are necessary to prepare the mineral ingre-
dients of plants for absorption. The use of abundant stable
manure in many of the market-gardens of Long Island has
filled the soil with humus to such a degree that no more is
needed, and, therefore, in many instances commercial fer-
tilizers are used entirely. No doubt, soil of sucha richness
and texture can be prepared by florists that no plant-food
need be used except the three elements which are found in
the so-called ‘‘ perfect” fertilizers of commerce. And just
here is the opportunity for many experiments which may
bring results of genuine practical value. It might be shown
what proportion of each was best adapted to given soils or
particular plants, or for special purposes. It would be
interesting to know whether an excess of either nutrient
would be useful in prolonging the flower season, in mak-
ing flowers more lasting, in the particular development of
leaves in foliage plants and in numerous other directions.

Professor Kedzie advises as a practical matter that the
best way to furnish potash for general use is to give it in the
form ofashes. Indeed, he names wood ashes as a fertilizer
of the first importance. These ashes contain all the mineral
matter of plant-growth, and without this matter in some
form noplant can grow. The potash, too, is more active than
it is in some chemical conditions, because it is alkaline and
the ash contains in a very finely developed condition all
the remaining minerals that are taken up by plants. The

362

Stassfurt salts in some form, whether sulphate or muriate,
is the next best way of applying potash. Chili saltpetre
will be the main reliance for nitrogen since it contains six-
teen per cent. of that substance and is better suited to most
soils and plants than the salts of ammonia. Desiccated
blood is also rich in nitrogen and gives out its supplies
more uniformly, and is not washed out by sudden rain or
a profuse watering, and it does not “burn” the plants in a
dry time. It also contains some potash and phosphates
and a good deal of valuable organic matter. Bones insome
shape remain the favorite form of phosphoric acid, and they
have an additional value because they contain animal
matter which is rich in nitrogen, antl because they are
more easily dissolved than the mineral phosphates, like the
South Carolina and Floridarock. The more finely divided
the bone is, of course the more active and valuable it is.
All the commercial fertilizers on sale contain these elements
in various proportions, and in states where some legal con-
trol is exercised over this trade the stations will furnish on
application the percentage of each ingredient, with its con-
dition as to solubility, etc., in any given brand of which a
sample is sent.

Aw English visitor at Newport, writing to the Liverpool
Evening Mercury about the palatial residences of that city,
is impressed by their size and splendor, and has this to
say:

The situation of these houses, the distribution, the separa-
tion without fencing or walling, give to the whole scene an
unimaginable stateliness, with the bay asa glorious outlook.
No words can convey an idea of the marvelous spectacle of
well and graciously and artistically applied wealth which has
harnessed to its aspirations the greatest architectural art of the
country. The best part of the whole story is that all around
the edge ot the great cliff there is a beautiful well-kept path.
A lovely sward comes down to it and tle palaces all stand
well back, two hundred yards, perhaps, from the cliff. Observe,
there are no fences, nothing to prevent you, if you are rude
enough, from walking up the lawn and staring into the cot-
tagers’ lordly windows. No one does, but anybody might.
How is it that these palace mansions are built in this open,
unprotected way? Well, there was a right of way around the
cliff, which had to be respected, and so the cottagers agreed
upon the present policy. We know what would have hap-
pened in England. The path would have had a grim wall
built just inside of it, and the dukes and gentlemen who were
going to build the mansions would have instructed their archi-
tects to secure for them a maximum of sea view, while taking
care that the passing pedestrian public got a minimum of
opportunity to see their houses and grounds. Instead of that
these much-abused American millionaires hit on the bold and
beautiful idea of building two hundred yards in and leaving
their grounds and lawns absolutely open right down to the
public path. The result is such a combination of natural and
contrived beauty, open for the enjoyment of all, as cannot be
seen on such terms anywhere else in the world.

We have had occasion to criticise what seemed to be the
ostentatiousness or excessive showiness of many of the
houses at Newport, and the lack of good taste shown in
the over-elaborate and gaudy treatment of many of their
grounds. At the same time we have praised the neatness
with which these grounds are kept, and the advantages to
the public of the open promenade upon the brow of the
cliff, with its wonderful beauty and magnificent outlook.
This English visitor does not seem to have received the
impression of vulgarity which these palatial houses, calling
themselves cottages, have made upon some American eyes.
But what is rather more astonishing, the traditional English
love of privacy does not seem to have been offended by the
omission of tall boundary walls and screening planta-
tions.

The vegetable life does not content itself with casting forth
from the flower or the tree a single seed, but it fills the air and
the earth with a prodigality of seeds so that if thousands
perish thousands may plant themselves, that hundreds may
come up, that tens may live to maturity, that, at least, one
may replace the parent.—Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 446.

Botanical Gardens.—I1.

| Raneret BRITTON continued his address by giving
some brief descriptive notes of some of the foreign
gardens.
Java, which contains eleven hundred acres, and has been
in operation for eighty years ; the Royal Gardens at Kew,

- of which at different times we have given somewhat full

descriptions ; the Royal Gardens just outside the city of
Berlin, with their great herbarium and a museum of
economic, systematic and archeological collections; the
long-established Jardin des Plantes of Paris, with its enor-
mous herbarium, library and laboratories, a grand institu-
tution which for more than a hundred years has been
making contributions to the literature of botany ; the Gar-
den of the University of Vienna, established in the middle
of the last century ; the Botanical Garden of Geneva, with
the herbariums and libraries gathered by De Candolle and
Boissier ; the gardens at Edinburgh, at Dublin, at Brussels,
St. Petersburg, Trinidad and others. The conclusion of
the address is as follows :

BOTANICAL GARDENS IN THE UNITED StTares.—The first
botanical garden established in America was begun by John
Bartram in Philadelphia in 1728. In it he placed a considera-
ble number of plants obtained in the course of his extensive
travels. The plot still remains, including the family home-
stead, somewhat modified, and it is a pleasure to know that it
will be preserved as public ground by the city.

André Michaux in the latter part of the last century planted
gardens at Charleston, South Carolina, and New Durham, New
Jersey, but they were essentially nurseries, from which he sent
seeds and plants to Europe.

In the year 1801 Dr. David Hosack, then professor of botany
and materia medica in Columbia College, purchased twenty
acres of ground in New York City, and called it the Elgin
Botanical Garden; in this tract he accumulated with great
labor during the next ten years a very large and valuable col-
lection of plants. The institution was transferred to the state
of New York through an act of the legislature in 1810, and was
then known as the Botanical Garden of the State of New York,
It was subsequently granted to Columbia College. Funds for
its maintenance were not provided, however, and it was ulti-
mately abandoned. Two catalogues of its plants were issued
by Dr. Hosack, one in 1806 and another in 1811. The condi-
tion of botanical gardens in America at that time is indicated
by the following note in Dr. Hosack’s catalogue of 1806:

“TJearn, with pleasure, that a botanic garden is proposed
to be established near Boston and connected with the Univer-
sity of Cambridge. The Legislature of Massachusetts, with a
munificence which does them honour, have granted for this
purpose a tract of land, the value of which is estimated at
thirty thousand dollars, and several individuals have evinced
their liberality and love of science by voluntary subscriptions
to the amount of fifteen thousand dollars towards the establish-
ment and support of that institution. Another is also begun
at Charleston (South Carolina), and a third is contemplated in
New-Jersey in connection with the College of Princeton.”

In the year 1824 there was published at Lexington, Kentucky,
the Lirst Catalogues and Circulars of the Botanical Garden
of Transylvania University at Lexington, Kentucky, for the
year 1824, by W. H. Richardson, M.D., President of the Board
of Managers, and C. S. Rafinesque, Ph.D, Secretary. This
rare pamphlet, which is not recorded in Dr. Call’s very com-
plete life and writings of Rafinesque, is of twenty-four pages,
and is printed alternately in English and French, It is essen-
tially an appeal for plants and material for the garden and a
list of plants that it could furnish to kindred institutions. This
garden was evidently short-lived, inasmuch as in Rafinesque’s
Neogenyton of the following year, 1825, he remarks, ‘I mean,
therefore, to indicate and propose in this small essay many of
the numerous new genera of plants detected or ascertained,
some of which were indicated last year, 1824, in the Catalogue
of the Botanical Garden which I have tried in vain to. establish
in Lexington.”

The principal gardens at present operated and in course of
development in.the United States are as follows:

1. The Botanic Garden of Harvard University, at Cambridge,
Massachusetts, founded in 1805. There are here about seven

acres of land under cultivation, a small greenhouse and a.

famous herbarium and library from which have flowed during
the past forty years voluminous and invaluable contributions
to taxonomy and morphology, especially of North American

These include the great garden of Buitenzorg, of -

j
z
f
:

SEPTEMBER 9, 1896.]

plants. There is also a small morphologic laboratory. The
main laboratories and museums connected with the institution
are situated in other of the Harvard buildings, a short distance
away. Thesystem of garden libraries, museums, laboratories
and herbaria operated by Harvard College is one of the most
complete in existence. It is hard to say, indeed, in what
respect it is not ideal, except in the rather wide distance
separating the several elements and the small amount of land
available for planting.

2. The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard College, at Jamaica
Plain, Massachusetts, founded through a bequest of $100,000,
made about 1870, by Mr. James Arnold, of Providence, Rhode
Island, to three trustees, to be used for the improvement of
agriculture or horticulture. The trustees wisely determined
to devote it to forestry and dendrology, and effected coédpera-
tive agreements with Harvard College and the city of Boston,
which have now given us the greatest tree museum in exist-
ence, freely open to the visiting public. The planted area is
about 160 acres, and will be materially increased in size. A
good museum, library and herbarium building has been
erected near the main entrance. The great Sz/va of North
America and the journal GARDEN AND FOREST are note-
worthy publications from this noble institution.

3. The Botanical Gardens of the United States Department of
Agriculture, at Washington, with an extensive range of green-
houses and a large tract of land under cultivation. The her-
barium of the department, now deposited with the United States
National Museum, is very large, and is at present increasing
more rapidly than any other in America. Thereisa somewhat
effective working library which greatly needs material en-
largement, and several poorly located and equipped labora-
tories in which a vast amount of important investigation is
being accomplished, under very unfavorable conditions,
which urgently demand improvement. Publications include
Bulletin of the Botanical Division, Bulletin of the Divison of
Forestry, Bulletin of the Division of Plant Pathology and
Physiology, Contributions from the United States National
Herbarium, Year-book of the United States Department of
Agriculture, and circulars of the several divisions.

4. The Missouri Botanical Garden, at St. Louis, Missouri.
This was established in 1889, through the provisions of the
will of Mr. Henry Shaw, who for over thirty years previously
had been bringing together material for it on the land about
his residence, which was known as Shaw’s Garden. There
were in all some 670 acres devised to the institution under the
will of the generous and philanthropic founder, and from the
income yielded by much of this land, not nearly all the area
being required for garden purposes, the institution derives its
large maintenance fund, which will certainly be greatly in-
creased as the land becomes more valuable, and will supply
an income sufficient to operate the institution in the most
effective manner. There are several greenhouses, a very
large and valuable herbarium and library, while the labora-
tories of the Shaw School of Botany, at Washington University,
are in close relationship to the garden. Much important
research, principally taxonomic, has been prosecuted. Publi-
cations consist of seven volumes of annual reports, and nine
Contributions from the Shaw School of Botany.

5. The Botanical Garden of the Michigan Agricultural Col-
lege. This was begun in 1877, and there are now about three
acres under high cultivation, exclusive of the arboretum and
decorative grounds, which together cover several acres. There
are several small greenhouses, an herbarium of about 60,000
specimens, a good botanical library and extensive well-
equipped laboratories.

6. The Botanical Garden of the University of California, at
Berkeley. This was established some years ago and comprises
several acres in which a large number of plants are grown. It
furnishes a valuable adjunct to the work of the botanical
department, which has well-equipped laboratories, a working
library and a large herbarium.

7. The Garden of the University of Pennsylvania, recently
established. It comprises about three acres in the immediate
vicinity of its building, in Philadelphia, and has many species
under cultivation. The extensive and well-appointed labora-
tories of its School of Biology, good library facilities and a
small herbarium afford capital opportunity for research, espe-
cially in physiology and morphology.

8. Smith College, at Northampton, Massachusetts, has also
recently established a botanical garden on the campus.

g. The Buffalo Botanical Garden, in South Park, Buffalo,
New York. This was commenced in 1893, and has since
made rapid and encouraging progress. A small range of
greenhouses has been built and others are planned. A
beginning has been made in accumulating a library and

Garden and Forest.

363

herbarium, and much permanent planting has been accom-
plished. :

10. The New York Botanical Garden. The establishment
of the New York Botanical Garden was authorized by the Legis-
lature in 1891, and the enabling act amended in 1894. The
enterprise was inaugurated and the legislation procured by a
committee of the Torrey Botanical Club, appointed in 1880.
The act of incorporation provided that when the corporation
created should have raised or secured by subscription a sum
not less than $250,000, that the Commissioners of Public Parks
were authorized to set apart and appropriatea portion of one
of the public parks, not exceeding 250 acres, and the Board of
Estimate and Apportionment was authorized to issue bonds
ageregating the sum of $500,000, for the construction and

equipment, within the grounds, of the necessary buildings.

The subscription of $250,000 required by the act of incorpora-
tion was completed in June, 1895, and the Commissioners of
Public Parks, in the following month, formally appropriated
250 acres of the northern part of Bronx Park for the purposes
of the Garden. Since that time the preparation of plans for
the development of the tract has been steadily progressed,
including designs for the Museum Building and large Horti-
cultural House. This planning is still in progress in charge of
a commission of architects, engineers, gardeners and _ bota-
nists, who wtll complete their work within a short time and be
ready to submit a complete scheme to the Board of Managers
during the coming autumn. Meanwhile, much preliminary
work has been accomplished in clearing the ground, in grad-
ing, in the planting of borders, in the establishment of an
extensive nursery, and in the accumulation of herbarium,
museum and library material. Through a codperative agree-
ment entered into with Columbia College, the herbarium and
botanical library of the college will be deposited with the Gar-
den, and most of the research and graduate work of the
college in botany will be carried on in the new Museum
Building.

The endowment fund has been materially increased, and
about 430 persons have become annual members of the Gar-
den, contributing ten dollars a year each to its support. The
publication of a Bulletin has been commenced by the issue, in
April, of the first number of Volumel.

The Wood Pulp Supply and Our Spruce Forests.

HE increased demand for white paper for newspapers
and other uses has emphasized greatly the value of
our Spruce forests, but, unfortunately, the pulp mills have
had less regard for the future of their supplies than for the
immediate profits in the business. There are upward of
two thousand pulp and paper mills in the United States,
and they are all busily engaged in denuding the Spruce
forests for the purpose of supplying a cheap material for
printers and publishers. A cord of Spruce wood makes
about 2,000 pounds of wood pulp, and as the average cost
of this wood in New England and New York is $7 to $8,
no cheaper material for making paper can be found. In
parts of New England an acre of Spruce land, carrying
about fifteen cords, can be purchased for from $12 to $20,
or in many places the wood can be had at $1 per cord on
the stump.

The cost of cutting and transporting the wood to its
destination represents a heavier item than the mere pur-
chase of the trees, especially if the forest is situated at a
distance from ariver or transportation line. In 1893 the de-
mands for wood pulp exhausted the entire growth of Spruce
on at least 100,000 acres, and since then the demand has
increased annually at the rate of fifteen per cent. The
outlook for the coming year is that nearly 200,000 acres of
Spruce trees will be needed to supply the demands of the
paper makers and wood pulp manufacturers, for in recent
years many articles other than paper are made out of
Spruce wood pulp.

The question of the exhaustion of the Spruce lands is of
paramount importance just now, for Spruce lumber has an
intrinsic value aside from its importance in the paper in-
dustry. No wood can, in fact, take its place in the light
construction of house frames. ‘The only woods that can
approach it in this respect are white wood and the Southern
pine, but pine lumber is selling for about $5 per 1,000 feet

304

more than Spruce to-day. Of the two for ordinary build-
ing purposes the Spruce lumber is far more valuable.

Under this increasing demand the va'ue of Spruce timber
land is steadily advancing, and the owner of a good forest
of these trees near a river or railroad could not find a better
investment where his money would surely pay a high rate
of interest. Within a few years Spruce lumber has ad-
vanced from ten and twelve dollars per thousand feet to
fifteen and eighteen dollars. But even at this latter price,
the highest yet reached, it is only ona par with White
Pine and lower than the Southern Pine. If the mills con-
tinue to denude the Spruce forests at the present rate the
value of good timber will nearly double itself in the next
twenty years.

It is a matter of considerable concern to small owners of
Spruce lands to know that the manufacturers of wood pulp
and the owners of large mills are making provisions for
the future by thinning out the forests instead of cutting
them clean. The young saplings are allowed to remain,
and in twenty years they will be mature trees, ready to
yield another crop. On the other hand, there is a notice-
able lack of intelligent cutting among many of the small
New England owners, who either sell all of the Spruce
trees on their land, or cut down, indiscriminately, the small
and large trees. If only the large, mature trees, measuring
twelve inches in diameter at the base, are cut down, the
young trees grow rapidly and quickly make up the loss

In Germany Spruce forests are cultivated so that the
supply of wood pulp is even greater than in this country.
No trees under one foot in diameter at the base are cut
down for the mills, and the forests, although yielding an
enormous supply, are only thinned out each year. It has
been the cheapness and comparative abundance of Spruce
trees in this country that has caused the willful waste, and
there is danger that another area of neglect will follow the
opening up of the Spruce regions in the Dominion of
Canada. The Spruce forests in the Province of Quebec
are said to be more extensive than all those combined in
the United States, and the cost to lumbermen is about one-
half what they have to pay for it in this country. Many
of the mills, therefore, have been moved into Canada, and
the lumbermen are denuding the primitive forests as fast
as steam will permit.

The Canadian Government has been making efforts to
protect the forests under its jurisdiction, and if something
could be done to stop the greed of the paper mills it would
redound to the benefit of both countries. Our pulp mills
have been rushing into Canada so rapidly that a good part
of our supply of wood pulp in the next year or two will
come from that country. This temporarily relieves the
strain upon our own forests, but as the supply in Canada
cannot continue forever the subject of restricting the de-
struction of the Spruce trees in this country might meet
with less opposition from lumbermen than formerly.
Canada realizes but little from the exports of its forest prod-
ucts, for the raw material is sold at very low prices, and
the country suffers more than she receives as a result.

Some of the largest capitalists have been greatly disap-
pointed in the supply of Spruce trees in New England in
the last year or two. The railroads that have been pushed
into the heart of the woods have failed to tap forests as
rich in lumber as was generally expected. The supplies
along the Androscoggin, Penobscot and Kennebec have
also materially diminished, and the floods and freshets
have helped to make the supply for the mills uncertain.
The safest way of getting the raw material is by the aid of
railroads, and these are now being constructed in endless
numbers all through the woods. Where such expensive
methods of transportation are constructed the forests are
likely to be better protected than on the lines of the rivers.
Some of the large wood pulp mills and railroads represent
a capital invested of over half a million dollars, and it is
only reasonable to suppose that they are intended to be
permanent. They can be made permanent, however, only
by having the forests properly handled.

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 446.

A trip through the Spruce forests will readily convince
one that forest management is being practiced to a certain
extent along the railroad lines connecting with expensive
mills, but that itis entirely neglected along the rivers where
smaller mills have been built merely to rob the woods of
lumber they can find growing. In this respect the large
capitalist is a better protector of the forests than the small

lumbermen ; not because he loves the forests, but because -

they bring larger returns and make his property more val-

Mable to the future. GC EW:

Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.

Eucatyprus cALOPpHYLLA.—Among the many representa-
tives of this genus grown in the conservatories of this
country Eucalyptus calophylla is one of the most orna-
mental. It forms a sturdy, leafy, pyramidal tree, and
flowers when from twelve to twenty feet high, the lowers
being borne in crowded clusters on the young branches,
and each flower a green cup-like calyx bearing a brush-
like head of white stamens two inches across. The leaves
are ovate-lanceolate, about five inches long, bright green,
with a whitish margin, the midrib, petiole and bark of the
young branches being bright red. There is a healthy ex-
ample of it now flowering freely in the temperate-house at
Kew, where it is planted in a peat-bed in the sunny end of
the house along with Grevilleas, Acacias and other Austra-
lian plants. An excellent figure of this species was pub-
lished under the name of E. splachnicarpon in 7e Botanical
Magazine in 1843, prepared from a plant flowered at Kew
in that year. It had been introduced by Allan Cunning-
ham, who discovered it in King George’s Sound, where it
forms an immense tree. It is one of the most beautiful of
the trees grown in the streets and gardens in South Africa.
The flowers are among the largest of the genus, and it
equals any of the species in rapidity of growth.

Trias piscirLora.-—The genus Trias is closely allied to
Bulbophyllum, which it resembles in habit and foliage.
Only some half a dozen species are known, and they are
all Indian. ‘TT. disciflora was introduced about two years
ago from Siam, and flowered in the nursery of L’Horticul-
ture Internationale, Brussels. It was at first thought to be
a Bulbophyllum. A plant of it is now in flower at Kew.
It is by far the largest-flowered and most striking of the
species. The pseudo-bulbs are clustered, each nearly an
inch long, broadly ovoid, one-leaved, the leaf four inches
long, thick, fleshy and lanceolate. The scapes spring from
the base of the matured pseudo-bulbs, and are about an
inch long, one-flowered, the flower being nearly two inches
across. ‘The sepals are triangular, an inch long, half an
inch wide at the base, colored yellowish green, with
numerous spots of dark red; petals small and ear-like ;. lip
nearly as long as the sepals, tongue-shaped, fleshy, with a
central groove and a pair of auricles at the base; the sur-
face is covered with minute, dull red, wart-like dots.
Column green, with a pointed, beak-like anther. The
plant deserves a place in large collections of tropical
Orchids.

Tra Roses.—We are only now learning how to appre-
ciate and make the most of these plants in summer gar-
dening. Twenty years ago many cultivators looked upon
the Tea Rose as a delicate plant that required pot culture
and the protection of a frame or house in winter. We now
know that they are not only perfectly safe in the open bed,
but that they make a far more beautiful display from June till
September than any other section of the great Rose family.
I lately saw in the garden of Mr. W. Robinson, at Gravetye
Manor, Sussex, a flower garden formed entirely of Tea
Roses, and a more beautiful picture it is impossible to
imagine. Mr. Robinson has long been an admirer and
collector of Tea Roses, and he now possesses a large col-
lection of all the best that are known. They are, he says,
mostly grafted on the Brier, but at Kew we find it an

P
q
;

SEPTEMBER 9, 1896.]

advantage to have them on their own roots. Severe frosts
kill the shoots down to the ground, but this doesnot much
matter as the plants push into vigorous growth from below
as soon as warm weather returns. At Kew the shoots are
protected from frost by sticking a few Yew branches about
them. Mr. Robinson does not mulch his Roses with
manure, the only mulch they get being a sort of carpet of
bedding Violas (Tufted Pansies), Saxifragas, etc. Where
the soil is poor or the subsoil gravelly, I should, however,
recommend a good annual mulch with manure. In Mr.
Robinson’s garden the Roses are grouped in beds upon a
smooth lawn, some of the varieties being represented by
groups of a dozen plants or more. The effect of the whole,
when the flowers are at their best, is superb, while monotony
is impossible, owing to the ever-changing character of the
display, to-day’s best rose being second or third to-morrow,
and soon. Mr. Robinson gives the palm to Marie Van

Fig. 48—Aquilegia Jonesii.

Houtte, which is also the most beautiful of the varieties
grown at Kew, the second best being Comtesse Riza du
Parc. I made a list of three dozen of those which I thought
best of those in flower at Gravetye, which I give here in
the hope that it will assist those who desire to have a gar-
den of Tea Roses of great variety in habit of growth, form,
size and color of flowers, and all of first-rate quality : Anna
Olivier, Augustine Guinoisseau, Bouquet d Or, Christine
de Noué, Clement Nabonnand, Doctor Grill, Duchesse
d’Auerstadt, Duchesse Marie Immaculata, Edith Gifford,
Eliza Fagier, George Nabonnand, Gloire Lyonnaise, Jean
Gravier, Jean Pernet, Jeanne Guillaumez, Maman Cochet,
Madame Hoste, Madame Lambard, Madame _ Joseph
Schwartz, Madame Charles, Madame Welsh, Marie Van
Houtte, Marquise de Vivens, Narcisse, Nardy, Pauline
Labonte, Princess Marie d’Orleans, Princess de Sagan,
Rubens, Souvenir de Madame Sableyrolles, Souvenir de
Madame Levet, Souvenir deS. A. Prince, Viscountess Folke-

Garden and Forest.

- the stems.

365

stone. It will be perceived from the names that most of
these are of French origin. I do not pretend to have
included here all that are first-rate, but any one who secures
these and cultivates them properly will have a good repre-
sentative collection of Tea Roses. [We are glad to have
this report as to the condition of the Tea Roses at Gravetye
Manor in late August. In mid-June they made a picture
which no one who saw them can forget, and doubtless
their beauty and fragrance will be a continual delight
until late in autumn. They certainly make one of the
most interesting features of Mr. Robinson's charming place.
If any other shrub displayed its flowers all summer long
we would weary of its constant presence, but who was
ever tired of seeing roses? No other plant can fill the
place of Tea Roses used in this way, and yet they are so
rarely seen planted as they are at Gravetye that Mr. Robin-
son may be said to have discovered or created a new kind
of garden. —Ep. ]

ALTH#A FiciroL1a.—This is the stateliest and certainly
one of the most beautiful of the numerous tall herbaceous
plants, Malvaceous and other, now flowering in the bor-
ders at Kew. It is, in a broad sense, a single Hollyhock,
but it differs from all the forms of Hollyhock known to me
in its slender stems, its deeply lobed Fig-like leaves and
the development of the flowers in tufts here and there over
The plants are large spreading masses, seven
feet high, and the flowers are of a soft sulphur-yellow color.
It reproduces itself freely from seeds and is a biennial.
Although really an old garden plant, Althea ficifolia was
unknown in English gardens until reintroduced to Kew
two years ago. It is a native of the Levant, and was cul-
tivated in England nearly three hundred years ago.

W. Watson.

London.

Plant Notes.
Aquilegia Jonesii.

HE alpine slopes of the high mountains of northern

Wyoming and Montana are enlivened in summer
with this dwarf Columbine, which grows in great profusion
at elevations of about 8,000 feet just west of the continental
divide, where, mingled with Fritillaria pudica, it is con-
spicuous in the charming carpet of dwarf plants which
covers the slopes above the springs which feed the Flat-
head River. It is a densely cespitose, soft-pubescent plant
with much-thickened branched, ascending root-stalks cov-
ered with the closely imbricated persistent bases of the
petioles above which rise the crowded leaves of the year ;
these are biternately divided with minute-clustered ovate
divisions. The flower-stalk, which is from one to three
inches in height, bears a single bright blue flower which
appears disproportionately large for the plant.

Aquilegia Jonesii, which is one of the most distinct and
beautiful: of the American Columbines, is, we believe, still
untried in gardens, to which, however, our illustration on
this page will, it is hoped, serve to introduce it. It was
discovered by Dr. C. C. Parry on the Phlox Mountain,
in north-western Wyoming, in 1873, and ten years later
it was found by Canby and Sargent on the old Marias
Pass, in northern Montana. *

Cultural Department.
Dodder on Garden Vegetables.

WICE during this season samples of truck crops.have
been sent to this station with complaints of injury
being done by what proved, upon inspection, to be Dodder.
The first lot of attacked plants was seedling Egg-plants
from a hot-bed, and the second was a score of onion tops,
upon which the parasite had made itself thoroughly at home.
It is not unusual to find various species of Cuscuta grow-
ing upon the wild plants of the lowlands, and in some

* Parry, Am. Nat., viii., 2x1 (1874).—Robinson, Sy. #2. NV. Am., i., pte i, 43.

366

places it grows so rampant upon their various hosts as to
almost give the prevailing orange color of their wire-like
leafless stems to the verdure of the attacked area. Some
species are fond of certain cultivated crops, the Flax and
the Clovers being the most frequently found with Dodders,
and sometimes to the partial destruction of the crop.
Rarely do we hear of the pest making any headway in the
market garden. Along with the Dodder-infested onions
comes the statement that “it (the Dodder) is increasing
every year,” showing that the enemy has been observed
before the present season.

A sun-print has been made of some of the onion-leaves,
and the engraving (page 367) therefrom, half the natural
size, illustrates how the Dodder fastens itself upon the host
and causes the collapse of the upper portions of the leaves.

From these samples it would seem that in a trucking
region the growers should be watchful for these intruders,
and, realizing that they are flower and seed bearing plants,
should destroy all the Dodder, if possible, before it goes to
seed. Unlike a blight, smut or other fungous enemy,
spraying would not avail. The true remedy is to prevent
the pest from perfecting a crop of seed.

New Jersey Experiment Station.

Byron D. Halsted.

Carnation Notes.

HE season is once more at hand for housing the stock for

next winter’s supply of bloom. Some growers take their
plants in at the end of August, while others prefer to wait
until the middle or end of September, and we have seen
houses filled as late as October in this state, and give excellent
results. The proper time to lift depends on locality and the
nature of the season. As a rule, we house our plants about
September toth. By waiting until this date we are running no
risk of having any injury done by frost, and there is less likeli-
hood of a succession of intensely hot days, which are very
trying to newly lifted Carnations, We have never shaded the
glass to prevent plants from wilting. If they have been taken
up with good balls, carefully planted, so as to preserve the
balls intact, and the beds or benches well soaked with the hose,
there ought to be no signs of wilting. A syringing morning
and evening on all clear, bright days, and an abundance ot
ventilation at all times, will insure the plants making sturdy
growth.

The past summer has been specially favorable for a strong
growth of the plants, and we never remember having seen
them larger at lifting-time. Personally we like large plants;
some growers prefer medium-sized ones. We have found
from experience, however, that the larger and stronger plants
start away to bloom quicker and yield a much greater profusion
of bloom than a similar space occupied by smaller ones. It
has been urged against the larger plants that they are more
difficult to tie and clean. We have not found them so, but,
even were such the case, surely the greater returns they give
ought to more than counterbalance any trifling addition of
labor. ‘The new varieties sent out last spring have all made
strong growth, with the exception of Jubilee, which is not one-
third the size of any other novelty. Abundance, Amazinda,
Triumph and Della Fox haveall grown finely ; the last named,
however, seems to be somewhat affected with leaf disease. So
far we have not noticed any signs of rust, except on Jubilee,
which appears to be particularly susceptible to its attacks.
There are generally a few dozen plants left over after the
benches are filled. If these are potted up into from five to
seven inch pots and held over in a frame until the Chrysanthe-
mum season is over they will be found very useful for dotting
about in the conservatory and to fill up any banks in the
benches. There is always a likelihood of a few plants going
off, and it is well to have a small reserve stock to draw upon
to fill their places.

Plants grown specially for summer flowering outdoors are
now very full of bloom, and under favorable conditions will
continue to give a supply of flowers for six weeks yet. To keep
the flowers clear the plants need to be tied up securely; the
removal of fading flowers improves their appearance, and a
dusting of some chemical fertilizer and loosening of the sur-
face soil will promote floriferousness. We have tried several
new kinds as outdoor bloomers, but none can be counted suc-
cesses. Alaska does fairly well for a while, but cannot at all
compare with the older Mrs. Fisher for quantity and quality of
blooms. Rose Queen, Bridesmaid and Meteor are all worth-

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 446.

less as summer bloomers outside, and are but little better
inside. When we pulled our old stock out of the benches at
the end of August, Lizzie McGowan, William Scott, Alaska and
Tidal Wave were almost as full of bloom as in early spring ;
the other three 1895 novelties had not a sign of a bloom on
them. 3
We are still without a satisfactory yellow perpetual-flowering
Carnation. None of the existing sorts in cultivation, such as
Buttercup, Bouton d’Or, Eldorado or Goldfinch, can be classed
as clear yellows, and very few people are able to grow
them satisfactorily. Probably Eldorado is the freest-flow-
ering sort yet sent out of this class, but there is much
need of a variety which is free from streaks and pencil-
ings of carmine. The border section of Carnations, which
do so admirably in Great Britain, are not successes here,
owing to our hot, dry summers. Immense improvements are
being made year by year in this class; the flowers average
considerably larger than those produced on our plants under
glass in midwinter, and are of almost every conceivable color ;
some kinds are very weak in the calyx, which is due in large
part to the cooler and moister atmospheric conditions existing
there. Among yellows there are some grand clear varieties
with large flowers and very stout calyxes ; the best we have
seen of these are Corunna, Miss Audrey Campbell, Louis
Philippe and Germania ; the last named has been several years
on the market, while the others are last season’s introduc-
tions. We have nothing to equal these varieties in America
to-day ; of course, they are not perpetual-flowering sorts, nor
will they stand our rigorous winters, but wintered in cold
frames there ought to be a future for this beautiful section of
Carnations. Our American raised varieties do very unsatis-
factorily in Great Britain. Lizzie McGowan, William Scott and
Portia were the only sorts we saw last July while over there,
and they compared unfavorably with English and French
raised varieties of the perpetual-flowering class. We found
some growers who were handling the border varieties in pots,
and by gentle forcing were having a supply of flowers for two
months before any could be picked outdoors. One or two
skilled growers informed us that they hoped within afew years
to havea race of Carnations by crossing the perpetual and
border varieties, as they are now doing, which would be per-
petual bloomers even in so fickle a climate as that of England.
Malmaison Carnations have come greatly to the fore in
Great Britain of late years, and on some private places we
noted several houses devoted exclusively to their culture.
They are not perpetual-flowering ; the flowers are very large,
being sometimes nearly six inches across, but they usually
burst the calyx; they are popular for boutonniéres and com-
mand high prices at all seasons. We have been unable to do
anything with them in America and cannot call to mind
any one who has been able to grow and bloom them satisfac-
torily. They are usually short-stemmed and would be of no
value here except for button-holes, and would not produce
sufficient flowers to be profitable to the grower.
‘Taunton, Mass.

W. N. Craig.

Violets.

pes this season of the year the greatest growth is being

made by the Violets, and it often seems a pity that they
must be moved just as they appear to be enjoying the cool
nights, but we have found that to delay housing them is often
fatal; the heavy night dews seem to be laden with disease
germs that soon develop the dread spot on the foliage, and it
is a difficult matter to get rid of it when once it has a foothold
so late in the year. Even in frames we have never been able
to keep out the disease ; it has always done more or less dam-
age before the arrival of cold weather, and we have to wait
until spring for the crop that should have been produced in
midwinter ; but where a bench in a cool house is at disposal,
one is sure of Violets at all times, no matter what the state of
the weather is outdoors. The ordinary bench, as built for
Roses and Carnations, is not deep enough for Violets, which
are deep-rooting plants, and a bench constructed of a board
twelve inches wide is none too deep. Havinga good depth of
soil does away with a good deal of danger from decay from a
surplus of moisture in dull short days, for a body of soil a foot
in depth does not easily dry out in midwinter when once well
moistened, and when the soil is in this condition it is easy to
keep the surface somewhat dry so that the flowers that lie
near it will not be lost from damp. Ifa layer of clean sharp
sand is placed all over the soil it will aid materially in this
respect, and it will also aid the young runners to root freely.
At this time we make cuttings of the runners for the next year’s
crop; it is aimed to get them off the plants before fire-heat is

SEPTEMBER 9, 1896.]

applied in the house, and soon enough to get them all rooted
before the winter sets in. A compost of half leaf-mold and
half sand is used, and the runners are set thickly in boxes,
well watered and placed in a shady cool frame, there to stay
all winter. They are frozen up for at least six weeks every
winter, but this does not harm them if the frames are kept
closed until the arrival of warmer days, and the rooted plants
are kept in the boxes until it is time to put them in the open
air to harden off, and they are planted in their summer quar-
ters some time at the end of April or early in May. Plants
that we have now have not known what it is to be sub-
ject to fire-heat for several years, and I find that the expe-

Fig. 49.—Dodder growing on Onion Leaves.—See page 365

rience of other growers agrees with mine. This does away
with spring propagation when time is less easily found for it
than just now, and when space in the greenhouses is scarce.
There seems to be no doubt that the ordinary system of
cultivating Violets has rendered the plants more susceptible
to disease, and this fact was emphasized the past week when I
sawa large number of plants in the open field with one of the
specialists in this vicinity. He pointed out a row of plants
that had been propagated from plants imported from England
this past spring, and one would have taken them for a distinct
variety, so vigorous were they, but all were Lady H. Campbell,
the variety that has given the most successes of any in past
years. We,in common with others, have been tempted to try
varieties that seemed more desirable on account of color, but

Garden and Forest.

367

the result has been in each case that they were an easy

disease, and we have now a number of the

the Farquhar that seem predisposed to spot, although they

were obtained from stock that was perfectly clean with the
rower last winter from whom they were purchased.

All remedies tried up to this season have been of no avail to
even check the spot, but this autumn we are trying Sulpho-
napthol, a preparation sent out as a disinfectant, insecticide
and germicide. For the first palais it is excellent, the
second very dangerous, and for the third use, at present writ-
ing, seems promising. It is used in a one pe r cent. solution
with water, is easily soluble, and if effectual will be a cheap
remedy for a trouble that has hitherto baffled all
who have tried to do battle with it. It would be
well for others to experiment also and report their
results.

Most people now have tried the
fornia, and the opinions seem varie a to say the
least, but we have found it to be a really goo
single flower, fragrant, of good color and ample
foliage. It would seem as if this kind would be
worth growing for the foliage alone ; it is stout an
makes 1 up well with the flowers of other varieties,
for most growers are aware that in midwinter good
foliage is more difficult to obtain than flowers, ani
with this fact in view we have decided to try a
good frame tull of them, for they seem healthy and
vigorous so far. :

Violets require a cool house; in a night tempera-
ture of, say, torty degrees asa minimum, the plants
will thrive, and insect pests, as red spider anc
plant-lice, will not, and if a whole structure canno
be spared for Violets alone, Mignonette will be
found an excellent companion plant; the two thrive
under exactly similar conditions as to depth of soil
and temperature, excepting that it is almost im-
possible to make soil too rich for Mignonette.
The seed should be sown at the beginning of
August, but itis not too late now to sow and get
good results in winter and early spring months, if
some good strain of seed is chosen. Sutton’s Giant
we have used fora number of years; Allen’s De-
fiance is a very large-growing variety, and if either
of these is not to hand Machet is quite satisfac-
tory, although strains of this vary very much.

prey to
variety sent out as

Violet Cali-

South Lancaster, Mass. E. O. Or pet.
Seasonable Flower Notes.
HIRONIAS are soft-wooded south African rep-
resentatives of the Gentian family which de-

serve to be better known. They are herbaceous
in habit and succulent in character. The whip-like
stems arise from a common root-stock, arching
away gracefully on all sides. Thestems are rather
sparsely covered with opposite lanceolate, bluish
green leaves. The salver-shaped, rosy pink flow-
ers are produced abundantly along the upper part
of the stems. A_ well-trained plant is a showy
object at this season, when flowers of its color for
conservatory decoration are uncommon. I saw

some fine specimens recently of C. baccifera at
N. T. Kidder's place at Milton, Massachusetts. The
plants were about two feet in diameter and about
the same in height, anda mass of bloom. They are

essentially cool-house plants, and can be
creased from soft cuttings.

Allamanda Williamsi has proved to be one of
the most valuable acquisitions of recent years.
Its dwarf bushy habit commends for pot-
culture. It needs scarcely any training, or even

One good stout stake will hold a large plant to-
It stands well out-of-doors in either sunshine or
shade. Better growth is made in the sun, but the flowers are
shorter-lived. Plants which have had a month or two of
out-of-doors bloom profusely all the winter. It strikes easily
from soft-wooded cuttings, and should soon be abundant.
Pyrethrum uliginosum. is a common hardy border perennial,
and is scarcely thought of othe Cuttings taken in e irly
June, topped once ind grow n on in seven- sah h pots, have mi ide
pretty specimens about eighteen inches high,and nowcovered
with Daisy-like flowers. This Pyrethrum is rapidly becoming
a florist’s flower, and since it does s 1 under and has
cleaner and better-formed flowers on longer stems, it is safe to
say it will be taken up by the florists and grown in the same

easily in

staking.
gether.

rest

“wise.

oO wel glass

368

way as Chrysanthemums. Helianthus decapitatus multiflorus,
commonly known as the perennial double Sunflower, is like-
wise a good pot-plant, but it isso very common that it is not
likely it would be used as a pot-plant except in groups for
color effect.

Browallia speciosa major is a valuable addition to a genus
which includes a number of beautiful annual and perennial
plants. B. elata isthe best known and usually treated as an
annual. Ifseeds be sown about midsummer, and the plants
be grown along and stopped into shape, they will flower nicely
through the winter months. This new addition is likely to
prove just as valuable as a greenhouse plant. The flowers
are salver-shaped, nearly as large as those of a single Petunia,
and deep blue in color. :

Nemesia strumosa isa pretty little plant, probably an annual
belonging to the same family as the Mimulus, which it re-
sembles. There is much variation among the seedlings flow-
ering here. Cuttings have been taken from a good variety,
and these are rooted. It is intended to grow them along for

winter blooming.
Wellesley, Mass. T. D. Hatfield.

Correspondence.

The Delaware Peach Crop.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—The Delaware peach crop will fall fifty per cent. short
of the estimate put upon it in the spring by the railroad
officials, who use this estimate as a basis on which to prepare
for the transportation of the crop. The crop was not over-
estimated at that time, but the shrinkage is due to three
distinct causes. The first and primary difficulty was the
excessively hot weather during the early spring, the second
was the high humidity of the atmosphere throughout the sea-
son, and the third was the plum curculio. The intense April
heat caused an abnormally rapid growth in the young forming
fruit, causing it to attain the size by the last of May not usually
reached until the middle or latter half of June, and resulting
when the growth again became normal in a weakened consti-
tution in the fruit. The whole peach crop has consequently
matured a week or ten days in advance, the fruit only
reaching three-fourths its natural size.

The humidity of the atmosphere throughout the growing
season and the condition of the fruit itself have been favorable
to the development of the peach-rot fungus, which has been
so serious that thousands of baskets have been lost. Conser-
vative estimates place the loss from this fungus alone at filty
per cent. of the entire crop. But the fruit alone has not sut-
fered trom its attacks, which have been so virulent that the
growth of the present season has been seriously blighted.
The later peaches are not suffering so seriously, as the atmos-
phere has cleared and the most favorable conditions for the
spread of the disease have been removed.

The third difficulty, the plum curculio, has waged war on the
crop, attacking the early peaches more severely than the later
varieties. More than half these peaches were stung, and in
several instances ninety per cent. were found wormy. The
curculio was probably present in greater numbers than usual
this spring, owing to the large number bred in the crop of last
year, and to the winter and spring which were favorable to an
unusually large number of the beetles coming through
alive.

The probable explanation of the abundance of wormis in the
ripe fruit is to be found in the fact that there was no ‘June
drop” this year, which is mainly caused by the larva of the
curculio and by the imperfect fertilization of the flowers. The
larvee were present in the young peaches, which, however,
were being forced so rapidly by the hot weather that they were
strong enough to remain on the trees, in spite of the weakness
caused by the curculio,and the ‘June drop,” which eliminates
a large proportion of the wormy fruit, has been harvested and
sold with the rest of the crop.

The question naturally arises, could this loss of half of the
Delaware peach crop have been averted? The only answer
that can be made to the inquiry is, that it has been demon-
strated, over and over again, that thecurculiocan be practically
controlled by jarring the trees during the egg-laying period,
which extends about six weeks from blossoming-time, and that
thorough and persistent spraying with fungicides will reduce
the loss from peach-rottoa minimum —yvet five per cent. of the
peach-growers have practiced neither this year.

Delaware has been fortunate for several years in not having
severe losses from these two causes, and the growers have
practically stopped spraying, but experience has taught the

Garden and Forest.

(NumBER 446-

lesson that the successful fruit-grower must protect his crop
every year, although the conditions do not always seem to

warrant the outlay.
’ Agricultural Experiment Station, Newark, Del. G. Harold Powell.

The Forest.
The Burma Teak Forests.—VI.

EFFECT OF SYSTEM UPON THE CONDITION OF THE FORESTS,

ae system here described, under which the Teak forests of

Burma are worked, is designated by foresters as the system
of selection fellings. Single trees are selected for felling among
those which have attained marketable size, and the selection is
governed chiefly by what is bestfor the maintenance and regen-
eration of the forest, and likewise by the question whether, if
left standing, these trees are likely to improve in value or
whether they will deteriorate. Obviously it is a matter of
great importance to ascertain what effect the operations car-
ried on under this system in Burma have had upon the condi-
tion of the forest; in other words, whether they have secured
the maintenance and regeneration of its most valuable con-
stituent, the Teak-tree.

At the outset it will be convenient to consider what takes
place in a forest, like those here described, which is left alone,
and from which no Teak is extracted. It has thus happened
that a tract in the interior of the hills which separate the
Sitang and Iraauddi valleys at the head-waters of the Hpyoo
stream was examined by me by means of linear valuation sur-
veys in January, 1868, and that twelve years later, in February,
1880, the same tract was examined in the same manner. On
the first occasion in three days a length of seventeen miles,
with an average width of too feet, or an area of 206 acres, was
surveyed, On the second occasion the route was a little longer
and the total area surveyed in four days came to 250 acres.
The results give the growing stock on Ioo acres as follows:

1868. 1880. Increase.
First class, 6 ft. girth and upward, . . . . 183 249
Second class, 4 ft. 6in. to6 ft. girth, . 2 . 162 300 138
Third class, I ft. 6 in. to 4 ft. 6 in. girth, . 392 657 205
Total Teak above 1 ft. 6 in, girth, 737 1,206 469

This part of the forest had not been worked between 1868 and
1880, and no trees. had been girdled. Bamboos and other trees
had been cut to a smali extent by the Karens living in the
vicinity, but the Teak had not been touched. The improve-
ment in the condition of the forest is remarkable. Neglecting
trees blown down, or burnt by the annual fires, sixty-six, or
forty per cent., of the second-class trees had attained six feet
girth in twelve years, from which may be concluded that in
thirty years’ time the whole of the second-class trees would
have attained first-class size. Again, 138 + 66 = 204 trees,
or fifty-two per cent., of the third-class trees (392) had at-
tained four feet six inches in girth, so that in twenty-three
years the whole of the third-class trees would have attained
second-class size. Equally satisfactory is the increase of the
smaller trees. Obviously, by leaving the Teak alone, and by
moderately cutting Bamboos and other trees, it would be pos-
sible greatly to increase the proportion of Teak in a forest of
this description.

So far regarding a forest from which no Teak has been
extracted. In order to understand the changes which have
taken place in a forest regularly worked under the system here
described it will be necessary to consider those districts for
which special working plans have lately been prepared. It has
already been stated that special working plans have been pre-
pared for eleven forest districts in the Iraauddi valley. These
districts form a continuous belt of forest on the hills east of
the Iraauddi River, with a few outlying blocks in the plains,
extending over ninety-eight miles from north to south. The
entire area has been demarcated as reserved forest, and it
aggregates 652,569 acres. The growing stock of Teak of the
different age classes has been determined by examining a
large number of sample areas, 2,105 in number, averaging
sixty-two acres each, carefully selected, so as to furnish a cor-
rect representation of the different descriptions of forestin each
district. It must be distinctly understood that the remarks
which follow only relate to the eleven districts in the Iraauddi
valley. The area, however, sixteen per cent. of the total area
of reserved forests in Burma, is sufficiently large to admit
correct conclusions being formed.

The first step in preparing a proper working plan is to divide
the forest into compartments of manageable size, which on the
hills must be formed in accordance with the configuration of

SEPTEMBER 9, 1896.]

the ground. When the earlier, summary and necessarily very
rough working plans were prepared, the provisions of which
have been explained in these pages, they related to the whole
country, and the units of management at that time were not
compartments, but districts. Accordingly, each of the eleven
districts, for which the special working plans were made, was
divided into compartments. The aggregate number of these
compartments was 1,023, with a mean area of 639 acres. The
growing stock in each compartment was separately estimated
on the ground of the sample areas mentioned. In the case of
one small forest district in the plains the whole of the trees in
that forest were enumerated; in the other ten districts the
growing stock on the sample plots only was counted. The
aggregate area of these sample plots was twenty per cent. of
the total area of the ten districts.

On the ground of these data the growing stock of Teak-trees
of the different size classes was determined on the area in
question, with the following result in regard to the two largest
classes :

First-class trees, in girth 6 ft. and upward, . 427,8c0
Second-class trees, in girth 4 ft. 6 in. to 6 ft., 437,700
These surveys were made between 1884 and 1892. In 1868 an

estimate of the first-class trees then standing in these forest
districts was prepared on the ground of the linear valuation
surveys that had been made up to that date, supplemented by
the personal knowledge of these districts, which the local
forest officers had by that time acquired. The valuation sur-
veys made in 1868 justified the assumption that at that time
the number of the second-class trees amounted to three-fourths
of the first class. Hence the growing stock of the two largest
classes in these forests in 1868 was:

First-class trees, in girth 6 ft. and upward, 382,000
Second-class trees, in girth 4 ft. 6 in. to 6 ft., . 286,coo
From 1868 to the time when the special working plans were
prepared, 110 trees were girdled in these districts. There has,
therefore, been a large increase in trees of the first and second
class. The number of second-class trees which have attained
first-class size has been I10,000 + 46,000 — 156,000. Thisis fifty-
five per cent. of thesecond-class treesin 1868. From 1868 to 1889
(the mean year of the new valuation surveys) twenty-one years
have elapsed, hence in these districts 21+100 — 38 years would
be sufficient to bring up the whole of the second-class trees to
first-class size. The aggregate number of trees that under the
special. working plans will hereafter be girdled in these dis-
tricts is 11,230, which is one-thirty-eighth of 427,800. Too much
weight must not be attributed to this coincidence, for the linear
valuation surveys, upon which the estimate of 1868 was partly
based, were made on three per cent. only of the aggregate
area of these districts. But, as already stated, the estimate of
first-class trees was supplemented by local knowledge, and prob-
ably was approximately correct. The proportion between first
and secondclass trees in 1868 may also be depended upon. Inthe
tract at the head-waters of the Hypoo stream, described before,
a much shorter period—namely, twenty-three years—seems to
be sufficient to bring up the second.class trees to first-class
size. These forests, however, are all moist forests with excel-
lent soil, where growth is more rapid. The annual yield of
II,230 trees rnentioned above is the aggregate yield of eleven
districts. As already explained, the yield was determined for
each district separately on the ground cf the sample plots
examined in each compartment and on the ground of the rate
of growth determined for each district. Upon these data the
yield of the southernmost district, Thonzay, was, for instance,
fixed at 1,000, or one-twenty-fifth, of the first-class trees, while
that of the northernmost district, Nawin, was fixed at 2,400, or
one-forty-second, of the total number of first-class trees.
The improvement which has taken place in the condition of
the forest area to which the present remarks relate—that is, of
the eleven forest districts for which special working plans have
lately been prepared—is, as we have seen, marked by the
increase of Teak-trees belonging to the larger classes; it is
equally marked by the increase of the smaller classes below
four feet six inches in girth, Here we must compare the

results of the older valuation surveys as they stand:
From 1857 to 1868
were counted on }647 trees below 4 ft. 6 in. girth per 100 acres.
14,592 acres, . as
From 1884 to 1892
were counted on | 796 € ui ao se of
131,287 acres, .
In order to facilitate comparison, the figures have been
reduced to 100 acres. The older surveys were linear. In
those days the object was to explore large forest areas within
the shortest time possible. Accordingly, paths were neces-
sarily followed wherever such was feasible, and in a hilly

Garden and Forest.

369

country these paths in Burma generally lead along the crest of
ridges, or along the bottom of valleys, and in such places
Teak is frequently more abundant than on the slopes. Hence,
while carefully selected sample plots correctly represent all
descriptions of forest, the old linear-valuation surveys neces-
sarily gave the contents of the richer Teak localities. Hence,
when the first-class trees standing in the districts here de-
scribed were estimated in 1868, in order to determine the
annual yield of these forests, the number obtained by means
of the linear surveys was considerably reduced—by more than
one-half, The practical result of the figures given is, that
average forest tracts are now better stocked with Teak in
girth below four feet six inches than the better Teak locali-
ties were stocked, say, twenty-five years ago.

What has been here advanced will have demonstrated that
under the system initiated in 1856 a great improvement has
taken place in the forest districts here specially referred to,
and that the growing stock of Teak of all ages has considera-

bly increased. theres ;
Bonn, Germany. Dietrich Brandis.

Exhibitions.
The Boston Flower Show.

GOOD autumn flower show never lacks for brilliancy, and

the exhibition of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society
at Boston last week was unusually striking in the abundance
of glowing color displayed. Even the foliage plants were
unusually bright. -Dahlias of all classes were out in great
force and in unusual perfection of form, and, of course,
Cannas were equally in evidence. Sunflowers and Marigolds
gave all the yellow that was needed, while Phloxes, Fuchsias,
Asters, Zinnias, Tropwolums, Cockscombs, Japan Lilies, Pinks,
Salpiglossis and five large collections of wild flowers added
variety as well as richness to the display. The Glory Pea,
Clianthus Dampierii, is by no means a novelty, but it is so
rarely seen in this country that the well-developed scarlet and
black flowers shown by Mrs. Wellington attracted unusual
attention, But, after all, the aquatics seemed to have the
strongest allurements for most of the visitors, and really they
deserved special study. We hope to give some detailed de-
scription of these plants and of other leading features of the
exhibition, but at the time this is written we have only
space to say that for the general display of Nymphzas,
Nelumbiums and other aquatic plants, including not less than
twenty-five blooms of Nymphzas, John Simpkins, Esq., of Yar-
mouthport (James Brydon, gardener), received the first prize,
and Oakes Ames, Esq. (Carl Blomberg, gardener), received the
second prize. Mr. William Tricker also brought from the
Water Gardens of Henry A. Dreera magnificent collection of
various blooms in thirty-five varieties, which were not placed
in competition, while L. W. Goodell, of Pansy Park, had a
fourth collection of the choicest-named varieties, which was
also considered as anon-competitive trade exhibit. The ar-
rangement of the great masses of decorative plants was
unusally good, and a large proportion of the specimens had
individual merit. :

Some of the principal prizes taken were by Dr. C. G. Weld,
John L. Gardiner and J. W. Howard for Palms; G. A. Nicker-
son, N. T. Kidder, Jos. H. White for collections of foliage and
greenhouse plants ; George McWilliams for Caladiums ; James
L. Little for Cannas ; James Comley for Zinnias; Mrs. P. D.
Richards and Miss Genevieve Doran for collections of native
plants; J. W. Manning for hardy coniferous trees. Mr. Robert
Cameron also brought a well-selected group of plants from
the fine specimens in the Harvard Botanical Gardens.

Notes.

Mr. Joseph Meehan writes that trees of Quercus Prinus, the
Rock Chestnut Oak, are loaded with acorns this year beyond
precedent in the neighborhood of Philadelphia. The branches
are actually bending under the weight of their acorns, just as
overloaded fruit-trees do in an orchard. This Oak is always
a handsome tree, and its firm, yellow-green, chestnut-shaped
leaves, being glossy above and pale, downy beneath, give itan
appearance of singular richness in the sunlight. It grows toa
large size and attains a great age.

The freight on a barrel of apples from this port to Liverpool
averages about fifty cents. There are small charges there for
insurance, sampling, etc., which amount to something like
fifteen cents, in addition to the five per cent. which is charged
for selling the apples at auction. A sample of two barrels is

ot

taken from every lot of twenty barrels or less. One of these
is opened at the ‘‘face” end and the other is turned out in bas-
kets, so that buyers can detect at a glance any dishonesty in
packing. The trade has been going on long enough now to
give an opportunity for growers and packers here to establish
a reputation, and many brands of apples are now sold almost
entirely on their reputation for honest packing, uniformity and
soundness.

Mr. Howard, the entomologist of the Department of Agri-
culture, has just issued acircular on the general appearance
and work of the larger Corn-stalk borer, diatrazea saccharalis.
This pest, which tunnels and destroys the stalks of growing
Corn, rarely does any sweeping injury exceptin sections where
Corn is replanted on the same ground for several successive
seasons. Since the insect bores downward through the old
stalks to the tap-root and passes the winter a little below the
surface of the ground it willincrease year by year, and when
abundant it often ruins half the crop. It is the same borer
which attacks Sorghum and Sugar-cane, and the way to keep
itin check is bya rotation of crops or by thoroughly dragging
off the stalks and stumps inthe fall after the corn is cut or
pulled, and burning it.

A well-informed writer in The Gardeners’ Chronicle speaks
with enthusiasm of the capabilities of Australia, and especially
of New South Wales, for fruit-growing, where millions of
acres are suitable for the production of almost every de-
scription of fruits that can be grown in temperate and sub-
tropical countries. Oranges and lemons of all varieties
grow well, and they can be deliveredin London during those
months in the year when there is no supply from Spain or
other southern countries.. Table grapes in great variety can
be profitably exported when packed as they are in Portugal
and other countries, while the opportunities for wine-making
are almost unlimited. There are also possibilities of building
up a large export trade in raisins, dried currants, figs and
other staples peculiar to the isles of the Levant and the Gre-
cian peninsula.

What is to be the final verdict upon the usefulness of the
Wineberry as an ornamental and useful plant? We have very
contradictory reports concerning it in this country, and nowa
correspondent of Zhe Garden writes from Dublin that this
Rubus Phoenicolasius is there attractive at all stages, from the
time of the formation of its long crimson-bearded flower-
buds. After the flowers fall, the young fruit, at first yellow,
then orange, then red, then ruby color, contrasts beautifully
with the leaves, which are deep green above and pure white
beneath. The fruit, which ripens in Ireland about the first of
August, is said to be a welcome addition to the dessert at the
time when other fruits are mostly over, and, in addition to this,
the plant is perfectly hardy. Is it not possible that by selec-
tion or hybridizing this plant may be improved in various
directions ?

In a bulletin on fodder and forage plants issued by the De-
partment of Agriculture, it is noted that the common Yarrow,
Achillea Millifolium, which is found everywhere in old fields
and meadows inthis country and usually considered a weed,
is held in England to be avery valuable addition to sheep pas-
tures. A correspondentin Toronto inquires why this would
not bea good lawn plant. He has observed patches of the
plant here and there in Canadian parks, which were fresh,
green and aromatic, contrasting favorably with the dry and
shriveled appearance of the surrounding grass during the dry
weather of early spring. The trouble would be that it would
lose all its grace when the mower ran over it, even if the blades
were set high so as to snap off only the leading shoot above
the lower leaves, and the lawn would havea stubby look. But
it must be admitted that a lawn which could be kept covered
with the graceful lower leaves of this plant would have not
only a novel but singularly beautiful appearance.

The novelty in the fruit market this week was the arrival of
the first of the new crop of Jamaica oranges, which for their
rarity, or, certainly not for their intrinsic value, were all taken
by the fancy fruiterers. A few new Japanese persimmons
have reached here from California, but, of course, they are
inferior in size, color and quality. A limited quantity of well-
colored cranberries have reached the city, and they command
$6.00 a barrel, although most of those that vet come are light-
colored andcheap. Of the pears, the best noware the so-called
Mountain Bartletts grown on the Highlands about Vacaville.
They are of large size and delicious flavor, and, in spite of the
abundance of fruit, cost sixty cents a dozen. The finest Alex-
ander, Gravenstein and Duchess of Oldenburg apples bring at

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 446.

wholesale $2.00 a barrel. Owing to the small size and inferior
quality of the Delaware peaches this year, California peaches
compete with them at no disadvantage and are worth quite
as much. Among the plums, Kelseys are held to be the
richest and best in quality as dessert fruits, although they are
a trifle over-sweet and of medium size. Well-ripened and
fair-sized fruit brings fifty cents a dozen.

Mr. W. H. Jenkins writes to The Country Gentleman that he
lately sent some fine bunches of celery to a fashionable sum-
mer hotel and received $39.00 for the product of a square rod.
The plants were set at an average distance of a toot apart
—that is, in two rows six or seven inches apart—then an
eighteen-inch space, and then another double row. Wide
boards were set on both sides the double rows when the plants
were half-grown, the space between was mulched with manure
and other material which would hold moisture, water was
turned on from a neighboring brook and the ground was kept
thoroughly wet. One could almost see the Celery grow, and
when the plants were about full size the boards were crowded ~
close together, and in mid-August there was a large growth of
well-blanched celery. Of course, this method will not succeed
except on the richest soil, and when the rows are close irriga-
tion is indispensable. Three times as much Celery can be
grown on the land as by the old method of setting in rows
wide apart, while in double rows only half as many boards are
needed. There is no earthing up to make expense and soil
the stalks, while the mulch keeps down the weeds and retains
the moisture, so that less water is needed.

The experiment of shipping California green fruit to London
can hardly be pronounced a success as yet, but perhaps with
improved methods of cooling or sterilizing the air it may be
possible to deliver in London fruit which has been picked in
California after it was reasonably matured. California papers
insist that the experiment should be persisted in, because the
young trees that are coming into bearing within the next two
years will certainly double the fruit production of that state.
Some new outlet must, therefore, be provided for the fruit
since the demandin eastern cities will certainly not increase
so rapidly as to absorb the whole Pacific coast supply that is
not usedhome, Oranges make up the leading product in the
southern part of the state, of course, but of the thirty million
fruit-trees in the state, a little more than half of which are in
bearing, the prune is already the leading product, while the
the young trees that do not yet bear are three times the num-
ber of the bearing trees. Apricots too young to be productive
outnumber the bearing trees, also, by two to one, and are
among the three leading fruits in five out of the seven south-
ern counties. The orchards of Apples, Pears, Peaches and
Cherries are increasing in acreage every year, so that conserv-
ative growers are beginning to wonder who will consume the
thousands of tons of fruit which are looking for an eastern
market.

William E, Meehan, who was a member of the Peary Re-
lief Expedition, writing to 7he Jndefendent of flowers in Green-
land, says that a few miles north of Robertson’s Bay there is a
plateau abouta mile long and one-fourth as wide, with a precipi-
tous face to the sea, and on the other side lichen-covered cliffs
rising to a height of three thousand to five thousand feet. The
top and sides of this plateau is a mass of flourishing vegeta-
tion, chiefly of Grass, which when one walks through it reaches
above the knee. Among this verdure, Buttercups, Poppies,
Cinquefoil and Dandelions thrust their golden heads in wild
profusion, and yet beneath it allis part of adead glacier, a bed
of ice, which forms the plateau. The explanation of this
remarkable phenomenon is that the progress of the glacier
was really arrested years, perhaps centuries, ago, when Mosses,
which brave any temperature, began to creep slowly over the
mass of ice, which was then perhaps fifty or more feet thick,
making their way first in thin net-like layers, and then as they
gathered strength in thick masses till they reached the edge
which fronted the bay. Here, as the sun each summer slowly
melted the face of the ice, they matted themselves firmly and
dropped over lower and lower until they reached the rocky
shore, and the huge block of ice was completely hidden. Then
year after year the Moss flourished, the young plants trampled
the older under foot until the latter decayed and turned into
rich mold and buried the great mass of ice deeper and deeper.
Then Grass seeds found their way among the Moss, blown by
winds or carried by birds. These germinated and increased,
and by their greater vigor in turn almost blotted out the Moss.
To finish the picture, blooming plants took up their abode and
flourished. Every summer now the plateau is a garden of
green and gold and white.

SEPTEMBER 16, 1896.]

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrice: Trisung Buitpinc, New York.

Conducted by . . . .« «© «© « « « « Professor C. S, SARGENT.

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1896.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.
EpirortaL ARTICLE :—The Garden in Autumn........2. 00406
The Alpinum in the Botanic Garden of Tiibingen. AS
The Sand Dunes of Northern Indiana and their Flora.—I1.
Nelumbo lutea, the Water Chinquapin. (With figure.)
” oy, Woodward Manning. 373
FoREIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—Autumn-flowering Hardy Bulbous Plants,
W., Watson. 374

weet ese sessee nesses 371
.D. T. MacDougal. a
Rev. £. F. Hill. 372

IQUANICEN OT ES c sialstetajrisvsisjeicniciy a tielaleitnsrnic4,0.6)a:0.5alna'eieea lou: “s pteete steers eeceeeeeeees 375
CutruraL DEPARTMENT :—Fall and Winter Care of the Vegetable Garden,
Will. W. Tracy. 376

SmiallghruttS;essim ves sei melee ietslalets's sive g vtaiisiv'gis sicis siasiaice ¢/aie Williant Scott. 376

Late-flowering Shrubs.. Son --G. W. Oliver. 377

An Automn Garden........ mie fps oe 377

Some Good Auiumn- flowering Plants.. FN. Gerard. 378

Tue Forest :—The Burma Teak Forests.—VIL... . Sir ‘Dietrich Brandis. 378

Exuipitions :—Autumn Flower Show at Boston. Sion 3

IN ODE Septs apatis s stalatnlesieetclsteie<a's alv'cisleisic'= sisis a's ialsialeisia = s'0aic's w 6 6.05.0:61415,(eaiale:s e's ojo c1asee.s'9 379
ILLUSTRATION :—_Nelumbo lutea, the Water Chinquapin, in a Massachusetts

POUOMUI SOO tein a ocere wc nenise sede perciesiscesic occ) asenlse ca penceee ce) 375,

The Garden in Autumn.

T is constant change which gives to a good garden its
unfailing ffeshness. It is not repeated over and
over from day to day, but transformed from one beauty to
another as the year progresses, so that its attractions never
become stale or wearisome. One of the fundamental ob-
jections against carpet-bedding isits uniformity ; all summer
long it presents the same figures and the same colors, the
same unvarying expression. ‘Flowers bloom and fade, leaves
expand and the tender tints of spring pass through the deep
greens of summer to the rich glow of autumn, but clipped
Coleus and Alternantheras show the same long lines of
scarlet and yellow until one tires of looking at the monoto-
nous pattern, while all about it is progression and vicissi-
tude. The part of the garden given over to one of these
invariable designs takes no account of the wondrous pro-
cession which keeps moving all about it to the close of the
year, but where planting has been well considered the
garden has a special charm for every season, and a vital
relation with all the processes and appearances of nature
which environ it.

As the year ripens in early autumn the garden can be
made to glow with a richer color than at any other season.
But as the season closes there comes a time when all the
landscape is purpled with wild Asters or aflame with Golden-
rod, when every strip of woodland and the shrubs in every
thicket, and even the weeds of the fields and waysides,
glow with colors with which no garden can hope to com-
pete. Then at last comes a day when many of us feel
inclined to let our gardens go the natural way of all vege-
tation. Some efforts may be put forth to save a few of our
tender plants from approaching frost, and in this way our
sympathies may be stirred to a renewal of our interest, but
usually we let the garden alone to die as gracefully as it
may. Alfred Austin, the British laureate, states the case
with more poetry than is found in many of his verses,
when he writes:

There is an orderly negligence, a well-thought out untidi-
ness, a secret of careless grace about autumnal forms and
colors which no other season can match. Even to the garden
proper, autumn adds such wonderful touches of happy acci-
dent that when it really comes a wise man leaves his garden
alone and allows it to fade and wane and slowly and pathetic-

Garden and Forest.

371

ally pass away without any effort to hinder or conceal the
decay. Indeed, it would be worth while having a cultivated
garden if only to see what autumn does with it.

It is November, however, before this time comes here-
about, and, as a matter of fact, one who really knows his
garden sees growth and beauty until the ground is frozen
hard, and, indeed, all winter long whenever the surface is
bare, on a sunshiny day he will be watching the move-
ments of those sturdy things which are getting ready to
flower as soon as the days begin to lengthen. Certainly
there is no season when material for giving true beauty to
our grounds is more abundant than that which is available
just now; and yet, it must beadmitted, we do not make as
much of our gardens at this season as we might. One
reason may be that the best of the herbaceous plants which
flower at this season require to be cared for all summer
long. The early spring-flowering bulbs are planted in
autumn and left alone all winter, and then they bloom
without exacting any more attention; while, if we are to
have flowering Chrysanthemums, or Cosmos, or Japanese
Anemones and many more, we must keep them watered
and hoed and staked and tied and sprayed for months. But
certainly the results of such care will repay all the outlay,
and the notes of Mr. Watson, Mr. Gerard and Mr. Hatfield in
this number invite attention to the wonderful display which
we may have if we are willing to take the pains.

Already the leaves of some of the shrubs and trees have
begun to change, and if we have studied the subject we
know that individual trees have special beauties in this
direction which can be propagated, and we can make bDril-
liant pictures now and for the weeks to come by harmo-
niously grouping those which have striking features. There
is no need to speak of our Oaks and Maples and Tupelos
and Liquidambers, nor of the smaller trees like Sassafras
and Sorrel and Dogwood, or of the shrubs like our Yellow
Root with its scarlet and orange, our high Blueberries and
other Vacciniums, Leucothoés, Viburnums, Sumachs, Rho-
dodendron Vaseyi and many of the Asiatic Spirzeas, all of
which have been described over and over again in these
columns; and then there are the shrubs like the Hollies
and Winter Berries, Thorns, Barberries, Viburnums, Cor-
nels, Honeysuckles, Roses, Climbing Bitter Sweet and its
Asiatic relative Celastrus articulata and many more, whose
fruits are as bright as their blossoms. With proper care it
is plainly possible to make selections from these trees and
shrubs and group them so as to form masses of richly
colored fruit and foliage in autumn. Of flowering plants
in early autumn, we have our native Lobelias, Hibiscus
and Asclepias, with at least a dozen Sunflowers, the Sil-
phiums, Boltonias, Rudbeckias and Asters, Vernonias,
and with them the great Groundsel (Senecio pulcher), the
Mountain Fleece, Trycirtus, the autumn-flowering Monks-
hood, the pyramidal Bellflower, and climbers like the late
Clematises. Mr. Gerard and Mr. Watson call attention to
the singular charm of certain autumn-flowering bulbous
plants. We may add that many biennialsand perennials like
Delphiniums, Gaillardias, Pentstemons and Iceland Poppies,
if the seeds are sown in January and planted out in spring,
can be had to bloom in autumn.

Naturally, these autumn-flowering plants are taller than
those of spring, having had all the summer to grow in.
Some make great masses from six to ten feet high and of
corresponding girth. No one, for example, w ho has not
seen a well-grown-Boltonia can appreciate how effec-
tive a full-sized specimen becomes when set in rich deep
soil and properly cared for. The spring garden, it is true,
has all the charm of a new creation. The flowers_have a
delicacy and dainty grace which make them especially
delightful in the wild weather which they brave, and our
senses have not been sated with a long season of familiarity
with all the treasures which the garden has had to display.
They have no rivals, but gather an additional interest from
the fact that they are a promise of what is to come. — Still,
our autumn flowers have a stateliness which is theirs
alone. They harmonize with the rich, mature beauty of

3/2

the landscape. They come also to grace the most delight-
ful weather of our northern year. After our uncertain and
often disagreeable spring and the oppressive heats of sum-
mer these bracing days make life out of doors a constant
delight, and one can imagine no more favorable conditions
for enjoying a garden than those furnished by an American
autumn.

The Alpinum in the Botanic Garden of Tiibingen.

URING a brief period of work in the Botanic Institute
at Tiibingen during the summer, by the courtesy of
the director, Professor Véchting, I had ample opportunity
to examine the construction and become familiar with the
details of management of what, in many features, is the
most remarkable alpinum in the world. The Botanic Gar-
den, in which it is situated, les in the north-eastern quarter
of the small university town of Tiibingen, on both banks of
the Ammer, a small stream which empties into the Neckar,
a short distance away. The garden has an elevation of
about 1,000 feet, and near it are many hills covered with
forests of Pine, which rise 250 to 300 feet above it, while
to the southward, twenty miles away, the Swabian Alps
reach a height of 2,500 feet, in consequence of which the
night temperature falls far below that of the day. A lati-
tude of 48° 30’ north, a low winter temperature of — thirty
degrees, Centigrade, a summer limit of twenty-five to twenty-
eight degrees, Centigrade, help to make a climate which
resembles that of southern Michigan in many respects.

The alpinum is laid out in the north-western part of the
garden, on a rectangular plot of ground 190 feet in length
and nine feet in width, near a stone wall seven feet
high and parallel to its length. On this plot are piled the
rocks and soil necessary for the culture of the plants, in an
uneven ridge, which in one place is six feet in height. The
materials used were principally the native stalactitic lime-
stone and gravelly soil,and granite from the Black Forest
forty miles distant. ‘The limestone is peculiarly suitable
for lower alpine plants and lithophytes, furnishing as it
does innumerable cavities for the reception of soil and
secure foot-hold for plants which cling directly to the rock.
It has been found that the species from the higher Euro-
pean Alps refused to grow on such rock, and hence the
granite was procured for the construction of the section
devoted to this group. The entire structure is in many
respects an admirable imitation of an east and west moun-
tain ridge. The northern side affords many shaded crev-
ices, and more or less shade to the whole is given by a
number of small trees near by.

The most difficult problems which have confronted the
gardener in the construction and management of the
alpinum have been those connected with the water-supply.
The water content of such rocky soils is, of course, ex-
tremely small and needs almost constant replenishment.
In nature this is done by the water from the melting snows
above. Here it has been accomplished by a system of
branching pipes with many openings below and above
the surface, and a flow is allowed during the greater part
of the day. The drainage is carried away by cement con-
duits, and in one place forms an alpine lake eight feet in
length and five feet in width, which furnishes in its waters
and on the overhanging cliffs admirable conditions for a
very rich flora. Near the lake are growing several speci-
mens of Edelweiss, which here becomes somewhat longer-
stemmed than on its native cliffs, or in the alpine gardens
where it is cultivated to satisfy the thirst of the tourist for
mementos of ‘‘hazardous” ascents.

Many of the alpine plants are quite intolerant of lime
salts and grow best on the granite rocks, but the water-
supply used here is taken directly from the city system
and is very richly charged with these salts, and, as a con-
sequence, the culture of some of the plants of the higher
slopes is impossible. This difficulty might be overcome at
some cost by a system of tanks for the storage of rain-
water, which would furnish exactly the natural conditions
for a large number of species.

Garden and Forest:

[NUMBER 447.

It is somewhat surprising to learn that on this area of
about 2,000 square feet more than 1,200 species are suc-
cessfully cultivated, almost all of which are perennials. In
some places three, and even four, kinds are grown on a
square foot of actual surface—a striking example of a form
of intensive cultivation. It must not be supposed, how-
ever, that none but alpine species are grown. A glance at
the list given below will show that many are at home far
southward in the temperate zone. As a matter of fact the
alpinum offers a wider range of conditions than any other
method of cultivation, and in some form similar to that
described might offer suitable conditions of growth for
species fairly representative of the flora of America north
of Texas, exclusive of trees.

The following list is copied at random from the labels,
and comprises many rare species. In some instances a
species will be found growing, properly labeled, however,
outside of the section devoted to its habitat. Very naturally
the section devoted to the European Alps is richest in forms
growing at great elevations, as at present the opportunities
for European gardens to procure living specimens from the
higher American regions are somewhat limited.

The following are the names of some plants grown in
the different sections of the alpinum :

NorTH AMERICA.—Sedum_ stenopetalum, Draba_ incana,
D. boreatis, D. rupestris, Geum triflorum, Saxifraga cuneifolia,
S. Pennsylvanica, S. bronchialis, S. stelleriana, Heuchera pu-
bescens, H. sanguinea, Potentilla villosa, Cypripedium mon-
tanum, C. arietinum, C, pubescens, C. candidum, C. spectabile,
C. acaule, Phlox nivalis, Génothera pumila, Dicentra Cana-
densis.

ASIA: HIMALAYAS.—Sedum Kamschaticum, S. Asiaticum,
Primula auriculata, P. Japonica, P. denticulata, P. erosa, Aster
alpinus, var. Himalayensis, Androsace sarmentosa, A. lan-
guinosa, Gentiana Thibetica, G. septemifolia, Rehbmannia
Chinensis, Leontodon Himalayensis, Hepatica Valdensis,
Artemisia stellerianum, Polygonum Brunnonis.

EvurRopPE: ALps.—Soldanella alpina, S. pusilla, S. minima,
Gymnnadema odorotissima, Sempervirens crassicaulis, Cys-
topteris alpinus, Achillea alpina, Ranunculus alpestris, Erige-
ron neglectum, E. alpestris, Chrysanthemum alpinum, Pinus
pumila, P. cembra, Saxitraga aretiodes, S. densa, Campanula

thyrsoides, Mulgedium alpinum.
Philadelphia, Pa. 7 DT MacDougal.

The Sand Dunes of Northern Indiana and their
Flora.—II.

NE of the first plants to appear on the higher dunes

is the Bug seed, Corispermum hyssopifolium, an an-
nual, somewhat succulent, bearing a thin, flat, winged
seed, which is readily moved about by the wind. Its low
stature and sparse narrow leaves catch but little of the
wind, so that it is easily established. In more favorable
localities it has a dense round head, and when torn from
the ground in autumn becomes a Tumble-weed, which
helps still further to disseminate it. The first of the Grasses
to start, and among the earliest plants to gain a footing,
are Calamagrostis longifolia, Panicum virgatum and Am-
mophila arundinacea, the Sea-sand Reed. The last is more
common at lower levels among the beach-sands, but it
comes up the sides of the higher dunes near the shore, and
is found upon their tops. Grasses which come in later are
Andropogon scoparius, A. fureatus, and the nearly allied
Chrysopogon nutans, always a welcome sight, with its
graceful panicles of russet silky spikes. Elymus Cana-
densis, especially the variety glaucifolia, frequently grows
with the Calamagrostis and the Sea-sand Reed, and shows
very large curving or nodding spikes of paie green. To
these Grasses will be added subsequently species of Sporo-
bolus, and in open but more sheltered places in the woods
the small annual, Festuca tenella, thickly covering the
ground in spring and early summer with a dense growth of
low wiry stems. Common also are two closely related
and pretty species, Eatonia obtusata and Kceleria cristata.
Very interesting, from the behavior of its fruit, is the Triple-
awned Grass, Aristida tuberculosa, its awns conveniently
arranged to anchor the seed and force it into the sand as

SEPTEMBER 16, 1896.]

they change hygroscopically. Quite similar in the action
of its fruit is the Porcupine Grass, Stipa spartea, with a
sharp, spear-like seed and long twisted awn, which, like a
lever, gains some vantage-point to push against, and, as it
twists and turns, crowds the sharp-pointed, barbed seed into
the ground.

The most abundant trees are the Black Oak, the White
Pine and the Banksian Pine. Together they constitute
nine-tenths of the arboreous growth on the higher hills.
The White Pine, being subject to the strong winds, de-
velops a short, stout trunk, sometimes reaching a diameter
of two and a half feet. The branches come low down and
form an oblong or roundish top. In places where they are
most crowded or better sheltered they make longer trunks,
but these are usually small and the trees of comparatively
low stature. The Banksian Pine is scattered about every-
where, but does not form the dense groves and nearly
exclusive growth by which it characterizes some of the
lower sand ridges or more level areas. The Black Oak,
Quercus velutina, is almost the sole occupant of many
places, for it more easily survives the fires which sweep
over the forest-land and destroy the resinous Pines. Ifthe
trunk is killed or the trees are cut down for wood, the
younger and more vigorous soon form a coppice and
reclothe the ground. The acorns, easily buried in the
sand, often sprout abundantly in a wettish season. The
White Oak, Q. alba, is next to it in frequency, and forms a
low, stout tree. The Bur Oak is seen in limited numbers,
and occasionally the Red Oak. The Scarlet Oak may also
be present, but I do not find satisfactory evidence of it,
though it is naturally looked for on such sandy land. But
the representatives of the Black Oak group of Oaks in this
vicinity are so exceedingly variable, and approach each
other by so many gradations of character, that it would be
rash to pronounce definitely upon such a point.

The common Basswood seems quite out of place with
such an environment. When present it is generally estab-
lished on sheltered slopes or in narrow ravine-like depres-
sions left among the hills, but I have seen it forming
clumps of bushes in the midst of the Sea-sand Reed and
Bailey’s Cornel on top of a high dune, which the wind was
slowly removing. ‘The Cottonwood, the most common
tree, and the first to establish itself on the lower sand

_reaches close by the beach, also gains a footing on the
hills. Populus tremuloides and P. grandidentata likewise
have representatives. The Buttonwood is occasionally
seen, very queerly placed, with its pale trunk rising up
from the midst of a clump of Juniper, and with the Gray
Pine for a near neighbor. The Red Cedar must be added
to the coniferous flora, small, but usually picturesque trees
when, scarred and torn by the wind, they cling to the top-
most edges of a disappearing dune, sturdily holding the
outposts.

Among small trees we note Cornus florida and the Sas-
safras, the latter more frequently a shrub. Either as a
diminutive tree or shrub the Choke-cherry is quite abun-
dant, very beautiful in spring when mantled in white blos-
soms, and equally engaging in summer when loaded with
clusters of dark crimson drupes, for it fruits very copiously
on these sand hills. Sometimes the Juneberry, Amelanchier
Canadensis, grows with it, adding its white blossoms in
spring and red or purple fruit in early summer, a tree or

shrub of similar habit. ;
Chicago, Ill. LE. J: Fill.

Nelumbo lutea, the Water Chinquapin.

HE illustration on page 375 shows a colony of the
American Nelumbo, or Water Chinquapin, which has

been naturalized in a pond in the town of Lynnfield, Mas-
sachusetts, some fourteen miles from Boston, and shows
what unassisted nature can do in the way of aquatic gar-
dening. It seems that the colony was started some twenty
years since by a Mr. Silver, who was visiting a friend living
on the shore of the lake. Plants of both the Nelumbo
nucifera (speciosa) and N. lutea were used, but the exotic

Garden and Forest.

3/3

plant soon disappeared. It did not even survive the first
hard winter, very likely because it had been planted too
close to the shore.

The group of Nelumbo now extends along the shore of
the lake some two hundred and fifty feet and into the lake
some one hundred feet, and is increasing very rapidly. The
plants do not bloom with regularity every year, and such
blooms as do appear are rarely allowed to perfect them-
selves, owing to the ravages of bicycle-riders and other
visitors.

Although this plant is not as interesting as the so-called
Egyptian Lotus in some respects, yet in many ways it is
a most desirable aquatic for ornamental use, and its broad
handsome foliage is particularly effective, with its rich
bluish tinge of color contrasting so well with the light
green under side when disturbed by the breeze. Estab-
lished clumps are a study for their foliage alone. The
wide floating leaves completely cover the surface of the
water, serving to emphasize the stately effect of those
that are held above the surface by their longer and
stouter stems, while the curious unfolding of the young
foliage and the opening buds on their sturdy stalks all unite to
give an effect not to be found in any other native American
plant. The flower-buds stand eighteen to thirty inches
above the surface of the pond on sturdy clean stems, and
quickly changing from a light green to a rich clear y ellow
when unfolded. ‘The fully extended flowers are from seven
to ten inches across, making a rich contrast with the light
bluish green, velvety foliage. No native flower excels them
in size except those of the Magnolia macrophylla

No question can be entertained of the hardiness of the
plant, and it should prove of high value in ornamental
aquatic planting. It ought to thrive wherever the Egyptian
Lotus will, and the yellow flowers mingled with the pink
ones of the Sacred Bean, as the Asiatic species is often
called, would make a pleasing picture. The newer Japa-
nese forms, such as the pure white Shiroman, would lend
additional charm to such a group.

This group seems to have been overlooked by most of
the local botanists, and has been comparatively unknown
up to the present time except to a few, and this furnishes a
reason, perhaps, why the clump has increased to its present
proportions, as otherwise it would probably have been
sadly torn and depleted before this.

Reading, Mass. J. Woodward Manning.

[We have already given an illustration of a pond in
southern Illinois covered with our native Nelumbo (see
vol. iv., p. 556), and we give this second picture for the
purpose of calling more direct attention to this neglected
plant. It is by no means rare, being common all through
the Mississippi basin and on the border of the Great Lakes,
although it is comparatively rare in the east, where it was
probably introduced by the Indians, who are said to have
used it as an article of food. So far as we know, the only
other locality where it is known to exist in Massachusetts
is at Osterville, where it was found a few years ago by
Professor Farlow. The fact that it is hardy so far to the
north and east, and that it becomes easily naturalized, ought
to encourage planters to make more use of it, and to stim-
ulate hybridizers to experiment with it asthe parent of new
varieties. Mr. William Tricker writes that it seems to be
more difficult to establish than the Asiatic species, although
he has seen it in splendid condition and growing more
freely than its relative. An amateur aquatic gardener, near
Little Falls, New Jersey, planted some seed in the regular
way and set them later with other aquatics in a pond whose
bottom was hard clay. The plants grew rapidly and bore
freely the second year, their splendid flowers, with shell-
shaped petals, of as pure a yellow as those of Nymphwa
sulphurea. They ripened tubers not extra-large, but solid
and sound, and these started well when planted out the
next spring. Perhaps the soil may be an important factor
in success with these plants, since Nymphaas, Nelumbi-
ums and most other aquatics flourish best when the soil is
rather stiff. Upon the whole, there seems to be no good

374

reason why this plant should not be much more generally
used, and, no doubt, it would be if it were as well known
as the Egyptian species.—Ep. |

Foreign Correspondence.
Autumn-flowering Hardy Bulbous Plants.

HE value of bulbous plants for producing beautiful
effects in out-of-door gardens in the months of spring
and early summer is generally recognized. I propose to
call attention here to a considerable number of bulbous
plants which may be most effectively used in what may be
termed autumn gardening. During the months of August
and September it is possible to have quite a grand display
of flowers from bulbous plants of easy cultivation, and one
can only account for their scant use at present in gardens
generally by believing that they are either unknown or
that they are crowded out by commoner plants. Garden-
ing is apt to become stereotyped, the same plants being
used for the same places and put out at the same time, year
after year, without any regard for change and the pleasure
that fresh features in the garden rarely fail to bring.

Probably every one of the plants mentioned below is
cultivated in most good gardens, but I doubt if many of
them are grown in such quantities as to produce a telling
effect, and I know that in some gardens they are coddled
in pots or stuck in out-of-the-way corners, where their
charms are practically buried. The first time I saw Crinum
Moorei filling a huge bed in the garden of Sir Trevor Law-
rence, at Burford Bridge, now some fifteen years ago, I was
astonished by the vigor of the plants and delighted by the
hundreds of magnificent heads of large flowers in their full
glory in the last week in August. Previously I had only
known this Crinum as a pot-plant. Twenty years ago we
grew Lilium auratum in pots for the conservatory, and in
many gardens this plant is still known only as a green-
house plant. Any one who has seen the big beds of it in
Mr. Wilson’s garden, at Weybridge, or in the Royal Gar-
dens, Kew, knows the difference between this Lily when
grown in the conservatory and the many-stemmed tall
clumps crowded with flowers that are possible when the
bulbs are grown in beds along with Rhododendrons or
such like shrubs. In Mr. Robinson’s garden, at Gravetye,
I lately saw a Jarge bed of Ghent Azaleas enveloped in the
flame-like colors of Crocosmias, which had taken entire pos-
session of the space between the Azaleas, and was almost
a weed in Mr. Robinson’s eyes. Schizostylis coccinea is
generally grown in small quantities in pots, but in a few
gardens, where its merits as a Jate autumn flowering plant
for the open border are recognized, it is grown in large
breadths and produces in abundance its erect spikes of
bright crimson flowers. Even slight frosts do not inter-
fere with its blooming, and I have seen a rich display of
flowers in the open air in December.

To obtain such effects as are here described there must,
however, be no ‘‘skimping”; large quantities of the bulbs
must be planted, and planted with judgment. I have never
seen the Belladonna flower when planted at a greater dis-
tance than a foot from a south warm wall, except in the
warmer parts of Cornwall. The Jacobean Lily is equally
shy of flowering if not humored by the supply of heat at its
toes. This plant, however, blooms in spring. The same
is true of Lycoris squamigera (Amaryllis Hallii), which we
could not flower in pots at Kew, but which has flowered
freely this year in a narrow border under the south wall of
a tropical fernery.

The following plants are most effective at Kew in the
open air in August and September:

AmaryLiis Brtraponna. — Planted in narrow borders
against the south walls of several greenhouses in a deep
loamy soil. In winter they are mulched with light, well-
decayed stable-manure. This affords protection to the
leaves which push into growth in early spring and are apt
to get nipped by frost. The leaves all wither in July and

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 447.

the spikes are pushed up in August or September, the
bulbs nearest to the wall always leading the way. They
should be planted about a foot below the surface (base of
bulbs). About every fourth year they require to be lifted,
the bulbs separated and replanted six inches apart. The
variety Blanda is three weeks or a month earlier than the
type. The Kew variety is characterized by stout scapes,
two feet or more high, many-flowered umbels, and the
upper half of the segments colored rich rose-crimson.

Lycorts sguAMIGERA.—From what I have seen of this plant
it is likely to become valuablein the same way as the Bel-
ladonna Lily, for it thrives under the same treatment and
flowers at about the same time of year. [See pp. 323 and
347 of this volume.—Ep. }

Crinums.—The three hardy Crinums are C. Moorei, C.
longifolium (Capense) and the hybrid C. Powelli. Of the last
named there are three forms—the type, which has rose-
tinted flowers ; alba, which is pure white, and rosea, which
might appropriately be altered to purpurea, the color of the
flowers being almost crimson. I know no bulbous plants
of greater merit than these hardy Crinums. At Kew we
have large groups of them in beds under the lee of the great
Palm house, and they are now beautiful with their tall-
stalked umbels of large elegant bells. They increase rap-
idly by means of offsets, one bulb of the white Powelli
procured four years ago having increased to fifty strong-
flowering bulbs. These plants require deep, well-drained
soil and a liberal allowance of moisture in the growing
season. They are hardy away from a wall, good masses
of them being now in flower in the Bamboo garden.

Evucomis.—When grown in pots these plants are not con-
sidered attractive, but when planted out in rich soil in a
position sheltered from wind they produce grand foliage
and tall spikes of flowers two or three feet high, like glori-
fied Hyacinths. Beds ofthem at Kew are now very attrac-
tive. They require the shelter of a wall, otherwise they
should be protected with a‘cone of ashes in winter. The
species grown in the open air at Kew are E. undulata, E.
punctata, E. Zambesiaca and E, regia. They are all south
African,

Tuperoses.—A bed under the wall of the Palm house
was planted last May with these plants, and they are now
almost every one bearing a stout spike of flowers. The
exceptional heat of the summer may account for this
success ; certainly I have never seen the Tuberose flower
like this in the open air, but I ought to add I have never
before seen it tried.

ScHizostyLis coccinkA —This south African Irid is quite
hardy, and it possesses the distinct merit of flowering late
in the year. It ought to be planted ona south border in a
light, rich soil and watered during dry weather. We find
it a good plan to lift the plants every spring and replant
them.

Crocosmias.—I have already mentioned the rich display
made by these plants when used in large masses. There
are now many varieties of them, thanks to the skill of
Messrs. Lemoine, of Nancy. They grow freely in light
soil and take care of themselves, although to keep them
vigorous they require to be lifted and replanted every
three or four years. The giant of the lot is C. aurea imperi-
alis, for which we are indebted to Herr Max Leichtlin, of.
Baden. These plants are most valuable in the flower
garden. :

Littums.—The best of these for autumn effects are
Auratum, Speciosum and Henryi. These are now magnifi-
cent at Kew, Auratum among the Rhododendrons, hun-
dreds, I might almost say thousands of them, tall, stately,
their great flowers shining in the sun like enormous stars and
exhaling an odor which is most enjoyable in the open air.
Speciosum is not so tall or so stately, but it ranks next to
Auratum asa free-flowering effective autumn Lily. Henryi
has the exceptional quality of extending its flowering
season over two or three months; at any rate, it has been
in flower at Kew since early in July, and it will be in flower
in September—a grand Lily, easily accommodated, stately,

SEPTEMBER 16, 1896.]

distinct and handsome, all virtues and no vices, so far as I
know, and I handled the first two or three tiny bulbs of it
that reached this country from China. L. Formosanum is
flowering in the open now, and it would deserve to
rank with the best of the genus were it not for its bad
habit of generally dying after flowering.

ZEPHYRANTHES CANDIDA. —This is one of the most delightful
little plants in the garden. It grows freely as a substitute
for Box edging; indeed, a long border now edged with it
used to be edged with Box, and the Zephyranthes was
planted a few inches inside the box and in front of Bella-
donna Lilies. Here it grew and multiplied rapidly, eventu-
ally killing the Box which it has supplanted. The edging
is now about a foot wide, and consists of a dense array of
dark green rush-like leaves six or eight inches long, which
in August and September are accompanied by thousands

of pure white star-like flowers three inches across. The
plant is not injured by frost and it transplants as easily as
Chives.

Ticripias.—All the Tigridias of the Pavonia or Grandi-
flora section are excellent plants for beds to flower in
August and September. They are beautiful with us now,
white, cream, yellow, orange and variegated varieties,
which have names, but no two dealers’ names agree, and if
one orders white he will probably get orange or yellow.
Still, they are all beautiful, and mixed beds of them are
very showy at this time of year. We lift them early in
winter and store them in dry sand, replanting in May.

TULBAGHIA ALLIACEA and violacea are two elegant little
Cape plants with narrow leaves and tall slender scapes
of lavender or rose-purple flowers. They flower freely
during summer and autumn, and are perfectly happy ina

Garden and Forest

375

I do not know if they will
A third

sunny border out-of-doors.
bear severe frost, but intend to try them this year.
species, Natalensis, has yellowish, fragrant flowers.

Cotcuicums.—No picture in autumn surpasses an Eng-
lish meadow studded all over with the pale purple
Crocus-like flowers of the Meadow Saffron. A similar
effect may be produced in the garden by planting the
bulbs thickly in grass on sloping banks near water, or
where a fair supply of moisture is available. They are
employed in this way about the lake at Kew, and also in
the wild garden. C. speciosum, C. Parkinsoni and C.
Sibthorpii are not sufficiently plentiful to be used in this
way, but it would pay any bulb grower to work up a large
stock of these three large-flowered handsome species for
planting on a large scale.

Crocusrs.—The species of Crocus which flower in the

ey

_ 3"

= r x Xi sol

Fig. 50.—Nelumbo lutea, the Water Chinquapin, in a Massachusetts pond.—See page 373.

Sate

autumn have not yet come to be used in the garden as
their congeners, the spring-flowering species, are, but some
of them are certain to become popular for this purpose
when once they are procurable in quantity. C. nudiflorus,
the autumn Crocus, a native of English meadows, is a
perfect plant for the purpose. W. Watson.

London,

Plant Notes.

Morus rusra.—Our native Red Mulberry is larger and
more handsome than any other species of the genus which
grows in a temperate climate. An old tree growing on the
estate of Mr. P. J. Berckmans, in Augusta, Georgia, some
years ago had a diameter of seven feet, three feet above the
ground, but this was of exceptional size. The stout trunk
rarely exceeds three or four feet through, and the tree

376

reaches a height of sixty or seventy feet. The head is
round-topped andshapely ; the ample leaves are yellowish
green as they unfold, and at maturity they are a dark
bluish green above and pale pubescent below, turning in
autumn to bright yellow and falling early. The flowers
are insignificant and borne in unisexual catkin-like clus-
ters, and the fruit, as is well known, resembles a small
blackberry and ripens here early in July. Not much at-
tention has been given to selecting trees for the purpose of
securing fruit in greater abundance or of better quality,
but even in its natural state the fruit is by no means to be
despised. We invite attention to this Mulberry now, how-
ever, as one of our most desirable native ornamental trees.
It is hardy, and when it is placed in rich soil grows
rapidly and gives a dense shade. This week our attention
has been called to several of these trees which are grow-
ing in the churchyards and private grounds of New York
and Jersey City. Some of these specimens are forty or
fifty feet high, and the dark green foliage of their broad
and compact crowns gives them a beauty which few other
trees possess. They deserve to be used much more freely
in our parks and private grounds, and, indeed, wherever
trees of the second size are required.

RENANTHERA STORIEI.—On page 284 of the current volume,
Mr. Watson describes a plant of this beautiful Orchid in
flower, which was shown by Sir Trevor Lawrence at an
exhibition of the Royal Horticultural Society in London.
The spike in this instance was eighteen inches long, and
carried fifty flowers each two and a half inches across.
Hitherto the plants in cultivation have not flowered regu-
larly, but the possessor of one of them will feel rewarded
for his years of care if even at irregular intervals it pro-
duces a spike as large and perfect as the one which has
been sent to this office by Mr. A. Herrington, from the
gardens of H. McK. Twombley, Esq., in Madison, New Jer-
sey. Unfortunately, the photograph is not sufficiently dis-
tinct for the best reproduction. We may say, however,
that these flowers appeared here at the same time as those
on the plant of Sir Trevor Lawrence. The plant which
flowered in New Jersey has been in the collection there for
several years without showing any disposition to bloom.
Mr. Herrington writes that it had become lanky and con-
sisted of one stem four and a half feet in height, devoid of
leaves on the lower: half, but well furnished with aerial
roots. As an experiment, early this year it was beheaded
eighteen inches above the top of the pot and the severed
portion was repotted. Doubtless this drastic treatment had
some influence in inducing the formation of a flower-spike,
as one was observed within three months after the decapi-
tation, and this ultimately developed into a magniticent
specimen ofits kind. It bore in all seventy-three flowers,
every one opening to perfection. The perfecting of this
number of flowers proved a considerable strain upon the
plant in its semi-established condition, causing it to shrivel
perceptibly, so the spike was cut, and it kept fresh in water
a number of days. In the whole Orchid tribe there are
few so richly and highly colored as this Renanthera, its
flowers being uniformly of a bright crimson, varied with
transverse bands of a deep dark crimson, velvet-like in
tichness and texture. The disposition of the flower-spike
and its habit of branching are noticeable for almost geo-
metric regularity. The main branch of the flower-raceme
grew out at right angles with the stem of the plant,
and throughout its entire length of nearly two feet main-
tained an even horizontal position. Its four lateral
branches, two on either side, grew at right angles with
the main branch, keeping the same regular rigid poise.
The decapitation of the plant, while evidently hasten-
ing the production of flowers, proved a double gain
in giving another plant, and a latent bud has since
started into growth toward the tip of the old leafless
stem which was left in the pot in which the plant originally
grew.
~ Tur Douste Gorpen Ruppeckra.—This is the garden
name of one of the latest additions to the list of our attrac-

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 447.

tive hardy perennials. Mr. Gerard reports that a second
season’s test proves it to be a plant likely to become gen-
erally popular, though we are supplied with almost a sur-
plus of yellow flowers in midsummer and later, among
which the single Rudbeckias, or Black-eyed Susans, have
always been favorites. The plant introduced as the double
Rudbeckia has a distinct habit, being tall, growing three to
four feet, with unbranching stems and pinnate or palmately
parted smooth leaves. ‘The six or more flowers which are
borne from each stem on long peduncles are nearly three
inches in diameter and pretty double, showing no centre,
in color a golden-yellow, but not quite a perfectly satisfac-
tory clear shade. They may be rated with the double
Sunflowers, Zinnias, etc., useful for bold effects in the gar-
den or decoration. The plant is probably a sport or
variety of R. laciniata. Mr. Gerard suggests that the
flowers resemble in form those of a Cactus Dahlia, but
their somewhat muddy color is against them,

Cultural Department.

Fall and Winter Care of the Vegetable Garden.

i Nae aioe is one particular in which many gardens, even
those in which their owners take great pride, are sadly
neglected, and that is in their treatment during the fall and
winter months. After acrop is gathered no further attention
is given the soil until itis wanted the next spring, and many
a garden, which, during the spring and early summer, is well
cared for, neat and attractive, is a waste of bare ground or of
rank weeds and scattering vegetables for the remainder of the
year, making it anything but attractive. There is not only no
need of this, but it lessens very materially the productive
capacity of the garden. The farmer finds it absolutely neces-
sary to occasionally seed down his fields. Why? So that the
soil may be lightened, loosened and filled with fine roots, giv-
ing it what Professor Bailey aptly calls “fibre,” but many of
our gardens have been in cultivation for years, utterly regard-
less of conserving this quality which the tarmer finds so neces-
sary, and in consequence we are forced, in order to get a crop,
to use an excessive quantity of manure, to the detriment of
the quality of our vegetables. This deterioration of the soil
can be prevented and our gardens be made attractive, or at
least not repulsive, through the whole year by the use of soil-
ing crops. As soon asacrop of Lettuce, Radish, Peas, Beans
or Corn is past, let the ground be immediately cleaned, culti-
vated, and sown with Crimson Clover, Rape, Peas, Rye, Tur-
nip or some other crop. It may be that from the want of
moisture the seed will not start immediately, but if not the
spot will not look untidy, and after the first rain the plants will
soon cover the ground, shading it from the injurious heating
by the sun, filling the soil with roots, catching and holding
fertility which otherwise would be lost, and, by no means
least, making a spot which would otherwise be unattractive,
beautiful. We know of one case where the growing Clover
was so beautiful that the owner could not bear to spade it
under and sacrificed one season’s crop of vegetables to its
beauty. We think there is no way in which manure can be
made so available for the next season’s crop as by applying it
to such a soiling crop in the fall or early spring. It there is
much trouble from insects we can do much to rid ourselves
of them by spading or plowing the crop under, the day before
the final freeze-up in the fall, thus breaking up their winter
quarters and exposing them to frost and ice; but we think the
greatest benefit to the soil would result from leaving the crop
until a few days before the ground is wanted in the spring.
Detroit, Mich. Will. W. Tracy.

Small Fruits.

[URNS the month of September preparations should
commence for another season, and upon the treatment
now given the supply of fruit will largely depend. The
old canes of Blackberries and Raspberries should be cut
away anda requisite number of the strongest of the young
ones tied to the wires or stakes, the weaker ones being
removed to concentrate the vigor of the plants and allow free-
dom of light and air to those that are left.

If left untied the young canes are sure to be more or less
broken or injured by storms. Frequent hoeings will be re-
quired to keep down weeds, and all suckers should be dug up
as they make their appearance, unless the making of a fresh

SEPTEMBER 16, 1896.]

plantation is contemplated, when the strongest may be left
until the leaves have fallen, after which they can be lfted and
planted closely together in what is commonly called a nursery-
bed, where they can be conveniently protected. The planting
in their permanent quarters had better be delayed until spring.
We find that fall planting usually results in a good many losses.

Some approve of cutting or pinching back the young canes
while in a green state, but our experience is that more harm
than good results from this practice, as it has a tendency to
excite the buds into growth, which ought to be kept dormant
until spring. We have seen the heading back done after the
leaves have fallen in November, but nothing is gained, unless
it is necessary for saving time in spring. We find that the
points of the canes are usually cut back more or less by frosts
_ during winter, and it is advisable to leave the heading-back
process until the severest of the weather is over, but it should
always be done before the sap has begun to flow. In this
section it is unnecessary to cover the canes during winter, but
a good mulching with stable litter will be found beneficial.
This is better applied after the ground is frozen over just hard
enough to bear a man’s weight.

The principal work in the old Strawberry-beds at this season
is keeping them well hoed and clear of weeds and removing
all runners as they appear. Fresh plantations may still be
made, though if this has been done in August so much the
better, as they then have the advantage of a good start before
the winter comes on.

It is most important, especially in late plantings, to have the
ground well firmed along the lines where the plants are to be
set out. We take it for granted that the ground has been well
tilled, and is, therefore, loose, and unless it is well firmed
around them and the plants set well down they would be left
too high after the soil has settled, and therefore subject to be
thrown out by frost; not only this, but the Strawberry-plant
always inclines to rise, and the further it is kept down at first
the better, so long as the crowns can be kept clear. Much has
been said about the expediency or otherwise of mulching
Strawberries and of the different materials to be used. They
are undoubtedly benefited by a mulching, and we have found
nothing better for the purpose than good long stable litter.
The covering over the plants themselves should be very light,
but heavier between the rows, the object not being so much
to protect the plants themselves, but to prevent alternate
freezing and thawing of the ground. It should be applied as
recommended for the Raspberries after the ground has frozen

over. a
Tarrytown, N. Y. William Scott.

Late-flowering Shrubs.

WING to the frequent rains since midsummer the late-
flowering shrubs are in finer condition here than they have
been for several years past. They made good growth in the
early part of the season, and the continued supply of moisture
has enabled them to develop their fowers so that now there
is quite a profusion of bloom in the shrubberies where, in ordi-
nary seasons, there is little else to be seen than parched foliage.
The large-flowered Hydrangea paniculata is usually a sorrow-
ful object with us unless watered several times a week during
dry spells. Some of the plants which were put out here,
about the time of their original introduction from Japan, have
grown toa height of about fifteen feet; a few of them have
stems three or four feet high and several inches in diameter.
Under the name of Vitex Agnus-castus there are several
distinct species cultivated, none of them approaching the true
species in value asa late-blooming shrub. There are at least
three varieties differing only from each other in the color of
the flowers, which are purple, pink or white. Cuttings of
them root freely from now on under glass, or they can be
raised from seed which ripens in abundance. The Crape
Myrtle, Lagerstrcemia indica, from the fact of its being unreli-
ably hardy in the northern states, is comparatively little known
north of here. A great deal may be accomplished with it,
however, by giving it a little protection in the winter months.
Old plants which have been thoroughly established in
favorable seasons take no harm here when the thermometer
is below zero, but one and two year old plants get killed to
the ground when the mercury falls so low. But even when
killed to the ground year after year, they make rapid growth
the ensuing summer and flower after attaining a height of
about three feet, The flowers are bright pink, and there are
forms with purple and pure white flowers. Old plants set
seed abundantly, and if sown early will flower the following
summer.
Lespedeza Sieboldii, often called Desmodium penduliflo-

Garden and Forest.

Sif

rum, is a true herbaceous plant, although sometimes classed
with shrubs ; it gets to be about six feet high and forms a
symmetrical plant. This, the only species of the genus grown
extensively on account of its extremely ornamental character,
is now coming into bloom and will continue till frost. It is a
very reliable plant, especially for soils which get dust-dry in
summer. There are two forms, rose and white flowered; itis
propagated by division early in the season, or from cuttings
taken any time after the wood is ripe.

For our climate, both north and south, few shrubs behave
better than the old-fashioned Hibiscus Syriacus, but for some
reason we seldom see in common cultivation any but the
varieties which the old books tell us were in existence a hun-
dred years ago. During the months of August and September
these plants produce their large flowers in great profusion.
Some of the best kinds are the following: Leopoldii, blush
color shaded with rose, very double on young vigorous plants,
the flowers borne on the ends of the long shoots making it a
valuable plant for cutting ; Totus-albus, the best single white,
one of the most floriferous—it comes true from seed, which
even the small plants ripen freely; Comte de Cainaut, very
double, blush; Camellizflora, white, slightly tinged with pink,
very dark centre ; Rubra plena, the best of the double reds.

Some seasons Clerodendron viscosum is a mass of bloom
here; during others it shows only scattered flowers. Where it
is hardy it is a good plant for dry soils, as it roots very deeply.
In the southern states it increases so fast from underground
growths that it has become a nuisance. It is not reliably hardy
north of Washington.

Abelia floribunda commences to bloom on the current sea-
son’s wood early in summer and continues in flower later than
any other shrub; last season we picked some flowers from it
a tew weeks before Christmas. In mild winters it is ever-
green, like some of the Ligustrums, but during severe seasons
the leaves fall off. The plants, however, are not injured in
the least; some immense specimens have stood in exposed
places here for the past forty years. It isa native of Mexico
and is propagated by cuttings made from the ends of the grow-
ing shoots in the fall.

Caryopteris mastacanthus is a member of the Verbena
family, which has been called a blue Spirzea. It is just as
valuable as if it were a Spirzea, and probably more so, because
it lowers when its flowers are most wanted. It is said to grow
only two feet high, but on some plants which did not get
killed to the ground last winter the growths are four feet long
and covered with buds. It is said to be quite hardy in Massa-
chusetts ; if so, it should be in every collection, as it deserves

all the good things that have been said of it. ;
Botanic Garden, Washington, D. C. G. W. Oliver.

An Autumn Garden.

UR borders are for the most part filled with plants which

bloom from spring until the end of July, and to be per-
petuated in good health the plants must remain and ripen
their growth. The deserted look of the borders toward the
end of summer and in autumn is but poorly relieved by
sparsely planted clumps of Phloxes, Asters, Sunflowers,
Lilium tigrinum, Hemerocallis Thunbergi, Campanula ranun-
culoides and a limited number of plants which can be consid-
ered reliably hardy. By mid-autumn they are scanty indeed.
It must be so, however, if the borders are planned for spring
flowers alone, and it is scarcely satisfactory to say there is
always ‘‘something” in bloom.

It has often occurred to me that we might have an autumn
border—an autumn garden—if we wished, wherein all plants
which are at their best at this season could be grouped to-
gether. There is plenty of variety to choose from. Wemight
include some shrubs with bright-tinted foliage or handsome
fruits, butit should be remembered that shrubs and herbaceous
plants do not grow well together. The herbaceous border
should not form part of the garden scene, but be situated
rather out of the way, where the plants have a chance to grow
in good air and sunshine, to be seen at close range only. In
small suburban gardens the case is different, where no broad
effect is possible. While the autumn garden would not be at
its best until late summer, it never would look untidy.

Autumn-flowering hardy border plants are mainly Com-
posites, and the prevailing colors are shades of purple, as in
the Asters, or yellow, as in the Sunflowers. For color-eftect
some annuals might be included, as Zinnias, Scabious, Ver-
benas, especially V. venosa and V. erinoides, Pentstemons,
Antirrhinums, Nicotiana affinis, single Petunias, new Early
Cosmos and Bleeding Heart, Amaranthus caudatus. Many
beautiful tender perennials will be found serviceable in this

378

grouping. Dahlias, Cannas, Salviasplendens, Leonotis Leo-
nurus, the Lion’s Tail plant, with bold spikes of orange-scarlet
flowers, and the lavender-flowered Caryopteris mastacanthus.
Tender bulbous plants also might be included, such as Tri-
tomas, Gladiolus and Montbretias. Anemone Japonica, which
is locally hardy, but better treated as a tender plant, will bea
‘valuable addition, Among reliably hardy plants, in addition
to those already noted, are Pyrethrum uliginosum, with its
large, handsome Daisy-like flowers, splendid tor cutting ; Aster
Nove-Anglie, A. longifolius formosus and A. Shortii; Plum-
bago Larpente, Rudbeckia purpurea, R. Newmanni, Lilium
lancifolium, Lobelia cardinalis, Vernonia Noveboracensis,
Eupatorium purpureum, Chelone Lyoni, C. barbatus Torreyi,
Funkia subcordata, Asclepias tuberosa and the best of the
Golden-rods. Clematis paniculata and C. Pieroti are very orna-
mental when trained upon lopped cedar posts. Ornamental
Grasses are also effective, and this list might be considerably

extended,
Wellesley, Mass. Leal: Fatfeld.

Some Good Autumn-flowering Plants.

RECENT editorial in GARDEN AND FOREST called attention

to what is only too well known to busy amateur garden-
ers—namely, the absence of long twilights in our country. It
is especially at this season that rapidly shortening days forbid
much garden work by a business man, and as the early morn-
ing finds all vegetation dripping from heavy dews it is small
wonder that such aggressive enemies as Couch Grass, etc.,
make a strong effort for the possession of the soil. Fortu-
nately, most of the plants of the season are also strong, as
Phloxes, Sunflowers, Asters, Rudbeckias and the like, and ca-
pable of a vigorous dispute for the occupation of the ground,
and these showy plants are apt to be most in evidence now in
every garden. But there are other plants and flowers more
interesting than these at this time, if less abundant and showy.
Among the great family of large-flowering Amaryllids Ido not
recall any more beautiful in bloom than Crinum Moorei and its
hybrid C. Powelli. C. Moorei is a Natal species with an ovoid
bulb and a long neck, with spreading leaves two feet or more
long. An umbel of six to ten flowers is supported by a thick,
tall peduncle, and these are individually of large size, slightly
hooded and drooping, and usually of the purest and most
charming pink. They vary somewhat in color, there being
forms with white flowers. This is an indispensable plant if
one has cool-greenhouse facilities. The culture is of the sim-
plest; it requires potting, and is apparently not fastidious as to
soil. Itis well to grow it along into a fair-sized tub with its
offsets, of which it is prolific, until it makes a good specimen,
as it will then be more effective in the garden when in flower.
In the late fall it should be removed to a cool house and kept
fairly dry till new leaves appear in midwinter, when it may
have more moisture, the supply being increased on removal
out-of-doors in the spring. C. Powelli, while resembling C.
Moorei in flower, has a bulb with a shorter neck and drooping
channeled leaves some four feet long. Itis especially valuable
forits hardiness. In a sheltered place here it is cut to the
ground, but reappears in the spring, being only protected with
a small mound of ashes or earth to throw off moisture.

Another charming flower is Acidanthera bicolor, which Mr.
Endicott described, witha figure, in the first volume of GARDEN
AND FOREST, page 484. This Irid has Gladiolus-like corms
and leaves and numerous sweet-scented flowers on pendu-
lous stems; they are white, with chocolate markings.

Some years ago I received trom Monsieur Lemoine a col-
lection of hybrid Montbretias, Aurea, Etoile de Feu, Phare,
Bouquet Parfait and others. The labels were long since lost
and the varieties grown together, for the first two named rep-
resented fairly well the whole collection, Etoile de Feu is
especially fiery, and when well grown a most satisfactory
variety. The plants seem to require high culture in good soil
and much moisture, otherwise the leaves are apt to turn
brown on the edges and the corms devote themselves to
increase instead of flowers. My success with Montbretias has
been rather varied, and I think others have had similar expe-
rience. It has been recommended to grow them in partial
shade, though theirleaves seem to indicate that they should
be fully exposed. Perhaps the shading, if partial, may have
conserved the moisture at the roots. Of course, Gladioli are
plentiful now, though the rage for dwarf Cannas has affected
their favor in many gardens. Personally I prefer thesomewhat
quaint and irregular forms of some of the Gladiolus species to
the perfect hybrids of the florist, which are so proper and exact
as to affect one as unpleasantly as some human beings with
the same qualities. There is quite a list of flowers which I
much enjoy in my friends’ gardens. Some admirable Gladi-

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 447.

olus are G. sulphureus, Leichtlini cruentus, aurantiacus,
Eckloni, Byzantium and the hybrid G. Colvillei albus (The
Bride). There seems to be a perennial discussion in horticul-
tural circles as to the hardiness of Gladioli. After an expe-
rience withsome fifty species I do not believe that, with the
possible exception of G, Segetum and its near allies, any of the
species are hardy in this latitude under ordinary treatment,
and these only when the summer proves dry and the garden
is well drained. They all evidently have a resting period of
perfect dryness ina state of nature, and annual lifting is the
only safe treatment with either the early or late flowering spe-
cies. I have known odd bulbs to linger in the garden for
several years, but they decrease in vitality and seldom even

flower.
Elizabeth, N. J. F. N. Gerard.

The Forest.
The Burma Teak Forests.—VII.

RATE OF GROWTH AND ANNUAL YIELD.

iG Bea like other trees, grows rapidly in some, slowlyin other

localities. The researches which were made regarding rate
of growth in the thirteen districts, for which, up to date, special
working plans have been prepared, have led to the conclusion
that on the hills Teak-trees grown up under the regime of the
annual jungle fires attain four feet six inches in girth at an age
between Ioo and 115 years, while trees six feet in girth are
between 134 and 156 years old. Hence the time which a
second-class tree requires to attain first-class size may, under
these circumstances, be accepted on an average at thirty-eight
years. This, we have seen, is the period over which it is
intended, underthe working plans lately prepared, that the
girdling of the present stock ot first-class trees shall be spread.
It has previously been mentioned that the districts here de-
scribed comprise a few small blocks situated in the plains.
Here the rate of growth is more rapid, but their area is small,
and they may be neglected upon the present occasion.

As explained repeatedly, the annual yield of these forests
has on three occasions been fixed—in 1856, 1868, and by means
of the special working plans prepared between 1884 and 1892.
In all cases was the yield based upon the estimated quantity of
the growing stock of Teak of the different classes, and upon
the rate of growth assumed at that time. The following fig-
ures give the annual yield fixed on these three occasions for
the eleven forest districts in the Iraauddi valley and the time
supposed to be required on an average for a second-class tree
to attain first-class size : :

The working plan of 1856 assumed 24 years and

fixed the annual yield at . : : 5 9 000 trees,
The working plan of 1868 assumed 72 years and

fixed the annual vield at F , Cystelay 7
The special plans, 1884 to 1892, assumed 38 years

and fixed the annual yield at UT, 230m 48

Those who have to break fresh ground in the matter of reg-
ular forest management will understand the satisfaction which
the writer of these lines feels, that in 1856, when the data then
at his disposal led him to credit the Teak-tree with a rate of
growth much too rapid, he yet fixed the annual yield below
what the forests are capable of yielding. Regarding the num-
ber of trees actually girdled in these districts during the twelve
years from 1856 to 1868, in accordance with the working plan
of 1856, there is some doubt. The returns give 153 856 trees,
or 12,821 a year. In these districts girdling operations were
conducted in 1857 and 1858, when no competent officers were
available for supervision, and there is ground for believing
that a much smaller number than that reported were at that
time actually girdled.

It must be distinctly understood that under the working
plans lately prepared the number of trees actually girdled will,
to some extent, also be regulated by area—that is, by the local-
ization of girdling operations. The yield sanctioned by the
plan for a particular district is a maximum, which must in no
case be exceeded, and which must not be worked up to, if in
the area assigned to a particular period the full number of
trees that under the rules laid down for their selection may
be girdled, cannot be found on that area. Thus, for the Thon-
zay forest district the plan of girdling has been laid down for
a period of thirty years, divided into six sub-periods of five
years each. To each sub-period have been assigned a num-
ber of compartments, in which during the five years fixed a
maximum of 5,000 trees may be girdled. Thus, out of the 114
compartments nineteen have been assigned to the first sub-
period (1885-9), while eleven compartments were assigned to
the last sub-period (1910-14). In the compartments assigned

a eS Se ee

ae

So,

' SEPTEMBER 16, 1896.]

tothe first sub-period the older trees prevail, while the younger
trees are more numerous in the areas assigned to the last sub-
period.

SELECTION OF TREES TO BE GIRDLED.

The rules for the selection of the trees to be girdled are simi-
lar to those which were laid down at the outset in 1856, but
with some important points of difference. In 1856 there was
no staff of officers available for the care of these forests, hence
the selection of the trees to be girdled had to be regulated by
a few broad general rules. The work had necessarily to be
commenced on a large scale in an exceedingly rough manner.
Gradually, as officers were appointed for the management of
the different forest districts, the work was organized on a more
systematic plan, hence in 1880, when I laid down the prin-
ciples to be observed in the selection of the trees to be girdled
within the demarcated reserves—that is, within the tracts
intended to be permanently maintained as forest—the main
point insisted upon was that each locality must be treated on
its merits, and that by the removal of the trees girdled the
reproduction of the Tc.ak must not be impeded, but, if possi-
ble, be promoted. This principle necessitated a different treat-
ment of patches where Teak prevails from those where it only
forms a small proportion of the growing stock. Again, woods
in which mature trees, those of the first class, prevail, would
require a treatment different from those in which the smaller
classes are more numerous, In the special working plans an
important rule has been introduced which is in accordance
with this principle. A distinction is made between Teak grow-
ing in moist forest, where the trees remain green until the end
of February, and where consequently the rate of growth is
somewhat more rapid than in dry forest, where the trees lose
their leaves earlier in the season. And it has been provided,
that while in dry forests the minimum size of the trees to be
girdled remains six feet as heretofore, in moistforests no tree
should be girdled that had not attained a girth of seven feet.
These two classes of Teak-producing forest can most conve-
niently be distinguished by the species of Bamboos associated
with the Teak-tree, Bambusa polymorpha being the species
most common in the moist, while Dendrocalamus strictus
prevails in the dry forest. It is obvious that under these special
working plans the girdling operations are regulated with
greater regard to the maintenance and improvement of the
forests than was possible under the summary plans which at
the outset were a necessity. In each district anumber of com-
partments are assigned to one sub-period of five or six years,
the maximum number that may be girdled in those compart-
ments during that sub-period is fixed, and the selection of the
trees to be girdled is governed by the peculiar conditions of
each locality. Under these arrangements it was not necessary
to maintain the original rule, that in one locality never more
than one in four of the mature Teak-trees should be girdled.
As an experiment this rule had already been set aside in 1868,
and this was justified, because the annual yield of the forests

i fix very low figure.
see ne ed atayeryiey bpure Dietrich Brandis.

Exhibitions.
The Boston Flower Show.—II.

je week we had a general note on this admirable exhibi-

tion, with the names of some of the leading prize-takers.
Large specimen plants were not abundant, but, in accordance
with the tendency here and in Europe, there were many
medium-sized plants and groups which, to a certain extent, fill
their places, although one likes to see specimens of Cleroden-
dron, Allamanda, Stephanotis and the like which have been
grown with great care for years until they haveattained stately
proportions. Specimen flowering plants were few as com-
pared with those whose value consists in form and foliage.
The new Allamanda Williamsi, however, was well shown, and
the fine specimen sent by N. T. Kidder, Esq., added much to
the appearance of his group of plants. Itis a very floriferous
and graceful plant, and although the flowers are smaller than on
some of the old varieties, they have the samerich golden color.
It is easily propagated and will soon be in every collection.
The Dipladenias shown by Mr. George McWilliams, especially
two plants of D. amabilis, grown in large pans and trained to
a globe frame, attracted special attention. They were elevated
at the end of the hall and conspicuous under the electric lights,
and well deserved the silver medal they received. These
plants are among our best stove climbers, and the flowers are
unexcelled in brilliancy of color. The specimens exhibited were
grown in a compost of roughly broken peat and sharp silver
sand, so that there was no danger of their ever becoming

Garden and Forest.

379

water-logged. Mr. McWilliams’ Caladiums, especially plants
of C. argyrites and a comparative novelty named C. minus
erubescens, were especially noteworthy. In the magnificent
group of stove and greenhouse plants from the Harvard Bo-
tanical Gardens, the best plants were one of Encephalartos
horridus and Maranta (Calathea) Vanden Heckei, and a good
example of the Boston strain of Nephrolepis exaltata. Fora
splendid specimen of the last-named Fern, six feet through,
Mr. F. W. Fletcher received a certificate. In Mr. J.C. Bailey’s
collection a handsome plant of Maranta rosea lineata, which is
considered difficult to grow, was good enough to receive a
silver medal, while a Spherogyne latifolia, with panicles of
lovely pink flowers, anda specimen of Cyanophyllum magnifi-
cum both attracted:much attention. This last is one of the
finest of stove evergreens, which, at its best, has leavestwo and
a half feet long, with a velvety midrib andivory-white primary
veins, reddish purple beneath. A striking specimen, Heliconia
aureo-striata, was shown by John L. Gardener, Esq. (William
Fletcher, gardener), and the Madagascar Lace Plant, always
interesting, was shown by Mr. E. L. Converse, although, un-
fortunately, it was in a dark corner of the hall.

Every year it seems that aquatic plants have reached the
summit of excellence, but every year there are novelties dis-
played which prove in some way better than the old sorts.
These plants, favored by the heat of the past summer, never
were seen in such abundance or in such good form at an exhi-
bition in this country. In Mr. L. W. Goodell’s collection there
was a flower of Nympheza rubra which left nothing to be desired
in form or color. Ofcourse, Mr. Brydon sent up from the
Yarmouthport gardens of Mr. Simpkins an admirable collec-
tion which contained some of the newest and costliest of Mr.
Marliac’s creations. Nymphza Robinsoniana is a remarkable
flower of a deep orange-red, with a splashing of carmine,
which makes it quite distinct from all others. These flowers
are particularly striking when floating on the surface of the
water in the sunshine. N, ignea is another superb Water-lily
of a reddish purple, but so brilliant as to be almost dazzling in
thesunshine. This plant does not seem to havea strong consti-
tution, and, while it must be popular, it will probably be scarce
and costly for some time.—[Mr. Marliac’s hybrid, called Ignea,
seems to flourish very well in England. Flowers which were
open late in June in the water gardens of Gravetye Manor, the
estate of William Robinson, Esq., were easily the brightest of
all the Nymphzeas then in bloom.—Ep.] N. lilacina has a
beautiful flower of a lilac tint and the peculiar fragrance of a
Tea Rose. There were also remarkably good examples of N.
Devoniensis, N. rubra, and particularly of N. pulcherrima,
which showed a fine large flower of a beautiful soft blue. Of
the Nelumbiums there were two vases of N. gracilis with white
petals with golden stamens, and carried on long stout stalks,
which last well when cut. These flowers are delightfully fra-
grant, the odor resembling that of Lily-of-the-valley. One of
the new French hybrids was Nymphea fulgens, shown by
Oakes Ames, Esq. (Carl Blomberg, gardener), with flowers
somewhat resembling N. ignea in color. In this collection
were also flowers of several varieties heretofore mentioned, as
well as of the varieties, Exquisita and Caroliniana, of our native
N. odorata. The display which William Tricker brought from
the gardens of Henry A. Dreer, the Philadelphia seedsman,
showed thirty-five varieties of Nympheza and Nelumbium and
a flower of Victoria regia. The new Nymphza O’Marana was
well shown, and so was N. Deaniana and N. Kewensis, the last
of which has been especially good, owing, undoubtedly, to the
warm summer. This was true of all the tropical Nymphzas
in the collection, but, although the hardy varieties were well
represented, they showed the effect of the lateness of the sea-
son more than those from collections three or four hundred
miles to the north. Nelumbium striatum showed extremely
well, combining a robustness and free-flowering quality. N.
Kermesiana is another handsome and strong-growing plant
with a pink flower. All these flowers were grown in the open
water, which again demonstrates their usefulness and the
adaptability of both the hardy and the tropical varieties for all
purposes in gardens large or small, public or private. The
fact that the flowers in Mr. Dreer’s collection had been cut for
thirty-six hours and shipped from Philadelphia, and after this
made a creditable display, is sufficient evidence of their value
for cutting.

Notes.

Owing, perhaps, to the abundance of rain this summer, Cle-
matis paniculata is flowering very freely near this city.
For some reason its flowers expanded a week later than usual,
but now many plants are completely covered with them. We

380 Garden and Forest.

know one specimen that coversa trellis more than twelve feet
square, in which the flowers completely hide the foliage, and
it makes a picture that arrests the attention of all who pass it.

How to thin out the apples from overloaded trees so as to
leave only enough fruit to attainits best development is a diffi-
cult problem. Mr. Charles A. Green, of Rochester, sets aman
with an ordinary steel garden rake to pull the fruit from his
trees, and when he has gone as high as he can reach he uses
a stepladder for the upper branches. This seems likearough-
and-ready way of doing work which requires a good deal of
judgment, and certainly none but a careful and intelligent man
should be entrusted with it. If any one knows of a way to thin
more quickly and judiciously we should be very glad to hear
of it.

In response to our recent inquiry on this page as to the
experience of persons who have grown the Japanese Wine-
berry, we have received a notefrom Mr. E. H. Burson, Super-
intendent of Green’s Nursery Company, Rochester, who writes
that the plant has been fruiting with them for about five years,
It is hardy and prolific; the berries average as large as those
of the Ohio, and those which have been sold command from
ten to twelve cents a quart, which is the price of the best red
raspberries. Mr. Burson calls it the handsomest raspberry
on their grounds; it is of a bright color, and although a little
tart, it is delicious, especially when used with sugar as other
berries are.

Mr. J. G. Jack will conduct a series of lectures and field
meetings at the Arnold Arboretum, beginning on September
tgth and closing November 7th, for the purpose of supplying
popular instruction about the trees and shrubs growing in
New England. The class meets in the lecture-room of the
Bussey Institute for the review of certain groups of trees and
shrubs, and will then make an informal outdoor study of the
plants. The purpose of the course is to indicate by compari-
son the easiest means of distinguishing common native trees
and shrubs and to recognize foreign species which have been
introduced into gardens. An hour and a half to two hours will
be devoted to each meeting, which will be held on Saturdays
at ten o’clock and Wednesdays at three. Applications or
inquiries may be addressed to Mr. J. G. Jack, Jamaica Plain,
Massachusetts.

The Japanese Knotweed, Polygonum cuspidatum, becomes
an aggressive weed at times. It is too obtrusive, for example,
in Central Park, but where it can be kept within bounds in a
damp place it makes a striking clump of foliage six feet high,
and during August and September it is covered with its beau-
tiful sprays of white flowers. Its relative, P. Sachalinense,
about the value of which as a forage plant so much discussion
has lately taken place, is now recommended for planting in
the Sahara on the borders of the small areas where vegetation
already flourishes. These areas are said to be much more
numerous than it was once thought they were, and this Knot-
weed iscommendedas able to endure the droughtand asa good
plant to bind the sand. Our experience with the plant is that
it likes to get at water in the subsoil, and we should fear that
it would not flourish in a desert.

Professor Halsted, of New Brunswick, writes to 7he Ameri-
can Florist that he has observed a spot on the leaves of Nym-
phzeas for some time, but not until this year has he received
specimens of affected leaves as an evidence that the disease
was causing some alarm. This spot is caused by a species of
Cercospora, but one which is not yet recorded. As shown in
an engraving the spots are small, circular and numerous, the
affected portions soon becoming sunken and bearing multi-
tudes of spores on the upper side. These germinate rapidly,
and as it is not improbable that the spores get into the water
and in this way are distributed to all parts of the pond, the
infection spreads quickly. Experiments will be made with
fungicides upon this new pest, but it is plain that the condi-
tions are so unlike those of terrestrial plants that it is not safe
to predict results. Professor Halsted asks for specimens of
diseased leaves in orderthat he may make further studies of
the blight.

Mr. Joseph Meehan advises those who wish to plant trees
and shrubs this year not to wait until the leaves fall, but as
soon as the wood is well ripened to strip off the leaves and
then to plant the trees. The soil at this season is warm, often
warmer than the air, and this condition encourages the imme-
diate throwing out of fibrous roots. Mr. Meehan writes to
The Rural New Yorker that if the leaves are left on a few twigs
of the tree they will drop off in a few days, and this will guar-
antee the success of the work. If they do not drop, but wither

[NUMBER 447.

on the stem, this is a sign that the tree has not thrown out
roots and that it will not probably live. The tree should be
set in the hole, the earth filled in, and if the soilis rather dry
it will make little difference, because in this condition it can be
rammed tightly around the roots until the hole is three-fourths
full. Then water should be poured into the hole and the
remaining soil thrown in later without much ramming. What
a tree needs to assist in forming new roots is a warm moist soil,

Among pears now arriving from California are Beurre
Hardy, Beurre Clairgeau, Beurre d’Anjou, the highly flavored
White Doyenne, the brownish red Louise Bonne of Jersey,
Duchesse d’Angouleme, Bartlett, Seckel, the very large Sou-
venir du Congrés, the roundish pyriform Howell, the juicy
white flesh having a vinous flavor, and Onondaga, or Swan’s
Orange, originated in Connecticut. Of these, Bartletts are the
most popular, and sell at retail from twenty-five to seventy-five
cents a dozen, the latter price buying extremely large and
firm specimens. Some of the Seckel pears from California
are unusually large and beautifully colored, and retail for the
highest prices. Seckel pears from New York state cost sev-
enty-five cents for a ten-pound basket. Salway and Piquet’s
Late peaches are now coming from California. Some fine
examples of the well-known Stump the World are being re-
ceived from the highlands in Maryland; also of Morris White,
a favorite variety for preserving with brandy, and Smock
Freestone, valued for preserving on account of its moderately
juicy flesh. Ofa dozen kinds of plums from the Pacific coast
now offered here, Kelsey’s Japan is the handsomest and the
richest in flavor. This fruit has steadily gained in popular
favor since its introduction in 1884. Some of these plums are
a rich yellow and heart-shaped, while others are a deep red
and apple-shaped. They are good keepers, and are at their
best when thoroughly ripe and almost translucent. Many are
extremely large, and the best command $1.00 fora basket con-
taining two dozen. Large Red Nectarines, beautifully colored
and said to be the finest ever seen here, cost $1.25 for a box
containing two dozen. The choicest and showiest apples of
this season are Alexander, Duchess of Oldenburg, Twenty-
ounce Pippins and Maiden’s Blush. Flame Tokay, Muscatel
and Rose de Peru grapes are now at their best, and were
included in forty-five car-loads of California fruits sold at
auction in this city last week. Delaware, Niagara, Worden
and Concord grapes, from this state, are now plentiful and
cheap. New grape-fruit, from Jamaica, costs $1.00 to $1.50 a
dozen,

A certain Rhode Island Greening Apple-tree in an orchard
a mile north of Lake Erie last year produced ordinary fruit on
the north-east side, while that on the south-west half were of
mixed character, each apple being partly a Greening and partly
a Talman Sweet. The two varieties appeared in sections for
the most part corresponding to the carpels. In some examples
three sections, or three-fifths of the apple, were Greening and
two-fifths Talman Sweet, while in others the proportions were
reversed. In others one-fifth was Greening, and in others
still the proportion of Talman Sweet was smaller yet. The
different parts were in most cases easily distinguished by the
color and by the greater protuberance of the Greening as
forming a part of a larger apple, and the flavor of the different
parts was as distinctly those of different apples as if they had
grown on separate trees. The line of separation, though not
very definite, in most cases corresponded with the divisions
between the carpels and ran to the summit of the apple,
except that asmall part around the summit seemed in every
case to be Greening. A short distance to the south-west of
this tree stands a Talman Sweet tree, so that it is probable
that this phenomenon is due to cross-fertilization between the
pollen of the Talman Sweet and the ovule of the Greening.
This account was written fora late number of Sczence by Mr.
T. H. Lennox, of Woodstock, Vermont, and Professor L. H.
Bailey, who had the privilege of examining samples of the
apples, testifies that they seem to give incontrovertible evi-
dence of the immediate effect of cross-fertilization. OF course,
some interesting questions arise, and Mr. Lennox wonders
why the pollen, which acts directly upon the ovule, should so
profoundly affect the receptacle and calyx which make up the
fleshy part of the apple. Equally difficult, too, is it to. under-
stand why cross-fertilization, which one would think must
frequently occur in Apple-trees, should in this instance pro-
duce mixed fruits, while in a thousand cases it has no appre-
ciable effect whatever. Professor Bailey adds that he had
never before been convinced that such immediate effect in
flavor and other varietal characteristics could occur, but he is
now satisfied that this is possible, although it is certainly rare,
and therefore exceptional.

ee ee

SEPTEMBER 23, 1896.]

GARDEN AN FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

OrricE: TripunE Burtpinc, 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 23, 18096.

TABLE: OF CONTENTS,

EorrortaL ArtIcLE :—A River Parkway..... Field iSjh Hasasd vininiassio wattle plaieg.e aisle a $014 9 38x
Trees in Visalia, California. ib achnn seecrinpedrion Charles H. eer 382
The Sand Dunes of Northern Indiana and their Flora.—IIl.. Rez. &. F. Hill. 382
ForeIGN CoRRESPONDENCE :—Climbing Plants SG ae HORA ER W. Watson. 383
Prant Norss :—Evonymus obovatus. (With figure.).... oF Panmamaseie SOL
CutturaL DeparTMENT:—Shrubs with Or namental Fruit.. Fackson Dawson. 386
easOnablesW Orlcviese .vecividissssscistsu-cleetuiecsames WH. Taplin, 386

Chrysanthemums...... ... T. D. Hatfield. 386
Orchids in Flower . meee eae Ore 357,
Vegetable Notes... .... -- William Scott. 387
Primroses, Lilium Wallichiar sulphureum),

E. O. Orpet. 387
Marguerite Carnations ....-..scccsseercoscessavccecs Edward $. Canning. 388

Two Good Roses, Pueraria Thunbergiana, The European Medlar, Vibur-
Mii Garitan art Meemeer ease s. Cackeccee eee asecs Seeciets Joseph Meehan. 388
CorreESPONDENCE :—Notes from Southern California..... Edmund D. Sturtevant. 388

ht ba 6 F. A, Waugh. 388
- Sir Dietrich Brandis. 389
ste eee ee ee eeee ee 3O0
seeeeee 385

Utilizine Choke Cherriessscccsccessivecsssines es
Tue Forest ;—The Burma Teak Forests.—VIIL..
IN OTESs coefei men ajercisinam cules iceiba(ainin vo = iss mnie oes
ILLusTRATION :—Evonymus obovatus, Fig. 51 ....--

A River Parkway.

WO years ago we discussed in these columns (see

vol. vii., pp. 191 and 231) certain projected improve-
ments in the lower reaches of the Charles River, lying
within the limits of Greater Boston, and recommended by
a joint committee consisting of the Metropolitan Park
Commission and the State Board of Health. This work
has been already begun, although an insufficient appro-
priation has prevented the complete realization of the
admirable plan, and the beauty of the banks, not to speak
of the comfort of the people who live near them, in one
conspicuous instance at least, has been marred by the
erection of a manufacturing establishment on ground which
the city ought to have possessed. This first report re-
lated to that portion of the river which is mainly a tidal
estuary, while a second and most interesting one, just
issued, covers the course of the stream from the head of
tide-water for sixteen miles through the metropolitan dis-
trict between Dedham and Watertown.

In their review of the situation the landscape-architects of
the Commission, Messrs. Olmsted, Olmsted & Eliot, describe
this as a typical example of the small rivers which have been
forced out of their channel by the stony rubbish of the ice
age and have found their way through its billowy surface as
best they might, filling up one hollow and overflowing into
thenext. Thescenery, which is pleasant without being very
striking, consists of gravel bluffs and ridges, originally
forested and many still clothed with wood, with gentler
slopes which have long been cleared and cultivated, and
occasional swamps between the stream and the higher
lands, still filled with rushes and sedges. In the early
years of the country the river wasacommercial highway,
and Watertown, at the head of the tide, was an important
point; but under the act for encouraging manufactures the
commonwealth gave as much of the common property in
rivers and lakes of the state as was needed for water-power,
so that there are eight dams now along the main stream
about which villages cluster, and one of them has become
acity. But the time has come when the growth of Boston
and its suburbs demands a reconstruction of the condition
of the river and a regulation of it to meet the needs of this
new population, and as a matter of fact it is stated that in
spite of the defacement of the banks and the inconveni-

Garden and Forest.

381

ence occasioned by the dams, the river has once more
come to be used asa highway, but a highway of pleasure
instead of traffic. Now the inhabitants of this region stand
more and more in need of means of recreation. Boating
is one of the most agreeable of pastimes, and this river
furnishes the most pleasant boating-course near Boston,
and, therefore, the landscape-architects recommend that it
shall be preserved as a parkway—that is, that the river
and its scenery for these sixteen miles be made the central
feature of a park, with its banks and waters available for
public recreation.

If any such plan is adopted the first duty of its adminis-
tration would be to keep the current clean from sewage
and objectionable waste from factories which offends the
eye and exhales noisome odors. The second duty would
be to restrain dam owners from raising or lowering water-
levels. This is not only because the lowering of the water
leaves an exposure of muddy banks which displeases the
eye, but the hot sun soon helps to decompose the rank
vegetable matter, not to speak of animal matter which
is sure to collect along the margins of this open sewer, so
that the exhalations from these become a source of dis-
comfort, and, what is still worse, deleterious to the public
health. The third duty of the authorities in charge should
be to provide public passageways over and around the
dams for men and boats, and among many other recom-
mendations it is incidentally suggested that electric
launches might be rented to run as “omnibus-boats or as
cabs.

But simply to secure the navigation of a river is not
to make it a water-parkway, unless the charm of the
scenery is to be preserved and enhanced. Of course,
it is impossible to banish manufacturing from streams
in thickly settled communities, but, as the joint com-
mittee say, it is hardly reasonable that the centre of one
of the most attractive portions of the metropolitan area
should be forever given up to a use for which many less
attractive spots are equally available. The destruction of
the beauty of small rivers running through crowded neigh-
borhoods seems almost inevitable, and it is impossible to
preserve the natural charm ofthe banks without restricting
important business and trade. The simple question, as
the report puts it, is whether the preservation of the lovely
landscapes of the Charles River will be worth to the
community what it originally cost, together with the ex-
pense of supervising it.

It is clear that if the river-banks are owned by numerous
private persons the scenery will ultimately be ruined.
Granting that many of the river-side industries are to
remain where they are, the landscape-architects suggest
two ways of treating the remaining private property on
the river. In the first place, as in parkways on land, a
building limit along the bank may be made, with certain
restrictions to prevent the felling of trees between. the
water and the building line without permission. This
would provide rather a wide strip of land with private
boat-houses and landings under special permit, and,
although the general public would acquire no right to the
land, a commission might preserve much of the local
scenery without depriving the owners of repli ler of
their privacy or the possession of a portion of the river-bank.
A more thoroughgoing way would be to acquire for public
use the actual fee of the private river-banks. Under this
scheme the boundaries of the banks on either side ought
to be streets which provide frontages for houses built to
face the public domain. Spaces of varying width ee een
the streets and the water could be made accessible by foot-
paths, while the lands as well as the waters controlied by
the governing commission would be continually policed.
Such a possession of the river-bank would greatly increase
the possible enjoyment of the people of the metropolitan
district, for to follow on foot the meandering shore of a
pretty stream is almost as delightful as to float with its
current, and it is pleasant to have the privilege of landing
anywhere from one’s boat.

382

The report of the joint committee recommends the fol-
lowing steps as imperative :

(1) That the high-water surface of the Charles River from
the dam at Watertown up to the Dedham line should be made
a portion of the Metropolitan Park System; that measures
should be taken to secure a water-level as nearly permanent
as possible throughout the warmer months of the year; that
arrangements should be made for the convenient transfer of
boats over the dams. (2) That certain lands be taken upon the
banks of the river for places of public resort and convenience,
and that rights be taken in all the remaining frontage on the
river tor the purpose of preventing obnoxious uses of the same.
(3) That the whole area so secured be placed under the control
ot some public authority having power to protect and im-
prove it.

It will be seen that this report adopts a combination be-
tween the methods of restriction and complete ownership
of the land. Wehaveno space here to follow the convincing
argument by which the joint committee justify their con-
clusions. Indeed, throughout this notice we have only
given the outlines of a project which seems to trans-
form a difficulty into an opportunity for providing a novel
and valuable addition to the facilities of a great city for
public recreation. There is an admirable map in connec-
tion with the report, with statistical tables of great value,
and.an interesting paper, by Dr. Thomas, on the problem
of public health as affected by the stream. Altogether,
the report is worthy of a place in the series of instructive
public documents that have been published within late
years in reference to the park work about Boston, and it is
fruitful in suggestions which ought to be of use to all
persons who are interested, officially or otherwise, in pro-
viding or maintaining public pleasure grounds for the
people of our cities.

Trees in Visalia, California.

7ISALIA, in Tulare County, is a very interesting town

and district. The soil is of extreme fertility, watered

by streams from the Sierras, and the growth of trees and
plants is surpassed in no other part of California.

This beautiful region was a vast Oak forest when the
pioneer herdsmen came with their cattle, and the ground
for miles was covered with almost perennial pasturage, so
well watered is this country of the Kaweah delta. Many
of the great Oaks (mainly Quercus lobata) still remain.
One of the finest of these, about eight miles from Visalia,
is forty-eight feet in circumference close to the ground;
thirty-four feet, measured five feet up, and 158 feet high.
This is certainly a notable Oak, well worth going on
record with some that GarpDEN anp Forest has hitherto
listed. The park-like Oak groves are as stately as any in
California, and some of them will probably long remain, as
the land is more valuable in its present condition for dairy-
ing than if wholly cleared.

In the town of Visalia are some very choice specimens
of single trees. The very largest and most striking Cedar
of Lebanon known to me in California is in the grounds of
Mr. R. E. Hyde. This noble tree is not less than seventy-
five feet high, and the trunk girths about four and a half
feet. It is loaded with cones and has borne seed for, I
think, two seasons. Its age is probably twenty-five years
from seed, having been planted twenty-three years here.
The very rapid growth of this tree will hardly be under-
stood by eastern readers, and is, indeed, difficult of belief,
but the mild climate, rich soil, long growing season and
abundant water are, of course, the determining factors. It
stands in a bed of leaf-mold and decayed vegetable matter
of unknown depth, brought down by the Sierra rivers into
this great inland delta.

A very large Cork Oak formerly stood in the Visalia
court-house yard. This was grown from acorns sent out
by the Department of Agriculture some thirty years ago.
The construction of a new building made it seem neces-
sary to the authorities to cut down this noble exotic Oak,
and so Visalia lost its most historic tree. Mr. Hyde’s
Cedar of Lebanon is now, it seems to me, the finest single

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 448.

tree of any species planted in the San Joaquin valley since
its occupation by Americans. The finest tree of Spanish
planting is probably the great Porterville Fig-tree.

The orchards of the Visalia region are justly celebrated
throughout California, Peach and Apricot trees yield profits
the third year after planting. One gentleman told me that
he picked from two Apricot-trees 1,684 pounds of salable
fruit and also dried 800 pounds of fruit that was too ripe to
ship, making a total of 2,484 pounds. A three-year-old
Peach-tree yielded 324 pounds, and a Plum-tree of the
same age bore eighty-seven pounds, I have seen orchards
here in good bearing condition that averaged 600 pounds
to each Peach-tree, and from 800 to 1,000 pounds to each
Prune-tree. These are low estimates, as whole rows of
trees bear more than this. Prunus Simoni comes to greater
perfection here than in most other parts of California, and
at present the demand for shipment can hardly be supplied.
Even old California fruit-growers, however, know little
about the Visalia district, as it is reached only by small
branch railroads from the main line, and has only begun
to come into notice during the past few years. It is ex-
pected that this town will be on the main line of the new
Valley Railroad, and it will probably receive more atten-
tion in the future. It is certainly a very prosperous dis-
trict, a vast green-islanded oasis in the midst of less

improved territory. 3
Niles, Calif. y Charles H. Shinn.

The Sand Dunes of Northern Indiana and their
Flora.—III.

AKING the proper fruticose vegetation, we find Cornus

Baileyi one of the first to appear upon a forming dune.
It grows on when partly buried in the sand, forming new
adventitious roots while lengthening its subaerial parts. It
may be accompanied by the Red Osier, which is common
beside the sloughs and in the damper hollows. The stems
of these shrubs sometimes have a mottled look, or are
strongly contrasted in color on opposite sides, the sharp
sand driven against the windward side wearing off the
bright-colored bark wholly or in spots, and exposing a
polished surface of the green and freshly growing inner
bark. In company with these will be found two Willows,
Salix adenophylla and S. glaucophylla, the latter often more
abundant than Bailey’s Cornel. Both are similar to these
Cornels in their mode of growth. The Gland-leaved Willow
is the more venturesome of the two, early showing its gray
tomentose leaves on some solitary stem or small cluster
which has sprung up in sand quite free from other shrubs.
S. lucida and S. cordata are not as common, but add to the
variety of the more opendunes. The Prairie Willow, S. humi-
lis,and the Dwarf Gray Willow, S. tristis, are not uncommon
on the more sheltered dunes, where the scanty shade al-
lows their ready growth. The Sand Cherry, Prunus pumila,
ranks with the shrubs, early taking possession of the dunes.
Two of the Grapevines, Vitis cordifolia and V. estivalis,
follow not long afterward. Finding little or no support,
the stems lie upon the ground, their free extremities easily
moved about by the wind, but serving well to protect the
underlying sand by their ample foliage. With these we
may place the Bearberry, Arctostaphylos, whose habitu-
ally prostrate stems serve a similar purpose. The running
form of the Poison Ivy, with subterranean stems a little
below the surface, and frequent branches rising a foot or
two above it, grows in the same localities. When the large
upright shrubs and trees appear, not only do the Grape-
vines become more frequent, but other climbing shrubs.
The most common of these is Celastrus scandens, which
festoons many spots with its bright green leaves. Another
is Smilax hispida, whose prickly stems are occasionally
seen. Both of these may also take the prostrate form, or
manifest their climbing habit by arching or twisting stems.
The Fragrant Sumach, Rhus aromatica, is well adapted to
these exposed positions, and often has its straggling stems
and branches partly covered by the sand heaped about

SEPTEMBER 23, 1896.]

them. R. copallina is also common, and the Staghorn
Sumach occasional.

The Sweet Viburnum, V. Lentago, does well in quite
exposed positions, and grows to a goodly height when pro-
tected by the brow of a hill or a wind-break of trees. The
Maple-leaved Viburnum and the round-leaved Cornel,
C. circinata, are often encountered in the shelter of the
woods, being shrubs of similar habits. With them grows
the Witch Hazel, but less abundant. The Hop Tree, Ptelea
trifoliata, and an arborescent Hackberry, Celtis occiden-
talis, var. pumila, grow near the shore of the lake.
The Hackberry has straggling, subspinescent branches
and ascending or spreading stems, which are sometimes
fifteen feet or more in length. They form dense clumps
with the aspect of a scraggy Thornbush, and a general
appearance so unlike that of the common Hackberry as to
be hardly recognized as the same species. In the fall they
are sparsely provided with dark brown or purplish drupes,
the thin sweet flesh orange-colored within. The common
Juniper, though more abundant on the lower dunes, is
equally at home upon the higher. Its prostrate stems and
dense ascending branches, thickly covered with leaves,
form one of the best protectors for the underlying sand
when it has once become established.

Rosa blanda and R. humilis are among the first of the
smaller shrubs to appear on the dunes, and can be found
growing in sands where other kinds of vegetation are quite
scanty. They blossom when but six or eight inches high,
and the common height in these dry localities scarcely
exceeds a foot. The stems also are very apt to be sup-
plied with prickles. The Huckleberries and Blueberries
are in great abundance. Gaylussacia resinosa and Vacci-
nium vacillans require more protected spots for their suc-
cessful starting than the Roses, but when established cover
extensive areas of open land upon the hills or their sloping
sides, and are spread abundantly throughout the less
densely wooded tracts. Vaccinium Pennsylvanicum is less
common on the high sand hills, as ittakes more naturally to
the lower sand ridges or skirts the bases of the hills nearer
the supplies of water. New Jersey Tea, Ceanothus Ameri-
canus, grows promiscuously with the Huckleberries, and
sometimes appears in plots which are handsome and effec-
tive, both for their numerous racemes of white flowers and
bright green foliage. They also preserve their leaves
very late in autumn, looking fresh and green after
most of the deciduous shrubs have yielded to the frost.
All of these small shrubs have a stoloniferous habit, and
when fires sweep over them and destroy their exposed por-
tion the subterranean shoot-axes at once renew their stems,
which quickly reclothe the ground. They are among the
most effective agencies in maintaining the fixity ofa dune.
Diervilla trifida is another pretty little shrub which mainly
hugs the bases of the trees or keeps in sheltered spots. To
these must be added the humblest shrub of the sand dunes,
Hudsonia tomentosa, whose prostrate stems, densely cov-
ered with fine gray leaves, delight in the most exposed
positions in the sand, just as they elsewhere take to the

rocks. :
Chicago, Ill. LE. J. Hill,

Foreign Correspondence.
‘Climbing Plants for Tropical Houses.

HE value of climbers for furnishing plant-houses,
apart from the attractiveness of the plants themselves,

is recognized in many good gardens. They drape the
rafters, clothe the pillars and afford shade most effectively
when employed with an eye to their habit of growth. The
difference between a plant-house devoted to decorative
gardening, the roof of which is clothed with elegant climb-
ers, and one in which they are not used is too striking to
call for comment. I have seen most picturesque improve-
ments made in conservatories by the mere addition of a
few roof-climbers, the shoots of which were allowed to
hang loosely. The ugliness of a conservatory roof unfur-

Garden and Forest.

383

nished with some drapery of this sort is unpardonable.
Climbers are sometimes so cribbed and confined by
close tying and severe pruning that they do compara-
tively little toward roof embellishment. Even those
plants whose stems are stiff and require to be allowed to
grow near the glass to induce them to flower may be made
more interesting and useful by releasing the stems and
even adding small lead-weights to pull them down while
in bloom. Solanum Wendlandii, Allamandas, Cleroden-
drons, are cases in point. If allowed to grow their own
way their flowers develop close to the glass where they
are scarcely to be seen from below, whereas an ounce or
so of thin lead neatly coiled round the stalk of the raceme
when in bud causes it to hang so that when the flowers
expand they are in full view. These are details, but their
observance makes all the difference between good and bad
effect.

Pruning also requires to be done with an eye to the pecu-
liar nature of the plant, and especially to its season and
method of flowering. Plants which flower on the young
shoots of the current year should be pruned immediately
after the flowers have faded. Such plants are the Bigno-
nias, Clerodendrons and Hexacentris. On the other hand,
plants which flower on the ripened wood of the previous
year’s growth should be thinned rather than pruned, and
the strongest shoots cut out annually. Of course, many
climbers practically prune themselves, or their stems are
deciduous.

Almost every one of the tropical climbers named here
enjoysa liberal allowance of sunshine. At Kew in the large
houses they get no shade whatever, and they grow well
and flower freely. Climbers naturally make for the tops of
trees where they can enjoy the sunshine. One might say
they are climbers because they want sunshine, which in a
state of nature they can only obtain by scrambling up and
over whatever happens to keep the light from them.

Climbers are a special feature in the large houses at Kew,
and this year, owing, no doubt, to the excessive amount of
bright sunshine experienced during the summer months,
they have flowered profusely, giving the roofs of some of
the houses a pleasing and interesting appearance. Many
of the plants grown in a botanical establishment are defi-
cient in decorative characters, and this is true of a large
proportion of the climbers to be seen in the houses at Kew.
But they are all interesting in a botanical sense, and a list
of all the climbers grown at Kew would, no doubt, be of
some value. Here, however, I propose to name only those
plants which are easily grown, flower freely, and when in
flower are decidedly ornamental. Some of them are popu-
lar favorites, while others are as yet grown only by the
few ; they are all plants that merit a place among select
climbers for tropical conservatories.

ARISTOLOCHIAS. —The best of these are Aristolochia gigas
Sturtevantii, which for the last month has been a source of
as much interest and enjoyment to visitors as the Victoria
regia, over which the Aristolochia stems have festooned
themselves and now develop their enormous flowers half a
dozen or more ata time. A. elegans is a delightful little
plant for a pillar or a rafterin a small house, and A. hians,
with its bright green kidney-shaped leaves and elegant
bird-like flowers colored creamy white, with purple-brown
veins, is a more useful plant than its near and more robust
ally, A. Brasiliensis.

ALLAMANDAS.—In addition to the forms of Allamanda
neriifolia, of which A. Hendersoni, Chelsoni and Williamsii
are the best, there is the thin-stemmed, small-leaved A.
grandiflora, which bears elegant trumpet-shaped flowers
of the richest canary-yellow color. It grows weakly when
on its own roots, but is robust and healthy when grafted
on A. neriifolia.

ANEMOPEGMA RACEMOsuUM (Bignonia Chamberlainii) is a
stout, vigorous grower, its stems attaining a length of twenty
or thirty feet in a few months, which in the autumn are
clothed with axillary clusters of soft yellow Bignonia-like
flowers. A. denocalymna nitidum and A. comosum are near

384

allies of similar habit and larger flowers of a darker shade
of yellow. These are three good-natured plants, growing
and flowering freely under even makeshift treatment.

Brenonias.—These include the popular Bignonia speciosa
and B. purpurea, the latter a beautiful summer-flowering
climber with flowers of a rich purple color. B, Tweediana
has small leaves, and its numerous shoots hang elegantly
so as to form a screen or curtain which in summer is
studded with large golden-yellow flowers. B. venusta is a
glorious plant when happily situated in a sunny interme-
diate house, producing large racemes of bright scarlet
flowers.

BouGarnvittEAs. — We have now four distinct sorts,
namely, Bougainvillea spectabilis and its variety lateritia,
and B. glabra and its floriferous form named Sanderiana.
These are essentially sun-loving plants, and when in suita-
ble positions they make a magnificent and lasting display
during the summer.

CLERODENDRONS.—Most stove collections contain Clero-
dendron Thomsone and the hybrid C. speciosum, but the
bright blood-red C. splendens is a rare plant as yet. C.
volubile, with very dark crimson flowers, is also rare.
Trained to three or four wires stretched parallel with a
rafter and grown on what ts called the short-spur system,
these plants form most effective masses of flowers.

Dirptapentas.—These should be grown in a hot moist
house and their stems trained on strings till the flower-
buds appear, when they may be transferred to a show
house and trained round pillars or in any position where
their beautiful flowers may be seen. They are now a
great attraction in one of the stoves at Kew. Dipladenias
require very sandy peat and should be potted lightly.
They cannot bear sourness of soil or excessive watering.
After flowering they should be rested in a dry house.

PassirLoras.—The best of these now in flower at Kew are
Passiflora alata, flowers four inches across, crimson, with
a very conspicuous blue and white corona; P. racemosa
(princeps), with pendent racemes of brick-red flowers ; P.
Raddiana (Kermesina), a most elegant little plant with
bright crimson flowers ; P. Watsoni, of similar habit to the
last, the flowers of two shades of lavender and very fra-
grant; P. violacea, with flowers as large as those of P.
coerulea, colored violet-purple, with an almost black co-
rona; P. vitifolia, with scarlet flowers.

THUNBERGIA LauRIFoLIA, T. grandiflora and its white-
flowered variety are three first-rate plants for producing
bold effects of foliage and flower. Their ally, Hexacentris
Mysorensis, is a superb plant for a rafter, its thin, pliant
stems being easily trained or festooned, and the long,
graceful, pendent racemes of orange-red and yellow flow-
ers being exceptionally charming.

Irpom@a TERNATA.—Three distinct plants are included
under this name, all of them first-rate garden plants. They
are what are known in gardens as Ipomoea Horsfallia,
with flowers in clusters and colored rich crimson; I.
Thompsoni, sometimes called the White Horsfalliz, and I.
Lady Briggs, which has smaller brighter-colored flowers
than the last-named and is more easily managed. It
flowers in midwinter and is a most useful stove-plant. I.
paniculata (Batatas), with annual stems and large rosy-
mauve flowers ; I. tuberosa, somewhat similar in growth to
the last, but yellow-flowered, and I. rubro-ccerulea, the
winter-flowering stove annual, which every one grows or
‘ought to grow, are the best of the Ipomceas.

BEAUMONTIA GRANDIFLORA.—This large woody climber
grows freely under ordinary stove treatment, but it does
not always flower satisfactorily. I have never seen it
flowered well near London, and I attribute this to the bad
effects of fog upon the flowers in winter. But in gardens
in the country I have seen plants heavily laden with enor-
mous clusters of large trumpet-shaped, pure white, fragrant
flowers, quite equal in elegance and purity to those of
Lilium longiflorum.

Mucuna ATROPURPUREA is a vigorous climber, not unlike a
Scarlet Runner, and its black-purple flowers are borne in

Garden and Forest.

[NumBErR 448.

clusters on slender drooping stalks in such a manner as to
resemble large bunches of grapes.

OXERA PULCHELLA is allied to the Clerodendrons and _ pro-
duces large axillary racemes of white tubular flowers.
Roupellia grata, the Cream-fruit of Madagascar, has shining
Laurel-like leaves and Allamanda-like flowers of a dark
crimson and yellow color. Gmelina hystrix has the habit
of Bougainvillea, and bears large, yellow trumpet-shaped
flowers in clusters springing from a cone-like arrangement
of large brown-purple bracts. Solandra grandiflora grows
rampantly in any tropical house, but only develops its
large white Datura-like trumpets when exposed to bright
sunshine in a rather dry house. Gloriosa is a beautiful
little genus, and when properly managed its elegant spider-
like red and yellow flowers are very attractive. Clitoria
ternata is worth growing in every stove for the sake of the
rich gentian-blue of its large pea-like flowers. Arauja
grandiflora (Schubertia) is as effective as Stephanotis flori-
bunda, and is as easily grown. Stigmaphyllon ciliatum
and the Manettias bicolor and cordifolia also deserve men-
tion for their free growth and attractive flowers.

W. Watson.

London.

Plant Notes.

Evonymus obovatus.

HIS plant, which is a native of Canada and of the

northern and middle states, has usually been consid-

ered a form of Evonymus Americanus. It differs, how-

ever, from that species in its prostrate or semiprosirate

branches, much smaller and earlier flowers, and, as Nuttall

pointed out in his Genera of North American Plants, is best
considered a species.

Evonymus obovatus has been used with excellent effect
in the Arnold Arboretum to form a carpet under larger
plants and to border the margins of shrub-beds. It grows
well in the shade and the full light of the sun. Its cheerful
light yellow-green foliage is attractive throughout the sea-
son; it is very hardy, free from insect enemies, and when
once established grows rapidly into broad dense mats of
long, spreading, slender stems. The purple flowers are
not conspicuous, but they are followed by fruit covered
with prickles and seeds surrounded by showy scarlet arils.

Our illustration, on page 385 of this issue, will, perhaps,
serve to attract the attention of gardeners to the horticul-
tural value of this much-neglected shrub.

Puysatis Francueti. — Last year Mr. Watson spoke of
this as a beautiful border~plant with Chinese-lantern-like
fruits ofa bright orange-red. Early this year we called at-
tention to a colored illustration of itin Ze Garden, in which
the brilliant balloon-shaped calyx, seven or eightinches in
circumference, made a striking picture, and these fairy-like
balloons were said to remain bright after they had been cut
ayear. Itisa near relative of the old-fashioned Winter
Cherry, Physalis Alkekengi, which is not at all uncommon
in American gardens, and it was introduced by the Veitches,
of Chelsea, from Japan in 1894. Mr. Michael Barker writes
that seeds of the same plant were also received from Japan
by Mr. John Lewis Childs, of Floral Park, where it has
been grown extensively and proves to be a meritorious
plant. In Mr. Childs’ garden it grows from twelve to eigh-
teen inches high, erect and densely branched with smooth
stems well furnished with ovate, acuminate leaves, the
largest of which are six inches long. The dull white flow-
ers with greenish centre are not showy, and are borne
singly on short pedicels in the axils of the leaves. ‘The in-
flated calyces are three inches in diameter when fully grown,
and they then turn from their original to the vivid colors
we have described. Since it is said to be hardy in England
it is probable that the new plant is a perennial like P. Al-
kekengi, but it has been treated by Mr. Childs so far as an
annual, and its hardiness and duration here remain to be
tested. Plants raised under cover and set out in the open

SEPTEMBER 23, 1896.] Garden and Forest. 385

Fig. 51.—Evonymus oboyatus.—See page 384.

ground as early as the weather will permit produce from some places called the Blue Beech or Water Beech, is
the axils of almost every leaf their large and glowing found along the banks of streams from the Dominion of
calyces from the latter part of August onward. Canada to Florida, and reaches its greatest size in the

Carpinus Carotintana.—The American Hornbeam, in southern Appalachian region and in eastern Texas and

386

southern Arkansas, where it is sometimes forty feet high,
with a trunk two feet in diameter. It is usually a smaller,
closely branched, spreading tree with smooth, close, gray
bark and astem that is fluted and furrowed in a picturesque
way. The leaves are dark bluish green in summer, and
turn to orange and scarlet late in autumn. Altogether, this
Hornbeam, with its airy and graceful crown, is one of the
best of the trees of its size for use in our parks and gardens.
Like many American trees, it has been neglected by plant-
ers, and the European Hornbeam, Carpinus Betula, was
more commonly planted twenty-five years ago, but our
native tree is now obtainable in any good nursery. An
Asiatic variety, C. Duinensis, has been occasionally grown
here, and some distinct and beautiful species in Japan,
notably C. cordata, have been figured in this journal (see
vol. vili., p. 295, and vol. vi., p. 365).

Cultural Department.

Shrubs with Ornamental Fruit.

NEVER saw the shrubs which are valuable for their orna-
mental fruit more beautiful here than they are this season.
The bush Honeysuckles all summer long have been excep-
tionally pleasing, and hundreds of people who drive by them
stop to express their admiration. Among the best were Loni-
cera orientalis, with black and blue fruit ; L. chrysantha, from
the mountains of Pekin, with fruit as red as coral; L. Mor-
rowi, with deep purplish crimson fruit; L. Bella rosea, with
fruit cherry-red, and the different varieties of L. Tatarica, with
fruit violet, yellow and other shades of color that it will be
hard to describe.

Of the Viburnums the first to ripen fruit was V. Lantana
and its variety macrophylla, with berries at first green, then
turning into a light rosy pink, and through cherry-red to a true
black when fully ripe. The plant has an ever-varying charm
which gives it singular value from its flowering season until
the end. V. acerifolium is also now conspicuous with its pur-
plish fruit; V. Opulus, with its brilliant orange and scarlet
fruit according to its age; V. dilatatum, trom Japan, with large
corymbs of dark red fruit, which later becomes scarlet; V.
dentatum, with blue fruit; V. molle, with much larger fruit
and also bright blue, and V. Lentago, with fruit blue-black.

Of the Cotoneasters, C. latiflora has brilliant scarlet fruit;
that of C. vulgaris is nearly black, while C. acuminata has deep
purple fruit. The white-fruited varieties of Symphoricarpus
are now in their prime, and I think the species called S. mollis
much finer than S. racemosa. The berries are clear white,
but more abundant and larger, while the plant is more grace-
ful in its habit.
its scarlet fruit and its leaves changing to yellow. The variety
obovatus of Evonymus Americanus was never as handsome as
itis this year. It is a lowshrub, planted here on a bank which
is somewhat shaded, and being of a trailing habit it has cov-
ered the ground, and it now bears much scarlet and orange
fruit, which makes a very pretty combination (see p. 385).

The Cornuses are all fruiting well. C. candidissima was
especially beautiful with its scattering bunches of pure white
fruit; C. mascula is just dropping its brilliant cherry-red fruit ;
C. sericea is covered with its fruits, now blue, then white,
while C. stolonifera and C. Baileyi have clustered fruits of
pearly white. Of the climbing Honeysuckles, Lonicera Sulli-
vantii and L. hirsuta are the finest, the fruit of the latter being
purplish red, while the former is a brilliant scarlet. Ilex
laevigata ripens its fruit early, which is of a brilliant scarlet,
showing particularly well among the shining leaves. This,
certainly, is a plant which should be more frequently cultivated
in parks or gardens, as it is beautiful at all seasons,

Arnold Arboretum. Fackson Dawson.

Seasonable Work.

ffs housing of tender plants now demands attention, for a
severe chill is almost as injurious to plants of this charac-
ter as actual exposure to frost. Among the first to suffer are
plants of Poinsettia pulcherrima that have flourished outdoors
during the summer, their growth being stunted and lower
leaves likely to drop off if once chilled. While this injury may
not entirely prevent the formation of their brilliant bracts, it
will do much toward ruining their usefulness for conservatory
decoration. Cyclamens also are affected by chilly nights when
growing in cold frames, and are much more under control in

Garden and Forest.

The Spice-bush is now a striking shrub with -

[NuMBER 448.

a light greenhouse in which a temperature of fifty-five degrees
can be maintained. Aphides are likely to be troublesome on
Cyclamens at this time, unless the precaution is taken to spread
chopped tobacco-stems among the pots. This method dis-
poses of these pests quite as effectually as smoking, and with
less risk of injury to the foliage or fower-buds.

Bouvardias, Stevias and Eupatoriums should also be indoors
by this time. Nothing is gained by keeping them out later,
and their flowers will soon be needed to keep up a regular
supply, Begonias that have been grown outside in readiness
for winter flowering in the greenhouse should also be brought
under cover soon after September Ist. These are, almost
without exception, heat-loving plants, and are liable to lose
some of their roots from a chill. If one is limited in the
choice of Begonias, three of the most useful species are B.
incarnata, B. Saundersii and B. corallina, all of which are easy
to manage and extremely free in flowering.

The main crop of Carnations in many establishments has,
doubtless, been housed before this time, but there is usually
some surplus stock after the first selection has been made,
and if space can be spared for these in a protected frame, they
can be held in reserve until later in the season, when, as pot
plants, they will prove useful in filling up spaces formerly
occupied by Chrysanthemums.

Crotons that have been bedded out (and it may here benoted
that their use in this capacity in the vicinity of Philadelphia
has again proved highly satisfactory) should soon be lifted,
and may be repotted into as small pots as their abundant roots
will permit. After becoming established in the greenhouse,
they will provide a crop of highly colored cuttings that will
make first-rate stock for the following spring.

The various bulbs for winter and spring forcing are arriv-
ing now, and these bulbs should be got under ground as soon
as possible after they are received, for many of them suffer
considerably from over-exposure to the air and light. The
earliest, Lilium Harrisii, have probably been potted more than
a month, and should now be well-rooted and showing their
growths above the soil. For Easter decoration I prefer Lilium
longiflorum, but this variety does not like hard forcing, and,
therefore, L. Harrisii is preferable for early work. If the Lilies
are not required to bloom before spring they can be kept in a
cold frame having plenty of ventilation, until October Ist at
least, and a stouter and stocky growth is thus secured.

A special point to be borne in mind in the treatment of all
plants that have recently been brought in from outdoors, is
that they still need plenty of fresh air, and, therefore, more or
less ventilation should be given during the night as well as
the day, in order to avoid a softand spindling growth.

Holmesburg, Pa. W. A, Taplin.

Chrysanthemums.

hea tamed papa gte ep for specimen plants are now in

shape, and the earliest varieties will soon show their
flower-buds, Some additional tying will be necessary now.
All stray shoots should be pulled into place, so that nearly a
globular shape is secured. It is not an easy matter to do this
work when the shoots begin to ripen and buds appear, for the
reasons that they are less pliable and there is danger of injury
to the tips of the shoots. No matter how careful one may be,
some of the soft tips are sure to be broken when there is not
sufficient time to replace them. A few finishing touches will
be necessary a week or so before the exhibitions, but as little
as possible should be left until then.

Plants in the open ground should be taken up at once, Cul-
tivation in the open implies more or less naturally grown
plants. It will be impossible to get such plants into shape for
exhibition purposes, and no matter how carefully the work is
done they will lack the trim appearance of continuously
trained specimens. But naturally grown plants have a charm
all their own, Severely trained specimens impress many per-
sons in the same way as pattern flower-beds. They are too
“artistic’’ or artificial. Unfortunately, untrained specimens,
however natural they may look, are usually poorly grown. As
much skill is required to grow natural plants as trained ones.
They need watching during the whole season. Superfluous
growth must be thinned out and light and air let in to the
centre of the plant to avoid a skeleton-like appearance, the
result of crowded growth smothering the life out of the lower
foliage. Attention to the details just noted will secure short,
healthy growth and plenty of good foliage down to the ground.
Before potting plants from the open ground a piece of string
should be put about them, to hold the branches together until
the work is done, Itis better to stake them into shape at once,
so that when they recover they will do so in good order. If

rl ce ima ls ae

SEPTEMBER 23, 1896.]

good soil is used very little manure-water will be needed, and
certainly none should be applied until the pots are well filled
with new roots.

Generally all the shoots on specimen plants bear what is
known as terminal buds—that is, the lower-buds produced at
the ends of the branches are the last ones the plant makes.
They occur in clusters, and all should be carefully removed,
except the leading one. The variety G. Daniels is an excep-
tion. Every shoot on this plant produces a modified crown-
bud. If these buds appear well on in September, I take them
—thatis, allow them to grow by removing the side shoots, or
terminals.

Feeding should continue until the blooms begin to show
color, but in decreasing quantities and strength. All plants
should be housed before there is danger of frost. A slight
frost will not injure them, but there is nothing gained by delay.
It is easier to control the moisture supply, and at the same
time keep the air dry, when the plants are under cover. They
should be dried freely, but direct draughts must be avoided,
even on bright days, if at all cool, as the liability to mildew
increases as the season advances. When the nights begin to
get cool toward the end of September a little fire-heat will be
beneficial, if only to keep the air in good circulation.

Wellesley, Mass. Tz DD: Flatfield,

Orchids in Flower.

Oncidium incurvum.—This is the period when there are fewer
flowers among Orchids, and such as are in bloom are the
more conspicuous and valuable. Oncidium incurvum is
one that can be relied on to grow freely and to flower at this
season every year; the spikes are a long time developing,
often six months, but the longer they are growing the better
and larger the spray, for they will sometimes be four feet in
length, as we have them now, and covered with side branches
that have pretty pink and white flowers that are very fragrant
on bright days. It is essentially one of the plants that any one
can grow where a warm greenhouse is at command. As the
plant is a native of Mexico and Guatemala at considerable
elevation, a tropical temperature would be fatal eventually, so
a temperature of about fifty degrees in winter is ample, with
plenty of air and shade in summer.

Oncidium ornithorynchum.— This is another species that will
thrive under similar conditions as Oncidium incurvum, as it
comes from the same localities, and, like it, has flowers that
have pink shades, probably the only two in the genus where
pink takes the place of the all-predominant yellow that is
almost peculiar to the genus. O. ornithorynchum also has
long, much-branched flower-spikes that are produced four,
and sometimes more, from a single growth, and when these
are covered with rosy pink flowers that are deliciously fragrant,
a spicy odor that does not tire, but reminds one of Heliotrope, a
well-grown plant is decidedly pleasing and a thing of beauty
that lasts in good condition fora long time. There is a white
variety that sometimes crops up among importations, and itis
much valued when one is tortunate enough to obtain it in this
way. Isawa'superb specimen of it in the noted Measures
collection last year that created a sensation when shown in
London some time later. There is no difficulty in cultivating
this species. We used to grow them in perforated pans, sus-
pended, but when taking them out it was noticed that the roots
carefully avoided the perforations and were to be found only
adhering to the pan itself, so it seemed reasonable to suppose
they did not grow on trees and would prefer an ordinary
flower-pot, and those that were tried in this way show a de-
cided increase in vigor; a small plant that was cbtained five
years ago in a four-inch pot is now a huge specimen in a pot
ten inches in diameter, and will in a few days be covered with
flowers. This plant grew so well that twelve more were
obtained, and there is quite a variation among them as to
color. These Oncidiums should never be dried off, and before
the flower-spikes are much advanced the pots must be im-
mersed in water to get out the slugs, as these are very partial
to the tender-growing flower-stems.

South neastcesMacs: 2 #. 0:0:

Vegetable Notes.

Celery—Taken as a whole this has been a very favorable
season for Celery here. Little or no artificial watering has
been required, and so far the plants are perfectly free from
rust or spot. The early supply will now require to be earthed
up, but we generally leave this until the last possible moment,
as a preventive of rust. For the main crop the first week in

Garden and Forest.

387

October is early enough to begin the banking-up process, and
then just enough to gather the plants into shape.

Lima Beans.—Thiese have been rather slow in filling out,
especially those toward the top of the poles, but we find that
an occasional soaking with liquid-manure hastens the process,
Burpee’s Bush Lima proved very useful for an early supply,
and, so far as we have seen, it excels all the other bush varie-
ties. Itis not quite as early as some others, but the bean is so
much larger that it is well worth waiting for.

Onions.—Last year we tried the transplanting method on a
small scale, and were so well pleased with the experiment that
our main crop was grown in this way this year. The seeds
were sown early in March in flats, and as soon as the seedlings
were fit to handle they were pricked over into flats again;
these were eventually transferred to frames and gradually
hardened off until they were planted in the open ground about
the middle of April. At the time of harvesting we had onions
ranging from twelve to fourteen inches in circumference. The
advantage over those sown in the open ground in the usual
way was so marked that we will only grow a few of these later
for pulling green in future. It may be objected to this plan
that it requires more time and trouble, but this is doubtful, the
sowing and handling over is done when time can be more
easily spared than in the bustle of outdoor spring work; the
planting out occupies no more time than the preparing of a
seed bed. The ground is merely raked over, the line laid
along and the plants inserted in a hole made in the soft soil by
the finger. After the line is completed we run along with a
foot on each side to make the whole firm and the work is
completed. The thinning-out process, which takes consider-
able time at a busy season, is entirely done away with and
weeding is much easier. Any of the varieties can be grown
by this system, but for size and quality the Prizetaker leaves
little to be desired.

Tomatoes.—The outdoor crop is now liable to be cut off at
any time by frost, and where a continuous supply is needed a
crop indoors should be ready to take its place. This planting
sets freely, as a rule, but is so liable to spot that unless it is
absolutely required we are inclined to omit it. The younger
plants, sown about the beginning of August, will come in for
Thanksgiving, and on account of the diminishing brightness
of the sun will grow much healthier, and if the atmosphere is
kept dry and the house carefully aired there will be little
danger from spot.

Lettuce.—Lettuces are always welcome during the winter
months. Successional crops may be planted in frames and a
sowing made for the first crop indoors. Where space is
limited, a plentiful supply can be kept up in frames till
Christmas, after which, if the weather be severe, it is some-
what difficult. The old Boston Market is a reliable frame
variety, but we prefer Golden Queen for greenhouse work,
being less liable to damp, and it matures earlier, Where quan-
tity is the object chiefly desired, Grand Rapids would probably
be the best; though somewhat coerser in texture, the leaves
are crisp and juicy, while the flavor is all that can be desired.

Tarrytown, N. Y. William Scott,

Primroses.—It will be noticed that the hardy species of
Primula merely eke out an existence through our hot months,
and when the cool night dews begin to fall, growth begins at
once. We find that this is the best time to lift, divide and
replant such as the Polyanthus, both double and single, and
the Japanese P. Sieboldii. We grow a quantity of these hardy
Primulas both in frames and outdoors for successional flower-
ing, and find them verysatisfactory. But they must be treated
liberally and not allowed to remain in the same soil for more
than a year. At this time the clumps are taken up, carefully
divided and reset, three or four crowns together. The soil
should be rich. P. Sieboldii, being deciduous and having
rhizomatous roots, requires a little different handling. The
roots of this Primula are spread over the surface, and they
must not be covered to such a depth as to prevent the
rhizomes running freely near the surface, or much of the en-
ergies of the plants will be wasted. Owing to this habit of
surface-rooting it.is not so essential to lift P. Sieboldii every
year, but a good mulch of well-decayed leaf-mold at this time
will serve as a top-dressing and also as a winter protection to
any roots that may have become bared of soil through the
actionof the weatheror useof the hose. Of all hardy Primulas,
P. Sieboldii is the best we have tried. It is as bright in its
way as the lovely P. rosea, from the Himalayas, and much
more certain. The flowers are useful for cutting, owing to the
long, erect, wiry stems, It has proved perfectly hardy here
for several years past.

388

Lilium Wallichianum superbum (Lilium sulphureum).—I no-
tice that this fine hardy Lily has been widely distributed of
recent years, and though most of the plants seen in gardens
are hardly old enough to flower, the growth made is good
and promises to be healthy. This Lily seems even more
anxious to reproduce itself than the old Tiger Lily. The
smallest stems have young bulbs formed in the axil of nearly
all of the leaves. This affords a ready and sure means of prop-
agation, and no time should be ljost now in securing them.
They drop to the ground at this time and are easily lost if not
gathered and planted in a box for the first year’s growth. They
will be slow to start, probably not before next midsummer. It
is best to put them ina cool place under the benches in the
greenhouse, or even inacellar. Any anxiety on the part of a
plant to reproduce itself is in most instances a sure indication
of either inherited weakness or unsuitable local conditions.
I am not sure yet whether this Lily is going to remain perma-
nently as an individual, or if this habit of producing bulblets
is characteristic. It appears as though it is, but there is no
doubt that the plants would be strengthened by the removal of
all the bulblets if it is not desired to propagate them. One bulb
would soon produce enough to plant an acre if it was desired.
Our original bulb was obtained three years ago, and being
weak died after the first season's growth ; but from its produce
that year we have just gathered over a thousand bulblets, and
we have enough now tor all purposes. Next year all increase
in this direction will be carefully guarded against, and I think
the parent bulbs will be benefited thereby. FG. Oba:

South Lancaster, Mass.

Marguerite Carnations—I consider these among the most
satisfactory of half-hardy flowers. To those having a demand
for cut flowers during the months of August, September and
October (or till Christmas, if potted in September and placed
in a cool greenhouse or frame) they are invaluable. A group
of them has been flowering in this garden for the past six
weeks, and to-day, September 6th, I counted on several indi-
vidual plants from sixty to seventy-five well-developed buds
and blossoms. A great improvement has been made in them
during the past few years, and they now almost equal the
greenhouse kinds both in size and fragrance. There is a wide

range of color among them, and I have not found one with,

the calyx split. We sow the seeds in pans in a warm green-
house about the first week in February, growing them along
so as to make nice plants by planting-out time. After plant-
ing they need to be pinched once or twice to make them
bushy, besides a little attention in the matter of staking and
watering. They do best in an open sunny position and prefer

a light rich soil. .
Agente Garden, Northampton, Mass. Edward ie Canning.

Two Good Roses.—In Willow Grove Park, near Philadelphia,
are two beds of Roses, one of La France and one of American
Beauty, and it is a pleasure to see how finely they flower.
They certainly are among the best of Roses for bedding in this
section.. A week ago there was not a plant in either bed that
did not carry one or more flowers. Many of them had half a
dozen each. These Roses are perfectly hardy here, so far as
their blooming is concerned. The La France may lose a few
inches from the tips of the branches, but this is only a prun-
ing which benefits it. The flowers of both are delightfully
fragrant.

Pueraria Thunbergiana.—When allowed to climb over a tree
or anything which allows thick massive growth, this Kudzu
vine makes no floral display whatever, its flowers being hid-
den by the foliage. This is not the case when ona trellis or
some flat surface. Then its racemes of rosy crimson flowers
are welldisplayed. They commence to expand in the first week
of September. For rapid growth this plant has no superior
among climbers.

The European Medlar.—Mespilus Germanica is a plant which
is notsupposed to flourish in these parts, but there are small
specimens near Philadelphia which are quite healthy and hardy
and which bear medlars. The plant should be more widely
tested.

Viburnum Lantana.—The beauty of this plant both in flower
and fruit has often been referred to. Let me say that Vibur-
num continifolium, a Himalayan species, figured in GARDEN
AND FOREST (vol. v., p. 245), IS ON some accounts still better,
although resembling it a good deal. The flowers, foliage and
fruit are on a larger scale. The fruit of V. Lantana is the later

of the two to ripen.
Germantown, Pa. Foseph Meehan.

Garden and Borece

[NuMBER 448.

Correspondence.

Notes from Southern California.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—During the month of June, Calochortus Plummere is
in season, the last of the genus to flower in this region, and
though not as showy as some species, it is very attractive.
The flowers are of a rich lavender-purple of many shades,
with yellow hairs at the base of the petals. I once founda
dead stalk which was four and a half feet high and had borne
ten flowers. The usual height is from two to three feet. It is
found on high hills and ridges, where it is quite dry at the
time of flowering. If the stalks are cut when the buds are
nearly mature and placed in water in the house they expand
beautifully and produce larger flowers than if left on the plant.
In rare instances I have found plants bearing flowers of a
pleasing shade of salmon pink.

During the latter part of June and early July is the season
for Delphinium cardinale. To come upon a large group of
this plant in full bloom for the first time is an event never to
be forgotten. I first saw amass of these plants in the dis-
tance trom the top of a hill. Descending, Icame upon them
in such a position that the rays of the setting sun intensified
the brilliancy of their fiery orange-scarlet color. It has been
said that to some persons a red color suggests the sound of a
trumpet. Such a one would here have heard the blare of a
thousand trumpets. I gathered a large armful of stalks from
three to seven feet high, and on reaching home placed them
in a Mexican water-jar standing upon the floor. With the ad-
dition of some finestalks of the lovely white Romneya, the
starry white flowers of the ‘“Soap-plant” and some tall wild
Grasses, a floral piece was made which might please the most
fastidious. The Delphinium-flowers continue to expand for
several weeks in water. The roots endure great drought,
becoming brittle as pipe-stems, yet starting readily on the
arrival of the rainy season. It flourishes only in sandy or
decayed granite soil.

It is interesting to note the variation in color of some Cali-
fornia plants. Mimulus viscosus in the type has flowers of a
rich buff-orange. In the high mountains a form is found with
primrose-yellow flowers, and in one instance I found a plant
bearing flowers of a French white, and in another locality a
plant bearing flowers of a brilliant rust-red, a most distinct and
pleasing shade. In rare instances plants of the type are seen
in our gardens, where they flower throughout the year.

One of the most notable sights in southern California gar-
dens in summer-time is the Australian Flame-tree, Brachy-
chiton aceritolium, in full ower. In the garden of Mr. C. H.
Richardson, of Pasadena, is probably the finest specimen in
this region. The tree is of fine pyramidal shape and about
twenty-five feet high. At the time of flowering it is entirely
destitute of foliage, but is literally covered with bloom. Every
branch and twig is terminated by loose spikes of flowers about
half an inch in diameter, in shape somewhat resembling Lily-
of-the-valley. Their color is the brightest vermilion. Sucha
gorgeous spectacle is worth a long journey to see. At all
other times the tree is covered with rich green foliage and is
very ornamental.

I will bring this “scarlet letter” to an end by noting that I
have succeeded in flowering the rare Gerbera Jamesoni, from
south Africa. The plant is not yet well established, but pro-
duced a solitary lower two and a half inches across. The rays
were somewhat narrow, but otherwise the flower resembled a
Marguerite ora field Daisy. It was of a bright orange-scarlet
color and very handsome. This color is very rare in the Com-
positae, and should the plant prove a good grower here it will
be a welcome addition to our gardens.

Edmund D, Sturtevant.

Los Angeles, Calif.

Utilizing Choke Cherries.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—The Choke Cherry grows abundantly about here, along
fence rows and in the edges of woods. It seems to have a
preference for sandy soils. In certain favorable locations it
bears enormous crops of fruit. Certain plants seem to be
more prolific than others, and there is a noticeable amount of
variation in the size and quality of the fruit. Frequently one
will find clumps of bushes trom which several bushels of
really fine fruit might be gathered, For the most part, how-
ever, it entirely goes to waste. It is not even used by the
birds or the curculios. Itseems really a pity to see so much
fine fruit spoiling unused,

SEPTEMBER 23, 1896.]

_ For the sake of seeing what might be done with this fruit, a
quantity was taken this summer and made up into jelly. The
result was gratifying. There was not a large amount of the
jelly, but the quality was superior. The clean flavor of the
bitter almond characterized our samples, which were sweet
and fruity besides. The flavor was altogetherdesirable. The
texture was somewhat coarse and grainy, owing, perhaps, to
the fact that the fruit was overripe. The jelly was also dark-
colored, probably owing to the same fact.

There are many places, in this vicinity at any rate, where
the fruit of the Choke Cherry could be picked in large quan-
tities with ease ; and, so far as the result of our small experi-
ment may indicate, it would be altogether worth while to

gather it and make it up into jelly.
° Vermont Experiment Station. Ff. A, Waugh.

The Forest.
The Burma Teak Forests.—VIII.

LINEAR VALUATION SURVEYS.

ae reader may justly ask, what can possibly be the object
of filling the pages of GARDEN AND Forest with these dry
facts and figures relating to Teak in Burma, a tree which does
not grow in the United States, and which could not possibly
be grown as a forest tree if the attempt were made?
American foresters are practical people, and though some
of them, doubtless, honestly desire to manage their forests
upon conservancy principles, they naturally are impatient and
wish to attain results as speedily as possible. It being known
that the system of linear valuation surveys made it possible
forty years ago in the Teak forests of Burma to organize the
working of these forests on a plan which has stood the test of
experience, itis but natural that the adoption of a similar sys-
tem in the United States should have been contemplated.
Hence, it may not be out of place to explain the conditions
under which the adoption of that system would not be advisa-
ble. In forests where one species predominates, such as the
Redwood forests of California, or where the constituent species
are all marketable, it will generally be found most convenient
at the outset, and before special working plans are made, to
regulate cuttings by area. In such cases each forest division
would be divided into a number of blocks of approximately
similar productiveness, one block being taken in hand annu-
ally for the cutting and extraction of the mature and market-
able timber in it. What proportion of the marketable trees
should be cut, and the selection of the trees to be felled, must
depend upon what is known regarding the natural regenera-
_ tion of the forest, the rate of growth and other considerations,
The main point, as a matter of course in all cases, must be so
to arrange cuttings as to ensure the maintenance and the
regeneration of the forest. In forests, on the other hand,
where the marketable kinds only form a small proportion of
the growing stock, it will often be difficult to regulate cuttings
by area, and in such cases it may be expedient to endeavor,
by means of linear valuation surveys, to obtain a general idea
regarding the growing stock of the different age classes, and,
guided by the results thus obtained, to regulate the cuttings
by volume—that is, to fix a maximum number of trees to be
cut annually within a certain area. In Burma no other method
was possible at the outset, but elsewhere circumstances may
be different. Thus, in the Alleghanies, where the Yellow
Poplar isthe most valuable, and may in places at present be
the only marketable species, this tree may possibly be found
in scattered patches of varying extent, Liriodendron being
the principal tree in these woods or patches, while in the
remaining forest area this species would be absent, or nearly
so. In that case the results of linear surveys would be mis-
leading, and other methods must be devised. In any case it
should be distinctly understood that linear valuation surveys
were employed in Burma at the outset only, and that when
special working plans were prepared for forest districts of
moderate size the estimate of the growing stock was formed
on the ground of sample areas carefully selected, so as
to represent approximately the constitution of the entire
forest.
WORKS OF IMPROVEMENT—CUITING OF CLIMBERS.

It has been shown that the condition of those forest tracts in
lower Burma which have lately been examined in detail, and
which, therefore, are best known, has greatly im proved as far
as Teak is concerned, particularly as regards the younger
classes. This improvement could not have taken place had
not girdling operations been made sparingly and had not the

Garden and Forest.

389

selection of the trees girdled been governed by correct princi-
ples. This favorable result is, however, also due to the works
of improvement that were undertaken—that is, to the care
bestowed specially upon the Teak in the forests. One of the
features which at once struck me forcibly in those forests was
the large number of huge woody climbers, the stems not sel-
dom one hundred feet long, as thick as a man’s leg, but as
flexible as a rope, their-tops twisting round stem and branches
of Teak and other trees, and their luxuriant foliage smothering
the crown of the trees on which the creeper had settled.
Botanically, these creepers are most interesting; they belong
to a large number of families, many bear a profusion of
gorgeous flowers; in allof them the structure of the stem, the
circulation of the sap and their mode of growth and develop-
ment present interesting and most important problems, but the
mischief they do is very great. The tree to which one of these
woody climbers has attached itself gets bent, forked and
twisted ; it is badly shaped, remains stunted and is often killed.
Hence, I determined at once that these pests should be de-
stroyed throughout the Teak-producing tracts. Fortunately,
this work is not difficult ; the stems of these creepers are soft,
and I soon found that it gave my Burmese companions con-
siderable pleasure to cut them with theirlong, stout, sabre-like
knives. The rule which I established was that when girdling
operations were carried on in any district all climbers on Teak-
trees should be cut, and it was made the duty of the local
native foresters to keep the Teak in their districts clear of
creepers.

The battle which I waged against creepers in Burma has not,
it is true, led to a complete extirpation of these interesting
plants. Readers of GARDEN AND FOREST will still be able to
see a good many of them should they visit the forests of
Burma. More perfect success was attained in this respect in
another part of India at a later date, under my advice, by my
younger friends in the forests. In 1875 a valued friend of mine
came from England to see how India was progressing, and,
among other things, to understand what we were doing in the
forests. At that time I happened to be in the Déhra Dau, a
large forest district mainly consisting of Sal, Shorea robusta,
at the foot of the Himalaya. Ever since I had first visited
these forests in 1863 I had resolved at that place to establish a
forest school for tlhe natives of India. I had, however, deter-
mined not to take any steps in this direction until my friends,
who had charge of these forests, should have succeeded in
bringing them under efficient protection and a regular system
of management. Example is better than precept, had been
my motto all through my Indian career, and I had determined
that the training at that school should be chiefly practical.
This, however, was impossible without forests in good condi-
tion and under systematic management as the training-ground
for the students. In 1878 I succeeded in obtaining the sanction
of the Government of India to the establishment of the Déhra
Dut Forest School, but in 1875 considerable progress had
already been made in the improvement of the forests.

My friend took a special interest in botanical matters, and I
naturally wished to show him some of the gigantic climbers
of the forests—Butea superba, with its gorgeous orange-
colored flowers; Bauhinia Vahlii, with its irregularly ridged
and furrowed stem, its impenetrable net-work of twigs and
branches and its dense foliage. Not one was to be found;
they had all been carefully extirpated. My friend, now the
Right Honorable Sir Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant Duff, saw
that the forests were well cared for, but the readers of GARDEN
AND Foresr will sympathize with his disappointment at not
seeing either Bauhinia Vahlii or Butea superba hard at work
throttling the Sal-tree.

More difficult to deal with were Epiphytic ficus, the seed of
which germinates on a branch or in a fork of the tree. The
Epiphyte at first grows very slowly, but afterward draws abun-
dant nourishment from aérial roots sent down into the ground,
and finally tightly encloses the trunk of the Teaix or other trees
with a net-work of anastomozing roots, forming a thick woody
sheath round the stem. Another important work that was
undertaken, to favor the development of the Teal-tree, was to
cut down or to girdle other trees overshadowing young Teak
and to clear away heavy inflammable matter—wood, branches,
dry brushwood—lying on the ground in the vicinity of young
Teak-trees, especially if standing in groups. Considering the
large extent of the Burma forests, these operations could not,
as a matter of course, be carried on uniformly all over the
area, but the beneficial effect of what had been done I noticed
with satisfaction on each successive visit to the forests in
1868, 1876 and 1880, after I had relinquished my original

charge. =» 84 ;
bone, Germany. Dietrich Brandis.

390

Notes.

The Rural New Vorker speaks highly of the. McPike Grape,
originated by a vineyardist of that name in Alton, Illinois. It
is a seedling of the Worden, hardy, with good leaves, large
compact bunches of even size, berries with a blue-black bloom
and ripening uniformly. The berries are of the largest size
(three inches in circumference) and -extremely juicy. The
skin is thin, but not tender, the pulp is melting and the seeds
are small and few. It is spoken of as an improved Eaton.

In the Museum of the Oxford Botanical Garden there is pre-
served a primitive utensil which was once used to protect
greenhouse plants from cold in frosty weather. This is an
open wicker box fixed upon four wheels. It used to be filled
with red-hot charcoal and the gardener rolled it backward and
forward in the glass-house throughout the night during severe
weather. A correspondent of the Journal of Horticulture
speaks of this as a very interesting reminder of the develop-
ment of the apparatus for heating glass-houses.

For some reason probably connected with the hot summer
and heavy rainfall, mushrooms are unusually abundant
in the pastures and meadows about this city. In Dutchess
County the farmers and others gather them and carry fine ones
around to the different towns and villages for sale, and they
are so abundant they are offered in quantities at thirty-five
centsa bushel. Zhe Poughkeepsie Eagle reports that not only
true mushrooms but many other fungous growths, both edible
and poisonous, are common in all parts of that city.

When seen in masses in their native homes Sobralias are
among the most beautiful of Orchids, as various travelers have
borne testimony. We learn from the Orchid Review, and
record it as a matter of interest, therefore, that Mr. F. J.
Le Moyne, of Chicago, is trying to make a complete collection
of these plants. Most of the species are handsome, although
they are not so much cultivated as they would be if their
flowers were not so fugacious, and, in some cases, if they were
not so large. The long succession of flowers which they bear
compensates in some degree for the first effect.

Mr. W. Botting Hemsley, in writing of plant distribution in
Knowledge, calls attention to the fact that Lord Howe Island, a
speck of land less than a quarter of the size of the Isle of
Wight, situated in mid-ocean, three hundred miles from the
coast of New South Wales, produces four species of Palms
peculiar to itself. The Seychelles groupin the Indian Ocean
is also interesting. These islands, more than thirty in num-
ber, are situated six hundred miles north-east of Madagascar,
the largest being seventeen miles long and five miles wide,
with an altitude of nearly three thousand feet. Three hundred
and fifty species of flowering plants and Ferns are recorded
from these islands, one-sixth of which have not been found
elsewhere. Among the latter there are nine distinct kinds of
Palms, and seven of these have not been found elsewhere, and
among the latter classis the famous double Cocoanut or Cocoa
de Mer.

This is the season of Sunflowers, and wherever a mass of
yellow is needed they will never be a disappointment. In the
herbaceous garden at Prospect Park the tall stalks of Heli-
anthus orgyalis, in full flower from top to bottom, which
means for a distance of ten feet, are very striking when standing
against the dark green of the still taller Arundo donax, while
the common Artichoke, H. tuberosus, is by no means to be
despised. Helianthus mollis is a lower plant, two or three feet
tall only and bearing light lemon-yellow flowers with a yellow
disk and soft woolly-white leaves, while H. rigidus, with rich
orange-yellow flowers, and rather a taller plant, would grace
any garden. Besides these, H. multiflorus, which continues
in bloom fora month, with its double variety, which flowers all
summer long, H. decapetalus, the semi-double cup-shaped
H. letiflorus, with many rather coarser ones, are all useful in
large wildgardens, These, with Heleniums, Rudbeckias and
Silphiums, with their light yellow, almost straw-colored flow-
ers and varied leaves, will suffice to make any border gay till
mid-September, after which there are later varieties of almost
equal merit.

The Pollination of Plums is the subject of Bulletin No. 53,
issued by the Vermont Experiment Station, and prepared by
Professor Waugh, Plums are uncertain in setting fruit, and
this is partially due to lack of proper cross-pollination, and
therefore different varieties should be planted together or
scions of other varieties should be set in the tops of trees
which do not bear satisfactory crops. This cross-pollination

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 448.

is provided for by the defectiveness of their floral parts and by .

the sterility of certain varieties toward their own pollen.
American cultivated varieties have been derived from several
botanical species, and these varieties retain, to some extent,
the characters of the parents, and itis thought that botanical
relationships will prove the best guide in cross-pollination. A
very interesting account of the economic characters of the dif-
ferent groups is given, but it is admitted, after quoting the
opinion of eminent horticulturists and botanists, that there are
many questions, practical and theoretical, which are still open
to investigation. Some of these questions are asked at the
close of the bulletin, and readers are requested to make a
reply. The statement that the Beach Plum, Prunus maritima,
is of little importance for its fruit, although desirable for orna-
mentation, ought, we think, to be modified. We have seen
individual trees of this species which bore fruit of beautiful
color and rich flavor, and it seems to_us that both in the line of
selecting and hybridizing it is a promising tree for fruit.
The bulletin is commended to all who wish to grow trees
intelligently.

Chautauqua growers are complaining that they hardly get

enough for grapes to pay for transportation to market, and in
some sections farmers are allowing their apples to lie on the
ground and rot or they feed them to hogs. This means that
in many districts the fruit crop is uncommonly abundant.
Nevertheless, the prices for fine fruit on the street-stands and
in the fancy-fruit stores were rarely, ifever, higher than now. It
ought to be added that the quality of the fruit offered has, per-
haps, never been as good. The lesson of all this is that the
only assured success for fruit growers is by careful cultivation,
thinning, etc., to insure fruit of the very best quality, and then
to withhold everything that is not strictly first-class. In spite
of the surplus of ordinary grades of fruit and of the limited
demand for fruits of the highest grade, it is evident that there
is considerable margin for profit between the prices farmers
receive and those the consumer pays. Among the showiest
fruits now offered are immense Salway peaches, measuring
fully seven inches around, the downy skin a cream-yellow,
with bright crimson cheek. Persimmons, from Florida, are
already quite abundant, and large, luscious specimens of a
.rtich golden color cost sixty to seventy-five cents a dozen.
As many as forty shipments of Alligator pears have been
handled by one of the down-town retail fruit-stores since
the beginning of the season in May, when this fruit came
from the United States of Colombia. Later, Jamaica and
Cuba furnished the supply, and from August to the close
of the season in October they are received from Turks
Islands, among the Bahamas, The demand for this fruit is
reliable, and even now, near the end of the season, when
the specimens are no larger than a good-sized Bartlett pear,
they readily command from twenty to thirty cents each. Man-
goes, which are also passing out of season, have eager buyers
among persons familiar with this variously flavored apple of
the tropics. An importation received from Cuba last week
sold on sight at retail at ninety centsa dozen for the entire lot.
The first cargo of Almeria grapes of this season, consisting of
two thousand barrels, is now on the way to this country.

William Robinson, who for nearly twenty years has been at
the head of the famous Langwater Gardens, belonging to Mrs.
F. L. Ames, North Easton, Massachusetts, died of pneumonia
on Wednesday last in the full vigor of his manhood at the age
of forty-five years. Mr. Robinson was born in Bedel, York-
shire, England, and learned his craft in such good gardens as
those of the Duke of Cleveland and Sir Titus Salt, and he spent
some years at the Veitchian Nurseries. He was a thorough
gardener, wellskilledin every department of his art, but he was
especially noted as an expert in the cultivation of Orchids, and
it will be difficult to find a successor who can worthily fill his
place in charge of the most valuable collection of these plants on
this continent. Mr. Robinson was more than a mere cultivator,
and by his skill in hybridizing he has produced many interest-
ing crosses. Some of his hybrid Cypripediums it would be
almost impossible to duplicate, owing to the rarity of the
parent plants. He was very successful with Masdevallias,
which are somewhat difficult to manage in this climate, and
several excellent hybrids of this genus originated by him have
been distributed. Mr. Robinson was an occasional contribu-
tor to these columns, and what he had learned by study and
observation he took care to write with clearness and accuracy,
and he was always ready to give information from the abun-
dant stores of his experience. He not only loved his work,
and was loyal to his art, but he compelled respect by his
straightforward honesty and manliness of character.

es oe el ie

SEPTEMBER 30, 1896.]

GARDEN] AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrice: TripunE Buitpinc, New York.

Conducted by «9. «1 «6 % 4. « o's '% . Professor C. S. Sarcent.

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1896.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

EoiroriaAL ArtIcLe :—Agricultural Depression,..... ce. sees eee eee ce eee ee eeeees 391

An Experimental Grove of White Pine...........cce es ceeees .D Lyman. 392

The Sand Dunes of Northern Indiana and their Flora.—1V.. Kev. E. F. Hill. 393

Pant Notes :—Rhododendron (Azalea) Indicum obtusum album. (With figure.) 394
CurruraL DeparTMENT :—An Outbreak of Asparagus Rust,

Professor Byron D. Halsted. 394

Quality in Tomatoes .......++....- niseivininivie sesis.oje(siaisie’ss(o.0 Will. W. Tracy. 395

The Mills Grape........... -- Professor F.C. Sears. 396

Rose Gardens for America.. Bag .. Rev. BE. F. Hill. 396

Rattlesna keer lan taln Simeweiaten= stele cecleleicieie cisely so 5s eve. oesi=l (es 6 W. P. 396

Ophiopogon Jaburan variegatum, Pennisetum Ruppellianum..

The Loganberry, Strawberries....c.ccseccesceseceeeececuceeuetees PRED ES: 397

Caryopteris mastacanthus -Edward $. Canning. 397

CorrespoNnDENCcE :—Notes from Santa Barbara. . : FL Franceschi. 397

American Plums ......-2..-5 or FA. Waugh. 398

The! Wild, Flower Garden... --ccssececencasescnccesesssces W. E. Britton. 398

A Factory Garden.. - Edward F. Canning. 398

Dipladenias .. «++ George McWilliam. 399

Tue Forest ;—The Burma Teak Forests.—IX.....+-»+- LL. Sir Dietrich Brandis. 399

NoTES....- BapoEaoden aia ofaten alae giv'ata/alesicisfsis/ ACO)

ILLustRATION :—Rhododendron (Azalea) Indicum obtusum album, Fig. sees 395

Agricultural Depression.

T a recent session of one of the schools of horticulture
which are held in the different counties of this state

under the Experiment Station Extension Bill, Professor
Bailey departed from the customary order of procedure in
these institutes and talked for a short time on ‘The
Farmer’s Trials.” The unusual sluggishness of trade, com-
merce and all productive industries now prevalent, no
doubt, warrants the discussion of topics of this sort on such
an occasion, and although a consideration of such problems
is foreign to the general purpose and spirit of these columns
it may be worth while to call attention to certain condi-
tions which have helped to bring about the existing agri-
cultural depression in this country and in a large part of
Europe. ‘The trials of the farmer during the hard times
have not been exaggerated, and he is driven into his present
straits by poor prices and not by poor crops. Professor
Bailey protested in the first place, however, against the
prevalent idea that farmers are suffering more than other
members of the community. In the general stagnation of
business his profits have fallen like those of the manufac-
turer and every one else, and he is no worse off radically
than his neighbor. There is no special road to renewed
prosperity for the farmer unless the condition of the whole
country is improved, and any legislation designed to aid
farmers as a class would be not only ineffective, but per-
nicious. There are failures among tradesmen as well as
foreclosure of mortgages on farms, and if tradesmen, as a
rule, were as slack in their business methods as farmers
mercantile failures would be much more frequent. The
farms of New York state average from $3,000 to $5,000 in
value, and with this capital invested prudent farmers are
able to support their families, while it is doubtful if the
same amount ofcapital invested in business would average
as much. Professor Bailey added that under the Homestead
Act, which, as we look back upon it, was a singularly unwise
measure, great areas of free and railroad lands were taken
possession of by numbers of emigrants who rushed into
the west to make homes for themselves. The area of culti-
vated land increased ata much more rapid rate than the
population grew, and a surplus of breadstuffs soon caused

Garden and Forest.

39!

depressed prices. Since the greater part of our arable lands
are now occupied, the population is growing more rapidly
than the area of cultivated land is expanding, so that we
may look for the time in the near future when the demand
for food will, in some measure, equal the supply, and then
the stringency will cease and the farmer may expect a
greater reward for his labor.

Whether this prediction is fulfilled or not, the statements
on which it is based are strictly true. Since 1890 the wheat
production of the country has been more than twice as
great as it was in 1870, and there is no doubt that these
large crops, added to the millions of bushels which are
exported from India and the Argentine states, have sup-
plied the world with more wheat than it can eat, or, at
least, more than it is willing to pay for, and to this it must
be added that Russia, Hungary and Spain have multiplied
their production still more rapidly, while Australia threatens
to put millions of bushels upon the markets of the northern
hemisphere. But this is only one factor in a great change
which has been going on all over the world during the last
half of the century. In agriculture as well as in manufac-
tures, science with inventions, which come from increased
knowledge, have so cheapened production of every sort
that the world we live in is quite a different one from the
world of the early years of the present century. Machinery
has so multiplied the power of a single man to cultivate
and harvest and transport crops that a bushel of wheat can
be raised, harvested and turned into flour in the distant
west at less cost than it could be raised a few years ago in
the rich Wheat-fields of northern New Jersey or Pennsyl-
vania, and it costs actually less to put flour into the New
York market from Minnesota than it cost our fathers to

carry it fifty miles. With sully-plows and horse-cultivators,
with cheap fertilizers and a knowledge of how to apply
them, the market-gardeners and truck-farmers of Vi irginia
and southern New “Jersey, by the aid of rapid transit, can
sell fresh vegetables at a profit in this city for less money
than they could have afforded to sell them on their farms a
few years ago. It is owing to this cheap transportation
that the fruit growers of the east are compelled to compete
with a thousand car-loads of fruit brought into this city
every year from California. When early apples from
Canada come into competition with late winter apples
from Australia in the English market, and perishable fruits,
like plums and peaches, raised in California, are sold in
Liverpool, it is evident that the element of distance between
the producer and consumer of agricultural products is prac-
tically annihilated.

Much truth is written nowadays about careless farming,
but it is equally true that the farmer raises better domestic
animals, that the vineyardist and orchardist produce better
grapes and better fruits and more of them, that the market-
gardener and truck-grower produce vegetables and small
fruits of better quality and in much greater quantity than
they did a few years ago. All this means that there is an
enlarged market for our orchards and our vineyards, our
farms and our gardens, and that modern science’ has en-
abled us to produce more on every acre and with
outlay than we once did. These are precisely the condi-
tions which the cultivators of the soil were hoping and
praying for fifty years ago, and yet they are the very con-
ditions which are now helping to bring on the low prices
of which complaint is made.

And what of the future? Very clearly, we may expect a
still greater advance in agricultural and hortic ultural science
and practice in the years next ensuing. Phosphates from
rock and potash from the Stassfurt mines are already cheap,
and even now it is announced that German investigators
are on the eve of perfecting processes for drawing upon the
vast stores of nitrogen in the air so as to make that most
expensive element of plant-food as cheap as the others,
Professor Nobbe, of Saxony, the distinguished plant physi-
ologist, claims that he has produced on a commercial scale
pure cultures of the different bacteria which are efficient in
fixing the free nitrogen of the air in a form available

less

a92

for plant-food, and has them for sale in small glass
bottles. We have no means of estimating the value of the
alleged discovery, but it has been considered of sufficient
importance to be made the subject of more than one
paper read before the Royal Agricultural Society of Eng-
land. It is claimed that the soil can be inoculated with
these organisms for the modest sum of $1.25 an acre,
or the seed itself may be inoculated before it is sown
quite as cheaply. Of course, it may be premature
to place much confidence in this new method of se-
curing fertility, but it has long been considered probable
that some means of utilizing the stores of nitrogen in the
air could be devised, and we may reasonably expect
more wonderful discoveries since so many men of science
are engaged in the experiment stations of the world in
studying the laws of plant-life. Certainly it cannot be
assumed that the further cheapening of food-production is
an unmixed evil, and yet until the cultivators of the soil
can adjust themselves to the new state of things this would
certainly affect their prosperity. Synthetic chemistry has
gone so far as to prophesy a time when fruits and vegeta-
bles can be produced at little expense in a laboratory from
their original elements, instead of waiting for the slow pro-
cesses of nature to perfect them. Even if this dream were
realized it might be a blessing and not a curse, and yet it
would bring temporary disaster upon the tillers of the soil.

We have little expectation that the time is at hand when
man will cease to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow,
but we hardly ought to complain if he earns it with less
sweat than he once did. Certain it is that great changes
in the lines we have indicated are in progress, and they
cannot be arrested by any legislation which changes tariffs
or affects the volume of currency. Professor Bailey is right
in saying that if this depression continues, its first effect
will be to refine the gold—that is, to drive out of the busi-
ness all but the most skillful producers of crops. Mean-
time the farmer must be alert to adjust himself to his
new surroundings; he must be content as manufacturers
and merchants are to make a living and keep out of debt ;
he must do his work intelligently and avail himself of
every new aid which science offers ; he must keep his land
in good heart, grow only as much as he can grow with
some degree of profit, live quietly and economically, and
then wait.

An Experimental Grove of White Pine.

Rk. Bb. E. FERNOW, Chief of the Bureau of Forestry,

referring toa grove of Pines with which Ihave been

experimenting for more than twenty years, says in Gar-
DEN AND Forest (see p. 202):

Mr. Lyman has a growth of White Pine two-thirds of an acre
in extent, fifty to fifty-five years of age, which he has thinned,
so that in 1894 only 146 trees remained, or 223 to the acre,
Most of his trees are over ten inches in diameter, at least six-
teen of them are over fourteen inches, and the best measured
22.2 inches, the height being seventy to eighty feet. The cal-
culated volume corresponds to a production of 7,185 cubic
feet of wood an acre, which, under very careful practice, might
cut 30,000, board measure.

In view of the vast value and importance of the White
Pine and the rapidity with which a timber crop of it can
be grown, even on land deemed almost worthless, I have
been experimenting on a small scale to ascertain its rate of
growth and the best treatment of the trees while growing.
In this study I have been disappointed at finding so little
aid from books. I want to find out how to grow a crop of
timber on poor, cheap land as well as the best farmers in
the Corn belt can grow a crop of corn. I have some four
hundred acres of mixed young growth from twenty-three
years to thirty-five years of age, and most of this has been
left to nature. I have thinned some twelve acres of small
White Pines and pruned some of them. The little grove
referred to by Mr. Fernow is upona deserted farm which I
bought in January, 1870, and, as I remember, the first time
I noticed it was a few years later. The trees are close by

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 449.

the highway, less than six miles from the large village of
Farmington, less than a mile and a half from a@ railroad
station, and fourteen, twenty and twenty-five miles respec-
tively from the cities of Rochester, Somersworth and Dover ;
yet this grove with its 108 square rods of land could not prob-
ably have been sold at that time for much, if any, over one
dollar, and, perhaps, for not over fifty cents. Aman thinned
the trees, receiving the thinnings as pay, and they made
stakes, kindling-wood and, perhaps, a few light top poles
for fence. They ought to have been thinned earlier. They
were then left either five or seven years, which was too long,
before they were thinned again. They have been irregularly
thinned from time to time since, and the pruning has been
equally irregular. Standing more than forty miles from
my home, they have not been as well cared for as they
ought to have been. They have no limbs within twenty
feet of the ground, and the first twenty feet from the ground
will make very good boards, worth, if cutnow, at least twice
the price of inch-thick box-boards. The larger these trees
become the more clear lumber there will be in them, and
its value per foot will increase with their size. I have
other young Pines on the same farm which I have pruned,
so that the logs from the first twenty feet of their bodies
will be perfectly free of knots to within about two inches
of their hearts, and these knots will be so small, free from
blackness and sound, that they will scarcely be noticed in
the boards. The cost of the several prunings of each tree
will, I judge from my experience, amount to about oneand
a halfcents. It would be a fast average growth with prop-
erly thinned Pines if they were two feet in diameter at
seventy-five years of age. The most profitable number to
the acre at this period of their growth I have not satisfactorily
determined. Perhaps 130, or possibly 150, and the amount
of lumber from 60,000 to 80,000 feet, board measure, with.
all of that from the butt logs of very superior quality and
the remainder sound, with the ordinary amount of knots.
The amount of wood, fencing, shingle stuff, box-board logs
and timber cut out in thinning such a forest or plantation
isimmense. The saving in cost of getting lumber from
such a clean forest, where every tree is a Pine fit to cut,
instead of having to cut paths through trees and brush,
and break them through deep snows to get scattering trees
from among mixed growths is a very important item. For
this and other reasons I prefer to have unmixed timber lots
and no undergrowth.

Mr. Fernow and I do not agree as to the amount of
timber to the acre upon my poorly cared for experimental
grove (see page 202). In June, 1894, his assistant, Mr.
Carey, measured the trees and sent his figures to Mr.
Fernow, who, in a letter dated six days later, wrote, “ prac-
tically you will not get more than 10.800 feet, board
measure,” on the 108 square rods, which is 16,000 feet to
the acre. In the same letter he expressed the opinion that
I ought to have four times as many trees on the plot as
actually stood there.

From Mr. Fernow’s estimate of 10,800 feet, board
measure, for these 146 trees, or 16,000 to the acre, in his
letter to me dated June 29th, 1894, he has raised his esti-
mate in GaRDEN AND Forest, page 203, to 30,000 feet to the
acre. At this ratio his next estimate would, I think, be too
high, but nearer the true amount. Cutting one of the
largest and one of the smallest of the trees growing on the
inside of this grove, I had them sawed into inch boards
with a thick circular mill saw, and the two made 500 feet.
In my judgment these trees would be a fair average for all,
and if so, they would saw out 54 750 feet to the acre. I
reckon only 219 trees to the acre at the rate of 146 on 108
square rods To be within bounds, I estimate 50,000 feet
totheacre. In our Agricultural Report, written in February,
1895, I estimated the age of these trees at about forty-eight
years. I now count it fifty years. The youngest are less
than forty, but the larger one sawed had fifty-four rings in
the low-cut stump, and, as I have learned by observation
and by sowing Pine-seeds, that Pines start slowly, I think
it likely that the seed started three years before it formed

SEPTEMBER 30, 1896.]

the grain I found at the heart of the stump. I want to
keep within bounds. Two good judges well acquainted
with this grove think my estimate of the amount of timber
too low. An acquaintance of mine lived on the farm with
his father and helped mow the land where these trees
stand in 1835, and there was, he says, no sign of a Pine
there then, and he thinks the land was mowed several
years after. That land so sterile and stony should ever
have been mown shows the cheapness of labor and the
poverty of its owner. Badly as this grove has been treated
and neglected, it must be pretty sate to say that, besides
all the wood, fencing, shingle stuff and timber cut out in
thinning, it has at the rate of as many thousand feet of
lumber to the acre as the trees average years of age, yet
New York alone permits 867,000 acres of its territory, much
of it undoubtedly better land for timber than mine, to lie in
idle wastes and purchases many million feet of lumber
annually from Canada. Why will not agricultural colleges
or somebody teach the people how to increase the value of
waste lands of New York, for instance, in a comparatively
few years, a hundred of millions of dollars and add greatly

to the beauty of her landscape ?
Exeter, N. H. y I J. D. Lyman.

The Sand Dunes of Northern Indiana and their
Rilorat— Ve

NICUS PITCHERT is an herbaceous plant which early

gains a foothold in the sand. It is very singular in
appearance, the densely hoary stem and leaves forming a
pale object resting on the sand. It is usually isolated, the
branching stem when in flower a foot or two high, but
with a root going downward several feet. As an early
companion we shall find Solidago humilis, particularly
the variety Gilmani, with virgate stems sometimes three
feet or more in length. Another common Golden-rod
is S. speciosa, var. angustifolia, the handsomest of all that
appear on the dunes, with its long panicle of bright yellow
flowers, with S. nemoralis, in great variety of individual
forms, equally at home. Much less common are S. rigida
and S. tenuifolia, and S. cassia comes in where shade is
found. The Asters do not number many species, but the
drier sands make a home congenial to such kinds as A.
linarifolia, A. ptarmicoides and A. multiflora. A. azureus
is frequent in the copses and open woods, and on more
closely wooded hills or shaded spots the arrow-leaved and
the heart-leaved Asters are found. Kuhnia eupatorioides
’ appears, having more slender stems, narrower and less
dentate leaves and fewer heads than in the form growing
on the prairies. Liatris scariosa and L. squarrosa are con-
spicuous with their bright, showy spikes, handsome here
and worth a place in any garden. Artemisia caudata flour-
ishes on the driest banks, a plant with finely cut, but dull
foliage. In the spring and early summer the little annual
Krigia Virginica sometimes makes dense beds of yellow
flowers on the sunny hillsides. It is heliotropic in habit,
each little head of flowers bent upon the stem to face the sun.
Helianthus divaricatus is the most common Sunflower.
It is generally low and slender, one and a half to three feet
high, often with an unbranched stem crowned by a single
head. H. occidentalis is native to such places. Lepachys
pinnata, with long drooping rays of pale yellow, is fre-
quently seen on the open hillsides. Rudbeckia hirta,
Coreopsis palmata, Prenanthes aspera and several of the
Hawkweeds are also present. One of the earliest plants
to appear in spring is the little Everlasting, Antennaria
plantaginifolia, covering some sterile knoll with silky
stems and leaves.

The Birdsfoot Violet is the first of the genus to bloom in
spring. Itis very abundant in most sunny spots, delight-
ing ina south exposure. Its bulbous root fits it to with-
stand the heats of summer, and in early autumn, after a
warm rain, itis frequently seen putting forth new leaves
and flowers. It is the only representative of the order,
except an occasional Arrow-leaved Violet, or sometimes a

Garden and Forest.

_the most slender of our Milkweeds, A.

393

Blue Violet. The yellow, fugacious flowers of the Frost
Weed, Helianthemum Canadense, are very pretty for the
few hours they last, and are common in such spots as the
Birdsfoot Violet frequents. The most abundant cruciferous
plant is Arabis lyrata, its white flowers seen everywhere
in open spots throughout the woods in early spring. One
of the Whitlow Grasses, Draba Caroliniana, sometimes
accompanies it, coming into bloom some years in March,
and a small, hairy Forget-me-not, Myosotis verna. Later
in the season we find Arabis hirsuta and the Sickle-pod,
A. Canadensis, usually in more sheltered places or in the
shade of trees. With them may be associated two of the
Galiums, G. pilosum andG. circzezans, their shapely, sym-
metrically arranged leaves always making them attractive.
The Early Crowfoot, Ranunculus fascicularis, delights also
in the dry hills, especially in spots which may have become
a little grassy. The cylindrical heads of Anemone Virgin-
iana and A. cylindrica are often seen peering out from the
low bushes on the slopes, and in some wooded places
we meet with the Wind-flower, A. nemorosa, and with
Anemonella thalictrioides. Both forms of Hepatica also
occur. The handsome flowers of Aquilegia Canadensis
are abundant in their season, the plants being sometimes
massed, but oftener scattered over the sides of the steeper
slopes. Itis usually accompanied in such spots by the
Harebell, Campanula rotundifolia.

Though the Pulse family are not largely represented by
species, some are very numerous. ‘This is especially true
with the Wild Lupine, though it is most abundant on the
lower sand reaches where the timber has been partially
removed, and where the showy flowers are seen in May
and June almost covering the ground by the acre. Tephro-
sia Virginiana is common, as well as Lespedeza capitata
and L. polystachya. The Lead-plant, Amorpha canescens,
is also found, and several kinds of Desmodium. Of
the Pink family, we may see Silene stellata and antir-
rhina, and the Sandworts, Arenaria Michauxii and lateri-
flora. Of Polygala, we find P. polygama, P. verticil-
lata and P. Senega. Herbaceous Rosacee are mainly
represented by the Strawberry, Fragaria Virginiana,
and some of the Cinquefoils, Potentilla Canadensis,
arguta and argentea. Of Saxifrages, Heuchera hispida
occurs, and on shaded hillsides Mitella diphylla. The
Carpet weed, Mollugo verticillata, has come in, and does
well on the open sands or along the woodland paths, its
pretty whorls of smooth leaves lying on the sand, making
a welcome addition to our native flora. The soil does not
seem very congenial to the Umbellifers, and they are rather
rare. We meet with Pimpinella integerrima, Zizia aurea,
and where the ground is more generous in the supply of
leaf-mold and has been long undisturbed, the Sanicles and
Cryptotaenia Canadensis will grow. Even the Partridge-
berry, Mitchella repens, creeps about sometimes in the
shade of trees in such spots. Aralia hispida is most at
home of the family it represents, but the Wild Sarsaparilla
is found in the richer woods, and the Spikenard is seen at
times on the protected hillsides.

One of the most frequent and characteristic plants of open,
sunny spots is the Prickly Pear, Opuntia Rafinesquii. Its
clumps or beds of stems are very showy in early summer
with their profusion of yellow flowers, and quite attractive
in autumn when well provided with purplish fruit, which
thickly studs the edges of the flattened segments, erect or
curving upward when in their active stage. In similar
places the small white flowers of Euphorbia corollata are
seen very abundant and effective, because of their num-
bers. It often becomes a hairy plant upon the dunes.
With these are associated Cnothera rhombipetala, the
characteristic Evening Primrose of the sand region, though
Gz. biennis is also found; the gay Butterfly-weed, Asclepias
tuberosa, rather common, and bearing not only the usual
bright orange flowers, but those that are nearly red, and
verticillata, with fine
linear leaves. The Green Milkweed, Acerates viridiflora,
finds a place, and on shrubby hillsides and in open woods

394

the Dogbane, Apocynum androszemifolium. Of Monardas
we have the Wild Bergamot and the Horse-mint, the latter
one of the most abundant plants of the more open grounds,
appearing in patches, thinly covering large areas. Litho-
spermum hirtum and L. canescens are found scattered
everywhere, and Phlox pilosa is rather common,

The Toad-flax, Linaria Canadensis, a low annual, or
more often a biennial here, shows its delicate blue flowers
in May, and is associated with the Dwarf Dandelion on the
hillsides. Later in the season another small annual, Poly-
gonella articulata, takes a place besideit, but is more widely
disseminated on the dunes, flourishing in the shade and
along the sides of roads and paths. Rumex Acetosella has
come in abundantly in such localities, and occasionally
Chenopodium Botrys. Comandra umbellata appears on the
sparsely wooded hills. In the dry open sands we find the
Purslane family represented by Talinum teretifolium, with
beautiful, but ephemeral, pink flowers and curious cylin-
drical leaves. Either seeking partial shade or by the bor-
ders of wooded areas are found some of the large Gerardias,
with handsome foliage and showy yellow flowers—G.
pedicularia, flava and quercifolia. The common Figwort,
Scrophularia nodosa, var. Marilandica, may also be seen in
the sands. Very common in the shade, especially of the
Pine-clad hills, is the Cow-wheat, Melampyrum Ameri-
canum. In such places we come upon the Pyrolas and
Pipsissiwa, Chimophila umbellata, and in the hollows one
may occasionally see its congener, C. maculata. In these
dry, basin-like depressions, or on the bases of the surround-
ing slopes, the Mayflower, Epigaea repens, occurs, but does
not seem abundant till we come near Michigan City. Com-
melina Virginica does well on the sunny slopes, a com-
panion of Tephrosia and the New Jersey Tea. ‘Tradescantia
Virginica is sometimes abundant, and quite frequently
takes a low, hairy form. Climbing the trees or running
over the bushes, with stems sometimes ten to twelve feet
long, is Smilax herbacea. Luzula campestris represents
the Rush family on the hills, though the ubiquitous Juncus
tenuis creeps in beside the pathways in more favored spots.
Plants that seem much out of place and serve as good ex-
amples of the strange association of species on the dunes
are Mianthemum Canadense and Smilacina stellata. The
two-leaved Solomon’s-seal seeks cool, shaded places, and,
though abundant in the deeper hollows, is not common on
the hills, but the Smilacina is not only frequent in the shade
of trees, but often very abundant on the fresh-formed high
dunes near the lake-shore, where it is associated with the
Sea-sand Reed and similar plants.

Space fails to speak of the Sedges which constitute the
larger part of the flora of the contiguous wet lands, several
species of which are represented on the ridges, or of the
many cryptogamous plants which add color and variety to
these sandy slopes and ridges. Of course, this list of the
dune flora is not meant to be exhaustive. It is purposely
limited to the higher ridges, and only those features have
been kept in view that were best adapted to show its chief

characteristics and varied nature. ‘
Chicago, Ill. Ee. f. Fill:

Plant Notes.

Rhododendron (Azalea) Indicum obtusum album.

ZALEA OBTUSUM, which Maximowicz, the monog-
A rapher of the eastern Asiatic Rhododendrons, con-
sidered a variety of Rhododendron (Azalea) Indicum, was
found by Fortune in a gardenin Shanghai and introduced
by him into England in 1846. It is a dwarf, much-
branched shrub with slender branches, small evergreen
obovate or oval leaves slightly ciliate on the margins, and
from one to three-flowered clusters of small flowers, with
brick-red corollas, and exserted stamens usually five in num-
ber. This plant usually proves hardy in English gardens,
although it suffered at Kew during the severe winter of
1894-5, but we are unaware that it has ever been tried in
the open ground in this country. The white-flowered form,

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 449.

of which the photograph of a flowering branch is repro-
duced in our illustration on page 395 of this issue, appears
to be rare and its origin is unknown to us. For more than
thirty years, however, it has been growing in Professor
Sargent's garden at Brookline, Massachusetts, where there
are several specimens; these are planted out during the
summer with the collection of Indian Azaleas, potted before
frost, and grown in a low temperature during the autumn.
With the aid of a little artificial heat the plants are in flower
by Christmas, and it has been found impossible to retard
their flowering until spring. The tendency of this plant to
bloom early makes it possible to bring it into flower at the
beginning of the year without hard forcing, and the flow-
ers therefore last much longer than those of varieties
which bloom late and require a high temperature to induce
their buds to open. This Azalea, moreover, is a long-lived
plant; its habit is compact; its light green leaves remain
for two or three years on the branches; it never fails to
cover itself with pure white flowers ; and when white-flow-
ered Azaleas are needed early in the winter it can be
commended.

Beconta Graciuis, var. Martrana.—This Mexican plant,
usually known in gardens as Begonia Martiana, is well
worth growing for its beauty and distinctness. Like the
majority of the bulbous Begonias, it flowers in summer and
finds its best environment under shelter, where its tall,
succulent stems and delicate flowers will have protection
from the elements. Strong plants have a gradually ex-
panding stem, usually unbranched, and furnished rather
sparsely with small half-heart-shaped green leaves, slightly
hairy. Normally they have a single stem, but if this is
checked by bending or breaking it throws off side-shoots.
The flowers are borne from the axils of the leaves on short
peduncles, and in good forms approach two inches in
diameter. They are round, slightly cupped and of a most
delicate clear pink color. As the stem lengthens it is
studded at the top with flower-buds, which open in suc-
cession as it grows in height. It forms bulblets in the
axils of the leaves, which may be used in propagation,
and are apt to perpetuate the species in a greenhouse not
too carefully kept. The round white-skinned bulbs are
also less subject to decay than those of other tuberous
Begonias, except B. Evansiana, which is well known as a
reliable Begonia under very adverse conditions. Bulbs of
B. Martiana have been found to survive in very cold wet
soil in a greenhouse often just at the freezing-point, and it
is barely possible that the bulblets might perpetuate the spe- _
cies out-of-doors, as do those of B. Evansiana, which is the
only species yet proven hardy in northern gardens. The
maintenance of B. Evansiana is not always, however, en-
tirely dependent on the bulblets, as the small bulbs, at least,
are usually frost-proof. How long they continue in that con-
dition does not seem to have been observed, but it is probable
that they scarcely survive beyond one or two seasons under
ordinary hard conditions. Bulbs of all tuberous Begonias
are short-lived, usually reaching the end of their usefulness
in about three years. These two species are not as big-
flowered as the hybrid Begonias which for a time seemed
to every one great marvels, but they rival any of the family
in dainty beauty.

Cultural Department.
An Outbreak of Asparagus Rust.

HERE has been an unusual development of rust upon
Asparagus-plants, in some of the middle states at
least, and this is so alarming to the truck-growers of New
Jersey that Professor Halsted, of the Experiment Station of
that state, has sent out to the newspapers a special bulletin
on the subject. The directions are as valuable for those
who grow Asparagus for home use as for those who grow
it for market, and we give the essential matter of the bul-
letin below :
APPEARANCE OF THE FIELD.—When an Asparagus-field is

SEPTEMBER 30, 1896.]

badly infested with the rust the general appearance is that
of an unseasonable maturing of the plants. Instead of the
usual healthy green color, the field has a brownish hue, as if
insects had sapped the plants or frost had destroyed their
vitality.

APPEARANCE OF THE PLANTS.—Rusted Asparagus-plants,
when viewed closely, are found to have the skin of the stems,
both large and small, lifted as if blistered, and in the ruptures
of the epidermis dark brown spots are readily seen. These
brown dots or lines are of various sizes and shapes, and remind
the close observer of similar spots in the broken skin of stems
of grains and grasses and of the leaves of Corn, also due to
rusts, but not the same kind as that of the Asparagus.

NATURE OF THE ST —The Asparagus rust is due to a
fungus (Puccinia asparagi, D.C.), that is, a minute plant con-
sisting of microscopic threads which grow through the sub-

Garden and Forest.

395

simple and effective manner by carefully gathering all the
parts of the Asparagus-plants that are above ground and burn-
ing them. It would be a waste of time to stack the tops and
leave them to natural decay ; and to place them in manure
heaps would be still worse. The only safe thing to do when a
serious enemy like this is in the Asparagus field is to burn the
plants even to the last scrap that can be gathered up. Let this
be done at once, for any delay means the brea king up of the
brittle, rusty plants and a generous sowing of the spores upon
the ground. If the fire could go over the whole field and burn
all the small as well as the large pieces, that would be the best
of all. Thisautumn burning should be done by every Aspara-
gus grower, even if the rust is not yet seen by him. This
enemy may become very serious if thorough measures are
not taken at once and by all who are engaged in Asparagus
culture.

Fig. 52.—Rhododendron (Azalea) Indicum obtusum album.—See page 394.

stance of the Asparagus-plant, taking up the nourishment that
is needed, and finally break through the surface to bear the
innumerable brown spores that give the dark color to the spots
on the Asparagus skins. This is the last stage in the develop-
ment of the rust fungus, and as such remains over the winter.

When the warm, moist weather of spring and summer comes,
the spores above mentioned germinate, and a new lot of
Asparagus-plants may become infested.

TREATMENT OF INFESTED FIELDS.—There are two general
methods of checking the rust, namely, by destroying the
spores and by preventing their growing upon, and getting a
foothold in, the substance of healthy Asparagus- plants. The
rust fungi are among the most difficult to check by protecting
the plants they feed upon with fungicides like Bordeaux mix-
ture, etc., sprayed upon them during the growing season.
While something may be hoped for with the spraying-pump
in July and August, the chief method of eradication lies in the
destruction of the spores this fall. This can be done ina very

Quality in Tomatoes.

T is discouraging to those who are trying to improve our

garden veget tables that the popularity of vegetables is much
more dependent upon appearance than the quality. This is
particularly noticeable in tomatoes, and the sort which pleases
the eyes, even though not of best quality, is the popular
variety. Many of the observers at our experiment stations
seem to be influenced in the same way, and their reports
would make it appear that the ideal tomato is perfectly round
with no sutures, the interior made up with as many and thick
partition-walls as possible, and that the fewer and the
less pulp they contain and the more solid the fruit, the better.
Now, if one takes out a section of the interior partitions of a
tomato so carefully that it receives no flavor from the pulp or
exterior wall, it will be found that this is a mass of cellular
matter without a particle of flavor. The flavor of a tomato is
chiefly in the pulp, though there is usually a little in the exte-

se eds

396

rior walls. The seeds are useless for food, and the fewer and
smaller they are the better. But we can have no pulp without
seeds, and it is the pulp, not the partition-walls or flesh, which
gives quality to the fruit. If each seed was in a cavity by
itself and surrounded by pulp this would be the most favorable
structure for the highest quality. Tomatoes in which the
interior is broken up into many cells are desirable rather than
because of the thick partition-walls or flesh. Again, it is
usually the case that the thicker and more solid the pulp the
better the favor. Thin pulp is always acid and harsh in favor.

The interior, then, of the ideal tomato should be made up
of a great many cells separated by thin—not thick and fleshy—
partition walls, and filled with thick pulp surrounding small
seeds, only the outer walls being thick. There should be no
core or hard centre, and, above all, the flavor should be a rich,
mild, fruit-like acid or subacid; there is a great difference in
varieties in this most important quality. Usually the skin is
removed before the fruit is used, and this can be most easily
done from a perfectly smooth, globular fruit. But asomewhat
flattened globe or an oval-shaped fruit is far more attractive,
and, if perfectly smooth, it is practically as easily prepared for
use. The stem of a tomato is set ina basin, and the deeper
this is the greater the likelihood of the fruit having the objec-
tionable hard centre or core, so that in the perfect tomato it
should be as shallow as possible. As to color, depth and bril-
liancy, evenness of distribution both on the surface and
through the pulp and flesh, and its permanency in cooking,
are important characteristics. The color, whether purple, deep
red or yellow-red, is of itself a matter of taste. I have never
seen a purple tomato in which the flavor was first-class, it
always having a sharp, harsh, metallic-like acid taste far infe-
rior to the rich fruit-like acid of the red sorts. For this reason
I think the ideal tomato will be a red one.

A tomato is always at its best as to quality when it is fully
ripened on the plant. It may look as well, or even better, if
picked before fully ripe and ripened off the vine, but such
truit lacks in quality. To have the best canned tomatoes, fully
ripe fruit should be sealed up in the cans within three hours
of gathering. There is no fruit in which the highest flavor is
more quickly lost, and if housekeepers will try the experiment
of putting up perfectly ripe and fresh fruit of a fine-flavored
variety, they will appreciate the advantage over partially ripe
fruit which has been off the vines for days. ;

Detroit, Michigan. Will. W. Tracy.

The Mills Grape.

MONG the one hundred and sixty-seven varieties of Grapes
in the Station vineyard here, none is more interesting
than the one named Mills, and said to have been produced by
crossing Muscat Hamburg and Creveling, As Creveling,
though of uncertain origin, undoubtedly contains some Vin-
ifera blood, this would make Mills more than half Vinifera,
which its characters amply attest. It is distinctly tender in this
climate and needs winter protection when the weather is at all
severe; besides which it 1s an easy prey to black-rot and mil-
dew, unless protected from them by spraying. With these
precautions, however, the vine is a moderately strong grower
and the foliage quite handsome.

But the most peculiar characteristics of the variety are found
in the fruit. The bunches are large, compact and quite heavily
shouldered; berry large, slightly oval, jet-black and covered
with a thick bloom; flesh very meaty but juicy, witha sprightly
flavor, and the skin so thick and tough that the bunches may
be roughly handled without injury. Indeed, the skin is so
tough that it is quite difficult to bite through it, and the berries
adhere to the peduncle with corresponding tenacity. The
seeds are large, with elongated beaks, and the chalaza near the
end, as is characteristic of Vinifera hybrids. While it ripens
soon after Concord, its season is much longer, and it will
remain on the vine in the fall, protected only by a common
manilla sack, until freezing weather, and is then at its best.

Although it will probably never take rank as a market sort,
its peculiar characters, delightful flavor and keeping qualities
should recommend it for amateur collections,

Manhattan Agricultural Exp. Station, Kansas. FC. Sears.

Rose Gardens for America.

I HAVE read Mr. Watson’s description of Mr. Robinson’s

garden of Tea Roses and I agree with the editorial note
that no single plant can take the place of a Rose in furnishing
flowers continuously all summer long. To the question
whether we can have a Rose garden iike this in America I
answer yes, and no.

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 449.

America is a large country, and south of the Ohio and in the
Sey ae : : Pret ;
Pacific states there are thousands of localities where bedding

Roses luxurtate, but in our northern and central states it is.

not every garden, by any means, that will grow Roses, though
a little thought as to situation, protection and soil will often
show the enthusiastic rosarian a ‘‘rose-pocket”’ which would
have escaped the eve of the ordinary flower grower. Good
drainage under a Rose bed is an absolute necessity ; the soil
should be a rich clay; and in our hot, dry summers a good
mulch, preferably of old strawy manure, must be supplied if
we would have growth and bloom; without the mulch and a
free application of water, our Rose-plants will simply stand
still and wait for cooler weather.

Our north-central states this year have enjoyed a summer
long to be remembered ; rain has fallen every few days, and
it has been a delight to watch the smiling response of the flow-
ers. Those who were fortunate enough to have planted Roses
this season have been bountifully rewarded with rapid growth
and an abundance of bloom, and the strong, stocky growths
assure us of continuous bloom till frost.

Now, can we keep these bushes over for another year, and
are they preferable to young, fresh plants ? They are decidedly
to be preferred to young stock, and good bedding varieties can
be protected with proper care. The most perfect protection
that I have ever seen used is a strip of sod set on edge in cir-
cular-wall shape about the plant, leaving an enclosure about
one foot in diameter; turn the grassy side out and fill in the
enclosure about the stems with loose soil. This will not injure
the stems, as straw, leaves and other coverings are apt to do
if the winter proves a wet one. Prune away the dead wood in
the spring and you havea strong, stocky bush ready to begin
work. ;

The hybrid Teas having a preponderance of Tea blood are
the American Rose growers’ surest friends, for in them we
have strength and hardiness combined with pertect freedom
in bloom; this will keep our matchless La France and its near
relatives, Augustine Guinoisseau (white), Duchess of Albany
(red), Madame Veysset (striped), all of which are now becom-
ing numerous, quite at the head of the list of outdoor Roses.
Our experience with Belle Siebrecht and Kaiserin Augusta
Victoria marks them as close followers, while Grace Darling,
one of the finest Roses extant and showing little trace of hybrid
blood, will charm every beholder. We would complete the
list with pure Teas, as follows: Papa Gontier, Etoile de Lyon,
Marie Van Houtte, Madame Joseph Schwartz, Maman Cochet,
Comtesse de Labarthe, Madame Welche and Mrs. Pierpont
Morgan, the Jast abundantly worthy of a trial in the garden ;
and all the while we are grieving tor a score of other rarest

beauties which any “list of twelve best bedders” must
naturally exclude. :
Chicago IN. Joe Ph Hill.

Rattlesnake Plantains.

ATKIN’S GLEN is a beautiful and somewhat famous
gorge situated at the head of Seneca Lake, New York.
The flora in the dark and moist places is for the most part, of
course, limited to a few species of Ferns and Mosses, which
grow luxuriantly. After a time the eye tires of the sameness,
and one longs fora bit of color to liven the sombre green.
Ona recent visit to the Glen, after I had become tired with the
continuous climbing, I was delighted to see a tiny spray of
delicate white flowers in the midst of a bed of Moss which
grew on a ledge of rock at my side. A glance showed that it
belonged to the Orchid family, and I carefully lifted my
treasure, packed it in moss in the lunch-basket and carried it
home. The next morning it was transferred, together with the
moss in which it grew, to asmall pot. Though this was over
three weeks ago, the scape still retains its flowers nearly as
tresh as when it was first found, and the buds at the end have
matured, Evidently the plant is as much at homeas it was in
its natural state.

The little plant is one of the Rattlesnake Plantains, Goodyera
repens, the smallest species of the three which grow wild in
this region. The few small leaves cluster at the base of the
plant and the scape arises from the centre of the cluster. The
largest of the leaves of this specimen are not more than an
inch and a half long by three-fourths of an inch broad; the
upper surface is beautifully reticulated with white, and this,
no doubt, gave rise to the snaky part of the common name,
while the shape of the leaves at once suggests a miniature
plantain. The bracted scape is about six inches long, bend-
ing slightly in a graceful curve, on one side of which the flow-
ers are loosely arranged. The flowers are pure white, tiny
almost to insignificance, yet beautiful in their simplicity. G.
pubescens is considerably larger in all its parts, with leaves

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.

SEPTEMBER 30, 1896.]

more beautifully netted, the flowers more closely arranged on
the spike and not on one side only.

These little Orchids are airy and graceful, and though not
often seen in cultivation they will do well when grown in suit-
able quarters. From the fact that they thrive in such moist
and shady places they would seem to have special merit for
use in north windows and should be better known.

Geneva, N. Y. W. P.

Ophiopogon Jaburan variegatum.—For many years after its
introduction, and, indeed, even at the present time, this beau-
tiful Japanese garden plant, in common with others, was con-
sidered tender, and always classed with greenhouse plants.
There is no reason why this should be so, as far as its utility
and beauty are concerned, and when once the hardiness of any
plant is assured, its proper place isin the garden. While the
genus Ophiopogon is widely removed from the Grasses, nev-
ertheless, as a margin to a bed of decorative Grasses, no more
fitting plant could be used. It is perfectly hardy; more so,
indeed, than some of the Eulalias and Arundo donax, which in
this latitude need a good protective covering in winter. In
addition to the beautiful variegation of the foliage of this
Ophiopogon, it carries at this season a profusion of bright blue
flower-spikes that are attractive in contrast with the creamy
white striped foliage. This plant is often seen under the names
of O. spicatum or O, Japonicum, both of which are totally dif-
ferent plants, and rarely, if ever, seen in gardens. Theintense
violet-blue flowers are typical of this variety, which may safely
be considered the best in the genus. The generic name is
somewhat unusual, and is a translation of the native name,
which signifies serpent’s beard. To propagate it, it should be
lifted in spring and carefully divided. The roots have tubercles
similar to Hemerocallis, and are easily separated; the crowns
are first divided, and then the roots.

Pennisetum Ruppellianum.—A few weeks ago this new orna-
mental Grass was described, and its free growth from seed the
first season was noted. As was promised by the introducer,
the spikes are deep red-bronze, quite remarkable among
Grasses that bear spikes and a striking contrast to Pennisetum
longistylum, the better-known species, which has spikes of
nearly white flowers, and the new variety has the same grace-
ful, long, narrow, green foliage, in dense tufts, as the old form.
We find it is easily raised from seed and flowers profusely the
first year. In this particular it is in striking contrast with most
of the annual ornamental Grasses, with the seeds of which we
have had but poor success, probably because first-class seeds
are not kept by dealers, owing to lack of demand on the part of

cultivators. a
South Lancaster, Mass. PnOe OQ;

The Loganberry.—Last July I had an opportunity to taste this
new berry and am exceedingly pleased with it. It has the
form of a blackberry and a solid core like that fruit. The color
is red and the flavor like that of a raspberry, but more acid.
Eaten with sugar itis very delicious. The plant hasa rambling
growth and its fruiting season here extends over three months
or more. Some of the berries were one and a half inches
long. It is generally known that the original plant was a
chance seedling of the Aughinbaugh Blackberry, probably
fertilized with pollen of some red Raspberry of the French
type.

Strawberries.—I have for the last two seasons been experi-
menting on a small scale with Strawberries and am much
pleased with the Arizona Everbearing. This is of good size,
fair flavor and a rather light red color. The plant bears a full
crop in May and moderately all the rest of the summer and
autumn. Itis of compact growth, forming immense stools,
which appear in the distance like small hills of potatoes. In
the moist atmosphere of the east the growth would probably
be much stronger. I would recommend it for trial there, as
possibly it might produce fruit fora longer period than ordinary
varieties. Another good variety here is the Marshall. This
proves a good grower, with foliage and fruit standing well up
on long stems. The fruit is of good size, delicious flavor and
of the brightest red color. It continues in bearing three or
four months, and in favorable seasons probably longer.

: Deed D arey,

Caryopteris mastacanthus.—I lately saw some plants of this
beautiful shrub grown from seeds imported direct from Japan.
Growing alongside them were some plants purchased under
the same name from nurserymen in this country, yet the two
were as dissimilar as possible. The leaves of the seedlings
were much larger and ovate-oblong in outline. The flowers
were of a deeper blue and in larger clusters, and in full bloom

Los Angeles, Cal.

Garden and Forest. 397

September 13th, while the other plants had hardly commenced
to flower, and the leaves were lanceolate-elliptic in outline.
i have known the plants sent out as Caryopteris mastacan-
thus by nurserymen almost since its introduction in this
country, but I have come to suspect that some at least of the
plants sent out by nurserymen are examples of C. Mongolica,
and that I had not seen the true C. mastacanthus until I saw

these seedlings. :
Botanic Garden, Northampton, Mass. Edward F. Canning.

[The plants of Caryopteris mastacanthus in the Arnold
Arboretum have been propagated by cuttings from one
which originally came from Herr Max Leichtlin, and, per-
haps, most of the plants in this country have been propa-
gated in this way. Persons in doubt as to whether they
have the true species can readily identify it by comparison
with the figure and description in Zhe Botanical Magazine.
—Ep. |

Correspondence.

Notes from Santa Barbara.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :

Sir,—Bignonia venusta has begun to show bloom much
earlier this year, while its regular season extends from Sep-
tember to May, during which period the roofs of many homes
are literally covered with its rich orange clusters, making a
display not easily forgotten. In showiness and in vigor of
growth it finds a worthy companion in Solanum Wendlandii,
which bears in the greatest profusion its grand bunches of
Wistaria-colored flowers from May to December, Another
highly commendable climber proves to be the variety Grandi-
florum of the old Solanum Jasminoides, producing all the year
round numberless clusters of pure white Jasmine-like flowers,
most useful also for cutting. Lately | happened to seea plant of
this Solanum which had taken possession of a huge clump of
Achania malvaviscus, the bright scarlet erect flowers and
emerald-green leaves of the latter struggling to peep out of
thesnowy mass of their invader, a truly magnificent, although
unthought for, combination.

Solanum Seaforthianum, so much advertised of late as S.
azureum, has proved here rather below expectation, as far as
freedom of blooming is concerned, while it has no right to be
called azure blue. Neither can this color be claimed for the
not less boomed Caryopteris mastacanthus, rather a pretty
plant altogether, with a misty appearance, owing to its grayish
green foliage and numerous whorls of pale lavender flowers.
True-blue flowers are scarce, hence the tendency of floating
under blue colers what honestly ought to be called shades of
lavender, purple or violet color. In the line of light blues
I do not know of any better than the old Plumbago Capensis,
guite at home here and blooming splendidly in the driest
places. Strange to say, the same resistance to drought is pos-
sessed by the humbler, but not less desirable Plumbago lar-
pentze, lately rebaptized as Ceratostigma Plumbaginoides. It
is really a pity that pretty plants have to bear such fearfully
long names. Quite promising and much admired, because a
true blue and such a free bloomer, appears to be Jacquemontia
abutiloides, introduced from Lower California. This is a vig-
orous climber; the stems and obcordate leaves thickly beset
with minute silvery hair; the flowers azure blue, three-quar-
ters of an inch in diameter, opening quite flat and standing
well out of the foliage on long pedicels, generally bifurcated,
each bearing twelve to fifteen Howers, two and even three of
them opening at the same time, from morning till about four
o'clock. This is the hour when the fluffy, pure white, sweet-
scented flowers of Calliandra portoricensis expand every day,
as if by magic, while at the same time its Mimosa-like leaves go
quietly to sleep. Among newly introduced plants that have
bloomed for the first time this year, Bauhinia calpini, from
Natal, is very striking, its brick-orange flowers being produced
in clusters of ten to twelve, several open at the same time,
each of them two inches across, and literally covering the hor-
izontal spreading branches. Next to this, Bauhinia diphylla,
from India (?), has just begun to open its snowy white flowers,
much larger but not as plentiful as the preceding. Several
more species of the genus Bauhinia are likely to bloom before
long; many of them are sure to provea welcome addition to the
gardens of our southern states, for their curious bilobed
leaves and showy flowers having such a wide range of color.

Eriogonum giganteum, a native of Santa Catalina Island, is
in full bloom, and well deserves its name, the whole plant cov-
ering not less than ten feet in diameter, each branch or intlo-
rescence being two to three feet across, the innumerable minute

398

flowers white, with a slight tinge of red. It will be a fine thing
to grow as an isolated specimen on a lawn, and very goodalso
for cutting, and especially for the so-called ** Mackart bouquets.”
Leucophyllum Texanum is also a very valuable shrub, both
for its graceful silvery foliage and pretty purple flowers, and
well deserves to be spread in our gardens. Concerning color
in foliage, while our native Californian trees cannot compete, to
be sure, with the exuberant display of color of the eastern
forests (with one exception only, and that not too desirable, the
Poison Oak, Rhus diversiloba), what immense resources trees
from abroad are going to prepare to future landscape-artists
in this privileged region! A mere intuition can be had at
present with the shining silver of Leucodendron argenteum,
the rich bronze of Croton tiglium, the coppery tints of Cedrela
Dugesii, of Ficus princeps and F. Bengalensis, the rose-colored
new growth of Aleurites Moluccana and of Bauhinia Vahlii, the
brown velvet of Rhopala Corcovadensis and a host of others,
which are gathering here from every corner of the world.
Santa Barbara, Calif. F, Franceschi.

American Plums.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—The better varieties of American Plums in cultiva-
tion deserve more general recognition than has been here-
tofore accorded them. There are none of the varieties which
can displace such standards of European parentage as Lom-
bard, Bradshaw, Italian Prune and Damson, but many of
them are worth growing in addition to the varieties named;
and to the somewhat large class of growers with whom the
European varieties are not a success, the Americana, Wild
Goose and Chickasaw varieties are a valuable resource. Espe-
cially where fruit-trees are compelled to bear great inclemen-
cies of climate the superior hardiness of American species
will strongly commend them. In this section of Vermont all
the varieties of the Domestica class have failed this year, only
a very few well-protected Damsons and fewer Russians re-
maining to be excepted; but those growers here and there
who have planted native varieties had heavy crops. In the
orchard of Mr. L. M. Macomber, at North Ferrisburgh, I saw
trees of Wolf, Wolf Seedlings, Minnesota, and also of Potta-
wottomie and Robinson loaded as heavily as they could possi-
bly bear. Still larger quantities were grown by Mr. Holmes, at
Shelburne, who shipped many crates to the Burlington market,
where they retailed at $2.75 and $3 ooa bushel. With such prices
as these, and with trees which bear as abundantly as most varie-
ties of Prunus Americana, there could hardly bea more profit-
able orchard block. At Dr. Hoskins’ place, which has become
famous as a testing-ground for ironclads, I saw also trees of
De Soto thoroughly loaded with fruit. I should say, however,
that Dr. Hoskins has also several Russian varieties of Prunus
domestica which bore this year,

Itis somewhat interesting that Chickasaw varieties, which are
of southern origin, should succeed so far north as Vermont.
Some of the finest plums I have seen this year were of this
species. I think, in general, the table qualities of the Chicka-
saws are superior to those of Americana varieties, although
when properly cooked, canned, preserved or made into jelly,
many of them are unquestionably palatable. I have seen no
plums of the Wild Goose class in this section. My recollection
dwells with considerable fondness upon the plums which we
used to gather along the sand-hills of the Arkansas River in
western Kansas, and which probably represent Professor Sar-
gent’s Prunus Watsoni. Many of these fruits were very supe-
rior, 1am sure. They have been quite generally cultivated
locally, and a very few varieties have been named and propa-
gated. They have never been widely distributed, however,
and most horticulturists would find them a decided novelty.

Those who would discourage the planting of native Plums
present the argument that they are not good for table use, and
that they are not salable. Neither statement is more than
partly true. Any number of good judges will testify to their
culinary excellence, while the record of sales given aboveis a

sufficient answer to the second point.
Vermont Experiment Station, ff A. Waugh.

The Wild Flower Garden.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—To a lover of wild flowers many of the cultivated forms
generally found in small gardens lack something of that irre-
sistible charm possessed by the best of their indigenous rela-
tives, which, however, we rarely see in cultivation. There
seems to be a strong desire to obtain new and rare plants
from foreign countries for the sake of having that which is
unusual and not possessed by every one. There is, however,

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 449.

a slight, though increasing, tendency on the part of our
nurserymen and plant dealers to include in their lists many
of our common Ferns, flowering plants, as well as many
native shrubs and trees which were never propagated for sale
a few years ago.

A corner, at least, of every garden should be devoted to
hardy native herbaceous plants. No flower has a more deli-
cate grace than the nodding wild Columbine. Though its
native habitat is the rocky hilltop, in sun or partial shade, it
will thrive equally well in the garden. I have seen it growand
flower profusely along the north side of a building scarcely
ever reached by the sun. Thisseason I chanced to come upon
a fine plant of Rue Anemone while roaming over a rocky
hill. The flowers were well opened, but I took it home and
gave it a place in the garden, and for nearly two weeks it was
a source of great delight, being a mass of continual bloom
and very attractive.

The Bird-foot Violet, Viola pedata, thrives well in cultivation,
where it is inclined to grow much larger than in its native
habitat. It is usually found only upon dry and rocky eleva-
tions where there is little soil, This may, perhaps, account
for its small size. Ina rich garden soil, however, one would
scarcely recognize it, though still beautiful. Both leaves and
blossoms are much larger, the plant frequently growing to
twice or three times its ordinary height, and it is very pretty
when used as an edging or grown in masses.

Ferns may be transplanted successfully at any time during
the season, though probably best done in late autumn or early
spring. For shady situations very attractive borders may
be formed with such as the Ostrich, Cinnamon, Sensitive,
Christmas, Maiden-hair and Regal Ferns. Of these the Ostrich

Fern is the largest and most conspicuous. ;
New Haven, Conn. W. E. Britton.

A Factory Garden.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—There are not many instances in this country where
the waste land adjoining a factory has been transformed into a
park; usually the ground is most unattractive. An exception
to this is found in the little village of Bay State, adjoining
Northampton, where the proprietor of a large cutlery factory,
W. W. Lee, Esq., has for several years maintained a tract of
land some four or five acres in extent as a small public park.
It is of easy access. A carriage-drive encircles the whole place.
The open spaces are kept well mown, and large clumps of
Arundos and other ornamental Grasses are used with good
effect. But Mr. Lee’s chief hobby is Water-lilies, and these
he grows to the greatest perfection. One large circular pond
is used for the tender Nymphzas. This pond is heated by a
coil of steam pipes placed in the bottom of the pond, the
steam being supplied from the factory. I never saw a finer
specimen of the Victoria regia than the one he grew in this
pond last year. A bed of tall-growing Cannas and Castor-oil
Plants encircles this pond at a distance of ten feet, to form a
wind-break, while between the bed and the pond are planted
at intervals clumps of Bambusa Metake, Cyperus papyrus,
Gunnera scabra and Colocasia Antiquorum.

Two other ponds are filled with hardy Lilies and Nelum-
biums, one of which is situated at the bottom of a lovely dell,
where flowers and Ferns grow inthe greatest profusion and
luxuriance. Beyond a little judicious thinning out no other
attempt is made to improve this charming spot.

Mr. Lee has a unique device for keeping his Ferns and
flowers moist on the banks skirting the dell. An ordinary
water-pipe is laid along the top of the bank, which is perfo-
rated with holes ten inches apart, just allowing the water to
trickle down the bank. The coal-sheds and other outbuildings
are all screened off from view by a trellis some ten feet high,
covered with Clematis paniculata, and a glorious sight this
is when in flower, while the factory itself is covered with Am-
pelopsis Veitchi.

Two fine specimens of the Laurel-leaved Willow, planted
from cuttings ten years ago, are now about twenty-five feet in
height. This should be more extensively used, as it forms a
well-shaped tree and its leaves are of a deep shining green,
somewhat resembling a Portugal Laurel. Near the entrance
to the factory are circular beds of some good herbaceous
plants, each bed containing only one kind of plant. A bed of
Chrysanthemum uliginosum was just coming into bloom,
while another was gay with the scarlet flowers of Monarda
didyma. This place is greatly appreciated, not only by the
residents of the village, but by the citizens of Northampton,
and, no doubt, it exerts a wholesome influence on the neigh-

borhood.
Aone Edward F. Canning.

Botanic Garden, Northampton, Mass.

SEPTEMBER 30, 1896.]

Dipladenias.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—In the account of the Boston flower show in GARDEN
AND Forest for September 16th, the Dipladenias exhibited by
me were spoken of as stove climbers, but the fact is that the
two plants shown had been grown ina greenhouse for five
years, where the temperature was not kept above fifty degrees,
Fahrenheit, with fire-heat, while it often went down to forty
degrees at night. Over a dozen of these plants have been
grown out-of-doors in the garden here all summer, and I
have never seen foliage on any Dipladenias under glass
to compare with that of these plants to-day, September 2oth,
for size, substance or brilliancy of color. They are so glossy
that one would think the leaves had been oiled.

Whitinsville, Mass. George McWilliam.

The Forest.
The Burma Teak Forests.—IX.

EXPERIMENTS IN PLANTING TEAK.

HERE was, however, no doubt in my mind from the outset
that something more was wanted, and that it was not suffi-
cient to protectand aid the Teak which had sprung up naturally,
but that it would be necessary to increase the proportion of Teak
in the forests by sowing and planting. Tectona grandis be-
longs to the family of Verbenacez ; the ovary is four-celled,
with one ovule in each cell, generally one or two only of these
ovules develop into perfect seeds. The seeds are oily; they
are enclosed in a nut with thick, extremely hard walls, and
this nut is surrounded by a dense spongy mass consisting of
innumerable forked hairs, and this mass again is enclosed in
the enlarged and inflated bladder-like calyx. This remarkable
structure of the Teak-seed had long attracted the attention of
Burman foresters. The seed ripens early in the dry season,
before the season of the annual fires sets in. My Burman
friends declared that this was a wise adaptation of nature, that
the seed must be roasted in the jungle fires in order to burst
open its hard bony shell and to enable it to germinate. Others
declared that it was quite impossible to raise Teak in planta-
tions. Fortunately, however, Teak plantations had been
established elsewhere—in Tava, at Nilambur, in Malabar, on
the western coast of the peninsula, and in 1856 in Tenasserim
before the forests of that province were added to my charge.
The difficulties, therefore, which the foresters of Pegu had
raised I put aside as imaginary, and when in June, 1857, I
established my first experimental Teak plantation at Prome,
on the banks of the Iraauddi River, I did not use fire to make
the seeds germinate, but plenty of water, and in the exceed-
ingly high temperature of May, up to 1oo degrees, Fahrenheit,
in the shade, this answered the purpose. At the time of ger-
mination the expanding embryo bursts open the hard shell,
and a piece of the outer wall comes off bodily like a round
concave cap. Teak seed, however, has this peculiarity, in
common with the European Ash, Fraxinus excelsior, that the
seed does not germinate evenly. The seedlings continue
coming up successively for a considerable period, numerous
seedlings not appearing until the second or third year, and a
portion not germinating at all. This irregularity had possibly
given rise to the opinion that Teak could not be raised artifi-
cially. Teak, like Oak, has a long tap-root when young; the
root is soft, and seedlings are most sensitive to any injury to
their roots. The best plan, therefore, is to raise seedlings in
nurseries before the commencement of the rains, and early in
the rains to plant them out when they are four tosix weeks old.

PLANTATIONS MADE IN THE OPEN COUNTRY.

The Teak plantations succeeded well ; the difficulty was the
expense. The greatest outlay was the clearing of the dense
tropical forest ; another was to weed the ground after planting,
so as to prevent the small Teak-plants being smothered by the
luxuriant growth of weeds and coppice-shoots which, during
the rains in this forcing tropical climate, spring up in profu-
sion and smother the young Teak. Attempts were made to
establish plantations on a large scale in the open country out-
side the forests, a plan at first sight excellent, because the
open country is less feverish than the forests, labor conse-
quently procurable at all seasons and much less expensive ;
because thinnings will sell and the mature timber raised in
these plantations may be brought to market at less expense.
The results, however, of these operations in the open country
have not proved satisfactory. The growth of trees is the result
of numerous factors, some of which are not yet fully under_

Garden and Forest.

390

stood. The market value of a Teak-tree, to a great extent,
consists in the regular cylindrical shape of the log, which
ought to be without knots and other irregularities. Teak-trees
grown in gardens near Calcutta and in the open country of
Burma invariably have fluted and irregularly shaped stems,
and show a much greater tendency to crooked and irregular
growth than trees grown upin the heartof the forests. Hence,
plantations in the open country outside the forests have not
been extended largely. Their area is sufficient to ascertain by
actual experience whether by allowing the tree to grow up in
dense compact masses and by careful thinnings, removing all
spreading and otherwise badlyshaped trees, Teak can be made
to produce first-class timber in the comparatively dry airof the
open country.
KAREN HILL CLEARINGS,

Hence, the question to be solved was to arrange planting
work in the forests here, always to command the necessary
labor and to reduce expense. This question was solved by
raising Teak with the aid of field crops. The inhabitants of
these forests mostly belong to different tribes of the Karen
nation, mentioned in the first of these papers. In places they
have in the valleys of these hills permanent gardens of
Oranges, Mangoes and other fruit-trees, groves of the Betel
Palm, Areca Catechu, and plantations of the Betel Vine, Piper
Betle, all carefully watered by channels taken off trom the
mountain streams. The grain which they cultivate is Rice,
and this, together with Pumpkins and other vegetables, as well
as Cotton, they raise by a rude system of shifting cultivation.
These Karens live under a patriarchal government in small
villages, each village under a head man called Tookay. On
the area fixed upon by the Tookay for this year’s clearance the
forest is cut down early in the dry season, in January or Feb-
ruary. By that time the dew has ceased, every day the airgets
drier and the sun more fierce. The tangled mass of Bamboos
and branches gradually becomes dry like tinder ; toward the
end of the hot season, in April, itis fired, and the results are
heaps of white ashes among the black-charred trunks and
stumps of the larger trees which the fire has not consumed.
Atter the first showers in May the paddy is sown in shallow
holes made with a narrow spade. The heat is great, the rain
copious and the Rice germinates rapidly. But weeds and the
coppice-shoots of stumps not killed by the fire also profit by
heat and moisture; they grow up with alarming luxuriance,
and threaten to kill the young crop of Rice. Hence, all the
women and children of the village in long rows are hard at
work weeding the toungya, or hill-field, for thus it is called in
Burma. Thus the bright emerald-green Rice-fields on the
slopes of these hills, cleaned and kept clean by dint of enor-
mous labor continued throughout the season, torm a pleasing
contrast to the varied, but darker, foliage of the surrounding
forest. In October, and sometimes in September, breaks
occur in the rains, the ears are formed, and the crop is har-
vested in December.

TOUNGYA TEAK PLANTATIONS.

As soon as I had seen the first Karen toungya in 1856, I
determined to devise some method by which this mode of
shifting cultivation might be utilized for planting Teak on a
large scale in those regions where this species attains its most
perfect development. A Burman forester, Moung Tsaudoon,
who was in charge of the Raboung forest district, to whom I
had explained my wishes, was the first to carry out the plan. On
a subsequent visit, in 1868, I had the satisfaction to examine
six small plantations made by him on toungyas in successive
years, the oldest in 1856. On thissmall plantation, then twelve
years old, the trees were from fifty-five to sixty feet high.
Upon a really large scale toungya Teak plantations, however,
were not established until many vears later. It was Major
(now Major General) Seaton, an officer in one of the Madras
regiments, at that time stationed at Rangoon, whom I had,
together. with other military officers, engaged for service in
the forests. In 1868, when he had gradually risen to be Con-
servator of Forests, and had succeeded in gaining the confi-
dence of the Karens in several forest districts, he induced
them to plant Teak with paddy on their hill clearings, certain
rates being paid for each acre with a stipulated number of
plants a year old. In 1880 an aggregate area of 2,515 acres
had thus been planted up at a total cost of 24,932 rupees, or
less than ten rupees an acre. Under these arrangements the
clearing of the forest and the weeding of the plantation during
the first year was accomplished at exceedingly moderate rates.
The principle of planting Teak on the same area with field
crops was adoptedin the case of plantations made by means
of hired labor, called regular plantations, in order to reduce

the cost of these undertakings ; nevertheless, the expense per

400

acre was always six to eight times that of toungya Teak plan-

tations made by the Karens in the forests. see ,
Bonn, Germany. f Dietrich Brandts.

Notes.

The green fruits of Nasturtiums (Tropeolum), valued for
pickling, now cost fifty cents a quart in our markets.

One of the most interesting exhibits at the Florists’ Conven-
tion in Cleveland was a collection of hardy Phloxes shown by
The Storrs Harrison Company, of Painesville, Ohio. During
the past three or four years the improvement in these plants
has been as great as in any other class of perennials, and now
in variety, in the length of time through which they bloom, and in
their varied and delicate beauty theyleave very little to be desired.

The name of the donor of the new range of greenhouses
recently completed for the Department of Botany of Smith
College has up to the present not been announced. Last week,
however, a bronze tablet placed at the entrance of the Palm-
house bears this inscription: ‘The Lyman Plant House. A
Memorial Tribute to Anne Jean Lyman, by her Son, Edward
Hutchinson Robbins Lyman.” It is a noble gift appropriately
dedicated to a useful service.

A correspondent of Zhe Rural New Yorker writes that the
ordinary annual garden Coreopsis, or, as seedsmen call it,
Calliopsis, makes an admirable window plant. In the early
autumn seedlings come up abundantly where these plants are
grown, and some thrifty ones are taken up, potted and kept in
the ordinary way and brought in before frost. Under good con-
ditions these plants will begin to flower in a sunny window
about the middle of January and continue for many weeks.

At the first annual exhibition of the American Dahlia Society
in Philadelphia last week there were more than five hundred
vases on exhibition, many of them containing twenty-five
blooms of the kind. Mr. W. P. Peacock, of Atco, New Jersey,
the well-known specialist, received twelve first prizes; Mr.
W. H. Maule received first prize for the best novelty, a pink
flower called La France; and other large collections were
shown by Mr. A. Blanc, W. Atlee Burpee and H. G. Faust and
Cornell University, which sent a collection of 225 varieties.

In some notes on growing Radishes under glass in American
Gardening, Professor B, T. Galloway states that in order to
have all the roots attain marketable size at the same time it is
essential to use only the larger seed. For this purpose the
ordinary commercial seed is screened through a sieve made
of a sheet of brass perforated with holes 8-1ooths of an
inch in diameter and placed about one-sixteenth of an inch
apart. Less than two-thirds of the seed will remain in the
sieve, but ninety percent. of these will germinate and the entire
crop will attain edible size at about the same time.

In connection with the horticultural display of the exhibition
of the American Institute, which opened on Monday in Madi-
son Square Garden, the Dahlia Society will hold a conference
on October 6th, when Rev. C. W. Bolton and Lawrence K.
Peacock, secretary of the society, will make addresses ; on
October gth successful cultivators will give their experience in
the growing of fruits; vacantlot farming will be discussed
by Mr. Kelgaard on the 13th, and there will be exhibits by
the growers; on the 16th the subject of addresses will
be the relation of woman to floriculture. These meetings will
allbe held in the reception room which adjoins Concert Hall,
where the floral exhibition will be located.

The first chestnuts to reach this city in any considerable
quantity came from the Alleghany Mountains, near Oak-
land, Maryland, a week ago, and sold at wholesale for
$10.00 a bushel. Larger and better-colored chestnuts have
since been received from the Wallkill Valley in this state, the
first lots commanding $9.50, and later shipments $8.00 a
bushel. The crop in West Virginia and Tennessee is ‘said to
be very heavy, and, indeed, Chestnut-trees are generally
loaded with nuts, so that these high prices will not be main-
tained. The first hickory-nuts are now on their way to the
wholesale merchants, and low prices are anticipated from the
start on account of reports of a large supply. Insomesections,
however, as in northern New Jersey, for example, we have
observed that the Hickories are bearing very few nuts.

As the days become cooler many plants in the herbaceous
border which flower in early spring have the good habit of
blooming through another period. Among the most note-
worthy of these are the Globe-flowers, or Trollius, both T.
Asiaticus and T. Europeus, which are now showing their beau-
tiful orange and yellow flowers almost as profusely as they

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 449.

did in early spring. The sweet-scented and delicate Daphne
Cneorum, a prostrate little shrub which does not like the hot
weather of our summers, blooms a second time as soon as the
nights become cool and the days short. Some of the Iceland
and Alpine Poppies do the same thing, and they are beautiful
at whatever season they are seen. These plants, like the
hardy autumn flowers, will not turn black at the first frost, but
will keep on blooming long after the Coleus, Alternanthera
and other so-called bedding plants are entirely killed.

An unusual offering on last Saturday, for this time of year,
was strawberries, said to be second-crop fruit, from southern
New Jersey. These sold for $1.25 a quart. Huckleberries
have been in continuous supply since the middle of May,
when the first came from North Carolina; those now coming
from the mountains of New York cost fifteen cents a quart.
Large perfectly grown quinces may be had for $1.00 a half-
bushel. Oranges, from Jamaica, are of fair quality for early
fruit, and their tartness is quite acceptable atter the rather
insipid Mediterranean summer oranges. The main depen-
dence for this fruit will be upon Jamaica during the next two
months, since but little of the limited Florida crop will leave
that state, and the early shipments from California are not due
here before the middle of December. European hot-house
grapes are now coming to this country from large commercial
graperies near Liverpool, and are arriving in exceptionally
good order.

A case at law of importance to buyers and sellers of Orchids
was decided in August in a court of the city of London. The
plaintiff bought at the auction sale of a well-known collector
several choice and valuable species and varieties, some of
which proved untrue to name and of little value, and not feel-
ing disposed to stand by such a bargain, he made application
that the high prices paid should be refunded. As the request
was refused the plaintiff brought action to recover his rights.
Two well-known experts testified that they had seen the plants
in flower, and they were not true, and another bore witness
that no variety of Orchid would alter its character by changing
into another variety, and on this testimony the plaintiff re-
ceived a verdict with costs. The Orchids in question were
the white form of Cattleya Skinneri, which proved to be only
the ordinary colored form ; Odontoglossum x elegans, which
turned out a pure form of O, Hallii, and Dendrobium x splen-
didissimum grandiflorum, said to be D. x Leechianum.,

A correspondent of The Country Gentleman, after stating the
well-known fact that farm products nowsell for little more than
the labor they cost, and that, therefore, the farmer cannot
afford to pay another profit on anything that can be produced
at home, inquires why so much that is bought at the village
store is found on the farmer’s table and so little of what he
might raise on his own acres. Why, for example, should not
ripe strawberries always be had in abundance in their season
when they can be grown as cheaply as potatoes, bushel for
bushel; and why should not raspberries be found with black-
berries, grapes and all the choicer vegetables which are whole-
some, and certainly cheaper than the canned goods which he
buyssofreely ? The true reply is not that farmers are indolent
and not that they lack the space, but that they do not know
how to grow fruit and fine vegetables. If they would look
upon the garden less in the light of a luxury, and esteem it as
the most profitable portion of their farm, and then give as
much thought and attention to it as they do to what seems
larger affairs, there might be less complaints of hard timesand
ill health.

The demand for American hardwoods in Europe is grow-
ing, and oak leads the foreign shipments, although tulip pop-
lar, ash, gum and black walnut, whenever a good quality can
be secured, are in some demand. European consumers like
the quality of American oak, and since it is known to be plenti-
ful here it will probably be in increasing demand. Cottonwood
has been shipped to Germany in considerable quantities, where
cheap wood is required for furniture and other uses. Much
of this lumber is forwarded from New Orleans, and since a
great part of the oak, ash, poplar, cottonwood and other tim-
bers demanded by the foreign market isin the southern states,
it is not improbable that lumber for foreign markets will be
largely shipped in future from the Gulf ports. In speaking of
this matter Zze Northwestern Lumberman says that the Euro-
pean market requires lumber cut of exact thickness, and of
accurate length, trimmed so as to have the butts square and
true. Space for piling in the yards of the Old World is
an object, so that random, uneven lengths are objectionable,
and since the foreign buyer insists that he shall have just what
he bargains for, quality should be strictly attended to.

OcToBER 7, 1896.]

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, OCTOBER 7, 1896.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

EorrortaL ArTICLE :—The Conservation of Moisture in the Soil........--.0+.+5+ 401
Roadsides in Autumn..... sees D. H. R. Goodale. 402
Product of White Pine per Acr Edimund Hersey. 402

ForkIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter... W. Watson. 403

New or Litt.e-KNown Prants :—Diervilla Jz th figure.)....CG SS. 404

CuttuRaAL DerarRTMENT:—Asiatic Cantalou Robert P. Harris 404
Grapes under Glass........ . William Scott. 406
Carnations, New and Old.. T. D. Hatfield.
Violet Culture in Pots......
Some Autumn FlowWersiis sien case caictacssetavcasees

CorresPponDENcE :—Additional Notes on Compass Plants
The New Ozark Iris.....-...2000- S Cesnoo ae oboe
Yarrow as a Lawn Plant. i
Utilizing Choke Cherries........... pietaletstergiel=iaie's sicicl <ietoimes sie ¥. E. Learned. 408

Tue Foresr :—The Burma Teak Forests.—X. .. Sir Dietrich Brandis. 408

IRRCENT PUBLICATIONS ese elcic-nic ce osicoseciisvecsicisisccisissseesscnesasseecceuc SHEE

NOTES stenemetnccisisiciiss acta ccisteneiinetere fins ries

ILLusTRATION :—Diervilla Japonica, Fig. 53

- John F. Cowell. 408

The Conservation of Moisture in the Soil.

NE of the best-known facts in vegetable physiology is
that living plants are made up largely of water, and
that cultivated crops need an enormous amount of it for
their development. Succulent fruits and vegetables, like
Melons, Lettuce and Asparagus, when analyzed show as
much as ninety-five per cent. of water. Root crops,
like Beets and Carrots, may contain as much as ninety
per cent. Grass and grain contain more than eighty
per cent, and when at the blossoming stage as much
as seventy per cent, and even the mature leaves of
trees, and often the entire trees, are considerably more
than half water. Of course, the cells and cell-walls of
living plants must be kept in this moist, half-liquid con-
dition to carry on their life processes, and since the water
which is continually transpired through the leaves must
be steadily replaced by fresh supplies drawn up through
the roots, a plant in the course of its growth must take up
many times its weight of water from the soil. Experiments
in Prussia have demonstrated that for every ton of dry
matter in an average crop of barley the plants exhale during
their growth 310 tons of water; at the Cornell Experiment
Station one ton of dry matter in a crop of oats represented
an expenditure of 522 tons of water, and about the same
proportion was needed in Wisconsin, according to observa-
tions in the experiment station of that state. In all these
cases it is probable that better crops would have required
more water, and since many different investigations have
shown that the rain which falls upon a crop during its
growth is not sufficient to support it, one can readily realize
the importance of securing as much as possible of what
falls during the entire year and of preserving it for use
when the plants need it. When it is remembered, too,
that all the ash ingredients—that is, the matter left after
combustion—as well as other important elements, are taken
up in a highly diluted form by the roots, which means that
the fertility of the soil depends largely upon moisture, the
furnishing of crops with the proper amount of water at the
proper time may be considered as the fundamental problem
of agriculture and horticulture.
Where irrigation is not habitually practiced, as is the
case in most regions which are not classed as arid, it would

Garden and Forest.

401

seem that the first essential of successful tillage would be
to prepare the soil to receive and hold as much water as
possible. This means in many cases deep plowing, in all
cases thorough pulverization of the soil and not a mere
turning over of the surface. In his book on The Soil, Pro-
fessor King says: ‘‘Since each independent grain of a
moist soil is more or less completely surrounded by a film
of water it is evident that the largest aggregate surface area
may retain the most water per cubic foot. Now, a cubic
foot of marbles one inch in diameter possesses an aggre-
gate surface of 37.7 square feet, while if the marbles were
reduced in diameter to one-thousandth of an inch, the total
area per cubic foot is increased to 37.700 square feet,”
which means that a lumpy soil with large particles will
absorb much less water than if it were made fine, and it
means also that its power of retaining the moisture is
reduced as well as its power of absorbing it. The break-
ing up of the soil and subsoil in autumn is therefore indi-
cated as a means of checking the loss of water during the
winter and spring by the drainage over the surface of rains
and melted snows. When the soil is in good mechanical
condition, if a crop is kept growing on it in the winter, the
plants help to bindit and save the soluble plant-food which
can be turned under in the spring. This also increases the
humus in the soil, which adds to its capacity for holding
water, besides supplying a storehouse for nitrogen.

But after all possible water is collected the problem of
preserving it still remains. A soil which is in the best con-
dition to hold the water which falls from the clouds is also
in condition to draw up by capillary movement the stores
of water from the deep permanent supplies of ground-water.
Professor Johnson has illustrated the need of a soil made
mellow and porous by tillage by comparing it with the
strands of a wick in alamp which neither fit too tightly nor
too loosely in the socket ; in other words, there is a certain
degree of porosity which lifts the most water from below to
supply what is exhaled by plants or evaporated from the
surface. Some kind of mulching is essential to check this
evaporation, and,as we have often explained (see, for exam-
ple, vol. vi., pages 281, 411), shallow tillage acts as a mulch
and is the most practicable way of providing it. Some
interesting experiments which have been made by Profes-
sor Card in the University of Nebraska show that a mulch
of coarse manure is better than surface tillage, but this is
too expensive to use on a large scale. His experiments
also showed that lightly stirred soil provided a mulch
which was nearly as effective. The accepted theory is,
that the water which is drawn by capillary attraction
through a compact, though porous, soil to the surface
evaporates there and passes away, while if this surface is
broken and thoroughly worked to a depth of a couple of
inches, the continuous pores are interrupted and the loosened
earth, spread like a blanket over the compacted soil below,
checks the rise of moisture and its dissipation in vapor.
The result is that the water which would otherwise be
wasted is put to use. Since its escape from the surface is
prevented, it is forced to pass through the plant and do
its work before it is transpired from the leaves. This is
not an unsupported theory, and we have, time and again,
quoted the experience of farmers, horticulturists and fruit
growers (see, for example, vol. vii., page 56) to show that
fruit and garden crops keep on growing through a drought
under shallow tillage when uncultivated crops are at a
standstill.

Now, there is nothing new in all this, and yet every year
thousands of dollars are lost by neglecting these plain
teachings. Of course, besides the considerations we have
mentioned, there are others to be taken into account, such
as underdraining, tree belts to check the sweep of drying
winds, etc., but tillage is the prime factor, and we endorse
thoroughly the conclusion of a bulletin lately issued by the
Cornell Experiment Station, in which Mr. L. A. Clinton,
the Assistant Agriculturist, says: ‘The importance of
thorough tillage to conserve moisture cannot be made too
emphatic. Deficiency in rainfall, with intensified agricul-

402

ture, is preferable to abundant rains and neglect by the
cultivator. The soil will respond in a large measure ac-
cording to the treatment it receives. Neglect it, and it
will fail to bring forth liberal increase, but cultivate intelli-
gently and thoroughly, and it responds quickly.” The
bulletin to which we allude is entitled “The Moisture of
the Soil and its Conservation,” and the whole subject is
treated in a concise, but satisfactory, way. It is stated,
to begin with, that the average rainfall during the year in
New York is sufficient for the growth of crops, but, owing
to its unequal distribution through the year, nearly one-
half of it is lost by surface drainage, and crops usually
suffer from drought. How to use the plow and the har-
row, the cultivator and the roller so as to prepare the soil
to receive and enable it to retain the moisture needed for
the feeding and upbuilding of crops is made clear, and
farmers are instructed how to sample the soil and deter-
mine the amount of moisture at different depths, and in
this way to ascertain for themselves, by comparison
between cultivated and uncultivated land, how much
they can add to the producing power of their farms.
We can think of no more interesting and instructive tests
than these, not only for the individual farmer, but for
granges and horticultural societies. Hardly a year passes in
which some crop, early or late, is not diminished by drought
to one-half, one-quarter, or a still smaller fraction of what
it should have been. No matter how rich the soil, how
pure the seed, or how careful the initial preparations have
been made, a deficiency of moisture means failure and loss.
How the farmer and gardener can have a reasonable assur-
ance against a great deal of this loss has rarely been set
forth more succinctly and clearly than in this bulletin, No.
120, and we commend it to the study of every progressive
cultivator.

Roadsides in Autumn.

HE singular beauty of the wild growth that takes

possession of undisturbed waysides makes one of
the great pleasures of driving in the hill towns and more
out-of-the-way portions of this and every country region.
These roadsides are in many cases steep banks of consid-
erable height ; in others they are rough, rocky or wet; but
Nature, by her inexhaustible magic, drapes and garnishes
them with a lavish and ever-changeful grace and splendor.
When the road-makers, in a spasm ofzeal for “ cleaning up,”
cut and slash along the highway, reducing this tangle of
loveliness to heaps of slowly withering “brush” and a
scarred and stony bed, it is enough to bring tears to the eyes
of the discerning. In the spring or early summer this is not
an infrequent catastrophe along the course of some favorite
drives. But in the autumn, even those borders where
devastation was wrought in spring have become beauti-
ful again. Already they are softly clad in a wide mantle
rich with Golden-rod, Asters and innumerable clumps of
green or blanching Ferns.

But it is the fortunate by-roads that remained unmo-
lested which now ripen their free harvests of intense color.
Festooned from tree to tree, or hanging in massive luxuri-
ance upon natural arbors of woody thickets, the wild Grape
has ripened its abundant clusters; here they hang, dark in
the shade and lucent in the sun, red and purple-black and
greenish, opaline white. The Stag-horn Sumach, always
picturesque and vigorous in form and expression, is now
at its culmination of color, a splendid object. Not its
crimson velvet horns alone, but the whole shrub brightens
the wayside copse like a blaze, forthere is no early autumn
color in the whole breadth of the woodlands more vivid
than these flame-like leaflets, in which the color has all the
subtle play of that which lights the hearth in the autumnal
twilight. If we are tempted by the greed of possession,
it is easy to gather an armful of the long, decorative
compound leaves, in which every one is a study and each
unlike all the rest. But they soon curl and lose their
beauty in the house ; they belong to the brilliant, bracing

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 450.

air of the wayside. Other spoils there are, less perishable,
which lend to indoor walls a certain sumptuous, yet sober,
adornment, worthy of the season. Such is the Bitter-sweet,
its bright scarlet fruits now beginning to gleam within the
parted orange calyx. The woody vine in its complicated
involutions often becomes a marvel of web-like, yet solid,
structure, and makes a noble piece of decoration, mounted
with all its clusters in its native order. The feathery seed-
puffs of the white Clematis combine with it harmoniously,
and these two are among the best home adornments to be
ravished from the wayside copses. Another bright berry
that makes gay the moist places just now is the Black
Alder, or Winterberry, our best northern substitute for the
Holly. Its bright red berries are quite permanent when
dried in the house, and sure to justify one of its local
names—the Christmas-berry. The common Barberry, too,
is now a jeweled bush in favored localities in the Connec-
ticut valley, where it is as much at home as any native
shrub. Its thickly hung, drooping racemes of bright fruit
hold tenaciously to the stem, and make a charming orna-
ment, even when somewhat wrinkled and spent.

Nor is it the grand masses alone, or even chiefly, with
which Nature feels our joy in her, but the ever-changing
mystery and surprise of her wonderful and exquisite variety.
All the splendor of autumn rests upon some modest bit of
perfection that meets the eye with an unexpected charm ;
it may be only

The creamy elder mellowed into wine,
The russet hip that was the pink-white rose.

Even the lowly carpet of her most secluded haunts is
enameled with the Partridge-berry and the fruit of the Win-
tergreen, the richest scarlet against the deepest green.
Everywhere a splendor set in harmony with that inimitable
grace and fitness which is at once the highest teaching and
the despair of our puny gardening. No artist-planned
and labor-cultured plantations and shrubberies can rival
the splendid simplicity of Nature on her own domain.
Along the by-roads the quaint, ruffled husks of the hazel-
nuts are now parted to show the ripe, brown nut within.
The bushes abound along these Hampshire County hill-
sides, and the harvest they bear is heavy enough to be
hardly less precious to the squirrel than are the chestnuts,
which now begin to drop from their burrs. The Hazel
takes on a rich, tawny olive at this season, one of those
fine ground colors upon which the thousand brighter dyes
are so effectively displayed. A few weeks more and the
bright golden flowers of that distant cousin, the Witch-hazel,
will be left toshine alone, almost the sole witness to Nature’s
splendor, amid the brown and leafless thickets.
D. H. R. Goodale.

Amherst, Mass.

Product of White Pine per Acre.

1 criticising certain statements of mine, Mr. B. E. Fernow
says (see GARDEN AND FOREST, page 202 of the cur-
rent volume): ‘One of the elements that needs to be known
in order to discuss the profitableness of forestry is the amount
of useful wood which can be produced per acre. On this
point the most erroneous and extravagant notions exist, and
many calculations are made on paper which can never be
realized. The rate of growth of a tree at a given age is sup-
posed to continue indefinitely, and this rate is applied to an
acre of trees, . . . and thus we can compute astonishing yields
for the future.” F
To this statement I fully agree, and, as a practical manufac-
turer of lumber, I have little patience with persons without
any practical knowledge of manufacturing lumber, who
measure a few trees, or employ agents to do so, figure out on
paper the results of their measurements, and then rush into
print with their figures to controvert the statements of men
who have cut many measured acres of trees, who have had
the logs measured, sawed into boards, the boards surveyed, and
then make an accurate report of their experience.

For many years I was engaged in buying large quantities of
Pine-trees, and, as was the custom at that time, I bought them
on the stump, in many cases by the acre. It was my prac-
tice to hire the logs drawn to the mill by the cord of 128 cubic

OCTOBER 7, 1896.]

feet; each load was measured by a surveyor ; thus I was able
to get at positive results not confined to a single measure-
ment, but of numerous measurements.

It may be of some interest to Mr. Fernow to know that 128
cubic teet of logs, measuring from seven to fifteen inches in
diameter (a fair proportion of each as they usually average),
will make 1,000 feet of five-eighth-inch box-boards (surface
measurement), and that I have frequently got 60,000 feet from
an acre of land, the trees being not over thirty-five years old.

Mr. Charles H. Dwelley, of Hanover, Massachusetts, who
for many years was engaged in buying Pine-trees by the acre,
and having the logs and boards surveyed in the same way as
was my custom, writes me, in acknowledging the reception of
my paper, that I have understated the growth per acre, but he
agrees with me on the amount required to make 1,000 feet of
box-boards, for he stated that it would take 128 cubic feet of
logs seven to fifteen inches in diameter to make 1,000 of box-
boards. Mr. Dwelley also stated that he cut from two measured
acres enough logs of fifty years’ growth to make 200,000 feet of
box-boards.

The measurements of trees which I made recently were to
satisfy myself as to the number of trees that could be grown
on an acre, if there were no open spaces, and learn their diam-
eter at two feet from the ground when thirty-five years old;
it was not for the purpose of ascertaining what naturally
grows on an acre.

Itis fair to presume that Mr. Fernow has had large experi-
ence in cutting and sawing lumber. His work may have been
in that portion of this or some othercountry where lumber on
the stump was of but little value, and where sawmills were
constructed for speed rather than for economy, as they are in
Plymouth County, Massachusetts. A very large circular saw,
with teeth set by one who has no thought of economy, would,
no doubt, waste in sawdust enough to bring the quantity of
lumber, per cubic foot, down to Mr. Fernow’s statement. It
should be remembered that my statements were confined to
Massachusetts, and particularly to Plymouth County, where I
find Pine timber grows very rapidly.

Having had a sawmill in Franklin County, Massachusetts,
and having sawed Pine-trees into lumber from many acres
there, I found that the growth was very much less per acre,
and not nearly as rapid, judging from the growth of the sec-
tions between the links. While Pines in Plymouth County fre-
quently grow three feet in a year, those I cut in Franklin
County rarely showed a growth of more than eighteen inches.
As I worked only two seasons in Franklin County I do not feel
that I know enough about the average quantity of lumber per
acre, or the age for cutting it, to make any positive state-
ments ; but my impression is that sixty years would not secure
alarger growth there than might be obtained in thirty-five
years in Plymouth County.

It must be evident to every observing person who has
traveled much, that the growth of the White Pine varies in
different sections of our country so much thathe who attempts
to get an accurate average of the whole country will find that
he has undertaken an impossible task. By cutting the trees
on a measured acre, sawing them into boards and measuring
the boards, we know the exact product of the acre, but we can
get no positive knowledge of what an acre of standing trees
will produce by any measurements we may make.

Edmund Hersey.

Hingham, Mass.

Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.

GiapioLus Nanceranus.—This comparatively new race is
attracting considerable attention among English cultivators,
several of whom have taken up their cultivation and im-
provement with excellent results. Messrs. Veitch lately
exhibited and obtained certificates for a batch of new
varieties which were remarkable for the large size and
extraordinary coloration of the flowers. I believe this and
Gladiolus Childsii are practically the same; at any rate,
they had, according to Herr Max Leichtlin, the raiser of
both, the same origin, namely, a cross between G. Saun-
dersii and some of the varieties of G. Lemoinei. The
flowers of some of the most recent seedlings are six inches
across, and in color some of them verge on blue or violet.
I have not heard much of G, Childsii lately, but I know
that a year or two ago an American wholesale bulb grower
took this race in hand and intended to grow large quanti-

Garden and Forest.

403

ties of the best varieties. English horticulturists are plant-
ing them largely, thanks chiefly to Monsieur Lemoine, of
Nancy, who holds a large stock of the best varieties.

CyRTANTHUS HyBRIDUS.—This beautiful greenhouse plant
was raised in the garden of Sir Trevor Lawrence in 1885
from Cyrtanthus sanguineus (Gastronema) and Vallota pur-
purea. It is not yet sufficiently plentiful to be well known,
but it is a plant which is certain to find general favor, as,
while possessing quite as much beauty as either of its
parents, it is easy to cultivate. A single bulb planted
three years ago in a shallow border close to the glass in a
sunny greenhouse has yielded a dozen or so good flower-
ing bulbs, which, grown in four-inch pots in a light frame,
have flowered freely. The flowers are intermediate in shape
between those of the Vallota and the Cyrtanthus, while in
color they are pale scarlet. The Vallota is also flowering
now. When properly grown this is a superb greenhouse
plant, but it often disappoints cultivators by failing to
flower. A thorough baking on a shelf in a sunny green-
house during June, July and August is essential to its
blooming. The white variety, of which we heard so much
a year or two ago, turns out to be a pale, washy, red-
flowered form, far less attractive than the type.

ACIDANTHERA BICOLOR.—A first-class certificate was awarded
to this plant last week by the Royal Horticultural Society,
presumably because of its rarity, although it has been
grown in the Cape house at Kew for the last six years and
in gardens about New York (Garpen anp Forest, vol. i.,
p. 84) even longer. For the past month a bed of it in the
open air at Kew has been gay with flowers, proving that
under the same treatment as Gladioli it is a success.
Grown in the mass it is really effective when in flower.
In a bed close by is a batch of the newer Acidanthera
cequinoctialis, introduced to Kew from Sierra Leone three
years ago, and flowered in a greenhouse in December.
Out-of-doors it is not a success, the growths being only
half-finished by the middle of September, even in such a
favorable summer as the past has been. It may be called
a large edition of A. bicolor, the leaves being two feet long
and two inches wide, the spike three and a half feet long
and the flowers half as large again as those of A. bicolor ;
in color there is no appreciable difference between them.
[Acidanthera bicolor thrives here also when grown out-of-
doors in the same way as the ordinary garden forms of
Gladiolus. Mr. Gerard lately brought to this office some
of these flowers which were grown in this way. In grace
of habit, purity of color and delightful fragrance they have
few superiors.—Ep.

Brunsvicias.—Only two of the ten species of this genus
are known in cultivation, and these are both in flower now
in the Cape house at Kew. They are Brunsvigia Josephine,
which has a bulb six inches in diameter, leafless at the
time of flowering, a scape eighteen inches long and a
spreading candelabra-like umbel of flowers two feet through,
the flowers three inches long, with reflexed, unequal seg-
ments colored bright brick-red. The second is B. gigantea,
which has a scape a foot long, reddish flower-stalks as long
as those of B. Josephine, the flowers smaller, paler in color
and not so numerous. These plants grow in arid plains in
south Africa, their bulbs buried often a foot below the sur-
face, so that the umbels of flowers appear to rest upon the
ground. Under cultivation, however, they require to be
potted, so that the bulb is exposed to the ripening influence
of sunlight and air, otherwise they will not flower. They
should be kept in a sunny greenhouse or frame till the
leaves fade, usually in May, and then exposure to sunlight
and drought is essential till the flower-spike shows, which
should occur in August.

HyMENOCALLIS MACROSTEPHANA.—Plants of this noble trop-
ical bulb have been flowering freely this autumn in the
Palm-house at Kew, where they thrive planted out in a
border in a sunny position. Itis as fine a plant in every
way as its supposed parent, Hymenocallis speciosa, being
quite as easily accommodated, growing rapidly and form-
ing large tufts of strap-shaped leaves three feet long, and

404

producing annually sturdy scapes bearing large umbels of
white flowers. These have a tube three inches long, ele-
gantly curved segments of the same length, and: a>funnel-
shaped cup two inches wide and long. They remain fresh
several weeks and emita powerful and delicious odor, The
origin of this plant is obscure. It was first described in
1879 by Mr. Baker from plants grown in the Duke of
Northumberland’s garden at Syon House, where it is still
grown in quantity for the supply of cut flowers. Mr. Baker
surmises that it is the hybrid between H. speciosa and H.
(Ismene) calathina, known to Dean Herbert early in the
century.

Crinum Moorer and AGapanrHus UMBELLATUS are two of
the most useful plants for the conservatory that we owe to
the Cape. They are alike in their good-natured behavior
under ordinary cultivation, forming large masses if grown
on, and filling in a few years the largest pots or tubs. They
do not object to being cramped at the root if supplied with
manure-water when in growth, and they may be grown in
cold latitudes in gardens where there is no glass accommo-
dation, if placed in the open air during the summer and
wintered in a dry shed. For placing in conspicuous posi-
tions on terraces or lawns or in corners where flowers are
wanted to combine with architecture or statuary for sum-
mer effect they are of the greatest value. The Agapanthus
is frequently grown for such purposes, but the Crinum is
scarcely known in this character. Of course, large speci-
mens are needed, but once obtained they are not easily lost.
This year they have been exceptionally good with us, but
I have been surprised by the number of inquiries as to the
name and history of the Crinum.

WaATSONIA IRIDIFOLIA ARDERNEI.—Messss. R. Wallace &
Co., Colchester, have exhibited this plant at several flower
shows lately, and it has won general admiration on account
of its tall stems and large, numerous pure white flowers.
Apparently it is identical with the white Watsonia intro-
duced in 1889 by Mr. J. O'Brien and described by Mr.
N. E. Brown as W. iridifolia O’Brieni. This plant has been
grown annually out-of-doors at Kew since that time, where,
in a bed ina sunny position, and when treated like Gladioh,
it develops branched spikes three or four feet high bear-
ing numerous flowers with a tube two inches long and a
spreading regular limb of oblong segments nearly an inch
long. The plant, however, appears to have failed to attract
the attention of horticulturists until now. Messrs. Wallace
offer the bulbs of it at thirty-six shillings a dozen and
describe and prescribe for it as follows :

This grand new bulbous plant, which in habit much resem-
bles a Gladiolus, throws up strong branching flower-stems
three to four feet high, carrying from fifty to one hundred
flowers, which are of the purest white and of fine size and
shape, much resembling a gigantic white Freesia, It is a
lovely plant, and one we have every confidence in recom-
mending. It is best started ina greenhouse in April and then
planted out in June, though in warm districts it may be planted
outside, or may be treated as a greenhouse plant entirely.
After flowering, the bulbs should be lifted, thoroughly rested
and dried offand kept free from frost.

W. Watson.

London.

New or Little-known Plants.
Diervilla Japonica.

URING a journey which I made in northern and cen-
tral Japan in the summer and autumn of 1892 I tried
to obtain some information of the wild types of Diervilla
from which the numerous garden forms are derived, gath-
ering specimens and seeds of the wild plants I encountered
from the Hakone Mountains, on the south, to Sapparo, in
the island of Yezo, at the north. Plants raised from these
seeds have flowered this summer in the Arnold Arboretum,
and the illustration of the flowering branch, on page 405 of
this issue, is made from one of these plants. The fruiting
branch is from a wild plant.
In central and northern Japan, Diervilla is a common
shrub on the borders of mountain woods and by the banks

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 450.

of mountain streams, where it frequently grows fifteen feet
high and from ten to twenty feet through, with numerous
stout branches. It has ovate, acute or acuminate leaves,
which are nearly glabrous, with the exception of a few
hairs on the lower surface of the midribs and veins, or on
some individuals these are clothed more or less thickly
with soft pale pubescence. The flowers are borne in few
or many-flowered clusters, which are long-stalked, or nearly
sessile, the two forms appearing on the same plant, and
they are rose-color, pale yellow, dark red or nearly white
on the same branch or on different branches of the
same plant, and flowers, which are pale when they open,
often become rose-color in fading. I am satisfied that I
only saw one species in Japan, and, in spite of the judg-
ment of Maximowicz (Af. Biol., xii., 484), who had much
better opportunities for studying these plants in Japan than
I had, Iam inclined to agree with Franchet (Franchet &
Savatier, Lnum. Pl. Jap.,i., 205) that Diervilla Japonica,
Diervilla grandiflora and Diervilla floribunda must be re-
duced to a single species which is widely scattered through
all the mountain districts of Japan, and varies in size, in
the amount of the pubescence on the lower surface of the
leaves, in the number of flowers and in the length of the
peduncles of the flower-clusters. Diervilla Japonica of
Thunberg appears to be the name for this species.
GaSe:
“0
Cultural Department.

Asiatic Cantaloupes.

E havea large extent of country where this fruit can be

cultivated, and some of ouréils and climates are better
adapted to their growth than others. This year has been
almost a fatal one in much of New Jersey by reason of the
drought and insects. Delaware has done better, and Maryland
has furnished a fair crop. Degeneration of a variety takes
place in some localities much sooner than in others, and allim-
ported seeds become smaller and of 4 light yellow. Some
oriental seeds are dark-colored and quite large, particularly of
the large varieties; but they at once become yellow and
smaller, and in a few years are of the size obtained from our
smaller melons, so that they cannot be toldapart. All Turkish
and Russian cantaloupe-seeds are large; some are gray,
others are very dark yellow, and others, again, bright yellow.
Turkish seeds degenerate in size in Turkey, but not as they do
here even in a single season. Our seeds are nearly all light
yellow. I have once seen a bright yellow seed, and once a
brown seed, but the latter when planted here became light
yellow. It came from Louisiana, and produced an Acme.

Oriental cantaloupes are generally green-fleshed, well netted,
and grow readily here, except those of Russia, from Odessa,
where they are said to be abundant, cheap and fine. Japanese
Melons are a failure here, and have very tiny seeds and no
netting, In size the best oriental melons vary very much;
some weigh a pound, others twenty-five pounds. The best
come from Armenia, Persia, and Turkey in Asia. They are
round, oval, very long (fifteen to twenty-five inches) and drupe-
shaped. We have had in our country four varieties from
Armenia, fourteen from Persia and six from Turkey in Asia.
Five have not been tried yet.

The Cassabah (accent on the bah) is not a Persian Melon, as
nearly all of the seedsmen have it in their annuals, but origi-
nated in a town of the same name north-east of Smyrna. In
some of the English maps it is spelled Kassaba, but my spell-
ing came from a native of Smyrna, where the fruit is sold.
This Melon came to our country more than twenty years ago,
and is still grown, though it has degenerated in most places.
It is the parent on one side of many hybrids, conspicuous
among which was the Bayview, which appears to have run
out. The original Melon was grown in 1896 in Cape May
County, New Jersey, and three fruits weighed together more
than thirty-seven pounds. In Turkey it grows fifteen inches
long and weighs as many or more pounds. It is densely
netted, is generally flattened by its weight in growing and is
pointed at the stem-end. The flesh is green, the fibre rather
coarse and flavor very good. A new hybrid has appeared in
Maryland that is a very showy melon—the handsomest large
melon that I have cut in twenty years—weight, eight pounds;
dimensions, nine inches by seven and three-quarters and
seven and a quarter; densely netted all over (it was grown on

OcToBER 7, 1896.]

the end), green-fleshed and well flavored. Like all large
melons, it had a conspicuous fibre. The way to grow the Cas-
sabah is to keep some of the seeds of the first year until the
variety degenerates or runs out, and then to plant some of the
seeds to start the variety a second time. To save the seeds of
a good cantaloupe precipitate them in water, pour off all the
membrane and light seeds, rub the heavy seeds in a napkin
and dry in the house. Preserve the seeds in a bottle and label
carefully. Such seeds will germinate after a number of years.
A good melon will yield 500 to 600 assorted seeds that ought
all to grow.

The Taylor Cantaloupe of Persia was called after a Mr, Taylor

Garden and Forest.

405

particularly adapted to its propagation. It soon degenerated
in New Jersey where it was grown.

I have stated that this was a conspicuously poor year for
Cantaloupes, and yet I had sent me the largest-seeded and
finest hybrid melon I have ever seen—the handsomest large
melon and the beau ideal of a green-fleshed melon. I have
never seen as fine flesh in a melon six and a half inches long,
although I have in fruits of half a pound in weight. This can-
taloupe was egg-shaped and densely netted all over (it also
grew onits end). It was ripe to the rind, which was grass-
green in color, and had a wonderfully fine smell and taste.
Such a growth would be a great acquisition to the horticul-

Fig. 53.—Diervilla Japonica.—See page 404.

who was many years in the State Department at Washing-
ton. He distributed the seeds, and the variety was grown for
the market for more than thirty years. It was a large cylin-
drical melon, densely netted, golden when ripe, green-
fleshed (sometimes butter-colored), good-flavored, and
weighed up to twenty-five pounds. I obtained the seed of one
that was nineteen inches long and weighed nineteen pounds.
The variety had then been grown some twenty-five years. It
appears to have quite run out, or to have degenerated mate-
rially. When of large size it was a conspicuous object on a
dinner table. The soil of Washington seems to have been

turist, provided the seed could be depended on to produce its
kind. Unfortunately, the hybrid, which weighed seven and a
half pounds and was one and three-quarter inches thick in the
flesh, had a very large share of unfertilized seeds and was
alone in its growth. The seed that produced it was from a
Louisiana Acme, which yielded several hybrids. Anattempt will
be made by several growers to reproduce this distinctive round
hybrid, which has stellate markings in its coarse netting. It is
particularly conspicuous in its thick flesh all around, except at
the stem end and its very small cavity.

Philadelphia, Pa. Robert P. Harris.

406

Grapes under Glass.

ROBABLY the most common mistake in the cultivation of
grapes grown indoors is overcropping, though in the case
of private gardens the fault is not always that of the gardener.
The employer requires a large crop, and, in consequence, the
finish of the grapes must be sacrificed. Finish is the end that
every good cultivator strives to attain. By good finish we
mean perfect color, richness of bloom, large, well-formed ber-
ries and good flavor. The vines contain but a certain amount
of vitality, and if compelled to carry an overcrop they will
carry it only so far and stop before a proper finish has been
attained. Liberal feeding will certainly assist, but grossly fed
vines never produce properly finished grapes. It is impossi-
ble to lay down a hard-and-tast rule of how many bunches a
vine ought to carry, as the varieties vary so much in vigor and
in size of bunch. It is considered by some good authorities
that one pound to every foot of fruiting vine is sufficient, but
we find vines capable of carrying considerably more. Much,
of course, depends on the age and condition of the vines.
Considerable difference of opinion exists among grape growers
as to the stage at which syringing should be withheld, but our
experience is that finish is always best when syringing has
been discontinued after the time of setting. Some argue that
syringing is necessary up to the time of coloring to keep down
thrip and red spider. We find that this practice is rather pro-
ductive of spider, as it tends to weaken the foliage and leaves
it more susceptible to the attacks of insect pests when syring-
ing must necessarily be withheld. It also hurts the bloom of
the grape in the early stages of its formation, a period when it
is easily damaged. Should red spider appear it may be expe-
dient to give an occasional thorough syringing to the infected
parts. This is not so hurtful as continued sprinkling, for, if
the bloom is fixed, it will shed the water from the berries,
providing it does not strike with full force on the bunches,
The syringing should only be done when plenty of air can be
given, as the shorter time the water is allowed to remain on
the bunches the better. Airing is probably the most important
of all details, and is especially troublesome during the spring
months. The increasing brightness of the sun on the one
hand, and the cold air on the other, make it somewhat diffi-
cult to keep the house at the proper temperature and at the
same time avoid cold draughts. As the season advances the
extremes become less marked, but when the grapes are color-
ing and it is necessary to leave a little night air on, there is the
greatest danger from mildew. We make it a practice with the
span-roofed houses to leave the air always on the west side, as
we find that mildew makes its appearance generally during
the prevalence of easterly winds, and by leaving only the west
side open the cold draught is somewhat avoided. Toward the
end of the season, when the leaves have become harder in
texture, they are less subject to the attacks of mildew, and
more night air being required for the ripening of the wood, it
can be given with more safety. But full night air should not
be given until the fruit is cut.

Watering is another important point, and the amount must
be controlled to a great extent by the mechanical composition
of the soil of the borders. If of a loose, open nature the supply
should be large; if close and retentive, a smaller amount is
required. In either case, when the grapes begin to show color
a good watering must be given, and watering should then be
stopped. If the soil is loose and open, much benefit is derived
from a mulching of hay inside the house. This serves not
only to retain the moisture in the soil, but helps to keep the
atmosphere of the house dry. It is often found necessary to
give the borders a thorough watering after the crop has been
cut, when there is danger of the roots being too severely dry,

Tarrytown, N. Y. William Scott.

Carnations, New and Old.

CaN a TION growers in this vicinity have set their plants
indoors for winter blooming. On the whole, the season
has been unfavorable for Carnations in the open ground.
August, when the plants usually make most of their growth,
was very dry. Insect pests were numerous, and, despite the
dry weather, fungoid diseases took such serious hold of sev-
eral varieties that growers have hesitated to risk space for
them indoors, Calculations are generally made in spring at
planting-time for ample stock of the most desirable kinds, and
it is likely to prove a serious loss to have to substitute less
desirable kinds or surplus plants of other sorts for such as
have failed. William Nicholson, of Framingham, Massachu-
setts, last season had a splendid lot of Eldorado, Shelmire’s
beautiful yellow of the Picotee type, which proved to be among

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 450,

the most valuable of fancy varieties. Unfortunately, the plants
in the open were so badly affected with rust this season that he
would not risk taking them in. Bacteriosis is affecting some
varieties badly, notably the new Della Fox and Alaska. The
latter variety was a complete success everywhere last winter.
Some growers pronounce it the best white-flowered Carnation
up to date, and have discarded some of the hitherto standard
varieties in its favor. With bacteriosis so prevalent, it would
have been better to have growna good supply of Mrs. Fisherasa
reserve. Carnations have proved decidedly local in their re-
quirements, and but few are universally floriferous. The
variety William Scott is a notable exception. William Nichol-
son grows the variety which bears his name, perfectly, and in
the Boston market it has always been a great favorite, and
brought high prices. But he is almost alone in this success.
Mrs. Fisher, though nearly yielding to Alaska in popular favor,
is again in the foreground, The veteran grower, Joseph
Tailby, of Wellesley, considers that Mrs. Fisher would be the
ideal white-flowered variety if the stem were a trifle better
than it nowis. Mr. Tailby is an experienced and successful
raiser of seedling Carnations, and now has several new white
varieties of his own raising on trial, which, although excellent,
are not his ideal. A cross between Lizzie McGowan and Mrs.
Fisher is a magnified Lizzie McGowan, a type which is not suc-
cessfully grown in the neighborhood of Boston. The flower
and stem are magnificent. Another is Daybreak x Mrs. Fisher,
and nearly intermediate in character between the parent plants.
Its defect, if any, isin showing acreamy centre. Soindifferent
have many new varieties proved (though probably locally
successful) that growers have invested sparingly. Della Fox,
the heavily tinted and so-called improved Daybreak, has been
given a more extended trial than usual. Tailby & Son have
a whole bench of it. As shown by the introducers, Myers &
Santmann, of Philadelphia, it left nothing to be desired. The
plants are, unfortunately, everywhere unhealthy. They are
infested largely with bacterial disease, the most insidious
and most difficult of all to eradicate. While we have no
certain remedy as yet for these diseases, no grower need now
be at a loss to know what ails his plants, thanks to the Car-
nation Society and their specialists. It is well known that
spot, and, for that matter, all diseases of like character, increase
rapidly when the soil is saturated with moisture, and, through
imperfect drainage, does not dry out quickly. It is not eco-
nomical to save coal when a little fire-heat, with plenty of
ventilation, would keep the air moving and help to correct
unfavorable conditions. It is better to have shallower benches
and use water oftener, if need be. This is especially true on
heavy soils. Cleanliness, above all things, is the best preven-
tive of disease. It is hoped by all, and with good reason, that
by attention to these details, as experience has shown in the
case of Daybreak, Della Fox will come out free from disease
as the season advances.

There have been fewer varieties of the distinctly maroon
shade, of which Ferdinand Mangold is a good example, than of
any other color. Ferdinand Mangold is so near the ideal that
itis hard to improve upon it. Mr. Butterworth, grower for
Mr. Powers, of South Framingham, has a good Carnation of
this color on trial; but it is somehow peculiar in its needs,
for even the originator has discarded it. It is exceptionally
free and perfectly healthy, but not robust, and this is its weak
point. The flowers are of good size, perfect in form, decided
in color, fragrant, and the stem is ample and strong. Mr.
Nicholson has a new crimson, which for size and beauty of
form excels any I have seen. Itis too early to decide what it
will prove, but at present it appears too much set after the old
border Clove Pink type. If it comes up to Mr. Nicholson’s
expectations, it will be named for Sir Henry Irving. A beautiful
companion pink, William Scott x William Nicholson, will be
named for Ellen Terry. This is a success beyond all question.

Mr. Tailby and Mr. Nicholson imported some plants of
Uriah Pike, the invincible English crimson, which they saw in
England. Though peerless in that country, neither grower
expected it would succeed under American methods, nor was
it in any way a success. Mr. Tailby’s purpose was to use itas
part parent insome new types. Ferdinand Mangold x Uriah
Pike were his crosses, and out of 108 seedlings only four were
single. All proved crimson, and, contrary to the rule which
Mr. Tailby has almost invariably found to prevail, all the
seedlings showed a marked preponderance of the charac-
ter of the pollen parent. This was not desired, and only a
better constitution was wanted. A dozen of the seedings have
been taken indoors for trial, but probably only one will be
found of especial merit. For this he has already received a
tempting offer from a notable English firm, who are thinking
of taking up the American plan of culture. The flower is per-

OcToBER 7, 1896.]

fect in form, magnificent in build and livelier in color-tone
than the flowers of either parent. Its habit indicates that it
will be sufficiently floriferous. Mr, Tailby is equally fortunate
in the possession of a good scarlet, E. G. Hill x Florence.
It is quite equal to Portia, and more robust in habit. To displace
Portia it must have good staying qualities, for this standard
old variety is as yet withouta peer on the market in the matter
of productiveness. William Scott still holds first place among
rose-colored varieties now in cultivation for profit. But for
one defect, a rather serious one for the retail florist, it would
be perfect. Its rich pink tones quickly fade to purple, and
this often happens before the retailer disposes of his stock.
The old Grace Wilder, once the favorite, but now out of con-
stitution, when atits best was equal, if not superior, to any-
thing we have ever had. The flowers were salable as long as
they remained fresh.

Donald Macrea, of Framingham, Massachusetts, has the
white-flowered William Scott, which, if it holds true to the few
flowers now open, promises to be an acquisition. Corsair, a

fine crimson, also looks promising.
Wellesley, Macs: 2 FERIDE Hatfield,

Violet Culture in Pots.

pee growing of Violets in pots for winter flowering is nota

new method, but it is not so extensively employed as its
general utility deserves. Since adopting this system we have
been enabled to produce blooms superior in size and color to
any we ever had from plants grown on benches, and, what is
of more importance, the plants have yearly increased in gen-
eral vigor and exemption from disease. Being in a portable
condition, they can be kept in pits or frames until Chrysanthe-
mums and other fall-flowering plants are gone, and as by that
time they will be well established in the pots and blooming
freely, they will continue to do so in the greenhouse under
proper cultural conditions.

The plants are set in the field to make their summer growth
in rows eighteen inches apart each way; they are kept scru-
pulously free of weeds and useless runners. About the last of
September the best plants are lifted and placed in well-drained
seven, eight or nine inch pots, according to their size. On
taking them up the soil is well shaken from the roots, as it is
desirable to have as much fresh compost in the pots as pos-
sible in a lumpy state, and lightly firmed with the potting lath.
When potted they are taken to the frames and are givena
thorough watering, the sashes, lightly shaded, are put on, air
is admitted freely day and night while mild weather continues.
When dry they are watered, and they get an occasional syring-
ing on bright, mild days and are covered with mats and shut-
ters to exclude frost. All these details are carefully and

persistently attended to until the plants are transterred to
the greenhouse.

The Marie Louise is the principal variety used, and as an
early and prolific bloomer is unequaled. The Farquhar, Lady
H. Campbell and Swanley White are also grown, and it is
worthy of mention that all these varieties, growing side by side
and receiving identical culture from the cutting to their flow-
ering state, are in a uniformly vigorous and healthy condition.

A, McKay.

South Framingham, Mass.

Some Autumn Flowers.

Zinnia Haageana.—All the Zinnias bloom late into the season,
but this species is superior to any of the common large-flow-
ered kinds. It is of compact dwarf habit, each plant forming
a little bush twelve inches in height, densely studded with its
orange-yellow blossoms. It is not as coarse a plant as our
ordinary Zinnias. The leaves are much smaller; the flowers
are only an inch and a quarter in diameter, but they are very
double, and make up in numbers what they lack in size. In
many respects I prefer Z. Haageana to the less shapely kinds
with larger blooms. It is decidedly one of the best of the late-
flowering annuals, thriving satisfactorily in even the poorest
kinds of garden soil.

Anemone Whirlwind.—No flowers are more useful than the
Japanese Anemone, and in addition to the single forms of this
plant, the variety with semi-double flowers has greatly added
to their importance. Whirlwind is a semi-double form of the
old white variety of Anemone Japonica, and although not
more decorative than the older kinds as a garden plant, the
cut flowers are more lasting. It is now showing its first blos-
soms, and with continued mild weather will provide flowers
for cutting until the middle of November.

Clematis paniculata.—This now well-known plant is annually
becoming more and more popular. It is generally grown asa
trellis climber, and there is nothing to equal it for this use at

Garden and Forest.

407

this season. Its creamy white blossoms completely obscure
the foliage, and they persist for weeks. I have lately seen the
plant used with good effect in covering unsightly tracts of
rubble and barren soil. The roots, of course, were well taken
care of, the site and soil being specially prepared for them,
and from the stems spread rapidly in all directions. The un-
earthed roots and stumps of old trees, piled in an oblong or
irregular mound, make a picturesque groundwork for this and
other climbers.

Caryopteris mastacanthus.—One must search a long time to
find a more attractive little shrub at this time of year than
this rare old Chinese plant. It is very dwarf and bushy,
making a compact little mass from two to three feet high.
The notched leaves are deep green on the upper sur-
face, and whitish beneath. The small pale blue flowers are
borne in conspicuous axillary clusters, and they are produced
so freely that the plant is now a mass of bloom. There is, too,
an indescribable daintiness and elegance about the arrange-
ment of the stems and flowers. That so good a plant has
escaped general attention for so many years is a mystery. It
is now, in the last days of September, a perfect picture. To
its charms it adds the merit of hardiness, and its cultural
requirements are quite ordinary. Isolated on the lawn, or
mixed with other dwarf plants in the shrubbery, it is alike

effective.
Floral Park, N. Y. M. Barker.

Correspondence.

Additional Notes on Compass Plants.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—It is evident from the statements of the note in GARDEN
AND Forest of August Igth about the usefulness of the leaves
of the Compass Plant for determining in a general way the
direction of a north and south line, that they would furnish no
help to distinguish north from south. The plant would only
be of use as a compass when the sun is hidden by clouds, for
on a clear day the sun itself would be a better guide. When
most needed the leaves might utterly fail in usefulness if a
traveler lost his initial direction, which is very easy, and is
readily increased by the well-known tendency ot a bewildered
person to move in a circular direction. Hence, he might soon
be taking a direction directly opposite the one he wished to
take. But there is another habit of the Compass Plant which
might be used to correct this. Dr. Engelmann says in the
article referred to in my former note: ‘The large flower-
heads, on short and very thick peduncles, are almost invaria-
bly turned eastward.” This is the only allusion I have seen
to a habit which I have often observed and verified, nor have
I any information that any use has been made of it in practice.
A person standing on the east side of a field of Compass Plants
and facing the west sees a mass of yellow before him ; let him
change to the west side, and the diminished intensity of color
at once becomes apparent. When the plants are examined
individually it is seen that nearly all of the flower-heads face
him in the former case, and that the south is to the left hand.
There is about the same reliability to be placed on this east-
ward turning of flower-heads as on the north and south trend
of the leaves. It is quite general, but not definite in many
cases of individual heads. Hence, during the floral stage of
a Compass Plant, it is not difficult to distinguish north from
south.

I have not been able to find a satisfactory reason for the
curvature of the peduncles which turns the heads to the east-
ward. Light and gravity, resulting in heliotropism and geo-
tropism, are now given as the main causes of such tendencies.
Heliotropism, or the bending toward the direction of the inci-
dent rays of light, may be the primary cause here, but it does
not explain why the turning is eastward rather than westward,
unless we assume that the rays of the morning sun are more
potent than those of the afternoon sun. The flowers, like the
leaves, place themselves so that the largest surface is perpen-
dicular to the direction of the longest continued light. A leaf
with its surfaces in a vertical plane directed north and south is
in an attitude to receive light more evenly on both sides
throughout the day than leaves ordinarily placed with an
upper and an under side, and there results from it in Compass
Plants a more equal distribution of stomata on the two sur-
faces, so that, though structurally with ventral and dorsal
surface, they are practically without it. Heliotropism is taken
by Stahl and others to explain this leaf position.

The heads do not follow the sun. The short and _ thick
peduncles, three-fourths of an inch to an inch and a half long,
are too stiff to allow much daily turning. Nor is the eastward

408

bending due to the open flowers; it begins early and may be
seen when the plant is in bud. Peduncles arising from the
north and the south sides of the stem are found verging to-
ward the eastfrom the start, or they curve near the top so as
to bring the bud into the position which will be taken by the
head when expanded. Those springing from the east side are
naturally in place to look eastward, the top of the peduncle
curving over. Those on the west side are scarcely disturbed.
It would be too great an effort and require too much force to
turn them without coming in contact with the stem, and if
heliotropism is the force they are in position to get the rays
from the west. Three-fourths of the heads ina symmetrical
plant are, therefore, normally in place to turn eastward more
or less readily. Even less than the normal fourth are usually
found on the west side of the axis of growth. The long con-
tinued effort of the plant to bring its leaves into the plane of
the meridian seems to have resulted in a preponderance of
leaves on the north and south sides of the stem, an approach
to a two-ranked arrangement or flattening of the axis of growth,
and as the peduncles spring from the axils of leaves and bracts
there is the same tendency in the flower-heads. These vary
in number from asingle head at the top of thestem to twenty-
five or thirty on a large, branching plant, from five to ten being
the most common number. When they are crowded at the
top of a stem or branch, or somewhat bunched in their
arrangement, with less freedom for the curvature of the sepa-
rate peduncles, the stem bearing the group usually curves to
the eastward, the combined weight of the heads probably help-
ing in the process. When the heads become old or reach the
fruiting stage the peduncles in many cases straighten, and
more of the heads when in fruit look upward.

The heliotropic force is more conspicuous in the flowers of
the Prairie Dock, Silphium terebinthinaceum. The heads
are smaller and lighter, on more slender peduncles two to
five inches long. The stem is usually taller and generally
provided with several slender, spreading branches, and is so
free from leaves, except at the very base, as to be scape-like.
The heads, as a whole, are turned to the east, but between the
hours of ten and twelve the majority are plainly seen to face
the south-east. The afternoon sun does not draw them any
farther around, but they continue in their forenoon position,
but look eastward in the morning. In this they manifest a
shght tendency to follow the sun,

The twisting of the leaves and petioles of the two Silphiums
and of the Prickly Lettuce to bring them into the meridional
and vertical planes is spiral in its character. A stem-leaf with
a horizontal base and a vertical tip or upper half is spirally
turned. The motion is with the sun,from left to right, or, to
use the common illustration, with the hands of a clock. A leaf
on the south side of the stem has its upper face turned to the
west, one on the north side has it turned to the east, those
inserted on the east and west sides are turned around more or
less to the south and north, so as to bring their extremities
into a position somewhat parallel with the former. This is
quite easily discerned in the Prickly Lettuce, a much more
leafy plant than the Silphium. The leaves of the Wild Let-
tuce, Lactuca Canadensis, frequently show the workings of this
same force, the ends of the leaves being more or less spirally
rolled from left to right as they are followed around the stem.
A quarter ofa turn serves to bring most of the leaves of these
Compass Plants into the required position. Occasionally the
petiole of a radical leaf may be turned through 270 degrees.
Evidently the same force is at work here as in twining plants,
which for a given species turns them in a definite direction,
either with or from the sun.

My observations on these plants have been made on those
growing in the open prairie, where they receive the full sun-
light. It they stand by the borders of woods, or in partial
shade, owing to interference with the light the results may be

uite different, ornot shown at all normally.

Softee, Il. ee ¥ £.. F, Hill,

The New Oczark Iris.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,— During the past two years several articles have appeared
in GARDEN AND FOREST relative to the new Iris found by me
in the Ozark Mountains, and named by Mr. J. N. Gerard I.
hexagona, var. La Mancei. All these articles have dwelt
upon the beauty of the flower and its increase in point of size
and intensity of color over the ordinary type of I. hexagona,
itself a handsome and striking species,

I find that in other respects this new Iris departs far from
the Hexagona type. It blooms ten days earlier and more pro-
fusely. I. hexagona, under our hot suns, ripens its seed-

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 450.

capsules by early midsummer, and the foliage dies down
immediately after. Farther north this early dying down of the
foliage, and consequent ripening of the rhizomes, may not be
a characteristic of the plant, as Gray makes no reference to it,
but here it is a noticeable feature. The variety, however,
keeps green until autumn, the lower leaves alone dying in late
summer.

There is a marked variation in the seed-capsules. In I.
hexagona the seed-pod is oblong-cylindric, six-angled, two
inches long. In the new plant the capsules are globular, one
and one-eighth inches long, and but a sixteenth of an inch less
in diameter. The seeds are a trifle smaller also, but of the

same general shape and color.
Pineville, Mo, B Lora S. La Mance.

Yarrow as a. Lawn Plant.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—In your issue of the 9th instant appears a note in regard
to Achillea Millifolium as a lawn plant. The plant your corre-
spondentrefers tois, without doubt, the European variety, which
seems to be quite distinct from the native form. It is not so
rigid as our plant, and seems much better adapted for turfing.
About ten years ago I noticed it growing on a steep, dry bank
near the University buildings in Toronto, and making a very
good ground cover where nothing else would grow, and I
agree with your correspondent that it is a useful plant in such

situations,
Botanic Garden, Buffalo, N. Y. John F. Cowell,

Utilizing Choke Cherries.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—Mr. Waugh’s letter, under the foregoing title, in your
No. 448, may be confirmed by other experience than his own.
It is years since New York summer residents of Vermont ad-
ventured to make jelly from choke cherries and found it to
be delicious, and even of peculiar excellence.

The native Vermonters neglect or despise this wild fruit,
but that is only fortunate for the people who wish to use it.

New York. va TER Learned.

The Forest.

The Burma Teak Forests.—X.
MILITARY MEN EMPLOYED AS FOREST OFFICERS.

LATE article in GARDEN AND FOREST noticed the practice,

when forest administration was first organized in India, of
employing military officers. The work had to be done, and
we could not wait until professionally trained men were avail-
able for it. Military officers, and in some cases medical men,
were selected; young men of active habits and good consti-
tution, good business capacity, sportsmen or botanists, with
tastes which were likely to make them take kindly to solitary
life, hard work and exposure in the torests. A number of the
men thus selected have done eminent workin helping to build
up forest administration in India. Colonel Pearson has the
great merit of being the first to protect forests on a large
scale and in a methodical manner against the ravages of jungle
fires, and he did this, as he himself delights in acknowledging,
not only against the powerful opposition of nearly everybody,
natives as well as Europeans, butalso against the strong mis-
givings of his own heart. For to interfere with this ancient
institution which cleared the ground in the hot season of incon-
venient grass and underwood seemed little short of impious
interference with time-hallowed custom. But Colonel Pearson
succeeded, and no one was more pleased than he himself to
see the change which took place, as if by magic, in the forests
thus protected. This was in 1864, and since that time fire con-
servancy is universally recognized as the most important part
of forest protection. One-third of the total area of state forests
in the British Indian Empire is now every year protected
against the fires of the hot season. Another military officer
who should here be mentioned is Colonel Bailey, of the Royal
Engineers. In 1872 he organized the topographical survey of
the forests, and afterward, when the necessity began to be
recognized, of providing a large number of professionally
trained native forest rangers; he established the forest school
at Déhra Dun, and for many years filled the post of director of
that institution, and of Conservator of the School Forests. To
these namesI might add many others of military officers who
in the early days of forest administration in India have done
excellent work. On this point I lay great stress in order to show
that under certain circumstances, and under good professional

OCTOBER 7, 1896.]

guidance, military officers may with great advantage be em-
ployed in forest work.
PROTECTION OF THE FORESTS,

For the protection of the forests, however, it would have been
a serious mistake to employ a military force in India. The
employment of troopsas a police force for the protection of the
Yellowstone Park and other Reservations in the United States,
doubtless, is the right course to pursue in order to enforce
efficient protection against timber thieves who would rob the
forest, and herdsmen who would otherwise set fire to it, in
order to produce better pasture for their sheep. Where public
property and the vital interests of the nation must be protected
against the selfish cupidity of individuals the rigid discipline
and the stern action of the military force are necessary. In
India matters were different. The ruling power, it is true, was
always regarded as the proprietor of all waste and forest that
had not been alienated, but the people living in the forests and
in their vicinity had been in the habit, from time immemorial,
to use the forest for their own requirements, to cut wood and
bamboos, to graze their cattle, to clear and burn the trees for
their shifting cultivation. When the work of demarcating state
forests was commenced, the question arose, how this cus-
tomary user of the forests should be dealt with. From the
outset I insisted upon what I considered as the only just plan,
namely, that the customary user should be regarded as aright,
but as a right which the Government, as the guardian of the
public interests, had power to regulate, to commute, and, by
the grant of equitable compensation, in land or in money, to
extinguish. This view of the case was accepted and embodied
in the forest laws which were passed successively for different
parts of the empire. But the provisions of. these laws were
enforced with due consideration for the habits and customs of
the people, and the employment of a military forest police
would have been a great mistake. In Burma and in other por-
tions of the empire was it possible, by giving congenial and
profitable employment to the inhabitants of the forests, to make
them our allies, and to enlist their interest upon the side of forest
protection, but this was not everywhere possible. The estab-
lishment, the efficient protection and the regular methodical
management of the forests unavoidably interfered with the
habits and prejudices of the people, and although just and
equitable compensation was always liberally given, still the
alteration of circumstances made itself felt. It is true that the
area of reserved forests in the whole of the provinces under
British administration amounts to only 7.5 per cent. of the total
area, and that in most provinces the forests are situated on
the hills, away from the open, densely inhabited country. But,
nevertheless, their aggreagate area is very large, 71,600 square
miles, or forty-six mulions of acres. And as just related, from
more than one-third of this area has it been possible to exclude
fires. The demarcation of a reserved forest, its efficient pro-
tection, and particularly the prevention in it of the annual jungle
fires, are measures which completely alter the aspect of the
country and which unavoidably, in many respects, interfere
with the old-established habits of the people. The small
amount of dissatisfaction that has, fortunately, manifested
itself among the people concerned, proves that the forest laws
have been administered in a considerate spirit and with due
regard to their habits and prejudices. And this could not pos-
sibly have been effected if the protection of the forests had
been undertaken by a military force.

TEAK AND BAMBOOS.

Like the Oak and the Scotch Pine, the Teak-tree demands
much light. As already mentioned, it does not, as a rule, form
pure forests, and it thrives best where the ground is protected
by a dense underwood of Bamboos, which forms a lower story
of the forest thirty to sixty feet high. This underwood of
Bamboos is analagous to the lower story, which the Beech,
the Hornbeam and the Silver Fir in Germany form under the
Oak or the Scotch Pine, and which, according to Pinchot and
Graves, in Pennsylvania the Hemlock forms underneath the
White Pine. The Bamboo, therefore, may be regarded as a
useful companion, a friend and ally of the Teak-tree, but in
young Teak plantations it often isa most formidable enemy.
The forest cleared by the Karens for their toungyas, to a
great extent, is composed of Bamboos. Each Bamboo clump
consists of two portions, Underground is an entangled net-
work of rhizomes, while above ground rises the gigantic tuft
of hollow woody stems. The rhizome is not, as a rule, killed
when the toungya is fired. During the first few years these
rhizomes produce slender shoots, but gradually they recover
their strength, and then all at once a number of stems grow
up of the ordinary thickness, and at once attain their full
height, which varies according to the species, Déndrocalamus,

Garden and Forest.

409

thirty to forty ; Bambusa polymorpha, which is the species
that prevails in the moister forests, from fifty to sixty feet. At
that time the young Teak, if properly cared for, is extremely
vigorous, the stems, fifteen to twenty feet high, on the current
year’s shoot, with four to five pairs of leaves two to three feet
long and eight to ten inches broad. Weeds, seedlings and
coppice-shoots of other trees no longer endanger its existence
if the early cleanings have been carried out regularly, and the
plantation seems safe. At that time, however, the Bamboo-
shoots come up all at once in dense masses, the Teak is over-
topped, a large proportion of the plants is killed, some linger
with a few miserable leaves under the dense shade of the
Bamboos, while others continue the struggle, but are mostly
forced up into long, slender, weak stems. Here prompt and
vigorous action is needed in cutting back the Bamboos.
Obviously Teak plantations, particularly those established on
toungyas in the heart of the forests, require constant care
until the Teak has overtopped the Bamboos, which is not gen-
erally the case before it is fifteen to twenty years old. The
Bamboos associated with Teak in the Burma forests have been
compared to the companions of the Oak in Europe, and the
White Pine in North America, to the Beech and the Hemlock.
But the life-history of the Bamboo is very different. When the
stems, which constitute the Bamboo clump, have attained a cer-
tain age they produce flowers, andafter ripening their seed they
die off, and in most species not only all stems of one clump,
but all clumps in one district, bear seed and die. The dead
stems fall and form a tangled mass of Bamboos, through
which it is hardly possible to force one’s way. The fires of the
next hot season, however, sweep away this dry mass, and
when the rains set in the enormous crop of Bamboo-seed ger-
minates, and the result is a carpet of young slender Bamboo-
plants, a portion of which, after a series of years, grow up into
clumps. Hence, the flowering and seeding of the Bamboo is
an event of great importance, which recurs after a certain
number of years; thirty years in the case of some species,
forty in the case of others. At that time, when the cover over-
head is thus suddenly removed, the seeds of Teak and other
trees which have not been destroyed by the conflagration get

a chance and grow up. <4 :
Bonn, Germany. Dietrich Brandis.

Recent Publications.

The Nursery Book. Third Edition. Macmillan «& Co.,
New York.

This is not merely a reprint of the manual which was
issued some half-dozen years ago under this title, but it is
a thorough revision of that work with much new matter,
with many more illustrations, and with the nursery list
expanded and brought down to date, so that it honestly
fulfills the promise of its subtitle and is “ A Complete Guide
to the Multiplication of Plants.” The chapter on Pollina-
tion, which was in the original book, is not found in this
edition, but this leaves space for much other practical mat-
ter like the discussion of the question whether plants prop-
agated by grafting are constitutionally weakened by this
process. It ought to be said that the useful notes on polli-
nation are not lost, but are now included in Plan/ Breeding,
another book belonging to the series aptly named ‘The
Garden Craft Series,” which now includes, besides the two
we have named, Zhe Horticulturists’ Rule Book, with the
promise that others are in preparation. Altogether, Zhe
Nursery Book is in every way a helpful little volume which
may be safely trusted by the novice as a guide to all ordi-
nary manipulation which is required for the propagation of
plants, and even the skilled propagator will find it conve-
nient to have such a handy volume within reach for refer-
ence in matters where his memory is at fault, or in some
particular where his experience is limited. In the popular
language of this country the word nursery has come to
mean an establishment for propagating trees and shrubs.
It need hardly be said that this work is not so limited in its
scope, but treats of the multiplication of all plants, whether
woody or not, in every practicable way.

Notes.
Five houses of Messrs. Dailledouze Brothers are now filled

with new crop Carnations, the houses measuring 125 to 200
feet in length. Flowers have been cut from these plants for

410

three weeks past. William Scott and Daybreak are the pink
varieties now in season, the dependence for crimson and dark
red being upon new seedlings. Lizzie McGowan is the only
white sort being cut in these houses, and the variegated Helen
Keller and Minnie Cook complete the list.

The Rural New Yorker praises the Japanese Ipomceas
which have been sold fora few years past under the name
Emperor Morning Glories, for the size and brilliancy of their
flowers with their sharp color-contrasts of fiery red, blue-black,
indigo, maroon, bronze and white. We have observed these
vines covering a heap of old stumps and they proved very
effective. It is to be hoped that they will not be as difficult
weeds to get rid ofas the old-fashioned Morning Glory, which
itself, by the way, is one of the most beautiful of flowers.

* The Beach Plum, Prunus maritima, is a desirable shrub or
small tree at all times, and it can be specially commended at
this season for the beauty of its abundant fruit. This fruit,
though, as a rule, somewhat astringent, varies greatly in its
edible quality, and we have lately received samples of 1t which
had just enough of the Wild Cherry flavor to make it piquant.
Some Beach plums sent to this office by Mr. Jackson Dawson,
of the Arnold Arboretum, were dark purple, with a distinct
bloom. Others received earlier were red, others still a clear
amber-color, and all were quite as palatable as many cultivated
fruits.

A correspondent of Zhe Country Gentleman writes in an
interesting way of a visit to a large farm in England where
medicinal and aromatic herbs are cultivated. Henbane, Bel-
ladonna, Poppies, medicinal Rhubarb, and Aconite, are grown
with Marigold for its tincture of calendula, Lavender for its
perfume, Pansies for the oil of violets, and many more. The
farm has its own laboratory for chemical work, but the writer
thinks that if adjoining farms would unite to raise some of
these herbs, a coéperative laboratory for getting the product into
marketable form could be run in the same way as creameries
now are.

The abundant clusters of lilac-pink fruit which are now seen
on Callicarpa purpurea makes this a most interesting shrub.
Since the flowers and fruit are borne from the axils ofits oppo-
site leaves, these clusters of twenty or thirty little berries are
arranged regularly in pairs along the slender branches for a
distance of two or three feet, and they are so numerous that
the branches arch in a graceful way under their weight. The
shrub is only two or three feet high and the flowers are incon-
spicuous. An American species, C. Americana, bears still
more beautiful fruit, but it is not reliably hardy north of
Washington.

The Gardeners’ Magazine gives illustrations of two new
single Peeony-flowers, one of which, Mikado, is a beautiful
shade of reddish rose, with a soft rose-buff centre, while the
other, named Margaret Atwood, is pure white, with a clear
yellow centre. The flowers are said to have stouter and more
substantial petals than those of most single Pzeonies, so that
they will stand well in water when cut. The varieties were
introduced from Japan, and the Messrs. Wallace, of Colches-
ter, who raised them, received an award of merit from the
Royal Horticultural Society. We have always commended
single Ponies for their beauty both on the plant and when
cut, and we cannot have too many good varieties.

Of the seventy odd thousand trees in the streets of Wash-
ington, D.C., fully five thousand were uprooted during the
gale on Tuesday evening of last week, and of those remaining
a very large proportion were very seriously injured. In the
parks the damage done to the trees was equally severe,
especially so among the fine specimens in the grounds
of the Executive Mansion and in the Smithsonian grounds.
It was impossible to get near the White House with a
vehicle oi any description on Wednesday morning, owing
to the fallen trees. The Silver Maples are the worst sutf-
ferers, scarcely an uninjured tree of this species being left;
the Ginkgoes, the Honey Locusts and the Elms stood the gale
well. In the parks some lofty specimens of Libocedrus decur-
rens snapped offlike pipe-stems, and on examination the wood
was found to be perfectly sound. The greenhouse structures
in the outskirts of the city were badly shattered, one firm suf-
fering to the extent of ten thousand dollars.

There are many Orchids which are known only from descrip-
tions published long ago, and very imperfect ones at that, so
that it is not always easy to identity them. Stanhopea Warsce-
wicziana was originally discovered on Mount Chiriqui, in
Central America, and flowered in Berlin in 1852, and was soon

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 450.

after described under its present name. A figure was after-
ward published by Reichenbach, and then the plant appears to
have been lost sight of. We learn from the Orchid Review
that this Stanhopea has just flowered in the collection of J. B.
Hodgson, Esq., Newcastle-on-Tyne, from a plant received
from Costa Rica two or three years ago, and the reappearance
of this long-lost species is a matter of some interest. Reich-
enbach’s figure shows a flower of bright yellow, with the excep-
tion of the column, while that of Mr. Hodgson’s plant is much
lighter, though identical in structure, from which it appears
that the species may be variable in this respect, although the
figures in Reichenbach’s work are often so badly colored that
one cannot place too much reliance on them. The flowers
have a strong aromatic perfume.

Marquis de Montmort is the Chrysanthemum most fre-
quently seen in the florists’ windows now, a comparatively
new French flower, but not grown for cutting until last sea-
son, when it was first offered in this city on September 3oth.
The main supplies of early Chrysanthemums have been com-
ing from Dailledouze Brothers, in Flatbush. These growers
sent the earliest flowers of Marquis de Montmort this year on
September 22d. They are a pleasing pink, not unlike Viviand
Morel, and considered the best early Chrysanthemum of this
color yet grown. The flowers are Japanese in type, of good
size, and the stem and foliage are excellent. The plants are
tall-growing, reaching five feet in height. A few blooms of the
same variety came from P. H. Scudder, Glenhead, Long
Island, on September 21st, a day earlier than the larger cutting
made by Messrs, Dailledouze. The earliest Chrysanthemums
of all in trade in this city were flowers of the small pink variety,
Madame Marie Masse, which came from Messrs. Garrett &
Rose, of Jersey City, on September 17th ; these were followed
on the succeeding day by Howers of Madame Gastellier, one
of De Laux’s introductions, a variety not unlike Madame Fer-
dinand Bergmann, and the earliest white Chrysanthemum.
Lady Fitz Wigram, an English variety first seen here last sea-
son, has been in market since September 22d. The flowers
are a clear white and of medium size. The plants are very
dwarf growers and have the fault of setting buds too early.
Varieties ready for cutting during the early part of the current
week are the clear white Chinese Madame Ferdinand Berg-
mann, the substance of its petals giving it good keeping
quality ; the Japanese Merry Monarch, also white, and with
larger flowers, and the well-known yellow, Marion Henderson.
Yellow Queen, J. E. Lager and Harry L. Sunderbruch, all
good yellow varieties, will be in flower by the close of this
week. The season for early Chrysanthemums is nearly a fort-
night in advance of last year.

The novelty in the fruit stores this week are the so-called
winter cantaloupes, which can be had for thirty cents each. The
variety on sale comes from Spain, and owing to its long-keep-
ing qualities the melons endure the sea voyage very well and
are offered in fair condition. They are green, egg-shaped,
with a hard shell, of good flavor, and have the distinct odor of
muskmelons. There are a number of varieties, some with
salmon-colored flesh and some with green flesh and a solid
interior like a cucumber. Those in the market now belong to
the class known as White Antibes with a soft interior and loose
seeds. English filberts, in their hulls, are already seen in the
fruit stores. Gravenstein, King, Pound Sweet, Snow and Fall
Pippin are rated highest of the apples now in market, though
the abundant crop makes low prices for even the best of this
fruit. Nearly 50,000 barrels were sent to wholesale dealers in
this city during last week, and more than 200,000 barrels have
been handled in the local trade since the first of September,
against less than 83,000 barrels in the corresponding periodof last
year. California fruits are still coming east in large quantities,
the heaviest shipments of the season to this city having been
received during the week ending September 26th, when ninety-
five car-loads came, and as many as fifty-seven car-loads were
sold here during last week. Grapes and plums comprise the
greater part of these receipts. Selected Seckel and Bartlett
pears, from cold storage, command good prices; other pears
now offered are Beurre Bosc, Sheldon, Beurre d’Anjou,
Clairgeau, Louise Bonne, Comice, D'Alencon, Winter Nelis
and Duchess. As many as 22,050 barrels of Jamaica oranges
have already been sent to this city this season, and 1,000 boxes
of this fruit were last week forwarded to England on special
orders. A single cargo which arrived last week contained
601,000 cocoanuts, A further idea of the immense quantities
of staple fruits consigned to this market may be had from the
importations of bananas during September, which amounted
to 376,875 bunches, and 1,750,000 boxes of lemons were im-
ported during the past nine months.

OcroBER 14, 1896.]

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

OrricE: TripuneE Buitpinc, New York.

Conducted by . 2 2 2 se se Professor C. S. SARGENT.

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1896.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Eorroriat ArticLes ‘—The Artistic Element in Engineering
Forest Studies in Minnesota......
Cedrus Atlantica. (With figure.).
Early Autumn in the Pines..
Changing Fashions in Flower:
ForeiGn CorresPponDENcE :—London Letter. .
New or ‘Litr.e-KNown Piants :—Berberis Nevinii.
PLanT NOTES....--.++
CULTURAL DEePARTMENT: —Notes on New Roses...
Blower:Garden Notes. .2...0sccsceccooesss
Some Little-known Plants.
Asplenium ebeneum «+ G. A. Woolson, 417
Corres vonpvENce :—Fertilizers tor Orchards.. sett dea diCALS
Two Rare Ferns—Asplenium Bradleyi and Trichomanes radicans,
Sadie F. Price. 418
Tue Forest :—The Burma Teak Forests.—XI..........+.-. Sir Dietrich Brandis. 418
Exutpitions :—Flowers and Fruits at the American Institute Fair. .
NOotEs.....
Iti usrrations :—Berberis Nevinii, Fig. 54a e 4 3
MSEC ewAt ant Cees ba prrey ymaelaeiiae te meee nfecisicnic «Lacs sash a comeaemence ses

MB. C. 4x3
W. Watson.

eee sesens WN. Craig. 415
eens ea E. O. Orpet. 416
dward F, Canning. 416

The Artistic Element in Engineering.

T the Buffalo meeting of the American Association for

the Advancement of Science, Professor Frank O.
Marvin, of the University of Kansas, and Vice-President of
the Section of Mechanical Science and Engineering, read a
paper on the subject which we have used as the title of
this article. It might be considered impertinent for one
who did not belong to the engineering fraternity to state
that there is little or noattention paid by that profession in
America to considerations of beauty ; but this is precisely
what Professor Marvin declares, and his paper is a plea for
the recognition of the artistic element in engineering and
mechanics. In the swift development of our country, the
economic efforts of the engineer to “direct the great
sources of power in nature for the use and convenience of
man” have been devoted so persistently to the attainment
of quick profits as to cloud that broader view which looks
toward the higher and fuller life of the people. Of course,
when engineering practice is based on immediate results in
dollars and cents, the <esthetic element holds a secondary
place, although, even from this standpoint, beauty often
pays. But, after all, the engineer is primarily a designer,
andif the design ignores the artistic element the thing
created falls short of its highest possible good and fails to
furnish that indefinable something which helps man toa
richer and more refined existence. This results in manifest
loss to the community, for all the useful works of the engi-
neer may also satisfy the natural craving for beauty and
there may be as much fine art in a well-planned machine for
making some article of daily use as there is in a good pic-
ture or statue. There is no antagonism between what is
useful and what is artistic. Good taste may be displayed
in constructing a bridge or a reservoir without ex-
pending an extra dollar of money or disregarding its
requirements for strength and convenience; but while
American engineers are courageous and original designers,
and while they have shown themselves capable of fulfilling
the scientific and financial demands on their profession,
Professor Marvin argues that they have paid little or no
attention to artistic possibilities in their practice. For ex-
ample, the American bridge satisfies the considerations of

Garden and Forest.

A4II

stability and least cost, but it has little of the beauty of
line and balanced proportion which makes it harmonize
with the landscape or makes it attractive when considered
by itself Itis true that a truss with parallel chords does
not lend itself readily to artistic treatment, and added orna-
ment for its own sake is never helpful. But in the proper
treatment of the organic lines, the length of iene. the rela-
tion of the length of panel to height of truss and the location
of piers and their forms, very much can be done and has
been accomplished in such examples as the Brooklyn and
Washington bridges of this city.

Professor Marvin goes on to say that in all the intricate
problems connected ‘with municipal engineering there is an
almost absolute failure to give expression to z any artistic
idea in public works of this sort, and although in some
water-supply plants the idea of beauty has not been en-
tirely neglected, the ugly stand- pipe w ith a conical cap, so
often seen in smaller towns, gives evidence that the
designer never had a single thoust it of mitigating its un-
sightliness, while the people whom it ought to offend daily
have never uttered a word of protest, “and, indeed, have
never dreamed that there is another and a better way of
treating such works. Professor Marvin seems hopeful that
a change in public and professional sentiment will come in
time, but he declares that the schools of engineering are
doing little or nothing to help the student in this direction,
and that so far as he knows there is but one American text-
book—Professor Johnson’s book on Bridges—which includes
any discussion whatever of the principles of esthetic design.

We have presented only an outline of Professor Marvin's
address, but few persons will dispute his thesis that in the
industrial and constructive arts we pay no heed to consid-
erations of beauty. The eminent German who visited this
country as a commissioner did not state the case too
strongly, perhaps, when he reported that “in America
public works are executed without reference to art.” For
many months the work of enlarging the approach to the
New York terminus of Brooklyn Bridge has been going on
and a structure has been about completed in one of the
most conspicuous points of th® city, and through which
thousands of civilized men and women pass every day.
Most surely the vestibule to such a work as the bridge
ought to have some dignity of its own, or, at least, it
should have some harmonious relation with the bridge.
The commissioners in charge of this work are gentlemen
of distinction and public spirit, and yet no one who looks
at it would ever infer that they felt the slightest responsi-
bility to satisfy man’s natural longing for fitness and propor-
tion and his natural preference for beauty over deformity.
If they have any feeling for the claims of art themselves, it
never has occurred to them, apparently, that the people
have sensibilities which are to be respected, and this is
a single example of what is almost the universal rule.
This contempt for every canon of good taste begins
with the very ground plan of our cities, where the
rectangular street system, usually adopted, is not only
inconvenient but destructive of every attempt at a com-
prehensive scheme of urban decoration in the way of
public buildings or works of art. Monotony in the direction
and width of streets becomes a weariness to the eye.
There is no relief afforded by open spaces, no respect for
the original contours of the land, no opportunity to give
importance or impressiveness of situation to any great
public building. As New York spreads northward we are
losing a priceless opportunity to take advantage of the
variety of surface and outlook and make the annexed dis-
trict the most picturesque city in the world. We build
miles of piers and wharves without considering that the
treatment of the water-front is full of artistic possibilities.
Our railroads gash their way across beautiful scenery, and
no one so much as asks the question whether these struc-
tures could not be made so as to leave fewer scars upon
the landscape. In this way we obliterate the beauty of the
natural world and pile up constructions of our own which
seem to rejoice in their naked and obtrusive ugliness.

AI2

Now, public officials and the executive officers of great
corporations will pay heed to the claims of art in their con-
structions as soon as the people demand it. That no such
demand is made, however, is hardly a proof that the
esthetic sense is lacking in America, for there is abundant
evidence that our people appreciate good work when they
see it, and our architects, painters and sculptors have
proved that they have ideas and can express them. The
trouble is, we have lived so long in a society which utterly
ignores art in its public works that the people, asa rule, do
not know that there is any other way of doing things. Never-
theless, ifthe looked-forimprovement is to comesoon, the en-
gineer must not wait to be driven by an educated publicsen-
timent. Heisacreator. He must take the lead, and what
he does must be the result of a trained taste and a thorough
instruction in the principles of aesthetic design. If Professor
Marvin is correct in his statement that none of our technical
schools offer a training of this kind to the young engineer
it is high time that this defect was remedied. An architect
is considered quite uneducated if he has not been schooled
in the rules of art and cannot apply these principles to his
work. ‘There is no reason why the engineer should not
recognize the claims of art, should not love what is beauti-
ful, and should not do his work artistically. Hecomes close
to our lives in a hundred ways at home, in our business,
in our pleasure. He should direct and refine public taste,
and not lag behind it in this movement toward a higher
level.

Tue second growth of timber upon stump lands is being
investigated by the University of Minnesota, and the results
are to be published in a bulletin. Minnesota being the last
state in which White Pine is found in considerable quanti-
ties, it is the best available field for such a study, and it is
well that the work is begun before it is altogether too late.
It is much to be regretted that this study was not taken up
by the older states and in time to make plain the utility of
protecting the forests against fires from the beginning.

That American forests may be restocked as they are in
Europe by logging in such a manner as to provide with
certainty the necessary conditions for a second growth
there can be no doubt; but how far nature can be ex-
pected to restore forest growth under the methods of
lumbering now practiced, is quite another question, and
its answer will be awaited with interest. This work we
allude to has been placed in charge of Samuel B. Greene,
Professor of Horticulture and Forestry in the University,
with Mr. H. B. Ayres in the field.

Cedrus. Atlantica.

FEW months ago a view of a forest of the Mount

Atlas Cedar, in Algeria, was published in this journal
(vol. vill., p. 355), and our illustration on page 417 of this
issue shows in greater detail the trunk of two venerable
wind-swept Algerian Cedars. It is made from a photo-
graph taken last year by our correspondent, Monsieur
Maurice L. de Vilmorin, of Paris, to whose courtesy we
are indebted for the privilege of reproducing it.

Early Autumn in the Pines.

HE Pines are gorgeous with color now as the leaves
ripen, with no frost to mar or blacken them. The
Sassafras is among the first to show the deep dyes of scar-
let and crimson. Earlier in the season, while the leaves
were deep green, clusters of dark blue fruit, supported by
fleshy red pedicels, made it one of the most attractive trees
in the woods or in the garden. It becomes a good-sized,
shapely tree, and is handsome and fragrant the entire year,
and it is quite free from insect depredators. The only
difficulty we have to encounter in its cultivation is its lia-
bilitys# sucker, but with a little oversight it is easily kept
under subjegtion. The Sumachs, of which we have several
species, are rai aglow, of course. Rhus copallina, the dwarf

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 451.

Sumach, shows bronze-purple leaves surmounted with large
panicles of crimson fruit, while R. typhina, the Staghorn
Sumach, has bright scarlet leaves and yellow downy stems,
with crimson fruit ; like the Sassafras, this plant, too, suck-
ers badly in cultivation. The Poison Sumach, R. venenata,
is handsome in the distance, with whitish fruit hanging in
slender, drooping clusters beneath the rich color of its
leaves.

The Sweet Gum, or Liquidambar, is resplendent with
varying shades of color. Some of the trees have bronze-
purple or rich chocolate-colored leaves, others take on deep
crimson and scarlet hues, while still others are as yellow as
the Hickories, and each tree has its individual character so
far as autumn color is concerned, which it maintains year
after year. The round seed-pods sway on slender pedicels
from the corky-ridged branchlets, and, taken altogether, it
is one of our most interesting and beautiful trees at allsea-
sons. The Sour Gum. or Tupelo, is also a handsome tree,
almost uniformly with bright scarlet or crimson leaves, and
it holds its bluish, sour fruit daintily on the ends of the
twigs. The Swamp Maple, with red twigs and bright crim-
son leaves, is a conspicuous feature in all the damp places,
while the soft or White Maple is one of our least attractive
trees. Its branches break easily in a strong wind. and for
several years past the leaves have been attacked by a fun-
gus causing them to mature prematurely and fall early.
‘The Oaks are still mostly a bright green color, only here
and there are the leaves tipped with scarlet and crimson.

The Fringe-tree, Chionanthus, has been unusually hand-
some this season; all summer, beneath the large glossy,
leaves, the abundant fruit has hung in graceful, drooping
panicles, which have looked like small green-olives ; until
about a month past they have been deep purple, covered
with a soft bloom. The Flowering Dogwood, Cornus
florida, is very showy now with clusters of bright red fruit,
and two species of Viburnum are scarcely less so, one with
flat-topped cymes of dull red fruit, the other with abun-
dant purple fruit. Many other shrubs and vines are full of
fruit, which, with a litle judicious handling, would make
an autumnal garden more brilliant than the flowers of
summer. The Holly, with its attractive foliage and deep
red berries, remains all winter, as does the abundant scarlet
fruit of Ilex verticillata and I. leevigata. The shining black
fruit of the Inkberry, together with its evergreen foliage,
gives it a place among the shrubs that are ornamental in
winter, and the Bayberry, with gray iruit and partially per-
sistent leaves, belongs in the same company. The Ground-
sel-tree, Baccharis halimifolia, is now decorated with pure
white silky pappus, which remains a long time, and fairly
covering it, but the contrast is almost too sharp with the
brilliant color of other shrubs which surround it.

The more humble autumn flowers must not be over-
looked in all this wealth of color in trees and shrubs.
Great stretches of purple and gold meet the eye as it
turns from the dense woods to the countless array of
Golden-rod and Sunflowers, and Golden Asters (Chrysopsis
Marianna and C. falcata), together with hosts of the finest
species of Asters in the country. Among these are Aster
Novee-Angliz in varying shades of deep purple to rose, the
showy A. spectabilis and the stately A. puniceus. A.
nemoralis and A. concolor are also handsome, and many
more show occasional forms well worthy of cultivation.

But, after all, no garden looks more attractive than some
of the groups here of Nature's own making, although, if we
are wise observers, we may find hints for arranging forms
and color so as to produce rich effects. For example, here
is a dense background of Cedars along a sluggish stream
with lower deciduous trees in front, the mass of foliage
sloping downward gradually until it mingles with the
dwarf Huckleberry and other shrubs of the Heath family
only a foot or twoin height. Imagine this belt of varying
width, but always several rods across, and extending in a
sinuous unbroken line along the water-course, and you have
in autumn a picture of singular effectiveness.

Vineland, N. J. Mary Treat.

OcToBER 14, 1896.]

Changing Fashions in Flowers.

N a bright afternoon or evening, especially from De-
cember until after Easter, the florists’ windows are
conspicuous features of our fashionable business thorough-
fares. In the daytime these are arranged with reference
to the rays of the sun, anda walk on Broadway or some
of the avenues on almost any Saturday afternoon is likely
to show a judicious grouping of growing plants in the
sunniest parts of the windows, with the flowers effecti vely
sheltered among the luxuriant foliage. Some of the dis-
plays on ordinary days during the last year or two will be
remembered by every one who saw them for their original
and tasteful designs and their costly composition.

So common are these window arrangements that one
hardly remembers they were not always a part of the flo-
rists’ business, whereas hardly any attempt was made to
gain attention by tasteful and striking arrangement even
twenty-five years ago. Changes have occurred steadily in
the florists’ trade since 1830, when there were not more
than a dozen horticultural establishments in the entire
country, and marked characteristics of different periods
could be cited. But, to begin twenty-five years ago, hardly
one of the flowers now seen was then to be found in flo-
rists’ collections. Fuchsias and tuberoses were regular
stock in trade, and, their short stems pieced out with wires,
served no small part in close, motley bouquets. White
abutilons and double primulas were in high favor, plants
of double white Primroses sometimes commanding as much
as a dollar each. The once familiar Daphne odora has been
displaced for more fashionable blossoms, and Bouvardias,
a main reliance in all floral work, are now represented
only by a few of the newer varieties in small quantities.
Leaves and flowers of such commonplace plants as Trade-
scantia, Geraniums, Feverfew, Candytuft, Sweet Alyssum,
Mignonetteand Heliotrope were among those most generally
used. Stevia and Eupatorium gave something like lightness
to the dense and formal bouquets. Occasionally, some enter-
prising growers used the stately Eucharis Amazonica, and
Euphorbia jacquineflora and Chorozema varium were also
sold. . The dainty flowers of Lily-of-the-valley were seen
during a short season only, until some twenty years ago,
when the secret of hurrying the pips through an artificial
winter, and so bringing them into flower the year through,
was learned. The Ascension Lily, Lilium candidum, was
the only Lily then forced in any quantity, while Callas
were one of the most common and useful of winter flowers.
Standard varieties of Carnations, now but a memory, were
President de Grauw, Flatbush, Snowdon and Peerless, all
white; the carmine La Purité, the yellow variegated De
Fontaine and Astoria; Hinsdale, a fancy variegated, and
Crimson King. Until five years before this period, the now
universal practice of growing Carnations under glass in
winter was unknown. The flowers were nipped off at the
calyx, and those measuring an inch and a half across were
considered of the first size. Importers of some of the first
French Carnations seen in this country are still making the
cultivation of these flowers a specialty, and to their per-
sistent and intelligent experiments are due improvements,
such as better habit of plant, firm stem, perfect calyx, clear,
solid color, fragrance and keeping quality. Very few roses
were sold in winter, and none of the varieties of that time
are now grown for florists’ use. The old apricot-yellow
Safrano, the white Lamarque, with Gloire de Dijon, Maréchal
Niel. IsabellaSprunt, Bon Silene and Hermosa were favorites.
In Violets, Schonbrun and Neapolitan were fashionable.
A larger proportion of the Dutch bulbs imported were used
for forcing than now, when the most of them are planted
out-of-doors. Camellias were the choicest of all flowers,
and the most expensive bouquets contained only as many
of these waxy flowers as the number of dollars charged for
them. These formal, artificial-looking flowers are now
quite out of the trade, and gardenias, still plentifully grown
in England, have only a very limited call from travelers
who have cultivated a liking for them there. A few chrys-

Garden and Forest.

413

anthemums were sold in autumn, but they were the hardy
varieties which were grown out-of-doors, and no one then
dreamed that these flowers would be seen in such size and
variety as now when cultivated under glass.

It must not be inferred, because a greater variety of flow-
ers and plants are used now than a quarter of a century ago,
that the business of the florist of that day was an insignifi-
cant one. Perhaps as many flowers were sold in propor-
tion to the population then as now. In the prosperous
times which followed the war, expenditures for all luxuries
were lavish, andit was difficult for popular florists to secure
enough flowers for the demands of their customers. A
larger proportion of the flowers sold were used at funerals
than now. White blossoms were universally chosen for
this purpose, and not infrequently tufts of cotton tied to the
regulation toothpicks were made to do duty in wreaths and
crosses when enough carnations could not be had to finish
the piece. This fashion of flowers at funerals at last came
to be an annoyance, and on the death of a noted actor so
many floral tokens of grief were sent to the bereaved family
that they filled the house and flowed out over the sidewalks.
Of course, such an unwise practice could not endure long
in a sane community, and the excess was corrected by the
notice, ‘‘no flowers,” which soon began to appear in the
announcements of funerals.

The change which has taken place in the material used
is no greater than the revolution in the manner of arrang-
ing it. In the sixties, baskets were made solid with moss
held in by a mesh of wires, into which the short-stemmed
flowers were thrust. During the holidays a large basket
might contain one or two heads of poinsettia, a few camel-
lias, and perhaps some rosebuds, filled in with Stevia and
eupatorium, and edged with leaves of Cissus discolor or
Croton. Leaves of Begonia Rex were also pressed into use
for variety. In smaller baskets two or three camellias were
used with the ordinary filling, and perhaps the bracts of
poinsettias were placed regularly around the border. Snug
hemispherical bouquets were constructed in the same
motley fashion, with Geranium leaves or Sword Ferns for
edging, and sometimes a stand of these compact affairs,
stood in damp moss, was to be seen in florists’ shops, the
prices rated in proportion to size. As an example of the
lavish use of flowers, it may be said that quite elaborate
baskets, costing two or three dollars each, were not infre-
quently given as favors at private balls, three or four hun-
dred of them being used on a single occasion.

The growing of Ferns as an article of commerce has
developed entirely within the past twenty-five years, and
this marks, perhaps, one of the most striking changes in
the business. The table ferneries, now used so generally,
were then unknown, and fronds of Ferns which are now
indispensable in almost every floral arrangement, and
which are considered sufficiently delicate to go with the
most refined flowers, were never used. The change can
hardly be appreciated by one who sees whole houses given
up to the growing of Adiantums and other choice Ferns to
be used exclusively for cutting. Of course, in private col-
lections there were some choice varieties of Palms, but
these plants, which are now grown by the thousand and
which make the basis of display for every festal occasion,
were almost unknown in the trade.

Altogether, this great change has, as a rule, been in
the direction of refinement and simplicity. Instead of
formal bouquets, loose, long-stemmed flowers are now used
for gifts, although there seems something barbarous in the
passion for mere size which is shown in giant chrysanthe-
mums and dahlias. Nevertheless, the whole tendency is
in the direction of a purer taste and a more genuine art.

The formal designs are much less common, and the use
of such flowers as Coreopsis, Rudbeckias, Helianthus and
other native wildings is becoming general. Recalling the

changes which have gone steadily on during the past quar-
ter of a century, one wonders how the florists’ shops will
look in 1925.

ae M. B.C

New York.

414

Foreign Correspondence.

London Letter.

ACALYPHA SANDERIANA.—This is a new species of Acalypha
which Messrs. F. Sander & Co. have introduced from New
Guinea and flowered recently in their nursery at St. Albans.
It forms a sturdy bush, with ovate-acuminate dentate dark
green leaves, from the axils of which are developed long
finger-like, drooping spikes of rich crimson flowers, not
unlike the flowers of Amarantus hypochondriacus (Love-
lies-bleeding). It is unlike all other cultivated species of
Acalypha, the attractions in which are those of leaf varie-
gation. Iam told by one who has seen the plant growing
in the tropics that the flower-spikes are sometimes nearly
a foot long, and as they are developed profusely all down
the stems, a well-grown specimen when in flower ought to
be both novel and picturesque. Messrs, Sander & Co. intend
to include it among their novelties next year.

Potyconum Batpscuuanicum.—This is a climbing species
with the habit of the common Bindweed, fleshy cordate
leaves two to four inches long, and long, elegant branched
panicles of white and rose-colored flowers. It is grown in
the open air at Kew, where it is supported by a few pea-
rods, upon which it has formed a thick tangle of stems
and leaves, and it has been flowering freely for the past
two months. It stood the cold of last winter without pro-
tection, but even should it prove tender it is well worth the
little trouble necessary to keep it from year to year. It
ripens seeds freely and may be propagated from cuttings.
For its introduction we are indebted to the late Dr. Regel,
who obtained it from Bokhara, in Turkestan, about twelve
years ago. In general characters it resembles Boussin-
gaultia baselloides rather than Polygonum. A figure of it
will shortly be published in Zhe Botanical Magazine.

ANGELONIA SALICARI#FOLIA.—This is a pretty summer-
flowering herbaceous perennial of easy culture, and suita-
ble either for summer bedding or for cultivation in pots in
the conservatory. It forms a compact little bush about a
foot high, with opposite ovate-lanceolate toothed leaves
about three inches long and terminal erect racemes six
inches long, clothed with bract-like leaves and stalked
bilabiate flowers an inch across, colored purple-blue, with
a few reddish spots in the throat. It is easily propagated
from cuttings, and nice plants can be grown in six months
on a shelf ina warm greenhouse. ‘This year some plants
have been tried in the open air at Kew and have proved
quite a success. Iam told that in some parts of India this
species is popular asa bedding plant. It is a native of
Guiana, whence it was introduced into England about
seventy years ago. Angelonia is closely related to Alonsoa.

Satvras.—The following half-dozen species are valuable
bedding plants for autumn effect. They are propagated
from cuttings struck in heat in early spring and grown on
until June, when they are planted in large beds on a lawn
in a sunny position, where they grow into bushes three or
four feet high and develop their flowers in September. A
few years ago all the species of Salvia obtainable were
grown at Kew, and from them these six species were selected
as being most suitable for ornamental gardening : S. splen-
dens forms a dense leafy bush and bears erect terminal
racemes of bright scarlet flowers ; also a most useful plant
when grown in pots with Chrysanthemums and brought
into flower in a sunny greenhouse in October. 8S.
involucrata (Bethellii), a very sturdy grower, with dark
green leaves, the midrib and petiole colored red, and
the erect racemes six inches long, crowded with large
flowers of a rose-red color. The buds are enclosed in
large bracts, forming a conical-like head, hence the
name; also a good winter-flowering plant for pot-culti-
vation. S. azurea (Pitcheri) forms an elegant shrub four
feet high, with linear leaves and long terminal spikes
of azure-blue flowers. S. patens, a well-known garden
plant, though not much grown nowadays; its stems are
very soft, about two feet high, and the elegant spikes con-
tinue in flower for months, the large gentian-blue flowers

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 451.

being most attractive. A mass of this species in a good
position on a lawn is one of the most effective beds in the
garden. 5S, coccinea is a sturdy grower, four feet high,
with hastate, rich green foliage and erect spikes a foot long
bearing whorls of bright scarlet flowers. S$. Grahami forms
a thick bush two feet high, with soft, green, apple-scented,
ovate leaves and short racemes of rich carmine-red flowers.
These six species grown together in a large bed produce a
rich effect which continues till the frost ends them.

STERNBERGIA LUTEA.—I ought certainly to have included
this in my notes on autumn-flowering bulbous plants (see
page 374). It is now flowering freely in several borders
here, and the rich canary-yellow of its large Crocus-like
flowers is most pleasing. Although an old garden plant
and quite hardy, at any rate in the warmer parts of Eng-
land, it is rarely seen, and, even where grown, a small
patch of it in the rock-garden is considered sufficient. In
my opinion it is one of the prettiest and most useful of all
autumn-flowering hardy bulbous plants, and if not already
popular with you it deserves to be. The bulbs, which
should be planted six inches deep, are like those of the
Daffodil ; the shining green, strap-shaped leaves are devel-
oped along with the flowers, and the flowers are erect, four
inches high, the upper portion being divided into six ovate
concave segments, forming a cup two inches across. The
plant is common in the Mediterranean region. Sternbergia
macrantha is as large again in flower and appears to be
quite as hardy. It is still rare in gardens.

Crocus sprciosus is the largest and most attractive of all
the autumn-flowering species ; it is also easily established
in sunny grass-clothed banks, and, unlike many bulbs
recommended for such positions, it comes up year after
year with increased vigor. Quantities have thus been
established in the wild garden and similar positions at Kew,
where for the past fortnight they have made a fine display
of bright purple. Bulb growers among the nurserymen
here are alive to the value of this plant, and some of them
now possess large stocks of it. Another species of almost
equal value as an autumn-flowering bulb of easy culture
is C. zonatus, which has pale purple flowers as large as
those of C. speciosus. These two species are natives of
Asia Minor, where they are met with in some localities im
enormous quantities. Bulb growers ought to endeavor to
induce these two to throw color varieties by means of cul-
tivation and selection from seeds, °

Sunrtowers and Michaelmas Daisies in the Arboretum
add a rich note of color in the autumn when planted in
large breadths in positions where they will tell. At Kew
large masses of them are grouped among the Pines, Cedars,
etc., in and about the margins of plantations, and they now
give life and color just where it was most needed. The
perennial Helianthuses, such as H. maximus and H.
rigidus, and any of the autumn-flowering Asters are quite
at home in such positions. They are not planted in formal
beds, but in irregular groups, the ground being first broken
up and manured in spring and the plants put in somewhat
thickly. After this they practically take care of themselves.
Anemone Japonica is also most appropriate for uses of this
kind, as also are the Solidagos. Roses and Pzeonies serve
a similar purpose for spring effects. W. Watson.

London. ee

The first frosts which bring death to much tender herbage
introduce no discord into the natural landscape. There is
never a greater expression of unity in nature than there is at
this restful season of the year when every shrub and tree is
waiting for the fall of the leaf and the silence and sepulture of
winter, It is not so with most garden landscapes, for where
the plants are killed outright they leave such a blackness and
such a picture of death that all unity is destroyed. Last spring
some Cannas were introduced ina park among some shrubs
with exuberant, almost tropical foliage, to bring in a dash of
color and differences of form, but the first frost blackened the
Cannas and ruined the effect of the group fora full month, It
is a mistake to use tender plants for massing with hardy ones.
Our autumns are long and we cannot afford to have their
beauty marred by any such violation of the spirit of restfulness
and peace which pervades its landscapes.—Sailey,

te be

OCTOBER 14, 1896.)

New or Little-known Plants.
Berberis Nevinii.

UR figure of this shrub, which is presented below,
will, perhaps, serve to call attention to an exceed-
ingly rare and little-known plant of which the fruit has not
been collected, and which may be expected to be a most
desirable inhabitant of the gardens of temperate countries.
Berberis Nevinii* belongs to the section Mahonia of the
genus, and is described by Mr. Nevin, who discovered it
several years ago on a sandy plain.near Los Angeles, Cali-
fornia, as a shrub seven or eight feet tall. The leaves are
composed of from three to seven oblong-lanceolate, spinu-
lose-serrate, obscurely reticulated leaflets, often nearly an
inch long, and are rather shorter than the loose racemes of
yellow flowers. Information with regard to this very hand-
some and distinct plant and a supply of ripe fruit are
especially desired by the director of the Arnold Arboretum,

Fig. 54.—Berberis Neyinii.

Plant Notes.

BaccHaris HALIMIFOLIA.—A large vase filled with flowering
sprays of the Groundsel-tree, Baccharis halimifolia, was an
interesting feature at the American Institute flower show
last week. On the New Jersey seacoast this shrub
becomes a real tree, ten or fifteen feet high, and with a
trunk three or four inches through, being the only member
of the great family of Compositee which attains to this dis-
tinction in our flora. The flower-heads are not large or
showy, for they have not the conspicuous ray florets which
distinguish our Asters, Sunflowers and other members of
the family, but they are very abundant, and since they
appear in early October, when no other shrub is in bloom,
B. halimifolia has distinct merits as a flowering plant. This
is especially true of the pistillate plants, for the fertile and
sterile flowers are borne on separate individuals. The fertile
flowers are much the more showy with their white tufts of
long thread-like corollas, and as late as December the
plants are covered with a gray pappus which is quite as
showy as the flowers. The Groundsel-tree takes well to
cultivation, and with attention it becomes a better plant
than it is inthe wild state. In good soil it becomes acom-
pact bush or low tree, and its green leaves persist until
winter fairly begins.

* Robinson, Syx. Fl. N. Am.,i., pt. i., 69 (1895).

Garden and Forest.

415

Irts JApontca. —This plant, generally known as Iris Sinensis
or I. fimbriata, is an Asiatic species which has been in cul-
tivation many years in greenhouses. It may possibly be
hardy, but as it flowers in the late autumn and winter it
should be grown under protection and where slight heat
may be given whenit flowers. This is a crested Iris, and is
classed in the same subgenus, Evansia, as our native spe-
cies, I. lacustris and I. cristata. It has thin, sword-shaped
leaves, one foot or more long, an inch broad and some-
what lax. Strong plants produce stems furnished with
many flowers, which make a true raceme. The flowers
appear in succession, and are some three or more inches in
diameter. In color they are a beautiful delicate mauve,
very similar in tone to those of I. cristata. They have a
distinct crest and yellow markings at the throat, and the
falls are finely crisped. It is altogether a charming plant
and worthy of a place in the choicest private collections.
It does not seem to be always successfully grown, but Mr.
Gerard has recently sent to this office some per-
fect flowers. His method of culture is simple.
It is repotted after flowering in good sound loam,
rather light, but rich, and well supplied with water
as it makes growth. He gives it moderate shade,
as its habit seems to indicate.

Cultural Department.
Notes on New Roses.

N° Rose in recent years has been so widely adver-
tised and and so highly praised as the Crimson
Rambler. It has been offzred forsale in every hamlet
in this part of Massachusetts by the agent of some
nursery firm, and every cottager has had the chance
to plant the new févorite in his garden. Owing to
skillful advertising and brilliant pictures it has had
an unusual sale. Many who purchased it were led
to believe that it would produce bouquets of a hun-
dred or more blossoms to a shoot the first season,
and they were naturally disappointed when it did not
beara solitary flower. Crimson Rambler is certainly
a valuable introduction, but, like all new plants of
merit, it has been too highly lauded. With us it has
proved perfectly hardy, and a temperature of ten
degrees below zero did not kill it back in the least
last winter. Plants set out last year bloomed satis-
factorily in June and have made excellent growth
during the present season. Young plants set out in
three-inch pots at the end of May now have stout
shoots from three to five feet in length and ought to
do well next year. Last July I saw a splendid stock
of this Rose at the nurseries of the introducer, Mr. Charles
Turner, of Slough, England. Two hedges of it five feet
in height and of proportionate thickness were a magnifi-
cent sight. I counted shoots carrying from one hundred
and fifty to two hundred and fifty flowers each, and this
was in a dry season. Some growers in England have
found it makes an excellent climber. At a large private
place in one of the northern counties a wall twelve feet
in height was for some distance covered with it and it was
blooming profusely. It makes a good companion for such
old favorites as William Allen Richardson, Gloire de Dijon,
Reine Marie Henriette, Devoniensis, Maréchal Niel and
Lamarque. Thecapabilities of this Rose asa pot plant were
well demonstrated by the superb specimens shown by Mr. Jack-
son Dawson, of the Arnold Arboretum, at the spring show of
the Massachusetts Horticultural Society last March. One or
two florists of my acquaintance have grown batches in pots
and will endeavor to have them in flower for next Easter.
Nicely flowered plants ought to be in demand for that season.

Lord Penzance’s hybrid Sweetbriers have had a large sale,
both in America and Great Britain. They are apparently even
more vigorous than Crimson Rambler, and the foliage of all
the kinds I have grown is quite as sweet-scented as that of the
old Sweetbrier. They appear to be perfectly hardy in this
section, and a friend in Minnesota says they survived a tem-
perature there of twenty-five degrees below zero. Occasional
complaints were heard in England about their not flowering
freely. In the south of Scotland I saw, toward the end of July,
shoots of the current season's growth from six to nine feet in
height, so there can be no question about their vigor. The

416

flowers are pleasing and cover quite a range of colors. The
bright scarlet hips which follow the flowers are also highly
ornamental. The more recent introductions of this class are
specially fine. Lucy Bertram is a beautiful rich crimson with
pure white centre; Jeannie Deans is crimson scarlet, semi-
double, and flowers in clusters; Green Mantle, bright rich
pink, with a band of white encircling the anthers, is also pretty ;
Catherine Seyton isa pleasing tint of rosy pink; Julie Mauver-
ing is a lovely porcelain pink, and Minna a pure white of large
size. All these are decided acquisitions and should become
popular when procurable at a reasonable price.

Among the newer hybrid Tea Roses, Belle Siebrecht bids
fair to become extremely popular. It was extensively planted
for forcing during the past season by many of our leading
Rose growers. It is too soon yet to have their opinion of its
merits, but it is expected to rank high during the coming
winter. Madame Abel Chatenay, sent out by Pernet-Ducher,
is a new hybrid Tea of real merit. The flowers are full, the
buds spiral in form, rosy carmine in color, shaded with ver-
milion-rose and tinged with salmon, Souvenir de President
Carnot, also raised by Pernet-Ducher, is much atter the style
of the old Niphetos, with a stiff, erect habit. The buds
are long, color of flower rosy flesh, shaded with white.
Beauté Lyonnaise, from the same French hybridist, is a very
large and full white Rose of stout, erect growth. The flower
is slightly, but pleasingly, tinted with pale salmon. In Mr.
Turner's nurseries these three Roses are being largely propa-
gated, and are highly thought of, and they certainly seem
likely to be better known in the near future. Mrs. W. C.
Whitney, another comparatively new but well-known hybrid
Tea, has also been generally planted this year. A few plants
we have look very promising. The buds are long and of
extra-large size; the flowers are of a beautiful cream-pink
shade, and they hold theircolor well in winter, ‘hose who
handled it last winter speak highly of Mrs. Pierpont Morgan,
and it has received certificates wherever shown. It is a sport
from Madame Cusin, but is a much stronger grower than the
parent and produces larger flowers, which are of an intense
rose-pink shade, with a rich Tes fragrance. I recently saw a
bench of this variety which showed remarkable vigor. It is
said to be a profuse bloomer, even in the dullest winter months,
and it ought to be a decided acquisition.

Marchioness of Londonderry gives promise of being a high-
class hybrid Perpetual. It has made vigorous growth here
during the past season and has not mildewed at all. It isa
welcome addition to the white-flowering section. Clio, which
is something after the style of the ever-popular Baroness
Rothschild, also seems likely to be valuable. The flowers are
flesh-color, shaded rosy pink toward the centre. Marchioness
of Devonshire, satin-pink in color, is also good. Two of
Dickson’s new varieties, Helen Keller and Mavourneen, as
seen last July, are very fine. The first-named is a beautiful
rosy cerise color, while Mavourneen is a delicate, silvery flesh-
white, shaded with rose. Bothare said to be of vigorous habit.
Mrs. R. G. Sharman Crawford has not made very good growth
here. This Rose is of a rich rosy pink shade, the centre petals
pale in color and white at the base. None of the newer intro-
ductions approach Mrs, John Laing in all-round excellence.
It is a fine autumnal bloomer, and every shoot has a flower on
it. “Here it has given us many fine flowers during September.
It is much to be regretted that so few Roses of the hybrid
Perpetual class give us any flowers except for a couple of

weeks in June. '
Taunton, Mass. W.N. Craig.

Flower Garden Notes.

Cisse to protracted rains, the outdoor garden is less
attractive than we ever remember to have seen it at this
season. Asters, Boltonias, Silphiums and Pyrethrum uligi-
nosum, which ought to be making a superb display, are but a
sorry spectacle, and the only really bright thing we have is the
Scarlet Sage, Salvia splendens, and a few Zinnias. These were
planted where the first frost could not touch them, and it is
surprising how much influence neighboring trees can exercise
in keeping off the earliest frosts that usually blight the tender-
est plants.

It has not been safe in past years to lift plants or roots from
a permanent border in theautumn months; there are so many
things that are invisible above the soil at this season, that it is
wise to defer thinning out until spring, when all are appearing
above ground. If, however, it is desirable to add plants to
make losses good, or, even to remodel altogether, it is always
best to do as much as possible now betore the soil loses its
warmth and while it is well moistened down to a good depth.

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 451.

As soon as all border plants have died off or turned yellow,
so that they can be cut down, we shall add the annual top-
dressing of well-decayed leaf-mold, putting it on to a depth of
at least four inches all over the beds. This makes a good pro-
tective covering as well as a fertilizer, and brings in far fewer
weeds than stable litter. At this season it is economy to save
every leaf that can be gathered and heap them for future use ;
it takes two years for them to decay thoroughly, and a turning
over once or twice a year will materially hasten the decompo-
sition. If lime be not present in the natural soil of the locality,
it will be well to add it to the heap as it is turned over; it will
also help the process and add to the value of the whole as a
fertilizer, but care must be taken not to use any of the com-
post for Ericaceous plants, such as Rhododendrons, Kalmias,
Ericas, Andromedas or other allied plants, for lime is poison
to the roots of all such. Many have found how difficult it is to
cultivate these plants on a limestone formation. In this sec-
tion no limestone is in the rock formation, so that an applica-
tion of lime is a help to soils that are under cultivation tor any
length of time.

We have already lifted and replanted all the Narcissus-bulbs.
This was the year to separate the clumps that had been grow-
ing larger than was good for the best results, and all have been
replanted again. It is not too late to do this work now, but it
is not safe to defer much longer, because the roots are in
active growth soon after the fall rains set in. A light mulch
over all when planted will keep out a lot of frost and induce a
strong growth this fall, which will greatly improve the display
next year, besides acting as a fertilizer for such annuals as are
used in the borders.

Some recent exhibits of Salpiglossis before the Massachu-
setts Horticultural Society have enlightened many as to their
value for summer-border use; there seems to be a great ad-
vance made lately with this beautiful annual. It 1s also a
mistake to plant the seeds in the greenhouse, for the young
plants do not like transplanting, and thrive well when sown
where they are to bloom; the colors are very beautiful in the
softness and delicate marking. The Salpiglossis is among the
best of garden annuals for house decoration when the flowers
are cut and used in vases, and they last well.

Any plants that are needed for propagating, if herbaceous,
should be lifted soon and stored in boxes in cold frames until
March, when they may be put into a warm greenhouse and
cuttings made of the young shoots. Most herbaceous plants
root freely in this way, and soen make strong plants to set out
in spring. This is the best way to increase the finer forms of
garden Phlox, Veronicas, Helianthus, Campanulas, Lychnis
and the like.

Bulbs of tender plants must be taken up as soon as the tops
are browned by frost; Gladioluses, Cannas and Montbretias
may be laid out to dry for a few days before storing in the
winter quarters. We put the Gladiolus corms in bags and sus-
pend them ina cool cellar; Cannas seem to need a warmer
place. A temperature never less than forty-five is best suited for
them, or many will be lost from damp and decay.

EON Oppers

South Lancaster, Mass.

Some Little-known Plants.

(eer ROSEA, a pretty little native species, has been

in flower in this garden for the past six weeks. It grows
about a foot high, with branching stems and opposite linear
leaves from one to two inches in length. The flowers are
some half an inch in diameter and freely produced if it has a
sunny position in the hardy-plant border. It is a perennial and
easily propagated by seeds, flowering the first year if the
seeds are sown early in the greenhouse and the young plants
grown on,

Tylophora aristolochioides is a rapid-growing twining plant,
with opposite oblanceolate leaves from four to six inches long
by two wide, Itis anative of Japan and belongs to the Milk-
weed family. It has not yet lowered in this garden, but if it
proves hardy it will make a useful plant for climbing porches,
etc. T.sublanceolata, var. obtusata, is a diminutive twining
plant, growing only about two feet high, with small opposite
leaves and cymes of small, brownish purple flowers. It is also
a native of Japan. Both species do well ina sunny position,
but of the two species T. aristolochioides is by far the better.

Hydrocotyle Asiatica is a low-growing umbelliferous plant,
with leaves so like the common Violet that the plants are often
mistaken for Violets. The flowers are inconspicuous, being
very small, dull pink in color and almost sessile on the creep-
ing stems. If it proves hardy, which is not probable, it may be
used with good effect in some positions in the rock garden.
H. moschata is a much more diminutive species, growing

Se a ee es STO

OCTOBER 14, 1896.]

only about three inches high, but it forms a perfect carpet of
its pretty leaves, which are also reniform, but with lobed edges.
It is a native of New Zealand, and of the two species I consider
this one the better.

Calandrinia longiscapa is a Chilian species of this genus. It
grows toa height of eighteen inches, with branching stems.
The fleshy leaves are opposite, oblanceolate in outline, three
inches long by one anda half wide. The small pink flowers
are borne on rather long terminal panicles, and, like other
members of the Purslane family to which it belongs, opening
only in bright sunlight. After flowering it produces small,
globular, scarlet seed-vessels, which are rather attractive.

Cucubalus baccifer is a trailing plant with stems a yard long
oppositely branched at intervals of two inches, each branch

Fig. 55.—Cedrus Atlantica.—See page 412.

being about six inches long. The almost sessile leaves are
opposite, lanceolate in outline and slightly hairy. The flowers
are borne singly on short peduncles, with petals small and
white, but a pretty cup-shaped, persistent calyx, which makes
them attractive. Itis anative of northern Asia and belongs
to the Pink family.

Clitoria heterophylla, although a native of the tropics, does
well planted out in a partially shaded position, and has been in
flower for the past month in this garden. Like many of the
Leguminosz to which it belongs, it is of low, straggling habit.
The leaves are all pinnate, alternately disposed on the stems.
The leaflets are small, and, as the specific name indicates, of
two forms, some being round, while the others are best de-
scribed as panduriform. The flowers are of a beautiful azure-

Garden and Forest.

417

blue color inside, and white outside. The shape of the flower
differs from the Pea in having the petal called the standard
below instead of above. It is easily propagated by seeds.

Coronilla scorpioides is a low, straggling annual with stems
a foot and a half long. The almost sessile trifoliate leaves are
alternately disposed on the stems. The leaflets are ovate, the
terminal ones larger than the side leaflets, being one inch long
by three-quarters wide. They are glaucous and of a bluish
green color. The small yellow flowers are borne on short
peduncles in the axils of the leaves. They closely resemble
the flowers of Scorpiurus, and the fruit has a tendency to
mimicry of some insect, as Scorpiurus does. It is a native of
Persia, and is easily raised from seeds sown in the open border.

Basella rubra is a trailing plant belonging to the Goosefoot
. family. The leaves are somewhat fleshy,
oblanceolate in outline, three inches long by
two wide. The flowers do not apparently
open, but the little pink buds, which are dis-
posed on small spikes, sessile in the axils of
the leaves, are very pretty. Though it does
well in an open position in the hardy plan-
border, it is a very pretty subject for a hang-
ing basketina warm greenhouse. It st a
native of India, where it is known as Malabar
Nightshade. It is readily propagated either
by seeds or cuttings.

Stachytarpheta Indica is a shrubby annual
belonging to the Vervain family, and grows
about two feet in height. The oblong lanceo-
late leaves are three inches long by one and
a haif wide with coarsely serrated edges ;
they are blotched with a peculiar bluish green
color, which gives the plant a somewhat
distinct appearance. The small, deep blue
flowers are on spikes about six inches long,
and continue neaily all summer. It is a
native of the West Indies. S.mutabilis is a
much coarser-growing species, with large
opposite leaves four to six inches long by
three wide, The flowers are borne on ter-
minal spikes; they are also small, but of a
rosy pink color. The plants do not flower
till October, and if grown in the open border
they must be lifted and placed in a warm
greenhouse to flower; at least, this is our
experience with the plant. Itis a native of
South America, and Nicholson’s Dictionary
of Gardening says ‘‘ the leaves have been im-
ported into England for adulterating tea-
leaves.” It is synonymous with Verbena
mutabilis. Ledward F. Canning.

Botanic Garden, Northampton, Mass.

Asplenium ebeneum,

HIS is one of our most attractive Ferns at

this season when the foliage about it
drops away and the dainty fronds which
have been half-hidden through the summer
are again unveiled. Wesometimes find them
by the roadside in a tangle of Brier or other
wayside shrubbery, but always on high
ground, in light soil, in proximity of rocks
and stones. There is no mistaking this
Fern for any other species or variety, for
botanical limitations of dimension are closely
followed. The tronds are from nine to
eighteen inches high and rarely exceed or
reach the width of an inch. The stripe is
black and glossy and the fertile fronds very
erect.

If the arrangement of the auricled pinnz seems too precise,
this defectis countervailed by the graceful spread of the curving
sterile fronds around the base of the plant. For indoor cul-
ture through the winter this Fern is excellent, whether grown
in pots, boxes or under glass. It especially delights in birch-
bark baskets, and is much more attractive when thus arranged ;
but, in any case, the roots should be placed againstsmall stones
and native soil supplied if possible. Plants for cultivation
must be intelligently selected, for if the indusia have dis-
charged their spores, decay of the fronds is but a natural
sequence; if, on the other hand, the indusium is intact, such
fronds may be relied upon to hold their own until new fronds
appear in early spring. But if all the fronds are broken off,
atter a little rest entire new growth will appear, which, if lacl-

418

ing in the stamina given by open-air exposure, far exceeds
such growth in grace and delicacy. Overwatering is disas-
trous, and it must always be borne in mind that in the cultiva-
tion of Ferns but little water is needed, except in the case
of Bog Ferns.

Under glass, Asplenium ebeneum is counted among stand-
ard Ferns; so secure is it of this position that it indulges in all
manner of freaks. A branching rachis is not uncommon, and
fronds appear with the pinne of A. Trichomanes promiscu-
ously intermingled with its own. The collector must be
cautious if he would preserve his specimens unbroken, for
brittleness is a marked characteristic of A. ebeneum, espe-

cially of the fertile fronds.
Pittsford Mills, Vt. G. A. Woolson.

Correspondence.

Fertilizers for Orchards.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—Wili you state in your journal what is the best fertilizer
for Apple-trees. I have no adequate supply of stable-manure,
and must buy chemicals. LRB

41. fl. .

Bloomfield, N. J.

{No categorical answer can be given to questions of this
sort unless one has definite information about this particu-
lar orchard upon such points as the character and condition
of the soil, whether the trees are young or old, vigorous or
feeble. Every fruit grower, and, indeed, every farmer who
uses commercial fertilizers, ought to know something of the
general principles which underlie the use of these sub-
stances. It should be understood that Apple and other
orchard fruit trees need certain mineral elements, and
since they grow slowly they can be treated with such
substances as leather waste, horn refuse, tobacco-stems
and other slowly decomposing manures ; but, of course, in
the application of such manure, and, indeed, of any manure,
some definite system must be. followed. No better fer-
tilizer for fruit-trees can be used, as a rule, than one part of
muriate of potash and one and a half parts of ground bone.
Wood-ashes or cotton-hull ashes may be used in place of
the muriate to furnish potash if they can be cheaply ob-
tained. Manures which are highly soluble will be proba-
bly washed out of the soil before they are all utilized by
the tree, and, therefore, large applications of nitrate of soda
are not to be used. It should be remembered, however,
that the soil should be in good mechanical condition—that
is, not too open nor too compact, not too wet nor too dry—
if any fertilizer is to have its best effect. Above all, never
apply any fertilizer whatever until you have looked at the
whole subject with sufficient care to enable you to devise
some intelligent system which can be persisted in. In
Farmers’ Bulletin No. 44, issued not long since by the
Department of Agriculture, Professor Voorhees states clearly
and succinctly some of the foundation truths in regard to
fertilizers which every cultivator ought to know. One who
carefully follows the directions here laid down is not likely
to commit any serious error.—Ep. |

Two Rare Ferns—Asplenium Bradleyi and
Trichomanes radicans.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—I went, early in July, to the place where Professors
Shaler, Procter and Hussey camped for three months while
making the survey of Edmonson County, Kentucky, in 1875.
I wanted to note any changes in the flora since Professor
Hussey’s report was made, and I found many. The forests,
when he wrote, were much older than the so-called ‘‘ barrens”
of the neighboring counties, especially of Barren County, as
once they had escaped the forest-fires kindled elsewhere by the
Indians. In the deep gulches cut by Nolin and Bear Creeks, the
extremes of heat and cold are greatly modified, and protec-
tion is furnished to many species of plants not tound else-
where. Most of the larger trees are now being rapidly cut for
cross-ties, and the ridges following Green River and its tribu-
tary streams have been denuded of their many large Chestnut
Oaks, Chestnuts, Tulip and White Walnut trees, and still the
work goes on. This, of course, has affected the undergrowth.
Along the wooded road on top the sandstone ridge I find only

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 451.

a few plants where I expected many, and under the ciiffs the
change is noticeable.

It is in this part of Edmonson County, on both sides of
Nolin River, that the new, or rather the European, Mullein, Ver-
bascum phlomoides (found, so far as known, nowhere else
in the United States) made its appearance two years ago. It
is being rapidly exterminated by the officers of the experiment
station. One noble rock—Dismal Rock—is over three hundred
feet high,a grand perpendicular wall with a seam orcrevice not
over three feet wide at the top and less than six inches at the
base, open as clean as if cut with a knife. Its base is covered
with the Umbrella Tree, Kalmia and a few large Hemlocks and
Jersey Pine. On the face of the rock were fine plants of
Asplenium montanum and a few A. pinnatifidum.

The point ot interest to me was the place where Professor
Hussey for the first time in this state found Asplenium Brad-
leyi. [found it in Warren County in 1892. It was still grow-
ing there, under a high projecting rock at the head of one of
the small streams. I counted more than fitty plants, though
I could not bring myself to gather more than two or three roots,
and, perhaps, a hundred fronds. Many of the plants are dead,
and I think the days of the others are numbered.

The forests near have been so cleared out, the land up to
the ravine on either side is now in cultivation, and it seems
only a question of time when many of the Ferns here will
disappear. This rare Fern is scattered over the face of the
high cliff, from base to summit. Its only companions were
Asplenium Trichomanes, in numbers, and A. pinnatifidum.
I gathered the last mentioned and A. Bradleyi from the same
crevice, their roots interlocked.

I found a fine lot of Trichomanes radicans in Warren County
this summer, growing under a sandstone cliff in constant
moisture, and also found it in Edmonson County in three dif-
ferent places. There were but few plants growing at these
latter places, however, and I presume these, too, will soon dis-
appear. The loss of shade about its favorite haunts will, no
doubt, prove fatal. Itis a beautiful object, growing under a
cliff, often in darkness, with the moisture trickling through the
rocks, each point of leaflet and bristle bearing a tiny drop of
water, like a miniature yellow diamond. The Ferns in com-
pany were Asplenium Trichomanes, a Moss (not yet deter-
mined), while Neri it grew Dryopteris marginalis and an

asional Asplenium pinnatifidum.
onewling Green, ky. : Sadie F. Price.

The Forest.
The Burma Teak Forests.—XI.

VALUE OF PROFESSIONALLY TRAINED OFFICERS.

HE idea of using the flowering of the Bamboo in order to
form Teak plantations [ had lonz entertained, but the credit

of having started this work upon a large scale belongs to Mr.
Berthold Ribbentrop, the present Inspector-General of forests
in India. In speaking of military officers I have purposely
dwelt upon the excellent work done under good guidance by
men who had not had the advantage of a special professional
training. This was in the early days of forest administration
in India, when the work was of a more simple nature and
when professional questions had not attained prominence.
After I had completed seven years’ work in Burma and had
during three years more endeavored to promote the develop-
nent of the work in other provinces, I came to the conclusion
that further progress was not possible without the introduction
of men with a thorough professional training. I will not detain
the readers of GARDEN AND FOREST by an account of the man-
ner in which I succeeded in overcoming the objections: which
at that time were raised nearly on all sides against- this
measure, As stated in a late article in this paper, I obtained
permission to organize a system of professional training of a
number of young Englishmen to be sent out annually—some
to be trained in France, others in Germany—and I succeeded
in securing the services of two young forest officers from Ger-
many, Dr. Schlich, the author of the excellent JZanual of For-
estry repeatedly noticed in the pages of GARDEN AND FOREST,
who succeeded me as Inspector-General of Forests in 1883,
and who is now at the head of the Coopers Hill Forest School,
and Mr. Ribbentrop, who had worked under Forest Director
Burckhardt at Hanover, one of the most eminent foresters of
the presentcentury. Working in the spirit of his great teacher,
Mr. Ribbentrop, succeeded in devising cultural operations
intended to increase the proportion of Teak in the forest ina
variety of ways, among others by dibbling in Teak-seed in
places where the Bamboo had flowered. These operations
have been steadily continued, and now form some of the

OcTOBER 14, 1896.]

measures regularly adopted in order to improve the produc-
tiveness of the Burma Teak forests.

FUTURE YIELD OF TEAK PLANTATIONS,

In 1894 the following areas had been stocked with Teak on
plantations and by means of cultural operations. Under
toungya plantations the figures here given include a certain
area (2,701 acres) on which Teak was planted, mixed with
Cutch (Acacia catechu). The areas planted with Cutch pure
(366 acres) have been omitted, since the present communica-
tion is intended chiefly to give an account of the Teak forests :

Regular plantations, 3.996 acres.

Toungya plantations, . . 31,287 1

Cultural operations, . . Bes) ss
39,006“

The annual yield of these areas will eventually constitute an
important addition to the yield of the natural torests. What
has been stated will have made it clear that these areas, when
mature, will not be stocked with pure Teak. Bamboos and
other trees will spring up and will torm an important constit-
uent of the mature forest. But even where Teak may pre-
dominate in the growing stock, as will be the case in regular
plantations established in places easy of access, where clean-
ings could be more regularly attended to, they will occupy
narrow belts, mostly surrounded by other forest. As these
plantations advance to maturity it may with certainty be ex-
pected that while the Teak will spread from self-sown seed
into the neighboring forest, other kinds, especially such as
stand shade, will spring up among the Teak-trees. Nor is it
desirable that these plantations should grow up as pure Teak
woods, for, as a rule, the Teak does not attain pertection in
pure woods. Inthe above figures, however, all areas which
contain less than torty per cent. of Teak have been excluded.

It will be remembered that the most recent researches
regarding Teak grown on the hills of Pegu under the régime
of annual jungle fires, have established the age of a tree six
teet in girth to be between 134 and 156 years. In plantations,
however, from which fires are kept out, the growth is quite
different, itis much more rapid, and we are justified in the
assumption that the present plantations will, at the age of
ninety years, carry, in addition to Bamboos and other trees,
sixty mature Teak-trees per acre, each tree yielding seventy-
five cubic feet ot timber. Thus, if thinnings are excluded
trom the calculation, the mean annuai yield ot successful plan-
tations, continuously protected against fire, may be estimated
at fitty cubic feet per acre. As already stated, on a limited
area Teak and Cutch have been planted together, and otherwise
it may be doubted, whether the whole area will come up to
this standard, but even if we only estimate an average yieid of
thirty cubic feet per acre, the 39,000 acres artificially stocked
with Teak up to June, 1894, will turnish 23,400 tons a year, or
more than one-third of the Teak timber extracted annually
during the five years ending with June, 1894. And these plan-
tations and cultural operauons are being extended steadily.
In 1893-4, 4,134 acres were planted, which, when mature, at
thirty cubic teet per acre, may be relied upon for an annual
yield of 2,400 tons, It has ina previous portion of this paper
been explained, that while during the last five years in the nat-
ural torests 20,300 trees a year were girdled on an average, the
Teak timber extracted annually during the same_ period
amounted to 68,000 tons ; turther, that atter special working
plans shall have been prepared for all forest districts, it 1s
expected that 40,000 trees a year will be girdled. Thus, even-
tually the natural torests alone may in their present condition
be expected to turnish twice the present annual timber out-
turn. And to this will, in course of time, be added the yield
from plantations which, if operations are continued as at
present, will soon equal the yield of the natural torests.

THE FUTURE YIELD OF THE FORESTS WILL BE INCREASED BY
PROTECTION AGAINST FIRE.

But apart from plantations and cultural operations, the nat-
ural torests are capable of great improvement. It has been
stated that the area protected trom hre in the reserved torests
ot the British Indian Empire amounts to one-third of the whole.
In Burma the work of fire protection is much more difficult
than in other provinces, and of the 6,374 square miles of
reserved forests in lower Burma it has not yet been possible
to protect trom fire more than 8% per cent. The protected
area is increasing steadily, but slowly. Asit increases the soil
improves, less seedlings are destroyed anda smaller number of
large trees are damaged by the fires, True, Bamboos and other
trees profit equally, but with the special care bestowed upon
the Teak, that tree profits more and the result eventually will

Garden and Forest.

419

be a larger annual yield of Teak timber from the same area.
On-several occasions in these pages the Karens have been
mentioned as the most important inhabitants of the forests of
lower Burma. Their villages teem with children, and under
the strong and just British Government their numbers increase
steadily. When the reserved forests were demarcated, certain
areas were assigned to them in each forest district, sufficient
to furnish torest for their shifting system of toungya cultiva-
tion, and calculated liberally, so as to provide for an increas-
ing population. Many of these Karens are employed in
planung Teak on their toungyas, and thus they contribute
materially to augment the future yield of the forests. The
present yield of the natural forests under the special working
plans made within the last twelve years amounts to seventeen
tons girdled annually upon a thousand acres, or to less than
two cubic feet per acre. As tire protection is extended, as
larger areas are planted, this insignificant yield per acre will

eventually be a thing ot the past.

Bonn, Germany. Dietrich Brandis.

Exhibitions.
Flowers and Fruits at the American Institute Fair.

U NDER the direction of the Farmers’ Club there is now in
progress an exhibition ot fruit and vegetables and flowers
in connection with the American Institute Fair at Madison
Square Garden, in this city. During last week the leading
flowers shown were Dahhas, and a large collection of the best
varieties was contributed bysuch experts as Mr. W. P. Peacock,
of Atco, New Jersey, who showed more than 2,500 blooms,
which in the main were in admirable condition, and deservedly
took the first prize. In almost all the classes tor these flowers
the Rev. C. W. Bolton, of Pelhamville, New York, a well-
known amateur, was second, and the Horticultural Depart-
ment of Cornell University showed 212 varieties which were
particularly interesting botanically. The leaves showeda wide
variety in torm and color, some of them being cut almost as
fine as a Fern-trond, and others showed tints of bronze and
maroon, Dahlias have always been Howers of pure color, but
until the single varieties and the so-called Cactus forms were
introduced there was an artificial and rigid look about them
which was not winning. The time seems to have come when
we may expect great changes in the character and habit of
both plants and flowers. Many of the latter now show petals
singularly rolled or arranged loosely after the tashion ot Japa-
nese Chrysanthemums, and they are more gracetully borne on
long stems. The variety Clifford W. Benton, for example, a
yellow flower of full Cactus torm on tall arching stems, seemed
as unconventional as Chrysanthemums of the best type, and
some ot the pink ones show a clearness and purity of tone
which no Chrysanthemum of this color has yet attained.

In spite of the lateness of the season a large collection of
unusually good Gladiolus was exhibited by John Lewis
Childs, Floral Park, besides something like a hundred varie-
ties or more ot hardy flowers, A bank ot decorative plants on
the stage contained many fine specimens sent by Messrs.
Siebrecht & Wadley and Richard Brett (gardener to J. B. Col-
gate). An unusually comprehensive display of vegetables was
shown, one collection of tomatoes containing eighty different
varieties. Grapes made the leading feature of the truit dis-
play, and, except a few of the very early sorts, nearly every
variety in Cultivation here was shown. Mr. C. C. Corby, of
Montclair, took the first prize, and Ellwanger & Barry the
second, in this creditable display. Mr. D. M. Dunning, of Au-
burn, showed some magnificent clusters of European grapes,
and Mr. William Parry astonished visitors with twenty distinct
varieties of chestnuts grown on his place, including all the
improved torms. Many of these were in the burs, which were
of enormous size and showed wide diversities ot form, weight,
color and flavor. Mr. Parry’s collection also included walnuts,
native and toreign, filberts and many other nuts.

This week the space will be largely devoted to apples, but the
labeling and staging are not yet completed as we go to press.
There 1s little doubt, however, that in size and quality the dis-
play of apples will excel anything of the kind hitherto seen in
this city.

Notes.

The leaves of Tricyrtis hirta seem to be disfigured less than
usual this year, and whenever they escape this rusty look the
plant is altogether desirable. The curious purple-spotted flow-
ers, with their six-leaved perianth and conspicuous three-clett
style spotted in the same way, are interesting and truly beau-

420

tiful when closely examined, although they make little show at
a distance. This Tricyrtis, or Toad Lily, as it is sometimes
called, is perfectly hardy, and it likes rich soil and partial shade.

Mrs. Wilhelmina Seliger writes in the Hartford Times that if
the berries of the Mountain Ash are dried they will keep wellall
winter and make a very good variation in the diet of pigeons
and domestic towls of allsorts. Poultry are very fond of them.

Frosts are shortening near-by supplies of the more tender
vegetables, and peas and string-beans are already coming
from Virginia and South Carolina to supplement northern crops,
Field mushrooms trom western Pennsylvania sold on Monday
for fitty cents a pound, and the cultivated product, of more
compact substance, tor $1.15.

Campbell’s Early Grape receives nothing but commendation,
so tar as we know, from all who have tried it in widely dit-
ferent parts of the country. Its good qualities seem to be
hardiness of vine, healthiness ot leat, large bunches and good-
sized individual berries with a thin but very tenacious skin,
which helps them to endure transportation well.

Professor Halsted writes, in relation to the Asparagus rust
of which we spoke on page 394, that from the replies elicited
by his circular this disease is probably contined to a tew locali-
ties, although tuture reports may show that itis doing damage
ona wider scale. Itis worth while tor observers to make a
careful examination of Asparagus beds in every section of
country to see whether or not they are infested. Inany case, it is
important to burn over every intected field before this destruc-
tive disease is more widely disseminated.

The last number of Zhe Southern Farner publishes an illus-
tration of a dewberry which is called Austin’s Improved. It
is certainly of the largest size, and is said to be not only very
prolific, but of the most tempting flavor. The berries seem
three times as large asa specimen of the Early Harvest black-
berry, which is photographed on the same plate, and it may
readily be believed that the blackberry is ot the average size,
if the statement is correct that fitty-three of these berries
quite filled a quart box. The berries were grown at Pilot Point,
Texas, by J. W. Austin, and we should like to have them tried
in a more northern latitude.

Mr. Charles H. Shinn writes to 7he Judefendent that a large
beet-sugar factory has just been established at Salinas, Cali-
fornia, and some thirty thousand acres of land there will be
devoted to this crop. There are three other factories in the
state, two ot them very large, and the land devoted to beets in
thirty or torty acre tracts last year 1s said to have yielded tarm-
ers about $40 an acre profit. There are large areas of land in
Calitornia which have been mapped out by the agricultural
department ot the university ot that state as profitable tor beet
culture, and the advantages offered tor this industry in Calitor-
nia are principally a long working season and a high sugar
perceutage in the roots. Fuel, however, 1s not cheap, and water
is not always abundant. If Calitornia is to produce enough
beet sugar to supply the present demand of the United States,
it will require 1,840,000 acres ot land to turnish beets tor 460
factories, each wit a working capacity of 350 tons of roots a
day tor the season, and, directly and indirectly, employment
would be given to halt a million persons.

As illustrating changes of vegetation, Mr. Hemsley, in
Knowledge, reters to the rugged island ot St. Helena, with its
area ot 38,000 acres, rising 3,000 feet above the Atlantic, at a
distance ot 1,000 miles trom Atrica and nearly 2,000 trom the
nearest point ot the American continent. When discovered it
was entirely clothed with torests, but the hogs and goats which
were left on the island to provide tood for chance visitors mul-
tiphed to such an extent that they destroyed the vegetation, or,
at least, prevented the seedlings trom growing. The island
was not botanized until the beginning of the present century,
when some ot the native plants had probably disappeared
already, and in 1875 an account of the flora showed that less
than half a dozen ot the sixty-five known species of indigenous
flowering plants and Ferns collected at the beginning oi the
century were actually extinct, but, with the excepuon of a few
scattered individuals, the remains of the original flora were
high up on the central and inaccessible mountain ridges of the
island. Ot trees which once covered hundreds of acres only a
few individuals, and in some cases only a single example,
remained. Large areas once covered with vegetation were
bare, since the rains had washed the soil from the rocks.
Other parts had been completely possessed by introduced
plants trom various parts of the world, among them many
British species, the common Furze being the most abundant
shrub. Among the trees the British Oak was the most thor-

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 451.

oughly naturalized, growing to a great size and producing
acorns in profusion, and the Scotch Fir and other conifers had
been planted to the extent of two hundred acres, so that the
whole surface of the island has been’completely altered, and
many of the original plants will soon be extinct because they
succeed nowhere else in a wild state, and in cultivation they
are difficult to preserve.

Not even excepting apples, no fruit is at present seen in our
markets in so large variety as grapes. Five-pound baskets of
large-berried Concords cost but fifteen cents, while twenty
cents is the price for the same quantity of Delawares and
Catawbas, and Niagaras command twenty-five cents. Of
thirty-six car-loads ot California fruit sold here during last week
the greater part was Muscat, Black Morocco, Black Prince,
Cornichon and Flame Tokay grapes; these sell for trom sixty
to seventy-five cents a basket. Almeria grapes, the first of the
season having been offered last week, cost twenty cents a
pound. Gros Colman and Muscat grapes, grown in hot-houses
in this country, sell for $1.25, and the handsomer fruit of the
same varieties, trom England, fur $1.75 a pound. Selected
Jamaica oranges retail tor thirty to sixty cents a dozen, medium-
sized grape-truit for $1.00, and handsome smooth-skinned
limes, as large as a medium-sized lemon, are seen in the best
fruit-stores, tor twenty-five cents a dozen, ordinary small ones
costing ten cents. A few large shaddocks recently came from
the West Indies, but there is littke demand for this pink-Heshed
fruit, which, though juicy, is lacking in flavor. Tangerines,
from the same islands, cost seventy-tive cents a dozen. The
last Bartlett pears, firm and well-colored, bring fitty cents to
$1.00 a dozen, and Comice pears from seventy-five cents to
$1.50 a dozen, according to size and quality. Baskets ot Mary-
land peaches holding thirty fruits may yet be had tor $1.00, the
same price asked tor somewhat smaller baskets ot Salway
peaches trom California. Extra-large specimens of this west-
ern truit find buyers at seventy-five cents and $1.00 a dozen.
Spanish melons cost twenty-five to forty cents each; persim-
mons, from Florida, fifty cents to $1.00 a dozen; prickly pears,
from Italy, fitty cents a dozen. The Chinese Lychee nuts cost
twenty-five cents a pound. Plump, fair-sized chestnuts from
New Jersey, bright and of rich color, sell tor twenty-five cents
a pound, and very large cultivated nuts from the same state
tor fitty cents a quart.

A correspondent of 7he Country Gentleman explains how
any one who lives in a village or city where a sunny space
three teet square is available can have fresh strawberries ot
first-rate quality in their season. The outside ot a strongly
bound barrel is marked into tour-inch squares, an inch hole is
bored in the centre ot every alternate square corresponding to
the black squares ina checkerboard. Well-enriched garden
soil is placed in the barrel to the level of the first row ot holes,
and then Strawberry plants are inserted through the holes,
with the roots rather higher than the stems to allow tor settling,
when more soil 1s put in and firmly packed, This layer is then
sprinkled with water and the process is continued until the
barrel is filled with soil and a plant is set in each hole. An
ordinary linseed oil barrel will contain about 135 plants. The
barrel should be set on a box, or something to tt it above tne
ground, so that the foliage can be sprinkled occasionally and
insects kept trom the berries. The barrel is covered to pre-
vent the escape of moisture, and in watering the plants a few
holes are made through the soil with a suck and water or
liquid-manure is poured in as the plants needit. They can be
set in spring, or if this is done as lateas Augusta fair crop will
be borne the next year, and this will be repeated tour or five years
without renewal. Three or tour bushels to a barrel is an ave-
rage crop of berries, and five bushels is the maximum, although
the yield depends on the variety and management, In winter
in localities where there is a low temperature a light covering
of straw should be thrown over the barrel. Sharpless and
Crescent—that is, a combination. of pistillate and bisexual
plants—do well, andso do Bubach and Marshall, and other varie-
ties will undoubtedly flourish. The berries will do tairly well
in partial shade, although, of course, a sunny place is preter-
able. Since no runners will grow, the strength of the plant
goes more directly to the fruit, and clean berries are secured
without any trouble of cultivation or weeding. The Straw-
berry barrel is highly ornamental at any season, and particu-
larly so when the plants are in bloom and in fruit. We have
never seen this tried, although we have often heard of it and
should like to have the result of some one’s experience. It is.
said that some nurserymen have been selling barrels turnished
with plants for six or eight years, and more than one thousand
of them have been sold in New York state, many of them in
Brooklyn,

OCTOBER 21, 1896.]

GAKDEN “AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrice: TripuxE Buitpinc, New York.

Conducted byte . «+ o'. 6 « « « Professor C.‘S. SARGENT.

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1896.

TABLE-OF CONDENS.

PAGE.

EoitoriaL Artic_e :—Park Lands and their BoundariesS,.......0.esseeeeeseeees 420
Is Indian Corr Growing Wild in America ?. - Robert P. Harris. 422
Reforesting Waste Lands in Holland..... John Gifford. 423
ForEIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—Notes on Orchids.......... E -W. Watson. 423
New or LitTLe-KNown Piants:—Rhamnus crenata. (W: Ure) se sea CS. S. 424
CuttruraL DepaRTMENT :—The Flower Border in Autumn....... Wm. Tricker. 424
Hardy Plants for Forcing......... Sneed San ates a T. D. Hatfield. 426

Bn eeAcaciaSipisects crpcticateliceese Rieiec ...W. F. Rose. 426
Notes from the Santa Monica Forestry Station. John H. Barber. 426
INOtesiongWatsOnlaS sicieiniecmicie\sc0 2. elses ersinnasinte(siaiaina sissies W. E. Endicott. 427
Calitornia Irises........... seer ee NM. Gerard. 427

The Japanese Wineberr cocscceso dM, Barker. 427

CorRESPONDENCE :—Along our Roadsides .....--... eee cece ee eeeees L. F. Horner. 427
Notes from Botanical Garden at Smith College ..... Edward $. Canning. 427
Asparagus RuSt.....ee.s. ceeeeceeee sect eeccesccessececees G.E. Stone. 428

Tue Forest :—The Burma Teak Forests. - 428

RECENT. PUBLICATIONS «2... -1 soescccssanccsenccncnscssscnanccsetecsnncces serese 428

+ 429

IN ODES exter lomicics’s asia evel slewis eieie'ccain sic aale-c'emslnise Aes bees 3 S5 a0 430

ME LUSTRATION =e Dam NUS Crenata wah 1s GO slccnisiebalcisledc.ce: oc¥ies asineivescioeeees.ee 425

Park Lands and their Boundaries.

N a late number of the New England Magazine, Mr.
Charles Eliot gives an outline sketch of the park system
of Boston and its adjacent cities, with a map showing the
reservations proposed and actually made for this metro-
politan district. Within a radius of eleven miles from the
State House there are thirty-seven distinct municipalities,
containing a population of a million and property worth a
thousand million dollars. Of course,some of these com-
munities have parks of their own, and they have acquired
land for securing a pure water-supply, but it became plain to
thoughtful people that without codperation of the different
towns and cities. the time was at hand when all the
water-front along the rivers or the sea, and all the broad
areas of woodland or meadow which would be desirable
for public use, would be built over or appropriated for busi-
ness purposes. The wise plan was, therefore, devised of
establishing a metropolitan park commission. In addition
to the parks of Boston, Quincy, Cambridge, Lynn and others
already existing, this board has selected a dozen other sites
for some peculiar fitness of their own or because they are
necessary to supplement the others and connect them into
a system ; and the map now shows that there is no part of
the district which is not provided with open spaces and park-
ways according to its needs.. We have had occasion, hith-
erto, to speak of the singular wisdom displayed in choosing
certain of these reservations for special purposes. Twenty
minutes from the heart of the city there is a curving beach
of sand three miles long and fronting the open sea. This
splendid beach is now free to the people, while on the high
ground behind it is a driveway from which there is to be
a clear view eastward, since every obstruction between it and
the shore is to be removed. The Charles River is to be
turned into a water parkway. The Blue Hills reservation,
five miles long, takes in the highest land and the most
impressive scenery in the entire district. The Lynn
Woods contain two thousand acres of picturesque forest
land. The Middlesex Fells, the Hemlock Gorge, the
Waverly Oaks, Stoney Brook, are all particularly valuable
in themselves and for their position to furnish outing
grounds to the growing population of Greater Boston.
These reservations were not selected by chance, nor

Garden and Forest.

421

were they taken here and there because some one had land
to dispose of, or because some association of property-
owners clamored to have their district recognized. A
comprehensive and well-balanced system was carried out
because professional advice was taken at the outset—that
is, just when it was most needed. In an early volume of this
journal the fact was recalled that when Messrs. Olmsted
& Vaux planned Prospect Park, they suggested that the
ocean beach ought to be made the terminus of a great
parkway which should take Prospect Park in its course,
and then, sweeping through the rich country behind what
was the city of Brooklyn and linking together a chain of
small parks, be thrown across the East River from
Ravenswood and carried into Central Park and onward
to the north through a system of sylvan roads, or across
the Hudson from the head of Riverside Drive over a bridge
which is sure to come, to be connected with the heights of
Bergen, the Palisades and the Orange Mountains. This
magnificent scheme could have been carried out for a rea-
sonable sum and made complete by the year 1900, and
even then, with all the park-land subsequently acquired,
our park area, in comparison with our population, would
be less than that of London now is.

Our cities are increasing in population more rapidly than
the country, and there is more need of public parks every
year. But we are beginning to realize that these open
spaces are quite as necessary to the life of a civilized city
as its school system, or a good water-supply, or art gal-
leries or libraries. There is likely, therefore, to be less
trouble in securing the land now, even though it is much
more costly than it was twenty years ago. The danger is
that the grounds will be selected by men who have given
no thought to the interests involved, and who do not real-
ize how complicated a matter it is to provide for the varied
wants of a great population. It is not enough to appoint
a commission of worthy citizens who begin their work
with a cloudy notion that about so many acres are
needed for recreation-grounds, and who then set them-
selves to adjusting the claims of rival east-side and west-
side associations or up-town or down-town interests. An
individual park ought to be an organized work of art. A
system of parks requires still more study if it is wisely
adapted to the varied wants of all classes and all ages, with
facilities for every form of outdoor recreation.

Just here the example set by Boston should be a model
forevery city. Professional advisers were appointed before
an acre was bought. They were consulted not only ina
general way as to the selection of park sites, but, after
making acomplete study of the whole question, they selected
the sites and worked out their boundary lines. In this city we
have several so-called parks in the annexed district which
are not yet parks in any sense of the word, but simply
areas of land which are to be at some time converted into
parks. No study has been made of those lands, and when
they were purchased the shape of the territory was a
matter of slight consideration. No doubt, a careful exam-
ination of any one of them would show that some half-
dozen acres adjacent to, but outside of, its present limits
would be worth ten times as much as many another
area of the same size within the park. No cursory
examination of land, even by a skilled park-maker, is ade-
quate to solve questions like this. What any park boun-
dary ought to exclude and include can only be deter-
mined after long and serious study. The fundamental
mistake here was made in purchasing this land before
expert counsel was taken. There is no need of haste in
constructing our new parks, but certainly if they are to
serve their highest purpose some attempt at designing
should be made before the surrounding property multiplies
in value. It ought not to be forgotten that after the land
for Central Park was purchased, the approaches at the Fifth
and Eighth Avenues, which were essential to give some
dignity to its entrances, had to be secured at enormous
expense, and very costly, too, were the blocks added at the
northern end of the park, which were found necessary to the

422

completion of the design. Certain it is that the topographi-
cal survey of these parks ought to be delayed no longer,
for contour maps will be needed before even an intelligent
study of them can begin.

New York is not the only city which has committed this
fundamental error, and the mistake will be repeated over
and over again until it is understood that a large part of
the usefulness of a public park depends upon the selection
of its site, and that a park with a well-chosen site, and
with boundaries intelligently defined, is half-designed. It
is an unpleasant fact that there are but few skilled park-
makers in the United States, but if one can be secured by
a municipality which is about to provide itself with public
pleasure-grounds, no counsel of such an artist can be of
greater use than that which he gives before a foot of land
is bought.

Is Indian Corn Growing Wild in America ?

ANY years ago researches were made to establish
the fact that Maize belonged exclusively to this
country, and was of American origin. It was believed in
1837 that the plant in its wild state was extinct, and thus
one of the strongest arguments to prove it indigenous was
lost. No evidence could be found in Europe, Asia or Africa
to show that the plant existed prior to the voyages of
Columbus, in 1492, or Pizarro, in 1498. Both of these
navigators saw it growing, and we have now reason to
believe that the Indians and Incas made use of the grain
many years before these visitors arrived. We have corn
that has been preserved for several hundred years, and it
may have been grown over a thousand years ago. Ina
dry state this grain appears to be indestructible, and I have
in my possession some Peruvian corn that is certainly sev-
eral hundred years old; it is dry and friable, is of a red
color, and yields a white meal. It was buried with a so-
called mummy prior to the year 1555, and how long before
history does not tell. Peruvian corn was in small ears,
from three to six inches long, and bore grains pointed on
the top, not in rows, but somewhat imbricated. It was
evidently far removed from the wild stock.

Primitive Corn, or Wild Corn, which has been found in
several different regions of this continent naturally repro-
ducing itself, has a character of growth that fits it for long
preservation in a mild climate, although, if planted and
cultivated a few years, all the characteristics of wildness
gradually disappear. The cobs of Wild Maize are thin and
hard, covered with lines of mushroom-shaped elevations,
each having a wire-like pedicel growing from the top,
attached to a glume enclosing a small pointed grain, ora
flat grain smaller than any pop corn. These kernel-husks
overlap each other toward the point of the ear, like the
shingles on the roof of a house. The imbrications are
largest and longest at the butt of the ear, and gradually
become less pronounced as they advance in distinct rows
to the point. The individual glumes are from an inch to
two inches long, and are much longer than this where the
grains are not fertilized, particularly if the entire ear is of
this character, as is proved by a specimen in my collection.
Over these imbrications is the outside husk as we have it in
all cultivated Corns. Of course, the barn and the corn-crib
soon make winter protection by the glumes unnecessary.

Originally there may have been but one variety of Corn,
and it was attached to a mild climate; but, judging from
analogy and the effects of cultivation, we are of the opinion
that there were subvarieties, and in them the grains were
of a different color and the glumes striped. The Incas and
Indians had different varieties of Corn, and grew ears of
several colors, some uniform and others mixed, but their
cobs were thin and sometimes the ears quite short. Six

varieties of the Wild Corn found growing in infrequented
localities have been described, five of which I have seen,
and several of which have been grown. All have pedicels
attached to the glumes, and the glumes imbricated.

The word corn, in many languages, simply means

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 452.

grain. Indian corn is Indian grain distinctively, as
the Indians had no other. They had beans, squashes,
pumpkins, gourds and melons, but wheat, rye, oats and
barley belonged to the Old World, and had to be imported.
The Indians grew Corn over a wide range of country and
wherever the climate was adapted to it.

Cultivation has done wonders with this grain both in ‘its
form and color, so that now we have, perhaps, a hundred
varieties. The plant varies from a foot and a half to fifteen
feet in height, and the ears from two inches to sixteen
inches in length. We find in modern Indian growths ears
that are of a uniform gamboge-yellow, white, black, blue
and red, besides mixed colors. We have also several
varieties of Pop Corn, Sugar Corn and Field Corn. Most
of the Corn grown by Indians is in small rounded grains,
except that of the Cliff-dwellers, who appear to have been,
in a measure, an agricultural people. Their cobs were thin
and their grain in rows, but the individual grains were
larger and square ended. Indented Corn seems also to
have been known among them.

Every people must have a drink, and if the process of
distillation is unknown they resort to fermentation. Primi-
tive American races made a drink out of corn, analogous
to beer, by fermentation of the ear in its green state or
after it had dried. ‘This was intoxicating to a certain ex-
tent, but, fortunately, much less so than the modern distil-
late from the same grain. The drinking-mugs of the
Cliffdwellers bear testimony to their having had this habit.
Great improvements have been made by the white race
in growing this cereal, and one of the chief of these is in
the diameter of the cob, which has been made to hold as
high as twenty-four rows. From four to six ears have been
grown on one stalk, and ears produced of very remarkable
length. Sugar Corn was introduced in 1779, and now it
and Pop Corn have entered into the race, and larger varie-
ties are being produced. The commercial variety known

s “Turkey Corn” is not a Maize, and does not bear its
grain on an ear, but on the top, in the tassel, as the Broom
Corn does. Turkey Corn is about eight feet high and bears
a small, rounded grain, which is either white or pinkish; in
the east it is known by the name of Dura. The Turks and
Egyptians grow Indian Corn, it is true; but it was origi-
nally obtained from America. Turkey Corn and Maize have
often been confounded by botanical writers. ‘ Blé de
Turquie” is a distinctive grain.

Indian Corn in its wild state has been found in Ari-
zona, southern Texas, the valley of Mexico and Central
America. Rocky Mountain Corn I have known a long
period of time; it has very small ears. Corn has been
found growing wild in the valley of Mexico, and one of
the professors in the University of Mexico has been experi-
menting with it, and has the engraving of a plant which
grew about five feet high. Wild Corn has also been
grown at the Landreths’, near Bristol, to whom it was
sent from Arizona. The last I have seen was found by
Dr. Williams, of Houston, Texas, when on a hunting ex-
pedition in the southern part of that state. It is a white
flint of fair size, and fifteen stalks have only produced four
ears, which grew on two of the stalks. The plant is a very
vigorous grower, but it is not productive, and eight stalks
grown in Texas did not produce a single ear.

Philadelphia, Pa. Robert P. Harris.

[Indian Corn with glumes to each kernel is not rare.
Usually, when this is planted, something like fifty per cent.
of the ears produced have kernels without husks, which
fact suggests that it is a sport or strain of ordinary Field
Corn. If Maize has been found naturally reproducing itself
where it could not have escaped from cultivation or have
been produced from dropped seed, this certainly is a most
interesting fact—a fact so important, indeed, that botanists
will feel inclined to scrutinize the evidence closely before
adopting the view that this Wild Maize is a survival of the
prehistoric form, and not a reversion of cultivated Corn
toward the primitive type.—Ep., }

ee ee ee

OCTOBER 21, 1896.]

Reforesting Waste Lands in Holland.

HERE is a society in Holland called the Nederlan-
dische Heide Maatschapij, with objects similar to
those of the New Jersey Forestry Association, with an
official bi-monthly organ. It is encouraging to those inter-
ested in similar societies in America to know that the Heide
Maatschapij and the similar society in Denmark, after which
it was modeled, have been successful in many respects.
It is also gratifying to learn that even in Europea great
deal of what has been accomplished is due to societies
similar to the state associations of the United States. The
objects of the Holland society are to promote the exploita-
tion of the dunes, heaths and other desert places, to give
advice, form nurseries, and sell trees at cost price, to edu-
cate the people in the principles of forestry by distributing
literature and by delivering lectures and to encourage the
Government to improve the waste land which it owns. It
has a membership of two thousand. Every member pays
two gulden annually, but there are many honorary mem-
bers and patrons who pay much larger sums for its sup-
port. This association has already accomplished a great
deal. It has induced the Government to continue the work
of foresting the dunes, for which twenty thousand gulden
have been already appropriated for experimental purposes,
and the work is under the direction of the society, and two
nurseries have been formed in which many seedlings for
dune planting are grown. This association has induced
individuals to improve their waste lands, and contemplates
buying and improving heath land for example sake. The
society is under the directorship of Mr. H. J. Lovink, an
able and enthusiastic forester.

The Dutch dunes are similar to those of New Jersey, and
unless the soil is covered it is shifted by wind and wave.
More than four thousand acres of land in the neighborhood
of the town of Bergen is owned by the Government. This
is very much like the dune land near Avalon, on the Jersey
shore. There are residences surrounded by large trees in
the lee of the Dutch dunes, but everything has been planted,
even the famous forest between The Hague and Scheven-
ingen, the Atlantic City of Holland, and it will cost the
Government at least two hundred thousand gulden to
plant its dune lands in forest. Many private holders in this
_ region are not in favor of this work, some preferring to see
it in its unproductive state, mainly for hunting purposes.
The principal game, however, is rabbits, and their extermi-
nation has been decreed because they are very destructive.
Thirty years ago experiments were begun by the famous
geologist Staring for the planting of the dunes, but the work
was frowned upon and discontinued; the trees which
he planted still remain.

In the eastern and southern parts of Holland there are
vast stretches of rolling heath lands, a continuation of the
Luneberger Heide in Hannover, which stretches through
Schleswig-Holstein and Denmark to near the Zuyder Zee,
in Holland. The soil is sand and gravel, mainly glacial
drift, in which may be seen irregular ice-worn pieces of
rock from the Scandinavian Peninsula. There are reasons
for believing that at one time this region was in part
forested. The names of places in old Dutch often mean
forest or wood, and Mr. J. H. Schober, the pioneer of
heath planting in Holland, found part of the trunk of a
large oak buried deep in the ground in his plantation
at Schovenhorst. A few sheep can live upon the scanty
herbage, and as soon as a little humus forms on the sur-
face it is removed by the peasants to mix with manure.
The beating force of winds and rains has compacted and
leached the surface soil. Low Heather and crisp Lichens
cover the ground, reminding one of the sterile fields in
southern New Jersey. It is even more barren than the
fire-swept plains of Ocean County, in that state. With work,
this whole heath can be reclaimed. ‘The huge experiment
which Mr. Schober has had the patience and _patriot-
ism to begin proves that trees will grow there. A careful
working and a little enrichment of the soil are all that are

Garden and Forest.

423

needed at first. When Mr. Schober began his plantation at
Putten forty years ago it was all a desert heath. -Conifers
from all parts of the world are growing there luxuriantly,
and, although his experiments will not be complete for
years to come, they show, at least, that a great variety of
conifers will grow on the heath-lands of Holland, and that
certain species are, of course, much better adapted to the
soil and climate than others. Many tests must be made
before conclusions as to the very best varieties are war-
ranted. Mr. Schober has planted also large quantities of
Scotch Pine, from which he receives a revenue. This wood
is cutand carefully sorted, and the poles are shipped to the
Belgian mines. What surprised me most on this re-
markable plantation was to see species from the Rocky
Mountains and the Atlas Mountains thriving in these heath-
lands. The most beautiful trees in this large pinetum, as I
saw them, were Abies nobilis and Cedrus Atlantica. —
[An interesting account of this remarkable experiment,
written for this journal by Mr. Dana, will be found in vol.
viii., p. 442.—Ep. ]

A great deal of private planting has been done in Holland
with very little encouragement from the Government. In
the southern part there are large areas in Scotch Pine and
coppice Oak. The Willow has been planted in immense
quantities along the Lek, the Rhine, the Maas and Waal.
In the sandy heath regions much of the soil has been
improved by planting one of the Lupines, Lupinus luteus

‘a beautiful plant which may be useful in America as a

green manure, since it seems to flourish on very sandy
soil. The American Locust, Robinia pseudacacia, is a
favorite tree here, since it grows well on poor soils, and it
is quite the custom to plant it along railroad embankments.
It is also a favorite shade-tree in many German cities, and,
when properly trimmed, it has few equals for the purpose.
Our Wild Cherry, Prunus serotina, also seems to thrive on

the heath lands. Ginn. Gifore,

Amsterdam, Holland.
Foreign Correspondence.

Notes on Orchids.

DenpRoPpHyLLax Fawcetru—aAn importation of this Orchid
is advertised for sale by Messrs. Sander & Co., and is de-
scribed as resembling Angrecum Fournierianum, with
snow-white flowers. It was first introduced to Kew from
Jamaica in 1888, and flowered in a stove in November,
when it was named by Mr. Rolfe in compliment to Mr.
Fawcett, the Director of the Botanical Department at
Jamaica, who found it in the Cayman Islands. It resem-
bles Dendrophyllax funalis (Angreecum funale) in having
no leaves, the long, flexuose green roots performing the
double duty of absorption and assimilation. The flowers
are borne on long peduncles and are two inches across,
the large bilobed lip being pure white and the narrow
sepals and petals greenish white; the spur is slender and
about six inches long. As a botanical Orchid this is of
quite exceptional interest, for, although there are several
other Orchids that never produce leaves, this is the only
one with flowers of any attraction.

ScHomburGKIA THomsonrana is described in a sale adver-
tisement as ‘ undoubtedly the finest in the genus. Twenty
blossoms, like a cream-colored Lelia purpurata, with a
black-maroon lip, being borne on a spike.” It was named
and described by Reichenbach in 1887 from a plant flow-
ered in England, its origin being unknown. In the year
following it was sent to Kew by Mr. Fawcett, who found
it in the Cayman Islands along with the Dendrophyllax.
In general characters it resembles S. Tibicinis, but is smaller
in all its parts; the flowers are about three inches across,
the segments narrow, wavy and colored creamy yellow,
darker toward the apex; the lip is three-lobed, the side
lobes folded over the column, the midlobe oblong, very
wavy and colored rich purple. This plant shares with its
ally the reputation of being difficult to flower under culti-
vation. Now that it has been introduced in quantity, we
may discover how to treatit, so as to get it to flower freely

424

CaTTLEYA ELONGATA.—This is the correct name for the
plant introduced and distributed in 1892 under the name of
Cattleya Alexandre. It is now in flower at Kew, and I
have seen other cultivated examples of it in bloom, but so
far none with more than four flowers on a spike, although
I have seen wild specimens showing ten flowers ona scape.
It belongs to the same group as C. guttata ; indeed, many
look upon it as a variety of that species, differing only in
the color of its flowers, which are yellowish brown, with a
rose-purple lip. Several named varieties are recorded—
namely, elegans, with larger, brighter-colored flowers than
the type, and tuberosa, with darker-colored flowers. Asa
garden Orchid it is inferior to such forms of C. guttata as
Leopoldii, amethystoglossa, etc. It requires the heat of a
stove when making fresh growth.

CypRIPEDIUM CHARLESWoRTHI.—This is a first-class gar-
den Orchid, deserving to rank among the best half-dozen
Cypripediums known. It grows freely, is easily kept in
health, blooms with moderate freedom, and its flowers are
distinct, elegant in form and beautiful in color. There is
sufficient variety in the color of the flowers to keep up the
interest of collectors and give zest to the cultivation of
newly imported plants. Traders know the importance of
this quality, even in Orchids of the commonest character.
It accounts for the ready sale of newly imported plants of
Dendrobium nobile, Cypripedium insigne, Odontoglossum
crispum and similar “barn-door” kinds, and if the vender

can add that the plants are from an entirely new district so *

much the better for him. Probably no Orchid shows such
range of variation in the size, form and marking of its
flowers as Odontoglossum crispum, next to it, perhaps,
coming Cattleya Trianee. On the other hand, many Orchids
vary comparatively little. .

VANDA C&RULEA.—Large importations of this beautiful
Vanda were distributed in England a year or so ago, and
consequently its glorious flowers are now a prominent
feature in collections, and even in the flower shops in the
West End of London. I have seen some exceptionally fine
varieties lately ; we have one at Kew, the spike of which
now carries seventeen flowers, each over four inches across,
the segments wide and almost imbricating, and the color a
beautiful pale blue, richly tessellated with a darker shade of
blue. A plant of similar character was sold at the auction
rooms lately for twelve guineas. Good varieties make the
inferior ones look very poor in comparison, and yet I have
never seen one that was not really handsome. For the
cultivation of V. ccerulea less heat is needed than for most
Vandas. We grow it in a moist corner of the Cattleya-
house close to a door, where it gets plenty of ventilation.
Some successful cultivators recommend the conditions of
an ordinary vinery for it. Asa rule, the plants grow well
and flower annually for about five years after they have
been imported ; after that they get weak and flower poorly,

Denprosium Puara#nopsis.—The number of plants of this
Denbrobe that have been imported into England during
the last five years is probably in excess of that of any other
Orchid in the same period. And yet more are announced
for sale, Messrs. F. Sander & Co. intending to offer seven
thousand newly imported plants of it next week. This
firm alone have imported over one hundred thousand plants
of this Dendrobium. It is generally supposed that tropi-
cal Orchids are going out of favor, but the sale this
ultra-tropical plant has commanded would appear to
disprove this. No Dendrobium requires a higher tem-
perature during its growing season—May to August—
a hot, steamy atmosphere and plenty of sunlight being
essential to the full development of its pseudo-bulbs.
It is, moreover, superior to all other species from New
Guinea and neighborhood inits good behavior under artifi-
cial treatment. Growers of cut flowers forthe London market
have secured quantities of it, finding that its long, elegant
spikes of beautiful flowers fetch a high price, coming as
they do at a time when they are most useful, namely from
October to March.

London. W. Watson.

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 452.

New or Little-known Plants.

Rhamnus crenata.

HIS shrub, which is a native of Japan and central and
northern China, I found in Japan in the autumn of
1892, growing near the Nagascendo, the great mountain
road of central Hondo, near the village of Agamatsu, and
on the Pine-barrens near Gifu, where it is very abundant
on sterile soil with stunted plants of Ilex crenata and
Juniperus rigida in the shade of Pinus Thunbergii. It is
an unarmed, erect, glabrous shrub from six to ten feet in
height, with stout branches, thin light yellow-green, oblong
or oblong-obovate, wedge-shaped leaves from two to four
inchesinlength and from one-half of aninch toaninchanda
halfin width ; minute orange-colored umbellate flowers, and
abundant black fruit half an inch in diameter. Plants in the
Arnold Arboretum, raised from seeds which I gathered in
Japan, have proved perfectly hardy in exposed situations
and on cold wet peat soil ; they are now nearly five feet high,
and flowered abundantly last spring, the flowering speci-
men which is produced in our illustration, on page 425 of
this issue, being taken from one of these cultivated plants.
The fruiting branch is from a specimen gathered near Gifu.
Rhamnus crenata* has proved a useful shrub in the
Arboretum, and if it fruits as freely here as in Japan it will
be decorative in the autumn. As a flowering plant it is not
showy. The foliage, however, is lustrous and of a pleasing
color, and has not been attacked by insects or disease.
(GER, AY

Cultural Department.

The Flower Border in Autumn.

| esos white-flowered Anemone Japonica is an old and
well-known plant which deserves a place in every col-
lection of hardy herbaceous perennials. It delights in a rich,
moist soil, where it produces its large, pure white flowers in
great abundance from early in September until cut down by
frost. This, with other varieties of the type, is well adapted
for planting near the coast, and the long, graceful stems and
good-keeping qualities render the flowers very useful for cut-
ting. North of this city it ought to be grown in pots, since the
frost too often catches it when out-of-doors. It then makes
an admirable plant for greenhouse or piazza decoration in
autumn.

Boltonia asteroides is one of the indispensable plants for
early autumn when large and impressive specimens are
desired. Its loose, graceful branches form a dense bush in
well-established plants, which are literally smothered with
Aster-like flowers, pure white with yellow disk. This is a
noble plant for a background, as it grows four feet high when
staked or tied up, but this support should not be obtrusive.
Lower plants may be set in front of it; in any case, the branches
should be allowed to spread naturally and gracefully. The
flowers are useful for cutting, and the plant will thrive in any
garden soil, but delights in moist places along streams, and is
well adapted for planting near the coast. B. latisquama is
another native of our western states which grows somewhat
stronger and has purple-pink flowers a little larger than the
preceding; its habit of growth is the same.

Funkia subcordata, the white Plantain Lily, another favorite
of old gardens, is the best of all the Day Lilies, with bold foli-
age and large, pure white flowers which everybody associates
with late summer in the garden. Very attractive are the
spikes of glittering flowers above the shining green foliage,
and yet itis not as common as it once was. Why does the
young generation of gardeners neglect it ?

Caryopteris Mastacanthus, so much talked about lately,
proves perfectly hardy here, and a plant of three years’ stand-
ing is a marvel of beauty at this season with its profusion of
sott sky-blue flowers. The plants are very vigorous, and
young ones set out in spring form dense bushes in one season
and produce flowers from midsummer until cut off by frost.
It is strange how slowly a good plant makes its way into gen-
eralcultivation. GARDEN AND FOREST, asI remember, described

* Rhamnus crenata, Siebold & Zuccarini, 4ddid. Akad. Miinch., iv., 146 (1843).—
Maximowicz, Mm. Acad. Scé. St. Pétersburg, x., 18.—Franchet & Savatier, Exum.
Pl. Fap., is, 182.—Franchet, Nou. Arch, Mus., sév, 2, v.73 (Pl. David, i.)\—Forbes &
Hemsley, Your, Linn. Soc, ae 128,

Frangula crenata, Miquel, Av. AZus. Lugd. Bat., iti. 32 (Prol. Fl. ¥ap.) (1867.
Rhamnus oreigenes, Hance, Jour. Bots, Vite, 110 (1869); viii., ae Bede

a

a
|
{
/
/

OCTOBER 21, 1896.]

this oneas long ago as in 1888 and kept recommending it for

years before any inquiry was made for it.
Nothing

Garden and Forest.

; ng is more striking in autumn than a few plants of
Gaillardia grandiflora distributed through the herbaceous bor-

425

until frost, and their long stems make them excellent for cut-
ting. Gaillardias will grow and flower profusely in any good
garden soil.

The perennial double Sunflower, a form of Helianthus mul-

Fig. 56.—Rhamnus crenata.—See page 424.

der or set in masses by themselves. The rich coloring of
crimson and gold is to be seen in no other hardy plant at this
season. The flowers are quite large, measuring from three
and a half to four inches in diameter and continue to open

tiflorus, is still unexcelled among plants which flower in mid-
summer and early autumn. It will grow anywhere, making a
dense bush four feet high, and its rich golden flowers are borne
by the hundred. H. orgyalis is a distinct and stately Sunflower,

426

eight or ten feet high, with long lanceolate leaves and rich
golden flowers of medium size, which open in great abun-
dance along two-thirds of the length of the tall stem. It is one

of the best of the single Sunflowers for cutting, and it is indis-.

pensable where tall-flowering plants are needed.

A neat and distinct little border plant is Lady Larpent’s
Plumbago, which forms a prostrate tuft eight inches high,
covered with rich dark blue flowers in close terminal heads,
and lasting until cut off by severe frosts. It spreads by wan-
dering roots, and in time a few plants will carpet a considera-
ble space, and the leaves turn late to most brilliant colors.

The Giant Daisy, Pyrethrum uliginosum, is now found in
almost every garden, and its large, white composite flowers,
with yellow disks, completely cover well-established plants.
These grow in any soil, but they delight especially in one that
is moist and rich, where they become four or five feet high
and quite as broad.

Sedum spectabile, another old-fashioned border plant, has
fallen into neglect in many gardens, but early this fall I ob-
served a mass of charming pink flowers, backed by a sombre
green. It was something of a revelation to be reminded once
more that this Sedum was soattractive and that it filled a place

which no other hardy herb can occ .
Riverton, N. J. “4 ‘ BY Wm. Tricker.

Hardy Plants for Forcing.

Nia hardy shrubs and herbaceous plants make interest-
ing subjects for decoration during winter and spring,
and such as have been planted out for the summer should
now be potted in readiness for their winter quarters. It is not
necessary to place these plants in the greenhouse at once, and
the shrubs should be kept in cold cellars or pits convenient to
get at, and frequently aired, even in frosty weather. It is better
to keep them trozen, for all such plants force better if they
have been thus kept. They should not be subjected to sun-
shine until they are required for forcing. The most success-
ful growers of Lilly-of-the-valley freeze the pips continuously
for a week before they force them.

Roots of deciduous shrubs and hardy bulbs can be kept in
boxes out-of-doors as well as under cover. It is necessary,
however, that boards be placed under the boxes to prevent
contact with the earth, or the contents would freeze into a
solid mass. Those who have neglected these precautions have
had reasons to regret the error. For protection, hay or pine
needles are excellent. It need hardly be suggested that the
ground should be marked with stakes, so that plants may
easily be found when covered with snow.

Desirable plants for these uses include Spiraea astilboides
and the Astilbes. Deutzia gracilis, Lilacs, Hybrid Roses,
Ghent Azaleas and hardy Rhododendrons are better kept under
cover. Evergreen herbaceous plants, such as Foxgloves,
Canterbury Bells and Christmas Roses, must be kept in frames

and aired during bright weather.
Wellesley, Mass. 2 i Le, Hatfield,

The Acacias.

A FEW years ago even the most common Acacias were

unknown or ignored by American florists. Such beau-
tiful speciesas A. armata, A. Drummondii, A. longifolia and A.
Riceana are now becoming quite common and popular, and
many well-grown plants, especially of the two first-named
species, may be seen at their flowering season in the windows
of most progressive florists. That the Acacias can be grown
as well here as in Europe is quite evident, and there are, per-
haps, no spring-flowering plants deserving of a more general
cultivation for indoor decorative purposes, whether in the
florist’s shop or in the home.

Aside from their value as ornamental plants in the north,
the Acacias are undoubtedly destined to play an important part
in southern landscape-gardening, although the tendency in the
south at the present time is to introduce plants familiar in the
north which are unsuited to the climate of most southern
states. Most Acacias are evergreens, but they by no means
require excessive heat; many species will, on the contrary,
stand several degrees of frost without injury, and some of the
deciduous species, such as A. Farnesiana and the nearly
related A. Julibrissin, are perfectly hardy in this latitude. Noth-
ing can be more graceful and attractive than large specimens
of the Silver Wattle, A. dealbata, with its masses of yellow
globular heads of flowers and finely pinnate silvery and downy
leaves. Large specimens of A. Drummondii, so frequently
met in conservatories, give an idea of the beautiful scenery
which it would be possible to create in southern latitudes by

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 452.

the judicious planting of the best species of Acacias in connec-
tion with other subtropical plants.

All Acacias do well in a sandy, fibrous loam mixed with
peat or leaf-soil. As a rule, they require abundant water
during the growing season, but will afterward thrive if kept
moderately moist and cool. For propagation both seeds and
cuttings are used with advantage. The cuttings made with a
heel ot half-ripe wood should be inserted in a bed of clean
silver sand, without bottom-heat, in a cool greenhouse. They
root freely, and should be firmly potted immediately after
rooting. During the summer-time both old and young plants
do best in the open air in a cool frame without glass, where
they can be partially shaded and thoroughly watered as re-
quired. In the south, small twigs simply broken off and placed
in the soil will root as readily as Willows in the north. Here
they thrive in sandy and sterile soil, provided it retains the
necessary moisture in summer,

Among the best species, both for indoor culture in the north
and for more extensive planting in the south, are Acacia
armata; leaves replaced by oblique, rounded phyllodia close
to the somewhat winged and spiny branches; flowers yellow,
in axillary globular heads. A. dealbata; leaves twice pinnate,
soft, downy and silvery on the under side; flower-heads
yellow, in ample racemes insummer. This species grows to
a considerable size. A.Drummondii; leaves small, twice pin-
nate, leaflets linear; fowers in cylindrical spikes, yellow, in
spring. A. lineata; leaves.small, linear; flowers in axillary
globular heads, bright yellow. A. longifolia; leaves rather
long, flattened, tri-nerved phyllodia; flowers in cylindrical
axillary spikes, yellow. A. Riciana; leaves linear; flowers
yellow, in small globular heads, forming ample drooping
masses at the end of short side-branches; a very beautiful

aka
and graceful species, N. $2 Rose,

Newark, N. J.
Notes from the Santa Monica Forestry Station.

Stauntonia hexaphylla.—This beautiful Japanese climber is
succeeding well with us at Santa Monica. Our specimen was
planted in the spring of 1894, being then only a few inches
high, Trained on wires it now covers a space about ten feet
by twelve feet, and is growing rapidly, though almost directly
exposed to the strong sea breeze which prevails here all sum-
mer. Its digitate foliage is very handsome, with oval, acumi-
nate, somewhat irregularly undulate leaflets, ranging from
one to five inches in length, the mature ones deep green, while
those of the new shoots are of a beautiful bright shade. The
delicate, creamy, pendent flowers, about half an inch in
length, are borne in few-flowered axillary racemes in April.
If the specimen here is typical, the name hexaphylla is rather
a misnomer, for the leaves are mostly three, five and seven
foliate, five and seven predominating on the mature wood.
Diligent search is necessary to discover a six-foliate leaf.

Eucalyptus ficifolia—Our bright scarlet-flowered specimen of
this very fine tree is now in full bloom, and shows to wonder-
ful advantage against a background of Eucalyptus polyan-
thema (the gray form). The heavy mass of soft glaucous gray
of the latter sets off charmingly the stiff, dark green leaves and
the great clusters of bright red blossoms which cover the entire
crown of the E, ficifolia. The variety here is a full month later
in blooming than the type, which is already quite past its bloom.
E. ficifolia is regarded by many as the most beautiful of the
numerous Eucalypti represented here. Its regular, symmetri-
cal habit, rather pyramidal form, cinnamon-colored bark,
large, ovate-lanceolate, pointed, dark green, coriaceous leaves,
brilliant red flowers and remarkable; heavy clusters of large,
ovoid seed-capsules combine to justify amply the eagerness
with which it is sought after for ornamental purposes. It is
not a tree of large growth, and it is reported as not exceeding
fifty feet in height in its native forests. AtSanta Monica it has
done well in a mean winter temperature of about fifty degrees,
Fahrenheit, with the thermometer occasionally registering as
low as thirty-four degrees on the sheltered terrace in the cafion
where the trees stand. Of our five specimens the best is a
double-stemmed tree twenty-three feet high, with a spread of
sixteen feet. The others are somewhat smaller. This repre-
sents a growth of seven years from the seed, without irriga-
tion, and with an average annual rainfall not exceeding fifteen
or sixteen inches ; last winter it was less than eight inches. As

-an avenue tree and for ornamental purposes generally, in suit-

able climates, and as a highly desirable greenhouse species in
colder regions, E. ficifolia has many claims to consideration.

Eucalyptus calophylla.—This tree, closely related to the one
just described, is also blooming freely now. This species has
been described recently in GARDEN AND FoREST by Mr, Wat-

OCTOBER 21, 1896.]

son (see p. 364), froma specimen grown under glass at Kew.
His description tallies well with the appearance of the trees
grown in the open air at Santa Monica. It may be added,
however, that the seed-capsules are larger and even more
remarkable than those of Eucalyptus ficifolia, though more
sparsely borne. They are some two inches or more in length,
an inch in diameter, rudely goblet-shaped and slightly con-
stricted at about two-thirds of their length from the pedun-
cularend. The outer integument on the dry capsule is gray-
green, hard and rough. Underneath this is hard, brown,
fibrous tissue, which takes a polish almost like brier wood.
These pods make excellent pipe-bowls, and can be utilized
also for umbrella-handles and the like. The species endures
several degrees of frost and grows more rapidly than E. fici-
folia, with which it may be ranked for ornamental purposes.
As to more general utility, reports from Australia ascribe
considerable value to the timber, which is said to be hard,

close-grained and finely veined.
Santa Monica, Cali. y Fohn H. Barber.

Notes on Watsonias.

M’” experience with Watsonias has been confined toa few
of the species. I have not tried the new variety offered
this year by Messrs. Wallace & Co., and spoken of so highly
by Mr. Watson in the issue of GARDEN AND Forest for Octo-
ber 7th, but if I find itno better than most of such as I have
grown [shall not value it highly. Watsonia Meriana and its
varieties are too much like Gladioliof a poor strain to be worth
growing more than once, and W. humilis is not much better,
though the aspect of the bulbs with their coarse-fibred coats
is of some interest, as is the firm, rigid foliage, which in some
species is spirally twisted. These bulbs are not very free-
flowering unless they are kept much warmer during their sea-
son of rest than is necessary with Gladioli. There is, however,
one species of the Gladiolus-leaved series which is worthy of
a high place among flowering bulbs, namely, W. angusta. It
makes a spike of exceedingly brilliant scarlet Howers about
two inches or a trifle less in diameter. The tint varies a little
in different individuals, but all are beautiful. I lost the few I
had some years ago and have not been able as yet to get a
fresh supply, some form of W. Meriana being furnished in-
stead of the true species. Of the smaller-flowered section I
have grown only one species, W. aletroides, a kind of lower
and slenderer growth, bearing a spike of rose-colored flowers,
a little tinged with purple at the tips. These flowers are nearly
cylindrical and drooping and remind one somewhat of Lache-
nalias. I was surprised to find this species hardy. It came
up and flowered yearly until, through my own neglect, it was
smothered and killed by Witch Grass. One more species only
‘Thave grown, W. fistulosa, ranked by Mr. Baker asa Micran-
thus. This is an interesting species, but not handsome enough
to be worth keeping long. Its foliage consists of erect, round
hollow leaves, and the flowers are very small and crowded in
the spike. The specimen which I had was blue-flowered, not
red, as Mr. Baker describes it. W. E. Endicott,

Canton, Mass.

California Irises.—Failure to establish Iris Hartwegii, I. Mac-
rosiphon and, perhaps, other California Irises, has been so
general that it will interest gardeners to know that Herr Max
Leichtlin has lately taken them in hand and solved the prob-
lem of their successful cultivation, so that now “they grow
like weeds” in his garden. He says that “ plants are received
in Europe from their native quarters quite fresh and healthy-
looking, but I have treated such plants several times and they
always died. My experience is that they cannot be success-
fully moved unless they are in full vegetation. We must grow
them from seed and not touch the seedlings before they have
formed a solid root-stock ; after this, and when movement to
again grow has begun, they can be safely handled and trans-
planted like other Irises; in May in Baden-Baden, They want
sunny quarters. This spring I had plants with twelve or twenty
flowers open at one time in all shades of ochre and cream.

They are very striking plants.”
Elizabeth, N. fe J. N. Gerard.

The Japanese Wineberry.—This plant, Rubus Phoenicolasius,
which has lately been the subject of much notice, is a most
useful addition to our fruits, even in its present form, and it is
reasonable to hope that it will improve considerably under
cultivation. It prolongs the berry season, and producing com-
paratively small seeds, it is superior to blackberries and rasp-
berries for canning, preserving, wine and jelly. It is also
hardy, ornamental and prolific, and is subject to attack from
few diseases or insects. During the past season it came into

Garden and Forest.

427

full bearing after the main crop of raspberries had been mar-

keted, and in New York city, where the fruit was previously

unknown, it readily brought ten cents a quart to the growers.
Floral Park, N. Y. M. Barker.

Correspondence.

Along our Roadsides.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—It is quite a general custom among many of our
property owners to attempt to beautify our roadsides by going
over them with scythe and axe, shearing everything close to
the bank, or, perhaps, leaving a straight row of trees a certain
distance apart, whose matured size will encroach on the road
or, perhaps, interfere with the telegraph-wires, and eventually
subject them to the pruning butcher. This shearing treat-
ment of roadsides, with the firing that is often practiced, must
exterminate many of our native plants, or, at least, banish
them from places where they are most desirable. After three
years of judicial pruning and trimming of the roadsides here
around the Pitcairn estate we are highly gratified with the
growth and variety of plants which are now covering them.
On one side of the road Sassafras, Cornus florida, Viburnum
acerifolium and V. dentatum are spreading, the latter espe-
cially desirable, being a compact shrub, with erect branches
about eight or ten feet high, with large cymes of white flowers
which are followed in the autumn with bright blue fruit. The
Sheep-berry, V. prunifolium, is also very plentiful and desira-
ble. Prunus serotina, P. Virginiana and Celtis occidentalis
have attained a height of four and five feet from mere shoots
a few inches high two summers ago. The showy Rhus
glabra is establishing itself very freely. Rubus Canadensis
and R. villosus have made a wonderful growth, and I find many
waste places along the roadside where they are invaluable.

Among the Roses, Rosa lucida is the most plentiful, and
masses of it can be found fifty feet in length. Plants of the
Sweetbrier are abundant, as is also R. Carolina. Sambucus
Canadensis, although common, 's one of the best of shrubs.
But of all the plants for bank covering none can compete with
Lonicera Japonica. Although it is not a native plant, it has
become established here, and even threatens to strangle many
of our native shrubs. In this section of Pennsylvania it is so
thoroughly naturalized that one would suppose it was a native.
It extends over large areas, and as I write, in August, there are
considerable masses of white and cream-colored flowers. In
one place it is seen clambering over a lot of old Cedars, and
in another it has festooned itself from one Catalpa-tree to
another on the summitof a high bank, and as one drives along
the highway, about forty feet below, they are very picturesque.
I have propagated and collected it very freely and introduced
it all along our roadsides. The only attention it gets is a cut-
ting with the scythe or sickle once or twice a year.

Virginia Creeper is making an excellent ground cover, and
Vitis Labrusca has within three years covered a space of
ground fifteen feet square. Of herbaceous plants, Linaria
vulgaris, Asclepias quadrifolia, Hypericum perfoliatum, Rud-
beckia hirta, Baptisia tinctoria, Eupatoriums, Asters, Soli-
dagos, Strawberries and Potentillas, all of which are most
pleasing in their struggling efforts to cover and beautify the

ground,
8
Huntingdon Valley, Pa. L. F, Horner.

Notes from Botanical Garden at Smith College.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—In the collection of tropical plants which are planted
out in the large Palm-house here are three species of Musa,
namely, M. paradisiaca, M. Chinensis (Cavendishi) and M. tex-
tilis. All have made phenomenal growth this season. They
were planted about the last week in April, when M. paradisiaca
was about four feet high, a mere sucker ina ten-inch pot. It
now measures twenty feet in height, with leaves eight feet
long by two and a half wide, while the stem at one foot
from the ground is twenty-seven inches in circumference.
M. Chinensis was alsoa small plant, about three feet in height ;
it is now ten feet tall, with leaves five feet long by two and
a half wide. This species is naturally dwarf-growing. M.
textilis, which was in an eight-inch pot and about two feet high
when planted out, is now twelve feet in height, with leaves five
feet six inches long and eighteen inches across, and has sev-
eral suckers almost as large as the parent plant. This species
is admirably adapted for use with other tropical plants. It does
not grow to the proportions of the taller species, but the stems
and leaves, which are of a grayish-green color, have a partic-

428 Garden and Forest.

ularly handsome and _ graceful appearance. The bed these
Musas are growing in is about five feet in depth, com-
posed of good rich soil, and they have had plenty of water.
The hardy Nympheas in the ponds in this garden, particu-
larly N. Marliacea chromatilla, grew so luxuriantly this sea-
son that many of the leaves were forced several inches above
the water. During the hot weather these became much shriv-
eled and sunburnt, and by the end of July were unsightly. As
an experiment, the leaves were all mown off about six inches
below the surface of the water. New growth and flowers soon
followed, and for the past six weeks the plants have borne
more flowers, and with their fresh green leaves have been
even more attractive than they were in spring. Whether this
will have any ill effect on the vitality of the plants remains to
be seen; but it is preferable, in my opinion, to have the two
crops of flowers, even at the expense of the plants.
Edward F. Canning.

Botanic Garden, Northampton, Mass.

Asparagus Rust.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—In the last issue of GARDEN AND ForEsrT attention is
called in the Notes to Professor Halsted’s recent article on the
Asparagus rust, Puccinia Asparagi, from which it is inferred
that the malady is probably confined to a few localities. I
wish to state in this connection that the Asparagus-plants at
the Agricultural College here are completely covered with the
same rust this fall, although I cannot say how far it has been
disseminated in other parts of the state, neither have I noticed

it on the College plants previous to this year.
Massachusetts Agric’! College, Amherst, Mass. G. E. Stone.

The Forest.
The Burma Teak Forests.—XII.

PORTIONS OF THE FORESTS MAY EVENTUALLY BE GIVEN UP FOR
THE EXTENSION OF CULTIVATION.

I T is not unreasonable to suppose that the time will come when

the timber requirements of the country, and the demands
of the world’s markets, can be provided from a much smaller
area than that at present reserved. Many of the Karens are
taking toa more settled, a more civilized system of cultivation ;
they make permanent paddy-fields in the place of their shift-
ing toungyas, but this must necessarily be a slow process,
and meanwhile the increasing yield of the forests will make it
possible to find room for them even beyond the areas assigned
to them under the present settlement. The real strength of
the gigantic British Indian Empire consists in the prosperity
and contentment of its inhabitants. The British nation may
well be proud of having accomplished this—of having estab-
lished a strong, just and considerate Government among the
numerous nationalities of British India. It may not be gen-
erally known that those provinces of India which are under
British government have nearly one-third the area of the United
States, without Alaska, while the population is much larger—
namely, 225,000,000. Including the native states, the British
Indian Empire at present has an area of one and a half million
square miles, with a population of 300,000,000,

CONCLUDING REMARKS.

It has been stated that strong opposition was raised in the
earlier days against the demarcation of reserved forests in
Burma. Even some of the principal forest officers, after I had
left Burma, supported this opposition, and their strongest
argument was that the natural forests should be left to the
Karens, and that for the supply of Teak timber in the future
we should exclusively rely upon plantations made, if possible,
in the open country outside the forests. All mature timber in
the forests could then be cut at once, and this would give a
powerful stimulus to the trade and prosperity of the country.

Fortunately, these views did not at that time prevail. Slowly,
but steadily, the forest revenue had increased. The merchants
of Rangoon were as anxious as they had been in 1860 to get
the forests into their own hands, or, at least, to girdle as much
timber as they wished. But the steadily growing surplus
revenue was accepted by the Government as proof that the
system initiated in 1856 was a good one and ought to be main-
tained. And when in 1886 upper Burma was annexed the good
financial results of forest management in lower Burma led to
the adoption ofasimilarsystem for the new territory. The forests
of upper Burma are exceedingly rich ; large quantities of old
timber, girdled by the holders of forest leases under the King,
are being brought out, and it has been possible largely to con-

[NUMBER 452.

tinue girdling operations. The surplus forest revenue of
upper Burma is very large, amounting during the five years
ending 1893-4 to 1,436,000 rupees a year.

The far-sighted torest policy laid down by Lord Dalhousie,
and carried out by Sir Arthur Phayre, made it possible to
initiate a good system ; its maintenance, however, is chiefly
due to the growing surplus forest revenue. Nay, it is not too
much to say that the Burma surplus forest revenue has largely
contributed to the establishment and maintenance of a good
forest policy in the British Indian Empire. The figures for the
five years ending with 1893-4 stand as follows:

British India. Burma.

Mean annual Rupees. Rupees.
Gross revenug,. .... - 15,949,000 4,978,000
Expen@iture; ssn. = « 8,603,000 1,672,000
SUNPIUSHFEVENUGy hr. «0 8 7,346,000 3.306,000

The mean annual surplus forest revenue of Burma amounts
to forty-five per cent. of that produced by the forests of the
whole British Indian Empire.

The reader may ask whether too much stress has not here
been laid upon the production of surplus revenue from the
forests. The value to the nation of well-managed public for-
ests consists less in the annual surplus revenue which they
give than in the accumulated capital value which they repre-
sent, the supply of timber and other produce which they yield
and in the protection which they afford to agricultural and
other interests. The real advantages of good forest manage-
ment, however, are not yet recognized everywhere. In Eng-
land, at least, and probably also in the United States, most
people will be disposed to judge the management of forests by
the surplus revenue they yield.

Though the present paper has extended to great length, I
have no right to expect that the reader has fully understood
the leading facts connected with forest management in Burma.
A few practical points, however, have, I trust, been promi-
nent. These I should like to recapitulate and particularly to
submit them to those who may in the United States have-to
undertake the management of forests similarly constituted.

First. Collect data as soon as possible regarding the market-
able species, growing stock, rate of growth and their require-
ments.

Second. Cut sparingly, regulating your cuttings, according to
circumstances, by area or by volume.

Third. Select the trees to be cut with due regard to the
maintenance of the most valuable species.

Fourth. Increase the proportion of the more valuable kinds
by planting or by other means,

Fifth. Resist, if possible, the temptation to make a big boom
at the outset, and form your plans so as to secure a sustained
and, if possible, a steadily increasing yield from the forests.

Sixth. If the question has to be decided which areas should
be selected to be demarcated as reserved or state forests it is
best at the outset to make these areas as large as possible.
Hereafter, when the yield of these areas is known, it will be
easy to give up such portions as may be less valuable for the
extension of cultivation and in order to provide local labor in

the forests. Ae :
Bonn, Germany. Dietrich Brandis.

[This installment concludes the instructive chapter in
the history of skilled forest management which Sir Dietrich
Brandis has been kind enough to provide for our readers.
It is, perhaps, the most important experiment of the kind
which has been inaugurated during the century, and, con-
sidering the difficulties encountered, the most successful in
a large way, so that a sketch of it by the originator of the
scheme has a value which every student of forestry will
appreciate. In response to requests of correspondents, we
shall publish a small edition of these articles in pamphlet
form.—Ep. |

Recent Publications.

Camping in the Canadian Rockies. By Walter Dwight
Wilcox. With twenty-five full-page photogravures and
many text illustrations from photographs by the author.
G. P. Putnam’s Sons. 1896.

This book is not a record of pioneer life, nor the work
of a geological or mining explorer, or of a railway engi-
neer, or of a hunter or naturalist, but simply of a man who
enjoys camp life, who climbs mountains because he loves
to do it, and who takes photographs with much more skill
than the ordinary amateur. Mr, Wilcox, indeed, manifests

OCTOBER 21, 1896.]

some interest in the geography of the region, but this
seems quite incidental, and he evidently has no idea that
his readers care for information of this character or he cer-
tainly would have furnished them with a map of some
kind, even if it were nothing more than a rough sketch.
His excuse that there are no detailed maps to cover the
region is not quite satisfactory, and the lack of such a help
must be looked upon as a blemish to the book. Nevertheless,
all who have enjoyed the experience of camp-life in the
mountains, and the much larger body of persons who have
never had that pleasure, but who entertain an inward long-
ing to try it, will be grateful to have their attention directed
to this book. In the first place, it is attractive to look at,
' printed on excellent paper and with large, bold-faced type,
and the illustrations have a genuine artistic quality. That
is, Mr. Wilcox has the faculty of selecting a point of view
from which his camera looks out upon a well-composed
picture, with all that is distracting excluded. Many of the
photogravures are conspicuously good and reproduce in a
striking way the pictorial effects of these great mountain
masses, glaciers, lakes and streams.

It is the glaciers which give the crowning interest to
these Canadian Rocky Mountains, for they do not reach
the height attained by the range within the United States.
But these great stretches of ice, with their lofty surround-
ings, are many of them uniquely beautiful and make a most
impressive appeal to the imagination. And then when
we consider that 120 of them may be counted from the
summit of Mount Abbott, and even more are in view from
Eagle Peak, it can readily be seen that a summer can be
passed in a comparatively small district with a glacier to
be studied every day. Every reader will share Mr. Wilcox’s
evident enjoyment of this wonderful scenery, and, although
he has not the large descriptive and poetic faculty displayed
by Mr. Muir, he writes in such a straightforward, manly
way that every reader feels that he would enjoy life under
the same tent with him. Camp-life, when it has an estab-
lished base of operations at a first-class hotel, and
possesses all the modern equipments for comfort and
convenience, has hardly enough of hardship and adventure
in it to satisfy those who lie in a hammock and read about
mountaineering, and yet there was enough of danger and
privation in Mr. Wilcox’s experience to demand patience,
courage and resolution and to test the nobler qualities of a
man.- After the quiet descriptions of perilous ascents and of
various trials and privations encountered, one feels that the
author speaks only words of truth and soberness when he
argues that life in the mountains is an education, especially
in the way of strengthening character. Before these
ranges are thoroughly explored and their highest summits
scaled the nerve as well as the muscle of many a camper
will be put on trial. Mr, Wilcox presents many facts re-
lating to the geology, the climate and the vegetation of
this region, much about the Indians, the game animals and
the lower forms of life, but the primary excellence of the
book is its buoyancy of tone, which exhilarates like moun-
tain air. This is seen not only in descriptions of scenery,
but in the experiences of camp-life, with its adventures and
pleasures, its labors and disappointments. The author
does not complain because the storms do not abate to suit
him or because the mountain paths are hard. He makes
the best of every risk and discomfort, although he has the
good sense to realize that it is the part of wisdom to fortify
himself in every possible way and not to encounter hard-
ships for their own sake. Here is a little advice which
every one who meditates enjoying a summer vacation
among these glaciers will do well to heed :

Let the camper surround himself with all the luxuries that
are possible without trespassing on the bounds of reason ; let
him have a good cook and a good packer ; horses that are used
to travel; a fine camp outfit, comtortable blankets and a good
tent; afull supply of cooking utensils, knives, forks and spoons ;
above all, let him take an abundant supply of provisions, com-
prising a large variety of dried fruits and the various cereals,
and let each article be of the best quality.

Garden and Forest.

429
Exhibitions.

Flowersand Fruits at the American Institute Fair.— II.

eo we go to press a collection of Chrysanthemums is on
exhibition at Madison Square Garden, although it is, of
course, too early for many of the best kinds. Last week few
flowers were seen on the tables, although there was a fine dis-
play of Cosmos, which in color, size and graceful poise we
have never seen excelled. Mr. Childs, too, had some admira-
ble spikes of Gladiolus of the Lemoine type. A few superb
Roses were contributed by E. W. Bliss, gardener to A. J.
Wengertner, Bay Ridge, New York, and a good collection of
ornamental plants was shown by Mr. Dimmock, the Ameri-
can agent of F. Sander & Co. Very effective, too, was a table
of Cacti, including some fifty varieties, among which was an
example of Cereus giganteus, and exhibited by M. Keppler.

The greater part of the space, however, was given up to
apples, and a magnificent show they made. The most com-
plete collection was sent by the New York Experiment Station
at Geneva, and it consisted of 225 varieties ot apples, besides
some of the best American plums, and many of the newer
varieties of grapes. These were all carefully named, and formed
a valuable object-lesson to those who wish to study and com-
pare varieties. The management has concluded to let them
remain to the end of the exhibition on the 29th, and it is hoped
that all interested in pomology will appreciate this opportunity.
Two other exhibitors, Messrs. White & Rice, and T. F. Pierson,
showed as many as 175 varieties each, and there were some
admirable entries for a smaller number of varieties, especially
that of Mr. Charles C. Kromer, every plate of which was worthy
of a first prize.

Vegetables were surprisingly zood. The Riverhead Town
Agricultural Society showed a collection of fifty-three different
sorts, with more than 200 varieties, which, considering
the lateness of the season, was remarkable. J. M. Thorburn
& Co., Peter Henderson & Co., J. W. Foster, of Yonkers,
and J. Van der Wend also made large entries. None of these
exhibits, however, had greater attractions for visitors than the
vegetables contributed by the vacant-lot farmers in this city.
Taken together this display was very comprehensive. One of
these farmers, Mrs. Miller, showed thirty-five varieties, every
one of which was well grown. A large bunch of peanuts, still
attached to the plants, and grown in a vacant lot along Fifth
Avenue, created a mild sensation.

Notes.

Staple products affected by short crops include currants,
raisins, figs, cloves, Grenoble walnuts, Sicily filberts and Texas
Pecan nuts, all of which have recently advanced in price.
Hickory nuts are also scarce, and the newcrop sells for half as
much again as old nuts carried over in cold storage, the latter
constituting the main supplies now.

Among fruits still seen in excellent condition, but in light
demand because their season is past, are large firm water-
melons, offered at forty-five cents each, and choice Maryland
peaches, which find few purchasers at fifty cents for a basket
holding thirty selected fruits of first size. In one of our mar-
kets barberries are offered, the tart red berries being prepared
for the table much as cranberries are. Pomegranates, from
Spain, cost fifty cents a dozen.

Many of the primary schools in southern Russia have
orchards and kitchen gardens attached for the use of the
schoolmaster, as well as small model kitchen gardens, tree
plantations, or farms, in which gardening and sylviculture are
taught. Even vineyards are to be found in connection with
some of the schools in Caucasia, and the pupils are carefully
instructed in silkworm culture and beekeeping. Zhe Gar-
deners’ Chronicle well remarks that besides encouraging the
pursuit of agriculture as a calling, and in this way diminishing
the rush of population to the towns, these school-gardens have
another immediate good effect, and that is upon the health of
the children by the interchange of outdoor study with seden-
tary work in the schoolroom.

Courses of informal talks on botanical subjects, with illus-
trations by charts, blackboard demonstrations and specimens,
will be given to private classes, village improvement associa-
tions and similar organizations by Miss Dock, who is known to
our readers as an occasional writer for GARDEN AND FOREs?T.
One of these is an historical course, giving the development of
modern botany; another is descriptive, outlining briefly the
history and distribution of a few of the well-known families of

430

plants, with some practical suggestions as to the preservation
of wild roads and wayside shrubs; the third is arranged for
students preparing to take a botanical course in our universi-
ties. Terms and additional particulars may be had on
application to Miss M. L. Dock, at 1427 North Front Street,
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania,

Up to the 8th of October 273,287 barrels of American apples
had been received atthe port ot Liverpool alone, while during
the same period last year only 19 554 barrels had been re-
ceived, an increase of over a quarter vt a million barrels. In
a circular of a leading Liverpool dealer it is stated that if the
fruit had all been of the first quality that market could hardly
have absorbed this tremendous quantity in so shorta time,
and especially so early in the season. But since far the greater
proportion of the fruit was defective in condition and had to
be torced off, as it could not be held, the results have been
cruel to shippers. Sound and tight barrels of King apples,
from New York and Boston, varied somewhat during the
second week in October, but averaged $2.75, although the
Canada apples brought a trie more. Baldwins, Hubbards-
tons, Greenings and Northern Spies sold for lower prices,
some of the best stock bringing only $1.25 a barrel. These
were the top prices for the week, but detective and “slack”’
barrels often brought seventy-five cents less.

Professor Lamson-Scribner writes to The American Agri-
culturisé that the United States furnishes thirty per cent. ot all
the Grass species of the world, besides a greater number of
valuable native forage plants than any other continent. One
of the best lines of work looking toward the development of
improved varieties is that of bringing our native plants into
cultivation. These home species are best adapted to the con-
ditions here, and it is tolly to think that better forms can be
introduced from Europe or Australia, where climate and soil
and the amount ot raiutall are different. The meadow Grasses
of our parks, woodlands and mountain slopes, the Grama and
Buffalo Grasses of the southwest, the blue stems of the eastern
prairie belt, ought to be studied and tested. What we need to
do 1s to go out into the fields and meadows and select and
propagate the thrifty grasses and native clovers, persistently
working as the horticulturist has done to produce the best
varieties of truit, and the florist to secure the most highly
developed flowers. Every cultivated grass, grain and fruit has
been developed from exactly such small begiunings, and when
we take into account the magnitude of our grazing industry it
is evident that the line of work indicated is exceedingly
important.

The monks of the Middle Ages were usually sagacious
enough to select fertile and sheltered locations for establishing
their cloisters, and they surrounded them with rich fields and
gardens. At Interlaken, Switzerland, on the deep alluvial soil
deposited by the rivers which came down from the great
Bernese Oberland, a monastery and nunnery were founded in
1130. The monks planted a grove of Walnuts, Juglans regia,
about their buildings and a long avenue connecting the cluis-
ters with the neighboring village of Aarmitihle. They had
learned from the east and south, no doubt, the value of the
rich, fruity oil yielded by the walnuts, and to this day it is
pressed in quantities here and used as a substitute for olive-
oil. The Wainut-trees still survive, hoary with age, picturesque
and venerable. They now line the fashionable promenade,
Hoheweg, where the whole world throngs to pay homage to
the Jungtrau, crowned with her eternal snows, Throughout
the country round about here Walnut-trees are very common,
and they are probably seedlings from nuts which have been
carried away by squirrels from the parent trees. To-day,
within the walls of the old cloister, the present Kreis Forester
of Interlaken has established a little “ plant school,” where all
sorts of seedlings are grown, to be used in the work of pro-
tecting the flanks of the mountains against torrents from
melted snow. Thus the monks builded better than they knew,
and, in a certain sense, the modern torester here is their lineal
successor.

The windows of an underground railway carriage in London
would hardly seem to afford any remarkable facilities for bota-
nizing, and yet, according to The Globe, a Londoner would
have to walk many miles before he encountered such an
assortment of wild plants as that which he can inspect along
the railway banks, tor example, between Gloucester Road
and Earl's Court stations. The flowers are not all wild, for
self-sown Marigolds and Suntowers give a horticultural aspect
to some ct the slopes; but besides these a wealth of plants
which are associated with hedgerows along country roads is

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 452.

to be found, which somehow or other have fought their way
into the midst of this wilderness of bricks and mortar. The
Bladder Campion, for instance, is flowering here profusely,
with Mallows, Bindweed, Toad Flax, Coltstoot and Centaury
in large clumps and patches, and, doubtless, they are haunted
by the same species of insects which make them their home
in the country. As entomologists multiply and moths grow
scarce itis by no means impossible that these little railway
preserves may come to be the last localities where some
insects will exist. Perhaps the district railway may in future
make a little addition to its revenue by selling tickets for ad-
mission for botanists or entomologists to collect rare weeds or
pursue evasive Lepidoptera along the railway embankments,
These little centres ot wild life in London, more thoroughly
protected between diverging railway tracks than by lines of
fences or cohorts of gamekeepers, are truittul of scientific
possibilities.

Excepting asparagus, all the vegetables of the year may now
be readily procured. The last eggplants, from near-by tarms,
sell for ten cents each, the first trom Florida realizing fitteen
to twenty cents apiece. The season tor field cucumbers in
the north is about ended, seven cents apiece being charged for
the few in stock, and hot-house cucumbers, trom Boston, com-
mand eighteen to twenty cents. Lima beans still come trom
New Jersey, and cabbage is plentitul and cheap. The ship-
ments of tomatoes from New Jersey and Long Island are
nearly ended, fitteen cents a quart bemg the price now asked.
Radishes, peppers and squashes come trom this and neigh-
boring states, as well as string-beans, though this vegetable is
also received from Nortoik and Charleston, Virginia is send-
ing green peas. The cauliflower now offered is notably well
grown and showy and sells for fitteen to twenty-five cents a
head. The first southern okra of the season, of regular size
and even color, brings fifty cents a hundred. Native Brussels
sprouts cost fifteen to twenty cents a quart, and the more solid
sprouts, imported trom France, twenty-five cents a pound.
Sweet corn, tender and of good quality, may be had tor thirty
cents a dozen. Pumpkins cost fifteen to twenty-five cents,
according to size. Long stalks of beautiiully blanched celery
come trom Kalamazoo, and shorter stalks of equally good
quality trom Rochester, in this state, and from New Jersey.
Salsity costs ten cents a bunch, Other root vegetables in sea-
son are carrots, beets, parsnips, celeriac, radishes, turnips and
onions. Sweet potatoes from Virginia and New Jersey cost
twenty-five cents a half-peck. Field mushrooms this week
bring sixty cents a pound, the cultivated costing one dollar.
Mint, chervil, chives and tarragon are among the greens in
season, and for salads there are Romaine, and lettuce trom
Boston, blanched endive and escarole, and corn salad.

The New York Flower and Fruit Mission, founded twenty-
seven years ago, ended its work for this season last Thursday.
Since May, members of the society have, on Monday and
Thursday of each week, personally distributed the Howers to
patients In the public hospitals, and many sick persons in ten-
ements have been reached through missionaries and Bible
readers. On the closing day contributious came trom points
in Connecticut, northern New Jersey, Long Island and other
sections in this state. These Howers have a special charm in
their suggestion of country gardens, meadows and woodlands.
The choicest are always sent to patients most seriously ill,
while the litthe bunches which go to the sick blind are made
up of the most fragrant blossoms and leaves, lemon verbena
being a special tavorite. Among the brightest flowers on
Thursday were marigolds, dahlias, scarlet sage, geranium,
nasturtiums, cockscomb, zinnias, bachelors’ buttons, scabiosa,
cannas, phlox and late single sunflowers. Cosmos, ageratum,
heliotrope, mMignonette, sweet alyssum and balm were other
garden flowers, with a few roses, Sweet peas and early chrys-
anthemums, Flaming autumn leaves, purple asters, golden-
rod, daisies and pink clover had been gathered in wider fields,
Slips ot plants and vines came in smail boxes, with directions
for planting in earth or rooting 1n water, and there were some
potted plants, vegetables and truits. During the season new-

laid eggs, jelly and other delicacies suitable tor the sick are.

occasionally received, and these are especially useful. Prob-
ably none of our chariues are conducted with so little expendi-
ture of money. The Howers and other material are free gifts,
and these in packages not exceeding twenty pounds are car-
ried without charge by the express companies. The arrang-
ing and distributing is done by some of the members, at no
little personal sacrifice during the summer months, when as
many as five thousand bouquets have been made in a day;
the use of the room is also tree.

OcTOBER 28, 1896. ]

SANDE N ZAN®) FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrice: Tribune Buitpinc New York.

Gonducted!by, 5 =. s+) 5 « « « & %@ Professor C. S. SARGENT.

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1896.

TABLESOF CONTENTS.

PAGE

E »rorraL ArTICcLE :—Horticulture and Health ..........--. pineenei, ASK

An Arizona Cactus Garden ...... .... Professor % W. “Toumey. 432
FiveOrnamental/ OakSecnccs\eececewcemecicnces sca Professor S. C. Mason.

432
--W. Watson. 433
(With figure.)

W. Watson 434

ForEIGN CoRRESPONDENCE :—London Letter.
New or Littl&-KNown Piants :—Restio subverticillatus

PrantT NotEs..

CuLTURAL DepartMeNT: Utilizing | Coal Ashes
'Vhe Vegetable Garden...........sse-00-
Notes on Violets.........- on
Orchid Notes,—I..
Notes on Irises......+
Experience with Summer- flowering Plants
Coriaria Nepalensis.. eisietet ple eista/,sainiscatarais
Late-flowering Begonias. Mhocaadt Bn CHabCeOaAG

CoRRE: PONDENCR :—Notes trom Germantown.........
Smilaxitor:Plorists) USe. ccc vices b
Orchids on Mount Desert.

Recent PUBLICATIONS

Notxs. «-- - aes - oo

Iti USTRATION »Restio subverticillatus, GT Pea 7 petateiare sha mi[ei9ieqa¥iteiaie.sieverst'a\scic ate: gefevatel 435

svetela weet io: WN. Craig. 436
pate Wats rae T. D. Hatfield, 436
Sagiesesisiascstis is C7 pel. 437

FN. Gerard. 437
-W H. Taplin. 438
«+ Max Leichtlin. 438
- T.D. Hatfield. 438
-- Joseph Meehan. 439
ARAN Patrick O' Mara. 439
Annie Sawyer Downes 439

eeeceseee 439

Horticulture and Health.

T the Buffalo meeting of the American Association for
the Advancement: of Science, Professor W. R.
Lazenby, of the Ohio State University and Vice-President
of the section devoted to social and economic science, read
an essay on the subject which we have taken as the title to
this article. Using the word horticulture to include fruit-
growing and vegetable-gardening in the realm of domestic
art, with floriculture, which is partly industrial and partly a
fine art, and landscape-gardening, which lies wholly within
the province of fine art, Professor Lazenby discussed the
relation of all these divisions to physical, intellectual and
spiritual health. Of this broad subject we have only space
to examine briefly a few phases. I[t will be admitted that
no calling is superior to horticulture in furnishing pure
air, good food, an adequate amount of muscular exercise
and restful sleep, all of which are essentials to physical
health. The man employed in a greenhouse or garden or
an orchard spends most of his working hours in the fresh
air and sunshine; his task ends with the twilight, and an
unbroken rest enables him to start in the morning with his
physical energies renewed. Heis not shut upin a crowded
workshop, but is brought into close contact with nature,
and this is universally recognized as a genuine recupera-
tive force in human life.

But what are the chances of making a livelihood in this
country in branches of horticulture which offer such health-
ful conditions for working? Professor Lazenby asserts that
few industries show fairer returns for capital and labor than
the cultivation of small fruits or flowers, and there are few
that can be started with such small means and have thesame
capacity of extension into large enterprises. Fruits and flow-
ers are products which are in ‘universal demand—necessities
of the rich and appreciated luxuries of those in moderate
circumstances. Not only in densely populated cities, but
in our fashionable summer resorts, it is rare that the supply
of these products exceeds the demand. Good berries and
fine roses rarely lack purchasers, and the same is true of
vegetables forced in winter, which, after an experience of
twenly years, Professor Lazenby Arat ms, is a profitable
industry if it is intelligently and energetically pursued. ‘To
substantiate this thesis he states that the vegetable-forcing
house belonging to the horticultural department of the

Garden and Forest.

43!

(jhio State University has an area of about 4,000 square
feet of glass, comprising two plain structures which can
be built for about $900 each ; the total bench space in these
two houses is a trifle over one-twentieth ofan acre, andthe
annual sales from them during five years.past have averaged
about $600. ‘The products crane lettuce, radishes, 1 seets,
cucumbers and hyacinths. Besides this, there were grown
in smaller quantities, for experimental purposes, parsley,
peppers, eggplant, cauliflower, string-beans, onions, mush-
rooms anda few flowering plants. When it is considered
that these houses are in use but little more than half the
year the result is certainly encouraging. If small-fruit
culture, floriculture and vegetable culture in summer are
connected with this winter- forcing of vegetables there are
few places where a small ca pital can be invested with
greater certainty of success af an intelligent and thrifty
person. The large proportion of failures in business life is
due to sharp competition and the great number of persons
whoare crowding into every opening. Thereisnosuch rush
toward horticulture by persons of limited means, and the
number of those in almost any community who are raising
winter vegetables or small fruits might, perhaps, be doubled
without lessening the income of any one.

Both floriculture and small-fruit culture especially com-
mend themselves to women who are struggling to support
their children in frugal independence. Wherever a small
cottage can be obtained with half an acre of land with a
warm southward exposure, suitable for early vegetables,
the addition of a few cold frames will furnish something to
sell all summer long. If a small forcing-house can be
added it will give occupation during the winter months,
and probably this part of the establishment can be made to
bring more profit than the Jand. In this way Professor
Lazenby urges that many a widow could find profitable
and congenial employment for herself, and, perhaps, for
her children at home, where she could be her own mistress,
and not subject to the caprices, or possibly the injustice,
of anemployer. For such persons few pursuits offer greater
inducements for securing a livelihood under conditions
which are physically healthful and which stimulate the
intellect to wholesome exercise. The experience on the
vacant-lot farms in this and other cities has shown that
the light work of gardening is well adapted to women, and
they soon acquire a deftness and skill which seem to be
essentially their own. When such a conservative institu-
tion as the Royal Gardens at Kew admits young women as
students, it must be allowed that horticulture in some of
its branches is one of the occupations which may be con-
sidered open to women of intelligence and industry.

Professor Lazenby claims that the practice of horticulture
inculcates a reverence for honesty and truth, but we appre-
hend that it would be difficult to prove that horticulture as
a vocation has any stronger tendency to regenerate the
morals of a community than any other reputable calling
honestly pursued. But there is no doubt that the atmos-
phere of horticulture is favorable to intellectual health and
progress. I1 is very plain that the ampler knowledge we
have of Nature’s laws, and the fuller command we have of
scientific truth, the better we are able to cope with the
problems of practical horticulture, which means the trans-
forming of crude and comparatively worthless material
into substitutes of value for food or for administrating to
our love of the beautiful. A knowledge of botany, chemis-
try, entomology and geology can all be utilized in floricul-
ture, in vegetable- gardening and in fruit-growing, and any
one of these occupations will stimulate the ambitious prac-
titioner to study and cultivate his habits of observation.
It is not unfair, therefore, to call horticulture an intellectual
pursuit, and the highest success will come to those who
keep their minds open and their mental faculties constantly
alert. Finally, for those who are not in direct need of the
rewards of manual labor, there is no more healthful recrea-
tion for mind or body than gardening in all its branches,
and it may be added that there is no recreation which will
more thoroughly satisfy the inborn longing for the beauti-

432

ful and the love. of natural things. All who believe that
there is a higher part of our nature which is worth culti-
vating, will recognize the esthetic side of gardening as
one of its most healthful influences.

Since horticulture offers so many advantages for health-
ful relaxation and profitable employment, it is logical to
argue, as Professor Lazenby does, that the elements of the
art ought to be taught in our common schools, especially
since the world is full of men and women who are idle,
and therefore both useless and unhappy, because they have
never been taught to do anything. Many of the essential
facts in regard to the constitution of the soil and the
growth of plants can certainly be taught to children, and
in a practical way girls and boys can be instructed in the
methods of propagating plants from seeds and cuttings and
eraftings. They can learn something of the common in-
jurious weeds and insects of the region in which they live ;
they can gain a familiar acquaintance with our native trees
and shrubs, and learn something about our useful birds.
Such instruction would not require any abridgment of the
present curriculum; indeed, one practical result of the
healthful variation from constant devotion to books would
be greater mental alertness and aptitude for all kinds of
study. Especially would this prove helpful in establishing
the habit of investigating things rather than memorizing
words. It would mean, too, the improvement and adorn-
ment of school-grounds, and this would have arefining influ-
ence on both teachers and pupils. It must be remembered
that horticulture is something more than a mere manual
calling. Itisascience as well as an art ; it develops the facul-
ties of the mind just as any other branch of education does,
while the practice of it would improve the bodily vigor of
pupils. An elementary knowledge of gardening is the
foundation of a trade or calling to every boy and girl,
and, even if it was never pursued for a livelihood, there
are few persons to whom such knowledge would not
prove a comfort and delight. Every one who has a house
with a few rods of land attached would find in it at some
time of life a solace and refreshment, if not a pecu-
niary profit; and if modern education aims to make well-
rounded men and women, it can be said for this primary
instruction in gardening that it will help certainly to
develop faculties which would otherwise be dormant,
to furnish unfailing recreation for mind and body, and to
make life fuller and richer, more natural and wholesome.

An Arizona Cactus Garden.

N effort has been made during the past three years to
bring together on the grounds of the University of
Arizona all species of Cacti indigenous to the United
States. This garden is, as yet, far from complete; never-
theless we now have some three hundred and_ fifty
specimens representing more than a hundred species. The
greater number of these plants have bloomed and _pro-
duced fruit during the past year. Recently, quite a number
of Mexican species have been added to this garden, but
under our present circumstances it is not possible to grow
plants which will not withstand our winter climate. In
this connection I might state that we find such Mexican
species as Anhalonium prismaticum, Lem., Echinocactus
myriostigma, Salm., and E. ingens, Zucc., perfectly hardy
at Tucson. Out of twenty-three Mexican plants of the
genera Cereus and Mamillaria only half a dozen survived
the frosts of last winter, while of fourteen species of Echino-
cactus not a single specimen was badly injured, although
some of the latter have a much more southern range than
the former.

The garden occupies a large triangular plat directly in
front of the main University building. When plants are
received they are set out in this garden, where they require
little attention other than that which nature gives them.
So far as possible, specimens are obtained directly from the
localities in which they grow; usually a half dozen or
more plants of the same species, showing as great variation

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 453-

as may be found. Plants obtained from dealers have, as a
rule, been small and otherwise unsatisfactory when com-
pared with those collected in the field.

The difficulties encountered in studying these plants
from skeletons and dried flowers and fruits are very great,
as may be noted from the unsatisfactory work that most of
our recent authors on this group have given us as a result
of their labor. The growing in greenhouses under an en-
vironment so entirely different from that which surrounds
them in their general habitat and the publication of the
results of their study is even more unsatisfactory. The
founding of species on such plants, showing all the striking
variations which they take on when grown in moist places,
under unnatural conditions, has left us as a heritage a
synonymy which it is absolutely hopeless to attempt to
untangle. Our only hope of getting a correct understand-
ing of these plants is by studying them in the field and
bringing them together and growing them under condi-
tions comforming as nearly as may be to their natural
environment. The variations encountered even under nor-
mal conditions are such that one is bewildered by the
multiplicity of forms representative of a single species.
Not only are specific characters poorly defined, but generic
ones, as yet, have not been drawn with any degree of sat-
isfaction. Although the spine characters are fairly constant
in many species, in others no dependence whatever can be
placed upon them.

In this garden not only are records kept of the flowers
and fruit characters of each species, but herbarium speci-
mens are made, and photographs, from one-half to two-
thirds natural size, are taken of flowering and fruiting
branches, or of the entire plant if not too large.

An interesting species of Cylindropuntia grows in con-
siderable abundance about five miles east of Tucson, but,
so far as known, only in this one locality.* It seems to
be nearest related to Opuntia Thurberi, Engelm., but differs
from that plant, so far as one can judge from the incom-
plete description and examination of type material in the
Engelmann herbarium, in its longer, more strongly deflexed
spines, smaller and different-colored flowers, etc. It may
be known from all related species by its bright scarlet fruit,
four strongly deflexed spines and peculiar cork-like margin
to the seeds. This plant and O. leptocaulis are the only
Opuntias with which I am familiar that produce small
lateral branches no larger than fully developed fruits, the
function of which seems to be to drop to the ground and
develop into new plants. The fruit matures in December,
but remains attached to the plant until the following May.
It has an agreeable acid flavor and its bright color makes
it very conspicuous against the green stems.

University of Arizona. Uf Ws Toumey.

Five Ornamental Oaks.

ROFESSOR S. C. MASON, who has charge of the Hor-

ticultural Department of the State Agricultural College
of Kansas, writes some interesting notes under the above
title to The Indusirials/, a bright little paper edited and
published by the faculty and students of that college.
While the trees are specially recommended for Kansas
planting they are all good over a very wide range of terri-
tory, and they all belong to the biennial fruited section
which are much more easily transplanted than the White
Oaks. Indeed, Black Oaks a dozen feet high are often
taken from the woods and planted in the streets of towns

* Opuntia tetracantha, n. sp. An irregular branching shrub 6 to 15 d. m. high ;
primary branches erect or ascending from a stout woody trunk 5 to 8 c.m. in
diameter, and bearing numerous short, laterai branches at irregular intervals ; ulti-
mate branches 12 to 15 m. m. in diameter ; joints cylindrical, 25 to 30c. m. long, with
a reticulated woody skeleton ; tubercles at first prominent, 16 to 22 m. m. long, but
on old stems more or less inconspicuous; pulvini sparingly. covered with wool
and bearing a small crescent-shaped tuft of light brown bristles at the upper mar-
gin; spines usually four, stout, loosely sheathed, straw-colored, strongly deflexed.
flattened, 2 to 3.5 c. m. long, occasionally one or two smaller ones, not increasing in
size and number after first season's growth; glands conspicuous, a half dozen or
more between the spines and bristles; flowers greenish purple, 1.5 to 2c. m.
broad ; fruit ovate to subglobose, narrowly but deeply umbilicate, 2 to 2 5 c. m. long,
juicy, scarlet, usually nearly smooth, but sometimes some of the pulvini bearing 1
to 3 strong deflexed spines; seeds irregular, 3 to 5 m, m. in diameter, commissure
broad, with conspicuous spongy appearance.

OcTOBER 28, 1896.]

and cities in our southern states and prove among the very
best of street trees. Of course, nursery-grown trees which
have been transplanted once or twice are better. Some of
these Oaks grow rapidly while young, and they have no
superiors for ornamenting parks and roadsides. We give
below the greater portion of Professor Mason’s article:

Quercus rubra, the Red Oak, becomes a majestic tree of more
than a hundred feet in height and six teet in diameter. It has
fewer small branches than other species of the Black Oak, and
the smooth, iron-gray bark of the young trees is retained to a
much greater age than in others. [tsrange in North America,
according to Professor Sargent, is from New Brunswick. and
Nova Scotia to Florida, and westward to Minnesota, Kansas
and eastern Texas. In Kansas, itis found as far west as the
valley of the Blue River; scattered along creek valleys in
Wabaunsee and Geary counties, but reaching its greatest
development in the Neosho and Verdigris valleys of southern
Kansas, seeming to prefer rich but well-drained valley soils
and lower uplands, but occasionally found in groups along the
cool northern slope of some bluff tronting a small stream. It
makes a very fine upward growth asa young tree, forming a
smooth, clean trunk, with long, upright branches. The leaves
are only slightly lobed and ot a bright, rich green color. The
acorn is large and long, set in a broad but very shallow cup.
Altogether, this is one of the most striking of our native trees.

Quercus velutina, while a much Jess iniposing tree, attains
a good size on the clay uplands of Kansas as far west as the
Blue River, and makes a very handsome tree while young. Asit
grows older, the dying out of the thick lateral branches dis-
hgures it somewhat in a wild state, but this can be corrected
in specimen trees by pruning as they begin to fail.

Quercus palustris, the Pin Oak, is found in large tracts along
the Marias des Cygnes, Neosho and in other portions of south-
eastern Kansas, its range being from Massachusetts to Mary-
land and westward. Itis found in heavy “gumbo” soil, and
otten where water stands for a portion of the year. The young
trees grow erect in a single straight trunk, with numerous
horizontal branches, the lower ones of which soon droop,
otten sweeping the ground. The effect on the landscape of a
river-bottom tilled with a broken, park-like growth of these
trees is very peculiar and striking. Young specimen trees in
the College grounds are among the most beautiful in our col-
lection. They will be found well adapted to planting in the
north-western portion of our city.

Quercus imbricaria, the Shingle Oak, extends from Pennsyl-
vania westward through the central states to eastern Kansas,
being found in Wyandotte, Leavenworth and Johnson coun-
ties. It differs from all other Kansas Oaks in the entire lanceo-
late, oblong leaf. The trees tend, like the Pin Oak, to the
growth of a straight central axis, thickly set with small radiat-
ing, horizontal or drooping branches. With the abundance of
shining rich green leaves, often overlapping, the trees of this
species are very handsome on the lawn or in the borders of a
group. They prefer rich upland soil to the bottoms, and are
well adapted to general ornamental planting. Among mature
trees occasional specimens may be found three feet in diame-
ter and fifty or sixty feet high, when the bark of the trunk
becomes black and deeply turrowed.

Quercus Phellos, the Willow Oak, has much the same
havit of growth as the preceding, but the leaves are narrowly
linear-lanceolate, and the whole aspect as little like the general
conception of an Oak-tree as can be imagined. Grace and
beauty are not usually regarded as characteristics of the Oak,
but rather sturdiness and ruggedness. Yet the Willow Oak
may well be called graceful as a young tree, and for lawn
specimens and borders of groups is well worth attention. This
interesting Oak is not found within our borders, but has a more
southern range, south-eastern Missouri being the nearest to us.

In the sandstones of the cretaceous formation of central Kan-
sas are found the earliest imprints of leaves and fruits of such
families of trees as comprise our present forests. Among these
are a few Oaks, and it is of interest to note that the leaves are
of the same type as the last two species mentioned, having
entire margins and linear-lanceolate or oblong leaves.

[To this list might have been added Quercus Texana,
the Texas Oak, the tallest of American Oaks, and one of
the most beautiful of them all. This noble tree, which
probably extends to the eastern borders of Kansas, has
usually been confounded with the Red Oak. Quercus
coccinea, too, the Scarlet Oak, which surpasses all other
Oaks in the beauty of its autumnal foliage, should not be
omitted from any list of Oaks for Kansas plantations. —Eb. }

Garden and Forest.

433

Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.

New Prants.—A descriptive list of new garden plants of
the year 1895 has just been issued from Kew, forming
Appendix II. of the Bullehn for 1896. A similar list has
been published each year since 1887, and as each list con-
tains on an average about four hundred and. fifty plants,
the total number comprised in the nine lists issued will be
something like four thousand. ‘These are all either new
introductions or garden hybrids of botanical as well as
horticultural interest. In every case the plant is cited under
its published name, followed by a reference to the publica-
tion in which it was first described, and also to a figure if
one has been published. <A brief description of the plant
is then given, its habitat, and the name of the person in
whose collection the plant was first noted or described.
The following example will show how each plant is treated :
** Ancectochilus Sanderianus, Kranzl. (Gards. Chron., 1895,
xviii., 484), Orchideee. Stove. Described as a probable
new species. Leaves ovate, four inches long, dark olive-
green with yellowish reticulations; scape one foot high,
flowers pale green. Sunda Islands (I. Sander & Co.)
[Since described as Macodes Sanderiana, Rolfe].” These
lists are most useful to those who are interested in new
plants for the garden, and they are of special value in main-
taining correctness of nomenclature. I find them most
helpful in various ways. It is intended to rearrange the
lists in the form of one for every ten years. Compared
with previous years the list for 1895 is short, the total num-
ber of new plants amounting to 363, that for the year pre-
vious being 461. The number of Orchids included in the
list for 1895 is 206, the number in the year previous being
212. These figures show how preponderating a position
Orchids continue to hold among garden plants. The price
of the list is five pence, post free.

Hanp-tist or Trees AND SuHruss AT Kew.—The second
part of this list has now been issued. The first part was
noticed at some length in GarpreNn anp Forest in January
last year. The list of Coniferze, issued early this year, has
also been noticed. We have now in these three lists a
complete catalogue of the hardy ligneous plants cultivated
in the Royal Gardens. Roughly, this comprises some three
thousand species and botanical varieties, some five hun-
dred of this number belonging to Coniferee and eighty to
Monocots. The nomenclature is practically that of the
Index Kewensis. An enormous number of garden synonyms
are quoted and placed in their proper places. This is, per-
haps, the most useful feature of these lists, the aliases of
many species being numerous and confusing. The accepted
name of each species is printed in large type, with the
author's name, a reference to a figure, and the habitat. The
price of part II., which includes the genera from Gamope-
talee to Monocotyledons, is one shilling and three pence,
post free, or the three lists may be had in one volume, price
two shillings and four pence.

FavourirE Frowrers or GarDEN AND GREENHOUSE.—This
new serial work on cultivated plants is now being issued
by Messrs. F. Warne & Co., London, who have had the
work in preparation for some years and claim for it an
equal share of public favor with their now well-known
Royal Natural History. Favourite Flowers will contain 316
full-page octavo plates, printed in natural colors and gen-
erally life-size, with about 700 pages of descriptive letter-
press. Itis being issued in fifty-two weekly numbers, each
one shilling, or in four quarterly bound volumes, each fif-
teen shillings. The plan of the work is novel. The genera
are arranged and described in botanical order, beginning
with Ranunculacee and ending with Ferns. Select species
and varieties in each genus are described, and directions for
their culture given. ‘The colored plates represent one or
more typical species in each genus.

Tue Best Roses.—A carefully prepared analysis of garden
Roses is printed this week in the /ourzal of Horticulture,

434

from which the following may be interesting to your read-
ers. The best of all Roses as an exhibition flower is Mrs.
John Laing, Hybrid Perpetual, which since its introduction
has held a first place among show Roses. Next to this are
placed Ulrich Brunner and Madame Gabriel Luizet, the
former standing first among crimson sorts. It is, I am
told, identical with your American Beauty.* La France is
given first place among Hybrid Teas, and this is, I observe
in Mr. E. J. Hill’s interesting note, also a favorite with
you. The Teas and Noisettes are to me of more interest
than any others, and the following are the best dozen sorts
according to the analysis: Catherine Mermet, The Bride,
Comtesse de Nadaillac, Innocente Pirola, Maman Cochet,
Marie Van Houtte, Souvenir d’E. Vardon, Souvenir d’un
Ami, Ernest Metz, Souvenir de S. A. Prince, Niphetos and
Madame Hoste. The American variety, Bridesmaid, raised
by May and sent out in 1893, stands twenty-eighth on the
list of favorites. The two best Teas introduced since 18go are,
in the opinion of the leading rosarians, among nursery-
men and amateurs, Maman Cochet and Bridesmaid. I feel
certain that Tea and Noisette Roses are destined to take a
much more prominent place in gardens even than they
occupy now. Ever since the beginning of June our beds
of these Roses have been gay with flowers, and now, in
October, long after the Hybrid Perpetuals have ceased to
do more than develop an odd flower here and there, our
plants of Marie Van Houtte, Laurette Messimy, Souvenir
d'un Ami, Caroline Kuster and Comtesse Riza du Pare are
heavily laden with beautiful flowers and buds in all stages
of development, so that, unless severe frost comes, we shall
have a fine display of these Roses till well into November.
Many cultivators declare that Tea Roses are too tender to
be grown successfully out-of-doors, but, I say, do not be-
lieve it till you have tried them well. They were once
considered hopeless at Kew. /
Exursition or Frurr.—The Royal Horticultural Society’s
great exhibition of fruit grown in Great Britain has been
held again this year at the Crystal Palace, and, although
the number of dishes staged fell short by some hundreds
of those staged last year, the displayed lacked nothing in
variety and quality. It is surprising how the standard
varieties continue to occupy first place among the favor-
ites ; thus, in apples, the four that ranked first in popularity
with exhibitors are among the best six apples grown—that
is, Cox’s Orange Pippin, Rebston Pippin, King of the Pip-
pins and Warners King. No less than one hundred and
seventy-two varieties of pears were represented. There
was some wisdom in the observation made at the con-
ference that of this number one hundred and fifty could
well be dispensed with. ‘The first quartet among the one
hundred and sixteen varieties shown was Pitmaston
Duchess, Marie Louise, Doyenne du Comice and Beurre
Diel. Coe’s Golden Drop was the best plum. At the con-
ference papers were read on Fruit as Food, The Cider and
Perry Industry and Gathering and Storing Apples and
nee
ie W. Waison.

London.

New or Little-known Plants.
Restio subverticillatus.

HE illustration on p. 435 is froma photograph of a

specimen of Restio subverticillatus, which has been
an object of interest in one of the greenhouses at Kew for
the last fifteen years. There is also a fine specimen of it
in the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens. It forms an elegant
mass of arching Bamboo-like culms from three to six feet
long and clothed with long filamentose branchlets, a well-
furnished culm suggesting a horse’s tail. The plant is
perennial, and it produces its culms freely, the branchlets
remaining green upon them for several years. I know no
plant, either indoors or out, that presents anything like the
appearance of this. It might be described as a singular

* Rosarians in this country consider American Beauty identical with the Madame
Ferdinand Jamin.

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 453.

combination of the characters of a Rush and a Casuarina.
Being a female plant, and the only one, it does not
mature seeds at Kew, although it produces the small
Triticum-like red spikelets on the apices of the branch-
lets in great abundance. It may be propagated by
means of division of the root-stock or from cuttings
formed of the branchlets which are borne in whorls
on the culms similarly to the branchlets on Bam-
boos. The Kew specimen is planted in a bed of gravelly
soil in a sunny position in an intermediate house; the
Edinburgh plant is grown in a large pot along with Cape
Heaths, etc. We find that it enjoys plenty of water always.

We are unable to find any record of the introduction of
this species. Thirty years ago Dr. Masters described it

“under its present name in a monograph of the genus

Restio, published in the /ournal of the Linnean Society,
vol. viii., where he says that at that time it was grown in
English gardens under the name of Willdenovia teres. It
is a native of south Africa. The order Restiacee is related
to the Sedges (Cyperaceaze) and comprises about twenty
genera and 250 species, all natives of either south
Africa or Australia. There are about a hundred species
of Restio, but so far as is known only that under
notice has any place in horticulture. In Zhe Treasury of
Botany it is stated that none of the species of Restio are
“of any special interest or deserving of cultivation.” We
should say that in gardens where R. subverticillatus can be
grown out-of-doors it would prove a highly ornamental
plant for the water-side, and that it is likely to find favoras
a pot-plant is seen in the fact that one of our leading nur-
serymen has acquired a stock of it to work it up for the
market.
London. W. Watson.

Plant Notes.

CaLycaNTHUs LAv&eGATUS.—The Sweet-scented Shrub, or
Carolina Allspice, Calycanthus floridus, grows wild in the
rich woods south of Virginia, and none of our native
shrubs is more frequently seen in gardens new or old. Its
deep wine-colored or lurid purple flowers are well known
for the exquisite strawberry fragrance which they exhale
when crushed. Occasionally it is killed in cold winter,
but C. laveegatus, another native species, has a rather more
northern range, extending along the Allegheny region well
up into Pennsylvania, and it is altogether an admirable
shrub. Its large oval leaves, with a rather sharp apex, are
green on both sides, slightly roughened above, and its
flowers are rather smaller than those of C. floridus. The
leaves rarely show much autumn color, although just
now some of them about this city have turned to a
clear yellow, and so, by the way, have the leaves of C.
floridus in Central Park. C. laveegatus is a shrub of excel-
lent habit, its outer branches arching to the groundina
circle five or six feet across. For lawn or park planting its
abundant rich-colored, healthy foliage makes it most de-
sirable.

Cultural Department.
Utilizing Coal Ashes.

ork ashes are gradually gaining for themselves a distinct
place in horticulture. It is usually removed to the dump-
heap, thrown upon the walks and drives, or used for filling
where it can be well covered with the surface soil, and yet itis
doubttul if a better material than coal ashes can be found for
certain purposes about the greenhouse. The method of pot-
ting bulbs and burying them deeply to exclude the light, so
that roots may be formed before the tops start into growth,
has much to commend it, and coal ashes is one of the best
materials for covering them. Their texture is such that good
drainage is obtained and more air admitted than would proba-
bly enter most soils. Moreover, the ashes, being direct from
the furnace, contain no form of life, either animal or vegeta-
ble, and insects do not thrive in it; hence a comparative free-
dom from subterranean parasites is insured, and bulbs are Jess
liable to decay than when ordinary soil is used. A table or

a

:
i
g

OcTOBER 28, 1896.]

Garden and Forest.

Fig. 57-—Restio subverticillatus.—See page 434.

bench covered with about two inches of coal ashes, firmly
compacted, makes a good place for potted plants, and for a
time snails will not be troublesome; after a few months, how-
ever, the ashes become covered with dirt that has washed
from the pots, and snails will venture into it. It is then time

to clean the bench and add fresh ashes. Potted plants may be
plunged in a bench of coal ashes with excellent results,
Cuttings from plants easy of propagation may be rooted in
coal ashes, though not as readily as in the best cutting-bench
sand. On the 28th of February last some Tomato cuttings

430

were put in the cutting bench, and at the same time an equal
number of cuttings set in an adjacent bench filled with fresh
coal ashes. All struck root, and ou March 18th, when they
were removed for potting, plants from the cutting bench had
roots averaging one and a half inches in length; while those
from the coal ashes had roots an inch long. The ashes did
not hold moisture as long as the sand, which, perhaps, may
account for the difference in length of the roots.

It is only recently that coal ashes have been used as a medium
or soil in which to grow plants. Sifted to pass a screen with
four meshes to the inch, and mixed with three or five percent.
of peat-moss, ashes form a soil which is at once light and fria-
ble, does not bake or puddle, and in which roots develop
nicely, and the plant makes a satisfactory growth, provided
there is plenty of plant-food present in a form to be taken up
and assimilated. The peat-moss which has been mentioned
is baled and sold for use in stables. This must also be sifted
when used in making an artificial soil, and is added to the
ashes to render the mixture more friable and more retentive
of moisture, Plants stand more firmly in it, too, if peat-moss
has been added, though some plants are known to grow well
in the soil when the peat-moss has been left out entirely. A
soil so constructed is practically sterile as far as plant-food is
concerned, The ashes contain a little potash and phosphoric
acid, but no nitrogen. The peat-moss has about one-half of
one per cent. of nitrogen, but this isin a form not to be re-
ceived readily by the plant. Hence it is necessary to add
plant-food in order to produce acrop, but the exact amount of
each chemical element necessary for the best growth and
development of the plant can be determined, of course, only
by experiment. Such a soil is especially valuable for use in
experimental work with nitrogenous fertilizers, and has been
employed for four successive seasons at the Connecticut Agri-
cultural Experiment Station in a series of vegetation experi-
ments to determine the relative availability of organic nitrogen,
and for twoseasons the same mixture has been used in green-
house benches in studying the fertilizer requirements of
forcing-house crops. Not only has this soil produced good
crops with the proper application of fertilizer chemicals, but in
some cases a larger yield resulted than could be obtained from
a good natural soil with a liberal quantity of stable-manure
added. Tomatoes, Lettuce, Radishes, Cucumbers, Melons,
Cress and Carnations have been grown in it with more or less
satisfactory results, while in the first series of experiments
Corn, Oats and Rye were grown. Both bituminous and anthra-
cite ashes have been used; the results have been about the
same, and ashes from the two kinds of coal seem to differ
very little either in physical character or chemical composition.

It is not improbable that an artificial soil consisting largely of
coal ashes may soon come into commercial use for green-
house work, The freedom from all living organisms is a
strong point in favor of sucha soil. Nematode-galls will not
be formed upon the roots of plants growing in it. The grower
must, however, be well versed in the chemistry of fertilizers in
order to understand the effect of each ingredient, and know
how much of each element of plant-food to apply. It isdoubt-
ful if the cost of preparation exceeds or equals that of the
compost ordinarily used by gardeners, and it is probable that
any crop which responds to the fertilizing influence of chemi-
cal manures in readily available form, may be produced from
a soil of coal ashes and peat-moss, especially under glass,
where all atmospheric conditions may be controlled.

W. E. Britton,

Agric’l Experiment Station, New Haven, Conn.

The Vegetable Garden.

T this season, when frosts have destroyed all tender crops,
the vegetable garden makes an untidy appearance unless
the plants are promptly cleared away. Too often they are left
on the ground and are an eyesore until spring. Of course,
such habits are unknown on well-regulated places, but many
gardens only look tidy when the ground has been dug and
cropped in April or May, and thus weedsare allowed to exhaust
halt the nourishment from the soil. Wet, sunless weather has
recently interfered with outdoor work, but as soon as the
ground has dried off we shall clear away any remaining useless
crops and hoe the weeds clean from all fallow ground.

With the coming of colder weather Celery must be well
earthed up ona dry, sunny day, when the soil is not wet or
pasty. The early varieties, such as Paris Golden and White
Plume, which have been blanched by boards, should be
banked with soil or have hay or leaves scattered over them.
Asarule, we do not have severe frost until December, and
the two varieties named give us a supply until Christmas, and

Garden and Forest. |

[NUMBER 453.

Giant Paschal, Kalamazoo and Boston Market are depended
upon until about the end of March. Much has been written
about methods of storing and preserving Celery for winter use,
but there can be no question that if a sweet, nutty flavor is
desired the plants must not be disturbed at the roots and
stored in a dry cellar. The most satisfactory way to have clean,
crisp stalks is to protect the ridges with a thick coating of
leaves or seaweed. Itis easy to dig into the trenches, even
in the most severe weather, and decayed, useless heads are
rare if banking and protecting have been carefully adhered to.
We work some slaked lime among the soil when we bank up
our plants; this serves to keep worms away. ‘

This is a good time to manure and dig over any vacant
squares of ground, thus lessening the strain of spring work.
For root crops, such as Carrots and Parsnips, which do not
grow straight and clean in heavy land, we deeply trench the
ground and work in a liberal quantity of sand, road-scrap-
ings and fine coal ashes, in addition to manure, For
places where crops have been grown for many years,
trenching will be tound of great advantage. For Onions
the soil should be heavily manured and dug over now
and the surface left rough for frost to pulverize it. Onions,
unlike most crops, seem to do best on the same land year after
year, We have discontinued sowing these outdoors. Our
experience of the past three seasons proves conclusively that
it pays much better to start the seed in boxes and transplant
them in spring. A much heavier and more even crop is se-
cured and no more labor is entailed, all things considered.
Danvers Yellow and Red Wethersfield gave us the most even
lot of bulbs the past season, although they are smaller than
some otherkinds. Prizetaker produces extra-fine bulbs, usually
of good shape and very solid. I recently saw some specimens
of this Onion grown by Mr. A. McIntyre, gardener to Mr. F.N.
Washburn at West Harwich, on Cape Cod. Six onions weighed
eleven pounds three ounces, the largest specimen tipping the
scales at two pounds two ounces. These were grown in sandy
soil and liberally supplied with liquid and chemical fertilizers ;
they were from seed sown the middle of February. Cranston’s
Excelsior and Ailsa Craig are two English sorts which produce
very fine bulbs here and are good keepers.

Brussels Sprouts will stand outside some time yet. We
recently broke off all the lower leaves from our plants to give
the sprouts more light and air. This desirable member ot the
Brassica familyis being grown more generally as its merits are
better known. Cauliflower is stiil heading up nicely outdoors,
but it will soon be necessary to store the heads in cold pits as
a safeguard from frost. Parsley and Lettuce have recently
been planted in vacant frames tor winter supplies, and these
are given abundant ventilation on all favorable days. Beets,
Carrots, Turnips, Salsity and Parsnips have been lifted and
stored in sand in an open shed. A thick coating of dry leaves
when colder weather arrives is all that is needed to keep these
in good condition during winter. Early Tomatoes in pots now
have fruit of a good size, and will commence to ripen early in
November. Hand-fertilization of the blossoms during the
next three months is necessary to secure a good set of the
fruit. A sowing was made early in October, which will give
fruit from the end of February onward. Varieties used are
May’s Favorite, Eclipse and Chemin. The young plants are
kept on a shelf close up to the light to make them as sturdy as

ible.
Seared W.N. Craig.

Taunton, Mass.

Notes on Violets.

ie the culture of the various forms of the Neapolitan Violet
one meets with new experiences almost every year. Perfect
success is rarely attained. It can scarcely be said that the best
Violets grown are free from traces of disease. One season a
stock may be, to all appearance, in perfect health, and the next
it will be badly infested, and the same stock will succeed and .
fail in different places the same year. The Farquhar we hoped
much from, but it is badly diseased in some places, and it,
therefore, becomes as unreliable as the Marie Louise, which
it was expected to displace. It is curious to note in this rela-
tion that runners taken from the Farquhar during early sum-
mer from plants which were hopelessly lost later in the season,
made good healthy specimens the following winter, and stock
from these is quite healthy this autumn, while runners from,
plants which were healthy last summer are diseased this. I
have had to fall back upon the more reliable Lady Hume
Campbell. It spots badly at times, and, like all other Violets,
is liable to attacks of nematodes, a more insidious foe to battle
with than the spot, for, unless we are watchful, these are apt
to pass into winter quarters unnoticed on the balls of earth

OCTOBER 25, 1896.]

surrounding the plants. The best-looking plants are often
most infested with this pest, and it is hard to make people un-
acquainted with it believe that such plants are useless. They
seldom bloom, though holding their leaves well. All old gar-
dens, where a multitude of plants are grown, are likely to have
these gall-forming pests in the soil, and they infest vegetables
of many sorts. Although this trouble may be perpetuated by
dividing plants, it should not be found on runners rooted in
sterilized soil. With care in this respect and in selectinga new
piece of ground, we were not troubled with nematodes this
season, but have had spot badly in place of it. Where Violets
are diseased it is hardly necessary to see them to know this is
so. An unmistakably unpleasant odor certifies that fact. I
have taken in large handsome plants apparently in the best of
health which have later become rotten with disease, to put it
truthfully. I thought, as conditions were favorable, I would
try a change this season. It is a discouraging task to house
diseased plants, and I therefore shook all the soil away from
the roots, so that, if they started at all, they would start en-
tirely afresh. All are now quite recovered, with healthy deep
green foliage and abundant new roots. I must confess to
being a trifle jealous of a neighbor’s fine lot, and after he had
housed the best plants I was thanktul to take the leavings,
which were far larger and healthier-looking than mine. I
planted them in the same kind of soil as my own, so that, if
that had anything to do with either success or failure, I should
know it. I put them in a separate lot of frames, and now am
glad I took this precaution, for the greater part of them are
now a massof decay. Icannot understand what has saved my
Violets from disease. The soil they were planted in was wet.
If my plants had been better I should have waited for it to dry
out enough to handle. I feared failure, and so took all the

chances.
Wellesley, Mass. T. D. Hatfield.

Orchid Notes.—I.

Ape season for the flowering of Orchids has begun, and the
profusion of bloom now is hardly excelled at any time of
year. This autumn display would have been impossible five
years ago, and even unheard of. The change is due to the
introduction of Cattleya labiata and Dendrobium Phalaenopsis.
Cattleya labiata is of the easiest possible culture, and produces,
perhaps, a smaller percentage of poor forms than any other
Cattleya. It stands more exposure to the sun also; the leaves
made in Brazil are of very thick texture, and can only be re-
produced under our system of cultivating them by free
exposure to sun and air during the growing season. This
Cattleya starts to grow very soon after the flowering is past,
and root-action begins at once. If it is necessary to repot the
plants, thisis best done during the month of December. Last
year our plants were all repotted before the end of that month,
and out of nearly a hundred not one shows signs of retrogres-
sion. As soon as the repotting of C. labiata is done, others will
need attention. The repotting should always be done when
there are signs of fresh root-action, If the plants are growing
in pots they should be well soaked in water for a day or two,
when the roots will part from the pot easily and with less
damage from breaking than if the compost is dry. Cattleyas
are often grown in wooden baskets, but we have abolished
them, and use pots only, If the plants are large the pots are
perforated to help aérate the material in which they are grow-
ing and keep it sweet. It often half-kills a Cattleya to take it
out of a wooden receptacle, but if the roots are matted round
a pot the pot can readily be broken and the roots detached
without great injury. Sphagnum-moss should never be used
for Cattleyas ; it helps to decompose the Fern-fibre and often
holds too much moisture when it is not desired. When left
out it is almost impossible to overwater a Cattleya.
Dendrobium Phalznopsis will soon be past flowering, when
the stems or pseudo-bulbs will show shrinkage, owing to the
strain of producing the long sprays of bloom. This must, if
possible, be made good before the plants are at rest, or
the start made in spring will be correspondingly weak,
and there will also be a loss of foliage that should be
avoided, if possible. It has been a question whether this
Dendrobium is deciduous or not under normal conditions.
It now appears that, if well managed, the plants will retain
most of their leaves through the winter with great benefit to
the plants. Sick plants will surely lose all the foliage, and the
growth will be weaker in consequence the next year. Young
plants made from the portions of old stems must be left on
until next March, or when the growth commences, and then
placed in small pots. They are worth taking care of, for this
is one of the most useful Orchids ever introduced to gardens.
The cool-house plants need attention now, as almost all of

Garden and Forest.

437

the Odontoglossums have begun to grow, and now that the
hot weather is past for this year and the temperature can be
controlled conveniently, the plants must be encouraged to
make all the progress possible. To accomplish this, the roots
must first be made comfortable. We use a good portion of
moss for cool-house plants, as it is easy to clean away the
compost without damage to the roots. As a great quantity of
water is needed at all times, and the plants should never suffer
for the want of it, there is no better index as to moisture than
Sphagnum, which assumes a whitish green as soon as it
becomes dry. It is an old saying, with truth in it, that “to be
able to grow Odontoglossums it is first necessary to learn how
to grow Sphagnum-moss.” It is customary to pull the Fern
fibre to pieces and blend with it about half its bulk of moss,
We have found that it is much better to leave the fibre in its
original condition and merely shake out the loose earth and
use the brown portions. This should be cut into triangular
pieces as large as need be; and a few heads of living moss
should be inserted between each piece, and it will soon grow
and cover the entire surface. It is a serious mistake to use
pots too large for the plants, with the idea of encouraging
greater vigor by a larger amount of compost. It is an error
often made by beginners and cannot be too strongly con-
demned. . The smaller the pot, so that it is large enough, the
better the plants will thrive. This is especially applicable to
Odontoglossum crispum and its allied kinds. O. grande is
now in bloom and is a very useful plant for decorative pur-
poses at this season. It is of Mexican origin and in winter
needs a warmer house than the cool house proper, where it
thrives well in summer, and even in a shady place out-of-doors
if moisture is abundant. It is well to give water all winter at
regular intervals to keep the bulbs plump. O. grande is one
of the kinds for many years reputed to be hard to keep in
good condition ; with rational treatment we have found that
itis not difficult to grow, but the strain of blooming every year
is great, and it is economical to let each plant flower but once
in two years. They are easily procured at a nominal price.

Cypripediums of the Insigne type were all out-of-doors from
the end of May until the end of September. The pots were
plunged in a spent hot-bed under the shade of Elm-trees.
The sashes were taken off and the plants sprinkled overhead
on hot days. This method has been practiced for several
years with good results. The plants flower freely, have a deep
green color, and are not forced to make growth at the expense
of flowers, as is often the case when the plants are kept in the
greenhouse during the hot months. After the flowering is
past the plants are rested in a cool greenhouse for a month or
two until March, and renewed root-action takes place, and
if repotting is necessary it is then done. Cypripediums of
this type do not readily come out of the pots when they are
full of roots. It is better to break the pots rather than
the roots. If the plants are in large pots and it is not desira-
ble to have them larger, they can be maintained in good health
for a number of years by giving a little stimulant in the water,
such as a very weak solution of sulphate of ammonia or nitrate
of soda, or, better still, both atalternate waterings. The inven-
tion of the Kenney pump has greatly simplified the applica-
tion of all liquid stimulants. A strong solution is made in a
convenient vessel, and in the use of the pump the solution is
blended with the hose supply at any desired strength by dia-
phragms of various sizes. The temperature can be regulated
also by mixing the solution with water warm enough to take

the chill off the water as it comes from the main. An inven-
tion so inexpensive ought to be better known.
South Lancaster, Mass. E. O: Or pet.

Notes on Irises.

apa being the only season when many of the Irises are
offered by the dealers, it seems a good time to answer
some inquiries as to their collection and culture. As there
are nearly 200 known species of Irises, or 250 including the
Cape and south African forms, which are classed by the bota-
nists as Moraas, with an endless number of varieties, it is
scarcely possible to generalize about the family without some
eliminations. Dismissing the Moras, suitable only for green-
house culture, we have a large genus of plants native of the
north temperate zone, and with comparatively few exceptions
hardy in this latitude. The exceptions are mostly among the
bulbous Irises, which, like Iris alata, I. juncea, [. Tingitana,
etc., naturally making growth in winter, have their foliage so
injured if exposed that they cannot recuperate. Yet other
bulbous Irises, as the Reticulata section (except I. histrio), thrive
under the same conditions, their foliage not suffering from
frost. The hardiness of the rhizomatous Irises depends, with

438

a few exceptions, on their being suitably planted and well
established.

The time of planting, as has been lately noted in GARDEN
AND FOREST, is an essential point with some few species like
I. Hartwegii and I. Macrosiphon, whose habits are peculiar,
owing to climatic conditions in their natural homes ; and there
are some central Asiatic kinds of Oncocyclus and Regelia
classes which require special annual treatment. But taking
the rhizomatous Irises as a class they may be moved at any
time from one part of the garden to another, or from a neigh-
boring garden, ifin a growing condition and the ground is not
very cold. They seem, asa rule, to endure removal best just
after flowering, when a new growth commences. But to
establish the same Irises received from a long distance at the
beginning of cold weatheris another and more difficult matter.
The Irises from a distance will have usually come to a com-
plete state of rest, and neither their roots nor leaves are in a
condition for action. Often from adistance one receives mere
withered rhizomes. To expose such plants to outside condi-
tions is, of course, to invite destruction, for they are practically
lifeless masses of albumen. Such dormant pieces should be
carefully planted in a frame or cool house, with the rhizomes, if
stout, only partly buried and kept cool, but free from frost and
ratherdry. Under such treatment they will usually revive in due
season, and in the spring can be transferred to the borders. with
safety. Irises like the sun, and itis important that the fast-creep-
ing rhizomes of such as the German Irises should be ina posi-
tion to be ripened by the sun and kept from overshadowing
grasses and weeds. These rhizomes naturally creep at the sur-
face. Other Irises, such as I. cristata, send their thin rhizomes
just under the surface, and the soil in which they are planted
should be open and adapted to such growth. Still another
class of Irises, as I. Sibirica, I. ensata and the Japanese Irises,
are furnished with many fine roots and comparatively small
rhizomes, and may be planted like any hardy perennial, with
no special care for the rhizomes. Irises of this class may be
more highly fertilized than the others, the Japanese Irises
especially requiring high culture in this particular. Most of
the Irises enjoy liberal supplies of water when growing, and
often have considerable adaptability, thriving in wet or dry
situations. The well-known subaquatic, I. Pseudacorus,
thrives equally well on the upland as when its feet are in
water.

The bulbous Irises with annual roots, the Reticulatas,
the Spanish and the English, are better lifted annually, as
they naturally are dormant in summer, and may be injured in
wet weather. But those with fleshy persistent roots, knownas
Junos, of which I. Persica is a type, are best left undisturbed.
These thrive bestinarather heavy soil in a southern exposure,
rather protected, as they flower early.

Among so many plants it is difficult to advise a beginner as
to aselection, but as a Start, and avoiding rare sorts, a fair rep-
resentative list may be made up of the following kinds, named
nearly in the order of their fowering, and none of which offer
any difficulty in cultivation: Iris orchioides is a very distinct
bulbous Iris with beautiful golden flowers, and quite the earliest
showy species. After this the dwarf Irises will soon flower,
white, yeliow and purple torms of I. pumila. Then taller forms,
such as I. Chameeiris and I. nudicualis. The bulbous Span-
ish and English Irises follow in succession, the former showing
leaves in winter and requiring liberal supplies of water when
growing. I, Sibirica, in several purples and a white form, are
also early. The mid-season display of Irises is made by the
showy hybrid German kinds, offered in great variety. From
a florist's list, if properly described, one may select a dozen
kinds, giving a fair representation, to which additions may be
made later. I. pallida should not be omitted from any collec-
tion, For the later season the main reliance is on the Japanese
varieties of I. laevigata, a dozen or so kinds giving a fair rep-
resentation of the colorings. This is only a small collection,
but Lrefrain from mentioning many beautiful kinds which many
will be glad to add as they discover the unfolding beauties of

these flowers, =
Elizabeth, N. J. te NV. Gerard.

Experience with Summer-flowering Plants.
E S

N well-ordered flower gardens north of the fortieth parallel
the plants used for summer decoration have been safely
housed before this date, and the planting of hardy bulbs is in
many instances completed, The experience of the past season
may prove helpful in planning next year’s operations. Outdoor
Roses in the vicinity of Philadelphia have been satisfactory in
most instances; the benefits of thorongh watering in dry
weather and mulching the beds have again been proved.

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 453.

Even where this extra care was not given, the growing weather
of the latter part of the simmer induced quite strong growth
on established Roses. Ina neighboring garden some plants
of General Jacqueminot, Ulrich Brunner and Mrs. Jobn Laing
bore stout canes from five to six feet tall, which seemed to be
ripening up nicely. La France is a general favorite in this
locality, and is seldom entirely without flowers from June to
the end of November, and in favorable seasons even later.
This Rose is not injured severely by the winter here, except in
very exposed positions. Hermosa is seen in most gardens,
but is frequently winter-killed to the ground. It could proba-
bly be carried through in much better condition by laying
down the shoots and burying the whole plant in earth. Crim-
son Rambler has not yet been generally planted in this locality,
and the plants used were quite small, so that its full beauty
has not yet been seen; there appears to be no question as to
its hardiness. If we can grow this Rose to the same perfec-
tion that it has been grown during the past summer on some
of the noted English estates we have something worth looking
forward to. On one place in England a high fence was cov-
ered with a mass of Crimson Rambler to a height ot eight or
nine feet, and was a perfect blaze of color.

Eckford’s Improved Sweet Peas have been eminently satis-
factory with us the past season, having grown fully six feet
high where they were provided with a support of galvanized
wire netting. They were covered with bloom from June 30th
until frost. They were sown in drills and covered with about
two inches of soil, the only fertilizer being a small quantity of
chicken-manure worked into the soil before the seed was
sown. During dry weather they were thoroughly soaked with
water twice a week. Spikes bearing four flowers were not
unusual. A bed planted with Canna Egandale and surrounded
with a border of Abutilon Souvenir de Bonne occasioned
much favorable comment. This Canna is one of the most
floriferous varieties I have seen, the spikes large and branch-
ing and the color bright red, while its bronzy foliage contrasts
admirably with the white variegation of the Abutilon. The
newer Abutilon, Lavitzi, is said to be an improvement on A.
Souvenir de Bonne. Ithasnot yet been testedas a bedder here,
having but recently been offered for sale in this country. Many
of the Abutilons are available for bedding purposes and espe-
cially adapted for large beds, producing rich effects both in
foliage and flowers.

Sanchezia nobilis has appeared to good advantage the past
summer planted out in the full sun, having leaves fully one
foot long and handsomely veined with bright yellow. The
Hydrangea season was cut rather short in this section by a
severe hot spell just as the flowers were opening, but the after-
colors of the trusses on H. paniculata grandiflora have been
very attractive, and show once more the value of this plant in
the autumn-color scheme of the garden. H. hortensis is
sometimes partly winter-killed in this vicinity unless it is given
slight protection. A little further south it does not appear to
suffer to any great extent. Some of the finest specimens I
have seen were in Wilmington, Delaware, where it seems to
be planted quite as freely as H. paniculata grandiflora, and
produces immense trusses, the majority of which are tinted

blue. :
Holmesburg, Pa. W. Hi. Taplin.

Coriaria Nepalensis.—T his is certainly a charming plant. From
a woody root-stock numerous twigs push up in spring. These
are clothed from bottom to top with alternate heart-shaped
bright green leaves, each about an inch across and set close
to the stem. The plant thus forms a cheerful-looking bush
three feet in height. The flowers appear in graceful nodding
spikes at the end of each twig and are insignificant. Later,
they rapidly develop into beautiful fruits of a bright deep yel-
low color, hanging from the twigs like currants. Imagine a
small bush with bright green leaves, supporting a dozen of these
nodding spikes six to eight inches long, each spike carrying
about fifty of the small shining fruits of a deep crystalline yel-
low, and you may get some idea of its striking beauty. It is
quite hardy here, and during summer new shoots are con-
stantly coming on, so that its bright fruits are seen until

November. ;
Baden-Baden. Max Leichtlin.

Late-flowering Begonias.—A recent allusion in GARDEN
AND Forest to the pretty littke autumn-blooming Be-
gonia Natalensis reminds me to say that it is establishing
itself, as B. Evansiana has done, under the benches in
the greenhouse, where both make the very best kind of
a sereen. B. Socotrana is another of these fall-blooming
species, bulbous in character and especially distinct. The

OcTOBER 28, 1896.]

leaves are peltate and the much-branched panicles bear lovely
carmine-pink flowers. It is more useful for cutting than the
commoner tuberous kinds, since the female flowers are numer-
ous and persistent. It is seldom one sees it as well grown as
recently in a Massachusetts garden, where one whole side of
a small greenhouse was made radiant with them. Gloire de
Lorraine isa new Socotrana hybrid, and one of the prettiest we
have seen. The flowers in form and color resemble those of
B. Socotrana. The leaves are more irregular and the habit

uite shrubby.
ovellcciey, eee LD fatfeld.

Correspondence.

Notes from Germantown.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—Just now the grounds here are singularly beautiful with
autumn foliage and bright fruits. Individual trees of the
American Hornbeam vary greatly in the autumn coloring of
their leaves, but in large collections some of them are a flam-
ing red.. The European species hardly color at all here.
About Germantown the Liquidambar, or Sweet Gum, is now
surprisingly beautiful. It delights in a situation where it can
have full sunshine, and it ought to be in a damp place to
insure its best growth andrichest color. The Japanese Snow-
ball, Viburnum plicatum, has been largely planted for its
flowers, but it has a variety known here as rotundifolium,
which is now strikingly handsome. The plant blooms rather
earlier than the type and its flowers are rather larger, but at
this season the leaves turn to a singular yellowish scarlet and
give it a high value among shrubs used for autumn color.

The leaves of Photinia villosa turn to a bright scarlet, but in
well-established plants the fruit is also very showy at this sea-
son. The berries are not large, but they are very abundant,
and they ripen to adeep scarlet and remain in this condition
for a considerable length of time. Our common Chokeberry,
Pyrus arbutifolia, is an attractive shrub in spring for its clus-
ters of white flowers, but it is equally beautiful in autumn
when covered with its clear red fruit. It is one of the plants
that improve wonderfully under cultivation, and one who has
only seen it in the woods will hardly recognize it when planted in
good rich soil and wel] cared for. It becomes a compact bush
and produces fruit much more freely. ‘his is also true of our
wild Roses, R. Carolina and R. lucida, which, when cultivated,
are loaded with their bright hips. This year they have out-
done themselves, and their branches are fairly weighted down
with fruit.

The violet-colored berries of Callicarpa purpurea are now
very striking in plants which have been properly treated—that
is, when placed in an open situation in damp rich soil and cut
nearly to the ground in spring. This compels them to throw
up strong shoots which are now loaded with fruits. Lyces-
teria Formosa is still showing its pendent racemes of reddish
berries and is a first-rate ornamental shrub, although it is
somewhat tender here. Its tips winter-lill, but when it is cut
back it flowers freely in late summer from the shoots it throws
up from below. The creeping Daphne, D. Cneorum, is in
flower from spring to fall, and just on the verge of freezing
weather it seems to be as full of bloom as ever. Its roots are
very slender and they seem to like to wander in light soil and
can find nourishment in almost clear sand. The flowers when
out nem display. their characteristic odor. raed BiUceh aw:

Smilax for Florists’ Use.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—In your excellent article on the ‘Change of Fashion in
Flowers” you omitted to speak of Smilax, Myrsiphyllum
asparagoides, and I beg the privilege of calling your attention
to it as a plant of comparatively recent discovery for florists’
use. It was in the early seventies that Smilax first came into
prominence for use in cut-flower work. Its use in festooning
the handles of baskets, filling in bouquets, and the ground-
work of baskets of flowers was one of the most potent factors
in changing the set, stiff arrangement to the natural and grace-
ful manner that obtains to-day. Long before its introduction,
fault was found with the prevailing method of arranging
flowers, but the material was not at hand to effect the desired
purpose; Smilax supplied the want, and so the florists were
enabled to make light, graceful bouquets and baskets.

It is interesting to note the rivals which have arisen in oppo-
sition toSmilax. First, the Climbing Fern, Lygodium scandens,

Garden and Forest.

439

then Asparagus tenuissimus, and later A. plumosus, the first
two having passed out of existence because they wilted too
rapidly after being cut, but the third mentioned has obtained
a foothold and divides the field with Smilax to-day. Maiden-
hair Fern, Adiantum cuneatum, has also been called into use
for many purposes for which Smilax was originally used, and
so, while the quantity of Smilax grown is getting larger an-
nually, because of the increased market, yet its development
is not in proportion to the market because of the place filled

by other plants.
nce vou Patrick O'Mara.

Orchids on Mount Desert.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—I found two interesting Orchids abundant in woods and
fields of Mount Desert in early October. The first is Good-
yera repens, more commonly called the Rattlesnake Plantain,
with curiously reticulated white-veined, blue-green, velvety
leaves and slender greenish flower-spikes and dainty cream-
colored, waxy flowers. The plants were thickly set among
trailing Snowberries, shining Mitchellas and yellowing Ferns,
and wearing thatair of aloofness which distinguishesall Orchids
from the cheerful familiarity of Asters and Golden-rods. The
author of Orchids in New England says he seldom sees the
Rattlesnake Plantain in flower, and cites an experienced bota-
nist who had searched in many different places and never
came across a flowering plant in three years; but I found
them on the island flowering in great profusion. I was for-
tunate, too, in transplanting them not only into window-boxes
and baskets, but into the shady corners of a garden, where
they have rewarded me by flowering bountifully.

The second autumnal Orchid, Spiranthes cernua, Nodding
Ladies’ Tresses, is much more conspicuous and more posi-
tively beautiful. In the meadows of eastern Massachusetts I
have often seen it close to the exquisite blue-fringed Gentian.
Although most common in damp meadows it sometimes
grows on uplands among Pennyroyal and Sweet Fern, or
makes a conspicuous setting for the purple cross-leaved Poly-
gala. The very roadsides in some parts of Mount Desert are
white with their lowers, and the honey bees find them delight-
ful to the very last day of their existence and often follow them
into a sunny room, where, in water, they last for a fortnight,
and if set against a background of brilliant Maple-leaves, the
gleaming berries of the Hobble-bush or Wild Mountain Ash,

they are charming indeed,

Andover, Mass. Annie Sawyer Downes.

Recent Publications.

How Birds Affect the Farm and Garden. By Florence A.
Merriam.

This is a little pamphlet of thirty odd pages, which sets
forth, as the sub-title announces, a series of facts deter-
mined by investigation of the food habits of our common
birds, showing their character as insect destroyers and their
value as allies of the farmer and fruit grower. There are
many sentimental reasons which can be urged against the
slaughter of birds which do so much to enliven our landscapes
with their beauty of form and color and their grace of
movement, and to fill the air with their melody. These rea-
sons ought to suffice to make every woman of sensibility
shudder at the thought of being in any way a particeps
criminis in the murder of these innocents for the sake of
their plumage for the ornamentation of bonnets. There are
economic considerations, however, besides the others, and
the studies of ornithologists have demonstrated that our song
birds and, indeed, all except the English sparrow, are essen-
tial to prosperous agriculture and horticulture for their aid
in suppressing noxious insects. Miss Merriam has brought
together a great mass of testimony collected by the Division
of Ornithology at Washington, and by naturalists in the
various experiment stations, who have been studying
the relations of birds to insect life, to show how tirelessly
and efficiently these allies of man help to protect his fields
and gardens and orchards and vineyards from insect rav-
ages. The paper was originally published in Yores/ and
Stream, of this city, and it will be supplied for distribution
from that office at cost. Single copies of the pamphlet can
be had for five cents, and it ought to be placed where every
farmer’s boy in the country can read it.

440
Notes.

The orange crop of Louisiana is estimated at 20,000 boxes, a
slight increase over last season, and about one-seventh of the
output previous to the damage by freezing two years ago.

Mr. J. H. Maiden has been appointed Government botanist
and director of the Botanic Garden at Sydney, in succession to
Mr. Charles Moore, who has recently retired after a service in
these capacities of nearly half a century,

Last week the American Gardeners’ Society was organized
at a meeting held in Madison Square Garden, with J. M. Hun-
ter, Hempstead, Long Island, President ; Wallace G. Gomer-
sall, Fishkill-on-Hudson, New York, Vice-President; James I.
Donlan, New York, Secretary, and R. Butterbach, Oceanic,
New Jersey, Treasurer. The purpose is to establish branches
of the society in various sections of the country; its future
course, however, can hardly be predicted untilit is in more
complete working order.

A Florists’ and Gardeners’ Club has recently been organized in
Morris County, New Jersey, with A. Herrington, gardener to H.
Mck. Twombley, as President; W. Duckham, gardener to D.
Willis James, as Vice-President ; William Charlton, Treasurer,
and William H. Thomas, gardener to A. P. Whitney, Secretary.
The club consists at present of about forty members. The
monthly meetings will be held in Madison, with an exhibition
in the Lyceum at Morristown on November toth, 11th and
12th. Several gentlemen with large estates have promised the
project their hearty support.

We learn from the Pudlic Ledger, of Philadelphia, that a
well-known Pecan-tree, said to have been the product of seed
brought to Germantown by Nuttall nearly a century ago, and
probably the first specimen of its kind planted in this part of
the country, is to be cut down. The tree had grown toa great
height and was one of the most famous in Germantown, where
famous trees abound. It is located on what is now the grounds
of a new Methodist Episcopal Church, and when the land was
purchased it was decided to save the tree, for which purpose
the architect designed the building so that it could be left
standing. Recent heavy storms, however, have caused the
tree to lean heavily toward the church wall, so that damage
is threatened to the structure and orders have been given to
have it removed.

What is really a manual of practical entomology has been
issued by the West Virginia Experiment Station as Bulletin No.
44. It explains in a popular, but accurate, way how to deter-
mine whether any loss or injury to crops of farm or garden is
caused by insects and how to detect the special insect which
causes it. The insects themselves are briefly described, and
the best defenses against them, so far as known, are plainly
stated. The bulletin can be used as an elementary guide to
the study of common insects and the character of their work,
and it will be useful for busy farmers and gardeners who want
a handbook of reference which contains plainly stated informa-
tion about the more important features of insect-life and its
relations to plant-life. The bulletin was prepared by Dr. A.D.
Hopkins and W. E, Rumsey.

Delaware and Niagara grapes are less plentiful and less
evenly good than those of the other well-known varieties, and
the best bring twenty and twenty-five cents for a small basket.
Concords and Catawbas, fresh and sound, are now selling at
retail for ten cents for a basket weighing four pounds, and
eight-pound baskets of Concords of the same high quality may
be had for fifteen cents. These prices must mean not only
small margins for the wholesale and retail city dealers, but
very meagre profit to the cultivator. Kelsey plums, large,
firm and beautifully colored, are still seen in collections of
choice fruits, and command seventy-five cents a dozen. Hot-
house tomatoes, from the interior of this state, are selling for
fifty to sixty-five cents a pound. Sugar-cane, from Louisiana,
is seen in some of the fancy-fruit stores, the long stalks selling
for five cents each.

We have received the first number of Florilegium Harlem-
ense, an illustrated work on cultivated bulbous plants, pub-
lished under the auspices of the council of the Algemeene
Vereeniging Voor Bloembollencultuur, The work is of quarto
size, and the flowers of natural dimensions, printed in colors
ona rather light brown paper. The first plate contains the
Single Hyacinth, La Grandesse, which, although it was distrib-
uted more than thirty years ago, is still the best trade variety
of this color. Plate No. 2 contains four Tulips, among which
is Keizerskroon, said to be the oldest early Tulip grown, and
under the name of Grand Duc it was listed in catalogues 150

Garden and Forest.

yearsago. Theother Tulips are White Pottebakker, Vermil-
ion Brilliant and Proserpina. Plate No. 3 illustrates three
varieties of Narcissus Pseudo-narcissus: Major Maximus,
Bicolor John Horsfield and Moschatus albicans, The text is
written in French, English, German and Dutch.

Another study of the destructive Potato scab has been made
at the Agricultural College of South Dakota by Thomas A.
Williams, botanist of the experiment station there, and the
report has been recently issued in a bulletin. When the seed
is treated with corrosive sublimate and planted in uninfested
landno scab was found, and when planted in infested land
the same treatment very materially reduced the trouble.
The weaker solution, where the corrosive sublimate is used
with the strength of about I to 1,000, is about as effective and
needs less care than when it is six times as strong. The best
practice is to immerse the seed before it is cut. The Bor-
deaux mixture and the so-called Eau Celeste seemed to be
effective against the fungus, but it decreased the yield more
or less. One point noted was that the thicker- skinned
and darker-colored varieties of potatoes seemed better able to
resist the attacks of the disease than other ones, and it was
once more demonstrated that potatoes should not be allowed
to remain in the wet ground long after ripening,

Several new seedling Carnations are now offered by up-town
florists, notably Nero, large, clear rose-pink in color, and con-
spicuously attractive, and Nellie Patterson, with a variegation
more showy, perhaps, than even Helen Keller. The flowers are
a rich cream-yellow, the fringed petals delicately bordered and
regularly striped with bright pink. Both these novelties came
from C, Besold, Mineola, Long Island. Masses of beautifully
grown Chrysanthemums in florists’ windows include among
yellow sorts H. L. Sunderbruch and a new seedling of decided
merit from Dailledouze Brothers, which they have named
Gold Standard. Flowers of the white Mrs. Henry Robinson
are altogether the largest and handsomest chrysanthemums
now in season, but none are more beautiful than Pink Ivory,
the petals deepening in color from the tips to a delightful rich
pink at their base. Large plants of heavily fruited Otaheite
Oranges are highly decorative features among the plants, and
luxuriantly flowered Ericas are seen in compactly grown plants
of E. prestans, with white flowers; E. campanulata, tall and
slender in habit, with brilliant red, trumpet-shaped flowers,
E. hyemalis, pink-flowered; and E. gracilis vernalis, bright
red globular flowers.

In a paper read before the meeting of the Association for
Economic Entomologists at Buffalo, last summer, Professor
Hopkins gave an account of certain studies at the experiment
station in West Virginia, looking toward the prevention of
injury to shade and torest trees by insects. In one interesting
series of experiments different kinds of trees were cut twice
every month, year after year, in order to gather evidence
as to the proper time for felling timber so as to secure
the least possible damage from insect attacks. By observa-
tions with an insectary in which hundreds of specimens of
insects, representing many different species, were introduced,
it was found, among other things, that Hickory and Oak when
cut in the winter months is converted into powder by Lyctus
striatus, while the same wood cut during the summer months
is only slightly damaged. Inthe same way it is found that certain
species of trees cut in July and August are entirely exempt
or but slightly damaged by wood-boring insects, while those
cut in late autumn or early spring are seriously injured. Pro-
fessor Hopkins found that a slight injury to the base of a tree
by fire offers a most favorable condition for insect attack,
which often results in the destruction of the most valuable
wood ofa tree. The fire burns and kills the bark on one side
of the base, which might not be a serious matter of itself,
since subsequent growth would heal it over, but these slight
wounds are soon infested by various beetles and their larvae,
which by boring convert the inner dead wood into a dry pow-
der, or else their mines afford entrance for the fungus, so that
the next fire finds in these wounds a most favorable condition
to extend the injury. In this way frequent fires in the same
forest often burn entirely through the trunk of a large tree.
Fire wounds are almost invariably followed by a decay of the
heart-wood, which results in a hollow trunk. In almost every
wounded tree which was cut down and split open it was found
that the extension of the decay was due largely to insect larve
which had entered from eggs deposited in the edges of the
fire wounds, and that brood after brood of these larva, aided
by wood-infesting ants, had completely honeycombed the heart-
wood for a great distance above the wound, thus rendering it
worthless. The paper throughout is very interesting.

[NUMBER 453.

NOVEMBER 4, 1896.]

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrice: Trizune Buitpinc, New York.

Conducted ‘by. ss + « ..'« «s+ « Professor C. S, Sarcent.

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1896.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.

seasisincineenses) AAT
Sore Pes

EprtorraL ArticLes :—Forests and Floods........
Botanical Discoveries in Central China,.
BadensBacdens cescteceaccessesltsssieesee . Hen 442
The American Persimmon. . ois C. S. Puné 442

ForEIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—Cambridge Botanic Gardens...... .... W. Watson. 443

Entomocoaicat :—Another Plum Scale ..........+--+ Professor T. D. A. Cockerell. 444

New or Litt£-KNown Pants :—Aspidium cristatum & marginale, Davenport.

(With figure.).c..cccescinccacsesvevecscsvcwetesse George E. Davenport. 444

Cutturat DeparTMENT :—The Origin of Garden Gladioli....Avnst. H. Krelage. 446
Hybridizing Orchids ........-. 0. sseeeeeeeeee scenes eeenees H. A. Burberry. 446
Orchid Notes.—Il..... E. O. Orpet. 447
Perennial Phloxes.. ... -. William Tricker. 447
A Dwarf Stock for the Peach . Professor E. S. Goff. 448

CorrEsponpEnNce :—Lilium Washingtonianum.. Mawes Carl Purdy. 448
A Good Variety of the Jerusalem ‘Artichoke -¥. H. Van Ness. 448
October in Kentucky....... ‘Fanny Copley Seavey. 449
Autumn Color of the Liquidambar . Edward F, Canning. 449

RECENT PUBLICATIONS 6 oceicit cscs csiconeec ccccinecene wets sence csesans senssaes sesnee 449

Notes . : : ; 449

ILLUSTRATION :—Aspidium cristatum marginale, Davenport, Fig. 58......... © 445

Forests and Floods.

N the first number of Garprn anpD Forest, published
nearly nine years ago, there appeared an article by
Francis Parkman on the forests or the White Mountains.
He showed that these mountains owed the greater part of
their charm to the primeval forests that still covered them,
and that they brought to the state of New Hampshire a
sure and abundant income by attracting tourists and their
money. He added that if the speculators who had
their eyes on these forest-lands were permitted to work
their will the state would find its most remunerative prop-
erty sadly lessened in value, and that the mountains, when
robbed of the woods, would become, like some parts of
the Pyrenees, desolate, inhospitable and unfrequented. He
added that the preservation of these woods would save the
streams which flow from them, especially the Pemigewas-
set, the main source of the Merrimac, from the alternate
droughts and freshets to which all streams are exposed
when the mountains in which they take their rise are de-
nuded of their forests. The final sentence of his article
was: “This subject is one of the last importance to the
mill-owners along these rivers.”

During the present month, at the annual meeting of the
Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, in Manchester, New
Hampshire, the report of Hon. T. Jefferson Coolidge, the
treasurer, was read. He spoke of the ruin caused by a
flood in April, 1895, when the water rose to a height never
known in the Merrimac River before that day. The water
ran ten feet deep over the great dam, which was so seri-
ously injured that it took all summer to repair it and replace
the granite blocks and columns under the gate-house. But
for these repairs the entire dam and the gate-house would
probably, have been swept away by the torrent which
rushed over it on the second of March, 1896, when the
water rose a foot anda half higher than it did in the pre-
vious spring, carrying away bridges and compelling the
factories to stop work and leaving six thousand operatives
without employment. Mr. Coolidge added that the only
explanation, in his judgment, for the increasing violence of
these floods was the cutting down of the forest about the
headwaters of the Pemigewasset and other affluents of the
Merrimac. The result has thus emphasized the warning

Garden and Forest.

441

to mill-owners sounded by Mr. Parkman and other forward-
looking men years ago.

Of course, there is a great deal of misinformation pub-
lished every year in regard to the influence of forests on
rainfall, but no fact in physical science is better established
than that the cutting away of timber on high mountains
and their slopes is the cause of great variation in the water-
flow. The rainfall and melting snows are hurried away
more swiftly from highlands on which there is no forest
cover, and so the high water becomes an inundation and
a calamity, while the extreme low water which follows is
almost as much of acalamity. This is nota matter of theory,
although the reasons are evident and have been frequently
stated in these columns and elsewhere. It is the experience
of the Old World which is being repeated in the New, and
disasters of this sort will be more frequent and more
lamentable unless the safeguards which nature has fur-
nished are respected and preserved. Mr. Coolidge did not
state the case too strongly when he said that if the present
practices are continued, manufacture by water-power of the
Merrimac will become impossible in New Hampshire. No
new mills will be put up, the old ones will be driven to the
use of steam, and, therefore, they will be put to a great dis-
advantage in competition with other cities where coal does
not need to be transported so far. Certainly the situation
justifies Mr. Coolidge’s earnest appeal to every one who has
the prosperity of New Hampshire at heart to exert his utmost
influence to induce the Legislature of that state to protect
the forests which still remain.

It is unpleasant to be constantly sounding alarms and
predicting calamities. No gift of prophecy is needed to
foretell the ruin which will follow if the devastation of the
forests of the Appalachian region from Quebec to Alabama
goes on for the next twenty-five years as it has done.
And who can estimate the desolation which will ensue if
the floods are let loose from the still loftier ranges which
feed the Columbia, the Sacramento and the San Joaquin,
or who can imagine the extent of the inland sea that will
roll over the Mississippi valley when the water barriers are
removed from the eastern slopes of the great Continental
Divide and the sources of that immense water system in
the central north? Common prudence ought to arouse the
legislatures of the various states and of the nation to face
this problem now, which is of more vital importance to the
life of the Republic than any question = tariff or of
currency.

Dr. Aucustinr Henry, of the Chinese Customs De-
partment, well known to all lovers of plants from his
many botanical discoveries in central China, is now
stationed at Mengtse, in Yu-Nan, situated in an elevated
plain 4,500 feet above sea-level and surrounded by moun-
tains reaching an altitude of 8,000 or 9,000 feet. The prin-
cipal trees of this region, Dr. Henry writes us in a personal
letter, are Quercus (four or fivespecies), Viburnum (three spe-
cies), Hydrangea (one large tree and three or four shrubby
species), Sambucus, Rhododendron (two arborescent spe-
cies), two large arborescert species of Aralia, ten species
of Rubus, two of Roses, four or five species of Pyrus, and
Fatsia papyrifera, the Chinese Rice-paper plant, growing
wild. Near the summit of the mountains growing in the
forest are Elelostemma, Panax repens, three species of
Polygonum, Thalictrum, Valeriana, Lilium giganteum,
four or five Labiateze, two or three Cyrtandrex, etc. On
lower levels what is probably a distinct species of Pyrus
and an Abies resembling Abies Davidiana, Gleditsia Dele-
vayi, with enormous pods, a tomentose Fraxinus, Albizzia,
Dalbergia, etc., are found. One hundred and thirty spe-
cies of Ferns have already been collected in this region
by Hancock, ten of them being undescribed species.
Dr. Henry writes :

I anticipate that I shall make a grand collection here, as the
country is very varied. Only two days off one descends into
the tropical valley of the Red River, so there is every kind of
climate close at hand. The endemic species are, I think,

442

numerous, and include many ornamental things. The Orchids
growing in the mountain grass are very numerous, indeed, and
there is a larger proportion of petaloid monocotyledons than I
have seen elsewhere. There seems to be a very distinct edible
apple, not yet ripe, which is worthy of note. I find the Peach
wild in the ravines, with inedible or barely edible fruit. Rosa
gigantea is very common, and must be a glorious sight when
in flower. I have been particularly struck by the absence of
Laurinez, which are so conspicuous in the Hupeh flora every-
where. I notice one Acer on the mountain summits. Besides
Lilium giganteum there are two other Lilies, one resembling
L. longiflorum, but distinct, and the other a yellow Lily, not
very large, but pretty. It is also something new, I believe.

In addition to these interesting botanical features the ethnol-
ogy of the people is most interesting. The people are largely
of three races (non-Chinese), Shan, Lolo and Miao-tse, but in
the mountains one comes across diminutive people living in
squalid villages, cultivating only Buckwheat, pasturing sheep
and cattle, and these folk are practically savage autochthons,
Pure Lolos are handsome and of Caucasian type in some
respects. Of course, these are only my hurried impressions,
as I have been here only a short time and have only been in
certain parts of the neighborhood,

Baden-Baden.

N a late issue of Zhe Gardeners’ Chronicle Rev. Henry

Ewbank gives an account of the famous gardens of
Baden-Baden, which have been enriched by the business
enterprise, the enthusiasm and the rare cultural skill of
Herr Max Leichtlin. These gardens have been for many
years one of the great European centres of horticultural
interest, and our readers will thank us for presenting an
extract from Mr. Ewbank’s interesting letter.

The Kniphofias are such as I have never seen elsewhere.
K. Nelsoni is of great value, because it blossoms the latest of
all, and it is certainly one of the loveliest and most elegant of
them. K. Natalensis is the most highly colored of the lot; K,
Triumph hasa kind of bright yellow candelabra-like habit of
flowering ; and a small yellow one which is not very tall, and
has not as yet been named, struck me as certain to please.
But, perhaps, I may as well say at once, that the most striking
plant in the garden just now is Coriaria Nepalensis—it was so
entirely new to me. Max Leichtlin says it has been in full
beauty since last July, and is likely to be so till the frost sets
in. The crystalline, deep yellow fruit is attractive in the high-
est degree, and when the statement is added that the shrub is
quite hardy in this part of the world, it will be seen that this
acquisition from the Himalayas is of great value, and will be
much sought after.

There was a new Hedysarum in the borders which I liked
very much; Trachelium rumelianum is a nice little flower,
and I saw many specimens of Campanula mirabilis, of course
not in blossom just now, from which great things are expected.
Liatris cylindracea is still very fine, although far from its best ;
I think it is L. graminifolia that Leichtlin praises the most, but
its time had gone by. Thalictrum Delavayi has no need of
mention from me, but I never saw such fine specimens as
there are here, and there seem to be two varieties which differ
very much in the foliage, but are in other respects alike.
Some Lobelias are still very attractive. L.fulgens rosea and
violacea correspond with their names, and they brighten up
the borders exceedingly ; they differ from what I have as yet
come across. Calceolaria alba should not escape notice; it
will be a valuable little shrub if only it is sufficiently hardy. In
one of the houses I saw an Agapanthus which throws. all
others into the shade ; it rejoices in the name of A. maximus,
var. Krelagei, and while any Agapanthus is good, this must
be put in the first rank of all where autumn flowers are looked
for. Close by it was a very large Belladonna Lily, Amaryllis
Belladonna rosea perfecta, a beautiful thing in its way. Stern-
bergia macrantha is in all its glory at present ; I suppose it is
one of the finest of Mr. Whittall’s many introductions—the
only drawback it has is that it is naked-stemmed and blos-
soms without the leaves. Gerbera Jamesoni seems to be
quite at home with Max Leichtlin, though it is strange to hear
from him that it has not done well lately in the way of blos-
soming, because of the continuous wet. I havea plant at Ryde
which must be four or five times as large as any which are
here ; and though very robust and strong, it did not blossom
well this summer in one of the hottest and driest places that
could be conceived. If sunshine in one locality puts it out,
and rain in another, what are we to do with it? My plant did

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 454.

splendidly in the summer of 1894 and 1895, but it has quite
failed this year; and I hear from my gardener that it has done
nothing since I left home, some six or seven weeks ago,
though it is in a very robust and healthy condition.

Scabiosa Hookeriana is a novelty which has seen its best for
this season. I think Max Leichtlin said it had been a puzzle to
him for fifteen years. He has two or three good Delphiniums
which have not as yet found their way into commerce ; one is
a sort of dark claret color, which had not at all begun to fade.
I noted flowering plants of Galanthus Olge Regine, but it is
nothing more than G, nivalis, with a very precocious disposi-
tion, which makes it outstrip all its compeers in earliness ; it
is, nevertheless, well worth possessing, for by its aid all lovers
of Snowdrops (and who is not a lover of Snowdrops ?) may
cover three out of the four quarters of the year with their
favorites, and only be without them when there is quite a glut
of other flowers. Old friends turn up here in multitudes,
though I miss a good many of those which I have known be-
fore. Onosma albo-roseum, Omphalodes Luciliz, Polygonum
spherostachyum, Arnebia echioides, Pelargonium Endlicheri-
anum, Primulas without number; Aubrietias and such like
plants abound on every hand. There is an Aubrietia which I
want some day tosee in blossom very much, foritis called the
Beauty of Baden ; and if it be that, what a beauty it must be!

The American Persimmon.

T this season of the year the native Persimmon of the
United States is in the perfection of its fruitage.
While our city markets know in a limited way of the Japa-
nese persimmon, as grown in Florida, California or the
south-west, the American persimmon is comparatively un-
known, excepting in some of the larger southern markets,
to which the farmers bring it in limited quantity. The
American persimmon is not in favor, as commonly known,
because of its astringent or puckery skin and because its
extreme softness when fully ripe makes it difficult to handle
and ship. As a consequence, thousands of bushels rot on
the ground every year or are eaten by hogs in pasture.

In the Mississippi valley, from central Indiana and IIli-
nois, southward, the Persimmon may be generally found
growing with great vigor. In some regions it is regarded
as an intruder, and the trees are classed as almost as worth-
less as Sassafras-sprouts. It has, however, the merit of
producing a fruit which, it is safe to predict, will some day
be a popular article of diet on our tables. An examination
of the seedling wild fruit shows a wide difference in form
and quality. Forms range from round to oval, with vary-
ing degrees between, as round-ovate, oblong-ovate, round-
ish oblate, etc. The fruit from some trees contains many
seeds, while others are seedless. With some the pulp is
very sweet, rich and appetizing, with the skin compara-
tively free from astringency, while others are inferior in
quality and most undesirable.

The Indiana Experiment Station, through Professor
James Troop, the horticulturist, has been giving special
attention to the native Persimmon. Many varieties of
seedlings have been collected in southern Indiana, and
numerous persons have sent us samples of fruit that they
regarded as of special merit. Some of this fruit has been
delicious, and I am sure would find a ready sale in a city
market when its merits once became known. The follow-
ing varieties are described by Professor Troop in Bulletin
60 of the Indiana Station: Shoto, Early Bearing, Golden
Gem, Daniel Boone, Hicks, Kansas, Smeech and Early
Golden. All of these have fruit of special merit. Golden
Gem was introduced by Mr. Logan Martin, of Clark
County, Indiana, and is grown by him for near-by markets.
A quantity which he sent to this station was regarded by
all who ate of it as most delicious. The fruit is roundish
oblong, about an inch and a half or more in diameter, dark
orange to red in color, contains but few seeds, and the
flesh is soft, rich, sweet and palatable, being quite free of
any astringency. This variety commences to ripen about
the last of August and continues until October. Shoto has
a large fruit, oblong-ovate in form, has but few seeds, and
the pulp is of good quality, being in its prime in October.

NOVEMBER 4, 1896.]

Hicks has a large fruit of excellent quality, containing but
few seeds. Early Bearing also produces a fruit of good
quality. Generally speaking, the fruit is improved by the
action of frost, which seems to destroy the astringency.

A special study of the composition of the fruit has been
made by Messrs. Huston & Barrett in our chemical labora-
tory, and the published analyses in Bulletin 60 of the
Indiana Station are the only ones extant, so far as we
know, showing the composition of persimmons. Five
samples of wild fruit and one of Golden Gem were ana-
lyzed. It was found that the amount of dry matter in this
fruit was greatly in excess of that in other fruits. Grapes
contain from 8 to 24 percent., while in the persimmons
analyzed, the dry matter ranged from 29 to 48 per cent. A
special study of the pulp showed about 71 per cent. mois-
ture, 14 per cent. sugar and over 5% per cent. albuminous
substances and hydro-cellulose. This indicates a food of
greater nutritive value than is found in our other table
fruits. The persimmon pulp resembles the date somewhat,
and was dried with difficulty. The seeds are very hard
and flinty, so that the work of preparation for analysis was
more difficult than with other American fruits.

The average number of seeds in one fruit varied from
1.74 to 5.07, these figures being the averages from many
fruits used. The per cent. of pulp ranged from 82 to 88%.

Persimmons may be budded or grafted in the spring.
The seed does not produce true from its kind, hence it is
necessary to bud orgraft. As arule, in southern Indiana the
trees grow on hilly clay soils, in neglected and worn-
out land. It will grow, however, on the lower, richer
soils.

Through the process of selection and hybridization,
eventually, without doubt, the persimmon will be devel-
oped to a degree that will place it among the more desira-
ble of the fruits native to North America. These more
improved varieties will be free from astringency of skin,
more or less seedless, and, besides having a rich, sweet
flesh, will possess good shipping qualities.

Attention is now being directed toward this fruit. Nur-
serymen are handling the trees, and many letters have
been received at this station from both at home and abroad,
asking for more information concerning it. The further
development of this fruit offers an attractive field for the
horticulturists of the lower Mississippi valley.

C. S. Plumb.

Purdue University, Lafayette, Ind.

Foreign Correspondence.
Cambridge Botanic Gardens.

HE Botanic Gardens attached to Cambridge University

are second only to Kew among the public gardens

of England, if judged by the extent, and interest of the col-
lections of plants they contain. Although only some
seventeen acres in area, they are so cleverly laid out as to
appear to be at least twice that size. The houses and
frames cover an area of 13,850 square feet, and as they are
mostly modern in structure they afford accommodation for
a large and varied collection of tender plants of all kinds.
The houses are all new, having been built in 1888-91 ata
cost of £6,000. They consist of a handsome corridor 270
feet long, sixteen feet high and ten feet wide. On thesouth
side of this corridor there are eight handsome houses, and
on the north side are the sheds, laboratories, propagating-
houses, garden library, stokehole, etc. These all commu-
nicate with each other through the corridor, an arrangement
of the greatest convenience, both for students and gardeners.
The history of the Cambridge Botanic Gardens is not with-
out interest. It was first proposed to form a “physic
garden” as an adjunct to the University in 1696, when
the ground was selected and plans made, but no further
steps were taken until 1761, when about fiveacres of ground
on the site of the monastery of the Austin Friars was
secured at a cost of £1,600. Philip Miller, the curator of
the Chelsea Botanic Gardens, the Kew of that period, was

Garden and Forest.

443

consulted with regard to the plans, and a relative of his,
Charles Miller, was appointed first curator, Thomas Mar-
tyn, the editor of an edition of Miller's Dictionary of Plants,
being then Professor of Botany. Other curators of these
gardens were J. Clarke, P. Salton, J. Don (author of Hortus
Cantabrigensis), A. Biggs Murray, Mudd, and the present
curator, R. J. Lynch, A. L. S., who has held that post since
1879, after having served about twelve years at Kew. The
Professors of Botany have been R. Bradley, J. Martyn,
T. Martyn, J. S. Henslow, C. C. Babington and Marshall
Ward, the present professor, who has only recently been
appointed. In 1847, the then gardens were too small and
ill-suited for the work they had to do, and a piece of land
on the south side of the town, about thirty acres in extent,
was secured at a cost of £2,200, to which the collections
were transferred. Thirteen acres of this is let asallotments,
so that it can be added to the Botanic Garden as required.
The gardens were remodeled by Murray, the curator in
1847, who performed the work most creditably.

The main object of the gardens is for the scientific ser-
vice of the University. This means the cultivation of
collections of all kinds of plants representative of the
world’s flora, grouped for convenience of study and avail-
able for use in the dissecting-room and laboratory. In
addition to this, large quantities of seedlings, flowers and
fruits have to be supplied daily during term time for class-
room and other purposes. ‘This entails considerable labor
for the garden staff, as on some days a thousand or more
specimens have to be prepared for the botany classes.
Material for original research by the professor and other
botanists attached to the University has also to be kept in
readiness. The ordinary show botanic garden knows noth-
ing, or very little, of the latter duties. Although these gar-
dens are the sole property of the University, the public are
admitted every week-day, subject to certain regulations.

That the public avail themselves of this privilege is seen
in the fact that between two and three thousand visitors
enter the gardens on Bank holidays. The gardens are
managed by a syndicate composed of the Vice-Chancellor,
various head-masters of colleges, the Professor of Botany
and several others, but the practical management is vested
in the curator in consultation with the Professor of Botany.

During a recent visit to the gardens I noted the follow-
ing interesting plants flourishing there: Stove-plants—
Erythrina Sandersoni, a thick-stemmed, large-leaved spe-
cies similar to one I have seen under the name of E, Na-
talensis ; Kendrickia Walkeri, a new and beautiful climbing
Melastomad, recently introduced from Ceylon, but not yet
flowered in Europe ; Utricularia longifolia and U. Endresii;
Heliamphora nutans, the Roraima Side-saddle plant, Medi-
nilla Curtisii, Jasminum lineare, Bauhinia Galpini, in flower ;
Saintpaulia ionantha, used as an edging on gravel-covered
stages, for which it is perfectly adapted; Aloe plicatilis, an
enormous specimen, a century or more old, and probably
the most noteworthy example in Europe. Greenhouse
plants: Cobzea macrostemma, an old garden plant long
lost to cultivation, but recently reintroduced. It has
greenish yellow flowers, and while it is quite distinct from
the familiar C. scandens, it serves the same purpose as a
quick-growing screen or curtain-plant ; Polygonum equisi-
tiforme, so very like a Mare’s-tail that even botanists have
been deceived by it; Mentzelia bartonioides, a beautiful
annual as grown here in pots for the conservatory, the
seeds being sown in February, and the seedlings pricked
six in a four-inch pot, the whole being again shifted into
eight-inch pots and kept in a cool house. Thus treated
they form a compact, bushy specimen a foot or so in diam-
eter, and produce their large, bright yellow flowers in pro-
fusion until winter. Grammatocarpus volubilis is grown
in the same way. Begonia gracilis (Martiana) is grown
exceptionally well here both inside and out, a bed of it in
a sheltered position on a lawn being a beautiful picture
even in October. Ferns and their allies are strongly rep-
resented and exceedingly well grown, from Tree Ferns
to Mosses and Hepatice, the latter being a special feature.

444

Outside, there are many rare plants happily provided for:
the hardy Cacti are well represented ; Gerbera Jamesoni has
leaves as large as Docks and flower-scapes two feet high,
bearing large, rich orange-colored flowers ; Anomatheca
grandiflora, Crinum crassifolium, Capparis spinosa, Anthe-
ricum Bowkeri and other reputed tender plants are here in
robust health in sheltered corners outside. Hardy Bam-
boos are well represented ; indeed, Mr. Lynch was the first
to show how effective these plants are when planted in
groups in the neighborhood of water. Parrotia Jacquemontii
is doing well in a sheltered position. Hardy Fuchsias are
specially cared for ; a large collection of Willows, another
of Rubus (Brambles) and another of Roses are noteworthy.
All kinds of moisture-loving or bog-plants are grouped
about the margins of the lake or cozily set in a bog-garden,
surrounded by sloping banks upon which rare Ferns, Prim-
roses and select herbaceous plants are at home. An enor-
mous group of Tree Ivy, sprawling over the lawn, is a
picture at all times of the year, and the vigorous growth of
the Indian Dodder, Cuscuta reflexa, upon its stems gives it a
special interest for botanists. Ephedra distachya is here a
magnificent specimen twelve feet through. On one of the
walls a plant of Thladiantha dubia had grown very freely,
and for the last three months of the year it bears hundreds
of ovate fruits three inches long and colored scarlet to

crimson. This plant is worth growing for its decorative
fruits.
London. W. Watson.

Entomological.

Another Plum Scale.

ROFESSOR A. B. CORDLEY, of the Oregon Experi-
ment Station, has just sent me specimens of a Leca-
nium scale numerously infesting a twig of Plum. When Il
opened the box and saw a Lecanium,I thought at once
that the New York Plum scale must have reached Oregon ;
but a second glance showed that I had before mean insect
not before found in the United States. This is, I think,
without any question, the European Lecanium bitubercu-
latum, named originally by Targioni-Tozzetti in manu-
script, and described by Signoret in 1873. The species is
a very peculiar one,and I cannot find that the Oregon
examples differ in anything from the European type. The
scale in size and shape is like the New York scale, but
there are two prominent nipple-like tubercles on the back ;
and sometimes two others, less prominent, in front of them
From each of the larger tubercles to the edge of the scale
runs a keel. All this can be seen with a lens of low power,
or, indeed, with the naked eye. A microscopical character
is found in the tibio-tarsal articulation of the legs, which is
thickened. The scales are often more or less marked with
white; such examples Targioni-Tozzetti proposed to name
pictum.

Curiously, this scale is not recognized as a Plum scale in
Europe, but is found upon Hawthorn, Crataegus oxyacantha.
It is not, surprising, however, that a Hawthorn scale should
attack the Plum. It is widely distributed in western
Europe. Signoret reports it as occurring in quantity at
Florence, Cannes and Hyéres. Mr. Sule has found it in
Bohemia. Mr. Douglas records it from Exeter and Lee,
in England, and Mr. Newstead had it from Heacham,
Norfolk.

Mr. Cordley’s specimens are labeled “No. 18. C. L.
Dailey. Salem, Oregon, 1-28-96.” Just how troublesome
this scale is going to be with us it is too early to predict,
but if it becomes abundant it may very likely rival the New

po itetcary T. D. A. Cockereil,

Mesilla, N. M.

When the forest floor is covered with brown November
leaves, how cheerful is the unwithering Polypody, clothing the
rocks with perennial verdure, defying frost and full of life.
How strangely interesting the form of its small plumes, fit to
be a tuft about the base of a column. Why should not its
form be copied by our sculptors instead of the foreign Acan-
thus leaves and berries ?—Zzhoreau.

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 454.

New or Little-known Plants.
Aspidium cristatum x marginale, Davenport.

HIS Fern, which was first published and described by
me* as a hybrid between Aspidium cristatum and
A. marginale, is now figured for the first time from draw-
ings made by Mr. Charles E. Faxon, and I avail myself
of the opportunity to give a brief résumé of its history,
and to emphasize more strongly than heretofore the
essential characters by which it may always be distin-
guished from its congeners.

Originally discovered by Mr. Raynal Dodge, of New-
buryport, Massachusetts, and sent by him to Professor
Eaton, who placed it in my hands for elucidation, this Fern
received a most thorough and careful investigation extend-
ing through a period of nearly two years before publica-
tion. Since its publication I have made frequent and
careful observations on the plants growing on my own
grounds, side by side, with Aspidium cristatum and A.
marginale, with the result that I reaffirm more strongly
than ever its right to recognition. Whether considered as
a hybrid or an independent species, the evidence here ad-
duced must establish beyond any reasonable question its
right to a permanent place among our Ferns, while the
fact of its having been found in six or seven different sta-
tions, wide apart, shows that it is not a mere transitory
freak, but a form that is likely to be found in many more
stations, if not, indeed, almost everywhere where its proba-
ble parents grow together, or near by, under favorable
conditions.

Mr. Faxon’s drawing (see page 445) was made from
specimens recently taken from a plant growing on my
grounds, but which originally came from Boxford, Massa-
chusetts, in 1893, and the frond drawn was selected as being
typical in character. A comparison of this frond with cor-
responding fronds of Aspidium cristatum and A. marginale
shows that this one combines characters belonging to the
other two, the upper portion being similar to A. marginale
in breadth and the long, acuminated lanceolate pinne and
the lower portion, about one-third of the whole, resembling
A. cristatum in the shorter, broader and obtuse pinne.
The texture and venation is nearly that of A. cristatum.

The position of the sori in this Fern varies a little, being
sometimes nearly, or submarginal, or nearly medial, but
usually a little nearer to the margins than in Aspidium
cristatum, while the indusia are generally, before ripening
off, convex, as in A. marginale. The bases of the stalks in
this Fern are more densely clothed than in A. cristatum,
and with similar pale brown scales of two kinds—the lower
long linear, the upper ovate—as in A. marginale. But the
strongest argument for this Fern’s position lies in the struc-
ture of the root-stock, that of A. cristatum lying horizontal,
with a lateral deveiorment of the crown, while in A. mar-
ginale and in this Fern the root-stock is a true caudex,
growing erect with a central development of the crown, as
shown in Mr, Faxon’s figures of the root-stock of A. cris-
tatum, from a plant growing in the open, where it had
every opportunity to grow erect if so disposed, and the
root-stock of this Fern, the caudex being halved to show
the erect growth of the stipites which surround the grow-
ing end in a circle, exactly as in A. marginale.

To sum up the result of my three years’ observations on
these three Ferns, I can come to no other conclusion than
to consider the present Fern as a hybrid between the other
two, and as it may be looked for with every probability of
finding it under conditions similar to those under which it
has already been found, I append comparative descriptions,
giving the most essential characters and the stations from
which it has already been recorded :

(A) Aspidium cristatum : Root-stock recumbent, crown late-
ral, crosiers thinly clothed with darkish brown scales.
Fig. 36 (5). Fronds (fertile) linear-lanceolate, narrowing

below ; pinne obtuse, or slightly acute. Fig. 36 (4). Sori
medial, indusia flat.

* Botanical Gazette, vol. xix., p. 494, December, 1894.

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NoveEMBER 4, 1896.] Garden and Forest. 445

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Fig. 58—Aspidium cristatum marginale, Davenport.——See page 444.

1. Aspidium cristatum marginale; two-thirds natural size. 2. Pinnule of same, enlarged. 3. Pinna of A. marginale; two-thirds natural size.
4. Pinna of A. cristatum; two-thirds natural size. 5. Root- stock of A. cristatum ; ; two-thirds natural size.
(2) Aspidium cristatum x marginale: Root-stock erect, or sterile), upper two-thirds like marginale ; lower one-third,
suberect; crown central, crosiers densely clothed with as in cristatum, the upper pinnae long, "acuminate. Fig.

pale brown scales. Fig. 36 (1). Fronds (both fertile and 36 (1). Sori submarginal or medial, Indusia convex.

446

(C) Aspidium marginale: Root-stock as in &. Fronds broad,
lanceolate, with acuminated pinne. Fig. 36 (3). Sori
marginal ; indusia convex.

The fibro-vascular bundles do not seem to furnish reli-
able characters, the number being dependent on the stout-
ness of the stipe, but those of Aspidium cristatum and this
Fern appear to correspond in showing 5, somewhat
obscurely, at the very base of the stipe, and these soon
decrease upward to 3, the latter number prevailing at the
lamina, while A. marginale shows 5, and in large fronds
7, distinctly at the base, retaining 5 upward to and beyond
the lamina; and this last is true also of A. Clintonianum.*

I have elsewhere (Bofanical Gazette, |. c.) alluded to the
remarkable disposition on the part of this Fern to produce
abortive fronds, and this character—strongly corroborative
of a hybrid origin—has been especially noticeable on my
living plants during the seasons of 1895 and 1896.

The following are the present stations for this Fern :

Boxford, Newbury and Merrimac, Essex County, Massachu-
setts, 1892, also Warren, Rhode Island, August, 1894, Raynal
Dodge.

Medford, Massachusetts, October, 1894, G. E. D.

* Dover, Maine, 1895, Merritt Lynden Fernald.

Pittsford, Vermont, 1896, Miss Margaret Slosson,

Medford, Mass. George E. Davenport.

Cultural Department.
The Origin of Garden Gladioli.

HE praise given to Gladiolus Nanceianus by your Lon-

don correspondent in Garpren anp Fores for 7th

October, is well deserved, and I think it may interest your

readers to hear something more about the origin of this
and other remarkable garden races of this noble genus.

The Gladioli of gardens may be distinguished in an early-
flowering and an autumn-flowering group. The large
group of early Gladioli embraces innumerable forms of
species and hybrids, where, among the most common types,
are the Cape species Gladiolus blandus, G. cardinalis and
G. tristis, and the hybrids G. ramosus (Cardinalis x oppo-
sitiflorus), G. Colvillei (tristis x cardinalis), etc. I cannot
treat this section in detail now, and will only say that one
of the most useful new additions to it is the soft rosy pink
Cardinalis variety, Queen Wilhelmina,which has been highly
spoken of in various gardening papers,

The late-flowering Gladioli have so improved of late that
the original species have become very insignificant, com-
pared with the garden hybrids of their progeny. Five dis-
tinct races of autumn-flowering hybrid Gladioli have been
sent out up to the present, an abbreviated description of
which may follow here :

1. GLADIOLUS HyBR. GANDAVENSIS.—This section is well
known, although there is still some doubt as to its exact
origin. The first announcement of the original hybrid
appeared in Van Houtte’s Catalogue, No. 6, which was pub-
lished on August 31st, 1841. There are two opinions as
regards the origin of this hybrid. In the Flore des Serres,
published by Van Houtte himself, it is stated to be the
result of a cross between G. cardinalis and G, psittacinus.
On the other hand, we have Dean Herbert's opinion, who
found that the indicated cross, “if not absolutely impossible,
is so difficult that repeated attempts made during successive,
years (by himself and others) have all proved abortive.”
On the contrary, the Natal species, G. psittacinus and the
Caffrarian G. oppositiflorus, have been freely crossed by
Herbert and several others, and the result was exactly the
same Gladiolus figured in the Pore des Serres as Ganda-
vensis. The hybrid created a sensation, but was, of course,
soon surpassed. The most successful raiser of new varie-
ties was Monsieur Souchet, of Fontainebleau, and after his
death, in 1872, his successors, Messrs. Souillard and Brunelet.

* Mr. C. E. Waters opine in the Johns Hopkins University Circular, No. 119,
June, 1895, a very useful paper on the fibro-vascular bundles in the stipe as an aid to
the determination of doubtful specimens, under the title of ‘An Analytical Key for
our Local Ferns Based on the Stipes.”

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 454.

2. GLADIOLUS HyBR. LrmomnEI.—Some twenty-five years
ago a new species of Gladiolus was introduced from the
Cape, which proved to be hardy, or, at least, more hardy
than the Gandavensis varieties. It was crossed by the
skillful hybridizer, Monsieur Lemoine, with the best Gan-
davensis varieties, and so he obtained the first hybrids of
a new race which he called Lemoinei, and which made its
appearance at the Paris International Exhibition of 1878.
Being pretty well known at present, it does not need de-
scription. Every year the colors of the new varieties
become more brilliant and effective. It is a pity, however,
that the more beautiful the varieties become the more they
lose their hardy qualities, a natural consequence of the little
purpureo-auratus blood remaining in the progeny.

3. GLADIOLUS HYBR. TURICENSIS AND CuiLps1.—Both of these
sections originated in the same manner—namely, by cross-
ing Gladiolus Saundersi, another Cape species, introduced
some twenty years ago, with Gandavensis varieties. G.
Turicensis originated in Mr. Froebel’s nursery at Zurich.
It is probably lost to cultivation now. The history of G.
Childsi is rather confused. Many years ago Herr Max
Leichtlin made a similar cross as Mr. Froebel, and sold the
hybrids obtained to a French nurseryman, from whom they
were purchased by an American firm, the stock of which
went afterward to Mr. Childs, of Floral Park, who gave
them his name and pushed them successfully.

4. Grapious HyBR. Nancgranus.—This race, referred to by
Mr. Watson on page 403, is of quite different origin from
Gladiolus Childsi, and the two races must not be con-
founded. G. Nanceianus was the first hybrid of a series
now comprising some fifty varieties, raised by Monsieur
Lemoine, and first presented to the horticultural public at
the Paris Exhibition of 1889. It originated from a cross
between G. Saundersi and Lemoinei varieties, and this
origin at once shows that the Nanceianus race is an advance
on Turicensis and Childsi, as one of the parents, namely,
Lemoinei hybrid, was an advance on one of the parents
in the other case (Gandavensis hybrids). A few varieties
of the Nanceianus race are not so vigorous as could be de-
sired, but the newer ones especially are strong growers,
throwing up spikes six feet tall, carrying large-sized flow-
ers, often measuring more than seven inches across between
the tips of the two lateral segments of the corolla, which
are developed in the form of two large triangular, fully
expanded wings, and the colors are simply marvelous.
All the trade varieties hitherto introduced were obtained by
Monsieur Lemoine, and we have not seen any hybrids
from other origins surpassing them.

5. GuapioLus HyBr. Massitiensis.—Although this is one
of the newest races offered, it is in no way an advance,
which is not surprising when we remember that one of the
parents is the very old and ugly Gladiolus psittacinus,
which has been improved by hybridizing for fifty years
already. We only refer to it here for completeness.

Concluding, I beg to give a little pedigree showing the
affinity and origin of the principal races of Gladiolus
hybrids referred to above :

psittacinus X oppositiflorus
purpureo-auratus X Gandavensis X Saundersi

| |
Saundersi X Lemoinei Turicensis (Childsi)

Nanceianus.
Haarlem, Holland.

Ernst H, Krelage.

Hybridizing Orchids.

Roe Orchids from seed is most interesting work,
but it is also work that requires for the best success
patience and skill and all the conveniences and appliances
known to the most advanced horticultural practice. In a
late number of the Orchid Review, Mr. H. A. Burberry gives
some excellent advice on this matter which it is worth
while to reproduce here :

If you have already as much work as you can possibly get

NOVEMBER 4, 1896.]

through, and have no more time to spare; if you have not
houses built on the most modern principles ; if you are lack-
ing patience, then don’t attempt raising Orchids from seed on
your own account, and you will probably save yourself from
much disappointment. If you are fortunate enough to have
these necessaries at your command, and feel disposed to try,
then, in order to further prevent disappointments, do not be
oversanguine about results. Never set a flower if the plant is
not in first-rate condition and quite able to bear the stress of
producing the big seed-pod, which will take the best part of a
year to mature, for it kills weakly plants. Never cross inferior
varieties, because the progeny, if reared, would probably be
worthless, and cross only those varieties from which, for
some reason or another, something good might be expected.
Be very careful in labeling the flower directly it is crossed, and
remove its own pollen clean away, so that there may be no
mistake in the parentage.

When the seed is ripe the pod will split. Now sow the seed
immediately on the surface of the compost, selecting plants
which have lately been repotted—recently imported plants
that are making plenty of roots, in preference to others—but
make sure that any plant on which seed is sown will require
to be kept moist for at least two or three months aftter-
ward. The seed germinates more surely on plants that
are suspended near the light. Be careful that the seed
is not washed away by the first few waterings the plant
receives; afterward there is less danger. If the seed is
good it will soon commence to germinate and become
round-shaped, about the size of the head of a pin. This
is a critical point, for if the compost is not just right those
green globules will speedily disappear. Therefore, if the sur-
face of the compost appears not to be in a good sound condi-
tion, commencing, as it often does, to become sour and
decomposed, it is better at this stage to transfer the seed at
once to sweet material in tiny seed pots, placing five or six in
each pot, a number of which should be placed in teak baskets
and suspended in a shady part of the house and kept contin-
ually moist. The cause of the surface of the compost becom-
ing prematurely decayed is often insects living within the pot.
In some gardens the compost becomes literally alive with a
small species of fly, and these quic*ly destroy Orchid seed.
When once these tiny globular plants become established in
their new pots they quickly form a little leaf, and a little root
grasps the compost. After this the rest is comparatively easy.
They will soon require to be potted off singly in the seedling
pots, and then grown on. Do not overpot, and see that fresh
sweet compostis supplied whenever .ecessary.

There is yet a large field open to hybridists. Even suppos-
ing quite new crosses cannot at all times be made, there is
still no reason why crosses already in existence, if good, should
not again be reared. By doing so better varieties may be
obtained, and, more than that, advanced as we are in Orchid
culture, we have still much more to learn before we can say
to ourselves, ‘‘ These plants we possess, and we are absolutely
sure of retaining them,” for, like other garden plants, Orchids
will sometimes die.

Orchid Notes.—II.

Ne this season, also, it is best to re»xot the Miltonias of the

“* type represented by M. vexillaria. The growths will be well
started by this time, and new roots will begin to start from the
base. There is an upward tendency to each successive year’s
growth, and it is necessary to set the plants lower down in the
pots, even though the oldest bulbs may be buried, so as to
bring the new growth and roots just below the level of the
potting material. The roots rarely go very deep in the pots,
but rather penetrate near the surface and on the outsides of
the pots. They should not be repotted into pots larger than
is absolutely required for the current season’s growth. One
application of water when not required will often cause deep-
seated decay that is hard to arrest. It is better not to useloam
in the compost, as some cultivators recommend; in other
words, make the potting material as porous as possible, so
that the large quantities of water needed in the growing period
may be applied without danger. With an occasional applica-
tion of stimulant in a liquid form this lovely Orchid may be
cultivated with ease, and improved year after year. Our plants
have been taken from the cool house where they have spent
the summer, and after repotting have been placed at the cool
end of the Cattleya-house, where the temperature will range
about fifty-five degrees during the cold weather. A layer of
fresh tobacco-stems has been placed under the trellis on
which the pots stand to guard against thrips, which, if once
they gain a footing, speedily ruin the foliage and blight the

Garden and Forest.

447

flower-stems. Our experience with Miltonia vexillaria has
shown that it is safer to keep the specimens rather small than
to grow them on into pots larger than six-inch. They are easily
divided at potting time, and are much more useful for deco-
ration if grown in moderately small pots. Hybrids from Mil-
tonias are not common, but are represented by one or two
notable examples. We have just succeeded in getting a fine
seed-capsule on M. vexillaria crossed with M. Clowesii, and
hope that good fertile seed may be produced in due season.

Odontoglossum Rossi is one of the prettiest Mexican spe-
cies, and is very useful for boutonniéres in winter. It is easy
to cultivate if attention is given at the right time. The growth
is maturing now, and a light position in a moderately warm
house is needed. The plants have summered in the coolest
house, and are taken into more light at this time. If leftin the
cool house for the winter they would soon dwindle away. O,
citrosmum is another Mexican plant that willsoon finish grow-
ing, and when the bulbs are well matured it is best to suspend
the plants near the glass in a light position, giving very little
water during the resting season. But we have never found it
necessary to let the bulbs shrivel to any degree to induce the
plants to flower. We give water sparingly until the spikes
appear at the tips of the young growths. Sometimes this is
not until midsummer, but rarely does a plant miss blooming.
The spikes are strong, often branched, whereas they would be
weak if the bulbs were not plump, to aid them at flowering
time. There are few Orchids that have such a charm when in
bloom as well-flowered plants of O. citrosmum, with the long
pendent flower-stems, often a yard long, and the delicious
lemon fragrance in early morning. If the plants are not dis-
turbed very often there is no trouble in growing them. We
use nothing but Fern-fibre for them and rarely disturb them
oftener than once in three years.

Dendrobiums of the Nobile section will now have mostly
completed their growth; they need a cooler temperature, or
another start will be made, though there is not so much ten-
dency this sunless season as in some other years. Should a
start be made we ignore the fact and rest the plants just the
same, or the whole machinery of the plant would be thrown
out of gear if we attempt tc make up a satisfactory growth at
this period in a higher temperature. It is best to avoid too
much sun at first when putting the plants to rest. I like to see
the leaves a healthy green, also the pseudo-bulbs. The bright
yellow they assume with exposure is not so well to start from
again after the plants are weakened by flowering. The moss
in which the plants have grown may be allowed to become
quite dry before water is ay plied, just enough being given to
avoid shrinking of the stems.

During the past few weeks very little water has been used
to damp the house in which the plants are growing, but as
soon as more fire-heat is applied more water must be sprinkled
to counteract the parching effect on the atmosphere; and also
now on bright days, if there should be any, tor we have had
but two sunshiny days in three weeks. Most of the plants are
now going to rest, nearly all the Cattleyas being in this stage.
Less water will be needed to assist in the maturing that leads
to abundant flowering. When water is given at the roots we
find it well to turn on a little heat under the benches where the
largest pots stand, to dry up the superabundance of water that
is not desirable at this season. The benches are made of open
trellis-work that allows a free circulation of air. If fresh Oak-
leaves can be procured, a good supply will be sprinkled with
slaked lime and then placed on the ground under the benches.
The lime hastens decomposition, kills insects, and the leaves
give off a steady supply of fod for the roots that are eager to
take it up if it is made more available by frequent spraying
when fire-heat is much used, as in midwinter.

South Lancaster, Mass. EO. Orpet.

Perennial Phloxes.

HESE are among the best and the most popular of hardy
herbaceous plants, being adapted to all places and of the
easiest culture. They grow luxuriantly in any good garden
soil, and are suitable for the mixed border, single specimens
for planting in beds or masses, and they flower from early in
August until late in autumn. Great improvement has been
made in these plants during recent years, German and French
growers having produced some magnificent varieties which,
for brilliancy of coloring, size of individual flowers and of the
panicles, are marvels of garden skill. The following list
embraces some of the most worthy, and includes a number
of very distinct colors, from pure white to rich crimson:
Ascanio, dark rosy salmon, white centre, large flower; B.
Comte, dark amaranth-purple, the richest, largest and best
dark variety ; Captain Wilheheny, fiery red, shaded maroon,

448

extra fine; Consul H. Prost, dark carmine, with violet centre ;
Duguestin, a distinct shade of violet, with light border; E.
Schmidt, pure white, large carmine centre, of the finest size
and very desirable ; Esclamonde, rosy lilac, shaded white, with
purple centre; E. Levavasseur, creamy white, large panicles ;
Garteninspector Elpel, dark rose, with blood-red eye, a superb
variety ; Jourdan, rosy violet, large white halo, a choice flower ;
H. O. Wijers, white, with blood-red eye; Kossuth, rosy-tinted
salmon, large panicles; M. Kind, large flower, salmon-red,
shaded vermilion ; Madame E. Love, fine white, dwarf, one of
the best; Orientale, lilac-rose, with white eye, quite distinct ;
Obergartener Wittig, dark rose, marbled white, with carmine
eye; Pantheon, large, tender, rose, very choice; Peter Hen-
derson, light purple-violet, large flower, distinct; Pierre Loti,
dark rosy carmine, large panicles ; Simplon, carmine-salmon,
centre purple; William Robinson, rosy salmon, large violet
centre, one of the best. William Tricker,

Riverton, N. J.
A Dwarf Stock for the Peach.

HE chief hope for Peach growing in climates where the
flower-buds are habitually killed in winter, lies in securing
a stock that will dwarf the tree sufficiently to render winter
protection practicable. For some years past I have been en-
deavoring to find such a stock. My first hope lay in the dwarf
Flowering Almond, Prunus Japonica (?), but with this I failed
to secure a union with buds of the Peach. I would not say
that the Peach cannot be successfully budded on this stock,
but repeated efforts here in Wisconsin resulted in failure. I
inserted a total of several hundred buds in four different trees
without securing a union ina single instance. Budding in our
dry and warm summer weather is much more difficult than in
the eastern states, and it is possible that the Peach may be
budded on the Flowering Almond in a climate more favorable
for budding.

I next tried a form of the Sand Cherry, grown from pits pro-
cured in western Iowa. This shrub is quite dwarf, attaining a
height of only two or three feet. Professor Bailey pronounces
it Prunus Besseyi, the same species to which the so-called
Improved Dwarf Rocky Mountain Cherry belongs. With this
stock I have been more successful. I inserted a few buds in
it in 1893, and while I had less expectation of success than with
the Flowering Almond, I succeeded much better. The Peach
grew vigorously on this stock, and by the second year had
attained the height of about five feet. The past season,
although the best growing season we have had for some
years, the Peach-trees on this stock have scarcely increased in
height. They have branched rather -thickly, and at present
are well filled with flower-buds, from which I infer that they
will probably not grow larger than they now are. At this
height the trees are readily protected by digging away suffi-
cient earth from the roots, so that the trunk may be bent down
readily, when the whole is covered with earth. The trees
blossomed the past spring and set some fruit, though the fruit
failed to mature.

I am also trying Prunus subcordata and a dwarf form of P.
maritima, but with what success remains to be seen.

Lew. Gof.

Experiment Station, Madison, Wis.

Correspondence.

Lilium Washingtonianum.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—This is a Lily of the high mountains of California and
Oregon. In California it is found only in the Sierra Nevada
from San Bernardino County north to Mount Shasta, while in
Oregon and Washington it is confined to the Cascades, the
lofty northern continuation of the Sierra Nevada range. In
all cases its home is to be found in the higher, cooler regions,
the upper Pine forests, or in the thickets of Wild Cherry, Man-
zanita and Ceanothus, still higher up, regions where the snow-
fall is great and melts slowly, and a long period of root-growth
is insured. In such places its strong stalk is pushed up
quickly as the melting snow gives it the opportunity, and
rising to a height of five to seven feet in June, July or August,
according to climate, its grand white flowers are unfolded,
perfuming the air for miles around. I once saw 10,000 on a
single great mountain slope in brush, a count that I can better
vouch for as I transferred the bulbs to sacks at a later period.

Lilium Washingtonianum proper has three variations of
importance: The type is white-flowered, with purple dots, and
has a very large horizontal bulb. Bulbs of this often measure

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 454.

ten to eighteen inches around, and weigh from ten ounces to
two pounds.

About Mount Shasta there is a variety with flowers and
stall like the type, but with little bulbs, seldom over two
ounces in weight, and averaging less than an ounce for flow-
ering bulbs.

Plants of Lilium Washingtonianum in Oregon and Wash-
ington have, according to my observation, broader, more
ovate, leaves ; I find, too, that many of the scales on them are
jointed; those in the Sierra Nevada seldom are. Some scales
are two or three jointed, and the joints easily separable.

About Mount Hood, in Oregon, the variety Purpureum is
found. This is quite a different Lily from the Lilium rubes-
cens of the northern Californian Coast Range, with which it is
often confounded. In bulb and stalk it is like the type.’ The
flowers either open a light purple or a white, spotted and suf-
fused with purple, and quickly becoming a deep purple
throughout.

In addition to these varieties, an occasional yellow-flowered
sport is found in the California Sierras.

One ofthe most striking instances of the adaptation of plants
to changed surroundings came to my notice recently. I received
a consignment of Lilium Washingtoniaum bulbs from a col-
lector in the main Willamette Valley, in Oregon. This is the
largest valley of Oregon, a broad plain many miles wide. The
size of the bulbs and the large number of double or triple
bulbs attracted my attention. Some of the bulbs were im-
mense, and as many as fivelarge bulbs were together. A letter
of inquiry brought the following answer :

“T would say that all that grow here in the valley grow in
cultivated fields; they do not seem to thrive in pastures, or
even along the fence-rows. Every bulb that I have dug has
been dug ina field. Their native home is far up among the
mountains, in loose, untrodden soil. Fifteen years ago I knew
of their growing in only one field in the upper Willamette
Valley. They were much noted and admired. From that field
they have spread over the surrounding valley in spots. They
cannot be said to be very plentiful yet, but the situation seems
to suit them perfectly. They usually grow in clumps and some
are always injured by the plow.”

I may add to my correspondent’s interesting remarks that
the soil is gravelly, or somewhat sandy. Of course, the cause
of the double bulbs is the injuries from the plow, causing the
bulbs to “break up.” Evidently, the Lilies flower and seed in
grain-fields before the grain is cut, and if so there is no limit
to their spread, as under prevailing agricultural methods they
would soon be below the plow limit. In Californiaand Oregon
it is customary to sow grain one season and to merely seed
and harrow thesecond year, thus giving the Lily seedlings two
years in which to get below the shallow plowing in vogue.
The mature bulbs grow from six to twelve inches down and
are perfectly safe. The bulbs will be in very firm, packed
soil. The whole incident is suggestive to cultivators. Lilium
Washingtonianum has always been regardedas a difficult sub-
ject to grow, but if it will thrive under such conditions as my
correspondent has outlined the grower need not despair. I
may add that out of six hundred bulbs from gravelly soil 169
were from ten to sixteen inches in circumference and averag-
ing twelve ounces in weight, while 331 were from seven to ten
inches in circumference and averaged six ounces in weight.

Ukiah, Calif. Carl Purdy.

A Good Variety of the Jerusalem Artichoke.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—For several years I have grown an improved Artichoke
with the best results, and I consider it the best of all roots for
hogs. My plan is to feed all the artichokes the swine can eat
until just before killing, when a few bushels of corn are given
to harden the meat. This plan saves many bushels of corn.
One acre will keep from twenty to thirty hogs from September
until June in healthy and generally good condition. For cattle,
horses and sheep there is not a better root grown. One acre
will yield from three hundred to seven hundred bushels of
tubers, depending, of course, on the fertility of the soil,
although immense quantities are produced in any soil. Low
land which is too frosty for Corn is entirely suitable, as freezing
does not injure them. Drought seems to have but little effect
on the plants.

The Improved White Artichoke originated in Europe, where
it is largely grown for domestic use as well as for stock. It is
entirely distinct from the native or wild variety commonly culti-
vated. It grows about six feet high, and is covered in autumn
with its yellow flowers, which in this country never mature
seed, There is thus no danger of the roots covering the farm.

NOVEMBER 4, 1896.]

Many farmers are afraid to plant Artichokes because they
think they cannot be eradicated. My experience of five years
proves that they can be destroyed by plowing under when the
plants are one foot high, At this time the old tuber has
decayed in giving life to the new top, and no small tubers are
yet formed. A more simple way is to put the hogs in the
patch somewhat late in the spring, and they will find every
one. The tubers are much more round than the common
kind and have no deep eyes; the flesh is pure white, very
brittle and sweet. Many farmers in Newaygo County are
growing Artichokes extensively as a general farm crop. No
insect, blight or rust has yet attacked them, and the tops make
a fodder superior to Corn when properly handled. Last winter
they were tested at the creamery at Fremont with the best
results. For table use they are richer and preferable to the

type in every way. SH on Ness

Fremont, Mich.

October in Kentucky.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—The foliage effects in the Blue Grass region of Ken-
tucky and along the Kentucky and Ohio rivers this year are
marvelously beautiful. The indigenous Ash, Beech and Hard
Maple trees at historic Ashland, the home of Henry Clay,
stand in golden grandeur among the picturesque Pines that
were transplanted there in the times when no nurseries ex-
isted west of the Alleghanies and there were no means of
shipping nursery stock to the then western wilds. In those days
these seedling Pines were brought down from the highland
forests of Kentucky by hardy mountaineers and sold from
door to door in Lexington, as village people are now some-
times supplied with pot plants from a florist’s wagon. At
Ashland these trees are seen against a background of rolling
land, smooth and free from undergrowth and carpeted with
the famous Blue Grass sward of Kentucky. All this combines
to make a characteristic scene quite unlike any to be found
elsewhere, and most impressive by its simplicity and perfec-
tion. Some immense Catalpas are among the Ashland trees,
with several handsome old American Hollies. The bulk of
the indigenous growth is made up of Ash, Sugar Maple and
Beech, but in a retired corner of the farm a group of Sour
Gums flame like a bonfire.

The high bluffs of the Kentucky River, near Frankfort,
were fairly dazzling, as seen from the train or the well-kept
pikes that in places traverse mere shelves cut out of the
face of the rocky bluffs, with only a frail board fence
between the roadway and a sharp incline down to the
waters of the river. Besides the prevailing Ash and Maple
there were Dogwoods by the thousand, standing singly and
in groups, making splashes of crimson. Sweet Gums, Liquid-
ambar, their sharply cut leaves setting them apart from other
species even at quite a distance, were here as bright in tone as
the Dogwoods, and these took on that rich purplish crimson
tone peculiar to themselves. Indescribably vivid were the
hues of the Sour Gums, or Tupelo, while here and there
among the foliage that sweeps up the steep and lofty river
hills magnificent Scarlet Oaks stood like exclamation points
in the landscape. A foil to this varied splendor was fur-
nished by a background of the living green of the Red
Cedar, and behind all this the broken, but symmetrically lay-
ered, limestone through which the river here cuts its bewil-
dering way. Tostand at the grave of Daniel Boone, on the
top of an abrupt bluff, some 250 feet above the water, and note
the landscape up and down the stream is to realize that small
rivers have a picturesque beauty that no larger waterway can
rival. '

The autumn weather, scenery and roads of this part of Ken-
tucky offer a field for bicycle excursions that would seem
unrivaled, especially when the historic interest of the state is
considered and the cordial hospitality of her inhabitants is
perme ae nas Fanny Copley Seavey.

Autumn Color of the Liquidambar.

To th@Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—Among the deciduous trees whose leaves turn to bright
colors in autumn the Sweet Gum, Liquidambar styraciflua,
stands decidedly in the front rank in this locality. The rich
crimson coloring, combined with their beautiful form and
glossy appearance, together with the length of time they re-
main on the trees, makes this one of the best for planting
where autumn effects are desired. Among shrubs, the red
and orange shades of Berberis'Thunbergi and Spiraea pruni-

Garden and _-Forest.

449

folia are most conspicuous, while the Privets are the last of all
to shed their leaves, and they remain green and fresh-looking
long after other shrubs have become bare. In the hardy-plant
border the most attractive-colored leaves were to be found
among the low-growing Polygonums. P. repens is the best we
have; the bright red leaves make it a most conspicuous
object in the fall, P,. Chinensis and its varieties, Thunbergi-
anum and scabrum, are well worth growing for the sake of

their autumn colors. ER ;
Botanic Garden, Northampton, Mass. Edward wie Canning.

Recent Publications.

ON page 200 of the current volume it wasstated that Professor
John B, Smith, of the New Jersey Experiment Station, was
about to make a journey to California to study the character
of thelady-bird beetles, which feed upon scale insects, in order
to see whether it was probable that the importation of any of
these species into New Jersey would help in ridding the fruit-
trees of that state of the San José scale. Professor Smith has
returned and made his report in a bulletin which has been
recently published. He explains that south of San Francisco
the scale has been kept in check by natural causes, while north
of that latitude the fruit growers themselves have had little
assistance from natural enemies of the insect, but they have
controlled its ravages by persistent efforts of their own. In

‘ southern California the twice-stabbed lady-bird anda chalcid

parasite, together with climatic conditions, have kept the scale
down. Both of these insects occur in New Jersey, but the
lady-bird, so effective in California, survives the winters here
in small numbers and does notappear on the trees until shortly
before the scales begin to reproduce, so that the trees are cov-
ered with their larve before the beetle larve do any effective
work, and from that point on, the scale outruns the lady-birds,
breeding at least a month after the predaceous insects go into
hibernation. The chalcid parasite forms a small factor in the
history of the insect on the eastern coast. In California the scale
does not begin to multiply until May, and the lady-bird breeds
continuously and feeds upon the scale for from six to eight
weeks, at least, while itis dormant. In January and February
the scales are already preyed upon by the chalcid, and one fuil
brood of the parasite matures upon the dormant scale and
produces an enormous second brood when the scales begin to
breed, eating up the majority of the young, and clearing out
all but a small percentage before they reproduce in turn.
Besides this, the intense heat, sometimes reaching 110 degrees
in the shade, often kills the larve and the recently set San José
scales. Of course, these climatic conditions cannot be dupli-
cated in New Jersey. There is no evidence whatever that the
Australian lady-birds introduced into California have had any
influence in controlling the San José scale in that state.

The conclusion is that fruit growers of New Jersey must
follow the example of those in northern California, and fight or
lose their orchards. The California way is to treat the trees in
the winter with a lime, sulphur and salt wash. Professor Smith
gives a formula for several of these washes, but, unfortunately,
they cannot be recommended as satisfactory in the east. A
wash made of two pounds of good whale-oil soap to one gallon
of water, thoroughly applied, has been successful in many cases
in New Jersey. Since whale-oil soap varies in character, a wash
consisting of concentrated lye, three and one-third pounds;
water, seven and a half gallons, and fish-oil, one gallon, which
makes a caustic soap, may prove useful. The lye should be
dissolved in boiling water and the fish-oil added to the boiling
solution. The whole is boiled for two hours, and then allowed
to cool. This soap should be used at the rate of two pounds
to a gallon of water, with a little lime sometimes added to
make the treated part of the trees prominent, so as to insure
thorough work. This soap should be dissolved in hot water,
and is more effective if applied quite warm; the application
should be made while the trees are dormant. There is much
interesting matter in this Bulletin No. 176, issued by the New
Jersey Experiment Station, to which we have not alluded, and
it is worth careful study by all fruit growers in the east who
wish to make anything like an effective stand against the
dangerous San José scale.

Notes.

After the first form of this paper had gone to press we re-
ceived the following note from Mr. Davenport relating to the
hybrid Fern described and figured on pages 444 and 445: ‘I
have just found two more plants of the type form of Aspidium

450

cristatum x marginale in Medford, Massachusetts, growing in
a swamp near the one where my first Medford plants were
found, and not far away, surrounded by plants of A. spinulo-
sum, A. Bootii, A. cristatum, A. marginale and A.Clintonianum,
more plants of a peculiar form collected by me in 1894. Under
date of October 28th Miss Closson writes to me that she
has also found several more plants of the hybrid in her
vicinity.”

The prices for American apples in Europe have advanced
somewhat during the past few weeks, the improvement being
due to the better quality of fruits shipped. The quantity
exported is still phenomenally large. During the week ending
October 24th, 148,779 barrels went to Europe from ports in the
United States and Canada, and up to this time 1,081,647
barrels had crossed the Atlantic from this country, in striking
contrast with the exports for the same period last year,
when but 159,875 barrels had been shipped. At the sale in Liv-
erpool on October 28th the demand was said to be very active
at unchanged prices, which means about $1.93 to $2.17 for
Baldwins, $1.69 to $1.93 for Greenings, and $2.17 to $2.65 for
Kings. At the same sale the first shipment of importance of
Newtown Pippins realized $2.92 to $4.82 a barrel.

No more delicate and beautiful offering of cut flowers is
made now in the high-class florists’ shops than occasional
vases of pink Bouvardia, fifty cents being asked for a half-
dozen clusters. Among the more refined flowers, too, are
yellow daisies, theirclear, velvety, lemon ray florets in beautiful
contrast with the golden disk. In one of these establishments
russet oak-leaves are used for embellishment, and in another
mounted butterflies seem to hover among the rich masses of
bloom, giving a novel, although not altogether an artistic
effect. Perhaps no improvement in the flower business is
more marked than the superior quality of howers offered by
street venders, and the arrangement of these displays is some-
times remarkably ingenious in the limited space at command,
and very tasteful and effective. Florists complain of dull busi-
ness, although the great demand for yellow chrysanthemums
for the sound-money parade caused a sudden and rather un-
expected rise for this flower on Saturday. The comparatively
new Rose, President Carnot, was sent to this market for the
first time during the present week. Itis a delicate pink, with
petals shading deeper toward the centre.

A correspondent of Zhe Rural New Yorker writes that one
lesson of the abundant apple crop this year is that the orchards
were planted too thickly in western New York thirty years
ago. As the branches now interfere it is difficult to move
ladders among the trees and difficult to spray, but the great
loss comes from the want of colorin the apples that grow in
the more densely shaded parts of the trees. Even on Baldwins
and other red-fruited trees which stand alone, dull-colored or
green apples are found on the under side of the branches,
and colorless fruit lacks flavor as well as beauty. It is hardly
probable that there will be a heavy apple crop after the enor-
mous harvest this year, and many of the trees are broken from
overloading. If every other tree were cut out of these orchard
forests, the remaining ones would have achance to recruit
and make the most of their opportunities in 1898 and after-
ward, The question of thinning the apples on a tree in such
a time when the yield is so heavy is alsoa serious one. No
doubt, fewer branches would be broken if the fruit had been
thinned out in time, but how Is it practicable to do this in a
large orchard? When apples are so cheap careful thinning
would not pay, and the quickest and most inexpensive way of
shaking the fruit off or knocking it from the tree with long
poles without regard to the individual apples and letting them
fall at will seems a rough way of doing this work. It is true,
also, that there is a limit to the desirable size of an apple. In
a year like this, if the number of fruits on the tree were
reduced the remainder would be of extraordinary size, and in
some varieties, the Baldwins, for example, very large fruits
will not keep well. Even on the overloaded trees of this year
the Baldwins are as large as they ought to be.

Japanese persimmons were never seen here in such perfect
condition as to quality, variety of form and richness of color,
and the growing appreciation of this beautiful and luscious
fruit is unmistakable in the large sales of it by wholesale mer-
chants. The receipts of Jamaica oranges have fallen off con-
siderably during the past two weeks, when business has been
very dull, owing to the nearness of election. These oranges,
packed in Florida boxes, sell for $2.25 to $3.00 a box at whole-
sale, and repacked barrels cost $4.25 to $5.00for the best sound
fruit. These prices are low, being twenty-five per cent. smaller
than those of last year, and do not cover cost of transportation,

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 454.

One reason given for the unfavorable change is the large crop
of apples.° Attractive-looking grape-fruits, from Jamaica, of
medium size, sell for ten to twenty cents each at retail. The
larger shaddocks are also seen in some collections, and these
bring twenty-five cents each. Although the season proper for
Cuban and Florida pineapples extends from the first of April
to the close of August, this fruit is imported the year through.
The kinds now seen are known in the trade as Egyptian Queen,
long and cylindrical, a golden colorand with smalleyes. These
now bring slightly lower prices than the sort known as Red
Spanish, though they usually command more money. Red
Spanish pineapples are somewhat globular in shape, with very
luxuriant tops, large eyes, the prevailing color a golden-red,
although a box of the fruits shows a rich variety of color, some
being a deep bronze of different shades, and others shades of
green. Spanish Queens sell now at ten to fifteen cents each in
wholesale lots, and Red Spanish at twelve to twenty cents.
Much more showy than either of these is the Smooth Cayenne.
Those seen here now are quite green. This variety is of very
large size, with immense tufts of leaves, in form similar to
Egyptian Queen, and sells at forty cents and upward by the
hundred. A few of the kind known as Mammoth Porto Rico,
grown from plants transferred from the island of that name to
the Keys and the Indian River section in Florida, are also very
large and handsome, and command high prices. Seckel pears,
trom Boston, sell for twenty cents a quart, and the last peaches,
from Maryland, at sixty-five cents tor a basket holding thirty
fruits. Lady-apples cost thirty cents a quart. Large, well-
grown quinces sell for seventy-five cents for a half-bushel
basket in the retail markets. Alligator pears, probably the
last invoice for this season, bring ten to twenty-five cents each,
and cocoanuts sell for ten to fifteen cents apiece.

Baron Ferdinand von Mueller, the leading botanist of the
southern hemisphere, died in Australia on the 9th of October.
He was born in Germany in 1825, and in his early manhood he
emigrated to Australia on account of a tendency to pulmonary
disease, and began life as a chemist. He was soon attracted,
however, to study the native plants of his new home, and
began those botanical explorations and labors which he kept
up with unremitting perseverance throughout his life. In 1852
he made his first contribution to Zzzz@a, and since then he
has been such a constant writer in scientific periodicals that
the titles of his papers and books would cover many pages of
this journal. There is hardly a botanist or horticulturist of
any consequence in the whole world who has not been in cor-
respondence with him, and few botanic gardens or herbaria
which have not been enriched by specimens furnished by his
zeal and generosity. He was a geographical explorer of rank,
and he was associated with every movement for the promo-
tion of science, literature and art in his adopted country, and
was indefatigable in originating new industries. Of course, a
man so active in so many directions made mistakes at times,
but, on the whole, he was a most conscientious, earnest and
eminently useful man. In botany, his monographs on the
genera Eucalyptus and Acacia and of certain natural orders of
plants are not only models of scientific acuteness, but have
that practical quality which characterizes the great body of his
work. California is especially indebted to him for Australian
plants, large numbers of which flourish there as well as they
do at home.

Philip Codman died suddenly on the 28th of October, of
pneumonia, in Philadelphia, where he had gone a few days
before on business connected with his profession. He was only
twenty-nine years old, but such were his inherited tastes and
capabilities, and so thoroughly was he schooled in the princi-
ples of landscape-art, that he was already on the highway to
usefulness and distinction. After graduating from Harvard
College he passed several years in the office of Mr. Frederic
Law Olmsted, and after traveling extensively in the United
States and Europe in company with Mr. Olmsted, and in Japan
with his uncle, Professor C. S. Sargent, for the purpose of per-
fecting himself in his profession, he established an office in
Boston a year ago and had already designed several important
works. Like his brother, Henry Sargent Codman, who died
at the same age while in charge of the landscape department
of the Columbian Exposition, he had a vigorous constitution,
and when he called at this office a few days ago he was the
impersonation of health, and this makes his early death seem
even more untimely. He had a pleasing address, an unselfish
disposition and true manliness of character which won friends
everywhere. His loss is a serious one to the profession in
which there are so few men with sound artistic views, broad
scholarship and thorough training.

NOVEMBER II, 1896.]

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrice: TrisuyE Buitpinc, New York.
.

Conducted "by. Jaws os) = aune «Te ve Professor C. S. SARGENT.

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 1896.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE

Eniroriat Articies :—Forestry and the New York Constitution..... aesteeeinasee 452
The. Detacement of Niagara .....cce.snenes scecacescctscssccssasacnen 451

AMICI DICU Snisthe PINES <ceieciaminas’s sicieisiadele rss cee 4 scci6i Mrs. Mary Treat. 452

Coniters on the Gronnds of the Kansas Agricultural College.—I.

F.C. Sears. 453
Piant Notes :—Have we Two Native Species of Trumpet-flower ?

Robert Ridgway. 453
(With figure.)...#. C. Sears. 454
vsesaseaaeWe A: FERC R ASA
.£. O. Orpet. 456
-.G. W. Oliver. 457
T. D. Hatfield. 457
- William Scott. 457
.T. D. Hatfield. 458

New or Litt.E-KNoWN PLants :—Vitis Doaniana.
CutruraL DepaRTMENT :—Notes on Gooseberries...
The Cultivation of Mushrvoms.
Hardy Ornamental Grasses...
Notes on Chrysanthemums.........-.s+--ee-e ee
Begonia manicata, Anthericum vittatum...........
Cannas, Wintering Bananas........-....
Corresponnence :—Notes from West Virginia. aie wxske Dandridge. 458
‘The Preservation of Fruits by Vapor of Alcuhol.. 128 essor F. A. Waugh. 458
The Rose, Bridesmaid....... DO OCERE “OG SEO HOE eR Eee John N. May. 459
RecENT PUBLICATIONS ..-
No1Es.
Iti ustraTion :—Vitis Doaniana, Fig. 59.

Forestry and the New York Constitution.

T is a matter for congratulation that in the midst of the
unparalleled excitement of the late Presidential cam-
paign the people of this state did not forget to kill the pro-
posed amendment to its constitution which authorized the
leasing of five-acre tracts in the State Forest Preserve, the
selling of certain state forest-lands, and the exchange of
lands without the Adirondack Park for lands within the
Park. It is true that the amendment was so carelessly or
ignorantly drawn that no distinction was made between
the Adirondack Park and the Forest Preserve, which are
quite distinct, but the intention was plain. No doubt, it
meant to authorize the Legislature to exchange portions of
the State Forest Preserve outside of the Park for private
lands within the Park boundary, and although such ex-
change, if conducted with perfect honesty and intelligence,
might in certain cases be advantageous, there has been so
much crookedness and jobbery in dealing with the wild
lands of the state that it is dangerous to remove any of the
constitutional safeguards which have been erected to pre-
vent further spoliation of our forest property.

We did not approve of the action of the Constitutional
Convention of 1894 which made it impossible to cut or sell
any timber on the state lands. We have never ceased to
plead for the preservation of the North Woods, but we have
urged that they should be made to yield revenue and grow
more productive every year. This constitutional provision,
it is true, put a stop to the selling of standing Spruce above
a certain size, which was practiced under the form of law
and which might easily have ruined large areas of forest;
but it seemed to us, and still seems, a short-sighted policy
to provide for a thriftless protection of the forest by sacri-
ficing its usefulness. Absolute prohibition of the removal
of wood, including even wood that is dead and down, from
the state preserve simply means waste; but the convention,
impressed with the shameful abuses which have been prac-
ticed under the name of forest management, felt justified
in withholding from the people of the state the right to use
what is their own, because they feared that through igno-

Garden and Forest.

451

rance or greed they would not use it to the best purpose.
So apprehensive were they of the dangers of mismanage-
ment that they voted unanimously to prohibit any manage-
ment whatever, and under the constitution as it stands
trees must grow to maturity and die, and fall and rot,
instead of being encouraged to develop into marketable
timber and bring an income to the state. This means
either that the convention did not know that there is such
a thing as a rational forest management or that they were
convinced that the people were so ignorant or vicious that
thev could not be expected to me any such system.

We believe that fundamentally the interest of the people
in the forest and the interest of the lumbermen are one, and
that no advantage will accrue to either by leaving the
products of the forest go to waste. It is our opinion
that the cause of forestry was not helped by the dissemina-
tion of such ideas by the constitution makers, and that the
revised constitution was based on a serious misconception
of the true relation of the forest to civilized society. It may
be that our legislators are not yet to be trusted in so deli-
cate a matter. But when we read Sir Dietrich Brandis’
account of what has been accomplished in Burma in ad-
ministering forest-lands in which half-wild and wandering
tribes hold prescriptive rights, it is not creditable to our
enlightenment that such an admission must be made.
Nevertheless, the amendment which was killed on Tues-
day was not a step toward rational forest practice. It did
not provide for any intelligent or scientific administration
of the state timber-lands ; it only opened the door for greater
spoliation. It certainly will not hasten the era of produc-
tive forestry to open state forest-lands to invasion by rail-
roads or to lease them out in five-acre patches to campers.
What should be provided for is the beginning of systematic
forest policy. This wouid be an object-lesson of inéstima-
ble value. It would correct false views and encourage the
establishment of skilled forest economy not only in the
public, but in the private, timber-lands of the state. This
is prevented by the constitution as it is, but matters would
be much worse if there were coupled with this prohibition
the chance of trading and leasing, and the general de-
moralization and destruction which might follow.

After all, there is something gained when the people
have made up their minds to protect the woods even if
they do it unwisely. Let us hope the time will soon come
when popular sentiment will be so enlightened that it will
be safe to trust the officers of the state to organize and
develop a system of rational forest practice, when there
will be no fear that our people are too ignorant to do
this in a scientific way, and no fear that their moral
sense is so dull that they cannot administer a trust like this
without official corruption.

A CORRESPONDENT who has recently visited Niagara Falls
writes in a disheartened way about the work on both
sides of the river. Great care has been taken on the Cana-
dian side to give the reservation a dressy look with smooth
lawns and parterres, and beds of plants with bright foliage
such as we sometimes see around pretentious v illas. The
woods have been cut away or thinned out, so as to give
an open and park-like effect, and everything that is rugged
has been toned down and civilized. The power-house
connected with the electric plant has a sluiceway which
discharges through a square hole in the wall of rock, anda
little stream of waste water squirts out into the abyss in
ludicrous competition with the Horseshoe Falls, justabove
it. On the American side the reservation proper is fairly
well cared for, and an attempt is made to save the fringe of
native trees and shrubs on the banks of the rapids and
Goat Island. But from the last of the Three Sisters, the
view up the steep slope, down which the tumbling waters
rush, has been hopelessly vulgarized. Instead of the sky-
line of forest and rapids there are rods of brick walls and
smoke- belching chimneys ; and yet the companies want
more. Of course, the river still thunders over the preci-

pice, but this is only a part of the spectacle, and its general
effect is weakened by the destruction of the original setting
of the picture. Perhaps it was not practicable to set these
buildings back from the river and mask them somehow
with a belt of forest. But it may be taken for granted that
the eminent engineers who planned all this never felt that
any reverence was due to this sublime spectacle, and the
capitalists who employed them naturally cared for profit,
without a thought that such a spot as Niagara ought to be
the possession of the world. After all, we should, perhaps,
be thankful that there is so much of grandeur left to us,
and we should congratulate the people of New York and
Canada that they had a sufficiently high appreciation of
the great cataract to make some effort to preserve it. Nev-
ertheless, it isnot creditable to our civilization that we have
permitted any defacement whatever of this world’s wonder.

Autumn Birds in the Pines.

N September and during pleasant days in October we
] see more birds here than at any other time in the year.
The migrants come flocking in from the north and stay
with us for several days, and during this time many are
flitting about that do not remain with us either in the sum-
mer or in the winter. Among the most lively species are
the various warblers. Sometimes in early morning large
flocks of the yellow-rumped warbler appear as if they had
suddenly dropped in the night. Mingling with these is
the charming little black-throated blue warbler, flitting here
and there, catching insects on the wing, frolicking with its
companions and performing gymnastic feats almost equal
to those of the chickadee. Its throat and the sides of the
body are jet-black; the back is blue—not a brilliant but a
faded blue; the under side is white. Its sprightliness and
pretty markings make it conspicuous among its numerous
relatives. The red-poll warbler is also here and stays later
than most of the others. It has a dull red crown, with a
dusky olive back, while it is a bright yellow below. The
handsome Pine warbler is very abundant, pale yellow above,
with deep yellow breast and white wing-bars. It is one
of our largest warblers, and I think it must breed with us,
but [have not been able to find its nest, although I have
noticed it in the Pine-woods in summer, and in the autumn
it often comes about the house in numbers. The interest-
ing little Maryland yellow-throat nests with us, and this
season a pair brought their young near the door. It is a
fine songster throughout the season, and in the autumn
many others join them here from more northern sections,
when they halt and play for several days before their depar-
ture to a warmer climate.

This autumn great flocks of seed-eating finches and spar-
rows came with the warblers. Even the winter bird, Junco,
came two weeks earlier than I ever before observed it, in
immense numbers, but most of these early arrivals disap-
peared with the warblers. Many winter here as well
as in the more southern states, all the way to Florida.
The handsome tree-sparrow is abundant now, flocking in
from the northern mountains where it spends its summers.
Many of these, too, will go farther south, but a goodly
number will remain all winter with the song-sparrows, and
the beautiful white-throated sparrow, which is a good song-
ster in pleasant weather, even in winter, but it does not equal
the song-sparrow in the volume and variety of its notes.
The swamp-sparrow seems to be everywhere in the damp
Pines, but it seldom comes about the house. It is darker-
colored than most of the other sparrows and is more shy
and retiring.

This autumn for the first time I noticed the white-crowned
sparrow. The top of its head is pure white, bordered with
black. Itis an attractive bird, but not as handsome as the
white-throat, which comes about our doors in winter, and
almost to our feet for food. The fox-sparrow is another
handsome species, most numerous in autumn, but a few
remain all winter. In color it somewhat resembles the
long-tailed thrush, but with deeper and richer hues of dark

A452 Garden and Forest.

-bay or rufous.

[NUMBER 455.

It is an active bird, and even larger than
the white-throat. Like the brown thrush and chewink, it
seems to delight in making the dry leaves fly ; several are
now near my window scratching among the leaves which
have settled arounda clump of Lilacs. It has an amusing
way of striking with both feet without raising its wings, and
then looking about to see what choice morsel has been
uncovered. Evidently it likes a meat diet as well as seeds.
How little the most of us realize how vast an amount of
noxious insects and how many seeds of noxious weeds these
birds consume. In winter large flocks may be seen for-
aging in our fields, gardens and waysides, picking up un-
told quantities of the eggs and chrysalids of insects as well
as seeds.

The winter birds return to the same neighborhood and
haunts, year after year, with the same regularity as the
summer birds. When the ground is covered with snow I
have mingled cracked hickory-nuts with the grain I fed
them. When I first offered this unaccustomed food it was
left, but now and then, after the grain was gone, a bird
would pick at the nuts, and, finding them good, soon
learned to take them in preference to anything else. Then
another and another learned the trick. The slate-colored
winter sparrow, Junco, the white-throat and Fox and song
sparrow all took the nuts sooner than the grain. They
would snatch a piece of shell and fly a little distance, pick
out the meat and return for more ; and very expertly some
of them managed to get the meat. When one chanced to
secure a piece that was difficult to master he would put one
foot on the shell and hold it while he probed and brought
out the refractory morsel, but not all were equal adepts in
this; some even of the same species were not as quick-
witted as their companions, and I have often observed the
same thing in birds when eating the seed from grass-heads.
Some will take a stalk, bend it down and hold it firmly
while they pick out the seed; others will have a hard time
to capture seed from the swaying stalk.

The following winter, after the birds have learned to eat
the nuts, they do not need to be retaught, but remember
their lesson, and at once take the shells. The young that
come with the old ones at first stand aloof and eat the
grain, but it is not long before they, too, are preferring the
nuts. The young are not as decided in color as the old
birds, and other characteristics go to show the old from the
young.

Our little field sparrow is more abundant in autumn ; at
least, we see more of them than in summer, and in winter
it is as familiar as the little chippy is in summer. It is
about the same size as the chippy, but has more of a red-
dish cast. It belongs in the genus Spizella along with
chippy ; in fact, all the members of this genus are small,
except the tree sparrow, S. monticola, which is nearly as
large as the song sparrow. All of our sparrows are neat
and dainty in habit, wholly unlike the scavenger of our
streets, the English sparrow, which in many places, espe-
cially on our churches, make sad havoc with the Ivy. Per-
haps it has a hereditary recognition of the lvy as one of its
home plants.

The little goldfinch has put on its winter dress and
is doing what it can toward exterminating many pesti-
lent weeds in all neglected places. Just now a party of
them are investigating the Cosmos seed in the border.
Either it is not in the right stage to suit them, or, for
some reason, they have concluded it is not wholesome,
and have gone to the heads of Zinnia, which suit them
much better. Some of them are swaying among the plumes
of the tall Pampas grass—graceful, merry bodies, remain-
ing with us the entire year. Their neat lichen-covered
nests are now conspicuous among the branches of partly
denuded trees. A near relative of theirs, the Pine linnet,
is returning from the north, where it goes to rear its family.
These, too, are jolly birds, and will stay with us all winter,
making the dry seed fly from the Pine cones, and then
whirling and performing gymnastics in the air so as to
catch it before it falls to the ground.

NOVEMBER 11, 1896.]

Among the larger birds now abundant are the robin and -

the bluebird, both of which remain all winter. The cries
of the blue jay and crow are familiar sounds, and the
clatter of the handsome goldenwing is heard all around,
with the tapping of many other woodpeckers. During
these mild October days, especially in the evening, we
hear the harsh cry of the tattlers in the damp pines, and
the soft whistle of the plovers returning from the far north.
Many of them halt along our coast until severe weather
sends them farther south. The killdeer plover, unlike the
others, remains with us all summer, and we still hear its
cry, together with other unfamiliar notes and sounds that
set us to wondering what their source may be, and re-

mind us how much we have yet to learn.
Vineland, N. J. y Mary Treat.

Conifers on the Grounds of the Kansas Agricultural
College.—I.

SCOTCH AND AUSTRIAN PINES,

HE plantings of conifers on the grounds of the Kansas

Agricultural College have been made from 1872 up
to the present date, and have embraced most of the more
important genera and species, but of all those planted the
ones set in the greatest numbers and the ones which, on
the whole, have proved most satisfactory are the Scotch
and Austrian Pines. Of these two sorts it is difficult to say
which is the superior for this climate, but either should
prove quite satisfactory. The oldest specimens of these on
the College premises are in two belts on what is known as
the Old College Farm. They were set in 1872 and 1873,
and were then twe and three years of age. One belt con-
sists of mixed Scotch and Austrian Pines, the other entirely
of Austrian. The land is the averaye high upland prairie,
with a gentle slope to the north and east, and the soil is a
clay-loam about twelve inches in depth, with a rather stiff
clay subsoil. In the mixed belt the Scotch Pines do not
seem to have withstood the hardships to which they have
been subjected nearly as well as the Austrian, for while
there are three or four of the smaller Austrian Pines which
are dead, there are a dozen or more of the Scotch, some of
them large trees, which evidently do not owe their death
to crowding,.as seems quite likely to be the case with the
Austrians. In this belt sixty-five Austrian Pines average
27% feet in height, 8 inches in diameter at the ground,
6% inches at 2 feet, and 5% inches at 6 feet. The ten trees
having the largest diameters give the following averages :
Height, 33 feet; diameter at the ground, 1034 inches ; at 2
feet, 8.9 inches, and at 6 feet, 7.85 inches. From measure-
ments taken 1n this same belt by Professor Mason in 1888
I obtain the following figures for the ten largest: Diameter
at the ground, 9 inches, and at 6 feet, 614 inches. Only
nine Scotch Pines are now living, and these average as fol-
lows: Height, 32% feet; diameter at the ground, g inches ;
at 2 feet, 714 inches, and at 6 feet, 6% inches. The largest
ten in 1888 averaged 7 inches in diameter at the ground,
and 5 inches at 6 feet.

The belt of Austrian Pines contains 128 trees, which give
the following average measurements: Height, 27 feet;
diameter at the ground, 10 inches; at 2 feet, 8 inches, and
at 6 feet, 6% inches. The ten trees having the largest
diameter average as follows: Height, 29.8 feet; diameter
at the ground, 131% inches; at 2 feet, 1114 inches, and at
6 feet, 9% inches. In 1888 they averaged 10 inches at the
ground, and 7 inches at 6 feet. The tallest single specimen
in this belt is 3614 feet in height, with a diameter of 1334
inches at the ground, 11% inches at 2 feet, and 934 inches
at 6 feet.

It is an interesting point that in twenty-four years forest
conditions have been so far established in these belts that
young seedlings of many forest trees are found there,
Quercus acuminata being especially abundant, though
the nearest acorn-bearing trees are over half a mile away.
And what is still more interesting, Pine seedlings are quite

Garden and Forest.

453

abundant under many of the trees in both belts. Whether
this has ever occurred before, and the little seedlings have
succumbed later on, is not known, but the fact that Pro-
fessor Mason has repeatedly tried to find seeds with sound
embryos, and never succeeded, and that this year quite a
number have been germinated in flats in the propagaling-
house might indicate that for some reason the seed ma-
tured by the Pine-trees last year has more vitality than in
former years.

On the lower college farm is another plantation of Scotch
and Austrian Pines, set in the spring of 1891 at two years of
age. They are on the flat at the foot of a hill, and the soil
is a fine deep clay loam. They have been given clean cul-
tivation since setting, and though several seasons have
been very dry, they have probably had, on the whole,
exceptionally favorable conditions. There are 319 Scotch
Pines, and they give the following average measurements :
Height, 7% feet; diameter at 1 foot, 214 inches. The highest
tree is 11 feet and the largest diameter, 336 inches. The
Austrian Pines join the Scotch on the west, and the soil and
other conditions are practically identical. There are 334
trees, which average as follows: Height, 5.37 feet ; diameter
at 1 foot, 1.89 inches. The highest tree is 734 feet, as
against eleven feet in the case of the Scotch Pines, and the
largest diameter, 314 inches, asagainst 336 inches. This,
it will be seen, gives the Scotch Pine in this plantation a
much better showing than the Austrian. It will also be
seen that this gives an average increase in height of a trifle
over one foot a year for the Scotch Pines, and about three-
fourths of a foot for the Austrian. It is interesting to note
in comparison with these figures that twenty-five Scotch
Pines, selected at random from among the 319, averaged at
the beginning of the season of 1896, 7.3 feet in height, an
average increase of 1.04 feet for each year of the tree's age.
On August 14th they showed an average increase in height
of 26 inches for the season, the greatest growth being
37 inches. Twenty-five Austrian Pines selected in the
same way averaged at the beginning of the season 5.42
feet in height, a yearly increase of .774 foot. On August
14th they gave an average increase in height for the season
of 21 inches, and the greatest growth was 29 inches, as
against 37 inches for the best Scotch Pine

As shelter, either for orchards or for stock, these two
species seem admirably adapted to this country, while as
timber trees they would seem to be the equals, if not the
superiors, of most deciduous trees. F.C Sears.

Agricultural College, Manhattan, Kansas.

[The Scotch and Austrian Pines grow rapidly in the
northern and middle western states, and are extremely
promising for twenty or thirty years. Asa rule, however,
they suffer from various diseases, and are short-lived here,
so that it is wise to use them cautiously. No other ever-
green trees, it is true, have produced wind-breaks more
rapidly on the western prairies, while no other trees which
have been planted on a large scale in the United States
have, in the long run, proved so disappointing. Our native
White Pine is more difficult to raise from seed, and, there-
fore, more expensive, and for the first ten or twelve years
it grows less rapidly than these European species, but it
lasts much longer on the prairies, where we have seen
these trees tried together, and it is no doubt much more
satisfactory in all the northern states for general planting.
—Ep. }

Plant Notes.
Have we Two Native Species of Trumpet-flower ?

HE blooming, simultaneously, of two native Trumpet
Vines on my place has explained to me what has
hitherto been a puzzle to me, namely, the statement in sev-
eral horticultural journals, Garpen and Forrest among the
number,* that the flowers of the Chinese species, Tecoma

+ See vol. iii., p. 392, Fig. 50.

4s

grandiflora, are more showy than those of our native spe-
cies—a statement which surprised me, since the foreign
species certainly is less brilliant in color than the native
flower with which I am most familiar, and to which I wish
to call attention. The fact is, we have two very distinct
native varieties, if not species. The smaller and duller-
colored form is, perhaps, the more common one in cultiva-
tion, or possibly the only one cultivated at the north; and
if comparison is made between this and the Chinese spe-
cies it will undoubtedly be to the advantage of the latter.
Both the native varieties have flowered on my place this year,
and the differences between the two areso numerous and
conspicuous that I cannot help thinking that one of them
must be unknown to horticulturists.

My specimen of the variety with smaller and duller-
colored flowers was obtained from Thomas Meehan & Sons,
Germantown, Pennsylvania; those (I have several) of the
large-flowered variety I dug up myself in the bottoms of
the Northwest Branch, Prince George County, Maryland,
just outside the north-east boundary of the District of Co-
lumbia. The latter bloomed some two weeks earlier than
the former, but is still in flower, the other being also now
in bloom; and as I have had the opportunity of compar-
ing them carefully, I am convinced they are at least varie-
tally distinct, the principal points of difference being as
follows :

SMALL-FLOWERED VARIETY (TRUE T. RADICANS ?): Flowers,
2-2% inches long, 1%-1% inches broad; /udbular portion
straight, not longer than stamens, Color: Front, dull flame-
scarlet ;* tube cadmium-orange on top, slightly paler orange
on under side ; back of reflexed portion, salmon-color, not dis-
tinctly different from color of tube; calyx, tawny olive above,
gallstone yellow, tinged with olive beneath. Foliage: Leaflets,
7-13; dark green, distinctly glossy above, grayish green (be-
tween pea-green and malachite) beneath, with fewer, coarser
teeth.

LARGE-FLOWERED VARIETY : Flowers, 3-314 inches long, 2%
inches broad ; tubular portion strongly curved, much longer
than stamens. Color: Front, deep and pure red (between
poppy-red and carmine) ; tube, poppy-red on top, orange-ver-
milion on under side ; back of reflexed lips, deep salmon color,
distinctly paler and duller than color of tube, even of under
side ; calyx, rich reddish brown (approaching claret-brown),
Foliage: Leaflets, 7-13, yellowish green (dull parrot green}
and not at all glossy above, pale yellowish green (bice green)
beneath; teeth smaller and much more numerous.

Both forms are found in the District of Columbia, but
which is the more common one I am not at present pre-
pared to state. The two localities where, in my experi-
ence, the Trumpet-flower is most abundant, are in lower
Maryland, near Point Lookout, and in the bottoms of the
Embarras River, in Jasper County, Illinois. At the former
place it was rampant everywhere along the roadsides,
clambering over fences, shrubbery and low trees, while in
the latter it bedecked practically every tree throughout the
woods. Although in full bloom during my visit to both
places, I paid no particular attention to the flowers, the
juestion of two forms not having then occurred to me.
But my impression is that the Point Lookout flowers were
all of the small orange-colored type, and those of the
Embarras bottom of the large red type; but this is no more
than a vague impression, which may be erroneous.

Brookland, D. C. Robert Ridgway.

fo)

New or Little-known Plants.

Vitis Doaniana.

ITIS DOANIANA, a wild Grape, native of the Texas
\ Panhandle country, described and named by T. V.
Munson, of Denison, Texas, has shown itself in the ex-
perimental vineyard here to be hardy beyond almost any
other Vine. It is a rampant grower, encroaching on its
neighbors every year, and often in a single season making
a growth of from fifteen to twenty feet. The vines do not

* Names of colors used here are those of the writer's Nomenclature of Colors
(Little, Brown & Co., Boston).

Garden and Forest.

{NUMBER 455.

branch as much as they do in most other species, and the
young canes as they ripen in the fall become a rich dark
brown. The upper surface of the leaves and the young
canes are covered with a white, cottony pubescence, which
adheres more or less to the leaves until they fall in the
autumn, and to the canes until they are a year old. In the
younger parts this is sufficiently abundant to give them
quite a whitish appearance. Vhe lower surface of the
leaves is still more abundantly covered with a more villous
pubescence, which, being less exposed to the action of the
weather, remains intact till autumn. The leaves them-
selves are of a light bluish green, and the whole effect (see
fig. 59, p. 455) is peculiar and quite characteristic.

The bunch is rather loose, irregular in shape and often
shouldered. The berries on different vines vary greatly in
size, ranging from fully as large as Catawba down to the
size of a pea. They are jet-black and covered with a thick
bloom, and, for a wild grape, the flavoris by no means bad.
The seeds, in size and general outline, resemble somewhat
those of Vitis labrusca, but the beak is not so long and the
chalaza much more distinct in outline. Another peculiarity
is a narrow, well-defined depression extending from the
chalaza to the beak, which, so far as I have been able to
observe, is found in no other species except V. Solonis.

Its vigor of growth, general hardiness under adverse
climatic conditions, and its comparative immunity from all
fungous diseases should make it most valuable either for
stocks or for hybridizing with a view to continuing these
characteristics with the fruit characters of some of the
improved varieties. he fact that it is a vigorous grower,
bearing abundant foliage and retaining its leaves unim-
paired in color till frost comes in the fall, should commend

it for use on arbors or for covering unsightly places.
Agricultural College, Manhattan, Kansas. EF. C. Sears.

Cultural Department.

Notes on Gooseberries.

A aes native species of Currants and Gooseberries have as
yet but very few representatives among varieties which
are cultivated for their fruits. That this should be true, of
Currants is not surprising, for the various red, white and black
fruited kinds of European origin have generally succeeded so
well in the older-settled portions of the northern states that no
great need has been felt in those sections for attempts to
introduce improved native varieties. In the south-west, where
the European varieties do not thrive, some attempts have been
made to supply their places with selected varieties of the native
species, Ribes aureum. This species is commonly known as
the Missouri, or Buffalo Currant. It bears spicy-scented long
yellow flowers and yellow or metallic blue-black fruit, and is
sometimes grown as an ornamental shrub. Crandall, Jelly,
Utah, Golden and other varieties of this species have been
introduced within the last fifteen years. While the best of
these are desirable in portions of Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas .
and other sections of the south-west, where a good substitute
for the European varieties is greatly needed, yet none has as
yet been extensively planted where the European kinds can
be successfully grown.

But with Gooseberries the case is different. European kinds
have usually proved unsuccessful in America on account of
the ravages of the mildew, Spherotheca Mors-uvee, so that
there has been more of a demand for the introduction of
selected varieties of native origin than there has heen for the
introduction ot native Currants. Although this demand has
long existed, the progress in this direction has been much less
rapid than it has been with either the native Grapes or the
native Plums.

The number of cultivated Gooseberries which have de-
scended purely from native species is really very small; in
fact, it is doubtful whether any of the well-known kinds are of
purely American origin, except Pale Red, also known as .
Cluster, American, etc., which was introduced into cultivation
many years ago. It appears to belong purely to Ribes oxya-
canthoides, which species takes its name trom the resem-
blance of its leaves to those of the English Hawthorn, a
resemblance that is more noticeable, however, in the leaves of
the Downing than in those of the Pale Red.

Ribes oxycanthoides, to which most of the native culti-

NOVEMBER ITI, 1896.]

vated varieties belong, either partially or entirely, is more
common in New England than in New York. Its range
extends northward through Canada and westward to California.
Its fruit is red or purplish, with smooth thin skin. It has
shorter stamens and broader calyx lobes than R. rotundifolium

Garden and Forest.

455

European Gooseberries. The slender branches arch or droop
gracefully in marked contrast to the thick, straight branches
of the European R. Grossularia.

Houghton resembles Pale Red very closely in foliage and
fruit, but its habit of growth is less upright. Possibly it be-

Fig. 59.—Vitis Doaniana——See page 454.

has, and it is also characterized by very short peduncles. It
is sometimes armed with short prickles between the nodes, or
the lower parts of the canes may be thickly beset with prickles.
The prickles which occur beneath the axils of the leaves are
short and slender as compared with those which characterize

longs purely to the oxyacanthoides species, but a study of
seedlings of known parentage which I have grown sug
that it isa hybrid between Ribes oxyacanthoides and R. Gros-
sularia. Pure seedlings of it grown here have not yet fruited,
but they show no marked Grossularia character so far as foli-

rests

456

age and habit of growth is concerned. Nevertheless, two of
its well-known seedlings, Downing and Smith, are clearly
hybrids between R. oxyacanthoides and R. Grossularia, and I
have some crosses ot Pale Red by Houghton which show
Grossularia ancestry, but the pure Pale Red seedlings do not.

Downing, which Is generally called the standard of excel-
lence among the native sorts, is a seedling of Houghton. Its
foliage and the size, texture, flavor and thin skin of its fruit
indicate its relationship to R. oxyacanthoides, but the color of
the fruit, thick spines and thick, scarcely curving, canes indi-
cate Grossularia parentage. The opinion that itis a hybrid of
R. oxyacanthoides and R. Grossularia is confirmed by a study
of its pure seedlings, most of which resemble Downing in
habit, and some of them show marked Grossularia character.

Pearl, another hybrid of Ribes oxyacanthoides and R. Gros-
sularia, is from seed of Downing fertilized by Ashton, an Eng-
lish sort. So closely does it resemble Downing that it is diffi-
cult to tell the difference between the two, either in bush orin
fruit. In some sections itis said to be more vigorous and pro-
ductive than Downing, but it has proved less productive so
far as tested here.

Smith, or Smith’s Improved, a seedling of Houghton, has
fruit equal to Downing in size, or even Jarger. The green
color ot the fruit and shining upper surface of the leaves,
together with other features, indicate that it has originated
partly from Ribes Grossularia. Some ot its crosses with Pale
Red also show characters of the same species,

Mountain is of especial interest since it isthe only cultivated
variety I know which represents Ribes. Cynosbati, the most
common wild species of this and many other sections of New
York state. Its tall canes, sprawling branches, the dull brown-
ish purple color of the fruit and the very dark green pulp are
all Cynosbati characteristics, as are also the beautiful brown
and red colors of its autumn foliage, quite unlike the yellow
or occasional dull brown tints of the European kinds.

The fruit, which is very large for a native Gooseberry, has
smooth and thick skin, which indicates Grossularia parentage,
tor Cynosbati fruit is smaller and the thin skin is usually beset
with prickles. The glossy upper surface and somewhat
leathery texture of the foliage also indicate its Grossularia
parentage, since Ribes Cynosbati has soft pubescent leaves
that are not at all leathery, neither glossy. Although this
variety is of some interest botanically, it 1s not productive
enough to merit cultivation for its fruit.

Viewed from the standpoint of the practical fruit grower, the
Gooseberries which have been cultivated in this country fall
readily into two classes, namely, those which are liable to
injury from attacks of the mildew, and those which are
not. Although it attacks other species of Ribes, yet in this
country the mildew finds all varieties of the European Goose-
berry particularly susceptible to its attacks, including, of
course, the American-grown seedlings of this species, even
though they are catalogued as American Gooseberries. For
this reason the varieties which have found their way into gen-
eral cultivation in this country, either like Pale Red, belong
purely to a native species, or like Downing, Mountain and
Pearl, are hybrids between an American species and the Euro-
pean R. Grossularia. Thusit happens that the classification
into successful and unsuccessful varieties which practical
American fruit growers have felt compelled to accept, follows
closely, though, perhaps, unconsciously, the lines defined by
botanists long ago for the classification of the species.

It is now known that by a wise regard forsanitary conditions,
and by systematic and thorough use of fungicides, some Euro-
pean Gooseberries may be successfully grown in various parts
of this country, so that it is reasonable to expect that the fine
colored, large and really excellent fruit of the best English
Gooseberries will become more common in American mar-

kets than they have been in the past.
: Geneva, N. Y. y E S. A. Beach,

The Cultivation of Mushrooms.

Le has always been considered that there was more or less

of legerdemain in the successful growing of Mushrooms,
and many old-time cultivators made this supposition seem
probable by various pretenses which had little foundation in
fact. Many people object to eating Mushrooms for fear of
spurious varieties which are known to be poisonous, and great
care must be exercised when gathering them in the fields, but
under cultivation there is no danger whatever. I have never
known any other species of fungus to be produced in the
Mushroom beds that approached Agaricus campestris near

enough in appearance to be mistaken for it, and cultivated

specimens may be safely eaten with no fears as to the results.
Very recently a popular interest in mycology has sprung up,

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 455.

and there are now two flourishing societies in this state which
have meetings and exhibitions for the befter study of fungi
and their edible species. These meetings and increasing ob-
servations by the mass of the people will help to do away with
a great deal of the ignorance and superstition about this family
of fungi, and anything that will help to make better known and
appreciated these esculents will be a public benefaction.

Ever since we have begun to grow the Mushroom under
the greenhouse benches we have never had to record a total
failure, and some of the crops have been most successful.
We are exceptionally situated for obtaining material for the

~beds, and this is a primary requisite, it being essential to col-

lect this quickly so as to have enough in bulk and to get the
whole in a warm but moderately dry condition before any part
of it has lost virtue by becoming cold. It is best to collect all
that is possible each morning, throwing out all long straws,
and, when sufficient is obtained, Jetting the heap heat mode-
rately, say for two days, before turning it over, and keeping up
this while forming another heap of the newer material to be
treated separately, making up a bed as fast as each heap is in
proper condition—that is, when rank gases have been elimi-
nated and excess of moisture evaporated by warmth and ex-
posure. It may be safely considered fit to make up in beds
when a handful can be taken up without soiling the hands or
moisture felt to be present. One of our mistakes, that was not
apparent for some time, was making the beds too deep, and
this resulted in overheating when the beds were made up.
But as the Mushrooms were produced only about the outer
edges of the beds or where the new bed was joined on,
this led to the discovery of the fault. Now we never make a
bed more than ten inches deep at the back, and sloping gently
to six inches at the front of a four-foot bed. Under these condi-
tions the temperature never seems to get beyond control, and
rarely exceeds 100 degrees, Fahrenheit.

The firmer the beds are nade up the less violent the heat
at first, and the longer it will last, and it will produce quicker
returns. A short-handled mallet is useful in compacting the
beds. We wait until the maximum temperature has been
reached, and spawn when the temperature is falling at about 95
degrees, and adda coating of fresh loam a day or twoatter, with
water as often as necessary to keep the surface moist, always
using tepid water to prevent chilling the beds. . If it is found
that the heat rises to an undesirable degree, a watering will
often cool it down sufficiently, but should the heat get beyond
100 degrees, either before or after spawning, itis better to take
the whole out and make it over rather than risk a failure.

A good quality of the spawn is essential to success, but not
half the failures attributed to spawn of inferior quality rightly
belong there. For the last two years we have been very success-
fulin getting some that was really good, with no traces of myce-
lium that had started into premature growth. Always avoid
spawn that has a growth of white threads on the bricks, as this
isan evidence of premature germination of the mycelium. This
is what ought to take place when it is planted in the beds, but it
is too often induced by improper conditions before it reaches
the planter. When one bed is made up and another is about
to be commenced, we take enough bricks of spawn and lay
them out on the top of the bed and turn every second day: or
so. This renders the bricks less dry, so that they are more
easily broken, and rapid growth begins as soon as planted,
and a week or two is saved in bringing up the crop.

Nitrate of soda is an excellent stimulant for Mushroom beds
when they seem to be past bearing. A partial drying off, and
then a good soaking with a weak dilution of nitrate, will start
up a good second growth that will sometimes equal the first.

Our beds are formed under the greenhouse benches ina
structure where Chrysanthemums and Carnations are grown,
and the temperature of the house is kept at 50 during the
winter. This suits the crop well, and when in bearing a cloth
is tacked about the bed to keep it dark and give more even
conditions as to moisture and heat; that is, the heat generated
by the beds themselves will be held, and if the temperature
chances to fall below 70 before the crop is well up, a good
covering of hay will bring the heat up to the surface and raise it
several degrees. Sudden fluctuations in temperature are in
this way easily avoided.

There is no better time than the present to start a bed. Flies
are very troublesome in the structure from early formed
plantings, but from this time on there wil be no trouble from
them, and if an airy shed or barn floor is available for the prep-
aration of'the manure no great difficulty need be anticipated
in the production of plenty of Mushrooms during winter, when
they are always a ene addition to the short list of avail-

es.
able aS ane E. O. Orpet.

South Lancaster, Mass. ;

NovEMBER 11, 1896.]

Hardy Ornamental Grasses.

S outdoor decorative plants these Grasses are gaining
favor every year. When once planted out the only
care they need is cutting down the withered stems annually,
giving a little mulching and reducing the size of the clumps
when they become too large. If planted either in large beds
wholly by themselves or associated with such plants as
Cannas, Ricinus, Aralia papyrifera, or the taller-growing per-
ennial Sunflowers, they make a most telling display. The
tallest of the species in common use, not including the Bam-
boos, is the Arundo donax, which under favorable circum-
stances makes an annual growth of about fifteen feet and dies
down each autumn to the crowns. It completes its growth by
the end of July, and afterward sends up large panicles of
flowers. The variety named Versicolor has the leaves rib-
boned with white ; it only grows about six feet in height, and
this is one of the most desirable of all the Grasses. It is easily
propagated by placing the full-grown stems lengthwise in wet
moss or water, in a moderately warm house. Ina short time
the small shoots in the axils of the leaves will take root, when
they should be separated from the parent stem and put into
small pots. Pieces of the thick roots cut up into lengths of
about two inches and put in ordinary soil in a cool house will
grow well. Erianthus Ravenne is next in importance; it
grows to a height of about ten feet, the leaves are very long
and narrow, the panicles stand well above the foliage. This
Grass is well suited for planting singly in wide borders.
There are two forms under the same name, but they
only differ in height and time of flowering. The flower-
heads are very little inferior to those of the well-known
Pampas Grass, and if they are cut before full development
takes place and dried in the sun they are quite as handsome.
It is best increased by dividing the roots. It will ripen seed,
but in the seeding stage the plants have to be closely watched,
as the English sparrows are very fond of it. The Japanese
Eulalias (miscanthus) form a valueble group. E. Japonica is
a dense grower, about five feet in height; the leaves are nar-
row, with a faint whitish band down the centre. The variety
Variegata is longitudinally marked with white; Zebrina is
marked transversely with yellow blotches. Another species
known as Univittata is not quite so tall as the three first men-
tioned; it forms avery beautiful plant in an isolated position ;
it has narrow green leaves, with a light strip down the centre
of each. The Eulalias are best incre:sed by division ; this
should be done in the spring-time just when the plants are
starting into growth; old plants may be dug up and with a
hatchet cut into pieces small enough to go into three-inch
pots. Keep ina shaded frame till they are rooted.
Among the many low-growing Grasses the most useful is
Pennisetum longistylum, which, when planted in suitable soil,
is never out of bloom during the entire summer. Plants of
this sometimes get winter-killed with us when left out-of-
doors, and we therefore usually dig up the clumps and put
them under sash for the winter. Plants raised from seed eariy
in the season do well enough, however. A nice bluish-gray
Grass for edging is Festuca glauca. It grows in dense tutts
about eight or ten inches high. Another Grass of the same
color is Elymus glauca, with a rather straggling habit, but
when grownin masses this fault is not obvious. This Grass is
of a most desirable color, and it grows to be about eighteen
inches high. For dwarf variegated Grasses the variety of Dac-
tylis glomerata is the best with us, although the variegated
Bambusa Fortunei is a more permanent plant. We have tried
several of the Bamboos for the last few years; those which
have proved hardy here are B. sulphurea, B. mitis, B. Simonii,
B. chrysanthe, B. Ragamowski, Arundinaria metake and A.

gigantea. ' .
Botanic Garden, Washington, D. C. G. W. Oliver.

Notes on Chrysanthemums.

Os a number of years I have noted the development of
Chrysanthemum-blooms from the time the buds show
color until they are fully open, and also the effects of artificial
heat and moisture, especially on the colors of the flowers. It
used to be difficult to hold our specimen plants of Louis
Boehmer until exhibition time, usually the first week of No-
vember. When the variety was first introduced the blooms
showed color on the 25th of September. Every year since it
has been a few days later, and this season it did not show color
until the 11th of October. If the exhibition had been held
this year during election week it would not have been in
bloom. The first year I grew Portia it was difficult to hold.
The next season it was a week too late, while this year it is

Garden and Forest.

457

again a few days too early. W. H. Lincoln has been growing
later. It is unusual now to have bloom fully open for our
exhibitions when held during the first week of November,
though a few years ago I remember exhibiting flowers of this
variety at the Madison Square Garden, New York City, on the
first of November. Although the exhibition this year at Boston
is a week later than usual, our specimens of W. H. Lincoln
will not be quite finished until the end of the week. Compared
with several other late varieties, it is the slowest. S. T. Mur-
dock and Kitty Sanders were later in showing color than W. H.
Lincoln, while Gretchen Biiettner, Louis Boehmerand Georgiana
Pitcher were at about the same stage. All are now advanced
further than W. H. Lincoln, which is the last on the list. The
loosely built incurved flowers always open more quickly than
the denser reflexed types, and pink and white colored flowers
open faster than yellows and reds.

Artificial heat in the development of blooms acts curiously.
It does not have the same effect on Chrysanthemums that it
would have on other plants. Naturally, one would expect that
heat would accelerate, and cold retard, the progress of open-
ing. Such plants as I have in cold frames are as far advanced
as they would have been if kept in a temperature ten degrees
higher. To keep the plants in good trim it is essential to ex-
clude frost, and that would appear to an ordinary observer all
that is necessary. The effect of artificial heat on color appears
to have a more important bearing. When the night tempera-
ture falls below fifty-five degrees all dark colors fade. I con-
sider the settling of moisture on the blooms, as it must do
when there is no fire-heat, detrimental to high color. It is
essential to keep up a dry moving air. When it was necessary
to hold back some early varieties I allowed the temperature to
fall as low as I safely could, with the result that the brilliant
hues of G. W. Childs and Cullingfordii vanished, leaving them
a tawny red. Of recent years the high and perfect coloring of
my specimens of G. W. Childs and Cullingfordii has been note-
worthy. This is especially true this season. Two weeks ago
one would say G. W. Childs was ready for the exhibition, but
to-day the glossy crimson tones are as true as at that time,
while the flowers have built up to almost double the size. The
effect of heat on the pink varieties appears to be the same as
upon the reds, I think there is a liability among the yellow
varieties to lose their brightness ; at least, there does not ap-
pear to be the same necessity of heat to maintain their natural
colors. White-flowered kinds seem to be benefited by a warm
stirring air. The glistening white of Ivory never shows so
grandly under lower temperatures. Such doubtful varieties as
G. Daniels, Theo and Silver Cloud bleach out to a pure white.

Wellesley, Mass. T. D. Hatfield,

Begonia manicata.—This free-growing variety is useful either
as a decorative plant or for winter flowering. In summer it
may be used for grouping, either with the Rex varieties oras
a substitute for them. The foliage is of a pleasing bright
green; the plants are vigorous and healthy with an ordinary
amount of care. A partially shaded situation is preferable, as
the foliage then becomes a darker green, but the plants will
stand the sun’s rays without hurt if necessary. On being re-
moved indoors, before danger of frost, water should be given
rather sparingly, and this will help to somewhat ripen the stems
and induce the plants to Mower more freely. The branching
cymes of pink flowers are useful for cutting, and make a grace-
fulappearance ina vase. Stems from twelve to fourteeninches
in length are readily obtained from healthy plants. Ordinary
greenhouse treatment, with a night temperature of about fifty
degrees, is the most suitable ; if the plants are kept much
warmer than this the flowers will not open so freely nor last
so long. Too frequent potting and large shifts are not advis-
able, as the plants grow more compact in shape when the
roots are somewhat confined. We have some good healthy
specimens now in ten-inch pots which measure two feet
through, but smaller plants are as a rule more serviceable.
Propagation is easily accomplished by cuttings or by division,
rooted portions of the stem being readily obtained.

Anthericum vittatum.—The superiority of this newer form
over the old variety, A. variegatum, is so marked that it
will undoubtedly supersede the latter in the near future. It
is, as the name denotes, striped longitudinally as the old form
is, but differs in being much brighter in the markings, A broad
band of creamy white traverses the centre of the entire leaf,
which is margined with an irregular band of bright green

streaks of the green, sometimes running in through the white.
In short, it may be said to be white where the old torm is green
and green where the old form is white. It possesses all the

good standing qualities of the older form; the habit is more
compact and growth somewhat slower. It is very serviceable

458

as a dwarf decorative plant, and especially valuable as an
edging for groups; the drooping habit of the under leaves
enabling it to entirely hide the pots in which the plants are
grown. Division is probably the easiest and best method of
propagation. The plants thrive well in light, moderately rich
soil and with ordinary greenhouse treatment. It is of a rapid
rooting nature and quickly becomes pot-bound, and should
c bere ater.

poe a supplied with water William Scott.

Cannas.—As soonas the first frost disfigures the foliage of
Cannas we lift the roots and lay them to ripen in large clumps,
without covering, in pits secure from frost. When Chrysan-
themums are gone we divide and repot the Canna roots. In
a good, light greenhouse, with a minimum of fifty-eight de-
grees, they soon start and give from the end of January
onward agrand show of bloom. No plants are more effective
for winter decorations. The flowers are larger and not so
liable to blemish. Very little water is given until some growth
is made, but when well rooted the plants will take an abun-
dance of water, and also be benefited by liquid-manure atleast
once a week. Our plants increase in size and make fine speci-
mens by the time they are required for the summer display.
If rested for a fortnight or so in May they soon start into
growth when planted out, and bloom with scarcely any inter-
mission the whole year. Madame Crozy, Florence Vaughan,
Charles Henderson, Paul Bruant, Helen Gould and J. D, Cabos
make a fine selection.

Wintering Bananas.—We have specimens of Musa ensete
now ten years old. Every season they have been planted in a
conspicuous place near the mansion, and have grown into
bold plants from ten to fifteen feet high. If planted out it is
impossible to get any roots when they are taken up for the
winter. Westore them as if they were bulbs. A friend had
a plant given him bundled up with moss in bagging, and it
remained in this condition in a warm loft all winter quite for-
gotten. The following May the plant was discovered growing
toward the light and was again planted out for the summer. It
made good growth and this treatment has been continued.
We place our plants in dry soil, and about the end of February
putthem in half flour barrels and start them enough to make

a fair showing at planting time.
Wellesley, Mass. LD: Hatfield.

Correspondence.

Notes from West Virginia.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—In planting trees and shrubs for autumnal effects it is
well to pay some attention to the fact that all do not attain the
greatest beauty and brilliancy of foliage at the same time. The
landscape takes on a very different aspect in each of the three
fall months. The brilliant Sour Gums, for instance, change
from burnished green to rich deep red early in the fall, and
are usually denuded of foliage early in October. Walnuts drop
their leaves in September, hereabout, while Hickories retain
theirs a month later. In late October all the Ashes, Gums,
Walnuts and Sugar Maples in this vicinity are stripped bare of
foliage. Thus, if one were to plant no other trees than these
around his house, his grounds would take on their winter
aspect very early in the autumn after a few days ot passing
splendor. On the contrary, home grounds in which Birches,
Beeches and Oaks abound, would be much later in succumb-
ing to the frosts of fall.

A neighbor of mine, living in a well-watered hollow, has
many Willows of different varieties planted about his house.
Here summer abides long after it has fled from the surround-
ing hills. Often the grass is green until covered by the snow,
and the Willows, losing their foliage very late in the season,
seem to shorten winter by burgeoning into their fresh young
leafage long before the forest trees have awakened to a sense
of spring.

There can be little doubt, however, that the most pleasing
landscape effects are attained by grouping together a large
variety of such trees and shrubs as naturally harmonize in
color. We cannot do better than to go to the woods and
copses to learn how Nature produces with her careless prodi-
gality a rich and satisfying beauty at this season of the year.
In many woods the most brilliant coloring is in the under-
growth, the Sumachs, Briers, Dogwood and Sassafras bushes
forming a low belt of bright reds and orange and yellow hues,
which, if carried higher, would dazzle, rather than charm, the
eye. The larger trees of our woods, for the most part, take on
soberer colors, which are accented here and there by the scar-

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 455-

let of a vigorous Virginia Creeper swinging high in air. Thus
the color-scheme tones with the lucid blue of the sunny Octo-
ber sky.

Now that the month nears its end the Sassafras and Sumachs
are no longer brilliantly conspicuous, and the glowing red of
the Virginia Creeper has faded from the landscape. The
woods have lost much of their brightness, but the Dogwoods
still hold their colors. Striking is the contrast between two
large-flowering Dogwoods planted together at Rose Brake.
Of these the Red-flowering Dogwood is now a brilliant claret-
color, while the White-flowered form has assumed a much
duller tint. A fine young Double-flowered Almond of the
white variety now has foliage of a beautiful clear light salmon,
while its neighbor, the common pink variety of the same
plant, contrasts with it finely in a garb of green and lemon-
yellow. To-day the most brilliantly tinted shrub, or small
tree, in the home grounds is a Japanese Maple, which was
green all summer and is now an intense blood-red, making a
vivid spot of color on the grass. The red leaved Japanese
Maple, known to nurserymen as Sanguineum, on the contrary,
has lost the rich uniform red which makes it conspicuous in
June, and has assumed a harlequin costume of dull green,
mottled with orange, crimson and maroon. Acer Tartaricum,
var. Ginnala, conspicuous for its Joseph’s coat of many colors
a week ago, has now lost all its finery and assumed its winter
aspect.

A very handsome young Chinese Quince has rich red
leathery foliage, retained sometimes until the last of Novem-
ber, and is effective now, standing out against a background of
less brightly colored Peaches and Apricots. Much has been
said about the fall beauty of Spiraea prunifolia, but a large
bush of another Spiraea, sent to me under the name of S. cra-
teegifolia, is even more brilliant in autumn dress. This plant
is five feet in height and ten in circumference. Nothing can
be more ornamental than its spreading growth and handsome
foliage bright with harmonious blending of red and orange
hues. Almost as brilliant in effect is Thunberg’s Barberry,
which will be a conspicuous ornament of the shrubberies all
winter, when the bright leaves have fallenand the still brighter
berries remain until flowering time comes round again.

Rose Brake, W. Va. Danske Dandridge.

The Preservation of Fruits by Vapor of Alcohol.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—This subject was brought to prominent notice by the
experiments of Monsieur Petit, made at the National School
of Horticulture at Versailles, France, in the fall and winter of
1894. A translation of Monsieur Petit’s report was forwarded
to this country by Mr. Henry P. Du Bellet, consul at Rheims,
and was published in the Consular Reports, XLIX., No. 180,
p- 24, September, 1895. An advance copy of this paper, ex-
tracted from the consular publications, was widely circulated
among horticulturists in the United States by the Division of
Pomology, United States Department of Agriculture. The .
method tested and favorably reported consists simply in the
installation of the fruit ina moderately tight chamber or closet
in which a small quantity of alcohol is exposed for evapora-
tion. Monsieur Petit’s successful experiments were upon
grapes.

The report naturally aroused considerable interest in this
country at the time, though little seems to have been done in
actual demonstration. Professor Goff, of the Wisconsin Experi-
ment Station, was the first, and, so far as I know, has been
the only one to report any American experiments with this
interesting method (M7sconsin Experiment Station Reports,
1895, p. 304). After making tests with several varieties of plums,
Professor Goff concluded that ‘alcoholic vapor is an effec-
tual preservative against the common mold or molds ina damp
atmosphere ; but the vapor did not prevent, except fora limited
time, if at all, other changes within the fruits which destroyed
their value.”

During the summer and fall of 1896 we have made a large
number of experiments with this method at the Vermont Ex-
periment Station, in which we have used strawberries, rasp-
berries, currants, peaches, apricots, cherries, plums and
grapes. We have also used several forms of apparatus, so
that we have been able to sound pretty thoroughly the practi-
cabilities of fruit preservation by alcohol vapor. The details
of these experiments or descriptions of apparatus would be
wearisome, but a brief statement of our conclusions may be
of value.

Thus, according to Our experience, vapor of alcohol in a
closed space will prevent more or less the growth of the fungi
and bacteria which usually hasten decay. To be effective it

NOVEMBER II, 1896.]

must be present in some appreciable quantity. In a tightly
closed chamber of one yard cubical contents a half pint of
alcohol in an open vessel will be sufficient. If alcohol vapor
is present in comparatively larger quantities, the development
of fungi and bacteriamay be wholly prevented for several
days, or even weeks. But in this case the fruits, especially
those with soft flesh, absorb enough alcohol to affect the taste
quite disagreeably. The fruit also deteriorates in color and
texture. Although the growth of bacteria and fungi is stopped,
other processes of decay seem to be hastened. With grapes
alone the method seems to be practically successful. Grapes
were kept for nearly two months at the temperature of a living-
room and were still fit for table use, not being appreciably
attacked by mold or affected in flavor. Not all the samples of
grapes tested didso well, however.

We are inclined to believe from our observations up to the
present that this method of preservation may very seldom be
put to practical use, unless it be with grapes. With grapes
there must still be considerable experimentation before the
practical details can be satisfactorily worked out. With other
truits alcoholic vapor may be usetul for comparatively short
periods. Thus, berries or cherries might be placed in a tight
refrigerator for a few days with an open vessel of alcohol and
be preserved in better condition than without the alcohol.
fF. A, Waugh.

Vermont Experiment Station.

The Rose, Bridesmaid.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—In your issue for October 28th your London correspon-
dent speaks of the ‘‘American Rose, Bridesmaid, as sent out
by May.” Perhaps itis worth stating that this sport of Cath-
erine Mermet originated with Mr. F. L. Moore, of Chatham,
New Jersey, and was first called Hugh. I afterward induced

him to change the name to Bridesmaid.
Summit, N. ie Fohn N. May.

[We have a note to the same effect from Mr. Patrick
O’Mara, who adds that it is interesting to know that
Bridesmaid, which has now largely supplanted Catherine
Mermet as a pink winter-flowering Rose, was received
coldly by the trade at first. Perhaps this was because the
Waban, also a pink sport from Catherine Mermet, which
was issued a year before, was something of a disappoint-
ment.—Ep. ]

Recent Publications.

Hand-List of Trees and Shrubs Grown in the Arboretum
of the Royal Gardens, Kew. Part II. Gamopetale to Mono-
cotyledons.

The first part of this useful list appeared two years ago
and was noticed in these columns (see vol. vili., p. 9),
and last spring a hand-list of the Conifers grown in the
Royal Gardens appeared. The part now before us com-
pletes the list of woody plants grown at Kew, so that at
last we have a complete Arboretum Britannicum, or rather
a list of the species and varieties of the woody plants culti-
vated at Kew, with their synonyms and convenient refer-
ences to published figures. Although his name does not
appear on the title-page, this list has been prepared by Mr.
George Nicholson, the accomplished curator of Kew, whose
exact knowledge of the trees and shrubs of European gar-
dens has in this way been made serviceable to all cultiva-
tors of these plants.

The last Arborefum Britannicum is that of Loudon, pub-
lished in 1838. The completion of Mr. Nicholson’s work
enables us now to make some interesting comparisons
between the number of plants cultivated at this time and
sixty years ago. In 1838, when Loudon’s Aréorefum was
published, the hardy ligneous plants cultivated in Great
Britain were derived chiefly from Europe, Asia Minor and
eastern North America; a few eastern Asiatic trees and
shrubs were also found in gardens at that time. These had
chiefly been sent from Japan by Dutch botanists who had
found them in Japanese gardens, although French mission-~
aries had sent the seeds of a few trees from China to
Europe. In 1838 a few of the principal conifers of western
America were cultivated in Great Britain from Douglas’s
collecting ten years before. These plants, however, at that

Garden and Forest.

459

time were very small and little was known about them,
Practically, therefore, all the trees and shrubs of western
America, with few exceptions, have been introduced into
Europe since Loudon’s time; and since his time Hooker
has botanized the high Himalayas and the forests of Sik-
kim, rich in magnificent species of Rhododendrons, now
a chief ornament in many European gardens. Fortune,
David and Henry have sent many plants to Europe from
China; Von Siebold, Maximowicz and theirsuccessors have
gleaned from Japan all its arborescent treasures; the Rus-
sians have made it possible for us to cultivate the trees and
shrubs of central Asia and the valley ofthe Amur, and the
Andes and New Zealand have been explored botanically.
Since 1838, too, the hybridizer has been busy, and to his
skill and perseverance we owe innumerable beautiful varie-
ties of Rhododendrons, Azaleas, Roses and Lilacs. It is
not, therefore, surprising that the number of the plants
available for the decoration of the gardens and parks of
temperate countries has increased enormously during the
last half century. This, perhaps, will appear the more
apparent by comparing the number of species in a few
genera, selected at random, described in Loudon’s Ardbore-
‘um, with those in the present Kew lists. In Lonicera,
Loudon included 29 species as cultivated in Great Britain
in his time; Nicholson enumerates 53.. In 1832, 32 Rho-
dodendrons and Azaleas are described by Loudon, while
in the Kew list we find 77; and in Quercus the number of
cultivated species had increased from 45 to 76. These
numbers are exclusive of varieties which have increased in
about the same proportion as the species.

From the American point of view Mr. Nicholson’s cata-
logue seems to leave something to be desired in the way
of nomenclature ; and it will serve as another example of
the disadvantage of asystem which is not based upon some
fixed principle or rule. In view of the attitude of English
botanists in general toward the American attempt to obtain
stability of nomenclature we should have expected that the
names adopted in this catalogue would have been those
adopted in the Aew /zdex, which has only been completed a
few months, the two publications having been prepared in the
same establishment. But, taking our American Oaks asan
example, we find the name of Quercus bicolor retained for
our Swamp White Oak, and Quercus cinerea for the Blue
Jack of the south Atlantic and Gulf coast, these being the
names found in the /zdex. On the other hand, Quercus
falcata, the name adopted in the Aew /ndex for the Spanish
Oak, is discarded, while Quercus cuneata is adopted, the
oldest name of this species being really Quercus digitata.
Quercus ilicifolia is retained as the name of the little Bear
Oak, and Quercus Kelloggii for the California Black Oak,
while Quercus Marylandica of Muenchhausen and Sargent’s
Silva replaces Quercus nigra of Wangenheim, the name
adopted by the Aew /ndex for the Black Jack, while Quercus
aquatica of Walter, adopted in the Kew Zudex as the name
of the Water Oak, is replaced by Quercus nigra of Linnzeus.
Quercus stellata is kept up as the name of the Post Oak,
but Quercus velutina is adopted as the name for the Black
Oak, although Quercus discolor is the name used in the Aew
Index. Valuable as this work undoubtedly is to all culti-
vators of woody plants, we cannot but believe that if one
of two principles had been rigidly adhered to in the selec-
tion of names it would have been even more valuable than
it is now.

Notes.

The Ginkgo-tree is to be commended for its many good
gualities, and among these must be mentioned the uniform
clear light lemon-yellow color of itsleaves in autumn. Stand-
ing in the full sunshine of an October day one of these trees
is fairly luminous, as if shining with its own light.

The large apple crop in the United States has made unusual
demands on barrel factories, some of which in apple-growing
districts are unable to meet the orders of farmers of the neigh-
borhood, Cold-storage houses have also profited through the

460

same crop, and the best establishments hold any remaining
space at a premium.

Among the shrubs which delight us with their brilliant colors
in the autumn, the Japanese Evonymus alatus is distinguished
for the clear rose-pink of its leaves, which is unlike that shown
by any other woody plant. Its fruit is less brilliant than that
of our native Wahoo or of the European Spindle-tree, both of
which belong to this genus. But the autumn color of the
leaves of the Japanese plantis quite unique. It is a perfectly
hardy shrub, too, of a compact habit and in every way
desirable.

At one of the farmers’ institutes in southern California, last
summer, Mr. L. H. Cammack advocated the cultivation in that
section of some semi-tropical fruits that are not very well
known. Among these was the Avocado, or Alligator Pear,
the fruit of Persea gratissima, which ripens as far north as
Berkeley.. There are red, purple and green varieties in culti-
vation, and many trees are growing thriftily in California. In
Florida it is said a tree will yield a thousand pounds of fruit
annually and begin to bear at the age of five years. It may
interest persons who have it in mind to plant these trees to
know that the fruit is steadily growing in popularity in this city,
and, inasmuch as it can be picked a little before it is ripe, it
carries fairly well.

A beautiful autumn bouquet can be made with fruiting
branches of the different deciduous-leaved Hollies, the so-
called Black Alders. In Japan one of the favorite house deco-
rations at this season of the year is branches of Ilex Sieboldii,
which are sold in the streets of Tokio and other cities in enor-
mous quantities. Our American species bear, however, larger
and showier fruit and are more decorative. The most beau-
tiful of these plants is I. laevigata, although it is much less
common than I. verticillata, a familiar inhabitant of northern
swamp-borders. Of this plant there is a form with bright yel-
low fruit which is cultivated successfully in the Arnold Arbo-
retum, where also the Japanese species flourishes, and this
year is completely covered with its small, brilliant fruit. A
vase containing branches of Ilex levigata, the scarlet and yel-
low fruited forms of I. verticillata and of I. Sieboldii, gathered
in the Arboretum, produces an effect which cannot easily be
surpassed at this season of the year.

Nearly 100,000 barrels of Jamaica oranges have found a mar-
ket in this city since the beginning ot the season, whereas but
58,351 barrels came during the same period a year ago. The
cost for freight, duty and other expenses is about $1.25 a barrel,
and at present prices there is little money made in the handling
of this fruit, since $2.50 a barrel has been the price in Kingston.
Mexican oranges are at a still greater disadvantage, transporta-
tion costing about $300 a box. During the summer season
3,935 car-loads of fruits have been shipped from California.
This includes what is known in the trade as ‘deciduous
fruits,” as distinguished from citrus fruits, and the season for
which is nearly ended. Twenty car-loads of California grapes
were sold here last week, comprising Cornichon, Flame
Tokay, White Muscat, Black Ferrera, Verdel and Emperor.
The last direct shipment of this year’s crop of Almeria grapes
is said to be on the way to this country. This cargo, together
with those already received, amounts to 134,470 barrels, or
19,465 in excess of last year’s importations, while in 1894, 249,375
barrels were received.

Miss Alice Eastwood, the botanical curator of the California
Academy of Natural Sciences, has issued in separate form two
botanical papers published in the Proceedings of the California
Academy. The first is devoted to descriptions of some new
California plants, and is enriched with seven plates from draw-
ings made by the author. The plants here described are a
Sedum, an Anemone, a Hosackia, a Lupine, a Heuchera, a
Brodiza and a Cynoglossum. Miss Eastwood’s second paper
is areport on a collection of plants made by her in San Juan
County, in south-eastern Utah, during a journey in the sum-
mer of 1895 through the valley and over the plateaus of the
San Juan River, near the McEImo Creek junction, to where
Willow Creek joins the San Juan. In this hurried journey,
made on horseback in eight days, 162 species were collected.
The fruit of the beautiful Berberis Fremontii, one of the most
interesting and characteristic shrubs of the Colorado plateau,
Miss Eastwood describes as rose-color near the pedicels, yel-
lowish above and dehiscent into two spreading valves. The
fruit was first described as blue. As this species grows in
northern Arizona in the neighborhood of the Colorado River,
it is certainly bright blue when fully ripe. Fraxinus anomala
was common throughout the region, growing on the edge of

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 455-

cafions and in the depths below. The range of this interesting
tree, as usually published, must be extended into northern
Arizona, where it is abundanton the upper slopes of the Canon
of the Colorado. Junipers, which are the most conspicuous
feature of the vegetationof most of the Colorado plateau, were
curiously absent in this particular region of southern Utah,
only occasional trees of Juniperus monosperma having been
seen by Miss Eastwood near the heads of the cafions that form
branches of the San Juan. Here the trees were low and
scraggy and generally solitary. The common Juniper of this
region, Juniperus Utahensis, which is extremely abundant on
the plateaus of western Colorado, through the high valleys of
the Great Basin and in northern Arizona, was not observed by
Miss Eastwood.

Last year the Legislature of the State of Maryland enacted a
law making it the duty of the State Entomologist to inspect all
the nurseries in the state for the detection of injurious insects
or plant diseases which might be disseminated by selling the
stock, Under this act, whenever a pest or disease is discov-
ered the owner is notified and remedies are suggested. If he
does not apply the remedies in the time specified, he is liable to
a fine of $1.00 for every tree or shrub or plant shipped from
his nursery. The Entomologist can enter the premises in such
a case, employ such assistance as he needs, and apply reme-
dies for the destruction of the pest at the expense of the own-
ers. In case the stock is free from infection the owner is fur-
nished witha certificate to that effect, and he is required tosend »
on every package shipped, as well as to transmit to the purchaser
by mail, a certificate signed by him that the stock has been
examined by the State Entomologist and that it is free from
danger. Another section of the law provides fora certificate
to be affixed to every package of nursery stock which comes
into the state of Maryland trom another state, showing that
the contents have been examined by an authorized officer and
are free from insects and diseases. If this act has not been
complied with the packages are returned to the shipper, unless
the consignee of the stock has it examined by the State Ento-
mologist, who shall give the necessary certificate. In a bulle-
tin lately issued from the State Experiment Station by the
Entomologist it is stated that the nurseries of Maryland have
been inspected and are, on the whole, in fine condition. The
San José scale has been located in only three nurseries and
has been in every case destroyed. No single case of yellows
on marketable stock was found. The Pear slug was found in
several cases, but these insects are so easily killed by helle-
bore that it is gross negligence on the part of any nurseryman
to allow his stock to be dwarfed by it. Mr. Johnson, the ento-
mologist, has had the active assistance of nurserymen in this
campaign, and there is little doubt that if the same energy was
exercised in all the other states these enemies of orchards and
gardens would soon be under control so far as their distribu-
tion through nursery stock is concerned. This bulletin con-
tains valuable information concerning the Peach yellows, the
San José scale, and an account of a new disease of the Peach,
of which no fungus or bacterial affection so far known can be
identified as the cause.

The death is announced of Dr. Henry Tremen, at Pera-
denyia, in the island of Ceylon, on the 16th October, in his fifty-
third year. He was educated for the medical profession and
received a medical degree from the University at London, and
became an assistant in the Botanical Department of the British
Museum, With the present director of the Royal Gardens at
Kew he prepared a Flora of the County of Middlesex in Eng-
land, and with Professor Bentley a standard work on Medical
Botany. In 1882 Dr. Tremen was appointed director of the
Royal Botanic Gardens at Peradenyia, one of the most impor-
tant and beautiful of all tropical gardens. In this position he
devoted himself to a complete Flora of Ceylon, three parts hav-
ing appeared. A few months ago ill health compelled him to
sever his official connection with the Garden.

Auguste Trécul, the distinguished French plant anatomist,
died in his seventy-sixth year, after a long retirement from
active scientific work. His principal papers relate to the de-
velopment and relations of the vascular system in plants and
to the mode of growth of stems and roots. He is best known
to Americans, perhaps, by his travels and botanical discov-
eries in the states west of the Mississippi River, especially in
Texas, where he was sent in 1848 by the French Government
to collect material for the Paris Museum and to study the tex-
tile plants used by the Indians of ithe Plains, and where he
remained during three years. The beautiful arborescent Yucca
of the lower Rio Grande valley, first introduced by him into
European gardens, bears his name.

NOVEMBER 18, 1896.]

GARDEN “AN® FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

OrFice: TripunE Buitpinc, New York.

Conducted by . .. ss... . . + » Professor C. S. SARGENT.

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1896.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

EpvitoriaL Articies :—Variety Tests in the Experiment Stations
Artistic Supervision for Public Works.....-.......++-++
Lawn-infesting Insects

Conifers on the Grounds of the Kansas Agricultural College.—II.
F.C. Sears. 462
Notes on a Trip to the Dismal Swamp.............. Charles Louis Pollard. 462

Enromo.ocicaL :—Lawn and Grass Intesting Insects.—I. (With figures.)

Professor F. B. Smith. 463

New or Litt.£-KNown Priants :—Asterinfirmus. (With figure.).......C. £. #. 464

Cutturat DepartmMent:—Bud Variation of the Concord Grape.... 1. Paddock. 464

Carnation NGtesi seer eaicnieg ciisecieisseleicnieinwisnieis'sedeime siege ess WN, Craig. 466
Garden Notes... -. WE. Endicott. 466
Indoor Work....... «WH. Taplin. 467
Autumn Snowdrops........-- - FN. Gerard. 467
CorresponDENCE :—Apple-twig Blight......-....- oft, C. Sears. 467

Exurpitions :—Chrysanthemums in Philadelphia 468
Chrysanthemums in Boston ....:-..ceseeceses es eceecnsccescesececccssescs 468
RECENT PUBLICATIONS ....-.....005 + 469
NOTES seeieta teeta tee orelcia’a'cfalaleiaialoterolsis sel a/ai~ eieieiess!y e cie eicps 9) ¢.nim ¥. wie-c.s)= sieye: = Shae iein.cywiels eeie.s 470
Itt ust ations :—Lawn and Grass Infesting Insects.... 7 463, 464
PATS Tera T fUTINS pullers OS vac nv arsiniieins weeietataiel lei s)i/s--0\ae.csiersisie-s ats e)s-0.6°614.4 16:06. 24 465

Variety Tests in the Experiment Stations.

E have more than once expressed the opinion that
the work of our experiment stations in testing dif-
ferent varieties of fruits or vegetables is largely wasted.
We do not mean by this that such tests have no value, but
we feel that the trained investigators who have been
organized in every state can use their time and talents to
better advantage in establishing broad principles as the
basis of farm and garden practice than they can in busy-
ing themselves with questions of such simple and elemen-
tary character that the farmers and gardeners can work
them out without the aid of experts. One reason for the
existence of experiment stations is that there are many
problems which can only be successfully attacked by men
of wide scientific knowledge who have been trained to
accurate habits of research and generalization. Such in-
vestigations are costly, for the experiments often require
expensive material and instruments which only educated
men can use to advantage, and many of them need to be
conducted through a long series of years before trustwor-
thy results can be reached. This work is not only outside
of the capacity of the individual farmer, but of farmers’
clubs and horticultural societies. There is more than
enough of this kind of research to absorb all the energy
of the station workers, and it is a loss to the farming com-
munity when the limited number of skilled experimenters
are taken away from these studies which they alone are
able to prosecute successfully, and which are of such para-
mount importance. Any one can plant a dozen different
varieties of Peas and keep a record of the dates on which
they ripen, so as to find which is the earliest; any one can
weigh the product of a dozen varieties of Strawberries and
see which one is the most productive and which one has
the longest bearing season. Perhaps in new states where
there are unknown climatic conditions, with no experience
in raising crops either in farm or garden to fall back upon,
it is worth while for the stations to begin in this primary
way. But when the bright young experimenters in our
various stations grow old in the service and look back on
the work of their lives they will hardly be satisfied if this
has been confined or largely devoted to testing tomatoes.

Garden and Forest.

461

Of course, we are assuming that these tests of varieties
are trustworthy. But, in fact, with many fruits and vege-
tables the results in one place are not true for another.
But even when these are carried out in a systematic man-
ner, with uniformity of conditions, so far as soil, seed, etc.,
are concerned, the experimenter confronts the fact that the
weather is quite outside of his control. Now, it often hap-
pens that a particular season not only affects the general
yield of the apple crop, for example, but it affects different
sorts in a different way, and, therefore, a test which does not
cover a long series of years under similar conditions is of
little use. In arecent number of the Lvpertment Svation
Record this fact is brought out inavery clearway. Itis there
stated that the test of varieties of Wheat or Corn, which covers
only one or two seasons, does not prove with any certainty
the relative adaptability of the varieties tested, even to a
particular locality. This adaptability must be based on
the average climate of the place, and such an average can
only be secured by taking a number of consecutive sea-
sons intoaccount. The Illinois station not long ago pub-
lished certain data regarding the tests with varieties of
Corn during eight years, which make this point clear. Nine
varieties were tried continuously, and a table in which the
varieties are ranked according to the yield of shelled corn
shows that the two varieties which stood lowest on the list
the first year occupied the third and fourth place respec-
tively when an average of the whole period was taken.
The variety Leaming stands No. 1 on the list for the eight
years taken together, and yet one year it stood near the
bottom. One year Riley’s Favorite and Golden Beauty
ranked respectively first and second, but-in the total aver-
age they stand last. Now, if we look over the records of
the different stations where varieties of grains, fruits and
vegetables have been largely tested, we will observe that
these are not planted and tried every year, but disappear
and reappear in the trials for different years without any
apparent reason. This means that, even for the particular
plot of ground in which it is tried in this fashion, we have
no way of forming an accurate idea of the qualities of a
given variety for an average season, while the results give
no information whatever as to the adaptability of the
variety to another section in any season.

These Illinois Wheat tests show one thing, and that is
that the comparative behavior of different varieties for one
season is no criterion for their probable relative behavior
in the same place another year. This is a fact worth
knowing, but it has been so thoroughly demonstrated that
there is little need of proving it over again, and on the
whole it is our opinion that the results of these tests are not
worth what they cost. The experiment stations have
established a great many truths in regard to dairy prac-
tice, to the feeding of animals for various purposes, to the
methods of checking insect ravages and plant diseases,
and in these and other ways they have already paid for
themselves over and over again, but we do not recall any
single benefit to cultivators that has come from even the
most carefully conducted experiment with varieties of fruits
or vegetables. We should be very grateful if some station
director would point out definite instances in which work
in this direction has proved of any great value. When we
consider the time and money that have been spent in this
way the present and prospective results ought to have some
importance. Certainly, if the views in Zhe Record are
correct the methods ought to be changed, and it is a ques-
tion worth discussing whether the practice should not be
abandoned altogether.

Tue value of commission experts in our cities, to whose
decision artistic and esthetic matters can be referred, has
lately been demonstrated in Boston by the refusal of the
Art Commission of that city to allow an inappropriate
statue to be placed in the court-yard of the Public Library.
It seems possible that the functions of such commissions
can be usefully extended over a wider and more important

462

field. Ifitis desirable to keep bad statues and other so-
called works of art out of our cities and to prevent the
erection of good ones in inappropriate places, it is certainly
more important to prevent the erection of ugly and incon-
venient public buildings suchas school-houses, court-houses
and public libraries, and ugly and badly constructed
bridges and other structures paid for by the public. The
town of Brookline, in Massachusetts, at least believes that
it is feasible to improve the appearance and character
of her public buildings by the use of artistic advisers, and
by a by-law recently adopted by the town and approved
by the court, it becomes the duty of the selectmen to
appoint a committee to whom the plans of all public build-
ings and other structures paid for by the citizens are to be
submitted for approval or rejection. This plan seems to
be a real step forward in artistic progress, and the results
of the experiment made by this small community will be
watched with interest everywhere.

Sincz the dry weather in early spring there has been
abundant moisture in this vicinity all summer through,
and the grass in lawns and pastures never grew more
sturdily ; nevertheless, we have rarely seen so many bare
spaces in the turf of our city parks or suburban lawns as
there have been during the present autumn. There may
be many causes for this. Itis certain that the Crab-grass
has been unusually aggressive, and so have certain annual
grasses and weeds, ‘and after they have died down and
turned black the natural conclusion is that they have
killed the lawn grasses and left the ground bare. But it is
clear that the trouble in many cases is deeper than this.
There are places where the brown sod can be rolled up
like a carpet and the dead grass can be pulled out by the
handful, like the hair from an animal when it is shedding
its coat. This indicates that some enemy has destroyed
the roots of the grass, a devastation largely accomplished
by cut-worms of several kinds and the larvie of different
insects. After these insects destroy the good grass, some
annual grass, like Panicum sanguinale, takes hold, but the
damage is done before the foul grass intrudes. One who
watches these bare patches may now and then see a flicker
boring into the ground, and in some cases these birds have
been driven away as the supposed destroyers of the grass.
Their presence, however, proves that the real enemies are
certain grubs upon which they feed. The difficulty is not
an easy one to remedy, and it is so serious that we have
asked Professor Smith, Entomologist of the New Jersey
Experiment Station, to give some account of the enemies
which prey upon lawns and pastures, and the first part of
his paper appears on another page of this issue.” The arti-
cle was not prepared for specialists, but it is written in such
a way that every reader will be able to identify these pests
and know how to apply the remedies so far as any effective
ones have been devised.

Conifers on the Grounds of the Kansas Agricultural
College.— IT.

HE White Pine, Pinus Strobus, has not, on the whole,

proved a success. While it is unquestionably the
most beautiful of the Pines that have been tried here, and
while it will often grow well for a number of years, it does
not seem able to endure the vicissitudes of the Kansas
climate, and eventually dies. The oldest specimens on
the College grounds at present are eleven trees on the
south side of the lower farm. The soil is here a clay
loam of about twelve inches in depth, underlaid by a red-
dish clay subsoil. These trees were sent here in 1886, being
then about four years old. At present they seem to be in
a vigorous condition, and during the season of 1896 have
made a growth from the terminal shoot of from 16 to 30

inches. “They give the following average measurement:
Height, 16% feet; diameter at the ground, 6 inches; at 2

feet, 4% ; inches, and at 6 feet, 3 inches. The largest tree

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 456.

in the group measures 2214 ec with a diameter at the
ground of 8 inches, and at 2 feet of 614 inches. In the
yard of a private house just east of the College grounds
stands the oldest White Pine in this vicinity. Professor
Mason says of it in a paper read in 1888: ‘A White Pine
in Professor Gale’s grounds, planted in 1875, and now ap-
parently seventeen or eighteen years old, is 26 feet high, 9
inches in diameter at the ground, and 6 inches at 6 ‘feet,
It is perfectly straight, and the handsomest tree of all that
I have measured.” At present this tree gives the following
measurements: “Height, 3214 feet; diameter at the
eround, 13% inches ; at 2 feet, 11 inches, and at 6 feet, 9
inches, an increase in seven years of 6% feet in height,
and 4% inches in diameter at the ground. But the top is
dead, and the whole tree shows evidence of decline. The
death of some of the White Pines on the College grounds
might be attributed to unfavorable location, but this one is
as favorably situated as it could possibly be.

The Table Mountain Pine, Pinus pungens, is perfectly
hardy here, and for ornamental planting on a large tract,
where a striking, picturesque effect is desired, it is not to be
surpassed, but it would seem to be too crooked to be valua-
ble as timber trees, and its growth is slow as compared
with the Scotch and Austrian Pines.

The Dwarf Pine, Pinus pumilis, has been planted in con-
siderable numbers for ornamental purposes, and is certainly
admirable for that use where a low-growing evergreen is
desired. It is perfectly hardy and grows very slowly.
Two specimens in front of Horticultural Hall are now,
as nearly as can be ascertained, nineteen years old, and
measure 8 feet in height, with a spread of 12 feet. It is a
tree which not only grows on very poor soil, but is very
easily transplanted. The Pitch Pine, P. rigida, is also per-
fectly hardy and forms a good straight trunk, but it grows
too slowly to be profitable here. R. GuSeare.

Agricultural College, Manhattan, Kan.

Notes on a Trip to the Dismal Swamp.

HE large tract of inundated lowland in south-eastern
Virginia known as the Dismal Swamp possesses an
interest to workers in all branches of science from the fact
that it is the first or most northern great series of coastal
swamps extending from Norfolk southward for many miles.
To the botanist such an area furnishes valuable opportuni-
ties for the study of geographical distribution and of habitat,
and mainly with this object in view I made the expedition
to the swamp last May in company with a geologist and
two ornithologists. The accompanying notes on the flora
of the region are the outcome of only two days’ sojourn in
the swamp itself.

In many parts of the area under consideration the term
“dismal” is a misnomer, as the trees are not of sufficient
size and density to exclude the sunlight altogether, or even
to give that appearance of gloom afforded by the coniferous
forests of the north. In the interior, however, especially
around Lake Drummond, certain trees, such as Acer
rubrum, Nyssa biflora, ete., attain a very great height.
The majority of the remaining trees, like Magnolia
glauca and Quercus nigra, do not exceed, for the most
part, twenty or thirty feet. The last two species, in
company with several ericaceous shrubs and the Hol-
lies, Ilex glabra and I. opaca, when intertwined with the
numerous woody vines that abound in the swamp, consti-
tute an impenetrable jungle which deties even superficial
abate unless exploring botanists are armed with
bush knives. While paddling up the Jericho Canal from
Suffolk in a dug-out we noted. several well-marked areas in
which some one of these dominant species seemed to
flourish at the expense of the others. Along the side of
the canal for the first few miles, soil thrown out in the con-
struction of the ditch forms a moderately firm bank, along
which is a good towpath. Here the Cane grows rather
sparsely, but there are numerous trees apparently not
found in the interior, notably Aralia spinosa, Sassafras

NOVEMBER 18, 1896.]

Sassafras, Rhus copallina and several Oaks. A few intro-
duced weeds, including the ubiquitous English Daisy, are
scattered along the bank.

A few miles farther we notice a gradual subsidence of
the embankment, the soil becomes more moist and the
Cane grows in dense brakes, overarching the canal and
effectively smothering the smaller herbaceous vegetation.
Soon the water of the surrounding swamp is seen to merge
with that of the ditch, and the Cane, finding no anchorage
for its tough, ligneous root-stocks, disappears almost
completely, its place being taken by masses of Wood-
wardia, which grow in from one to two feet of water, and
whose fronds attain enormous dimensions. Around the
roots of shrubs a quantity of Sphagnum lodges, mingled
with decaying sticks and herbage, thus affording condi-
tions favorable to the growth of such plants as Pogonia
ophioglossoides, Limodorum tuberosum, Mitchella repens,
Impatiens, and even Gaultheria procumbens, the flavor of
the winterberries borne by the latter being fully equal to
that of specimens from a mountain woodland farther north.

As one nears the end of the canal, shrubs and trees be-
come thicker, and the Cane is again abundant. Smilax
laurifolia and S. rotundifolia festoon the lower branches of

- the trees, while the Supplejack, Berchemia, the Fox Grape
and the Cross Vine, Bignonia capreolata, strive for the pos-
session of the lofty trunks. Fallen logs float on the surface
of the water and become converted into veritable moss
gardens, among which Polypodium polypodioides thrives.

The Bald Cypress, Taxodium distichum, is apparently
less abundant in the swamp than formerly, and of the
specimens observed by our party the majority were young.
Lake Drummond is full of Cypress-stumps, indicating that
a large number of these trees once grew within its area.
The peculiarity exhibited by this species of forming en-
larged butts, or elbows, often in connected series, is
observable to less extent in most of the arborescent vege-
tation. The knees attain greater proportions in the Cypress,
however, and seem to be designed to obviate rapid decay
and to anchor the plant firmly in the depth of water that it
prefers.

Lake Drummond, a sheet several miles in diameter, is
the centering point of the various canals and ditches pene-
trating the swamp. Apparently its waters nowhere exceed
ten feet in depth, except during the period of overflow in
the spring. Around its margins lie, perhaps, the most
densely wooded portions of the swamp, and innumerable
stumps and tree-trunks, still standing erect in the water,
tell the tale of a forest that once covered much of the
present surface of the lake.

Several interesting additions to the flora of the Dismal
Swamp have been detected of late. Dr. Britton and Mr.
Hollick found Andromeda nitida during an autumn trip to
the swamp several yearsago. Within the last two seasons
Dr. A. K. Fisher has collected Ilex lucida, and I have found
Clematis crispa in considerable quantity. Itis very certain
that a well-equipped botanical expedition would find much
of interest in the still unexplored parts of this peculiar

region, :
aekinees: DSC. Charles Louis Pollard.

Entomological.

Lawn and Grass Infesting Insects.—I.

leone cultivated in one kind of crop for many years suc-
cessively tends to attract all the different kinds of insects
that feed upon it. In some localities where Onions were
grown in times past with excellent results, the Onion maggots
now make it impossible to raise a crop. In many parts of
New York state Wheat culture was for a time abandoned,
because of the ravages of the Hessian fly. In parts of the
central west it has become impossible to grow Corn more
than two years in succession on the same ground, because of
the abundance of insects that get into it after that time.
Farmers have long known that after land has been in pasture
fora few years, or has been mowed, the grass ‘‘runs out.”’
They accept this fact and act upon it without much question-

Garden and Forest.

463

ing as to just what this running out consists of ; but in many
cases the land has become so thoroughly infested with grass-
feeding insects that the roots are no longer able to support a
growth. Insects are not confined to farms or farm-lands;
they occur wherever plants are grown in cities and villages,
and are troublesome in the back yard, in the kitchen-garden,
to the shade-trees, and even to the little patch of lawn in front
of the house. The more extensive the lawn and, in a general
way, the better kept it is, the more attractive it becomes to
insects.

Insects of almost all orders are found in grass lands, and as
there are few grass plots in which there is not also some
clover, insects infesting this plant are also more or less abun-
dant. It would be of little avail to list the dozens of species
that we may find in such places ; but it will be useful to know
something of the few that are most abundantly met with, and
that do most injury.

In the order Lepidoptera we find among the moths a series
of little species known as Crambids (see figure 60), many

Fig. 60. Crambus vulvivagellus: a, the larva or root web-worm; 4, a silken tube
above ground; c,same beneath the surface; d@, moth with wings expanded;
e, wing of a variety ; 7, moth at rest; g, egg, very much enlarged.—From Diy. Ent.,
U.S. Dept. Agl.

of which live in the larval stage on grass, either at the surface
or just below it, feeding upon the roots or cutting off the stalks
just at the level of the ground. Many of these caterpillars
spin silken tubes above or below ground in which they rest,
and from which they travel in search of food—never to any
very great distance, since they always make their home where
roots are most abundant or the grass plants most dense. The
caterpillars, like all insects living more or less concealed, are
yellowish or whitish in color, sometimes with a grayish tinge,
always more or less set with bristly hair; with a brown or
blackish head, and with the first segment behind the head
armed with a brown shield. They live and feed during
most of the summer and make their appearance in the moth
state from midsummer on, producing a second brood of cater-
pillars which emerge as moths in spring. These moths are
slender-bodied creatures, rarely more than half an inch in
length, with narrow fore wings, yellowish or brown in color,
sometimes mottled or streaked with golden and silver bands
or lines. The hind wings are always broader, but are folded
up so closely that they can be covered by the primaries, which
in turn are so closely applied to the body that the insect, when
at rest, looks like a little rolled-up cylinder, easily overlooked
when resting on a blade of grass or on the paling of a fence.
The head is quite prominent and is furnished with a pair of
long palpi which resemble somewhat a snout, giving the crea-
ture, when at rest, rather a saucy appearance. These moths
lay their eggs either upon the blades or stalks of grasses, or
drop them loosely upon the ground; the young larva in any
case making its way to the best feeding-place as soon as it is
hatched. The egg itself, while very minute, is also very
pretty, longitudinally ribbed, and the spaces between the ribs
divided by impressed lines, so thatit may be rather fancifully
compared to a chubby ear of Indian corn. The caterpillars
themselves are known as root web-worms, and where they
are abundant in grass land they cause the death of patches
here and there. It is evidence of their presence when little
tufts of grass die in places without obvious cause, the spots
increasing in size for a time, then remaining and perhaps
recovering to some extent after midsummer; while late in the
season other places show a similar appearance. If a tuft of
grass orasmall sod, from a spot just turning brown, be re-
moved, and the earth shaken carefully from the roots, these
caterpillars will be found in their silken tubes, while cut or

464

girdled roots or stalks show how the injury has been accom-
plished. In some cases we may find the caterpillar inside
the stalk of grass, or even boring in a rather large root or
crown.

In the order Coleoptera we have several species that are
troublesome on lawns and in grass land. First among them,
perhaps, may be considered the wire-worms. The term “ wire-
worm” is popularly used to designate two very different kinds
of creatures, both of which may be found in grass land, but
which have entirely different habits and life histories. One
form of wire-worm is brown or blackish, from an inch to two
inches in length, almost cylindrical, with many segments, two
pairs of legs on each segment, and a habit of curling up when
disturbed. This is one of the myriapods (see fig. 61), and

Fig. 61, A “ wire-worm” belonging to the Myriapoda, Julus cceruleocinctus.

these insects are very apt to be present where the land is very
rich, where there is much vegetable matter in the soil, and
where barnyard manure is frequently and heavily applied.
They are always associated with decay, and while they do
some injury on living plants, yet their usual food is dead and
decaying vegetable matter, including the dying roots of the
grass plants. Frequently they bite into soft, juicy tissue, and
sometimes induce a decay of which they afterward take
advantage.

The other kind of wire-worm is yellow in color, also a
slender but somewhat flattened creature, with only six legs at
the anterior part of the body, and not often exceeding an inch
in length. It does not coil up when disturbed. This is the
larva ot one of the click-beetles, or Elateride (see fig. 62), and
: is exceedingly destructive. It
feeds on living-plant tissue and
almost entirely upon the roots
of plants. The life-period isa
variable one, but is rarely less
than two, and more frequently
three, years, giving the individual insect a greater power for
mischief than is usual, while it can readily be seen that from
year to year the number of specimens mustincrease, as insects
of different stages are found at the roots constantly. A lawn
badly infested by these insects will show a poor appearance
over theentiresurface. There “
will hardly be distinct brown
patches as with the preceding
insects, but there will bea gen-
eral poverty-stricken appear-
ance over the entire surface,
and the grass will get thin and
feeble, the result of the feed-
ing of numerous larve among
the roots. When these crea-
tures become _ full-grown,
which is usually at or after
midsummer of the last year
of their larval life, they form
a little cell in the ground just
beneath the root mass, and
there change to a pupa and
soon after to a beetle, which,
however, does not become
fully matured until the spring
following. The beetles make
their appearance in May or
June, sometimes evenin April
if the season is an early one, and there are a number of differ-
ent species involved.

Click-beetles (see figs. 63 and 64), or Elateridz, are easily dis-
tinguished by their power of leaping or jerking themselves
upward placed upon their back. There is a peculiar structure
on the under side of the thoracic segments, by means of which
the insect is enabled to throw or snap itself into the air, and
from this it has received its names, click-beetle and snapping-
beetle. The eggs are
laid before July, as a
rule, in the soil in
which the future lar-
va is to find its food-
supply.

FB. Smith.

Larva of an
Elaterid, or click-beetle.—After Riley.

Fig. 62. A wire-worm.

oe,

-— ee."

Fig. 63. A common click-beetle, Meelano-
tus communis.—From Forbes’ III. Repts.

Fig. 64. Click-beetle, from side with legs removed, to
show the prosternal spine.

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 456.

New or Little-known Plants.
Aster infirmus.

()* the three North American Asters belonging to the
section Doellingeria characterized by a manifestly
double pappus with clavellate thickening of some of the
bristles of the inner series, and which was formerly in-
cluded in the genus Diplopappus, the most familiar is A.
umbellatus, a tall plant with dense corymbs of white-rayed
flowers, conspicuous in our swamps late in summer and
autumn. Less well known is A. infirmus,* though described
by Gronovius in 1739 and figured by Plukenet as early as
1720. This figure apparently remains the only one pub-
lished, with the exception of that in Willdenow’s Hortus
Berolinensis (as A. humilis), a work not generally accessi-
ble. For this reason it is hoped that our figure on page
465, made from a wild specimen growing in Lincoln, Mass-
achusetts, where it was found in abundance this season,
may prove of interest.

Aster infirmus is very distinctly marked by its slender
zigzag stem, scattered, entire ovate or obovate leaves, ciliate
on the margin, and loosely corymbose heads with few
broad white rays. It ranges from Georgia and Tennessee
to eastern Massachusetts where it is a rare and local plant.

The third species of the section, A. reticulatus, of the
Pine-barrens of South Carolina and Florida, we shall hope

to figure at some future time.
Arnold Arboretum. Gs

Cultural Department.

Bud Variation of the Concord Grape.

Vy ahi en in the Concord Grape has been noticed for a
number of years. In the Bushberg Catalogue mention is
made of a mammoth Concord that appeared twenty-five years
ago. ‘‘This,” the catalogue says, ‘‘has now proven to be
identical with the Eaton, or, at least, if not the same Grape
and of the same origin, it is so much like the Eaton in all
characteristics, habits of growth, foliage, fruit, time of ripening
and quality that the two Grapes cannot be distinguished. As
our neighbor could tell us nothing about the origin of his
Grape, but claimed simply to have received it among a lot of
Concords, we have never disseminated it nor offered it for
sale.”
Since my attention was called to these mammoth Concords,
I find, on inquiring among vineyardists and others, that they
have been noticed from time to time in many localities, but
usually no explanation is given for their appearance. Ona
recent visit to the vineyard of Mr. Walter F. Taber, of Pough-
kkeepsie, New York, the proprietor pointed out to me one of
these abnormal vines, which is certainly the result of bud
variation. Mr. Taber trains his vines on the two-arm Kniffen
system, renewing them from near the ground as soon as they
show the need of it. The renewing is accomplished by allow-
ing a suitable bud to grow that is situated as near the ground
as possible. When the new vine has attained sufficient size,
the old one is cut out and the new one is put in its place. In
this manner the vine is renewed without seriously interfering
with the continuous yield of fruit. The vine in question was
planted in a Concord vineyard and bore Concord fruit up till
the time that it was renewed, The new bud grew more vigor-
ously than the surrounding vines, and when it came into bear-
ing it produced not Concord grapes, but black grapes that are
much larger in both bunch and berry. The quality of the fruit
is inferior to that of the Concord, the pulp being watery, rather
acid and flat to the taste. The skin is tender and cracks easily.
Across the river at Middle Hope, Mr. W. D. Barns has a vine
that produces fruit that is nearly identical with that of the one
just mentioned. This vine was received by the owner in a lot
of Concord plants, and has always produced the same kind of
fruit. The bunches are very large, while the berries are char-
acterized by their large size, tender skin, watery, acid pulpand
insipid taste. Mr. Barns told me of another instance where
one vine that was purchased with a lot of Concords produced
fruit similar to the one in his vineyard. This occurred in the
vineyard of Mrs. Rose, of Marlboro, New York. The owner
propagated from the vine, and now has a small vineyard of
the variety which is known under the local name of Jumbo.

* Michaux, FV. Bor, Am, vol. iiy 109.

NovEMBER 18, 1896.] Garden and Forest. 465,

Fig. 65.—Aster infirmus.—See page 464.

Samples of these grapes were received from Mr. Taber and
Mr. Barns, and when shown to prominent vineyardists they
at once pronounced them to be the Eaton. Now, it is possible,
but hardly probable, that a single vine of the Eaton may have

been sent out in different orders of Concords from a number
of nurseries. But, since Mr, Taber's vine is a bud variety, and,
no doubt, there are others that could be proven to be, itseems
more likely that all of these abnormally large Concords are the

466

results of bud variation. From the great similarity of these
grapes to the Eaton we are led to question whether or not the
latter is not of the same origin,

These examples form an apt illustration of the well-known
facts that in many cases varieties that are practically identical
have originated almost simultaneously in widely separated
localities, and that fruits that are new to the originator are con-
stantly being introduced that closely resemble standard varie-
ties. It would seem, then, in justice to the originator of new
fruits, that one should be familiar with the origin of a variety
that has been introduced as new before pronouncing it to be

an old sort renamed.
Experiment Station, Geneva, N. Y. W. Paddock.

Carnation Notes.

ae Indian summer weather of the last few days of October
and first week in November has quite transformed the
plants in our benches. All are now promising with buds, and
the general stock never looked better at this season. Thelong
spell of dark, damp weather during September and October
was specially favorable for the spread of fungoid diseases on
Carnations, and in looking over the houses of several large
growers recently I noticed rust on the foliage of several varie-
ties. So badly, indeed, have some sorts been affected that it
has been necessary to throw the plants away. Della Fox, last
spring’s introduction, which was thought likely to supersede
the ever-popular Daybreak, is more badly diseased than any
other variety, and no one appears to have clean stock of it.
Introducers of new varieties ought to be honest enough to
state whether any kinds they are sending out have had rust.
Some growers do this, but others do not. We do not believe
any Carnation can be classed as rust-proof. It may be so in
one place and not in a neighboring establishment. I haveseen
rust on all the leading sorts, with the exception of William
Scott and Mrs. Fisher, but even these have this disease thirty
miles from here. At present Della Fox is the only kind we
grow on which rust has appeared. Wesyringe our plants with
Fowler’s Solution of Arsenic, dissolved in water at the rate of
one ounce of the solution to six gallons of water, once in four
or five days. Astronger application does not injure the plants,
but we find that wetting every plant thoroughly with a solu-
tion of this strength kills any rust which has appeared on the
leaves. This remedy cannot be claimed as a preventive, nor
can any other solution thus far tried, but we believe that a
persistent use of it will greatly minimize the evils so many
growers are regretting. It is well to look over plants carefully
once or twice a week and pick off any affected leaves which
may be seen. Careful ventilating and watering, cleanliness
and proper atmospheric conditions count for much in the suc-
cessful cultivation of Carnations, and there is less chance of
rust and other fungoid diseases getting a foothold where such
details are well attended to. Jubilee, one of Mr. Hill’s new
varieties, was badly rusted with us in September. ‘At present
it is perfectly clean and making capital growth. We have
grown it apart from all other varieties, as the introducer stated
that it took rust. We hope now to carry our plants through
the dull winter months free from disease and have clean stock
to propagate from for another year.

Our plants were staked, tied up loosely and cleaned of all
decaying foliage during October. They require looking over
occasionally to have ties readjusted. At present we keep our
plants cool and airy for the benefit of some benches of Chrys-
anthemums in the same house. When these are all cut we
try to give the Carnations a night temperature as near fifty
degrees as possible, preferring to have it a few degrees lower
rather than higher on cold nights. During bright sunny
weather, such as we now have, the benches require an
average of two good waterings ina week. The water should
run through the bottom of the benches. After tying our plants
we scattered a light dressing of well-pulverized rotted manure
and wood ashes over the surface soil. Many roots which were
running along the top of the soil are now feeding on this cov-
ering, and its benefit to the plants is apparent. No liquid
stimulants have yet been given, but about the middle of No-
vember we will commence to give the soil a light scattering of
some chemical fertilizer once a fortnight, and a moderately
weak dose of liquid cow-manure occasionally. We have been
holding a number of plants in a frame until Chrysanthemums
can be taken out of the house, when we will put fresh com-
post in the benches and plant them there. This is a conve-
nient method where bench room is limited. The plants start
to grow at once and become well established in a surprisingly
short time. We have had only light frosts in this section until

Garden and Borest.

[NUMBER 456.

now, and a bed of summer-flowering varieties outdoors are
still blooming profusely on November 3d.

Abundance, one of E. G. Hill’s introductions, seems to be.
well named. With us it is proving a persistent bloomer, both
outdoors and inside. It is of a good salmon-pink color and
quite a dwarf grower, It has good average-sized flowers, the
calyx is very stout, and when this variety is better known it
will be largely grown, Triumph, certificated at Boston in 1895,
is a good bright pink color, the flowers are much larger than
those of Abundance and produced on long, stout stems. This
promises to be a useful sort. Nicholson, which we still grow
a few of, although it has been generally discarded, gives very
large flowers at this season, but is not a satisfactory winter
bloomer here. William Scott easily distances all competitors
in its particular shade of pink and is the only kind grown to
any large extent in both private and commercial places.
Bridesmaid, which we are trying a second year, gives at this
season some beautiful, large, clear pink flowers. It did not
prove a prolific bloomer last season, however. Possibly
stronger plants propagated earlier may tend to improve it next
winter. Daybreak among ‘shell” pinks is quite badly
affected with rust this year in some places. It is still largely
grown and popular. We do not think Della Fox has any
chance of competing with it for precedence in this class.
Eldorado is proving our best yellow so far; the flowers are
large and stems and calyx all that could be desired. We are
trying Buttercup once more, but it will not give more than an
occasional flower before spring. Goldfinch we still think highly
of ; it is not equal to Eldorado in size and general excellence.
but proves a reliable color which is still but poorly repre-
sented. Armazindy, in the variegated class, is an acqui-
sition. The flowers are quite large, produced on stiff stems,
color pure white, lightly penciled with scarlet. We consider
this superior to Helen Keller. We have not grown Minnie
Cook, but patches of it which we have recently seen bear out
the favorable opinion of it formed a year ago. Hector westill
prefer to any other scarlet, but we grow a tew plants of Portia.
A good scarlet is much needed, and we hope Jubilee may
fill this need. A variety as vigorous as Portia, with larger flow-
ers, is needed. Lizzie McGowan still easily takes the lead
among several good white varieties and is doing better than
ever before. So-called improvements on this most popular of
all white varieties do not seem to make much headway in
public favor. With us it proves a constant bloomer from the
time it is placed in the benches until the following September.
Some varieties may have larger individual flowers, others may
give larger crops at times and better-formed blooms, but for
all-round excellence we prefer Lizzie McGowan to Alaska,
which is probably its strongest competitor, F. Mangold con-
tinues to be theleading crimson in this district. Meteor did
unsatisfactorily last year; at present it is yielding some fine
flowers of a very brilliant crimson-scarlet color. The flowers
are larger than those of F. Mangold, but havea tendency to
come semidouble, or even single. If well grown it is un-
doubtedly the finest crimson we have. It did not produce
sufficient fowers last year to make us think highly of it, but a
second year’s trial with more vigorous plants may improve

our opinion of it. :
Taunton, Mass. W.N. Craig,

Garden Notes.

I HAVE found the season of 1896 a very unsatisfactory one

for Gladioli. Seedlings flowering for the first time have
done very well, appearing to have greater strength than the
older sorts. Even G, Brenchleyensis seemed to find the strug-
gle against adverse circumstances almost too much for it,
while such sorts as Didon, Shakespeare and Norma gave not
a single flower. The Lemoinei varieties were little better as
a whole, while the Nanceianus kinds were exceedingly unsat-
isfactory. As for the Childsi strain, if I were to judge it by this
year’s results I should simply throw it away. I boughtin the
spring a number of named varieties of most alluring descrip-
tions, but they proved a most disappointing lot. I hope that
another year they may prove valuable, but I have never seen
reason to rate the strain very highly. I tried some of them a
few years ago and discarded them for their inferiority. They
have Saundersi for one parent and Gandavensis for the other,
and certainly cannot approach in beauty the Nancelanus kinds
which are raised from Saundersi and Lemoinei. I found the
bulblets of Nanceianus very slow to start when planted out;
of several hundred “spawn” of C. Horace de Choiseul planted
this spring only four or five grew. The Lemoinei seedlings
seem to grow more and more like the Gandavensis varieties ;
I found several among my plants this year which puzzled me; I

Novemser 18, 1896. ]

could not tell which series they belonged to and solved the prob-
lem by pulling them up so that they should belong to neither.
The best Lemoinei kind I have ever seen I flowered this year,
having just purchased it from Monsieur Lemoine; its name
is Domino Rose. It is an immense rose and white flower,
larger, I think, than any Nanceianus kind I have seen.

Victor Lemoine’s bluish kinds (he abstains from calling
them blue) are Lemoinei hybrids, and are all very striking
and very good. I prefer the two called Senateur Volland and
Firmament. [t is curious to observe that when the time
comes the same sport will occur in widely separated places.
For example, some years ago a Dahlia came up in the spring
in my garden. It was one of a row of seedlings and in some
way was overlooked when the rest were lifted, and was cov-
ered so deeply that the winter did not kill it. That spring I
imported and flowered the fine kind, Mrs. Gladstone ; it
was absolutely identical with my seedling. Single Cactus
Dahlias appeared among my seedlings the very year they began
to be noticed in England, and this year I had a blue Gladiolus,
of as decided a color as any of Lemoine’s, raised from seed
planted before I had even seen one of his varieties. Gladioli
have done as poorly everywhere in my neighborhood as with
me, but Mr. J. W. Clark, of Millis, about fifteen miles away,
made as gooda showing at Horticultural Hall on prize day as
ever. One of his spikes was the best I ever saw or heard of,
as far as length of spike is concerned; it had twenty-two flow-
ers, all fully opened and all perfect.

My stock is all lifted at last, though some of the bulbs were
in the ground at least two weeks too late. All ought to be out
of it by the twentieth of October, for when the ground gets
cold, especially if there should be much rain, the bulbs begin
to rot, the largest going first. When we leave bulbs in the
ground to try whether they will be hardy if covered, we gen-
erally find that they do not come up in the spring, the fact
being that they were dead and rotten before winter began.

I will add a note which will be an addition to our very
meagre knowledgeas to the vitality of flower seeds. Nine years
ago I gavea gentleman some Dahlia'seeds. He planted a part
of them and put the rest intoa dated paper bag. To-day he
has told me that he planted the remainder this spring, and
that to the best of his belief not one failed to grow.

Canton, Mass. : W. E. Endicott.

Indoor Work.

\A7 ORK under glass is now chiefly of a routine character,

but even this is not without interest, for each successive
season gives a better understanding of the peculiarities and
requirements of the plants. It took several years’ experience
to show that Lapageria rosea does not need a stove temper-
ature, and, in fact, will not flourish under this condition, and
that Odontoglossums do not need coddling in a warm house.
The private gardener should keep up a good stock of flower-
ing plants for cutting, and also for conservatory and house
decoration. While Chrysanthemums will continue to occupy
a prominent place fora few weeks, other plants must be bornein
mind, andamong these Rosesareimportant. Cleanliness must
always be observed in the Rose-house, and the more we learn
of fungoid diseases and insects the greater the necessity ap-
pears for absolute cleanliness. Staking and tying should be
done in the neatest possible manner, and all decayed leaves,
weeds andrubbish promptly removed. Carnations need simi-
lar attention, a support of some kind being required by nearly
allthe varieties. It large flowers are desired, disbudding must
be practiced to some extent, and abundant light and ventila-
tion, in accordance with the weather, are essential. The mat-
ter of temperature for Carnation-growing has been much
agitated of late years, and, doubtless, some varieties give better
results in acomparatively high temperature. But in a general
way it may be stated that the owers produced in a tempera-
ture of fitty degrees are usually of a much more lasting char-
acter than those grown at fifty-eight to sixty degrees, the latter
extreme being the practice of some growers. Bulbs for forc-
ing should be planted in pots, pans or flats according to the use
to which they are to be put, this operation being done just as
soon as possible after the bulbs are received. The best place
for their storage after planting is acold frame or pit. Lily-of-
the-valley of this season’s crop is not satisfactory for very early
forcing, on account of the tendency to produce flowers with-
out much foliage ; but atter New Year the foliage and flowers
will develop together with proper treatment.

A pleasant indication of advance toward a greater variety of
winter-flowering plants is noted in the offering of several
varieties and species of Ericas among the stock of the florists’
shops, as mentioned in a recent issue of GARDEN AND FOREST,

Garden and Forest.

467

and these same species should find a more extended use
among private growers. Among the best of the Heaths for
this purpose are Erica hyemalis, E. Wilmoreana, E. persoluta
in its various forms and E. hybrida, all of which are reasona-
bly easy to manage and very free-flowering. Cuttings of the
Heaths rooted during the latter part of winter or early in
spring, potted on as they need it, and later in the season
plunged outdoors in coal ashes, will usually make a substan-
tial, well-ripened growth and flower freely the following winter
or spring. The Boronias and Chorozemas are also valuable
flowering plants for the greenhouse, and easily grown under
much the same conditions as Ericas. A few pot-grown ever-
greens—for example, Retinospora plumosa aurea, Cryptomeria
Japonica and R. leptoclada—are often useful for the decora-
tion of a dark hall or other unfavorable location for plants. A
few cuttings may now be put in for this purpose. Ifa suffi-
ciently cool place cannot be had in the greenhouse, the cut-
tings should be put in a cold frame, moderately shaded and
protected from severe frost, and they will be nicely rooted by
spring if properly cared for.
W. H. Taplin.

Holmesbure, Pa.

Autumn Snowdrops.

He spite of the mild days lately prevailing, the earth has

become so cold as to check floral growth, and, excepta few
odd belated blooms, there are no other seasonable flowers in
the borders than the Snowdrops. While we are accustomed
to associate the Snowdrops with the opening of the Horal sea-
son, the Grecian forms of Galanthus nivalis, Olgz and Octo-
brensis as naturally mark the close of the year. Of these
forms the first-named is the earlier, and usually appears in
September, to be followed by the latter, as its name indicates.
Under the prevailing low temperature their blooming period
is prolonged, and they still ornament the border. They both
have the light-colored stripe down the midrib of the leaves,
which is a characteristic of all autumnal Snowdrops yet found,
This stripe is formed by the exposure of the interior spongy
cells of that portion of the leaf, and, like the analogous coloring
in the Cyclamen-leaf, is not a variegation as usually under-
stood. The leaves of Algz are broader than those of Octo-
brensis, and the bulbs and flowers rather superior in size, but
they are both very good forms of the ordinary G. nivalis. The
autumnal Snowdrops were long very rare plants, and all the
examples of Octobrensis in cultivation were for a number of
years the progeny of a single bulb found by an English Am-
bassador. If such a plant ‘‘grows wild somewhere,” some
enthusiast may be expected to find its haunts, no matter how
obscure, and lately Max Leichtlin, and perhaps others, have
made the Albanian Snowdrops comparatively plentiful. In this
prosaic age there are still people who are not absorbed in finan-
cial questions and who will go to great lengths to collect a
few plants and incidentally add to the happiness of mankind.
Only the other daya friend sent me a few seeds of a rare plant,
a fair share of the result of a private expedition of many miles
into the southern Peloponessus, the treasure-trove giving

him more happiness than many brokerages.
Elizabeth, N. J. a F. N. Gerard.

Correspondence.
Apple-twig Blight.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—In examining the trees in the experimental Apple
orchard here with the object of removing all parts affected
with twig or fire blight, Micrococcus amylovorus, it is inter-
esting to note the wide difference in the extent to which differ-
ent varieties are affected. Some will be almost, or entirely,
free from it, while others will be so badly affected that in order
not to leave any of the diseased parts it is necessary to remove
almost the whole top of the tree, and this in spite of the fact
that twice during the earlier part of the season all affected
parts were carefully removed.

Among the sixty varieties in the orchard those most severely
attacked are Lowell, Cooper’s Early White, Isham Sweet,
Smith’s Cider and Yellow Transparent, while among those
showing little, if any, damage are Celestia, Buckingham, Mam-
moth, Black Twig, White Winter Pearmain, Winesap and Ben
Davis. The last-named variety is, perhaps, as nearly exempt
from the disease as any other sort. Trees of this variety are
scattered throughout the orchard in close proximity to badly
affected sorts and in all the different soils which the orchard
affords, and which are quite variable, yet nowhere is it se-
riously affected, and usually not at all, Whether one variety

468

will be exempt in all localities, or whether the same variety
will be free in one place and attacked inanother, remains to be
seen, but, from my own observations, I judge that the former
is largely the case. If it should prove so, and if the disease
should continue as prevalent in future as it has been during
the past season, the comparative susceptibility of different
varieties will certainly have a strong influence in determining
their popularity among those planting orchards in the future.
Geneva, N. Y. HG, DearS.

Exhibitions.
Chrysanthemums in Philadelphia.

HE old building of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society,
destroyed by fire three years ago, is now more than re-
placed by a new fire-proof structure with all conveniences,
and here the annual exhibition of the society was held during
last week. Built in the style of the Italian Renaissance, the
interior, as the outside, is characterized by restraint and dignity.
While the main charm of the buiiding is in the form and pro-
portions, the decorations and coloring are likewise harmonious
and artistic. The new Horticultural Hall is a credit to the
society and tothe city. The space occupied is ninety by two
hundred feet, the front being of Pompeian brick, with three
arched doorways, above which are windows of stained glass,
where the sea-green prevails, which recurs in the interior dec-
orations. Beyond the spacious vestibule a grand stairway of
Tennessee marble divides to right and left above and leads to
a spacious landing and corridors, where the arches are sup-
ported by columns and pilastersin green. The main exhibition
room, to the west, is seventy by one hundred feet. The ceil-
ing, thirty-five feet above, is one of the most satisfying features
of this beautiful room; the walls are decorated ina warm pink-
ish tint, gold andsage-green showing in the designs and figures.
The room is well lighted on two sides. Above the platform
at the west end are three arched recesses with balconies.

In this hall were the Chrysanthemum plants, extending in
broad lines throughout its length and across the front, besides
a deep row set below the platform. The centre of the room
was occupied by two large circular groups of Orchids and
Crotons, and the side walls were pleasingly lined with masses
of Chrysanthemums and of foliage plants. A screen of yellow
flowering Chrysanthemums and Palms extended across the
front of the platform, and ended effectively at each corner in
standard plants eight feet high, crowned with immense blooms.
The arrangement was admirably simple, the dependence for
effect being entirely upon the plants and flowers on exhibition,
and the beautiful building.

Among first-prize plants were those of the white Mrs. McK.
Twombley, shown by G. Wilbur Brown, gardener to George B.
Roberts, Esq., Bala, Pennsylvania; an excellent specimen of
George W. Childs, from the same grower; Seedling No. 4, a
well-grown plant of this new yellow Chrysanthemum, from
John McCleary, gardener to William Weightman, Esq., Ger-
mantown, this being a new variety not disseminated before
1896 ; a plant of the variety Mrs. Frank Thompson, grown by
Gordon Smirl, gardener to Joseph F. Sinnott, Esq., of Rose-
mont, Virginia; and in the class of a seedling plant, best
variety, in not over fourteen-inch pot, a good pink seedling
irom the same grower. In the group of five plants, five varie-
ties, in not over fourteen-inch pots, single stems, were some
of the best specimens in the show, including plants of Elmer
D. Smith, an open flower, with petals rich deep red above and
silvery beneath; Mutual Friend was the white in this class;
in pink, Mrs. Jos. F. Sinnott and a tall luxuriant plant of
Roslyn, while a plant of the yellow Georgianna Pitcher, five
feet high and as much across, was one of the best, carrying
nearly a hundred blooms. Alexander Kerr won second prize
in this class with smaller but evenly grown compact plants of
Major Bonnaffon, Mrs. P. J. Walsh, Hicks Arnold—the only
plant of this variety seen—Mrs. Paul, Jr., and Harry May.
James McCleary won third prize with creditable plants, that of
Georgianna Pitcher being specially good, and some of these
plants were as large as any on exhibition. The class of three
plants, three new varieties, introduced to commerce during
1895, included in the winning group the pink varieties William
Simpson and Mrs. Jos. F. Sinnott, and a yellow seedling.

The plants of Chrysanthemums were distinctly better in
vigor and size and in condition of the flowers than those
shown last year, though the flowers lacked the extreme size
and often the perfect form of those exhibited in Philadelphia
previous to 1894. Nota few of the specimens reached five
feet high from the edge of the pot, and bore insome instances,
perhaps, as many flowers as those seen on the phenomenal

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 456.

plants grown by James Verner in earlier years. But the outline
of the plants was not symmetrical, and the flowers lacked
uniformity in size. The principal prize-takers were Gordon
Smirl; John McCleary; J. E. Krayer, gardener to W. B. Gar-
ett; Alexander Kerr, gardener to Mrs. P. J. Walsh; C. W. Cox
and Charles F. Evans.

The cut chrysanthemums were mainly staged in the arched
corridors about the top of the grand staircase, and here the
best opportunity was afforded to study varieties, many of the
best sorts seen here not being represented among the plants.
Among fifty blooms of fifty distinct varieties Frank Thompson
was a good pink, W. Seward a good deep red, and other excel-
lent flowers were Silver Cloud, Pluto and Maud Dean, origi-
nated eight years ago by Robert Craig, and one of the best
varieties In the exhibition. A group of fifty blooms, not over
four of a kind, comprised some of the best flowers in the
entire show, and included perfect specimens of Eugene Daille-
douze, Golden Wedding, the pink U. Bloodgood, the fine-
petaled Tora, the globular white Mrs. U. Starin, and again
Silver Cloud and Maud Dean. Among twenty-five blooms,
twenty-five varieties, were notable flowers of the terra-cotta
and gold Pluto, Louis Boehmer, and Modesto, similar to
Eugene Dailledouze, but more golden. Flowers of Maud
Dean, the largest seen in the exhibition, won first premiums
as the best vase of twenty-five pink blooms, and a new pink
seedling, Colonel Thomas Potter, of pleasing color and fair
size, won second premium for Hugh Graham. The winner
among white kinds in a similar class was Mayflower, and in
yellow, Golden Wedding. Philadelphia, the startling novelty
in 1894, was creditably shown by Hugh Graham and Samuel
J. Bunting, to whom prizes were awarded. A striking vase of
the deep golden yellow, Mrs. Louise D. Black, won first prize
for Mr. Robert Craig, and Joseph Heacock and J. E. Krayer
won silver cups with flowers of William Simpson. Mrs.
Colonel Goodman, a variety which won a national certificate
for commercial use, was shown by Mr. Charles A. Knapp, the
flowers white, globular, of medium size. A collection of sev-
eral hundred first-class flowers, not entered for competition,
from John Cullen, gardener to Percival Roberts, won a special
prize. Katherine Leech, Sunrise, Interocean and Charles Davis
were notable in this group. Joseph Heacock, Wyncote, Penn-
sylvania, won a number of first prizes for cut flowers.

A large and handsome collection of Crotons, many of the
specimens being new varieties and distinct improvements on
well-known sorts, won first premiums for Robert Craig. The
varied display of Orchids from Hugh Graham included rare and
new flowers, and won first premium, Among these were the
fragrant Zygopetalum Mackayii, Lycaste aromatica and Odon-
toglossum ornithoricum; a white variety of Dendrobium

Phaleznopsis, Oncidium varicosum Rogersii, the graceful
Vanda cerulea, Cypripedium Dibdin and Odontoglossum
coredina.

The supper-room contained only Ferns and other foliage-
plants of medium size, and the monotone of green was
admirably set off by the warm terra-cotta colored walls. A
specially interesting display of Ferns from the establishment
of Henry A. Dreer included sorts of easy cultivation for the
house, many of them varieties of Pteris, plain and crested.

One of the most effective exhibitions was a tank of Water-
lilies containing a great variety of those suitable for winter
flowering, from William Tricker, of Henry A. Dreer. Besides
the flowers of Nympheas, there were many other choice
water-plants, with Bamboos and decorative marsh-plants.
Other displays on the first floor were of coniferous plants
from the W. H. Moon Company, dwarfed Japanese evergreens
fromm Henry A. Dreer, and roses, carnations, violets, pansies,
fruits and vegetables.

The classes for this year’s exhibition have been considerably
changed, the premiums, exclusive of fruits and vegetables,
amounting to $2,773.50. The exhibition throughout was pleas-
ing and creditable, although it lacked any striking advance in
new varieties or improved cultivation.

Chrysanthemums in Boston.

| comparing the flower show held in Boston last week

with previous autumn exhibitions of the Massachusetts
Horticultural Society, the first impression was that the Chrys-
anthemum blooms have reached their limit as to size, and if
any further improvement is to be made it must be in form,
substance and color. It may be said also that there were
fewer poor blooms than ever before, and therefore the cut
flowers, taken together, were the best ever seen here. There
were half a dozen compéetitors in the class for groups of Chrys-
anthemums mixed with foliage plants, and these together

NoveMBER 18, 1806.]

made a striking effect and added much to the general good
appearance of the show. As usual in Boston, there was great
interest in the competition for twelve specimen plants. This
‘year Nathaniel T. Kidder (William Martin, gardener) again
took the first prize ; Walter Hunnewell (T. D. Hatfield, gar-
dener) took the second prize, and Mrs. B. P. Cheney (William
Barr, gardener) took the third. Even the collection which was
graded the lowest was very creditable, and consisted of a
neat lot of small plants perfectly and evenly flowered. The
twelve plants in this list were Zulinda (pink), Mrs. Robert Craig
(white), Mrs. Bishop (pale yellow), Primula (straw color),
W. H. Lincoln (yellow), Gold Dust (yellow), Sunrise (bronze),
Mutual Friend (white), a pink form of Ivory, Columbine
(bronze), raed es Bramhall (bright yellow). It ought to be
said that Mrs. Cheney sent many other specimen plants which
competed in other classes and which were good enough for
any company. Mr. Kidder’s group was of very uniform size,
with admirable foliage and in the pink of condition as to
bloom. His list of plants included Minerva ‘(yellow), Louis
Boehmer (pink), Golden Hair (yellow), Theo (French white),
Edwin Lonsdale (deep pink), W. H. Lincoln (yellow), Iora, an
admirable individual plant, although the flowers were some-
what bleached in color ; Joseph H. White (cream color), Colum-
bine (bronze), John Shrimpton (crimson), Clinton Chaffant
(yellow). Walter Hunnewell’s collection included a greater
variety of types than either of the others. The colors were
unexcelled and the plants were noticeably large; in fact, they
were too large. Plants six feet through do not allow of such
a perfect massing of color as smaller ones. It is a question
whether a specimen plant, trained with very few stakes, is not
more graceful than plants like those in the winning class
which were brought by more staking into exact form; but
certainly the rigid plants when massed together made a more
attractive show. Mr. Hunnewell’s plants were Gaza, with a
striking white Anemone-shaped flower; C. H. Curtis, Chinese
incurved; S. T. Murdock, reflexed Japanese pink; Joseph H.
White ; G. W. Childs, with large, deep-colored flowers, but a
coarse plant; Clinton Chaffant, deep yellow; Columbine, in-
curved Japanese, deep bronze; Kitty Sanders, scarlet and old
gold, a most beautiful combination of color; Cullingtordii,
crimson ; W. H. Lincoln, a mound of yellow without stakes
and six feet in diameter ; Louis Boehmer; G. Daniels, white,
tinted with pink. Mrs. Cheney filled nearly one side of the
hall with specimen plants and took prizes in almost all the
other classes, and a more even and well-grown lot has rarely
been seen. For other collections the chief prizes were taken
by S. J. Trespass, James L. Little, Dr. C. G. Weld, Walter
Hunnewell and N. T. Kidder.

Of the massed groups of Chrysanthemums, Palms and
other foliage-plants, Mrs. A. W. Blake, of Brookline, took the
first prize, Dr. C. G. Weld the second, J. W. Howard the third,
E.S. Converse the fourth, and James Comley the fifth. Of
course, the large vases filled with cut flowers were once more
a great feature of the show, and John Simpkins (William
Brydon, gardener), as usual, swept almost everything he com-
peted for. The vase of Mrs. Jerome Jones (white) was superb,
and his vase of mixed flowers, including Philadelphia, Viviand
Morel, Mayflower, Golden Wedding, Mrs. Rand and one or
two others, has rarely been equaled. The vase of mixed
blooms offered by Mrs. Cheney contained H. W. Reiman, a
Magnificent yellow; Helen Bloodgood, an extra-fine pink ;
Maud Dean, Mrs. G. West, Shenandoah, red, and FE. M.
Bigelow, crimson. Mr. Brydon’s exhibit for twenty-five
blooms contained splendid flowers of Modesto (yellow), Mrs.
Rand (yellow), Therese Rey (white), E. Molyneaux (crimson
and old gold), Niveum (white), John Shrimpton (crimson),
Florence Pullman, a noble specimen of Golden Wedding, E.
Dailledouze, R. McInnes, H. W. Reiman, Mrs. Jerome Jones,
Gladys Spaulding and Major Bonnaffon. Among the single
flowers shown by Mrs. Cheney, Ruth Ellis, with white strap-
shaped petals, was unique; Rinaldo, a handsome wine-color,
and G. A. Magee, an incurved pink, were both worthy of
mention. E. M. Wood, of Natick, had noteworthy vases of
Molyneux, Mrs. Jones, Interocean and Golden Wedding.

For the best seedling not yet disseminated, J. Eaton, Jr.,
received the prize for six pink blooms, and the prize for the
best white-flowered seedling went to the same grower. Charles
Sander was first with a seedling of any other color, and Joseph
H. White for Li Hung Chang, the best incurved variety of any
color.

Of course, in an autumn show Chrysanthemums have the
chief interest, but a bank of Adiantum Farleyense grown by
Mr. Barr was worth notice for its admirable cultivation, and so
was a vase of the new hybrid Tea Rose, Souvenir du Président
Carnot, which was sent by Mr. Asmus, of New York,

Garden and Forest.

469

and was awarded a silver medal as a gratuity. Francois
Supiot, of West Philadelphia, showed a set of new single
Violets, every one of which marked a distinct advance over
the old Russian single variety, which was exhibited for
comparison. Dr. Weld deserved the honorable mention he
received for plants of the variety Major of Browallia speciosa,
which were admirably grown and have much largerand more
beautiful flowers than those of the type.

Some complaint was made by visitors of the delay in attach-
ing award cards to the plants. It was late on the second day
of the show before it was learned with certainty who had taken
the prizes in the cut flowers, and it would seem that when a
charge is made for admission visitors have a right to know
whose plants they are admiring.

Recent Publications.

L’ Hortus Boissierianus. Par Eugéne Autran & Theophile
Durand. Genéve et Bale: Georg & Cie. Pp. 772, with por-
trait and two figures.

Edmund Boissier, the distinguished author of the Voyage
Botanique dans le midi del’ Espagne and of the Flora Orien-
dalis, was an ardent and successful cultivator of plants,
having established at his country place of Valleyres, at the
foot of the Jural Mountains, a garden which became famous
all over Europe. Boissier’s numerous journeys in the
Orient, Italy and Spain, and his excursions into the Swiss
Alps, gave him opportunities to gather roots and seeds of
many alpine plants for which the garden at Valleyres was
specially noted. From his knowledge of the conditions
under which these plants flourish naturally he was able to
devise successful methods for their cultivation, and in this
Swiss garden were seen in perfect condition many plants
which had defied the care of less successful cultivators.

Valleyres was Boissier’s summer home. In the winter
he lived on the shores of Lake Leman, where he had estab-
lished a great arboretum, into which he had introduced
many exotic trees, principally conifers. This arboretum,
which is now the property of Monsieur Barbey, the son-
in-law of Boissier, has become one of the most beautiful
and important pinetums in Europe. Boissier died in 188s,
and his son-in-law has now had prepared, under the title
given above, a catalogue of the plants cultivated by the
Swiss botanist in his two gardens at the time of his death,
that the world may be able to appreciate the extent and
character of the work to which he had devoted so much
study and labor. The catalogue, which gives a list of the
species, with the date of their publication, references to the
best figures representing them, their synonyms and geo-
graphical distribution, has been prepared by Eugéne
Autran, the keeper of the Boissier herbarium at Chambésy,
near Geneva, and Théophile Durand, curator of the Botanic
Garden at Brussels, the preface being supplied by Professor
Crépin, director of the Brussels Botanic Garden.

Some idea of the richness of these collections appears in
the fact that the number of species and varieties cultivated
in the two gardens was more than 5,000. Genera and
species of alpine and subalpine plants are wonderfully rep-
resented ; for example, there are 27 species of Ranunculus,
20 of Arabis, 13 of Draba, 26 of Dianthus, 107 of Saxifrage,
42 of Campanula, 25 of Gentian and 76 of Iris. Lilium is
represented by 30 species, Frittilaria by 35, Calochortus by
15, etc. No one unfamiliar with the preparation of a cata-
logue of this sort can form probably any idea of the amount
of labor necessary to determine correctly 5,000 species of
cultivated plants, to establish their synonyms, geographical
distribution, and to indicate the best figures which have
been published of them. The work is well done, and,
as Monsieur Crépin points out in his preface, Z’Hortus
Boissterianus, by the exactness of its determinations, is a
book which can be most advantageously consulted by
botanists and collectors, and which should occupy an im-
portant place with the best general works on garden
botany. In congratulating Monsieur Barbey on the publi-
cation of this work, Monsieur Crépin takes occasion to
remind his readers that the son-in-law of Boissier has

470

enriched science with an establishment of the first class,
the Museum Boissier-Barbey, in which are admirably
housed the vast herbarium and the library collected by
Boissier. The herbarium is growing steadily by purchase
and by collections made in different parts of the world by
travelers sent out by Monsieur Barbey for the purpose,
while to the library are added all the new works of descrip-
tive botany.

Notes

The autumn hereabout has been unusually mild and open.
Nasturtiums were blooming until they were chilled by the fall
of temperature last Friday night, and plants of Daphne Cneo-
rum are still opening their fragrant flowers as cheerfully as if
it were May. ’

No one who has a Currant-bush needs to buy plants of a
nurseryman if he wishes to increase his stock. All that is
necessary isto take cuttings of the new wood before the ground
freezes and set them rather deeply and about three inches
apart firmly in the ground where they can remain for a year,
Grapes and Gooseberries can be propagated in the same way.

An agricultural experiment station has been established at
Usambara, in German East Africa, for the purpose of investi-
gating the agricultural character of that. region and discover-
ing its adaptability to various crops. Both native and intro-
duced tropical plants are now under test at different altitudes
to decide which ones are best suited to cultivation, and when
these points haye been determined both the plants and seeds
will be supplied in commercial quantities to settlers.

Tiny young onions are coming from New Orleans, and cost
ten cents fora bunch of two dozen. Cultivated sorrel, from
Long Island, sells for seven cents a quart; large, well-grown
heads of cauliflower bring fifteen cents each, and Brussels
sprouts fifteen cents a quart. Watercress is coming from Vir-
ginia, as are peas and string-beans, Florida is also sending
the latter vegetables, with eggplants and cucumbers. There
are at present no field tomatoes in market, and the hot-house
product costs from forty to fifty cents a pound.

Fruits of the well-known Ground Cherry, Physalis pubescens,
have recently been in considerable demand in our markets by
persons who like their distinctive flavor, for preserves, twenty
cents a quart being the price. Husk Tomato, Dwart Cape
Gooseberry and Strawberry Tomato are other familiar names
for this plant, while paper-shell tomatoes is the local trade
name for the small yellow fruits. Professor Bailey’s experi-
ments with species of Physalis, published-in a bulletin several
years ago, were referred to in GARDEN AND FOREST, vol. v.,
page 108,

Mr. William Falconer, who has successfully conducted the
semi-monthly horticultural journai, Gardening, through a
hundred issues, announces in the last number of that paper
his resignation as editor. Mr. Falconer’s reason for retiring
is that his time is thoroughly occupied in preparing and car-
rying out plans for the improvement of the Pittsburg park
system, of which he is superintendent. It will be a difficult
matter for the proprietors of Gardening to find a successor
with as wide a knowledge of plants and as varied an experi-
ence in all branches of horticulture as is possessed by Mr.
Falconer.

Ata recent meeting of the Biological Society of Washing-
ton, as reported in Scéence, Dr. Irving F. Smith described a
bacterial disease of Potatoes, Tomatoes and Eggplants which
is caused by a new micro-organism which he names bacillus
solanacianum. Dr. Smith thinks this is the cause of a large
part ot what is called the potato-rot in the United States. The
organism is probably transmitted trom diseased to healthy
plants by means of insects, and in the greenhouse under
strictly controlled conditions successful infections have been
obtained by means of the Colorado potato-beetle. A bulletin
which gives an account of this parasite will soon be published
by the Department of Agriculture, and its appearance will be
looked for with interest.

Pomegranates, from Spain, as bright-colored as Baldwin
apples, are seen in many of the best fruit-stores, and cost from
fifty to seventy-five centsa dozen. The last Japanese persim-
mons of the season sell for forty to sixty cents a dozen.
Jamaica grape-truit of good quality may be had at eight to
tifteen cents each, and selected oranges, from the same
island, cost forty-five to sixty cents a dozen. Several hundred
boxes of oranges, from Punta Gorda, Florida, brought $4.50 a

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 456.

box, wholesale, last week, when $3.00 a box was an extreme
price for Jamaica oranges. Concord, Catawba and Delaware
grapes are still quite plentiful, and range from fifteen to
twenty-five cents for a four-pound basket. Showy Lady-
apples, small and of even size, bring twenty cents a quart ;
quinces, sixty-five cents a halt-bushel ; Crab-apples, seventy-
five cents for the same quantity ; and Seckel pears, from Boston,
sell for twenty-five cents a quart.

In an article on the ‘ Physiological Réle of Water in Plants,”
by Professor Edmond Gain, ot the University of Nancy, France,
and published in the Experiment Station Record, among other
practical applications of the subject, we are told that when a
given soil produces vigorous plants whose transpiration is very
active, and young plants whose organs are less developed, the
roots of the first will take up the humidity of the soil with
greater force than those otf the second. It, therefore, the soil
does not contain enough water for both, the weaker will suffer.
This is the case with Clover seeded with Wheat which suffers
in a dry spring, while Clover seeded alone makes a good
growth. Farmers continue to sow their forage seed with
cereals under the mistaken idea that the cereals are beneficial
asashade. If they would seed their torage plants alone they
would not only secure a greater yield, but in dry countries
would stand a better chance of producing a crop.

A good illustration of the fact that a variety of fruit may be
valuable in one place and comparatively worthless in another
is found in certain expert opinions gathered by Zhe Rural New
Yorker in relation to the Crosby Peach. So good an authority
as Mr. J. H. Hale says that in Connecticut the Crosby has
special value in the hardiness of its fruit-buds and its late
blooming, which enables it to escape spring frosts better than
others ; that itis inclined to overbear, but that when thoroughly
thinned the fruit is of medium to large size, and in 1895 the
largest peach grown in Connecticut was one ot this variety.
Its flavor is better than that of any yellow peach he knows,
and is the best keeper which he has shipped from Georgia.
On the other hand, Mr. Charles Wright says that it is not as
hardy in Delaware as many other varieties ; that itis too small,
even when thinned, to be of any value; that it ripens with
Reeve's Favorite and Oldmixon, both of which bring better
prices, and that therefore there is no place tor itin the Peach
orchards of the Peninsula.

The Michigan Agricultural College has issued a circular
offering to young men and women who cannot spare the time
and money foralong college course,special instruction in certain
branches of agriculture for six weeks One of these courses, de-
voted to fruit culture, embraces instruction in the propagation
of plants by various methods, the care and management of
orchards and kindred subjects; and another is devoted to
floriculture and the forcing of winter vegetables. This
last includes tuition in the construction and heating of
greenhouses, the propagation of all the leading commercial
plants, with lectures on botany, entomology and chemistry.
Students will have the advantage of competent and enthu-
siastic teachers, the great college library, the torcing-houses
and laboratories of the college, and the fee will only be $2.50
to cover incidental expenses. Inasmuch as board can be had
near the college for $3.00 a week, an opportunity is offered
for instruction at a nominal cost, and with such an environ-
ment as ought to give any young person an inspiration in his
work and yield returns a hundredfold in every way.

The crown forests of Sweden comprise more than one-
quarter of the entire wooded area of the country and are man-
aged withscrupulous care. The increase alone is cut, so that
a productive forest is to stand forever on all crown lands
that are unsuitable for cultivation. More than this, the Gov-
ernment has entered upon an extensive system of planting
trees on desolate and uncultivated areas, and these object-
lessons have induced owners of private forests, especially the
larger proprietors, to manage their timber lands so that they
will become permanent sources of income. These facts were
communicated to our Department of State by Hon. H. W.
Thomas, United States Minister to Sweden, and they are of
particular interest, not only to Sweden but also to the United
States and to Canada, whose lumber meets the Swedish prod-
uct as ils greatest competitor in the markets of the world.
Since the forests in Sweden grow slowly it has generally been
supposed that the immense quantities exported would grad-
ually exhaust this mostimportant source of the nation’s wealth,
but from the facts stated 1t appears probable that the forty-
seven million acres of forests in the country will continue to
be a source of income for all future time. The products of
the forest now comprise nearly one-half of the total exports of
the country in value,

NOVEMBER 25, 1896.]

GAKDEN AN FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

OrFiceE: TripuNE Buitpinc, New York.

Conducted by . . . =... .. +» Professor C. S. SARGENT.

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1896.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE
EorrortaL ArticLes :—Unnatural Colors in Foliage.......+s++ssees eee eres eeee ee 471
Protection of Forest Reservations against Sheep-herders.. peered 72

(With fizures. Ne
Professor F. B. Snzith. 472
FoREIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter.....++ seessseeneeeeeees W. Watson. 473
Prant Notes :—Notes from the Santa Monica Forestry Station.. Fohx //. Barber. 474

EnromovocicaL :—Lawn and Grass Infesting Insects.—II.

New or Litt.e-KNown Piants :—Nympheea stellata, var. Eastoniensis. (With
ib lals wisiele'ale’=\u slsfaitlerale,s)0\0/0le'els wa'e= emia 0m aiaicia' @nrera 474
ase of the Apple...G. Harold Powell. 474
The Protection of Strawberries. 5 Gs B75

. D. Hatfreld. 476
iske Dandridge. 476
Aeiee Jackson Dawson. 476

Chrysanthemums.........+
Broad-leaved Evergreems......-.+2- e+ ssee-eeeee
CoRRESPONDENCE :—Notes from the Arnold Arboretum

Lemons in California... ...c2.-cessees ee ereevceeeees William M. Tisdale. 477
Exuupitions :—The Fal] Exhibition of the Horticultural Society of Chicago,
LE. F. H. 478
The St. Louis: Flower Show...2.csccccscsesecccevsccees-seceseencs F.C. S. 479
RECENT PUBLICATIONS ..-.-1 se

INOTES spose es cncsiccss StecedSosderaerecenaSdsda A
Itt ustrations :—Lawn and Grass Infesting Tnsects.
Nympheea stellata, var. Eastoniensis, Fig 68,

Unnatural Colors in Fohage.

CORRESPONDENT writes us that he was never so
impressed with the beauties of our autumn foliage as
he has been during the present year, and it occurs to him
that if masses of gold and crimson leaves are beautiful in
autumn they must be quite as beautiful at any other sea-
son. He adds, that in view of what nature can do and
what nature actually does, our objection to trees with vivid
foliage seems like an affectation of severe taste. To this it
may be replied that we have no objection to Negundos
with pale leaves, or to Elders with yellow ones, or to Pru-
nus Pissardi with its so-called purple foliage, if such trees
are kept in their proper place. Nature is a good guide in
this as in other matters, and we do not see forest borders
in which a large portion of the trees have streaked or
spotted leaves or deep wine-colored ones like the Copper
Beech. This does not mean that our woods and shrub-
beries are a monotone of vapid green. From the dark green
of the Spruces and Pines to the light green of some of the
Willows, the Lead-plant and the Buffalo-berries there is
-range of color enough to give an almost infinite variety,
and yet there is nothing like what is called “striking color-
effects” by some park-makers; nothing like the large
masses of Prunus Pissardi which we sometimes see in
private grounds about American villas, or nothing like the
patches of pallor on the landscape that is so often pro-
duced in European parks by masses of white-leaved
Negundos. Any one with a sense of appropriateness can
feel the difference between a natural landscape which
catches its tone, and, indeed, its highest charm, from the
gray old Olive-trees on every hand, and an artificial park
made up of sports such as nurserymen delight to call
Atropurpurea and Aureo-marginata.

Of course, when we speak of a natural landscape as dis-
tinct from one in which the color-effects are in a sense
artificial, we remember that nature is responsible for all
these strong colors. Indeed, our correspondent’s argument
is based on the fact that at one season of the year our
woods glow with tints that cannot be matched in splendor

Garden and Forest.

47I

by the odd colors of sports which have been preserved and
propagated by gardeners. He might have added that our
trees in early spring are almost as striking for their colors
as they are in autumn. Itis true, they range through a
different scale, but the delicate pinks, soft grays and yel-

lows of the opening year are quite as distinct and quite as
beautiful as the crimson and gold ofits close. But it must
be remembered that in spring as well as in autumn these
effects vary with every day and almost with every hour.
There is that constant change which is the very life of beauty
in the landscape. We do not object to a pattern-bed, for
example, when the colors are harmoniously blended,
because it is bright and striking, nor yet because it is for-
mal, but primarily because it is invariable, and, therefore,
in time becomes wearisome to the eye. A mass of scarlet
Alternanthera and yellow Coleus on a lawn may have the
same colors as the autumn forest leaves, but it glitters
there day after day, from morning till night, in rigid same-
ness, without growth or development or change, the one
stationary spot in all the picture, while all about it is con-
stant transformation. Again, oddly-colored trees, especially
if obtrusively planted, catch -the eye at once and invite
attention to themselves instead of mingling in with the
general effect in the landscape. All summer long they
stand to distract the mind from the beauty of the scenery
with which they do not harmonize, and grow more and
more tiresome with their monotonous appeal for special
notice. A great part of the beauty of the foliage of trees
in early spring is due to its evanescence, and a forest-
covered hillside, which is glorious in the sunshine of an
October day would become wearisome rather than impres-
sive if it glowed with the same colors all summer through.

There ought to be no need of repeating that we never
object to bright colors as such in the planting of parks or
public grounds. There are few people who are not at-
tracted by amass of Rhododendrons in bloom, and cer-
tainly nothing can be brighter, but the flowers fade and fall
before they become a weariness. In spring, when our
wood borders are white with Dogwood or pink with the
blossoms of the Judas-tree, they have a special charm
which delights every beholder. But this is the beauty of a
day. The planting in parks of shrubs which are covered
with abundant flowers, like Japan Quinces and Forsythias
and Spireeas, is only to be commended. But it must be
observed that in every case the flowers vanish so quickly
that we have a feeling of sadness at losing them, and this
makes their reappearance another year a delight for which
we long. If they stared at us all summer long we would
feel grateful to the frost which came to kill them. True,
there are some shrubs and plants which flower all summer
through, and delightful ones they are. On a good plant of
Clematis crispa, for example, we can find some of its beau-
tiful bell-shaped flowers every morning, but there are only
a few of them, and they are never in sufficient abundance
to make a conspicuous display. Clematis paniculata, on
the other hand, which flowers but once, delights us with
the abundance of its bloom, which quite hides the foliage
and then disappears and leaves behind another form of
beauty.

The sum of the whole matter is that the great floral dis-
plays which we appreciate are transitory, and we > naturally
provide for one to follow the other, so that no season w ill
lack its special beauty of color. There are times when rich
and striking color appeals to every eye, but we do not think
that good “taste will commend the perpetuation of every
freak of nature or the multiplication of oddities of form or
color. These have no real place in the quiet harmonies of
the landscapes of our temperate climate. If they are used
at all they should be introduced very cautiously to empha-
size some point, and not in such abundance that they will
make war upon the general landscape-effect of this region.
Bright- hued and transitory flowers we have in abundance.
but plants with variegated and highly colored leaves are
very rare in our woods and fields. Therefore, not only to
avoid sameness, but to preserve the essential quality of

472

our landscape, we ought to follow the broad principles, at
least, which Nature plainly lays down.

Jupce Beriincer, in the United States Circuit Court at
Portland, Oregon, has recently delivered an opinion in the
case of the United States against the Tygh Valley Land and
Live-stock Company which is of the utmost importance.
The suit was brought by the United States to restrain the
defendant from trespassing on the Cascade Forest Reserve
by driving and pasturing sheep thereon. The effect of the
decision is to declare the right of the Government to pro-
tect the forest reserves by civil process, a right which the
sheep-men of Oregon have always denied. It has been
argued that an implied license to pasture on the forest
reserves had grown out of the custom which has existed
from the beginning of the Government, by which the public
lands have been used as pastures, especially those in which
the native grasses are adapted to the growth and fattening
of domestic animals. Judge Bellinger has ruled, however,
that there is a clear distinction between public lands and
lands that have been severed from the public domain and
reserved from sale or other disposition under general laws,
and that the reservation of these lands is their appropriation
to a special public use, and is, therefore, a disposal of them
so far as the public domain is concerned. ‘‘This appro-
priation,” he declared, “is for the promotion of the public
good. It is claimed for the Government that the pasturing
of these lands with sheep will injuriously affect the forests
of the reservation and thus tend to defeat the object for
which the reservation was made. The object of the reserva-
tion is the preservation of the forests of the Cascade Range
of mountains, in Oregon, and there is, therefore, no impli-
cation of a license to use the reserved lands for the destruc-
tion or injury of these forests. The Government, no less
than a private party, is entitled to have its interests pro-
tected against the threatened trespass and injury.”

Entomological.

Lawn and Grass Infesting Insects.—lII.

ERHAPS the most common and destructive of the larve

found in lawns are white grubs, the larvee of several species
of leaf-horned or Lamellicorn beetles.- White grubs, both large
and small, may be generally recognized by their plump,
wrinkled body, nearly equal in diameter or a little enlarged
toward the anal end, which terminates obtusely. They are
more or less covered with brownish hair and partially curl up
when at rest. The head is large, yellow or brown, with very
large, powerful jaws and with rather long legs of a dirty yellow
color, The body of the insect is whitish, or with a yellow tint,
from which it derives its common name. We have through-
out the eastern and central states quite a large number of spe-
cies of beetles with this kind of larvae, and among them are
many that are more or less troublesome. The larva of the
rosechafer, or rosebug, is one of these white grubs, and is
quite frequently found in grass lands on light soil. The larve
of many of the vinechafers are found in similar situations,
while those of the June-bugs or May-beetles are, perhaps, the
most common. Itis very difficult to distinguish between these
creatures, and practically it is not a matter of very much im-
portance, but there is one species which is sometimes the chiet,
if not the only, offender (see fig. 66), differentiated from all the

Fig. 66. The fig-eater, Allorhina nitida. a, the larva; 4, the pupa; c, the adult or
beetle; d, e,/, g, larval details, enlarged.—After Riley.

others by the fact that it is very densely clothed with quite long
brown hair, and if removed from its home within the soil

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 457.

travels rapidly on its back, wriggling along much more
actively than any of the other species found under similar cir-
cumstances. This hairy creature is the larva of Allorhina
nitida, also called the fig-eater, or bumble-bee beetle, from the
buzzing noise it makes during flight.

Ordinarily, when we find a white grub nearly a quarter of
an inch in diameter and somewhat more than an inch in
length, without any hairy clothing, we can take it for granted
that it is the larva of one of the May-beetles, or species of
Lachnosterna (see fig. 67). These beetles fly only at night, be-

Fig. 67. May-beetle, Lachnosterna species. 1, the pupain its earthen cell; 2,a
larva feeding on grass-roots ; 3, 4, adultor beetle from side and above.—After Riley.

ginning just as soon as it becomes dark, and continuing until
midnight or, if itis sultry, until long after that period. They
are strongly attracted to lights, and we may often notice them
about electric-lamps, or even beating against common gas-
lights. In this stage they feed upon the leaves of various trees,
and sometimes do quite considerable injury to shade-trees.
Occasionally, where a few fruit-trees are grown in a garden
more or less surrounded by lawns, they gnaw the stalks of the
forming fruit, or even of the blossoms, and so do much
damage. Before morning, in every case, they return to earth,
burrowing a short distance below the surface in some cases,
or crawling deep into grass-tufts, but, at all events, concealing
themselves completely. The eggs are laid in the ground itself
among the roots of the grass, and the larvae when they hatch
at once begin feeding, They live for two or three years in this
stage, growing very slowly, and, on the whole, not eating very
ravenously. It is only when they become very abundant that
serious injury results, or when, after Grass, Strawberries or
other plants are set, so that a comparatively few plants replace
a great number. An old sod is, however, very apt to become
infested by successive broods, and much damage may then
be done, the roots being in some cases eaten off clean, and the
grass becoming brownm on the surface and eventually dying.
Toward the end of the third summer the larve go downa
little deeper—say, from six to eight inches—excavate for them-
selves a clean earthen cell, change to a pupa, and shortly
thereafter into an adult beetle, which does not emerge, how-
ever, until May or June following. The larvee of the fig-eater
grow more rapidly, and are often much more abundant than
those of the May-beetles, and their work beneath the carpet of
sod is sometimes so rapid and so complete that the whole can
be rolled up like a rug, every fibre of the roots attaching it to
the soil having been destroyed.
REMEDIAL MEASURES.

It is always a matter of interest to determine what is causing
the injury that we observe ; but, after all, the important ques-
tion is, what can we do to checkit? Where land is kept in
grass for a year or two only, in the ordinary rotation practiced
on the farm, the insects rarely become very abundant, unless
the rotation is a bad one—that is, when grass crops follow each
other for too longa time. On lawns, where the object is to
keep the grass as long a time as possible, the difficulties are
enhanced, and where white grubs are abundant, more or less
injury will always be caused. Indeed, all the insects infesting
grass lawns will have a tendency to multiply, and entire ex-
emption from injury can hardly be expected.

One of the simplest measures is frequent cutting and roll-
ing. This has a tendency to drive off the Lepidopterous
insects that may be among the grass, and to prevent the lay-
ing of eggs. Many of the click-beetles are also destroyed by
this process and more are driven off, so that even as against
these some benefit may be had. The May-beetles, flying only

NOVEMBER 25, 1896.]

at night and remaining underground during the day, are less
likely to be disturbed, and the measure suggested is of least
benefit as against these.

The grass should be always kept well fed ; but so far as pos-
sible, after the ground has once been put into good condition
and a good lawn has been obtained, use no barnyard manure.
All insects do very much better in a soil containing a great
quantity of vegetable matter, and are least at home where
mineral fertilizers are constantly used. Lawns should be ted
almost entirely with mineral fertilizers, nitrate of soda being
used to furnish the necessary nitrogen, and kainit or muriate
tofurnish the potash. None of the phosphates in ordinary
use have insecticide qualities, so it does not much matter in
what form this is put on. Itis also a good plan when using
these fertilizers to apply them quite heavily and to make the
application during or just betore a rain, that they may be
readily dissolved and washed into the soil. No insects like
salt, and kainit contains a considerable amount of both chlo-
ride of sodium and chloride of magnesium. A great many of
the young insects are at once killed by this application, and the
others will not feel inclined to teed much so long as any trace
of it remains about them.

Where land is badly infested, especially if by white grubs, it
is a very good plan to plow or dig up the sod, and if chickens
are available, turn them in for two or three days and allow
them to pick up everything in the way of insect life that they
can find. Chickens are very fond of white grubs, and will dis-
pose of a very great number of them if given an opportunity.
If the ground be turned over more than once, so as to expose
as many as possible of the insects, the work will be the more
thorough.

It has been found practical to use kerosene on a small
scale on lawns, and with very good effect as against all
underground insects. Kerosene is, of course, a contact
poison and exceedingly effective wherever it can be brought
in touch with creatures in which the spiracles, or breathing-
pores, are not too well protected. Anemulsion should be pre-
pared in the ordinary way, that is, according to the following
formula: Hard soap, shaved fine, half-pound; soft water, one
gallon; kerosene, two gallons, Dissolve the soap in the boil-
ing water, warm the kerosene slightly, then pour the boiling
hot soap-suds into the kerosene and churn with a small force-
pump until the oil and suds are thoroughly mixed and form a
pure white, soft butter. Where the mixture is very hot and the
churning is active, five minutes will serve to prepare a perfect
emulsion, The colder the mixture and the less thorough the
churning the longer the time required to procure the butter.
This emulsion may be readily diluted with water, and using from
ten to fifteen parts of water to one part of the emulsion makes
a sufficiently active mixture to apply liberally to infested grass
lawns. It can be puton with an ordinary sprinkling pot, and
should be applied so as to thoroughly moisten the soil. If it
does not rain within twenty-four hours use a hose, if one is
available, to wash the kerosene deep into the soil, and a con-
siderable amount of water may beapplied. This will carry the
oil down, and it will kill whatever it touches there, without
hurting the roots of the grass or other plants. The addition
of water should be continued for atleast three days in succes-
sion, unless it rains sufficiently to wet from two to three inches
below the surface, or to the bottom of the grass roots. Of
course, this material is useful only on lawns, or where the
amount of land to be protected is limited. It would be alto-
gether too expensive to use in ordinary field practice, but is
very effective where it is used to protect onlya small area. An
application of this kind was made on the Capitol grounds at
Washington in 1888, under the direction of the then entomol-
ogist, Dr. C. V. Riley, and it proved a decided success. It has
been used by others on a smaller scale and always with ben-
efit. The application may be made at any time when the
presence of destructive insects working on the sod is deter-
mined. If land is at this time (November) badly infested, the
emulsion can be applied diluted ten times, and in considera-
ble quantity, so as to make certain of killing all the grubs at
whatever depth they may be. In spring the land can be
reseeded, and will then be free from insects for a time at least.
F. B. Smith.

New Jersey Experiment Station, New Brunswick.

Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.

CaMOENSIA MAXIMA. —This plant is now flowering for the
first time in a stove at Kew, where it was planted about
ten years ago in a raised border beneath which there are

Garden and Forest.

473

several hot-water pipes, its shoots being trained close to
the roof glass which faces south. Here it has grown ram-
pantly, and if unrestricted would long ago have covered a
very large area with its stems, which are produced freely all
over the bed from the thick woody roots. The flowers are
borne in a terminal erect raceme (not drooping, as hitherto
believed), and there are eight buds in each raceme, at first
covered with a rusty brown tomentum. The expanded
flowers have a greenish tomatose, tubular, five-lobed
calyx over three inches long, and white petals six inches
long, the largest, or vexillum, being four inches wide, the
others much narrower ; the margins are elegantly crisped
and colored pale gold. The odor of the flowers is power-
ful and suggestive of vanillas. This plant was introduced
to Kew in 1873, when Mr. H. Monteiro sent seeds of it from
Angola, where it was discovered by Dr. Welwitsch and
described and figured by Bentham in vol. xxv. of the Zrans-
actions of the Linnean Society. 1 am told that it is now
flowering also in two other gardens in England. It flow-
ered in Ceylon two years ago.

VANDA SANDERIANA.—Ihe largest and most floriferous
specimen of this grand Vanda ever seen in Europe was
exhibited at the last meeting of the Royal Horticultural
Society by Mr. J. G. Fowler, of South Woodford, in Essex.
It was nearly four feet high and three feet through, and
consisted of eight strong, well-leaved growths, upon which
were eleven flower-spikes, bearing an aggregate of one
hundred and twenty expanded flowers of exceptionally
large size and rich in colors ; the largest spike bore fifteen
flowers. Such a specimen of an Orchid, which at best is
a bad grower and one of the most difficult of all to import,
created quite a sensation, and was awarded the gold medal
of the society by acclamation. It was imported from Min-
danao by Messrs. H. Low & Co. about a year ago, who
attribute its exceptional growth here to the care taken of
it by their collector, Mr. Boxall, who brought it over in his
own cabin and tended it carefully all the way. Under
ordinary care this Vanda suffers severely during transport,
and is generally found difficult to establish.

CycNOCHES CHLOROCHILON is grown exceptionally well in
the Edinburgh Botanic Garden, where I lately saw a plant
which had matured pseudo-bulbs two feet long, and upon
one of them there had been two racemes, one with five, the
other with seven, flowers. Altogether, the plant bore thirty-
five flowers, all open at once, and the same pseudo-bulbs
were again pushing out racemes from the nodes below
where the others were developed. This plant is a male,
but in the same house with it was a female, which had
borne racemes of only two flowers, differing from the male
flowers in being larger, thicker, with a much shorter
column. These plants were grown in a hot-house along
with Vandas, etc., and were suspended in baskets near the
roof glass. This species has done well also at Kew this
year, where it is now in flower. The large creamy-looking
flowers are a great attraction to visitors, who are most de-
lighted when they see an Orchid-flower which suggests
some animal, and the resemblance of this Cycnoches toa
swan is quite striking.

CatrLrya Apotto.—This is a beautiful hybrid of Veitchian
origin, its parents being Cattleya Mossiae and C. Aclandie.
It is quite distinct from all other hybrids, and was awarded
a first-class certificate by the Royal Horticultural Society a
fortnight ago. It is dwarf in habit and the flowers resem-
ble those of C. Aclandiz in form and substance, while in
color they are like those of C. Mossi. The sepals and
petals are about three inches long, rose-colored, shaded
and faintly blotched with purple; the lip is broad, some-
what flattened, and is colored crimson-purple in front,
yellow at the base and a pleasing shade of rose on the
side lobes.

Cattieya Triumpu.—This hybrid between Cattleya Law-
renciana and C. speciosissima, and raised by Mr. C. J.
Ingram, was also awarded a first-class certificate. It may
be called an enlarged C. Lawrenciana, the flowers resem-
bling some forms of that species in color, but being about

474

half as large again; they are rosy lilac, with a purple
blotch on the front lobe of the lip.

AcLaoneMA Curtisu.—This is another addition to the
garden representatives of this genus which is related to
the Alocasias and appears to have its headquarters in the
Malay Archipelago. Aglaonema Curtisii was exhibited by
Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons ata recent meeting of the Royal
Horticultural Society and was awarded a first-class certifi-
cate. It forms a tuft about two feet high, with erect fleshy
oblong leaves a foot long and five inches wide, colored
deep green, blotched and streaked with a pleasing gray-
white. It resembles all the other species in its preference
for hot moist treatment and a light rich soil. We find that
all these ornamental-leaved aroids are happiest when the
soil for them is renewed annually and the mixture used is
of such a nature as to afford them plenty of nourishment
and to permit of copious waterings almost daily through-
out the summer months. In Continental gardens, where
these plants are favorites, they are grown in large numbers
together in wide pans or shallow pots.

Preris Cuitpsu.—This is one more of the numerous
seedling sports of Pteris serrulata, perhaps the most diver-
sified as well as the most popular of exotic Ferns. It was
shown as a new hybrid or sport by Mr. Childs, of New
Eltham, and received a first-class certificate from the Royal
Horticultural Society. It is of robust compact habit, the
fronds graceful and the pinne broad, these being again
divided along the margins andcrested at the tips in the
most extraordinary yet elegant plumose fashion. Appar-
ently it is barren, the exhibitor having not yet seen a frond
of it bearing sori. Fern experts, particularly growers of
market plants, looked upon it as a most valuable addition
to quick-growing decorative Ferns. There are already
dozens of well-known named varieties of P. serrulata, every
one of which would take front rank with the best of easily
grown useful Ferns.

Lozetia Gerarpi.—This is a garden hybrid of Continental
origin, its parents being Lobelia syphilitica and L. cardi-
nalis. It was first brought into notice in 1893 in the Revue
Horticole, p. 492, and it has since attracted considerable
attention on account of its free growth under ordinary
cultivation, and the attractions of its erect spikes of rich
blue flowers. It resembles L. syphilitica in habit, forming
in a few months a mass of erect leafy stems, bearing spikes
from six inches to a foot long crowded with flowers. It has
not yet received much attention in this country, but I saw
a batch of it in flower at Chiswick in August, and at the
last meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society some plants
of it were shown by Sir Trevor Lawrence and received an
award of merit. It isadistinct and useful addition to the
tall perennial Lobelias which are nowhere more at home
than when planted in wet ground near the margin of lakes

or streams.
London, W. Waison.

Plant Notes.

Notes from the Santa Monica Forestry Station.

EucaLyptus corymposa.—Two specimens of this Eucalypt,
the Bloodwood-tree of Australia, are now in bloom here for
the first time. The better one is a handsome, symmetrical
tree thirty feet in height, with a spread of fourteen feet, and
a trunk diameter (one foot from ground) of eight inches,
representing a growth of eight years from the seed. The
leaves are ovate-lanceolate, slightly sickle-shaped, glabrous,
a rich dark green in color, paler beneath, with a conspicu-
ous white midrib. They resemble somewhat the leaves of
the Sugar Gum, E. corynocalyx, but are larger, more sym-
metrically shaped and differently and more finely veined.
The new leaves are light yellowish green, with dark green
veining, and very attractive; the leaf-stalks and young
branchlets are dull crimson. The few-flowered umbels of
conspicuous white blossoms are borne in large, showy,
rather loose, corymbose panicles on the ends of the
branches, giving the tree a most ornate appearance. The

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 457.

outer layer of the bark is ashy gray, and is deciduous in
small, thin flakes, exposing the under layer, which is red-
brown, smooth and finely fissured. As an ornamental tree
E. corymbosa ranks with the best of the Eucalypti. Eco-
nomically it is of especial value in southern California for
bee pasturage at this season of the year, when bee-feed is
scarce. Its timber, however, according to Australian
authority, is not of much value, owing to the amount of
kino it contains, whence the popular name of Bloodwood.
PARKINSONIA acuLEATA.—November finds a few flowers
and not a tew buds still lingering on this strikingly attrac-
tive plant, after a blooming season lasting all through the
long Californian summer. Ours is a spreading, shrubby
specimen, about five feet in height. Its curious, bright
green, bipinnate leaves, with three pairs of long, needle-
like, winged pinne from six to eighteen inches in length,
and numerous tiny, oblanceolate leaflets, give it a very
graceful, airy appearance. This effect is heightened by
the slender, loose racemes of bright yellow, stellate flowers
on slight, but rigid, yellowish green peduncles. Botanic-
ally remarkable are the short, thick petioles, each ending
in a stout, sharp spine, and with two smaller, stipular spines
at its base. When the pinne have fallen away, the petiole
persists as a formidable spine, constituting, with the stipu-
lar spines, a horrent combination in striking contrast with -
the airy elegance of the general effect of this charming plant.
Hakea Laurtna.—On the high bluff overlooking the
station to the west is a fine, bushy specimen of this most
ornamental tree, at present in full bloom. The peculiar,
deep red and white, globular flower-heads, borne in lavish
profusion all over the tree, and well set off by the dull-
green foliage, produce astriking impression. This tree is
succeeding well on the adobe soil of the mesa lands.
Planted some ten years ago, itis now ten feet in height,
with a compact, bushy crown eight feet in diameter. It
has bloomed and borne seed for several years.
; Fohn H. Barber.

Santa Monica, Calif.

New or Little-known Plants.

Nympheea stellata, var. Eastoniensis.

YMPHZA STELLATA, often cataloguedas N. coerulea,
is one of the best of the Water-lilies, bearing a clear,
light-blue flower, delicately scented, and from six to eight
inches across. The flower which we figure on page 475
is a seedling of this plant, raised in the gardens of Oakes
Ames, Esq., and named Eastoniensis. It was shown at an
exhibition of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in
September last, where it received favorable mention. The
color of the flower is a steel-blue, and it differs from those
of the type in that it does not show so distinctly the stellate
form, the petals being broader and more rounded at the
end. The flower is somewhat larger than in the true N.
stellata; the leaves are longer, oval in shape and more
deeply toothed. The new plant grows rather more vigor-
ously than the typeand has longer and thicker flower stems.
The seeds of N. stellata were sown in December, 1895. and
the seedlings were potted up late in January, or as soon
as they could be handled and grown in a tank where the
water was kept at a temperature of about sixty-five degrees,
Fahrenheit. About the middle of June the seedlings were
planted in a shallow pond witha bottom composed of good
turfy loam, enriched with some bone-meal and well-rotted
cow-manure. All the plants grew luxuriantly, and they
were generally of the regulation form, excepting two, one
of them being this variety, Eastoniensis.

Cultural Department.
A Fungous Disease of the Apple.

T is not uncommon in Delaware to see apples dotted
with little black spots not unlike fly-specks in general
appearance. The popular name given by fruit growers to
this condition is “Blackbirds,” though the reasons for this

NOVEMBER 25, 1806.]

appellation are difficult to determine. A more appropriate
name suggested by Professor Chester would be the Fly-
speck fungus. All varieties that I have examined are
affected to a greater or less degree, and some, like the
Jackson, are often so seriously peppered with these little
specks as to injure their market value. The spots, or
“ fly-specks,” are generally grouped together, forming cir-
cles or irregular patches from a quarter to an inch or more
in diameter. The skin of the apple around these aggrega-
tions of spots becomes clouded or fogged, and when the
trouble is serious the foggy areas coalesce, giving the apple

Garden and Forest.

475

The most serious objection to the fungus lies in the sooty
appearance it causes on the fruit, which in many instances
is so marked as to injure the market value of the apple.

It may be that this will prove another disease which the
orchardist now has to combat, and if so, its superficial
character would make it easy to reach with fungicides.
Botanically the fungus belongs in the Leptostromacee, and
is described by Saccardo in his Sy/oge Fungorum. It was
first noticed by Montagne and Fries in the Ann. des Scz,
2, 1, p. 347, and called Labrella Pomi.

Experiment Station, Newark, Del.

G. Harold Powell.

Nyipha a Slellala
Eashonrenses.

Fig. 68.—Nymphzea stellata, var. Eastoniensis—See page 474.

a dark, sooty appearance. This blemish on an otherwise
perfect apple cannot be ascribed to “Blackbirds” or
Flies,” but is due to an obscure fungus called Lepto-
thyrium pomi (Mont. et Fr.), Sacc. The disease has never
been serious enough to be of economic importance, and is
not even mentioned with other fungi attacking the apple.
The effects of the fungus do not extend below the skin,
being confined entirely to the surface. It does not cause
rotting, but the tissues around the spots shrink, so that in
the worst cases the apple presents a shriveled appearance.

The Protection of Strawberries.

T is always advisable to give Strawberry beds protection in
winter, but it should be remembered that this practice is
not intended to keep the plants from severe cold, but to secure
an even temperature which will prevent alternate thawing and
freezing and the heaving of the plants. If suitable material
is used, it can be left on the beds until the bearing season to
keep the berriesclean and help to prevent the evaporation of
moisture from the soil. The best material to use for this pur-
pose depends upon its cost and convenience in different places.
Coarse stable-manure is liable to ferment, and if it does not

476

do this itis too warm and will smother the plants if put on
thickly, so that they come out in the spring blanched and
sickly. Straw of oats, wheat or rye has good points and is
nearly always available, but it is objectionable because it con-
tains seeds of weeds, and the grain itself is a weed in a Straw-
berry bed. Where good marsh hay can be found which con-
tains no foul seed, it makesan admirable covering, for it is
not easily blown off and can be allowed to remain as a safe-
guard against early frosts and as a summer mulch. Dry
leaves are also good and they are almost always to be had.

They should be scattered thinly over the bed and then held.

in place by a few corn stalks or pea brush. They, too, can
remain during the summer, and when they decay will add fer-
tility to the soil. In Maine the boughs of Spruce and Pine-
are sometimes used. They hoid the snow in place, are
sufficiently thick to be anon-conductor, and yet are not so
dense as to prevent the circulation of air. In the southern
mountain regions where there are Pine forests, the needles
furnish an ideal material. They are clean and easy to apply,
they lie so close to the ground that the wind does not move
them, and yet are sufficiently open to give good ventilation,
and even if they chance to be heaped up in places by the wind
more thickly than needed they do little harm. Besides this,
their resinous quality is said to repel insects. Indeed, so many
things are available for protection that any gardener, unless
he totally lacks ingenuity, can find something to serve his pur-
pose. The time to apply the cover is after the ground has
frozen hard, so that a cart or wheelbarrow will not cut into the

surface.
Montclair, N. J. SAG:

Chrysanthemums.

ECENTLY, a committee from the Massachusetts Horti-
cultural Society paid a visit to the greenhouse belonging
to William Nicholson, a commercial grower, of Framingham,
Massachusetts, to inspect his Chrysanthemums. Space is
valuable, and not an inch of room under glass Is wasted here.
Everything is creditably clean. Like all progressive florists,
the owner knows the value of order and cleanliness. We
did not look for exhibition blooms. The trade does not
require such. Yet we found blooms which would grace any
exhibition board, although double the number is planted in
the space required forsuch blooms. Smaller howers—that is,
smaller than they ruled some years ago—are the rule; but,
unfortunately, the same stiff character prevails. The florist
must grow flowers which pack and carry well. The retailer
requires, in addition to these qualities, that they keep and ship
well, and are easily handled. It will be some time yet before
we shall see the artistic types, without which grace, beauty
and harmony of arrangement cannot be secured. Even in
Horticultural Hall, Boston, where the greatest latitude is al-
lowed, the monotonously rigid arrangement prevails.

Decided colors are the rule. Mrs Perrin is declared to be the
best true pink-colored variety yet introduced. Ada Spaulding,
with pink and yellow shadings—a finely built, incurved bloom
—is yet a favorite. Stiffness also is its prevailing good quality.
W.H. Lincoln, a remarkably good yellow bloom of the re-
flexed Japanese type, though discarded by many growers for
lack of size, is considered one of the most profitable. It cer-
tainly is a satisfactory one to buy, Few yellow blooms last as
long when cut. S.T. Murdock isa reflexed pink, and one of
the best late virieties ofitscolor. There is something peculiar
about the appearance of the blooms under bright light. The
upper surface of the Horets glistens and refracts sunlight. Under
these conditions the blooms appear faded, but when the sunis
down they are fairly luminous. For parlor decoration it is the
ideal. John Shrimpton, a maroon of recent introduction, fills
a gap among varieties of its color. Up to the time of its intro-
duction, four years ago, the only really good dark-colored
variety was Cullingfordi. We had had others, notably G. W.
Childs, which was superb where it succeeded. It is now dis-
carded as a cut-flower variety on account of the unexplainable
habit which is best termed “burning,” though this occurs as
well in shade as sunshine. Mr. Brydon once said of another
recent introduction, William Seward, of nearly the same shade,
that it would burn in a cellar. Jolin Shrimpton, when well
grown, produces a bloom almost as large as G. W. Childs, and
does not “burn.” Moreover, it is dwarf and can be grown
on side benches with from three to four feet head-room,
Minnie Wanamaker was introduced less than ten years ago,
but is now rated as an old variety. It holds favor from the
fact that it is one of the best late white-flowered kinds that ship
well. It may be cut before fully matured, and has some value
on that account. Mrs, Henry Robinson is unsurpassed in
elegance of form and in every other way to all true lovers of

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 457.

the beautiful. The florist, however, wants a stiff stem. All
other qualities prevailing, weakness in this particular affects
its value in the market, and this it lacks. In our display at
Wellesley the blooms are allowed to bend and turn with free-
dom so long as they do not obstruct the path. Here Mrs.
Robinson is seen becomingly. Helen Bloodgood is a fit com-
panion for the last-named, and, like it, its deep, perfect blooms
of glistening rose-pink lack a rigid stem. Cullingfordi is yet
indispensable, for, while John Shrimpton comes near to it in

color tones, it is not quite equal. :
Wellesley, Mass. 1.D; Hatfield.

Broad-leaved Evergreens.

(hee experience with broad-leaved evergreens has not been
very satisfactory. Aucubas of different kinds, both the
plain green and the spotted-leaved varieties, live out-of-doors
with us, surviving the coldest winters, but they grow so slowly
that they cannot be counted on to make large bushes. Their
tops are often killed by severe frost, and thus they are apt to
lose in winter all that they gain by asummer’s growth. Also
our summers seem to be too dry for them. Mahonias do
better. They increase slowly, and do not winter-kill so badly,
though the foliage is usually damaged more or less by the
cold. The handsomest of them here is M. Japonica, but none
of them flourish with us as they do in Washington. When I
Saw, some years ago, how these beautiful shrubs were used in
decorating the public grounds in Washington I bought num-
bers of broad-leaved evergreens for our home grounds. Very
few of them have made satisfactory growth. The most beau-
tiful little tree of this class at Rose brake is Osmanthus ilici-
folium, which seems perfectly hardy without winter protection,
and grows faster than our native Holly, which it resembles in
foliage.

A group of Evonymuses of different kinds, both deciduous
and evergreen, is now exceedingly interesting. Of these the
finest was obtained some years ago from John Saul under the
name of Evonymus Sieboldii. This has far outstripped the
commoner Japanese evergreen variety ingrowth, and is now a
round, bushy shrub, four feet in height, with broad leaves,
lighter in color than those of E. Japonicus. Its foliage is sub-
evergreen in character and usually remains upon the branches
until Christmas in this climate. The fruit, as I once saw it in
Washington, is a brilliant red. My own specimen has not
fruited as yet. Its chief attraction up to this time has been its
foliage and its flowers. The blossoms of most Evonymuses
are small and insignificant, and they come at a time when so
many showy plants are in bloom that they pass unnoticed.
This is not the case with E. Sieboldii. Late in August of this
year, when scarcely any other shrubs were blooming, it was
covered with conspicuous cream-colored Howers larger than
those of any other Evonymus known to me, and so abun-
dantly produced that the little plant presented a most beauti-
ful appearance and made one of the chief attractions of the
garden at that time. The flowers are of great duration, and
even as late as the middle of October fresh buds were opening
every day. The failure to set fruit was possibly due to the
very dry weather which endured through the months of Au-
gust, September and October. I can heartily recommend this
little shrub to all lovers of beautiful plants. It seems hardier
than the common Japanese evergreen Evonymus, whose
foliage turns yellow after severe cold weather, although it
persists upon the branches until pushed off by the new growth
in spring. The tops of the branches also winter-kill, which
does not seem to be the case with E. Sieboldii, Farthersouth

this variety is said to be evergreen. ‘
Rose Brake, W. Va. 8 Danske Dandridge.

Correspondence.

Notes from the Arnold Arboretum.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—The Ilexes are fruiting with uncommon abundance
this year; the yellow-fruited torm is singularly beautiful just
now, and is admired by every one who sees it. The Evony-
muses are still beautiful, especially E. atropurpureus and the
variety Coccinea of E. Europeus. There is another variety
with white capsules, which make a striking contrast with the
scarlet arils. Pyrus arbutifolia and P. nigra are covered with
red and black fruit, making both plants as interesting at this
season as they are beautiful in flower, Celastrus paniculata
still holds its fruit, and if its branches were cut early they
would be useful for decorative purposes, as the brilliant fruit
hangs on all winter. The blue-black fruit of Memispermum

NOVEMBER 25, 1896.]

Canadense is especially large this autumn, but Berberis Thun-
bergiiis still the brightest of our autumn-berried plants, and I
can recall no other shrub of comparatively recent introduction
that has given so much satisfaction at all seasons. The Bay-
berries are more fruitful than ever this year and the bluish-gray
berries show up admirably. Rosa lucida is a mass of scarlet ;
the white fruits of Symphoricarpus racemosus are still in good
condition, while those on S. vulgaris are just coloring red.
These autumn fruits make a show that is quite as satisfactory,
and, in some cases, even more so than the flowers do earlier
in the season. Yesterday the Forsythias were flowering more
freely than they did last spring, and quite a number of flowers
could be plucked from Daphne Cneorum, Erica vagans, Loni-
cera Morrowii, Pyrus Japonica, Genista tinctoria and several

more,

Jamaica Plain, Mass. Fackson Dawsou.

Lemons in California.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :

Sir,—The lemon is not often mentioned, if at all, in accounts
of the early California orchards, and only within the last three
years has it had any standing, either actual or prospective, as
a fruit for export. An acknowledged authority on horticulture
in California, in a work published only five years ago, thus
summed up the situation, as it was then: ‘The lemon
product of California is very small. The tree is less hardy
than the Orange, and is otherwise more exacting in its require-
ments. For this reason it is probable that a much smaller
area of California is adapted to the commercial production of
the lemon. The fruit also has a grievous competitor in the
imported Sicily fruit and the popular favoritism for it, which,
like many other popular fancies, amounts toa blind prejudice.
There is, however, reason for the preference for the imported
fruit, when one considers only the relation of the common
California seedling lemon to the Sicilian fruit, for the common
California seedlings are very poor, overgrown and coarse,
deficient in acid and full of bitterness, prone to decay even
when fairly handled. But when the comparison is drawn be-
tween a few improved varieties, which are now quite largely
produced and properly cured by a few enterprising growers,
California lemons have nothing to fear from the imported
fruit, except popular prejudice. Still, there is progress being
continually made by the few growers who have confidence in
the home product, and intelligence and diligence to properly
prepare it for marketing, and they find the fruit very profitable.
It now seems assured that the next few years will bring Cali-
fornia-grown lemons into better repute and larger supply.”

This quotation contains a prophecy which is now being ful-
filled, and also some statement of the difficulties under which
California lemon growers labored only five years ago. The
growth of the orange industry was more rapid for the reason
that the Washington Navel variety was seen at once to be so
good an orange that its ultimate popularity in the markets of
the east was a question only of time and persistence. More-
over, this orange was found to be adapted to many different
sections of California. No universally accepted variety ot
lemon was known, and growers ten years ago were all at sea
as regards varieties, soil, propagation, cultivation and methods
of curing. As usual, under such circumstances, a few enthu-
siastic pioneers took all the risks, and demonstrated to slower
and more timid men what could be done with the lemon in
California. Some of these venturesome planters reaped large
rewards from their foresight. One of them, Mr. G. W. Garce-
lon, of Riverside, for several years realized as much as from
$1,200 to $1,500 an acre from his lemons. To one who did not
understand the circumstances of the case this statement would
appear fabulous. But at this time there were not enough
lemons grown in California to supply the home demand.
Very few people made even a tolerable success at curing
them, and Mr. Garcelon, who did make a success and had the
secret of keeping his lemons in storage until there were no
others in the market, sold his product in San Francisco at
$5.00 and $6 00a box. Two hundred, or even four hundred,
boxes to the acre is not an unusual yield, and it is a simple
problem to figure out the resulting profits. Mr. Garcelon was
supposed to possess some wonderful secret process of curing
because the quality of his lemons was so much higher than
that of others. He was importuned to give away or sell his
secret. Itis said that even the state tried to buy it, but, for a
long time, he refused to sell, and continued making a brilliant
success where others failed. Finally, four or five years ago,
he divulged his process, the details of which were published
everywhere in California. It was found to be not a method of
pickling, preserving or forcing, as many had supposed, but

Garden and Forest.

477

simply a system of curing with great care and attention to
handling the fruit, to temperature and to other details. This
process, with some modifications by different packers, has
been generally adopted, and has settled in great measure the
question of curing.

The Lemon is a perennial bearer—that is, it produces sev-
eral crops a year, although the largest and best crop is ready
for picking between the first of December and the first of
April. To get the best results lemons must be picked every
month—at least ten months—of the year. This fact compli-
cated the problem very much, as the individual grower, in
most cases, did not gather enough lemons at a time for a
profitable shipment and did not know how to keep them.
This difficulty, with others, as will be shown later, has been
overcome by experience and concerted action. The question
of soils and localities was for a long time discussed without
settlement. Some growers recommended a sandy loam or a
sandy, gravelly soil; others a deep, rich, red soil; others a
sedimentary, clayey loam. It has been found that the Lemon
does well on all of these soils, but my opinion is that a sandy
loam which is not too sandy is probably the best. The charac-
ter of the soil may exert some influence not yet fully under-
stood upon the curing and keeping properties of the fruit.
Some growers argued that the Lemon would not do well near
the coast, yet the largest Lemon orchard in the world, com-
prising one thousand acres, has since been planted near San
Diego, only a few miles from the coast,and San Diego County
has more Lemon-trees than any other in California. Others
contended that the Lemon would not thrive in the hot valleys
of the interior, yet it does well in San Bernardino and Riverside
counties, where the summer temperature, in the shade, is
sometimes a hundred and five degrees. Locations near the
coast which will not produce the best oranges grow very fine
lemons; but, on the other hand, in some of these localities
there is some smuton the lemons, and they have to be washed,
while those grown farther inland are much brighter and cleaner,
The Lemon is more susceptible to frost than the Orange, a fact
which must be considered wherever it is planted, but, apart
from this fact, it is doubtless true that first-class lemons can be
grown over a wider area in southern California than first-class
oranges, and that the Lemon will do well on as great a variety
of soils. Irrigation was another greatly mooted question a few
years ago. Some thought that the Lemon needed much more
water than the Orange; others thought it needed less. Com-
mon sense and experience have decided that no general rule
can be established, but that the amount of irrigation varies
with the character of the soil and the climate. Each grower
must test for himself the conditions of his own soil and loca-
tion. But the amount and timeof irrigation, as well as the use
of fertilizers, undoubtedly have great influence upon the quality
of the fruit and the time of ripening. If too much water is
used the fruit is overgrown and coarse. Irrigation deferred
until late in summer delays the blossoming and budding, and
consequently the ripening of the crop. Chemical fertilizers
alone are valuable for the Lemon. All others tend to produce
growth of wood rather than of fruit, a growth which is not
needed or wanted, as the Lemon, in many locations, grows so
fast that half of the new growth has to be cut back every year,
and to force wood-growth is simply to add to this waste.

Theory and fact, which are so often opposed in fruit-grow-
ing, were diametrically opposite in the matter of propagating
Lemon-trees. Theorists argued that the best lemons must
necessarily come from trees grown from lemon seeds, or from
cuttings taken from Lemon-trees. They saw an absurdity in
budding the Lemon, which is a sour fruit, to an Orange, the
most desirable quality of which is sweetness. Yet this appa-
rent contradiction is now universally practiced in southern
California, after years of discussion and experimentation. The
Lemon does not come true to name from seeds, and buds
which are grafted upon an Orange root produce better fruit
than buds grafted upon a Lemon root, This was long a vexed
question and is a good illustration of the fact that experience
alone can teach what is best in the growing of fruit.

Three varieties are now accepted in California as the best,
and little is heard of any others. These are the Lisbon, the
Villa Franca and the Eureka. The two former are importa-
tions from Europe; the Eureka originated in California. The
Lisbon is a thorny tree; the Villa Franca is thornless, and the
Eureka is nearly so. The Lisbon makes the largest tree of the
three and is a very prolific bearer. Its fruit is of a uniformly
medium size, is strongly acid and is a good keeper. For these
reasons it is a very popular variety, although the flavor of the
Eureka is preferred by most people. These two are more
often planted than the Villa Franca. The Eureka bears fruit
every month in the year.

478

As soon as it was seen that the lemon would become an
important commercial factor, middlemen prepared to handle
the product by erecting houses especially prepared for curing
and storing it. This lightens the labor of producers and is a
great benefit, especially to owners of small orchards. A dozen
or a thousand boxes may be taken to one of these establish-
ments and disposed of. They are either bought outright or
are packed and sold on commission for the grower. The
absolutely essential thing in gathering the crop is very careful
handling, as the slightest bruise on the skin of the lemon will
cause it to rot. Lemons are picked according to size and not
according to color—another point which had to be learned by
experience—and they should be gathered in baskets as they
are then less likely to be bruised than when picked into the
more convenient sack. Great care is taken in assorting lemons
to have them ofa uniform size, and the strictly fancy lemon is
considered to be one weighing from three to five ounces two
to three months after picking, and measuring from two and
a half to three inches from blossom to stem end, with a
nearly uniform diameter crosswise from two to two and a
half inches. A common method is to test them either during
or after picking with a ring two and a fourth or two anda halt
inches in diameter, all which will not pass through the ring
being rejected. The former size packs about 360 to the box,
and the latter 300, these being the sizes which have always
been most popular in the Sicilian lemon.

The curing and packing houses are built of cement or stone
or with double walls, the space between being filled with saw-
dust or some similar substance, so that a uniform tempera-
ture may be maintained. Free ventilation is provided for.
The lemons, after being assorted, are packed away on trays
so that the different layers do not come in contact with’ each
other. The lower the temperature and the less circulation of
air the slower is the process of curing. This may, therefore,
be regulated in such a way that the lemons are cured in a few
weeks or are kept for several months to meet the varying con-
ditions of supply and demand. After they are once cured they
willstand a great deal of rough usage and bear transportation
well. They are frequently examined while curing, and any
that show the slightest indications of deterioration are dis-
carded. A temperature of sixty degrees, with a free circula-
tion of air, cures the fruit in about four weeks. The greatest
care is taken in packing the fancy lemons for shipment.

A fair price to the producer, and one which has recently
been paid, is two cents a pound, which means $1.40 a box.
But this will necessarily vary. It has been as low as one and
one-eighth cents. Lemon-trees are planted from twenty to
twenty-five feet apart, which means as an average about one
hundred trees to the acre. A conservative estimate of the yield
is from 125 to 140 boxes to the acre, at six years of age, and four
hundred boxes at ten years of age from the planting. A yield of
five orsix boxes to the tree, when in full bearing, is not unusual.
Lemons would be profitable at one dollar a box to the grower.
To this must be added fifty cents for picking and packing,
ninety cents for freight, twenty cents for brokerage, and _ per-
haps sixty cents for waste and other expenses. If they bring
less than $3.00 a box in New York, under present conditions,
somebody is doing business at a loss, and that is usually the
grower. ie. ,

The improved varieties of California lemons are usually
conceded to be as good as those grown anywhere in the world.
They are said to have more citric acid and less “rag” than
many of the imported varieties. Their keeping qualities, as
compared with the foreignlemon, are still disputed, and it may
be that Californians still have something to learn as regards
curing. But the question of a market depends principally
upon the points of production and foreign competition. In
1895 more than five million dollars’ worth of lemons were im-
ported into the United States, or more than two and a half
million boxes. Up to the present time not more than 50,000
boxesa year have been sent east from California, this limited
quantity being, of course, in addition to the larger quantity
consumed on the Pacific coast and in adjoining territory.

A careful estimate places the number of Lemon-trees now
growing in California at a million and a quarter, nearly all of
them being in the seven southern counties of the state. About
a quarter of a million are stated to be in bearing, although
only a small proportion of these are in full bearing, a fact
which shows the very rapid growth of the industry during the
past three years. The crop will constantly increase until, five
years from now, the Lemon-trees of California should bear a
crop equal to the full volume of importations from foreign
countries. In all probability there will not be a satisfactory
market at first for the California crop and for importations
also. Butthe enterprise of the California fruit growers, which

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 457.

made a market for California oranges under equal difficulties,

will doubtless finally solve this problem, and in the mean time

the consumer will reap the benefits of keen competition.
Redlands, Calif. Wiltiam M. Tisdale.

Exhibitions.

The Fall Exhibition of the Horticultural Society
of Chicago.

HE annual fall exhibition of the Horticultural Society of

Chicago was held November roth to 14th in large rooms
which allowed effective grouping of the plants, with ample
space for their examination. The cut flowers and table ex-
hibits occupied a room by themselves, with standard and
specimen Chrysanthemums and decorative plants for orna-
ment. The three leading exhibits of Chrysanthemums were
from Nathan Smith & Sons, Adrian, Michigan; E.G. Hill& Co.,
Richmond, Indiana, and Vaughan, Chicago, and many vases
of cut flowers were exhibited by each of these growers which
showed the range and quality of cultivation. Some of the
familiar names of Chrysanthemums were missed, and others
were represented only by an occasional specimen, but in the
main the older and newer forms were quite equally dis-
tributed. Those offered in groups of six or more, and coming
most frequently into competition for awards, were largely of
newer varieties. This was especially true of the white sorts ;
the leading kinds shown, and which took most of the pre-
miums, were Mrs. H. Robinson, Mayflower and Niveum.
Many of the yellow varieties were also comparatively new, as
Major Bonnaffon, Golden Wedding and Jennie Falconer.
With pink flowers it was the opposite, for the long-tested
Viviand Morel led. This was partly true of the crimsons,
with George W. Childs, but The Bard came into close compe-
tition. The latter, from its bright color, good habit and abun-
dance of flowers, is finely adapted to bush or tree form, and
some of the specimens were effectively trained into various
forms. Mr. W. N. Rudd, of Chicago, showed several groups
of plants in six-inch pots, each flower grown to a single stem,
which was left so low as to stand without the supporting cane.
Several ranged from ten to fifteen inches high. One group of
twenty-five, the plants about twenty inches high, even in
height and size ot head, was arranged quincuncially on the
floor with neat effect, a little orchard of Chrysanthemums.
Though losing somewhat in size of flower and in foliage, these
low-grown plants are useful for decoration on stands and
tables in place of more evanescent cut flowers.

Two good white seedlings were offered by Nathan Smith &
Sons. The one named Western King was certificated, and is
a flower of good substance, similar to Mrs. H. Robinson, the
head inclined to be deeper. The other, Mrs. M. A. Ryerson,
was not entered for a certificate, being reserved, I suppose, for
some other occasion, as it was the better of the two. The
flowers were large, some terminal heads measuring thirteen
inches from side to side over the top. The stems were stiff
and adequate to sustain such heads. It has more regularity
than the Mayflower. A card attached stated the parentage to
be Snowball and Mrs. H. McK. Twombley. Both of these
flowers were pure white, open sufficiently for the individual
petals to show distinctly.

The competition among the growers of Carnations was
keen. From three to four times the table space of last year
was taken, and all but three of the twenty-two named varieties
specified by the Society for premiums were represented.
Forty-two named varieties were counted, and there were
besides several more that were numbered, some of them dis-
tinct in color and markings, especially a lot sent for display
by John H. Sievers, San Francisco, California. The forty-two
varieties were distributed in color as follows: White, nine;
pink, fourteen; red, eight; striped (with a white ground), four ;
yellow (all marked with red or crimson), seven. Most of
the standard varieties were included, and were generally so
well grown that the judges found it difficult in several cases
to decide between the competitors, so that two and sometimes
three awards were made in the same class. Of the introduc-
tions of 1896, two which obtained a first premium are worthy
of mention. Jubilee has a red flower, larger and a little darker
than Portia, but with the margins of the petals but slightly
fimbricated, or frequently entire. Triumph is a darker pink
than William Scott, and with larger blooms. Some from H.
Weber & Sons, Oakland, Maryland, measured alinost three
inches in diameter, a dimension which is made a kind of goal
by the Carnation growers. Of tested seedlings, Argyle, shown
by Stollery Brothers, Argyle Park, Chicago, obtained a certifi-
cate. Itisa pink, the shade deep, but very delicate, with a

NOVEMBER 25, 1896.]

blush of red as it ages. It comes nearest to Tidal Wave in
color, but has a softer tinge of pink. It is likely to be popular,
and has already been considerably distributed. Mrs. George
M. Bradt was again certificated for Fred. Dorner & Sons, La-
fayette, Indiana. It was even brighter in its crimson mark-
ings than in the flowers of this variety shown last year, and in
other respects holds its own well. I was interested in compar-
ing the changes in dimension of stem and calyx of the new
and old varieties. As the blooms increase in size both of these
must also enlarge. There isa steady gain in both respects,
but with some loss in other ways, for the stouter stem lacks
the grace of the more slender, old-fashioned garden Pink, and
the calyx, increasing indiameter with but little added to its
length, swells out and sometimes has a puffy appearance.

Reinberg Brothers, Chicago, and Poehlman Brothers, Mor-
ton Grove, Illinois, were the most successful cultivators of
Roses, judged by their display and the awards obtained. They
showed the principal market varieties, for growers of Roses
are evidently chary of novelties. E. G. Hill & Co. showed
the new Rose, President Carnot, a pink flower, shaded lighter
than Bridesmaid or La France, but with the pink more pro-
nounced than in Golden Gate, to which it is best likened of
any that were shown; the foliage also handsome and quite
distinct, unlike that of any variety which stood upon the tables.
The leaflets are broad oval, of a lively green above, deeply
tinged with pink beneath, and they come well up toward the
flower and make a good setting for it.

Chicago, Ill. Es. es fl.

The St. Louis Flower Show.

HE St. Louis exhibition, held November 11th to 15th, was

inferior in general effect tothat of last year, largely because
all the exhibits were on one floor and on nearly the same
level. The satisfying perspectives that were the feature of last
year’s show were missed, and the view from the gallery was
less satisfactory. There was, however, a distinct advance in
the number and quality of Chrysanthemum plants. This is true
of single-stem, pot and standard plants. Queen, white and Vi-
viand Morel, pink, led in their colors in the single-stem class,
A. Meyer, St. Louis, taking first premium for the best twenty-
five of each. The St. Clair Floral Company, Belleville, Illi-
nois, took first premium for yellow in the same class with
twenty-five flowers of their 1895 seedling, St. Clair, which was
not considered promising last year because of its weak color
and doubtful shipping qualities. As shown this year the
flowers seem firmer, but they have an undecided tint. Some
excellent single-stem plants of Harry Sunderbruch were also
shown,

In pot plants, Ivory and Channing, white, Golden Wedding
and Major Bonnaffon, yellow, Mrs. Hicks Arnold, deep yellow,
Viviand Morel, pink, George W. Childs and The Bard, crim-
son, were the leading varieties. A very good plant of Hicks
Arnold, with about 145 open flowers, was one of the best in
the exhibition and wona blue ribbon for Mr. Vaughan, Chi-
cago. Some of the best standards also came from Vaughan.
Among them, Mrs. Governor Fifer, white, and Iora, anattractive
light pink, with petals tubular their entire length, won first
premiums in their class and color. Iora, a loose artistic flower,
bore shipping better than some of the more compact flowers,
and looked fresh and pleasing to the close of the exhibition.

In cut Chrysanthemums, white and yellow flowers outnum-
bered other colors, as usual. Queen predominated among
whites, but good flowers of Niveum, Ivory, Minnie Wana-
maker, Mrs. Eagan, Mrs. H. McK. Twombley, F. Pullman and
Mayflower were seen in fair numbers, also a few of Philadel-
phia and Gretchen Buettner. One vase of a new white seed-
ling, Western King, was entered by Nathan Smith & Son,
Adrian, Michigan, in competition for the Shaw medal for ‘‘a
plant of decided merit for cultivation, not previously an article
of North American commerce.” A plant is called for this
medal, so-that it was not awarded to these cut blooms. As
seen here, Mrs. Eagan appears to keep better than either May-
flower or Florence Pullman.

Golden Wedding is decidedly the leading late yellow Chrys-
anthemum in St. Louis, Eugene Dailledouze being the favorite
early variety. There was, however, a very good showing of
flowers of Eugene Dailledouze, and, perhaps, more of the
flowers of Major Bonnaffon, but the latter were somewhat
smaller than heretofore. A few of the variety, H. G. Sunder-
bruch, appeared among the cut flowers, and I saw one bloom
of Pitcher & Manda, while no flowers of Challenge were no-
ticed in the hall. W. E. Guy, Belleville, Illinois, took first
premium for best twelve blooms of Niveum, white. Florence
Pullman gained the blue ribbon for best twelve of any one
variety. The Michel Plant and Bulb Company, St. Louis, took

Garden and Forest.

479

first premium for best twelve flowers of Golden Wedding, and
E, G. Hill for best twenty-four yellow flowers in three varieties,
with Golden Wedding, Eugene Dailledouze and Modesta.
Viviand Morel was again the only pink in point of numbers,
but a dozen enormous blooms of Indiana won the first Shaw
prize for best twelve of any variety introduced in 1894, 1895 or
1896, for E. G. Hill, Richmond, Indiana, who also took first
premium for best twenty-four pink in three varieties with
flowers of Viviand Morel, Murdock and Mrs. Perrin, as well
as for an interesting collection of twenty-four assorted flowers,
no two alike and all labeled.

As no premiums are offered for seedlings at this show,
interest in Chrysanthemums centres in the entries for the Bent
prize for “best vase of fifty, quality and arrangement to be
equally considered.” There were five entries, the two taking
first and second premiums being composed of white and yel-
low flowers. First premium was won by William Schray, St.
Louis, with a handsome arrangement of flowers of unequal
merit, of Queen, Niveum, Golden Wedding, Eugene Daille-
douze and three or four blooms of Philadelphia. The last
were not an improvement, but marred the purity of coloring
which, without them, was clean and clear. A vase of assorted
flowers from W. J. & M.S. Vesey, Fort Wayne, Indiana, that
took first premium in its section, contained the only speci-
mens of Violescent seen at the show, no entries being made for
the two premiums offered for the best twelve of that variety.

Some excellent Roses were shown. Ellison & Tesson, Mr.
Fillmore and Mr. Trillow, all of St. Louis, won first pre-
miums. Only single Violets were shown, mostly California.
In Carnations, Alaska won in the white section, with Lizzie
McGowan barred; Albertina was first among pink sorts, with
William Scott barred, while Corsair stood first among red
kinds. On the closing day Vesey Brothers, of Fort Wayne,
Indiana, exhibited a fine vase of the variety Uncle John, in
competition for a special premium offered by the Planters’
Hotel. Several seedling Carnations were shown by the same
firm, none of them named as yet. A red one, lighter in shade
than Portia, seems decidedly promising. It is of medium
fragrance, full, pleasing in color, and has, what most red Car-
nations lack, a good strong calyx. An attractive display of cut
Orchids made by Eugene Wurst, gardener to Dr. S. Brown,
Brownhurst, Missouri, comprised nearly sixty kinds; among
twenty-six varieties of Cypripediums was C. Leeanum Masar-
cleanum, the best of the many hybrids between Insigne and
Spicerianum. This is the first time the Brownhurst collection
has been directly represented at any show.

Brighton, ll. PEM Cegey:

Recent Publications.

Die nordamerikanische Holzarten und thre Gegner.
John Booth, Berlin, 1896.

In this vigorously written brochure the author renews
his well-known advocacy of the naturalization of North
American trees in Europe. He laments the fact that, not-
withstanding the importance of experimenting with their
culture was pointed out by Wangenheim and others
more than a century ago, and though the existence of noble
specimens introduced by them and scattered over Europe
bears witness to their adaptability to climatic conditions
there, no real effect on the science of forestry in the
Old World has yet resulted therefrom. He attributes this
largely to the bureaucratic opposition that all efforts in this
direction have met with in such countries as Germany,
where prejudice and, as he believes, downright ignorance
are frequently conspicuous in forestry management. This
opposition has lately found expression in an article by
Oberforstmeister Weise in the Jfindener Heften, 1894,
which serves our author as ground for a general review of
the matter. In his criticism of Herr Weise’s position he
displays a knowledge of the subject and its literature that
attracts attention, though his enthusiasm sometimes leads
him to unnecessary severity. But he pleads his case with
ability, and his enthusiasm seems often warranted. The
relegation of many of the most valuable trees of the United
States to the service of mere park ornamentation in Europe,
when they have stood the test of soil and climate for a cen-
tury, is, in his view, a serious mistake, and has resulted in
a real loss to Germany, where the natural poverty of the
forest elements might be relieved by the use of much
valuable material from North America.

Von

480

Notes.

Sixteen car-loads of grapes from California were sold here
last week, the varieties being Flame Tokay, Cornichon and
Verdell. Tangerine and Mandarin oranges, from Florida, are
occasionally seen, and, more abundantly, grape-fruit of good
quality, from that state and from Jamaica.

Vegetables Under Glass is the title of a little pamphlet just
issued by Henry A. Dreer, Philadelphia, giving the essential
directions for vegetable gardening in winter, and explaining
how to make the most of hot-beds, cold frames and forcing-
houses in order to raise all the ordinary garden crops for home
use or for market. The book is clearly written and well illus-
trated by reproductions of photographs. It contains some-
thing like ninety pages, and costs only twenty-five cents.

Akebia quinata is one of those climbers which holds its
foliage fresh and green long after freezing weather has set in,
so that wherever a screen is needed it is one of the very best
of plants to use. Its beautiful five-pointed leaves persist
nearly all winter in sheltered places, so that it is practically an
evergreen in such situations. The foliage starts early in
spring, and the oddly shaped chocolate-colored flowers are
very interesting. In short, few climbers have a greater num-
ber of good qualities.

Mr. Eckford, who has produced so many interesting varie-
ties of Sweet Peas, is offering his novelties for the season of
1897 at twenty-five cents a packet, instead of sixty cents for a
packet of twenty seeds. Many enthusiasts in the cultivation of
Sweet Peas have been disappointed at the weakness of some
of these high-bred seedlings and at their lack of distinctness
when compared with other varieties, and a decreased demand
may be one reason for the reduction; but, no doubt, another
reason is that California has sucha favorable climate for grow-
ing Sweet Peas that a large stock of any novelty can be quickly
worked up on our Pacific coast. .

The last number of Zhe Gardeners’ Chronicle which has
reached us gives a portrait of the inflorescence of Camoensia
maxima, the noble tropical climber which Mr. Watson re-
ports in his London letter in another column of this journal,
as flowering simultaneously at Kew and in two private gar-
dens in England. The large mill-white petals with their frilled
edges of gold are of thin texture and therefore quite fugacious,
and the ornamental rim soon turns to a dingy brown, Of
course, the flower has less value in the gardener’s eyes on
account of these circumstances, but as they appear abundantly
in clusters and open in succession, a large plant in bloom is a
striking object and justifies the eulogium which Welwitsch
bestowed upon it as he saw it growing in Angola.

Roman Hyacinths and the Paper-white Narcissus are just
beginning to appear in the decorations of the florists’ windows,
which have been unusually beautiful during the Chrysan-
themum season now passing away. Of course, there wiil be
Chrysanthemums in the market until the holidays, but it is evi-
dent from the appearance of the flowers that a great majority
of them have passed their prime, and they have lost the crisp
look they wore a week ago, The season has been perceptibly
shortened by the high temperature and bright sunshine which
prevailed during the early part of November. Of the varieties
used for show purposes in the windows, Maud Dean has been
the favorite, while the new Rose, Souvenir du President Carnot,
is also used in almost every shop in the fashionable quarter of
the city, primarily because itis new, perhaps, but itseems to be
considered by the florists a variety of much promise. A west-
ern correspondent writes us, however, that this Rose, as shown
at the St. Louis exhibition, was not very favorably received.
It was criticised for a lack of decision in color and of fullness
in flower.

Writing of the autumn colors of certain plants, Mr. Joseph
Meehan says that Vitis Coignetiaz, which turns to such rich
autumnal colors in its Japanese home, and which in some
parts of the country has lived up to its reputation, has failed
altogether to show any beauty in its foliage at Germantown.
The leaves behave exactly like our own fruiting Grapes—thatis,
they turn brown and fall to the ground. Mr. Meehan also has
a good word to say of oursomewhatneglected Rhus (aromatica)
Canadensis, which is so useful where a low growth is needed.
It changes to beautiful colorsin mid-November after the leaves
have fallen from all our other Sumachs. The Asiatic Rhus
semialata Osbecki does not coloratallinGermantown, although
its autumn foliage is said to be beautiful in Japan. We may
add that in this vicinity its leaves turn brown, or, rather, shrivel
up, and fall so early that one suspects that they are preyed

Garden and Forest.

{NUMBER 457.

upon by some fungous disease. Its large, cream-colored
flower-clusters, which appear very late in the season, give it
some value at that particular time, but there are many more
desirable trees.

Considering the large importations of Jamaica oranges
which have been selling slowly and at a loss almost all of the
season, the untimely haste of California orange growers in
shipping their fruit east seems unwise. The idea of the
California growers appears to be that the loss of the Florida
crop has made a scarcity which has not been supplied.
There has been intense rivalry in the orange-growing sections
of California in the matter of making the earliest shipment,
and the first car-load was forwarded from the foot-hills near
Glendora, in the southern part of the state, on November 8th,
and from Porterville two days later, with shipments to follow
daily. Recent rains and cool nights are said to be favoring
the ripening and coloring of the fruit, but there can be little
doubt that these oranges are not matured and properly ripened
and that the fruit is thus at a disadvantage. Florida oranges
are now regularly in trade here, consignments of several hun-
dred boxes having been received during the past few weeks,
besides a car lot. The crop of that state is estimated at 125,000
boxes. From Jamaica 127,784 barrels have already reached
this port, besides Mexican oranges, the first car-load of which
was sold here last week. New Messina and Valencia oranges
are already on the way to this country, these shipments marking
the opening of the season for Mediterranean oranges,

The displays of vegetables for the Thanksgiving season,
while not unusual in any respect, are not only varied and
beautiful, but instructive, as showing the resources of the
country at this season, for almost all the offerings are from the
United States. Hot-house tomatoes, from Pennsylvania and
Massachusetts, sell for thirty-five cents a pound, and these are
now supplemented by the field-grown product trom Key West,
which brings twenty cents a pound. Selected Florida cucum-
bers sell readily for five cents each, and perfectly grown ones
from hot-houses near Boston, where the cultivation of this
vegetable is a specialty, cost ten cents. Eggplants, from the
south, are less plentiful than they have been, but can be had
for fifteen and twenty cents apiece. Cauliflower, owing to the
open season, is abundant and excellent in quality, and ranges
from ten to twenty-five cents each, according to size. Celery,
from near-by points, western New York and Michigan, is
within easy reach of buyers, costing forty cents to $1.00 for a
dozen stalks. String-beans, from South Carolina, Georgia and
Florida, vary largely in quality, and consequently in price ;
bright fresh wax-beans, carried by express, bring fifteen and
twenty cents a quart. Peas have advanced in price on account
of recent frosts, some shipments from Virginia having been
badly frozen. The best cost seventy-five cents a halt-peck.
Pumpkins prove perishable in the dealers’ hands, and are kept
with difficulty beyond this time of year. Those now in stock
cost twenty to forty cents each. Hubbard and Boston Marrow
squashes, from this locality, cost ten to twenty cents each, and
white summer squashes, from Florida, ten to fifteen cents.
Other staple vegetables, cheap and plentiful, are parsnips and
carrots, which cost twenty cents a dozen, and oyster-plant, ten
cents a dozen. Potatoes are in large supply, but the quality is
said to be under the average, much of the stock being rough
and coarse. Choice smooth varieties, insound condition, bring
thirty-five centsapeck. Sweet potatoes, from Virginiaand New
Jersey, sell for twenty-five cents a half-peck. Red and white
onions cost seven to ten cents a quart, and the large sweet
Spanish onions, sixty cents a dozen. Jerusalem artichokes find
slow sales at fifteen cents a quart. The true and more highly
appreciated artichokes now coming from France maintain the
uniform price of twenty-five cents apiece. A vegetable offered
now by some of the best greengrocers, and a comparative
rarity here, is the cardoon, the stalks of Cynara Cardunculus,
originally from southern Europe. While not largely cultivated
in England or America, this vegetable is highly esteemed on
thecontinent of Europe asa wholesome esculent; the blanched
stalks and inner leaves are prepared as asparagus is, or used
for salads and in soups. The tall plants cost seventy-five cents
each. Okra, from Louisiana and Florida, may be had for fifty
cents a hundred, and peppers, from the south, at forty cents a
dozen. Turnips, white and yellow, cost twenty cents a half-
peck; domestic Brussels sprouts, fifteen to twenty cents a
quart, and those from France, twenty-five cents a pound;
beets, five cents a bunch, and cabbage, ten cents a head.
Radishes, parsley, chervil, chives, mint, watercress, horse-
radish, escarolle, corn salad, lettuce, spinach, kale and curled
endive, sold as chicory, are included among greens and condi-
ments in season now. Cranberries cost fifteen cents a quart.

DECEMBER 2, 1896.]

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

OrriceE: TripunE Buitpinc, New York.

Conducted by 0 = s 6 = s « « « » Professor C. S, SARGENT.

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1896.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Eorrortat ArtTIcLEs :—Pruning Shrubs...
Gratuitous Seed Distribution
The Study of Varieties of Fruits and Vegetables... Professor L. F. NEj
PAN Garton NearsU Kia Nel wes hrece icles cesielei saciaiies «0s s60's andes Carl Pray, 482
ForREIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—Edinburgh Botanic Garden....... -W. Watson. 483
New or Litt.e-KNown Piants:—Aspidium simulatum, Davenport. (With
fiotine:)sossne as + Apne nee
CuLTURAL DEPARTMENT :—-Greenhouse Notes SeEHAG
INOLESODGROSESis sein ston oeniamisisineecs.c80c
Desirable Bulbous Plants
Yucca Gloriosa.........
TriSi Ma CLOSIPNONs ave sjeisiae oss 6 ssisivisiscinacies aces
CorRESPONDENCE :—Notes on the Vermont Apple Crop
Dendrolene as an Insecticide -...-....cse0+-
RECENT PUBLICATIONS ..-.-. se
BENE S029 mete tee terete tats late coteretetatelaye ar ltnerate ba cloisisferemin <3
]LLUSTRATION = :—Aspidium simulatum, Davenport, Fig. 69..

aan es E. O. Orpet. 486
seceee de D. Hatfield. 487
si seeeW A. Taplin. 487
we eee. Joseph Meehan. 488
S¥islaisheid bayieisis Carl Purdy. 488
. Professor F. A. W laugh. 488

Pruning Shrubs.

VERY year, and often in the course of the year, asa

tule, we have inquiries as to the proper method of
pruning shrubs, and we have explained more than once
the best practice as fully as was possible in a brief com-
pass. Nevertheless, continually recurring inquiry deserves
repeated answers, and, although we have nothing new to
say, it may not be amiss to discuss the subject briefly once
more. It is a hopeful sign for American gardens that the
use of deciduous shrubs has increased so largely within
a few years. Our climate is peculiarly favorable to the
growth of flowering shrubs, and when we learn to give
them deep rich soil and cultivate them as they deserve
their value will be more generally appreciated. As far
as pruning is concerned, the most cruel way to treat
them is to turn an untrained laborer loose among them
and direct him to ‘‘trim them intoshape.”” Sometimes the
man-of-all-work will shear every one off at an even height,
like the top of a hedge, or he will aim to get every one into
the form of a cone or hemisphere, his idea of beauty being
that every shrub should be shaped exactly like its neighbor.
Of course, each plant to be at its best should develop its
special graces in the line of its natural growth, and this
primary law is defeated in shrubbery where every indi-
vidual is cut to one pattern. This formal shearing not only
destroys the shrub’s beauty of outline, but it lessens the
power of the plant to produce flowers and fruit and weakens
its constitution.

There are two or three elementary rules which are to be
observed when the production of flowers is primarily de-
sired. Shrubs which blossom early‘in the spring form their
flower-buds the year before and ingeniously protect them
during the winter with a warm covering, so that they
are ready to open with the early days of spring sun-
shine. Any one who will cut off the twig of a Peach-
tree in the winter or of an early- flowering Spirea and
put it in water will understand this, for the flowers will
expand in a few days after it has been brought into a
warm room. Obviously, if the branches of such shrubs
are cut hard back in autumn, all the flower-buds are cut
away and there is no bloom in the spring. If, however

Garden and Forest.

- George EL. Davenport. 484

481

the branches are cut back immediately after the flowering
season is over, this will encourage the growth of new shoots
from buds near the base of the branch and these will grow
rapidly to take the place of the part that has been lost and
cover themselves with flower-buds for another year.
Another class of shrubs, like the Hydrangeas, Althaeas and
certain Tamarisks, which flower in late summer or autumn
from buds which have developed on the wood grown dur-
ing the current summer, should be pruned in late autumn
after flowering or, at least, before the wood starts in the
spring, so as to encourage abundant summer growth and
flower-buds for the next autumn. But these are the simplest
elementary rules and relate solely to the production of
flowers. Shrubs are useful for many other purposes than
merely to display their blossoms. They are beautiful all
the year round, Even in the winter the variously colored
barks of many of them add a singular charm to the land-
scape. We, therefore, prune them, not only to promote
the production of flowers, but of wood and foliage and
fruit as well, to insure grace or symmetry of outline, and
to make them vigorous and healthy.

The simple cutting in of flowering wood in spring or
fall is thus a small part of the art of pruning, and where
there is a large variety of shrubs there is no time of
year when something in this direction cannot be done, and
itis especially useful when it is continued throughout the
entire growing season. If surplus wood is to be removed,
a clean cut in midsummer will heal over much more readily
than it will in cold weather, and there is no better time for
removing superfluous branches or for shortening in over-
vigorous shoots which interfere with the symmetry of a
specimen. Some trees and shrubs whose branches bleed
when cut in spring will heal over quickly if pruned while
in full leaf. If the strong branches are pinched back in
summer the wood will ripen into such a sound condition
for withstanding cold that trees naturally tender have been
known to endure our winters fairly well when their
branches had been properly stopped. This summer pinch-
ing is especially useful in wet seasons, when otherwise the
wood keeps growing late in autumn and is caught se freez-
ing weather ina soft and sappy condition. It also dis-
courages upward growth where this is undesirable, and
tends to develop fruit- buds, so that shrubs and trees will
bear fruit at an éarlier age when they are properly pinched
back. For the same reason shrubs will ripen their fruit
more perfectly when the stronger shoots above it have been
stopped.

Just how much to cut is a matter to be learned by expe-
rience. Sometimes the best way to renovate a shrubbery
is to cut many of the plants to the ground and let them
start anew. In others a very severe pruning is often ad-
visable. If every annual shoot of the large-panicled
Hydrangea is cut back in autumn or early spring to a
couple of eyes the growth next year will be very vigorous,
and even after the new shoots start, if all the weaker ones
are rubbed out, enough will remain, each one carrying an
immense flower head at its extremity, to completely cover
the shrub with bloom. But it should not be forgotten that
too much pruning weakens plants. When florists began to
sell long-stemmed Roses they soon discovered that they
were selling the vitality of the plant as well as the flowers,
and they learned to give a long period of rest to the weak-
ened plants which were to produce another crop, so that
they might recuperate their exhausted energies. Every
one has “observed how abundantly the foliage starts out
from the stump of an amputated branch of a Silver r Maple,
for example, but this is not a proof of increased vigor. In
reality it is a signal of distress, and shows that the tree has
aroused itself to an extra effort to svEPU the places of the
organs of nutrition of which it had been robbed. A young
plant carefully pruned when it is set out in good ground,
with room enough to grow in, will sometimes need, as it
grows, to have interior branches cut away for the admis-
sion of light and air, and the over-strong shoots pinched
backed in midsummer and dead wood carefully removed.

482

Little more will be required, as a rule, except to shorten in
judiciously the howering wood after bloom, and under this
treatment shrubs will develop into their best form and
flower abundantly year after year.

Aw instructive paragraph in the forthcoming report of
Secretary Morton refers to the gratuitous seed-distribution
by the Government, which he had attempted to regulate
and place on a rational basis in accordance with the pur-
pose of the law asit was originally enacted. Unfortunately,
his good intentions were thwarted by Congress, and he
reports that for the year ending in June he has contracted
for seed to the value of $130,000. Prices were low last
year, but they are still lower this year, so that the quota of
each Congressman will be double what it was in the year
1896, and will contain enough seed to plant about three hun-
dred acres instead of 16314 acres, as was the case last year.
Careful estimates show that at retail-price valuation these
seeds would amount to more than two million dollars, and
it is no wonder that the retail seedsmen of the country
made an effort by injunction to prevent the Department
from purchasing seed to be used in competition with their
business. This injunction, however, was denied, and thus,
as the Secretary remarks, the great privilege of gratuitously
furnishing garden and flower seeds to a small per cent. of
the people out of the money raised from the revenue of all
the people is preserved by the members of Congress and
the officers of the Department of Agriculture. Of course,
there is no more reason why Congress should scatter seed
around in this loose way than there is for distributing flan-
nel shirts or liver pills or stove polish. But, nevertheless,
the seed distributed this year will be sufficient to plant 230
square miles of ground, and will, therefore, employ in its
distribution sixty mail cars. Last year the seed would
have planted a strip of ground a rod wide and more
than 36,000 miles in length. This year the increased
appropriation would plant a strip of this width which
would reach three times round the globe, and the cost of
carrying this four hundred and odd tons of seed through
the mails will be something like $150,000. We unite with
the Secretary in regretting sincerely this unnecessary and
wasteful expenditure of public money. It is a national
disgrace that Congress does not put a stop to the wretched
business.

The Study of Varieties of Fruits and Vegetables.

N connection with the criticism upon Variety Tests at
the Experiment Stations, which appeared in a recent
editorial in GARDEN aND Forest, I should like to call atten-
tion to two ways in which a garden collection of the varie-
ties of a cultivated species may be tised with profit.

First, in tracing the progress that has been made in im-
proving the species during a given period, sucha collection
is indispensable. The importance of knowing just how a
species is inclined to vary, and what value has been placed
on certain variations that have occurred, is apparent when
questions relating to the further improvement of the species
are considered. This is especially true when these values
have been passed upon by a jury of thousands of compe-
tent gardeners and their customers. As the birth-rate of
new varieties in the trade greatly exceeds the death-rate of
the old, it is possible to bring together in a garden col-
lection about all of the varieties of a particular fruit or
vegetable that have enjoyed any degree of popularity dur-
ing a period of fifty years or more. And in the absence of
both exact descriptive literature and museum specimens we
must goto such a collection in order to compare what are
considered the most highly developed forms of a species
at the present time with those that were considered the best,
five, ten, twenty or fifty years ago.

Second, in sifting out the less important singularities of
the different sorts from what may be termed the specific
traits of the cultivated form of the plant, the garden collec-
tion of varieties can furnish information that is not obtain-

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 458.

able elsewhere. In making generalizations concerning
such matters, as the disorders to which plants of a species
are subject, or the atmospheric or soil conditions that are
either favorable or antagonistic to the performance of the
vital functions of the plants, it is important that oneshould
not be misled by varietal eccentricities. The popularity of
varieties is often of short duration, and it is in no wise cer-
tain that the successor to the variety of any fruit or vegeta-
ble that is looked upon most favorably at the present time
will be an offspring of that variety, or even of the parents
of that variety. It may come from quite a different branch
of the species. Consequently, a comprehensive study
should include the distinct forms, and so far as all of the
varieties have traits in common, these may be considered
in generalizations relating to the species as a whole. Vari-
etal peculiarities which are of a less permanent character
should not materially influence such generalizations, but
be associated with the variety or varieties to which they

long.
belong LI. F. Kinney.

Rhode Island Experiment Station.

A .Cafion near Ukiah.—I.

| KIAH VALLEY is the bed of one of an ancient chain

of lakes which formerly extended along the upper
course of Russian River, in the heart of the Coast Range
of northern California. By a process of silting on the one
hand and cutting down their outlets on the other, these
lakes had, at the time of the first white settlements some
forty years ago, been reduced to mere ponds, which were
soon drained. In the table-lands about the foot of the
steep surrounding mountains the banks of the old lakes
may beseen, while their beds are rich alluvial lands. Ukiah
valley is eight miles long, with an extreme width of three
miles. On the east and west itis hemmed in by high ranges
which rise to twenty-three hundred feet above the sea and
seventeen hundred above the floor of the valley. The
range to the west is abruptin ascent and deeply cut by
great cafions, or gorges as they would be called east of
the Rockies, down which in winter torrential streams flow,
while in summer there are living streams fed by springs.
Here, as well as elsewhere in California, almost all of the
precipitation of rain is between October and April. During
that period from thirty to fifty inches fall, while between
May and October scarcely enough falls at any time to lay
the dust. Each of the cafions of this section has its dis-
tinctive features, dependent on soils, slope, exposure,
moisture, and the angle at which the sun strikes it. In the
Sierras large areas have substantially the same soil and
support about the same class of vegetation. In this part
of the Coast Range the soils change at short intervals suf-
ficiently to affect vegetable life. The mountain regions
have been so torn by upheavals, landslides and the action
of heavy rainfall, that the soil is hardly the same in any
two consecutive spans of a hundred yards each.

The mountain west of Ukiah marks the most distant
point from the ocean reached by the Redwood forest. A
few of these trees are found on the edge of the valley,
others are scattered along the mountain streams, and on
cool slopes there area few small groves, but on the east side
of the valley not one is to be seen. For fifty miles north
and south the same condition exists. Even where the Rus-
sian River is narrowed to a gorge, and Redwoods dip their
branches in its water on the west side, not a single tree
has crossed the stream. All of the trees which are its
attendants, except the Tanbark Oak, Quercus densiflora,
are found in abundance on the east side of the river and
chain of valleys.

One of the most beautiful and varied of the cafions on
the west side debouches into the valley about a mile below
Ukiah, and is locally known as Doolan Cafion. For a half
mile before it enters the valley its floor is a vale a few hun-
dred yards wide. Starting from the stream the slope is at
first gentle, but quickly changes to abrupt hillsides, which
tise to high headlands on either side, A beautiful

DECEMBER 2, 1896.]

mountain stream has formed tiny alluvial flats, in
which California Laurels and Alders luxuriate and have
grown to great size. Here and there are groves of Red-
wood, the trees fifty to seventy feet high, straight and
beautiful. They seem at first to be seedlings, but examina-
tion shows the stumps of big trees which were cut in the
‘* fifties,” and around each is a grove of sprouts. I know
of no finer place to find the rate of this second growth, and
hope to give measurements from these groves later on. In
places the Wild Grape has overgrown Alder, Redwood and
Laurel so completely that scarcely a leaf of the host can be
seen. At all times when in foliage these masses of vines
are striking, but in the fall the color of the leaves is gor-
geous and there is nothing in our woods to equal their
brilliancy.

The headland on the south side of the cafion is densely
clothed with trees. On the cool slopes the Black Oak,
Quercus Californica, predominates, but Douglas Spruce and
Madrofia are abundant and their evergreen habit prevents
the woods from ever seeming bare. The timbered land
extends less than half a mile up the slopes to the south and
then gives way to a dense and practically impassable mass
of trees from fifteen to thirty feet high, mingled with tall
shrubs, all in the greatest variety. The Mexican name for
this dense growth is Chapparal, and by that name it is
known throughout the state. It covers millions of acres
of the high slopes on the north sides of the mountains of
the Coast Range. The mountain sloping to the north of
the cafion, and facing south, is grassy, with scattering trees,
mostly Post Oak, Q. Douglasii, a deciduous Oak with
small lobate leaves and white bark. It thrives in hot places
and dry lands, and usually forms a small tree, although
occasionally three feet through. At less than half a mile
from the stream the grass and trees give way to the Chemi-
sal or Chemise Brush. Imagine slope after slope, hill after
hill and mile after mile of low dense brush of a uniform
blue green, which from the valley seems as smooth in out-
line and as close-cropped as a lawn, and gives to every
mountain the same rounded outline, and you have Chemise
Brash, Adenostoma fascicularis. Thisin winter. Imagine the
same soft monotony of color and outline, with only a little
more tawny a shade given by its dried-up flowers, and you
_have the appearance in summer and fall. Close at hand,

Chemise is fully as dense, but not nearly as smooth, as it
looks froma distance. Covering nearly all of the higher
mountain of the east half of the Coast Range it is a world
of itself and deserves separate treatment.

An old sled road, made by the pioneers who cut the Red-
woods so long ago, leads up the cafion. In some places
it is overgrown, in others washed away, but a good walker
can follow it, and if he loves nature he will be well repaid
in any season, for between the high slopes of Chemise on
the one side, and of Chapparal on the other, is enclosed a
floral treasure-house, richer from the impassable surround-
ings. I have loved and traversed this cafion for years, yet
on my last trip I found a beautiful spot of whose existence
I had never dreamed.

In the early spring the first flowers show in the warm
Oak woods. The very earliest is Cardamine pausisecta, with
beautiful leaves purple beneath, and fragrant white flowers.
It is soon followed by our Cowslip. The form here is
Dodecatheon Hendersonii, which, to my eye, is prettier
than the much praised D. Clevelandii of the south. It is
especially abundant at the edge of the Chemise Brush and
in any little open place in it, and forms large beds. The
plants which the children call Chocolate Lily, and which
botanists know as Fritillaria lanceolata, grow freely in the
Oaks and flower in late March. Its graceful habit atones
to some extent for its dull flowers. It has been remarked
that it should be grown with the waxy white bulb in the
air, for this is covered thickly with pearl-like grains and is
really beautiful. Soon, Buttercups, Ranunculus macran-
thus, the Nemophilas and a multitude of other plants fol-
low in the midspring bloom. Up this little gully shaded
by Live Oaks and Spruce, on arocky ledge among the Fern

Garden and Forest.

453
and Poison Oak, are thousands of Dog-tooth Violets, Ery-
thronium giganteum. The recurving petals measure two
to two and a half inches across, creamy yellow in color,
with an orange centre, and occasionally banded with
maroon. The leaf-mold which has gathered in the rocky
débris quite meets the needs of the plants.

In their seasons two Irises beautify the cafion. In the
gritty soil of the Oak woods along the warmer part of the
cafion and among the Manzanitas of the warm south slopes
I. macrosiphon grows in abundance, and it seems to thrive
in the hottest and driest places. It forms large clumps of
hundreds of plants, the wiry rhizomes spreading until, in
some cases, the dense clumps measure three feet across.
It flowers in May and June, bearing many small but hand-
some flowers in shades of blue, lilac and purple. IL
Douglasiana is quite different. Its home is where the
little vale ends by the steep cafion-sides. There in the
deep and rich débris which has accumulated at the foot of
the slopes it is at its best. Its leaves are long and glossy,
the mats not crowded, and frequently few-stalked. The
base of the leaves is rosy. Its exquisite flowers are large
and few, borne well up, the ground-color creamy or ochre,
with purple veining, the texture heavy and exquisitely
frosted. I have seen no Iris to equal them in beauty.
They grow even better in my Fern-bed than in the woods.

Ukiah, Calif. Carl Purdy.

Foreign Correspondence.
Edinburgh Botanic Garden.

BOTANIC GARDEN was founded in Edinburgh in

1670 by Doctor (afterward Sir Andrew) Balfour. Mr.
James Sutherland was the first Curator and Professor of
Botany, and, according to a catalogue prepared by him in
1683, there were some three thousand species of plants
cultivated there. This garden has long since disappeared,
the site being now occupied by the North British Railway.
A second garden was established in Leith Walk in 1763,
but this grew to be unsuitable, and in 1819 the present site
in Inverleith Row was purchased. At that time the gar-
dens were about fourteen acres in extent. By 1870 the
area had doubled, and at the present time the garden
occupies about fifty-five acres of uneven ground about two
miles from the centre of the town. In 1889 the Edinburgh
Garden was included in the Royal Parks and Gardens,
under the management of the Commissioners of Her
Majesty's Works and Public Buildings, and was thus
placed on all fours with Kew as a national establishment,
supported by public funds. It has an annual grant of
about £4,500, and has a Director, styled Regius Keeper,
curators, etc. It differs from Kew in being an adjunct of
the University of Edinburgh, and large class-rooms, labora-
tories, museums, etc., are devoted to the teaching of botany
to from two to three hundred students. It also possesses
a large herbarium and a well-stocked library.

Professor I. Bayley Balfour, the present Director, has
done much to improve the gardens both ina popular anda
scientific sense. The grounds have been remodeled and
the collections of trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants
strengthened and rearranged. The old glass houses have
nearly all been replaced by new and admirably planned
structures of the most approved pattern, and the museum
collections overhauled and set in order.

An excellent library and reading-room has been provided
for the use of the garden staff. The active, energetic
spirit and enthusiasm of the Director pervades the whole
establishment, and any one who knew the Edinburgh
Botanic Garden ten years ago cannot fail to notice the
great improvement that has been made since that time.
The Government authorities have been liberal in granting
funds for the required alterations, some £10,000 having
been spent in new works, and about another £5,000 will
be needed before all that is contemplated is accomplished.

The alpine collection and rock garden at Edinburgh have

484

always been famous for extent and excellence of cultivation.
This is partly due to the favorable character of the climate.
The rockery is not picturesque, but it provides accommoda-
tion for an enormous collection of all kinds of choice plants,
and therefore serves the main purpose of such a structure.
It occupies a slope upon which mounds have been thrown
up and the stones arranged somewhat formally, so as to
provide about four thousand pockets. Such genera as
Primula, Veronica, Silene, Gentiana, Sempervivum and
Saxifraga are very largely represented. Dwarf trees and
shrubs are planted here and there among the stones. The
herbaceous plants are arranged similarly to those at Kew,
namely, in long narrow beds running parallel to each
other on a lawn in an open part of the garden.

Among the trees Coniferee are the most noteworthy,
while the collection of Ericaceze is exceptionally rich. A
small pond for aquatics is as remarkable for the large col-
lection of plants it contains as for its inartistic shape. The
new plant-houses are excellent in design and they are
stocked with collections of well-grown plants of all kinds,
from succulents toeconomic plants, from Orchids to Ferns ;
long corridors filled with climbers, and from one side of
these start houses at right angles, the sheds, etc., being on
the other side. The old Palm-house has been greatly im-
proved by pulling out the sides, and all round it is a sloping
annex. This has resulted in a house exceptionally well
adapted for the cultivation of all kinds of tropical
plants, and although it is only about two years since
the alteration was made the contents of the house are
generally splendid examples of good cultivation. With the
exception of a shelf extending all round the side of the
annex for the accommodation of pot-plants, the whole of
the space is occupied by beds of soil in which the plants
are planted. Numerous successes have already been
achieved in this house in the flowering of rare plants and
the robust growth of recalcitrant ones. The roof is fur-
nished with a large collection of climbers, all luxuriating as
a gardener loves to see them. Combretum purpureum,
Odontadenia speciosa, Camoensia maxima, Momordica
mixta, Corynostylis hybanthus, Ipomcea Horsfalliz and
Aristolochia gigas are specially noteworthy. Cycads of
all kinds appear to delight in being planted out, while such
plants as Randia maculata, Rudgea macrophylla, Napoleona
cuspidata, Coccoloba pubescens and Acacia sphcerocepha
have grown witha luxuriance never seen before. In one
of the large greenhouses Restio subverticillatus is repre-
sented by a magnificent specimen ten feet in diameter, the
horse-tail-like stems being seven feet long. Gleichenias, in
the same house, are equally remarkable for size and vigor.

Orchids, of which the collection comprises about nine
hundred species and varieties, are generally in good condi-
tion. The collection of Masdevallias formed by the Mar-
quis of Lothian, while- preparing his monograph of the
genus, has now become the property of the Edinburgh
Botanic Garden., Begonia President Carnot planted out,
the stems trained against the roof-glass in a warm house,
has grown to a large size and in October bore pendent
heads ofrich rose-red flowers nearly a foot in diameter, the
leaves being about a foot long. Nepenthes, Droseras, Dar-
lingtonias, Sarracenias and other insectivorous plants are
a special feature in this garden. Disa grandiflora also
grows as freely as on Table Mountain, and Ouvirandra
fenestralis, grown in a tub in a shaded position, was
crowded with big leaves and was in flower. A second
large house, originally built for Palms, is now used asa
temperate house and contains large specimens of Australian
trees, Palms, Ferns and Coniferee. Chameerops Griffithiana,
thirty feet high ; Livistonia Sinensis, fifty feet ; Dacrydium
cupressoides, forty feet; Rhopala corcovadense, twenty
feet, and a unique specimen of a Podocarpus ferrugineus,
with long drooping whip-like branches, are among the note-
worthy plants in this house. It is intended to attach a
sloping annex to this as to the tropical Palm-house.

A house filled with succulents, all the large specimens of
which are planted out ina bed of light soil, isan important

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 458.

feature. Large plants of Cereus giganteus, Echinocactus
Wislizeni, Opuntia imbricata and others imported from Ari-
zona are growing most vigorously under the liberal treat-
ment afforded by the planting-out system.

The planting out of all the larger plants in preference to
growing them in pots is a new departure in botanic-garden
culture, and it is being watched with interest by all who
are concerned with the cultivation of plants under glass.
So far it has proved an unqualified success. The only pos-
sible objection to it is that it rushes the plants, as it were,
into a luxuriance which is not easily controlled, so that they
soon become too large for their positions. On the other
hand, the plants are seen at their best when treated in this
manner, and I would rather enjoy a healthy specimen for
two years than put up with a miserable half-starved scrag
of a plant for twenty. If a succession of young plants is
kept up, so that overgrown specimens may be rooted out
and replaced, the results of this planting-out treatment
must, on the whole, be far preferable to pot-culture. There
is a great deal too much stage and flower-pot in indoor

gardening as practiced nowadays.
“London. ~ y W. Watson.

New or Littie-known Plants.
Aspidium simulatum, Davenport.*

HIS is another New England Fern, new to botanical
science, for which we are indebted to the acute
observations of Raynal Dodge, who first brought it to the
notice of Professor Eaton and myself. That it should have
escaped attention so long as it did is undoubtedly due to
the fact that no one supposed it possible to find a new
Fern within the limits of an area so thoroughly worked
overas that of Gray’s JZanual was supposed to be, and if in
any instance it did attract attention it was in all probability
looked upon merely as a form of Aspidium Thelypteris or
Noveboracense, with which it nearly always grows. Once
recognized, however, it is quickly seen to be entitled to
specific recognition, and one wonders that it did not sooner
arrest the attention of some of the older botanists who were
generally keenly alert for new forms and quick to recog-
nize them.

The frequency with which this Fern has been collected
since its publication, only two years ago, shows that it is
by no means uncommon, and that it is likely to be found
abundantly over a wide area of distribution, and also shows
that it will not always do to take it for granted that the
resources of any given area are exhausted, however care-
fully it may have been worked over.

Unlike Aspidium Thelypteris, which prefers the partially
open to deep shade, this plant loves the shade and moisture
of cool hummocks in deep woods and swamps, thriving
vigorously fertile where A. Thelypteris is invariably flaccid
and sterile.

The finest clumps of Aspidium simulatum that I have
anywhere seen were growing on large hummocks in a
submerged swampy woodland on Indian Point, Maine,
with the tall, fertile fronds overtopping the sterile half their
own length, and from three to three and a half or more
feet high. They had the hummocksall to themselves, and
it was a most beautiful sight to see hundreds of these tall,
gracefully waving fronds rising to the height of the
Osmundas near by, and far surpassing them in that grace-
fulness of form and presence which lends so great a charm
to many other of our native Ferns.

Aspidium simulatum is seldom found growing in the
open, except where the woodlands have been cut off, leav-
ing its natural habitat exposed to the direct rays of the sun,
when it takes on a more contracted form with conduplicate
pinnee, and exactly simulates the narrow form of Asple-
nium Filix-foemina, which suggested its name. Plants of
these two forms growing side by side in my garden so
closely resemble each other in every way that, although

* Botanical Gazette, vol. xix., p. 495, December, 1894.

at

nt eh ee ee

So...

DECEMBER 2, 1896.] Garden and Forest. 485

are
Aputpee esi
PRRs

Yo, ;
LS AS ae
TAs v y)
WANE ff}

CLD

# ee
é SMI,
“iy mine
7 CAMA {

Fig. 69.—Aspidium simulatum, Davenport.—See page 484.

x. Aspidium simulatum, two-thirds natural size. 2. Portion of frond grown in the sun, two-thirds natural size. 3. Pinnules, enlarged. 4. Indusium, enlarged.
5- Root-stock of Aspidium Thelypteris. 6. Root-stock of A. Noveboracense.

belonging to two entirely distinct genera, they cannot resemble plants of A. Filix-foemina growing under similar
readily be distinguished from each other by any merely conditions, the outline of the lamina in both Ferns being
superficial examination. Small plants of A. simulatum almost identical.

growing near the borders of low woodlands also closely If we compare Aspidium simulatum with A. Thelypteris

486

and A. Noveboracense, to which it is most closely allied,
we find the following essential points of difference and
agreement between them :

First. The root-stocks of all three species are similar in char-
acter, being long, cord-like rhizomes, wide-creeping and fork-
ing, with these differences: that in Aspidium Thelypteris the
rhizoma is black, or nearly black ; it branches more freely,
and the stipes are farther apart than in either of the other two
species. In A. Noveboracense the rhizoma is brown in color,
and the stipes are closer together along the lengths than in
A. Thelypteris, andform czspitose crowns at the growing ends.
In A. simulatum the rhizoma is light brown in color, with the
stipes still more approximate, and forming more frequent and
more compact crowns thanin A. Noveboracense. The bases
of the stipes are persistent in all three species, remaining
attached to the rhizoma over from one season to another, or
until they wholly wither away.

Second. In Aspidium simulatum the stipes correspond in pro-
portion to those of A. Thelypteris, being usually about one-half
the length of the entire frond, whereas in A. Noveboracense
the stipes are very short, on account of the lower pinne being
gradually reduced in length downward along the stipe toward
its base where they become mere auricles, a character which
prevents any comparison between it and the others; but if
thereis any material difference between the stipes of A. The-
lypteris and A. simulatum itis in the lighter color and greater
flexibility of the latter, a character which gives to A. simula-
tum when growing more of the habit of A. Noveboracense.

Third. A noticeable character in the fronds of living plants
of Aspidium simulatum is the peculiar standing forward of the
lowermost pinne, justas is seen in Phegopteris polypodioides.
In pressed specimens these show as if deflexed. The same
thing occurs frequently in fertile fronds of A. Thelypteris, but
in A, simulatum it is seen in both fertile and sterile fronds.
The same is true also of the woodland form of Asplenium
Filix-foemina, to which I have already alluded as being similar
in outline to A. simulatum.,

In summing up the superficial characters of Aspidium
simulatum, we find thatit may be readily distinguished from
A. Noveboracense by its longer stipe, introrse lower pinnae,
and often by the conduplicate pinne of the fertile fronds—the
fronds themselves being more or less pubescent, the margins
ciliately so; and from A. Thelypteris by its simple veins, larger
sori, glandular indusia and less convolute margins of the
fertile pinnae. This species develops later in the spring and
continues green longer in the fall than either of the others.

Mr. Faxon’s drawing (see p. 485) well illustrates the
different characters to which I have here called attention,
but for more specific details see Botanical Gazelle for De-
cember, 1894.

The species was first collected at Poplar Bluff, in south-
eastern Missouri, by George W. Letterman, as long ago as
August 15th, 1875, but was confused with Aspidium The-
lypteris, and a specimen which I have seen from that
collection is now in the herbarium of the Shaw Botanic
Garden in St. Louis. About 1880 Mr. Dodge collected it
in Seabrook, New Hampshire, and subsequently in Essex
County, Massachusetts, in several places up to 1892, when
he submitted it to Professor Eaton and myself for determi-
nation. In September, 1889, Judge J. R. Churchill collected
it in Purgatory Swamp, Dedham, Massachusetts, a speci-
men from his collection being at that time referred to
A. Thelypteris by myself.

In August, 1893, and again in June, 1894, I found it
abundant on Indian Point, Georgetown, Maine, and in 1895
Merritt L. Fernald also collected it in Georgetown. In
September, 1893, Mr. Dodge and myself made collections
of it on the Salisbury marshes, and in Small Pox Woods,
Salisbury, Massachusetts, and September 3d, 1894, I found
it quite abundant in a deep swamp in Quincy, Massachu-
setts. It has also been collected at West Roxbury, Massa-
chusetts, by Mrs. M. L. Stevens, Miss Stiles and Mrs. P. D.
Richards; in Needham, Massachusetts, by Mr. T. Otis
Fuller; in Walpole, Massachusetts, by Mr. H. A. Purdie
and Judge Churchill, and it apparently was mixed with
Aspidium Thelypteris in a collection made in Stoneham,
Massachusetts, by E. H. Hitchings, the specimens being
now in the Hitchings collection bequeathed to the Appa-
lachian Club. Mr. C. E. Waters, of Johns Hopkins Uni-
versity, found it abundant at Sawmill Pond, Ann Arundel

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 458.

County, Maryland, October 1st, 1894, and September 24th,
1894, Mr. B. F. Bush collected it for A. Thelypteris at
Sapulpa, Indian Territory, one specimen being now in the
herbarium at St. Louis, and one in my own possession.

It will thus be seen that the species has already estab-
lished for itself a wide range, and that it is apparently a
very common American Fern, but whether strictly so or
not remains to be seen. It might be well, however, for
European botanists to search for it in the haunts of Aspidium
Thelypteris or among their herbarium specimens of the

latter.
Medford, Mass.

George E. Davenport.

Cultural Department.

Greenhouse Notes.

AFTER the Chrysanthemum feast there is apt to be some-

thing of a famine in the way of flowers for cutting pur-
poses, and it requires much forethought to avoid this. It has
been for several years our practice to have the first crop of

_Carnations come in at this particular time, and with this end in

view the plants are topped in the field later than is generally
advised. The last hower-stems are taken off the second week
in August, so that at lifting-time in September there is not a
flower-stem visible, and the full crop comes on soon after the
plants are established in the house. While it is a large crop,
it is not more than the plants can perfect easily. When plants
are lifted with flower-buds in quantity, the check incident to
transplanting frequently makes the task too great for the plants,
and if the flowers do develop it leaves the plants in an unfit
condition to produce another crop until late in winter. If the
first flowers are now picked there will be no scarcity of them
through the rest of the winter. For early use all the largest
and most advanced plants from specially early propagation are
allowed to develop their buds, and are placed in deep frames
in July, and these give an abundance of good Carnations for
early use, and may be now placed indoors to take place on
some of the Chrysanthemum benches.

Poinsettias are useful from this time on until after the new
year. If a number are grown it is possible to have a good
display at Thanksgiving-time by placing the earliest in a warm
house soon after the plants are brought indoors. We have not
failed to have them at this time for several seasons. Few
plants give such rich coloring now, when bright flowers and
toliage are scarce, as well-grown Poinsettias. To keep the
foliage in good condition, a temperature of not less than sixty
degrees must be maintained, with a liberal amount of stimu-
lant in the water. When cut, the ends of the stems must be im-
mediately placed in boiling water for a second or two. This
will stop the loss of sap, and consequent wilting when used
for decorating.

Roman Hyacinths are useful now, and may be had with little
trouble if good bulbs are obtained. There has beena marked
deterioration in the quality the last year or two, for some un-
explained reason, but if the bulbs are smaller they admit of
being planted closer, and the effect is about the same in the
end. It is best to bring them onin a cool house until the
flower-buds are visible, otherwise there will be green leaves
and very few blossoms. Lachenalias blend prettily with
Roman Hyacinths, and are also easily managed. L. pendula
is the best for this purpose, as it is the most vigorous in habit,
the earliest to bloom and one of the brightest in colors, though
there are a set of new ones that bid fair to surpass this old kind
both in vigor and coloring. Lachenalias must not be neglected
after blooming, for the treatment they receive then goes to
make the bulb for the following year, and a light position on
a shelf in a cool house is easily secured for them. They are
Cape bulbs, and need the same treatment as Freesias.

From various experiments it seems that this is the best time
to sow Cyclamen seed. A good strain of seeds should be
bought and sown in pans of very porous soil as soon as possi-
ble. It is some time before the growth is visible above ground,
and care must be taken to add plenty of some porous mate-
rial to prevent the soil trom becoming sour and inert. We
break up a soft brick fine and use the small siftings. It is the
best substitute for charcoal. Water must be given sparingly
for a week or two or many of the seeds decay before germi-
nating. Once germinated and the returning increase of sun-
light of the new yearis upon them, it will be found that there
will be no check as when sown in September, and the plants
will be. much larger than if sown at the beginning of the year.
Good strong seedling Cyclamens are in most instances prefera-
ble to old bulbs kept over, though it must be admitted that if

DECEMBER 2, 1896.]

these can be kept over and grown they make the best plants.
This is not an easy task, however, andseems to be understood
by few. In any case, it is well to sow a few seeds each year to
anticipate losses.

Where hybrid Roses are grown itis best to bring in a few
after the Chrysanthemums areall gone. This is also a good
time to buy new plants, when necessary. They should be
planted in deep boxes rather than in pots. These new plants
must not be forced to come in as an early crop, but kept for
later use. Itis better if they are allowed to start when they
please, and the results for the future will pay for the waiting.
When pruning Roses at this time it is well to save the growth
which is cut off. If the pieces are cut in lengths of about
twelve inches, cut clean at a joint at the base and tied in small

- bunches with names before they are heeled in soil ina cold
frame, it will be found in April that there is a callus at the base
of each cutting, only waiting to be planted to strike root and
make fine young stock on their own roots at the end of the
growing season. When planting the cuttings out it is neces-
sary to bury them deep in the soil so as to leave but one or
two joints visible above ground. This prevents too rapid
evaporation of the stored-up sap and will greatiy facilitate the
formation of roots.. I regret that we didnot save all the prun-
ings last fall when looking at the young Roses raised in this
way.

Winter is closing in rapidly now, and the cold frames where
the stock plants of Chrysanthemums and other half-hardy
plants are stored must be, in this latitude at least, well lined
with dry leaves, kept in place by rough boards. Many of these
frames will be in demand for use as hotbeds later on, and the
protection is then indispensable. All plants that are suscep-
tible to injury from frostshould be placed in a heated struc-
ture now. With the best care frames are apt to get a little
frost at times when the mats are damp or the cold very severe,
and many useful things not easily replaced are lost in this

4
SE E. O. Orpet.

South Lancaster, Mass.

Notes on Roses.

HE stiff-stem fashion has nearly banished the Maréchal

Niel Rose from cultivationas a greenhouse climber at the
north. Some wonderful specimens of this Rose used to be
grown at the Waban Rose conservatories at Natick, Massa-
chusetts, when Mr. E. M. Woods first started Rose-growing.
Since under the benching system, with houses of improved
construction, more and better Roses can be grown with
an almost continuous season of bloom, almost all the older
intermittent-flowering varieties have gone out of cultiva-
tion. In private gardens, where convenient cross sections
‘afford suitable space, no more useful climber can be planted
than this old Rose. Hundreds of fine blooms are cut every
year from a plant so situated: The Maréchal Niel is liable to
canker, especially when on its own roots, but, so far, our plant,
which is now nine years old, has been free from disease. Of
the original plant nothing is left but the root-stock, strong
shoots from the base having taken its place long ago. In start-

ing a new plant the hardened growth of the original plant:

should be dispensed with as soon as possible; in fact, close
pruning, without regard to an immediate crop of flowers,
should be continued a year or two, if necessary, or until a
foundation of good, vigorous wood is made. We prune twice
ayear. Our object originally was by autumn pruning to geta
crop of flowers during late winter and on toward Easter-time ;
by spring pruning in April, to clean out old flowering shoots,
reduce the bush to the main stems, and get a fresh growth of
strong canes, which would be cut to the amount necessary in
autumn again, for another spring crop. But for the last few
seasons our plant has bloomed on all summer, not to any
great extent, but never at any time have we been without flow-
ers, and some of the finest we ever cut; the stems, in some
cases a yard in length, have grown during summer-time.

We often see hybrid Roses offered in the salesrooms, and of
late years the departmentstores have been selling plantscheaply.
They are imported stock, and often good plants. There is no
guarantee given with the names, and these are frequently in-
correct. Whether true to name or not, they are for the most
part standard varieties, probably the leavings of the nursery.
Since the department stores have been selling this stock a
great number of plants have been bought by people having
small places on the outskirts of the city, who probably never
would buy a plant of a regular dealer. The condition of many
of these plants when bought gives little chance of their grow-
ing, and, besides this, in most cases so little is known by the
buyers of the proper way to treat them after being bought, that

Garden and Forest.

487

not one in a dozen has a chance for life. To begin with, the
big stores make little effort to keep the plants in good condition.
I have seen them brought from the city as dry as dust and
shriveled beyond hope of recovery. When the packages are
opened, plants at all dry should be dipped in water and laid
in moist sand (this would be clean to handle), and kept in a
cool place until ready for the sale. They would have time to
plump up, All plants offered should be kept in moist sand
until sold. If nothing better could be done in the way of pack-
ing the plants for delivery to customers, a little cheap absorb-
ent paper might be put about the roots as a first covering, and
finished on this in the way of ordinary parcels. These simple
precautions would place the plants in the buyers’ hands with
some chance of living. :

Roses ought not to be planted until spring. I would rather
buy my plants now and care for them myself than trust to a
later shipment and find the plants started in transit, which means
destruction. Ishould notdo any pruning until time toset them
out. Until then they might be kept in boxes, with a little soil
about the roots, in a cool cellar, but it is hardly possible that
any but a barn cellar would be cool enough. I would rather
set the boxes of plants outdoors, where they would not be
swamped with thawing snow, and cover the whole lightly with
meadow hay, pine needles or stable litter. When spring comes
I would prune them and plant firmly, covering the union of
stock and scion, or upto the point where the branches diverge.

Wellesley, Mass.» V feed Bf, Hatfield.

Desirable Bulbous Plants.

Beets well-known Cyclamen Persicum is one of the best of
its class for the greenhouse, and for window culture if
properly watered and the room is not too warm. That Cycla-
mens can be raised from seed and grown on to perfect flower-
ing specimens in a living-room is doubtful; but when grown
to Howering size in the greenhouse and brought into the house
in bud they will continue to flower for two to three months.

A few nice specimens of Eucharis grandiflora and E. can-
dida will prove useful in the conservatory, and with little
management may be had in flower at almost any season. By
successive periods of growth and rest it is not unusual to get
two or three crops of flowers from E. grandiflora within twelve
months, though this is sometimes a strain upon the bulbs. To
secure large specimens a number of bulbs should be planted
together in a ten-inch pot in a rather coarse compost of
fibrous loam, with some peat and sharp sand or crushed char-
coal to make the mixture more open, some dried cow-dung
and a small portion of bone-dust for fertilizer. After potting
they should be kept in a night temperature of about sixty-five
degrees and watered rather sparingly until the plants become
well rooted. When well established they should be freely
watered andsyringed. A short season of comparative rest is
necessary to secure a good crop of bloom. This can be pro-
vided by keeping the Eucharis somewhat cooler, and partially
withholding water for atime. Care must be taken not to let
the plants lose their leaves. Frequent repottings are not
needed, but a top-dressing of new soil should occasionally be
given, and also occasional waterings with liquid-manure or
soot-water.

The hybrid Amaryllis (or Hippeastrums, as this section is
now termed by botanists) include some of the most showy
bulbs for the conservatory, and can be readily brought into
bloom in succession throughout the winter and spring. They
should not be disturbed after the growth is completed for the
year, and repotting should be done immediately after the
tlowers are over, during active leaf and root growth. Good
loam, including a little bone-dust, forms a_ suitable soil,
and plenty of water, with a growing atmosphere at about sev-
enty degrees, provides the conditions for rapid progress with
these plants. After the leaf-growth is completed, restis neces-
sary in alow temperature, with only water enough to keep the
bulbs from shriveling.

Griffinia hyacinthina, another pretty Amaryllid, while long
in cultivation, is not by any means common. This plant
thrives under similar treatment to that needed by Eucharis.
Like the latter, it is evergreen, and requires only moderate
drying during the resting season. It has broad, dark green
leaves, somewhat resembling those of Eucharis grandiflora,
but more flat and with peculiarly netted veins. The umbel of
flowers is thrown up ona stout scape. The individual flowers
are about three inches in diameter and pale violet in color.

Some of the Crinums and Pancratiums can also be used to
advantage in the conservatory, and have the additional merit of
not needing high temperatures to bring them into bloom.
Crinum amabile, C, Kirkii and C. Moorei are among the best,

488

but, having very large bulbs and luxuriant foliage, they occupy
considerable space. The Pancratiums, as a rule, are not so
large, but produce strong spikes of fragrant flowers, most of
the species being white. Neither Crinums nor Pancratiums
are specially fastidious in regard to soil, though responsive to
good cultivation, and they absorb large quantities of water

while in active growth. ;
Holmesburg, Pa. e W. A, Taplin.

Yucca Gloriosa.—For the first time, so far as I can ascer-
tain, this plant has flowered perfectly here. It blooms
late in the season, and until this year every attempt it
has made to flower has been frustrated by freezing
weather. This year a slight covering at night has suf-
ficed to protect it against the lowest temperature yet expe-
rienced, and for three weeks or more its large panicle of flow-
ers has been a novel and attractive spectacle. The warm
weather has permitted every flower to expand, and although
it isnow (November 2oth) past its best, it is still an object of
much interest. It has a second branch almost ready to flower,
but it is too much to hope for more flowers with winter at
hand. I know only one or two more examples of this arbo-
rescent Yucca in Philadelphia. They are quite hardy here,
and, no doubt, if they were planted in a warm, sheltered place
the flowers would often expand in spite of their late appear-

ae oe Pa, Foseph Meehan.
Iris macrosiphon.—The experience of Max Leichtlin in grow-
ing this pretty Iris successfully, as given by Mr. Gerard in a
recent issue of GARDEN AND FOREST, is valuable to growers.
Herr Leichtlin states that at Baden-Baden they start into
growth in May. This is interesting as showing how quickly
plants adapt themselves to changed conditions. In its native
home, here in the northern Coast Range, I. macrosiphon lies
dormant during the dry, rainless season, from May to October.
The first light rains start a root-growth, the old roots pushing
out rootlets and new spongy roots forming at the base of the
growing end of the wiry rhizome. The leaves soon start. Its
growth is here a winter growth, and with its lowering in May
begins the ripening, to be followed by the long summer rest.
At Baden-Baden it would seem to take a winter rest and make
growth in summer. Otherwise, my experience corresponds
with Herr Leichtlin’s, in that the best time to move the plants
is just as they begin to start. Examination of a bed of several
hundred collected plants moved October 15th shows that they
are now (November 16th) making a vigorous root-growth.
Ukiah, Calif. , Carl Purdy.

Correspondence.

Notes on the Vermont Apple Crop.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—The American apple crop, taken as a whole, is very
large this year; but northern New England seems to have a
proportionally larger excess than any other section in Canada
or the United States. The crop here is nothing less than phe-
nomenal. The actual commercial crop is probably twice as
large in the apple growing regions of Vermont as it has ever
been known before. This is largely due to the favorableness
of the season; but partly, also, to the considerable number of
young trees coming into bearing. In fact, the present remark-
able supply of apples calls attention to the fact that, in the
apple-growing sections of the state, orchard planting has
been steadily going on for some years. In contrast to this, in
those parts of the state where apples are not commercially
grown a young apple-tree is a curiosity.

The crop in Vermont is not only large, but is much better
in quality than usual. This, of course, must be credited largely
to a favorable season, for, with the very large crop carried by
all trees, it would not have been surprising to gather small
and poorly flavored apples. The summer was comparatively
dry, without being disastrously so, and the damage by the
scab-fungus was therefore reduced to a minimum. Thorough
spraying, now generally adopted in this region, contributed to
the same result, This year’s spraying, fortified by good spray-
ing in preceding years, has also practically eliminated the factor
of loss by the codling-moth. There is thusan unusually large
proportion of first-class fruit.

Prices have been low here as elsewhere. This misfortune
has been aggravated in many neighborhoods by proportion-
ally large pickings of early fall fruit, mostly Fameuse (Snow).
These early apples have been pressed upon all buyers to the
temporary disadvantage of the later varieties. A few growers

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 458.

are prepared to store their winter apples. The winter varie-
ties most grown for market are Northern Spy, Rhode Island
Greening, Baldwin, King and Golden Russet, with a consider-
able number of young Ben Davis coming into bearing. The
Arctic is a new commercial variety of great promise, now just
beginning to bear.

Although prices are low, the crop will be sold at a profit,
and commercial apple-growing on the shores of Lake Cham-
plain will receive substantial impetus and encouragement.

F. A, Waugh.

Vermont Experiment Station.

Dendrolene as an Insecticide.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—Among other things which have been sent to us for
trial the past season was a package of Dendrolene, sent by
the Bowker Fertilizer Company, of Boston, Massachusetts.
They asked that it be given a thorough trial on various kinds
of fruit and shade trees, for the purpose of determining its
effectiveness in keeping out borers and other noxious insects,
and also as a protection against mice and rabbits.

The material was applied to a number of young, healthy
stock trees of Champion, Crosby and other varieties of Peach,
and also to a number of the same varieties bearing their
first crop of fruit. A number of young Apple-trees, just trans-
planted, were also coated. The material was applied in May,
according to directions, by coating the trunks of some trees from
the ground to the lower branches, and others only about half-
way up. On examination, about the middle of August, it was
found that several of the young Peach-trees were beginning
to drop their leaves and to show signs of general debility. A
little later the older trees began to show signs of trouble, and
on making a careful examination of the trees about the first
of September it was found that the material had been ab-
sorbed by the bark to such an extent as to shut off the circu-
lation of sap completely, and that the inner bark, or cambium,
had turned black and apparently dead. The same was true
to a somewhat less extent in case of the young Apple-trees,
so that a month later every Peach-tree and most of the Apple-
trees to which the material was applied were dead.

As it is not always safe to draw conclusions from a single
experiment, it was not deemed advisable to publish these
results until the material had been given a further trial, inas-
much as it had been carefully tested in New Jersey under the
direction of Professor J. B. Smith, one of the most careful and
competent entomologists in this country, and found to work
very successfully (see New Jersey Experiment Station Bulletin
111, also GARDEN AND FOREST, vol. viil., p. 470). But in look-
ing over the September number of the W%sconsin Horticul-
furist 1 find an article by Professor E. S. Goff on the same
subject, and giving similar results, except that bis losses were
much greater than ours, as he ‘‘ had it applied to the trunks of
nearly one hundred trees.” And he adds, ‘‘ Many of the trees
to which it was applied are already dead, and the indications
are that few, if any, of them will ever leave out again.” It
seems a little remarkable that the results obtained in Wiscon-
sin and Indiana should be so different from those obtained in
New Jersey, but these are the facts, which I am at present
unable to explain. It would seem, however, that we are safe
in saying this much, that the material in its present form is not
safe to use on young Peach-trees in this section, and I would
not recommend its use on any tree until further trial.

Experiment Station, La Fayette, Ind. F. Troop.

Recent Publications.

American Highways : A Popular Account of their Condi-
tions and the Means by which they may be Bettered. By
N.S. Shaler. New York: Century Company.

In the preface of this excellent book Professor Shaler
modestly recounts some of the personal experiences which
have helped to educate him for its preparation. He states
that during the civil war he was called upon to study the
significance of wheelways in the critical work of cam-
paigns; that ever since the war he has been interested in
road-making in connection with geological work; that he
has been actively engaged for four years as one of the
Massachusetts Highway Commission in developing a plan
for the betterment of the roads of that state; that he has
helped to lay out and construct a hundred roads, having
made a special study of the relations of road-building ma-

DECEMBER 2, 1896.]

terials to the special needs of each; that he has helped to
devise a system for the instruction of road-making engineers
in the Scientific School of Harvard University ; and that he
has prepared reports to the United States Geological Survey
on road-building materials. To these practical qualifica-
tions it may be well to add that his mind is trained to
habits of close observation; that he has the sound judg-
ment which insures safe generalization ; that he takes a
comprehensive and common-sense view of the relations of
his subject to the social and economic needs and habits of
our people, and that he has the faculty of orderly and lucid
statement. Of course, his book is graphic and instructive,
and we may add that it is especially timely. The desire
for an improvement in our highways has grown within a
few years until it has assumed the dignity of a popular
movement, and it is important that the people should not
be carried away by mere enthusiasm to waste their money
on experiments. Therefore Professor Shaler’s account of
what has been done and what can be done in the way of
road construction and maintenance cannot but be helpful
to every public-spirited citizen who reads it, and especially
to every one who has the remotest official connection with
our highways. Itis not meant to bea treatise for engineers,
but it will be found a safe and sufficient guide as to plans,
material, repairs and administration for every one except
the professional road-builders, who need to be schooled
and skilled in the refinements of the art.

It has come to be admitted by the discerning that good
facilities for transportation are necessary to the best intel-
lectual development of a people as well as to their physical
comfort and financial prosperity. Our people, therefore,
need instruction in the history of roads and their relation
to human progress. They ought to learn, first of all, that
the building of a good road is a task which demands
serious thought, and that the design and construction of a
highway should never be undertaken except by men who
have special and adequate training for the purpose. Again,
the people ought to have clear ideas of what it costs to
build good roads and what it costs to keep them ; and if, in
order to secure the advantages of good highways, they
feel that they can afford to expend a certain amount they
ought to have some general ideas of the methods which
must be adopted if this amount is expended to the best ad-
vantage. Since the conditions which determine what is
the best road system vary greatly in different parts of the
country, it will not answer for any community to copy
blindly the methods of another, for such a simple matter
as the character of the subsoil or the kind of stone availa-
ble for the surface, or some other single feature of the situa-
tion, may differ so much in the two cases as to change the
whole problem fundamentally. The questions which
naturally present themselves to one who takes this view
of the case, and many more which grow out of special con-
ditions, are discussed by Professor Shaler in a very attrac-
tive way. These questions are so comprehensive and
touch so many interests that even the unfortunate person
who is known as the general reader will find much pleasure
and profit in such chapters as those which treat of the rela-
tions between roads on the one hand and climate, soil,
topography, forests, etc., on the other.

In almost every chapter, and especially in those which
treat of the Distribution of Road Material and Methods
of Administration, there is something we should like to
quote, but we have only space to call attention to a few
points brought out in the chapter on the Relation of Pub-
lic Highways to the Ornamentation cf a Country, which is
more within the special field of this journal. Roads can
do very much to modify a landscape in one way or another,
and therefore it is fitting thata civilized community should
pay some heed to the esthetic quality of our highways.
Professor Shaler holds that roads, asa rule, fit harmoniously
with the natural views of the country they traverse in pro-
portion as they are laid out and built to best serve the needs
of that country. That is, the more graciously they accom-
modate themselves to the surface the more likely they are

Garden and Forest.

489

to be a pleasing addition to the prospect. The first zesthetic
law in the construction of a road is that it should not be
obtrusive, and if it is held as nearly as possible to natural
grades it will not be so offensively manifest as it will be if
carried boldly against obstructions so as to require much
excavation and embankment. A second point is that the
traveled way should not be unnecessarily wide. A road
with a wheelway not more than fifteen feet wide is nothing
more than a thread in the landscape from any point of view,
while a space of fifty or sixty feet in width, plowed by
irregular ruts, will have a much greater tendency to mar
the beauty of any scene. Where the shoulders ofthe road
are kept in grass, the slopes sown with grass or planted
with some vegetation, beauty as well as utility is served.
Roadside trees, if planted so thickly as to make a deep
shade, have a tendency to keep a dirt track too wet. If they
are strong-growing trees they are apt to extend their roots
under the gutters and roadways so as to disrupt the struc-
ture, and in the winter season their effect on drifting snow
may be bad. It is also true that regular lines of trees give
an artificial look which is not always pleasing, although
when the trees are individually noble their own beauty
may offset this defect. Long lines of evenly grown trees
of certain species may also produce some pleasing archi-
tectural effect; the arching habit of the American Elm and
the columnar growth of the Lombardy Poplar adapt these
trees especially for such use. But we agree with Professor
Shaler that the highest adornment of a road is accomplished
by the systematic planting of trees in groups on either side
of a traveled way, the species being varied and the outline
of the plantations toward the road broken so as to make
pleasing vistas. This work of planting should be entrusted
to some one who is familiar with the expression of trees in
their adult growth, and when highway borders are properly
planted this will prove the most satisfactory of all rural
adornments which can be secured fora given amount of
outlay. The suggestion of Roadside Parks is so novel that
we quote the passage:

Now that the advantage of public reservations is much con-
sidered by our peopleit appears desirable to organize parks or
commons with reference to the main highways. On almost
any road having a length of three miles or more it is possible,
in New England at least, to select one or more attractive bits
of ground which may be devoted to this use. These reserva-
tions need not be of great area in order to be effective. It often
occurs that a strip of land next a river or lake which is skirted
by the road or a bit of picturesque rocky ground can be ob-
tained by gift or at a low money cost because the place has
no agricultural value. Although it is desirable that all these
dedications to public use be cared for, it is often better that
they should be left in the simple wilderness state rather than
be made the seats of elaborate ornamentation. A study of the
Massachusetts roads indicates that a thousand reservations of
the nature here indicated could be obtained by purchase ata
fair money value, at a total cost of less than $100,000, the aver-
age area being notover five acres. The probable total length
of the roads in Massachusetts which are to be taken over by
the commonwealth is 2,000 miles. Thus the system proposed,
if completely applied, would give bits of park at an average of
about two miles, The Trustees of Public Reservations is a
body empowered to hold pieces of land in Massachusetts dedi-
cated to public use, and this indicates an excellent means
whereby land may be held safe from the temptations which
would beset municipalities to part with such holdings at the
solicitation of persons of local influence. The transfer of road-
side park places to similar commissions in other states is to
be commended as a measure of safety against such encroach-
ments as have served to destroy many of the original commons
in Massachusetts and other states, and which in Great Britain
have lost to the people more than three-fourths of the land
which were public property three centuries ago.

In the same chapter there is a strong plea for stone arch
bridges, not only for enduring quality but for their beauty.
Steel bridges, according to the present methods of construc-
tion, are necessarily unsightly, and no attempt at decora-
tion can make them otherwise. The book is helpfully
illustrated, and it has instructive appendices about road legis-
lation, experiments on material for road-building, contract

490

prices for roads actually constructed, and a list of impor-
tant works of a popular character on highway construction.

Notes.

A temperature in the seventies is unusual the last week in
November, and therefore it is not surprising that the trees
started into leaf, that the lawns hereabout were starred with
Dandelions and other spring flowers, and that many early-
flowering shrubs showed abundant bloom. This was espe-
cially true of the Bush Honeysuckles, Lonicera fragrantis-
sima and L. Standishii, whose white flowers appear before the
leaves in spring. Many of these bushes in Central Park dis-
played a fairly good crop of fragrant flowers.

As arule, the production of Orchids from seed is a long
process, but with some species it would seem that the grower
may not be obliged to wait an unreasonable time for new
plants. A correspondent of Zhe Orchid Review writes that
on the 28th of March, during the current year, he applied the
pollen of Phaius grandifolius to the stigma of Bletia catenu-
lata, from which a pod ripened and burst on the roth of May.
The seeds were planted the same day, and on the 4th of
June a batch of seedlings were up, and are now nice little
plants—that is, the whole period from the application of the
pollen to the germination of the seed was only a little more
than nine weeks.

Acorrespondent, Mr. F. K. Steele, writes from the Ozark Hills
in praise of the beauty of Talinum teretifolium, a low, leafy-
stemmed, succulent plant belonging to the Purslane family.
It is, indeed, a pretty little plant, bearing on stems about five
inches long a cyme of pink and rose-purple flowers which
keep succeeding one another from June until August. It is
said to be a perennial, but Mr. Horstord, in an account of it in
this paper a few years ago, stated that it Mowered the first year
from seed, but did not survive the winter. This, however,
may have been owing to the open winter. It does well in
shade, and in the Ozark Hills it grows where the soil is only a
few inches thick above the rock.

Dr. Halsted calls attention to a serious trouble with Chrys-
anthemums in the shape of a blight which spots the flowers
as soon as they are fully developed, and sometimes before.
The trouble starts with small circular dark specks on the
corolla of the florets, which are darker than flowers of the
lighter shades and lighter than the maroon-colored ones.
These spots have a watery appearance at first, which is
shortly tollowed by a dry condition and a white mildewy
growth which finally turns olive and brown and entirely de-
stroys the flowers. Sometimes there are half a dozen start-
ing points of the blight, and then the destruction is very rapid.
Skillful growers say that the life of the plant is shortened at
least one-third of its natural length. The fungus is a member
of the genus Alternaria. The spores are produced abundantly
upon the surface of the blighted mass, and as they germinate
quickly a house once attacked is quickly overrun.

From a treatise on American Vines in France, lately pre-
pared by Messrs. P. Viala and L. Ravaz, itappears that our
Vitis rotundifolia possesses the greatest immunity from the
attacks of phylloxera, and in a list of Vines where the Number
20 represents absolute freedom from attack this species is
rated at 1g. After this comes V. riparia, which is marked 18,
and in the same grade we find various hybrids between V.
rupestris, V. cordifolia and V. riparia, The first plant in the
grade, numbered 17, is V. Berlandieri, which is followed by
some hybrids. Itseems from the list that many of the hybrids
are better adapted to resist the attacks of the phylloxera than
either of the parent species. Of course, the American Vines
are not entirely exempt from phylloxera, but they do not yield
to the attacks as the European kinds do, so that the introduc-
tion of our plants to be used as stocks upon which the European
varieties are grafted has saved thousands of acres of vineyards
in France from destruction. This report gives many interest-
ing facts in regard to the methods of grafting and of cultivating
the vines and the adaptation of the different American species
to various soils and exposures.

Mr. W. G. Johnson, the Entomologist of the Maryland Ex-
periment Station, declares in a recent bulletin that it is some-
what difficult for an average observer to detect the San José
scale unless it is very abundant. When a twig is badly in-
fested the entire surface appears under a hand lens as if it
were a continuous mass of minute shells from the size of a
pin’s head downwards. If one of the larger scales is raised with
the point of a knife, asmall, waxy-looking mass may beseen,
and this is the insect. During the summer young orange-

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 458.

colored lice can be seen crawling over the twigs, but they are
mere specks. When the branch of a tree loses its foliage
before the rest of the tree, or when a twig appears as if it had
been covered with ashes, it should be carefully examined,
and when the bark of infested twigs is scraped with a knife
the numerous insects cause an oily yellowish liquid to appear
on the surface. In Pear-trees particular attention should be
given to the extremities of the twigs, especially if the leaves
turn brown. In infested fruit of the Pear an encircling band
of reddish discoloration is seen around each insect. A little
lady-bird beetle about the size of a pin’s head is often seen
running about on infested trees, and wherever it appears on
trunk or branches a careful search should be made for the
scales on which it feeds.

W. H. Lincoln and Mayflower are still among the best
chrysanthemums seen in the flower-shops this week, with
some especially good blooms of the golden-yellow Mrs.
Grant, brought from Philadelphia. Other chrysanthemums
yet in the trade are the yellow Challenge, said to be a good
keeper, the pink Erminelda, George W. Childs, Sunrise, bright
terra-cotta tinged with gold, and Niveus. Among the
highest-class carnations of many varieties now in season are
the bold white flowers of Storm King, Maud Dean, white
ground, shaded’ and splashed with rosy pink, and the hand-
some Lillie Dean, very double, delicately striped and edged
with bright red, and delightfully fragrant. After these in popu-
lar favor and price come the showy Portia and the dark
maroon Anna Webb, Daybreak and the rosy Tidal Wave.
Somewhat more plentiful and cheaper are William Scott and
Lizzie McGowan, while Alaska and Mrs. Fisher are other varie-
ties noted. The new President Carnot roses command $6.00 a
dozen; Bride and Bridesmaid, $4.00, and American Beauty,
$12.00. The window of one of the Broadway establishments,
where a few odd and rare flowers are almost always to be
seen, yesterday contained some plants of Sarracenia purpurea
(wild Pitcher-plants), giant spikes of Mignonette, flowers of
blue Centaurea, lily-of-the-valley, Violets, white and pink Bou-
vardia, Bermuda lilies, jessamine, stevia, paper-white narcis-
sus, flowering Roman narcissus, well-berried sprays of holly,
and Cyclamen-plantsin flower. Anthuriums and Cypripediums
were striking features in other window decorations, as were
luxuriantly flowered Heaths, Otaheite Orange and low, compact
Azaleas. In one display thickly berried, leafless branches of
Ilex verticillata gave brightness to a drapery of Asparagus
plumosus.

Anthony Waterer died at Knap Hill Nurseries, at Woking, in
Surrey, on the 16th of November, after a short and painless
illness, in the seventy-fifth year of his age, He is most widely
known as the originator of many of the best hybrid Rhodo-
dendrons in cultivation, and he and predecessors in his family
did more than any other firm to popularize the cultivation of
Rhododendrons, Azaleas and other hardy shrubs of this class,
The Knap Hill Nurseries, which had long been notable, grew in
size, importance and reputation under Mr. Anthony Waterer’s
successful management, and at the time of his death had be-
come probably the greatest nursery of hardy plants in the world,
although a larger number of species of plants were cultivated
in others. For Rhododendrons, however, hardy Azaleas, to
which of late years Mr. Waterer gave special attention, and
the choicest conifers it had no rival. Anthony Waterer had
many correspondents in the United States. His connections
here date from the time of Downing, who imported plants
from Knap Hill for the Capitol grounds at Washington. After
Downing’s death the unpaid bill for these plants was found
among his papers by his executor, Henry Winthrop Sargent,
of Fishkill. Mr. Sargent was a classmate of Charles Sumner,
and through his assistance he succeeded in obtaining from
Congress an appropriation to pay this bill. From this sprung
the triendship which existed for years between Mr. Waterer
and Mr, Sargent, who for many years was one of the principal
horticulturists of the United States. From this friendship
others sprung, until gradually all the principal cultivators of
hardy trees and shrubs in the United States became friends
and clients of Anthony Waterer, who of late years has devoted
special attention to breeding Rhododendrons capable of
supporting the climate of this country. In 1876, when the
Knap Hill Nursery made a special exhibit of Rhododendrons
in Philadelphia, Mr. Waterer visited the United States. A man
of the highest integrity, rough in manner, but kind of heart,
Mr. Waterer was a type of the English cultivator of the old
school not often seen now. We all owe hima debt of grati-
tude for the plants he has produced for us, and those who
have had the advantage of his friendship will never forget his
strong and interesting personality.

—

DECEMBER 9, 1896.]

GARDEN. AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrice: TripunE Buitpinc, NEw York.

Conducted bye ais; cs ce 1 coe, es ene Professor C. S. SARGENT.

ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POS!-OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y«

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 18096.

TABLE, OF CONTENTS:

EorrorraL ArticLes :—The Western Larch.
Ay New-Chinese Tree..ies<. 2.5

Climbing Plants in the Pines...

A Cafion near Ukiah.—lI...........
ForEIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter W, Watson. 494
New or Litt.E-KNown Prants :—Lonicera sempervirens. (With figure.)...... 490
TSOlomal) aliSCANUM. ssiciejalisccl ves cisse saint rcjessicinisincs con eee MODEL Cameron, 490
CutturaL Department:—Greenhouse Plants... wee TD. Hatfield. 496
Greenhouse Plants in Flower... .......- dward $. Canning. 407

The Pear Slug SHB RHOLR DACRE OR OCH eRe enn per EES G. Harold Powell. 498
Corres PONDENCE :—Aquatics in California Edmund D. Sturtevant. 498
Chrysanthemunis Out of-doors. ... --Daxske Dandridge. 498
Variety Tests in the Experiment Sta essor Samuel B. Green.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS ......«
INGDES scctelicie aisle cals sio.vcinajeinis oa eic/elncenins
IctusrRations :—Lonicera sempervirens,
The Western Larch, Larix occidentalis, Fig. 71

(Wath R2ure.) ices sesseacanae eves 4Q1

iain s “esayeiciaiiery Mrs, Mary Treat. 492
-.+-Carl Purdy. 493

The Western Larch.

ARCH-TREES are widely scattered over elevated and
boreal regions in the northern hemisphere. They
make a distinct group. botanically, with needle-shaped,
deciduous leaves borne in dense fascicles on short spur-
like, arrested branches, and erect cones formed of thin,
obtuse, persistent scales. Seven species are now recog-
nized by botanists. The type of the genus, Larix Larix,
inhabits high slopes of the Alps of central Europe and of
the Carpathian Mountains, often forming extensive forests,
either growing with other trees or mixed with mountain
Pines or with the Spruce at the upper limits of tree-growth.
A great deal of attention has been given to this tree by
silviculturists, and during the last century it has been very
extensively cultivated in most of the countries of Europe,
especially in Scotland, where large plantations have been
made by the Duke of Argyle and other landowners. The
European Larch was introduced into the United States
early in the present century, and it is one of the few
European trees which have flourished in the northern states,
where several plantations of this tree have been made, and
where it promises to produce valuable timber.

The Siberian Larch, Larix Dahurica, forms great forests
in some parts of northern Russia and Siberia, and is com-
mon in the forests which cover the Ural and Altai moun-
tains, and in northern China, Manchuria, Kamschatka and
Saghalin, Larix Griffithii occurs on the interior ranges of
the Himalayas at elevations of from 8,000 to 12,000 feet
above the sea, in Boutan, Sikkim and east Nepaul. In
Japan Larix leptolepis is a common tree at high elevations
on the island of Hondo, where, however, it does not form
continuous forests, but is scattered in small groves mixed
with other deciduous-leaved trees ; and northern Yezo and
some of the Kurile Islands are inhabited by a form of the
Siberian Larch which appears in our illustration on page
525 of vol. vi.

Three species of Larch are embraced in the silva of North
America ; the most important of them is Larix occidentalis,
the noblest of all Larch-trees, and one of the important
timber-trees of thiscontinent. Discovered by David Douglas

Garden and Forest.

49!

near one of the Hudson Bay posts on the upper Columbia
River in 1827, it was mistaken by him for the Old World
species, and no attention was paid to this tree until many
years later, when Mr. Nuttall found it on the Blue Moun-
tains of Oregon and described it in 1849 in the third volume
of his North American Sylva, and it was not until thirty years
later that it was introduced into cultivation through the
agency of the Arnold Arboretum.

The Western Larch, under favorable conditions, when
growing in low, moist soil, attains the height of two hun-
dred and fifty feet and forms a trunk five or six feet in
diameter ; in dry soil and on exposed mountain slopes it
has an average height, perhaps, of eighty or one hundred
feet and a trunk two or three feet in diameter. It is pecu-
har in its long, tapering trunk and in the shortness and
smallness of its branches, which form a short and remark-
ably narrow and rather open spire-like head, which is
always a striking object in the forest. Mixed with Spruces,
Hemlocks, Firs and Cottonwoods on bottom-lands, and
with the Douglas Spruce and different Fir-trees on elevated
slopes, the Western Larch never forms pure forests—at
least to any extent. Its home is the mountain forests of
the basin of the upper Columbia River, through which it is
scattered at elevations between 2,500 and 5,000 feet, about
latitude fifty-three degrees north to the western slopes
of the Blue Mountains of north-eastern Oregon and the west-
ern slopes of Mount Jefferson, one of the high peaks of the
Cascade Range in the same state; on the east it does not
cross. the continental divide, and the western limit of its
range is bounded by the summits of the Cascade Moun-
tains. In British America and on the Cascade and Blue
mountains—that is, in the north and in the south—the
Western Larch is comparatively rare and usually of small
size, and it attains its greatest perfection on the streams
which flow into Flathead Lake, in northern Montana, and
in the heavily forested region of‘northern Idaho and north-
eastern Washington. In this part of the United States it is
one of the largest and the most valuabie inhabitant of the
foresi.

The Western Larch is chiefly valuable for three reasons:
The wood which it produces surpasses that of all other
American conifers in hardness and strength; it is very
durable, beautifully colored and free of knots; it is
adapted to all sorts of construction, and beautiful furniture
and the interior finish of buildings can be made from it.
No other American wood, however, is so little known, and
in the sparsely settled and remote region which is the home
of this tree it performs only an unimportant service to the
community. The Western Larch is also valuable in the
power of its seedlings to germinate freely and in the power
of the young plants.to grow in the shade of other trees,
which they finally overtop and subdue. Even a tree of
such vital forceas the Lodge Pole Pine, which in all the
northern Rocky Mountain region speedily covers the ground
from which fire has swept the original forest-growth, is
mastered by this Larch. But the chief value, perhaps, of the
Western Larch is due to the thickness of its bark which
enables half-grown trees to bear without permanent injury
the heat of the fires which are fast destroying many of the
trees in the forests of the Columbia Basin. On the young
tree the bark is thin, dark-colored and scaly, but at the end
ofabout a century it thickens near the ground, becomes
bright cinnamon-red in color and breaks up into great
plates, the trunk of an old Larch-tree becoming magnificent
in color and markings. Something of the character of the
trunk of this tree may be seen in our illustration on page
497 of this issue, which is made from a photograph taken
last summer in north-western Montana by Mr. Gifford
Pinchot, to whose courtesy we are indebted for the oppor-
tunity of reproducing it.

Larix occidentalis has proved hardy in the Arnold Arbo-
retum where, however, plants on their own roots have
grown slowly and unsatisfactorily up to this time, while
grafts on the roots of the Japanese Larch have made a rapid
and vigorous growth and have already produced cones.

492

In European plantations this tree is still little known; and
it is too soon to speak with any authority of its future either
as an ornamental oras a timber tree in the eastern states
or in northern Europe.

A second Larch of north-western America, Larix Lyallii,
isa small tree found only near the timber-line of high
mountains in southern British Columbia and in northern
Washington and Montana. Still imperfectly known, this
tree may perhaps be best considered an alpine form of
Larix occidentalis. It has not yet been brought into
gardens.

The third American Larch, Larix Americana, inhabits the
east, where it is widely and generally scattered from the
shores of Great Bear Lake and the valley of the Mackenzie
River within the Arctic Circle to the coast of Labrador and
Newfoundland, and southward through the Canadian Prov-
inces and the northern United States to northern Pennsyl-
vania, northern Indiana and Illinois and central Minnesota.
Our eastern Larch is a tree often eighty or ninety feet high,
with a trunk two or three feet in diameter and compara-
tively stout branches, which on old trees become long and
are often irregularly developed and frequently much con-
torted. At the north the eastern Larch inhabits moist
uplands and intervale lands, but south of the boundary of
the United States it is confined almost exclusively to wet
and often overflowed swamps and bogs, which it frequently
covers with nearly pure forests. Like that ofall the trees of
this genus, the wood of Larix Americana is hardy, strong
and durable; and, like other Larch-trees, it is valued in
ornamental plantations for its rapid growth and the pic-
turesque habit it assumes in old age.

In a recent number of the Revue Horticole, Dr. A. Fran-
chet describes a new Chinese tree recently discovered by
Farges in China near the thirty-second degree of north
latitude, for which he proposes the name of Carrierea caly-
cina. In habit it is said to resemble Idesia and is thought
to belong tothe Bixaceeer. Fresh seeds have been received
at the Museum in Paris and already distributed. It is prob-
able that thisinteresting tree, however, will not prove hardy in
our northern states, in spite of the fact that it grows naturally
at a considerable elevation above the surface of the sea.
This new genus is dedicated to Carriére, the distinguished
French horticulturist who died near Paris a few months ago
and who will best be remembered perhaps by hisimportant
work on Conifers cultivated in Europe, of which two editions
have appeared. He was the author, moreover, of numerous
publications on horticultural and philosophical subjects,
and for many years, as the head of the nurseries at the
Paris Museum, occupied one of the most conspicuous posi-
tions in European horticulture. In dedicating this new
eenus to his memory, Monsieur Franchet says ‘' Carriére
was a skillful horticulturist, an experimenter of profound
intelligence and a zealous introducer of everything which
could contribute to the utility and beauty of gardens and
the future of forests. He was also a profound thinker who
was often able to give to his thoughts a form fantastic,
perhaps, but always striking, which many writers might
well envy.”

Climbing Plants in the Pines.

EW, if any, climbing plants are more interesting than
some of the neglected species of Smilax growing in

our Pines. Almost any one of the woody species, if rightly
used, would be an acquisition to the finest parks and gar-
dens. It is true that in some situations in the damp Pines
they form almost impenetrable barriers, and in the early
days of our country’s settlement they may have been quite
troublesome, and we possibly have an inherited dislike to
the ‘hateful Catbrier.” If we examine a single plant of
the most common species, Smilax glauca or S. rotundifolia
or S. hispida, which grow almost everywhere, from New
England to Florida, and west to Missouri and Texas, we
find botanically handsome netted, veined leaves—which

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 459.

are notcommon among the endogenous plants—and a pair
of tendrils at the base of the leaf, not on the petiole proper,
unless it is jointed, when the lower part, which is persistent,
becomes a sheath to protect the bud in winter, especially
the flower-buds. The short petiole is attached to this sheath
by a joint, and when the leaf is mature it drops and falls
to the ground, which it could not do if the coiled tendrils
grew on the leaf-stalk. The flowers come from beneath the
sheath in spring, and in the fertile plant—these plants are
usually dicecious—are succeeded by the berries. On S.
hispida we findfrom one to three peduncles emerging from
a sheath, and at this time of year each bearing a cluster of
from three to ten or more berries. The pedicels are
nearly half an inch in length. A large, strong stem will
produce leafy, fruiting branches from the sheathed buds,
and thereafter it will no longer bear buds, and the branches
will take up the work.

In the Pines, Smilax rotundifolia is nearly evergreen, with
lustrous leathery leaves and an abundance of dark blue
berries which remain all winter. The leaves of S. glauca
are still more persistent, and it has black fruit covered with
abloom. Several plants are established in my wild garden.
S. hispida is rambling through a Hemlock, not hurting it
in the least, and very attractive it looks peeping out here
and there with its clusters of fruit. One of the handsomest
species is S. laurifolia, which has long, thick evergreen
leaves, and in winter we see both black and green berries,
as it takes two years for the fruit to ripen. Another hand-
some species, but less common in the Pines, is $. Wal-
teri, with clusters of bright red berries which, mingled
with the dark blue of 5. rotundifolia and the black of S.
glauca and S. hispida, make a fine display. The leaves of
most of the species turn to rich colors in autumn, and all
of these, with several other native species, would make the
best of material for boundary plantations and many other
situations, especially in large parks or private grounds.

Celastrus scandens is another ornamental climber grow-
ing in the damp Pines. The reddish-colored seed-pods
open in the autumn and disclose the bright scarlet covering
of the seeds. The two forms of Ampelopsis found here
are sufficiently dissimilar to attract the notice of any
observer. One has much larger leaves than the other,
which are green and not shining, and the flower-clusters
are cymose opposite the ample leaves and not at all con-
spicuous. The other has smaller leaves, smooth and shin-
ing, and often purple-tinted ; the flowers are purplish and
more thyrse-like than cymose. The short flowering stems
stand well up above the larger branches, especially when
it climbs over a low-headed Apple-tree, as it has in my
garden. It blossoms later than the other, and when in
flower is one of the handsomest climbers on the place and
attracts more notice than any other plant. Insects of many
kinds, especially the Hymenoptera, visit it in great num-
bers, coming in swarms while the plant is at the height of
its bloom,

Many of our climbers will endure a wonderful amount of
hard treatment without showing any loss of vigor. One
of our native Trumpet creepers, Tecoma radicans, had
climbed a few years ago to the top of a Pine-tree in the
garden. The trunk of the tree was free from branches for
about twelve feet, and the top was dense for a Pine and
round-headed, so that it presented a large surface to the
wind with comparatively small power to resist it, and one
of our July gales carried away the top and left a bare
stub twelve feet high. The vine, of course, came down
with the tree, and the lower branches, which had formerly
held it to the trunk, had mostly died; at all events, it was
torn free from the trunk and was cut back to just the length
of the stub. It had no foliage, and was held in place with
bands, but it soon threw out branches from adventitious
buds and fastened itself firmly to the trunk without regard
to the artificial support, and finally sent out branches all
around the top. As there was no way for it to climb any
higher, it has developed an umbrella-shaped head; the
numerous branches, four feet or more in length, curve

7. ee

* gota

DECEMBER 9g, 1896.)

downward, and when the ends are all ablaze with flowers
it makes a unique and handsome display.

The American Wistaria, too, will endure various modes
of treatment, and, like its Asiatic relative, can be pruned
and trained into a handsome shrub, I have trained one
about a post some six feet in height, and keep it cut back,
and with its first flowering in late spring it is a mass of
bloom from base to summit. After the first heavy flower-
ing is past it continues to bloom more or less all summer.

Vineland, N. J. Mary Treat.

‘A Cafion near Ukiah.—II.

OME travelers have said that California has no Ferns

and no sweet-scented flowers. Ifthey would follow the
line of one of the lumber flumes close to the coast in this
county they would apologize for the first statement, and if
they once had the pleasure of inhaling the fragrance of the
Ruby Lily, Lilium rubescens, they would repent of the
other. L. rubescens ranges from Sonoma County north,
possibly to the Oregon line. It is widely distributed, yet
seldom seen even by flower lovers living near its home.
This is because it prefers the highest slopes in the Red-
woods, the Chapparal, or rocky places densely shaded by
the true Live Oak, Quercus chrysolepis. As all these spots
are somewhat inaccessible, our finest Lily is scarcely known
even where it is commonest. The bulb is ovate and ordi-
narily four to six inches in circumference. The leaves are
all in whorls, dark green in color. Its height varies greatly.
A forest fire helps it wonderfully, and the year succeeding
a fire nearly every little bulb will fower. Some plants may
be less than two feet high, with two or three flowers, but
in deep soil where they are not toc much shaded the old
bulbs throw out immense stalks. I have often seen stalks
seven feet high with twenty-five flowers, and in one case
nine feet high with thirty-six flowers. The blossoms in
well-grown plants are three inches long and trumpet-
shaped. At first white, thickly dotted with purple, they
turn purple and then to a deep ruby. On one stalk all
shades can be seen. Compared wih L. Washingtonianum,
the petals are much broader and the fragrance heavier. A
single flower in a book has perfumed it for months, and
the odor of the fresh flowers is exquisite. I did not
know of their existence in Doolan Canon until one day
' the wind wafted their perfume to me, and later, far up the
hill, I found a large grove of Tanbark and Redwood and
this Lily.

The commonest Fern of these cafions is one of the Aspi-
diums, A. rigidum, var. argutum. It is low, deciduous,
growing in loose, rather dry, soil on deeply shaded hill-
sides, and is quite fragrant. Two other Aspidiums (Sword
Ferns) grow in this cafion, A. monitum, var. imbricans,
is a large Fern, and here prefers shady slopes in rocky
débris. It is dark green and rather handsome. A. aculea-
tum, var. lobatum, is an elegant Fern, rare on cliffs close
to the stream.

In the loose rich soil close to the stream the little decidu-
ous. Maiden-hair, Adiantum emarginatum, is plentiful, and
many shaded slopes are covered with this delicate fragrant
Fern. It is much like A. Farleyense, but a lighter green.
It starts early, and by May is at its best, while by August
little of it is left. On the same cool slopes grows the Scarlet
Larkspur, Dianthus nudicaule, and its tall racemes are in
most appropriate company. A little later, and while the
Maiden-hair is still fresh, a yet more beautiful companion
appears, The Fire-cracker, Brodizea coccinea. This plant
likes these cool slopes, and in June its tall wing-scape
rises to two or three feet, crowned with the crimson flowers
inanumbel. There are rocky ledges and cliffs farther up
the stream where it thrives still better and forms hanging
gardens. It is one of many plants which thrive better with
civilization, for when the Redwoods were cut the condi-
tions most favorable to its growth were created. The little
Gold Fern, Gymnogramme triangularis, is plentiful through-
out the cafion where the soil is loose and gritty and the

Garden and Forest.

493

shade not heivy. Some steep banks among the Chapparal
growth are thick with it, and on the cliffs of the middle
cafion it grows under the shelving rocks. Its three-cor-
nered fronds are dark green above, golden below. It is
not generally supposed io stand frequent summer water-
ing, but at home a nice clump grows under the same con-
ditions that Aspidiums and Asplenium thrive in, except that
the Gold Fern is better drained.

A mile or so above the valley there is a long stretch of
the cafion where the stream flows between rocky walls
with barely footway along the side. On the cliffs, which
are well shaded by trees standing in the stream-bed and
by others above, many Ferns and Mosses find a congenial
home. In many places the rocks are covered with one
solid mass of Polypodium Californicum, and in early spring
the descending lanceolate fronds are a pretty sight. Inthe
loose soil at the base of the cliffs Aspidium riginum, var.
argutum, and Maiden-hair grow plentifully. In the crevices
A. aculleatum, var. lobatum, grows, while on the moist
rocks on the sunny side of the cafion, growing under the
bushes that hang to the rock, is a very delicate Pella, P.
andromedifolia. It has a brown polished stalk with ellip-
tical segments, and is little inferior to Maiden-hair in deli-
cacy. Not so the other Pelleea of these cafons. P.
ornithopus grows in dense tufts on the hot slopes where
in the Chemise brush some rocky point has broken down
in a mass of fine débris. Roasted by the sun during the
long, hot summer days, it revives with the first rains in the
fall and begins its growth. It is fully as ornamental as an
old broom.

There is one other Fern in the cafion, the Chain Fern,
Woodwardia radicans. It is a Fern of the stream-sides
and springs. Along the brook, scattering clumps can be
seen, with ovate-lanceolate fronds two to four feet long,
and spreading gracefully. It is an evergreen, and the
fronds of one season persist in good form until the fronds
of the next year are well developed. Beautiful as it is in
the cafion, it is only to be seen at its best where it grows
in the peat and mold of some of the mountain springs.
Tee the fronds are in dense thickets often seven or eight,
and in cases eleven, feet high. It is the favorite decorative
material in the Coast Range region.

The first shrub to come in leaf in the spring is the Cali-
fornian Buckeye, A¢sculus Californica. Long before other
buds swell, its light green leaves appear. It grows in the
mountains to the height of ten to twenty feet, many-
branched, from a warty base. Its shade is not dense, and
it grows mostly in very warm loose soils, and Ferns and a
variety of annual flowers seem to live within its protec-
tion. Its most beautiful guest is Eucharidium concinnum,
one of those things so exquisite in color and delicate in
form that cultivators do not try to improve it. It is one of
the last of the annuals to flower, and in June it is to be
seen in pink masses under the Buckeyes, and with the
Maiden-hair on the shadier slopes. A little earlier, and in
the drier parts of similar places, were showy masses of
Collinsia bicolor.

Three Calochorti are to be seen in the cafon. On the
warm southerly slopes at the mouth of the cafion C. ve-
nustus grows sparingly in grassy openings in a soil which
by midsummer is baked like a brick. Its white flowers,
beautifully oculated, are borne in June. A very few are
creamy or buff in color. It is the prevailing Mariposa
Tulip of Ukiah valley. It is in the Black Oak woods and
under the Manzanitas that C. pulchellus must be searched
for. In rich soils its single glossy leaf is often a foot long.
Later on in May and June the graceful scape follows, and
the globular flowers, delicately fringed with silky hairs, are
among California’s prettiest. More retiring in habit, and
more modest in flower, is C. Maweannus. Its home is up
among the shadiest nooks in the Black Oak wood. Its
leaf resembles that of C. pulchellus, but the exquisitely
delicate flower is an open cup lined with long silky hairs,
The children hereabout have named them Pussy-ears, not
inappropriately.

494

Doolan Cafion has its Orchids also. There are but two,
but they are fine. Habenaria elegans isa delicate species
growing in shaded woods. I knew the cafion long before
I first saw a Lady’s Slipper in it. One day in exploring
for Ruby Lilies I discovered a considerable mountain side
of open timber, Redwood and Tanbark Oak, and in the
coolest and shadiest parts, around places where a little
moisture seeped out, were several fine plants of Cypripe-
dium montanum. It is an elegant plant in every respect.
The leaves are large and showy and the flower is very fine.
It forms clumps of usually one to three plants, with a running
scarred rhizome. The blossom comes in May, and with
sepals and wavy-twisted petals brownish and a white lip
veined in purple. The flower is about two inches across
and has the scent of vanilla. I have never seen it plenti-
ful or heard of it being so, except in one part of the “Blue
Mountains” region of eastern Oregon, where it is plentiful
in places.

A feature of all these cafions, disagreeable to many, but,
nevertheless, beautiful, is the great quantities of Poison
Oak. It is really too bad that so beautiful a shrub should
have poisonous qualities forso many. I have noted that
very few persons who live here from childhood are poi-
soned by it. I am entirely free from its effects. It grows
in dense copses in places, and in others it clambers over
the trees. In spring and summer its leaves are among the
best greens of the mountain, but in fall it is colored in the
most glowing reds and scarlets, and whole hillsides are
made beautiful by it. Like the Buckeye, it is a friend to
the choicest annuals, bulbous plants and Ferns. Among
the Poison Oak bushes are to be found the finest Fire
Crackers and other Brodizeas, the largest Scarlet Larkspurs
and the finest plants of the showier annuals, such as
Clarkias, Godetias and Collinsias.

The old sled road follows up the cafion for fully two
miles, first through the open vale among the Oaks, then
through a gorge of cliffs, where a foothold for it was
blasted by pioneer woodsmen, then for a long way through
a section of long, smooth timbered slopes beautiful with
Redwood, Madrofia, Live Oaks, Douglas Spruce, and
overlooking the stream-bed filled with large Alders and
second-growth Redwoods. Finally the road ends where
three precipitous gorges, each the parent of a living spring,
meet. There, where once stood a fine grove of Redwoods,
it ends, and some of the rails and pickets cut so long ago
still lay, as sound as when riven from the log. The cen-
tral gorge is a large spring coming from the rock. Looking
from the base, it is a wavy mass of Spikenard, Aralia Cali-
fornica, five to seven feet high, mixed with the dark green
fronds of the Chain Fern. On the sides are Oregon Maple.
Live Oaks hang from the cliffs.and a few large Redwoods,
which the old woodsmen could not reach, stand above as
they have stood for hundreds of years. Above, on every
side, stretch the long mountain slopes, densely over-
grown with the Chapparal, effectually ending a tramp

farther.
Ukiah, Calif. Carl Purdy.

Foreign Correspondence.
London Letter.

DipLtaDENIA SanDERI.—This new species, which has been
introduced from Brazil by Messrs. F. Sander & Co., St.
Albans, is a very promising plant for the stove. In
habit and general characters it resembles D. eximea,
another Sanderian introduction, described by Mr. Hems-
ley in 1893, but it differs from that species in having larger
flowers of a deeper shade of rose-red and conspicuously
blotched with yellow in the throat. The leaves are ellipti-
cal, about two inches long, the petiole half an inch long.
The flowers are in loose cymose racemes. Messrs. Sander
say that it grows and flowers with unusual freedom. Dipla-
denias have been brought into prominent notice in recent
years through the introduction of several fine species, one
of the best of them being D. atropurpurea, which, by the

Garden and Forest. |

| NUMBER 459.

way, is happier when grown in an intermediate tempera-
ture, the flowers being richer and deeper in color and the
plants healthier than when grown in stove along with
those of the D. amabilis type.

Beconta GtorrE DE Lorraine.—This is now the most
popular Begonia in England. It is one of the latest of
the hybrids raised from B. Socotrana, and is probably the
most decorative. Plants of it have been shown at exhibi-
tions, and are offered by nurserymen, which are simply
balls of rose-red flowers, and they will continue to flower
freely all through the winter. It is happiest when grown
in a warm greenhouse, the tubers started in April and
potted in light rich soil in five-inch pots. A position on a
shelf near the roof glass is best for them. By October they
form compact little bushes a foot in diameter, the leaves
small, obcordate, dark shining green, and the flowers in
loose racemes from almost every branchlet. It was raised
by Monsieur Lemoine from B. Socotrana and B. Dregei,
and was first noted in GaRDEN anD Forest, vol. v., p. 244,
fig. 48. Some growers who have essayed its cultivation
have given it up as being weak and “ miffy,” but when
properly treated it is neither the one nor the other. London
nurserymen say it sells better than any winter-flowering
Begonia grown.

Kniexoria Netsont.—This plant has again flowered freely
at Kew, and its lowers have extended into the cold season
longer than any of its congeners. It has narrow, bright
green foliage, freely produced, and tall, elegant scapes,
three feet or four feet high in some cases, the flowers being
bright scarlet. It has stood several winters in the open air
at Kew. Herr Max Leichtlin, to whom Kew is indebted
for this plant, writes that it was introduced a few years ago
from the South African Republic. Opinions at first varied
as to its value, one well-known horticulturist condemning
it as poor in color and thin in spike. At Baden, however,
itisthe most free-flowering of all the species ; “itis elegant,
not too large, flowers very late, and the flowers are bright
scarlet. It surpasses Kniphofia Macowani, and I am con-
vinced it will become a favorite when better known.” Last
year we lifted some Kniphofias that had pushed up spikes
late in the autumn and planted them in pots to bloom in
the conservatory in winter, a use for which these plants are
well adapted.

Eczema From Hyacintus.—The ban of the scientist has
been placed upon the common Hyacinth, which is said to
produce eczema in persons handling and cleaning the bulbs,
the raphides from the dry scales, which are easily dispersed
by rubbing, entering the skin and causing irritation and
soreness. These raphides are needle-shaped crystals, the
largest of which are one-hundredth of an inch in length,
and are arranged in close bundles in the scales, those of
the Roman Hyacinth being the most virulent. Evidently,
this irritation is experienced only by very few of the many
persons who handle Hyacinth-bulbs, a similar case being
that of Primula obconica, which, in some persons who
handle it, causes a form of eczema. The Poison Vine,
Rhus Toxicodendron, has the same character. Examples
of the scales and: raphides of the Hyacinth were recently
exhibited before the Linnaean Society, and Dr. Scott de-
scribed some experiments he had made which tended to
confirm the belief that irritation of the skin was caused as
described. =

CurYSANTHEMUMS. —Our National Society grows in strength
and importance, and the great annual exhibition, held
under its auspices in the Aquarium at Westminster a few
days ago, was, no doubt, the most wonderful display of the
Chrysanthemum in all its phases ever seen in this or any
other country. The usual drawbacks inseparable from the
Aquarium accompanied the exhibition, and one examined the
flowers amid the din and shrieks of those who had fat women,
boxing kangaroos, dancing elephants and similar wonders
toshow. There is, however, some hope that a revival of
the effort to secure a suitable Floral Hall for London will
result ina better state of things before long. Meanwhile, we
have all the wonderful Chrysanthemums grown with mar-

DECEMBER 9g, 1896.)

velous success and exhibited to thousands whose interest
in horticulture is limited to these plants. Japanese varie-
ties were exceptionally fine this year, the most striking,
perhaps, among the newer ones being Australian Gold,
Mademoiselle A.Galbert, MadameCarnot, Australie, Nyanza,

’

Mrs. J. Lewis, Simplicity and Madame M. de Proli. The
popularity of incurved varieties is evidently on the wane
with exhibitors, and even that beautiful variety, Queen of
England, which has reigned supreme since 1847, was so
poorly shown this year that old-fashioned admirers of the

Garden and Forest.

495

incurved Chrysanthemum are anxious for its position.
According to Mr. Cannell, the Japanese varieties were
looked upon as curiosities in 1869, the loose, ragged char-
acter of the flowers being considered monstrous and ugly.
It is also remarkable that at that period the Japanese varie-

Fig. 70.—Lonicera sempervirens.—See page 496.

ties ~did not properly develop their flowers till about
Christmas. Is the change in the time of flowering due to
breeding for early varieties or to a difference of cultural
treatment? Cultivators nowadays declare that by skillful
methods it is possible to produce Chrysanthemum flowers

496

during any month of the year. In all parts of the country
exhibitions have this year been large and generally a suc-
cess. Even our provincial botanic gardens and public
parks grow enormous numbers of these plants and make a
special feature of them.

AntHoxy Warerer died on November 16th, in his seventy-
fifth year. He was one of England’s greatest nurserymen,
no man having done more than he to further the cause of
horticulture by the introduction and distribution of first-
rate hardy trees and shrubs of all kinds. He raised most
of the best of the hardy Rhododendrons and Azaleas, and
so exacting was he that even seedlings which others voted
excellent would be destroyed by him on account of some
slight defect of habit or color. His nursery at Knap Hill, in
Surrey, has long been famous for its rich collections of
hardy plants, and his exactitude in respect of the names
and quality of his plants and care in transplanting them
won him the confidence of buyers, not only in this country,
but in Continental and American countries also. He had
all the pride and a fair share of the prejudices of a success-
ful Englishman of the old school, and just as a plant to be
called “good” by him had to be of very clear merit,
indeed, so likewise in his judgment of men was he severe,
and to be called ‘‘respectable” by Anthony Waterer was
the highest compliment. His knowledge of hardy plants
was exceptional, for he knew them not only by name, but
their history in horticulture also, as well as their capabili-
ties in the garden or park. Many plants in his nursery he
kept solely out of love for them. The collection of Rhodo-
dendrons and Azaleas at Knap Hill is probably the most
extensive and richest in the world. Many of the specimens
are of enormous size. In the rich peat-soil of this nursery
they grow and flower with a vigor and profuseness not to
be equaled elsewhere, so that in their season, June, thou-
sands of horticulturists and others visit the nursery to see
them in bloom. For many years a large collection of big
specimen Rhododendrons from Knap Hill has been an

annual feature in Hyde Park, London.
reads: y : W. Watson.

New or Little-known Plants.
Lonicera sempervirens.

VERY one who loves a northern garden knows the
scarlet Trumpet Honeysuckle, which grows naturally
in low glades from southern New England and Indiana
southward, and has been a popular garden plant from time
immemorial. There isa light yellow-flowered form of this
plant which is attractive ; and another form is figured on
page 495 of this issue. This is the plant cultivated in gar-
dens as Lonicera fuchsioides (not the Chinese Lonicera
fuchsioides of Hemsley). From the common type of Loni-
cera sempervirens it only differs in its rather dwarter habit
and in its slightly broader corollas, which are borne in
denser clusters of more numerous flowers. The origin and
history of this plant are unknown to us, but whether it is a
wild form picked up in the woods and propagated by some
intelligent cultivator, or a nursery seedling, it is one of the

most beautiful of all hardy climbing Honeysuckles.
Our illustration is from a drawing made by Mr. Faxon in

the Arnold Arboretum.

Isoloma Jaliscanum.

HE genus Isoloma is represented in most gardens.

The species are grown for their showy blossoms and
their handsome foliage, and I. Jaliscanum is among the
most striking of them. For the past five or six weeks this
plant has been flowering in a warm greenhouse and has
attracted much attention. The plants in bloom here were
raised from seed taken from dried specimens in the Gray
Herbarium about eighteen months ago. The seeds are
small and require careful treatment until they germinate.
When the plants are large enough to handle they may be
pricked off into small shallow pans, using a compost of

Garden and Parest

[NUMBER 459.

finely sifted soil mixed with leaf-mold and sharp sand.
The seedlings may be placed in a position where they can
get plenty of light, but must be shaded during the hottest
part of the day. When they are about one inch high they
can be potted off singly into small pots and potted on
afterward as they need it. The plants are about eighteen
inches high and are well branched, and the bright scarlet
flowers are produced in umbels on the upper part of the
branches, and although the individual blossoms do not
last very long, yet the flowers appear in succession, so that
the plants, in their season, are never without a number of
flowers. The plants blossomed last spring, but not so
profusely as they have done now. As far as I know, this
handsome Isoloma has not been grown elsewhere; and,
judging from its behavior here, | think it will be a valuable
addition to our warm greenhouse plants. It is a native of
Mexico, and was collected by Dr. Palmer on the Rio
Blanco, Jalisco, and was described by the late Dr. Sereno
Watson. Perhaps, as this plant is littke known, Dr. Wat-
son’s description would not be out of place here :

Stems herbaceous or somewhat woody at the base, decum-
bent, about a foot high, pubescent throughout; leaves oppo-
site, oblong-lanceolate, short-acuminate, rounded or acutish
at base, serrate, one to three inches long, shortly petiolate ;
peduncles axillary, one-half to one inch long, bearing an
umbel of two to four flowers on pedicels becoming one-half
to one and a half inches long; calyx-lobes acuminate, four to
six lines long in fruit ; carolla an inch long, scarlet, pubescent,
nearly straight, cylindric-funnel form, moderately dilated
upward, and throat but little contracted; capsule turbinate-

oblong included.

Harvard Botanic Garden, Cambridge, Mass. Robert Cameron.

Cultural Department.

Greenhouse Plants.

TATICE HALFORDI is the garden name for a_ hybrid
form of S. macrophylla. It is an old greenhouse plant, a
native of Teneriffe, and was introduced to English gardens in
1828. It is seen occasionally, but not as frequently as it
should be. Old plants are subject to stem-rot, and since
few, if any, side shoots are thrown out, the plants often have
a scragey appearance; this, together with the fact that it is
slow and uncertain of propagation by ordinary methods, is a
sufficient reason, no doubt, why it is so seldom met with.
Plants a year old are of the most serviceable size. By al-
lowing cuttings a long time to callous in a cool propagating
bed I have raised them in this way, but have usually had more
success by layering. Old plants may be shaken out and an
incision made in the stems just below the leaf-growth and
planted out for the summer. I find they do well in any com-
mon garden soil, and if buried below the incisions most of
them will have struck root at these points, and may be potted
into separate plants. A friend of mine who gave me the idea
always plants his in the Asparagus bed, considering shade
essential. I prefer to use undersized pots and light soil, with.
some charcoal incorporated. Excessive moisture at the roots
is fatal. The sinuate shining leaves are nearly all radical, or
tufted on short, scarious stems. The flattened, leafy compound
panicles of white flowers arise from the junction of two diver-
gent crowns. The corollas are papery in texture and ex-
tremely fugacious. It is seldom we see more than half a dozen
flowers open at atime. The deep blue and persistent invo-
lucre-like bracts form the most conspicuous part of the inflo-
rescence, lasting for the greater part of the winter. Even when
pot-bound these Statices can be kept vigorous by the use of
manure-water and produce a surprising amount of bloom.
Poinsettia, or botanically Euphorbia pulcherrima, is among
the showiest of winter-blooming plants. About this time of the
year they are a great feature in Covent Garden Market, Lon-
don. A specialty is made of them in many placesin the neigh-
borhood, and their cultivation confined to a limited purpose,
that of producing single heads of bloom on as short stems as
possible. Much skill is required to do this, and often a whole
batch will be re-rooted as late as September. If done success-
fully it will not be uncommon to see heads of deeply colored
leaf-like bracts, a foot or more in diameter, on stems not more
than eighteen inches long. If not subjected to this treatment
the stems would grow, in many plants, to more than six feet
in height. Poinsettias are considered invaluable for church
decoration during Christmas-time. Summer-struck cuttings

DECEMBER 9, 1896.]

make the best heads. Old plants become branched, and, though
they make a brilliant show when massed, are less striking sin-
gly. The cultivation, beginning with the end of the blooming
season, consists in following the conditions imposed by nature.
The plants are given a rest during winter-time by withholding
water to less than half the usual amount until spring. When
warm weather sets in they are pruned back and planted out-
of-doors. Fresh growth commences, and as soon as the shoots
are a few inches in length they are taken off with a heel. As
long as cuttings are made the propagating-bed is kept
in use, so that we get a collection of different sizes, the
smaller plants being as serviceable as the larger ones. Better
success is obtained when cuttings are taken with a heel, as the
stems are hollow above and bleed profusely when cut. Ina
moderate hotbed, cuttings root in two or three weeks. Very
careful handling is necessary, as the tender roots are easily
injured, and therefore in many places the cuttings are put sepa-
rately in small pots. For the best results itis advisable to con-

Fig. 71.—The Western Larch (Larix occidentalis),—See page 491.

tinue the young plants in aslight bottom-heat, as they start into
fresh growth more quickly, and in this way gain more substance
and strength for abundant flowering in their season. Still,
without artificial heat of this character, they grow into good plants
during the warmer months of latesummer. A little fire-heat
when the nights begin to get cool will tend to a healthy con-
dition of the roots. Lack of vitality in this direction will
quickly show in the loss of foliage and the comparatively less-
ened size and brilliancy of the bracts. A light, rich soil, with
charcoal as an ingredient, is a suitable compost, and six-inch
pots are the largest that should be used. Itis better to finish the
plants with liquid-manure than to shift them into larger sizes.
Euphorbia tulgens is another showy member of the same
family, but considerably more flexuous in habit. Its bracteate
appendage resembles more an involucre, and, instead of being
disposed in leafy heads, occurs in little tufts of two or three all
along one side of the leafy branches, We have a number in

Garden and Forest.

497

five-inch pots fully five feet tall, just coming into bloom, and
as handsome as a picture, standing on the park and overhang-
ingabank of Ferns. Our plants of last year were strung on wires,
and bloomed profusely all winter long. They were left there,
rooting through the pots into the gravel-bed, and the wholenow
forms a perfect hedge. We take cuttings during early spring.
The after-culture does not differ from what we give other
plants, although the experience of other growers would show
that a little artificial heat, such as we have during the autumn,
is essential.

Wellesley, Mass.

T. D. Hatfield.

Greenhouse Plants in Flower.

DANES eae ELEGANS has been in flower in the

Palm-house for the past two months, and from present
indications seems likely to flower two months longer. It is
one of the handsomest, though not the largest, of the genus.
The flowers are produced singly in the axils
of the leaves on peduncles about six inches
in length. The tube of the inflated perianth
is shorter than in most of the species and of
a yellowish green color, The limb is oval,
about five inches long by three wide, and
beautifully marked with rich brownish pur-
ple veins on a white ground color. The
leaves are heart-shaped, on slender petioles
and ofa light greencolor. Though this spe-
cies is usually considered a spindling or
weak-growing climber, suitable for pillars,
etce., if given liberal treatment in the mat-
ter of soil and temperature it will grow
almost. as rapidly as an Allamanda. Our
plant has covered more than a hundred
square feet of glass since last August. It is
planted in a compost of good turfy loam,
with some well-decayed stable-manure in-
corporated, and a liberal allowance of room
for its rambling roots. As the flowers are
all borne on the new growth, it is necessary
to prune back rather severely, or say within
two buds of the old wood, after the present
season’s growth has thoroughly ripened, so
as to insure plenty of fresh wood the follow-
ing season. This species is a native of Brazil
and may be propagated either by seeds (sev-
eral pods of which have ripened with us) or
by cuttings of the half-ripened wood in-
serted in the propagating bed.

Wissadula rostrata, a tropical Malvaceous
plant, is now in flower in the Palm-house.
It is a rather tall plant, with alternate cor-
date leaves six inches long by five wide, on
rather long petioles. The flowers are small,
white, with yellow stamens, and are borne
on axillary racemes which become crowded
toward the summit of the plant. The seeds
from which this plant was raised came to
us under the name of Abutilon Leschinaulti-
anum, though the resemblance of the flow-
ers to those of an Abutilon seems rather
obscure.

Pentas carnea, a tropical African plant, is
also in flower in the same house. The flow-
ers resemble those of the Bouvardia, and to
which it is closely related. They are of a
delicate pink color and are borne in erect
terminal clusters. The opposite leaves are
downy, lanceolate in outline, five inches long by two wide.
The plants have a dwarf bushy habit and may be propagated
either by seeds or cuttings. This plant is not as useful as
the Bouvardia, because the flowers are not as freely pro-
duced, and since they are borne at the summit of the main
stems they cannot be cut without injury to the plant.

In the intermediate house Salvia involucrata has been pro-
ducing freely its handsome racemes of soft rosy-pink flowers.
They are borne on stems a yard long, well clothed with leaves
of the brightest green, so that it is a most desirable plant for
decorative purposes. S. rutilans is equally handsome, with
flowers of a deep Cardinal red, and has often been mistaken
by visitors here for the Cardinal flower, Lobelia cardinalis.
S. leucantha is another very desirable species producing ter-
minal racemes of soft lilac-colored flowers, Salvias
are of the easiest culture. We propagate fresh plants each
year from sucker cuttings about the end of February. As soon

These

498

as the weather is favorable they are planted in almost any
open position, where they remain till September, with but
little attention except in the matter of pinching to keep them
bushy. They are potted about the second week in Septem-
ber and placed in a shaded position for a few days and finally
removed to the house in which they are intended to flower.
They are of Mexican origin, and considering the little trouble
in growing them they are among the most satisfactory fall-
blooming plants we have.

Oxalis Ortgiesii, a Peruvian species, has been flowering in
the same house for the past six weeks. It is a woody-stemmed
plant, about eighteen inches in height. The forked cymes of
bright yellow flowers contrast strongly with the copper-colored
tritoliate leaves, and well-grown plants are very useful for
decorative purposes.

Camellia Sasanqua is now in flower, anda beautiful species
it is. The flowers are single, three inches in diameter and
borneabundantly. They are of a lovely pink color, and their
orange-colored stamens suggest a wild Rose. They have also
a delicate fragrance. The leaves of this species are much
smaller than those of the well-known varieties of C. Japonica,

but the cultivation is the same. = :
Botanic Garden, Northampton, Mass. Edward ce Canning.

The Pear Slug.

Po cere have been severely injured in some portions
of Delaware by the larva of this insect, Eriocampa cerasi,
during the past season. This slimy, dark green slug eats the
soft tissues of the leaves, leaving the coarser veins, and the
mutilated foliage dries up and falls in midsummer. The
insect can easily be checked by sprinkling the trees with air-
slaked lime, or pyrethrum, or hellebore, can be applied dry or
in water. Road-dust has often been used with success, the
efficiency of its action depending on each slug receiving a
coating of the dust, which stops up its breathing apparatus and
causes its death.

The effect of the defoliation of a Pear-tree in midsummer
extends further than the immediate loss of its leaves. The
dormant buds, which normally produce the foliage and flow-
ers of the coming season, may push forth and cover the tree
with a new foliage in August or September. Then a new set
of buds are developed on this late growth to provide leaves
for next year, and these buds are necessarily weak and unde-
veloped, and result in a feeble growth. This extra effort‘on
the part of a tree, after its growing period is practically over,
is a devitalizing process, and if continued three or four years
may result in its death. I know of one valuable bearing
orchard that was quite destroyed by this pest in three years.
Several young orchards have come under my notice which
have gone, or are rapidly going, the same way.

G, Harold Powell.

Experiment Station, Newark, Del.

Correspondence.

Aquatics in California.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—Some time ago Mr. Watson, in one of his instructive
letters, gave your readers an account of the effect of high tem-
perature on hardy Nymphezas in England. Mr, Tricker has
told of the behavior of both tropical and hardy varieties in
New Jersey during a very hotsummer. A few words from a
southern water-garden may, therefore, not be out of place.
Southern California is in the same latitude as the state of
South Carolina. In the minds of most residents of the eastern
states, latitude thirty-four degrees is associated with the idea
of an extremely hot summer. From sixty to one hundred
miles inland summer days in this part of California are often
hot, but along the coast the temperature is much more agree-
able than that of the Atlantic coast during the warm season. No
one can understand the climate of this region without actual
residence here. The newly arrived visitor who is interested in
plant-growth is constantly meeting with surprises. He will
see a multitude of trees, shrubs and vines from semi-tropical
regions, and by their side an equally great number of plants
which endure many degrees of trost in the east.

In favored spots like the Cahuenga Valley one may see a
small plantation of Pineapples producing a moderate supply
of fruit, an orchard of Cherimoyers, and some bearing trees
of the Alligator Pear, while in the immediate vicinity most
deciduous fruit-trees, such as the Apricot, Peach, Plum and
Pear, flourish and bear luscious and abundanttruit. With par-
tial shade or a northern exposure such plants as Pansies and
Tuberous Begonias ‘flower freely in midsummer.

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 459.

In the water-garden hardy Nympheas take very kindly to this
climate. Nympheea Marliacea chromatella flowers for more
than seven months, and is as fine color in midsummer as at
any time. N, Marliacea carnea the past summer has been
superb, producing flowers seven inches across, of the most
lovely flesh-color, while the variety Rosea has also been true,
with Howers quite as deep in color as those of N. odorata
rosea. N. odorata and N. odorata rosea have the same fail-
ing here asin the east, a rather short period of bloom. N.
odorata Caroliniana is an exception, however, as it produces
its lovely tinted blossoms as late as N. candidissima.

_ The tropical varieties bloom very profusely for a long pe-
riod, but owing to the cool nights neither flowers nor leaves
are quite as large as in the east. The same may be said of
the Victoria regia, if grown without artificial heat. I have
found N, gigantea a difficult plant to grow here, but a gentle-
man in Alameda County, who has a water-garden fed by a hot
spring, writes me that it flowers finely with him every day in
the year. I have several forms of N. Zanzibarensis which are
interesting. One is a delicate porcelain blue, a very pleasing
shade. This is the result of an attempt to cross the variety
Azurea with N. dentata. Another form of N. Zanzibarensis
has bright blue flowers, with the base of each petal nearly
white. [I have alsoa plant of N. Zanzibarensis rosea which
uniformly bears flowers having five sepals and an increased
number of petals, their color approaching salmon-pink, with
no trace of violet as in most forms.

The hybridist who takes Water-lilics for his subjects has
many failures. The bees are often more successful. I find .
it impossible to get seed of Nymphza gracilis true to color if
the plants are growing near the Zanzibar Lilies, unless the
flowers are protected trom insects. I have flowered for two
seasons a seedling of N. gracilis which is undoubtedly a cross
between it and the Zanzibar Lily. The flowers are bright
violet-blue, with purple stamens and petals, intermediate in
width between those of the two parents. I call it N. gracilis
violacea. N. gracilis rosea is another chance cross between
N. gracilis and N. Zanzibarensis rosea. Its flowers also have
a tone of salmon mingled with the pink, and the stamens are
dark yellow and pink. Of the tailures which often attend the
efforts of the hybridist two instances may be given: Some years
ago I fertilized a ower of N. Zanzibarensis with pollen of N.
Sturtevantii. An abundance of perfect seed was the result, but
on flowering the seedlings not one of them was affected by
the male parent. All turned out to be N. Zanzibarensis of
varying shades of blue. Some time ago Mr. Watson, in one
of his letters, spoke of the desirability of crossing the night-
blooming varieties with some of the day-blooming tropical
ones. Following this suggestion, three years ago | succeeded
in getting ripe seed of N. dentata fertilized with pollen of N.
Zanzibarensis. -The seedlings in a young state had leaves of
a rich wine-color, but when they came to flower were all N.
dentata, pure and simple. These were cases of the prepotency
of the female parent surely.

Nuphar polysepala is the Pacific coast representative of the
Spatter-Docks of the eastern states. The plant is a strong-
growing one, but not more so than the form of N. advena
which grows in the Delaware River at Bordentown, New Jer-
sey. The flowers, however, are two or three times the size of
the eastern species, being three and a half inches or more
across and of a deep golden-yellow color. The plant would
undoubtedly be hardy in the east, and is well worthy of a place
in a large water-garden or natural pond.

At this writing (the middle of November) the tenderest of
the tropical Lilies have about finished their blooming. The
Zanzibar varieties and Nympheea chromatella are still pro-
ducing a few flowers. Aponogeton distachyon flowers freely

from September to May.
Los Bec Calif. # Edmund D, Sturtevant.

Chrysanthemums Out-of-doors.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—Perhaps no other flower fits in so well with the indoor
arrangement of our homes as the Chrysanthemum, or has a
more distinctly decorative and artistic effect according to mod-
ern ideas in combination with house furniture and hangings.
Many of them are graceful in pose and come in so many odd
colorings that varieties may be found to harmonize with
almost any of the rich or subdued tints used in modern inte-
riors. Out-of-doors they are quite another thing, and their
proper place in landscape-gardening is a problem which I
have not solved. Certainly they look like nothing native to
our fields and forests. They do not at all resemble our wild
Asters and Golden-rods, which give the distinctive floral

DECEMBER 9, 1896.]

touch to our autumn scenery. A garden of Chrysanthe-
mums has a decidedly foreign aspect, and yet my own out-
door collection of these flowers is giving, and will probably
continue to give, me great pleasure. Nevertheless, | some-
times question whether my bright borders do not create some
disturbance in the autumn landscape. My Chrysanthemums
bloom luxuriantly long after the trees are leafless and often
after the ground has been whitened with the earliest snow.
They have for company many shrubs that bear bright berries,
and for foil and background masses of evergreen bushes.
The effect is bright and cheerful in dark November days, when
cheerfulness and brightness are doubly prized. But itis unlike
anything else in nature; the flowers look strange and out of
place with their setting of dead forest leaves and dark ever-
green foliage and naked Oaks. They are planted in an
out-of-the-way border, which is screened from the house by a
little rising ground, and so are not constantly asserting them-
selves to one who looks over the grounds from porch or win-
dow. We take frequent walks to them, however, and are
always glad to find them alive and shining amid the evidences
all about them that the year is dying.
Of one thing I am sure, and that is that a great deal of care
must be used to arrange the plants to the best advantage.
Their cultivation in this climate presents no difficulties, but
their proper arrangement as to color demands study. On the
14th of November I saw a small garden where more than a
hundred and fifty varieties of Chrysanthemums were well
grown in the open air. Most of these were of the larger-flow-
ering type, though there were some Pompons and Anemones,
but reds, mauves, pinks, oranges, crimsons, whites and saffrons
were all in a jumble, without any attempt at artistic adjustment.
The effect was bizarre in the extreme and wearied the eyes,
until the observer longed to uproot them all and try to bring
some order out of the chaos by judicious grouping. Why
should we not be quite as much offended by aconjunction of
discordant colors in our gardens as the neat housekeeper is
by disorder and lack of harmony in her drawing-room ?
A proper arrangement of Chrysanthemums is a most useful
exercise in producing harmonies of color. The pink varieties
are at one end of my border as far removed as possible from
the brick-dusty, reddish and orange-colored ones; yellows are
good in a mass by themselves, and whites may be judiciously
used to tone down and soften the whole effect. But these are
_ the simplest elementary rules in an art whose refinements are
ot fascinating interest. Iam sure that any reader of GARDEN

- AND ForREST who is learned in the subject of colors and Chrys-
anthemums could gratify many flower lovers by recounting
experience in combinations for effect, with alist of good varie-
ties, new and old, for cultivation out-of-doors,

Rose Brake, W. Va. Danske Dandridge.

Recent Publications.

Economic Entomology : For the Farmer and Fruit Grower
and for use as a Text-book in Agricultural Schools and Col-
leges. Illustrated. By John B. Smith, Sc. D. Philadel-
phia: J. B. Lippincott & Co.

The people for whom this book was prepared certainly
need precisely the kind of instruction which it contains.
The fruits and crops of orchards and fields are attacked
every year by insect pests, and unless the cultivator
knows how to rout these countless foes his year’s labor
may be lost. Indeed, let him do what he will these depre-
dators will surely take a considerable fraction of one crop
or another in the course of every year, and it is not an
exaggeration to speak of the damage to the agricultural
products of the country as estimated in millions of dollars.
The entomologists in our experiment stations and colleges
have been doing a great deal of careful and practical work
in this field for several years past, and the literature which
is abundantly scattered about in leaflets and reports con-
tains about all that the farmer or fruit grower needs to
know on this subject. Professor Smith has selected from
all this material all that is essential for systematic instruc-
tion, and guided by his own experience as an investigator,
as a teacher, and as a practical worker in many campaigns,
he has made an admirable manual. <A systematic treatise
on insects, in which their characteristic forms are classi-
fied and their habits described, occupies more than three
hundred pages of the book. This is preceded by about
fifty pages devoted to their physiology, and it is followed

Garden and Forest.

499

by fifty pages more specially devoted to insecticides and
various means of neutralizing their attacks. In this last
part not only the methods of prevention and cure are
explained, but reasons for every part of the processes are
plainly set forth. Practical rules are laid down with great
fullness, so that no one need err in the preparation of
poisonous and other compounds, while explicit directions
are given as to the method and time of application, to the
end that the remedies will have their best effect. The
chapter entitled Farm Practice to Prevent Insect Attack is
an especially valuable one. There is little need of sys-
tematic spraying with arsenic or hellebore when rubbish
and weeds are allowed to grow as harbors for fresh hordes
to attack the trees or crops as soon as one legion is de-
stroyed. Prevention is better than cure, and when we
read Dr. Smith’s explanation of the way in which the
great portion of insects live through the winter and where
they hide, it is easy to see how a farm which is managed
in a slovenly way may be made a capital nursery for
insect pests for an entire neighborhood. How to destroy
these lurking places; how to cultivate so as to make life a
burden to our enemies; what crop-rotation will make it
more difficult for them to gain a subsistence ; how to select
fertilizers which will be food for the plants and death for
their foes—all these problems and many more are dis-
cussed and settled with clearness and brevity. We believe
that if all farmers and fruit growers, and, indeed, all landed
proprietors, should adopt these simple preventive measures
a great many of the most destructive species could be per-
manently reduced or, at least, held in check without
further trouble.

The illustrations are genuine helps to the text. Some of
them are original, and the remainder are taken from the
most trustworthy sources. Technical language is only
used where it is necessary, so that the book can be read
with understanding by any man of ordinary intelligence,
and it might have a fascinating interest for girls and boys
who have an inclination to the study of Natural History.
It is one of the books which could be appropriately placed
in the library of every district school in the country.

The tenth volume of Professor Sargent’s Sz/va of North
America was published on the 28th of November. It con-
tains figures and descriptions of the arborescent species of
Yucca which grow north of the Mexican boundary, the
arborescent Palms of the United States, the Cupressineze
and Taxacee, and the following genera of Coniferee—
Juniperus, Cupressus (including Chamecyparis), Thuya,
Libocedrus, Sequoia and Taxodium. Two additional vol-
umes will complete the work. The eleventh, now in
course of preparation, will be devoted entirely to the genus
Pinus, and in the twelfth and final volume will be described
the Spruces, Firs, Hemlocks, Larches and a few trees of
earlier orders which have been found since the publication
of this work was begun.

Notes.

The first hothouse asparagus of the season, from New Jer-
sey and Long Island, which shows severe forcing in slender
blanched stalks, costs $2.00 a bunch.

Mr. C. G. Pringle has just returned from another botanical
journey in Mexico, where, during the past season, he has
secured about 20,000 herbarium specimens in the valley of
Mexico and in Cuernavaca.

The first car-load of California Navel oranges was sold here
last week, when the season for ‘“‘deciduous”’ fruits from that
state closed with sales of three car-loads of grapes. During
the season 1,137 car-loads of California fruits were sold at
auction in this city, 154 more than in 1895.

Number 2 of Morilegiun Harlemense contains pictures
and description of the single blue Hyacinth Grand Maitre, a
well-known variety which is rather more desirable for borders
than for forcing; three of the early double Tulips, including
Raphael, with a blush-white flower as large as a peony, the
white Alba Maxima and the scarlet Vuurbaak, or Lighthouse ;
and three of the most distinct varieties of Polyanthus Narcissus,

500

A correspondent of Meehans’ Monthly speaks in praise of
our native Ceanothus Americanus, or New Jersey Tea, as one
of the plants which make an excellent low hedge, never
grow beyond bounds, and look well at all seasons. It
will endure dry weather well. It puts forth leaves and stems
in early spring, and is soon covered with its feathery blossoms,
and when the leaves have fallen the erect red stems are still
handsome. In the north the winter sometimes kills back the
young growth, but, in any event, the plant only needs one
shearing in the spring.

We observe that Michaelmas Daisies grown in pots have
been largely used this year for the embellishment of the
greenhouses at Kew. Our native Asters grow in such abun-
dance everywhere that we never heard that the experiment of
growing them under glass had been tried in this country, and
yet if plants with flowers of the best form and color were
selected, some of them would certainly make beautiful spe-
cimens, and, no doubt, when flowering under glass, the
individual heads would be more perfect than they are when
blooming out-of-doors in our windy autumns.

In a recent volume of the Linnean Society on Orchids in the
Malay Peninsula, Mr. Henry Ridley writes that in the hill
forests Orchids become more abundant as one ascends, and in
exposed rocky slopes as the jungle becomes thin a great
variety can be found. Species which in the low country in-
habit the tops of the loftiest trees, here grow on the ground or
low on the stems and branches of bushes and small trees.
Thus, on Kedah Peak, atabout 3,000 feet elevation, the ground
is thickly carpeted with plants of Bulbophyllum, Ccelogyne,
Dendrobium, Platyclinis, Eria, etc., so that one is up to his
waist in them.

In a road bulletin published last month by the Ontario De-
partment of Agriculture it is stated that money appropriated
and applied to the improvement of roads in the Dominion is
rarely used under any economical system. It sounds almost
like a description of the road-work in some of ourstates, when
we read that ditches are dug without providing outlets; gravel
is applied without forming the road-bed ; roads are graveled
without having been drained; then draining is undertaken,
and the gravel is covered over with the excavated earth, which
necessitates a repetition of the graveling ; there is no discrimi-
nation between good material and bad for the road-surface,
and it is composed chiefly of sand; temporary sluiceways are
built; work is done without proper machinery ; and, in shor,
the principles of scientific road-making are generally ignored.

Duchess, Keiffer and Lawrence pears, from this state, held
over in cold storage, are still seen in collections of fruits. The
brilliantly colored Forelle pears from California are the most
showy fruit of this class now in season, and cost $1.25 a dozen
for the best. Comice, Winter Nelis and Sheldon bring $1.00
to $1.25 a dozen, and the same price is asked for Beurre Gris,
a large russet pear of medium quality and an excellent keeper,
Rich, spicy Winter Seckels, also from the western coast, cost
fifty cents to $1.00 a dozen. Some of the large green Spanish
melons noted during autumn are still occasionally Seen, at
$1.25 each. Small round melons, smooth and almost golden
in color, are displayed among hothouse products in one of the
fancy-fruit stores. These are from Long Island and sell at
fifty cents a pound, the average weight of one of them. Prickly
pears, pomegranates and immense globular shaddocks are
among the more showy exhibits. Strawberries, from Califor-
nia, sold last week at seventy-five cents a pint. Florida pine-
apples of the largest size, with luxuriant tops, sometimes
lavishly decorated with broad bows of satin ribbon, make a
striking show in the fruiterers’ windows. These cost as much
as $1.50 apiece, and smaller fruits, also specially cultivated
under shelter, sell for sixty cents and upward. Coe’s Late
Red, the long-keeping California plum, is yet in stock, and
being the only plum in market now has a special value in giv-
ing variety to fruit baskets. Japanese persimmons are com-
paratively plentiful and cost fifty to sixty cents a dozen for
good ones. Brilliant little Lady apples, which were never
more handsome, sell for fifteen cents a dozen. Quinces are
a regular offering in the markets at seventy-five cents a half-
bushel basket. There isa wide choice in kinds of oranges
now in season, and Tangerines, from Florida, give variety to
the large range of citrus fruits,

In this phenomenal apple season, when more than 2,000,000
barrels have already been shipped from American ports and
sold at remarkably low prices, the so-called Albemarle pippin,
usually a principal export apple, is hardly in the trade at all,
the season being an off year for apples in Virginia. The entire
crop of this variety in that state is said to amount to only

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 459.

about 1,000 barrels, and the quality is not up to the average of
other years. A wholesale dealer here, who makes a specialty
of this choice fruit, has this year handled but one car-load of
221 barrels, whereas his trade last year comprised 30,090 bar-
rels. York Imperial, another American favorite in the Eng-
lish markets, is not seen at all this season. An average price
for Albemarle pippins in England a year ago was $4.00 at
wholesale, quotations ranging from fifteen to twenty-five shil-
lings. The few barrels now for sale here are held at $8.00 at
retail, and as much as thirty-four shillings was realized at
wholesale auctions in Liverpool several weeks ago. Newtown
pippins, of which the Albemarle pippin is generally considered
a synonym, are fairly plentiful in the Hudson River district.
Barrels of this northern apple, which isa better keeper than
the southern fruit, sell here at $6.00 for the best, but much
of the stock is inferior, and the prices for lower grades are no
higher than for ordinary varieties of apples. In Liverpool
tightly packed barrels of selected Newtown pippins brought
thirty-two shillings, in wholesale lots, at recent sales. The
cold weather a week ago urged many shippers to hurry apples
forward from the interior of this state so as to save them from
freezing in transit, and the result was an overstocked market
and a further drop in values. <A fair wholesale price at way-
side stations is eighty cents a barrel by the car-load, while
ordinary quality apples bring but sixty to seventy-five cents,
and the best $1.25 to $1.35. The barrels cost twenty-five cents,
freight from points in this state about as much more, with fif-
teen cents for packing and ten cents for commission, all of
which the grower pays, so that the only gain in an unprece-
dented crop seems to be to the consumer, especially if he
buys by the barrel. Choice apples cost the retail buyer $1.50
a barreland upward. The storage houses have been crowded
with apples, and new warehouses have been built, but thou-
sands ot bushels are unhoused, although every available cellar
in the apple districts has been pressed into use. In the town-
ship of Greece, New York, for example, the apple crop
amounts to over 200,000 barrels. There are ten drying houses
and five cider mills in the town, and almost a thousand men
and women engaged in this work, though the total population
is only about 4,000.

Ernest Gustavus Lodeman, Instructor in Horticulture in Cornell
University, and Assistant Horticulturist to the Cornell Experi-
ment Station, died by his own hand during an attack of acute
melanchclia in Mexico, Oswego County, New York, onthe 2d of
December. Mr. Lodeman was bornin Neufchatel, Switzerland,
on May 3d, 1867. When he was two years old his parents came
to this country, and in 1870 his father became Professor of
Modern Languages in the State Normal School of Michigan,
from which institution the son graduated in 1889. In 1890 he
began in Cornell University the professional career which
proved remarkably useful and fruitful. In 1895 he received
the degree of Master of Science from the university, and
his thesis, ‘‘The Spraying of Plants,” was subsequently
published as one of MacMillan’s Rural Science Series,
making a book of some four hundred pages. At the date
of his untimely death he was a candidate for the degree
of Doctor of Philosophy, having taken up for his thesis a
philosophical and botanical study of the cultivated Begonias,
and he had collected a greater number of species and type
forms of the genus than exists in any other American collec-
tion. In the college he had particular charge of classes in the
propagation of plants, spraying, greenhouse construction and
pomology. In connection with the experiment station work
he prepared many important bulletins, and the spray-calendar
idea which originated with him is now an established type of
publication. When the station was asked to extend its work
directly among horticultural communities Mr. Lodeman threw
himself enthusiastically into the work and soon became a per-
sonal favorite among the fruit growers of western New York.
All the work upon grapes and strawberries, two large indus-
tries in the state, was entrusted to him, together with the treat-
ment of certain plant diseases. His last journey made to
Oswego County was to inspect experiments in fertilizing straw-
berry fields, and here under some impulse induced by the
strain of overwork he methis tragicend. Personally, Mr. Lode-
man was tall and well-knit, and he usually enjoyed excellent
health. He had the modesty and patience of the true student,
and although at times he felta depressing distrust of his own
ability, he was prosperous and happy in his work. He was
an excellent linguist, speaking French and German fluently
and having a useful knowledge of other languages. His pri-
vate life was spotless and he had a sweetness of temper and
true manliness of character which endeared him to all with
whom he came in contact.

DECEMBER 16, 1896.]

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY bY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

Orrice: Tripune Buitpinc, New York.

onductedMbyic. «tie, «ts %@ «= os = « Professor C. S. SARGENT.

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1896.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE
EoiroriaL ArticLes :—Municipal Playgrounds,.....-..+--..-. tees cece ee eeee ee 501
Chinese Soap-trees.....-...+. ou 502

Forest Conditions in the Southern Sierra ... Frank M. Gaiitiees 502
Professor L. C. Corbett. 5c4
New or LittLe-KNOWN PLANTS :—Dog- tooth Violets on Mount Ranier, eee
figure.)... See COHOC RCE CCO ORES
Aster pions itolies Lam “(With fgure,)..
CULTURAL DEPARTMENT :—Mexican Leelias. «
Care of Frames in Winter ..........--
Sternbergia macrantha. . .
CorrESPONDENCE :—Early California Oranges.

. N. Gerard. 508
William M. Tisdale. 508

MEETINGS OF SOCIETIES :—Vermont Horticultural Meeting. ME oe ners (in ordon 508
RECENT PUBLICATIONS .. 509
NOTES... ssceeeee 510
ILLUSTRATIONS : Doe- tooth Violets on Mount Ra er, Fie. 505

FAS terlon Polis; buat seed 273 viemsleiealeisjeise we ins 8% ='5.0 514 s10'0id are asjecia'ew'ed a s'B5 507

Municipal Playgrounds.

URING the last twenty-five years the movement of
population has been from the country to the city,
and the rapidity with which American and European cities
have increased in size during this period is marvelous.
This movement has been even greater in Europe than itis
in America, although we are apt to regard the growth of
some of our western cities as unparalleled ; and in Europe,
at least, the effort toimprove the condition of urban popu-
lations has kept pace with their growth. The last ten or
fifteen years have witnessed substantial reforms, too, in the
management of American cities, and if these efforts toward
reform have not always been successful their failure can
be largely traced to political conditions rather than to want
of zeal and intelligence in the reformers.

In modern municipal equipment much provision is made
for the instruction and amusement of children, and in most
modernized European cities large sums of money have
been expended in procuring open spaces for them in dis-
tricts of congested population. Mr. Albert Shaw, in his
Municipal Government in Great Britain, in describing the
methods and results of modern London management,
points out as remarkable. “the manner in which the
committee on parks has made provision for the athletic
culture of young Londoners of both sexes, and for their
natural and healthful devotion to outdoor sports. Cricket-
grounds and football-grounds, literally by the thousand,
have been laid out, besides many hundreds of tennis-
courts, and various golfand hockey grounds. The council
committee has not merely provided these opportunities for
recreation, but it has gone so faras sedulously to supervise
the use of the cricket grounds and other playgrounds, to
the end that the largest possible number of young people
may get the best attainable results of pleasure and physical
development from their use. The council has imitated the
Continental cities in making provision for music in the parks,
and its numerous subsidized bands are giving more than
a thousand open-air concerts each season. It has suc-
ceeded in making the parks so attractive that several mil-

Garden and Forest.

Sol

lion persons each year are now deriving pleasure either
from participation in the games, attendance at the concerts
or in other similar ways. The preservation of several very
large outlying tracts of wooded park land, together with
the opening up of numerous larger and smaller public
pleasure-grounds in every district of the huge metropolis,
has now madeit certain that the growth of London can
never shut off the children of future generations from access
to the grass and trees and open-air sports”; and from his
work on the ALuntcipal Governments of Continental Europe,
it may be learned that in modern Paris and Berlin, Vienna,
Hamburg and many other German cities, abundant pro-
vision has been made for the recreation and refreshment
of all classes of people in numerous and carefully located
small parks, squares, playgrounds and other open spaces.
In this country, where much has been done in the last
forty years in providing our cities with large rural parks,
the establishment of playgrounds in connection with urban
schoolhouses, and small parks or playgrounds in congested
districts, has been singularly neglected. In this city, how-
ever, twoadmirable small parks have recently been opened
in the most crowded parts of the East Side, the land for
others has been taken, and New York has legislative
authority to expend a million dollars a year for this pur-
pose. Two completed East Side hey at Mulberry Bend
and Corlear’s Hook are, however, small parks and not true
playgrounds—real oases in a veritable desert of squalor,
with fresh green grass and trees and flowering shrubs.
Green grass is always beautiful, andin the midst of a ten-
ement-house district it is doubly refreshing; but children
cannot play on turf without destroying it, and if these parks
are to be kept fresh and green the edict to keep off the
grass must be sternly enforced ; and it is a question worth
the attention, perhaps, of municipal reformers whether open
spaces in such districts would not better supply the public
needs if a large part of their surface was covered with
gravel or asphalt on which children could play freely, the
grass and trees being confined toa narrow marginal border.
What has already been done in this city in providing
open spaces is, of course, still very inadequate, but it is
more than has been accomplished in any other large
American city. Brooklyn has a noble playground of forty
acres of beautiful level turf beyond Prospect Park, but it is
still remote from the centres of greatest population, and
little has been done to secure open spaces in the heart of
the city or to provide for them on its rapidly advancing
borders. This is true, too, of Philadelphia, Chicago, Balti-
more, St. Louis and San Francisco. These cities are now
admirably provided with large parks and with grass-cov-
ered squares, but no adequate provision has been made in
any of them for convenient playgrounds for the children of
the poor. Boston and its suburbs, judging by the ratio of
park area to population, is the best parked community in
the world, but in the great park system of the New E ngland
capital little attention has been paid to the question of ‘play .
grounds. The city itself has spent in a comparatively short
time $12,000,000 on the city parks. It has one admirable
large playground in Franklin Field, situated, however, in
what is now a remote and comparatively inaccessible dis-
trict, beyond walking distance for a majority of the school-
children of the city, and between the Common, now too
small and too much used to serve as a playground, and
Franklin Park, a distance of about seven miles through
the parks, no provision whatever has been made _ for
playgrounds. This serious objection to the Boston park
system may, however, still be remedied, and Mayor
Quincy, who is alive to the importance of this subject, will,
it is to be hoped, make his administration memorable by
inaugurating a general system of conveniently located
playgrounds and open spaces. The little town of Brook-
line, which is adjacent to Boston on the south-west, has
already set a good example by placing $100,000 in the hands
of its Park Commission to secure land in the less thickly
populated parts of the town for the benefit of future gen-
erations of children, the more densely populated districts

502

being already provided with three large and excellent
playgrounds adjacent to some of the principal school-
houses in the town.

Other cities and towns may well follow this example and
secure now, while land is comparatively cheap, an adequate
provision of open spaces for the future. All our cities,
large and small, will increase rapidly in population, and
land within their borders, or in their immediate neighbor-
hood, adapted to the purposes of parks and playgrounds
will never be cheaper than it is now. <A wise policy will
make such provision in advance of the actual necessities of
the community, and in laying out the new districts of all
cities land should be liberally secured for these purposes.

The growth of cities at the expense of the rural popula-
tion will make the supply of country-bred men and women,
who in the past have been the mainstay of the nation,
smaller and more difficult to obtain; and the men and,
what is even more important, the mothers of the men who
are going to carry on the American experiment of self-
government will be city boys and girls. Too much,
therefore, cannot be done to make them healthy, clean and
well instructed, and unless they are supplied with fresh air
and with opportunities to play in freedom the games which
belong to their age their chances of. becoming useful citi-
zens are not promising.

Dr. Aucustine Henry, writing from Mengtse, Yu-nan,
contributes an interesting and important paper to the
American Druggist and Pharmaceutical Record on Chinese
Soap-trees. From very early times the fruits of these trees
have been used by the Chinese for washing purposes, and,
in spite of the introduction of alkaline soaps from England
and Germany, they are still esteemed for washing the hair
and cleaning delicate fabrics like silk. Little is known of
the chemistry of these fruits, although it may be assumed
that their peculiar properties are due to the presence of
saponin. Chinese Soap-trees belong to two natural fami-
lies, the Sapindaceee and the Leguminose. The best
known, perhaps, of these plants is Sapindus Mukorossi, a
Chinese and Formosa tree cultivated in Japanese gardens
and in those of north-west India and Bengal. Dr. Henry
tells us that this tree is common in the southern provinces
of China and in the islands of Hainan and Formosa. Fur-
ther north it occurs in Chekiang and Hupeh, although it is
rare in these provinces. The fruits of all the trees of this
genus have the same properties, two of them growing
spontaneously in the United States, one on the keys of
southern Florida, while the other is widely distributed
along the southern boundary of the United States from
south-western Missouri southward. ‘The fruit of Pancovia
Delavayi resembles that of Sapindus, and is also used as
soap, according to the French missionary Delavay, by
whom it was found in Yu-nan a few years ago. The most
esteemed of the Chinese fruit-trees, however, is Gymno-
cladus Chinensis, a near relative of our own Kentucky
Coffee-tree. This tree grows in central China in the prov-
inces of Hupeh, Szechwan and Anhui, Chekiang and
Kiangsi. The Chinese name, Fei-tsao, meaning fat
Gleditschia, refers to the fact that the pods of this tree are
much thicker than those of the true Gleditschias.

Eastern Asia must be considered the home of this last
genus, eleven species or forms being known in the forests
of that region, while in North America there are only two.
The pods are employed in Asia for washing, and those of
Gleditschia officinalis are used as a drug by the Chinese.
As Dr. Henry points out, there is at present considerable
confusion regarding the different species of Asiatic Gledit-
schias, and a monograph of the whole genus is very much
to be desired.

The Lungngan-tree (Nephelium Longana) occurs wild
in Formosa and is cultivated in that island and in
southern China for its edible fruit. The seeds are ground
into powder and are said to be used for washing the hair.
Saponin also occurs in the Chinese Tea-oil tree, Camellia

Garden and Forest.

[ NuMBER 460.

Sasanqua. This plant is cultivated in China for its seeds,
which yield the so-called tea-oil. The seeds contain about
ten per cent. of saponin, and the refuse after the oil is
extracted is known as tea-seed cake, and this refuse is
used by the Chinese for washing, and to poison fish. The
saponin stupefies fish, which rise to the surface and are
then easily captured. It is interesting to note that ‘a
decoction of the refuse poured on a grass lawn causes the
earthworms to come to the surface, and it is used conse-
quently to eradicate earthworms from soil in which plants
in pots are grown or to obtain speedily bait for angling.”

Forest Conditions in the Southern Sierras.

O more magnificent forests are to be found in the
Sierra Nevada mountains than in the district lying
to the west and south-west of Mount Whitney, and includ-
ing the headwaters of the Kern, Tule and Kaweah rivers ;
yet, although it is a region of beautiful and varied scenery,
easily reached and adjoining the highest peaks of the range,
it is one but little known and seldom visited except by the
people of the immediate vicinity in the valley below and
some adventurous climbers of Mount Whitney. In fact,
many intelligent Californians are still unaware even of the
existence of the Sequoia National Park which is under
military protection, and know nothing of the Sierra
Forest Reserve, which extends from the Yosemite National
Park southward over two hundred miles, with an average
breadth of, perhaps, fifty miles to Mount Breckenridge, in
Kern County, and which is not under protection of any
kind at present. the lands within it still belonging to the
Government, having merely been withdrawn from sale or
entry. Only two wagon-roads penetrate this country, and
these only for a short distance—one from Porterville up the
Middle Fork of the Tule to some sawmills and the ‘ summer
shanty town” of Mountain Home, at an elevation of about
6,000 feet; the other from Visalia up the East Fork of the
Kaweah through the Sequoia Park to Mineral King, a deserted
mining camp, at an altitude of 7,700 feet, the usual head-
quarters of the company of United States cavalry which
patrols the park during the summer.

On entering this region from the plains of the great valley
a distance of about twenty-five miles is usually traversed
through foothills and lower mountains before reaching the
coniferous forests. The change in vegetation 1s apt to be
abrupt from the White Oaks and Scrub Oak, the Manzanita
and Ceanothus, to the immense shafts of the Yellow and
Sugar Pines, the Incense Cedars, and a little farther on the
red boles of the Sequoias. Here the undergrowth is now
almost wanting, consisting, for the most part, of scattering
clusters of young conifers, with the intervening spaces
usually quite bare, except where in more protected or less
shaded stretches the lowly, odorous Squaw-mat, Chame-
batia foliolosa, covers the pine-needles with its lawn-like
green. Higher up the forest becomes denser, the White,
and afterward the Red Firs, as Abies concolor and A.
magnifica are locally termed, begin to predominate, and
the wet meadows on the higher altitudes are often held in
exclusive possession by the white stems of the Tamaracks
(Pinus Murrayana).

Aside from the so-called Giant Forest in the park, near .
the Marble Fork ofthe Kaweah,there are scattered throughout
this district many fine groves of Sequoia Wellingtonia upon
the upper waters of the Tule and Kaweah, each extending
over several hundred acres, and often for two or three
miles, mingled with other trees, and each containing many
hundreds of Redwoods, as the Sequoias are here called.
Professor Dudley speaks of this region as “ihe real home
of the species.” In spots sheltered from fire and grazing,
young trees are found in considerable numbers of a size
from two to ten feet high, while trees of a size intermediate
between these and the smaller giants, six or eight feet in
diameter, are very rare.

Scattered throughout the district at altitudes between
5,000 and 8,ooo feet is the Sugar Pine, first among its

DECEMBER 16, 1896.]

neighbors in usefulness as well as beauty, and second only
to the Sequoias in size. Too much can never be said of
the varied and picturesque individuality of this beautiful
tree, which Douglas, upon discovering it in 1826, declared
to be “the most princely of the genus; perhaps, even the
grandest specimen of vegetation known.” Its most
striking characteristic is in its slender, straggling branches
thrown out irregularly from ihe upper trunk and termi-
nated by a single, long, heavy cone pendent from the tip,
shooting out like a skyrocket just ready to burst.

On account of the lack of transportation facilities,
the amount of lumbering so far done in these mountains is
small, and it seems that forest fires of any great extent
have not ravaged the forests here for many years, though
the blackened bark of the older trees testifies plainly as to
the manner in which the former undergrowth was done
away with. But, while fortunate in these respects, this has
been the most thoroughly overrun with sheep of any sec-
tion of the Sierra, over 200,000 head being driven annually
to the headwaters of the Kern and Tule rivers. When the
sheep were first brought in here, some thirty years ago,
there was a dense undergrowth of young trees, grass and
shrubs, while in the mountain meadows the feed was as
high as a horse's back, say the old mountaineers. To-day
upon the Upper Kern and Little Kern there are miles after
miles of country left utterly bare; from the bole of one
great conifer to another there is scarcely even a pine-
needle to cover the coarse, gray, granite sand. To start a
forest fire would be absolutely impossible ; there is nothing
left to burn. Like the Roman general who made the
enemy’s country a desert and called it “ peace,” the sheep-
men now claim that the sheep benefit the forests by keep-
ing down the undergrowth, thereby bringing security from
forest fires. Others say that inasmuch as there will be
nothing left to feed upon in a few years more, the sheep
will work their own expulsion.

In the late spring, before the arrival of the sheep, many
places can be seen where the young Pines are covering the
ground like grass on a lawn, and where squirrels have
“cached” their winter supply of seeds little tufts of dozens
of tiny trees spring up. A few weeks later not a sign of a
tree is to be found, and little holes show where the seed-
beds of the squirrels have been dug up by the feet of the
sheep to obtain the last remnants of the kernels.

On the first establishment of the park and its patrolling
by the cavalry there was a feeling of bitter resentment
against the new policy by all connected, even indirectly,
with the sheep industry. Some herders, aware of the ab-
sence of a legal penalty for trespassing, thought well to
ignore the presence of the soldiers, and allowed their sheep
to graze within the park in spite of warning. They dis-
covered their mistake when, after being escorted a couple
of days’ journey across the park, they were ejected with
the admonition not to be caught again within it, their
sheep, meantime, having been driven out at the nearest
point on the boundary to roam at liberty over the moun-
tains until their owners had made their way back around
the borders and gathered together the remnant. At present,
however, the protection of the forests is acquiesced in
without comment, and the further extension of the pro-
tected area is looked upon by the sheep owners as a thing
to be expected at any time, and already taken into account
in their plans for the future. A year or two ago notices
were posted forbidding the pasturing of sheep in the reserve,
and, though most of them were at once torn down, there
was some disposition to obey them by many of the Ameri-
can owners, but, as no effort was made by the Government
to.enforce the regulation, it soon became a dead letter. In
fact, it is probable that the closing of the entire reserve
would be looked upon favorably by a a large part of the
American sheep-men, partly under the expectation that the
foreigners owning no land would thereby be forced out of
the business, and partly, no doubt, in the case of those
owning patented lands within the boundaries of the
reserve, with the thought that the Government could not

-

Garden and Forest.

593

in justice forbid them access to property it had already
sold to them, nor without great expense in the way of
fencing or police could it enforce a strict observance of the
boundaries of the land sold. The large amount of this
land disposed of by the Government before the formation
of the reserve, and now within its limits, will be one of the
most difficult problems to solve in any action hereafter to
be taken for the protection of these forests.

A great part of the sheep pastured on the public lands
belong to foreigners, chiefly French and Spanish, of Pro-
ven¢al or Basque origin, who, owning no land and paying
no taxes, are most thoroughly despised by their American
neighbors. They are, nevertheless, an industrious, frugal
and hardy race, willing for the sake of a mere subsistence
to face dangers and hardships which few Americans would
care to endure for a like recompense. Accustomed from
childhood and through generations of ancestors to lead
their flocks every summer into the upper Alps and Pyre-
nees, they penetrate every nook and corner of the moun-
tains where feed is to be found, afew days’ pasturage being
a sufficient inducement for them to take their charges over
paths difficult and dangerous even for men, where the sure-
footed donkeys with their supplies may, perhaps, have to
be let down or pulled up by ropes, and where the sheep
can only be driven by the most expert management and
knowledge of their habits. The most adventurous moun-
tain climbers of the Sierra Club, in their explorations of the
fastnesses of the high Sierra, find few spots so remote or
inaccessible as not to show traces of their having been
already visited by these indefatigable peasants. :

Aside from these few exceptions then, it may be said that
the sentiment of the people of the district is now almost
unanimous in favor of increased Government control. The
inhabitants of the valleys below, who use these waters for
irrigation, understand the necessity of preserving the forest-
cover on the mountains, and as great numbers of them
come up toward the sources of the stream each summer
to escape the intense Seat of the plains, they become
acquainted with the conditions and the denudation at
present prevailing. The ice has been broken. An exam-
ple has been placed before them in the protected park,
where the improved appearance of vegetation is apparent
to the most inattentive traveler as soon as he passes the
boundary. Public feeling seems to be ready for another
step. The first should ree be to enlarge the area
from which trespassers are excluded, which could be done
by the Executive without the necessity of legislative action.
Captain Parker, acting superintendent of the park, says, in
his report for 1894 :

I respectfully renew my recommendations of last year on
the subject of extending the park so as to take in that portion
of the forest reserve lying east of Sequoia and General Grant
parks. This would include a most picturesque and grand
portion of the Kings River Cafion, and also the Kern River
country, a section rich in scenic grandeur and beauty, which
is visited each year by great numbers of tourists. This exten-
sion would make possible the employment of troops, and thus
rid the country of sheep, a result which seems impossible at
present to hope forin any other way. I[t would take in the
source of the South Fork of the Kings River, of the Kern River,
andincludes more of the sources of the Kaweah River than
does the park as at present laid out. It would simplify the
sheep question by interposing to the migrating sheep herds a
barrier stretching entirely across the mountain country, thus
restricting their operations. It would be hailed with delight
by the tourists, fishermen and sportsmen, who now find this
country barren, desolate and devoid of feed for their riding
and pack animals. Such an extension has its precedent in the
enlargement of the Yellowstone Park, April 14th, 1891, an
order of the President including therein a portion of the torest
reserve adjoining.

As to the further future respect to some thorough
system of forestry practice for this reason, it can be said
that, thanks to the initiative of a few far-seeing men, with
the aid of GarpeEn anp Forest and some other journals, the
subject is no longer a mere theme for academic discussion,
as it was until of late, but is receiving local attention and

with

504

intelligent observation from those most nearly concerned.
The matter is one frequently and seriously discussed in all
its bearings, and there is scarcely an intelligent moun-
taineer in the district who is not ready with some more or
less pertinent and practical suggestions. Whenever the
Government is prepared to put in operation a well-consid-
ered scheme for the proper management and utilization of
the varied resources of these mountains, with due regard
to their use as a pleasure resort, game preserves and tim-
ber-producing forests, it will undoubtedly receive the
hearty support and codperation of a large majority of the
S ied 7
people most directly interested. Fein A. olehon

Santa Barbara, Calif.

Shall We have a Bureau of Plant Registration ?

HE question of establishing a bureau for the registra-

tion of plants, in connection with the present
Division of Pomology, was brought before the Section of
Botany and Horticulture of the Association of American
Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations, by Professor
L. C. Corbett, of the West Virginia University. After a
careful consideration of the matter, the Section appointed
a committee to report upon the feasibility of the scheme,
and to suggest the outline of a plan to be presented to
Congress at an early date. The committee consists of
L. C. Corbett, Morgantown, West Virginia, chairman ; W.
A. Taylor, United States Department of Agriculture, Wash-
ington, District of Columbia; Professor L. H. Bailey,
Ithaca, New York; F. S. Earle, Auburn, Alabama, and
C. H. Shinn, Berkeley, California.

The idea is to have some one place in the United States
where all plants placed upon the market can be officially
registered, numbered, anda description, together with speci-
mens of the bloom, seed, foliage and fruit, placed on
record. When it is not practicable to preserve the original,
colored casts are to be prepared, as in the case of citrus,
drupaceous and pomaceous fruit, as well as vegetables.
In all cases where plants are sent for registration, speci-
mens of flowers, foliage, fruit, root, tuber or seed must
accompany the application. All vegetables must be ac-
companied by a given amount of seed (to be determined)
to be preserved for purposes of noting the duration of cul-
tural varieties, the influence of climate during any series of
years, or in any locality. A further purpose of the seed
shall be to grow plants for purposes of identifying the
sort.

Enns Soucut.—(1) To discourage the duplication of names,
and the renaming of old sorts for commercial purposes.
(2) To form a national herbarium of economic plants,
which shall be made up largely from type specimens. (3)
To simplify the matter of nomenclature. (4) To aid the
student of varieties as well as of variation of plants under
culture. (5) To secure to the originator of a truly valuable
variety some reward for his labor, the same as is now ac-
corded the inventor.

The incorporation of such a clause (No. 5) will, I am
sure, secure the hearty codperation of all plant-breeders,
nurserymen and seedsmen, and this codperation we must
have in order to advance the scientific ends sought.

It is further proposed that this central bureau be made a
part and parcel of the present Division of Pomology of the
United States Department of Agriculture. A very valuable
nucleus for the beginning of such work is had in the fruit
models now in the museum of that department. Every
one interested in this matter is invited to formulate his
ideas on the subject and send them to some member of
the committee, who will put them in such form that a bill
may be drafted at an early date and presented before Con-
gress. The reason for selecting a committee whose mem-
bers are so widely scattered is to find out as fully as
practicable the needs and wishes of different sections of
the United States. The hearty codperation of all persons
interested in this subject is confidently expected.

EG: Corbet.

Agricult’l Experim’t Station, Morgantown, W. Va.

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 460,

New or Little-known Plants.
Dog-tooth Violets on Mount Ranier.

E shall take occasion to speak again of the beauty

of the alpine vegetation near the timber-line on
Mount Ranier, in Washington, and we have already pub-
lished a view of a mass of the beautiful alpine Erigeron
salsuginosus growing on the slopes of this mountain (see
vol. ii, page 319). The great floral display of Ranier,
however, is made by two species of Dog-tooth Violet,
the yellow-flowered Erythronium giganteum and _ the
white-flowered LErythronium albiforum. These two
plants grow in the greatest profusion among the grasses
on the slopes of this mountain at an elevation of
about 6,000 feet, attaining a size and luxuriance which
we have not noticed in any other part of the country. In
Paradise Valley, near the foot of the Nisgully Glacier, they
cover broad stretches, and their abundance is so great that
the white and yellow nodding flowers nearly hide the turf
above which they are raised on slender stems. When the
hot sun of July and early August has reduced the snow-
banks to the depth of about an inch the plants push up
through the snow, each one making for itself a little open
circular space ; in two or three days more, or when the last
snow has gone, the plants are in full flower, and at the end
of another week, so short is the season of vegetation at this
high altitude and so rapid the development of plants, the
flowers have gone and the fruit has attained nearly its full
size.

Some slight idea of the abundance of these plants on
Mount Ranier may be obtained from our illustration on
page 505 of this issue, made from a photograph taken
by Mr. Curtis, of Seattle. No picture, however, and no
words of which we have command can give any idea of
the delicacy, grace and beauty of these plants, which fora
few long summer days display their loveliness on these
wind-swept alpine slopes.

Aster longifolus, Lam.

NTIL a few years ago this name was applied by

American botanists to one of the commonest and
most polymorphous species of the eastern seaboard. But
in 1882, after a critical study of type specimens in the
European herbaria, Dr. Gray showed* that the plant
which had been passing as Aster longifolius was really the
Linnean A. Novi-Belgii, and, on the other hand, that
Lamarck’s A. longifolius was a northern species little
known to American collectors; and although the species
is defined in the Synopiical Flora, it is still almost as little
known as before.

This obscurity is due, no doubt, to the fact that outside
British America the plant occurs only along the northern
borders of the United States, and possibly in the Rocky
Mountains. Apparently not rare through Canada from the
Gulf of St. Lawrence westward to the Saskatchewan and
Great Slave Lake, the species extends southward to Halifax,
the mouth of the Kennebec and the White Mountains in
the east, and to Lake Superior and northern Minnesota
farther west. Plants from Montana and Colorado have
been referred here, but the specimens at hand (Scribner's
No. 94 from Teton River, Montana, and L, F. Ward’s No. 1
from Citadel Butte, Montana) seem to have little affinity
with the eastern plant. }

Like the related species of Aster, A. longifolius presents
a broad range of forms. As it occurs along the Maine
coast it is often treacherously near A. Novi-Belgii. But
farther inland, along the St. John and Aroostook Rivers,
where as yet no forms of A. Novi-Belgii have been detected,
the plant appears in its more typical form. Yet there one
is puzzled by intermediates, for A. longifolius has a strong

%* Proc. Amer. Acad., xvii., 167, 169.

} Since the above was written I have seen a specimen which is clearly Aster
longifolius, collected by Dr. Geo. G. Kennedy in the Blue Hills, West Quincy, Mass.

DECEMBER 16, 1896.]

tendency to intergrade with both A. paniculatus and A.
junceus.

As the species ordinarily appears it is very slender and
from one to four feet in height. The stems are quite
glabrous, or pass by gradual transitions to a densely white-
villous form, the var. villicaulis, Gray. The leaves are
thin and smooth, or rarely thickish and somewhat scab-
rous on the margins. ‘They are from three to eight inches
long, varying from lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, usually
attenuate to the tip, and either tapering gradually to a nar-
row sessile base or with a slightly auriculate-clasping
insettion. Generally the margins are nearly or quite entire,
but occasionally they are sharply serrate.

The cymose-paniculate inflorescence is leafy, the branches
being either short with one or two heads, or elongated and
bearing several heads. The heads, as a rule, are rather

Garden and Forest.

505

be distinguished by the fact that in A. Novi-Belgii the inner
bracts are of unequal length and somewhat squarrose.
Tall forms of A. longifolius without foliaceous bracts may
sometimes be confused with A. paniculatus, but the heads
of A. longifolius are usually larger, and in pure A. panicu-
latus the bracts of the involucre are shorter and imbricated.
From A. junceus, too, the plant may best be distinguished
by the fact that in A. junceus the involucral bracts are
definitely of two or three lengths, as well as by the lower
habit, and thicker usually narrower and strongly scabrous
leaves of the latter species.

The specimen from which Mr. Faxon has made the
drawing on page 507 was collected at Fort Fairfield,
Maine, where, in the thicketsand on the gravelly banks of
the Aroostook River, the plant appears in great abundance.
Merritt L. Fernald.

Gray Herbarium, Cambridge, Mass.

Fig. 72 —Dog-tooth Violets on Mount Ranier.—See page 504.
+ 7 g

smaller than in Aster Novi-Belgii, though in some few-
flowered specimens they are fully one and a half inches
across. The involucreis four or five lines high, composed
of loosely one or two seriate approximately equal linear
bracts with acute or long-acuminate herbaceous tips, and
frequently there is an outer series of lanceolate foliaceous
vracts. The rays are from three to seven lines long, vary-
ing in color from pure white through pink to deep blue.

As already suggested, this plant tends to intergrade with
at least three species, Aster Novi-Belgii, A. paniculatus and
A.junceus. From all these species A. longifolius may be
distinguished by its involucre of loose and essentially equal
bracts. Forms with the outer bracts foliaceous, however,
strongly simulate A. Novi-Belgii, These may generally

Cultural Department.
Mexican Laelias.

AELIA ANCEPS and its varieties, L. autumnalis, L. albida,
L. Gouldiana, and other forms that bloom during midwin-
ter are particularly useful in this dull season. The flowers of
L. anceps alone, if a number of them are grown, make an
effective display, especially if a few of the superb white forms
are used with the typical form. None of these flowers are of
much value for cutting. The stems do not readily absorb
water and they fade soon, The flowering plants are, however,
useful for decorative purposes, and the flowers last in good
condition as long as six weeks in a moderately cool house free
from excessive moisture.

For various reasons these Mexican Orchids have a rather

506 Garden and Forest.

poor reputation among cultivators, but there is no difficulty
that may not easily be overcome with rational treatment. It
is quite possible that all the Lelias named would thrive better
out-of-doors for four months each year, beginning with June,
if a light airy structure is not at hand for them. We have for
several years had plants of the white form of L. anceps that
have steadily refused to hower when grown in the greenhouse,
but when placed in partial shade with Cypripedium insigne
during the past summer they improved in strength to such an
extent that some are now about to bloom, and all show a de-
cided increase of vigor. They were placed in a position where
the sun shone on them untilabout 11 o'clock, when large Elms
afforded shade during the hottest portion of the day. We tried
this plan because the new growths were not stiff enough to
hold the leaves rigid, and they had a tendency to lay over to
one side to their permanent disfigurementif left alone. Some-
times Cattleyas show these symptoms, especially those of the
two-leaved section, such as C. Leopoldii and C. Bowringiana,
and there is no surer sign of too much heat and not enough
air; perhaps not during the day, for at that time of year the
temperature is beyond control, but at night enough air is not
allowed to circulate among the plants.. As we could not pro-
vide a cooler structure with the proper amount of light, we
put the plants outdoors. The leaves were tied up to maintain
a normal position; they at once began to stiffen, and the re-
sults were all that could be desired.

It is well known that there are several types of white Lelia
anceps. Some flower freely, as L. Hilliana and L. stella, but
many need to be grown very strong to induce them to bloom,
as L. Sanderiana. There-is no doubt, however, that all will
flower each year with proper care, which includes plenty of
water. Mexican- Laelias: enjoy a spraying overhead once a
day, and even more often on very hot days, provided the
material in which they are grown: is suitable and in a whole-
some and porous condition. Nothing but. good sound
Osmunda-root should be used. to grow them in, with no
addition of moss, as this will decay and make the whole inert.
A very little moss might be used as an index to the state of the
material in winter, but not enough to blend it through the
whole potting material, as is generally done.

It is sometimes advised to keep these plants dry so as to rest
them after flowering, but this is.a great error. They need
recuperation, it is true, but nothing effects this so well as
moisture. After blooming, the bulbs are shriveled from the
strain upon them, and a fascicle of new roots is pushed from
the base of the lowering bulb,-which seeks more food in the
way of new material and moisture to make good the loss.
This is an infallible guide to the right time to repot any Orchid,
and it should be rather anticipated than otherwise, for delay
will injure the young tender tips of these new roots. As soon
as the flowers are cut from Mexican Lalias the roots should,
therefore, be examined, and if repotting is required this should
be done at once. Only a little compost should be used, rather
than too much, owing to the great quantity of water that may
be necessary in hot weather.

Lelia autumnalis will now be going out of flower. Our
plants have already been taken out of the old receptacles and
placed in new ones, with fresh material, If they are to be
grown suspended from the roof of the greenhouse it is best to
use charcoal for drainage, as it is much lighter in weight and
stores moisture well. L. Arnoldiana, L. Gouldiana and L.
anceps will need attention soon, as they each go out of bloom.

Lelia albida is not usually a success grown in pots or bas-
kets. The plants, whether newly imported or established
pieces, will grow best if tied with copper wire to pieces of Fern-
root sawed out flat to the desired size and about two inches
thick. The pieces should be wired on the flat side and sus-
pended at the ends of the house. This has proved a good way
to grow many of the species that have been most intractable
under other methods.

Cattleya citrina is also a Mexican plant and is short-lived in
cultivation. Some inferior dried scraps came into our posses-
sion some time since and they were also wired toa block of
fern fibre. We did not expect them to thrive, but some have
flowered; all are growing stronger and most will bloom at the
next flowering period. This Cattleya is unique in being the
only species found in Mexico, in its yellow color and in its per-
sistent habit of growing downward. These features, added
to its delicious fragrance, make it one of the plants that culti-
vators are anxious to grow well. Growing it on a block is,
perhaps, not so generally practiced as circumstances would
seem to warrant.

Cattleya Walkeriana, though of Brazilian origin, may well
be classed with the foregoing, owing to its habit of winter
blooming, its dwarf, almost round, bulbs, and bad reputation

[NuMBER 460.

from a cultural standpoint. We had a dozen scraps once,
newly imported and rather unpromising in appearance; these
were pegged on a block of Fern-root and suspended near the
glass. There is great improvement in the size of the bulbs
made here over those grown in their home. The plants ower
freely and are a pleasing sight now, when some have three
and four flowers to astem. Grown in this way it is a decidedly

handsome plant.
South Lancaster, Mass. E. O. Orpét.

Care of Frames in Winter.

O gardening establishment is complete without a number

of cold frames, and in the spring season there are seldom
enough for the requirements of a garden. We use all our
frames during the winter season, and by careful attention to
ventilation, picking over the plants, covering securely on cold
nights, removal of snow from the protecting shutters and other
details, the returns are satisfactory even during the dead of
winter. We find that sashes 6% x4 feet are a convenient
size, glazed with 9x13 double thick glass. We prefer Singa-
pore fibre mats to straw ones. They are fully as warm, mouse-
proof, not liable to rot if laid by damp, more durable, and they
leave no litter on the sashes. With ordinary care they should
last at least six years; some in use here for nearly five years
are but little the worse for wear. _Match-board shutters seven-
eighths of an inch thick are placed over the mats ; ifiron handles
are screwed on the ends of these shutters (as well as on the
sashes), they are much easier to move about. A good coat
of paint on the upper surface improves their appearance and
is a preservative.

For such plants as Double Daisies, Polyanthus, Pansies and
Wallflowers, which are not reliably hardy here, we do not use
mats or shutters at all. As soonas the beds are frozen firm
we fill below the sashes with perfectly dry leaves, which are
removed on the first coming of spring weather. Parsley and
Lettuce may also be protected in this way, although we prefer
to uncover them with our other plants and give them all the
light possible. Good parsley, however, may be had all winter
long by merely covering the plants with a good coating of the
leaves. We have just packed a layer of dry leaves about the
side of our Lettuce and Violet frames, and these are covered
with shingles or boards to throw off moisture. Violets in
frames are looked over once a week and all decaying or dis-
eased foliage removed and the surface scratched over where
green slime appears. We depend entirely on frames for our
supply of Violets, and are never without them during the
most severe weather. Marie Louise is still the best of the
doubie sorts and is a persistent winter bloomer. Lady H.
Campbell, much paler in color, flowers poorly in frames and
evidently needs more heat to develop its flowers. Farquhar
is giving us excellent flowers and of larger size than any other
sort we grow...Some growers complain of disease in this
Violet, but the finest Howers we have seen this season are ot
this variety, and no spot was seen on the stock. Wellsiana
still proves much the best of any single Violet we have grow-
ing; the stems are stiff, howers large, dark purple in color,
with a fine odor. The Czar still proves a most useful variety
and blooms very freely all winter. Luxonne, while better
than the much overrated California, lacks the stiff stem and
deep color of Wellsiana. We have discarded California, though
some growers think highly of it) As a rampant grower it
exceeds any other sort we know, but its flowers lack substance
and are little superior in color to our wild Violets. It seeds
freely, and large numbers of young plants appeared in a peren-
nial bed near our Violet frame all summer, proving almost as
troublesome as Chickweed. Snow cannot lie on Violetframes
more than’a few days ata time without serious injury to the
plants. All the sunlight possible must be given during the
dark months, and it is useless to expect flowers in winter
without it.

We have a supply of Lettuces from frames from November
until outdoor stgck is ready. We are now cutting plants sown
at the end of August and planted in their present quarters a
month ago. A batch sown a month later will give nice heads
during January and February. For Lettuces we use about two
feet of leaves, which are tramped firmly, and over these place
a coating of manure and loam. After January a gentle hotbed
of stable-manure and leaves, mixed, is prepared at intervals of
a month to advance the plants more rapidly. Lettuces dislike
coddling, and are ruined by a warm, close atmosphere. They
will damp badly if long covered with snow, and a little ventila-
tion should be left on in all weathers, so that any steam may
escape. Tennis-ball still proves the best all-round variety. A
sowing of seed is made on a greenhouse shelf in December,

DECEMBER 16, 1896.] Garden and Forest. 507

Fig. 73.—Aster longifolius, Lam.—See page 504.

and the plants set out ina gentle hotbed during January. A
sowing of Forcing Erfurt Cauliflower is also seasonable then.
We grow these indoors in four-inch pots until rooted, when
they are transferred to a frame. ;

We formerly stored our winter Celery in frames, but have
proved that it keeps much better well protected where it is

grown, and we do not now lift any. This season has beer
extremely mild, and we have not tound it necessary to store
any Cauliflowers in frames. At the end of November this
vegetable is heading up nicely outdoors. We leave Brussels
Sprouts out until more severe weather, when a number are
carefully planted in frames, after removing all surplus leaves

508

These need abundant ventilation on every favorable day, and
the sashes should be thrown off entirely on mild days.

In some localities such perennials as Helianthus multiflorus
plenus, Anemone Japonica, Tritoma, etc., should be lifted and
stored in a frame, and a coating of leaves is sufficient protec-
tion for them. Here they are hardy, except in the more ex-
posed locations, where we protect with partially decayed
leaves. A frame is the best place to store Chrysanthemum-
stools for next season’s stock, and planted out in good com-
post they give an abundance of stout fleshy cuttings in spring.
They are not injured if frozen stiff for a few days, provided
they thaw out in the dark, a rule which applies to all frozen
plants. Hard-wooded plants, like Azaleas, Genistas, Diosmas
and Chorozemas, can be held in frames if protected, while
Deutzias, Hydrangeas, Hybrid Perpetual Roses, and forcing
shrubs in variety can bestowed undersome of thesashes. Ifany
of the pots are liable to be broken by frost, it is well to pack
dry leaves among them. Dutch flowering bulbs placed in
frames can be more readily examined, and taken indoors when
needed, than if bedded in manure and straw out-of-doors.

The uses of frames are many. They provide a suitable
place for a large number of plants which cannct be kept in
heated structures, and in the early spring they can be utilized
for raising crops of Radish, Lettuce, Beets, Carrots, Beans,
Cucumbers and other vegetables, to say nothing of flowers in
variety. After they are covered with snow it often happens
that little attention is given them until spring, and, of course,
itis useless to expect any returns when they are so neglected.
No watering should be done except on the mornings of clear,
bright days, or injury from damp will follow. Ventilation on
every favorable opportunity, all possible light, and attention to
covering materials are important and necessary during winter

for good returns.
Taunton, Mass. WN. Craig.

Sternbergia macrantha.

HIS interesting plant lowered with me for the first time in

late November, or several weeks later than its normal
season in European gardens. The species was collected by
Mr. Whittall in 1893 and introduced to cultivation the next
year. The original bulbs were some unknown specimens
brought in by his collectors, and he was pleasantly surprised
when they first flowered, unplanted in an odd corner. Like
the Colchicums, this Sternbergia flowers in the fall and the
leaves appearinlate winter. The flowersare large and ofa lighter
yellow than those of the better-known S. lutea, and altogether,
from its shorter scapes and absence of foliage at the time of
bloom, it can scarcely be considered as desirable a general
garden plant. It is, however, a novel and charming addition
to the garden at a time when cheerful flowers are not too
plentiful. Under what conditions it will best prosper I have
not yet satisfied myself, after growing plants in different loca-
tions. It is probable, however, that warm, sunny places in-
clined to dryness in summer would suit this species, as they do
S. lutea. The ‘“ Winter Daffodil” seems to be a capricious
plant if not properly located, but a most reliable and indispen-
sable one if properly placed, and grown in fair-sized clumps.

Bulbs increase with fair rapidity.
“lizabeth, N.J. Dine F. N. Gerard.

Correspondence.

Early California Oranges.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST :

Sir, ie first shipment of California oranges this year was
sent to Chicago October 1gth. They were described as ‘‘ Aus-
tralian Seedlings” and were grown in the Cahuenga valley,
near Los Angeles. It has since been ascertained that they
were Mediterranean Sweets and, so far as they purported to
be oranges of the crop of 1896-7, were a misrepresentation, as
they were oranges of last season which had remained on the
trees through the summer. The car was consigned, and it is
said netted a loss.

The first shipment from the Redlands district, which is
among the earliest of this season’s crop, consisted of two car-
loads forwarded to New York City.November 17th. The first
car-load last year went forward November 3oth. These
oranges were sold at $2.75 a box, free on board, and thus
netted the growers $2 00 a box, a good price, although not high
enough, in my opinion, to warrant sending green fruit to mar-
ket. Since November 17th several car-loads of Navels have
been forwarded, and one firm alone is now sending one car-
load every day. The press of California is unanimous in con-
demning these early shipments. Oranges which have hung

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 460,

upon the trees through the summer are not fair representa-
tives of California fruit. Much of their juice has evaporated
through the skin, and the result is a flabby, tasteless product.
The early shipments of this season’s crop are of green fruit,
and it is difficult to understand why anybody should want to
eat a green orange, which is no more pleasing in taste than a
green apple or a half-ripe peach. Certainly those who buy
and eat these oranges must form a poor opinion of California
oranges.

I have been riding among the Redlands Orange groves
every day for the past three months. October 1gth, when the
first shipment went forward, an orange here and there among
the trees of these groves was just beginning to show tinges of
yellow, in little spots about as big as a twenty-five cent piece.
To-day, in the locations where orangesripen the earliest, much
of the fruit is still perfectly green ; some of it is half-yellow,
and some a pale, sickly, lemon color. Here and there a tree
ripens its fruit earlier than the others, and this early fruit is
culled from the whole orchard. On some trees all shades,
from deep green to a pale yellow, are seen. Two months
from now this fancy fruit, if left on the trees, would have a
bright reddish yellow color, burnished like bronze, and the
sour, insipid, unwholesome juice which it now contains would
be ripened into nectar. Not the least unfortunate thing about
these early shipments is that they diminish, by their volume,
the amount of fancy fruit which might be sent later to estab-
lish a reputation for the California product in the markets of
the east.

Experience has shown that the portion of this early fruit
which reaches the market between Thanksgiving and New
Year’s sells usually at satisfactory prices. After the first of
January there is a lull in the demand for California oranges
until the first of February or later, And those shipments
which have reached the eastern markets just too late for the
holiday trade have invariably netted losses. This shows that
consumers buy these oranges for holiday decorations, and not
because they consider them fit to eat, and the fact is that no
California oranges are fit to eat before the first of February.
So long as growers cancommand two dollars a box, net, for this
early fruit they will doubtless continue to sell it, regardless of
the ultimate effect upon the reputation of their product. This
is a short-sighted policy, especially as the best of these Navels
netted the growers last year $1.75 a box as an average for the
season. It seems, to outsiders, hardly worth while to impair
the strength of the later demand for a gain of twenty-five
cents a box on a few early car-loads. Furthermore, it is un-
derstood in California that the Mexican and Jamaica oranges
now in the eastern markets are far superior to the unripe Cali-
fornia fruit, and the latter must be sold, if at all, upon the
reputation of the Navel orange, which reputation these par-
ticular specimens tend to injure. The newspapers of Cali-
fornia are justified in discouraging these shipments and in
giving the fullest possible publicity to the facts in the case.

Redlands, Calif. William M. Tisdale.

Meetings of Societies.

Vermont Horticultural Meeting.

od hieee first important horticultural meeting ever held in this

state met at Burlington on December 3d, when the Ver-
mont State Horticultural Society was permanently organized,
with a large membership. Mr. T. L. Kinney, the largest apple
grower in Vermont, was made President, and Professor F. A.
Waugh, of Burlington, was elected Secretary.

Mr. Charles A. Hinsdill, speaking on ‘‘ The Farmer's Fruit
Garden,” said that few farmers in southern Vermont supply
their own families with fruit. They even buy berries to can,
which are frequently shipped up from the New York market.
The few who have undertaken small-fruit culture have thus
found the local markets exceptionally good. There are num-
bers of summer visitors from the city in the vicinity during the
fruit season who consume quantities of berries which now
come mostly from the city markets. :

Mr. L. M. Macomber, in speaking on Plum-culture in Ver-
mont, said that the hardiest varieties of the Domestica class
may be depended on fora full crop of plums about once in
three years, and a light crop one of the two intervening years.
He recommends the improved native Plums, especially those
belonging to the Americana group. Of these he has grown
numerous seedlings in addition to standard varieties. The
Americana Plums bear a full crop practically every year if
proper cross-pollination is assured, and Mr. Macomber thinks
that the best of them, such as De Soto and Wolf, are equal to
Lombard in quality. Pottawattomie, of the Chickasaw group,

DECEMBER 16, 1896.]

is superior in quality, and has only the fault of bursting its skin
when ripe. The Chickasaws, in general, are hardy in Vermont,
though not quite as hardy or prolific as the Americana group.
Marianna is a pretty plum, but does not bear well. Some of
the Japanese Plums are hardy enough for Vermont, but they
have not been sufficiently tested.

Mr. W. A. Orton, of the Vermont Experiment Station, said
that in making the Bordeaux mixture the copper sulphate
can be much more rapidly dissolved by hanging it in a sack
just touching the surface of the water. This is because
the resulting solution is much heavier than the pure water,
and sinks rapidly to the bottom. If the copper sulphate is
placed in the bottom of the vessel, the lower part of the solu-
tion soon becomes saturated and no more copper sulphate is
dissolved. The lime and the copper sulphate should be made
up separately and each one diluted with one-half the total
water required. Then the copper sulphate should always be
poured into the lime solution and never the reverse; for, if
an excess of the copper sulphate is present at any time during
the mixing, the durability of the mixture is disastrously affected.
Bordeaux mixture made in this way will stand much longer
without settling than when some other order of procedure is
followed.

Mr. F. H. Horsford, in discussing ‘‘The Nurseryman’s Re-
sponsibility,” said that the commercial grower should furnish
good, strong healthy stock, true to name and in good condition ;
but his responsibility is then at an end. There have been
many frauds perpetrated upon the farmers by the tree agents,
but for the most part the circumstances make it impossible to
fix the responsibility. The planter handles his trees carelessly,
paying small attention to labels. The orchard is then neglected,
trees are broken down by cattle or storms, and may come up
from the roots, so that by the time the trees begin to bear it is
quite impossible to discover what the varieties were originally
supposed to be. Some of these risks fall upon the nursery-
man, who, in self-protection, must aska higher price for his
goods.

Professor W. M. Munson presented ‘‘Some Problems of
Experimental Horticulture,” saying that practical horticultur-
ists and experiment station workers should frankly under-
stand among themselves what are the most promising lines of
investigation. The common tendency to press the stations
for immediate and practical results is wrong. As examples
for legitimate investigation he instanced the influences of
stock on scion, the conditions of pollination, hybrid char-
acters, subjects on which it is desirable to make positive gen-
eralizations, but on which our observations are still too few
and inaccurate to enable us to generalize at all. Then the
whole field of plant-breeding teems with problems. There
is a fine opening for experimental enterprise in the acclima-
tization of exotic fruits and the amelioration of native ones.
De Candolle wrote in the Origin of Cultivated Plants that
there were only two native plants in cultivation in America,
one being the Artichoke. Since that time we have brought
into common cultivation the Blackberries, Raspberries, Goose-

berries, Strawberries, Plums, Persimmons, Grapes and
dozens of others. Yet we have made only a beginning in this
direction.

Recent Publications.

An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States, Canada
and the British Possessions, from Newfoundland to the
Parallel of the Southern Boundary of Virginia, and from the
Allantic Ocean westward to the 102d Meridian. By Nathaniel
Lord Britton, Ph. D., and Hon. Addison Brown. The
descriptive text, chiefly prepared by Professor Britton, with
the assistance of specialists in several groups ; the figures
also drawn under his supervision. In three volumes.
Vol. I, Ophioglossacez to Aizoaceze. New York: Charles
Scribner’s Sons. 1896.

In few regions of the world are the students of systematic
botany better provided with books for the study of the
plants around them than in our northern states’ To the
list of our many excellent manuals and Floras is now
added a treatise differing so much in plan from any of its
predecessors that its publication cannot fail to mark an
epoch in our botanical history. It aims to present the
latest views of classification and nomenclature as applied
to our plants, together with complete illustration of every
species described. The magnitude of the undertaking will
be appreciated when it is considered that 4,000 species are

Garden and Forest.

509

to be thus treated, the present volume including about one-
third of this number.

The advantage of supplementing botanical descriptions
with figures placed in juxtaposition is so obvious that its
adoption was one of the earliest devices of phytography,
being the method of Brunfels, Fuchs and other fathers of
the science. Their figures, though to-day chiefly studied
in relation to the history of wood-engraving, are no less
interesting in connection with the development of botani-
cal illustration. In modern times the use of the more
elaborate plate separated from the text has in great measure
superseded that of the woodcut, and complete illustration
of a Flora by the latter method has been rarely attempted
on an extensive scale. The most notable example of its
employment is, perhaps, Bentham’s Handbook of the British
fora, in which every description is accompanied by an
admirable figure from the experienced hand of Fitch. This
work has so greatly aided the popular study of plants in
England that the desire for a work on the same plan for
the older portion of our own country has been often
expressed. This now, thanks to the munificence of Judge
Brown and the energy of Dr. Britton and his coadjutors, is
fulfilled.

The difficulties of such an undertaking are hardly realized
by those without experiencein this kind of work. The prepara-
tion ofadequate figures on the smallscale necessitated,though
made easier by the use of modern photographic processes,
is still one of the hardest tasks of botanical draughtsman-
ship. To be satisfactory, such figures must seize on the
most essential characters of the subject, presenting them
simply, clearly and properly differentiated from those of
its congeners. The analyses should be most judicially
selected, for much must be omitted that would be desirable
if space allowed. The author of the text also has many
obstacles to contend against. The mere typographical
exigencies that force him to resort to a Procrustean method
of fitting his descriptions to the page, depriving him of the
freedom to expand here or curtail there, must at times
seriously interfere with the relative proportion desirable in
the component parts of his work.

That these and many other difficulties have, in the main,
been overcome with so much success in the work before
us is cause for congratulation. The immense number of
species dealt with precluded the possibility of the figures
being all drawn by the same hand. As a result their value
is unequal; this is evident ata glance. Actual use in the
hands of students must decide upon their trustworthiness.
In the mean time it is safe to commend many of the illus-
trations, especially those in the families of Grasses and
Sedges, where the subjects lend themselves readily to com-
pressed treatment. Less satisfactory, itseems to us, are the
figures of the Conifers and Orchids, and the Oaks, in many
cases, seem drawn from unrepresentative specimens.

In the text we have a presentation of the latest phases of
classification and nomenclature. Whatever difference of
opinion may be held respecting the latter, few botanists
will fail to welcome the adoption of the Engler se of
classification. It is a pleasure to see our plants maM@™@aled
under its guidance. In regard to the nomenclature adopted,
no such concurrence of opinion can be expected at the
present time, and even the advocates of the new school
can hardly claim that the application of the principles they
uphold has yet reached perfection. In that portion of the
work dealing with our specialty, for instance, we note one
or two slips in this regard. The name Taxus minor can-
not surely supplant Taxus Canadensis, Marshall, and Picea
rubra will hardly stand if the rule “once a synonym,
always a synonym,” is to be enforced. It may also be
suspected that-the figures of P. rubra and P. Mariana have
been accidentally transposed. At any rate, to our thinking,
they would be more characteristic if changed about.

In general appearance the volume is extremely attrac-
tive. In every detail of mechanical execution it shows a
good taste and sound judgment that reflect great credit on
all concerned in its production. As the text and illustra-

510

tions of the remaining two volumes are already completed,
their publication may be expected within a time reasonably
required for their progress through the press. Their appear-
ance will be impatiently awaited.

Notes.

According to The Gardeners’ Chronicle, Harrison's Yellow
Rose has been blooming in November. This is said to be a
rare occurrence in England, and a second flowering of these
Roses is certainly a rare event here.

At the Thanksgiving dinner of the American Society at the
Hotel Cecil, in London, a feature of the banquet was an enor-
mous pumpkin, weighing 175 pounds, sent to London by
Captain Kroman, of Schoharie County, New York.

In this warm winter weather many shrubs are cheated into
showing their flowers as if it were spring. In this latitude the
flowers of Jasminum nudiflorum, which appear very early in
spring, are usually caught by the frosts and rarely have their
long wands covered with bright yellow blossoms as they do
farther south. The plantis hardy here, however, and grows
vigorously in Morningside Park, and many of the bushes
are now quite full of bloom. Insheltered places Japan Quinces
are also flowering.

Professor McDougal gives some very good reasons in the
current number of Appleton’s Popular Science Monthly for
the establishment of a botanical garden in the West Indies, so
that tropical plants could be studied without going to Buiten-
zorg or some other garden on the other side of the world. A
laboratory and garden in the West Indies could be reached
from any important city in our country in four or five days,
and it would be much more accessible for the European bota-
nist even than are those established among the antipodes.
Such a garden would be of direct benefit to a great number of
working botanists in America and furnish investigators and
graduate students of this country with unequaled facilities for
biological research.

We hear occasional criticisms of the California Violet by
commercial growers, but, after all, there is something about a
single Violet that is most attractive. We lately received a box
of these flowers from Mr. A. Herrington, gardener to H. McK.
Twombley, Esq., and they certainly left nothing to be desired
in fragrance, or form or color. The flowers are bold, they are
poised on long strong stems, they keep well and are wonder-
fully rich in color and delightfully odorous. Mr. Herrington
writes that he expects to have these Violets all winter. The
plants from which the flowers were gathered were set out in
June and received open-field culture. They were kept to
single crowns, and were lifted into the benches in September.
They have become perfect rosettes with abundant foliage,
each plant nearly a foot in diameter. Wecan think of nothing
more satisfactory in the shape of a Violet than these flowers.

A thoroughly useful Farmers’ Bulletin of about twenty pages,
just issued by the United States Department of Agriculture, is
entitled Washed Soils. How to Prevent and Reclaim Them.
Along the banks of the Ohioand in many portions of the south
hundreds of fields have been washed and furrowed beyond
the possibility of profitable cultivation. How the destruction
of forests has caused these gullies, how to prevent them, and
how by cultivation, reforesting and covering up the ground
with s this evil can be checked and cured is plainly set
fort these pages. The illustrations are not artistic, but
they are helpful, and the methods of constructing hillside
ditches and terraces, the best preparation for forests, with
approved methods of planting and caring for them, are all
plainly set forth. The statements in this little tract are so
truthful, and the deductions so logical and convincing, that
every landowner who is not already familiar with them ought
to read and consider them.

The English papers are giving a good deal of attention to
American apples since these have become such an important
feature of the English fruit market. Te Gardeners’ Magazine,
in describing the auction sales, which are held three times a
week at Liverpool, says that a single auctioneer sometimes
sells more than 15,000 barrels a day, and as there are half a
dozen salesmen, who each takes a turn of forty minutes, it is
plain that a great deal of fruit is disposed of ina day. Some-
times the sales are not completed until midnight. Buyers are
obliged to take twenty barrels at least on every accepted bid,
with the option of as many of a given brand as are desired.

Garden and Forest.

[NUMBER 460.

They are sold by samples of two barrels from every lot of
twenty, one of which is opened on the face end and the other
turned out in baskets, so that any dishonesty in packing can
be seen. Barrels which are called ‘‘slack’—those in which
the fruit rattles when it is shaken—need not be taken by the
buyer, as they bring from fifty cents to a dollar below the
ruling prices. A correspondent of Zhe Gardeners’ Chronicle
writes that American shippers excel in grading and pack-
ing their fruit. He says that out of thousands of barrels of
one variety of apples every fruit looks as if it had been run into
the same mold, and this careful sizing does as much to sell
the fruit as the finish in color and clearness of skin, in which
particulars our fruit is so much superior to that grown in the
climate of England. That the sale of the British fruit could be
secured by appealing to British patriotism has proved to be a
delusion, and the Merchandise Marks Act, which compels all
American apples to be labeled as such, has only helped to ad-
vertise them.

So light was the crop of Pecan nuts in Texas and Louisiana
that no new ones are in market. Last year’s product, held over
in ice-houses, sells at fifteen cents a pound, retail. Hickory
nuts are also scarce, the crop in New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
Connecticut and New York having failed. Ohio has furnished
the main supplies for our market; new nuts sell for fifteen
cents, and those from last year for ten cents, a quart. Butter-
nuts, too, are far from plentiful, a few barrels only having come
from Greene County, of this state. These sell at eight cents a
quart. There has been a fair crop of black walnuts, which
bring the same price as butternuts. The first almonds from
France reached this country about the middle of November,
and the choice kind known as Princess Paper-shell sell for
twenty-five cents a pound. A similar almond from California,
of fine quality and somewhat larger, has been here since early
in November, and brings five cents a pound less than the
favorite French almond. The thicker-shelled Tarragona
almond, from Spain, has more recently come, and sells for
fifteen cents. Thecropof English walnuts is very large, and the
nuts are of excellent quality this year. The first Grenoble
walnuts were in market just before Thanksgiving at fifteen
cents a pound. The Brazil nuts, which begin to come in
spring, are of comparatively poor quality this year, due, it is
said, to injury from late rains while being transported in open
canoes to the seaport. These sell for twelve cents a pound.
The first new filberts came from Sicily and Naples, and from
Barcelona, a fortnight ago, and bring fifteen cents a pound,
while English filberts, or cob nuts, in their husks, sell for
forty cents. The Chinese Lychee nuts, so-called, are thirty
cents a pound. No new Paradise or Caryocar nuts have ar-
rived this year, though some from other years are still seen in
the retail shops.

An interesting bulletin prepared by Mr. L. F. Kinney, Horti-
culturist of the Rhode Island Experiment Station, treats of
Spinach with a description of the most approved methods of
culture at the present day, the best way to irrigate, the pro-
tection of plants against mildews and leaf-miners and various
other interesting points. In the matter of classification, four
types of true Spinach which have originated from the natural
species, Spinacea oleracea, are considered. The first of these
is the Norfolk or Bloomsdale variety, which makes a vase-
formed, thick-leaved plant, with leaves supported by stalks
instead of resting on the ground. This type, which appears
under half a dozen different names, is not popular among the
large growers in Rhode Island because it goes to seed early,
and yet it is unsurpassed in quality when harvested at the
right time. The Round-leaved Spinach is the second type,
and it makes a compact round plant with dark green, slow-
growing leaves formed close to the ground. The third type
is the Thick-leaved Spinach, which has the ends of the leaves
pointed. It grows to a large size very rapidly. The Prickly-
seed Spinach has leaves with long, slender stalks and narrow
blades, and is not planted in the north as much as it deserves.
The so-called New Zealand Spinach is botanically Tetragonia
expansa, which, when properly cooked, makes a good substi-
tute for Spinach, and can be grown during the hot summer
months when it is impracticable to grow the true Spinach.
The Mountain Spinach, or Garden Orache, is botanically Atri-
plex Hortensis, and none of its forms have much to recom-
mend it. Spinach has been cultivated for a thousand years,
but it was not grown in European gardens until the fifteenth or
sixteenth century, and the greatest progress in its cultivation
has been made within the last fifty years. The bulletin is
numbered 41, and contains much interesting historical and
cultural matter.

DECEMBER 23, 1896.]

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY
THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CoO.

OrrFicE: TripunE Buitpinc, New York.

Conducted by 05 5 « : « 2 2 4% «© «: Professor C. S. SARGENT.

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1806.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.
EpitortaL ARTICLE :—Trees in Public Parks..........0.-.0e-eeeees Bry
The New York Traffic in Christmas Greens.. im. B. C 51r

The Value of Bud Varieties............--.+.-- IG. Harold Powell. 513

FoREIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter.. 2-1 seeseeeeeeeeeee ee W, Watson. 514
New or Littl£-KNoWN PranTs :—Vileriana Sitchensis. (With figure.)......... 516
CuLtuRAL DEPARTMENT: ee oe Bop O.00080 OCU AR EEOC: Sren William Scott. 516
Late Chrysanthemums... Sbe T. D. Hatfield. 516
BambooS.........-+ss.s++- FN. Gerard. 516

Fertilizers for the Orchard..
From the St. Louis Botanic Garden .....-
CorRESPONDENCE :—The Growth of Forest Trees............ T. H. Hoskins, M.D. 518
(Uitiliziney Choke! Cherries:; cessiesisesh saieasaicis sees asso seccsas conte B.L. P. 518
Variety Tests in the Experiment Staons eee Pro ee Samuel B. Green. 518
The California Buckeye ....... a - Joseph Meehan. 518
Insect Pests in Madeira. LD. A. Cockerell.
REcENT PUBLICATIONS aa :
NOTES. ...2 <<
ILLUSTRATION :

Beale iatard hopisiel= F. Troop. 517
-Fanny Copley Seavey. 517

Trees in Public Parks.

HE determination of the selectmen of the town of

Winchester, Massachusetts, to remove a row of large
Elm-trees which encroach on the principal street of the
town, has met with such a storm of opposition among the
inhabitants, and has been so generally condemned by
the press of the state, that this particular row of trees will
probably continue to shade the Winchester highway. This
vigorous protest against cutting down these trees, which
we have reason to believe is entirely justified by the pecu-
liar circumstances of the case, represents the usual attitude
of Americans toward the trees on their public grounds.
They object on general principles and on all occasions to
cutting down a tree, without stopping to consider whether
it should be cut or not, and therefore often insist that
trees should be left standing when really they ought to be
removed. Park commissioners and other officers charged
with the care of public grounds frequently try to defend
themselves against charges of neglect of duty in such mat-
ters by entrenching themselves behind: the public sentiment
against the cutting of trees, which they claim is often so
strong that they are helpless to act. Every expert, for
example, who visits Central Park, in this city, sees that
the excessive crowding of the trees is rapidly destroying
their beauty and threatening their lives, and that hundreds
of trees should be cut out at once in order to maintain the
park in good condition. This has been explained year
after year, and from time to time the park authorities have
removed occasional trees here and there, but such work
should go on steadily and constantly, and in a great
pleasure garden like Central Park the axe should never be
allowed to rest. The feeling against cutting a tree is, how-
ever, so strong in this community that it is exceedingly
difficult for commissioners to accomplish any system-
atic work in this direction. If, however, the impor-
tance of this matter was once clearly understood, the
public would not only uphold but demand these opera-
tions, and it is, therefore, one of the plain duties of Park
Boards and their subordinates to instruct the people on
this subject by object-lessons and in every other possible
Way.

Garden and Forest.

511

We allude to Central Park because it is visited yearly by
many people who see for themselves the need of prompt
action with the axe in order to develop its greatest possi-
bilities and beauty, and because we have been somewhat
familiar with the workings of its management, but the
same thing can be said with nearly equal ‘truth of the con-
dition of the plantations in all American parks. In Pros-
pect Park, Brooklyn, the thinning of the border plantations
has been so long delayed that their usefulness has gone,
and they must be renew ed at a very large cost. and
the loss of twenty-five or thirty years. In the Buffalo
park the trees, about twenty-five years old, are every-
where crowding themselves out of shape, and, unless steps
are taken to relieve them at once, the beauty of these plan-
tations will be ruined forever. This condition of things
exists also in the parks of Chicago and St. Louis, and in
Druid Hill Park, Baltimore, and Fairmount Park, Phila-
delphia, where many old trees have been allowed to die
prematurely through the neglect to apply simple remedies
of preservation. Boston, however, enjoys the reputation of
having the worst trees in its parks of any American city.
The city has spent millions in securing park lands and in
building elaborately constructed park Toads and expensive
park buildings, but little or nothing has been done for the
trees whith were growing on these lands ; these are over-
crowded, unshapely, full of dead and dying branches, and
are harborers of dangerous insects, which spread from the
parks into adjacent lands.

This general neglect of the trees in public parks in
American cities cannot be explained by the excessive love
felt for trees by the public, as park officers often assert.
The cause must rather be ihored for in the general indif-
ference of Americans to their trees, and in the unfortunate
fact that the tendency of American park makers in recent
times is more to the perfection of park drives and walks
and to the erection of expensive buildings, retaining-walls,
bridges and other masonry structures, than to the care and
maintenance of plantations. It is easier to lay down the
lines ofa gracefully curved driveway and to get it satisfac-
torily built than it is to make and maintain a "good planta-
tion of trees; and the thorough knowledge of trees which
is essential for good park-p lanting, comes only from long
study and special powers of observation. But, on the
other hand, park makers and park commissioners must
remember that a road, a bridge or a building can be com-
pleted in a single season, and that only a few months are
required to change the roughest piece of ground into a
smiling lawn, while it takes the best part of a century to
bring a tree to perfection, and that this perfection can never
be obtained if it is allowed to remain neglected during any
considerable period. Roads and walks and buildings of
all sorts are needed in parks to make them available for
public use, but they are necessary evils to be subordinated
as far as possible to the natural features which give them
their real value. The most important of these natural
features are the trees, and parks are beautiful and useful
as they are furnished with good trees; it is certainly to be
deplored that the modern tendency in park management is
to do everything else in a park but care for the trees, which,
as we have already said, are not only the most essential fea-
tures of a park, but the most difficult to obtain. Experts in
the care of ornamental trees are sadly needed in the United
States, and if they can be found the managers of our parks
singularly neglect their duties if they fail to avail them-
selves of the technical knowledge of such men.

The New York Traffic a Christmas Greens.
HOUSANDS of closely tied Christmas trees piled up
in the wide street space before the: dock and ferry
entrances along West Street have indicated for a fortnight
past that the holiday season is at hand. One who would
visit the principal seat of another branch of Christmas
industry must leave the West Street car at the picturesque
fronts of the Gansevoort markets, and, passing the whole

512

sale meat and live-fowl section to the river, he will find
the Magenta, a steamer which sails each afternoon for
Keyport, New Jersey. The voyage costs but fifty cents
for the sail out and return, and offers the beholder one
of the world’s most magnificent spectacles of sea and
shore. Leaving the palisades, the shipping along shore,
the city, the harbor islands, the forts at the Narrows
and the quatantine stations, the purple haze over the
brown hills and red fields of Staten Island and New
Jersey comes into view. Outgoing ocean steamers pass
to the east, the sails of anchored fishing boats catch and
reflect the afternoon sunlight, while others are dull gray
in the early twilight, The stretch of water crossed in
the southward course is smooth or rough, as is the open
sea toeastward. Entering Raritan Bay thesteameradvances
between forests of slender stakes which mark out oyster
beds. At the head of the bay is Keyport, from which place
the first Christmas greens were shipped to New York more
than a half century ago, and this section is still the chief
seat of the trade. A representative of the third generation
of one of the two or threé families who started the industry
is now in the business, his energetic ancestor a man-of-war's
man of 1812, and, later in life, keeper of the shore Waack-
waack lighthouse at Keanesburg. The first consignments
were tied up in sheets and carried to market with farm
produce on old-style sailboats with lee boards on the out-
side. Strong head winds made a wait of perhaps a couple
of days necessary in the Kills off Staten Island, and the
voyage not infrequently took a week. The early trade
was altogether in loose branches of White Pine, Holly,
Laurel and Hemlock, and in plants of the Club Mosses,
and the gatherings were piled up during late autumn in suc-
cessive loads until the houses were nearly hidden behind
stacks of boughs. Churches were large buyers, the mem-
bers of the congregations making the designs. Bouquets of
berried Black Alder and Ground Pine were the first arrange-
ments, and gradually the trade in made pieces grew.
Paper flowers were the first bits of bright color introduced,
and fifteen years ago immortelles were adopted. The lat-
ter are still in general use, besides dyed Cape flowers and
Balsam, or Everlasting (Gnaphalium), and sometimes the
colored plumes of the grass locally known as Quill weed,
some Bitter Sweet and Holly berries.

For a mile back from the shore of the bay, the entire
length of Monmouth County, nearly every household is
now engaged in the making of Christmas greens, which
include stars, wreaths, hearts, anchors, crosses, triangles
and horseshoes, besides great quantities of roping. Keanes-
burg, four miles from Keyport, is the busiest section,
where neighbors are alluded to as “making” or “not
making,” according to whether the family is manufac-
turing greens at home or some members are engaged in
the work in near-by houses. The door-yard sweepings of
waste bits of the greens and bright immortelles mark
these busy houses. Detached summer kitchens are usually
the workshops. Continuous tables are built along the sides
or extend through the middle, and before piles of Prin-
cess pine, box, laurel, moss, holly, hemlock, immor-
telles, Cape flowers and native balsam, young girls work.
The social instinct contributes no little to the trade, for the
workers come from comfortable homes, many of them
established by early-settler ancestors, and their education
and conduct are unmistakably good. The makers realize,
perhaps, the most satisfaction out of the busy season of
eight or nine weeks which follow election day, in being
able to give Christmas gifts more freely, in procuring luxu-
ries for themselves and in the general festivity of the entire
working season. Gay chat and open confidences charac-
terize the daytime, and in the evenings groups of whole-
some young men, who are boat-builders or who “follow
the bay” as oystermen or fishermen, visit one or more of
the work-rooms, and a couple of evenings during the busy
term are snatched for a neighborhood dance. The evening
visitors render little services in sharpening a dulled knife,
cutting the roots off of bunches of “balsam,” filling up the

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 461.

tables with stock, with a care not to give poor material from
the bottom of a sack to a favorite, unrolling and cutting
cord into suitable lengths which is tied about a waist in a
loose coil, and sometimes one of these hearty, bronzed
young fellows will even “make” and add the finished
pieces to the day’s work of a pretty neighbor.

Since the great increase of the trade during the past ten
or twelve years, and the consequent competition in prices,
wages have been much reduced, and enough workers can-
not always be secured from among the thrifty fisher folk
and farmers near by. Through the extermination of needed
materials in northern New Jersey, and consequent excur-
sions southward to Barnegat and Toms River, some
workers have come from those sections, and thus the busi-
ness is spreading to remote points. The workers from
other places are boarded, have their laundry work done
and receive set weekly wages. Near-by workers are paid
by the piece, and while the rates do not sound alluring to
the city wage-earner, they are, nevertheless, all that the
manufacturer can afford to pay. For making wreaths
and other small and plain pieces eight cents a dozen is
paid, and for stars, anchors, etc., twenty cents a dozen ;
four dozen of the more elaborate pieces is a steady and
long day’s work, from 7 or 8 o'clock in the morning until
late in the evening. For making the ordinary grade of flat
roping thirty cents is paid for a hundred yards. Two hun-
dred yards a day requires accustomed fingers, though 400
yards is not an unusual achievement, and a lad last week
accomplished 800 yards in a day of thirteen working hours.
Sixteen years ago $2.00 a dozen was paid for making stars
of holly, and even more for special orders, while $1.50 to
$2.25 a hundred yards was earned by making the flat
roping, and $4.00 for heavy round roping. The business
has seen even greater changes, however ; formerly Ground
Pine, Princess Pine and Laurel were abundant hereabout,
and the best Holly might be, not too openly, gathered by
day on the Government lands at Sandy Hook and carried
away in sloops after sunset, costing only the labor. Even
Mistletoe was comparatively plentiful on old Sour Gum
trees in the swamps near Freehold. Now almost nothing
is collected from home fields except ithe so-called Balsam,
and long trips must be made for the nearest laurel and
holly. Commission houses in New York sell loose stock
to these Monmouth County manufacturers, which has been
shipped from the New England and southern states, and
one of the largest and longest-established manufacturers,
Mr. Robert Seeley, of Keanesburg, makes personal trips
during October of each year into a half-dozen states to
secure all the stock he needs. Of Princess Pine alone forty
tons was used about Keanesburg this season, and this costs
$60.00 a ton in New Hampshire and Vermont. With $12.00
added for freight, besides cartages, shrinkage and waste,
the cost is nearly $80.00 a ton for this raw material.
As much as ten cents a pound has been paid for Princess
Pine to fill orders after regular supplies were used. Holly
is each year becoming more scarce, and further invasions
are made into southern New Jersey, for, while many crates
and barrels of holly from Delaware, Maryland and Vir-
ginia are sent to the New York wholesale dealers, this is
necessarily cut in short lengths. The branches and tree-
tops from New Jersey intended for decoration are larger
and are not crated. A two-horse wagon-load of well-
berried holly could be bought in New Jersey three years
ago for $25.00. Last year $75.00 was paid for the same
quantity, and gray moss, of which none is left in the north-
ern part of the state, costs double the price of a few years
ago. The best laurel roping, round and heavy, now sells
for ten cents a yard on special order, whereas years ago
there were standing orders from season to season at thirty
cents a yard, with the rope and twine furnished in addition.
For the cheaper roping no hemp rope is used, the overlap-
ping stems making the foundation. Cultivated Arbor-vite
is bought from nurseries, and native plants are shipped
down the Hudson. A nursery stock of 100,000 Juniper-
trees was secured by a dealer and used gradually in a few

DECEMBER 23, 1896.]

seasons. Box is industriously sought out, and the trim-
mings well paid for, while occasionally whole door-yards
full of box edgings with the plants of Tree Box on old
estates are bought outright and cut off above the roots.

The cost for freightage is considerable. For a dozen
wreaths two cents freight is charged on the steamer, and
for stars four cents, while the light roping costs fifty cents
for 1,000 yards, and heavier roping $1.00 for the same quan-
tity. A dealer whose season’s output amounts to 92,000
yards of roping and above 40,000 pieces, and who this
year used ten tons of Princess pine, besides other materials
in proportion, last year paid $400 for freight of raw goods
and manufactured articles. As many as 12,000 to 15,000
yards of roping and 150 dozen pieces are sometimes hauled
to the boat by a single dealer for one day’s shipment to
this city.

Some of the materials come from as far west as Chicago,
and not a few of the made pieces go to Boston, and even
into New Hampshire, where Holly is especially salable.
Hemlock is no longer in general favor on account of its
poor keeping quality. Much of the Princess pine this year
comes from sections in New Hampshire and Vermont
not previously picked over, and as there were no heavy
eatly snows the collecting was easy and the color ex-
cellent. Laurel, too, is good, and without disfiguring
spots, but the leaves of Holly are notas perfect as in recent
years, nor are the berries as plentiful.

No little capital is invested in the trade, and the prepara-
tion begins in September, when the balsam is gathered
before it is too ripe and touched by frosts. During autumn
this is dyed,as are large quantities of Cape flowers, and
dried out-of-doors. Sometimes the natural colored immor-
telles are dyed at home, but they are usually bought in
bright hues from the importers. Quantities of laths are
sawed in suitable widths in the mills and made up into stars
and other designs at home, and “whips” are gathered in
the woods for wreath-frames. Rattan is also largely used
for horseshoes, hearts and anchors. Little bunches of
the dyed flowers, fastened to toothpicks with wire, have
to be prepared in advance. On the arrival of the first stock
in November it is taken out of the sacks, shaken out in
sheds or storehouses, wet and assorted, the brown and dull-
colored Lycopodium being put aside for cheap roping.
This is dipped into-scalding green dye the day before
shipment after it is made up. German buyers prefer the
artificial green roping, and two city dealers who have this
class of customers sell 10,000 yards of this grade. There
is good and poor work in this business as in others, and
manufacturers with established reputations have earned
them by exacting careful work from the makers in the
removal of tiny spikes or cones from the Lycopodiums and
in well-overlapped twigs, so that no stems show and there
are no scant spots. The roping is measured off and tied
in twenty-five-yard lengths and the pieces in packages of
a dozen. Pieces made of holly, a specialty in Keyport,
must be stored during the few weeks before sales begin in
cool and dark rooms and wet every day. The other greens
are freshened with water just before shipment. A plentiful
sprinkling of Princess pine pieces and roping with scalding
water, which is allowed to freeze and then thaw out on the
boat, freshens the stock up wonderfully. Until a fortnight
before Christmas the shipments are comparatively light
and only of special orders, mainly for public places, as flor-
ists’ shops, markets and saloons. One of the department
stores used 12,000 yards of roping in its decorations put up
three weeks ago. Since Monday a week ago the Magenta
has been closely packed with the greens, even in the pas-
sengers’ saloon. The prices this year are not high ; small
wreaths of the more plentiful greens cost thirty to fifty
cents to the wholesale buyer on the boat, and stars $1.00
adozen, while roping ranges from $1.50 to $10.00 a hun-
dred yards. Holly is more costly. Set pieces made of
cedar, moss, etc., for novel effect, do not find popular
favor, and are usually closed out at a loss.

New York. M. B.C.

Garden and Forest.

513

The Value of Bud Varieties.

VERY bud onatree may produce a new variety of fruit

just the same as every seed does. There is no dif-
ference between a bud variety and a seedling, except in
degree. A variety in horticulture is simply a variation
from the type which produces it and which is sufficiently
marked to allow of description. The determination of the
value of the variation depends entirely on the judgment of
the operator who names it. Varieties are not special crea-
tions but normal variations in a plant which can be prop-
agated with profit, To one mind the variation must be
very apparent to justify the formation of a new variety ;
to another a slight difference may seem of equal value,
and thus it is that many varieties differ only in minor
points. Ifthe various parts of a tree are studied, one is
impressed with the unlikeness of its branches, its foliage,
perhaps its fruit, which may differ in color, shape, size or
time of ripening. In fact, no two apples on a tree are
exactly alike, but a slight difference will appear in each on
close examination. The tree is composed of a collection
of individuals or buds, no two of which are surrounded by
the same environment.

These slight differences have never been used as a start-
ing-point in the improvement of existing horticultural varie-
ties. In fact, a variety of fruit, after it once appears, is
accepted and propagated without thought of systematically
improving it. Animals are improved by careful selection
of parents through each generation and a corresponding
regard for theimprovement of their environment, so that
any gain in good qualities may be maintained and new
ones started, but the improvement in orchard fruits is
looked for through the introduction of entirely new forms.

It seems strange that the slight differences which appear
in the buds, and are manifested in the variations in the fruit,
should not have been more generally used as the founda-
tion for the systematic improvement of orchard varieties.
The fundamental principle of the Van Mons system of
originating varieties rested on the selection of favorable
differences in the seedlings through each generation, and
it is the one broad principle underlying the operations of
all plant breeders in building up new types. The ordinary
method of continuing varieties by the promiscuous selec-
tion of scions and buds is not accompanied by a gradual
betterment of the variety, but results in orchards with trees
that always bear, in trees that never bear, and trees that
sometimes bear. Improvement in horticulture should rest
on the same general laws which have operated in the
gradual evolution of the organic world, and that has ever
been by the slow but progressive improvement of existing
types.

Those marked variations in buds, however, which are
particularly noticeable, are eagerly grasped after by florists,
and they have been the source of several prominent orchard
varieties. These variations are called sports, and a sport
is a bud whose difference from other buds is greater than
the ordinary differences which constantly occur. Among
the fruits which have originated as sports are the Isabella
Regia Grape of California, a sport of the Isabella, which
has larger branches and is propagated in that state as a
table grape with more profit than the other American or
Vinifera types; the Hero and Storm King are sports of the
Concord, though neither has been valuable; Cannon’s
Early Peach is a sport from the Mountain Rose, which
is ten days earlier, larger, more highly colored, and is
now quite extensively propagated in Delaware; Bank's
Gravenstein of Canada is a sport of the Gravenstein Apple,
and promises to replace its parent in many sections ; the
Peento Peach of Florida often bears fruit with the common
flat form of its parent and an oblong point; the Golden
Queen Raspberry is a sport of the Cuthbert, having origi-
nated in Berlin, New Jersey.

The list of bud varieties could be further extended and
several hundred varieties of flowers named. I simply
mean to point out that bud varieties often originate through

kB tl ne tr 2 ar eS

514 Garden and Forest.

violent variation in buds, and that these sports are often
of value. But to depend on sports for new varieties is as
much of a lottery as to wait for a good seedling to turn up.
Only one in a thousand is ever of value as a variety. Is it
not reasonable to believe that if horticulturists were to take
the slight variations presented in the trees of our best
varieties as the starting-point for the improvement of exist-
ing varieties and propagate them by judicious selection in
each succeeding generation, that a marked improvement
would result in all of our best types of fruit ?

G. Harold Powell.

Experiment Station, Newark, Del.

Foreign Correspondence.

London Letter.

Evuropuiet1.a Pereterstana.—Under this name some im-
ported Orchids were offered for sale at Messrs. Protheroe &
Morris’s auction-rooms lately. They are described by the
venders, Messrs. F. Sander & Co., as “a glorious novelty
sent home (presumably from Madagascar) by Mr. Mocoris.
It is like the recently introduced Eulophiella Elisabethe.
The flowers are large, produced on strong spikes, their
color a deep rose. It is a plant of vigorous growth, pro-
ducing its spikes freely from the axils of the lower leaves.”
The plants offered were long, stout-branched rhizomes,
like those of Iris Pseudacorus, the thickest being two inches
in diameter, yellowish white, marked with leaf-scars an
inch apart, the upper portion clothed with the sheathing
bases of dead leaves four inches in diameter. The flower-
scapes are evidently very stout, the remains of them being
fully half an inch in diameter, and they are produced from
the leaf axils at about four inches from the apex of the
thizomes. I know nothing of the leaves or flowers, but,
whatever the plant may be, it is certainly a most remarka-
ble Orchid, and, if a Eulophiella, it should prove an inter-
esting addition to the Orchids already introduced from
Madagascar.

OpontocLossum Hair x crispum.—There are numerous
so-called natural hybrids among cultivated Odontoglos-
sums, but hitherto the genus has not been operated upon
with much success by the hybridizer. The first hybrid
raised artificially was O. Leroyanum, the result of a cross
between O. crispum and O. luteopurpureum, made by
Monsieur Leroy, gardener to Baron E. de Rothschild,
Gretz, and flowered in 1890. A second hybrid has now to
be recorded, its parents being O. Halli-leucoglossum and
O. crispum Cooksoni. It has been raised by Mr. Norman
C. Cookson, of Wylam-on-Tyne, who showed it last week
and obtained for it a first-class certificate. It combines the
characters of the two parents both in color and form of
flowers, being cream-white with red-brown blotches, the
lip white with a yellow crest and a large red brown blotch
in front. It was by far the most interesting hybrid of the
many that were shown at the last meeting of the Royal
Horticultural Society. It is significant of the importance
of hybrid Orchids nowadays that the bulk of new Orchids,
and almost all the best, are those that have been raised by
the hybridizer.

CympipIuM cyPERIFOLIUM.—A plant of this rare Himalayan
species at an auction sale this week commanded six
guineas. It was in an eight-inch pot, and bore an elegant
cluster of grassy leaves, with one scape of eight flowers,
which are about as large as those of C. elegans, but colored
greenish yellow, with brown parallel lines and a whitish
lip with a few red spots.

CarrtevaA Mantin.—This is a hybrid of garden origin,
which flowered two years ago in the collection of Monsieur
G. Mantin, Olivet, France. It is the result of crossing
Cattleya Bowringiana with C. Dowiana aurea. Five
plants of it have just been sold by auction and realized
from eleven to fourteen guineas each. The pseudo-bulbs
are about fifteen inches long, thicker than in C. Bowringi-
ana, and each bears a pair of stout leaves nine inches by
three. The flowers are borne several together on short

[NUMBER 461.

racemes, and are larger than those of C. Bowringiana, of a
deep amethyst color, the lip veined with gold.

Cypripepium Baron Scuraper.—A hybrid between Cypri-
pedium Fairreanum and C. Génanthum superbum. It was
shown by its raisers, Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons, and received
a first-class certificate, being, perhaps, the prettiest of all
the hybrids of Fairreanum parentage. In form it is very
elegant, the upper or dorsal sepal is white, shaded at the
base with green, and lined and dotted with purplish red.
The petals have the downward curve peculiar to the Fairre-
anum race, and are pale yellow, lined and spotted with
purple-brown ; the pouch is small, red brown, shaded with
green and yellow.

Letio-Cattteya Decia aLtpa.—Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons
raised a hybrid called Laelio-Cattleya Decia in 1894 from
L. Perrini and C. Dowiana aurea. They exhibited last
week, and obtained a first-class certificate for a white
variety of it namedas above, and which is a most beautiful
Orchid, the flowers being large, intermediate in form between
the two parents, and of the purest white in the sepals and
petals, the lip rosy mauve, with reticulating whitish lines,
Hybrids such as this are really most valuable productions.

Drac&na Broomrrerpu.—A ew and handsome foliage
plant was lately shown under this name by Messrs. F. San-
der & Co, at a meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society,
and received a first-class certificate. It is evidently allied
to Draceena arborea, a native of tropical Africa, although
it is said to have been introduced from the “South Sea
Islands” by Mr. J. Broomfield, after whom it is named.
The plant shown was about a yard high and two feet
through, the leaves gracefully arched, one and a half feet
long and two inches wide, gradually tapering both ways
and colored rich glossy green, with broad margins of ivory-
white and thinner stripes of the same color scattered
through the green. The stem is stout and short-jointed,
and the leaves are very closely arranged upon it, forming
a rather dense head. Apparently the plant retains its color,
the oldest leaves being almost as brightly variegated as
the youngest. It requires stove treatment. The exhibitors
have now a trio of most distinct Draczenas in this plant, D.
Godseffiana and D. Sanderiana.

Low1a.—This is a genus of Scitaminez, with lanceolate
acuminate green leaves not unlike those of an Aspidistra.
The flowers are borne in clusters about the bases of the
leaf-stalks, and in form and color they are not unlike the ©
flowers of some Maxillarias. There are two species, Lowia
longiflora and L. maxillarioides, and they are both natives
of Malaya. Both have been recently introduced into culti-
vation, L. maxillarioides to Kew, where it grows and flow-
ers freely in a stove. A figure of it was published in Zhe
Botanical Magasine in 1894, t. 7351. It has leaves nine
inches long and flowers two inches across, the sepals pur-
ple andthe lip green. L. longiflora has been introduced
by Mr. Bull and has lately been figured in Zhe Gardeners’
Chronicle. ,It has larger leaves than the other species, and
the flowers are composed of three strap-shaped olive-col-
ored sepals three inches long, the two upper petals linear
and fimbriated at the tip, with the lower one lanceolate,
two inches long and pure white. The genus is not likely
to be popular with gardeners, but it is interesting and
likely to gratify cultivators of curious plants.

PTERISANTHES POLITA.—Plants of this remarkable Malayan
vine are now in flower at Kew. The genus is closely
related to Ampelopsis and Vitis, having twining stems,
cordate green herbaceous leaves and tendril-like flower-
stalks. [ts most remarkable character is in the forms ot
its inflorescence, which is a pendulous flat fleshy receptacle,
irregular in outline, about six inches long and an inch in
width and colored purple. The flowers embedded on both
sides of the receptacle are mostly sessile and hermaphro-
dite, while on its margins are stalked unisexual or sessile
flowers. The fruits are flask-shaped berries containing
several seeds. Specimens grown at Kew were recently
exhibited before the Linnzean Society, where they were a
source of much interest to the botanists.

DECEMBER 23, 1896.]

PrRIMULA OBCONICA X StnENsts.—Mr. E. Hyde, of Ealing,
exhibited recently plants which are said to be the result of
crossing these two species. Although many attempts have
been made to get Primula Sinensis to cross with other spe-
cies of Primula, hitherto no one has proved successful.

Garden and Forest.

515
segments colored rose-carmine. The hybrid showed little
trace of P. Sinensis, although it differed from P. obconica
in the form and color of its flowers. This species, however,
shows considerable variation already under cultivation,
and I have before seen so-called hybrids between it and

y
1

Fig. 74.—Valeriana Sitchensis.—See page 516.

And the same is true with regard to P. obconica. Mr.
Hyde used the original or type of P. Sinensis, which was
introduced from China a few years ago. It differs from
the ordinary garden forms in having small, deeply cut,
long-stalked leaves and small smooth flowers with reflexed

P, Sinensis which were nothing more than seedling sports
of the former. Primulas, as a rule, do not cross freely. I
have tried several times to cross P. Japonica, P. imperialis,
P. obconica and P. Forbesii, but have had no success.

W. Watson.

London,

516

New or Little-known Plants.
Valeriana Sitchensis.

T elevations of five or six thousand feet above the sea
on the slopes of Mount Ranier, the great Washington
mountain, at the point where the forest has been forced on
to narrow rocky ridges in its struggle to maintain itself
against the cold of the enormous ice-capped peak, alpine
flowers grow in a profusion, variety and luxuriousness
which is hardly known elsewhere in the United States.
The beauty and abundance of these flowers has given its
pame to Paradise Valley, one of the best known of these
high slopes, as it is the principal camping-place for trav-
elers who wish to try the ascent of the mountain or
enjoy the magnificent views which can be obtained from
this spot.

Among the Columbines and Gentians, the Dog-tooth
Violets and Dodecatheons, the delightful white-flowered
alpine Rhododendrons, the dwarf Mountain Ash and the
alpine Sedges and Grasses, the Sitka Valerian is conspicu-
ous with its clusters of pale flesh-colored flowers, which
possess such a powerful and delightful fragrance that it
passes as a Heliotrope among the campers on the mountain.

Mr. Curtis, of Seattle, took a number of photographs
last summer in this valley, among them a bunch of
this Valerian, which is reproduced on page 515 of this
issue. We are unaware if any attempt has been made to
grow this plant in gardens, or whether this inhabitant of
high northern countries and mountain slopes could be
induced to bear the conditions of a lowland garden. The
attempt to cultivate it, however, is certainly worth making,
as itis one of the most delightful flowers of the far north-
west.

Cultural Department.

Selaginellas.

FEW of the more common sorts of this extensive genus

are generally found in most greenhouses, but a consider-
able collection of them is rarely seen in’ private gardens.
Even in the commercial “places they are not so generally
grown as their decorative qualities and comparatively easy
culture seem to warrant.

The most extensively and most easily grown species is the
moss-like Selaginella Kraussiana, which is'so well known that
description is needless. Apart from being grown.as individual
plants in pots or pans, there appears to be no end: to its uses,
such as for covering the surface of pots or tubs around Palms
and other plants ; for hanging baskets, for planting around the
edges of beds and rockeries ; as a ground-work for covering
unsightly walls in greenhouses, where it grows freely. in
sphagnum-moss held to the wall by means of wire netting.
There is a golden form, S. Kraussiana aurea, and one with the
points white-tipped, called Variegata, which is the most delicate
of the three, and is somewhat subject to damping, on which
account it should not be watered overhead.

To have fresh healthy plants of any of these varieties it is
necessary to renew the pots or pans every three or four
months by filling with fresh soil and-inserting small-tufts of
the fresh points, some two inches apart, all over the surface.
A Suitable soil is composed of well-rotted sod, leaf-mold and
sharp sand in about equal parts. The variety known as
Brownii also appears to be a form of the above species, but is
somewhat harder to handle than any of the foregoing, and is
probably most useful when confined to small pots, and re-
quires a lighter and more open soil. We have found a fair
percentage of cocoanut-fibre refuse mixed with the soil of
great advantage in growing this plant.

The neatest and most compact of all the dwarf-growing
forms is the beautiful little Selaginella densa, which forms. a
cushion of lively green, and only grows about one inch
high. It is sometimes a little hard to establish, but once
started it grows freely, and keeps in good condition for several
months without renewing. S. Martensii is a free-growing and
very useful species, requiring much the same treatment as

~ those described above, but less frequent shifting, and, as it is
of stronger growth, it should be planted in larger pans, where
it will make nice specimens about nine inches in height.
There are several varieties of this, including a variegated

Garden and Forest.

°

[NUMBER 461.

form. S.involvens is another pretty species which also in-
cludes a variegated form; the average height is about four
inches, and the habit of the plant symmetrical and compact,
and this, like all the foregoing, requires a greenhouse or inter-
mediate temperature, plenty of water at the roots, but as little
overhead as possible, especially during dull weather, when all
of them are more or less susceptible to damping.

The Selaginellas which require stove or warm-house treat-
ment are for the most part larger, though slower, growing
species, and require much the same treatment as Ferns. The
most convenient method of propagation is by division, rooted
portions of the creeping stems being easily procured. Most of
them can also be increased by layering of the leaves. Some
varieties, such as S. Emaliana, propagate themselves very
quickly. If the pots are set ona bed of sand or ashes, small
particles of the leaves get broken off; these, being very brittle,
quickly make roots in the sand and form little plants all
around the pots. The species and varieties of this class are so
numerous that only a few of the best may be named here.
These include S. tasselata, a first-rate sort; S. Victoriz, S.
grandis, S. heematoides and S. flagellifera.

The climbing species, Selaginella Wildenovii, is another
well-known form well worthy of a place in every warm green-
house, To bring out the true metallic blue tint of the foliage
it should be grown in a well-shaded situation. S. uncinata also
attains a bluish tint under similar conditions. This is a very
desirable trailing variety, which, if subjected to somewhat cool
treatment, can be partially dried off and rested during the
winter months and started up again in spring,

Tarrytown, N. Y, William Scott.

Late Chrysanthemums,

RS. JOSEPH THOMPSON is the most beautiful white

variety, early or late, which I know. It is an irregularly
incurved Japanese of extremely graceful form. It seems to
me an ideal Chrysanthemum, not too dense, but with enough
florets to make an even globular flower. The upper florets
turn in at the tips, leaving just a trace of an opening, where
the centre of the bloom should be, but this is completely ob-
scured. The lower petals interlace the stem for two or three
inches. The foliage is bold, of firm texture, and although the
stem is stiff it is in no way objectionable. The whole plant is
healthy and of low growth. It has been in bloom fora month
and scarcely yet shows traces of age, except the faintest tinge
of pink, and this really adds to its beauty.

Mrs. Emil Buettner, a charming yellow, is equally beautiful,
though quite different. This also is a plant of low, stocky
growth and of perfect constitution. The bloom lasts a long
time in full beauty. It is pleasing to watch the changes the
flower undergoes. In the bud stage it is very full, slow in
opening, and expands rather flat and radiating, with straight,
delicately pointed, strap-shaped petals, broadening and deep-
ening to orange color at the base. The florets elongate from
the centre until the bloom is perfectly globular. As the flowers
develop, the petals become elegantly twisted and pass froma
clear yellow to a straw color, a bloom quite different in build
and color from that suggested in the earlier stages,

Mrs. S. T. Murdock is a lovely pink flower of a different
form, It is reflexed and less graceful than the two varieties
already described. Besides being late, itis valuable on account
of its unique coloring. It is extremely lustrous. The surface
of the florets is completely covered with crystal-like lenses,
which refract the light. For decorations under electric light
it is singularly effective. The plant is of luxuriant growth, a
perfectly free bloomer, and can always be counted upon to
produce a perfect bloom, no matter what bud is taken.

C. B. Whitnal ranks as an old variety, though introduced less
than ten years ago, and is retained mainly on account of its
distinctive characters. It isa Japanese incurved, but so closely
built that the English authorities class it with the truly in-
curved, or what we used to know as “Chinese incurved.”
The color is maroon-purple, and, altogether, it is the best dark
variety for late decorations, taking the place of the crimson-

colored varieties, all of which are earlier. :
Wellesley, Mass. T: Ds Hatfield.

Bamboos.

RECENT note in GARDEN AND FOREST mentioned the

hardiness of the Japanese Bamboos in Washington, Dis-
trict of Columbia. They are also hardy farther north. Here,
where we have winters which are probably often much more
severe on such plants, the roots of the species or varieties
which have been tried have stood out without protection
about five years, and sometimes the canes have been unin-
jured. If this were the whole-story of the Bamboos, one could

DECEMBER 23, 1896.]

plant them, perhaps, farther north than this with the prospect
of gaining in time some novel and striking effects, as these
great Grasses are full of character.

Some five years ago I imported a number of species. To
be exact, Bambusa Castillonii, B. angulata, B. aurea, B. nigra,
B. Quilioi, B. Ragamoskii, B. Simonii, B. viridi-glaucescens
and B. palmata, and thought at the time that I had secured
some treasures. Here were noble Grasses, normally varying
in height from three feet to twenty, and even thirty feet, and
they ought to add some novel and striking features to my
commonplace garden. The garden is still waiting for the bold
effects, my best cultural ability having failed to help the tallest
of them to make canes over six or seven feet in height, under
which conditions the tall kinds are not at all in character,
though, of course, they have some attraction as bold Grasses,
and excite some attention on account of their rarity. The
cause of their failure to mount and show their true character
was rather perplexing at first, but I think it is owing entirely
to the dryness of our atmosphere here during the summer.
Their native Japan has a warm humid atmosphere during the
growing season, and the leaves of the Bamboos are adapted
exactly to such conditions, and they do not modify themselves
to suit others, as is the case with many plants under cultiva-
tion. Bamboos start rather late in the spring and make rapid
growth for a few weeks, but as soon as dry weather comes the
leaves transpire so freely, the transpiration being unchecked
by humidity as in their native habitat, that the nutritive
processes are stopped, and the plants fail to make any further
important gains. The reason of the failure was not suggested
to me until I thought to use some of the growing canes for
bold decorations, when it was soon seen that the leaves dried
up within an hour or two, though the canes were in water,
which would seem to prove excessive transpiration. If any
one has grown these plants to specimens in a dry climate it
would be interesting to have the details, for it would be a
pleasure to be taught that my failure with them is due to
some cause or condition that can be remedied.

Bambusa Ragamoskii, being a dwarf plant, was first planted
outside, and later removed to a greenhouse, in the humid
atmosphere of which it soon took on its true character and
broad leaves. No doubt, the taller ones would under similar
conditions assume their proper and distinctive features, but

this is not hardy-plant gardening.
Elizabeth, N. J. at . e F. N. Gerard.

Fertilizers for the Orchard.

T the recent annual meeting of the Indiana Horticultural
Society, a paper read by Mr. W. W. Stevens on the Feed-
ing and Care of Orchards contained many valuable thoughts.
‘As to the relation between fertility of soil of the best crops, he
said that when a bearing orchard begins to decline in
the quality of fruit, lack of fertility is indicated. Orchards
should be fed before the fertility is exhausted and the trees
become stunted. It is a simple matter to understand that
orchards must be fertilized for precisely the same reason that
our grain fields and gardens are manured. The fruit removes
the phosphoric acid, nitrogen and potash from the soil just
the same as cereals and root crops do, and we must keep a
liberal supply of available plant-food in the soil for the orchard
if we expect profitable returns. In fact, it is more necessary
to fertilize the orchard than itis our grain fields, for the reason
that on most farms much of the grain produced is consumed
by the stock, and through the manure-heap finds its way back
to the land, while there is little or nothing that goes back to the
soil from the fruitcrop that is harvested yearafter year. We hear
the question asked quite frequently, why is it that our orchards
are not vigorous and long-lived as they used to be ? It is chiefly
because they are starved to death. Even the new lands we
now clear up are not as rich in vegetable-mold and the min-
eral elements of the plant-food that make tree-growth as they
were a half century ago. In fact, much of our woodland is
now pastured until it is half-exhausted before the trees are
taken off, or rather die off.

It requires about the same elements of plant-food to make
an Apple-tree that it does a Pear or Peach, but when the fruits
are analyzed we find quite a difference in their composition.
For example :

Phos, acid. Potash. Nitrogen.
109 bushels apples contain... 1 Ib. 10 lbs. 7 |bs.
100 bushels pears, about...... 1% lbs. 4 Ibs. 5 lbs.
100 bushels peaches, about.. 2% lbs. 13 lbs. 6 lbs.

Thus we see that potash is the predominating element in
apples and peaches, while nitrogen leads in pears. Apples
need 24 times and Peaches 3 times as much potash as Pears,

Garden and Forest.

Bly

It would not be good judgment to use precisely the quantities
indicated in the above table to get an additional hundred
bushels of fruit. The new wood-growth and foliage must be
accounted for, as wellas an allowance for some losses through
fermentation, bleaching, etc. It is also impracticable to dis-
tribute any fertilizer so perfectly as to bring all of it within
reach of the feeding rootlets of a tree. I would always advise
a Jiberal use of such plant-food as we are sure our trees need,
for a year lost in an orchard by failure to feed it is gone irre-
trievably.

Whatever we use to fertilize the orchard should be in readily
available form, so that the trees can profit from it from the
moment it is worked into the soil. Barn-yard manure is not
the best thing to use by any means. Its nitrogen is partly
available, but the potash and phosphoric acid are not. When
barn-yard manure is applied, new wood will be formed in
abundance, while the aim of the orchardist should be to have
as little new wood as is consistent with bearing spurs, and
these spurs will not form satisfactorily when there is too much
nitrogen in the soil. Besides, fruit from orchards fed with
improperly balanced manures not only keeps and ships badly,
but also lacks flavor. The following formulas are suggested
for bearing orchards: For Apples, ammonia, four; potash,
six; phosphoric acid, two percent. For Peaches, ammonia,
four; potash, five, and phosphoric acid, six per cent. For
Pears, ammonia, four; potash, two, and phosphoric acid, four
percent. Acidulated tankage is preferable for the ammonia,
or fish scrap, if more convenient. The cheapest potash would
be the muriate. The phosphoric acid is most useful as acid
phosphate. From 500 to 600 pounds of fertilizer to the acre
should be applied and worked well into the soil every year,
whether the orchard bears or not.

When these available fertilizers are used the application
should be made in early spring, and then there can be no loss
of fertility during the winter trom surface drainage or leach-
ing. Clover can be grown and plowed under to supply the
orchard with the nitrogen it needs, but the potash and phos-
phoric acid must be spread upon the land, having been
obtained from whatever source is cheapest.

When orchards are on very rolling land, or land that washes
badly, seed down to Clover and Orchard Grass and cultivate
about the trees with the hoe for several years, or until they
are old enough to bear. Such an orchard should never be
pastured with any kind of stock, and the ground will remain
loose and offer a nice mellow bed for the feeding rootlets of
trees.

Mr. Stevens does not think it pays to renovate old orchards.
The time and labor spent to get them into any sort of satisfac-
tory condition will suffice to start a new orchard that will be
a source of profit and satisfaction for half a lifetime.

¥. Troop.

Experiment Station, La Fayette, Ind.

From the St. Louis Botanic Garden.

HE so-called Mexican House here might be termed the

Show House, since its permanent winter contents are
usually in flower, and plants from the adjoining East India
House are generally placed in it while blooming because its
lower temperature lengthens their flowering season. The
prettiest thing in it now is a plant of Passiflora racemosa prin-
ceps. It was planted out about a year ago in what looksa
cramped position, being in a little border barely six inches
wide; but the narrow root-space has been mellowed and en-
riched to a depth of two feet, and the vine has responded by
sending out a stem fully thirty feet long and with numerous
branches. It is now beginning to flower on the older part of
the wood, the racemes being twelve to twenty inches long,
The distinct trilobed foliage is ornamental, and the long,
gracefully drooping racemes of hanging, bell-like coral buds,
headed by sharply rayed flowers, are very effective. It will
continue to flower throughout the winter. <A thrifty vine
of Bougainvillea glabra promises well for a good show of
its fine blossoms in spring. Other vines in flower are Stig-
maphyllon ciliatum, which has for some time been gay
with bright clusters of Oncidium-like flowers ; and Antigonon
leptopus, that has been flowering fora long time, and still
shows dense clusters of rose-pink, oddly shaped, little flowers.
To the rafters of the southern side Cissus discolor clings, and
seen from below the under side of the leaves is almost as
brilliant as blossoms. The dwarf-growing Allamanda Wil-
liamsi is blooming, and will continue to do so all winter. It is
planted out here insummer and flowers freely. In the East
Indian House Strobilanthus Dyerianus is planted out under the
middle bench, and throws up thick stalks that are tied to the

518

bench supports, and make an ornamental wall of foliage from
the floor up the length of each side of the bench. Elsewhere,
Bouvardias are in full bloom; the deep rose-colored flowers
of Salvia involucrata make a nice show, and the air is sweet
from masses of Jasminum grandiflorum.

Brighton, Ill. Fanny Copley Seavey.

Correspondence.

The Growth of Forest Trees.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—This is a study in which I have been deeply interested,
and I think there are few men who have given it longer or
more careful attention. From boyhood I have been a planter
of trees for both ornament and use. My father planted a
Horse Chestnut-tree on the day I was born. It is now about
about eighty feet high, and it requires four long arms to span
its circumference, breast-high. This tree was sixty-eight
years old the 14th of last May. I own forty acres of choice
woodland, mostly Maple, Birch and Poplar, but interspersed
with Pine, Spruce and Hemlock. Two of my Pines are over
a hundred feet high and perfectly sound. On my lawn, twenty-
two years planted, I have several Canoe Birches over one foot
in diameter; and in front of another house, formerly mine,
stand four Sugar Maples which I planted twenty-eight years
ago, and which I cannot span, breast-high, with my arnis,

The condition of our New England forest-trees has always
deeply interested me; and there was atime, when locomotives
were fired with wood and little or no coal was burned, that I
feared for our forests. But that period has passed, and I feel
able to concur with experts in woodcraftt and extensive owners
of woodlands, who now declare that there is to-day more and
better standing timberin northern New England than ever
before since lumbering was there begun. Many seem to fear
that the forests are being robbed for the manufacture of wood-
pulp. Observation, however, will show that Poplar-trees of
the best size for wood-pulp can be grown in a very few years,
six to ten; and I think it will not be long before the growing
of such wood will become a regular and profitable business
on our rocky mountain farms.

The growing of our native nut trees, Chestnuts, Butternuts,
Hickorynuts, and even Beechnuts, will, I feel sure, soon
become a profitable branch of farming. With proper treat-
ment and care these nut trees can be grown in as large quan-
tities by grafting, in some or all of its methods. It has long
been so in Europe. I am rather too far north, or too elevated,
for the Chestnut to succeed, but I have half a dozen fine young
Butternuts in bearing, from nuts planted about twenty years
since, and have recently planted out about fifty more.

The management of our Sugar Maples, when tapped, is
being very much bettered ; small bits for boring, more shallow
holes, and careful after-treatment being now the rule with
nearly all our better class of farmers. Agricultural journals
are being much improved and better patronized, and their
instructions intelligently followed by a rapidly increasing num-
ber of readers. Our rural schools are yet far from perfect,
but they are improving, and this may be said also of our acad-
emies, which are giving more and more attention to the
natural sciences, along with mathematics, but in all these lines
there remains much room for profitable advance. One of the
earliest pioneers in this direction was the late Dr. Ezekiel
Holmes, a skillful teacher, who did not despise the working
farmer, and was the founder and many years the editor of the
Maine Farmer. {had the honor and pleasure of his acquaint-
ance for many years, and my interest in horticulture and agri-
culture was greatly stimulated by his teachings.

Newport, Vt. T. H. Hoskins.

Utilizing Choke Cherries.
To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—A note in your columns not long ago (see page 388),
regarding the utilization of choke cherries, recalls the state-
ment of a friend that in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania,
among the jams, jellies and fruits in varied forms nothing was
found nicer than choke cherry jelly. The fruit is used here
occasionally for pies, and would be extremely popular were it
not for the pits. Here is room for the invention of a diminu-
tive cherry-stoner. With one the fruit of wild Black Cherry,
Prunus serotina, might also become popular; at least; when
other fruit is scarce.

An industry of considerable importance in this vicinity—and
one which I am informed is to a great extent local—is the

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 461.

a

manufacture of jelly from fresh cider, which is boiled down in
copper pans. Sweet apples are preferred, and yield a firm,
clear and delicious article. Pound Sweets often refuse to
“jell,” but Early Harvest, Golden Sweet, etc., are always in
demand. About two anda quarter bushels is the allowance
fora gallon of jelly, though sour apples hold out better than
sweet. About fifteen cents a gallon is charged for making it.
It will keep for years. It takes the place of boiled cider.
BYE sakes

Variety Tests in the Experiment Stations.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—In a recent editorial you put many true things concern-
ing the worthlessness of much variety testing. Itseems to
me, however, you overlook the value of variety testing as a
means of keeping the experimenter posted on the new varie-
ties that are introduced. I find that in my situation this is an
important feature if lam to meet the men interested in horti-
culture in this section and to teach the subject to best advan-
tage in my classes. For this reason I make many tests of
varieties each year, and know it pays me well to do so,
although I publish but little in this line. The testing of varie-
ties of apples, cherries, plums and pears in this state and sec-
tion is a matter of much interest to our people, from the fact
that we, perhaps, are more isolated in pomological matters
than any other part of the country, and the introduction of
hardy fruits into this section is regarded as a matter of first
importance. We are sifting out the good from a long list of
Russian and seedling fruits. The State Horticultural Society
appoints ten members, who try the fruits sent them by this
experiment station, and report to me direct. We also havea
trial station at Owatouna, on the grounds of the State Primary
School, devoted entirely to testing apples, plums, cherries and
other tree fruits. This station is managed by an able orchardist,
and is doing good work. There are also many bright men here
who are experimenting along these lines. It seems to me that
while the matter of variety testing can easily be overdone, it is
a necessary part of the work at many experiment stations,

Experiment Station, St. Anthony Park, Minn, Samuel B. Green.

The California Buckeye.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—Mr. Purdy’s reference to the Californian Buckeye,
Esculus Californica (see p. 493), reminds me to say that I saw
this shrub beautifully in bloom in the south of England in the
summer of 1895. The exact date, as I see by my note-book,
was July 16th. It was the first time I had seen it flowering,
and it pleased me greatly. The flowers were flesh-colored or
pink tinted, and made a fine display. :

On the same grounds I met with another Californian shrub,
hitherto unknown to me, Castanopsis chrysophylla. This was
bearing little nuts, not unlike those of our eastern Chinquapin,
butsmaller, being no more than fourfeethigh. I learn from Pro-
fessor Sargents account of this Golden-leaved Chestnut in Zhe
Silva of North America, that although it is a shrub at high alti-
tudes, and asmall tree in Oregon and the lower Sierras of Cali-
fornia, it becomes a noble tree in the moist valleys of the Cali-
fornia Coast Range, where good specimens reach a height of a
hundred and fifty feet, with columnar trunks eight or ten feet
through and towering to a height of eighty feet without a limb.
Above this spreads the broad top, with leaves glossy green
above and yellow on the lower surface.

The California Buckeye, too, in its best estate, is said to be
a low tree, forming a wide dense head and strikingly beautiful.

Germantown, Pa. Foseph Meehan.

[See GaRDEN AND Forest (vol. iv., p. 528), where there is
a figure of a tree of this Buckeye, with a spread of branches
covering a circle sixty feet across. Itis not hardy in the
eastern states, but in the Mediterranean country, Australia
and in other regions where the climate is similar to that of
California, it. will, no doubt, be planted largely in the
future, as it is one of the most beautiful of North American
trees when in flower.—Ep. |

Insect Pests in Madeira.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—Dr. M. Grabham, while lately visiting the island of
Madeira, wrote me (September 24th, 1896) as follows: “It is
distressing to see the terrible ravages of the so-called ‘blights’

DECEMBER 23, 1896.]

here just now; the gardens are ruined by them, and the fruits,
especially grapes, are being fast destroyed. The pests are
chiefly an ant introduced from Brazil, which overruns every-
thing, and various species of Coccide.” A few of the Coccide
and specimens of the ant were sent. The Coccide were,
unfortunately, not in a condition to be determined, with the
exception of Aspidiotus rapax of Comstock, which was in
quantity on twigs and leaves of Stillingia cebifera, Linné, On
the same plant were some young Lecanium, apparently L.
hesperidum. On Myrtus communis were some. very young
scales, apparently of the same two species. On Sechium
edule a cottony mass with only fragmentary remains, and
puparia of some dipterous parasite. The ant I sent to Mr.
L. O. Howard, who writes that Mr. Pergande has determined
it as Iridomyrmex humilis.

Madeira is an island where little or no attention has been
paid to economic entomology, but it is evident that there is an
ample field for research. Had there been a competent resi-
dent entomologist to recognize and take measures against the
several pests upon, or soon after, their introduction, no doubt
much of the injury described by Dr. Grabham might have
been prevented. Even in the absence of such an individual,
any resident of the island who may read these lines can do
good service by simply collecting specimens of the pests and
sending them where they can be determined.

Agricultural College, Mesilla, N. M. T. D. A. Cockerell.

A Contagious Disease of White Grubs.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—In connection with my notes on lawn-infesting insects,
published in your journal (see page 472), it may be worth
while to speak of some experiments made in the use of
a fungous disease, caused by Isaria densa, against white
grubs. The experiments were first made in France and Ger-
many, and tube cultures have been advertised for sale under
the name of ‘Rose muscardine.” According to the directions
it was necessary to gather a lot of one hundred or more white
grubs and inoculate them carefully with the culture. Then they
were to be buriedina specially prepared bed, to remain until they
were properly “mummified.” Then two or three hundred
more white grubs were to be collected, put into this same bed
with the mummified grubs, and after these in turn had become
destroyed, specimens were to be buried in the infested land
at intervals of a foot or so apart. If white grubs were con-
tinually collected and placed in the bed of infestation, a supply
of mummies, more or less constant in character, could be
maintained. It is obvious that this process, while simple
enough for a laboratory experiment, is altogether too compli-
cated for use by the owner of a small lawn or garden, and it
has the disadvantage of not becoming available for a consid-
erable time after the infestation tubes are received. By the
time the owner of a lawn has gathered several hundred white
grubs in order to start his disease-bed, it may happen that
there are no more of them to be killed off. Furthermore, ex-
periments made in Illinois in the laboratory of Professor S. A.
Forbes indicate that the disease loses virulence very soon,
It is fair to say that an effort is being made to simplify the use
of the germs, and it is now advised that the first culture be
made on boiled potatoes, which it seems will support the
Isaria. By planting the infected potatoes in a prepared bed
and covering with earth until the mass has become thoroughly
filled with the fungus, it can be taken out.entire and spread
broadcast over infested lawns. The object is to distribute the
disease everywhere throughout the soil, that it may come into
contact with the white grub larva. Even as the matterstands
at present, however, the use of the disease is complicated if it
is necessary to employ it from the cultures. If it were possi-
ble to purchase ata reasonable rate the dried cakes of material
ready to bespread upon the land, the use of this disease might
prove feasible. Unfortunately, however, up to the present
time it has not been proved that the American white grub isas
readily susceptible to the disease as the European, and for the
present, at least, resort must be had to other measures.

Rutgers College. F. B. Smith,

Recent Publications.

The Survival of the Unhke: A Collection of Evolution
Essays suggested by the Study of Domestic Plants. By
L. H. Bailey. New York: The Macmillan Co. 1896.

This is an attempt, and perhaps the first systematic
attempt on any important scale, to extend the theory of

Garden and Forest.

a9

evolution to the practice of horticulture. Few evolutionists
have theorized on the vegetable world, speculation in this
field having been directed almost entirely to animals rather
than to plants. No American writer, at least, has ever
assumed any bold position in relation to the development
of vegetable life. Darwin studied the life of plants under
cultivation as well as under natural conditions, but he did
this primarily, and almost entirely, to gather data for estab-
lishing and enforcing the general philosophy of evolution,
and not to explain cultural practice. Nearly all that is new
in the art of gardening has come from direct experiment.
In these essays the attempt is made to attack horticultural
problems from the opposite side. We do not mean by this
that Professor Bailey advocates the abandonment of direct
experiment as a help to practice, but rather that this book
takes up facts already known as data, and then attempts to
explain by reasoning from these data what particular
lines of experiment and practice offer the greatest promise.
These essays, which have been read at various times before
horticultural societies, were prepared primarily for horti-
culturists. But it is plain that they were prepared also for
evolutionists, and in the preface to this book Professor
Bailey gives some reasons why he usually selected as a
subject for discussion before such audiences some topic
associated with the evolution of plants. In the first place
he is convinced that many of the common questions which
puzzle cultivators can only beanswered by appealing to the
evidences of evolution. Again he thought that it would be
helpful to persons who deal with plants and animals and
lead a rural life to have some knowledge of modern specu-
lations in the evolution theory and of the methods of re-
search which they suggest. And finally he wished to
make a record of a great class of common facts which
have a vital relation with organic evolution, but which are
almost entirely overlooked by students and philosophers.

In the first chapter of the book we find an expansion of
the thesis that development in the plant world has come
about by very slow and gradual transformation, rather
than by jumps or sports. This, however, is part of the treat-
ment of the main proposition that the fittest survives be-
cause it is unlike everything else. Therefore the study of
differences which arise from all sorts of environment, and
as a complex resultant of hundreds of forces from without
and from within, ought to be the controlling method in
investigating the progress of life. A new type with
its divergences of character from the old may find a
line where the resistance to expansion and growth is
less than it was to the parent, and therefore it spreads
rapidly under changed conditions. That is, the new types
strike out and find tields where competition is less active
than in the old ones. Another thesis, which is treated so
freshly as to make it appear new, relates to bud variation.
In this Professor Bailey attempts to prove that variation of
the bud is no more mysterious than variation of the seed,
for the reason that in an important sense every branch is a
distinct individual which has been exposed to a different
set of conditions, and it therefore has the power of repro-
ducing its essential characteristics.

It is not our intention, however, to give any analysis of
the contents of the book. In fact, being a collection of
addresses delivered at different times and on different occa-
sions, it has not the consecutiveness and unity which
would be expected in a systematic treatise, although for
some purposes the book is better for its repetitions and its
treatment of subjects from different points of view. Cer-
tainly the essays must have been stimulating to the audi-
ences of working cultivators who listened to them, since
they were prepared for men brought into constant contact
with vegetable life, and therefore compelled to observe the
phenomena of vegetable growth, but without the training
or habit of generalizing or making deductions from facts.
A glance at the table of contents will show what an inter-
esting range of topics is embraced in the discussions and
will convince any one that it is a good book to putinto the
hands of any intelligent farmer or gardener. It will give

520

him new reasons for much established cultural practice,
and it will certainly set him to thinking seriously over many
problems which remain to be solved.

Notes.

The books on landscape-gardening collected by Henry Sar-
gent Codman and Philip Codman have been presented by
their parents, Mr. and Mrs. James M. Codman, of Brookline,
Massachusetts, to the Boston Public Library, where they will
be placed in a special alcove to be devoted hereafter to works
on this subject. The collection consists of some three hun-
dred and fifty volumes, among them many old works of
extreme rarity.

Forced dandelion is now seen among the more tender
vegetables in a large assortment of holiday offerings and sells
for twenty cents a quart. Slender young onions, from
New Orleans, cost seven cents a bunch, and tiny radishes,
from near-by hothouses, the same price. Lettuce, from Bos-
ton, brings ten cents a head, and showy cucumbers, perfectly
grown, also from Massachusetts, readily conimand twenty
cents each. Smooth and evenly colored tomatoes from Penn-
sylvania hothouses cost forty cents a pound, and mushrooms
from Long Island sixty cents.

According to the Journal of the Agricultural Bureau of South
Australia, Cork Oak trees of good quality have been grown in
that region, both soil and climate proving congenial. One
drawback to the more general cultivation of the tree is that it
has been difficult to get the acorns which come from Europe
to germinate, but now the trees originally planted in South
Australia are fruiting abundantly, so that there will be little
difficulty in obtaining seedlings. The trees planted in Mount
Lofty aboutforty years ago are growing vigorously and they
are old enough now to produce a crop of cork.

Dr. Rothrock calls attention in Forest Leaves to the observa-
tion of Dr. Evermayer for the Bavarian Government, who
declares that the evaporation of moisture from a forest area,
including transpiration from the leaves, exceeds by fifty per
cent. the evaporation froma water surface in the open, and if,
therefore, we cut off great areas of forest it is not improbable
that the surrounding atmosphere is much less humid, and for
this reason the ground will dry out much more rapidly. This
will account to a certain extent for the killing quality of the
droughts in some recent years. A diminished rainfall alone
will hardly account for their severity, but if we couple with
this the fact that evaporation from the ground is more rapid,
we have some additional reasons for the extreme dryness
which has prevailed.

A correspondent inquires if it makes any particular difference
what staminate varieties of Strawberries are set among pistillate
plants in order to fertilize them. Whether the pollen parent
does anything to modity the size, flavor or color of the berry is a
question that has been very energetically discussed, but growers
pay little attention to the quality of the fruit of the perfect-flow-
ered plants and a good deal to the question whether they are
strong growers andabundant producers of pollen. It is essential,
however, that the plants which produce this pollen should
blossom at the same time with the varieties which they ferti-
hze. For example, Mr. Paddock states in a recent bulletin of
the New York Experiment Station that Michel’s Early would
not be a proper variety to plant with Bubach, because the first
blossoms of the latter will hardly be open before those of the
former are in full bloom or past their best.

Among the plants which are to be sent out by the California
Experiment Station next year will be afew seedling Silk-Cotton
trees in small pots for trial in the warmer districts of that
state. The lustrous light fibre known as “silk-cotton” and
used in upholstery is a product of this tree, Eriodendron
anfractuosum, and if it can be grown in that state it would be
a valuable addition to the economic plants. Since the tree is
a native of the southern part of India, however, it cannot be
expected to flourish except in places which are entirely frost-
less. The Carob-tree, Ceratonia siliqua, has been raised from
seed in Alameda County and has already borne fruit. This
tree is about as hardy as the Orange and valuable, owing to its
drought-resisting qualities, for planting on dry hillsides as well
as on richer lands, where it produces excellent food for cows
and swine. Itis a handsome tree, the true Algaroba or St.
John’s Bread of the Mediterranean regions. A late bulletin of
the ExperimentStation at Berkeley announces that several pods
of the Carob-tree will be mailed to applicants for five cents.

Garden and Forest.

[NumBeER 461.

Nine cargoes of Oregon fir have recently been loaded at
Port Blakely, Washington, to be used in the construction of a
dry dock in Plymouth, England. According to the Zzmdber
ews, of Liverpool, the Creedmore carried 1,100,000 feet, the
Kennebec 1,500,000 feet, the John Briggs 1,430,000, and so on,
making a total of 11,000,000 feet. It must be a spacious dry
dock which will need so much timber and plank, for, as the
Northwestern Lumberman remarks, this will be enough to fill
up a big Chicago wholesale lumber-yard. Besides the small
lumber that has started on its long journey around Cape Horn,
there are more than 10,000 pieces of timber which range from
twelve to twenty-four inches square and from forty-five to
eighty-three feet long, and the Lumberman remarks that no-
where on the earth can such a lot of timber be found near
water where such large ships can be loaded. The deep waters
of Puget Sound enable ships to take these enormous cargoes
at the very mill wharves.

Concord and Catawba grapes are still quite plentiful and seli
for fifteen and twenty cents tora basket holding four pounds of
the fruit. Trimmed bunches of Almeria or Malaga grapes cost
twenty-five to thirty-five centsa pound. The direct importation
of these Spanish grapes is confined to October and November,
though a tew lots come by way of Liverpool in December.
This year the receipts in this city from Spain amounted to
139,339 barrels of about sixty pounds each, and prices were
remarkably even throughout the unusually short selling sea-
son of five weeks. One shipper realized an average of $5.25 a
barrel on all the grapes forwarded, while an invoice of 1,000
barrels netted the exporter $6.12 a barrel. The highest price
reached during the season tor an exceptionally fine lot was
$11.12% a barrel. Large-berried Gros Colman grapes are
coming from Liverpool in perfect condition, nine of the im-
mense bunches ina box about fifteen inches square, suspended
from three slats and well held in place with cork-dust. A
pound of this showy fruit costs $1.75 to $2.25.

Never before have citrus fruits reached this city from so
many sections, and the range and variety is, consequently,
remarkable. A choice of oranges may be had from Florida,
Jamaica, Cuba, the Bahamas, California, Arizona, Mexico and
the Mediterranean. Grape-fruit is coming from Florida and
Jamaica, and shaddocks from the latter place, Grape-fruit
sells for $1.00 to $2.00 a dozen, Florida oranges sixty to
seventy-five cents, and California Navels for the same price,
oranges irom Jamaica costing slightly less. Mandarins, light-
colored and ot good size, with distinctive musky favor, come
from Sicily and trom Florida, and sell tor thirty to sixty cents a
dozen. Smailer Tangerines, of deep rich color, reach us from
the same state and trom Jamaica and California, and their
comparative scarcity here has induced large shipments
from Japan. This seedless fruit from Asia is considered of:
better Havor than that trom California, but not equal to the
Florida truit, which commands sixty-five cents a dozen.
Valencia oranges are exceptionally good this season, and sell
as high as $5.50 a case at the wholesale auctions, the best
Messina oranges reaching $2.25. Lemons, trom Spain and
Sicily, are of good quality, plentiful and unusually cheap for
the holiday season, costing fitteen to twenty-five cents a dozen.
The immense total quanuty of oranges alone is indicated by
the fact that now, at the beginning ot the season for Mediter-
ranean oranges, 32,700 cases of Valencias have already been
received at this port, while up to December 17th 214,124 barrels
and 29,926 boxes of Jamaica oranges have arrived,

We have lately received from Dr. Franceschi an interesting
note in regard to Mr. Kinton Stevens, an Englishman by birth,
who came to California more than twenty years ago, and began
planting at Montecito specimens of Palms and tropical trees
which have made his garden one of the most attractive and
interesting in southern California. Mr, Stevens died recently, .
but his garden contains such treasures as two plants of Cocos
plumosa, thirty-five to forty feet high; an Erythea armata,
which has bloomed for the first time in cultivation; a Jubea
spectabilis, twenty feet high, and flowering specimens of
various other Palms. Besides this, the garden displays Mango-
trees in fruit with Eugenia Brasiliensis and Monstera deliciosa,
which have also ripened fruit here for the first time in Cali-
fornia. He was entrusted by the Board of Park Commis-
sioners of San Francisco to collect Palms, Tree Ferns and
other interesting plants from Hawaii, in which he was very
successful, and he was a pioneer in planting Avocado Pears in
the state. Mr. Stevens was cut off in the midst of his useful-
ness, but his memory will live in the beautiful plants with
which he enriched the gardens of his adopted state.

DECEMBER 30, 1896.]

GARDEN AND FOREST.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY

THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.

OrFicE: TripuNE Burtpinc, NEw York.

Conducted: by: = Bos sm Professor C. S. SARGENT.

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

NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1896.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

EpitoriaL Article :—Forestry in Pennsylvania ....-......eeeeeee cece e ce ceeees 521
Fertile Crosses of Teosinthe and Maize.... . ¥. W. Harshberger. 522
Landscape Effects at Kew. (With figure.).........eseeeeeeeeeeeee WW 523

ForzIGN CORRESPONDENCE :—London Letter.....-. seeseeeeeee eee es We Watson. 524
CutturAL DEPARTMENT :—Tomatoes Under Glass .....-...-..2.. W. E. Britton. 526
Begonias. .... -sceee cece sc cece eect ence cee nceec cece nsceeees Robert Cameron. 527
Orchid Notes.....-...-.. William Maze, Sr. 527
Cypripedium bellatulum........--. 6+ ss. + cece sees ee eeee E. O. Orpet. 528
CorrgsvonpeNce :—Codperation in Flower-growing.. T. D. Hatfield. 529
RECENT. PUBLICATIONS 0.00 01 cccsicecccscrvsvecrccsccesrserssccsrestcsscesseesesee 529

NOTES eee cleuts ce eisicie scans ates visive=mincin'<isc civic elsienieivieecies Bete som iamiceeniciare

Forestry in Pennsylvania.

HE publication of the Report of the Forestry Com-
mission of Pennsylvania, being the second part
of the Report of the Department of Agriculture for
1895, marks the first serious attempt of a study of
the forestry question in Pennsylvania. Whatever has
been done previous to this was not only very frag-
mentary and partial, but was also local. Here, however,
we have the first report of a commission appointed in
May, 1893, and sent to the Legislature on the 15th of March,
1895. Thelong delay in publication is presumably not
intentional, but is due to the chronic condition in printing
state documents, joined to the disastrous fire of over a year
ago, the effects of which have not yet been overcome. _ It
is not to be supposed that less than two years would give
an exhaustive and complete report of so wide and diversi-
fied a state as Pennsylvania, with its sixty-seven counties
and 45,000 square miles of area. Nevertheless, we have
the beginning of a personal canvass of that portion best
fitted for forestry purposes; the results of a number of
special inquiries; lists of the trees native to the state, with
ample and instructive notes on their character and their
economic value and hints as to their propagation, and a
very suggestive summing up of forestry prospects, together
with recommendations for future policy and effort.

It appears that the so-called forest lands comprise a little
less thirty-three per cent. of the state, ranging from about
six per cent. in Bucks County to ninety-two in Pike County.
But these, as it is truly said, should rather be called waste
than forest lands, since they have been in large part cut
over, and in many cases are now totally unproductive.
This fact is very forcibly brought out by a table of the
lands advertised to be sold for taxes during the year 1894.
They comprised 2,358 square miles, or about five per cent.
of the entire state. ‘They were located in thirty-one of the
sixty-seven counties, and varied from a few acres in some
to 190,000 in McKean County ; comprising, in this latter
case, twenty-nine and five- tenths per eu of the area of the
whole county. More or less field-work was done over
nearly half the state, the most attention being given to the
more mountainous districts and those most closely related

Garden and Forest.

521

to the Delaware and Susquehanna watersheds. It is unfor-
tunate that the time set for the completion of the report did
not permit more work of this character, for in no other
way can the facts necessary for the proper stating and solu-
tion of the problem be obtained. We hope, however, that
this may be done in the near future, since a permanent
office of forestry commissioner has now been established.

Six tracts, ranging from 200 to 2,000 square miles, are
defined as of such nature that they are fitted for forest
reserves. They are quite irregular in outline, and each
comprises parts of several counties. The Pocono tract, in
the north-east, as the source of the Lehigh and other waters
draining into the Delaware, and the Lycoming tract, far-
ther west, the source of the bulk of the water of the west
branch of the Susquehanna, are specially recommended for
this purpose, not only because of their influence on the
water-supply, but also because they are unfitted for other
profitable use. It is shown that tree-growth is here pro-
fuse and recuperation rapid, so that if adequate protection
could be afforded reforesting would not be a difficult matter.
It is to be hoped that this recommendation may receive due
consideration and the commissioner may be authorized to
perfect a plan for securing the control and providing for
the management of these Reserves. The danger from fires,
while frequently mentioned, and the subject of one or two
special inquiries, has not, relatively, the space allotted to it
that is often given. Presumably this is because no new
facts have been discovered in relation to the cause or pre-
vention of these disasters, and it is not worth while to be
threshing old straw.

A letter, called ‘A practical man’s experience in timber
restoration,” gives a concrete illustration of the difficulties
that beset efforts to manage a forest property upon
common-sense business principles, ‘‘owing to the poverty,
ignorance, stupidity and crime of the people about it.”
These people resented efforts in forest restoration as an
affront to their vested rights of hunting, berry-picking and
pasturing, so that after several years of labor the man who
bought 1,200 acres of woodland for the purpose of saving
the timber and demonstrating what can be done to
develop forest-growth has nothing to show except a
heavy bill of expense. He summarizes the whole
situation, not only for his case, but for the whole state,
by saying, “if the laws could be so amended as to give
the landowner proprietary rights in whatever his land
produced, whether it be trees, grass, herbs, birds or fishes,
and inflict heavy penalties and give damages, then
all sorts of trespasses would be quite rare, and in time we
might hope to see a decent growth of timber over the thou-
sands of square miles of what is now desert and waste
land.” We must confess that we do not share the cheerful
optimism of this philanthropic citizen, for it ought to be
understood that he did not undertake this work so much
with the personal expectation of personal profit as to give
an object-lesson in forestry for the example of others. Laws
will not enforce themselves, and unless there is an educated
public opinion behind them they are worse than a dead
letter on the books. It appears that this man complained
to justices, to district attorneys and to county detectives,
but received no help. Of course, it was unfortunate that
there was no Justice of the Peace for twenty miles in any
direction, but the chief trouble is that courts and juries
prefer the old ways and will not consider it an offense or
a crime if their neighbors do only what has been the habit
of the country from time immemorial.

Forty-seven full-page plates illustrate the report andshow
some characteristic trees and forest views; they also
show by contrast what we have and what we might
have, in an exceedingly instructive way. It should be
added that Dr. J. T. Rothrock, to whom the bulk of this
report is due, is now the Commissioner of Forestry of the
state, and has been untiring in his labors for the forestry

cause. In the farmers’ institutes and at other gatherings
he has continued to give illustrated lectures upon the
subject. These have proved very popular, and the

522

leaven thus introduced ought at last to permeate the
whole mass of the people and bring about a clearer under-
standing of what forestry is, and what, when supported
by public interest and opinion, it may reasonably be
expected to do for the commonwealth. The fact that Penn-
sylvania has such an officer as Commissioner of Forestry,
and that the state publishes and disseminates every year
a careful report on the condition of its woodlands, is of
itself a distinct gain, for it means education. What the
commonwealth needs is enlightenment, and after this will
follow necessary laws and their enforcement.

Fertile Crosses of Teosinthe and Maize.

ROFESSOR A. DUGES sent in 1888 to the Cambridge

Botanical Garden, Cambridge, Massachusetts, several
Maize plants which he collected at Novo Leon, Mexico.
Seed was sown at the Garden, and the resulting plants were
studied by the late Dr. Sereno Watson.* Seed from the
second generation of the Cambridge plants was _pro-
cured and planted in Philadelphia, developing into Corn,
which formed the basis for the botanical description of
Maize in Maize: A Botanical and Economic Study,+ pub-
lished in part second, volume first, Contributions from the
Botanical Laboratory of the University of Pennsylvania.
Later inquiries were made of Dr. Dugés concerning his
discovery, and the following letter in French and dated
Guanajuato, September 22d, 1895, was received :

The maize which Dr. Sereno Watson named Zea canina,
after the examples which I sent him, is known in Mexico as
‘‘Maiz de Coyote’’ (Lupus latrans), ‘‘Teosinthe,” ‘‘ Asesé,”
or ‘Café de Tabasco.” We have considered it as Euchlena
luxurians, Euchlena Mexicana, or Reana luxurians. It ap-
pears that ithas been cultivated in Europe and also in Mexico,
where it-has been grown by Professor José C. Segura, Direc-
tor of the School of Agriculture at Mexico. This botanist dis-
covered at the end of three years of careful cultivation in good
soil that it changed to Zea mays, and that if abandoned to itself
under adverse conditions it reverted to Zea canina; that is,
the same plant has a wild and a cultivated state. You are at
liberty to address on my part Professor Segura, who will be
pleased to give you the details.

Some time elapsed after the receipt of the above letter,
when a letter was addressed to Professor Segura, of the
School of Agriculture, Mexico, who replied in Spanish,
under date of July 2d, 1896:

In reply to your letter, the manifest which I sent you with
the bags of seed explained that one bag contained seeds of
Asesé (Euchlena Mexicana) ; another seeds obtained by hy-
bridizing Euchlaena Mexicana with common Maize. In con-
sequence, that which you term Zea canina, Watson, is not,
but the result of the hybridization of asesé with Maize. To
obtain this product, whichis known in Guanajuato under the
name ‘ Maiz de Coyote,” and which you classify with maize,
sow three grains of the Asesé, and at a distance of 0.80 m.
three grains of Maize. Asa result of the sowing in the month
of July, the Asesé commences toshoot out its floral peduncle,
which should be cut off immediately after it appears [emas-
culation]. In August, when Indian Corn flowers, the Asesé is
fertilized with pollen of Corn. { Harvest in October, and the
grains, upon examination, do not show any modification in
their form. The succeeding year sow the seed and a plant of
early habit will result, showing, in its small-sized ears, qualities
and appearances produced by the fusion of the ears of com-
mon Maize with the ears of the Asesé, grains of which I have
sent you.

Kernels of both Teosinthe and Maize were sown in Phila-
delphia and the result of the planting watched with interest.
Before the plants had fully matured I went to Mexico and
visited Professor Segura at the National School of Agricul-
ture. Professor Segura became very much interested and
showed all the stages in the hybridization of Teosinthe

* Watson, Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts and Sci., Xxvi., 158.

+ Review, 1894, GARDEN AND ForEsT, vii, 28.

t It should be noticed here that the two plants are moncecious and protandrous ;
the order of flowering is as follows at Mexico; Male flowers of asesé, then female
flowers of asesé and male of corn produced synchronously, then female flowers
of Maize, so that the physiological arrangements in both plants in Mexico pre-
clude the use of pollen of asesé in the fertilization of Maize.

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 462.

with Corn, and very generously placed at my disposal a
series of specimens, permission at the same time being
given to publish the results of the experiments.

Professor Segura has been carrying on his experiments
for the last five years. Maiz de Coyote was for a long
time known in Guanajuato as a very peculiar form, whose
origin was unknown. Professor Sereno Watson, to whom
specimens were sent, described them as a new species, Zea
canina, not recognizing them as of hybrid nature.

The writer, who believed this form to be primitive, and
Professor Watson were both misled. Professor Segura
discovered its origin by accident, some very peculiar plants
having been found in a crop harvested from a field where
Corn and Teosinthe had been planted together. He wisely
experimented and conclusively demonstrated that Maiz de
Coyote was not specifically distinct, but of hybrid origin.

Teosinthe, Euchlena Mexicana, Schrad, is a plant of
several varieties native in Mexico, where the writer found
it growing wild in the Barranca Chica, near Guadalajara.
It is grown as a fodder-plant in most warm countries, sel-
dom flowering when planted in Europe. The two ranked
ears are clustered in the axils of the leaves, and have the
one fertile and one rudimentary flowers placed in a har-
dened cup-shaped depression of the rhachis. The male
spike, terminally borne, consists of two flowered spikelets,
with three stamens each in every flower. When Teosinthe
is crossed with Maize by the use of Maize pollen, the
hybrid progeny of the first generation shows a shortened
branch in the axil of a leaf with three or four ears clustered
together and surrounded by leaves which are commonly
called husks. These ears resemble very much those of
Teosinthe in that they are two ranked with the kernels in
the hardened: depression of an enlarged zigzag rhachis,
which shows the beginning of a cob-like axis, on which, in
this case, the grains are disposed in a distichous manner.
The kernels are larger, sharp-pointed and protrude between
the chaffy scales (glumes) from the cup-shaped depression
of the axis, which is, in this case, shallower than in Teo-
sinthe. The outer glume, which is hard in Teosinthe,
becomes larger and softer in the hybrid progeny. The
axis is still firm, glossy and chitinous. The second year,
Maize pollen is again used to cross with the hybrid plants
of the first generation. The result of this cross is a form
of ear in which the kernels are larger, fuller and more
rounded, while the corneous basin-shaped depression has
become smaller and more shallow. The kernels in this
generation are usually arranged in a distichous- manner.
The third year, pollen of Indian Corn is again used, and
the resulting ears are found to differ in the increase of the
number of rows of grains, four or more being present; the
pithy axis, or. cob, now becomes demarcated, and is
seen when the ear is broken transversely. The plants of
this year and of the fourth are evidently those described
by Professor Watson under the name Zea canina, and as
primitive ones by myself.

A very fair, but reduced, illustration of the ears of the
fourth hybrid generation is to be found in the publication
referred to in the foot-note, plate xv., fig. 9, of the mono-
graph on Maize already referred to. The kernels of this
generation are somewhat top-shaped, three-eighths of an
inch long, white and sharp-pointed. The ears are usually
clustered together on a shortened branch, although in some
cases one ear may have taken the lead, having several
smaller ones at the base, as is to be found frequently in
ordinary Field Corn, when the husks are carefully removed.

What, then, is the nature of Corn? Several views may
be taken by the light suddenly thrown upon the origin of
the plant by these interesting cross-breeds or hybrids. *

(1) That Maize is generically and specifically a distinct
plant. This is the view accepted by systematists and
the one current in botanies and floras generally.

* Up to this point the results of the cross have been termed hybrids, because the
view was taken for clearness that two distinct species were used. We now desig-
nate according to the theory proposed the unions of two different varieties, as
cross-breeds, of two different species, as hybrids.

:
.
|

DECEMBER 30, 1806.]

(2) That Maize, as we now know it, owes its origin to the
crossing of Teosinthe, as one of the parents, with the pollen
of an extirpated closely related grass, and that the prog-
eny of this cross by variation under cultivation produced
ears of considerable size, with kernels of great nutritive
value. If this hypothesis is accepted, then the proposition
is proven that many species, which are botanically recog-
nized as such, have had a hybrid origin, as, for example,
the contested case of Bartram’s Oak.

Dr. J. M. Macfarlane’s observation as to the possible
origin of species from hybrids is apropos :

Hitherto it may be said that authorities, with few exceptions,
have declared wholly against the view that hybrids may be
sufficiently fertile, and their progeny sufficiently strong and
adaptable to be fitted for survival, not to say increase, in the
struggle for existence. The admirable experiments conducted
by Wichura on Willows go far to prove, one would think, that
by the fourth or fifth generation enfeeblement and decay be-
come so marked that continued production fails. But against
this is to be placed the fact that many of our horticulturists are
ardent believers in the continued fertility of hybrids, as witness
the article by Professor Meehan, already cited, although we
believe an oversanguine expectation is sometimes entertained
under this head.*

When one finds the undoubted hybrid between Geum rivale
and G. urbanum, frequently described by systematists as a spe-
cies, and that in many places the hybrid is nearly or quite as
abundant as either parent, that it freely produces good seeds,
and further that it has, as we have already indicated, many
points of superiority as a combined organism which neither
parent possesses separately, we have good reason for the exer-
cise of caution before pronouncing decisively against species
production from hybrids.

(3) That Indian Corn is the result of a cross between
Teosinthe and a race or variety of the plant produced by
successive cultivation of the wild plant until its characters
as a variety or a race have become fixed. This may have
taken place under irrigation, where the conditions of growth
are more or less under absolute control. It is probable that
the early cultivation in Mexico began as a shallow scratch-
ing of the soil for water distribution, and that the early cul-
tivation was near thesprings and watercourses. As many
of these rise in the hills, hill or mountain culture was the
first practiced. The wild plants, therefore, chosen for such
cultivation would under such feeble farming tend to vary
but slightly from the original form. As the population,
however, grew more dense and the water privileges possi-
ble through this imperfect system of irrigation more
restricted, new methods of engineering were of a necessity
adopted by the primitive husbandman. Deeper and longer
ditches were dug, reservoirs constructed and cultivation in
the lower-lying levels thus became possible through better
water distribution and impounding. That this was the way
in which cultivation by irrigation began is proved by the
ancient irrigating works to be found on the hills long since
abandoned. Such are to be found in Seriland, according
to the observations of Professor W. J. McGee, of the Bureau
of Ethnology ¢ With the more extensive cultivation in
the valleys through a better regulated water-supply, the
plants naturally lost their feral characters and became more
and more domesticated in appearance. It is at this point
in the culture of plants, when agricultural methods have
become more or less stable, tnat the fixation of certain
races or varieties of field plants may be said to have taken
place. Such a fixation of Teosinthe, as an agricultural
race, may have taken, or probably did take, place. It was
then that the presupposed cross between Teosinthe and its
variety occurred. That this cross would produce some
interesting results is corroborated by the behavior of other
plants. Spontaneous hybrids are, as a rule, much more
variable than those produced artificially—for example, Ver-
bascum lychnitis x Thapsus and V. lychnitis x nigrum.
Professor Bailey { says:

You want varieties quickly, and they must be distinct. You

* 1892. Transactions Royal Society of Edinburgh, xxxvii., 283.
+ Sczence, NV. S., iii., 493- :
$1896. L. H. Bailey, 7he Survival of the Unlike, 177-

Garden and Forest.

523
turn at once to hybridization. Hybridization is nominally rare.
There is no proof that nature made a species or potent form
in this way.* But she mildly crosses one species with itself,
and out of the slightly variable offspring selects those which
are best adapted to the place in which they live, and uses them
for the subjects of another congenial cross, and so the family
marches on from generation to generation, each step slow,
but each one sure.

It is probably in such a manner that our cultivated Corn,
originally a cross breed,t may have arisen.

The specimens which were grown in Philadelphia during
the season of 1896 from seed of the fourth hybrid, or, ac-
cording to the last view expressed, fourth cross-bred
generation, followed, in their vegetative parts, the horticul-
turist’s rule,{ that

Crosses of different races and species are distinguished from
plants of a pure race, asa rule, by the power of vegetation.
Hybrids between very different species are often very weak,
especially when young, so that it is difficult to successfully
raise the seedlings. On the other hand, crosses of more
closely related species and races are, as a rule, uncommonly
luxuriant and strong; they are distinguished mostly by size,
rapidity of growth, early flowering, abundance of flowers,
longer life, stronger reproductive power, unusual size of some
special organs, and like characteristics,

The Philadelphia plants reached a height of twelve feet,
grew rapidly, were of long life and produced at nearly all
of the nodes below the ears strong aerial roots.

If we consider Indian Corn to have arisen as a cross-
breed, or hybrid, we have an explanation as to many of
the teratological specimens of Corn frequently found in
field and garden cultivation. These teratological appear-
ances may be explained by reversion, or may be simple
malformations. It is a well-known fact that malformations
and curious forms are much more common, especially in
the flower parts of hybrids, than in individuals of pure
descent.

In conclusion, if the latter supposition is the correct one,
it is probable that the wild ancestor of Maize is the
Teosinthe, Euchlena Mexicana, because nature avoids
hybridization on account of the sterility of the offspring,
thus generally precluding the possibility of a cross between
two distinct genera or species, and, secondly, because it is
found by common experience that the fertility of a plant is
increased by crossing two varieties of the same species
which have been produced under differing conditions,
or in different geographical localities, such as would be
found in the case of Teosinthe and the agricultural race
produced through successive advances in methods of irriga-
tion. If the above view is not accepted, the fact that
Teosinthe and Maize can be crossed and a fertile progeny
result shows that the two plants are united by the close

and intimate bonds of kinship. .
University of Pennsylvania. w/t W. Harshberger.

Landscape Effects at Kew.

HAT part of Kew which formerly was known as

“The Wilderness,” or Pleasure-grounds, and which
is now designated The Arboretum, consists of about one
hundred and eighty acres of what is now by far the most
picturesque scenery in the gardens. In 1850 Sir William
Hooker was instructed to take charge of it and form ‘an
arboretum, or classified collection of hardy trees and shrubs
on a scale worthy of the nation.” It was then ‘a large
area of wooded and scrubby ground devoid of interest or
picturesque effects”; it is now richly stocked with trees
and shrubs from all parts of the world, and at the same
time it is “a paradise of trees and song-birds, shady glades,
well-planned vistas, bold sweeps of green lawns, and set
in the midst of it a lake whose banks and islands are so
skillfully planted with tastefully grouped tree and shrub
and herb that artists of repute spend months in making
pictures of the views it affords. The lake was made by

* Vide ante.
+ Vide ante, foot-note.
t 1895. L. H. Bailey, Plant Breeding, 225.

524

Sir William Hooker about forty years ago, and any one
looking at it now, with its undulating banks and mounds,
would find it difficult to realize that it was once perfectly
flat ground. The islands and banks are so designed that
the extent of the lake cannot be seen from any one point.
Its area is about five acres, and it is supplied by water
from the Thames, which runs close by, separating Kew
from its once famous neighbor, Syon Gardens, the demesne
of the Duke of Northumberland.

The conifer garden extends all along the south side of
the lake, while placed about its margin is the collection of
Willows, the Alders being conspicuous on some of the
slopes. Large trees of Oak, Elm, Poplar, Lime and Chest-
nut are prominent features in the views to be seen from
various points. In the water itself, or fringing the margin,
are Irises, Sedges, Docks, Reed-maces, Water-lilies, etc.
There are also numerous water-fowl, which undoubtedly
add to the charm of the scenery, although at the expense
of many aquatic plants. A collection of Marliac’s hardy
Nympheas is being made a feature of at one end of the
lake. In the summer Daffodils, Poet’s Narcissus, Primula
Japonica, Spirzeas, etc., help to give beauty to the scenery.

About two years ago two eminent painters, Monsieur
and Madame de l’Aubiniére, came to Kew, and, falling in
love with its lake scenery, they painted a large number of
pictures representing its various views. These, with the
permission of the authorities, have since been exhibited in
a small gallery in the gardens. Recently, twenty-four of
the most suitable of these pictures have been reproduced
by a photographic process, and these, with an introduction
from the pen of the Director, Mr. Thiselton-Dyer, are now
issued in the form of an album entitled The Poetry of Kew
Gardens. One of the pictures is reproduced on page 525.
The following extract is from the introduction :

“ Visitors to Kew who admire its stately trees, its sylvan
glades and its spacious lawns, probably in most cases sup-
pose that Nature endowed it with its charms, but this is far
from being the case. Kew throughout is the creation of
the art of the gardener, applied continuously for a century
and a half, and never, even at the present day, ceasing to
modify, develop and refine.

“ Landscape-gardening’as exemplified in such a domain
as Kew is peculiarly English. It originated, no doubt,
partly in an intelligent appreciation of the possibilities
afforded by the climate, which allows smooth turf to grow
in a manner unknown in other countries; partly in the
demand for giving to country mansions harmonious and
sympathetic surroundings. Its evolution has been gradual,
and it is not without interest to notice that Kew has been
the scene of the earliest attempts of its successive masters.

. There seems reason to believe that in the main fea-
tures, which still survive, it was the work of Kent, who has
been termed the founder of the school of landscape-garden-
ing. ‘Capability Brown’ was also employed by the Dow-
ager Princess of Wales to remodel the western half of the
gardens, and Kew owes to him some beautiful features,
among them the beautiful Hollow Walk, now devoted to
Rhododendrons.”

Kew may be taken as an excellent example of what can
be done to make a rich botanical collection and at the
same time a garden filled with picturesque scenery. In
the words of Mr. Dyer, it proves ‘that it is possible to
construct a great botanic garden which shall sacrifice noth-
ing to its object and yet be neither arid nor ugly.”

London. WoW:

Each of us is constituted with a special idiosyncrasy related
in some mysterious way to certain ideas of natural scenery,
and when we find ourselves in a scene answering to our
idiosyncrasy the mind feels itself at home there and rapidly
attaches itself by affection. The influence of scenery upon
happiness is far greater than is generally believed. There is
a nostalgia which is not exactly a longing for one’s birthplace,
but a weary dissatisfaction with the nature that lies around us,
and a hopeless desire for the nature that we were born to
enjoy.—Philip Gilbert Hamerton,

Garden and Borest

| NUMBER 462

Foreign Correspondence.

London Letter.

Brconta Baumannt.—Although introduced from Bolivia
six years ago and described and figured as a large-flow-
ered, sweet-scented tuberous Begonia, this species has
somehow failed with us as a garden plant. It has been
tried every year at Kew without success until this year,
and then it was only by very careful treatment that it was
got to anything like perfection. Is there any special
‘‘wrinkle” in its cultivation? I have read that itis grown
well by American cultivators. Here the tubers have been
started at the same time and treated along with the other
Andean species, Boliviensis, Veitchii, etc., but they did
nothing. A plant planted in a bulb-house in a bed of
light soil near the glass grew and flowered well, and a
figure of it was prepared for Zhe Bolanical Magazine. It
has fleshy reniform leaves; the nerves, petioles and stems
are colored rose-red and the scapes are a foot high, bearing
three or four flowers, the males with four petals and three
inches across, the females with five petals and two inches
across. They are colored rich rosy red and are very sweet-
scented. Has any one crossed it with other tuberous
species ?

CONANDRON RAMONDIOIDES.—We have just repotied our
plants of this pretty little Gesneriad from Japan, and I am
reminded to call the attention of American cultivators to
its merits as a pot-plant. It has a short, fleshy stem or
rhizome, clothed with long, soft brown hairs. The leaves
are oblong-lanceolate, not unlike those of the common
Primrose, and they form a cushion-like tuft suggestive of
the Pyrennean Ramondia, a near relation of Conandron.
Unlike the Ramondia, however, they are glabrous and
deciduous. The flowers are borne in cymes on slender
suberect scapes six inches long, and they are star-shaped,
an inch across, and colored rose-red with a darker zone*
round the eye-like clusters of orange-colored stamens. In
its regular perianth this plant is singular among Gesneriads.
The flowers are developed profusely in June, July and
August. At Kew it is grown in a cool, airy house along
with Cape bulbs, where, this year, it was a delightful’ little
picture when in flower. It likes an open light soil and
plenty of water all through the summer. It was introduced
by Veitch through their collector, Maries, about eighteen
years ago, but is still a rare plant.

Jacopinia coccinkA.—Among the numerous Acanthads
grown for their flowers in winter this is one of the hand-
somest. It has smooth cylindrical stems, glossy green
glabrous, ovate-lanceolate, long-stalked leaves from three
to nine inches long, and erect terminal spikes of bright crim-
son flowers springing from ovate green bracts. The flow-
ers are tubular, slightly curved, two inches long and divided
at the top into five segments, the two upper ones forming
a sort of hood to the stamens. the three lower spreading
and labellum-like. Grown from spring-struck cuttings in a
sunny frame or greenhouse during the summer, bushes
with about half a dozen stems eighteen inches high are
obtainable ; or the plants may be limited to a single stem
and thus induced to make exceptionally strong flower-
spikes. There is a comparatively worthless plant in culti-
vation under this name. The true thing is figured (poorly)
in The Botanical Magazine, t. 432. It is a native of Brazil.
We had some plants of itin flowerin October. This and
the best form of Jacobinia magnifica, sometimes called
Pohliana, are two of the best Acanthads we grow.

CrassuLa RuBICUNDA.—This is a good winter-flowering
greenhouse plant. It has been attractive at Kew since the
middle of November, and it promises to continue so until
Christmas. It forms a compact little shrub fifteen inches
high, the stems erect, branching naturally from the base
and again near the top, where it forms a broad, loose,
dichotomous cyme or head of flowers which measures
nine inches across. The leaves, which are about four
inches long, are arranged closely upon the stem from the

DECEMBER 30, 1896.] Garden and Forest. 525

Fig. 75.—View in the Royal Gardens, Kew.—See page 523.

526

base upward in opposite pairs, and they are linear-lanceo-
late, channeled, succulent, bright green, the margins
clothed with fine hair-like spines. The flowers are very
numerous, and they are erect, urn-shaped, a quarter of an
inch across, colored crimson, with yellow anthers. The
leaves root freely and produce young plants in a few weeks
if placed upon a pan of moist sand in a warm house.
Grown along with and treated the same as the popular
Crassula coccinea, this plant would, I believe, prove a good
market plant. It was first introduced from south Africa
by Mr. Wilson Saunders, and flowered in his garden at
Reigate over twenty years ago, but it has not yet attracted
the attention of horticulturists. This may be due to the
fact that a much smaller and less attractive species—
namely, C. impressa—has been grown by the nurserymen
and in the parks here under the name of C. rubicunda.
This also is a native of south Africa. It forms compact
little tufts, three or four inches high, of erect slender stems,
bearing semiterete, purple-tinted, pock-marked leaves two
inches long and small terminal heads of dull red flowers.
Another name for this plant is C. Schmidtii (see Gar/enflora,
t. 1225). A third species of somewhat similar character is
C. recurva, introduced to Kew from Zululand along with
Streptocarpus Dunnii. It has fleshy stems a foot high,
thick, recurved, down-clad leaves and terminal heads of
dull red flowers. When grown in bright sunlight the whole
plant becomes a rich vinous-red color. Another. good
winter-flowering greenhouse species is the old C. lactea, of
decumbent habit, with fleshy heart-shaped leaves and erect
racemes of pure white flowers. C. falcata is also deserving
of general cultivation for the conservatory in midwinter.
GREENHOUSES IN DrcemBer.—There are so few really good
plants that are to be relied upon to flower under glass in
December that a list of them is surprisingly short. The
Orchid-houses are, perhaps, the richest in flower display,
although, except Dendrobium, Phaleenopsis, Cattleya la-
biata and the forms of Lelia anceps and autumnalis, we
have nothing additional to what there was twenty years
ago. Odontoglossum crispum is always in flower. Cypri-
pedium insigne is good in December, as also are the Calan-
thes, Oncidium varicosum, O. Forbesii, Cattleya maxima,
Angreecum eburneum and Phalenopsis of sorts. In the
stove Brownea Crawfordi is magnificent ; hybrid Anthu-
riums, Poinsettias, Euphorbia jacquinieflora, Begonia Soco-
trana, B. Gloire de Lorraine, B. Winter Gem, B. President
Carnot, Ruellia macrantha, Jacobinia coccinea and Costus
igneus are the chief attractions on the stages. Among
climbers the best are Ipomcea Horsfallize and its varieties,
I. rubro-ccerulea and Manettia bicolor. The cooler houses
look dull after the departure of the Chrysanthemums. Of
course, there are forced flowers, such as Roman Hyacinths
and Narcissus and the useful Cineraria, Primula Sinensis,
Bouvardias, Arums, Persian Cyclamen and various Ericas
and Epacrises. Less common plants in flower now are
the Reinwardtias, Mackaya bella, Tecoma Smithii, Luculia
gratissima, Pleroma macrantha and several species of
Statice from the Canary Islands. The most attractive
climbers are several species of Bomarea, Senecio macro-
glossus, Hibbertia dentata and Lonicera sempervirens. A
few Nerines remain, but the best of these were over more
than a month ago. Hzeemanthus albiflos is worth growing
for its drumstick-shaped heads of white flowers developed
at this time of year. These are the pick of the flowering
plants in our houses in December. Expert florists, both
English and foreign, who grow for our market, produce
quantities of scarlet Anemone, Carnation, white Lilac,
Lilium Harrisii, Tea Roses, Tuberoses, Pyrethrums, Acacia
dealbata and scarlet Pelargonium, which are to be seen in
quantity in the London flower-shops in December. Here
it is difficult to induce plants to flower at a season when the
sun does not shine for days together, the dull leaden sky
giving place at times to heavy fog, which in London is so
poisonous as to destroy most of the flowers that struggle

into being.
endonie W. Watson.

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 462.

Cultural Department.

Tomatoes Under Glass.

ae crops of tomatoes may be grown under glass ina single

season. Seeds for the first crop should be planted the
last week in July. A good method is to pot off the young
plants as soon as they are large enough to handle, in two or
two-and-a-half inch pots, and plunge them ina bench of coal
ashes, where they can remain for three or four weeks. Then
the plants may be shifted to four-inch pots to remain until
planted in the benches of the forcing-house the latter part of
September. The period in which the plants occupy the four-
inch pots is a time when the care and handling is of great
importance, and will tell on the following crop, not because of
lessened or increased vigor of the plant itself so much as in
obtaining a form that will admit of training to produce the
largest crop in the smallest space. The plants should never be
allowed to become ‘‘drawn.” Drawn plants will often produce
large crops in the field, but under glass, and especially if trained
toa single stem, it is desirable to have the first cluster of flowers
and fruit as near the ground as possible, and this cannot be
from drawn plants. Plants become drawn from being over-
crowded or grown in too high a temperature and where
there is an absence of light. The best plants for setting that
I have ever seen were held back and not forced while in four-
inch pots. Kept in a cool house where the night temperature
was between 50 and 55 degrees, and ten degrees higher in the
daytime, the plants made a slow and stocky growth and blos-
somed about the time they were set in the benches. These
plants were of the Lorillard variety—which is about the best for
winter growing—and on all the plants the blossom clusters,
and later the fruit clusters, were only a few inches from the
ground. Many of the plants produced seven clusters on a
stem, which was pinched off at a distance of between five and
six feet above the bench.

After setting the plants, the house may be kept moist but
should be dry enough for the purposes of pollination during
the period while the fruit is setting. I am inclined to believe
that hand pollination is profitable. In a small house, 16x 40,
and containing 160 plants, about fifteen minutes is required to
go through the operation, a spoon and stick being used. The
operation should be repeated each day or every second day
throughout the season or until the stems are full.

Plants set in the benches October Ist should begin to pro-
duce ripe tomatoes the 1st of December, and the fruits will
continue to ripen for about two months.

Seed for the second crop should be sown in flats about the
middle of December, and the plants will be ready to set in the
benches early in February. Ripe tomatoes may again be
harvested during the latter part of March and through April.
This crop will give a larger yield than the first. The increased
amount of light, and therefore heat, causes the individual fruits
to grow larger.

The soil commonly used for forcing tomatoes is prepared
by composting turf with from one-fourth to one-third its bulk
of good stable manure. This makes a good soil. Tomatoes
may be grown successfully in a soil composed of coal ashes,
either anthracite or bituminous, with three per cent. (by
weight) of peat moss added, both ashes and peat being sifted
through a screen with four meshes to the inch.

Plant food in some form must be added to a soil of coal
ashes, and this can be done most easily with chemical ferti-
lizers. To each 100 square feet of bench area should be added
four and three-quarter pounds of nitrate of soda, two pounds
of muriate of potash, one pound of dissolved bone-black, one
and one-half pounds of carbonate of lime.

The lime is added for the purpose of neutralizing the slight
acidity of the peat moss. In three successive crops grown at
this station, where both kinds of soil were used—the natural
soil, both with and without chemical fertilizers—the greatest
yield each time came from the soil of coal ashes and peat
moss. The fruit from the artificial soil scarcely varies from
that grown in natural soil either in form, size, color, or chemi-
cal composition.

By keeping off all lateral shoots and tying to a string, more
plants can be used, and a yield of two pounds per square toot
of bench area may be obtained.

Plants may be grown from cuttings as well as from seed,
and this method is practiced by some growers. It has been
my experience. that cuttings produce fruit earlier than seed-
lings, but the yield is much smaller. For this reason seedlings
are to be preferred.

The benches should be eight or nine inches deep in a
tomato house. The house should be kept at a temperature

DECEMBER 30, 1896.]

ranging between 65 and 70 degrees, Fahrenheit, during the
night and about ten degrees higher in the daytime. The
walks should be wet down every day to keep the atmosphere
moist, but it is not necessary to syringe the plants.

Forcing-house tomatoes are lable to be affected by two
common fungous diseases—Cladosporium fulvum and Mac-
rosporium tomato. The former is the ‘‘mould” or “blight”
of the field, and often attacks the plants in the fall, when they
are first set in the benches, and again in the spring, when the
heat has been turned off. The upper surface of the leaves
affected with blight has a spotted appearance, and the
under side of each spot will be covered with a brown-
ish mould which becomes darker-colored as the spores are
produced. Repeated applications of Bordeaux mixture or
ammioniacal carbonate ot copper will free the plants from this
parasite.

The Macrosporium is known as ‘‘rot” and attacks the fruit.
This disease is not so easy to check; it first appears as a
brown or black decayed spot at the blossom end when the
fruit is about half grown. Probably the disease attacks the
tomato through the pistil of the flower and the mycelium con-
tinues to develop in the ovary, which rapidly increases in size
and becomes half grown before the disease is apparent. The
decay usually continues until the tomato is about half de-
stroyed. If the spores of the fungus enter through the flower,
as is supposed, any application of fungicides that would kill
the spores would also have a tendency to kill the pollen, if not
to injure the pistil of the flower, so that until more is known
about this disease it is hardly safe to advise spraying to hold
itin check. It is seldom serious, however, if the proper con-
ditions prevail in the forcing-house.

Winter tomatoes are attacked by a white fly-like insect
known as the ‘Plant-house Aleyrodes” (Aleyrodes vapora-
riorum). The larvae may be found upen the under surface of
the lower leaves during the bearing season of the plants and
the adults will be seen flying about and depositing eggs
toward the tops. Fumigating the house occasionally will hold
this insect in subjection.

Aneel worm or nematode, Heterodeéra radicicola, forms galls
upon the roots of tomatoes grown in the forcing-house. The
usual remedy is to use fresh soil each season and throw the
old out to lie over winter and freeze. Nematodes are not
found upon the roots of tomato plants grown ina soil of coal
ashes and peat moss.

Instead of growing new plants for the second crop, the old
ones may be cut off a foot above the bench, turned down, and
buried in the soil. New shoots will be thrown out, and these
will produce a fairly good crop of fruit. The old root-system
is again used, and though the plants will grow vigorously, the
crop can hardly be expected to equal that obtained from new
plants, especially if nematodes are troublesome. Where these
worms are abundant, it is probably better to grow new plants.
The price of hot-house tomatoes is a variable quantity. Last
winter, in New Haven, the crop sold at thirty-five cents a
pound, wholesale, during the holidays. Toward spring the
price was considerably less. At present thirty cents is about
as much as the dealers like to pay. Whether the crop is a
profitable one or not depends upon circumstances, but toma-
toes can doubtless be grown ata profit near good markets, and
especially by market gardeners who wish to keep a part of
their help employed the year round. These men know the
markets, and can dispose of the crop at an advantage, where

tl ight fail.
others might fail W. E. Britton.

Experiment Station, New Hayen, Conn.

Begonias.

Ne this season, when showy greenhouse plants are scarce,

and the gorgeous display of Chrysanthemums is missed,
winter-flowering Begonias are useful for the conservatory.
New and old varieties can be had in abundance so that the
most fastidious taste can be satisfied. In grouping Begonias
in conservatories several plants of one kind ought to be
grouped together to produce the most pleasing effects. Well-
grown plants of B. Froebeli, a tuberous-rooted species, can
hardly be excelled by any that blossom at this season or
perhaps at any season. It has not as large individual flowers
as some of the tuberous-rooted kinds that bloom in summer,
but its flowers are as rich in color as those of any other
Begonia. They are brilliant scarlet, and are produced in
drooping cymes on red peduncles which are more than a foot
long when the plants are grown well. But the flowers are not
the only attractive part of this plant; it has handsome foliage,
the leaves sometimes measuring more than one foot in length
and six or eight inches in breadth, the upper side velveted

Garden and Forest.

527

with the finest purplish hairs. It has been in cultivation
twenty-four years, but is seldom seen in gardens although
seeds are offered annually in the catalogues. Perhaps one of
the reasons why it is not oftener grown is because in raising
it from seed the young plants do not produce as large flowers
or leaves as older ones. The best Howers are obtained here
from tubers several years old. The cultivation of this beauti-
ful Begonia is very simple. When the flowering season is
over and the leaves begin to lose their color, water should
gradually be withheld. After the plants have lost their leaves,
then the pots and tubers may be put on a dry shelf where they
can remain until they show signs of growth in the fall. The
old soilis then shaken away from the tubers and then they
are repotted into smaller pots. When they have grown until
the young roots have penetrated the fresh compost and
reached the sides of the pots they should have a shift into a
larger-sized pot. A compost of turfy loam, leaf-mold and
sand suits this Begonia.

Begonia Socotrana makes a good companion to B. Froebeli,
and about the same treatment suits them both. A well-grown
group of these plants is a sight not easily forgotten. B.
Haageana is also in flower now ; in fact, itis almost a constant
bloomer. It is easily grown and makes fine bushy plants
bearing large clusters of showy blush-white flowers. Its
leaves are metallic green with red nerves and of a purplish
color on the under side. The flowers are borne on long stout
peduncles, and their outer segments are covered with red
hairs. B.Credneri is a hybrid rather like the last species in
habit and producing immense clusters of showy flowers.

The most floriferous of Begonias at this time is B. incarnata.
It is a well-known plant and is grown by almost every one who
has a greenhouse. The rose-colored flowers are produced
very plentifully and brighten the plants for a long time in
winter. Young plants that were raised from cuttings made
last spring are nice flowering plants now. B. semperflorens
gigantea rosea could hardly be spared from our greenhouses,
now, with its large dark green shining leaves and numerous
stout erect panicles of bright vermilion flowers. It is easily
grown, and raised in spring makes nice blooming plants now.
A near relative of this good Begonia is B. Amelie, another
profuse bloomer, but having flowers not quite as large as
those of B. semperflorens rosea. A good dwarf pot plant
is B. Bruanti, with small obliquely lobed leaves and many flow-
ers borne almost without cessation on short axillary peduncles.
This Begonia also makes a useful bedding plant in summer.
The old and well-known B. fuchsioides, when well grown, is
as pleasing and as useful as any other. Although it makes a
good pot plant it is always seen at its best in a bench or border
with its stems trained to a pillar or a stake where its Fuchsia-
like flowers, in drooping branched panicles, are displayed to
best advantage. Many more could be added to the list: B.
Abundance, B. argenteo-guttata, B. Corbeille de feu, B. Saun-
dersii, B. nitida and its white variety, B. phyllomaniaca,
besides newer kinds which are plentiful now and many of
them in flower at this time.

Harvard Botanic Garden, Cambridge, Mass. Robert Cameron.

Orchid Notes.

GPa present time is a critical one in the cultivation of

Orchids. It is the resting season of a great many varie-
ties, and water should be withheld to a certain extent with
only an occasional syringing, applied as the pseudo-bulbs
begin to show shriveling. An overabundance of water now
might result in that much-dreaded disease, the spot. A great
number of Orchids are destroyed by overwatering during this
season.

During the winter months, while the most beautiful of winter
Orchids are in flower, a superabundance of moisture should
be carefully guarded against, as it certainly will prove destruc-
tive of the beauty of the flowers. The house in which they
grow should only be dampened on bright, sunny days, or
when heavy firing is necessary to maintain the proper temper-
ature, and this should not exceed sixty-five degrees during the
day. The floor should be allowed to become quite dry toward
evening and the temperature should be reduced to about filty-
five degrees. Where it is possible, a small house should be
reserved for the Orchids as they come into flower. They can
then be grouped with other flowering and foliage plants to pro-
duce a pleasing effect, and the temperature can be kept dry and
cooler in order to preserve the flowers longer. After they are
done flowering, repotting should be attended to. The best
time for this work is during their resting season, except in
the case of varieties which bloom as they make their new

528

growth. Every plant should be examined, as some may
need more material in order to have them firm in the
pots and baskets, even if they do not need to be repotted. In
repotting fill the baskets and pots three-quarters full of new
charcoal, which is better than crocks, as it does not become
sour. Care should be taken not to destroy any more of their
adventitious roots than can possibly be helped, and it is essen-
tial to guard against overpotting. Good fibrous peat that has
been thoroughly washed and free from dirt and insects should
be used. Press in the peat as firmly as possible and use no
moss with it, as this soon decays and becomes sour. A light
layer of moss on the top of the peat is beneficial. Itencourages
the tender rootsand does not become sourasit does when packed
in with the peat. Another very important point is to see that the
plants are thoroughly washed of all dirt and insects, for clean-
liness in every respect is a cardinal point in successful Orchid
culture.

After repotting, the temperature should not be raised too
quickly, as this will tend to start an early growth, which will
be finished before fall, when a second growth would be liable
to take place, and this will weaken the plant and cause inferior
flowers. The increasing brightness of the sun during the
early spring months will necessitate shading to guard against
burning. For this purpose some prefer dimming the glass
with a mixture of driers and oil. Others use whitewash ;
others still use shades of small slats. The former is a good
practice, but it requires much labor to clean off the glass
in late autumn. Shading with cheesecloth or light muslin,
arranged so that it can be conveniently lowered during sunny
days and rolled up during cloudy weather, is convenient. It
gives an equal shading throughout the house and breaks off
the brightest of the sun’s rays. The glass does not retain the
heat as it does when painted, and the house will be several
degrees cooler under cloth. As the Orchids begin to show
their new growth a greater amount of moisture and watering
will be needed. An occasional dipping, when the pseudo-
bulbs are about half-grown, in a very mild solution of cow-
manure will be beneficial in producing strong growths.

While some of the richest and most delicately colored
flowers of some varieties are at their best during these few
months, it will be interesting work to cross a few varieties, as
there is no telling what the seed may produce in a few years
hence. It requires much patience to raise some Orchids from
seed. Select only strong plants of the best varieties when
crossing in order to obtain good fertile seed. The seed-pod
generally ripens in from eight to twelve months, and needs
watching toward the time of ripening, or it will burst and
much of the seed will be lost.

The seed should be sown as soon as ripe in pots prepared
specially for the purpose. California peat is a good material for
these pots, as it is fine in fibre, and the seed will not settle very
far into it. Theseed should be sprayed only after it is sown, as
heavy syringing washes it away. After the germination and a
leaf or two are seen the seedlings should be transplanted into
very small pots. We have now a seedling Cattleya which has
been flowering for the past five weeks, besides several Cypri-
pediums, which are worth describing.

Tarrytown, N. Y. William Magee, Fr.

Cypripedium bellatulum.

eee genus Cypripedium may be said to consist of three
well-marked divisions, though but one of these is gener-
ally admitted—the tropical American kinds grouped under the
name Selenipedium. These are easily recognized by their
long foliage without marking, and the pollen is dry and pow-
dery and not of the wax-like consistency common to all Cypri-
pediums from the east; there is also a structural difference in
the seed-capsule, and various smaller details make a dividing
line between those that come from the east and west. The
Cypripediums proper, most of which have beautifully tes-
sellated leaves, are natives of the islands of the Malay
Archipelago, where they occur mostly in isolated spots, two
species rarely growing together, and also of. the mainland of
the East Indies, reaching up through Burma and into the Shan
states, whence came our most recent acquisition, C. Charles-
worthii, sent home bya British officer fortunately possessed
of botanical knowledge and taste.

The section of the genus, however, to which reference is
specially made now is that which embraces Cypripedium bel-
latulum, C. niveum, C. Godefroyz and C. concolor, with their
several varieties. These are distinct in having flowers of a
uniform ground color, from pure white to various yellowish
white shades; in the great width of petal, the outer segments

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 462.

of the flowers being equal, or nearly so, and in the markings
of spots instead of stripes. The foliage of this division is also
strikingly individual, being thick and fleshy, tessellated, and not
of such large dimensions as in the other sections. The flower-
scapes are always dwarf.

This last section presents as great difference, from a cul-
tural point of view, in the plants themselves. And while
separating them botanically is not usually practiced, the culti-
vator, if he wishes to grow these gems, must be most careful
to give them suitable treatment, or they will speedily be classed
among the things that were. Hybridists were quick to note
the striking characteristics of this section, and soon began to
use them. Some of the most interesting results have already
been obtained, and it is impossible to predict what is in store,
so that it is not so much on account of the species mentioned,
as the hybrids that have been raised from them by crossing
with other species, all of which partake, to a great extent, of
the habit of growth of Cypripedium bellatulum or its kindred.
These hybrids are now among the most prized in collections,
and it is essential to understand their requirements.

It has often been stated in published descriptions of these
plants that they grow on lime-stone rocks, and that the addi-
tion of this material to the potting compost will greatly facilitate
their growth. We have no lime-stone in this district, but old
mortar refuse is an excellent substitute, as well as useful to
keep the potting soil sweet and porous, and it is well to use it
as drainage for the pots. If newly imported plants are re-
ceived, it will invariably be found that a deep red clay of a
most tenacious nature is adhering to the thick roots. We find
even now, after a year or two of watering, that this red earth
still sticks to the roots that are alive and sound. This fact set
us to thinking about the usual peat and moss compost gen-
erally advised, and prepared us somewhat for a later experi-
ence—that of finding in some of the noted English collections
whole shelves near the roof-glass filled with these Cypripedes,
all in most vigorous health, and potted in loam alone, with the
addition of lime-stone. The fact is our moss compost holds
too much moisture in suspension for the plants, if it is kept in
a growing condition, as with other Cypripedes ; and if the moss
is allowed to die it is even worse, for the plants like to be ina
fairly dry condition before water is given. If a few pieces of
loam-fibre are placed at and around the collar of the plants it
will be found ample for their needs, and water must never be
given until it is really needed, or damp will take off even the
strongest plants.

Another point to be observed, and it is the most important
of all, is to suspend the plants where they will never be watered
or sprayed over the foliage. However they may be placed in
a wild state, whether in clefts or fissures of the rocks, orif the
moisture is rapidly evaporated by the air, certain it is that we
must not apply it overhead. It is an easy matter to use pots
of exactly the same height, putting several of them together
in a basket and dipping them in a vessel of water when dry;
no danger of decay at the base of the leaves need then be
feared. It is the only difficulty to be apprehended, and one,
too, thathas prevented many from taking up the cultivation
of this exquisite set of plants.

Plants newly received have most likely come by way of
Europe, and our experience, which is also that of others, is
that thrips are very certain to be present. These destructive
little pests seem inseparable for some time, because water
cannot be applied so freely as with other species. Strong to-
bacco dust, a pinch in each growth, will discourage them in
time, and fumigating may also be resorted to, as this whole
genus will not take harm from the operation.

It is not too much to say that Cypripedium bellatulum at
least should be grown in every collection, however small. It
is also the easiest to obtain, presents great variety in itself,
both in the leaves and flowers, and will almost surely lead
one to want other species, as they present, taken altogether, a
series of gradations that point toone common origin, though
some are insular while others grow on the mainland, far in the
interior. The gem of the series is a spotless form of C. bella-
tulum, discovered by Commissioner Moore, who also found
C. Charlesworthii. The foliage is also devoid of color other
than green, and this fortunately led to its being kept separate
by its discoverer.

Chemical fertilizers for Orchid culture is a delicate subject,
and many cultivators denounce their use in strong terms. We
have, however, forsome time used them in homeopathic doses,
and in some instances with surprising results. We have no hesi-
tation at this time in saying that a little nitrate of soda or sul-
phate of ammonia, or, better still, both alternately used as a
weak solution for watering, will give depth of color to the
leaves and vigor not to be had under other treatment. ‘This

DECEMBER 30, 1896.]

is mentioned for the purpose of experiment by cultivators of
an inquiring turn, rather than by way of refutation of the pub-

lished opinions of other cultivators.
South apes Mass. DOF Or pet.

Correspondence.

Coéperation in Flower-growing.

To the Editor of GARDEN AND FOREST:

Sir,—Previous to the organization of the Boston Coéperative
Flower Growers’ Association in 1892, near-by growers for
market made sales direct to the retail stores, carrying their
flowers with them and making a daily canvass of the business
portion of the city. In this toilsome work much time was
wasted. There was no means of gauging the supply and
demand, and prices had a very unsatisfactory basis. No
agreement existed among growers, and between buyer and
seller it was often a contest of wits; neither the grower nor
the buyer expected to get nor to give what the other de-
manded. It was noon when the tired travelers returned, and
otten after a valuable lot of flowers had been disposed of for
half their real worth. Another method, still in practice to
some extent, was to make consignments to commission-men.
Every one who disposes of his produce in this way puts him-
self in the commission-men’s power. He must trust them
implicitly, and though they may be, and in most cases are,
honest, there is always some uncertainty as to returns.

Eventually the growers came together and drew up articles
of agreement. These were signed at a meeting held in Horti-
cultural Hall on October 18th, 1892, and a charter was obtained
some time later. The market was opened on the first of
November of the same year, when an auction sale for space
was made, at which the corporation realized $225.00 in pre-
miums above stated rentals. The market has been successful
from the start. The retail stores ignored the combination, and
treated those who remained out of it with extreme considera-
tion. But the provision of a meeting-place, the establishing of
a standard of value and of a shelter during winter proved de-
cided advantages, and three-fourths of the market growers are
now in the association, including all the bestones. Prominent
among stand-holders are William Nicholson, of South Fram-
ingham, the Carnation specialist; Joseph Tailby, his son Wil-
liam, being one of the original promoters, treasurer, clerk, an
auctioneer; Peter Ball, of Malden, Roses; Fisher Brothers,
Montvale, Carnations, Asparagus and Ferns; W. H. Elliott,
Brighton, who makes a specialty of Asparagus plumosus
nanus,tand ships it to all parts of the country ; Mann Brothers,
Randolph, known as the introducers of Mutual Friend Chrys-
anthemums and growers of fine bulbous stock; F. Matheson,
Waverly, Roses; William Edgar, Waverly, fine Chrysanthe-
mums and Mignonette,

With the gain of the association in numbers and importance
it became difficult for the best stores to get first-quality stock,
and this predicament was taken advantage of by the few
growers who were not members of the association. The
stores were at last forced to patronize the market for protec-
tion, and its prices now rule.

The market is now held under the Park Street Church;
every available foot is rented, and the enterprise pays well.
The rules of the market allow only growers to sell, and com-
mission-men are excluded. At the time of my visit, between
six and eight in the morning, I was surprised at the quantity
and quality of the stock sold and the shortness of time in which
it was disposed of. The bullx of the business is done within
an hour. It had been my impression that the street fakir was
an adjunct of the stores, buying left-over stock. This, I find,
is not true. Even the fakir knows a good thing. Though he
wants only second-class stuff, he wants it fresh. He barters
long and patiently, but always pays cash, and therefore is a
welcome visitor. Really he is a benefit to the trade rather
than an injury. He deals in stock the storekeepers would not
buy and the grower could not otherwise dispose of, and sells
to a class who would not go into the stores to buy. Nothing
is sold at retail, and what is left over is held by the manager

for sale during the day. S
Wellesley, aes y i hie BY Hatfield.

Recent Publications.

A report on Zhe Culture of Hemp and Jute in the United
Sfates, by Charles Richards Dodge, Special Agent, has just
been published by the Department of Agriculture. Prac-
tically very little fibre from either of these plants is now
produced in the United States. Thirty-seven years ago

Garden and Forest.

529

75,000 tons of hemp were grown, while last year only 5,000
tons were reported for the whole country. The decline in
the production of hemp dates back, primarily, to the decline
in American shipbuilding ; it was hastened by the intro-
duction of Manilla hemp, and later still by the importation
of jute. Additional falling off in production is due to the
decline in prices for hard-cordage fibres, such as sisal and
manilla, through overproduction stimulated by the high
prices of these two fibres five or six years ago. The
Department of Agriculture began to interest itself in ex-
tending the cultivation of Hemp in 1890, when the con-
sumption of binding twine amounted to 150,000 tons a
year, and it was then shown that if one-half of this twine
were made from home-grown hemp, instead of from
manilla or sisal, there would be a saving to consumers and
an advantage to American farmers amounting to nearly
two million dollars a year. The effort then made to revive
the North River hemp industry in this state failed, and it has
suffered a decline in Illinois, where much low-grade hemp
was once grown for binding twine. ‘To this rather gloomy
history are added interesting notes on soil, seed, harvesting,
etc., both in this country and abroad. Nearly three hun-
dred patents have been issued in the United States for
machines for breaking hemp, many of which have proved
failures, and none have fulfilled the essential requirements,
so that the Kentucky Hemp grower of to-day relies on the
rude and clumsy handbrake of his grandfather's time, a
device similar to the one still used by the Hemp farmers of
Brittany. Satisfactory machinery would, no doubt, give a
great impetus to the cultivation of this fibre. Itis doubtful,
however, whether hemp will ever be used again in the
manufacture of coarse-woven goods, since cotton is so
cheap that it has superseded both hemp and flax in com-
mon manufactures. Hemp has probably no future use
except in the rougher manufactures—that is, for the cheaper
kinds of cordage and twine, although it may be fit for
bagging. Itis doubtful if hemp can ever be produced so
as to compete with jute-butts, but its larger employment in
cordage manufacture ought to enable it to recover a part
of the ground it has lost as an American fibre industry. A
rough product that could be cheaply produced would be
good enough for binding twine, and might be employed
with advantage in the cheaper grades of small cordage
now made of imported jute because of its superior
strength and less liability to deterioration when stored for
any length of time.

Although hemp is a stronger and better fibre than jute,
and although its cultivation is fully understood here, it is a
fact that the large present demand for India jute would
insure a ready market for American jute if it could be
raised here in quantity. Nearly five million dollars’ worth
of jute fibre was imported into this country for manufacture
during the last year, and yet it is perfectly adapted to cul-
tivation in the southern states, and its large yield per acre
ought to make it a staple production. It is used for weav-
ing into fine and coarse fibres, for making twines and cord-
age and in the manufacture of paper. A limited experience
in cultivating the plant in this country seems to prove that
jute of an excellent quality can be grown here. On proper
soils and with our improved implements in preparing the
ground an American farmer ought to count upon three
thousand pounds an acre, but here, too, the success will
largely depend upon the use of machinery for extracting the
fibre. The southern farmer could hardly meet the demand
for cheap jute, but might, perhaps, through the demand
for higher-priced fibre at prices which he would be able to
realize in competition with the Indian product. After all,
the question of economical production of jute in the United
States is not yet practically solved. It has been demon-
strated that the plants will grow luxuriantly in many parts
of the south, and that the bark contains fibre of excellent
quality, and the prospect warrants careful experimentation
with a view to ascertaining the actual cost of growing this
crop and of extracting and baling the fibre. The subject
is such an important one that inquiries in relation to the

530

matter are constantly sent to the Department of Agriculture,
and although there is nothing in the situation to encourage
any extravagant expectations, it is certainly one worthy of
study in these times when the rewards of agricultureare so
small, and when it would be a great advantage to the
farming population, especially of the south, to add another
one to their small list of profitable crops.

Notes.

A correspondent of the Strawberry Culturist says that he
treated a lot of Strawberry-plants in matted rows which were
badly rusted, by spraying them with borax lye, a material used
for soap-making, using one can to a forty-gallon barrel of
water. This arrested the rust and kept the plants growing, so
that berries were picked from these beds ten days after the
unsprayed plants had quit bearing.

Two years ago a florist near Boston exhibited a variety of
Antirrhinum majus which was conspicuous for its long
stems, furnished throughout with flowers of a singular
pure white and large size. We believe it is the same plant
that is now called Giant White, and it blooms as freely out-of-
doors as any of the Snapdragons, but when grown in pots for
winter decoration of windows and conservatories it is a singu-
larly useful plant. The flowers are fragrant.

A recent number of Zhe American Agriculturist gives a
picture of a cluster of the McPike Grape, of which we have
spoken in a previous number. The photograph shows that
the berries are of the largest size, while they are said to be of
better quality, finer flavor, and with fewer seeds than the
Worden, of which this Grape is aseedling and which it resem-
bles in general appearance. The foliage is said to be large
and the joints shorter than in the parent plant, and the clusters
ripen very evenly.

The number of species of plants which have become extinct
is very large, and yet generic groups rarely die out. Compar-
ative researches show that much the greater proportion of
plants whose remains have been preserved ina fossil condition
from earlier geologic periods belong to the genera which are
represented by plants now living, although many of these
existing plants differ specifically from the earlier ones. From
this it seems that new types are outgrowing the old ones con-
stantly and take their place in the general scheme of life.

Mr. W. H. Bristol, of San Bernardino County, California, has
now five acres of Logan berries, and before a late meeting of
the Southern California Farmers’ Institute he showed photo-
graphs of the fruits, which were larger than any blackberry.
The plant has a trailing habit like that of a Dewberry and
grows sometimes fitteen feet in a single season. The berry
is of a bright dark red, with a flavor which can hardly be
described in words, but is said to be something like that of a
red raspberry, though more tart and sprightly. For jellies
and jams it is altogether unsurpassed.

In recent years about sixteen per cent. of all the bananas
brought to this city came from Cuba, twice as many from
Jamaica, and the remainder from Aspinwall, Port Limon and
other Central American ports. During the last five months none
of this fruit has come from Cuba, since foreign vessels are not
allowed to visit interior ports of the island, and the bananas,
brought in carriers and transferred to steamships at Gibara,
on the northern coast, were badly bruised and unfit for trans-
portation. The imports for 1896 are, however, as heavy as
those of last year, when more than four and a half million
bunches were sold in this city. The shipments of this fruit
from Jamaica are much larger than heretofore. The rich red
bananas which formerly came from Baracoa, Cuba, are now
entirely out of our markets. Bananas from Port Limon now
command the highest price at wholesale, bunches of the largest
size selling for $1.20 each by the truck-load, those from Jamaica
for $1.15, and from Aspinwall for $1.00.

During the fortnight before Christmas, West Street, for a half
mile above the Fall River boat-landing, was packed with
eighty-five car-loads of Christmas trees, the majority being
Balsam Fir, with some Spruce. Although the Spruce trees
are more bushy and handsome, the Firs are in greater demand,
because they are more open and so require less decoration.
About thirty-five car-loads came from the Catskills and fifty
from Maine, besides two thousand bundles carried on a
schooner. The demand was this year fairly good, especially
for the smaller sizes. Seventy-five cents was the average price

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 462.

for bundles of trees six, eight and ten feet in height, there
being two or three of the larger trees in each package, and as
many as five to sevenof the shorter ones. Large, shapely trees
sold at from $5.00 to $30.00 apiece, and trees thirty-five feet
high brought $35.00 each. The prepared trees are hauled to
the railways in hayracks, where they are loaded on platform
Gean cost nine cents a hundredweight for freight to New
ork,

A correspondent of the Springfield Republican calls atten-
tion to the fact that many wealthy men in various parts of the
country are getting possession of large blocks of forest land,
either as permanent investments, as game preserves or piaces
of summer residence. Leaving aside the immense tracts set
apart by the National Government and by the state of New York
in the Adirondacks and the Catskills, clubs and private indi-’
viduals now own nearly a million acres of forest preserves in
this state, while in Maine, especially in the Rangely Lake
country, in the upper White Mountains of New Hampshire,
and along the tributaries of the Connecticut and Androscoggin
rivers there are many large preserves. Blue Mountain Park,
which was established by Austin Corbin in the south-western
part of New Hampshire, covers thirty-two square miles, while
the estate of Mr. George W. Vanderbilt, of Biltmore, contains
a forest of 100,000 acres, which will be the field of systematic
experiments in practical and scientific forestry. Ofcourse, there
is no guarantee that these great tracts will remain permanently
in forest, and yet the reservation of forest land as such, whether
by single owners or by associated membership, is a hopeful
sign of the future.

Selected Spitzenburg apples, anda limited supply of New-
town pippins, from Vermont, are now the best varieties seen
in the fancy-fruit stores, where highly flavored and showy red
apple sells for thirty-five to fifty cents and the more costly
pippin brings seventy-five cents a dozen. The cold weather
of the past week seriously interfered with the fruit trade here,
all sidewalk and other outdoor stands being closed. The whole-
sale apple market has been crowded, too, with stock that in
milder weather would have remained on the docks. Whole-
sale prices for large lots range from seventy-five cents to $2.00
a barrel for fair, prime and tancy quality New York State fruit
of such varieties as Greening, Baldwin, King, Northern Spy
and Spitzenburg. The market abroad is even more depressed.
Messages received last Monday from dealers in Glasgow, Liv-
erpool and London by Otto G. Mayer & Co., of this city,
exporters, state that thousands of barrels of American apples
have been left on the docks in England for ten days past.
Many have been sold for as little as a shilling a barrel, and four
shillings is all that can be got for the best fruit. Canadian and
Boston apples have suffered most, but the glut is unprece-
dented and ruinous to all American shippers.

Sir Henry Dering, one of the diplomatic officers of Great
Britain in Mexico, has made an interesting report to the For-
eign Office in regard to the economic plants of that country.
Ginger, Zinziber officinale, which was introduced into America
as early as 1540, is now found, according to Sir Henry, grow-
ing wild in many parts of Mexico. Not only are the dried
rhizomes used as a spice and a medicine, but the fresh or
green rhizome, washed, scraped and preserved in syrup, or
cut in pieces in candied sugar, is well known as a sweetmeat.
The plant is propagated by division of the rhizomes, each
piece being planted three inches deep and cultivated like a
potato. The sets are covered with well-rotted manure, over
which a thick layer of leaves is placed to retain moisture and
give extra nourishment to the growing plants. Ginger is an
exhausting crop, and therefore the land is kept thoroughly
weeded and highly manured, The plant flowers in autumn,
and in January the rhizomes are forked out of the soil and
average from two to three ounces in weight. When lifted
from the ground and cleaned of adhering dirt they are plunged
into boiling water to destroy their vitality and then dried in the
sun, when they present a brown wrinkled surface. To pro-
duce the so-called uncoated ginger the epidermis is scraped
from the rhizome, which is subjected to some bleaching,
generally from the fumes of sulphur, and much of the com-
mercial ginger is practically whitewashed to give it a better
appearance. This often, however, covers an inferior quality,
and can be detected by the ease with which it rubs off. Good
ginger, when not whitewashed, is of a pale buff color, breaking
with a short mealy fracture and presenting bristly fibres on the
surface. Uncoated ginger is considered the best for ordinary
use. The returns from an acre of land vary, of course, but,
under favorable circumstances, the crop ought to be 4,000
pounds or more.

LA JOURNAL:
CAND SCAPEART AND

TTT EN OTTER ITT NCI ITT TES SV 97) PIONS TVLE

Aye NO- 462 -

eK ARTE TVR TRUK

Price TEN CENTs.] Copyright, 1896, by THe Garpen

AND Forest PUBLISHING COMPANY.

[$4.co A YEAR, IN ADVANCE

Roses, Evergreens,
Hardy Plants.

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Descriptive Catalogue, beautifully illustrated.

Free to customers ; to others, 10 cents

Pruit- and- Ornamental.
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MOUNT HOPE NURSERIES, ROCHESTER, N. Y.

For Parks and Cemeteries.

EsTABLISHED 1853.
E offer one of, if not the most extensive assortment of high-grade ornamental trees and shrubs in this
country, having made a specialty for many years of this Tine of stock especially adapted for park and

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grounds, feeling ‘fully assured we can give perfect satisfaction in every particular.

HOOPES, BRO. & THOMAS,

Maple Avenue Nurseries.

GLASS

Special Importation for Rose-house purposes.

West Chester, Pa.

For GREENHOUSES, GRAPERIES, CONSERVATORIES,
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VANHORNE, GRIFFEN & CO.

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Hd Fully Illustrated Catalogue (200 pages) free upon application. Send your list of needs for special rates.

THE READING NURSERY, (24°°8,W. MANNING.) Reading, Mass.

HARDY SnRUBS, TREES, vines) -ENUTAVING # Printing 60.

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1840. Old Colony Nurseries. 1896.

Small Fruits, Grapes, Shrubs, Corneil University.

FOUR COURSES IN AGRICULTURE.

Two Winter Courses begin January 4, 1897; Regular
and Special begin September 26, 1897. For Announce-
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I. P. ROBERTS, Director, Ithaca, N. Y.

LANDSCAPE GARDENERS.

EARNSHAW & PUNSHON,

Civil & Landscape Engineers

S. W. Cor. Fifth & Race Sts.,
CINCINNATI, OHIO.

Our Sprciarty is the laying-out of Parks, Cemeteries,
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SEND FoR Book oF REFERENCES.

$10 per day and EXDenses for visits. Special Rates

for continuous work, plans, etc.

DOWNING VAUX,
Landscape Architect,
68 Bible House, N. Y. City.

Tel. 1622 18th St.

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Topographical Surveys, Development of Land, Plans,

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SAMUEL HENSHAW,

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frames. Furnishes everything needed to beau-
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W. A. MANDA,
HORTICULTURAL Expert
South Orange, N. J.

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 462.

PRACTICAL. POPULAR. SCIENTIFICALLY EXACT. Hardy Evergreens, An Object Lesson in Forestry

oO
N

H
DSCAREART:

Ay

REATS of the science and
the art of gardening, and
is a trustworthy record of

The

weekly issues contain practical

progress in horticulture.

directions for cultivation under
glass and out-of-doors, corre-
spondence on seasonable topics,
editorials and articles on forestry,

o the

5

and on legislation affectin
national forests. The contribu-
tors are botanists and specialists

The

illustrations are original, accurate

of the highest standing.

and artistic.

For the enlightened owners of gardens and
woodlands this journal is invaluable.—Vew
York Tribune.

Its writers are authorities in their lines and
the illustrations very artistic. — Springfield
Union.

Its character is at once dignified and
pleasing, and its contents are scholarly and
scientific in the exact sense.—Chicago Evening
Fournal,

Faultless in mechanical make-up, and writ-
ten throughout in a polished style seldom
found in the best periodical literature.—P/z/a-
delphia Press.

It continues on its high level—its highest
level, for it has no peer. It appeals, as mere
literature, to every cultivated person, and is
full of information for the lover of Flowers
and Trees.—/. Y. Evening Post.

Its arrival is the coming of a wise and intel-
ligent and entertaining friend, who enables
us to live more happily because more harmo-
niously with nature.—/Harper’s Weekly.

The foremost journal of its class, keeping in
touch with every advance in the scientific,
artistic and practical phases of horticulture
and arboriculture.—JSoston Herald.

Published weekly. $4.00 a year.

Specimen copy free on application.

GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING C0.,

Tribune Building, New York.

For Lawns, Parks and Cemeteries.

A large stock of Colorado Conifers, from six inches
to ten feet high, all grown from seeds on our own
grounds, Evergreen Seedlings in large quantities for
Nursery and Forest planting. Shade Trees for Street
and Ornamental planting. Deciduous Tree Seedlings
for Forest planting.

R. DOUGLAS & SONS, Waukegan, Ill.

CAVEATS, TRADE MARKs
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Patents taken through Munn & Co, receive
special notice in the Scientific American, and
thus are brought widely before the public with-
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issued weekly, elegantly illustrated, has by far the
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world. $3 ayear. Sample copies sent free.

Building Edition, monthly, $2.50a year. Single
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The Critic

A Weekly Review of Literature and the Arts.
Founded 1881 by J. Be and J. L. Gilder.
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in the August Author, ‘to get a day-by-day
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New volumes begin January and July.

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1831 tHE cuttivaTor 1897

’

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While it also includes all minor departments of Rural
interest, such as the Poultry Yard, Entomology, Bee-
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Farm Questions and Answers, Fireside Reading, Do-
mestic Economy, and a summary of the News of the
Week. Its Marker Reports are unusually complete,
and much attentionis paid to the Prospects of the Crops,
as throwing light upon one of the most important of all

uestions— When to Buy and When to Sell. Itis liberally
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we offer a SPECIAL REDUCTION in our

CLUB RATES FOR 1897.

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We have collected in a pamphlet of 32 pages
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The Teak Forests of Burma,

recently published in this journal, and prepared by

SIR DIETRICH BRANDIS.

Price, 10 cents.

Address GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO.,
New York.

BUY NO INCUBATOR

and pay for it be-
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to let you try their in-
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send ‘ie “The Bicycle: Its Care and Repair,”
a book of 180 subjects and 8o illustrations, worth
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DECEMBER 30, 1896.] Garden and Forest. 111

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SEED,

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ested in the subject of gardening

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|
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A twenty-paged magazine of intelligent and practical horticulture, Wild Flowers and kindrea
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iv

Garden and Forest.

[NuMBER 462.

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By Mrs. WIGGIN. Small 4to,

in decorative

flexible binding, $1.25.
FOEL CHANDLER HARRIS.
The Story of Aaron.

A Sequel to ‘Little Mr. Thimblefinger’’ and
“Mr. Rabbit at Home.’’ With 25 illustra-
tions by OLIVER Herrorp. Square 8vo,
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Sister Jane, her Friends
and Acquaintances.

A Novel. Crown 8vo, $1.50.

‘Sister Jane” is nearly as interesting a character as
“Uncle Remus,” and this story is a notable addition to
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DR. GEORGE BIRKBECK HILL.
Talks About Autographs.

With Portraits and Facsimiles. Square 8vo,
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Fifty famous persons are talked about wisely and
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Book.

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Judith and Holofernes.
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The old Maccabean story, with its Oriental scenes
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and the literary felicity which belong to Mr. Aldrich.

ELIAZABETA STUART PHELPS.
Chapters from a Life.

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$1.50.
One of the most delightful books Miss Phelps has

written; full of literary, personal and biographical
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12mo,

Sold by Booksellers.

Sent, postpaid, by

Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston; 11 East 17th St., N. Y.

SEP EAE ere era PTT erTE SPT TTU EE ETT TESTE SPE ETT ST ATETSPETE PEST TPP ETT Te

DREER’S RELIABLE SEEDS:

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Why risk poor ones when the best cost ao more? Send postage
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IS THE ONLY

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the home, advocating the use of artistic furnishings, not necessarily expensive, but those which will give the
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Garden and Forest.

DECEMBER 30, 1896.]

HOUGH’S “AMERICAN WOODS”

A publication illustrated by actual specimens.
PREPARATIONS OF Woops FOR STEREOPTICON AND MICROSCOPE,
SpEcIMENS OF Woops For Crass Use, Etc. If you are interested
in trees or woods in any way, send for our circulars and sample

specimens. Address R. B. HOUGH, Lowville, N. Y.

ANNOUNCEMENT TO FLORISTS!

We desire to announce the dissolution of the firm of SIPFLE, DOPFFEL & CO., and to introduce to the
trade its successor, the SYRACUSE POTTERY CO., which will be under the management of William
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to meet the growing demand for our goods. We have accordingly enlarged our giant and capacity, and with
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give us an order. Mention GARDEN AND FoREST.

SYRACUSE POTTERY CO., Office, 403 North Salina Street, Syracuse, fi. Y.

Readers of GARDEN AND FOREST are requested to mention that paper in cor-

responding with advertisers.

THE WHILLDIN POTTERY CO., 713, 715, 717 & 719 Wharton St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Branch Warehouses : Randolph Ave. & Union St., Jersey City ; Jackson Ave. & Pearson St., Long Island City.

The Living Age

Founded by E. LITTELL in 1844.

A WEEKLY MAGAZINE OF

Foreign Periodical Literature

Giving yearly 3,500 Double Column Octavo Pages
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quality and quantity.

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Beginning NOVEMBER, 1896, certain

NEW FEATURES

of great value and interest to the intelligent reader will be
introduced.
ist. The publication of occasional translations of note-
worthy articles from the
French, German,
Spanish and Italian

Reviews and Magazines.

2d. The addition of a Monruty Surrement, containing
three departments, namely:

Readings from American Magazines.
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A List of Books of the Month.

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TO NEW SUBSCRIBERS for the year 1897,
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sent gratis. Address

THE LIVING AGE COMPANY,

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Superintendent and Manager.

he ye ena WANTED, by an American, with 25
years’ practical experience in Plants, Trees and
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and accustomed to the charge of men. A situation
where thorough scientific and practical knowledge will
be appreciated is desired.—Address, “SUBURBAN,”
Egandale, Highland Park, Illinois.

Peevare GARDENER wishes permanent position
on place with greenhouses. References and testi-
monials show that I am a first-class gardener of long
and thorough experience and steady habits. Please
address DUBOIS, Lock Box 70, Madison, New Jersey.

ARDENERS AND FARMERS.—We keep at all

seasons of the year a list of gardeners and farmers
desiring situations, both married and single, and solicit
correspondence trom parties desiring to employ good,
reliable men.—PETER HENDERSON & CO., 35 & 37
Cortlandt Street, New York.

NITUATION WANTED, by a thoroughly practical
S Florist, as foreman or manager on good private or
commercial place. Posted in all branches; life experi-
ence in Ar establishments in England and America.
Totalabstainer; age 32, married. First-class references.
Address JAMES W. LYNES, 309 Brady St., Davenport,
Iowa.

DRIVATE GARDENER, of long experience and with
very best Pape and references, wishes permanent
place.—Address P. O. Box 229, Stroudsburg, Pa.

GARDENERS —On our register will be
° found the names of com-
petent Gardeners, adapted for all positions, and we will

take pleasure in sending these to any one requiring their
services. Correspondence solicited.

HENRY A. DREER, Seedsman & Florist,
714 Chestnut Street, PHILADELPHIA,

Science.

A Weekly Journal Devoted to the Ad-
vancement of Science.

Published by THe MacmitLan Company, New York.

SCIENCE is edited by a committee com-
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America and its contents fully describe the
advances in each department of science.
Its contributors include (since 1895) G. F.
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Charles E. Bessey, N. L. Britton, J. M.
Coulter, E. B. Fernow, G. L. Goodale, E.
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Subscription, $5.00 annually. Single copies, 15 cts.
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SCIENCE, 41 East 49th St., New York.

PARK AND CEMETERY

An Illustrated Monthly

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RELATIVE TO THE CONSTRUCTION AND
MAINTENANCE OF

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The contributors to PARK AND CEME-
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Subscription, $1.00 a year.

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HITE MULTIPLIER ONION SETS, £2.00 per

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vi Garden and Forest. [NuMBER 462.

Corn

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