DDDDDDDDDDaDDDDDDDDDDaDDDDDDDDDD D a D D S /r^-L* R D > ll t»f Ja " '-' D D UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS g LIBRARY D D D n D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D a D UBRAW UNIVERSITY OF M •■SSACHUSEHS aMi-iERST. MASS. MEEHANS' MONTHLY, A Magazine of Horticulture, Botany and kindred subjects. CONDUCTED BY THOMAS MEEHAN, FORMERLY EDITOR OF THE "GARDENERS' MONTHLY," AND AUTHOR OF THE " NATIVE FLOWERS AND FERNS OF THE UNITED STATES." VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA.., BOTANIST TO THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, ETC. ' ■' ASSISTED BY ■ ' THOMAS B. MEEHAN, J. FRANK MEEHAN, '■ S. l^T. MEEHAN. Volume III, 1803. ILLUSTRATED WITH COLORED LITHOGRAPHS, BY L. PRANQ & CO. AND NUMEROUS COPPER AND WOOD ENGRAVINGS. COPYRIGHTED. THOMAS MEEHAN & SONS, Grrmantown, Phila., Pa. Preface to Volume III. ENTLE READER : We herewith place in your hands the third vohune of Meehans' Monthly; a work which we trust will continue till all the leading wild flowers of our beloved United States have been illustrated and described. There is nothing in it "continued." Each volume is a complete book in itself, which you and those who come after you will enjoy and profit by. No one can expect to own much of this glorious world ; but he may, in a certain sense, with our figures and descriptions, own the beautiful flowers which cover it. To give you, good reader, this pleasure through all time, is the task we have set ourselves to do. Index to Volume III. COLORED PLATES. Adiantum pedatum 113 Ascyruni crux-andreEe 65 Baptisia IcucophcKa 177 Comarum palustre 97 EpigEea repens 17 Michella repens 49 Opuntia prolifera i Pelkea gracilis 33 Prenanthes alba 161 Solidago petiolaris 129 Trichoniaues Petersii 81 Ximenesia encelioides 145 ILLUSTRATIONS. Academy of Natural Sciences 169 A garden in the desert 89 Agassiz, Prof. Louis 62 An owl 133 A winter scene in Nevada 6 Budding 88 Cercidiphyllutu Japonicum 74 Citrus trifoliata loi Cool orchids 165 Corn flowers 104, 105 Coues, Dr. Elliot 47 Cypress swamp 53 De Candolle, Alphonse 95 Douglas, David 79 Flowering almond 168 Fruit seedlings inside citrus 41 Fuchsia 58 Grafting bottle 10 Grape culture under glass 189 Horse radish leaves 77 Horticultural Hall 137 Incarvilla Delaveyi 26 Japan snowball 121 Lettuce 28, 29 Magnolia hypolcuca 73 Mansan i ta 85 Martindale, Isaac C 31 Michaux, F. A iii Mountains of North Carolina 149 Peaches in pots 124 Pepper, Dr. William 191 Plane tree 69 Plaque presented to Thomas Meehan 143 Potentilla canadensis 38 Quercus cerris 166 Rhododendron 22 Richardia maculata 152 Rocks of the Wissahickon 117 Rose leaves 148 Salt bushes 170 Sea-kale 57 Sea side walk, St. Clare, Isle of Wight 9 Spiraea prunifolia 182 Strawberry proliferous 1S2 Strawberr}' culture in Florida 185 The Starr apple 157 Tomatoes, forcing 12 Training fruit 12 Tree trunks, elongation of 37 Vaccinium corymbosum 61 Vanilla phalsenopsis 90 Viola cucuUata Var. palmatn 4 Wild roses of Nevadi 116 Yucca brevifolia 153 Yucca filamentosa 100 POEMS. A Beautiful Garden 103 A Day 174 An Autumn Night 131 An Old Thue Christmas 190 Autumn Love 158 A Winter Scene 183 Bacchus and the Grape 135 Down to Sleep 163 Foretelling the Weather 99 Hail to the Apple Tree 151 Hope On 14 May Day 67 Mountain Scenes 83 Nature's Rosary 179 October 147 Park Scenery 87 Rotha 46 Self Praise is no Praise 24 Song of the Flowers 70 Song to a Pet Cicada 115 Spring 19 Spring Beauty 55 Spring Flowers 62 Sunny Italy 119 The Advent of Spring 35 The Beautiful Snow 3 The Cascade 7 The First Flowers of Spring 51 The Heart of Flowers 142 The Landscape Gardener 23 The May Queen 77 The Moss Covered Wall 167 The Orange Tree 39 The Wanderer's Night Song 126 Wasted Lives 94 Youth in Old Age no A sunmier outing in North Carolina 149 Abies Frazeri 25, 64 Academy of Natural Sciences 174 Acer Nikkcense 24 Agassiz, Prof. Louis 63 Agriculture by law 141 Ailanthus 10, 152 Almonds 73 American Pomological Society 188 Ampelopsis Veitchii 75 Adiantum pedatum II3 Anemone, Japan 138 Apple, miscellaneous notes on the 42, 92, 123, 125, 157. 166 Apple, the Chenango strawberry 29 Apple, the Newtown pippin 188 Apple, the Russian 142 Apple, the Starr 157 Arbutus 127 Arnebia cornuta 7 Artichoke, Jerusalem 86 Ascyruiu cru x-andreEe 65 Asparagus, miscellaneous notes on 29, 44, 186 Asphodel of Homer, the 115 Asplenium septentriouale 134 Asters in Wisconsin 3 Azaleas 135 Bailey, Prof. L. H 14 Baker, J. G 142 Bananas 93 Baptisia leucophsea 177 Bartram , John 126 Bean poles, corn stalk 24, 76 Beau tree 192 Bear grass 150, 180 Beautifying waste places 120 Bees and clover 83, 86 Beet, the wild 118 Beggar weed 99 Benary , Ern St 64 Benthamia Japonica 4 Bering Strait 144 Birds, migration of. 67 Blackberries and raspberries 28 Blackberry and raspberry stem borer 109 Blackberr}', the English 76 Blue-stone and copperas 160 Boston Public Garden 16, 23 Botany in the west 158 Botany for beginners 128 Bourcharlet, Mens 142 Brackenridge, W. D 47 Budding 88 Bulbs 51, 85, 154 Butter, preserving 140 Button wood 179 Burk, Isaac 78 Cabhage 29, 156 Cactuses 123, 1S2 Californiain New York 11 Calla, double-spathed 152 Callalily 183 Cal tha palustris 84 Campanula Mariesii 154 Cana Agra 19 Canby's herbarium 14 Cannas, Notes on' 40, 154 Carnations, Notes on 26, 43, 89, 91, 152, 167 Cauli flower 44 Cedar of Lebanon 152 Cemeteries, beautiful 1S6 Century plant 137 Cercidiphyllum Japonicum 74 Champagne 93 Cherrj' culture 60 Cherry, The Deacon 156 Cherry, The Vladimir 77 Chestn ut , Japan 107 Chicken flower 85 Chionanthus Yirginica 134 Chorogi 106 Christmas trees 1 60 Chry san themums 123, 139 Cinquefoil 39, 79 Citrus trifoliata loi Clark, the explorer 30 Closed rooms 86 Clover devil 86 Clover, Texas.. 147 Cnicus edulis 176 Coniarum palustre 97 Compass, a watch as a 32 Couover, George S 159 Cornelius, Robert 158 Corn 92 Corn flowers 105 Corvdalis nobilis 71 Cosmos 10, 148 Cones, Dr. Elliot 47 Cowslip 70 Crooked trees, straightening 122 Cucumbers, Japanese 189 Currants and gooseberries 125 Currauts, notes on 123, 125 Currant, the Crandall 61 Cypress knees 100 Cypress swamp 53 Cypripedium acaule 132 Dahlias, seedling 106 Dahlia stem borer 88 Dandelions 86 Darwin, Francis 47 De Candolle, Alphonse 95 Deutzia parviflora 139 Digitalis 132 Diervilla 43 Dodder 86 Douglas, David 79 Douglas, Robert 47 Douglas spruce 51 Drainage 120 Early spring flowers 150 Elongation of the trunks of trees 131 Empress Josephine ". 62 Empress tree 153 EpigcEa, history of 22 EpigcEa repens 17 Evergeens, hardiness , of. 24 Evergreens, notes on 136, 138 Evergreens, a hand book of 127 Ferns, notes on 3, 35, 54 Fern, the walking 118, 133, 182 Fertility of laud, testing the 72 Figs, notes on 28, 43, <5, 171, 173 Floral enterprise 87 Flora of Pennsylvania 79 Floriculture 48 Flo weriug almond 168 Flowers aud Ferns of the U. S 48, 112 Flowers, color of. 120 Flowers, florists' 186 Flowers, notes on S, 36, 85, 90, no, 134, 163, 164 Flowers, preserving the color of. 1S7 Flowers, the nectar of. 116 Flowers, variation in 118 Forage plaut, a new 140 Forestry, notes on 75, 78, 100, 118, 136, 138 Forest Park, Springfield, Mass 58 Fruit growers, Indians as 14, 45 Fruit machinery 184 Fruit, names of 44 Fruit, notes on 11, 139, 141, 173, 185 Fruit, seedless 21, 75 Fruit, seed sprouting in 35 Fruit trees, culture of 12 Fuchsias, notes on 27, 58, 155 Fungi, luminous 181 Fungus 23 Fungus, root 119 Fuukia 104 Gardening, American 190 Garden, a wild 151 P\GE Gardeu of Eileu 14, 95 Gardening, healthful 12S Gardening in the desert 89 Gardening, notes on 32, 88, no Gardens, wild 25 Ghiesbrccht, August B 79, 94 Girdled trees 51 Girdling branches to promote fruitfuluess 173 Gladiolus 103 Gloxinia 122 Golden rod 128, 129 Gooseberry, English 24, 140 Grafting 10, 92, 168 Grafts from Algeria 96 Grapes, notes on 77. 93. 108, III, 125, 141, 171, 182, 1S9 Grass, bear 1 84 Grasses of Pennsylvania 35 Grease wood 117, 165 Greenhouses 43 Hagen, Prof 190 Halesia diptera 134 Hanging baskets 155 Harris, Joseph 62 Heating, notes on 90, 186 Hedges, notes on 40, loi, 155, 185 Heilprin, Prof. Angelo 30 Heliotrope, a hedge of. 29 Hennaplant 41 Hibberd, Shirley 15 Hollies, notes on 40, 53, 72, 84, 103 Honey 99 Hoopes, Josiah 14 Horseradish 28 Horsetail family 20 Horticulture in Burlington, Iowa 128 Horticulture in South Dakota n Hybrids, sterility of. 5 Hybridizing distinct species 19 Hydrangea, notes on 23, 26, 171 Incarvilla Delaveyi 26 Insects, to destroy 72, 74, 87, 119 Insects in the far North 131 Indian customs 174 Islands, floating 1 65 Ivy, the Japan 182 Jack pine 53 Jasmine, Carolina 70 Jussieua repens 166 Kalmia latifolia, the range of. 70 Kalmia, geographical range of 187 Kidder, N. T., gardens of. 39 KcElreuteria paniculata 154 Ladies' traces 127 Landscape gardening 41 Large trees 4, 19, 45, 52, 80, 186, 188 Lawes, Sir John Bennett 159 Lewis and Clark's Expedition 62 Lawns, notes on 25, 36 Leaf variation 4 Leaves, evolution of 164 Leaves, healthy 76 Leaves in the dark, green 68 Lettuce 28, 44 Libocedrus decurrens 6 Licorice 185 Lillies, Easter 59 Lillies of the valley 59, 180 Linaria, a new 19 Lions-foot 16 1 Love for intelligence 64 Magnolia acuminata 171 Magnolia hypoleuca 73, 135 PAGE Magnolias 139 Magnolias, succession in 57 Magnolia Thompsoniana 155 Magnolia Watsoni 27 Maiden hair 113 Mai tese honey 118 Mammoth tree of California 8 Manure for fruit trees 155 Mansanita, notes on 85, 118, J32, 134, 147 Martindale, Isaac C 31 Martindale's herbarium 160 May-flower 17 Menzies, Archibald 190 Michaux, Francois Andre m Mitchella repens 49, 54. 85 Monarda punctata 166 Monotropa 54 Morel, the 24^ 54, 155, 124 Moss bunches on the poison vine . 5 Murdoch, Alexander 64 Mushrooms, notes on 172, 187, 192 Names of plants I44 Nature as a teacher , 52 National flower, the 63 Native flowers and ferns 80 Nectarine 187 Nocturnal creatures 165 Ocean foam 19 Olmsted, Frederick Law i59 Onions...'. 187 Open spaces in cities 112 Opuntia prolifera i Oranges and lemons 39 Oranges, notes on 139, 140, 141, 170, 188 Orchards 127, 157 Orchids, cool 167 Orchids in Oregon 20 Oriental spruce 103 Oriole, The 134 Osage orange 102 Ostrich fern 134 Our native song birds 158 Overwork 1 75 Palm, Colorado River 153 Pansy, the.... 137 Paraguay tea 87 Parkman, Francis 159, 191 Parks in the old world 170 Parks in Philadelphia, small 142 Parks of Cleveland, Ohio 23 Parks, small 144 Parsley 43 Partridge berry 49 Paulownia, a large 186 Pavonia, history of. 20 Peaches, notes on 44, 107, 109, 124, 141 Peach tree borer 124 Peach yellows 135 Pear, a large 13 Pear, Beurre d'Anjou 93 Pear, the Bloodgood 123 Pears, notes on 45, 91, 125, 141, 164 Pear, Vermont Beauty 189 Pecan nut, graftingthe 42 PelUea gracilis 33, 85 Pepjno 44 Pepper, Dr. William 191 Pepper tree of California v6, 106 Perfumes 180 Persimmons 44 Peters, Judge 126 Peter's hair fern 81 Phylloxera 53. 188 PAGE Picea Breweriana 3, 37 Pine, a piiioii 153 Pineapple serving .- 1S9 Pine cone for fuel 21 Pine, second growth of 180 Pine, growth of white 119, 149 Pine, white 75 Finns edulis 86 Plane trees, notes on 19,69, 134 Plant euiigralion 181 Plant fibre 57 Plant hairs 21 Plant names 1 60 Plants, carnivorous 163 Plants, edging 27 Plants, frozen 39 Plants, Indian names of 80 Plants, irritability of 148, 181 Plants, names of 15, 48 Plants, notes on 127, 179, 187 Plants, sight in 171 Plants turning to the light 5 Plants, wintering 11, 106, 154, 184 Plum, the Japan 45 Plum, Prince of Wales 45 Plums, notes on 72, 109, 140 Poem, Prof. Porter's 48 Pogonia di va ricata 133 Pogonip 80 Poison vin es 104 , 168 Poplar, an enormous balsam 4 Potash in agriculture 126 Potatoes, notes on 12, 104, 137, 156 Pratt, Anne 191 Preuanthcs alba i6r Primrose, a new 107 Primrose as a vegetable 139 Primrose, the English 122 Pringsheim , Prof. 1 90 Pruning and transplanting 56 Pruning, noteson 55, 71, 77, 92, 139, 151 Quercus Cerris 166 Radishes 45 , 1 88 Raspberries, noteson 76, 109, 155, 188 Red spider 139 Rhododendron maximum, notes on. ..5, 19, 36, ^8, 83, fyi Roads, notes on 10, 55, 74, 136 Robinia hispida, notes on 101, iiS, 182 Rockeries 58 Rocky Mountain cherry 109 Roots 56 Roots on trees, feeding ' 72 Rose acacia 6, 90 Rosa rugosa 89, 123 Roses, notes on... 10, 11, 25, 73, 88, 90, 91, 11 1, 116, 148, 152 Rose, the polyautha stock 10 Rubus deliciosus 57 Rudbeckia 51 Russel, John L 78 Salt as manure 57 Salt bushes 170 Sargent, Prof C. S 16, 176 Sarracen ia 131 Schinus molle 68 Science 80, 159 Scribner, Prof. F. L,amson 14 Sea Kale 27 Seeds 156 Seeds, sowing 59 Senecio sagittifolius 83 Slender cliff-brake 33 PAGE Smith, Benjamin J no Smith, Prof E. E 47 Smith, Sidney, on the strawberry 190 Snowball, Japan 120 Snow plant 99, 132, 166 Solidago petiolaris 129 Spirjea pr unifolia 42 Spraying 6, 89 Spring flowers in California 6 St. Andrew's Cross 65 Stewart, Dr. J. T 16 Strawberries, notes on io8, 125, 154, 182, 188 Strawberry, the Chili 125 Strawberry, the white Alpine 147 Stuartia 115 Sugarcane 68 TabcruKmoutana ; 46 " The Asa Gray Bulletin " 159 The house by the medlar tree 125 The London Journal of Horticulture 192 The owl 133 The union of parts 102 Thistle, edible 70 Thistle, Russian 180 Tiger flower, Mexican 153 Tomatoes, noteson 13, 29, 75, 76 Tree linnl, northward 4 Tree planting 60 Trees, notes on 40, 68, 88, 93, 115, 117, 128, 137 Trees of Greenland 22 Trees, the seat of vitality of. 115 Tree trunks, elongation of. 37 Tricliomanes Petersii 81 Truffles 104 Trumpet leaf, yellow 86 Turkey oak 167 Turnip culture 172 Turtles, the age of 16 Vacciniuni corymbosum 61 Vanilla bean 83 Variation in leaves 67, 115, 122, 133 Vasey, Dr 79 Vedalia cardinalis 183 Vegetables, notes on 27, 155, 1S6 Victoria regia 79 Vines clinging over trees 106 Vineyards 172 Violets 54, 172 Walk, a seaside 9 Walnuts in California 13 Warts, a cure for 138 Watermelons 124 Weeds, destroying 122 Weeds, seeds of American 16 Weevil, Pea 123 Wicr, D. 1! Ill Wild flowers, noteson 16, iii, 142 Wild flowers of Greenland 21 Willkomni's herbarium 31 Wine making 157 Wissahickon, the 117, 181 Wistaria, propagation of the 106 Witloof 171 Wood, splitting 16 Worm, canker 125 Wych hazel, galls on 179 Ximenesia encelioides 145 Yucca alocfolia 43 Yucca, a new 42 Yucca brevifolia 147 Yucca filanientosa 100 Zinc labels 156 VOL. ill Platk OPUNTIA PROLIFERA. NATURAI, ORDER, CACTACE^. Opdntia PROLIFERA, Eugeluiaiiu. — An elongated shrub with elongated joints, covered with oblong obtlise tubercles, which' ' bear three to six or eight spines, obscurely sheathed ; flowers densely clustered at the ends of the branches, small brick- red ; fruit (greeu) clavate, obovate,or sub-globose, fleshy, strongly tubercled, without spines, deeply urabilicate, almost always sterile and often proliferous; seeds, large, regular, with a broad promiuent raphe. (Brewer and Watson's Tloiany of the California Gi'ologicat Survey.) Opus was a city of ancient Greece, and was destroyed eventually by an earthquake. The people of the district round about were called Opuntii ; and Plinj' the ancient Roman writer tells us that around the city grew a root much esteemed, and refers also to a fruit produced without any evident external flower, but bear- ing seeds within, no doubt referring to the fig. Hence probably arose the impression that the Opuiitia of the ancients was a sort of fig, and the application of the name by some of the botanists of the sixteenth century, to a species of cactus which was brought from the West Indies on the early discovery of America, and which had an edible fig-like fruit, and was in fact known as Indian fig, is evident independ- entlj' of the fact that it does not agree with the description of the plant Pliny writes of as grow- ing round the city of Opus ; it could have no relation with it, as the whole cactus family is a native of the new world, — and, though one Opuntia is found wild enough in Italy to de- serve the character of indigenous, it is well known to be au importation originally from America. On the American continent cactuses are found in numerous species. They abound chiefly in Mexico, penetrating the United States to Colorado, chiefly by way- of the dryer regions, in which they find themselves most at home. In classifying these numerous species, Lin- nfeus went no further than to divide them into groups. They were all referred by him to the genus Cactus. Since his time, several genera have been made of them — the name of Cactus simply representing the whole order Cactacew. Opuntia, as distinguished from other sections of the family, is referred to Tournefort, and was adopted by Haworth, a distinguished writer on succulents about the middleof the last centur>-. The section, or genus as it may properly' be called, is generally distinguished by the thick fleshy sections of stems, and flowers having no tube as in some of its near allies. There are other characters which those disposed to ex- amine the order critically will ascertain and study, — but in this order especially we find that the divisions are not very clearly drawn in nature, and there are some species on the borderland which puzzle the botanist some- what to place in a decided position. The species we now illustrate however will cause no difiiculty to the student, who will at once place it in Opuntia, though in its specific relations it comes closely to some others. It was first discovered by Dr. C. C. Parry in 1849 when connected as botanist with Lieut. Emory's survey of the Mexican boundary. He found it in the dry creek beds and on dry hilla about San Diego in California ; and it is re- markable that although the country has been pretty well explored since that time, this spe- cies has been found only in a comparatively limited extent of country as compared with the usual range of species in members of the cactus family. The cactuses collected by Dr. Parry on that expedition were described by Dr. Engelmann in Si/timati's Journal, and this one named Opuntia prolifcra from the singular circumstance of one flower growing out of an- other, as well shown in our illustration ; that is to say, the flowers are proliferous. The branch from which our drawing was made was sent by Mr. Parish and planted in the open ground in the author's garden, where it rooted in a few months and flowered as represented in the illustration. But though this will serve to educate the student to recognize the species, it will afford but a poor idea of the peculiar effect of the plant on its native scenery. There it grows in immense masses, forming impene- trable thickets often eight feet or more high. In the earl}' accounts of its discovery the thickets are likened to immense masses of MEEHANS' MONTHLY — OPUNTIA PROLIFERA. [Jan. •coral reefs. In these cases the flower-bearing 'branches are not always erect, as one would imagine from our plate, but push out on all sides of the masses, and indeed are sometimes pendulous. One distinguished botanist who saw the plant on the writer's grounds, believes that the flowers are sometimes larger and more showy when they first appear from the proper ■stems, and before they become proliferous, — but those given in our plate accord with the dimensions as given in Brewer and Watson's "Botany of California." The effect on the landscape of the bright flowers on the huge succulent gray branches must be grand in the extreme. In times not very long ago, the fact of one flower growing out of another in the manner these do would have been regarded as simply a monstrosity, and have excited little further thought. But in these days the facts are very welcome to the morphologist and physiologist, as aiding them to unlock the secrets of nature in regard to plant structure and the way plants live and grow. There was a time when the stem of a plant and its flower would have been regarded as essentiallj' different or- gans ; and even to this day there are some who while admitting that the parts of the flower are modified leaves, would hardly regard the stem and leaves as primarily identical. But in this case we see the fruit which ,we know to be modified leaves, acting as stem, and continu- ing the plants' existence as easily as the nor- mal stem structure would. At Fig. 2, we note the flowers coming out of the fruit for the third successive year, and at Fig. i , we have a fruit, finding itself in the earth, sending out normal branches instead of the proliferous flowers. The only difference notable between the fruit and the normal stems is, that they seem to have lost the power of producing spines, though fine bristles are sometimes found on them, which make it imprudent for any one to handle them incautiously. What especial use the spines serve in the economy of cactus life, has long been a subject for philosophic speculation. Some have con- tended that some fruits are made attractive and edible as an aid in the distribution of the seeds. Animals take the fruit to their haunts, use the flesh, and scatter the undigested seeds in ^various directions, — certainlj' many fruit- bearing plants are widely distributed in this manner. Those who think this feature a spe- cial adaptation will see in the absence of spines in the fruit of this species, strong confirma- tion of this view. The plant would be spiny, it would be contended, in order to protect it against browsing creatures ; while, when con- sumption instead of protection became useful to the plant, the production of spines would be arrested. It is the misfortune of specula- tions of this kind, reasonable as they appear in the solitary instances that suggest them, to be found wanting in other cases where the same reasons would seem to be necessary. But there are many cactuses wholly smooth in cases where protective spines would seem quite as desirable, and spiny fruit where it might seem just as useful to the plant that every induce- ment should be given to animal life to eat, and aid in seed-distribution. Again it might be contended that if the dis- tribution by birds or other creatures had been one of the conditions under which the species was formed, and that the fruit was rendered spineless in order that animals might he more readily attracted to the fruit, some color would be given in order to add to the attractiveness. Indeed it is generally claimed that the fruits on which most animals love to feed are beauti- ful as well as useful to them. In many plants of the cactus family the fruits are very highly colored. In this particular species, however, the fruit is green even when mature, and unless the creature desiring to feed on it had an edu- cated eye, would most likely pass it wholly by. Perhaps a reply might be offered that as the plant is proliferous, seldom perfecting seed, there was no necessitj' for making attractive fruit. The earlier botanists believed that the plant never produced perfect seed, — but " the Botany of California" says " almost always " sterile. And this qualification is correct, for out of about twenty cut open the writer found one with a single seed in the centre, which we have illustrated in Fig. 3. As alread}' noted it is found in but a limited geographical area. The " Botany of Califor- nia' ' says ' ' up the coast to San Beunaventura, and southward into the peninsula." Explanations of the Plate, — i. Fruit producing nor- mal branches. 2. Proliferous flowers. 3. Fruit with a single seed in the centre. WILD FLOWERS AND NATURE. THE BEAUTIFUL SNOW. "The silvery snow : — the silvery snow : — 1 Like glory it falls on the fields below ; And the trees with their diamond branches appear Like the fair3- growth of some magical sphere ; While soft as music, and wild and white, It glitters and floats in the pale moonlight. And spangles the river and fount as they flow ; ■Oh ! who has not loved the bright, beautiful snow. Ch.\ ri.es Swain. PiCEA Breweriana. — This beautiful Spruce is one of the more recently discovered, and vpas named after the well known, eminent botanist, Prof. Brewer. It has been supposed to be but local, having been found in but a very few localities. Mr. Thomas Douglas, son of the well known horticulturist, Robert Douglas, has now found a group of them in the Coast Range Mountains, in Oregon. Mr. R. Douglas writes very enthusiastically of the great beauty of this spruce. He styles it emphatically the "Weeping Spruce," and it might be as well that it should be known as the Pacific Weep- ing Spruce. Although it has been understood to be a very beautiful species, Mr. Douglas thinks it still more beautiful than it has been reputed to be. It grows at an elevation of from 7,.ooo to 8,000 feet on the Oregon boundary. Asters in Wisconsin. — I\Ir. John W. Dun- lop, Milwaukee, Wis., under date of October 31, 1892, writes ; — "As the season of wild flowers is now a thing of the past, we have time to reflect on what pleased us most during the summer. The season has been remarkable for the beauty of its flowers and for the great variety in flower simultaneously. This has been especially true of the Asters (Compositae) of Wisconsin. They came in bloom in this order : Asler ter- 7nmalis and A. ptarmicoides were first and were found in marshy ground. The next two, A. corymbosus and A. tiiacrophyllus, are botanical curiosities. They were found on timber land adjoining the marshes. A. turhincllus, A. la-vis, and A. la'vigatus ought to be cultivated in every good garden. A. patens and A. Shortii, two more blues, but taller, ought also to be in cultivation here as they have been in Europe for the last fifty years. A. cordifolins and A. sagittifolius have been very gay in the ravines around Milwaukee. A. multifloriis, a small white species, has been like bouquets on the prairie. A. 7n iser and A. Tradescanli, to- gether with several other varieties, are not showy enough to gain a place in the garden. A. sericeus and A. liiiifolhis are two of the most beautiful and desirable for cultivation. The}' are fine for rock-work as they are found on lime-stone ridges. We have a few strong species which grow on rich bottom lands that would make a fine show in among the shrub- bery of a lawn. They are A. Novce-Anglce, A. punicctts, A. longifolius, A. prena7ithoides. They could be cultivated with ease. The list I have given is not the full amount of the spe- cies in Wisconsin. We have over thirty spe- cies. I will tell you of our golden rods in another letter. ' ' Natural Variation in Ferns. — Mons. H. De Varigny of Paris, makes an inquiry, given below. American ferns probably vary little, less even than flowering plants, still the exper- ience of others would be very desirable. "Page 164 of Meeh.\ns' Monthly I note that many ferns vary, and that Mr. G. J. Lowe has raised new varieties from bulblets. On the other hand, I see in H. Correvou's very inter- esting and valuable Les Fougeres Rustic] lies (2 Chemin Daucet, Geneva, Switzerland), that variation is very frequent among ferns. A curious fact is that according to the Swiss writer variation in the wild state is more fre- quent in England than elsewhere. Some genera are recorded as more variable than others, such as Scolopendrium, or Asplctmim. Could you, or any of your readers, inform me whether any genus seems to be particularly variable, or, contrariwise, particularly liable to variation, among American ferns in situ? And does any such genus seem to vary more in America, or one part of the United States than elsewhere ? Information would be grate- fully received by oneofj'our constant readers." f3l 4 MEEHAN'S monthly — WILD FLOWERS AND NATURE. [Jan.. Significance in Leaf Variation. — Mrs. W. A. Kellerman, observes :■■—" There is some- thing particularly fascinating to me in the variation of leaves. Every herb, shrub or tree is full of autobiographical sketches. Look at the leaves of the hop vine [Humulits Liipu- lus) ; pull down a limb or branch of a mulberry tree, or notice the common elder {Sa7nbucus Canadensis) and what curious variations you will see among their leaves. The more care- fully you study these variations, the more sig- nificant they appear to be. They indicate so obviously their derivation from a primitive brotherhood. Here for instance, is a figure of a little Viola aicullata, Var. palmata. There is one leaf which " runs back" to Ciicullata ; it shows at once where the plant belongs, and VIOLA CUCULLATAVAR PALMATA. the other leaves are gradual developments which have proceeded by virtue of the two great fundamental laws underlying all prog- ress ; viz. : adaptation and evolution. Al- though we cannot say that plants think or reason, we must admit that they contrive most admirably to meet the obstacles which beset them, and arm themselves for their tour- naments and life-struggles with something akin to intelligence ; and l^ar. palmata needed more " luxuries" (just as our children now-a- days, claim almost as their right, what were luxuries to us) and grew its leaves in accord- ance with this need, deepening and increasing its lobes. At first the variation of these chil- dren of Cucullata was so slight that no atten- tion was paid to it, but it went on and on, till' botanists could no longer endure to include them among the old heart-shaped leaves, and hence set them oif by themselves as a variety. But botanists cannot keep them where they- have placed them, for plants outgrow old de- scriptions, in spite of all the painstaking care spent upon them. " As Mrs. Kellerman suggets, few studies- give more pleasure than those connected with variation. Possibly some "hard headed" critic might ask whether it is really a fact that the polymorphic character of the leaves in the white mulberr}', hop vine and others are modern and not ancient variations, — but a great beauty of such notes as these Mrs. Kellerman presents, is in the suggestive thoughts they originate. An Enormous Balsam Poplar. — Near Gen- eva, New York, is a Balsam Poplar tree, 120 feet high, diameter of the top 1 15 feet, and with a trunk 23 feet in diameter. It is probably the finest specimen of this tree in the world. It is on the home grounds of Charles Bean, Esq. It has been taken for the common Canadian Poplar, but Dr. Sweet is authority for the cor- rected name. It is believed to be about 100 years old, and is called the Century Tree ; but as this would make an average increase of nearly three inches in diameter a year, it must be older than supposed. Northward Tree Limit. The Birch seems to have advanced nearer the pole than any other tree, though the spruce, Abies oricntalis is not far behind it. No evergreens were seen by the recent Peary Expedition to North Greenland. The late Finnish Expedition to the Kola peninsula found this spruce crossing the peninsula in a sinuous line between 70° and 71°, — but Lieut. Melville on Greeley's expedition found it on the islands north of the Lena river as far as 75°. Benthamia Japonica. — According to Amer- ica)! Gardening, which figures the plant, Ben- thamia Japonica, is to be called Cornus kousa It takes the place of our Cornus Florida in Japan, and has enlarged bud-scales simulating- an involucre as our Dogwood has. The union of the separate berries in a syncarp like a. strawberry separated Benthaviia from Cornus. •IS93-] MEEHANS' MONTHLY — WILD FLOWERS AND NATURE. Plants Turning to the Light. — Though plants take an upright growth, seemingly "to- wards the light," it is by no means certain that it is light which they seek by striving in this direction. Potato sprouts in the darkest cellars, still strive upwards ; and a recent scien- tific paper shows that even a mushroom push- ing downwards from a bank, or even in the darkness of a coal mine will curve upwards. Referring to the latter. Prof. E. J. Hill says: — " In reading the article " On the Direction of Growth in Cryptogamic Plants," I was re- minded of the mosses, which I have mainly studied among cr3-ptogams. The stems, pedi- els, and fruit of these are usually at right angles to their support, at least, I do not recall any bending up from any position in which the3' may be placed, though I never made special study of this feature. Having handled a great many, if there had been a peculiarity of this kind at all general, I think it would have been noticed. As they grow in almost all posi- tions on trees and branches, logs, stones and on the ground, their attitude may be observed. I do not here refer to the curvature of the cap- sule, which may occur in an}' position of the plant, — that, and the twisting of the pedicel to the right or left, or sometimes the upper part •one way and the lower another, has always seemed verj^ curious to me. But why ? I have often noticed plants kept over night, or for a day or two in the tin collecting box had the floral end of the stem bent upward. They are in the dark except for brief intervals "when the box may be opened to remove some specimen, which I should not deem a sufficient cause for the strong curvature seen in some •cases. I noticed it in a few hours in the case oi Ranuiiaihis abortivus a short time since." Sterility of Hybrids. — It has been known of late that hybrids between species of plants are by no means sterile as generally supposed- On the other hand Mr. G. J. Lowe, who was the earliest, and has been the most persistent experimenter in hybridizing ferns, states that hybrids between these are usually sterile. He has been experimenting since 1855. No other manipulation is required in hybridizing ferns than that spores of two species should be mixed in sowing. The cross-fertilization oc- curs during the sprouting and development of the spores. Moss Bunches on the Poison Vine. — The Mist tree, or, as it is sometimes called, the green fringe, is among the most interesting of our ornamental shrubs, by reason of the great pro- fusion of moss-like stalks which are produced on the fruit bearing plants. The male plants have no moss or fringe. We do not know that it has been noticed in any botanical periodi- cal that the common poison vine, which is a close neighbor of the Mist, indeed belongs to the same genus, namely, Rhus, frequently pro- duces huge bunches of moss, very similar to that which is produced bv the Mist tree. We suppose the dread which most people have of the poison vine has led to the ignoring of this special beauty. It is worthy of remark in this place that some scientific writer has recently alleged that the poisoning from the poison vine is of a bacterial nature. It is usually the case that when some prominent truth is brought forward in connection with the microscopic organisms, that it is very likely, to use a com • mon expression, " to be run into Ihe ground," and this is probably the case here, for we are quite sure that hundreds of people have taken the poison without actual contact with the plant, and it is not at all unlikely that these minute organisms will travel directly from the plant 'to the patient without some actual con- tact. On the other" hand, there are hundreds of people who can handle and tear to pieces, even chew the poison vine, without suffering the least therefrom, and one would suppose that if bacteria had anj'thing to do with the poisoning of people, this actual contact would be far more favorable to propagation than the mere walking by, without contact with the plants at all. A remarkable fact in the history of the poison rhus is that cows, sheep, and probably all herbi- vorous animals, eat the plant greedily, but there is no record of any disastrous results. Rhododendron maximum. — A new locality has been discovered for the Mountain Laurel by Park Commissioner Brown of Rochester, New York, who has found it only nine miles from that city. The Rochester Post- Express condenses what Meehans' :Monthly (July, 1891) says of it, and credits it to Grafs Man- ual. It extends further north towards the east, but the Rochester station is possibly the most western one. MEEHANS' MONTHLY — WILD FLOWERS AND NATURE. [Janv A Winter Scene in Nevada. — Since the opening of railroad lines across the continent, the unique beauty of the Rocky Mountain scenery, as it appears in summer time, is well known to most travelers ; but the particular fascinationof the winter views is comparatively unknown. We have much pleasure in giving with this, an illustration of a winter scene in Reno county, Nevada. The arborescent vege- tation is made up in great part of alders, var- ious spruces, the pine, and arbor vitaea-like plants, in the character ol Libocednis decurrens. and cedars, — the prevailing characteristic, however, being of evergreens. It is interest- ing to note, as if there might be a certain par- ticular intention of nature to repeat associa- tions, that, while in the East, the mistletoe is Spraying Plants. — Noting a lady in her small conservatory recentlj', with a light water pot trying to sprinkle the plants through an old fashioned rose, the thought occurred how slow is progress in all matters of public inter- est, and in gardening not excepted. With the great advance made in "sprayers" of late years, water pots and syringes are now things of the past. Especially are sprayers desirable wherever plants are grown, since so many so- lutions for the destruction of insects and fun- gus troubles, have been found so effective. Early Spring Flowers in California. — The American Cowslip, Dodccatheon Afcadia, is said to be one of the earliest if not the earliest spring ilower in Monterey county, California. A WINTER SCENE IN NEVADA. always found on deciduous trees, in this part of the world nature has made the mistletoe to grow on evergreens, that is to say, it is a mis- tletoe to all intents and purposes, although classed by botanists as a distinct genus, called Arceuthobiian. This is found chiefly on the Libocednis. While our mistletoe has broad, green leaves, this species has none, the green, slender stalks seeming to act as leaves. Winter scenery is well worth a study. The snow falling on all plants alike, one would imagine it would present a uniformity of ap- pearance ; but it usually follows the conforma- tion of the branches and foliage of each tree, and thus the snow character of two closely re- lated species of pine will yet have different effects, corresponding with the slight diSerence in foliage. It was open the past springTon 'January '15th. On the prairies of the Atlantic slope it does, not flower till May or June. Some botanists, have made the Pacific forms distinct species. The Rose Acacia. — The Director of the- Royal Gardens at Kew, writes for a seed vessel, or seeds oi Robinia hispida. The conductors- of Meehans' Monthly never saw a seed ves- sel under cultivation, — nor in the mountains^ of Tennessee, where the senior conductor has- found the plant in abundance. Has anj' ever seen, or do they possess a seed vessel ? It was at one time supposed that a barren: plant had been first introduced to cultivation, and that all plants in gardens propagated from, this had preserved the barren character. But if so, wild plants should seed. GENERAL GARDENING. THE CASCADE. " Unconscious nature, with voice subdued, Soothes the soul with its various tones — The muffled roar of the wiutry wood. Or the sigh of the piues where the south wind moans ; Or here, where the spray of the foam-cascade Keeps green forever the moss-robed walls Whose ferns and vines are an emerald braid. Amid the murmur of waterfalls." — " Howard Worcester Gii,bert." Arnebia cornuta. — The following note by a good correspondent of Meehans' Monthly, l\Ir. Oskar Lindkvist, of Ulricekamm, Sweden, refers to a beautiful Siberian annual which has appeared in some catalogues as a Lithosper- mum. The specific name, Corniila, refers to small horns at the base on the inside of the Forget-me-not, — like flowers : "Among the prettiest and most interesting annual plants, recently introduced in culture, the DoraginacecE above mentioned must be reckoned. It probablj' originates from Abys- sinia, of which country several of the perennial species at least are natives, and forms a herb 50-60 cm. high, richly and bushly branched, with narrow lanceolate leaves. The ilowers, plentifully produced in the axils along the branches, as these grow, or in the tops of them collected in small clusters, are gamopetalous, with long tube and spreading five-cleft limb, about 2 cm. in diameter, bright-yellow colored, with five dark brown (almost black) cordate spots, very well contrasting with the bright ground. The entire herb is very hispid. The pretty, brilliant, curiously spotted flow- ers, which are richly produced all the summer, ought to assure Arnebia cornuta (as it becomes generally known) a place in every garden. There, no doubt, it will prove suitable both for middle-sized groups and as solitary plant. It also produces charming bouquets The seed, yet very dear, must be sown, or rather laid, very thinly (at an interspace of 8-10 cm.) in a hot-bed, and the seedlings trans- planted in due time. The plant requires much room, good and nourishing soil, open place as sunny as possible. Also some support might sometimes be necessary in case of violent winds or showers. I called this Arnebia (for also other, peren- nial species are, as hinted, to be found) not only a pretty but also an interesting plant, and I did so on account of the singular shifting color of the flowers. As these opened last sum- mer, I soon observed some of them had the color and spots above described, while others had only three spots, and still others were mere yellow ; besides the spots were sometimes very dark, sometimes quite pale. I then thought the flowers had au uncommon propensity to vary (as do a great many plants), and so thought little on the subject. Toward the end of the summer, however, I began to examine the phe- nomenon closer : I marked some flowers (by tj'- ing a fine thread very loosely round them) and so day by day followed their development. The results of my observations were as follows : All the flowers, recently opened had thenormal color and marks, but some day later two of the • spots grew pale and continued so till they quite vanished ; then the remaining three spots in the same manner began to fade till they also were effaced and the flower was mere yellow. Some days afterwards it decayed. This wonderful shifting of color (which also occurs in the perennial species) passes of course faster in the middle of the summer than at the end of it. It is also especially characteristic for the genus Arnebia and besides not to be met with in the vegetable kingdom. In the species in question it gives a single specimen or a small group a peculiar variation and in a man- ner sets off' its beauty. The reason of the name Cornuta must be a secret to everybody, except to the author him- self More reasonable it would have been to name the plant Arnebia mutabilis, though (as I hinted before) the singular shifting of color is not characteristic for this species alotie." It might be added to this very interesting note, that many boraginaceous plants have the power of changing color— the Puliuonaria or Lungwort for instance — but none to the extent described in Arnebia. (7) MEEHANS' MONTHLY — GENERAL GARDENING. [Jan. Growing Window Flowers. — Growing -window flowers is, like the art of ripening fruit, one of those matters which can only be well learned by experience and careful observa- tion. It is not uncommon to see windows, ■attended by ladies who have not the slightest knowledge of any of the principles of gardening, showing the most successful growth of flowers — not even first-class florists being able to com- pete with the ladies in the excellence of their productions ; still there are some few general principles which can be given, by which every- body may profit. For instance, in the use of water, strange to say, even some college students "who had been educated by a very eminent professor of horticulture, could give no intelli- gent reason why there should be a hole in the Ijottom of a flower pot. In a general way the3'- knew that it was to carry off water — but ■why the water should be carried off was a mys- tery to them. They knew that plants could not live without water, and yet they remem- bered that if a plant was continually in a basin or vessel of water it would soon die. The real explanation of this apparent contradiction is that plants do not want water so much as they want air. They want moisture, but they must have air also, and the continual watering which plants require is just as much to provide them with a new supply of air as it is to give them water. No plant adapted to growth on land ■can live long without a suppl}' of oxygen. It is the oxygen which prepares the food which the plant has to take up ; and good earth, espe- cially when comparatively dry, is full of air. The plant takes out from this supply the oxy- gen it requires, and what is left is then im- pure. And this impure air is driven out when the earth is thoroughlj- soaked with water. When that water again disappears, air follows. Watering then is just as much to drive out the impure air as it is to furnish the plant with moisture. Now when we remember this, we can apply it practicall}' to the cultivation of many kinds of window plants, especially those which are grown in baskets or on blocks. One of the best lady cultivators of basket plants, whom we know, has each basket dipped, until it is thoroughU- soaked, in a bucket of water every morning, and is then taken out and suf- fered to drain. If a plant in a basket were to be thoroughly soaked in water a dozen times a •day, it would not hurt it, but would rather be a benefit, because in that way a continual sup- plj' of fresh air would be furnished to the roots. Again, in the culture of plants in pots, we see the necessity for drainage, so that the water may rapidly pass away. If the hole at the bottom of the pot be so completely choked that water cannot pass rapidly, the water remains in the .soil and thoroughly prevents the circulation of air through the soil, then, to use a common expression, it " sours" — that is to say, it has not oxygen enough to sweeten it, and every one knows that the result of sour soil is the rotting of the roots, followed by yel- low and sickly leaves, — and if the trouble con- tinue long enough, the final death of the plants. Disease on the California Mammoth Trees. — A correspondent, Mr. A. A. Cope, of Haverford, Pa., inquires for the best method of preserving young Mammoth Trees healthy. It is generally known that, on account of a small fungus which follows the tree from California, the healthy grovs-th of these wonderful trees in the East is rendered practically impossible. The fungus spreads through the growing sea- son, and before fall nearly every green shoot is destroyed. Since, however, the discover}' of the copperas solutions there is hope that this fungus may be destroyed. The conductors have tried it on one tree for one season, which was very nearly destroyed b}' the fungus, and it seems to be entirely successful. The tree was brought from California with a number of others in 1883. Every summer the disease spread as the trees grew, until eventuall}' all but one was thoroughl}' destroyed, — that one, two years ago, had only about six inches of healthy green leaves left at the apex. The past season, just before growth commenced, it was treated to a syringing of the copperas so- lution, with another dose some four or five weeks afterwards. To-day the specimen has a mass of healthy green foliage at the top of the bare stem, some two feet thick and two feet wide, a result which certainly would not have been obtained except for the use of the cop- peras solution. There is every reason to be- lieve that if the young plants from California seed were thoroughly washed with this solu- tion during the first year of their growth, the fungus would be so entirely destroyed that the tree would probably remain healthy during the whole of its life afterwards. »893.] MEEHANS' MONTHLY — GENEKAL GARDENING A Sea-side Walk. — Occasion was taken recently to note in the cases of rockeries, the incongruity of placing rough rocks in situa- tions out of character with the surroundings ; and this brings to mind that one of the princi- ples most difficult to accomplish in landscape gardening]is that of introducing such things in harmony with these surroundings. Vases and statuary are entirely out of place in natural scenes of landscape gardening ; and it is only in^very rare ^instances that the art of a land- scape gardener can so combine these artificial characteristics with natural beauty as to make the whole a pleasure to the beholder. One of the most successful instances of this combina- ous geometrical forms, kept continually var- nished for its perpetual preservation. Along the sides of this broad avenue, at regular dis- tances, are pairs of vases, which, in summer time, are filled with blooming flowers. The cooling breezes of the ocean make this walk a popular promenade ; while the huge elm trees, with their spreading branches overhead, add to the coolness which the sea breezes afford. When this piece of landscape gardening was first accomplished some fifty years ago, it was considered one of the best specimens of artificial gardening in England. In the early days of the reign of Queen Victoria, on her marriage with Prince Albert, St. Clare was a SEA-SIDC WALK--ST. CLAIRE, ISLE OF WIGHT. tion is ■ on the grounds of St. Clare, the country-seat of Augustus Vernon Harcourt, Esq., but recently occupied by a well-known American lady, especially fond of gardening, Mrs. Wheeler, of Bryn Mawr, near Philadel- phia, who for several seasons has had her summer residence iu England there. The view fronts on the Solent Sea, the shores of which are kept in place by a high sea wall. Nearly level with the top of this wall a flat plateau has been formed, through the centre of which is a broad, straight avenue, terminating in a rustic summer house. This structure is formed of boards, on which are fastened split branches, all arranged in vari- frequent visiting place, and this particular promenade a favorite walk. It was one of the early lessons to the writer of this, that human nature is the same whether the heart beats in a queen or in a subject. It is not uncommon to see young folks together in the early da3's of life, one perhaps leading the other, on some dangerous spot, as for instance trying to walk along the iron rail of a railroad track. In like manner, the writer of this can see, although now so long ago in the distance, the young Queen trying to walk along the narrow top of a sea wall here depicted, with the Prince hold- ing her hand to steady her for fear of falling in the waves. ' ' Would the Queen be pleased with MEEHANS' MONTHLY — GENERAL GARDENING. [Jan. this?" once said che writer timidly to one near her. " Why not, " was the reply ; "hu- man nature is the same everywhere. " And it is. Grafting for Amateurs. — It is now nearly a century since the father of the writer of the present paragraph invented a method by which amateurs who were not well acquainted with the ordinary processes of scientific graft- ing might very readily accomplish the same object by a species of inarching, which is now popularly known as bottle grafting. Inarching is simply drawing to- gether the branches of two trees growing side by side, slight- ly shaving the bark down to the wood and then fitting the two shaven sides closelj' together and tying them tightly with bast or even cotton yarn. In a few weeks the two bran- ches will be united _ _ _^ together when the one desired may be cut from the parent's stem. Bj' this method moisture is conveyed to the grafted portion until it is united. The same thing is accom- plished by the use of a bottle of water which keeps the graft moist in the same wa}' as if it was really attached to the mother plant. Half ripened wood is the best for this kind of graft- ing. Wood of last year or, as gardeners say, old wood, is not so good for the purpose. Or- anges, lemons, camelias, or in fact anything of this kind which amateurs desire to increase can be propagated easily this way without the nice care which other more complicated sys- tems of grafting require. The Rose Polyantha Stock. — French rose growers of Lyons claim that roses grafted on the Polyantha, will bloom fifteen daj'S earlier and have double the bloom than those grafted on the dog-rose, which hitherto has been the popular stock with European rose growers. Cosmos. — Mr. N. F. Cressman suggests that: some brief notes on the history of this now popujar flower, might be interesting. The name is, pure Greek, Kosmos, that is beautiful, and was given by the celebrated Spanish priest- botanist, Cavanilles, to this genus, from the beauty of the purple and yellow flowers of the- original species on which the genus was founded. They favor low grounds and brook- sides in parts of Mexico, as our Bidens do here. They are closely related to the latter genus, and to the Dahlia. Though C. bipinna- tifida has been introduced to European culti- vation for nearly one hundred years, it is only of late years that the " daisy " family has- gained a place in popular fancy, and that Cos- mos has been found to be an annual eminently suited to American taste and American gar- dening. A National Road Department. — A letter from Col. Albert A. Pope, of Boston, suggests that a National Department, having the over- sight of road improvement throughout the nation, should be established at Washington. Meeh.\ns' Monthly hardly considers this ad- visable. Every one knows the importance of good roads, the difficulty is to find the money to improve them. It would seem that the mat- ter might be simplified by allowing townships or counties to issue bonds wherewith to im- prove the roadways ; and the revenue de- rived from the higher assessments of proper- ties along the line of the road which would sureh' follow from these improvements, would eventually paj' the bonds. This is probably the only solution that will ever be arrived at in regard to the general improvement of roads. A Large Rose Tree. — At Cologne there is a rose tree which is believed to be 300 years- old, and has a trunk of four feet in circumfer- ence. California has one at Ventura which is now three feet in circumference at the ground. It was only planted in 1876, and now covers 2000 square feet. To Restrain Shifting Sand. — Popular Science Monthly recommends the Ailantus as an excellent tree to plant near the sea-shore or elsewhere where it may be desirable to restraia shifting sand. 1893] MEEHANS' MONTHLY — GENERAL GARDENING. IB Plants in Heavy Boxes — Miss Katherine Rhoads, of Haddon field, N. J., refers to the great difficulty which so many people find in moving large tubs with ornamental plants from the lawn to the cellar for protection in the wintertime. The plant in question isa very large Crape Myrtle. It does not seem to be gener- ally known that a large number of these plants can be shaken out of their tubs in the fall and by themselves taken into the cellar, or other place for protection. The tub can follow, the earth can then be carried down and placed in again, and the plant thrive and do just as well, or if not better, as if the enormous weight was undertaken to be placed down in one job. This treatment can be particularly applied to large American Aloes, Sago plants, and similar kinds, which are in themselves particularly heavy. Some of these, in fact, can be taken and kept in cellars with a little earth around them, without any tubs or box at all, and then replanted again in the spring in the tubs in which they were growing the year before. This practice lightens the work and, in many cases, is far better for the plants than if they were suffered to remain from year to year in the same tub. FK 24 MEEHANS MONTHLY — GENERAL GARDENING. [Feb. The Morel. — Since the paper on the Morel in Meehans' Monthly appeared, we have noted an excellent chapter on the same subject in the Country Gentlemen, from the pen of the eminent mycologist, Prof. C. H. Peck, of Al- bany, which gives additional information con- cerning this interesting group of fungi. The name Morel is said to be of German derivation. They grow in America from two to four inches in height, larger under favorable conditions. According to Prof. Peck they are rather fragile and tender when fresh. At Albany he says they are found during May and early in June. He has not found them later than June, and they are most abundant in wet weather. They grow in any kind of soil, but prefer certain kinds of trees. The one we figured, Morchella esculenta, is most often found near pine, or ash trees. Six different species have been found in New York State, all of which are edible, and no species of the genus is positively known to be dangerous. They are cooked as ordinary mushrooms, but should be fried in butter and duly seasoned, as they have not as much juice as the ordinary mushroom. Dried Morels are recommended as a flavoring ingredient in soups and broth. Though they are about equally good, it may be useful to know how to distinguish them, for this purpose we give below the key as furnished by Prof. Peck. Margin of the cap united to the stem : Cap rounded, egg-shaped or oval, AT. esculenta. Cap narrowly oblong or cylindrical, 71/. deliciosa. Cap narrowly conical or obloug-conical : Much broader at base than stem , I\I. conica. Scarcely broader at base than stem, M. augusticeps. Margin of the cap free from the stem : Cap free half its length, spores eight in a sack, lil. stinilibera. Cap free to the top of the stem, spores two in a sack, I\I. bispora. Corn Stalk Bean Poles. — A correspondent suggests that the party who recommended to plant Lima beans and corn together, so that the corn stalk might be a substitute for the regular bean pole, is probably one of those ingenious writers that abound in horticultural literature, who think their mission is to think of things for other people to try. Our corre- spondent says that thirty years ago when his horticultural experience was young, he read the same advice and then tried it. The result was that he had to get poles to sustain the corn stalks ! Hardiness of Evergreens. — It is r\<^\. the low temperature which destroys evergreens so much as it is light. As a rule evergreens love shade. The same kind under the shade of trees, although that shade may be quite par- tial, will get through a severe winter without the slightest injury, when one exposed to the sun will loose all its leaves and frequently be entirelj' destroyed. This is particularly no- ticed in the case of evergeen climbing vines, and notably the English Ivy. Throughout most of the Eastern States this beautiful and historically valued plant never suffers in the slighest when grown on a northern wall where it gets no sun in the winter time, while on the south side of the same building, it is usually killed with the thermometer scarcely at zero. The same plant suffered to grow up trunks of trees where it is simply shaded by nothing but the bare branches in the winter time, will pass through the severest winters uninjured. Even Rhododendrons, hardy as they are known to be, suffer more or less when exposed to the full sun in winter, and those who desire to grow them with the greatest success usually cover with some sort of light material during the winter season. It is not absolutely neces- sary to success with Rhododendrons, but adds very much to the beauty and vigor of the plants. The English Gooseberry. — ^The superior character of the English gooseberry in size and flavor is well known. Unfortunately the plant does not thrive well in high temperatures. In Canada they are nearly as successful as they are in England. Those who desire to cultivate them successfully, in most parts of the United States, have to set the plants in positions where the sun has no great power and the soil is comparatively moist. Where in the full sun, they can be grown fairly well by having some material under the bushes, which will prevent the soil from becoming very warm. Acer Nikkojnse. — This is a Japanese spe- cies of maple, not yet introduced into cultiva- tion, and was found by Professor Sargent, in his recent exploration in Japan, to be more brilliant in autumn than any of the other spe- cies of that country. It is hoped that the Pro- fessor's labors will result in its introduction to American gardens. I893-] MEEHANS' MONTHLY — GENERAL GARDENING. 25 Grass for Lawns. — Where the locality de- sirable for a lawn is naturallj' free from weeds, the modern suggestion of making it by plant- ing patches of one particular kind, which will run together in a few months, is particularly desirable. Nothing can be more beautiful than a lawn which is wholly made up of one species only. For small gardens, especially where the new plantation can be hand-weeded ■during the summer, it is the best of all methods. No lawn made of grass seeds will be confined strictlj' to one kind, and on account of the dif- ferent shades of green in the grass will always have a more or less patchy appearance. Those who supply mixed lawn grass seeds usually keep this in mind, and endeavor to get their kinds so generally alike in tint of green as to avoid this objection. One advantage of the mixed system is that one can rarely tell by the -description of a customer what particular kind of grass will thrive to best advantage. A mix- ture is, therefore, likely to best serve the pur- pose, in this that the one which is the most suitable will eventually crowd out those not so well adapted to the soil and circumstances. We have seen a lawn made of mixed grasses which had to be secured under the shade of large trees, eventually become wholly occupied by the Sheep Fescue. In the course of a few j-ears every other kind was crowded out, and this particular species alone occupied the land. ■ Wild Gardens. — Mr. Edward J. Canning kindly contributes the following note : "Around country residences may often be found waste ground neither suited to a lawn nor to vegetables. To any having such I would suggest turning it into a " wild garden." If covered with grass and rocks, so much the better, as there are so many beautiful hardy plants suited to such conditions. The plant- ing should be irregular — the object being to imitate nature as much as possible. Among many plants adapted are Polygonum cuspida- ium (or Sieboldii, as it is also called), which may ber used either as a screen or background. Clumps of Digitalis purpurea and alba, Rud- beckia sublomentosa and R. incisa, Boltonia asteroides, and clumps of the best varieties of Asters, clumps of Funkia ovata, are good, and among these Lilium trigrinum, also Lilium Catiadense. L. Candidum, L. hulbiferum and -L. speciosum roseum, should be set. In shaded positions, Lily of the Valley, Trilliums and Snowdrops are useful, and under trees Crocus, Aconites, Scillas do well. Narcissus and Or- nithogalums thrive in open spaces among the grass. Around rocks or tree stumps, climbing Roses, Honeysuckles, the beautiful Hydrangea scandens and Forsylhia suspeiisa, have a pretty effect. If the rocks should be partially buried plant on them Sedum acre or I 'eronica rupestris; the latter is well suited forhanging over a ledge of rock forming a perfect picture when in flower. Arabis albida is also a plant peculiarly adapted for rock work. Many other plants will also suggest themselves. For moist and shaded positions plant hardy Ferns. The taller plants should be planted in irregular clumps ; the bulbs and smaller plants may be more scat- tered. If a ravine should run through the garden, the beauty may be enhanced by plant- ing aquatic and half aquatic plants. A judicious selection will give a succession of flowers the whole season, and if carefully planted and well arranged, will be a constant source of pleasure." Abies Frazeri. — This is probably one of the handsomest of all the hardy Firs ; and yet, strange to say, a specimen in cultivation is rarely met with. The reason for this seems to be that for a number of years past seeds sent to the old world for Abies Frazeri were simply of forms of the common Balsam Fir. The true Frazer Fir seems to be confined to the moun- tains of North Carolina, wherein Fraser orig- inally discovered it. Two of our advertiz- ers, Kelsey & Co., and Russell Bros., are doing great service to lovers of our coniferae by introducing the genuine plant into culti- vation. Grafted Roses. — Roses are usually budded on a stock known to the trade as the Manetti, which is a strong, vigorous and healthy grower. If parties who have these budded roses under- stand the management, they are far superior than when growing on their own roots. The chief care required is to see that no suckers or sprouts are ever allowed to come out from the stock. Where these are permitted, the grafted portion soon dies. Those who can give grafted roses their proper care, do well to plant them. Those who cannot do so, but have to trust the others, had better have roses on their own roots. 26 MEEHANS' MONTHLY — GENERAL GARDENING. [Feb-. IncarvillEa Delaveyi. — It is difficult to imagine a Trumpet flower, as plants of the bignonaceous order are termed, as any thing than a tree or woody climbing vine; but in the genus Incarvillea we have an herbaceoiis family, with flowers quite as beautiful as any Trumpet vine could give. The plant was first made known nearly a hundred years ago by a zealous missionary botanist. Father Incarville, a Jesuit priest in China. But thej' have only recently INCARVILLEA DELAVEYI. been obtained for cultivation. Our knowledge of the plant is through the well known house Vilmorin, Andrieux & Co, of Paris. An in- teresting feature of the flower is that the cloven stigma, when touched, closes like the leaves of the sensitive plant. Hydrangea Culture. — Mr. R. G. Potter, of Kingston, Rhode Island, contributes the following valuable note : " I have never seen any article in maga- zines about keeping Hydrangeas in the winter as they are kept here. A gardener at the Pier has for years had the finest I have ever seen. He digs a hole late in the season, puts the plants in, covers with earth and then sod. One this year had five hundred flowers. Others kept in same way had one 190, an- other 164 flowers. I have a great many, but do not cut them down as they do, preferring to see the flowers droop. The gardener's name is Charles Yost, Nar- ragansett Pier," It may be added, that a covering with earth is one of the best methods of preserving half hardy wood}- plants during the winter, and the good gardener often practices it with roses, grape vines, raspberries, cabbage and other things, — but it has not been practiced before for Hydrangeas, so far as records show. No doubt magnificent specimens can be had by following Mr. Yost's method. The Pepper Tree of California. — Visi- tors to California regard this tree with ad- miration, and have a feeling of regret that it is not hardy in the northeastern states. Its botanical name is Schinus Molle. It belongs to the same family, with the Rhus, to which our poison vines are referred. Strange to say, the tree is regarded as a nuisance by Califor- nians. It is said to grow so rapidly that the- roots push up pavements in every direction, — and that wherever even the smallest branch is broken, a gummy substance drops, rui"ing everything it falls on. It is said that so great is the annoyance caused in this way, that some of the cities in southern California compel the owners to cut off every branch that spreads over sidewalks or roadways. The pollen is collected by bees, but the odor is so strong as- to unfit the honey in the hive for human use. The Blue Gums, that is to say, the. Eucalyptus, are said to be preferable for street trees in every way. Winter Flowering Carnations. — The Bulletin of the Horticultural Society of Tus- cany gives a colored plate of seven different forms of winter blooming carnations, which it considers a vast improvement on the varieties formerly in cultivation ; but we should judge by the appearance of these forms, that America is far in advance in the production of im- proved varieties — certainly a large number of American varieties are much more beautiful and distinct than these illustrated in the Bul- letin. Altogether we think that American carnation growers may congratulate them- selves on having taken the lead of the whole world in the improvement of this beautiful class of flowers. I893-] MEEHANS' MONTHLY — GENERAL GARDENING. History of the Fuchsia. — It is said that the first Fuchsia was introduced into England by a sailor from Chili, in 1746. A plant from this was sold to an English nurseryman for over f4oo. Between 1S30 and 1840, hybrids became rather common. The modern race of Fuchsias dates from the introduction oi Fuch- sia fulgens. The white corolla varieties ap- peared in 1855. The raiser of them dying about the time that they w-ere produced, left no knowledge as to how he obtained them. There are a large number of species in South America, many of them in many respects far more beautiful than the hybrid varieties, but not having been pushed by florists, they have, in a great measure, gone out of cultiva- tion. Edging Plants. — Many persons do not like box-edging, and yet desire bordering of some kind. Mr. Geo. Woolson of Passaic, N. J , find the following very useful in different situations : Achillea tomentosa, Anthemis nobilis, Aren- aria verna, Aubrittias in sorts, Cerastium Bier- besteini, Cerastium Boissieri, Cerastium to- mentosum, Dianthus deltoides, Herniaria gla- bra, Iv5'simachia Nummularia, Mitchella re- pens, CEnothera speciosa. Phloxes, Moss Pinks in sorts, Pyrethrum Tchihatchewi, Sedum acre, Stellaria graminea aurea, Stellaria Holostea, Thymus lanuginosus. Thymus mon- tanus albus, Tunica Saxifraga, Veronica re- pens, Veronica cercfeoides, Vincaminor. Magnolia Watsoni. — A large number of the trees and shrubs of Japan have been put in cultivation through the energy of Parsons, Sons & Co., of Flushing, N.Y. Among these, several beautiful Magnolias. One which was introduced by them, through Mr. Thomas Hogg, in 1875, was supposed by them to be the Magnolia parviflora, long ago described by botanists who have made Japan plants a study. Sir Joseph Hooker contested that this was not parviflora, but an entirely new species, which he has named Magnolia Walsoni. Ac- cording to this statement of Dr. Hooker's, the true Magnolia parviJJora has not yet been in- troduced. It may be here noted that Mr. Hogg who brought so many beautiful plants in addition to this, died on December 30th. Ground Blanching of Sea KalE. — Mee- HANS' Monthly recently called attention to- the neglect in America of this delicious vege- table, and gave some suggestions as to methods of culture. This brings the following ex- cellent note from one of the readers of the mag- zine. Miss L. Shackleton, Lucan, Ireland, where the plant is intelligently grown : " E. S. Delamer, in Tiie Kitchen Garden, writes: 'Some time in December, not too soon, when the foot stalks of the leaves have fairly separated themselves from the crown of the plants, heap over each about a quarter of a peck of sea sand or wood ashes, or those from turf, if not to be had, any light, unmanured soil will do. Then earth up the plants from a trench dug along the space between the rows, deep and not too near them to avoid approaching the roots, exactly as if you were earthing up- celery, only that no leaves appear above the top of the ridge. The earth should be heaped up till it is eighteen inches or two feet above- the crowns of the plants, and then regularly rounded like a donkey's back, flatted down on the sides with the spade and made smooth and' neat.' Mr. Delamer cautions against blanch- ing and protecting with leaves which, he says, often heat and ferment, giving the sea kale an unpleasant taste. We treat it as he recom- mends above, except that we use coal ashes. " Vegetable Curiosities. — Some very pleas- ant surprises for children may be obtained by getting fruits to grow inside of glass bottles. Some, especially of the cucumber family, can be inserted into the narrow mouths of bottles while young, the bottles attached to the branch, and after full growth, it will be a mystery how these fruits got inside the bottles or jars. Besides the pleasant surprises many a useful lesson on plant growth can be furnished by these tests. It is stated that King George the Third, of England, in the earlier stages of the insanity which subsequently overtook him, used to express his surprise to those vvho were dining with him, as to how the apple got in- side of the dumpling ; but with these fruits in glass jars, the surprises to even sane people are quite as interesting to intelligent people as- the apple dumpling was to this unfortunate- monarch. 28 MEEHANS' MONTHLY — GENERAL GARDENING. [Feb. Lettuce. — In former times there were two popular classes of lettuce, one known as the ■Cos class, and the other as the Cabbage. The one requires to have the leaves tied up when the blanching process takes place in the cen- tre ; the other the head becomes pale in the interior naturally ; or, as one might say, of its own accord. Of. late years the Cos class has nearly gone out of use, the Cabbage being the kind almost usually seen. Those who know a good thing, however, when they see it, have still a tender regard for the memory of the old Cos kind. It is far superior to the generality of lettuce such as we generally get. The reason for comparative disappearance is probably the extra labor envolved by the tying process. Man seems to have come to the ■opinion thatineverylinehe hasbuta short time A COS LETTUCE. to live and, therefore, that which is the easiest accomplished, although accomplished indiffer- ently, is the wisest line of industry to pursue. But is it? It is just possible that many do not know the difference between the two. It will there- fore be instructive to take from Vilmorin's great work on vegetables, " Les Plantes Pota- geres, ' ' sketches of each kind . It is there that the Cos, as it is called in English literature, is known as the Roman Lettuce, while the Head Lettuce, (see p. 29), is described as Laitue PommL It is difficult to believe that two such distincts forms originated from the one wild species, but Vil- morin thinks there is no doubt of it. These authors also believe that the native country is unknown, though possibly it was Central Asia. It has been under cultivation prior to modern history. Horse-Radish. — Of late years it has become the practice to buy horse-radish al- ready grated for table use ; and the result has been that a large portion of it is adulterated with cabbage stalks and some chemical sub- stance to give it the hot taste of the genuine article. This renders the cultivation of horse- radish by amateurs, who want the proper ar- ticle, more desirable than ever. It is propagated by cutting roots into sections of about an inch in length and planting these pieces where it is desirable to have a plantation made. One very good method is to make a hole with a crow-bar and drop the pieces of root into the hole, so that it is a foot or so beneath the surface, — the new growth never has any diflSculty in finding its way to the surface, — and that new growth is what makes the future root. One has then a clean, straight root when ready for use, which is much preferable for culinary purposes to the stumpy looking affairs sometimes seen in markets. The soil cannot be too rich for this vegetable, — and if damp and cool so much the better. Planting Blackberries and Raspberries. — Probably more complaints in relation to plants dying after transplanting are heard in connection with the raspberry and blackberry than with any other fruit. In almost all cases the cane should be cut nearly to the ground when planted, and the plant should not be set more than a few inches under the surface ; if planted deep the buds will rot be- fore the j'oung sprouts get to the surface. In shallow planting it is, of course, very desirable that the earth should be hammered in very tightly around the plants at transplanting. Figs in California. — Mr. Charles H. Shinn states that this is likely to be one of the most productive fruit culture industries of California, — that they thrive well in much dryer ground than almost any other tree would stand. At the Foothill station, near Jackson, in Amador county, they are found to endure twenty degrees of temperature without being in any way injured. Over fifty-one varieties of figs are now being tested at that station, and kinds known as Brown Ischia, Constan- tine, Monacia, Bianca and White Adriatic are named as doing remarkably weil there. 1893-] MEEHANS' MONTHLY — GENERAL GARDENING. 29 Tomatoes in England,- — A recent issue of the Gardeners' Chronicle states that although the tomato was introduced into England as far back as the sixteenth century, and notwith- standing it has been a common and popular article of food in the United States for nearly fifty years, it is only during the past ten years that they have come into general use in Great Britain. But popular public favor once started in that direction, the increase in consumption has been enormous, and it is believed at the present time over a million square feet of glass surface is devoted to their cultivation, the fruit bringing from eight to sixteen cents a pound, and occasionally going up as high as fifty cents in the middle of winter. In the Channel Is- lands, where the climate is much milder, to- mato culture has developed amazingly for the purpose of supplying the London market. The value of the imports from these Islands the past year amounted to $250,000. France and Spain are also going into their cultiva- tion for the purpose of supplying the immense demand arising for them in Great Britain. The Chronicle states, "From present appear- ances, in ten years the consumption will be five times what it is to-day, " and they are looking forward to America to help them out. Strange to say, no attempt seems to have been made by American growers to profit by this new condition of things in England, although it must be evident that tomatoes could very readily be carried there, from the fact that passengers on board of our line steamers have the fresh American article on their tables all the way across the Atlantic until they reach the docks in Liverpool harbor, being quite as good and fresh after ten days' travel as they were on the first day they were shipped. Chenango Strawberry Apple. — A report of the Hartford Co. , (Conn.) Horticultural Soci- ety speaks in terms of praise of a set of the beautiful apple known as the Chenango Straw- berry. Though one of the most beautiful and delicious of apples, it is rarely seen in market through not possessing those carrying pecu- liarities which give value to inferior kinds. Nurserymen keep in stock onh* those gener- ally asked for, and these are usuallj- kinds that bring back a money return to the market grower, with whom this is naturally the first consideration . A Hedge of Heliotrope. — The Los Angeles Express states that Mrs. Shepherd, of whose good work in gardening Meehans' Monthly has before spoken, has a hedge 200 feet long, consisting solely of heliotrope. Low posts were first placed and wire stretched across in order to support the small plants of the helio- trope which were planted out five years ago ; now they are six feet above the walk, drooping down and lining the promenade with the frag- rant masses of purple, lavender and white blossoms. The flowers are said to be great at- tractions to humming birds, butterflies and in- sects. It maybe noted here that the heliotrope is a native of Peru, and that the vernacular name with the Peruvians is Vanilla, — and on account of the identity in the aroma between this fragrance and that of the fruit of the cele- brated orchid, the name has been transferred to. this particular fruit, which is known in com- merce as the Vanilla bean. A CABBAGE HEADED LETTUCC--SEE: P. 28 Sowing Cabbage. — As a general thing the best early cabbage comes from plants that are raised from seed in the fall, and somewhat pro- tected ; but there is always a chance of its running to seed if sowed early in the fall, or if the winters are open and mild. Very excellent results are obtained by sowing seeds in a slight hot-bed hot-house in February or March, and planted out. If the soil is good and rich such cabbages are more tender and in ever}' way better than those raised from fall seeds. Planting Asparagus. — It is said that whether the white part of asparagus be soft or stringy depends in a great measure on the depth of planting ; the farther it has to grow beneath the ground the more stringy the sprouts become. Tender, white asparagus is rather the effect of blanching than of mere growth. BIOGRAPHY AND LITERATURE. "SELF-PRAISE IS NO PRAISE." -Ali, summer the breath of the roses around Is naught but a delicate, passionate sound ; And when from a trellis, in holiday places, Thev croon and cajole, with their slumberous faces, A lad in the lane must slacken his paces. Fragrance of these is a voice in a bower , But low by the wall is my odorless flower, So pure, so controlled, not a fume is above her. That poets or bees should delay there and hover ; For she is a silence, and therefore I love her. Louise Imogen Guiney. Professor Angelo Heilprin. — This emi- nent scientific man was born in Hungary, but has been connected with the Academy of Na- tural Sciences of Philadelphia for some years past. In scientific directories he is classed as a geologist, but as in the case of Prof Agassiz, Prof Leidy, and other great names, it would be difficult to find a branch of science in which he does not take an intelligent interest. The Philadelphia Academy owes much of its fame and its importance to the great reputation so many of its members have acquired for it, and in more recent years a large share is due to the labors of Prof. Heilprin. A number of years ago it was determined to build a magnificent museum and lecture hall adjoining the present one, but all attempts to get the Legislatitre to see its duty failed. Prof. Heilprin 's fame had reached the Legislature, and when he went be- fore it and pleaded, it voted $50,000. At the last session he repeated his mission and ob- tained $50,000 more. As an explorer his cour- age and leadership of a small party across the hitherto almost unknown territory of Yucatan brought rich results to the academy. As the leader in the escort party to Peary's winter quarters and safe return he won golden opin- ions. And when, about a year ago, fears were expressed over the whole Union, that Peary had met with disaster, he volunteered to lead a search party, the wonderful success of which is fresh in the minds of all. Few members of the academy have brought more renown to the in- stitution than Prof Heilprin, and Philadel- phians generally are very proud of the young Professor. ',30) Clark, the Famous Explorer. — It must be true that if it is worth honoring a person at all, it is important that he should be honored under his own name, and not under that of some other. Having to refer to the famous explorers Lewis and Clarke, as generally written, Meehans' Monthly followed Lip- pincott's Biographical Dictionary, and wrote it Clark. The propriety of this has been ques- tioned. The matter was referred to Dr. Elliott Coues. His reply settles the question : — " In reply to your question : I am in posi- tion to speak positively. The name of the famous explorer with Lewis was Clark, not Clarke. My authorities are: i. A verbatim copy of family Bible records of the Clark fam- ily, going back to 1724 — not an e in one of the names. 2. Many autograph letters of Clark with his signature, which I have ex- amined— invariably " \Vm. Clark." — no sign of an e. He wrote the k large, like a capital, and with a long flourishing lower loop, but never a mark that could be mistaken for an e. 3. Many ofHcial and other letters addressed to him, always Clark. 4. Copies of various com- missions issued to him by at least three presi- dents of the United States — invariably Clark. 5. Copies of letters to him from Nicholas Bid- die, editor of the famous " Travels," always Clark. 6. Copies of legal, commercial, etc., notices, advertisements, etc., in early news- papers of St. Louis — always Clark. 7. Re- peated notices in Billon's " Annals of St. Louis" — always Clark. S. I^etters to me from his only surviving son, Jefferson K. Clark. 9. Various other authentic sources of informa- tion. The wrong spelling with an e seems to have first come into vogue in 1807, in Gass's "Jour- nal," where it is invariably Clarke, as it is in all the four later editions of Gass. Then the re- gular authentic edition of the " Travels," Phil- adelphia, 1847, has Clarke throughout the text, but curiously, Clark on the title page. So, also, Clarke in later editions, following suit of the princeps. «893-] MEEHANS' MONTHLY^BIOGRAPHY AND LITERATtTRE. 31 So it has turned out that a man whose fam- ily name was Clark, who was Ensign Clark, Lieutenant Clark, Captain Clark, General ■Clark, and Governor Clark — who was William Clark in all commercial, legal and official functions, who was doubtless " Bill Clark" to his cronies, has passed into literature and his- tory as a Clarke. Pursh was right in naming the genus Clarkia (not Clarkea) " Isaac C. Martindale. — Natural history has losses than by the suffered few severer ■death of the banker- botanist Isaac C. Mar- tindale of Camden, New Jersey, which oc- curred suddenly by apoplexy, on the 3rd of January. He was as universally beloved for his personal char- ;act2r, as held in high esteem for his scien- tific eminence. He was wholly a self- made man, having been raised on a farm in By berry , near Phila- adelphia, where he was born on July 15, 1842. While a lad at the plough, he would stop to track birds to their homes in order to know all about them and books that would tell of them were his familiar friends. By self study he acquired a fair education and became a clerk in a bank. Here, as elsewhere, he strived for excellence, and was promoted from a junior clerk to the highest office, that of cashier. By his devotion to the interest of the bank, his health broke down, and he was granted a vacation to Europe. It was here that his fondness for botanj' became fi.xed. Brooding over some trouble and wondering what use he was in the world, while sitting to rest in Switzerland, his eye fell on a little plant, struggling in the cleft of a rock, -without any soil that was visible, and ISAAC c. M yet in perfect health and blooming beauty- fully. Accustomed to reading lessons from nature, he took it as a hint to himself. If in the midst of such disheartening surround- ings such beauty and perfection could result, surely, there was yet a place for him in the world ! He made collections of plants from that time. His herbarium became one of the finest in America, and his botanical correspon- dence was world-wide. His j'oung son, now about thirteen, developed, when quite a lad, a taste for insect study, and during the last few years the father was led bj' the child's taste into similar pursuits, and he was fast be- coming as great an authority in the ento- mological world, as he was in botany. He was vice-president of the Entomological Society of Philadel- phia at his death, treasurer of the Academy of Natural Sciences, correspond- ing secretary of its botanical section, a member of the Ameri- can Philosophical Society, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, — besides a member of many other useful institutions ol similar import. The portrait is from a photo taken in 1879. ARTINDALE. Willkomm's Herbarium. — Mr. Thomas Hanbury has presented to the Botanical Insti- tute at Genoa the very rich collection of vascular plants made by the late Prof Willkomm, of Prague. It comprises as many as 14,472 spe- cies, the greater number being European or from the adjacent districts of Asia and Africa. It is especially rich in plants of the Spanish Peninsula, and includes most of Willkomm's original type specimens. The herbarium of that Institution is one already much consulted by botanists. GENERAL NOTES. Meehans' Monthly for 1893. — The large number of appreciative letters while renewing subscriptions has about overwhelmed the pub- lishers, who can only take this poor method of returning thanks. Universal surprise is ex- pressed that Meehans' Monthly can give a plate botanically accurate and of such a super- ior style of art, with so much gardening and matters of natural history, for $2 a year. It could not be done only for the hope of an im- mense subscription list some day. The pub- lishers have faith that, as time rolls on, every person who has a taste for art or science — out- side of the mere love of gardening — will feel compelled to have it as a work of reference in their libraries. While we can yet only speak of subscribers in the thousands, we hope for the hundred thousands one of these days. Vegetable Physiology in Practical Gar- dening. — A correspondent from Greenport, N.Y. , calls attention to a paragraph in Garden a?id Forest, of January 22nd, 1890, in which a correspondent suggests that vegetable physio- logy, or any other department of botany, is in- jurious to one who desires to be a first-class practical gardener. Of course, this is but the opinion of the correspondent, and we are sure would not be endorsed by our eminent contem- porary. If a gardener were asked why it is necessary to have a hole in the bottom of a flower pot, he might perhaps answer, " Because it is. " "I have found by experience that a plant grows better by having a hole there." But he cer- tainly would not be the worse gardener because he also knew, in addition to this, that the hole was in the bottom of the pot in order that the roots might get fresh supplies of air, which they could not do while wholly underwater, as they would be if the hole was not there ; the latter points he could not know, unless from vegetable physiology. The article seemed to be aimed at ' ' Profes- sors of Horticulture" in American colleges. Certainly some of these know nothing practi- (32) cally of the sciences they teach, and are as bad leaders as the extremes of the other sort. When the writer of this was a student, some fifty years ago, of some two hundred which "came and went " during two years in a cer- tain institution, less than a dozen cared any- thing for science. The argument of the major- ity was, "We shall probably be able to raise cabbages and potatoes as well as any of you with all your science." This is about all they ever did raise, while every one of the twelve became "healthy, wealthy, and wise" with all the expression implies. " The proof of the pudding, etc." Sill's Window Garden Sprayer. — In last Meehans' Monthly surprise was expressed that sprinkling plants with a watering pot had not wholly give place to the modern sprayer. These have been wonderfully improved of late. Sill's Sprayer is especially well adapted to house plant work. It is of rubber, the end of the tube being placed in the vessel of water, and the air-bag which pumps the water being in the hand near the plant. The whole plant can thus be reached — the under surface of the leaf as well as the upper. It is just the thing for the amateur gardener. A Watch as a Compass. — Hold the watch in such a position that the hour-hand is point- ed in the direction of the sun, then the point midway between the position of the hour- hand and XII., will be due-south. If, for in- stance, the hour-hand point to V., due-south will be between II. and III., or halfway be- tween XII. and V. Pell.EA gracilis.— Those readers who have been asking, when shall we have another fern, will be gratified next month, when Pellaa gra- cilis will have the field. The last fern plate — Asplenitim montafia7n had many encomiums^ possibly its companion in the next issue will merit as much praise. i^LATE 3. .^>t*«hHi».'!>k.niM4 1 I^I.IAW (3RAC1L1.' PELLyEA GRACILIS. SLENDER CLIFF-BRAKE. NATURAL ORDER, FILICES. Pell^a gracilis, Hooker.^Fronds smooth, three to six inches high, delicately membraneous and slender, of few pinnae^ the lower ones once or twice pinnately parted into three to five decurrent divisions, those of the fertile frond oblong or linear-oblong, entire or sparingly incised ; of the sterile ovate or obovate, crenate or incised ; veins of the fertile frond mostly once forked. (Gray's Manitat of the Botany of the Nortlietn i'nitcd Statrs. See also Wood's Class-Book of Botany, and Eaton's Ferns of North America.) The poets .seldom tiie of beautiful flowers. Flowers constitute a perpetual burthen of their songs. Most people love flowers ; and regard this love as one of the marks whereby man is to be distinguished from the brutes below him. Some, in these days, believe that man was little bej'ond a brute in his earliest times, and that his present superiority is the result of continuous stages of developmental pro- gress. It is singular to note that our Con- necticut poet, Percival, in his " Prometheus," published in 1S20, seemed to have had the same idea, for he paints the primeval man as indifferent to flowers : — " With brute, unconscious gaze, man marks the earth Take on its livery of early flowers ; He sees no beauty in this aunual birth, No ceaseless working of creative powers ; His soul, lethargic, wakes not in those hours When air is living, and the waters teem With new-born being, and the mantling bowers Are full of love and melody, and seem The happy Eden of a poet's raptured dream." It would seem that if an admiration for the gayer flower is a proof of man's advancement, the growing love for ferns which have no pretty blossoms to commend them must be regarded as greater evidence of human pv ogress. Ferns have few outward accessories to recommend them. They take little interest in the livery furnished by the early spring growth of other fonns of vegetation, nor are there many ex- pectants eager for their annual birth. Our deli- cate little species especially is an evergreen, and what it contributes to Nature's charms it gives perpetually. It is about the same to-day as yesterday, and goes on throughout the year. The only change in its garb is in the narrower character of the spring frondlets over those which are produced in the fall. These narrower ones (Fig. I ) produce the sporangia which we see withiu the rolled edges on the under surface, as shown in Figs. 3, 4. Later in the season the broader ones are produced (Fig. 2). These furnish no reproductive organs, as they are the barren fronds. They are the ones which give the plant its evergreen character, and they remain green until after the fertile fronds have been produced, dying away only as newer ones of the same character appear towards the end of the following summer. Now many ferns add somewhat to the gaiety of nature by producing bright golden or brown sporangia, sometimes in round or at other times in linear masses ; but our little species makes little eifort to attract the eye. The narrowness of the frondlets alone indicate the fruiting stage — all the rest, must be sought for, and best with a pocket lens to aid the search. It is one of those captivating little things which one learns to love for themselves alone. Nor are we to look where the waters teem with new-born being and the mantling bowers are full of love and melody to find out where it dwells. Its home is in the shady recesses of rugged rocks — not even in flowery climes, but chiefly in those northern regions where flowers are scarce or chiefly come and go with the springtide sun. Our specimens come from the rocky faces of the dells of the Wisconsin, and all who have found it anywhere describe similar locations. It attaches itself to the friendly rock with wonderful tenacity. In the " Ento- mologist and Botanist " for 1870, Mr. William- (33) 34 MEEHANS' MONTHLY — PELL^A GRACIUS. [March son remarks that on an occasion when he met v?ith it, the roots were so deep in the fissures of the rocks that the rock had to be broken to get the root out. Prof. Eaton confines the species to "calcareous " rocks, but many spe- cies once believed to have absolute prefer- ences have occasionally been found feeding at other tables. As already suggested, it is com- mon only in boreal regions. Chapman does not admit it into his Flora of the Southern United States nor does it find a place in Mr. William- son's Ferns of Kentucky, but it is not at all 'Unlikely that some one will find it some day in some of the southern mountains, as new locations are occasionally being found. At present, it has not been collected south of the Pennsylvania AUeghenies. A few years ago, Mr. T. S. Brandegee discovered it in the mountains of Southern Colorado, leaving an immense gap between that and more northern locations, and which will at no distant day be filled by stations from other collectors. It was long wholly overlooked in our own country. It is first believed to have been found in Siberia Ijy John George Gmelin, whose Flora of that country appeared between 1747 and 1769, and 40 MEEHANS' MONTHLY — GENERAL GARDENING. [March The History of the Canna. — Our excel- lent French contemporary, the Lyon-Horlicole, gives a history of the Canna, from which it appears that the first species known was the one discovered by the famous John Bartram in South Carolina, in 1811, which was named by Philip Miller, Canna flaccida. Between 18 17 and 1820 a large number of species were intro- duced, and a still greater number between 1820 and 1830. It was not, however, until 1850, ■when the dark-leaved canna, Warszewiczii, was introduced that hybridization commenced. Since that time every year produces some beau- tiful forms that have been raised by hybridi- sation, or through cross fertilization by the florists. It is hard now to tell one species from another, as they have been mixed up so considerablj'. The magazine from which we have condensed these facts gives the credit of the first attempt at hybridization to a diplo- matic agent of the French government, named Annee. This hybrid was obtained in 1S47, and was called Canna Annei. It was raised between Canna indica and Canna nepalensis. After this gentleman came Jean Sisley, re- cently deceased, and a number of others. In America, however, as recently stated in Mee- hans' Monthly, there have been a number of successful improvers. The plants thrive bet- ter in our country than in the old world and give quite a tropical appearance to our sum- mer gardening and this of itself gives encour- agement to our own improvers. HoLLYBERRiES. — Does anyone know of a solitary holly tree, a long way from any other holly treee that ever bore a berry ? The writer never has seen one. Knowing its proclivity to have purely sterile flowers, he once placed three in a group, but they all proved sterile. Still it is a joy as it is. The group makes a mass about fifteen feet high and twelve feet wide, and early in June, with its young leaves and myriads of greenish white flowers, is far hand- somer than many shrubs, though no bright red berries follow. Berry-bearing trees have been selected from the nursery rows for lawn planting, never, however, to bear a terry after. The holly is one of the easiest trees to trans- plant, if very severely pruned at the time, but they rarely live without this treatment. As a general rule we believe both the American and English holly to be dioecious. Osage Orange Hedges. — Nothing shows more the advantage of scientific knowledge, practically applied, than in the treatment of an Osage Orange hedge. It is particularly de- sired that the Osage Orange plant should grow very strong for a few years, and then compara- tively weak after the hedge is formed — yet Osage Orange hedges, as we see them, grow comparatively slow for several years, and only form a vigorous growth when somewhat neglected. The reason for this is that no plant can grow strong without an abundance of leaves. The first two or three years of the plant's life it should have all the leaves that it can get. By the time the roots get strong the plants will then be able to take care of them- selves. For this reason we would not cut an Osage Orange hedge until three years after it was planted. It should be allowed to grow in its own way and vigorously as it had a mind to. Then it should be sawed or cut with an ax close to the ground and suffered to sprout. After such treatment, the sprouts, if un- touched, would be 7 or 8 feet in height, more or less, according to the richness of the ground ; but the following summer after this cutting down, the pruning should commence. It might be cut at midsummer to the shape we want, and we have, as if by magic, a complete hedge in one season. The continual cutting away of young plants weakens them, and it takes a long time, if ever, for a plant trimmed often in infancy to make a strong protective hedge. Longevity of Trees. — In the Eastern States, trees do not live over 300 years at most, even under the most favorable circum- stances— the climatic conditions being un- favorable to longevity. In the old world, however, and especially in England, most trees live to a great age. The Yew and the English Oak are familiar examples — a thou- sand years seem to be nothing to these trees. The "Gardeners' Chronicle" states that the sweet, or as we call it, the Spanish chestnut, also lives long ; and it gives a sketch of one, which was quite a large tree, in the reign of King Stephen, that is to say, 1135. We doubt whether any specimen of the Spanish chestnut would remain particularly healthy long over 100 years in our climate. t893-] MEEHANS' MONTHLY— GENERAL GARDENING. 41 The Henna Plant. — Under the name of Mignonette tree, Lawsonia alba, has long been cultivated and esteemed for its delicious fragrance, in the Southern United States. It is about as hardy as the crape myrtle and will succeed where that will. Mr. H. C. Mitten, of Rija Park, Cassipore, East India, gives the readers of Meehans' Monthly the following interesting sketch of it as it appears in that far away corner of the Magazine's domain : — Name, Lawsonia alba., Lat. ; Mendika, Saka. CItara, Sans.; Hinna, Arab. Habitat. — A small, handsome and sweetly scented bush first grown on the borders of Persia, and then its use and cultivation prob- ably spread from that region west into Africa and eastward to the several provinces of India, such as the Punjab Sind, the Northwestern Provinces, Madras, Bombay and Ben- gal . Flower smal 1 , pale, greenish and fragrant. Uses and appli- cations.— The use of the dye prepared fro m its lea ves pounded with cate- chu or lime, as a cosmetic is evident- ly of Mahommedan origin, being chief- ly used by the women of that race for stain- ing the hands, fingers, nails, and feet. The simple decoction of the leaves also is frequent- ly used in dyeing cloth and handkerchiefs ; color produced is a shade of yellowish or redish brown or red. The second use is a paste prepared with water from the powders of Lawsonia alba and Tndigofera Anil, each two parts, and of dried myrtle leaves and emblie myrobolans, each one part, for dyeing the hair. Properties. — Embalming, medicinal or chem- ical. The seeds yield an oil, and the flowers a fragrant otto or attar. The leaves possess the property of curing ulcers of all kinds, and a gonorrhoea and cases of burns, scalds, etc., The bark is given in jaundice, enlargement of the spleen, also in calculous affections, and an alterative in leprosy and obstinate skin dis- eases. An infusion of the flowers cures head- ache. The only chemical substance in the leaves is gallic acid. They also possess the properties of tannin. This elegant shrub is grown in gardens as a hedge. The value of the leaves averages a rupee for twelve seers. GREEN -LEAVED SEEDLI NGS I IMSI DE A CITRUS FRUIT.- sec p 3s Artificial Aid in Landscape Gardening. — A lady correspondent from Cheltenham, Pa. , in reference to a recent note says : — "In the article on 'A Seaside Walk' in the January number of the Monthly, I read, ' ' Vases and Statu- ary * * * it is only in rare instan- ces that the art of a landscape garden- er can so combine * * * " May I recall to your re- collection the truly beautiful landscape gardening of Mr. Downing, at ' Med- ary ' — where the vases on the terrace and on the lawn at the foot of the ter- race are as prettily placed, (as I am sure you will agree with me), as in any small bit of landscape in this country or even England. Mr. Sergeant, of Wodenethe, used to say there were few prettier bits of lawn to be found in this part of the world. My love for Medary prompts me to send you these gentle reminders." The Monthly's correspondent has good reason for loving the beautiful effects ol the vase and balustrade gardening at Medary. Besides the successful instances named, there are some admirable illustrations on the grounds of Mr. H. H. Hunnewell, at Wellesley, near Boston, and though the instances are rare, decoction of them is used as an injection for others might be named. 42 MEEHANS' MONTHLY^GENERAL GARDENING. [March- 2r^ Spir^a prunifolia. — Among the beautiful flowering shrubs of spring that are now gen- allj- appreciated, few sustain popularity better than the Spima pnttiifolia, or plum-leaved Spirfea. The flow- ers are double, and come out in immense profusion at the ends of the branches in early spring. Strange to say, the original single-flow- ered species, which must be wild some- where in Japan, has never been introduc- ed into cultivation, and all botanists know of the species is from this double- flowered garden form. There is one attraction to the plant which is not generally observed, and that is the beau- tiful, rosy red color which the leaves as- sume in the fall of SPiR>EA PRUNiFOLiA. the year. This makes it as much desirable for ornamental purposes as the profusion of handsome white blossoms in the spring. Possibly this over- sight has been due to the fact that so many American trees take on a beautiful tint, and no effort has been made to distinguish one from Ihe other in gardening ; but the beauty of the leaves of this plant themselves, in con- nection with the brilliant fall color, gives an opportunity to place the plant in opposition against evergreens, for instance, or other shrubs or trees which do not change color, and thus bringing out by contrast, the special beauty which the plum-leaved Spireea in this condition presents. Hardy Appi,es. — The Vermont U'atciiman, which has an agricultural department of high order, makes the good point that the term "hardiness" in fruit trees may be variously understood. A plant may be hardy in a sense to resist the vicissitudes of climate ; on the other hand, a fruit tree, or any other plant may be liable to attacks of parasitic fungi, and in that way easily die in the wintertime, when a variety free from these attacks would be hardy. It makes these suggestions in connec- tion with the hardy varieties of apples, and it speaks especially of three kinds, namely : the Alexander, the Astrachan and Oldenburgh, Russian varieties, which have been found not only hardy from the one standpoint, but also from the other, and a new variety. Yellow Transparent, which is so hardy as to adapt itself to a great variety of contingences and thus to be found to do well over the whole continent. These distinctions are well worth noting. A New Yucca, Yucca Hanbuiyi. — "The Gardeners' Chronicle " gives a description of a new Yucca from Colorado, under this name, which is found growing in company with the common Yucca of that region, Yucca angusti- folia. The description reads very much like one which has long been known here — having been first collected by Dr. C. C. Parry. Dr. Parry thought it worthy of being regarded as a new species ; but Dr. Engelmann contended that those who were familiar with Yucca a?i- gustifolia with us, were acquainted with its tendency to vary in many directions, and he hesitated to recommend it as a new species. The foliage is precisely the same as the com- mon form of angustifolia — the difference being chiefly confined to the flower. If the same as we suppose it to be, and which is growing in our collection, one great difference is that the blossoms open during the day, while those of the normal forms of angustifolia are noc- turnal. Grafting the Pecan Nut. — It does not seem to be known that all the different species of Hickory, including the pecan, which is one of that family, can be very readily grafted by taking a plant one or two years old and graft- ing at the collar, just as fruit growers do with their apples and pears in the winter time. Among the hickories, shellbarks and pecans there are often some trees with larger fruit than others, or with thinner shells, qualities ver3' desirable in this class of nuts and desirable to preserve them and increase the number of trees by grafting in the winter. As we have described it is easy to increase them in any quantity. ■893.] MEEHANS' MONTHLY — GENERAL GARDENING. 45 DiERViLLA — As a general rule, when a plant has been named by a competent botanist and sent out into the horticultural world, where it appears under such a name in hundreds of catalogues, it is almost impossible to change it, although it should be shown that a prior name given by another bot- anist ought to have been used. Thus Weigela is now the name bj' which a popular shrub is universally knOvvn, al- though it is said that Diei~'illa is its prior and therefore proper name. In England, however, they seem to have succeeded in getting the horticultural world to adopt the change and the plant is now much more frequently called Dien'illa than Wcii;eln . Improvement of the Carnation. — The winter flowering carnation, though vastly im- proved during recent years, has not reached the size that the old summer flowering kinds produced. An old newspaper, printed in Nor- wich, England, dated June 29, 1S33, records a florist of that city had them blooming four inches across. These were not even those en- tire edged, broad-petaled ones, which they es- pecially demonstrated carnations, but the fringed-edged dwarf, those cut-edged ones, which the}' knew as pinks, and between which two classes our winter blooming carnations are intermediate. Yucca Aloifolia, — Mrs. T. H. McC, writ- ing from Los Angeles, California, remarks : — "Noticing j-our inquiry in j-our very inter- esting magazine as to how old a ' Yucca aloi- folia ' must be before flowering, that one flowered here in 1886, when three years planted and has flowered every year since. It was about one foot high when planted and is about eight feet now. ' ' Heating Small Greenhouses and Con- servatories.— It is easy to heat large green- houses, but small conservatories attached to dwellings are often troublesome to manage pro- perly in this respect. The ordinary cellar heater gives out too dry a heat and sulphurous vapors get into the heat flues, and which are very injurious to plants. Mr. Ingram of 106 North Third street, Philadelphia, claims tohave combined hot water with an ordinary stove, to be placed in each greenhouse, which is entire- ly satisfactory. Fertilization of the Fig. — As recently noticed, Californians have been to a great deal of trouble to introduce an insect from the old world, which is supposed to be an agent in the fertilization of the fig. The fig it.self will come to considerable perfection without any fertili- zation, as is well known. The seeds, however, being without any germ are of course imper- fect. As the result of an examination by the editor of this magazine years ago, he was satisfied that the fig is not by any means uni- sexual, but, in a large number of cases, has both forms of flovrers inside one fig. In such cases there is no reason why one individual fig tree might not produce figs with perfect seeds. It is now stated in the Califotnia Fruit Grower, that a committee recentl}' examined some fruit of the Smyrna, at Los Gatos, in Santa Clara County, and found them full of perfect seeds, without the intervention of the supposed fig insect. It so happened that the last letter of the eminent botanist. Dr. Ravenel, of Aiken, S. C, to the writer of this paragraph, sent just before his death, so strongly combated the pos- sibility of a fig coming thus to perfection, that the editor has never strongly expressed his own views, — Dr. Ravenel having been so very acute an observer in these matters ; still the facts now related certainly tend to show that the fig is by no means the unisexual fruit it has gen- erally been supposed to be. On the other hand attempts have been made on trees belonging to Mr. Shinn, at Niles, to effectually fertilize by the use of the staminate figs, with no better results than on trees where no pollen was em- ployed. Parsley. — It is common to sow parsley in spring in theopen ground ; but some amateurs state that thej' get better success by sowing in boxes in February, and then setting the plants out in good rich earth when the spring time comes. Of course the plants have to be well watered at the time of transplanting. If not sown until the proper time for open air work commences, the plants do not get large enough to be of any service until late in the season. The general impression is that parsley does not transplant well ; but this is said not to be the case by those who have given it care- ful treatment, as above noted. 44 MEEHANS' MONTHLY — GENERAL GARDENING. [March Tender Asparagus.— The annoying feature of some asparagus, in many cases, is the stringiness of the lower portion. It is very aggravating, as to many people the lower or white portion is the most toothsome of the whole. But there is sometimes asparagus which, from tip to toe, throughout its whole length, from the thick base to the green or pur- ple top, is as tender as a sprig of cauliflower, so tender that it will almost melt in one's mouth. Few know how this is done, and if the readers of Meehans' Monthly will keep the secret to themselves, it shall now be told to them. This tender, luscious character is imparted to the thick ends by bleaching, just as celery is bleached, only in those coun- tries where special attention is given to the production of good asparagus, it is done in a different way. The plants are set out in beds about four feet wide and when the spring comes, very light rich earth is placed some six inches deep over the plants, to be raked off into the alleyways, and again thrown over the plants in spring. Much the same results can be obtained by deep planting, provided the soil be very light, and this saves the labor and trouble of the annual labor which the specialist in asparagus culture gives to the culture of the plant. In our country where good labor is hard to get, and costs much when found, the deep planting will be best for obtaining nice, tender asparagus. The Cos Lettuce. — A Florida paper notes that the Cos lettuce is the only class that can be grown to any satisfaction in Florida— the round-headed kinds get much sand in them and it is impossible to get this sand out with any amount of washing ; but the Cos lettuce, which has to be tied up in order to blanch properly, is free from sand. This is an advan- tage that we have never heard of before, in connection with this class of lettuce. Cauliflower. — It is remarkable how slowly the cauliflower has become a staple American vegetable, probably because it is not quite as hardy as the rest of the cabbage tribe. If the plants can be protected somewhat in the fall they do remarkably well. Dr. Crozier, who has been a successful market grower for seven years, has recently published a complete work on the subject. Names of Fruits.— 77;^ Gazette, of Allegan, Mich., has an excellent horticultural column, in which appears a paper by Mr. T. T. Lyon, on the necessity of having some authority de- cide the proper names which fruits shall bear. He thinks that the best way to settle this ques- tion would be for the horticultural division of the Department of Agriculture at Washington to be that authority, and whatever nomencla- ture is decided on by that department should be the one adopted by fruit growers. This body is to be also the arbiter upon all questions pertaining to the identification of varieties and the determination of their com- parative values. It is not clear that this tribunal will be any greater than the authority of the American Pomological Society, which was established expressly to decide these quest- ions ; still it is pleasant to find that the best pomologists are awake to the necessity of in some way or another crowding out the enor- mous amount of trash which is continually being thrust on the American fruit grower. Persimmons— A correspondent of The Florida Farmer, writing from Japan, has some merri- ment over the fact that Americans wait to eat persimmons until they have been partially decayed, in order to get rid of their bitterness. He states that in regard to the persimmons in Japan it has been found that their bitterness resides only in the skin, and they peel their persimmons, therefore, and these fruits are as good after that, when just taken from the tree, as if they were to wait, as in America, for the fruit to blette. Peach Growing in Kentucky. — Professor Cross, of Louisville, Kentucky, writes en- couragingly to MeehaNs' Monthly, of peach culture near that city. There have been five full crops in six years, and the prospect for the coming year was at that date, January loth, excellent for the coming season. Pepino. — Garden and Forest identifies the Solanttm which has attracted considerable at- tention as tree tomato, pepino, and has even been named Solanum Guatemalense, as a species long since named by Alton, S. tnurica- tum. Its native place is credited by Alton, to Chili and Peru. '893-] MEEHANS' MONTHLY — GENERAL GARDENING. 45 A Large Pear Tree in Louisiana.— Col. M. B. Hillyard, of New Orleans, write.s in reference to a pear tree in the northern part of Louisiana, which was a very large tree, and growing where it now stands as early as 1845, and is now six feet in circumference a foot above the ground. It is low and wide spread- ing ; the head having a diameter of limbs es- timated at 32 feet It seems to be about 20 feet high. It is the picture of health, though it has never had any artificial fertilization and the ground has not been stirred around it for probably 30 years. From the description given it seems closely related, although not quite the same apparently, to the old French Pear, Brown Buerre. It is probably some other French variety brought by the early French settlers of Louisiana. It ripens about November. The facts indicate that Alabama and northern Louisiana are admirably adapted to pear culture, although it is supposed that neither the pear nor the apple are well adapted to Southern fruit growing. More information in regard to the possibilities of these localities would be very desirable. Japan P1.UM. — A plum has been introduced into our fruit culture that is really a desir- able addition to our list of fruits. But it is liable to be confused with another fruit grown in New Orleans and the South, which is known as Japan plum, though really of the medlar tribe. This has been known as Mespilus faponica, though other botanists call it Etiobotiya Japonica. This last flowers in fall and ripens towards January, so cannot be grown where the frost descends below the freezing point. The fruit is golden, more like an apri- cot than a plum. Early Radishes and Lettuce. — Consider- ing how easy it is to get these favorite spring vegetables early by the use of glass frames, it is rather surprising that amateur gardeners do not more often take pains to have these luxu- ries. Frost does not hurt them and they grow on with every few warm days, resting only when the ground is frozen. If the seeds are. sown thinly under a common hot-bed sash, they may be had for several weeks in use before they could be obtained from the open air. Indian Fruit Orchard Near Geneva. — Mr. Geo. S. Conover contributes the following especially interesting note, regarding the Indian fruit orchard before referred to ; — " In connection with the paragraph ' Indians as Fruit Growers ' in the January number of the Monthly, the following may be of interest. The site of the capital village of the Senecas, near Geneva, is now occupied in part by the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station. This place was completely destroyed by the army of General Sullivan in September 1779, the palisade fortification which had been built by Sir Wm. Johnson to protect the Senecas during the French war was burned and the large Apple and Peach orchards girdled. Sprouts from the roots however soon sprang up and in 1797, only 18 years later, 100 bushels of peaches were sold to a distillery, and cider to the amount of $1200 was sold, the product of these orchards. Sergeant Moses Fellows, of Sullivan's army, records in his journal under the date of Sept. 9, 1797, as follows : ' By Reason of the Heavy Rain last night we were Not able to move this Morning till 12 o'clock for Geneses ; what Corn, Beans, peas, Squashes, Potatoes, Inions, turnips, Cabage, Cowcumbers, watermillions, Carrots, pasnips &c our men and horses Cattle &c could not Eat was Distroyed this Morning Before we march ; ' — A pretty good assortment I think for that place in those days." Enemies to Fig Culture. — In all our hor- ticultural works great merit has been claimed for the fig, that neither fungus disease, nor any insect's ravages seemed to distress it. It is now stated, however, that a small beetle is playing great havoc with the fig trees about New Orleans, Its method of procedure is to girdle the branches. Plum Prince of Wales —The Canadian Hoiiiculturist for November, 1892, gives a beautiful colored plate of the Prince of Wales Plum, introduced from the old world by Mr. S. D. Willard, of Geneva, who gives it much praise as doing well in that portion of New York. It is a round plum, reddish-purple, medium in size, and so abundant a bearer, that thirteen plums are on a branch less than twelve inches long. BIOGRAPHY AND LITERATURE. ROTHA. While I sit and muse as the shadows deepen, Scenes of youth's bright morn reappear before me, And the days long past, in their dewy freshness ; Sweet resurrection ! Thro' the wide-spread boughs of a lofty elm-tree, Where their pendent nest orioles are weaving. Sunbeams glide and dance on the running brooklet. Spotted with foam-flakes. Silvery minnows sport in the crystal waters ; Round the hawthorn-blooms butterflies are flitting ; Humming sounds are heard, and the air is balmy, Laden with odors. Fairer far than these, in her virgin-beauty. Full of grace, she comes, like a fawn advancing. Light of footstep, where violets and bluets Broider the green bank. Loose her tresses fall underneath a garland ; Every feature tells how the joyous springtide All her soul hath filled with its life and splendor ; Darling of Nature ! Brief her sojourn here as the vernal flowers' ! — Angel-pinions gleam in the gate of Heaven. And immortal Love to her bosom gathers Rotha, the blue eyed. — Professor Thos. C. Porter. The Name Tabern^montana. — Regarding a recent inquiry by Mr. Saunders, Prof. G. J. Hill says : — "The specific name of Atnsonia Tabemce- montana comes from the employment of a gen- eric name for a trivial one. It is derived from Taberntemontanus, a botanist of the sixteenth century, who died in 1590. In 1703 Plumier published at Paris a work on American plants, and dedicated a group of apocynaceous plants to the botanist who had lived more than two hundred years before. Jacobus Theodorus Ta- bernfemontanus, stating that he received the last name from the place of his birth, Berg Za- bern, for which Tabernae Montanse is given as the Latin equivalent. Linnaeus adopted this generic name when he published "his Genera Plantarum. " The plant was called by him Ta- bemcemontana Arnsonia. In 1788, Walter, in the Flora Carolhiiana, reversed the order of the two words, and we have the name as it now (46) stands. Arnsonia is at present limited to a small genus of herbaceous plants of North America and Eastern Asia, while Tabemosmon- tana comprises a much larger number of woody plants of the tropical parts of the globe. Plu- mier says Taberncemontanus was an industrious man, especially devoted to the study of botany. He published two works on botany, one in Latin, the other in German, a " New Book of Blants," on useful plants. To write in the vernacular on scientific subjects was very un- usual for the time, and the author deserves re- membrance for it. The translation of the name, Mountain of the Tavern, may be the cor- rect one, though Plumier gives it in the plural, which would be Mountain Taverns. It was evidently in some such sense that Plumier took it, for Bergzabern is a town of the Palatinate, at the eastern foot of the Vosges ]\Iountains. The specific name of the plant has, as in many other cases, no descriptive value, only histori- cal or philological. The desire of Mr. Saunders to know the meanings of plant names is a very commendable one, and adds much to one's knowledge of botany, and to the pleasure de- rived from the study of its nomenclature. The vicissitudes of names in natural history is very great, owing to the numerous changes, legiti- mate or whimsical, to which they are subject, but those who take delight in a name as some- thing more than a definite arrangement of let- ters to designate an object, will always be re- warded for their efforts." It may be added that the conductors had it in mind to explain the substantive character of the adjective in this instance, but the paragraph passed before it was done, a lapse not regret- ted now, since the result has been Mr. Hill's instructive paragraph. It may be further noted that it is customary when these proper or generic names are employed as adjectives or " specific " terms, to continue the capital ini- tial, and hence we have Arnsonia Taberncernon- tana and not A. tabemcrmontaria. Mr. Michael Barker kindly sends a similar note to that supplied by Mr. Hill. 1893-] MEEHANS' MONTHI^Y — BIOGRAPHY AND LITERATURE. 47 Dr. Elliot Coues.— Few scientific men are better known by reputation than the subject of this sketch ; and in those lines of natural his- tory relating to rural affairs, which it is the province of Meehans' Monthly to cultivate, his reputation is especially wide. In the de- partment of ornithology particularly, he stands pre-eminent. Aside from his devotion to natur- al history, properly so-called, he has paid very successful attention to physical science. He was born at Portsmouth, N. H., September the 9, 1842. His father was a business man ; but who possessed many of those scientific at- tributes for which his son has since become so famous. The family moved to Washington in 1853, where Dr. Coues has always resided, except when serving in the armj', or in scientific explorations. He graduated from what is now the Columbian University, in 1863. Among his earliest labors was a collection of the birds of Labrador for the Smithsonian Institution ; but his scientific love has drawn him from the extensive prac- tice of medicine and surgery. He was Secretary and Natu- ralist of the United States Geographical Survey of the Territories, under Dr. Hay- den. He was elected in 1877 a member of the Academy of Natural Sciences, of Phila- delphia, being probably the youngest man who ever re- ceived that honor. He resigned finally his position in the army, and has been connected more or less ever since closely with the Smith- sonian Institution, at Washington. The num- ber of scientific institutions which have honored Prof. Coues with membership is phenomenal. One might say, in a general way, that there is scarcely an institution of distinction over the whole world that has not Dr. Coues' name on its membership roll. W. D. Brackenridge. — Intelligent horti- culture suffers a severe loss in the death of Mr. W. D. Brackenridge, which occurred near Bal- timore on February 3rd. He was in his eighty-third year. He was born at Ayr, Scot- land, on June 10, 1810, and early in life became eminent as a landscape gardener. He engaged with the famous nurseryman Robert Buist of Philadelphia in 1837, and in 1838 sailed as naturalist on the celebrated four years cruise of the Wilkes' exploring expedition. To him was committed the preparation of the work on the Ferns of the expedition, for which he was eminently fitted by a three years course under Prof. Otto of the Berlin Botanical Garden. The result was a noble work. After a few sample copies had been distributed, the whole was lost by fire. Mr. Brackenridge's copy is one of the treasures of the library of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Robert Douglas. — Rob- ert Douglas was the first American (though he was not born in America) to show that evergreens could be raised in America as cheaply and as easily as in Europe, and who gave the first great impetus to practical forest planting. He not only pre- pared the seedlings — but un- dertook the work of planting the forests — and what he did in this line, has been the great American exemplar of good forest culture. It will gratify his many friends to know that though in his 8oth year, he is still ready on any occa- sion to climb a mountain and enjoy a genuine forest outing, one above 60 — or even very much DR. ELLIOT COUES. with any younger if they do not dare him too much. Francis Darwin. — Mr. Francis Darwin, who makes a fourth in the direct line of descent from the original Darwin, has been appointed deputy professor of botany in the England Cambridge University, as an aid to the aged Prof. Babing- ton, of whom we have made a note recently. Prof. Emory E. Smith. — Emory E. Smith, Professor of Horticulture in the Leland Stan- ford, Jr., University of California, has re- turned from the long European journey under- taken with the view of studying the best methods of teaching horticulture as practiced in the old world. GENERAL NOTES. The Flowers and Ferns of the United States. — Mr. C. F. Saunders, of Philadelphia, after purchasing a copy of "Flowers and Ferns" as offered in our advertising pages, was kind enough to send the following letter to the au- thor :— " I received from your firm on Saturday the volume of " Native Flowers and Ferns of the United States," and cannot forbear sending you a line of acknowledgment, as the money which I sent j'ou does not begin to be an equiv- alent for the pleasure which I have already de- rived from only a superficial examination of the book. As I sat by the fire Saturday evening turning over the pages, with my little niece, who has been an enthusiastic companion in many a botanical ramble, it seemed like going " a-Maying " again. We lost sight, for the nonce, of our wintry environment — the shrill whistle of the wind died away into the drowsy hum of bees and we were off "down Jersey," despite the frozen Delaware and the snow drifts. So please accept our thanks for the book which I find to be the key that unlocks a hundred delightful memories." So much interest was felt and is continued in that work, that though the author lost tliree thousand dollars by the sudden death and the subsequent insolvency of the estate of the publisher, Mr. Charles Robson, the conscious- ness of the pleasure his labors gave thou- sands, has always kept him from seriously re- gretting the loss. He seldom uses the titles and honorable appellations bestowed on him by scientific institutions and associations of learn- ing, much as they are prized, and he may therefore be more readily pardoned, perhaps, for being touched by unsought testimonials of this kind. English and Latin Names of Plants. — Botanists complain of English names some- times, and now it is Prof. Lemmon who com- plains of botanists that they will lazily coin an English name sometimes, when there are already good ones in circulation. The English 48) botanists, for instance, speak of the "Douglas Fir," when the regularly accepted name is Douglas Spruce. As to whether the plant is a Fir or a Spruce, is no more a question when it comes to an English name, than whether the " Tulip Poplar" of the people is a Poplar in botany. Prof. Porter's Poem. — The beautiful poem by our great botanist, Dr. Porter, will have a special interest to the readers of the present issue of Meeh.\ns' Monthly. Many of us have had our " Rotha's ". — the early loved and the long since lost. Amidst sorrow that can hardlj' be suppressed, it is still a pleasure to see the picture of their young and happy lives, under leafing trees, and garlanded with spring flowers, and to feel that though their lives might have been prolonged, their short careers were supremely happy. Mitchella repens.— For the April leading illustration a famous popular Eastern plant has been prepared — the Partridge Berry, Mitchella repens, selected for April because of its early flowering, though for its beautiful red berries, of interest all year round. To the student of plant life it commends itself as well as to the mere lover of wild flowers, by much the same opportunity for peering into the secrets of nature which the trailing arbutus aflbrded us. Floriculture in the United States. — At the annual meeting in Washington last August there were 2,000 members in attendance. 140,000,000 is invested in the business in the Union — and the sales last year are estimated at over $26,000,000. When it is remembered that the florist's business is chiefly confined to cut flowers and plants for decorative purposes, the immensity of the business is astounding. In many cases the demand is from mere fashion, and does not represent real floral love, but much of it is from real love. Vol. III. Plate 4. lU liw M T r hull •' Mnn< 1 1 MiTdiELLA REPENS. MITCHELLA REPENS. PARTRIDGE BERRY. NATURAL ORDER, RUBIACE^. MiTCHELLA REPENS, Liunseus. — Stem prostrate, six to twelve inches long, branching from the root, and spreading in all . directions ; leaves roundish ovate, sub-cordate, dark green, with a whitish central line, half an inch to three-quarters in length; petioles one-quarter to half an inch long, connected by small acuminate stipules: flowers white; peduncles two — flowered, axillarv and terminal ; berries twin, sub-globose, red when mature, insipid, persistent until flowers come again. (Darlington's ZVoxi Cestiica. See a\so {GY&y's Manual of the Botany o/ the Northern United States. Chapman's Flora of the Southern United States, and Wood's Class-Book of Botany,) The Partridge berry is a distinctively Amer- ican plant, and is an important element in American forest scenery. It is an inhabitant of almost ever3' portion of the United States east of the Mississippi river, extending from its extreme northern to its southern limit, and it is rare that any intelligent -writer gives de- tails of the attractive vegetation of any part ■which interests him, ■without including the Mitchella repens in the list of species found there. For instance, William Bartram in his " Tra- vels through the Carolinas and Georgia to Florida," published in 1791, is describing the spot in the Cherokee country ■where he first discovered the Magnolia atiriculata. All alone he ' ' entered upon the verge of the dark forest, charming solitude ! " He found " rushing from rocky precipices under the shade of the pensile hills, the unparalleled cas- cade of Falling Creek. " Further on he says, " I have seated myself on the moss clad rocks, under the shade of spreading trees and flori- ferous fragrant shrubs in full view of the cas- cades," and then noted " in this rural retire- ment the assemblage of the charming circle of mountain vegetable beauties." In this circle ■with Anemone thalidroides. Anemone Hepatica, various Trilliuras, Cypripedium, Sangiiinaria, and Epigcea, Mitchella finds a place. It may be noted here that this plant is not only a native of the United States, — it extends into Mexico. But even in these southern locations it shows its northern proclivities by always choosing the coolest places. Generally it is along partially shaded river banks, or under the shade of lofty trees. In the warmer latitudes, however, it is chiefly at home in the higher altitudes. Its love for coolness is well shown by an incident recorded by Mr. J. R. Lowrie in the first volume of the Bota7iical Gazette. It appears that in the Alleghanies of Central Pennsylvania, on Tusse}' and Bald Mountains, at an altitude of 1400 feet, there is a tract of land which exhibits the curious phenomenon of perpetual frost. Even in August it seldom thaws to a greater depth than three feet from the surface. The list of plants growing here as given by Mr. Lowrie is very meagre, chiefly a few RosacecE, but the Mitchella repens is recorded as one. When, however, it finds itself in a warmer climate, which from its wide distribution it is very likely to do, a very little warmth brings the flowers forward so as to show a wonderful dif- ference between the time of flowering in such a spot, and localities not so very far a'n'ay. For instance, Dr. Baldwin, who was appointed Naturalist to the Long Exploring Expedition, but died at Franklin, Missouri, before the ex- pedition had well started on its way, found it on Cumberland Island, in the extreme south- east corner of Georgia, in bloom on the 22d of December, 1813. Here, near Philadelphia, on this 4th day of June, 1881, the first flowers are just open, or nearly six months of difference, in only about si.x hundred miles as the crow flies. It has been long known to botanists, as Ray mentions it in 1704 as having been communi- cated to him by Dr. Sloane, who ' ' received it from Dr. Vernon, who collected it in Mary- land." Plukenet, who wrote in 1769, gives a figure of the plant, and ascribes its place of growth to " the Province of Florida." The liv- ing plants, Alton says, were introduced to (49) 50 MEEHANS' MONTHLY — MITCHELLA REPENS. [April England in 1761, by Mr. John Bartram. Gro- novius notices it in Flora Virginica ; but by all these early botanists it was regarded as a sort of Honeysuckle or Lonicera, to which it was referred even by Linnseus in his earlier works. In our description from Dr. Darlington, the student will note it said that the berries are " twin." This is the same with some of the Honeysuckle family, and on this account chiefly, it was probably classed with them. . Dr. Mitchell, after whom the genus was sub- sequently named was the first to note its dis- tinction, and in a small work describing many new American genera, gave this the name of " Chamfedaphne. " Of this work Dr. Gray thus writes in " Silliman's Journal " for 1840. "Dr. Mitchell had sent to Collinson, perhaps as early as in the year 1740, a paper in which thirty new genera of Virginian plants were proposed. This Collinson sent to Trew at Nuremberg, who published it in the Ephcme- rides and Natural Curiosonim for 1748, but in the meantime most of the genera had been published, with other names, by Linnaeus or Gronovius. Among Mitchell's new genera was one which he called Chamcedaphne ; this Linnaeus referred to Lonicera, but the elder (Bernard) Jussieu, in a letter dated February 19, 1751, having shown him that it was very distinct both from Lonicera and Linnaa, and in fact belonged to a different natural order, he afterwards named WMitchella. If Mitchell's name was published in 1748, and Linnseus did not name it till " after" Jussieu's letter in 1 75 1, under the law of priority which prevails among botanists, Mitchell's name should be the recognized one ; but as the adopted name honors a good early botanist, there would pro- bably be no disposition to change, even were there no other reasons. In regard to Dr. Mitchell, Dr. Gray says, " Linnseus had another correspondent in Dr. John Mitchell who lived several years in Vir- ginia, where he collected extensively ; but the ship in which he returned to England, having been taken by pirates, his own collections, as well as those of Governor Golden, were mostly destroyed." He seems to have come to Vir- ginia about 1700. He resided about seventy- five miles from Richmond, at Urbana, on the Rappahannock. He appears to have resided there for a number of years, for we find John Bartram, under date of June 3, 1744, answer- ing a letter, telling Dr. Mitchell, he passed through his country "in 1738," and should have been pleased if he had been acquainted with him then. Mitchell was well acquainted with the Duke of Argyle, Lord Bute and others, and when sending Bartram an order for plants and seeds for them quaintly remarks, "This is the only way I ever knew botany to be of any service to anybody ; for botany is at a very low ebb in our country since the death of Lord Petre. " It is pleasant to reflect since this, on how many ways botany is of value now, and that it does not depend for its suc- cess in these days on the patronage of any one man, however good or great he may be. As already noted its common name is "Par- tridge berry." A lady, Helen E. Watney, writing to the " London Gardeners' Chronicle" in 1879, says : "The general name for these berries is ' cats' eyes, ' because the two calyces marking the two ovaries appear on the same fruit, which is the joint product of two flowers. Why the plant is called Partridge berry I do not know." Emerson in his "Trees and Shrubs of Massachusetts, ' ' says, ' ' it furnishes food for the Partridge and other birds which remain in our climate during the winter. " It may be here remarked that the flowers appear about mid-summer, and the berries which fol- low continue, if they are not devoured, till the flowering time next 3'ear. It is remarkable that a plant so attractive in so many ways should not have become more attached to the public mind, or received more attention from polite writers, but the author can recall no instance in American poetry or general literature in which the Partridge berry plays a conspicuous part. The discovery of the white berried form was first made by Miss Kate Fisher Kurtz, of York, Pa., and proved a source of great delight when communicated to Prof. Asa Gray. Rafinesque says the berries are used in New England as tea, to cure dropsy and gout, and in North Carolina are a popular remedy in diarrhoea and dysentery. Explanations OF THE Plate. — i. A Pennsylvania plant drawn in June. 2. The exserted styles. 3. Portion of another plant with included styles, and exserted stamens. 4. A berry with "cats eyes,'' and, as often occurs, a pair of leaves united with the fruit. WILD FLOWERS AND NATURE. THE FIRST FLOWERS OF SPRING. Yes, 'twas the spring; and the gray willow now And the red-flowering maple bloomed again — The alder hung its tassels o'er the brook, Freed from its thrall. Howard Worcester Gii