1877. 



AND EORTIGULTUBIST. 



313 



kave found that the old reliable R. I. Greening, 

 Roxberry Russet and Baldwin, are almost worth- 

 less here. We can, and do, grow finer specimens 

 of these varieties, than ever grew in New Eng- 

 land, but, at the same time, they are not profit- 

 able bearers here. We have others that are 

 excellent substitutes. The locust, or grass- 

 hopper, has been, and is, a fruitful source of talk 

 and annoyance, yet we have abundant crops of 

 all kinds, and there is more scare than real 

 damage. 



To any who think of coming here to locate I 

 say come and see our country for yourselves. 

 The three great thoroughfares, along which the 

 best farming and fruit lands lie, are the M. K. & 

 T. R. R., through the Neosho Valley, the A. T. & 

 Santa Ffi, coursing the great Arkansas River and 

 the K. P., along the Kanses River, and its 

 branches, the Smoky Hill and Republican. It 

 takes grit, patience, energy and some money, to 

 warrant success. In the poorest shanties and 

 dug-outs on the frontier may be found as refined 

 and courteous people, as through the boulevards 

 of your own Quaker City. Do not think that 

 rough, ignorant society is the chief element 

 here. The Indian's scalping knife, and the 

 Texas drover's pistol, are of the past. We have 

 far less of the tramp and the beggar than you, 

 and vicious poverty is almost unknown. 



The church bell breaks the silence of a peace- 

 ful Sabbath. School-houses, factories and taste- 

 ful residences, are multiplying on every hand. 

 Orchards, groves and parks, are growing larger 

 and more numerous upon the treeless prairies. 

 We are trying, by legislation, to protect what 

 birds we have, and encourage others to make 

 their homes with us. The Southern mocking- 

 bird spends his Summers with us, and yearly 

 increases as our groves afford more attractive- 

 ness. 



But do not think that we have no drawbacks. 

 The locust visits us occasionally ; the plum cur- 

 culio is a nuisance; the currant, and the sweet 

 varieties of the cherry, do not succeed in our 

 climate ; the arborvitse and the firs are 

 grown with gi-eat difficulty. But we can, and 

 do, have plenty of easily-grown trees and 

 flowers. "Timeproveth all things." 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



European Notes by the Editor. — I have men- 

 tioned the Queen's private residence at Osborne 



House in the Isle of Wight, as one of the small 

 but beautiful gardens with which England 

 abounds. It was to me especially interesting as 

 showing how rapidly trees could be made to 

 grow into beauty, or even utility if one were dis- 

 posed to look on planting as a money invest- 

 ment alone. There are, of course, many trees 

 now which were growing on the estate when it 

 belonged to Lady Isabella Blatchford, of whom 

 Queen Victoria purchased it; but the major part 

 of the trees now growing here, were planted by 

 Prince Albert, or since his time, and numberi 

 are over fifty feet high and six feet in circumfer- 

 ence. Cedar of Lebanon, which we may with 

 justice call a slow growing tree, are many of 

 them here over forty feet high. A large number 

 of our Californian Coniferse, of which Prince Al- 

 bert was very fond, are also of about the same 

 height, and many of them I saw in great beauty 

 for the first time. The Cupressus niacrocarpa, 

 for instance, here about thirty feet high, forms 

 one of the most beautiful sights that a human 

 eye could desire to look upon, and there are 

 some very fine specimens of Libocedrus decur- 

 rens, which, I may say here, I find, all through 

 England, " Thuja gigantea," though the error 

 has been shown over and over again in Ameri- 

 can literature, and though any one can see by 

 the very look of the plant, if they were disposed 

 to be inquisitive, that it is not a Thuja at all. If 

 you ask them for Libocedrus decurrens, they 

 " don't know such a plant." The real Thuja 

 gigantea they call Thuja Craigiana. 



A very large number of the trees — enough to 

 make quite an arboretum by themselves — have 

 been planted at different times by celebrated or 

 distinguished persons, as memorials of their visit 

 to Osborne, or as commemorative of the birth- 

 days of members of the Queen's family. The 

 names of the planters and the occasions are 

 neatly painted on " labels " at the foot of each 

 tree. Some of these, like Sv)me of the planters 

 have had misfortunes in their career, and looked 

 unhappy; but the majority were doing very well 

 and must be a great source of pleasure. I envied 

 especially the Princess Helena, who on May 25, 

 1855, planted an Abies bracteata which was now 

 thirty feet high. The branchcH lay flat on the 

 ground, and the tree made a regular cone. These 

 branches on the ground measured fifty-five feet 

 round. The general appearance of the tree at a 

 little distance reminded me of some of the beau- 

 tiful Douglas' Spruces I had seen in their native 

 places of growth, but the leaves are very long, 



