86 



TJIF. GARDENER'S MOXllUA 



\^March, 



is the Loiuon riir (a.s 1 iisct-rtaimd by ouo or 

 two fruits which partly escaped the effects of 

 frost), the variety most commonly cultivated in 

 Charleston, but which does not succeed here so 

 well as tile Celestial and Hrnwn Turkey. These 

 two last named I havf found to be the i)est for 

 our climate; hoth hardy, ixood l)earers, and 

 quality of fruit excellent. The main crop of 

 Celestial begins to ripen about 1st of .Fuly, and 

 continues for a month. IJrown Turkey ripi-ns 



which looks at a distance lik(! leaves in i-arly 

 spring, and contrasts agreeably with the dark 

 firs. 



One of the prettiest tiiiiit^s ;it this st-ason is :in 

 evergreen shrub known here as " On-iron (Jrupe,'^ 

 but which has leaves liki; a Holly, thougii I liave 

 not seen llower or fruit. It has glos.sy dark- 

 green leaves with sharp spines, and is said to 

 bear black, or dark purple berries. [Mahonia 

 aquifolia. — En.] The "'Oregon currant" must be a 



early in August, and continues into September. ' beautiful shrub. Usually, flowers, like pro])hets, 



They botli occasionally, when the "Winters are are without honor in their own country; ])ut 



mild, liear a small number of" first croj) " fruit. ; specimens are found in nearly every yard and 



The Fig being a dioecious plant, we liavf, of j garden, and every fiower-lover is enthusiastic in 



course, only the female in cultivation, and the 

 seeds are immature. The fleshy receptacle 

 swells out and becomes a luscious fruit, but for 

 want of proper fecundation the seeds are defec- 

 tive. Do you know of any male Fig plant in 

 this country ? It was said many years ago that 

 there was one in New Orleans. If we could 

 raise new seedlings, there might be good pros- 

 pects of improving our stock, and introducing 

 more hardv varieties. 



NOTES FROM OREGON. 



BY FANNIE S. BltlGGS, SALEM, OUEGON. 



its praise. The leaf is similar to that of the 

 common garden currant and its habit of growth^ 

 only it is ver}' much larger, and in spring it Ls- 

 said to bear a great profusion of bright scarlet 

 flowers. [Ribes sanguinea. — Ei).| 



Almost every clear day I go out to look at Mt. 

 Hood, only a few steps up a hill, and I see it 

 rising in calm majesty from the dark surrouiiding^ 

 ridges, glittering snowy white in the sun. From 

 other hills, not fiir away, we can see four of these 

 snowy giants • -Teflerson, Hood, Ranier, and St. 

 Helen's. Somehow these bold isolated peaks,. 



I standing in lonely grandeur, landmarks for 

 hundreds of miles, seem even more inspiring^ 



Old residents say that the rains commenced here j than the long line of the Nevadas,seen from the 

 nearly two months earlier than usual. There California hills. No wonder that the dweller.'. 

 were very few fine days in October, fewer still in 

 November, and the steams were higher than had 

 been known for years. December, however, has 

 been very pleasant, especially the last week, 

 which has been clear and frosty. Plowing and 

 wheat-sowing have been going on for two months 

 or more, and are still in progress. 



As might be expected in so moist a climate, 

 ferns, mo.sses and lichens abound. In many 

 places the trees for a foot or two from the ground 

 are covered with flat, leathery lichens, in shape 

 resembling the flat, branching antlers of some 

 kinds of deer. Some of these are green, some 

 brown, laced with silvery grey. I never saw 

 such riches of moss. In low grounds every 

 shady place has its carpet, every stone and 

 stump and fallen tree its covering, every fallen 

 twig or strand is taken possession of, and covered 

 ■with little green plumes overlapping each other 

 with exquisite grace. Finest of all is a kind 

 that seems partial to the ends of oak logs, which 

 looks like long, graceful, interwoven leaves, fine 

 and soft as velvet. The timber of this region is 



among mountains love their " ain countree ;'^'' 

 no wonder that something of the caln> steadfast- 

 ness of the eternal hills aljides in their souls. 



THE EUCALYPTUS AND THERAPEUTICS. 



BY MAKQUII) DIGRAM, IMIILA. 



You tell your readers in your January number,, 

 what I suspect most of them were previously 

 unaware of, that the action of the Eucalyptus is 

 not curative but preventative ; that is to say, the 

 plant rapidly acts through its roots instead of its 

 leaves, taking up with the former the moisture 

 which, if left to be acted upon by the sun's heat,^ 

 would produce unwholesome vapors. These ever- 

 thirsty roots create innumerable streams in the 

 soil, and so prevent stagnation and its unpleasant 

 results. 



Can you tell me whether the sun-flower — 

 the large-flowered one grown in gardens — acts in 

 a similar manner ; as il, also comes strongly rec- 

 ommended as a " destroyer of fever in the air."" 

 We are told that it was some vears since grown 



chiefly fir and oak, and the oaks are completely ' around the grounds of a certain hospital at or near 

 covered with a fine light-green pendant moss, Washington, where ague bad previously beeii 



