150 



THE GARDKNKR'S MOAT///.) 



Mii^ 



Natural History and Science. 



C()MMCX/C.ir/0\S. 



THE ENGLISH IVY WILD. 



MY n. F. I,., rilll.ADKI.rillA. 



Some days siiuH'. whilst scuri'liiiij; tor wild 

 (lowers, ill a forest on the lirandywine, about 

 a Ii:ilt'-inilo above Wilmimrton. I)<>1.. I discovered 

 the KuLrlish ivy — Iledera helix— ijrowint; over the 

 exposed roots and the lower portion of the trunk 

 of a tree, lifteeu or twenty years of age. No 

 house, nor barn, nor ruined wall was in sight 

 from the spot where the specimen was found, 

 and I could see no reason why any one should 

 have selected this particular tree and place for 

 setting out the plant. 



Had the tree been a beech, and had 1 found 

 four and a half feet directly above the ivy a pair 

 of monograms sunk with a knife deeply into the 

 bark, and surrounded by symbols, carefully cut, 

 but of mysterious import, I would have strongly 

 suspected the planting to have Iteen the work of 

 man. 



The circumstances in this case I think certainly 

 prov: that a little bird planted the seed, and 

 that Hedera helix, if it has not heretofore been 

 detected away from its proper wall, or garden 

 border, will have hereafter to be classed among 

 the strays. Perhaps some of the readers of the 

 Monthly miytell us whether this waywardness 

 is of old or recent date. 



CONCERNING TWO SPECIES OF APPLE. 



BY HON. WILLAED C. FLAGG, MOKO, ILL. 



Considering the gi-eat economic importance of 

 the apple to the inhabitants of the north tem- 

 perate zone, I must confess I am disgusted at 

 the small amount of attention it has received 

 from our botanists. The native species of the 

 Old AVorld, even, do not seem to be well studied 

 and characterized, and our New World botanists 

 have probably not improved on this condition of 

 things. 



Nevertheless, I wish to bring before your 

 botanical as well as horticultural readers tw^o 

 species that I think should be better known, for 

 the purpose of eliciting such information as may 

 exist concerning them. 



OUK(JON « If.VH .\nM.K, 

 ' Pi/r"s rivularis. Doug. It seems to bt- li'.;Mred 

 with the incorrect name of I' i/rus corona/ ia m 

 the report of the De])artment of Atrriculture, 

 1S70. p. 414. (See cut. Fig. 1 , herewith). Dr. 

 Vascy, in liis report on the Forest Trees of the 

 Ignited States, in the report for 1875, describes it 

 as a '"small tree, ranging from California north- 

 ward into Ala.^ka. The fruit is of the size of a 

 cherry, of an agreeabh; llavor.anil used. particular- 

 ly in Alaska,by the natives of the conn try for food," 



In Washington Territory, according to a pam- 

 phlet b}' Mrs. Stuart (187;')), " the Crab apple in 

 many localities forms orchards on the prairies. 

 Its presence is an indication of good soil. The 

 wood is hard and tough, anri the fruit well 

 flavored." 



Has this tree been fruited or planted on this 

 side of the Rocky Mountams? Has the close- 

 ness of its relationship to other species of the 

 ajiple been tested by budding or grafting one 

 upon the other? Has it more hardiness than 

 other species in endurance of cold, &c. ? Does 

 it promise by such a process of amelioration as 

 the Siberian Crab is now going through to be- 

 come a valuable fruit ? 



Leaving these questions to get aiiswered, I 

 would next ask for information concerning the 



OHIA. 



Lindley, in his Vegetable Kingdom, mentions 

 an indigenous and solitary species of apple 

 as found in the Sandwich Islands. James, in his 

 history of the Sandwich Islands, mentions among 

 the indigenous and plentiful fruits "the Ohia 

 juicy and red, but of poor flavor." Whitney, 

 in his Hawaiian Guide Book (Honolulu, 1875), 

 describes 



THE LARGEST APPLK OHf'IIAKO rX TIIK WORLD. 



" The wilderness of Kr)olan. Main, contains a 

 forest of Oftias (native wild apple trees) count- 

 less in number, stretching from the sea far up 

 the mountain sides. The trees vary from forty 

 to tifty feet in height, and in the harvest season, 

 from July to September, are covered with fi'uit, 

 some white, but mostly red. We passed through 

 the forest when the trees were loaded with ripe 

 and ripening apples. What a sight ! For miles 

 around us, up the mountain and toward the sea- 

 shore, was one vast ijrove of Ohias, literally red 



