1880. 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



115 



A WoxDERFUL Tree. — In the birch wood of 

 CuUoden, Scotland, there is a remarkable tree 

 worthy of note. Somewhere about thirty years 

 ago a little giant of the forest was blown down 

 in a storm, and fell right across a deep gully or 

 ravine, which it completely spanned, and the 

 top branches took root on the other side. From 

 the parent stem no less than fifteen trees grew 

 up perpendicularly, all in a row ; and there they 

 still flourish in all their splendor, while the pa- 

 rent stem evinces no token of decay. Several 

 of the trees are not less than thirty feet high. 

 The tree is a large fir. 



Re-wooding of Mountains in France 



WITH AlLANTUS GLANDULOSA. — A Writer in 

 the Bulletin de la Societie d'' Acclimation de Paris, 

 says the Gardener''s Chronicle, recommends the 

 Ailantus for re-wooding the mountainous dis- 

 tricts of France. He asserts that the Russians 

 successfully employ it in reclaiming the arid 

 steppes of the interior of Russia ; and the East- 

 ern Railway Company of France have planted 

 it along their line, to bind the earth of the cut- 

 tings and embankments. One of the merits of 

 the Ailantus is that it will grow in almost any 

 soil, including dry soils. The wood is used in 

 carriage building and in joinery ; and the leaves 

 are valuable in two ways. In the first place 

 they stink so vilely, and are of such a disagree- 

 able taste, that animals do not browse upon 

 them when fresh, though they will eat them 

 when dry. Secondly, the leaves serve to sup- 

 port the silkworm (Attacus cynthia vera); 

 in fact, this silkworm eats the leaves of the 

 Ailantus by preference. Now that a means of 

 preparing the silk spun by this worm has been 

 discovered, both the worm and the tree become 

 more important, and it is confidently hoped that 

 the rearing of this worm will prove a profitable 

 industry." 



The Walnut and its Uses. — A scientific 

 gentleman, commenting upon the abundant sup- 

 ply of walnuts now arriving in the French capi- 

 tal, enters upon a learned discussion as to the 

 merits and virtues of that fruit and the tree 

 which bears it. He disposes, first, of the vulgar 

 prejudice still prevalent in many parts of France 

 to the effect that it is most dangerous to repose 

 under the shadow of the tree. In support of 

 such a theory may be quoted the dicta of Val- 

 mon Bomare, who states that the shade of the 

 tree gives rheumatism ; of Bayle, who pretends 

 that it is a cause of fevers ; and of Theophrastus, 



who makes out that it tends to stupify and 

 deaden the energies of the brain. Finally, there 

 is the popular theory that the Italian terms nux 

 and nuces are derived from various nocuous 

 qualities either of the tree or its produce. Our 

 French savant has made experiments of his own, 

 and is able to declare that he has neither caught 

 fevers nor rheumatism by lying under walnut 

 trees, while his own writings may, no doubt, be 

 accepted as a conclusive proof that he has not 

 suffered iu the way suggested by Theophrastus. 

 Another celebrated saying, apropos of the wal- 

 nut tree, is that which connects it with wives 

 and spaniels in a sort of semi-proverbial recom- 

 mendation not to spare the rod. The Latin 

 couplet is, however, still more uncomplimentary 

 to the fair sex than that which we have in Eng- 

 lish, inasmuch as it extends the injunction to all 

 women, and not only to wives, and associates 

 them and the walnut tree, not with spaniels, but 

 with the most despised of all beasts of burden. 

 We are further informed by the French pro- 

 fessor that the juice and odor of walnut leaves 

 are a protection against insects of the least 

 agreeable kind, and that the English use a de- 

 coction of it for rubbing on their hair [cheveux), 

 or, as he probably means, their horses [chevaux], 

 in order to keep away the flies. As for the fruit 

 itself, the old rule of the school of Salerno was 

 "nuts after fish, and cheese after meat;" but 

 modern gastronomists have relegated nuts to a 

 stage in the repast at least as late as cheese. 

 The authority from whom we quote, declares 

 that there is nothing indigestible in the fruit, 

 provided only that it is fresh, and has not been 

 kept till the juices have dried up and the solid 

 tissues begun to grow mouldy, as they are apt to 

 do after a few weeks or months. — London Globe. 

 Forest Culture. — A most successful under- 

 taking in forest culture is being carried forward 

 by Mr. B. F. Peck, of Bethany, N. Y., who 

 commenced his plantations four or six years ago. 

 He has ten acres in his new woodland planta- 

 tion, the soil being far from fertile, a clay loam 

 resting on a shell work near the surface. The 

 varieties of trees grown are European larches 

 and Scotch pines. At two years from the seed 

 these young larches are trees, planted to places 

 where they are to remain, four feet apart each 

 way, an acre thus containing 2,640. Those that 

 have been set four years are now from eight to 

 ten feet high, vigorous in growth, and branching 

 so extensively as to make it difficult for one to 

 pass through the " woods." These are from 



