1880. 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



145 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES 



Yellows in the Peach. — J. K. says : " In 



all my experience in England as a gardener, I 

 never saw anything like the disease called yel- 

 lows here. I do not think the thing is found 

 there, and can you tell the reason why?" [It is 

 not easy to tell why, though there may be 

 guesses why, oflfered. For instance, it is known 

 that the peculiar conditions which call the vari- 

 ous species of fungus into existence require to 

 be very nice, and the English climate may be 

 unfavorable to this species ; or it may be that the 

 species of fungus which causes the yellows has 

 not been introduced there and would grow well 

 if it were. Most of the Peaches grown in Eng- 



land are grafted on the Plum stock, and the 

 Plum root does not seem to be as choice a mor- 

 sel for the fungus as the Peach root. It may be 

 that it attacks the Plum sometimes, — but so far 

 we have never known of a case, though it does 

 attack other trees besides Peaches ; at least the 

 fungus appears to be the same. — Ed. G. M.] 



California Raisins. — A.W. H. says : " Page 

 81 of the Monthly gives a profit of 35 cents per 

 vine and over S960 per acre." 



[It certainly does look a little that way. But 

 we are sorry that it is so, for we have conscien- 

 tious scruples against believing that any one can 

 make S960 clear profit per acre on grapes or 

 anything else in California, or anywhere. — Ed. 

 G.M.I 



Forestry. 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



PINE AND OAK FORESTS. 



BY MARGID DKiRAM. 



There is a theory abroad, that in the light 

 sandy soils of districts bordering the Atlantic 

 and Gulf Coasts, the pine and oak invariably 

 succeed each other when either is removed by 

 the agency of fire, or the woodman's destruc- 

 tive tool. 



From some observations I have made through 

 several of the Southern States, I believe this 

 long-established theory to be but half correct. 

 The reiteration of it by a gentleman whom I met 

 on a train in West Central Georgia, induced me 

 to look with especial care at the forests passed 

 through after leaving him, and until the City of 

 New Orleans was reached. Directly along the 

 Gulf Coast the pine undoubtedly reigns su- 

 preme. Marshes and the borders of streams, 

 of course, form an exception to this statement. 

 In such localities, several species of oak and 

 magnolia, the tulip, sweet-gum, and other trees 

 are to be met with in abundance. Through the 

 uplands, however, one may travel hundreds of 

 miles and see the pine alone in every stage of 

 its growth, from the little plant of six inches, up 

 to the giant of 80 to lUO feet. These differ- 

 ent ages and sizes of the tree are not always 

 found in forests apart, but small and great are 



very frequently seen together, the new growth 

 coming up amidst the remnants of the old. 



If we, however, go from fifty to one hundred 

 miles back from the coast, the state of matters 

 will have materially changed, and there our 

 long-used and oft-repeated theory will be found 

 at home, and altogether correct. "Woods 

 mainly of Spanish Oak, upland willow oak, 

 and Black Jack, with here and there a pine 

 left from the preceding forest, will be noticed 

 in conspicuous alternation with other wooded 

 tracts nearly or entirely covered with the long 

 and short leaved pines. 



The alternating theory, I fancy, has become 

 established in the following way. People liv- 

 ing in sections of the country where this view 

 is a true statement of facts, might naturally 

 enough suppose the rule would hold good else- 

 where and everywhere. They would indeed be 

 so possessed with this idea that they would not 

 notice any deviation from it when such was 

 casually presented to them. On the other 

 hand, residents along the coast, where the pine 

 forest is the invariable rule, not having any 

 occasion to form a similar theory, would not 

 possess one, and there would therefore be no 

 conflict of thought with the adjoining section, 

 and consequently no rectification of the theory's 

 supposed universal application. A difterence 

 of soil is, I presume, the sole reason for the 

 diversity of forest habit, as I have above stated. 



