1880.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



305 



the foliage expands, the work of searching for 

 the enemy is useless ; but if the search is 

 thorough and continuous early in the season, 

 and the insects are killed as they appear, they 

 will considerably decrease, and in a season or 

 two the house will be entirely free." 



Aetificial Pine-apples.— The Pine-apples of 

 nature, as we get them in our markets are pig- 

 mies in comparison with the work of a skilled 

 English gardener. The Journal of Horticulture 

 says : "A correspondent desires to know the 

 weight of the heaviest Pine-Apple that has been 

 grown in this country, with the name of the 

 grower and the variety. We remember Mr. 

 Fleming of Trentham exhibiting in the Regent 

 street rooms of the Horticultural Society a fruit 

 of Providence weighing 14 lbs., and one of the 

 Ripley Queen 7 lbs. 10 ozs. He afterwards cut a 

 fruit of the Queen weighing 8 lbs. 11 ozs. We do 

 not name them as the heaviest fruits recorded, 

 but they are worthy of mention, and we shall be 

 glad if any of our readers can give particulars of 

 heavier fruits. As an instance of successful 

 Pine culture it is recorded that a Mr. Baldwin, 

 who was gardener to the Marquis of Hertford at 

 Bagley, cut thirty-six fruits of Providence in 

 1822, which weighed 280 lbs. 4 ozs., the largest 

 fryit being 11 lbs. 8 ozs, Mr. Bailey of Sharde- 

 loes has, we believe, also grown fruit of about the 

 same weight." 



The Sea Radish. — At a recent meeting of the 

 the Edinburgh Botanical Society, the President 

 exhibited two first and second year's plants of 



Raphanus maritimus, showing that it is at least 

 of biennial duration. It is said by some to last 

 for three years, although it has been questioned 

 if it is really distinct from the strictly annual 

 Raphanus Raphanistrum. In Withering's Botany 

 it is stated that the late Dr. Walker, Professor of 

 Natural History at Edinburgh, so long ago as 

 1753, deemed it preferable to Horse Radish for 

 the table, and found that cattle were fond of its 

 herbage. When the young roots are cut into 

 very small pieces and sparingly mixed with 

 green salad, such as Lettuce, Mr. Gorrie obtains 

 a very decided and agreeable Radish flavor. 

 These roots are obtainable in perfection at peri- 

 ods when the common garden Radish is not in 

 season. One of the specimens was fully four 

 feet high and had not bad room to spread. The 

 original stock had been brought from the coast 

 of Bute and Wemyss Bay in 1877. One of the 

 specimens in Mr. Gorrie's garden measured on 

 August 24, 1878, 4 feet 2 inches high, while the 

 spread of its lower branches was 8 feet 5 inches 

 in diameter. This plant might profitably be 

 cultivated for cattle feeding on exposed sandy 

 coasts. 



Big Cucumbers. — The Garden is wondering 

 what "on earth" are big cucumbers good for; 

 and then it profanely remarks : " Give us a big 

 Cyclamen or big Cauliflower if you. like, or even 

 a gigantic Long-pod ; but what is the good of a 

 Cucumber seemingly as large as an Egyptian 

 mummy ?" The stool of repentance will no 

 doubt be brought out for this infidelity to all the 

 old gardeners hold sacred. 



Forestry. 



CUMMUNICA TIONS. 



FORESTRY IN NORTH AMERICA. 



The Pertinent Laws and Regulations, and the Future of North 

 American Forests. 



BY JOHN BOOTH, KLEIN FLOTTBECK, GERMANY. 



Translated for the Gardener's Monthly by G. W. Dk B. 

 (Continued from page 278.) 



What possible benefit can be derived in view 

 of such a condition from laws that try to further 

 the planting of woodland by free grants of the 

 necessary land? The " Timber Culture Act," of 

 1873-74, gave to every one who planted forty 



acres with forest trees, and kept them in proper 

 condition for the next ten years, one hundred 

 and sixty acres of government land free of all 

 charges. The trees might be planted at distances 

 of twelve feet, and that alone made the law in- 

 effective, for even the particularly favorable soil 

 of America could not grow a forest with such 

 distances. As early as 1876-77 this law was 

 amended; but of what practical use could, under 

 the most favorable circumstances, the planting 

 of Poplars and other soft-wood trees be, when 

 the organized spoliations by thousands of timber 

 thieves, with subsequent burning of hundreds of 

 square miles of the most valuable timber, were 



