January 9, 1909 



HORTICULTURi: 



38 



Rocky Mountain Rambles 



The Wasatch Mountains are marked by numerous 

 short canons with an abundance of water. Looking west 

 one sees the broad open plain dotted with small farms 

 and fruit orchards. This, the Salt Lake desert, has been 

 largely redeemed with the water coming from the moun- 

 tains. The Wasatch Mountains contain but few species 

 of forest trees. The Abies cuncolor, always beautiful, is 

 a characteristic conifer at lower altitudes, and with it 

 the Douglass Fir (Pseudotttuga Douglasii) which no- 

 where in this region obtains the magnificent proportions 

 it does in Washington and Oregon. The Lodge Pole 

 Pine and Engelmann Spruce at higher altitudes are 

 magnificent forest trees. The Quaking Aspen (Popuhis 

 Iremuloides) is associated with these conifers, covering 

 extensive areas. On some slopes a hard maple much 

 like the eastern species but a smaller tree, Acer grandi- 

 dentatum, is found, also a dwarf bush maple, the A. 

 glahrum, and on the dry slopes the Purshia tridentata, 

 a small shrub of the rose family and the Mountain Ma- 

 hogany (Cercocarpus parvifoUus and C. ledifolius) are 

 beautiful, but not generally adapted to dry situations as 

 they gi'ow in very dry soil. The more moist situations 

 along the mountain streams contain a great abundance 

 of the Osier (Cornus stolonifera) which is certainly dif- 

 ferent from the plant of the east of the same name. The 

 Dwarf Birch (Betula occiJni talis) which I believe now 

 goes by a different name, has the brownish cherry col- 

 ored bark. Such places may abound with the Salmon- 

 berry (Eubus Nutkanus), and along the border of the 

 brooks at 9,000 and 10,000 feet a great deal of the Mer- 

 tensia Sihirica, a close relative of the eastern Lungwort 

 (M. Virginica) , well known in our Iowa woods and in 

 gardens. 



I cannot refrain from saying something about the 

 home adornment in the Salt Lake Valley. Trees were 

 planted everywhere in the streets; looking over the val- 

 leys from some mountain top one can see dotted every- 





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Lodge Pole Tine (I'iiius Murrayana) and Sulialpine Fii- just below 

 timber line, near Ogden, Utah. Elevation 92<Xi feet. 



where the village with the Lombardy poplar. I have 

 never seen the tree show off to greater advantage than 

 here, the spire-like tree planted in every Mormon village. 

 The Mormons made good use of other trees like the Box 

 Elder, which grows to perfection here making beautiful 

 shade trees. It does not look like our eastern tree; 

 straight and with dense foliage, they are of singular 

 beauty here. Black Locust (Robinia Pseudacacia), 

 Honey Locust, English Walnut, and many other trees 

 have been planted here with beautiful effect. 



In the gardens one finds the usual eastern plants, 

 sweet peas, nasturtiums, dahlias, verbenas, phlox, and 

 many others. One is astonished at the large number of 

 European weeds that find a congenial home in the 

 streets, the usual plantains, bull thistle, spearmint, 

 lamb's-quarter, horehound, catnip, caraway, and in 

 many places poison hemlock. 



Ames, la. LO^ Oy^iAyS^iyC^t^^^ 



Mountain Mahogan.T (Cercocarpus ledifolius) growing In the rocks, 

 near Ogden, Utah. Elevation 8500 feet. 



Single Geraniums 



Amidst an ever increasing taste for furnishing rooms, 

 or simply for show purposes in the conservatory, the sin- 

 gle geranium has taken a prominent place, and many of 

 the newer introductions have exliibited such lasting 

 qualities amid unusual and uncongenial surroundings, 

 that in house decoration they are from time to time 

 subjected to, that their value as decorative plants has 

 made rapid strides within the past few years. 



The small flowered irregular petalled trusses of a few 

 years ago are giving way to varieties with strong, erect 

 spikes, large well-formed flowers and colors of beautiful 

 harmony and softness, extending from pure white to 

 deepest crimson and including several forms of a rare 

 bluish pink shade. It naturally follows, of course, that 

 a oreat many of the newer introductions turn out bad ; 



