156 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[May, 



these Southern seedsmen, that though they have 

 christened the plant "Spanish Clover," they do 

 not try to make out that it is anything new, or 

 that they alone have the "sole stock,'' but they 

 honestly put the botanical name, Richardsonia 

 scabra, in their advertisements. 



The Winter on Evergreens.— The at- 

 tempts of the past age to fix the hardiness of 

 plants by the thermometer are now admitted 

 failures. Different seasons, though of the same 

 temperature, aftect differently different plants; 

 but as the low temperature may be accompanied 

 by moist air or dry air, high wind or a still at- 

 mosphere, a bright sky or a cloudy one, or even 

 the character of the preceeding summer as re- 

 gards heat or moisture. In this vicinity our 

 lowest temperature was accompanied by a vio- 

 lent hurricane. Stifi' close-growing trees suf- 

 fered very little, but those wi^h line open foliage 

 or loose branching habit were badly injured. 

 Thus the Irish Yew, the thick close growing 

 variety, kept as green as grass, while the usually 

 hardier American is burnt as by fire. The Hem- 

 lock Spruce, Lawson Cypress and similar sprayey 

 plants also sufiered severely. Tbe injury to 

 these, with the comparative immunity of others 

 that usually suffer, is one of the interesting ex- 

 periences of the season. 



Arrangement of Arboretums and Bo- 

 tanic Gardens.— A cox-respondent says: "Ab- 

 solute sequence of the orders is a myth in any 

 garden in the world, nor can they all be repre- 

 sented, and even were it possible the orders are 

 too numerous and too tough for the digestion of 

 the ordinary student. The simplification of 

 botany is a prime necessity in this or any other 

 country, and it seems to me that an arrangement 

 by great family relations would go very far 

 towards doing this in gardens." 



We go farther and say that such arrangements 

 are not only "myths " in practice, but the at- 

 temps are absurdities. We study botany in 

 these days by the systematic writings of botani- 

 cal authorities, and we want the living speci- 

 mens chiefly to verify what these authors tell us 

 and to see for ourselves if we can observe any- 

 thing new ; of course when one is studying a genus 

 it is convenient to have all the species near to- 

 gether, and in planting this may be remembered ; 

 but for this purpose it can make little difference 

 whether one plant is twenty feet or two hundred 

 feet away from another, the main point is to 

 index or number the plots, and each tree in each 

 plot so that the student can find what he wants 



in a few minutes. Every tree and bush should 

 have a number and a name ; and every plot 

 should have a distinct centene or millene of its 

 own, so as to provide for additions when with 

 the annual catalogue in hand, anything can be 

 at once found without worrying about classes, 

 orders, cohorts, alliances and so on which one 

 must be an accomplished botanist, and not a 

 mere student to understand. 



Tlie attempts to arrange botanic gardens as 

 we would arrange dried specimens in an her- 

 barium, in these days of accessible botanical 

 books and cheap printing seem like the arrange- 

 ments of country seats in paste-board, putty, and 

 colored everlastings, and which often " take the 

 first premiums" at country fairs. 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



Double Thalictrum anemonoides. — " A 

 lover of wild flowers" writes : The inclosed 

 specimen I have thought to be a double variety of 

 Thalictrum anemonoides. The plant grows 

 from three to four inches in height, and has no 

 stem leaves except those that form an involucre 

 around the umbel of flowers which are full 

 double, pure white, and very pretty. Will you 

 please examine and answer as to the correctness 

 of this name in the Gardeners' Monthly." 



[The specimen is correctly named. It is not 

 unfrequently found wild in this condition. We 

 note them offered for sale in the catalogue of 

 Woolson & Co. — Ed. G. M.] 



Sugar from Ash-leaved Maple. — Mr. G. 

 Wright writes : "I send you to-day by mail, a 

 small cake of sugar from Boxelder. My trees 

 are eight or nine years old, and about six inches 

 in diameter. Three trees gave twelve quarts of 

 sap in two days, and you have half of the sugar. 

 Here we plant Boxelder on sandy and poor land 

 where nothing else but Stock Pines would grow." 



[The sugar was of very superior quality. The 

 Common Silver maple also yields excellent 

 sugar as well as the Boxelder, as the Ashleaved 

 Maple is called. By the way we should be glad 

 to know how this tree came by the name of Box- 

 elder.— Ed. G. M.] 



DiCENTRA sPECTABiLis.— J. K., West Ches- 

 ter, Pa., writes : " I hope you will excuse a re- 

 mark in regard to the Dicentra spectabilis. 

 When my first plant bloomed, — and that is over 

 twenty-five years since, — I invited the late Dr. 

 Wm. Darlington to come and see it, as he was 



