220 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[July, 



iguorant fanatics attempted to burn the chapel 

 oak, but the inhabitants of Allonville and its 

 vicinity turned out in arms and protected it 

 against the vandals. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Editokial Traveling Xotes. — I love New 

 Jersey. It is fashionable to joke about her. Some 

 tell us she was made of the pieces left from the 

 manufacture of other States. It is true there 

 are scenes which you can find in any State of 

 the Union. There are cool mountains, and hot 

 plains, excellent wheat lands, and soil so sandy 

 and warm that it is only fit for sweet potatoes. 

 There are places dry enough at least for the 

 most successful grape growing, and then there 

 are cranberry bogs which yield more than the 

 gold or silver mines of Colorado very often do. 

 Besides its men and women, its gardens and 

 and its wild flowers, all are among the best. It 

 is a pretty piece of mosaic work, all the better 

 for being made up of " odds and ends." To one 

 who wants to get an idea of New Jersey, a run 

 of an hour or two by the Camden and Atlantic 

 Railroad will take him clean across it, landing 

 him by the sea at Atlantic City. The writer 

 inaugurated his "season" by a trip over the 

 road when the apple trees were in blossom, and 

 the early peas and potatoes just struggling 

 through the ground. It is wonderful how much 

 ma}' be learned by a railroad ride, and yet won- 

 derful that so few learn anything at all. For 

 my part 1 never go over this road without learn- 

 ing something new. On this excursion the 

 swamp maple, Acer rubrum, was just going out 

 of blossom, and the brilliancy of the maturing 

 seed vessels reminded me of a fact first brought 

 to my attention by Mr.P. Barry, that the further 

 we go south the brighter red these I'ipening seed 

 vessels become. As we go south-east over this 

 road, we find them increasing in brilliancy. They 

 are no longer red, but scarlet or even vermillion. 

 Another interesting fact is that the male trees 

 are deliciously fragrant, while the female or seed 

 bearing tress are destitute of all odor. "We 

 have all known this fact in connection with the 

 Ailanthus, the grape, the willow, and others. In 

 all these the male flowers are the ones that give 

 the sweetest odors. Perhaps this fact will for- 

 cibly strike those who philosophize on the rela- 

 tion of odors to the insect fertilization of flowers. 

 It is curious to note how young the maple flow- 

 ers in the Xew .Jersey swamps. Plants not 



over two or three feet high are as full of red blos- 

 soms as the huge red maple timber trees of the 

 high ground in Pennsylvania. It seems hard 

 that these little things should take on family 

 cares so young. But we know that nature cares 

 very little for the individual. She wants to 

 clothe even a swamp with vegetation, and the 

 maple is forced to grow in a swamp, though it 

 would do better for itself in drier ground. 



How beautiful the Lupines look, with their 

 blue spikes pushing up from the dry and sandy 

 banks I Its roots run down to great depths, and 

 bring up the moisture for the thirsty leaves : 

 and we learn that deep rooted plants must be 

 selected for dry surface .soil. Thus we find the 

 oak and the tulip tree thriving so well. For 

 street trees thousands of tulip trees have been 

 set out in New Jersey towns during the past 

 twenty years, and none are found to excel them. 

 The chestnut also does well. Indeed any tree 

 which has deep tap roots as well as plenty of 

 surface roots, does well in the dry sands of New 

 Jersey. This is a hint that Western tree plan- 

 ters may thank New Jersey for. 



The forestry question receives aid from a run 

 through New Jersey. We see that the forestry 

 area is riot necessarily decreased by the old trees 

 being cut down. Hundreds of acres of the pitch 

 pine, Pinus rigida, have been cut away, and are 

 now covered by thrifty young seedlings. In 

 some cases there are woods which have already 

 been cut within the memor}' of living people 

 now ready to be cut over again. So with burnt 

 forests. The new growth soon comes, for as 

 heat ascends, the roots are cool, and seeds some- 

 what buried in earth, escape unless the mass of 

 burning material be very deep indeed. We 

 here see also the value of nurse trees to a grow- 

 ing forest. The scrub oak, Quercus Bannisteri, 

 rarely exceeds six feet in height. It makes an 

 excellent shade for the young pines ; but in time 

 these grow above their fostering shade, and 

 smother them out, leaving nothing but a pine 

 forest pure and simple. The poplar birch, Be- 

 tula populifolia, also acts the part of an excel- 

 lent nurse. It grows with great rapidity when 

 young. Some of the growths of last year, as I 

 saw them in these forests were six feet long. 

 But these rapid growths cease at about ten or 

 fifteen years. It is the old story of the hare and 

 the tortoise, for the slower growing and shel- 

 tered trees get up in time and crowd out the 

 birches. 



Then these forests teach a lesson in tliiek 



