282 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[September, 



Chiswick, to draw up a report of the kinds culti- 

 vated, and the result was propitious. In the 

 beginning of this century the strawberry began 

 to assume the proud position which it maintains. 

 The first marked improvements were seedlings 

 from American species. The Roseberry in 1810 ; 

 the Downton in 1816 •, Kean's Seedling in 1823; 

 the Elton Pine in 1828 ; whilst Myatt followed 

 with his Pine, Prince Albert, Eliza and British 

 Queen. On this side the ocean we have latterly 

 seen vast improvements. Does any one know 

 of a really perpetual bearer ? 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



BY W. G., NEWPORT, R. I. 



The following questions, suggested by articles 

 in your journal, will I hope find a place in your 

 department of Notes and Queries : 



1. In Vol. XX, p. 291, Mr. Drew, of El Do- 

 rado, Cal., has an interesting paper on the Cali- 

 fornia varieties of Ceanothus. Are any of these 

 hardy in the Eastern States ? If so, from whom 

 can they be procured ? 



2. The same writer describes in Vol. XX, p. 

 227, Rhododendron Occidentale, and suggests 

 that it will prove hardy at the East. Has this 

 suggestion been confirmed by experiment? 

 Where can plants be obtained for trial ? 



3. In Vol. XXI, p. 132, the Rev. Henry Ward 

 Beecher recommends Ligustrum Japonicum to 

 all lovers of fine shrubs. In all the catalogues 

 of dealers in plants to which the writer has ac- 

 cess, this species is spoken of as tender in our 

 climate. Is it quite certain that L. Japonicum 

 is the plant referred to ? Parsons classes L. 

 coriaceum. L. ibota and L. variegata among 

 half-hardy shrubs. 



NOTES. 



BY I. C. M., CAMDEN, N. J. 



In referring to page 234 of Gardener's 

 Monthly, it seems to me the "Stag's Horn 

 Fern " is the Polypodium aureum. As I call 

 to mind the manner the furry stems creep over 

 the surface and sometimes over the edges of the 

 pots, it is sometimes called " Rabbit's Foot 

 Fern." 



I was much surprised yesterday, August 1st, 

 to find one of our largest Ailanthus trees in full 

 flower. The air was as redolent with the "per- 

 fume of heaven" as I ever knew it in the early 

 Summer days. I have not observed the second 



flowering of this tree before. I am sorry to find 

 that the Ivy has sufiered so badly ; nearly two- 

 thirds of the vines are dying or dead. What 

 can be the cause of this ? Surely not the weather, 

 for we have many times had colder Winters than 

 the last. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Editorial Traveling Notes. — An edito- 

 rial life is peculiar. The editor has two selves. 

 In the field of duty he has to forget the one, 

 and be the other. To him a friend is on a par with 

 an enemy. He often praises the work of those he 

 dislikes, and criticises that of those he is intimate 

 with, as if he knew them not. Again while to 

 most persons the blessings of life are " here to- 

 day and gone to-morrow •," the editor is gone to- 

 day, and here to-morrow. Much has to be done 

 in a short time; type as well as time and tide, 

 for no man waits. I often feel when traveling 

 how much I miss. There are friends every- 

 where. I want to see beauties ; I want to en- 

 joy scenes that I would love to study and never 

 forget; but " to-morrow " will come and I must 

 be home at work, so I usually go with tlie tide 

 and float along on the first wave that strikes 

 me. 



Here, in Boston, m}'^ friendly w^ave landed me 

 in Forest Grove Cemetery ; and it was apiece of 

 good fortune, for I had often heard of its beau- 

 ties, and found it fully up to what 1 had heard. 

 It is not a landscape cemetery in the full sense 

 of Spring Grove at Cincinnati, for it is evident 

 the lot-holders have considerable control over 

 the planting, and this naturally prevents har- 

 monious effects in matters of detail ; but there is 

 enough of artistic beauty to place it far ahead 

 of the heterogenous mass of marble and bushes 

 which make up the gardenesque in so many 

 cemeteries of even high pretensions. But the 

 absence of intrusive as well as exclusive bound- 

 ar}"^ fences by the numerous lot-holders, large 

 and small, is striking, and commends the spot 

 to one who believes that death levels all. As I 

 have said there are many incongruities. Why, 

 for instance should money be spent in making 

 an elaborately ornamental piece of masonry, 

 all the costly and beautiful details of which are 

 to be subsequently wholly hidden by clinging 

 vines ? Now, there is nothing so beautiful as 

 vine-covered walls ; but it is evident the archi- 



