1879.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



325 



lieves that if more attention were given to these 

 matters, the trees so far as insects are concerned, 

 might be safely left to the birds and other nat- 

 ural causes. It is a very sensible document, and 

 the Committee have shown good sense by adopt- 

 ing it. 



Sunday Opening of the Gardens of the 

 Royal Horticultukal Society.— These for 

 the first time in its existence, were opened to the 

 public on admission tickets, on the first week of 

 September last. They were crowded. 



Mutilating the Giant Trees of Califor- 

 nia.— Mr. W. A. S&nders, writing to the Pacific 

 Rural Press, says : " Vandalism may sound 

 harsh, but no milder one will express the way 

 that some of these trees have been mutilated. 

 There is an abundance of bark and wood ob- 

 tainable from fallen trees ; this ought to suffice ; 

 but it does not. Visitors have mutilated some 

 of the finest trees in the grove for relics to carry 

 away. I believe that, had the body of Wash- 

 ington, the revered ' Father of our Country,' 

 been embalmed, so that we could look upon his 

 features as in life, there are people who would 

 not be content without breaking off a piece of 

 an ear or digging out an eye to carry off as me- 

 mentoes of their visit to his tomb. This ought 

 to be stopped. One of these forest giants must 

 soon yield its life to the rapacity of these relic 

 hunters. But that is not the end. Other trees 

 will follow in disfigurement and destruction, as 

 the number of visitors increases, until all will 

 be deformed and dead; victims to a practice 

 which, by statue, ought to be made criminal." 



Magnolia grandiflora in the North. — 



Among the recent losses to arboriculture is the 

 famous magnolia at Laurel Hill Cemetery, 

 which for a number of years past has been one 

 of the tree-lover's delights. It was sheltered on 

 the windward side by other trees, the growth of 

 which would have killed it in atiy event. These 

 had to be taken away, but this simple exposure 

 was too much for it. There was once some half 

 dozen very large trees about Philadelphia, but 

 we believe all are gone now. 



A Fine Elm. — On the grounds of Mr. J. Fra- 

 zer, of Rochester, N. Y., is a specimen of Ul- 

 mus viminalis, about forty feet high, remark- 

 ably beautiful. It is a small-leaved slender- 

 twigged variety, and one of the handsomest of 

 the many varieties of the old English elm. 



Our Native Flo avers. — Col. D. S. Curtiss 



recently gave a lecture on this subject before 

 the District of Columbia Horticultural Society, 

 which was listened to with marked attention. 

 He showed that the study of our native flowers 

 has a great charm in the tracing of resem- 

 blances, while the many points of interest 

 brought out by modern science invests them 

 with an interest unknown to our ancestors. 



The Lily Disease.— As is generally known 

 some lilies are liable to the attack of a fungus 

 which weakens and ultimately destroys them. 

 This is particularly the case with the large gold- 

 banded Lily of Japan, Lilium auratum, which 

 though bought by the thousand every year, one 

 seldom sees in flower. Mr. Berkely has been 

 examining a fungus on some lilies in England, 

 and probably the same, and finds it to be Uredo 

 Frosti, and very closely related to the fungus 

 which causes the onion disease. 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



Variegated Arborvit^. — C. F., Rye, 

 N. Y., writes: " Enclosed I send you a variety 

 of Arborvitse, which originated with me as a 

 seedling. It is perfectly hardy, free grower •, it 

 stands about two and a-half feet high; four 

 years old. Do you think it is worth introducing, 

 or are similar varieties in market? Please an- 

 swer in the Monthly, if you think it worth it." 



[This is a very beautiful variety; but we 

 would not say from a specimen in a letter how 

 far it diflers from George Peabody, and other 

 kinds. In an Arborvitje, habit is often as dis- 

 tinct as the peculiarities of foliage. — Ed. G. M.] 



Deutzia scabra. — Mr. G. F. Chandler, 

 South Lancaster, Mass., sends a specimen of 

 what appears to be the true D. scabra. This 

 form is so nearly related to D. creuata, that in 

 spite of the diff"erences recently pointed out in 

 our magazine, there is little distinction between 

 them for ornamental purposes. The form known 

 as D. scabra is rather more erect in habit of 

 growth than the other. 



Blue Trumpet Tree.— A "Worcester, Mass., 

 correspondent, says : " AVhy do you call the 

 Paulownia imperialis, ' Blue Trumpet Tree?' " 

 The name is not ours. It is in common use in 

 the West. The name probably suggested itself 

 from the resemblance of ihe flowers in shape to 

 the common trumpet creeper. 



