344 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[November, 



and is much relished by horses. Its botanical 

 name is Reaua (Euchloena) luxurians. It suc- 

 ceeds in the south of Europe. 



Avocation for Women. — Attention is being 

 turned by a portion of the press to the topic, of 

 gardening as a vocation for women. So belt; 

 and yet it is as well to intimate sometimes that 

 it need not be taken up by them before there is 

 a suflScient supply of good nurses ; that is one at 

 least of her proper vocations, but it is too gen- 

 erally shunned as too laborious and confining. 



THE FLORA OF THE STATE OF TEXAS. 



TRANSLATED FOR THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 

 FROM THE "ANZIGER DES VVESTENS." 



NO. Ill, 



The valleys of the rivers of the middle zone 

 are characteristically different from each other, 

 as far as their vegetation goes. Hence an old 

 inhabitant of the State of Texas can very often 

 tell from the vegetation along a creek to which 

 system of rivers that creek belongs. 



Of all the Texas rivers, the shores of the 

 Brazos are most densely wooded, there being a 

 breadth of about thirty miles of almost impene- 

 trable woods on either side. The tallest and 

 most striking trees in these woods are : Syca- 

 more, Platanus occidentalis, Cottonwood, Popu- 

 lus angulata, two kinds of Walnut, Juglans 

 and Carya aquatica, several Oaks,— 0. rubra, 

 cinerea, coccinea, virens, — Elms and Hackber- 

 ries. Amongst the elms we find the prickly one. 

 Its trunk and branches bear thorns three to six 

 inches long, attached horizontally, very sharp, 

 very smooth, and very tough. Most of the 

 trees are covered *ivith Tillandsia usneoides, 

 with gigantic grape vines, Vitus labrusca, and 

 with Trumpet flowers, Bignonia radicans. 



The underbush is mostly an evergreen small 

 tree, about twelve feet high, related to the 

 almonds, whose leaves taste very much like 

 almonds. It goes often by the name of wild 

 peach. Its fruit has two kernels, similar to cof- 

 fee berries, in a hard shell. This tree grows so 

 thickly that the seedlings of the giants of the 

 forest, are smothered by them and with difficulty 

 get along. Under it the ground is so thickly 

 covered with blackberries and several other low 

 growing shrubs, that hardly a blade of grass can 

 come up. 



As a contrast of the Brazos, the shores of the 

 Colorado, at times of the year a mighty river, 

 are poorly wooded, and for miles show nothing 



but sand banks. Wherever the Colorado forces 

 its way through mountains, there cedar trees 

 line its shores, and whei*e it crosses a small val- 

 ley, there its shores are fringed with elms. 

 Again a desert of white sand are its shores near 

 the city of Austin, whilst about a hundred miles 

 below Austin there appear along its course the 

 pines of the pineries of the eastern section of 

 the State. Finally the oaks come along as far 

 as the river enters the prairie. From that line 

 down, the Colorado carries its waters to the 

 Gulf along treeless shores. Now let us look at 

 the imposing and totally different flora along 

 the Guadeloupe Kiver. 



Its chief ornament is the beautiful Cypress, 

 Taxodium distichum, eighty, to one hundred and 

 fifty feet feet high, and five to ten feet in diame- 

 ter, a tree which likes to stand near the water, 

 and to send its roots into it. The Cypress trees 

 often stand so close as apparently to form a 

 solid mass of trunks, and the tops to form a 

 solid roof across the river. It is found also 

 on all the tributaries of the Guadeloupe : the 

 San Marcos, the Comal, the Cibolo, the San 

 Antonio and the Medina. The valleys of these 

 rivers are generally narrow ; the largest of 

 them is that of the San Marcos, which towards 

 the east, has a width of about fifteen miles. Here 

 we find also elms, live oaks, cedars, and Pecan- 

 nut trees, the latter, Carya oliva^formis, is no- 

 where in the State found but on the river system 

 of the Guadeloupe. A tall and statel}'^ tree 

 with dense top, fond of rich soil. 



The underbrush of the" Guadeloupe woods is 

 likewise peculiar to this river, and consists of a 

 great diversity of fruit and other trees. The 

 most numerous are the wild plum trees, Prunus 

 Americana, and Prunus Texana, the black Mul- 

 berry tree, Morus nigra, a linden, tree of low 

 growth and large leaves, an elm, Ulraus fulva, 

 Cercis reniformis, which is found both as tree 

 and shrub, and the splendid Sophora affinis with 

 its large blue blossoms. 



EDITORIAL NOTES 



Editorial Traveling Notes. — A couple 

 of years ago I was walking through one of the 

 Paris parks with a small party of friends when 

 one of them dropped a piece of paper on the 

 road. It was not long before an elderly man 

 with a broad ribbon and several medals hanging 

 therefrom, suspended from the lappel of his 



