1885.1 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



15 



called 'ever-bearing,' for it begins to ripen with 

 the Lawton, and I have known well-ripened, but 

 of course not very sweet berries, picked on Christ- 

 mas day. When well ripened the quality and size 

 compare favorably with the Lawton. It is very 

 handsome also, but oh, so thorny, and does best 

 trained on a trellis." 



[It is a surprise to learn that this kind comes 

 near the Lawton in size. Here in the East they 

 do not reach half that. This, and the double- 

 flowered as well as this, retain the leaves till quite 

 late in the season, — indeed, when a trailing branch 

 gets covered by snow, the leaves remain green 

 till spring. The botanical name is Rubus frutico- 

 sus, an English, and not a "Sandwich Island" 



species, and is the most common form in English 

 hedge-rows. It has the remarkable peculiarity in 

 a blackberry of having very often perennial 

 stems, as in its neighbor, the rose. The writer has 

 seen stems many years old, and among his earliest 

 literary contributions was a paper to the Phytolo- 

 gist, describing an unusually old and large speci- 

 men. The species probably obtained the name of 

 fruticosus from this fruticose or shrubby charac- 

 ter. The leaves are very white beneath and very 

 green above, and suggested to some other botanist 

 the name of Rubus discolor. 



It is really a good fruit in the form of the cut- 

 leaved variety, as well as a very ornamental plant 

 to grow. — Ed. G. M.] 



Forestry. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



FORESTRY ON THE PLAINS. 



BY T. BENNETT. 



Will you allow me to make a few remarks on a 

 subject of no small importance to the nation ? The 

 lack of trees on our vast and cheerless prairies has 

 come to be felt as a great national want. Forest- 

 ry is now a leading topic, and rightly so, for as 

 the population increases wood and timber will be 

 more and more in demand. Are we not losing 

 time inquiring what trees to plant and then draw- 

 ing out a lengthy argument about them ? 



The government has given encouragement, and 

 this ought to be a stimulus for great exertion. 

 We will not talk now of improving the landscape, 

 nor of drawing water from the clouds, nor of mak- 

 ing the air more pure by the free distribution of 

 healthy gases and exhalations. The absorption 

 of noxious carbonic gases which trees inhale, the 

 domestic uses of wood, and the enhancing of the 

 value of every farm — even in a national point of 

 view— to have five, ten or twenty acres of good 

 woodland on it, can also be passed by now ; but 

 it is apparent, millions of trees can be planted 

 and grown by the people themselves, cheaply 

 and quickly, compared with the present move- 

 ment, and which will make future generations 

 bless the present one if it only acts on the hint 

 given in these suggestions. 



Seeds, of the kinds found most suitable, except 

 a mere few. can be collected in the Eastern and 

 IMiddle States— they are cheap and plenty and 

 made up in one two, four or five dollar packages 

 by seedsmen and nurserymen, with a printed 

 paper around each package giving full directions 

 for sowing and management in the seed bed. 

 The Western farmer who can not afford to buy a 

 large quantity of nursery stock, will very quickly 

 see the point, write for, and order those packages, 

 and will cheerfully sow and care for the seeds. 



This appears to me to be the cheapest and best, 

 I might say almost the only way the desolate 

 looking prairie can be made to " bloom " and look 

 like an extended forest country. 



Ckambersburg, Trenton, N. J. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Value of Timber. — It is now a fact beyond all 

 question that figures in relation to the value of any 

 given tree for forestry purposes, are of no value 

 whatever for a guide for forestry planting, so 

 much of the value of timber depending on the suit- 

 ability of the soil and climate to the perfect health 

 and vigor of the tree. Hence, what we learn of 

 forestry in Scotland or England is of no use what- 

 ever in the Atlantic portion of the United States, 

 because the conditions are rarely favorable to the 

 same tree alike in both localities. The Scotch 



