240 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[August, 



course they must be set in their places firmly by 

 paper or other material about them, as not to 

 bruise by any ordinary jolting they may receive on 

 the passage. If any one has had actual experi- 

 ence we should be obliged by a note thereof. — 

 Ed. G. M.] 



Centennial Cherry. — Coales & Tool send us 

 all the way from Napa, California, six cherries by 

 mail, that reached us as fresh as if just gathered 



from the tree, and were quite as good flavored as 

 the Napoleon Biggareau from which it was 

 raised. They say "its chief value lies in its firm- 

 ness which enables it to travel long distances." 

 These six cherries weighed i^ oz., which shows 

 that they had lost little by their long journey. 

 They were picked on the ist of June and reached 

 us on the gih. It is larger, more oblate, and 

 darker tlian Napoleon. 



Forestry. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Rapidity of Growth in Timber Trees. — We 

 have frequently drawn attention to the fact that 

 there will never be a scarcity of timber in our 

 country, because the wide-awake American will 

 be sure to plant as soon as it becomes scarce 

 enough to make it worth while to plant more. 

 The old notion, derived from English works on 

 forestry, that it takes centuries to grow trees to a 

 profitable size, came from the fact, that the landed 

 interest of Great Britain know absolutely nothing 

 of forestry, and seldom learn much from outside 

 sources. An American will learn from a single 

 illustration, found anywhere, and profit by it. 

 There is no need to employ no end of commis- 

 sioners at equally endless salaries, in order to find 

 out how fast our timber is decreasing, and tell us 

 how to keep our old and half-rotten forest trees 

 from falling to the ground : " because it takes ages 

 to get a new supply you know." 



The Corsican Pine. — As some attention is 

 being given to this pine for timber in the old 

 world, it may serve to indicate its growth in Amer- 

 ica to note that one planted by the late Robert 

 Buist is still growing in his grounds at Rosedale, 

 and is at the present time 5 ft. 4 in. in circum- 

 ference, and over 40 ft. high. It has a clean, 

 straight trunk, so desirable in a timber tree, and is 

 clothed with branches to the ground. Of course, 

 in good timber culture, the lower branches would 

 have been gradually taken away, so as to have a 

 trunk free from knots, and then the tree might 

 have been 60 or 70 ft. high. It is 35 years old. 



Red Cedar Telegraph Poles. — We continu- 

 ally read the most astonishing statements by 

 Europeans about things in America, and wonder 

 why it is that every one must go from home to 

 learn news of his next neighbor. We just took 

 up an article by a famous botanist concerning 

 what he saw in a recent trip to America. He tells 

 us that the leaves of Ledum latifolium are exten- 

 sively used in the Eastern (United) States as a 

 substitute for Tea. We believe it has been used 

 in Labrador, and therefore is known as Labrador 

 tea, at least this may be a fair inference from its 

 name ; but it will be news to most of us that it is 

 extensively used as tea in the Eastern States. Then 

 we take up the London Daily News and learn that 

 in the United States the telegraph poles are mainly 

 of red cedar. We have seen some million poles, 

 and it never occurred that any one was red cedar. 

 We fancy red cedar could be put to much more 

 profitable uses. Just how they get hold of these 

 notions is the mystery. The traveller who " does " 

 the United States in a couple of weeks or so, 

 probably gathers all his facts from the loungers on 

 railroad platforms, or bell boys at the hotels. 



Thinning Forests. — English foresters are be- 

 ginning to find that it does not pay to grow hoop 

 sticks and all sorts of poles among forest trees. A 

 forest should be all of the kind wanted for timber, — 

 and instead of fussing about thinning should be 

 planted no thicker than desired for the final forest. 



An Ancient Forest Fire. — Captain Zargo, a 

 Portuguese, landed in Madeira in 1419. Dr. Fruc- 

 tuosa gives an account of the expedition. He 

 says Zargo found the Island one vast impenetrable 

 forest, and fired the woods in order to pave the 



