June 1, 1907 



HORTICULTURE, 



717 



ALPINE PLANTS. 



The article from our estoemed 

 friend Robert Cameron, on Alpine 

 plants, was of especial interest to me, 

 I being familiar with most of the Al- 

 pine plants, and thoroughly acquaint- 

 ed with the Rock Garden in the Ffoyal 

 Botanic, Edinburgh. You will excuse 

 me for stating that an Alpine house 

 is the supply for the Rocl< Carden; 

 also plants that are of special value 

 and require more care, sometimes 

 called Duplicate House, hence rocks 

 in the Alpine House would seem to me 

 to be out of place. 



The Rock Garden in the Botanies, 

 Edinburgh, is a charming spot, full of 

 interest all the year round. The col- 

 lection is very extensive and is great- 

 ly envied by all Alpine lovers. The 

 gems that thrive best are the Ramon- 

 dias. Haberlea Rhodopense, Onosma 

 tauricum, O. roseum, O. album. These 

 all thrive be&t planted on the sides of 

 a dug-out pit: Morisia hypogoea, the 

 beautiful little plant of Chicocoden 

 Soldaneltoides: Diapensia Lapponica, 

 Andromeda Hypnoides, Asperula Arc- 

 densis. Dianthus Callizonus. Cam- 

 panula Zoysii, Phyteunia Como- 

 sum, Androsacea Arachnoides, A. 

 Chumbii, Aubrietia Fire-King. Genti- 

 ana verna. G. Bavarica. Geranium ar- 

 genteum, Lithospermum prostratum, 

 L. Caeneasens, Dryus Drummondi, 

 Daphne alpestris. Sedum Pottsii. 



The encrested saxifraga is a very 

 interesting rock plant. They do not 

 seem to be quite so happy as some of 

 the others, though their culture is of 

 the simplest. Many of the nursery- 

 men supply these beautiful gems, and 

 it is a wonder to me that we very sel- 

 dom come across an extensive rock 

 garden on this side of the Atlantic. 

 Sluch may be said and done toward 

 constructing a natural rock garden. 

 To be successful the best method is to 

 secure the highly-prized jewels and 

 construct suitable pockets for the in- 

 dividual requirements of each species. 

 Though quite a few owners of large 

 estates are building those clipped, 

 pruned Italian gardens, it seems to 

 me thai a well-arranged and judicious- 

 ly planted rock garden is of more con-' 

 tinned interest and more in harmony 

 with many of our large estates. 



DAVID MILLER. 



"BUTCHERING" THE SHADE TREES 

 Editor of HORTICULTURE, 



I would call your attention to the 

 work of the department of parks in 

 our community. They are butchering 

 the shade trees and, from the way In 

 which they do the work one might 

 think they were short of fire wood. 

 The wounds are bleeding profusely 

 too. But the worst feature -in the es- 

 timation of the citizens is that the 

 nests of the singing birds, as robins, 

 etc., are destroyed. Why was not this 

 work done in the winter or early 

 spring when the men were idle, or else 

 why can they not wait until the birds 

 are hatched and can take care of thern- 

 selves? I know there is a law in 

 this State against killing song birds; 

 is there none against destroying their 

 nests? Men who work in the parks 

 must take civil service examination; 

 I believe the commissioner needs it 

 as much as any one else. 



Yours respectfully. 



BEAULIEU. 



Woodhaven, N. Y., May 22. 1907. 



RETRIBUTION AND THE EX- 

 PRESS COMPANIES. 



Shocked and bewildered, the express 

 companies haven't yet recovered from 

 the concussion to nerve centers caused 

 . by the decision rendered by Franklin 

 Lane, of the Interstate Commerce Com- 

 mission, in the matter of certain rates 

 from New Jersey points to New York 

 city. 



For the short haul on cut flowers 

 from those points, the United States 

 Express Co. was formerly accustomed 

 to charge .50 cents per 100 pounds. Last 

 July they increased the rate to $1. Mr. 

 Lane has just made the rate 60 cents. 



At various times and places in the 

 past there have been temporary reduc- 

 tions in express charges due to com- 

 petition among the several companies, 

 but long ago an end was put to that 

 sort of foolishness. This is the first 

 time that considerations relating to the 

 value of the service rather than what 

 the traffic will bear and the companies' 

 ability to utilize the money have en- 

 tered into the fixing of an insurance 

 charge. Something has been happen- 

 ing in this country. The Roosevelt 

 rate-regulation measure governs these 

 as well as other interstate common 

 carriers. 



The curious thing about the express 

 situation is that although the average 

 rates throughout the country are such 

 as to enable them to earn enormous 

 net profits, the stockholders, at least 

 in the case of the United States com- 

 pany, are chafing under a long series 

 of grievances as well as the public. A 

 circular issued in New York this week 

 by a stockholders' committee sets 

 forth that while the dividends declared 

 are only 4 per cent., the net profits of 

 Mr. Piatt's company for the last five 

 years are shown by the management's 

 own statement to have ranged from 11 

 to 18 per cent, and are believed to have 

 been much .greater. 



The board of directors is a self-per- 

 petuating body, no election to it by the 

 stockholders having been held for 

 more than twenty years, and runs 

 things with a high hand and an eye 

 single to its own advantages. 



The sto?kholders are organizing in 

 an effort to obtain their rights from 

 Senator Piatt and his inner ring in the 

 management. The public ought to be 

 engaged in .i similar effort. Net profits 

 of 18 per cent, and more show that the 

 company can afford to make a material 

 reduction in its charges and the exist- 

 ence of the interstate commerce com- 

 mission and the precedent in the cut- 

 dowers case show how this and other 

 express companies may be forced to 

 .grant the reduction. — Detroit Fire 



THE CAPE COD CRANBERRY IN- 

 DUSTRY. 



It is estimated that within a decade 

 the production of cranberries on Cape 

 Cod has doubled and the next five 

 years will see the present output in- 

 creased by at least 100 per cent. 

 Hundreds of men are engaged at pres- 

 ent in draining, diking, sanding and 

 planting in the effort to furnish a 

 supplv equal to the ever-increasing de- 

 mand for this popular little fruit. It 

 costs, on an average, about $400 per 

 acre to properly prepare a cranberry 

 bog and the yield of berries begins in 

 the third or fourth year. 



SHRUB CHAT. 



The forsythias have been glorious 

 this season. The magnolias also are 

 extremely beautiful as seen at the 

 present time in single specimens here 

 and there on lawns, blooming in pro- 

 fusion. 



The Scotch broom Cytisus scoparius, 

 looks as though before long it will feel 

 quite at home in the northern States. 

 A clump of broom covered with its 

 yellow flowers is something worth 

 noticing. 



Pyrus Japonica Is now appearing In 

 its gorgeous mantle of scarlet. A 

 hedge of Pyrus Japonica is beautiful 

 while the plants are in full bloom and 

 as a hedge tor protection it is always 

 useful. The plants thrive in any kind 

 of soil and endure a very severe 

 climate. 



Azalea amoena makes a neat and 

 attractive low hedge. It makes a 

 splendid showing early in the season 

 when planted in quantity in a mass 

 wherever it is able to stand the win- 

 ter. It does well in Brooklyn, N. Y., 

 and Newport, R. I., but is not reliable 

 around Boston. 



Berberis Thumbergii is a beautiful 

 shrub of graceful habit, the leaves are 

 bright green turning in the autumn to 

 tints of yellow, scarlet and crimson. 

 The berries of this shrub are produced 

 in abundance and their coral color 

 helps considerably to make this a 

 charming shrub even in the depths of 

 winter. This berberis is especially 

 effective in groups or as a hedge. 



OUR FRONTISPIECE. 



The picture of the little greenhouse 

 at the Arnold Arboretum, Boston, and 

 its presiding genius Jackson Dawson, 

 will recall to the minds of many of 

 our readers visits to that unpretenti- 

 ous but always interesting spot where, 

 to the visitor, the hours fly by on swift 

 \\ing as he scans the boxes of thou- 

 sands—yes, hundreds of thousands of 

 voung seedlings from every mountain 

 and valley of the earth's temperate 

 zones and listens to the fascinating 

 discourse of the man whose life is 

 devotedly spent among these things he 

 loves so well and in the propagation 

 of which he stands without an equal. 

 Far and wide are distributed forests of 

 shrubs and trees which spent their in- 

 fancy in this little place. The amount 

 of tnaterial turned out annually Is 

 incredible and is equalled by no estab- 

 lishment, however pretentious, on this 

 continent, very much of it new, rare, 

 and to some extent experimental. And 

 if there's a spark of life left in the 

 seed Jackson Dawson can make it 

 grow, no matter where it came from. 



The .Jubilee International Exhibition 

 at Mannheim, which opened on May 1, 

 was especially interesting on May 7 

 when orchids were in competition. 

 The schedule called for collections of 

 orchids in 100 varieties, of botanical 

 orchids, of dendrobiums and of cypri- 

 pediums. The prize winners included 

 Messrs. Beyrodt of Berlin, Maron of 

 Brunoy, and Hugh Low & Co.. of Eng- 

 land, whose collection included most 

 of the orchid families in cultivation. 

 English and American perpetual- 

 flowering carnations displayed by 

 Messrs. Low received a gold medal. 



