70 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[March, 



larly ornamental by reason of its leaves as well 

 as flowers and fruit. The old Acanthus of the 

 poets is another very pretty leaf plant for single 

 specimens on lawns. 



PiLEA REPENS. — This is reported to be an ex- 

 cellent plant as a green base to flower beds. It 

 has a moss-like habit. 



Ornamental Grasses. — Few have any concep- 

 tion of the immense demand for ornamental 

 grasses. We have heard of one seedsman whose 

 stock of seed of the feather grass (Stipapennata) 

 alone was this winter eight tons. 



Crat^gus arborescens. — Dr. Engelmann, in a 

 recent issue of the Botanical Gazette, says this is 

 the largest N. American Hawthorn. It grows on 

 the alluvial river bottoms below St. Louis. It 

 makes a trunk often 28 inches in diameter. The 

 red or orange-colored fruit persists all winter, 

 long after all other kinds of Hawthorns have 

 fallen. 



Arnold Arboretum.— By the Annual Report of 

 Director Sargent, we find that the city govern- 

 ment of Boston has not yet provided for the 

 joint occupancy of the Arboretum and the city 

 as recommended by the Park Commissioners, 

 according to the plan given by the Gardener's 

 Monthly last year. It is to be regretted, as it 

 would make one of the most instructive and 

 beautiful public grounds in America. 



Rare Trees in Germantown.— The death of 

 Mr. Norton Johnson, of Germantown, Philadel- 

 phia, removes the last male representative of a 

 family which has been closely identified with the 

 fame of Philadelphia as a horticultural and 

 botanical centre. One of the streets running 

 through the estate is named Upsal Street, after 

 the home of the great Swedish botanist, Lin- 

 naeus. One of the brothers, who died a few 

 years ago, left all his property after the death 

 of his wife, to the Academy of Natural Sciences 

 of Philadelphia. 



On these grounds is the famous Silver Fir of 

 Europe, planted in the beginning of the present 

 century, one of the first four introduced into the 

 country by the Princes of Flushing, and which 

 has been so often written about and pictured. 

 It is one hundred feet high, but has been on the 

 downward path for some years. The finest 

 American Yew in the world is probably the one 

 here. As generally known, it is rather a trailer 

 than an erect grower as the European is. This 

 plant makes a dense mass over fifty feet wide, 



rising to about six feet in the centre. It forms a 

 circular bush of rare beauty. It is also about 

 one hundred years old. 



The only livingspecimen of the great Sequoia, 

 a mammoth tree of California, that probably ex- 

 ists in the Atlantic States, is here. Under our 

 suns the lower branches die, and generally after 

 a few years die upward so rapidly as to kill the 

 tree. This specimen happens to be growing 

 under the shade of some huge white pines, which 

 have lost their lower branches; hence though 

 the mammoth tree loses the greater number of 

 the last year's side shoots, the growth of the dis- 

 ease is not rapid enough to kill all the same 

 season, and hence there are enough to start the 

 growth the next year. This sole representative 

 of the California wonder is not therefore any- 

 thing to boast of as a matter of beauty. Besides 

 these, are some remarkably pretty Cryptomeria 

 japonicas, which seem to be quite hardy after 

 they have once been able to get a deep tap root. 

 Pinus excelsa has also grown here to a very 

 beautiful tree. In the garden borders are numer- 

 ous rare herbaceous plants. 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



Hardy Cy.pripediums. — " If any of the readers 

 of the Monthly can give me any information con- 

 cerning the treatment of Cypripedium acaule, 

 parviflorum, spectabilis, and pubescens, I should 

 be very thankful for it." — Q. 



A Fine Ohio Thorn. — L. B. Case, Dayton, 0., 

 writes : " In a former note to you I expressed a 

 doubt of there being an evergreen thorn in this 

 latitude ; at least I never had seen one. It was 

 never my good fortune even to see a tree retain 

 its fruit plump and perfect until mid-winter. But 

 to-day I saw a tree about fifteen feet high with 

 about ten feet spread of branches growing in an 

 open woods about two miles east of Xenia, Ohio, 

 with its bright golden yellow fruit hanging on its 

 branches in perfect condition. The leaves 

 had entirely disappeared, but the fruit 

 made the tree very attractive and ornamental." 



Winter Flowers in Texas.— Mrs. S. E. Byers, 

 Houston, Texas, under date of January 9th, 

 writes : " I sent you a cigar-box containing a few 

 roses with my card, from the out-door flower 

 garden. I scarcely hoped that they would reach 

 you before their leaves had fallen. The large 

 white rose, Estelle Pradelle I esteem the most 



