THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



489 



after the Summer and Autumn beauty has past, the Ever- 

 green tree, the Mountain Laurel and the Rhododendron, 

 the red twig Dogwood, the bark of the white Birch, the 

 yellow drooping branches of the Willow-, the Symphori- 

 carpus, in variety with their red and white berries hang- 

 ing on graceful pendulous branches, the barbery like a 

 ball of fire in the distance, especially when the ground 

 is covered with snow, you then behold the beautiful of 

 nature's work. 



Take the Hemlock ''Abies Canadensis" with its bold 

 feathery branches either on the mountain or planted in 

 groups, it is always pleasing to the eye. For a contrast, 

 "Pinus Excelsa" is a graceful tree with drooping silver 

 foliage. As a specimen or in groups this is the most 

 fascinating Pine. The w'hite Pine "Pinus Steoleus" also 

 another good Pine for effect throughout the year with 

 its dense, compact silvery growth. 



The Pine and its varieties are legion. This genus is 

 very extensive and contains some of our most useful 

 trees for economic purposes and of ornamental character. 

 Where the estate is large enough, on the immediate 

 grounds. The Pine planted ct in se-'^eral acres in dif- 

 ferent varieties, intersected with walks and ".••stas, the 

 path strewn with Pine needles, the seclusion it affords, 

 the aroma in the atmosphere, the wind that is heard in 

 whispers through the dense Pine boughs brings one to 

 think of nature and the foliage beautiful. 



Another very handsome tree, "Abies Alcockiana,' 

 foliage white underneath and dark-green above, erect 

 spreading branches, which is a desirable lawn tree as a 

 specimen. "Abies Pungeus Glauca," adrhired wherever 

 seen : this is the finest of all species as a lawn tree, or 

 planted in groups one then looks upon the foliage beau- 

 tiful. Groups of Evergreens interspersed with deciduous 

 shrubs in many instances bring out a restful effect where 

 mixed plantings of Coniferes are planted out on a large 

 scale. "Retinispora Ptumosa Aurea," with its golden 

 color and freedom of growth, can be cut into any size 

 or shape with a few "Cory Cus Purpurea" is a very con- 

 spicuous shrub, W4th dark purple leaves, especially 

 intense in Spring. "Retinispora Filifera," with their 

 drooping thread-like branches and dark green foliage, 

 planted beside "Weigeta Tiebolde Marginaw," of up- 

 right habit ; when the leaves are young, the variegation 

 is yellow, and further in the season they become silvery 

 white. A verj' attractive, also effective among Ever- 

 greens. Also a group of "Abies Canadensis Peudula," a 

 very choice variety, distinct drooping habit; it forms 

 a low Cawad specimen, with graceful undulations 

 branches, like sprays of Cheticate fern. "Abies Mon- 

 strosa Compack." very dwarf and symmetrical in 

 growth, suitable for front rows, and a few "Berberis 

 Thunberge," with its flowing red foliage in the Fall and 

 compact growth. Groups of the above planted with 

 freedom of growth are very restful to the eye and carry 

 out the foliage beautiful. 



The Conifcre's are all more or less ornamental. I 

 need not enumerate on them further. Conditions, climate, 

 etc., generally govern what variety to plant and w'hat 

 not to plant. In this article I have tried to follow out 

 the foliage effect only. There is no branch of the pro- 

 fession that requires more sound judgment, "correct 

 ideas" and refined taste. It is not enough to be able 

 merely to admire and appreciate a well defined landscape 

 or to judge of its iperits or demerits, but only by per- 

 severance, study and an inspiration characteristic of the 

 foliage beautiful. 



It pays to advertise in the Chronicle 



THE BRAIN POWER OF PLANTS. 



r.v Artiu'r Smith. 

 (Continued from March.) 



Referring again to the case of Drosera, when the 

 tip of a tentacle is irritated, it is the basal and not 

 the upper part which bends. The sensitive filament 

 of Dionoea also transmits the stimulus without itself 

 bending. 



The power of movement for a specific purpose — move- 

 ment, too, which is unaffected, and cannot be caused by 

 outside stimulus — is strikingly seen in the examples 

 among plants of conscious sexual intercourse. This was 

 observed as long ago as the time of Erasmus Darwin, 

 who w rote a poem called "The Love of Plants." 



The vegetable passion of love is seen in the fiowers of 

 the Parnassia (Grass of Parnassus), in which the males 

 alternately approach and recede from the females. In the 

 Nigella, or Love-in-the-Mist, the female flowers grow 

 upon longer stalks than the males, and, to use Darwin's 

 words, "in which the tall females bend down to their 

 dwarf husbands." In the Gloriosa superba, or Creeping 

 Lily, a South African species, is seen another well- 

 marked illustration of conscious movement for the same 

 purpose. In this plant, first one set of three stamens 

 come to maturity and then three others, a fact which was 

 alluded to in the following lines of the above poem : 



Proud Gloriosa led three chosen swains, 



The blushing captives of her virgin chains. 



When Time's rude hand a bark of wrinkles spread 



Round her weak limbs, and silvered o'er her head ; 



Three other youths her riper years engage, 



The flattered victims of her wily age. 



It is unnecessary to adduce further illustration in proof 

 of plant-consciousness, and of the fact that brain power 

 can, and does, exist apart from a visible brain. When 

 we see the irritability of the Sensitive Plant transmitted 

 from one part to another, exhausted by repeated artificial 

 excitation, and renewed after a period of rest, it is diffi- 

 cult to dissociate it from a conscious organism. Still less 

 can we witness certain organs taking determinate posi- 

 tions and directions, surmounting intermediate obstacles, 

 moving spontaneously; or study the manner in which 

 they are affected by stimulants, narcotics, anaesthetics, 

 and vet assume these phenomena in plants to lie brought 

 about by a power different from that w-hich produces 

 similar actions and effects in animals. Vital and con- 

 scious activity is the rule, and inertness the exception, in 

 plant life : and this fact seems to impress upon us the 

 error of that form of argument which w^ould assume the 

 non-existence of the higher traits of life in plants merely 

 because the motor is invisible. 



It has already been mentioned that the lowest forms 

 of both animals and plants are individuals whose bodies 

 are merely single cells, and it is also worthy of note that 

 the earliest embryonic state of all the higher animals is 

 merely that of a single cell and the highest powers of 

 the microscope are unable to trace any distinction be- 

 tween the embryos of plants and animals, birds and 

 beasts, fish and fowl, the Mimosa and Man. 



From an evolutionary point of view, there is nothing 

 in this latter circumstance so very wonderful after all. 

 If there were no signs of intelligence in the vegetable 

 kingdom the cause for wonder would be greater. If 

 thought is the product of evolution it must have had its 

 beginnings. For anything we know it may have taken 

 as many thousands of years to evolve the intelligence 

 of the Mimosa as it has that of Man. although of course 

 the latter is a considerable distance ahead. .\s Drum- 

 mond said : "Mimosa can be defined \n terms of Man, 

 but Man cannot be defined in terms of Mimosa." 



