1/8 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



May, 



halved, seeded, and slightly salted, it is esteemed 

 a delicacy by many adults, and the lecturer found 

 it really not so bad as he expected. 



There are also Apples and Pears, an indigenous 

 Plum (Prunns tomentosa\ the wild Mulberry 

 ^^f(^n^s alba)^ a wild Currant (Rib&s Japoni€a\ 

 and Peaches, Apricots and Cherries, none of which 

 are superior to ours, if indeed they are equal. 

 The fririt of a species of Conifer [Cephalntaxus 

 dnipacea), however, deserves • mention. This 

 grows as an under shrub in man.v of the mountain 

 forests. The female plants have a stone fruit 

 precisely like a Plum in structure. It is about 

 the size of a Pecan nut; the flesh is proportion- 

 ately about as thick as that of the Plum, and is 

 very juicy and remarkably sweet, with a faint 

 suggestion of Pine in its flavor. 



The Flowers of Yesso. Adimin Amurensis is 

 one of the most attractive of the early wild 

 flowers. It is bright yellow, and might ap- 

 propriately in that country be called the " eye of 

 spring,^' for it peeps up sometimes even in Feb- 

 ruary on sunny banks where the snow has melted 

 away. Often it looks bravely up in the midst of 

 sharp snow storm, and such exposure scarcely 

 seems to hurt it. It is a special favorite with the 

 Japanese, who, however, seldom plant it in gar- 

 dens, but are satisfied ivith seeking out the earliest 

 plants, and digging them while in bud for for- 

 warding in old tin cans, broken teapots etc. It 

 is the earliest harbinger of spring for the masses. 



More delicately beautiful is the GJaueldmm 

 palmatum, a mid-spring flower, witn large and 

 particularly beautiful, almost translucent leaves, 

 and large, delicate pink flowers. This is the fav- 

 orite of cool, shady dells and rich, moist soil. 

 A few years since this very beautiful flower had 

 not then been introduced into Europe and 

 America. It would richly repay care, but would 

 undoubtedly be fastidious as to soils and sur- 

 roundings. 



The gorgeous beauty of the autumn woods, 

 the Monkshood (Aconihim Fishery, standing 

 often fully six feet high, with enormous masses 

 of brilliant blue flowers, must not be forgotten. 



By far the most delicately beautiful of spring 

 flowers in the vicinity of Sapporo in the Corydalis 

 amhigua, with its fragile stems and leaves and its 

 lovely racemes of flowers shading into the most 

 exquisite tints and hues of blue and ultamarine 

 and pink, and sometimes becomini; almost white. 

 The fragrance, too, of the flowers is wonderfully 

 delicate and sweet. This species, and its rarer 

 form with the lobes of the leaves linear, might 

 probably be cultivated quite easily, and if so, 

 they would amply repay the care bestowed upon 

 them. The far more sturdy and quite different 

 Corydnlis aurea has also great beauty of its own. 

 Both thrive in moderately light soils. 



The Japanese Primrose (Prirmda Japonica), 

 though well known to American and European 

 gardeners, and justly esteemed for its elegant 

 habit and great beauty of flowers, is common 

 along the banks of streams. 



Of the large number of Spirseas, several are of 

 unusual beauty, among them aruncuf, callosa 

 and sorhifolia, any one of which would form a 

 beautiful clump in the garden, or add grace and 

 beaut.v to a bouquet. 



The "hagi" of the Japanese is a species of 

 Lespedeza, with pinkish flowers, which is cele- 

 brated in Japanese storj- and song, and is regarded 

 as one of the seven beautiful wild flowers of 

 autumn. Two others, which are included by the 

 Japanese in the same class, stand next on the list 

 — Patrinia scabioscefolia and Plafiicoden grandi- 

 florum. These are almost invariably found to- 

 gether in open, sandy localities, and a beautiful 

 combination they make, either in field or bou- 

 quet^the Patrinia, with its broad cymes of pale 

 gold, and the Platycoden with its large bells of 

 heaven's own blue The other flowers which 

 make up the magic numljer are, with one excep- 

 tion, also found wild in Yesso. They are the 

 Grass Pink, the Morning Glory, 'a grass which 

 has beautiful autumn plumes (L'ufaUaJ'apo/uca), 

 the Aster, and the Wistaria. 



The Dog-tooth Violet lErythmnitim Dcnx-canig) 

 with usually large and finely mottled leaves and 

 large pink flowers, is a woodland beauty which 

 grows in many places in extraordinary profusion. 

 Excelling even this in abundance is the sweet 

 Lily of the Valley (Convallaria ma./aiis). of which 

 the lecturer has seen dozens of acres in one lot. 

 This attains to great size and beauty, and so well 

 do soil and climate seem to suit it that in places 

 it takes possession of the ground to the almost 

 entire exclusion of other plants. It makes itself 

 a great nuisance in pastures, and during Pro- 

 fessor Brook's stay in Japan he was more than 



once consulted as to means of exterminating it, 

 asked whether some practical use could not be 

 made of it. The beauty and fragrance of such 

 pastures, however can be imagined. 



Other herbaceous plants mentioned were the 

 Frititlaria Kamchatcensiit LiUuin Jtiedeoloides and 

 LysicJiitoti Kamchatcense. 



Woody Plants. The Actinidia polygama de- 

 serves extended mention. The '* Kokuwa" (Ac- 

 tinidia arguta}, which has already been described, 

 has sometime been mistakenly called by this 

 name. The two species are wholly distinct, and 

 the polygama is for ornamental purposes worth 

 far morth than the other. Its ha!»it of growth is 

 considerably less vigorous, though it is by no 

 means a slow grower. It will be far less obtrus- 

 ive and more manageable; but the chief point in 

 which it excels arguta is in the beauty of its foli- 

 age. Mature plants have the habit of producing 



Seedling of the GlnTtgo or Maiden-Hair 

 Fern Tree. (See opp. page.) 



at the ends of the growing shoots from four to 

 six leaves, which are tipped with a lustrous sil- 

 very white, usually spreading over more than 

 halt the leaf. This peculiarity gives it, at a little 

 distance, as it clambers over thickets, the appear- 

 ance of a plant in full and abundant bloom. 

 Then, too, the uncolored foliage is exceedingly 

 beautiful, and the flowers, though partly hidden 

 by the leaves, are very pretty, and have all the 

 fragrance of the Orange. Young plants trans- 

 planted to the lawn did not, however, show this 

 silvery appearance after growing there three 

 years, and planted in Amherst failed to show it 

 last season, and perhaps, change in soil, climate, 

 etc., will cause the species to lose this most valu- 

 able peculiarity. The fruit is similar in size and 

 structure to that of the " Kokuwa," but it is far 

 less abundantly produced and cannot be consid- 

 ered as delicious. 



Among others were mentioned the Magnolias 

 (two species)— Conn:* brochj/poda: the Hydrangea 

 petiolaris, called also ScMzophrayma hydranye- 

 ojdes; Hydrangea panicidata, H. horteusisor acu- 

 minata; Syringa rulgarix, the Cherry (which is 

 highly prized in Japan as a flowering tree); Styrax 

 fihassia. Eleagmts Japonica, DieTXilla veisicolor, 

 and the Mistletoe. 



Among cultivated flowers the Iris Kcrmpferi 

 surpassed all others, the flowers under good cul- 

 tivation being sometimes a foot or more in diam- 

 eter, so that one feels ready to exclaim when 

 seeing it, '' This is the queen of flowers." 



Professor Brooks concluded with the following 

 list of plants not previously mentioned in his ex- 

 cellent paper; 



Pceonia obovata,Oentiana (sp?), Caltha palustrig 

 var Japonica, Craipfurdia Japonica, Cletnatis 

 fusco, Spircea Kamchatica, Trillittm a'ectum, var. 

 Japonicum, Potentilla paiu.^tris, Trillium isp?) 

 Pueraria Thunher-giana, Xymphaa pygnuca, Art- 

 em'S'O (sp?), Veratruni album, l^araxacum officin- 

 alis, Funkia {sp'.'),Adc7wphijrn verticullata, Lilium 

 cordifolium, Vitjurnum Wrigldii, Vihurnum dila- 

 fatum. Viburnum upului*. Hydrangea hoi'tenifis 

 var. Japonica. 



Thoughts About Trees and Tree 

 Planting. 



\Extract of paper read by ?[rs. Helen V. Austin, before 

 the Xew Jersey State Horticultural Society.] 



As to the relations of forests to rainfall an(J 

 drought I leave that to the scientific people, 

 to the weather clerks, to Old Probilities, 

 Professor Fernow and Company, and the 

 State Board of Agriculture. It is a fact, 

 and not merely trite lines in a song; "We 

 never miss the water till the spring runs 

 dry." When the greed for present gain, 

 shall have destroyed the wealth of the 

 future, and our forests are wastefully de- 

 stroyed, repentence will be too late. We 

 will be wise if we take warning and avert 

 the day of doom. 



J. Sterling Morton, of Nebraska, the man who 

 has done so much to reclaim what was once the 

 "Great American desert," and who is the Father 

 of Arbor Day in America, writing to the Forest- 

 ry Congress at Atlanta, Ga . , says: "Perhaps it 

 is ordered that the race shall destroy forests for- 

 ever, and never restore forests. The Holy Land, 

 all the desolate Orient, once glorious in forests, 

 luscious in fruits, and fragrant in flowers, recites 

 man's wicked waste of trees. The lesson should 

 teach America. It, when translated to the 

 understanding, is only a picture of our future if 

 we destroy, seldom conserve, and never plant 

 great forests. What came to the axemen of the 

 Orient will come to those of the Occident. The 

 same causes give inexorably the same results. 

 It is possible that the Mound Builders were de- 

 troyers of Forests and that their race perished 

 with the trees. Then there was a long period, 

 eons upon eons, which no man has any know- 

 ledge of, during which nature re-forested this 

 continent from the Atlantic to the prairies of the 

 Northwest. It may be that the life of a race of 

 men is limited by the duration of the forest or 

 woodland area which they encounter at the be- 

 ginning of their career. We use 25,000 acres of 

 woodland as to their forest products every day. 

 In twentv-eight years we shall have consumed 

 all the foi-ests of the United States. It is time to 

 plant generall.v and thoughtfully. 



Any observing person, traveling from Camden 

 to Cape May, wUl be impressed with the barren 

 appearance of the country. Dwarf Oaks and 

 Pines are the principal forest trees, yet we know 

 that many kinds of trees would grow and flour- 

 ish in this soil. All that is wanting is for the 

 hand of man to plant and restore to nature that 

 which has lieen taken from her. Imagine the 

 waste places transformed into groves and the 

 groves alive with birds ! Where the wind now 

 sweeps unobstructed over barren sands, in a few 

 years would be covered with leaf-mould and 

 verdure. Trees should be planted as a protection 

 for birds, if for nothing else. The cruel destruc- 

 tion of the darlings that navigate the air, is a 

 blight and curse, and cannot but bring its 

 punishment. 



As an example of the utility of tree planting 

 in New Jersey, Vineland, the place which is now 

 my home, may be cited. It has no great natural 

 beauty, so far as scenei-j' exists; no hills or 

 mountains and no river. True, it is on an ele- 

 vated spot, in a flat country, and sunrise and sun 

 set are not obscured Iiy hills. But the trees of 

 vineland are its greatest adornment. The orig- 

 nal Pines and Oaks abound, but added to these 

 aie a great variety of trees, such as arc usually 

 set for shade trees, and the way they flourish is 

 proclamation that the soil of New Jersey will 

 nourish trees and is only asking for a chance to 

 show the world what mother nature can do. 



If I were consulted as to what kind of trees to 

 plant in towns and roadsides, I would say, plant 

 liberally, of fruit trees, alternated with forest 

 trees. We have some Apple trees on the side- 

 walks in Vineland and they afford delightful 

 shade; their beauty when in blossom and the 

 utility of fruit make them greatly to be desired. 

 And Mulberry trees, I would have plenty of 

 them; the robust native kintl, and the Downing's 

 Everbearing, and the Kussian also, and if silk 

 worms are to be reared, the Italian or White 

 Mulberry. This fruit is one of the most health- 

 ful in the world It is also excellent food for 

 poultry, and the birds of the air feed upon it, as 

 well as the bees. The wasps, those industrious 

 little souls that are so useful in devouring the 

 eggs of insects injurious to fruit, are happy in 

 the hanging garden of a Mulberry tree. 



I call to mind farms in Penns.vlvania among 

 the foot-hills of the AUeghenies, where Cherry 



