January 29, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



47 



planted out have grown too rampantly, and have been with 

 difficulty established in pots when taken up in the autumn. 



All who have seen Richardia Elliottiana are captivated by its 

 beauty. In habit it more nearly resembles R. albo-maculata, 

 and in the manner of its growth our common Arisaema, bloom- 

 ing in early summer and afterward going to rest. It increases 

 very slowly, the bulbs developing eyes only when two or three 

 years old, and these are with difficulty established when 

 removed. It is an expensive plant and likely to remain so 

 until some more successful way can be found of propagating 

 it. A silver medal was awarded Mr. Joseph Tailby, of Wel- 

 lesley, by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, before whom 

 he exhibited two years ago. The plant bloomed also about 

 the same time with Mr. Robinson, at Mrs. Ames' gardens, 

 North Easton, Massachusetts. Both plants have borne seed. 

 Examination of the spadix of the common Calla shows the 

 male and female flowers distinctly divided. They are appar- 

 ently so in R. Elliottiana, but closer examination shows addi- 

 tional stamens scattered, or masses of anthers, which are 

 apparently sessile among the female flowers, and these are the 

 only ones in which the pollen is ripe at the same time as the 

 stigmas, all the upper staminate part of the spadix having 

 shed its pollen long before, as in the common Calla. This 

 would seem to be a natural provision for self-fertilization, and 

 accounts for the fecundity of the species, as the plants which 

 have borne seed must have been self-fertilizing, as only one 

 plant bloomed at one place at a time. 



Mr. Tailby has tried pollenization with the "little green" 

 Calla, and also with the common Arisaema. Seedlings, so far, 

 show only the characters of the female parents. I think it is 

 unlikely that so wide a cross should be productive of any other 

 result. 



Wellesley, Mass. T. D^ Hatfield. 



Correspondence. 



John Brown's Grave. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Every student of American history must be glad to 

 know that on the 10th of January the Adirondack farm which 

 holds the grave of John Brown was transferred to the posses- 

 sion of the state of New York, to be kept in perpetuity as a 

 public park. And every one who has visited the farm itself 

 must rejoice that John Brown chanced to be buried in so 

 beautiful a place. Chance, however, is hardly the right word 

 to employ in this connection. It is well known that John 

 Brown was not born in this place, but chose it as his residence, 

 fixed upon the exact spot for his future grave and transported 

 from Connecticut to this spot the tombstone upon which the 

 names of some of his forefathers were cut. 



This now historic farm lies within the limits of the village 

 called North Elba, in Essex County, about three miles from 

 the village of Lake Placid. But while the latter has become 

 a popular summer resort, with several large hotels, North 

 Elba is hardly more than a village in name. It contains only 

 a few houses, and one may easily drive through it without 

 suspecting that he has reached a place which claims a per- 

 sonal identity. Then, to reach the Brown farmhouse one must 

 turn southward from the highway and follow a narrow, wind- 

 ing and somewhat rising road through a thick tract of wood- 

 land for the space of, perhaps, half a mile. Suddenly the forest 

 ceases and one emerges upon a wide and beautiful plateau 

 largely surrounded by impenetrable-looking woods, beyond 

 which to the north are glimpses of stately mountains, while 

 toward the south the ground slopes away, affording a more 

 extended panorama of hills and far-off noble peaks. 



Had this approach been carefully planned it could not have 

 been more beautiful or more dramatically impressive. Level 

 green areas as large as the one contained by the Brovyn farm 

 are rare in this elevated part of the mountain country, and 

 rarely are the painful signs of man's forest depredations so 

 wholly shut out from view. It seems like a fertile, hidden 

 oasis in a land where tangled forests alternate with mournful, 

 fire-swept, barren tracts and with little farmsteads which seem 

 almost as unproductive and are almost as ugly. Within this 

 lovely circle of woods all looks luxuriant and complete, and all 

 is absolutely peaceful ; and in thecentre of it, close to the farm- 

 house, rises the singular, isolated, large-rounded bowlder 

 which John Brown selected as his tombstone. 



Nothing is cut upon this bowlder, under the shadow of 

 which he now lies, except his name and the date of his death, 

 in plain large letters. Close to it stands the small old stone 

 which he brought from Connecticut. Blossoming Roses and 



other shrubs twine about them, and the little plot thus formed 

 is surrounded by a simple rustic paling. There is no attempt 

 at "art" and none at ornamentation, except such as Mother 

 Nature could contribute ; therefore the effect of the spot is as 

 beautiful as it is impressive, and it is to be hoped that, now it 

 has become a public possession, nothing will be done to 

 "improve" any part of the farm. It should remain as it is — 

 as John Brown saw it and as his family left it. The cottage 

 should be placed in charge of a guardian, of course, but no 

 gardener should be let loose upon the land ; and, I think, if a 

 landscape-artist were asked for his advice he would decide 

 that nothing, or very little indeed, should be done to it. 



The farm comprises 244 acres, and in the year 1870 was pur- 

 chased by a number of public-spirited persons in order that it 

 might be preserved from destruction. Miss Kate Field started 

 the subscription for this purpose, and has since been active in 

 urging the transfer of the place into official keeping. Since 

 1870 a fund has accumulated from the rental of the house and 

 land ; and, the newspapers of the moment assert, this fund is 

 to be used " in the erection of a monument on the farm to 

 John Brown's memory." Had I not read these words I should 

 not have been so strongly prompted to write about the place 

 just here and now. But just here and now it should be very 

 plainly said that no money could be expended in a worse way 

 than in building a monument of any possible kind in the beau- 

 tiful and characteristic spot which I have tried to describe. Its 

 charm, its individuality, its impressiveness, spring from its 

 purely and simply rural character. To build anything ambi- 

 tious in such a scene, in the vicinity of John Brown's humble 

 little low-browed wooden house, would be an artistic sin of 

 the deepest dye. There would be no excuse for such an act 

 even if the grave were wholly unmarked. Were this the case, 

 only a stone of small size and of the simplest possible sort 

 should be erected. But John Brown already has a monument 

 which he selected himself, and which, in its simple appropri- 

 ateness to the character of the site and to the character of the 

 man himself, has a greater beauty, dignity and significance 

 than anything that mortal hands could make. No man in 

 America needs, near the place where his body lies, another 

 monument as little as does John Brown. If there is money 

 lying idle, and if it ought to be used to commemorate his name, 

 let a monument be built, but not on the Adirondack farm ; 

 anywhere else, but not within sight of John Brown's grave. 



New York City. M- G. Van Rensselaer. 



Our Native Plants in Winter. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — The beauty and value of some of our native shrubs, 

 as regards their winter aspects, impressed me more strongly 

 than ever during a stroll along the banks of a stream and 

 through a forest one warm sunny afternoon in last December. 

 The ground was bare, save where it was carpeted with fallen 

 leaves, Hepaticas and evergreen Ferns. Here and there stood 

 groups of Sumach, Rhus glabra, making crimson spots in the 

 landscape. In cultivation this is a desirable shrub, for, though 

 its autumn effects are sufficient to command a place for it in 

 every garden, it is beautiful through the summer also. The 

 smooth glossy leaves show white beneath when upturned in 

 the breeze, and during the latter half of the season its effec- 

 tiveness is enhanced by the crimson cone-shaped fruit, which 

 is carried late into the winter and long after the leaves have 

 fallen. 



The Barberry, too, Berberis vulgaris, thrives luxuriantly in 

 New England, where it is now well established as a wild shrub. 

 The abundance of this species growing beside the path, with 

 its bright scarlet berries, frost-bitten, it is true, but still clinging 

 to the spiny branches, lent a certain brightness and cheer to 

 the surrounding landscape which were fairly exhilarating. 

 Along the banks of the stream Choke Cherry bushes were 

 covered with dense tangles of Greenbriar, Smilax rotundifolius. 

 The prickly and vivid green stems were so closely interwoven 

 as to form an impenetrable screen even in winter after the leaves 

 had fallen, and the blue-black be"rries clustered against it 

 helped, by contrast, to make it ornamental. The Bitter-sv 

 Celastrus scandens, grew there, too, and of all the native: 

 shrubby climbing plants none is more attractive when 

 the orange-colored pods open and disclose the bright scarlet 

 seeds. 



We are fortunate in having plants that remain beautiful 

 when vegetation is taking its winter rest, and I wonder why 

 they are left outside 111 (he planting of home-grounds, and 

 foreign shrubs introduced which arc less beautiful, and olten 

 useful for summer effects only. 



Experiment Station, New Havel 



IV. E. Bri 



