H 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 411, 



lobes and fall as the anient lengthens. The aments of 

 the pistillate tree are slender, pendulous, few-flowered, 

 and from one to two inches long with thin gla- 

 brous stems ; their scales, which are concave and en- 

 fold the flower, are linear-obovate, brown and scarious, 

 laterally lobed, fimbriate above the middle and caducous. 

 The ovary is ovoid, terete or obscurely three-angled, with 

 slightly concave sides crowned by a short stout or elon- 

 gated style, deciduous from the fruit, and by two or three 

 much thickened and dilated two or three lobed stigmas, 

 and is surrounded at the base by the thin and scarious 

 wide cup-shaped deciduous disk, which is irregularly 

 divided into numerous triangular or linear acute teeth. 

 In maturing the fruiting aments become erect and from 

 four to six inches long and the petioles half an inch in 

 length. The capsules ripen in May, when the leaves are 

 about a third grown, and are ovate, acute, dark red-brown, 

 rather thick-walled, two or three valved, and about half 

 an inch long. 



The most northern place where Populus heterophylla is 

 known to grow naturally is in a swamp near North 

 Guilford, Connecticut. It grows also near Northport, 

 Long Island, on Staten Island, and southward near the 

 coast to southern Georgia, through the Gulf States to 

 western Louisiana, and through Arkansas to south-eastern 

 Missouri, western Kentucky and Tennessee, and southern 

 Illinois and Indiana. In the North Atlantic states the 

 Swamp Cottonwood grows in low wet swamps and is rare 

 and local, but becomes more common in the South Atlantic 

 and Gulf regions, and is abundant in the i alley of the 

 lower Ohio River, in south-eastern Missouri, eastern 

 Arkansas and western Mississippi, growing to its largest 

 size on the borders of swamps with the Texas Oak, the 

 Swamp White Oak, the Red Maple, the Sweet Gum 

 and the Sour Gum. Apparently it has not been found yet 

 anywhere in Florida, although as it is common on the 

 delta of the Mobile River in southern Alabama it might be 

 expected to grow as far east, at least, as the valley of the 

 Apalachicola River. 



Populus heterophylla was introduced into European 

 gardens before the end of the last century, and is still 

 described in nearly all catalogues of trees cultivated in 

 Europe. It probably, however, is exceedingly rare there 

 as it is in cultivation in this country. Planted a few years 

 ago into the Arnold Arboretum, it has proved perfectly 

 hardy in the climate of eastern Massachusetts, but, like 

 other cultivated Poplars, it suffers seriously from insects 

 boring in the trunk and branches. 



Foreign Correspondence. 



London Letter. 



Anona Cherimolia. — A pot-grown plant of this, the Cheri- 

 moyer of the Andes of Ecuador and Peru, fruited this year 

 in the Palm-house at Kew, and on its being noted in The 

 Gardeners' Chronicle attention has been called to its merits 

 as a useful fruit-tree by several who have essayed its culti- 

 vation in this country and elsewhere. It was the subject of 

 some interesting observations in the Kew Bulletin in 1887, 

 where it is described as a tree fifteen to twenty feet high, 

 with loose, spreading branches and ovate velvety leaves. 

 The fruit is about the size of an ordinary hen's egg, and it 

 has a leathery skin inclosing a rich brown-yellow firm 

 pulp. As in most plants which have been a long time un- 

 der cultivation, there are numerous varieties, more or less 

 differing as regards the size and character of the fruit, but it 

 is generally agreed that the Cherimoyer is the most deli- 

 cious of its kind, the flesh being firm, of a flaky character, 

 and possessing a slight agreeable acidity mingled with a 

 luscious sweetness. The flowers are pendent and velvety; 

 they are generally closed in the day and open at night, giv- 

 ing out a delicate odor like that of Magnolia fuscata. The 

 Cherimoyer is common in the mountains of Jamaica, and 

 it is said to have been cultivated from time immemorial 



in Chili. It is also cultivated in Madeira, whence the fruits 

 are sometimes sent to the English market. It also grows 

 and fruits freely at a high altitude in Ceylon. There is 

 abundant evidence of its being adapted for cultivation in 

 the open air in subtropical climates such as that of Florida 

 and other of the southern states, and that it will fruit under 

 glass has been proved at Kew and elsewhere. I tasted a 

 fruit produced at Kew and am, in consequence, able to en- 

 dorse all that has been said in its praise as a dessert fruit. 

 The Creoles say that it is the most delicious fruit in the 

 world. Cultivated on somewhat similar lines to those 

 which are successful for the peach, the Cherimoyer would 

 probably soon take a prominent place among favorite fruits. 

 A figure of a. plant in fruit is given this week in The Gar' 

 deners Chronicle, where it is stated that in Constantinople 

 the fruits are obtainable from December to February. 



Sarda Melon. — Last year seeds of this interesting Melon 

 were distributed from Kew among the principal gardens of 

 the colonies and England. They had been obtained from 

 Kabul by Dr. Aitchison, who stated in the Kew Bulletin for 

 January that in western Afghanistan this variety is grown 

 as a field-crop and is exported to India in great quantities 

 during the winter, where it is much appreciated. The word 

 Sarda means cold, and it appears that the fruits of this- 

 Melon only develop the rich flavor for which it is held in 

 high repute in India when exposed for a time to a compar- 

 atively low temperature. The fruits collected from the 

 plants while the season is hot and there is still no frost, 

 are, comparatively speaking, of ordinary quality, but when 

 the night frosts set in they are covered to prevent 

 their being frozen, and are collected when not quite 

 ripe. They then ripen slowly, keep well through the 

 winter and improve in flavor the longer they are kept. 

 Fruits have been grown this year in the Queen's garden at 

 Windsor, and Mr. Thomas, the gardener, speaks highly 

 of them. They were nearly a foot long, yellowish, netted, 

 and the flesh was yellow, firm, very sweet and of good 

 flavor. # 



Aberia Caffra. — Attention has recently been called to 

 this plant in colonial and English papers on account of its 

 usefulness for fences and also for its edible fruits. When I 

 was in South Africa nine years ago I saw some excellent 

 fences of it, yards in thickness and absolutely impene- 

 trable, owing to the number and strength of its stout 

 straight spines, from two to six inches in length, which 

 clothe the interlacing branches. It appeared to be as 

 accommodating as the common Quick (Crataegus) is in this 

 country and to grow as rapidly. Its fruits are spheroid, an 

 inch in diameter, yellow when ripe, with a juicy acid pulp 

 and an agreeable odor. At the Cape it is known as the 

 Kei Apple, from the Kei River, in Caffraria. It is used for 

 jam-making, and Professor Macowan, in a note recently 

 published in The Cape Journal of Agriculture, says that 

 mixed with tomato it would make a first-rate jam. It fruits 

 annually in Mr. Hanbury's garden at Mentone, on the 

 Riviera, whence samples are sometimes sent to Kew. The 

 raw fruit is too acid for most palates, although this acidity 

 is reduced by overripeness. The plant is easily multiplied 

 from seeds or cuttings. 



Queensland Cherry. — -There are so very few edible fruits 

 in Australia that the discovery of this quality in a species of 

 Antidesma, native of that country, is noteworthy, especially, 

 too, as this genus belongs to the Spurgeworts (Euphor- 

 biacere), an order exceptionally poor in edible-fruited spe- 

 cies. A. Dallachyanum, the species under notice, is a 

 shrub which, according to Mr. Bailey, who described it, 

 has " fruit equaling in size that of large cherries, with an 

 acid flavor like that of red currants, and, like them, capable 

 of being made into a rich-colored refreshing jelly, grateful 

 to the parched palates of persons suffering from fever." 

 Fruits of this plant have lately been received at Kew. A. 

 Bunius, a native of Java, also yields edible fruits used for 

 jam-making. The Queensland Cherry would be worth a 

 trial in the southern states. Seeds of it could be obtained 

 from New South Wales. 



