February 26, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



87 



Correspondence. 



Daffodils in California. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — It is probable that more Daffodils are in bloom now 

 (February 1st) on the farm of James Shinn, near Niles, Alameda 

 County, than can be found in all the rest of the state put 

 together. The original stock was imported about thirty years 

 ago by the late E. P. Sanford, of Oakland, a prominent drug- 

 gist, whose garden was for many years one of the notable 

 features of that town. When the growth of Oakland made the 

 sacrifice of the garden necessary, part of the stock of Daffodils, 

 then greatly increased, was taken to Niles, and received a judi- 

 cious amount of neglect for many years. 



At the present time the Daffodils have taken possession of a 

 large part of the available garden area. They are allowed to 

 grow in clumps for five or six years without separation, and 

 then it becomes necessary to extend the plantation further and 

 further into the surrounding orchard. The surplus flowers are 

 sent to San Francisco for sale, and the following items from 

 the beginning of the present season will serve to show how 

 well suited the climate is for this flower : 



Three dozen flowers were shipped as early as January 17th ; 

 by the 24th the daily cutting was thirty-five dozen, and by the 

 31st it had reached 300 dozen, with the supply still increasing 

 and destined to continue for several weeks. 



We have been trying to identify the leading variety repre- 

 sented here. Ninety-nine out of a hundred flowers are a large, 

 firm, rich-colored, single Trumpet Daffodil, much resembling 

 the Ard Righ, though earlier; at least, earlier than imported 

 Ard Righ bulbs when planted alongside of them. We have 

 planted a good many named varieties which may develop bet- 

 ter qualities in course of time, under the favoring conditions, 

 but at present nothing among the yellow Trumpet varieties is 

 equal to our own stock in earliness or excels it in general 

 effectiveness. 



As a rule, Trumpet Daffodils bloom here under open-air 

 culture by the middle of January. The Paper-white Narcissi 

 are in bloom by December 1st, and often a fortnight earlier. 

 They are still blooming (February 1st), while the Trumpets 

 are approaching their prime. A few double Trumpets are 

 now in bloom, but the majority will not appear for a fortnight 

 or more, and, in fact, the double forms of the Medii-coronatae 

 group are not at all prominent until the single Trumpets have 

 gone. Various types of the Polyanthus Narcissus are natural- 

 ized in large clumps in the shrubbery, as are many others of the 

 true Daffodil sections, but none of the clustered Narcissi seem 

 quite as much at home as do the single Trumpet Daffodils. 



Niles, Calif. Charles H. Shinn. 



Bulb-farming for the South-west. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest: 



Sir, — Recent experiments indicate that certain favored sec- 

 tions of this country are as well adapted as Holland to the 

 production of an extra quality of bulbs, and this is a matter 

 worth investigating since America imports these bulbs by the 

 million every year. Here and there through the south 

 favorable reports have been made. In particular, Professor 

 Massey, through the columns of Garden and Forest, has 

 called attention time and again to the possibilities of North 

 Carolina in this direction. The South Ozark region, in my 

 opinion, is another promising field for bulb-growing on a 

 large scale. This region, according to a recent isothermal 

 map, consists of about three tiers of counties, five or six of 

 which are in south-western Missouri, and ten or twelve in 

 north-western Arkansas, together with a strip of Indian Terri- 

 tory adjoining them. From the greater height of the moun- 

 tains and the different slope of the ranges this belt of land has 

 a warmer climate than the country to the north, south and 

 west of it, and the conditions of local rainfall are much modi- 

 fied also. The distinctions of soil are even more marked. 

 Although rough and broken, it has a peculiar quality that pro- 

 duces remarkably fine fruit. This is the country which sent 

 out the big red apples to win the world's prize and make 

 Arkansas famous at the Columbian Exposition. 



This same quality of soil produces as noticeable a develop- 

 ment of bulbous plants. Except Hyacinths and Crocuses, 

 which, while they do not really run out, do only fairly well, 

 other spring bulbs multiply so rapidly and grow so large as to 

 suggest competition with' Holland. Tulips, particularly the 

 later sorts, increase wonderfully, and the bulbs are large and 

 plump. But, above all, this is a paradise for Narcissus. Six 

 undersized bulbs of one of the varieties of the Incomparabilis 



section were planted nine years ago, and lifted last fall, when 

 their increase nearly filled a half-bushel. More than that, 

 many of the bulbs were larger and heavier than any imported 

 ones I ever saw. Impressed by the fine appearance of Ozark- 

 grown bulbs, I have for several years tried various members 

 of the Narcissus family for forcing, and can say positively that 

 they are all excellent for this purpose. I have tried the Poly- 

 anthus varieties only slightly, but (hey promise well also, and 

 seem to show no sign of tenderness. 



Summer bulbs also do exceedingly well in this same region. 

 Gladioli and Tigridias produce bulbs, or corms, of prodigious 

 size, and whereas eastern growers complain that their largest 

 bulbs of Gladiolus do not give as fine flowers as those of 

 smaller size, the larger our bulbs grow the longer are the 

 flower-spikes and the larger the individual flowers. It would 

 seem that a Gladiolus or Narcissus farm might prove a paying 

 venture here. 



Pineville, Mo. Lora S. La Mance. 



The Forest. 



Forest Protection. — I. 



The fourth volume of Dr. Schlich's Manual of Forestry 

 deals with the very wide subject of Forest Protection. 

 It is a translation and an adaptation of Der Forstschulz, by 

 Dr. Richard Hess, Professor of Forestry in the University 

 of Giessen, by Mr. W. R. Fisher, of the English Forest 

 School at Cooper's Hill. Mr. Fisher has improved upon 

 Dr. Hess, not only by a very important addition from his 

 Indian knowledge of forest subjects, notably with respect 

 to forest fires, but also by drawing from the resources of 

 French literature on the subjects of torrents and dunes, and 

 by adding the results of the more modern research on the 

 constitution of woody plants from the works of Robert 

 Hartig. The result is a thoroughly practical book, pecul- 

 iarly distinguished by the range of experience made 

 tributary to its pages. It has the further conspicuous 

 merit that the translation does not continually suggest the 

 German phrase behind it, but, on the contrary, is uniformly 

 simple and direct. This use of English construction is 

 especially gratifying because of the striking contrast it 

 offers with other recent translations from German works, 

 in some of which the English is so involved and distorted 

 by the retention of the German structure of the original as 

 to be almost unreadable. 



"Forest Protection,'' so runs the definition, "has for its 

 object the security of forests against unfavorable external 

 influences, as far as lies within the power of their owners," 

 consequently the whole subject of forest law is outside the 

 range of the present treatise. Within the boundary thus 

 defined the attempt is made to lay the foundations of suc- 

 cessful forest protection through a knowledge of the 

 phenomena and causes of all possible damage, of all pre- 

 ventive and remedial measures, and of how to apply them. 

 More than in any other similar book with which I am 

 acquainted, the attempt has been made to facilitate origi- 

 nal and independent study and decision by furnishing 

 a sufficiently wide basis of acquaintance with the causes 

 of injury. 



Following upon the definition of Forest Protection and 

 the description of its position in forestry there is a very 

 brief and interesting notice on the historical development 

 of Forest Protection, which traces it back to the religious 

 care of sacred trees in groves. Later on forests were pro- 

 tected chiefly as the resting-place for wild game. A curious 

 illustration of this point of view is contained in John .Man- 

 wood's black-letter Treatise and Discourse 0/ llic Lowes of 

 /he Forrest, published in London in 179S, which is, I believe, 

 the earliest English book on the subject. On page 15, 

 which lies before me, he says : 



And hereupon the Latinests haue framed this latin vvoord, 

 Foresta, for a Forrest, being compounded of those two 

 woords, fera, and Statio, so that Foresta est ferarum Statio, 

 which is, that a Forrest is a safe abyding place for wild beasts. 

 And euen according to the same manner, immitating the 

 Latinests, we haue framed this English woord, a Forrest, 

 being compounded of these two woords, For, and Rest ; And 

 because a Forrest is a safe abyding and priuiledged place for 



