HO 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 420. 



Notes. 



The Puget Sound University owns what is called a residence 

 park of some twelve hundred acres south-west of the city of 

 Tacoma, and it is proposed to devote some two hundred acres 

 of this, where the soil is most suitable, to an arboretum of 

 such trees as will grow in the remarkable climate of that 

 region. The amount of land available is so ample that room 

 can be given for a large collection. Some ten thousand young 

 plants of two hundred and fifty species, native and foreign, 

 already form the nucleus of the proposed tree museum. 



As a proof that more Olive-trees have been planted during 

 the past season than ever before in California, a recent dis- 

 patch to the Tribune states that a single nurseryman in 

 Pomona has sold 200,000 trees, that Mr. Andrew McNally, the 

 Chicago publisher, is planting an Olive orchard of four hun- 

 dred acres in Orange County, and Mrs. Adlai Stevenson is 

 preparing 340 acres in San Bernardino County for Olive-trees. 

 All the Olive groves in southern California were profitable last 

 year and the demand for California olives constantly exceeds 

 the supply. 



Mr. William Falconer, editor of Gardening, has accepted the 

 position of superintendent of the park system of Pittsburg, 

 Pennsylvania, which has been vacant since the death of A. W. 

 Bennett. Mr. Falconer has been in this country some twenty 

 years, and during the latter half of this time he has had charge 

 of Dosoris, the well-known estate of Charles A. Dana, Esq., on 

 the northern shore of Long Island. He has had an unusually 

 wide experience in the various branches of gardening, and the 

 new parks of Pittsburg are sure to be managed with intelli- 

 gence and skill. 



A Farmers' Bulletin on Potato Culture has just been issued 

 by the United States Department of Agriculture, which, while 

 not intended as a complete treatise, contains many helpful sug- 

 gestions in relation to a crop which is grown in every state and 

 territory of the Union, and which amounts in value every year 

 to a hundred million dollars. Such questions as when to 

 cut tubers for seed, the quantity of seed per acre, the size of 

 the pieces, the value of mulching, and the proper methods of 

 harvesting and storing are discussed in the pamphlet, which 

 contains twenty-three pages and is filled with useful matter. 



An effort to explain the physical geography of one of those 

 narrow but well-defined areas to which the successful cultiva- 

 tion of certain classes of fruit is often confined, is found in 

 Bulletin 109 of the Cornell Experiment Station, and entitled the 

 Geological History of the Chautauqua Grape Belt. This region 

 is very plainly defined, and the inquiry was undertaken to 

 determine, if possible, the reasons tor the existence of this 

 particular belt, and to ascertain whether its limits might be 

 profitably extended. The work has been done by Professor 

 R. S. Tarr, of Cornell University, and it contains much inter- 

 esting research, both on the soil and on the climate of the 

 Chautauqua Grape fields, and gives reasons why they are 

 specially adapted to all the fruits common in this latitude. 

 Altogether, it seems to be a peculiarly favored spot, and Pro- 

 fessor Tarr suggests that even the Tobacco plant might be 

 profitably grown there. 



In a bulletin rather more than two years ago concerning 

 Japanese Plums in North America, Professor Bailey stated that 

 these Plums are the most important type of fruit introduced 

 into North America during the last quarter of a century, and 

 deserved to be carefully tested in all parts of the country. Of 

 course, this did not mean that the Japanese Plums were supe- 

 rior to the European Plums of the Prunus domestica type, for, 

 wherever these will succeed, they are still more valuable, 

 although the Japanese can be added to give a variety. The 

 advantages of the Japanese Plums are that they are adapted to 

 a wider range of country than the European type, and among 

 other desirable features which they possess in various degrees 

 are earliness, productiveness, freedom from black-knot and 

 leaf-blight, with long-keeping quality and beauty of fruit. 

 Several of them compare favorably with the Lombard in 

 quality, but it must be admitted that they are generally inferior 

 to the best European Plums. 



The first California grape-fruit of this season to reach this 

 city was sold on March 3d and comprised a car-load, or 300 

 boxes. Much of it was small and below the desirable sizes of 

 fifty-four and sixty-two to a box. The best realized $8.00 at 

 wholesale, a few boxes containing from 150 to 200 of the fruits 

 bringing but $2.00 each. Nevertheless, the entire lot averaged 

 $6.00 a box. The color was light and the weight not heavy 

 enough to insure first quality. Some shaddocks, from theBarba- 

 does, are now forced into the market ; these are of irregular 



form, their uninviting lemon color marked with green. Alto- 

 gether pleasing are the handsome Forbidden Fruits from Ja- 

 maica ; these are large, spherical, the smooth skin a rich orange- 

 color and of oily texture. The fruit is free from bitterness and 

 exceedingly juicy. These have realized $7.00 to 58. 00 a box. 

 No Tangerines or Mandarins have come from California 

 during the past fortnight, and the season for them is nearly 

 ended. The limited stock on hand is offered at $3.00 to $4.50 

 a box. The supply of pears for the remainder of the season is 

 now practically controlled by one firm. Winter Nelis are 

 offered at $5 50 to $6.00 a box to wholesale buyers, Easter 

 Beurres bringing a half-dollar less, and large russet P. Barrys 

 $4.50 to $5.00. 



The extensive mycological herbarium of Mr. J. B. Ellis, of 

 Newfield, New Jersey, has been purchased by the Board of 

 Managers of the New York Botanical Garden, and will be de- 

 posited in the fire-proof museum building of the Garden which 

 it is proposed to erect in Bronx Park. The purchase also 

 includes a considerable portion of Mr. Ellis' library, and the 

 collection will be brought to this city within a short time and 

 placed in a fire-proof storage warehouse until it is finally 

 placed in the Garden. The herbarium represents the work of 

 nearly fifty years devotedly given by Mr. and Mrs. Ellis to the 

 study and accumulation of Fungi from all parts of the world. 

 It is especially rich in North American species, being very 

 nearly complete in that regard, and containing all or nearly all 

 the types described either by Mr. Ellis alone or in cooperation 

 with Dr. M. C. Cooke, Mr. B. M. Everhart, Mr. E. W. Martin, 

 Professor W. A. Kellerman, Rev. A. B. Langlois, Mr. E. D. Hol- 

 way, Mr. B. L. Galloway and others. It is put up in volumes, 

 there being some 250 volumes of published exsiccati, includ- 

 ing all but a few of the earliest distributed sets, and more than 

 150 volumes of a general collection, the whole completely in- 

 dexed on a card catalogue. There are also more than 100 tin 

 cans and boxes filled with fleshy fungi. This important 

 acquisition will make the new institution a centre of interest 

 for students of these plants, and with the other collections 

 already secured will make a substantial foundation for a great 

 herbarium. 



An array of vegetables, such as may be seen any Saturday 

 morning in our large markets and first-class green-grocers' 

 stores, presents almost as wide a range of color as a collection 

 of flowers. Besides this diversity of color there is the delight- 

 ful freshness and crispness of stems and foliage and the beauty 

 of plump roots with clinging soil, while the whole place is 

 pervaded with the wholesome and satisfying earthy smell 

 which reminds one of spring in the country. Green is, of 

 course, the prevailing color, and is seen in many shades and 

 tints now, especially in herbs for seasoning, and salads. The 

 fine-leaved chervil, delicately fragrant tarragon, and the more 

 pungent mint are abundant, while curled parsley, rank-grow- 

 ing chives in their native sod, forced dandelion, corn salad, 

 spinach and kale, tight bunches of perfectly grown watercress 

 and 'celery, heads of curled endive, escarolle, Romaine and 

 other lettuces, each has its particular tint, and the so- 

 called French salad is specially noteworthy for the white 

 midribs and pale lemon-colored blades of its leaves. Ex- 

 cepting Sugar corn and Lima beans, all the summer vege- 

 tables may now readily be had in abundance, although prices 

 have advanced recently, owing to cold weather in northern 

 Florida and the other states of the south Atlantic coast. The 

 main supplies now come from along the coast of southern 

 Florida. New egg-plants, small, glossy and rich purple in 

 color; snowy white cauliflowers, in their green envelopes; 

 choice grades of asparagus in generous-sized bunches, and 

 long grass-green peppers, with occasional splashes of red, are 

 heaped among masses of golden pumpkins, rusty green okra 

 and French artichokes and the earthy brown celeriac, long 

 light straw-colored parsnips and pale green squashes. Neatly 

 piled heads of imported cabbage, glossy and rich purple-red, 

 are showy beside the dull red of beets. Russet-colored 

 mushrooms and oyster-plants, the less well-known kohl-rabi, 

 waxy green cucumbers, fresh-looking well-filled pea-pods and 

 yellow and green string-beans are in all well-stocked offerings 

 of vegetables. New leeks and spring onions are shown, and 

 full-grown onions, in all sizes, in satiny skins of silver, red and 

 yellow. There are slender stalks of bright pink rhubarb, and 

 field tomatoes lacking summer richness of coloring. Sweet 

 potatoes, red-jacketed Bermuda potatoes, clear white and pur- 

 ple turnips and the dull cream-colored rutabagas are common 

 enough. Perhaps no one vegetable makes so decided an 

 impression on the eye as a lot of carrots, especially when 

 these small clear lemon-yellow roots are lighted up by a neigh- 

 boring gas-jet. 



