i63 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 426. 



once established. It thrives best in a rather moist position 

 where it is partially sheltered lrom the sun, but will not grow 

 well in too deep shade. It is easily propagated by means of 

 seeds or divisions and requires no special culture. 



Newark, N.J. N. J. A. 



Correspondence. 



Buckleya Again. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Three years ago, in May, I visited Wolf Creek, a small 

 hamlet consisting of some half-dozen scattered houses, about 

 five miles below Paint Rock, the original locality of Buckleya 

 distichophylla. The post-office is situated at the mouth of a 

 stream of the same name that rises in the high mountains 

 near the Norlh Carolina line, and, after winding among the 

 hills for some seven miles, empties into the French Broad. 

 Here Buckleya was found at several points along the river, 

 from about two miles above to a half-mile below the creek. In 

 only one spot was it found away from the river-bank, and there 

 not more than an eighth of a miledistant. In the locality in ques- 

 tion some two or three dozen plants grew on the steep wooded 

 bank of a small pond — half water, half quicksand — among 

 Cherry Birches, two or three Oaks and the Big Laurel, Rhodo- 

 dendron maximum. The presence here of Hemlocks, Tsuga 

 Canadensis, makes it probable that at some not very distant 

 time this colony was also growing on the river-bank, for Hem- 

 locks are almost entirely confined to the banks of the larger 

 watercourses in the Alleghanies. The probability is increased 

 by the fact that only a stretch of low bottom-land intervenes 

 between the pond and the river. 



About two miles above Wolf Creek the largest number of 

 individuals found in any one place were discovered on an 

 abrupt rocky bluff overhanging the river. In this sheltered 

 spot there were probably 120 specimens growing under the 

 shade of various large trees, along with Yellow-wood, Cladras- 

 tis lutea, and the Sweet shrub, Buettneria fertilis (Calycanthus 

 laevigatus). Between these two stations the plants were scat- 

 tered along the river — a half-dozen or so here and there — near 

 the water's edge, usually growing with the Sweet-shrub, Leu- 

 cothoe recurva, Hemlocks and Red Birches. All the speci- 

 mens found were on the left bank of the river ; none were 

 discovered on the right bank. Buckleya is said to have been 

 found on a bluff on Wolf Creek, about half a mile from its 

 mouth, but I did not come across it there. 



The largest specimens grew on the bluff two miles up the 

 river, where they attained a height of ten or eleven feet, but 

 the average shrubs are only six or eight feet high, with a stem 

 diameter of about one inch at base. In habit Buckleya is more 

 like a small tree than a shrub. It prefers a rich shaded soil, 

 but sometimes grows in almost pure sand. It is a handsome 

 plant in every part. The foliage is light and graceful. The 

 female flowers, drooping at the ends of short twigs, with their 

 crown of four sepal-like bracts, are much more conspicuous 

 than the small staminate blossoms. The bark, reddish brown 

 in color, with conspicuous lenticels, somewhat resembles that 

 of the Cherry Birch. The wood is white and has a beautiful 

 fine grain. A quantity of the nuts, or rather drupes, were sent 

 to me during the following autumn by Master Harry Allen, 

 who wrote that they are produced in great abundance. The 

 largest ones are nearly an inch long. When dry they are light 

 brown in color and deeply furrowed lengthwise. Although 

 rich in oil, they are not unpleasant to the taste, being quite 

 sweet and with a flavor somewhat like that of filberts. The 

 shrub is well known at Wolf Creek, but has received no more 

 distinctive local name than that of " the bush with queer 

 nuts." 



There seems to be no great danger of its immediate extinc- 

 tion. Its occurrence in several different places is one security 

 against this. Then it is usually confined to places rather diffi- 

 cult of access and unfavorable for agricultural purposes. In 

 spite of the apparent disadvp ntage of a separation of the sexes 

 in so rare a plant, it matures a great quantity of fruit. In May 

 I found numerous vigorous seedlings among the older plants, 

 especially in the two larger colonies. Moreover, it is highly 

 probable that further search along the banks of the French 

 Broad, between Paint Rock and Wolf Creek and below Wolf 

 Creek, may discover other stations. As far down the river as 

 Newport the conditions are very similar to those about Wolf 

 Creek, so that its absence, rather than its presence, there would 

 be surprising. At any rate, it is pleasant to know that this rare 

 and handsome shrub is not quite as near extinction as has been 

 supposed. 



Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. T. H. Kearney, Jr. 



Calochortus in Southern California. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Calochortus Weedii is found in great abundance about 

 the foot-hills of Passadena, but the plant does not flourish 

 equally well in all places. The finest flowers I have found are 

 on the norlh-eastern slope of the highest hill near the summit, 

 where another hill to the north cuts off the cold mountain 

 winds. The plants appear in early March among the Sage- 

 brush, where the soil is red and loose, and it may interest your 

 readers to know that the very sturdiest of them come out of 

 the gopher-holes, where the bulbs are at least eighteen inches 

 deep. In some former year a seed chanced to fall into one of 

 these holes, and the dust sifting over it neatly buried it, where, 

 perhaps, it found more moisture than its neighbors nearer the 

 surface. At all events, the plants in gopher-holes grow with 

 unusual vigor and their flowers are exceptionally large and 

 brilliant. The terminal flowers are largest, and they are seen 

 scantily in the early part of April, while the lateral buds follow 

 until the middle and the upper part of the slopes are luxuriantly 

 covered with the white flowers. I have often gathered twenty 

 of them in the space of three square feet, the tallest being on 

 stems three feet long. The seed-cups open by July, when the 

 ground is literally alive with snakes. Few of the seeds reach 

 the ground, however, as the small birds relish them and often 

 pick into the three-cornered capsule before it is ready to open. 

 C. Weedii, with pink flowers, is found on the bench-lands of 

 the Cafion La Can ida, where it may be the color is modified 

 by unusual exposure. 



The mauve-colored flowers of Calochortus purpurascens 

 are found in a few places on the bench-lands which look over 

 Arroyo Seco. These are very large, and the yellow pubescence 

 extends from the centre of the flower fully half the length of 

 the petals, making a most beautiful combination of color. 

 These flower later than the ordinary white ones. They are 

 not as tall and less branched. C. claratus bears a beautiful 

 canary-colored flower, and is found on the high hills overlook- 

 ing the Cahuenga Pass. 



Los Angeles, Calif. Jennie Kruckeberg. 



Recent Publications. 



The Evolution of Horticulture in Keiv England. By Daniel 

 Denison Slade. Putnam's Sons, New York and London. 

 1895. 



Dr. Slade's lifelong services to the art of horticulture are 

 gratefully acknowledged by all lovers of the art in this 

 country ; and this little book, published just before his 

 death, will be welcomed as a memorial of its author no less 

 than for its own sake. It is somewhat overweighted by 

 its title, for it is an attractive sketch rather than a scientific 

 history of the progress of horticulture in New England 

 since the time when the first colonists landed ; but its 

 delightful typographical dress and its simple pretty binding 

 are entirely in accord with its character. 



The volume begins with a brief sketch of the history of 

 horticulture in the mother country, and then takes up the 

 main subject from the very outset. It is impressed upon 

 the reader that, in the early seventeenth century, New 

 England was a forest-clad country, as regards its islands 

 no less than its mainland, "the only exceptions to this con- 

 dition being the salt marshes, the bogs and the higher 

 ranges of mountains." An old chronicler relates that "the 

 salvages are accustomed to set fire to the country in all 

 places where they come and to burn it twice a year — that 

 is, at the spring, and the fall of the leaf. The reason that 

 moves them to do so is because it would otherwise be so 

 overgrown with underweeds that it would be all a coppice 

 wood, and the people would not be able in any wise to 

 pass through the country out of a beaten path. This cus- 

 tom of firing the country is the means to make it passable, 

 and by that means the trees grow here and there, as in our 

 parks, and makes the country very beautiful and com- 

 modious." Nevertheless, much of the work of the 

 early settlers was in clearing away the forests which 

 obstructed agriculture and horticulture — how much it is 

 hard for those who know eastern New England now to 

 imagine until they have read many such notices as that 

 which speaks of " a necke of land called Nahant" as being 

 " well wooded with Oakes, Pines and Cedars." Their first 



