April 29, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



•73 



Besides these indigenous grasses there are a number 

 introduced from the Old World and naturalized in various 

 parts of the country that might be referred to in passing. 

 Velvet-Grass or Meadow Soft-Grass, Holcus lanatus, is quite 

 conspicuous in grass-lands by reason of its whitish color 

 and the often beautifully pink or purple tinted panicle. 

 Hare's-tail, Quaking-Grass and Hair-Grass, Aira caryo- 

 phyllea, are pretty grasses, sometimes cultivated, chiefly 

 in Europe, for dry bouquets. They are mostly natives of 

 the Mediterranean region, but now grow wild in various 

 parts of North America. Arundo Donax, from southern 

 Europe, is said to be established in Virginia and along the 

 lower Rio Grande. 



Only a few of qur beautiful native grasses are mentioned 

 here. There are others quite as handsome ; and from the 

 four quarters of the earth hundreds of ornamental species 

 could be gathered. Grasses have been too long neglected 

 in the flower garden. Planting them in the shape of lawns 

 to be kept closely mown is not enough, for it does not • 

 allow the often graceful and delicately colored flower-clus- 

 ters to be seen. Grasses are easily cultivated and require 

 but a minimum of care. That they are more hardy than 

 most plants, and less easily injured by transplanting, is 

 shown by the readiness with which' the natives of one coun- 

 try are naturalized in another when accidentally introduced 

 To what extent some of them may be improved for orna- 

 mental purposes by cultivation and selection remains to 

 be seen ; but, even as they are, man)' of them have quali- 

 ties that entitle them to the recognition of the horticulturist. 



Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 7. H . Kearney, Jr. 



Spring in the Pines. 



I AM writing on the 19th of April, and vegetation is 

 further advanced than it ordinarily is at this date and 

 yet ten days ago, after an unusually cold March ami early 

 April, all vegetation in the Pines seemed at a standstill and 

 the season was unprecedentedly late. But ten days of 

 August weather, following hard after frost, has aroused the 

 latent forces of nature to an activity which has been almost 

 startling. We can hear and see the buds swelling and 

 bursting, especially in the early morning and evening. 



Whether we look or whether we listen, 

 We hear life murmur, and see it glisten ; 

 Every clod feels a stir of life, 



An instinct within it that reaches and towers, 

 And creeping blindly above it for light, 



Climbs to a soul in grass and dowers. 



No one ever saw the Bloodroot pushing up and spread- 

 ing its white petals in such haste to meet the sun. Trailing 

 Arbutus and Pyxie, due to flower long ago, were held back 

 by the cold, but under the genial influences of an hour 

 they were both in full bloom. The red keys are hanging 

 on the Swamp Maples, and the White Maples have already 

 shed their flowers. March checked the Filbert and Alder 

 tassels, which were shedding their pollen as long ago as 

 February, so that there were some fresh catkins still left to 

 open with the sudden warmth. The bursting buds of the 

 Bayberry are crowding off the old but still green and fra- 

 grant leaves from the stem, and the spicy aroma about the 

 Sassafras tells us that its flowers are opening. The 

 Amelanchiers have been somewhat tardy, but they are 

 now covered with bloom like the other early-flowering 

 trees. Some of the dwarf Willows in the Pines are exceed- 

 ingly handsome now, with their flowers ranked thickly 

 along the stem ; the deep scarlet stamens, just before they 

 shed their pollen and later as they expand into yellowish 

 fluffy flowers, make them most desirable shrubs for a 

 spring garden. 



After all, the bursting of the leaf-buds and the sudden 

 expansion of the leaves seem more wonderful, if possible, 

 than the opening of the flowers. To-day a tree is envel- 

 oped in a soft haze of light yellow or a greenish mist and 

 to-morrow it waves boughs of foliage dense enough for 

 shade, and in the deciduous woods here the range of varied 



color is beyond all description. In the garden, Cherries 

 and Plum trees are fragrant with their white flowers, while 

 Peach and Almonds with their rosy blossoms add to the 

 picture. Even the Apple-trees are showing the pink tips 

 of their flower-buds, an unusual spectacle in mid-April. The 

 Japan Quince and Exochordas, the early Spirseas and For- 

 sythias are at their very best, and so is the Akebia with its 

 chocolate blossoms. 



The effect of this midsummer weather upon the birds is 

 amusing. It is very plain that they imagine they are be- 

 hindhand in their work. Three robins have constructed 

 nests near my house, two of them building after the normal 

 fashion, with mud foundations, but the third evidently feels 

 called upon to do something out of the ordinary, and is 

 trying to found her house on a few dry twigs and a quan- 

 tity of chicken feathers. The nest is in a Hemlock near the 

 ground, so that we have no difficulty in watching its 

 progress. The bird hurries to the chicken-yard and selects 

 long feathers, so that Mie can weave them in with the 

 twigs. But it is a novel kind of architecture for her, and 

 she is making an untidy mess of it. Her mate does not 

 assist in the building, but perches himself on the naked 

 branch of a Mulberry-tree near by, and when she arrives 

 with her load of feathers he looks at her in such a comical 

 way that one can almost hear his comments on her work. 

 Plainly she has caught the spirit of the age, and, like the 

 new woman, she will not be bound to the traditions of her 

 race. A pair of golden-winged woodpeckers are making 

 an excavation in a Maple within a few feet of the house. 

 These large and beautiful birds are joint partners in this 

 work as well as in other household affairs. One of the pair 

 will work vigorously for a time, and then, promptly re- 

 sponding to a call, the other will come to take its place at 

 the hole, while the first retires to a distance and keeps 

 guard. Let me approach ever so cautiously that side of 

 the house where the tree stands and the watching bird will 

 sound the alarm, the tapping ceases instantly and the head 

 of the worker is thrust out to investigate. If I approach 

 nearer it flies away, but if I slowly move off it soon begins 

 work. Thrushes, wrens, song sparrows and vesper spar- 

 rows are filling the air with glad music ; insects are buzz- 

 ing among the flowers and butterflies are flitting here and 

 there ; in fact, the whole scene is filled with action where 

 but ten days ago every sign of life was locked up in frost. 



Vineland, N.J. Mary Treat. 



Foreign Correspondence. 



London Letter. 



Parrotia Jacquemontiana. — This is now flowering for the 

 first time in the arboretum at Kew. It differs from Parrotia 

 Persica in having smaller flowers arranged in a conical head 

 and surrounded by ovate petaloid whitish bracts nearly an 

 inch long. The flowers are developed before the young leaves. 

 When mature, the leaves are orbicular or obovate, distinctly 

 toothed all around the edges, dull green, and they do not 

 assume the bright colors in autumn so characteristic of the 

 Persian species. The former is a native of Kashmir at an 

 elevation of from 5,000 to 9,000 feet, where it forms a 

 Hazel-like bush, six to twelve feet high. Dr. Aitchison found 

 it in abundance in Afghanistan in the interior of the hills, 

 forming much of the shrub jungle there. He says the long 

 slender stems and pliant branches are used in wicker-work 

 and for the handles of farm implements. As a garden plant 

 it is not as valuable as P. Persica, which at Kew forms a 

 beautiful shrub or small tree, bearing large glossy green 

 leaves all summer, which in autumn change to the richest 

 hues of orange, red, brown and yellow. 



Widdringtonia Whytei. — The Milaivji Cypress, as this 

 plant is popularly known, has been largely distributed from 

 Kew by means of seeds and young plants. It bids fair to 

 become a useful garden plant, and also, in countries favor- 

 able to its growth out-of-doors, a valuable timber tree. It 

 was discovered in quantity a few years ago on the moun- 

 tains of British Central Africa, where it forms large forests, 



