April 29, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



179 



glory, covering acres near the base of the Sierra Madre Moun- 

 tains, above Pasadena. In the rear of my house, in the suburbs 

 of Los Angeles, a mountain peak rises to the height of fourteen 

 hundred feet, and from its summit on a clear day I have seen 

 with the naked eye the rich golden color of these Poppy fields 

 twelve miles away. Another but much less common member 

 of this family is Dendromecon rigidum, with pure golden-yel- 

 low flowers, containing not a trace of orange, but otherwise 

 resembling those of the Eschscholtzia. I have lately seen speci- 

 mens of it six or seven feet high and five feet in diameter and 

 well furnished with bloom. It certainly is a plant worth^intro- 

 ducing to our gardens, although it is transplanted with diffi- 

 culty and is hard to raise from seed. It is in full flower dur- 

 ing March and April, but continues to bear a few flowers for 

 several months. This is the only member of the Poppy family 

 known to me which is a true shrub, but Dr. Franceschi reports 

 that on an island near Santa Barbara there is a less rigid 

 species called D. flaccidum. The first of the Calochorti to 

 appear here is C. Catalinse, with large white flowers delicately 

 shaded with purple and dark spots at the base of the petals. 

 Los Angeles, Calif. E. D. Sturtevant. 



Early April in Southern California. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — A note of what one sees and hears during a stroll 

 through a California garden in a morning in early April may 

 interest eastern readers, whom we think of with some com- 

 passion as we read in telegraphic dispatches of snow-storms 

 and freezing weather. Giant Callas lift their creamy chalices 

 under the bay-window above the dark green of such leaves as 

 I have never seen elsewhere, and against the side of the house 

 tall Fuchsias are trained and thousands of their pendulous 

 flowers are swinging in the breeze, while up the pillars and 

 along the frieze of the portico great starry blooms of hybrid 

 Clematis show white and shades of blue. On either side of 

 the steps are huge bushes of Heliotrope, and a tangle of Cobeea 

 scandens has climbed up an angle of the building and is cov- 

 ered with flowers of exquisite form and changing color. 



Out in the garden are bushes of Marguerite, seven or eight 

 feet in diameter and nearly as high, white with daisy-like 

 flowers, but they are still more impressive when seen in the 

 light of a full moon, when they have a fairy-like grace and an 

 indescribable silvery glitter. The Lilacs have done blooming. 

 The Laurestinus is almost done, but the Snowballs and Phila- 

 delphuses are in perfection. The show Pelargoniums are just 

 opening, although the Zonal Geraniums are always in bloom. 

 A few late Tulips linger in the bulb-beds with a few Narcissi, 

 Ranunculi, Anemones, Ixias and Spiraxes. German Irises, 

 with their wealth of color and Orchid-like texture, are making 

 a noble display, and the Japanese Iris, a midsummer flower 

 with you, will soon appear. Carnations are to be gathered 

 every day, and the Chinese Honeysuckle which riots over a 

 stone wall is also constantly in flower. Sweet Peas are open- 

 ing on long wire trellises ; Verbenas are gorgeous masses of 

 color; Tropgeolums are ablaze with spicy blossoms half- 

 hidden in lush-green foliage, and the velvety faces of the Pan- 

 sies now wear their best expression in this cool damp weather. 



But the glory of the garden now is the Roses, for, although 

 we have Roses every day, this is the time of their perfection. 

 Tea Roses are especially handsome now, not only on account 

 of their flowers, but on account of the young foliage in shades 

 of olive, bronze and red, while the sprays of the Lady Banksias, 

 sometimes twenty feet long, are covered for their entire length 

 with tiny fragrant blossoms of white and yellow. Of course, 

 it is impossible to describe a Rose or a Rose garden, but one 

 who visits the southern coast of California at this season always 

 feels that the cool beauty of the white La France, the blaze of 

 the General Jacqueminot and the deep gold of the Mare"chal 

 Niel are never seen in such perfection elsewhere. 

 Los Gatos, Calif. Imogene E. Johnson. 



Recent Publications. 



Traile des Pla?italions d' Alignement et d'Omemeni da?is les 

 Villes elsur les Routes Departementales. Par A. Chargueraud, 

 Professeur d'Arboriculture de la Ville de Paris. Paris : J. 

 Rothschild. 1896. 



The unfavorable comparisons which an American visit- 

 ing Europe must make between the trees in his own cities 

 and those which he finds in the streets of Paris and other 

 Continental cities will be explained when he remembers 

 how carelessly and inefficiently tree-planting in American 

 cities is performed, when it is done at all, and then learns 



by reading this manual how carefully and systematically 

 the work is done in France. Tree-planting in Paris is done 

 by studiously considered and intelligent rule. The amount 

 of soil and its quality for each tree is established, the par- 

 ticular variety of tree is selected with reference to the width 

 of the streets and the height of buildings, and every pre- 

 caution is taken to insure success by the selection of 

 healthy, carefully pruned individuals, which are planted in 

 the most thorough way, by protecting them from injury and 

 by providing them, by an elaborate system of underground 

 pipes, with a sufficient and regular supply of moisture. As 

 a rule, in this country, any tree, however crooked, ungainly 

 or defective, is good enough to plant in our streets and 

 public parks, and the operation of securing shade for our 

 city streets usually stops after the tree has been thrust into 

 a hole, as often dug in masons' debris as in good soil, until 

 the time comes, a few years later, when the professional 

 tree-butcher or the lineman of some wire company comes 

 along and disfigures it for life. In Paris, however, good 

 trees are considered of sufficient importance to authorize 

 the expenditure of time and money to secure them. From 

 the official figures of the Department of Public Works of 

 the city of Paris it appears that the cost of planting a street- 

 tree sometimes amounts to 215 francs and 25 centimes, or, 

 roughly, from $40.00 to $50.00. This includes the cost of 

 the tree, which is put at only $1.00, the digging of a suita- 

 ble hole and filling it with good soil, the drain-pipes, tree- 

 protectors and an open iron grille which allows air and 

 water from the sidewalk to reach the roots. Where the 

 soil, however, does not require renewal and the grille and 

 drainage-pipes are omitted, the cost of the planted tree is 

 usually not more than $2.50. 



Professor Chargueraud recommends that city trees should 

 be planted in a continuous strip of soil not less than twelve 

 feet wide and three feet deep, although he acknowledges 

 that in Paris, in order to save expense, planting spaces are 

 sometimes reduced to a width of nine feet. Where isolated 

 trees are planted he recommends pits at least twelve feet 

 square and four or five feet deep. 



In Paris, in spite of all the care which is bestowed upon 

 street-trees, the average period they remain in good condi- 

 tion does not exceed forty to forty-five years, so that of the 

 hundred thousand trees which form the street plantations 

 of the city two thousand are renewed annually, although 

 Professor Chargueraud believes that if the best possible 

 care is given them they can be made to continue in a 

 healthy condition for a much longer period. 



Minute directions are given in this manual for all the 

 operations connected with the selection and care of city 

 trees. It contains an account of the insects which are 

 specially destructive to them and a descriptive list of the 

 trees which have proved most useful in the streets of Paris, 

 a second part of the work being devoted to discussing the 

 problems relative to plantations along rural highways. 

 The book is illustrated with three hundred and thirty-three 

 engravings, which explain the text in an admirable manner. 

 A large part of this volume ought to be translated and pub- 

 lished in this country, with its illustrations, for the benefit 

 of park commissioners, park superintendents, the mayors 

 of cities, and other city and town officers whose duty it is 

 to provide American streets with trees. They will find in 

 it, we feel sure, much that is new to them ; it will show 

 them, too, that a good tree cannot be obtained without an 

 expenditure of considerable money and without intelligence 

 and technical training. As a people we spend millions on 

 park roads, boulevards and parkways, doing this work as 

 well as it is done anywhere, and then scrimp on the cost 

 and care of the trees which are their chief ornament and 

 alone make them desirable and valuable additions to 

 urban equipment. 



Notes. 



The third part of Dr. Bretschneider's learned Botanicon 

 Sinicum, published by Kelly & Walsh, of Shanghai, has ap- 

 peared. It is devoted to botanical investigations into the 

 materia medica of the ancient Chinese. 



