182 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 428. 



not rested here, they are making a determined move 

 toward acquiring, in the name of the. state, a large area on 

 which it is proposed to restore and preserve the forest. We 

 have received a circular containing a synopsis of the plan 

 proposed by Mr. Judson N. Cross, of Minneapolis, at the 

 meeting of the Forestry Association of Minnesota, held in 

 January of this year, and since the plan is novel and has 

 far-reaching possibilities, all persons to whom the circular 

 is sent are requested to express their opinions as to the 

 details and to send any recommendations for changes, 

 together with reasons for the same, to the Secretary of the 

 Association, Mr. J. O. Barrett, Brown's Valley, Minne- 

 sota. 



The plan is essentially this : (1) The Legislature is to 

 constitute state, county and town boards of forestry. For 

 the sake of economy the town board of supervisors will act 

 as a town forestry board, the county commissioners will 

 constitute the county forestry boards, and the state forestry 

 board of nine members is made up of the State Land Com- 

 missioner, the Professor of Botany in the Agricultural Depart- 

 ment of the State University, the chief officer of the Climate 

 and Crop Service of the United States Weather Bureau in 

 Minnesota, and one member appointed by each of the fol- 

 lowing associations, namely, the State Forestry Associa- 

 tion, Farmers' Institute, the Board of Regents of the 

 University, the State Lumbermen's Association, the Board 

 of Public Health and the Fish and Game Commissioners. 

 These are to serve without pay, except for actual expenses, 

 and an executive committee of three is to be selected by 

 the entire board. (2) Owners of Pine lands which have 

 been lumbered over and other lands, especially if they are 

 rocky, rough or sandy, and will probably not be utilized 

 for agricultural purposes for some years, may deed that 

 land to the state when this course is recommended by the 

 town and county forestry boards. This land is deeded for 

 forestry purposes only, all rights in minerals, coal, oil, etc., 

 being reserved. Land so deeded shall be exempt from 

 taxes, because it is dedicated to public use. (3) This land 

 shall be called the Reserved Forest Area, and it shall be 

 under the charge of the State Forestry Board, who is to 

 care for it as the Legislature may direct. (4) Of the future 

 income to be derived from such lands, one-third shall go 

 to the state to reimburse it and the towns and counties for 

 care and protection and loss of taxes, one-third to the per- 

 son deeding the land and his heirs for a period of, say, one 

 hundred years, after which it is to go to some institution, 

 the other one-third to go to some designated institution or 

 the State University. (5) The state shall have full power 

 to lease low meadow tracts where such are needed as pro- 

 tection against fire, or for pasture where this will not inter- 

 fere with the growth of the forest-trees. It shall have power 

 also to sell dead and down timber, which it is supposed when 

 the adjoining lands are settled up will bring in a large 

 income, and generally the state is to have full power of 

 control, even the power of alienation of certain tracts when 

 recommended by the State Board of Forestry in such 

 cases, for example, as where the growth of towns, the 

 building of railroads, water-power, etc., may necessitate 

 such alienation. 



Of course, this is the merest outline of the scheme, and 

 we have omitted many of the details given in the circular. 

 We call attention to it, however, as a step forward, that the 

 great prairie states, as well as New York and those in the mid- 

 dle Appalachian region, are taking serious thought of securing 

 and maintaining large areas in permanent forest. Experi- 

 ence in Europe and in India has demonstrated that such 

 areas owned by the commonwealth will prove a source of 

 revenue if properly managed. Besides, they will furnish 

 examples which private forest-owners will be eager to fol- 

 low. More than all, a community which is sufficiently 

 far-sighted to take such action will see to it that the heights 

 and slopes which are the sources of water-supply to the 

 valleys below are kept covered forever as the only se- 

 curity against those disasters which the reckless destruction 

 of forests on highland or lowland has invariably brought. 



Clematis paniculata in a Wild Garden. 



SOME time ago it was suggested in these columns that 

 Clematis paniculata would be an admirable plant for 

 use where it could clamber over wayside shrubbery, after 

 the fashion of our native Clematis Virginiana, which never 

 shows to such good advantage as it does when festooning 

 a fence stake, or brightening with its flowers the dark 

 foliage of the Viburnums or Dogwoods which support it. No 

 doubt, this thought was suggested by having seen the vine 

 making itself at home in the thickets on the borders of a 

 pond in Westbrook, the estate of W. Bayard Cutting, Esq., 

 on the shores of the Great South Bay, Long Island. But it 

 was the Rhododendron season then, and one could only 

 imagine what it would look like in September. On page 

 185 of this issue, however, is a picture of a portion of 

 the border of one of the Westbrook ponds, taken when 

 the Clematis was in bloom, and it shows the great abun- 

 dance of its flowers and the graceful way in which it adapts 

 itself to the spirit of the scene. A mass of Rhododendrons 

 would become tiresome if they bloomed all summer, and 

 the snowy glitter of these Clematis flowers would be 

 oppressive if they opened in spring and continued until 

 autumn. But, after all the shrubs have done flowering, this 

 sudden burst of bloom in early autumn is singularly effec- 

 tive, and the cluster of gray feathers attached to the ripened 

 seed later on are in perfect accord with the autumn colors 

 of the foliage which accompany them. 



These shores at Westbrook furnish many suggestions 

 for a wild garden, by which we do not mean a garden 

 left to run wild, but one planted and tended so as to 

 give that appearance of untamed luxuriance, of careless 

 and unstudied grace which suggests perfect freedom. 

 Myricas and Dwarf Willows, Clethras and Ilexes, Beach 

 Plums and Dogwoods and other shrubs native here 

 unite to form that diversity and intricacy of growth, that 

 mystery of shadow, that air of negligence or wayward- 

 ness which belongs to the wildwood and gives no hint 

 of "dressed grounds." The coarser and more aggres- 

 sive species are watched and restrained, however, from 

 oppressing and crowding out the more fragile and deli- 

 cate kinds, and the picture shows that tall reeds and 

 grasses have been introduced, and these against a back- 

 ground of soft masses of Pine leaves help to complete a 

 very perfect picture. A little way back from the pond there 

 is a secluded walk now approaching close to the shore and 

 again receding from it and broadening out into a space for 

 a rustic seat, where glimpses of the water can be caught 

 through the dense leaves. Of course, the native shrubs 

 that have been named, with many more, naturally form the 

 great mass of the vegetation on the shore, for the world can 

 furnish nothing more suitable and beautiful. But this Japa- 

 nese Clematis is only one of the exotics which help to give 

 variety to the picture. It is proved here that many of the 

 wild single Roses of other lands, like Rosa Wichuraiana and 

 R. multiflora, are adapted to this unconventional life as 

 thoroughly as the Roses of our own swamps, and yellow 

 Irises from Europe seem quite as happy amid these wild 

 surroundings as our native Blue Flag. All this is art, but 

 it is the art which conceals art. To create such a scene 

 requires patience, a knowledge of plants and the prophetic 

 eye of taste ; but, after all, studies of this sort furnish one 

 of the most satisfying diversions for the owners of country 

 estates. There are many other places than the borders of 

 ponds which are adapted to wild gardens of a type similar 

 to the one figured here, but water, still or flowing, gives a 

 distinct advantage in many ways, especially in the light 

 and openness it secures and in the reflected pictures, broken 

 or perfect, which it adds to the scene. 



The Tannins of the Palmettos. 



N the many accounts of the uses to which the southern 



Palmettos are applied the reader is frequently left in 



nioranee as to whether the Scrub Palm, Serenoa serrulatai 



I 



