July 22, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



299 



upright, branching, shrub-like perennial, growing from an 

 immense woody root weighing from ten to one hundred 

 pounds. The flowers are a pink-purple and about three 

 inches long. — [See vol. vii., p. 436. — Ed.] 



Euphorbia zygophylloides is much like E. petaloides of the 

 east, but is more densely and finely branched and covered with 

 small white or pinkish flowers, which are useful for cutting, 

 like those of E. corollata, or Gypsophila paniculata, to mingle 

 with larger ones of a more positive color. 



Stale Agricultural College, Manhattan, Kan. 



J. B. S. Norton. 



Notes from West Virginia. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Our little collection of shrubs and trees embraces nearly 

 five hundred species and varieties, and, although at this sea- 

 son comparatively few of them are in bloom, yet I find that 

 one can still gather from them large and beautiful bouquets 

 for the decoration of the house and table. A vase in my room 

 is filled with branches of white Althea, or Hibiscus Syriacus, 

 and another is decorated with the graceful white plumes and 

 pinnate foliage of Osbeck's Sumach, Rhus semi-alata, var. 

 Osbecki, just coming into flower. This Sumach is not a shrub, 

 but a tree of very rapid growth, and bids fair to attain a large 

 size. Planted five years ago it is now fifteen feet in height, the 

 main stem divided into two near the ground. It is very 

 attractive at this time because of its conspicuous bloom and 

 semi-tropical appearance, but will be even more beautiful in 

 the fall when it puts on its lively coloring of red and orange. 

 [Osbeck's Sumach is not yet in flower in the latitude of New 

 York. It is a hardy and shapely tree here, but as there are no 

 leaves on its larger branches it has not a compact appearance. 

 It has also the drawback of throwing up suckers even at a con- 

 siderable distance from the trunk. Its late period of flowering 

 gives it a distinct value, but in limited collections there are 

 trees which are preferable to it for general purposes. — Ed.] 



Parrottia Persica is no w a beautif ulyoung tree ten feet in height, 

 clothed to the ground with dense and very elegant foliage. It 

 is one of the finest specimen plants we have. Unfortunately, 

 a web-worm has found it out, while its near relative, our 

 native Witch Hazel, is untouched. It may be added that its 

 flowers are not conspicuous, but that its autumn coloring is 

 quite as brilliant as that of our native small trees. Although 

 it comes from southern Europe, it is quite hardy as far north 

 as New England. The Fontanesia spoken of. some time ago 

 is more attractive now than when in bloom, as every twig is 

 furnished with small light green carpels, which contrast pret- 

 tily with the darker green of the narrow leaves. Near-by, Calii- 

 carpa Japonica is showing numerous small clusters of light 

 pink flowers, very freely produced, and these will be succeeded 

 by curious mauve-colored berries moreshowy than the flowers. 



The wild garden is bright with tall red and yellow Lilies, 

 masses of light blue and pure white Funkias and many other 

 handsome flowers. Heliopsis Pitcheriana planted in a fence 

 corner is a cheerful sight with its large, bright yellow flowers 

 in generous profusion. This wild garden has a distant back- 

 ground of pink and white, double and single flowering Altheas, 

 or Hibiscus Syriacus, with showy blossoms nestling^amid the 

 cool green of their varnished foliage. In the foreground many 

 Platycodons with their blue and white blossoms mingle with 

 the Lilies and make a fine display. Here a tall, well-grown 

 plant of Cassia Marylandica is at home and has attractive com- 

 pound foliage and yellow flowers in axillary racemes and ter- 

 minal panicles. It is four feet in height and comes up from 

 the root every spring, only blooming in wet seasons. It grows 

 in a wild form in our marsh, where it blooms profusely every 

 year. The bright blue flowers of Lady Larpent's Plumbago, 

 Ceratostigma plumbaginoides, are beginning to show them- 

 selves at the foot of the Spiraea Anthony Waterer, which is 

 still blooming profusely. The ground in this wild garden is 

 partly covered with Asperula agurea setosa, a delicate little 

 annual, not showy, but very lovable with its clusters of small 

 light blue flowers and refreshing perfume. Near-by is a 

 blooming mass of lemon-scented Thyme, another inconspic- 

 uous plant whose fragrance gives it value. 



Sheplierdstown, W. Va. 



Danske Dandridze. 



Recent Publications. 



The Nut Cullurist. Illustrated. By Andrew S. Fuller. 

 New York : Orange Judd & Co. 



It is a pity that Mr. Fuller did not live a few months 

 longer to see the publication of a book which he has had 

 in preparation so many years. He was certainly one of 



the pioneers in observing and experimenting on what is 

 now recognized as an important subject, and which is 

 destined to become, beyond doubt, an extensive industry 

 in this country. Even now, however, the practical knowl- 

 edge which we have of propagating our native nut-trees 

 is not very large, but Mr. Fuller was the leading authority 

 on this matter in the country while he lived, and his writ- 

 ings have done much to encourage experiments in the way 

 of securing and planting improved varieties of our native 

 nut-trees and of such imported species and varieties as can 

 be grown profitably in this country. 



This compact little treatise of 390 pages contains separate 

 chapters on the almond, the beech-nut, the castanopsis, the 

 chestnut, the hazel-nut, the hickory-nut and the walnut, and 

 then there are brief accounts of many other miscellaneous 

 nuts which are either found in the country or in our markets. 

 Mr. Fuller believes that the best known of the walnuts — 

 that is, the Madeira nut or Persian walnut, which has been 

 in cultivation for many centuries in different countries and 

 climates — can be grown with a little care in our eastern states 

 as easily as our native butternuts. There are now acclimated 

 specimens growing here and there which are hardy and 

 productive, and from seedlings or scions of these we can 

 experiment until we have a strain which would be perfectly 

 trustworthy in this climate. A comparatively large space 

 is given to the different varieties of hickory-nuts, including 

 the pecan, and Mr. Fuller advocates the planting of Hick- 

 ories as roadside trees, because they are quite as ornamental 

 as any other trees and yield abundant crops. Indeed, in the 

 introduction of his book Mr. Fuller makes a long argument 

 in favor of using nut-trees for roadside planting. He sees no 

 reasonable excuse for planting miles of Elms, Maples, Ashes, 

 Willows and Cottonwoods by the roadside, where the Shell- 

 bark Hickory, Chestnut, Black Walnut, Pecan and Butter- 

 nut would thrive equally well, yielding in addition bushels 

 of the richest nuts and increasing in productiveness for 

 one, two or more centuries. Mr. Fuller himself states that 

 when young he selected the popular shade-trees, all of 

 which flourished, and when they were twenty years old 

 they began to be admired for their beauty, although their 

 roots robbed the soil of the adjacent fields considerably. 

 When his trees had become thirty years old the best of 

 them were probably worth $2.00 apiece for firewood, or 

 $1.00 more than the nurseryman's price at the time of 

 planting. If he had set nut-trees forty feet apart he would 

 have had 130 trees in every single row a mile long, or twice 

 as many, counting both sides of the road. With a hardy 

 strain of Persian Walnuts, with Hickory-nuts as good as those 

 borne by Hale's variety, or with American or foreign Chest- 

 nuts grafted to good varieties it would be safe to count on 

 a hundred bushels for a double row of trees a mile long at 

 twenty years from planting, and this would mean a con- 

 siderable present income, with the promise of an increas- 

 ing supply for a hundred years. There are some disad- 

 vantages in the use of nut-trees for planting in the street, 

 it is true, and yet we are inclined to think that Mr. Fuller's 

 argument is fundamentally sound, especially as there is a 

 steady increase in the demand for good nuts, and the best 

 American nuts have increased largely in value during the 

 last three or four decades. 



The book is illustrated with helpful cuts, and having 

 been issued so soon after the publication of the monograph 

 on the same subject by the Agricultural Department at 

 Washington this long-neglected subject ought now to begin 

 to attract that attention which its importance demands. 



Notes. 



Perhaps the showiest of the Milkweeds about here is Ascle- 

 pias tuberosa, which is now conspicuous with its deep orange 

 flowers, but some of the other species, like A. rubra, are also 

 worth a place in the hardy plant border. 



Spirasa Anthony Waterer, like all varieties of this type, has a 

 disagreeable dead-and-alive look if the flowers are allowed to 

 wither and go to seed. The proper way to treat this shrub is 



