378 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 447. 



grouping. Dahlias, Carinas, Salvia splendens, Leonotis Leo- 

 nurus, the Lion's Tail plant, with bold spikes of orange-scarlet 

 flowers, and the lavender-flowered Caryopteris mastacanthus. 

 Tender bulbous plants also might be included, such as Tri- 

 tomas, Gladiolus and Montbretias. Anemone Japonica, which 

 is locally hardy, but belter (realed as a lender plant, will be a 

 • valuable addition, Among reliably hardy plants, in addition 

 to those already noted, are Pyrethrum uliginosum, with its 

 large, handsome Daisy-like flowers, splendid tor cutting ; Aster 

 Nova;-Angliae. A. longifolius formosus and A. Shortii ; Plum- 

 bago Larpentse, Rudbeckia purpurea, R. Newmanni, Lilium 

 lancifolium, Lobelia cardinalis, Vernonia Noveboracensis, 

 Eupatorium purpureum, Chelone Lyoni, C. barbatus Torreyi, 

 Funkia subcordata, Asclepias tuberosa and the best of the 

 Golden-rods. Clematis paniculata and C. Pieroti are very orna- 

 mental when trained upon lopped cedar posts. Ornamental 

 Grasses are also effective, and this list might be considerably 

 extended. 



Wellesley, Mass. T. D. Hatfield. 



Some Good Autumn-flowering Plants. 



A RECENT editorial in Garden and Forest called attention 

 to what is only too well known to busy amateur garden- 

 ers — namely, the absence of long twilights in our country. It 

 is especially at this season that rapidly shortening days forbid 

 much garden work by a business man, and as the early morn- 

 ing finds all vegetation dripping from heavy dews it is small 

 wonder that such aggressive enemies as Couch Grass, etc., 

 make a strong effort for the possession of the soil. Fortu- 

 nately, most of the plants of the season are also strong, as 

 Phloxes, Sunflowers, Asters, Rudbeckias and the like, and ca- 

 pable of a vigorous dispute for the occupation of the ground, 

 and these showy plants are apt to be most in evidence now in 

 every garden. But there are other plants and flowers more 

 interesting than these at this time, if less abundant and showy. 

 Among the great family of large-flowering Amaryllids I do not 

 recall any more beautiful in bloom than Crinum Moorei and its 

 hybrid C. Powelli. C. Moorei is a Natal species with an ovoid 

 bulb and a long neck, with spreading leaves two feet or more 

 long. An umbel of six to ten flowers is supported by a thick, 

 tall peduncle, and these are individually of large size, slightly 

 hooded and drooping, and usually of the purest and most 

 charming pink. They vary somewhat in color, there being 

 forms with white flowers. This is an indispensable plant if 

 one has cool-greenhouse facilities. The culture is of the sim- 

 plest ; it requires potting, and is apparently not fastidious as to 

 soil. It is well to grow it along into a fair-sized tub with its 

 offsets, of which it is prolific, until it makes a good specimen, 

 as it will then be more effective in the garden when in flower. 

 In the late fall it should be removed to a cool house and kept 

 fairly dry till new leaves appear in midwinter, when it may 

 have more moisture, the supply being increased on removal 

 out-of-doors in the spring. C. Powelli, while resembling C. 

 Moorei in flower, has a bulb with a shorter neck and drooping 

 channeled leaves some four feet long. It is especially valuable 

 for its hardiness. In a sheltered place here it is cut to the 

 ground, but reappears in the spring, being only protected with 

 a small mound of ashes or earth to throw off moisture. 



Another charming flower is Acidanthera bicolor, which Mr. 

 Endicott described, with a figure, in the first volume of Garden 

 and Forest, page 484. This Irid has Gladiolus-like corms 

 and leaves and numerous sweet-scented flowers on pendu- 

 lous stems ; they are white, with chocolate markings. 



Some years ago I received from Monsieur Lemoine a col- 

 lection of hybrid Montbretias, Aurea, Etoile de Feu, Phare, 

 Bouquet Parfait and others. The labels were long since lost 

 and the varieties grown together, for the first two named rep- 

 resented fairly well the whole collection. Etoile de Feu is 

 especially fiery, and when well grown a most satisfactory 

 variety. The plants seem to require high culture in good soil 

 and much moisture, otherwise the leaves are apt to turn 

 brown on the edges and the corms devote themselves to 

 increase instead of flowers. My success with Montbretias has 

 been rather varied, and I think others have had similar expe- 

 rience. It has been recommended to grow them in partial 

 shade, though their leaves seem to indicate that they should 

 be fully exposed. Perhaps the shading, if partial, may have 

 conserved the moisture at the roots. Of course, Gladioli are 

 plentiful now, though the rage for dwarf Cannas has affected 

 their favor in many gardens. Personally I prefer the somewhat 

 quaint and irregular forms of some of the Gladiolus species to 

 the perfect hybrids of the florist, which are so proper and exact 

 as to affect one as unpleasantly as some human beings with 

 the same qualities. There is quite a list of flowers which I 

 much enjoy in my friends' gardens. Some admirable Gladi- 



olus are G. sulphureus, Leichtlini cruentus, aurantiacus, 

 Eckloni, Byzantium and the hybrid G. Colvillei albus (The 

 Bride). There seems to be a perennial discussion in horticul- 

 tural circles as to the hardiness of Gladioli. After an expe- 

 rience with some fifty species I do not believe that, with the 

 possible exception of G. Segetum and its near allies, any of the 

 species are hardy in this latitude under ordinary treatment, 

 and these only when the summer proves dry and the garden 

 is well drained. They all evidently have a resting period of 

 perfect dryness in a state of nature, and annual lifting is the 

 only safe treatment with either the early or late flowering spe- 

 cies. I have known odd bulbs to linger in the garden for 

 several years, but they decrease in vitality and seldom even 

 flower. 

 Elizabeth, N. J. J. N. Gerard. 



The Forest. 



The Burma Teak Forests. — VII. 



RATE OF GROWTH AND ANNUAL YIELD. 



'TEAK, like other trees, grows rapidly in some, slowly in other 

 ■*■ localities. The researches which were made regarding rate 

 of growth in the thirteen districts, for which, up to date, special 

 working plans have been prepared, have led to the conclusion 

 that on the hills Teak-trees grown up under the regime of the 

 annual jungle fires attain four feet six inches in girth at an age 

 between 100 and 115 years, while trees six feet in girth are 

 between 134 and 156 years old. Hence the time which a 

 second-class tree requires to attain first-class size may, under 

 these circumstances, be accepted on an average at thirty-eight 

 years. This, we have seen, is the period over which it is 

 intended, under the working plans lately prepared, that the 

 girdling of the present stock of first-class trees shall bespread. 

 It has previously been mentioned that the districts here de- 

 scribed comprise a few small blocks situated in the plains. 

 Here the rate of growth is more rapid, but their area is small, 

 and they may be neglected upon the present occasion. 



As explained repeatedly, the annual yield of these forests 

 has on three occasions been fixed — in 1856, 1868, and bv means 

 of the special working plans prepared between 1884 and 1892. 

 In all cases was the yield based upon the estimated quantity of 

 the growing stock of Teak of the different classes, and upon 

 the rate of growth assumed at that time. The following fig- 

 ures give the annual yield fixed on these three occasions for 

 the eleven forest districts in the Iraauddi valley and the time 

 supposed to be required on an average for a second-class tree 

 to attain first-class size : 

 The working plan of 1856 assumed 24 years and 



fixed the annual yield at ..... 9 000 trees. 

 The working plan of 186S assumed 72 years and 



fixed the annual vield at 5,Soo " 



The special plans, 1884 to 1892, assumed 38 years 



and fixed the annual yield at .... 11,230 " 

 Those who have to break fresh ground in the matter of reg- 

 ular forest management will understand the satisfaction which 

 the writer of these lines feels, that in 1856, when the data then 

 at his disposal led him to credit the Teak-tree with a rate of 

 growth much too rapid, he yet fixed the annual yield below 

 what the forests are capable of yielding. Regarding the num- 

 ber of trees actually girdled in these districts during the twelve 

 years from 1856 to 1868, in accordance with the working plan 

 of 1856, there is some doubt. The returns give 153 856 trees, 

 or 12,821 a year. In these districts girdling operations were 

 conducted in 1857 and 1858, when no competent officers were 

 available for supervision, and there is ground for believing 

 that a much smaller number than that reported were at that 

 time actually girdled. 



It must be distinctly understood that under the working 

 plans lately prepared the number of trees actually girdled will, 

 to some extent, also be regulated by area — that is, by the local- 

 ization of girdling operations. The yield sanctioned by the 

 plan for a particular district is a maximum, which must in no 

 case be exceeded, and which must not be worked up to. if in 

 the area assigned to a particular period the full number of 

 trees that under the rules laid down for their selection may 

 be girdled, cannot be found on that area. Thus, for the Thon- 

 zay forest district the plan of girdling has been laid down for 

 a period of thirty years, divided into six sub-periods of five 

 years each. To each sub-period have been assigned a num- 

 ber of compartments, in which during the five years fixed a 

 maximum of 5,000 trees may be girdled. Thus, out of the 114 

 compartments nineteen have been assigned to the first sub- 

 period (1885-9), w h'' e eleven compartments were assigned to 

 the last sub-period (1910-14). In the compartments assigned 



