September 30, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



393 



the grain I found at the heart of the stump. I want to 

 keep within bounds. Two good judges well acquainted 

 with this grove think my estimate of the amount of timber 

 too low. An acquaintance of mine lived on the farm with 

 his father and helped mow the land where these trees 

 stand in 1835, and there was, he says, no sign of a Pine 

 there then, and he thinks the land was mowed several 

 years after. That land so sterile and stony should ever 

 have been mown shows the cheapness of labor and the 

 poverty of its owner. Badly as this grove has been treated 

 and neglected, it must be pretty sale to say that, besides 

 all the wood, fencing, shingle stuff and timber cut out in 

 thinning, it has at the rate of as many thousand feet of 

 lumber to the acre as the trees average years of age, yet 

 New York alone permits 867,000 acres of its territory, much 

 of it undoubtedly better land for timber than mine, to lie in 

 idle wastes and purchases many million feet of lumber 

 annually from Canada. Why will not agricultural colleges 

 or somebody teach the people how to increase the value of 

 waste lands of New York, for instance, in a comparatively 

 few years, a hundred of millions of dollars and add greatly 

 to the beauty of her landscape? , „ _ 



Exeter, n. h. / D. Lyman. 



The Sand Dunes of Northern Indiana and their 

 Flora. — IV. 



CNICUS PITCHERI is an herbaceous plant which early 

 gains a foothold in the sand. It is very singular in 

 appearance, the densely hoary stem and leaves forming a 

 pale object resting on the sand. It is usually isolated, the 

 branching stem when in flower a foot or two high, but 

 with a root going downward several feet. As an early 

 companion we shall find Solidago humilis, particularly 

 the variety Gilmani, with virgate stems sometimes three 

 feet or more in length. Another common Golden-rod 

 is S. speciosa, var. angustifolia, the handsomest of all that 

 appear on the dunes, with its long panicle of bright yellow 

 flowers, with S. nemoralis, in great variety of individual 

 forms, equally at home. Much less common are S. rigida 

 and S. tenuifolia, and S. ca>sia comes in where shade is 

 found. The Asters do not number many species, but the 

 drier sands make a home congenial to such kinds as A. 

 linarifolia, A. ptarmicoides and A. multiflora. A azureus 

 is frequent in the copses and open woods, and on more 

 closely wooded hills or shaded spots the arrow-leaved and 

 the heart-leaved Asters are found. Kuhnia eupatorioides 

 appears, having more slender stems, narrower and less 

 dentate leaves and fewer heads than in the form growing 

 on the prairies. Liatris scariosa and L. squarrosa are con- 

 spicuous with their bright, showy spikes, handsome here 

 and worth a place in any garden. Artemisia caudata flour- 

 ishes on the driest banks, a plant with finely cut, but dull 

 foliage. In the spring and early summer the little annual 

 Krigia Virginica sometimes makes dense beds of yellow 

 flowers on the sunny hillsides. It is heliotropic in habit, 

 each little head of flowers bent upon the stem to face the sun. 

 Helianthus divaricatus is the most common Sunflower. 

 It is generally low and slender, one and a half to three feet 

 high, often with an unbranched stem crowned by a single 

 head. H. occidentalis is native to such places. Lepachys 

 pinnata, with long drooping rays of pale yellow, is fre- 

 quently seen on the open hillsides. Rudbeckia hirta. 

 Coreopsis palmata, Prenanthes aspera and several of the 

 Hawkweeds are also present. One of the earliest plants 

 to appear in spring is the little Everlasting, Antennaria 

 plantaginifolia, covering some sterile knoll with silky 

 stems and leaves. 



The Birdsfoot Violet is the first of the genus to bloom in 

 spring. It is very abundant in most sunny spots, delight- 

 ing in a south exposure. Its bulbous root fits it to with- 

 stand the heats of summer, and in early autumn, after a 

 warm rain, it is frequently seen putting forth new leaves 

 and flowers. It is the only representative of the order, 

 except an occasional Arrow-leaved Violet, or sometimes a 



Blue Violet. The yellow, fugacious flowers of the Frost 

 Weed, Helianthemum Canadense, are very pretty for the 

 few hours they last, and are common in such spots as the 

 Birdsfoot Violet frequents. The most abundant cruciferous 

 plant is Arabis lyrata, its while flowers seen everywhere 

 in open spots throughout the woods in early spring. One 

 of the Whitlow Grasses, Draba Caroliniana, sometimes 

 accompanies it, coming into bloom some years in March, 

 and a small, hairy Forget-me-not, Myosolis verna. Later 

 in the season we find Arabis hirsuta and the Sickle-pod, 

 A. Canadensis, usually in more sheltered places or in the 

 shade of trees. With them may be associated two of the 

 Galiums, G. pilosum and G. circsezans, their shapely, sym- 

 metrically arranged leaves always making them attractive. 

 The Early Crowfoot, Ranunculus fascicularis, delights also 

 in the dry hills, especially in spots which may have become 

 a little grassy. The cylindrical heads of Anemone Virgin- 

 iana and A. cylindrica are often seen peering out from the 

 low bushes on the slopes, and in some wooded places 

 we meet with the Wind-flower, A. nemorosa, and with 

 Anemonella thalictrioides. Both forms of Hepatica also 

 occur. The handsome flowers of Aquilegia Canadensis 

 are abundant in their season, the plants being sometimes 

 massed, but oftener scattered over the sides of the steeper 

 slopes. It is usually accompanied in such spots by the 

 Harebell, Campanula rotundifolia. 



Though the Pulse family are not largely represented by 

 species, some are very numerous. This is especially true 

 with the Wild Lupine, though it is most abundant on the 

 lower sand reaches where the timber has been partially 

 removed, and where the showy flowers are seen in May 

 and June almost covering the ground by the acre. Tephro- 

 sia Virginiana is common, as well as Lespedeza capitata 

 and L. polystachya. The Lead-plant, Amorpha canescens, 

 is also found, and several kinds of Desmodium. Of 

 the Pink family, we may see Silene stellata and antir- 

 rhina, and the Sandworts, Arenaria Michauxii and lateri- 

 flora. Of Polygala, we find P. polygama, P. verticil- 

 lata and P. Senega. Herbaceous Rosacea; are mainly 

 represented by the Strawberry, Fragaria Virginiana, 

 and some of the Cinquefoils, Potentilla Canadensis, 

 arguta and argentea. Of Saxifrages, Heuchera hispida 

 occurs, and on shaded hillsides Mitella diphylla. The 

 Carpet weed, Mollugo verticillata, has come in, and does 

 well on the open sands or along the woodland paths, its 

 pretty whorls of smooth leaves lying on the sand, making 

 a welcome addition to our native flora. The soil does not 

 seem very congenial to the Umbellifers, and they are rather 

 rare. We meet with Pimpinella integerrima, Zi/.ia aurea, 

 and where the ground is more generous in the supply of 

 leaf-mold and has been long undisturbed, the Sanicles and 

 Cryptotaenia Canadensis will grow. Even the Partridge- 

 berry, Mitchella repens, creeps about sometimes in the 

 shade of trees in such spots. Aralia hispida is most at 

 home of the family it represents, but the Wild Sarsaparilla 

 is found in the richer woods, and the Spikenard is seen at 

 times on the protected hillsides. 



One of the most frequent and characteristic plants of open, 

 sunny spots is the Prickly Pear, Opuntia Rafinesquii. Its 

 clumps or beds of stems are very show)- in early summer 

 with their profusion of yellow flowers, and quite attractive 

 in autumn when well provided with purplish fruit, which 

 thickly studs the edges of the flattened segments, erect or 

 curving upward when in their active stage. In similar 

 places the small white flowers of Euphorbia corollata are 

 seen very abundant and effective, because of their num- 

 bers. It often becomes a hairy plant upon the dunes. 

 With these are associated Oenothera rhombipetala, the 

 characteristic Evening Primrose of the sand region, though 

 Gi. biennis is also found ; the gay Butterfly-weed, Asclepias 

 tuberosa, rather common, and bearing not only the usual 

 bright orange flowers, but those that are nearly red, and 

 the most slender of our Milkweeds, A. verticillata, with tine 

 linear leaves. The Green Milkweed, Acerates viridiflora, 

 finds a place, and on shrubby hillsides and in open woods 



