October 7, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



403 



feet ; each load was measured by a surveyor ; thus I was able 

 to get at positive results not confined to a single measure- 

 ment, but of numerous measurements. 



It may be of some interest to Air. Fernow to know that 12S 

 cubic teet of logs, measuring from seven to fifteen inches in 

 diameter (a fair proportion of each as they usually average), 

 will make 1,000 feet of five-eighth-inch box-boards (surface 

 measurement), and that I have frequently got 60,000 feet from 

 an acre of land, the trees being not over thirty-five years old. 



Mr. Charles H. Dwelley, of Hanover, Massachusetts, who 

 for many years was engaged in buying Pine-trees by the acre, 

 and having the logs and boards surveyed in the same way as 

 was my custom, writes me, in acknowledging the reception of 

 my paper, that I have understated the growth per acre, but he 

 agrees with me on the amount required to make 1,000 feet of 

 box-boards, for he stated that it would take 128 cubic feet of 

 logs seven to fifteen inches in diameter to make 1,000 of box- 

 boards. Mr. Dwelley also stated that he cut from two measured 

 acres enough logs of fifty years' growth to make 200,000 feet of 

 box-boards. 



The measurements of trees which I made recently were to 

 satisfy myself as to the number of trees that could be grown 

 on an acre, if there were no open spaces, and learn their diam- 

 eter at two feet from the ground when thirty-five years old ; 

 it was not for the purpose of ascertaining what naturally 

 grows on an acre. 



It is fair to presume that Mr. Fernow has had large experi- 

 ence in cutting and sawing lumber. His work may have been 

 in that portion of this or some other country where lumber on 

 the stump was of but little value, and where sawmills were 

 constructed for speed rather than for economy, as they are in 

 Plymouth County, Massachusetts. A very large circular saw, 

 with teeth set by one who has no thought of economy, would, 

 no doubt, waste in sawdust enough to bring the quantity of 

 lumber, per cubic foot, down to Mr. Fernow's statement. It 

 should be remembered that my statements were confined to 

 Massachusetts, and particularly to Plymouth County, where I 

 find Pine timber grows very rapidly. 



Having had a sawmill in Franklin County, Massachusetts, 

 and having sawed Pine-trees into lumber from many acres 

 there, I found that the growth was very much less per acre, 

 and not nearly as rapid, judging from the growth of the sec- 

 tions between the links. While Pines in Plymouth County fre- 

 quently grow three feet in a year, those I cut in Franklin 

 County rarely showed a growth of more than eighteen inches. 

 As I worked only two seasons in Franklin County I do not feel 

 that I know enough about the average quantity of lumber per 

 acre, or the age for cutting it, to make any positive state- 

 ments ; but my impression is that sixty years would not secure 

 a larger growth there than might be obtained in thirty-five 

 years in Plymouth County. 



It must be evident to every observing person who has 

 traveled much, that the growth of the White Pine varies in 

 different sections of our country so much that he who attempts 

 to get an accurate average of the whole country will find that 

 he has undertaken an impossible task. By cutting the trees 

 on a measured acre, sawing them into boards and measuring 

 the boards, we know the exact product of the acre, but we can 

 get no positive knowledge of what an acre of standing trees 

 will produce by any measurements we may make. 

 Hingham, Mass. Edmiuid Hersey. 



Foreign Correspondence. 

 London Letter. 



Gladiolus Nanceianus. — This comparatively new race is 

 attracting considerable attention among English cultivators, 

 several of whom have taken up their cultivation and im- 

 provement with excellent results. Messrs. Veitch lately 

 exhibited and obtained certificates for a batch of new 

 varieties which were remarkable for the large size and 

 extraordinary coloration of the flowers. I believe this and 

 Gladiolus Childsii are practically the same; at any rate, 

 they had, according to Herr Max Leichtlin, the raiser of 

 both, the same origin, namely, a cross between G. Saun- 

 dersii and some of the varieties of G. Lemoinei. The 

 flowers of some of the most recent seedlings are six inches 

 across, and in color some of them verge on blue or violet. 

 I have not heard much of G. Childsii lately, but I know 

 that a year or two ago an American wholesale bulb grower 

 took this race in hand and intended to grow large quanti- 



ties of the best varieties. English horticulturists are plant- 

 ing- them largely, thanks chiefly to Monsieur Lemoine, of 

 Nancy, who holds a large stock of the best varieties. 



Cyrtanthus hybridus. — This beautiful greenhouse plant 

 was raised in the garden of Sir Trevor Lawrence in 1S85 

 from Cyrtanthus sanguineus (Gastronema) and Vallota pur- 

 purea. It is not yet sufficiently plentiful to be well known, 

 but it is a plant which is certain to find general favor, as, 

 while possessing quite as much beauty as either of its 

 parents, it is easy to cultivate. A single bulb planted 

 three years ago in a shallow border close to the glass in a 

 sunny greenhouse has yielded a dozen or so good flower- 

 ing bulbs, which, grown in four-inch pots in a light frame, 

 have flowered freely. The flowers are intermediate in shape 

 between those of the Vallota and the Cyrtanthus, while in 

 color they are pale scarlet. The Vallota is also flowering 

 now. When properly grown this is a superb greenhouse 

 plant, but it often disappoints cultivators by failing to 

 flower. A thorough baking on a shelf in a sunny green- 

 house during June, July and August is essential to its 

 blooming. The white variety, of which we heard so much 

 a year or two ago, turns out to be a pale, washy, red- 

 flowered form, far less attractive than the type. 



Acidanthera bicolor. — A first-class certificate was awarded 

 to this plant last week by the Royal Horticultural Society, 

 presumably because of its rarity, although it has been 

 grown in the Cape house at Kew for the last six years and 

 in gardens about New York (Garden and Forest, vol. i., 

 p. 84) even longer. For the past month a bed of it in the 

 open air at Kew has been gay with flowers, proving that 

 under the same treatment as Gladioli it is a success. 

 Grown in the mass it is really effective when in flower. 

 In a bed close by is a batch of the newer Acidanthera 

 cequinoctialis, introduced to Kew from Sierra Leone three 

 years ago, and flowered in a greenhouse in December. 

 Out-of-doors it is not a success, the growths being only 

 half-finished by the middle of September, even in such a 

 favorable summer as the past has been. It may be called 

 a large edition of A. bicolor, the leaves being two feet long 

 and two inches wide, the spike three and a half feet long 

 and the flowers half as large again as those of A. bicolor ; 

 in color there is no appreciable difference between them. 

 [Acidanthera bicolor thrives here also when grown out-of- 

 doors in the same way as the ordinary garden forms of 

 Gladiolus. Mr. Gerard lately brought to this office some 

 of these flowers which were grown in this way. In grace 

 of habit, purity of color and delightful fragrance they have 

 few superiors. — Ed.] 



Brunsvigias. — Only two of the ten species of this genus 

 are known in cultivation, and these are both in flower now 

 in the Cape house at Kew. They are Brunsvigia Josephine, 

 which has a bulb six inches in diameter, leafless at the 

 time of flowering, a scape eighteen inches long and a 

 spreading candelabra-like umbel of flowers two feet through, 

 the flowers three inches long, with reflexed, unequal seg- 

 ments colored bright brick-red. The second is B. gigantea, 

 which has a scape a foot long, reddish flower-stalks as long 

 as those of B. Josephinae, the flowers smaller, paler in color 

 and not so numerous. These plants grow in arid plains in 

 south Africa, their bulbs buried often a foot below the sur- 

 face, so that the umbels of flowers appear to rest upon the 

 ground. Under cultivation, however, they require to be 

 potted, so that the bulb is exposed to the ripening influence 

 of sunlight and air, otherwise the)' will not flower. They 

 should be kept in a sunny greenhouse or frame till the 

 leaves fade, usually in May, and then exposure to sunlight 

 and drought is essential till the flower-spike shows, which 

 should occur in August. 



Hyjienocallis macrostephana. — Plants of this noble trop- 

 ical bulb have been flowering freely this autumn in the 

 Palm-house at Kew, where they thrive planted out in a 

 border in a sunny position. It is as tine a plant in every 

 way as its supposed parent, Hymenocallis speciosa, being 

 quite as easily accommodated, growing rapidly and form- 

 ing large tufts of strap-shaped leaves three feet long, and 



