October 28, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



433 



and cities in our southern states and prove among- the very 

 best of street trees. Of course, nursery-grown trees which 

 have been transplanted once or twice are better. Some of 

 these Oaks grow rapidly while young, and they have no 

 superiors for ornamenting parks and roadsides. We give 

 below the greater portion of Professor Mason's article : 



Ouercus rubra, the Red Oak, becomes a majestictreeof more 

 than a hundred feet in height and six feet in diameter. It has 

 fewer small branches than other species of the Black Oak, and 

 the smooth, iron-gray bark of the young trees is retained to a 

 much greater age than in others. Its range in North America, 

 according to Professor Sargent, is from New Brunswick and 

 Nova Scotia to Florida, and westward to Minnesota, Kansas 

 and eastern Texas. In Kansas, it is found as far west as the 

 valley of the Blue River ; scattered along creek valleys in 

 Wabaunsee and Geary counties, but reaching its greatest 

 development in the Neosho and Verdigris valleys of southern 

 Kansas, seeming to prefer rich but well-drained valley soils 

 and lower uplands, but occasionally found in groups along the 

 cool northern slope of some bluff tronting a small stream. It 

 makes a very hue upward growth as a young tree, forming a 

 smooth, clean trunk, with long, upright branches. The leaves 

 are only slightly lobed and ot a bright, rich green color. The 

 acorn is large and long, set in a broad but very shallow cup. 

 Altogether, this is one of the most striking of our native trees. 



Ouercus velutina. while a much less imposing tree, attains 

 a good size on the clay uplands of Kansas as far west as the 

 Blue River, and makes a very handsome tree while young. As it 

 grows older, the dying out ot the thick lateral branches dis- 

 figures it somewhat in a wild state, but this can be corrected 

 in specimen trees by pruning as they begin to fail. 



Ouercus palustris, the Pin Oak, is found in large tracts along 

 the Marias des Cygnes, Neosho and in other portions of south- 

 eastern Kansas, its range being from Massachusetts to Mary- 

 land and westward, ft is found in heavy "gumbo" soil, and 

 often where water stands for a portion of the year. The young 

 trees grow erect in a single straight trunk, with numerous 

 horizontal branches, the lower ones of which soon droop, 

 otten sweeping the ground. The effect on the landscape of a 

 river-bottom tilled with a broken, park-like growth of these 

 trees is very peculiar and striking. Young specimen trees 111 

 the College grounds are among the most beautiful in our col- 

 lection. They will be found well adapted to planting in the 

 north-western portion of our city. 



Ouercus imbricaria, the Shingle Oak, extends from Pennsyl- 

 vania westward through the central states to eastern Kansas, 

 being found in Wyandotte, Leavenworth and Johnson coun- 

 ties. It differs from all other Kansas Oaks in the entire lanceo- 

 late, oblong leaf. The trees tend, like the Pin Oak, to the 

 growth of a straight central axis, thickly set with small radiat- 

 ing, horizontal or drooping branches. With the abundance of 

 shining rich green leaves, often overlapping, the trees of this 

 species are very handsome on the lawn or in the borders of a 

 gioup. They preler rich upland soil to the bottoms, and are 

 well adapted to general ornamental planting. Among matuie 

 trees occasional specimens may be found three feet in diame- 

 ter and fifty or sixty feet high, when the bark of the trunk 

 becomes black and deeply furrowed. 



Quercus Phellos, the Willow Oak, has much the same 

 habit of growth as the preceding, but the leaves are narrowly 

 linear-lanceolate, and the whole aspect as little like the general 

 conception of an Oak-tree as can be imagined. Grace and 

 beauty are not usually regarded as characteristics of the Oak, 

 but rather sturdiness and ruggedness. Yet the Willow Oak 

 may well be called graceful as a young tree, and for lawn 

 specimens and borders of groups is well worth attention. This 

 interesting Oak is not found within our borders, but has a more 

 southern range, south-eastern Missouri being the nearest to us. 



In the sandstones of the cretaceous formation of central Kan- 

 sas are found the earliest imprints of leaves and fruits of such 

 familiesof trees as comprise our present forests. Amongthese 

 are a few Oaks, and it is of interest to note that the leaves are 

 of the same type as the last two species mentioned, having 

 entire margins and linear-lanceolate or oblong leaves. 



[To this list might have been added Quercus Texana, 

 the Texas Oak, the tallest of American Oaks, and one of 

 the most beautiful of them all. This noble tree, which 

 probably extends to the eastern borders of Kansas, has 

 usually been confounded with the Red Oak. Quercus 

 coccinea, too, the Scarlet Oak, which surpasses all other 

 Oaks in the beauty of its autumnal foliage, should not be 

 omitted from any list of Oaks for Kansas plantations. — Ed.] 



Foreign Correspondence. 



London Letter. 



New Plants. — A descriptive list of new garden plants of 

 the year 1895 has just been issued from Kew, forming 

 Appendix II. of the Bulletin for 1896. A similar list has 

 been published each year since 1887, and as each list con- 

 tains on an average about four hundred and fifty plants, 

 the total number comprised in the nine lists issued will be 

 something like four thousand. These are all either new 

 introductions or garden hybrids of botanical as well as 

 horticultural interest. In every case the plant is cited under 

 its published name, followed by a reference to the publica- 

 tion in which it was first described, and also to a figure if 

 one has been published. A brief description of the plant 

 is then given, its habitat, and the name of the person in 

 whose collection the plant was first noted or described. 

 The following example will show how each plant is treated : 

 " Ancectochilus Sanderianus, Kranzl. (Gards. Chron., 1895, 

 xviii., 484), Orchidese. Stove. Described as a probable 

 new species. Leaves ovate, four inches long, dark olive- 

 green with yellowish reticulations ; scape one foot high, 

 flowers pale green. Sunda Islands (F. Sander it Co.) 

 [Since described as Macodes Sanderiana, Rolfe].'' These 

 lists are most useful to those who are interested in new 

 plants for the garden, and they are of special value in main- 

 taining correctness of nomenclature. I find them most 

 helpful in various ways. It is intended to rearrange the 

 lists in the form of one for every ten years. Compared 

 with previous years the list for 1895 is short, the total num- 

 ber of new plants amounting to 363, that for the year pre- 

 vious being 461. The number of Orchids included in the 

 list for 1895 is 206, the number in the year previous being 

 212. These figures show how preponderating a position 

 Orchids continue to hold among garden plants. The price 

 of the list is five pence, post free. 



Hand-list of Trees and Shrubs at Kew. — The second 

 part of this list has now been issued. The first part was 

 noticed at some length in Garden and Forest in January 

 last year. The list of Coniferre, issued early this year, has 

 also been noticed. We have now in these three lists a 

 complete catalogue of the hardy ligneous plants cultivated 

 in the Royal Gardens. Roughly, this comprises some three 

 thousand species and botanical varieties, some five hun- 

 dred of this number belonging to Coniferue and eighty to 

 Monocots. The nomenclature is practically that of the 

 Index Kewensis. An enormous number of garden synonyms 

 are quoted and placed in their proper places. This is, per- 

 haps, the most useful feature of these lists, the aliases of 

 many species being numerous and confusing. The accepted 

 name of each species is printed in large type, with the 

 author's name, a reference to a figure, and the habitat. The 

 price of part II., which includes the genera from Gamope- 

 tala; to Monocotyledons, is one shilling and three pence, 

 post free, or the three lists may be had in one volume, price 

 two shillings and four pence. 



Favourite Flowers of Garden and Greenhouse. — This 

 new serial work on cultivated plants is now being issued 

 by Messrs. F. Warne & Co., London, who have had the 

 work in preparation for some years and claim for it an 

 equal share of public favor with their now well-known 

 Royal Natural History. Favourite Flowers will contain 316 

 full-page octavo plates, printed in natural colors and gen- 

 erally life-size, with about 700 pages of descriptive letter- 

 press. It is being issued in fifty-two weekly numbers, each 

 one shilling, or in four quarterly bound volumes, each fif- 

 teen shillings. The plan of the work is novel. The genera 

 are arranged and described in botanical order, beginning 

 with Ranunculaceac and ending with Ferns. Select sp< 

 and varieties in each genus are described, and directions tor 

 their culture given. The colored plates represent one or 

 more typical species in each genus. 



The Best Roses. — A carefully prepared analysis of garden 

 Roses is printed this week in the Journal of Horticulture, 



