45o 



Garden and Forest. 



I Number 454. 



cristatum x marginale in Medford, Massachusetts, growing in 

 a swamp near the one where my first Medford plants were 

 found, and not far away, surrounded by plants of A. spinulo- 

 sum, A.Bootii, A. cristatum, A. marginaleand A.Clinlonianum, 

 more plants of a peculiar form collected by me in 1894. Under 

 date of October 28th Miss Closson writes to me that she 

 has also found several more plants of the hybrid in her 

 vicinity." 



The prices for American apples in Europe have advanced 

 somewhat during the past few weeks, the improvement being 

 due to the better quality of fruits shipped. The quantity 

 exported is still phenomenally large. Daring the week ending 

 October 24th, 148,779 barrels went to Europe from ports in the 

 United States and Canada, and up to this time 1,081,647 

 barrels had crossed the Atlantic from this country, in striking 

 contrast with the exports for the same period last year, 

 when but 159,875 barrels had been shipped. At the sale in Liv- 

 erpool on October 28th the demand was said to be very active 

 at unchanged prices, which means about $1.93 to $2 17 for 

 Baldwins, $1.6910 $1.93 for Greenings, and $2.17 to $2.65 for 

 Kings. At the same sale the first shipment of importance of 

 Newtown Pippins realized $2.92 to $4.82 a barrel. 



No more delicate and beautiful offering of cut flowers is 

 made now in the high-class florists' shops than occasional 

 vases of pink Bouvardia, fifty cents being asked for a half- 

 dozen clusters. Among the more refined flowers, too, are 

 yellow daisies, theirclear, velvety, lemon ray florets in beautiful 

 contrast with the golden disk. In one of these establishments 

 russet oak-leaves are used for embellishment, and in another 

 mounted butterflies seem to hover among the rich masses of 

 bloom, giving a novel, although not altogether an artistic 

 effect. Perhaps no improvement in the flower business is 

 more marked than the superior quality of flowers offered by 

 street venders, and the arrangement of these displays is some- 

 times remarkably ingenious in the limited space at command, 

 and very tasteful and effective. Florists complain of dull busi- 

 ness, although the great demand for yellow chrysanthemums 

 for the sound-money parade caused a sudden and rather un- 

 expected rise for this flower on Saturday. The comparatively 

 new Rose, President Carnot, was sent to this market for the 

 first time during the present week, it is a delicate pink, with 

 petals shading deeper toward the centre. 



A correspondent of The Rural New Yorker writes that one 

 lesson of the abundant apple crop this year is that the orchards 

 were planted too thickly in western New York thirty years 

 ago. As the branches now interfere it is difficult to move 

 ladders among the trees and difficult to spray, but the great 

 loss comes from the want of color in the apples that grow in 

 the more densely shaded parts of the trees. Even on Baldwins 

 and other red-fruited trees which stand alone, dull-colored or 

 green apples are found on the under side of the branches, 

 and colorless fruit lacks flavor as well as beauty, ft is hardly 

 probable that there will be a heavy apple crop after the enor- 

 mous harvest this year, and many of the trees are broken from 

 overloading. If every other tree were cutout of these orchard 

 forests, the remaining ones would have a chance to recruit 

 and make the most of their opportunities in 1898 and after- 

 ward. The question of thinning the apples on a tree in such 

 a time when the yield is so heavy is also a serious one. No 

 doubt, fewer branches would be broken if the fruit had been 

 thinned out in time, but how is it practicable to do this in a 

 large orchard ? When apples are so cheap careful thinning 

 would not pay, and the quickest and most inexpensive way of 

 shaking the fruit off or knocking it from the tree with long 

 poles without regard to the individual apples and letting them 

 fall at will seems a rough way of doing tins work. It is true, 

 also, that there is a limit to the desirable size of an apple. In 

 a year like this, if the number of fruits on the tree were 

 reduced the remainder would be of extraordinary size, and in 

 some varieties, the Baldwins, for example, very large fruits 

 will not keep well. Even on the overloaded trees of this year 

 the Baldwins are as large as they ought to be. 



Japanese persimmons were never seen here in such perfect 

 condition as to quality, variety of form and richness of color, 

 and the growing appreciation of this beautiful and luscious 

 fruit is unmistakable in the large sales of it by wholesale mer- 

 chants. The receipts of Jamaica oranges have fallen off con- 

 siderably during the past two weeks, when business has been 

 very dull, owing to the nearness of election. These oranges, 

 packed in Florida boxes, sell for $2.25 to $3.00 a box at whole- 

 sale, and repacked barrels cost $4.25 to $5.00 for the best sound 

 fruit. These prices are low, being twenty-five percent, smaller 

 than those of last year, and do not cover cost of transportation. 



One reason given for the unfavorable change is the large crop 

 of apples. Attractive-looking grape-fruits, from Jamaica, of 

 medium size, sell for ten to twenty cents each at retail. The 

 larger shaddocks are also seen in some collections, and these 

 bring twenty-five cents each. Although the season proper for 

 Cuban and Florida pineapples extends from the first of April 

 to the close of August, this fruit is imported the year through. 

 The kinds now seen are known in the trade as Egyptian Queen, 

 long and cylindrical, a golden color and with small eyes. These 

 now bring slightly lower prices than the sort known as Red 

 Spanish, though they usually command more money. Red 

 Spanish pineapples are somewhat globular in shape, with very 

 luxuriant tops, large eyes, the prevailing color a golden-red, 

 although a box of the fruits shows a rich variety of color, some 

 being a deep bronze of different shades, and others shades of 

 green. Spanish Queens sell now at ten to fifteen cents each in 

 wholesale lots, and Red Spanish at twelve to twenty cents. 

 Much more showy than either of these is the Smooth Cayenne. 

 Those seen here now are quite green. This variety is of very 

 large size, with immense tufts of leaves, in form similar to 

 Egyptian Queen, and sells at forty cents and upward by the 

 hundred. A few of the kind known as Mammoth Porto Rico, 

 grown from plants transferred from the island of that name to 

 the Keys and the Indian River section in Florida, are also very 

 large and handsome, and command high prices. Seckel pears, 

 from Boston, sell for twenty cents a quart, and the last peaches, 

 from Maryland, at sixty-five cents for a basket holding thirty 

 fruits. Lady-apples cost thirty cents a quart. Large, well- 

 grown quinces sell for seventy-five cents for a half-bushel 

 basket in the retail markets. Alligator pears, probably the 

 last invoice for this season, bring ten to twenty-five cents each, 

 and cocoanuts sell for ten to fifteen cents apiece. 



Baron Ferdinand von Mueller, the leading botanist of the 

 southern hemisphere, died in Australia on the 9th of October. 

 He was born in Germany in 1825, and in his early manhood he 

 emigrated to Australia on account of a tendency to pulmonary 

 disease, and began lite as a chemist. He was soon attracted, 

 however, to study the native plants of his new home, and 

 began those botanical explorations and labors which he kept 

 up with unremitting perseverance throughout his life. In 1852 

 he made his first contribution to Linnma, and since then he 

 has been such a constant writer in scientific periodicals that 

 the titles of his papers and books would cover many pages of 

 this journal. There is hardly a botanist or horticulturist of 

 any consequence in the whole world who has not been in cor- 

 respondence with him, and few botanic gardens or herbaria 

 which have not been enriched by specimens furnished by his 

 zeal and generosity. He was a geographical explorer of rank, 

 and he was associated with every movement for the promo- 

 tion of science, literature and art in his adopted country, and 

 was indefatigable in originating new industries. Of course, a 

 man so active in so many directions made mistakes at times, 

 but, on the whole, he was a most conscientious, earnest and 

 eminently useful man. In botany, his monographs on the 

 genera Eucalyptus and Acacia and of certain natural orders of 

 plants are not only models of scientific acuteness, but have 

 that practical quality which characterizes the great body of his 

 work. California is especially indebted to him for Australian 

 plants, large numbers of which flourish there as well as they 

 do at home. 



Philip Codman died suddenly on the 28th of October, of 

 pneumonia, in Philadelphia, where he had gone a few days 

 before on business connected with his profession. He was only 

 twenty-nine years old, but such were his inherited tastes and 

 capabilities, and so thoroughly was he schooled in the princi- 

 ples of landscape-art, that he was already on the highway to 

 usefulness and distinction. After graduating from Harvard 

 College he passed several years in the office of Mr. Frederic 

 Law Olmsted, and after traveling extensively in the United 

 States and Europe in company with Mr. Olmsted, and in Japan 

 with his uncle, Professor C. S. Sargent, for the purpose of per- 

 fecting himself in his profession, he established an office in 

 Boston a year ago and had already designed several important 

 works. Like his brother, Henry Sargent Codman, who died 

 at the same age while in charge of the landscape department 

 of the Columbian Exposition, he had a vigorous constitution, 

 and when he called at this office a few days ago he was the 

 impersonation of health, and this makes his early death seem 

 even more untimely. He had a pleasing address, an unselfish 

 disposition and true manliness of character which won friends 

 everywhere. His loss is a serious one to the profession in 

 which there are so few men with sound artistic views, broad 

 scholarship and thorough training. 



