November ii, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



459 



must be present in some appreciable quantity. In a tightly- 

 closed chamber of one yard cubical contents a half pint of 

 alcohol in an open vessel will be sufficient. If alcohol vapor 

 is present in comparatively larger quantities, the development 

 of fungi and bacteria may be wholly prevented for several 

 days, or even weeks. But in this case the fruits, especially 

 those with soft flesh, absorb enough alcohol to affect the taste 

 quite disagreeably. The fruit also deteriorates in color and 

 texture. Although the growth of bacteria and fungi is stopped, 

 other processes of decay seem to be hastened. With grapes 

 alone the method seems to be practically successful. Grapes 

 were kept for nearly two months at the temperature of a living- 

 room and were still fit for table use, not being appreciably 

 attacked by mold or affected in flavor. Not all the samples of 

 grapes tested did so well, however. 



We are inclined to believe from our observations up to the 

 present that this method of preservation may very seldom be 

 put to practical use, unless it be with grapes. With grapes 

 there must still be considerable experimentation before the 

 practical details can be satisfactorily worked out. With other 

 fruits alcoholic vapor may be useful for comparatively short 

 periods. Thus, berries or cherries might be placed in a tight 

 refrigerator for a few days with an open vessel of alcohol and 

 be preserved in better condition than without the alcohol. 



Vermont Experiment Station. F. A. Waitgll. 



The Rose, Bridesmaid. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — In your issue for October 28th your London correspon- 

 dent speaks of the "American Rose, Bridesmaid, as sent out 

 by May." Perhaps it is worth stating that this sport of Cath- 

 erine Mermet originated with Mr. F. L. Moore, of Chatham, 

 New Jersey, and was first called Hugh. I afterward induced 

 him to change the name to Bridesmaid. 



Summit, N. j. John N. May. 



[We have a note to the same effect from Mr. Patrick 

 O'Mara, who adds that it is interesting to know that 

 Bridesmaid, which has now largely supplanted Catherine 

 Mermet as a pink winter-flowering Rose, was received 

 coldly by the trade at first. Perhaps this was because the 

 Waban, also a pink sport from Catherine Mermet, which 

 was issued a year before, was something of a disappoint- 

 ment. — Ed.] 



Recent Publications. 



Hand- List of Trees and Shrubs Grown in the Arboretum 

 of the Royal Gardens, Kew. Part II. Gamopetalse to Mono- 

 cotyledons. 



The first part of this useful list appeared two years ago 

 and was noticed in these columns (see vol. viii., p. 9), 

 and last spring a hand-list of the Conifers grown in the 

 Royal Gardens appeared. The part now before us com- 

 pletes the list of woody plants grown at Kew, so that at 

 last we have a complete Arboretum Britannicum, or rather 

 a list of the species and varieties of the woody plants culti- 

 vated at Kew, with their synonyms and convenient refer- 

 ences to published figures. Although his name does not 

 appear on the title-page, this list has been prepared by Mr. 

 George Nicholson, the accomplished curator of Kew, whose 

 exact knowledge of the trees and shrubs of European gar- 

 dens has in this way been made serviceable to all cultiva- 

 tors of these plants. 



The last Arboretum Britannicum is that of Loudon, pub- 

 lished in 1838. The completion of Mr. Nicholson's work 

 enables us now to make some interesting comparisons 

 between the number of plants cultivated at this time and 

 sixty years ago. In 1838, when Loudon's Arboretum was 

 published, the hardy ligneous plants cultivated in Great 

 Britain were derived chiefly from Europe, Asia Minor and 

 eastern North America ; a few eastern Asiatic trees and 

 shrubs were also found in gardens at that time. These had 

 chiefly been sent from Japan by Dutch botanists who had 

 found them in Japanese gardens, although French mission- 

 aries had sent the seeds of a few trees from China to 

 Europe. In 1838 a few of the principal conifers of western 

 America were cultivated in Great Britain from Douglas's 

 collecting ten years before. These plants, however, at that 



time were very small and little was known about them. 

 Practically, therefore, all the trees and shrubs of western 

 America, with few exceptions, have been introduced into 

 Europe since Loudon's time ; and since his time Hooker 

 has botanized the high Himalayas and the forests of Sik- 

 kim, rich in magnificent species of Rhododendrons, now 

 a chief ornament in many European gardens. Fortune, 

 David and Henry have sent many plants to Europe from 

 China ; Von Siebold, Maximowicz and their successors have 

 gleaned from Japan all its arborescent treasures; the Rus- 

 sians have made it possible for us to cultivate the trees and 

 shrubs of central Asia and the valley of the Amur, and the 

 Andes and New Zealand have been explored botanically. 

 Since 1838, too, the hybridizer has been busy, and to his 

 skill and perseverance we owe innumerable beautiful varie- 

 ties of Rhododendrons, Azaleas, Roses and Lilacs. It is 

 not, therefore, surprising that the number of the plants 

 available for the decoration of the gardens and parks of 

 temperate countries has increased enormously during the 

 last half century. This, perhaps, will appear the more 

 apparent by comparing the number of species in a few 

 genera, selected at random, described in Loudon's Arbore- 

 tum, with those in the present Kew lists. In Lonicera, 

 Loudon included 29 species as cultivated in Great Britain 

 in his time ; Nicholson enumerates 53. In 1S32, 32 Rho- 

 dodendrons and Azaleas are described by Loudon, while 

 in the Kew list we find 77 ; and in Quercus the number of 

 cultivated species had increased from 45 to 76. These 

 numbers are exclusive of varieties which have increased in 

 about the same proportion as the species. 



From the American point of view Mr. Nicholson's cata- 

 logue seems to leave something to be desired in the way 

 of nomenclature ; and it will serve as another example of 

 the disadvantage of a system which is not based upon some 

 fixed principle or rule. In view of the attitude of English 

 botanists in general toward the American attempt to obtain 

 stability of nomenclature we should have expected that the 

 names adopted in this catalogue would have been those 

 adopted in the Kew Index, which has only been completed a 

 few months, the two publications having been prepared in the 

 same establishment. But, taking our American Oaks as an 

 example, we find the name of Quercus bicolor retained for 

 our Swamp White Oak, and Quercus cinerea for the Blue 

 Jack of the south Atlantic and Gulf coast, these being the 

 names found in the Index. On the other hand, Quercus 

 falcata, the name adopted in the Kew Index for the Spanish 

 Oak, is discarded, while Quercus cuneata is adopted, the 

 oldest name of this species being really Quercus digitata. 

 Quercus ilicifolia is retained as the name of the little Bear 

 Oak, and Quercus Kelloggii for the California Black Oak, 

 while Quercus Marylandica of Muenchhausenand Sargent's 

 Silva replaces Quercus nigra of Wangenheim, the name 

 adopted by the Kew Index for the Black Jack, while Quercus 

 aquatica of Walter, adopted in the Kew Index as the name 

 of the Water Oak, is replaced by Quercus nigra of Linnaeus. 

 Quercus stellata is kept up as the name of the Post Oak, 

 but Quercus velutina is adopted as the name for the Black 

 Oak, although Quercus discolor is the name used in the Kew 

 Index. Valuable as this work undoubtedly is to all culti- 

 vators of woody plants, we cannot but believe that if one 

 of two principles had been rigidly adhered to in the selec- 

 tion of names it would have been even more valuable than 

 it is now. 



Notes. 



The Ginkgo-tree is to be commended for its many good 

 qualities, and among these must be mentioned the uniform 

 clear light lemon-yellow color of its leaves in autumn. Stand- 

 ing in the full sunshine of an October day one of these trees 

 is fairly luminous, as if shining with its own light. 



The large apple crop in the United States has made unusual 

 demands on barrel factories, some of which in apple-growing 

 districts are unable to meet the orders of farmers of the neigh- 

 borhood. Cold-storage houses have also profited through the 



