December 2, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



483 



mountain stream has formed tiny alluvial flats, in 

 which California Laurels and Alders luxuriate and have 

 grown to great size. Here and there are groves of Red- 

 wood, the trees fifty to seventy feet high, straight and 

 beautiful. They seem at first to be seedlings, but examina- 

 tion shows the stumps of big trees which were cut in the 

 " fifties," and around each is a grove of sprouts. I know 

 of no finer place to find the rate of this second growth, and 

 hope to give measurements from these groves later on. In 

 places the Wild Grape has overgrown Alder, Redwood and 

 Laurel so completely that scarcely a leaf of the host can be 

 seen. At all times when in foliage these masses of vines 

 are striking, but in the fall the color of the leaves is gor- 

 geous and there is nothing in our woods to equal their 

 brilliancy. 



The headland on the south side of the canon is densely 

 clothed with trees. On the cool slopes the Black Oak, 

 Quercus Californica, predominates, but Douglas Spruce and 

 Madrofia are abundant and their evergreen habit prevents 

 the woods from ever seeming bare. The timbered land 

 extends less than half a mile up the slopes to the south and 

 then gives way to a dense and practically impassable mass 

 of trees from fifteen to thirty feet high, mingled with tall 

 shrubs, all in the greatest variety. The Mexican name for 

 this dense growth is Chapparal, and by that name it is 

 known throughout the state. It covers millions of acres 

 of the high slopes on the north sides of the mountains of 

 the Coast Range. The mountain sloping to the north of 

 the canon, and facing south, is grassy, with scattering trees, 

 mostly Post Oak, Q. Douglasii, a deciduous Oak with 

 small lobate leaves and white bark. It thrives in hot places 

 and dry lands, and usually forms a small tree, although 

 occasionally three feet through. At less than half a mile 

 from the stream the grass and trees give way to the Chemi- 

 sal or Chemise Brush. Imagine slope after slope, hill after 

 hill and mile after mile of low dense brush of a uniform 

 blue green, which from the valley seems as smooth in out- 

 line and as close-cropped as a lawn, and gives to every 

 mountain the same rounded outline, and you have Chemise 

 Brush, Adenostorna fascicularis. This in winter. Imagine the 

 same soft monotony of color and outline, with only a little 

 more tawny a shade given by its dried-up flowers, and you 

 have the appearance in summer and fall. Close at hand, 

 Chemise is fully as dense, but not nearly as smooth, as it 

 looks from a distance. Covering nearly all of the higher 

 mountain of the east half of the Coast Range it is a world 

 of itself and deserves separate treatment. 



An old sled road, made by the pioneers who cut the Red- 

 woods so long ago, leads up the canon. In some places 

 it is overgrown, in others washed away, but a good walker 

 can follow it, and if he loves nature he will be well repaid 

 in any season, for between the high slopes of Chemise on 

 the one side, and of Chapparal on the other, is enclosed a 

 floral treasure-house, richer from the impassable surround- 

 ings. I have loved and traversed this canon for years, yet 

 on my last trip I found a beautiful spot of whose existence 

 I had never dreamed. 



In the early spring the first flowers show in the warm 

 Oak woods. The very earliest is Cardamine pausisecta, with 

 beautiful leaves purple beneath, and fragrant white flowers. 

 It is soon followed by our Cowslip. The form here is 

 Dodecatheon Hendersonii, which, to my eye, is prettier 

 than the much praised D. Clevelandii of the south. It is 

 especially abundant at the edge of the Chemise Brush and 

 in any little open place in it, and forms large beds. The 

 plants which the children call Chocolate Lily, and which 

 botanists know as Fritillaria lanceolata, grow freely in the 

 Oaks and flower in late March. Its graceful habit atones 

 to some extent for its dull flowers. It has been remarked 

 that it should be grown with the waxy white bulb in the 

 air, for this is covered thickly with pearl-like grains and is 

 really beautiful. Soon, Buttercups, Ranunculus macran- 

 thus, the Nemophilas and a multitude of other plants fol- 

 low in the midspring bloom. Up this little gully shaded 

 by Live Oaks and Spruce, on a rocky ledge among the Fern 



and Poison Oak, are thousands of Dog-tooth Violets, Ery- 

 thronium giganteum. The recurving petals measure two 

 to two and a half inches across, creamy yellow in color, 

 with an orange centre, and occasionally banded with 

 maroon. The leaf-mold which has gathered in the rocky 

 debris quite meets the needs of the plants. 



In their seasons two Irises beautify the canon. In the 

 gritty soil of the Oak woods along the warmer part of the 

 canon and among the Manzanitas of the warm south slopes 

 I. macrosiphon grows in abundance, and it seems to thrive 

 in the hottest and driest places. It forms large clumps of 

 hundreds of plants, the wiry rhizomes spreading until, in 

 some cases, the dense clumps measure three feet across. 

 It flowers in May and June, bearing many small but hand- 

 some flowers in shades of blue, lilac and purple. I. 

 Douglasiana is quite different. Its home is where the 

 little vale ends by the steep canon-sides. There in the 

 deep and rich debris which has accumulated at the foot of 

 the slopes it is at its best. Its leaves are long and glossy, 

 the mats not crowded, and frequently few-stalked. The 

 base of the leaves is rosy. Its exquisite flowers are large 

 and few, borne well up, the ground-color creamy or ochre, 

 with purple veining, the texture heavy and exquisitely 

 frosted. I have seen no Iris to equal them in beauty. 

 They grow even better in my Fern-bed than in the woods. 



Ukiah, Calif. Carl Purdy. 



Foreign Correspondence. 



Edinburgh Botanic Garden. 



A BOTANIC GARDEN was founded in Edinburgh in 

 1670 by Doctor (afterward Sir Andrew) Balfour. Mr. 

 James Sutherland was the first Curator and Professor of 

 "Botany, and, according to a catalogue prepared by him in 

 1683, there were some three thousand species of plants 

 cultivated there. This garden has long since disappeared, 

 the site being now occupied by the North British Railway. 

 A second garden was established in Leith Walk in 1763, 

 but this grew to be unsuitable, and in 1819 the present site 

 in Inverleith Row was purchased. At that time the gar- 

 dens were about fourteen acres in extent. By 1S70 the 

 area had doubled, and at the present time the garden 

 occupies about fifty-five acres of uneven ground about two 

 miles from the centre of the town. In 1SS9 the Edinburgh 

 Garden was included in the Royal Parks and Gardens, 

 under the management of the Commissioners of Her 

 Majesty's Works and Public Buildings, and was thus 

 placed on all fours with Kew as a national establishment, 

 supported by public funds. It has an annual grant of 

 about ^4,500, and has a Director, styled Regius Keeper, 

 curators, etc. It differs from Kew in being an adjunct of 

 the University of Edinburgh, and large class-rooms, labora- 

 tories, museums, etc., are devoted to the teaching of botany 

 to from two to three hundred students. It also possesses 

 a large herbarium and a well-stocked library. 



Professor I. Bayley Balfour, the present Director, has 

 done much to improve the gardens both in a popular and a 

 scientific sense. The grounds have been remodeled and 

 the collections of trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants 

 strengthened and rearranged. The old glass houses have 

 nearly all been replaced by new and admirably planned 

 structures of the most approved pattern, and the museum 

 collections overhauled and set in order. 



An excellent library and reading-room has been provided 

 for the use of the garden staff. The active, energetic 

 spirit and enthusiasm of the Director pervades the whole 

 establishment, and any one who knew the Edinburgh 

 Botanic Garden ten years ago cannot fail to notice the 

 great improvement that has been made since that time. 

 The Government authorities have been liberal in granting 

 funds for the required alterations, some /'io.ooo having 

 been spent in new works, and about another ^'5,000 will 

 be needed before all that is contemplated is accomplished. 



The alpine collection and rock garden at Edinburgh have 



