Garden and Forest. 



[Number 254 



hours, variety of experience, continued rushing about to 

 very httle purpose. The soothing influences of rural Hfe 

 are soon felt, the mind reposes from its overstrain, anxiety 

 is stilled, joyousness prevails. If the first effect of country- 

 life be ennui, the effort to escape from it leads to whole- 

 some results. The interest in gardening, on a large or small 

 scale, is very apt to arise in the mind which seeks active 

 occupation, and in that pursuit one can find an outlet for 

 all the supcrlluous energy. And if one insists upon worry- 

 ing, it will also afford a chance for that entertainment of 

 the unoccupied hours. 



Gardening is for women a most salutary occupation, 

 giving them occasion to exercise their taste and skill, to 

 add to their knowledge, to give value and importance to 

 their surroundings. It can be conducted on a large or 

 small scale ; with great expense, or with very little, ac- 

 cording to circumstances ; and it is not only healthful to 

 the body, but rousing to the mind to grapple with Nature, 

 and bend her to purposes of profit or adornment. 



Any purely objective interest is good for our over-sub- 

 jective women, who need just what Englishwomen seem to 

 have by nature, a delight in outdoor pursuits and direct 

 contact with Nature. They ought to walk more, to hve 

 more in the open air, to rejoice more freely in woods and 

 fields. As this interest increases in our leisure class we shall 

 see a more natural and wholesome living result from it 

 year by year ; so that in the end we shall find that this 

 strong instinctive love of the Anglo-Saxon race for the 

 country is really as much a part of the true American 

 development as it is an evidence of that of his British 

 relations. 



An Avenue of Live Oaks. 



A MONG North American trees of the first size none are 

 _/~\^ more picturesque or ornamental than the great Live 

 Oaks of our southern Atlantic and Gulf states, and the il- 

 lustration on page 7 shows how these trees can be used to 

 the best effect. They grow rapidly when young, so that 

 formal lines of these trees will become objects of rare inter- 

 est and beauty in a few years, and, when they attain their 

 full dimensions, will arch over an avenue a hundred 

 feet wide. In the coast region of South Carolina and 

 Georgia a few such avenues were planted a century ago, 

 and these are now uuequaled in this country, at least for 

 dignity and impressiveness. A portion only of the grand 

 approach to the typical old southern mansion is given in 

 the picture. In these rows seven trees only can be 

 seen, while there are thirty-three on either side of the broad 

 avenue, which extends straight from the highway to the 

 house. On either side of the central avenue another line 

 of similar trees is set so as to make four equidistant rows 

 and three parallel avenues. It is said that in the old ante- 

 bellum days the small army of slaves belonging to the 

 plantation filed every morning down one of the outer 

 avenues, and, after passing in review before the house and 

 receiving directions for the day, marched out under the 

 moss-hung arches of the opposite one. 



The scene of our illustration has been known for gener- 

 ations as Chelsea Plantation, and it is situated seven miles 

 from Grahamville, on an arm of the Broad River, opposite 

 Beaufort, South Carolina. The place is now owned by a 

 club of gentlemen, mostly residents of this city, who oc- 

 cupy it as a place of winter resort. Game is abundant, 

 the winter climate is remarkably genial, and the locality 

 offers a grateful relief from the rigors of the north at this 

 season. The soil here, with its underlying phosphate, is 

 well adapted, not only to rice and cotton, but especially 

 to the growth of trees, which flourish with great luxuri- 

 ance in the moist air. On this and the neighboring 

 plantations there are individual Live Oaks, much larger 

 than any shown in the illustration, while many of the 

 evergreen Magnolias are famous for their size and beauty. 

 The illustration is Beproduced from a photograph taken 

 by Mr. John L. Kuser, of Newark, New Jersey. 



Why do some 



Promising Varieties Fail? 



THE following are the essential parts of a paper by- 

 Professor L. H. Bailey, recently read before the Illi- 

 nois Horticultural Society at Champaign, Illinois : 



There is probably no greater discouragement in horticul- 

 tural pursuits than the uncertainty which attaches to the pur- 

 chase and production of new varieties. So great is the fear of 

 new productions that very many people decry the introduction 

 of novelties as hazardous and unfortunate. There must be 

 reason for so widespread a feeling. There is one proposition, 

 however, which needs to be presented at the outset in order 

 to arrest attention upon what may seem to be a trite sub- 

 ject. There is probably no variety in existence, whether of 

 fruit, vegetable or ornamental plant, which perfectly meets all 

 the requirements demanded of it — that is, there is none which 

 is ideal. If this perfect variety is not in existence, it must yet 

 appear in the guise of a novelty. It is to the new things, there- 

 fore — to the future — that we must look for advancement ; the 

 old things are not capable of improvement. I may be asked 

 here if the ideal variety ever can come — if it is among the pos- 

 sibilities ? We only know that there has been a general uplift 

 in the merits and variety of our cultivated productions during 

 the present generation, and if we compare our varieties with 

 those of a century or more ago, we find them to be, for the 

 most part, far superior to their predecessors. We are justified, 

 therefore, in expecting better things for the future. 



But why is it that so many of the promising new things fail ? 

 There are probably some varieties which are introduced dis- 

 honestly for the sole purpose of money-getting, the introducer 

 knowing that they are inferior or only old sorts renamed. But 

 I am convinced that there is less of this practice than is gen- 

 erally supposed. I cannot believe that even ten per cent, of 

 the failures in the new varieties is chargeable to any inten- 

 fional moral fault of the introducer. These inferior varieties 

 are not considered in this paper, for I have confined my in- 

 quiry to promising novelties. The reasons why promising 

 varieties fail, fall readily into two categories : i. The false or 

 unfortunate ideals of the purchaser and seller. 2. The uncer- 

 tain or unfavorable attributes of the varieties themselves. 



1, It is a question if we should expect any new variety to ex- 

 ceed the combined merits of existing varieties in all points — 

 that is, it is probably better to look for a variety which shall 

 thoroughly satisfy one or two demands, rather than all de- 

 mands. The details of horticultural pursuits are now so 

 various that many of the ideals are contradictory, and there- 

 fore unattainable in one variety. We probably need to special- 

 ize in varieties as much as in other directions. I therefore 

 look with suspicion upon a new variety which is introduced 

 with the assumption that it shall supplant all other varieties ; 

 it should supplant only one other, and that the best of its class. 

 This exaggerated praise is not wholly the fault of the intro- 

 ducer, for there is a demand for it among a very large class of 

 our rural population. 



2. But varieties themselves lack merit and persistence ; that 

 is, they do not bear out the promises which they seem to 

 make. I may say at the outset that we often mistake the 

 promises and regard the variety as more valuable than it has 

 given us warrant to suppose. This is especially true if the 

 variety is one of our own raising, for our interest in it is so 

 great that we are unconsciously apt to forget or excuse its 

 faults. But varieties often do promise more than they fulfill. 

 Perhaps eighty or ninety per cent, of the varieties in our 

 manuals and catalogues never come into general cultivation. 

 Nearly 3,000 variedes of Apples have been described in Amer- 

 ican publications, but the important varieties probably do not 

 exceed 100, certainly not 200. Nearly 700 varieties of Apples 

 are offered in the catalogues of 1892. In the year 1889, 434 

 varieties of fruits, vegetables and ornamental plants were 

 offered for sale in North America; in 1890, there were 575 ; 

 in 1 891, 884. This makes the enormous total, for three years, 

 of 1,893 novelties. No one can expect that a greater part of 

 these foundlings will find a permanent place in cultivation. 

 In 1869, twenty-eight new Strawberries were introduced or 

 prominently mentioned, of which only two — the Charles 

 Downing and Kentucky — are at present known. In that year, 

 also, thirty-six new Raspberries were introduced or promi- 

 nently advertised, of which only the Philadelphia and Turner 

 are now known, and these are rapidly passing from sight. Of 

 the eight newer Blackberries of that year, five still persist, 

 however — the Kittatinny, Missouri Mammoth, Wachuset, 

 Western Triumph and Wilson's Early. Of the twelve or fif- 

 teen Dewberries now named, only three are prominent, and 

 only one has gained a general reputation. All these illustra- 

 tions show that there are in existence many more varieties 



