Garden and Forest. 



[Number 254. 



pears to be overlooked by many mirscrymen and other intro- 

 ducers, and the simply good or meritorious varieties which 

 they put upon the market fail as soon as they become well 

 known. If the standard of excellence is constantly rising, the 

 question at once arises, if amelioration in plants is keeping 

 pace with this uplift. Are there as many superior variations 

 as there were when the standards were lower ? This question 

 is too large for discussion here, but it may be said that there 

 are probably enough superior variations to suit our present 

 needs. The greatest difficulty, perhaps, is to distinguish them 

 and to bring them properly before the public. 



It mayliere be said, also, that the chance of a new variety 

 to succeed, other things being equal, is in direct ratio to the 

 novelty of its characteristics— that is, the variety which differs 

 most widely from all other varieties finds the field of least 

 competition, or least impediment to its progress. This same 

 principle pertains under wholly natural conditions. That or- 

 ganism spreads most rapidly which differs most widely from 

 all its fellows. This principle has been called by Darwin the 

 divergence of character. Any new character, or combination 

 of characters, in any organism gives such organism an im- 

 mense advantage, because it is enabled to occupy places of 

 least struggle. The Lucretia Dewberry, for instance, spread 

 rapidly because it found no similar plant with which to com- 

 pete ; but every succeeding variety of Dewberry will encoun- 

 ter great difficulties, and these difficulties will increase with 

 the augmentation of varieties. The new Japanese Plums are 

 now spreading rapidly. These early varieties, because of their 

 wide distribution, are very difficult to dislodge by later, and 

 even superior, varieties. We all know how hard it was to 

 give up the Isabella Grape, the Lawton Blackberry, the 

 Houghton Gooseberry, the Red Dutch and White Dutch Cur- 

 rants and the Wilson Strawberry. There are, no doubt, varie- 

 ties of Apples superior to Baldwin and Ben Davis among the 

 3,000 American kinds, and native Plums superior in all points 

 to the Wild Goose. Perhaps the merits of these obscure va- 

 rieties have not been sufficiently advertised ; but the fact re- 

 mains that it is exceedingly difficult to dislodge an old variety. 



If these arguments are well taken, it follows that the blame 

 for the introduction of unsuccessful varieties is not so much 

 moral dishonesty as a misconception of the merits of the va- 

 rieties and the nature of the demand which they are to meet ; 

 and the remedy for the evil is a better understanding of the 

 points at issue, both by the introducer and the purchaser. 



Notes of a Summer Journey in Europe. — XXI. 



A STUDY of the hardy shrub collections at Kewis more of a 

 ■*^ task than one is likely to find elsewhere in the same lati- 

 tude, for, besides the large series of species and specimens, un- 

 expected examples are frequently found which are not often 

 seen in other regions so far north. Here, for instance, is the 

 Chinese or Chusan Palm (Trachycarpus Fortunei), which re- 

 mains out in the open ground alL winter, year after year, 

 doing even better in other parts of England ; the dark, green- 

 leaved and spiny Discaria (or Colletia) serratifolia, from Peru, 

 appears quite hardy, and other species of the genus Colletia 

 from the same region are sufficiently enduring to be given a 

 place. Such interesting Barberries as B. Darwinii, from 

 south Chili, an erect bush, several feet high, with small holly- 

 like leaves, and B. empetrifolia, from further south on the 

 South American continent, with narrow leaves and dwarf- 

 spreading habit, can both be grown here, but have, thus far, 

 utterly failed at the Arnold Arboretum. This seems some- 

 what strange, when it is known that what is called B. steno- 

 phylla, which is a supposed hybrid between these two South 

 American species, will live and present a fairly decent appear- 

 ance, although it has never yet blossomed or fruited very 

 freely with us. It also requires protection in winter. We can- 

 not grow any of the hardy species of the beautiful wild rose- 

 like blossomed Cistus yet introduced, but at Kew some of 

 them form very pretty bushes. The possibilities in this cli- 

 mate are further shown by a fine specimen of Arbutus An- 

 drachne, introduced from Greece, which has a stem fully 

 fifteen inches in diameter, dividing into three large branches 

 at three feet from the ground and spreading over twenty feet. 

 The true Rosa moschata, known in Old World gardens for 

 centuries, and which is also very commonly found under its 

 synonym of R. Brunoni, has not yet proved a thorough suc- 

 cess in Boston gardens, but a beautiful specimen at Kew has 

 stems two or three inches in diameter and twenty feet high, 

 and bears Howers and fruit in great abundance. The blos- 

 soms of this species are white or yellowish white, the stamens 

 being yellow, and as the Howers are produced in large clus- 



ters like those of our Prairie Rose, the plant must be a very 

 beautiful object when in full bloom. 



But, while it is possible to grow in the open air at Kew a con- 

 siderable ninnber of kinds of shrubs and other plants which we 

 cannot get to thrive in America, at a much lower latitude, we 

 can grow a few plants which behave unsatisfactorily in this part 

 of England. Among these the interesting Japanese Cercidiphyl- 

 lum Japonicum has not yet done well. It is often more or less 

 injured in winter, perhaps, because the seasons are not warm 

 enough to thoroughly ripen the wood. Willi us this pretty foli- 

 aged plant is thoroughly hardy, and gives every promise of be: 

 coming as large a tree as it does in its native home. What ap- 

 peared to be a form of the true Lespedeza bicolor was seen 

 here, apparently with very little more of a woody or shrubby 

 nature than the more familiar L. Sieboldi (which has been 

 commonly known as Desmodium penduliHorum), while in 

 our climate it forms a distinctly tree-like shrub. The same 

 peculiarity was noted in our so-called Lead Plant (Amorpha 

 canescens), which did not appear to be any more of a shrub 

 than Lespedeza Sieboldi, although under favorable conditions 

 it does grow up to have quite a woody stem. Its close ally 

 and companion in the genus, the False Indigo, Amorpha fru- 

 ticosa, is, of course, perfectly hardy, and there are now nuiiier- 

 OLis slight variations or forms of it, procured by selection, 

 which have been honored by having names in Latin form 

 given to them. These peculiarities are generally so trivial and 

 unimportant that it seems a mistake to cumber the synonomy 

 on account of such slight deviations from an accepted type. 

 If the formal naming of every variation or modification of 

 trees and shrubs in cultivation was generally followed, there 

 would soon result such a hopelessly long catalogue as would 

 be a real cause of discouragement to every amateur planter. 

 And if an enthusiast does raise a seedling which he thinks has 

 some distinctive merit, it would be better to give it some other 

 than a Latin name, in the same form as is usually given to 

 species or self-perpetuating natural varieties. For instance, 

 most people will agree that the custom of giving such plants 

 as the new garden Azaleas and Rhododendrons some popular 

 name is better than affixing a Latin appellation, which might 

 cause a tyro to think of it as a new species. 



I noted" the curious Castanopsis chrysophylla of California 

 growing here, being fairly hardy and represented by an exam- 

 ple about four feet high, evergreen, and producing flowers, 

 but no fruit. 



A large portion of the surface of the Arboretum, as well as of 

 the Botanic Garden at Kew, is covered by well-kept lawns. Few 

 or no reminders to "keepoff the grass" are to be seen, and visi- 

 tors are at liberty to roam almost everywhere, so that the differ- 

 ent specimens and groups of trees and shrubs, the latter in culti- 

 vated beds, may be seen closely and on all sides. In other areas 

 the grass is allowed to grow, and among it large numbers of 

 bulbous and other plants come up and bloom in their season. 

 It isa most commendable feature that in the whole establish- 

 ment there are no public carriage-roads, and therefore no 

 annoyance or confusion of a parade of vehicles, which could 

 only be afforded and enjoyed by a small portion of the com- 

 munity. Those who wish to see Kew, to enjoy its rich plant 

 collections, or to study them, myst walk; and it is bestforthe 

 good order of the place as well as for the obtaining of a quiet 

 and reposeful effect that it should be so ordered. Wheeled 

 chairs are provided at some of the various gates for visitors 

 requiring them. Well-ordered paths lead to the chief groups 

 and objects of interest. The visitor of a short day is not likely 

 to find time to go over them all, and in choosing those which 

 will give the most concentrated pleasure and instruction, the 

 path leading to the pretty rock-garden should certainly not be 

 omitted. Although originally constructed in a fiat and un- 

 promising situation, it has been so skillfully and well arranged 

 as to give new pleasure at every turn. A visit to it, especially 

 in spring and early summer, must afford great delight to every 

 lover of flowers, and especially of that class of plants known 

 as Alpmes among horticulturists. 



The great glass-houses and their rich collections, in beau- 

 tiful order, tempt one to spend more time there than can per- 

 haps be afforded, and every visit reveals something notable 

 not seen before. The policy of an aggrandizement of a great 

 collection of species for the sake of a long list of all the species 

 possible to be obtained, is not now followed at Kew so much 

 as the selection of all that is best and most desirable in every 

 class of plants which are amenable to cultivation. In earlier 

 days it was, perhaps, necessary to bring together as many 

 species as could be obtained in order to make a judicious 

 weeding out and selection possible. 



Next to the living plants, the beautiful collection of pictures 

 of flowers and vegetation, painted and presented by the late 



