January ii, 1893.] 



Garden and Forest. 



15 



handsome P. ponderosa, which was planted in the same year, 

 is fifteen feet shorter, and the circumference of the trunk 

 almost two feet and a half less. 



In just thirty years from its introduction on the estate, our 

 western Tsuga Mertensiana has become a handsome tree, 

 sixty feet high. In England this beautiful Hemlock most com- 

 monly passes under the specific name of Albertiana, a name 

 given by Murray in honor of the late Prince Consort, and one 

 which, like Wellingtonia for the Sequoia, it is hard for the 

 English mind to abandon. 



Probably a large proportion of the visitors to Dropmore find 

 most interest in, and their curiosity most awakened by, the 

 odd-looking Chili Pine, or Monkey Puzzle trees (Araucaria 

 imbricata), which grow here in fine shape and freely produce 

 their enormous fruits or cones, while we in a lower latitude 

 in northern America regard them almost as greenhouse- 

 plants. The cones take two seasons to mature, and in this 

 sheltered place they produce good seed. The pollen and fruit- 

 ing catkins are produced on different trees, and I was told that 

 the male or pollen-bearing trees are more vigorous than those 

 which bear fruit. There are many of the trees planted here, 

 the largest, placed in the collection in 1830, is sixty-eight feet 

 high, with a trunk approaching nine feet in circumference. 

 They are handsome symmetrical trees, many of these being 

 clothed with a full supply of branches to the ground. 

 Arnold Arboretum. J ■ ^- jClCk. 



The Coast Dune Flora of Lake Michigan. — I, 



I HAVE occasionally received letters of inquiry regarding 

 plants which grow by the shores of the Great Lakes and aid 

 in keeping the loose sands in place. These questions mainly 

 come from persons interested in park sites which overlook 

 the water, and under conditions like those on the shores of 

 Lake Michigan. The shifting sand- must be fixed so that 

 damage by the wind and water can be prevented, and a com- 

 parative waste changed into a place of beauty. Nature has 

 succeeded in clothing the sand-hills with vegetation where the 

 shallows have been filled with earth and the shore-line has 

 been driven back. Forest-conditions have been established 

 where the White and the Gray Pine, the Red Cedar, the Black, 

 the Scarlet, the Bur and the White Oak grow side by side. 

 Scattered among the trees are many desirable shrubs and 

 herbaceous plants, and what nature has done may with greater 

 certainty be effected under the inteUigent direcfion of man. 

 The vegetation of the sands shows a variety on the ridge 

 nearest to the shore, or on the coast dune, and along the 

 beach, where plants are exposed to the most adverse conditions. 

 They offer an instrucfive lesson of the way in which plants 

 fulfill their mission and furnish beauty throughout the year. 



The Grasses are among the first plants to gain a foothold, 

 and give a chance to seedling shrubs and trees to spring up. 

 A common one is the Sea Sand-reed (Ammophila arundi- 

 nacea). It is known in Europe as the Marrum Grass, and is 

 planted in coast dunes to keep them in place. It is found 

 along the Atlantic coast, and the harbor and town of Province- 

 town are said to owe their preservation to it. Adventitious 

 roots spring from the joints as the sand is heaped about the 

 stem. These roots may extend thirty or forty feet, and form 

 a net-work in the loose earth. The clusters of rigid stems 

 have narrow leaves, and rise two or three feet above the sur- 

 face, and its broom-like structure fits the grass admirably to 

 catch and hold the drifting sand. It has a stiff and formal 

 habit, bearing a thick spike of flowers, and can only be com- 

 mended for its usefulness. The allied Calamagrostis longi- 

 folia has a similar root habit, though the roots do not spread 

 so extensively. It is from three to six feet high, with an open 

 panicle, in marked contras twith the dense spike of the Sea 

 Sand-reed. The long leaves are rigid below, but taper almost 

 to the fineness of a thread, and, with the panicle, are moved 

 gracefully by the wind. Panicum virgatum is of kindred 

 character. It is four or five feet high, and has long flat leaves 

 and a large and very open panicle a foot or two long, which at 

 length neatly bends the culm by its weight. In place of the 

 Elymus arenarius of the Old World, planted for the same pur- 

 pose as the Marrum Grass, we have the Wild Rye (E. Cana- 

 densis), and its variety, glaucifolius. This has broad flat 

 leaves and a large nodding spike, five to ten inches long, fur- 

 nished with long and spreading bristly awns. These grasses 

 are light green in color, the variety of Elymus being so glau- 

 cous as to have a whitish look. Farther north, by the shores 

 of Lake Michigan, are two kinds of Agropyrum — A. repens, the 

 common Couch Grass, and A. dasystachyum. The former 

 appears to be indigenous by the shores of the upper lakes. 

 The latter is very glaucous, but has narrow involute leaves. 



Elymus mollis, more like E. arenarius, being Reed-like in 

 habit, has the upper part of the culm and thick, erect spike 

 velvety pubescent. All the Grasses mentioned are perennials, 

 and spread mostly by running root-stocks, and readily propa- 

 gate by their division. 



The Willows are the most common shrubs in the sand-ridge 

 along the shore. Seven kinds are represented, but the pre- 

 vailing forms are Salix glaucophylla, S. adenophylla, S. cor- 

 data, S. longifolia and S. lucida. They are not equally com- 

 mon, but wherever established one seems to thrive about as 

 well as another, though the last two, perhaps, require a more 

 moist location. These Willows are generally from two to six 

 feet high and grow in dense clumps, largely due to their 

 mode of spreading, so that where one is in possession of the 

 ground the others are mostly excluded. But the shrubs in 

 contiguous masses exhibit a pleasing variety of foliage, and 

 when the leaves have fallen the glossy stems and buds are 

 bright objects in the winter landscape. The color of the 

 leaves varies from the light but shining green of S. glau- 

 cophylla to the rich, glossy green of S. lucida. In shape they 

 range from the narrow, nearly linear leaves of S. longifolia 

 to the broad and neatly tapering ones of S. lucida. 



Three species of Cornus share in the work of retaining the 

 sand : C. stolonifera, C. Baileyi and C. sericea. Their habit of 

 spreading by subterranean shoots and stems adapts them to 

 this purpose, and their cleanly appearance makes them hand- 

 some for summer or winter decoration. The shapely leaves 

 are prominently veined, and when interspersed with bunches 

 of white flowers, and white or pale blue fruit, the plants are 

 always delightful, while their red or purple stems are equally 

 pleasing in the winter. 



The Sand-Cherry (Prunus pumila) is sometimes seven or 

 eight feet high, but is more helpful in holding the sand when 

 but two or three feet high and growing in a tangled mass. 

 The branches rise from a trailing or prostrate stem, furnished 

 with smooth, thickish leaves, lustrous green on the upper 

 surface, paler beneath. When massed the bushes form hand- 

 some clumps, and their attractiveness is increased by the 

 profusion of white flowers and the dark red or blackish fruit. 

 The drupes are sometimes as large as Morello cherries, and 

 the larger ones are juicy and have a pleasant, acid taste. 

 Another shrub, Rhus aromatica, the Aromatic Sumach, also 

 spreads freely in the sand, the stems rising from two to five 

 feet, clothed with pretty trifoliate leaves, and red, hairy fruit. 



Two trailing or creeping shrubs, Arctostaphylos Uva-ursi 

 and the prostrate form of Juniperus Sabina, spread their matted 

 stems over the sand and efficiently shield it from the wind. 

 The stems of the Creeping Juniper are frequently six or eight 

 feet long. Both plants are good protectors at all seasons, 

 since they retain their leaves all winter. The leaves of the 

 Bearberry are tinged with various shades of purple and red 

 in the winter, and the plants make pretty groups of variegated 

 color as they lie on the slopes of the dunes. Both shrubs are 

 seen on the side of the sand toward the beach, and their long 

 stems may reach down to where the water laves them when 

 the waves run high. 



Some taller shrubs and arborescent species are able to exist, 

 or even flourish, on the coast sands. The Hop-tree (Ptelea 

 trifoliata) is occasionally found, and is especially ornamental 

 when the branches are hung with bunches of wafer-like fruit. 

 The Sassafras forms a shrub or low tree of straggling habit. 

 Even plants rarely seen outside of swamps, or by then- 

 borders, obtain a footing and present a curious mixture of 

 species. We come across the Button-bush (Cephalanthus 

 occidentalis) close by Smilacina stellata, which is not uncom- 

 mon even on the highest dunes, growing by the side of 

 Artemesia Canadensis or Solidago humilis. 



Englevvood, Chicago, 111. E. J- Hill. 



Botanical Notes from Texas. 



A RIDE of one hundred miles north from Waco brought me 

 to Dallas, the capital of Dallas County, and one of the 

 larger cities of Texas. The city is about 700 feet above tide- 

 water. It lies in the valley of Trinity River and in the midst of 

 the finest farming lands of the state. The valley of Trinity 

 River was evidently an inlet or bayou of the older Gulf, whicli 

 in later times the upper Trinity chose to convey its waters to 

 the present Gulf. Lying wholly within the "black lands," the 

 river is nearly destitute of sand-bars and has a leisurely flow. 

 It is deeper, even here, than its width would indicate, so that 

 during most of the year it might probably be utilized for light 

 navigation from Dallas to the Gulf. 



It is said that there are no Live Oak trees in this county — 

 conditions of soil, not of climate, preventing — this species not 



