46 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 257. 



the Lick Observatory : Since 1880 the least annual rainfall has 

 been about thirteen inches ; the tireatest has been more than 

 fifty-eight inches (from July, 1883, to June, 1884, inclusive). 

 The mountain generally receives thirty-three inches or up- 

 ward. There is evidently rain enough for a great variety of 

 plant-life. The "dry months" are said to be May, June, July, 

 August and September, but in 1883 more than seven inches 

 fellin May, in i88j more than three inches, and during eleven 

 years only one May was entirely rainless. The lowest temper- 

 ature during eleven years' observation was eleven ; fourteen 

 and sixteen occur nearly every year. Snow falls on the peak, 

 but soon melts, and some years there is no snow at all. 



The heads of the ravines, and small plateaus nearest the 

 peaks, fortunately offer much easier problems to the planter. 

 There is more soil there, the force of the winds is somewhat 

 broken, and the rays of tlie summer sun are less perpendicu- 

 lar to the plane of the slope. There are large Oaks, in fact, 

 quite a forest of them, and one hill-side has been plowed and 

 cultivated. One plateau of live acres would make an excellent 

 Apple orchard ; another, higher up, is suited to a collection of 

 mountain species of conifers. Tlie surface should be broken, 

 and the grass and weeds kept down by cultivation, as, other- 

 wise, small trees would lack moisture. Several small planta- 

 tions could be established within easy walking distance of the 

 Observatory, and will give better results than the efforts to 

 grow trees upon the rock platforms of the mountain. The 

 need of shade and shelter around the buildings upon the peak 

 is most pressing, and the effort to establish a few more trees 

 of the hardiest species there must not be neglected. 



Hitherto all the planting attempted has been at, or near, the top 

 of the mountain. The real possibilities of the large, and, for many 

 uses, very valuable tract of wild land owned by the University, 

 have been neglected. The tract consists of 2,600 acres, cover- 

 ing a range of 1,500 feet in altitude, from about 2,700 feet above 

 the sea to the crest of Mount Hamilton, 4,200 feet high. By a 

 comparatively slight additional expenditure the reservation 

 could be increased to 3,000 or 3,500 acres, and this would 

 greatly add to its future value as an experiment station for 

 hardier fruits and forest-trees. In parts of Italy the Olive 

 thrives at an elevation of 3,200 feet, and in Algeria at 4,800 feet, 

 while bearing orchards are not uncommon at 3,000 feet above 

 the sea. The Olive requires thorough cultivation, but needs 

 no irrigation in tlie Mount Hamilton district, where the rainfall 

 is sufficient. It endures summer heat of from 100 to 120 de- 

 grees, but, as before stated, the winter temperature must not 

 be less than fourteen degrees.. 



From both the botanical and the horticultural standpoint, 

 this tract of land on Mount Hamilton is one of the most inter- 

 esting areas to be found in the entire Coast-range. It ought to 

 be utilized, and portions of it should in time yield a very con- 

 siderable income — probably enough to pay the expe'nses of 

 planting the other parts. 



There are many warm " flats " containing rich soil and flow- 

 ing springs ; here orchards of Olives and the deciduous fruits 

 will thrive. Peaches, Apricots and Prunes are growing well in 

 similar localities. About 3,200 feet would probably mark the 

 natural limits of such orchards, but the hardier Apples and 

 Pears could be planted higher up on the mountain. If five or 

 six hundred acres prove well adapted to these cultures, it 

 would be all one could expect. Possibly, in the course of time, 

 Olives could be established over a large area of the rocky 

 slopes. 



For pure forestry treatment, after the best European methods, 

 with modifications to adapt them to California conditions, there 

 are a thousand or more acres that can be covered eventually 

 with as fine a coniferous forest as that which clothes the base 

 of Shasta. UUimately, with sufficient funds to carry on the 

 work properly, every part of the tract, except a few precipices 

 too steep for trees to obtain a foothold, can be covered with 

 vegetation. This, the Director assures me, would not injure 

 the astronomical value of the Lick Observatory, but would 

 undoubtedly steady the atmosphere and improve the general 

 conditions. 



The creation of profitable orchards upon the suitable por- 

 tions of the 2,600 acres belonging to the Mount Hamilton 

 reservation, and of equally valuable forests of Sugar Pine, 

 Yellow Pine and Sequoias, will undoubtedly be the task of a 

 lifetime, and it will be hard to find men who combine the 

 requisite knowledge and energy for its accomplishment. But 

 I know of no better place for a forestry station of the first rank 

 to deal directly with the practical problem which the state and 

 national government are just beginning to recognize — the 

 utilization of our rough lands, the reforesfing of denuded 

 mountains. 



Berkeley, Cat. Charles Howard Shinn. 



Correspondence. 



Favorite Flowers. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — I wish to say a few words, not about the popular flowers 

 with which people are often strangely enamored until a more 

 recent novelty causes them to be forgotten ; such flowers are 

 double Dahlias, Fuchsias, Cacti, and, at the present moment, 

 the Chrysanthemum. I would speak of the flowers popular 

 among village folk, among the primitive dwellers on the 

 mountains and in valleys far remote from the stir of city life. 

 With us, in Switzerland, le Rosace des Alpes (Rhododendron 

 ferrugineum and R. hirsutum) has been in favor for a long 

 period. This is, without doubt, our national flower. It orna- 

 ments our coins, and is largely used in decorations. But on 

 inquiry as to whether this popularity is of old standing, I find, 

 on the contrary, it is of comparatively recent date. Among 

 our shepherds the old name of Rose des Alpes is simply " le 

 buisson des poules," the wild bird's thicket, because its 

 densely clad branches afford excellent cover to tlie Alpine 

 grouse, the heath-cock, etc. So prosaic a name fails to show 

 that the common people of old held it in the slightest favor 

 from an aesthetic point of view. One of the earliest praises 

 of the Rhododendron is found in the immortal poetry of 

 Albert Haller, Les Alpes (1729), where he writes, "Smaragd 

 und Rosen-gliihn auch auf zertretner Heide," taking care to 

 say in a note that he refers to Ledum foliis glabris flore tubu- 

 loso and to Ledum foliis ovatis flore tubuloso, which in ante- 

 Linnagan nomenclature designate our varieties of Rhododen- 

 dron. The first author who makes mention of the poetic 

 name, "Alpenrose," is the celebrated Clusius, in his charm- 

 ing work, so beautifully illustrated. The History of some Rare 

 Species in Hungary and Austria, printed by Planfin at Antwerp 

 in 1583. 



The Edelweiss, the Leontopodium, so much the rage at 

 present, coveted by every traveler who makes his tour of 

 Switzerland, so sought after, that year by year a dozen rash 

 climbers lose their lives by falling from steep slopes where 

 they hope to find it. This plant, whose flowers are insignifi- 

 cant, and whose sole attraction lies in a rosette of fluffy bracts 

 surrounding a short corymb of dark flower-heads, enjoys a 

 wholly artificial popularity in Switzerland. Previous to the 

 publication of the novel Edelweiss, by the German author, 

 Berthold Auerbach, it was little known in our country. From 

 a remote period its popular names among the peasantry were 

 either Riihrkraut (specific against dyspepsia), or Katzenpfoet- 

 clien (Cat's-paw). Thus we see that, before the advent of ex- 

 aggerated worship of this little composite, the common people 

 held it in no jesthetic esteem, but only recognized a useful 

 medicine in the nature of Camomile, or found in the flower 

 the likeness of a cat's-paw. Clusius, in the work already cited, 

 gives an excellent figure of this plant and says that, according 

 to Josias Simler, it is called WuUblume, that is, woody flower; 

 but he makes no mention either of its popularity or of its hav- 

 ing been put to any use by the people. It was only about 

 1850 that a change in public opinion arose in Switzerland, and 

 the name Edelweiss, made up of the adjectives nobleand white, 

 had doubtless its origin in the eastern Alps, in Bavaria and the 

 Tyrol, where, it appears, the young men in the villages have 

 long had the custom of offering bouquets of this flower to 

 their fiancees. The popularity of the Edelweiss has since, 

 without exaggeration, become a public calamity, for every 

 summer sees numerous deaths caused by this ill-omened 

 plant. There are always rash young men, who, for the pur- 

 pose of gathering a flower on which they set such undeserved 

 value, venture on steep and very slippery slopes, the favorite 

 habitat of the Leontopodium, to fall into the depths below and 

 find a horrible death. What has contributed, unfortunately, to 

 the renown of this plant and to the seeker's enthusiasm, is the 

 fatal idea in some cantonal governments, under pretense of 

 protecting the plant, of forbidding its coUecdon with its roots. 

 It would have been infinitely better to have eradicated it en- 

 tirely from localifies frequented by travelers, and so have 

 removed temptation, for the plant is much overrated. In the 

 first place, it is by no means rare. Every Swiss botanist knows 

 of regions where the Edelweiss abounds, covering accessible 

 and safe slopes, and furnishing its flowers in unlimited quan- 

 tity. The neighborhood of Zermatt and the Tessnio are such 

 localities. In addition, the Edelweiss, not being an endemic 

 plant, or one confined to Switzerland and the Alpine chains, 

 cannot be called a characteristic product of our mountains. 

 On the contrary, it is one of the plants of the Siberian steppes, 

 where it is widespread, and only finds its last station in the 

 European mountains, where it occurs in the Pyrenees, as well 



