February 15, 1893.] 



Garden and Forest. 



83 



The Lynn woods have acquired, not only a local, but a na- 

 tional fame, as a successful municipal experiment in practical 

 forestry, proving satisfactorily that by keeping the hill-sides 

 clothed with the living drapery of trees, the soil will not 

 shrivel, nor the springs go dry. IVIoreover, it takes careful 

 charge of this public domain, to the end that it may not be 

 wasted by fire, nor by depredations or defilements of any 

 kind that may interfere with the healthfulness of the waters. 

 The study of forestry is in its infancy in this country, and it is 

 a great thing to have at hand such an experiment as this, to Ije 

 studied on a large scale and quoted as an example of wise and 

 judicious practice of that valuable art. The author speaks 

 with enthusiasm of his subject, dwelling affectionately on the 

 ancient customs and the strange adventures of the singular peo- 

 ple who have been associated with these woods. He describes, 

 with vigor and grace, the rocky summits and the comprehen- 

 sive views that are characteristic of this region ; he inter- 

 sperses his narrative with quaint bits of verse and prefaces 

 his chapters with apt quotations, while the photographic re- 

 productions bring vividly before us the winding woodways, 

 the broad extent of lake after lake, the wild brooks that tumble 

 under die Hemlocks ; the strange rock formations, known as 

 the Dungeon and Sugar-Loaf ; with glimpses of the heart of 

 the woods shimmering with the foliage of Birches, or dark 

 with Oak shadows and massive trunks. We see the old pas- 

 tures, with their dividing walls of immense extent, built by the 

 early settlers, working together for the common good; the 

 camp, and the rustic tables and benches where the picnickers 

 take their luncheon ; with bird's-eye views from the high sum- 

 mits of Mount Gilead and of Burrill Hill, " the granite back- 

 bone of the woods, upon whose naked surface titanic agen- 

 cies in prehistoric ages hurled mighty boulders from far-off 

 regions." To one familiar with the woods these pictures are 

 full of suggestion, and to those who know them not they are 

 still beautiful and interesdng. 



The book shows how much is due to individual effort, and 

 how great a service the preservers of the woods have rendered 

 to their fellow-citizens in its protection, and makes us thankful 

 that in the heart of man lingers so fond a love of Nature, and 

 so active a desire to communicate it to others. The appropri- 

 ate motto from Emerson, which opens the book, seems to strike 

 its keynote: "The tempered light of the woods is like a per- 

 petual morning, and is stimulating and heroic. The an- 

 ciently reported spells of these places creep on us. The stems 

 of Pines, Hemlocks and Oaks almost gleam like iron on the 

 excited eye. The incommunicable trees begin to persuade us 

 to live with them and quit our life of solemn trifles." 



Exhibitions. 



Flower Pictures at the Academy of Design. 



A GOOD many paintings of flowers and fruits may be found 

 at the water-color exhibition now open in the Academy of 

 Design ; but the average excellence in this branch of water- 

 color painting seems lower than it has been during the past 

 few years. Roses, as usual, are attempted more often tlian 

 any other flower; but the fact that they are the most diiTicidt 

 of all flowers to paint speaks clearly from every wall. It seems 

 almost impossible to render in paint all the characteristics 

 which make up the beauty of our florists' Roses — their bear- 

 ing, which is always graceful yet sometimes very sturdy too ; 

 the peculiar quality of their color, which results from the 

 delicate yet firm substance of their petals ; and the solidity 

 which the close association of many of their petals suggests. 

 We often see painted Roses which are not quite exact even in 

 color, because they are not both solid and delicate — because 

 they do not suggest at once firmness of build and fragility of 

 texture. Sometimes our painted Roses look like tin, and some- 

 times like cotton, and sometimes like the wraiths of flowers, 

 retaining color but devoid of all bulk and weight. There aie 

 examples of all these kinds in this exhibition, with a few in 

 which true excellence has been more nearly achieved. Mrs. 

 Scott's white Roses are better than the pink ones which hang 

 near them, for they have some substance although not quite 

 enough. Miss Wilcox has done fairly well with her Mermets, 

 and I daresay that Miss Finney's red Roses would be satis- 

 factory if they had not been hung almost out of sight, over a 

 doorway. But I do not think that there is one Rose-picture 

 in the whole coUecdon which is all that a l^ose-picture 

 should be. 



Perhaps the best painting of flowers of any kind is Miss 

 Maud Stumm's " Violets," where we see three large bunches, 

 such as our florists tie, two lying on the table and the other 

 resting in a greenish glass bowl. The general color-scheme 



in this picture is charming, the handling is vigorous, and the 

 true color and quality of the solid clusters of flowers are 

 delightfully rendered. Next to this should be named, perhaps, 

 Miss Field's crimson " Gilliflowers," in a tall green glass, a 

 drawing which, naturally, is not very graceful in line since it 

 truthfully portrays stiff spikes of flowers, but has much linear 

 dignity, is nice in color, and true to the subject. Miss Abbatt 

 has put three garden subjects, very minutely painted, into a 

 single frame, rather to the injury of their effect. The best of 

 them shows a tall cluster of Foxgloves. Miss Redmond 

 sends a faithful if not very attractive picture of Hydrangea 

 paniculata ; Miss Wdliams a "Garden Corner," where a big 

 group of red Poppies is prettily displayed; and Miss E. 

 P. Williams a good little study of Pansies. Miss Stumm 

 has been almost as cleverly faithful to her little sprays of 

 May-flower as to her big bunches of Violets, and the 

 best of the Waterdilies have been done by Miss Conant. Miss 

 Goodyear's pink and white Chrysanthemums are good, but 

 not especially so, while her pink and white Azaleas, growing 

 in pots, although they make a picture which is delightful in 

 color, lack the transparent crispness proper to the petals of 

 these flowers. Their petals, as Miss Goodyear paints them, 

 look thick and a little woolly ; and, again, her big drawing of 

 >ellow Chrysanthemums is much better as regards the color 

 than as regards the substance and texture of the blossoms. In 

 a small drawing of Tulips, on the other hand, where only two 

 yellow blossoms are shown. Miss Wilcox succeeds both with 

 color and with texture. Mr. Steele Kellogg's Primroses, in 

 pots and baskets, would be very good if the handling had 

 been a trifle less watery. Miss Arens has painted some 

 dark red Zinnias very well, contrasting their rich tone with the 

 green and tawny colors of a half-glazed pot ; and Miss Sylves- 

 ter's Lilacs are well drawn and good in color, although, once 

 more, lacking in transparency of petal. The best Pasonies — 

 pink and white ones in a glass bowl — have been done by Miss 

 Mary Van der Veer ; there are two other pictures of the same 

 flowers in the same room which show that it is easy, on the 

 one hand, to make them look metallic, and, on the other, to 

 give them a cottony aspect. The best bit of fruit-painting is 

 Mr. Beacham's "California Grapes"; and, again, if any one 

 thinks that it is easy to paint as well as this, he will find other 

 paintings of grapes in the exhibition to undeceive him. 



One cannot help wishing that a cleverer painter than Mr. 

 Symington had happened to go in his slead to Trinidad. His 

 garden scene, called "January in Trinidad," shows elements 

 which some one with a more facile and spirited brush, and a 

 more poetic sense of color, might have made brilliantly beau- 

 tiful. But here the vine, which arches over the gate-way, with 

 its burden of purple flowers, and the yellow-blossoming and 

 scarlet-blossoming shrubs wliich stand near by, do not have 

 their individual charms well brought out, and are not com- 

 bined into a whole as attractive as Nature must have shown. 

 And much the same may be said of another picture from the 

 same hand, called "A Flowery Road, Trinidad," where we see 

 again great masses of the purple-flowering vine, presumably a 

 Bougainvillea. 



One misses from this exhibition several names which in 

 former years have been signed to flower-paintings better than 

 any that the walls now bear. Among these, for instance, is Mr. 

 Hassam, who, if he never professes to paint flowers for their 

 own sakes, has sometimes painted street-venders and their 

 piled-up wares in very deliglitful fashion ; he contributes to 

 the exhibition this year, but no pictures in which flowers play 

 a part. Miss Greatorex is still more sadly missed, for her big 

 decorative arrangements of showy blossoms, often encircled 

 with the white papers beloved of Parisian market-women, are 

 always a centre of attraction wherever one may come upon 

 them. I wish also that Miss Grace Pomeroy had added to her 

 single contribution, a little still-life study, some of the Roses 

 which in former years she has done in an emineiUly satisfac- 

 tory way. Nor has Mr. Alden Weir given us this year any of 

 the pictures in which Roses are conspicuously poetized, yet 

 more truthfully portrayed than by most "realists"; nor Mr. 

 La Farge any of the Water-lilies or other flowers which he 

 paints ill a different way from any one else — poetizing them, 

 not by enwrapping them in mist like Mr. Weir, but by care- 

 fully defining their forms with a hand so delicate and with 

 color so lovely that, while faithfully following Nature, he seems 

 almost to have improved upon her. 

 New York, N. Y. M. G. Van Rcnsselaer. 



Notes. 



Mr. T. T. Lyon, of the South Haven Sub-station of the Mich- 

 igan Agricultural College, finds that the variety of Asparagus 

 known as the Palmetto steadily maintains its superior size and 



