io6 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 262. 



says Mr. Bebb. As it is found at Mount Desert it grows in 

 meadow copses to a height of eight to ten feet or more. Tlie 

 leaves are small, seldom more than one inch in length, very- 

 narrow, dull in color, usually with more or less rusty pubes- 

 cence on the under surface. The foliage is very thick, almost 

 gray in color effect. The shrub is often very compact and well 

 shaped. It is common on the island under suitable conditions, 

 and would make an excellent shrub for planting in low ground. 

 Away from Mount Desert I have not yet observed it. Mr. Bebb 

 states that it had not been called to his attention when the sixth 

 edition of Gt-ays Manual was published as occurring within 

 the geographical limits of that work. „ , , ,- „ 7 



Boston, Mass. Edward L. R and. 



The Season in Northern California. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — The vegetation in this part of California is but little 

 more advanced now in the second week of February than it 

 was in December. Throughout January the nights were 

 frosty, the days being bright, except that the month ended in 

 a heavy storm, cold weather and a flurry of snow. The lowest 

 temperature of this season was twenty-four degrees below zero. 

 There have been few flowers, and I have observed in blossom 

 only Irish Anemones, Crocuses and Narcissi. Lauristinus is 

 blooming, and so also is the Japanese Quince. Acacia molis- 

 sima, very common here as a shade-tree, begins to show color, 

 and among the wild trees the Manzanita and California Laurel 

 are beginning to grow. 



The open winter has been favorable for starting new 

 orchards. Throughout the state the number of fruit-trees 

 planted has been very large. December and January are 

 the favorite months for putting out deciduous trees. More 

 Peach and Prune-trees are being planted this season than any 

 other kind of fruit-trees. Favorable prices for products last 

 season have greatly stimulated the fruit industry. 



In a January issue of Garden and Forest I called attention 

 to some inequalities of climate here in places not far apart. 

 An incident of last week serves well to emphasize the point. 

 Cloverdale, a neighboring town, situated on the same stream, 

 at an altitude differing but a hundred feet or so, and only 

 thirty miles distant from us, has been holding a citrus fair. 

 The town-hall was well filled with fine oranges grown without 

 the least protection in the yards and orchards of the burgh. In 

 a few years the Orange-groves now planted there will yield 

 several car-loads of fruit. 



It was with much interest that I read Mr. Horsford's article 

 in Garden and Forest of February ist, on "Some Ameri- 

 can Bulbs." The rainy season in Mexico comes at the same 

 time as the dry season in California. Hence Mexican bulbs 

 are naturally dormant during your wmter and start into growth 

 in spring. In California, bulbs, such as Calochortus and Bro- 

 disea, ripen up soon after the cessation of the winter rains, that 

 is, in May and June in northern California, and a little earlier 

 in southern California. The dry summer is their season of rest, 

 and with the first fall rains they commence active growth, 

 which is continued during winter. All Californian bulbs should 

 be planted in the fall, and it is my experience that they can 

 scarcely be kept from growing in winter, even when dry, in the 

 house. I notice that cultivated bulbs can be kept dormant longer 

 than wild bulbs, but it is likely that these will gradually change 

 their habit in cultivation. I note that bulbs of Camassia escu- 

 lenta, from Holland, are quite dormant now, showing no 

 sign of growth, while collected bulbs kept dry have long 

 sprouts. In Oregon, bulbs are much later in ripening than 

 in California, and it is possible that some sorts can be 

 kept dormant during the winter and planted in the east 

 in the spring. The seasons in Arizona are more like 

 those in Mexico, and it is not unlikely that some bulbs 

 from that state will be valuable for spring planting. The 

 dwindling away of Calochortus-bulbs after the first sea- 

 son, of which Mr. Horsford complains, is not a result of the 

 eastern climate. My earlier experience here was the same. 

 Bulbs blossomed, but at the expense of the bulb. Some rare 

 sorts still serve me in this way until I learn how to treat them, 

 but I find now that with most sorts I get fine bloom and a well- 

 developed bulb. Too much moisture, too deep planting or a 

 stimulating soil will cause a decrease in the size of the bulbs. 

 I have no doubt that several Calochorti will grow successfully 

 in the open in the eastern states. In the cold frame in pans 

 they can be grown splendidly there. 



Mr. E. O. Orpet, in writing of Lilies a short time ago, re- 

 ferred to the habit of someCalifornian varieties remaining dor- 

 mant for a season. I am satisfied that L. Washingtonianum 

 frequently does so in its native home. I have often dug sound 



bulbs at the end of a season which had made no growth, and 

 have heard the question asked why in places where the plants 

 are rare one year, many are to be found the next season. None 

 of the rhizomatous Lilies have this habit, and I do not think L. 

 Humboldtii as markedly so as L. Washingtonianum. 

 UUiah, Calif. Carl Purdy. 



The Forest; 

 The White Mountain Forests. 



n^HERE is not anywhere else in the United States such an 

 -^ opportunity for co-operation as is now offered by the 

 entire condition of things in the White Mountain region of 

 northern New Hampshire. 



The three great interests there — the three kinds of property 

 — are, very curiously, not merely situated very close to each 

 other, but they occupy absolutely the same ground. The area 

 of the beautiful scenery which attracts the summer tourists, 

 who bring millions of dollars to the state every year, is the 

 land that produces the timber that is worth other millions of 

 dollars. Then the same land, the same area of mountain- 

 forest, that grows the timber and is clothed upon with the 

 beaufiful scenery, is also the great sponge that stores and holds 

 the water that feeds the summer flow of the Androscoggin and 

 the Connecticut, the Merrimack and the Saco. The great 

 towns and their beneficent industries at the falls of all these 

 rivers depend on the preservation of the spongy forest-floor 

 which holds and distributes the water which falls on the whole 

 region. Whatever impairs the permanence of forest-condi- 

 tions on any considerable area injures both the scenery and 

 the water-supply. 



The question of the proper adjustment of these different in- 

 terests, and of their relations to each other, is one of the most 

 important problems ever presented to our people by the 

 changing conditions of life in our country. The fact that these 

 different interests and investments belong to different owners, 

 and that the entire region is private property, renders the 

 problem peculiarly delicate and difficult. But there is really 

 no necessity that the slightest wrong or injustice should be 

 done to anybody. 



The people who receive the money from the sale of the 

 timber-products of the region are not the same people who re- 

 ceive the other millions of dollars from the commercial value 

 of the scenery. Then the millions of capital produced and 

 banked up by the power of the falling water, in the cifies far 

 down the rivers toward the sea, constitute the very means of 

 existence, and the basis of the home-life and civilization, of 

 multitudes of men and women who never saw the mountain- 

 forests which sustain the streams, the mills and the homes. 



There is no antagonism between these several interests if 

 they are regarded and managed with intelligent recognition of 

 facts and essential conditions ; they harmonize perfectly with 

 each other, and what is best for either of them is the very best 

 thing possible for both the others. Why should not the men 

 who represent and control these different interests and re- 

 sources recognize the value of each other's property, and co- 

 operate with each other, in business-like and practical ways, 

 for the conservation of all these great possessions ? I think 

 that enlightened self-interest is a pretty good principle or 

 rule of conduct ; but, unfortunately, self-interest is not always 

 enlightened. Sometimes it does not look far enough ahead to 

 have a right understanding of the present time. 



The matter is important enough to require and reward the 

 careful attention of the foremost people of the civilized world, 

 the people of New England. — J. B. Harrison, in the Boston 

 Commonwealth. 



The White Pine for Timber. 



REFERRING to the correspondence printed on page 609 of 

 the last volume of Garden and Forest, with regard to 

 the White Pine (Pinus Strobus), I can agree with (he writer 

 that it is one of the most valuable trees, not only in Massachu- 

 setts, but in a greater part of the eastern states than is gener- 

 ally believed. It thrives and grows rapidly on land too sandy 

 to produce any kind of farm crops profitably, although it 

 grows more rapidly on richer land. I have heard of immense 

 White Pines on poor land in Virginia, and have been surprised 

 at finding such remarkably fine specimens, and in such quan- 

 tities, in the forests of western North Carolina and eastern 

 Tennessee. 



The writer of the paper printed in Garden and Forest de- 

 serves much credit for the pains he has taken in examining 

 into the subject. He is mistaken, however, in thinking that 

 because the seeds ripen in September they should be sown 



