174 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 269. 



sugar. Many purchasers in cities think that maple-sugar is 

 adulterated in proportion to its light color; this is a mistake. 

 I have heard of instances where sugar has been returned on 

 the supposition that it was adulterated because it was so light- 

 colored. The dark color of the sugar and syrup is taken as 

 evidence of its purity, while actually the reverse is true — that 

 is, the color is caused by impurities, natural or artificial. 



The darker sugar is the more pronounced in its taste, and 

 our city people think this is the genuine maple flavor. But 

 really this taste is wholly due to impurities, natural, perhaps, 

 but something besides sugar. Pure sugar is without smell or 

 flavor, being simply sweet. 



The more uneven, rocky and ledgy the land, and the drier 

 the soil, except where cold springs abound, the better are the 

 products of the Maple. Trees standing in or near cold springs 

 will discharge the most and the sweetest sap. I am acquainted 

 with one tree standing by a spring, seven quarts of whose sap 

 will make a pound of nice white sugar. The richness of this 

 sap will be realized when it is remembered that it takes sixteen 

 quarts of average sap to make a pound. The Black Maple is 

 the richest for sap of any variety. 



Our poorest sugar-orchards give us about two pounds of 

 sugar to the tree, while our best ones yield five and six pounds 

 a tree. I have heard of a few extra orchards yielding seven, 

 eight and ten pounds to the tree, and one extraordinary one 

 that has yielded sixteen pounds a tree. The quantity of sugar 

 that can be made from single trees in one season of six weeks 

 at most will depend on many circumstances. The more 

 spouts put into a tree the more sap is obtained and the more 

 sugar is made. From the tree already referred to as standing 

 near a cold spring there were made thirty and three-quarter 

 pounds in one season, with two spouts, which emptied into 

 the same tub. They were set in holes bored one and a half 

 inches deep with a three-eighths bit. Another tree I have 

 known yielded thirty pounds, and a third twenty-eight. Sdll 

 another tree was tapped with ten spouts, and fifty pounds of 

 sugar were made, but it killed the tree. 



As a general rule, trees should not be bored over an inch 

 and a half deep, and small trees but half an inch deep. It 

 should be remembered that the best sap lies in the outer layers 

 of the trees, so that the shallower we bore the whiter the 

 products. Again, I have found, by a large number of experi- 

 ments, that sap varies in quantity, quality, taste, color and 

 density in different parts of the same tree. I have made sev- 

 eral grades of sugar from a single tree in one day. I have 

 tapped trees at various distances from the ground up to thirty- 

 eight feet from the ground, and down on roots fifteen feet 

 from the base of the trunk, and madesugarfrom all these places. 

 I have also tapped up to six inches in depth, makingsugarfrom 

 the first two inches, from the secondtwo, and from the third — ■ 

 that is, from the fifth and sixth inches in depth — and twice as 

 much sap from the deepest bore was required to make the 

 same amount of sugar that was needed from the first two 

 inches. The sugar, too, was very dark. The best and lightest- 

 colored sugar is made from sap coming from the white, or sap- 

 wood, and the darkest-colored product comes from the sap of 

 the duramen, or darker heart-wood. 



Waterbury Centre, vt. Timothy Wheeler. 



Foreign Correspondence. 



London Letter. 



AucuBA Japonica fructu-albo is a plant of considerable 

 interest. It was shown last week by Messrs. Paul & Son, 

 Cheshunt, and was awarded a first-class certificate. In 

 every character it resembles the type, but the berries, in- 

 stead of being colored bright crimson, are ivory-white. At 

 Kew the Aucuba is a fine feature outside, large beds of it 

 being frequent, and as the male plants are plentiful there 

 is always a good crop of berries. In my opinion, a well- 

 berried Aucuba here is one of the handsomest of hardy 

 shrubs. This white-berried variety ought to prove a valu- 

 able plant, if it is as hardy and fruits as freely as the type. 

 In English gardens it frequently happens that the Aucuba 

 as a berry-bearing plant is unknown, owing to the absence of 

 one of the sexes. A single plant of the male in an ordinary 

 garden is sufficient to produce berries on a large number 

 of female bushes. 



Magnolia stellata. — A pink-tinted variety of this beau- 

 tiful little hardy, early-flowering shrub was exhibited last 

 week by Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons, along with flowers of the 

 type for comparison. It was awarded a certificate. The 



same firm showed some beautiful little specimens of your 

 North American Fringe-tree, Chionanthus Virginica, in pots, 

 and wreathed in pure white flowers, and they were a reve- 

 lation to many who were acquainted with this useful, hardy 

 shrub, but had no idea of its beauty and value when treated 

 as a pot-plant and slightly forced. 



ScHizocoDON soLDANELLOiDES, the Japanese representative 

 of Shortia, was again shown by Captain Torrens, who in- 

 troduced it two years ago and sent it in flower to Kew last 

 year, where a figure of it was prepared for publication in 

 the Botanical Magazine. It is a pretty little Alpine plant, the 

 pan shown being so effective as to gain a first-class certifi- 

 cate. A plant of it in the Kew collection has thriven under 

 the same treatment as suits Shortia galacifolia, which, as 

 well as the Schizocodon, is now flowering in the Alpine 

 house. 



SciLLA SiBiRiCA, var. ALBA. — The white variety of S. bifolia 

 is now fairly well known, but we have not possessed a 

 white form of the equally beautiful S. Sibirica till now, and 

 for this we are indebted to Messrs. De Graaf, of Leiden, 

 who exhibited flowering specimens of it this week and se- 

 cured for it a certificate. The flowers are as large as those 

 of the type and of the purest white. 



LiLiuM LONGiFLORUM, var. FoRMosANUM, has stood the win- 

 ter outside at Kew and is now pushing up strong stems. 

 I have before recommended this rare Lily as being one of 

 the handsomest of the L. longiflorum set, and now that it 

 has proved hardy its merits as a garden-plant may be called 

 exceptional. In this respect it is superior to all the Indian 

 forms, such as L. Pfiilippinense, L. Wallichianum and L, 

 Nepalense. 



LiLiUM Henryl — An importation of eighty bulbs of this 

 new Chinese Lily was sold by auction in London a few 

 days ago. The catalogue described it as follows : Lilium 

 Henryi, a beautiful new Lily, now offered for the first 

 time for sale. It was received from Dr. Henry, at Kew, 

 in 1889, and has flowered every year since, and this year 

 has been well grown in the open air. This new Lily has 

 been aptly described as a yellow-flowered L. speciosum, a 

 correct comparison, as the shape and general expression of 

 the flowers recall vividly to mind that species. It is quite 

 new, and flowered for the first time in England in the Royal 

 Gardens, Kew, in August, 1889, but it was not until the 

 present season that its value and beauty were strikingly 

 revealed. It is named in compliment to Dr. Augustine 

 Henry, who discovered it in China, and in the Botanical 

 Magazine, t. 7177, an illustration is given. It grows be- 

 tween three feet and four feet in height, its leaves pointed 

 and deep green, the largest, which are about eight inches 

 in length, being at the bottom, as they decrease in size 

 toward the apex of the stem. The flowers have a marked 

 likeness to L. speciosum, having the same reflexing, lanceo- 

 late segments, and the raised papillae on the surface. Each 

 stem carries about eight flowers, which are bright yellow, 

 distinct and pleasing, in bold relief to the red-brown spots 

 near the base. On first expansion they measure about 

 seven inches across, but this is reduced as the segments 

 curl back. 



All lovers of the Lily are familiar with L. speciosum, its 

 variety Kraetzeri, and other delightful forms, and will there- 

 fore welcome this new acquisition to that type. As far as 

 we know it has no peculiar dislikes, exhibiting no special 

 difficulties in cultivation, but promising to become a thor- 

 oughly good hardy garden Lily. It will, doubtless, by rea- 

 son of its scarcity, be long before it has established itself in 

 English gardens ; but its position is assured. 



Flowers of the Riviera. — This was the title of a paper 

 read at the last meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society 

 by Monsieur Henry Vilmorin, and it was quite appropriate 

 for the season here, since the weather in March has been 

 quite as mild as that of the Riviera. High-class gardening 

 has long been a feature of the principal towns on the 

 northern shores of the Mediterranean, where nature favors 

 flower-culture to such a degree as to make the production 

 of almost all kinds of choice flowers in midwinter and early 



