1 88 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 270. 



the Charles River, the nearest of which is to the great metro- 

 politan boating--ground between Riverside Station, on the 

 Boston and Albany Railroad, in Newton, and Waltham. 

 Boats may be easily hired either at Riverside or Waltham. 

 One of the wildest and most beautiful examples of natural 

 scenery in the neighborhood of Boston is that of the Hem- 

 lock Gorge of the Charles, below Echo Bridge, at Newton 

 Upper Falls, very near the station of the Boston and Albany 

 Railroad on its Newton Circuit branch. 



Another pleasant boating-ground on the Charles is at 

 Dedham, reached by the Dedham branch of the Old Colony 

 Railroad. The same branch will take one to Roslindale 

 Station, near which is Bellevue Hill, the highest ground 

 within the corporate limits of Boston. Superb views are to 

 be had here from the outlook in the water-tower, and a 

 stroll southward will take one through the wild Muddy 

 Pond woods to the town of Hyde Park, with fine vistas of 

 the Blue Hills across the Neponset valley. The Great Blue 

 Hill is best reached from Readville Station, on the Old 

 Colony Railroad, and a rough walk eastward through the 

 range brings one out at West Quincy Station, on the Granite 

 branch of the Central division of the Old Colony. 



The Neponset valley has some very beautiful scenery. 

 It may be reached from Hyde Park, Mattapan and Milton 

 Lower Mills. At Milton Lower Mills a walk over the high- 

 way up Milton Hill gives one a superb view down the 

 estuary of the Neponset into Dorchester Bay, one of the 

 most beautiful sea-coast landscapes in New England. On 

 the South Shore notable attractive points are Merry Mount 

 Park and Faxon Park in Quincy. The former is best 

 reached from WoUaston Station, on the Old Colony's cen- 

 tral division, and the latter from Braintree Station. Other 

 strikingly beautiful landscapes on the South Shore are along 

 Weymouth Fore River, best reached from Weymouth Sta- 

 tion, on the South Shore branch of the Old Colony, and the 

 neighborhood of Hingham by the same railroad. 



No mention has been made of the various interesting 

 harbor excursions by steamboat, or of the visits to histori- 

 cal places like Lexington and Concord, these being so well 

 known. — Ed.] 



Polyanthus Narcissus at the Columbian Fair. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — A nice display of Polyanthus Narcissus, sometimes 

 called clustered Daffodils, was made in the early part of April 

 in one of the greenhouses of the World's Fair grounds. They 

 were from Dutch bulbs, sent by H. Zijp, Haarlem, and were 

 potted about the middle of December. Rather more than a 

 thousand well-formed plants, from ten inches to two feet high, 

 and with umbels five to fifteen ffowered, afforded a represen- 

 tative variety of these standard plants, which have ever been 

 favorites for home cultivation. Hyacinths, mostly single- 

 flowered forms, from Mr. J. C. \'aughan, of Chicago, were in- 

 terspersed with them, and added to the attractiveness of the 

 exhibit. 



Grand Monarque ranks among the most satisfactory of the 

 nine varieties shown. The flowers have a broad white perianth 

 and a deep lemon-yellow crown, from eight to twelve of them 

 being borne in a cluster. Muzart orientalis has a shorter scape, 

 with flowers similar in color, a shallower cup, and a smaller, 

 waxy-white perianth. Prince Metternich, with a white peri- 

 anth and bright yellow crown ; Lamartine, white, with golden- 

 yellow crown ; Gloria Mundi, a creamy white with a yellow 

 cup, are all good and distinct. The plant labeled Pearl White 

 is much like the form known as Paper White, and was the 

 only pure white in the collection. The plants are fifteen to 

 eighteen inches high, and the umbels five to ten flowered. 

 The best of the yellows, and the most showy plant in the col- 

 lection, was Grand Soleil d'Or, which carries a golden-yellow 

 flower, with a deep orange crown. Jaune Supreme, a sulphur- 

 yellow, with orange crown, closely resembles Bathurst, with a 

 primrose-yellow perianth and orange cup. The scapes of each 

 average hardly a foot in height, and the umbels are from six 

 to fifteen flowered. 



Mr. Vaughan's Hyacinths were mostly show varieties, like 

 Lord Macaulay and the bright carmine-colored Queen of Hya- 

 cinths. Of pure whites, Madam Van der Hoop was noticeable 

 for its broad leaves and large flowers in a rather open raceme, 

 and Grand Vanqueur for its large, dense truss. Elfride, a 



white, tinged with pink, has a very open truss, the exception- 

 ally large flowers showing well individually. Moreno, a pecu- 

 liar salmon-pink tint, was quite distinct. L'Or d'Australie is a 

 rich cream-yellow, and La Citroniere is much like it, but paler. 

 Blondine has a good-sized truss of blue flowers, and William 

 I. has flowers of so dark a purple as to be almost blue-black. 



Englewood, Chicago, 111. E. J. Hill. 



Wayside Planting by Village Improvement Societies. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — In the planting of trees by village improvement socie- 

 ties both use and beauty should be included in "improve- 

 ment." What is useful and beautiful in one case may be un- 

 necessary and unpleasing in another. The great aim should 

 be appropriateness. For instance, no tree is more suitable for 

 shading village streets than the Elm, its high arching branches 

 affording ample shade for comfort and not enough to keep 

 the road in a muddy condifion after rain. The old New Eng- 

 land towns owe much of their charm to the wayside Elm. I 

 refer especially to villages and towns where houses and shops 

 are close together. Outside of towns, on inland high-roads, 

 long level stretches of Elms may be used effectively, especially 

 where clusters of houses at short intervals form a semi-de- 

 tached village. There are many other fine shade-trees which 

 may be planted for variety — the Oak, Maple, Beech, Chestnut 

 and Linden. The Tulip-tree has recently been suggested for 

 road-side planting, but it is not a graceful tree for this purpose. 



For a shade-tree along much-frequented inland roads the 

 Elm has an evident advantage over conically shaped trees. It 

 is admirably adapted, also, for planting on home and school- 

 house grounds and for shade in fields. Along less-frequented 

 roads, in many places, no trees should be planted at all. I 

 have in mind a country road where occasional White Birches 

 had grown up irregularly, and Maples had recently been 

 planted on either side. In several instances a young Maple 

 was set out directly under a good-sized Birch. The new trees 

 might have been grouped naturally at intervals for shade and 

 thus made to harmonize with the irregular Birches, but the 

 effect of this planting was formal in the extreme. I know also 

 a triangle by a country highway where a few Pitch Pines atone 

 end have been left in a group. I doubt if any one would have 

 thought of planting Pines in such a spot in such a manner, but 

 the effect of this natural arrangement is both interesting and 

 beautiful. 



As a rule, our country road-sides are at their best when planted 

 by nature. Open views on one or both sides of the way, alternat- 

 ing with shady spaces, are vastly more attractive than con- 

 tinuous, monotonous, artificial planting. Occasionally we see 

 a piece of road on which trees would be an improvement, 

 especially where a new way has been cut through a bare re- 

 gion. But often nothing is wanted beyond leaving the bushes 

 and vines unharmed. Now and then there is an obtrusively 

 ugly spot where an adjoining bank of the highway has been 

 dug out for gravel or blasted for rock. In such a spot a clump 

 of English Beeches or White Birches in the foreground would 

 quickly soften the effect. In repairing our roads, care should 

 be taken not to disturb the wild Roses, Barberries, Elderber- 

 ries and many other delightful shrubs and flowers, where they 

 will flourish and multiply if left alone ; if these have been dis- 

 turbed it would be well to replace them. 



I would urge, also, that our country roads be not widened 

 unnecessarily. In villages and towns wide roads are important, 

 but in the country, narrow roads are, as a rule, much more 

 picturesque. As to the useful side of the question. Professor 

 Shaler, in a recent article on the "Betterment of our High- 

 ways," writes: "In this country, as well as in most of the 

 states of Europe, the tendency is to make the road-bed a good 

 deal wider than sound practice dictates. A part of the badness 

 of our American roads is generally due to the fact that the 

 tracking is far too wide to be effectively maintained. In this, 

 as in many other of the grosser arts, we may well take a lesson 

 from the ancient Romans, perhaps the earliest skillful road- 

 makers in the world. Their roads were, indeed, much nar- 

 rower than those which are commonly found in our country 

 districts." 



If more trees are desired for a tree-lined sea-shore road with 

 occasional stretches affording glimpses of the ocean, other 

 kinds than inland Pines should be chosen. These should not 

 be set regularly in a row, but in occasional groups. Willows, 

 and in some especially adapted places a row of Lombardy 

 Poplars, harmonize with marsh or sea. An objection to Lom- 

 bardy Poplars may be made because they are not long-lived ; 

 but where they are planted at rare intervals for beauty, not for 

 shade, they can be replaced after a number of years. 



