±60 



Garden and Porest. 



[Number 27 i. 



This variety has been flowering in the vicinity of New York 

 for more than a fortnight. 



In the Arnold Arboretum, last week, Prunus Davidiana, an 

 Apricot-like tree of northern China, was covered with its pale 

 pink flowers. This is the earliest to flower of all the plants of 

 its class and one of the hardiest, as the flower-buds have all 

 escaped injury during the last winter, which was one of the 

 most destructive of recent years. P. Davidiana merits the 

 attention in the north of all the lovers of handsome early-flow- 

 ering trees. 



The report of the Committee on Classification made before 

 the American Chrysanthemum Society last summer has been 

 published. It is intended to embrace most of the varieties of 

 Chrysanthemums now grown in the country. It will be wel- 

 comed by all who wish to keep informed as to the correct 

 names of new varieties. Wherever it is known, the name of 

 the disseminator is given as well as that of the raiser of the 

 plant and the year in which it was introduced to the public. 



The liqueur called Maraschino, according to a correspon- 

 dent of the Revue de V Horticulture Beige, is a product of a bit- 

 ter Cherry, Cerasus aciduus, which is locally called Amarasca 

 or Marasca. The fruits are carefully freed from their stones 

 and each separately macerated, together with a certain quan- 

 tity of the leaves of the tree. When the maceration has lasted 

 some time, sugar, in the shape of a syrup, is added, and, finally, 

 spirits of wine. The long and complicated method of manu- 

 facture includes special processes, of which each manufac- 

 turer professes alone to know the secret. 



At the annual meeting of the Genesee Valley Forestry Asso- 

 ciation, recently held in Rochester, it was stated that public 

 forestry meetings had been held during the year in several towns 

 and addresses were made by members of the Executive Com- 

 mittee before the Sportsman's Convention and the Farmers' 

 State Institute. A joint committee of this association and the 

 Association for the Protection of Fish and Game have now un- 

 der Qonsideration a practical experiment in forestry in the re- 

 foresting of the banks of the Genesee and its tributary streams 

 upon the estate of Mr. Herbert Wadsworth, a member of the 

 association. 



A flower of the so-called Chilian Crocus (Tecophilaea cyano- 

 crocea) was lately sent to this office from the grounds of Peter 

 Henderson & Co. It is particularly interesting from the fact 

 that it has been out in the open ground in a somewhat shel- 

 tered position for two winters. There seem to be several va- 

 rieties of this species which are chiefly distinguished by the 

 color of the flowers. This one was of the purest blue, fading 

 into white at the throat. It has narrow Scilla-like foliage 

 about an inch across the perianth, which is Amaryllis-like in 

 shape. If these plants should prove generally hardy they 

 would be most interesting additions to spring-flowering 

 bulbous plants. 



Bulletin 50 of the Cornell Experiment Station is devoted to 

 the Bud-moth (Tmetocera ocellana) which attacks the opening 

 leaf and flower-buds of the Apple-tree. Sometimes it is the 

 most serious Apple-pest of the year, and in 1891 it destroyed 

 the whole crop on many trees while it was yet in the bud. It 

 was also destructive to nursery stock and attacked Pear, Plum, 

 Cherry, Quince and Peach trees, as well as Apples. The con- 

 clusion is reached that the best way to combat this insect most 

 profitably and successfully is in the spring, by spraying the 

 opening buds with a solution of Paris green of the strength of 

 one pound to two hundred gallons of water. As fine a spray 

 as possible and very little of it should be used. 



To give some idea of the scale of th-e experiments in hy- 

 bridization which are now being carried on by Mr. Luther 

 Burbank, of Santa Rosa, California, it is stated that he is 

 growing 600,000 hybrid and cross-bred seedling berry-plants 

 and more than half a million hybrid seedling Lilies. One of his 

 new berries, named Primus, is said to be a cross between the 

 western Dewberry (Rubus ursinus) and the Siberian Rasp- 

 berry (R. cratasgitolius). It is said to ripen its main crop at 

 the same time with Strawberries, and betore ordinary kinds of 

 Raspberries and Blackberries commence to bloom. Mr. Bur- 

 bank is already known as the originator of fruits and vegeta- 

 bles and ornamental plants of a high order, and his work will 

 be watched with great interest. 



In the annual report of the Park Commissioners of the city 

 of Hartford, Mr. Sherman W. Adams, the president, states 

 that on the kept lawns of the park, Plantain, Knot-weed and 

 Crab-grass have been nearly exterminated, but there has been 

 no attempt to clear the lawns entirely of the Dandelion, whose 



appearance is welcomed in spring by many admirers. Nor 

 has any effort been made to destroy occasional purple patches 

 made by blossoms of the Self-heal (Brunella vulgaris), which 

 have escaped the lawn-mower, while occasional plants of 

 Bluets and Speedwell are not considered defacements. Presi- 

 dent Adams adds that a large lawn area which contained no 

 verdure except grass of a uniform tint might become so mo- 

 notonous as to call for some relief. 



The Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station publishes the 

 results of some original tests to ascertain the most profitable 

 amount of seed-potatoes to plant, and compilations of similar 

 experiments from twelve other stations are added. The con- 

 cUjsion arrived at is that the Potato-growers of Michigan do 

 not use enough seed ; that for ordinary distances halt a po- 

 tato gives a larger crop than any smaller amount, while for 

 weak-growing varieties, or varieties with small tubers, even a 

 larger amount would be profitable. Investigation shows that 

 an increase in the size of the cuttings from one eye up to half 

 a potato produces a marked increase, both in the total yield 

 and in the marketable yield. The increased yield when a 

 whole potato is planted, instead of half a potato, is not suffi- 

 cient to cover the cost of the greater amount of seed. 



A recent issue of the Annales Agronomiques, as quoted by 

 the Gardeners' Chronicle, contains a paper from the pen of 

 Monsieur Gerard on the use of the leaves of various trees for 

 feeding animals, his conclusions being based on absolute 

 chemical composition of the leaves and on their digestibility. 

 Of all the leaves analyzed, those of our Locust, or Robinia 

 Pseudacacia, were found the most valuable. They are shown 

 to be rich in digestible food, and Monsieur Gerard recom- 

 mends plantations of this tree on railway banks, waste lands 

 and dry places where it may be grown as coppice. A serious 

 objection to the Robinia as a forage-plant is tound, however, 

 in the presenceof stout stipular spines, which arm the branches, 

 except in the case of very young shoots, for the stipules when 

 they first appear are not at all formidable. The so-called 

 thornless varieties, which are recommended for this purpose, 

 are not to be depended on as they often produce thorns and 

 cannot be raised from seed. On soils so sterile and poor that 

 manure cannot be used with financial success, trees may be 

 grown and their leaves gradually enrich the land in which 

 they grow, or can be gathered up and used as litter in bedding 

 animals and so increase and enrich the compost heap. The 

 Robinia will, of course, be useful in this way, but it is doubtful 

 if it will ever be very valuable as a fodder-plant, as the spines 

 on the old shoots will prevent cattle from feeding on it. 



Charleston strawberries of excellent quality are plentiful in 

 New York markets at twenty and twenty-five cents a quart, 

 with the choicest fruit selling for fifty cents. Indian River 

 oranges, at sixty to seventy-five cents a dozen, are almost the 

 only Florida fruit in the market, although a few Navel oranges 

 from this state can be had at a dollar and a half a dozen ; Cali- 

 fornia Navel oranges hold the price of the past month, a dollar 

 and twenty-five cents a dozen. Grape-fruit, which was practi- 

 cally unknown here a few years ago, has steadily advanced in 

 favor, and choice fruit is now held as high as three dollars a 

 dozen. It seems unfortunate that the name of pomelo has 

 not been able to crowd out the awkward one of grape-fruit. A 

 limited supply of high-class Porto Rico pineapples commands 

 from sixty cents to a dollar apiece, no excessive price for the 

 most luscious fruit of this kind ; good West Indian pineapples 

 sell for twenty to forty cents each. The first sapodillas went 

 quickly last week at fifty cents a dozen. Britteneau pears still 

 come in prime condition from California, and are worth two 

 dollars a dozen. Apples are scarce ; choice Northern Spies 

 bringing seven dollars and a half a barrel. Black Hamburg 

 grapes, from Philadelphia hot-houses, sell at four and five dol- 

 lars a pound. New Florida and Bermuda potatoes are sold at 

 the same price, seventy cents a half-peck, or ten dollars a bar- 

 rel. Florida tomatoes may be had for fifteen and twenty-five 

 cents a pound, selected Philadelphia and Long Island hot- 

 house tomatoes being in demand at forty to seventy-five cents. 

 Young hot-house carrots, four to a bunch, are fifty cents a 

 dozen bunches. Seedless English cucumbers, another hot- 

 house product, mainly from Boston, bring forty cents ; ordi- 

 nary forced cucumbers bring twenty cents, and the southern- 

 ^rown fifteen cents each. Okra, peas, butter-beans and Brus- 

 sels sprouts are coming in good supply ; also French arti- 

 chokes from New Orleans. Choice Long Island mushrooms 

 are one dollar and ten cents a pound, and beautiful Snowball 

 cauliflower from northern hot-houses is fifty cents a head. 

 The first asparagus came in from Oyster Bay on Saturday, and 

 sold quickly at seventy-five cents a bunch. 



