June 14, 1893.] 



Garden and Forest. 



251 



GARDEN AND FOREST. 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO. 



Office : Tribune Building, New York. 



Conducted by 



Professor C. S. Sargent. 



ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y. 



NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14, 1893. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 



Editorial Articles: — ^The Coming Forestry Congress 251 



Pruning Shrubs 251 



The Chinese Wistaria. (With figure.) 252 



Our Coniferous Forests Robert Douglas. 252 



Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan. — XV C. S. S. 253 



Foreign Correspondence: — London Letter W. Watson. 254 



Cultural Department : — ^The Wild Garden .Robert Catneron. 257 



Plants in Flower 7- N. Gerard. 257 



Barrenworts J- Woodward Matming. 258 



Correspondence : — From a Garden in Northern California Carl Purdy. 258 



New Cypripediums Robert M. Grey. 258 



Marica Northiana Curtis A. Perry. 258 



Recent Publications ... .„ 258 



The Columbian Exposition: — Rhododendrons Professor L. H. Bailey . 259 



Notes 260 



Illustration: — A Chinese Wistaria, Fig. 38.. , 256 



The Coming- Forestry Congress. 



TO those persons who have been impressed for years 

 with the necessity of checking- the needless waste of 

 our forests, the growth of a correct pubHc sentiment in this 

 direction seems painfully slow. They have seen the great 

 lumber industry of the country carried on with extrava- 

 gance beyond precedent, without any regard for the 

 character of the plants which are to occupy the land 

 after it has been stripped of its trees. They have seen 

 our great forests of such valuable timber as black walnut, 

 white ash, yellow poplar, and, above all, white pine, de- 

 pleted, until the supply is dangerously small, for the seeds 

 of these trees if sown this year would hardly produce saw- 

 logs before the end of the twentieth century. They have 

 seen fires annually destroying league after league of the 

 finest timber in the world, kiUing the young growth 

 and lessening the value of much that is left standing and 

 turning the fertile soil, which must be relied upon to make 

 future forests, into sterile wastes. They have seen great 

 tracts of Government timber-land fraudulently acquired 

 and stripped of its trees, with hardly an effort made to check 

 the robbery, so that, altogether, it is difticult for a thought- 

 ful man or woman to contemplate the present condition 

 of our forests without feelings of depression and humilia- 

 tion. 



And yet it must be admitted that some progress has been 

 made. During the past two years more than thirteen mil- 

 lion acres of public timber-land have been reserved by 

 proclamation of the President. Laws looking toward the 

 saving of the woodlands, and which will prove of greater 

 or less advantage, have been passed recently in several of 

 the states. In New Hampshire the axes of the lumbermen 

 are plied just as vigorously as ever, but the people of that 

 state and of other states are all beginning to learn some- 

 thing of the value of the White Mountain forests, not only 

 for their wood-products, but as an inviting place for sum- 

 mer refreshment, and this knowledge is growing every 

 year. In this state a law relating to the Adirondack forest 

 has been passed which is not altogether satisfactory, and a 



commission, whose intelligence and effectiveness have yet 

 to be proved, has been appointed. It is true that new rail- 

 roads have penetrated the Adirondacks, and these offer in- 

 creased facilities for marketing the timber there, but the 

 owners of the great hotels in the wilderness and people 

 who are interested in the region as a summer resort are be- 

 ginning to learn that when the forests go their business is 

 ended. Besides this, large tracts are reserved for private 

 use, and it looks as if the time was not very far distant 

 when the waste of timber in the north woods would receive 

 some check. Pennsylvania has passed a liberal act which 

 attempts to unite every interest which touches forestry 

 production in the state, and it is noteworthy that the bill 

 passed both houses- almost unanimously, while a bill four 

 years ago, M'hich involved no expense to the state, never 

 came out of the committee in the House of Representa- 

 tives to which it was referred. 



These are small gains, it is true, but they mark a change 

 from the utter apathy which seemed to prevail throughout 

 the country ten years ago. It cannot be said that even 

 the beginning of a rational forest-policy is anywhere visi- 

 ble, and, therefore, the necessity for constant discussion 

 which will lead to popular enlightenment is still pressing. 

 It still remains true that such a policy cannot be developed 

 and adopted in advance of enlightened popular opinion, 

 and, therefore, every effort to disseminate correct views on 

 this subject ought to be welcomed and encouraged. We 

 are, therefore, glad to announce that an international con- 

 ference is to be held in connection with the World's Colum- 

 bian Exposition, whose purpose it is to set before the peo- 

 ple the present condition of the forests of this country and 

 to impress upon them the need of establishing some na- 

 tional system of^ forestry. To this end experts in forestry 

 have been invited to be present, and men who have studied 

 this subject abroad will state what years of experience have 

 taught there. 



The organization known as the World's Congress Aux- 

 iliary is recognized by the Government and partially sup- 

 ported by it. This body will provide a place of meeting 

 for those interested in forestry ; it will defray the expenses 

 of the meetings and will publish and distribute its pro- 

 ceedings. Secretary Morton, ex-Secretary Noble and other 

 prominent persons have agreed to be present. The affairs 

 of this forestry congress are in charge of a committee which 

 has been nominated by the American Forestry Association, 

 and the meetings will be held in one of the large assembly 

 halls of the Art Palace, situated in Lake Front Park, in the 

 business part of Chicago, on the i8th and 19th of October. 

 The co-operation of individuals and societies throughout 

 the country and the world is desired, and correspondence 

 and suggestions from all interested persons are invited. 

 Mr. B. E. Fernow, Chief of the Forestry Division in Wash- 

 ington, is president of the committee, and Mr. J. D. W. 

 French, of 160 State Street, Boston, Massachusetts, is the 

 vice-president, to whom all applications for documents or 

 explanatory information should be made. 



It seems hardly necessary to repeat what we have so 

 often stated about pruning shrubs with a view to the pro- 

 duction of flowers, namely, that those which produce 

 flowers on the wood made the previous year, among which 

 the Honeysuckles, Forsythias, early Spirceas, Lilacs, 

 Viburnums, Deutzias and Philadelphus are prominent 

 examples, should receive their severest cutting soon after 

 the flowering season is over. This stimulates the growth 

 of new wood which will bear flower-buds for the next 

 spring. Of course, if these shrubs are cut back in the 

 autumn or winter, or in early spring before they bloom, 

 the flower-buds are removed. On the other hand, late- 

 blooming shrubs, like the panicled Hydrangea, Hibiscus 

 and Lespedeza, should be cut in hard in early spring so 

 that they may make a strong growth of wood and buds 

 for flowers which open in late summer and early autumn. 



This is the most elementary of rules, and since we prune 



