290 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 280. 



country, where he comes to study the collections in the Arnold 

 Arboretum, and to serve as a judge in the Horticultural De- 

 partment of the Columbian Exposition. 



We have received from Mr. Joseph Meehan a flowering 

 branch of Cedrela Sinensis. The tree from which it was taken 

 stands in the Meehan nurseries at Germantown ; it is twenty- 

 five feet high, and is now flowering for the first time. The 

 individual flowers are small, almost pure white, and are borne 

 in a very large open panicle about two feet long and pendu- 

 lous. They have no odor, and the tree is, therefore, not ob- 

 jectionable in this respect, as is the Ailanthus, which it so 

 much resembles in general appearance. 



The Mouse-ear, Hieracium Pilosella, has recently been 

 found by Miss Mary Hunnewell, of Wellesley, Massachusetts, 

 naturalized, by the road-side in that town. This is a pretty 

 little perennial species with spreading tufts of reticulate leaves 

 and creeping leafy barren shoots, lanceolate entire leaves 

 tapering at the base, green above and white on the lower sur- 

 face with short stellate down. The flower-stem produces a 

 single head of lemon-colored flowers tinged with red. It is a 

 common perennial in Europe and Russia from the Mediter- 

 ranean to the Arctic regions, growing in dry pastures or on 

 banks and by road-sides. As far as we know it has not been 

 found before growing spontaneously in this country. 



Under the name of Regina alba, says a Viennese horticul- 

 tural journal, the trusting European public has recently been 

 offered, from America, the seed of a fodder-grass proclaimed- 

 to produce most astonishing crops. But a careful examination 

 at the hands of Monsieur Henry L. de Vilmorin, working at 

 the instance of the Agricultural Society of France, has proved 

 that the proffered seed does not belong to a mysterious new 

 plant, but is simply that of Reana luxurians, which European 

 seedsmen sell at eight francs the kilogramme, while twenty- 

 five francs is charged for the American commodity. More- 

 over, the seed is not recommended at any price, for, in France, 

 at least, Reana luxurians has been found a worthless grass. 



The leading article in Harper's Magazine for July is de- 

 voted to the great Italian gardens, whose formal designs were 

 the natural outgrowth of the art and architecture of the time 

 of the Renaissance. The illustrations are from photographs, 

 which reproduce portions of these gardens as they now ap- 

 pear, the selections in the main attempting to bring out cer- 

 tain original features which have survived the neglect of years 

 and the reconstructions which have come with changing tastes 

 and fashions. Some of these pictures, as, for example, that of 

 the Piazza de Siena, in the Villa Borghese, are very attractive, 

 and all are instructive, as revealing, even in the ruins of these 

 famous works, the motives which guided their original de- 

 signers. The article was prepared by Mr. Charles A. Pratt, 

 who will continue the subject in the next issue of the maga- 

 zine. 



The New York market is now well supplied with domestic 

 fruit. Astrachan and Early Harvest apples are coming from 

 Georgia in a fair supply, though not of the best quality. Le 

 Conte pears are coming from the same state, white Niagara 

 grapes are coming from Florida, and Wild Goose plums from 

 South Carolina. The finest peaches now are the Alexanders 

 and Garlands from California and Hale's Early from North 

 Carolina. Cherries are abundant and very cheap, the vari- 

 eties from California being mainly Napoleon Biggereau, 

 Centennial and Royal Anne. Wilson blackberries are still 

 conv'.ng from Maryland and Delaware, while good raspberries 

 come from the Hudson River valley and huckleberries from 

 New Jersey. Southern watermelons are very abundant and 

 good, while fine muskmelons are scarce, most of the latter 

 being shipped from Charleston. 



In an interesting note upon the Lilac, published in a recent 

 issue of the Revue Horticole, it appears that the variety Phi- 

 lemon, which is probably the handsomest of all the dark-flow- 

 ered varieties, was raised as long ago as 1840, when it was 

 found among a lot of seedlings by Monsieur Pierre Cochet, of 

 Coubert, France, who named it for his oldest son. This 

 variety was first sold in 1846, and at the Universal Exposition of 

 1855 it received a medal of the first class. The writer in the 

 Revjie Horticole expresses surprise, in which we share, that 

 this beautiful variety is still so little known. Other variefies 

 which are commended in this ardcle are Marie leGraye, which 

 is still the finest white-flowered Lilac ; Lucie Baltet, described 

 as exceedingly floriferous and as producing short compact 

 clusters of old rose (vieux rose pass^) colored flowers, and 

 Clara Cochet, discovered at Suisnes among a lot of seedlings 

 thirty years ago, although only recently placed on the market. 



The flowers are described as flesh color, shaded slightly with 

 pale lilac. 



The Tree-planting and Fountain Society of Brooklyn held a 

 special meeting last week to consider ways and means of pro- 

 tecting trees in that city against the gnawing of horses and 

 injuries by neglected guards. Trees in that city are also much 

 disfigured by having bills posted upon them, churches and 

 Sunday-schools being conspicuous offenders by advertising 

 picnics and excursions in this way. There is an ordinance of 

 the city against pasting or nailing handbills or notices upon 

 trees in public streets, and there is a law of the state making it 

 a penal offence to girdle or injure any fruit, shade or orna- 

 mental tree which stands on the lands of another or on public 

 property. A copy of these ordinances has been prepared for 

 general distribution, and a committee has been appointed to 

 confer with the city authorities in reference to the prosecution 

 of all persons who injure or deface trees or shrubs in violation 

 of law. The formation of street-tree clubs in various parts of 

 the city was also recommended, whose members are to in- 

 terest themselves not only in the enforcement of the law, but 

 in calling the attention of cidzens to the importance of exam- 

 ining the guards about their trees and removing such as are 

 causing injury. 



In an article in the American Agriculturist QnWW&di " Flower- 

 seeds to be Sown in July," Mr. C. L. Allen writes that if seeds of 

 the perennial Delphiniums are now sown and protected from 

 drying winds by lattice frames or light boughs they will germi- 

 nate quickly and make plants strong enough to withstand the 

 winter. Pansy-seed for autumn flowering might now be sown, 

 although this will also need protection against the sun. If car- 

 ried over in a frame during winter the plants will be in the 

 best possible condition for early spring flowering. The seed of 

 the Oriental Poppy should be sown as soon as they ripen, for 

 they lose their vitality very quickly. The seedlings are diffi- 

 cult to transplant, and it is a good plan, therefore, to sow the 

 seed where the plants are to remain, preferably among annuals, 

 where the ground is not densely covered, as they root deeply, 

 and the shade of the annuals will be rather a help than a hin- 

 drance to their growth. If Hollyhock-seeds are sown as soon 

 as they are ripe in deep rich soil the plants will bloom next 

 year. All the Dianthus family, including hardy Carnations and 

 Picotees, can be had in perfecfion next season if the seed is 

 sown this month and the seedlings transferred when two 

 inches high to the places where they are to bloom. Mignonette 

 from seed now sown will make an admirable growth in the 

 cool moist weather of September, and will give strong spikes 

 of flowers in autumn. The seed of the White Rocket Candy- 

 tuft sown this month also will make flowering plants in Sep- 

 tember, which will continue to bloom until frost. 



A bulletin on the Rape-plant has just been issued by the De- 

 partment of Agriculture. The need of some fodder-plant to 

 furnish supplies of pasture after the crop of Indian Corn has 

 been harvested and before winter sets in, has long been rec- 

 ognized as a necessity in this country where autumn pastures 

 often fail. This want has been more severely felt in the case 

 of sheep than of catde, and Professor Thomas Shaw, of the 

 Ontario Agricultural College, thinks that the Rape-plant will 

 meet this need. Rape, which is a cruciferous plant belong- 

 ing to the genus Brassica, can hardly be disfinguished in the 

 early stages of its growth from the variefies of Swede Turnip, 

 although there is a marked difference in the habit of the root- 

 growth between the two species of plants, the leaves and stems 

 of Rape being the only pordons that furnish food. The variety 

 of Rape known as the Dwarf Essex has been grown to 

 a considerable extent in Canada within late years, and 

 although it has been mostly cuUivated in the county of 

 WeUington, experiments show that it can be had of good 

 quality in every province of the Dominion. A large per- 

 centage of the Canadian lambs which are now shipped 

 to the Buffalo market have been finished on Rape. On 

 the farm of the Ontario Agricultural College at Guelph, it 

 was first introduced as a hoed crop for the purpose of 

 destroying various forms of noxious weeds. It proved very 

 valuable for this purpose, since it is sown late in the season, 

 and the required cuUivafion is peculiarly fatal to weeds, but, 

 besides that, it made very cheap and effective pasturage. It is 

 thought, moreover, that it will make an excellent soiling crop 

 in the northern states, and will also serve a good purpose as 

 green manure. It has remarkable fattening properties, its nu- 

 tritive ratio being very high, or about as one to three, while 

 Red Clover in blossom is only i to 5.7. An average crop 

 grown in drills should furnish not less than ten tons an acre, 

 and when the conditions are favorable it is quite possible to 

 produce twenty tons of green fodder to the acre. 



