July 26, 1893.] 



Garden and Forest. 



313 



way to Europe. The first account of them is in the catalogue 

 of Schuylg, published at Leyden in 1668 ; and the Leyden gar- 

 den was enormously rich for the time in plants of all sorts, 

 especially a little later, when Boerhave was its director, and it 

 contained 6,000 different species. The garden at Amsterdam 

 rivaled it, however, and Professor Kraus asserts that no single 

 garden has since furnished material for the account of so many 

 plants as were described by the Amsterdam botanists, the 

 Commelines, in their great folio works. The introduction of 

 Cape plants, many of them incapable of supporting a northern 

 wintern, was a prime factor in the rapid improvement of hot- 

 houses, while the ease with which they could be produced and 

 their intrinsic attracdveness caused them to spread through 

 Europe with great rapidity. 



But in the next century a novel artistic movement gave a 

 great impetus to the importation of another class of plants, and 

 thus inaugurated the fourth great period of plant-introduction. 

 This movement was the change from the old formal, archi- 

 tectural method of park-making to the free, naturalistic, so- 

 called landscape-method. Now, in Professor Kraus's words, 

 the horticulturist's main object was "to embellish his land- 

 scapes," and for this purpose neither small flowering plants, 

 nor tropical, alien-looking plants of any kind, could serve him 

 best. Hardy trees and shrubs were wanted, and for these he 

 turned to North America again. Europe had become per- 

 fectly familiar with many of its finest arboreal products — as 

 with the Locust, the Tulip-tree, the various Sumachs and the 

 Hemlock. But hundreds of others were now added to the list, 

 including the White Pine, Spruces, Firs and the Bald Cypress, 

 the American Oaks, Maples and Poplars, the Occidental Plane, 

 the red-flowering Horse-chestnut, Nut-trees, Thorns and the 

 Calycanthus. "Not inaptly," says our author, "are these 

 American trees distinctively called in Germany 'fine park- 

 trees'; for in the variety and dignity of their spray, in the form 

 and arrangement of their leaves, and in the shading of their 

 normal and their autumnal colors these Americans have not 

 their equals with us." 



Moreover, as these American trees and shrubs were being 

 lavishly introduced, others of similar value to park-makers 

 were being brought from Siberia and the newly opened re- 

 gions of eastern Asia. Siberia sent especially Honeysuckles, 

 Spiraeas and small-fruited Apples, precious for their vernal 

 bloom, but even exceeded m this respect by the flowering 

 splendors of the immigrants from eastern Asia — the Weigelas, 

 Forsythias and scores of other plants which Europe began to 

 receive about the middle of the century. 



Of course, since this time vast treasures of every sort have 

 been added to the European horticulturist's lists, not only from 

 the regions already named, but also from the western coast of 

 North America, the Australasian islands and the tropics, these 

 last especially enriching our hot-houses, since the present pas- 

 sion for exotic Orchids developed. Nevertheless, by the mid- 

 dle of the century those quarters of the world had been thrown 

 open whose products were radically to transform the aspect of 

 European gardens. 



It would be difficult to compute with accuracy the total 

 number of foreign plants now grown in northern Europe, 

 every year adding, of course, largely to the enormous total. 

 But to give some idea of what this total now may be we may 

 quote Professor Kraus's statement that, while some 1,500 flow- 

 ering plants are believed to be natives of England, Sweet's 

 Horhis Britannicus names as growing there in 1830 some 

 32,000 species. This means that even sixty-three years ago. 

 before the prolific labors of the last two generations of ex- 

 plorers and importers, more than twenty-two plants had been 

 introduced by man into England for one with which nature 

 had there supplied him. 



Southern California Wild Fruits. 



■pRUIT-GROWING. has become the chief industry of south- 

 ^ em California, and is of great magnitude. Most of the fruits 

 of the temperate zone, and some which are almost tropical, 

 find in one district or another the soil and climate suited to 

 bring them to the highest perfection. Excellent apples and 

 cherries are grown in the cooler sections, while in the warmer 

 oranges and other citrus fruits are produced in the great- 

 est profusion. Everywhere are great tracts devoted to the 

 Peach, Apricot and Nectarine, the Plum and the Prune, the 

 Olive and the Fig. Guavas, pomegranates, loquats and Japa- 

 nese persimmons are less abundant, only because they are in 

 less demand, while other rarer fruits are occasionally seen. 

 The choicest European varieties of grapes are grown in unsur- 

 passed excellence for the table and for wine and raisins. 

 Strawberries are to be had during the greater part of the year, 



and raspberries, blackberries and currants in their seasons. In 

 many places the European Walnut, and the Almond are largely 

 cultivated. 



This rich abundance of fruits contrasts strongly with the poor 

 fruits of woodland and meadow. Here, in southern California, 

 there are few native trees or vines which produce edible fruit, 

 and, without exception, their produce is of poor quality, and 

 generally not eatable. The Crab-apple, the Persimmon, the 

 Pawpaw, the Mulberry and the Blueberry are not found at all. 

 The Choke-cherries are represented by a mountain species 

 (Prunus demissa), whose fruit is, perhaps, but little more 

 austere than that of its Atlantic relative. The Holly-leaved 

 Plum (P. ilicifolia) possesses a beautiful glossy foliage and a 

 compact form that entifles it to a place in ornamental grounds, 

 but the fruit, although of good size, is mostly stone, and the 

 thin pulp is astringent and flavorless. Two or three other spe- 

 cies of Plums occur, but their fruits are dry, hard and pulpless. 



By water-courses the California Grape (Vitis Californica) 

 abounds, often clambering to the tree-tops. Its berries re- 

 semble the frost grape of the Atlantic states, but the clusters 

 are smaller and the quality poorer. Quite as plentiful in simi- 

 lar situations is the only Blackberry ot the region (Rubus ursi- 

 nus), which bears a scanty crop of small irregular berries. 

 They ripen by the ist of June, long before cultivated sorts are 

 ready, a trait which might be of some service to the hybridizer. 

 The Raspberry, of which there is also a single species (Rubus 

 leucodermis), is quite rare, and is seldom found at an altitude 

 of less than 4,000 feet. It is reported in the books to bear a 

 red fruit of agreeable flavor, but concerning this I can give no 

 testimony, never having been able to find any ripe berries, 

 which appear to be seldom produced. The western Thim'ble- 

 berry (R. Nutkanus) grows at about the same altitude, and has 

 a fruit even more insipid and meagre than other thimble-ber- 

 ries. Here, too, by the grassy banks of streams, the Mountain 

 Strawberry (Fragraria Californica) sends out its runners. No 

 Strawberry is bad, but these are by no means equal either 

 in productiveness, size or quality to the wild berries of 

 eastern or Oregon meadows. Still higher in the mountains 

 grows a June Berry (Amelanchier alnifolia), very beautiful, 

 but whose dry and hard fruit is not to be compared with 

 the juicy berries of its Rocky Mountain relative. In 

 rocky places a Gooseberry (Ribes Menziesii) droops with its 

 heavy load. The berries are large, but are thickly beset with 

 long spines, and the enclosed mass of seed is pulpless antl 

 astringent. Currants are commoner, some half-dozen varie- 

 ties being found in various parts of the region, the berries 

 of none of which are edible. Only the Elderberry (Sam- 

 bucus glauca) can sustain a favorable comparison with its con- 

 geners elsewhere. Oftener a small tree than a bush, it is an- 

 nually loaded down with great clusters of fruit, rather less 

 insipid than these berries usually are. They are greatly rel- 

 ished, at least by birds, and are not despised by boys. These 

 fruits all belong to northern climates, but a few others may be 

 mentioned whose affinities lie to the southward. The Desert 

 Palm (Washingtonia filifera), a species of Yucca (Y. baccata), 

 an Opuntia (O. Engelmanni), and a Mamillaria (M. phellos- 

 perma) all produce fruits which are sometimes eaten, but 

 which are adapted rather to the taste of the Indian than to 

 more civilized palates. 



The woods are even more bare of nut-bearing trees. All the 

 Hickories are wanting, and so are the Chestnut and Hazelnut, 

 and even the Beechnut. The Walnut is represented by a 

 foothill species (Juglans Californica), which here is seldom 

 more than a large shrub, although elsewhere it attains the 

 dignity of a goodly tree. The nut is about half the size 

 of an eastern walnut, and has a very hard and thick shell, 

 with a proportionately small kernel. The only other nut 

 is the pifion, or Pine-nut. Although other kinds are some- 

 times collected, the real pifion is the seed of the one-leafed 

 Pine (Pinus monophylla), a small tree common in the arid 

 mountains of the desert. This has a thin shell and a kernel 

 sweet and rich in oil, although the slight turpentine flavor is 

 not always relished at first. Of all the wild fruitage of the 

 country the Pine-nut is the only one that is ever seen in mar- 

 ket or that has any commercial value. The wholesale price is 

 about ten cents per pound. These nuts are mostly, if not en- 

 tirely, collected by Indians, with whom they are an important 

 article of diet. 



Explorers are accustomed to infer the capacity of new coun- 

 tries for fruit-growing by the abundance and excellence of the 

 wild fruits they find in them. Guided by this rule there was 

 little to indicate that southern California would ever become a 

 land of vineyards and orchards. The cause of its natural defi- 

 ciency is probably to be found in the dryness of the climate. 

 Not only is the annual rainfall slight, but the air itself is with- 



