392 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 291. 



something that is in its prime. All this means an intimate 

 knowledge of plants, and perhaps the highest purpose 

 which is served by a herbaceous border is that it keeps 

 its owner interested and daily invites him to new study, so 

 that he not only constantly grows in the appreciation 

 of the special beauties of different plants, but he is insen- 

 sibly taught to investigate them and their habits, and 

 the garden becomes a more absorbing attraction as it 

 calls out more intelligent care. Whatever of recreation 

 and of comfort can be derived from the growing of plants 

 for their beauty, can be enjoyed to its fullest extent in a 

 garden of herbaceous perennial plants and of hardy an- 

 nuals and biennials which can be grown among them 

 without a greenhouse or even without a cold frame. 



Of course, a herbaceous border is not the only place in 

 which hardy perennials can be used with good effect. In 

 places of considerable size a great variety of them can be 

 naturalized in different parts of the grounds. Nearly all 

 spring-fiowering bulbs do admirably in grass, and they can 

 remain there year after year where this is not cut before 

 the foliage withers. Such plants as the Narcissus poeticus 

 and the blue Scilla campanulata never look so well as they 

 do in the tall grass which may be allowed to stand beyond 

 the close-clipped lawn. Other plants of this class find 

 their most congenial home in the shrubbery and on the 

 edges of shrubbery. The tall, strong-growing, autumn- 

 flowering Compositae, such as Sunflowers, Asters, Golden- 

 rods, Rudbeckias and Heleniums, are seen at their best 

 just now in such positions, and in the summer the tall 

 spires of the Foxglove never look so well as they do on a 

 shrub -border against a background of foliage. Then, 

 where there is a water-margin, we can have Irises and Car- 

 dinal-flowers and Lythrums, while tall Lilies and Galtonias 

 never grow more luxuriantly or show to such good advan- 

 tage as they do in beds of Rhododendrons. 



But because hardy plants are suitable for the humblest 

 cottage and appeal in the strongest way to homely popu- 

 lar taste, it must not be supposed that they offer no field 

 for the refinements of the specialist. It is easy enough to 

 grow an Ascension Lily and the other well-known species 

 which add so much beauty to the garden ; but if the 

 grower's admiration for this special genus develops into 

 enthusiasm, he will find that the gathering of a collection 

 that will satisfy his yearnings, and the investigations of 

 their secrets, will suffice to occupy the leisure of a lifetime. 

 The same is true if one would aim to become an expert in 

 cultivation, or to have assured and authoritative knowl- 

 edge of the Irises, the Daffodils, the Tulips, the Saxifrages 

 and even of the hardy Sedums and Sempervivums, and 

 of many other families of plants. 



To give anything like an adequate reply to inquiries 

 about selecting varieties of hardy plants, the time of plant- 

 ing them and the methods of cultivating them, would 

 require a large volume. The readers of Garden and Forest 

 ought to be well informed as to the care of this class of 

 plants, as we have hardly published a single number with- 

 out devoting some attention to them. We have no space 

 for this branch of the subject here, nor is it the purpose 

 of this article to oppose the use of formal flower-beds, 

 which certainly have their place in many small enclosures, 

 and in connection with architectural surroundings. Much 

 less is it our intention to discourage the use of tender plants, 

 for there is no garden of any size which cannot be made 

 more attractive if a certain proportion offender plants are 

 grown in it every summer. What we wish to insist upon 

 now is simply that hardy plants can be had in almost in- 

 finite number and variety, and that persons who have no 

 greenhouses, and do not wish to incur the expense of buy- 

 ing a number offender plants every year, can find among 

 the hardy ones every desirable quality in color and fra- 

 grance and form ; that there are no bedding-plants which 

 equal in beauty the Lilies and Larkspurs, Irises and Daffo- 

 dils, and many more that any one can obtain ; that there 

 are hardy plants suitable for every season, every use and 

 every situation ; that a hardy-plant garden can be made 



interesting in this climate from February until December, 

 while tender bedding-plants can only be used for summer 

 decoration ; and that many hardy plants continue to in- 

 crease in vigor and beauty year after year, while tender 

 bedding-plants necessitate the trouble and expense of an- 

 nual renewal. We hardly need to add that, while most of 

 these plants are best adapted to informal planting, no one 

 can secure any genuine intelligent pleasure from them 

 when planted haphazard. One value of the hardy garden 

 is the constant and loving attention it demands. This care 

 must begin at the very outset in selecting from the mass of 

 weedy and malodorous kinds only such as have distinct 

 merit, and the same care must continue throughout all the 

 work of arranging and cultivating. A good wild garden is 

 never a carelessly planted garden. The very look of un- 

 tamed naturalness which it wears is the achievement of 

 the truest art. In the same way hardy plants which are 

 best able to take care of themselves in the struggle for life 

 make constant demands upon the care of the cultivator if 

 they are to reveal their beauty in all its fullness. 



A New Forage-plant. 



COME years ago a knot-grass, which was discovered by Maxi- 

 •^ mowicz on the island of Saghalen, under the name of 

 Polygonum Sachaliense, was introduced as an ornamental 

 plant from the Jardin d'Acclimatation at Moscow. It grows 

 vigorously and has been recommended for use on river-banks 

 and in other positions where tall and fast-growing peren- 

 nials are needed. It is rather a handsome plant, with smooth 

 alternate leaves about an inch and a half long and an inch 

 wide, with leaf-stalks of cardinal-red. Its inconspicuous flow- 

 ers produce a good deal of nectar and are much frequented 

 by bees. This Polygonum has especial interest just now, 

 however, as a forage-plant, since it has been recommended in 

 several of theEuropean journals forthat purpose. It is said that 

 the young plant quickly pushes up fresh shoots in all direc- 

 tions and will soon occupy an area a yard square. These 

 shoots when young are edible, and when blanched can be used 

 as asparagus, although they are not of so high quality. When 

 they have grown from three to five feet high, these shoots can be 

 cut and fed to cattle, which seem to relish them very much. 

 Perhaps the second growth of the first year will not be strong 

 enough for a cutting, but in subsequent years three or four 

 cuttings can be taken every season. This Polygonum is readily 

 propagated by division of the rhizomes, which may be planted 

 in August and September or in early spring. If they are set out 

 a yard apart the surface of the soil will be covered in a year or 

 two with an abundance of forage. 



Some European experimenters have tried to use another 

 knot-grass, Polygonum cuspidatum, as a forage-plant in the 

 same way, and claim that it is also relished by cattle. The 

 vigor of this plant will not be doubted by any one who has 

 seen it growing in the Central Park of this city, where it quickly 

 becomes an aggressive weed. Whether or not it will endure 

 an excessively dry climate remains to be seen. It seems to 

 flourish here particularly in moist deep soils, but its stalks 

 appear altogether too tough for succulent forage. However, it 

 would be worth while to try both these plants where no other 

 forage-plants will grow, especially since the Saghalen Knot- 

 weed has the endorsement of such authorities as Monsieur 

 Edouard Andre and Monsieur Gustav Huot. Its yield of 

 green fodder is said to range from sixty tons to one hundred 

 and twenty tons per acre, and it might prove a valuable crop 

 for ensilage. It is in favor of P. Sachaliense that it belongs to 

 the same family as plants of such economic value as Buck- 

 wheat and Rhubarb, but after all we hardly think it probable 

 that it will supersede Indian Corn as a green fodder in the 

 great Corn-belt of this country. 



Botanical Notes from Texas. — XI. 



AS we go westward on the International and Great Northern 

 Railroad from the city of San Antonio we soon leave the 

 alluvial " black lands " behind us, and find that even the bot- 

 tom-lands of the creeks and rivers are sandy. So much of 

 the vegetation that we have been accustomed to seeing has 

 disappeared, and a more south-western flora taken its place. 

 Ratama is now largely in competition with Huisache and Mez- 

 quite for occupancy of the richer lowlands, while other spe- 

 cies of Parkinsonia, Acacia and other genera cover the hills. 



