398 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 291. 



grow together in the same region. The Chamaecyparis is 

 a more southern tree, ranging from the coast of southern 

 Maine to Florida and Mississippi, and is never found grow- 

 ing naturally very far from the Atlantic seaboard, while 

 Thuya occidentalis is more northern, ranging westward in 

 the United States to northern Minnesota, and is only found 

 in the southern states on the high Alleghany Mountains, 

 which it follows southward from Pennsylvania. 



Nothing but long experience in the woods will enable a 

 person to distinguish the Red Oak, the Scarlet Oak and the 

 Black Oak at a glance, although when their botanical charac- 

 ters are known they are not difficult to recognize, especially 

 the first. The bark of the Red Oak is gray or light brown in 

 color and rather smooth, especially that of the main 

 branches ; the leaves are thin, usually deeply pinnatifid 

 with acuminate coarsely-toothed lobes ; when they unfold 

 they are smooth and lustrous on the upper surface, and 

 coated on the lower, like the young branchlets, with pale 

 scurfy pubescence ; very late in the autumn, after severe 

 frosts, they turn bright red. The fruit is distinct from that 

 of any of our other Oaks ; the acorn is oblong or ellip- 

 soidal, often an inch long, and surrounded at the base only 

 by a broad, shallow, saucer-shaped cup ; once seen it can- 

 not be mistaken for the fruit of any other American Oak. 

 The Red Oak is the most northern in its range of all the 

 Oaks of eastern America. 



The Scarlet Oak may be distinguished by its dark, usually 

 smooth, bark ; by the leaves, which are thin, smooth, 

 shining and glabrous, even when they first unfold, and 

 which in the autumn turn to the brightest scarlet, and by 

 the coarse, usually loose, scales which cover the deep top- 

 shaped cup. The acorn is less than half the size of that of 

 the Red Oak, and is narrower and more pointed. The 

 looseness of the scales of the cup, although often apparent, 

 is not a very reliable character, and the fruit of the Scarlet 

 Oak is often difficult to distinguish from that of the Black 

 Oak, especially as it grows in some of the western states. 

 This tree can be distinguished from the Scarlet Oak by the 

 thicker, darker and more deeply furrowed bark, and by ex- 

 amining the inner bark, which is bright orange color, and 

 which affords a certain character to distinguish it from our 

 other Oaks. It is also easily recognized in early spring by 

 the bright scarlet color of the upper surface of the very 

 young leaves, which, when they are about a quarter 

 grown, lose this color and appear grayish white from the 

 presence of the thick tomentum which covers them ; when 

 fully grown they are lustrous, and are sometimes almost 

 entire, or are divided by shallow sinuses into broad lobes, 

 or often are as deeply divided as those of the Scarlet Oak, 

 when they are hardly to be distinguished from the leaves 

 of that tree except by the small clusters of rusty brown 

 hairs found on the lower surface in the axils of the princi- 

 pal veins. These tufts of hairs, so far as we have been 

 able to observe, are always found on the leaves of the 

 Black Oak, which in their shape are more variable and per- 

 plexing than those of any other Oaks. In the autumn the 

 difference between the Black and the Scarlet Oaks is easy to 

 recognize, as the leaves of the Black Oak turn very late to 

 a rusty brown color, and assume none of the brilliant tints 

 of the Scarlet Oak. The Red Oak grows usually in strong, 

 rich, rather moist soil ; the Scarlet Oak on dry sandy plains 

 in poor, sterile soil, and the Black Oak generally on equally 

 sterile, but rather heavier, soil. The three, however, 

 can often be found growing side by side, and natural hy- 

 brids between them are probably common. — Ed.] 



Heating Ponds for Water-lilies. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Your readers may be interested to learn of the perfect 

 success of my plan for heating, as described on page 515, 

 vol. V. My pond is forty-two feet in diameter and four and a 

 half feet deep in the centre, running to two feet at the edge. 

 The pipes (galvanized iron) are laid on the bottom in increas- 

 ing circles like a clock-spring. The circles being twelve, six- 

 teen, twenty-two, thirty and thirty-eight feet in diameter. One- 



inch pipe was used for the first two circles, then three-quar- 

 ter inch for the next, two and a half-inch for the last, with a 

 piece of half-inch pipe coming to an overflow near the 

 surface, and a valve to control the discharge of condensed 

 steam. With this valve the temperature of the pond can be 

 regulated. The supply of steam comes from a large boiler 

 300 feet distant, and the pipe is laid in a brick conduit under 

 ground, and loss of heat is lessened by using a good non-con- 

 ducting material around the pipe. The pipe enters the pond 

 through a two-inch galvanized pipe, built tightly into the side, 

 and on the inner end is a brass stuffing-box through which the 

 steam pipe passes, a short piece of brass pipe being used here 

 on account of non-corrosion and smoothness. This arrange- 

 ment allows for expansion and prevents any leakage of water. 

 I have taken space to describe the manner of piping, for if a 

 steam-pipe were built in a wall without any opportunity for ex- 

 pansion the result would be a very bad leak at that point. In 

 the early days of a Lily-pond it is important to keep the tem- 

 perature as high as eighty-five degrees, but later, after the 

 plants begin to flower, a little heat at night and on cold windy 

 days will suffice. In my pond this year we have Nymphaea 

 rubra, N. gigantea, N. Sturtevanti, N. Devoniensis, N. den- 

 tata, N. alba candidissima, N. Zanzibarensis, N. Marliacea 

 chromatella, N. albida, N. Caroliniana and N. Laydekeri rosea. 

 All have flowered wonderfully, except N. Sturtevanti, and I 

 wish some of your readers could tell me how to make it flower 

 freely. I have had but two blossoms as yet, but they were 

 noble specimens. 



Northampton, Mass. W'. W. Lee. 



The Columbian Exposition. 



Stone-fruits. 



PEACHES, plums and nectarines comprise the stone-fruits 

 on exhibition at the World's Fair the middle of September. 

 In peaches, Illinois now leads both in extent and variety. The 

 peach-growing area of the state comprises its southern half, 

 and the peaches upon the shelves are largely those which close 

 the peach season in Michigan and New York. Illinois and 

 Kentucky are showing varieties of similar type and season. 

 These Illinois peaches are chiefly Smock, with many speci- 

 mens of Stevens' Rareripe, Old Mixon, Heath Free, Silver 

 Medal, Yellow Stump, Late Crawford, Chair's Choice, Texas 

 Ranger, Heath Chng ; some plates of Elberta sfill persist. 

 Many of these are varieties practically unknown in the north- 

 ern peach areas. Among late peaches from Kentucky are 

 Sol way. Fox's Seedling, Stump, Ward's Late and White Heath. 

 Michigan has filled her tables with a good lot of fruit, and that 

 from the fruit region, in Oceana County, is especially interest- 

 ing. This northern region, on September 13th, was showing 

 Early Michigan, which comes in between Hale and Early 

 Crawford, a white freestone, of much better quality than Hale. 

 There is some discussion as to the difference between this and 

 Lewis, but most growers consider the two to be distinct. 

 Among other differences the Early Michigan has globose leaf- 

 glands, while the Lewis has renlform glands. Foster and Early 

 Crawford are among the peaches from northern Michigan. 

 From southern Michigan the chief varieties now on exhibition 

 are Kalamazoo, a magnificent yellow peach coming in just 

 after Early Crawford, Snow's Orange, Barnard, and tliere are 

 still a few late specimens of Mountain Rose. Some seed- 

 lings from Hale, grown by C. Engle, of Paw Paw, attract atten- 

 tion from their peculiar mottling, which suggests a nectarine. 

 They are freestones and are superior to their parent. New 

 York shows Ackley, a white freestone coming in with 

 Crawford, Foster and the Brigden or Garfield. Iowa will- 

 show peaches later on, and now has a few interesting plates 

 of the Bokara peach, which is said to be hardier than the Ben 

 Davis apple. The fruits are somewhat variable, tending to be 

 longish, with a distinct point, and are as large as Hale. The 

 flesh is white and sweet and the pit is free. Missouri has three 

 late varieties from Oregon County, Picquett's Late, a peach of 

 the Late Crawford type ; Wilkins, a large white freestone, and 

 Crimson Beauty, a large late white cling ; Henrietta, the latest 

 commercial peach of Missouri, is not yet shown. The leading 

 variety upon the Nebraska tables is Stump. Colorado has 

 Stump, Old Mixon, Crawford, Lord Palmerston, Family Favor- 

 ite and others, all remarkable for good size and color. Kan- 

 sas shows Hoppen Free, a large new white variety, coming in 

 ahead of Crawford and promising well ; Old Mixon, Smock 

 and a number of promising seedlings. South Dakota has 

 peaches in the State Building, from trees which are laid down 

 in winter. Canada is showing a good lot of peaches from On- 

 tario, and the Early Crawford is the leading variety. 



