September 27, 1893.] 



Garden and Forest. 



403 



figures and encircled by grass walks, but on the other side of 

 the drive-way there is a grassy glade bordered with trees and 

 shrubberies, with a border of exceptionally well-grown old- 

 fashioned Mowers, which is very charming and attractive. 



None of the trees in Lincoln Park are of large size, and they 

 are planted in irregular groves without much attention to gen- 

 eral picturesque effect. Their trunks, like other trees here- 

 about, have a peculiar blackness, due, probably, to the smoke 

 of bituminous coal, which lends to even the modern houses 

 of the city a dingy and ancient look. Under a former manage- 

 ment the lower limbs have all been cut away, a mutilation 

 which greatly annoys the present competent superintendent, 

 who is endeavoring to remedy the loss as much as possible 

 by planting shrubs to make a low screen of foliage. 



There is a new Palm-house, around which are parterres 

 brilliantly bedded with fiowering plants, and at the proper 

 season there are gay displays of hardy plants in the her- 

 baceous borders. Terraces surround the new conserva- 

 tories, and a broad walk and stairway are designed 

 to lead visitors from its front entrance down to the 

 flower-garden, of which there is a good view from the ter- 

 races. The plants are arranged as far as possible in natural 

 positions, without benches, tlower-pots or tubs. There is a 

 fernery within, designed like a rocky dell, with a cascade 

 tumbling into a pool below, while on the ledges in the faces of 

 the moss-covered rocks are planted Ferns of various kinds. 

 The large greenhouses are heated on a new system invented 

 by the superintendent, Mr. Pettigrew, who is a mechanical en- 

 gineer of ability, and the plants in these houses testify to his skill 

 as a gardener. He has been particularly successful in growing 

 Water-lilies, and the ponds under his charge contain many 

 single aquatics and many groups which have no superiors. 



Two great difficulties have been successfully overcome in 

 the construction of this park — one, that of providing soil for 

 the trees and shrubs to grow in, and the other, of protecting 

 the land from the encroachments of the lake. The park in the 

 beginning was but a succession of sand-dunes, with a swale or 

 two intervening, the sand being washed and of the most sterile 

 description. There was not enough good soil in the swales to 

 cover the park with more than an inch of loam, and it is a con- 

 stant effort to provide nourishment enough for the trees and 

 to keep the grass green during the dry hot season. Every 

 year, by the free use of compost, something is added to the 

 thin surface of soil, but the sandy substratum quickly swallows 

 up the nutriment and leaves the turf parched and brown. 

 Constant sprinkling from distributing pipes does what it can 

 to keep things fresh, and the park is supplied with engines of 

 great pumping capacity, but in a dry summer the consumption 

 of water has been known to amount to 1,700,000 gallons in 

 twenty-four hours. 



The inroads of the lake have been resisted by expensive con- 

 structions. In 1888 a massive sea-wall was completed at an 

 expense of over $80,000, the wall being made of huge blocks 

 of concrete, each weighing about ten tons. It extended nearly 

 3,000 feet, and is ten feet in height. There is also a stone- 

 paved beach, which forms an effective resistance to the en- 

 croachments of the lake. Along this beach is a promenade of 

 granite concrete sixteen feet wide, then a long parapet, and 

 after that a wide drive- way between it and a turf-covered bank 

 planted with trees and shrubs. 



When the great difficulties of the task are considered, the 

 beauty of Lincoln Park is surprising, and makes one respect 

 more than ever the unconquerable zeal of the men of Chicago, 

 and honor them for their regard for public comfort. This 

 determination to have what they want is a marked feature of 

 the Chicago character. As I first looked at the immense city 

 lying along the lake, with its towering buildings dwarfing its 

 spires, I could not help remarking that Chicago needs a hill to 

 make its picturesque effect complete, to which my companion, 

 who was acquainted with the town, replied, "You have only 

 to convince the people of that, and they will make one." After 

 seeing Lincoln Park one is convinced that the answer was 

 scarcely an exaggeration. 



Hingham, Mass. M. C. Robbins. 



Cave Plants. 



COUTHERN KENTUCKY is a cavernous country. All the 

 '-' southern counties, especially Warren, are a network of 

 caves, underground streams, and "sinks" or "sink-holes." 

 A cellar is rarely excavated that a fissure in the limestone-rock 

 is not found, and this often widens out into quite a sink, or at 

 least a crevice, when the water passes from an underground 

 stream. 



A different growth of plants is to be found in the cave en- 

 trances and large sink-holes from that along the banks of 



streams. The White Baneberry I have found only in sink- 

 holes, its red stems and white berries being a lively contrast to 

 the deep greens and the shadows at the bottom of the sink. 

 Pale Jewel-weed (Impatiens pallida) grows to a large size in 

 the moist depths of these places. The plants are often five 

 and a half feet high and the trunk as large as one's wrist. 

 Scrophularia nodosa, CoUinsonia Canadensis, orRickweed, are 

 commonly found here. Of the Ferns, Asplenium angustifo- 

 lium is frequently seen in deep shade at the bottom ot moist 

 sink-holes. C}stopteris fragilis is common in the crevices of 

 moist limestone-rock, while Asplenium ebeneum is in the 

 rocks nearer the surface. Cliff Brake, Pellaeaatropurpurea, is 

 a well-known feature of cave entrances and sinks, growing on 

 the limestone cliffs in crevices where no other plant can find 

 a foothold, and Aspidium acrostichoides.a common Fern every- 

 where, is generally met with in the woods about the top of the 

 sink. 



Of the three most interesting sink-holes in Warren County, 

 Kentucky, the largest, near Oakland, is of sufficient size and. 

 interest to give it a place on the county map. It is ninety feet 

 deep, and the entrance is about forty feet in diameter. This is 

 called Wolf's Sink, and is a natural wonder well worthy a visit. 

 Oaks and many other large trees are growing from its depths ; 

 down the trunk of one of these there is constructed a rude lad- 

 der, the only way of reaching the bottom, as a perpendicular 

 wall of limestone extends some thirty feet around the edge. 

 One tradition in the neighborhood is that this is the ladder 

 made and used by the Indians, while another, and more prob- 

 able one, is that they used a Grape-vine in making the descent. 

 Strange to say, the only Fern found here is Asplenium angu^- 

 tifolmm. It grows in the greatest profusion and to an unusual 

 size, many of the plants measuring four to five feet in height, 

 and the fertile frond is even taller. The Baneberry gives a 

 needed touch of color to the shady depths of the sink. 



Another very interesting sink is "Cave Mill." A small stream 

 that rises above ground several yards beyond, flows into the 

 entrance of this sink and disappears. A mill has been built 

 above, and this mars what would otherwise be a very pic- 

 turesque spot. It has been also called Lost River, as the stream 

 disappears under the large arched rock of the cave, extends 

 underground a mile ormore, and thenreappearsal^oveground, 

 forming a creek that flows into Barren River. Hop-trees (Pte- 

 lea trifoliata) and Pawpaws, with many larger forest-trees, grow 

 along the stream near the entrance. Hydrangea arborescens at 

 the entrance, Pellaea atropurpurea and Asplenium cristata in 

 the crevices of the rock above. Viper's Bugloss, Echium vul- 

 gare, and Cup-plant, Silphium perfoliatum, are near the en- 

 trance. Many spring fiowers grow here, among others 

 Anemone, Silene Virginica, Asarum and Wild Ginger. 



The third sink is not as deep as Wolf's Sink, but the en- 

 trance is about as large in diameter. It is by the side of a road 

 leading to the river, in a dense grove of trees, and so is in con- 

 stant shadow. It is rather a gloomy spot, and has gained the 

 reputation of being haunted among the superstitious negroes 

 living near by. I tried to hire some half-grown negro children to 

 climb down to gather the plants for me, but they refused, saying 

 there were " haunts " there. There was a rank growth of plants 

 about the top, and several species of Desmodiuni, Melothria 

 pendula and Gerardia among the rocks above the entrance. 

 Mats of Walking-leaf Fern, Baneberry and Scrophularia grew at 

 the bottom of the sink. About the entrances of caves in the 

 sandstone part of the county the most common species of 

 Ferns are the Lady Fern, Aspidium spinulosum, var. inter- 

 medium, and A. marginale, Cheilanthes vestita and Asplenium 

 pinnatifidum are also often found at these places. 



Bowling Green, Ky. Sadie F. Price. 



Notes on the Forest Flora of Japan. — XXII. 



THE Chestnut-tree is widely distributed through the 

 mountain-forests of Japan, and seems to have re- 

 ceived some attention as a fruit-tree froin the Japanese, 

 who recognize a number of large-fruited varieties. Very 

 large chestnuts appear in profusion in the markets of 

 Aomori, and are said to be produced in the immediate 

 neighborhood of that northern town. But the largest 

 chestnuts of Japan, which equal in size the best marrons 

 of southern Europe, are found in the markets of Kobe and 

 Osaka. It is these Kobe marrons which are now sent to 

 San Francisco in considerable quantities. Rein, whose 

 book on the Industries 0/ Japtui contains the fullest and 

 most exact account of Japanese rural economy which has 

 yet been written, believed that the chestnut was less 



