440 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 295. 



Notes. 



One of the best decorative displays of dried plants at the 

 World's Fair is a large lot of Algae, shown by Miss M. J. West- 

 fall, of Pacific Grove, California, in the scientific section of the 

 Woman's Building. The seaweeds have been pressed on 

 Bristol-board in such shape as to afford striking ornamental 

 figures, while the value of the specimens for scientific study 

 still remains. The most novel part of the collection are 

 delicate brands of veiling fabric upon which the most fragile 

 colored Algae are permanently impressed, making a unique 

 material for house-decoration. 



Among the earliest Chrysanthemums in market is the va- 

 riety Yellow Queen, which is a seedling raised by Mr. I. Fors- 

 termann, of Newtown, Long Island, Miss Kate Brown, which 

 is also yellow, seems to be nearly as early. October Beauty 

 seems too abundant already, while Miss Minnie Wannamaker, 

 Domination, Gloriosum, Mrs. J. G. Whilldin and Mrs. J. N. 

 Gerard are among the varieties most often seen. The 

 Chrysanthemum season has fairly begun, as is testified by the 

 number of these flowers which are seen in the button-holes of 

 men on their way down-town to business. 



At this season the persons who have taken pains to give the 

 late-flowering Helianthus Maximilliani an abundance of rich 

 food are enjoying a fine display of golden yellow flowers. 

 This plant is perfectly hardy, but it seems to run out if con- 

 fined to one place too long, and it should be moved to fresh 

 feeding quarters every few years. It is a rank grower and needs 

 abundant provender to make strong plants, standing from six 

 to ten feet high, with their long stems closely set with flowers. 

 Where there is room for large masses of these plants their 

 effect at this time is one of the most striking which can be pro- 

 duced in the hardy-plant garden. 



Among the bright things noted by visitors in Cenral Park 

 just now are the New England Asters, which are flowering 

 abundantly along the paths, the Norway Maples which have 

 turned to anunu^uallyclearlemon-yellowcolor, the brightscar- 

 let of the Sumachs and Virginia Creeper, and the vivid crim- 

 son of the Japanese Ampelopsis on the rocks in Morningside 

 Park. The Sugar Maples, Nyssas, Liquidambers and many 

 other trees, whose foliage is usually bright at this season, are 

 late in turning this year, and although the colors of our forest- 

 trees in autumn are never as brilliant near the sea-coast as 

 they are further inland, our parks for a fortnight to come will 

 be conspicuously beautiful, especially as the grass is more 

 thick and green now than it has been at all this year. 



A correspondent of the Gardeners' Chronicle gives some 

 notes on the cultivation of fruits not generally grown, which 

 will be of interest to American readers. Some two years ago 

 he obtained plants of the so-called Japanese Wine-berry, Rubus 

 Phoenicolasius, from Mr. J. L. Childs, of Queens, Long 

 Island, and these were planted in rich loamy soil. The second 

 year they gave an abundant crop and were absolutely free 

 from insects. The berries he finds as large as raspberries, 

 enclosed in a hairy calyx until nearly mature, and borne in 

 large clusters. The flavor of the berries is pronounced ex- 

 ceedingly agreeable and distinct from that of any other fruit 

 known to the writer, and they proved excellent, whether eaten 

 raw, cooked, or made into jam. The Dwarf June-berry was 

 another fruit which he had tried, and, so far as he could judge, 

 was well worth growing in England. 



In some notes on Carnations, prepared by Mr. A. M. Herr 

 for the last number of the American Florist, after the 

 advantage of housing these plants as early as possible is ex- 

 plained, the chief point insisted on is that the greatest care 

 in syringing and watering should be exercised, now that 

 the days are shorter, the nights cooler, and the moisture 

 slower to evaporate. To illustrate the difference in suscepti- 

 bility to injury from overwatering, Mr. Herr cites Daybreak as 

 a variety which is attacked by spot very readily if it is watered 

 a little too much or a little too late in the day. while Lizzie 

 McGowan can be syringed at almost any time without ap- 

 parent bad effect. Plants which are set too deeply are Hable 

 to attacks by a fungus and will die off to the ground. On the 

 important matter of ventilation, Mr. Herr states, that while it 

 is advisable to leave houses open where there are newly 

 planted Carnations, since they have been accustomed to cool 

 nights out-of-doors, and will start quicker if the temperature is 

 not raised too suddenly, they are, nevertheless, very suscepti- 

 ble to direct drafts, so that it is a good practice to tack up mus- 

 lin over the ventilators, even when they are kept open day 

 and night. 



A Washington correspondent of the /7<7nj/y£'j:cAa«^^ notes 

 that Sweet Peas were sown about the beginning of August in 

 the garden of the Agricultural Department in a border fully 

 exposed to the sun. Notwithstanding the heat and drought 

 the seed germinated well, and the plants have grown robust 

 and healthy, free from insects and mildew, and were thickly 

 covered with buds in early October, so that abundant bloom 

 will be secured if frost is delayed long enough. So far as this 

 experiment is decisive, it shows that it would not be difficult 

 to have Sweet Peas at Christmas-time by planting them in a 

 deep frame in late summer, covering them with sashes as 

 frost appears, and adding some fire-heat when cold weather 

 comes. There is so much difficulty in growing other kinds of 

 Peas for autumn use, and it is so well known that the earlier 

 Sweet Peas are planted in the spring the better will be their 

 summer bloom, that we can hardly hope that these plants will 

 flower freely out-of-doors in autumn, if, indeed, it is desirable 

 that they should do so. We might become wearied with even 

 so beautiful a flower as the Sweet Pea if it were common all 

 the year round. 



Grapes continue abundant and in great variety. A good 

 quality of Concords sell at retail as low as twenty cents for a 

 ten-pound basket, and Delaware, Niagara and Catawba grapes 

 cost but little more. Flame Tokays from California are ten 

 cents a pound, choice lots, such as Humphreys and Ste- 

 phens, bringing fifteen cents a pound. Almena grapes are 

 no less plentiful, and are offered on the sidewalk-stands for 

 ten to twenty-five cents a pound. According to the Fruit 

 Trade Journal, 96,700 barrels of this fruit have already reached 

 this port, or are on the way here, which only lacks 10,000 bar- 

 rels of the entire importation of last year, and there are yet six 

 weeks in which these grapes are shipped. Persons who wish 

 a still more expensive grape can be gratified by buying the hot- 

 house product, which now brings a dollar to a dollar and 

 twenty-five cents a pound, and Gros Colman, from England, 

 may be had at a dollar and a half a pound. A small supply of 

 Rome Beauty, the best apple which has yet come from Cali- 

 fornia, was quickly taken up by a few dealers, and retailed at 

 once for sixty cents to a dollar a dozen. The season of Cali- 

 fornia plums has about ended, but a few Kelseys are still com- 

 ing, and they are apparently larger, and certainly more attrac- 

 tive in appearance, than any seen here this season. They 

 retail for sixty cents a dozen. German prunes, from Roches- 

 ter, in small supply, bring two dollars for a ten-pound basket. 

 California nectarines are sixty cents a dozen. The best Florida 

 pineapples bring sixty cents apiece, forty cents being asked 

 for choice Havana fruit, inferior qualities selling slowly at poor 

 prices. The first Florida Navel oranges and selected grape- 

 fruit are each a dollar a dozen, Japanese persimmons, from 

 the same state, selling at sixty cents a dozen. 



Writing in a recent number of Zoe of the " Native Habits 

 of Sequoia gigantea," with reference to the failure which 

 often attends attempts to cultivate this tree, Mr. Gustav Eisen 

 says: "Sequoia trunks and cones have been dug up out of 

 many wells on the plains of the Sacramento and San Joaquin 

 valleys, indisputable proof that the tree in former ages ex- 

 tended to the plains. With the advent of a drier and warmer 

 climate the trees retreated to the hills, higher in the south, 

 lower in the north. At last they became isolated groves ; 

 finally, in some localities, isolated trees. Only in the southern 

 groves do we find an abundance of young trees ; in some of 

 the northern groves we search in vain for any seedlings. What 

 conclusion can we draw from this ? That the Sequoia gigan- 

 tea delights in rich and wet soil, in sheltered positions, and 

 that it occurs in groves. The folly of planting this tree in dry, 

 exposed places, singly or in rows, as is now done everywhere 

 in this state, as well as in other parts of the United States, and 

 in Europe, is therefore evident. Lately I passed an avenaeof 

 Sequoias which were all dying out. The cause lay near at hand 

 — dry soil, no artificial irrigation, no rain for six months, hard 

 adobe soil, full exposure to winds, the trees planted in rows 

 or singly. If these trees had been set in groups of a hun- 

 dred on rich, moist land where irrigation can be resorted to in 

 the summer, they would have protected themselves and they 

 would have thrived." All the natural groves which now exist, 

 Mr. Eisen explains, "are protected from the north winds more 

 or less, and all face the south and west. All grow where 

 moisture is abundant, always around springs, creeks, ponds or 

 meadows, or at least in places where moisture never fails. The 

 further away from the water, the drier the soil, the smaller 

 and poorer are the trees. In many instances the largest trees 

 circle around a beautiful meadow, crowding each other where 

 space is available, or towering singly where there is only 

 ground enough for one." 



