48o 



Garden and Forest. 



[NimBER 299. 



This Japanese Barberry is beautiful at all seasons, and is one 

 of the very best shrubs of its class. 



No one deplored the unnecessary destruction of our forests 

 more than Francis Parkman, and the very first issue of this 

 paper contained a plea from his pen for the preservation of 

 the forests of the White Mountains. 



In nuts, the most prominent display at the World's Fair was a 

 collection of English walnuts by the Los Nietos and Ranchito 

 Walnut Growers' Association, of Riviera, California. These 

 nuts were shown in a brilliant glass tower some twenty-five feet 

 high. George W. Ford, of Santa Anna, California, showed fifteen 

 varieties of walnuts. The other nut exhibits, aside from 

 Pecans, were comprised in various miscellaneous collections. 



Collections of Asia Minor plants this year include some 

 probably new bulbous species. Several Snowdrops from dif- 

 ferent localities promise, by the distinctness of their bulbs, to 

 give us, if not new species, at least distinct varieties. One which 

 has been provisionally named Galanthus ochrospeila seems to 

 be in the way of G. Elwesii, but larger and fuller than any of that 

 species before collected. New Fritillaries are also reported, 

 and a new form of Sternbergia lutea with flowers some five 

 inches across. A hardy red-flowered Nymphsea has also been 

 discovered, the advent of which into cultivation will be awaited 

 with interest. 



We observe in several agricultural journals favorable men- 

 tion of what is called the Improved Dwarf Rocky Mountain 

 Cherry, which is said to be a spreading bush not more than four 

 feet high, with fruit ripening a month later than the Morello 

 varieties, and of fair, but uneven, quality. The bushes are said 

 to fruit while very young and to bear every year. No doubt, 

 this is the Cherry which is alluded to in Bulletin No. 38 of the 

 Cornell Experiment Station by Professor Bailey. He describes 

 the plant, which is wild in Colorado, Utah and Nebraska, as 

 having the aspect and light color of Prunus cuneata, but with 

 thick and pointed leaves, which distinguish it from that spe- 

 cies. Its affinity is with P. pumila, but it entirely lacks the 

 wand-like and willowy character of that plant, and Professor 

 Bailey is inclined to regard it as a distinct variety, if not a dis- 

 tinct species. 



The most valuable tree produced in New South Wales is 

 the so-called Red Cedar, Cedrela australis, which owes its 

 common name to the sweet smell of its wood. It is much 

 lighter in weight than mahogany, although it bears consid- 

 erable resemblance to that wood and is used for the same 

 purposes, that is, for cabinet-work and furniture in general, 

 and for the fittings of buildings, where the cost is not too great. 

 Where it is kept dry it is very durable. Naturally of a pleasing 

 red, it turns to a deeper and richer color with age, and some 

 trees have a beautiful grain. In a recent number of the Agri- 

 ciilticral Gazette, published at Sydney, interesting particulars 

 are given in regard to the establishment of forest-preserves of 

 this timber, and it is gratifying to learn that even in this new 

 country extensive plantations of young Cedar are being made 

 every year and are flourishing finely. 



Herbaria were a part of the exhibits on the dome gal- 

 lery of the Horticultural Building. Most of the plants were 

 mounted upon sheets, secured in swing frames, like pictures, 

 being covered with glass. A herbarium representing Colo- 

 rado plants, by Mrs. S. B. Walker, one showing the Oregon 

 flora, a very large exliibit of Missouri plants by Frank Bush, a 

 Kentucky display, a private collection by Nettie Palmer, Edison 

 Park, Illinois, and a series of excellent sketches and water- 

 colors of the plants of Warren County, Kentucky, by Miss 

 Sadie F. Price, were all hung in this fashion. Montana had a 

 large exhibit of plants in portfoHos, made by Dr. F. D. Kelsey, 

 and there was a small portfolio collection from Wisconsin. 

 A small private collection of Montana plants was shown by 

 Mrs. Lydia A. Fitch, of Sheridan, Montana, and a very inter- 

 esting and valuable cabinet display of the fleshy and economic 

 fungi of New York was made by Dr. C. H. Peck. 



The flower-shows held in several cities last week amply 

 proved by their attendance that there is no falling off of interest 

 in Chrysanthemums ; and they showed, too, that there is really 

 little danger that the time will soon come when growers will 

 cease to find fresh attractions in these flowers. Every year we 

 have new tints or new combinafions of tints and variations in 

 form, which keep up the interest, and every year growers 

 learn how to do them better and better. In Chicago the exhi- 

 bitions came from twenty-one different states, covering an 

 area from the Atlanfic to the Pacific and from Canada to New 

 Orleans. In Philadelphia and Boston the plants were better 

 than were ever seen before, and the prize-winning group in 



Boston had the merit of a harmonious general appearance, 

 owing to a skillful selection and arrangement of colors. In this 

 city no former exhibition has ever approached the one just 

 held in the general excellence of its cut flowers and in the 

 orderly and systematic arrangement of the exhibits. 



In a late number of the A7nerican Agriculturist Mr. Joseph 

 F. James, of the United States Department of Agriculture, 

 gives an account of some investigations which were originally 

 undertaken to ascertain the life-history of the organism which 

 caused Pear-blight. Having ascertained that when insects 

 were excluded from the Pear-flowers the blight was prevented, 

 it was manifest that the disease-germs were carried from one 

 flower to another. This led to the further discovery that 

 in some varieties of Pears, when insects were excluded, the 

 blossoms did not set fruit, and further attempts at fertilization 

 were made with pollen taken from the same flower, from 

 another flower of the same cluster, from a different flower on 

 the same branch, from another tree of the same pomological 

 variety, and from a tree of a different variety. The result was 

 that when Bartlett pollen, whether from the same flower, a 

 different flower, a different branch, or a different tree, was 

 applied to the pistil of Bartlett-flowers no fruit was produced, 

 but when pollen from a different variety was placed on the 

 pistil of the Bartlett-flower fruit grew well formed. The va- 

 rieties Anjou and Winter Nelis were also found to be inca- 

 pable of self-fertilization, although they produced fruit when 

 crossed with Bartlett pollen, and the Bartlett fruited when 

 crossed with their pollen. Mr. Waite, the special agent in 

 charge of the work, gives tentatively the following general 

 result of his investigation : (i) Most variefies of cultivated 

 Pears and Apples require cross-fertilization, that is, the trans- 

 fer of pollen from a different pomological variety for success- 

 ful fruitage ; (2) Bees and other insects perform the work 

 of cross-fertilization ; (3) The weather, at the time of flower- 

 ing, has an important influence on the visit of bees and in- 

 sects, and through these upon the setting of fruits. Some va- 

 rieties of Pears are self-fertile, and these can be planted in 

 large blocks without other varieties ; but solid blocks of varie- 

 ties known to be wholly or partially self-sterile should not 

 be planted without introducing kinds known to be active 

 fertilizers. Of course, care should be exercised to select trees 

 for their pollen which blossom at the same time as the self- 

 sterile varieties. 



Grapes, at this season, give the note to the fruit-market, and 

 while the supply from New York state is not as heavy as dur- 

 ing recent weeks, it is plentiful, and prices are the same as a 

 week ago. Selected Delawares are sold at the rate of six cents 

 a pound, and Concords at three cents, most of the fruit com- 

 ing now in five-pound baskets. California grapes in some 

 secfions of the city are even more commonly seen than the 

 native fruit, and a good quality of Flame Tokays and Corni- 

 chons are as low as eight cents a pound, while Muscats are 

 six cents ; the choicest fruit of these varieties sell at from 

 twelve to fifteen cents in the fancy-fruit stores. Malaga grapes 

 are offered on the street-stands at ten cents a pound, the 

 largest and best-flavored bringing twenty-five cents in the 

 stores. Baldwin apples of high quality bring from thirty to 

 fifty cents a dozen, and King apples the same price. A small 

 supply of Newtown pippins is eagerly bought up by those 

 who appreciate the qualities of this apple, and these bring 

 seventy-five cents to a dollar a dozen. They come from Long 

 Island and Virginia, and while the southern fruit is larger and 

 more showy, the dealers here contend that the apples grown 

 at the north excel in flavor and carry better. But few of these 

 apples find a market at home, fruit of a mellow quality being 

 more in favor here. The greater part of the crop is exported 

 to England, where these pippins are especially esteemed, not 

 only for their flavor, but for their crispness, and those of 

 medium and small size are considered the most desirable 

 for use as dessert. A wide choice of pears is offered, the 

 large, highly colored Clairgeau being the most attractive, and 

 the Comice the best-flavored of all. Bosc and Winter Nelis 

 range from thirty cents to a dollar a dozen, and Seckel pears 

 from the New England states are forty to seventy-five cents. 

 New hand-picked figs are thirty cents a pound, and Fard dates 

 fifteen cents. Mandarin oranges, which are now beginning to 

 come from Florida fairly ripened, are forty cents a dozen ; 

 large Navel oranges from the same state are a dollar a 

 dozen, and pineapples are thirty-five cents apiece. The car- 

 goes of bananas now arriving are light, but the supply on hand 

 is large, and wholesale prices for this fruit are lower than they 

 have been for some months. Winter berries are fifteen cents 

 a pint, and large, firm, dark-colored Cape Cod cranberries at 

 ten cents a quatt sell briskly since cooler weather has set in. 



