N0VEMBER~29, 1893.] 



Garden and Forest. 



495 



and one at least forms extensive forests. The great forest, 

 which covers the Nikko Mountains at an altitude of more 

 than five thousand feet above the ocean, is composed 

 almost entirely of the northern Hemlock, Tsuga diver- 

 sifolia, which is distinguished by its bright red bark and 

 by its small leaves and cones. This i-Iemlock forest, 

 which is the only forest in Hondo which seems to have 

 been left practically undisturbed by man, is the most beau- 

 tiful which we saw in Japan. The trees grow to a great 

 size, and while they stand close together are less crowded 

 than the trees in an American Hemlock forest under which 

 no other plants can grow, and light enough reaches the 

 forest floor to permit the growth of Ferns, Mosses and 

 many flowering under-shrubs which clothe the rocky 

 slopes up which this forest stretches. One of the most 

 beautiful spots which we saw in Japan is the walk cut 

 through this forest which follows along the shores of Lake 



our native species, which it surpasses in its more graceful 

 habit, and in its broader and darker-colored leaves. 



C. S. S. 



Cultural Department. 



Does Mulching Retard the Ripening of Fruits? 



IT has often been recommended to cover the ground about 

 Peach-trees with a heavy mulch in winter for the purpose 

 of delaying the blossoms which might otlierwise be cauglit by 

 early frosts. The theory seems to have been that if the ground 

 is kept cool and the roots dormant no nutriment will be fur- 

 nished for the development of flowers and early leaves. It is 

 a well-known fact, however, that wiien the brancii of a Rose- 

 bush or an Apple-tree is let into a warm room through the 

 window the buds will start in a few days, even though the 

 ground outside is frozen hard and the temperature is down to 

 zero. This would seem to prove that the starting of any tree 



F'S- 73-— -A. view in the Forest of HemlocU (Tsuga diversifulia) in the Nikko Mountains, Japan. — See page 493. 



Umoto, and we are fortunate in being able to reproduce 

 here a photograph of this spot, for which we are in- 

 debted to Professor Mayr, of Munich, who, during an 

 official residence of several years in Japan, explored 

 the forests of all parts of the empire more thoroughly 

 than any other foreigner. We found Tsuga diversifolia in 

 scattered groups on the rocky cliffs of Mount Hakkoda, in 

 the extreme north of Hondo, the most northern station 

 which has been recorded for this tree, which is still to be 

 introduced into our gardens ; but, south of Nikko, it was 

 replaced by the second species, Tsuga Tsuga, which we 

 saw in great beauty on Koma-ga-take, where, however, it 

 does not form a continuous forest, but is scattered in 

 groves of considerable extent among deciduous trees and 

 Pinus densiflora. It is this southern species which is cul- 

 tivated in our gardens, where it appears to be as hardy as 



depends upon the temperature of the air about the buds rather 

 than of the ground about the roots, and, indeed, it is well 

 known that trees store up in their branches every year material 

 which is to be used for the growth of the new buds in early 

 spring, just as starchy matters are stored up in bulbs one year 

 for tiie production of flowers in the next. An illustration of 

 this fact is often given by cutting twigs from early-flowering 

 shrubs or trees in the winter and placing them in vases of 

 water, when they will often flower if kept at the proper tem- 

 perature. Nevertheless, the discovery of any method of de- 

 laying the flowering season would be of value by preventing 

 the danger from late spring frosts, which kill the fruit-blos- 

 soms, and by enabling commercial fruit-growers to market 

 their products when there is less competition than usual, and 

 as the chief competition in the middle states comes from the 

 south, the delay of a fortnight in ripening a crop might mean 

 a considerable addition to its price. 

 With these facts in view, the Experiment Station at Cornell 



