526 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 304. 



leptolepis. It is a fine tree, seventy or eighty feet tall, 

 with pale green foliage and massive trunks covered with 

 reddish bark, and in habit not unlike the European species. 

 The Japanese Larch is not rare at elevations of from 5,000 

 to 6,000 feet in the central part of the island, although we 

 saw it nowhere growing in continuous forests, but always 

 scattered in small groves, mixed with other deciduous trees. 

 Larix leptolepis was introduced into American gardens 

 many years ago ; it grows in this country with great 

 rapidity, and the oldest trees here have for many years pro- 

 duced abundant crops of seed. The wood, like that of 

 other Larch-trees, is hard, heavy and strong. The trees, 

 however, are so difficult to reach that it is little used in 

 Japan, except for the timbers of mountain mines. 



Maximowicz describes a variety of this species, var. 

 Murrayana (Larix Japonica, Murray), which grows as a 

 low shrub near the timber-line of Fugi-san ; and my com- 

 panion, Mr. Codman, made a special trip late in the 

 autumn for the purpose of securing specimens and seeds 

 of this plant. In this he was successful, but his specimens 

 gathered from plants only a few feet high, growing at an 

 elevation of 8,500 feet above the sea-level, only differ from 

 those of the common arborescent form in the smaller size 

 of the cones and in the shorter leaves. 



A variety of Larix Dahurica, a species widely distributed 

 through Siberia, northern China, Manchuria, Kamtschatka 

 and Saghalin, reaches the extreme northern part of Yezo 

 and the Kurile Islands. This form has been called var. 

 Japonica by Maximowicz, and by Mayr Larix Kurilensis. 

 We were not fortunate enough to see this tree in its native 

 forests, but some idea of its appearance as it grows in the 

 island of Iturup can be obtained from the illustration on 

 page 525 of this issue, which is produced from a photo- 

 graph for which I am indebted to Dr. Mayr, who visited the 

 Kurile Islands during his residence in Japan. 



The other arborescent plants of Japan, Cycas revoluta, a 

 favorite garden-plant, especially in the south, where it 

 often grows to a great size, and Trachycarpus (or Chamee- 

 rops) excelsa, naturalized in some parts of the south, ap- 

 pear to have been introduced from the Loochu or other 

 southern islands, or from Formosa or southern China. 



C. S. S. 



Cultural Department. 



Plums for the Cold North. 



VERY few of the Plums of west European origin or descent 

 will endure the extreme winter's cold of our northern bor- 

 der and Canada. In sheltered gardens of the city of Montreal 

 Plums are successfully grown, and quite a number of good 

 varieties, some of which have a place in our pomological 

 treatises, were originated there. On the island of Orleans, be- 

 low Quebec, large quantities of small blue and white plums of 

 the European species are grown quite abundantly, and are 

 seen in their season in market along the St. Lawrence. But all 

 these varieties, even tfie hardiest, fail in the hill country to the 

 south of the St. Lawrence, which marks the water-shed be- 

 tween the St. Lawrence and the Connecticut valley. 



About many farm-houses on both sides of the international 

 boundary are to be seen trees and thickets of the wild red and 

 yellow Plums of our woodlands. They rarely appear in the 

 thick woods, and are most commonly found along the streams. 

 Where the country has been partially opened they are noticed 

 to some extent along the edges of the forests, and even by the 

 road-sides. Still it may be said that they are not abundant; 

 and it was only after a good deal of searching that I have been 

 able to find them absolutely wild. Such as I have found, 

 though the trees were very productive and the fruit of fair size, 

 were of a most austere flavor, with thin flesh over the seed, 

 yet here and there specimens of better quality are found, and 

 most farm-houses have a few such trees about them. As a 

 rule, these have a strong tendency to throw up shoots from 

 the root, so that, unless carefully pruned and trimmed out, the 

 stems are crowded, and the fruit is much smaller and not so 

 good as where single trees are planted at uniform distances 

 and properly pruned. A few of these wildlings have been 

 found that deserve to be propagated, not only for culinary use, 

 but for eating from the tree ; and these, when given garden- 



culture, often surprise one, both by their profuse bearing and 

 good quality. It is evident that by care in growing seedlings, 

 and selection over a series of years, a great improvement 

 might be obtained, but farmers generally pay little attention to 

 such matters. They are rarely much interested in things re- 

 quiring care and continued attention, still they are not all so ; 

 and with pains a considerable number of pretty good varieties 

 may be picked up among them, and as these all have the 

 merit of hardiness against cold, they have a decided value, as 

 the fruit sells readily in the village stores. 



Of late we have been receiving from the north-western states 

 a considerable number of selected varieties ot the wild Plums 

 of that section, which seem to take kindly to our soil and cli- 

 mate, but as yet they appear to lack productiveness. I think 

 that it may be said that all these native Plums do best in a 

 moistersoil than they are likely to find in cultivated gardens. 

 Tfiey also need to be grown in groups of different varieties in 

 order to a more successful pollination. 



Among the recognized varieties of the old European species 

 of Plums I have never found any that would endure the win- 

 ters of north-eastern Vermont except two seedlings — one native, 

 which I found on a farmer's garden on Lake Memphremagog, 

 and another, originating in Aroostook County, Maine, and 

 known as Mooer's Arctic. The origin of the first cannot be 

 traced ; but Mooer's Arctic is stated by the originator to have 

 been grown from a seed of a blue plum ot medium size 

 bought at a street-stand in Boston. It seems to me pretty cer- 

 tain that this must have been the Lombard, which is the only 

 variety so sold to any great extent ; it is reproduced, though 

 of reduced size, in this new variety. 



The two varieties above referred to are much alike in size 

 and quality; but the Arctic, a much earlier and a more pro- 

 fuse bearer. In quality it is much like its parent, and has 

 proved profitable as a market variety. Indeed, Mooer's Arc- 

 tic has the fault of overbearing, to the extent of so weakening 

 the vitality of the tree as to cause it to be winter-killed by a 

 temperature which would not injure it when not fruiting so 

 heavily. 



It has been lately found that any early-bearing variety of 

 Plums can be grown successfully, even if not hardy in our 

 climate, simply by bending down the trees in the fall and cov- 

 ering them with earth. This can be more easily done with 

 dwarfish kinds ; and in the province of New Brunswick large 

 quantities of the Arctic are so produced, to be shipped to city 

 markets. The trees are pruned flat, or "fan fashion," so that 

 the branches may lie close to the ground and require little 

 covering ; or, in fact, none, when set upon the south side of a 

 tight fence, which causes the snow to drift deeply over them. 

 While by these methods we are relieved, in the cold north, 

 from an entire destitution in regard to Plums, I am satisfied 

 that a more satisfactory resource will be found in the large 

 variety of Russian Plums, which have been imported, mainly, 

 through Professor Budd, of the Iowa Agricultural College. I 

 have a young orchard of some dozen or more varieties of these 

 Russian Plums, which show themselves to be quite indepen- 

 dent of our severe winter climate. They grow vigorously, and 

 are beginning to produce fruit which seems to be not inferior 

 to an equal number of our older and well-known varieties. They 

 have all the variety of size, color and quality that marks our 

 older sorts, imported from England, France and Germany, or 

 their American seedlings. For all these Russian fruits — Ap- 

 ples, Pears, Plums and Cherries — we need time to discover 

 their peculiarities and study their needs. But they do not as 

 yet appear to be greatly different, except in resisting power 

 against low temperatures, from those we already have. The 

 most marked trait noticeable, as yet, is their thrifty growth 

 and a disposition to early and abundant fruitage. 



Orleans Co., Vt. T. H. HoskhlS. 



Small Greenhouses. 



"VT OW that the frosts of December have made the outdoor 

 -'•^ garden mostly a study in sepias, consolation is found in 

 the genial temperature of the greenhouse, and I wish to make 

 a plea to flower fanciers and owners of small places to have 

 one of these, no matter how unpretentious. While there is 

 now not one greenhouse to a thousand gardens, this impor- 

 tant adjunct would often be added if it were generally known 

 that a small house is not an expensive structure, and that the 

 maintenance is a trifle quite within the means of limited 

 purses. Modest things are the most that many of us can com- 

 pass in this world, and to wait for ideal things is simply to be 

 ever without them. Granting that a greenhouse is desired, the 

 most practical plan is to go ahead and build one, taking heed 

 it shall not be a burden either in the first cost, or so extensive 



