12 



Garden and Forest. 



[January i, 1890. 



So great, indeed, is (heir danger, that Mr. Shaler considers the 

 soil problem " perhaps the most serious of all the physical dif- 

 ficulties which beset the future of man." What is needed now 

 is forest legislation, accompanied by a wise system of irriga- 

 tion. What will eventually be needed is legislation to regu- 

 late even agricultural processes as simple and apparently in- 

 nocuous as the annual overturning of the surface of a field by 

 the plow. We must husband our water, we must husband 

 our trees, and we must husband our precious layer of plant- 

 feeding earth if future generations are to be fed at all. The 

 great merit of the present book is that it shows not only the 

 necessity of each of these efforts, but the vital interdepend- 

 ence of each upon the others. 



Very charming reading is the passage (beginning on p. 268) 

 where a virgin forest is described, the text being that great 

 Appalachian forest of ours where "are still to be found, per- 

 haps, the finest areas of virgin woods of the deciduous type 

 that remain upon the earth ; " where the trees "are of exceed- 

 ing variety and man has as yet spared them the destruction 

 which he is soon to inflict." 



Except for the ill-drawn and ugly figure on the cover, the 

 "Aspects of the Earth " is an excellent piece of book-making, 

 and its illustrations are as illuminative as attractive. Mr. 

 Shaler is too modest when he says that from the point of view 

 of instruction they are the most valuable part of the volume ; 

 but they are worthy to accompany his text, and this is high 

 praise. We have felt it a duty as well as a pleasure to call at- 

 tention to a book which will interest every man who cares to 

 look at the world he lives in, and will wake the conscience of 

 all who feel they owe a duty to posterity. 



Notes. 



The original appropriation for parks and gardens, in con- 

 nection with the Paris Exhibition, was 3,082,654 francs, or 

 more than $600,000. 



According to the San Francisco Examiner, Mr. Adolph 

 Sutro is experimenting with Cinchona-trees on his estate on 

 the neighboring sea-coast. He hopes to acclimatize at least 

 some of the varieties from which quinine is produced; and if 

 so, will doubtless be more than repaid for his enterprise. 



We have received the July, August and September num- 

 bers of the Journal of the Japanese Horticultural Society. The 

 first contains an excellent colored plate of Eriobotrya Ja- 

 ponica, showing a large, distinctly pear-shaped fruit, a form 

 which does not occur on the plants cultivated usually in our 

 southern states. 



The prices recently quoted in the newspapers as asked for 

 Christmas-trees in New York refer to the down-town markets, 

 and give no real idea of those paid by purchasers up-town. 

 In the vicinity of Jefferson Market from $2 to $4 were asked 

 for good specimens not more than nine feet tall, and $25 were 

 demanded for the finest and largest trees, which reached 

 thirty-five or forty feet in height. 



Mr. Jackson Dawson observes that the fruit of Berberis 

 Thunbergii is much relished by quail, although the birds do 

 not eat the entire berry, but pick out the seeds only from their 

 scarlet covering. This suggests the idea that this Barberry 

 would be a good shrub to plant for game covers. The berries 

 remain on the bushes all winter, and they might make excel- 

 lent food in a season when little else could be found. 



A correspondent of the Journal des Roses recently re- 

 counted an experiment he had made to test the influence of 

 the stock on grafted Roses. Two lots of Roses, one grafted 

 on Rosa canina and the other on R. polyantha, were forced 

 under glass, both being treated in precisely the same manner. 

 The flowers which stood on R. polyantha came into bloom 

 two weeks earlier than the others and yielded twice as many 

 flowers. 



M. Von Volxem, the distinguished Belgian dendrologist, 

 referring, in a private note, to our article on Acanthopanax 

 ricinifolia, published on page 568 of volume ii., reports that 

 this tree is hardy in Belgium, but grows so slowly that his 

 plants are only a foot high at three years of age, in good soil; 

 another instance to be added to many already known of east 

 Asia deciduous plants growing better in eastern North Amer- 

 ica than in northern Europe. 



A noticeable feature of the Christmas flower trade in Bos- 

 ton was that large, showy flowers were not sought for. Har- 

 ris' Lilies and Callas found few buyers at any price, while 

 long-stemmed Carnations, particularly flowers of the Grace 



Wilder, were in great demand. The sales of "Christmas 

 green" were larger than usual, and among the various kinds 

 used there appeared limited quantities of the evergreen 

 Euonymus J aponicus in fruit. 



A Philadelphia correspondent writes that there is more 

 call for American Beauty Roses than ever before, but even at 

 high prices it is rarely a profitable variety to the grower. The 

 Wootton has not been able to displace it in popular favor; but 

 as the newer Rose is more profitable for growers, even at 

 lower prices, it will force its way in the market. The Duchess 

 of Albany, with its beautiful fresh color, is rapidly gaining 

 favor, and buyers are already inquiring for Madame Hoste. 

 Its delicate yellow shade and perfect shape recommend it to 

 every lover of Roses. 



The tops of young southern Pines (Pinus palustris), from 

 Georgia or Florida, were conspicuous objects in the shops of 

 New York florists last week. Stems of young, vigorous sap- 

 lings four or five feet long, with the terminal cluster of leaves, 

 are cut and stuck into flower pots filled with earth. As the 

 leaves remain fresh for a considerable time, the cut stem has 

 every appearance of a living plant. The long, bright green 

 leaves and the white scales of the large terminal bud, which 

 are peculiar to this tree, make the young plants ornamental 

 and attractive objects, well suited for the decoration of 

 churches, for which they are used principally in this city, or 

 other large buildings. 



The three Grand Prizes awarded at the Paris Exhibition for 

 information with regard to " Useful and Destructive Insects " 

 fell to Professor C. V. Riley and to the Agricultural Depart- 

 ments of the United States and Japan. Of the seven Grand 

 Prizes awarded in the Section of Agronomy and Agricultural 

 Statistics two fell to the United States Government and the 

 Ministry of Public Works of Mexico. No Grand Prize for wine 

 or viticulture was awarded to an American, but one firm in 

 the United States received this recompense for beer. Eight 

 such prizes were given for machines and processes connected 

 with work in farm and forest (Materiel etprocedes des exploita- 

 tions rurales et forestieres), and of these, two were gained by 

 Americans — by Walter A. Wood and the McCormicks. 



Dr. James C. White, of Harvard University, reports in the 

 Boston Medical and Surgical Journal an interesting case of 

 dermatitis venenata resulting from the use of the Garden Box. 

 The patient was a young woman suffering from an attack of 

 acute inflammation of the face, which was uniformly and 

 greatly swollen, presenting generally the appearance of Rhus 

 or Ivy poisoning. She had, it appeared, made a decoction of 

 Garden Box and applied it to her scalp for the purpose of pre- 

 venting her hair from falling out, and the liquid had run 

 down over the face, which she had subsequently washed with 

 the rag used in applying the liquid to the scalp. The inflam- 

 mation, in spite of local treatment, had not disappeared at the 

 end of six or seven days from the time of the application. 

 Dr. White, who is a distinguished authority on dermatitis 

 venenata, remarks that this is the first case of poisoning by 

 Box which has come under his observation, although the 

 poisonous properties of the plant have been suspected for 

 many centuries, as it belongs to a family containing violent 

 and cutaneous irritants, such as croton oil, manchineel 

 stillingia, and the oils of Jathropha urens and Hura crepitans. 



The " flower festivals " of the Japanese are often referred 

 to without clear explanation of their number and character. 

 Five are annually celebrated. At the New Year's Feast, on 

 the first day of the first month, the chief plants used are Bam- 

 boos, Firs, Primus Mume and Adonis Amurensis. The first 

 two are set by the house-door, and the others are displayed in 

 the living-room. At the second, or "Girls' Festival," which is 

 held on the third day of the third month, Primus Persica is the 

 favorite plant. At the third, or " Boys' Festival," on the fifth 

 day of the fifth month, one sees chiefly the Shobu (Iris 

 IcBvigata) ; while at the fourth, or " Ladies' Festival," on the 

 seventh day of the seventh month, no flowers are favored, 

 but songs are written on bits of paper fastened to leafy stalks 

 of Bamboo and set on high in the garden. The last feast 

 occurs on the ninth day of the ninth month, and then the 

 Chrysanthemum is honored by old and young alike. These 

 various celebrations have always been held in accordance 

 with the dates of the old national calendar ; but now that the 

 Gregorian calendar has been introduced, it is found difficult 

 to procure the proper plants on the proper day. The great 

 imperial feast in honor of the Chrysanthemum has no special 

 time set for it, but is held whenever the flowers in the Em- 

 peror's garden are in most perfect condition. 



