January 22, 1890.] 



Garden and Forest. 



47 



to take the liberty of suggesting that he should not be content 

 with growling if he really cares for the trees. 



I presume that the trees in question belong to the city — 

 that is, to the citizens of Providence, subject to the con- 

 trol of the city authorities for the benefit of the citizens. 

 Should the trees happen to be on private property, and free 

 from municipal control, the matter would be simpler. The 

 guilty party is, presumably, a corporation, and even if its 

 officers are deaf to the appeals of reason, they cannot be so 

 to the commands of law. The use of the city's shade trees as 

 telegraph-poles is so manifestly contrary to the interests of 

 the citizens that if Professor Bailey consults a lawyer he may, 

 perhaps, find that he is not without legal remedies after all. 

 To make use of them, however, would require some money, 

 the ultimate co-operation of the authorities, and a sufficient 

 public opinion to sustain the movement. 



The latter requisite, if obtained, would bring the others 

 with it, and hence is the first to be secured. If no citizens' 

 association to prevent municipal abuses already exists, Pro- 

 fessor Bailey and his sympathizers would have to start the 

 movement themselves. Providence is reputed to be a city 

 of intelligence and wealth (although the only Rhode Island 

 member of the American Forestry Association does happen 

 to reside in Newport), but it is impossible that all the men and 

 women care only for the profits of this telegraph company, 

 and nothing for the trees. Let the tree-lovers organize, 

 secure the co-operation of the local press if possible, appeal 

 to all intelligent men and women (especially the latter), 

 develop public opinion, raise funds for agitation and litigation, 

 and then go before the authorities. If the company has such 

 a " pull " on them that they will not order the wires off the 

 trees, perhaps they may be legally compelled so to order, or 

 the matter may be made a test at the next local election. I 

 believe Rhode Island has adopted the Australian ballot, 

 which facilitates independent nominations, and if so the tree- 

 reformers can run their own men very easily. If Professor 

 Bailey and his friends are too busy to do all this personally, 

 let them get the students in botany to organize for the work. 

 If the students have no enthusiasm for the trees, the lectures 

 they have listened to have been worse than useless. Then 

 there are the students of constitutional history, of political 

 economy and of law. One good object lesson in the ins and 

 outs of local politics, and the acquisition of corporate privileges 

 would be worth months of reading and lectures. 



But all this to save a few trees ? Well, what did Professor 

 Bailey's growl mean, if not that his rights and privileges had 

 been attacked as well as the trees ? Though in this, as in 

 countless other things, that great indictment of popular gov- 

 ernment holds good, " What is every one's business is no 

 one's business," are not the rights of the citizen always 

 worth defending ? Unless Professor Bailey is as ready, to the 

 full extent of his power, to save the trees as the company is 

 to injure them, I fear his growl will be fruitless. 



Philadelphia. Charles C. Binncy. 



Cor. Sec. American Forestry Association. 



The Christmas Rose. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — For more than thirty years I have had a Christmas 

 Rose, Helleborns niger, in my flower-border, and it always 

 gives me blossoms for Christmas day. This year, owing to 

 the mild season, it blossomed earlier than usual, about the 

 1st of November, and it is still flowering on the fifteenth of 

 January. 



The merits of the plant are : (1) That it gives flowers when 

 other plants are out of bloom ; (2) the cut flowers keep fresh 

 in water for nearly a week ; (3) it needs no particular care or 

 cultivation. My plant has been in the same place thirty or 

 more years. If we have a very cold night or day I cover it 

 with a box, but I give it no protection at other times. 



I write this with the impression that the Christmas Rose is 

 but sparingly cultivated about Boston, and with the hope that 

 others in this region may be led to make trial of a plant 

 which will give them great satisfaction. 



Brookhne, Mass. T. E. Francis. 



Verbenas, Scarlet Geraniums, showing buds on new growth 

 made since November, Strawberries in bloom and fruit, 

 Sweet Alyssum, Drummond's Phlox, China Pinks and 

 Carnations, Wallflowers, Jasminian midiflorum, and perhaps 

 other things I have not noticed. Madeira Vines have grown 

 three feet high, and Lilium candidum flower-stalks a foot high. 

 A Marshal Niel Rose clambering over my front porch has at 

 least 500 buds on it, and a large Banksia Rose on a trellis near 

 by is forming buds. Strange to say, none of our Peach-trees 

 have bloomed, but in Anson County, on the South Carolina 

 line, Peaches are as large as nutmegs, and winter Oats and 

 Rye are in full head. Many Peas and early Potatoes have been 

 planted, and change now to freezing weather would be disas- 

 trous indeed; yet we can hardly hope to escape altogether. 



Agricultural College, Raleigh, N. C. W. F. MaSSey. 



The Mild Winter. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — It may be worth while to give a list of plants in bloom 

 in the open ground and in mid-January at Raleigh: Japan 

 Quince, Spiraeas of several sorts, Tea and China Roses, Hya- 

 cinths, Tulips, Narcissus in variety, Ksempfer's Iris, Petunias, 

 Violets and Pansies, Bellis perennis, perennial Candytuft, 



Periodical Literature. 



T'HE following account of the Spath nursery at Rixdorf, near 

 -*■ Berlin, is condensed from a recent issue of the Garten- 

 flora. This nursery, which is one of the largest and best 

 equipped in Europe, is remarkable for the new plants it has 

 introduced, especially those from Persia and central Asia. It 

 covers about 600 acres, and is divided into nine departments 

 devoted to different classes of plants, each department being 

 under the control of a head-gardener who shares in the profits 

 of his department. Between 300 and 350 workmen are em- 

 ployed, many of whom have been in the nursery since its 

 establishment, a quarter of a century ago. Their devotion and 

 skill are shown in the fact that, in spite of its great extent, there 

 is not a nursery in the world so absolutely free from weeds. 

 The same care and intelligence are shown in the offices, where 

 an exact and separate record is kept of each department, em- 

 bracing not only the moneys expended and received, but the 

 plantations made, the development of the plants, and every 

 other detail which can serve to throw light upon the business. 

 It is said that 6,000 species and varieties of trees and shrubs 

 are cultivated, exclusive of about 1,000 kinds of Roses and 600 

 varieties of fruits ; but this estimate is probably an exaggerated 

 one. It is interesting to know that nine of the ten plants sent 

 out from the nursery for the first time this year had been ob- 

 tained from the Arnold Arboretum. A large number of new 

 varieties have originated in the Spath nursery since its estab- 

 lishment, and among them are several novel forms of Ameri- 

 can trees, such as Tilia Americana Moltkei, and a silver leaved 

 Occidental Plane. Spath's golden-leaved Dogwood is now well 

 known as one of the best plants of its class in cultivation ; 

 and several of the best forms of the common garden Lilac 

 originated at Rixdorf. 



The following figures give some idea of the extent of the 

 business : Between 500,000 and 600,000 plants are grafted in 

 the course of the year. About 4,000,000 seedlings are grown 

 and 15,000,000 cuttings are struck, besides 75,000 cuttings of 

 conifers ; 50,000 conifers are grafted, too, annually. Nearly 

 2,500,000 ornamental plants are available for the annual sales, 

 beside a quarter of a million standard fruit trees. 



All the roads that lead out from the city toward the nursery 

 are planted with interesting avenue-trees, often of uncommon 

 varieties, as, for example, Popnlus Bolleanea, Pterocarya Cau- 

 casica, and Paul's new Scarlet Double Thorn. 



What may be called the Dendrological Museum or Arbore- 

 tum proper is, perhaps, the most attractive part of the 

 nursery to the non-commercial visitor. It is, of course, too 

 small to allow the plants room for free development, but 

 the arrangement in groups, by families, allows ready and satis- 

 factory comparison of the different species and varieties in 

 their young state and greatly facilitates the choice of plants 

 grown in the nursery. The specimens in this special collec- 

 tion are plainly and generally accurately labeled with porcelain 

 labels on which the names are printed in clear, bold-faced let- 

 ters. There is a collection of standard Apples, and of Peats 

 worked both on Pear and Quince-stock, and one of the long 

 alleys through the nursery is bordered with selected speci- 

 mens of ornamental trees, containing many with colored foli- 

 age. 



The soil of the nursery is well suited to the cultivation of 

 Hyacinths, Tulips and Lilies, as the whole area east of Berlin 

 is composed of sand, with a subsoil similar to the famous 

 bulb-growing districts of Holland. A large area is devoted to 

 the cultivation of Lilies-of-the-Valley, principally for the 

 American market. Lilies of many sorts grow in the nursery 

 more vigorously and continuously than in almost any other 

 part of Europe. 



Herr Spath comes of a family of gardeners, his ancestors 

 having been well known in the Berlin trade during the last two 



