4 8 



Garden and Forest. 



[January 22, 1890. 



centuries. As long ago as 1758 they established themselves on 

 Copinger Strasse, and here there are still the town offices and 

 the city residence of the present proprietor. It is not surpris- 

 ing that, as it is now developed and organized, the Spath 

 nursery should attract many visitors from foreign lands as 

 well as from all parts of Germany, which has no more instruct- 

 ive dendrological collection. It may interest American trav- 

 elers to know that visitors are always welcomed by Herr 

 Spath, and that the nursery may be reached from Berlin 

 either by carriage or in a steamer to Neuer Krug or Borussia, 

 or by the tramway of the Ring-bahn to Rixdorf, whence an 

 easy half-hour's walk leads to the establishment. 



Notes. 



Newtown Peppins were sold in London on Holiday week 

 for $19.60 a barrel. 



The well-known Frangipanni essence is made from differ- 

 ent species of Plumeria (a genus belonging to the Dog-bane 

 family), which grow in the West Indies and certain parts of 

 South America, and especially from P. rubra, a native of 

 Jamaica. 



The ninth annual meeting of the American Horticultural 

 Society will be held in Austin, Texas, beginning on February 

 17th, and continuing for five days. An admirable programme 

 has been arranged, and the meeting promises to be one of 

 special interest. 



In the greenhouses of Messrs. C. Strauss & Company at 

 Washington, five acres of glass cover 80,000 Rose-bushes, of 

 which 20,000 are of the Wootton variety. All are grown ex- 

 clusively for cut flowers, and during the season from 10,000 to 

 25,000 buds are cut each day. 



It appears from a note in a recent issue of the Revue 

 Horticole that in the three months of July, August and Sep- 

 tember of last year no less than 1,192 cases, containing 

 700,000 bulbs were exported from Yokohama to the United 

 States and Europe. A large proportion of these bulbs were, 

 no doubt, Lillum auratum, which the Japanese grow as a field 

 crop. 



Some days before the close of the year the amount of rain- 

 fall for 1889 was announced to have been 58.68 inches, a quan- 

 tity in excess by 3.34 inches of that recorded for any year since 

 1871, when the Signal Service Bureau first kept the record. 

 The largest monthly amount fell in November, 9.82 inches ; 

 but it is more unusual to find July next on the list, with 9.63 

 inches. 



The way in which foreign plants become " weeds," under 

 new and favorable conditions, is illustrated by the recent case 

 of Melilotus alba in our western states. Introduced a few years 

 ago as a garden-plant, it has spread so rapidly in the rich 

 bottom lands along the Missouri River that it is fast driving 

 out the Sunflower and other native weeds. It is commonly 

 called the *' Bokhara Clover." 



At a large dinner recently given in Washington, a space in 

 the centre of the table nearly forty feet long and eight feet 

 wide was sunk so that the 600 potted Ferns with which it was 

 filled rose but a short distance above the table-cloth, Innu- 

 merable little electric lamps were scattered under the Fern 

 fronds ; no other lights were used in the room, and the effect 

 is described as particularly charming. 



Although the first Chrysanthemum exhibition held in 

 Europe was held in Vienna in 1831, so little attention had re- 

 cently been bestowed upon the plant in that city that the show 

 organized last autumn was described as a " novelty." About 

 a thousand plants were shown in 1831, belonging to fifty-five 

 different kinds ; this year the same number of plants repre- 

 sented 400 varieties. The massing of the plants in a large 

 glass rotunda was described as very effective, but few indi- 

 viduals of great excellence were noted. 



A correspondent of the New York Sun writes from South 

 Carolina that a new value has been discovered in Hibiscus 

 esculentus, the plant which furnishes the vegetable called okra 

 or gumbo. Its stem furnishes a fibre which, like those of 

 Ramie and Jute, can be woven into textile fabrics. Moreover, 

 while in the other cases the fibrous and the woody elements 

 are mixed together in the stem and have to be separated by 

 hand, in Hibiscus the fibres form a central core surrounded 



by the wood. They may, therefore, be separated by ma- 

 chinery and, being long and extremely strong, will furnish an 

 excellent fabric at very small cost. 



So many reminders of the mild winter have been received 

 at this office that we have no space to notice all of them. 

 Very interesting was a photograph of a group of Christmas 

 Roses which came from Cazenovia, New York, to testify how 

 beautiful these flowers can be in mid-winter. We have re- 

 ceived branches of many shrubs with fully-expanded flowers, 

 and in a collection of this sort from the Meehan Nurseries at 

 Germantown, together with many which we have heretofore 

 noticed, were sprays of the Cornelian Cherry with the yellow 

 stamens showing through the opening buds, and the Tar- 

 tarian Honeysuckle with buds just opening. 



The November number of Macmillan's Magazine contained 

 an article by Mrs. Lecky on the " Gardens of Pompeii," which 

 may be of interest to our readers as drawing at greater length 

 upon the authorities quoted in the description of Roman gar- 

 dens that was published not long ago in our " History of the Art 

 of Gardening." The influence of the East on ancient European 

 gardening is especially emphasized, and it is asserted on good 

 authority that most of the gardeners of the Romans were 

 Orientals. " At the very time when Roman power and luxury 

 were in the ascendant, Italy was overrun with Semitic slaves. 

 . . ' . Their gentleness and patience, their peaceful, labo- 

 rious tastes, while rendering them unfit to be soldiers and 

 gladiators, eminently qualified them for domestic service, and 

 especially for the care required in tending plants." 



The grass known as " Lalang " (Imperata cylindrica) gives 

 the foresters of the Malay Peninsula more trouble than our 

 own prairie grasses give the tree planters of the west. This 

 Lalang is injurious by reason of its inflammability and because 

 it prevents any cultivation of the land covered by it, except at 

 great expense. Wherever land is allowed to run to waste it is 

 soon covered with this grass except where the soil is wet, or 

 sandy, or shaded by trees. The annual report of the Conser- 

 vator of Forests at Singapore refers at great length to this 

 plant, stating that it can be exterminated by chemicals, but 

 these are expensive and have an injurious effect upon the 

 trees planted in forest upon the land afterward. When trees 

 are large enough to throw a shade the Lalang quickly disap- 

 pears, and it cannot penetrate into forest glades if but a few 

 trees bar its progress. The gradual planting of bushes and 

 shade trees is recommended as the surest remedy for this 

 grass pest. 



The death of Peter Henderson removes a conspicuous figure 

 from American horticulture. At the great establishment on 

 Jersey City Heights, which he founded, the plants raised and 

 sold every year exceeded in number those produced at any 

 nursery in the world. His business as a seedsman was among 

 the most extensive in the country. He was the author of 

 many popular books, one of them, " Gardening for Profit," 

 having attained a circulation of 150,000 copies. Every year, 

 200,000 of his illustrated catalogues were sent throughout the 

 length and breadth of the country. He was a frequent con- 

 tributor to many journals devoted to agriculture and horticul- 

 ture, and a prominent place was always accorded to him at 

 the meetings of the Association of American Florists, and of 

 kindred societies, as well as in the business councils of his 

 associates in the trade. Altogether he was more widely 

 and familiarly known than any other man in connection with 

 the horticulture of the country. And few men have exerted 

 so marked an influence in his chosen field of activity. To 

 him more than to any other one are we indebted for many 

 improved processes in the production and distribution of 

 plants. He not only aided in this direction by his writings but 

 he exemplified his counsel in action, and a visit to his estab- 

 lishment was an object-lesson to all who wished to learn how 

 horticultural practice could be made more cheap, simple and 

 effective. Every square of glass and every foot of ground 

 was always occupied to the full limit of its productive capacity, 

 and every man was accomplishing all that was possible by 

 trained skill and thorough organization. Mr. Henderson's 

 alertness, enterprise and success as a business man was known 

 to all the world, but only to those who were admitted to a 

 closer intimacy was the genuine worth of his character fully 

 revealed. His integrity was beyond any shadow of suspicion, 

 his public spirit was universally recognized, his robust manli- 

 ness and force were admired by all who came in contact with 

 him, but the considerate kindliness of his disposition will bring 

 more tender memories to many a man who has received 

 from him prompt and generous assistance at precisely the 

 time when sympathy and help were needed. 



