iNlARCH 5, 189O.] 



Garden and Forest. 



109 



GARDEN AND FOREST. 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO. 



Officr : Tribune Building, New York. 







. Professor C. S. 



Sargf. 



NT. 











ENTERED AS 



SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW 



YORK, 



N. Y. 



NEW 



YORK, 



WEDNESDAY, 



MARCH 5, 



I89O. 





TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 



Editorial Articles:— Wasted Effort in Forest-Reform. — How to Save the 



Waverly Oaks. — The Bursting of the Walnut Grove Dam 109 



The Art of Gardening.— An Historical Sketch. XVIII.— The Mahome- 

 tans in Persia Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer. 1 10 



Holiday Notes in Southern France and Northern Italy. — XII. 



{jeorge Nicholson, in 



Foreign Correspondence:— -London Letter IV. Watson. 111 



Hypericum Kalmiamun. (With figure.) 112 



New or Little Known Plants: — A Giant African Aloe, A. Bainesii. (Illus- 

 trated.) W. Watson 112 



Cattleya Iabiata Warscewiczii, Autumn-Flowering R. A. Rolfe. 114 



Cultural Department :— The Watermelon .... Robert P. Harris, M.D. 114 



Reinwardtias M. Barker. 114 



Orchard Experiences. — II T. II. Hoskins, M.D, 116 



Seed Growing. — Doronicum Harper Crewe % N. Gerard. 116 



CoRRESroNDENCE: — The Uses and Claims of Forestry Associations. 



Chas. C. Binney. 116 



A Gardener's Problem (Illustrated) F. W. Burbidge. 117 



The Waverly Oaks Charles Eliot. 1 17 



Orchids in Brooklyn A. Dimmock. nS 



Periodical Literature 118 



Notes 120 



Illustrations :— Hypericum Kalmianum, Fig. 24 113 



A Giant African Aloe, A. Bainesii, Fig. 25 115 



Diagram showing Nepenthes zone 117 



Wasted Effort in Forest-Reform. 



IN a letter which will be found on another page of this 

 issue, Mr. Binney states that much effort toward forest- 

 reform has been wasted. By this he means that if the desul- 

 tory, volunteer work of all persons who have attempted in 

 their own individual way to put some check upon the useless 

 destruction of forests had been organized and concentrated, 

 much more would have been accomplished than has been 

 gained up to the present time. It is true also that organization 

 not only makes work effective, but what is of still greater im- 

 portance, it offers opportunity for work to many willing per- 

 sons who otherwise could find nothing to do. At the present 

 time there are several bills before Congress, each of which 

 is honestly intended to protect and preserve the forests on 

 the public domain. Senator Sherman, for example, has 

 offered one which calls for a commission, consisting of 

 the Chief Engineer of the Army, the Chief Signal Officer, 

 the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the 

 Smithsonian Institute, to assume a certain control over 

 the public forests, and Senator Hale has introduced another 

 measure similar to the one advocated two years ago by 

 tire Forestry Congress. Mr. Dunnell has charge of a third, 

 of which we have before spoken. There is little doubt 

 that if the authors of all these bills and the forces which 

 are behind them should unite upon some common policy, 

 the chances of success would be much greater than are the 

 chances for either measure now. 



The efforts of the men who show an interest in the 

 Adirondack forests are even more divided and scattering. 

 The Forest Commission has certain bills of its own to pass. 

 The Governor writes a special message recommending a 

 State Park, which project is condemned by the committee 

 to whom it is referred. The Speaker of the House presents 

 another bill for an Adirondack Park, and certain physicians 

 of this city have organized still another scheme for a sani- 

 tarium, which they propose to push forward without regard 

 to any other interests. Unfortunately there is a suspicion 

 that more than one of these schemes is only patriotic on its 

 face, and the appearance of public spirit is only a disguise 

 to conceal selfish purposes. It is rumored that behind one 

 large park scheme stands a great iron-master, who has 

 stripped the timber from thousands of acres, and now that 



the land is no longer useful for his purpose, he is eager to 

 sell it to the state. Another Adirondack Park scheme is 

 conceived, according to the statement of one of its pro- 

 jectors, primarily for the diversion of a few, and not for the 

 health and happiness of the many. There can be no ques- 

 tion that if there was an active association of all the men 

 in the state who have an intelligent and unselfish interest 

 in preserving what is left of the North Woods — an associa- 

 tion with means to employ salaried agents to devote their 

 time to these questions and give the proper direction to 

 public opinion — the future of the Adirondacks wouldbe more 

 hopeful. As the case now is, reputable newspapers have 

 been betrayed into advocating measures which mean ruin 

 for the forest and robbery for the state. If sagacious men 

 were paid to look after the interests of the forests, in Albany 

 and elsewhere, just as other interests are cared for by trusts 

 and business unions of one sort or another, persons who 

 really desire to protect the forests could be warned, at 

 least, against advocating measures which have been framed 

 to defeat the very object which they pretend to promote. 



Now, it is very true that we have no guarantee that forest 

 associations will act wisely. They may fall under injudi- 

 cious management; they may try to accomplish impossi- 

 bilities or to secure even pernicious legislation. But, after 

 all, they must be judged as other human agencies are 

 judged, and if wise men are dissatisfied with their admin- 

 istration the true remedy is to secure a better executive force. 

 Certain it is that the approved modern way of carrying 

 on any reform is through men who are employed to devote 

 themselves to the business systematically and exclusively; 

 to use all legitimate means of instruction and influence 

 through the press, and at the Capitol; to watch over the 

 forests, if forest-reform is their object, with an interest as 

 vigilant, at least, as that which is exercised by those who 

 are organizing plans for their destruction. It is true that a 

 half dozen wealthy men might unite to employ such agents; 

 but the natural way, even for such men, is to work through 

 larger associations, adding their liberal contributions to the 

 mites of those who can afford to give no more. 



The state organizations are doing much indispensable 

 work, but we wish especially to state here our belief 

 that the National Forestry Association is worthy of the 

 confidence and support of those who are concerned about 

 the forests of the country. It has a definite object in view, 

 which is to secure the appointment of a properly equipped 

 Commission to examine the government forests and report 

 the best method to preserve and utilize them, insisting, 

 meanwhile, that all forest-land shall be withdrawn from 

 sale and entry until such method is adopted. This object 

 ought to commend itself to all thoughtful Americans, and 

 therefore, in our opinion, a large increase in the member- 

 ship of the Association is in every way desirable, both as a 

 means for raising funds and for the influence which comes 

 from the power of numbers. Aid extended to this Associa- 

 tion will not be effort wasted. 



Mr. Charles Eliot suggests in another column the forma- 

 tion of associations for the purpose of holding and protect- 

 ing for the public benefit pieces of ground like that covered 

 by the Waverly Oaks, of special beauty or of special 

 interest. Such an association, as we pointed out last year, 

 exists already in the town of Cassanovia, in this state, and 

 the beautiful falls of the Chittenango are preserved by its 

 efforts in all their wild picturesqueness. Spots of unusual 

 natural beauty, or of real historical interest, may still be 

 found near many of our cities, and there can be no doubt 

 that such places should be preserved for the people who 

 seem destined, in ever increasing numbers, to throng 

 American cities. The work of securing these bits of scen- 

 ery, as well as open spaces or play-grounds in what is still 

 the country, but which sooner or later will be covered 

 over with bricks and mortar, cannot be undertaken too 

 soon or pushed too energetically. Such pieces of ground 

 can often be secured now with a comparatively small out- 

 lay in money, and the necessary authority for holding 



