140 



Garden and Forest. 



[March 19, 1890 



Vegetation in Southern Alabama. 



THE first frost of the last winter appeared here on the 26th 

 of November, and two lighter ones followed on the first 

 two days of December. These chilly mornings scorched the 

 foliage of tender tropical plants which were yet unhoused, but 

 the vitality of the stems remained unimpaired. The Cestrums, 

 Brugmansias, Hibiscus, Lantanasand Abutilons soon recovered 

 and continued to bloom. Bananas, Caladiums, Hedychiums 

 and Cannas quickly threw out new leaves, and now, on the first 

 of March, are clothed with fresh young foliage. Aloes, Dra- 

 csenas, tender Yuccas, Palms, Cycas revolnta and the various 

 Cactuses are thriving luxuriantly in the open air, while Gera- 

 niums, Begonias, Amaryllis and a few tender Amazon Lilies 

 {Eucharis Aniazonica) have been flowering all winter long. 

 Those exotic woody plants regarded as hardy here never 

 showed greater luxuriance. The Camellias produced a re- 

 markably abundant crop of flowers. The hybrid Azaleas have 

 been blooming now for nearly three months. Chinese Mag- 

 nolias, Forsythias, Siberian Honeysuckles, Photinia serrata, 

 I.aurestinus and Daphne, with the Dutch bulbs, began to 

 bloom on the first week of the new year and were quickly 

 succeeded by Magnolia fuscata, Wistaria, and a prof usion of 

 Tea Roses, like Marechal Neil, Lamarck, Malmaison, Cloth 

 of Gold, Sombreuil, and that everlasting bloomer, Archduke 

 Charles, not to speak of the variety of herbaceous annuals and 

 perennials which are now more than five weeks in advance of 

 ordinary seasons. 



In the last half of February car loads of Cabbages of the 

 finest quality were shipped to northern markets. Irish Pota- 

 toes are now eight inches above ground, and the earliest varie- 

 ties already show signs of bloom, and Strawberries are abun- 

 dant. No one has ever seen the Japanese Medlars (Eriobolrya 

 Japonica) bending under heavier loads of fruit, and no object 

 could be more attractive to the eye than these trees now are 

 with their golden fruits nestling among the dark green foliage. 

 This tree is a prime favorite on the Gulf Coast, where, in warm, 

 light loam, it finds a suitable soil and proves perfectly hardy. 

 Seedlings spring up wherever the seed is accidentally dropped 

 in raw soil, and such volunteers grow vigorously without cul- 

 tivation and can be transplanted at almost any time of the year. 

 The fragrant flowers of this tree open late in October and last 

 nearly a month, and it is only in winters when there are long- 

 periods of cold, wet weather that it fails to produce fruit. The 

 juice of the Medlar has a mild acid taste and an agreeable 

 flavor, but it is not regarded as suitable for transportation to 

 distant markets. It is my experience, however, that clusters 

 freed from all defective fruit and packed in sawdust will carry 

 without injury. 



For the first time in ten years the Sweet Orange gives 

 promise by its profusion of bloom of a full crop. The trees 

 now coming into bearing are mainly those which sprouted 

 from trees cut down by the freezing weather in the winter of 

 1880-81. During the decade preceding the one just passed 

 the orange crop was looked upon as the most remunerative 

 one which could be grown in localities suitable for it. Some 

 groves of small extent, on the shores of Mobile Bay, yielded 

 an income of many thousand dollars a year, and therefore the 

 cultivation of the Orange up to the disastrous winter was 

 actively carried on. The fruit produced here, the Creole 

 Orange of Louisiana and Mississippi Sound, leaves little to be 

 desired in quality. Large, thin skinned, fair, finely colored, 

 rich in flavor, with tender flesh and abundant juice which 

 blends acidity with sweetness, all these qualities render it agree- 

 able to taste, and superior to the fruit from tropical coun- 

 tries. According to the testimony of old settlers the cultiva- 

 tion of the Orange must have been more successfully carried 

 on by the generation preceding the present than it now is. 

 The reason, perhaps, is that years of destructive cold appeared 

 at longer intervals. A frost in 1852 killed the orchards, as it 

 did in 1880. The plantations that started anew from sprouts 

 received a check during the winter of 1884, from which the 

 trees mostly recovered and yielded crops up to 1880. It is to 

 be hoped that since these freezing periods are so rare some 

 means may be devised for protecting the orchards on these 

 special occasions, now that we can be forewarned of the ad- 

 vance of cold waves by the Signal Office. 



Turning to the woodlands, we find the deciduous trees and 

 those with half persistent foliage, like the entire leaved Oaks, 

 rapidly unfolding their leaves. The Cuban Pine has already 

 shed its pollen. The Mock Orange (Primus Caroliniand) has 

 also bloomed ; and so has theTi-Ti (Cliftonia ligustrina). 

 The Dogwood, Plums and Sparkle-berries (Vacciuium arbo- 

 reum), the American Olive, Sweet Illicium and Haws are 

 opening their flowers. The Mulberryand May Haw (Craicegtts 



aestivalis) begin to ripen their fruits. The Loblolly Pine and 

 Long Leaved Pine are unfolding their catkins weeks in 

 advance of ordinary seasons. The Cherokee Rose is bright- 

 ening up the wood borders and hedgerows with its flowers, 

 while the yellow Jessamine, the Woodbine, the Cross Vine, 

 the China-tree [Melia azedarach) and the Pomegranate are all 

 in full bloom. Carl Mohr. 



Mobile, Ala. 



Foreign Correspondence. 

 London Letter. 



Disease of Orchids. — Some alarm has arisen amongst 

 Orchid growers here in consequence of the appearance 

 amongst Cattleyas of a very virulent and invariably fatal dis- 

 ease, the exact nature of which has not yet been determined. 

 Some microscopists declare that there are clear evidences that 

 the disease is caused by a Peronospora ; others, on the con- 

 trary, are equally certain that the disease is not due to any 

 fungus whatever, although a fungus may easily follow on the 

 heels of the disease and be mistaken for the cause. About a 

 year and a half ago a perfectly healthy plant of the autumn- 

 flowering Cattleya labiata at Kew suddenly turned black and 

 pulpy, as if it had been boiled. We were unable to account for this; 

 no other Cattleya was attacked, nor have any been lost in the 

 same way since. Examples of the same disease on C. Har- 

 dyana, C. gigas, C. Dowiana and C. labiata have been received 

 at Kew within the last twelve months from expert cultivators, 

 who were puzzled by the sudden collapse of plants which, 

 until the disease appeared, were in perfect health. The 

 whole of the material is in the hands of Professor Marshall 

 Ward, whose report is anxiously looked forward to by hun- 

 dreds, who are naturally dismayed by the ravages of this dis- 

 ease. Meanwhile it is* interesting to note that an eminent 

 fungologist at Kew experimented with the disease by inocu- 

 lating a healthy plant and smearing another plant, also healthy, 

 with some of the diseased tissue, the result being that whilst 

 the inoculated plant turned black and rotted in three days, 

 that which had been, smeared remained apparently uninfected. 

 The result of this experiment makes the disease, if not fun- 

 goid, still more mysterious. In one case reported to the Kew 

 authorities there were two distinct plants of C. gigas growing 

 side by side in the same pot, or what is known as a " made-up 

 specimen," and whilst one of these was killed by the disease, 

 the other remained uninjured, and is alive still. This disease 

 must not be confounded with ordinary "spot," to which all 

 Orchids are liable under certain conditions. At the last meet- 

 ing of the Royal Horticultural Society specimens of Orchids 

 affected with the first described malady were exhibited by a 

 gardener, who was "anxious to know if there was any 

 remedy, as he feared his collection was in danger of being 

 destroyed." I do not believe there is any occasion for so 

 much alarm, more especially after hearing from Professor 

 Ward that the disease is not caused by a fungus. 



London Fogs. — Some time ago I mentioned the difficul- 

 ties experienced by cultivators in the neighborhood of 

 London owing to the frequency and poisonous nature of fogs 

 in winter. The subject has since been taken up by the Royal 

 Horticultural Society, with the result that the evidence col- 

 lected shows the matter to be of so much importance that a 

 government grant of ,£100 has been applied for to facilitate 

 the investigation of the subject by chemists and physiologists. 

 The present winter has been comparatively free from the 

 black, or rather copper-colored, fogs, which during last winter 

 did frightful injury to in-door plants of all kinds. We have a 

 Smoke-abatement Society in London, but it does not appear to 

 have any influence in the reduction of the smoke nuisance. 



Weather. — We are experiencing now much colder weather 

 than we had all through January. This morning, the 28th of 

 February, the thermometer registered eight degrees of frost, 

 with a cold east wind and snow falling. We have reason to 

 feel grateful for this timely check to vegetation, which a 

 month ago was so forward as to cause alarm for the safety 

 of fruit and out-door plants generally. Notwithstanding the 

 cold, the lawns have lately been bright with thousands of 

 yellow Crocuses, Snowdrops, Winter Aconites and blue 

 Squills. The effect produced at this time of year by these 

 plants when set in thousands on sloping lawns is particularly 

 good. Apparently they become established, for this is their 

 fourth year on the lawns at Kew. 



Moth-Traps. — At a recent meeting of the British Fruit 

 Growers' Association, Mr. T. W. Beach, who grows fruit 

 very largely and is one of the principal jam-manufacturers 

 in England, exhibited an excellent contrivance for trapping 

 moths, etc., which infest fruit-trees. The trap is simply an 



