April 2, 1890.] 



Garden and Forest. 



171 



was probably considerably after tbe settlement. I doubt 

 whether this Elm exceeds a century in age ; but it has already 

 reached dimensions surpassed by very few. 



The Deming Elm is another old tree in the same town. The 

 smallest girth of its trunk, which is quite irregular, is sixteen 

 feet three inches. Its total dimensions, however, are much 

 inferior to the Sterling Elm's, and the tree is evidently in 

 decadence. It was planted " in his youth" by the late Stephen 

 Deming, and he was born in 1780. 



Such instances as these indicate that Dr. Holmes' limit is 

 unnecessarily wide, and that the normal age of this rapid grow- 

 ing tree is considerably within the popular estimate. 



To show the rate of growth, an Elm by my own house, which 

 is known to be scarcely, if at all, above fifty years old, may be 

 mentioned. Its situation is very favorable — a warm, rich soil, 

 within a few feet of a large spring. How commonly we find 

 that great Elms have seated themselves near some perennial 

 fountain or water-course, at least within reach of their courier 

 roots ! This Elm of half a century, with a trunk twenty feet to 

 the limbs, measures in circumference at three feet high, and en- 

 tirely above the spread of the roots, eight feet six inches. 



Amenia, N. Y. Myron B. Ben ton. 



A Silva of New England. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — The earliest Silva of New England is contained in the 

 following lines, which may interest some of your readers. 

 They were printed in 1670 in London in " A True, and Faith- 

 ful Account of the chiefest Plantations of the English in 

 America, to wit of Virginia, New England, Bermudus, Barba- 

 dos." The name of the author does not appear, but the re- 

 marks which he adds upon the value and use of some of the 

 New England trees, and of their fruits, are copied, with a 

 few verbal changes, from Wood's well known " New Eng- 

 land Prospect," published in 1634. 



"Trees both on Hills and Plains in plenty be, 

 The long-liv' Oake, and mournful Cyprefs Tree, 

 Sky-towring Pines, and Chefnuts coated rough, 

 The lafting Cedar, with the Walnut tough ; 

 The Rofin-dropping Fir for Mafts in ufe, 

 The Boatmen feek for Oars, light, neat grown Sprufe ; 

 The brittle Afh, the ever trembling Afpes, 

 The broad fpread Elme, whofe concave harbours Wafps ; 

 The watry fpungy Alder good for nought, 

 Small Elder by th' Indian Fletchers fought, 

 The knotty Maple, pallid Birch, Hawthorns, 

 The Horn-bound Tree that to be cloven fcorns ; 

 Which from the tender Vine oft takes his Spoufe, 

 Who twines imbracing arms abut his Boughs ; 

 Within this Indian Orchard Fruits be fome, 

 The ruddy Cherry and the jetty Plumb, 

 Snake murthering Hafel with fweet Saxafrage, 

 Whofe fpouts in Beer allayes hot Feavers rage, 

 The Diars Shumack, with more Trees there be, 

 That are both good for ufe, and rare to fee." 

 Boston. F Skinner. 



Recent Publications. 



The Fern Flora of Canada. Descriptions of all the Native 

 Ferns of the Dominion, with localities where they grow. By 

 George Lawson, Ph.D., LL.D., F.I.C., F.R.S.C, McLeod Pro- 

 fessor of Chemistry, Dalhousie University. Halifax, N. S.: 

 A. & W. Mackinlay. 



This is a small quarto of about thirty pages (pp. 221-251), 

 and is evidently an appendix to some other work, perhaps a 

 school Flora of the Dominion. Professor Lawson has paid 

 much attention to Canadian Ferns for many years, and is well 

 qualified to write about them. The book begins with about 

 seven pages of a general account of the nature and structure 

 of Ferns, given in simple style, such as would be easily under- 

 stood by the children for whose use the treatise has been pre- 

 pared. Then follow a synopsis of the genera, twenty-five in 

 number, and a plate with illustrations of seventeen of them. 

 An account of the species occupies the remaining twenty-one 

 pages. The descriptions are clear and simple, and have the 

 merit of originality, none of them, apparently, being borrowed 

 from other authors. Professor Lawson seems to have ad- 

 hered faithfully to the rule of priority in his choice of specific 

 names, even going so far as to take up Oakes' MS. name of 

 Asplenium platyneuron instead of A. ebeneum. But it is not 

 certain, after all, that Linnaeus had this plant in mind when he 

 wrote the name Acrostichum platyneuron. Willdenow plainly 

 says that Linnaeus' synonymy was all wrong, and the only 



specimen of this Fern in the Liniuean herbarium is marked 

 Polypodium auriculatum. Asplenium marinum is still men- 

 tioned as a Canadian plant, although no one has claimed to 

 have found it since Captain Kendal, and although Macoun and 

 Burgess say that the crediting of this plant to New Brunswick 

 "is now known to have been a mistake." 



Struthiopteris is kept separate from Onoclea, perhaps well 

 enough. Aspidium is replaced by Polystichum and Lastrea. 

 Athyrium is separated from Asplenium, and Dennstaedtia is 

 preferred to Dicksonia for D. punctilobula. 



But, of course, Fern-students cannot be expected to agree 

 in nomenclature any more than other botanists, and each one 

 will continue to call species by whatever names he thinks 

 preferable. 



Exhibitions. 



The Flower Show at Philadelphia. 



'THE Spring Exhibition of the Pennsylvania Horticultural 

 •1 Society, which was held last week, was very largely at- 

 tended and in every way successful, although in some features 

 it fell below the standard of previous years. The display of 

 Roses, for example, was not strong as compared with former 

 exhibitions. This, however, was no fault of the growers; but 

 the effects of an unfavorable season were plainly visible. 

 Nevertheless such flowers of Ulrich Brunner as those for 

 which Edwin Lonsdale gained the first prize were well worth 

 mention. Indeed, this variety was superior to all others shown 

 here this year in the qualities which make a first-class Rose. 

 Among other varieties, C. F. Evans showed the best blooms 

 of Magna Charta, Mrs. John Laing, La France, Papa Gontier, 

 The Bride and Merveille de Lyon. Joseph Heacock took the 

 first prize for Perle des 'Jardins, Niphetos, W. F. Bennett and 

 Sunset. Besides his prize for Ulrich Brunner, Edwin Lonsdale 

 showed thefinestbloomsof Madame Hoste, Madame Cusin and 

 Madame Gabriel Luizet. The display of Souvenir de Wootton 

 was somewhat disappointing in view of the fact that $300 in 

 prizes were offered to successful competitors. John N. May, 

 of Summit, New Jersey, Joseph Heacock, of Jenkintown, 

 Pennsylvania, and Coles & Whitely, of Lansdowne, received 

 the first, second and third prizes for this variety. 



The display of Orchids in bloom was excellent, especially 

 the collection of Pitcher & Manda, which included some 

 eighty plants of Cypripedium and almost as many of other 

 genera. A superb specimen of Cypripedium Box a flit atratum 

 with thirty-two flowers was among thegems of this collection. 

 Other noteworthy Cypripediums were C. Selligerum and its 

 variety majus; Pitcher's variety of C. Harrisianwn; C.Curtisiij 

 C. Lowiij C CEnatithum superbum and some beautiful exam- 

 ples of the snow-white little C.niveum. AmongtheCymbidiums 

 was a good specimen or the dark-colored variety of C. Lowia- 

 num. A fine specimen of the white Lycaste Skinneri, and 

 some choice plants of the fragrant little Angracum Sander- 

 ianum attracted much attention. David Emery, gardener to 

 Charles Dissel, and Charles F. Evans also received prizes for 

 Orchids. 



The spring flowering bulbs were less abundant than usual, 

 but more beautiful Hyacinths than those shown by Henry 

 Surman are rarely seen. The immense Azaleas shown by 

 Robert Wark, gardener to Mr. C. H. Clark ; the great mass of 

 Astilbe Japonica from Craig & Brother; the White Lilies con- 

 tributed by C. D. Ball, W. K. Harris and J. W. Colflesh; the 

 Cinerarias shown by Thomas Long; and Pitcher & Manda's 

 group of Anthuriums, were attractive features of the exhibi- 

 tion. 



The display of decorative or foliage plants was unusually good. 

 It would be hard to find a better collection of specimen Ferns 

 than those furnished by Thomas Long, gardener to A. J. Drexel. 

 Every one was perfect. A Gleichenia flabellata nearly six feet 

 across, G. dichotoma of more than half that diameter, Polypo- 

 dium aureum areolatum and Davallia pallida, were among the 

 best. Wm. Joyce, gardener to Miss M. L. Baldwin; Robert 

 Wark, gardener to C. H. Clark, and David Lutz, showed fine 

 groups of Palms, Ferns, Dracaenas and other plants grown for 

 decorative purposes, and special premiums were awarded to 

 H. A. Dreer and Charles Dissel for collections of foliage 

 plants and Orchids arranged for decorative effect. 



One of the remarkable plants of the exhibition was a Heli- 

 conia aureo-striata from the gardens of Mr. Drexel, which was 

 shown for the first time in Philadelphia. Another was a plant 

 of Lilium Harrisii, the stem of which separated into four 

 branches about four inches from the ground. There were 

 twenty-two buds on all the branches, but only half this number 

 came to perfection. It was grown by Mr. C. D. Ball, of Holmes- 

 burg, Pennsylvania. 



