April 9, 1890.] 



Garden and Forest. 



175 



made during the usual time for preparing lessons, and not 

 while the class is before the teacher. For the first recitation 

 each is to tell what he has discovered. The specimens are 

 not in sight during the recitation. In learning the lesson, 

 books are not used; for if they are used, no books will contain 

 a quarter of what the pupil may see for himself. If there is 

 time, each member of the class is allowed a chance to men- 

 tion anything not named by any of the rest. The pupils are 

 not told what they can see for themselves. An effort is made 

 to keep them working after something which they have not 

 yet discovered. If two members disagree on any point, on 

 the next day, after further study, they are requested to bring 

 in all the proofs they can to sustain their different conclusions. 

 Give other specimens for the next lesson, keep reviewing, and 

 generalize as details and facts accumulate. 



I like to give two species for a careful comparison. For 

 example, naked or growing branches of Elms, Maples, Ashes, 

 Oaks, Box-elders, Beeches, Poplars, Willows, Walnuts, Butter- 

 nuts, Hawthorns, Cherries, Evergreens, and, in fact, any of 

 our native or exotic trees and shrubs. Discoveries, very un- 

 expected, are almost sure to reward a patient study of these 

 objects. The teacher must not think this time wasted. No 

 real progress can be made till the pupils begin to learn to see, 

 and to learn to see they must keep trying to form the habit 

 from the first, and to form the habit they should make the 

 study of specimens the main thing, as they cannot acquire the 

 habit by the study of books. 



These hints could be much extended. After a few weeks, 

 reviews may be made in connection with chapters in some 

 book. I make it a rule to give pupils specimens for study and 

 comparison regarding every chapter in Gray's Structural 

 Botany, before the book lesson is studied. I place no stress 

 on making these investigations in the order in which the chap- 

 ters of a text book are arranged. 



Free use is made of our botanic-garden, the crops in the 

 vegetable-garden, fields and experiment station, and the thick- 

 ets along the river. Special topics are often assigned, in 

 which each student has to go many times to observe and 

 record observations on his growing plant. I often go with 

 them for this purpose. Illustrations by drawing are a promi- 

 nent feature of the course from the very beginning. 



Agricultural College, Mich. W. J. Beal. 



Exotic Palms in Florida. 



OUR last great freeze came on Monday, March 17th, just 

 forty-six years ahead of the time fixed by our weather 

 prophets, and it affords a valuable, though most unwelcome, 

 opportunity of testing the hardiness of our choice exotics. 



My thermometer here, in latitude twenty-eight degrees forty 

 minutes, registered a minimum of twenty-one degrees ; my 

 neighbor's, twenty-three degrees, in a more sheltered place, 

 and other observers in the vicinity report all the way from 

 nineteen to twenty-five degrees, the last temperature being 

 where a cloud of smoke from burning woods had settled 

 during the night. Young Orange-trees are mostly killed to 

 the ground — many thousands of them, both in grove and 

 nursery — and old trees lose all, or nearly all, their leaves. I 

 know of a single instance where a tree ten inches in diameter 

 is killed to the ground ; but, as a rule, the trunks and branches 

 of old trees are uninjured. 



Oleanders lose all their leaves, and, perhaps, the smaller 

 branches. A good many young Peach-trees and Rose-bushes 

 are killed to the ground, but the majority escape with mod- 

 erate injury. Half hardy shrubs, like Cattley Guavas, are often 

 cut back half way ; common Guavas, Eugenia uniflora (Cay- 

 enne Cherry or Pitanga), E. Jambos (the Rose Apple) and E. 

 Ugni (the Chilian Guava) are killed quite to the ground. Soap- 

 trees (Sapindus Saponaria) lose their leaves only ; but exotic 

 Tecomas (71 stems, T. Capensc, etc.), as well as Rose Gera- 

 niums, Hibiscuses and other common ornamental plants, will 

 have to start anew from the level of the ground. The Tea 

 Olive is untouched, and the common Jessamines {J. revo- 

 lutiun, J. humile, etc.) are a little cut back. Araucaria cxcelsa 

 preserves its main stem, A. Cimninghami had to be cut off a 

 foot from the ground, and A. Cooki was killed to the ground ; 

 both the latter had the protection of small lath-screens. 



These instances show the exceptional severity of the 

 weather, and it is gratifying to note what a large number of 

 fine Palms escape serious injury amid the general destruction. 

 Of course our native Palms are unhurt. Cabbage and Dwarf 

 and Saw Palmettos, and an apparently undescribed species of 

 Sabal, which replaces the Dwarf Palmetto (S. Adansoni) in 

 dry scrub land of the Lake Region, are frost proof, as is also 

 our Needle Palmetto (R. hystrix). 



The exotic Palms tabulated below as " Hardy" show no in- 

 jury, or only a trace of frost bite. The " Half-hardy " lose from 

 one-fourth to three-fourths of their foliage. Those of the 

 third class were quite defoliated, and in some cases may, 

 perhaps, be dead, though very few seem to have lost the 

 central bud. In some cases the same name will appear 

 under two headings; this shows that plants in different situa- 

 tions behaved differently. None of the species tabulated had 

 any protection. 



Hardy Palms. — Cocos Alphonsi? C. australis, C. australis 

 argentea, C. Blumenavia, C. Bonneti (two varieties), C. campes- 

 tris, C. coronata, C. Gcertneri, C. mamillaris, C. Normanbyana, 

 C. petrcea, C. Roma/tzof/iana, C. speciosa, C. Yatai, C. sp. 

 (very glaucous, from Entre Rios); Phoenix Canariensis, P. dac- 

 ty lifer a, P. Leonensis, P. Natalensis, No. 1 ; P. Sahariensis picta 

 nigra, P. Siamensis (two varieties), P. tenuis, Sabal dealbata, S. 

 flabelliformis? S. Ghiesbreghtii, S. humilis,S. Maur Major mis, 

 S. Mexicana, S. Mocini, S. speciosa, S. umbraculifera j Chama- 

 rops Indica, var. nigra, C. humilis (in variety), C. excclsa, Ery- 

 thea armata (glaicca), E. edulis j Juboea spectabilis ; Wash- 

 ingtonia robusta. 



Half-hardy Palms.— Cocos botryophora, C. Datel, C. Gua- 

 cuyule, C. Mikaniana j Pharnix acaulis dactylifera, P. farini- 

 fera, P. Leonensis, P. paludosa, P. rupicola ; Sabal glancescens, 

 S. longifolia, S. princeps ; Brahea dulcis ; Livistona (Corypha) 

 australis j Washingtonia filifera. 



Palms Which can Endure hut Little Frost.— Cocos 

 capitata flexuosa (this may be Syagrus cocoides), C Mikaniana; 

 Phoenix cycadifolia, P. dactylifera (from Lower California); 

 P. dumosa, P. Farinifera, P. glancescens, P. humilis, P. Natal- 

 ensis, No. 2; P. paludosa, P. pumila, P. reclifiata, P. rupicola, 

 P. Sahariensis picta nigra, P. sylvesiris ? P. tomentosa, P. 

 Zanzibarensis; Acrocomia Total (unhurt at twenty-six degrees); 

 Phopalostylis {Arecd) sapidaj Livistona Sinensis (Latania Bor- 

 bonica) ; Rhapis flabelliformis. 



None of the Palms here mentioned are injured by cold 

 weather short of freezing, while a temperature of forty degrees, 

 long continued, will kill many strictly tropical Palms. 



The behavior of some Palms planted in the forest, having 

 abundant shade and moisture, is interesting. An Orange-tree 

 in such a situation lost every leaf like those fully exposed. So 

 .did Areca sapida, which endures light frosts, while Raphia 

 vinifera was only partly cut back and Elceis Guineensis was 

 untouched; Arenga saccharifera retains half its leaves; Lata- 

 nia Loddigesii and L. Commersoni {rubra vera), Glaziova in- 

 signis and Phoenix sylvesiris ? P. cycadifolia and P. paludosa 

 are all unhurt. A Dypsis from Moritius loses but one tender 

 leaf. Caryota sobolifera endured previous frosts and is now 

 cut back, but a thrifty sucker from its base seems ready to re- 

 place it if necessary. Seaforthia elegans and four species of 

 Chamaedorea and a small Diplothemium candescens lose every 

 leaf, but are apparently alive ; one Geonoma elegans is un- 

 touched, while others around it lose all their leaves, a small 

 Hyophorbe Verschaffclti, usually tender, by some chance es- 

 capes altogether, while several plants of Oreodoxa rcgia, hith- 

 erto unhurt, lose every leaf. 



A number of Orchids and small Tree Ferns were "natur- 

 alized " in the forest and endured the freeze fairly well without 

 any protection except that of the forest itself. 



Of those growing on trees, Lalia anceps, L. autumnalis 

 and L. majalis, Dendrobium nobile and Epidendrum cinnaba- 

 rinum are all unhurt, Lcclia purpurata and L. harpophylla 

 are somewhat nipped, and Acropcra Loddigesii, Chysis aurea, 

 Lycaste sp. and Caelia Baucrana seem to be killed. 



Of those treated as terrestrial and planted in leaf mould on 

 the bank of a small stream, Cypripcdiuni insigne, C. bar ba turn 

 and Dendrobium nobile are unhurt. Phajus maculatus, 

 P. graudiflorus and Coelogyne cristata lose a portion of their 

 leaves. Sobralia macrantha loses most but not all of its stalks 

 and Peristeria elata (the " Flor del Espirito Santo") loses all its 

 leaves. In the preliminary frost of March 3d, when the mer- 

 cury reached twenty-six degrees, the Peristeria was untouched, 

 though fronds of native Ferns were frozen and killed where 

 they actually touched the leaves of this Orchid. As the ther- 

 mometer showed twenty-one degrees during this last cold 

 weather, the prospect of permanently naturalizing some 

 choice Orchids in our woods is very encouraging. 



Most of my Tree Ferns in similar situations were more or 

 less hurt. Many of them had been recently planted out and 

 the fronds grown under glass might be expected to be more 

 tender than those produced out-of-doors. This proved to be the 

 case, as the youngest fronds were the_ ones untouched with 

 Alsophila horrida and A. australis, Cibotium glaucum and C. 

 regale and Dicksonia antarctica. 



Oviedo, Orange County, Fla. Theodore L. Mead. 



