212 



Garden and Forest. 



[April 30, 1890. 



colored Wild Onions {Allium unifolium), and thousands of the 

 blue-flowered Camass (Camassia esculenta), which once was 

 one of the most common growths of the valley, eagerly dug 

 up by grizzlies and by Indians. In the opens, near the trees, 

 creeping along the ground or clambering over bushes, one 

 finds the white Star-flowers and graceful leaves of the great 

 Man-root {Megarrhiza Californica), whose large, prickly balls, 

 filled with seeds and soapy pulp, are gathered by the country 

 boys to throw at each other in imitation of snow-ball fights. 

 Along in these opens, on the slope, one finds the purple and 

 yellow Fritillaria lanceolata now, and more or less all sum- 

 mer. Vines of the common Clematis (C. ligustricifolid) cover 

 some of the Oaks and Sycamores. The delicate white Star- 

 flowers (Tellima heterophylla), one of the Saxifrages, grow in 

 these fringes of the wooded part of the canon. 



Higher up the hill-slopes, but still not far away, are yellow, 

 wild Violets (Viola pedunculata), with their brown backs and 

 habit of clustering in colonies, a few yards across. This 

 beautiful plant has been naturalized in some of the valley 

 gardens, where the flowers are often as large as a quarter of a 

 dollar. The sweep of grass over the rounded hill-top is 

 cream-white for acres with the fragrant Cream-cups (Platyste- 

 nion Californicus) and flame-red with Poppies. In places the 

 Orthocarpuses, such as the purple and white O. purpurescens, 

 mingle with white and blue Lupins, Gilias, Phacelias and the 

 white and pale magenta Collinsias, to make a dazzling patch- 

 work. Some of the most effective Composite of the Coast 

 Range-region seem somewhat lacking in this particular canon; 

 but the rare flowers, becoming scarce elsewhere, are still 

 massed almost as abundantly as twenty years ago. The 

 broader slopes of the mountains show tints of white, yellow, 

 scarlet, purple and blue from the valley below, and many 

 species of plants contribute to the effect ; but Buttercups, 

 Eschscholtzias andCastillegias certainly cover the widest areas. 

 It seems as if a thousand children might gather posies on the 

 pastures that slope to this one canon without lessening their 

 brilliant colors. „, , TT „ r . 



Niles, Cal. Charles H. bhinn. 



Vegetation in Southern Alabama. 



LATE in February I wrote to Garden and Forest, giving 

 some account of the vegetation here which showed that 

 it was much farther advanced than was usual at that season 

 of the year. Soon after — that is, in the early days of March — 

 a norther swept over this region during the prevalence 

 of which the mercury fell to twenty-four degrees, Fahr., and 

 of course proved destructive to many tender plants. In ob- 

 serving the damage inflicted upon the various forms of plant- 

 life in the garden, the field and the forest, it is interesting to 

 note the variety in the injuries sustained by the plants which 

 were overtaken by this cold blast when they were in their most 

 active growth. 



Of the ornamental trees and shrubs from the tropics and 

 most of the plants from sub-tropical regions, considered hardy 

 with us, all were more or less injured, but only a few were 

 killed outright. Of the more tender kinds, the Cestrums, Brug- 

 mansias, some of the Lantanas, such as L. Camara and its 

 varieties and most of the Abutilons were killed to the ground 

 and entirely lost, as also were the Grand Duke and the Star Jes- 

 samines (Jasminum Sambac, var., and J.pubescens). Thefol- 

 lowing had the younger branches killed and were stripped of 

 leaves and flowers : Rhynchospermum jasminoides ; the China- 

 berry-tree (Melia Azederach) ; Crape Myrtle, Lagerstrcemia In- 

 die a ; Oleanders, the white being the greatest sufferer ; Hibiscus 

 mutabilis ; Plumbago Capensis ; Pomegranate ; Magnolia fus- 

 cata and Sterculia platanifolia. Only the three last species 

 are producing a new set of flower-buds. 



Of the woody plants of the same category, the following 

 escaped almost unhurt, receiving no check in the progress of 

 their vegetation : Pittosporum Tobira, Azaleas, various Vibur- 

 nums, at the time more or less with open flowers ; Laurus no- 

 bilis, Cape Jessamine (Gardenia floribunda), the sweet-scented 

 golden Jessamine (Jasminum odoratissimum), Hydrangeas and 

 all of the Indian or Tea Roses, which had in some localities 

 their flower-buds injured, but were soon producing again an 

 abundance of flowers. Cycas revoluta, Zamia integrifolia 

 and such exotic conifers as Biota, Retinospora, Cupressus, 

 Araucaria, Cunninghamia, Podocarpus, were not in the least 

 damaged. Of the bulbous plants, many of them far advanced, 

 the true Lilies were cut down ; Amaryllis, Gladiolus, Alstrce- 

 merias, Zephyranthes were but slightly injured and are at 

 present in full flower. 



The greatest injury was inflicted upon fruit-trees. The 

 branches of the Orange were killed to the larger limbs ; the 

 Japanese Medlar suffered severely — the young, tender wood 



of the branches and the greater part of the foliage is dead. 

 Covered with the blackened, shriveled fruit and the dead 

 leaves, this tree presents a sorry sight. The Fig crop will 

 prove a total loss, and that of the Pecan has been cut down to a 

 very great extent ; all the youngest shoots and the flowers and 

 leaves, just emerging from the cover of their winter bud-scales, 

 having been killed. The Japanese Persimmons or Kaki in my 

 garden are killed to the root. 



Strawberries received but a slight check, from which they 

 soon recovered. Protected by a slight covering of straw, they 

 continued to produce their fruit, and shipments to northern 

 markets were but little interrupted. The damage to the 

 products of the vegetable-garden and the truck-farm was 

 not as great as was first anticipated, although the compara- 

 tively small proportion of the crop of Irish Potatoes already 

 above ground is entirely lost, and so is the crop of Peas, from 

 which shipments to northern markets had just begun. 



The deciduous trees of the forest were stripped of their new 

 foliage, and a fortnight after the frost they still present- 

 ed the bald and sombre aspect of midwinter. Among the 

 Oaks, the shoots of this season, with the flowers and foliage 

 more or less advanced, were destroyed in the following 

 species : Spanish Oak, Post Oak, Upland Willow Oak or Blue 

 Jack, Turkey or Barren Oak (Quercus Catesbcci), Water Oak, 

 Laurel Oak and Willow Oak (Q. Phellos). The Live Oak 

 escaped all injury, and the various Hickories, with the excep- 

 tion of the Pecan, were found to have received no damage. The 

 Cherokee Rose is covered anew with a second crop of flowers. 

 The Pines and other coniferous trees of this section, which at 

 the occurrence of the frost were either just past flowering or 

 in full flower, do not seem to have sustained any injury. 



Mobile. Carl Mohr. 



New or Little Known Plants. 

 Ligustrum Sinense. 



THE illustration on page 213 represents a branch of 

 the Chinese Privet gathered last November in 

 Parsons' Nursery, at Flushing, near this city, and serves 

 to show the value of this plant for the autumn decoration 

 of gardens. Ligustrum Sinense, although it is by no 

 means a new plant, is not very often seen in gardens, and 

 it gives us therefore a good deal of pleasure to find it flour- 

 ishing in this climate. The number of plants which retain 

 ornamental fruit on their branches until the beginning of 

 winter is not large. Such plants, however, are very valu- 

 able in this climate and it is desirable therefore to add as 

 many to the short list as possible. 



This Ligustrum, as it appears at Flushing, is a loose- 

 growing shrub, six or eight feet tall, with slender branches 

 covered with light gray bark. It is no doubt an evergreen 

 in a milder climate than this, or holds its leaves until spring, 

 at least, as there was a large part of them on the Flushing 

 plants at the time of our visit, and they were still bright 

 and fresh. 



The fruit is small, but of a beautiful dark color, and is 

 produced in thegreatestprofusion on all the upper branchlets 

 of the stems, which thus appear to end in great terminal 

 racemes of berries, one or sometimes two feet long and a 

 foot or more broad. 



A flowering branch of this plant was figured in 1878 in 

 the Gardeners' Chronicle (n. ser. x., 964) ; but it is the fruit 

 and not the flowers which is its chief beauty and makes 

 it a desirable plant to cultivate. 



Foreign Correspondence. 

 Covent Garden, London. 



COVENT GARDEN, or "Cummin Gardin" of the coster- 

 monger, and " Mud-salad Market" of Punch, is one of the 

 sights of London which visitors are recommended by the 

 guide-books not to miss, but which few ever see as it should 

 be seen. Whilst the rest of London is sleeping, Covent Gar- 

 den is all life and bustle, for the market begins at four A. M. 

 All night long, carts, vans and wagons, piled with hampers, 

 boxes, cabbages and garden-produce of all kinds, are rumbling 

 along the many streets which converge at Covent Garden. 

 They come from the suburbs of London, from the wharves 

 and from the railway-stations bringing the produce, not only 



