: : . i^. 1S90] 



Garden and Forest. 



235 



The Mandioca is gi owu from slips, and 



never from seed, so far as I ha - re one has to do 



in order to get a field stem into layers. 



done with sugar-cane, and stick die joints into the ground, 

 where it readily sprouts. I am told that one plant 

 tinue :: send out roots for nil > in succession, and 



even proparr.:. itself - . if not cut off. 



roots, wl. ---: :: ... - are from one 



to two inches thick, and run just ;neath the surface of the 

 ground for two or three feet- They have a brownish coat, 

 and a granular, white interior. For table use they are gener- 



:aken when about nine or ten ;s long, or else broken 



up into pieces of this length. Thomas Morong, 



In the BoDedn of ihe Torrev Botanical Club. 



The Redwood Forest 



IN size of individual spec inter, s the Redwood (Sequoia . 

 inks next to its rel ve the Big-tree of the 

 Sierra Nevad. the Eucalyptus of Aus- 



tralia ; but if we take the average size of the trees and the 

 density and exter.: : the forest consideration, the Red- 



wood is the grandest of the world's forest-trees. It belongs 

 to the Coast Range of northern California. A few straggling 

 groves only are to be found below Monterey Bay, and it does 

 not extend far into Oregon. The largest be .1 mmenoes at 

 the mouth of Russian River and extends into Oregon. 

 Another large forest lies south ::' An Francisco, in Santa 

 Cruz County. The widest portion of the great or northern 

 body of Redwood timber lies in Mendocino Count}-, between 

 ah and the ocean. Here it is by air line twenty-five miles 

 wide, a vast, unbroken forest with branches extending inward 

 up the cafions. The peculiarity :f the Redwood is its love of 

 moisture, which means here fog. The fog banks rise from 

 the Pacific and flow inland like a great level sea of vapor. 

 The lower mountains next the coas: are enveloped, and far- 

 ther on it fills the canons, leaving the high mountains to rise 

 like islands out of it Still further inland only the lower por- 

 tions of the canons are filled with fog. At times the sea of 

 fog will rise so high that it engulfs nearly the whole section 

 back to the high dividing range of mountains which is the 

 watershed between the streams running directly into the 

 ocean and those which flow into the Russian and Eel Rivers 

 which extend for a long distance parallel to the coast line. 

 Then the fog goes pouring through the passes in actual rivers 

 of vapor, which run down the cafions toward the interior. 

 Strangely enough, it :. - : turns as it goes. 



Now, with this sea of fog in mind one can locate the Red- 

 wood belt most accurately. N ear the coast on the lower moun- 

 tains and everywhere, the densest forest is almost exclusive, 

 of Redwood. Farther inward sweej s the same dense forest 

 on the lower mountains and in the canons at tiie same 

 height. Redwood forest : is stiil on all the mountains, but of 

 smaller trees, and the greater the elevation the more largely if is 

 mixed with Douglas Spruce \Psatdotsuga taxi/olid) and the 

 Tan Bark Oak '_. era . _ Stfll farther inland near 



the watershed spoken of before, Redwood only grows in the 

 canons, and the mountains are either open grazing-land, cov- 

 ered with Oak and Fir, or with that dense, low growth known 

 as Chemisal [Adenostoma fascicular: s . Over the watershed, 

 down those cafions where the fog pours aver there still are 

 groves of Redwood, well confined to the moist banks close 

 to the courses of the streams idle up the broad cafions of 

 Eel and Russian Rivers the fogs roll and nourish the life of the 

 grandest of all of the Redwoods till they are held bad: the 

 heat of the interior. 



The Redwood is not only a lover of moisture, but, to an 

 at hardly to be believed unless seen, a condenser and 

 - erver of moisture. Their tops reach high into the sea of 

 vapor, and a constant precipitation from them like rain takes 

 place. Lastsummerl was on the coast during a foggy time, and 

 I remember that while the roads were dry and dust}-, in the 

 clearings under the Redwoods the water had been precipi- 

 tated till it stood in puddles and formed mud holes Th s 

 abundance of moisture causes the densest of under;: 

 which or. Dual fires make passable. Hazels, Huckle- 



berries, various Ceanothus, Ferns of large 

 greatest profusion, with large bushes of Rhododendron and 

 numerous other plants, make the forest floor a per:: 

 tangle in the moister porti : :. s The list of herbaceo us 

 here is not large, but they are delicate and beautiful. The 

 glossy leaves of " . ria hcxandra form dense ; - _- - 



an Orchid mmon ; and in the 57 



turn and the Erythroni urns are plentiful and so is 

 the lovely Clintonia. 



Of small F. - l»eautiful Adiantum ■ the 



M ten-hair, is .here are several spec: 



pidium and the Woodwardia; and Brake is everywhere, making 

 in the cleared forest a solid mass four or five feet high. I 

 seen acres of die Brake seven or eight feet 1 a ere a man 



could only crawl through . ke paths. Every year 



or two fores-:: s through this forest-tangle, but it 



springs up at; ewed vigor. The Redwood, unless 



- thick barkprotec- 

 and often trees will be st l.ich had ever}- limb stripped by 



the fire putting out a mass of foliage from top to bottom. No 

 name could be more appropriate than Sempervirens, for it 

 possesses wonder: A re cut throws up hundreds 



of strong sprouts, and a stump is only killed by repeated 

 burning. Fallen trees will often grow along the whole 

 lean cth of the stems, and throw up sprouts from the upturned 

 roots; and I have seen sprouts six or eight feet high from logs. 

 The commonest care would ensure the perpetuity of these 

 grandest of fores :s 



LTdai, CaL U ri Pu T ... 



Vegetation in Central Pennsylvania. 



T-""-E unusual mildness of the pas: uter, coupled with the 

 ■*■ exressive rains of the s - :: er have had a marked effect 

 on many of our fruit and ornamental shrubs and trees. The 

 poverty of bloom and general backwardness are conspicuous 

 on even.- hand. The prospect for fruit is not encouraging. 

 Cherries promise etter than any of the other stone fruits 

 their blossoms are thin and scattered ; and one looks in vain 

 for a single tree — even a Morello — which presents the usual 

 resemblance to a "ball :: snow." The ground underneath 

 our finest trees is thickly strewn with the large flower-buds, 

 each of which when opened shows the tell-tale black spot in 

 the centre, although the scales and outer parts have enlarged 

 a little. Peaches present a sorry sighl The older trees 

 have either succumbed entirely, or have lost a large part of 

 their branches, while the young trees show vigorous buds 

 only here and there, the others having so swollen during the 

 mild weather of January that they tell an easy prey to the few 

 cold days of early March. The Peach is no doubt our most 

 unreliable tree. It grows vigorously for a few years, but is 

 strongly inclined to overbear, and unless this is checked by 

 thinning the young fruit — which ought never to be neglected, 

 although it generally is — it succumbs a few years later. Plums 

 are in much better condition, but the blossoms are practically 

 v.- anting. 



Pears show the effect of the winter most plainly, since dieir 

 large flower buds are eas 1 - \ shed, and still remain 

 May 7th) upon the trees though shriveled and dying. The 

 1. rr/e-budded and vigorc is growing Asiatic v re es. Mikado, 

 Sha Tea, etc., of our Pear-orchard, are especially marked. 

 They se: fruit b ads at un dandy ut I do not think a single one 

 is now living. Not speaking of the quality of the fruit, these va- 

 rieties have much to commend them in their rapid growth and 

 beautiful leaves and flowers ut the large, easily coaxed out 

 buds must make their fruiting :_d:e uncertain. Th 

 are not yet in bloom, but they i shed rapidly within the 



past few days. A considerable proportion of the trees are 

 without rlowers, and not:. : such reliable kinds as the 



Crabs which seldom faiL But the general outlook at present 

 is much "tetter than for any of the other large fruits, and favor- 

 able weather and absence from insect attack may fully make 

 up for the scanty bloom. 



Of flowering shrubs, the Forsyth s which we have been at 

 some pains to recommend and disseminate from our nurs 

 present a curious si A:: 1 stead of the profuse bloom which 

 makes it the most :: - s of our spring shrubs, it has 



; r.l here and there a single flower, all the others having been 

 nipped in the bud. Akebia, our pre: ' ner, held 

 leaves last year much longer tiian usual, and until the 

 time the flower-buds generally begin to swell, but for some 

 weeks thereafter not a sign of life was visible. Now, the first 

 week in May, when it should be full of flowers and the deli- 

 cate, five-fingered leaves rapidly expanding, there is but a 



ervals, and latent leaf -buds are 



the work that is thrown upon them. 



Early Fe r its f.ower-buds were expanded so far that 



the flowers could be seen. A mondi later diey were dead. 



s. somewhat sheltered, had young 



n inch and g Tartarian Hon^ 



rd through January and February; but 

 they do not seem to have expended all their stock of buds, 

 and are but little delayed, though the Honeysuckle pron 

 but little bloom. 



