May 28, 1890.] 



Garden and Forest. 



265 



known than it is among lovers of heavy plants. The Hybrid 

 Primroses have already been mentioned in Garden and For- 

 est and it is surprising how little these plants are grown and 

 known. We adopt no other method in winter than the 

 placing of two boards, one on either side of the bed, to col- 

 lect and retain falling leaves, and these are sufficient protec- 

 tion. The common English Primrose and Cowslip thrive 

 under the same treatment. It should be stated that the bed is 

 under the shade of overhanging trees, for we found that in 

 our sandy soil the plants could not stand the fierce heat of 

 summer. Primula Sieboldii is less known than the hybrid 

 kinds, but it is perfectly hardy also, and being deciduous one 

 can apply a top dressing of two inches of manure in fall, 

 through which the young leaves and dower stems will push 

 with vigor in early spring. The great value of P. Sieboldii is 

 in the color of its flowers, which are of a deep rosy purple, 

 and when flowering side by side with the hybrid varieties the 

 latter look pale and washed out by comparison. The plant 

 appears in many varieties, but none equal the type for bril- 

 liancy of color and stout, erect stems. We always sow all 

 seed that ripens as soon as gathered; it sometimes takes six 

 months to germinate, but the plants will all flower the second 

 year and will show plenty of variation in size and color, and 

 we have raised some of our best from seed saved from our 

 own plants. P. Sieboldii throws its flowers well above the 

 foliage on stout stems often a foot high, and these flowers 

 when cut have a very choice appearance, for their color is not 

 common among hardy flowers. 



The native Cypripediums are now at their best. C. pubescens 

 and C. parviflorum, with their yellow and brown flowers, are 

 fully expanded, as is also C. ntontanum, a species from Oregon 

 which is perfectly hardy in the east. The prettiest of all is C. 

 spectabile, the " Moccasin Flower," and this flowers later than 

 the others. These beautiful Orchids are very easy to grow 

 wherever a shady position can be afforded them, for they dis- 

 like sun, and it is safe to say that although among exotic kinds 

 of Cypripediums there are many weird and fantastic flowers, 

 none of them can excel in beauty and delicate coloring the 

 pretty native C. spectabile. E. O. Orpet. 



Seasonable Hints. — The season is now sufficiently advanced 

 to warrant the planting of all tender vegetables. Gardeners 

 who made haste to plant them earlier will find that owing to 

 the cold rains and low temperature of last week no time has 

 been gained. If Egg plants are now set out they should be 

 carefully watched, and if attacked by the Potato beetle should 

 receive a dusting or sprinkling with diluted Paris Green. In 

 planting Lima Beans it is good practice to set the seed eye 

 downwards. The dwarf or bush Limas deserve a fair trial 

 and may be planted about a foot apart in rows two feet apart. 

 Corn fertilized in the hills will get a better start before the 

 warm weather in which it makes the strongest growth. In 

 setting out Tomatoes each plant should have three feet of 

 room and when support is needed three stout stakes should 

 be driven about each plant and about two and a half feet 

 above the ground a barrel hoop should be nailed to them. 

 The Dwarf Champion is of such a stocky habit that it does 

 fairly well without support. Celery plants can now be had of 

 the dealers and if set out at once in a deep, moist soil may be 

 had fit for the table in August. The cultivation should be the 

 same as for a late crop except that boards can be used to bet- 

 ter advantage for blanching them than earthing up. Sweet 

 Potatoes will grow best in a sandy warm soil, and placed in 

 this latitude on slightly raised ridges three feet apart and about 

 one foot apart in a row. Succession crops of Peas and Beans 

 may be sown and the seed of Cabbage, Cauliflower and Kohl- 

 rabi may be sown for autumn crops. 



The Flower Garden. — Plants for summer decoration may all 

 be set out now. Many of them may occupy the beds which 

 have been filled with Dutch bulbs, now done flowering. Hya- 

 cinths, Tulips and Narcissus can be bought so cheaply that 

 they are hardly worth the labor of preserving ; but if it is de- 

 sirable to keep them, the best plan is to allow them to remain 

 until the leaves begin to wither. They should be then lifted 

 and set close together on the surface of the ground in a sunny 

 position and covered with an inch or so of soil or sand. In 

 about a fortnight the bulbs will be ripened, when they should 

 be taken up and dried in the sun for a couple of hours and 

 they will then be in proper condition to store away for plant- 

 ing next fall. Shallow cultivation should not be neglected in 

 the flower-beds, for this keeps down weeds and preserves the 

 moisture. Wherever mildew appears the flowers of sulphur 

 should at once be applied. 



Bergen, N.J. P. O. 



The Forest. 



Forestry in Northern Ohio. 



T N this region it would seem that two essential conditions 

 -*■ are required for the reproduction of forest-timber. First, 

 a few trees of the kinds that will be most needed in the future 

 must be spared to disseminate their seeds. Second, cattle 

 must be excluded. The case is complicated when birds and 

 rodents destroy the seeds of certain species. In the case of 

 the Magnolia there are sometimes no seedlings near the 

 parent tree, but we are surprised to find them coming up a 

 a long distance away, since the seed could not have been car- 

 ried by the wind. It has been suggested that the blue jay 

 picks the red berries out of the Magnolia fruitor "cucumber," 

 and the nutlets within escape digestion, and are scattered. 

 This is made probable by the young Magnolias we find on the 

 forest-border near corn-fields, places of resort for the jay when 

 corn is ripe. The seeds of the Whitewood (Liriodendron 

 tulipiferd) are blown by the wind 300 to 400 feet at least, as are 

 those of the Maple and several other trees. 



But these essential conditions have been almost wholly 

 neglected. During from sixty to eighty years the young of 

 our forest-trees have been fed to the cattle, and that amount of 

 time has been lost. In many cases no trees of the most 

 desirable kinds have been left to produce seeds. On the con- 

 trary, the trees which are left in abundance are the least valua- 

 ble. It is as though a farmer should destroy his seed corn, 

 but allow the weeds to ripen seeds by the million. It is the 

 survival of the unfittest. Beech, which is of little value here, 

 is left in greatest abundance. It is a fine and useful tree in the 

 original forest, the trunk tall and straight, but on the borders 

 and in openings made by cutting out other trees, the smaller 

 Beeches send out large laterals near the ground, and are prac- 

 tically worthless. Many of the Sweet Gums {Liquidambar 

 styriciflua) have escaped destruction because of the difficulty 

 of hauling them out of the wet places where they thrive, and 

 they are now really valuable trees. The Birches which are 

 found near them in the wet grounds are small trees, and are 

 seldom used. Many fine Sycamores have also been left be- 

 cause they are not easily accessible. They stand on the bank 

 of the river, leaning toward it, or are hemmed in by impassa- 

 ble sloughs. 



The Sugar-Maple is an exception to the statement that the 

 unfittest of our trees have survived. It heads the list of trees 

 that pay yearly dividends while they live, and are valuable for 

 lumber, fire-wood, etc., when they are cut down. A farmer 

 who has a sugar-orchard and a dairy compares his Maple-trees 

 to his cows, which are made into beef when they are no longer 

 profitable for butter. The Hickory, Chestnut, Walnut and 

 Butternut may yield delicious fruit year after year for a century 

 or more, and make lumber in the end, but it is a common re- 

 mark here that no other crop the farmer can produce pays him 

 better than the sugar crop. How unfortunate, then, that cattle 

 have been allowed to destroy the young Maples in nearly 

 every sugar orchard in the country. The Maples that have 

 yielded sugar from twenty to eighty years or more are growing 

 old and dying out, and there is no rising generation to succeed 

 them. They are wonderfully prolific, and the young ones 

 thrive better the more other timber is thinned out. Fence out 

 the cattle, and a thicket of young Maples will spring up to take 

 the place of the old trees that are passing away. Neglect to 

 do this, and it will soon be too late. 



One objection which is urged against the exclusion of cattle 

 from the sugar-orchard is that the undergrowth which springs 

 up blocks the way, and hinders the gathering of sap and the 

 getting out of timber and fire-wood. But it costs but a trine 

 to mow the usual roadways and passages close to the ground 

 once or twice a year. But if it is too great a hardship to ex- 

 clude the cattle permanently, keep them out at least until the 

 tops of the young Maples and other desirable trees have grown 

 above the reach of their teeth. Sometimes about two-thirds 

 of the young growth is Ironwood. I should cut out the parent 

 Ironwoods arid other undesirable trees to prevent their seed- 

 ing the ground. It is sometimes said the profit to be derived 

 from the protection of a new growth is so far in the future that 

 even our children will not live long enough to receive any 

 benefit from the results. This is a mistake. It does not take 

 several hundred years, as many suppose, for trees to growand 

 become useful. I know of whole orchards of Maples that 

 could have been cut down with a pocket-knife when I first saw 

 them, anil which are now magnificent trees, the yield of sugar 

 to the tree being above the average. 



Forest-fires are infrequent with us. The wood-lots being 

 small, from a quarter to a sixth, probably, of the whole area, 



