282 



Garden and Forest. 



[June ii, 1890. 



that of any other Elm-tree. The Cedar Elm of Texas 

 (Ulmus crassifolia), so called, perhaps, because it grows 

 among the Junipers {Juniperus occidenlalis), which form a 

 prominent feature of the vegetation of some parts of 

 western Texas, is not surpassed in grace or in beauty of 

 habit and of lustrous foliage by many American trees. It 

 is a tree of medium size, and as it grows naturally in dry 

 soil, it may be expected to flourish where other Elms 

 would not, in regions of uncertain rain-fall like some parts 

 of southern Europe and our Pacific-coast region. Eastern 

 America, therefore, possesses five Elms; in Europe there 

 are three species at the most, and, according to some bot- 

 anists, only two; one of these, the tree which is almost 

 universally called the "English Elm" in this country, 

 although curiously enough it is not an English tree at all, 

 having been introduced into Britain by the Romans, ex- 

 tends through Asia to Japan, where, and in China also, an- 

 other species occurs. There are, at the most, therefore, four 

 species in the Old World, so that more than half the Elms 

 belong: to our silva. 



The action of the Legislature of this state regarding 

 forestry matters during its recent session, tends definitely 

 in the direction of the acquisition of land in the Adiron- 

 dack region by the state, and of the establishment of a 

 large State Park, which shall include the sources of the 

 principal streams of the state. The Forest Commission is 

 empowered and required to investigate the subject thor- 

 oughly and to report its finding to the Legislature at its 

 next session. This really places the whole matter directly 

 in the hands of the people of the state for their decision. 

 The result does not depend upon the Forest Commission, 

 though its action is, of course, important and necessary. 

 It does not depend, in any great measure, upon the indi- 

 vidual judgment or preferences of the men who will be 

 members of the next Legislature. It depends upon the in- 

 telligence, foresight and will of the people of the state, and 

 very largely upon the expression of the people's interest 

 and wishes regarding the matter through the press of the 

 state during the coming summer and autumn. 



These are the essential facts to be kept in view. The 

 permanent maintenance of forest-conditions over extensive 

 mountain areas around the sources of the rivers is neces- 

 sary to the commercial prosperity of the city of New York, 

 and is important to the towns and agricultural regions of 

 the interior of the state. The Adirondack mountain, 

 forest and lake region has an incalculable and ever increas- 

 ing value to the people of the cities of the whole country 

 as a wilderness, a land of unviolated natural solitudes, of 

 sylvan beauty and peace. It should be forever a match- 

 less sanitarium, a paradise for civilized anglers and hunters, 

 an ideal refuge for escape from the burdens of toil and the 

 fever of life in great towns. If the people of the state 

 have the foresight and wisdom which are essential to their 

 own prosperity they will decree whatever action and ex- 

 penditure are fouiiQ to be necessary for the establishment 

 of an adequate and permanent forest-reservation around 

 the sources of their principal rivers. 



We find the following paragraph leading the editorial 

 column in a recent issue of Popular Gardening : "An En- 

 glish paper criticises the frequent use made of the unfor- 

 tunate term ' landscape architect ' by American landscape- 

 gardeners, and thinks the word very descriptive of the 

 formal, hateful work frequently done by them. Perhaps 

 the criticism is not quite undeserved." We consider it alto- 

 gether undeserved. Formal gardening, in the true sense of 

 the word, as implying a symmetrical, architectural ar- 

 rangement of surfaces and plantations, has rarely been 

 attempted in this country ; but the few instances where 

 such an arrangement forms a feature in a park of generally 

 informal character — as, for instance, the Mall and terrace 

 in the Central Park — can surely not be described as " hate- 

 ful. " It is probable, however, that the English critic re- 

 ferred to the use of such minor formal elements as stiff 



flower-beds and regular groups of exotic foliage-plants. 

 Of this kind of work many hateful examples may certainly 

 be found in America. Nevertheless, it is so far from char- 

 acteristic of America that the American abroad is perpetu- 

 ally astounded by the sins of foreign gardeners. In En- 

 gland the newly developed love for hardy flowers has but 

 added to the trouble, for one constantly sees shrubberies 

 defaced by symmetrical rows of flowering plants placed 

 along their borders ; and instances of a purely natural 

 treatment of lawns and plantations are now far rarer there 

 than here. Formal gardening of the true sort is much bet- 

 ter understood in France than with us ; but formal features 

 of the bad sort are there also much more universally intro- 

 duced than here. In no European city, we can .safely 

 say, is there a park conceived in so purely naturalistic 

 a way and kept so free from inharmonious details as 

 the Central Park. The Thiergarten, in Berlin, by far the 

 most beautiful park in Europe, cannot be compared with 

 it, as this is rather a carefully tended and cultivated forest 

 than an artificially formed and yet natural looking land- 

 scape. From end to end the Bois de Boulogne is defaced 

 by immense flower-beds of shrieking colors, placed in the 

 most inappropriate situations ; the same is true of most 

 portions of the large park of which the people of Lyons are 

 so proud ; and, in short, a journey through Europe, followed 

 by one in this country, would convince the English critic 

 that, whatever they may call themselves, our landscape- 

 gardeners better deserve the name of artists to-day than 

 those of any other land. 



Trees in Their Spring Attire. 



A T this season of the year we may realize more fully per- 

 -**- haps than at any other how deficient our ordinary text- 

 books are in their descriptions of trees, and what feeble pic- 

 tures, after all, they supply. The reason, of course, is that for 

 the most part the botanist sees the trees in one or two stages 

 of their growth only, or is even often compelled to confine 

 himself to the dried specimens in the herbarium. Moreover, 

 so rapid is the growth at this time of the year, so fugitive the 

 appearances presented, that unless the trees can be inspected 

 on a particular day, some characteristics are lost till the next 

 season. The gardener or the forester who is always on the 

 spot, and who is, or who ought to be, always on the look out, 

 has great advantages in these respects. A few illustrations 

 may suffice to explain our meaning. 



In Richmond Park there are two Horse Chestnuts side by 

 side, now each in the full glory of their new leafage, and each 

 covered with flower-buds promising an early display of bloom. 

 The two trees are at this moment, to use a colloquialism, as like 

 as two pins. The color and stage of growth of the foliage and 

 flower are, in fact, alike in both. Far otherwise was it a fort- 

 night or so ago, when the buds were beginning to expand ; 

 then, the two trees were conspicuous a long way off, the one 

 with its ruddy brown color forming a contrast to the other 

 with its clear green hue. The explanation of the difference 

 was easily found in the circumstance, that the expanding bud- 

 scales of the one tree were tipped with deep brown, or even 

 flushed with pink, while those on the other tree were mostly 

 green. 



Again, the leaf-scales or stipules of some of the Beech-trees 

 are of a lovely shade of crimson, while in others they are dull 

 brown. It is, moreover, worthy of notice, that in the extension 

 shoots, which lengthen rapidly and which bear leaves only, 

 these stipules are often most brilliantly colored ; whilst on the 

 same tree, on the short, slow-growing "spurs" bearing the 

 flowers, and where the internodes, as a botanist would say, are 

 in consequence contracted, the color of the stipulary scales is 

 dull brown. These differences make one wonder what pur- 

 pose can be served by the brilliant coloration of organs whose 

 functions would seem to be protective only, and which, once 

 that office is fulfilled, fall off and wither immediately. The 

 color in these stipules is presumably of the same nature as 

 that which gives brilliancy to the leaves of the Purple and 

 Copper Beeches. A similar color is observable in the stipules 

 of the Lime, but we have not yet met with any purple-leaved 

 Lime-tree. 



The chemical analysis of the bud-scales, as determined by 

 Professor Church, isquite consonant with their temporary and 

 merely protective character. They contain relatively much 

 earthy mineral matter, but little or none of the organic 



