August 20, 1890.] 



Garden and Forest. 



403 



wind, and sometimes is entirely prostrate. On these sterile 

 wastes the tree is rarely more than twenty or twenty-five 

 feet high, while on the dry ridges with a more solid soil, as 

 near Pensacola, it attains the dimensions of a medium-sized 

 tree, and on uplands of the best quality, where the apparently 

 barren ground is underlaid by a subsoil of the fertile tertiary 

 marls, it arrives at the dimensions of a stately forest-tree, asso- 

 ciated with mighty Magnolias, large upland Hickories (Hico- 

 ria glabra and H. tomentosa), Live Oaks, Laurel Oaks and Post 

 Oaks. 



On these fertile upland hammock-lands, as found prevailing- 

 back of Halifax Bay, the Sand Pine arrives at its best develop- 

 ment. Trees over seventy-five feet in height and fully twenty- 

 five inches in diameter are frequently seen here. In this 

 best state of its growth the tree somewhat resembles the 

 Spruce Pine, Finns glabra, with which it is frequently con- 

 founded by the settlers. 



By the structure of the wood as well as by morphological 

 characters, this species forms, with Pinns glabra and .P. echinata, 

 a natural group of southern distribution. The leaves are in 

 twos, with a short, deciduous sheath from half an inch to two 

 inches or more in length, a half line wide, slender, flexible, 

 concave and slightly keeled on the upper side. The cones 

 are subsessile, horizontally inserted during the first year and 

 strongly refiexed as they reach maturity during the second 

 year. They are from two and a halt' to nearly three inches 

 long and from one and three-fourths to two inches 

 wide when open. The exposed portion of their scales, with a 

 slightly prominent umbo, is crowned by an erect, short and 

 blunt prickle; they remain on the tree closed for several 

 years. The bark of the young trees is rather smooth, roughish 

 in those of fuller growth, furrowed and divided in square 

 scales. The young shoots are tender. At all seasons and 

 stages of growth, this Pine is readily distinguished from the 

 Scrub Pine (P. inops) by the less rigid, more slender foliage of 

 dark green, and from its allies by the ashy gray, refiexed, 

 rigidly closed cones. It produces its fruit abundantly, and 

 almost without failure, season after season. 



The wood of this Pine is of a yellowish color, the broad sap- 

 wood of a lighter tint; it is soft, easily worked, but wanting in 

 strength and elasticity, and is not durable. Hence as a timber- 

 tree it is regarded as of no importance. The old trees of 

 stunted growth from the sand-dunes along the seashore, with 

 a wood of close grain and of greater toughness, are used for 

 masts for the boats of fishermen and other small craft. As 

 pointed out by Professor Mayr, this tree will in future be un- 

 doubtedly of importance in the forestry of the states of the 

 lower south, when the reforestation of the denuded sandy Pine 

 barrens, immense in their extent, is demanded by necessity. 

 Mobile, Ala. Carl Mo hr. 



Improving- Plants by Crossing-. 



WHILE it must be confessed that the science of plant breed- 

 ing is far too little understood, one who has made a 

 study of the history of the artificial development of varieties 

 can hardly escape the conclusion that much more successful 

 results have followed the intelligent crossing of varieties than 

 the indiscriminate growing of seedlings, even though the 

 number of plants by the latter method was very much larger. 

 This is what we should naturally expect, and is in perfect ac- 

 cord with the experience of animal breeders. In the mere 

 sowing of seeds, without reference to their inherited qualities, 

 we are aiding Nature by the hand, but in the sowing of intelli- 

 gently crossed seeds, we are aiding her by both the" hand and 

 the mind, and the mind is altogether the most potent agent. 



The growing of seedlings is very generally practiced by 

 amateurs to a greater or less extent. In so far as the motive 

 is a hope of securing improved varieties the result is almost 

 always disappointing, especially in the more highly domestic- 

 ated plants. On the other hand, those who have sought to 

 combine in a new sort, by crossing, certain specific characters 

 possessed individually by others, have in very many cases 

 been successful. Indeed, from the experience of the past, it 

 seems almost safe to say that any two desirable qualities pos- 

 sessed by different varieties of a species may be combined by 

 crossing. This result could not always be reasonably expected 

 in a single attempt, and it is possible, also, that there are laws 

 of correlation which would prevent the union of certain char- 

 acters. But, in our present knowledge, the chances of secur- 

 ing improved varieties by crossing are so much greater than 

 by selection from seedlings of unknown inherited qualities 

 that the latter method is not at all to he recommended where 

 the former is practicable. 



The phrase, " intelligent crossing," has been used advisedly. 

 The indiscriminate crossing of varieties is little more likely to 



result in progress than the indiscriminate growing of un- 

 crossed seedlings. We should know definitely just what char- 

 acters we desire in our prospective variety, and should select 

 our parents with the greatest care. Mr. Darwin made the 

 statement, quoted here from memory, that " not one person 

 in a hundred possesses the accuracy of eye and judgment 

 necessary to the most successful breeder." If this is true of 

 animals, it is certainly in a measure true of plants. A thor- 

 ough knowledge and a careful study of the characters of the 

 parents is indispensable to the highest success, and the same 

 discriminating care is necessary in the fixing of the variety 

 after the cross is secured. 



A second argument in favor of crossing as a means of secur- 

 ing improved varieties is the fact that the crossing stimulates 

 variation to a remarkable degree, so that we have not only a 

 chance of combining certain definite qualities of the parents, 

 but also of securing an almost infinite number of other com- 

 binations. It certainly is true that the variations resulting 

 from a cross are not necessarily limited to the visible qualities 

 possessed by the parents, but that entirely distinct types may 

 appear in the offspring. If the aim were simply to secure varia- 

 tion, the best known way to accomplish this would be to cross 

 the most widely differing individuals that could be obtained. 



It is greatly to be desired that the subject of plant improve- 

 ment should receive more attention from horticulturists. No 

 other department of horticultural experiment offers a more in- 

 viting field. Fruits, vegetables and flowers are in themselves 

 priceless possessions, and the introduction of varieties that 

 make possible better or cheaper fruits, vegetables or flowers 

 than we already have is certainly an end worth striving for. 

 He who produces Wilson Strawberries or Concord Grapes for 

 the market does his fellow man a transient good. But what 

 shall we say of him who originated the first Wilson plant or 

 the first Concord vine ? He may be said to have made possi- 

 ble the supplying of the masses of our population through all 

 the future with a delicious and wholesome fruit that had lie- 

 fore been only within the reach of the comparatively wealthy. 

 Surely neither statesman nor inventor has conferred upon his 

 fellows a greater boon. 



University of Wisconsin, Madison. E. S. Goff. 



Foreign Correspondence. 



Messrs. Backhouse & Sons' Nurseries at York. 



"THE Holgate Nurseries, in the ancient city of York, are 

 -*■ amongst the most famous of plant establishments in Eng- 

 land. They have been in existence over a hundred years, and 

 are now managed by the third generation of the Backhouse 

 family. The first was the missionary nurseryman, James 

 Backhouse, who combined with business capacity and a love 

 of plants zeal in the spread of Christianity, which for ten years 

 he taught to the natives of the Cape and New Zealand. He 

 collected plants and sent them home to his nursery at York, 

 amongst the most notable of his collections being numerous 

 Filmy Ferns, which in the York nurseries have been and still 

 are cultivated with marvelous success. 



The nurseries have, of course, grown in extent and import- 

 ance since his time, and they are now generally acknowledged 

 to be amongst the best managed and richest known. The 

 grounds consist of about one hundred acres, and the in-door 

 department of some forty houses, mostly large and of modern 

 design. Four broad walks run parallel from one end of the 

 nursery to the other, and they are flanked by broad borders 

 filled with the choicest of trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants. 

 The arrangement is artistic, the most striking of the plants are 

 conspicuously labeled, and every plant looks so perfectlv at 

 home that a walk through these borders alone is delightful to 

 any one interested in gardening; and what a wealth of note- 

 worthy subjects he will see, no matter at what season he goes. 

 Conifers and other evergreens, ornamental at all times, groups 

 of Roses, Spiraeas, Ericaceous plants of all kinds, Syringas, 

 etc., with hundreds of the best of herbaceous plants suitable 

 for border planting. Long before the mixed border and a 

 passion for hardy herbaceous subjects took possession of Eng- 

 lish horticulturists, the York nurseries had an unequaled col- 

 lection of everything that was good and choice amongst 

 alpine and herbaceous plants. 



Stretching away from the borders are the long rows of fruit- 

 trees, forest-trees, conifers and so on, all in good order, witli a 

 well-cared-for air about almost every plant. Many nursery- 

 men lack the knack of making an attractive display or show 

 an indifference to it which must surely be a mistake. 



The rock garden is a great feature in this nursery, and 

 since about 1,500 tons of rock and ^2,000 in money have 



