August 20, 1890.] 



Garden and Forest. 



411 



The same conditions which are slowly but surely changing 

 our methods of agriculture arc opening the way to and mak- 

 ing possible a rational forest-practice. We cannot loo quickly 

 or thoroughly consider what shall be its methods. 



State College, Pa. W. A. BuckllOUt. 



Correspondence. 



The Effect of Seasons on Vegetation. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest: 



Sir. — Too much care can not be taken injudgingof thecharac- 

 terof trees, shrubs or fruits by their behavior during 1890. The 

 season is so far abnormal in every sense. Strawberries, for 

 instance, have not developed one of their real characteristics 

 in my beds, Crystal City, Summit and Sharpless alone ex- 

 cepted. Haverland, which really is a very large berry, showed 

 fruit only medium-sized and without flavor. Sweet berries 

 turned up sour, and nearly everything had a touch of bitter- 

 ness. In fact, symptoms of unfertilized fruit were general. I 

 should not have known Bubach in boxes; and Bomba turned 

 out better than its real character. I have seen no really per- 

 fect strawberries in size, flavor and color, although I had one- 

 third of a crop and many large berries. But had I desired to 

 impart to any one knowledge of the real quality of any berry I 

 should not have done it by offering him samples of this year's 

 bearing. For this reason I regret to see reports of berries 

 made at all this year. My Pearls and Sharpless and Bubachs 

 when mixed I could not have separated with certainty, although 

 another year nothing would be easier. 



The effect of season is very peculiar in other ways. One 

 summer ten or twelve years ago there was an unusual ten- 

 dency to produce variegations in foliage. This, no doubt, had 

 something to do with the effect of the solar beams on chloro- 

 phyl in spring. I regret that I have no meteorological data of 

 the year. But I noted among my own finds a variegated 

 Quince-bush, variegated Silver Poplar, variegated Apple, and 

 many more. None of them endured July heat except the Pop- 

 lar. This I unfortunately lost by the open winter following. 

 It was heaved out by the frost. 



I am confident that we have before us a vast field for in- 

 vestigation in a comparative study of different years on foliage, 

 fruit and flowers. In 1889 I noted here a marked tendency 

 among double flowers to show fewer petals than usual. To 

 determine the real character of a fruit or flower requires a 

 comparative test. Grapes particularly appear very abnormal 

 at times. If any one were to pass through my vineyard on 

 two successive seasons I am quite confident I could get from 

 him exactly opposite comments concerning Grapes, especially 

 Rogers' Hybrids. Here is a class of Grapes sensitive beyond 

 measure to the year's special characteristics. Number 30 is 

 at times equal to a fine hot-house variety; then again it is fla- 

 vorless. Lindley one year cannot be surpassed, while the next 

 it is inferior. To discard the variable sorts would reduce our 

 list very greatly. Even Worden in 1889 was of poor quality 

 over a large part of the country. 



Clinton, N. Y. 



E. P. Powell. 



Shaftesbury as a Tree-Planter. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — In Traill's Life of Shaftesbury, published by Appleton 

 in 1886, on page 104, is the following interesting passage on 

 tree-planting: " In the very thick of the tangle of intrigues, 

 rivalries and cross-purposes in which the cabal were involved 

 during the year which elapsed between the conclusion of the 

 second Treaty of Dover and the reassembling of Parliament 

 in 1672, we find him [Shaftesbury] addressing a long letter to his 

 bailiff, containing the most minute instructions for the planting 

 of several varieties of the best cider Apples, to wit, ' the Red- 

 streake, the Black Apple, theStreakc Must, the Sour Pippin, the 

 Bramsbury Crab, the Grouting.' Further he goes on to in- 

 form 'Hughes' (who, no doubt, was intimately convinced of 

 his knowing much more about it himself than the authority 

 quoted by my lord) that the best planting of timber-trees is 

 ' with nuts, acorns, seeds and footsets, and not with youngtrees 

 removed; and in that manner of planting where the ground is 

 dry, he never plants on little hills, banks or ridges, but sows 

 and sets them on the plain ground, having first made it with 

 several plowings and diggings very light and fine, which 

 should be begun about September, that the frost might season 

 the earth against the spring, when you plant. When this is 

 done the roopworm is killed and will not annoy the plants. He 

 useth constantly ' (does this experienced gentleman by whose 



woodcraft Hughes is being put to shame), ' in setting of ches- 

 nuts, acorns and seeds, to steep them twenty-four hours in 

 milk, which gives them a great advantage; he sets his seeds 

 and plants five feet one from another, and sets the two first 

 years among them beans, which not only pays his charge, but, 

 as he affirms, extremely cherisheth the plants. He waters his 

 plantation the two first years only. . . . He plants an abund- 

 ance of the best sort of Filberts among his plantations of tim- 

 ber. I would have you do the same amongst mine. He as- 

 sures me that if I plant Siccamores near my gardens they will 

 spoil all my fruit with the Hies they breed. Therefore pray 

 pluck up all the Siccamores that arc in the dry meadow behind 

 my kitchen garden, and in the room of every one of them 

 plant a Chesnut, a Walnut or a Honey-broke Oak.' " 



Brooklyn. JT, JV. B. 



Tecoma grandiflora. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — I am glad that you called attention to tfie merits of 

 Tecoma grandiflora in last week's paper. Perhaps the reason 

 that this fine old plant has not been more generally used is 

 found in the fact that it is sometimes rather tender when 

 young, but if it can be protected until the main stem is some 

 years old by straw matting during the winter it will be found 

 perfectly hardy, and no plant at this season can show an equally 

 beautiful bloom. A plant by my house is probably thirty years 

 old, and its main stem is as large as a man's arm. I have just 

 counted twelve open flowers on one of the immense panicles, 

 with twelve buds yet to open. Since these flowers are borne 

 on the wood of the year hard cutting back will increase the 

 abundance of its bloom. When tied to a stake for a time its 

 stem will become self-supporting to a height of four or five 

 feet, and from early August until hard frost the plant will make 

 a conspicuous and elegant appearance. I think that some 

 large-flowered forms of T. radicans have been occasionally 

 called T. grandiflora, but the distinction between the plants 

 will be evident to any one who examines them. 



Flushing, L. I. s. B. Parsons. 



Sargentia Greggii. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — Since writing of this plant (page 362) I have found 

 it in mountain canons about the Pass of San Jose (Villar 

 Station, on the Tampico branch of the Mexican Central Rail- 

 road), attaining the average size of trees, fully fifteen inches in 

 diameter. Here at last it was seen in full bloom, its bright 

 green foliage half hidden by close panicles of white dowers 

 three to six inches high, a beautiful tree indeed. 



Associated with it in these mountains was found, as I was 

 convinced, another species of this new genus, a large shrub, 

 with leaves mostly simple, pubescent and olive-green in color 

 (those of Sargentia Greggii being trifoliate and smooth), and 

 small clusters of Mowers scarcely paniculate. 



Sun Luis Potosi, Mexico. C. G. Prlw'le. 



Recent Publications. 



A Manual of Orchidaceous Plants. — Part VI. Cwlogyne, Epi- 

 dendrum, etc. Messrs. James Veitch & Sons, Chelsea. 



The sixth part of this useful work, which has recently ap- 

 peared, is devoted to the genera Ceelogyne, Epidendrum, 

 Spathoglottis, Phajus, Thunia, Chysis, Calanthe and a few 

 others, or such of the species as are usually found in cultiva- 

 tion. It extends over 134 pages and contains about forty 

 excellent wood-cuts. It is treated in the same excellent and 

 comprehensive manner as in previous issues — details of the 

 history, introduction and cultural requirements of Hie different 

 species being given, also their geographical distribution, 

 synonymy and references to original descriptions and figures, 

 all of which enhance the value of the work. 



In those genera from which hybrids have been raised we 

 find an enumeration and description of the several kinds given 

 after that of the species. The notes and illustrations under 

 this head are particularly interesting, and include the genera 

 Calanthe, Chysis, Epidendrum, Phajus and Thunia, also the 

 curious bigener raised between Phajus and Calanthe, to which 

 the name Phaio-Calanthe < has been given. In the case of 

 Calanthe these hybrids arc becoming rather numerous, and 

 seem likely to become more so, for the facility with which 

 they can be produced, and their comparative precocity in 

 flowering, as well as their beauty, all contribute to the interest 

 attending; the raising of them. 



