45o 



Garden and Forest. 



[September 17, iJ 



importance in the vast sum total of flowering plants. But, 

 alter all, we 'cannot have too many beautiful flowers, 

 and many very beautiful ones, which we should not other- 

 wise have had, have been given us by the hybridizer. 

 Moreover, his labors have largely helped the botanist to 

 read the riddles which attend the descent and affinities of 

 wild plants ; and, if this is so, it is simply because the 

 hybridizer follows Nature's own lead. Nature herself is 

 the great, persistent and inventive hybridizer, as any one 

 may discover if he will try to study our Oaks, for example, 

 our Willows, or Orchids themselves. If we do well to 

 scorn the gardener who can see no interest in "the wild 

 garden of innocence and peace," are we not equally open 

 to criticism if we find no beauty in the infinitely varied 

 products of the seed-bed and the propagating-house? 

 Could Mr. Gibson have known without the hybridizer's 

 telling which of the Cypripediums he saw were man's hy- 

 brids and which Nature's? And if not — or even if he 

 could — why might not each challenge admiration on its 

 intrinsic merits ? 



No doubt it is a degenerate taste which sees no charm 

 in the modest flowers which open trustfully without any 

 care of man, and writers like Mr. Gibson, who invite us to 

 the nooks where they are hiding, are doing a worthy ser- 

 vice. But an affectation of simplicity of taste may be as 

 undesirable as other affectations. Cultivated flowers do 

 not lack beauty ; many of the flowers of artificially pro- 

 duced hybrids do not lack beauty even when growing in 

 the " degenerate precincts " of the hybridizer's garden. 



It is hardly a month ago since we called attention to 

 the danger which threatened the last remaining grove of 

 Giant Sequoias in Tulare County, California, and expressed 

 the desire, which must have been shared by every public- 

 spirited person in the country, that this forest should remain 

 the property of the nation forever. The most that could 

 have been reasonably hoped was that Secretary Noble would 

 withhold this land from entry for a time until public 

 opinion became sufficiently strong to make it possible to 

 secure some protective legislation. But a bill to set apart 

 this grove as a public park forever was at once introduced 

 into the House by General Vandever, and it has already 

 passed both Houses by unanimous consent. The reservation 

 not only includes the particular township first named, but 

 certain other outlying forest-lands, and especially some in 

 which are the fountains of the streams which flow through 

 the principal grove. By this act the park is placed 

 under the exclusive control of the Secretary of the Interior, 

 whose duty it shall be as soon as possible to make and 

 publish rules for its care and management. It is enacted 

 that these regulations shall provide for the preservation 

 from injury of all timber, mineral deposits and natural 

 curiosities within said park, that the reservation shall be 

 maintained in its natural condition, and, also, that the fish 

 and game within its boundaries shall be protected from 

 capture or destruction for the purpose of merchandise or 

 profit. Provision is made for the erection of such buildings 

 as may be needed to accommodate visitors upon leases 

 not exceeding ten years of parcels of ground not to exceed 

 five acres. 



The proper management of this reservation, however, is 

 a matter of future concern. The cause for congratulation 

 is that there is now no danger that this last remnant of 

 the race of colossal trees shall be given over to destruc- 

 tion. And now, why should not a similar reservation of 

 Redwood forest be made somewhere in the Coast Range ? 

 These trees are even more beautiful and almost as inter- 

 esting as the Big Trees, their relatives. Redwood timber 

 is of such well known value that it is rapidly falling before 

 the axe. In a few years these beautiful forests will be 

 only a memory. It may be that there is no typical Red- 

 wood forest still remaining in the hands of the Govern- 

 ment. If so, the state of California or some of the wealthy 

 citizens of that state could leave to posterity no more en- 

 during monument of their public spirit than the gift of a 



tract of Redwood timber with provision for its protection 

 forever. 



And have we not reason to hope that the Committees of 

 Public Lands in both Houses, to whose efficient action the 

 country is primarily indebted for the salvation of the 

 Sequoia grove, may now be encouraged to report the Yo- 

 semite Park Bill? The success of the Tulare Reservation 

 Act would seem to indicate that the sentiment of Congress 

 in reference to matters of this sort is now altogether whole- 

 some. The Yosemite bill can be passed at this session if 

 the effort is only made with courage and confidence. 



I 



Plan for a Small Town Place. 



N Garden and Forest for May 28th, 1890, we published 

 outline plans of four small places, showing the importance 

 of a skillful disposition of the house and other buildings. with 

 reference to special local circumstances. We present this 

 week one of these, same plans on a larger scale with the inten- 

 tion of showing the design a little more fully. 



The place is not a new one, for the house, which is an old- 

 fashioned, square, colonial brick structure, was built about 

 fifty years ago, and the garden was laid out and planted at the 

 same time. It had been long neglected and trees allowed to 

 grow up and crowd each other so much that many were 

 ruined, and they were so spread over the ground as to destroy 

 all breadth. A few years ago, while alterations and additions 

 were being made to the house, it was thought best to rear- 

 range the garden at the same time, and, of course, the first 

 thing to do was to thin out the trees and save the best of them, 

 leaving in general a belt about the borders of the property to 

 screen out neighboring buildings. 



A low, broad terrace was thrown out on the east side of the 

 house, lending dignity and support to it, and a wall was car- 

 ried from the house to the street on the south, which com- 

 pletely enclosed the garden and made it retired, domestic and 

 secluded. 



As the house was distinctly a winter residence, this seclu- 

 sion and protection of the garden was considered the more 

 important, and for the same reason there were planted on each 

 side of the circuit walk and about the borders of the property 

 groups and masses of broad-leaved evergreen shrubs, mostly 

 Rhododendrons, but also such plants as Andromedas, Kal- 

 mias, Mahonias, Daphne, Ledum, etc., to get variety and to 

 gracefully edge down the masses. 



It will be noticed that the house has two entrances : one 

 from the street on the south, and the other from the paved 

 court-yard on the north. This court serves also as an en- 

 trance to the stables and to the kitchens, which are in the 

 "L" of the house, but so arranged as not to be obtrusive or 

 disagreeable from the court. 



The place is about two acres in extent, and is situated on flat, 

 high ground in one of the larger cities of New England. 



Color Notes on California Wild Flowers. — II. 

 PjNE of the prettiest of the California wild flowers in June and 

 ^-^ July is the Chilian Canchalagua (Erythrcea venusta). It is 

 abundant in southern California on the mesas and hill-sides, 

 and in the valleys, usually less than a foot in height, but in 

 some moist localities exceeding two feet. The rotate corolla, 

 with a slender tube and five (rarely four or six) divisions, ex- 

 ceeds an inch across, the divisions brilliantly colored, of a 

 shade belonging somewhere between solferino and magenta, 

 too dark for rose-purple, with a narrow white circle in the cen- 

 tre. The centre and the tube of the corolla, together with the 

 rather prominent stigma, are of a greenish sulphur-yellow, the 

 style and filaments white, while the prominent, exserted, erect 

 anthers are of a brilliant lemon-yellow. The blossoms close 

 their eyes upon the going down of the sun, turning their bright, 

 dewy faces to him again in the morning. The flowers will re- 

 main bright and fresh for days and weeks after they are gath- 

 ered without being put in water. This -is one of its most 

 excellent features, the value of which will be recognized by 

 florists. Sometimes, though rarely, the divisions of the 

 corolla are of a delicate pale lavender and often pure white in 

 this species. The white ones are especially lovely when seen 

 in a mass of the brilliant solferino. It will doubtless prove 

 easy of cultivation, and if so, the California Centaury will he- 

 come deservedly popidar in American gardens. Medicinally 

 the plant possesses valuable antiseptic and febrifuge proper- 

 ties, and is in high repute as a bitter tonic and stomachic. 



Agave Deserti, one of the Mescal or Maguey plants, so abun- 

 dant on the western borders of the Colorado Desert, produces 



