October 15, 1890.] 



Garden and Forest. 



505 



the northern states this Japan Anemone is not reliably hardy, 

 and it is always best to lift the roots and store them in a cool 

 cellar until spring-. _ 



South Lancaster, Mass. E. O. Orpct. 



Vallota purpurea. — The Scarborough Lily (a name under 

 which this plant was more generally known in England some 

 years ago than it is at present) is one of those plants a well- 

 grown specimen of which at once commands attention. The 

 genus, named after the French botanist, Pierre Valot, has this 

 representative alone, and it belongs to the Amaryllidacece. 

 The Vallota was introduced from the Cape of Good Hope in 

 1774. The bulb is large and firm ; leaves strap-shaped and 

 evergreen ; scape slightly longer than the leaves, bearing from 

 five to ten, and sometimes even more, bright scarlet, funnel- 

 shaped flowers in the form of an umbel. The plant succeeds 

 best in the greenhouse, and it is an excellent subject for culti- 

 vation in the dwelling-house. It is rather a common plant in 

 gardens, but from the weakly specimens generally seen it is 

 evident that its cultivation is far from being perfectly under- 

 stood. The soil best suited to its requirements is a mixture of 

 good loam, fibrous peat, thoroughly decomposed farm-yard 

 manure and sand in equal parts. When potting is necessary, 

 it is best done soon after the flowering season. Care should 

 be taken that the bulbs are disturbed as little as possible, and 

 their crowns should be on a level with the surface of the soil. 

 Frequent or annual potting is injurious, and should only be 

 undertaken when a shift or renewal of soil is absolutely neces- 

 sary. In the meantime give plenty of water and stimulating 

 liquids during the season of growth. It is a mistake to dry off 

 the plant periodically, for it needs no season of perfect rest 

 like most other bulbous plants. In its natural state it is found 

 in marshy districts, and it practically knows no dry season. Of 

 course less water will supply its needs in winter, but at no time 

 should the soil be allowed to get dust dry. The pots may be 

 set out-doors during the summer months with advantage. In 

 such cases a bright, sunny position should be chosen, with an 

 ample supply of water, and the roots protected from the burn- 

 ing sun by shading the pots. The flowering season lasts 

 through August and September, but if the plants are strong 

 and healthy this season may be hastened or delayed by sev- 

 eral weeks. The stock may be readily increased from the off- 

 sets which are freely produced by vigorous plants. There are 

 several varieties of Vallota purpurea. Some of these have 

 larger flowers than the type, in others the flowers are a trifle 

 brighter. 



Botanic Gardens, Cambridge, Mass. M. Barker. 



Spraying against Pear Blight. — The orchard of Mr. J. M. 

 White, of Middlesex, New Jersey, contains some 1,200 trees, 

 and early in the season the spraying was begun with a Nixon 

 cart-pump, throwing two strong streams. With this cart and 

 three men, with a boy to lead the horse, the entire orchard 

 was sprayed thoroughly in four hours. The first spraying was 

 with a mixture of London Purple for insects, and carbonate of 

 copper with ammonia for the Blight Fungus. One Clairgeau 

 tree was left unsprayed, and from this the leaves fell very 

 early and the few pears produced soon followed. They were 

 small, blotched and cracked so much as to be about worth- 

 less. The surrounding trees of the same variety retained 

 their foliage well, and, as this was an off-year, prices were high 

 and profits great. Mr. White saved several hundred dollars 

 on his Clairgeau pears alone. The Duchess and other varie- 

 ties were also benefited, as may be inferred from the' fact that 

 their owner secured an unbroken list of first premiums at the 

 State Fair. This case is simply cited to show that the time 

 has come when spraying machines of some kind must be 

 adopted as regular implements on the farm. It should be 

 understood that they can be used for the potato-field as well 

 as the orchard and vineyard. 



New Brunswick, N. J. £>. JJ. H. 



The Forest. 



The Forestry Exhibit at the Columbian Exposition. 



WE find in the Southern Lumberman a paper read by 

 Mr. Henry L. Tolman at the meeting of the Lum- 

 ber and Forestry Committee of the National Commission 

 in charge of the coming World's Fair at Chicago. The ex- 

 tracts given below will furnish a good idea of the character 

 and scope of such an exhibit as the enlightened lumbermen 

 of the country think the forest-interests of the country 

 deserve : 



The lumber business ranks third in commercial importance 

 among our domestic industries, and for several reasons is en- 



titled to a prominent department in the Columbian Exposition. 

 The products of our forests are so varied, the forms into which 

 they are manufactured so numerous, and the multitude; of 

 wood-working machines so great, as of themselves, when 

 properly classified and arranged, to make a large and attractive 

 display, not only to those directly interested, but to the world 

 at large. 



Again there is a scientific department to which attention has 

 never been called, but which, if properly developed, would be 

 of rare and novel interest. A study of the cell structure of 

 trees in health and disease furnishes the only means for an- 

 swering many of the practical questions — as to why wood 

 decays, the relative value of sap and heart wood, butt or top 

 logs, the comparative worth of Wisconsin, Kentucky or Lou- 

 isiana white oak, white or yellow pine, white and red cy- 

 press, the comparative value of cedar, poplar, cypress, 

 redwood, fir and other woods. Physical tests for transverse 

 strain and compression made by elaborate and costly machines 

 are constantly necessary to determine similar questions as to 

 breaking weight, and their results can be instructively and 

 effectively shown. A vast belt of Short-leaf Yellow Pine ex- 

 tending from Maryland south, skirting the Blue Ridge Moun- 

 tains their entire length, and fringing the northern edge of the 

 great Long-leaf Pine belt as far as central Texas, is rapidly 

 coming into market, but the prejudice against it has been so 

 great that until the last two or three years it has been com- 

 pelled to masquerade under another name to find purchasers. 

 Its inferiority has been greatly exaggerated, and science only 

 can best determine its value as compared with that of its bet- 

 ter known rival, the so-called Georgia Pine. The Government 

 has recently begun measures to recover damages from tur- 

 pentine distillers who have been boxing trees on unsold lands 

 without license, on the ground that such boxing injures their 

 growth and deteriorates them in value, and science will be 

 called on to answer this question. 



Extensive forests of Sweet Gum fill the swamps of Georgia, 

 Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, which are comparatively 

 valueless, because no successful way has been found of drying 

 the lumber without serious surface checking, and science 

 must solve the difficulty. Scientific facts are disseminated 

 very slowly among the people by the ordinary channels, and 

 the occasion we propose to celebrate offers an opportunity un- 

 equaled in the history of our country. 



Having thus very briefly outlined a few of the many ways in 

 which the solution of these scientific questions can be of real 

 practical advantage, permit me to suggest how such an exhibit 

 should be made. 



First, there should be specimens of all the four hundred and 

 twenty-five species of trees with which nature has beautified 

 this, the forest continent of the world. These specimens 

 should be cut at least three feet long, flat and rift sawed, so as 

 to show grain and pattern, and giving bark, sap and heart 

 wood. All boards should be dressed, and some of them 

 polished in different ways to show the best manner of treating 

 them. Transverse sections of the butt and top cuts should 

 also be obtained, at least of the commercially valuable woods, 

 to show the annual growth of rings, thickness of sap and bark, 

 etc. If possible, specimens of leaves, flowers and fruit 

 should likewise be obtained, not only for the aid of professed 

 botanists, but to enable lumbermen to identify species, as it is 

 a well known fact that common names of trees vary greatly 

 according to the locality. In the Oaks, especially, the con- 

 fusion of names is very annoying, and the quality of the 

 different species varies greatly. Another interesting feature 

 would be photographs enlarged under the microscope of 

 specimens of woods, which would show far better than any 

 ordinary examination the causes of the difference between 

 different species. Numerous and exhaustive physical tests, 

 such as were made of the various woods under the direction 

 of the Census Bureau in 1880, should be shown, the results of 

 which afforded valuable evidence as to the relative resistance 

 of the various woods to strains and compressions, ami their 

 adaptability for bridge building, railroad ties or sills, and the 

 like, or, on the other hand, for furniture or interior decoration. 

 No wood unites in itself all the desirable qualities, and as 

 gradually one after another of the most valuable kinds of wood 

 become exhausted, at least in merchantable quantities, 

 greater attention must be paid to the selection of satisfactory 

 substitutes. 



Besides specimens of native forest-grown trees, there should 

 also be others of trees artificially planted in various sections. 

 Some of them are large enough to give valuable data as to the 

 comparative growth and quality of naturally-grown and 

 planted-out trees. The same work might profitably be pushed 

 still further, and important data thus be obtained toward 



