>o- 



Garden and Forest. 



[October 29, 1890. 



close about it— that, in short, something in the way of formal 

 designing should make the transition between its formal lines 

 and the graceful variety of the grounds further away. To 

 make this transition well — to make the formal designing har- 

 monize with the house on the one hand and with the true 

 landscape passages on the other — is, of course, the most diffi- 

 cult of the artist's tasks ; nor is it an easier task when buildings 

 are not in question, but when, as in the case of a public park, 

 certain elements of formality are still demanded for grandeur 

 of effect or for convenience of public use. In learning how to. 

 treat such tasks much help, we think, will be afforded by the 

 more practical portions of our author's text and by his plans. 

 Especially interesting is his description of the transformation 

 of an estate in Hungary, where he deflected a public road 

 which passed too near the front of the old house, and arranged 

 the ground on that side, as well as on the other sides, in what 

 seems to be a very ingenious, intelligent and successful way. 

 A special chapter of interest is given to "Terraces," and among 

 the practical chapters, hot-houses, the kitchen garden and the 

 economic treatment of land are dwelt upon, as well as those 

 questions of arrangement and formation, of planting and of 

 the treatment of water and of approaches, which one would be 

 more sure to expect. Of course, certain counsels — as, for ex- 

 ample, with regard to the most desirable trees and shrubs, 

 lists of which are given for different soils and situations — will 

 be of little use to the American as compared with the English 

 student. But there is still much in the book to instruct the 

 former, and we would especially call attention to the chapter 

 headed " Water " as dealing with a subject usually less well 

 understood than others. "The Approach" is another good 

 chapter, illustrated with interesting plans. It is a question, 

 however, whether, in the two large schemesfor planting which 

 are illustrated, the author's desire to secure variety has not led 

 him to use too many species of trees. There is no scale ap- 

 pended to show the size of the intended boundary plantation, 

 for example; but it would need to be very large, indeed, to ad- 

 mit, with good effect, of the introduction of the forty-four 

 species whose names and places are marked thereon. Nor 

 can there be many situations in which, for practical cultural 

 reasons, it would be wise to mingle so large a variety of in- 

 digenous and foreign trees. On the whole, however, while 

 the volume is in no sense a remarkable or very inspiring one, 

 it can be recommended to the attenion of serious students, 

 especially those who are not able to read the many similar 

 treatises which exist in the French and German languages. 



Notes. 



The forest-fires which have raged during the past summer 

 in the Black Hill-region of Dakota are reported to be the most 

 destructive which have visited that part of the country since it 

 has been open to settlement. Sixty square miles of timber 

 are said to have been burned over. 



Discoveries made not long ago near the Stabiana Gate, in 

 Pompeii, included the trunk of a tree which an Italian savant 

 has identified as Laurus nobilis. Some of its fruits were like- 

 wise found, and from their size it is now said that the eruption 

 which destroyed the city must have taken place in November, 

 and not, as previously believed, in August. 



According to the Victoria Colonist, one of the largest 

 Douglas Firs ever cut in that vicinity was recently measured 

 at a mill in Vancouver. It included four twenty-four-foot 

 logs, the largest of which measured seventy-six inches in 

 diameter, and all of which were perfectly free from knots. 

 The whole product was estimated at 28,614 feet. 



The true Apples do not, as a rule, assume any decided 

 autumn coloring of foliage. The exception is the Japanese 

 Pyrus Toringo, a small hardy tree distinguished by its curi- 

 ously lobed leaves, which resemble those of some species of 

 Crataegus. These are now colored deep purple, and are very 

 ornamental, and quite distinct from those of any other Apple- 

 tree. 



Mrs. Elizabeth G. Britton announces in the Bulletin of the 

 Torrey Botanical Club that as there is a demand in the eastern 

 states for a hand-book of Mosses smaller and cheaper than 

 Lesquereux and James' Manual, and as, moreover, the edition 

 of this is nearly exhausted, she is preparing an illustrated work 

 to be called "A Hand-book of the Mosses of North-eastern 

 America." The area denoted by the title will include eastern 

 British America and the north-eastern and central states, and 

 it is hoped that the volume will be ready for publication by the 

 end of next year. 



The autumn coloring of the foliage of the Japanese Negundo 

 (Ncgufido cissifolium) is surpassed in beauty by that of few exotic 



trees. The general color of most of the leaves at this time is 

 bright orange. Those at the end of the branches turn first 

 and are brilliant scarlet, the contrast between the two colors 

 producing a beautiful and striking effect. N. cissifolium is a 

 small, perfectly hardy tree of excellent habit and pleasing- 

 color through the summer. It is vigorous, grows rapidly, and 

 so far shows none of the constitutional weaknesses which have 

 made many other Japanese plants of the Maple tribe so unsat- 

 isfactory and disappointing in this country. 



A writer in Gartenflora, speaking of the profusion of roof 

 and terrace gardens which enliven the streets of Paris, men- 

 tions as one of the most remarkable the terrace-garden of 

 Monsieur Lockroy, the father of Victor Hugo's son-in-law. 

 Once a popular writer of comedies and operettas, Monsieur 

 Lockroy is now above all an amateur gardener, and Ins " hang- 

 ing garden," which lies twenty metres above the street, shows 

 the results of thirty years' affectionate labor. Its care is en- 

 tirely in his own hands, and in a multitude of pots he grows 

 not only beautiful Roses and other flowers in profusion, but 

 fine pears and peaches, apples and luscious grapes, which 

 clothe a wall that rises above the terrace, and which " have 

 never been endangered by the phylloxera." In winter sufficient 

 protection for the plants is afforded by a temporary light shed 

 with sliding panels, which may be opened in propitious weather. 



We have received several chestnuts of named varieties from 

 different nurserymen. One of these from the Pomona 

 Nurseries at Parry, New Jersey, is the nut of a Japanese 

 variety, and it is well named Giant from its remarkable size. 

 Mr. Samuel C. Moon sends a sample of the variety Numbo, 

 and Mr. William H. Moon also sends some fine specimens. 

 These nuts vary in quality, but none of them equal in sweet- 

 ness the nuts on our native trees. The Japanese nut is sur- 

 rounded by an especially bitter and puckery skin, which can, 

 however, be easily removed. All these big nuts are greatly 

 improved in flavor by being boiled or roasted, and when thus 

 prepared they are almost as good in quality as the American 

 chestnut. There is little doubt that a grove of any of these 

 large varieties would prove a remunerative investment in 

 places where the trees are hardy. It is high time for some of 

 our experiment stations to begin the work of crossing the 

 foreign kinds upon our native stock for the purpose of secur- 

 ing a race of hardy trees^hichwill produce nuts at once of large 

 size and the best quality. Practically nothing has ever been done 

 in the way of developing our native nuts by selection, and no 

 one knows how much improvement is possible until the same 

 care in crossing and selecting is used to produce an ideal 

 Chestnut as has been exercised for generations in perfecting 

 the Apple or the Pear. The nurserymen, who are giving an im- 

 pulse to nut-culture by calling attention to the possibilities in 

 this direction, are doing the country good service. 



The annual report of the superintendent of the Royal Bo- 

 tanic Garden at Trinidad has reached us, and, like its prede- 

 cessors, contains a large amount of useful information about 

 various tropical economic plants and several interesting and 

 instructive illustrations, the most striking being that of a noble 

 specimen of Corypha elata, surmounted by an enormous 

 panicle of fruit estimated to weigh over a ton. Mr. Hart calls 

 attention to the fact that the large crown of leaves borne by 

 this Palm withered and fell flat to the stem soon after the ap- 

 pearance of the huge panicle of flowers. As the fruit set and 

 commenced to develop the leaves became dry, then hung 

 down (as shown in the illustration) and finally fell off, leaving 

 nothing but the crowning panicle of fruit. Mr. Hart remarks: 

 " From the early falling and drying away of the leaves after 

 the period of anthesis, it is fully evident that they cannot assist 

 in any way during the period in supplying or manufacturing 

 the plant-food necessary for the formation and development 

 of the seeds, and that the supplies and material for such pur- 

 pose must have been accumulated and deposited in an easily 

 assimilated form in the stem itself. This will form an impor- 

 tant fact for those who are discussing the movement of fluids 

 in the cellsof plants." He points out that morphosis of this 

 character, although rare in temperate climates, is a familiar 

 feature in tropical vegetation. The Silk Cotton-tree, Erioden- 

 dron anfractuosum, of which a portrait appeared in Garden 

 and Forest (iii., p. 341), is cited as an illustration of this 

 phenomenon. This tree produces its flowers and sets its fruit 

 at a period of the year when it is entirely destitute of leaves, 

 the seeds being distributed by means of the cotton attached to 

 them just as the tree is putting out the new set of leaves for 

 the season. Mr. Hart, as he has in previous reports, deplores 

 the want of interest taken in forest-preservation on the island, 

 and the inevitable destruction, under the existing feeling on 

 the subject, of the valuable forests which still occur in some 

 parts of Trinidad. 



