544 



Garden and Forest. 



[November 5, 1890. 



years later. But we possess no radical remedy against the 

 caterpillar, and it seems doubtful if we shall ever find one. 

 At all events, it is the duty of the forest-managers, forest-own- 

 ers, the Government and the whole population to come to 

 close quarters in every possible way with this dangerous vis- 

 itor, even although Nature herself up till now has proved the 

 best helper, and may continue so in future." 



Notes. 



Spircea prunifolia is less desirable than many other shrubs 

 of this genus, but its autumn coloring is remarkably vivid. 

 This year it has been conspicuous for the bright crimson of its 

 foliage. 



A writer in Gartenflora says that a few sprigs of Rosemary 

 laid among woolen clothes will effectually protect them from 

 moths. New expedients for this purpose are worth trying, now 

 that the price of camphor has risen so greatly. 



The western range of the Hemlock has been still farther 

 extended, a tree having been lately found by Mr. J. F. Bartlett, 

 of Brainard, Minnesota, on the right or east bank of the outlet 

 of Pokegema Lake, that is, near the north line of Section 15, 

 Township 55, Range 26, west, in Minnesota, and seventy-five 

 miles north-east of the intersection of the Wisconsin line with 

 the St. Louis River. 



We have received from the Minister of Agriculture and 

 Commerce of Italy a copy of the " Annuario Generate della 

 Orticultura in Italia " for the current year, a directory of the 

 horticultural societies of the kingdom and their members, of 

 the botanic gardens and schools ol agriculture and forestry, 

 with some cultural memoranda relating to new plants and 

 other information of special interest to Italian botanists, gar- 

 deners and foresters. 



In connection with the interesting notes on "Grapes in 

 Eastern Massachusetts," which appear in another column of 

 this issue, it may be well to state that the method of cultiva- 

 tion practiced by Mr. Smith seems to be justified by the results 

 attained. At the exhibition of the Massachusetts Horticul- 

 tural Society last month he obtained the first prize for Grapes 

 of the following varieties : Wilder, Barry, Prentiss, Massasoit, 

 Lindley and Brighton. 



Experiments at the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station 

 seem to indicate that lime, added to mixtures of London pur- 

 ple and Paris green, greatly lessens the injury which these 

 poisons inflict upon the foliage of trees sprayed with them. 

 About a bushel of lime is put in a barrel and covered with 

 water until it is thoroughly slaked. The mixture is stirred until 

 it is very milky, and as much is added to the arsenical prepara- 

 tions as can be used without clogging the sprayer. 



In the valuable article on American Grapes, by Mr. T. V. 

 Munson, which appeared in the issue of this journal for Octo- 

 ber 1st, the name Vitis palmata was used to designate the plant 

 called V. rubra by Mr. Munson. This change was for the sake 

 of uniformity, as the plant had been figured and described as 

 V. palmata in Garden and Forest (vol. ii., p. 340). It should 

 have been stated that the change was not authorized by Mr. 

 Munson, and that he prefers the name V. rubra, which he has 

 used in other publications. 



The Chrysanthemum Show of the Philadelphia Horticultural 

 Society, which is to be held next week, beginning on the even- 

 ing of Monday, November 10th, and continuing until Friday 

 evening, bids' fair to equal the best of the Philadelphia exhibi- 

 tions in former years. The entries have been numerous, and 

 the display of new seedlings will be unusually large. Excep- 

 tional interest is manifested in the award of a special premium 

 of fifty dollars offered by a member of the Society for the best 

 seedling Chrysanthemum, no one being allowed to compete 

 except the veteran growers, John Thorpe, of Pearl River, New 

 York, and W. K. Harris, of Philadelphia. 



The New York Forest Commission will hold a meeting on 

 November 5th, at eleven A. M., at the office of Sherman W. 

 Knevals, Esq., 32 Nassau Street, New York, for the especial 

 purpose of discussing the establishment of an Adirondack 

 State Park, in pursuance of the resolution passed by the Legis- 

 lature of 1890. In order to avail themselves of the opinions 

 and suggestions of all parties interested, the Commissioners 

 invite representatives from all clubs, preserves, sanitariums 

 and other associations now existing in the Adirondack region, 

 to meet with them for the purpose of mutual consultation and 

 informal discussion. 



A correspondent of the Gardeners' Chronicle recently wrote: 

 " I have to-day flowered a Cattleya aurea that has two flowers 

 to the spike ; one is distinctly C. Dowiana, with the purple on 

 the sepals and the gold veins on the lip distinct to the very 

 edge; the other flower is C. aurea without any purple mark- 

 ings on the sepals or petals, and the gold veins at the sides of 

 the lip widening until the purple disappears. I mention this 

 to show how absurd the naming of slight varieties of Orchids 

 is. I have been flowering some of the best looking C. Dowi- 

 ana I ever saw, but have not been fortunate enough to find a 

 single Hardyana among them. From experiments I have 

 made I am convinced that a clear light has much to do with 

 the intensity of the coloring of these Cattleyas ; and some 

 whose petals are mottled with rose or purple when suspended 

 close to the glass in a good light will have no red coloring on 

 the petals if kept in a shady place." 



Monsieur Lemoine, of Nancy, sends us a colored plate of 

 another series of four of his new hybrid Gladioli. There are 

 two of the Nanceianus hybrids: Le Grand Carnot, with very large 

 bright, [orange-scarlet flowers, with conspicuous, sulphur 

 colored spots on two of the lower segments and shaded with 

 purple toward the interior; Harry Veitch, with dark maroon- 

 red flowers, the lower divisions marked with straw colored 

 and bright red spots. Two new hybrids of the Lemoinei sec- 

 tion complete the group. They are : Alice Wilson, with large, 

 well-formed flowers with reflexed segments, displaying the in- 

 terior, which is cream colored, slightly shaded with rose. 

 Another of the same class is Nuee Bleue, with smaller, violet- 

 blue flowers, marked with large, darker violet spots, separated 

 through the middle by a yellow ray. Several more new Nan- 

 ceianus hybrids are sent out this year from the Nancy nursery, 

 including Dr. H. P. Wolcott, Kle"ber, Massena, Undine, and 

 Professor Sargent. 



In an account of a conversation recently held with Colonel 

 H. Gardner, the special agent of the Census Office for the col- 

 lection of statistics with regard to viticulture, a correspondent 

 of the New York Sun reports him as saying that "there are in 

 round numbers 400,000 acres of land in this country planted 

 to vineyards, of which 300,000 will be in bearing this year. 

 This is an increase of 220,000 acres in vineyard area during the 

 past ten years, and an increase of over $10,000,000 a year in 

 the capital invested. Of the area of bearing vines in the 

 country, California alone has 150,000 acres, including 25,000 

 acres of Raisin-grapes. That state also has of the total invest- 

 ment of capital nearly $78,000,000. Between 30,000,000 and 

 40,000,000 gallons of wine will be made in the United States 

 this year, of which California will produce more than half. 

 Seven-eighths of the grapes of California go to the wine press. 

 Four-fifths of the grapes grown in all the rest of the United 

 States are for table use. California alone grows the Raisin- 

 grape." 



Bulletin No. 12 of the United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture is devoted to an account of the " Grasses of the South- 

 west," with plates and descriptions by Dr. George Vaseyof the 

 species peculiar to the desert region of western Texas, New 

 Mexico, Arizona, and southern California. The region em- 

 braced in this work so far as the valleys are concerned is 

 principally a desert. Grasses are scanty, not in variety of 

 species, but in distribution. Some are short-lived, springing 

 up after summer rains, maturing rapidly, and then disappear- 

 ing. The perennial species grow generally in bunches, with 

 roots which penetrate deep into the soil and thus enable them 

 to withstand the effects of protracted drought. Grasses no- 

 where form a dense sod as they do in regions of more equally 

 distributed rainfall. As Dr. Vasey points out in his introduction, 

 the most important agricultural question before the people of 

 this region is how to increase the production of Grasses and 

 other forage plants. The Department of Agriculture is en- 

 deavoring to solve this problem by means of various experi- 

 mental farms situated in different parts of the western and 

 south-western parts of the country, and the sensible opinion 

 seems to be gaining ground that if any Grasses can be profit- 

 ably cultivated in this arid region it will be some of the native 

 species, which naturally are better fitted to support the hard- 

 ships of the peculiar climate than others developed under 

 more favorable circumstances. The first step, naturally, in 

 experiments with the native plants of a country is for the 

 experimenter to learn something about them, and this he will 

 be able to do by the aid of this work, which admirably accom- 

 plishes its purpose through the capital illustrations and Dr. 

 Vasey 's descriptions. Fifty plates are given in this first part, 

 which are to be supplemented by fifty more, now in course of 

 preparation. The plates are from drawings made chiefly by 

 Mr. William R. Scholl. 



