6 3 8 



Garden and Forest. 



[December 31, 1&90. 



article quoted by Mr. Munson,but Planchon, in his revision 

 of the order in De Candolle's "Monographise," makes V. 

 pahnata, Vahl, a variety of V. riparia, and while he keeps 

 V. rubra distinct, he expresses a strong doubt whether it is 

 anything more than another variety of the same species. 

 Viala, of course, follows Planchon. Whether V. cordifolia, 

 V. riparia and V. rubra should not all be grouped in one 

 species is a matter to be determined by future study 

 in the field by skilled systematists. This, however, 

 does not touch the question in point, which is simply 

 whose judgment ought to be followed, that of Engelmann 

 or Planchon, as to the identity of Michaux's species with 

 Vahl's V. palmata. We have preferred to follow Dr. Engel- 

 mann. — Ed.] 



Clematis Paniculata. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — Allow me to add one more note to those which have 

 already appeared in Garden and Forest as to the beauty and 

 value of this species, and it cannot be too highly commended, as 

 probably the best of the small white flowered kinds. A grafted 

 plant of mine has made a growth of ten feet this season, with 

 numerous shoots which in early September were topped with 

 long garlands of dainty, fragrant flowers borne in great- pro- 

 fusion. But what is perhaps the most interesting phase of the 

 plant does not seem to have been insisted on as it deserves, 

 namely, its beauty in early winter. Its thick, leathery leaves 

 proved to be very persistent, and in early November com- 

 menced to be touched with bright red and coppery tints, which, 

 as the season advanced, changed to deeper ones, and now, in 

 mid-December, the vine is a mass of dull bronze, over which 

 hover gracefully a profusion of seeds of a deep, clear red, each 

 furnished with a feathery tuft. The scarcity of foliage in the 

 garden at this dull season makes valuable any plant with per- 

 sistent foliage, even if of no value during the summer; but 

 here we have a plant attractive in every season, and of very 

 peculiar beauty, when most other things have entirely disap- 

 peared. 



Elizabeth, N. J. f.-N- Cr- 



Recent Publications. 



We have been favored with advance sheets of portions 

 of the Report of the Pennsylvania State Board of Agricul- 

 ture. The report of the Botanist, Mr. Thomas Meehan, is 

 always interesting, and from it we take the following extract : 



The correspondence of this Department has been for the 

 most part confined to answering inquiries as to the names of 

 plants — some of them being of weeds that have for the first 

 time attracted attention. None of these have, however, been 

 new to the state ; nor does it appear that any noxious weeds 

 are spreading more than usual. Inquiries are sometimes 

 made as to the best method of destroying troublesome weeds. 

 No plant can live if it is not permitted to make green leaves. 

 If the land is full of something troublesome there is nothing 

 better than to put it in Corn, and insist on continuous cul- 

 ture — not leaving the work till the weed to be destroyed has 

 thrown out strong green leaves, but before it has had the chance 

 to make any. Occasionally reports come to the Botanist that 

 weeds were not killed by this process. Failure could only 

 come from neglect to hoe or cultivate until the weed enemy 

 has made some strong green leaves. It is a good lesson for 

 a young farmer to give him some stubborn weed-plant — a 

 Canada Thistle or Horse-nettle, for instance — and let him try 

 the experiment. 



In like manner it is wholly healthy foliage that will give full 

 crops. Whenever grain loses its leaves before the ears ma- 

 ture the crop is lessened. An excellent lesson can be had from 

 two hills of Corn. Commence to denude the plant of foliage 

 before the silk or tassel forms, and watch the result on the 

 crop. Even those who believe they understand the value of 

 attention to these matters will be surprised with the force of 

 lessons like these. 



It has recently been placed beyond all doubt that the con- 

 tinual injury to the foliage of the Strawberry by the work of a 

 Fungus, which spots the leaves, is what proves the continual 

 degeneracy of varieties. The hundreds of new varieties of 

 Strawberries that have been introduced during the past quar- 

 ter of a century have not given us in any respect better kinds 

 than we then had, but they take the place of kinds that degen- 

 erate. When half the leaf-blades are destroyed by the spot, 

 the plant has only half the leaf surface it should have, and suf- 



fers proportionately. New seedlings are usually several years 

 old before they get the spot. The Sharpless is said to have re- 

 sisted the attack longer than any other. The methods of cul- 

 ture, necessary though they be, lower vital power to resist the 

 spot. It is said that the Strawberry in its wild state is able to 

 resist the spot. 



Another Instance of the value of foliage is illustrated by the 

 early fall of the leaf on the Pear or other trees, from the leaf 

 Fungus, from caterpillars or from other causes. It is well 

 known that the fruit will not then ripen well. 



Perhaps one of the best illustrations is by the loss of leaves 

 on the Potato-plant by the Colorado beetle, when all know no 

 crop is returned to us. 



It is impossible for a plant to continue long without healthy 

 leaves. We can turn this principle to good account in the 

 destruction of weeds, and to good account also by doing all 

 we can to keep the foliage healthy in the crops we grow. 



Professor N. L. Britton, of Columbia College, has recently 

 reprinted from the Annals of the New York Academy of 

 Science his " List of the State and Local Floras of the United 

 States, and British America." It forms a complete index of 

 works relating to the geographical distribution of our plants, 

 and includes the titles of 791 treatises although all such minor 

 ones as isolated notes and "short lists of observations" have 

 been excluded. The works are divided into four classes : 

 Lists in which exact localities are not given, those giving sta- 

 tions, those in which to the mention of stations notes or occa- 

 sional descriptions are added, and descriptive lists properly 

 so called. The order of arrangement is, however, by coun- 

 tries, states and counties, the class to which each work belongs 

 being indicated by the annexed letter A, B, C or D. The earli- 

 est local list of American plants seems to have been John 

 Bannister's "Catalogue of Plants," which relates to the large 

 region then called Virginia and was issued in London in 1668. 

 Next came another Virginian catalogue, published at Leyden 

 by Johannes Clayton between 1739 an< ^ x 743- The plants of 

 Orange County, New York, were described by Cadwallader 

 Colden in 1749-1753, and in 1785 the Rev. M. Cutler, of Boston, 

 published a list of New England plants. To-day 106 catalogues 

 instruct us with regard to New England, while 121 refer to the 

 middle states and the District of Columbia and sixty-six to the 

 Pacific coast. These are the largest numbers attached to any 

 of the districts into which Mr. Britton divides the continent, 

 if we except British America, which, considered as a whole, 

 furnishes 123 catalogues, with ten in addition that refer to the 

 explorations of the Transcontinental Survey. But, of course, 

 such division into districts is more or less arbitrary, and it is 

 more interesting to note which individual states have been 

 most diligently studied and described. New York heads the 

 roll with sixty-five catalogues, then comes California with 

 forty-eight, and then Massachusetts with forty-five, Pennsyl- 

 vania with thirty and Ohio with twenty-eight. The labor in- 

 volved in the preparation of this little bibliography must have 

 been considerable, and it should meet with a grateful welcome 

 not only from students bent upon personal improvement, but 

 from librarians anxious to make the local departments of 

 botanical libraries as complete as possible. 



Horticulture in Canada. 

 Meeting of the Ontario Fruit Growers' Association. 



AT the first session of the annual meeting of the Fruit 

 Growers' Association of Ontario, held a fortnight ago, 

 Mr. A. M. Smith, the retiring President, delivered an address 

 from which we make the following extracts : 



Within twenty years the membership of the Society has 

 grown from 30 to 2,100, so that it is now the largest body 

 devoted to horticulture in America and perhaps the largest in 

 the world. Thirty years ago berries were brought to market 

 in pans and pails dipped out with hands or ladles into meas- 

 ures as buyers called for them, and, as a consequence, they 

 were delivered mostly in the form of jam. Apples, pears and 

 even peaches, when not too soft, were marketed in grain- 

 sacks, jolted over rough roads in lumber-wagons, instead of 

 being shipped as all kinds of fruit now are with careful hand- 

 ling and in attractive packages. 



Notwithstanding the discouragements of the year the fruit 

 crops on the whole have "been as successful as any of the 

 agricultural crops. This season has proved that it is not wise 

 for one whose income is from fruit to depend altogether on 

 one kind. Those who have taken their chances with apples 

 or peaches alone find themselves in a bad position, while those 



