22 



Garden and Forest. 



[January 9, 1889. 



however, to decide hastily in regard to the value of any tree 

 for planting under conditions quite dissimilar to those in 

 which it grows naturally. 



The Western Catalpa is confined to a comparatively 

 small area, of which the junction of the Ohio and Missis- 

 sippi Rivers may be taken as the centre; it grows only in 

 deep, river-bottom lands, which are often submerged for 

 weeks together ; and while it flourishes while young, 

 growing with remarkable rapidity when planted under con- 

 ditions entirely dissimilar to those under which this species 

 has been produced, it has not been tested yet long enough 

 in cultivation to enable any one to speak with entire posi- 

 tiveness of its adaptability to prairie-planting. The fact 

 that it becomes valuable for many purposes in compara- 

 tively few years, is a great point in its favor, as many 

 trees, placed in the midst of abnormal surroundings, 

 thrive for many years and do not display their inability 

 to adapt themselves to new conditions until they begin to 

 approach maturity. — Ed.] 



Correspondence. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — In one of your recent numbers you spoke of experi- 

 ments in the use of elastic cement for filling decayed places 

 in the trunks and limbs of trees, resulting from neglected am- 

 putations. Can you refer me to any parties for particulars and 

 for the purchase of the proper article ? I have heard of intro- 

 ducing cotton-batting, steeped in turpentine, and then closing 

 over tight. 



It seems as if this subject of tree-doctoring is of sufficient 

 importance to justify a hope of some attention in your 

 columns, for general use. G. M. Weld. 



New York. 



[We have had no experience in the use of elastic ce- 

 ment for filling the cavities in the trunks and branches ot 

 trees. The method recommended for the treatment of 

 trees in this condition is as follows : The edge of the cavity 

 should be cut away smooth and even, and all decom- 

 posed matter or growth of new bark formed in the interior 

 should be removed. A coating of coal-tar should then be 

 applied to the surface of the cavity, and the mouth pro- 

 tected with a piece of well-seasoned oak securely driven 

 into it. The end of this plug should be cut even with the 

 surface of the trunk or limb, made perfectly smooth, and then 

 coated with coal-tar. If the cavity is too large to be closed 

 in this manner, a piece of seasoned oak-board should be 

 fitted and securely nailed into it, and then covered with 

 coal-tar. A new growth of bark will gradually extend over 

 the board and so effectually cover the cavity. — Ed.] 



About Kniphofias. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — In the article by Mr. T. D. Hatfield concerning these 

 plants I observe a few slight errors, arising, probably, from 

 want of true material, which I hope he will kindly permit me 

 to amend. 



The name of K. carnosa has been given by erroneous dis- 

 tinction and bad handwriting ; the plant certainly is but K. 

 Leichtlinii. K. media, of Gawler, identical with K. sarmetttosa, 

 Kunth, is a very distinct plant, and differs in many points from 

 K. aloides, Moench. The former has broader and shorter 

 leaves, which are glaucous. It has a longer flower-stem, 

 and the flower-spike has a different form from that of K. 

 aloides; while the flowers of K. aloides are fiery red to yel- 

 low, those of K. media are somewhat rainbow-colored, at 

 first greenish-brown, then changing to blood-red, and finally 

 turning to a sulphury yellow, the whole spike shaded off by a 

 thick glaucous bloom, which causes the colors to appear 

 very dull. K. nobilis and K. Saundersi are very distinct 

 plants, and far superior to K. grandis or K. grandiflora. K. 

 nobilis, which may be considered a giant variety of K. 

 aloides, was discovered by Mr. Parker in a small garden near 

 London, and K. Saundersi I found in the garden of Mr. W. 

 Wilson Saunders, at Worthing, probably a remnant of Mr. 

 Cooper's introductions from Caffraria. I am inclined to take 

 K. Saiaidersi as a species. The two plants look very much 

 alike, except in the flowers ; the foliage looks coarse and ro- 



bust, that of K. Saundersi being a little narrower and deeper 

 green ; the stems I'each up to five feet ; the spikes of K. 

 "nobilis are of an ovoid shape, being thickest in the middle ; 

 its color is a fiery scarlet turning to deep bright yellow, and its 

 size is eight inches long by more than four inches wide. The 

 spikes of K. Saundersi are cylindrical, scarlet, with a brick-red 

 shade turning yellowish. Tiie spike is thirteen inches long 

 and three and a half inches in diameter. This is by far the 

 noblest of the whole genus. I have of late raised some most 

 beautiful hybrids and varieties ; a blood red and a golden 

 yellow variety of K. Leichtlinii, and among the hybrids some 

 bright canary-yellow ones, and others with anthers far pro- 

 truding, looking just like a brush. The small-flowered K. albi- 

 flora, introduced by myself from Madagascar, is pretty, but of 

 botanical interest mainly. K. Natalensis, which flowered here 

 for the first time in Europe, is not very showy, yet highly in- 

 teresting ; the spikes being over two feet long, loosely beset 

 with narrow flowers of a foxy brown color. 



Baden-Baden, December, 1888. 



Max Leichtlin. 



Periodical Literature. 



The December niunber of the Bulletin of Miscellaneous In- 

 formation, issued by the Royal Gardens at Kew, completes the 

 second volume of this useful publication, from which we have 

 more than once had occasion to make copious extracts. The 

 present number contains articles on Inhambane Copal 

 \Copaifera Gorskiana), a new tropical- African product, from 

 which it appears that " the term copal is commercially applied 

 to various hard gum-resins yielded by certain tropical and 

 sub-tropical trees. In the majority of cases copal is obtained 

 in a semi-fossil state on land where no trees at present are 

 found, but where at one time large forests existed. In other 

 cases, what may be termed recent copal is a gum-resin in a 

 comparatively fresh state, collected from living trees or from 

 trees in a state of decay. 



There is also an exhaustive report upon the cultivation of 

 Rice in Bengal, which should be reprinted for the benefit of 

 the rice-planters of the Southern States. 



The Silkworm Thorn of China [Cadrania triloba), which has 

 been successfully introduced into the Royal Gardens, is de- 

 scribed. There are notes upon a new rubber-producing plant 

 of Jamaica {Forsteronia floribunda), and upon some supposed 

 seedlings of the Sugar-cane which have been detected at 

 Barbadoes, and which are of special interest, as the following 

 extracts will show : 



"The Sugar-cane is one of the most valuable economic 

 plants we possess. It has been cultivated for so long a period 

 that the primitive habitat of the species, according to De Can- 

 dolle, is unknown. Bentham, in the " Flora of Hong Kong," 

 page 420, states that ' We have no authentic record of any really 

 wild station of the common Sugar-cane.' Further than this, 

 in common with many plants that have been for a long time 

 under cultivation, and reproduced solely by means of buds 

 and suckers, the Sugar-cane so rarely produces mature fruits 

 that no one, as far as we are aware, has ever seen them. Cer- 

 tainly in the rich Hebarium at Kew there are no seed-bearing 

 specimens. In botanical works the subject is often referred 

 to, but apparently only to restate the fact that botanists like 

 McFadyen, in the West Indies, and Roxburgh, in India, 'have 

 never seen the seeds of the Sugar-cane.' 



" Schacht is one of the few persons who has given a good 

 analysis of the flower of the Sugar-cane, including the pistil ; 

 he also had not seen the ripe seed. 



" In discussing the problem how far the saccharine qualities 

 of Sugar-cane could be improved on the same lines as those 

 so successfully adopted with regard to the Beet, it was lately 

 pointed out in a letter addressed to the Colonial Office that, 

 owing to the power of producing fertile seeds having appar- 

 ently been lost in the Sugar-cane, it was impracticable to deal 

 ■with it by means of cross-fertilization or by the ordinary course 

 of seminal selection. It was further pointed out that new and 

 improved varieties amongst Sugar-canes were to be looked 

 for amongst bud variations, and planters were advised to 

 mark any canes that showed a departure from the type and 

 cultivate them separately for experimental purposes, with a 

 view to test their yield in sugar. 



" Recently, however, a statement has reached Kew from a 

 trustworthy source that seedling Sugar-canes have been found 

 at Barbadoes, and that the plants were in course of being raised 

 at the Botanical Station in that island, under the care of Mr. 

 Harrison and Mr. Bovell. 



"The statement sent by Professor Harrison appears to 

 prove, in a perfectly natural and circumstantial manner, that 

 a few mature seeds may occasionally be produced by the 



