January 23, 1889.] 



Garden and Forest. 



39 



About its base, tall, straggling bushes of the Oregon Grape 

 [Berberis Aquifoliiiiii) held their clear green, leathery, spinu- 

 lose-toothed leaves, for these, too, like those of the bright 

 and handsome Madrona, are persistent ; but the Mock Orange 

 {Philadelphus Le-wisii {?) ) and the little Snowberry {^Symphori- 

 carpus) had only a few pale, yellowish leaves remain- 

 ing. The Ninebarks, too, were bare, excepting a few 

 leaves on shoots of the present season. Some of the Hazels 

 were still in full leaf, and, indeed, one bush was still fresh and 

 green. Of course the Manzanitas (^Arctostaphylos piingens, 

 var. platyphylla {?) ), near relatives of the Madrona, held their 

 leaves — for these, too, are persistent. The little Tea brush, 

 as we sometimes call Ceanothus integerrimus, still held many 

 of its leaves ; and the Rose bushes growing along the gulch 

 were yet green, though in more exposed places the leaves of 

 many of them were beautifully colored. 



In southern Oregon — a region embracing that part of the 

 state west of the Cascade Range and south of the Calapooya 

 Mountains — we have many shrubs and trees, interesting by 

 reason of their autumnal foliage, besides the large-leaved Maple 

 and the shrubs already mentioned. Conspicuous among these 

 is the large-flowering Dogwood [Corjitts Nuttallii), which is 

 very abundant here in the woods. The arrangement of the 

 coloring on the leaves of this tree during the transition from 

 its summer's green to its autumnal red is very fine, and is dis- 

 played in a great variety of forms. Later the color becomes 

 more imiformly red, at which time the leaves are not nearly 

 so pretty as they were before ; but the tree — or shrub, it may 

 lie — then becomes a conspicuous feature in the landscape. 



Even our two deciduous Oaks, Qiierciis Kelloggii and Q. 

 Garryana (the Black Oak and the White Oak), often present 

 great beauty in their autumnal foliage. This, it is true, does 

 not occur on all the trees nor in every locality ; it is observed 

 most frequently on the more shrubby forms and on the hill- 

 sides, where the leaves are well exposed to the sun. ' Our 

 common Poison Oak {Rhus diversiloba) often ornaments 

 whole hillsides in the fall with the rich coloring of its foliage. 

 In moist and shady woods the Low Oregon Grape [Berberis 

 nervosa), a much handsomer shrub, I think, than even the 

 larger B. Aquifoliiim, often shows great beauty of coloring, 

 though, to be sure, its leaves are evergreen. Sometimes 

 a single leaflet, or part of a leaflet even, will be colored 

 a deep shining red, while all the others are of their usual 

 bright green. Again the coloring will be varied by a dash of 

 bright yellow, or of orange, with a sprinkling of the red. Our 

 common wild Blackberry {Rubtis ursitttcs), growing in similar 

 localities, often displays great beauty in the coloring of some 

 of its leaves, though this plant usually keeps its leaves green 

 throughout the year. 



The Wild Grape ( Vitis Calif ortiica) is very abundant here. 

 In default of any support this plant will form clumps upon the 

 ground ; but, wherever it has the opportunity, will climb lofty 

 trees ; smaller trees it will frequently completely cover with a 

 mass of foliage. In the fall these leaves become usually of a 

 deep crimson color, but with an almost infinite variety of 

 marking and mottlings, shades and tints. 



But by far the richest, most varied, most beautiful and most 

 profuse display of coloring in this region is seen in the dying 

 leaves of the Vine-Maple {Acer circinafum). I should despair, 

 however, of giving anything like an adequate description of 

 these, and can only say that the leaves — delicate of texture and 

 beautiful in form, borne on the branches of long, straggling 

 stems, and thrust out, therefore, to long distances in every 

 direction, often intersecting the foliage of other shrubs and 

 trees, contrasting finely with these and with the much lighter 

 and more uniformly colored foliage of its large-leaved rela- 

 tive, Acer macrop'hyllum — display the most beautiful and 

 varied arrangement of the different tones of crimson and 

 scarlet, of yellow and green, it is possible to conceive. 



When these shrubs and trees are decked with their October 

 coloring and scattered among huge Douglas Spruces, Yellow 

 Pines {Piniis ponderosa) and White Firs {Abies grandis) — the 

 most beautiful, to my thinking, of our Conifers — the effect is 

 most pleasing, and it is often heightened by vines and trailing 

 plants that carpet the ground on every side. Among these 

 last are Whipplea modesta, Liii7icea borealis and the Verba 

 Buena {Micromeria Doiiglasii). 



We have here in the spring and in the summer a wealth of 

 wild flowers, the ground in many places being literally covered 

 with different species in succession. But as the season pro- 

 ceeds they disappear, and now one or two late-blooming Poly- 

 gonums are about the only things left, e.xcept a few scattered 

 individuals of a little Blepharipappus {R. scaber) and an occa- 

 sional Monardella {M. odoratissinia (?) ), called Pennyroyal 

 here, from the odor of its leaves. 



But the vegetation has started finely again since the rains 

 have come, and many species of plants that will not bloom 

 until spring are now clothing the ground with a carpet of 

 green. 



During our mildest winters the wild strawberry blooms 

 sparingly all winter ; the same is true of a little Ranunculus, 

 and the pretty little Dentaria tenella may nearly always be 

 found blooming in January. In most places in the timber 

 Syiithyris roiundi/oiia always begins to bloom by the holidays, 

 or a little later. E. IV. Ha7iimond. 



Wimer, Oregon, November 28tli. 



Foreign Correspondence. 



London Letter. 



'X'HE nurseries of Messrs. Hugh Low & Co., of Clapton and 

 -'■ Enfield, are amongst the most famous plant factories in 

 the world. In England they have for many years held a 

 position almost unique. Their trade is almost exclusively 

 with other nurserymen, the hundreds of thousands of plants 

 of all kinds annually grown there being dispatched every 

 autumn to nurseries all over the British Isles, and even to 

 America. The two nurseries contain glass structures, chiefly 

 houses, which cover an area of upwards of 300,000 superficial 

 feet. These are filled with enormous numbers of all kinds of 

 ornamental plants, everything likely to sell, from fifty-guinea 

 Orchids to sixpenny Genistas, being represented by hundreds, 

 thousands or tens of thousands. Specialists the Messrs. Low 

 & Co. certainly are, but they make a specialty of almost every 

 good garden plant. The extent and work of this establishment 

 are almost unknown outside what is termed the trade. I lately 

 had an opportunity of inspecting the contents of both nurser- 

 ies, and as these appear to me to be a sure index to the horti- 

 cultural tastes in England at the present time, it seems proper 

 to devote a letter to an account of some of the most note- 

 worthy of the plants there. 



The nurseries at Clapton are about five miles from the city. 

 They were founded in 1820 by Francis Henchman. At that 

 time New Holland plants were in high favor, and Henchman 

 sent a collector to Australia to obtain plants and seeds. The 

 Clapton Nurseries soon became famed for choice and new 

 Australian plants. This expedition, alone, cost Henchman 

 over /i,ooo. Mr. Hugh Low was at that time manager. He 

 afterwards became sole owner, and continued to collect and 

 cultivate Australian plants. Cape Heaths, and hard-wooded 

 plants generally, until his death. His son, Stuart Henry Low, 

 is the head of the present firm. He has made his nursery as 

 famous for Orchids as his father did for New Holland plants. 

 He was one of the first to send collectors for Orchids, and he 

 has continued to employ a number of them, from whom enor- 

 mous quantities of all kinds of Orchids are being constantly 

 received, and not always alive, Mr. Low significantly remarked. 

 The greater portion of the glass structures at Clapton are de- 

 voted exclusively to Orchids. Some idea of the magnitude of 

 the collection maybe obtained from the fact that five houses, 

 each eighty feef long, and each containing nine feet width of 

 staging, are filled with the following species of Cypripedium : 



C. niveiiin, C. bellatidinn, C. Icevigaiinn, C. Hayiialdisniivi, C. 

 hirsiitissiuiuvi, C. Sanderianwn and C. Lawrenciaiiiim. These 

 are each represented by thousands of plants, all in perfect 

 health, and mostly in five-inch pots. Of C. Lawrencianuni 

 there were probably 20,000 plants, and the richly variegated 

 foliage of these fields of leaves was a glorious sight. Cat- 

 tleya Mossice entirely filled a gigantic house 150 feet long, with 

 fifteen feet width of staging. The display of bloom in this 

 house when the plants are in full flower must be a grand pic- 

 ture. Another house, equally large, is filled to the door with 

 healthy plants in all sizes of Cattleya Gaskelliana. Bushels 

 of flowers were cut from these plants this autumn. There 

 can be no question of the superior qualities of this species as 

 a garden Orchid. The three kinds of Cattleya which I should 

 be disposed to name as the best of all Cattleyas for the million 

 are C. Triance, C. Mossia and C. Gaskelliana. Thousands of 

 plants of Phalceaiiopsis aiiiabilis, P. Schilleriana (now a com- 

 paratively rare species in a wild state, I am told) and P. grandi- 



flora ; hundreds of the variety of the latter known as aurea, 

 also of P. denticulata and P. gloriosa, all in good health, many 

 of them recently imported. A'crides expansmn, Saccolabium 

 guttatwn, Cymbidiiini Loiviamim, Dcndrobiiiiii Brynierianuiii, 



D. snavissiuiutii, D. Canibridgeainiiii, D. tiobile \n variety, and 

 many other species of Dendrobium ; Vanda Amesiana, 

 Angrcrcuni citraiuin, Lcelia piirpitraia, Cattleya Mendelli, C. 

 Gigas ; these were all represented by himdreds or thousands, 

 mostly the latter. I have mentioned only those species which 



