48 



Garden and Forest. 



[January 23, 18S9. 



Notes. 



More than twenty million pomids of raisins were packed 

 in California last year. 



Tomatoes growing in the open air were picked fresh from 

 gardens in Santa Ros;>, California, on Christmas day. 



Small Holly-trees three or four feet high were imported 

 from England for holiday decorations, and are still seen in 

 many windows in this city. They were, in most cases, sym- 

 metrical and well formed, superior both in berry and foliage 

 to the loose Holly imported in crates. In addition to the 

 ordinary form were shapely little trees with variegated foliage 

 and golden berries. 



The range of the Post Oak {Qitercus obtusiloba) ma}' Ix; 

 extended eastward to Brewster, on the border of Chatham and 

 Harwich, in Massachusetts, where Professor Farlow informs 

 us that he has detected this tree in what is the only station 

 reported for it on the mainland of Massachusetts. This, 

 Professor Farlow tells us, is tilso the most eastern station of 

 Lachiianthes tinctoria known. 



Professor Church has recently given an account of his 

 analysis of the tubers of Stachys tiibifera, the new Japanese 

 vegetable, from which it appears that they contain 78 percent. 

 of water, 1.5 per cent, of albuminoids, 1.7 per cent, of non- 

 albuminoids, 16.6 per cent, of sugar, .7 percent, of fibre, .1 

 per cent, of ash, .2 per cent, of fat, with a trace only of starch. 

 A comparison of this analysis with that of the Potato shows a 

 much larger amount of water, and rather more flesh-forming 

 albuminoids than are found in the Potato, and that the sugar 

 replaces the starch, which the analysis of the Potato shows to 

 be 15 per cent. 



A correspondent calls om* attention to an error in the 

 account of the " Washington Oak at Fishkill," published in our 

 issue of December 19th, 1888. William Denning was de- 

 scribed as Washington's Adjutant-General, upon authority 

 which seemed adequate, and without reference to the rolls 

 of the Colonial Army. It appears, however, upon further 

 investigation, that Mr. Denning held no commission in the 

 army, although as a patriotic citizen of Orange County in this 

 state, eager to aid in supplying the army, his relations with 

 the headquarters during Washington's residence in Newburgh 

 were, his grand-daughter informs us, intimate and cordial. 



Herr Max Leichtlin writes to The Garden that the fungus 

 disease which has caused such serious damage to Christmas 

 Roses in Europe is probably induced by a disregard of the 

 natural conditions under which these plants have been pro- 

 duced. In their wild haunts they thrive in shady nooks in 

 loamy soil, with no other added nourishment than the decaying 

 leaves supply. In cultivation they are often kept in sandy soil 

 that has been highly manured, and planted in the open sun. 

 The remedy is to wash off the roots, replant in a border which 

 has been filled in for a foot with fresh loam, and which is 

 shaded for a portion of the time at least, in mid-day ; then 

 mulch with half-decayed leaves and let the plants alone. 



A tersely written Bulletin from the California Board of For- 

 estry calls the attention of the citizens of that state, and 

 especially of the farmers and irrigators, to the dangers that 

 threaten their interests from the destruction of mountain-for- 

 ests. The wasteful and ruinous methods of cutting timber, 

 the increasing damage by fire, land-laws that invite fraud, the 

 neglect of the school forest-lands, all coriibine to I'ob the peo- 

 ple of their rights. The Board asks the people to urge upon 

 Congress to withdraw all Government timber-lands in the 

 state of California from sale or entry, and to insist that certain 

 lands be maintained permanently in forest to guarantee ver- 

 dure on the water-sheds and preserve the springs and streams. 



Of tomatoes there were packed last season 3,319,437 cases of 

 two dozen tins each, or a total of 79,666,488 cans, costing at 

 points of production about $6,000,000, and reaching consumers 

 at a total expense of $8,000,000.' The total pack in 1887 was 

 2,817,048 cases. The canning industry has grown rapidly in 

 the Western and Southern States, largely reducing the demand 

 upon Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York for such goods. 

 In a few years each section of the country bids fair to supply 

 its wants from home canneries. The leading points of pro- 

 duction are Maryland and Virginia, credited with 1,118,733 

 cases ; New Jersey, 788,363 ; Delaware, 227,030 ; New York, 

 197,432; Western States, 796,599; Eastern States, 43,360; 

 Canada, 73,990. 



Baron Eggers, well known for his botanical explorations in 

 Saint Thomas, San Domingo, and niore recently in the 

 Bahama Islands, is ai)out to engage in an examination of the 

 flora of the high mountain ranges of the eastern part of the 

 Island of Cuba, first made known by Charles Wright twenty- 

 five years ago. Some of the highest summits of Cuba reach 

 an elevation of about 9,000 feet, and as these mountains have 

 only been partially exploited, Baron Eggers may be expected 

 to add a considerable nuniber of spe^cies to the Cuba flora. 

 Baron Eggers, who may l)e addressed to the care of Messrs. 

 Brooks Brothers & Co., Santiago de Ciflja, will be prepared to 

 furnish sets of Cuban plants for ten dollars the 100 specimens, 

 delivered in this cit\'. 



A correspondent in Germantown semis us a box of the de- 

 liciously fragrant flowers of Chimonanthus, the east Asian rep- 

 resentative of oiu" Calycanthus, or Sweet Shrub. The flowers 

 of Chimonanthus are rarely seen in this climate in good con- 

 dition, as they appear in January, and are destroyed by cold as 

 soon as they open, in ordinary seasons. The flowers are pale 

 yellow or nearly white, and purple on the inner face of the 

 petals. They appear before the leaves. If this shrub, which 

 is quite hardy here, is planted at the north, a very sheltered 

 spot near a l)uilding should be selected for it, in order to seciu'e 

 as much protection as possible for the flowers. Chimonanthus 

 in the extreme Southern States is one of the most delightful 

 winter-blooming shrubs which can be planted in a garden. 



A correspondent of the Independent, writing from Orleans, 

 Illinois, makes a strong plea for the Barberry as a hedge- 

 plant. "Planted in hedges," he truthfully explains, " the Bar- 

 berry is a bower of beauty from the time its pendulous 

 racemes of j'ellow bells swing in the spring sunshine through- 

 out the winter, when the scarlet berries blush under veils of 

 snow and sleet." Moreover, the Barberry has practical value 

 as well as beauty to recommend it. It " makes a sauce which 

 rivals the Cranberry in excellence and has suf- 

 ficient juice to make most delicious jelly, especially if mixed 

 with apple juice, which relieves the tartness and enhances the 

 beauty of the color." The bark, too, we are told, is useful for 

 tanning purposes, the roots for dyeing yellow, and the berries 

 as a source whence malic acid may be extracted. 



"The fundamental difference," says a recent writer on 

 Japan, " between Japanese and foreign methods of adjusting 

 culled flowers has often been remarked. With us the general 

 idea is to produce a bouquet in which the richest variety of 

 color can be obtained — a sort of crush-concert of hues in 

 which individual form and beauty are almost lost. The Japan- 

 ese florist, on the other hand, prefers to display the natural 

 lines of stems and branches, and to exhibit the subtile shapes 

 and colors of each bud and blossom in an open and well-bal- 

 anced composition. The same subordination of color to form 

 and the same simple naturalness as opposed to ostentatious 

 artificiality, are to be observed in even the minutest details of 

 Japanese gardening. Grouped masses of similar flowers are 

 not wanting in some parts of the native gardens, but there is 

 no attempt to arrange them into color patterns and geometrical 

 designs. 



We referred not long ago to the fact that perfume making 

 from fresh flowers was becoming an established industry in 

 our Southern States. A recent letter to the New York Tribune 

 describes some of the processes employed in Florida, and de- 

 clares that their results are so excellent that " now it is claimed 

 that attar-of-rose can be made in Florida with as much success 

 as in the gardens of Bulgaria." The two chief processes used 

 are distillation, and absorption, or "enfleurage," the latter be- 

 ing resorted to in the case of the more delicate flowers, whose 

 perfume is found to be injured by heat. It is based on the 

 " established law of affinity which hydro-carbons have for 

 perfumes. When these have been fiighly purified they 

 catch, and in catching concentrate and intensify, the odors 

 communicated to them." A perfume factory where this 

 process is used contains multitudes of wooden frames with 

 rims about three inches in depth, in which are set several 

 sheets of glass. Each sheet of glass is spread with a layer of 

 pure fat, and over this fat are sprinkled the petals from which 

 tlie odor is to be obtained. The sheets are piled closely on 

 one another in the frame, the frame is slid into a tight-fitting 

 box, and in a short time the fat absorbs all the odor. The fat 

 is then cut up into small squares and immersed in alcohol, 

 Avhen "the delicate essence at once parts from its coarser 

 companion, and, uniting itself to the alcohol, is fit for the 

 market." Another method is to strew the petals on cloths 

 saturated with oil, and when the odor has been absorbed, to 

 put the cloths in a press and squeeze out the impregnated oil. 



