Garden and Forest. 



[January 2, 1889. 



the surrounding mountains. All freedom of enjoyment is 

 ended, and all sense of naturalness destroyed. The grand- 

 eur of the mountains and the beauty of the mountain tor- 

 rents the Commissioners have not yet been able to destroy,, 

 but the value of these even is lessened when seen across 

 fields bounded by barbed-wire fences and torn up by a 

 patent gang-plow. If in all the length and breadth of this 

 land there was one spot which should have been held 

 sacred to the wild beauty of nature — one spot which 

 should not have been marred for sordid ends — it was the 

 Yosemite Valley. It belongs to the Nation, and there is 

 no intelligent American who does not rejoice that such a 

 marvel of nature exists within the limits of his country. The 

 people of the Pacific States are not more interested in 

 its preservation in all the integrity of its beauty than are 

 the inhabitants on this side of the continent, and the cry of 

 warning and of protest raised by the press of California 

 will be echoed from one end of the land to the other. 



We begin this week the publication of a series of elemen- 

 tary articles upon Vegetable Physiology with special refer- 

 ence to the plants of the garden and the forest, from the pen 

 of Professor George L. Goodale, Fisher Professor of Natural 

 History in Harvard College, and a distinguished teacher 

 of botany. They are written with the view of bringing 

 the important subject of plant life within reach of all 

 persons of ordinary intelligence and cultivation — 

 business men who take pride in their gardens, professional 

 growers of plants, pupils in high schools, and all the 

 great class of readers who are interested more or less 

 directly in plants, and who want to know something more 

 about them than can be found in ordinary horticultural 

 publications. A most suggestive and interesting fact 

 brought out at the meeting of the American florists, held 

 in this city last summer, was the expression of a belief by 

 some of the most intelligent and progressive members of 

 the Association, that even from a practical point of view some 

 knowledge of botany is necessary to plant growers who 

 aim to get the most out of their business. It is only those 

 men whose practice is based upon a sound knowledge of 

 Vegetable Physiology who are uniformly successful as 

 cultivators. It is for this reason that we have asked our 

 associate to prepare a series of papers which will cover the 

 whole subject, and will make, when finished, an indispensa- 

 ble manual for all cultivators. 



The Gardens of the Petit-Trianon. 



IT is strange that so few Americans go to the gardens 

 about the Petit-Trianon when they visit Versailles. 

 After having walked all over the main palace and the gar- 

 dens the day is far spent, and they are weary of sight- 

 seeing. But what a relief it is, after the great masterpiece 

 of Le Notre — -the formal, clipped trees, the straight al- 

 leys and the architectural gardens — to find in the Petit- 

 Trianon a piece of natural-looking country, large, well- 

 formed trees and quiet scenery — a garden laid out in what 

 used to be called, and is still, in France, the "EngHsh" 

 style. And it is especially interesting to Americans on 

 account of the large number of our native trees there, some 

 of which are the original specimens sent over by the 

 elder Michaux, and planted there nearly one hundred years 

 ago. 



In 1774 Louis XVI. presented the Petit-Trianon to 

 Marie Antoinette, and at once, under her direction, 

 began the formation of the "English Garden." Of the 

 many plans which were offered that of the Comte de Cara- 

 man was finally adopted, but was afterwards slightly 

 modified by an architect named Mique, who had the car- 

 rying out of the work. The general design is very simple. 

 A brook, starting from the highest point, winds about 

 through the lawn in rather a needless manner, and three 

 principal groups of trees are so placed as to form agreeable 

 vistas. Such is the appearance from the windows of the 



chateau, but on going a little further into the grovmds there 

 is a very pretty piece of water, with several picturesque 

 buildings on the opposite shore. (See illustration, page 7.) 

 Near by are several fine deciduous Cypresses {Taxodhim 

 distichum) growing on the very edge of the water, and send- 

 ing up their curious knees, not only in the water itself, but 

 in the grass, and even in a neighboring walk. And not far 

 away are to be seen two or three magnificent White Pines, 

 one of which must be fully 100 feet high and measuring ten 

 and a half feet in circumference at five feet from the ground. 

 But the most remarkable American trees there, besides those 

 already mentioned, are the Cedars {Juniperus Vi'rgin- 

 iana), some thirty feet high, and developed into picturesque 

 forms, with the lower branches resting on the ground. A 

 long list could be made of the different kinds of American 

 trees there ; but a few may be named to show the great 

 variety in the plantations. Among the Pines of our coun- 

 try, besides the White Pines, already mentioned, are : P. 

 inops, P. Tceda, P. insignis, P. ponderosa, P. Lambertiana 

 and P. Coulteri ; among the Spruces, Picea nigra and P. 

 alba; among the Firs, Abies balsamea and A. nobilis, and 

 to these must be added the Hemlock, both the Sequoias, 

 the Douglas Fir and the Larch {Larix Americana^. The 

 Oaks are well represented by fine specimens of the Red, 

 Willow, Scarlet, White and Burr Oaks, with Birches, Horn- 

 beams, Beeches, Elms, Liquidambars, Sour Gums, Cotton- 

 woods, Lindens, Maples, Hickories, Magnolias, Tulip 

 Trees and Catalpas. 



Many of these trees at the time of the formation of the 

 gardens were extremely rare or quite unknown in France. 



On the site of what used to be the botanic garden, where 

 some of the earliest experiments in the naturalization of 

 foreign plants were made in France, is now a pretty 

 flower-garden, which contains a good collection of Ameri- 

 can plants — Rhododendrons, Azaleas, Andromedas, Kal- 

 mias and Magnolias. Two fine Gingko trees, one of 

 which is about forty feet high, stand here, and are, 

 I believe, the oldest in France, having been planted about 

 1789. A fine cut-leaved Beech, a curious but handsome 

 Weeping Sophora and a splendid Pyramidal Oak make up 

 the more remarkable specimens in this part of the grounds. 

 Paris. H. S. Codnian. 



Notes from a South Carolina Naturalist. — L 



'T*HE following wayside notes of Pines, and other trees and 

 -*- plants, were made in October upon my return home 

 from a day's ride to the Savannah River : 



Our Carolina "low country," with its sandy lands, its forests 

 of Pine and swamps of Cypress, may seem tame and uninter- 

 esting to strangers, but to those of us whose home it has 

 always been, it possesses a certain charm, especially during 

 this delightful autumn season. 



The river bluff fronts southward, and one looks across the 

 marshes to the various islands which stretch out at last to 

 Dawfuskie and the ocean. The growth along the river is 

 mostly of Live Oak and Hickory, and only a few Palmettoes, 

 once so plentiful here, are to be seen; and it is to be feared 

 that this beautiful Palm, which is still being cutalong the whole 

 of our sea-coast to build the wharves of Charleston, will even- 

 tually be destroyed, and our historic tree be thus lost to us. 



Besides the Live Oak, there are handsome trees of Water 

 Oak (g. laurifolia), perhaps the most beautiful of all of our 

 Oaks; also of Q. aqiiatica, Q. falcata, Q. alba, Q. obtusilloba 

 and Q. Catesbcei. Ilex Cassene is, of course, everywhere, its 

 berries now reddening under the influence of the fall weather. 

 The autumn show is not as brilliant as in past seasons, owing 

 to the long and terrible drought of the summer and the late 

 downpouring- of rain, which have partly destroyed the harvest 

 of Rice and Cotton. Yet the Yellow Gerardia is to be seen in 

 all its glory, even though we fail to find in the damp lands the 

 purple-flowered species {G. purpurea), which usually covers 

 whole acres in extent, and gives such a charm to the landscape. 



Along the sandy bluff-side I find Liatris elegans, with its 

 tall purple spikes, some of them most deeply colored. Seeing 

 these beautiful plants reminded me of a sight which I have 

 never forgotten. Many years ago, passing through an old 

 sandy field along the river at Montpellier Place, I saw an acre 

 or two of them in full bloom. It was late in the fall, the atmos-' 



