io8 



Garden and Forest. 



[February 27, 1889. 



Notes. 



During 1888, 100 car-loads of Lima Beans were shipped east 

 from Santa Barbara, California. 



Colonel E. T. Ensign has just been re-appointed to the office 

 of Forest Commissioner of the State of Colorado, his present 

 term being about to expire. 



M. Godefroy-Lebeuf's new book upon Cypripediums is dedi- 

 cated " A la Gloire de la Maison J. Veitch &' Sons, de Chelsea." 

 The first part has just appeared. 



Mr. H. A. Siebrecht, the well-known florist of this city, has 

 been collecting plants in the West Indies. He writes that he 

 has found a number of promising novelties in the mountains 

 of Grenada. 



The first number of a new Portuguese horticultural journal, 

 " Floriciiltor," has been issued. It is published in Oporto, 

 and in Portuguese, with the exception of one column, "pour 

 les ' Etr angers." 



At a ball recently given in New York, one apartment was 

 exclusively decorated with Apple blossoms, another with 

 Magna Charta Roses, a third with Orange trees in pots, and a 

 fourth with Jonquils and blue Roman Hyacinths. 



A German horticultural paper states that during the year 

 which has recently closed no less than ninety-six new varieties 

 of Roses were introduced into the European trade. Thirty- 

 one florists shared in their introduction, and the list includes 

 thirty-seven varieties of Remontant Roses and thirty-one Tea 

 Roses. 



The so-called " joss-sticks," the burning of which supplies 

 incense for Chinese religious ceremonials, are made of the 

 powdered leaves of Lindera fragrans mixed with the powdered 

 roots of Biota. Lindera fragrans is a shrub of the true Laurel 

 family {Lauracece), and its Chinese name means " Incense 

 Leaves." 



The Council of the Royal Horticultural Society of Great 

 Britain intends to hold a Cohference of Rosarians at the Chis- 

 wick Gardens on the 2d and 3d of July next. An exhibition of 

 the species and varieties of Roses will be given the first day ; 

 and papers on Roses and their culture and origin are invited, 

 and will be read and discussed during the second day. 



The Royal Society of Agricultin-e and of Botany of Ghent will 

 hold on the 23d of next November a grand international ex- 

 hibition of Chrysanthemums, in honor of the centennial anni- 

 versary of the introduction of this now popular flower into 

 Europe. Prizes are to be offered for the best specimens of 

 primitive types, and for the best seedling varieties not yet in 

 commerce. 



The February issue of the K.ew Bulletin of Miscellajteous In- 

 formation is devoted to a list of the hardy herbaceous annual 

 and perennial plants which matured seeds in the Royal 

 Gardens last year. The seeds are available for exchange with 

 other botanical establishments, but are not sold to the general 

 public. This list makes a useful, although, of course, only a 

 partial catalogue of the plants of this class cultivated in the 

 Royal Gardens. 



Flowers of the Japanese Apple {Pyrus baccata) have ap- 

 peared this week in the window of a Broadway florist. 

 Judged from the specimens displayed they seem to lack sub- 

 stance for winter forcing, and are less beautiful at this season 

 of the year than might have been expected. The flowers of 

 this tree are always more beautiful in bud than when fully ex- 

 panded, and the branches should be cut before the flowers 

 open if their real decorative value is to be obtained. 



The twenty-second biennial meeting of the American Po- 

 mological Society was held at Ocala, Florida, on Wednesday, 

 Thursday and Friday of last week. The attendance was large, 

 all parts of the country being well represented. In the dis- 

 cussions, which were of the most interesting character, special 

 attention was given to the fruits grown in Florida. The offi- 

 cers elected were : President, P. J. Berckmans, of Georgia ; 

 Vice-president, T. T. Lyons, of Michigan ; Treasurer, B. G. 

 Smith, of Massachusetts ; Secretary, A. A. Crozier, of Iowa. 

 Members were entertained with generous hospitality by the 

 Horticultural Society of Florida, at whose invitation the meet- 

 ing was held in that State. The exhibition of semi-tropical 

 plants is said to have contained the most complete and best 

 classified collection of citrus fruits ever made in Florida. 



At a recent meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society of 

 Aberdeen it was stated that one acre of Mushrooms in " our 

 own country " (the exact locality not stated) had produced a 



crop valued at about ;£i,4So, of which more than ;/^95o was 

 clear profit, while near Leeds one-sixteenth of an acre had 

 produced 3,000 pounds of Mushrooms, which means a crop 

 worth about j^ifioo to the acre. Another speaker, on the 

 same occasion, treating of the forestry needs of the country, 

 said that so long ago as 1457 proprietors were ordered by gov- 

 ernment to plant trees; that in 1503, in Scotland, a fine of £^ 

 was imposed on any one who cut down a tree, so entirely had 

 the land been denuded of wood ; that thirty years later strin- 

 gent regulations were passed with regard to the extent of 

 land which the larger proprietors were annually to plant with 

 forest trees, and the death penalty was affixed to the third 

 offense in the way of tree-cutting. But the last decree of an 

 analogous nature was passed in 1661, since which time no 

 legislation has dealt with the subject. 



According to the Carpenter and Joiner, New York is now 

 the largest mahogany market in the world. Thirty years ago 

 Mahogany was known commercially as "St. Domingo," from 

 the island of St. Domingo, and "Baywood," or "Bay Mahog- 

 any," from the vicinity of the bay of Honduras in Central 

 America. The Central American wood was soft, of light 

 weight, and characterless ; in later years it has practically 

 ceased coming to this market, but one cargo having arrived 

 at the port of New York during the last six years. St. Domingo 

 Mahogany exists in name only. The original growth of this 

 wood on the island of St. Domingo has long since been used, 

 and the importation of small lots at exceedingly long inter- 

 vals are only of the small and stunted growth, crooked, stained 

 and defective. Individual logs of good size and quahty can 

 be secured only occasionally. The island of Cuba furnishes 

 considerable quantities of a smaller size, more especially valu- 

 able for small work, which is hard and of good texture, but 

 the great bulk of the mahogany used in later years is supplied 

 from the forests of Mexico. Southern Mexico produces not 

 only our largest and most beautiful grades of mahogany, but 

 also some of the softer and less desirable grades, somewhat 

 resembling the Baywood or Honduras Mahogany of olden 

 times. 



The schedule of prizes offered during the current year by 

 the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, amounting to $6,000, 

 has appeared. One-half of the amount is offered for plants 

 and flowers ; $1,700 for fruitsj $1,000 for vegetables, and $300 

 for gardens and green-houses. There are also " prospective 

 prizes" derived from the "Benjamin B. Davis Fund," for the 

 originators of seedling fruits, flowering plants and vegetables 

 which are not awarded until a satisfactory trial, extending 

 through several years, has established the real merit of the 

 variety. Such prizes as these last are calculated to develop 

 horticulture in the most practical and useful manner. There 

 are some curious anomalies in this schedule of prizes which 

 will strike all practical horticulturists. For example, a $3 

 prize is offered for four bunches of Radishes ; $4 for six pots 

 of Roman Hyacinths ; while the best specimen plant among 

 the Indian Azaleas can win only $4 — no great inducement to 

 any one to run the risk of ruining a good plant, which 

 may represent twenty years' careful cultivation. Prizes 

 of $3 for ten cucumbers and of the same amount for a peck 

 of Dandelions are certainly liberal, when the highest prize four 

 Heaths can get is only $8. The largest and best collection of 

 blooms of hardy trees and shrubs may win $6, and on the 

 same day twelve Beets or twelve stalks of Rhubarb may 

 aspire to carry away $3 each. "Stove and green-house flow- 

 ering plants," if they are not Orchids, do not get much en- 

 couragement, but on the 25th of June "two distinct named 

 varieties " can carry away $10, and on the same day twelve 

 Beets, if they are good ones, can earn $3. Beets seem to be 

 favorites in Boston. The successful cultivation of Chrysan- 

 themums is held to be most worthy of reward, as the highest 

 prizes offered by the Society for flowering plants go to the 

 best collection of twenty named varieties. Esthetic consid- 

 erations have, nevertheless, due weight when the garden 

 prizes are in question, for $60 goes to the "best House of 

 Orchids in bloom," while the fortunate owners of the " best 

 Strawberry-garden or the best vineyard of one acre " must 

 each be contented with $50. 



Catalogues Received. 



C. E. Allen, Brattleboro, Vt. ; — Seeds, Plants, Small Fruits, etc.— 

 R. &J. Farquhar & Co., 16 South Market Street, Boston, Mass.; — 

 Seeds, Plants, etc. — Green's Nursery Co., Rochester, N. Y.; — Fruit 

 Trees, Ornamental Shrubs, etc. — John R. & A. Murdoch, 508 Smith- 

 field Street, Pittsburgh, Pa.; — Vegetable and Flower Seeds, Plants, 

 etc. — Vilmorin-Andrieux & Co., 4 Quai de la Megisserie, Paris, 

 France; — Seeds, etc. 



