122 



Garden and Forest. 



[March 13, 1889. 



than if Nature had been left to shape and cover them ac- 

 cording to her own devices. 



At least one company in this country has expended enor- 

 mous sums of money in grading and turfing its slopes, but 

 the result, as might have been expected, is even less satis- 

 factory than it has been in England — our hot sun and long 

 droughts keep the turf brown through the greater part of 

 the year, even when they do not kill it out entirely. What 

 is needed is a covering which will be more permanent 

 than turf, which will not require the constant cutting and 

 attention that turf requires, and which can be secured with- 

 out the excessive first expenditure for accurate grading and 

 the deep soil that are needed to make a grass-covered 

 slope presentable. 



It has been suggested that a railroad slope covered with 

 dwarf, hardy shrubs would be more secure and would look 

 better than one covered with turf of the poor quality, which 

 is all we can hope to secure in our climate in such posi- 

 tions. The value of this suggestion lies in the fact that 

 such shrubs as might be used — wild Roses, dwarf Willows 

 and Sumachs, Sweet-fern, Bayberry and several others — 

 would, when once established, prevent the surface-soil 

 from washing, would not grow tall enough to interfere 

 with operating the road, and, if destroyed by fire, would 

 grow again from the roots and soon cover the ground. 

 There can, of course, be no doubt that a bank covered 

 with any of these shrubs would present a more inviting 

 and pleasant appearance to the eye of the traveler than 

 a stretch of such turf as can be grown without great ex- 

 pense for annual renewals and for mowing, rolling and 

 watering. The Boston and Albany Railroad Corporation has 

 recently established nurseries near Boston, in which large 

 quantities of native shrubs are now grown, with a view to 

 testing the possibilities of covering with them the slopes 

 in its suburban division. These experiments will be 

 watched with much interest. 



One of the important and interesting results of Mr. 

 Pringle's botanical exploration of northern Mexico is his 

 discovery of a A^ast forest of Oaks and Junipers covering 

 the mountains of Chihuahua and extending north and 

 south for a distance of nearly a hundred miles parallel 

 with the lines of the Mexican Central Railroad, and in 

 some places less than a hundred miles distant from it. 

 When the Mexican Central Railroad was built, sawed-pine 

 ties, cut from the mountain slopes of northern New Mex- 

 ico and southern Colorado, were used ; these were soon 

 ruined by dry rot, and the company has now for some 

 time been replacing them with Arbor-vitae ties, cut in the 

 swamps covered with this tree, which abound in the north- 

 ern portion of the states bordering upon the great lakes. 

 These ties cost the company $1.12 delivered in their yard 

 at Paso del Norte, and yet there is, Mr. Pringle believes, 

 Oak and Juniper timber enough in this great forest-belt of 

 northern Mexico to supply all the railroads of that country 

 with ties for many years. 



A plant with which to make a lawn that will re- 

 main green during the summer, without irrigation, in a 

 dry region like central and southern California, has long 

 been desired. Our advice has been asked upon this subject, 

 and we have referred the question to M. Naudin, who 

 directs, in southern France, the garden in which are now 

 the largest collections of dry-country plants, and who has 

 an unrivaled knowledge of such plants. His answer is as 

 follows : 



"We have at the Villa Thuret lawns of Bronius erectus 

 (a European grass) which remains green without irrigation 

 during the long droughts of the Provence summers. These 

 lawns, however, are less beautiful than those of "Ray 

 Grass," which will not flourish here. 



''Achillea Millefolium is spoken of now for this purpose. 

 It grows freely, even in the dryest weather, and makes a 

 handsome turf It must be cut over, however, frequently. 



to prevent it from throwing up flower-stems. This plant 

 does not succeed in soil strongly impregnated with lime, 

 but it grows freely in poor, gravelly, arid soil. It would 

 succeed admirably, no doubt, in California. There is a 

 native perennial plant here which covers the most barren 

 gravel, and which, I believe, would make an excellent 

 lawn in dry regions. It is the Trifoliuni frugiferiim. The 

 stems and branches are prostrate, and spread over the 

 ground. This plant is very tough and hardy, and it pro- 

 duces freely heads of pale, rose-colored flowers, which 

 resemble ripe strawberries — a resemblance which is the 

 origin of the specific name. A lawn composed of this 

 plant would not require cutting. 



"It is possible that there exists in Algeria a grass or 

 some other plant capable of resisting drought and great 

 heat, and suitable for making, turf, but heretofore no one 

 there has thought of this matter. I will make inquiries of 

 my African correspondents, and perhaps we shall find just 

 the plant we need." 



A correspondent of the Southern Lumberman, writing 

 from Byram, Mississippi, calls attention to the value of the 

 wood of the Tupelo Gum {Nyssa unijlora) for wooden- 

 ware, especially for fruit and vegetable boxes. The 

 wood is very light, nearly white in color, and its pe- 

 culiar fibre prevents it from splitting. The supply is 

 practically inexhaustible, and as this tree grows in swamps 

 which cannot well be cleared and drained, it will not soon 

 be destroyed. The wood has been valued locally for a long 

 time for bowls and other articles of domestic use ; and it 

 now seems probable that it will soon become an article of 

 considerable commercial importance, as it combines light- 

 ness and toughness in a greater degree than any American 

 wood existing in such large quantities. 



The changes in population which are likely to result 

 from the exhaustion of the Pine supply of the forests about 

 the head-waters of the Mississippi River and in the region 

 of the Great Lakes will have a serious effect on the business 

 of the railroad and steamboat lines of the north-west. 

 They have hitherto been largely employed in carrying 

 lumber and other supplies for the inhabitants of an exten- 

 sive region which would have remained, to a great extent, 

 unsettled and undeveloped had it not been for the stimulus 

 and assistance which this great timber-supply has given to 

 business and industry of all kinds. 



Not only will the quantity of lumber to be transported 

 soon be inconsiderable, but the occupations of the people 

 of the country will be interfered with and crippled, and 

 there will be a marked decline in the wealth of the region. 

 The relation of these forests to the subsistence of multi- 

 tudes of people who have never seen the woods them- 

 selves, is a conspicuous illustration of the importance of 

 forestry subjects in their economic bearings. 



Recent Botanical Discoveries in China. — I, 



'T*HE flora of the far east — of China and Japan — is so totally 

 *- different from that of western Europe, so rnuch richer, 

 especially in ornamental shrubs and trees, that from the earli- 

 est intercourse with those countries Europeans have borrowed 

 therefrom to embellish their gardens and green-houses. Yet, 

 with few exceptions, the introduction of Chinese element dates 

 within a century of the present time. So far as the British Isl- 

 ands are concerned, the plants of eastern Asia will flourish in 

 the southern and western parts, at least, in about 10° or 12° 

 higher latitude than in their native homes, and in eastern North 

 America in probably about the same latitude as at home; but on 

 this point my information is too meagre for me to write with 

 authority. Here in England we were not altogether without 

 evergreen shrubs and trees, though practically limited to the 

 Holly, Yew, Juniper and Ivy, with the color-giving heather and 

 furze, which cover and beautify so many miles of the least pro- 

 ductive parts of the country. Now, the dwellers in towns, espe- 

 cially on our southern and western coasts, are more familiar 

 with the varieties of Enonymus J aponicus and Aucuba Japon- 

 ica than they ai-e with native shrubs. Prominent among the 



