March 20, 1889.] 



Garden and Forest. 



141 



the film of growth is usually continuous in a given season, 

 but it may be interrupted, in which case it is possible to have 

 two rings added to the wood in a single year, whereas, as 

 everyone knows, there is usually only one new ring for each 

 year's growth. 



This film of growing tissue under the bark is often termed 

 the cambium layer. At the earliest period of its growth it is 

 charged with sweet nutritive matters fitted to serve as build- 

 ing material. If this cambium layer is injured locally, irregu- 

 larities in development result. 



Branches and roots thicken in much the same way as the 

 main stem. 



In closing this short statement of the manner in which a 

 stem grows, it is well to note the manner in which a twig can 

 be grafted or a bud can be implanted on a foreign stock. The 

 success of the transfer depends upon the fitness of the cam- 

 bium layer of the one to grow conjointly with the cam- 

 bium layer of the other. If the union is not perfect, or if the 

 two parts, scion and stock, are not the same structurally, com- 

 plete union cannot take place. „ ^ . , ^ , , 



Cambridge, Mass. George Liiicoln Goodale. 



Correspondence. 

 Squirrels and Conifers. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — It is a sign of good common sense to say "I don't 

 know" when it is not easy to know, but it is far from creditable 

 to say " I don't know " when the means of knowing cannot be 

 far away. I am never asked why the branchlets have fallen so 

 thickly under Norway Spruce trees in winter without a sense 

 of shame as I say," I don't know." Whoever can tell me shall 

 have my best thanks. I was about to draw a check for these 

 thanks to a large amount in favor of Mr. Jack (see Garden 

 AND Forest, March 6th), but after reading I feel still compelled 

 to answer, "I don't know." When he claims to have positive 

 proof that squirrels do "all the mischief," he may speali from his 

 own experience. No doubt he has gathered up branches cut 

 off by squirrels. But he must be content with saying that they 

 did cut his trees. They don't cut my trees. There are no 

 squirrels where the seven trees twenty-four years old are now 

 standing in my sight. The many hundreds of branchlets there 

 could not be cut by an enemy not present. But if it be sug- 

 gested that squin^els may be there at an odd time without my 

 knowing it, I reply that the branches themselves show that 

 they have not been cut at all. I enclose you a few gathered 

 at random. You see the cut " done quickly and neatly with 

 their sharp incisors " is a myth, so far as these branches are con- 

 cerned. The cut is as ragged as the most fashionably edged 

 piece of note paper could be. And as for their doing the work 

 in order " to get at the buds," they could not reach down to the 

 ends of the slender branches at the points where they are 

 broken if they tried. And, more than this, not a bud, as you 

 see, has been disturbed. In the many hundreds of branchlets 

 that lie under my trees, not one bud has been disturbed, so far 

 as I can find. I know that squirrels do cut branches to get at 

 the seeds more freely. No one can tell an old seed collector, 

 especially a collector of Pine seeds, anything new about this. 

 Quite familiar with the gnawing of a pine branch by a squirrel, 

 I can bravely say, the squirrel is not in this trouble at all. I 

 am speaking of my trees, not Mr. Jack's. 



I feel so mortified over this ridiculous puzzle that I examined 

 the shoots again under a good glass to-day. It was evident 

 there was no bending of the branch to break it. It could have 

 been broken only by a force operating in the direction of the 

 branch, a longitudinal power, it might be termed. Going to 

 the tree and breaking a branch by pulling the twig in contrary 

 directions, I found the fracture of precisely thesanie character, 

 and so I deduce this truth that it must have been something 

 pulling the twigs downwards that broke them. What can that 

 force have been ? 



I have my own thoughts, but as yet they are but thoughts. 

 To-day I confine myself to actual facts. I would ask you to 

 say whether the twigs I send you do not confirm all that I say 

 so far. 



Germantown Nurseries, Pliiladelphia. Tkoilias Meekatt. 



[The specimens sent by Mr. Meehan evidently have not 

 been cut off by squirrels. It is to be hoped that he will 

 investigate this matter further. — Ed. J 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — To supplement the interesting paper of Mr. J. G. Jack 

 in your first March number on the disarticulation of Spruce 

 twigs, allow me to say that while, no doubt, squirrels are to be 



blanred for much of the damage done in this manner, other 

 causes are at work to which the damage is sometimes tracea- 

 ble, and this is especially true of deciduous trees. 



It is well known, for instance, that Oaks and Poplars and 

 some other species (Taxodium) are subject to a spontaneous 

 disarticulation of their short shoots, very similar to the pro- 

 cess by which the leaves are severed from their insertion at 

 the base. 



Another cause for the dropping of twigs in the Pine tribe is 

 the work of a beetle larva (Hylesinus), which, hollowing the 

 marrow of the twig, weakens it and promotes its breakage at 

 the first severe wind. 



I have also some notes of observations -which credit hail- 

 storms with part of this damage. Thus Forest-master Alers 

 reports his observation made on June 19th, 1886, in a forty- 

 yeai'-old growth of Spruce : The tender shoots of the year, 

 which had then a length of from one to four inches, were cut 

 oft" by the hail always at the articulation. This happened be- 

 fore the eyes of the observer, and the freshly-broken twigs 

 were lying on the white hail so thickly that he could not make 

 a step without treading on them, while there had been none 

 before. 



In connection with this subject it will be of interest to note 

 the observation of foresters, that after a large loss of the young 

 twigs a rich seed year follows, which may be explained on the 

 principle which induces fruit-growers to remove the young 

 twigs for the purpose of stimulating fruit production. 



I would otter two other possible causes for the damage. 

 The one has suggested itself to me by observing that in tlie 

 grounds of the Department of Agriculture, where squirrels do 

 not abound, after severe cold, with high wind from the north- 

 west, a large quantity of broken Spruce twigs without leaves 

 was found, mostly on the north-west side. This may be ex- 

 plained by the rubbing of the tender, partly-frozen twigs 

 against each other and against the stronger twigs, which latter 

 also show loss of foliage due to the rubbing. This winter, 

 which was free from icy blasts, no such broken twigs are ob- 

 served, although the rubbing off" of needles is quite frequently 

 observable. The other cause may be referred to the neigh- 

 borhood of a tree like the Birch, which in a high wind is apt 

 to whip oft" the tender twigs. 



Washington, March gth. B. E. FemOW. 



New Hampshire Forests. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — In an article copied, in your issue of February 20th, 

 from a Manchester, New Hampshire, paper, referring to the 

 sale of state lands in 1867, injustice, doubtless unintentional, 

 is done the late Gen. Walter Harriman in this sentence : 

 " Most of the timber lands in Pittsburg, etc., were sold for 

 twenty cents an acre during Gov. Harriman's administration." 

 This sale of the public lands' was authorized by a joint reso- 

 lution of the Legislature, the proceeds being set apart by the 

 next Legislature as a perpetual school fund. 



Gen. Harriman's love of trees and of all plant-life was in- 

 tense ; his protests against, not only unnecessary tree-trim- 

 ming, but also against the ruthless clearing of shrub growth 

 on our road-sides, were constant and characteristically vigor- 

 ous. He favored forest preservation and the protection of 

 our rural hedge-rows and lanes from the unsympathetic treat- 

 ment of the modern road surveyor ; and none deplored more 

 than he that destruction of the forests of his native state, 

 which, as Mr. J. B. Harrison well remai-ks, is producing a 

 " blight and a curse upon this sanctuary of beauty and peace." 



Boston, Mass. J . R. Leeson. 



The American Pomological Society. — III. 



The Meeting at Ocala. 



F^URTHER abstracts of papers read at this meeting by 

 members of the Florida Horticultural Society are pre- 

 sented below, and we may add in some future number 

 articles on the Pineapple, the Fig and the Peaches and 

 Grapes which have proved valuable on the Florida Penin- 

 sula. Many important papers by northern members were 

 not read owing to the absence of the writers, but they will 

 appear in the published proceedings. 



The most important action of the Society in reference to 

 semi-tropical fruits was the appointment of a committee to 

 frame a "scale of points" for judging oranges — so that 

 fruit from all portions of the country can be tested by a 

 uniform standard. Of new varieties of fruits, very few 



