April 3, 1889.] 



Garden and Forest. 



167 



closely and found therein indubitable Garden Beans, besides 

 some fragments of a pod soinewhat resembling in shape a 

 string of pearls ? The latter, which is distinguished by strong, 

 forked, netted veins upon the surface, I would regard as Pro- 

 sopis glandulosa {Algarobia glandulosa), the so-called Mes- 

 quite. It is six to seven millimeters broad, two to three thick, 

 and agrees very well with the figure of the same in the annual 

 report of the Commissioner of Agriculture for the year 1870, 

 Washington, p. 410, plate XXL, although no veins are shown 

 on the latter, which is only superficially drawn. The Mes- 

 quite is to-day an important article of food for the Indians in 

 the desert. The fruit is eaten like St. John's Bread ; also 

 ground and mixed with water, eaten as porridge or (unbaked) 

 bread. The seeds of tlie Garden Beans that I found are all 

 small, much smaller than those from the Peruvian graves, 

 which compare with our larger and largest kinds. The small- 

 est from Arizona are only 6.7 millimeters long, 3.8 wide, 2.9 

 thick ; the largest 8.9 millimeters long, 4.8 broad, 3.2 thick. 

 Many Beans are split in consequence of the charring. 



Among these halves is a very large one 10.3 mm. long, 6.3 

 broad and 2.7 thick. We have yet to-day many Pearl Beans as 

 small as this. The prehistoric Beans would also appear some- 

 what larger if the hull of most of them were not lacking. 

 When hulled, a modern Bush Bean, " round, pale yellow wax," 

 in form corresponding to the last-mentioned half Bean, has a 

 length of 10.4 mm., breadth of 6.0 and thickness of 4.0, and a 

 "white Pearl Bean" from the collection of Von Marten, unhulled, 

 is only 7.5 mm. long, 4.7 broad and 3.4 thick. This latter cor- 

 responds most nearly to the prehistoric example ; and, accord- 

 ingly the Bean from Arizona is to be regarded as a Pearl Bean, 

 Phaseolus vulgaris saccharatus, Von Martens (the Garden 

 Beans, No. 97), which belongs to division VI., Ellipticus, the 

 Egg Beans. Prehistoric Beans, so far as I know, have not 

 until now been encountered in America. The present dis- 

 covery is, therefore, of universal interest, and it confirms the 

 American nativity of the Garden Bean. That it is in reality the 

 latter with which we have to do in this case, is sliown by 

 the agreement in the position and shape of the root germ 

 as well as the plumula. In certain of the split Beans are 

 to be seen very plainly both of these characteristic prim- 

 ordial leaves." 



In regard to the Pumpkins, Professor Wittmack first calls at- 

 tentiontothe factthatNaudin, in his monograph on thesubject, 

 holds all three of the cultivated kinds, Cucurbita maxima, C. 

 Pepoand C. moschata, to be of Old World origin, and in his Nou- 

 velle recherches, 1856, he says that C. Pepo was perhaps known 

 to the Greeks and Romans, but the introduction of the other 

 two in European gardens does not appear to go back over two 

 centuries. De Candolle remarks that the historical data do 

 not disprove, neither do they support, the American nativity 

 of C. Pepo, and at the end of his work he classifies it as Amer- 

 ican. C. maxima he regards as native to the Old World, but 

 allows that it has been found by Barter only "apparently wild " 

 on the banks of the Niger in Guinea. Professor Wittmack was 

 personally assured by Professor Schweinfurtli, however, that 

 this observation amounted to nothing, for Pumpkins were now 

 always found wherever there were negroes, who now culti- 

 vate them extensively. Professor Wittmack had found seeds 

 of C. maxima of normal size, and of C. moschata, in the Peru- 

 vian collections from Ancon ; it therefore seems that America 

 must be the home of these, and when De Candolle is disposed 

 to regard C. Pepo as American, his designation is perhaps better 

 to be applied to the very similar C. moschata. Nothing of the 

 Pumpkin kind has been found among the ancient Old World 

 collections, and there is no recognizable description of them 

 before the discovery of America ; they are first encountered in 

 the sixteenth century. Gray and Trumbull have shown that 

 there were Pumpkins in the land of the Hurons before the 

 arrival of the Europeans. Professor Wittmack has examined 

 their references, often in the original where they only had an 

 English translation. This was essential, since the Spanish word 

 calabazas was not always to be translated by the English 

 Pumpkin ; it seems as if the Bottleneck Squash, Lagenaria, 

 were often meant. But when, for instance, De Soto, in 1539, 

 declares at Apalacha, in western Florida, the calabacas of 

 Uzachil to be better and juicier than those of Spain, he cannot 

 have meant Lagenaria. Professor Wittmack regards the 

 researches of Gray and Trumbull on this subject as very con- 

 vincing ; but since they do not discuss the species, he hopes 

 that the seeds may be found among North American remains, 

 in order to determine the latter. Nothing is known of the 

 nativity of C. ficifolia, better known as C. inelanosperma ; De 

 Candolle is of the opinion that it is American, since it is peren- 

 nial, and all known Cucurbitaceous perennials come from 

 Mexico and California. 



Exhibitions. 

 Flower Show in Boston. 



""THE spring exhibidon of the Massachusetts Horficultural 

 ^ Society is expected to bring together a display of bulbous 

 plants, Indian Azaleas and other green-house and stove plants, 

 and is considered one of the most important held by the Society 

 during the year. In spite of the unusually favorable season, 

 however, the exhibition in Boston last week was less interesting 

 than many of those held in previous years. Many prominent 

 Massachusetts gardens were not represented, and few novel- 

 ties or remarkable plants were shown. Indian Azaleas did not 

 form a conspicuous feature, although half a dozen compact 

 little plants, shown by Dr. Charles Weld of Brookline, were well 

 done. Larger plants were sent from the garden of Mr. N. T. 

 Kidder, of Milton, but the flowers were not fully open, and 

 lacked size and substance. The Orchids were few in number 

 and not remarkable, and the bulbous plants, with the exception 

 of Hyacinths, were below the average in quality. Of Hya- 

 cinths, however, the display was magnificent, Mr. Kidder 

 staging as fine spikes of bloom as have ever been seen in 

 Boston. From the same garden came a collection of Ciner- 

 arias in well-selected varieties and beautifully grown. 



There was nothing in the exhibition, however, from a cul- 

 tural point of view, to compare with the forty-eight cut Roses 

 — Mervielle de Lyon, Baroness Rothschild and Her Majesty — 

 shown by Miss Simpkins, of Yarmouth. Such flowers of Her 

 Majesty have not been seen in Boston before. The Tea 

 Roses, shown by Mr. Thomas Mead, of Dorchester, were won- 

 derfully well grown, too. A great mass of Primula obconica, 

 shaded with numerous small plants of Cocos Weddelliana, was 

 contributed by Mr. Benjamin Grey, and showed the decorative 

 value of these plants when used in this way. A collection of 

 hardy spring-flowering plants, in pots and in flower (not very 

 well flowered or arranged), were sent from the Cambridge Bo- 

 tanic Garden. This collection, judging by the number of peo- 

 ple who constantly gathered about it, was the most attractive 

 feature of the exhibition. Menfion must be made of a fine 

 seedling Rhododendron raised by Mr. James Comley, gardener 

 to Mrs. F. B. Hayes, of Lexington. It is said to be a hybrid 

 between R. maximum and some garden variety of R. Cataw- 

 biense, although the foliage shows no trace of the blood of the 

 former species. The truss is large, compact and well-shaped, 

 and the flowers are large, white, or faintly tinged with pink, 

 and handsomely marked on the upper division of the corolla 

 with pink spots. The plant is seven years old, and is now 

 flowering for the first time. It has shown itself perfectly hardy, 

 and if it proves to be a free bloomer and possessed of a good 

 consdtution and habit, it will make a valuable addition to the 

 list of desirable hardy. Rhododendrons, among which there is 

 none with light-colored flowers now known here quite equal 

 to it, if it is fair to judge by the single trees exhibited. 



Mr. F. L. Temple, of the Shady Hill Nurseries, exhibited two 

 plants of the Japanese Umbrella Pine {Sciadopytis) imported 

 from Japan ; each eight or ten feet high, and perfectly furnished 

 to the ground — interesting in themselves, as unusually fine speci- 

 mens, and as showing how plants of this size can be imported 

 successfully from Japan. R. & J. Farquhar & Co. showed 

 Pansies of a good strain, and there was the excellent display 

 of seasonable vegetables which is always seen at a Boston 

 exhibition. 



Recent Plant Portraits. 



Cattleya Schilleriana, Gartenflora, January 15th. 



Erythrophlgeum pubistamineum, Gartenflora,]Qx\\x-a.\-y \^{\-\. 



Rhododendron arborescens, Gartenflora, January 15th; 

 reproduced from Garden and Forest, vol. i., p. 401. 



Cattleya Harrisoni^, Gardeners Chronicle, January 26th. 



Cattleya Loddigesii, Gardeners' Chronicle, January 26th. 



IxiANTHES Retzioides, Gardeners' Chronicle, February 2d ; 

 a rare Cape shrub, with abundant bright sulphur-yellow 

 flowers, in shape like those of Pentstemon. 



LILIUM MARTAGON, var. atrosanguineum, Bulletino della R. 

 Soc. Toscana di Orticultura, February. 



Clematis Madame Furtado-Heine, Revue Horticole, March 

 1st; a variety with handsome violet-colored flowers, raised by 

 a French horticulturist, M. Christen, of Versailles, by crossing 

 one of the vai'ieties of C. lanuginosa with C. viticella rubra 

 grandiflora. 



Chimonanthus fragrans, var. grandiflorus. Gardeners' 

 Chrotticle, Fel)ruary 23d. 



Jasminum nudicaule. Gardeners' Chronicle, February 23d. 



Abies bracteata. Gardeners' Chronicle, February 23d. 



