202 



Garden and Forest. 



[April 24, 18 



These figures are considerably lower than those which were 

 o-iven by a committee in its report to the British Association 

 tor the Advancement of Science, in 1850. Tliey found that 

 the seeds of plants from twenty genera germinated after from 

 twenty to twenty-nine years' separation from the parent plant. 

 It should be stated in connection with the vitality of seeds that 

 there is no positive evidence that wheat-grains from the 

 wrappings of mummies have been made to germinate. All 

 trustworthy evidence is to the contrary. 



The degree of ripeness of seeds has some influence upon 

 their power of germinating readily. One observer has shown 

 that certain seeds which are not perfectly ripe germinate 

 somewhat sooner than those which are mature, and he has 

 also pointed out the interesting fact that seeds separated from 

 the plant, but still enclosed in the fruit-vessel ripen.* 



Seeds can be seriously injured by cutting or other mutila- 

 tion without losing their germinating power. The repair is 

 prompt in some instances, even to the extent of restoring one- 

 half of the seedling plants. Van Teighem's experiments, in 

 which seeds of the Sunflower were divided in halves, each 

 half yielding a good plant, show how patient plants in their 

 youngest stage can be under very untoward conditions. This 

 power of repair in germs and seedlings has been compared to 

 that observed among some of the lower animals. 



Lastly, it should be noticed that in most seeds the supply of 

 food is more than sufficient for the needs of the young plant, 

 so that in case of any accident by which the seedling is in- 

 jured, a fresh demand can be made upon the remainder of the 

 store of food. 



The manner in which the food is used by the seedling is to 

 be examined in the next paper of the series. 



Cambridge, Mass. George Lincoln Goodale. 



Correspondence. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — In the report of the U. S. Commissioners of Inquiry to 

 Santo Domingo, 1871, on page 79, line 5, I read: "A great 

 highway, about one hundred feet wide, lined on either side 

 with a Sabea hedge, the trees now averaging more than a foot 

 in diameter, by fifty or sixty feet high, and extending nearly 

 the whole distance from Guerra to Santo Domingo City." 



Will you oblige me by saying what "Sabea " is, and where 

 I can learn of it? „, ^^ ,^ 



Cambridgeport, Mass. Chas. H. Hall. 



["Sabea" is evidently a mis-print from Ceiba, one of the 

 names of the Cotton-tree of the West Indies and Central 

 America (Ceiba viticis foliis cudice aculeaio vel glahro, Plu- 

 mier, PI. Am. 42), now the Eriodendron anfractuosum of 

 botanists. It is related to the Bombax of the Old World 

 and is the largest of the West Indian trees. Enormous 

 butresses strengthen the tall, straight stems which support 

 broad masses of foliage high above all the surrounding 

 vegetation, and add to the majestic appearance of this 

 noble tree. The leaves are palmately digitate, the flowers 

 rose-colored and abundant, and the seeds, contained in 

 large capsules, are each enveloped in copious light-col- 

 ored wool, to which it owes its popular name. This 

 tree is propagated by sticking large-sized branches into 

 the ground, which root and grow with great rapidity. The 

 wood is light and very soft, and the large trunks, hollowed 

 out, furnished the Caribs with canoes ; the wool from the 

 seeds is sometimes used for stufifiing mattresses. The 

 specific designation, anfractuosum, is derived from amh and 

 frango, and means the winding or bending of a road or 

 path, in and out or backwards and forwards — a name 

 bestowed on the tree (according to Macfadyen, "Flora of 

 Jamaica," 93) on account of its size, which caused the deflec- 

 tion of roads, it being easier to change the course of a road 

 than to cut through the buttresses of one of these giants; 

 and perhaps a superstition of the negroes may have played 

 its part in preserving these trees ; for, according to Mac- 

 fadyen, "even the untutored children of Africa are so 

 struck with the majesty of its appearance that they desig- 

 nate it the 'God-tree,' and account it sacrilege to injure it 

 with the axe, so that, not unfrequently, not even the fear 

 of punishment will induce them to cut it down. Even in 

 a state of decay, it is an object of their superstitious fears ; 



♦Gray's Text-book, Vol. II., p. 460. 



they regard it as consecrated to evil spirits, whose favor 

 they seek to conciliate by offerings placed at its base." 

 There is much curious information about the Cotton-tree in 

 Sir Hans Sloane's "Voyage to Jamaica," ii., 72, published 

 in 1725, and no tree is so often alluded to in the accounts 

 of early voyages to the West Indies and the Spanish Main. 

 —Ed.] 



Ornamental Trees in California. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — There are many fine specimens of rare trees in the 

 grounds about the summer residences of the wealthy Cali- 

 fornians in this lovely valley, which is now at its best, covered 

 with a carpet of richest green and dotted over with Live-Oak 

 trees. Beautifully rounded green hills two miles distant, are 

 backed by the Coast range on the side toward the ocean, while 

 on the opposite side is the bay, hemmed in by another range 

 on the further shore. The mildness of the climate may be in- 

 ferred by noting the vegetation. Callas and Heliotropes showed 

 the effect of liglit frosts a week or two ago, but are now begin- 

 ning to flower freely. 



I took special notice of two Almond-trees in full bloom a 

 fortnight ago, and since then we have had several frosty morn- 

 ings that would certainly have destroyed fruit blossoms in the 

 east. The fruit on these trees is now set fully, and with not 

 one sign of an injured blossom. 



Araucaria Bidiuillii, A. Brasiliensis and A. imbricata, are 

 perfectly hardy here, as shown by perfect specimens twenty 

 feet high, with no sign of ever having been injured in the win- 

 ter, and as much at home here as in southern California, al- 

 though the Norfolk Island Pine, the Grevillia, the Rubber- 

 tree and a few others that are hardy in the south will not stand 

 here. 



The variety of tender and half-hardy trees and shrubs is 

 wonderful when compared with the number that will grow in 

 the east. There are here Acacias, apparently without number, 

 Palms, Yuccas, Dracaenas, Agaves, all the Magnolias, ever- 

 green and deciduous, many now in full bloom. Camellias and 

 Rhododendrons, with the brightest of foliage and covered with 

 flowers. 



Most interesting to me were the magnificent conifers, Sequoia 

 gigantea and S. sempervirens, perfect specimens quite at home, 

 and forty to sixty feet high. Cedrus Deodara and C. Libani, Cryp- 

 tomeria yaponica, Pseudotsuga Douglasii, Picea Sitchensis, 

 Cupressus Lawsojiiana and many others, forty to sixty feet 

 high. I was disappointed in not finding good specimens of 

 Abies concolor, A. nobilis and A. grandis, etc., but fine speci- 

 mens are rare compared with the number planted, for over- 

 crowding here is the rule as far as I have seen. It is only in 

 rare instances, and then apparently by accident, that a fine tree 

 of the largest size has had an opportunity to develop fully. 

 Fortunately among these are many fine Araucarias, Deodar 

 Cedars, Douglas Spruce, Lawson's Cypress and Sitka Spruce. 

 The last-named tree hardly met my expectations, as I had been 

 led to believe that it resembled Picea pimgens, which went for 

 some time under the same name [Abies Menziesii). 



It is a fine tree, however, a compact grower, well-filled in, 

 and a broad pyramid in form. Many of the specimens show 

 the peculiar shade of light blue on the new growth, re- 

 sembling the darker blue tint in Picea Ajanensis. Indeed, 

 this tree has a closer resemblance to P. Ajanensis than to P. 

 pungens, as the branches incline upwards, as in P. Ettgelmanni, 

 while P. pimgens grows in whorls, one tier of branches rarely, 

 if ever, running into and mixing with the tier above it. In the 

 cone, also, and in the consistency of the leaf it resembles P. 

 Eiigelmanni more closely than P. pungens. 



I have only seen two specimens of P. pungens in this state. 

 These are on the grounds of Senator Stanford, and they are 

 fine specimens of the lightest shade. On the same grounds are 

 a few fine specimens of A. concolor, four to eight feet high, and 

 the only good ones I have seen. Other specimens of the tree 

 and of the other California Silver Firs which have come under 

 my notice, have been ruined by close planting. 



The Douglas Spruce is a grand tree hereabouts, indigenous 

 in the mountains a few miles distant. Under cultivation it can 

 be used freely without producing sameness, as it varies very 

 much in both form and color. But the one tree of all others 

 which I admired most, and which can be used in greater 

 quantity than any other native spiral-topped tree, from the 

 variation of form and color in the individual specimens, is 

 Lawson's Cypress. Specimens sixty feet high, perfect in form, 

 with foliage of deep green, shaded with deep blue, are com- 

 mon. Others are so light in color that they would compare 

 favorably with some of the so-called "golden" trees in cultiva- 



