May I, i5 



•] 



Garden and Forest. 



215 



this. plant can be formed until it has been seen in its native 

 home. The mass of glossy green and white once seen can 

 never be forgotten. 



The home of Shortia is a strange mixture of north and south. 

 As a rule it grows under the shade of tall Kalmias and Rhodo- 

 dendrons. Hemlock Spruce and White Pine, of splendid di- 

 mensions, are very common, while just a few rods distant 

 grows Pinus mitis, Pinus pungens and Pinus rigida. The old 

 cotton stalks in neighboring fields show that the valley is warm 

 enough for so tender a plant. 



I found Stuartia petitagyna quite common, and recognized 

 it by the remains of last year's fruit, which were still clinging 

 to it. 



Vaccinium arboremn is common in the valley ; some plants, 

 true to their name, being quite little trees. In some specimens 

 the leaves were still persistent and quite green. 



The list of plants found in fiower is not large. Of course, 

 Epigaa repens was in full bloom. In one place Polygala 

 paiicifolia showed its bright purple blossoms, contrasting 

 beautifully with the white ones of Shortia. Trillium sessile is 

 common, but was hardly open. Stellaria pubera was very 

 common and well out, and so were Tiarella cordifolia, Saxi- 

 fraga leucanthemifolia, and several species of Viola, including 

 V. rotundifolia and V. pedata. On the Pine ridges we found 

 . Chrysogonum Virginianiim and Erigeron bellidifolium, and the 

 Amelanchier was covered with bloom. One of the prettiest 

 things was Sinilax laiirifolia, which is common here, its mass 

 of glossy evergreen leaves and abundant dark fruit making it 

 very ornamental. I wondered if it had ever been cultivated. 



Jocassee has been settled many years, and contains some 

 good farms. There are no hotels nor stores, and the visitor 

 must either go prepared to camp out or find quarters at farm 

 houses. The nearest railroad station is Seneca, South Carolina, 

 distant about twenty-five miles. There are good roads to 

 Seneca, also fair mountain roads between Highlands and 

 Jocassee. To see Shortia in blossom and in its glory one must 

 get there about the 20th of March, usually, not later than March 

 25th. 



After leaving Jocassee we crossed over into Georgia, hoping 

 to find Shortia on the Chatuga River and its branches, but were 

 disappointed. It seems to be confined to the one locality, the 

 head waters of Keowee. 



Highlands, N. c. Frank E. Boynton. 



The Newtown Pippin. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — I had just eaten a Newtown Pippin when I sat down to 

 read Garden and Forest, in which you quote a writer in the 

 Saturday Review who says : 



" We cannot admit that the very best American apple ever 

 possesses a tithe of the Havor of good English fruit." 



A man writes confidently about what he knows, and here 

 I find many people judge a fruit more by its appearance than 

 its flavor ; but let at least one who puts Havor first say that an 

 American Newtown Pippin is the best apple in the world. 



If your people can only gi^ow enough of it, and grow it well, 

 the rest of the world will have to be very active, indeed, to 

 beat you in apples. They have first to raise a kind to equal 

 it. We have good apples here, and there are good apples in 

 France (though not quite equal to ours, I think). But there is 

 nothing with the splendid high flavor and lasting quality of the 

 Newtown Pippin. I am writing this on the 6th of March, and 

 there are Newtown Pippins here in London, still, after their 

 long voyage and long keeping, of high quality. Our own eat- 

 ing apples have disappeared long ago. There may be a few, 

 often flavorless, in private collections, Ijut in Covent Garden 

 one sees nothing of them. I often wonder when reading your 

 excellent rural journals that I do not find anything about the 

 Newtown, and, so far as I have been able to judge, Americans 

 generally do not value it fairly. They tell me they have better 

 apples, but Ijetter would be too good for this poor world. 



Garden Office, London. W. Robinson. 



A Nursery of Hardy Perennial Plants. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — Even at this early season a visit to the nurseries built up 

 and conducted for many years near Passaic, New Jersey, by 

 Woolson & Co., and now in charge of H. Meyers, is instructive 

 as well as interesting. Many of the Christmas Roses are still in 

 bloom. Some of the rarer Tuli|:)S are now open, and near 

 them are at least fifty varieties of the choice hybrid Narcissus. 

 Under the trees are colonies of Dog-tooth Violets, Erythro- 

 nium albidum and E. Aniericaniim, with Trilliums, Hepaticas, 



English Primroses and Cowslips in great masses on every 

 side ; while if rarer flowers are sought, one can find the won- 

 derfully deep blue of Gentiana excisa, which appears a little 

 earlier than the better known G. acaulis, the almost equally 

 intense blue of Lithosperi>ium prostratuin, or the rich yellow of 

 Potentilla Pyrenaica. Another plant to be seen now, not new, 

 but rare in gardens, is Isopyriim biternaturn, which resembles 

 its relative, Thalictricm anemonoides, in foliage, while the 

 smaller pinkish-white flowers are much more abundant. 

 Among the early Phloxes in bloom are P. bifida, from the 

 cliffs of the Missouri River, and Douglas' Phlox, from the Cas- 

 cade Mountains. But I did not set out to make a catalogue of 

 the plants in flower. The collection numbers more than 2,000 

 species and varieties of hardy, herbaceous plants, and among 

 them are most of the meritorious plants of this class which are 

 now known to succeed well in cultivation. The spring-garden 

 has not been overlooked in making this selection, and the 

 display'of bloom in April and May is always attractive. 



What I do wish to say is, that this establishment illustrates in 

 a striking way the growth of the interest in hardy perennials as 

 garden-plants in this country. Many years ago a catalogue of 

 hardy perennials was added to their nursery list, by Hoopes 

 Brothers & Thomas, but here was established the first nursery 

 in the country devoted to these plants alone. Mr. Woolson was 

 for many years engaged with Dr. Thurber on The Ainerican 

 Agriculturist, and both of them took delight in examining and 

 identifying the specimens sent to the office from all parts of 

 tlic country, and by a system of exchanges they gathered iii 

 time a considerable collection. At last the exchanges reached 

 such proportions that two small green-houses were erected to 

 help propagate the plants demanded, and in 1878 the sale of 

 plants began, and the first catalogue was issued. This catalogue, 

 like those which have followed, had the benefit of Dr. Thurber's 

 revision, and they have been distinguished for botanical ac- 

 curacy as well as for neatness, compactness and instructive 

 comment. From this modest beginning the business has 

 grown, as the taste for hardy flowers has become more gen- 

 eral, until now landscape-gardeners and others, having large 

 places to provide for, send orders here for plants by the thou- 

 sand. But this is no longer the only place where hardy per- 

 ennial plants are grown in quantity. Other nurserymen have 

 felt the need of adding a department of this kind to their 

 business, so that it will hardly be denied that the development 

 of this demand for hardy plants is one of the most striking 

 incidents in the current history of ornamental gardening in 

 this country. 



The soil and exposure of this place is admirably adapted to 

 the class of plants grown. From a plateau of light, sandy loam 

 the ground slopes gradually to a low, marshy hollow, in which 

 aquatic plants will flourish. Beyond this rises a wooded slope, 

 in which have been naturalized many shy or shade-loving 

 plants like Trailing Arbutus, Pyxidanthera and Twin-flower. 

 Almost any variety of soil — sand, clay or peat — can be found 

 somewhere on the eight acres now devoted to the business, 

 and almost any plant that will live in this climate can be made 

 at home here. It is safe to say that a great proportion of the 

 hardy perennials which have been introduced to American 

 planters during the last ten years have been put on the market 

 through the medium of this house. Among these, besides 

 many foreign plants, have been a large number of native 

 plants which are sufficiently showy or interesting to com- 

 mend themselves to planters. Indeed, some of our native 

 plants which but a few years ago were rarely seen in cultiva- 

 tion are now propagated here in large quantities. Of the 

 lance-leaved Coreopsis, for instance, and the Missoin-i Evening 

 Primrose the sales were last year as large as of any other plants. 

 Many American plants, however, can be gathered wild more 

 cheaply than they can be grown, which is the case with the 

 Dog-tooth Violets, the Cypripediums and, indeed, all the 

 native Orchids and Ferns, and collectors send such plants 

 here from all parts of the country. 



There are many native plants well worth a place in gardens 

 which have never yet been introduced. No doubt numbers 

 of the alpine and sub-alpine plants of the Rocky Mountains 

 of Colorado and of the Blue Mountains of Oregon, for example, 

 which are likely to prove hardy, will be interesting additions 

 to our rock-gardens. The growing desire for such plants will 

 stimulate the zeal of collectors, and it is gratifying to know 

 that the material needed for all soils and situations is increasing 

 every vear. Certain it is that of herbaceous perennials, of per- 

 ennials partly woody, of low shrubs and woody climbers, the 

 available selection in this country is much richer than it was 

 when Dr. Thurber and Mr. Woolson began to make a specialty 

 of these plants. 



Passaic, N.J. 



S. 



