May 15, 1889.] 



Garden and Forest. 



239 



Correspondence. 



Opening Buds. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — It is a very interesting thing to keep a record, year after 

 year, of the dates of tlie appearance of flowers or leaves. 

 When one has done so for thirty years he is able to refute 

 some popular notions. One of these is, that the seasons are 

 changing. If, however, we compare cycles of years, rather than 

 contrast two contiguous seasons, we find a general level is 

 maintained. A phenomenally early spring this year may be 

 offset by a late one in 1890 or 1891. And, by the by, we have 

 known earlier seasons than this, so far as the flowers are con- 

 cerned. To be sure, the Houstonia opened on March 26th, 

 but we find other things about on time. Thus : Houstonia 

 ccernlea, March 26th ; Potentilla Canadensis, April 4th ; Acer 

 dasycarpuni, March 23d ; Draba verna, April 13th ; Hepatica 

 triloba, h\^x\\ 2-oi\\\ Nepeta Glechoma, April iBth; Horse-chest- 

 nut, leaves appearing April 19th ; Anemone nemorosa, April 

 19th ; Magnolias, April 21st ; Viola sagittata, April 23d ; Acer 

 platanoides, April 23d ; Caltha paliistris, April 24th ; Taraxa- 

 cum Dens-leonis, April 25th. The date for Houstonia here 

 given is the earliest I have. Usually I have found it about the 

 gtli to the 15th of April. The year 1865 presented some very 

 early dates. That vear I found Aneinone nemorosa in full 

 flower near Barrington, Rliode Island, April 15th. 1 especially 

 recall the day from its sad historic interest. 



I find our Horse-chestnut trees extremely variable. Why is it 

 that a certain tree, like that in the yard of the Friends' meet- 

 ing-house, leaves out a week before all others in town ? I have 

 observed the same thing with Lindens. Indeed, two standing 

 side by side, manifest this difference. I greatly regret that in 

 my twenty-si.x years of collecting, I did not keep a connected 

 record of natural events. Such a diary is of immense use not 

 only to one's self, but to science generally. Many, I imagine, 

 are, under the inspiration of recent teachers, now so engaged. 



Providence, R. I. W. W.Bailey. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — The laborer in a good cause is worthy of his hire in 

 the shape of frank acknowledgement of his services. I am 

 glad therefore to be able to tell you that I recently heard a 

 gentleman say: "I am just building a new house, and 

 although there is only an acre of ground around it, my con- 

 science was absolutely bullied by Garden and Forest into 

 employing a landscape-gardener to lay it out for me." 



Providence, R. I. H. G. B. 



Maple Avenue Nurseries. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — A ride through Chester County, Pennsylvania, is always 

 a delightful experience, and especially so at this season, when 

 the broad meadows which skirt its numerous streams, and the 

 pastures on its hill-sides are mantled with the purest green, 

 while the opening leaves of its frequent woodlands show a di- 

 versity and richness of color which even the foliage of autumn 

 can hardly equal. Never were flowers upon early-blooming 

 trees and shrubs more abundant. On all the wood-borders the 

 Dog-woods are white as snow. The branches of the Judas- 

 trees are quite hidden beneath the deep pink blossoms, and 

 the Lilac bushes by every farm-house actually bend under the 

 weight of their flowers. Just on the outskirts of the fine old 

 town of West Chester are the nurseries of Hoopes Brother & 

 Thomas, and in the border of specimen shrubs which extends 

 for 300 yards beside a sheltering hedge every plant in bloom is 

 apparently trying to produce more flowers than ever it did before. 



A spacious and level lawn, in perfect condition, fronted 

 by a long line of noble trees, makes an attractive entrance to 

 these nursery-grounds. The land is not uniformly level, how- 

 ever, but is marked by the same diversity of surface which 

 characterizes the county generally, and some of the elevations 

 command prospects of great extent and remarkable beauty. 

 The soil is fertile, easily tilled and well adapted to give a thrifty 

 growth to young trees and shrubs, and, by a system of close 

 evergreen hedges, they are well protected from the winds, so 

 trying in winter to many plants which do not suffer from cold 

 alone. It would be difficult to find anywhere in this country' 

 so great a length of such perfect hedge. The Hemlock hedge 

 is much the most beautiful, and no conifer, when clipped to a 

 line, can show so soft a surface. The Arbor Vitae hedges, too, 

 are admirable in their way — dense, uniform in color and tex- 

 ture, and showing no weak spot from end to end. But Mr. 

 Josiah Hoopes considers the Norway Spruce the ideal hedge 

 plant in this climate for practical purposes, and it is only ex- 

 celled in beauty by the Hemlock. It is tenacious of life, en- 

 dures the knife more patiently than any other conifer, and after 



long cutting, becomes almost as solid as a wall of stone and 

 C[uite impervious to any ordinary assault. Mr. Hoopes has 

 not observed that the hedges have any injurious effect upon 

 the plants near them by robbing them of food or moisture. 

 The young stock certainly looks well now, and in one place a 

 block of Japan Maples, which were fairly ablaze with brilliant 

 color, looked brighter still for the dark-green background of 

 the hedge behind them. 



It is thirty-six years since Mr. Josiah Hoopes began busi- 

 ness here in a small way, and now the firm of Hoopes 

 Brother & Thoinas has nearly 400 acres under cultivation. 

 Their trade is nearly all wholesale, and their aim is to keep a 

 full line of such stock as is in demand by other nurserymen 

 and dealers. They can hardly be said to have any specialty, 

 although the fact that last week they set out 115,000 hardy 

 Roses indicates an extensive business in that direction. Fruit 

 trees, of course, occupy the greater portion of their grounds, 

 and for some years past the sales of Norway and Sugar 

 Maples and European Sycamore have indicated a general 

 activity in planting street trees. This year Mr. Hoopes tells 

 me that there has been a marked increase in the inquiry for 

 ornamental trees and shruljs, including the choicer conifers. 

 Some fifteen years ago Mr. Hoopes planted a Pinetum which 

 contained all the species and varieties of conifers then ob- 

 tainable, which promised to be hardy in this climate, but a 

 large proportion of them have failed, showing how unsatis- 

 factory it is to plant trees of this family, except those which 

 have proved themselves sturdy and useful for special pur- 

 poses. Most of the foreign Pines have yielded to attacks of 

 fungus ; the Cypresses are practically all gone, and a large pro- 

 portion of the Junipers and Yews. Among the noteworthy 

 trees that remain I remarked a Finns cembra var. Helvetica, 

 P. Manchurica and P. pence, all fine specimens. Among the 

 Spruces, Picea pungens and P. Ajanensis are making strong 

 growth. A Spanish Fir {Abies Pinsapo), under the lea of a 

 sheltering belt of trees, is in excellent condition. A. concolor is 

 thrifty, and so are A. brachyphylla, A. Cilicica and A. Nord- 

 manniana. Very interesting, too, is a particularly fastigiate 

 form of the common European Silver Fir, which is well fur- 

 nished from the ground up. 



The most interesting group of trees I saw, however, stood in 

 the old nursery grounds, where most of them were planted by 

 Mr. Hoopes in 1853. Here is an Oriental Spruce, some thirty 

 feet high, and now fairly red with its abundant male flowers. 

 A specimen of Abies grandis measures nearly two feet in diam- 

 eter, and near it stand fine examples of Picea Smithiana, Abies 

 Cephalojiica and many more. Near the house a tall Magnolia 

 Fraseri was just opening its great flowers, which are a delicate 

 canary color on the outside, and I wondered why it is not more 

 frequently planted. A collection of Beeches, including- large 

 trees of the cut-leaved and fern-leaved varieties, stands near, 

 and among them is an immense Bird Cherry [Prutius Padus), 

 with a trunk nearly two feet in diameter, audits branches meet 

 the grass in a circle forty-five feet across. It was covered com- 

 pletely with fragrant flowers. Of the shrubs in flower some 

 Exochordas were noticeable for their great size, while retaining 

 the compact habit of smaller plants. A Japanese Judas-tree, 

 near the house of Mr. Thomas, seemed al:)Out nine feet high, 

 and was, of course, a mass of flowers. This plant had been 

 used several years to supply cuttings for propagation, but as 

 soon as it was left to itself it began to shoot upward and spread 

 outward, and is still growing rapidly. It bids fair to become 

 almost as large as our native Cercis. Some plants of Rhodo- 

 dendron Vaseyi were bearing abundantly their clear pink flow- 

 ers. R. Rhodora was also showing its rosy flowers, and this 

 was in a structure some 200 feet long, widi top and sides 

 lathed, for shade-loving plants like Kalmias, hardy Ferns and 

 many herbaceous perennials. 



In a long-established nursery like this, one can find scores of 

 beautiful things to admire ; but, after all, the general tidiness, 

 good order and organized system with which the great volume 

 of business moves smoothly forward is the fact which most 

 impresses the visitor. The nursery will hold an honored 

 place in the history of American horticidture, and the writ- 

 ings of Mr. Josiah Hoopes in various periodicals for several 

 years past have exercised a wholesome influence in moulding- 

 taste and directing practice in horticultural matters. 



West Cliester, Pa. 



5. 



Recent Plant Portraits. 



Chamterops humu.is, var. dactylocarpa, Bulletino de la 

 R. Soc. Toscana di Orticultura, March. 



SCILLA Ledieni, Gartenflora, March 15th. 



Chrysanthemums, White Venus and C. Cullingfordia, 

 Gartenflora, April ist. 



