264 



Garden and Forest. 



[May 29, li 



script volume contained a complete list, by Mr. Meehan, of 

 all the evergreens growins;- in the plant-houses at Kevv Gar- 

 dens in 1845, '^iiJ it '* O'"* record in Bromlield's " Flora Vec- 

 tensis," edited by Hooker & Salter, that at a period still earlier 

 than this a new variety of Veronica ChuDiedrys had been de- 

 tected in tlie Isle of Wight by Thomas Meehan, aged lifteen 

 years. The eye of the botanist is still undimmed and his 

 natural force is not aljated, but these glimpses of his early life 

 remind us how many years have been industriously given to 

 his favorite pursuit. The city of Philadelphia now claims his 

 services, and has for several successive terms, as Councilman. 

 He has been active, among otlier things, in securing the pur- 

 chase of Bartram's Garden and other land for small parks, and 

 these will, no doubt, prove a source of health and refreshment 

 to the thronging population of the great city of the future. 

 Let us hope, however, that he will undertake no labors which 

 will interrupt his studies or quite deprive the horticultural 

 world of such instruction as he imparted for so many years in 

 the columns of the Gardeners' Monthly. 



Philadelphia. 



Notes. 



s. 



An International Congress of Agriculture and Forestry will 

 be held in Vienna during the summer of 1890. 



The famous Botanical Gardens at Edinburgh are now for 

 the first time opened to the public on Sundays. 



Myosoiis alpestris, Victoria, proves to be a perfect border- 

 plant in this latitude, hardy without protection and easily 

 multiplied by division or from seed. 



The Cucumber Flea Beetle, which did so much damage to 

 Potatoes in many places near this city last year, has again at- 

 tacked the leaves of these plants, and the remedies so far tried 

 have not been able to check its ravages. 



Concerning ■yJ/a_f«^/z« Campbellii, of which mention was 

 made in this journal last week, Mr. S. B. Parsons writes that 

 twenty years ago he imported a plant two and a half feet high, 

 for which he paid five guineas. It grew well, but was not 

 hardy in the open air. 



Mr. Josiah Hoopes sends us some immense, snow-white 

 clusters of the sterile flowers of Viburnum macrocephaluin, 

 with the note that it is one of the most conspicuous plants on 

 his grounds, and the shrub is flowering better than ever before 

 at the Arnold Arboretum. This Viburnum, which was men- 

 tioned in this journal last year (vol. i., p. 226), seems much 

 more vigorous about Philadelphia than it is further north. 



The crop of " May Haws," as the beautiful fruit of Cratcegiis 

 ccstivalis is called, has been very abundant the past spring in 

 western Louisiana. It ripens there in the latter part of April 

 or early in May, and is gathered in great quantities and 

 brought into the towns and sold for making jellies, jams and 

 preserves, for which it is well suited. This is one of the most 

 beautiful of all the Hawthorns, and would be a desirable orna- 

 mental tree in the South, although it is doubtful if it has ever 

 been cultivated. 



A report that will prove of special interest to residents of 

 the territory drained by the Rio Grande has lately been made 

 by Professor G. E. Curtis, of the United States Geological Sur- 

 vey. The report contains information as to the amount of 

 snow which fell last winter along the tributaries of the Rio 

 Grande, and this amount is used as a basis for estimating the 

 probable amount of water which will be available for use by 

 farmers and stock-raisers during the coming season. Ques- 

 tions as to the depth of snowfall were answered by 120 persons, 

 and the general amount and distribution of the snow were 

 clearly indicated. As a whole, the snowfall seems to have 

 been above the average, although in one considerable region 

 it was much less than usual. It will be interesting to observe 

 how far the predictions as to the water-supply will be fulfilled. 



During the week past the United States Nurseries, at Short 

 Hills, New Jersey, have been thronged with visitors to see the 

 reniarkable display of rare Cypripediums nowin bloom, as well 

 as many otherchoice Orchids. The most wonderful specimen of 

 all is a new Cattleya, belonging to the Gigas type. The stout 

 pseudo-bulbs are between nine and ten inches long, and the 

 leaves are very thick, one foot long by nearly five inches 

 broad. The plant carries two spikes of Howers, one with six, 

 the other with four flowers. The individual flowers are of 

 enormous size, each of the petals being five and a half inches 

 long by three broad, and the sepals are of the same length, the 

 whole being a deep lake color. The lip is three and a half 



inches broad, rich purple, with two yellow eyes. This is the 

 first time the plant has flowered since its importation, and it is 

 pronounced by enthusiastic Orchid-growers the grandest Cat- 

 tleya they have ever seen. 



The centre of bulb-culture in Holland, says Gartenflora, is 

 still at Haarlem, as it has been during two centuries and a 

 half. Hyacinths are especially in favor just now, and ground 

 suitable for their cultivation has sold for as much as $13,500 an 

 acre, as against about $1,000 given for land of other kinds. 

 The expense of cultivation is placed at about $300 an acre for 

 Hyacinths and $160 for Tulips; and it is noted that artificial 

 manures are never used. Narcissus is also grown in vast 

 quantities near Haarlem, chiefly for exportation to England. 

 Formerly the export trade in cut flowers was enormous, one 

 Haarlem firni having exported in a single season 10,000 cases; 

 but an agreement was last year entered into by a majority of 

 the Dutch florists to abandon the sale of cut flowers as com- 

 peting with the interests of purchasers of bulbs. Attempts 

 have been made to extract the perfume of Hyacinths, but only 

 with moderate success, especially from the commercial point 

 of view. 



The American Florist recently published a picture of a very 

 pretty basket of flowers in which Roses, Orchids and Carna- 

 tions were disposed in a loose and graceful way, and so 

 massed that both contrast and harmony were secured. Sen- 

 sible words were spoken in the accompanying text where it 

 was hoped that the sight of so charming an arrangement 

 "will result in converting to more natural methods some of 

 that altogether too numerous class who turn out those stift', 

 formal arrangements in which the grace and loveliness of 

 each flower is annihilated by crowding together as compactly 

 and evenly as the blades of grass in a smoothly-shaven lawn. 

 In the ' elevation of our profession ' the retail florist has a 

 grand opportunity here to do his share. The better class of 

 flower-buyers — people of wealth and taste who are large 

 buyers — are quick to appreciate a really artistic arrangement 

 and will pay well, not only for fine flowers, but for the taste 

 and skill displayed in their arrangement." 



A late number of the Popjilar Sciettce Monthly contains a 

 sensible letter on " Silk Culture in the United States " by Mrs. 

 M. W. Brooks, of Salem, Massachusetts. This letter clearly 

 shows, by quotations from various authorities, that the risks 

 of this business are too great and the competition with Chi- 

 nese labor too close for it to afford American women any fair 

 chance of earning a livelihood. "The raising of silk- worms 

 involves a minute and incessant labor such as Orientals ap- 

 pear to be alone thoroughly fitted for, and it is not at all 

 adapted to the capacities of American women. . . . Silk cul- 

 ture is no experiment, even in this country; it simply does not 

 pay a people who want to earn more than one cent per hour." 

 An example is given of a case that has been quoted as "suc- 

 cessful." In Jolmson County, Missouri, two women and four 

 children " tried the experiment for two years." The net profits 

 at the end of the two years were $57.90. It is no wonder that 

 Mrs. Brooks thinks that the Department of Agriculture in 

 Washington might do better work than that distribution of silk- 

 worm eggs, in which it is still engaged. 



On the 4th of May Professor Bickmore delivered at the Mu- 

 seum of Natural History, in this city, the .last of the series of 

 one hundred lectures to the teachers of New York City and 

 State, which he has given under the direction of the State De- 

 partment of Public instruction. His subject was "The For- 

 ests of America," and, with the help of excellent stereopticon 

 slides, he showed how the three main currents of wind which 

 perpetually encircle the globe have governed the distribution 

 of its forests. South of the Tropic of Capricorn, lie explained, 

 the wind blows continuously from the west, and is deprived 

 of its load of moisture by striking the mountains near the west- 

 ern coast. Here, therefore, one finds a rich forest-region, 

 while the dry pampas of Buenos Ayres stretch between the 

 mountains and the Atlanfic. In the equatorial regions, be- 

 tween the Tropics of Capricorn and Cancer, the wind blows 

 steadily from the east ; hence the enormous forests of Brazil 

 and, across the Andes, the desert, because rainless, region of 

 Peru. North of the Gulf of Mexico the current of wind 'is 

 again from west to east, producing the heavy forests of the 

 Pacific slope ; and beyond the Rocky Mountains, which have 

 condensed all moisture on their western sides, lies that vast 

 interior region which, dry and unpromising as it seems, needs 

 only water to make it blossom as the rose. The verdurous 

 tree-clad condition of the eastern coast region is owing, of 

 course, to the fact that local winds bring them moisture from 

 the Atlantic Ocean. 



