284 



Garden and Forest. 



[June 12, 1889- 



so far as immediate benefit to the tree is concerned, A pic- 

 ture of a tree with a horizontal section of ground showing 

 the position and mode of growth of the roots clearly en- 

 forces the lesson, and indicates that the place to apply manure 

 to a tree is a circle three or four feet wide drawn upon the 

 ground just under the extremities of the lateral branches. 

 A better way still is to cover the entire circle about the tree 

 whose radius is equal to its height. 



Notes from the Arnold Arboretum. 



Pourthicea arguta is flowering here freely for the first time. 

 It is a graceful, hardy shrui:), with slender, spreading branches, 

 covered with smooth, pale gray bark, that of the branchlets 

 thickly covered with warts, as are the peduncles and pedicels ; 

 lanceolate or elliptical, oblong, membranaceous, short-peti- 

 oled, opposite leaves, pointed at both ends, finely and sharply 

 serrate, and three inches long by one and a half inches wide. 

 They are covered when young, as are the stout branches and 

 inflorescence, with short, scattered white hairs, but become 

 perfectly glabrous at maturity. The flowers are small, one- 

 fourth of an inch across, pure white, and borne in flat, few- 

 flowered, cyme-like, almost sessile corymbs, and are followed 

 by small, red globose or ovoid, one to two-seeded pomes. The 

 genus Pourthia^a was established by Decaisne ("Nouv. Arch, 

 du Mus," X., 146) for a number of plants peculiar to the 

 Himalayas, China, Corea and Japan, wliich, in herbaria, were 

 long confounded with species of the allied genus, Photinia, 

 which they resemble in general appearance. Pourthiasa can, 

 however, be recognized by the minute serratures of the 

 leaves, by the profusion of the warts which cover the young 

 shoots, the petioles and peduncles, by the styles (two, or 

 generally three), connate to the nn'ddle, and by the testa of 

 the seeds, which contains ducts filled with resinous gum, a 

 peculiarity which, as M. Decaisne pointed out, is not shared 

 by the plants of other genera of Poiiiacece. The genus com- 

 memorates the labors of the French missionary, Pourthie, 

 massacred in Corea in 1866. 



PoiirthicEa arguta is a native of the Himalayas from Sikkim 

 to the Kashya Hills and to Burmah. It is apparently very 

 variable. Sir Joseph Hooker describing no less than six varie- 

 ties in the "Flora of British India " (ii., 382). 



In cultivation here it is a remarkably neat and apparently a 

 perfectly hardy plant, already nearly eight feet high, having 

 inhabited the Arboretum for a number of years. The diver- 

 gent habit of the branches and flower-bearing lateral branch- 

 lets give to this plant a pecuhar and striking appearance quite 

 unlike that of other plants in the collection. It flowers here 

 about ten days earlier than its near ally, Photinia villosa, of 

 which a figure was published in the first volume of Garden 

 AND Forest, p. 67. 



The Dalmatian Spircea cana is very fine here this year. It 

 is one of the most variable of the Spiraeas in habit, in" the size 

 and pubescence of the leaves and in the size of the inflores- 

 cence. Next to S. trilobata and its varieties, of which^5. Van 

 Houttei is by far the most beautiful, S. cana is the best of the 

 late-blooming Spiraeas which produce their flowers on the ex- 

 tremities of lateral, leafy branches. The most attractive of 

 the numerous forms of this plant which are cultivated in the 

 Arboretum is one with small, ovate, enfire leaves (one-half to 

 two-thirds of an inch long), covered with soft, silky-white to- 

 mentum, and with very abundant, although small, panicles of 

 flowers. This is a perf ecfly hardy shrub of handsome, compact 

 habit. It grows here to a height of two or two and a half feet. 



There are many species and varieties of Cotoneaster in 

 the collection. Among them are plants of considerable orna- 

 mental value, especially for the autumn decoration of gardens, 

 as they nearly all produce showy fruit. Among the species 

 now in flower the handsomest at this season of the year is the 

 dwarf and here nearly prostrate C. microphylla. It is a low, 

 intricately-branched shrub, with very stout, rigid, horizontal 

 branches, ovate or obovate entire leaves, a third to half an 

 inch long, the margins often somewhat recurved, very coria- 

 ceous, dark green and glossy on the upper surface, the lower 

 covered with sparse hairs, which also occur upon the calyx and 

 short peduncles. The flowers are rather large (half an inch 

 across), solitary, greenish-white, with showy red stamens. The 

 scarlet fruit is globose. C microphylla, often confounded in 

 gardens with C. rotundifolia a.nd C. buxifolia, is a native of the 

 Himalayas, from Kashmir to Bhotan, where it is found at ele- 

 vafions of from 4,000 to 10,000 feet above the sea level. C. 

 inicrophylla is fairly hardy here, and is a useful plant for car- 

 peting the ground under larger shrubs. Its neat habit, bril- 

 liant, although small, leaves, and handsome and abundant 

 flowers and fruit make it a desirable subject for the rock-gar- 

 den, or for the margins of small shrubberies. 



Cotoneaster acuminata is also in flower. This is an erect 

 shrub, with rather stout branches, with ovate, acuminate or 

 acute leaves two inches long, pubescent or tomentose beneath 

 (glabrous at maturity), as are the shoots of the year and the in- 

 florescence. The flowers are dull pink, inconspicuous, in short, 

 one to five-flowered cymes. They are followed, however, by 

 handsome black fruit, wdiich makes this plant a conspicuous 

 object during the autumn months. It is a native of the Him- 

 alayas from Sumor to Sikkim, where it extends to an elevation 

 of 13,000 feet. It attains sometimes a height of fourteen feet 

 in its native country, where the wood is used for walking-sticks 

 (" Fl. British India," ii., 385). Cotoneaster acuminata is perfectly 

 hardy in the Arboretum, which it has inhabited for several 

 years. 



C. vulgaris is the most showy species of the genus in fruit 

 in this collection. It is an erect shrub, with stout branches, 

 broadly ovate, acute or obtuse leaves, one to two inches long, 

 glabrous above, softly tomentose on the lower surface ; small, 

 inconspicuous, reddish flowers, in short, glabriescent, few- 

 flowered cymes, and brilliant, bright red, drooping fruit, which 

 remains upon the branches for a considerable time after the 

 leaves have fallen ; it is found from northern Europe, through 

 Siberia and Persia to the Himalayas. There is a variety with 

 black fruit which is not in this collection. C. vulgaris is a per- 

 fectly hardy plant, and although a very old inhabitant of gardens, 

 it seems to be rarely cultivated in this country in spite of the 

 fact that it is one of the most desirable of autumn fruit-bearing 

 shrubs. 



Rhamtius alpiniis, now in flower, has the most ornamental 

 foliage of the genus. The leave's are ample, four or five inches 

 long, oval, lanceolate, crenately toothed, dark green and lus- 

 trous, and conspicuous for the exceedingly prominent primary 

 veins. The flowers, like those of the other species, are incon- 

 spicuous, yellow-green, four parted, the females with four- 

 lobed stigmas. The fruit is black. It is a dwarf shrub, attain- 

 ing sometimes a height of three or four feet. Here it grows 

 rather slowly, and its hardiness is not yet satisfactorily demon- 

 strated. Rhamniis alpinus is a native of the mountain ranges 

 of southern Europe from Spain to Turkey. 



The Deerberry, or Squaw Huckleberry l^Vaccinium statnin- 

 eum) is a charming garden plant, and one which, when well 

 established, grows freely in any good soil, requiring no special 

 care or peculiar treatment. It is now covered with flowers, 

 with open, bell-shaped corollas, and long, exserted stamens, 

 hanging singly on graceful, slender pedicels from the axils of the 

 small upper leaves or leaf-like bracts, and forming leafy race- 

 mes. V. stamineum is a widely-branching shrub, tM'o or three 

 feet high, with ovate or oval ample pale leaves, glaucous or 

 white on the lower surface, and large, round or pear-shaped 

 fruit, which is green or sometimes dull purple when fully ripe, 

 and barely edible. The Squaw Huckleberry is found over a 

 large part of the Northern States, and along the southern Alle- 

 ^henies, growing always in gravelly soil, under the shade of 

 deciduous trees, generally different species of Black Oaks. 

 Brought into the garden, and treated generously, it will grow 

 more freely than it does in its native home, and will delight 

 and astonish those persons who are not familiar with the beau- 

 ties of the American Vaccinice. 



The English Bilberry, the pretty little Vaccinium Myrtillus, 

 is in flower. This is a small, glabrous shrub, growing only 

 eight or ten inches high, with angled green branches, ovate, 

 thin leaves, globular, solitary, nodding, pale green flowers, 

 tinged with red ; and round, nearly black fruit, covered with a 

 glaucous bloom, ft is a native of northern and central Europe, 

 extending to the great mountain ranges of southern Europe, 

 often covering wide tracts of ground. It is hardy here, but a 

 delicate plant, requiring special care and attention. 



Exochorda grandiflora, a well-known garden shrub and a na- 

 tiveof central China, has flowered this yearin this neighborhood 

 in the greatest profusion, and perhaps has never before been 

 seen here in as great beauty. It is certainly one of the most 

 beautiful of all spring-flowering shrubs. It is not, however, 

 although known in European gardens for more than forty 

 years, as common a plant as the great beauty and profusion 

 of its flowers would lead one to expect. The truth is, it is a 

 difficult plant to propagate ; there is no stock upon which it 

 will grow, and green wood cuttings root very slowly and with 

 great difficulty. Seed, if it can be had, germinates freely, but 

 young plants rarely produce seeds, which appear apparently 

 only on old and long-established plants; and old plants are rarely 

 seen. The Exochorda, from some reason or other, dies young, 

 at least in this climate, and it is rare to see a bush more than 

 six or eight feet high here. Generally before it reaches that size 

 the branches begin to crack and to lose the bark. After this the 

 plant gradually perishes, and generally disappears at the end of 



