286 



Garden and Forest. 



[June 12, 1889. 



he sands." Wherever the Oak is established — and we have 

 seen that it is alread)- estabHshed wherever it can endure the 

 soil and climate — there it will remain and keep on advancing. 

 The Oak produces comparatix'ely few seeds. Where it pro- 

 duces a hmidred, tlie Ash and Maple will yield a thousand, the 

 Elm ten thousand, and many other trees a hundred thousand. 

 The acorn has no provision for protection and transportation 

 like many tree-seeds. Many kinds are furnished with wings to 

 float them on the water and carry them in the air. Nearly every 

 tree-seed, except the acorn, has a case to protect it while grow- 

 ing, either opening and casting the seeds off to a distance when 

 ripe or falling with them to protect them till they begin to ger- 

 minate. Even the equally large seeds of other kinds are pro- 

 tected in some way. The Hickory-nut has a hard shell, which 

 shell itself is protected by a strong covering until ripe. The 

 Black Walnut has both a hard shell and a Heshy covering. The 

 acorn is the only seed I can think of which is left by Nature to 

 take care of itself. It matures without protection, falls heavily 

 and helplessly to the ground, to be eaten and trodden on by 

 animals, yet the few which escape and those which are trodden 

 under ;u-e well able to compete m the race for life. While the 

 Elm and Maple seeds are drying up on the surface, the Hicko- 

 ries and the Walnuts waiting to be cracked, the acorn is at work 

 with its coat off. It drives its tap-root into the earth in spite 

 of grass, and brush, and litter. No matter if it is shaded by 

 forest-trees so that the sun cannot penetrate, it will manage to 

 make a short stem and a few leaves the first season, enough to 

 keep life in the root, which will drill in deeper and deeper. 

 Wlien age or accident removes the tree which has over- 

 shadowed it, then it will assert itself. Fires may run over the 

 land, destroying almost everything else, the Oak will be killed 

 to the ground, but it will throw up a new shoot the next spring, 

 the root will keep enlarging, and when the opportunity arrives 

 it will make a vigorous growth, in proportion to the strength 

 of the root, and throw out strong side roots, and after that care 

 no more for its tap-root, which has been its only support, than 

 .the frog cares for the tail of the tadpole, after it has got on its 

 own legs. 



There is no mystery about the succession of forest-growths, 

 nothing in Nature is more plain and simple. We cannot but 

 admire her wisdom, economy and justness, compensating in 

 another direction for any disadvantage a species may have to 

 labor under. Every kind of tree has an interesting history in 

 itself. Seeds with a hard shell, or with a pulpy or resinous 

 covering, whicli retards their germination, are often saved 

 from becoming extinct by tfiese means. 



The Red Cedar {Jtiniperus Virginiand) reaches from 

 Florida to and beyond Cape Cod ; it is among the hills of Ten- 

 nessee, through the Middle States and New England. It is 

 scattered through the western states and territories, at long 

 distances apart, creeping up the Platte River, in Nebraska. (I 

 found only three in the Black Hills, in Dakota, in an extended 

 search for the different trees which grow there. Found only 

 one in a long ramble in the hills at Las Vegas, New Mexico.) 

 Yet this tree has crept across the continent, and is found here 

 and there in a north-westerly direction between the Platte and 

 the Pacific Coast. It is owing to the resinous coating which 

 protects its seeds that this tree is found to-day scattered over 

 that immense reg^ion. 



Correspondence. 



Ulmus fulva pendula. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — I appreciate the kindly notice your correspondent has 

 given of me and my work. In regard to the "Weeping Slip- 

 pery Elm," I am responsiljle for the name under which it has 

 been distributed. It was regarded as a form of the Slippery 

 Elm without the close examination that should have been 

 made. Two of the trees originally grafted have now flowered 

 with me. They prove to be not Ulmiis fulva, but a form of 

 the common White Elm l^U. Americana). It is inconceivable 

 that I should not have noticed this, as the Slippery Elm is 

 readily distinguished by the rough bark on the younger twigs, 

 very different from the smoother bark of the American or 

 White Elm. As there are many weeping forms of the com- 

 mon American Elm, and it is necessary to re-name this, it will 

 !je Ijetter to drop the Latin designation for a mere variety like 

 this. The grafts were sent to me by Mr. E. Beebe, then of 

 Galena, Illinois, from a tree growing wild near there. An ap- 

 propriate designation will be " Beebe's Weeping Elm." 



Beebe's Weeping Elm is a very striking form. The branches 

 curve over as they grow, much as the Weeping Willow does 

 — the branches being thick and cord-like. I have seen some of 



these curving branches that make an annual growth of twenty 

 feet. They, however, get up to be trees of considerable size 

 for all the curving tendency of the young growth. My trees 

 are about thirty-five feet high, with trunks three and a half feet 

 in circumference. The appearance at a little distance is pre- 

 cisely that of a Weeping Willow. Thomas Meehan. 



Germantown, Pa. ^^^ 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — A friend, whose son is a large grower of flowers in 

 England, writes me expressing obligation to Garden and 

 Forest for the note on the poisonous properties of Primula 

 obconica. She says, in substance, "this has solved the mys- 

 tery for us of the very troublesome inflammation of face 

 and hands from which not only I but two of my daughters 

 have been suffering this last year. It is undoubtedly P. 

 obconica that has been the cause of it, for since we have 

 avoided handling the plant the symptoms have gradually 

 disappeared. I do not suppose any but those who grow the 

 plant in large quantities need be afraid, and our men have 

 divided and re-potted a great number without ill effects, so 

 that it is only injurious to certain persons. It so happens 

 that I have taken special trouble about our picking dead 

 leaves, etc., Httle thinking that the evil was thus continually 

 kept up. My eldest daughter, who has charge of boxes of cut 

 flowers, has suffered gready in her hands and arms, and, in 

 some degree, in her face and eyes. Another daughter, who 

 has used the flowers in wreath-making, of late showed simi- 

 lar symptoms, which puzzled our doctor extremely, though 

 he said he was positive there was some local cause. It is 

 such a charming plant that we are truly sorry, but I am afraid 

 the fact remains." As P. obconica is now being so largely 

 grown it seems well that this evidence confirmatory of your 

 note should be given, as a warning to those wiio are suscep- 

 tible to plant poisons. _ ,r ^ 



Elizabeth, N. J. J^o. N. Gerard. 



Kissena Nurseries. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — In the early part of this century the most attracfive spot 

 in the Middle States, for lovers of ornamental trees and other 

 plants, was " The Linnsean Botanic Garden and Nursery," at 

 Flushing, Long Island, of which Mr. William Prince was the pro- 

 prietor. Mr. Prince was a man of excellent taste and a genuine 

 enthusiast in horficulture. He gathered a notable collection of 

 trees and shrubs, and in the now busy town, hard by the rail- 

 road station, there sfiU stands to mark the site of the old 

 nursery a noble Cedar of Lebanon, one of the best and oldest 

 specimens of this tree in the United States. It was, perhaps, the 

 success of this establishment, for so many years identified 

 with the gardening art of the country, which led to the founda- 

 tion, fifty years ago, of the Parsons' nurseries,, which still 

 remain, so that the town of Flushing has never lacked for 

 choice material when any planting was to be done. This is 

 made evident to the visitor not only by the unusual number of 

 striking trees and shrubs on the private grounds of the town, 

 but by the trees in its streets, which are exceptionally well 

 planted. There are fine avenues of Elms here as elsewhere, 

 but it is rare to find such long lines of Tulip-trees, or Lin- 

 dens, or Beeches as are seen here. Mr. Samuel B. Parsons, 

 the present head of the nurseries, who has done most of the 

 planting, is particularly hopeful as to the future of the Beeches, 

 and certainly a long, straight street with a row of well-grown 

 English Beeches on either side would be worth a journey to 

 see. This particular street, however, is comparatively new, 

 and the trees have but just taken hold of the soil as if they 

 were determined to grow. No better wish for them can be 

 made than that they all may attain to as fair proportions as 

 those of a tree of the same species standing near by on the pri- 

 vate grounds of Mr. Parsons. In sweeping grace of outline, 

 and in the lustrous beauty of its foliage, this particular tree is 

 not equalled by any English Beech it has yet been my pleasure 

 to see. 



In their present estate, however, the Oaks are to me the 

 most interesting street-trees in Flushing. That the conditions 

 of the place are adapted to the best development of these trees 

 might have been surmised from the size of the famous Fox 

 Oaks, one of which was blown down in 1831, while the other 

 survived until 1873, when it was destroyed by fire. A count 

 of the annual rings then show^ed that the trees were 300 years 

 old when George Fox preached under them in 1672. The giant 

 White Oak on Parsons Avenue belongs, no doubt, to the same 

 generation, and its knotted and furrowed trunk is twenty-three 

 feet in girth. But the younger Oaks do not lack interest. Here 

 they stand to prove that Oaks of many species grow rapidly, 



