July 3, 1889.] 



Garden and Forest. 



315 



single variety of any fruit, great or small, of known Russian 

 origin tliat has given good promise of permanent usefulness 

 in any western state. Trials are still carried on, but with 

 greatly moderated hopes. 



It has been shown by Dr. Gray and others that the principal 

 forms of plants of the northern hemisphere once floin-ished 

 together in the region about the north pole, that thence they 

 were driven southwards along the lines of least resistance by 

 glacial cold; returning northwards with returning warmth and 

 repeating these migrations till we now find regions of vegeta- 

 tion almost as distinctly marked as geographical boundaries 

 on the map. Seedlings of conifers growing on the eastern 

 slopes of the Rocky Mountains will flourish in the interior or 

 IVIississippi region, while seeds of the same species from the 

 western slopes of the same mountains fail to produce seed- 

 lings able to live tliere, yet plants from the western seeds give 

 full satisfaction in Europe, and to some degree, though a lesser 

 one, in our Atlantic region. 



A late horticultural report in Iowa showed in a certain 

 county a Pear-orchard of 350 trees of over fifty varieties, not a 

 tree of which had been destroyed by the late extreme seasons 

 there, while in the second county, distant not more than fifty 

 miles. Pears were not mentioned, and scarcely any varieties of 

 Apples had escaped. The late geological survey of Indiana 

 develops in that state at least seven distinct botanical regions 

 marked by specific differences in the characteristic native plants. 



In the cold and marshy north are found the plants that 

 characterize the vegetation all the way up to Hudson's Bay, 

 while in the south-west are those that dot the slopes and 

 bottoms down to the Gulf. Nay more, sometimes on opposite 

 sides of the same ravine, in a certain hilly region, may be found 

 the uttermost outlying pickets of the opposing floral hosts. 



The same laws hold in every region. In the new Stanford 

 Arboretum, near San Francisco, subject to the unchang-ing 

 Pacific, the trees of South America and of Siberia; of our At- 

 lantic States and of Japan ; of western Europe and of China, 

 vie with each other in luxuriant growth along with those of 

 Alaska, of Dakota and of Mexico — so writes Mr. Douglas, the 

 Director. 



The contrary exists in tiie upper Mississippi region, where 

 trees of the native forests are sometimes injured by extreme 

 seasons, and all strangers may well beware. Thus it appears 

 that one must study his own condition to judge the limit of his 

 reasonable faith in new fruits. 



Experience has lately shown that trees from an extremely 

 severe climate or from the far north are not, therefore, to be 

 presumed well adapted and hardy in a climate much warmer. 

 Partial unlikeness of environment — that is, unlikeness-of some 

 of the surrounding conditions, though neither great nor ob- 

 vious, may quite easfly be sufficient for utter disappointment. 

 The wound of poor Mercutio was "not so deep as a well nor 

 so wide as a church-door," but it was enough. Very short dis- 

 tances and slight changes in elevation are often sufficient to 

 cause failure in new fruits. Moreover, it is found by trial that 

 fruits and plants transported so far from their native habitats 

 may thrive very well while young, but fail miserably in middle 

 age or after producing fruit. Therefore it is found that no one 

 can safely commend a new fruit for general cultivation in any 

 region until it has been well tested there under all usual con- 

 ditions, nor until thorough trial for a period at least equal to 

 the usual life of an individual of that species. 



Both these safe and conservative rules are persistently vio- 

 lated by introducers of foreign fruits — where such violations 

 are most dangerous of all — as well as by those lightning oper- 

 ators who propagate, advertise and introduce their prodigies 

 all in one and the same season, leaving the testing and the 

 groaning to be done at leisure by the purchaser and planter. 



There seems abimdant reason to believe that every botani- 

 cal region must be willing to undertake the task of originat- 

 ing, from seed and by selection, the bulk of its fruits, if suc- 

 cess be expected. This is because health, vigor and adaptabil- 

 ity of tree or plant can seldom be perfectly secured except by 

 nature's process of creation and survival. It follows also that 

 the purchaser of new fruits should inquire carefully as to the 

 conditions of soil and climate characterizing the birth-place of 

 the tree or plant offered for his money, because, if at its very 

 best under one set of conditions it cannot possibly be also at 

 its best under very different ones. 



It is not sufficiently appreciated that plants are indicators of 

 such extreme delicacy of climatic and soil differences that the 

 finest instruments of men are clumsy Ijeside them. 



Is it too much to say in the light of experience that no 

 region can reasonably hope for as good results from the 

 plants of any other region on earth as from selected individ- 

 uals from abundant seedlings produced in that very region 



and subject to all its peculiarities. It seems to me that the 

 proposition needs no argument, but that an attitude of distrust 

 and caution towards all fruits of distant origin is the duty of 

 every planter. 



Upon every fruit-grower is equally laid another duty ; that 

 of annually planting some seeds from his best fruits, that the 

 course of nature be kept clear for the perpetuation of a race 

 of successful fruits, for the changed times and changing con- 

 ditions in which his posterity must exist. 



Foreign Correspondence. 

 London Letter. 



T DO not remember to have seen the London parks andgar- 

 -*■ dens with sucli a poor show of flowering shrubs as they 

 have this season, and the same complaint comes from all 

 parts of the country. This result is attributed to the last 

 wretched summer, when the tree and shrub-growth was too 

 luxuriant to form flower-buds. Notwithstanding the dearth 

 of shrub-bloom, the public parks here are just now delightful ; 

 the glass-houses have given out their millions of bedding-plants 

 to adorn the lawns. Ever since March the public gardens 

 have glowed with their parterres of gorgeous bulbs, and the late 

 Tulips are only just past. I agi'ee with your remarks in a 

 recent page of Garden and Forest, that Tulip-plynting is 

 an expensive luxury, considering how short their liower sea- 

 son is. But we are trying to reduce the expense here, for not 

 a few bulb-growers are of the opinion that as fine bulbs can 

 be grown in England as in Holland, and if in gardens where 

 bulfjs are planted extensively they can be grown to perfec- 

 tion, they must be cheaper than imported bulbs. 



The Royal Horticultural Society has lately had a busy time, 

 and it really seems that the old Society is becoming re-invig- 

 orated. No stranger who saw the magnificent exhibition the 

 Society held a few days ago in the Temple Gardens (which is 

 almost in the heart of the city of London) would have sup- 

 posed that this show was organized by a Society which a 

 few months ago was considered in a hopeless condition. 

 Nowhere in the world could such a display be seen, especially 

 of Orchids, which were contributed from the richest collec- 

 tions. Among amateurs I need only mention the names of 

 Baron Schroeder and Sir Trevor Lawrence, while the trade 

 was worthily represented by Messrs. Sander, Low and others. 

 Such Orchids as Odontoglossum AlexandrcE were displayed by 

 the thousand in one mass of graceful bloom. Then there were 

 hosts of Cattleyas, Laelias, Cypripediums and all the popular 

 genera of Orchids, besides numerous varieties that could only 

 come from the Schroeder and Lawrence collections. In the 

 presence of these banks of Orchids, glowing with splendid 

 colors and most graceful in form, one is hardly surprised that 

 the world of flower-lovers worship Orchids, at any rate, for 

 the moment. But this comprehensive exhibition represented 

 other classes of plants grown to perfection. There were pot 

 Roses six or eight feet across from the Cheshunt Nurseries, 

 similar to those that grand old florist of the past, Charles 

 Turner, showed year after year at Regent's Park. 



These fine examples of cultural skill did not excite the 

 admiration of the crowd so much as the group of huge pot- 

 specimen Clematises shown by the Worcester nurseries. 

 These plants were balloon-trained, ranging about six feet 

 high and some three or four feet through, and were masses 

 of flowers, some of which were quite a foot across. These 

 varieties were all of the Lanuginosa or early-flowering section, 

 and comprised in their colors all shades of purple and mauve, 

 besides snow-white. I need not give the names, as they are 

 the standard sorts to be found in good Clematis lists. Since 

 Jackmann, of Woking, ceased showing Clematis nothing has 

 been seen in London to compare with these. There are no 

 better climbers for the green-house at this season than 

 these large-flowered Clematis, and they continue to bloom un- 

 til the smaller-flowered C. Jackmanni, in its endless varieties, 

 come in flower next month. For the lovers of hardy plants 

 there was abundant entertainment in this show, for Ware, of 

 Tottenham; Paret, of Cheshimt, and others put out their full 

 strength, and showed us what a show border-plants can make 

 when potted and grown specially for exhibition. Pi^onies of 

 the Albi flora, and other herbaceous species ; Poppies, Pyreth- 

 rums, Pansies and a whole host of other things which at this 

 season make open-air gardens so gay, made the flowerless 

 lawns at the Temple gay in a few hours. Pot-culture of hardy 

 plants has not been much practiced, but there is a great deal 

 in it, and it is only from experience that we can tell which are 

 most suitable for the purpose. 



Hardy shrubs were represented by Mr. Anthony Waterer, 



