July 3, 1889.] 



Garden and Forest. 



323 



attached thereto in dainty waves and ringlets, flaxen-colored, 

 with a kind of satin finish. Those parts of the surface from 

 which the pellicle does not loosen often take on a metallic 

 lustre, of a shade between that of nickel and of brass. This 

 apparel of the Yellow Birch varies with different specimens, 

 appearing to be most perfect upon those well exposed to the 

 sun during the period of their early prime. 



Both these superb trees are unique, and beyond comparison 

 with all other trees in the beauty of their bark. They are as 

 attractive without their foliage as with it, since its loss makes 

 their special feature more prominent. If it were in my power 

 I should, instead of building for my fellow citizens a cathedral 

 or a university, buy and lay out for them a park which should 

 be set wholly with the Beech and the Yellow Birch. Whoever 

 shall bring those two ornaments of our woods into the same 

 favor for shade-trees as the Elm and Maple, will do more to- 

 ward nourishing among us the spirit of beauty than if he were 

 to import and donate to his countrymen the gallery of the 

 Louvre. 



Thus much for my deciduous favorites. But no less do I 

 complain of the scant regard paid to the most graceful of ever- 

 greens — our native Hemlock, Tsuga Canadensis. This noble 

 conifer has not the majestic port and solemn beauty of the 

 White Pine, but it surpasses that monarch in general comeli- 

 ness, and has in its order no other peer. The delicacy and 

 richness of its foliage, bright green upon the upper and glau- 

 cous upon the under surface, is excelled only by the Club 

 Mosses. The Hemlock is lithe and elastic, and its limbs are 

 wind-proof, and it is the least disposed to rust or to the attack 

 of insect pests of any of the conifers. Besides these qualities, 

 the Hemlock has a special facility of adaptation. It can be a 

 stately tree, a wide-spreading shrub, or a most effective hedge- 

 plant, as you choose to make it. Yet, in place of this matchless 

 evergreen, we have imported the coarse Norway Spruce, and 

 the still coarser Scotch and Austrian Pines, as our grandfathers 

 imported the miserable and short-lived Lombardy Poplar, than 

 which they could have found nothing more unsightly among 

 our entire native flora. ^ ,^ , tt r, ^ 



Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Alfred H. Feters. 



Insensibility to Certain Odors. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — It is well-known that certain persons are color-blind, 

 that others are " note-deaf," or unable to appreciate the dif- 

 ference between musical and unmusical sounds, and that 

 some are entirely deficient in the senses of taste and smell. 

 But I think it is not so generally realized that many persons 

 whose sense of smell on the whole seems as keen as that of 

 the average man, are powerless to perceive certain special 

 perfumes. Delicate odors, like that of the Pansy, are naturally 

 those with regard to which this deficiency is most often found. 

 But some years ago I discovered that a friend, sitting near an 

 avenue of European Lindens, the perfume of which was 

 almost overpowering, could not perceive it at all, though as 

 regarded other scents his sense was normal. Afterwards I 

 found the same insensibility to the perfume of Linden-blos- 

 soms in other individuals. My sister declares that she can 

 perceive in the great flowers of the green-house Datura no 

 odor whatever except a certain earth-like smell proper to 

 growing things in general, and I myself cannot realize that 

 Oleafragrans deserves its name even to the faintest degree. 

 Yet we are both susceptible to even the faintest perfumes of 

 other flowers. I have no trouble with Orange-blossoms, so 

 similar in scent, I am told, to those of Olea fragrans, and as to 

 the Datura, the odor is so strong to me that I know a blossom 

 is in the house the moment I enter the front-door, and can 

 hardly sit in the room with one. This total deficiency of sen- 

 sibility in certain directions is a different thing from that dis- 

 like to certain odors, agreeable to most people, which is more 

 often recognized. I should like to know whether any of your 

 readers can cite other instances, and whether there is any sci- 

 entific explanation of facts which seem so odd. 



New York City. T. B. F. 



Temperature and Germination. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — Referring to Mr. Allen's observations on the slow 

 germination of corn in cool temperature, allow me to recall 

 some very careful trials to determine the lowest germinative 

 temperature for Indian Corn, the results of which ha\'e l)een 

 published in full in the Report of the New York Agricultural 

 Experiment Station for 1884 and 1885, and a partial summary 

 in the "Proceedings of the American Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science," Vol. XXXIV. As the figures are inter- 



esfing, I may again put them on record in Garden and 

 Forest. 



When the apparatus was maintained within the extremes of 

 37° and 42° F., a sample of Dent Corn germinated in 430 

 hours, and one of Flint Corn in 460 hours. 



Within the variation of 4i°-43.7° F., samples of various va- 

 rieties of Dent Corn germinated in 233, 233, 401, 401, 479 and 

 521 hours respectively ; of Flint Corn, 331, 331, 498 and 498 

 hours respectively; of Pop-corn, 378, 378 and 498 hours re- 

 spectively; of Sweet Corn, 452, 498, 479, 498, 616, 616 and 521 

 hours respectively. 



Soutli Framinsham, Mass. E. Lewis Sturtevant. 



Another New Palm. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — While visiting a few of the south keys of this state, Mr. 

 R. D. Hoyt, of Bay View, noticed large specimens of what ap- 

 peared, at first sight, to be Thrinax argentea, but on closer 

 inspection were fotmd to be totally unlike this common Palm. 

 Leaves and seeds were sent to botanists of this state for iden- 

 tification, but in their lack of suital;le botanical works could 

 not determine it. We recently found the description of Thrinax 

 excelsa, Grisebach, to correctly apply to these specimens, 

 many of which, eighteen feet in height, grace the tropical jun- 

 gles of a few of the keys east of Key West. Thus another 

 beautiful addition is made to the Palms of the United States. 



Manatee, Fla., June 24tl.. E. N. Reasomr. 



Recent Plant Portraits. 



Skimmia Foremani, Gardeners' Chronicle, May 4th; a form, 

 according to the raiser for whom it is named, derived from 

 S. oblafa of gardens, fertilized with the pollen of S. fragrans, 

 and thus not a hybrid, but merely a form 'of S. Japonica j but 

 in Dr. Masters' opinion this statement of the origin of this 

 plant is open to some doubt; and it is possible that Ji". Fortunei 

 had some part in its parentage. 



Anoiganthus breviflorus. Gardeners' Chronicle, May 4th ; 

 a Cape bulb formerly referred to Cystanthus, but now consid- 

 ered by Mr. Baker the type of a distinct genus. The flowers 

 are yellow, with a short tube and spreading perianth-segments. 

 It is recommended as a cool green-house spring-flowering 

 plant. 



Chrysanthemum maximum. Gardeners' Chronicle, May iith; 

 a hardy perennial plant, native of the Pyrenees and of Switzer- 

 land, which, if "cultivated properly," says the Rev. C. Wolly 

 Dod, by whom this plant -has been distributed, " that is, by 

 being pulled to pieces and re-planted within a fortnight of 

 Michaelmas every year in rich soil — it is quite a 'sensational 

 plant.' The flowers sometimes measure four inches across." 



Chrysanthemum lacustre. Gardeners' Chronicle, May nth; 

 a native of Portugal. 



Botanical Magazine, June. 



Sobralia leucoxantha, t. 7,058 ; one of the largest-flow- 

 ered of this beautiful genus, closely related to 6". macrantha, 

 from which it differs by the smaller limb of the lip and the 

 pure white color of all parts of the flower, except the disk of 

 the lip, which is orange. It is a native of Costa Rica, whence 

 it was introduced into cultivation by the Messrs. Sanders, of 

 .St. Albans. 



Enkianthus campanulatus, /. 7,059; a native of northern 

 Japan, and described as a small deciduous-leaved tree, with 

 small, dull-red, pendulous, ball-shaped flowers. The genus 

 Enkianthus, of which six or seven species, distributed from 

 the eastern Himalaya to northern Japan, are known, is very 

 closely related to Andromeda, the only technical difference 

 being found in the seed-coats. E. canipanulaiiis has been 

 introduced into England, where it is perfectlv hardy, by the 

 Messrs. Veitch. It may be expected to flourish iii alf our 

 northern States. 



Spathoglottis IXIOIDES, t. 7,060; a graceful terrestrial 

 Orchid, a native of Nepal and Sikkim, of gregarious habit and 

 with large, nodding, bright golden-colored flowers. It is easily 

 cultivated in pans of sphagnum and peat, and blooms at 

 midsummer. 



Angr^cum Germinvanum, t. 7,061 ; this very handsome 

 species was discovered in 1886 by Lion Hum blot, a collector 

 of the Messrs. Sanders, in the interior of Madagascar. The 

 plant from which this figure was made flowered at Kew in the 

 spring of 1887, and again last spring, and is apparently the 

 only specimen of the importation of twenty plants which' sur- 

 vived. The stems of this beautiful and very interesting species 

 are twelve to eighteen inches long, with alternate distichous, 

 spreading, very thick and bright green leaves one and a half to 

 two inches long, sessile, sub-cordate or half-clasping at thebase. 



