August 7, 1889.] 



Garden and Forest. 



373 



GARDEN AND FOREST. 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO. 



Office ; Tkiuune Building, New York. 



Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent. 



ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE I'OST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y. 



NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7, 1889. 

 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



liAGE. 



Editorial : — A Worthy Example. — Mr. Harrison's Adirondack Letters. — For- 

 estry in Mew Hampshire 373 



Some Popular English Plant Names 374 



Notes Upon Some North American Trees. — IV. . .Professor C S. Scirgent. 375 

 New or Little Known Plants : — Rosa Engelinanrii (with figure), 



Sereno IFatson. 376 



Foreign Correspondence ; — London Letter IV. Goldring. 376 



Entomological : — The White Pine Weevil (illustrated). . . .Professor f. B. Smith. 378 

 Cultural Department: — Shrubs with Conspicuous Fruit in July. .. y. G Jack. 378 



Transplanting Conifers in Ausrust \Vm. C. Strong. 379 



Two Lessons in Strawberry Culture .' Professor E. S. Goff. 380 



Orchid Notes JoJdi Weathers, F. Goldrivg. 380 



Some Native Plants Dorcas E. Collins. 381 



The Pyramidal Sa,xifrage IV. G. 381 



Turnips.— Fall Peas W. F. M. 381 



Correspondence : — Forests and Civilization. IV.— The North Woods. 



y. B. Harrison. 382 



Mountain Meadows Professor C. S. Plumb. 382 



The Pi'eservation of Chittenango Falls L. 383 



The Floods in Pennsylvania Abbot Kinney. 383 



Recent Publications 383 



Notes 384 



Illustrations: — Rosa Engelmanni, Fig. 121 377 



The White Pine Weevil, Larva and Pupa 378 



The Falls of the Chittenango 379 



A Worthy Example, 



A CORRESPONDENT describes in another cohimn the 

 means adopted by a few pubhc-spirited people liv- 

 ing in a rural neighborhood for preserving a piece of nat- 

 ural scenery, which, without such intervention on their 

 part, was doomed to speedy destruction. In many other 

 places objects of great natural beauty have been sacrificed 

 because no organized effort has been put forth to save 

 them, and this little body of men and women — neighbors 

 and friends — deserve the thanks of all intelligent and pa- 

 triotic people, because they have acted on the principle 

 that the destruction of an attractive bit of scenery, like the 

 fringe of forest on a lake border, or a glen through which 

 a mountain stream foams and tumbles, is a public loss. 

 They believed that natural beauty is something to be cher- 

 ished because it has a genuine value, and that we have no 

 more right to waste it than we have to squander any other 

 inheritance. The community for whom the scenery of the 

 Chittenango has been preserved will be richer for all time 

 because this possession has been secured to them and to 

 their children, and many another community would have 

 reason to rejoice if this example of establishing a trustee- 

 ship to hold against invasion and defacement some 

 characteristic piece of wild nature were often imitated. 

 The illustration of a portion of this amphitheatre, on page 

 379, from a photograph kindly furnished by Mr. L. W. Led- 

 yard, will give some suggestion of the beauty which was 

 threatened and rescued. 



A special act of the Legislature was needed before a 

 body corporate, with the power of succession, could be 

 formed to hold and guard these falls and their surround- 

 ings, and keep them free forever for public use. But a 

 general act for the incorporation of societies for providing 

 parks and children's play-grounds was passed by the Leg- 

 islature of this state, and approved by the Governor on 

 May 15th, 1888. This act not only authorizes the acquire- 

 ment of land by an association of citizens for use as pub- 

 lic pleasure-grounds and play-grounds, but it gives them the 

 right of employing officers, who shall, for the purpose of 

 enforcing order and compliance with their rules, have all 

 the powers and authority of public officers or patrolmen 



in the city, town or village where these parks or play- 

 grounds may be situated. It enables any fifteen or more 

 citizens to do, under certain restrictions, what the public- 

 spirited people of Cazenovia have done. It permits them 

 to secure lands for park purposes and for play-grounds 

 when the municipal authorities of such communities are 

 not inclined to do this as representatives of the people. 

 Corporators, under this act, can acquire property by gift, 

 purchase or bequest to the amount of half a million dol- 

 lars, " and such additional amount as maybe authorized 

 by the Mayor and Common Council of any city, or super- 

 visor of any town, or trustees of any village in which it 

 is proposed to establish such parks." 



It seems probable that, in many towns, parks and reser- 

 vations can be established under this act, when it would 

 be impossible to acquire them in the ordinary way. Dis- 

 trust of the local government often restrains the generosity 

 of those who would otherwise be inclined to give or be- 

 queath land or money for such purpose. If the donor 

 could name the men whom he desires to administer the 

 trust, instead of turning over the property to officials subject 

 to the mutations of politics, and to the influences that con- 

 trol professional politicians, donations of this sort would be 

 more common. At all events, associations of citizens 

 have now another way of securing- reservations for parks 

 and play-grounds besides the tedious and uncertain one of 

 laboring for them through the municipal authorities, and 

 any community which is willing to pay for a reservation 

 can command the assistance of the local government to 

 enforce their regulations for its control. 



We observe that an association, under this act, has 

 been formed in the city of Brooklyn for the purpose of 

 establishing small parks and play-grounds about the city. 

 It is to be hoped that other cities and towns will follow 

 this lead, and that the act, which seems to us a wise one, 

 will be fruitful of good results throughout the state. 



The series of letters by JMr. J. B. Harrison, Correspond- 

 ing Secretary of the American Forestry Congress, now 

 in course of publication in G.\rden and Forest, deserves 

 the attention of all who are interested in forestry in this 

 country. Few American writers have studied the subject 

 so long or so thoroughly, or have seen so much of 

 the treatment of forests and woodlands throughout our 

 country. His clear perception of the value and functions 

 of forests, and his thorough comprehension of their import- 

 ance to the national welfare, give to his discussions, in 

 an unusual degree, the quality of directness and reality. 

 We owe to him a vital development of the idea of the rela- 

 tion of forests to civilization, and his treatment of this sub- 

 ject is remarkably practical as well as philosophical. 



After many years of familiarity with the Adirondack 

 forest-region Mr. Harrison has recently engaged in a new 

 examination of it, and our readers will find in this series of 

 letters more complete information regarding actual condi- 

 tions and tendencies there than they can obtain in any 

 other way. 



A joint resolution for the appointment of a Commission to 

 ascertain the feasibility of purchasing and preserving the 

 forests of New Hampshire has been introduced in the 

 Legislature of that state, and referred to the Judiciary Com- 

 mittee. It is a model of clearness and brevity. 



Whereas, The preservation of the forests of New Hampshire 

 is essentially necessary, not only for the prosperity of our vast 

 manufacturing- interests, but also to preserve and increase that 

 iiatiu"al beauty of scenery which is so attractive to our visitors ; 

 and 



Whereas, The hills and mountains in this state are being 

 rapidly denuded of timber, and rendered unsightly by the acts 

 of private parties owning the sanie ; therefore 



Resolved, That the Governor, with the advice of the Coun- 

 cil, is hercl)y authorized and cnipowered to appoint a Comn-iis- 

 sion, consisting- of three able and discreet men, who shall e.\- 

 aniine and ascertain the feasibility of the purchase by the state 

 of the wliole or any portion of the timber-lands upon the hills 



