August 21, 1889.] 



Garden and Forest. 



407 



to buy all the land they ean pay for, and to fence it in and put 

 a sign across every woodland path and mountain brook with 

 the inscriptions " Keep out," " No hunting- or fishing here," 

 " Trespassing forbidden under penalty of the law," but their 

 acquisition of whole townships of mountain woods and lakes 

 and streams will not make the region more attractive to tour- 

 ists or lovers of the wilds. The people of the woods tell me 

 everywhere that "the clubs are getting lots of land," and I 

 could give the names of rich men and con:ipanies who are 

 each acquiring territory enough for a princedom. One estate 

 owns a township not far from Racquet Lake, in Hamilton 

 Coimty. A well-known capitalist and his friends "have the 

 option " on 53,000 acres. That is more than eighty square 

 miles. They can have the tract if they want it. A club of 

 New York city men holds about 35,000 acres. These three 

 blocks run up together, and stretch across the map for nearly 

 thirty miles. The club has three-fourths of a mile of coast on 

 Racquet Lake, a large part of Big Forked Lake, and all of Little 

 Forked Lake. Brandreth Lake, with its tributaries, belongs 

 to one family. The 53,000-acre block includes part of the 

 shores of Tupper Lake and nearly all the coast-line of Smith 

 Lake, which is one of the finest lakes in the North Woods. 

 The state owns just a little of the outlet of Smith Lake. 



This is to be the character of the next great period in the 

 history of the Adirondack region : the gathering of many 

 small holdings into a few large ones; the utilization, protection 

 and enjoyment of these vast tracts by their owners ; and the 

 consequent and necessary exclusion of the people from the 

 woods. The multitudes of visitors will go elsewhere ; the 

 state will lose the revenue which they have hitherto brought 

 into it ; the great hotels will be lonely places, and the innu- 

 merable summer camps will be broken up. If the state 

 owned the land, its people could enjoy the freedom and peace 

 of the wilds forever. 



Now, a note relating to another feature of the general situ- 

 ation, and to arrangements for a Forestry exhibit at the Inter- 

 national Exposition in NewYorkCity in 1892. I think we should 

 arrange to set up a papier-mache model of the Adirondack re- 

 gion, showing the extent and location of the devastations 

 which have already been made, the tracts of denuded roclc- 

 surfaces, and those of burned-out, blasted land. Perhaps the 

 Chamber of Commerce of New York City may feel an interest 



star Lake, N. Y. 



y. B. Harrison, 



Cor. Sec. American Forestry Congress. 



Orchids in Flower in Brooklyn. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — ^Even at seasons when Orchid bloom is scarce, a visitor 

 to the collection of Mr. Frederick Scholes will invariably find a 

 rich display among the contents of five large span-roofed 

 structures devoted to these plants. Each house has narrow 

 side-stages and broad centre-stages, the former containing 

 Cypripediums, Lycastes and Odontoglossum grande by the 

 hundred, the latter being weU filled with Eucharis, Palms, 

 Ferns, cixid Phajus grandif alius in great numbers standing in 

 a bed of Selaginella, Panicum, and Tradescantia, and forming 

 a perfect mass of green. On a recent visit I found the 

 roof of each house entirely hidden by the hundreds of wire 

 baskets and wooden boxes containing Cattleyas, Laslias, 

 Aerides, Vandas, Oncidiums, Phala;nopsis, and many others 

 whose long aerial roots enjoy the humidity rising from the 

 dense bed of foliage below. Among the Cattleyas several 

 specimens of C. Dowiana were showing enormous blossoms 

 with unusually broad labellums, finely fringed, the rich golden 

 veins running through the dark-purple ground in pleasing con- 

 trast, and the yellow in the sepals and petals unusually bright. 

 Next to these the beautiful C. maxima, a pale but very pretty 

 variety, bore fine flowers of a light-rose color, with conspicuous 

 purple lines on the lip. C. Harrisonice, always admired for its 

 soft color, was represented by at least a dozen specimens, 

 well bloomed, among which were one or two highly-colored 

 varieties. On a block, and suspended near the glass, was a 

 splendid variety of C. Schilleriana bearing on a stem three 

 well-developed, finely-colored blossoms, the sepals and petals 

 a very deep rose, and the color of the lip unusually vivid. 

 Here, also, in perfect health, were two plants of C. AcklandicE 

 in full bloom, and both in more vigorous condition than this 

 species usually shows. It occupies a place here with such 

 varieties as C. guttata, C. intermedia, C. Harrisonia, and pro- 

 duces its large green and dark-puri^le flowers annually. A 

 plant of the pretty scarlet-flowered Broughtonia sanguinea was 

 attached to a block near the glass. Batemanuia Burtii was 

 also yielding its odd reddish-brown and vellow flowers from 



a strong plant grown on the stage where ample moisture 

 surrounded it during active growth. 



Oncidiimis are grown extensively in this collection, and 

 among the most notable in bloom were several plants of O. 

 leucocliilum, yielding stout, many-branched spikes, bearing 

 the white and brown spotted flowers in great abundance. 

 One remarkable specimen carried no less than 180 flowers on 

 two stems. Some fifty plants of O. Jonesianum hanging in 

 a sunny position were also promising flower, some with two 

 and three spikes, and several already m bloom. The flowers 

 of this variety are exceedingly pretty ; the lip is l)road and 

 white, more or less spotted with rich purple, the sepals 

 and petals being spotted with dark brown on a greenish- 

 yellow ground. The Bee Orchid, O. dasytyle, was also in full 

 bloom having three strong spikes of cream-yellow flowers, 

 each with a blackish-purple centre, greatly resembling a Bee 

 in shape. Stanhopeas could be counted by the score in great 

 variety, many having four, five and six spikes each, and a fine 

 group of Odontoglossum Schleiperianian were well flowered 

 and very rich in color. The Phaloenopsis, although not very 

 numerous here, are probal)ly the largest in the coimtry. The 

 individual plants are wonderful examples of cultivation. 

 They are grown in wire baskets, and suspended about two 

 and a half feet from the glass in a temperature much cooler 

 than we usually find them. During the past winter this group, 

 consisting of P. ScJiilleriana, P. amabilis, P. Stjiartiana, P. 

 grandiflora and P. Sanderiana, produced a magnificent display 

 of bloom; no less than a thousand flowers were fully expanded 

 at one time, easily the first among them being a remarkable 

 specimen, P. Schilleriana, which carried 131 blossoms. At 

 the time of my visit this plant had three growths, and eighteen 

 sound leaves, many of which measured fifteen inches in length, 

 and appeared well prepared for another display next season. 

 P. Esmeralda was represented by a specimen with twelve 

 spikes just showing for flower. It has six growths, and like all 

 the otherspecies mentioned is in vigorous condition, with stout, 

 thick foliage and strong roots. AH lovers of this beautiful 

 genus will find the owner of this remarkable group of plants, 

 or his skilful grower, Mr. F. Gardiner, ever ready to explain 

 how such marvelous results have been achieved with one 

 of the most beautiful Orchids ever introduced. 



Summit, N. J. A. Dimmock. 



Diseases of Ampelopsis. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — Will you please examine the leaves of Virginia Creeper 

 enclosed and inform me whether there is an available remedy 

 for this disease, and whether it can be communicated to the 

 Grape-vine .'' 



Orange, N.J. E. H. C. 



[This letter was referred to Professor Halsted, of Rut- 

 gers College, who replies that the whitish orbicular spots 

 upon the leaves of the Virginia Creeper {Ampelopsis quin- 

 quefolia) are caused by a microscopic fungus which bears 

 the name Pliylloslicta Anipelopsidis. This minute fungus 

 consists of very small threads or filaments, which run m all 

 directions through the substance of the leaf and rob the leaf- 

 cells of their vital fluids. Soon after the spot begins to 

 be apparent from the dying of the leaf-tissue in the in- 

 fested part, small spherical bodies appear which, after 

 attaining full size, look like black specks upon the brown 

 or sometimes nearly white spot. These dark bodies bear 

 within a multitude of spores. These spores serve for the 

 fungus the same purpose as do seeds among higher plants. 

 It is, therefore, by these spores, which can only be seen 

 with the high power of the microscope, that the leaf-spot 

 fungus is propagated from year to year. With this fact in 

 mind it is evident that, in order to destroy the fungus, all 

 infested leaves should be burned. 



The fungus is deep-seated and, therefore, does not make 

 its presence in a leaf known until after a large part of its 

 sapping and mining has been accomplished, consequently, 

 it is not easy, as it is in some other mildews, to apply a 

 remedy that will remove the fungus and save the part at- 

 tacked. There is a leaf-spot of the Grape which is put in 

 the same genus (Phyllosticta) with the one upon Ampelop- 

 sis. They are so much alike that it is not impossible that 

 the plants upon which the)' grow are responsible for the 

 difference. Professor Halsted is not sure that this disease 

 can be communicated from the Virginia Creeper to the 



