4o8 



Garden and Forest. 



[August 21, iJ 



vine, but he has recently seen it upon leaves of the "Bos- 

 ton Ivy" — Ainpclopsis /riciispidala {A. Veitchi). Upon the 

 same plant he has also observed the dreaded mildew of the 

 Grape {Peronospora viticola). It is to be hoped that this 

 useful Japanese creeper, which has hitherto been remarka- 

 bly free from these pests, will not fall a prey to the many 

 funo-ous diseases which now infest our native species. — • 

 Ed.] 



Ribbon Grass. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



The " Ribbon Grass" (Garden and Forest, ii., 394) iscom- 

 nion in most old gardens about Gcrmantown. I enclose a 

 specimen from an old farm-garden on my property, which 

 was there when I bought it nearly twenty years ago. It does 

 not often flower, but when it does, the upper portion of the 

 culm bearing the flowers produce the green leaves of the nor- 

 mal form of the species. Upon the specimen the remains of 

 the inflorescence, the green leaves and the lower striped 

 leaves on the same culm can be plainly seen. "Gardeners' 

 Garters" is a very common "common name " for this plant. 



Geriuantowii, Aur. 15th, 1889. TJiomas Mcehan. 



Notes. 



Masses of Poniederia azurea, of an acre or two in extent, are 

 found floating in the river Parana. 



Koelreuterias are blooming for the second time, and many 

 of the panicles are as large as those of the first flowering. 



Owing to the cool, damp weather, blooms of such Roses as 

 Perle des Jardins, Papa Gontier, The Bride and Niphetos, now 

 in market, are as large and full as they usually are in the mid- 

 dle of September. 



Mr. W. Watson, assistant curator of the Royal Gardens, Kew, 

 assisted by Mr. Bean, the foreman of the Orchid department, 

 has commenced the publication, in monthly parts, of a treatise 

 on Orchids, for the use of amateurs. 



Some remarkably fine Lotus flowers from the pond in New 

 Jersey, where they are naturalized (see Garden and Forest 

 for April loth), were lately sent to this office. The expanded 

 flowers measured thirteen inches across. 



Messrs. Siebrecht & Wadley have issued a catalogue of 

 more than 200 pages, in which, for the convenience of ama- 

 teurs, the plants are grouped into classes, according to their 

 cultural requirements and adaptability to various special pur- 

 poses. 



Among the small trees now in bloom Rhus semialata, var. 

 Osbecki, is conspicuous, being covered with white flowers in 

 spikes fifteen inches long and six or eight inches in diameter. 

 The rich, tropical-looking foliage is a glossy green, changing 

 to bright colors in autumn. 



The large white flower-clusters of Hydrangea paniciclata 

 grandiflora are now very freely cut and sold for decorative 

 purposes. Not only do they remain without wilting for a 

 week or ten days in a warm room, but they will dry on the 

 stems and retain their cream-white color all winter. Half a 

 dozen of these panicles on long stems in a large vase, with 

 spikes of Gladiolus of some positive color, make a very effec- 

 tive group. 



The Governor of New Hampshire has appointed Messrs. 

 John J. Bell and John D. Lyman, both of Exeter, to represent 

 the state at the annual meeting of the American Forestry Con- 

 gres, in Philadelphia, October 15th to i8th, and the Governor 

 of Tennessee has appointed the following gentlemen : J. M. 

 Coulter, Dyer Station ; John P. Buchanan, Murfreesboro ; 

 Tomlinson Fort, Chattanooga; Lucius Polk, Columbia, and 

 P. C. Isbell, Manchester. 



The city trade in such plants as Mignonette, Sweet Peas, 

 China Asters, Sunflowers, and, lately, single and double Dahlias 

 has been good all summer long. Many people who have no 

 country seats at Lenox or by the sea buy flowers, not because 

 it is the fashion, but because they love them, and they buy 

 them more abundantly in summer because they are cheaper. 

 When spikes of Gladiolus are selling at twenty-five cents a 

 dozen they are quite as beautiful as when they cost seventy- 

 five cents each. 



A White Oak tree was cut near Scottsburg, Indiana, not long 

 ago which measured, according to the St. Louis Luinberinan, 

 twenty-seven feet in circumference. The tree was ripped up 

 by means of a cross-cut saw, and the owners got out one board 



that was ten inches thick, five feet two and a half inches wide 

 at the butt and four feet six and a half inches at the top, and 

 thirty-two feet long. This board was loaded upon a broad- 

 tread wagon, to which two yoke of oxen and eight horses were 

 hitched, and it took one whole day to remove it one and a half 

 miles. 



Nyniphcca Marliaca: chromatella is a hybrid from N. flava, 

 the Yellow Water Lily of Florida, the other parent being, as 

 English authorities say, N. tiiberosa. However that may be, 

 the plant is now blooming with Mr. E. D. Sturtevant at Bor- 

 dentown. New Jersey, and it seems to be an acquisition. The 

 flower is yellow, considerably larger than that of the Florida 

 plant, and a trifle larger than the northern pond Lily, A^. odorata. 

 Its odor is pleasant, but not powerful ; it contiinies to bloom 

 from June until late autumn, is more floriferous than N. flava, 

 and, what is of greater importance, it is perfectly hardy in this 

 latitude. 



The New York Florists' Club have selected Mr. John Thorpe 

 as the representative of their interests in the management of 

 the World's Fair to be held in this city in 1892. Already the 

 nurserymen and florists of the Old World, who have a rapidly- 

 growing trade in this country, are inquiring as to their prob- 

 able opportunities for a display, and if anything like a charac- 

 teristic, complete and continually fresh exhibition in the line 

 of florticulture is to be made the work of organizing it should 

 not be deferred much longer. No man in the country is bet- 

 ter fitted for such a place by natural aptitude and experience 

 than Mr. Thorpe. 



Colonel Pearson has visited the famous vineyards on the 

 shores of Lake Keuka and of Seneca Lake, under instructions 

 from the Department of Agriculture, and he reports that the 

 Black Rot, as well as Anthracnose, and both the "downy" 

 and "powdery" Mildews have at last attacked the vines in 

 this region, where these diseases have been hitherto practi- 

 cally unknown. Discouraging reports of the Black Rot also 

 comes from the Hudson River Valley. Of course, it is now 

 too late to use remedies with any success, but the Grape- 

 growers are eagerly studying the matter and preparing, as well 

 as they can, to use preventive measures another season. 



Rev. M. J. Berkeley, who was the first botanist in England, 

 and for many years almost the only one, to give systematic 

 attention to the diseases of plants, died on the 30th of July, at 

 Sibbertoft, of which place he had been vicar for twenty years. 

 He had a wide knowledge of almost every department of bot- 

 any and natural history, although he was especially eminent 

 in the field of cryptogamic botany, and it was through his dis- 

 criminative knowledge of Fungi and their effects upon plants 

 that he rendered most signal service to horticulture. Mr. 

 Berkeley was a man of striking and dignified appearance and 

 of straight-forward and manly character. He vi'as eighty-six 

 years old. 



The dwarf trees which the Japanese horticulturists are 

 shov^ring at the Paris Exhibition are attracting much attention. 

 Pines, Thujas and Cedars, said to be 100 or 150 years old, are 

 only eighteen inches high, and with such specimens it would 

 be easy to have a coniferous forest on a balcony. These ar- 

 boreal deformities are produced by great labor, and, if the 

 truth is told about their ages, this work of arresting the tree's 

 development and forcing it into contorted forms must be per- 

 sisted in by several generations of foresters. All this pains- 

 taking is hardly paid for by the beauty of the resulting abor- 

 tions, but, as has been suggested, a look at these trees will 

 explain where the fantastic forms come from which serve as 

 models for the plants we see on the lacquered trays, bronzes 

 and embroideries which come from Japan. 



Next to the Yellow or Long-leaf Pine, the Cypress is the 

 most important timber tree in Florida. Aside from the man- 

 ufacture of shingles, for which it is so largely used, there is 

 a large demand for this timber for boat-building and bridge- 

 construction. Cypress is preferred for window sashes and out- 

 side doors, for inside work of brick houses, for water-tanks, 

 cisterns, barrels, buckets, tubs and water conductors. It fur- 

 nishes a good body for veneered fiu'niture, and veneer itself 

 made from Cypress burls is often of extraordinary beauty. 

 For railroad ties this timber is unexcelled, and likewise for 

 paving blocks. As there is much waste in sawing Cypress, 

 and it is difficult to dispose of this waste, even by burning, the 

 Florida Tim es-U?tion suggests that the manufactm'e of these 

 l)locks might be made most profitable in connection with a 

 Cypress mill near some city like Jacksonville. Cypress blocks 

 have proved very satisfactory for paving in that city. In Gal- 

 veston, where no sap-wood is used, the sawed blocks of heart- 

 wood show very little wear. 



