456 



Garden and Forest. 



[September i8, if 



structure, with abutments dovetailed into the sohd mountain. 

 Tiiis dam is remarkable as being the tirst adaptation of this 

 arch [)rinciple in the United States. The gorge where it is 

 located is perhaps seventy-live feet wide at the base, with 

 rocky walls sloping to 300 feet at the summit. The dam is a 

 granite and cement wall, arched up-stream with a radius of 

 J35 feet. It is sixty feet in height, and with the water at the 

 litty-foot mark, it forms a lake five and a half miles long and 

 from half a mile to a mile and a half in width. 



A structure of similar character is the Sweetwater dam in 

 San Diego County. This, too, occupies a narrow gorge, be- 

 hind which lies a wide valley traversed by a small stream. 

 Such a thing as a flood or dangerous rainfall has never been 

 known here. 



It should be remembered, too, that these reservoirs are con- 

 structed fully as much to distribute water as to preserve it. It 

 is of the lirst necessity, therefore, that the means for drawing off 

 the water shall be equal to those for holding it. Consequently, 

 if there should be the least apparent tendency toward over- 

 flow, it is an easy matter to open the outlets and at once afford 

 egress for any surplus water that may accumulate during sea- 

 sons of extraordinary rainfall. The schemes of reservoir pro- 

 jectors do not contemplate the damming of streams which are 

 subject to danger from overflow. Where such must be util- 

 ized, it will be after the manner pursued at Mercer, where the 

 flow from the river can be regulated to an inch. 



Saa Francisco. G. /'. yV. 



Notes. 



Mr. Charles Anderson, of Flushing, considers Paul Neyron 

 and Mrs. John Laing the only hybrid perpetual Roses which 

 deserve to be named as autumn bloomers. 



The Pecan bears abundantly, and makes a tine ornamental 

 tree in the upper valley of the San Joat^uin River, California, 

 and the Visalia Times speaks of two trees in that city from seed 

 planted nineteen years ago that are fifty feet high and seem 

 better adapted to that climate than the English Walnut. 



In the Jardin des Plantes at Paris stands an old Locust-tree 

 {Robinia Pseudacacia), said to be the first one planted in 

 Europe. It was planted in 1636 by Vespasien Robin ; and now 

 the old trunk, in its decay, is so mended with mortar and ce- 

 ment, that little of it can be seen ; but there is life in the 

 branches, and it may last for years. 



The Pacific Rural Press speaks of a Bamboo grove on the 

 grounds of General Kirkham, of Oakland, which was started 

 twenty years ago with some plants brought from China. Every 

 year the shoots come up stronger, and some of this year's 

 growth are forty feet high and four or five inches in diam- 

 eter. They sometimes make the growth of an eight-inch joint 

 a day. 



The Atlanta Perfumery Company is preparing to build a 

 factory this winter in the Orange belt of Florida, where such 

 flowers as Orange blossoms, Rose Geraniums, Roses, Yellow 

 Jessamine, Tuberoses, Magnolias, and many other fragrant 

 flowers can be had in large quantities. The plant will be of 

 sufficiei ^ capacity to make use of 200,000 pounds of flowers 

 in the season. 



Professor W. F. Massey writes to the Philadelphia Weekly 

 Press that when the Moravians settled the town of Salem, 

 North Carolina, a century ago, they had the rare foresight to 

 dedicate a large tract of Oak forest as a park forever, and this 

 now contains trees hard to match. The great buildings of the 

 college for girls are embowered among noble trees in a park 

 which, for picturesque beauty, has few ecjuals. 



Dwarf White Asters were recommended for winter bloom- 

 ing by Mr. A. Giddings, of Illinois, at the florists' convention 

 in Buffalo. They can be grown among Roses in beds near 

 the glass and will bloom when only four inches high. They 

 yield better than Carnations, and can be grown more profi- 

 tably, for as soon as one lot of plants is through blooming, 

 another can be had in readiness to take their place. 



How much more at home our Pacific coast conifers are in 

 England than in our eastern states can be inferred from a 

 sentence or two in a description of the Pinetum at Hardwicke 

 Hall, which appeared in a recent number of the Gardeners' 

 Chronicle. After noticing a specimen of the Atlas Cedar as 

 the most remarkable tree in the collection, on account of its 

 remarkably rich glaucous color, the writer goes on to say; "The 

 next tree to command notice is a Redwood Seqicoia semper- 

 virens, a perfect specimen, standing at least seventy feet high, 

 and clothed down to the ground with healthy spreading 

 branches and foliage. Near by is a Wellingtonia [which 

 means Sequoia giganlea], sixty-five feet high at least, ancl some 



nine to ten feet round the trunk, and several specimens of 

 the Douglas Spruce over seventy feet high." 



The Blue Spruce is now the recognized popular name in 

 England for the glaucous form of Picea pungens, which has 

 an established reputation as one of the handsomest and, at 

 the same time, the hardiest of ornamental conifers suitable for 

 European gardens. The blue variety dilfers only from the 

 type in the bluish color which covers every twig and leaf, 

 giving the tree, in its finest examples, the appearance of frosted 

 silver. It has been known in England for a few years only, 

 but now every tree-lover is talking about it, and if he has not 

 planted it longs to do so. A correspondent writes that at 

 Kna]) Hill Niu'sery the tree is one of the choicest treasures, and 

 Mr. Anthony Waterer claims to have the finest stock of it in 

 Europe. But, as he says, there are Blue Spruces, and Blue 

 Spruces so-called that are not blue. The Knap Hill specimens 

 stand in long files totally distinct from any other Spruce, the 

 perfection of symmetrical growth and of a uniform silvery 

 hue that captivates all who see them. Apart from its land- 

 scape beauty, the tree will doubtless prove good for shelter 

 and screen-planting in England. It possesses what is most 

 desired, and that is a sturdy and vigorous growth, and com- 

 mences to grow late in the season after damaging frosts arc 

 past. We may add that our own nurserymen are beginning 

 to aj^preciate the value and probable demand for this tree. 

 We were recently informed by one who had visited the nur- 

 series of Robert Douglas, at Waukegan, Illinois, that the stock 

 of Blue Spruce there, in large sizes, seemed exceptionally strong 

 and handsome. 



A series of charts of exceptional interest and value has 

 been prepared by Mr. J. R. Dodge, statistician of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, which present graphic illustrations of 

 certain facts in relation to the farms of the country, and their 

 products. The first chart shows, that, taking the country over, 

 289 acres of every 1,000 are farm-lands, leaving 71 1 unoccupied. 

 The most surprising result displayed here is the large amount 

 of unoccupied land in the Southern, Eastern, and Middle states. 

 Of the 289 acres of farm-lands, 153 acres are improved, 103 

 acres are in woodland, and thirty-three acres are unproduc- 

 tive, although much of the latter is capable of improvement. 

 It is stated that in former censuses only the forest-lands in 

 farm areas have been reported, so that it is estimated that the 

 forest-land, including the portion not divided into farms, would 

 approximate 250 acres to every thousand. The second chart 

 shows the relative proportions of tillage-lands, grass-lands, 

 woodlands, and unproductive lands in the farm area only. 

 The range of woodlands is very wide, ranging from one per 

 cent, in Utah, to sixty-two per cent, in North Carolina. A 

 third chart illustrates the distribution of Corn, varying in the 

 different states from less than ten acres to more than a hun- 

 dred acres to the thousand. Similar maps show the distri- 

 bution of Wheat and Oats, representing both acreage and 

 average yield. A series of five maps illustrates the number 

 and value of farm animals, horses, milch cows, other cattle, 

 sheep and swine. The fourteenth chart represents the propor- 

 tion of population in dilferent states in all gainful occupations 

 related to agriculture. Chart fifteen illustrates the value of 

 farm-lands, showing a range in different states from $65.16 to 

 $4.19, the general average of the entire United States being 

 $19.02. The last chart indicates the relative proportions of 

 proprietors, of tenants who pay rent, and of tenants who pay 

 a share of the produce, from which it appears that seventy-four 

 per cent, of all farms are cultivated by their owners. The rate 

 of yield of the three principal cereals shows so wide a variation 

 as a result of climatic adaptation, different soils, and methods ^jj 

 of culture, that the charts illustrating these facts are worthy of 9 

 special study, while the average values of farm-stock in differ- 

 ent sections are equally suggestive of differences in breed, 

 degree of improvement, and the effect of distance from mar- 

 ket. The results here set forth in this graphic way are certainly 

 worthy of such a presentation. 



Catalogues Received. 



William Bull, 536 King's Road, Chelsea, London, S. W., Eng- 

 land ; Tuberous-rooted Plants and Bulbs, etc. — DiNGEE & Conard '^ 

 Co., West Grove, Pa.; Bulbs, Winter-blooming Roses, Lilies, Plants, ^ 

 Seeds, etc.— B. A. Elliott Co., 54 Sixth Street, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Bulbs 

 and Plants, with chapter on " Fall Garden Work." — Thos. JacksBn, 

 Forest City Nurseries, Portland. Me.; Evergreens, Trees, etc. — E. H. 

 I'vKELAGE & Son, Haarlem, Holland; Dutch Bulbs. — Lake Shore 

 Nurseries, L. W. Carr, Manager, Erie, Pa.; Fruit and Ornamental 

 Trees. — Dr. H. Schroeder, Bloomington, 111.; Grape-vines, Fruit 

 Trees, Roses, etc. — James M. Thorburn & Co., 15 John Street, New 

 York ; Bulbs and other Flowering Roots. 



