468 



Garden and Forest. 



[September 25, li. 



To the Editor ot GARDEN AND Forest : 



Sir. — I have read with interest Mr. Phelps' notes on the imme- 

 diate influence of foreign [jollcn aHectingthe orange, and I am 

 led to ask if he has a Washington Na\'el tree that from its own 

 inherent natiu'e or pecuhar surroundings produces pollen so 

 abiuidanth' as to impress the fruit of surrounding trees to the 

 extent he "mentions ? If so, he has a vakiable tree to experi- 

 ment with. The Washington Navels on Indian River are 

 notorious for being poor bearers, and ringing, girdhng and 

 cutting has lieen resorted too, in vain efforts to induce 

 greater fruitfuhiess. I concluded last winter from an exami- 

 nation of the blossoms, that the trouble was due to the fact 

 that the blossoms were all pistillate, as I failed to find a single 

 flower producing pollen. I also tried to fertilize hundreds of 

 flowers by hand, using pollen from other varieties, carefully 

 applying it to the stigma of the Navel blossoms, with com- 

 plete failure, though the attempt was continued at intervals 

 for two weeks. It is quite possible that the Navels here may 

 produce an occasional flower with a grain of pollen which 

 fertilizes its own pistil, but that they are able to furnish enough 

 to visibly affect other trees is a revelation which I was 

 unprepared for. Standing as these Navels do, surrounded 

 by trees producing abundant pollen-bearing ilowers, in bloom 

 at the same time, and yet persistently failing to produce the 

 least fraction of a crop, all this, together with my own un- 

 successful attempts at cross-fertilization, seemed to indicate 

 a lack of aftinity on the part of these trees for the pollen 

 of other varieties. The subject is an interesting one, and 

 worthy of further experiment and careful, scientific study. If 

 we could seciu-e for the Navel the fruitfulness of other varie- 

 ties it would have no rival. As for its influence on surround- 

 ing trees, I can only say that I have rarely seen an orange with 

 the Navel mark in our Indian River groves, although Navel 

 trees are abundant among them. E. IVilliaiiis. 



Moiitcluir, N. J. 



. Notes. 



Bambiisa Metake \\'d& proved hardy in Mr. HunneweU's gar- 

 dens at Wellesley, Mass. 



At Penny Hill Park, near Bagshot, England, is a specimen 

 of the Japanese Umbrella Pine [Sdadopitys verticillata), which 

 is nineteen feet high, and has a circumference of branches of 

 forty-six feet at three feet from the ground. 



Mr. E. S. Carman reports that the Berckmans grape, a 

 variety with compact clusters, resembling the Delaware in 

 color and quality, but a little larger, has ripened perfectly on 

 his grounds this year, while the Delaware lost its leaves early, 

 so that the berries failed to ripen. 



The members of the Forestry Commission appointed by the 

 Governor of New Hampshire under the joint resoludon of 

 the Legislature, published in Garden and Forest a few weeks 

 ago, a^e Joseph B. Walker, of Concord ; J. B. Harrison, of 

 Franklin, and George B. Chandler, of Manchester. 



It is estimated that the wine product of California will not 

 exceed 12,000,000 gallons this year. This is a reduction of 

 8,000,000 gallons from early estimates of this year's vintage. 

 Tlie reduction is due partly to damage by sunburn and mil- 

 dew, but more especially to the fact that the drying of wine 

 grapes will absorb probably 2,000,000 gallons, while 4,000,000 

 will go into the still. The state will probably produce 1,000,000 

 gallons of brandy this year. 



It should not be forgotten that arsenic will kill bees as well 

 as the curculio and the larva of the codling moth, and, there- 

 fore. Apple-trees should not be sprayed with insecficides be- 

 fore the blossoms fall. This is not an imaginary danger, for 

 reports from many bee-keepers show heavy losses of bees in 

 all stages, the imago, as well as the larva and pupa, being de- 

 stroyed. This loss is not confined to the apiarist, for the bee, 

 by aiding to distribute pollen, is a recognized help to the 

 fruit-grower. 



A correspondent of the London Garden, who accompanied 

 the Scottish Aboricultural Society during their recent journey 

 to Sherwood Forest, mentions an Oak, which, in 1724, had an 

 arched opening cut in it, that the then Duke of Portland might 

 be able to win a bet by driving a coach and six through " a tree 

 on his estate." The Duke won his bet, but destroyed the Oak, 

 which, however, every year gives proof of its vitality by send- 

 ing forth a thick crop of leaves on its shored-up limbs. The 

 tree is forty-five feet high, its girth is thirty feet at five feet 

 from the ground, and thirty-one feet round the base. 



In Kirk's recently published " Forest Flora of New Zealand " 

 three species of Fuchsia are menfioned, although the genus is 



otherwise restricted to America. The most remarkable of 

 the three is F. excorticata, which sometimes attains a height 

 of forty-five feet, A\-ith a gnarled tnmk up to three feet in di- 

 ameter. The Central American F. arborescens is the only 

 species that equals or approaches it in dimensions. F. excor- 

 ticata has medium-sized flowers, at first of a greenish color 

 streaked or blotched witli purple, and finally of a dull red, with 

 ver_\' small, almost black petals. The tulje of the calyx is very 

 much constricted immediately above the ovary, and there is 

 a second constriction a little higlier up. That this Fuchsia 

 yields "one of the strongest and most durable timbers in the 

 colony " will be news to most people. But, as the trunk is 

 often crooked or gnarled, it is difficult to procure logs exceed- 

 ing eight or nine feet in length, and its commercial value is 

 tlierefore greatly diminished. Mr. Kirk says the wood is hard, 

 dense, compact, and even, and deep brown in color, relieved 

 by streaks of a paler shade, and short, narrow, waved, black 

 markings. When much waved, it is of a highly ornamental 

 character. Further, it is almost indestructible even by fire, 

 except in a closed furnace. 



The curculio has destroyed the plum crop in many places 

 this year, notwithstanding applications of London purple in the 

 form of spray. Carbolizcd plaster, applied in the proportion of 

 one pint of crude carbolic acid to fifty pounds of plaster, has 

 not been efficient, as it has proved in former years, to repel 

 the insect. This failure is explained by the frecjuent rains, 

 which have washed away all applications. In view of this ex- 

 perience, Professor A. J. Cook, in a paper read before the 

 Society for the Promotion of Agricultural Science, comes to 

 the conclusion that in case of very frequent rains the jarring 

 method will not only be cheaper, but much more effective 

 against the curculio. Again, as our wild fruits are more 

 cleared away we must have plums in our orchards to protect 

 the apples from the curculio. When apples are seriously 

 stimg they become so gnarled and deformed as to be worth- 

 less. It will pay, then, to set Plum-trees near by or among the 

 Apple-trees. Then we \vill escape mischief among our apples, 

 and will only need to spray our apples once, to destroy the 

 codling moth, and can treat the Phmi-trees three or four times 

 with Paris green or carbolated lime in case we have only occa- 

 sional showers, or can jar the trees when the rains are very 

 frequent. If the carbolized plaster is preferred, it should be 

 thrown freely over the trees, so as to strike every plum on the 

 tree, which is being treated. 



Professor J. B. Smith, entomologist of the New Jersey Ex- 

 periment-station, in a recent bulletin, tells the farmers and 

 gardeners of the state how they can help him in his investiga- 

 tion of insect pests. His first counsel is to be prompt, instead 

 of waiting till the damage is done and the pests have disap- 

 peared, and he adds: "Do not waste time in describing 

 insects. Send specimens, and send plenty of them. If an 

 insect is really injurious, it is as easy to get a dozen as it is to get 

 one, and it makes it a great deal easier for the entomologist. 

 He wants two or three to put in alcohol, so that he will know 

 them next time; the others he wants to bring to maturity, or 

 to describe or figure so as to complete his knowledge of them. 

 Such specimens, if dead, should be packed in some soft ma- 

 terial, as cotton or wool, and put into a stout tin or wooden 

 box. They go by mail for one cent per ounce. Never send 

 insects loose in a letter! The postal clerk always smashes 

 them flat, so that they are never of any use as specimens, and 

 frequently not j^ecognizable. With the specimen send also, so 

 far as possible, a sample of the kind of injury caused by it — a 

 bored twig or root, or gnawed stem, fruit or leaf — anything to 

 show how the insect works. If at all possible, send the in- 

 sects alive, along with a supply of their oi"dinaryfood sufficient 

 to last during the journey. Pack them in a tight box, and do 

 not punch air-holes into it. Insects need very little air, and the 

 tight box keeps the food moist. Send with the insect an ac- 

 count of what you know of it; how it works — whether on 

 leaves, twigs or fruit ; whether above ground or underground ; 

 how long you have known it ; how much damage it has done ; 

 ^vhat experiments looking to its destruction have been made, 

 and what the result has been. Such facts are often not only of 

 the highest scientific interest, but also of the greatest practicaL 

 importance." 



Catalogues Received. 



Joseph Breck & Sons, 51, 52 and 53 North Market Street, Boston, 

 Mass.; Dutch and Other Bulbs.— John R. & A. Murdoch, 508 Smith- 

 field Street, Pittsburg, Pa.; Fruit Trees, Plants, Lilies, Holland Bulbs, 

 ■ etc. — W. C. Strong, Waban Nursery, Newton Higlilands, Mass. ; 

 New and Choice Trees, Shrubs, Roses and Vines. 



