October 9, 1889.] 



Garden and Forest. 



481 



GARDEN AND FOREST. 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY 1!Y 



THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO. 



Office : Tribune Building, New York. 



Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent. 



ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK. N. Y. 



NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1889. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS, 



PACE. 



Editorial Articles : — Spare the Wild Flowers. — Sea-side Parks 481 



The Art of Gardening. — XI. Rome Mrs. Schuyler' Van Rensselaer. 482 



The Woods o£ Mount Desert Island E. L. Rand. 483 



Notes upon Some North American Trees. — XIII. .Professor C. S. Sargent. 484 

 New or Little Known Plants : — Dendrochilum filiforme. (With illustration.) 



/. Fosteriiian7i. 484 



FuKEiGN Correspondence : — London Letter W. Goldring. 485 



Cultural Department : — September Notes on Interesting Shrubs. . J. G. Jack. 486 



Observations on the Grape Crop E. Williams. 488 



Stove Plants in Flower at Kew W. IVaison. 488 



Orchid Notes Calypso, John Weathers. 489 



Seasonable Work in the Flower-Garden O. 490 



Pruiius pendula. (With illustration.) 490 



The Forest : — The Forest Pavilion at the Paris E.xposition 490 



Correspondence : — Some Native Vines Dorcas E, Collins. 491 



Rosa setigera in Southern Michigan Professor W. f. Beal. 491 



The St. John's-worts F. W. Kelsey. 491 



A Pleasing Combination G. H. E. i,<^i 



Notes 492 



iLLUsrKATioNS : — A Well-grown Specimen of Dendrochilum filiforme, Fig. 133. . 485 

 Pruiius pendula, Fig. 134.. 487 



Spare the Wild Flowers. 



A LADY, some time ago, wrote to an Englisli paper com- 

 plaining that an estate which site had permitted the 

 pubUc to use was being rapidly denuded of its luxuriant 

 growth of ferns by "pirates," who stole them, roots and 

 all, for sale. Osmunda regalis was the favorite with the 

 thieves, and great hampers filled with it were seized at 

 the railway station, addressed to a London florist. The 

 AthencBuni, in commenting upon this letter, states that 

 thefts of a similar kind are frequent in various parts of 

 England, and that many unenclosed districts have been 

 entirely stripped of ferns and flowers, through greed of 

 gain or mere wantonness. 



There is so large an amount of uncultivated and unpro- 

 tected land even in the most populous parts of this country 

 that this pilfering from private homesteads is probably no- 

 where common. But it is quite time that earnest words 

 should be spoken in defense of the wild flowers which 

 grow in our woods and meadows. Li another column of 

 this issue Professor Beal speaks of the disappearance of two 

 interesting plants from a region where they once abounded. 

 Not long before his death Professor Reichenbach wrote to 

 the editor of this journal deploring the wholesale way in 

 which our native Orchids and other delicate herbaceous 

 plants were exported to Europe, and expressing the ap- 

 prehension that some of the most characteristic plants of 

 the American flora might be entirely eradicated. In the 

 Orchid Notes of this number some facts are given which 

 show that choice and rare plants are in danger of exter- 

 mination even when they grow in remote and almost in- 

 accessible parts of the earth. Government protection has 

 been given in some instances, and perhaps it will be needed 

 in many others ; one of our states, at least, has passed 

 laws to protect certain rare Ferns. At all events it 

 is time that public sentiment in our own country should be 

 awakened to the real danger that some of our native plants 

 may become extinct through greed or carelessness. 



The wholesale way in which our flowers, and especially 

 those of early spring, are gathered is a constant source of 

 distress to those who really love them. One who now finds 



a flower not actually common, scrupulously hides its birth- 

 place. But rare plants are not the only sufferers. Even 

 so prolific a plant as the Mayflower is now no longer 

 found in places where it once was common. The rage of 

 the average flower-gatherer for quantities as large as he 

 can carry, and his carelessness in gathering, have brought 

 this about. And now that the practice of selling wild 

 flowers in the streets is becoming general, we may look 

 for a still more rapid rate and wider extent of destruction. 



Too often it is just those persons who have some knowl- 

 edge of plants and think they love them especially well 

 who do the most damage in the woods. If a man does 

 not know that the flower he sees is rare, he may leave it 

 where it grows. But if he recognizes its rarity he is sure 

 to pick it. If picking were all, however, the damage would 

 not be very great. But picking often means tearing up 

 plant by the roots ; and too often, instead of merely gath- 

 ering the flower, an attempt is made to transplant its roots. 

 Nothing more exasperates the true plant-lover than this, 

 except in those rare cases when the transplanter knows 

 what he is about, has a suitable spot prepared for his 

 specimen, and is certain to give it the treatment and at- 

 tention it requires. Even then one may wish that he had 

 left it in its home to propagate itself for the benefit of 

 future plant-lovers. But how trying it is when some en- 

 thusiastic young lady or curious boy digs up the rare 

 beauty, puts it in a garden-bed, and then wonders the 

 next year why it does not " come up." The ti"ue lover of 

 flowers loves them best when they are appropriately placed* 

 and surrounded ; and in the case of wild flowers this must 

 usually mean w^hen they are in their own wild home. The 

 desire to own the specimen is more often a proof of mere 

 covetousness than of admiration. 



To all who go into the woods and meadows after flow- 

 ers and foliage this advice may be given : Gather only as 

 many flowers as you really need to embellish your homes, 

 or as you will give away, before they fade, to the poor or 

 sick, which means, probably, not nearly as many as you 

 have been in the habit of gathering. If you want large 

 masses for any special purpose, as for the decoration of a 

 church, take only those which grow in great abundance, 

 like the Golden-rod in autumn, or the White Weed in 

 spring. If an effective mass is your aim, a thousand 

 Daisies will serve as well as would a thousand white 

 Cypripediums, if you could find them ! Whatever you take, 

 take it gently and discreetly. Do not cut off the branch 

 of a tree when a twig would do, nor wrench a branch in 

 getting off a twig. Use scissors or a strong knife ; not 

 your hands. If you must cut a branch, cut it close to the 

 trunk, that decay may not fasten upon the wound, and 

 take the one which is the least essential to the beauty of 

 the tree. If you want a spray of a young Pine tree, for its 

 feathery green, or a bit of spring-time Red Maple, for its 

 ruddy little leaves, or a branch of Liquidambar for its bril- 

 liant autumn coloring, do not pick off the leading shoot — a 

 lateral one will be less missed. When you pick from a 

 small plant use scissors, instead of starting its roots by a 

 vigorous pull. If it is a shrub, do not take all its blossoms, 

 but be content with a few, and complete your bunch from 

 another individual. If it is an herbaceous plant leave 

 some flowei-s for seed, and if it is a bulbous one, spare 

 leaves enough to insure the bulb's ripening for another 

 year. Never dig a root unless you are entirely certain you 

 know how to make good use of it at home. And, unless 

 the flowers are as common as Daisies or Golden-rod, do 

 not pick them at all if you mean to throw them away the 

 next minute. Gather flowers to bring beauty into your 

 homes, but do not gather them for the' mere sake of 

 gathering, for that is lawlessness and waste. 



Our freedom in this country hitherto from some of the 

 difficulties which vex the nations of the Old World has re- 

 sulted largely from our comparative sparseness of popula- 

 tion and our great area of unappropriated land. As our 

 population becomes dense we shall have problems of our 



