OCI'IHER 1 6, 18S9.J 



Garden and Forest. 



497 



CONCLUSION. 



Thirteen species which appeared in the Census Catalogue 

 as trees are now dropped entirely, laterinvestigation show- 

 ing that they are shrubs and not trees. These are Clusia 

 flava, Byrsoniriia Iticida, Porliera angustifoUa, Xinienia 

 Americana, Pis/acia Afexicana, Acacia Berlandieri, Eugenia 

 longipes, 'Ge7iipa cliisicefolia, Myrsine Rapanea, Foresliera 

 acuminata, Alnus serrulata, Alnus incana, Sa/ix cordala. 

 Six trees formerly considered species are now reduced to 

 varieties. These are Magnolia acuminata, var. cordata, 

 Negundo aceroides, var. Califomicuni, Cratcegus Douglasii, 

 var. rivularis, Cratcegus Crus-galli, var. berherifolia, Cratcegus 

 coccinea, var. mollis, Binnelia lanuginosa, var. rigida. Two 

 species, Ficus brevi/olia and Alnus oblongifolia, are reduced 

 to synonyms ; making a reduction in all of twenty-one. 



Three species, Tilia pubescens, Cratcegus punctata, and 

 Drypetes glauca, formerly considered varieties of other 

 species, are now raised to specific rank. Three species, 

 Eugenia Garberi, Quercus Morehus and Quercus Engelrnanni, 

 confounded with other species, are now (the last two pro- 

 visionally) considered species ; and tvventy-four species 

 are now iirst added to the list. These are Xanthoxybun 

 emarginatum, Helictta parviflora, Ka>berli)iia spinosa. Ilex 

 tnonticoLi, Rhamnus crocea, var., Ceanothus velutinus, var.. 

 Rhus integrifolia, Cercidium floridum, Acacia Farnesiana, 

 Acacia Jlexicaulis, P ithecolobium brevifolium, Lyonothamnus 

 asplenifolius, Terminalia Buceras, Aralia spmosa, Fraxinus 

 cuspidata, Quercus Macdonatdii, Quercus tomentella, Quercus 

 Leana, Juniperus flaccida, Picea Brewer iana, Pinus latifolia, 

 Sabal species ; Pseudophcenix Sargenti, Palma species ; or, 

 in all, thirty additions to the catalogue, which is thus in- 

 creased by seven, making the total number of North 

 American trees (exclusive of Mexico), 419, as I now un- 

 derstand them. C. S. Sargent. 



The Bur Oak. 



THE Bur i)-Ak {Quercus macrocarpd) is one of the most 

 widely distributed and valuable Oaks of North 

 America. It may be readily distinguished always by the 

 broad, corky wings found on the young branches, by the 

 large, oblong, lyrately-pinnatifid or deeply sinuated-lobed 

 leaves, twelve to fifteen inches long, with lobes often ex- 

 tending neailyto the mid-rib, and by the large fruit, with a 

 deep, thick cup with pointed scales, those at the top awned 

 and forming a heavy pale fringe, which has given to this 

 tree one of its popular names — the Mossy-cup Oak. The 

 broad ovoid acorn is immersed for half its length or often 

 entirely enclosed in the. cup, a character which has given 

 to this tree another popular name — the Over-cup Oak. This 

 Oak, although so generally distributed, is less common on 

 the Atlantic sea-board than it is west of the Alleghanies, 

 and so it escaped the attention of the early botanists and 

 botanical collectors in thiscountry, and was first discovered 

 as late as 1794 by the elder Michaux near the present city 

 of Nashville, almost at the southern limit of its distribution 

 east of the Mississippi River, during his hazardous and 

 memorable journey to the Illinois country. The Bur Oak is 

 now known to extend from Nova Scotia down the coast of 

 Maine as far as the Penobscot, to occur in western New 

 England, in western New York and in Pennsylvania, and 

 then to stretch far to the north-west and to the south-west, 

 and to represent the flora of the eastern part of the conti- 

 nent on the foot-hills of the Rocky Mountains of Montana 

 and in the'dry valleys of western Texas. It is the prevail- 

 ing Oak in the " Oak Opening " of the north-west, and the 

 only Oak that can support the dry climate, and maintain its 

 existence in Manitoba, Dakota and western Nebraska. The 

 most interesting thing about this tree, perhaps, is this 

 power, quite unknown in the other American White Oaks, 

 of adapting itself to very different climatic conditions, 

 which enables it to live in the humid climate of Maine and 

 northern Vermont, to flourish in the somewhat drier cli- 

 mate of the Mississippi Valley, and to exist in the driest 

 and most exposed region inhabited by any of the east 

 American Oaks. 



The Bur Oak grows under favorable conditions to a 

 large size. Specimens may still be found in the rich alluv- 

 ial soils of the lower Ohio Valley 150 to 170 feet high, with 

 straight trunks, six or seven feet in diameter, rising for 

 seventy or eighty feet to the first branches, and covered 

 wiih thick, deeply furrowed, dark-brown bark. Such a 

 tree is represented in our illustration upon page 500, made 

 from one of Mr. Robert Ridgway's photographs of forest- 

 trees. It grew in southern Indiana, where the Bur Oak 

 attains its largest size and greatest value, and where it is 

 the largest, although not quite the tallest of the Oaks which 

 abouncl in that part of the country. 



The wood of this tree, when it grows under favorable 

 conditions, that is, in deep, rather moist soil, is the. most 

 valuable produced by the American. Oaks. It is light or 

 dark, rich brown, handsomely marked with the l)road 

 medullary rays, heavy, very strong and tough, close- 

 grained, and not liable to warp or open in seasoning. It 

 is classed as white oak commonly, and is not distinguished 

 from the wood of Quercus alba. 



Quercus macrocarpa is one of the most ornamental and 

 desirable of the American Oaks in cultivation. It is easily 

 raised, and grows rapidly in good soil. 



Like all the White Oaks, it is not, when once fairly es- 

 tablished, easy to transplant successfully, and it is better, 

 therefore, to set the plants very young where they are to 

 remain, rather than to attempt to move larger specimens. 

 The vigorous constitution of this tree, shown by its power 

 of adapting itself to varied climatic conditions, and the 

 great value of the timber which it produces, indicate that 

 it may prove one of the best Oaks for forest-planting within 

 the area of the region which it inhabits. C. S. S. 



Foreign Correspondence. 

 London Letter. 



OUR tlowers are gradually disappearing from the open-air 

 gardens, and attention is now mainly directed to the gar- 

 den under glass. An eight-degree frost has already scorched 

 every plant in exposed gardens of such tender constitution as 

 the Dahlia and Tropaeolum. Tlie leading Dahlia-growers had 

 planned a great gathering for the last meeting of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society, but only those whose gardens were suf- 

 ficientlv sheltered to escape the frost could exhibit. Tiiere 

 was a brilliant show, notwithstanding, and not a few novelties 

 were submitted. The absence of Orchids in numbers is still 

 conspicuous, though their ffower season has commenced; Init 

 we had a first-rate novelty in a new hybrid from Messrs. 

 Veitch, named Cattleya Miss Harris. It is the result of a cross 

 between C. Schilleriana (which, according to the views of 

 some authorities, is either a natural hybrid or a variety of C. 

 AclandicE) and the well known C. Mossio". Comparing this 

 hybrid with C. Schilleriana, which parent it most reseml)les, 

 the flowers are larger, the sepals broader, and the lip larger 

 and of different shape. The sepals are of a rich deep mauve 

 color, and the labellum is crimson-lake, pencilled and netted 

 with deep crimson, which pales to-almost white on the throat. 

 It is, therefore, a very showy Orchid, and the fact that the 

 plant exhibited bore four flowers on a spike indicates that it 

 possesses the vigorous constitution and frre-flowering ten- 

 dency of most all Orchid hybrids. It was voted a first-class 

 certificate. The other Orchid, which won a first-class certifi- 

 cate, came from Baron Schrccder's collection, and was c^uite 

 as remarkable as the Cattleya. It was a variety of Odonto- 

 glossuni vt'xillarium (now called Miltonia vexillarid) named 

 Leopoldi. It is so much like the variety Superba, which cre- 

 ated a sensation a few years ago, that at first sigiit it ap- 

 peared to be the same, but in Leopoldi the heavy crimson 

 blotch which adorns the labellum is not rayed as is the 

 Superba variety. The body color of the flower is a deep losc- 

 pink, and the flower is altogether smaller than the sunmier- 

 flowering form of J/, vcxillaria. Both these Superlia antl 

 Leopold! varieties appear to be forms of M. vexillaria rubella, 

 the name given by Mr. Bull for the autumn-liowering variety, 

 which is alwavs distinguished by the smaller flowers and 

 darker color. I rememljer seeing the Superba variety sold 

 at Stevens' auction-rooms some years ago, and as nothing 

 before had appeared at all like it, the compefition in the 

 bidding was keen. Sir Trevor Lawrence secured it for $400. 



