OctOBfcR 23, 1889.] 



Garden and Forest. 



507 



his willingness to spend vast snnis of money in its gratifica- 

 tion. The arboretum, as Downing saw it, was about a mile in 

 length, and its trees — forming a complete collection of all that 

 were hardy in that climate — were " neither set in formal lines 

 nor grouped in a single scene, but scattered along a pictur- 

 esque drive with space enough for each to develop its natural 

 habit of growth." Many exotic trees, shrubs and flowers, 

 which are now more or less well known, were first introduced 

 to cultivation at Chatsworth, and the story of its plantations 

 would make an important chapter in the history of horticul- 

 tural progress in Europe. 



On the opposite side of the house from the conservatory and 

 arboretum lie the immensekitchen and forcing gardens. Here 

 the most famous item that Downing noted was a Peach-tree 

 " occupying a glass-house by itself and extending over a trel- 

 lis, say a hundred feet long," which, Mr. Paxton stated, had 

 borne in the current season 8,727 peaches, of which 926 had 

 been allowed to come to maturity. To show that Paxton 

 knew how to save money as well as to spend it, the duke re- 

 marked that the cost of growing his Pineapples had been 

 reduced two-thirds since this great gardener had taken them 

 in charge, twelve years before. 



Of course, we have only hinted at a few of the many beau- 

 ties and marvels of this wonderful place, but enough has been 

 said to explain Downing's enthusiasm when he wrote that, 

 from a tower on a hill-top a mile away from the house, one 

 saw "such a picture of palace and pleasure-ground, park and 

 forest scenery as can be found, perhaps, nowhere else in the 

 circle of the planet." It is interestuig, too, to read his defense 

 of the duke against charges of selfish extravagance. The " re- 

 fined taste " shown at Chatsworth seemed largely to excuse its 

 magnificence, while " when one sees how many persons are 

 constantly employed in the various works of improvement — 

 and how cheerfully the whole is thrown open to the study 

 and enjoyment of thousands and tens of thousands annually, 

 one cannot but concede a liberal share of admiration and 

 thanks to a nobleman who might follow the example of many 

 others and make his home a closed castle.* . . . One has only 

 to visit Windsor and Buckingham Palace after Chatsworth to 

 see the difference between a noble and pure taste and a royal 

 want of it. The one may serve to educate and reform the 

 world. The utmost that the other can do is to dazzle and as- 

 tonish those who cannot recognize real beauty or excellence 

 in art." 



To create and maintain a place like Chatsworth needed the 

 conjunction of two exceptional men like the sixth Duke of 

 Devonshire and Joseph Paxton. It was not to be expected 

 that their successors would equal them in enthusiasm, knowl- 

 edge and taste. Consequently, the Chatsworth of to-day is not 

 quite the place that Downing saw. The great features remain, 

 of course — a noble palace in a noble park, with gardens per- 

 haps too artificial for the taste of the present time, but it is no 

 longer a great centre of horticultural activity and progress. 



Asters and Goiden-rods. 



THE earliest Aster here is A. cordifolms, the Heart-leaved 

 Aster in our language. Plere are great beds of its large 

 leaves, six inches or more long, covering the ground com- 

 pletely, just here with very few Howcr-stalks. 



Gather it within the dense shade of the copse or forest 

 and compare it with some grown in the open and you may 

 think you have two species. The first has a slender stem, as 

 green as its leaves, and pure white rays ; in the sun its stout 

 stalk is red or purple, with a broad corymb of blue or rosy 

 purple flowers, whose disk florets are much more highly 

 colored also ; it seems to gain its full stature only in simny or 

 partly sunny places. You find great masses of its flowers 

 along every wood-side through August and September, but the 

 beds of great leaves are often absent, the plants having only 

 cauline leaves. It is a handsome plant when well grown, and 

 if it has at times a weedy look, it is because it attempts to 

 grow everywhere, whether it can or not. 



Almost as early is the Spreading Aster, A. patois, with its 

 large, light blue flowers, more perfect in form than the blossoms 

 oiA. co7-difoluts. It may be known l)y its stiff and angular 

 branches, which spread widely, and its narrow leaves, that 

 clasp the stem ; though this last habit is not peculiar to this 

 species. It grows beside the first named, but is less abundant, 

 lasting well into September. 



The many-flowered Aster, A. iiniltiflorus, a large, stout 

 stemmed species, with ]iure white rays and red orbrpwn disks, 



* It is recorded tliat as many as 80,000 persons liad Ijeen permitted to inspect not 

 only the grounds b\it the house also during a single year before Downing's time. 



is found here and there, but is hardly common. Its (lowers 

 are pretty, but are much concealed by the foliage ; they do not 

 make themselves felt from such a distance as those olA. Novce 

 AnglicE or A. miser do. 



A larger and more showy species blooms about the last of 

 August, the Red-stalked Aster, A.puniceus. It is four feet high, 

 with long, narrow, bright green leaves, red stems, and long 

 and numerous rays of a rich blue or violet, and brown 

 disk florets. It grows in swamps and beside streams. It 

 catches the eye from afar with its strong growth and bright 

 flowers. One may overlook the others, but this one advertises 

 the fact that Asters are in bloom and that autumn is at hand. 

 The first of September brings the best of all, the New England 

 Aster, A. Novm Anglice. Its growth started early last spring ; it 

 has been patiently building up its strong purple stems, crowded 

 with its neat and abundant foliage, ever since. They are 

 now four or six feet high, as the plants come into bloom. 

 Its almost countless flowers are an inch and a half in diameter, 

 with rays of the richest violet and brown disks which suggest 

 the plush of a bumblebee's jacket. They have a strong 

 fragrance, and are the only scented Asters so far as I know. 

 They smell just like the Witch Hazel's flowers, which you 

 may find before the Asters are gone. Could we see the 

 particles of odor given forth by these two widely differing 

 plants, would they have the same form and size and color ? 

 Heat and drought cut short the bloom of the New England 

 Aster — and perhaps that of all other Asters growing in dry 

 soils, for cool rains and gray skies make it glow iSest and 

 longest. I almost imagine its colors are brighter on hard, 

 poor soil, an effect due, perhaps, to the background of dull 

 brown earth and fading herbage found in such places. 



The Acuminate Wood-Aster, A. acuininatus, is found in 

 shady woods early in September — a noticeable plant, a foot 

 high, with a loose panicle of large, whitish heads with a spread- 

 ing cluster of leaves just below it ; the lower stem is naked. 

 Soon comes the starved Aster, A. miser, one of the most flori- 

 ferous of plants, in spite of its name ; its flowers may be small, 

 but their multitude makes up for that. They are pink, white, 

 purple and blue on the same plant sometimes, due, perhaps, 

 to their varying age, like the blue and paler flowers of 

 A. patens. The hard, dry road-sides owe much to the slender 

 growing starved Aster. Frost is nothing to it; it gathers 

 fresh glory from being positively the latest flower. You may 

 find it bending with its weight of flowers in the midst of deep 

 drifts of fallen leaves, while A. cordifolius beside it is heavy 

 with its ripened seed. A little spray of its pink and blue flowers, 

 as fresh and bright as though it were the first blossom of 

 spring, is almost more to you than the great purple plimies 

 of the New England Aster were in their time, now so long 

 past. 



The Golden-rod contemporary of Aster cordifolius is the' 

 smooth Golden-rod, S. serotina, a fine species, three feet high, 

 with purple stems, smooth lea\-es, and a bright inflorescence. 

 Tramping through pastures and woods at tliis time, you see 

 Golden-rods in bloom in the distance which you imagine may 

 belong to other species, but as you come near you see the red 

 stem and smooth leaves of 6". serotina. S. altissivia and 6". Cana- 

 densis, upon which the autumn depends for most of its golden 

 effects in these parts, are in bud, and biding their time, which 

 comes in mid-August. They grow a foot high here and eight 

 feet there ; erect or drooping, and their variations are endless. 

 Their mission is to light up every field margin, lane and wood- 

 side in the land, and for this none of their forms come amiss. 



We now come to a section of the genus that the popular 

 eye hardly holds as Golden-rods at all ; no artist puts them 

 into his picture of autumn scenery ; they are small, shy, wood- 

 land species, doing little to decorate the country. .$■. latifolia, 

 with broad leaves and a golden spike; S. bicolor, of slender, 

 erect habit, the only white Solidago, and even this has yellow 

 stamens, whence its name ; and the S. ccssia, a lovely plant in 

 woods and shades. Most Golden-rod leaves and stems are 

 rough to the touch and somewiiat coarse looking, but no 

 smoother plant grows than the blue stemmed Goklen-rod. .S". 

 cccsia, a stalk of slenderest growth, having long, narrow leaves 

 and a bunch of flowers at the insertion of each leaf ; often 

 gracefully bending like a long, golden garland. Then there is the 

 grass-leaved Golden-rod, .S". lauccolaia, remarkable for its Hat 

 topped inflorescence ; but no one locality can boast tlie seventy 

 or more species of these two genera. That purple ridge over 

 there, where they have Huckleberries and rattlesnakes, has a 

 different set, and though the above list contains all my own, 

 and will doubtless hold over large areas of Beech and Maple 

 country in western New York, it will need large revision in the 

 region of Chestnut, Oak and Pine anywhere. 



Canaseraira, N. V. E. S. Gilbert. 



