November 6, 1889.] 



Garden and Forest. 



537 



seen very often. It is described as an annual or as a peren- 

 nial, forming a tufted stock of niany years' duration. Here it 

 is a true perennial, and has been growing for years in the same 

 place in my garden, where it has become a compact 

 cushion, a foot high and more than two feet across. The 

 leaves are pale green, twice divided, with obovate, cuneate 

 segments, an inch or more broad and cut into three divisions 

 at the extremity. The bright yellow, cheerful flowers, which 

 are rather more than an inch long, arc borne in short racemes 

 well above the foliage on slender stems. This plant is easily 

 increased by division or it may be raised from seed. It requires 

 no care or cultivation, and it will thrive in rocky soil and 

 exposed situations, as well as in the best garden loam. It is 

 an excellent rock-garden subject, and a good plant to tuck into 

 some out-of-the-way or neglected corner of a garden, where it 

 will go on flowering and giving pleasure indefinitely. 



Boston. ^■ 



Dicentra e.Kimia. — Last spring we took occasion to call atten- 

 tion to this plant as one of the best of recent additions to the 

 list of native plants, suitable and desirable for cultivation. 

 After the second season's trial of it we cannot forbear to men- 

 tion the fact that from the first week in May to the last week 

 in October Dicentra eximia has been constantly in flower. 

 Moreover, the odor so apparent in D. spectabilis and other 

 varieties of the Fiimariacea, is totally absent in the plant 

 under note. The figure of D. eximia, given in the " Dictionary 

 of Gardening," is not a good representation of the plant, as it is 

 with us. This may be accounted for on the supposition that 

 the difference in climate affects the appearance of the plant, 

 or that our plant is a geographical form of the plant com- 

 monly grown elsewhere under the name of D. eximia. Oiir 

 original plant came from Tennessee, where it is by no means 

 common in a wild state. There, however, it seeds freely, 

 whereas here it rarely produces a seed vessel, owing probably 

 to the absence of the necessary insect agency. The flowers 

 are closed at the apex, and the bees here, when forcing an 

 entrance, injure the organs of reproduction to such an extent 

 as to preclude the possibility of successful fertilization. D. 

 eximia must therefore be propagated mainly by division, and 

 this is easily accomplished early in spring before the growth 

 is far advanced. It may also be added that when seed is pro- 

 duced it must be sown at once, and then germination will 

 take place the following spring. Seeds of plants included in 

 the order Fiimariacece are notoriously long in germinating. 

 Passaic, N.J. E. O. Or pet. 



The Forest. 



Some Japanese Trees in New England. 



"pvR. GEORGE R. HALL is the first American who sent 

 ^-^ Japanese plants to the United States, in any considerable 

 numbers, at least. His first visit to Japan occurred in i860 ; 

 and his first shipment of plants was made not very long after- 

 wards. They were sent principally to Mr. Parsons, of Flush- 

 ing, who propagated and distributed them, as well as a num- 

 ber of other Japanese plants sent home by Mr. Thomas Hogg, 

 who a little later lived several years in Japan and devotecl 

 much attention to collecting seeds and plants for the 

 Flushing Nurseries. A number of Dr. Hall's Japanese plants 

 were planted early on his farm near Warren, R. I. (about 1870), 

 and have grown into what, I believe, are the finest specimens 

 of certain species which can be found in the eastern states. 

 Some of them I have not seen equaled in Europe. A few 

 notes, therefore, upon these trees which I have recently had 

 an opportunity of visiting will, perhaps, be interesting. 



The plantations are confined, in the main, to the northern 

 and eastern sides of an open field, on the top of the ridge 

 which extends continuously from the town of Warren to 

 Bristol. It is open to the south-west and fully exposed to the 

 south-west winds which sweep up Narragansett Bay. The situ- 

 ation, I should think, was a very trying one, especially for 

 conifers. The soil of the field, however, is a good strong- 

 loam, and close planting has been of assistance to the trees, 

 which are principally conifers. 



Two or three specimens of deciduous trees may be men- 

 tioned. The first of these is Zelkoiva Keaki, with a short trunk 

 fourteen inches in diameter, dividing into a number of stout, 

 upright branches. This tree has a total height of fully thirty- 

 five feet. It is the only specimen of this plant I remember to 

 have seen growing in the United States, and I have never 

 seen one a quarter of the size in Europe, altiiough larger ones 

 exist, perhaps, in the Mediterranean countries. In habit. Dr. 

 Hall's plant resembles a common form of the American 

 Beech of the same size, and the bark is not unlike the bark of 



that tree. The following account of the Zelkowa, which is one 

 of the largest and most valuable of the Japanese trees, is ex- 

 tracted from Rein's " Industries of Japan" (see Garden and 

 Forest, page 321 of the present voluine), in which will be 

 found the most satisfactory account of the ecojiomic proper- 

 erties and uses of many Japanese plants which has been pub- 

 lished : 



"The Keyaki (pronounced K^aki) of the Japanese is a 

 stately, and, because of its wood, a useful tree, found in forests 

 and temple groves, as well as along the sidewalks of village 

 streets, particularly in the neighborhood of Tokio. It some- 

 times reaches prodigious size, from ninety to 120 feet in hei"ht 

 and thirty feet in circumference. In appearance it has' a 

 strong resemblance to Celtis australis, of the Mediterranean 

 regions, as for instance the fine specimens of this kind in the 

 Botanical Garden at Madrid. But it is also similar to our 

 Beeches. 



" Keaki is the favorite joiner's wood, and plays in Japan the 

 part of oak wood with us, and is somewhat like it. Its most 

 notable recommendations are, that it does not split or warp 

 easily, so that cross sections may be used, that is, for trays and 

 bowls, as is done in the Hakone mountains. It is also noted 

 for its great toughness, elasticity and durability, as much in 

 water as in dry air, if not felled when full of sap. " The smootli, 

 gray-white bark resembles in color and thickness that of our 

 Beeches ; the soft, light-colored sap-wood is quickly trans- 

 formed into grained wood, whose color varies according to 

 the situation and age of the tree, from light to dark brown. 

 To make it more valuable, the color is often deepened by a 

 long submersion in water before working. Keaki is lio-hter 

 than oak, having a specific gravity of only 0.682. When cut 

 crosswise its small pith-rays are easily distinguished, as is the 

 case witli all elms, and the girdles of numberless larger pores 

 on the inside of the year-rings is plainly marked. These pores 

 and their walls show very distinctly even when cut length- 

 wise. This reveals also the parallel and straight-fibred char- 

 acter of the ordinary wood. It serves the Japanese for many 

 purposes: in ship and housebuilding, in furnitui'e making, 

 turnery ware, and for manufacturing many small articles. It 

 takes difterent names according to its coloring, the hiohest 

 estimate being placed on Tama-moku, or speckled wood^also 

 called Tama-no-keaki. 



" In all the qualities which have been menfioned, it excels the 

 otlier Ulmacece. On the other hand, its branches are so fine 

 and its foliage, like the Celtis, is so light that it cannot be used 

 like the Elm as an ornamental or shade-giving tree. Its draft 

 upon the soil is about the same as with its kindred. It is 

 found in its best condition on light clay soil, in which it can 

 spread and develop its roots symmetrically. It belono-s to the 

 lower region of the mountain deciduous forests, and in Hondo 

 seldom grows beyond an elevation of 800 to 1,000 m. It is 

 not widely distributed or frequent, and only attains on the 

 plains, in temple groves and along the roads, those laro-e 

 dimensions which distinguish it beyond all other deciduous 

 trees, except the Camphor Laurel." 



There is in the garden near the house the finest specimen of 

 Qiierciis dentata which I have seen. It is about twenty-two 

 feet high and well furnished with branches nearly to the 

 ground. It is always a striking plant on account of" its con- 

 spicuous buds and large, deeply lobed and brightly shinino- 

 leaves, which are often more than two feet long. They \\wn 

 later in the season, to deep orange, l)ut at the time of my visit 

 (October 24th) were quite fresh and green, although the leaves 

 on all the native Oaks in the neighborhood, both White and 

 Black, had changed color some tin.ie before, and were fallino-. 

 This Oak is often grown in Japan, according to Rein, as a small 

 ornamental tree for gardens, on account of its handsome foli- 

 age. He found it very common on the island of Yezo, and as 

 a shrub on the borders of volcanic forests in northern Hondo". 

 The wood is said to be coarse grained and to possess little 

 value. Quercits dentata is often Icnown in gardens as O. Dai- 

 myo, and it was first distributed from P'lushing as Q. Halliana. 



Near the Oak is a plant of Magnolia hypoleiica (Garden and 

 Forest, vol. i., f. 49). It is much smaller than Mr. Hogo-'s tree 

 in New York; but the fact that this fine species is hardv in 

 New England is interesting. It is the Ho-ko-ni of the Japanese, 

 and Rein gives this description of it : 



" This fine, highly interesting tree appears in all the moun- 

 tain foUaceous forests of Japan from Kiushiu to Yezo, not, 

 however, collected together, but scattered about amono- other 

 deciduous woods. Toward the north its frequency increases; 

 it attains here, also, its largest dimensions, with trunks of 

 more than six feet in circumference and sixty to seventv-five 

 feet in height. It is found, also, in the high foliaceous forests 

 of middle and northern Hondo, on the island of Yezo, and 



