November 20, 1889.] 



Garden and Forest. 



555 



among the trees is constantly startled with the vision of sober, 

 gray Elms and Oaks bearing drooping panicles of orange and 

 scarlet fruit. These plants may be procured in abundance to 

 adorn the humblest yard, while they would not be out of place 

 on the most elaborate grounds. 



The eastern Snowberry, Symphoj-icarpits raceinosus, has not 

 proved as thrifty a grower with us as in its native haunts ; but 

 some plants which I rooted under glass last winter have made 

 a growth of two feet since they were planted out, and are bent 

 to the ground with their weight of snowy white berries. Its 

 more western cousin, the Coralberry, S. vic/garis, is so much 

 of a nuisance along roadsides and in pasture lots that its long, 

 slender stems, covered with the currant-like crimson berries, 

 seldom get credit for the beauty they possess. This little 

 shrub would be valuable for planting on embankments or 

 other places v^fhere needed to hold the soil, as well as to hide 

 an unsightly place. 



The Wolfberry, S. occidentalis, is found abundantly on the 

 head waters of the Solomon River and is equally as hardy as 

 the last. It is more stiff and erect in habit, and the fruit, a 

 tritle larger, is white. Neither of these should be planted 

 where their propensity for sprouting from the roots can do 

 harm. 



Two Privets growing in our nursery-rows seem worthy of 

 mention in this list. 



Ligiistriun biixijolium bears an abundance of berries in 

 erect, close heads, several often Ijranching from one stem, the 

 terminal one being the larger. The other is represented 

 by a single unnamed bush. This bears larger berries in a 

 loose, raceme-like cluster, which becomes so heavy that it 

 weighs down the slender stem, making it almost pendulous. 

 These shiny black bunches are so numerous that the plant is 

 a very pretty sight. Specimens of this I referred to Professor, 

 Sargent last year and he regarded it as a large fruited variety 

 of LigustricDi vulgare. 



The Black Alder of the Prinos division of Ilex, /. verticil- 

 ' lata, thrives well in our trial rows, and those plants which fruit 

 bear a lieavy annual crop of the brilliant scarlet berries which 

 make them so ornamental in autumn and early winter. The 

 leaves are dull and without much beauty in our climate, but 

 they fail early, thus better displaying the wealth of fruit. 



A specimen or two of this, placed where their bright color 

 is thrown into relief by some dark background, makes a pretty 

 picture. .5'. C. Mason. 



Manhatlan, Kaii. 



Holiday Notes in Southern France and Northern 



Italy.— V. 



T AKE Como, in the opinion of many the most beautiful of 

 *— ' the north Italian lakes, is enclosed by an amphitheatre 

 of mountains, some of which rise to a height of 7,000 feet. 

 Olive groves and terraced vineyards occupy a large portion of 

 the lower slopes, and Chestnuts and Walnuts ascend to the very 

 crests of the lower mountains wherever soil enough for them 

 is to be found. Large Fig-trees are a feature near the villas by 

 the edge of the lake ; in vases along the walls of several villa 

 gardens we noticed the scarlet tiovvered Riissellia jiincea, and 

 in the shrubberies a number of ornamental woody plants 

 which have already been mentioned in these papers. Como 

 itself, the capital of the province, is a quaint town ; it contains 

 many large silk factories. It is interesting, too, as being the 

 birthplace of both the elder and the younger Pliny, and of the 

 electrician, Volta, whose statue occupies a prominent posi- 

 tion near the cjuay. 



From Menaggio a narrow gauge railway runs to Porlezza, at 

 the north-eastern extremity of the Lake of Lugano. Theliighest 

 point of the line is upward of 600 feet above the Lake of 

 Como, beautiful views of which are obtained from the win- 

 dows of the carriage. The journey by steamboat from Por- 

 lezza to LLigano — the largest and busiest town in the Swiss can- 

 ton of Ticino — is a delightful one ; in our opinion the scenery is 

 more picturesqe than on the Lake of Como, that of the east- 

 ern arm of the Lugano Lake being wild and deserted. On the 

 lower slopes the vegetation seems nearly the same on both 

 lakes. 



In the pleasant garden of the Hotel du Pare, at Lugano, on the 

 siteof thesuppressed monastery of San Maria degli Angioli, tlie 

 following notes were made : Buddleia Lindleyana , with drooping 

 inflorescences eighteen inches long, here attained a height of ten 

 feet, and formed gracefid, Horiferous bushes ; in most nurseries 

 it is another species, B. Japonica, Hemsley, which passes imder 

 this name. The latter plant, too, has been a good deal con- 

 fused in gardens, botanical and private, and numerous figures 

 and descriptions of it have appeared in horticultural publica- 



tions under the name of B. curviflora, IV. &^ A., an appella- 

 tion which rightly belongs to quite a different plant. Bushes 

 oi Deutzia gracilis, s\Y.i^it\. high, surpassed in size and vigor 

 any we had previously seen ; the season's shoots measured 

 ai;out foin- feet in length. Even when cultivated with every 

 care in Britain this charming shrub is a pigmy compared with 

 the Swiss specimens just mentioned. Beds of Indian Azaleas 

 well set with buds gave promise of a fine sliow of flowers ; 

 large bushes of Moutan Paionies made us " covet and desire 

 other men's goods." Vibiirnutn Awafuki (according to Laval- 

 l^e's list identical with V. odoratissiinuin) excited our admira- 

 tion. One bush formed a beautiful cone about fifteen feet 

 high, and its large, leathery, glossy leaves of the darkest green 

 made a fine foil for the cymes of coral-red fruits. The deli- 

 ciously scented but inconspicuous blossoms of Os7nanthas 

 fragrans appealed strongly to the sense of smell and led to our 

 discovering the plants. The Chinese are said to use the flow- 

 ers for scenting tea. Magnolia (or rather Michelia) fuscata 

 thrives well at Lugano — amass of them in flower would be 

 almost overpoweringly sweet. As an edging (and a capital 

 one too) for shady walks and also as a sort of tia-fy covering 

 to the bare ground under the dense shade of trees, Fhiggea 

 Japonica was successfully employed. This pretty little plant, 

 with its dark green, grassy leaves and blue berries, is fre- 

 quently called Convallaria Japonica in English nursery-lists, 

 and also Herbe aiix turquoises in French ones ; there being 

 not many things which thrive under these conditions, it seems 

 desirable to call special attention to the merits of this plant. 



Beau-Sejour, a dependence of the Hotel du Pare, has a still 

 finer garden. There we noticed fine Arundinarias, twenty 

 feet high, Osmantlms fragrans, eight feet high and as much 

 through, and Abelia riipestris, of still larger size, literally 

 covered with flowers. Cherry Laurels, trained into an arch, 

 made a delightfully cool and shady approach along one side of 

 the front garden from the gateway to the hotel. The more 

 spacious grounds behind the hotel rise rapidly and many 

 beautiful plants were noted. On a sunny wall fruiting Citrons 

 were very attractive, also Oranges laden with fruit. In the 

 border at the foot of the same wall was a large bush of a white 

 flowered Abutilon and another of Eupatorium odoratum, 

 which by Christmas will be a mass of scented white flower- 

 heads. A huge tree of the Yulan, Magnolia conspicua, a fine 

 tree of M. niacrophylla, about forty feet in height, and a large 

 M. grandijlora, were the most remarkable of the flowering 

 trees. Edgworthia chrysantha, eight feet high by about ten 

 feet through, profusely set with flowers, was conspicuous with 

 its fine foliage ; even under glass in England we cannot get 

 this handsome Indian plant to thrive so well. Benthaniia fra- 

 gifera (the genus Benthaniia is now merged by Bentham and 

 Hooker into Cornus), another Himalayan shrub or small tree, 

 of considerable beauty and interest, was as much at home 

 here as in the warm, equable climate of Cornwall ; the white- 

 bracted flower-heads, like those of Cornus Jl or ida on a smaller 

 scale, are showy, and the fruits, when ripe, are not unlike a 

 strawberry. Camellias, Azaleas and Hydrangeas were repre- 

 sented by fine bushes, and Chimonantlius fragrans by the 

 largest specimen we had ever seen. Photinias and the Loquat 

 {Eriobotrya Japonica) were also good, as was also a very large 

 plant of .Esculus viacrostachya. Elccagnus glabra, a handsoiiie 

 Japanese evergreen, occurred as a climber ; its long sarmen- 

 tose shoots had woimd themselves in among the branches of 

 a cluster of Pines and had attained a height of aboLit forty feet. 

 In this part of the world this species makes one of the best of 

 hedge plants. 



American Vines made excellent arbors in the gardens of 

 the cafes, hotels, etc., facing thelake,and the enorniouscropof 

 grapes borne by them could not fail to attract a good deal of atten- 

 tion among the cultivators in a district where \'ines are every- 

 where grown. Here and there Vitis 7/inifcra was used for 

 shade, but for vigor and free-bearing qualities it compared 

 most unfavorably with tiie American species ; we learned, on 

 inquiry, that these latter are now used extensivelv as stocks 

 whereon to graft the more delicate Old World varieties, and that 

 Phylloxera, the great curse of many European \'ine-growing 

 countries, is, by this means, to a considerable extent checked. 

 In southern France we saw many establishments specially 

 founded for the propagation and sale of American \'ines. 



At Ponte Tresa, where we leave the lake and take train to 

 Luino, the railway is a narrow gauge adhesion line and com- 

 m;mds magnificent views. For some distance the line follows 

 the valley of the Tresa, a picturesque mountain torrent which 

 here forms the boundary between Switzerland and Italy, and 

 numbers of Italian custom-houseofficers, armed with carbines, 

 patrolled the banks to prevent smuggling. 

 Kew. George Nicholson. 



