November 27, 1889.] 



Garden and Forest. 



567 



not fall into extravagance or mere glare and show. Nothing 

 more impressive could be imagined than the view at night 

 from the tow^er when great bodies of people tilled all the 

 open spaces, and the murmur of their voices added to the 

 gaiety of light and color. Daring the day-time on Sundays 

 every one was allowed to walk, sit and eat on the grass ; 

 and the sight was then equally amusing and attractive, a 

 myriad white napkins and bright spots of color enlivening 

 every green expanse. 



Among the Pines of Northern Michigan. — II. 



THE view of a country from the car window is not always 

 satisfactory. We are often provoked by a curiosity to search 

 some parts of a region over more in detail. It is better to 

 walk or drive, with plenty of time at command. To enjoy such 

 a trip most keenly, one should be accompanied by one or two 

 others — seldom more — and all should be botanists, with an 

 interest in gardening. If they are interested in collecting liv- 

 ing plants for the garden, monstrosities and nice specimens 

 for a museum, and plants for a herbarium, with a view to 

 making a report, the enjoyment will be much enhanced. The 

 parson who is merely liunting for game or looking for the 

 best trees for lumber knows little of the pleasure realized by 

 the naturalist. 



It is not an uncommon thing to see Hemlocks, Birclies and 

 sometimes other trees growing on low land with the roots next 

 to the "stump" part of the tree all above the ground, like a 

 spider on the tips of its long legs. Such trees were started as 

 seedlings on a decaying log, which has since all disappeared 

 in decay. In one place near Kingsley we found ten or a dozen 

 small Hemlocks of this kind all in a row, where the log had 

 only partially decayed. , 



Toward the south of the district we are considering are 

 some very fine specimens of the Hornbeam. Especially are 

 they beautiful in moist, rich soil, with plenty of room. I never 

 fully appreciated the beauty of a well grown Hornbeam till I 

 saw, for the first time, some well grown specimens in Central 

 Park. The smooth-fluted gray trunks, the dense, clean foliage 

 and the peculiar drooping fruit surrounded by a pair of mit- 

 ten-shaped bracts, distinguish it from everything else. 



Occasionally, where the soil is thin and the forests have been 

 mainly cut away, may be seen villages which are now nearly 

 deserted. Such a village is Cheeney, in Crawford County, 

 and Fife Lake, in Grand Traverse County, is likely to reach 

 the same condition. The mills burn down, are removed or 

 the machinery has been taken out, while the shabby old build- 

 ing remains on guard near the piles of saw-dust, and a few 

 worthless old logs never cut into lumber. The dwelling- 

 houses can scarcely be given away, and there they stand fast 

 going into decay. No one sees much beauty in a dead vil- 

 lage, not even the botanist. 



Akin to the above are the deserted homesteads and farms 

 often found on the Jack Pine-plains. There remains the neat 

 house made of logs or rough boards. The barn and out- 

 buildings, the fences and gates, the remains of orchard trees 

 and small fruits, of shrubbery and perennial herbs and the 

 introduced weeds — all remain to tell of the culture and wasted 

 capital and energies. There might have been some misman- 

 agement, but the energy and care bestowed would, under 

 more favorable circumstances, have won eminent success. It 

 is to test such lands and give assistance to the owners that 

 experiments are now being conducted by the Agricultural 

 College. 



The l:>eautif ul and tlie picturesque are often strangely blend- 

 ed. The dead trees and black stubs and logs, the ragged 

 thistles and fireweeds, perhai)s help to add interest to things 

 that are beautiful. There is nothing to admire in the dead 

 tree-tops and rubbish left where the trees have V:)een felled, 

 cut into mill logs and drawn away. The rubbish courts a fire 

 which it is most sure to burst out on the arrival of the tirstvery 

 dry weather. 



Railways require the removal of earth, cutting and filling, 

 exposing much bare surface. In places there are irregular 

 depressions sunk near the road to procure earth for the road. It 

 is sur[)rising with what rapidity kind nature begins to repair 

 such damages as these. The remaining charitable old Hem- 

 locks and Pines and Maples vie with each other in pro- 

 ducing bountiful crops of seeds which, by the aid of the wind, 

 they scatter on the bare slopes and in the naked places ; and 

 where enough moisture and shade are found, such spots are 

 quickly covered by a crop of beautiful young trees. 



In the newly exposed places, plants vie with each other to 

 see which can do the most. Hanging over the crest of the 



banks, or some of the pits from which earth has been taken, 

 are many beautiful plants from which lessons may be learned. 



The Wintergrecn, Bearljerry, Trailing Arljutus, Dwarf Blue- 

 berries, Dwarf June Berry, Violets, wild Asters, the Sweet 

 Golden-rod, Anemones, the Andropogons and bunchy Pani- 

 CLuns among Grasses, and Dwarf Sedges, are among the most 

 common and attractive plants in such places. 



I must refer to the three-toothed cinquefoil, Potentilla 

 tridentata, which is common in many sandy places in 

 northern Michigan. The leaves are wedge-oblong, coarsely 

 three-toothed, evergreen and glossy ; the petals white. The 

 plant spreads readily by root-stocks, and is perfectly at home in 

 poor, sandy soil. It is attractive and good to use in patches, or 

 when mingled with other small perennials. 



Agricultural College, Midi. ^- J ■ Seal. 



Holiday Notes in Southern France and Northern 



Italy.— VI. 



A T Luino we took steamer and passed a succession of 

 -^^^ picturesque villages charmingly situated amidst the 

 Olive groves, vineyards and luxurious vegetation of the 

 mountain slopes. Our destination was Pallanza, a thriving 

 little town of some repute as a winter resort, built on the 

 warmest and most sheltered spot on the Lago Maggiore. 

 From the landing stage a row of Magnolia grandiflora — the 

 Big Laurel of the southern states — attracted our attention ; this 

 is not often used as a street tree. My companion, how- 

 ever, informed me that he had seen it so employed at An- 

 gers, in western France. The nursery ot Messrs. Rovelli, 

 situated on a tongue of land jutting out into the lake, is now 

 one of the show places of the district. Thirty-five years ago 

 it was not adorned with a single tree, but the firm having 

 bought out a considerable numl:)er of small proprietors, and 

 then planted fine exotic conifers and other rare plants, many 

 visitors with no special love for plants are attracted to it be- 

 cause guide-books, etc., announce it as one of the sights. 

 To real lovers of trees there is much to instruct and delight, 

 some of the specimens being probably unique in Europe as 

 regards beauty and size. The following notes by no means 

 exhaust the objects of interest ; lack of space alone compels 

 me to select the most striking features and to leave alone 

 much that is wonderful to a traveler from more northern 

 regions. 



Amongst the conifers, perhaps the most remarkable is a 

 large, handsome tree of tlie Chinese Golden Larch {Pseudo- 

 larlx KcEinpferi) ; this cones very freely, and thousands of 

 healthy seedlings carpeted the ground beneath the spreading 

 branches ; it has been found advisable to allow the seed to 

 germinate where it falls, much better results being thus ob- 

 tained than by collecting the seed and sowing it in p;ms under 

 glass. Next comes a Chinese Abies, A. Fortiinei [Keteleerin 

 Fortiinei), with large numbers of round, broad-scaled cones ; 

 a photograph of the tree itself, of the male catkins, cones and 

 curious corky bark, have been published in the Gardeners' 

 Chronicle. In England, and then solely in sheltered spots, this 

 appears to be able only to keep alive. Other Firs are repre- 

 sented by examples of A. Norduiannlana — upward of fifty feet 

 in height — A. Cillclca and of A. bractcata, both very beautiful 

 specimens, and a curious columnar form of the common 

 European Silver Fir (A. pecllnala)— which the courteous pro- 

 prietor informed us passed under the name of A. laxa in 

 southern nurseries — in all probability it is Carriere's variety 

 Columnaris. Plntts Canarlensis— more than forty feet high — 

 is here a fine object, and on tlie hot, dry limestone roclcs of 

 the Riviera it also grows apace. The Mexican P. paitila does 

 well, a striking species from the same country bearing the 

 name of P. Riisselliana. P. longifolia, a graceful, long- 

 leaved Himalayan tree which must be cultivated under glass 

 at Kew, has here attained tree dimensions, and the Georgia 

 Pine, P. palustrls, is at home in its company. The Japanese 

 P. Koralensls was bearing its first crop of cones, wliicii, in ad- 

 dition to the habit, indicated clearly enough its relationship, 

 from a systematic point of view, with the Arole {P. Ceinbra) of 

 Switzerland. As might have been expected, the Monterey 

 Cypress {Cnpressus niacrocarpa) does well at Pallanza, and we 

 afterward frequently saw it along the Riviera. The Califor- 

 nian White Cedav {Llbocedrus deciirrcns) had attained a greater 

 size here than ever we had seen it before ; the trunk was 

 three feet in diameter. Trees of Cryptomcrla Japonica 

 showed how i)ictnresque this species is under really favora- 

 ble conditions, and so did one of Citnnlnghainla Sinensis— 

 nearly fifty feet high. Araucaria Brasiliensis, bearing cones, 

 came as a surprise to us who had only seen it grown under 



