November 27, 1889.] 



Garden and Forest. 



575 



most difficult families of plants have received fresh and care- 

 ful treatment at the hands of some of the most distinguished 

 specialists of the day. Tiiis great work is being continued 

 with regularity, and, considering its character, with wonderfid 

 and commendable rapidity. 



The Annual Administration Report for the Forest Depart- 

 ment of the Madras Presidency, 1887-88, has reached us, and 

 shows that no less than 564 square miles of reser-ved forest and 

 1,498 square miles of reserved lands have been added to the 

 areas under the control of the Forest Department during the 

 year. Some remarks upon the Madura district, by Colonel 

 Campbell Walker, Inspector-General of the Forest Presidency, 

 which appear in this report, are as applicable to our western 

 forests as they are to those of the whole of the dry regions of 

 India; and as they are spoken by one of the most capable and 

 experienced forest-officers of the age, they may well be 

 weighed carefully by persons in this coimtry who see no 

 danger in the destruction of the forests on our western moim- 

 tains. " It takes a long time to reclothe the denuded slopes ; 

 but nothing struck me more, after a long a]id intimate Icnowl- 

 edge of the district, than the good results apparent from con- 

 servancy and protection, which the villagers themselves admit. 

 It cannot be too clearly borne in mind thai w.e just stepped in 

 in time to prevent utter ruin, for not only had all trees and 

 shrubs been cut, but the very roots rLibbed up, and the hilly 

 slopes were fast approaching the last stage, in which remedial 

 ineasures are all but impracticable, except at very great cost ; 

 the soil having been washed away and all seed-bearing trees 

 and shrubs exterminated, nothing being left beyond bare and 

 arid slopes seamed with mountain torrents and ravines, which 

 carried off the rain immediately it fell." 



The financial results of protecting the Indian forests are most 

 gratifying. Twenty-five years ago they produced nothing 

 whatever to the government. They began to yield a consider- 

 able net income, however, in a few years after forest-conserv- 

 ancy had been established, and it has increased steadily every 

 year since, now amounting to from $5,000,000 to $6,000,000 

 annually. 



Report of the Progress and Condition of the Botanic Garden 

 of Southern Anstralia during the year 1888. Dr. R. Schom- 

 burgk, Director. 



The operations of the garden were considerably interfered 

 with by the unprecedented droughts of the year. The amount 

 of rain was only 14.543 inches, or nearly the lowest average 

 ever recorded, and 6.446 inches below the general average of 

 the forty-nine years preceding. Excessive heat, with the ther- 

 mometer rising to 170 and 177 degrees in the shade, added to 

 the difficulties of conducting horticultural or agricultural 

 operations in the colony ; but unfavorable as this condition of 

 things was, it adds to the value of a series of experiments car- 

 ried on in the garden to determine the value for dry regions of 

 various Grasses and fodder plants. Dr. Schomburgk reports 

 that among these the most successful in withstanding the 

 drought was a newly introduced Grass, a native of South 

 America, Paspalum dilatatum. " This valuableGrass has main- 

 tained its luxuriant growth without irrigation during the disas- 

 trous drought. It grows in tufts, attains consideraljle size and 

 makes a good leafy growth and roots strongly. Prairie Grass 

 [Bromus unioloides) proves one of the best and most nutritious 

 of Grasses, and is little affected by our driest season. The 

 drought did not seem to have the slightest effect upon it. One 

 good characteristic of this Grass is that the self-sown seeds 

 grow freely, and the Grass extends. It is one of the best 

 Grasses for hay." The dry weather made no impression on 

 the California Bunch Grass (EJymzes co/uiensatus), and Panictiui 

 Criis-galli stood the severest drought, growing vigorously 

 during December, January and February, supplying noiu'ish- 

 ing feed for cattle. The Japan Clover, so called [Lespedeza 

 striata), does not succeed in the dry climate of South Aus- 

 tralia, a fact which confirrns ilie experience of persons who 

 have tried this plant in dry Mediterranean countries. It is evi- 

 dent that moisture is essential for its rapid growth, as is proved 

 by the way this plant has spread in a comparatively short time 

 over a large part of our south Atlantic states. 



The value of this report is increased by the addition of a 

 number of colored portraits of specimen trees growing in the 

 garden. Of these, the most interesting to Americans is the 

 so-called Pepper tree, a native of Peru, and of late years largely 

 planted in California for shade and ornament. The specimen 

 in the Adelaide garden was planted in 1863, and has attained 

 the height of sixty-four feet seven inches. The spread of its 

 branches is fifty-four feet, and the girth of the trunk three feet 

 from Iheground is nine feet nine inches, a remarkable develop- 

 ment for a tree which does not often attain such dimensions. 



A specimen of Pi)iHs Sabiniana, the Digger Pine of California, 

 planted in 1868, has grown to the height of fifty feet, with a 

 spread of branches of thirty-five feet, while the trunk four feet 

 from the ground is seven feet in circimiference — certainly a 

 satisfactory growth. 



Recent Plant Portraits. 



BiLLBERGiA VEXILLARIA, Revue Horticole, October i6th ; a 

 beautiful hybrid obtained by M. Andre by crossing B. thyr- 

 soidea and B. Moreli, the latter being the pollen parent. It is 

 a striking plant, with compact habit and showy inflorescence, 

 the scarlet bracts making a strong contrast with the white stem 

 and ovaries and deep dark purple corollas. 

 Botanical Magazine, November. 



Carludovica rotundifolia, t. 7083 ; a noble species from 

 Costa Rica, nearly related to C. palmata, from the leaves of 

 which are manufactured the well known Panama hats, but 

 with larger leaves, borne on petioles sometimes nine feet long. 



Iris Bakeriana, /. 7084; under this name. Professor Foster 

 describes a slender new Iris from Armenia. It is one of the 

 bulbous species, not unlike/, reticulata in general appearance, 

 but the cylindrical leaves separate it from that species. It 

 flowers in England in February and March, and some of the 

 flowers are delightfully fragrant with the odor of Violets. 



Xylobium leontoglossum, t. 7085. 



Phajus pauciflorus, /. 7086 ; a native of Java, belonging 

 "to a section of the genus with small flowers which are pro- 

 duced upon the stem, and not amongst the leaves or on tall 

 scapes from the base of the old pseudo-bulbs, as in others of 

 this genus. In this respect, as also in the form of the lip, it 

 approaches those Indian species of Calanthe, in which the lip 

 is at the base of the column, and which render it very difficult 

 to give technical characters for the separation of the two 

 genera." 



Gerbera Jamesoni, /. 7087 ; the first representative of this 

 South African genus of Composite introduced into Em-opean 

 gardens; a showy plant, the ray-florets represented as dull yel- 

 low on the lower side and bright orange or flame-colored 

 above. 



Notes. 



Mr. George W. Childs was chosen President of the Penn- 

 sylvania Horticultural Society at the annual meeting for elect- 

 ing officers held on Tuesday, the 19th instant. 



Five books dealing with the pleasures of contemplative out- 

 door life and the minor beauties of nature as thereby revealed 

 were recently reviewed in a single issue of the Atlantic 

 Monthly. 



No plant is. prettier in a hanging-basket than the common 

 wild Strawberry. In France one often sees it, used alone, 

 falling in graceful, long tendrils, and equally charming 

 whether in blossom or in fruit. 



The hardwood trees of Maine are yearly becoming of 

 more importance in the sum of its lumber exports. As one 

 item we may note that during the past year seven million 

 spool-bars of birch have been shipped to Scotland. 



A bibliography of French publications on forests and forest- 

 science, prepared by one of the Professors of the National For- 

 est School, at Nancy, for the exhibit of the Forest Department 

 at the Paris Exposition, contains 8,000 titles, a fact which shows 

 the value placed on forests by the most civilized nations. 



Mrs. Mary E. Schenley, a lady of Peunsylvanian origin who 

 has long lived in England, has recently given 300 acres in the 

 city of Pittsburgh for use as a public park, and when it is con- 

 veyed to the city there will be granted the privilege of pur- 

 chasing, at cLU-rent rates, 100 additional acres which adjoin it. 



On Saturday last the Detroit Joxirnal gave to each one of 

 2,000 little girls under twelve years of age a potted Hyacinth 

 l)ulb, with instructions how to care for it. The flowers are to 

 be exhibited at a charity festival next spring and it is hoped 

 that the children's display will be an attractive feature of the 

 affair. 



Among the plants introduced into this country from Japan 

 by Mr. Thomas Hogg is a dwarf, compact, pyramidal variety of 

 the Jaj^anese Hemlock {Tsiiga Sicboldii), which does not seem 

 to be much known yet beyond tiie borders of the Flushing 

 Nursery. It is an attractive and interesting plant, nevertheless, 

 well suited to occui)ya place in a small garden, and well worth 

 cultivating in any collection of conifers. 



