578 



Garden and Forest. 



[December 4, 1889. 



forest in the moist and salubrious climate of eastern North 

 America. It can be a question of time only, however, 

 when the annual burning which Kalm lamented in the fol- 

 lowing passage, will exterminate the forests and destroy 

 the reproductive strength of the soil : 



"The leaves which dropt last autumn had covered the 

 ground, in depth three or four inches. As this seems to hin- 

 der the growth of the grass, it was customary to burn it in 

 March, or at the end of that month (according to the old stile), 

 in order to give the grciss the liberty of growing up. I found 

 several spots burnt in this manner to-day ; but if it be useful 

 one way, it does a great deabof damage in another; all the 

 young shoots of several trees were burnt with the dead leaves, 

 which diminishes the woods considerably ; and, in such places 

 where the dead leaves had been burnt for several years to- 

 gether, the old trees were only left, wliich being cut down, 

 there remains nothing but a great field, without any wood. 

 At the same time, all sorts of trees and plants are consumed 

 by the fire, or at least deprived of their power of budding ; a 

 great number of plants and most of the grasses here are 

 annual ; their seeds fall between the leaves, and by that means 

 are burnt : this is another cause of universal complaint, that 

 grass is much scarcer at present in the woods than it was for- 

 merly ; a great number of dry and hollow trees are burnt at 

 the same time, though they could serve asfewel in the houses, 

 and by that means spare part of the forests. The upper 

 mould, likewise, burns away in part by that means, not to 

 mention several other inconveniencies with which this burning 

 of the dead leaves is attended. To this purpose the govern- 

 ment of Pensylvania have lately published an edict which 

 prohibits this burning ; nevertheless every one did as he 

 pleased, and this prohibition met with a general censure." 



It would be interesting to know whether the people of 

 Pennsylvania have acquired sufficient intelligence and self- 

 restraint during the last century and a half to submit will- 

 ingly to the enforcement of the act which met with such 

 general censure at the hands of their ancestors. 



Holiday Notes in 



Southern France 

 Italy.— VII. 



and Northern 



Professor Shelton, of the Kansas Agricultural College, 

 explains in a recent number of The Industrialist — a bright 

 little paper edited and published by the faculty of that 

 institution — a new irrigation project for the western or 

 " arid " section of that state, which will be watched with 

 interest. . It seems to have been known for a long time 

 that at almost any point in the wide valley of the Arkan- 

 sas River, water can by drilling be reached at a very shal- 

 low depth, usually from four to nine feet. This water is 

 found in a stratum of sand so thoroughly saturated that 

 enormous quantities can be pumped up without diminish- 

 ing the supply in any appreciable degree. This subsoil 

 water is supposed to have a distinct movement, flowing 

 along as the river flows, and it is argued that the river it- 

 self is but the visible and superficial outflowing of the 

 great underground stream. Professor Shelton adds : 



With these facts in view. Judge Gregory, editor of the 

 Garden City Sentinel, has advanced the idea that, by tapping 

 this underflow with a ditch of suitable size and depth, a per- 

 manent supply of water for irrigation may be led to elevated 

 regions, just as water from the river is ordinarily led away for 

 use on the uplands. This original plan has been brought to 

 the attention of the public with great persistence and force by 

 means of circular addresses and newspaper articles. As a 

 result of this agitation, conducted by Mr. Gregory, the atten- 

 tion of practical irrigators has been drawn to the subject, and 

 measures have been taken to give the new scheme a practical 

 test upon a large scale. The corporation owning the great 

 Dodge City ditch — a canal twenty-five feet wide and nearly 

 100 miles long — is already at work upon an extension of their 

 main ditch which will intercept a full mile and a quarter of 

 this sub-flow. This, with the number of powerful steam 

 pumps planned for use another season, will certainly prove to 

 what extent the underflow of the water of the Arkansas River 

 is available to the husbandman. 



No doubt these enterprising men realize that a perma- 

 nent water supply is quite as necessary to sustain the even 

 flow of an underground current as it is in the case of an 

 ordinary stream. While they are tapping this hidden river, 

 therefore, the projectors of this scheme should use every 

 effort to save the forests where it takes its rise. 



j\/T Y note-book was next brought into requisition in the pic- 

 -'■'•*■ turesquely situated and beautiful city of Genoa, where 

 there is abundance of interesting things to note for the benefit 

 of the stay-at-home gardener. 



Immediately after leaving the large, handsome station we 

 come upon tiie Columbus monument, surrounded by Date 

 Palms and other members of more or less tropical floras, which 

 we were destined to see in great number, vigor and beauty 

 for some distance along this beautiful coast. The Cape of 

 Good Hope, Mexico and Australia are centres of plant lite, 

 which seem to find their counterpart in the hot, almost rainless, 

 summers and the very mild winters of Genoa and its neigh- 

 borhood. At any rate, large numbers of shrubs and trees from 

 these countries thrive in the Riviera so well that it is difficult 

 to imagine their succeeding any better even in their native 

 habitats. Acacias, Myoporums and Pittosporums of large 

 size, fine Dasylirions and enormous Agaves combine to pro- 

 duce a strangely exotic effect. Here, as well as elsewhere, we 

 were somewhat disappointed to find little or no use made of 

 such beautiful native shrubs as the Myrtle, Terebinth and the 

 like. 



Acqua Sola, a small park at the north-east end of the city, 

 and about 140 feet above the level of the sea, is a favorite 

 promenade. It occupies the site of part of the old ramparts, 

 and was laid out in its present form about half a century ago. 

 Then we pass on to the Villetta di Negro, a well kept garden 

 with winding promenades, which ascend to a bastion about 150 

 feet above the level of Acqua Sola. Fine views of the harbor, city 

 and neighborhood are obtained from this spot. The old walls 

 have allowed plenty of space for climbers, and such things as 

 the yeWow Bignonia Tweediana, Sola7ium jasininoides and other 

 plants of similar character have thriven exceedingly. The 

 common Ivy {Hedera Helix) clothed some of the steep, sunny 

 banks, and here and there Convolvulus Mauritanicus, v\'ith its 

 slender shoots bearing a profusion of pale blue flowers, grew 

 out of the Ivy carpet, seemingly quite satisfied with its quar- 

 ters. Fluggea Japonica was here also'used for forming a turf 

 in dense shade, just as we had seen it in the gardens on the 

 north Italian lakes, and so far we have seen nothing which 

 produced such satisfactory resiflts. Very tall Date Palms, with 

 thick stems, were, in the opinion of my companion and my- 

 self, spoiled by training Ivy and other creepers round them. 

 A sort of ravine, with a small watercourse, provided suitable 

 places for Colocasias, and other moisture-loving, fine foliage 

 plants. Melia Azedarach (laden at the time of our visit with 

 panicles of small round fruits about the size of peas) is a Genoa 

 shade tree, as is also the Carob {Cerotonia Siliqua), with its 

 handsome, leathery, black-green, pinnate leaves. 



Cycads were only represented by Cycas revohita, and Palms 

 by scarcely half a dozen species. The common Date Palm 

 (Phoenix dactylifera) and a dwarf species (P. reclinatd), the 

 South European Chanicerops huniilis, the Japanese and Chinese 

 Trachycarpus excelsus — or, as nurserymen mostly prefer to 

 call it, Chanicerops excelsa — and the Californian Fan Palm, 

 Washingtonia filifera (better known as Pritchardia filifera), 

 conclude the list as far as the public gardens of Genoa are 

 concerned. The last-mentioned Palm is a remarkably quick 

 grower, and magnificent examples of it are to be seen along 

 the Riviera — some before long will become the rivals of the 

 celebrated pair in the Californian city of Los Angeles. The 

 Director of the Public Parks and Gardens at Rio de Janeiro 

 told me a week or two ago that a specimen in one of the Rio 

 gardens has attained huge dimensions and pi'oduces fruit in 

 abundance. In a small pond, too much shaded by trees for 

 the perfect happiness of sun-loving aquatic plants, we noticed 

 Nelnmbium speciosum in flower. 



Leaving Genoa, the railway skirts the Mediterranean coast 

 line, and affords the traveler a succession of enchantingly 

 beautiful views. The train carries him past bare, frowning, 

 lofty rocks, with their bases washed by the sea and their sum- 

 mits crowned with ruined towers erected in former ages for 

 protection against pirates ; then extensive, terraced Olive 

 -groves — gnarled and picturesque — Citrons, Oranges, etc. 

 Here and there between the railway and the sea are small 

 patches of flat ground, and these are generally utilized for 

 growing fruit and vegetables. Constant irrigation is, how- 

 ever, necessary, and we became cjuite familiar with the sight 

 of water being raised from a well by a donkey working in a 

 circle under a thick, vine-clad roof, and then conducted along 

 small channels to the slighdy sunken beds. Not a weed was 

 visible in these gardens, and very fine crops of Tomatoes, 

 Aubergines, Lettuces and other vegetables were the rule. 



