January i6, 1895.] 



Garden and Forest. 



29 



able that hereafter Corn-fodder will be saved more largely 

 and used in place of hay. 



Blue Grass has shown itself capable of standing, in an un- 

 usual degree, the severe drought. In July very little green 

 Blue Grass could be seen. Pastures, meadows and lawns 

 looked bare, but with the rains of August and September they 

 became green, the strong root-stocks of this excellent and nu- 

 tritious grass spreading in all directions. Timothy has also 

 stood up well, but it afforded less pasturage than Blue Grass. 

 Clover made a better growth and gave more hay per acre than 

 any of the old forage-plants. In seasons of this kind it is more 

 valuable to have a mixture of Clover, Timothy and Blue Grass 

 than to grow them separately. The most remarkable feature 

 ot these forage-plants, especially Blue Grass, is that although 

 but little remained in pastures, cattle and horses thrived. In 

 other words, the grasses were practically cured in the field, 

 and hence more nutritious than in seasons of great moisture. 



Of the little-tried leguminous plants none are more promis- 

 ing in this state than the Cow Pea, Dolichos Katiang, var. 

 Sinensis, and Soja Bean, Glycine hispida, and none are more 

 valuable than the several hardy varieties introduced by Pro- 

 fessor Georgeson, of Kansas. Under the most trying circum- 

 stances these plants made a large growth, and contained an 

 abundance of fodder. Sweet Clover, Melilotus alba, has also 

 been tested, while it made a rapid and good growth. It is not 

 to be recommended because of its weedy nature and the 

 injurious effects which may result from its use. Crimson 

 Clover, Trifolium incarnatum, has been a failure. Alfalfa, 

 Medicago sativa, on the right kind of soil, is a remarkable 

 drought resister, but it has not been tried extensively. 



The Polygonum Sachalinense, which has been commented 

 on so widely as a valuable forage-plant for dry years, made an 

 excellent growth. At no time did it show the wilting effects of 

 the dry weather. I should not advise the extensive planting of 

 this Knot-weed. Its deep-running root-stocks are liable to be 

 a menace in removing it from the field. It may, however, pay 

 to have a few acres. 



From these statements it will be seen that the forage problem 

 resolves itself into the use of several different plants, and no 

 farmer should rely exclusively on a single plant. More and 

 greater reliance should be placed on Corn, which, under the 

 most unfavorable conditions, will produce good and cheap 

 forage. Sorghum must also come to the front as a forage- 

 plant. Soja Bean may be relied on. For fall and spring pas- 

 turage Blue Grass is the best of all of our Grasses. It fails, how- 

 ever, during the summer months, July and August. During 

 this time Corn, Rape, Soja Bean and Cow Pea may be sub- 

 stituted. 



Agricultural College, Ames, Iowa. L. H. Pattlmel. 



Recent Publications. 



The Woman's Book. Dealing practically with modern 

 conditions of home-life, self-support, educational opportu- 

 nities and every-day problems. In two volumes. New 

 York : Charles Scribner's Sons. 



These large elegant volumes, with their four hundred 

 illustrations, touch upon such a wide range of topics that 

 it is easy to understand why so many authors were en- 

 gaged in their preparation. Chi the intellectual side of life, 

 such subjects as Books and Reading and the art of travel 

 are treated by T. W. Higginson and Elizabeth Bisland, 

 with an important chapter on the Education of Woman, by 

 Rev. Lyman Abbott. On the practical side, P. G. Herbert 

 and Mary Cadvvallader Jones write of the various fields of 

 useful activity which are now open to women, and W. O. 

 Stoddard gives instruction in such details of business affairs 

 as keeping accounts and the management of real estate. 

 The various branches of household economy are discussed 

 by Lilian VV. Belts, while hygiene of the home and the 

 training of children are the subjects of articles by J. VV. 

 Roosevelt, M. D., and Kate Douglas Wiggin. Besides this, 

 we have essays on the cesthetics of dress and of house- 

 furnishing, with the inevitable instructions in regard to 

 behavior in polite society. Altogether, the book is as useful 

 as it is beautiful, which is saying a good deal, as no better 

 specimen of the bookmaker's art than this has lately 

 appeared from the press at such a reasonable price. It is 

 really an encyclopaedia on most of the sul)jects in which 

 women are interested, and it treats them in a broad way. 



while a very complete index makes all its information 

 readily available. 



The special matter which brings a book like this within 

 the scope of a notice by Garden and Forest is found in 

 two chapters : one on Home Grounds, by Samuel Parsons, 

 Jr., and another on Flower Gardens, by Mr. J. N. Gerard. 

 Mr. Parsons writes in an instructive way of the good and 

 bad features of building lots, with directions for draining, 

 and some excellent advice about the situation of a dwell- 

 ing-house and the grading of its surroundings. He next 

 takes up the subject of planting, gives the most approved 

 methods of arranging the lawn and of planting its borders, 

 with lists of trees and shrubs which will be found useful, 

 and the best way to group them. One might readily criti- 

 cise his selection of trees and shrubs, but no list would 

 satisfy every one, and his descriptions of various plants 

 with their special adaptations will be helpful to the novice. 

 It is not an easy thing in the space of thirty pages to give 

 a great amount of instruction on the planning and plant- 

 ing of home-grounds, but the advice, so far as it goes, is 

 sound, and it will be useful if it does no more than con- 

 vince the reader that there is such a thing as a proper 

 arrangement of home-grounds, that this is a matter worth 

 study and inquiry, and that the preparation for it should 

 begin at the very beginning, not only before the house is 

 built, but before its location is decided, so that house and 

 grounds together may be one consistent scheme. 



Mr. Gerard's field is rather more restricted, and, there- 

 fore, he goes more into detail, and gives the best of counsel 

 as to the preparation of the soil, the proper exposure of 

 flower-beds and the selection of plants to fill them. Of the 

 essential matters which should be borne in mind when 

 flowers are to be cultivated for house adornment, few are 

 neglected in this little monograph. There are paragraphs 

 devoted to hardy herbaceous perennials, to annuals, to flow- 

 ers for cutting, to climbers, to window and veranda boxes, 

 to aquatics, and descriptions of such helps as cold frames 

 and greenhouses, with hints on some specialties like 

 Orchid-culture. The advice is not of that desiccated sort 

 which gets into ordinary catalogues, but the paper is full 

 of little out-of-the-way bits of information which throw 

 side-lights upon the practice of gardening, and cannot help 

 but be beneficial to any woman, or any man, for that mat- 

 ter, who begins in a cautious, experimental way to plant 

 flowers to make his home attractive. 



The tenth edition of the Forest Tree-planters' Alanual, 

 prepared by Mr. J. C. Barrett, Secretary of the Minnesota 

 State Forestr)^ Association, has reached us, and, like earlier 

 editions of this work, contains a large amount of interest- 

 ing information and stimulating matter. It embraces a list 

 of the indigenous trees and shrubs of Minnesota, with 

 remarks on their distribution in the state and their economic 

 uses and values, with such characters as will assist in their 

 determination. There are articles also on how to manage 

 forest seeds, seedlings and cuttings, filled with practical 

 suggestions, articles on entomology and forest-zoology, and 

 on the economic and climatic conditions of the forests of 

 Minnesota. Such publications as these are valuable in 

 increasing the popular knowledge of forests and forest- 

 planting, branches of agriculture in which Minnesota has 

 for many years taken an active part. 



The Medical Plants of Te?inessce, respecting their com- 

 mercial value, with an analytical key, descriptions in aid 

 of their recognition, and notes relating to their distribution, 

 time and mode of collection and preparation for the drug 

 market, by Dr. A. Gattinger, of Nashville, has recently 

 been published under the direction of T. F. B. Allison, Com- 

 missioner of Agriculture of Tennessee. This is a useful 

 book, containing brief botanical descriptions of the eco- 

 nomic plants of the state sufficiently full to make it possi- 

 ble, by the aid of the excellent analytical key, to distinguish 

 them readily, with descriptions of their medicinal uses and 

 commercial value. 



