20 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 359. 



of the Final Reports of the Tenth Census of the United 

 Stales. 



The value of Timber and Timber -trees, in its second edi- 

 tion, is greatly enhanced by Professor Ward's introduction, 

 in which he discusses the nature of timber, with the different 

 ways of looking at it by different classes of individuals, 

 such as timber merchants, engineers and builders, carpen- 

 ters, chemists, physicists, botanists, foresters, etc., and he 

 has recast and brought down to date the chapters on the 

 growth and structure of trees, on their diseases, and on the 

 seasoning and preservation of timbers ; and it is to be re- 

 gretted that that portion of the work devoted to the specific 

 account of the different timber-trees of the world and their 

 products has not been also brought up to the existing state 

 of our knowledge of the subject. 



Notes. 



The people of Baltimore have decided by vote to invest a 

 million dollars in another park. The ground selected is well 

 known as Clifton, the splendid estate ot the late Johns Hop- 

 kins, and one of the many beautiful country homes that lie on 

 the outskirts of the city. The money for this park has been 

 accumulating for twenty-five years from annual taxes on the 

 gross revenue of the street-railway companies. 



A new Peach called the Triumph, and originated in Georgia 

 by Mr. J. D. Husted, is a freestone variety, which ripens as 

 early as the Alexander and other clingstones. Charles Down- 

 ing said that a freestone peach as large, early, handsome and 

 as good in quality as tlie Alexander would be worth millions 

 of dollars. Mr. J. H. Hale, who usually speaks with caution, 

 states his belief that the Triumph has all these good qualities. 



The report of the legislative committee which was appointed 

 to investigate the charges of fraud in the administration of the 

 Minnesota Pine-lands seems to have discovered a great many 

 abuses, and it is believed that the state will be able to collect 

 many thousands of dollars as the result of their labors. It is 

 plain that immense amounts of timljer have been dishonestly 

 taken and sold, and it is charged that the Hinckley forest- 

 fires, whch destroyed more than five hundred lives and mil- 

 lions of dollars' worth of timber, were set by stum page-thieves 

 to cover up their stealings of timber in the state lands. 



The Dutchess County Horticultural Society was organized at 

 Poughkeepsie on the second of January, with the following 

 officers : President, James Blair, gardener to Ogden Mills ; 

 Vice-President, M. J. Lynch, Poughkeepsie ; Treasurer, James 

 Sloan, Poughkeepsie ; Secretary, Wallace Gomersell, gardener 

 to Winthrop Sargent, Fishkill-on-Hudson. It is creditable to 

 the gardeners and Iforists of that section that they have formed 

 such a society, and it is to be hoped that they will have abun- 

 dant cooperation and sympathy, especially from the landed 

 proprietors in this favored region. There ought to be many 

 true friends of horticulture in Dutchess County outside of the 

 ranks of those who have made it the business of their lives. 



In a bulletin recently published by Professor E. W. Hilgard, 

 of the University of California, it is stated that the Australian 

 Salt Bush, Atriplex semibaccatum, can be grown as success- 

 fully on the alkali lands of the San Joaquin valley and else- 

 where in that state as a forage-plant. Where the percentage 

 of alkali in the soil is very high this can be materially reduced 

 by planting the Salt Bush and removing each cutting from the 

 land. The yield is double that of either Oats, Barley or Wheat 

 hay and as much as that of Alfalfa, while its composition out- 

 side of the Ash makes it an excellent stock-food, and it seems 

 to be readily eaten by them. It is not definitely known whether 

 the large amount of saline ingredients would be harmless to 

 milch cows. Certainly they would not need any salt, and if no 

 purgative effects follow the eating of the plant no other disad- 

 vantages need be apprehended. 



The Biishberg Catalogue, which we have again received, is 

 something more than a mere catalogue. Its full description 

 of the various kinds of Grapes cultivated in this country, makes 

 it very useful and convenient for reference, but the chapters 

 which precede this list also have a genuine and permanent 

 value. The notes on the classification of true Grapevines by 

 Dr. George Engelmann, the viticultural observations on our 

 native species by T. V. Munson, the chapter on fungous dis- 

 eases of the Grape and their treatment by Professor B. T. Gal- 

 loway, the account of insects injurious to the vine, as well as 



those which are beneficial, l>y Professor C. V. Riley— all these 

 are the work of recognized experts, and besides these there 

 are practical notes on climate, soil, planting, cultivating, graft- 

 ing, training, packing, wine-making, etc., which are instructive 

 and helpful, so that the book can be commended as a useful 

 one to all those who grow grapes for market or for home use. 

 It is issued by Bush & Son & Meissner, Bushberg, Missouri, at 

 the price of fifty cents. 



Now that a growing interest is manifest in the subject of 

 nut-culture, Dr. Hoskins observes that too little is said about 

 the Butternut, especially for growing in the cold north. In 

 quality the meat of the butternut is rich, and, to some people, 

 it is more agreeable than that of the English walnut, but its 

 rough outside is not attractive and its shell is hard. We never 

 heard of any attempt at growing select varieties, although the 

 wild trees differ very much in the quality of their nuts. Per- 

 haps some varieties of value could be secured by crossing our 

 native Butternuts with the foreign species, and a seedling 

 Butternut will bear when it is quite young. Dr. Hoskins 

 planted a few butternuts in rows sixteen years ago, and the 

 trees from this seed have been bearing good nuts for several 

 years, and he finds that the best varieties can readily be 

 grafted on trees bearing inferior nuts. The whole business is 

 simple, and Dr. Hoskins has proved that growing butternuts 

 will pay, at least as well as growing apples. 



In an excellent paper on the Ventilation of Glass Houses, 

 read before the Society of Minnesota Florists, Mr. Lewis 

 Wilde argued against the common error of considering venti- 

 lation nothing more than an easy means of regulating temper- 

 ature. He explains how the change of the exhausted air of 

 the houses for the purer outside air supplies carbonic acid 

 gas, to be taken up by the leaves of plants, and especially how 

 ventilation regulates the moisture in the air which indirectly 

 influences the growing process of plants. When the air in a 

 house is completely saturated with moisture no transpiration 

 from the leaves can take place, and, therefore, no water con- 

 tainmg diluted food is taken up by the roots, and consequently 

 the plants will grow feeble or die. This is the danger in cool 

 weather when the houses have been watered and syringed 

 without ventilation. When the ventilators are open, the mois- 

 ture-laden air is replace<l by the drier air from without, the 

 leaves at once begin to evaporate moisture and root-action and 

 nutrition goes on in a normal way. The fact that as the air 

 grows warmer it is capable of taking up more vapor furnishes 

 a probable reason for the check of Roses under glass in the 

 autunm and spring when tliere is no fire-heat. During the day 

 the temperature will rise high anil it will sink correspondingly 

 during the night and early morning. In the daytime a large 

 quantity of vapor is taken up, enough to completely saturate 

 the air when it cools down at night, and the Rose-leaves, not 

 bemg able to evaporate any moisture, will suffer a check as 

 soon as the rays of sun fall on them. In order to prevent this, 

 fresh air should be given during the night with fire-heat when 

 the temperature does not fall below sixty degrees. 



Florida oranges, which have been wholesaling at about 

 $2.00 a box, have advanced to %\ oo and $5.00, with a prospect 

 of a still further advance for good fruit, if any can be secured. 

 The cold wave which visited Florida in the last days of De- 

 cember was tlie most disastrous known in the history of that 

 state. Ice formed an inch thick as far south as Lake Worth, 

 and in many other sheltered places where Orange-groves had 

 heretofore been safe, the fruit was frozen solid on the trees. 

 The loss to the fruit-growers, as well as the merchants, trans- 

 portation companies, the packers and all those in any way 

 connected with what promised to be a most profitable season, 

 has been almost as serious as if the state had been swept over 

 by fire. Owing to the drought of last summer the Orange- 

 trees bloomed late in the fall, and there was promise of a large 

 crop of late fruit. Of course, this is all destroyed, and the fruit- 

 buds for next year's bloom are probably ruined. Many young 

 orchards are killed, and many of the old trees will be cut back 

 seriously. The salable oranges now arriving in this city are 

 those which had been picked and were in packing-houses be- 

 fore the cold wave. Some oranges which were caught by the 

 frost in transit bring little or nothing. Grape-fruit now sells at 

 $6.00 a box at wholesale, and the price is steadily advancing. 

 To meet the deficiency caused by the disaster in Florida, large 

 orders have been cabled for Messina and Palermo oranges, 

 and Sicilian fruit now here is commanding high prices. 

 Oranges are already selling in the groves in California at an 

 advance of $1.50 a box. Apples and other fruit have not yet 

 felt the effects of the scarcity of oranges, but all kinds of win- 

 ter fruit will probably be dearer as they are called upon to 

 supply the deficiency. 



