lO 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 358. 



At the annual meeting of the Ohio Horticultural Society it 

 was said that the commercial cultivation of the Gladiolus was 

 carried on very extensively at Cuyahoga Falls, two growers 

 there liaving produced more than a million bulbs. One man 

 was reported as selling 30o,coo bulbs in a single order for 

 enough money to pay for a small farm. 



A California paper announces that a savv^mill in Fresno 

 County has prepared a car-load of redwood blocks for ship- 

 ment to Germany, where they are to be used in making lead- 

 pencils. This is an interesting item, although the accompany- 

 ing announcement tliat California redwood will soon entirely 

 displace Florida cedar in this industry is perhaps premature. 



The Farmers' Advocate states that persons who have failed 

 to succeed with the Parker Earle Strawberry may have planted 

 it in soil that is too dry. All Strawberries do best in mod- 

 erately moist ground, and it may be added that weeds do the 

 best there also ; but the Parker Earle, in particular, never 

 seems to be at its best until its roots strike permanent mois- 

 ture. 



In the report of the Executive Committee of the American 

 Forestry Association, at its meeting in Washington last week, 

 it was proposed to introduce into Congress bills to provide for 

 ol^ligatory courses of instruction in forestry at the agricultural 

 colleges, as well as a course of lectures at West Point, a post- 

 graduate course at the Department of Agriculture, and scholar- 

 ships for students in forestry to be sent abroad. 



Besides its great parks, London now has 19S open spaces of 

 less than ten acres in extent, with an aggregate area of three 

 hundred and fifty -four and a half acres. Most of these grounds 

 have been secured for public use in comparatively recent 

 time, and the Gardeners' Chroiiiclev^eW says that any one who 

 would have ventured to prophesy fifty years ago that there 

 would have been now nearly two hundred such places for 

 recreation and resort in tlie great city, would have been 

 laughed at as a dreamer. 



Dr. Hoskins says that the Old Nonesuch Apple, which is 

 generally supposed to be of IVIassachusetts origin, is probably 

 from Canada, as is indicated by its synonym Red Canada, and 

 also by the fact that many old orchards of this variety now 

 e.xist in Canada. When well-grown upon good ground the 

 Red Canada, like the Fameuse, is a first-class commercial 

 fruit, and it has been shipped this winter to London from Mont- 

 real in cases with paste-board divisions which make a cell for 

 each apple, just as egg-boxes do for every 'i'g'g. Shipped in 

 this way these apples brought from $5.00 to $7.00 a bushel as 

 an ornamental table fruit. Their medium and uniform size 

 and color give them great value for this purpose. No doubt, 

 there are other apples besides the Red Canada and the New- 

 town Pippin which might be shipped in this way at a profit, 

 and our own large cities would take choice fruit so marketed 

 at a good figure. Such apples should be uniform in appear- 

 ance, size and quality, and some of the earlier varieties like 

 Early Joe might be shipped and sold in this way, but they 

 would need much more intelligent handling than ordinary 

 market apples receive. 



Christmas gifts supplied by iforists this year consisted 

 almost entirely of boxes of cut flowers, violets and roses being 

 the favorites. Large, deep-colored Marie Louise violets, their 

 long stems allowing of loose, graceful arrangement, sold for as 

 much as five dollars a hundred. Roses cost from three dol- 

 lars to eighteen dollars a dozen, an extra quality of American 

 Beauty commanding the outside price of three dollars each. 

 Lilacs at twenty-five cents to fifty cents a spray, tulips at one 

 dollar a dozen, large showy heads of Poinsettia at twenty-five 

 cents each, and stevia at fifty cents for a small bunch, were 

 specialties of the holiday season. Carnations were plentiful 

 and cheap ; some well-cultivated specimens of William Scott, 

 measuring two and a half inches across, brought the extreme 

 price of two dollars a dozen. The Orchid season is now fairly 

 begun, and cut blooms of Caftleya at nine dollars a dozen, and 

 Cypripedium insigne at four dollars a dozen, were in good sup- 

 ply. Fruited plants of Ardisia crenulata and the Otaheite 

 orange were in some demand, and specimen plants of Cycla- 

 mens and of Chinese Primroses in ornamental baskets found 

 considerable favor. But the most beautiful and the most costly 

 were luxuriantly flowered plants of Heath, their foliage almost 

 hidden under the myriad of tiny bells, and a few extra early 

 pink and white Azaleas. 



The vegetable supply in New York at this season is remarl^a- 

 bly varied, comprising the ordinary fall root-crops of our 

 northern fields, and of Canada and Europe, the more perish- 



able green crops held over in cold storage, new vegetables 

 from the Gulf states and from the Pacific coast, and choice 

 hot-house products from adjoining states. The principal sup- 

 plies of potatoes in our markets now come from Long Island 

 and interior sections of New York state, and from New Jersey, 

 Maine and Michigan. Cargoes have recently arrived from 

 Scotland, England, Germany and Belgium, and new potatoes 

 from Bermuda are already here. The best sweet-potatoes come 

 from Vineland, and West India yams, weighing from five to 

 eight pounds apiece, are occasionally seen. These are cut in 

 quantity to suit the purchaser and sell for fifteen cents a pound. 

 Winter turnips, from New Jersey and from Canada, are abundant 

 and cheap, while small and tender hot-house turnips cost five 

 cents each. Carrots grown under glass may be had for twenty 

 cents a dozen. Florida cucumbers, small and of irregular 

 form, sell at the rate of four for twenty-five cents, the smooth 

 and shapely hot-house product bringing twenty cents each. 

 These have more than their appearance to account for the 

 difference in price, since their crispness and delicate flavor is 

 most marked. Tomatoes from the southern states and from 

 California cost twenty-five to thirty cents a pound, the firm 

 flesh and rich color of hot-house tomatoes makingsales for them 

 at fifty to sixty cents a pound. Small bunches of asparagus, from 

 St. Louis, are offered at thirty-five cents each, and slender 

 stalks of tlie same vegetable, from New Jersey greenhouses, 

 are luxuries which cost as much as $1.25 for two dozen tips. 

 New okra, from Havana, costs ten cents a dozen, arti- 

 chokes, from Louisiana, twenty-five cents each, and Florida 

 squashes ten cents. Other vegetables from Florida are egg- 

 plants, Brussels sprouts, leeks, peas, string beans and lettuce. 

 Chicory and escarole come from New Orleans, and radishes, 

 spinach and kale from Norfolk. Dandelion grown in cold 

 frames on Long Island finds ready buyers at twenty cents a 

 quart, and the best mushrooms cost $1.25 a pound. 



The so-called Vanilla Bean is not a bean at all, as is vi'ell 

 known, but the fruit of a climbing Orchid, Vanilla planifolia, 

 the capsule or pod of which is about three-eighths of an inch 

 in diameter and from six to ten inches long, and has a certain 

 resemblance to the so-called Catalpa Bean. The plant in its 

 native home, in Mexico and tropical America, climbs over 

 trees and shrubs by means of slender rootlets sent out from 

 the joints of the stem. It is not a true epiphyte, however, 

 but always maintains its connection with the soil. In its wild 

 state it climbs to a height of twenty feet, but in cultivation it 

 is kept within bounds, so that the unripe pods are not injured 

 when the others are gathered. A late number of Popjilar 

 Science Neius contains an interesting account of the method of 

 growing the Vanilla, in which it is stated that in Mexico the 

 plant is propagated by cuttings and then trained over some 

 rough-barked trellis-work in partial shade. When the plants 

 were first introduced into the West and East Indies they grew 

 vigorously and produced an abundance of flowers, but no 

 pods. It was discovered that the particular moth which fer- 

 tilized the flowers in Mexico was absent from its new home, 

 and artificial pollination was resorted to, after which the plants 

 produced abundantly. With a long splint of bamboo the lip of 

 the flower is lifted away and the pollen is transferred from the 

 pockets and applied to the stigma. The work is so easily done 

 that one person can fertilize a thousand flowers in a morning. 

 The pods require a month to reach full size and six months 

 more to ripen. The process of curing is long and compli- 

 cated, and tlie aroma of vanilla is said to be produced only by 

 fermentation. In the island of Reunion, in the Indian Ocean, 

 where the plant is grown extensively, the pods are placed in a 

 basket and plunged for half a minute in hot water, then placed 

 on a mat to drain and exposed between woolen blankets to the 

 sun for six or eight days, and kept in closed boxes during the 

 night to promote a slight fermentation. When the pods are 

 perfectly cured they are a dark chocolate color, pliable and 

 free from moisture. Wlien finally prepared, the pods are tied 

 up in bundles, packed in air-tight boxes, and when in prime 

 condition they are covered with a frosting of needle-like crys- 

 tals of vanillic acid, which, when pressed between the fingers, 

 gives off the characteristic odor. The supply sent to New York 

 is produced in Mexico, and is regarded as of the highest 

 quality. The amount imported amounts to something like 

 150,000 pounds a year, while on our Pacific coast a portion of 

 the supply is derived from the island of Tahiti, although the 

 quality of this is much inferior. The supply of London conies 

 largely from Mauritius and Seychelles, and the greater part of 

 the vanilla imported into France conies from Reunion. Three 

 years ago more than 500,000 pounds were imported into France 

 from this island, which was twice the amount produced in all 

 the rest of the world. 



