152 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 373. 



distinction, liad not been eminent as a horticulturist and 

 untiririg in his efforts to preserve our rich inheritance of 

 natural scenery. No pen has described the grandeur of 

 our primeval forests with such poetic truth as his ; no man 

 ever loved nature more sincerely. In the very first num- 

 ber of this journal he made an eloquent plea for the pro- 

 tection of the forests of the White Mountains, and till the 

 day of his death this subject was one in which he took a 

 vital interest. This movement, however, makes appeal 

 in a still more direct way to every one interested in 

 horticulture as a fine art. It is not decided what form 

 this memorial shall take, but it is proposed to erect it 

 in the garden that Parkman loved, on the banks of Jamaica 

 Pond, which has now been taken as a part of the Park 

 system of Boston. Here, thirty years ago, he wrote the 

 Book of Roses, which remains a standard authority in 

 many branches of this subject to this day. Even before 

 this the first collection of plants sent to America from 

 Japan was planted in this garden, including the beau- 

 tiful double-flowered Apple which bears his name, and 

 many other plants now well known to our gardens. 

 Here was established one of the very earliest good 

 collections of hardy herbaceous plants in the country ; 

 here'he made those experiments in hybridizing and cross- 

 breeding which were described in one of the most interest- 

 ing horticultural papers of its time. It is altogether fitting 

 that every American who loves garden-art should have the 

 privilege of contributing to this memorial of one who 

 holds such a distinguished place in the development of 

 horticulture in America. Contributions can be sent to Mr. 

 Henry L. Higginson, 44 State Street, Boston. The com- 

 mittee in charge are men of cultivated taste, and there is 

 every assurance that this memorial, whatever it may be, 

 will not lack adequate dignity and refinement. 



Park vs. Grove. 



A FASH ION is prevalent in some western states which 

 is of enough importance to warrant some comment, 

 and if the mental derangement which it seems to indicate 

 can be properly diagnosed and treated, the undertaking 

 will be worth a great deal to many communities. Now, 

 there are very few real parks in western towns, unless de- 

 lightful bits of virgin scenery are to be accepted under that 

 head. The pleasure-grounds where, with natural condi- 

 tions more or less propitious, an intelligent art has wrought 

 any satisfying or pleasing effect, are e.xceedingly rare. At 

 the same time there are not v\'anting hundreds of attempts 

 in this direction. Almost every prairie town of any con- 

 sequence at all has its so-called park. Sometimes this park 

 and the fair-grounds are combined. Whether the park be 

 fair-grounds, race-track or plain park, however, the loca- 

 tion is usually upon some thoroughly flat, featureless and 

 treeless plat, where the City Council and the Street Com- 

 missioner can give their creative instincts full swing. This 

 park is laid out in intricate and wonderful patterns. It 

 contains race-tracks, baseball grounds, camp-meeting 

 stands, carp ponds, fountains or fences, according to the 

 whims of the Street Commissioner and the demands of the 

 populace. It is profusely set with trees. Cotton woods 

 having a large majority, and these are then left to struggle 

 with a magnificent annual crop of Sunflowers. This picture 

 is not in the least overdrawn. Any one who has ever lived 

 in the west knows it to be the sober truth. As a conse- 

 quence of the construction and maintenance of this park it 

 is unfrequented and neglected. If the county fair is held 

 on the grounds in the fall the Sunflowers are mowed, and 

 for three days the park is crowded and useful. 



Now, it is a strange companion picture to this which one 

 sees if he visits "The Grove." Near most towns will be 

 found pieces of natural woodland, usually along some 

 stream, to which the picnic parties always turn with a 

 natural impulse, which largely discredits their ill-conceived 

 ideas of a park. Every town has its "Wilson's Grove" or 

 "Johnson's Grove," which is a place of this sort — virgin 



woods and streams and rocks, unmarked by any attempt 

 at art. This is the place to which the citizens all retreat 

 when the appetite for fresh air and shade and outdoor rest 

 is to be satisfied. 



The name Grove, as applied to this picnicking rendezvous, 

 in contradistinction to the Park, is of some interest. These 

 terms are commonly accepted and used with the utmost 

 clearness of distinction, showing that in the popular mind 

 the two articles are in no way related. Nevertheless, it 

 would appear at once to the artist in landscape that the 

 grove is by far the more satisfactory park. And were the 

 parks of western cities planned by landscape-artists there is 

 no doubt but that they would usually be located where 

 unperverted instinct has found a satisfying grove, and sel- 

 dom or never where false instruction has led citizens to 

 make their so-called parks. 



I have in mind one particular western village of more 

 than usual culture and enterprise, which may, however, be 

 taken as an example. This town has expended many hun- 

 dreds of dollars in making a park on forty acres of valuable 

 land. One corner is kept mowed for a baseball field, and 

 this is the extent of the use found for the park. Quite as 

 near the town, on the opposite side, are uncommonly fine 

 stretches of natural timber, a beautiful river, suitable for 

 boating and bathing, some hills and ravines, which would 

 make a delightful park. These woods, used otherwise only 

 for pasture, constitute The Grove ; and to them comes the 

 crowd for the soldiers' reunion, the picnic, the circus, and 

 so forth. 



Many times delightful results might be obtained if the 

 work which has been put on a city park could have been 

 judiciously expended on The Grove. And this shows us 

 the direction in which lies the remedy. The existence of 

 the park shows the public spirit and liberality of the citi- 

 zens. The general favor in which the grove is held demon- 

 strates the unspoiled instinct for sylvan pleasures. The 

 solution of the difficulty would be to unite the two, and 

 here is a problem worth attacking. t^ . -.t, , 



SlilUvater, Oldahuma. ^^ ^- '^- '^""g'^- 



The Banksian Pine in the Nebraska Sand Hills. 



SO far as I know there has been but one experiment 

 made with Pinus Banksiana in the plain region. In 

 1891 the Chief of the Forestry Division furnished I\Ir. H. C. 

 Brunner, of Holt County, Nebraska, enough trees to plant 

 three experimental plats of one acre each on the crest and 

 slopes of one of the hig'hest sand hills in the entire Sand 

 Hill region of Nebraska. One of these plats was planted 

 principally to Banksian Pine, the remaining species being 

 other conifers. 



This Pine was chosen because it thrives on the sand 

 dunes of Lake Michigan, and the soil conditions of the 

 two localities are not dissimilar, consisting of an almost 

 pure sand. In a visit to the Nebraska plantation last Oc- 

 tober I was surprised to find the sand quite moist only a 

 few inches below the surface, on the crest of the ridge, in 

 spite of an unbroken drought of months. The trees were 

 four to six inches high when planted. Practically, all the 

 other species failed, only a few Scotch and Bull Pines show- 

 ing where hundreds had been set. But the Banksians had 

 thrived. While yet three miles from the plantation they 

 were easily discernible, a green patch on the very crest of 

 the brown sand hill. Examination showed that over half of 

 the trees, which had been planted two by four feet apart, 

 were in thrifty condition, ranging from ten inches to almost 

 four feet in height. The best growth of the year was eleven 

 inches. The trees had been set in a furrow made in the 

 unplowed sand, on which grew a scant herbage of grasses. 

 Had the plat been plowed the sand would have blown 

 away, as is proven by the many "blow-outs" seen while 

 crossing the Sand Hills from Burwell to Ainsworth. The 

 scant vegetation held the sand in place, and the Banksian 

 Pine had become established. Barring unforeseen accidents, 

 there is sure to be, in the course of twenty years, a tiny 

 Pine grove in this vast desert region, devoid of trees and 



