l82 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 376. 



it is sounded, and in the very year that Walden was pub- 

 lished he writes : 



Thoreau's instinct is as sure toward the facts of nature as 

 the Witch Ha/.el toward treasure. If every quiet country town 

 in New England had a son who, witli a lore like White of Sel- 

 borne's and an eye like Buffon's, had watched and studied its 

 landscape and history, and then published the result as Tho- 

 reau has done in a book as redolent of genuine and perceptive 

 sympathy with nature as a Clover-field of honey. New Eng- 

 land would seem as poetic and beautiful as Greece. 



His interpretation of Emerson is, [lerhaps, even more 

 sympatlietic : 



The imagination of tlie man who roams the solitary pastures 

 of Concord, or Boats dreaming down the river, will easily find 

 its landscape in Emerson's pages. His writings have no 

 imported air. If there be something oriental in his philoso- 

 phy and tropical in his imagination, they have yet the strong 

 flavor of his mother earth, the underived sweetness of the 

 open Concord sky and the spacious breadth of the Concord 

 horizon. 



Conifers in the West. 



THE only conifer that can be readily grown in the 

 west, in addition to the Pines already discussed in 

 this series, is the Red Cedar, Juniperus Virginians. It is 

 found native along the Kansas, the Niobrara and other 

 western rivers, and thrives in the dry ledges that border 

 the streams. It is too slow a grower, however, to be an 

 attractive species to the western planter unless he desires 

 it to increase variety in his grove. 



The European Larch was given a thorough trial at the 

 South Dakota Agricultural College, where trees three to si.x 

 inches high were grown for a year in nursery, and then set 

 with Box Elders. During the first three years they made 

 only a sprawling growth, the laterals being stronger than 

 the leader ; then they began their upright growth, and in 

 the course of the ne.xt two years assumed their normal 

 shape. But last spring they were almost completely ruined 

 by a late frost. The Larch leaves out very early, so that 

 when late frosts are apprehended it had best not be 

 planted. 



The Red Pine, Finns resinosa, ought to be as desirable a 

 tree for western planting, but it has not been given a fair 

 trial, probably because it is not commonly offered by 

 nurserymen. 



The Arbor-vita; is not a success in the dry plains. A 

 hedge of it was planted along the front line of the Agricul- 

 tural College campus at Brookings, South Dakota, in 1887. 

 It was heavily mulched, and grew well the first year, but, 

 in spite of good care, it gradually failed, and now scarcely 

 a vestige of it remains. Last October I saw a small hedge 

 of it at Denver, Colorado, in fine condition, Init it had been 

 thoroughly irrigated. 



It is difficult, if not impossible, to assign the Spruces to 

 their proper places in western planting. The White Spruce, 

 Picea alba, is a native of the Black Hills, and specimens of 

 it pulled from the woods in that region and set in the forest- 

 plats at Brookings are now making a slow, but healthy, 

 growth. They were twelve to sixteen inches high when 

 planted in 1889, and the tallest is now three feet eight 

 inches high. 



In several towns in central Kansas, such as Hutchinson 

 and Salina, one sees Norway Spruces on the lawns, but they 

 are not at all common. At the home of Secretary Morton, 

 at Nebraska City, Nebraska, a Norway Spruce of his plant- 

 ing is now about thirty feet high, and measures thirty-four 

 inches in circumference at three feet from the ground. 

 Douglas Spruce, Pseudotsuga taxifolia, and the Colorado 

 Blue Spruce, Picea pungens, have been extensively tested 

 at Franklin, Nebraska. They are grown until tvi'elve to 

 eighteen inches high under shade, and are then trans- 

 planted into open nursery rows. The Douglas Spruce did not 

 stand the extreme drought well, not a single good speci- 

 men being seen during my visit in October. This Spruce 

 was also quite extensively planted in the Sand Hill experi- 

 ment of the Forestry Division in 1S89. In inspecting these 



plats in October last, a very few Douglas Spruce were 

 found, but none looked as if they could survive another 

 year. 



The Blue Spruce has a much better record. Many sturdy 

 young trees of it can be seen at Franklin, and there are 

 remarkably fine specimens to be seen in the cemetery at 

 Nel)raska City, and at Salina, Kansas, while it is the 

 most common ornamental tree in the lawns of Denver, 

 Colorado. It is a very slow grower in the plains. The trees 

 at Nebraska City are not more than one-third as high as a 

 White Pine on the same lot, and evidently planted at the 

 same time. The Denver trees have the advantage of irri- 

 gation. This Spruce varies greatly in color, specimens 

 having a heavy bloom on the foliage being counted partic- 

 ularly valuable for ornamental planting. 



It may be that one of the Spruces named may succeed 

 when planted in the shade of Pines, as the species are shade- 

 enduring, and this probably accounts for their poor growth 

 in the intense light and heat and drought of the plains. 



A few specimens of Balsam Fir, and very rarely, toward 



the south. Silver Fir, complete the list of conifers seen in 



the west. For general planting the Pines must take the 



lead, and of these, Pinus ponderosa and the Scotch Pine are 



probably the most promising. ^, , , r- «- 



w^ishingion, D. c. Cliarles A. Kcffcr. 



The Saguenay Region. — I. 



THE gorge through which the Saguenay River flows 

 is one of the natural wonders of the world. The deep 

 stream winds but little, and its appearance is much like 

 that of a narrow lake. The cliffs which wall it in are so 

 steep and lofty that one who steams over its surface rarely 

 catches even a glimpse of the country which stretches 

 away from their tops. Ninety miles from the mouth of 

 the river the gorge divides, the main part going on to 

 Chicoutimi, the other extending a few miles south-west 

 and forming Ha-ha Bay. At the head of the bay the rocky 

 barrier is broken or worn away, and a wooded and grassy 

 slope comes down from the higher land. Two rivers, the 

 Ha-ha and the Mars, rush down the slope with many rapids 

 and waterfalls, while smaller streams hurry into the bay 

 through narrow gorges. At the mouth of the Ha-ha stands 

 the village of St. Alexis, or Grande Bai«, and by the mouth 

 of the Mars, St. Alphonse, or Bagotville, the former names 

 being most in use vidth the French Canatlians. St. Alphonse 

 is the principal landing-place for steamers, and is most 

 picturesque in situation and surroundings, the rocks rising 

 abruptly immediately behind the village. The heights 

 above offer delightful views of the bay, and command a 

 wide expanse which is bounded in the distance by low 

 mountains, with an opening down the river. This village 

 I selected as a place of rest and recreation in the month 

 of August, making excursions into the surrounding region 

 on foot, by boat, or by means of that universal vehicle of 

 the rough country, the buckboard wagon. A shorter stop 

 was made in the early part of September at Tadousac, near 

 the mouth of the river, with a brief stay at Chicoutimi. 



Aside from the scenery, in which the sublime and the 

 beautiful are charmingly mingled, the region provides a 

 varied field for botanical work. Along the sides of the 

 bay the gneiss and granite rise in massive cliffs and ledges, 

 or form low ridges which stretch away from the shores. 

 Though frequently bare, many of them show characteristic 

 rock vegetation, while others are more or less abundantl)^ 

 covered with Fir, Spruce and Pine. Back of these rocks, 

 and overlying them as they extend away from the river, 

 are clay lands, into which the streams have cut deep val- 

 leys, bordered with hills and bluffs along the watercourses. 

 The clays are subject to extensive landslides, which con- 

 siderably change the contour of the hills when of recent 

 occurrence. They provide a good soil, and where they 

 overlie the country is the principal farming region. Back 

 of these and at a higher level are sandy lands, interspersed 

 with Pine plains, with their characteristic plants. Only a 

 few miles away are numerous small lakes, abounding in 



