May S, 1895.] 



Garden and Forest. 



iS': 



trout aiid aquatic vegetation. There are many swampy- 

 areas, and springs are everywhere abundant. 



The prevalence of Coniferous trees was to me the marlced 

 feature of the forests. What remains of the woods on the 

 clay land is largely made up of deciduous trees, and this, 

 to some extent, is true of gravelly and sandy land. But 

 the Hemlock is commonly interspersed with them, with 

 Tamarack, Fir, White Cedar and Spruces occupying boggy 

 areas. The deciduous trees are chiefly the Canoe, the Yel- 

 low and the Cherry Birch, the White Elm, the two Poplars 

 (Populus tremuloides and P. grandidentata), the Black Ash, 

 the Red and the Sugar Maples. Among smaller trees are 

 the Mountain Ashes, Pyrus Americana and P. sambucifolia, 

 which, in rocky localities, are often reduced to shrubs, 

 fruiting at the height of four or five feet. The Alders are 

 among the most plentiful of shrubs, Alnus viridis grovidng 

 in the rocky woods and on the ridges, while the Speckled 

 Alder forms dense thickets by watercourses and in swamps, 

 sharing the ground with various Willows, the Sweet Gale 

 and different kinds of Cornel. The last are common in the 

 soils of all land adapted to their growth, as well as species 

 of Viburnum belonging to more northerly regions. The 

 Staghorn Sumach and the Beaked Hazel-nut were fre- 

 quently seen, bordering the woods or making clumps of 

 bushes in the open fields. The Striped and the Mountain 

 Maple bushes line the sides of ravines and hang over the 

 streams, or are interspersed among the trees which cover 

 the steep slopes. 



The White and the Jack Pine were the only Pin5s noticed. 

 They are mostly confined to the sandy or gravelly land, or 

 are scattered about on the rocky ridges. Pinus Banksiana 

 is abundant in the poorest soil, forming Pine Plains in the 

 sand In such localities it is usually a lovi' bushy tree, 

 becoming a mere shrub on the rocks, where it can root 

 in the scanty soil of some crevice or cling to a narrow shelf. 

 The Arbor-vita;, growing in the thin soil of some of the 

 ledges, also forms a shrub of straggling habit, spreading 

 over the ground to a distance of two or three feet from the 

 stem, and fruiting freely when but a foot or two high. In 

 the areas of rock by the shores of the bay the Coniferous 

 trees are often curiously intermingled. The water trickling 

 from seams and crevices has given rise to growths of 

 Sphagnum and other mosses, which furnish a soil in which 

 the different kinds take root. Here the White Pine, the 

 Larch, the Fir and the Spruce are in such close relations 

 that their branches touch each other. Their differing 

 shades of green are admirably shown by this pro.ximity, 

 and offer a picture that is always charming. 



But little merchantable White Pine is left in the vicinity. 

 It has all been appropriated by the lumbermen or destroyed 

 by fire. The logs at the mill in St. Ale.xis, the only one 

 which remains in use on the bay, were all from quite small 

 trees, some barely eight inches in diameter. At Chicoutimi 

 I found large mills supplied by the forests of the upper 

 Saguenay and its branches, and which furnished its prin- 

 cipal industry. Here many of the logs were larger, show- 

 ing more available material, though much smaller on the 

 average than those of the forests of the Great Lakes and 

 the Alleghanies. The smaller logs were largely cut up 

 into "deals" and "battens," planks four to six feet long 

 and six to eight inches wide. They were principally for 

 export to distant lands, many, I was told, going to Aus- 

 tralia. Being quite free from knots, they make good material 

 for all articles to which lumber of such small dimensions is 



adapted. „ , „•// 



Chicago. -^- J- -""'• 



What is a Cantal<jup ? 



THERE is a dearth of distinctive terms at command 

 for the classification of our rapidly multiplying varie- 

 ties of garden vegetables. Every effort should be made to 

 fix with clear definitions the few which we do have, and to 

 discourage every tendency to their incorrect use. As new 

 vegetables appear they too often receive incongruous or 



unintelligible names, and the nomenclature of this class of 

 plants has become almost intolerable. 



One of the good words, now badly mistreated, is the 

 term cantaloup, as applied to a group of muskmelons. As 

 used at present the term is of doubtful signification. In 

 the south it is applied generally to all muskmelons. Cer- 

 tain well-informed horticulturists of southern experiment 

 stations have issued bulletins on cantaloups, and they 

 include under this head all the varieties of muskmelons. 

 According to a limited acquaintance with southern people, 

 the term cantaloup, when applied more closely, means a 

 muskmelon of the Nutmeg class, small, globular, netted 

 and green-fleshed. In the north, cantaloup means just the 

 opposite ; that is, a large, ovoid, rather smoother, yellow- 

 fleshed fruit. The varieties bearing the names Cantaloupe, 

 Improved Cantaloupe, etc., sent out every year from north- 

 ern seedsmen, are of the latter description. 



Probably the term is incorrectly used in either case, 

 though its application to the small, netted, green-fleshed 

 melons, is doubtless farthest from propriety. Naudin, 

 whose work I do not have at hand, is quoted by Bailey* 

 as "the most excellent authority upon the cucurbits," 

 and from him Bailey adopts the following definition of 

 Cantaloup (spelling it Cantalope), placing this group first 

 among nine cultivated groups : 



"Cantalopes, Cucumis Melo, var. Cantaloupensis, are 

 characterized, by hard and more or less warty, scaly or 

 rough skins, and they are often deeply furrowed or grooved. 

 The name is derived from Cantaluppi, a former country 

 seat of the Pope, near Rome, where these Melons were 

 early brought from Armenia." 



Vilmorin and Andrieux f use the word with much the 

 same definition, but spell it Cantaloup. They say : " There 

 are numerous classifications of melons. Of these we shall 

 follow the simplest and most common one, which divides 

 them into two groups of the Netted and the Cantaloup or 

 Scabby-skinned melons. " Nicholson | says : "The Canta- 

 loup melon has a remarkably irregular surface, and both 

 the skin and flesh are irregular in color." Funk and Wag- 

 nails § give a definition which is clear enough, but some- 

 what confusing when considered with those cited: "A 

 variety of Muskmelon having a yellowish or pale green 

 skin and reddish flesh." In connection with this definition 

 they give a qu'otation from F. S. Cozzens ]] which bears 

 directly on the discussion in hand. He says : " Vou call 

 all kinds of melons Cantdopes in Philadelphia, but permit 

 me to sa)r that it is a local error. " The definition of Tlie 

 Century Dictionary is as follows : "A variety of i\Iuskmelon 

 somewhat ellipsoidal in shape, ribbed, of a pale green or 

 yellow color, and of a delicate flavor." Tlte International 

 Dictionary says : "A Muskmelon of several varieties, hav- 

 ing when mature a yellowish skin and a flesh of reddish 

 orange color." In Murray's A'eiv English Dictionary Canta- 

 loup is defined as "a small, round, ribbed variety of musk- 

 melon of a very delicate flavor." 



Looking over these definitions one will be struck first by 

 the general uselessness for scientific purposes of those given 

 by the dictionaries. All of the dictionary definitions, espe- 

 cially that of The Century Dictionary, seem to lean to that 

 description of fruit spoken of as coming from the seeds of 

 northern seedsmen. On the other hand, the definitions of 

 Nicholson, Vilmorin and Bailey substantially agree that a 

 cantaloup is "a hard, and more or less warty, scaly or 

 rough-skinned melon, often deeply furrowed or grooved," 

 and quite definitely to be separated from the netted varie- 

 ties of the Nutmeg^ype. It is worth remarking that these 

 concurring authorities represent France, England and 

 America. Unquestionably this definition ought to be ac- 

 cepted. Surely our horticulturists ought to agree on some- 

 thing and save to us this needful classificational term. 



* 15ailcy : Some Muskmelon r.otanv. Aii!i-rit:<it: C>tiytknii!t^', vol. .\iv., p. 206. 

 t The Vegetable Garden, English edition, p. 3-0. 

 X Diciiotiary of Gartleniitg, vol. ii., ]). 350, 

 S; Staitifard Dicttonary oj the English Language. 

 ■ II Coizens, "Sparrowj^iass Papers," ch. •;., p. 15-1. 



