May 15, 1895.] 



Garden and Forest. 



191 



GARDEN AND FOREST. 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO. 



Office : Tribunh Building, New York. 



Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent. 



ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE FOST-OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y. 



NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 1895. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 



Editorial Article: — American Forest-trees in Si^riii^ jgi 



Parks, Parkways and Pleasure-iji^ounds. — 1 Frriicricl; Lijiu Ohnstci. 192 



Botanical Notes from Texas. — XXV E. N. Finnic, 193 



The Sas^uenay Region. — II Ker. E. J. HilL 193 



New or Little-known Plants : — Miltonia ve.xillaria, " Fairy Queen." (With 



tij^ure.) IVitliain Robinson. 194 



Plant Notes 194 



Cultural Department:— Chrysanthemums for Specimen Plants. T. D.Hatfiehi, 196 



Flower Garden N(jtes VV. N. Craig. 197 



Early. tlowerini^ Hardy Perennials K. Cameron. 197 



Be;.i;onias tor Bedding Purposes G. IV. Oliver. 19S 



Bedding Out '. William Scott. loS 



Nympluea Laydekeri rosea G. W. Oliver. 198 



Correspondence : — Notes from a West Virginia Garden Danske Daniirid^e. 198 



The E-vhibition of the National Sculpture Society. . .M. G. Van Rensselaer, 199 



Notes 200 



Illustration: — Miltonia vexillaria, "Fairy Queen," in Lant^water Gardens, 



North Easton, Massachusetts, Fig 30 195 



American Forest-trees in Spring. 



THIS is the season when we especially realize how 

 inadequate ordinary botanical descriptions are to 

 give any distinct idea of the appearance of our forest-trees. 

 Even when good figures of the flowers and the leaves are 

 presented, and when we have access to dried specimens, 

 there is nothing to indicate the wonderful transformation 

 which takes place every day in early spring as soon as 

 growth begins. Even in coniferous evergreens with the 

 first genial weather the leaves warm into a deeper color, 

 the surfaces become more smooth and reflect more light, 

 the bud-scales take on tints of pink and brown, and the 

 new shoots have a gray and silvery appearance which 

 entirely changes the general aspect of the tree. But the 

 variation in color and form manifested by our deciduous 

 trees is much greater. The autumn colors of our woods 

 have long been celebrated, but as a matter of fact our forest- 

 trees in May take on a wider range of color than they do 

 in autumn, tints which are not so striking and gorgeous, 

 but which are more delicate and refined. 



The display of soft color begins even before the buds 

 have noticeably swollen. The bark of the Birch-twigs 

 turns to a richer brown, the Willow glows with a clearer yel- 

 low, and as the spray of each tree swells wilh the rising sap, 

 its peculiar tint is intensified, so that long before a leaf is seen 

 the trees are enveloped with a delicately tinted and elusive 

 mist, which cannot be described in words, but which is the 

 visible prophecy of approaching spring to every observing 

 eye. Indeed, this spring halo hovers over every forest and 

 thicket as one of the most mysterious and beautiful specta- 

 cles of all the year, although it is evanescent and almost 

 spiritual in quality. But when the buds begin to open and 

 release the unfolding leaves the entire aspect of the woods 

 changes every day, and as these transformations follow 

 each other all through the month of May, our northern 

 forests display a matchless variety of form and of harmo- 

 nious color. 



The scarlet flowers and fruits of the Red Maple, the 

 snowy blossoms of the Amelanchiers, the pink of the Red 

 Buds, and a little later on the blossoms of Dogwood, Plums 

 and Wild Apples, are what we first think of as the con- 

 spicuous features of our spring forests. But, while these 

 occasional masses of flowers help to emphasize the beauty 



of the woods, it is the variety and richness of the foliage 

 which furnish their highest charm. Besides the rich tints 

 of the young leaves, the scales of the leaf-buds in many 

 trees assume bright colors, and in some cases, as in that of 

 the Hickories, they grow to the size of full-grown leaves 

 before they fall. The leaf-buds of the Amelanchier, for 

 instance, though not as striking as the flowers, are quite as 

 beautiful. The bright bud-scales of the Beech, whose rich 

 color is intensified by the contrast of the delicate green of 

 its young leaves, are as handsome as any flower could be. 

 Tiie long yellow-green catkins of the Birches, the bright 

 red of the young growth of the Stag-horn Sumachs, the airy 

 grace of the first foliage of the Hornbeams, not to speak of 

 the tints of the Sassafras, the Wild Cherry and many other 

 trees, make combinations which can hardly be appreciated 

 by those who live in countries where the forests are made 

 up of half a dozen species. And when, in addition to this 

 richness and variety of color, we recall the fact that this 

 panorama .changes entirely every day and that each tree 

 takes on a new aspect as its leaves thicken and its colors 

 vary, we then realize how rich and multiform is the beauty 

 of our forests in the early year. 



This marvel of variety is better appreciated if we ex- 

 amine one particular class of trees. The Oaks, for example, 

 are especially interesting because they form so large a por- 

 tion of our forests, and they show such a wide range in 

 color and in habit at this season. About a year ago we 

 published an article by Mr. E. J. Hill, which gave, in some 

 detail, an account of the expression of a dozen species of 

 Oaks which are indigenous to the vicinity of Chicago, 

 and this record of a careful observer is of uncommon in- 

 terest, as it sets forth the fact that almost every tree has a 

 marked individuality. This is not only because the young 

 leaves have different colors, those of the Black Oak, for 

 example, being red, and some of them nearly scarlet, while 

 the young leaves of the Scarlet Oak are at first quite 

 purple, changing to light green, and those of the White Oak 

 stained with purple and pink. The leaves vary quite as 

 much in texture; some of them are whitened with a 

 dense, though pale, tomentum ; others are smooth or only 

 slightly hairy, while others still are quite smooth and glossy. 

 In some species the young leaves are so deeply cut as 

 to give them a feathery look ; in others the leaves are 

 crowded at the ends of the branchlets in tufts ; in some the 

 petioles are long and flexible, so that the pendent leaves 

 are easily stirred in the wind ; in others they are shorter 

 and more sturdy, so that the leaves stand out stiffly from 

 the ends of the branches. In the different species the twigs 

 are stained with different colors and covered with more or 

 less down, which ranges in tint from dark russet to light 

 gray ; in some these twigs are short and stubby, and in 

 others they quickly grow out long and slender, which gives 

 an entirely different aspect to the tree as it is stirred by the 

 wind. In every case the shape, and color, and attitude, 

 and texture of the leaf are quite distinct, so that each tree 

 has its own special appearance in sunshine and in shade, 

 enabling any one who is familiar with them to distinguish 

 the species quite readily at a distance in the season when 

 they are putting forth their leaves. 



The purpose of this article, however, is not to attempt 

 an elaborate description of the appearance of any one of 

 our forest-trees or any class of them, but rather to direct atten- 

 tion to one phase of the beauty of our American landscape 

 which has been comparatively neglected. Every autumn 

 the railroad and steamship companies of this city advertise 

 excursions up the Hudson and to various points in neigh- 

 boring states, in order to give an opportunity for see- 

 ing the glowing colors of our forests at that season. 

 But one who spends half a day in early May in Cen- 

 tral Park or in Prospect Park will see a picture 

 equally rich in color and of even more varied inter- 

 est. At every season our forests present spectacles of 

 great diversity owing to the large number of tree spe- 

 cies which they contain, but since every one of these 

 trees changes its appearance every day as the leaves 



