June 5, 1S95.] 



Garden and Forest. 



229 



I found also in flower the attractive Genista Andreana, wliicli, 

 as Garden and Forest has before noted, is an improved 

 Broom with large yellow flowers, having bright chestnut- 

 colored wings, and of evergreen habit. 



Erica pygmcea is a species of Heath not before seen by me. 

 It forms a dense mat of dark green, scarcely rising above the 

 surface of the ground, and later on covered with pleasing pur- 

 ple flowers. Good mat-plants are one of the attractions of the 

 hardy garden, and where Heaths will thrive this distinct dwarf 

 species should be a welcome plant. It seems to Ije of easy 

 propagation by division. There were numerous other hardy 

 plants in flower, mostly familiar subjects, and for a dense mass 

 of brilliant yellow, Achillea tomentosa was noticeable. 



The loss of Anemone Japonica seems to have been com- 

 plete here last winter, and this, I think, has been the general 

 experience in this section. Hypericum Moserianum, as usual, 

 was badly cut down, but is now beginning to shoot at the base. 

 This beautiful plant, I think, may now be considered root- 

 hardy only in this section, and, therefore, classed among hardy 

 herbaceous plants. Greenhouses, with the outside tempera- 

 ture of ninety degrees, are not places where one cares to lin- 

 ger, but I noticed, in a hurried review, that IVIr. Manda's new 

 hybrids of Rosa Wichuraiana were doing admirably, and were 

 as vigorous as the type. These are crosses with some of the 

 perpetual Roses, and have single or semi-double flowers of 

 large size. R. gigantea, growing on a bench, I hope to 

 see in flower and report on later. Some strong plants of 

 Myrosma cannffifoliuni, which is being advertised as the 

 white Canna, with most remarkable qualities, reminds me to 

 ask whether any one has succeeded in flowering it. This plant 

 was put out by Dammann in 1893, with most attractive claims. 

 It is very obdurate in showing its flowers under any conditions 

 of treatment. It is suspiciously like a Hedychium in habit and 

 appearance, and its identity will be in question until it flowers. 

 Elizabeth. N.J. J. N. Gerard. 



Meetings of Societies. 



Meeting of the American and New Jersey State 

 Forestry Associations. 



THE idea of holding peripatetic forestry meetings, and com- 

 bining instructive excursions with sessions for the discus- 

 sion of topics with special relation to the regions traversed, 

 was first carried out in August of last year, when the American 

 Forestry Association met under the auspices of the New 

 Hampshire Forestry Commission in the White iVIountains. 

 The success of that meeting, both from the social and forestal 

 point of view, suggested a repetition this spring in southern 

 New Jersey, where, with the formation of the South Jersey 

 Woodmen's Association and the New Jersey State Forestry 

 Associations, the movement for a rational treatment of the 

 forest-cover of that state had just received its first impetus. 



The meeting t^egan with an evening session at Camden on 

 IVIay 15th; when Mr. B. E. Fernow delivered his richly illus- 

 trated lecture, "The Battle of the Forest," discussing the evo- 

 lution of forest-growth, the forces of nature with which the 

 forest has to contend in order to establish itself and the meth- 

 ods and means employed in this v/arfare, the evil results of 

 improper partisanship on the part of man, by which not only 

 Is the forest resource itself decimated and deteriorated, but 

 soil and water conditions are injiu'ed sometimes beyond re- 

 demption. Numerous views from this continent and from 

 abroad illustrated the points made. 



The next morning found the party on the way to Cape May, 

 over the level sandy alluvial plains of southern New Jersey. 

 The first observation of interest was, that on both sides of the 

 railroad, about two rods away from the road-bed, there was 

 roughly plowed a strip of land about a rod in width, a " safety 

 strip" to protect the forest-growth against the spread of fire 

 from the railroad. This precaution, which has been quite 

 effectual, is a result of the intelligence of the adjoining prop- 

 erty holders, who insisted on holding the railroad company 

 responsible for damage in case of fire, and the company found 

 it cheaper to prevent than to pay damages. Colonel Fox, 

 Superintendent of the New York State Forests, who was ot the 

 party, stated that on the much-talked of Webb Road in the 

 Adirondacks, another system had been successfully pursued 

 during last summer : a hand-car with a crew and all necessary 

 appliances to put out fires following each train. 



If only the owners of forest-land had a proper conception of 

 the value of their property and of the great damage which 

 these fires inflict— to the soil more than to the timber— they 

 would soon be able to get rid of this one source of conflagrations. 



The forest-growth of this part of New Jersey is, to be sure, 



mostly not of immediate economic value, the heavy timber of 

 the original growth which once covered these alluvial sands 

 having been entirely removed from most parts long ago • a 

 second growth has taken its place, mainly of various Oaks, 

 Yellow Pine, Pinus rigida, and occasionally Red Cedar and 

 Holly, supplanted by White Cedar in the wetter portions, re- 

 peatedly mjured by fires, yet bound to maintain itself, and 

 sometimes in quite thrifty condition. With the fires kept out 

 by a judicious use of the axe, gradually culling out the inferior 

 kinds and giving advantage to the better classes of timber, 

 these abused areas would, without hardly any outlay in 

 twenty-five or thirty years become a valuable property. 

 A basket factory, using Sweet Gum, and a sash, door and 

 blind factory, using White Cedar, both situated along this line 

 give evidence that even now, at some distance from the road' 

 virgin forest-supplies are not entirely exhausted, while the 

 thrifty surroundings of Vmeland and of the Russian colony 

 established by Baron von Hirsch show the capabilities of the 

 soil under careful cultivation. 



At Cape May the party enjoyed an afternoon stroll on the 

 beach and an exchange of experiences and opinions regardino- 

 forestry problems. In the evening an attentive audience lis'- 

 fened to an address by Mr. E. A. Bowers, Assistant Commis- 

 sioner of the General Land Ofiice, on the conditions of the 

 Government forests and the duty of the Federal Government 

 with regard to them. Mr. Bowers took tlie position that every 

 citizen was a part owner, and hence interested financially in 

 the great national timber domain situated on the western 

 mountains, in a region which for its prosperity is dependent 

 largely on irrigation, and hence on the storage of water-sup- 

 plies under the forest-cover. 



Friday morning saw the party eariy on their way to Atlantic 

 City. The forestry feature of interest en route was the sand 

 dunes of Seven-mile Beach, below Avalon, which were visited 

 by special train, kindly furnished by the Pennsylvania Railroad 

 Company. The problem of the sand dunes could here be 

 studied in all its phases. The forest-cover once removed 

 from the shore, the light sand is given over to the play of the 

 winds, which drive it landward, and a wall of sand twenty to 

 thirty feet in height is thus gradually moved, progressing from 

 year to year more or less rapidly. A small strip of forest- 

 growth two hundred yards or so from the shore is now imped- 

 ing its progress, and yet the dune is said to advance at the rate 

 of one foot a year, covering this protective belt. The sand wall 

 is some twenty-five feet high, with a slope of about forty feet 

 onthe leeward side encroaching on the timber, which consists 

 of White Holly, Ilex opaca, over one hundred and fifty years 

 old, and Red Cedar, with occasionally a Sassafras, an Oak or a 

 Wild Cherry intermixed. The timber is only thirty-five feet 

 high ; the sharp sand particles driven by the wind cut off and 

 shear like a hedge the tops of the trees, which are hardlv ten 

 feet above the highest level of the dune. It is interesting to 

 note how long some of the submerged trees can retain their 

 vitality. Cedar and Hollies, covered up within ten feet of their 

 tops, still showing life, while the Oaks and Sassafras are dead 

 and crumbling, and the Cherries have shed their seed, giving 

 rise to a new generation on the dune itself. 



Where the forest has been removed the action of the wind 

 reaches farther inland, but where the forest-barrier is intact 

 the dune seems to iiave become quiet enough to allow a 

 natural cover of Sand Grasses to establish itself, which mav in 

 time stop its further sliifting. Since, however, the land belongs 

 to a real-estate boom company, it is likely that the lots will be 

 considered too valuable to keep the tree-growth intact, and its 

 kindly offices unappreciated, it may have to go as elsewhere, 

 with the assurance that the lots themselves, with houses and 

 improvements, will gradually be drowned in the sand. Even 

 the bathing-beach, which in such places is usually the only 

 attraction, has in many places been spoiled, the sand being- 

 blown off and a muddy bottom remaining. The intimate rela- 

 tion of forest-cover to almost all other kind of business was 

 here strikingly suggested, just as on the plains and in northern 

 New Jersey the needs ot the city of Philadelphia and other 

 cities and towns for desirable supplies of drinking-water would 

 have suggested the close interest of their citizens to the forest- 

 conditions of those regions. 



A beautifully illustrated lecture by Professor J. T. Rothrock 

 formed the feature of the session at' Atlantic City. The lecturer 

 spoke ot the habits, habitat and value of various forest-trees 

 of eastern states, and laid special stress on the fact that forest- 

 growth was destined to be relegated to the agriculturally poor 

 soils and situations. 



Owing to rain it was decided to postpone the sessions at 

 Lakevvood to a more favorable season, when it might be 

 possible to arrange for a continuation of the trip through the 



