July io, 1895.] 



Garden and Forest. 



271 



GARDEN AND FOREST. 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO. 



Offich : Tricunb Building, New York. 



Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent. 



ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST-OFFICE AT NEW VORK, N. Y. 



NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 1895. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 



Edttorial Article : — Country Roads. and Roadsides 271 



Notes on Mexican Travel. — X. (With fie:ure.) C. G. Fringlc. 272 



Foreign Correspondence : — Notewortiiy Orchids //■'. Watson. 273 



Plant Notes .' 274 



Cultural Department : — Garden Work for Early July T. D. ITatfnld. 276 



Notes on Lilies F. H. Hors/ord. 276 



Carnation Notes IV. N. Craig. 277 



Some Good Hardy Perennials R. Cameron. -211 



Correspondence: — The Future of the Long-leaf Pine Belt L. J. Vance. 27S 



Conifers in Iowa Professor L. H. Famtnei, 279 



Recent Publications 279 



Notes 2S0 



Illustration : — Laniourouxia Pringlei, Fig. 39 275 



Country Roads and Roadsides. 



PEOPLE who live in the country, and more especially 

 people who pass their summers in the country, si^end 

 a very considerable portion of the time when they are not 

 indoors in driving or walking- over country roads. That 

 the roadbed should offer good wheeling and footing, both 

 for economy and comfort, every one admits, and when we 

 remember how many people pass over a given stretch of 

 road within a season, it needs no argument to show that 

 if its borders are a delight to the eye, this fact will add 

 greatly to the general enjoyment. Against the disfigure- 

 ment of roadsides by linemen and path-masters, who turn 

 them into raw or rocky wastes, or disfigure them with the 

 axe and with fire, we have, therefore, often protested, and 

 no apology is needed for recurring to the sulyect again. 



Where roads are laid through smooth and highly culti- 

 vated farm-land, a broad border of turf extending on either 

 side of the wheel track and flowing under open fences to 

 unite with the grass of meadows or upland fields, with an 

 occasional tree to break the monotony, is always agreeable 

 to the eye when kept trim and neat. But where the fea- 

 tures of the country are rugged and stony, undoubtedly the 

 greatest beauty is secured if native shrubs and trees are 

 allowed to take possession of the borders and the axe is 

 withheld until they become too dense or aggressive. We 

 have in mind a stretch of such road less than a mile in 

 length to which we have alluded more than once, and we 

 speak of it again simply to enumerate a few of its attrac- 

 tions at this particular season of the year. In the first place, 

 it is not a highway of travel, and, therefore, it is only wide 

 enough to allow two vehicles to pass. This is a distinct 

 advantage. A broad road always has a depressing effect, 

 and the wayfarer feels lonesome on it as he does on any 

 other desert. The more nearly a rural road is obliterated 

 by its surroundings the more delightful it is, and this is 

 especially true of a by-road which offers a sense of seclu- 

 sion as one of its principal charms. And, again, a narrow 

 road can be more easily and cheaply kept in repair, since 

 every additional square yard of surface requires so much 

 more work, and thisis an important matter in a community 

 where the road-tax is a heavy item of expense. This par- 



ticular road, after emerging from a piece of timber, climbs 

 a hill and tiien winds about some others until it drops into 

 the rich bottom-lands of a small river and joins an impor- 

 tant highway. On either side of it trees and shrubs in 

 great variety take care of themselves, and in the first 

 week of July, when the foliage had been washed clean by the 

 rains, this border in its general effect was singularly beautiful. 

 In some places there were thickets higher than a carriage- 

 top, through which the eye could hardly penetrate, 

 while just beyond were openings to give glimpses of a' 

 picturesque, rolling country, with a mountain range for a 

 sky-line. The masses of foliage projected and retreated in 

 the most natural way, without a single hard line or dis- 

 cordant color, now shrinking into deep shadows and again 

 boldly courting the full sunlight, so that to one looking for- 

 ward the disappearance of the road to right or left always 

 seemed an invitation to prospects still more fair. 



The details of this border were quite as interesting as its 

 general attractiveness. Here were Elders in the beauty of 

 their bloom, and white Blackberry-blossoms close beside 

 the red and black shining fruit of the Raspberries. Close 

 along the roadbed the clustered flowers of Redroot were 

 mingled with wild Roses, and here and there among 

 these native wildings was an occasional Sweetbrier which 

 had strayed from some old homestead. The buds of the 

 smooth Sumach, in their tall panicles, were just yellowing 

 into bloom, while the pink fruit of the Staghorn Sumach 

 was already appearing. The Black Alders were showing 

 inconspicuous flowers among the dark green foliage, and 

 at one point where the ground was moist a mass of White 

 Azaleas fairly glittered against the smooth clean leaves of 

 the Spice-bush. Thorns and Cornels, Choke-cherries and 

 Hazels and Huckleberries were in fruit, and the Hardback 

 was just opening its closely-set rosy flowers. Along wnth 

 the shrubs were young trees of various species struggling 

 to assert themselves. There were little Tulip-trees with 

 foliage much larger than in mature specimens ; Oaks and 

 Maples of various species, with tints of foliage only seen 

 in young, individuals ; Ash and Elm, and here and there a 

 Hornbeam, one of which, thrusting out its horizontal 

 branches above some low-growing Viburnums, was es- 

 pecially picturesque ; Hickories, Butternuts, Chestnuts, Bass- 

 wood and Sassafras ; and over all these clambered 

 the Wild Grape and Moon-seed, Smilax, Bittersweet and 

 Clematis, with Virginia Creeper festooning the fence-rows 

 or hanging from the limbs of the trees vi^hich had here and 

 there been allowed to reach mature size. 



Of course, at this season, the flowers were not so abun- 

 dant either on the shrubs or beneath them as they were a 

 month or so ago, but in the borders of the wood where the 

 piece of road begins Prince's Pine and spotted Wintergreen 

 were blooming, and the Wood Lily, Lilium Philadelphicum, 

 was holding up its orange red flowers. Virginia Anemones 

 were not rare, and there was an occasional stalk of the 

 graceful four-leaved Milkweed, while the great w-hite 

 feathery panicles of the tall Meadow Rue and the light 

 pink bells of the Dogbane, vv'hich deserves a better name, 

 were much more numerous. In one open place for a rod 

 or more there was a brave show of Columbines of different 

 colors which seemed as contented as wild ones among the 

 grass, although they came from a pinch of seed scattered 

 there a score of years ago. In another place, a depres- 

 sion by the side of the road showed where a house had 

 once stood, although no man now living remembers it ; 

 and here, more evident than the excavation which was 

 once a cellar, and is^now nearly filled up by time, glowetl a 

 strong mass of the tawny orange flowers of the common 

 Day Lily, Hemerocallis fulva, from roots which were 

 probably set there in the last century. 



The plants enumerated were only those which naturally 

 arrest the eye at this season. Later on there will be other 

 flowers and bright fruits, and then will follow the rich 

 colors of the autumn foliage. But there is not a day in the 

 year when one who walks or drives over this short bit 

 of road cannot find delight for his eye and food for his 



