September i8, 1895.] 



Garden and Forest. 



379 



grounds were reached, where no damage even to Tomato- 

 plants could be detected. These, however, are upon one of 

 the most elevated portions of the prairie in the vicinity, and 

 the land here is not level, but has a gradual descent to the east 

 of about five feet in thirty rods. Other and quite as marked 

 examples of the value of air drainage are afforded by the very 

 slight undulations of the comparatively level prairie. It is not 

 unusual after a late spring frost to see in a Corn-field an area 

 of four to six square rods perceptibly touched by frost, while 

 the remainder of the field is unhurt. 



In the grape-groviiing districts of western New York the 

 limits of the successful cultivation of such valuable varieties 

 as Isabella and Catawba are determined by no greater factor 

 than air drainage. The sections in which these late varieties 

 can be successfully grown are confined to narrow strips bor- 

 dering the larger inland lakes and rivers. Outside the limits 

 of this area experience has proved that the cultivation of these 

 varieties is unprofitable, because their season of ripening is 

 late, and, therefore, fall frosts are liable to catch the crop yet 

 upon the vines ; near the rivers and lakes the ameliorating 

 influence of the water is sufficient to ward off the frost. 



In the west this question is of vastly more importance than 

 in New York state, as late spring frosts and early fall frosts 

 are much more frequent, and, although the prairies are com- 

 paratively level, slight differences, as of two to ten feet, in 

 elevation often mark the line between success and failure with 

 the tender annuals as well as with fruits. At present it has a 

 more important bearing upon garden annuals than upon fruits, 

 but in order that future fruit interests in these sections shall 

 not suffer from a lack of knowledge of this factor, it is well 

 that every fruit-grower and prospective tree-planter should be 

 informed' of its importance. 



State Agricultural College, Brookin,^s, S. D. 



L. C. Corbett. 



Double Sweet Peas. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Several plants obtained from "Eckfoid's Grand Mix- 

 ture" of Sweet Peas show a strong inclination to become 

 double. Some simply have the standard deeply lobed, or, in 

 some instances, divided ; others show more elaborate modifi- 

 cations. For instance, one has two complete standards side 

 by side ; one of these bears at its base a small lobe reversed 

 upon the main part, while opposite the keel is another extra 

 petal-like appendage, terminating in a pollen-bearing anther. 

 The essential organs are apparently normal. Another, which 

 approaches nearer to the ideal, presents one standard partly in 

 front of the other ; both are of good size and symmetrical. In 

 the rear of these the calyx has developed an extra sepal almost 

 as long as the standards and as highly colored. The light and 

 dark reds show these variations most plainly, but they are also 

 prominent in a light yellow variety. So many pronounced 

 freaks in a single season seem to indicate that where any 

 variation has once occurred others are likely to follow. 



Harmon sbuig, Pa. ^- ^- ^• 



Quercus Phellos X rubra in Missouri. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — On page 366 of my Trees, Shrubs and Vines of Mis- 

 souri, I have written at some length on this hybrid Oak, the 

 old Quercus heterophylla of Michaux, giving my reasons for 

 thinking that it did not occur in Missouri, at least in the pre- 

 viously reported localities. There having been so much 

 obscurity about the parentage of this noted tree, and not feel- 

 ing certain that Mr. HoUick's combination was any more cor- 

 rect than Dr. Engelmann's, I had about come to the belief that 

 the hybrid was the result of several different crossings and 

 not the offspring of any two certain species, as had been sup- 

 posed, and hence my doubts expressed as to its occurrence in 

 Missouri. 



A slip of the pen in my note on page 366 of the current 

 volume of Garden and Forest makes me say Red Oak 

 instead of Scarlet Oak, which changes the status of things de- 

 cidedly, and thereby allows me to show that the hybrid col- 

 lected is really Quercus Phellos X rubra. Having had abundant 

 opportunity to~study the Dunklin County tree this season, I 

 can, without hesitation, say that it represents Q. Phellos X rubra, 

 and is described as follows : Tree much resembling the Red 

 Oak in trunk, branches and general appearance ; branchlels 

 densely tomentose, the density and character of the tomentum 

 being that of Q. rubra when young, but soon becoming smooth 

 and polished ; buds large and smooth, ovate and pointed, very 

 similar to those of 0. rubra, but smaller ; leaves heterophyllous, 

 the greater proportion of them being nearly like those of O. 



Phellos, with some forked and lobed, very thick, shining above, 

 densely tomentose beneath when young, but becoming nearly 

 smooth in age, with lobes shortly bristle-tipped, the O.Phellos 

 form, which I have indicated as No. 610, having very short 

 petioles, and the Q. rubra form, which I have kept separate 

 under No. 610, having slender petioles about one inch in 

 length ; fruit much like tliat of O. rubra, but much smaller, 

 somewhat approaching that of O. Phellos in shape. 



Only one tree was found, and this is standing in a piece of 

 low wet woods 200 feet south of the railroad track and about 

 one-half mile east of the station at Campbell. The principal 

 growth here is Oak, of which Quercus Phellos, Q. rubra, O. 

 minor, O. alba and O. velutina are the only species present, 

 and these occur in abundance in the order given. The trunk 

 is about fifteen inches in diameter three feet above the ground, 

 and the height was estimated at sixty feet. At a distance the 

 tree very much resembles the Willow Oak. 



This hybrid differs from Quercus Phellos in the forked and 

 lobed leaves, which are tomentose when young, with bristle- 

 tipped lobes and long petioles ; the larger and different-shaped 

 fruit, and the larger and different-shaped buds. It differs from 

 Q. rubra in the narrow entire leaves, which are very shortly 

 petioled, the smaller and more rounded buds, and the smaller, 

 slightly different-shaped fruit ; from Q. velutina in the different- 

 shaped fruit, entire leaves with their short petioles, and smaller 

 smooth buds. It is not related to Q. digitata, which is com- 

 mon at Campbell, but not seen near the piece of woods where 

 this tree stands ; nor to Q. imbricaria, which is also found near 

 Campbell, though rarely ; nor to Q. Texana, which is found on 

 the hills near Chalk Bluff, but not commonly ; and there are 

 no other species of Black or Red Oaks in the immediate 

 vicinity of this tree. 



The hybrids found in De Kalb, Shelby and Sullivan counties 

 by Broadhead, and in Cooper and Petlis counties by Swallow, 

 are probably derived from Quercus imbricaria and Q. rubra, 

 and not from the Willow Oak. 



Independence, Mo. B.F.Bush. 



R,ecent Publications. 



Mr. J. G. Lemmon, of Oakland, California, has just issued, 

 in convenient form, a Hand-hook of Wesl-American Cone- 

 bearers, in vi'hich he records his observations upon the 

 coniferous trees of western North America, gathered dur- 

 ing years of travel in the forests of that part of the coun- 

 try. A view of an ancient Sequoia in the Tuolumne Big 

 Tree Grove serves as a frontispiece to the work, which is 

 further illustrated by a number of pliotographs of fruiting 

 branches of species of the different genera described. Mr. 

 Lemmon is an acute observer and a most enthusiastic lover 

 of trees, and something of his skill in describing what he 

 has seen appears in his remarks upon theSugar Pine (Pinus 

 Lambertiana), which we reproduce : 



The Great Sugar Pine is the accepted, the crowned, prince of 

 the Pine family. Not only by virtue of its unexcelled dimen- 

 sions and the magnitude of its cones is it regal, but it is a 

 most kingly monarch in its majestic, lofty bearing, its erect, 

 self -asserting dignity, and its bowed head, obedient to its only 

 masters — the powers above. Only the supreme emperor of 

 tlie whole vegetable world, the immense Sequoia, also a deni- 

 zen of our great Sierra forest, and admitting the Sugar Pine to 

 fellowship, excels in dimensions (every way but in fruit) this 

 noble, dominant tree of the whole western world. 



The West-American Cone-hearers is sold by the author at 

 $1.00 a copy, and is to be followed by a more comprehen- 

 sive work on the same subject, which will be fully illus- 

 trated, and is designed "to present by comprehensive 

 classifications and careful descriptions, both scientific and 

 popular, the latest and most useful information concerning 

 this family of important trees — unparalleled in their abun- 

 dance in north-west America." 



Notes. 



The latest of the Minnesota Botanical Studies, being Bulle- 

 tin No. 9, issued by the Geological and Natural History Sur- 

 vey of Minnesota, under the editorship of Professor Conway 

 Macmillan, is devoted to a bibliography of American Algae, 

 by Josephine E. Tilden. 



An expert in California, who has been trying different meth- 

 ods of extracting the odors from flowers, claims that he has 



