October 9, 1895.] 



Garden and Forest. 



409 



varieties of grapes. These are usually the best keepers, and 

 the Lake Keuka grapes have thus a long range of season. The 

 shipping season begins about September ist, with early varie- 

 ties such as Delaware, Moore's Early and Concord. Catavvbas 

 come into market about the first of October, and, now that the 

 art of keeping them is understood, table grapes are shipped 

 all through the winter months until March or April. 



The methods of cultivation are about the same as in other 

 vineyard districts, but the pruning is different from that in the 

 Hudson River region, where the Kniffen system is used, and 

 from that in the Chautauqua region, where the fan system is 

 popular, fn the Lake Keuka district the vines are pruned and 

 trained by what is known as the "renewal system." Two 

 main horizontal canes are trained permanently along the lower 

 wires, one to the right, another to the left. New arms are 

 formed every year. A few spurs are left near the centre of 

 the vine, and shoots that come from the buds are used the 

 next year. This system is the result of much experience, and 

 seems best adapted to the Catawba vines, which grow straight 

 up. At one time the Lake Keuka grape industry was threat- 

 ened with ruin from black-rot, but the use of Bordeaux mixture 

 has saved the vines. 



Almost every person ovvning land along the lake has a vine- 

 yard. Farmers who do not make a specialty of grapes have 

 vineyards of five or ten acres, while those who make a busi- 

 ness of grape-growing maintain from thirty to forty acres, and 

 expect to clear from $1,200 to $1,500 a year. There are some 

 vineyards of seventy-five to a hundred acres. The largest 

 along Keuka Lake are those of the Urbana Wine Company 

 and the Keuka Vineyard, consisting of 125 and no acres, 

 respectively. ^ ^ ^^ 



PennYan, N.Y. ^- /. i^^ince. 



September Wild Flowers. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — A recent drive around the head of Klinger Lake on a 

 roadway through a marsh devoted to the cultivation of Pep- 

 permint introduced me to a varied flora as well as a grand 

 display of fruits, which were often more showy than the flow- 

 ers. Asters of various shades were in their prime, and among 

 Golden-rods, too numerous to name separately, Solidago 

 odorata and S. Riddellii were most rare. Gentiana saponaria 

 is less beautiful than the famed Fringed Gentian, but the 

 plants were fine specimens and interesting for their compara- 

 tive rarity. 



The Harebell, Campanula rotundifolia, was flourishing on 

 sandy slopes in company with the Scouring Rush, as much at 

 home, to all appearance, as when perched in the clefts of rocks 

 through which water trickles. 



The finest specimens of Rattlesnake-root, Prenanthus alba, I 

 have ever seen were standing from four to five feet high, with 

 the upper half of the stems covered with racemes of drooping 

 flowers, forming a corymb of striking beauty in delicate tints 

 of purple and pure white. The plant is certamly worth a place 

 in parks and large grounds. The tall Coreopsis, C. tripteris, 

 and several species of Bidens, of which B. chrysanthenoides 

 was most noticeable, grew along a ditch, and the groups were 

 charmingly brightened by Helianthus occidentalis, while the 

 road-track was beautifully fringed with pink Polygonums of 

 various species. 



Through tlie shady woodland grew masses of Fern, and 

 ripening fruits hung in many colors. Cornus florida showed its 

 dark scarlet berries ; C. stolonifera, its large clusters of white ; 

 the Alder, Alnus incana, its brilliant scarlet, as were also 

 those of the Spicewood. The foliage of both species of Cornus 

 was curled and faded, and we shall miss the soft tints so 

 characteristic in later autumn. The change was due to a slight 

 frost, perhaps, though no other signs of it were manifest. The 

 Witch-hazel still held its seeds close in their green covering, 

 waiting for the maturity which only comes with their fresh 

 flowers in November, and the Hazels were loaded with their 

 curiously wrapped nuts, to the joy of children and squirrels. 



This locality is a rich field for the botanist at all seasons. In 

 July, Zygadenus elegans was found along the stream, an un- 

 common plant here, with greenish flowers and narrow, almost 

 grass-like, leaves. Not far away on the border of a smaller 

 lake, in which the water has been unusually low this season, 

 have sprung into bloom two Utricularias not seen there before. 

 U. resupinata bloomed in July, while U. gibba, by some means 

 belated, is now, September 25th, in full flower. I have the 

 authority of Mr. C. F. Wheeler, of Michigan Agricultural Col- 

 lege, for saying that " plants which flourish along sandy bor- 

 ders of lakes do not produce flowers when the water is high, 

 but when favorable conditions appear they expend all their 

 strength in producing flowers and seeds, the latter sometimes 



lying buried in sand for years until again exposed (o light and 

 the proper conditions of growth." 



I have noted this season some plants not common in the 

 locality, among them Baptisia leucantha, with erect growth of 

 rigid stem sending out three branches and a raceme of white 

 flowers. 



It is to be regretted that several of the Orchis family, among 

 them the white-fringed and yellow-fringed Orchis, have dis- 

 appeared from the low land upon which they grew a few 

 years ago. 



White Pigeon, Mich. 



Dorcas E. Collins. 



Recent Publications. 



The English Flower Gardeji. By W. Robinson. John 

 Murray, London ; Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. 



This is a new edition of the book which was first issued 

 twelve years ago and took its place at once as a standard 

 manual of garden plants and garden designs. It has 

 been out of print for some time, and we are glad to make 

 a note of its reappearance in an enlarged and improved 

 form. The book is so well known that it is hardly neces- 

 sary to describe it. The first part of it treats of garden 

 designs in connection with the house and its surroundings, 

 and shows in how many ways the different classes of hardy 

 and half-hardy flowering plants in their infinite variety can 

 be arranged so as to make the garden beautiful and pre- 

 sent renewed attractions every day all the season through. 

 Several simple, though tasteful, garden plans are mapped 

 out and described, and on alinost every page is an engrav- 

 ing of admirable quality to emphasize some lesson or hint 

 at some practical combination or to set forth the beauty of 

 some special flower or plant. The teaching in these two 

 hundred and fifty pages is certainly in the right direction, 

 and there is little doubt that the book has done much to 

 relieve English gardens of stiffness and formality, to curtail 

 what was once the prevalent practice of filling them v\nth 

 tender bedding-plants arranged in set patterns, and to make 

 them natural in the best sense of the \vord — that is, sug- 

 gestive of such combinations of form and color as nature 

 presents in her happiest moods. 



The second and larger part of the book is an alphabetical 

 list of flowering herbaceous plants, shrubs, trees and 

 climbers which can be used in English gardens, with brief 

 descriptions of them and directions for their cultivation. 

 This descriptive list is large, filling some six hundred pages, 

 but even with so much space many plants must, of necessity, 

 be omitted. Among the Syringas, for example, we see no 

 mention of such well-knovifn species as S. oblata, nor of 

 more recent introductions like S. villosa or S. pubescens, 

 which have proved themselves among the best of garden 

 shrubs in this country. Some of the most interesting 

 American and Asiatic species of Viburnum are not named. 

 Several pages are devoted to the Clematis, with long lists 

 of garden hybrids which can be used in various places, but, 

 although our well-known C. coccinea is spoken of as a 

 "remarkable and very distinct novelty," there is no 

 mention of such species as C. paniculata, C. crispa and 

 many others of the highest decorative value. A casual 

 glance at the account of shrubs and of woody or half- 

 shrubby climbers will detect many omissions which will 

 surprise the American reader, some of them due to the fact, 

 no doubt, that this class of plants does not flower as well 

 in England as in our own drier climate, where the wood 

 has a better chance to ripen. There is no doubt, however, 

 that the list could be greatly improved by careful editing 

 by some one who has an eye to perspective and appre- 

 ciates the comparative value of plants, so that the reader 

 will be able to apprehend more clearly the relative rank of 

 different genera and of different species and varieties. 



It is often said, and said with some truth, that the climate 

 of England differs so widely from our own that cultural 

 directions adapted to an English garden will have small 

 value to Americans. The climatic differences of the two 

 countries, however, are well known, and a little observa- 

 tion and practice will soon enable the American reader to 

 make due allowances for the different conditions. The 



