4IO 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 398. 



hook is, therefore, a useful one for any reader, and we 

 repeat that all Americans who are interested in the refine- 

 ments of gardening will be gratified to know that its beau- 

 tiful and instructive pages have been reprinted. 



Notes. 



The Midland Railroad Company, in England, offered last 

 spring prizes amounting to $1,000 for the best gardens at their 

 various stations, and two hundred station-masters entered into 

 the competition. 



In Bulletin No. 34 of the Experiment Station of the Missis- 

 sippi Agricultural and Mechanical College, S. M. Tracy and 

 F. S. Earle print a list of fungi which have been found at dif- 

 ferent times in Mississippi. Of the 353 species in this list, 

 fifty-five, or nearly one-si.xth, are described as new to science. 



The Lemon groves of California have tliis year given small 

 fortunes to their owners. The growers have learned to cure 

 the fruit so that it compares favorably with imported lemons 

 and the crop is large. A correspondent of The Tribune writes 

 that the product of groves planted ten years has amounted to 

 as much as $3,600 an acre this year, of which at least one-half 

 is profit. We apprehend that it must be a good grove and a 

 good year to insure such results. 



While vegetables have been destroyed by frost in some lo- 

 calities, peas continue to arrive from Long Island, and sell at 

 fifty cents a half peck, and Lima beans of good quality bring 

 thirty-five cents. Good corn may still be had for thirty-five 

 cents a dozen. The last cucumbers come now from Shelter 

 Island ; these sell for five cents each, and the first hot-house 

 cucumbers from Boston bring fifteen cents apiece. Lettuce 

 and cauliflower are of good quality and reasonable in price, 

 and tomatoes cost one dollar for a crate holding a bushel. 



Number i of the first volume of the botanical series of the 

 publications of the new Field Columbian Museum, at Chicago, 

 is devoted to a contribution to the flora of Yucatan, by Charles 

 Frederick Millspaugh, curator of the department of botany in 

 the Museum. The collection which forms the basis of this 

 paper was made in January of this year, during an expedition 

 to the ruined city of Chichen Itza and the islands of Mugeres 

 and Gozumel. The expedition was planned and carried out 

 by Mr. Allison V. Armour, of Chicago, and was made in his 

 steam yacht. 



To the long list of hybrids raised by Monsieur V. Lemoine, 

 of Nancy, must now be added Astilbe Lemoinei, obtained by 

 crossing A. Thunbergii and A. (Spirasa) astilboides floribunda. 

 The new hybrid, which is a plant of elegant and graceful habit, 

 grows about twice as high as A. astilboides floribunda, and its 

 period of flowering is intermediate between its parents. Mon- 

 sieur Lemoine informs us that his new hybrid is not only per- 

 fectly hardy, but forces as easily and satisfactorily as the 

 welf known A. Japonica, which, in his judgment, it surpasses 

 from all points of view. 



A special circular has been sent out by tlie New Jersey Ex- 

 periment Station on the subject of Sulphur as a Preventive of 

 Scab and Soil-rot in Potatoes. We alluded to Professor Hal- 

 sted's experiments on the subject last week, and this circular, 

 with the illustrations which show the advantages of this treat- 

 ment in a strikmgway, is preliminary to a bulletin which is 

 soon to be issued. Tlie experiments give promise tliat the 

 soil-rot, which has been very destructive to Sweet Potatoes in 

 New Jersey, as well as the scab of Irish Potatoes, can now be 

 controlled in a cheap way. 



Of course, no fixed date can be named as the proper one for 

 picking pears which are to be ripened in the house. To in- 

 quiries on this matter we can only say that a pear should be 

 picked as soon as it easily separates from the branch when it 

 is lifted. Messrs. EUwanger & Barry, in reply to some inqui- 

 ries on this subject, say that with them Anjou and Lawrence 

 pears are picked as soon as they are full-grown, which is in 

 that locality from the tenth to the fifteenth of Octol>er. They 

 will shrivel if they are taken earlier. Winter Nelis, Duhamel, 

 P. Barry, Josephine, Easter Beurre and other winter pears are 

 better left until the latter part of October, unless heavy frosts 

 occur, when they should, of course, be picked earlier. 



Small lots of good peaches are still coming from Maryland, 

 although the main crop from that state and from Delaware is 

 past. "Most of this fruit from northern New Jersey is small, 

 owing to the extreme dry weather. Late Rareripes from the 



Hudson River district are among the highest-priced peaches 

 now offered, with Keyport Whites and Salways from the same 

 section. Selected fruits of these showy varieties sell for $2.50 

 a basket. Flame Tokay grapes from California, fully ripened, 

 make a bright show on the fruit-stands with Black Moroccos, 

 Cornichons and White Muscats. Coe's Golden Drop from 

 California, and Italian prunes from Oregon, are among the 

 latest shipments of this fruit. Lemons are gradually settling 

 to ordinary prices, a fall of $2.00 a box having occurred during 

 the past week, and limes, which a fortnight ago brought $18.00 

 to $20.00 a barrel, now cost but half as much. 



A correspondent of The Garden speaks of the Rose La 

 France as one of the best varieties for autumn flowering. We 

 can add that in many gardens near this city this Rose makes a 

 better display of flowers in autumn than in June. The outer 

 petals are apt to turn brown early in the season, but when cool 

 nights come the flowers are larger, more perfect in form and 

 even more odorous, if possible, than at any other time. We 

 have in mind a specimen plant of this Rose which has been 

 standing out-of-doors now for six or seven years in a rather 

 exposed position, and it is sliowing flowers by the dozen every 

 day. Of course, water has been a necessity in this exception- 

 ally dry year when there seems to be absolutely no moisture 

 in the soil which can be reached by the roots of ordinary 

 shrubs, but usually our autumn rains can be trusted to supply 

 all the needs of the plant. 



The Agricultural Gazette, of New South Wales, in speaking 

 of the Colonial or Moreton Bay Pine, Araucana Cunninghamii, 

 states that in that colony it is the principal cheap sott-wood 

 timber, and has taken the place of deal from Europe for pack- 

 ing-cases and other rough purposes. The timber goes under 

 the name of white pine or Richmond River pine, and most of 

 the planks show more or less of the figures similar to those in 

 bird's-eye maple, so that in selected planks where these are 

 numerous the wood is classed among ornamental timbers. 

 On Richmond River the Colonial Pine grows to one hundred and 

 fifty feet high, with a trunk four or five feet in diameter. When 

 one of these trees decays in the forest a number of club-shaped 

 pieces of wood, one or two feet long, and known as pine-knots, 

 remain, owing their durability to the large percentage of resin 

 they contain. Carters collect these knots and sell them for 

 firewood, as they are considered much the best fuel in the dis- 

 trict. It seems a pity, however, to put them to such a use, as 

 the wood is of the most ornamental character, especially in 

 longitudinal section. It is dark-colored, of various shades of 

 brown, showing a most beautiful figure, and would be an 

 ideal material for small articles of turnery. If this material 

 were better known it migiit form the basis of a minor indus- 

 try, much in the way that small articles are made of bog oak 

 in Ireland. The substance turns like bone and comes polished 

 from the tool. 



In a bulletin on Clierries, prepared by Professor L. H. Bailey 

 and his assistant, Mr. Powell, the cultivated tree Clierries are 

 divided into two horticultural groups : (i) the Sour Cherries, 

 derived from Prunus Cerasus, and characterized by a diffuse 

 round-headed growth and a habit of suckering from the root, 

 with flowers in small clusters from lateral buds, generally pre- 

 ceding the hard and 'stiff' leaves, which narrow abruptly to a 

 point, and roundish, red, soft-fleshed and sour fruit ; and (2) 

 the Sv\'eet Cherries, supposed to be descended from P. Avium, 

 of tall erect habit, bark tending to peel off in birch-like rings, 

 flowers in dense clusters on lateral spurs, appearing with the 

 more or less limp and gradually tapering leaves and variously 

 colored, spherical or heart-shaped fruit, with flesh either soft 

 or hard and generally sweet. The Sour Cherry class includes 

 two types : the Amarelles, with pale red fruit, generally flat- 

 tened at the ends, and with uncolored juice, and including 

 Montmorency, Early Richmond and their kin, and the Mo- 

 rellos or Griottes, with very dark red fruits, generally varying 

 from spherical to heart-shaped, and dark-colored juice, includ- 

 ing the various Morellos, Ostlieim, Louis Philippe and the 

 like. The Sweet Cherry group is represented in this country 

 by four types: the Mazzards, with small fruits, represented by 

 miscellaneous inferior seedlings, and including the trees com- 

 mon along roadsides and wood-borders, where the seeds are 

 scattered by tlie birds ; Hearts or Geans, with a soft-fleshed, 

 heart-shaped fruit, represented by Governor Wood, Black 

 Eagle and Black Tartarian ; Bigarreaus, hard-fleshed cherries, 

 mostly light-colored an;l heart-shaped, including Windsor, 

 Napoleon and Yellow Spanish ; and the Dukes, which differ 

 from the Heart cherries chiefly in having an acid or subacid 

 fruit, and include the May Duke, Reine Hortense and Belle de 

 Choisv and a few more. 



