440 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 4x31. 



Notes. 



A.t a sale of the plants last week belonging to the late Samuel 

 j. Tilden, at Graystone, the highest price, $120.00, was brought 

 liy a Zamia integrifolia. A Cycas revoluta, said to )je two liun- 

 dred years old, brought $62.00. 



A large Paulownia-tree in Jersey City is now surprising all 

 who see it by its display of flowers. Undoubtedly the long 

 drought ripened up the wood earlier than usual and the recent 

 rains have encouraged the flowers to open now instead of 

 waiting until spring. 



Eighty car-loads of lemons, each containing three hundred 

 l)Oxes, have been shipped east from the colony of Ontario, San 

 Bernardino County, California, this year. Since the lemons 

 have averaged $3.00 a box the growers in that region may be 

 considered prosperous. 



A comparatively small portion of the fruit raised in the 

 Netherlands is consumed in that country. According to 

 recent reports from our consuls, something like a million 

 l)Ounds of black currants, three million pounds of red currants 

 and the same amount of gooseberries and cherries are annu- 

 ally sent to England. 



Mr. Gerard has sent to this office flowering plants of the 

 Algerian blue Scilla lingulata and its white variety. The small 

 flowers cannot be called showy, althougli, as ten or a dozen of 

 tliem are borne on a scape three or four inches high, they are 

 bright and interesting, especially since they come later in the 

 season than any other species of the genus. 



We have recently seen bulbs of different kinds of Lilies, 

 Hyacinths and Narcissus which were sent to a New York seed- 

 store from the North Carolina Experiment Station. Of course, 

 it remains to be proved that these will force as well as the 

 bulbs imported from Europe, but in size, weight and general 

 appearance they are altogether superior to imported bulbs. 



Butternuts and black walnuts are plentiful this year and sell 

 for eight cents a quart, while hickory nuts, of which there is 

 also a good crop, bring ten cents. Bull nuts, the large hickory 

 nuts known to the trade by this name, cost eight cents a quart; 

 their meats are in demand by bakers. Chestnuts are in lighter 

 supply than was anticipated, the scarcity being attributed to 

 dry weather. 



About the latest of the Golden-rods to flower is Solidago 

 Drummondii, which is usually at its best during the last half of 

 October. The flowers are of a rich deep yellow, and so abun- 

 dant that the long slender stems often fall under their weight 

 unless they are staked. It is an admirable plant for large 

 decorations, since the flowers are well set off by the abundant 

 dark green foliage. It thrives well in partial shade. 



String beans are now coming from South Carolina and Vir- 

 ginia, peas from the section about Norfolk, large bright egg- 

 plants from Florida, and okra from Louisiana. The season tor 

 norlhern-grown Lima beans has been nearly closed by recent 

 frosts, and the few which have escaped bring sixty cents a half- 

 peck. During the foggy weather of the early part of the week 

 large quantities of wild mushrooms came from neighboring 

 meadows. They have sold for thirty-five cents a pound. 



The Yellow-root, Zanthorhiza apiifolia, is one of the latest 

 shrubs to take on its autumnal glow, but the orange and scar- 

 let of its leaves in early November make it really desirable. 

 In the Carolina mountains it is an undershrub, and, although 

 neither its flowers nor fruit are conspicuous, its neat pinnate 

 leaves and low growth make it useful for the edges of a shrub- 

 bery or for covering shaded slopes or in any other position 

 where a low undergrowth is needed. 



Professor Bailey says that natural hybrids between the com- 

 mon Blackberry and the Dewberry are common along the 

 roadsides in central New York. The cultivated varieties 

 known as Wilson's Early, Wilson Jr., Sterling Thornless and 

 Rathbun belong to this mongrel class. The plants are charac- 

 terized by a low diffuse growth, broad notched leaves and 

 roundish oblong fruits, which are sometimes very large. 

 Some of these hybrids have a distinct tendency to root at the 

 tip, as Dewberries do. 



California grapes are now at their best as to size and color- 

 ing, and in boxes packed with but one kind, or with bands of 

 Flame Tokays, white Muscats and black Cornichons or Mo- 

 roccos, they make a striking display. A few Salway peaches, 

 brought out of cold storage, are yet seen. Large well-grown 

 quinces from California, in boxes containing sixty to eighty 

 fruits, cost $3.00. Small lots of pomegranates have recently 



arrived from Spain. Almeria grapes, as yet rarely seen in tlie 

 fruit-stores, sell for twenty cents a pound at retail. 



According to Professor Taft, winter Squashes are among 

 the easiest vegetables to carry through the season. Trouble is 

 often experienced in preserving them, but one reason for this 

 is that they are left too long on the vine, where they are sub- 

 jected to frost. Even if not quite ripe it is better to gather them 

 and place them in some sunny spot where they can be covered 

 at night. On the approach of freezing weather they should be 

 carried to the house, and, unlike most other vegetables, they 

 should be stored in the warmest and driest place possible. If 

 one has a furnace and the squashes are packed around it they 

 will keep, even if they were no more than half-grown. 



H. L. Sunderbruck is considered the best yellow Chrysanthe- 

 mum now in season, and the choicest blooms of this variety 

 sell for a dollar apiece in the Broadway flower-shops. Yellow 

 Queen isanotherfavoriteof this color now. Marion Henderson, 

 one of the bestearly yellow sorts, is already past. Pink-flowering 

 sorts have been scarce thus far. Nemesis being as good 

 as any offered. Merry Monarch, now past, was the earliest 

 white Chrysanthemum of the season. With this variety has 

 been offered Mayflower, which, during the past week, was 

 considered the best white sort of all, Mrs. Henry Robinson 

 ranking second and J. H. Troy next in quality. The latter two 

 varieties sold for not more than half the price commanded by 

 Mayflower, good white flowers being in greater demand than 

 those of any other color. The bronzy-red Sunrise and A. J. 

 Drexel are the principal red sorts. The market season, which 

 opened this year September 30th, was a week earlier than 

 last year, when the first shipments were offered here Oc- 

 tober 6th. 



In the basin of the lower Mississippi and in the maritime 

 region of the southern Atlantic states the Liquidambar, or 

 Sweet Gum, is one of the most common forest-trees of low 

 rich lands, where it develops into tall, straight trunks, tree 

 from branches, to the height of seventy or eighty feet above 

 the ground. The smooth and satiny wood, however, is diffi- 

 cult to season, and shrinks so badly in drying that the com- 

 mercial demand for gum lumber has been limited. For 

 special uses, as for example, for door panels, or for veneers in 

 cabinetwork, it is utilized to some extent, and in England the 

 clear timber is considerably used under the name of Satin 

 Walnut. Nevertheless, this is in a large measure a neglected 

 wood because of its tendency to warp, which renders it un- 

 profitable for careless dealers and consumers to handle. A 

 recent number of 77;*? Northwesterii Lumberman stales that 

 gum logs when quarter-sawed become tractable and reliable. 

 The wood loses in this way its characteristic grain effects, but 

 it still could be finished with a fine rich surface, and it could 

 be largely employed for flooring and other plain use where 

 durability is required. The vast amount of this timber which 

 is still standing certainly makes it worth while to study and 

 experiment with the wood so as to discover how it can be 

 manufactured and dried in the most profitable way. 



The last bulletin issued by the Division of Ornithology of 

 the Department of Agriculture is a report on the economic 

 status of the common crow, based on the examination of 

 about one thousand stomachs. These examinations sustain 

 the charges that are brought against the crow — namely : (i) 

 that it pulls sprouting corn ; (2) that it injures the corn in the 

 milk ; (3) that it destroys cultivated fruit, and (4) that it feeds 

 on the eggs and young of poultry and wild birds. But when 

 the different kinds of food have been reduced to quantitative 

 percentages and contrasted, the injury done by the birds is 

 comparatively slight. The great bulk of the grain consumed 

 is waste corn, picked up here and there, and of no economical 

 value. The destruction of cultivated fruits is also trivial, while 

 the eggs and young of poultry and wild birds amount to only 

 one per cent, of the food of the crow. As an offset to the bad 

 habits of the bird he is to be credited with destroying many 

 noxious insects and injurious animals. About twenty-six per 

 cent, of his entire food is insects, most of them grasshoppers, 

 May-beetles, cut-worms and other injurious kinds. The sea- 

 son of the May-beetles corresponds with the breeding season 

 of the crow, and these insects are the principal food of the 

 nestling birds. After the May-beetles disappear the crows 

 consume great numbers of grasshoppers, and through the 

 autumn these constitute the greater part of the insect food of 

 the bird. The crow also destroys mice and other injurious 

 rodents, so that in summing up the benefits and losses result- 

 ing from the food habits of the bird it seems clear that the 

 good exceeds the bad, and that the crow is a friend, and not 

 an enemy, of the farmer. 



