450 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 4102. 



ofiwhich in the western mountain ranges still remains, and 

 sliould forever continue, in the possession of the Government." 

 The report is signed by Charles S. Sargent, Chairman ; 

 Charles Mohr, William IVT. Canby, Henry Trimble, John Ber- 

 kinbine and Gifford Pinchot, Secretary. 



Notes. 



Miss Frances Prince, 17 Jay street, Boston, resumed her 

 classes in Botany on the first of November. The Winter 

 Aspect of Trees, the Ferns of New England, the Evolution of 

 Plant Life, Weeds and Wayside Plants are four subjects upon 

 which ten or more lessons will be given. 



One of our common Asters is A. undulatus, and it usually 

 grows on dry, hungry land, but when it is planted in rich, deep 

 soil it will reach a height of four feet, spreading into a tine 

 bushy shape, and at this late season it still bears abundantly 

 its medium-sized heads with light blue rays and continues to 

 make a show when most other flowers are gone. 



The first shipments of the new crop of almonds reached 

 this city from California about two weeks ago. About fifty 

 car-loads is the estimated crop of these nuts for the entire 

 state this year, and, of course, only a portion of this amount 

 will come to this market. New-crop English walnuts are also 

 here from the same state, and specially thin-shelled ones, 

 known as Paper-shell walnuts, are said to be superior to the 

 French Grenoble walnuts. The new Italian and French wal- 

 nuts have also reached us, with new Tarragona and Ivica 

 almonds from Spain, Princess Paper-shell from F" ranee, and 

 shelled Jordan almonds from Spain. 



In connection with a lecture last week in Plainfield, New 

 Jersey, on the geographical distribution of trees, by IVIr. 

 John Gifford, editor of TJie Forester, there was an inter- 

 esting exhibition of some work by the pupils of the Dal- 

 ziel Manual Training School. This was a collection of various 

 ornamental articles, such as vases and the like, made from 

 twenty different species of trees growmg in the neighborhood 

 of the school. Most of the articles were highly finished and 

 polished, although on some of them the bark was allowed to 

 remain on certain portions, and in every case the name of the 

 tree which furnished the wood was written. The leaf, flower 

 and fruit of the trees were also shown, effectively mounted. 



We have taken occasion in former years to commend the 

 intelligent zeal of the Linnasan Club, of Jamaica, Long Island, 

 an organization whose activity is directed to many useful pur- 

 poses besides the study of botany and other natural sciences, 

 ft is in effect a village improvement society, and not only en- 

 courages the cultivation of flowers, but the preservation of 

 our native herbs, shrubs and trees. The fifth annual flower 

 show of this club will be held in the Town Hall on the 7th and 

 8th of November, and, as usual, premiums are offered for 

 herbariums of native plants, for properly named dried 

 grasses and seed-vessels suitable for winter bouquets and the 

 like. Last year the exhibits in these classes by the pupils of 

 tlie public schools were of unusual interest, some of the best 

 having been made by children under twelve years of age. 



The best vegetable-stands in the large markets are, perhaps, 

 even more showy now than in midsummer. All the summer 

 vegetables are still seen, for the last sugar corn and tomatoes 

 may yet be had, with new Brussels sprouts, leeks, salsify, 

 celeriac and kohl-rabi, and new peas, beans, okra and egg- 

 plants from southern gardens. Striking color-effects are pro- 

 duced by the creamy heads of cauliliower in their green 

 foliage, dull red beets, clear yellow carrots, white parsnips, 

 deep orange pumpkins and bright radishes, relieved by the 

 many shades of their fresh stems or leaves. Besides watercress, 

 many green lettuces and the bronzy purple kale, there are now 

 coming into market the new crop of dried thyme, sage and 

 sweet marjoram, while the stalls, gayly festooned with strings 

 of small red peppers, are aromatic with fresh mint, tarragon 

 and other fragrant herbs. 



Twenty new Chrysanthemums were inspected on Saturday 

 in this city by an awarding committee of the New York 

 Florists' Club representing the National Chrysanthemum 

 Society. The plants certificated were the following: Mrs. 

 Perrin, shown by E.G. Hill, of Richmond, Indiana; flower 

 loosely incurved, deep rose-pink, silvery reverse, unsurpassed 

 in color and first-rate in stem and foliage. Marion Cleveland, 

 shown by T. H. Spaulding, Orange, New Jersey ; flower in- 

 curved Japanese, large, lemon-yellow, shading to light canary, 

 a new color in this class. Miss Agnes Louise Dalkson, shown 



by M. Hansen, New Durham, New Jersey ; flower loosely 

 incurved Japanese, a sport from Ivory and identical in form 

 and foliage, but of a clear pink color. Baltimore Belle, shown 

 by John N. May, Summit, New Jersey ; flower incurved Japa- 

 nese, white, with a faint blush, an improvement on the Mrs. 

 H. McK. Twomley. The other varieties were all good, and 

 some of them quite distinct, like Mr. May's Infatuation, a half- 

 tasseled cream-white flower ; but they all failed to reach the 

 highest standard in some requirement, or were not considered 

 superior to varieties already in commerce. 



Mr. T. V. Munson writes to the Farm and Ranch that in a 

 large portion of eastern Texas, where there is considerable 

 moisture, varieties and hybrids of Vitis vinifera have been 

 rendered almost useless by the black rot, in spite of five appli- 

 cations of the Bordeaux mixture. Some native varieties, like 

 Ives, Perkins and Norton, have borne good crops with no 

 treatment. Champion, Moore's Early, Woodruff", Worden, 

 Agawam, Concord, Goethe and many others were saved with 

 two sprayings. Moore's Diamond, Brighton, Green Mountain, 

 Niagara, Empire State and others yielded a fair crop when 

 sprayed once just before flowering, again when the young 

 grapes were the size of pigeon-shot, and a third time nine or 

 ten days later. Mr. Munson says that in south-western France 

 the grape crop has been nearly destroyed by the black rot this 

 season, which was characterized by excessive rains during 

 spring and summer. The disease was so virulent that spray- 

 ing with the copper compounds did not seem to check it. It 

 is the difficulty of overcoming the rot and mildew which pre- 

 vents the successful cultivation of the Vinifera varieties in 

 most parts of this country, although in the arid regions of 

 western Texas they succeed quite well. The power of resist- 

 ance which different varieties have to the black rot is certainly 

 an important point to be considered by all who are planting 

 vineyards. 



The Norway Maple is an admirable street-tree in our eastern 

 cities, and although it is sometimes disfigured in summer by 

 thrips, especially farther inland, it appears to flourish as well near 

 the sea as most of our own IVIaples. It also holds its leaves 

 later than our native sorts, and, unlike many other European 

 frees, it has the merit of coloring beautifully in the autumn. 

 For some years we have observed in a neighboring city a row 

 of these trees which are about thirty years old, in first-rate 

 health, and just now they are making a striking display. On 

 one of them nearly every leaf is colored throughout with 

 the same tint, a light lemon-yellow, and when the sun shines 

 through the foliage it is singularly beautiful. Next to it is a 

 tree which shows hardly any yellow whatever, although on 

 examination most of the leaves are seen to have a narrow strip 

 of yellow along the prominent veins, the remainder being a 

 light crimson. For three successive seasons, at least, these 

 trees have each one shown this difference of color, a fact 

 which goes to justify the belief that individual trees 'of differ- 

 ent species have a constitutional tendency to turn to the same 

 color every year. The foliage of other trees in the row is yel- 

 low and scarlet, with these colors distributed in various pro- 

 portions, most of the leaves being yellow in the main, but 

 with occasional blotches and splashes of crimson, margined 

 with a zone of crimson. 



During the past week 16,000 barrels and boxes of Jamaica 

 oranges were sold here, and small lots of Havana oranges 

 have already come to this port. Mexican oranges are now 

 reaching Chicago and other western markets. It is said that 

 boxes are being shipped to Mexico from Bangor, Maine, and 

 the oranges are attractively packed in these in Florida style. 

 The first of the new crop Sicily lemons reached here last Fri- 

 day and will be sold at auction to-day (Wednesday). High 

 grade Majori lemons are quoted at $11.00 a box, wholesale, 

 but lemons which command this price are scarce. A more 

 general wholesale rate is $5.00, ranging to $3.00, and fruit of 

 the latter grade is sold on the street-stands for one cent each. 

 The quantity of Almeria grapes expected to reach this coun- 

 try this season is variously estimated at 90,000 to 150,000 bar- 

 rels. Their keeping qualities are exceptionally poor. Prices 

 at recent sales ranged from $1.37^^ to $9.25 a barrel. Grapes 

 comprised nearly all of the seventeen car-loads of California 

 fruit sold here last week. Black Moroccos being in greatest 

 quantity. Some belated peaches from the Hudson River dis- 

 trict and Connecticut are still in market, but the demand is 

 slight and prices correspondingly low. A few Delaware and 

 Niagara grapes are still occasionally seen here among offer- 

 ings of Concords. The stock of the latter will be exhausted 

 before Thanksgiving. Catawbas are said to be of excellent 

 quality this year with respect to color, texture and flavor. 



