452 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 403. 



undertakes to pay one-half, two-thirds or three-fourths of 

 the cost, as the case may be. The most important and 

 beneficent use to which this system has been put, as it is 

 set forth in the article we have noticed, is the provision of 

 a credit to the farmer which corresponds to the draft 

 credit, without which no manufacturer or merchant could 

 profitably carry on his business. The details of this scheme 

 are too intricate to be described here, but it is asserted that 

 this s)^stem helped the farmers in many parts of Germany 

 over the effects of the disastrous drought of last year, and that 

 the German dairies and wine cellars depend for their sup- 

 port on these credit banks, which demand little money at 

 the outset but much security, and recover the debt rapidly 

 and steadily out of the profits. As much as a hundred 

 and fifty million dollars is said to be loaned out every year 

 to "German farmers by these banks, and a single coopera- 

 tive bank at Augsburg lends out annually five million 

 dollars. Under the system the money comes back with 

 almost absolute safety, the losses on agricultural loans 

 being incomparably smaller than those on other loans. 

 One bank is mentioned in Silesia which in fifteen years lost 

 only one hundred and fifty pounds out of more than six 

 and a half millions of pounds loaned. 



One great drawback to successful agriculture in America 

 is the fact that so much of the money invested in it is fixed 

 capital, representing land, buildings and the like, while the 

 farmer has so little fioating capital with which to take 

 advantage of the market when he comes to buy fertilizers 

 and seed and feed for stock and other raw material. Credit 

 is not exactly capital, but if our agricultural communities 

 were sufficiently stable to guarantee the success of some 

 credit system like those now established in Europe it 

 might be a boon to progressive farmers. There has been 

 abundance of credit given in this country, as the cotton 

 farmers of the south learned to their cost when they 

 pledged their crops in advance as security for all they 

 bought, but it was at ruinous rates, and it meant mortgage 

 and bankruptcy. If under this European system a sound 

 credit could be made to give farmers the advantages of 

 cash prices which would much more than pay a low rate 

 of interest, the aggregate gain in many branches of agri- 

 culture vi'ould be enormous. 



Autumn Color in the Pines. 



THE color in the Pines is unusually brilliant this 

 autumn. Many of the White Oaks are carrying 

 bright scarlet leaves, while the foliage of the Chestnut Oaks 

 takes on more of a yellow tinge. Never have the various 

 species of Black Oaks made a more characteristic display 

 than at this time. The hues range from deep crimson to 

 bright scarlet, while the leaves on some trees are still 

 green, with here and there blotches of red, as if they had 

 been spattered with blood. The section of Black Oaks is 

 puzzling, so widely do the leaves vary, often on the same 

 tree. On some branches the leaves are but slightly lobed, 

 while those on other branches of the same tree are deeply 

 and narrowly lobed. The White Oaks, too, have marked 

 individuality. A large tree in my garden has certain 

 branches to which all the leaves cling through the winter, 

 and only loosen their hold in late spring, when the swell- 

 ing buds push them off. The rest of the branches lose 

 every leaf in autumn. They all turn to a uniform bright 

 red — those that fall as well as those that remain. 



The foliage on some of the Sweet Gum trees here is a 

 rich dark purple, while on others near by shades of crimson 

 and yellow prevail, and these trees take on the same colors 

 each year. A Sweet Gum which turns to purple one 

 autumn is always purple, while a tree once dressed in 

 crimson and gold is always the same. But the Sour Gum, 

 Nyssa, never shows such diversity of color, its leaves be- 

 ing uniformly a bright scarlet. The White ^Maples show the 

 effect of the frost more than most trees. The leaves that 

 were bright yellow a few days ago are now mostly brown 

 and withered, while some of the Swamp Maples remain a 



blaze of red. Many of the Sumachs still hold their scarlet 

 leaves and fruit-clusters. The yellow of Hickories and 

 Birches is uniform and constant among the varied tones of 

 the Sassafras and Dogwoods, many of which are yellow 

 here, although, as a rule, red is the prevailing color. 



The shrubs, too, makebrilliant masses of color, especially 

 those in the Heath family. The Vacciniums are purple, 

 crimson and scarlet ; Andromedas gleam through various 

 shades of red to a bronze-purple, while the varied shades 

 of red in Leucothoe mingle with the yellow of Clethra and 

 Azalea viscosa. The fruit of the Black Alder shines brightly 

 red among its greenish-yellow leaves and contrasts well 

 with the red-brown foliage of Alnus serrulata near b)^ 

 Baccharis, with its plumy pappus, looks at a little distance 

 like masses of white flowers, and mingling with the autum- 

 nal color is very ornamental, but the Wild Roses are a dis- 

 appointment. The hips at this time of year are usually 

 plump and bright red, but now they are blackened and look 

 almost charred with the excessive heat and drought. The 

 leaves of the tall Blackberry are red and purple, while 

 those of the Sand Blackberry, Rubus cunifolius, are still 

 green, and the running Swamp Blackberry, R. hispidus, is 

 always attractive with its rich shades of color, creeping 

 among the Grasses and Sedges. Very handsome, too, are 

 the Cranberries, trailing through the sphagnum with purple 

 and green leaves and scarlet and crimson fruit. Ampelop- 

 sis and different species of Smilax are clambering every- 

 where, mantling dead trees and every other unsightly 

 object with the splendor of the season, and all this wealth 

 of color, mingled with the green of the Pines, Cedars, Hol- 

 lies and Laurel, is beautiful beyond expression. And yet — 

 ought I to confess it.' — we are hardly satisfied with the dis- 

 play made on these low levels. If we could only see a 

 forest sweeping triumphantly up a mountain slope, or a 

 broad landscape billov.^ed with wooded hills and deep val- 

 leys I Only in scenery of this kind is the pomp and mag- 

 nificence of an American autumn fully unfolded. 



vineiand, X.J. Mary Treat. 



The New York Cut Flower Company. — I. 



A FTER entering the wide hall of the spacious building at 

 £\_ 119 West Twenty-third Street, New York, the visitor is 

 carried by the elevator to the second floor and ushered 

 into the commodious rooms of the New York Cut Flower 

 Company. The first glimpse of the main salesroom, even 

 at a quiet hour of the day, suggests a large and multiform 

 business ; in a busy time the visitor finds himself suddenly 

 among the largest collection of cut flowers on this conti- 

 nent A moment is needed to collect himself after the 

 burst of color and gale of fragrance which greet him, and 

 then he will see substantial broad white tables ranged 

 along the sides of the room and set in parallel rows be- 

 tween them, with generous floor-spaces reserved for sales- 

 men and buyers. Every day of the week this room 

 presents an animated scene, for, even on Sunday, in the 

 early morning, exceptionally energetic Christian buyers 

 are on hand for the freshest and most fashionable flowers 

 for decorating houses of worship. On the continuous 

 broad tabling along the walls stand large boxes of roses as 

 they come packed by the growers. The contents of others 

 are deftly arranged in great heaps on the tables in front, 

 which serve as counters. Other parts of the salesroom are 

 used for carnations, violets, lilies, mignonette, smila.x, lily- 

 of-the-valley, with its poetical name here, as elsewhere, in 

 the flower trade, cruelly abbreviated to " valley," with other 

 flowers in season. 



Passing into a middle room, which at this season is 

 reserved exclusively for chrysanthemums, a new effect is 

 witnessed. On side tables masses of immense flowers 

 are grouped in deep mahogany-colored vases made of 

 " Fibrotta," a preparation of wood pulp with a hardened 

 shell and glazed surface. These tumbler-shaped vessels 

 are eighteen inches deep and nine inches across at the top, 

 but their ample size is needed for the tall stout stems and 



