468 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 404. 



jected to experiment, would give as good data as if he waited 

 anotlier forty years. 



There is, liowever, one caution to be observed when experi- 

 menting with young wood — that is, witli sapwood. This con- 

 tains always a larger amount of water in the lumen as well as 

 the cell-wall ; it shrinks more in drying, and during the process 

 of shrinking, unless carefully dried, it is more liable to develop 

 season checks, which become a source of weakness. It is this 

 greater liability to checking that has probably given rise in 

 part to the experience that sapwood is weaker than heartwood 

 in practice ; this weakness is, however, a result of treatment, 

 not an inherent quality of the sapwood as such, and, at least, 

 for purposes of experiment it can be avoided, whatever may 

 be the difHculties in practical use. 



This fact, which we hope soon to demonstrate with figures 

 of actual experiments, has an important bearing on our for- 

 estry problem ; it secures for the despised sapling timber a 

 greater appreciation. 



As to durability, we know, to be sure, that sapwood, hence 

 young wood, is more liable to decay because of the food 

 elements contained in it, but the coniferous species under con- 

 sideration would at fifty years furnish all the heart-wood ma- 

 terial needful for experiment, while the fuel value of the dry 

 wood could be determined with as much certainty as from 

 older trees. ^ 



Divisi.jii of Forestry, Washington, D. C. •". £■. rcmow. 



Ornamental Shrubs for Nebraska. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Any one interested in ornamental gardening, in visiting 

 the west, cannot fail to notice the extreme dearth of material 

 which both public and home grounds present. A few trees of 

 Cottonwood, Box Elder, Soft Maple, and possibly some others, 

 with here and there a shrub, make up the sum total of orna- 

 mental planting ordinarily found. The reasons for this are 

 various, but the condition chiefly arises, no doubt, from the 

 fact that in a new country, as Nebraska is, the people are first 

 concerned with providing themselves with the needful things 

 of life. /Esthetic features come as a secondary and later con- 

 sideration. The people of a new country are not, as a rule, 

 people of means, and all matters of mere adornment must be 

 at first largely neglected. A second reason lies in the fact that 

 this climate differs widely from the climate of those sections 

 from which most of the people have come, and ornamental 

 plants familiar to them in their old homes often fail utterly 

 here. Nurserymen, too, are much in the dark in this matter. 

 They have been busy providing the more needed varieties of 

 fruit and forest trees, and are often at a loss when asked to 

 recommend trees orshrubs suitable for lawn planting. There 

 are plants that will endure this climate. It is simply a question 

 of finding out what they are. A few well-known shrubs, such 

 as the Lilac, Missouri Currant and the hardier varieties of 

 Spiraea, are known to succeed; but further than this most of 

 us know little. 



In order to throw further light upon this question a number 

 of ornamental shrubs were included in the Experiment Station 

 planting the past spring, and the following notes will serve to 

 show something of their probable value as judged at this early 

 date. It should be said, however, that the plantingseason was 

 unfavorable in that it was followed by a more or less continued 

 period of dry weather, and many plants undoubtedly died 

 which might have survived in more favorable seasons. Fur- 

 thermore, since this represents but one season's growth we 

 can say nothing yet as to hardiness. 



The Sand Cherry promises to prove one of the most satis- 

 factory low-growing shrubs for this climate. Since it is native 

 of the plains it must prove perfectly hardy. Its foliage is 

 bright and attractive, and at date of October 26th, after a num- 

 ber of freezing nights, on some of which the thermometer 

 had fallen below twenty degrees, the plants still presented a 

 fresh and green appearance. Its low-growing habit will ren- 

 der it useful for filling out or banking groups of larger plants. 

 Its fruit also possesses some value. The plants received under 

 the name Improved Dwarf Rocky Mountain Cherry — which 

 are the oldest on our grounds, and identical with the Sand 

 Cherry — have this year shown very attractive autumn tints, a 

 feature which few plants possess in this climate. 



The Amour Tamarix seems to be one of the most useful 

 shrubs for our climate, judging from the plants on our own 

 grounds and older ones seen at other places. Those set at the 

 station grounds last spring have thrown up many shoots from 

 the roots, and now form attractive shrubs three feet or more 

 high and as many broad. The finely cut feathery foliage still 

 remains green and attractive, being unhurt by frosts which 



have defoliated many other plants. The twigs of these young 

 plants have a bright reddish color and promise to give good 

 effects in themselves during winter. 



Rosa rugosa has made a very satisfactory growth. Its firm 

 rugged foliage is still untouched by frost and presents a very 

 pretty appearance. 



Rubus crat;egifoIius has made a very strong growth, and 

 even at the end of this one season would give very good 

 effects upon the lawn. Its foliage is still attractive, and, like 

 the Sand Cherry, it is showing some good autunm coloring. 

 From present knowledge these two and the Sumach are all 

 that can be recommended for this purpose. The leaves of 

 most of our trees give but a yellow and sickly appearance, 

 instead of the bright and gorgeous colors so often seen in the 

 woodlands of the east. 



The Button-bush has made a good growth, and, notwith- 

 standing its very recent advent from the east, where it was 

 purchased, has been a pretty sight during the whole summer. 

 The leaves are now all killed, though many are still clinging 

 to the plant. It has done its duty well during the summer, but 

 evidently succumbs to the first frosts of autumn. Whether it 

 will stand our winters yet remains to be seen. 



Among those which have made a fair growth during the 

 season the following may be mentioned : "The Russian Oak, 

 Lonicera media, L. Germanica, L. splendens, AcerTartaricum, 

 var. Ginnala, Caragana arborescens, Russian Philadelphus, the 

 Tree Cranberry, Purple Fringe, Purple Wistaria, Berberis 

 Amurensis, Pyrus Toringo, Russian Hop-tree, Rubus lacinia- 

 tus, Viburnum Lentago, V. dentatum, V. cassinoides, Double- 

 flowered Deutzia. Deutzia gracilis, American Evonymus. 



Those which have died or made a poor growth are : Poten- 

 tilla fruticosa, Amijelopsis Veitchii, Pawpaw, Chinese Barberry, 

 Berberis Fisheri, B. laxiflora, ^'iburnum acerifolium, V. nudum, 

 V. lantanoides, Clematis Jackmanni, the Beech Plum and Rubus 

 spectabilis. 



Agricultural College, Lincoln, Neb. Fred W. Card. 



A' 



Exhibitions. 



Autumn Flower Show in Chicago. 



T the annual fall exhibition of the Horticultural Society of 

 ^ Chicago last week. Chrysanthemums naturally were the 

 chief attraction. Cut flowers predominated, and the white 

 variety which received the award for the best vase of forty 

 blooms was the Mayflower, shown by StoUery Brothers, 

 Argyle Park, Illinois. The large, fluffy flowers are of the Japa- 

 nese incurved form, the petals somewhat wavy-twisted, the 

 lower ones reflexed. The flower has many good qualities, 

 and it has already become one of the leading market sorts, 

 but in the opinion of many persons for commercial use it did 

 not equal Mr. Buckbee's Mrs. Henry Robinson, which stood 

 second in the same class, but first when competing in a vase 

 of six. The flowers are not as broad and open as those of 

 Mayflower, but they are deeper, the broad incurved petals suf- 

 ficiently compact to round up into a neat head. In this respect 

 it was one of the most desirable white flowers shown and may 

 take a place among the very liest of the early sorts, ranking 

 with Ivory and the Queen. Niveum, which two or three years 

 ago gained much favor, appeared in limited number and holds 

 its own well. Some of the flowers were of the very best form 

 and of immaculate whiteness. Mrs. Perrin, a new pink, in- 

 curved, shown by E. G. Hill & Co., was easily the first of this 

 color in a vase of forty blooms ; while Yellow Queen, exhib- 

 ited by Pohlman Brothers, Morton Grove, and H. L. Sunder- 

 bruch, by Buckbee, led in their color — the latter, with its large 

 open flowers of a rich, shining yellow, being specially good. 

 Peter Henderson & Co. sent several vases of the Pompon or 

 Chusan Daisy-flowered kinds, to which one would at times 

 resort for the relief they aftbrded when contrasted with the 

 large-flowered kinds and their bewilderment of names. But a 

 tiny flower like the old Model of Perfection is a gem in itself, 

 and more enjoyable in its completeness than some of its big, 

 disheveled congeners. 



The display of specimen and standard plants was not as 

 large as usual. Most of them came from Vaughan & Co. and 

 from the garden of Martin A. Ryerson. Of the specimen 

 plants, one of Constellation, covered with good-sized flowers of 

 a delicate pink, was noteworthy, and quite as good was one of 

 The Bard, a very rich, dark crimson flower, one of the best of 

 its color, which is as deep as that of CuUingfordi (which I 

 did not observe at all in the exhibit), and better than George 

 W. Childs, since the flowers are without the traces of bronze 

 or yellow apt to be seen in the latter too prominently in some 

 stages of its anthesis. 



