J ANUARY 20, 1S92.] 



Garden and Forest. 



25 



GARDEN AND FOREST. 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO. 



Office: Trluunk Building, New York. 



Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent. 



ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. V. 



NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1892. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGR. 



KniTORiAL Artici-fs : — More Forest-reservations 25 



An Ajjpropriate Decoration. {Witli figure.) 26 



Tile Jubilee Year of Kew Gardens 26 



New England Parks Mrs. J. //. Robl>ins. 27 



The Perforation of Flowers. (With figure.) J. G. Jack. 29 



FoRRiGr4 Correspondence: — New Garden-plants of 1891. — I IV. \Vaist>tt, 30 



Cultural Department: — Seed-sowing O. O. 31 



Notes from the Harvard Botanic Garden M. Barker, 31 



Tlie E.\perinieiit Garden E. P. Pozvell. 33 



Autumn Snowdrops y. N. G. 33 



Tomatoes, Early Cabbages Professor W. F. Massey, 33 



The Forest:— The Forestry IVIovement in the United States... 5^. Z>. tV. French. 34 



Correspondence ;—Ecktord"s Sweet Peas IV. T Hutchins. 34 



Recent Publications: — ^Japanese Art in the Arrangement of Flowers. — II.... 35 



Notes 3^ 



In uSTRATtoNS : — The Perforation of Flowers, Fii^. 7 29 



.\n illustration of the use of Herbaceous Plants in connection with build- 

 ings, Fig. S 32 



-More Forest-reservations. 



THE authority to set apart forest-lands as permanent 

 reservations with which the President of the United 

 States was endowed less than a year ago, enjoins upon 

 him the duty of selecting- portions of the national domain 

 where it is most desirable to retain the forest-cover. There 

 can be no question, therefore, that he will welcome any 

 suggestions from well-informed and public-spirited citizens 

 in regard to tracts of forest whose preservation may seem 

 most essential to the general welfare. We spoke of it as a 

 gratifying fact in the early autumn of last year that a me- 

 morial naming and describing at length five sections which 

 seem suitable for public reservations had been presented to 

 the President by persons of well-known scientific and prac- 

 tical attainments. We gave the descriptions of some of 

 these tracts, with the reasons offered for selecting them. 

 The first was the Flat Head and Marias River Reservation, 

 originally proposed in a bill by Senator Edmunds some 

 eight years ago. The second was the Tulare Reservation, 

 which, like the first, covered an area of 7,000 square miles. 

 It lies on the western slope of the Sierra, and includes the 

 eastern w.atershed of the San Joaquin River and the streams 

 which flow into Tulare Lake. It was asked for by the 

 California Academy of Science and a convention of the 

 citizens of four of the counties of that state. The Pecos 

 River Reservation, advocated by the Surveyor-General of 

 New Mexico and manyother citizens, is on the Las Vegas and 

 Santa Fe ranges. Pike's Peak and its slopes, including an 

 area of some 350 square miles, was the next reservation 

 asked for in order to preserve from extinction the forest- 

 area which now furnishes timber and fuel for 30,000 peo- 

 ple, and the water indispensable for irrigating hundreds of 

 thousands of acres of land, besides supplying many com- 

 munities in a place where the husbanding of water is a try- 

 ing necessity. The proposed Minnesota Reservation covers 

 some 6,000,000 acres, and includes the sources of the Mis- 

 sissippi and the Red River of the North. 



The President has already enlarged the boundaries of the 

 Yellowstone, and has established the White River Reser- 

 vation in Colorado, with an area of 2,000 square miles. 

 Special agents, too, have been detailed by the Secretary of 

 the Interior to make examinations of the other tracts and 

 report upon their suitability for the purpose indicated. 

 There seems to be a reasonable probability that in some of 

 these cases the President will exercise his power, although 

 to some of them opposition has been made by interested 

 persons. This is especially true of the Minnesota tract ; 

 but there can be little doubt that the public opinion of the 

 state would strongly favor the reservation if it was under- 

 stood that no agricultural land is to be withheld from set- 

 tlers, and that the people are not to be deprived of the 

 products of the forest. On the contrary, the forest is to be 

 saved from wasting fire and held to furnish continuous 

 supplies under economical management, instead of being 

 stripped at once of its valuable timber and left to be burned 

 over and abandoned. 



Another reservation to which we have not before referred 

 at length is asked for by many citizens of North Dakota, 

 including the Superintendent of Irrigation and Forestry. 

 It embraces the elevated lands in Buttineau and Rulette 

 counties, known as the Turtle Mountains and adjacent to 

 the Canadian boundary. This tract consists of a plateau 

 several hundred feet above the surrounding plains, cut 

 near its edges by deep coulees and rising in irregular 

 mountains at their highest point to 2,500 feet above the 

 sea-level. On the borders of this tract are numerous 

 springs, the fountains of streams which water the plains ; 

 and many lakes are found in the centre of the tract. Most 

 of it is covered by a mixed growth of Oak, Ash, Elm, Cot- 

 tonwood, Box Elder, Willow and other trees ; but owing to 

 the fires which run through it and the indiscriminate cut- 

 ting, the forest is in very imperfect condition. It is asked 

 that what remains of this forest may be preserved in order 

 to furnish perpetually wood-products for the surrounding 

 treeless region ; to furnish seedlings for tree-planting in 

 the prairies ; to retard the melting of the snow and water, 

 and thus prevent spring freshets on the plain ; to 

 sustain a water-supply during summer, and to form a 

 protection against the cold winds of the north and the dry- 

 ing winds of the west. It is the only wooded area of any 

 extent in that country which remains in the hands of the 

 Government, and it would be of priceless value as a place 

 of recreation for the people of the neighboring plains and 

 adjacent towns and cities. 



At the recent Forestry meeting, among other reservations 

 asked for was one known as " Lost Park." It was advo- 

 cated by Colonel Ensign, Forest Commissioner of Colorado, 

 and many of the leading citizens of that state. It is in 

 central Colorado, some forty miles south-west of Denver, 

 and forms a part of the water-shed of the South Platte 

 River. It- includes about 500 square miles, and ranges 

 from 6,000 to 12,400 feet in altitude above the sea. It is a 

 mountain-region with small valleys, some of the ranges 

 being rugged and precipitous and rising occasionally above 

 the timber-line. The northern slopes of the mountains are 

 generally wooded, and there are small areas of merchant- 

 able timber standing there, while the southern slopes are 

 usually devoid of tree-growth. No minerals of any value 

 are known to be within its boundaries. A few entries 

 have been made within the tract, some small savi'-mills 

 built, and some cutting has been done for charcoal and 

 other purposes. The settlements along the streams which 

 flow out of the tract need all the water for irrigation that 

 can possibly be secured, and if the timber can be guarded 

 from fire for some years the northern slope will speedily 

 be reclothed with forest. 



The Crater Lake Reservation is on the Cascade Moun- 

 tains, in south-west Oregon, about the source of the Um- 

 paqua. Rogue, Klamath and Des Chutes rivers. The whole 

 area to be preserved is 360 square miles. It ranges in 

 height from 4,000 to 9,000 feet above the sea, and includes 

 several lakes at an altitude of 7,000 feet. An extinct vol- 



