64 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 207. 



and other scientific institutions. Collectors are employed in 

 various parts of the continent of Asia, of Japan, of some of the 

 not thoroughly known cooler regions of Europe and North 

 America, wherever it is likely that hardy novelties may be 

 obtained. As the climate of this central German plain is 

 severe in winter, it is the aim of the proprietor of the " Na- 

 tional Arboretum " to procure his stocks from the highest lati- 

 tudes and altitudes or most exposed situations in which they 

 occur in their native habitats. I have spoken of Dr. Dieck's 

 enterprise in collecting, because he is apparently trying to do 

 a work in Germany similar to what the Messrs. Veitch have 

 long been doing, in introducing new plants to Enghsh gardens. 



The grounds in the immediate vicinity of the house are filled 

 with various trees and shrubs, with small nursery material, 

 and particularly with the newer and rarer acquisitions. An 

 idea of the pains taken in bringing the collections together 

 may be gained by the statement that it is claimed there are 

 about 500 species and natural variations of wild Roses here, 

 and an equal number of forms of Willows. But, besides be- 

 ing torments to systematic botanists, the great majority of 

 these variations or hybrids are of no particular value either for 

 use or ornament. The custom of giving Latinized names to 

 garden-hybrids, or the merest variations, is also to be deplored, 

 as tending to create greater confusion in the nomenclature and 

 synonymy of already well-defined species. An interesting 

 hybrid was one between Rosa Beggeriana and R. rugosa, 

 which produces rose-colored flowers from the tips of its shoots 

 throughout the season, as is the habit of R. Beggeriana. Great 

 pains have also been taken to introduce the kinds of Roses 

 from which attar of roses is produced, and some account of 

 these forms is given in the catalogues. 



A shrubby Polygonum from Afghanistan may prove to be 

 an interesting addition to our gardens should it be found suf- 

 ficiently hardy. Rhododendron Ungerni, from the mountains 

 of Armenia, is considered another great acquisition, as it gives 

 promise of being quite hardy. The leaves are very white on 

 the under surfaces. One or two other novelties in Rhododen- 

 drons are also promised. Hedysarum multijugum, from Mon- 

 golia, is here quite hardy, forming a straggling shrub five feet 

 high. A white-flowered Cytisus from the Balkans is much 

 prized. 



The raising of Coniferae and Ericace^e from seed is not any 

 easier here than we find it in America, as the young seedlings 

 are just as liable to sudden and wholesale destruction by fungi 

 unless great care and watchfulness is exercised. During the 

 first years, or until they have attained to a good size and 

 strength, the young evergreens and plants of the Heath family 

 are sheltered from the direct rays of the sun by very loose 

 mats made of coarse reeds or grasses placed on frames which 

 are sufficiently elevated to admit of free passing beneath. 



The main nurseries are divided into several large and quite 

 separate blocks of many acres in extent, perhaps comprising 

 about 125 acres in all. Ornamental, shade and fruit trees are 

 grown. A large portion of the fruit and shade trees produced 

 here are grown with straight clean stems, without branches for 

 six or seven feet or more, to meet the great demand for trees for 

 road-side planting. Among the conifers there were a number 

 of species, generally considered thoroughly hardy in regions 

 much colder, which showed some injury from (he frosts of 

 the last winter. Many young Spruces were greatly injured by 

 a species of Spruce-bud louse, probably Chermes (Adelges) 

 abietis, which causes cone-like swellings on the tips of the 

 shoots and branchlets. It is the same or a closely allied insect 

 which often attacks and seriously injures Norway, White and 

 other Spruces in our own country. There seems to be no remedy 

 except cutting off the infested tips as soon as they appear and 

 burning them at once, instead of throwing' them on the ground, 

 where the insects would probably be able to complete their 

 development. It is noticeable that trees in vigorous health are 

 apparently less affected than those which make poor growths 

 or are in uncongenial situations. 



This insect came under my notice in a curious way when on 

 the Rigi, in Switzerland. A great deal of buzzing overhead 

 among the branches of some Spruces proved, on examination, 

 to be caused by swarms of bees, wasps and flies which had 

 been attracted by the liquid excretions or honey-dew made 

 by great numbers of chermes with which the trees were in- 

 fested. 



Between Halle and Berlin the train passes many more large 

 tracts of forest, and here we find the Scotch Pine (Pinus syl- 

 vestris) chiefly planted. As a rule, only the poorest land is 

 planted in wood, and its poverty is often attested by the White 

 Birches, which spring up among the Pines where there are fa- 

 vorable conditions. The Pines looked in good thrifty condi- 

 tion, and over large tracts the trunk of every one was encir- 



cled by a band intended to prevent inroads by certain injurious 

 insects. 



As would naturally be expected at the capital of the empire, 

 the Botanic Garden at Berlin is one of the best of these Ger- 

 man public institutions. Besides the collections of living 

 plants, it has connected with it a very excellent botanical mu- 

 seum, which is open to the public on certain days in the week, 

 and which cannot fail to be almost as instructive as the gar- 

 den. The collection is especially rich in representing trees 

 and the more useful plants and their products. 



Of the plants in the garden it seems hardly necessary to 

 speak in detail, as there is a good deal of similarity, both in 

 arrangement and specimens, in many of these institutions. 

 In naming the specimens the Latin name and authority, the 

 German name and the native country are given on the labels. 



The present director has given the Alpine Garden a promi- 

 nent place here, some fine trees having been sacrificed to it. 

 The trees in the garden are generally rather crowded, but there 

 are some large well-developed specimens among them. A 

 specimen of a form of the Oriental Plane-tree has a trunk ap- 

 proaching five feet in diameter at two or three feet from the 

 ground, and shows no signs of disease. 



The Oregon Ash (Fraxinus Oregana) was noticed, about 

 twenty-five feet high, growing vigorously and fruiting freely. 



The mystery which surrounds the origin of the Myrobalan 

 Plum (Prunus Myrobalana) was here recalled by a large broad 

 spreading tree, thirty feet high, labeled under the synonym 

 Prunus cerasifera, and with North America credited as its natu- 

 ral habitat. Most horticultural works, as well as other gar- 

 dens, almost uniformly attribute this species to North America, 

 and it is strange that it has not yet been found wild by Amer- 

 ican botanists if it is a native of this country. 



The evidence seems to point to south-western Asia as its 

 natural home. Seeds, without name, which were sent to the 

 Arboretum by Max Leichtlin, and said to have been collected 

 in Turkistan, produced plants of this species which bore yel- 

 low fruit. It is true that this seed may have been wrongly 

 labeled by mistake, or the plants from which the seed was col- 

 lected may have been introduced and not been indigenous to 

 Turkistan. Another point in favor of the idea that it is a native 

 of Asia is that we have in what is called Prunus Pissardi in 

 many nurseries a plant which is evidently a form of the Myro- 

 balan Plum, and already it is to be found in gardens and cata- 

 logues under the name of Prunus cerasifera, foliis purpureis, 

 or P. cerasifera, Pissardi. 



Whence this came to Europe is known, for it is recorded 

 that it was first sent to France by Monsieur Pissard from the 

 capital of Persia, the sender being at that time gardener to the 

 Shah. 



Seeds of this purple-leaved Plum have been sown and the 

 young plants derived have agreed exactly, in every essential 

 particular, with plants of the true Myrobalan Pluni of the same 

 age, the leaves of the seedlings being of the natural green 

 color. 



It is to be hoped that Dr. Dieck, Max Leichtlin or some 

 other of the enterprising botanical explorers of south-eastern 

 and central Asia, may soon be enabled to enlighten us as to the 

 true home of the wild Myrobalan Plum. 'r r rt b 



Arnold Ai-boretum. /• Cr. Jack. 



Notes on Cone-bearers of North-west America. — I. 



Misnamed California Pines. — Two species of Pines be- 

 longing to the close-cone group are bearing in our present 

 Pine literature untenable names. I allude to the Monterey 

 Pine and the Narrovv-cone Pine, called Pinus insignis and 

 P. tuberculata respectively. The first was named more 

 than one hundred years ago by one of the earliest botanists 

 to deal with California plants. 



Pinus Californica, Loiseleur, in Nouveau Duhaniel, vol. v., 

 243 (1816), in part, excluding characters of the seeds. 



P. tuberculata, D. Don, in Trans. Lhin. Soc, xvii., 441 

 (1837), and 



P. radiata, D. Don, 1. c. 442. 



P. insignis, Douglas, in Loudon's Arborelmn (1844), and 

 most subsequent authors. 



The name conferred by Loiseleur de Longchamp in 

 1787 (published 1. c. in 1816) was accepted by such emi- 

 nent botanists as Loudon, Endlicher, Hooker & Arnott, 

 Nuttall, Carriere, etc., but was not taken up by most other 

 authors, perhaps on account of an error in the description 

 of the seeds, due to mixing of specimens. 



