February 24, 1892.] 



Garden and Forest. 



87 



Notes of a Summer Journey in Europe. — VIII. 



AN excursion to the famous nurseries of L. Spiith, at Rixdorf, 

 a few miles out of Berlin, is expected of every one who visits 

 the German capital with any interest in horticulture, or more par- 

 ticularly in arboriculture. Visitors arc numerous, and ai-e 

 always welcomed and shown the resources of the place, which 

 covers so much ground that only a superficial inspection of it 

 can be made in a day. My own visit here was much too short 

 to enable me to obtain a proper conception of its resources. 

 It is one of the largest nurseries in Germany, if not in Europe, 

 covering about 600 acres devoted to the propagation of forest, 

 ornamental and fruit trees and shrubs, while a great business 

 is also done in herbaceous and bulbous plants. Lilies-of-the- 

 valley are raised in enormous quantities for forcing purposes. 

 A walk among the large blocks of vigorous plants of Spilth's 

 Golden-leaved Dogwood and other variegated plants, purple 

 and variegated-leaved Maples, and thousands and tens of 

 thousands of other plants, either in their natural state or with 

 some abnormal peculiarity, gives one something of the feeling 

 that this is a great plant factory instead of an ordinary nursery. 

 Plants are turned out in such quantities that one may fancy 

 they are made by machinery instead of brought up by hand in 

 the old-fashioned way. The propagation of variations of trees 

 and shrubs seems to be a greatfeature here, and perhaps more 

 is made of slight differences than is necessary for the advance- 

 ment and welfare of horticulture. This, however, is a com- 

 mon fault among nurserymen, and in some cases the distribu- 

 tion of such plants may be a necessary stepping-stone to the 

 really distinct things which are occasionally brought out. Too 

 often, also, the variations propagated are the merest mon- 

 strosities or the result of disease. The enumeration of so 

 many forms swells the lists enormously, so that it is hardly 

 surprising when we are told that Herr Spilth's nurseries con- 

 tain over 6,000 species and varieties of trees and shrubs, be- 

 sides nearly 1,000 varieties of Roses and 700 or 800 of fruits. It 

 is said that nearly three million ornamental and fruit trees are 

 always ready for the yearly sales. Grafting is much resorted 

 to as a means of increasing the stock of some things, and tens 

 of thousands of conifers are treated in this way. 



As it is impossible to show all visitors over such a large es- 

 tablishment, a small collection or arboretum of the most strik- 

 ing plants has been formed near the principal offices, so that 

 much time may be saved by those who only desire to see 

 specimen plants of kinds they wish to procure. This collec- 

 tion is arranged in groups according to genera, and although 

 there is not room for the trees to develop into large speci- 

 mens, a fair idea of their habit and general appearance maybe 

 obtained. They are all neatly and distinctly labeled with per- 

 manent porcelain labels. 



Very different from the great commercial nursery or plant fac- 

 tory of HerrSpiith are the private nursery and garden and the 

 beautiful country home of Baron von St. Paul at Fischbach, at 

 the foot of the Giant Mountains, in Prussian Silesia, where two 

 days were delightfully spent. Baron St. Paul is another enthu- 

 siast in horticulture and arboriculture, never resting or beingsat- 

 isfied with his collection so long as he hears of something which 

 may prove better than anything he already possesses. His 

 garden is famous throughout all the surrounding country, and 

 the road-sides and little gardens in the neighborhood give 

 abundant proof of his influence by the unusual plants or flow- 

 ers which are seen. The situation is a most beautiful one, in 

 a country mostly divided into large estates, yet like one great 

 park, stretching away in meadows, fields of thriving crops and 

 areas of woodland and forest. Behind the house is the great 

 rock known as the " Falkenstein," while before it lies a series of 

 gradually rising hills terminating in the "Schneekoppe," the 

 highest point in the range, which separates Prussian Silesia 

 from Bohemia. 



Fischbach is situated about 1,200 feet above the sea, and in 

 winter the temperature sometimes falls as low as ten degrees 

 below zero of Fahrenheit, while the summers are probably 

 cooler than the average summer of New England away from 

 the mountains. As the conditions and climate more nearly 

 corresponded to what I have nearly always been accustomed, 

 and more than any place I had yet visited, I was particularly 

 interested in the variety and condition of the trees and shrubs 

 grown here. Baron St. Paul's grounds are filled with tha best 

 hardy trees, shrubs and other plants procurable, and their 

 whole arrangement shows remarkable taste and appreciation 

 of natural beauty as well as an intimate knowledge of the 

 character of the plants he has to deal with. By joining with 

 Max Leichtlin and others in sending collectors to new or little- 

 known botanical territory, some interesting and valuable rari- 

 ■ties have been secured, so that, besides the ligneous plants, we 



lind here Anemones, Irises, Primulas, etc., as yet little known 

 in the horticultural world. These are often planted in quantity 

 in grass or meadow, or by the side of water if such situation 

 suits them best. 



One of the first familiar objects seen on entering the grounds 

 was large masses of our wild Rosa lucida, which, although so 

 late in the season (August 9th), was still blossoming well. 

 Although it grows luxuriantly and flowers abundantly, it does 

 not fruit very freely here. R. Carolina was just coming into 

 good bloom. Both the purple and white flowering varieties 

 of R. rugosa are. much and well used, and it is deservedly 

 considered one of the finest of all hardy natural shrubs. I 

 was shown a hybrid between this Rose an<l Gloire de Dijon, 

 which has semi-double flowers of a beautiful blush color. It 

 was interesting to find here a vigorous plant, five or six feet 

 high by as much across, of the single liowered Japanese Vi- 

 burnum tomentosum, recently figured in Garden and Forest 

 (vol. iv., pp. 594, 595). It was still bearing a few stray blooms. 

 The "Snowball" form, known as V. plicatum, now frequently 

 seen in American gardens, is considered rather rare in Ger- 

 many. Among numerous familiar New England plants I 

 noted the litfle Bear Oak (Quercus ilicifolia) in full fruit, and 

 Magnolia glauca in a thriving condition and still flowering. 

 The Cucumber-tree (M. acuminata) is hardy enough, but 

 some difficulty is experienced with the Umbrella Magnolia 

 (M. tripetala), as it is liable to be more or less killed every 

 winter. The same trouble is often experienced in New Eng- 

 land, and it is often only by repeated trials and much patience 

 that decent specimens may be obtained. At the north it does 

 best where the soil is not too rich or very moist. The Euro- 

 pean Walnut is barely more hardy than it generally proves 

 in the vicinity of Boston, still it lives in an unsatisfactory way. 

 The Chestnut grows fairly well, but does not fully mature its 

 fruit in this locality. 



Many of our American conifers flourish here, among them 

 Chamaecyparis Lawsoniana and C. Nutkaensis, and Abies no- 

 bilis. The form of Tsuga Pattoniana, known in gardens as 

 T. Hookeriana, is much prized here and elsewhere in Germany 

 for the fine blue color of its foliage. While Jeffrey's Pine re- 

 fuses to grow well, our common White Pine reaches perfect 

 development. 



The European Larch here is sometimes seriously injured, 

 and even killed, by case-bearing larvae of a little moth (Coleo- 

 phora laricella), which eats out all of the interior of the leaves, 

 leaving only the dry, white and shriveled epidermis ; but it is 

 a curious fact that the Japanese Larch (L. leptolepis) has not 

 yet been affected by the pest. The insect has been introduced 

 and known in Massachusetts for a number of years, and its 

 ravages are sometimes quite noticeable. At the Arnold Ar- 

 boretum this pest, probably imported with Larches, and the 

 destructive Larch saw-fly (Nematus Erichsonii) have been ob- 

 served and noted for several seasons, and although both have 

 been very abundant I have never known them to affect the 

 Japanese Larch. While it is hardly probable that this im- 

 munity can be lasting, it is interesting to know that these 

 insects should have so far avoided this tree. My host informed 

 me that for killing insects on Orchids and other plants he 

 found plunging them into hot water heated to forty degrees 

 Centigrade very effective, and it apparently caused no injury 

 to the plants. 



It was interesting to find American varieties of fruits under- 

 going trial here, and to see our northern Fameuse, or Snow 

 Apple, and others flourishing. Few good peaches ripen in the 

 open air in this part of Germany, but some of our early Ameri- 

 can varieties, such as Early Alexander and Early Beatrice, do 

 mature. Although fairly good, these American peaches are 

 not considered nearly so richly flavored as the later-ripening 

 French varieties. 



The road-sides in this region are often finely shaded by 

 handsome specimens of the native Linden (Tilia ulmifolia) 

 and the Ash (Fraxinus excelsior). The European Mountain 

 Ash, or Rowan-tree, is also planted along road-sides, but it 

 does not grow so large as it does in the mountains. What is 

 called an edible fruited form of this tree has been found in the 

 mountains of Bohemia, on the other side of the Giant Moun- 

 tains, and it is now propagated and planted to a considerable 

 extent. 



The forests of the mountains here are chiefly composed of 

 Spruce and Fir, and the planting of young woods of these trees 

 is chiefly done in August and September. Large reserves are 

 maintained as hunting-parks, and on these the forests are never 

 entirely cut off, but are thinned out gradually or have small 

 sections cleared in the interior, so that the park-like and wood- 

 land effect of the landscape is not marred. Between the Giant 

 Mountains and Gorlitz there is some fine farming country, 



