March i6, 1892.] 



Garden and Forest. 



131 



in late summer, when the Pear-bhg:ht was epidemic, severely 

 pruned trees were not attacked, while the tree left unpruned 

 was ravaged as usual by the fungus. 



The contrast between the apparently perfect health of the 

 pruned trees and the disease of the unpruned tree was vivid. 

 The unpruned tree dropped all its leaves and pears in August. 

 The pruned trees matured what fruit they bore, and held their 

 foliage green until frost. 



The next spring (i8gt) I left all the trees without any protec- 

 tive treatment. The unpruned tree was again completely 

 desolated by the fungus. The pruned trees were healthy, ma- 

 turing fine fiuit and leaves. 



Experiments hitherto have been chiefly made to test the effi- 

 cacy of applications which serve as external defense to the 

 plant against invasions of its foes. There is reason for hoping 

 that we may make this protection more efficient by some 

 fertilization or medication to stimulate and strengthen the con- 

 stitutional health of the plant. We use special nutrients and 

 tonics against epidemic diseases of the human family ; there 

 may be found other nutrients and tonics to promote the health 

 of plants. The most promising of these are lime, potash and 

 the nitrates and sulphates of soda and potassa ; also sulphate 

 of iron. M^ith the exception, perhaps, of the nitrate of soda, 

 to get the full benefit of these chemicals in promotion of plant- 

 health, the plant requires some time to appropriate them to its 

 uses. In my horticulture the beneficial effects of strong ap- 

 plications of lime and ashes given to plants three years ago 

 are now just becoming apparent. 



Vineland, N.J. 



A. IV. Pearson. 



The Danger of Delay in Acquiring Land for 

 Public Use. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Mr. Harrison's letters on "The Shore Towns of Massa- 

 chusetts " have possessed a vivid personal interest for me 

 apart from their value as warnings against the danger of delay 

 in securing public ground. Most of the area of which he 

 speaks is familiar to me, much of it hallowed by associations 

 of childhood and early life. It is not pleasant to reflect that I 

 might now be ordered off as a trespasser from scenes which 

 call up memories of friends and relatives whose honorable 

 services have contributed to swell the maritime glory of Mas- 

 sachusetts. 



But I wish particularly to enforce the lesson of these letters 

 by specific examples. More than thirty years ago, when the 

 late Nathaniel Silsbee was Mayor of Salem, he conferred with 

 me on the possibility of preserving nearly the whole of the pic- 

 turesque point of land then known as "The Neck," which 

 separates the harbor of Salem from that of Beverly, the eastern 

 point of which is spoken of by Mr. Harrison as " The Willows." 

 It was then a rocky tract of utterly waste ground, with hills 

 commanding magnificent views of the ocean, and containing 

 the ruins of old Revolutionary forts. The only building on the 

 tract was the almshouse, and it all belonged to the city. By 

 request of Mr. Silsbee, after several discussions, I prepared a 

 design for the arrangement of the larger portion of this tract as 

 a public park, in which the old forts were included, and most 

 of the ocean-front kept open for pedestrians, with a drive-way 

 which in its course revealed all the finest views, while a large 

 area outside was reserved for subdivision into building-lots for 

 summer residents, who would be attracted to the place when- 

 ever it was thus improved. Mr. Silsbee made every effort to 

 have the plan adopted, and urged upon the City Council the 

 fact that here was one of the most attractive sites on the east- 

 ern shore, nearer to Boston by man}^ miles than those between 

 Beverly and Gloucester, which were then just beginning to be 

 taken up for private occupation, and that Salem would thus 

 secure a possession of unrivaled interest, besides making very 

 valuable property of a then almost worthless piece of land. That 

 was more than thirty years ago, and had the plan been carried out 

 the drives and walks would long before this have been shaded 

 by well-grown trees, and Salem would have possessed an un- 

 rivaled ocean park, that would have added a unique feature 

 to those which her maritime history and quaint characteristics 

 have already secured for her. But nobody could be brought 

 to consider this other than a visionary scheme, and no action 

 was taken upon it. The plan was returned to me, and I pre- 

 served it in the faith that time would vindicate the truth of its 

 value, but it perished in the great fire of Chicago in 1871. 



Another instance from my own experience is that of the Mid- 

 dlesex Fells, which Boston is now trying to secure after much of 

 its beauty has been destroyed. It must have been as early as 

 1856 or 1857 that I invited a number of gentlemen to visit the 

 place with me, and we spent an afternoon riding and walking- 



through the magnificent woods, over the picturesque hills, and 

 on the shores of the beautiful lake of three hundred acres, on 

 which only one house had then been erected. It was all wild, 

 and could then have been had, comparatively, for a song, and 

 I pleaded with all the argument I could command that it 

 should be secured for the future use of the city and kept in its 

 wild condition till wanted. The gentlemen who accom- 

 panied me were impressed with the beauty of the place, and 

 to some of them it was a revelation that such a tract existed so 

 near the city ; but George S. Hillard, who was one of the party, 

 doubtless expressed the sentiment of all when he said : " You 

 might as well try to persuade the Common Council to buy land 

 in the moon." 



Such reminiscences may seem idle, but, surely, experience 

 ought to teach wisdom, and actual examples tell with greater 

 force than general statements. The instances cited are only 

 illustrations of what is happening to-day in every growing 

 city, and in my forty years' experience as a landscape-gar- 

 dener I have witnessed such lamentable results of the " penny 

 wise, pound foolish" policy that I fee! impelled to sound a 

 warning whenever opportunity offers. 



Minneapolis, Minn. If. ^V- S. Cleveland. 



Apples for the North-west. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Mr. E. P. Powell's list of Apples may answer for the 

 part of New York where he lives, but it is generally presump- 

 tuous for an eastern man to make out a list for " the north- 

 west " or any other territory with which he is not familiar. 



Seek-no-further is the only one of his list we can recom- 

 mend here, and only for very favorable locations at that. Even 

 this is better top-worked on Virginia Crab stock or Hibernal 

 stock four feet above ground. We do not know Kirkland and 

 Belle Bonne ; if they are hardy we should like to try them top- 

 grafted on Hibernal. Jonathan, Salomeand Grimes'Golden we 

 are trying top- worked. In 1854 we set out twelve acres of orchard, 

 making our selection from the books and such other recom- 

 mendations that would do well enough for New York, Ohio and 

 Michigan, but we never raised a bushel from our northern . 

 Spies, Greenings, Roxbury Russets, Swaars and Wagners all 

 put together. Having some recollections of New York Ap- 

 ples, and remembering Janesville was about on the same par- 

 allel of latitude, we foolishly thought it safe to plant such va- 

 rieties as did well in our old home. Those eastern varieties 

 grow too late, and do not ripen wood for winter. We want 

 such varieties as Duchess of Oldenburg. We are fairly suc- 

 cessful, with care, on good timber soil with Red Astrachan, 

 Sops of Wine, St. Lawrence, Lowell, Yellow Transparent, Wolf 

 River, Alexander, Fameuse, Wealthy, McMahan, Hibernal, 

 Switzer, Longfield, Tallman Sweet, Newell's Winter, Roman 

 Stem, Golden Russet, North-western Greening, Windsor Chief, 

 Avista, Alden, Willow Twig, and many new seedlings that are 

 coming to the front. Seven of these mentioned are Wisconsin 

 seedlings, and have become standard sorts. We are much 

 pleased with Patten's Greening and Iowa Beauty, from Iowa, 

 and Peerless, from Minnesota. We are on the hunt for those 

 varieties that will rival eastern fruit in quality and productive- 

 ness. 



It is fashionable to decry Ben Davis, but this is the most 

 profitable Apple that can be grown in the latitude of St. Louis, 

 and a southern Ben Davis is not a bad Apple ; grown at the 

 north it is of poor quality. After some bitter experience, we 

 are learning- in Wisconsin that our best orchard sites are on 

 the northern slope of timber clay ridges, with no protection ex- 

 cept from south-west winds ; that we should plant only hardy 

 varieties, and trees grown at the north ; that a tree should be 

 pruned to one central stock, with side branches about eight 

 inches apart at the time of planting ; that every fruit or shade 

 tree should be protected by a screen which shades the body 

 summer and winter. This will protect from sun-scald and 

 the borer, and the best protection against these, as well as 

 against rabbits and mice, is a lath and wire screen, made by 

 weaving lath with small wire, and encircling the tree with it. 

 This will last eight years, and is the best and cheapest device 



we have found. tv r^ 7/ 



Janesville, Wis. George J. Kellogg. 



Notes. 



In Philadelphia the Ulrich Brunner has been in greater 

 demand than any other Rose this winter. 



The house and garden of the late Alphonse Karr, on the 

 Riviera in the south of France, have been purchased by some 

 of his friends, and are to be preserved as a memorial of the 



