136 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 213. 



ested me most was a flowering specimen of what I at first took 

 to be a wliite-blossomed Potentilla fruticosa. It was witliout 

 name, and no information could be obtained concerning it. 

 In making inquiries afterward at various l)Otanical establish- 

 ments and of persons eminent for their knowledge of such 

 things, no one seemed to know anything about it. The plant 

 was seen again in the Edinburgh Botanic Garden. There 

 seems to be no doubt that this is the P. glabra of Loddiges, or 

 what has also been called P. Dahurica, small colored figures 

 of which are to be found in Loddige's Botanical Cabinet, 

 t. 914, and in Gartenflora, vol. ix., t. 278. It is said to 

 have been introduced from Siberia, and is, therefore, a 

 plant which should be perfectly hardy in all northern gar-, 

 dens. It was early introduced into cultivation (in England as 

 early as 1822, according to Loudon), and it is hard to tell why 

 it should have been allowed to become almost lost again. It 

 grows to about the same size as P. fruticosa, from which it 

 chiefly differs in its white flowers, and in being smooth in all 

 its parts instead of pubescent or hairy. 



The gardens of the Royal Agricultural Academy were estab- 

 lished about thirty-two years ago, and are now mainly under 

 the general charge of Dr. C. Hansen. Necessarily they in- 

 clude much more than the other, and, besides the natural spe- 

 cies of ligneous plants, portions are devoted to experimenting 

 with and growing of fruits, vegetables, cereals, etc., work 

 necessary to an institution of this kind. Here, also, new varie- 

 ties are tried, practical tests of the value of manures made, 

 and other experiments carried on which may prove useful to 

 the students. 



This garden is interesting and instructive in various ways, 

 and the grounds and specimens present a very creditable ap- 

 pearance, especially considering the very moderate sums al- 

 lowed for their maintenance. For popular instruction there 

 are separate beds made for plants of economical interest, so 

 that the different species may be seen together, which are 

 valuable for any particular quality. In this way instructive 

 object-lessons are given in textile, food producing, sugar pro- 

 ducing, gum and oil producing, aromatic, tinctorial, medici- 

 nal, poisonous, and other classes of plants likely to interest not 

 only trained students of science, but every one at all interested 

 in these subjects. All the species are very distinctly and neatly 

 labeled, each with its botanical and common name, its original 

 habitat and the peculiar property or quality for which it is 

 noted. A feature, not often carried out to such an extent in 

 other economic collections of this kind, is the exhibition of the 

 seeds and sometimes of the products with the living plants. 

 The seeds are first thoroughly dried, then carefully sealed in 

 specially made jars, which are then placed in an inverted posi- 

 tion on a suitable stand or support beside the living specimens. 

 Characteristic fruits or products are also sometimes shown in 

 liquid. Such a collection of bottles and jars with the plants 

 does not give a pleasant aspect from the artistic point of view, 

 but genuine educational advantages are thus afforded. Con- 

 sidering their limited area and how much ground is necessarily 

 set apart for strictly practical or educational work, the grounds 

 of the Academy contain a fair collection of trees and other 

 hardy ligneous plants. Holodiscus (Spirsea) discolor, ariaefolia, 

 has become a handsome bush, fifteen feet across and twelve 

 feet high, and the mild moist climate has induced many other 

 shrubs to grow in corresponding proportion. The plant given 

 the name of our Smooth Sumach (Rhus glabra) was not that 

 species, but seemed more like the Stag-horn Sumach (R. ty- 

 phin^i), and may possibly be a hybrid between the two. This 

 is mentioned here because the true typical R. glabra was not 

 seen in any European garden visited by me, although in some 

 gardens the cut-leaved variety (var. laciniata) is cultivated. R. 

 typhina is common. The intermediate form, usually called 

 R. glabra, also goes by the name of R. viridiflora. 



Another very different species of Rhus is passing as Ampe- 

 lopsis Japonica, but its trifoliate leaves, rooting stems and 

 milky juice at once indicate that it is a Rhus very closety allied 

 to, if not identical with, our Poison Ivy (R. Toxicodendron). 

 This so-named Ampelopsis Japonica has been distributed as a 

 novelty by a well-known EngHsh firm, and in Germany I found 

 it planted as something choice to form a covering for the sup- 

 ports and sides of a much-used arbor. 



The tips of the branches of the Plane-trees here seemed af- 

 fected by some disease which caused injuries similar to that 

 caused by the fungus in America. 



The director of the garden has made some attempt at a 

 geographical arrangement of his plants, and in the little space 

 devoted to the flora of Greenland there are several woody 

 plants which have been brought from that cold region. Per- 

 haps the most interesting of these is a fruit-bearing specimen 

 of an American Mountain Ash. 



In labehng the trees white porcelain labels on iron stakes 

 are much used, but plain zinc labels are also largely em ployed, 

 while others of a more elaborate kind are furnished with a 

 little map showing the geographical distribution of the species. 



In this garden and vicinity there are fine hedges of English 

 Hawthorn, Box, Privet, Hornbeam (Carpinus Betulus), and a 

 beautiful close compact one, ten feet high, of the European 

 Field Maple (Acer compestre). 



One of Dr. Hansen's hobbies is conifers, and at the Arbo- 

 retum, or Forest Botanic Garden, at Charlottenlund, several 

 miles out of Copenhagen, he has been enabled to accumulate 

 a larger collection of these than is possible in the city garden. 

 This experimental arboretum only covers eighteen or twenty 

 acres of ground. It is said to have been established over fifty 

 years ago, and it is now practically a branch station of the Agri- 

 cultural Academy. Although much crowded, some of the trees 

 have attained a good size. Among other evergreens there 

 are large and fairly well-developed examples of Sequoia 

 gigantea, Abies grandis, Picea Sitchensis and Pseudotsuga 

 taxifolia. The last is counted the fastest-growing. A tall 

 specimen of Alnus glutinosa, with a trimk two and a half feet 

 in diameter and the aspect of a sturdy Oak, is one of the finest 

 trees on the place. Laburnums do well here, while such 

 American plants as Ilex verticillata, Amelanchier Canadensis 

 and Viburnum prunifolium are quite as well grown as any to 

 be seen in cultivation. Of the conifers, the director's specialty, 

 it is claimed that there are aboutsix hundred species and varie- 

 ties here. The plants are mostly still very small, and, of course, 

 there is not room for any sort of development in size. Such 

 an extraordinary number of so-called variedes is accounted 

 for by the fact that extremely slight variations are recognized 

 and propagated. Of Lawson's Cypress, for instance, there is 

 said to be at least fifty-two different kinds. Most of these 

 forms are of no particular value or interest except to a student 

 or enthusiast. It is claimed that they vary in point of hardi- 

 ness, but a greater difference would undoubtedly be found by 

 selection from natural habitat. 



The scope of these notes will not allow of a more extended 

 notice of the Copenhagen gardens. While not differing 

 enough from other gardens to make a long journey worth 

 the while, they deserve a visit by any one interested in 

 botany or horticulture who may happen to stray into this 

 region. 



The Beeches of Denmark are far-famed, and many fine 

 Beech and Oak forests are frequently seen. It is said that there 

 are only two species of conifers now indigenous to the coun- 

 try. These are the common Juniper (Juniperus communis) 

 and the Yew (Taxus baccata), the latter being very rare and lo- 

 cal. That the climate and soil of some parts of Denmark are 

 suitable to the growth of trees and arborescent vegetation is 

 shown in a fine forest at Klampenborg, a few miles north of 

 Copenhagen. Here the common European Silver Fir (Abies 

 pectinata) is to be seen with beautiful stems a hundred and 

 twenty feet in height and three or four feet in diameter as high 

 as one can reach trom the base. These trees were originally 

 planted alternately with rows of Beech and Oak. 



Practical forestry receives some attention in Denmark. Large 

 areas of the waste lands are annually planted with the little 

 Mountain Pine (Pinus montana), so that eventually these now 

 worthless tracts may prove of value, and, in the process of 

 nature, obtain some degree of fertility. 



Arnold Arboretum. J. G. Jack, 



Plant Notes. 



Erica hyemalis. 



FIFTY years ago there were between three and four 

 hundred species and varieties of Cape Heaths in cul- 

 tivation in England. They were popular with amateurs, 

 collections of them being as frequent almost as collections of 

 Orchids are now. Few of these Heaths remain in our gardens. 

 As a rule, they are disliked because they require too much 

 attention for the ordinary collection, while for specialists the 

 genus has apparently lost its charm. There are, however, 

 at least two Ericas which have kept a leading place among 

 popular garden-plants — namely, E. hyemalis and E. gracilis. 

 With regard to the former, it may be said with truth that 

 no other plant is grown in such enormous quantities for 

 the London market. At least a dozen nurserymen might 

 be named whose annual output of this one Heath amounts 

 to from twenty to thirty thousand plants each. Such a 

 specimen as that represented in the illustration on page 137 



