158 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 215- 



these very early flowers are the more impressive because 

 we do not naturally associate such a delicate exterior with 

 the stout-heartedness which is needed to withstand the 

 wild weather of an American March. 



Of course, it is too late now to make any preparation for 

 enjoying these flowers this year, but this is the time to 

 make notes of them and to determine that the opening; 

 days of next spring shall be brightened by their presence. 

 In this latitude Snowdrops are still doing well, and their 

 vestal white is well set off by the blue of Scillas and 

 Chionodoxas. Then there are Grape Hyacinths, Croeuses, 

 of course, and a few of the Prcccox Daffodils, the Irises, 

 of which Mr. Gerard wrote so entertainingly last week, 

 the comparatively new but invaluable Anemone blanda. 

 Rock Cress, Winter Aconite and many more of rare beauty, 

 which appear while the chill of winter is still in the air 

 and before the coming of the burst of bloom from the great 

 mass of spring flowers. It is well to remember that for 

 very early flowers in our climate bulbous plants are better 

 than fibrous-rooted ones, which, from their structure, are 

 liable to be heaved out of the ground by alternate freezing 

 and thawing. 



Monsieur Naudin, in a personal letter from Antibes, calls 

 our attention to the fact, of which we have long been aware, 

 that Sabal Palmetto, the tree Palm of the south Atlantic 

 states, is not to be found in any of the gardens of southern 

 France, where, he remarks, it ought to be much hardier 

 than many of the Palms which flourish there, as neither 

 sun, the neighborhood of the sea nor the character of the 

 soil is wanting, and then asks, "Can it be possible that 

 the absence of this plant from European gardens is due to 

 the absence of favorable microbes or to the presence of 

 injurious microbes.?" Sabal Palmetto is the most boreal 

 of all the arborescent Palms ; it must have been intro- 

 duced into Europe a century or more ago, as Mark Catesby 

 was familiar with it and sent many Carolina plants to Eng- 

 land in the last century, as Michaux did forty years later 

 to France. Perhaps some of our correspondents will 

 be able to enlighten us as to whether this Palm is ever 

 cultivated either in the southern states or in Europe where 

 it is represented, so far as we have observed, by a single 

 plant of exceedingly doubtful identity in the Palm-house 

 at Kew. 



The Story of a Suburban Place. — II. 



THE shaping of the surroundings of the house has been 

 a matter of slow and gradual progress. The work is by no 

 means completed yet, and the contemplation of the opportu- 

 nities for adding pleasant features is no small source of enjoy- 

 ment. Nature has done much toward. the plan, and the main 

 idea has been to re-enforce and assist her in the creation of an 

 attractive scene. The character of the ledge beside the house, 

 being rough and wild, forbids anything like decorative regu- 

 larity, and the treatment adopted has therefore kept in view the 

 idea of blending and modulating the ruggedness into an envi- 

 ronment of informal domesticity. 



The entrance to the place, serving the neighboring house as 

 well, was originally along the easterly boundary of the lot. 

 After a while the hand of municipal improvement was laid 

 upon our lane and its steep and stony ascent was changed into 

 a handsomely curved and well-graded public street. This was 

 welcome, for the lane had been a cause of protest on the part 

 of local hackmen, and in the winter the overflow from a spring 

 farther up the hill had at times converted its gullied slope into 

 a glacier. But, unfortunately, the improved grade had so cut 

 it down that the beginning of our entrance was left so far 

 above the sidewalk as to require an appallingly steep ascent if 

 kept upon the old lines. So the best thing to do appeared to 

 be to buy something over 13,000 feet of the neighboring land 

 and construct a new drive-way, curving up the hill-side. 



This drive-way skirts the verge of a thicket of wild wood 

 that occupies the upper portion of the new land. It is a pic- 

 turesque clump of trees, though promising no luxuriant 

 growth, for the most part, on account of the dryness and rocki- 

 ness of the hill-side. Tliere are White Oaks and Red Oaks, 

 White Ash, Hornbeam, Red Cedar, Pitch Pine, Wild Cherry 

 and Tame Cherry, the latter evidently sprung from seed sown 



by the birds. On the lower side of the drive-way is a Tupelo, 

 something of a rarity in these immediate parts. 



The grade of the drive-way is so steep that attempts to keep 

 it in order have been fruitless. Cinders from the furnace have 

 given it a firm surface for a while, but a severe down-pour 

 washes it badly. Nothing but paving would give it anything 

 like permanent orderliness, and as that would be too costly the 

 best thing appears to be to let it alone. It is not much used, 

 except for heavy deliveries, and so it is allowed to lake on the 

 appearance of a rural lane, which is not out of keeping. The 

 undergrowth of the woodland thicket largely supplies its bor- 

 ders. The upper slope forms a bank of Barberries, Blueber- 

 ries and Privet, and the wild Fox Grape — bearing abundantly 

 its clusters of small-berried and big-seeded fruit, of little 

 value except to attract predatory urchins, who fancy that the 

 wildness of the spot gives them license to help themselves — 

 clambers in tropical luxuriance over the trees above. The 

 road-way is fringed with Wild Primrose, Asters, Golden-rod 

 and other spontaneous growths. At one spot a mass of Black- 

 berry-canes, with a sort of Bamboo-like grace, has grown as 

 high as eight feet out of the irregular stone embankment on 

 the lower side of the drive-way. These are beautiful at all 

 seasons, and particularly so in the spring, with their wealth of 

 blossoms. 



At the turn of the drive-way, a glimpse of the house is 

 caught, with a large Savin as a sort of sentinel outpost at the 

 beginning of the open ground — a picket from a grove of the 

 same trees, which, though on another lot of land, form a kind 

 of adjunct to the place. They are, fortunately, so situated 

 that they will be Ukely to remain. The Savin, or Red Cedar, 

 like the European Cypress, has a sort of architectural char- 

 acter, with its spire-like form, and often lends itself beautifully 

 to the effect of buildings near by, as in this case. 



A recent survey shows a practical approach by a slightly 

 curving drive from the same direction as the original entrance, 

 with a grade even lighter than that of the street. When the 

 new drive-way is constructed the existing one will probably 

 lapse into a foot-path. Where the present drive-way meets the 

 street the latter makes a short curve, forming an excellent 

 corner lot on the more recently purchased land. Here a thicket 

 of Sumachs has sprung up. In constructing the street a fill 

 was made here, and the rich soil from the surface chances to 

 make a considerable bank along the hollow, next the sidewalk. 

 Here a charming wild garden has come into existence. A 

 dense growth of Bouncing Bet has established itself, and above, 

 next the sidewalk, there is a margin of Chicory, which is one 

 of the European plants that has naturalized itself in the coun- 

 try around Boston, bordering the suburban and country roads 

 most profusely. The Chicory in this spot grows luxuriantly 

 and remarkably high in the fertile soil. So all summer long 

 the slope is clothed with a delicate flushing pink, contrasting 

 delightfully with the cloud of azure bloom into which it 

 merges above. 



Close beside the house, to the northward, rises the gray ledge 

 of the hill-side, which gives shelter from the cold winds of 

 winter and makes a local climate which, in the inclement sea- 

 son, is several degrees warmer than on the levels where the 

 main street runs. This ledge is a most picturesque feature. 

 Three Cedars stand upon its verge, and on the slope next the 

 house is a mantling growth of Privet, Barberry and Wild Rose 

 entangled with Wild Grape and Virginia Creeper. The Privet 

 and Barberry are beautiful examples of the " escaped " flora 

 that has established itself in this part of the world. They grow 

 in untamed luxuriance, as to the manner born, and are beau- 

 tiful at all seasons except, in the case of the Privet, for the 

 brief interval in which its blossoms turn rusty. The Privet, 

 happily, offers no temptations with its fruit, but unceasing 

 vigilance has to be exercised in behalf of the Barberries, 

 whose graceful pendulous clusters gleam like rubies all 

 through the winter against the gray surface of the ledge — 

 fringing it above or growing out of its crevices. For, being 

 " wild," wherever it may grow, it is regarded as a legitimate 

 plunder for foraging boys, who take to the woodlands with 

 their bags and baskets for the Barberry harvest. In the code 

 of the populace all wild fruits constitute an "unearned incre- 

 ment," to which the owner of the soil has no rightful title. 

 Usually a few bushes along the ledge pass through the harvest 

 season unspoiled, and, until the yellow blossoms again droop 

 in their exquisite curves late in the spring-, the Barberries form 

 an enchanting spectacle under all aspects of the day, the sea- 

 son or the weather, and from all points of view — flashing in 

 the sunlight or illuminating the dullness of an overcast day, 

 vivid against the snow, contrasting against the blue of the sky, 

 or, seen through the vagueness of a fleecy mist, they become 

 gorgeous jewel-clusters as they drip with diamond damp. Last 



