1 82 



Garden and Forest. 



PLUMBER 217. 



the Park Board in this city attempted to justify a project 

 of his to fill up with carpenter-work one of the fairest dells 

 of the park by calling the spot "a piece of unimproved 

 ground," and it seems to be a prevalent opinion that land 

 which cannot be driven over or trampled on or covered 

 with structures of some kind can serve no useful purpose. 



Of course, this argument was used by the advocates of 

 the new road, who stated that it would be laid out in an 

 "unused" portion of the park. One of the Park Commis- 

 sioners happily exposed this fallacy in a letter addressed 

 to the Legislature to urge the repeal of the act authorizing 

 the speedway. He stated that there can be no "un- 

 used " portion of the park ; that its green fields are fulfilling 

 their highest use when no foot treads upon them ; that 

 the park really exists for its landscapes, and that its ele- 

 ments have their highest value as they combine to give it 

 the charm of a rural scene. It is a place to look at pri- 

 marily, and its untrodden greens and unentered groves are 

 the very foundations of its beauty. This is a lesson which 

 cannot be too often or too strongly insisted upon. All 

 classes and every interest which have ever clamored to get 

 possession of some portion of the park have urged in favor 

 of their encroachment that "the park A\-asmade to use, and 

 not to look at," when the fact is that its primary use is to 

 be looked at; that it is beauty which gives it value, and a 

 value which is not sentimental, but real, fundamental and 

 practical. 



Notes of a Summer Journey in Europe. ^XII. 



SELDOM have I spent time so pleasantly and profitably as I 

 did two or three days at the Botanic Garden, or little ar- 

 boretum, of the Government Forest Academy at Munden. 

 Both the pleasure and profit which I derived were largely due 

 to the fact that I was under the guidance of Dr. H. Zabel, 

 whose modesty does not allow him to take any more preten- 

 tious tide than " Koniglicher Gartemeister," but whose acute- 

 ness and carefulness as a botanist and skill and knowledge in 

 cultural details give him a well-deserved reputation, worth 

 much more than any formal title. 



The Forest Academy at Munden was established about 

 twenty-two years ago. It is situated almost in the heart of the 

 little town, which, by the railway, is about half an hour's ride 

 from Cassel, and is in the midst of a region of large areas of 

 forests. Three or four degrees below zero of Fahrenheit is 

 considered very cold here and especiall)' disastrous to vegeta- 

 tion when there is little or no snow on the ground, as occa- 

 sionally happens, while eighty-five degrees in summer is 

 considered very hot, and is rare. The temperature is greatly 

 modified by the surrounding forests, but early frosts in Sep- 

 tember and late frosts in May are liable to occur. The grounds 

 of the academy and its connected Botanic Garden only com- 

 prise about eighteen acres, which are almost entirely given up 

 to classified collections of hardy plants. The academy build- 

 ings are well fitted to answer their purposes, and comprise 

 library, laboratories, lecture-rooms and rooms devoted to 

 specimens, and a collection of tools and appliances relating to 

 arboriculture, forestry and dendrology. The students have 

 the extensive surrounding woods in which to prosecute study 

 and work in practical forestry. It is an excellent station for 

 a school of this kind, because within easy access woods are to 

 be found growing under different conditions of soil and ex- 

 posure. 



It is not my purpose, however, to notice this establishment as a 

 forest-school, but rather to mention a few individuals in the re- 

 markable collection of shrubs vi'hiche.xists here. The limited area 

 of the grounds immediately about the academy does not permit 

 of a great growth of trees nor of the introduction of all the 

 numerous garden forms, but the collection contains typical 

 examples of the various species which have attained a fair size 

 considering the short time since the institution was estab- 

 lished. But the same number of years have sufficed for a 

 mature growth of "most shrubs, which are largely arranged in 

 botanical order and sequence and afford opportunities for 

 some most interesting studies. 



I was much surprised to find here some specimens of rare 

 plants which are not to be seen in collections of much greater 

 fame and endowment, for the whole annual cash appropria- 

 tion for the maintenance of the Munden garden would hardly 

 pay the salary of one good gardener in America. 



Considering the winter temperature it was interesting to note 



unexpected indications of hardiness in certain plants, while 

 others, which are considered perfectly hardy in the somewhat 

 colder climate of Boston, are said to be tender here. Undoubt- 

 edly, the discrepancies in records of hardiness are largely due 

 to the difference in the heat of the summers and also to the 

 degree of humidity. 



The Japanese Ampelopsis (A. tricuspidata, or A. Veitchii, as 

 it is commonly known in nurseries), for instance, is not con- 

 sidered hardy at Munden, while it is now one of the most 

 common and best-known wall-climbers in Boston. It is a fact 

 that seedlings or young plants are liable to have a part of their 

 stems destroyed in winter, but when the plants become well 

 established in well-drained soil there is no further trouble. 



Mere hardiness, however, is not the only consideration nec- 

 essary to the successful growth and naturalization of plants, 

 and this is illustrated by the fact that the Douglas Spruce does 

 not seem to thrive at Munden, although it grows so finely at 

 Berlin and most other places where it has been introduced. 

 Plants twenty years old are still shabby little things a few feet 

 high. Whether this is owing to peculiar conditions of the soil 

 or some such cause is a matter for investigation. But some 

 other Pacific coast or Rocky Mountain conifers do well, for 

 we find here the much more tender Sequoia gigantea with a 

 stem over a foot in diameter, Lawson's Cypress twenty-five 

 feet high, and even Pinus contorta quite healthy and fifteen 

 feet in height. The Western Hemlock (Tsuga Mertensiana) 

 has grown over twenty-five feet, while two Japanese conifers, 

 Picea Alcoquiana and Larix leptolepis, have made the excep- 

 tional growths of over thirty and of forty-five feet respectively. 

 Although the latter bears an abundant crop of cones, it pro- 

 duces no good seed. 



Perhaps the very rarest plants in the collection are our 

 Cercocarpus, the so-called Mahogany-trees of the western 

 states, both of the United States species being represent- 

 ed. Probably these plants cannot be counted of much 

 ornamental or horticultural value, and perhaps it is for 

 this reason that greater efforts for their successful culti- 

 vation have not been made. Nevertheless, they repre- 

 sent a curious and interesting genus in the Rose-family, and 

 on this account one would expect to find them in cultiva- 

 tion in botanic gardens or arboretums. They are, however, 

 generally considered difficult to cultivate. The plants at 

 Munden are the only specimens I ever saw, and it is doubt- 

 ful if examples exist even in such great collections as there are 

 at Kew. Cercocarpus ledifolius has attained a height of eight 

 feet and has flowered, while C. parvifolius (C. betulifolius, 

 Nuttall) is about seven feet high, and has flowered and fruited, 

 and is considered quite hardy here. On the other hand, Stuartia 

 Virginica is not thought hardy, although it lives. Some other 

 American shrubs seem quite at home, and grow with a vigor 

 rarely seen in such species in cultivation. Our little White 

 Mountain Cutler's Willow (Salix Cutleri) is thriving well, the 

 extremely rare Neviusia Alabamensis is represented by a very 

 good vigorous plant, and the uncommon Colt's-foot (Galax 

 aphylla) is better than is usually seen in gardens. The rare 

 Fendlera rupicola is here bearing fruit, and a fine large clump 

 of Itea Virginica was just (August i8th) going out of bloom. 



All accounts describe the little Pale Laurel (Kalmia glauca) 

 as being a slender and very straggling shrub. It certainly 

 usually is so in its native swamps, and in cultivation it rarely 

 assumes a very bushy character. That it may be grown in 

 much better form is shown in this garden, where may be seen 

 a splendid compact specimen three feet high and five feet 

 across. This species is so different from the other two (K. 

 latifolia and K. angustifolia), and it blossoms so much earlier, 

 that it should be better known in all gardens where Heath- 

 plants will grow. The tomentose-leaved Clethra, which has 

 often been classed by botanists as merely a southern form of 

 our C. alnifolia, was already in bloom. This specimen is ten 

 feet high, and bears the very appropriate name of C. tomen- 

 tosa, by which cultivators distinguish it from the northern 

 smooth-leaved species. It has a peculiar value in its habit of 

 blooming much later than the typical C. alnifolia. Pj'rus rivu- 

 laris, the Wild Crab of Oregon and that region of our conti- 

 nent, is here about twelve feet in height, and fruiting, while 

 the Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) is a bush seven or eight feet in 

 height. 



The garden contains a considerable number of interesting 

 Japanese species of woody plants. I was surprised to find 

 Abelia serrata counted among the hardy shrubs. Wherever 

 it can be found to endure the winters this should be a desir- 

 able plant, on account of its pretty light reddish, sweet-scented 

 flowers and deep green foliage. Helwingia rusciflora, also 

 commonly known as H. Japonica, is a native of Japan and 

 China rarely seen in cultivation, probably because it has no 



