192 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 217. 



Mr. E. S. Nadal's interesting' article on the " New Parks of 

 New York," published in Scribtter's Magazine for April, gains 

 especial value from the accompanying map, as few persons 

 even in New York realize how large are the areas set apart for 

 public enjoyment, how diversely they lie, or what will be the 

 extent of the proposed parkways connecting them. 



In the last number of the Gardeners' Magazine Rev. G. H. 

 Engleheart pronounces the White Trumpet Daffodil, Madame 

 De Graaff, as perhaps the finest existing Daffodil. It is 

 very large, of great substance, and is said to be a seedling 

 from the Empress of India by the pollen of Albicans. It was 

 introduced some three years since, but we believe the price is 

 still a guinea a bulb. 



During the past season twenty-four field meetings have been 

 held by the Torrey Botanical Club, of this city, with an average 

 attendance of twelve persons. One of the most interesting re- 

 sults of the year was the listing of all the plants on Sandy Hook, 

 New Jersey, which was visited on July 25th. Asplenium platy- 

 neuron, a Fern which usually grows in rocky spots, was here 

 found flourishing in pure sand, and among introduced plants 

 Lactuca Scariola was noticed. 



The Superintendent of Parks in Brooldyn says that Prospect 

 Park " is visited by nearly thirteen million people annually, 

 for its attractions alone, because it is little used as a thorough- 

 fare between different portions of the city, as is the case with 

 many other parks. During a storm the park is deserted by 

 every one except the guards, but within half an hour after the 

 skies clear the roads are covered by carriages, or, in winter, by 

 sleighs, while snowfiakes still linger in the air." 



" No garden in Japan," says a recent writer, " is considered 

 complete without its group of Maple-trees placed beside some 

 artificial hill toward the west to receive additional splendor 

 from the setting sun. Grassy slopes and valleys are planted 

 with tliese trees, with the object of bringing into one limited 

 prospect the red and golden tints in which the natural scenery 

 of the wooded hills abounds. Picnickingand mushroom-gath- 

 ering are pastimes which accompany the viewing of the Maple." 



Arbor Day is now celebrated in Nova Scotia and New Bruns- 

 wick, and in the Educational Review, published at St. John, 

 an editorial on the observance of. the day closes with some 

 sensible suggestions like the foUowjifig : Work should be the 

 most important part of the programme ; few trees should be 

 planted, but they should be planted well and with careful 

 preparation beforehand ; school premises should be cleared 

 up and beautified ; the fatal mistake should be avoided of sup- 

 posing that everything is done when Arbor Day is over. 



In a bulletin just issued by the Experiment Station of the 

 State Agricultural College at Michigan, Professor Taft, the 

 horticulturist, reports on a test of different varieties of Straw- 

 berries last year that the most promising early sorts are Beder 

 Wood, Lovett and Van Deman, while Haverland, Pearl, Parker 

 Earl and Bubach No. 5 are the best which follow soon after. Of 

 late sorts Belle, Florence and Gandy succeed the best. Of the 

 newer Raspberries, Cromwell, a seedling from Connecticut, is 

 in most respects similar to Souhegan, and thus far has proved 

 more healthy and somewhat more productive. Of the late va- 

 rieties, Royal Church, from Ohio, is one of the best. 



Some tests made at the Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Sta- 

 tion show that the Bordeaux mixture may be effective as an insec- 

 ticide. Potatoes, which were infested and injured by the Flea- 

 beetle (Crepidodera pubescens) were sprayed with the mixture, 

 and the injury by insects was promptly checked. As new leaves 

 unfolded between the sprayings the beetles would gather upon 

 them, but were driven off as soon as the plants were sprayed 

 again. The March blister-beetle, which appeared later in the 

 field, avoided entirely the plants which had been sprayed, and 

 although they occasionally gnawed the leaves of plants after 

 the lime and copper had been washed off, it was plain the mix- 

 ture could have saved the crop from most of the injury 

 inflicted by these two beetles. 



In an address read before the Wisconsin Horticultural So- 

 ciety, Professor Goff urges the young towns and villages of the 

 west to set apart public pleasure-grounds before it is too late. 

 He suggests that every village have its park, which shall be 

 regarded from the beginning as an adjunct of the school, and 

 be located sufficiently near the school-house to make it easy 

 of access by the boys and girls. If the trees and shrubs are 

 labeled with their common and botanical names the park will 

 have a greater educational value, and if the planting is done 

 with some ceremonies in which the young people can play a 

 conspicuous part they will take more interest in it, and there 

 will be less trouble experienced in securing from their parents 



the money needed to maintain it, and this trouble will become 

 smaller and smaller as the years roll on. 



The Journal of Horticulture prints a list of varieties of 

 Chrysanthemums, arranged according to the number of 

 times each one was used at the exhibitions of the Royal 

 National Chrysanthemum Society last year, and the average 

 for seven years past. In comparing the first twenty-four on 

 the list last year with the first twenty-four on the list in 1885 it 

 is seen that very few changes have taken place — that is, all the 

 favorite exhibition flowers of seven years ago remain favorites 

 still.^ An examination of the relative positions occupied by the 

 leading varieties during the last seven years shows no indi- 

 cation of decline in any of them. Among the incurved va- 

 riedes the Empress of India has regained the first place, and 

 among Japanese varieties Etoile de Lyon still holds the place 

 it secured last year at head of the hst. 



The power of trees to regulate their own temperature to 

 a certain extent is seen in the fact that their twigs are not 

 frozen through in winter, nor does their temperature increase 

 in summer in proportion to the temperature of the surround- 

 ing atmosphere. Their vitality protects them from both ex- 

 tremes. The bark is a bad conductor of heat, and is to a 

 certain extent the clothing in which the plant is wrapped. Then 

 the surface evaporation of the leaves produces in summer a 

 freshness in them, and we know how cool they feel even on 

 hot days. Evaporation, however, does not explain the cool- 

 ness of many kinds of fruit that are enclosed in a hard en- 

 velope, through which evaporation seems almost impossible. 

 The juice of a fruit grown by the Ganges is said by Hooker to 

 be of a temperature of seventy-two degrees, Fahrenheit, while 

 the sand in which it grew was found to be from ninety to one 

 hundred and four degrees. 



In the last number of Insect Life it is reported that the potato- 

 tuber moth, which has been very destructive for many years 

 in New Zealand, Australia and Algeria, has reached this coun- 

 try. Specimens received at Washington from Kern County, 

 California, have been identified by Professor Riley. It was at 

 first supposed that the insect had been accidentally imported 

 on some of the steamers from New Zealand or Australia 

 among the stewards' supplies. Later information, however, 

 is that they were obtained from a Chinese gardener, so that it 

 is not improbable that the insects were imported directly from 

 China. The larvae of this moth bore into the potatoes while 

 they are still under the ground and after they are stored, and 

 as much as three-fourths of the crop has been destroyed 

 during a single season in Algeria. Strenuous efforts should 

 be made to stamp out this pest before it obtains a foothold, 

 and the immediate destruction of all infested potatoes is 

 recommended. 



Professor Kedzie sums up the results of experiments with 

 Sugar Beets in Michigan last year, from the farmer's stand- 

 point, that the outlook for the beet-sugar industry promises 

 well over a large part of the southern half of the state. Some 

 of the considerations which should incline farmers toward this 

 industry is that the crop promises large cash-money returns, a 

 good home market, and a concentrated product which costs 

 little for transportation. Beet-raising properly conducted does 

 not exhaust the soil, for the materials removed in sugar are 

 only carbon and water, there being no nitrogen or potassium 

 or phosphorus carried off, as there is in wheat. Besides this, 

 the proper cultivation of Beets is the best preparation for a 

 grain crop. In order to keep the soil froin exhaustion the 

 waste parts must be directly or indirectly returned to the fields. 

 The tops and crown, not used in manufacturing, and the beet- 

 pulp from which the sugar has been extracted are excellent cat- 

 tle feed. In this way stock-feeding is a necessary part of the 

 routine in a sugar-beet farm, and so is the rotation of crops. 

 Beet-raising therefore compels thorough cultivation and good 

 farming, which is a strong point in its favor. From the manu- 

 facturer's standpoint, it should be considered that a Beet-sugar 

 plant is very costly, and that every device to reduce labor, save 

 cost and turn out the largest and best product must be used 

 when entering into competition with an established industry in 

 the Old World. Americans now have a bounty of two cents 

 on a pound, but they must contend with the experience and 

 accumulated machinery of a half-century of beet-sugar-making 

 in Europe. No such manufactory can succeed without an ex- 

 perienced and coinpetent director, without abundance of good 

 water, cheap fuel and transportation facilities, and unless it is 

 located in a district with a suitable soil and climate which can 

 be trusted to furnish 3,000 acres of Sugar Beets a year of good 

 quality. In view of these facts manufacturers are caufioned 

 to go slow. 



