April 27, 1892.] 



Garden and Forest. 



195 



far to prove that botanical science and instruction and good 

 cultivation may all be accomplished together. Too often bo- 

 tanical collections are mere aggregations of species and give 

 little idea of the capabilities of the individuals under favorable 

 conditions or good cultivation. There are enclosiu't'S devoted 

 to collections of odicinal and poisonous plants and to those of 

 economic value as food or in manufactures, all such being 

 grouped together which have the same peculiar value. 



The small area of the garden precludes the possibility of 

 establishing an arboretum or systematic collection of trees and 

 shrubs, but a considerable number of species have been 

 massed together on the western side. Conifers, apparently, 

 do not thrive. A system oL instructive labeling has been in- 

 troduced here, which has been copied at Copenhagen and 

 perhaps other places. The labels are made of heavy sheet 

 iron, those of an average size being cut a little over six inches 

 wide and nearly nine inches long. They are painted, and the 

 family, botanical name (and chief synonym, if any), common 

 name and habitat are given; and on the same label, imme- 

 diately underneath the foregoing information, a map of the 

 world is neatly painted, which shows the gecjgraphical distri- 

 bution of the species. These labels are very neat, and are said 

 to endure exposure for many years without material injury or 

 eftacement. They cost from about thirty to sixty-five cents each, 

 according to the size and amount of work required, and they 

 may be procured by application to ofTicers of the garden. 

 This form of label would be rather too costly for most botan- 

 ical establishments, and for all practical purposes the name 

 of the native country of the plant should be sufficient. 



The species of Roses in the garden have a [)articular interest 

 because they are the special study of the distinguished Direc- 

 tor. I noticed among them the true Rosa foliolosa of the 

 south-western states, although here growing less vigorously 

 than at the Arnold Arboretum. This little Rose is extremely 

 rare in cultivation, and the plants under this name sometimes 

 belong to some other common species. The occasional 

 flowering throughout the summer of Rosa rugosa is here 

 considered as simply an accidental, and not a reliable, charac- 

 ter. But R. Indica is a true remontant, and a hybrid of this 

 and of li. rugosa is found to be quite hardy here. The flowers 

 are white, fairly double, fragrant like R. rugosa, and the blos- 

 soms are produced continuously. The foliage and habit are 

 somewhat like those of R. rugosa. 



The principal large park in the city is mainly shaded by fine 

 Beeches and English Elms, but Horse-chestnuts, Maples and 

 Lindens also enter into the composition. It is surrounded by 

 a double row of the broad-leaved Linden (Tilia platyphyllos), 

 planted uniformly apart, with their trunks free from branches 

 for twelve feet, and with the tops squarely clipped off at 

 eighteen feet from the ground. The branches of the trees in 

 the rows are interlaced, while the sides are cut hedge-fashion. 

 In short, the whole thing might be called a hedge raised twelve 

 feet in the air, and it is an example of a once popular kind of 

 tree-pruning still often met with in many French towns. 



In the Place du Petit Sablon I noticed another relic of a 

 fashion which years ago came into vogue iii some parts of 

 Europe, and a hint of which is shown when Hower-beds are 

 ornamented with shells, light-colored stones, and the like. A 

 number of small formal beds are arranged with lines of dwarf 

 Box, Sempervivums or Feverfew, the intervening masses be- 

 ing filled with evenly broken small sandstone of two kinds, one 

 being of a grayish color, and the other reddish. These are 

 thickly put on the ground alternately with each other, or with 

 the plants. At a little distance the result is quite deceptive, 

 and equally effective as would be the use of the more expensive 

 Sempervivums. Tlie broken sandstone is also used as borders 

 to formal beds. The practice will commend itself to those 

 managers of public gardens, squares and cemeteries who are 

 economically minded, but have a mania for formal designs, 

 such as geometrical figures, monograms or names. 



Arnold Arboretum. y • Cr. JilcM, 



Flowers in Town. 



IT is hardly possible now to draw that distinction between 

 hot-house Howers and garden flowers which was formerly 

 so clearly marked. Not many years ago few plants were 

 grown under glass in winter which could be grown outdoors 

 in spring, summer or autumn. Greenhouses were kept 

 chiefly for exotics, and women were content to adorn them- 

 selves, while snow lay upon the ground, with such flowers only 

 as nature had originally given to their sisters of other lands. 

 When Roses were out of season, they wore Camellias ; and 

 while waiting for the spring to make the bulbs blossom in their 

 tlower-beds, they filled their conservatories with importations 



from the Cape. Now, however, it would be impossible to 

 feel sure, from the Howers in our drawing-rooms and our 

 florists' windows, what the season of the year might be. 

 While utilizing the resources of other climes more fully than 

 ever before, we have also transplanted our own summer 

 gardens indoors ; and every year an interested observer may 

 notice new favorites from the border, and even from the road- 

 side or the woodland glade, contentedly blooming in the flor- 

 ist's shop in winter and in especial variety as Easter 

 approaches. 



Persons who are not yet middle-aged can remember their 

 surprise at seeing for the first lime Lilacs and Lilies-of-the- 

 valley before the snow was off the ground ; yet now even the 

 street-venders offer them to us. Until I was grown iqi, I never 

 knew what a Daffodil was, because I always lived in New York 

 in the winter and spring, seeing the couiil'ry only when Daffo- 

 dil-days were well over. " Early spring flowers " meant to me, 

 in my childhood, nothing earlier than buttercups and daisies. 

 But the city child is more familiar with the sight of Daffodils 

 than most of her country cousins. Violets are easier to get 

 in midwinter than in spring, and Roses are common all the 

 year round. 



This year, long before Easter-day, our streets were gay and 

 redolent with spring and summer fiowers, some of which it 

 was very hard to believe had been raised in greenhouses with 

 a definite idea of pecuniary gain. We have got accustomed 

 to associating the traditionally modest Violet, beloved of the 

 spring poet, with winter festivities, and it now seems as 

 much a fiower of the ball-room as of the woodland. But the 

 still more modest Forget-me-not is yet instinct with sentiment, 

 connecting it with brooks that wander through open fields 

 and nestle into pools beneath the shadow of young-leaved 

 Willows. Were these Forget-me-nots, which lay on the 

 street-vender's bench while winter lingered in the air, really 

 grown near at hand in artificial warmth, or had they been 

 brought on the wings of a gracious wind from some softer 

 southern clime ? And the Lilacs themselves, were they really 

 not yet in bloom on Long Island ? Were not these outdoor- 

 looking sprays of white and purple broken off recklessly by 

 bare-foot boys standing on the fence, but carefully cut by a 

 gardener's shears in a carefully healed house .■' 



Still more surprising was it to see true denizens of the 

 wild-wood blooming in pots as placidly as though they were 

 Camellias. It was, indeed, a proof that our own country had 

 come to town as well as that eastern lands had come west and 

 tropic lands had come north, to be able to choose, for an 

 Easter gift, between gorgeous Orchids, Bermuda Lilies, ver- 

 itable Azalea-trees and blossoming shrubs of Mountain Laurel. 



I have heard people say that it is a pity things have changed 

 in this fashion. They feel that it is best, for the sake of secur- 

 ing that variety in our pleasures v/hich means a perpetual 

 freshness of interest, to limit ourselves in winter to the 

 thousand exotics which we can get by artificial cultivation 

 only, and to leave our oum spring to bring us its own treasures 

 in their turn. And they feel that this is best, also, for the sake 

 of preserving that sentiment with regard to Howers which 

 plays so great a part in the delight they give. They would 

 have us render unto spring the gratitude that is spring's, and 

 not forestall and cheapen it by thanks bestowed upon the 

 clever gardener. They would have us recognize the proces- 

 sion of the seasons by not disturbing the natural procession of 

 the flowers, and mark our months, as the Japanese do, by the 

 special enjoyment of the special offerings of each. 



But people who feel thus, I think, are usually those who live 

 all the year round in the country, and when they come to town 

 to see what we are about can afford to pity our confused, un- 

 sentimental way of mixing up Nature's bounties, sure them- 

 selves of receiving these bounties, gradually but continuously, 

 in their true and most beautiful sequence. Or else they are 

 persons who at least can leave town when they choose and 

 watch not merely the Daffodils unfolding but the fuzzy gray 

 buds swelling on the Willow-bushes. 



To others wdio, like myself when I never saw Daffodils, 

 spend only two or three summer months out of town, a con- 

 fusing of Nature's sequence of gifts cannot matter so much. 

 To them who never see the grass growing green except in a 

 park, and who in a park cannot tell vi'hich early flowers have 

 been transplanted from the hills just across the river, and 

 which have been brought from across the sea, such flowers do 

 not wear the associations that they wear for country-bred eyes. 

 It matters not to tliem whether they first see Lilacs or Hya- 

 cinths, tor they do not know which would bloom first out-of- 

 doors. What they are chiefly concerned with is to see them 

 both as soon as possible, and as many of them botli as they 

 can. It may be shocking, from the rural point of view, to as- 



