Al>KlL 27, 1892.] 



Garden and Forest. 



201 



ideal arrangenient, but it is an improvement on the former 

 one for my purposes. Its advantages are tliat it is cleanly and 

 lunidy. It is quicl-ily applied, antl eis (piickly removed. In dull 

 weatlicr it is out ot the way, and the plants have the benefit of 

 all available light. When it is up, and the sun is shining ever 

 so strongly, some of its rays tilter through to keep the mois- 

 ture in motion, which is an important point, and to keep the 

 plants in good heart. The screens l)eing three inches from 

 the glass there is this air-space tilled with hotter air rising to 

 tlie ventilators -and helping to keep the lower air cooler. At 

 least it seems to me that on a hot day, with the sun shining, it 

 is distinctly cooler under these cool-looking shades than it was 

 when the wash was used. This may be partly imagination, 

 but as I am not sure that my plants do not possess some of 

 that useful faculty, perhaps they may be affected by the same 

 inlluence. With the tiickering sunlight over them, my plants 

 can scarcely fail to keep in good condition, especially as the 

 shades are dropped at night and the early morning sun is 

 allowed to flood the house. 

 F.lizabeili, N.J. /. N. Gerard. 



Tomatoes from Immature Seed. 



IN the Eighth Annual Report of the Wisconsin Experiment 

 Station Professor Goff reports a series of tests which have 

 been conducted for several years to show to what extent plants 

 may be modified by the selection of seeds. In the fall of 18S3 

 seed was taken from mature fruits of Cook's Favorite Tomato 

 and from other fruits of the same variety which had nearly 

 attained tlieirfull size, but had not commenced to cliange their 

 color. The next year plants were grown from both these se- 

 lections of seeds, and in the autumn seed was taken as before 

 from ripe fruits of the plants grown from ripe fruits, and from 

 immature fruits of those grown from immature fruits. This 

 was continued for four years, and again in 1889 the experi- 

 ment was repeated with seed whicli had been saved from fruit 

 grown in 1S86, so that there has V>een secured one strain of 

 Tomato grown through six generations of seeds known to be 

 fully mature and another strain of the same number of gen- 

 erations from immature seed, and the two strains have been 

 grown side by side. 



The effect of tliis selection upon tlie plants is made very 

 clear by illustrations in the bulletin, which show that the plants 

 from immature seed have been perceptibly reduced in size, 

 while their prolificacy has been increased. Ten plants grown 

 from ripe seed last year, after the fruit had been picked, 

 weighed more than twice as much as the same number of 

 plants from immature seed. Ten plants from ripe seed up to 

 the middle of September had matured 1,298 fruits, while the 

 plants from unripe seed had matured 2,519 fruits which 

 weighed nearly twice as much. Besides these differences the 

 use of immature seeds has plainly tended to promote early ma- 

 turity, and in a comparison carried on for live years the strain 

 from unripe seed gave fruit on an average twelve and a half 

 days earlier than the other strain. The size of the fruit from 

 immatiu'e seed has been reduced about one-twelfth. This 

 fruit is less firm than that from ripe seed ; the rind is thinner ; 

 it lias a somewhat greater tendency to ripen unevenly, and it 

 is often slightly green at the centre when appearing ripe ex- 

 ternally. In keeping quality it is inferior to. that from ripe 

 seed, as a rule. In form it is more oblate, contains more cells, 

 and lias a gi'eater tendency to grow double. The posture of 

 the plant has been rendered more decumbent, while the color 

 of tlie foliage has been uniformly lighter, and its tendency to 

 blight has been noticeably greater. 



In summing up, Professor Goff thinks that the following- 

 practical lessons may be deduced from these and some other 

 experiments with feeble plants : 



" I. The results suggest that in our climate the Tomato, at 

 least its more rampant-growing varieties, may be rendered 

 more productive and earlier in maturing by a treatment that 

 reduces the native vigor of the plant. Growing the plants on 

 rather poor and dry soil, pinching the growing points, or root- 

 pruning should accomplish this end. 



"2. The health of plants is in a degree dependent upon the 

 quality of the seed used. In these days of severe competition 

 in the seed trade, dealers are doubtless often tempted to use 

 immature or otherwise unsuitable stocli for seed. The popu- 

 lar demand for cheap seeds tends to deteriorate quality in this 

 commodity, and consequently in our crops, and to render the 

 latter more subject to disease. 



" It must not be understood that the use of immature To- 

 mato-seed is sanctioned or recommended in this article. The 

 experiment is not as yet complete, and it is too early to an- 

 nounce its full teachings." 



Early Spring Flowers. 



AT the last meeting of the Pennsylvania Horticultural 

 Society Mr. John Bell read a paper on the "Garden 

 in Spring," from which we extract the following paragraphs 

 relating to the earliest flowers : 



If the ground is not covered with snow in Februarv one of 

 the most striking features one woidd see in taking' a walk 

 through our grounds would be beautiful carpet-like masses of 

 tlie yellow Buttercup-like flowers of the Winter Aconite 

 (Eranthis hyemalis) and groups of the different varieties of 

 the Snowdrop. These grow in the shade of a large-leaved 

 Magnolia-tree (M. macrophylla) on a slope facing east, where 

 the grass will not grow in summer. A few steps farther, on 

 the margin of a group of the Great Laurel (Rhododendron 

 IVlaximum), we come on a group of Christmas Roses (Helle- 

 borus) in varieties from pure white to dark purple, some with 

 green flowers and some with greenish white flowers. Beyond 

 these are Crocuses in many colors, with their flowers opened 

 while the sun shines on them, and in the near distance can be 

 seen the male blossoms of tlie Filbert or Hazel-nut, and the 

 catkins of the Goat Willow, which are very beautiful at this 

 early season. 



The various evergreens, both trees and shrubs, are very 

 cheering at this time, some of the oldest trees liaving their 

 trunks covered with varieties of the evergreen English Ivy. 

 Among the broad-leaved kinds near the house are groups of 

 hybrid Rhododendrons and Azaleas, Euonymus Japonica and 

 its varieties. Daphne Mezereum, D. Laureola, D. Pontica, Kal- 

 niia latifolia, Leucothce Catesbsei, Heather (Erica carnea). Ilex 

 glabra and I. verticillata, with its red berries hanging on all win- 

 ter, and all helping to lighten up the dreary season in February 

 and March. 



At the close of March and in the early days of April appear 

 on the margins of these groups of shrubs the various species 

 ot Primula — P. Japonica, P. Sieboldi, P. vulgaris (English 

 Primroses), P. veris (Cowslip), P. elatior and other hybrids. 

 Spring Snowflake (Leucojum vernum) andSummerSnowflake 

 (L. ffistivum), Wood Anemone and Anemone Pennsylvanica, 

 Moss Pink (Piilox subulata) and its varieties, with the Spread- 

 ing Phlox (P. divaricata), and the various kinds of Scillas. 



Then we have in sheltered places a beautiful variety of 

 evergreen herbaceous plants starting into new growth, 

 after lasting all the winter green' and fresh. Among these 

 are Arum Italicum, the Madonna Lily (Lilium candidum), 

 Pachysandra procumbens, the Christmas Fern (Aspidium 

 acrostichoides), four species of Yucca (Y. filamentosa, Y. Glo- 

 riosa, Y. glaucescens, Y. angustifolia), Butcher's-broom (Rus- 

 cus aculeatus), Hypericum calycinum and Evergreen Candytuft 

 (tberis coiTEefolia). A very large tree of the white Yulan Mag- 

 nolia (M. conspicua) stands surrounded with a thick growth 

 of the Children's Bluebell or Grape Hyacinth of English 

 meadows (Muscari racemosum), intermixed with the Tenby 

 Daffodil (N. obvallaris), one of the first of the family to bloom, 

 while on the shady side of the tree a group of the wild English 

 Cowslip (P. veris) is in bloom at the same time. Then follow 

 in succession the many species and varieties of the Narcissus 

 family, the good old Daffadowndilly, Butter and Eggs, 

 Phea.^ant's-eye and the rest, coming into flower one after 

 another until May, and with the last of these are associated the 

 white and purple flowered Wood Lilies (Trillium grandiHorum 

 and T. erectum), the Wild Tulip of the English woods (T. syl- 

 vestris), the blue alpine Anemone (A. alpina), the double and 

 single flowered Pile-wort (Ficaria ranunculoides), our beautiful 

 native Dicentras, the Blood-root and the various sorts of Dog- 

 toothed Violets. Of course, this does not include all the in- 

 teresting hardy flowers among the earliest ones, for there are 

 Fritillarias and Violets, the Siberian Columbine and Twin-leaf, 

 and many more, but surely here is a list which ought to be 

 able to brighten any rock-garden or border from the time that 

 snow falls until the trees are in leaf and before the gay season 

 of Peonies and Roses. 



The Forest. 

 Timber-culture in Eastern Nebraska. 



A VISIT to a region where land has been secured under the 

 timber-culture acts will convince any one that the con- 

 sciences of those " proving up " claims were often quite elastic, 

 and the forlorn appearance of many of the trees and bits of 

 woods proves that the legislation failed to effect the beneficent 

 end it proposed. But some of the claims give evidence of 

 hopeful possibilities in timber-culture. Last winter I was at 

 the farm of Mr. James Stephen, a business man of Central 



