2l6 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 219. 



etc., were remarkable for the brightness of their orange tints. 

 Tliis year they have not a single tint of orange. It is sug- 

 gested that this lack of deep color is due to unusually rapid 

 development. There certainly is a marked variation in the 

 color of the same flower in different seasons, and the caus'es 

 of this variation suggest an interesting field for investigation. 



In order to discoverthe amount of copper which remained 

 on fruit from vines sprayed with the Bordeaux mi.xture ten 

 pounds of grapes at the State Experiment Station in Amherst 

 were taken, and the bunches selected were those which had 

 the largest amount of copper mixture adhering to them. In 

 one sample not a trace of copper could be found, and in the 

 other two one-thousandths of one per cent, of oxide of copper 

 was found, an amount so small that one would need to eat 

 from half a ton to a ton of these grapes, stems, skin and all, to 

 obtain any injurious effect. 



In Mr. Blomfield's recently published book on The Formal 

 Garden in England he quotes from a sixteenth century author, 

 who, in writing upon house-building, declared that the chief 

 prospect of a house oug'ht to be east, and especially north- 

 east, because the "est wynde is temperat, frislie and fragrant." 

 Other English authors of the time repeated this assertion, 

 which seems curious enough to those who know what the east 

 wind really is in England ; and the fact, says Mr. Blomfield, 

 shows how writers of that period borrowed wholesale from the 

 Italians, "without either acknowledging the source or correct- 

 ing their statements by local experience." 



In a late bulletin from the United States Department of Ag- 

 riculture on spraying fruits it is estimated that no less than 

 50,000 fruit-growers in the United States habitually spray their 

 trees and vines against such diseases as the apple scab, the 

 black rot of the grape, etc., while five years ago there was 

 practically nothing known of the subject. In order to get a 

 direct answer to the question whether this practice paid, 250 

 grape-growers in different parts of the country last year made 

 a series of observations for the purpose of obtaining definite 

 information as to the value in dollars and cents of the spraying 

 treatment for grape diseases. The facts reported by these 

 men show that the actual profit to them over all expenses re- 

 sulting from the treatment of black rot and downy mildew was 

 537,000. 



In Medians' Monthly for May there is a note from Professor 

 Maisch on a remedy for poisoning by species of Rhus which is 

 worth trying by all who are susceptible to injury from these 

 plants. The remedy is as follows : Saturate a slice of bread 

 with water, cover one surface of the slice with finely scraped 

 washing-soda, and apply this side to the affected part. If the 

 bread becomes dry drop water on the outer side, so as to keep 

 it thoroughly moistened, and remove the poultice in about 

 twenty or thirty minutes. If necessary, it may be applied a 

 second time in the course of a few hours. Another remedy 

 for the same poison is given in the same magazine by Mr. 

 John M. Dunlop, of Milwaukee. The remedy is to paint the 

 parts affected with collodion with a small brush. It shuts out 

 the air and affords instant relief. 



The city of Genoa proposes to solemnize the fourth cen- 

 tenary of the discovery of America by international congresses 

 of societies of geography and natural' science ; and the Italian 

 Botanical Society invites the botanists of all nations to assemble 

 in Genoa on the 4th of September. The Botanical Congress 

 will last until the nth, and the Italian Botanical Society is ar- 

 ranging for various excursions'on the shores of the Mediter- 

 ranean and in the Maritime Alps. During the Congress the 

 new Botanical Institute, built and presented to the University 

 of Genoa by Mr. Thomas Hanbury, will be inaugurated, and 

 an exhibition of horticulture and of products exchangeable be- 

 tween America and Italy will be held. Inquiries and commu- 

 nications concerning the Botanical Congress may be addressed 

 to Professor O. Fenzig, of the University of Genoa. 



The European horticultural papers have been lamenting the 

 destruction of wild Daffodils in the Basses Pyrenees. I\Ir. C. 

 WoUey Dod, writing to the Journal of Horticulture, states that 

 among indigenous kinds Narcissus Bulbocodium, var. citrinus, 

 extends over so much territory that, in spite of orders for hun- 

 dreds of thousands of bulbs, it is in no danger of extermina- 

 tion. The variety Palhdus prjecox, of N. 'Pseudo-narcissus, 

 has been severely taxed by eradicating collectors for the Eng- 

 lish market, but for all this it is stilf abundant in the woods 

 and multiplies so rapidly from seed that it only needs a few 

 years of peace to be as abundant as ever. Besides this it is 

 being largely cultivated, and as the people find how easy it is 

 to raise the bulbs from seed they will hardly go to the trouble 



of collecting wild ones from less populous parts of the 

 Basque country. 



The Clark Memorial Medal has recently been awarded by 

 the Royal Society of New South Wales to Mr. W. T. Thiselton- 

 Dyer, Director of the Royal Gardens at Kew, for services ren- 

 dered to the colonies in India through his admirable organiza- 

 tion and administration of the Royal Gardens, which have re- 

 sulted in a system of cohesion and co-operation between that 

 establishment and the botanical gardens of the British Empire. 

 This is the third time the Clark Memorial Medal has been 

 awarded to an official connected with the Royal Gardens, it 

 having been previously bestowed on Sir Joseph Hooker for 

 his work in elucidating the Flora of Australia, and later upon 

 Mr. Bentham for his classical Australian Flora. Those per- 

 sons who are familiar with Mr. Dyer's remarkable executive 

 capacity and with the state of proficiency to which he has 

 raised the establishment under his charge will hardly agree 

 in his own underestimate of his services as set forth in his 

 letter of acknowledgment, or feel with him that his work has 

 only been the humble one of continuing the traditions which 

 have made Kew as much an imperial as a local institution. 



Experiments for protecting the fruit-buds of Peach-trees 

 from injury by cold during the winter have been made for 

 several years at the Massachusetts Agricultural College, and 

 for four years past in the early winter the roots of several of 

 the trees have been loosened on the north and south sides and 

 the trees laid over on the ground. In this way, if the roots are 

 cut off during early summer, the growth will be forced into 

 the roots on the east and west sides, and these will be simply 

 twisted a little in the process of bending over. The trees are 

 bent toward the south to avoid the direct rays of the sun on 

 the trunk and main branches. In the first experiment the buds 

 were injured by heat because the trees were covered too 

 closely ; after that they were covered with mats and other 

 light material, and a large percentage of the buds were saved. 

 This spring, while about fifty-two per cent, of the fruit-buds 

 were destroyed on unprotected trees, those which were pro- 

 tected show only ten per cent, destroyed. Many of the trees 

 treated in this way are more than ten years old, and they are 

 easily set up in the spring, grow well and mature a crop. No 

 covering should be put on the ground under the tree, as the 

 moisture seems necessary to keep the buds in good condition, 

 and if the land is in sod the trees should be sprayed with the 

 Bordeaux mixture and with skim-milk and Paris green to pro- 

 tect them from field-mice, which are very fond of them. 



In the report of the Botanical Gardens of British Guiana it is 

 said that there is as much difference between a good variety 

 of mango and a bad one as there is between the choicest cul- 

 tivated apple and the bitterest wild crab. No cultivated fruit 

 rivals the better kinds of mango, while none is probably quite 

 as low as the poorer kinds. By good kinds is meant those 

 without fibre, which are true table fruits, with firm rich flesh, 

 which can be easily cut from the seed. The inferior kinds 

 have stringy flesh, which clings to the seed, and an unpleasant 

 taste like that of turpentine. The range of color in mangos is 

 as wide as the range of quality, some having a combination 

 of tints more beautiful than those of the flnest peaches and 

 plums. Others are a beautiful golden yellow, and others still 

 a dull soiled green. The color, however, is no indication of 

 quality, as some of the worst of the stringy mangos are the 

 most gorgeous in color. The mango is a native of India, from 

 whence it has spread quite around the equatorial belt, although 

 it did not reach the West Indies until the second half of the 

 last centur}'. Inferior kinds prevail there, however, because 

 there has been small attempt to import the good ones, and the 

 inferior kinds possess a greater constitutional vigor. Besides 

 this, the peasantry, who are the chief consumers of the fruit, 

 have no preference for the best kinds. The few good varie- 

 ties which are known in British Guiana are now being propa- 

 gated by grafting, but they are not at all abundant ; indeed, no 

 first-class mango has ever yet appeared in the fruit-stalls of 

 the Georgetown market, nor have the great majority of the 

 inhabitants of the land ever tasted one. There seems to be no 

 reason why, with a proper selection of kinds, the mango 

 should not be included among the ordinary cultivated glass- 

 house fruits of temperate countries. No peaches, apricots, 

 grapes or pineapples in the world rival those grown in glass- 

 houses, and if skill were attained in their cultivation by prac- 

 tice it is probable that finer examples of the fruit of the IVIango 

 would be found in English glass-houses than in the tropics. 

 The choicest kinds of Mango-trees might be grown in the great 

 glass buildings at Kew, but there are many dwarf kinds which 

 might be grafted and easily kept to a height of eight or ten 

 feet, and the same diameter of branches. 



