228 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 220. 



recognized principle, and which cannot be changed except in 

 accordance with that principle. 



We are glad to see, from a notice printed at the end of Mr. 

 Lemmon's interesting paper, that correctly labeled specimens 

 of branches, cones, foliage, etc., of the Pacific-coast conifers 

 can be suppUed by him to museums and educational institu- 

 tions at reasonable rates. His address is 1015 Clay Street, Oak- 

 land, California. 



Notes. 



Next year will see the tricentennial celebration of the forma- 

 tion of a botanical garden and the establishment of a professor- 

 ship of botany in the city of Montpelier, and this event is to be 

 appropriately celebrated there by a special session of the 

 Botanical Society of France. 



The Hard Maple of Maine furnishes a large part of the ma- 

 terial used in the manufacture of shoe-pegs, although the wood 

 of the Canoe Birch is sometimes used for this purpose. Slioe- 

 pegs are sold by the bushel, and now range from seventy-five 

 cents to one dollar a bushel, $150,000 having been received, it 

 is stated by a correspondent of The Manufacttirer and Builder 

 of this city, last year by the Maine shoe-peg factories. 



We learn that the necessary steps have been taken for the 

 formation of an American Rose Society, and it is to be hoped 

 that this will prove a vigorous organization. It is a singular 

 fact that the Rose receives less attention in this country than 

 it does in many others, and there is no good reason why we 

 should not have a flourishing Rose Society, since the growers 

 of Chrysanthemums and Carnations have both found such 

 associations necessary. 



Cratcegus mollis, which is illustrated on another page of 

 this issue, is now in full flower in this latitude. In Central Park 

 there are many specimens of this Hawthorn which are twenty 

 feet high or more, and their white blossoms, appearing abun- 

 dantly among the tender young foliage, make a charming picture. 

 It is not too niuch to say that at this moment these trees are 

 quite as beautiful as any in the park, which is saying a great 

 deal, when it is remembered that both the Chinese and Ameri- 

 can Red-buds are in full bloom, the flowers of the Sassafras 

 are just opening, and the Flowering Dogwood is almost at 

 its best. 



A large part of the spools used in this country for winding 

 thread are produced in Oxford County, Maine, and are made 

 from the wood of the Canoe Birch (Betula papyrifera), although 

 there are in western Maine several other important centres of 

 this industry which occupy many saw-mills engaged through- 

 out the year in sawing up Birch-logs into strips four feet long 

 and an inch or two inches square. These strips are worked up 

 in the spool-factories by most ingenious labor-saving ma- 

 chinery, the wood being fed into one machine, and hardly 

 seen again until it drops from another in the form of spools 

 ready for market, except the polishing, which is done by rap- 

 idly revolving them in Ijarrels. In some villages of Oxford 

 County nearly every inhabitant is more or less directly inter- 

 ested in spool-making, and in Maine several hundred thousand 

 feet of Birch-lumber, which a few years ago was considered 

 almost worthless, is now being manufactured into spools. 



At the April meeting of the California State Floral Society, 

 held in San Francisco on the 8th of that month, Mr. E. D. 

 Sturtevant presented an interesting paper on aquatic plants 

 and water-gardening for California, which, although consid- 

 ered a dry country, and therefore not favorable for the culti- 

 vation of water-plants, is well supplied, at least in the cities, 

 with water. Natural ponds and lakes are rare, although a few 

 exist in some parts of the state, and are suitable for the natu- 

 ralization of the Lotus, a feat which has already been success- 

 fully accomplished in a laguna not far from San Diego, and 

 irrigating ditches afford ample opportunities for supplying a 

 garden with water. In all of central and southern California, 

 the Lotus, of course, would be hardy, and in the southern part 

 of the state, no doubt, all the species which are grown under 

 glass at the east could be kept over winter without protection. 



From the third annual report of the Missouri Botanical Gar- 

 den Professor Trelease has recently reprinted his monograph 

 of the species of Rumex occurring north of Mexico. Nineteen 

 species are described, and the paper is enriched by twenty-one 

 carefully drawn plates with analyses. Of the North American 

 species one is a so-called Ballast-plant — that is, it is found onlv 

 on heaps of ballast discharged from vessels arriving from 

 foreign ports ; seven others are Old World weeds ; two are 

 Arctic alpine plants of wide distribution, and eleven belong to 



the true North American Flora. " The chief biological inter- 

 est in the genus," Professor Trelease points out, " comes from 

 the acidity of the Sorrels and some Docks, and the occur- 

 rence of tannin and a bitter principle in some others ; 

 their protandary and exclusive adaptation to wind poUeniza- 

 tion, and the adaptation of the greater number of species to 

 wind dissemination by the enlargement of the inner segments 

 of the perianth during ripening " — a peculiarity which accounts 

 for their prevalence in cultivated ground, where they are often 

 exceedingly troublesome weeds. 



A series of fifteen lectures and field-meetings are to be held 

 at the Arnold Arboretum during May and June for studying 

 the trees and shrubs which grow in New England. They will 

 be conducted by Mr. J. G. Jack, and will be held on Saturday 

 mornings and Wednesday afternoons. The lectures will be 

 given in the Bussey Institute, after which the class will visit 

 the plantations and nurseries of the Arboretum for an informal 

 study of the plants which have been under review at the lec- 

 ture. The instructions will not be technical, sirice it is the 

 intention to indicate by comparison the easiest means of dis- 

 tinguishing our common native shrubs and trees and of recog- 

 nizing foreign species which have been introduced into our 

 gardens. The ornamental and useful properties of trees and 

 shrubs, their habits of growth, their peculiarifies and common 

 diseases will be considered, and the different plants will be 

 taken up as far as possible in course as they become conspic- 

 uous in flowering. An autumn course of fifteen meetings will 

 also be given, when an opportunity will be affordedfor studying 

 many of the trees and shrubs in fruit with their autumn foliage 

 and their buds and general appearance as they prepare for 

 winter. 



In our issue for April 13th Colonel Pearson wrote that where 

 his orchard-trees had suffered from sun-scald they were all 

 flat-footed — that is, they had no tap-roots — and on examining 

 the trees which had escaped the damage he found that all of 

 them had roots which reached deeply into moist soil and sus- 

 tained their vitality during surface droughts. Professor Budd 

 quotes this paragraph in the Iowa State Register, and adds 

 some examples as evidence to support the theory that sun- 

 scald of the stem is often induced by lack of water-supply. 

 Three years ago a Soft Maple on the Iowa Agricultural College 

 grounds was severely pruned and its top was cut back. That 

 season the southern half of the tree sun-scalded badly, and 

 it is alive now only on the north side. Professor Budd has 

 often examined sun-scalded forest-trees, and found that in each 

 case the roots have been injured by trampling stock, so that the 

 soil was harder and drier than in the primitive forest. The 

 comparative hardiness of original seedling Apple-trees, which 

 stand where their tap-roots first penetrated the earth, and 

 trees that are grown by root-grafting with cions taken from the 

 top illustrate the probable truth of Mr. Pearson's theory, but 

 do not prove it. 



An English correspondent of the Country Gentleman writes 

 that a leading London physician has just issued his annual 

 plea for that much despised vegetable the Stinging Nettle 

 (Urtica dioica). Since the plant has become to some extent 

 naturalized in this country, it might be worth while for some 

 adventurous cook to try its effect on American palates and 

 stomachs. Here is what the physician says : " In early spring- 

 time, when sprouts and cabbages constitute the chief supply 

 of greens, those who know the delicate value of common 

 Stinging Nettle rejoice to find that in- its hardy vigor it comes 

 shooting up in sheltered nooks and corners almost the first 

 among the common harbingers of spring. Its tender tops, 

 juicy, crisp and delicate, may be cut one by one with scissors 

 held in a gloved hand, and vvhen a basketful is obtained — and 

 this can often be gathered in a single corner where a heap of 

 rubbish has been lying — a valuable and health-giving adjunct 

 to a meal is possessed. The Nettles should be well washed, 

 and this can be done by stirring them briskly round in a pail 

 of water with a stick, or by putting them under a running tap, 

 and then put into boiling water. In about a quarter of an hour 

 their stinging power will have disappeared, and they will be 

 like very delicate Turnip-tops.. They may be served in many 

 ways, but perhaps one which will be found specially palatable 

 is to treat them like Spinach and serve them on toast with a 

 poached or fried egg. If Londoners would only ask for net- 

 tles, nettles would soon be found in the market, and a vegeta- 

 ble which is now the farmers' and gardeners' pest would prove 

 a source of profit. Nettles are especially valuable for their 

 diuretic and antiscorbutic properties, and would be found far 

 more helpful in purifying the blood than the concocted ' blood 

 mixtures' so persistently puffed and widely used." 



