240 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 221. 



Lichens, Fungi, Algfe, Geographical Distribution of Plants, 

 Local Floras of Essex County, and the Floras of the principal 

 geographico-botanical regions of the earth. Fossil Botany, 

 Economic Botany, Folk-lore, a list of serials, works on Flori- 

 culture, Landscape-gardening, Forestry and Fruit-raising. 

 Altogether, this is one of the most intelligently prepared and 

 helpful aids to a study of botany which have yet come to our 

 notice. 



Notes. 



Owing to the appearance of the Phylloxera in California, Grape- 

 vines from North America are now rigidly excluded from the 

 territory of the French Republic. 



Mr. H. E. Van Deman, Pomologist of the Department of 

 Agriculture, writes to the Florida Ai^riculiurist to protest 

 against the use of the name Grape-fruit and to insist upon the 

 name Pomelo, which is appropriate, distinctive and the one 

 commonlv used in the East Indies for tlie delicious fruit which 

 is found in increasing quantity every year in our northern 

 markets. 



We have seen no more beautiful Pansies this year than some 

 which were sent to this olBce by i\Ir. D. K. Herr, of Lancaster, 

 Pennsvlvania, and which were grown out-of-doors in ordinary 

 garden-soil. The delicate markings in some of the newer 

 strains of Pansies, like Bugnot's and the improved Trimardeau, 

 are among the most interesting products of carefulness and 

 skill in selecting and cultivating garden-flowers. 



The correspondent of the London Garden writes of the 

 Waban Rose, which was exhibited at Drill Hall not long since, 

 that it fully justifies the praise it has received in this country, 

 retaining as it does the matchless form of Catharine Mermet, 

 of which it is a sport, and a color some shades deeper. It is 

 predicted that, like The Bride, another sport from the same 

 variety, it will be esteemed among the choicest of the tea- 

 scented Roses. 



A great many of the ordinary bedding-plants, like Zonal 

 Pelargoniums, Heliotropes, Verbenas, etc., receive a severe 

 check or die outright if they are suddenly exposed to the out- 

 door weather, especially when cold rains or high winds follow. 

 All plants of this sort should be gradually hardened off until 

 they are inured to outdoor conditions. When tender plants 

 are taken out of the house or pit and placed in the open 

 ground the common mistake of watering them too freely 

 should not be made. 



The editors of the Revue Horticole, in speaking of the dif- 

 ferent varieties of the Althea (Hibiscus Syriacus), remark that 

 the single flowers are generally the brightest in color. The 

 pure white variety, known as Totus albus, is considered the 

 best, and the following double and single varieties are recom- 

 mended : Albus plenus. Pompon pourpre, Purpureus plenus 

 foliis variegatis. Celeste, Lady Stanley, Due de Brabant, Charles 

 Breton, Pasonioeflora, Leopoldi, Comte de Hainaut, Ranuncu- 

 liflorus albus, Violet simple, Ccelestis simple, Speciosa rubra, 

 Violacea variegata, Carnea plena. 



Commenting editorially upon the proposition that a special 

 exhibit of roadways, pavements and road-making processes 

 and materials shall be made a prominent feature of the 

 World's Fair at Chicago, the American Archiiect says that such 

 a display would come under the eyes of myriads of our fel- 

 low-countrymen " who have never seen a decent road and 

 have no conception of the method of making one. If the 

 exhibition should contain nothing but this, it would be worth 

 holding, for it is no exaggeration to say that the question 

 of roads is the most important one to be solved in this 

 country." 



In the Transactions of the Indiana Horticultural Society for 

 last year, which has just been received, there is a list of the 

 trees of that state prepared by Professor Coulter, of Pur- 

 due University. One hundred and eight species belonging 

 to fifty-two genera are mentioned, so that Indiana is behind 

 several of the other states in the variety of its arborescent flora, 

 and notably of Arkansas, which has one hundred and twenty- 

 seven species on the list made by Professor Harvey. There 

 are few states, however, where so many of the trees attain so 

 large a size. Forty-two species are named which attain a 

 height of a hundred feet or more in the Lower Wabash Valley, 

 and thirteen are mentioned as growing more than one hundred 

 and fifty feet high. The figures are taken from actual measure- 

 ment, but since few trees were measured, compared with the 

 vast number of matured trees which are cut down in a single 



year. Professor Coulter thinks that it is quite improbable that 

 the largest individual of any species which has stood in the 

 Wabash Valley within the last twenty-five years has been 

 measured. The tallest tree mentioned is a Tulip Poplar, 

 which was one hundred and ninety feet high. This tree was 

 twenty-five feet in circumference above the swell of tlie roots, 

 and the height of the trunk to the first branch was ninety-one 

 feet. The next tallest tree measured was a Scarlet Oak, the 

 third a Pecan, and the fourth a Cottonwood. 



At a recent meeting of the Nantucket Improvement Asso- 

 ciation a vote was passed urging upon the members of the 

 Congressional delegation of Massachusetts to resist all attempts 

 to encroach on the public lands of the Yellowstone Park reser- 

 vation, and quoting from tlie article which appeared in these 

 columns on the 20th of April last, the resolution goes on to 

 declare that, " This reservation is important as a means of 

 protecting the head-waters of one of the largest and most use- 

 ful rivers of the country ; as a region where some of the grand- 

 est scenery of the world is located ; as an extensive tract of 

 forest, mountain and valley in which maybe preserved, for all 

 time, fine and numerous specimens of the flora and fauna of 

 the Rocky Mountain regions." The Nantucket Improvement 

 Association, which last year was active in creating public in- 

 terest in national forest-preservation, is now urging all organi- 

 zations similar to its own to appeal to members of Congress 

 "in order to secure the general and widespread expression of 

 a desire for the protection of tiie public interests against per- 

 sonal encroachnients upon the same." 



We have heard it suggested several times recently that the 

 spring coloring of the foliage of the trees is more beautiful 

 than it was in former years, and inquiry has been made 

 whether there is not some climatic change either in the char- 

 acter of the winters or perhaps in the autumn, when the wood 

 ripens, to produce this effect. It is very difficult to remember 

 one year just how the trees looked a year ago, and it is prob- 

 ably the truth that the leaves are no more beautiful this spring 

 than they were last. Perhaps it is true that there is a growing 

 admiration and affection for natural beauty, and it certainly is 

 true that there is a growing taste for more delicate tints and 

 textures. The autumn woods have a glory of their own which 

 compels the admiration of every one, but the soft spring colors 

 make an equally impressive appeal to the eye and to the imag- 

 ination. Of course, the tender greens predominate, but yet 

 they appear in a variety which is almost infinite, while the 

 bronze of the White Maples, especially when the sun is shining 

 through the leaves, has a marvelous depth and richness. No 

 words will avail to describe the tender pink on the border of 

 the young leaves of the White Oaks, which is subdued as if it 

 had a veil thrown over it so as to make it blend niore perfectly 

 with the soft silvery gray of the body of the leaves. This deli- 

 cacy of coloring is matched by the exquisite and downy fine- 

 ness of the surface texture of the foliage, and the almost 

 fragile beauty of the tint and tissue of the leaves is heightened 

 by its contrast with the gnarled and sturdy strength of the 

 tree which bears them. 



English lovers of the Daffodil have begun to inquire whether 

 the newer varieties which are put on the market every year are 

 really improvements on the old sorts. Some of these novel- 

 ties are said to have feeble flowers of little substance and a 

 delicate appearance, quite inferior to the rich yellow color and 

 noble bearing of the older kinds. Again, in the rage forsome- 

 thing new, the trumpets of some of the recent kinds have been 

 developed into shapes that are almost monstrous. As devel- 

 oped by nature the flower in color ahd shape has acquired a 

 perfect balance and complete adaptation to its conditions, and 

 although in many instances human selection may transform 

 wild flowers into something more beautiful than the original, 

 yet there is a point beyond which change does not seem to be 

 improvement. Certainly the v.'ild English Daffodil or the Poet's 

 Narcissus, which are both natural forms, are lovely enough, so 

 that it is hardly worth while to pay enormous sums for bulbs 

 that bear less beautiful than these simply because they are new. ' 

 Buyers are now confused by hundreds of different sorts which 

 are sold under fancy names, when perhaps a dozen, or at most 

 twenty, distinct types for varied and successive planting will 

 answer most purposes for ordinary gardens. While all this is 

 true, there is another view of the case. It is this care for nice 

 distinctions which sfimulates observation and study among 

 those who become authorities in judging and cultivating any 

 class of flowers. They not only take pleasure in noting all the 

 varietal peculiarities of their chosen flowers, but others learn 

 from them, and it is to specialists, after all, to whom we look 

 for the advancement of horticulture in all its branches. 



