June 8, 1892.] 



Garden and Forest. 



265 



GARDEN AND FOREST. 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO. 



Office: Triiiune Building, New York. 



Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent. 



ENTERBD AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N, Y. 



NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 1892. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 



Editorial Articles ; — The Beauty oE Oar Trees in Spring 265 



Bulbous Plants in Grass 2(36 



Practical Forestry John D. Lyman. 266 



May in West Virginia Mrs, Danskc Dandridge, 267 



The Raisin Industi-y in California T. Goodman. 26S 



New or Little-known Plants :— Boltonia latisquama. (With figure.) C. S. S. 268 



New Orchids R. A. Rolfe. 268 



Foreign Correspondence: — The Experiment Garden at Wisley in England.. K C 269 



Cultural Department :— Hardy Narcissus O. 270 



The Rock-garden M. Barker. 272 



Garden Notes E. P. Pmvell. 273 



The Garden in May J. N. Gerard. 273 



The Bachelor's Button M. Barker. 273 



Correspondence : — The Winter-killing oi: Conifers, 



Jackson Dawson, Fred. W. Kelsey. 273 



The Waukegan Nurseries 5. 27-1 



Recent Publications 275 



Notes 275 



Illustration : — Eoltonia latisquama, Fig. 51 271 



The Beauty of Our Trees in Spring. 



FOR three centuries the splendor of the autumn colors 

 of the American forest has been a favorite theine with 

 the writers on the beauties of nature. Little, however, has 

 been said of the peculiar beauties of our trees in early 

 spring, and probably few persons, except the elect who 

 worship in the inner temple of nature, recognize the subtle 

 charm of our woods at this season or realize the variety 

 and harmony of the apparel which our trees put on to 

 celebrate the return of the vernal season. Here at the 

 north in no other month are trees more beautiful than in 

 May, when more clearly, than later in the year, appears 

 the contrast between a forest of many species grouped as 

 nature alone knows how to blend various distinct forms and 

 many distinct shades of colors in one harmonious whole, 

 and forests like those of Europe composed of a few species 

 only. In May, from the top of a New England hill, or 

 better, from one of the high summits of the southern Al- 

 leghanies, over which is spread the most varied, luxuriant 

 and magnificent collection of deciduous trees in the world, 

 may be seen the American forest in its most charming as- 

 pect, the outlines of individual trees veiled, but not hidden, 

 by the opening leaves, which vary on each species in tone 

 and color. This first flush of woodland beauty lasts only 

 a few days, but they are precious days to the lover of the 

 forest and to the student of individual trees, for the one can 

 delight his eyes and study the harmonies of nature, and the 

 other learn of characters, as constant as the structure of 

 flowers or fruit, which will aid him in distinguishing the 

 different species, for each may be recognized in early 

 spring by the appearance of the very young leaves or of 

 the scales of the leaf-buds, which on many trees in unfold- 

 ing lengthen and assume bright colors. This is the case 

 with the Horse-chestnuts, with many Maples, with all the 

 trees of the Rose family, especially the Plums, Cherries 

 and Hawthorns, and with all the Hickories, whose bud- 

 scales grow to a great size before falling. 



The vernal parade is led by the Red Maple and the White 

 Maple ; it is, however, with brilliant flowers, and not with 

 unfolding leaves, that these celebrate the coming of spring, 

 and before the leaves of these two trees unfold their flowers 

 have fallen, and the brilliant scarlet fruit of the Red Maple 

 has grown to its full size. Certainly one of the most beau- 

 tiful objects to be seen in our woods in early spring is a 

 Red Maple covered with fruit, which varies in brilliancy on 

 different individuals, and at the north sometimes suffers 

 from frosts which destroy the flowers. In southern Arkan- 

 sas, Louisiana and Texas, where a variety of this tree 

 grows with large and brilliantly colored fruit which frosts 

 rarely injure, in March the Red Maple growing among 

 the broad-leaved evergreens, which are common in that 

 part of the country, is seen at its best, making a note of 

 color in the landscape, and a sensation on the mind which 

 time does not dull. 



In northern woods the Amelanchiers are conspicuous in 

 early spring by the colors of their unfolding leaves ; in one 

 form these are red, in another silvery white, and their ver- 

 nal beauty is increased by brilliant scarlet bud-scales and 

 bracts and by the silky white hairs which clothe the young 

 growth. Of the delicate beauty of the flowers of this tree 

 it is not necessary to speak, for every one who walks 

 abroad in early spring knows the white flowers of the 

 Shad-bush, which in April and early May enliven the banks 

 of swamps and upland woods all over eastern America. 

 Not less beautiful, perhaps, although less conspicuous and 

 less familiar to the unpracticed eye, is the opening of their 

 leaf-buds, which precedes the unfolding of the flowers. 

 Among smaller trees the red shoots and young leaves of 

 the Stag-horn Sumach and the deep bronze-green of the 

 unfolding leaves of the Sheep-berry (Viburnum. Lentago) 

 add variety and charm to road-sides and forest-copses. 

 Every one knows the tender green of the young foliage of 

 the Beech, the most delicately vernal green of the forest, 

 but this tree is well- worth careful examination in early 

 spring, when the expanding bud-scales are brilliant in 

 color and the lengthening shoots and unfolding leaves are 

 covered with soft pale hairs. 



But the Oaks, perhaps, will best repay study in early 

 spring ; they make up a large part of our eastern forest- 

 growth, and it is their variety and the peculiarity of each 

 species that gives the character to our forest-scenery. 

 Each species in early spring is distinct in color and in tone, 

 and it is by the blending of these elements into a compo- 

 sition of perfect harinony that Nature shows how pic- 

 tures may be composed, and how variety within certain 

 limits is necessary if the greatest beauty of the landscape 

 is to be obtained. 



The earliest of our northern Oaks to spread its foliage is 

 the Red Oak ; the young leaves are yellow-green, in tint 

 not very unlike that of the Beech, and are half-grown 

 before the opening of the flowers which during a week in 

 May make the trees great yellow bouquets. Rather later 

 the Black Oak unfolds its leaves ; at first they are bright 

 scarlet on their upper surface, the under surface being 

 covered with a pale coat of white wool. The red color 

 gradually fades, and at the end of a few days they are 

 light yellow-green. It is the Black Oak that in spring gives 

 the soft hazy appearance to upland Oak-woods, although 

 at one period of their development the leaves of the White 

 Oak are not very different in color ; these when they ap- 

 pear are sometimes bright red and sometimes delicate gray 

 or mouse color, although before the flowers, which open 

 late, appear they are more than half-grown and soft light 

 green. The young leaves of the Bur Oak are orange and 

 those of the Chestnut Oaks are light green. The Bear Oak 

 is one of the most beautiful of all our plants in spring ; the 

 leaves are red until they are half-grown and until after the 

 appearance of the bright yellow flowers. 



We cannot pretend to describe even in the briefest and 

 most unsatisfactory manner the vernal beauty of all our 

 trees, or do more now than mention the grace of the 

 Birches at this season of the year, the tender yellow-green of 



