396 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 234. 



and has a clear cartnine-like color without any dingy suspi- 

 cions of lilac or purple which mar so many Roses which are 

 otherwise good. 



The International Botanical Congress, to be held this autumn 

 at Genoa, Italy, will open on the 4th of September and will 

 close on the nth, unless there seems good reason for prolong- 

 ing it a little further. 



Tomato-plants which have been growing over vigorously 

 during the recent warm and moist weather may have failed to 

 set much fruit. Where this is the case a sharp spade should 

 be run down beside them to prune off the roots, and this will 

 turn the vigor of the plant toward forming fruit. 



The project of removing the Botanical Garden in Berlin to 

 a new and more favorable locality has long been under dis- 

 cussion. Plans for carrying it into effect have now been de- 

 cided upon, and Herr Perring, Royal Inspector of Gardens, 

 has been commissioned to examine the other great botanical 

 gardens of Europe in search of helpful information. 



The manufacture of a new material called Bamboo-sheeting 

 is said to be rapidly extending in the province of Wenchow, 

 in China. The cane is split so as to form a sheet which is 

 softened in boiling water and then pressed out flat. When 

 dried, the sheets are ready for use and are employed for 

 veneering as well as in making trays, fans, screens and open- 

 work carved panels. 



It takes many years, and often many generations, to develop 

 a fruit or vegetable with the best edible qualities from its 

 original wild state. It was the opinion of Dr. Gray that if mod- 

 ern civilization had begun in America our Ground Nut (Apios 

 tuberosa) would have been the earliest developed esculent 

 tuber, and would probably have held its place among the first, 

 along with Potatoes and Sweet-potatoes. 



An official reward for a new large-Howered Pelargonium, 

 which is called Lisbeth Moncorps, and is the offspring of the 

 varieties Mabel and Nympha, was recently bestowed in Ger- 

 many upon Herr Moncorps. The plant is described as ex- 

 tremely sturdy and floriferous with flowers of a very pure 

 color; and particular attention is called to the fact that, in ten 

 months from the seed, Herr Moncorps had raised a specimen 

 bearing about thirty strong flowering stems. 



Late-blooming Tamarisks are just now very ornamental. 

 Specimens that were cut back early in the spring are now wav- 

 ing their long and slender branches covered with fern-like 

 foliage and pointed with great clusters of pink flowers. This 

 is one of the shrubs which do very well where the sea winds 

 prevafl and even where the salt spray of the sea can reach 

 them. But they do equally well farther inland, and are among 

 the most beautiful trees which flower in late summer and 

 early autumn. 



We observe in some florists' windows a repetition of the 

 practice wdiich prevailed three or four years ago, of using the 

 large white flower-heads of Hydrangea paniculata grandiflora 

 on long stems, in large vases, with a few spikes of Gladiolus 

 of some pronounced color. This makes an effective combi- 

 nation, as well as a very durable one, for the Gladiolus will 

 continue to open its flowers in succession for a long time, and 

 the Hydrangea-flowers will not only remain without wiltingfor 

 a fortnight in a warm room, but will dry on the stem and pre- 

 serve their creamy color throughout the winter. 



Osbeck's variety of Rhus semialata is now ornamented with 

 its large panicles of flowers, which are not a pure white, but 

 which are nevertheless quite showy at this season, since they 

 stand out well from the very dark green and clean foliage of 

 the tree. None of the trees we have seen are more than 

 twenty-five or thirty feet high, although, perhaps, they will at- 

 tain considerably larger proportions in this cliniate. It is not 

 as graceful as our native species, since the branches are not 

 furnished with leaves except at the extremities, so that the tree 

 has a rather bare and open look about the main branches. 



In a pamphlet called Chicago and the Colu7nbian hiierna- 

 iional Exhibition, recently published in Berlin by the Imperial 

 Commissioners for the Fair, German horticulturists are given 

 all needful information and are heartily encouraged to make 

 the best possible exhibition. We are glad also to find that 

 Gartenflora calls attention to the fact, which we have already 

 noted, that at a special meeting of the American Seedsmen's 

 Association a cordial invitation was extended to European 

 seedsmen, thus disposing of the unfortunate rumor that our 



dealers had threatened to boycott such foreigners as might 

 venture to compete with them at Chicago. 



Phcenix Park, in Dublin, is more than six miles in circuit. 

 It contains something like 1,700 acres, and consists of 

 wooded slopes and deep valleys, with lakes in the hollows, and 

 broad expanses of Furze-covered land and an abundance of 

 majestic old Oaks, Elms and Beeches. Fifteen hundred sheep 

 and a thousand fallow deer, said to be the finest in Her 

 Majesty's dominions, are grazed in the park. The People's 

 Garden is the name given to an area of about sixteen acres in 

 the park devoted to the cultivation of various kinds of flowers. 

 This flower-garden is very convenient of access, being within 

 four hundred yards of Sackville Street, the principal street in 

 Dublin. 



Mr. Andrew D. Hopkins, of the West Virginia Experiment 

 Station, writes to Science that one of the bark beetles (Den- 

 droctonus frontalis) is destroying many coniferous trees in 

 that section. It has generally been held that these insects do 

 not attack living and healthful trees ; but investigation shows 

 that vigorous individuals of five species of Pine and of the 

 Black Spruce have been killed primarily by the attacks of this 

 beetle, which preys upon the green bark. Trees from five 

 inches in diameter up to the largest specimens of White 

 Pine have been ruined by them. When attacked in the au- 

 tumn the trees may remain green until spring, when other 

 bark and timber beetles re-entorce the original invaders to the 

 number of twenty-five species. Later on these scolytids are 

 followed by insects belonging to other famihes, until, in a dead 

 or dying tree, there may be hundreds of species and millions 

 of examples breeding in and feeding on every part of the tree, 

 from the base to the terminal twigs, rendering it worthless for 

 lumber within a year after it dies. 



It is a pleasure to call the attention of instructors in botany 

 to Professor Byron D. Halsted's brief article, " Beginnings in 

 Botany," published in the August number of the Popular 

 Science Monthly. " Much has been said," writes Professor 

 Halsted, " largely in a theoretical way, concerning the general 

 question of university extension. Various experiments have 

 been made, and by another year definite plans will be matured 

 for the popular presentation of many of the subjects that come 

 within the scope of the extension movement as now under- 

 stood by those who have had the most to do with the scheme 

 for the education of the masses. The writer has recently fin- 

 ished a brief course in botany, and as the method pursued dif- 

 fered in some features froni any previously followed, there 

 may be sufficient reason for presenting an outline of the 

 ground covered and of the ways and nieans employed for 

 bringing the subject to the attention of a popular audience." 

 Of course, it is impossible here to condense Professor Hal- 

 sted's account of his work, but we feel sure that it will give 

 helpful hints to all other persons similarly engaged. 



The Michigan Flora, prepared for the thirtieth annual report 

 of the Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture by Profes- 

 sors W. J. Beal and C. F. Wheeler, is much more than a sim- 

 ple catalogue of the plants of the state of Michigan arranged in 

 fhe order of their botanical sequence. The pamphlet opens 

 with a brief account of the topography of the state, dividing it 

 into ten regions, whose physical characteristics are described, 

 and whose outlines are laid down on a map. Rather fuUlists of 

 the plants which are characteristic of each of these regions are 

 then given. Notes on climate and distribution are added, and 

 then come some interesting chapters on the trees and shrubs 

 of Michigan as compared with those of the rest of the world, 

 with the reasons wdiy the Michigan flora is so rich and why 

 there are so few species in Great Britain, for example. Inter- 

 esting lists of trees, selected for various qualities, are fur- 

 nished, as, for example, the native trees and shrubs which 

 should be selected for the color of their leaves in autumn ; 

 small trees which are distinguished for their flowers ; shrubs 

 and trees which are distinguished for beautiful fruit, and those 

 which are distinguished for showy or brilliant colored bark. 

 Then come lists of plants which twine or climb in different 

 ways ; evergreens that turn to a bronze color in winter ; plants 

 suitable for winter bouquets ; bog and marsh plants which are 

 promising for cultivation, and native Ferns which deserve to 

 be cultivated ; trees which indicate a fertile soil, and others 

 which indicate a barren soil ; trees valuable for timber and for 

 firewood ; trees most durable as posts and sills, and most 

 suitable for cabinet-work — all these and many more subjects 

 are treated in an instructive and entertaining way in this 

 pamphlet, which will be found mteresting to very many per- 

 sons outside of the state of Michigan. 



