398 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 235. 



to bear their collective influence upon members of Con- 

 gress and urge the passage of this bill. A bill which has 

 advanced no further than a favorable report in one house 

 of Congress has many risks to run before it can become an 

 operative act. This is the first time, however, after years 

 of petition and entreaty, that a bill so good as this has ever 

 been placed on the calendar, and if ever)' man and woman 

 in the country who has this cause at heart would make a 

 personal effort to convince his or her representative in Con- 

 gress of the desirableness of the legislation proposed, there 

 is little doubt but that the law could be enacted during 

 the next session of Cong-ress. 



The Temperate House at Kew. 



THE temperate house, or winter garden, at Kew is one 

 of the largest and handsomest plant structures in 

 Europe. It was built thirty years ago from designs by 

 Decimus Barton, the architect of the Kew Palm-house. 

 Only a portion of the original design has been carried out, 

 but it is still hoped that the whole will be completed. 

 When this is done the whole building will consist of a cen- 

 tre connected with two wings by two small octagons. The 

 centre and octagons, which were erected thirty years ago, 

 are devoted to the cultivation of Australian, south African, 

 Mexican, south European and Asiatic plants which thrive 

 in a temperature from which frost is excluded. The 

 centre is 212 feet long by 137 feet in width, and it is sixty 

 feet high. Except the plants on the shelves against the 

 walls of the house, the whole of the collection is grown in 

 long parallel beds three to four feet deep. The main fea- 

 tures in the house are the Tree Ferns, Palms, Acacias, 

 Sikkim Rhododendrons, Camellias, Araucarias, Dammaras, 

 etc. Such plants as Araucaria excelsa, A. Bidwillii, A. 

 Brasiliensis, Dammara robusta, D. australis and D. Moorei, 

 Cyathea medullaris, Seaforthia elegans, Chamaerops For- 

 tunei, C. hu mills, C. Martiana, Camphor, Podocarpus elon- 

 gata and P. Totara are represented by exceptionally large 

 specimens, some of which almost touch the roof. The 

 central walk, of which a view is shown on page 401, is 

 bordered with Tree Ferns, Bamboos, Palms, Musa Basjoo 

 and similar plants of striking appearance. The charm of 

 this house is in its comfortable temperature at all times of 

 the year, the natural arrangement of the plants and their 

 generally robust health. A catalogue of all the species 

 grown in this one house would surprise many people by 

 its length and comprehensiveness. A gallery surrounds 

 the house inside, and from this may be obtained a good 

 view of the grand Tree Ferns, Palms, etc., which can 

 scarcely be seen from the ground. 



London. 



w. 



Overland in the Cayuga Country. — I. 



IT was a bright morning in July when I drove down the great 

 University Hill, at Ithaca, for a trip over the plateau which 

 lies between Lakes Cayuga and Seneca. Rain had fallen a day 

 or two before, and all the hill-sides stood out in the glory of a 

 bountiful harvest. The great West Hill, which rises 800 feet 

 above the valley beyond Cornell University, presented a maze 

 of patch- work blocks and colors. Far up toward its crest the 

 continuous green marked the region of hay; farther down, the 

 irregular blocks and colors indicated wheat and barley and 

 oats, each spreading a different hue under the steaming morn- 

 ing sun, and still farther down were blocks of orchards, in 

 which tlie rows of Apple and Pear trees looked like the Cur- 

 rant-bushes in my garden, while the lines of Grapes were only 

 distinct enough to add a seamed appearance to the hill-side. 

 This alternation of the farm-crops is not accidental to the great 

 West Hill at Ithaca, for one sees it, or something like it, in all 

 countries where small lakes and rivers lie among the hills. 

 The fruits love the protection of the water, and the orchards 

 and vineyards and berry-gardens may be seen everywhere 

 among these inimitable New York lakes lying far down the slopes 

 next the water's edge. Nor is this the only advantage which 

 the fruits obtain by this proximity to the water ; they are nearer 

 the means of transportation, and their owners are thereby 

 brought into more frequent and intimate contact with their fel- 



lows. It is undeniable that the fruit-grower is usually a better- 

 " posted " man than the general farmer. His environment 

 educates him. He must deal with his products quickly and 

 systematically ; he must know the markets, and he must con- 

 tend with almost innumerable pests. The visits of the com- 

 mission-house agents keep him in touch with the outside world, 

 and the daily or weekly returns from his salesmen drill him 

 in correspondence and business. The grain-farmer hauls his 

 wheat to the elevator and receives his pay in cash, but the 

 fruit-grower depends upon the mails for his returns, and in 

 proportion as the farmer patronizes the post-office does his 

 education grow. So the fruit-grower receives a telegram from 

 his salesman, and takes it as a matter of course, buta telegram 

 going to an ordinary farm-house is usually a signal for 

 anxiety. 



This hill rose in front of us, while to the north stretched the 

 blue waters of the beautiful Cayuga. If the reader will con- 

 sult an atlas of New York he will be reminded that several 

 lakes lie nearly parallel with each other in the central western 

 portion of the state. Of these lakes Cayuga is the largest, 

 stretching out forty miles in length and in one place reaching 

 a width of five miles. But, horticulturally, it is not the most 

 important, for Seneca and Keuka strive for the honor of shel- 

 tering the most Grapes, Plums, Peaches, Apricots and Quinces. 

 At the southern extremities of these three lakes the hills are 

 high and steep, and the creeks have worn deep gulches in the 

 soft slate. Some of these gorges are veritable canons, like the 

 Ithaca gorge at the head of Cayuga, whose walls rise bold and 

 sheer to a height of over 200 feet, and often they are marvels 

 of intricacy and beauty, like the world-famed Watkin's Glen 

 at the head of Seneca. Toward the north the shores slope 

 softly away into low and fertile plateaus. It is this table-land 

 between Cayuga and Seneca lakes that we are to cross. We 

 leave Ithaca at the head of Cayuga, and if we have no mishap 

 shall reach Geneva, at the foot of Seneca. In the mean time 

 we shall have passed over a country famous in the early days 

 for its fertility, and shall reach the borders of one of the 

 most remarkable horticultural regions upon the American 

 continent. 



For five or six miles we rise upon West Hill nearly parallel 

 with the lake, and the deep blue waters, with the great uni- 

 versity beyond, lie farther and farther below us, like a huge 

 mirror reflecting the sky and hills. Meantime, we have passed 

 through most of the horticultural region, which, at best, is 

 small in the neighborhood of Ithaca, and it is mostly of a local 

 interest. Yet there is no good reason, barring the indifference 

 of the inhabitants, why this hill-side should not become as 

 fruitful as similar slopes upon Seneca and Keuka lakes ; and 

 some day this must come to pass. Here are some old or- 

 chards, however, especially some dwarf Pear-orchards, which 

 were planted under the inspiration of the Downings, and 

 which, after the lapse of twenty and thirty years, are still thrifty 

 and productive. But there is now abundant evidence that 

 dwarf Pears are comparatively long-lived, although the notion 

 to the contrary is everywhere present. The famous Yeomans 

 Orchard, in Wayne County, is now nearly forty years old, and 

 still in the full tide of its vigor. But dwarf Pears need better 

 attention than most people give, and, therefore, few succeed 

 well with them. I am convinced that one of the most impor- 

 tant elements in the successful cultivation of them is to head 

 them in annually at least half or two-thirds of the new growth. 

 This process keeps the top low and greatly lessens the ten- 

 dency to break from the Quince stock. About Ithaca this low 

 heading is seen, trees which are thirty years old standing not 

 over eight or ten feet high. 



But the most significant features of the country we are now 

 traveling are the signs of approaching age. Here is a Peach- 

 orchard standing stark against the sky, every limb having died 

 years ago from sheer old age ; and there is a dwarf Pear- 

 orchard, which was once the pride of the neighborhood, grown 

 into a seared and mossy tangle, with here and there a Quince- 

 bush to mark the spot where some pear has fallen. And this 

 Pear-orchard is doubly sad, because we have but recently 

 passed one as old which is in good health. The old Apple- 

 orchards are a marvel. They are the relics of the early days, 

 fifty and even seventy-five years ago, when the virile young 

 farmers built the long walls and the wide-gabled houses. Now 

 they are tall and gaunt, and, their fruitage having failed through 

 years of neglect, the owners have trimmed them up with axe 

 and saw until their scarred and crooked trunks often rise ten 

 or twelve feet high. They have long since outgrown their 

 usefulness, and the best spray can scarcely penetrate their thick 

 and lofty tops. Wise economy would have planted other trees 

 long ago, and these would have been consigned to the kitchen- 

 stove when old age first showed itself. But young orchards 



