4o8 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 235. 



Notes. 



The tenth regular meeting of the American Horticultural 

 Society will be held at Chicago on September 28th, 1892. 



The Minnesota Forestry Association will hold its annual 

 meeting at Minneapolis on the Sth of September, and the 

 American Forestry Association has been specially invited to 

 send a delegation. A large forest-reservation has been asked 

 for in Minnesota, and it is a good field for energetic work. 



The bulbs of the Ascension Lily (Lilium candidum) should 

 now be lifted if new beds are to be made. In fact, they should 

 have been lifted in this latitude nearly a fortnight ago, or as 

 soon as the tops were dead and before new roots begin to 

 start. If the lifting is delayed until later, leaves will have been 

 formed which remain green all winter, and the plants will re- 

 ceive a check which they will not get over in a year. 



Messrs. Sander & Co. have dropped the varietal name 

 Schrcederiana which was formerly attached to a good variety 

 of Dendrobium Phatenopsis, because many other varieties — 

 some of them superior — have been introduced by this firm. 

 D. Phalasnopsis is now known as a very variable yet very beau- 

 tiful and well-marked Orchid, and a plant of it in Kew just now 

 has twelve flowers on a single spike with numerous buds. 



One of the famous great ancient Oaks of the Home Park, at 

 Hampton Court, near London, was recently almost entirely 

 destroyed by fire, although the firemen of the palace were 

 aided in their efforts to save it by the steam fire-engines of 

 Kingston and Surbiton. In local belief this tree was eleven 

 hundred years old ; it was declared to be one of the eight 

 largest trees in England, and it measured thirty-three feet in 

 circumference. 



In answer to a question, Mr. H. E. Chitty, of Paterson, New 

 Jersey, stated at the recent convention of the American 

 Florists that the best twelve Carnations are : Lizzie McGowan 

 and Silver Spray, white ; Grace Wilder, pink ; Daybreak, 

 soft pink ; Tidal Wave, deep pink, bordering on magenta ; 

 Portia and President Garfield, scarlet ; Ferdinand Mangold, 

 crimson ; J. J. Harrison and American Flag, variegated ; 

 Golden Gate and Buttercup, yellow. 



TheCardinal-flowerwhich now gleams from the tangled foli- 

 age along the banks of mountain-streams, or almost startles 

 one who comes upon it amid the rich green of moist meadow- 

 land, will thrive luxuriantly when lifted and transplanted to 

 higher and drier soil. Some flowers, however, never look happy 

 in trim gardens, and Lobelia cardinalis is one of these. Some- 

 thing of the wild grace and charm which invests it is lost 

 when it is removed from its natural surroundings. 



A late number of The Garden contains a good colored plate 

 of the Azalea Hexe, which is a hybrid between the Chinese 

 A. amoena and one of the Indian Azaleas. There have been 

 a great many hybrids between A. amoena and different kinds 

 of Indian Azaleas, and since A. amcena is a perfectly hardy 

 plant it would be interesting to know how many of these hy- 

 brids have been tried out-of-doors in this country. These 

 smaller-grovi'ing Azaleas are of neat habit, formmg dense 

 twiggy bushes, and they flower with great freedom. 



In the early days of Spanish rule the Vine was extensively 

 cultivated in Honduras, and excellent wine was manufactured 

 there. But the very excellence of the product was the ruin of 

 the industry, for, in the belief that Honduras competition 

 might crowd Spanish wines out of the market, an edict was 

 sent out from Madrid that every Vine in the dependency should 

 be plucked up by the roots. This edict is still in the posses- 

 sion of the Honduras Government, and it is only of late years 

 that Vine-culture has again been established in the country. 



" Under the direction of Colonel Frank J. Parker, of Walla 

 Walla," says a Chicago paper, "a large amount of Flax-seed 

 will be planted in Washington and carefully cultivated for ex- 

 hibition at the World's Fair. The flax will be shown in all 

 stages of growth and manufacture. The fibre will be sent 

 east to be worked up into souvenir fabrics, which will be ex- 

 hibited in the Agricultural Department and in the Washington 

 State Building. Colonel Parker, who is an enthusiastic advo- 

 cate of Fla,x-culture in the state, will bear the expenses of pre- 

 paring and making the exhibit." 



What promises to be one of the finest drive-ways in the 

 country has just been begun at Bayfield, Wisconsin. " This 

 new boulevard," says a western paper, " will extend from 

 Washington Avenue, directly in front of the Island View Hotel, 

 along the lake-shore for about eight miles to the Redcliffe In- 

 dian Reservation, and will afford a magnificent view of Bay- 



field Harbor and the Apostle Islands for the entire distance." 

 It will be called the Dalrymple Boulevard in acknowledgment 

 of the fact that it has been secured, after several years' efforts, 

 by the diligent exertions of Mr. W. F. Dalrymple. 



With regard to the Rose display at the current Horticultural 

 Exhibition in London a correspondent of Garienflora recently 

 wrote : " What can I say about the Roses which fill the entire 

 centre of the main hall ? This exhibit of Roses was divided 

 into nineteen classes, and one can only declare not merely 

 that each class was richly represented, but that every blossom 

 was worthy of special exhibition. Such symmetry of form and 

 such splendor of color, as one expects only occasionally in 

 exceptional flowers, were here universal. The first prize fell 

 to Mr. F. Cant for a collection of seventy-two different Jioses, 

 among which each flower was not merely a picture but a model." 



Mr. Carman writes in the Rtlral New Yorker that plants of a 

 so-called White Blackberry, which he received from W. C. 

 Raymond, Bridgewater, Vermont, have ripened fruit. The 

 fruit is of medium size, and the drupelets large and compara- 

 tively few. The color is hard to describe, being not white but 

 a pale whitish purple. The berry is peculiarly sweet, juicy and 

 delicious, and as distinct in quality from ordinary blackberries 

 as the flavor of the red raspberry is distinct from that of a 

 blackcap. The plant passed through the v\'inter well, although 

 the last winter can hardly be considered a test. The ther- 

 mometer drops occasionally to thirty degrees below zero in 

 the part of Vermont where this plant was originally found, 

 and it is therefore probably hardy. 



Professor Bailey makes an appeal in Science for a broader 

 field for botany, which has become restricted until it is little 

 more than the science of wild flowers. But now that the doc- 

 trine of evolution has added a new purpose to the study of 

 natural objects, cultivated plants are especially valuable for 

 the examples they give of variation and of the effect of modi- 

 fied environment and selection. The common view that the 

 variations in cultivated plants are anomalous, and therefore 

 uninstructive, is erroneous. But apart from the fascinations 

 which the cultivation of plants has in the direction of science, 

 this cultivation demands the attention of botanists because 

 horticulture ought to be nothing more than the application of 

 the principles of botany. The fact is that it is quite impossible 

 to separate horticulture and botany by any practical test, and, 

 therefore, a department of botany should comprise labora- 

 tories, botanic gardens, greenhouses, orchards, vegetable and 

 ornamental gardens, all maintained for purposes of active in- 

 vestigation rather than as mere collections. Botanists too 

 often care little for gardening, and horticulturists are too often 

 apt to underrate the value of scientific investigation. No man 

 who does not unite scientific knowledge and practical training 

 can appreciate the needs of botany in its broadest sense. No 

 one can be a specialist in all subjects, but the ideal occupant 

 of a chair of botany in the university of the future will have 

 the genius to encourage and direct the work of specialists in 

 every direction, and not until then can the science be actively 

 presented to the student in its fullest possibilities. 



The oldest herbarium in the world is in the Egyptologist 

 Museum at Cairo, and consists of an inconspicuous collection 

 of dried portions of plants. These portions of plants and 

 flowers were taken from wreaths and garlands in the coffins 

 with mummies, where they were placed by the ancient Egyp- 

 tians as death-offerings, and from edible plants which were 

 set in earthen vessels on the floor of the sepulchre as the 

 furniture of the last resting-place of their beloved ones. Many 

 of these floral remains are so well preserved that after being 

 treated with warm water they can be handled like modern 

 herbarium specimens. The colors, too, are preserved in a 

 remarkable way. The most important matter in connection 

 with these plants is their age. The remains of funeral-food are 

 found in tombs as far back as three thousand years before 

 Christ. Five hundred years later grains of mustard-seed, cap- 

 sules of flax-seed, gourds, lentils, beans, figs, pine-needles, 

 juniper-berries and other edibles are found. The richest ac- 

 quisitions in leaves and flowers to the herbarium were made 

 from the tombs constructed between the eighteenth and elev- 

 enth centuries B. C. Among the flowers chiefly employed in 

 floral decorations for the dead were the blue and white Lotus, 

 the red Poppy, the Oriental Hollyhock, Crown Chrysanthe- 

 mum, Safflower, Pomegranate-flowers, Willow-leaves, Grasses 

 and Peppermint. Celery-leaves came into requisition later, 

 and onions, leeks and garlic played an important part in the 

 offerings to the dead. One of the general conclusions drawn 

 from this herbarium is that Egypt has sustained no apprecia- 

 ble climatic changes during the last four thousand years. 



