September 7, 1892.] 



Garden and Forest. 



431 



Perhaps the most beautiful Calochorlus of the Mariposa 

 section I have had this year is one allied to C. venustus ocu- 

 latus. In years past I had noticed in some spots rcniark;ibly 

 large, finely formed blossoms highly colored and marked dif- 

 ferently from the type, but I had attributed this distinction to 

 the sticky clay soil where they were always found. A bed 

 planted with these in the same soil as others continues to 

 show the same attractive characters, and marks it as the 

 choice form among Butterlly Tulips. In this variety the blos- 

 som is very large, the outline of the petals full, so that they 

 overlap. The lolje of the petal is creamy, with a band of 

 maroon instead of the maroon eye, and a yellow rim, while the 

 centre shows bright red shadings. The plant is remarkable 

 for its capacity for propagation, as each stalk' has from two to 

 four lai-ge offsets which" become small blooming bulbs the 

 second year. A few bulbs of this would in a few years form 

 a large mass. In a wild state it grows in a sticky wet clay, but 

 it has done as well in the clay loam so well suited to the other 

 varieties of C. venustus. 



One of the prettiest of the new varieties I have tried has 

 Howers of a shell-pink tint, and between C. pulchellus and 

 C. albus in form, although when the flower is fully open it 

 shows the stamens and pistil. It is an exquisitely delicate 

 thing, and it thrives well in sandy soil. C. amcenus is its 

 name. 



Those who admire Brodiaea laxa will be interested in B. 

 peduncularis, an allied species with the same general habit, 

 pure white flowers, and pedicels elongated, so that an umbel is 

 frequently a foot across. It loves a rich soil and abundant 

 moisture. I found it growing luxuriantly in the gravel in flow- 

 ing streams and in peat-swamps. As it remains dormant until 

 late, it might do well for spring-planting in the east. Bro- 

 diasas, generally, while they will grow in any soil, even the 

 thinnest and poorest, love a rich alluvial soil, and grow luxu- 

 riantly in such situations. Wild-blooming bulbs in a single 

 year of cultivation will increase from two to five times in size, 

 blooming proportionally strong. They need good drainage 

 and sunshine, and a shallow soil five or six inches deep is 

 better than a deep soil. 



A recent note in Garden and Forest on Heuchera san- 

 guinea reminds me to say that the most admired plant in my 

 yard is an immense one of H. micrantha. It is in a shaded 

 spot in clay loam, and a solid mass a yard across. The leaves 

 are always beautiful, but in fall they take on very rich color- 

 ing. The separate blossoms are inconspicuous, but make a 

 filmy mass most attractive and useful for bouquets. Indeed, 

 I find great pleasure with most of the Saxifrages, and there are 

 few of the family that do not merit a place in the wild garden. 

 In California, outside of the coast, it is hard to keep annuals 

 moist enough to thrive during our hot summers, and com- 

 paratively few of the host seen in the eastern gardens find a 

 place with us. But from those things which love heat we can 

 obtain a world of satisfaction — Verbenas luxuriate, Cannas 

 grow like weeds, and all of the composites are in their element. 



Ukiah.Cai. CarlPnrdy. 



shows only too plainly how much the popular taste needs 

 to be cultivated. 

 Pint^vilie, Mo. Lora S. La Mance. 



Spiraea Aruncus. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — This herbaceous Spirsea is a tall rank grower and per- 

 fectly hardy everywhere. Its creamy white flowers are very 

 small, but they are crowded in such long, many-branched pyra- 

 midal panicles that when in bloom this plant compares favora- 

 bly with the choicest of the florist's perennials. In south-western 

 Missouri, on the southern slope of the Ozark Mountain, it 

 covers the deep and narrow gulches, or gorges, so prevalent 

 here, and seems to prefer a situation of this kind ; for while a 

 few specimens are found on gently sloping hills I have never 

 yet seen one growing on level lands. However, when trans- 

 planted to the garden or perennial border, they thrive very 

 well, especially if given partial shade. They are admirable in 

 bouquets, where they serve as a foil to large showy flowers, 

 which never appear so well as when combined with soft 

 feathery flowers that suit their outlines and soften their over- 

 brilliant colors. 



Several times they have been enthusiastically praised by 

 visitors born and bred in this part of the country who yet did 

 not recognize them in their new surroundings. One lady 

 made a special trip to ask the name of the feathery plant I 

 used in bouquets, utterly ignorant of the fact that she had 

 passed several score of the plants by the road-side as she came 

 to town. It is not unusual for the country people here to be 

 indifferent to the beauty of their native flowers, but their fail- 

 ure to recognize them when growing with cultivated ones 



Recent Publications. 



Trees of tJie Northern United States. By Austin C. Apgar. 

 American Book Company, New York. 



Perhaps one-half of our adult male population would be able 

 to distinguish an Oak from a Maple ; but those who can tell 

 the dilTerence between a Sugar Maple and a Norway Maple, or 

 between a Spruce and a Fir, not to speak of their ability to 

 identify the different species of Spruces or Firs, constitute a 

 small fraction even of our intelligent people. Tliis would be 

 surprising if their knowledge of other objects which they can- 

 not help seeing and hearing every day was more exact— if the 

 more common birds could be recognized by their notes, or if 

 a " bug " or a " worm " were not about the most definite and 

 specific names they would be able to apply to any individual 

 of the teeming millions of insect-life about them. No doubt, 

 the prevalent system of education is responsible to a certain 

 extent for this general lack of the observing habit — a habit 

 which is an original part of the mental equipment of every 

 child ; and if school-training has in any way helped to sup- 

 press this inquisitive tendency, those educators are engaged 

 in a worthy work who are trying to introduce into schools a 

 kind of study which goes directly to natural objects rather than 

 to books which treat of these objects. This little volume is an 

 attempt to direct both teachers and pupils in the study of the 

 trees, both wild and cultivated, which are found east of the 

 Rocky Mountains and north of the southern boundary of Vir- 

 ginia and Missouri, and it embraces so large a proportion of 

 the trees which grow south of that line that it will be found a 

 good text-book for the schools of the southern states. 



The aim of the book is primarily to promote the study of 

 natural science in the natural way ; and trees are selected as 

 its special subject, because they are always and everywhere 

 present, and have a certain interest for everybody. In the 

 ordinary text-books of descriptive botany the parts primarily 

 examined are the flowers and their organs, but as these are 

 generally fugacious, inconspicuous and often inaccessible, 

 in this book the attention is directed to the parts which can be 

 found throughout the greater part of the year, and the parts, 

 really, which every one must become acquainted with who 

 learns even to recognize the different trees. The leaves par- 

 ticularly, the wood, the bark, and, to some extent, the fruit 

 are the characters chiefly noted. There is an artificial key 

 which is very ingenious and which will help the beginner in 

 his identifications ; there is a glossary of such descriptive 

 words as are needed, and brief descriptions of the species in 

 their botanical order, with good outline figures of the leaves 

 of every one. In a condensed manual of this sort no two per- 

 sons would include exactly the same material. We should 

 have preferred, for example, to see more than one species of 

 Tamarisk named, and we feel that the foreign Lindens have 

 not been fairly treated. But the book has been prepared with 

 care and sound judgment, and is plainly written out of the 

 personal observation of the author. 



Its prime merit, however, is not in the information it gives 

 about trees, but in the skillful way in which it directs the in- 

 quirer to study the trees themselves. The chapter on leaves 

 is truly said to "be devoted mainly to the words needed for 

 leaf-description," and the aim throughout is to teach the 

 learner "to employ his own senses in the investigation of 

 natural objects, and to use his own powers of language in their 

 description." So far as any one does this he is working in the 

 line of genuine scientific research. We cannot all become 

 accomplished scientists in any line, but it is possible for every 

 one to become interested in and acquainted with the trees of 

 his neighborhood, and Professor Apgar's book is the best help 

 available to any young person who wishes to begin this useful 

 and fascinating study. 



Notes. 



The vintage will be smaller in California this year than it has 

 been for five years past. 



Among Palms in commerce Areca lutescens seems the 

 most popular in this country, and sells the most readily. 



Mr. C. D. Ball, well known as a grower of Palms, in reply to 

 the question whether he had experienced of late much trouble 

 on account of the failure of Palm-seed to germinate, an- 

 swered in a late number of The American Florist that he had. 

 The demand for Palm-seed is so great that it is not easy for 



