468 



Garden and Forest. 



fNUMBER 240. 



The first large exliibition ever held in Bulgaria was recently 

 opened at Phillipopolis on a site known as the " Garden of 

 Roses," which was formerly a Turkish cemetery, and is de- 

 scribed as being beautifully disposed with avenues of fine trees, 

 sheets of water and ornamental flower-beds. The most inter- 

 esting feature of the show is said to be the Government ex- 

 hibit of forest and garden products. 



It has often been told that the Horticultural Hall on the 

 World's Fair grounds at Chicago will be the largest building 

 ever devoted to a purpose of this kind. But perhaps a new 

 idea of its size will be gained from the statement that it will 

 contain as much space as the combined areas of the horticul- 

 tural halls which served at the Centennial, at the New Orleans 

 Exhibition, and at the Paris one of iSSg. 



Particularly stringent laws exist in Switzerland for the protec- 

 tion of fruit-trees from animal and vegetable parasites. No 

 man is allowed to treat his trees as he chooses, but a strict 

 watch is kept over amateur as well as professional horticul- 

 turists. Even the Mistletoe, which frequently grows on Apple- 

 trees in this country, is regarded as a possible pest, and pro- 

 prietors are obliged by the local authorities to free their trees 

 from it at stated intervals. 



An article in a recent number of Gartenflora, describing the 

 alterations and embellishments recently effected in the famous 

 gardens of Sans Souci, near Potsdam, says: "The view from 

 the great fountain up the terraces to the palace of Sans Souci 

 was being gradually shut off by the growth of the great Ameri- 

 can Arbor-vitaes (Thuya occidentalis). Therefore the trees 

 have now been reduced to a height of about four and a half 

 metres, and the uppermost twigs which remained have been 

 skillfully gathered together with wires so as to form new tips. 

 The observer notices no sign of this treatment, for the effect is 

 entirely natural." 



According to the Board of Trade reports, barks and bark- 

 products to the value of ^1,965,835 were imported into England 

 in the year 1888. Of this amount a larger proportion repre- 

 sented cork-bark than any other kind, chincona-bark coming 

 next, then extracts for tanning and dyeing, then tan-bark, and 

 lastly cinnamon to tlie value of ^44,061. The oak-bark 

 produced in England itself during the same year was valued at 

 ^1,200,000, and the larch-bark at _£20o,ooo. The total amount 

 of extent of the trade done in barks would, moreover, be per- 

 ceptibly increased had numerous less important kinds, im- 

 ported in small quantities, been included in the estimate. 



A correspondent of The Tribune writes to complain that the 

 English language has no word to describe the parcel of land 

 on which the ordinary suburban residence is built. He dis- 

 likes the word " yard " for the strip of ground in front and on 

 either side of such a house as utterly inadequate, and yet the 

 word "lawn" is often inappropriate, for the place may not be a 

 lawn. It would be absurd to call a fifty-foot lot by such a high- 

 sounding name as "grounds." The word " lot " will hardly 

 answer, as it is even more absurd to invite one's family to 

 sit in the lot than to sit in the yard ; especially is this so 

 when there are two or three lots in the enclosure, if indeed 

 there is any enclosure at all. 



In many small Mexican towns primitive methods still exist 

 in relation to the land ; the town stands in the centre of a 

 square league, which is held in common, and a certain space 

 for cultivation is assigned to each householder. In \.\\is. Ameri- 

 can Architect and Building News Mr. Sylvester Baxter writes 

 that the orchards near one of these towns were separated from 

 the intersecting lanes by high walls, and in each was usually a 

 little house with a steep roof of thatch. The granadilla, the 

 luscious fruit of a species of the Passion-vine, grew here in 

 abundance. The fruit has a rich yellow shell, the shape and 

 size of an e^^ ; inside is a delicate pulp with seeds, something 

 like the pulp of a gooseberry. 



A Belgian horticultural journal notes as one of the most in- 

 teresting and beautiful of recent novelties a new variety of the 

 sweet-scented Centaurea (C. suaveolens), which is called by its 

 introducers, Messrs. Dammann & Co., Centaurea Margaritae. 

 C. suaveolens has citron-yellow flowers, and a variety exists 

 with larger light purple flowers. But the new variety is de- 

 scribed as much more valuable, for its flowers are remarkabl}' 

 large, pure white, and most delightfully perfumed. " As to its 

 culture," says our authority, referring to Belgian conditions, 

 " the seed may be sown in April under glass, or in May out-of- 

 doors. They do well in any kind of garden-soil which is not 

 too strong or clayey, and they may be treated as annuals or 

 biennials." 



We have occasionally spoken of Benthamia Japonica, a 

 shrub or small tree which was introduced some years ago to 

 American gardens through the Parsons' nursery at Flushing. 

 The flowers resemble those of our flowering Dogwood, to 

 which it is related, although its white satiny bracts are more 

 sharply pointed and somewhat narrower. It differs from our 

 Dogwood in one particular, and that is, it flowers much later, 

 and after the thick glossy leaves have attained their full size. 

 Mr. Parsons has just sent us a few spravsof this plant, which is 

 now in fruit. These fruits are borne on stems which are about 

 two inches long, and they very much resemble a medium- 

 sized strawberry in color and shape, and add much to the or- 

 namental value of the tree. In Benthamia fragifera, a nearly 

 allied Indian species, the berries, although they ripen in Octo- 

 ber, frequently remain on the tree throughout the winter. It 

 is not likely that the fruit of the plant in question is so per- 

 sistent. The flesh is soft and sweet, and will no doubt be a 

 delicate morsel for the birds. 



In a recent letter to The World, of this city, Mrs. Van Rens- 

 selaer writes that in one part of the South Park, Chicago, there 

 is a long sloping bank of grass whereon the designer of pat- 

 tern-beds has been allowed to do his worst. Here, for exam- 

 ple, is a calendar with year, month and day wrought in gaudy 

 colors and of great size, and every day the gardener makes 

 such changes as will keep him abreast of the sun's revolutions. 

 There is an arm-chair of House-leeks, colossal in size, which 

 stands upright on the ground as a true chair would stand, and 

 similarly constructed are two row-boats, each with its House- 

 leek oarsman of life-size. There is a portrayal of the "Gates 

 Ajar" and a literal piece of carpet-bedding, a roll of gaudily 

 patterned carpet done in flowers, resting on the top of the 

 bank and unrolling several yards of its length ado wn the slope. 

 Of course, these sights are prepared for the supposed delecta- 

 tion of the public. But no one appeared to admire them, and 

 a few stopped to jeer at them, while crowds constantly sur- 

 rounded the little ponds in Lincoln Park, where some Water- 

 lilies, Lotus and other beautiful aquatic plants were growing 

 in natural disarray. 



Several of the state experiment stations are making efforts 

 to organize an intelligent warfare against weeds by publishing 

 illustrations of the most noxious kinds, together with descrip- 

 tions of their habits. This effort will be helped by the collec- 

 tion of weeds which Dr. Halsted is making for the Chicago 

 Fair, and undoubtedly state agricultural fairs will follow the 

 example and display collections of the weeds which are lo- 

 cally injurious. It has long been urged that instruction in 

 this matter should begin in the public schools, where the 

 gathering of collections of weeds by the children could be 

 made both a pastime and an instruction. In Germany, wall- 

 maps are hung in the schools with colored pictures of the 

 most pestilent species at all stages of their growth, and the 

 way in which their seed is distributed. One danger of such a 

 practice would be that the child would be bewildered by the 

 great number of species. The best plan would be to take up, 

 to begin with, only a score or so of the worst weeds of any 

 section and study them until they become so familiar that 

 they can be identified at any season. Their character and 

 habits should then be mastered, for treatinent which might ex- 

 terminate a perennial would leave the ground full of the seeds 

 of an annual in the best condition to germinate next spring. 

 When the child learns how the plant is reproduced — whether 

 from seeds, roots, bulbs — when the seed ripens, how it is 

 scattered, and acquires other information as to the plant's his- 

 tory and habits, he will be prepared to attack it in its most vul- 

 nerable point, and he will get a practical knowledge of a good 

 many valuable truths in the science of botany at the same 

 time. 



Catalogues Received. 



H. S. Anderson, Cayuga Lake Nurseries, Union Springs, Cayuga 

 Co., N. Y.; Wholesale Trade List of Fruit-trees and Small Fruits; Root 

 Grafts; Newand Hardy Grapes ; Ornamental Vines, Shrubs and Trees ; 

 Roses. — P. J. Berckmans, Fruitland Nurseries, Augusta, Ga.; Fruit 

 and Evergreen Trees ; Roses.^R. Douglas & Sons, Waukegan Nur- 

 series, Waukegan, 111.; Wholesale Catalogue of Hardy, Ornamental 

 and Evergreen Trees; Forest and Ornamental Tree Seedlings; Tree 

 Seeds. — Wm. Elliott & Sons, 54 & 56 Dey Street, New York ; Bulb- 

 ous Roots and Seeds for Fall Planting; Pot-grown and Layer Strawbeny ■ 

 Plants. — H. M. Engle & Son, Marietta, Pa. ; The Paragon Chestnut. I 

 ^OHN R. & A. Murdoch, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Fruit and Ornamental f 

 Trees; Flowering and Ornamental Shrubs and Vines; Bulbs. — A.J. 

 Root, Medina, O.; Boxes for Farm Produce. — Schlegel & Fottler, 

 26 So. Market Street, Boston, Mass. ; Bulbs for Fall Planting.— G. L. 

 Taber, Glen St. Mary Nurseries, Glen St. Mary, Fla. ; Fruit, Shade 

 and Ornamental Trees. 



