October 26, 1892.] 



Garden and Forest. 



507 



all the manual labor, in every detail, in the gardens and 

 grounds, so that they get a thoroughly practical training 

 as well as the knowledge derived from lectures and books. 

 At the time o£ my visit, in early September, it was plainly to 

 be seen that the practical part is done in a thorough manner, 

 for, although many of the students were away on furlough, I 

 found the place in fine condition, neat and free from weeds, 

 the plants showing the result of good cultivation and care. 

 The whole establishment is divided into neat beds and squares 

 devoted to particular purposes, and there is also a considera- 

 ble area covered by glass houses and frames. 



In growing fruit-trees the artificial espalier system, so gen- 

 eral in French gardens, is almost entirely resorted to ; the 

 plants grown are also very largely dwarfs. The system is one 

 very rarely practiced among such fruits as Pears and Apples 

 in our own country, but fruit of a very hue quality can be 

 raised in this way. The small area of the school-grounds ne- 

 cessitates some such practice, because if normal trees were 

 grown there would be space for but a very limited variety, and, 

 moreover, the natural system would not suit the prevailing de- 

 mand and necessity. It is stated that there are about twelve 

 hundred varieties of fruit-trees and fruiting-shrubs grown in 

 this garden. Of these nearly one-half are pears. This fruit 

 has been so much cultivated and improved by Frenchmen 

 that one almost regards pears as the national fruit of France, 

 as the Fleur-de-lis is the national flower. There are more 

 than three hundred varieties of Apples ; of Peaches there are 

 about a hundred and twenty-five varieties, while Apricots, 

 Cherries, Grapes and other fruits are well represented. 



A small piece of ground is used as an arboretum or collec- 

 tion of ornamental, shade and forest trees, and a good num- 

 ber of specimens have been accumulated. But the area avail- 

 able is so small that the plants hardly have nursery-space and 

 are very much crowded, yet the collection may serve a useful 

 purpose in assisting pupils to become acquainted with and to 

 identify the various species and varieties, of most of which 

 fine, well-developed individual specimens may be studied in 

 parks and collections at other places in the vicinity of Paris. 



In flowers this garden is probably most famous for its Roses, 

 which were somewhat of a specialty with Monsieur Hardy, the 

 late director, who did so much for the advancement of the 

 school. His name and his father's name are commemorated 

 in a most curious little single-flowered Rose, which is said 

 to have originated in the Luxembourg garden more than 

 half a century ago, by natural hybridization between Rosa 

 clinophylla, a white-flowered Indian species, and the cu- 

 rious yellow-blossomed, simple-leafed Rosa simplicifolia 

 from Persia and countries north and east of it. This 

 odd litde hybrid is known as R. Hardyi. As seen growing 

 in the vicinity of Paris it seemed so dwarf and slender as to 

 almost appear herbaceous, and its habit reminded me more of 

 our little R. foliolosa than any other species. The stems of 

 R. Hardyi are armed witli a few stout straight spines ; there 

 are from five to seven small dark green leaflets to each leaf ; 

 and the flowers are about the size of those of R. foliolosa, but 

 instead of being produced solitarily there are several on the 

 end of each shoot. The petals are light or sulpliur-yellovv 

 colored, the color deepening slightly from the tip toward the 

 base ; while the base of each petal, for nearly a fifth of its 

 length, is of a dark crimson color. This Rose seems to bloom 

 freely, and I saw it in blossom at Paris in the middle of July 

 and again in early September. It is not likely that it would be 

 hardy in our northern or New England states and I do not 

 know that it has been tried here. 



The greenhouses and forcing-houses are simple in construc- 

 tion but well calculated to serve the purposes intended. 

 Nearly two hundred years ago, when it served as a pleas- 

 ure and pastime for the King, this garden was famous for the 

 early forcing of fruits and vegetables, but since then it is easy 

 to imagine the great strides which have been made in im- 

 provement of methods and in the qualities of varieties. 



The buildings used as class-rooms and for similar purposes 

 are very simple in construction and arrangement and unpre- 

 tentious in appearance. They contain a herbarium for con- 

 stant reference ; herbarium specimens which show the charac- 

 ter of the injuries caused by particular kinds of insects and 

 fungi ; collections of beneficial and injurious quadrupeds, 

 birds and insects ; a very large number of excellent models of 

 fruits ; examples of seeds and other subjects of an instructive 

 cnaracter. A well-selected series of woods of trees shows the 

 character and appearance of important species when cut and 

 finished in several different ways, while sections with the bark 

 attached are intended to be helpful in the recognition of trees 

 from the outward appearance of the stems. Altogether, the 

 school seems admirably well fitted and conducted to carry out 



the objects for which it was established. To fulfill the require- 

 ments here a student must work not only with his mind in the 

 acquisition of knowledge from lectures and books, but he 

 must share, and intelligently perform under competent direc- 

 tion, the manual labor and management of the whole establish- 

 ment, for, as already stated, no ordinary laborers whatever are 

 employed. 



The surplus products of the school in the way of flowers, 

 fruits, vegetables or plants are sold to the public, and the 

 income thus derived forms no inconsiderable item to the state 

 toward defraying the expenses of the establishment. Prizes in 

 cash amounting to nearly two hundred and fifty dollars each 

 are awarded by the Minister of Agriculture to those students 

 who graduate with tlie highest honors, and it is generally 

 expected that this sum will be spent in furthering their studies 

 in some horticultural centres, as in the Netherlands or England. 



The institution would, no doubt, be greatly benefited and its 

 practical value increased by the possession of larger grounds 

 for experimentation and work. This may come in time. 

 Meanwhile the students are abundantly supplied with interest- 

 ing examples and object-lessons in the gardens and nurseries 

 which are so abundant in the country about Versailles. 



Ainold Arboretum. y. G. Jack. 



The Mountain Flora of Alabama. 



THE following paper was read by Dr. Charles Mohr, of Mo- 

 bile, Alabama, before the Botanical Club at the meeting 

 of the American Association for the Advancement of Science 

 at Rochester last August. 



The investigation of the flora of the Appalachian Mountains 

 of the southern states has been chiefly carried on in the cen- 

 tral and most elevated parts of the mountain-chain. Little 

 has been made known of the floral conditions existing in its 

 extreme southern outliers, which in relation to the distribution 

 of plants in the eastern part of this continent are invested with 

 a peculiar interest. Many plants, chiefly at home in high north- 

 ern latitudes, follow the summits of the mountains into the 

 warmer temperate zone and find upon these spurs the limit 

 to their soutliward progress, while a number of others are 

 confined exclusively to a single locality, or less frequently to 

 several isolated localities. 



The following remarks on the mountain flora of Alabama 

 are based on observations inade during the earlier part of this 

 season in the mountainous region bordering upon the Ten- 

 nessee Valley, on Lookout Mountain, near the north-eastern 

 corner of the state, on the extensive table-land of the Warrior 

 coalfield, with its steep escarpment forming the southern bor- 

 der of the Valley of the Tennessee, and on tlie detached out- 

 liers of the Cumberland Mountains, which form its north-east- 

 ern border. The region corresponding in the character of its 

 flora with the flora of the higher mountain region of the ad- 

 joining states of Georgia, North Carolina and south-eastern 

 Tennessee is in Alabama entered at an altitude not exceeding 

 2,000 feet above the sea. In the Lookout Mountain region 

 this is indicated by a Rhododendron proper, R. maximum, 

 the frequency of various other Rhodoraceous Ericaceae, Vac- 

 ciniums and several species of Ilex. This region is further 

 characterized by the large preponderancy of deciduous-leaved 

 trees, the almost entire absence of Magnolias and of coniferous 

 trees in general, particularly of Pines of a decided southern 

 range. 



The somewhat abrupt declivity of Lookout Mountain, rising 

 to a height of from 800 to 900 feet above Little Wells Valley, 

 is covered with a tall forest, chiefly of Oaks, the species of the 

 White Oak group prevailing. But a short time ago, it was 

 noted for the abundance of tine timber of White Oak (Quercus 

 alba), and for the tan-bark derived from the Mountain Oak (O. 

 Prinus), but these resources are at present almost exhausted. 

 Tlie Black Locust has in tliese forests been for the first time 

 recognized as a truly indigenous tree in Alabama. In the deep 

 shade of the high forest on these declivities, several tall um- 

 belliferous plants strike the attention of the observer, among 

 them being Ligusticum actiaetolium, Angelica hirsuta, Thas- 

 pium pinnatifidum, with Pimpinella integrifolia and Zizia ser- 

 rata smaller in size. Oxalis recurva and Polygonatum gigan- 

 teum are for tlie first time noted within the limits of the 

 southern flora associated with Anemone nemorosa, var. quin- 

 quefolia, Stellaria pubera, Galium latifolium, Asclepias quad- 

 rifolia, Trillium erythrocarpum, Disporum lanuginosum, Uvu- 

 laria grandiflora and U. perfohata. Emerging from the high 

 forest at the base of the clifi's of the lower carboniferous sand- 

 stone, which border the brow of the escarpment, the southern 

 Philadelphus hirsutus. Ilex Monticola, Viburnum dentatum, 

 V. acerfolium, Rubus occidentalis, R. Canadensis and Celas- 



