552 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 247. 



de WatteviUe, Sunset, Bridesmaid, Perlc des Jardins, Madame 

 Cusin and La France. 



About $3,000 were distributed in prizes. 



Notes. 



According to tlie Journal of Horticulture, one of tlie most 

 interesting of late introductions among Ferns is tlie variety Im- 

 bricatum of tlie true Maidenhair (Adiantum Capillis- Veneris). 

 It is not only very hardy, but the writer ventures to call it a 

 miniature A. Farleyense. It certainly will be a treasure if with 

 hardiness it combines the airy grace of a Farleyense. 



One of the brightest in flower of the newCannasis Alphonse 

 Bouvier, which was shown in admirable form by F. R. Pierson 

 at the Madison Square Chrysanthemum show. The large 

 flowers are so brilliant that even Madame Crozy looked dingy 

 beside them. Sarah Hill was another variety of peculiar bril- 

 liant tint, while CapitaineP. deZuzzoni is an admirable yellow. 



The Revue de V Horticulture Beige recommends the follow- 

 ing mi.\ture as being the best fertilizer for ornamental-leaved 

 Begonias : Superphosphates, 33 parts ; nitrate of potassium, 

 17 parts ; nitrate of soda, 25 parts ; sulphate of lime (gypsum), 

 25 parts. Pots which hold a litre (four-inch pots) require about 

 two grammes, say 31 grains, of the mixture, and others in pro- 

 portion. 



A gigantic Camellia is growing near the royal castle at Pill- 

 nitz, near Dresden, Germany. The tree is twenty-four feet 

 high, and produces annually at least 50,000 blossoms. It is 

 supposed to have been imported from Japan about a century 

 and a half ago. It is planted in the open ground, but every 

 winter a structure of boards is built around it to keep out the 

 severe cold of winter. 



Mr. \Vm. M. P. Bowen, a member of the national Committee 

 upon the Improvement of Highways, has written a circular to 

 citizens of Rhode Island in regard to the subject, in which he 

 states that half a million dollars a year would hardly cover the 

 annual loss and waste which the people of Rhode Island suffer 

 from bad roads, and that this loss amounts to an annual tax of 

 about two dollars upon every inhabitant of the state. If this 

 tax were saved, in two or three years it would pa}' for putting 

 all the main roads in Rhode Island in first-class condition. 



The magnificent Sabal Blackburniana which has been for 

 many years a feature of the Ghent Botanic Garden and was 

 one of the finest Palms of its kind in Europe, has Ijeen cut 

 down. Its height was fifty-five feet eight inches, its fronds 

 more than six and a half feet across, with petioles nine feet 

 long. It was destroyed because the old, dilapidated glass- 

 house which covered it is to be replaced by a smaller and more 

 strictly utilitarian building, and its destruction is pronounced 

 an act of vandalism by the European horticultural journals. 



The tallest trees in the world are found in the gulleys of 

 Victoria, one of vidiich is 471 feet high. Nearly every county 

 in England has its favorite Oak, the largest of which is the 

 Cowthorpe, of Yorkshire, which has a circumference of eighty 

 feet. The Carnoch Ash, in Stirlingshire, is thirty-one feet in 

 circumference. The Tortworth Chestnut, in Gloucestershire, 

 was used to identify the boundary in the year 11 35. It is said to 

 have been the first tree that was ever planted in Great Britain 

 by man. The largest Cedars in England are at Clumber ; they 

 measure twenty-seven feet in circumference. There is a Yew- 

 tree at Crowhurst, in Sussex, thirty-three feet in circumfer- 

 ence. The "Crawley Elm" is sixty-one feet in girth. The 

 largest Beech-tree is to be found in Cornbury Park, Berkshire, 

 and the largest Sycamore is at Cobham Park, with a circum- 

 ference of twenty-six feet. 



A new feature in the construction of greenhouses has re- 

 cently appeared in Europe. Mr. Falconnier, an architect at 

 Nyon, Switzerland, has invented a hollow brick, which is made 

 of glass. These bricks are not only capable of being used in 

 greenhouse construction, but there already exists a house in 

 the park Tete d'Or, at Lyons, France, in which such bricks 

 have been used in connection with iron for the arches of the 

 frame-work. The bricks are used as ordinary bricks would 

 be, and are fastened together either with lime, cement or 

 plaster. They are translucent, and are blown in the same 

 manner as glass bottles are, in order to make them hollow. 

 They are 20 centimetres long, 14 centimetres wide and 115 

 millimetres thick (say 8 inches long, 5.5 inches wide and 4.5 

 inches thick), and sell for twenty-four francs a hundred ; this 

 price, however, could be much reduced in case of a growing 

 demand for them. 



In the course of a discussion which is going on in the Eng- 

 lish horticultural papers about stands for showing Chrysanthe- 

 mum-blooms, the Gardeners' Chronicle prints an illustration 

 of some Chrysanthemums exhibited on boards in Tasmania. 

 The flowers looked just like the best ones in an English or an 

 American exhibition, and they show, as the editor of the 

 Chronicle remarks, how well flowers can be grown on the op- 

 posite side of the planet. He adds, however, that these people 

 in the colonies would render a much greater service to horti- 

 culture by developing their native flowers than by slavishly 

 imitating European customs ; and Tasmanian flowers are 

 singularly beautiful. This is a bit of advice which the world 

 has taken a great time to learn. Many of the beautiful Japa- 

 nese plants which have been sent to this country by Mr. Hogg 

 were found growing wild and were neglected by the Japanese 

 themselves, while their gardens were filled with plants from 

 China and many other exotics brought there by Dutch traders. 



For many reasons trees taken up late in autumn may be in 

 better condition for setting out than such as have been re- 

 moved earlier, and if they are heeled in by burying the roots 

 and part of the stems they will be better prepared for setting 

 out in spring. Their value next year will depend largely upon 

 the treatment they now receive, and therefore these precau- 

 tions, which are noted in the Country Gentlemati, should 

 always be observed. The ground selected should be dry, well 

 drained and free from stones, so that the soil in contact with 

 the trees can be finely pulverized. No stones, clods, sods or 

 weeds should be used. Dig a pretty shallow trench, place the 

 trees in an inclined position, and not massed so closely as to 

 prevent the fine soil from penetrating every part and leaving 

 no unfilled interstices. When they are well covered smooth 

 the whole with a rounded surface, and if there is any danger 

 from mice dig a flat trench around the whole ground occupied 

 by the trees, so that they may be within and protected by an 

 inclined bank of smooth earth, up the sides of which the mice 

 will not undertake to ascend under the snow. 



In the October number of the Proceedings of the Royal 

 Geographical Society, of England, there is an interesting article 

 on British Guiana by Mr. E. Im Thurm, who, for the past ten 

 years, has been administrator of the north-western region of 

 that country. This region, he says, falls naturally into two 

 divisions — the upland savannahs, a dense belt of forest, which 

 in some places is more than a hundred miles in breadth, and 

 the low mangrove-swamps along the coast. The only method 

 of communication is by water, the many rivers being connected 

 by a very extensive network of narrow natural streams and 

 artificial canals. In the forest-belt these water-ways are like 

 verdurous tunnels, into which the sun never sends a direct 

 ray, although they are enlivened by innumerable torches of 

 bright color in the shape of epiphytal Orchids, immense but- 

 terflies and myriads of humming-birds^ The Indians live 

 much in the same way as they did before the days of Colum- 

 bus, although their old local customs and habits now bid fair 

 to disappear as the country is opened up in the search for 

 gold. The extraordinary fertility of the soil is illustrated by 

 the fact that in his own garden, which was drained and cleared 

 hardly more than two years before he wrote, there already 

 stand avenues of trees (Casuarina) forty feet high, which he 

 then planted. 



In some parts of the country this year where apples are very 

 abundant they are shipped away by the car-load to be turned 

 into cider. AUsortsareused — winterapples and fall apples, ripe 

 and unripe, large and small, sweet and sour — and all are mixed 

 together and sold at the same price, as if one apple was as 

 good as another for cider. In France, although it is the home 

 of the vine, much more attention is given to cider-making than 

 is done in this country, and the different varieties of apples are 

 classed according to the abundance and quality of the juice 

 they yield. Years ago certain kinds of apples were largely 

 planted here on account of the quality of cider which they 

 yielded, principal among these being the Harrison apple, 

 a little, hard, green, late autumn fruit, which was very juicy 

 and of a special acid flavor. These apples were mixed some- 

 times with the Campfields, which gave a rich, sweet juice. The 

 Gardeners' Oro/^V/^ for the current week has classified from 

 the Herefordshire Pomona, a Hst of apples which are consid- 

 ered the best for cider in England. One of these, called the 

 Devonshire Royal Wilding, is said to produce cider which as 

 long ago as 1753 brought live guineas a hogshead, when or- 

 dinary cider brought but twenty shillings. It is rather re- 

 markable that although there are a few varieties in this 

 country which are esteemed especially good as vintage 

 fruits, very little prominence is given to this quality in general 

 descriptions of apples, new or old. 



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