6o2 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 252. 



in a Massachusetts town. We have no doubt that there 

 are individuals there who give no help to the enterprising- 

 societies which are lighting the insect and who make merry 

 over the idea of a bug-bounty. And yet it is just such work 

 as this which tells directly in helping to destroy insect pests 

 in any given instance, and still more in showing how much 

 can be accomplished by united labor for in this way public 

 sentiment can be generated and developed into an efticient 

 force behind future legislation. It is a very difficult thing 

 to unite all the members of a community in any systematic 

 action, even when the necessity is at their very door. It 

 is almost impossible to secure the co-operation of land- 

 owners throughout a state to prevent an evil which they 

 do not see, and which they, therefore, do not dread. But, 

 after all, union for protection is the only practicable way 

 to meet these enemies. This is the first necessity, even if 

 the best of laws are enacted. 



The Cedar of Lebanon. 



THE Cedar of Lebanon has stood for generations 

 throughout Christendom as the type of all that is 

 majestic and regal in a forest-tree. It has in modern times 

 been questioned whether the timber with which Solomon 

 rebuilt the Temple was that of the true Cedar, but, however 

 this may be, the trees are always associated in the popular 

 mind with stately religious ceremony, and the groves of 

 Lebanon have been objects of veneration by. pious pil- 

 grims for centuries. The position which the tree holds in 

 Christian literature is well exemplified by the following pas- 

 sage from the Spirit of the Hebrew Poetry, by Isaac Taylor, 

 who, in describing the Lebanon ranges and their trees, 

 says: "In ancient times these rich slopes and valleys 

 were mantled with Cedar-forests, and the Cedar, in its per- 

 fection, is as the lion among the beasts and the eagle 

 among the birds. This majestic tree, compared with others 

 of its class, has more' of altitude and volume than any of 

 them, it has more of umbrageous amplitude ; especially it 

 has that tranquil aspect of venerable continuance through 

 centuries which so greatly recommends natural objects to 

 speculative and imaginative tastes. The Cedar of Lebanon, 

 graceful and serviceable while it lives, has the merit of pre- 

 paring in its solids a perfume which commends it when dead 

 to the noblest uses. This wood invites the workman's tool 

 for every ingenious device, and its odoriferous substance is 

 such as to make it grateful alike in palaces and in tem]31es." 

 As a matter of fact, it would be difficult to exaggerate the 

 impressiveness of this tree, even if it were not dignified and 

 almost hallowed by association. In vol. ii., page 148, we 

 have already given a figure of one of the old trees on 

 Mount Lebanon, and in the same issue is an illustration of 

 a pair of wide-branching old specimens, such as are to be 

 found in many of the stately pleasure-grounds of England, 

 where this Cedar has been more generally planted for the 

 last two hundred years than any other foreign tree. In 

 connection with the pictures, some account was given of 

 the remnants of the Lebanon forest, as described by Sir 

 Joseph Hooker, and the illustration on page 607 shows one 

 of the nine groups which remain in one of those elevated 

 valleys. Only 400 of the trees survived at the time of Sir 

 Joseph's visit, and unless the seedlings are protected from 

 hre and from sheep and goats, these particular forests will, 

 in course of time, become extinct. The largest trees re- 

 maining are some forty feet in girth, and the smallest ones 

 are eighteen inches. Other groups of this Cedar have been 

 discovered since the visit of Sir Joseph Hooker, and, in fact, 

 Cedrus Atlantica, which is found in Algeria and Cyprus, and 

 Cedrus Deodara of the Himalayas differ ver)^ little in botan- 

 ical characters from the true C. Libani, although they are 

 quite distinct in appearance at all stages of their growth. 

 For some unknown reason the Cedar of Lebanon has 

 never been a favorite with American planters, although 

 it is hardy in the latitude of New York, and the few speci- 

 mens here which have attained the age of fifty years and 

 upward are noble trees. 



Notes of a Summer Journey in Europe. — XX. 



'X'HE late reconstruction and rearrangement of a large por- 

 -'■ tion of the Arboretum at Kew is likely to give the idea of 

 comparative newness, but there are old trees enough 

 to impress one with a feeling that the establishment has 

 reached a venerable age. For the most part, the speci- 

 mens, both young and old, are in a vigorous condition ; 

 and, it is hardly necessary to add, the correctness of the 

 labeling can be more safely trusted here than in many 

 of the institutions on the Continent. A notice of a few 

 of the specimens and groujjs may give a faint idea of 

 the collections as a whole. The Oaks may be counted as form- 

 ing one of the largest generic groups, being represented here 

 by over two hundred species and named varieties. Of the so- 

 called varieties fifty or sixty are forms of the two English or 

 European Oaks, Ouercus Robur (also known as O. sessiliflora) 

 and Q. pedunculata, by far the largest number ot these forms 

 being referable to the latter species. Q. pedunculata itself is 

 still classed as a natural variety Q. Robur by many botanists. 

 Of course, most of these fifty or sixty named forms have orig- 

 inated by selection and long cultivation, and can only be 

 propagated by grafting or other modes of division. 



There is a good series of the more hardy American Oaks, 

 by far the best specimens being those which come under the 

 black or biennial fruited section of the genus. The Ameri- 

 can White Oaks, both in England and on the Continent, for 

 some unexplained reason, do not seem to thrive as they do in 

 their native country. One of the finest examples of the Amer- 

 ican species is a specimen of the Willow Oak (Ouercus Phel- 

 los), with a trunk over three feet in diameter, and a spread of 

 brandies of at least sixty-five feet. This specimen has appar- 

 ently reached its best development, for a tungus is beginning 

 to show itself in places in the bark. Our Scarlet, Black, Red, 

 Pin (O. palustris) and Laurel (O. imbricaria) Oaks all thrive \\e\\ 

 here, and some ot them are said to show tine autumn colors of 

 foliage. 



Of other exotic species the Turkey Oak (O. cerris) and its 

 forms seem admirably suited to the soil and situation at Kew, 

 the branches of the largest specimen seen here spreading 

 about a hundred feet, the trunk being fifteen or sixteen feet in 

 circumference ; while O. conferta, a native of south-eastern 

 Europe, impressed me as being one of the handsomest and 

 most satisfactory of all the species in the collection. A speci- 

 men here which gave evidence of very fast growth had a 

 broadly conical outline, large and abundant foliage and a 

 trunk about twenty inches in diameter. The oaks, as well as 

 most of the other trees, appear to be pretty accurately named 

 on the whole, and show the active care and interest taken in 

 them by Mr. Nicholson. The nomenclature of the Lindens, 

 however, is sometimes puzzling, as it is in most collections. 



Among other deciduous trees notable for their age or size, 

 examples of Sophora Japonica are likely to attract attention, 

 especially when they are in blossom. One of the largest of 

 these is about fifty feet in height and thirteen or fourteen feet 

 in circumference of trunk. At a few feet from the ground it 

 divides into several very large limbs, which, at about twenty 

 or thirty feet from the ground, are held from breaking or un- 

 duly spreading by strong iron chains and encircling iron rings. 

 I was surprised to see this system of supporting weak limbs in 

 practice at Kew, for the iron rings, having been on for many 

 years, were deeply embedded in the bark and vifood, and 

 the limbs were evidently slowly and surely being choked to 

 death, and the beginning of the end was shown in large dead 

 branches which workmen were removing. A bolt fitted with 

 a ring or eye at the head, to which to fasten connecting chains 

 or rods, and put through a hole bored in the limb just large 

 enough, is much to be preferred to a ring around it, even 

 though it may be quite loose. The new bark and wood tissue 

 will soon close up the entire space about the bolt, and so pre- 

 vent the ingress of fungi or other diseases, and the small hole 

 necessary for the reception of the bolt does not materially 

 weaken the limb, certainly not nearly so much so as a band or 

 girdle does after it begins to cause a constriction of the part 

 under it. This ring or band system is very commonly used, 

 and it is often pitiable to see the poor trees endeavoring to 

 overcome the obstruction to the free circulation of its sap by 

 swelling and extending its tissues over the unyielding girdle. 



A tree which attracted my attention was an unusually fine 

 speciinen of a Hop Hornbeam fifty feet in height, branching 

 near the ground and spreading about seventy feet, and with a 

 trunk over three feet in diameter. It is labeled Ostrya carpini- 

 folia, a native of south-eastern Europe. This specimen is 

 grafted on stock of a Hornbeam (Carpinus) at about two and a 

 half feet above the ground, and it is a good deal larger than its 

 stock, and has a swelling at the point of juncture. No one can 



