December 21, 1892.] 



Garden and Forest. 



603 



help remarking the striking- contrast between the rough bark 

 of the Ostrya and the dark-colored, comparatively smooth 

 bark of the Carpinus. Other sucli interesting trees are not rare 

 here, but many or most of them are equaled or surpassed as speci- 

 mens by examples in gardens in various parts of the kingdom. 



The collection of hardy conifers is quite large and varied as 

 regards numbers of species, and it possesses a good deal of 

 interest to the specialist in this division of dendrology. But 

 while such species as the Gingko seem to thrive very well, the 

 evergreen conifers must suffer from the great volumes of 

 smoke which sometimes settle over the gardens. This smoke 

 not only proves a great handicap to the production of good 

 conifers, but also operates against other evergreens of the 

 Angiospermous class, and it is a source of great annoyance by 

 sometimes settling and covering the great glass-houses with a 

 thick black dust, which is so persistent and adhesive that it is 

 necessary to wash the glass carefully after some especially se- 

 vere visitations. If in summer the old leaves of an evergreen 

 plant are rubbed, the persistent black dust will readily come off 

 on the fingers. The proximity of factories and of a great city 

 where soft coal is used is thus a serious drawback to the suc- 

 cessful growth of a great variety of evergreens, and as it does 

 not seem likely that this can be ameliorated at Kew such trees 

 as most evergreen conifers will always find this an obstacle in 

 the way of their highest development. This does not mean 

 that such conifers cannot be grown here, for they can be, and 

 are, and the collection at Kew is both large in numlier of spe- 

 cies and interesting in regard to the size which some of the 

 specimens have attained, although, perhaps, few of them are 

 so large as most people would expect to see them. 



Possibly it is on account of their being in the midst of this 

 seething multitude, with its gases and coal-smoke, that the Big 

 Trees, or Sequoia gigantea, introduced from the California 

 groves, appear to be degenerating after a good many years of 

 active and promising growth, and after attaining proportions 

 of a fair-sized tree. At tirst the Sequoia has a fine symmetri- 

 cal form, but after it attains a height of thirty or forty feet it is 

 liable to become ugly by the loss of branches and a general 

 straggly appearance. Although there may be peculiarly favor- 

 able spots in England wliere the trees may enjoy a life of 

 many centuries and become of large size, their chances for 

 any such development near London seem very slender ; and 

 this can hardly be wondered at if we but compare the atmos- 

 phere in which the foliage is often placed now with the high 

 pure air which was its element for centuries in its aboriginal 

 surroundings. This is one of our American trees which, 

 although it can be grown in Old England, will not thrive out- 

 of-doors in our cold New England climate. It is gratifying to 

 know that the common name of Wellingtonia, which this 

 noble tree early received in England, seems to be giving way 

 to its proper title — Sequoia. A so-called "weeping" form of 

 this tree is now in cultivation in some foreign nurseries. 



The Pines here generally appear quite healthy, and there are 

 some very fair examples of several of our American species. 

 Among these are Pinus Coulteri, over twenty feet high and 

 bearing cones ; P. contorta, twenty-five or thirty feet high and 

 also fruiting freely ; the dwarf Gray or Jack Pine (P. Bank- 

 siana), of our far north and north-west, looking healthy, but as 

 straggly as on its native soil ; and an example about nine feet 

 high of the odd so-called One-leafed Pine (P. monophylla) 

 with its leaves both single and in pairs. In another portion of 

 the garden there is a specimen of Pinus Sabiniana with a trunk 

 nearly two feet in diameter and a much larger and handsomer 

 example of the Corsican Pine. 



The North American Spruces show much variability between 

 species as to their adaptability to the situation here, and the 

 Himalayan Picea Morinda seems to thrive much better than 

 some of them. This is a species which is not adapted to our 

 New England climate, but it is a desirable tree, having long 

 leaves and long slender branchlets, with the drooping habit of 

 the Norway Spruce. Some of the Hemlocks seem pretty 

 thrifty, but the Junipers are not very satisfactory although 

 some dwarf species seem to do better than others. 



Most visitors are interested in the specimen of Chili Pine, or 

 "Monkey Puzzle" (Araucaria imbricala), grown in the open air 

 here, but only known to us when brought under warm shelter in 

 winter. This oldest specimen at Kew was planted in 1796, so 

 that it is very nearly a hundred years old ; but it has not attained 

 the size of younger plants in other places. It was one of the first 

 plants introduced, and for many years after its reception at Kew 

 it was grown in a greenhouse as we would a Palm. It was, 

 afterward planted in the open ground, but protected in winter, 

 until it was demonstrated that it was quite hardy in the English 

 climate. It is now only about thirty-five feet high, with a trunk 

 fifteen or sixteen inches in diameter. 



The Japanese Gingko is here a thrifty tree, as it appears to 

 be in most places where it has been tried. It is likely to become 

 much more popular, but we do not yet know how it will bear 

 old age in this country. 

 Arnold Arboretum. J . G. Jack. 



On Broad Top. — II. 



TDROAD TOP was beautiful this autumn in an unusual way. 

 -^ The passing of summer was so gradual that at one time 

 it seemed as if winter would find the Maples still green, and a 

 flurry of snow on the 5th of October found them but slightly 

 tinted. They seemed to be eclipsed by the wonderful tones of 

 color shown by the Tupelos, Oaks and Hickories; but the 

 snow turned to rain, and after two days of that, when the cur- 

 tain of mist rolled away, the Maples suddenly appeared in their 

 old-time splendor. 



For the first time in our recollection some of the streams 

 and springs became dry, but, in spite of this, the Ferns and 

 water-loving plants were never more fresh and fine. The 

 Cardinal-flowers seemed unable to end their brilliant life, 

 the Chelones were crowded with blossoms, and the closed 

 Gentians were remarkably numerous and beautiful. 



Before the mountain itself showed more than faint touches 

 -of color there was a short-lived, but brilliant, display made by 

 a forest-surrounded meadow lying at the lower extremity of 

 this little farm, now our temporary home. The farm, and 

 most of the surrounding mountain, forms part of a 12,000-acre 

 tract belonging to one of the coal and iron companies, and as 

 all tlie most beautiful country here is in the possession of cor- 

 porations, no private holdings are possible. 



While this farm by no means belongs to the class of "aban- 

 doned farms," the fields lying between the house and meadow 

 are object-lessons in the relapse from cultivation to original 

 conditions. Passing down through the fields, we find the up- 

 permost one, which always is in fairly good cultivation, in 

 Clover. The adjoining field has the same starved, slaty soil as 

 tlie next below, and the two are separated by a fence over- 

 grown with vines and shrubbery. Only a small portion of 

 both is in cultivation, now planted with Corn, Potatoes and 

 Buckwheat ; the rest of the thin soil shows a faded growth of 

 Golden-rod. A tree-bordered fence runs along the lower side, 

 and beyond it lies the largest field of all, once like the others, 

 with infinite labor cleared from out of the forest. Now the 

 sparse grass on its sloping surface is covered with a mat of 

 Creeping Blackberry, Asters and Golden-rod, and in the field- 

 corners are thickets of young Maple, Hickory, Yellow Pine, 

 Cucumber and Locust trees. 



The meadow which is our destination, though close by, is 

 not visible, as its fence is concealed by a dense growth of Oak, 

 Sassafras and Witch-hazel. Midway in this hedge, a broken 

 panel of fence gives access to the meadow, and from this 

 gateway, framed by two Oaks, the whole scene, an enchanting 

 harmony of color, is before us. The meadow, almost circular 

 in form, is an expanse of silver-green marsh-grass, formino- 

 the foreground for brilliant masses of shrubbery, thrown 

 into relief by White Pines on the edge of the forest be- 

 yond. In the near foreground lie a couple of crumbling 

 Chestnut-trunks, almost buried in bracken ; beyond them is a 

 most effective little island of sedge, and the entire meadow 

 floor is thickly dotted with such quantities of Spiranthes 

 cornua as I have never found elsewhere. The shrubbery 

 crowding every little point of dry land which projects into the 

 marshy grass gives a distinctive character to the place. Al- 

 most every species found on the mouiitain is represented 

 here ; most notable for form and coloring are the wild Crab- 

 apple and Thorns. Between the shrubbery and encroaching 

 forest lies a crowded mass of plants, interesting. now, but in- 

 finitely more so in the spring. 



In a cursory examination of a space about ten feet square, I 

 noted closed Gentian, Golden-rod, wild Parsnip, Wintergreen, 

 Arbutus, three varieties of Ferns, several of Grasses, two each 

 of Lycopodium and Cinquefoil, and seven Mosses. Fascinat- 

 ing as is the meadow, it is only one of scores of places equally 

 interesting and beautiful. Of two paths from the ineadow, 

 one leading through the woods presents a greater variety than 

 the other, following a wagon-way which crosses between two 

 township roads. We enter the path where it runs close beside 

 a little brook, here curving around some Beeches, the only 

 ones to be found in this part of the mountain. A short dis- 

 tance beyond, four majestic White Oaks, growing equidistant 

 about twenty feet, dwarf every thing near them. Through almost 

 the entire length of the path the stream is in sight, sometimes 

 screened by the waving fronds of superb Osmundas, at other 

 times hidden by the Ironwoods, whose delicate foliage in certain 



