March 28, 18SS.] 



Garden and Forest. 



49 



GARDEN AND FOREST. 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO. 



[LIMITED.] 



Office : Tribune Building, New York. 



Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent. 



ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y. 



NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28, iS 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE, 



Editorial Articles ; — The Adirondack Forests in Danger. — Horticultural 



Fashions. — Hardy Shrubs. — Notes 49 



Landscape Gardening, V Jlrs. ScJtuyter Van Rensselaer. 51 



Bridge at Leathertor, England (with Illustration) 52 



After the Great Snow Storm Dr. C. C. Abbott. 52 



Foreign Correspondence : — The Kew Arboretum, II . - Geo. NicJwhon, A. L. S. 53 



Yucca Treculiana{ with illustration) C. S. S. 54 



Cultural Notes : — Hardy Herbaceous Perennials from Seed.. William Falconer . 54 



The Cultivation of Lilies C. L. Allen. ^5 



Eriostemon intermedium. — Boronia megastigma. — Milla biflura in 

 our Gardens. — Lilium Grayi- — Forcing Azaleas. — Cytisus Canari- 



ensis. — Grapes for Home Use ! 56 



The Retinisporas Josiah Hoopes. 57 



Snowberry Jelly Professor D. P. Penkallo^v. 57 



Correspondence : — Landscape Gardening, a Definition. . Professor L. H. Bailey. 58 



Fra.\inella 58 



The Forest : — Forest Trees of the Far North-west .... Professor Geo. I\I. Dawson. 58 



The Forests ot New Jersey 59 



The Forest School of Nancy 60 



Recent Plant Portraits 60 



Massachusetts Horticultural Society 60 



Flower Market : — New York, Philadelphia, Boston 60 



Illustration? : — Bridge at Leathertor, England 53 



Yucca Treculiana. Fig. 10 55 



The Adii'ondack Foi-ests in Danger. 



THE preservation of the Adii-ondack forests is a mat- 

 ter of national importance. Tlieir destruction will 

 work injury far beyond the limits of the State of New York. 

 One of the principal commercial ri\'ers of the world de- 

 pends upoir these forests for its existence ; their value as 

 a health resort for people from all parts of the United States 

 is incalculable. Their preservation, therefore, is a matter 

 which concerns the whole country. 



Never have these forests been threatened with such dan- 

 gers as now menace them from every side. Railroads 

 are being built or are about to be built into the wilderness 

 in every direction. The promoters of the Schenectady and 

 Ogdensburg Railroad Company propose to build a line this 

 summer directly through the heart of the Adirondacks, to 

 serve as a feeder for the Canadian Pacific and bring that 

 road into direct connection with New York and Boston. 

 The Chateaugay Railroad Company is extending its line 

 into the forest. Last year it had reached the shores of 

 Loon Lake ; now it has been carried to Saranac Lake. Its 

 last station is only eight miles froin Lake Placid and with- 

 in six miles of Paul Smith's, upon St. Regis Lake. Adi- 

 rondack Lodge, one of the wildest and most picturesque 

 spots in the whole region, is now but fifteen miles distant 

 from the railroad. The Northern Adii'ondack Railroad has 

 penetrated through the forest almost as far south as Paul 

 Smith's. Another road runs from Carthage, in Jefferson 

 County, into the forest region. It has recently been carried 

 to Jayville, in St. Lawrence County, and a further exten- 

 sion is proposed. 



The building of railroads through a forest in this country 

 means its extermination. This is particularly true of the Adi- 

 rondack forest. Its escape from extermination in the past 

 is due to the single fact that the hard woods of which it is 

 principally composed could not be got to market from lack 

 of transportation. If transportation is furnished it is mere- 



ly a question of time when every tree will be consumed in 

 the saw-mill, the paper factory and the charcoal furnace. 

 Railroads will increase, too, the number of fires in the for- 

 est and thus hasten its extermination. 



There is but one way to save what now remains of the 

 Adirondack forests. The enactment of a law which shall 

 prohibit the location of any railroad under any circum- 

 stances upon the State lands which are widely scattered 

 through the entire region will prevent its ruin. No other 

 measure less sweeping in its restrictions can accomplish 

 this. There is a Board of Forest Commissioners in this 

 State. It is the duty of these Commissioners to devise 

 measures for the protection of the State forests and to see 

 that these laws are put into execution. It is their duty to 

 enlighten the people of the State upon the condition of the 

 State forests and the dangers which threaten them. It 

 is their duty under the law to provide instruction for the 

 people of New York in all matters relating to forests and 

 forestry, and to arouse them to the importance of a full 

 comprehension of these subjects. 



Have these Commissioners performed these duties ? 



Have they introduced any bill looking to resti'aining the 

 building of railroads through the forests .? 



Have they even tried to rouse the attention of the public 

 to this matter 1 



Do the reports which they publish from time to time, at 

 no small expense to the people of this State, contain any 

 valuable or accurate information in regard to the forests or 

 to methods of forest preservation .? 



The only activity displayed by the Commission, so far 

 as the public is informed, is manifested in their attempt to 

 secure from the present Legislature the passage of a bill 

 authorizing thein to lease to " individuals or clubs for 

 pleasure resorts or camping purposes," portions of the 

 public domain for periods not exceeding five years' 

 duration. This authority should not be given to the Com- 

 inission. It would open the door to corruption and would 

 threaten the forests with new dangers. Thousands of 

 acres of Adirondack forests have already perished at the 

 hands of hunters and camping parties. Their carelessness 

 in setting fires and their recklessness in barking and de- 

 stroying trees, are only too well known. It will be im- 

 possible to protect the State forests if the Commissioners 

 are allowed this privilege. 



The actual condition of the Adirondack forests and the 

 doings of the Forest Commissioners during the three years 

 they have held office need investigation. The public can- 

 not afford indifference in this matter. Too much is at 

 stake. The commercial and sanatory interests involved in 

 the protection of these forests are too great to allow them 

 to remain the pre)^ of designing politicians and speculators. 



A few years ago the concertecl action of the press of this 

 State roused public attention to the importance of preserv- 

 ing the Adirondack forests and the rivers which flow from 

 them, and made the passage of forest laws and the appoint- 

 ment of a Forest Commission possible. The laws were 

 rendered inadequate, and the people were cheated by 

 politicians and speculators, who secured the appointment 

 of an improper Commission. The result has been disas- 

 trous, and never in the history of the State has the danger 

 to the forests been so real and imminent as it is to-day. 

 The public must be enlightened and aroused to active iii- 

 terest in the matter ; and the concerted and energetic 

 action of the press of the whole countr" can alone accom- 

 plish this. 



Horticultural Fashions. 



IN the last fifty years there have been a number of horti- 

 cultural fashions of longer or shorter duration. Just 

 now the cultivation of Orchids chiefly occupies the horti- 

 cultural world. Such fashions, while they have, perhaps, 

 an unfoi-tunate influence upon the gardening profession, 

 are often otherwise beneficial. This was the case with the 

 craze for Conifers which prevailed in England forty or fifty 



