March 7, iS 



Garden and Forest. 



13 



GARDEN AND FOREST. 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY EY 



THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO. 



l limited.] 

 Office : Tribune Building, New York 



Conducted bv Professor C. S. Sargent. 



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



NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, if 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 



EuiTORiAi. Articles :— Tlie Future of American Gardening. Tlie American 



Thorn. "Painting the Lilv." 13 



Landscape Gardening, II Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer. 14 



Professor Anton de Kary Professor IV. G. Farlom. 15 



Winter in Mobile '. Dr. Karl Mohr. 16 



London Letter •, "< Goldring. 16 



Entrance to the Arnold Arbijretum (witli illustration) 17 



Shrub Propagation J- Hoopes. 18 



Note on our Native Irises Serena IFatson. iS 



Lilium Gravi (with illustration) Sereno ll'atsm 19 



American Thorns as Ornamental Plants Professor L. H. Bailey. 19 



Plant Notes C. G. Priu^le : Max LcichtUn 20 



The Red Miteon Verbenas (with illustration) Professor A. S. Packa7-d. 20 



Cultural Notes 21 



Grapes under Glass .David Allan. =i 



The Lawn ll'illtam Falconer. 22 



The Forest : 



Forest Trees for Cal Ifornia R. IF. Hil.^ard. 23 



Growing Deciduous Forest Trees from Seeds Robert Douglas. 23 



Answers to CorrespondetUs Professor B. E. Fernoio. 23 



Recent PtmLiCATioNS : — Gleanings in Old Garden Literature — Flora Peoriana — 

 Shade and Ornamental Trees Suitable lor Cultivation in Queens Cotmty, 



N. Y. — Trees of Reading, Mass 23 



Public Works : — Tree Planting on Boston Harbor 24 



Flower IMarket: — New York — Philadelphia — Boston 24 



Illustrations ; 



Asa Giay, Photogravure Supplement. 



Kntranceto the Arnold Arboretum 17 



Lilium Gra)'i Dragon by C.E.Faxon. 19 



The I-led Mite 20 



The Future of American Gardening. 



T is not surprising that few examples of the gardener's art 

 _ in its highest development should be met wiih in Amer- 

 ica, especially in the more recently settled portions of the 

 country. Even where the designing and planting of a 

 garden are good, the element of time is needed to pi-oduce 

 that ripeness and repose which are so satisfying to the 

 contemplative mind. This mellow maturity which yet 

 gives no hint of deterioration and decay only comes 

 with years of care. A new country, or one of shifting 

 population not only lacks the interest which accompanies 

 long continued human association, but nature itself is not 

 subdued into that tranquil and home-like aspect which is 

 worn only where generation has succeeded generation, 

 each impelled by a strong local attachment to its birth- 

 place to conserve and develop its native beauties with 

 affection and intelligence. 



And )^et the American people are inferior to none in 

 general and genuine appreciation of natural beauty, and 

 no country in the world is endowed with nobler lainjscape 

 features, a more hospitable climate, or a greater richness 

 and variety of vegetation than our o\\n\. Nowhere are 

 flowers more universally cultivated or grown with greater 

 skill. In no other country has the business of the florist 

 been so developed and improved. Nowhere else have 

 the various forms of so-called "decorative gardening" 

 been so profusely practiced. Much of this migdit perhaps 

 fall under the condemnation of severe taste, but some e.x- 

 cuse for it is found in the fact that we have been con- 

 stantly struggling against wild nature, and something 

 trim and prim, ornate and artificial, is demanded, as a sign 

 that nature has been subjugated. It is noteworthy that 

 those who have been brought up on the pioneer line of 

 civilization admire, when they come to the older States, a 

 formal flower bed more than they do the best examples of 

 planting in the natural style, and this is jierhaps because the 

 latter is more suggestive of the untamed forces with which 



they always have been forced to fight. But whatever 

 may be the cause of this devotion to formal flower 

 gardening, the fact remains that the plants themselves are 

 cultivated with singular knowledge and success. 



On the other hand, in love of trees and skill in their cul- 

 tivation, we are far behind the English and Italians. In 

 street planting, especially in our larger town.s, we have 

 much to learn from the French, the Germans and other 

 continental nations, while in the skillful use of hardy 

 shrubs and herbaceous plants we are far excelled by other 

 nations. Great progress, however, has been made in this 

 country of late years in the cultivation of orchids and 

 various classes of green-house plants, and of these Amer- 

 ica now possesses collections hardly surpassed anywhere. 

 And finally, in the highest branch of gardening, the crea- 

 tion of landscape pictures, for which the growing of trees 

 and shrubs and flowers and vines is but mixing the colors 

 on the palette, we have still much to learn from older 

 countries. And yet, that American ability for work of 

 this kind is not excelled, is shown by some of the fine old 

 places on the Hudson, planted early in the century, 

 largely with native trees, which would kindle admira- 

 tion anywhere. Our older parks, too, like those of New 

 Yoi'k and Brooklyn, are consistent and impressive works 

 of art, and in spite of much neglect and mismanage- 

 ment, are noble monuments of their designers' taste and 

 skill, 



And there are signs of awakening here in artistic garden- 

 ing. This is seen in the many instances where men of 

 wealth are preparing spacious pleasure grounds about 

 their houses, and in the growing desire among those of 

 more modest means to beautify their home surroundings. 

 Above all is this tendency manifested in the more frequent 

 inquiry for aid from landscape gardeners and in the 

 number of young men who are turning toward this pro- 

 fession as one which has in it the hope of emolument and 

 distinction. 



The future of gardening in America, then, is bright with 

 promise. Our country offers to the landscape gardener 

 wonderful advantages in its endless variety of scenery, 

 the unrivaled richness of its Flora, and such diversity of 

 soil and climate that somewhere within its borders every 

 extra-tropical plant will grow. The imagination can con- 

 ceive of nothing more lovely and refreshing than a spring 

 garden in New England when vegetation bursts suddenly 

 forth from the restraints of the long winter; nothing more 

 glorious than the color that flames through New England 

 woodlands when trees and shrubs and humbler plants are 

 preparing for their season of rest. And what a field for the 

 artist is offered in the warm rich valleys of the southern 

 Alleghcnies, the home of the most beautifiil deciduous 

 forest of the world ! And as trees and shrubs which 

 have developed under the same sky, blend in softer and 

 more perfect harmonies of form and color than do those 

 brought together from different climates and continents, 

 here where the American forest culminates in its greatest 

 beauty and richness of composition, the artist capable of 

 using all this wealth of vegetation will find his greatest 

 opportunity. And here, too, he can collect, if Nature has 

 not supplied him with sufficient material for his pictures, 

 the plants of all the temperate zones — the evergreens of 

 China and japan, the Rhododendrons of the Himalayas, 

 the trees of "Europe and the Conifers from the highlands of 

 Mexico. Another ideal garden could be made on our 

 north-west coast, where plants which luxuriate in the moist 

 regions of the temperate zone would be at home ; while in 

 southern California could be gathered the trees of the 

 IMexican plateau, of the Mediterranean basin, of Australia, 

 and of all the dry countries of the world, and here gardens_ 

 might be made surpassing in richness and variety of 

 interest even those of the Riviera. 



With such advantages we may reasonably look forward 

 to a time when this country will be a land of gardens. 

 ^^'hat is now needed is that the gathering interest in plant- 

 ing should be properly directed and developed. The basis of 



