82 



Garden and Forest. 



[Aprii, II, i8 



Acacia pubescens. — This plant was introduced into cultiva- 

 tion a century ago by Sir Joseph Banks, but no one lias ever 

 tired of the beauty of a fine specimen when in bloom. Com- 

 ing from the extra-tropical regions of Southern Australia, it 

 can be kept in a cool house where the temperature does not 

 fall below 40°, and it requires the simplest treatment. It 

 comes into bloom in February and continues to flower from 

 four to six weeks. Although the flowers when cut wither in a 

 few hours, a well grown specimen in bloom is singularly 

 beautiful. I lately saw one that had grown up with a single 

 stem and then spread out into the form of a tree some ten 

 feet high, with broad top and drooping branches. Every twig 

 was thickly hung with pendulous racemes of canary yellow 

 flowers, which showed at their best against the delicate foliage, 

 and made a sight to be remembered long. .S. A. 



Hardy Rhododendrons. — Let me add to the list of hardy Rho- 

 dodendrons given in Garden and Forest of March 14th the 

 names of the following, which come through the winters of 

 this latitude in perfect safety : 



Chancellor, dark purplish crimson; Cyanum, bluish white; 

 Gloriosum, creamy white ; Michael Waterer, crimson spotted; 

 Minnie, bluish white ; Perspicuum, clear white ; Pictum, clear 

 white, spotted ; Queen, cream, edged with pink, and Oculatum, 

 light pink. Josepli Median. 



CJermaEitown, Pa. 



The Forest. 



Tree Planting in California. 



THE following is part of an address delivered before 

 the American Horticultural Society at its late meet- 

 ing, at Riverside, California, by Mr. Robert Douglas : 



The Legislature of the State of California has granted an 

 appropriation for the establishment of experimental stations 

 for testing fruit, ornamental and forest trees. And its citizens 

 generally seem to be awake to the necessity of planting forest 

 trees. 



This experimental work cannot be commenced too soon, for 

 while individual enterprise has been employed in thoroughly 

 experimenting with every kind of fruit to an extent which is 

 simply wonderful, the nobiC indigenous trees of theStatehave 

 been sadly neglected. In feed, with the exception of a few 

 stately specimens in the Capitol grounds at Sacramento, we 

 rarely find a specimen except the Monterey Cyprus {Cupressus 

 macrocarpa) and Monterey i>\ne'Piiins insignis) planted every- 

 where, while specimens' of Sequoia gigantea, S. scmpervi- 

 rens, Cupressus Lawsoniana, C. Goveina?ia, Thuya gigantea, 

 Libocedrus deciirrens, Pseudoisuga Dottglasii, Pieea Sitcliensis, 

 Abies coneolor, and other noble Silver Firs and Pines are rarely 

 met with. 



Forestry is a subject of great importance to this State, and 

 the time will soon arrive when it cannot longer be neglected. 

 The conditions here differ so materially from those of the 

 Atlantic slope that our experience there will not avail us to 

 any great extent here. Forestry here must be confined mainly 

 to desert and hilly lands that cannot be irrigated. 



A transient visitor from the East, looking from the window 

 of a sleeping-car, would see a very discouraging prospect. The 

 desert is certainly not promising to him, and the hills look little 

 better. The word, desert, is not well understood. Many agri- 

 culturists and horticulturists in Kansas and Nebraska claim tliat 

 they have brought their land from a desert to rich fertile land 

 within two or three decades. They tell you that their States 

 are a part of the " Great American Desert," and refer you to a 

 school-geography to prove what they say, but the v do not seem 

 to notice the fact that in this same school-book there are wood- 

 cuts of Indians chasing immense herds of buffaloes, wading 

 through very tall grass. 



When the emigration of 1849 went through the Territory of 

 which Kansas and Nebraska is now a part — and that was before 

 there was a white settler in the territorv— the land lying between 

 the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains was called the 

 Plains. The desert of the " Forty-niners "lav between the sink 

 of the Humboldt and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. And many 

 years before that time the Santa F^ traders crossed the Plains 

 from Leavenworth to Santa F^. 



The settlers in Kansas and Nebraska claim that they can 

 grow cultivated crops where they could not be grown twenty- 

 five years ago. This is undoubtedly true and can lie readily 

 accounted for. 



Before the whites settled west of the Missouri River the land 



through central Kansas and Nebraska was covered with Buf- 

 falo Grass, which kept the rains from penetrating the ground 

 almost as eftectually as would a shingle roof. I have thrust 

 my cane into the ground a few minutes after it has been flooded 

 with rain, and found it as dry as dust two inches from the sur- 

 face. The rain ran off in torrents into the ravines and "draws" 

 without having a perceptible effect except on the surface. You 

 might see the plains coveied with water, looking like a lake 

 with many islands, and within two hours from that time scarcely 

 a sign that there had been any rain at all. Since that time mil- 

 lions of acres have been plowed in Kansas and Nebraska, and, 

 aside from this, i47,oooacres have been planted with forest trees 

 in Kansas, besides a large number planted last year ; and a great 

 many more have been planted in Nebraska than in Kansas. 



Now, when we consider that an inch of rain is equal to one 

 hundred tons of water per acre, and multiply the millions of 

 acres of plowed land by the number of inches or hundreds of 

 tons that have been absorbed in the plowing, which formerly 

 ran off, we can see that the settlers have materially changed 

 the condition of the plains. 



While your desert lands look very unpromising to the tourist, 

 even when compared with the plains, the close observer will 

 see many things, aside from climate, in your favor. 



Any one studying these deserts carefully will see that, lying 

 neglected, they must be gradually growing drier and drier. 

 This is plainly to be seen. We see that where deep lakes once 

 overflowed no water stands now. Where monstrous trees once 

 grew, as shown in the petrified forests, only pigmies in com- 

 parison grow now. We see that the channels of die streams 

 are gradually being cut deeper, which, oi course, drains the 

 country more rapidly. 



Although I have not had the opportunities for studying tree- 

 growth on this side of tlie continent that I have had on the 

 other side, I have yet seen some very encouraging signs. I 

 have seen chang"es recently in parts of the country I went 

 overin 1849 "^3' <i''6 well worth notingand give great promise, 

 even on what were then desert lands pure and simple. On the 

 other hand, I have carefully observed, especially in one or two 

 cases, that among millions of trees covering miles on the side 

 of a desert, I could not lind a single tree less than fifty or 

 seventy-five years old, although these trees are covered with 

 seeds and there are no indications of a fire ever having visited 

 them. This is proof, to my mind, that the climate is drier, as 

 seeds cannot germinate now where they produced seedlings 

 less than a century ago. 



Any one who has studied these desert lands, even when on 

 a flying trip, will see enough to convince him that if irrigation 

 could be secured there would be very little desert land in this 

 State. I firmly believe that on any desert land where Sage 

 Brush and other slirubs are growing' even sparsely, forest trees 

 will grow if the land is cleared and well plowed, which is a 

 very cheap aijd simple affair compared either with clearing 

 gruti-Iand, timber-land, or breaking prairie in the Eastern 

 States. 



The forest trees must be planted during the rainy season, 

 and cultivated at least during the succeeding season. It is sur- 

 prising to see how the land in this State endures drought when 

 compared with similar land on the other side of the continent. 

 I have seen our gravelly land in Illinois withoutapparent mois- 

 ture at tliree feet in depth after a drought of only six weeks. I 

 have noticed men digging only two feet deep for telephone 

 poles in this State and the moisture was perceptible, although 

 there had been no rain for nearly six months. 



This is not a solitary case, but it is usual, as I havefrequentlv 

 noticed in new railroad-cuts. In the East a hard-pan lies at a 

 certain depth from the surface, through which the moisture 

 cannot be brought up by capillary attraction. In this State the 

 soil generally is loose and porous down to the bed-rock, how- 

 ever deep that may be, consequently all the deciduous fruits 

 may be grown without irrigation, but they must be thoroughly 

 cultivated to get the best results. 



All through the San Gabriel Valley, and in other parts of the 

 State that I have visited, the indigenous trees thrive best on the 

 north sides of the hills — indeed, the hills are generally destitute 

 of tree-growth on their southern sides, bearing' only shrubs, 

 perennial and annual plants, and a scanty growth at that. Yet 

 I have seen Eucalyptus growing, when planted, on the very 

 summits of some of these hills, and on their southern slopes. 

 In very many of these hills the soil is rich enough for tree- 

 growth, even to the very summit — indeed, I do not remember 

 an exception, unless in cases where the rock protruded. 



Itbecomes me to touch the subject of irrigation with modesty, 

 for I received a severe rebuke for the first opinion I ventured 

 to express. A gentleman was irrigating a fine Araucaria ; he 

 had the earth scraped away from the collar of the tree, forming 



