84 



Garden and Forest. 



[Aprii, II, iS 



every flower is cut every da)', and no seed allowed to form, 

 the, same plants, with good tall brush to run over, will pro- 

 duce flowers until frost. There will be no need of another 

 sowinLT for succession. — Ed.] 



Recent Publications. 



U'infa' : From the Journal of Henry D. Thorcau ; edited 

 by H. G. O. Blake. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1888. 



^Thoreau left behind him at his death a very voluminous 

 journal in which he had noted down from day to day the sights 

 which had met his eyes in the woods and fields of Concord, and 

 the thoughts wliich they excited in his mind. On one page of 

 this journal he said that it might be well to write " a book of 

 the seasons ;" but as he never accomplished this task it was 

 wisely thought that another hand should compile such a volume 

 Irom'the notes which he had jotted down, perhaps in half-con- 

 scious preparation for it. Several years ago " Early Spring in 

 Massachusetts: From the Journal of Henry D. Thoreau," was 

 accordingly issued by Mr. Vl. G. O. Blake; " Summer " followed 

 i'l 1884, and just now we have been given " Winter " ia a sim- 

 ilar form. 



More delightful books than these it would be hard for the 

 lover of nature to find. Thoreau was not merely one of the 

 keenest and most patient, but one of the most poetic of observ- 

 ers ; liis poetic instincts were of that philosophizing kind which 

 bring the inmost soul and needs of man into perpetual relation 

 with external things ; and his style is almost unsurpassed for 

 clearness, simplicity, individuality and charm. Whatever he 

 saw, he saw with the soul as well as with the eyes ; and he saw 

 everything — from the liroadest or most fleeting landscape effects 

 to the most tender beauties of the liumljlest insect, animal or 

 flower. His feeling for beauty was as intense as his delight in 

 the facts of animal and vegetable existence. If he never speaks 

 like a scientific liotanist, he always speaks like an accurate ob- 

 server, yet always, as has been said, like a poet, too. And when 

 he paints for us what he sees, it is in words wliich sound like 

 the thoughts of an artist translated from paint into language, 

 with a skill of which he almostalone, among writers of English, 

 has found the secret. There is no artifice, and not even any 

 conscious art, in his manner of writing. What we have in 

 these books are simply notes jotted down at the moment, often 

 out-of-doors, and always for his own eye only. Yet take such 

 a passage as this, for example, and try to match it from the 

 pages of any other writer : " Each little blue curl caly.x "-^he is 

 speaking of a little astersheathed in ice — "has aspherical but- 

 ton, like those over a little boy's jacket, little sprigs of them ; 

 and the pennyroyal has still smaller spheres more regularly 

 arranged about its stem, chandelier-wise, and still smells 

 through the ice. The finest grasses support the most wonder- 

 ful burdens of ice and most bunched on their minute threads. 

 These v^-eeds are spread and arched over into the snow again, 

 countless little arches a few inches high, each cased in ice, 

 which you break with a tinkling crash at each step. The 

 scarlet fruit of the cockspur lichen, seen glowing through the 

 more opaque wdiitish or snowy crust of the stump, is, on close 

 inspection, the richest sight of all, for the scarlet is increased 

 and multiplied by reflection through the bubbles and hemi- 

 spherical surfaces of the crust, as if it covered some vermil- 

 ion grain thickly strewn. The brown cup lichens stand in their 

 midst. The whole rouch bark, too, is encased." This for a 

 microscopic picture ; and this for a broad landscape effect : 

 " A beautiful, clear, not very cold day. The shadows on the 

 snow are indigo blue. The pines look very dark. The white- 

 oak leaves area cinnamon color, the lilack and red oak leaves 

 a reddish-brown or leather color. A partridge rises from the 

 alders and skims across the river at its widest part, just before 

 me ; a fine sight. How glorious tlie perfect stillness and peace 

 of the winter landscape." To cjuote from the more human, 

 more philosophical parts of this volume — parts which recall 

 the writings of Emerson in a way which does but accent their 

 own individuality — would be out of place just here. But inter- 

 mingled as these are with his manifold, exquisite pictures of 

 plant life and of landscape lieauty, they do much to make up 

 the charm of Thoreau's most charming book. 



In the Popular Seien<e Monthly for April will be fountl a 

 chapter on "The Earliest Plants," extracted from Sir William 

 Dawson's recently published "Geological History of Plants," and 

 further back in the thirty-second volume of the monthly — of 

 which the April number forms the concluding pages — is a dis- 

 cursive article by Grant Allen on " American Cinquefoils," and 

 one on " Our Forestry Problem " by Mr, B. E, Fernow, Chief of 

 the Forestry Division of the Department of Agriculture. 



Retail Flower Markets. 



New York, April bth. 



The trade in plants and cut Howers'was very large at Easter. Prices 

 held at a reasonable figure, only selected Hybrid Roses and "Longiflor- 

 um " Lilies being somewhat higher, and these only in certain localities. 

 This week there is a glut o£ cut flowers, and prices are low. The 

 choicest specimens of Hybrid Ruses with stems half a yard long, 

 sell for 75 cts. each. Madame Gabriel Luizet Ro.5es are inferior in 

 quality and cost $6 and $7 a dozen. Prime Puritans bring $g a 

 dozen. Extra tine La France Roses sell for 40 cts. each, and those 

 not so large for $2 and $4 a dozen. Ulrich Piriinner is exception 

 ally handsome and costs $6 a dozen. Selected Jac<.|ueminots are 

 86 a dozen, but the majority sell for half that price. The best Cath- 

 erine Mermets bring $2 a dozen, and Brides can be had for the same 

 money. Perles des Jardins of excellent quality cost Si a dozen, as 

 do selected Niphetos. Mignonette is abundant, a bunch of a dozen 

 spikes costing 50 cts. The Giant variety brings 15 cts. a spike. 

 Lilac holds firm at 50 cts. a spray of two tassels. Violets are of 

 good quality, the Marie Louise bringing $1,503 100 and the single 

 Russian 75 cts. Gardenias cost 25 cts. each. A^arcissus Pocticus is 

 Si a dozen. Daffodils, Lilies of-the-Valley and Tuli]js bring from 

 75 cts. to jfi a dozen. Liliuin Ipngijloritiii is much preferred to L. 

 I/aiyisit, and brings 40 and 50 cts. a flower where the latter arc sold 

 for 30 and 55 cts, Callas bring 25 cts. each. Cyclamen plants a\'erag- 

 ing twelve flowers are offered for 75 cts. A number of Easter wed- 

 dings in prospect will keep up a demand for specimen blooming 

 plants and choice cut flowers, Lilies-of-the-Valley in particular. This, 

 with La France Roses, is ordered extensively for ornamental curtains. 

 The steamer trade is just opening, and this will also help to make 

 business brisk. 



Philadelphia, April bih. 



Flowers and flowering plants were in greater demand than usual at 

 Easter. Lilium Harrisii and L. longifloruin were in fine condition, 

 averaging more flowers to the plant than have been seen here be- 

 fore, at prices ranging from 30 cts. 1050 cts. each. None of the leading 

 florists had trouble in disposing of their stock at the highest figures. 

 HydrangLa Olaksa and Thomas Hogg were very plentiful; the latter 

 A'ariety, which is a white one, seemed to sell the most readily. Plants 

 growing in 6 and 8-incli pots, with from four to eight well-developed 

 heads, sold at from $1 to $5 each. Hybrid Remontant Roses in pots 

 would have been more plentiful but for the dull weather in the early 

 part of the preceding week. Most o'f them \\'ere growing in 6-inch 

 pots and sold at from %\ to $1.50 each. Fine Azalea plants, half 

 standards, sold at from $2 to 810 each, and very large ones were in 

 demand at as high as$2of(jr special occasions. The customers at this 

 great floral festival have very little choice, as the demand is so great 

 that they must talcc what they can get. Six-inch pots full of Daffodil 

 \'an Tliol were plentiful and in demand at from 50 cts. to Si each. 

 Gnrdiiiia Jloridfi (Cape Jessamine) as a pot plant was a novelty here. 

 That is to say, it was scarce and had not been seen on these occasions 

 for some years past. The price x'aried from S5 to $7,50 each. Most of 

 them were growing in eight-inch pots and were from three to four 

 feet high. Hybrids were from S4 to $6 per dozen, excepting some 

 special sorts like Madame Gabriel Luizet, which reached the highest 

 figure at S7. 50 per dozen. Jacqueminots were in as great demand as 

 usual at from S3 to $5 per dozen. There is a falling off in the demand 

 for designs. Churches were profusely decorated, but without novel 

 features. There is very little leisure for a study of novelties in deco- 

 rations at this busy season. Some few Genistas in pots, both large 

 and small, proved useful for decorating and sold readily. Tulips, 

 Lilics-of-the-Valiey, Daftbdils, Freesias and all varieties of Roses, 

 xvere abundant, and sold at very good, though not exorbitant, prices. 



Boston, April bth. 



Easter Sunday and the two preceding days were perfect spring- 

 days, and in the bright weatlier the flower trade was unubually brisk. 

 Never before were so many flowers sold in Boston for Easter. There 

 was no scarcity, however, and prices were therefore reasonable. The 

 White Lily was the single exception, being in short supply, and late 

 comers were obliged to accept sutistitutes. After the Easter rush 

 there has followed a lull, but many fashionable weddings and other 

 social occasions are in prospect, and all signs point to a large con- 

 sumption of flowers this Spring. Roses are still abundant and of 

 superb quality. Jacqueminots and Hybritls of enormous size, and 

 with stems two feet or more in length, are to be seen in all the 

 fashionable florists' windows. These tiring from S4 to ,$8 per dozen. 

 The longest stemmed flowers always bring the highest price. Mer- 

 mets, Marechal Neils, Bcmietts and Perles are abundant, and are 

 offered as low as S' to Si. 50 per dozen. There are a few Lillies at 

 about one-half of the K.ister prices. Smilax is ^•ery scarce, and 

 the little that is offered is poor in quality. Long-stemmed Carna- 

 tions are 50 cts. to 75 cts. per dozen. Violets and Pansies, $1.50 per 

 hundred. For mixed collections of cut flowers there is a great 

 variety of bright and fragrant blooms, such as Lilies-of-the-Valley, 

 Tulips, Daffodils, Mignonette, Forget-me-not, Heather, Heliotrope, 

 Marguerites, etc., with fine Maiden Hair Ferns and Asparagus for 

 green. A bunch of " Pussy Willow " laid on a box of selected flow- 

 ers gives a pretty finish. 



