April iS, iS88.] 



Garden and Forest. 



93 



MauUi), which lias flowers like the common Japan Quince, but 

 moreorange in color — some call it orange red or orange scarlet. 

 Small bushes of it, which are always very twiggy and spreading, 

 have every shoot wreathed with bloom, which, in contrast to 

 the pale green foliage, is admirable. This, too, requires very 

 little forcing, but more than the purple-leaved Plum, because it 

 naturally flowers later in the season. Waterer's Cherry (/V-z^/z/j 

 Pseudo-Cerasus Watereri) is matchless in its way when forced 

 into liloom in March. The flowers are double and white, with 

 just a suggestion of pink. A good plant of this in a conserva- 

 tory or room lasts in bloom a long time, and in my opinion is 

 very difficult to excel. Forsythia siispensa, and F. Fortiinei, 

 also force well, the plants hang like clouds of yellow bloom, if 

 not unduly forced. The third week in March, onward, is not 

 too early for them. W. G. 



Consider the Lilies. — As soon as the weather will permit, and 

 the ground becomes dry, e.xamine Lilies planted in the fall, and 

 where the frost has disturbed them make the soil firm by 

 treading it down. All Lilies should be mulched in the fall, but 

 if this was neglected it should be done at once. No better 

 mulch can be used than equal parts of leaves and half-rotted 

 chopped manure. It should be at least four inches deep. Such 

 Lilies as L. auratuni, L. IVallacci, L. Lciclitlini, all forms of 

 L. speciositm, and the species which flower after July, can be 

 planted now with success, if it is done at once, and the bulbs 

 are strong and plump. The top of the bulb should be three 

 inches below the surface when the work is finished. Strong 

 or green manure should not be used, rather plant with none ; 

 but if a compound of well-rotted manure and leaves can be 

 had, use a spadeful for each bull.) and mi.x it thoroughly with 

 the soil. Plant firmly and mulch. 



Peonies will be greatly benefited by a few forkfuls of 

 manure placed around each plant. These gorgeous and 

 easily cultivated flowers are fast growing in favor. Blooming 

 as they do immecUately after the first hint of summer weather, 

 they should, in theii season, hold as high a place in popular 

 estimation as does the Chrvsanthemum later in the vear. 



J ■ 7- T. 



The Yellow-wood. 



OUR illustration on page 92 represents a specimen of 

 the Yellow-wood which grows in a garden near 

 Boston. This tree is about forty years planted, and is 

 thirty-five feet high, with a spread of branches of nearly 

 sixty feet. Botanists know the Yellow-wood as Cladrastis 

 Imctoria. The generic name Cladrastis is of rather obscure 

 derivation, but the specific name relates to the wood, 

 which yields a clear yellow dye. Originally this -tree was 

 erroneously referred to the genus Virgilia as V. lutca, and 

 by that name it is still best known, and more often spoken 

 of by cultivators than as Cladrastis, the name Virgilia being 

 now often used as an English word in speaking of this 

 tree. The Yellow-wood is one of the rarest trees in the 

 North American forests. It grows only in a few isolated 

 localities from middle Kentucky and Tennessee to the ex- 

 treme south-western portions of North Carolina ; and is 

 found on rich hill-sides and on steep rocky river-bluffs. It 

 was discovered by the elder Wichaux, the French botanist, 

 during one of his last journeys into the territory west of 

 the Alleghanies, and was introduced into Europe late in the 

 last century. Few trees are more beautiful at all seasons 

 of the year ; and few adapt themselves more rapidly to 

 varied conditions of soil and climate, or are more thorough- 

 ly satisfactory in cultivation. The trunk of the Yellow- 

 wood often divides near the base, or throws out large low 

 branches, and while this habit renders it particularly beau- 

 tiful as a lawn or ornamental tree, as our illustration shows, 

 it increases the danger of old specimens splitting in the 

 fork or losing their branches. This often occurs owing to 

 their brittleness ; and this is the only drawback to this tree 

 in cultivation which has yet appeared. It is very hardy as 

 far north as New England and grows rapidly in all soils 

 and situations ; although, like other deciduous trees, it 

 needs deep, rich soil to bring out its greatest beauties. No 

 insects prey upon its dark green, graceful foliage; its beau- 

 tiful, long, pendulous racemes of pure white fragrant flowers 

 appear in June when most other trees have passed their 

 blooming period ; and the clear yellow tints of the autumn 



foliage contrast pleasantly with the scarlets of Oaks and 

 Maples. The Yellow-wood is a beautiful object in winter. 

 The perfectly smooth, light-gray bark of its trunk and the 

 delicacy of its branchlets recall the American Beech, which 

 alone among our native trees excels it in these characters. 



The wood of this tree has considerable value in addition 

 to its value as a dye-wood, and if it could be obtained in 

 sufficient quantities would find many uses. It is heavy 

 and very hard, strong, close grained and susceptible of a 

 good polish. Its color when first cut is bright, clear yellow, 

 changing with exposure to light brown. At one time it 

 was prized in Kentucky and Tennessee for gunstocks. 



A second species of the genus Cladrastis is known (C 

 Aniweiisis), a small tree from Manchuria, with smooth 

 brown bark and short spikes of small inconspicuous flow- 

 ers. This tree is perfectly hardy in New England, where it 

 flowers and ripens its fruit very freely. It is, however, in- 

 ferior in every way to our American species as an orna- 

 mental tree, and is hardly worth cultivating except as a 

 curiosity. C. S. S. 



The Forest. 



Influence of Undergrowth on the Increase of 

 Timber. 



ATI /HILE we are talkino- of forestry as if it consisted simply 



' ' in the planting of trees, or in preventing the lumber- 

 man from cutting wastefully, or in protecting the woods from 

 fire, we are apt to overlook another much more positive and 

 practicable oljjcct of forestry, which consists in making the 

 most of our remaining natural growth, or in improving ttie 

 young forest that nature provides after the virgin timber has 

 been removed. In the Northwestern States especially there 

 is a large area of second growth which is much inferior to 

 what it might be, in kinds of timber, quality and fitness of 

 crop. Here is where forestry should first be applied to fill out 

 bare spots, to improve the crop, to make it grow more readily, 

 to favor superior kinds, and so on. The whole theory of thin- 

 ning should be carefully studied by holders of such forest 

 property, for a dollar spent now in this direction may return 

 manifold and earlier, than if nature is allowed to go on in her 

 bungling ways. 



While, theoretically, a tree with the full enjoyment of light 

 would produce more leaves and therefore more wood than 

 the one that is narrowed in by neighbors, on the other lian'd, 

 the densely shaded soil offers more favorable conditions of 

 growth than the open, bare or sodded ground. To balance 

 these two factors of growth so as to produce an optimum is 

 one object of forest management. The beneficial infiuence 

 which undergrowth e.xerts upon the physical conditions of the 

 forest soil, especially in preventing undue drying out by sur- 

 face evaporation, is so well recognized, that the establishment 

 of such undergrowth forms often an important part of forest 

 management, for the beneficial influence upon the soil is 

 naturally reflected in the prosperity of the principal growth. 



The writer has seen a number of oaks some eighty years 

 old which were left standing on a clearing to grow on for the 

 next rotation, sickening and dying at the top. As soon as 

 the young growth of hard wood underneath had covered up 

 the foot of these oaks, they revived, recovered fully, and grew 

 vigorously. Observance of these effects, of light on the crown 

 and shade at the foot, has given rise to a management, by 

 which, either a well grown forest is thinned out, leaving a cer- 

 tain numlier of trees to produce more quickly heavy sizes 

 under the increased light influence and underplanting these 

 for the purpose of preserving good soil conditions ; or else, a 

 naturally thin stand of trees may be so undergrown, in order to 

 improve the production of the principal growth. 



Such stands are not unfrecjuently found in Germany, where 

 the villagers have tried to combine pasturage with tree-growth, 

 mostly oak, by which the latter usually got the worst of it ; the 

 trees after a certain time showing no appreciable increase. 

 The numerical result of this management may be seen from 

 the following actual measurements. 



In 1856 a stand of oaks then 130 years old, under which pas- 

 turage had been practiced, was thinned out and undergrown 

 with beech, and last winter, thirty years after the operation, 

 it was cut with the following results per acre : 



a. Principal growth : 45 oaks, of 68 feet average height, 

 yielding 3,320 cubic feet of solid wood, of which 2,082 cubic 

 feet or 64 per cent, were over 6 inches in liianietter, fit for 



