April 25, 1888.] 



Garden and Forest. 



105 



once with the hoe. The Strawberry is a good feeder, and 

 wood ashes, nitrate of soda, common phosphates or almost 

 any fertihzer will be acceptal)le. The proper time to apply, 

 however, is before planting, and I would select yard manure 

 if I could have my choice. The earliest berries will be found 

 on the sunny side of dry knolls, or adjoining tight board fences, 

 or timber belts that afford protection. A cold-frame with glass 

 over a portion of the bed will cause those thus covered to 

 ripen before their less favored sisters. 



It is not easy to explain why Raspberry and Blackberry 

 plantations deteriorate when tlie dead canes are not removed, 

 but such is the fact. Possibly the dead wood absorbs too much 

 moisture from the roots. I often renew an old plantation by 

 mowing off both dead and livingcanes close to the earth while 

 the soil is frozen, hoeing and fertilizing afterward. As the 

 plants attain age they throw up too many canes, thus causing 

 the small berries found on old plantations. We often thin 

 out the bearing canes on old plantations one-half. These fruits, 

 and in fact most fruits, abhor an undrained soil. Wet land 

 is the principal source of failure with the Raspberry and Black- 

 berry. It is the cause of winter killing and feeble growth. 

 LaSt season many Raspberries turned brown and withered be- 

 fore ripening, lessening the crop one-third. The severe freez- 

 ing of the previous winter enfeebled the plants. On high, drv 

 lands less loss of this character was observed. 



Patrick Barry used to say that the quality of a Black Rasp- 

 berry was hardly worth considering, but I think he would not 

 say so now, for the varieties dilTer greatly in quality. Mam- 

 moth Cluster is among the best, and Gregg is most deficient in 

 quality. Red Raspberries differ in quality as much as apples. 

 There are few who enjoy the better varieties, as they are not 

 hardy, but they can be easily protected. Franconia possesses 

 many of the good qualities of the better class of red, and 

 Brinckles' Orange of the yellow. In Blackberries the old Law- 

 ton and Kittatinny have not been excelled in size and ciuality, 

 l)ut it must be remembered that they are seldom permitted to 

 ripen fully. If eaten as soon as they color they suggest sips of 

 vinegar or lemon juice, but a week later they soften and are 

 sweet, as wild honey. 

 Rochester, N. Y. Charles A. Green. 



ing over the Wissahickon hills and is closing in upon its hiding 

 place. This means that the Trailing Arbutus, and manv 

 another wild beauty, will soon be lost to us. JosephMeehan. 



Peat Muck for Trees or Lawns. — The cleanings of ponds, or 

 peat-muck dug out of the swamps, if carted into a heap on dry 

 ground and left there for one or two winters to freeze and pul- 

 verize, is then in capital condition to mix with soil fortreesand 

 shrubs. Indeed, it is the best thing we can add to the soil for 

 this purpose. It has an excellent effect on nearly every kmd of 

 loamy, gravelly or sandy soils. Its free use on clayey lands 

 renders them more open and congenial to tree and other plant 

 roots, and less liable to bake and crack in summer. On gravelly 

 andsandy land it has an ameliorating and fertilizing influence ; 

 besides, it enables the land to hold manure better than it did 

 before the muck had been used. Jarvis Field — the base-ball 

 grounds at Harvard College — was leveled, graded and laid 

 down fresh to grass some years ago. The land is very sandy ; 

 indeed, so sandy, that, unassisted by clay, loam or muck, a good 

 stand of grass could not be jiroduced and retained on it. As 

 any quantity of muck could be had conveniently, it was freely 

 used, and a good sward secured. The idea is sometimes en- 

 tertained that about as much muck as manure will be sufti- 

 cient. But in preparing holes for trees, one-fourth the bulk of 

 the soil of m uck will be little enough. On sandy land for grass, 

 a layer three tosix inches deepallover, and this well plowe'dand 

 harrowed into the ground, but still kept near the surface, will 

 be none too much. But muck alone will not retain a vigorous 

 sod ; surface-dressings of manure should also be used. Lawns, 

 in making which muck has been freely used, should be well 

 rolled early every spring, else the frost will leave their surface 

 puckered and uneven. W. F. 



Transplanting the Arbutus. — The trailing Arbutus is so rarely 

 seen in cultivation that there is some color for the prevalent 

 opinion that it is difficult to transplant. If there is a serious dis- 

 turbance of the root the plant nearly always dies, but I have 

 transplanted it many dmes with perfect success. The work has 

 always been done in early spring, just after the flowering is 

 over. A trowel or spade is run down well around the jjlant, 

 so that a good ball of earth comes with it. Sturdy, small, 

 bushy plants are the best. Of course a shady place should be 

 selected for it. I once set a ])lant among son'ie rocks in a hol- 

 low, shaded by trees ; anotlier time at the foot of a small 

 hillock facing north, in both of which situations it flourished 

 and flowered. About Philadelphia tlie east bank of the Wis- 

 sahickon is a. favorite spot for this plant, but the city is spread- 



Petalostemon decumbens is one of the good hardy herbaceous 

 plants that bloom in May. Its flowers are borne in dense 

 spikes of rose throughout the summer. It is one of the legumes, 

 and very distinct, rare and beautiful. It is most suitable for 

 the alpine garden. An established plant will cover nearly a 

 square yard ; and as it dies back every fall to an unbranched 

 woody rootstock, from which all decumbent flowering stems 

 arise, it remains much of the same size and condition for 

 years, and can never become a nuisance like some other 

 pretty plants, by becoming too obtrusive. It reaches a height 

 of six or eight inches. T. D. Hatfield. 



The Forest. 



The Forest Vegetation of Northern Mexico.- 



-II. 



WisUzeni, Walson Cottonwood.* — 

 was purposely conveyed in the 



Populus Frenioniii, var. 

 Though the impression 



preceding article that, the high plains of North Mexico are 

 destitute of arborescent vegetation, a few unimportant ex- 

 ceptions must be mentioned. Conspicuous among these 

 is this Cottonwood, which rears high its rounded head of 

 abundant bright green foliage, in striking contrast through- 

 out most of the year with the gray and brown tints of the 

 surrounding landscape. This tree is not abundant, be- 

 cause water is not abundant ; for it is a sure index of the, 

 presence of living water either on the surface of the soil or 

 not far below it. It grows scatteringly along streams or 

 clustered about springs. Its centre of distribution is on 

 the Rio Grande, and it follows this river northward to its 

 upper waters in south Colorado and the tributaries of this 

 river from whatever direction into their narrower mountain 

 canons. Westward it ranges along the boundary quite to 

 the Pacific, and southward extensively through the valleys 

 of Mexico, and there often carried by man considerably 

 l)eyond its indigenous limits. 



Cheering to the traveler over heated and dusty hills and 

 ])lains is the sight of its shining leafage with promise of 

 refreshing shade and water. The Mexicans seem to regard 

 this tree with sentiments similar to those cherished by the 

 Orientals for the Palm or the New Englander for the Maple. 

 They plant it by the water, convenient to which they have 

 built their dvi'ellings, and set it along their irrigating ditches. 

 No visitor to JMexico but has noticed and admired that pe- 

 culiar feature of Mexican cities, the avenue of grand old 

 Poplars, double-lined on each side it may be, kept alive 

 and flourishing, if on high ground, by streams of water 

 conducted along the rows. The Spanish name for the Cot- 

 tonwood — for any species of Poplar, in fact — is Alamo, 

 that for this avenue Alameda, a noun having the form of 

 the perfect participle — that is to say, the Poplared place. 



Perhaps it is owing to this sentiment as much as to his 

 proverbial inertia, that the Mexican so generally withholds 

 his axe from his Alamos. I have never seen the tree sys- 

 tematically pollarded for firewood in Mexico, as is the 

 practice of Americans in southern California. Seldom is it 

 robbed of its branches, unless they are wanted for plant- 

 ing. In this matter, as in so many others, the Mexican 

 shows his lack of enterprise. His scanty supply of fuel is 

 mostly gleaned amongst Scrub Oaks of mountain sides or 

 the paltry shrubbery of mesas, and brought by pack trains 

 of donkej's through ten or twenty weary miles, when much 

 of it might be grown on stumps along the waste borders of 

 the valley stream or in its torrent-swept gravel. 



Nevertheless, when necessity compels, the Alamo, yield- 

 ing in many places almost the only procurable timber of 

 much size, serves, as I have seen, for the few purposes be- 

 sides fuel required by these simple people — for beams of 

 inferior quality to support the earth covering of the poorer 

 dwellings, mere mud hovels, for crotched posts of bough- 

 covered porches and sheds attached to these, for the huge 

 bars and bar posts and the stockade of corrals for cattle, 



* See illustration, paee 104. 



