142 



Garden and Forest. 



[May 16, 18 



best development on the broader summits or in canons, it 

 suppb'es timbers for supports in mines, which well resist 

 decay. 



By far the most abundant trees, however, are Oaks, 

 represented by two species, Querctis Emoryi, Torr. , and 

 QnercHS grisea, Leibm. , both evergreen, the former pre- 

 dominating about the base and in the lower canons, the 

 latter on the drier slopes and summits. Growing where 

 they iind more room and light than moisture, they branch 

 low and form broad heads, and make very meagre annual 

 growths. Old age overtakes them by the time they have 

 reached a diameter of twelve or sixteen inches, and the 

 axeman usually finds them hollow and defective. Their 

 wood is brittle, knotty and contorted, of little value except 

 as fuel, of which it supplies by far the larger part used in 

 the country. Cut into short lengths, and split if large, it is 

 bound by ropes to the backs of donkeys, a good wheel- 

 barrow load on either side, and thus carried from mountain 

 heights and steeps to ox-carts at the base, or more often 

 quite to the distant town. 



Quercus ob/ongi/oHa, Ton-., a species similar in character 

 and quality to Q. grisea, is, so far as I have explored, com- 

 paratively scarce. (See illustration, page 140.) I suspect 

 its range is mainl)' on the Pacific slope, with its centre 

 of distribution in southern Arizona or Sonora ; while Q. 

 grisea is of most extensive distribution- — from southern 

 Colorado southward as far, certainly, as the State of 

 Michoacan. 



Quercus undulala, Torr., var. brevi/oba, Eiigeli/i., also re- 

 sembling Q. grisea, seems to be a smaller tree than that, to 

 be less common, and to grow on lower hills. 



Quercus undula/a, Torr., var. pungens, Eiigd/n., is but a 

 shrub forming thickets in canons. 



The ash, Fraxinus cuspidala, Torr., usually considered a 

 frutescent species, I have seen in deep cafions attaining 

 arborescent dimensions — a diameter of six or eight inches 

 and height of twenty feet. On account of its large pani- 

 cles of white flowers and their exquisite, pervading fra- 

 grance, it is worthy of being brought into cultivation 

 wherever practicable. 



A few other arborescent species occur on those ranges 

 visited by me, but as they are stragglers merely from 

 other districts this is not the place to describe them. 



C. G. Pringle. 



Correspondence. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — Let me add to your lists of Rhododendrons the names of 

 the varieties that have proved hardy on Long Island. Album, 

 Album elegans, Album granditlorum, Bicolor, Blandum, Carac- 

 tacus, Charles Bagley, Charles Dickens, Ccelestinum, Candidis- 

 simum, Everestianum, Gloriosum (Parsons), Grandiflorum, 

 Glennyanum, H. W. Sargent, Lady Armstrong, Lees Pallida, 

 Mrs. Milner, Perspicuum, Purpureum elegans, Purpureum 

 grandirtorum, ,Speciosum,Roseimi elegans, Roseum superbum. 



The following are American seedlings : Abraham Lincoln, 

 Aurora, Bertie Parsons, Dr. Torrey, Flushing, General Grant, 

 Henry Probasco, Ma.ximum superhinn, Purjiureum crispum, 

 Roseum luteum. 



There are others, like Blandyanum, which do well only when 

 protected from the north and west wind, and others which are 

 still on trial. The American seedlings are exceptionally 

 hardy ; it would be useless to speculate upon the cause. 



It is difficult to understand why certain varieties should be 

 hardy in Boston and not here and why the converse also pre- 

 vails, unless one knows the environment, and the shelter, not 

 of covering, but of adjacent plantations. Then too the man- 

 ner of growing has much to do with it. Those grown in peat 

 except in wet places have not the vigor which will endure 

 cold. Mulching may modify the injury, but in the dry weather 

 of American summers peat is very injurious. Our own gar- 

 den soil is light loam and during thirty years we have found this 

 the best. After full trial we have avoided peat as we would no.\- 

 ious insects. 



While thus asserting that good free garden soil is the best 

 adapted to the Rhododendron, and while always striving to 

 give our plantations open exposure, I readily admit that on the 

 borders of ponds or in heavy adhesive clay, peat or sand ma 



be useful. I would not, however, place them in such positions 

 while I recollect that the native habitat of the Rhododendron is 

 Less in valleys than on the sides of hills and mountains. 



Your remark that a limestone soil is injurious is doubtless 

 true, but that should never be an obstacle to their culture when 

 leaf mould or other good material is easily obtained. 



The sorts we mention doubtless owe their immunity to the 

 fact of their being grafted plants as well as being grown with- 

 out peat. Propagation by layers is still practiced in Europe, 

 where old methods are persistently adhered to, but if we ex- 

 amine carefully the cause of the weakness of the layer will be 

 manifest. A layer is put in the grovmd, slowly forms a callus, 

 then slowly throws out its feeble rootlets, and, after long and 

 severe efforts, makes a root ball which will go in a tumbler. 

 In grafting, a scion is put upon a vigorous stock of R. Ponticum 

 and then grows into vigorous life with a far better root-support 

 than the best R. Catawbiense can give and which will fill a half 

 peck measure before the layer root will fill the tumbler. 



Layers also sprout in several branches from the ground and 

 may be useful for thickets. In grafted plants the whole 

 strength springs into one central shoot. One advantage of 

 grafting them is that we may use the more vigorous root and 

 open bark of R. Pontictan as a stock. A stock of R. Cataw- 

 biense or R. Maximum would Ije outgrown by the scion. 



The weaker the constitution of a variety, the more difficult 

 t is to make it thrive on its own roots ; it requires the support 

 of a stronger stock. Even strong varieties are improved by 

 being grafted. This is illustrated by General Grant, which ori- 

 ginally had very small trusses, while plants grafted from it 

 have good sized ones. 



Properly prepared, the stock of R. Ponticum rarely suckers 

 with us. If it did we should not be deterred from grafting 

 any more than the grower of Pear trees is deterred from graft- 

 ing or budding because Pear stocks will sucker. 



The preceding remarks apply also to the Ghent Azalea. 

 Twenty-five years ago we had Azalea coccinea from layers and 

 cuttings. In that time they have never grown over \% foot 

 high and always flowered poorly, while the plants grafted from 

 them made in five or six years more than the same height of 

 healthy wood. 



In 1873 we received from Belgium 3,000 Azaleas in 300 varie- 

 ties ; the grafted plants alone proved good ; the layered plants 

 were worthless and dwindled away. The same experience 

 and rule applies to Magnolias, Camellias and Chinese Azaleas. 



Many years ago and after repeated experiments we came to 

 the conclusion that for this country layering was the worst 

 mode of propagation that could be adopted. Subsequent ex- 

 perience after grafting over 200,000 Rhododendrons and 

 proportionate quantities of other plants jias thoroughly con- 

 firmed us and we now rarely use layering for any plant. 



FKisiiint;, N. Y. Sam'l B. ParsoHs. 



[We have never seen Rhododendrons successfully grown 

 on a limestone soil, but have known of many failures 

 where the utmost care was exercised and every expedient 

 to overcome its deleterious effects tried. That peat is 

 injurious in a Rhododendron bed is contrary to general 

 experience. — Ed. ] 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — I was glad to see the article in your issue of April iSth 

 calling attention to the success of the Japanese in landscape 

 gardening. The subject is of extreme interest to all who care 

 tor art in connection with gardening, and I trust that some day 

 you will be able to treat it more extensively and accurately 

 than has yet been done by any European writer. Meanwhile 

 perhaps the following extract from a German book — Rein- 

 hold's "Japan und die Japanesen" — may be welcomed by 

 your readers. 



" I do not know any other nation which has such a love for 

 nature and its beauties as the Japanese. Scarcely a house is 

 to be seen without a garden, in the laying out and keeping up 

 of which no pains are spared. But as in most cases the space 

 for gardens is very limited in the cities, the Japanese take 

 great delight in miniature creations which, however, are very 

 different irom those one finds in China. The Chinaman's 

 taste runs to the unnatural. His plastic representations are not 

 copies, but caricatures of nature, and to our ideas are most re- 

 pulsive. ■ He lavishes time, inoney and labor on such con- 

 structions and finds satisfaction in having created something 

 that harmonizes as little as possible with nature. His dwarf 

 trees, artificial rocks and miniature landscapes therefore at- 

 tract our attention to be sure, but not because they are beauti- 

 ful — merely because they are curious. A criterion of their 



