May 1 6, 



8.] 



Garden and Forest. 



143 



sesthetic value appears in the fact that we never have the de- 

 sire to copy or possess them, or even to gaze upon tiiem for 

 any lengtli of time. Quite tlie contrary is the case with 

 Japanese productions of tliis kind. Here we see tlie same 

 dwarf trees, tlie same imitative groups of roclvs, tlie same 

 grottoes, lakes and landscapes ; but even at tirst sight we are 

 captivated by the fact that we find nature in tliem all. We are 

 especially surprised by the completeness of the copy. We see 

 tliat such things could be produced only by the most refined 

 and subtile taste. Not only is nature imitated with painstak- 

 ing fidelity to her smallest details, but in these artificial crea- 

 tions even her more romantic beauties are portrayed. As in 

 their painting tlie Japanese labor under the same disadvantage 

 as the Chinese in ignoring the rules of perspective, it aston- 

 ishes us all the more to see that in tlieir gardens every law of 

 this science is obeyed and that we are imable to discover even 

 tlie smallest transgression. Occasionally a garden of this sort 

 will scarcely occupy an area of more than thirty or forty square 

 feet, but in itself it is a finished whole which not only satisfies 

 but delights the eye and heart by its faultless beauty. For- 

 getting that it is a product of art, we are transported to a Lillipu- 

 tian world such as our childish fancy loved to seek in fairy- 

 tales. 



" In consequence of its mountainous surface Japan is very 

 rich in the beauties of nature, and the variety of its flora in- 

 creases them in no small degree. The hedges and bushes are 

 brilliant with Camellias and Azaleas ; tree-like Rhododendrons 

 cover the hill-sides ; the feathery leaves of the Bamljoo wave 

 in the wind alongside of the wide-spreading branches of the 

 sacred Fir-tree ; and by the dark Japanese Palms {Rhapis, 

 ChamcErops, Cycas) glow the red leaves of the Majile or the 

 rich greens of the Waxtree(?). Wherever there is a beautiful 

 view we may count with certainty upon finding a convent, a 

 temple or a tea-house. They prove, however, that a 

 Japanese resorts to miniature creations only when he is 

 obliged to forego nature herself. Wherever she surrounds him 

 he can enjoy her without constraint. There he neither inntates 

 her features nor strives to force them into other shapes, but 

 is quite satisfied with her natural aspect. Therefore we never 

 find artificial gardens or parks where nature has created their 

 like." 



It need only be added, as was remarketl in your article 

 already referred to, that althougli when nature is beautiful the 

 Japanese does not resort to artificial arrangements of any 

 Idnd, he nevertheless always tries to develop nature's inten- 

 tions to the full, to remove all discordant details, and to height- 

 en by gentle care the native character of the spot. So beauti- 

 fully and unobtrusively is this done, that the eye of the tourist 

 may well be deceived into thinking that man has done noth- 

 ing, where in fact he is daily doing'nuich. E. G. G, 



To the Editor of G.A.RDEN" and Forest : 



Sir. — Can you inform me why it is that horses and cattle can 

 eat with impunity the shoots and leaves of the " Poison Ivy " ? 

 It is a well known fact that they are particularly fond of this 

 plant. 



Tiverton, R. I. Nanequiicut. 



[It is not at all uncommon for animals to eat with im- 

 punity some vegetable poisons which are fatal to man, as 

 there are some animal poisons fatal to cattle and not in- 

 jurious to man. No instance is recorded of the poisonous 

 action olRhus upon the lower animals, at least among Mam- 

 malia. Dr. Bigelow refers to an account of bees being 

 killed by swarming upon R. venenata, and it is stated that 

 insects nej'er attack the Japanese Varnish-tree. References 

 to this immunity of the lower animals will be found in 

 Professor James C. White's recent publication upon the ac- 

 tion of external irritants upon the skin. What is more 

 strange is the complete immunity of many individuals of 

 mankind from the action of all the poisonous species of 

 Rhus, who can chew the plants and rub them upon the 

 skin without the slightest irritative effect, whilst the mere 

 passage along a road bordered by the plants is suffi- 

 cient to provoke a severe inflammation of the skin in 

 others. — Ed.] 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — Allow me to take exception to Mr. Dana's wholesale 

 condemnation of the Norway Spruce, in his pleasant letter on 

 Conifers. It is indeed a somewhat stiff and prudish tree, and 

 has been doubtless over-planted in the way of makingdecorative 



green tufts about too many homesteads. But in fullness of 

 age, when it shows a great array of fieecy, pendent branchlets, 

 and of tawny cones, it has a majesty of its own. Moreover, 

 scarce one of our native Conifers, when mature, keeps sucii 

 vigor in its lower limbs ; thus insuring, for single planting, a 

 pyramidal piling up from the very turf of a tower of evergreen. 

 Our black and white Spruces, our Balsams, our Pines (the 

 Scotch Pine even more noticeably), are apt to shovv a b^ggarlv 

 array of lower limbs, and to put all their forces into the tops, 

 when they come to fruiting' age. Again, the Norway Spruce 

 takes the shears very kindly for hedge purposes, or for screens; 

 its dwarf varieties are particularly amenable to the moulding- 

 clips of any gardener or householder who may have topiary 

 whims to indulge. But most of all is this old favorite to be 

 commended, I think, for its hardiness — its sturdiness — and its 

 every-day farm utilities. It will bear rough handling ; is easy 

 of removal; it stands drought; it makes the quickest and best of 

 wind shelters ; its insect depredators are of the fewest ; it does 

 not break down under press of ice or snow, as the White Pine 

 and Hemlock are somewhat prone to do. 



Edgewood, Conn. Doitald G. Mitchell. 



[The trouble is that the Norway Spruce in this country 

 rarely if eA'er reaches "fullness of age" in a healthy 

 condition. — Ed.1 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — Professor Penhallow's notes on the Snowberrv and its 

 relationship and resemblance in flavor to the Gaultheria re- 

 minds me to say that I have known the berries of Gaultheria 

 used in the same way as a conserve. In the southern coun- 

 ties of the Maryland and Delaware peninsula the Gaultheria is 

 very abundant in the black, swampy spots called "savannahs," 

 and the berries are largely sold under their Indian name, 

 " Yopon." 



Crozet, Va. ^V- F. Massey. 



Recent Publications. 



r^ F. HOLDER'S Living Lights. A Popular Account of Phos- 

 ^^-^' plwrescent Animals and I'egetables [Chas. Scribner's Sons, 

 New York), is chiefly taken up with an account of the animals 

 in which light-producing phenomena have been observed, 

 such phenomena being more frequent and more conspicuous 

 in the animal than in tlie vegetable world. But two chapters 

 are devoted to luminous fungi and to plants and flowers which, 

 at least under certain conditions, have been seen to emit light. 

 As long ago as 1762 the rlaughter of Linnaeus observed, dur- 

 ing a twilight hour, a " lightning-like phosphorescence" about 

 the flowers of tlie Nasturtium, and stated also tliat when she 

 approached the flowers of the White Dictamnus with a light 

 "they appeared to ignite, without, however, injury to them." 

 Many scientific men at tliat time threw douljt or ridicule upon 

 her statements, but they have since been confirmed by hundreds 

 of observers, and, as a correspondent of Garden and Forest 

 recently set forth, the inflammable nature of the emanations 

 from Dictamnus Fraxinella is well known to-day. Not only the 

 Nasturtium, but the Poppy, the Sunflower, the Garden Mari- 

 gold, the Orange Lily (Z,. bulbiferum) and the French and 

 African Marigolds {Tagetes patula and T. erecta) have been 

 seen to emit'flashes which have "the exact appearance of 

 summer lightning in miniature," and are probably, in fact, 

 electrical in their nature. The nature of the phosphorescence 

 so frequently observed in decaying wood and also in many 

 fungous growths produced in caves and mines has never, 

 according to Mr. Holden, been accurately determined. But 

 the flame which is emitted when Dictatnnus is brought into 

 contact with a light, has nothing electrical and nothing inex- 

 plicable about it. Dr. Hahn wrote in 1857 that he "held a 

 lighted match close to an open flower [of the White Dictam- 

 nus], but without result; in bringing, however, the match close 

 to some other blossoms, it approached a nearly faded one, and 

 suddenly was seen a reddish, crackling, strongly shooting 

 tlame, which left a powerful aromatic smell, and did not injure 

 the peduncle. Since then I have repeated the experiment dur- 

 ing several seasons; and even during cold, wet summers it al- 

 ways succeeded, this clearly proving that it is not influenced by 

 the state of the weather. In doing so, I observed the following 

 results which fully explain the phenomenon.^ On the pedicels 

 and peduncles are a number of minute reddish-brown glands, 

 secreting etheric oil. These glands are but little developed 

 when the flowers begin to open, and they are fully grown 

 shortly after the blossoms begin to fade, shriveling up when 

 the frviit begins to form. For this reason the experiment can 

 succeed only at a limited period when the flowers arc fading. 



