July :i, i888.] 



Garden and Forest 



231 



very fine, too, and several species are now covered with 

 their fragrant flowers. The two Silver Lindens [Tilia ar- 

 genlea and T. peiiolaris) are striking and attractive in habit 

 and in the pleasing color of their foliage. No foreign trees 

 are better entitled to a place in our plantations than these 

 two European Lindens, of which many finespecimens e.xist 

 in the Park. The six thousand trees which have been re- 

 moved from the Park during the past year are not missed. 

 The work, as far as it goes, seems to have been judiciously 

 planned and executed. No one would now suspect that a 

 single tree had been cut ; and the Park plantations and the 

 general appearance of the Park would be immensely im- 

 proved if thirty or forty thousand trees were removed dur- 

 ing the present year. They would no more be missed than 

 those already cut are missed. Dying Conifers still disfigure 

 the Park in all directions ; everywhere fine trees are in dan- 

 ger of being ruined from overcrowding, while the re- 

 moval here and there from the plantations of inharmonious 

 elements, as where, for example, trees with light and 

 feathery habit are tuo closely associated with round-headed, 

 compact trees, would add immensely to their natural and 

 harmonious appearance. There are cases, too, where trees 

 of peculiar rarity or interest should be freed from encroach- 

 ing neighbors, that theirfull development and long life may 

 be insured. This is the case with the Asiatic Kim {Ulinus 

 parvijiora), which stands near the Seventy-second street en- 

 trance from Fifth Avenue. This is without doubt the largest 

 and finest specimen of this rare tree in the United States. 

 It is a specin^en not only of extraordinary interest, but of 

 great and pcc\'liar beauty. It now forms one of an inhar- 

 monious group of three trees. On one side it is being 

 pushed out of ..hape by a common Tupelo or Sour Gum 

 tree, while its bianches on the other side are stunted by 

 a common Eurtpean Maple. It is hard to imagine a 

 more incongruou ■ or less pleasing combination of trees; 

 and it is clearly for the interest of the Park and of the 

 public that the Maple and the Tupelo should be cut away 

 and that every opportunity should be given to the Elm to 

 spread its branches out freely in all directions. There 

 are hundreds of just such cases all over the Park where 

 interesting and valuable trees are being ruined in this way; 

 but in the particular case to which we venture to call the 

 attention of the Park authorities, the prominent ])(>sition of 

 this beautiful tree and the great interest which it excites 

 among all persons who know it, seem to warrant us in 

 urging prompt action to insure it from fujther disfigurement. 



Palms in Central Florida. 



pROBABLY in all the United States there is not such a col- 

 -*- lection of' Palms growing in the open ground as that of 

 Mr. E. H. Hart at Federal Point, Putnam Co., in this State. 

 Dr. Richardson, of New Orleans, has a good collection of 

 hardy Palms growing in tlie open ground, but the extremes of 

 cold experienced there are much greater than those of Mr. 

 Hart's location, and only the most hardy species can be 

 safely planted out. 



The approach to Mr. Hart's residence is through the Orange 

 grove, famous throughout the South for the number and ex- 

 cellence of the varieties of fruit grown, and containing between 

 the Orange trees hundreds of the choicest exotic fruit trees, 

 flowering and ornamental shrubs and Palms in the greatest 

 variety. It is of the Palms more especially that I now wish to 

 speak. 



Overlooking masses of Magnolia fuscata, Rhincosperimim 

 jasminoides, Oha fragrans. Azaleas, Tabcrna:ino?itana, Alla- 

 matida, and other beautiful plants, one's attention is first at- 

 tracted by a group of different species of the genus Phwnix in 

 front of the house. The tallest of these is a magnificent speci- 

 men of P. sylvestris, the wild Date of India, with a trunk some 

 twelve feet in height and a total height of twenty feet. (It 

 must be remembered that none of Mr. Hart's Palms have been 

 planted out more than fifteen years, and most of them during- 

 the last ten years, so that in many species stem development 

 has not even begun.) This beautiful tree had blo(.inied, and a 

 spike of fruit was developing at the time of the extreme cold 

 of 1886 ; this, of course, was destroyed, and no flowers have 

 .appeared since. Close by is a Phosnix Canariensis, with a short 



trunk, and still more elegant leaves than those of P. sylvestris ; 

 the leaflets are set closer together, making a very compact anil 

 beautiful leaf. Another specimen, though smaller, is Phwnix 

 vinifei-a, a more tender species, which suffered badly during 

 the winter of 1886, but is still a very handsome and thrifty 

 plant. Among the Orange trees are two elegant plants of 

 Plia;nix rupicola, a most graceful species. The handsome 

 recurved leaves are a rich golden-green color rarely seen in 

 any Palm. These plants are about five feet in height, 

 this species never forming a tall trunk. There are other fine 

 specimens of the dift'erent species of Phaiiix in different parts 

 of the grounds, especially in what was once the garden, but is 

 now a thicket of Palms. We noted also Phwnix tenuis, P. pu- 

 niila, P. farinijera, P. Senegalcnsis, P. spincisa, P. reclinata, 

 P. daciylifera (the common Date Palm) and others. In striking 

 comparison with the vigorous, healthy and remarkable growth 

 of the various species of Phcenix, we remember a tiny plant ot 

 Copernicia macj'oglossa, ten years old, and with one little leaf, 

 not more than an inch high. 



Directly in front of the house is a clump of the slender little 

 Cane Palm {Rhapis Jlabelliforinis). The stems of this minia- 

 ture Palm are aliout three-fourths of an inch in diameter and 

 two or three feet high. It suckers freely like a Bamboo, and 

 the clump now contains fifty or more distinct stems. This 

 plant was little injured by the cold of 1886, and is ordinarily 

 quite hardy. 



The neat, trim little specimens of Chamarops throughout 

 the grounds are very beautiful. Among these are C. spinosa, 

 C. Hnmboldtii, C. arhorea, C. elegans, C. tomentosa, C. Martiana, 

 C. Fortunci, C. humilis, C. Sinensis, C. farinosa, C. htiinilis 

 robusta, C. robicsta, C. excelsa, C. excelsa macrocarpa, our na- 

 tive C. hystrix (or Rhapidophyllum) and others. One of the 

 largest of these is C. robusta, which has reached a height of six 

 feet, with a trunk three feet high. Many of them have beauti- 

 ful little silvery leaves and small slender trunks from three to 

 five inches in diameter. All are perfectly hardy in this lati- 

 tude, so far as cold weather is concerned, but C. humilis and 

 one or two others do not, while small, support our summer 

 sun very well. C. excelsa has rich green leaves, without the 

 silvery tint so often seen in the other species. 



Among other Fan-leaved Palms is a splendid collection of 

 Sabals. These are usually hardy ; even the species whose na- 

 tive home is in the tropics. One magnificent specimen of S. 

 umbraculifera has attained a height of about fifteen feet, with 

 over six feet of trunk. It has a beautiful spreading crown of 

 leaves resembling those of our native S. Palmetto, though with 

 longer and stouter petioles, and thicker, firmer texture. A 

 specimen of 5. dealbata is about six feet in height. This has 

 produced seed on a spike ten feet high. There is a fruiting 

 specimen of 6'. longipcdunculata, with tlie flower-spikes ex- 

 tending far above the leaves after the manner of Sabal Adan- 

 sonii. A fine specimen of Sabal Mocini, from the highlands of 

 Mexico, has proved somewhat more tenelcr than the native Cab- 

 bage Palmetto, the foliage having suffered in 1886. There are 

 in this collection also Sabal Havanensis, S. Ghiesbreehtii anA 

 S. carulcscens, all in good specimen plants. 



Mr. Hart has made a great success with Washingtonia ro- 

 busta, one of the California Fan-Palms, of which he has several 

 fine trees. The largest is fifteen feet in height, with about six 

 feet of trunk ; it throws out a new leaf every two weeks, and 

 is indeed a beautiful specimen ; the red wax-like spines and 

 richly-tinted leaves and petioles make it one of the handsomest 

 and most desirable Fan-Palms I have ever seen. Washing- 

 tonia filif era [Brahea ov Pritehardia filamentosa), the southern 

 Californian Palm, is very distinct. Although Mr. Hart lias 

 beautiful specimens, they are deficient in vigor as compared 

 with those of IV. robjista. Brahea edulis and Brahea glauea 

 are represented in smaller specimens. 



Perhaps the most elegant Palm in the whole collection is a 

 ten-year-old Diplothemium campcstre. It is not more than four 

 or five feet in height, but the beautiful plume-like leaves, sil- 

 very on the under side, and the leaflets delicately curled like 

 those of an ostrich feather, make up in beauty for want of size. 



The genus Cocos is well represented in the more hardy spe- 

 cies I a specimen of the quicl^-growing and handsome C. 

 Jlexuosa is twelve feet hi,c:h ; the most hardy species, perhaps, 

 of all pinnate-leaved Palms, C. australis and C. campestris,zxc 

 represented by many thrifty young specimens. C. Yatai, C. 

 insignis, C. Romanzoffiana, C. Normanhyana, C. Gaertneri and 

 C. Blumenavia are represented in small specimens; C. plu- 

 mosa, a species with long, drooping, light-green leaves, appears 

 in a good-sized specimen. 



I noticed a small plant of Livistona altissima, another of L. 

 Jenkinsiana, and a splendid specimen of/,, Hoogendorpii io\x\- 

 or five feet high. In front of the house is a magnificent 



