July i8, i88S.] 



Garden and Forest. 



243 



painters on canvas put such reliance. We may some- 

 times see the fact illustrated towards evening, when a 

 plantation which is inharmonious in color under bright 

 light becomes harmonious simply by the fading out of 

 one or two of its tints into grayish twilight hues. 



Again it may be remarked that when a tree is not 

 green at all — when it is purple, for instance, like the 

 well-known variety of Beech, or red like some of the 

 Japanese Maples, or blue like the Colorado Spruce, or 

 bright yellow like many cultivated varieties of shrubs — 

 it should be used with peculiar care and a discretion 

 amounting to the most rigid parsimony. It is like the 

 red cloak which the landscape painter is so fond of using 

 — invaluable, sometimes, if set in exactly the right place, 

 but by no means always desirable, and always ruinous 

 if wrongly placed or over-emphasized. Finally, all ob- 

 jects which come in visual contact with our trees must 

 be considered as affecting their own colors. A tree 

 which would look well against a background of dark 

 rock might not look as well lifted against a background 

 of sky ; and one which would harmonize with a brown 

 or a white house might not harmonize with a red brick 

 house. The sheen and color of water, too, and its re- 

 flecting powers, demand that its borders be very care- 

 fully treated. A bright tree which gives a welcome 

 accent in itself might give a distinctly over-emphatic 

 accent if doubled by reflection in a sheet of water; and, 

 in general, moderately dark, or grayish, or whitish trees 

 best sustain this reflection. We are right, for once, in 

 our fashion of placing Willows near water ; not only 

 their feathery texture but their tender and often neutral 

 colors fit them well for such situations. If we imagine 

 a large White Willow changed to a vivid yellow-green, 

 like that of the Box Elder, we feel at once that its fit- 

 ness for the neighborhood of water would be seriously 

 impaired. Of course in the autumn the case is different; 

 then all tones are changed to more vivid ones ; bright- 

 ness is the characteristic quality of the landscape, and 

 the brighter the reflected note, the better it often appears. 



It should also be remembered that the color of its 

 foliage is not the only thing which determines the color of 

 a tree. Its trunk and branches are often very apparent 

 and are sometimes very striking in color. The foliage 

 of the Canoe Birch would not, of itself, make it a very 

 conspicuous tree, but its dark glossy leaves with their 

 paler under sides, in contrast with its pure white bark, 

 make it so very striking that it is difficult indeed to 

 place it harmoniously. The lighter hue of the foliage 

 of the Silver Birch is also accentuated by the whitish- 

 gray of its bark, as the mottled appearance given the 

 Sycamore by the shape and disposition of its leaves is 

 accentuated by the mottled color of its splitting and 

 peeling bark. There is no end to the varieties of com- 

 bination thus presented for the planter's use, and while 

 each one renders his task more complicated and difficult, 

 each affords him a new chance for some specially beau- 

 tiful effect if he can learn how to use it rightly. 



Among the Pines in June. 



THE Pines in June are fairly ablaze with color. Gor- 

 geous masses of broad-leaved Laurel forming dense 

 thickets, are scattered here and there, and the intervening 

 spaces abound with the showy Dogwood {Corntts florida), 

 and wild roses fill the air with a delicate perfume. 



The Japan Honeysuckle {Lotiicera yaponica), has found 

 its way among our native shrubs and threatens to strangle 

 them. It extends over quite an area on either side of a 

 small stream. I have watched its progress with much in- 

 terest for ten years past, and to-day it is one mass of 

 bloom, clambering over poison sumach and a great many 

 other shrubs, and even large trees like the Sour Gum and 

 Swamp Maple. Not one of our native vines can compete 

 with it. Even the vigorous Ampelopsis is hidden beneath 

 this wealth of foliage and flower. 



The Cinnamon-fern {Osmunda cinnainoynea') grows here 

 in great lu.xuriance. The sterile fronds are above my 

 head, standing out in graceful curves, perfect in outline, 

 with not a broken or straggling frond. Such a magnifi- 

 cent bunch growing near our door would well repay 

 the time and labor bestowed upon it. Our two other Os- 

 mundas are also here, as well as the two Woodwardias, 

 and the sweet-scented Dicksonia, and several Aspidiums. 

 The rare very local Schiscea pusilla, belongs exclusively 

 to our Pine-barrens. I find it a few miles from home 

 surrounded by many other choice plants — Pogonia divari- 

 cata and P. vertkillata being among the number. 



Our ponds and streams are now beautiful with white 

 Pond Lilies, and the little Lake-flower {Limnatilhenium 

 lacu7iosinn), is scattered among them. It has small, shin- 

 ing, heart-shaped leaves, often variegated with white and 

 yellow, and clusters of white wheel-shaped flowers are in- 

 termingled with the pretty leaves. 



The Water-shield (Brasenia pellaUi) is also in the same 

 pond, and its oval, shield-shaped leaves float among the 

 Lilies and Lake-flowers. The flowers of the Water-shield 

 are of a dull-purple color, and its stems and buds are 

 coated with a thick, transparent mucilage. 



The inflated Bladdervvort {U/ricidaria iiijlala) is mixed 

 with the other plants, floating on the water, and when free 

 Irom them it goes where the wind wills it, with its cluster 

 of bright yellow flowers standing above the vi'ater and 

 carrying w'ithin its curiously formed bladders hosts of tiny 

 larvae and animalcules. The purple Bladdervvort is here 

 too with violet-purple flowers. The bladders on this are 

 very abundant and quite unlike those of our other species. 

 Under the microscope they are curious and beautiful ob- 

 jects. 



The long-leaved Sundew (Drosera longifolia) is growing 

 in the more shallow parts of the pond. This species more 

 than our others, has the power of adapting itself to its 

 surroundings. Some of the stems are more than a foot 

 in length, with a cluster of purplish leaves raised above the 

 water and covered with reddish bristly glands that exude 

 a transparent, glutinous fluid which glistens in the sunshine 

 like dew-drops. Many unhappy insects have been lured 

 by the fascinating glitter and become hopelessly entangled 

 among the bristles, and the leaves have rolled entireh' 

 around some of the victims. And for what purpose? It 

 surely cannot be for lack of nourishment. 



The Arrow-head (Sagitlun'a) grows along the margins of 

 the pond. Some of the forms are very firm, with large, 

 broad, sagittate leaves, which in other plants are simply lan- 

 ceolate. The Arrow Arum {Pellandra Virgmica) is in com- 

 pany with the Sagittaria as well as many other charming 

 plants, and altogether the Pine Barrens are very far from 

 being barren of beauty in these early summer days. 



Mary Treat. 



Window Gardening. 



IN the summer of 1882 I attended in London the annual 

 Flower Show of the Westminster Society for promoting 

 gardening among the working classes.* The exhibition was 

 held in tents located in the College garden of Westminster 

 Abbey, and a band of music added "to the attractions. A small 

 admission fee was charged. Many of the plants were admira- 

 bly grown, and would have been worthy of a prize anywhere. 

 There was a large attendance of orderly people, many of them 

 evidently of the poorer classes ; also a large sprinkling of 

 richer people. The most interesting event of all was the 

 presentation of the prizes. On a platform in the open air a num- 

 ber of ladies and gentlemen might have been seen, among 

 them Dean Bradley and the late Earl of Shaftesbury ; the lat- 

 ter, as had been his custom for many years, presented the 

 prizes. The fortunate ones came up one after the other to 

 receive the awards from his hands ; and it was a sight not soon 

 to be forgotten. It was evidently a great pleasure for the Earl, 

 for he hadapleasant look and a kind word forall, and especially 

 for the children. 



Hodder, in his " Life of the Earl of Shaftesbmy," in speak- 

 ino- of the interest that the Earl took in this Flower Show, 



*The late Dean Stanley was President of this Society. 



