August i, iSSS,] 



Garden and Forest. 



275 



well as a practical standpoint. It would contribute greatly to 

 our knowledge of the limits of species. 



The writer last year sent circulars of inquiry to a large num- 

 ber of experimenters in the United States and Canada, and thus 

 collected a considerable amount of valuable information bear- 

 ing upon this subject. The general opinion greatly favored 

 crossing and hybridizing as a means of improving our fruit 

 trees and plants. 



The work with Russian and American Apples, Cherries and 

 Plums has been begun by Professor J. L. Budd at the Iowa Agri- 

 cultural College, and gives promise of valuable results. 

 Atlantic, Iowa. N. E. Hansen. 



To the Editor of G.^rden and Forest : 



Sir. — I have been interested in the discussions relating to 

 terraces and verandas and other additions to dwelling houses, 

 and have been waiting for some one to suggest a better ar- 

 rangement than any yet mentioned. This is a terrace with a 

 tiled floor and a frame over it, upon which, during the sum- 

 mer, an awning can be let clown in the day-time and rolled 

 back in the evening, while the whole upper structure can be 

 entirely taken away in winter. In summer a terrace of this 

 sort will be cooler by day than one that is not shaded, and in 

 the evening it will be cooler than a veranda, because there 

 will be nothing overhead when the awning is rolled back. In 

 the winter a veranda shades the windows, and the removal 

 of the frame and awning from the terrace freely admits the 

 sunshine, when every ray is needed. 



Witli such an arrangement the terrace can be turned into a 

 summer conservatory for many of the tender evergreens 

 and other plants that would perish under the broiling sun, 

 and for any fine green-house plants, like specimen Palms or 

 plants in flower. B. 



Newport, R, I. 



To the Editor of Garden and P'orest: 



Sir. — The Itasca Basin, mother of the Mississippi, proves as 

 full blooded as her offspring has indicated. A timbered sur- 

 face, with porous soil seldom frozen and deeply underlying 

 clay beds, collects the drainage of many square miles and pours 

 this sheet of spring water into the lake and its feeders. Every 

 drop in this ideal reservoir is needed for navigation, manufac- 

 tures and city water supply. 



Clearing the land will cause deep freezing and quick melting 

 of the snow, running the snow water off on tlie surface with a 

 freshet. 



Clearing has commenced, and this land will be stripped, un- 

 less we learn to feel, with the Swiss, that the trees which hold 

 the avalanche bleed when they are cut. //. B. A. 



Recent Publications. 



Homestead Highways. By Plerliert Milton Sylvester. Bos- 

 ton : Ticknor & Co. 



Mr. Sylvester, who dates his book from Ouincy, Mass., but 

 wliose memory dwells amid the hills and woodlands of New 

 Hampshire, found many pleased readers, a few years ago, for 

 a little book called " Prose Pastorals." The same title might 

 just as well have l>een used for his present volume, which, 

 through its seven chapters dealing now with nature chiefly 

 find again chiefly with rural mankind, preserves as the key- 

 note a spirit of calm, open-eyed, sensitive and not unpoetic 

 meditation. "An Old-Fashioned Festival" treats in afresh 

 and charming way of the oft-described scenes of Thanksgiv- 

 ing. Day and " A Winter Resort" pictures the country school. 

 But the chapters on out-door life are perhaps still more at- 

 tractive, notably the two on " Running Water" and on " A 

 Snug Corner" of the woods in winter. 



In "Society in Rome Under the Ccesars," recently published, 

 Mr. W. R. Inge, M.A., speaks of the parks and gardens of the 

 Romans in the first century as follows: "Partly from want of 

 appreciation of open park land, partly from paucity of shrubs 

 and flowers, neither park nor garden was in keeping with 

 the splendor within [the house]. The flowers were of simple 

 lands and lacked variety, but they were grown in large quan- 

 tities, for the graceful custom of wearing garlands, and even 

 the rites of religion, made a constant and plentiful supply 

 necessary. Roses, Lilies and Violets were the only flowers 

 cultivated on a large scale. Green-houses and hot-houses for 

 flowers and fruits were first introduced in our period, and, 

 of course, were soon very common. Winter Grapes and Mel- 

 ons were grown under glass, and we hear of forced* Roses 



* " Fcstinata>** Mart., 13, 127. See also on the subject Mart., 8, 14; 4, -ji, 5. 



and Lilies. Fruit trees were planted, sometimes among other 

 trees, sometimes in orchards. The Romans were well sup- 

 plied with fruit. They had several kinds of Apples, no less 

 than thirty sorts of Pears, Plums, Peaches, Pomegranates, 

 Cherries, Figs, Quinces, Nuts, Chestnuts, Medlars, Mulberries, 

 Almonds and Strawberries. Their ornamental trees were few 

 in number, and this doubtless led to the artificial shaping, 

 before alluded to, which was carried to absurd lengths at the 

 close of the first century. The garden was always intersected 

 by a path, which could be used for riding, walking, or taking 

 the air in a litter. Porticoes for loimging in the open air, and 

 elaborate baths, were comforts .not likely to be forgotten in 

 Italy." 



Periodical Literature. 



Dr. C. C. Parry, the distinguished botanical explorer, con- 

 tributes to the June number of the Overland IMonthly (also 

 issued separately) an interesting account of Rancho Chico, 

 General John Bidwell's California Ranch, on the lower Sacra- 

 mento, near the site of the historical Sutter's Fort. It has long 

 been known as one of the best and most productive farms of 

 the Pacific Slope, abounding in features of natural beauty and 

 famous for the hospitality of its enlightened proprietor. Dr. 

 Parry descrilies pleasantly the history and the situation of 

 Rancho Chico, the native plants which adorn it and the crops 

 it is made to bring forth. The Ranch is situated in one of the 

 best fruit producing regions in the state. "The Fig and the 

 Olive, the native Walnut and its Asiatic relative, flourish in un- 

 restrained lu.xuriance. There is no other section in which the 

 Cherry bears more plentifully or with greater certainty of re- 

 tarn." One tree in the orchard produced last year nearly a 

 ton of fruit, which sold for an average of ten cents a pound, 

 making nearly two hundred dollars as the return for a single 

 tree in one season. " In May the Apricot begins to yield its 

 golden fruit, and before its day is passed, Apples, Pears, 

 Peaches, Plums, Almonds, Nectarines, Prunes, Quinces and 

 the endless variety of Grapes come one after another to fill 

 their places in an endless round. Aside from table Grapes, 

 all the vineyard product of the ranch is made up into raisins. 

 There is something in the equality of climate and soil that is 

 peculiarly favorable to the culture of the Malaga, and the 

 finished product is sweeter than the average and far excels the 

 more famous Fresno brands in the thinness and tenderness of 

 skin." 



There are 25,000 acres in General Bidwell's farm, and some 

 idea of its fertility and of the extent to which it is cultivat- 

 ed, will be gained from the following enumeration of the 

 average crops which it prodtices : 100,000 bushels of wheat 

 and 50,000 bushels of barley; 1,000 tons of hay ; the meat pro- 

 duct requires the slaughter of 300 cattle and i,2oosheep; adairy 

 of 150 cows produces a gross income of $1,000 a month. The 

 cannery turns out 370,000 two-pound cans of fruit, not inchiding 

 great quantities of dried orchard fruits. During the height of 

 the fruit season more than 500 persons find employment on 

 the ranch. The most interesting of tlie numerous illustra- 

 tions joined to this article is that of a noble specimen of the de- 

 ciduous White Oak of California {(Juercus lobata), known as the 

 "Sir Joseph Hooker Oak," in honorof the English botanist who 

 visited General Bidwell during liis journey in this country in 

 1S77. The photograph from which the illustration is made was 

 taken in winter, and exhibits the graceful pendulous ramification 

 of this tree much more satisfactorily than we remember to 

 have seen it depicted before. 



Recent Plant Portraits. 



Botanical I\/agani)ie. June. ^Catasetum Bungeruthi, /. 

 6998 ; a very striking, free-Ijlooming Venezuela Orchitl, with 

 flowers varying from while, the hollow of the spur ochreous, 

 though pale yellow-green to golden. 



Koempferia SECUNDA, t. 6999 ; a common plant in the Khasia 

 Mountains, south of the Assam valley ; it has loosely tufted, 

 leafy stems, six to ten inches high, with terminal, few-ilowcred 

 spikes of showy rose-colored flowers, 



Huernia ASPERA, /. 7000; Hucrnia is an African genus, tlis- 

 tinguished from Stapelia, which it closely resembles in habit. 

 ljy'"its campanulate corolla. The plants of this genus are all 

 south African, with the exception of the species here figured, 

 which is from Zanzibar. Its interest is botanical rather than 

 horticultural. 



PaLICOUUKA NICOTIAN/EFOIIA, t. 70OI. 



Cassia coquimbensis, /. 7002 ; a glabrous shrub, very com- 

 mon in the neighborhood of Cociuimbo, in Chili, with axillary 



