August 15, i888.] 



Garden and Forest. 



299 



feet in circumference. A White Oak in the cemetery measures 

 more tlian twelve feet in circumference. A native Mountain 

 Ash — fifty-eight inches in circumference tliree feet from the 

 ground — a beautiful tree, stands in an old I^ine-stump fence, 

 in perfect health and loaded witli fruit. 



The White Pines and Hemlocks are magnificent hereal>onts. 

 Not a Red Pine tree to be found in this neighborhood, so that 

 a comparison cannot be made between this Pine and the 

 Scotcli and Austrian Pines. Canoe Birches over six feet in 

 circumference of trunk are not uncommon. 



The Norway Spruces, Austrian and Scotch Pines no doul.>t 

 added much to the beauty and interest of this plantation for 

 many years, as they grow so much faster than our natives 

 while young. If a similar plantation were to.be made now, a 

 judicious niixture of Wliite and Red Pine and ff emlocks should 

 be addetl to take the places of the Norway Spruces, Scotch and 

 Austrian Pines, which could be thinned out as occasion 



rcqun-es. 

 Hanover, N. H. 



Rober-t Doiig/as 



[Seedling European Larches, although not in large 

 numbers, have appeared in the plantation of this tree 

 made many years ago by the late Richard S. Fay, near 

 Lynn, in Massachusetts. An account of this plantation, 

 one of the largest and most successful ever made in the 

 United States with exotic trees, will be found in the Re- 

 port of the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture for 

 1875.— Ed.] 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — My lawn at the sea-shore extends from the house to 

 the water's edge, and is exposed to the south-west winds. It 

 has run to sorrel and weeds, and must be rejuvenated. Will 

 vou kindly tell me through your columns the l)est thing I can 

 do with it, so as to have a fair tiu'f by June 15th, next year, and 

 not disturb it before the middle of September, this year. 

 What is the best seed to sow and the best dressing to use ? 

 The soil is good. Theoph. Parsons. 



Mattapt'iaett, Mass. 



[It is not an easy matter to make a good lawn within the 

 time specified. The seed should be sown this autumn, and, 

 if possible, it should be in the ground before the middle of 

 September, or as soon after as possible. Break the 

 ground up deeply. Cover with well-rotted manure at the 

 rate of thirty to fifty tip cart loads to the acre. Harrow this 

 in deeply with an Acme or spring-tooth harrow. Roll tb.e 

 ground and harrow again, repeating the operations until 

 the soil is very finely pulverized and yet firmly com- 

 pacted. Sow Kentucky Blue Grass and Rhode Island 

 Bent at the rate of at least four bushels per acre. Then' 

 sow Timothy seed at the rate of a peck to the acre ; rake 

 all in lightly and roll again. Timoth}'- is not a lawn grass, 

 but the seed can be had pure and it germinates quickly. 

 It will make a fair show before winter sets in, and next 

 spring can be cut over several times before June 1 5th. This 

 cutting will keep down the Timothy, and prevent its 

 growing coarse and strong while the Blue Grass and Bent 

 are becoming- established. The last two will ultimately 

 crowd out the Timothy, which is only needed for its early 

 effect. Without it the grass would be unpleasantl)^ thin next 

 spring. It would be well to give the lawn a top dressing 

 of fine manure after the ground freezes, to remain all win- 

 ter as a mulch, and for its fertilizing effect. — Ed.] 



Recent Publications. 



Trees and Tree Planting. — By General James S. Brisbin. 

 New York : Harper & Brotliers. 



This work will meet a friendly reception from all who arc 

 interested in forestry as a national question. It is a vigorous 

 protest against the reckless waste of tlie forests of the coun- 

 try, and an appeal for the exercise of intelligence and patriotic 

 prudence in tlie treatment of trees. General Brisbin's love of 

 trees — by which the book is inspired — has been life-long. 

 Some of the most pleasant passages in the volume are tliose 

 in which he recalls the impressions made upon him in boy- 

 hood by the mountain forests of Pennsylvania, his native 

 state. It was not, however, until in the course of his pro- 

 fessional travels he had seen the savage and inhospitable 

 sterility of the plains, that he was awakened to the importance 



of the part played by the forests in their relations to human 

 life and industry. An incident which he relates in his intro- 

 duction suggests vividly the exhilaration of mind produced by 

 the first sight of living trees after long exile in the western 

 waste. " For four years," he says, " I had lived on the plains, 

 surrounded by sage-brush and sand, never once seeing a 

 mountain or forest. Then I was ordered east witli troops to 

 Kentucky. We had been running very fast all night in the 

 cars, and in the morning, just as I was washing in the sleep- 

 ing-car, I heard the soldiers in the forward coaches cheering. 

 I asked the conductor what was the matter, and he replied, 

 ' The soldiers are cheering the trees.' We all hastened to the 

 doors and windows, and there, sure enough, we foinid we 



were running through a g'l-and old Kentucky forest 



Even the children clapped their little hands and cried out, ■ 

 ' Oh, mamma, see the pretty trees !' " 



General Brisbin's book does not pretend to be an elaborate 

 treatise on the scientific aspects of the subject; indeed, in a 

 modest sentence he in effect disclaims for it at the outset any 

 such character. This prepares one for a certain readiness on 

 his part to adopt theories which are not considered tenable by 

 the more cautious investigators. Nevertheless, the scope of 

 the work is large, and it contains a great amount of valuable 

 information, industriously collected from a number of sources, 

 of varying authority. The opening chapters deal with topics 

 of a general nature, such as " Forest Destruction and its Conse- 

 quences," " Effectof Forests on a Countrv," " Danger of Timber 

 Famine," " Shelter Belts," etc. A short chapter entitled "Eam- 

 ous Trees of the World," is full of entertaining information. 

 The greater part of the volume is devoted to a description of 

 well-known trees, both native and foreign. 



It is significant of the growing interest in forest production 

 and preservation that one who is presumably without technical 

 training in the art of forestry or in tlie sciences upon which 

 the best forest practice is based should have been led to pursue 

 this line of inquiry. The perusal of this book cannot fail to 

 arouse and stimulate concern regarding one of the most ur- 

 gent problems that confront us as a nation at the present day. 



Messrs. Hyde & Co. of this city have just published an ex- 

 cellent " Roeid Chart" for the suliurbs of New York. It covers 

 not only Manhattan Island, but Staten Island, Kings and 

 Queens Coimties in Long Island, the mainland of New York 

 .State for a long distance north of the city and beyond Tuxedo 

 to the west, portions of Fairfield County in Connecticut, and 

 the New Jersey country further \yest than Morristown and 

 further south than New Brunswick ; and it distinguishes be- 

 tween good and poor driving roads, indicates those which are 

 fit only for foot-travel, marks the character of the land as low, 

 marshy, etc., and names the owners of the chief country- 

 places included in its wide circuit. Such a map should open 

 up the beautiful districts around New York to hundreds of, 

 urban and suburban residents who have hitherto been dis- 

 couraged from personal investigation by the difficulty of as- 

 certaining just where and how to go and just what attractions 

 await them by tlie way. 



Recent Plant Portraits. 



Botanical Magazine, July. 



Macrotomia Benthami, f. 7003; a stout, hairy herb, of the 

 Borage Family, with dark, maroon-purple flowers, in a large, 

 terminal thvrsus; a native of the western Himalaya and of 

 Cashmere, where it is common at great elevations. 



ASPHODELUS ACAULis, A 7004 ; a pink-flowered Asphodel, 

 from Oran and Algiers, witli pmk flowers arranged in a lax 

 corymb, the peduncle nearly obsolete, and the general habit 

 of the plant like that of OrnitJiogalitni iinibellafuin. 



Illicium verum, i. 7005 ; " The plant producing the true 

 Star Anise of China is here for the first time figured and de- 

 scribed. For many years the fruit so called was supposed to 

 l)e that of Il/iciiim anisatuin, the Skiinnii oi Japan, or of /. re- 

 ligiosum, supposed to be a native of China, but which is 



identical with /. anisatuin of Linn;eus and Loureiro 



Tlie first person to recognize the fact that neither L. anisaluni 

 of Linnaeus or of Loureiro could be the true Star Anise of 

 China was Dr. Bretschneider, who called -attention to the fact 

 that the Japanese plant was a reputed poison and that this had 

 been confirmed Ijy Eykman, who, in a paper published in 18S1 

 in the MittheHnng der Deutsche Gesellschaft fiir Natur- mid 

 I'olkenkunde Osten Asien (Heft, xxiii. 23), had experimented 



with and given the name of Sikimine to tiie poison 



In his ' Notes on Botanical Questions Connected with the Ex- 

 port Trade of China,' printed at Pekin in iSSo, Dr. Bret- 

 schneider calls attention to a Report by Mr. Piry on the trade 



