September 5, 18SS.] 



Garden and Forest. 



325 



GARDEN AND FOREST. 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY \.\ 



THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHIN(3 CO. 



Office : Tkibune Buii.lung, New N'uijk. 



Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargknt. 



ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE TOST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y. 



NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1888. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Ediiouial Akihi.es : — Scntinielilal Objections to Felliiii; Trees. — Inii^alioii in 



the Arid West. — Value of Iris palnularia 325 



The Treatment of Slopes and Banks (willi illustration) y. C. Olmsted, 326 



Julv on tlie Shores of Buzzard's Bav .Mrs. Schttyl-^- Vnit Kensstlacr. ^-z-] 



A Bridge in the Thieri^arten, Berlin (with illustration) 327 



FoKElGN CoKKESl'ONDEN'CE : — Loiidoii Letter //'. Goldriitg. 328 



New oii Little Known Pl.ants ; — Spircea pnbescens (with illustration). . .C. S. S. 330 

 Cui.riiKAi, DEi-AfiTMENr : — Cultivation of Native Ferns — \\...Robei-t T. Jachson. 330 



Early Apples _. E. IVilliauts. 331 



Hyacinths for Forcinir. . .'. // 'liliaiii FaLoiu-r. 332 



Notes from the Arnold Arboretum y. 332 



The Fouest ; — The Care of Woodlands 333 



Correspondence 335 



Recent Publications 335 



Notes 33^ 



Ilhtstrations : — Good and Bad Slopes, Fii^. 51 326 



A Bridge in the Thiergarten, Berlin 329 



Spirsea pubescens, Fig. 52 331 



Sentimental Objections to Felling Trees. 



IT hardly needs special affirmation in these pages that a 

 fine tree or group of trees is of itself an object to ad- 

 mire and to preserve with reverential care. And yet cases 

 often arise when the removal of a noble tree is demanded 

 on grounds distinctly higher and broader tlian those upon 

 which the affection and respect for it are based. 



It is our frequent inability to recognize such cases for 

 what they are, and our unwillingness to act in them even 

 when they are clearly recognized, which prove that our at- 

 titude towards trees is sentimental and irrational. Whether 

 a tree is or is not a fine example of its kind is a question 

 subordinate to the broader one whether it hurts or helps 

 the general asptct of the scenery in which it stands, 

 whether it enhances or detracts from the beauty of neigh- 

 boring things ; whether, in short, it stands where it ought 

 to stand, or, on the contrary, where something else or 

 nothing at all ought to stand. In almost every possible 

 case a tree is a part of a larger whole, and it is a funda- 

 mental axiom in every search for beauty that the interests 

 of the whole must take precedence of the interests of any 

 of its parts. 



If a group of trees is incongruous in form or color, and 

 could be made harmonious by the removal of one or more 

 individuals, there should be no question as to their re- 

 moval, no matter what intrinsic claims they may have to 

 admiration. It may often be a diflicult task to decide 

 which ones to sacrifice : but it is a task which should lie 

 entered upon without sentimental or superstitious com- 

 punctions. A bleeding stump may almost make a heart 

 bleed for the moment, bat this is a wound that will quickly 

 heal under the influence of the increased beaut)' of the trees 

 which remain. In like manner, when a single tree or a 

 whole group is detrimental in a \\'ider way, when it hides 

 a still more beautiful tree or group, or a fine middle dis- 

 tance, or a lovely stretch of horizon ; when it hides any- 

 thing which would be of distinctly more value than itself 

 in the scene, or v^'hen it gives an uncomfortable look of 

 crowding and of excluding air and light, it should be 

 sacrificed. And a like result will be sure to follow — (piick 



forgetfulness of the vanished charm will follow upon the 

 rexelution of still greater charms. 



It is impossible to take even the shortest walk abroad 

 without seeing many places which would be vastly im- 

 proved were one or more trees cut down. Yet even when 

 the desirability of their removal is confessed by their 

 owner, how difficult it is to persuade him to raise the 

 axe ! The house may be damp and dreary ; other and 

 perhaps still finer trees may be concealed from sight; all 

 outlook upon a delightful prospect may be shut off ; in- 

 jury may be worked in a dozen different ways, and yet 

 "because he loves the tree" it must remain. If he 

 really loved trees and really cared for beauty in general, 

 it would hurt him more to see the tree where it was 

 palpably out of place than not to see it at all. 



But if it were only when fine trees are concerned that 

 this super-sentimental spirit was revealed, it would be 

 easy, at least, to comprehend its existence. It appears, 

 however, almost as often when the most ill-grown, fee- 

 ble and ugly specimens are in question. For example, 

 as has recently been pointed out in several letters pub- 

 lished in these pages, hundreds of Norway Spruces, so 

 far decayed that they are all but dead, disfigure our parks 

 and cemeteries. No one professes to admire their condi- 

 tion or to believe that it has possibilities of improve- 

 ment. Yet there is sure to be an outcry if a proposal to 

 cut them is made. They are trees, and therefore sacred. 

 The fact that the general effect would, in any case, be 

 better without them, ai.d that they are half-dead them- 

 selves, does not impair their sanctity or render the would- 

 be cutter anything less than a heartless vandal. 



It is the same in private grounds— one is daily dri\'en 

 to wonder ^vhy this or that perishing Spruce or Pine is 

 preserved, and to accept in a spirit very far from acquies- 

 cent the answer that it is because the owner "is fond of 

 trees." 



It is quite time that unhealthy sentiment should give 

 place to a genuine and sturdy respect for trees. There 

 can be no true advance in the popular love for trees 

 themselves until the public shall distinctly appreciate the 

 difference between a fine tree and a poor one. And there 

 can be no true advance in gardening art until we are 

 clearly convinced that the beauty of a whole is more im- 

 portant than the beauty of any individual thing, and are 

 firmly determined to act carefully and discreetly— yet 

 boldly, too — upon this conviction. 



The appropriation by Congress of $250,000 to be used to 

 investigate the extent to which the arid western portions of 

 the United States can be made fertile by irrigation, and for 

 the selection of sites for reservoirs and other hydraulic 

 works necessary for the storage of water for irrigation and 

 for the preparation of maps in connection with this work, 

 is a wise and proper one. It has already passed the -Senate, 

 and will probably be agreed to in the House. There can 

 be no question of the wisdom of this investigation. It 

 is the beginning of one of the most important works 

 ever undertaken by the government of the United States. 

 It is believed by Major '^Powell, the Director of the Geo- 

 logical Survey, that fifteen per cent, of the arid region 

 within the limits of the United States, or an area of 

 150,000 square miles— that is, an area equal to more than 

 oiie-half of the total area of tlie land now cultivated in 

 the United States — can be reclaimed for agriculture and 

 made to produce valuable crops permanently by means 

 of irrigation. The promoters of this scheme must bear in 

 mind, "however, that the forests which cover, more orless 

 densely, the mountain ranges of western America, from 

 which the water for irrigating purposes must be brought 

 into the valleys, arc natural reservoirs ; that they hold 

 back water which would otherwise cause floods and tor- 

 rents which no structure of masonry will be able to with- 

 stand: and that by checking evaporation, which consumes 

 such a large part of the rain which falls on the western 



