456 



Garden and Forest. 



[November 14, 1888. 



Besides the exhibitors named above, Peter Henderson, Geo. 

 Maclure, John Dallas, of Fairfield, Connecticut, and E. Asmus 

 received prizes. A special prize for a group of Orchids, among 

 which were fine specimens of Catasetum Bungarothii and 

 Cypripediitm Spiceriamtm was awarded to Messrs. Pitcher & 

 IVIanda. 



The Germantown Exhibition. 



A MOST successful exhibition of Chrysanthemums was held 

 in Germantown on the 8th and 9th instant, an ample fund 

 for premiums having been provided by the patrons of horti- 

 culture residing there. Parker's Hall was crowded with plants 

 of the best quality. As a rule, they were not so massive as 

 those seen at the shows in Philadelphia, but they were all 

 well grown. Michael Sammon, gardener to Mr. J. M. Shoe- 

 maker, contributed three plants, each of which measured four 

 feet across and were perfect in every way. The varieties were 

 Source d'Or, Duchess and Puritan, and the last named carried 

 450 e.xpanded flowers. The collection of twelve plants, which 

 took the first prize, consisted of General Anderson, Purple King, 

 Shakspere, Bend d'Or, CuUingfordi, Christmas Eve, Gloriosum, 

 Mrs. G. W. Bullock, Duchess, Mrs. Frank Thompson, Dr. 

 Sharpe and Tokio. They were shown b}' W. Beasley, gar- 

 dener to Mr. Benjamin Homer, and they were remarkable for 

 their perfect foliage from top to bottom, as well as fo-r general 

 good culture. Of the numerous seedlings, few, if any, could 

 be considered improvements upon varieties already grown, 

 but two unnamed ones deserve mention. One was in the 

 line collection of Robert Carey, gardener to Mr. Thos. C. 

 Price, and the second was in that of John McCleary, gardener 

 to Mr. W. Weightman. Both flowers belonged to the Japa- 

 nese class, the first being pure white and the other yellow. 

 For cut flowers, the first prize was awarded to Joseph Shaw, 

 gardener to Mr. J. Campbell Harris. In the competition open 

 to nurserymen and florists, the principal premiums were 

 awarded to Thomas Meelian & Son and Woltemate 

 Brothers. J. M. 



The Flower Show at Orange, New Jersey. 



nPHE regular fall exhibition of the New Jersey Floricultural 

 -'- Society was held last week at the Rink in Orange, New 

 Jersey, and, as usual, it was noteworthy for the excellent 

 quality of the plants displayed. There was an abundance of 

 Palms, Ferns, Crotons, Marantas, and the like, which were 

 grouped with much taste and skill. The collection of Orchids 

 from the nurseries of Messrs. Pitcher & Manda was unusually 

 rich and varied, containing no less than fifty varieties of 

 Cypripediums alone. The Chrysanthemums in all the classes 

 were the best ever exhibited by the society. The plants 

 trained as standards were commended by the judges as 

 superior to any which have been shown this year. As this 

 was the lirst exhibition this year of the Chrysanthemum, Mrs. 

 Alpheus Hardy, the flower proved one of the chief attractions 

 of the show and was constantly surrounded by enthusiastic 

 admirers. 



The principal prizes were taken by J. Crosby Brown, Geo. 

 J. Ferry. William Barr, E. P. Wilbur, of South Bethlehem, 

 Pennsylvania, Messrs. Pitcher & Manda and John N. May. 



Some fine clusters of Niagara and Brighton Grapes were 

 shown by E. & J. C. Williams, of Montclair, New Jersey. 



Notes. 



A forest fire raged for nearly three weeks in October among 

 the mountains of Santa Clara and Santa Cruz Counties, 

 California. 



The proceedings of the Convention of the Society of Ameri- 

 can Florists, held in New York last August, have been promptly 

 published, and make an instructive volume of nearly 200 pages. 



We are sorry to say that the news has just come from St. 

 Petersburg of the death, at Tashkend, of General Prejevalsky, 

 the famous geographer and explorer of Central Asia, to whose 

 proposed expedition into the heart of Thibet reference was 

 made in these columns a few weeks ago. 



Experiments at the Amherst College Station indicate that a 

 wash of Portland cement, of the consistency of common paint, 

 will adhere to the bark of young trees during winter, and when 

 mixed with Paris green, will serve as a protection against mice. 



Mr. John Thorpe states in The American Garden that out of 

 385 seedling Chrysanthemums raised by him this year, thirty- 

 seven had bloomed before October iSth, and not a single one 

 was worth keeping. The seeds were saved from the best 

 varieties, and yet he can hardly expect five flowers of superior 



quality, and will be satisfied if he secures a single one that is a 

 real acquisition. 



A curious development of Lapageria alba is noted in 27;.? 

 Garden, of London. A large plant in the green-house at 

 Arundel sent up this year a long shoot from the- ground which 

 terminated in a close, umbel-like cluster of more than twenty 

 flowers. The same paper describes a Fig-tree of the Brown Tur- 

 key variety, growing at Kingdon Hall, which covers the wall to 

 a height of eighteen feet, and extends fifty-four feet in a lateral 

 direction. It annually bears and ripens a large crop of fruit. 



The National Chrysanthemum Society of England has just 

 issued a new catalogue — the third prepared under its direction. 

 It forms a volume of sixty-five closely-printed pages, exclusive 

 of the preface, and includes a historical account of the Chry- 

 santhemum and its introduction into culture. About 2,000 

 species and varieties are named and described, although nov- 

 elties of this year's introduction were excluded, as their title to 

 be considered distinct varieties needs further establishment. 



The late Professor Edward Tuckerman left a valuable col- 

 lection of books and papers relating to Lichens to the library 

 of Amherst College, where it will be kept separate from the 

 other collections as a memorial of the donor. The librarian of 

 the college, Mr. W. T. Fletcher, wishes it to be known that 

 supplementary contributions to the collection will be wel- 

 comed. And he is in hopes that a fund may be secured to 

 maintain it by additions and repairs. About $1,000 would suf- 

 fice for the purpose. Professor Tuckerman's collection of 

 Lichens, unrivaled in North American species, and containing, 

 of course, all his own types, has been acquired by Harvard 

 College through the efforts of our associate. Professor Farlow. 



At the Iowa Experiment Station some interesting observations 

 have been made on the different varieties of Indian Corn, from 

 which the conclusion is drawn that those which have a large 

 number of blades on the points of the husks are the more fruit- 

 ful, probably because this extra leaf surface enables them to 

 assimilate a larger proportion of plant food. It also appears 

 that the leaves of the various kinds show marked differences 

 in the relative amovmt of chlorophyll-bearing tissues. Other 

 things being equal, it is probable that the power and quality 

 of the leaf for food assimilation depends upon the amount 

 of available chlorophyll it contains, and therefore a micro- 

 scopic examination of the leaf-structure of any variety will be 

 a help in estimating its comparative value. 



The trade in Christmas-trees and greens grows larger year 

 by year. Thirty years ago a Christmas-tree was seldom seen 

 except in some home of the richest class, and the adornment 

 of churches for the festival season was confined to the Catho- 

 lic and Episcopal denomiiiations. But the immense increase 

 of our German population has popularized the Christmas-tree 

 throughout the length and breadth of the land ; and with the 

 waning of old Puritan ideas the decoration of churches of all 

 denominations has become customary. The extent to which 

 materials for these purposes are now required is shown by the 

 fact that a single dealer in New England last year disposed of 

 10,000 Christmas-trees, 25,000 yards of wreathing and 800 bar- 

 rels of evergreen spray. The smallest trees that are sold 

 bring, on the ground, ten cents apiece, while the largest — 

 twenty-five to thirty feet in height — bring from $4 to $6. 



French papers have recently contained summaries of the 

 report of the Minister of Agriculture, Monsieur Viette, upon 

 his tour through the wine-producing departments of France. 

 Of the departments of Herault, Gard and the Gironde, he says 

 that the flooding of vineyards has had admirable results, and 

 that renewal of the vines by means of grafting upon American 

 species as stocks has proved successful. Grafts of French 

 vines upon American stock have the advantage, it is claimed, 

 of ripening their fruit earlier, and of being more productive 

 without loss of delicacy in the fruit. After long experiment the 

 way has been discovered to renew a vineyard in three years, 

 if the necessary preparations are made. In Herault this has 

 almost everywhere been accomplished, and in Gard it is 

 rapidly progressing. Vines planted in sand cover wide 

 expanses, and everywhere an excellent harvest is expected. 

 Herault, which produced seventy-five million gallons of wine 

 last year, is expected this year to produce more than a hundred 

 millions, while forty-five millions are anticipated from the 

 Gironde. Mildew as well as the phylloxera is being success- 

 fully combatted, and now, it is affirmed, the problem of viti- 

 - culture has been mastered, from the cultivator's point of 

 view. Economical questions alone remain for adjustment. 

 A strict enforcement of the rules for the inspection of foreign 

 wines on the frontier is recommended, as well as new regula- 

 tions to control the manufacture of wine from grapes that are 

 not fresh. 



