460 



Garden and Forest. 



[November 21, i8 



from the type in color and in the greater amount of web spun. 

 Tliey are yellow, inclining to orange, with what appear as 

 dark spots, of varying size, on the body, but which is probably 

 the food within seen through the transparent skin. Whether 

 any of these variations may constitute separate species or 

 varieties remains to be determined by some specialist. 



The past season has been unusually damp and cool, yet the 

 mites have been very abundant, and have shown remarkable 

 hardiness and tenacity of life in prolonged cool and wet 

 periods. Dry seasons are said to be most favorable to their 

 increase, and, if this is so, they may yet prove a serious an- 

 noyance to the landscape-g.^rdener. Trees with very thick, 

 tough leaves, such as the Oaks, may be able to withstand their 

 attacks without showing material injury, but the effect pro- 

 duced is certainly not pleasing from an artistic point of view. 



Arnold Arboretum. "J- G. yai'k. 



New or Little Known Plants. 



Berberis Fendleri.* 



THE common Barberry, which is so abundant in man)^ 

 places, especially on the hills of New England, 

 though not a native, is our best knovi'n representative of 

 the true Barberries. Its bright foliage and not ungraceful 

 habit, its usually abundant, drooping racemes of yellow 

 flowers in spring, and its still more conspicuous bright red 

 berries in autumn, tnake it decidedly ornamental. Our 

 native species resemble this very closely in most respects. 

 Berberis Canadensis, not at all Canadian, as its name would 

 indicate, is confined to the Alleghanies, and is common on 

 stream-banks from Virginia to northern Georgia. The 

 leaves are paler than in B. vulgaris, and somewhat glau- 

 cous, the flowers are smaller and in much shorter racemes, 

 or nearly corymbose, and the fruit is shorter and more oval 

 or almost globose. 



The B. Fendleri, of which a figure is given, belongs to 

 the more southern portion of the Rocky Mountains. It 

 was first found by Fendler forty years ago in the moun- 

 tains near Santa Fe, and has since been collected a little 

 farther to the east on the upper Pecos, northward near 

 Taos, and at the forks of the Rio Grande in southern 

 Colorado. It is of rare occurrence within this limited 

 range. The true Barberries, therefore, which in the Old 

 World extend across the continents of Europe and Asia 

 from England to Japan, are restricted in America to two 

 small mountain districts on the eastern side, being replaced 

 in the west and south-west by the Mahonia section of the 

 genus, and reappearing in South America as evergreen 

 shrubs, of which the cultivated B. Darwinii is an example. 



The leaves of B. Fendleri are green and lucid, while the 

 stem and branches are purplish and shining as if var- 

 nished. The flowers are as large as in B. vulgaris, in 

 racemes an inch or tvvo long, and at the base of the calyx 

 are a number of smaller, but conspicuous, red bracts. This 

 species flowered in the Botanic Garden here in 1880. 



Cambridge, Mass. .S'. W. 



Cultural Department. 



The Vegetable Garden. 



Tp'HE two great dangers which threaten vegetables that have 

 ■•- lieen lifted and stored early are too much moisture and 

 too much protection. They should be kept dry overhead, 

 cool and well ventilated. Cauliflower, planted out about the 

 1st of July, is now in full head, and another crop, set out 

 from pots about the end of the month, is showing flower; that 

 planted after Potatoes early in August is later, but the appear- 

 ance of the hearts gives promise of heading soon. As frost 

 injures the hearts of Cauliflower, in the case of well-developed 

 heads we break a few of the outer leaves and bend them over 

 the hearts to protect them ; undeveloped heads are so encir- 

 cled with leaves as to have protection enough. But it is un- 

 safe to trust Cauliflowers out-of-doors after this time of year, 

 and we are now lifting and storing it in cold-frames, to be cov- 

 ered with sashes, mats or thatch as occasion requires. In 

 preparing these frames we are particular to have them in a 

 sheltered situation, to save covering in winter; and we make 

 the pit two feet deep at the back, and eighteen inches deep 



•B. Fendleri, Gray, PI. Fendl., 51 Rothroclt, Wheeler's Rep., vi. 60. 



at the front, banking it with the earth removed from within the 

 frame. The plants are then lifted, stripped of their rougher 

 outside leaves, assorted according to their stage of growth, 

 and planted closely together in the frame. As the heads may 

 not have room enough if the plants are set perfectly upright, 

 the stalks are made to lean, the several rows overlapping each 

 other shingle-fashion. By assorting and storing according to 

 their ripeness, we may begin at one end of the frames and cut 

 clean towards the other, and avoid picking out a head here 

 and there as it matures. And this lessens labor in covering. 

 Late Cauliflowers — that is, plants just showing signs of head- 

 ing — will, when treated in this way and protected from frost, 

 develop flowers during the winter, and be ready for use in 

 January and February, and sometimes continue till March, 

 when they are highly appreciated. The Erfurt — and some of 

 its variefles. Snowball, for instance — are the best kinds we have 

 this year. Leonormand's and Algiers have not given as good 

 satisfaction as they once did. About Riverhead, in Suftblk 

 County, where Cauliflower is grown in large quantity for New 

 York City markets, the Erfurt has come to be the main crop 

 cultivated. 



Brussels Sprouts are much hardier than Cauliflower, and we 

 leave them out-of-doors till severe winter weather is likely to 

 set in in December, then we strip off their rougher leaves, lift 

 and heel in the plants close together in a pit, shed or cellar, 

 where they can have light and be kept cool. They usually 

 grow so tall they are awkward to store in ordinary cold- 

 frames. We also have good success with them by lifting and 

 heeling them in quite close together in a warm, sheltered spot 

 out-of-doors, and where we can conveniently construct about 

 them some sort of a temporary shelter — of evergreen branches 

 oftenest. 



Cabbages we leave undisturbed so long as there is nodanger 

 of the ground freezing hard, say till about the end of Novem- 

 ber, and often December. We winter them in several ways : 

 The mature ones, with heads down and close together, in out- 

 door trenches ; somewhat younger ones, with heads up and 

 stored in frames after the manner of Cauliflower, or with heads 

 up and close together in a shed or cool cellar, or in a bed out- 

 side six feet wide, and covered over witli some sea-thatch. 

 Oak leaves or evergreen branches. When stored outside we 

 cannot always get them in winter, and therefore for every-day 

 use it is more convenient to have some in a cellar, shed or 

 frame. When packed together with heads up they are apt to 

 grow a little in winter and burst open, but this does not happen 

 when they are bedded with ffieir heads dowji. Flat Dutch and 

 All Seasons are capital late Cabbages, and the Drumheads are 

 good, but sometimes a little coarse. The Savoys are the finest 

 of all Cabbages for family use, and they are as easily grown as 

 are the plain-leaved Cabbages. The Drumhead Savoy is the 

 variety mostly grown for winter work. 



Curled Kale is a capital winter vegetable, and easy to handle 

 because it is very hardy, and half-grown plants are as good as 

 mature ones. Kale can be grown as a catch crop any time 

 after July. E.xtra Dwarf Curled Erfurt is the finest variety I 

 know. It really is dwarf, much curled, and hardy. Many of 

 the so-called Extra Dwarf Curled Kales have umbrella-heads 

 and stems two feet long. About the end of November lift 

 and replant closely, and when the ground freezes throw 

 a few dry Oak leaves about them, and over these some 

 evergreen branches. The Kale is always better for use 

 after sharp frost ; but sunshine and cutting winds in winter 

 need to be guarded against, as they burn the curly leaves. 



German or Siberian Kale, like Spinach, is usually sown in 

 September in rows twelve to eighteen inches apart for use as 

 greens in spring. After the surface of the ground is frozen an 

 inch or two deep give it a slight mulching to protect it from 

 sunshine, wind, very severe cold, and from being heaved out 

 of the ground by frost in winter. Mulching before the ground 

 is frozen over only invites field mice, which are very destruc- 

 tive to all covered crops in winter. 



In this latitude part of the Celery crop should be stored some 

 time in the latter half of November, according to the weather. 

 Where several thousand heads are kept over out-door trenches 

 or ridges will answer, but where only a few hundreds are to 

 be wintered they should be stored in a shed or cool cellar. 

 When the winters are severer than they are in New York, 

 large growers have regular Celery sheds. For out-door win- 

 tering dig a long', deep, narrow trench in a sunny and well- 

 drained space, say twenty or twenty-four inches deep and nine 

 inches wide. Then lift the Celery, keeping all of one sort and 

 all of the same size or earliness together, and stand the plants 

 in these trenches in a single row, but as close together as they 

 can be packed, filling in ithe soil and packing it firmly as the 

 storing proceeds. Before storing, all sprouts and diseased 



