November 21, 



•] 



Garden and Forest. 



465 



wood of Europe ; it is a hardy, fast-growing slirub, but of no 

 great ornamental beauty. Loudon's suggestion tliat its specific 

 name is due to the briglit coloring of the foliage in autumn is 

 not a very fortunate one, if we can judge by its behavior in 

 this country, for no plant retains here green leaves more per- 

 sistently. 



The Washington Thorn, Cra/cegas cordata, is still a brilliant 

 and beautiful object, with its small, bright red fruit and orange 

 and scarlet leaves. This is one of the most rapid growing and 

 desirable of all our Tliorns as an ornamental tree, and it is 

 free or nearly so from fungus attacks, which ruin the beauty 

 early in the season of many Thorns. Formerly it was much 

 more generally planted, especially as a hedge plant, for which 

 purpose it is well suited, than at present. It is one of the most 

 desirable of the smaller North American trees for ornamental 

 planting. The foliage, however, of C. arborescens, is still more 

 brilliant, surpassing here this year not only all other Thorns, 

 Init nearly every plant in the collection. C. arborescens is 

 found in the south Atlantic States rather sparingly, and again 

 west of the Mississippi River from Missouri to Texas. Like 

 many of the other Thorns, it is moat common and most fully 

 developed in the valley of the Red River; here it is, when in 

 bloom, a conspicuous feature of the region, bordering the low, 

 wet prairies and the banks of streams, sometimes reach- 

 ing a height of forty feet, with a round, wide spreading top. 

 The bark of the trunk is much lighter colored than that of the 

 otherspecies, and the flowers, although small, are produced in 

 the greatest profusion. The fruit is small, hardly larger than 

 a pea, and bright red. It is rather a surprise that this plant 

 should prove hardy here. So far, however, it grows vigor- 

 ously and rapidly, and its further development will be watched 

 with much interest. The astonishing and unsurpassed color of 

 its foliage at this season of the year, should give this Thorn a 

 place in every garden where it can be grown successfully. 



Quercus Georgiana is one of the rarest plants found growing 

 spontaneously within the limits of the United States. It is a 

 low spreading bush, with leaves not unlike those of the Scarlet 

 Oak, with smooth and shining saucer-shaped cups, and oval, 

 globose acorns, and it is found nowhere else than upon the 

 summit of Stone Mountain, in Georgia. This interesting shrub 

 is perfectly hardy here, and just now its leaves are of the 

 most intense scarlet color. 



The genus Smilax is only represented in the collection yet 

 by tlu'ee species. Of these, S. Pseudo-China still retains its 

 dark green leaves, which show no signs of turning to any other 

 color before falling. The leaves of S. rotitndifolia, the com- 

 mon Green- or Bull-brier, were brilliant scarlet and orange a 

 few days ago, although now they have nearly all fallen, while 

 those of S. glauca are just turning orange. These are all use- 

 ful and handsome plants, and were they less common, they 

 would be often seen in gardens, especially the Green-brier, 

 which is one of the very best plants which can be used in 

 this climate to make a shrubbery, or a boundary wall impene- 

 trable and impassable. 



Among North American trees, none, perhaps, retains its 

 foliage green and fresh so late in the season as the Nettle tree, 

 Celtis occidentalis. The leaves are all upon the branches still, 

 and only here and there show a tinge of yellow. This is not 

 a common tree east of the Hudson River, but further west and 

 south, and especially in the far south-west, it is one of the lar- 

 gest, and most widely and commonly distributed of our native 

 trees. It varies remarkaljly in habit and in the size and shape 

 of the leaves, and botanists have at different times, for this 

 reason, applied to it several dilTerent names, believing that 

 there were several species, although it is probably wiser to con- 

 sider all the different forms as included in one variable species. 

 Sometimes it is a low bush only a few feet high ; sometimes, 

 ■ especially in the Mississippi Valley, it is a tall, wide-spreading 

 tree, with rigid branches, and a tall, straight trunk ; in the 

 valley of the Rio Grande it is low and wide-spreading, resem- 

 bling an Apple-tree, with a short trunk and round head. 

 Upon the banks of the Hudson River, opposite Newburgh, in 

 New York, it grows with a slender trunk, and long, graceful 

 and pendulous branches, which give to these trees, in tliis par- 

 ticular region, a character peculiarly their own. 



It is certainly remarkable that this tree is so little known 

 to horticulturists and so rarely planted. It is easily raised and 

 grows rapidly. It is readily transplanted, and it is not at all 

 fastidious about the soil in which it grows. It is an excellent 

 tree to plant upon the lawn or along the road-side, and yet it 

 is practically unknown in nurseries, and in the east certainly 

 it is never planted — a fact which can be partially explained, 

 perhaps, that it resembles somewhat, although a smaller tree, 

 the Elm in habit and general appearance, and so has never 

 become familiar to persons who are not botanists. J . 



November 6th. 



University of 



The Forest. 



The Forest-tree Plantation of the 

 Illinois. 

 ''T^HIS timber-tree plantation was begun in 1871 and covers 



-'- about fifteen acres, with twenty-five species. The land 

 was originally prairie, the usual deep, black, loamy soil, but 

 varies considerably in richness and drainage. During tliirty 

 years previously the land had been used in ordinary farming, 

 had never received manvu'e of any kind, but v.-as still good 

 enough over the greater part of the area to produce average 

 crops of Corn — say, fifty bushels to the acre. A part, however, 

 was not so good. This last is upon the highest and naturally 

 best drained portion, where, without manure, few field crops 

 would satisfactorily grow. The lowest parts are too wet in 

 spring-time for early tillage. Tile drains in this part would, if 

 put down three feet, carry water at least half the season. 

 None, however, have been laid. An open ditch across the 

 plantation is the only artificial outlet for water. This does not 

 usually dry up until after midsummer. The latitude of the 

 place is a few miles north of the fortieth parallel. 



The trees are in north and south rows— those first planted 

 four feet apart; the later ones, eight feet apart. The earlier 

 plantings were made two feet; the later, mostly foiu' feet apart 

 in the rows. Thinning has been practiced from time to time, 

 l>y removing alternate rows among those at first four feet 

 apart, and by cutting away from one-half to three-fourths of 

 the trees from the rows. As the stand was originally good, 

 the trees are now quite thick upon the ground. 



The following table gives the kinds and quantities of trees 

 and date of planting, together with the average measurements 

 of the trees, on July 27th, 1888 : 



Ailaiithus 



Apple 



Ash, Cireen 



Black Walnut 



Box folder 



Butternut 



Catnlpa, Hardy 



Catalpa, Tender 



Cedar, I^ed 



Chestnut 



Elm, American 



Hickory, Small Nut. 

 Hickory, Largo Nut, 



Honey Locust 



Larcli 



Linden 



Maple, Hard 



Maple, Soft 



Oak, Burr 



Osage Orange 



I'ine, Austrian 



Pine, Scotch 



Pine, White 



Spruce, Noi'way. . . . 

 Willow, White 



p Ui 



a " 



4x8 

 4x4 

 2.\-4 



2x4 

 2x4 



2.X4 



4x8 



2.X4 



2x4 



2.X4 

 2.xS 

 2X8 



4x8 



2x4 

 4x8 

 2x4 

 2x4 



4xS 



2x4 

 4x4 

 4x4 

 4x4 



2.X4 

 2.X4 



> 



1876-7 

 1871? 



1873 

 1877 

 1871 

 1881 

 1871 

 1871 

 1871 

 1871 

 18S0 

 1S80 

 1882 

 1871 

 i88i 



1S73 

 1S71 

 18K5 

 1871 

 1872 

 1872 

 1872 

 1872 

 1871 



4-5 

 3 

 4 

 Seed. 



2 



2-3 ft- 



2 



2 



Seed. 



Seed. 



2 



I 



6 



3-7 



9-12 ui. 

 1-2 ft. 

 12-15 ''1 

 12-15 i" 

 I 



> 

 2 n 





4 9- 



5 II .2 



7!2I. 

 I I27.7 



9|i8. 



Siig. 

 I 16. 



'■i- 



22.7 



3-7 



5-7 



9- 



28.7 



5- 

 16. 



19- 

 23- 

 20. 



17- 

 30.2 



X 



XX 



XX 



XXX 



XXX 



X 



XXX 



X 



XX 



XX 



XX 



XX 



XX 



XXX 



XX 



XXX 



XX 



XX 



XX 



XX 



XXX 



XXX 



XXX 



XXX 



In the column showing the present condition of the various 

 kinds of trees one X denotes poor; two, fair, and three, excel- 

 lent order. The last are thrifty, fine in shape, and in every 

 way promising. 



This comparison of the degree of successful growth among 

 the dilferent varieties is perhaps the most instructive thing in 

 the plantation. It is easy to see that some kinds thrive when 

 planted quite thickly in blocks by themselves, while other 

 varieties, which may succeed in the open ground or in mixed 

 plantations, fail if thus crowded by trees of their own kind. 



Another table, giving costs and receipts, will be found inter- 

 esting. It will be seen the latter are very small, mostly from 

 sale of the yotmg trees for transplanting. There should also 

 have been a small credit for stakes and poles used on the 

 farm, for which no account was kept. So far nothing c;ui be 

 said in favor of the undertaking for profit, whatever may be 

 the ultimate outcome. Siu'ely fuel cannot be profitably grown 

 in this wav when the best cord-wood sells for $5.00, delivered, 

 and good bituminous coal tor $3.50 per ton. Ordinarily, the 

 thinning has been done for the product cut away. 



