478 



Garden and Forest. 



[November 28, 1888. 



their component parts. (4) Fundamental notions of the laws 

 of climate and meteorology. (5) Cultivation and care of for- 

 ests. (6) Book-keeping and other general branches of instruc- 

 tion valuable for under-foresters. The Federal Government 

 pay the teachers, who are appointed by the canton, subject to 

 the approval of the Federal Government. 



At the outset there were great difficulties in carrying out 

 the Forest Law. There is not now in the cantons a uniform 

 organization for carrymg it out; and Dr. Fankhauser, one of 

 the highest officials of the Forest Department, does not think 

 that such an organization is possible, having regard to the dif- 

 ferences in position and ideas of the various cantons. At the 

 present time each canton possesses in a measure its own 

 scheme of forestry organization. There are, however, two 

 main systems in existence in the Federal district, the first of 

 which prevails in the central, eastern and southern parts of 

 Switzerland. Each canton is divided into districts of from 

 17,500 to 35,000 acres each, and over each district the canton 

 places an officer who has received scientific training ; under 

 him are the keepers and deputy foresters, chosen b}' the own- 

 ers from among the students of the local forestry school, and 

 paid by them. Each deputy has about 3,000 acres to take care 

 of, and has but to carry out the orders of his superior as to 

 felling, clearing and replanting. In the next, however, a dif- 

 ferent system obtains. Here the country is far less mountain- 

 ous, and the inhabitants industrial rather than agricultural in 

 their pursuits. In these cantons the district forester has from 

 7,500 to 17,500 acres under him, and in this district he marks 

 out all the fellings to be performed, and in fact does every- 

 thing but the manual labor, which he leaves to his inferiors. 

 In this district, where timber is very high in price, and the 

 opportunities of sale numerous, the country is frequently 

 reafforested by private individuals, while in the other cantons 

 the state is forced to do nearly everything. 



The salaries of the forest officials vary very much in the 

 different cantons, but even in the best paid districts the remu- 

 neration is very modest. Under-foresters receive sometimes a 

 fixed salary, sometimes only daily wages when employed. If 

 the former, the sum varies from $125 to $250. If the rate of 

 pay is per day, which is unusual, it is generalh' fixed at $1. 

 District foresters usually receive from $440 to $560 a year. In 

 Uri, however, $600 is given, and in a few places as high as 

 $800 per annum. Cantonal forest inspectors receive from $600 

 to $900 a year, besides allowances, which are always given to 

 the higher officials when traveling on duty, with the cost of 

 the journey. 



Correspondence. 



The New York Chrysanthemum Show. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — A flower show is hardly the place to see plants at 

 their best. In the garden, in the field, in tlie green-house, or 

 even in the living room they look better than when massed 

 together, bottled, labeled, and stiffly contrasted in a crowded 

 exhibition. Of course there is room for improvement in the 

 arrangement of exhibitions — beauty might be considered a 

 little more without any sacrifice in the way of convenience. 

 But as it is we usually feel : These are beautiful things, but 

 how much more beautiful they must be under other condi- 

 tions. 



This is especially true when Chrysanthemums are in ques- 

 tion. As isolated blossoms some of them — not all — are very 

 beautiful. But they need number and a particular kind of 

 arrangement to appear at their best ; for decorativeness, effec- 

 tiveness, is their prime characteristic. Nor when we turn 

 from the isolated blossom to the growing plant are we fully 

 satisfied. The rather ragged habit of the Chrysanthemum 

 and the comparative sparseness of its foliage seldom result in 

 a plant which, however excellent from the cultivator's point of 

 view, is a really beautiful object or shows its blossoms to the 

 best advantage. To my mind the right way to see them is 

 cut with long stems and arranged in a tall and capacious ves- 

 sel. The bunch must be rather large, or the full stateliness of 

 the flower and glory of its color will not appear ; yet it must 

 not be crowded together or the beauty of individual blossoms 

 will be lost. Stiffly stuck in moss Chrysanthemums never 

 look well ; and massed in a tight layer on a low dish they 

 scarcely look better. No matter how many of them there are 

 the grouping should be light and open, that the combined 

 grace and dignity of the spray with its many heads may not 

 be concealed. And a tall vessel is better than a lower one, as 

 more harmonious with the stately effect they can produce. 



Nor is the material of the jar beneath consideration. Clear 

 glass is not desirable, as it is with Roses, for Chrysanthemum 

 leaves and stems seen in the water are devoid of grace ; nor 

 should sho\?y colors be permitted, which would detract from 

 the effect of the flowers. Green cut glass, or white or blue and 

 white china, or brass or silver — these are the best possible re- 

 ceptacles. Usually the bunch can be so graduated that its 

 own foliage will suffice ; but in no case should very delicate 

 foliage be added, for the Chrysanthemum is certainly not a 

 delicate flower. Of course as Maiden-hair Fern is now so high 

 in favor it is often used with Chrysanthemums; nothing can 

 be much more inharmonious than its effect, yet a basket thus 

 composed took a second premium at the recent exhibition in 

 New York. 



But if a lover of beauty could tie his attention down to indi- 

 vidual blossoms a wonderful amount of enjoyment awaited 

 him in this exhibition. It seemed as though Nature herself 

 might there acknowledge man's supremacy, seeing what he 

 had made out of the suggestion she gave in her first 

 Chrysanthemums. What splendid miracles of development 

 he had brought about, and along how many different lines ! 

 There were no true scarlets among the endless colors, but 

 there was every other kind of red and brown and pink ; many 

 purples, scores of yellows ; no blues, but some yellows 

 that were almost green ; and whites in infinite variety. And, 

 now these colors were pure and solid, now flashed and 

 streaked in the most indescribable ways ; and now the one 

 ruled on the under side of the petal, a quite different one 

 above, and yet each kept its perfect purity. Anything more 

 gorgeous than the contrast of red and yellow thus produced in 

 the Mrs. Wheeler, or anything more brilliant than the flashed 

 red and orange of the Lord Byron, it would be impossible 

 to find; while I thought I had never seen a flower of so rare 

 and exquisite a pure yellow as the Golden Dragon. As to size, 

 there was everything, from things as small as a gold button to 

 things almost as big as a Cabbage. And shapes differed as 

 widely. Some were as flat as a plate, some as round as a 

 ball; some as solid as Artichokes, some so fragile they looked 

 as though a breath would blow them apart. There were flow- 

 ers with large, strong petals, and flowers with delicate, thread- 

 like petals; with short ones and long ones, straight or spirally 

 twisted, curling in or curling out, or lying in a flat row around 

 a solid centre. There were Chrysanthemums like little English 

 Daisies, and like Peonies, and like Sunflowers, and others 

 that one could hardly tell from Dahlias, and others, again, 

 that suggested nothing in the world but Chrysanthemums 

 determined to be as eccentric as they could. . It was amusing 

 for a while to try and pick out the most beautiful ones, but 

 the attempt was soon abandoned in despair, for there were 

 so many types one's standard of beauty changed at every 

 step. 



Of the three great novelties of the year, Mrs. L. P. Morton 

 may be a great triumph froin the cultivator's point of view; 

 but from that of the mere "lover of loveliness," it seemed a 

 failure — not pleasing in its color, which is an impure pink, 

 oddly variegated with a dull white, and in disagreeable con- 

 trast with the greenish-yellow centre ; and not pleasing in 

 its form either — which resembles that of a half-double Sun- 

 flower. 



The Mrs. Carnegie, on the other hand, is superb — a perfect 

 expression of the incurved type, neither so full as to be 

 hard nor so loose as to lose form and dignity; variable in its 

 .nianner of growth, moreover, so that no two blossoms are 

 identical in shape, while all are beautiful; of the most magnifi- 

 cent dark-red shade, and truly wonderful in size. But the 

 most beautiful of all — the most beautiful Chrysanthemum that 

 exists — is the famous Mrs. Alpheus Hardy. Here again is 

 the incurved type, a little fuller than in the Mrs. Carnegie, 

 but not too solid, and not in the least stiff or artificial look- 

 ing. The color is the most pure and radiant imaginable white, 

 and the singular down on the petals adds much more than one 

 might imagine to their beauty. This down is called " hairs," 

 I believe, by scientific writers, or even "a glandular growth." 

 But it is down to the eye of ignorance, and the petals look like 

 nothing- so much as the tufts which grow at the base of the 

 wing of a swan. It has often been said of Chrysanthemums 

 that the best of them lack the indefinable quality we call 

 charm. They are splendid flowers, beautiful flowers, but 

 devoid of sentiment, not charming, not poetical. No one will 

 say this again who has seen the Mrs. Hardy. Just the addi- 

 tion of this downy covering to its pure white petals gives it 

 delicacy, charm and sentiment ; makes it as poetical as a 

 Water Lily or a Rose. George Fleming. 



[Our opinion as to the merit of these novelties has 



