494 



Garden and Forest. 



[December 12, 



followed by disastrous fires, which will render useless what 

 is now of great value. 



The great reservoir of New England lies in the forests 

 which cover the White Mountains and the elevated regions 

 which surround them. This is also one of the most valua- 

 ble and most generally frequented summer sanitariums in 

 the United States. Its forests make it valuable. When 

 they are gone its value as a natural reservoir is destroyed, 

 and its value, with its beauty, to summer visitors and sum- 

 mer travelers, will disappear. These forests are the prop- 

 erty of individuals, and no one can deny their right to cut 

 them off if they think it is for their advantage to do so. 

 Opinions may differ whether it is for the advantage of 

 forest-owners to manage forests in such a way that three- 

 fourths of their property is allowed to go to hopeless waste; 

 but there can be no doubt — no question, that it is for the 

 interest of the public that the White Mountain forests 

 should be perpetuated in all their beauty and usefulness. 

 The best investment the State of New Hampshire can make 

 would be to buy up all this forest-region and hold it per- 

 petually as a forest-reservation. The money it would cost 

 would come back many times over in abundant water sup- 

 ply, and in the yearly disbursements of thousands of vis- 

 itors from beyond the borders of the state. The railroads, 

 too, which carry White Mountain visitors, and the owners 

 of the hotels who feed and keep them, might do worse than 

 secure control of this whole region and manage it with the 

 view of making it perpetually attractive, which would 

 mean perpetual preservation of the forests. 



Whether, however, this region is purchased by the State 

 of New Hampshire, or by a corporation holding it as an 

 investment to be managed with a view of drawing from it 

 the largest possible returns consistent with stability, it is 

 certain that unless one of these plans, or some other, look- 

 ing to the permanent safety of the forests, can be adopted, 

 this region and its usefulness will be ruined. 



Monsieur Buser, the custodian of the Candolean herba- 

 rium, has just published a supplementary volume to Bos- 

 sier's " Flora Orienlalis," containing the results of the latest 

 investigations made upon the plants of the vast region 

 covered by the work of the famous Swiss botanist, who 

 died in 1885. A most interesting and appreciative notice 

 of Bossier's life and of his contributions to science, from 

 the pen of his compatriot. Dr. H. Christ, precedes the 

 strictly botanical portion of the volume, which is further 

 enriched by a portrait of Bossier. There are views, too, 

 of the bust of Bossier erected in the Botanic Garden in 

 Geneva by his sister, the Countess Agenor de Gasparin, 

 and of the building containing his herbarium, one of the 

 largest and most valuable in Europe, now the property of 

 the city of Geneva. 



The name of Bossier, one of the most distinguished of the 

 group of systematic botanists who have produced Floras 

 of great natural regions, will not soon disappear from the 

 annals of horticulture. It was Bossier who discovered, 

 during his first Spanish journey — afterwards described in 

 one of the most delightful books of botanical travel — upon 

 the summit of the Sierra Bermiga, near Estepena, the beau- 

 tiful Spanish Fir {Abies Pinsapo), which he introduced 

 into cultivation the same year ; and among humbler 

 plants for which our gardens are indebted to his zeal it is 

 only necessary to mention the lovely Cliionodo.va Lucilice, 

 which he discovered among the melting snows on the 

 alpine summits of the western Tmolin, above Bozdagh, 

 in Asia Minor, and which he dedicated to his wife, the 

 companion of some of his early journe)'S. Bossier was a 

 most successful cultivator of alpine plants, and his rock- 

 garden, which he established as early as 1852, at his 

 country place of Valeyres, at the foot of the Jura, must 

 have been one of the most interesting ever made. The 

 journeys of his later years (and the number was astonish- 

 ing, in view of the vast amount of literary and herbarium 

 work which he accomplished) were undertaken for the 

 purpose of securing rare plants for his garden for which 



he laid under contribution all collectors and all coun- 

 tries, and the plants others could not find, he went in 

 search of himself. Here were mingled plants from the 

 Rocky Mountains to the Himalayas, including those from 

 every mountain chain of southern Europe and of the 

 Orient, which no one has ever known, botanically, so well 

 as Bossier. He cultivated, too, a large collection of exotic 

 Orchids at his winter-home on the shores of the lake, near 

 Geneva. 



An appropriation of $100,000, to enable the United States 

 (Geological Survey to begin an investigation into the prac- 

 ticability of inaugurating a national system of irrigation, 

 by which it is hoped that immense tracts of lands in the 

 Western States and Territories, now barren and worthless, 

 can be made ava'ilable for agriculture, was included in the 

 Sundry Civil Appropriation Bill passed at the last session 

 of Congress. Major Powell has estimated that the territory 

 which can be reclaimed for agriculture by irrigation is equal 

 in extent to the whole area now cultivated in the United 

 States. It is impossible to determine, of course, whether 

 his estimate is correct or not, but it is safe to say, with all 

 due allowances for over-confidence in the possibilities of 

 irrigation, as applied in western North America, that this 

 new enterprise of the government is one of the most im- 

 portant, if not the most important, it has ever undertaken, 

 and that eventually the national wealth must be increased 

 by it enormously. Homes will be created for millions of 

 industrious and prosperous families, and the natural 

 products of the country will be increased enormously, 

 it is safe to say. This appropriation, to which not a dozen 

 members of Congress, probably, ever devoted a moment's 

 consideration, seems destined to mark a new era in the 

 prosperity of the nation. 



The Pines in Mid-November. 



THE foliage has mostly disappeared from deciduous trees 

 and shrubs, but many herbaceous plants are wonderfully 

 preserved. They escaped the light frosts of October, and the 

 unusual warmth of November has endowed them with fresh 

 vigor, so that in chosen spots among the Pines we still find 

 many beautiful flowers. Some of the Asters, and even Golden- 

 rods, are blooming still. But one of the most delightful sur- 

 prises is a bed of blue Violets — a form of Viola cuciillata. Not 

 even in the spring-time have I ever found plants blooming 

 more profusely than these. The flowers are large and bright 

 l)lue, and, together with their leaves, make charming bou- 

 quets. But the most attractive novelty is a little patch of the 

 violet Wood Sorrel ( Cr^z/Zj- violacea) in full bloom. It is under 

 an old Pine tree ; and standing well up above the dry needles 

 •\\hich carpet the ground are a good many prett)' ftower- 

 scapes, with several bright blossoms on each, but not a leaf 

 has made its appearance. I shall keep watch of the future be- 

 havior of these plants. Next spring they will show probably 

 nothing but leaves. 



Another handsome flower is the Soapwort Gentian [Gentiana 

 Sapoiiaria), with half-closed corollas, but bright and beautiful 

 with its smooth, deep green leaves, some of them inclining to 

 a purplish tint. And near by is its small relative, Bartonia 

 l(:)ulla, still in bloom. This little plant has small, inconspicu- 

 ous white flowers, but in the middle of November the most 

 insignificant flower tiiat braves the weather commands our 

 adniiration for its sturdy character. I also find fair specimens 

 of Polygala liitea in flower, and a species of Xyris. 



The foliage that still clings to many trees and shrubs, which 

 seem half inclined to be evergreen, is an interesting study- 

 The leaves of the Swamp Magnolias, especially the younger 

 ones, are as bright and shining as in midsummer, and those of 

 the smooth Alder {Almis serrulata) and Sweet Fern are still 

 abundant, fresh and green. The leaves of the Wa.x Myrfle 

 {Mvriia cerifera) are now deliciously fragrant, and show no 

 signs of loosening their hold. Indeed, like the Sweet Fern in 

 sheltered spots, the shrub is nearly or quite evergreen, and 

 holds its foliage well into spring. 



In all mv pleasant autumn rambles I have found nothing 

 more beautiful than the running Swamp Blackberry {Rubus 

 hispidns). Its delicate tracery of stem and leaf are laid over a 

 bed of damp green moss. The foliage is charmingly colored 

 in crimson, scarlet and purple. 



