498 



Garden and Forest. 



[Decemrer 12, iS88. 



more solid. In about six weeks after spawning; he expects 

 Mushrooms. A temperature of about 60" is maintained, but 

 with an ordinary iron stove it is not an easy matter to ]<eep up 

 a steady temperature. And the stove fieat, too, is apt to dry 

 the eartli on tlie surface of tlie beds, in wliicli case they aie 

 freely spruikled with water, but enough is not given to soak 

 through to die manure. 



While generally successful, Mr. Denton's crop varies a good 

 deal in different years. Two years ago from these two cellars 

 he gathered 2,200 pounds of Mushrooms, while last year his 

 crop from the same space was less than 1,700 pounds. He is 

 inclined to give a good deal of credit for the heaviest yield to 

 the freshness and sweetness of his cellar that season, as he 

 had it tlioroughly cleaned out and limewashed in autumn 

 before he made up his beds. 



The one tiling about Mr. Denton's arrangement that seemed 

 faulty was the parching stove. A hot-air apparatus seems 

 out of place wherever plants of any sort are grown, be they 

 Mushrooms, Roses or Orchids. Besides, here is a big iron 

 stove occujiying a space which might be devoted to piart of 

 another Hoor bed and two whole shelf beds. A base-l>urner, 

 hot water boiler and two three-inch hot water pipes run around 

 inside tlie cellar, would seem preferable. The pipes could be 

 run close alongside one C)f the shelves and would not be in the 

 way at all, and any danger of their overheating the edge of 

 tlie bed by which they were running could be averted liy hav- 

 ing a temporary board set alongside of them, making the shelf 

 two boards high instead of one. No deep stock hole is re- 

 quired for these little boilers; they can be run on the common 

 level of the cellar, and could be set into a niche in the wall 

 four by six feet scjuare. Two hods of coal a day will heat 300 

 feet of three-inch pipe. Surely this is better than any stove, 

 and the first expense is the only one, for such an apparatus is 

 simple and duraljle. We heat our Mushroom houses with 

 this kind of boiler and hot water pipes, and nothing could do 

 the work more effectively. lF;/i. Falconer. 



Glen Ccve. N. Y. 



Fruits for Cold Climates. 



T T must be set down as a rule that a fruit-tree should be of a 

 •*■ variety that will endure all weathers in the place where it 

 is planted. It must be hardy enough to stand the test winter; 

 otherwise, just when the owner is looking for a first full crop, 

 he may find only a dead tree. 



Experience has proved that the fruit-trees of western Europe 

 and their seedlings will not, as a rule, endure the winter 

 climate of similar latitudes on the American Continent. All of 

 Europe north of Rome is north of Boston. Boston is nearly 

 tlie extreme north limit of the Peach, Plum, Quince and Apri- 

 cot; and of the Apples and Pears of north-western Europe very 

 few can be planted with prolit more than 100 miles north of 

 Boston. Seedlings from these do not, as a rule, show more 

 resistance to cold than their parents. So seldom do they, that 

 those of us who have had most experience at once suspect 

 that such a seedling is an accidental cross Avitli a hanlier 

 variety, like those of Russia and Siberia. 



The Russian tree-fruits are undoubtedly of hybrid origin. 

 Those of Poland and the Baltic provinces are much mixed and 

 crossed with west European species. But, working eastward in 

 the empire, less and less of this blood is found ; and in the 

 valley of the Volga and the Steppe region the influence of 

 north Asia stock preponderates. It is from these trees that 

 we get our most perfect "iron-clads" of all the tree-fruits. 



Our north-eastern states and provinces require hardiness 

 against cold alone; but in the Prairie States this is not enough. 

 Intense summer heat and drought, and the fatal sap-blight, 

 must also be encountered there; and trees for that region 

 must thus be triply clad. The fruits of the Russian and Asiatic 

 steppes furnish the best material to meet these contingencies. 



As New England lies mostly on the latitudes of southern 

 Europe, so Canada lies mostly on the latitudes of Russia and 

 Siberia. Not only climate, but tlie length of seasons and of 

 days, should be considered in estimating the value of fruit- 

 trees. The winter Apples of Russia are many, but south of 

 45° they are only early w^inter or fall sorts. This lessens their 

 value for our Northern States ; but as they can be grown 

 among our tender long-keepers, there is a fair probability that 

 iron-clad crosses can be obtained that will prove long-keeping 

 below latitude 45°. 



Unc|uestionably many European trees are, in their seedlings, 

 gradually adapting themselves to the American climate. The 

 law of the survival of the fittest is all the time in operation, 

 and interested parties are finding along the northern limits of 

 our orchard region (and even within it) seedling varieties 

 which show unusual resistance against cold. After trying 



several hundred of the hardiest Apples of southern Maine, 

 New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts in vain, and 

 after coming to believe that there were no iron-clads among 

 Massachusetts Apples, it was accidentally discovered (at the 

 Centennial, I believe) that an Apple which I had received from 

 Canada as the Strawberry of Montreal, is really the Found- 

 ling, which originated in Groton, Massachusetts. 



Now that an interest has been aroused by the partial suc- 

 cesses already attained, hardy seedlings are being sought out 

 and tested all along our northern borders and in Canada. 

 Scott's Winter is one of the Apples thus obtained, and though 

 not an Apple of high quality or large size, it is a reliable 

 keeper and a useful fruit, not only in itself, but as a beacon of 

 hope for the future. 



As for the Pears and stone fruits, the future is pretty secure, 

 not only from the improvement of our native species of the 

 last, but in the importation of the highly satisfactory Russian, 

 Siberian and north Chinese varieties. I see no reason to 

 doul)t that, by discoveries already made, the orchard re- 

 gion on this continent can be extended from two to three 

 degrees of latitude northward. That this is a wonderful gain, 

 as the result of scarcely two decades of eflbrt, is manifest ; 

 and there is more to come, for the work is scarcely begun. 



Newporl, Vt;rmonl. T. H. HoskillS. 



Our Native Plums. 

 T HAVE made a specialty of Plums of the American and Chi- 

 •'■ casaw varieties for sixteen years, andsince 1874 have never 

 failed to have a crop of plums — even the unprecedented winters 

 of '80 and '81, which killed the Peaches here, while buds were 

 dormant, failed to kill the Wildgoose, Moreman, Miner, or 

 Newman Plums. An ordinary crop is the exception ; an enor- 

 mous one the rule. This season on very light, sandy soil, my 

 Wildgoose trees — twelve years planted — averaged six crates of 

 thirty-two quarts each to the tree, which netted in Baltimore 

 $1.60 a crate — the price ruled lower than usual because of the 

 immense peach crop. With such experience a little enthusi- 

 asm may be pardonable. As a point of profit, there can be no 

 comparison between these plums and varieties of the Euro- 

 pean species. With the latter, unceasing watchfulness and war- 

 fare against insects, at a time when labor of all kinds is press- 

 ing upon fruit-growers, is the price of a crop, while with 

 varieties of the Chicasaw or American species, one longs for a 

 more industrious breed of curculios to help in thinning out 

 the crop. Among the most profitable varieties with me may 

 be named Lone Star, Mariana, Wildgoose, Indian Chief, New- 

 man, Quaker, De Soto, Robinson, Rollingstone, Golden Beauty, 

 Moreman, and Wayland — named in the order of ripening. 

 Tlie number of varieties has increased rapidly within the last 

 five years ; such only are named as have had sufficient trial on 

 my grounds to establish their value. The trees of the Ameri- 

 can varieties are more upright and much less scraggy in 

 growth and habit than are those of Chicasaw parentage. As a 

 rule, success with this class of Plums is rendered much more 

 certain Ijy alternating varieties in planting, because the stigma 

 and stamens mature at different times in the blossoms. 



As yet there seems to be no limit to the variations in seed- 

 lings, the Wildgoose being the parent of most of the varieties 

 now cultivated. Six or eight years before his death Charles 

 Downing suggested to me the possibility of obtaining a free- 

 stone Plum by crossing some of our native varieties with the 

 Peach. Accordingly, \ used tlie Wildgoose as the female and 

 Troth's Early Peach the male parent in a trial to effect this end. 

 The result was a real cross, so far as habit and appearance of 

 the tree are concerned, but a genuine mule in point of repro- 

 ciuctive powers ; flower buds in abundance there have been, 

 but they never expand. Since that I have approached a free- 

 stone variety pretty closely by using pollen from the German 

 Prune upon the Richland Plum. 



In my long study of native Plums, I have never found any 

 evidence that the Mariana is a cross between the Chicasaw and 

 some cultivated Cherry ; neither do the facts in my experience 

 lead me to believe that this alleged origin will bear the light 

 of investigation. One fact alone seems to invalidate this 

 claim : Neither the Wildgoose Plum nor the common Cherry 

 can be successfully grown from cuttings, while the Mariana 

 strikes almost as readily as a Willow. J. W. Kerr. 



Denfon. Maryland. 



Orchid Notes. 

 ^Erides Roliaiinianum is a choice Orchid, and much su- 

 perior 'to any other of the Suavissinuim section of the genus, 

 to whicli it lielongs. It is one of the recent introductions of 

 Sander's, and is sfiU somewhat rare. The racemes are some 

 two feet long and densely flowered. The flowers are white, 

 tiii|>eil with purple, the side lobes of the lip being citron yellow. 



