December 26, 



•] 



Garden and Forest. 



519 



especially ti'ue of the little Leiophillum, whose small shining 

 leaves are clustered thickly at the ends of its branches ; while 

 among the larger trees the Cedars and Pines have more to 

 offer than boughs of dark green foliage. The bright gray 

 fruit of the one and the symmetrical cones of the other are in- 

 valuable for giving character to decorative work. 



Where heavy massing is not desired, evergreen vines like 

 Sinilax Walteri have a grace that is imrivaled, although it re- 

 quires some resolution to penetrate the thickets where it hangs 

 out its clusters of coral-colored fruit. The common Green- 

 brier {S. rotjindifolid) is also beautiful now, being evergreen 

 here, abundant and loaded with blue-black berries. The 

 traihng stems, evergreen leaves and brilliant fruit of the 

 larger Cranberry ( Vacciniuin macrocarpum) are not to be neg- 

 lected. The running Swamp Blackberry has been mentioned 

 before in these notes, but the delicate veining and e.xquisite 

 color of the leaves upon the slender and flexible vine when 

 hanging in festoons against a light background seem the per- 

 fection of dainty grace. 



The aromatic Wintergreen is also here in the greatest prof u- 

 sion, and its leaves have now taken on various colors which 

 harmonize well with the cheerful red of its berries. The 

 Prince's Pine {Chiiiiaphi/a uDibcllata and C. maculatd) are 

 among the very best of the smaller plants for decoration, es- 

 pecially the latter, the leaves of which are variegated with 

 white, while at Christmas time a rosy tinge is added. Nothing 

 can be more beautiful than groups of these little plants mi.\ed 

 with the deep-green Laurel. 



Several species of Club-moss (Lycopodium) grow in the 

 Pines, and these can always be used to good advantage. 

 Their lie.xible stems are easily managed, and their foliage re- 

 tains its fresh look for a long time. 



Groups of dry seed-pods are also effective scattered here and 

 there among the evergreens. The pretty urn-shaped seed 

 vessels of the Meadow Beauty {Rhexia I'irginica), with many 

 others that may suit the fancy, are now found in plenty. 

 Surely the Pines offer abundant material for Christmas decora- 

 tion, but the beauty and grace with which the Pines them- 

 selves are adorned is indescribable. Mary Treat. 



Vineland, N. J. 



Florida Oranges. 



T^HE present orange crop in Florida is twice as large as the 

 A last, and it is a matter of no little solicitude, with all wlio 

 are interested in orange growing, to know liow the markets 

 will bear the additional strain. The last crop sold at satisfac- 

 tory prices, many northern dealers coming to Florida to l)uy 

 the fruit, both in the groves and in the auction market at 

 Jacksonville. A home market is the ideal of the orange 

 growers, but it is not likely to become permanent, because 

 the producers will not unite on any one plan of action, but 

 persist in sending their fruit, each for himself, to hundreds of 

 commission houses in the north and west, so that buyers 

 stand the best chance of getting fruit cheap by staying at 

 home. Shippers, as a rule, expect much better returns than 

 they receive under the commission system. Dealers who 

 solicit fruit to sell on commission are prone to hold out flat- 

 tering inducements, which are too readily believed, while 

 those who come to buy on the ground have to pursue the 

 reverse policy, since they assume all the risks, while the 

 commission merchant throws all the risks on the shipper. 



None realize the evils of the commission system better 

 than the Florida orange growers ; yet nearly all of them con- 

 tinue to dispose of their fruit in this manner year after year, 

 simply because they will not unite upon some one definite 

 plan of action, by which they might prevent gluts at centres of 

 distribution and needless depreciation in prices. What is still 

 more important, a wider and more equable distribution of 

 fruit could thus be brought about, which is the only effectual 

 way of counteracting the effects of overproduction. There 

 would be no cause for present apprehension on this score if 

 the product of the Florida growers could be marketed in sum- 

 mer, but, unfortunately, it is in its prime in Winter, hi Novem- 

 ber the fruit is not strictly marketable. If left on the trees 

 till spring much waste results, and in the counties north of 

 Orange Lake there is about one chance in three of losing the 

 entire crop by frost. No reliable means of preserving the 

 fruit fresh, after it has been picked from the trees, is 

 known, except by cold storage, which is probably too ex- 

 pensive, and when taken out of cold storage houses fruit is 

 said to go down quite rapidly. Californian Oranges have 

 the advantage of being late in ripening, not being market- 

 able until spring. It seems advisable that late varieties 

 should be sought for and largely planted in southern Florida. 



At present a movement is on foot to open up European 

 markets for Florida oranges. Considerable fruit was sent to 

 England last winter, and the returns were quite satisfactory. 

 This season a company in New York has taken up the busi- 

 ness of shipping Florida Oranges to Europe, and the results 

 will be watched with much interest. It appears that Mediter- 

 ranean fruit does not come into market before January, and 

 hence, that there may be good demand for Florida fruit 

 through Decemljer, and perhaps later. The danger to be 

 apprehended is that much immature fruit, shipped in Novem- 

 ber, may create a prejudice at the outstart which will be dam- 

 aging. This evil is experienced every year in the American 

 market, as a result of picking fruit before it has acquired 

 proper color and flavor, even as early as in October. Despite 

 persistent warnings through the Florida papers, many persons 

 will begin shipping as soon as the yellow hue makes its appear- 

 ance on the fruit. It sells well for a few weeks, till the public 

 has had a taste of the fruit, and then comes a reaction, 

 from the effects of which the market does not recover before 

 Christmas week. 



Many advocate the selling of Florida oranges by auction in 

 northern cities, while some oppose it. .This system has been 

 pretty well tested, but the average returns have not differed 

 materially from those received from commission merchants; 

 so the latter may be said to remain masters of the situation. 

 It should be observed that the leading orange growers, who 

 have established a reputation for their fruit and have selected 

 reliable agents to sell it, have a great advantage over othei's 

 and realize much more satisfactory returns. Orange growers 

 of this class can hardly be induced to join themselves to anv 

 general organization, and this fact is, perhaps, the greatest 

 impediment to any effort at combination. Those who are 

 naturally looked to for leadership will not respond, and a co- 

 operative movement that lacks their indorsement is looked 

 upon with distrust. It will be seen that there is something 

 lacking to make orange growing all that fancy has painted it, 

 and that while the lack may be supplied, it is much easier to 

 prescribe the remedy than to apply it. Possibly something 

 may be evolved from the experience of the present season 

 which will tend to advance the industry in the estimation of 

 those who would not follow it merely from esthetic consid- 

 erations, yl. H. Curtiss. 



Jacksonville. Fla. 



Foreign Correspondence. 



London Letter. 



"POLLOWING on a summer which was remarkable for the 

 ■^ absence of sunshine and heat, we are experiencing a 

 November of exceptional warmth and openness. Primroses, 

 the harliingers of spring, are flowering in the hedge-rows and 

 copses almost as freely as if it were March ; \'ioletsare equally 

 abundant ; while the hardy Cyclamens, Christmas Roses, win- 

 ter Heliotrope, and many other plants which usually sleep hard 

 till January, are in full bloom. Not only the Howers, but also 

 the birds, are deceived by the weather, and thrushes sing- as 

 lustily as if it were pairing time. Many deciduous trees and 

 shrubs still retain their foliage; bedding plants, such as 

 Verbenas, are still healthy and flowering. Truly this has 

 been a very mixed year in regard to weather. 



Primula capitata is the sweetest herbaceous plant now in 

 flower. Its normal flowering time is May or June, but it ap- 

 pears to have been affected lay the weather in the same way 

 as the common Primrose. As a plant for an unheated green- 

 house it occupies a foremost place here. I have a bunch of 

 its purple, compact heads of flowers before me as I write, and 

 their powerful odor. Hawthorn-like, fills the whole room. Some 

 of the heads are fully two inches across and contain about a 

 hundred blooms and buds, the latter, occupying the centre, 

 and covered with white meal. The stalks are nine inches 

 high, rising from the centre of a tuft of healthy foliage, not 

 unlike that of P. vulgaris. It is Himalayan, and comes freely 

 from seed. The pretty, white Zephyr flower {Zcphyrantlu-s 

 Candida) is in full blossom in a sunny border out-of-doors. It 

 is the only species that is happy in the open border in the neigh- 

 borhood of London. The other kinds, especially Z. carinata, 

 are in great favor here as summer-flowering green-house 

 plants. 



Cyrtanthus lutescens and C. Mackcnii, although not the 

 brightest in color nor largest in (lower, have proved much 

 the most useful of the dozen or so species which have bet'U 

 cultivated here at one time or other. The genus is one of the 

 hardest of the Cape genera of bulbs to grow successfully in 

 Europe ; but the above are exceptions, as, for the last two 

 years, they have grown and flowered most freely at Kew 



