December 26, 1888.] 



Garden and Forest. 



525 



It's of no use to go on. I am too dull to understand whv 

 pretty things cease to be pretty when they become strikingly 

 pretty. I think you have hit it with regard to the glaring calico 

 beds of Coleus. Some sense ought to be shown in putting- 

 colors together ; but green is not the only color in trees worth 

 looking at by vulgar eyes. If you will make a pilgrimage far 

 out Chestnut Street, in Philadelphia, as I do two or three times 

 a year, just to see a purple Beech, purple as any bedding plant, 

 big as a house, and round as a Cabbage, with a cut-leaved, 

 Weeping Birch for one neighbor and a Cedar of Lebanon hard 

 by in a corner, I am sure you would enjoy these rare beauties 

 which, as a critic, you condemn, because they are not com- 

 monplace and easy to overlook. Make your high-class parks 

 as prim and plain as you will, but pardon common folk for 

 putting pretty things where they can see them grow and 

 where they can be proud of them. Simple Simon. 



Chester, Pa. 



[Our correspondent has entirely failed to comprehend 

 the scope and aims of this journal if he imagines that we do 

 not cordially share his admiration for beautiful plants. All 

 those which he mentions are handsome and appropriate 

 objects in a garden or upon a lawn adjacent to a dwelling- 

 house; and if he has succeeded in grouping them so as to 

 bring out all their beauties with the same taste and knowl- 

 edge which he has .displayed in their selection, his neigh- 

 bors have good reason for stopping to look at his garden. 

 But if he has succeeded in grouping them in this man- 

 ner he may feel very sure that — apparently without his 

 knowledge and perhaps even against his will — he has se- 

 cured an effect of "repose," of harmony, of variety in 

 unity, although not necessarily of "sleepiness'' or com- 

 monplaceness. The mistake he makes, and it is one of 

 very general occurrence, is that he confounds the treatment 

 of a yard or small garden in a thickly settled, or compara- 

 tively thickly settled, region, with landscape-gardening — 

 that is, with the development of surfaces, the treatment of 

 water and the arrangement of plants in such a way as to 

 produce living pictures on a large scale, which are success- 

 ful as they imitate or surpass natural effects. When a small 

 garden or a small lawn forms part of a wider and more ex- 

 tended picture it demands a treatment which shall be in 

 harmony with its surroundings, or with the views, 

 natural or artificial, which can be seen from it. But, as 

 a general rule, a small garden must be treated as a unit 

 and independently of its surroundings ; and in such a gar- 

 den plants which would appear inappropriate and out of 

 place in a large landscape picture, are not only appro- 

 priate, but the most desirable plants to use. A garden exists 

 largely for the sake of its plants ; with a park or landscape 

 the reverse is the case — the plants exist for the sake of the 

 picture as a whole. But even in the smallest garden an 

 over-accumulation of trees and shrubs and flowers, a con- 

 fusion of incongruous forms and colors, a fussy, hetero- 

 geneous, disorderly arrangement can never be satisfactory, 

 for under such circumstances the plants themselves cannot 

 appear to the best advantage. If our correspondent's gar- 

 den is as pleasing in effect as we gather from his words, its 

 arrangement is orderly, no matter how unsymmetrical and 

 informal it maybe; forms and colors are well contrasted; 

 each plant helps instead of hurting the beauty of its neigh- 

 bors, and therefore the effect is a reposeful one. That it 

 includes many striking elements does not alter this fact — 

 some of the finest, most complete and reposeful works of 

 art that the world canshovv' contain very striking elements. 

 The whole question is not one of elements, but of their 

 use, and all we have tried to impress upon our readers 

 is that the more striking the material, the more difficult 

 it is to use it really well, and that material which is 

 not striking is the safest to employ. Given a due degree 

 of knowledge and taste there is no reason why all the 

 plants mentionedby our correspondent, and many more be- 

 sides, cannot be planted in such a manner upon a small piece 

 of ground as to produce an attractive and interesting garden. 

 The development of these plants will afford new pleasures 

 or new disappointments every year ; and the man who 

 plants and maintains such a garden should be considered 

 a benefactor to the community in which he lives. It is a 



collection of plants, however, which he creates, and not a 

 landscape picture. Each is valuable and interesting, and 

 each is capable of affording real and lasting pleasure ; but 

 they must not be confounded, and the man who can suc- 

 cessfully plant, and so make the most of his door-yard, 

 must not think that he is a landscape-gardener. —Ed.] 



To the Editor of G.^rden and Forest : 



Sir. — In striking contrast with the vicinity of Leijanon, Penn- 

 sylvania, where the portable saw-mill, at' so much per acre, 

 has devastated the country of its most valuable trees, I ob- 

 served during a recent visit' to Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, 

 that most of the mountain land througlioiit an extensive 

 region in that part of the state is still covered with forests. As 

 it is too rough and steep for cultivation, it sliould, of course, 

 be kept permanently wooded. The soil is good, and it origin- 

 ally produced a heavy growth of Chestnut Oak, White and 

 Black Oak, Hickory, Walnut, Ash and Chestnut trees. Most 

 of this was cut off thirty or thirty-five years ago, but where the 

 land is not burned over or pastured tlie trees are rapidlv re- 

 produced. There are many springs and small streams in this 

 woodland region, and these are of great value, not alone to 

 the few farmers living in the small valleys, but their steady 

 flow is also of importance to the dwellers along the rivers 

 which carry these waters to the sea. Some plan for taking 

 care of these woods ought to form part of the education of the 

 people of this part of the country. They are hard-working, 

 sensible men and women, with a great deal of character, most 

 of them poor. How can they be reached and taught what 

 they need to know and think of and practice in regard to the 

 forest interests of their region and the best ways of managing 

 their own woodlands ? 



Philadelphia. M. B. C. 



To the Editor of G.^rden and Forest : 



Sir. — Owing to unusual rains in August and September, and 

 the continued warm weather, much of the vegetation here 

 has put on the appearance of spring. The Elms on the east 

 and south sides of the hills are in full bloom. The Japan 

 Quince and Forsythia are full of scarlet and yellow blossoms. 

 Tiie Daffodils, single Hyacinths, Jonquils and Flower-de-Luces 

 are several inches above ground. The jjerennial Sweet Pea 

 has put out fresh sprays ; their delicate, beautiful green makes 

 a lovely addition to cut-Howers for the table. I have just 

 gathered from my garden, besides late Chrysanthemums, blue 

 (sweet) Violets ; Louis Pliilippe, Bougere, Lamarque, Duch- 

 esse Brabant, the fragrant, old-fashioned "Blush-cluster" and 

 pink daily Roses ; Dwarf Iris and Woodbine, of which we 

 have a variety that is nearly a perpetual bloomer. I have 

 gathered blossoms from it as late as Christmas Dav and as 

 early as February 15th. The trumpet-shaped flowers are 

 scarlet on the outside and orange on the inside. 



Colleo;e Grove, Tennessee, November 29th. Alice W. Rucker. 



Recent Publications. 



TJie Origin of Floral Structures throui^h Insect and other 

 Agencies. By the Rev. George Henslow, Professor of Botanv, 

 Oueen's College. 349 jjages, and numerous illustration's. 

 I). Appleton & Co., New York, 1888. 



The author has felt impressed by what he regards as the in- 

 adequacy of the theory of Natural Selection to account for tlie 

 diversities of form and structure in the vegetable world. 



As generally understood, the Darwinian theory recognizes 

 (i) the fact that organisms vary from generation to generation, 

 the descendant differing more or less from its progenitors in 

 some way or other ; (2) that more descendants are produced 

 than can, under e.xisting circumstances, possibly come to ma- 

 turity, and (3) that of the variant forms, those will, of course, 

 stand the best chance of coming to maturity which are best 

 fitted to meet their surroundings. In other phrase. Nature 

 selects the fittest, and these survive. But the question natur- 

 ally arises, may not the surroundings have played an important 

 part not merely in selecting advantageous variations, but in 

 originating all variations.'' This question has presented itself 

 to the minds of many investigators in the Old World, and it 

 has been thoughtfully treated by Cope, Hyatt antl Ryder in this 

 country. This is the inquiry which Professor Henslow places 

 before the reader in the work under consideration, and he 

 employs in some cases tlie terms which had been previously 

 used bv the American students above mentioned, whose 

 works were doubtless unknown to him. 



