March io, 1897] 



Garden and Forest. 



99 



mound of coarse gravelly soil, well supplied with decomposed 

 vegetable matter, through which small broken stone may be 

 mingled to good advantage. The soil should be deep and with 

 good drainage at the bottom ; this is essential, as stagnant 

 moisture at the roots must be avoided. The surface may be 

 mulched lightly with coarse, hard gravel or pebbles, to keep 

 the rain from spattering the plants with dirt. The bed will 

 increase in beauty year by year, and will require but little care 

 after the first season. The winter effect is also pleasing, and 

 this feature alone should add in no small degree to the pop- 

 ularity of our hardy Cacti. 



Boulder, Col. 



D. M. Andrews. 



Early 



• March in West Virginia. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Vegetation has started here unusually early, and every 

 bright morning we are delighted by the new beauty which 

 invests our garden. Under a great Oak in a situation unfa- 

 vorable to the growth of grass, we have massed hundreds of 

 bulbs of Narcissi, Snowdrops, Scillas, Grape Hyacinths and 

 other sturdy early-flowering sorts, and in the grass in the open 

 lawn we hid away Crocus bulbs last autumn, sure of finding 

 them again when the first warm sunshine came, and now 

 every day we are enjoying fresh surprises which nature has 

 prepared for us overnight. Every morning we find more 

 Tulips above the ground, more Hyacinths in the border, more 

 Daffodils everywhere. The early birds are here, too, song 

 sparrows, with an occasional robin, with a few blackbirds, the 

 forerunners of the large congregation which will soon be hold- 

 ing their conference in the Oaks. Bluebirds are here, and 

 Carolina wrens and redbirds are whistling like eager boys. 

 Leaves are unfolding on the Spiraea bushes, the Hazels are 

 hanging out their catkins, the Chimonanthus bushes are 

 adorned with hundreds of yellow fragrant bells, the grass is 

 green, and, in short, April is here a month ahead of time. 



Rose Brake, W. Va. Danske Dandridge. 



More About Choke Cherries. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — I have never seen the Choke Cherry in this section of 

 New Jersey, but I have seen a great many in Massachusetts, 

 differing largely in size and quality of fruit ; all, however, more 

 decidedly astringent, with one exception. While fishing for 

 trout in a brook which flowed through an extensive meadow 

 I came upon one tree which produced fruit in which I could 

 detect no astringency whatever. This was more than forty 

 years ago, and I did not then appreciate the advantages of 

 selecting and improving our native fruits. 1 do not know 

 whether this tree is still in existence, or whether I could find 

 it if it is, but it is quite possible similar varieties may exist 

 elsewhere, or might be obtained from extended experiments 

 with seedlings. „,.,,. ^ „ 



Hammonton, N.J. William F. BtlSSett. 



Recent Publications. 



Principles of Plant-culture. Professor E. S. Goff, Professor 

 of Horticulture in the University of Wisconsin. Madison, 

 Wisconsin : Published by the author. 



This is an attempt to give students in an elementary 

 form some of the reasons for the ordinary processes of 

 cultivation. It does in reality more than that, and in a 

 chapter on methods of manipulation it explains with some 

 detail the practice of propagating, transplanting and prun- 

 ing plants, but even here the reasons for each step are 

 carefully presented, so that the work can be done intelli- 

 gently. As the book is intended for students who have 

 little or no previous instruction in botany, no space or 

 effort is devoted to advanced scientific problems, but, as 

 far as it goes, the little treatise presents to the reader or 

 student a view which is thoroughly scientific — that is, the 

 science of plant-culture is primarily treated, and treated as 

 the basis of the art. Of course, a brief work like this 

 accomplishes its highest purpose only when it is used in 

 class work under the guidance of a trained instructor. An 

 appendix sets forth an outline of the laboratory work 

 which has been used by Professor Goff with his students, 

 and although this contains only half a dozen pages, and 

 is meant to do nothing more than suggest what can 

 be accomplished in this line, nevertheless it clearly indi- 



cates that one who has the requisite knowledge and who 

 is apt to teach, can make this study a most interesting one. 

 Experiments, here only hinted at, suffice to show how 

 the mere statements of the book can be vitalized so that 

 they have a living and practical significance We do not 

 mean that the book is useless without a skilled teacher, 

 for it can be read with great profit by any young person 

 of ordinary intelligence who wishes to familiarize himself 

 with the so-called laws which underlie farm and garden 

 practice, and this syllabus of laboratory work will suggest 

 a good many ways in which he can illustrate the teach- 

 ings of the book for himself. Of course, to carry out 

 effectively the kind of instruction we refer to, some glass 

 structure is almost indispensable, but a great deal can 

 be done in a sunny window, and we see no reason why 

 a book like this could not be used in certain classes of our 

 public schools, since the only apparatus actually needed 

 would be a few bottles of clear glass, some graduated glass 

 cylinders, a magnifying lens of good power, with needles 

 and forceps and a few greenhouse pots and saucers. Any 

 teacher who knows something of structural botany could 

 lead his class into most interesting fields, and, indeed, a 

 study of the principles of plant-culture could in this way 

 be made the best practical illustration of the science of 

 botany. In an elementary treatise like this it is very diffi- 

 cult to know what topics to neglect, but Professor Goff 

 seems to have been very judicious, both in selecting and 

 omitting. After an introduction, in which a few of the 

 terms which most frequently occur in the treatise are 

 defined, the circuit of plant-life is traced from the first swell- 

 ing of the seed, through the development of the embryo, 

 the penetration of the root into the damp soil, the absorp- 

 tion, distribution and assimilation of food, until the 

 plant is built up to maturity, and ceases work and rests 

 through the winter. This includes in a brief way all the 

 processes of plant-life as they are carried on in congenial 

 surroundings, and they suggest methods of making and 

 preserving a favorable environment by proper cultivation. 

 But, since the practical cultivator constantly meets adverse 

 conditions, this is followed by a most interesting discus- 

 sion of the ways in which the plant is affected by unfavor- 

 able environment, by a temperature too low or too high, 

 by excessive or insufficient water, by too much or too little 

 light, by an improper food supply and by parasites and 

 weeds. After this are chapters on plant manipulation, and 

 some brief hints on plant-breeding. Future editions will 

 undoubtedly show that the book can be improved, but cer- 

 tainly the plan on which it is conceived is admirable, and 

 no treatise of a like scope that has come under our observa- 

 tion has been carried out with greater success. It ought 

 to prove an efficient help to beginners in agriculture and 

 horticulture, since, if thoroughly mastered, it will insure 

 an intelligent basis for further study. 



Notes. 



In his address before the Western New York Horticultural 

 Society, President Barry spoke in high praise of the Jonathan 

 as a winter apple, and a recent issue of The Country Gen- 

 tleman speaks of it as superior in every respect to the Baldwin, 

 and rivaled by few varieties in beauty, flavor or shipping 

 qualities. Its slender growth seems to be an objection to the 

 tree with many cultivators, so that nurserymen have not com- 

 mended it as they might have done. But it succeeds in a wide 

 variety of localities and it ought to be an excellent apple for 

 the foreign trade. 



A correspondent of the American Florist writes that the 

 Messrs. Ellwanger & Barry have once more demonstrated 

 that the Crimson Rambler Rose is admirably adapted for 

 winter flowering. Strong two-year-old plants taken up from 

 the field in autumn and potted in seven-inch pots filled with 

 ordinary Rose soil, were full of bloom in mid-February. 

 Many of the flower-clusters were more than six inches through, 

 and their gay colors, with the healthy foliage, made a beautiful 

 show. The plants were pruned back severely before potting, 

 and the young growth pushed out from every eye. The new 

 branches are only from ten to eighteen inches long, stiff 



