no 



Garden and Forest. 



[Numer 473 



tered hollows Dog-tooth Violets and Narcissus Bulbocodium 

 were growing beneath the Pines, and among the Chestnuts the 

 white Squills, yellow Oxalis, blue Myosotis and many other 

 flowers were in full bloom. 



The early settlers in the distant west found such a wonderful 

 forest growth that their first thought was to cut it out of the 

 way to make room for farms and vineyards, ft is encouraging 

 to observe that they now begin to realize the necessity of hus- 

 banding- this most valuable of their natural resources. We 

 note with pleasure that there is now before the Senate of the 

 state of Washington an act to create a Board of Forest Com- 

 missioners, who are to collect and disseminate information 

 concerning the trees native to the state, to study other forestry 

 problems, to enforce the laws for protecting timber against 

 Are and trespass, and to employ forest wardens, who shall 

 patrol the woods in the dry season and assist in the preven- 

 tion and suppression of forest fires. Another specific forest- 

 fire bill has been introduced in the same body, and this makes 

 the willful or careless kindling of a fire in the forest a misde- 

 meanor, compels railroad companies to use spark-arresters 

 on their locomotives and to use due caution about leaving hot 

 coals where they may be dangerous. 



Iris Bakeriana, which was discovered in Armenia in 1889 

 and disseminated by Herr Max Leichtlin, has become very 

 popular in English gardens, and a late number of The Gar- 

 deners' Magazine gives a portrait of some of the flowers 

 selected from plants which had just taken a first-class certifi- 

 cate at the meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society. In this 

 country we do not avail ourselves as we should of the 

 beauty and variety of the early Irises like those of the Reticu- 

 lata class and a few others which come with the Snow- 

 drops. Three years ago Mr. Gerard wrote of Iris Bakeriana 

 that it had never disappointed him and was increasing at a 

 fair rate, and on another page of this issue he gives it the 

 highest praise. The flower is quaintly beautiful in form, 

 and although individuals vary in color its prevailing tints of 

 deep purple, or indigo-blue, light blue, and white spotted with 

 violet are always harmonious and pleasing, and more than 

 this it has a distinct fragrance. Even if these flowers were 

 less beautiful their appearance in our wild spring weather, 

 when they have so few rivals, would be a delight. 



The Agricultural Appropriation Bill did not receive Presi- 

 dent Cleveland's signature, and therefore the iniquitous seed 

 grab will once more conie before Congress, and the country 

 will have an opportunity to find out what sort of a man the 

 new Secretary of Agriculture is. Mr. Morton's honest efforts 

 at reform were defeated by the ignorance and folly of Con- 

 gress. Now the question is open again, and the Seed Trade 

 Committee has issued a circular for the purpose of enlighten- 

 ing public sentiment and arousing the moral activity of the 

 people against the senseless and wicked free distribution of 

 seeds by the Government. No doubt, a great portion of the 

 twenty million packets of seed which are given away are 

 wasted, but still it is a blow at the business of every honest 

 dealer in seeds. There would be reason in an intelligent dis- 

 tribution of improved varieties of plants and of novelties 

 properly placed among the experiment stations for testing, but 

 this burdening of the mails with tons of seeds is not only a 

 shameful extravagance, but it degrades every recipient to the 

 rank of a pauper and obstructs honest business at a time 

 when success is difficult even with the greatest economy and 

 skill. 



For some years past, potatoes in many parts of the country 

 have shown unsightly pimples or projections on their surface, 

 which have seriously diminished their value. The cause of 

 this pimply condition has not been thoroughly understood 

 until certain investigations carried on by the New York Experi- 

 ment Station in Long Island showed that the injury was 

 worked by a small flea-like beetle, well known as the black 

 cucumber beetle, which has been detected in eating holes into 

 the leaves of the Potato and Tomato just as it does in the 

 leaves of the Cucumber. These voracious insects, however, 

 are not the immediate cause of the mischief, but minute white 

 grubs which are hatched from the eggs laid by the female 

 beetle. These grubs burrow into the tuber and cause the pim- 

 ples and the sliver-like projections which accompany them. 

 The pimples result, it is probable, from the irritation caused 

 by the worm, and the slivers are slender canals in which a 

 single grub feeds. Either one of these characteristics of the 

 disease may be found without the other. Bulletin 113 from 

 the Geneva Station gives this important information, and 

 states clearly how the disease can be controlled. The Bor- 



deaux mixture, which has been found useful for so many pur- 

 poses, is an efficient remedy here also, and when thoroughly 

 and intelligently applied it keeps the beetles away from the 

 plants. 



Many of the vegetables coming from the south now are 

 injured by heating during transportation, and others are in- 

 terior because they are the last of the crop. Eggplants are 

 comparatively scarce, and sell for twenty to thirty cents each ; 

 string-beans command twenty-five to thirty cents a quart, and 

 peas $1.00 a half-peck. New Florida cabbage brings ten to 

 fifteen cents a head, and turnips and beets, from Florida and 

 South Carolina, cost seven and ten cents a bunch. New car- 

 rots come from South Carolina, Florida and the Bermudas. 

 Spring onions, from New Orleans, cost seven cents a bunch. 

 An increasing demand for tomatoes has made somewhat 

 higher prices for this vegetable, the Florida product selling for 

 twenty-five cents a pound, and that from northern hot-houses 

 at thirty-five to fifty cents. Kohl-rabi, radishes, French arti- 

 chokes and cauliflower are among the fresh vegetables now in 

 season. The latter is from California and near-by hot-houses, 

 and small heads cost thirty to fifty cents apiece. Good aspara- 

 gus is coming from South Carolina in large quantities, and 

 sells for sixty cents to $1.00 a bunch. Bermuda and Cuba 

 potatoes cost fifty to sixty cents a half-peck, and sweet pota- 

 toes, from New Jersey, twenty-five cents a half-peck. Lettuce, 

 from Florida and from Boston, brings ten to fifteen cents a 

 head, and hot-house grown cucumbers, also from Boston, 

 fifteen to twenty-five cents each. Mushrooms cost sixty cents 

 a pound. 



Mr. W. Botting Hemsley writes entertainingly in a recent 

 number of Knowledge about Captain William Dampier and 

 his voyage of discovery to western Australia about two 

 centuries ago. Fortunately, Dampier was a keen observer 

 and knew something of botany, so that his descriptions of 

 the flora, as well as the specimens he brought home, were 

 exceedingly useful. In his book he describes a "sort of 

 creeping vine that runs along on the ground, having a blos- 

 som like a bean blossom, but much larger, and of a deep red 

 color, looking very beautiful." This was the first account of 

 what came to be known as Clianthus Dampieri, the brilliant 

 Glory Pea, one of the few plants figured in Dampier's work, 

 A Voyage to New Holland in idgg. This is one of the most 

 gorgeously beautiful plants of the great Pea family, and al- 

 though it has been in cultivation in England for years it 

 requires a skillful gardener to bring it to perfection. The 

 flowers are four or five inches long, of a rich crimson red, 

 with a flashing purple-black centre and a velvetdike texture. 

 Another species of the genus, C. puniceus, was discovered in 

 New Zealand by Sir Joseph Banks during Captain Cook's first 

 voyage, and it proves much more easily cultivated than the 

 Australian species. Since the Glory Pea grows with such lux- 

 uriance in its home it would seem that it ought to be within 

 the skill of the gardener to cultivate it with more pronounced 

 success. 



Mr. Robert Thompson, of Bogota, in the Bulletin of the 

 Botanical Department, recommends the naturalization in 

 Jamaica of Odontoglossum crispum, which is found on the 

 western slopes of the Colombian Andes, between the third 

 and fifth parallels of north latitude, since the temperature of 

 the Cinchona plantation, which is situated between 4,000 and 

 6,000 feet of elevation on the Blue Mountains, coincides with 

 that of the natural habitat of O. crispum, and the wet seasons 

 and dry seasons of the two places are very nearly similar. In 

 the centre of the area of the natural distribution of these 

 Orchids is the so-called Pacho District, from which most of the 

 fine types come. Here the flowers are remarkable for varietal 

 diversity, ranging in color from white to rosy mauve, and dif- 

 fering in size, form, substance, the spotting of the segments, 

 and in almost every other particular. Their arching racemes 

 remain in bloom about two months, and they flower almost 

 the entire year through. Seeds are produced in great abun- 

 dance, and, being extremely minute and light, they float in the 

 air and are widely disseminated. Mr. Thompson thinks that 

 if healthy plants were tied to the branches and trunks of the 

 Cinchona-trees in Jamaica, or 111 separate groups in the forests 

 of the Blue Mountains, most of them would flower in a year 

 and seeds would mature in a few months. Within a couple of 

 years they would be dispersed all over the forest, and in ten 

 years plants fit for export could be had by the thousand. In 

 order to show that this project is not visionary, it is stated that 

 the Nun Orchid, Phajus grandifolius, which was introduced 

 into the Botanic Garden at Jamaica many years ago, is now 

 abundant on the highlands of the interior. 



