IsO 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 476. 



choice white kinds, with Baroness de Weir best of all. Self 

 colors of pink and white are most in favor. An entire house is 

 filled with the best varieties of English Pelargoniums, and the 

 new Souvenir du President Carnot Rose is grown in large 

 numbers. The crop of 35,000 Pansies is already sold. 



In the houses of C. Wocker, just beyond, were forced plants 

 of Deutzia gracilis and superbly flowered Hydrangeas, many 

 of the heads more than a foot across. There were plants of 

 the showy Metrosideros and the uncommon and beautiful 

 Choisya ternata, with orange-like flowers, and the deep green 

 foliage almost equally fragrant. 



New York. M- B. C. 



Notes. 



The Civil Service Commission of New York city will hold 

 an examination for the position of gardener and gardener's 

 apprentice, at its office on the corner of Centre and Franklin 

 Streets, at ten o'clock in the morning of April 22d. Applica- 

 tions may be addressed to S. William Briscoe, Secretary, New 

 Criminal Court Building, New York city. Candidates must be 

 citizens of the United States, and candidates for the position of 

 gardener's apprentice must be between the ages of eighteen 

 and twenty-one years. 



We learn from a correspondent in Copenhagen that the ladies 

 of that city last month collected an interesting exhibition of 

 Orchids in flower as well as paintings and engravings of the 

 native Orchids of Denmark, and of exotic species, besides pot- 

 tery decorated with Orchid designs. The exhibition was most 

 successful and attracted large numbers of visitors, including 

 the entire royal family. The aim of the undertaking was to 

 raise money to help the construction of a building in Copen- 

 hagen for the exhibition of work exclusively by women. 



Professor D. T. MacDougal writes to Science that the project 

 for establishing a botanical laboratory in the American tropics 

 has made such progress that a commission has been organized 

 for the selection of a site for the proposed laboratory and for 

 ascertaining how far the cooperation of American and British 

 botanists can be enlisted in the scheme. The commission will 

 select a location conveniently placed with reference to towns 

 or settlements and in easy connection with a marine sub- 

 station, and yet near the presence of a body of undisturbed 

 tropical vegetation. The American members of the commis- 

 sion are Professor Douglas Campbell, of Stanford University ; 

 Professor J. M. Coulter, University of Chicago ; Professor W. 

 G. Farlow, Harvard University ; Professor D. T. MacDougal, 

 University of Minnesota. The committee will be ready to 

 make an informal report to the American Association at 

 Detroit, and the British Association at Toronto, at their meet- 

 ings in August. 



In Bulletin No. 9, which discusses the rate of increase in 

 the cut-over timber lands of Minnesota, we find, among mis- 

 cellaneous notes, that the oldest White Pine noticed by Mr. H. 

 B. Ayres had 348 rings on the stump and a diameter of thirty 

 inches. The top of this tree was broken off at 114 feet above 

 the stump and sixty-eight lineal feet of log timber were taken 

 from it which scaled 1,400 feet, board measure. A larger tree 

 than this, although one not as old, was forty-eight inches in 

 diameter on the stump and contained 4,050 feet, board meas- 

 ure, of log timber. This tree with several large ones near by 

 which grew on fertile soil averaged about 253 years old when 

 cut. When fifty years old they average only eight inches in 

 diameter, but at 150 years of age they were adding about half 

 an inch to their trunk diameter every year. The largest Nor- 

 way Pine noticed was 330 years old with a stump diameter of 

 thirty-two inches and a height of 103 feet. Seventy-two lineal 

 feet of log timber taken from it scaled 1,830 feet, board 

 measure. 



Ordinary Barn-yard Grass, Panicum Crus-galli, is a coarse 

 annual, occurring in damp places or cultivated ground, and 

 often becomes a troublesome weed. Among three kinds of 

 Millet recently received by the Massachusetts Experiment Sta- 

 tion is a variety of this Barn-yard Grass which seems to be 

 botanically identical with our plant, although it differs from it 

 somewhat in its habit of growth. Professor Brooks, of the 

 Massachusetts Station, recommends it enthusiastically as a 

 fodder crop for feeding green or for the silo, and says that it 

 may yield ten or twelve tons of fodder to the acre, or if thinly 

 sown in rows a foot apart it will produce from fifty to ninety 

 bushels of seed. In a newspaper slip lately issued by the 

 Maine Experiment Station it is said that while this may be a 

 valuable acquisition, farmers ought to be cautioned about pro- 

 curing the seed which is sold as Japanese Millet. Certainly the 



seed of our P. Crus-galli should only be purchased of dealers 

 who will be sure to furnish the seed of the Japanese variety, 

 since the mischief which would be wrought by sowing the 

 seed of the ordinary Barn-yard Grass is self-evident. 



Mr. F. W. Burbidge read an interesting paper at Manches- 

 ter lastmonth on the "Culture of Hardy Bulbs in England." 

 He stated that England paid half a million dollars every year 

 to Dutch bulb growers in spite of the fact that it had been 

 proved that the home supply of Narcissi, Crocuses, Tulips and 

 others could be easily grown in favored parts of England, and 

 with special care in the market-gardens about London and the 

 Isle of Wight, where they would be the most profitable of 

 crops. Even in Holland and other places where bulbs have 

 long been specially cultivated success is only assured on plots 

 with a suitable soil, and that such soils can be found at home 

 is proved by the fact that hundreds of acres are already in cul- 

 tivation both in Great Britain and Ireland. The thing to be 

 remembered is that the soil which grows the best Hyacinths is 

 not the best for Narcissi nor for Tulips ; and, again, land how- 

 ever good will not grow bulbs year after year without enrich- 

 ment or recuperative crop rotation. In fact, Mr. Burbidge 

 said that it was not soil or climate in Holland which made that 

 country preeminent for good bulbs, but it was the methodical 

 thrift and skillful industry of the people. 



The discovery that the pith of the corn stalk can be used in 

 the construction of war vessels is likely to be of benefit to 

 agriculture in more than one way. The chief use of this pith 

 is for a packing between the inner and outer shells of the ves- 

 sel so that when pierced by a projectile it will absorb water 

 and swell so rapidly as to close the opening before the vessel 

 leaks to a dangerous extent. Experiments with this pith have 

 been so satisfactory that it has been adopted in the construc- 

 tion of all our new vessels of war, and European nations have 

 commissions for investigating the same material, so that the 

 use of corn pith will make a market for what was once a waste 

 product. In the process of extracting this pith the blades and 

 husks are removed and the stalks are cut into small pieces. 

 When the pith is taken out from this stalk the remainder is 

 ground up into a Hour-like substance which resembles bran. 

 Some experiments with this " new corn product," as it is 

 called, have been made at the Maryland Station with the re- 

 markable result that it is found to contain eleven per cent, 

 more of digestible matter and two per cent, more of digestible 

 protein than the whole fodder does when shredded. It con- 

 tains as much digestible matter as the corn blades and more 

 total digestible matter and half of one per cent, more protein 

 than Timothy hay. It does not contain as much digestible 

 albuminoids as wheat bran, but it equals that food in the total 

 amount of digestible matter. It keeps as well as bran or cotton- 

 seed meal. It is in such condition that it can be uniformly 

 mixed with any ground grain, and when used as a base it is 

 possible to make a complete and normal ration for stock in 

 one bulk without the necessity of feeding grain and hay sep- 

 arately. Animals fed upon such a ration eat it with relish, and 

 keep in normal condition. Since there is only one pound of 

 pith to fourteen pounds of blades, husk and stalk, this new 

 material amounts to a very considerable portion of the fodder. 



Dr. Robert Hogg, the eminent pomologist and writer on 

 various horticultural subjects, died on the 14th of March, in 

 London, at the age of seventy-nine years. Dr. Hogg was a 

 graduate of the University of Edinburgh. Being devoted to 

 the study of natural science, and especially of botany, he 

 acquired the knowledge of practical horticulture, and soon 

 developed a taste for pomology, which enabled him later on 

 to prepare the valuable Fruit Manual, a standard descriptive 

 work. He began the publication of a larger work on British 

 pomology, but only one volume, which treated on the Apple, 

 was published. Dr. Hogg was a voluminous writer on various 

 horticultural subjects, was for many years the editor of the 

 Journal of Horticulture, a conspicuous member of the Pomo- 

 logical Society and Secretary of the Fruit Committee of the 

 Royal Horticultural Society. 



Philip Wickens, who for forty years was connected with 

 the nursery firm of Ellwanger & Barry, died at Rochester on 

 the 29th of March, in the sixty-ninth year of his age. He was 

 born at Rotherfield, Sussex, England, and came to this country 

 in i85i,wherehe soon became an authority on hardyfruits. He 

 was an expert in many other branches of horticulture, a born 

 gardener and an enthusiastic and discriminating lover of 

 natural beauty. He was a retiring man, devoted to his special 

 work, but of a genial sunny temper, which helped to brighten 

 the lives of his associates. 



