i6o 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 478. 



Notes. 



Magnolia stellata was in full flower in the vicinity of this city 

 on the 15th of April. The fine specimen which we figured on 

 page 195 of vol. ix. was a mound of snowy bloom more than 

 twelve feet in diameter. 



Two little girls near Croydon, England, recently died of acute 

 inflammation of the stomach brought on by eating young 

 growths of the common Privet. Children should be cautioned 

 against eating; the leaves or fruit of any plant with which they 

 are not familiar. 



Pots of fruiting Strawberry-plants were an attractive Easter 

 specialty in a fruiterer's window on Broadway last week. The 

 foliage was fresh and luxuriant, with three or four large highly 

 colored ripe berries and a few immature ones. The plants sold 

 for $1.50 to $2.50 each. 



The white form of Chionodoxa Lucilise seems to grow as 

 strongly as the type, and makes a grateful contrast with it. 

 The white form of C. gigantea is rare, but it is a sturdy and 

 desirable plant, and we may hope that within a reasonable 

 time white Chionodoxas of all the species will be compara- 

 tively abundant. 



Several large growers of Lilies for the Easter market make 

 complaint in the American Florist that the bulbs of Lilium 

 Harrisii which are grown in Bermuda are proving generally 

 diseased. They all agree that these bulbs could be satisfac- 

 torily grown in our southern states, the only trouble being 

 that Americans are disinclined to wait for profits. It would 

 require two years at least before any crop could be marketed. 



The first tree with conspicuous blossoms to flower this year 

 in the Arnold Arboretum was the north China Peach, Prunus 

 Davidiana, which was fully out ten days ago and has been ex- 

 traordinarily beautiful. This tree is perfectly hardy, but the 

 flowers are often killed by frost after the buds begin to swell, 

 and during the ten or twelve years that it has inhabited the 

 Arboretum it has only once or twice before flowered as pro- 

 fusely as it has this spring, and although producing more or 

 less flowers every season it has not borne fruit yet in the 

 Arboretum. P. Davidiana ought to be better known as an 

 ornamental tree, as it flowers before any of its kind, and the 

 pale pink petals, although not as large as those of some forms 

 of the cultivated Peach, are exceedingly attractive. 



Maple wood has a distinct and positive value for flooring 

 which no other hardwood which is workable possesses. Its 

 hardness and smoothness give it power to endure the severest 

 wear ; it has a light and attractive color, and it can be cleaned 

 as easily as Maple. It has hitherto been abundant enough to 

 meet the growing demand in every part of the continent and 

 the requirements of the large export trade. Nevertheless, 

 since only a part of the tree is utilized, the waste of the lumber 

 is great, and the best hard maple, which is found in the lower 

 Michigan peninsula and in Wisconsin, is disappearing more 

 rapidly than even the Pine did, because, as a rule, good Maple 

 land is good farming land. The time seems to be coming 

 when the supply will be depleted, and the Northwestern Lum- 

 bermanis, no doubt, right when it complains of the reckless 

 competition under which this valuable product is sacrificed. 



Different species of Swainsonia, particularly S. Greyana and 

 S. galegitolia, which is largely grown for cut flowers in this 

 country now, are plants which are greatly dreaded by the stock 

 growers in Australia. Chemical analysis does not show any 

 toxic principle in the plants, and yet when sheep and other 

 animals eat them they acquire a habit for them and will eat 

 nothing else, their brains seem to become affected, they never 

 fatten, and finally die. Sheep addicted to this habit are known 

 as "Indigo eaters," and they separate from the flocks and 

 wander about listlessly. A case is recorded where horses 

 hobbled for the night at a place where Swainsonia was growing 

 were difficult to catch the following morning, their eyes were 

 staring out of their heads, and they pranced about against 

 trees and stumps. Two out of nine died the second day after, 

 and five others had to be left in the camp, for when driven 

 they would suddenly stop, turn round and round for a time, 

 then fall down, rise again and repeat the performance. No 

 experiments as yet give any reason for the complicated effects 

 which this forage has on stock, but there certainly is much 

 testimony to the tact that it causes a sort of madness which 

 induces creatures who feed upon it to attempt to climb trees 

 or commit other eccentricities. Baron Mueller believed that 

 Swainsonia possesses the deleterious properties attributed to 

 it, and he publishes this view in the Transactions of the Royal 

 Society of Victoria. 



Fresh figs are hardly known in northern markets because the 

 fruit is so perishable. They ripen when the weather is hottest 

 and can be handled only by experienced persons. It is costly 

 work, too, to prepare the fruit for distant marketing. The 

 trees need to be picked over carefully every day, and this in- 

 volves much labor; rainy weather occasions loss by packing, 

 and the acrid juice of immature figs eats into the fingers of the 

 pickers and packers. It is necessary to pick them while still 

 firm, which is a misfortune, for although they become quite 

 edible when sott they lack the fine quality of tree-ripened fruit. 

 In their best condition they will hardly keep thirty-six hours at 

 ordinary temperatures, but, of course, they can be kept much 

 longer in a cold temperature, so that with rapid refrigerator 

 transportation the shipment of figs from the south might 

 become a business of importance. Next to fresh figs canned 

 figs are the best, and there is no reason, except for the larger 

 quantity of sugar required, why figs should not be grown and 

 canned as cheaply as peaches. The figs are sometimes peeled 

 before canning, and this is supposed to increase the delicacy of 

 their flavor. Usually, however, they are cooked unpeeled 

 and with the stems on as they come from the tree, as they hold 

 their shape better when treated in this way. Canned figs, how- 

 ever, are not common in our markets and their price is 

 high. And yet the factories at Biloxi, Mississippi, and New 

 Orleans at one time put large quantities of canned figs on 

 the market, for the demand was very active up to the panic 

 of 1893, and the canners paid as high as four cents a pound for 

 the fresh fruit and could not get enough to fill orders. Each 

 factory has its own method of canning, and the process usually 

 takes two days. In the finished product the fig holds its shape 

 perfectly but becomes partially transparent, and as the final 

 syrup is clear and free from sediment it is very attractive. All 

 this information is found in a bulletin on Fig Culture just issued 

 by the Division of Pomology of the United States Department 

 of Agriculture, where many interesting facts about the cultiva- 

 tion and curing of figs in California and in the Gulf states are 

 set forth. 



The trade in plants for Easter was a very active one this 

 year, and immense quantities of many kinds were sold for 

 home and church decoration. Lilies and Azaleas were, as 

 usual, the favorites, and most abundant, though in the displays 

 made by florists Lilies were not so prominently shown as 

 many other plants which are less popular, and therefore need 

 to be brought to notice. Hydrangeas sold slowly, and one of 

 the most extensive dealers declared that half the Easter 

 stock of these plants remained on the hands of the growers, 

 and the other half which had been sold to the retailers was 

 left on their hands. These plants require more water than 

 they generally receive in households, and so last but a short 

 time and have lost favor. Japan Maples, with bright varie- 

 gated foliage and trimmed back into small plants, were ob- 

 served in one collection, and other plants seen in one or other 

 of the best stores were Anthuriums, pink Bouvardias, Kalmias 

 and Otaheite Oranges. The delicately flowered Spiraea Thun- 

 bergii was noted, but hardy shrubs forced into flower were 

 comparatively rare. Occasional neat little plants of the Austra- 

 lian Boronia heterophylla were distinct and bright, with small 

 bell-like carmine flowers. Marguerites were plentiful, as were 

 Ericas, with Lilacs and Cytisus in smaller supply, and but few 

 Cinerarias. There were the usual spring bulbous-flowering 

 plants and attractive pots of Violets, with the cheaper Vincas 

 in flower, and in some of the most costly collections were pots 

 of stockily grown General Grant Geraniums, which, on ac- 

 count of the approaching memorial celebration of the dedica- 

 tion of the Grant monument, were in special demand. 

 Candytuft, Stocks and other herbaceous plants were not un- 

 usual, and pots of flonferous Begonias were delicate and 

 pleasing among more bold and conspicuous offerings. One 

 or two of the windows exhibited extravagant arrangements of 

 plants in crepe paper and broad ribbons, and of large boxes of 

 fanciful colors, and in these same stores some of the plants 

 were veiled in fine silk net. But this attempt at adornment 

 was exceptional, and most of the plants in pots were shown on 

 their own merits, and without any artificial disfigurement. 

 There were some simple and pleasing arrangements of plants 

 in round and oblong baskets, the latter of plainly woven fibre, 

 generally green. Lily-of-the-valley, edged with Violets, and 

 white Hyacinths and Violets, bordered with Tradescantia, 

 were two of these simple and natural plantings. A larger 

 basket held tall plants of Lilies, Heather and a few heads of 

 Hyacinths, well grouped and singularly attractive. In another 

 basket nearly a dozen dense and airy heads of Spiraea com- 

 pacta rose in the centre above two colors of Heather and a 

 cluster of several shades of pink Hyacinths, while well-grown 

 Ferns gave a flourishing and established air to the whole. 



