May 5, 1897.] 



Garden and Forest. 



179 



of these evergreens were Red Cedar. Now I cannot think of 

 but one Red Cedar growing as an ornamental tree, and this is 

 about six feet high. 



Waukegan, Ills. Robert Douglas. 



Maple Sugar in Vermont. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Vermont makes considerably more maple sugar and 

 syrup than any other state in the Union. The average sugar 

 crop is about 15,000,000 pounds, besides syrup. The season 

 just closed has been exceptionally favorable, and this, in con- 

 junction with a marked revival of interest in sugar-making, 

 has carried the figures for 1897 much above the average ; 

 how much cannot yet be told. Sugar-makers began tapping 

 from March 24th to April 1st, according to locality. A few 

 days of backward weather marked the early part of the season 

 in northern towns, but everywhere a very heavy run was ex- 

 perienced, which lasted ten days or two weeks. The amount 

 of sugar made from each tree seems to have been unusually 

 large. Some sugar men report an average of from three to 

 four pounds, or even more, from large orchards, but the 

 average through the state is not so high. 



The quality of the product is improved every year. This is 

 the result of the improvement in methods of manufacture, 

 which have been notable in recent years. This is also evidence 

 of reviving interest among owners of sugar-trees. There are 

 still a good many large sugar orchards in Vermont which are 

 not worked, but their number decreases. 



Prices this year have not been entirely satisfactory. The 

 weakness of the market was partly due, perhaps, to the large 

 crop harvested, but there is a general feeling that there was a 

 still greater increase in the sales of adulterated articles, to the 

 prejudice of pure sugar and syrup. Prices for sugar have 

 varied greatly. Some fancy lots sold in retail markets early in 

 the season as high as twenty cents a pound. Prices for large 

 quantities ranged from five to eight cents, the wholesale price 

 keeping pretty close to five cents. The buying price for syrup 

 in Burlington has ranged from fifty to fifty-five cents, with the 

 retail price anywhere from sixty to ninety cents. It is probable 

 that, with the increased output of maple sugar and syrup, 

 there will be more of both used in the state, and it may be 

 hoped that the lower prices will enable people elsewhere, who 

 do not usually have that pleasure, to enjoy tor once some pure 

 maple sweets. 



University of Vermont. F. A. Wailgh. 



Scymnus marginicollis. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Professor J. B. Smith, in his report on the enemies of 

 the San Jose' scale, just issued, describes the introduction of 

 the beetle Scymnus marginicollis into New Jersey, but ques- 

 tions whether it will live so far north. It may be worth while 

 to state that it occurs in New Mexico at Santa Fe', in the Tran- 

 sition Zone (collected by myself, determined by Mr. H. F. 

 Wickham), so there is apparently no reason why it should not 

 survive in New Jersey. It also occurs in the Upper Sonoran 

 Zone, having been found by Mr. Wickham at Albuquerque. 

 In Arizona Mr. Wickham found it at Seligman and Williams, 

 the latter place having an altitude of 6,727 feet — only a few 

 hundred feet lower than Santa Fe\ In the same report Pro- 

 fessor Smith refers to the fact that we do not know the original 

 home of the San Jose scale. It may suffice now to state that 

 from evidence lately obtained, which I shall set forth fully on 

 another occasion, I am satisfied that it is a Japanese insect. 



Mesiila, N. M. T. D, A. Cockerell. 



Recent Publications. 



Lawns and Gardens. By N. Jonsson Rose. With Plans 

 and Illustrations by the Author. G. P. Putnam's Sons. 

 New York. 1897. 



Mr. Rose is a practical gardener and he has prepared a 

 treatise which will prove of genuine value to the large and 

 increasing number of those who take a personal interest in 

 their home grounds. It does not aim above the intelli- 

 gence or cesthetic sense of the ordinary American citizen 

 who has never given any thought to planting and to whom 

 some of the profounder principles of garden-art make no 

 convincing appeal. Beyond the field this book covers 

 there lies a region where a more subtle art holds sway — an 

 art whose examples can be analyzed, but an art which never 



can be taught. Essays on ideal gardens and the philosophy 

 of garden-art are lost upon the man of average taste who 

 wants something tangible, something which he can under- 

 stand and appreciate, something which he can take home 

 and apply to the planting of his city lot or the grounds 

 about his suburban residence. Mr. Rose has planned to 

 give instruction on this level and he has carried out his 

 project with consistent interest in a book of four hundred 

 pages and nearly two hundred illustrations, which are 

 invariably helpful, although many of them are lacking in 

 refinement and show no great merit as works of art. After 

 a chapter on the study of natural scenery the instructions 

 begin at the bottom by explaining the use of the instru- 

 ments used in surveying and leveling. Directions for plan- 

 ning grounds, especially those of moderate size, are given 

 in the form of a few examples which can be easily under- 

 stood, and the methods of grading and modeling the surface 

 are illustrated. Then follow suggestions as to the grouping 

 and massing of trees and shrubs, with notes on the placing 

 of specimen plants and detached groups, directions for 

 constructing flower-beds and borders, and such details as 

 are ordinarily entrusted to a skilled head-gardener. The 

 last part of the book, like other works of its class, is taken 

 up with a description of the best trees, shrubs, herbaceous 

 plants and climbers for use in various situations in our 

 climate. 



Of course, a handbook like this is not meant to take the 

 place of a professional landscape-gardener. Indeed, the 

 sphere of an artist of high creative faculty is entirely out- 

 side of the regulation practice here laid down, but, unfor- 

 tunately, artists of the first rank in landscape-work are rare, 

 and when a so-called landscape-gardener is employed the 

 chances are that his studies will be devoted to the solution of 

 the more obvious questions of detail which are treated in 

 this work. One who recalls the country places with which 

 he is familiar and makes a note of all those which have 

 been treated in anything like a satisfactory manner, will 

 be surprised to note how few they are. Any book, 

 therefore, which gives in a plain way practical direc- 

 tions for treating grounds so as to make them conve- 

 nient and for producing effects that will be pleasing and 

 not wearisome, ought to be welcome, and we have no 

 doubt that this beautifully printed book will prove helpful 

 to many beginners who propose with some seriousness of 

 purpose to study the garden possibilities which lie about 

 their houses. 



Notes. 



A box of Purple Guigne cherries, from Vacaville, said to be 

 the first to leave California this season, reached New York 

 on Monday, consigned to Messrs. Joseph Hahn & Sons. 



In a recent number of The Journal of Commerce, of this city, 

 it is stated that a law has been enacted in Bolivia granting 

 concessions in the rubber-producing districts to foreigners as 

 well as natives. The trees which yield this material grow wild 

 on immense tracts of government land in eastern Bolivia, 

 and the industry has heretofore been developed in only a small 

 part of this territory. Much of the rubber now in commerce 

 comes from Brazil, where its production and exportation are 

 restricted by law to citizens of that country. 



Asparagus is now fully in season and is coming from Mary- 

 land, Delaware and New Jersey, besides the southern Atlantic 

 states. The crop of Bermuda onions is said to be short 

 this season, and besides 30,000 crates which arrived here 

 last week only one or two large shipments are yet ex- 

 pected. New onions are now coming from New Orleans by 

 the carload, but these are neither properly cured nor well 

 packed. The season for onions from Egypt will begin in two 

 or three weeks. New Florida potatoes are now quite plenti- 

 ful. Crookneck squashes have been in market tor the past 

 fortnight and sell at the rate of three for twenty-five cents. 

 Tiny young okra sells at $1.00 a hundred. Small heads of 

 cauliflower grown under glass on Long Island cost forty to 

 fifty cents each. String beans, from Georgia, are succeeding 

 the Florida crop, and peas come from North and South Carolina. 



The abundant crop of fruits in this country last year is still 

 indicated in the trade in dried fruits. Sun-dried and evapo- 



