190 



Garden and Forest 



[Number 481. 



full fortnight. Many Crape Myrtle plants in Germantown 

 which were left outside have come through the winter with 

 little or no injury. It is observed that after these plants have 

 passed through one season safely they are less susceptible to 

 injury the next, and appear to increase in hardiness after they 

 have stood out several seasons. .. , , „, . 



Germantown, Pa. Joseph Median. 



Notes. 



During April 305,160 bunches of bananas were sold in New 

 York city, mainly from Port Limon, Aspinwall and Jamaica. 



It has been suggested that instead of the present plan of dis- 

 tribution of free seeds by the Government that the Department 

 of Agriculture should issue legal-tender notes which Congress- 

 men could distribute among their constituents, so that each 

 one could purchase the particular kind of seeds or flowers or 

 shrubs or trees he needed. Why not ? 



Two months ago we noted the first arrivals for the season of 

 apples from Tasmania in the English market, and stated that, 

 perhaps, as many as 100,000 boxes would be shipped to the 

 United Kingdom during the year. That limit has been already 

 passed, and double the amount will probably be received be- 

 fore the season is over, which will not be until well into next 

 month, when apples of the current year from the northern 

 hemisphere will be on sale. 



A plot owner in the Cypress Hills Cemetery, Brooklyn, has 

 been awarded damages from the Cemetery Association in the 

 sum of $3,500 by theSupremeCourtof this state on suit brought 

 for injuries received from Poison Ivy. The Justice, in charg- 

 ing the jury, held that it was the duty of officials to remove 

 poisonous vines, and on application for a new trial, which was 

 granted, he added that the verdict was a just one and that the 

 plaintiff was entitled to damages. 



The British Consul at Naples reports that barley is largely 

 used at Naples in the manufacture of port wine. The grain is 

 malted, after which the port wine bacilli are introduced into 

 the mead, where they multiply abundantly and transform the 

 immature beer into the richest port. After their work is fin- 

 ished a sufficient stock of the microbes is preserved in the 

 laboratory for future use, and the product is then sterilized. 

 The manufacture of a good quality of port from barley mead is 

 certainly a new triumph of science. 



Mr. E. P. Powell writes to The American Agriculturist that 

 the proper way to treat Dewberries is to cover the plants in 

 winter plentifully with leaves, and then in spring to tie them 

 to stakes, allowing the leaves to lie between the rows, held 

 down, if necessary, with a few shovels of earth or a few poles. 

 The vines in this way are under the same conditions as in a 

 natural state when they grow wild by fences. If they have 

 this opportunity the vines will bear heavily, otherwise the fruit 

 is liable to be only knobs and hard, half-developed berries. 



Mr. Fred W. Morse, of the New Hampshire Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, has been examining Canada wood ashes 

 which is sold in that state, and he finds the proportion of pot- 

 ash so low in some of the cheaper grades that it looks as it the 

 quality of the ashes had been deliberately reduced by partial 

 leaching or by mixing leached ashes with dry ashes. Buyers 

 of ashes should look with suspicion on a lot that appears 

 excessively moist, because in such cases the potash is seldom 

 equal to the proportion in average ashes. In the same station 

 it has been found that Paris green is often adulterated with 

 earthy matter, either clay or infusorial earth. Buyers of this 

 important insecticide should use no Paris green which does 

 not bear the trade-mark of well-known and responsible manu- 

 facturers. 



The Conservator of the Forests in Australia states that there 

 are forty-seven millions of acres in that country upon which 

 useful marketable timber is growing, and that there are six 

 hundred species or kinds of timber trees there. Mr. W. Botting 

 Hemsley, quoting this in Knowledge, says that Mr. Ednie- 

 Brown, the Conservator, in his enthusiasm has included many 

 trees that do not yield timber of appreciable commercial value, 

 but if the total is reduced onedialf Australia stands in con- 

 spicuous contrast with the most richly forested districts of the 

 northern timber regions of the Old World, and rivals the 

 coniferous forests of North America. With all this wealth in 

 variety, almost the only commercially important kinds of Aus- 

 tralian timber are the Gum-trees, and there are only about a 

 score of these out of the 135 species spread over the country. 



The May exhibition of the Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society, in Boston, was a delight to many visitors, and it was 



especially interesting on account of a group of thirty seedling 

 Amaryllises, shown by Mr. Kenneth Finlayson, gardener to 

 Dr. C. G. Weld, of Brookline. These plants had flowered in 

 two years and eight months from the seed, and many of them 

 bore five or six blooms, each of great size and substance, 

 splendid color and first-rate form. Mr. Finlayson well de- 

 serves the silver medal which he received. Another silver 

 medal was given to Mr. William Donald, gardener to J. S. 

 Bayley, Esq., for a variety of Dendrobium nobile which resem- 

 bles Sandenanum, but which has been named Bayleyanum. 

 Boronias and Azaleas of admirable qualily were shown, and 

 the Calceolarias were the best ever staged in Boston. Mr. 

 Donald received the prize for these, but the collection of 

 Mrs. B. P. Cheney (Mr. John Barr, gardener) was also admira- 

 ble. Narcissi and Tulips were shown in first-rate form, and 

 the Streptocarpuses shown by John Barr were of the highest 

 merit. Bonton, the new scarlet Carnation, exhibited by Mr. 

 F. A. Blake, of Rochdale, attracted much attention. 



The season for so-called deciduous fruits from Califor- 

 nia, which include all except the Citrus fruits, began in this 

 city last Friday, May 7th, with the auction sale of thirty-six 

 boxes of cherries, at $1.50 to $5.00 each. The first shipment of 

 cherries was made from Vacaville, California, on April 26th, 

 two weeks later than a year ago. But few California oranges 

 are now arriving, and only four car-loads came here last week, 

 against sixty car-loads and more a week during February and 

 March. The retail fruit-stores make a gay display now. 

 Besides cherries, oranges and grape-fruit, choice bananas and 

 pineapples are shown, and large and luscious field and hot- 

 house strawberries. Among the novelties now offered are 

 peaches from Newport hot-houses, at $1.00 each ; hot-house 

 grapes, from the same place, at $4.00 a pound, and small 

 muskmelons, from Boston, at twenty-five cents each. The first 

 watermelons, from Key West, sell for $2.00 each, and with 

 these new-crop products Easter Beurre, Winter Nelis and P. 

 Barry pears are seen ; these cost from $1.00 to $1.50 a dozen. 

 No less attractive than the fruits are the celery, mushrooms, 

 asparagus, cucumbers and brilliant and perfectly formed 

 tomatoes shown in the fancy-fruit stores. 



The last issue of The Garden which has come to hand con- 

 tains a beautifully colored plate of a variety of Primula 

 obconica, which is really a selected form of the strain known 

 as Grandillora, with flowers twice as large as those of the spe- 

 cies originally introduced, and of a light lilac or lavender color. 

 The note which accompanies this picture states that this spe- 

 cies so far has refused all attempts at cross-breeding, and, 

 although the Messrs. Veitch have devoted much time and 

 effort to it, no actual hybrid between P. obconica and any other 

 species has resulted. Seedlings, however, have varied much 

 in size, shape and color, and have improved much under se- 

 lection. There is an especially beautitul one known as Rosea, 

 the name indicating its special tint, which is said to be a great 

 acquisition. This is really one of the most useful and popular 

 plants which have been introduced in recent years, but care 

 must always be used in handling it on account of the irritation 

 and inflammation caused by its hairy glands. We believe that 

 this fact was first brought to public attention by Garden and 

 Forest, where the unpleasant results from careless handling 

 were described as long ago as May 2d, 1888 (vol. i., p. 118; 

 vol. ii., pp. 94, 154, 286). Sometimes this irritation causes a 

 serious illness, but it can be prevented if the plants are always 

 handled with gloves. 



The North-western Lumberman, in speaking of the great 

 flood in the Mississippi valley, says that the deluge has so far 

 subsided that lumber will soon begin to move northward 

 again over the overflowed region, but much of it will be unfit 

 for shipment because it has been under water and is covered 

 with silt. This dirt-covered material will all need to be 

 cleaned, and this will involve a vast amount of work and ex- 

 pense. Where the cottonwood has been covered with water 

 it will be practically ruined, as the dirt can hardly be washed 

 out of its fuzzy fibres, and the result of this is seen in the fact 

 that the price of this lumber has advanced one dollar a thou- 

 sand. Lucky manufacturerers whose lumber piles have been 

 above the water will make the most of their advantages, and 

 the effect will be seen in the market for oak and ash as well 

 as for cottonwood. It will be several weeks before logging 

 can proceed in the bottom-lands with the mills restored to 

 running condition. There will be mud everywhere, tramways 

 washed out, bridges and trestles destroyed, so that it will be 

 midsummer before everything can be restored to order, with 

 mills running steadily, and weeks more will elapse before the 

 newly cut lumber is dry enough to ship. 



