198 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 482. 



very similar to Austria, but has more substance, is dwarler, 

 and seems to have broader foliage. We have had a good 

 opportunity to compare them, as we had the two, with Italia, 

 in bloom at the- same time. The trio will make valuable 

 plants for flowering in the greenhouse in pots or tubs, and 

 there is no doubt a place for them, even if they are not adapted 

 to outdoor, culture, as with the Crozy race. 



Another very pretty novelty of this season is the so-called 

 yellow Soupert Rose Moselle. It is extremely double, with a 

 pretty apricot-yellow centre. Now that it is well known what 

 Afl'uiirable bedding Roses the Soupert Roses make, the 

 Moselle will be a decided gain for summer bedding. The 

 Roses of this race bloom perpetually in the open ground until 

 frost, and their hardiness is undoubted. 



South Lancaster, Mass. -C. O. Orpet. 



Xanthoceras sorbifolia. — This beautiful little tree is just now 

 the pride of our grounds (see vol. vi., p. 285). It has an 

 erect habit and is now ten feet in height, and so completely 

 covered with bloom that scarcely any of its very handsome 

 dark green pinnate foliage is visible except a green spray here 

 and there to give relief irom the dazzling beauty of the flow- 

 ers. These are large, upright, five-petaled and bell-shaped, 

 and they have the unusual quality of changing their appear- 

 ance day by day. When they open they are white with green- 

 ish centres, and the lower ends of the petals are marked with 

 veins of lemon-yellow. By about the second day the petals 

 have spread apart, showing more plainly the green calyx, and 

 the veins have deepened to brownish yellow. About the third 

 day a still more singular change takes place. The yellow has 

 become a beautiful shade of pink, the green ovary swells and 

 becomes conspicuous, and by about the fourth day the 

 flower has utterly changed its character, as the veins 

 and lower end of each petal are now a deep and beauti- 

 ful shade of red, an indescribable color, very rare in 

 nature. Meanwhile the petals have continued to spread 

 apart, showing between them the green divisions of the calyx, 

 and these changes, together with the swelling of the now 

 prominent ovary, give the flower a totally different appear- 

 ance from that which it presented at the time of its opening. 

 On the spray which I now hold in my hand all the changes I 

 have described can be noted at the same time, as some of the 

 lower blossoms, which are persistent, are about four days old, 

 and those at the top have just expanded. The individual 

 blossoms are on long foot-stalks, and these are each orna- 

 mented with three green ovate bracts where they join the 

 parent branch. The Xanthoceras seems to be perfectly hardy, 

 and deserves a choice and conspicuous place in the shrubbery 

 where it can have room enough to develop without being 

 crowded. It has a single stem and is more like a small tree 

 than a shrub. It is said to attain to the height of fifteen feet in 

 its native country. Here it seems to find congenial soil and 

 grows rapidly. 



Rose Brake, W. Va. DatlSKC Dandridge. 



Correspondence. 

 The Red Cedar. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — I read your article of April 14th and that of " H. S. H.," 

 of Wellesley, Massachusetts, in your issue of April 28th, recom- 

 mending Red Cedar for more general ornamental planting, 

 with interest. Three years ago I had arranged to transplant a 

 number of young Red Cedars found in old pasture-fields in 

 western Pennsylvania to one of our parks at Youngstown, but 

 chanced to read Bulletin No. 92 of the North Carolina Agricul- 

 tural Station, published in August, 1893, before doing so, and 

 upon the representation of the author, Professor W. F. Massey, 

 horticulturist of the above station, that Red Cedar caused 

 apple rust, and that the best remedy for the rust was the 

 destruction of all Red Cedars within a mile of Apple orchards, 

 reluctantly abandoned the idea. 



From page 86 of the above bulletin I quote as follows : 

 " Rust of the apple is one of the worst diseases this fruit 

 suffers from throughout the southern states. It is especially 

 bad in sections where the Red Cedar abounds. This disease 

 is caused by a tungus which, unlike all other fungi parasitic 

 on tree fruits, is bimorphic — that is it exists at different sea- 

 sons in two very distinct forms and on different hosts. The 

 form on the apple 'rust' is botanically known as Roestelia 

 pirata. The other form affects the Red Cedar, producing the 

 so-called ' Cedar apples,' and is botanically known as Gymno- 

 sporangium macropus. The apple form or 'rust' is the im- 

 mature form of the Cedar form. The fungus appears to be 



restricted to these two naturally widely separated genera of 

 plants. Hence, if all the Red Cedars, Juniperus Virginiana, 

 within a mile of an Apple orchard are destroyed, no mature 

 forms or reproductive spores of the fungus can be formed, 

 and no further infection of the orchard can occur. The destruc- 

 tion of all Red Cedars within a mile will, in most cases, prove 

 a complete remedy for ' rust.' When winds are unusually 

 strong the mature spores may be carried for over four miles, 

 but ordinarily they will not be carried over one mile. But one 

 or two Cedars, if overlooked, may breed spores enough to 

 infect several orchards." 



However desirable the Red Cedar may be for ornamental 

 purposes, it. ought not to be extensively used if detrimental to 

 apple-culture. 



Youngstown, Ohio. Vollley Rogers. 



[This rust is more dangerous to Quinces than to Apples, 

 and it seems to have been proved (see Bulletin 80, Cornell 

 Experiment Station, page 627) that the spores from the 

 Cedar apples can be carried by the wind eight miles, and 

 that it may affect Quince-trees, Apple-trees or Hawthorns 

 at that distance. Nevertheless, the disease is not so serious 

 in our latitude but that it can be kept down by spraying 

 with Bordeaux mixture. If we spray our fruit-trees for the 

 scab fungus and other diseases as we should we shall not 

 find the Red Cedar such an injury to orchards that we shall 

 feel any desire to exterminate it. This matter was referred 

 to Professor Bailey, who writes : "I do not feel as much 

 alarm as I once did over bugs and fungi. I should not 

 deliberately plant Red Cedars around a Quince orchard, 

 but if I wanted Red Cedars on my grounds I should plant 

 them without hesitation. Upon my own farm I am plant- 

 ing hundreds of Apple-trees, and there are many native 

 Cedars standing about the place which I do not expect to 

 destroy, although I shall do so if they become intolerable 

 nuisances." 



The New York Park Board is planting Red Cedars in 

 Morningside Park. Of course, there are no orchards near 

 enough to be in danger, but the Hawthorns and other trees 

 of the Rose family may be injured by the fungus. Never- 

 theless, the time is coming when spraying for other fungi 

 will be a general practice in park plantations as well as in 

 orchards, and we have little fear from the Cedar apples. 

 Indeed, it would not be a difficult matter to remove the 

 galls as they appear upon the Cedar-trees. There is no 

 doubt as to the fact that the Red Cedar is the propagating 

 centre of a rust which in another form grows on members 

 of the Rose family, but with our present knowledge of the 

 means of keeping it in check we see no reason to abolish 

 the Red Cedar either from parks or from private planta- 

 tions. — Ed.] 



John Evans. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Dr. Harshberger has done good service to the early 

 history of botany in the appreciative notice of John Evans, one 

 of Philadelphia's famous botanist-gardeners. He has not over- 

 drawn the picture of this modest, amiable and useful enthu- 

 siast. It is just fifty years ago, this blooming month of May, 

 since Robert Buist, then in the prime of his career as a nur- 

 seryman, invited me to take a ride with him to see " a wonder- 

 ful collection of plants by a farmer, who was also an excellent 

 botanist." He drove to Evans' garden. Like many young 

 men, I was inclined to believe I knew a good deal. But I was 

 amazed at the great store of knowledge gained on that day's 

 trip. The reference by Dr. Harshberger to the sawdust re- 

 minds me particularly of the lesson learned as to the love of 

 the Raspberry and Currant for rotten wood, which for the first 

 time I saw there. 



That lie gathered everything from the gardens around Phila- 

 delphia that could be obtained, the following little circum- 

 stance will testify to : While showing us his garden treasures 

 nothing could exceed his enthusiasm. No trouble' seemed too 

 great for him in showing us everything that he thought would 

 interest us. Mr. Buist was silent after entering the carriage 

 on our homeward drive. After a long while he suddenly 

 exclaimed, " Thomas, many a dollar that man has paid me 

 for rare plants for his garden, but never again will I take 

 money from him. He can have anything he wants from 

 my place after this, and he shall not be charged a cent for 



