200 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 482. 



Notes. 



The leaves on the young shoots of the Wild Cherry, which 

 is found abundantly in the hedge-rows of every Long Island 

 farm, are now 10 fully grown that branches for the decoration 

 of fruit-stan-is are again in the market. The red stalks and 

 midrib o*r the leaves, the rich color of the bark on the new 

 growth, the delicate green of the glossy foliage growing lighter 

 toward 'die tip of the branches, together with the grace of form 

 and (.fie silver-bronze tints of the half-grown leaves at the 

 suij-smit, make a singularly beautiful combination. 



The permanent portion of the great Hamburg Exhibition is 

 now about completed. The location is on undulating ground, 

 and it will be decorated with thousands of plants ot Azaleas, 

 Rhododendrons and Roses, in bloom or in bud, with a great 

 number of conifers, Hollies and other plants, grouped for 

 effect. The first of the six special exhibitions began on the 

 first of May, and the display was most imposing and extensive, 

 filling all the available space in several buildings, the largest 

 of which covers two acres of ground. The managers have 

 expended half a million dollars on the buildings and grounds. 



The prices of flowers were, perhaps, never so low in this 

 city as they were last week, when carnations brought as 

 little as $1.00 a thousand, and a regular rate for roses was $5.00 

 a thousand. Indeed, many of the highest-grade flowers could 

 not be disposed of at any price. Besides the close of the social 

 season, another reason tor the slow sales is the abundant use 

 of sprays of Lilac and other early spring flowers, both wild and 

 cultivated, and flowering branches of trees and native shrubs 

 for church and other decorations. These flowers are for sale 

 by the armful on the street corners, or they can be had for the 

 picking almost anywhere in the suburbs. 



Professor Jordan, Director of the New York Experiment 

 Station at Geneva, has concluded that many of the 25,000 per- 

 sons on the list to whom his bulletins are mailed would be 

 benefited by popular editions of those which consist largely of 

 tables of figures and elaborate reasoning, or are expressed in 

 the concise and technical language of science. These popular 

 bulletins will be sent to the regular mailing-list, but the scien- 

 tific or statistical bulletins will be mailed to any who desire to 

 examine them. We have received four ot these popular bul- 

 letins, which seem to have been admirably edited by Mr. 

 Frank H. Hall, of the station staff. One of these is on Goose- 

 berries, another on Spraying for the Plum and Cherry-leaf 

 Spot, a third is on Alfalfa, and a fourth on The Ravages and 

 Treatment of Cut-worms. 



A correspondent of The Country Gentleman gives the infor- 

 mation that the destructive San Jose" scale which has been 

 brought from California into eastern orchards, to the great 

 alarm of fruit-growers, has met at last with a check in Florida. 

 Professor P. H. Rolfs, of the Florida Experiment Station, dis- 

 covered it in vast numbers at De Funiak, and in the course of 

 his investigation he observed many dead scales on trees 

 which had never been sprayed or treated in any way. He 

 found that the mortality was due to a parasitic fungus which 

 had attacked the scale and killed it. This morbific fungus is 

 a native of Florida ; it can be propagated artificially with ease 

 in unlimited quantities and it can be applied with a spraying 

 machine like other insecticides. If all this is true, Professor 

 Rolfs' statement that the discovery of this fungus disease 

 marks the beginning of a new era in the methods of fighting 

 with this insect will readily be accepted. 



Viburnum lantanoides was one of the many shrubs in flower 

 at the Arnold Arboretum last week. The flat, Hydrangea-like 

 corollas of the neutral flowers on the margins of the cymes 

 are an inch or more in diameter, and appearing above the 

 half-grown leaves are very effective. The plant is good at all 

 seasons with its sturdy growth, its large leaves, its beautiful 

 fruit, changing through coral-red to dark crimson or purple in 

 autumn ; it is really one of the most desirable shrubs or small 

 trees in our North American flora. When grafted on V. den- 

 tatum it grows very well, but on its own roots it is not an easy 

 plant to manage. Two other native shrubs of the north-east- 

 ern United States, which are rarely planted, were in bloom, 

 namely, the Bush Honeysuckles, Lonicera ciliata and L. cce- 

 rulea. The first one, which attains a height of five feet, has 

 rather large, greenish yellow flowers, borne in pairs, which 

 are succeeded by bright red berries. The second, a smaller 

 plant, some two feet high, has pale yellow flowers and blue 

 fruit. Both of these plants are easily cultivated and are desirable 

 in any considerable collection of shrubs. 



The Alligator, or Avocado, pear, which is quite frequently 

 seen in the New York market, is now grown largely in Ma. 



deira, where it was introduced thirty or forty years ago. 

 According to a late English Foreign Office report, the tree 

 attains a height of from twenty to thirty feet in Madeira, 

 making a tall, slender growth, and having smooth, green, 

 Laurel-like leaves. Three to five of the pear-shaped fruits 

 grow in a cluster and become a dark purplish brown when 

 ripe. The pulp, which is often called "vegetable butter," is 

 found between the thin skin and the globular seed. This is 

 generally eaten as a salad, being seasoned with pepper and 

 lime-juice, which is said to bring out the peculiar nutty flavor 

 which is much appreciated by those who have acquired a 

 taste for it. Others eat it as a dessert fruit with sugar as they 

 do melons. The fruit is in season from the middle of Sep- 

 tember until the end of February, and is mostly consumed at 

 home, although a portion of the crop is sent to England and 

 to Lisbon. It is easy to export, but since the taste for it, like 

 the taste for many other tropical fruits, is an acquired one, 

 shippers only export it when ordered. The trees are propagated 

 from seed, and the plants do not bear fruit until they have 

 attained the age of from five to seven years. 



We have received two inquiries from correspondents about 

 the damaged foliage of young Norway Maple-trees, and they 

 send specimens which seem to be blackened and wilted 

 as if they were affected by some fungus or insect. Of course, 

 without further examination we are not able to give the cause 

 of the trouble, but some notes in the annual report of 

 the Hatch Experiment Station of Massachusetts, just issued, 

 may be of interest. Last year many leaves of the Sugar Maple 

 in a dry and crisp condition were sent to that station for inves- 

 tigation, and the same condition was observed in different 

 varieties of the Japanese Maple growing on the college 

 grounds at Amherst. The leaves were wilted only on the 

 west side of the tree which was toward the prevailing wind 

 upon the day when they were affected, and this peculiarity 

 seemed to extend all over the state on the 18th of May last. 

 The wilting of the leaves which occurred quite generally 

 through Massachusetts was evidently due to excessive transpi- 

 ralion of water, when the supply at the root was limited. The 

 phenomenon was interesting, as it occurred on apparently 

 healthy trees under unusual conditions, which lasted but a few 

 hours. It is well known that the agitation of the leaves of a 

 plant greatly accelerates the process of transpiration just as 

 low humidity and a high temperature do. These were the 

 conditions upon the day in question. Before this the rainfall 

 had been below the average, and there had been continued 

 droughts during two preceding years. The supply of available 

 water, therefore, was less than usual, and under a strong, dry, 

 warm wind the leaves of a tree like the Maple, with a large 

 surface, might be expected to become exhausted and wilt 

 badly. When this wilting was not carried to excess the leaves 

 recovered. When it went too far it resulted in the shriveling 

 and death of the foliage. It ought to be remembered, too, 

 that young leaves give off more water than older ones, and 

 Maple leaves are transpiring their maximum quantity in May. 

 The report goes on to say that if there had been plenty of 

 water in the soil the high wind would probably not have caused 

 wilting, or if the same conditions had occurred in August or 

 September, when the foliage was mature, less wilting would 

 have resulted. This spring there does not seem to be any 

 great lack of water in the soil, and we do not know the pre- 

 cise day on which the wilting occurred nor the course of the 

 winds. It is not improbable, however, that accelerated trans- 

 piration and lack of water-supply was the cause of the damage 

 to the leaves reported by our correspondents. 



John Saul, one of the oldest and most widely known nursery- 

 men of the country, died at his residence in Washington on 

 the 1 1 th instant, at the age of seventy-four years. He was born 

 in Lismore, Ireland, where he was trained as a gardener, and 

 while still a young man took the management of a nursery in 

 Bristol, England, after having lived for a time in the Isle of 

 Wight. He emigrated to this country in 1851, and was asso- 

 ciated with Andrew Jackson Downing in the planting of the 

 Smithsonian grounds and other parks in Washington. In 1852 

 he established the business which he has conducted for forty- 

 five years. Mr. Saul was an enthusiastic grower of Orchids, 

 and he has furnished the best American gardens with many 

 of their rarest and most valuable plants. He was Chairman of 

 the Parking Commission of the District of Columbia, which 

 during the last twenty-five years has done so much to beautify 

 the capital of the nation with well-planted street trees. His at- 

 tainments commanded the respect of the best horticulturists 

 and pomologists of the country, and he was esteemed by all 

 for the integrity, simplicity and purity of his life. 



