288 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 491. 



months. Our plants were given a mulching of cow manure 

 in May and a soaking of some liquid stimulant once a week 

 during the summer months, and a thorough hoeing early in 

 the afternoon of every clear day to keep red spider in check. 

 The most persistent bloomers are mainly well-tried varieties, 

 such as Lizzie McGowan, William Scott, Thomas Cartledge, 

 F. Mangold, Eldorado and Alaska. The most unsatisfactory 

 sorts include Meteor, Bridesmaid, Helen Keller, Triumph, 

 Crystal and Nicholson. 



Attention should now be given to the compost-heap intended 

 for use in the benches in September. Too often these heaps 

 are a mass of rank weeds which take up a large part of the 

 food intended for the Carnations. We always use some bone- 

 dust in compost, and if this has not yet been added it should 

 be mixed in now. Weeds should be kept out of the heap by 

 all means, and a few minutes' work once a fortnight will suffice 

 to accomplish this. „, , T „ . 



Taunton, Mass. W. N. Craig. 



For Winter Flowers.— Among border plants useful for fur- 

 nishing cut flowers in winter may be mentioned Snapdragons. 

 We have selected varieties propagated from cuttings, and 

 some strains come tolerably true from seed. In a white-flow- 

 ered collection was one with the delightful odor of orange 

 blossoms. Coreopsis Drummondii is another useful plant and 

 furnishes enormous quantities of flowers. The seeds should 

 be sown now to secure good plants for autumn-blooming. 

 Anthemis tinctoria will replace yellow Marguerites, and this 

 also makes neat little pot plants which flower nicely in five- 

 inch pots. 



Wellesley, Mass. •* • lj ■ J1 - 



Correspondence. 



The Sycamore Blight. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — I never chanced to observe the Sycamore blight on an 

 Oriental Plane-tree, and we have always had the impression 

 that it was free from the disease, or, at least, so rarely attacked 

 that we have never hesitated to recommend its use. The 

 disease is so virulent this year that I should be glad to have 

 reports from your readers who observe Oriental Plane-trees. 

 I have noticed that on our native Sycamores the young trees 

 are not generally affected, and I am curious to know the reason 

 of their immunity. The blight is very common in the New 

 England states, and, as far as my observation goes, it becomes 

 less frequent as one goes south. In former years I have 

 looked in vain in North Carolina for a tree which shows the 

 characteristic bunchy growth of twigs caused by the disease. 

 If the fungus is not limited by climatic conditions our Syca- 

 more is a doomed tree for landscape purposes in all parts of 

 our country. 



Brooltline, Mass. ?. L. Ulmstcd, Jr. 



[Professor W. R. Lazenby writes in the current issue of 

 The Country Gentleman from Nashville, where he has been 

 attending the Exposition, that the blighting of the leaves 

 of our native Sycamore is such a universal occurrence this 

 year wherever he has traveled, that an uninfected Syca- 

 more-tree is a rarity. Professor B. T. Galloway, chief of 

 the Division of Vegetable Pathology in the Department of 

 Agriculture, writes that Platanus orientalis is affected by 

 the blight in Washington as well as the native species, 

 although not as severely, and he adds that neither of the 

 trees is as badly diseased in that city as they have been 

 in former years. Dr. Halsted says that, while he has 

 never observed this anthracnose upon the Oriental Syca- 

 more, this tree is known to be a host of the fungus, and 

 the blight was first described in Europe upon Platanus 

 orientalis. The same Gla-osporium also occurs on P. race- 

 mosa in California. — Ed.] 



Notes on Hardy Plants. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — The beautiful Campanula persicifolia has developed 

 an interesting peculiarity which I have not seen recorded and 

 which I have not noticed in any other herbaceous perennial. 

 It is always my custom to cut away the flowering stems of her- 

 baceous perennials when through blooming. In this instance, 

 however, they were left on to obtain seed. The old flowers 

 are now dried up and seed-pods have formed, yet between 

 each of the former flowers new buds are forming and open- 



ing on the old stems all the way from bottom to top. It remains 

 to be seen how many times this process will be repeated 

 during the season. 



Cimicifuga racemosa is a desirable subject for the garden 

 in a moist spot where it will get the morning sun. The 

 shape of the plant is very graceful, and the long, twisted pani- 

 cles of fine white flowers at the top of the long branches are 

 extremely decorative. The fragrance is almost oppressive 

 and the bees swarm among the flowers. 



Pentstemon barbatus Torreyi is seldom seen in gardens, but 

 is remarkably handsome when well grown. This season has 

 been especially favorable to its needs, and the stems have been 

 from three to four feet long, covered from tip to about a foot 

 from the ground with showy vermilion drooping flowers. It 

 stands the winter well and increases in size. 

 Bergen Point, n.j. L. C. L. Jordan. 



Flowery Byways. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Our native trees, shrubs and vines about St. Louis and 

 in southern central Illinois have flowered with unusual profu- 

 sion this year. First, the wood borders in all the ravines and 

 bluffs on the Illinois side of the Mississippi blushed with the 

 opening flowers of the Red-bud trees, and on the Missouri 

 side the wild native growth on the tongue of lowland between 

 the big rivers for miles above their confluence was rosy with 

 the blossoms of the same trees. Following these were Dog- 

 woods, Wild Plums, Cherries and Crab Apples, and later on 

 every woodland way was powdered with the stars of Wild 

 Blackberry blossoms, and the air was fragrant with the flowers 

 of the Wild Grape from vines that were clambering over the 

 trees. After these came in lavish abundance the blossoms of 

 Corn us paniculata, with mounds of Wild Roses piled over the 

 fences or over each other, and just now the course of every 

 stream is outlined and every fence corner is decorated with 

 the immense cymes of creamy Elder blossoms, the com- 

 monest and yet one of the most beautiful of our native shrubs, 

 while along the railroad rights of way the posts of the barbed- 

 wire fences stand like many-branched candelabra supporting 

 the flaming flowers of the Trumpet Creeper. 



Brighton, ill. Fanny Copley Seavey. 



The Cost of City Parks. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Your editorial, entitled " One Way to Reduce the Cost 

 of Park Maintenance," suggests the thought that in many 

 great industrial centres park accommodation is entirely inade- 

 quate. We have one great park on Manhattan Island and a 

 number of smaller parks, but our congested population needs 

 many more open spaces in which the free sunlight and the 

 breath of nature can have full sway, and we must have them 

 before this city assumes its proper place in the march of 

 progress. 



One great difficulty in the way of establishing parks in great 

 centres of population is the opposition of landowners. Of 

 course, in condemnation proceedings, the ousted owners nat- 

 urally interpose objections, even if to be paid the full value of 

 the condemned property ; but such objections generally indi- 

 cate a disposition to drive a hard bargain with the community, 

 and need scarcely be regarded seriously. 



With respect to other owners, if it can be shown that tax- 

 payers not only do not suffer loss, but that the outlays neces- 

 sary for park extension are borne in the majority of cases by 

 the rent-paying public, little opposition might be expected to 

 the extension on a large scale of a class of improvement that 

 peculiarly reflects advancing modern civilization. 



As a matter of fact, proven by the history of all such im- 

 provements, the cost of opening and maintaining parks, where 

 sites have been judiciously selected, is in the nature of an 

 investment from which large returns can be confidently ex- 

 pected. While the shortsighted policy of some property 

 owners will always stand in the way, the opposition from this 

 source can be reduced to a minimum by the educational influ- 

 ence of periodicals like Garden and Forest. A public- 

 spirited press can do much to advance the public interests 

 when threatened by the fatuous opposition of people blind to 

 their own. 



Much of the opposition has arisen from the unscientific 

 methods of assessing the cost of parks, the usual plan being 

 tocharge one-half against the immediately abutting properties 

 and the balance on other taxpayers through general taxation. 

 This plan, which arbitrarily allocates a great part of the ex- 

 pense without taking into account all the property benefited, 



