306 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 493. 



the White Hickory, and are the least common. All the 

 nuts are white or yellowish in color, have thick hard shells 

 and are four-celled at the base. 



From its habit Hicoria pallida might be called the 

 " Black Jack " of the Hickories, for it seldom exceeds forty 

 feet in height, and is often not over eighteen or twenty, with 

 a proportional trunk diameter of from eight to fifteen inches. 

 The very slender upper branches are erect and closely 

 crowded, forming a narrow, oblong crown ; but the lower 

 ones droop so low that on isolated trees their extremities 

 are only a few feet above the ground. The trunk, too, is 

 always short, even when the tree is growing under the 

 most favorable conditions, most of the branches spreading 

 from a point only fifteen or twenty feet above the foot of 

 the trunk. 



The gray bark is thick and firm, with deep and rather 

 broad fissures separated by broad, irregularly anastomos- 

 ing ridges, its general appearance being like that of the 

 White Hickory, but rougher. In the summer, when in 

 foliage, it bears a close resemblance to the White Hickory 

 in all the characters which a coup d'ceil can gather ; in 

 the winter the slender twigs make it more nearly resemble 

 the Pignut. The heart-wood is brown in color ; the sap- 

 wood nearly white ; and I was told by persons who had 

 used the wood that while much inferior to the White 

 Hickory in those properties that make good hickory, it is 

 equally as good as that of the Bitternut. The tree, how- 

 ever, is too small and too infrequent to be of importance 

 economically. 



Even in the mountains of North Carolina, where I have 

 found Hicoria pallida most common, it is exceedingly 

 local, occurring at widely separated places and seldom 

 more than a dozen trees being found at the same station. 

 It prefers a poor, dry, soil ; and I have usually found it on 

 sandy soils, although not always. 



In the mountains of Virginia and North Carolina it is 

 associated with the Red Oak, the Rock Chestnut Oak, the 

 Pignut and White Hickory, and ascends in the mountains 

 of North Carolina as high as 4,000 feet above sea-level. 

 In south-western Georgia it is found growing with the 

 White Hickory, Post Oak, Dogwood and Long-leaved 

 Pine on a good, loamy soil underlaid with marl and lime- 

 stone. In eastern North Carolina it is found on the littoral 

 sand dunes at Wilmington, growing with the Sand Oak, 

 Quercus Catesbsei. the Spanish Oak and the Red Cedar ; 

 while near by are the Water Oak, Live Oak, Laurel Oak and 

 Bays. On the sandstone ridges of central Tennessee it 

 occurs with the Scrub Pine, Chestnut, and with the Oak and 

 Rock Chestnut Oak. 



Its distribution, so far as I have observed, is from south- 

 ern Virginia and eastern North Carolina to middle Ten- 

 nessee and south-western Georgia ; but it is probably more 

 extensively distributed and should be looked for in eastern 

 Kentucky and northern Alabama. 



This tree was first distinguished in the spring of 1895 

 near Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where, after two seasons' 

 search, I have been able to locate only three specimens. 

 The summer after distinguishing it at Chapel Hill, while 

 examining on horseback the forests of the western portion 

 of North Carolina in the preparation of the description of 

 the woodland of North Carolina in Bulletin No. 6 of the 

 North Carolina Geological Survey, I found this tree in sev- 

 eral other places in that state. The following spring it was 

 found in south-western Georgia and eastern North Caro- 

 lina, and more recently in Tennessee. Having no good 

 description of the Nutmeg Hickory or specimen for com- 

 parison for a long time, I considered Hicoria pallida to be 

 that species, or at most a variety of it. The Nutmeg Hick- 

 ory, however, does not occur in North Carolina, although 

 indirectly credited to this state in the recently pub- 

 lished Nomenclature of the Arborescent Flora of the United 

 States. 



From what is now known of it Hicoria pallida seems to 

 be another localized, south Appalachian species. 



North Carolina Geological Survey. William Willard Ashe. 



Cultural Department. 



Border Plants. 



"O UDBECKIA TRILOBA, var. Golden Glow, is now in bloom. 

 *• »• It is a questionable acquisition. The color is not nearly 

 as bright as that of our double Helianthus multiflorus, nor is the 

 flower as finely formed. The single form of this Rudbeckia 

 is handsomer, with a ray of yellow florets and a black disk. 

 Compared with the Sunflower, it makes a much better border 

 plant, as it is perfectly hardy, stiff in habit and stands without 

 stakes and has handsomely cut foliage. 



Hybrid Montbretias are acceptable hardy plants. They are 

 usually treated in the same way as Gladiolus, and the corms 

 lifted and stored dry during winter. With no thought that they 

 would prove hardy, a batch was left out under cover of a few 

 leaves and Pine branches ; these plants are more vigorous than 

 those from lifted corms and bloom earlier. Just now their 

 gracefully arching, compound spikes of scarlet and yellow 

 flowers form part of an attractive picture, with dwarf Sun- 

 flowers for a background and Heliotrope for the front. Proba- 

 bly the late-flowering Hemerocallis Thunbergii could be used 

 in place of the Sunflower with better effect, H. fulva in the 

 border becomes a weed sometimes, but properly used among 

 shrubs it is a striking plant, handsome in foliage as well as 

 flower. 



Among a number of seedling Carnations we found one with 

 perfectly formed white flowers on long stiff stems. It came 

 among seedlings of Mrs. Fisher, a standard florists' variety of 

 the tree or perpetual type, but, as often happens, this variety 

 had reverted to the border type, and for winter flowering it 

 was useless. Pipings put in during the late summer, when 

 rooted, boxed off and wintered in a cold frame, according to 

 the English practice, and planted out in spring, make neat 

 plants and bloom finely, earlier than standard varieties rooted 

 in the winter. It is complained that we have no border varie- 

 ties to compare with such as are grown on the other side, but 

 I think if our florists who raise new varieties would save some 

 of the reverted types, and prove them, we might get together 

 a collection embracing all the colors. 



Lobelia fulgens, var. Victoria, is an admirable border plant 

 for the autumn garden. It will be strikingly effective in a 

 week or two when the Phloxes are gone and golden colors 

 predominate in the borders. It is remarkable for fine dark 

 foliage and brilliant scarlet flowers. Besides being an un- 

 usually attractive border plant, Campanula grandiflora has the 

 good quality of coming into bloom when nearly all other kinds 

 are past. The variety Mariesi is probably the best of all, and, 

 with its white form neatly blended, will continue for a long 

 time. This Campanula is also an excellent plant for the rock 

 garden, where now and then a taller plant varies what would 

 otherwise be a monotonous carpet of low plants. They sow 

 themselves quite freely. Pentstemons from seed will soon be 

 in bloom. Those from cuttings from a few selected plants 

 rooted last winter have been flowering for the past three 

 weeks. They add variety at a time when the borders begin to 

 look bare ; besides, a stock of young plants in spring-time 

 comes in handy to fill occasional bare spots. 



Old plants of Pyrethrum roseum hybrids bloom sparingly 

 now, and a batch of seedlings raised in winter are just coming 

 into bloom. They will be mostly single, but showy, as bright 

 colors prevail. Erigeron speciosus, with purple Aster-like 

 flowers, is very bright. In our warm sunny climate the plant 

 frequently exhausts itself in bloom, and should be treated as a 

 biennial. It is easy to keep up a supply, as seeds ripen and 

 germinate freely. In fact, it is not uncommon to find numbers 

 of self-sown seedlings come up in the vicinity of old plants 

 every spring. Hypericum aureum is a good low-growing 

 shrubby American species. It is an excellent plant for the 

 foreground of the mixed border where herbaceous plants are 

 used. It is quite stiff in habit, and its flowers occur in bunches 

 near the ends of all the branches. Delphinium Sinense has a 

 much longer season of bloom than hybrids of D. elatum. Its 

 deeply tinted blue flowers are scarcely equaled in intensity. 

 Dicentra formosa lasts a longtime in bloom, and a shady posi- 

 tion suits it best. Here we have it behind a large rock, and it 

 does equally well in the shade of trees if moisture enough is 

 supplied. The delicately cut glaucous foliage and arching 

 scapes of pink flowers resemble those of Scilla campanulata 

 rosea, and contrast beautifully. 



Malva moschata is exceedingly free ; in fact, flowers on to 

 exhaustion, and should be cut back when it begins to form 

 seeds. Pink and white saucer-shaped blooms are produced in 

 succession on short stems from the axils of the leaves. Linaria 

 Dalmatica, a rather new Toadflax, with glaucous leaves and 



