August 4, 1897.] 



Garden and Forest. 



309 



almost all have bloomed and been much freer from blight 

 than usual. I shall hereafter winter this bulb in this way. 



Among the hardy plants Anchusa Italica was entirely killed 

 where not well covered ; and such species as Bocconia cor- 

 data, Coronilla varia and Lathyrus latifolius, Perennial Pea, 

 were killed to a considerable depth, and though they have 

 finally come up from a lower portion of their roots they are not 

 of their usual size or strength. Bocconia was entirely killed to 

 the depth of a foot. Below this the root had life and has come 

 up. Coronilla, though a little quicker in recovering, was 

 killed to about the same depth. Hibiscus Moscheutos in moist 

 places was killed outright ; in drier soil young plants survived. 

 Cassia Marilandica in moist ground stood the weather, but in 

 the same rows on a little higher ground was killed. Aletris 

 farinosa was entirely killed. The upper portion of many of 

 the roots of Asclepias tuberosa were killed, and though they 

 generally come up from below they were very backward. 

 Bellis perennis, which had been wintered here in previous 

 years, though well covered, was entirely killed. Helianthus 

 Maximiliani has wintered well heretofore, but not a plant has 

 come up this season. Helleborus purpurascens, which had 

 wintered in perfect order for two seasons, was about all killed, 

 as was H. niger. The double Hollyhocks, as a rule, though 

 well protected, were killed. The hardier sorts of Foxglove, 

 such as Digitalis grandiflora and D. Sibirica, which had always 

 been considered perfectly hardy here and which had estab- 

 lished themselves in strong clumps well protected with a good 

 growth of their thick leaves, were generally killed. 



Ligustrum Ibota has wintered here previously in good 

 condition, but was killed outright last winter. Only now and 

 then a plant has sprouted at all from the root. The California 

 Privet was also badly killed back in its branches and is not so 

 strong or promising as a year ago. The common Privet, L. 

 vulgare, came through pretty well and shows little damage. 



Charlotte, Vt. F. H. Horsford. 



A Plea for Zinnias. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — This year my garden is without Zinnias, and their 

 absence convinces me of their usefulness. They deserve a 

 place in the shrubbery, where they furnish an embroidery of 

 color during the season when few shrubs are in flower. But 

 their chief usefulness is lo furnish cut flowers from late July 

 until frost. One hardly appreciates their range of color until 

 one has had a large stock of them to draw upon for floral 

 arrangements during the season. Besides the common 

 orange-scarlet group, a packet of good mixed seed will give 

 rosy scarlet and salmon-scarlet of different depths, almost pure 

 orange, yellow, straw-color, deep crimson, rose, exquisitely 

 pure pink, flesh-color and several light tints that a little child 

 has defined as "dark white," and which, perhaps, may best be 

 described as ivory, pale lemon and greenish white, some 

 flowers of the latter tint being almost pure white, so that a 

 light tone is found that will harmonize with any of the color 

 divisions. 



With such a stock of Zinnias to cut from there is always at 

 hand the necessary basis for a bouquet, for it only needs two 

 or three spikes of Gladioli in harmonizing tints, some sprays 

 or trails of any one of the small-flowered Clematises or of the 

 Cinnamon Vine, or heads of Gypsophila paniculata, to make an 

 attractive and often a distinctly beautiful bouquet in any one 

 of at least three colorings. These hardy flowers are usually 

 available, and if the arrangement is varied by the introduction 

 of a stalk of splendid Tiger Lilies, two or three great Golden- 

 banded Lilies, half a dozen flowers of Lilium speciosum, either 

 white or rose ; Dahlias of various colors, a few belated spikes 

 of Delphinium or some purple bells of Cobasa scandens, or if 

 in an arrangement of yellow tones, a cluster of snowy Day 

 Lilies or some sprays of showy Salvia splendens are added it 

 will be seen that a succession of extremely effective bouquets 

 will have been evolved from rather meagre materials. For 

 throughout the three months or more that these supplemental 

 flowers are coming into flower the Zinnias will steadily supply 

 the foundation for the series. 



Brighton, ill. Fanny Copley Seavey. 



Recent Publications. 



The Principles of Fruit-groiving. By L. H. Bailey. The 

 Macmillan Co. New York. 



Professor Bailey has been preparing a monograph on 

 the Apple, and in the course of his work it became clear 

 that many of the essentials of the science and art of 



pomology could be grouped together so as to be applicable 

 to all kinds of fruits, and this volume is the result. Its 

 range and purpose, therefore, is precisely defined by its 

 title. It is a discussion of the principles which underlie 

 the successful production of all kinds of orchard fruits, and, 

 indeed, most of the small fruits. Probably there is more 

 fruit consumed in the United States than in any other coun- 

 try of the temperate zone, and the desire for fruit is still 

 rapidly increasing. Neither is there any country in the 

 world where fruit is produced in such abundance, variety 

 and excellence, and yet it is probable that fruit, in spite of 

 an increasing demand, will grow cheaper rather than 

 dearer. It would seem impossible that grapes, for example, 

 can be raised profitably for a price lower than the present 

 average, and yet in growing all kinds of fruit there must 

 be a constant effort not only to lessen the cost of produc- 

 tion, but to improve the quality of the product. This book 

 is an attempt, not only to establish the laws which must 

 be followed if the best fruit is to be grown at paying prices, 

 but it explains the limitations of climate and of location, 

 which make fruit-growing a hopeful industry in one region 

 and a doubtful one in another. The study of the geog- 

 raphy of a fruit farm with reference to markets, to 

 threatened frosts and the conditions which make them 

 dangerous, to winds and air currents, to atmospheric 

 drainage and other physical conditions, is full and, 

 of course, instructive. Equally important is the chapter 

 on the evolution of tillage, in which such subjects as the 

 texture of the soil — that is, its physical condition, as dis- 

 tinct from the amount of plant-food it contains — are treated, 

 together with all the operations necessary for the conserva- 

 tion of moisture, even down to minutiae of detail. Of 

 course, all the elementary facts which it is necessary for a 

 fruit grower to know in relation to diseases and insects are 

 clearly set forth, and we are glad to see that a most inter- 

 esting bulletin of the Cornell Experiment Station on the 

 general subject of spraying is largely incorporated into this 

 chapter. Points of practice, like the laying out of grounds, 

 the selection and setting of trees, choice of varieties, the 

 proper methods of fertilization, with the latest methods of 

 harvesting and marketing, are given with clearness and 

 precision. Altogether, this is one of the best numbers of 

 the admirable Rural Science Series, of which Professor 

 Bailey is the general editor. Books like this go far to 

 remove the reproach that there are no available manuals 

 for the farm and garden in America which are at once 

 practical in their directions and thoroughly scientific in 

 their methods. 



Notes. 



Six steamers from Central America landed 115,800 bunches 

 of bananas at this port during last week. 



A correspondent of The Gardeners' Chronicle writes of a 

 Scotch Pine not far from Southampton with a stem clean and 

 handsome and measuring thirteen feet in circumference four 

 feet from the ground. The trunk is as round as a ship's mast, 

 and does not divide until forty feet from the ground, when it 

 is capped by a fine round head. 



At a special meeting of the New York Gardeners' Society 

 the prizes awarded at the June exposition in the City Hall were 

 distributed. It was decided to hold an exhibition of Cannas 

 and other flowers in connection with the annual dinner of the 

 society on the second Saturday of September, and to hold a 

 Chrysanthemum show in November. Some good seedling 

 Cannas, raised by Mr. A. L. Marshall, of Pawling, were ex- 

 hibited, and one of them, a large deep crimson flower, named 

 John B. Dutcher, received the society's certificate. 



In the first volume of Garden and Forest (page 490' we 

 gave an excellent illustration of a fruiting branch of Elseagnus 

 longipes, and in the descriptive note accompanying it stated 

 that the shrub was well worth growing "for the beauty of its 

 fruit alone, which, moreover, is juicy and edible, with a sharp, 

 rather pungent, agreeable flavor." We also suggested that 

 the quality and size of the fruit might be improved by selec- 

 tion and become a highly esteemed dessert and culinary fruit. 



