August iS 1897.] 



Garden and Forest. 



319 



GARDEN AND FOREST. 



PUHLISHED WEEKLY UY 



THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO. 



Office: Tribune Building, New York. 



Conducted by Prufessor C. S. Sargent. 



ENTERED AS SHCOND-CLA-SS MATTER AT THE POST-OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. 



NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 18, 1897. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 



Editorial Articles: — The Wild Flowers of Early August — jig 



The Algonquin Park 320 



Rosa setigera. (With figure.) 320 



Notes on the Cultivated Brassicas Professor L. H. Bailey. 321 



Plant NoTHS Join: Crai^, J. N. Gerard, 322 



Foreign Correspondence: — London Letter W. IVatson. 322 



Cultural Department: — The Vegetable Garden IV. N. Craig. 324 



Some Hardv Perennial Plants Robert Cameron. 325 



Seasonable Suggestions E. O. Orpet 325 



The Annual Species of Coreopsis V. A. Clark. 326 



Correspondence : — The Vitality of Seeds L. C. L. Jordan. 326 



Range of Pacific Coast LHlies Carl Furdy. 326 



The Sycamore Blight. ■ ■ Thomas M. Stetson. 326 



The Elm-leaf Beetle 5. 326 



Our Street Trees and the Elm-leaf Beetle W. E. Britten. 326 



Recent Publications 327 



Notes 327 



1 llustration :— Rosa setigera, Fig. 42 323 



The Wild Flowers of Early August. 



THE early part of August is, perhaps, the least favora- 

 ble time in all the verdurous months for those who 

 like to decorate their rooms with wild flowers. Yet its 

 resources are not to be despised, while an intelligent use 

 of them will produce more beautiful results than the 

 average careless gatherer can imagine. Of course, these 

 resources vary according to climate and elevation — the sea- 

 shore, the low riverland, and the mountain each furnishing 

 its own peculiar supply. Let us see what flowers are fur- 

 nished by the beautiful hill regions to the westward of New 

 York, and how they may best be employed. 



Here and there a head of Golden-rod or a slim spray of 

 Aster may antedate the plenteous harvests to follow, but 

 they should be picked unwillingly, for a wise decorator 

 knows that these plants must be her chief dependence 

 during many future weeks, and that even the most appre- 

 ciative eye grows tired of too long a sequence of the same 

 colors and forms. Variety is Nature's great resource for 

 keeping us ever content, ever freshly delighted with her 

 outdoor effects — variety in her stretches and touches of 

 bright color as contrasted with the permanent green back- 

 ground which never fatigues the sense. And Nature's 

 example will be imitated within doors by those among her 

 children who really love her, for they understand that she 

 is the best of all artistic teachers. 



Thus we are brought to a fundamental fact as regards 

 indoor decoration. Green should be chiefly relied upon 

 when adornments on a large scale are attempted. Branches, 

 shoots and sprays of foliage, different tints of green being 

 selected so that absolute monotony is avoided, should be 

 used for the corners of the hall, the landings of the stair- 

 case and that dark hollow of the unused fireplace which 

 throws a large low jar and its verdant burden into such 

 fine relief. Used quite by themselves, if they are large of 

 leaf and stately in design, or relieved by one or two bold 

 touches of color, these great bouquets of foliage are quieter 

 and more restful in effect, usually more harmonious with 

 the furnishings of the room, and more refreshing to the eye 

 than any bright bunches of strong colors. This is true 

 even at seasons which offer us floral color in the most 



varied and delicate tones and most beautiful shapes. But 

 in the first part of August, when really lovely flowers are 

 less plentiful, a still greater reliance should be placed upon 

 them, while small and delicate arrangements of simple 

 green — as of little Pine and Hemlock shoots, Ferns and 

 Grasses — are not outrivaled by any blossoms even for the 

 adornment of the dinner-table. 



Set upright against plain stretches of wall the level sprays 

 of the Beech exceed all others in beauty, but bolder bits of 

 Hemlock, glistening Tupelo-shoots, Hazel-boughs loaded 

 with their green nuts, and sprays of Maple may be well 

 employed, and, indeed, any sprays or shoots which bear 

 their leaves, not in close clusters, but more or less indi- 

 vidually displayed. If an enlivening touch of color is 

 wanted early August gives it in those reddened tips of 

 Maple, Dogwood, or Tupelo, which, while they predict the 

 autumn, do not really show its most vivid tints or its dry 

 and fragile textures. 



At this time the most beautiful flowers of midsummer 

 have departed. The red and yellow Lilies, the Spiraeas and 

 the Meadow Rue have followed the Laurel into their annual 

 graves, and the late-blooming, white-flowered shrubs stand 

 clothed in plain green again, even the Nine-bark and the 

 New Jersey Tea. But at least one white-flowered shrub is 

 just coming into bloom — the Clethra. It is not as graceful 

 as most of its forerunners, and therefore is less easy to 

 arrange within doors. Yet, if it is not massed too closely, 

 and is intermixed with much green spray, beautiful large 

 bouquets can be made with it, while its spicy perfume will 

 embalm the house. 



Very different is the Sumach, now showing at its best its 

 solid flower-cones, of a lovely pale green, or the richest 

 red. This also should not be massed, as one most often 

 sees it, in huge formless bunches. It should be carefully 

 displayed so that its fine fronds of foliage define themselves 

 to the eye, while each fruit-cluster is brought out distinctly 

 against the background they form. With no other boldly 

 decorative plant is a warning against overabundant use 

 more needful. 



It is the same with the Thistles. Their beauty is not 

 alone in their handsome heads. It is also in their archi- 

 tectural foliage and their dignity of port. Two or three 

 standing in a very tall, narrow vase appear to much better 

 advantage than a larger array, or than one or two com- 

 bined with other plants. Neither of the yellow Gerardias 

 — the branched form or the stiff "strict" form — can be 

 made to look quite as well in the house as it does rising 

 from the Fern-carpeted ground of the forest edge. Yet, 

 separated from all other flowers, not too closely crowded, 

 and relieved by an intermixture of green spray, either sort 

 may produce a fine effect. The Pearly Everlasting, with 

 its light gray-green foliage, loses its charm if it is associated 

 with plants of a stronger color, and is apt to injure theirs. 

 But if a bouquet formed of this plant alone is placed in a vase 

 which does not "kill" its delicate hues, preferably in one 

 of clear white glass, it is very individual and lovely. It is 

 like a bouquet grown and gathered and seen by moon- 

 light, knowing nothing of the heat and vigor of the sun. 



Among the Desmodiums of the hour there is one of 

 exceptionally delicate beauty. This is D. acuminatum, 

 with large three-foliate leaves, and rising far above them, 

 a long and very slender stalk bearing a loose panicle of 

 little pea-shaped blossoms of the loveliest rosy hue. Grow- 

 ing on the border of the woods, a cluster of these Desnm- 

 diums looks like a swarm of tiny bright pink butterflies 

 poised at some distance from the leafy level below them. 

 It is impossible to imitate this effect within doors, for a 

 wide green background is needed, as well as a green mat 

 below. The best way to employ these flowers is to discard 

 all foliage and group a number of the flower-stalks to- 

 gether in a narrow-mouthed slender jar. Then they pro- 

 duce quite a different effect, but a delightful one, recalling 

 certain stiff yet delicate floral traceries characteristic of 

 Japanese art. 



With the small-blossomed Sunflowers, which are now 



