August i8, 1897.] 



Garden and Forest. 



321 



and if in such a mass the plants were set from twelve to 

 twenty feet apart with the ground between them carpeted 

 with the long prostrate stems of Rosa Wichuraiana, which 

 produces its fragrant white flowers when the Prairie Rose is 

 blooming, a harmonious composition might be obtained. 



Single plants of such flowering shrubs as Rosa setigera 

 dotted here and there through mixed shrubberies, although 

 in themselves beautiful, often make a plantation spotty and 

 fail to produce the effects which might be obtained by 

 masses of a single shrub or of two or three shrubs harmo- 

 nious in form and color. The promiscuous mixing up of 

 shrubs and trees of many countries ill-sorted in form and 

 in the color of foliage and flower, is a common fault in 

 most American park-planting, the result in part of a super- 

 abundance of material and in part of a want of self-restraint 

 on the part of the planter which manifests itself in a desire 

 to make as much show as possible without much regard 

 for the harmony of the result. An experiment which we 

 have suggested before of massing shrubs of the same kind 

 together in the different parts of a large park or park sys- 

 tem, instead of planting everywhere first a Rose, then a 

 white-flowered Spirtea, then a Forsythia, and so on, is cer- 

 tainly worth a trial. Tending to secure breadth, simplicity 

 and unity, it would at least do away with the eternal monot- 

 ony of American park-planting and produce at different 

 seasons color-effects which only the Japanese have known 

 how to make truly effective. 



Notes on the Cultivated Brassicas. 



T N common with nearly all cultivated plants, especially those 

 •*■ which are perplexing, the Brassicas have received too little 

 attention from botanists. The inevitable outcome of such 

 neglect or of any superficial study is a reduction of species, 

 and in this direction Brassica has suffered greatly. It is usually 

 confusing to reduce types. The most perplexing species in 

 our manuals are those which contain the greatest number of 

 old types or synonymous names. It is true that this is sup- 

 posed to be primarily due to the variation of the species or 

 groups, but I am convinced that it is often to be charged to 

 superficial study or insufficient material. The conviction is 

 growing upon me that our manuals contain too few rather 

 than too many species ; at all events, the miscellaneous dump- 

 ing of Ruta-bagas, Turnips, Rape and other plants into Brassica 

 campestris is unnatural, and therefore unfortunate. The best 

 presentation of the species of true Brassicas which has yet 

 been made is that of De Candolle's Prodromus so long ago as 

 1824, and my own studies lead me to adopt essentially Uiose 

 conclusions. I am not clear as to the generic merits of 

 Brassica and Sinapis. If we are to erect generic characters 

 upon general habit, the two might be kept apart, but I have 

 not found structural characters with which to separate them, 

 and for the purposes of this discussion I have kept them to- 

 gether. I should add that I am acquainted with no group in 

 which many of the difficulties of classification vanish more 

 quickly upon a study of the growing plants than in these Bras- 

 cas. From my standpoint the group may be divided as follows : 

 A. Whole plant glaucous-blue when in flower ; leaves of the 

 flower stems clasping ; flowers various. 



I. Leaves from the first more or less fleshy throughout 



and glaucous-blue, even when young ; flowers large 

 and creamy yellow, the petals' conspicuously long- 

 clawed and the sepals usually erect. 



1. Brassica oleracea, Linn., the Cabbage and Cauliflower 



tribe. Leaves smooth from the first, and the root never 

 tuberous. 



2. B. Napus, Linn., the Rape. Leaves smooth from the 



first ; differing from B. oleracea chiefly in habit and 

 more deeply scalloped leaves. The botanical position 

 of the Rapes is open to doubt. 



3. B. campestris, Linn., the Ruta-baga. First leaves hairy, 



the root usually tuberous. 



II. Leaves (except upon the flower-stem) thin and 



green ; flowers smaller and bright yellow, less 

 prominently clawed. 

 a. Plant potentially biennial (that is, the root hard and 



thickened, often distinctly tuberous); foliage firm 



in texture. 

 * Leaves distinctly hairy. 



4. B. Rapa, Linn., the common Turnip. Leaves promi- 



nently lyrate or interrupted below, the root tuberous. 

 ** Leaves not hairy. 



5. B. Chinensis, Linn., the Pak-Choi Cabbage. Radical leaves 



wavy and ample, glossy green, obovate or round, obovate 

 in general outline, either entire or obscurely wavy or 

 even crenate, tapering to a distinct and thick strong 

 petiole, which is generally not prominently margined ; 

 pod large and tapering into a beak half an inch long ; 

 root sometimes tuberous. 



6. B. napiformis, Bailey {Bull. 67, Cornell, 1894), the tuberous- 



rooted Chinese Mustard. Radical leaves comparatively 

 few, the blade thin and oval in outline, and on long and 

 slender slightly feathered petioles, sharply and irregu- 

 larly toothed with a thin bloom ; beak of the pod more 

 abrupt ; root distinctly hard and tuberous. 



aa. Plant truly annual ; foliage profuse, loose and soft. 



7. B. Pe-Tsai, Bailey, I.e., the Pe-Tsai Cabbage. Numerous 



radical leaves, large and light green, oblong or ovate- 

 oblong, crinkled and very veiny, and the margins wavy, 

 contracted into a flat and ribbed petiole one to three inches 

 wide, which is provided with a wide thin notched or 

 wavy wing ; stem leaves sessile and clasping ; pod of 

 medium size, with a short cone-like beak ; the leaves 

 tend to form an oblong, loose head, like Cos lettuce. 



8. B. Japonica, Sieb., the California Pepper Grass, Pot-herb 



Mustard. Rather numerous radical leaves, oblong or 

 oblong-obovate, the margins either crisped or cut into 

 many very fine divisions, the petiole distinct at its lower 

 end ; stem leaves all petioled ; pod very small, with a 

 slender beak ; the soft, thin leaves make excellent 

 " greens." 

 B. Plant green or but slightly glaucous when in flower ; leaves 



on the flower-stems not prominently clasping ; flowers 



small and yellow. (Essentially Sinapis.) 

 9. B. juncea, Cosson, the Chinese Mustard. 



10. B. nigra, Koch, common mustard of commerce. 



11. B. alba, Boissier, white mustard. 



The most important innovations in this classification are the 

 recognition of the peculiarities of the stem-leaves and the sizes 

 and colors of the flowers ; and it is to be noticed that the Ruta- 

 baga and Turnip, which are ordinarily thrown together, fall 

 into different categories. The differences between the cab- 

 bage-like species and turnip-like species in size and color of 

 flowers is really striking when the plants are flowered side by 

 side. The Turnip-flower is more like that of Mustard than 

 like that of the Cabbage tribes. The breaking up of the Oriental 

 Cabbage tribe into the three species (B. Chinensis proper, B. 

 napiformis and B. Pe-Tsai) is also an innovation, but I am 

 unable to understand the plants in any other arrangement. 



The point which I wish to urge particularly at this time is 

 the specific distinctness of the Rutabaga and Turnip, and I 

 will contrast them more minutely. The tubers of the two are 

 different in season, texture and flavor. In the Ruta-baga the 

 small leaves immediately following the seed leaves are 

 sparsely hairy, but all subsequent leaves are entirely smooth, 

 densely glaucous-blue, thick and cabbage-like, with a fleshy 

 petiole and midrib. In the Turnip the radical leaves are 

 always more or less hairy, and they are green and radish-like, 

 thin, with slender petiole, and the leaves are much more 

 lyrate, with interrupted leaflets on the petiole ; the small 

 leaves following the seed-leaves are also thinner and narrower 

 and more deeply scalloped. In the Ruta-baga the flowers are 

 large, creamy and cabbage-like, while in the Turnip they are 

 small, yellow and mustard-like, with shorter claws and more 

 spreading calyx. The Turnips vary in hairiness, but the cone 

 of expanding leaves, or the " heart-leaves," always shows the 

 hairs distinctly, while the heart-leaves of the Ruta-bagas are 

 entirely smooth, fleshy, and remind one of the young shoots 

 of Sea-kale. I have grown most of the trade varieties of Ruta- 

 bagas and Turnips, and they may be referred to their respec- 

 tive species as follows. Specimens are in the Cornell 

 herbarium. 



Ruta-bagas (Brassica campestris). — 1, Bronze-top Swede; 

 2, Burpee's Breadstone ; 3, Carter's Ruta-baga ; Carter's Im- 

 perial Hardy Swede ; 5, Colson's West Norfolk ; 6, Early White 

 Vienna ; 7, Improved American Purple-top Ruta-baga; 8, Im- 

 proved Champion ; 9, Improved Yellow Summer Turnip ; 10, 

 Improved Yellow Swedish; 11, Laing's Improved; 12, Lin- 

 colnshire Improved ; 13, Long Island Improved Purple ; 14, 

 Long White French Turnip; 15, Shamrock; 16, Skirving's ; 

 17, Sutton's Champion ; 18, Taunton; 19, White Ruta-baga; 

 20, White Swede or Russian ; 21, Yellow French. 



Turnips (Brassica Rapa). — 1, Aberdeen; 2, Black Stone ; 3, 

 Cow-horn ; 4, Early Dutch Turnip ; 5, Early Snowball ; 6, Extra 

 Early Milan Red-top Strap-leaf; 7, Extra Early Purple-top 



