September 29, 1897.] 



Garden and Forest. 



387 



lished, for the thirty-year-old trees on the old, original farms 

 still give profitable crops as regularly as the younger trees. 

 Corn is grown between the fruit-trees. This crop, which 

 averages twenty-five bushels to the acre, is fed to hogs, and 

 this proves the most profitable way to occupy the ground 

 while the orchards are maturing. It is stated that at least one 

 carload of hogs is shipped from the Olden farm every week in 

 the year. 



This farm is well equipped for utilizing its enormous fruit 

 crop. Large shipments of fresh fruits are made by rail daily, 

 and there is a small but complete canning plant with a 

 capacity of 5,000 cans a day, the output of which it is expected 

 will this year reach 50,000 cans, or eight carloads. There is 

 also a modern distillery with a capacity of twenty barrels a 

 day, where all surplus or inferior peaches and apples are made 

 into brandy of the highest grade, and where the entire crop 

 from forty acres of Blackberries is also consumed. 



The red, gravelly soil of the Ozark fruit region looks un- 

 promising in itself, and it is in many places closely covered with 

 a really forbidding and formidable covering of rocks or stones, 

 ranging in size from that of an egg to a loaf of bread. These 

 do not seem to interfere greatly with plowing, as the stones 

 are seemingly all on the surface and slide to one side. They 

 are considered an actual advantage to the orchards in that 

 they act as a mulch, and keep the ground cool and retain 

 moisture near the surface. Both orchards and crops on the 

 soil so mulched endure drought better than on ground that is 

 free from stones. _ „ , , _ 



Brighton, ill. Fanny Copley Seavey. 



A Wet Season. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — A wet season affords a special opportunity to note the 

 differences and the compensations of various soils and situa- 

 tions. In every place of any extent, especially where the 

 surface is varied, there is some variety in this respect. Skill 

 in adaptation will show a surprising effect in the results. It is 

 the taking advantage of these slight helps that may mean suc- 

 cess or failure. Walking about the grounds of a friend this 

 summer I came upon a broad sheet of Forget-me-nots, which 

 filled a hollow near the outlet of an attractive little pond, used 

 for supplying ice. My friend explained that she had tried to 

 establish a large bed of Myosotis in her garden three times 

 and failed ; then this spot was selected and proved a place 

 where the plants were perfectly at home, and they grew and 

 flowered and spread with the utmost luxuriance. 



Flowering and fruiting plants that require a large supply of 

 water and those which resent an excess of water are clearly 

 differentiated in a season like the one just closing. From 

 notes taken in a garden of fruits and flowers, which in- 

 cludes four or five acres of varied surface, both the gains and 

 the losses of such a season appear. 



Perennials generally have done only moderately well. Hardy 

 Chrysanthemums, perennial Phloxes and some others have 

 mildewed badly. Annuals, on the contrary, have given pro- 

 fuse and persistent bloom. Shrubs have made unusual growth. 

 Out of a tolerably full collection of the most reliable hardy 

 shrubs, set within five years, only a small proportion made 

 satisfactory growth during the three preceding dry summers. 

 But with liberal mulching the roots have done better than 

 the wood, apparently, and this year the copious rains have 

 induced a rapid production of vigorous shoots. 



Vegetables, especially root crops, succeeded well in a soil 

 naturally light and dry. 



Early peaches rotted so badly this year that an almost total 

 loss of the large crop is the result. Late varieties did well. 



Details vary, and everywhere the gardener who looks for 

 lasting results needs to study the capabilities of the actual situ- 

 tion, but the suggestions of a wet season may be turned to 

 account in a dry one, if (here is at command that most impor- 

 tant auxiliary, an adequate and easily controlled water-supply. 



Amherst, Mass. D. H. R. Goodale. 



Insects in the Garden. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — In passing a fine specimen of the rare and beautiful 

 Yellow-wood I was surprised to note that it was badly attacked 

 near the ground by what appeared to be some relation of the 

 Locust-borer. I have frequently thought that we shall have 

 to make the destruction of insects as regular a part of syste- 

 matic gardening as the destruction of weeds. At present there 

 is little account taken of insects by most owners of gardens. 

 Rotten peaches are seen, but it never occurs to the grower to 



look inside for the larva of the curculio ready to emerge. The 

 damage is supposed to be the result of something mysterious, 

 and perhaps some editor is written to for a solution of the 

 puzzle. We may go into one of many gardens and see the 

 leaf-worm at work before the owner's eyes, who is in utter 

 ignorance that an insect is on hand. It is not uncommon to see 

 beautiful and rare evergreens utterly destroyed by this curious 

 and active creature. In some seasons certain insects are more 

 damaging than others. This year the red spider has been sin- 

 gularly destructive of evergreens, and the honey aphis of Nor- 

 way Maple and other trees. We have learned to know a weed 

 when we see it, not, perhaps, that we know much about it, but 

 because it is something out of place, and sooner or later a 

 knowledge of injurious insects will also have to be a regular 

 part of the education of every good gardener. Trees and 

 plants should be examined systematically, and the work of an- 

 nihilating these pests will not be found difficult when the task 

 is begun in time and pursued intelligently. 

 Germantown, Pa. Thomas Meehan. 



Recent Publications. 



The Water Garden, embracing the construction of ponds, 

 adapting natural streams, planting, hybridizing, seed- 

 saving, propagation, building an aquatic-house, wintering, 

 correct designing and planting of banks and margins, to- 

 gether with cultural directions for all ornamental aquatics. 

 By William Tricker. New York : A. T. De La Mare Print- 

 ing and Publishing Company, Limited. 



Nymphasas may or may not "have existed for all ages," 

 as stated in this attractive book, but there is no question 

 that for the last decade or so they have been much appre- 

 ciated in gardens, public and private. It is also a fact that 

 no form of horticulture meets with such universal apprecia- 

 tion as the water garden. The largest displays of the 

 showiest or rarest flowers have cold appreciation from a 

 large portion of the public, but there is a charm about a 

 water garden with Nymphaeas floating on the placid waters 

 which reflect each passing cloud, and attract so many busy 

 visitors of the bird and insect worlds, that fascinates the 

 most careless observer. Nymphaeas being of the easiest 

 possible culture, there is no reason why they should not be 

 grown in the smallest gardens as well as on large estates. 



Mr. Tricker has been actively engaged in the growing of 

 aquatic plants during the time when they have most rapidly 

 gained in populatity, and perhaps no one has had a larger 

 experience with Nymphasas of all kinds under cultivation. 

 As will be noticed by the title, this manual is concerned 

 with the practical side of water gardening, the details of 

 which are treated fully. The making of tanks and artificial 

 ponds and the adapting of natural waters to Nymphaea 

 culture are all explained, as is also the handling and propa- 

 gation of the plants. As to the planting, full details are given 

 with extended lists of varieties, with the lack of perspective 

 usual to such lists. The plant world is full of material in 

 every section. What the intending grower wishes especially 

 to know in starting any new culture is, which are the few 

 best things most probably satisfactory for a beginning. A 

 short list of this kind sharply drawn would be helpful to the 

 increase of water gardens among the readers of the book. 

 Aquatic plants under conditions of ample moisture and 

 warmth grow so rapidly as to require care in selection and 

 planting. As Mr. Tricker says, " overcrowding should be 

 avoided, and everything cannot be represented on the bor- 

 ders of one pond," though we regret to say that some of 

 his well-executed pictures of examples do not bear out his 

 advice, overcrowded and spottily planted borders being 

 sometimes conspicuous, instead of the broad, quiet effects 

 more appropriate in such places. The pictures in the main, 

 however, are suggestive of handsome effects, are well 

 executed, and, like the book, are well printed ; and The 

 Wafer Garden is a most useful, suggestive and valuable 

 manual for any one interested in horticulture. 



Notes. 



Charles J. Dawson, a son of Mr. Jackson Dawson, for many 

 years head-gardener in the Bussey Institution of Harvard 



