October 6, 1897.] 



Garden and Forest. 



39 1 



the United States they exist in Central Park, New York, in 

 Germantown, Pennsylvania, near Louisville, Kentucky, 

 and probably in many other localities, as the Ginkgo of late 

 years has become a comparatively common ornamental 

 tree in this country. 



Stiff and almost grotesque in its early years, with slender, 

 remote, wide-spreading branches and sparse foliage, the 

 Ginkgo does not assume its real character until it is more 

 than a century old. There are few trees whose youth gives 

 so little indication of future splendor ; and so little pictur- 

 esque is the Ginkgo in early life, and so badly does it blend 

 with American surroundings that a great landscape gar- 

 dener, knowing only young trees, declared that it could 

 have no place in our landscape planting. If, on a bright 

 November day, he had seen the great trees in Kamakura, or 

 in the gardens of Asakura, in Tokyo, he would certainly have 

 recognized the great possibilities of the Ginkgo for picturesque 

 planting. In the United States the Ginkgo is perfectly hardy 

 as far north as Massachusetts, and thrives as well in the 

 south as it does at the north. There are not, however, yet 

 any very large or fine specimens in this country, although 

 the tree planted nearly a century ago in the garden at 

 Hyde Park, on the Hudson River, has begun to assume 

 mature habit and shows that later generations may hope 

 to see eastern America rival eastern Asia in its Ginkgo 

 trees. 



The Ginkgo is very easily raised from seeds, which can 

 now often be purchased from dealers and which retain 

 their vitality for several months, and female plants, which 

 are less common than males, may be obtained by grafting ; 

 it is easily transplanted and thrives in deep, rich drained 

 soil, in which it will often increase in height from two to 

 three feet in a year. Nurserymen propagate a variety with 

 leaves which are larger and more deeply divided than 

 normal, and others with slightly pendulous branches and 

 with leaves striped or blotched with yellow, but none of 

 these varieties have much to recommend them. 



The yellow flesh of the Ginkgo fruit has a most disagree- 

 able, rancid flavor, but the seed-kernel, which resembles the 

 kernel of the Almond, is sweet and palatable. In China 

 the trees are cultivated for their fruit, which is sold in great 

 quantities in all markets, but in Japan, where the fruit is 

 also gathered and sold, the trees are cultivated for ornament 

 only, and usually only in temple gardens. The wood is 

 bright yellow with a close compact grain, and is capable of 

 receiving a beautiful polish ; it is, however, soft and easily 

 broken, and is not considered particularly valuable. 



The Ginkgo is certainly one of the most interesting, 

 hardiest and most picturesque trees which have been intro- 

 duced into the United States, and if a man wants to plant 

 for posterity, for it must not be forgotten that it has taken 

 from five hundred to one thousand years to build up the 

 great Ginkgos of Japanese and Chinese temple gardens, he 

 is reasonably safe in selecting this tree for his purpose. 



Cephalotaxus is a genus of small trees and shrubs with 

 spirally arranged linear, sharp-pointed dark green leaves 

 twisted on lateral branches into an apparently two-ranked 

 arrangement, dioecious flowers, in stalked axdlary heads, 

 the staminate numerous, clustered and capitate, the pistillate 

 in terminal spikes, and drupe-like fruit, similar to that of the 

 Ginkgo. The genus is Asiatic, and its half-dozen still badly 

 defined species are scattered from Japan and northern 

 China to the eastern Himalayas. 



The species most frequently seen in our gardens and the 

 only one well known here, Cephalotaxus drupacea, is a native 

 of Japan and probably also of northern China. In Japan 

 it is generally scattered through mountain forests, extending 

 northward to central Yezo. where it grows on low hills as an 

 undershrub two or three feet high of the deciduous forest, 

 while on the Hakone Mountains, in Hondo, it becomes a 

 bushy, shapely tree, often twenty-five feet in height. Ceph- 

 alotaxus drupacea is generally hardy in the eastern states, 

 although it frequently suffers in severe winters in New 

 England. Near New York and Philadelphia, where it is 

 more flourishing, it produces fruit abundantly, although in 



this country it remains shrubby in habit and is really more 

 interesting as a type of a peculiar genus than it is as an 

 ornamental plant. Cephalotaxus drupacea was sent to the 

 Botanic Garden at Lyden by Von Siebold in 1829. He 

 described another species, Cephalotaxus pedunculata, a 

 very obscure plant and, perhaps, a garden form of C. 

 drupacea, from which it seems to vary chiefly in its longer 

 leaves, or a Chinese species, as there is apparently but one 

 Cephalotaxus growing wild in Japan. I have not seen it 

 in our gardens. There is what is believed to be a Japanese 

 fastigiate form of this plant in gardens (var. fastigiata) with 

 branches as erect as those of the Irish Yew and very dark 

 green foliage ; not hardy in eastern New England, there are 

 good plants of this form near New York and Philadelphia. 

 This plant is often known in gardens as Podocarpus Korai- 

 anus,Tax us Japonica,PodocarpusJaponica and Cephalotaxus 

 Burgeri. Cephalotaxus Fortunei, a native of northern and 

 central China, is the most beautiful of the cultivated spe- 

 cies, with lustrous dark green leaves, pale on the lower 

 surface and three or four inches in length. In Europe this 

 is considered the most desirable of the genus as a garden 

 plant. I do not know it, however, in this country and find 

 no reference to it in American garden literature later than 

 the note nearly thirty years old in Hoopes' Book of Ever- 

 greens. Like many other north China plants, however, it 

 may be expected to thrive in New England. 



The different species of Cephalotaxus flourish in deep 

 rich soil and require protection, especially until they are 

 fully established, from the winter sun. C. S. S. 



The Hamburg Exposition. 



THE Gartenbau Austellung, which is now closing at 

 Hamburg, is the largest and most important effort 

 yet made to show the resources of the horticulturist. It 

 was conceived in a broad and generous spirit, and has 

 been carried to a finish with remarkable energy and sa- 

 gacity. The time and circumstances have been auspicious 

 for a great exhibition. The Germans are feeling the effects 

 of industrial and commercial expansion, and exhibitions 

 may almost be said to be a craze with them. Hamburg is 

 not only an important horticuhural centre, but it is one of 

 the greatest marts of the world. It has an immense fleet 

 of ships reaching many countries. This touch with foreign 

 trade has bred a most conspicuous public spirit, without 

 which a horticultural exposition continuing through five 

 months could not have succeeded. The steamship com- 

 panies transported exhibitions free and the people of 

 Hamburg subscribed for about 70.000 season tickets to the 

 Austellung before it had opened its gates. 



The exposition is the outgrowth of a local horticultural 

 society, and is under the direction of committees of promi- 

 nent Hamburg citizens. The state of Hamburg gave 50,000 

 marks for premiums, and a guarantee fund was raised by 

 subscription. The receipts of the exposition are derived 

 from gate moneys, rent of space, and concessions to res- 

 taurants and tradespeople, and have been sufficient to 

 meet all expenditures, to secure the guarantee fund, and 

 to leave a handsome surplus. This happy condition has 

 been brought about, of course, only by the application of 

 the strictest business methods, and yet the intelligent vis- 

 itor must be impressed with the liberality of the manage- 

 ment and the courtesy and freedom with which it has 

 extended privileges to students and specialists. One is 

 impressed with the fact that while the exposition is a 

 financial success, its motive is, nevertheless, one of public 

 spirit and a desire for the extension of the influence of 

 horticulture. 



The site of the exposition is ideal. A public park of 

 about thirty-five acres, splendidly diversified with hill and 

 dale, glade and wood, water and sward, has been made 

 an Eden of color. The effects of herbaceous plants are 

 naturally paramount. Dahlias, Geraniums, Lilies, Gladioli, 

 Azaleas, Rhododendrons, Roses, tree Fuchsias, burning 

 carpet beds, have been some of the most conspicuous 



