October 20, 1897.] 



Garden and Forest. 



411 



branchlets. More distinct than this last is an erect form 

 of general pyramidal outline with delicate drooping 

 branches and narrow leaves, usually known in gardens as 

 Juniperus oblongo-pendula. This handsome plant is per- 

 fectly hardy in the neighborhood of Boston ; it grows, 

 however, very slowly, and in a quarter of a century, even 

 in good soil, will hardly attain a height of six feet. For 

 covering rock-work or for other positions where it is de- 

 sirable to use an evergreen only a few inches high, the 

 northern and alpine form of the common Juniper (var. 

 Sibirica), with its wide-spreading stems pressed close to 

 the ground, is an excellent plant, retaining its habit in cul- 

 tivation and soon extending itself over a large area. 



The other European species of the section Oxycedrus, 

 which are small and not very important plants, are not 

 hardy here at the north, but the Japanese Juniperus rigida 

 can be grown in our gardens. Of rather more open habit, 

 it is of the Juniperus communis type, although the branches 

 are more slender and the leaves narrower and more elon- 

 gated. On the Island of Hondo, where, although widely 

 distributed at low elevations, it grows only on sandy 

 barrens or dry sterile gravels, it is occasionally arbo- 

 rescent and twenty feet tall, but much more frequently 

 remains low, forming a wide-spreading bush. This is the 

 Juniper which the Japanese most frequently cultivate and 

 which is often seen of large size and venerable appearance 

 in their temple gardens. 



Another Japanese species which may be expected to 

 thrive in our gardens, Juniperus conferta, is a seashore 

 plant which covers exposed sand-dunes with its long, stout, 

 prostrate branches, and is distinguished in the dark 

 green of its stout elongated leaves and in the size of its 

 fruits, which are much larger than those of other Junipers 

 of this section. This species was discovered by Charles 

 Wright, the botanist of the Wilkes' Expedition, on the 

 shores of Hakodate Bay, opposite the city of that name, 

 on the Island of Yezo, where we have seen it growing in 

 great abundance. In 1892 it was found by Mr. Veitch near 

 Honjo, on the west coast of Hondo. C. S. S. 



The Corsican Pine at Home. 



THE prospect held out to us of a visit to the Corsican 

 Pine forests was a tempting one. We remembered 

 a reply made by a garde general in Corsica to the directors 

 of the exhibition of 1867 : " Impossible to send you, as you 

 ask, sections of the trunks of our tallest Laricios ; our 

 longest saws are shorter than the diameters of our great 

 trees." Then there were the more recent impressions got 

 from the accounts of travelers in Corsica, and eloquent 

 descriptions, concluding with the inevitable advice to 

 " make haste if we wished to see really ancient trees and 

 forests in their natural state." An excursion to Corsica 

 was planned in the spring of 1897, but for various reasons 

 the original band was reduced to four. These found 

 their way to Ajaccio under the guidance of a Corsican, by 

 adoption if not by birth, Monsieur Doumet-Adanson, who 

 was so suddenly stricken by death after our return to 

 France. In Ajaccio we were cordially welcomed by the 

 Conservator of Forests, who gave us some valuable infor- 

 mation on the present condition of the Pine forests. Mon- 

 sieur Mabaret also insisted upon planning out an itinerary 

 for us, which enabled us to see the best examples of Laricio 

 in the limited time allowed to us. 



The majority of the Corsican Pine forests are very easily 

 approached to-day, the department of Bridges and High- 

 ways having constructed some marvellous roads, but there 

 are other forests situated in remote valleys which are still 

 only to be reached by way of mule-paths and goat-tracks. 

 In these the largest trees, even when decayed, are still left 

 standing, as their removal cannot be economically effected; 

 also isolated trees situated in the rockiest and least acces- 

 sible places remain intact for the same reason. Our party, 

 which included one person already advanced in age and 

 in delicate health, was not equipped for journeying over 



mule-paths and scaling goat-tracks ; the finest forests 

 within our reach were, therefore, those of Aitone, Valdoni- 

 ello, Vezzano, Marmano and Bonifato, the first four being 

 situated in the department of Corte, and the last in that of 

 Calvi, and all intersected by good roads. Those which 

 offer most readily to the eyes of the tourist the finest trees 

 set in the most picturesque surroundings, are the forests 

 of Valdoniello and Marmano. The vale of Asco is almost 

 alone at the present day in being still able to show some 

 ancient trees as yet untouched by the hand of the exploiter, 

 but we were forced to abandon this part of our excursion, 

 which, however, has a place in our plans for the future. 



The finest specimens of Pinus Laricio we saw did not 

 exceed 19 feet 6 inches in circumference. Trees of 14^ 

 feet to 15^ feet in girth were frequent enough; some of 

 these were more than 130 feet high, but the mean height 

 of fine old trees is about 120 feet. In the forest of Marmano, 

 near to the pass of Verde, the highest and also the best- 

 shaped trees were to be found, the dimensions of these 

 being 11% feet to 14 J^ feet around, by 130 feet high. They 

 grow in clumps by themselves or pretty thickly mixed with 

 Beeches and a few Firs. The Laricio in Corsica is found 

 on the slopes of mountains with a marked preference for a 

 northern exposure. Commencing at about 2,950 feet, the 

 limit of the Maritime Pine, it reaches an altitude of about 

 3,400 feet. At this point it becomes rare, not because it 

 does not thrive at such an altitude, since fine specimens 

 are also to be found at the extreme limit of the forests, but 

 because these highlands are pasturage in summer for flocks 

 of sheep and goats. Outside this high zone replanting 

 from seed is very easy ; the great danger to the young 

 forest arises from the risk of fire during the hot, dry. sum- 

 mer months. In the older parts of the forest the risk of 

 destruction by fire is less, the trunks of the trees being 

 stripped of their lower branches and the underwood being 

 generally choked off by Pine. The groups of trees are as 

 close and as regular as in our continental forests of Picea 

 and Silver Fir. This is especially so in certain parts of the 

 Aitone forest, which is one of the most regular as regards 

 growth. But the full picturesqueness of P. Laricio is best 

 seen in the higher limits of the forests. Here the growth 

 is sparser, because the conditions of existence are harder, 

 but chiefly because the majority of the plants have been 

 cut down by the sheep and goats. In its struggles with 

 wind and snow the tree is not so high ; the trunk thickens 

 and throws out some powerful branches, the leader is 

 destroyed, and the crest becomes flat and spreading. Look- 

 ing at certain Laricios in the vicinity of the pass of Saint 

 Pierre, between the limits of the Aitone and Valdoniello 

 forests, it is difficult not to believe that they are Atlas 

 Cedars, as these grow on the highest of the Algerian moun- 

 tains. — Maurice L. de Vilmorin. Translated in The Garden 

 from the Revue Horlicole. 



Autumn Flowers in the Pines. 



AUTUMN flowers are this year unusually abundant in 

 L the Pines owing to frequent rains during the summer. 

 Some of the spring flowers are also blossoming now, and 

 trees are flowering for the second time. Magnolia glauca 

 has shown occasional buds and blossoms throughout the 

 entire summer. Handsome flowers of Rhexia Virginica 

 and R. Mariana are still seen among their pretty urn- 

 shaped seed-pods, and Ludwigia alternifolia and L. hirtella 

 also mingle their symmetrical yellow flowers with their 

 winged seed-boxes. The long wand-like stems of Decodon 

 verticillata are here, too, with their curious trimorphous 

 arrangement of stamens and styles. The relative of this 

 plant, Lythrum Salicaria, originally from Europe, but well 

 established in this country, also has two sets of stamens, 

 one longer than the other, and the style is long on some 

 plants, while on others it is short. This is evidently one 

 of Nature's provisions for cross fertilization. 



While some plants seem purposely designed to have the 

 pollen carried to different individuals, others, like the stem- 



