4i8 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 504. 



At this time of the year Elms are showing the same con- 

 dition quite generally with us. As a test I went out to a 

 tree standing near the Experiment Station building, and the 

 first branch examined showed leaves that closely matched 

 those which came from Irving Park, Chicago. 



When this discoloration occurs in October it may well 



be called the phenomenon of natural death, but the cause 



or combination of causes that led to it in the case under 



consideration I am not able to name. Professor Smith 



thinks that insects of various sorts often hasten this decline. 



Lack of sufficient moisture or food material may bring 



about similar results. _ „ , , 



New Brunswick, n.j. Byron D. Halsted. 



Notes. 



Friday, October 22d, has been set apart by the Superinten- 

 dent of Public Instruction of Pennsylvania as Fall Arbor Day. 



The manufacture of beet-sugar was begun in Rome, New 

 York, October 6th, in the first factory operated east of the 

 Mississippi River. The company expects to use about 20,000 

 tons of beets this season. Tests of beets grown in the vicinity 

 showed from fifteen to seventeen per cent of sugar early in the 

 season, and fully ripe beets will yield a larger percentage. 

 Thirteen per cent is needed for profit. 



Professor Cockerell writes us from Mesilla, New Mexico, 

 that on September 22d of this year, Mr. Alexander Craw found 

 some Bamboos, from Japan, which were about to be landed 

 at San Francisco, to be badly infested by a small white scurf- 

 like scale. This proved to be Aspidiolus secretus, originally 

 described by Professor Cockerell last year from specimens 

 taken by Mr. Takahashi in Japan. The same insect has been 

 found by Mr. E. E. Green in Ceylon. Growers of Bamboos 

 in this country should be on the lookout for it to prevent its 

 getting a footing here. 



In a paper read a week ago before the New York Gardeners' 

 Society, Mr. John E. Lager gave an account of his recent ex- 

 periences in collecting Orchids in South America. It was 

 stated that Coffee plantations have taken the place of extensive 

 forests where Orchids were formerly found. The Cattleya 

 region has suffered most, as the elevation and temperature 

 favorable to Cattleyas are also desirable for the Coffee-tree. The 

 South American Andes is said to be the richest section in use- 

 ful species in the world. The vagaries of Orchids as to habitat 

 were touched upon, and the costliness of Orchids was explained 

 in their comparative scarcity and the inconveniences attending 

 their collection and transportation. Simplified methods of 

 cultivation were described which have led to the more gen- 

 eral growing of Orchids, and the sale of cut flowers was also 

 credited with bringing these plants into popular favor. 



A comprehensive and interesting account of the Establish- 

 ment of Public Parks in the City of New York, read last April 

 before the Historical Society of this city by Mr. Gherardi 

 Davis, has recently been published under that title in a neat 

 pamphlet intended for general distribution. After a brief 

 statement of the necessity of public parks in cities and the 

 desirability of guarding them against encroachments, the his- 

 tory of the park movement in New York City is given, begin- 

 ning with the suggestion made in a letter published in the New 

 York Packet in 1785 and addressed to the mayor and aldermen, 

 in which it is stated that " there is not in this great city one 

 proper spot where its inhabitants can enjoy with convenience 

 the exercise that is necessary for health and amusement." The 

 history of Bowling Green, the Battery, and the various squares 

 and parks of the city is told from the time they were proposed 

 until they were acquired by the city and developed as public 

 pleasure-grounds. Facts and incidents are here brought to- 

 gether which are not found in any other publications with the 

 exception of the fragmentary and disconnected records in park 

 reports and occasional newspaper and magazine articles. 

 Some park boards have not complete sets of reports in 

 their own offices, and until recently no systematic effort was 

 made to bring together sets of such reports in any of the im- 

 portant public libraries. Information on this subject cannot 

 fail to be of value to persons interested in public parks, which 

 have come to be an important factor in the development of 

 American communities. The Park and Outdoor Art Associa- 

 tion, of which Mr. Warren H. Manning, of Boston, is the sec- 

 retary, is bringing together as complete sets of park reports 

 and of other publications relating to outdoor art as it is pos- 

 sible to obtain. This particular pamphlet should be the fore- 

 runner of similar publications in other cities. 



A Horticultural Department has this year been established 

 in Berea College, at Berea, in south-eastern Kentucky, and in 

 addition to class-room instruction there will be manual train- 

 ing in garden and nursery work. This introductory work will 

 be followed by a more extensive course of study which will 

 include the botany of cultivated plants, geology of soils, ele- 

 mentary agricultural chemistry and entomology. With the 

 preparatory botanical study of the native forest-trees it is pro- 

 posed to offer a short practical course in forestry as being of 

 special value to the students. This portion of Kentucky 

 comprises a region of low mountains originally well covered 

 with hardwood timber and some Pine. While much of the 

 valuable timber has been cut away near the railroads and 

 along streams where rafting is possible, much timber of good 

 quality still remains in more inaccessible places, and forest 

 products must always constitute an important source of wealth 

 in this portion of the state. The college is situated at the foot 

 of the hills skirting the famous Blue Grass region of Kentucky, 

 and the campus of forty acres of natural-forest park contains 

 remarkably good specimens of White and Post Oak, Red, 

 Black, Scarlet and Shingle Oak, Chestnut, Hickory, Sour Gum, 

 Maple and Cherry. Such conifers as have been planted have 

 grown remarkably well. The Horticultural Department of the 

 college was formally inaugurated on October 5th in the de- 

 livery of a lecture on the Value of Special Education for 

 Farmers, by Professor S. C. Mason, who is in charge of the 

 department, and two thousand farmers in the vicinity were 

 specially invited to attend. Sound instruction along these 

 lines cannot fail to stimulate the farmers of that section in a 

 more general and successful cultivation of garden, field and 

 orchard crops and in the profitable use of woodlands. 



Late varieties of peaches are still coming from New Jersey 

 in small lots, and from western New York and the mountains 

 of Pennsylvania. Bartlett pears held in cold storage are sup- 

 plied from the Hudson River district and from Massachusetts ; 

 other pears grown in the east and now in our markets are 

 Beurre Bosc, Beurre d'Anjou, Beurre Clairgeau and Kieffer, 

 with the first shipments of Duchesse. Reine Claude and Copper 

 plums, with a few Damsons and French and German prunes, 

 are yet seen. During last week less than 51,000- barrels of 

 apples constituted the supplies for this city. Since September 

 1st 162,485 barrels of this fruit- have been sold here, less than 

 half the quantity handled during the same period of last year, 

 and the exports of apples from this country are thus far but 

 thirty per cent of the quantity shipped up to this date in 1896. 

 The first Catawba grapes, from western New York, are now 

 here. Grapes comprised the larger part of forty-nine car-loads 

 of fruits from the Pacific coast sold here during last week. 

 Varieties of this western fruit now in season are the showy 

 Flame Tokay ; Black Cornichon, the long berries on loose, 

 shouldered bunches ; Emperor, a superior grape for ship- 

 ping, with oblong, deep rose-colored berries ; Black Mo- 

 rocco, less highly esteemed than some other sorts ; White 

 Muscat of Alexandria, with musky flavor; white Malaga, 

 the oval yellowish green berries covered with a white 

 bloom, and Black Ferrara, a favorite for home use and for 

 shipping. Italian and German prunes are still coming from 

 Idaho, and Coe's Late plums, from California. Glout Morceau 

 and Winter Nelis were among the pears received from Cali- 

 fornia, and Doyenned'Alencon, Duchessed'Angouleme, Beurre 

 d'Anjou, Beurre Clairgeau, Louise Bonne of Jersey and Win- 

 ter Seckels. The latest arrivals of peaches from the west 

 include Salways, George's Late Cling, and Levy's Late, also a 

 clingstone. Florida and Jamaica oranges and grape-fruit are 

 in limited supply. Cargoes of fruit from the Mediterranean 

 include new crop currants, figs and Almeria grapes, besides 

 lemons and oranges, and quinces of very large size, from 

 Italy. ______ 



By the death of Charles A. Dana American horticulture 

 has lost one of its most conspicuous figures and liberal 

 patrons, and Garden and Forest one of its most valued 

 contributors. The keenest pleasures of Mr. Dana's later years 

 were found in his garden at Dosoris, on Long Island, where 

 he had gathered one of the richest collections of conifers and 

 other hardy trees and shrubs that has been made in this coun- 

 try. Few men who are not professional botanists had a broader 

 and more exact knowledge of coniferous trees, and he lost no 

 opportunity to increase his knowledge and improve and ex- 

 tend his collections. Deeply interested in the future of Ameri- 

 can forests, he has always been one of the most persistent and 

 intelligent advocates of forest preservation in this state and 

 on the public domain ; and in him the parks of this city have 

 always found a vigorous and intelligent champion. 



