43 6 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 506. 



Correspondence. 



Trees and Shrubs for Winter Effects. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — The autumn tints in foliage have been unusually rich on 

 the Sugar Maples this season, and Dogwoods and Sumachs were 

 also exceptionally brilliant. The absence of boisterous winds 

 until recently helped to prolong the season of autumn colors. 

 The leaves of the Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum) keep bright 

 a long time before they fall, and Oak-leaves will continue 

 showy until severe frost turns their rich vermilion tones to 

 rusty brown. The dry leaves of the White Oaks persist until 

 spring, when the swelling buds loosen their hold, and it is not 

 until May that the last can be gathered from the lawn. The 

 rustle of these dry leaves in midwinter is harsh and mournful, 

 and their melancholy plaint seems to intensify the blizzard's 

 force. 



Winter effects in the garden do not generally receive the 

 attention they deserve. Willows with yellow bark, the crim- 

 son bark of Dogwoods and the green of Acer Negundo, rough- 

 coated Cork Elms and smooth Maples, some gray and some 

 red, lend variety and beauty. Among shrubs we have Roses 

 with red twigs and compact brown bushes of Spirasa Thun- 

 bergii. Evergreens, coniferous trees and shrubs show an 

 endless variety of color and form. The pyramidal European 

 Larch, as well as its American and Japanese relatives of more 

 spreading habit, even though deciduous, are not without 

 beauty. There are coal-black Yews and golden Yews. Reti- 

 nosporas of bluish and of golden tints ; graceful Hemlocks and 

 rigid Spruces. The Douglas Spruce is of a rich bronze-green ; 

 Picea orientalis is almost black ; P. polita, brown ; P. pungens, 

 glaucous, besides the many beautitul forms of Abies concolor 

 from the western states, such as A. concolor violacea and A. 

 concolor Veitchii. And these are but a few of the Spruces 

 and Firs. 



The climate of no other country is, perhaps, so well adapted 

 for berry-bearing trees and shrubs, and our sunny autumn 

 weather is most favorable for the thorough maturing of the 

 fruit. While in most cases this will ripen and fall, in many 

 instances it remains throughout the entire winter, providing 

 the birds do not pick it. It is not unusual to see the red ber- 

 ries, or drupels, of Berberis Thunbergii showing through the 

 new growth in spring. The same may be said of B. Sieboldii, 

 a strong-growing species, recently introduced from Japan, on 

 which the fruit hangs in drooping panicles. Both these Bar- 

 berries have attractive autumn-tinted foliage. The Hawthorns 

 (Crataegus) are not without charms in midwinter. The fruit, 

 especially on some of our native species, is large and hand- 

 some, and would remain for the greater part of the winter if 

 not eaten by birds. It is an old saying in England that a full 

 crop of haws means a severe winter. Probably the most 

 beautiful of these plants is C. Pyracantha Lelandi. It is a low- 

 growing, straggling, evergreen bush, unlike other Thorns, and 

 was once placed in a genus, Pviacanlha. Its scarlet berries are 

 very showy, and as it fruits freely and is of slow growth, it 

 is a first-class plant for the foreground of the shrubbery. 



Elaeagnus argentea, or Silver Thorn, is pleasing when the 

 summer breeze flutters the silvery leaves and in autumn when 

 the trees are loaded with fruit. In the Arnold Arboretum, 

 among thousands of seedlings, there is one more beautiful 

 than any of the others. It is a plant of E. umbellata. This 

 Mr. Dawson will propagate by grafting as a sure means of per- 

 petuating the variety. Another reason for this method of 

 propagating is that the species is unisexual, and probably moie 

 than half of the plants grown from seeds would be males, and 

 it is doubtful if the fruit-bearing plants would be as fine as this 

 particular specimen. E. longipes has recemly come into favor 

 on account of its mild acid fruit, which many persons consider 

 palatable; it is a summer-fruiting species, and its season is 

 soon past. 



Many wild Roses have showy hips ; these are large and 

 orange-red in Rosa rugosa and R. rubiginosa, the Sweetbrier; 

 red in R. lucida and R. Caroliniana. The fruit of shrubby 

 Honeysuckles is attractive for a short season in the autumn. 

 Lonicera Morrowi, noted last spring as one of the most aitrac- 

 tive species when in bloom (see Garden and Forest, vol. x., 

 p. 227), has now new charm in its decoration of amber-colored 

 berries. All the forms of L. Tartarica are interesting in their 

 fruits. Both the American and European Spindle- trees 

 (Euonymus) are ornamental when covered with panicles of 

 scarlet fruit. Black Alder (Ilex verticillata) grows naturally in 

 low ground, and though a common shrub, it is worth a place 

 for its scarlet fruits alone. The round red berries cluster 

 about the upper pirts of the twigs, and stay on nearly all win- 



ter. Like the Elseagnus, it is unisexual. Myrica Caroliniensis, 

 the Candleberry, forms a dense shrubbery, and is a capital bush 

 for planting on gravelly banks. The white resinous matter 

 surrounding the seeds, which accounts for its name, makes an 

 excellent polish for furniture, and is, moreover, pleasantly 

 fragrant. Symplocos crataegoides, a recent introduction from 

 Japan, is unique in the color of its fruit, being a rich indigo- 

 blue, with a bloom like that on grapes. 



Clusters of shining black fruit tip the branches on Privet- 

 bushes. The fruit itself cannot be called handsome, but 

 the plant is worth a place because it adds variety. One plant 

 of the dwarf, spreading Ligustrum media in the Arnold 

 Arboretum will be selected out of thousands for propagating 

 on account of its fine fruit. Privets are among our best flow- 

 ering shrubs in spring, and a large bink of these plants is a 

 feature of one of the parkways in the Arboretum. The flowers 

 have a sweet perfume. Within the past fortnight a thrifty 

 bush of Symphoricarpos mollis in the Arboretum was literally 

 weighted down with large bunches of white fruit. Snowberries 

 are old garden plants and this is one of the best species. The 

 American Mountain Ash, Pyrus Americana, is one of the 

 showiest of all trees, with its clusters of scarlet-red fruits. 



Gerbera Jamcsoni is flowering in Professor Sargent's gar- 

 den at Brookline for the first time in this country. It is a 

 south Alrican plant, herbaceous in habit ; it suggests a scarlet 

 Dandelion, but is undoubtedly distinct and will be a valuable 

 addition for winter blooming. The flowers last a long time. 

 G. Jamesoni suggests the esteem in which the Dandelion 

 would be held if it were not a common weed. 



Wellesley, Mass. T. D. Hatfield. 



Plum-fruit Rot. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — The plum crop in the neighborhood of Boston was 

 nearly destroyed during the past season by a fungus which 

 attacked the fruit as it was beginning to ripen. Can you 

 suggest any method by which the ravages of this pest can be 

 checked ? 



Newton, Mass. H. 



The loss in Plum orchards during the season just ended 

 was caused by unusual attacks of the gray-mould fungus 

 (Monilia fructigena). It is easily distinguished from all 

 other fungal troubles of the Plum by its appearing, as a 

 rule, upon the fruit as it begins to ripen. It grows with 

 remarkable rapidity, causing the plums to decay and coat- 

 ing the fruit with a gray mould as smooth to the touch as 

 powdered soapstone. In this spore-bearing condition the 

 plums shrivel, and may remain as mummified fruit upon 

 the trees for months. 



The same fungus attacks the stone fruits generally, and 

 often does as much damage to ripening cherries as to 

 plums. It is one of the serious enemies of the Peach, 

 attacking it earlier in the development of the fruit than in 

 the case of the Plum or Cherry. There is probably a better 

 opportunity for the spores to find lodgment upon the fuzzy 

 coat of the young- peach, and the adhering moisture 

 helps them to germinate. The skin is less dense, also, and 

 this favors the fungus upon the peach and retards its early 

 development upon the plum and cherry. 



Monilia fructigena is by no means confined to fruit, 

 but may attack buds, leaves and flowers. It also spreads 

 down the twig, causing it to die and the leaves to turn 

 brown and hang lifeless in their places. Many experiments 

 have been made to check the ravages of this fungus; and 

 with peaches they have been fairly successful. Professor 

 Chester, of Delaware, for example, has fought this pest to 

 good purpose with the standard fungicides. The sprayings 

 should be made with thoroughness and at frequent inter- 

 vals if there is a rainy season like the past one. The 

 showers not only wash off the Bordeaux mixture or other 

 fungicide, but furnish the best conditions for the growth of 

 the enemy. 



In addition to spraying, orchardisls, if they wish to 

 reduce the Monilia to a minimum, should see that all 

 mummy fruits are removed from the trees and the soil 

 beneath them, and burned. The dead branches and the 

 leaves should also be removed from the trees and burned 

 in early autumn, or, better still, as soon as found. 



As a cultural precaution orchardists would do well to 



