438 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 506. 



Notes. 



Six medals were recently awarded to Ellwanger & Barry, 

 Rochester, New York, by the Garlenbau Ausstelung, in 

 progress at Hamburg, Germany, for exhibits of fruits. Two 

 of these medals are gold, two are silver and two bronze. 



The American Forestry Association invites competitive 

 designs for a corporate seal, these to be submitted to a jury 

 of artists who are named in the announcement. Specifications 

 as to size and other details are also given, and all designs must 

 be entered not later than January 5th, 1898. Mr. George P. 

 Whittlesey, Atlantic Building, Washington, District of Colum- 

 bia, may be addressed for further particulars. 



An exhibition of foliage and flowering plants and cut flowers 

 is announced for November 12th and 13th at the Hotel Astoria, 

 in this city. The exhibition will be managed by the New York 

 Gardeners' Society, under the patronage of ladies prominent 

 in social life and active in philanthropic work. The proceeds 

 will be applied to charity. Exhibits include classes for private 

 gardeners and classes open to all, and prizes will be awarded. 

 J. H. Troy, 365 Fifth Avenue, is the general manager, to 

 whom all communications should be addressed. 



A State Forestry Society was organized at Raleigh, North 

 Carolina, on October 21st, with fifteen members. The society 

 elected Mr. W. E. Petty, Carthage, President ; Dr. C. A. Schenck, 

 Biltmore, Vice-President ; Professor W. W. Ashe, of the North 

 Carolina Geological Survey, Secretary and Treasurer. The main 

 object of the society is to lessen forest fires in North Carolina, 

 which are doing great injury to Pine lands, especially in the 

 south-eastern part of the state, in the valley of the lower Cape 

 Fear River. Methods of improving the condition of lumbered 

 and deteriorated woodland will also be considered, and the rees- 

 tablishment of waste and eroded agricultural lands in timber. 



Of all the Viburnums hardy in northern gardens Viburnum 

 molle retains longest the summer green of its leaves, and this 

 year it is as green and fresh at the Arnold Arboretum in the 

 last week of October as it was at midsummer, although some 

 of the other species have lost their leaves entirely, and the 

 autumn beauty of many others is rapidly passing. The Japa- 

 nese Viburnum tomentosum, however, is stdl handsome with 

 leaves partly green or entirely dull bronze-red, and Viburnum 

 Lentago is yet splendid in its deep red coloring. Viburnum 

 molle, which is still little known in gardens, is a southern 

 plant just reaching the shores of Cape Cod, but it is as hardy 

 as any of the more northern species in the neighborhood of 

 Boston. It is a large shapely shrub with ample leaves ; the 

 flowers open later than those of the other Viburnums, and are 

 followed by beautiful blue fruits which retain their bright color 

 until very late in the autumn. Altogether this is one of the 

 most desirable garden plants in a group which has given to 

 northern gardens some of its best ornaments. 



Pomegranates, from Spain, have been shown in the fancy- 

 fruit stores during the past two weeks, and find a moderate 

 demand at sixty cents a dozen. Fresh figs, from Florida, cost 

 twenty-five cents a quart. Florida and Jamaica oranges, Man- 

 darins and grape-fruits, luscious Japanese persimmons, and 

 large bunches of Black Hamburg grapes, grown under 

 glass in England, are a few of the choice fruits of this 

 time. Green Gages, from this state, Coe's Late Red and 

 German plums and Gros prunes, from California, Idaho and 

 Oregon, are still occasionally seen. Large Abakka pineapples, 

 and Bartlett pears held over in cold storage, are among 

 the most costly offerings. Apples add to the showy effect 

 of every collection of fruit, and among the best sorts in 

 market now are western Jonathans, Virginia Albemarle Pip- 

 pins, Wine Sap and Johnson's Winter, from the same state, 

 Snow, Northern Spy, Greening and King, from New York. 

 The offerings of fruits by Italian and Greek venders on 

 the streets are as abundant now in early November as 

 in midsummer, and in the less glaring sunshine of these 

 clear, crisp days, the displays seem even more showy, 

 although many brilliantly colored fruits are no longer in sea- 

 son. Bananas from Jamaica and Central America are sold at 

 from twelve to twenty cents a dozen. Large Beurre Bosc and 

 other late varieties of pears, from California, cost from one to 

 three cents each, and their solid spicy flesh makes them a 

 particularly satisfying portion for a small outlay. The best of 

 the less costly apples, such as Ben Davis, from Virginia and 

 New Jersey, Baldwins, from New York, and Phcenix, from 

 New Jersey, are popular, together with choicer varieties of the 

 grade known as fair in the wholesale trade. Handsome Flame 

 Tokay grapes, from California, cost ten cents a pound, and 

 large, handsome Black Moroccos sell for the same price. 



Professor Wa ugh has recently organized a Horticultural Semi- 

 nar, which is intended to be a centre of advanced horticultural 

 study in the University of Vermont, and membership is re- 

 stricted to students taking advanced elective studies in the 

 department. An opportunity is offered in connection with the 

 Seminar to take up lines of individual study. Special electives 

 may be taken in the following subjects, among others : 

 Advanced study in evolution, pomology, landscape-gardening ; 

 library courses on special topics ; critical study of French or 

 German horticultural works ; experimental problems. Mr. 

 John Craig, Dominion Horticulturist, was present at the first 

 meeting and spoke on The Geographical Distribution of Fruits 

 in Canada. At the second meeting Professor Waugh read a 

 paper on Ideals of Horticultural Instruction, and at the third 

 meeting Professor F. C. Sears, of Wolfville, Nova Scotia, for- 

 merly of the Utah Agricultural College, spoke on Horticulture 

 in Utah. As stated in his article on Horticultural Instruction 

 in Colleges last winter in Garden and Forest (see vol. x., 

 p. 89), Professor Waugh regards individual assignments as of 

 special importance. As an example of the scope of the work 

 in the University of Vermont, the following thesis subjects 

 among those prepared for the class in evolution may be men- 

 tioned. Abstracts of these theses constituted the programme 

 of a meeting of the University Botanical Club : Alpine Flora 

 of Vermont, its Origin and Distribution ; Progression and De- 

 generation in Evolution ; Growth Force as a Source of Varia- 

 tion ; The Hereditary Transmission of Disease; Evolution of 

 the Petunia ; Cross-fertilization and Hybridization in Rosacea? ; 

 The Inheritance of Acquired Characters ; Weismannism, a 

 Study of the Writings of Dr. August Weismann ; Naegeli's 

 Philosophy, a Study of the " Mechanisch-physiologischeTheorie 

 der Abstammungslehre" ; Early Maturity as a Question of 

 Phylogeny ; Physiological and Climatological Constants: The 

 Relation of Climate to Plant Phenomena. 



Japanese peanuts are a novelty at Davy's, the nut-store on 

 lower Fulton Street which has grown familiar to New Yorkers 

 in the past forty years. These peanuts are of uniform size and 

 considered superior in flavor to the Virginia product. In 

 England Japanese peanuts enter into successful competition 

 with those from our southern states, but this is the first at- 

 tempt to introduce them into America, at least into the Atlantic 

 coast states. In Virginia and other southern states peanuts are 

 hand-picked, the stems being removed and poor nuts rejected, 

 and they are cleaned of earth and dust in fan-mills. These 

 Japanese peanuts have undergone no special preparation, and 

 so are less attractive. But heavy expense for freight is the 

 most serious hindrance to the establishment of this trade with 

 Japan. Seeds of the Japanese peanuts have been planted in 

 Virginia with a view to obtaining a superior strain for cultiva- 

 tion here. About 85,000 bags of peanuts were marketed in this 

 city during the current year, each containing about four bushels. 

 Most of these come from Virginia, with occasional shipments 

 from North Carolina. Those from the latter state are, as a 

 rule, of smaller size. The new crop is usually on the market 

 by November 1st, and advance shipments are now expected 

 daily, though the season is belated about a fortnight, owing to 

 recent heavy rains in the south. Generally the crop is gathered 

 during six weeks following the middle of October. In an 

 exceptionally forward season new peanuts have been offered 

 in New York on October 16th. Four grades are recognized, 

 known as fancy hand-picked, extra hand-picked, third grade 

 and " pops," the latter being small and empty or poorly-filled 

 shells blown from the mills during the cleaning process. 

 Many of the lower-grade peanuts are shelled by machinery in 

 Virginia for confectioners' use. A small variety, grown from 

 Spanish seed, is most in favor with confectioners. Many years 

 ago one New York house handled about one-twentieth of the 

 entire crop of southern peanuts. But this trade has greatly 

 changed, and the business is now mostly done in Norfolk. 

 Formerly peanuts were sold by the bushel, but during the past 

 twenty years wholesale lots have been handled entirely by the 

 pound. Five cents is a fair average wholesale price for the 

 grade known as fancy hand-picked. Forty years ago one of 

 the Mexican or Spanish silver "shillings" current in this city, 

 and valued at twelve and a half cents, was the retail price of a 

 quart of peanuts. Later, the same quantity cost twenty cents, 

 and at this time, ten cents. A common name for peanuts 

 among the negroes of Carolina and Georgia is goobers, and 

 ground-nuts is a not unusual name south of New York. 

 Peanut-plants, occasionally seen here as a novelty, are singu- 

 larly interesting to those not familiar with their habit of 

 growth, in the small orange-colored blossoms in the axils of 

 the leaves and the stems which find their way into the soil 

 from this part of the plant, and nourish the fruit, which is 

 borne underground. 



