458 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 50&. 



valuable collections of Orchids. Thomas Logan, gardener for 

 Mr. William L. Elkins, Jr., exhibited a new Dracaena, D. El- 

 kinsii, which was awarded a certificate of merit. A silver 

 medal was won by Henry T. Clinkaberry, gardener for C. G. 

 Roebling, Esq., Trenton, New Jersey, for the new American 

 seedling Cypripedium, Edwin Lonsdale. This is described as 

 a hybrid variety from Cypripedium Rothschildianum, fertil- 

 ized with C. barbatum superbum, being the first cross from 

 C. Rothschildianum that has ever bloomed. The foliage is 

 intermediate between that of C. Rothschildianum and C. bar- 

 batum superbum, being very fleshy. It is evidently a free 

 grower, being in perfect health. The flower-stem is two inches 

 in length. The slipper resembles that of C. Rothschildianum 

 in form, with the color of that of C. barbatum superbum ; 

 sepals three inches long, profusely blotched with brown spots 

 on light green ground, rosy purple points, hirsute appendages 

 along edges ; dorsal sepal somewhat broader than that of C. 

 Rothschildianum and of similar markings, suffused with 

 rose. 



A large number of seedling Carnations were shown, many 

 having'real merit. The premium for the best American seed- 

 ling was awarded to C. W. Ward, Queens, Long Island, for 

 Mrs. James Dean, a light pink, the edges somewhat fringed. 

 Peter Fisher, of Ellis, Massachusetts, was awarded a certificate 

 of merit for a new Carnation, Mrs. Thomas Lawson ; John 

 Burton won the same honor with a new white Carnation, as 

 did William Swayne, for a new crimson variety named Em- 

 press. Joseph Heacock won the Craig Cup with a new pink 

 variety, Elizabeth. William P. Craig won a first prize for 100 

 cut flowers of Flora Hill. Vegetables and fruits of high 

 quality were shown in profusion as in former years. 



Horticultural Hall, the beautiful permanent home of the 

 Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, lends itself admirably to 

 floral decoration, and on this occasion the spacious foyer and 

 exhibition halls and the broad staircases were delightful in 

 their luxuriance and in the wealth of color. 



Notes. 



The flowering in England of our Cornusflorida is an unusual 

 occurrence, and the fact is interesting, recorded by a corre- 

 spondent of The Garden, that two trees at Grayswood Hill, 

 Hastemere, flower more or less every year and some years 

 abundantly. 



A portrait of the base of the trunk of a remarkable speci- 

 men of the so-called Red Cedar of the north-west coast (Thuya 

 plicata or gigantea) is published in a recent issue of The Pacific 

 Rural Press. This tree stands near Snoqualmie Falls, on the 

 Seattle & International Railway, and the circumference of the 

 trunk at the ground is given as one hundred feet and seven 

 inches. As this is one of the slowest-growing of the western 

 conifers, this tree has probably lived for more than a thousand 

 years. 



In the display of timbers representing 118 varieties made at 

 the Nashville Exposition by the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. 

 Louis Railroad, and occupying ten thousand square feet of 

 floor space and a large outside area, are two remarkable speci- 

 mens of Yellow Poplar (Liriodendron Tulipifera). One of these 

 is a log forty-two feet long, ten feet four inches in diameter at 

 the butt, and seven feet in diameter at the smaller end. This 

 specimen contains 1,260 cubic feet and is about 600 years old. 

 The other specimen is forty-eight feet long with an average 

 diameter of seven feet. 



The pale yellow-flowered Japanese Prunus Maximowiczii, 

 which was first figured a few years ago in this journal (vol. vi., 

 fig. 31), has been raised in the Arnold Arboretum from seeds 

 brought by Professor Sargent from northern Japan, and, 

 although it has not flowered yet in this country, it gives every 

 hope of success here in its rapid healthy growth and perfect 

 hardiness. At the end of October the plants were conspicuous 

 from the scarlet coloring of the leaves, which are even more 

 brilliant than those of Prunus Pseudo-cerasus, its associate in 

 the forests of Yezo. Of the deciduous-leaved trees entirely new 

 to cultivation this Cherry is certainly one of the most promis- 

 ing and interesting. 



The opening of the new Agricultural Building of the Tus- 

 kegee Normal and Industrial Institute, at Tuskegee, Alabama, 

 is announced for November 30th. Some 1,500 young negro 

 men and women are receiving a liberal and practical educa- 

 tion in this widely-known school, of which Mr. Booker T. 

 Washington is the President. Professor G. W. Carver, Chief 

 of the Agricultural Department of Tuskegee Institute, writes 

 us that a few years ago the present horticultural grounds were 



little more than shifting sands and gullied hillsides, with here 

 and there small tufts of Yucca, Cactus and similar plants. 

 The President from the start recognized the possibilities of 

 this important feature of his school, and the first invoice of 

 material consisted of a miscellaneous lot of trees, ornamental 

 shrubs and other plants, which were disposed of not according 

 to their fitness for the place, but according to the fitness of the 

 place for them, and the vegetable garden, orchard and flower 

 garden all blended more or less into each other. As time 

 passed and the soil improved the division lines became 

 more and more apparent, until there is now an orchard con- 

 sisting, approximately, of 1,380 Peach-trees, 50 Plum-trees, 

 1,300 Grapevines, 20 Fig-trees, 20 Quince-trees and 120 Pear- 

 trees. The San Jos£ scale made its appearance a few years 

 ago, and is being vigorously fought. This pest, in connection 

 with drought and other local troubles, has affected the results, 

 but, aside from these drawbacks, the horticultural work has 

 been successful. Pears have equaled those from California in 

 size and in abundance. Plums have been grown with pro- 

 nounced success, the Burbank and several types of the Japa- 

 nese having done especially well. Figs and Grapes flourish 

 here, and 18,000 Strawberry-plants are under cultivation. 

 The gardens, lawns and campus have been transformed, 

 flowering plants, native and introduced shrubs being 

 freely used. Bermuda Grass is depended upon for the 

 lawns. Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture, will 

 deliver the principal address on the occasion of the open- 

 ing of the Agricultural Building, which has been erected 

 at a cost of $10,000, and other guests will include the donors of 

 the building, the Governor of Alabama and the State Superin- 

 tendent of Agriculture. The first floor contains the industrial 

 class-rooms, with a seating capacity for seventy-five persons. 

 The large museum-room contains sections devoted to botany, 

 geology, histology, entomology and ornithology. In the chemi- 

 cal laboratory students will receive instruction in practical 

 analysis in the animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms. The 

 upper floor is devoted to the dairy lecture-room, agricultural 

 lecture-room, herbarium and reading-room, and the basement 

 to dairying, cheese-making and similar uses. 



An interesting collection of tropical fruits reached this city 

 recently from the Botanic Gardens in Grenada, a British pos- 

 session, the southernmost island in the Windward group. The 

 consignment was shipped on October 23d. A delay of ten 

 days in entering the fruits at this port, due to the unusual 

 character of the invoice and the want of established rates of 

 duty, proved fatal to many of the more perishable kinds, but 

 enough survived to give distinct character to the select 

 stock in one of the fancy-fruit stores on Broadway. These 

 West Indian fruits included especially juicy oranges of excel- 

 lent quality. The Tangerines and Mandarins were superior, 

 and sold, as did the oranges, at $1.00 a dozen. Among other 

 citrus fruits were lemons ; these were less attractive, being of 

 uneven size, thick-skinned and rough. The limes were re- 

 markably good, and sold for forty cents a dozen. An unusual 

 offering in this city were citrons, the fruits of Citrus Medica, 

 familiar to housekeepers in their candied peel ; there were 

 undersized green fruits and mature ripe specimens ; the latter, 

 cut with a piece of the stem, were lemon-shaped, large as 

 grape-fruits, the rough skin unevenly colored in shades of 

 lemon and orange. These sold for twenty cents each. In this 

 unique collection sapodillas, the fruits of Sapota achras, 

 were fortunate in showing to better advantage for the long 

 time consumed in reaching customers, since these are at their 

 best when more than fully ripened, and the grayish earth- 

 colored globular fruits were in the juicy sugary stage. 

 They sold for fifteen cents each. A single specimen of 

 the brownish -yellow fruit of Lucuma mammosa was 

 exhibited, and some of the large brown nuts. Alligator 

 pears were among the fruits lost through the delay, and 

 the few bananas which were yet edible were remarkably 

 good in quality, the yellow fruit of medium size having rich, 

 creamy white flesh, while the red bananas were of especially 

 fine flavor. The latter, one of the most rare of all fruits in this 

 market since the supply was cut off by the Cuban war, found 

 eager purchasers at $1.00 a dozen. Several bundles of stick 

 cinnamon also sold readily. Among choice offerings now regu- 

 larly in trade are Gros Colman grapes, from England, and 

 from Newport, the former costing $1.75 a pound, and the latter 

 twenty-five cents less. Hothouse-grown cucumbers and toma- 

 toes are as bright and attractive as the most showy of fruits. The 

 so-called Spanish melons, from Italy ; richly colored pome- 

 granates, from California, as brilliant as the showiest of ap- 

 ples ; Japanese persimmons, from Florida; and English cob 

 nuts, in their husks, are other seasonable offerings in the best 

 stores. 



