December 15, 1897.] 



Garden and Forest. 



497 



of blooms. Those plants are adjudged best which are sym- 

 metrical in form and produce a mass of color. The decisions 

 of the National Committee on Chrysanthemums judged by 

 blooms alone, show that the deeply built incurved flowers 

 which are well adapted for shipping, have been favored most, 

 and even in the class for private growers few others have 

 been recognized, though it may be that few have been offered. 

 It will be seen, further, that when the grower of specimen 

 plants must make his choice from blooms alone, and of this 

 description, he finds few which are really suitable. If he is 

 wise he will keep what is good among the older varieties, 

 though he may be rated behind the times in consequence. 

 Incurved varieties do not make as effective plants as reflexed 

 ones ; and when a large number of flowers have to be grown 

 on a plant they are apt to be out of character. Sometimes the 

 flowers are heavy, and the stems need to be supported close 

 up to the flower. This gives a stiffness of arrangement which 

 is far from effective. Experience shows that flowers belonging 

 to the reflexed class, like President Hyde, Cullingfordii and 

 W. H. Lincoln, make the best specimens and keep their char- 

 acter longest. 



Wellesley, Mass. T. D. Hatfield. 



The Forest. 



Willows at Chico Forestry Station. 



THE Willows receive as yet little attention in Califor- 

 nia, and the value of our native species is not recog- 

 nized as fully as it should be, although Salix lasiandra, 

 which closely resembles S. lucida, S. lasiolepis, which 

 somewhat resembles S. humilis, and the more distinct 

 S. laevigata, all native in this state, are often planted for 

 firewood and fencing. The best of the famous Spanish 

 hand-made saddle-trees which were formerly produced in 

 various parts of California and were even shipped to 

 Mexico and Texas, were made of native willow wood, 

 carefully selected and seasoned. 



In time there will probably be an extensive demand for 

 basket willows in California, especially for horticultural 

 uses. Salix viminalis and other soft-wooded Osier Willows 

 have been widely distributed for fifteen or twenty years 

 by the Agricultural Department of the University, and have 

 been planted in many places to protect levees and river 

 banks. Aside from these Osiers, from S. Babylonica, and 

 from the native Willows, nothing has been done with 

 Willows in any part of California, although there is now 

 more or less inquiry respecting the best species for culti- 

 vation. 



The following brief notes upon various Willows planted 

 at Chico Forestry Station were taken late in August of this 

 year, when the season's growth, although not completed, 

 was in most cases nearly so. 



Our collection was begun in the spring of 1895 by plant- 

 ing in nursery small cuttings of twenty-four selected species 

 received by mail. The soil is a good Corn land loam, near 

 Chico Creek. Several native species of Willow are on 

 similar soil, within a stone's throw. Again, in 1896 and in 

 1897, others were added to the collection, which now con- 

 tains about forty species. 



In February, 1896, from five to ten plants of each of the 

 twenty-four species obtained in 1895 were set out in per- 

 manent plantation form. They received no irrigation, nor 

 any especial care. The Willows in this plantation are, 

 therefore, about thirty months old from small cuttings. 

 The list includes Salix alba, S. caprea, S. cordata, S. dis- 

 color, S. hippophasfolia, S. Japonica, S. Madeni, S. pentan- 

 dra, S. purpurea, S. Salmoni, S. sericea, S. Sieboldii, S. 

 Villarsiana, S. viminalis, S. daphnoides, S. dasyclades, S. 

 regalis, S. lucida, S. serengeana, S. Babylonica, S. nigra, 

 S. humilis, S. alba vitellina and S. caprea, var. cinerea. 

 Many of these Willows are beautiful in growth, and espe- 

 cially handsome in winter and spring. But since the 

 collection was made in order to introduce the most useful 

 species, I shall only describe those which seem particularly 

 well adapted to California. 



The Willow which shows the most remarkable growth is 

 Salix Salmoni, a native of the Levant. This species in that 



respect much surpasses all our native Willows as well as 

 all others in the plantation. In the nursery the cuttings 

 made roots and thrust up stems of ten feet in length within 

 six months after planting. Five selected trees were cut 

 back to one stem of two feet in height, and planted out in 

 February, 1896. Now, in August, 1897, two of these trees 

 stand respectively thirty-one and thirty-two feet in height, 

 with trunks that exceed eighteen inches in girth at two feet 

 from the ground. The other three are nearly as large. All 

 five trees are beautiful in shape, with the straightest of 

 main stems and with slender, semidrooping branchlets. 

 Like S. alba, the young shoots seem to be well adapted for 

 coarse basket-work if properly grown for that purpose, but 

 the rapid development and hardiness of this tree may give 

 it greater economic value than Poplar or Eucalyptus globu- 

 lus in some parts of California. 



Salix alba and S. alba vitellina come next to S. Salmoni 

 in point of growth, the former rising to a height of twelve 

 feet, the latter to nineteen feet, with trunks which girth 

 eight or nine inches. Although both these Willows are 

 extensively used in Europe for timber, for charcoal, for 

 hoops and basket-work, for tanning materials and other 

 purposes, they do not as yet appear superior to some of our 

 best native species. 



Salix pentandra, though less rapid in growth, seems to be 

 worth cultivation. The largest tree stands ten feet high, 

 with a girth of five inches. The large, dark green, smooth 

 and glossy leaves are extremely handsome. This species 

 yields bark that is very rich in salicin, a substitute for 

 quinine and a useful anti-rheumatic. 



Salix caprea, another handsome species, grows very 

 rapidly here. The tallest trees are fourteen feet high, with 

 trunks eight inches in girth. The bark is valuable for cer- 

 tain sorts of tanning and the timber is very useful. 



The average rates of growth of some leading species, as 

 compared with Salix Salmoni, have been as follows ; age, 

 soil, culture and other conditions were the same in all cases : 



Feet. Feet. 



S. Salmoni 30 S. Sieboldii 10 



S. alba vitellina 18 S. Madeni 8 



S. regalis, 15 S. cordata 6 



S. caprea 14 S. viminalis (female plant), 5 



S. daphnoides 13 S. lucida 4 



S. viminalis (male plant), . 12 S. purpurea, 4 



S. pentandra 10 S. discolor 3 



The best native Willows under similar conditions appear 



to rank in point of growth somewhere between Salix 



Sieboldii and S. regalis. „, , rr n, ■ 



Niies, Calif. Charles H. Slunn. 



Recent Publications. 



Stories 0/ Insect-Life. By Clarence Moores Weed. Ginn 

 & Company, publishers, Boston and London. 1S97. 



This little book, of fifty-four pages, bears no introduction 

 or dedication, but is evidently intended for children or those 

 taking their first steps in entomology. It is, in fact, a 

 number of first lessons or a primer which would naturally 

 precede the same author's more elaborate Life Histories of 

 American Insects, recently noticed in these pages. The 

 short chapters particularly deal with only a dozen of our 

 most common insects, although their attendant parasites 

 are also noticed. Naturally and properly the first chap- 

 ter is on "The Tent Caterpillars and their Nests," 

 something that children are most likely to observe and 

 inquire about, and the following chapters tell of "The 

 Moth and its Eggs" and "The Tent Caterpillar Parasite." 



The descriptions for the most part are simple and appar- 

 ently freed as much as possible from technical terms, 

 although there are some points which need to be made 

 clear to the young mind. As there are various species of 

 various genera of tent-building caterpillars it might have 

 been better if the name of Clisiocampa had been given in 

 connection with the species under discussion. It would 

 certainly be no more difficult to master than the word 

 ichneumon which is used, and in the child's mind tent- 



