January 17, 1894.] 



Garden and Forest. 



29 



Caribs from the South American continent by the way of 

 Guiana and the West Indies to Florida. A map of the 

 Western Hemisphere is given, which shows its original 

 home, the limits of its primitive cultivation, its distribution 

 in North and South America before the year 700 A. D., and 

 its limits in the year 1000. Grains of it were sown in 

 Spanish, Italian, French, German and English gardens in 

 the sixteenth century, and it was soon naturalized in Tur- 

 key, the Danubian countries and Hungary. It soon spread 

 to other regions, and it is now grown throughout both 

 American continents, in the plains which border on the 

 Pyrenees and the valleys which descend from the Jura, 

 throughout Italy, Austria and Hungary. It is cultivated in 

 Asia Minor, India, China, the Philippine Islands, the Malay 

 Archipelago and Australia, and furnishes in all these places 

 a most important food for man and beast. 



The careful arrangement of the arguments which estab- 

 lish the origin of the plant is preceded by a botanical chap- 

 ter on its gross anatomy and histology, together with an 

 elaborate bibliography. After this comes a careful study of 

 the chemistry of the plant to determine its value as food, 

 and to show what elements it takes from the soil and to 

 explain how its by-products can be utilized. A discussion 

 of the physiological properties of the plant in relation to its 

 cultivation is most interesting, as the facts adduced ex- 

 plain why the Corn crop is especially valuable in arresting 

 the waste of nitrogen from the soil. The varied uses of 

 the plant as food for man and domestic animals, as a me- 

 dicinal plant and in the production of sugar, paper and oil, 

 as well as other economic purposes, are then discussed, 

 and it may be noted as a point of interest here that the 

 cobs yield a large supply of potash. A mill which will 

 shell five hundred bushels of corn in an hour turns out 

 70,000 pounds of cobs in a working-day, which are used 

 as fuel in the mill. The refuse ashes are collected, and as 

 they contain more than seven per cent, of potassium car- 

 bonate, a factory of the above capacity would produce 535 

 pounds of this chemical in a day. A brief chapter on the 

 relation of this crop to the agricultural prosperity of the 

 country is interesting, if not altogether convincing, but the 

 point seems clear that the increased export of maize would 

 be a sure and practical benefit to the farming interests of 

 the country, and it is quite possible, as Mr. Harshberger 

 holds, that this greatest arable crop which we grow, the 

 crop which occupies the largest portion of the cultivated 

 area of the country, and has never been known to fail, is 

 destined to occupy the place in America that rice fills in 

 India, China and Japan, that cassava fills in South America, 

 and that sago occupies in Borneo, Java and the Indian 

 Archipelago — the staple food of man. 



How to Grow Cut Flowers. By M. A. Hunt. Published by 

 the author. Terre Haute, Indiana. 



The wonderfully rapid growth of the trade in cut flowers 

 throughout the country during the last fifteen years has 

 proved a great stimulus to American enterprise and inven- 

 tion, and no branch of horticulture has seen more marked 

 changes in methods practiced and of appliances used than 

 commercial floriculture. The entire system of construct- 

 ing greenhouses and heating them has been practically 

 revolutionized, and the manner of cultivating different 

 kinds of flowers has been so completely changed that old 

 treatises on the subject are almost useless as manuals of 

 every-day practice. That Mr. Hunt's volume, published a 

 year ago, supplied an urgent need is proved by the fact 

 that a second edition has already been called for, and the 

 thousands of people who are interested in a business 

 which represents millions of capital will be glad to have 

 this handbook of ready reference. In comparatively small 

 towns all over the country wide-awake young men are 

 embarking in floriculture as a business, and a volume like 

 this, if habitually referred to, will prevent many costly 

 mistakes and discouraging experiences. Of course, noth- 

 ing takes the place of personal study and observation, but 



advice like that offered in this book from a man who has 

 been educated in the hard school of experience, and who 

 remembers his own failures as well as his successes, will, 

 no doubt, be of great value to many beginners as well as 

 to those who are already conducting active business. The 

 first chapter, on greenhouse-construction, gives in a con- 

 densed form the argument for the three-quarter span with 

 a southern exposure, and explains all the modern improve- 

 ments in glazing and ventilation. The best methods of 

 heating by steam and by hot water, and their comparative 

 value, are also set forth at length. The latest results of the 

 studies in our experiment stations on the diseases incident 

 to plant-life, as well as the insects which are injurious to 

 plants, are brought together in a compact form, so that the 

 struggle with these enemies can be conducted with intelli- 

 gence and the best modern appliances. The cultural notes 

 on various plants, together with the methods of propaga- 

 tion, will be found of interest to every owner of the small- 

 est greenhouse as well as to commercial florists ; and the 

 practical answers here given to the hundreds of questions 

 which come up every day for decision by every one who 

 has the care of even the smallest collection, will be found, 

 in the main, sound and helpful. The index is very com- 

 plete, so that the learner will have no difficulty in finding 

 just what he wants. 



Letters to Marco. George D. Leslie, R. A. New York : 

 McMillan & Co. 



This is a collection of letters which were actually writ- 

 ten, and they are the record of observations on the com- 

 moner plants, birds and other natural objects in the coun- 

 ties of southern England. They are far from being scien- 

 tific, however, and show little of the spirit of research, but 

 are the spontaneous expression of one who loves nature 

 for its own sake. They contain, therefore, no great amount 

 of information, but, after all, make pleasant reading for 

 a casual half-hour when opened at random. It is the pic- 

 torial aspect of things which always appeals to the writer, 

 and if he never ventures any profound observations upon 

 subjects which come within the range of his experience, 

 he is always ready to throw off a little word-painting which 

 will linger in the memory and stir the imagination. There 

 are many illustrations, too, which are evidently copies of 

 the hasty pen-and-ink sketches which originally accom- 

 panied the letters, and they are more truly in harmony 

 with the text than more elaborate drawings would be. 



Notes. 



The authorities of the State University at Seattle, in Wash- 

 ington, are about to establish an arboretum on their campus, 

 three hundred and fifty acres being devoted to the purpose. 



The American Dewberry, probably Rubus trivialts, is said 

 to have borne fruit profusely in the Shaharanpur Botanic 

 Gardens, and it promises to lie one of the most important of 

 the exotic fruits recently introduced into India. 



We have received from Mr. E. E. Risien, of Texas, some 

 nuts which he calls the Royal Paper-shell Pecans. The nuts 

 are of large size, and the shell is so thin that it can be broken 

 between the thumb and finger. The meat is of excellent 

 quality, and is about the same size and form as that of a good- 

 sized Hickory-nut. Some persons who visited the Horticul- 

 tural Building at the Columbian Fair may remember Mr. 

 Risien's exhibit of nuts and his interesting series of photo- 

 graphs to show how large wild trees have been top-grafted 

 with cions of these fine varieties. 



The last part of the Dictionnaire Pratique d' Horticulture et 

 de J ardinage carries this important work through Deutzia. It 

 is, it will be remembered, the French edition, much enlarged 

 and improved, of Nicholson's Dictionary of Gardening. It is 

 published by Octave Doin, 8 Place de l'Odeon, Paris, and will 

 be finished in eighty parts, of which twenty have now ap- 

 peared, each part containing forty-eight pages and a colored 

 plate in addition to the numerous wood-cuts in the text. The 

 price of each part is one franc and a half, or ninety francs in 

 advance for the complete work. The Dictionnaire Pratique 



