FfiBfeUARY 28, 1894.] 



Garden and Forest. 



B 9 



be said in praise of this superb variety, with its rich colors, 

 which for corsage bouquets is unrivaled. Dendrobium nobile, 

 D. crassinode and D. Wardianum were in admirable bloom, 

 while Epidendrum radicans, Phajus grandifolius and Odonto- 

 glossum Rossii majus were in luxuriant health and flowering 

 freely. 



In a recently erected Odontoglossum-house, which is not 

 yet fully tenanted by Orchids, was the finest lot of herbaceous 

 Calceolarias I have ever seen. The plants were in eight 

 or ten inch pots, and their thick leathery leaves showed 

 how they appreciated the cool, shaded and moist weather 

 provided for them. Some two hundred Cyclamens in the 

 same house were smothered with bloom, and showed 

 many exquisite varieties. In one of the cool-houses a 

 finely flowered lot of Erica persoluta alba, a plant which is 

 worthy of more extended appreciation than it receives, was 

 showing its high value as a decorative plant. In the Rose- 

 house American Beauty was the only variety grown ; the plants 

 were in fine health, although off crop at this time. A batch of 

 these plants in pots was flowering, however, very satisfactorily. 

 The much-discussed rust had attacked the Carnations here 

 badly, but Mr. Orpet finds that he can hold it in check by 

 syringing with Fir-tree oil, and his plants seem to be growing 

 nicely out of the trouble and are carrying fine crops. Mr. Orpet 

 is greatly pleased with J. R. Freeman, a dark Carnation, and 

 he prefers it to Ferdinand Mangold. Winter Cheer, a Euro- 

 pean importation, with bright scarlet flowers, very stiff stems 

 and firm calyces, also pleases him. In the Violet-house, Lady 

 Hume Campbell was blooming profusely. No other variety 

 is found here, though this kind is not by any means disease- 

 proof. Very little spot, however, was seen on the plants. The 

 flower is lighter in color than Marie Louise and considerably 

 larger, since the average bloom will more than cover a half-dollar 

 piece. At Mr. John E. Thayer's we had evidence of the value 

 of this Violet, where a house of it was a stretch of pure blue, 

 with large flowers on good stiff stems. Mr. J. T. Clark, the 

 gardener here, also has a quantity in cold-frames, which were 

 doing equally well, and only a slight trace of disease was noticed 

 among them. Altogether they were the best we have seen 

 this season. A house full of Bride and Mermet Roses was in 

 superb health, and the plants were carryinga fine crop of flow- 

 ers. Among the Carnations, Hector was making a remarkable 

 show ; its vigorous habit, long stems, large, brilliant scarlet 

 flowers and freedom from rust altogether mark it as the best 

 scarlet Carnation in cultivation. There was a good general 

 collection of tropical plants in the stove-house, including a few 

 Cattleyas, Cypripediums and other Orchids, while a fine batch 

 of Streptosolon Jamesoni was in full beauty in the cool green- 

 house. This plant has little value commercially, but its ease 

 of cultivation and high decorative quality at this season make 

 it indispensable in every private conservatory. 



Taunton, Mass. W. N. Craig. 



Mulberries. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — In the interesting article upon the Red Mulberry-tree, 

 on page 23, I notice some misleading statements, particularly 

 the one which says that "no attention has been paid to im- 

 proving the fruit [of the native species] by selection or cultiva- 

 tion." It is true that no definite attempt has been made in this 

 direction, but it should also be said that at least three com- 

 mercial varieties of Mulberries are the offspring of our native Red 

 Mulberry — the Hicks, the Johnson and the Stubbs. The article 

 seems to reassert the old statements that Morus nigra is the 

 only species cultivated for its fruit, and that Morus alba is not 

 used for this purpose. In this country, however, Morus nigra 

 is scarcely known as a fruit-bearing plant, at least outside of 

 California, while our most popular varieties belong to M.alba. 

 In this respect, our Mulberry culture seems to be unlike that 

 of every other country. These matters were fully explained in 

 Bulletin 46 of the Cornell Experiment Station. 

 Ithaca, N. Y. L. H. Bailey. 



Recent Publications. 



British Forest Trees and their Sihiadiural Characteristics 

 and Treatment. By John Nisbet, D. QEc. Macmillan & 

 Co. : London and New York. 1893. 



At least seven-eighths of this book is taken up with 

 careful but concise descriptions of the chief silvicul- 

 tural characteristics of the timber-trees of Great Britain. 

 Trees which are planted simply for ornament rather than 



for profit are not considered, but the habits and require- 

 ments of forest-trees proper are thoroughly investigated in 

 order to show the adaptation of each species to the group 

 of conditions under which it is likely to thrive. Take, for 

 example, the so-called Scotch Fir, Pinus Sylvestris, which 

 is the first on the list. After a paragraph on the distribu- 

 tion of this tree, its form and its root system are both ex- 

 plained, then the situation and soil to which it is best 

 adapted, with the reasons for this adaptation. Next comes 

 a chapter on its requirements as to light and its sensitive- 

 ness to shade from above or from the side. Its productive 

 capacity and the time in which it attains maturity are then 

 discussed, with its treatment under different periods of rota- 

 tion. Under the head of "Liability to Suffer from External 

 Dangers" we have a list of the insects and diseases which 

 attack it, together with the amount of damage which fire 

 and animals, storms and accumulations of snow and ice 

 on its branches are likely to inflict upon it. All this is pre- 

 liminary to the practical chapter on the silvicultural treat- 

 ment of this Pine, in which, with interesting fullness of 

 detail, we are instructed as to the methods of forming and 

 reproducing pure forests of this species, as well as mixed 

 forests in which it is the most prominent tree. Other tim- 

 ber-trees capable of growing in pure forests are treated in 

 the same way, including the Norway Spruce, Silver Fir, 

 Larch, Beech, Oak, Birch and Alder, with some minor spe- 

 cies which are not found in pure forests in Britain, like 

 the Austrian Pine, Nordman's Fir, our White Pine, Do'u<rias 

 Fir and others. 



Few, if any, of these trees, except those which have been 

 introduced into England from America, are ever likely to 

 play a leading part in forest-planting in this country, and, 

 therefore, the immediate practical directions of this manual 

 will be of little use to the owners of forests in America, and 

 yet we believe that no one who meditates planting anew 

 forest, or taking care of an old one, can read the book with- 

 out a great deal of profit. In the first place, it will be a 

 point gained when the distinction between silviculture and 

 arboriculture is more generally understood. We know 

 something of the cultivation of trees as individuals, but of 

 forest-culture or the economical production of timber we 

 have hardly any knowledge— theoretical or practical. For 

 the fundamentals of the science of forestry, as well as its 

 practice, we have still much to learn from the Germans 

 and other European people. Mr. Nisbet's careful rules for 

 treating Scotch Fir and the English Oak cannot be directly 

 adapted to any American trees in any American climate, 

 but they will convince the reader how infinitely varied are 

 the conditions which must be thoroughly grasped and un- 

 derstood before we can hope to inaugurate any complete 

 system of scientific forestry. It should be added that the 

 earlier parts of the book, in which certain general princi- 

 ples are laid down, contain many laws and many facts 

 that will be needed by one who purposes to attack the 

 fundamental forest-problems of any country. The chapter 

 on "The Differences of Forest-trees as to growth in height, 

 girth and cubical contents," cannot but open fresh fields of 

 thought to every reader who has not investigated these 

 subjects ; while the chapter on " The Inter-relation between 

 the Forest and the Soil on which it grows " contains mat- 

 ter of importance to every owner of an acre of woodland. 

 Those who are in the habit of thinking that all the organic 

 matter which is on a forest-floor, and which will ultimately 

 decompose into leaf-mold, can be burned up every year or 

 so without injury, would do well to ponder on the follow- 

 ing paragraph : 



It seems hardly open to question that the one factor in re- 

 gard to the soil of greatest importance, from the silvicultural 

 point of view, is humus. Given a sufficiency of vegetable- 

 mold, or humus, all the physical factors are aided, and soils 

 otherwise unsuited for the growth of the more exacting spe- 

 cies of trees become perfectly adapted to their requirements. 

 The immense improvement which takes place in soils under 

 dense forests of Beech and Spruce is a striking proof of the 

 invaluable soil-improving qualities of mold. 



