no 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 316. 



jected to by Colonel Fox as a criticism on the commission, 

 which would possibly lead the legislature to refuse the appro- 

 priation of a million dollars, which he thought the commission 

 needed. After much argument on both sides, in which no 

 one attempted to explain why the executive officers of the 

 forest-commission had made no attempt to devise such a plan 

 of management as had been advocated by Mr. Fernow, and 

 which he said an expert could prepare in four weeks, a sub- 

 stitute for both resolutions was offered and apparently adopted 

 without debate. So far as we are able to understand it, this 

 substitute has no positive meaning whatever. 



It seemed to many of the friends of the Adirondacks that the 

 commission were unduly eager to sell some Spruce-trees in 

 order to show a little revenue. The people of the state gen- 

 erally see through matters of this sort, and it is not to be as- 

 sumed that the collection of a few hundred dollars will hurry 

 them up to hand the desired millions into the hands of the 

 commission. They certainly will not make great haste to do 

 this if it is pointed out to them that the method, or lack of 

 method, which is used in cutting the Spruce can be shown to 

 be injurious to the forest. Suppose the commission should 

 follow the advice of Messrs. Fernow and Pinchot, and formu- 

 late some plan to begin on, and show this plan to the people 

 instead of the money which they get from a few Spruce-trees 

 at nine cents or more apiece. Such a course might give them 

 an established position in the confidence of the people, and, 

 perhaps, it might be the best way to secure an appropriation, 

 as it certainly would be the safest way to treat the forest. 



Notes. 



The herbarium of the late Dr. C. C. Parry, containing some 

 16,000 specimens in excellent condition, has been purchased 

 by the trustees of the Iowa Agricultural College, at Ames, 

 Iowa. 



The old homestead of Abraham Lincoln's family, in Larue 

 County, Kentucky, has been purchased by a syndicate of Ken- 

 tuckians, who intend to have the place laid out as a park, and 

 then present it to the Government for public use. 



Among some bits of timely counsel which Mr. William 

 Scolt gives to the readers of the American Florist is the advice 

 not to throw away a pan of Canna-seeds because only a few 

 plants have germinated. Pot off those which are a few inches 

 high, and keep the seed-pan warm and moist, and plants will 

 continue to appear for months. 



Of the Roses grown for cut flowers in the open air on the 

 Riviera nine out of every ten are Safranos, although this va- 

 riety is rarely grown under glass. The capital merit of the 

 Safrano is that it will bloom and develop buds at a temperature 

 which is too low for any other Tea Rose. We have seen old 

 plants of this Rose grown out-of-doors in the latitude of New 

 York which have passed through several of our severe winters 

 unharmed, with no protection beyond a thin covering of straw 

 bound about them. 



The leading article in the issue of Gartenflora for February 

 15th is the first of a series, written by Dr. Wittmack, on the 

 commercial gardening establishments of the United States. 

 It deals at considerable length and in a spirit of great admira- 

 tion with the establishment of Mr. William K. Harris, of Phila- 

 delphia, who operates twenty-two houses, each one hundred 

 feet in length, and devotes himself chiefly to the growing of 

 Chrysanthemums, Carnations, Palms, Cycads, Araucarias, India- 

 rubber plants and ornamental foliage-plants of various sorts. 



Private letters from the interior of Plymouth County, Mas- 

 sachusetts, say that there has been much distress among the 

 people there this winter, as, owing to the hard times, there has 

 been no market for the cord-wood and White Pine logs upon 

 the sale of which they largely depend for winter support. 

 Most of the Pine logs cut in this region are used for box- 

 boards ; and just now the owners of box-board mills only ven- 

 ture to cut logs from their own lands, leaving the majority of 

 the wood-choppers unemployed, and cutting off the usual 

 revenues of the proprietors of wood-lots. 



The Red Bluff News states as an example of the possibilities 

 of fruit-growing in northern California that eighteen years ago 

 two cuttings of the Purple Fig were pushed down into the soil 

 at the foot of the Coast Range in the western part of Tehama 

 County, since which time they have had no attention, except 

 protection from stock for a few years. For fifteen years they 

 have borne and grown until now each trunk measures eight 

 feet in circumference, the branches form a dome forty feet 

 high and one hundred and eighty feet in circumference, while 



the lower branches, which rest on the ground, have taken 

 root and sent up shoots which are twenty-five feet high. 



An Indiana correspondent asks what varieties of Grapes we 

 should advise for home use. There is no general answer to 

 such a question which would apply to all parts of the United 

 States. We are inclined to accept the judgment of Mr. E. 

 Williams, of New Jersey, that for the east the best black 

 grape is Worden ; the best red grape, Brighton, and the best 

 white grape, Niagara. The Illinois Experiment Station, from 

 tests made in a location not so remote from our correspon- 

 dent's home, recommends, in addition to these, Moore's Early 

 for black ; Delaware, Lindley and Massasoit for red ; Grein's 

 Golden, Elvira and Green Mountain for white. These are all 

 good Grapes and succeed over a wide range of territory. 



Writing of Galax aphylla in a recent number of the Bulletin 

 of the Torrey Botanical Club, Mr. A. A. Heller says : "We are 

 often surprised at finding coast-plantsgrowing upon the higher 

 mountain-tops of the south, but here is a reversal of affairs. 

 On June 8th this plant was collected about two miles east of 

 Suffolk, Nansemond County, less than forty miles from the 

 extreme coast-line of Virginia," at only about fifty-three feet 

 above sea-level. " According to my own observations in the 

 mountains of North Carolina," the writer adds, "the plant 

 hardly descends to 2,000 feet, and is most abundant at about 

 4,000, rarely being found much higher. Wherever Galax oc- 

 curs to any extent there is a peculiar odor, somewhat sugges- 

 tive of polecats. This odor was very noticeable at the Suffolk 

 station." 



More beautiful roses are rarely seen than some cut blooms 

 of Catherine Mermet, which were offered last week at Brower 

 Brothers' at six dollars a dozen. At the same place we also 

 saw the first Trailing Arbutus of the season, as well as some 

 sprays of forced Japanese Snowball, which were very effective. 

 Sweet Peas of extra quality were selling for fifty cents a dozen. 

 Plants of Rhododendrons and Azaleas in flower are abundant, 

 and Hydrangeas in magnificent bloom are just coming on. A 

 few plants of one or two kinds of Erica are so attractive that 

 one wonders why more of them are not grown. Acacia reti- 

 nodes is now seen as frequently as A. dealbata. Tree Pasonies, 

 forced into bloom, have been occasionally seen in market 

 here before, but they are rare enough to be called novelties, 

 and they make a really beautiful display. 



Professor Britton thinks that botanists will be interested to 

 know that the herbarium of Stephen Elliott, upon which he 

 based his Sketch of the Botany of South Carolina and Georgia, 

 published between the years 1816 and 1824, is preserved in the 

 museum of the College of Charleston, where it is accessible to 

 students. He says that " it is in a moderately good state of 

 preservation, although some portions of it have been dam- 

 aged by insect depredations. It contains, besides Elliott's own 

 collections in the region covered by his book, many specimens 

 from Schweinitz, Rafinesque, Torrey, Oakes and Muhlenberg, 

 and from his colleagues, Drs. Baldwin and Macbride and Mr. 

 Gourdin. The representation of material from Muhlenberg is 

 probably more extensive than in any other collection in 

 America, and this is a most important circumstance, because 

 Muhlenberg's own herbarium, in charge of the American 

 Philosophical Society at Philadelphia, is in very bad order, im- 

 perfectly preserved and not very easily consulted." 



The limited supply of strawberries received from Florida 

 last week, and their generally superior quality, raised the 

 price to sixty cents a quart in the markets, while exceptionally 

 fine berries were offered in the fruit-stores for as much as sev- 

 enty-five cents a pint cup. Besides the grapes grown in 

 American, English and Belgian glass houses, which may be 

 had here throughout the year, the only grapes now offered are 

 Almerias, costing from twenty to forty cents a pound, and 

 Catawbas, which are still being forwarded from the interior of 

 this state, and these, although of fair quality, are cheaper now 

 than they were a month ago. California Pears are still held in 

 cold storage, and choice Winter Nelis and P. Barry bring a 

 dollar and a half a dozen, Easter Beurre costing somewhat 

 more. The few King of Siam oranges have a price of their 

 own far in advance of all the other citrous fruits, and two dol- 

 lars a dozen is asked for them. The markets are now well sup- 

 plied with a large variety of vegetables, from which no item of 

 the summer supply is missed, excepting sweet corn. Cali- 

 fornia, Mexico, Cuba, Bermuda, Denmark and Africa regularly 

 send fresh vegetables, and large supplies come from Louisi- 

 ana, Florida and other southern states as the season advances, 

 while every year the market-gardeners in the north are en- 

 larging their glass structures and adding new vegetables to 

 the long list which they already force. 



