148 



Garden and Forest 



[Number 320. 



consideration, the list dwindles down to a very few, and, in my 

 opinion, the Bliss American Wonder stands at the head. It is 

 the first early, most productive, and needs no bushing, and with- 

 out doubt, for small gardens, is the one Pea. For later use 

 we plant the Champion of England largely ; for quality it has no 

 superior, and it is also a free bearer, its only objection being its 

 height, which is often over six feet ; of course, it needs strong 

 support. It is not so liable to mildew as some others at the 

 end of the season, and is, taken altogether, the bestmiddle and 

 late season Pea. Where the height of the last named is an 

 objection, the Yorkshire Hero may be tried as a substitute ; the 

 flavor is also good, and the height is not so great as in the last 

 named. These three Peas can be relied upon to give a good 

 supply through the summer if sown at regular intervals, tak- 

 ing care to sow the first row of late Peas at the same time as the 

 last lot of early ones are planted, or there will be an interval 

 of a few days. 



South Lancaster. Mass. £-■ <J- Urpet. 



[It should be added to this that there are some soils in 

 which the American Wonder Pea will fail outright. In 

 places where it has never been tested those who want an 

 early wrinkled Pea of the first quality would do well to 

 make a planting of Alpha along with one of American 

 Wonder. — Ed.] 



The Iona Grape.— I should like to speak a word for the Iona 

 Grape to those who are planting a vine or two for home use. 

 It is in so many ways a remarkable fruit, and more people 

 should enjoy it. The only difficulty is that the vine is not 

 quite hardy. I am compelled to cover it here, and to do so 

 carefully, but it well repays this care. The fruit is extremely 

 abundant, and of such a quality as to delight any one who does 

 not wish for more sweetness. It has a winy sparkling flavor 

 that is highly refreshing. The bunches do not always perfectly 

 ripen in this latitude, but if picked apparently half-green the 

 grape has the peculiar faculty of perfecting and ripening in the 

 house. Curiously, also, though very thin-skinned and juicy, 

 the Iona is a splendid keeper. I find it better than Isabella 

 even, and nearly as good as Catawba or Diana. Instead of 

 deteriorating, its flavor improves with keeping. Brighton, 

 from Iona parentage, is much earlier and a hardier grape, but 

 it is not self-pollenizing, nor does it keep at all. It is one of the 

 few excellent grapes that must be used at once. Every house- 

 holder ought to have an Iona vine in some warm exposure 

 for home use. It is just the grape for one who has a cultivated 



grape taste. 



Clinton, N. Y. 



E. P. Powell. 



Correspondence. 



Dimensions of Minnesota Pine. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — The following dimensions of White Pine stumps and 

 tops may be of interest, as they show probably the best devel- 

 opment of scattered trees in hardwood that may be expected 

 in Minnesota. One hundred and sixty-seven of these trees 

 scaled 285,870 feet, board measure, an average of 1,712 feet 

 to the tree. Ten hundred and seventy-nine of them scaled 

 1,117,567 feet, an average of 950 feet. 



Much merchantable timber had been left in the tops, in sev- 

 eral instances as much as 1,000 feet. 



The dimensions of four of the largest trees ran as follows : 



Timber Height ot 



left, tree, 



in feet, B. M. in feet. 



Stump 



Top 



Length of 

 limber. 



Timber 



diameter, 



diameter, 



markete 



in inches. 



in inches. 



in feet. 



in feet, B 



40 



28 



70 



3.5°° 



45 



35 



56 



4,050 



48 



32 



36 



2,900 



40 



25 



70 



3,200 



500 

 1,100 

 1,200 



350 



131 



120 



122 



126 



A study of the annual growth shows something of the his- 

 tory of a tree. One of these, a representative tree, was found 

 to have been cut when 253 years old. During its first fifty 

 years the lateral accretions were minute, as it had a diameter 

 of but eight inches when fifty years old. About the one-hun- 

 dredth year, however, nearly half an inch a year was added to 

 the diameter. From this time the accretions gradually dimin- 

 ished until the tree was cut. 



In marked contrast with the large amount of log-timber left 

 in the tops of trees cut eight years ago, was the clean cutting 

 of last winter on the same land. In this latter cutting, trees 

 having a nine-inch stump and a six-inch top were taken. 



Carlton, Minn. H. B. A. 



Propagation vs. Extermination. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — We frequently read of the danger of extermination of 

 some of our rare plants by students and amateur botanists, 

 but nowhere do I see any protest against the ravage of our 

 native plants by professional commercial collectors. Every 

 nook and corner of our southern mountains are now searched 

 for floral treasures, and everything that can be sold as a living 

 plant is dug up, and every bough and leaf which has any cash 

 value for decorative purposes is also carried off, while no at- 

 tempt is made to propagate anything except a few species 

 which it is hard to collect and easy to grow. The so-called 

 nursery-grown plants of many species are many of them sim- 

 ply plants collected and put into the ground just long enough 

 to find a buyer. I have seen plants packed for shipment in 

 such a mutilated state that with the very best care not half 

 of them could possibly live. This is done not only on a small 

 scale, but tens of thousands are taken at once. 



Cypripedium spectabile can now be found only in isolated 

 places, and seldom more than a single plant in a place. I have 

 seen but one plant in the woods during the last two years, and 

 that was found by a botanist who has worked here for years, 

 and it was his first specimen ; I was told by one of our nur- 

 serymen that he had orders for several hundred of them, 

 and yet he never tried to propagate them and he did not know 

 of any one who did. C. acaule is also becoming scarce. I spent 

 considerable time last year trying to find a specimen, butfailed. 

 Goodyera pubescens, G. repens, Orchis spectabilis, Habenaria 

 psycodes and H. blephariglottis are a few of our plants that 

 are becoming more rare, and no attempt made at propagation. 

 Pogonia verticillata is a nice little plant with much more beauty 

 than many that are quite popular, but it is so scarce that it has 

 escaped being listed for sale. 



I do not wish to discourage the cultivation of our native 

 plants, but I do wish to call attention to the fact that if buyers 

 do not demand a grade of plants which will compel nursery- 

 men to propagate and offer them in better condition, it will not 

 be long before many of our most beautiful ones will be prac- 

 tically exterminated. It might be added that many of our wild 

 plants show a tendency to vary in color of flower, and if these 

 sports were propagated some fine varieties might be procured 

 and established. 



Highlands, N. c. James S. Smith. 



A New Field for Seed and Bulb Growing. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — In my opinion, California will be as well known, within 

 a few years, for its bulbs and seeds as it now is for its fruits, 

 as a large part of its flowers are Liliaceous, and no state in the 

 union has such a variety of flowers belonging to this family 

 as California. Watson says : " The order (Liliacea?) forms a 

 marked feature in the flora of California," and the same au- 

 thority gives 119 species, besides innumerable varieties, as 

 being- native to the state. This was in 1880; since then many 

 new species have been found. The heavy adobe soil seems 

 intended for bulb-growing. I think this a promising field for 

 some enterprising person. I have seen Tuberoses that were 

 left in the ground by mistake, and when lifted, at the end of 

 two years, over one dozen large-flowering bulbs were found 

 for every one planted. They had been overgrown with weeds 

 and would have doubtless done much better with proper cul- 

 tivation ; as it was they were as fine a lot as I ever saw. Ber- 

 muda Lilies were left out in the same neglected spot and gave 

 like gratifying results. As there were several hundreds of 

 each originally planted, the owner's negligence made a neat 

 little sum. There are some vegetable-seed farms (or ranches) 

 at Santa Clara, and flower-seeds are grown near Ventura. Mr. 

 Lynch, proprietor of the Menlo Park Nurseries, raised, last year 

 — his first season — nearly three tons of Sweet Pea seed. This 

 year he has fifty acres sown to them ; forty-seven acres will be 

 devoted to the seed alone. The remainder will be for cut flow- 

 ers, which are sent as far as Seattle and Salt Lake City. 



Waukegan, III. T. D. 



Calanthes at Langwater Gardens. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Visitors to North Easton, Massachusetts, will always 

 find some rare and beautiful Orchids in bloom at these gar- 

 dens, for, although the collection is so large, Mr. Ames was 

 very careful in his selection, so that it contains nothing inferior 

 or commonplace. Among the Calanthes, for example, all the 

 best and most recent introductions can be found here. Not 

 long ago Calanthe Gigas was in bloom here for the first time 



