190 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 324. 



hundred acres of Pear-orchards will come into bearing for the 

 first time this year, and if there is any shortage in the eastern 

 crop on account of the frosts the California growers ought to 

 obtain good prices. Arrangements have been made to guar- 

 antee shipments to Chicago in five days, which ought to silence 

 any complaints that the fruit has been gathered too long be- 

 fore it is sold. 



The April number of the American Naturalist contains an 

 article by Professor L. H. Bailey, in which the origin of the 

 cultivated Strawberry is discussed. The conclusion is that our 

 garden Strawberries are modifications of the Chili Strawberry. 

 This modified type has driven from cultivation the Virginia 

 berries, which were earlier introduced into gardens. The 

 original type of the Chili berry is little known, as it disappears 

 quickly through variation as soon as it is impressed into culti- 

 vation. If this conclusion is correct, the Strawberry is an ex- 

 ample of the evolution of a type of plant in less than fifty 

 years which is so distinct from all others that three species 

 have been erected upon it, and so distinct that it has rarely 

 been associated specifically with the plant from which it really 

 sprang. 



Among the plants now blooming in the hardy herbaceous 

 garden are the Globe-flowers, Trollius Europus and T. Asiati- 

 cus. Their flowers, which are good for cutting as well as for 

 brightening the border, resemble somewhat large buttercups, 

 being a deep pure yellow, although they are globular in form. 

 They have, too, the advantage of blooming again quite freely 

 in the autumn. Trollius Japonicus does not bloom so long, 

 but the deep orange color of its flowers makes it effective. 

 Our native T. laxus, as well as T. Caucasicus, are also worth 

 planting. A year or so ago Mr. Orpet noted in these columns 

 that the best way to get up a stock of these plants is from seed 

 which had better be sown in autumn and treated to a good 

 freezing in the cold frame. Under these circumstances every 

 seed will come up in the spring ; if not frozen may remain 

 dormant for years. 



On Arbor-day, in the state of Pennsylvania, a number of 

 prominent Philadelphians connected with the Pennsylvania 

 Forestry Association planted, with appropriate ceremonies, at 

 the south end of the Centennial Concourse, in Fairmount Park, 

 nine saplings : a Sugar-maple in memory of Rev. J. P. Lundy, 

 D.D., the first President of the American Forestry Association ; 

 an American Elm in memory of Dr. D. Hayes Agnew ; an 

 Oak in memory of General Meade ; an Ash in memory of 

 George W. Childs; another Ash in memory of Furman Shep- 

 pard ; a Sugar-maple in memory of Governor Hartranft ; a Lin- 

 den in memory of Dr. Joseph Leidy ; another Linden in 

 memory of John Welsh, and a Sweet-gum in honor of Thomas 

 Meehan, who will live, let us hope, to watch its growth for 

 many years. Memorial plantings of this sort are certainly 

 a very appropriate way of observing this holiday, and the trees, 

 if properly cared for, will be invested with an affectionate 

 interest which will increase with coming years. 



During the months of May and June, Mr. J. G. Jack will 

 conduct a series of lectures and field-meetings at the Arnold 

 Arboretum for the purpose of supplying popular instruction 

 concerning the trees and shrubs which grow in New England. 

 A knowledge of descriptive botany is not essential for persons 

 who wish to take this course, as the intention is to indicate the 

 easiest means of distinguishing the commonest native trees 

 and shrubs, and recognizing the foreign species which have 

 been introduced into gardens. The ornamental and useful 

 properties of the trees and shrubs, their habits of growth and 

 other peculiarities will be considered, and the different species 

 will be studied as they blossom, whenever this is practicable. 

 The class will assemble twice a week in the lecture-room of 

 the Bussey Institution, and will then adjourn to the plantations 

 and nurseries of the Arboretum for the formal outdoor study 

 of the plants. During the season the class will meet once or 

 twice outside of the Arboretum at some favorable place for 

 the study of trees. 



According to the Evening Postoi this city, machinery is now 

 being set up in Newark, New Jersey, for manufacturing am- 

 monia from atmospheric nitrogen. Every farmer knows that 

 nitrogen is one of the essential elements of plant-food and that 

 it is far the most expensive of the elements that are required 

 in fertilizing mixtures. It is well known, too, that nearly four- 

 fifths of the great ocean of air that surrounds the earth is ni- 

 trogen, and that it is practically useless as food to plants, 

 although they are bathed in it all the time. Recent researches 

 have shown, it is true, that a small portion of this nitrogen 



can be utilized by certain plants, especially those belonging to 

 the Leguminosae, but there never has been any available method 

 of transforming the nitrogen of the air into plant-food for gen- 

 eral use. Of course, it is not wise to expect too much from 

 any reported discovery, but if it is true that the sulphate of 

 ammonia can be produced by this new process at about one- 

 quarter of its present cost this will be one of the greatest boons 

 that the science of chemistry has yet bestowed upon the art of 

 agriculture. If ammonia can be cheaply manufactured from 

 atmospheric nitrogen the discovery means that a great step 

 has been taken toward securing a material increase in the pro- 

 ductiveness of the soil. 



The demand for bananas is shown by the quick sale of 

 130,000 bunches in this gcity alone, last week, at a wholesale 

 price as high as $1.65 a bunch. The scarcitv and high price 

 of domestic and all other foreign fruits, excepting pineapples, 

 help the sale of bananas at this season, and large orders are re- 

 ceived here from the interior and from Canada. King of Siam 

 oranges come with the last Florida oranges, and selected ones 

 sell for $1.00 to $1.50 a dozen. Grape-fruit last week reached 

 the highest price ever paid for it here, selling at auction for 

 $7.12^ a box wholesale. The largest lot of California oranges 

 received in New York this season, 1,500 boxes, sold here last 

 week at low prices. Probably the first box of cherries shipped 

 east from California this season was sold in Chicago on the 

 25th of April. The first boxes of Knight's Early reached New 

 York from California on April 30th, fifteen days in advance of 

 last year's arrival, when the first cherries came from South 

 Carolina two days ahead of those from California. These 

 cherries are small, however, and dull in color, and sell slowly 

 at $3.00 to $4.00 at wholesale for a box of ten pounds. The first 

 Peen-to peaches, from Florida, also came last week, and these 

 cost $1.00 a dozen in the fancy fruit-stores. Black Hamburg 

 and Muscat hot-house grapes, from Rhode Island, are luxuries 

 which cost $3.50 to $4.50 a pound. 



The Cuba pineapple season opened about four weeks ago, 

 and 27,000 barrels of the fruit were unloaded on our docks last 

 week, nearly as many having come the week previous. They 

 are delivered here in four grades, packed in large sugar-bar- 

 rels, holding a third to a half more than ordinary flour-barrels. 

 The highest grade, known as Extras, are in moderate quan- 

 tity, and sell now at fifteen to eighteen cents each at whole- 

 sale. It takes only forty of these large pineapples to fill a 

 barrel. The grade known as No. 1 counts from fifty-three to 

 sixty fruits to each barrel, and these sell at ten and eleven 

 cents apiece at wholesale. Grade No. 2 runs seventy pineap- 

 ples to a barrel, bringing about nine cents each, and the 

 smaller, No. 3's, eighty to one hundred to a barrel, range from 

 five and a half to seven cents each in the wholesale store- 

 houses. The two lower grades are most plentiful. This fruit, 

 like the banana, is gathered green, and is ripened up here. 

 There is this season an unusual amount of decay in ripening, 

 which causes a shrinkage of nearly twenty per cent, to the 

 wholesale dealer, for the fruit is all assorted before it is offered 

 for sale. The variety now on the market known as the Red 

 or Strawberry pineapple continues in abundance throughout 

 May, and in moderate supply until the end of June. This is in 

 demand for preserving from the 10th to the 30th of May, when the 

 fruit is most abundantand well matured. TheStrawberry pine- 

 apple is superior for making extracts on account of its rich flavor. 

 The Sugar-loaf pineapples begin to come early in June, and 

 large cargoes are unloaded here until the end of July, when 

 our domestic fruits hold the market. The tender pulp of this 

 variety makes it, perhaps, the best sort for preserving, and 

 householders secure their supply for this use from the twentieth 

 of June to the first of July. Pineapples and strawberries react on 

 each other in price, according to their comparative abundance. 

 The pineapples offered here during the winter come from Ha- 

 vana. They are of choice quality, being selected from the best 

 fruit in the fields at a season when there is but a limited demand. 

 Florida pineapples were hardly a factor in the market until the 

 past two or three years. This year the crop in that state will 

 amount to 50,000 or even 60,000 cases, a case holding as much 

 as a small barrel. The plantations are in the Indian River 

 country and extend to the Biscayne Bay district. Large tracts 

 are being planted in Pineapples in other sections of the state, 

 and it is expected that in five or six years Florida pineapples 

 will crowd out much of the foreign crop. The fruit is hand- 

 some in appearance, and brings a good price. The season 

 continues from the middle of May until the end of July, and 

 some of these pineapples are seen here in the fall months. 

 Present freight rates favor Cuba, a large barrel from Havana 

 costing but seventy-five cents, while the charge on a small case 

 from Florida is from $1.15 to $1.40. 



