212 



Garden and Forest. 



[Numher 327' 



with delicate, lustrous, white hairs, and at maturity they 

 are dark green on the upper surface, and pale and glabrous 

 or pubescent on the lower surface, three to four inches long 

 and two to three inches wide, the two forms being pro- 

 duced together on the same branch. The leaves fall in the 

 autumn after assuming delicate. shades of yellow, orange 

 or orange and red. The fruit is a dark blue, thin-fleshed, 

 oblong, aromatic berry, surrounded at the base by the en- 

 larged and thickened, bright scarlet calyx-tube, and raised 

 on a stalk which has lengthened during the summer, turned 

 scarlet and grown thick above the middle. The fruit of 

 the Sassafras is not produced very abundantly, although in 

 some years it may be found in great quantities ; and its 

 aromatic flavor is so attractive to birds that they usually 

 devour it as soon as it begins to color. The wood, which 

 is orange color, with thin, pale sap-wood, is very durable 

 when placed in contact with the soil. It is coarse-grained, 

 however, and not much used, except in fencing. 



The Sassafras is a common native tree, and so is usually 

 neglected by those who plant parks and gardens in the 

 United States. No hardy tree, however, is more beautiful 

 at every season of the year or better worth cultivating in 

 the northern states. Its fragrant leaves and branches, its 

 delicate inflorescence and showy fruit, its immunity from 

 the disfiguring attacks of insects and disease, and the pecu- 

 liar charm of the autumn colors of its foliage make it a 

 beautiful object; and its relationship to the Camphor and 

 other valuable trees of the tropics make it interesting. 



The Sassafras is easily raised from seed, which should be 

 planted as soon as they are ripe, when they will germinate 

 early in the following spring, orby transplanting the suckers, 

 which it often produces in great abundance. The thick 

 fleshy roots, covered with thick, fragrant, light yellow bark, 

 which penetrate deep into the soil, make the Sassafras a 

 difficult tree to transplant, and only young plants should 

 be selected for this purpose. 



The illustration on page 215 of this issue shows a trunk 

 of a venerable Sassafras-tree growing near Queens, on 

 Long Island. It is made from a photograph, for which we 

 are indebted to Mr. Edward Hallock, who informs us 

 that this tree at two feet from the ground has a diameter of 

 forty-three inches. 



People appear to lose their sense of moral responsibility 

 where flowers are concerned. The most rigid moralist 

 cannot resist his neighbors' lilacs, and the branch of an 

 Apple-tree covered with flowers is not secure at the hands 

 of the upright. During the spring the suburbs of all our 

 cities are filled with flower-thieves — not only poor boys 

 and girls who steal flowers early in the morning or after 

 dark in the evening, to peddle them on the streets, but 

 people who ought to know better. Millionaires who pride 

 themselves on their uprightness and integrity do not hesi- 

 tate to stop their carriages and fill them with lilacs or 

 syringas, and women who would hesitate to cheat the 

 Custom House (the highest test of female honesty) pre- 

 tend to see no harm in entering private grounds and pull- 

 ing up armfuls of choice flowers planted near the highway 

 by some too confiding hand. Carriages loaded down with 

 stolen flowers pour into cities every pleasant spring even- 

 ing ; and what is, perhaps, the worst part of the whole 

 matter, these well-to-do marauders do not even pick the 

 flowers carefully, but, in their haste and fear of detection, 

 break down great branches or pull up tender plants by the 

 roots. The high masonry walls which shut off all private 

 grounds from the highways in the neighborhood of Lon- 

 don are not, perhaps, attractive to the public, but from the 

 point of view of the owner they certainly have their 

 advantages. 



This is the only season of the year when the white grubs 

 which in summer do so much damage to lawns, mowing- 

 land, Strawberry-plants and young nursery stock gen- 

 erally, by eating the roots, can be successfully fought. 

 These grubs, the larvee of the large May or Dorbug (Lach- 



nosterna fusca), live under ground for three years, and 

 in their last season are large enough to be destructive ; in 

 the third spring they emerge from the ground in the form 

 of beetles and fly about at night, feeding and resting on 

 Cherry, Oak and other trees during the day. They are 

 attracted to lights, and may be trapped by suspending lan- 

 terns near their feeding-places over tubs of water. Flying 

 heavily and clumsily, the beetles strike the sides of the lan- 

 tern, fall into the water, and may be caught in immense 

 numbers in this way. A little kerosene-oil poured on to 

 the water prevents their escape. As the grubs live entirely 

 under ground, their presence only being noticed after they 

 have killed or weakened the plants upon which they feed, 

 the only way to reduce their number is to kill the beetles, 

 and so prevent them from laying their eggs ; and where 

 they abound traps should be set for them every night 

 during the month of June. In some parts of New England, 

 especially in the neighborhood of Boston and at Newport, 

 Rhode Island, the grubs were particularly numerous and 

 destructive last summer, and an unusually large crop of 

 beetles may therefore be expected in these places now, 

 although there are always more or less of them all over 

 the country. Concerted action by land-owners and ener- 

 getic trapping are the oidy means by which this trouble- 

 some pest can be kept in check. 



A New Jersey Garden in Spring. 



IN my garden the lengthening catkins of the Alders and 

 Filberts are the first signs of the spring's awakening, fol- 

 lowed soon by the flowering of various early spring bulbs, 

 and as these begin to wane the Violets appear. Of these 

 the most common kind is Viola palmata, with its varying 

 forms. Its first flowers are seen early in April, and con- 

 tinue well into May ; they vary from the deepest violet- 

 blue to light purple, while some are nearly white. V. 

 palmata is quite aggressive in my garden-; thick patches 

 spread beyond the limits assigned it and crowd out the 

 more frail species of Viola as well as many other delicate 

 woodland flowers. Its foliage is so vigorous and the flowers 

 are so handsome that it is hard to pull them out like so 

 many weeds, as it is often necessary to do, to save other 

 species from overcrowding. V. delphinifolia grows well 

 here with but little care, and thrives better in the garden 

 than the Bird-foot Violet, V. pedata, which is very abun- 

 dant in many places in the sandy Pines. The arrow- 

 leaved Viola, V. sagittata, is common here, as are its 

 varieties ; it is more easily kept in place than V. palmata. 



Among the leafy-stemmed Violets, V. Canadensis does 

 well in the shade, and blooms all summer. The Downy 

 Yellow Violet, V. pubescens, also likes the shade, and 

 sends up strong stems a foot or more in height ; if crowded 

 its flowers will be scarce. The little V. canina will grow 

 anywhere in the grass, and continue to flower nearly the 

 entire summer. The sweet-scented Violet, V. odorata, is run- 

 ning wild in the grass,and gives an abundance of early flowers. 



The beautiful little Rue Anemone flourishes in my gar- 

 den along with the Wind Flower and Hepatica, and the 

 snowy flowers of the Spring Beauties, Claytonia Virginica 

 and C. Caroliniana, and the pure white blos'-oms of the 

 Bloodroot are abundant here. The native Dicentras are 

 thrifty, and so is Oxalis violacea. 



The charming Forget-me-not is established under an old 

 Apple-tree, and the Bluets, Houstonia ccerulea, show deli- 

 cate flowers from early spring until well into the summer. 

 The Lily-of-the-valley flowers profusely and spreads almost 

 as riotously as the common Violet. The Dog's-tooth Vio- 

 let, which is not a Violet, but belongs to the Lily family, 

 displays its pretty spotted leaves and rather large nodding 

 flower. 



The light-blue flowers of the handsome wild Larkspur, 

 Delphinium tricorne, begin to open in April and continue 

 until the middle of May. D. tricorne and the Larkspur- 

 leaved Violet, V. delphinifolia, though they come from the 



