214 



Garden and Forest. 



Number 327. 



the ascent compelled terracing, the terraces became on one 

 side of the way a wall from two to four feet high. Along 

 the crest of the canon for a mile runs a sinuous road, from 

 whence one looks down the abrupt descent into the depths 

 of the Timatteo valley, 800 feet below, and across to the 

 San Jacinto mountains, that shut in this region from ocean 

 winds. From this road other roads diverge at intervals, 

 giving six miles of drive-way in the park. Near the two 

 houses are flower-gardens and ornamental shrubs and 

 trees, while the little plateau around each reservoir is made 

 interesting by tropical plants. The lower slopes of the 

 estate are covered with Orange and Olive groves, separated 

 by thickets of free-growing Cypress. The steep sides of 

 the ravines are hidden by an abundant growth of Euca- 

 lyptus, of which there are forty varieties here, some of 

 them very curious and rare, and all now of good size. In 

 other places are Grevilleas and many kinds of conifers. 



The first object was to cover the ground, and as none of 

 these trees were more than four feet high when planted, 

 they were set thickly. Now, after five years' growth, they 

 make a forest of twenty to thirty feet high, and crowd each 

 other so that already thinning and transplanting are neces- 

 sary. In these plantations are fifty varieties of Acacia, 

 some of the trees twenty feet tall, with a free and beautiful 

 sweep of branches. The long lines of flowers bordering 

 the curbstone along the drive-ways do not seem out of 

 place in this country of semi-tropical luxuriance. There 

 are countless plants of Verbena, Gillia, Petunia, Sweet 

 Alyssum, Coreopsis, Eschscholtzia, Pansy and other flowers. 

 Along the steep banks above the higher walls is a continu- 

 ous mass of Periwinkle, Vinca major, its broad shining 

 leaves hiding the brown earth, to which it clings, while it 

 sends up stalks crowned with large blue or violet flowers, 

 its long vigorous stems making a curtain for the gray 

 walls. 



The effect of flowers thus massed in simple lines for long 

 distances is very striking and unique. I suppose it would 

 only be possible in a climate where flowering plants grow 

 so easily and can be so constantly fed with water. I will 

 not speak of the Roses, of which there are many rare varie- 

 ties. The great inequality of surface in this domain, the 

 depth of the ravines, the sharp ascent of the winding ter- 

 races, make great variety of flowers and trees possible 

 within a small space, and of these conditions good advan- 

 tage has been taken. The Acacias, in the glory of their 

 bloom in March, make sunshine everywhere. One of the 

 most beautiful is A. Riceanea, bearing its flowers in solitary 

 axillary spikes amid linear dark green leaves, and the wil- 

 lowy grace of both branches and flowers is charming. The 

 Silver Wattle, from Australia, A. dealbata, also attracts at- 

 tention, but the most brilliant of its kind is the Golden 

 Wattle, A. pyenantha, with its abundant bloom and bril- 

 liant pure color. The Date Palm has only small repre- 

 sentatives here, but Agaves and Yuccas alternate with the 

 Fan Palm, and scattered among these are many garden 

 forms of different conifers. The wonder of it is that all 

 this beauty has been created on a bare hill-side in five years. 



Rediands, Calif. 31. H. P. 



A Rich Field for the Plant-collector. 



ALTHOUGH China has been more or less in touch with 

 t the seats of scientific learning for several centuries, 

 and is still contributing botanical surprises to the scientists 

 of Europe and America, it is not generally known how 

 imperfectly that country has been botanized, nor the pecu- 

 liar danger which threatens its indigenous flora and 

 has already worked irretrievable havoc on many of the un- 

 recorded marks of the world's history. 



China is pre-eminently a rich field for the plant-collector. 

 Its vast population has long felt the tension of the struggle 

 for existence, and many plants of economic value have 

 been discovered by them that are still but slightly known 

 to the outside world, and its indigenous flora, particularly 

 that of the mountainous and less accessible regions, is 



almost unknown. Much good work is being done by resi- 

 dents in China who have botanical tastes, but little has 

 been done since the days of Wilford, Fortune and Maries 

 by professional collectors. It is difficult to account for 

 this on any other grounds than a lack of funds or of enthu- 

 siasm among botanical societies and horticultural firms. 



In the coast regions of south China the larger portions of 

 the forests have long been cut down for fuel, and the de- 

 struction is still going on among the woody shrubs and 

 brush-wood. The fuel now used by the villagers is chiefly 

 grass. It is usually burned at the end of every dry season, 

 as the natives believe that the charred remains help to fer- 

 tilize the succeeding crop. Only those who have seen this 

 practice can fully realize how destructive it is to plant-life. 

 Only in the deep moist ravines, in copses surrounding vil- 

 lages and rock-guarded slopes, are rare indigenous plants 

 able to exist. Even there the tire occasionally penetrates, 

 and it is painful to see the desolation it causes. 



No system of forest-conservation is properly followed in 

 China, except, perhaps, in the northern portions of the em- 

 pire, where the Ginseng-plant grows and is protected as an 

 imperial monopoly. An interesting result of prohibitive 

 measures in regard to the burning and depletion of uncul- 

 tivated land has been strikingly exemplified in Hong Kong 

 during recent years. A system of forest-protection has 

 been in vogue there for the last fifteen or twenty years, 

 and though this island, which is only twenty-nine square 

 miles in area, has been continually botanized since 1S41, 

 new species are still being discovered. A few years ago I 

 found additions to such genera as Podocarpus, Aspidistra, 

 Aristolochia, Ipomcea, Amorphophallus, Arisa?ma, etc., 

 and it is probable that these would have been ultimately 

 lost to the flora of the island but for the timely intervention 

 of the government. 



Horticulture has been enriched by a large number of 

 plants from China, but a very large quantity of good horti- 

 cultural material has not yet been exported, or is only rep- 

 resented here in dried specimens in herbaria. Knowing, 

 as I do, the imminent danger which threatens to extermi- 

 nate many indemic and sparsely distributed Chinese plants, 

 I mention in the following notes a number of those plants 

 which I am sure would be worthy acquisitions to horti- 

 culture. 



Symplocos decora I put first in the list, as it is my 

 favorite flower. It is a small Camellia-like tree or 

 shrub with dark green leathery leaves, producing its 

 flowers in axillary clusters along the shoots. The petals 

 are white, and sometimes tinged with a delicate shade of 

 azure-blue ; the cup of the flower is filled with a free clus- 

 ter of slender stamens, each crowned with a pale yellow 

 anther. The size of the flower varies from one-half to 

 three-quarters of an inch in diameter, and the slightly 

 globular clusters are from three to four inches across. In 

 the early spring it bursts out into a profusion of delicate 

 blossoms that are gracefully blended with the glossy green 

 leaves. Its indescribable delicacy, lightness and grace, 

 combined with its delicious fragrance, make it espe- 

 cially charming. It can be grown in pots like a Camellia, 

 and for all decorative purposes it is superb. Until a few 

 years ago it was considered very rare, but I found it grow- 

 ing abundantly at an elevation of 2,000 feet on some of the 

 hills in the Kwang-tung province. 



Mucuna macrobotrys is a robust climber, suitable for a 

 greenhouse, and may be hardy ; if it should prove entirely 

 hardy it is likely to rival the Wistaria, which it resembles some- 

 what in habit and form of flower. The individual flowers are 

 four inches long, creamy-white, boat-shaped, terminating in 

 a hard curved beak. The gigantic pendulous racemes hang 

 like bunches of grapes, and sometimes measure six teen inches 

 in length and twelve inches across the shoulder. This plant 

 commends itself to lovers of the conspicuous and uncom- 

 mon. Its pods are eighteen inches to two feet long and 

 the seeds are proportionately large. I once sowed some 

 of the seeds and they did not germinate until a year and a 

 half afterward. One of the young plants was sent to Kew, 



