230 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 328. 



old, magnificent trees 120 to 150 feet high, mixed with 

 Beech of all ages, giving the appearance of a virgin forest, 

 in which all age-classes are represented. 



Bonn, Germany. D. Bralldis. 



Notes. 



A college extension course on subjects of practical interest 

 to farmers is maintained by the Michigan Agricultural Col- 

 lege. This course in systematic reading, known as the Farm 

 Home Reading Circle, is open to all who wish to take it, and is 

 free of expense except for books. The membership roll is 

 already large and steadily increasing. 



At a recent auction sale of Orchids in England a plant of 

 Cattleya Skinneri alba was sold for 160 guineas. A small plant 

 of the Ouorn House variety of Cattleya Mendeli brought 150 

 guineas, although only a year ago it had been sold for twenty- 

 eightguineas. LaeliapurpurataHardyana brought i3oguineas; 

 a few years ago the same plant was sold for twenty guineas. 

 These prices seem to indicate that, in spite of hard times, cer- 

 tain Orchids still command extraordinary prices, although, as 

 a rule, the prices, except for a few rare varieties, are very 

 much lower than they were several years ago. 



The Northwestern Lumberman, which a few years ago took 

 the ground that the supply of white pine in the north-western 

 states was inexhaustible, now shows by what it believes to 

 be authentic figures that the shortage in one district alone for 

 the current year will be seven hundred million feet; and 

 information points to a general shortage in all the north-west- 

 ern pine territory, running into billions of feet. Lumber- 

 dealers of the north-west should begin to realize that the 

 deficiency of northern pine must be made up from supplies 

 from the Pine-forests of the south Atlantic and Gulf states, 

 although an attempt will perhaps be made to replace it, for a 

 few years at least, by yellow poplar and other non-coniferous 

 woods. 



The Board of Park Commissioners of the city of Buffalo 

 recently decided to establish a botanic garden, and about 

 150 acres have been set aside for this purpose on the slope of 

 a beautiful elevation at the southern boundary of the city, 

 known as Limestone Ridge. The main drive-way through the 

 site is partially constructed, and some grading has been 

 done. Excavations have also been made for a series of lakes, 

 and a conduit is being laid to Cazenovia Creek, two and a half 

 miles away. A few groups of natural forest-trees on the 

 ground will be preserved, but no planting has yet been done. 

 If the liberal policy of the Park Commissioners is continued 

 and the garden is managed in the scientific spirit, it cannot 

 fail to become an educational institution of importance. 



Undoubtedly the finest, for general horticultural purposes, 

 of the early-flowering white-blossomed Spiraeas is that known 

 in gardens as S. Van Houttei, which is said to be a hybrid be- 

 tween the hardy S. trilobata and the beautiful, but only half- 

 hardy S. Cantoniensis. Its large, pure white, short-stamened 

 flowers are produced in close corymbose clusters on short, 

 leafy lateral branchlets along the branches. The branches are 

 slender and recurved. The plant will grow six feet or more 

 in height and spread as much in diameter, and with ordinary 

 care it will bear a profusion of flowers regularly every year. 

 The dark green foliage is abundant, seems remarkably free 

 from blemishing diseases, and it keeps a fresh and healthy 

 appearance throughout the summer and well into the autumn, 

 when many other species become, leafless. It is usually in 

 finest flower in the last week of Mayor about the 1st of June. 



Owing to the warm days in early spring and the continued 

 cool weather in May, many shrubs are blooming together now 

 that are usually separated in their flowering season by one or 

 two weeks. In a gorge in the northern part of Central Park a 

 mass of Rhododendrons in flower, mostly R. maximum, are 

 effective against a background of forest-trees, with a charming 

 pool bordered by aquatic plants and Irises in the foreground. 

 A group of Kalmias, Paeonies and several fine species of Rho- 

 dodendrons are conspicuous on a knoll near the entrance at 

 Fifty-ninth Street and Fifth Avenue. Viburnum plicatum, V. 

 Opulus and the graceful Snowball, V. sterilis, are all in pro- 

 fuse bloom, and of many Spiraeas in flower now S. opulifolia 

 is especially attractive. The flowers of the Bush Honeysuckle, 

 Lonicera Tartarica, of Philadelphus grandiflorus and other spe- 

 cies of Syringas, of Kerria Japonica and the Acacia-like Bladder- 

 senna, Colutea haleppica, appear with those of Deutzia cre- 

 nata fl. pi. and D. gracilis. Other shrubs now in bloom are 

 the California Privet ; the yellow-flowering Currant, Ribes 



aurea ; Weigela rosea and the golden-leaved variety nana 

 aurea and other species of Weigelas. Rosa setigera and its 

 hybrid, the double-flowered Queen of the Prairies, are among 

 the most effective climbing Roses, and Harrison's Yellow and 

 many other hardy Roses are already attractive. Chionanthus 

 Virginica is draped with its lace-like flowers, and several spe- 

 cies of Thorns and Tamarisks add to the variety of this un- 

 usual flowering season. 



The two Chinese Magnolias, Magnolia Watsoni and M. par- 

 viflora, were flowering in the Arnold Arboretum last week. 

 These two species produce their flowers after the leaves have 

 attained nearly their full size, and resemble one another in 

 their cup-shaped white perianths and bright red stamens. M. 

 Watsoni, however, is the more beautiful plant, distinguished 

 by its obovate-oblong leaves, glaucous and coated on the 

 lower surface with pale soft hairs, four or five inches long and 

 two or three inches broad, with ten to fourteen pairs of veins 

 arcuate and united near the margins, and by its larger flowers, 

 which are nearly four inches across, and are tinged with pink on 

 the outer surface of the sepals, while on M.parviflora, the leaves, 

 which are only about half as large as those of M. Watsoni, are 

 orbicular-obovate, glabrous or slightly pilose below on the 

 midribs and on the four or five pairs of remote veins. The 

 flowers are not more than two or three inches across; they are 

 nodding in the bud, and do not emit the powerful, slightly 

 pungent, agreeable odor which is one of the great attractions 

 of M. Watsoni. Among recent introductions of hardy trees 

 and shrubs these two Magnolias, which appear to be only 

 known in cultivation, their native country being uncertain, 

 should take the highest rank. 



We have more than once alluded to the work of the Division 

 of Vegetable Pathology in Washington in experimenting upon 

 the pollination of Pear-flowers. An interesting bulletin of 

 eighty-six pages, with twelve full-page plates and a complete 

 index, has recently been issued by the department. Some of the 

 general conclusions are that many of the common varieties pf 

 Pears are incapable of setting fruit without cross-pollination. 

 Even then, pollen from another tree of the same variety is no 

 better than pollen from the same tree, and fruit will not set 

 without pollen from a distinct horticultural variety — that is, 

 from a tree that has grown from a distinct seed. Pollen of two 

 varieties may be absolutely self-sterile, and at the same time 

 perfectly cross-fertile. Bad weather during flowering time has 

 an injurious influence on fruitage if it prevents insects from 

 fecundating the flowers. Some varieties are capable of self- 

 fertilization, and when this occurs the fruit is uniform in shape, 

 differing from the crosses not only in size and form, but also, 

 in some instances, in the time of maturity and in flavor. Fruits 

 arising from cross-fertilization are well supplied with sound 

 seed, while self-fertilized pears are deficient in seeds. Even 

 with varieties capable of self-fecundation the pollen of another 

 variety is prepotent, and unless the entrance of foreign pollen 

 is excluded most of the fruits will be affected by it. The prac- 

 tical conclusion from the investigation is that solid blocks of 

 one variety should not be planted in orchards, and that it is not 

 desirable to have more than three or four rows of one variety 

 together unless it is abundantly self-fertile. If large blocks of 

 trees of one variety which habitually blossom well fail to fruit 

 for a series of years, a probable remedy would be to graft in 

 other varieties, so as to supply foreign pollen. Care should be 

 taken that there should be enough bees within two or three 

 miles to properly visit the blossoms, and insect visits should 

 be favored by planting wind-breaks or setting the fruit-trees in 

 sheltered positions. Apples are more inclined to be sterile to 

 their own pollen than Pears, but the Quince seems to fruit 

 nearly as well with its own pollen as with that of another 

 variety. 



The Gardeners' Chronicle announces the death, on the 30th 

 of April last, of Thomas Lobb, who, in 1840, entered 

 the services of Veitch & Sons as a collector. During the 

 twenty years he traveled for the firm he visited the Kahsia 

 Hills, Asam, Moulmein, Lower Burmah, the Malay Penin- 

 sula, Java, north Borneo and the Philippine Islands. Among 

 his introductions, which have not been surpassed in horticul- 

 tural value by those of any other collector in the Indo-Malayan 

 regions, are many Orchids now common in gardens, the 

 ancestral forms of the Javanese hybrid Rhododendrons and 

 some of the first Nepenthes ever cultivated in Europe. 

 Among the Orchids introduced by Mr. Lobb are Vanda 

 ccerulea, Cypripedium villosum, Calanthe rosea, Ccelogyne 

 speciosa, Cypripedium barbatum and Phalaenopsis intermedia. 

 His elder brother, William Lobb, was also engaged in collect- 

 ing plants for the Veitchs, the field of his successful labors 

 extending from Brazil to California. 



