298 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 335. 



were not allowed to walk on it. But there is no occasion to 

 keep people off established turf, because walking on it does 

 it good. 



The privilege of rambling over a stretch of meadow is to 

 me much greater than the pleasure of gazing from a distance 

 upon any effect produced by the landscape-gardener, whether 

 he belongs to the pure and hyper-a;sthetic naturalistic school 

 or manufactures chromos of the "Gates Ajar" and portraits of 

 the Father of his Country out of Coleusesand House Leeks. It 

 is time that people asserted their rights in this matter. There 

 ought to be a law in every state that no city could acquire any 

 park-land unless the people were allowed to use and to enjoy 

 what they have paid for. 



Buffalo, N. Y. B. R. 



The Island Flower-garden in Jackson Park. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — The flower-garden on the wooded island, in Jackson 

 Park, is in happy contrast to others in the South Parks. Con- 

 ventionality is so obtrusive in cities that it is a relief to get 

 away from it sometimes, and a garden seems a fitting place 

 to be free from its restraints. There are no carpet beds on the 

 island, nor is it a show-place, but it comes nearer being a 

 flower-garden than anything so far shown in any part of the 

 South Park system, not excepting the make-believe old-fash- 

 ioned garden that used to stand tantalizingly like an inaccessi- 

 ble heaven above the golden stairway, and beyond the dread- 

 ful Gates Ajar. That crown of flowers, however, did much to 

 redeem the character of the Chamber of Horticultural Horrors 

 that has for years more or less disfigured Washington Park 

 and depraved the public taste. 



The spring of 1894 found the World's Fair out-of-door flower 

 exhibit a thing of shreds and tatters. But the scattered rem- 

 nants have been carefully husbanded, and already the results 

 are a delight. The border that outlines the wooded island has 

 always been a thing of beauty, and if matters go on as they 

 are going now another year will find the interior in keeping 

 with its setting, or at least well started toward that end. 



The lawns are refreshingly green, and the trees and shrubs 

 show well-placed and well-proportioned masses of foliage. 

 Against this background the occasional closely filled beds of 

 hardy Azaleas, Rhododendrons, Pasonies, Irises, Delphiniums, 

 Columbines, Oriental Poppies and the Rose-garden are re- 

 lieved with good effect. Bold masses of several varieties of 

 Pasonies have been especially good, and the lovely tone of a 

 bed of yellow Irises has been a marked note in the picture. 



The Rhododendrons are good, and will probably be better 

 another year when established. They were wintered indoors, 

 and have but recently been placed in the permanent beds. 

 The Rose-garden is enclosed with a low hedge of climbing 

 Roses, just as it was last year, the plants having been left un- 

 molested and unprotected during the winter. The Baltimore 

 Belle and Pride of Washington, of which it is composed, have 

 borne the cold far better than one would have expected. 

 Pride of Washington came through in the^best shape, but has 

 lost many of its upper branches. These, however, were in- 

 jured far more by the wintry spring than by the cold of winter. 

 The climbing Hedge Roses are supported by two wires, 

 stretched on stakes alternately one foot and about two and a 

 half feet high, and they now form a nice little green wall that 

 has been thickly covered with flowers, while great numbers of 

 vigorous young shoots are starting from near the ground. 

 Pride of Washington is evidently a good choice for this lati- 

 tude, particularly if kept rather low and the tops protected. 

 Enough Roses remained to fill most of the garden, and all 

 have been reset, are doing well, and nearly all have bloomed 

 well. 



The wide, irregular border inside the hedge, that was last 

 year filled with tender, ever-blooming Roses, is now occupied 

 by hardy herbaceous perennials; an extensive and varied col- 

 lection having been formed from odds and ends left over from 

 the Fair. These bits have been gathered carefully and intelli- 

 gently from every available source bv Mr. Lutschy, the Swiss 

 gardener, who was foreman for the Chief of Floriculture, and 

 has since then been in the employ of the South Park Board. 

 No one else could have done the work so well, for he was 

 familiar with the character and location of every exhibit, and 

 now goes about gathering in choice scraps from the grass- 

 plots (where exhibits stood last year), and thus adds valuable 

 material to the hardy border. As, for instance, self-sown seed- 

 lings from the remarkably fine collection of hardy Phloxes 

 shown in the English section. 



Borders of hardy shrubs and of herbaceous plants, that are 

 planned and arranged with taste and intelligence, are good 



things to see and to have. Their permanent character, when 

 understood, must appeal to the public. And the beauty of 

 color, succession of bloom, and the relation of size and char- 

 acter of contiguous plants, as well as the excellence of the 

 general effect of the island's planting, can scarcely fail in time 

 to impress a part of the people with a desire to have some- 

 thing similar on their home grounds. 



The inexpensiveness of this style of gardening, as compared 

 with the annual purchase of tender plants, should alone 

 recommend it to a majority of Chicago suburban dwellers, of 

 whom, by the way, there are thousands who thus waste their 

 substance in this reckless fashion. 

 Chicago, ill. Fanny Copley Seavey. 



The Cypresses of Monterey. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — In your issue of June 20th you allude to the very re- 

 stricted range now occupied by Cupressus macrocarpa, and 

 go on to express an opinion that it is hardly possible to con- 

 ceive that a tree of such vigorous constitution did not at some 

 earlier period occupy a larger territory, or that it has not been 

 driven to this inhospitable shore by the gradual drying of the 

 California climate which followed the disappearance of the 

 great glaciers of the Sierras, or by the direct action of fire in 

 comparatively modern times. As my own knowledge is con- 

 fined to herbarium specimens and to comparatively young 

 trees in cultivation, I feel some hesitation in expressing an 

 opinion, but, at any rate, there will be no impropriety in offer- 

 ing a suggestion for the consideration of those whose oppor- 

 tunities are greater than my own. My suggestion is thatC. ma- 

 crocarpa, in some form or other, may not really be so limited 

 even now as is generally supposed. For instance, there is the 

 Farallones Cypress, from the Farallones Islands, which is a 

 near ally, even if not actually a form, of C. macrocarpa. Even 

 more nearly allied is C. Guadeloupensis, S. Watson — so 

 closely, indeed, that, for my own part, I should refer Wat- 

 son's species to C. macrocarpa. It is more glaucous than the 

 type, and has a facies (as botanists say) a little different from 

 the ordinary C. macrocarpa. Such differences are common 

 in the case of insular plants. If this opinion be feasible it 

 strengthens your contention that the tree had once a wider 

 area of distribution that it now has. 



London. Maxwell T. Masters. 



The Forest. 



Mixed -Oak and Beech Forests of the Spessart : 

 Management by the Bavarian Government. — I. 



IN 1 8 14 the Spessart was incorporated with the Kingdom 

 of Bavaria. The greater portion of the forests belongs 

 to the state, while a considerable area belongs to a few large 

 private owners. Soon after 18 14 attempts were made to 

 introduce a methodical and comprehensive system of man- 

 agement. In 1790 the Oak-woods occupied 21 per cent., 

 Beech-woods 40 per cent., and Oak mixed with Beech 39 

 per cent, of the forest area. During the wars which fol- 

 lowed, and during the occupation of the country by the 

 French, the condition of the forests deteriorated rapidly. 

 Oak-timber was cut recklessly, in order to provide money 

 and to satisfy the requisitions of the invading armies. 

 Even more mischievous was the uncontrolled removal of 

 wood and litter by the people settled in and around the 

 forest. In 1820 the area stocked with Oak had been re- 

 duced to 16.4 per cent. Large areas, particularly on the 

 outskirts of the forest and in the northern portion, had been 

 completely devastated, and were no longer in a condition 

 fit to produce Oak and Beech. 



Under these circumstances the task to be accomplished 

 by the Bavarian Government was difficult. In the first 

 instance the administration of these estates had to be organ- 

 ized, boundaries defined and marked on the ground, the 

 forest rights had to be inquired into and their exercise reg- 

 ulated, the forest had to be divided into blocks and com- 

 partments ; it had to be surveyed and mapped, executive 

 and protective officers had to be placed in charge of, and 

 a system of roads for the export of timber had to be built. 

 Apart from this work of general organization there were 



