37o 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 342. 



and sciences in other fields of human progress is largely 

 due to the fact that they lack a permanent and attractive 

 literature. He modestly adds that this series is not ex- 

 pected to supply a want of this sort, and yet it certainly 

 will do much to furnish the data for such a literature. If 

 this series had been begun twenty-five years ago, and care- 

 fully carried out in the direction and within the limits now 

 laid down by Professor Bailey, we should have to-day a 

 collection of material which would be invaluable for refer- 

 ence to students of horticulture. 



Notes. 



Perhaps our readers should be advised that it is Dr. Edward 

 Palmer himself whose portrait appears in the illustration of the 

 grove of Tree Morning-glories on page 364 of this issue. 



The beauty of the hips of Rosa rugosa is well known, and 

 not long ago one of our correspondents spoke of their edible 

 qualities. In reference to this last suggestion, a correspondent 

 writes that these fruits are highly valued in France and Ger- 

 many for their flavor in preserves, soups, marmalades and 

 ices. 



There is a certain stiffness about the shrubby Althaeas which 

 does not commend them to some persons, but everyone must 

 admire the cheerful way in which they endure a drought. Just 

 now, when the foliage is dropping from many sturdy shrubs 

 in parks and gardens, the leaves of the Althaeas look fresh and 

 the flowers seem brighter than usual. 



It is well known that various Grasses constitute the greater 

 portion of the flora of our western plains and prairies. Ac- 

 cording to a bulletin of the South Dakota Experiment Sta- 

 tion, about 160 species of these are native to that state, and 

 although a few of them are weeds, most of them are more or 

 less useful as forage plants. But, although so many different 

 species of useful Grasses are known, seventy per cent, ot the 

 hay from native growth is obtained from less than a dozen 

 species. The same is true of the native pasturage, ninety-five 

 per cent, of which comes from less than twenty different 

 species. In any one locality the number of kinds rarely ex- 

 ceeds half a dozen. 



Attention is called by the Springfield Republican to one fact 

 in relation to the abandoned farms of Massachusetts which 

 has not been generally considered, which is that many of 

 these farms are being stripped of their timber in a merciless 

 and unnecessary way. Certain people make a business of buy- 

 ing the farms where trees are standing and setting up a steam 

 sawmill at once to turn them into lumber and money. This 

 is a profitable operation forthe buyer, who abandons the farm 

 again as soon as he has skinned it. Of course, all this is against 

 public policy, and if any intelligent attention was given to the 

 general welfare there would be authority somewhere to arrest 

 this wanton slaughter of the woods. 



The Gardeners' Magazine states that an Alpine garden has 

 just been opened by the Botanical Society of Montreux on the 

 summit of Rochers de Naye. The soil of the area devoted to 

 the garden is of good depth and quality, and it is sheltered 

 from the north and east by rocks. Planting was begun late in 

 May last, as soon as the snow had melted, and was completed 

 in June. The new garden is named after Professor Favrat, of 

 Lausanne, who has devoted much attention to the project. It 

 differs from other gardens in which experiments are made 

 with Alpine vegetation in the fact it is on the summit of a 

 mountain, and it will thus assist in solving many problems 

 that could not be studied elsewhere. 



On the 7th of August an unusually heavy hail and thunder 

 storm swept over the city of Berlin and its vicinity, and in- 

 flicted great damage on all vegetation, practically destroying 

 the fruit-crop. Not only were many fruit-trees uprooted and 

 large branches twisted off of those which remained, but the 

 remnant of fruit which was left on the trees is scarred and 

 gashed so as to be unmarketable. The commercial florists 

 and gardeners have suffered so seriously from the loss of 

 glass and plants that their business for the time seems practi- 

 cally ruined. The disaster to these people has been so serious 

 that the General Secretary of the Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Horticulture has issued an appeal to professional and 

 amateur gardeners to send contributions of plants, cuttings 

 and any other assistance to the sufferers. 



Meehans' Monthly publishes a note from G. M. West, of 

 Michigan, who states that Trillium grandiflorum grows in 



the hardwood section of the upper peninsula of Michigan in 

 such abundance, and with such luxuriance of habit, size of 

 flowers, purity of color and firmness of texture as can be found 

 nowhere else in the United States. Flowers measuring six 

 inches across are not uncommon. The petals do not turn to 

 dull pink when they ripen, as they usually do elsewhere, but 

 persist in a pure white color. They are usually in full flower on 

 Decoration Day, and are freely used on that occasion. The flow- 

 er-stalks should be cut when 'the buds are fully grown, but just 

 before they open, and with long stems ; and if taken into a 

 house where they can be kept at a temperature of sixty-five 

 degrees they will not only expand fully, but grow much 

 larger than they do in the woods. 



The killing drought of the past summer has turned the 

 thoughts of horticulturists to the advantages of irrigation, and 

 among other methods the delivery of water below the sur- 

 face — sub-irrigation, as it is called — is the subject of renewed 

 discussion. Professor Taft, of the Michigan Agricultural Col- 

 lege, writes to The Florists' Exchange that his experiments 

 seem to show that there will be few seasons when one and a 

 half inches of water, applied once a week, will not be enough 

 for any crop in any soil. This amounts to something like 

 1,200 barrels an acre, but in many soils when sub-irrigation is 

 practiced no more than one-half or one-third of this amount 

 will be needed. Ordinarily a good deal less than a gallon to 

 the square foot will be required if applied once a week in the 

 driest season. When tiles are properly laid, that is, laid as 

 nearly level as possible, water can be given in this way more 

 easily and evenly than in surface furrows. 



The oversupply of California fruit in eastern markets since 

 the ending of the railroad strike early in August, has made 

 prices so low as to be unprofitable to the growers, and last 

 week but fifty-eight car-loads were sold in this city. The pears 

 and peaches are much larger than those which came a few 

 weeks ago. Plums are becoming less abundant. The 

 market for dried prunes is promising since the partial 

 failure of the prune crop in France. While the California 

 crop is not large, this fruit will be profitable, since the associa- 

 tions have set the mirdmum price at six cents a pound. In a 

 dispatch to the New York Tribune it is stated that no less than 

 409,720 pounds of dried apricots were shipped from San Jos£ 

 last week. Tokay grapes are the most popular variety of this 

 fruit, but these are yet comparatively small and lacking in high 

 color. The first grape-fruit from Jamaica, of medium size 

 and not fully ripened, is being offered at five dollars a box. 

 The first Japanese persimmons from Florida have reached 

 here later in the season than last year, and so far are of infe- 

 rior quality. Cape Cod cranberries have been here for more 

 than a week, and the best-colored bring $8.00 a barrel at whole- 

 sale. Huckleberries — probably brought out of cold storage — 

 are still occasionally seen in the markets. Until last week fresh 

 asparagus from New Jersey could be had at twenty-five cents 

 a bunch. Crisp, well-blanched celery is abundant and cheap, 

 and this comes from Long Island, New Jersey and the western 

 states. 



A bulletin on the effect of spraying nursery-stock with fungi- 

 cides, designated as No. 7 of the Division of Vegetable Pa- 

 thology, has just been issued by the United States Department 

 of Agriculture. During three years, in the nurseries of Franklin 

 Davis & Co., Mulliken, Maryland, more than a million Pear, 

 Plum, Cherry and Apple trees have been treated under the 

 direction of Dr. B. T. Galloway, and the practice has so com- 

 mended itself to the proprietors that they do not hesitate to 

 pronounce it equal in importance to cultivation or fertilization 

 of the soil. Different leaf-blights attack both the seedlings and 

 the budded or grafted stock of all these trees. Without going 

 into details, it may generally be stated that the Bordeaux mix- 

 ture increased the growth of the stock, especially of Pears and 

 Cherries; that the application is thoroughly practicable ; that 

 it need not cost more than twenty-five cents a thousand trees 

 the first year, and the same amount the second year, while the 

 cost will be increased to thirty-five or forty cents the third 

 year, making the entire cost of treating nursery-stock until the 

 buds are two years old from eighty-five cents to a dollar a 

 thousand. The result is better trees every way and a hand- 

 some profit. The experiments seem to have been conducted 

 throughout in a thoroughly scientific way, the diagrams and 

 figures are very helpful in illustrating the text, and the bul- 

 letin is commended to every grower of fruit-trees. It has 

 often been suggested that the spray of the Bordeaux mixture 

 seems to have a direct stimulating influence upon the growth 

 of some plants apart from its value as a preventive of fungous 

 diseases, and these experiments seem to bear out the theory, 

 especially in the case of Pear-trees. 



