October 



1894.] 



Garden and Forest. 



393 



Pyrus Malus, the common cultivated Apple, is to be 

 found apparently naturalized and wild in many parts of 

 the Caughnawaga Indian Reservation, on the south side 

 of the St. Lawrence. It seems to delight in the warm, 

 rocky limestone soil, where it mingles with wild Red 

 Plums, Hawthorns and wild Grapes. The presence of 

 these plants is generally a good indication of fine orchard 

 and vineyard land. P. nigra, Sargent, the P. arbutifolia, 

 var. melanocarpa, Hook., of Gray's Manual, is found in 

 damp places. 



Hawthorns occur in abundance in this region, the soil 

 and other conditions being apparently well suited to them. 

 The determination of the species is often a puzzling matter, 

 and there seems every reason to believe that the species 

 sometimes hybridize when growing together, resulting in 

 departures from specific types. 



Crataegus coccinea, the Scarlet-fruited Hawthorn, is found 

 here, but the variety known as macrantha, Dudley, seems 

 most abundant, and forms extensive thickets in some locali- 

 ties. It may yet be shown that this so-called variety is 

 deserving of specific rank. In rtie pastures on the south 

 side of the St. Lawrence thousands of these bushes or 

 small trees have been browsed upon annually until they 

 have assumed many odd shapes. Wherever browsed upon 

 the plants become very dense and compact. They would 

 make good hedge-plants if they did not sometimes show 

 a tendency to throw up suckers. C. mollis, also called 

 Scarlet Haw, is fairly common, ripening its very large, 

 handsome, bright scarlet, pleasant-flavored, juicy fruits in 

 the latter part of August, before any other kind. In local 

 lists this species has often passed under the botanical name 

 of the next. C. tomentosa. I have seen what I take to be 

 this species on the south side of the St. Lawrence, near 

 Chateauguay ; but specimens were not collected or notes 

 made. C. punctata, the Dotted Thorn, is the most hand- 

 some and becomes the largest of all the Hawthorns in this 

 region. It is abundant, and grows as a low, horizontally 

 branched tree, the branches sometimes spreading over a 

 diameter of forty feet, and the short trunks having a cir- 

 cumference of three feet or more. From its peculiar hori- 

 zontal habit, the tree may generally be identified at some 

 distance. The leaves show considerable variation on dif- 

 ferent individuals, and the large, nearly round, fruit varies 

 from a dull red to a bright yellow color, sprinkled over 

 with white dots. The flesh is of firm texture, and in the 

 early spring, after the snows have melted, the " haws " may 

 be found fresh and sound among the leaves, and possessing 

 a not unpleasant medlar-like flavor. C. Crus-galli, the 

 Cockspur Thorn, is found growing naturally near the 

 shores of the St. Lawrence, a couple of miles above the 

 mouth of the Chateauguay River. The specimens are very 

 distinct and typical, and this is probably the most northern 

 recorded range of the species. 



Arnold Arborelum. J • Cr. JdCK. 



Foreign Correspondence. 



London Letter. 



An English Vineyard. — An interesting paper was read at 

 the meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society, last Tues- 

 day, by Mr. Pettigrew, gardener to the Marquis of Bute at 

 Cardiff Castle. It described a vineyard, formed nearly 

 twenty years ago after the French system, on the side of a 

 hill facing south, where the Vines are planted in rows and 

 trained and pruned as in Burgundy. The grapes are used 

 for wine-making, and wine of very good quality is obtained 

 from them, some of it having realized the fancy price of 

 over five pounds per dozen. The cultivation of the Grape- 

 vine in the open air in England for its fruit is so rarely 

 practiced that many people think it impossible. But Mr. 

 Pettigrew has shown that very good fruit can be grown in 

 a field in South Wales, good enough to be eaten as dessert, 

 and if used in the making of wine a profitable enough crop. 

 The record of vintages, however, shows the precarious- 

 ness of the experiment, unfavorable seasons having se- 



riously affected the yield, which in some years was little or 

 nothing. But in a favorable season, such as that of 1887, 

 the crop was an abundant one, and 3,600 bottles of good 

 wine were obtained from it. The best season of all was 

 last year, when the crop was exceptionally heavy, and 

 yielded 12,000 bottles of wine, which realized three pounds 

 per dozen. The extent of the vineyard is about four acres. 

 The variety of Grape grown is a French one named Gammy 

 Noir. The wine is made on the estate under the superin- 

 tendence of Mr. Pettigrew. 



Foreign Fruit. — The lot of the English grower of fruit 

 for the home market is being made harder, and, as things 

 are now tending, will soon become insupportable. There 

 is no question of the good qualities of much of the imported 

 fruit obtainable in England now, for it is good enough in 

 flavor for ordinary palates, and, as a rule, much cheaper 

 than English-grown fruit can ever be. I bought Californian 

 peaches and pears from a coster's barrow last Saturday 

 which were delicious eating, and about one-third the price 

 of English fruit of the same quality. The consumer gen- 

 erally wants as good an article as he can get at as low a 

 price as possible, the question of its source being to him of 

 little or no import. It is, therefore, of little help to English 

 growers to offer, as the Board of Agriculture now does, to 

 undertake to prosecute any one found selling foreign fruit 

 for English-grown. I was not deterred from buying my 

 peaches and pears by the information, readily supplied by 

 the vender, that they were Californian. I know enough of 

 the cost of producing such fruit in England to be certain 

 that it could not pay if sold anything like so cheaply. As 

 a consumer I welcome the tons of choice fruit now brought 

 from south Africa, Australia, California, etc., but they mean 

 something like starvation for the English growers of such 

 fruit. 



The National Dahlia Society's Show is now an annual 

 event of almost as much importance as the great Rose 

 Exhibition. It is held at the Crystal Palace, and invariably 

 attracts great crowds. This year's show took place last 

 week, when the exhibits were unusually numerous. Valua- 

 ble prizes are competed for by exhibitors, who come from 

 all parts of the country. The great Dahlia fanciers, such 

 as Turner, of Slough ; Keynes Williams & Co., of Salisbury ; 

 John Walker, of Thame ; J. Burrell & Sons, of Cambridge ; 

 J. Cheal & Sons, of Crawley, sent large collections of fine 

 blooms, the variety in size, color and form being truly as- 

 tonishing. The improvement of the Dahlia as a garden- 

 flower has been the direct outcome of the formation of the 

 National Dahlia Society. The work of the breeder and 

 grower among Dahlias is quite as remarkable as anything 

 in horticulture, not even excepting Begonias and Roses. 



Phyllocactuses. — While Cactuses generally receive very 

 little attention from English horticulturists, the genus Phyl- 

 locactus is rapidly assuming a prominent position among 

 popular plants for the greenhouse. Messrs. J. Veitch&Sons 

 have now a large stock of seedlings and hybrids, many of 

 them of recent origin, and they anticipate an eager demand 

 for them when they are better known. No plants are more 

 easy to manage, and there are not many which flower freer 

 or make a finer display when in flower. There are all shades 

 of color between pure white and crimson, and a consider- 

 able range of size from the gigantic variety known as J. T. 

 Peacock, which has flowers nearly a foot across, to the 

 smaller varieties, such as carminata, a seedling with flow- 

 ers no larger than rose-buds. If planted out-of-doors for 

 the summer and lifted and kept in a dry shed till they be- 

 gin to show flower, these plants make a magnificent dis- 

 play. 



Hedysarum coronarium, the ''Sulla" ot French, German 

 and Italian agriculturists and the " French honeysuckle " 

 of English gardens, is the subject of a eulogiumin the Gar- 

 deners' Chronicle this week as a fodder-plant for dry coun- 

 tries, the writer, Captain Oliver, having seen it grown with 

 astonishing success in Algeria. He commends it to the 

 notice of English horticulturists as " a fit ornament for 

 bedding purposes," evidently without knowing that it is an 



