•October io, 1894. 



Garden and Forest. 



403 



Everywhere in this noble land there is lavishness, sur- 

 plus and unmeasured overflow of energies. Men plant on 

 a scale as vast as the valley in which they work. They 

 put down cuttings of Lombardy Poplars along miles of 

 roadways, and in four years are cutting firewood ; fifty- 

 acre orchards of one kind of Peach or Pear are seen ; 500 

 acres of Raisin Grapes ; miles of avenues, along which rise 

 Palms, huge and columnar, feather-crowned, oriental. 



A' few notes made by me August 17th will, perhaps, 

 serve to illustrate the soil and climate : 



Sweet-potatoes planted in the open ground, June 5th, 

 covered the ground with matted vines. Seed of Japanese 

 Hemp was sown in the open ground June 1st. In sixty 

 days it was over eleven feet high, without branches, in the 

 best condition of fibre ; it grew twenty-nine inches in the 

 first twenty-nine days ; it grew five inches in the twenty- 

 four hours ending July 2d. Abutilon Avencennae and Hi- 

 biscus esculenta grew after a similar fashion. 



All the CucurbitaceEe flourish as they do in the delta of the 

 Nile. Gourds, Melons, Cucumbers, Squashes soon run wild 

 and become a part of the host of the enemy. An arbor of 

 Muskmelons was a feature of one farmstead I visited. 



The rapid growth of vegetables here is leading to care- 

 ful experiments with drying and packing tomatoes, carrots, 

 beets, parsnips, sweet-potatoes, okra and many other veg- 

 etables. Capitalists are becoming interested, and after 

 further experiments will introduce California dried vegeta- 

 bles on a large scale, at first for army and navy use, then 

 for the general market. It is held that the soil and climate 

 offer especial advantages for this industry, because the crop 

 produced per acre is much greater than elsewhere. This 

 seems true of many annual crops, such as Okra, and the 

 development of the industry ought to be rapid. 



As I have hinted, this land is one of immense weeds as 

 well as of wonderful horticulture. In fact, one large dis- 

 trict was long known as "the weed patch," because giant 

 Malvaceae, Compositee, Thistles, Nettles and Brambles made 

 it dreaded by the easy-going pioneers, and they shrank 

 from attacking it. In these subirrigated fields the soil is 

 warm clear through, and is moist three inches below the 

 surface. The weed-seeds ripen, fall and grow immediately, 

 to continue the process indefinitely. Nothing is really 

 more beautiful in all these green and waving lowlands than 

 the occasional wastes islanded in Willows and Cotton- 

 woods along the wide rivers. Here purple and gold flame 

 over shining acres, and no less splendid than the acres of 

 Egyptian Corn and Sorghum are the fields of heavy-fruited 

 vines. 



On the older farms there are some very attractive bits 

 of gardening, chiefly for color. The southern Bignonias, 

 Hibiscuses, Crape Myrtles, and especially Oleanders, give 

 the key-note to many a lawn. Winter frosts limit the range 

 of semi-tropic vegetation, but there is enough that is suita- 

 ble to the district. The Fig, the Vine, the Olive and the 

 Pomegranate are seen everywhere, but the winters are rather 

 cold for the Orange and Lemon, though one finds some 

 old trees. The true citrus districts of Kern Valley, as of the 

 whole San Joaquin, are nearer the foot-hills. 

 Niles, Calif. Charles Howard Shinn. 



Native Trees and Shrubs about Montreal, 

 Canada. — III. 



CORNUS STOLONIFERA, the Red-osier or Red-stemmed 

 Dogwood or Cornel, is, perhaps, the most common 

 species of its genus in some localities in this region. The 

 colors of the stems vary from deep red, or almost blood-red, 

 to light greenish yellow on different individuals, but are 

 usually dark. The ripe white fruits and flowers are often 

 found on the same plant in August. This species seems 

 so like what is called the Cornus alba, L. , of Siberia, that 

 our botanists may yet come to consider one as merely a 

 geographical variation of the other. Forms of our native 

 species have quite as showy stems as the imported kind. 

 C. Baileyi, Coulter & Evans, distinguished and separated 



from C. stolonifera a few years ago, is, so far as I have 

 seen, so like the latter in many characters, that its specific 

 identity seems questionable at least, especially if the Sibe- 

 rian forms are also taken into consideration. Specimens of 

 C. stolonifera, collected at random at Chateauguay and sub- 

 mitted to one of the authorities, were pronounced as "a 

 form of C. Baileyi, which looks strongly toward C. stolo- 

 nifera, between which two species there are some hazy 

 forms. All it lacks to be good C. Baileyi is that the lower 

 leaf-surfaces are not woolly." C. -paniculata, the panicled 

 Cornel, is common in localities. C. alternifolia, or alternate- 

 leaved Cornel, is frequently seen. C. sericea, the Silky 

 Cornel, is abundant, especially in damp places along road- 

 sides and borders of fields. This is another very variable 

 species as now considered. The plants in this region and 

 in northern Vermont, among other superficial differences, 

 have leaves distinctly narrower and paler on the lower sur- 

 face, when compared with those growing in southern New 

 England. C. circinata, the round-leaved Cornel, is not rare. 



Sambucus racemosa, the early red-berried Elder, which 

 also bears the name of Stinking Elder in the Adirondacks, 

 is common, and the fruit is a favorite food of birds. S. Can- 

 adensis, the common Elder, known as the Sweet Elder in 

 the Adirondacks, is plentiful, generally on low ground. Its 

 broad clusters of white flowers begin to be showy about 

 the time the bright red fruit of the preceding species is ripe. 



Viburnum lantanoides, the Hobble-bush, or American 

 Wayfaring-tree, the latter name being rarely applied, al- 

 though given in the botanies, is plentiful in cool woods, 

 particularly where the soil is rocky. In its native habitat 

 it is a beautiful shrub in flower, fruit and leaf, but it is 

 rarely cultivated with success and satisfaction. In some 

 forests it forms almost the only undershrub. Locally it 

 sometimes gets the name of Moosewood, and in the Adi- 

 rondack Mountains the guides commonly call it "Witch- 

 Plopple," although Dogwood is a name sometimes applied. 

 V. opulus, the High-bush Cranberry, is common on rocky 

 moist soils and on rocky islands in the river. The bright 

 red-colored fruit is sometimes used as a substitute for the 

 true Cranberries, which do not grow here. V. acerifolium, 

 the Maple-leaved Viburnum, is common. V. dentatum, 

 called Arrow-wood, is commonly found growing in similar 

 situations as the silky Cornel and the next species. V. cas- 

 sinoides, Withe-rod, is common in many localities. V. 

 Lentago, the Sheep-berry or Sweet Viburnum, bears a num- 

 ber of local names. It attains to small tree form, and the 

 fruit, when dead ripe, or after it has been touched with frost, 

 is considered very palatable by many of the inhabitants. 



Symphoricarpos racemosus, the Snowberry, grows appar- 

 ently wild at Chateauguay, but I am uncertain whether it is 

 native or has been transplanted from some other locality. 



Lonicera hirsuta, the Hairy Honeysuckle, or what ap- 

 pears to be this species, is rarely found on the south side 

 of the St. Lawrence. L. glauca is common, and is some- 

 times transplanted into gardens. L. oblongifolia is very 

 rarely found in swampy woods near the river. L. ciliata, 

 the Fly Honeysuckle, is often found in woods, most com- 

 monly on decaying logs or stumps. 



Diervilla trifida, our rather insignificant representative of 

 the showy Japanese Weigelas, is quite common in some 

 localities, especially on sandy or gravelly banks or borders 

 of streams. 



Cephalanthus occidentalis, the Button-bush, is abundant 

 in swamps and along the muddy margins of ponds and 

 sluggish streams and ditches. 



As already stated, plants belonging to the family of 

 Heaths or Ericaceae are rarities in the immediate vicinity 

 of Montreal, although abundant in localities not far away, 

 or within an hour's ride by rail. Occasionally plants may 

 be found along the shores of the St. Lawrence in sandy 

 spots. In such a situation I once found Vaccinium corym- 

 bosum on the Nun's Island, at the mouth of the Chateau- 

 guay River, but it was afterward destroyed. The fruits of 

 several species of Vaccinium of the Blueberry group are 

 commonly called "Bluets" by the French Canadians. Of 



