December 5, 1894.] 



Garden and Forest. 



481 



GARDEN AND FOREST. 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO. 



Office: Tribune Building, New York. 



Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent. 



ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST-OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y. 



NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1894. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Editorial Articles: — American Horticulture 4 8 r 



One Effect of the Russian Thistle Invasion 4 S 2 



An Appropriate Fence. (With figure.) 4 8 2 



Late Autumn in the Pines Mrs. Mary Treat. 4S2 



The Wild Cherry in the West Professor Charles A. Keffer. 483 



Foreign Correspondence : — London Letter w. Watson. 483 



Plant Notes :— The Ridgley Chestnut Professor M. H. Beckiuith. 484 



Cultural Department:— A New Method of Irrigation. .'.Professor F. IV. Pane. 486 



Indian Azaleas T. D. H. 486 



Rose Notes IV. H. Taplin. 487 



Protecting Strawberries IV A 7 ". Crai°-. 4S7 



Correspondence : — Planting White Pine H. IV. Sitter. 487 



Extracting Cedar of Lebanon Seeds A. S Fuller. 488 



Chrysanthemums for Outdoor Culture John Chamberlin. 48S 



The Walking Fern and its Haunts Lora S. La Mance. 48S 



Recent Publications 4 88 



Notes .....!." 489 



Illustration :— Fence of the Germantown Cricket Club, Fig. 77 485 



American Horticulture. 



AMONG the records of permanent value which have 

 been made by commissions who represented foreign 

 governments at the Chicago International Exhibition of 

 1893 we have seen none more comprehensive and thorough 

 than the report of Monsieur Maurice L. de Vilmorin, who 

 was Secretary of the Committee on ' Horticulture from 

 France. This makes a large and beautifully printed octavo 

 volume of two hundred and thirty-odd pages, and while it 

 gives a clear account of the French horticultural exhibit, 

 together with a sketch of the horticultural material from 

 other foreign countries, by far the larger portion of the 

 work is taken up with a review of the present condition of 

 horticulture in the United States. The house of which 

 Monsieur de Vilmorin is a member has had for years large 

 business relations with the horticulturists of this country ; 

 he had traveled extensively in this country before, and 

 during the season of 1893 he made extensive journeys 

 over various parts of our territory. These opportunities, 

 a habit of trained observation and a familiarity with the 

 subject in all its multiform phases give great authority to 

 his statements and weight to his judgment in all matters 

 discussed. 



After a general introduction on the rapid growth of hor- 

 ticulture in the United States, Monsieur de Vilmorin writes 

 at some length of fruit-culture in particular, its impor- 

 tance, its history and its tendencies, and he adds a care- 

 ful review of the methods pursued in the temperate parts 

 . of our country with our various orchard and stone fruits, 

 grapes and small fruits, besides an account of the cultiva- 

 tion of subtropical fruits in the warmer portions of the 

 country. This is followed by a singularly clear description 

 of our market-gardens and truck-farms with the methods 

 of cultivation, transportation and marketing. In fact, we 

 are not aware that so much accurate information on these 

 subjects has ever before been collected, even for American 

 readers, and we hope in future issues of this journal to 

 treat more fully some of the topics suggested in this section. 

 The third part of the report, and one that will have 

 special interest for readers of Garden and Forest, is de- 

 voted to ornamental horticulture and floriculture in the 



United States. Monsieur de Vilmorin notes the natural and 

 historical causes which have impeded the development of the 

 highest taste in garden-art among us. It is only in the long- 

 est-settled parts of the Union where there are any estates 

 that have been handed down for some generations and 

 have such a connection with the family history as to inspire 

 strong local attachments. Even in these older states there 

 is more movement of the population than in European 

 countries, and, therefore, not such strong reasons for deco- 

 rating home-grounds. A great portion of our large terri- 

 tory is still practically in the pioneer stage, and the popu- 

 lation, engaged in mining and lumbering and other indus- 

 trial work, have enough to do to build comfortable houses, 

 without any attempt to adorn their surroundings ; and even 

 in the sections where there is a certain stability of popu- 

 lation, the country is still new and lacks that mellowness 

 which only comes to a land which has long been subdued 

 and moulded to the wants and ways of men and women 

 who have lived in it and loved it. Monsieur de Vilmorin 

 remarks, too, that in the New England states and New 

 York the rigor of our winters makes it impossible to grow 

 numbers of garden-plants which are easily cultivated in 

 southern France, for example. We do not count this as a 

 serious drawback, however. We have plants enough, and 

 usually try to grow too many. Besides this, there are many 

 flowering shrubs and trees and herbs which are more beauti- 

 ful here than they are in milder climates, and quite as interest- 

 ing and attractive as the most showy products of the tropics. 

 If our climate presents difficulties, they have helped, as 

 is suggested in this report, to stimulate the zeal of ama- 

 teurs in the cultivation of our own beautiful species of 

 shrubs and trees, besides many others from Japan and 

 China and the lofty mountains of India, until the variety 

 which has been secured for outdoor planting leaves 

 nothing to be desired. 



The beauty of some gardens in New England and the 

 middle states very plainly impressed Monsieur de Vilmorin, 

 and he was somewhat surprised at many of those he visited 

 in the southern states about Mobile and New Orleans, and at 

 the flower-embowered houses of southern California, 

 where the genial climate will soon make a paradise 

 with a little aid, and where the natural flora, both her- 

 baceous and woody, is one of almost unexampled rich- 

 ness. In these favored parts of our country, especially in 

 the towns, the lavish floral garniture left in his memory 

 impressions like those made by the great gardens of 

 Cannes and Nice. What he was not prepared for, how- 

 ever, was the fact that, in less favored climates and in 

 states which had been settled in comparatively recent 

 years, cities like Minneapolis, Cleveland and Detroit, and 

 the towns of British Columbia, had developed such activity 

 and. in the main, such good taste in decorative gardening. 



What particularly arrested the attention of" Monsieur 

 de Vilmorin in our northern cities, where the winters are so 

 long and severe, is the generous support given to commer- 

 cial floriculture. The abundance of cut flowers, especially 

 of Roses and Orchids, and of Palms and other plants used 

 for their form and foliage, is not only alluded to, but the 

 report contains some account of the general method in 

 which they are disposed in decorative work. The statis- 

 tics of the wonderfully rapid growth of commercial flori- 

 culture are very carefully compiled from our Census and 

 other sources, and special methods of cultivation are 

 described. Then follows a sketch of American Rose-cul- 

 ture and the propagation of the plants, for forcing and for 

 outdoor planting, and an estimate of the value of some of 

 our best native shrubs and trees, like the Cornels, Rhodo- 

 dendrons, Kalmias, Andromedas, Sumachs, etc., together 

 with the climbing plants ami Grasses most generally 

 used in our ornamental planting. After this we have 

 an admirable section on cut flowers, including those 

 raised in the open air and under glass, with the 

 methods of cultivating each, and another section on 

 the cultivation of plants foi market. It may be said 

 here that the production of so many varieties of the 



