482 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 354. 



Bouvardia, with flowers of singularly pure color and admira- 

 bly adapted for cutting, is noted by Monsieur de Vilmorin 

 as one of the happiest examples of American horticultural 

 skill. 



In concluding bis review of ornamental horticulture in 

 the United States, Monsieur de Vilmorin does not restrain 

 his admiration at its wonderful development in so short a 

 time. He was impressed, too, with the marked advance 

 in garden art which had taken place since his visit only 

 sixteen years ago, and with the fact that it already fills 

 such an important place in the daily lives of a young peo- 

 ple. We are pleased to know that he found so much to 

 approve in the skilled work of the various sections of the 

 Department of Agriculture, and in the researches carried 

 on at the experiment sations and some of the agricultural 

 colleges, particularly those against fungi and insects, 

 which he finds in their thorough and practical quality 

 abreast of the best scientific investigation of the time. 

 Among other educational influences which he enumerates 

 as making the progress of horticulture in the country 

 secure for the future, Monsieur de Vilmorin says, of the 

 Arnold Arboretum, that it embraces the most complete 

 collection of trees and shrubs which now exists in the 

 world, and that every year adds to its richness and helps to 

 place the establishment on a more elevated plane. We must 

 pass with casual reference his appreciative notice of the 

 landscape-gardening in our public parks and cemeteries 

 and of some conspicuously good railroad planting like 

 that which has been begun by the Boston and Albany Rail- 

 road in the vicinity of Boston ; his approval of our various 

 horticultural societies ; his commendation of the work of 

 Garden and Forest in its peculiar field, and his high 

 estimate of'the usefulness of the horticultural press in gen- 

 eral. His summing up of the whole suggests some 

 points in which the prosperity of American horticulture 

 ought to be instructive to older countries, and in a 

 future issue of this journal we hope to show that these 

 observations furnish wholesome food for reflection to 

 the people of the United States as well as to the people 

 of France. 



The alarm which has been excited by the invasion of 

 the so-called Russian Thistle has had the good effect of 

 making our farmers suspicious of every strange plant as a 

 possible enemy. Indeed, many common weeds which 

 have been before their eyes every summer, but which they 

 have never observed and practically never seen, are now 

 likely to throw them into a panic. For some years the 

 Prickly Lettuce has been a common inhabitant of the 

 northern part of Indian Territory, but Professor Arthur 

 writes that although the plant has little real resemblance 

 to the Russian Thistle its prickly leaves have raised that 

 suspicion, and many specimens have been received at the 

 Experiment Station of that state with the inquiry whether 

 or no they were that dreaded pest. Even so far eastward as 

 New Jersey the common St. Johnswort, Hypericum per- 

 foratum, is sent to the station with the inquiry whether or 

 no it is not the Russian Thistle. It is worth noting that 

 the specimen sent to the New Jersey station consisted of 

 dilapidated and disguised portions of a plant with abun- 

 dant seed-pods which was taken from a car-load of stable 

 litter bought in New York by a truck farmer, and this 

 instance shows how manure from the city stables can 

 operate as a disseminator of noxious weeds. What we 

 wish primarily to observe, however, is that this alarm 

 over the Russian Thistle will serve some good purpose if 

 it arouses farmers to a more careful study of the whole 

 subject of weeds. Anything which impels them to gain 

 new information as to the particular habits of these pests, 

 and the best way of attacking and subduing them, will 

 prove a substantial service to agriculture. In our short 

 dry summers the loss of the water which is stolen from 

 cultivated plants by weeds is often enough of itself to make 

 a crop unprofitable. 



An Appropriate Fence. 



The picture we give on page 485 shows an excellent 

 type of fence for the enclosure of grounds which do not 

 need to be walled-in, and yet, being spacious and dig- 

 nified, demand something more than a mere wooden pal- 

 ing or an iron one of an ordinary commercial kind. It 

 was built by Messrs. McKim, Mead & White, whose beau- 

 tiful gateways to the yard of Harvard University, in Cam- 

 bridge, are similar in character, although, as befits their 

 station, more stately and ornate. The piers are of brick, 

 slightly varying in color and laid-up with wide mortar- 

 joints, so that the monotonous mechanical effect of our 

 customary brick-work is avoided. The cappings are of 

 stone, and the iron-work is simple, yet relieved from bald- 

 ness by the introduction of two slender ornamental motives 

 between each pair of the piers. The general result is sober, 

 quiet, unostentatious, and not too pronouncedly urban, 

 yet, on the other hand, vigorous, durable, refined and 

 dignified — not too distinctly rural. 



The grounds thus protected are those of the Germantown 

 Cricket Club, near Philadelphia. When cricket is not being 

 played they are much used by lawn-tennis players ; and 

 the buildings erected by the same architects who designed 

 the fence, add conspicuously to their beauty as well as to 

 the comfort of their frequenters. In addition to the main 

 club-house, there is a smaller one for the use of ladies, and 

 also a grand-stand, which, with its fine lines and propor- 

 tions and slender classic colonnades, is equally entitled to 

 be called a work of architectural art. We have heard it 

 affirmed that these are the most beautiful cricket-grounds in 

 the world ; and whether this be strictly true or not, we can 

 well believe that their grand-stand excels any other in 

 dignity and grace. 



The tree which overhangs the fence in the foreground of 

 our picture is an old specimen of the Yellow-wood, or Vir- 

 gilia (Cladrastis lutea). It is eccentric in shape and, there- 

 fore, not the best example which could be shown of this 

 beautiful species. Nevertheless, it has a special claim upon 

 our interest, for it is believed to be the oldest Virgilia in 

 the United States that is known to have been planted by 

 the hand of man. 



Late Autumn in the Pines. 



THE foliage of trees is only one of their attractive fea- 

 tures, and late autumn brings out others quite as 

 interesting as the summer clothing. This is specially true 

 of the Sweet Gum. As the handsome fragrant leaves loosen 

 their hold they leave behind globular heads swaying on 

 long slender pedicels, which are really ornamental, more 

 ornamental, in fact, than useful, as nearly all of them are 

 filled with a powdery dust and no seed whatever. And the 

 corky, ridged branchlets are curious, too, and the dark 

 gray trunk, so clean and healthy, is a delight to the eye. 

 No insects seem to mar it. Can it be that the pleasant 

 fragrance of the wood is distasteful to these pests? True, 

 we occasionally see some of the more rare larvae, like the 

 queen of the night, the lovely Luna, feeding on the leaves, 

 and the great larva of the fine imperial moth is sometimes 

 seen here, too, as if the tree was too good for common 

 insects, and only fit for royal ones. 



Some of the Black Oaks are wonderfully attractive in late 

 autumn, persistently holding their deep scarlet and dark 

 crimson leaves until well into winter, and the dark rugged 

 trunks are also handsome. Another interesting feature of 

 the Black Oaks is that they are never destitute of fruit, as 

 it takes two years for the acorns to mature. And this 

 makes even our little Scrub Oak attractive in winter. But 

 the Oak, almost more than any other tree, is the home of 

 many noxious insects. More than two hundred known 

 species are catalogued as preying upon them, some living 

 on the leaves, others in the acorns, still others in the young 

 branches, causing them to fall, so that every autumn the 

 ground beneath the trees is almost covered with the twigs. 

 This is the work of the larva of a little pruning beetle, but 



