26 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 152. 



Drive even now the equally attractive West Drive is com- 

 paratively vacant, and if after years of labor the capacity 

 of the East Drive were doubled it would probably be de- 

 serted for Riverside or some other carriage road. The 

 system of drives and bridle paths which are in process of 

 construction, and are to connect Central Park with Morn- 

 ing-side and Riverside, and which can be completed in two 

 years, ought to offer accommodation for all who ride or 

 drive for pleasure until the extensive park areas further 

 north are made ready for the growing city. In this great 

 system of roads there can be found better opportunities 

 for those who drive for the sake of driving, or for the display 

 of horses and horsemanship, or of dress and equipage, than 

 can be afforded in the narrow limits of Central Park, which, 

 it should be remembered, will soon be a down-town park. 

 Those who visit this park on foot will multiply much more 

 rapidly than the visitors in carriages, and if it is to serve 

 its highest purpose for the refreshment of this thronging 

 population, its character as a rural retreat must be preserved. 



The first issue of the Gardeners' Chronicle for the year is 

 a jubilee number devoted largely to a commemoration of 

 the fiftieth anniversary of that journal's first appearance. 

 Founded by Dr. Lindley and Sir Joseph Paxton, its policy 

 has always been directed by men of accurate knowledge and 

 scientific temper. Its trustedcorrespondents have been among 

 the foremost of skilled cultivators and recognized authorities 

 in the sciences related to horticulture. During its life of 

 half a century its influence has tended to elevate and dig- 

 nify the art of horticulture, not only in England, but 

 throughout the world, and it was never more worthy to 

 command respect than under its present management. Our 

 venerable cotemporary is to be congratulated on the pos- 

 session of so honorable a history, while its future is bright 

 with the promise of ever increasing usefulness. 



A correspondent of the Northwestern Lumberman, in a 

 recent issue of that journal, describes, with the aid of an 

 illustration made from a beautiful photograph, a small tract 

 of virgin forest on the northern slope of the Adirondack moun- 

 tains. This picture gives some idea of what these forests 

 were before their ruin had been largely effected by irre- 

 sponsible management. The tract in question consists of 

 1,748 acres of land, and is situated in the town of Duane, 

 on the banks of Deer River. It is supposed to contain not 

 less than 10,000,006 feet of pine, and the trees, as they 

 appear in the illustration, stand close together, with tall, 

 straight, beautiful shafts. The Pines are mixed with Spruce 

 and hard-wood-trees, and lie in clusters on the ridges. 

 The trees are sound, running as high as forty or fifty inches 

 on the stump. From the northern slope of the Adiron- 

 dacks it is safe to say, this writer remarks, that two-thirds 

 of the original Pine has been cut away, although in the 

 central portion of the wilderness large tracts are yet un- 

 touched. In the south-west corner of the wilderness are 

 dense forests of Spruce with some Pines scattered through 

 them. These forests, however, are now being invaded by 

 operators on a large scale, and their ruin is only a ques- 

 tion of time. The most extensive lumbering now being 

 done in the northern Adirondack region is on the San Regis 

 River, spruce and pine being cut indiscriminately. Log- 

 ging railroads, as they are understood in the west, are not, 

 however, in use, the rivers being generally depended on to 

 float the logs to the mills. 



Methods of Quickening the Germination of Seeds. 



TT is almost always desirable to hasten the germination of 

 -*• seeds, not only that plants may be obtained more quickly, 

 but also that their long exposure to the enemies which exist in 

 the soil and destroy them, or many of them, if seeds are allowed 

 to remain in the ground too long before germinating, may be 

 avoided. As a general rule, the fresher seeds are, the quicker 

 they germinate, and, with the exception of the cases here 

 enumerated, it is desirable to sow, as far as possible, the last 

 seeds to ripen on any given plant. The exceptions are : 



First. Where double flowers are desired, as in the case of 

 Zinnias, China Asters, etc. 



Second. Where plants are likely to be ruined by an excess of 

 growth at the expense of heading, such as in the case of Let- 

 tuce, Cabbage, etc. 



Third. Where plants are liable to produce leaves at the ex- 

 pense of flowers and fruits, as in the case of Tomatoes, Cucum- 

 bers, Melons, etc. 



Other things being equal, seeds preserved in their natural 

 envelopes up to the time of planting germinate much better 

 and more quickly than those which have been washed and 

 preserved without covering, even if kept in paper or cloth 

 bags in a dry, equable temperature. With few exceptions, 

 all seeds with fleshy coats should be preserved in their natural 

 covering as long as possible. When their natural covering is 

 removed, if the planting-time has not come, it is always safe 

 to place the seeds between layers of fine sand containing at 

 least ten per cent, of humidity, and so preserve them from 

 direct contact with the atmosphere. Seeds of the Grapevine 

 washed and dried at the time the fruit ripened, and then placed 

 in bags and sown the following spring, germinated only in the 

 proportion of eight to ten to the hundred the first year, while 

 others did not germinate until the second or third year. The 

 plants produced by these had the seed-leaves nearly always 

 blotched with white. A part of the same seed preserved in 

 their pulp to the end of December, and then placed in sand 

 until the sowing-time, germinated much more quickly and in 

 the proportion of seventy-five to eighty in a hundred. The 

 same precaution is necessary in the case of various large oily 

 seeds, such as the seeds of Oaks, the Tea-plant, the Camellia, 

 Laurels, Chestnuts, Beeches, etc., which lose in a large part 

 their power of germination if preserved during the winter in 

 bags, and require to be sown as soon as ripe, or, at least, to be 

 preserved in sand, and so prepared for germination when the 

 time for sowing arrives. This is the best method, too, in the 

 case of seeds with bony, hard covering, which germinate 

 slowly, such as the seeds of the Olive, and of most of the Rose 

 family, nut-bearing plants, etc. There are also a number of 

 vegetable seeds which take a long time to germinate, such as 

 those of the Parsnip, Carrot, Sugar Beet, Parsley and Tarragon; 

 these are improved by being placed in layers of sand before 

 planting, although their germination can be hastened by more 

 active treatment. Many systems are in use for this purpose 

 among gardeners. Sometimes good results are obtained by 

 mixing seeds of this character with fine soil, and then, after 

 placing them in a pot or sack, plunging them for some time 

 into hot water. Others soak such seeds for a longer or shorter 

 time, varying from six to forty-eight hours, in tepid water, to 

 which is added a little salt or chlorine. Some gardeners soak 

 Carrot and Beet seeds in liquid manure for two or three days 

 before sowing them. All such methods are generally good if 

 they are carefully used. 



I have read of certain Indian fakirs being able to cause seed 

 to germinate in a few minutes with a little powder, which they 

 sell afterward to an astonished public without disclosing their 

 secret. They are probably very skillful prestidigitateurs, and 

 their process consists in changing the seed rapidly. 



I do not recommend the method of hastening germination 

 which consists in plunging seeds into water strongly impreg- 

 nated with potassium or caustic soda. The strength of these 

 salts is so great that if a Coffee-seed is dropped into a solution 

 made with them, germination takes place at the end of a few 

 hours ; but seeds so treated, instead of continuing to grow, 

 perish when they are transferred to the soil. 



It is said that electricity stimulates germination. Experi- 

 ments which I have made in this direction have only given 

 moderate results, although I recognize certain results which 

 make me suppose that with proper appliances electricity would 

 be a powerful and efficacious means of making old seeds or 

 seeds with hard and bony coatings germinate quickly. 



I have secured the germination of seeds in half the ordinary 

 time by plunging them during a period varying from six to 

 thirty-six hours, according to the hardness of their coats, in 

 water to which was added one-tenth of its volume of the liquid 

 ammoniac of commerce. 



Any process which facilitates the transformation of the 

 starchy parts of the seed into glucose and renders it assimila- 

 ble by the embryo, favors its development and hastens germi- 

 nation. Air, humidity and heat being the indispensable agents 

 for this, it only remains to select the substances best suited to 

 aid these agents in their work. That which appears to me the 

 best is ammoniac. In practical application it is best applied 

 in the form of fresh horse-manure or horse-manure refreshed 

 with horse-urine, which should be used either mixed with 

 other substances or alone, and which for this purpose should be 



