8 4 



GarcTen and Forest. 



[Number. 156. 



region was probably a calamity, for if the money and labor 

 expended upon this tree had been directed to other species we 

 should have had something more valuable. 



The errors of the past have been a neglect of proper cultiva- 

 tion and thinning, either of which is ruinous. The obstacles 

 to interest in forestry are : (1) Remote profits ; few people are 

 making investments for their children when there is no cer- 

 tainty that real estate will remain in the family. Indeed, when 

 the proverbial restlessness of the American citizen is consid- 

 ered, the probabilities are the other way. (2) The tenant sys- 

 tem of land cultivation, which is on the increase. (3) Recent 

 losses by drought have discouraged planters. Thorough cul- 

 tivation, or if this is not possible, a heavy mulch of straw as 

 a substitute, will alone secure success. 



Mr. John Wragg said that for Iowa farmers a shelter belt 

 could be most rapidly and cheaply grown by planting one row 

 of Norway Spruce and one of Scotch Pine. One of these 

 makes a rapid upright growth, while density is secured by the 

 other. A more beautiful belt is made by planting two rows of 

 White Pine and one row of White Spruce, the latter on the 

 leeward side. Care should be taken, however, that the Black 

 Spruce, an altogether inferior tree, is not substituted for the 

 White Spruce. Red Cedar yields the quickest returns for 

 posts, and the Larch is the best for the many uses which farm- 

 ers have for small straight timber. 



The most valuable Grapes for the west, according to Hon. 

 Silas Wilson, are seedlings of Concord, and, named in the order 

 of their value, these are Worden, Moore's Early, Lady, Pock- 

 lington, Cottage, Martha, Hayes, Woodruff's Rud, Moore's 

 Diamond, with Esther, Colrain, Rockwood and Eaton as prom- 

 ising seedlings. Among the promising seedlings recom- 

 mended by Mr. T. V. Munson, of Texas, are Brilliant, George 

 W. Campbell, Romel and Hermann Jaeger. Of sixty varieties 

 fruited last year, Mr. Wilson names for his region the follow- 

 ing as the best six : White, Moore's Diamond, Pocklington and 

 Lady ; black, Worden, Moore's Early and Cottage. 



Notes. 



Of the varieties of Beans tried for forcing at the Experiment 

 Station at Ithaca, New York, Sion Plouse was found superior 

 to any^f the other varieties tried in compact and rapid 

 growth," earliness, productiveness, and long, straight, symmet- 

 rical pods. 



Two years ago some tests were made at the Cornell Experi- 

 ment Station to ascertain whether deep-set Cabbage-plants 

 were superior in any way to those set at their natural depth. 

 No appreciable difference was observed. This year two hun- 

 dred plants of the Early Wakefield Cabbage were set in six 

 parallel rows, every other row containing plants set at the 

 same depth as they stood in the seed-bed, while the alternate 

 ones contained plants set with the first leaves even with the 

 surface. In a heavy clay soil without fertilizers the shallow- 

 set plants gave an average of eighty-five plants to the hundred 

 which produced solid heads, while the deep-set plants gave 

 only seventy-seven solid heads to the hundred. The heads of 

 the former also weighed twelve per cent, more on an average 

 than the others. 



The disease known as the yellows is decreasing in Michigan< 

 and the planting of Peach orchards is increasing. In Mary- 

 land the disease is said to be rapidly on the increase. This 

 indicates that the Michigan law, which seems to have been 

 vigorously enforced, is having a good effect, and tends 

 toward the eradication of a malady which so far has proved 

 incurable. It has been held by many people of southern New 

 Jersey, as well as of the Chesapeake peninsula, that the yellows 

 could be cured or, at least, held in check by the use of proper 

 fertilizers, but the experiments of Dr. E. F. Smith, the special 

 agent of the Government, who has made more than a hundred 

 tests and tried all the remedies recommended, seem to make 

 it clear that no treatment of this kind can be trusted either to 

 cure or prevent the disease. It appears, therefore, that it is 

 only by a rigid law, which is enforced by a strong public sen- 

 timent, that the Peach industry can be saved from ruin. 



One of the best collections of greenhouse and other plants in 

 the neighborhood of New York is in the garden of Mr. William 

 Brown, of Flatbush, Longlsland. It is always accessible to visit- 

 ors, but on special occasions it is thrown open to the public, and 

 an admission fee is charged, the proceeds being devoted 

 to some charitable object. No expense is spared at such times 

 to give a gala appearance to the place, and preparations for an 

 exhibition in April are now being made. The beneficiary in 



this case is to be the Home for Destitute Children, which will 

 undoubtedly receive a handsome sum. At the grand Chry- 

 santhemum exhibition, held last autumn at the same place, 

 nearly $1,500 were received for charity. The main feature of 

 the April show, besides a great display of Orchids, will be an 

 immense collection of Ixias, Sparaxis, Calceolarias and bulbous 

 plants in bloom. We mention this as an example which is not 

 unworthy of imitation by other gentlemen who have extensive 

 greenhouses and grounds. 



The work done at the New Haven Agricultural Experiment 

 Station has long been favorably known, especially in the line 

 of chemistry. Since the appointment of Professor Roland 

 Thaxter as Mycologist excellent work has also been done on 

 the subject of plant diseases. The report for 1889, issued in 

 1890, contains an interesting account of Fungi which attack 

 Onions, an important crop in Connecticut. Professor Thaxter 

 gives a detailed notice of the smut {Urocystis cepiilce), describ- 

 ing the germination of the spores, which he was the first 

 to observe, the relation of this species to other species 

 of Urocystis. He then considers the means of checking 

 the disease, and shows by photographic reproductions the 

 favorable effect of different chemical substances. He also dis- 

 cusses other Fungi injurious to Onions, and gives notes on 

 Fungi injurious to other crops in Connecticut, the mildew of 

 Lima Beans, caused by Phytophthora Phaseoli, Thaxter, a spe- 

 cies related to the potato-rot, being especially interesting. A 

 recent bulletin, issued last December, has a preliminary ac- 

 count of the potato-scab as it occurs in Connecticut. Professor 

 Thaxter finds that in his region the scab is not due to the attack 

 of a specific bacterium, as is supposed to be the case in the 

 scab found in some other regions, but by a minute fungus 

 which, except for its apparently true branching and aerial 

 fructification, resembles in some respects certain of the poly- 

 morphic bacteria, but cannot as yet be referred to any de- 

 scribed form and answers to no generic description. 



The North-western Lumberman says: "For several years 

 certain Germans have been experimenting with a view to using 

 sawdust as a material for mechanical purposes. It was dis- 

 covered years ago that vegetable fibre, after subjection to cer- 

 tain chemical action, and afterward to a pressure sufficient to 

 expel all liquids from it, could be made into a substance 

 almost indestructible by the elements, and of great utility in 

 the mechanical and ornamental arts. The only trouble has 

 been from the fact that but a few kinds of fibre were capable of 

 the transformation under any existing formula. It might 

 almost be said that there was only one fibre that, so employed, 

 produced results satisfactory in respect of economy of manu- 

 facture and beauty and usefulness of the resulting product ; 

 and that' one fibre is cotton, its delicate structure, strength and 

 ready submission to the action of the necessary chemicals 

 keeping it almost alone in its adaptability for the purpose. 

 Thus far, almost the only result has been the manufacture of 

 celluloid, which is unsuitable for anything but the finer 

 mechanical uses. Scientists claim, however, that all vegetable 

 fibre is, to a certain extent, identical — that is, having its essen- 

 tial constituents in common, there must be some means by 

 which the coarser kinds can be transformed into similar sub- 

 stances. The experimental processes have included nearly the 

 entire list of common vegetables, but within the last few years 

 attention has been specially directed to the waste products of 

 the saw-mill, especially the dust. The first results were the 

 production of paper-pulp. But as only certain species of tim- 

 ber could be used satisfactorily for that, the experiments have 

 been continued further with a view to not only using any kind 

 of sawdust, but to broaden the field, so as to produce a sub- 

 stance that can be used for more general purposes than paper 

 or celluloid, and which should, if possible, combine the best 

 characteristics of both substances. A German scientific 

 journal professes to give the results of the experiments in that 

 country thus far. It claims the production of a substance 

 made from common sawdust, by means of an acid process, 

 that promises to be of great value. It is described as being 

 exceedingly firm of texture and of great hardness, incapable 

 of being bored by a common gimlet or of being penetrated by 

 a nail, more impervious to the action of the elements than the 

 ordinary metals or the common building stones, and practically 

 indestructible by fire, a Bunsen burner simply charring the 

 exterior surface. It is claimed to be stronger than timber for 

 joists and girders and several times lighter than iron or steel, 

 and, above all, the cost of manufacture is claimed to. be so low 

 as to bring it into competition with both wood and iron. It is 

 said that experiments will be made to still further decrease the 

 cost and increase its field of influence, and that its manufacture 

 is to be pushed." 



