February 25, 1891.] 



Garden and Forest. 



93 



made by the previous year's growth, which with age assumes 

 a deep olive green. 



When the space to be covered is under the shade of 

 trees very little preparation is necessary ; but as the planting 

 is for permanent effect, a good coat of manure should be dug 

 in deeply, for it will be found that duckweed will be trouble- 

 some the first season if the manure is placed near the surface. 

 Weeds, however, will be choked out the second season as the 

 Periwinkle roots descend to the richer soil. After the ground 

 is prepared, small pieces of the Periwinkle with roots attached 

 should be planted in rows, the plants being set a foot apart 

 each way. Little attention besides weeding will be necessary 

 the first year, and a neat covering will be secured, and, as the 

 plant is evergreen, it will always be pleasing, and especially 

 so in the spring months, when it is in flower. If it is desired 

 to give the beds a more showy appearance it is a simple 

 matter to place the plants a little further apart, and place 

 between each a bulb of any of the varieties of Narcissus, such 

 as N. poeticus, N. princeps, N. trumpet major and others that 

 are strong and robust. But if Narcissus are planted they 

 should be set six to eight inches deep, according to the texture 

 of the soil ; in light soils Narcissus can be safely planted eight 

 inches deep, or even deeper. In a similar way Lily of the Val- 

 ley may be interspersed among the Periwinkles if the latter be 

 the blue-flowered variety, as the Lilies will also succeed ad- 

 mirably in a shady position for an indefinite period. The 

 Wood Lilies or Trilliums of the strong-growing kinds, as T. 

 grandiflorum, T. erectum and its white variety, T. cemuum, also, 

 though not so showy as others, with the Pacific coast species, 

 such as T. ovatum, T. petiolatum, T. sessile and others, are all 

 hardy, and, although not so often met with in cultivation, are 

 equally useful for the purpose named. Numerous other 

 spring-flowering bulbs will suggest themselves to the planter 

 to be introduced among the setting of Periwinkle as fancy may 

 suggest, but it is best not to attempt, under trees, any display 

 that would be in season at any other time than the spring or 

 early summer months for obvious reasons. Under trees the 

 soil during the warmer season is much drier than in open 

 cultivated ground. This would not in any way interfere with 

 the ripening of bulbs, quite the reverse, but might seriously 

 interfere with the success of an attempt to use other plants for 

 a later display. 



There are other plants of trailing habit which will answer in 

 place of Vinca minor. Lysimachia Nicmmularia is sometimes 

 used, but it is such a rampant grower that it often gives serious 

 trouble to keep it within reasonable bounds. Here in Massa- 

 chusetts it may often be seen as an escape from cottage gar- 

 dens, monopolizing the road-side to the exclusion of grasses 

 and other native plants. But where a vigorous growing plant 

 is desired it might possibly be used with advantage. 



South Lancaster, Mass. E. 0. Orpet. 



Sciadopitys verticellata. — The Umbrella Pine seems as thor- 

 oughly hardy here as any of the conifers we have received 

 from Japan, and it holds its green color well through the cold- 

 est weather. One specimen here is eight feet six inches 

 high. I do not know its exact age, but it has made fifteen 

 annual growths from a point eighteen inches above the 

 ground, and, as it grows slowly at first, this tree is perhaps 

 nearly twenty years old. Last year it increased in height a 

 foot, and the year before ten inches. We need a wider expe- 

 rience before we can be sure what situation it prefers. It does 

 not seem particular about soils. The specimen here men- 

 tioned stands in soil eighteen inches deep, below which is a 

 rock bottom. 



Germantown, Pa. Joseph Meehan. 



The Forest. 



Forestry on the Prairies. 



WE have in former numbers made allusion to the 

 Partington forest in Kansas, or, as it is called on 

 the map, the "Tree Farm," belonging to the Kansas City, 

 Fort Scott and Memphis Railroad Company. Somethinglike 

 500 acres of prairie were broken up about twelve years ago 

 and planted with different kinds of forest-tree seedlings. 

 The experiment was particularly interesting as the most 

 extensive plantation of the kind that had been then made 

 on the prairies in that longitude, and because the planting 

 was contracted for on terms which were novel and worthy 

 of trial. Messrs. Robert Douglas & Sons agreed to prepare 

 the ground, furnish the trees and plant them four feet 

 apart each way, and then take charge of the plantation 



for a certain number of years, and deliver the forest to the 

 Company, with the guarantee that each acre should con- 

 tain a certain number of trees which should be of a given 

 size and completely shade the ground. After the trees 

 have reached this condition it was assumed that they could 

 fight their own battles against the weeds and prairie grass. 

 The advantages of the arrangement seemed to be that the 

 critical work of planting as well as the care of the trees in 

 their earliest and feeblest stages would be in. the hands of 

 experts, and good care was secured by the fact that the 

 forest was to have attained a certain established growth 

 before it was delivered over to its owners. Below we give 

 some of the chief points in the report of Mr. George E. 

 Kessler, the Superintendent of the work, and we add some 

 figures relating to the size of the trees, which we gather 

 from tables of measurements in Mr. Kessler's report, but 

 which are too long and elaborate for our purpose. 



The diameter measurements are taken at a point one 

 foot above the surface of the ground. The Catalpas planted 

 in 1880, standing in good loam in rows, next to the for- 

 est-road, average 5.7 inches in diameter, some of them 

 reaching a diameter of seven inches. Their height will 

 average twenty-five feet. Trees in rows some fifty feet 

 from the forest-road average 4.5 inches in diameter. Trees 

 of the same year's planting on higher ground and thinner 

 soil, will average along the road 4.6 inches, and fifty feet 

 from the road 3.07 inches in diameter with a height of 

 twenty-one feet. Black Cherry-trees, planted in 1878 on 

 good land, are now from twenty-five to thirty-five feet high 

 and average 4.35 inches in diameter. Black Walnuts, 

 planted in 1878, standing mixed with Chestnut and Cherry- 

 trees, are twenty-eight feet high and 6.37 inches in diam- 

 eter. Chestnuts, planted in 1878 among Cherry-trees, aver- 

 age 2.5 inches in diameter and eighteen feet high. Black 

 Walnuts standing alone, and planted four feet apart each 

 way in 1878, are now eighteen feet high and three inches 

 in diameter. Box Elders planted the same year show a 

 weak growth and look starved. Trees of Catalpa bigno- 

 nioides planted in 1878 are 3.8 inches in diameter and 

 eighteen to twenty feet high. This is a good growth, and 

 it seems to have been nearly uniform each season, 

 although the growth of last summer was not equal 

 to that of former years. This is not to be taken as an indi- 

 cation of waning vigor, for it is apparent in the later as 

 well as in the earlier plantations. Catalpa-trees, differing 

 from most others, grow until checked by the frosts of au- 

 tumn ; and the dry season, which last year impeded the growth 

 of Corn, had the same effect on the Catalpa-trees. But while 

 there has been this checking of new growth the ripening 

 has been very thorough, and the wood is in better condi- 

 tion to make a strong growth next year than it was last 

 year, for a close examination showed that the terminal 

 buds then were not so well developed as they are now. 

 This lack of size might have been caused by a frost which 

 suddenly arrested the growth, or by late rains, which ex- 

 cited a growth which did not harden up thoroughly, owing 

 to subsequent cold weather. 



In regard to the thinning it is probable that a suggestion 

 made by Mr. Kessler will be tried to some extent. Instead 

 of allowing the trees to fall as they are cut off at the 

 ground, it is proposed that they should be leaned up 

 against another tree with the idea that they will be more 

 out of the way than if dropped on the ground overlapping 

 each other. Perhaps they would be in better position, too, 

 for future removal. 



It would probably cost more to cut off the dead branches 

 which remain on the Catalpas than to thin out the wood. 

 Most other trees shed their dead limbs readily, but these 

 Catalpa limbs show no sign of falling off even when they 

 have been dead for five or six years. If the limbs remain 

 sound and the tree makes growth around them, these knots 

 would be no injury to sticks used for fence posts or railroad 

 ties, but if they are to be used for finishing or furniture, 

 the sooner the dead branches are taken off the better. The 

 whole experiment will be watched with great interest, and it 



