120 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 159. 



In the third annual report of the Cornell Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station we find noted among the investigations under 

 way: An experiment with the cultivation of Huckleberries, 

 both at the station and upon a piece of land in the eastern part 

 of the state ; tests of edible plants of foreign countries to de- 

 termine which ones give promise in this state ; tests in the 

 automatic ventilation of greenhouses, and several other fea- 

 tures of greenhouse construction ; a large experiment to deter- 

 mine the influence of food, chiefly concentrated fertilizers, 

 upon the variation of plants ; a large experiment with hardy 

 foreign and domestic Roses ; a systematic study of Horse- 

 radish, with particular reference to propagation and improve- 

 ment ; and at all times the study of the species and the varia- 

 tions of plants under culture. Photography is used freely in 

 all the station work as a means of preserving accurate records. 



A timely appeal to the Legislature of Pennsylvania for an 

 Alleghany Mountain park is made in Forest Leaves. In be- 

 half of this project a quotation is made from Governor 

 Beaver's last message, wherein it is truthfully said that while 

 it is difficult, now when the state has practically parted with 

 all its lands, to re-acquire them, yet without such actual owner- 

 ship of the waste land of the central mountain belt of the 

 state it is hard to devise any efficient plan for reforesting it. 

 Tens of thousands of acres, not worth for any commercial 

 purpose the taxes annually levied upon them, and which 

 under the present system of tax rates are used to defraud the 

 unwary, might be made productive to the commonwealth if 

 held and controlled by it. An Alleghany park, including a 

 large portion of the mountain region of the state, might easily 

 be made so as to protect the head-waters of all the rivers 

 which there take rise. 



The largest apple-tree in New England, according to the 

 Boston Journal, is in the north-western part of Cheshire, Con- 

 necticut, and it stands in the dooryard of Mr. Delos Hotch- 

 kiss. Its age can be traced by a family tradition to 140 years 

 -at least, and it may be twenty or twenty-five years older. It is 

 now of symmetrical shape ; the trunk is nearly round, without 

 a scar or blemish ; there are eight large branches ; five of 

 them have been in the habit of bearing one year, and the re- 

 maining three the next. Mr. Hotchkiss has gathered in one 

 year from the five branches 85 bushels of fruit, and his prede- 

 cessor has harvested 1 10 bushels from the same five branches. 

 By careful measurement, the circumference of the trunk one 

 foot above the ground, above all enlargements of the roots, is 

 thirteen feet eight inches. The girth of the largest single 

 limb is six feet eight inches. The height of the tree is sixty 

 feet, and the spread of the branches as the apples fall is 100 feet. 

 The fruit is rather small, sweet, and of moderate excellence. 



A writer in the New York Evening Post, when describing the 

 beautiful effects upon the scenery of the Central Park of the 

 snow-storm which occurred during the last week in February, 

 said : " One effect on some of the Pine-trees was very curious : 

 the long, bristle-like, diverging leaves that surround the ter- 

 minal buds were matted continuously together by the clinging 

 snow into cups of trumpet-mouth shape, the larger of which 

 might contain a closed fist, and the sight of a good-sized tree 

 with these turned all one way was very striking. Detached 

 beauties and curiosities abounded. A great Beech standing 

 apart near the Ninety-sixth Street gate was a type of all the 

 solitary deciduous trees, the outline of its branch-tips all in soft 

 white losing its firmness and appearing to dissolve into the 

 storm. A tall, full Weeping Beech was like an arrested water- 

 fall of spray. The Dogwoods held up stretched sheets de- 

 scended out of heaven. The white Birches seemed like mists. 

 The evergreens, struck all through with white, became soft 

 gray. But the strange beauty of the whole view was the great 

 wonder. That moved even the park-keepers to admiring 

 speech, and prompted one of them to ask, ' Where's all the 

 people in New York that pretends to like fine scene-ry ? '" 



The Fruit-Growers' Association has taken firm hold in Eng- 

 land, although its inauguration dates only two years back. 

 Formed for the purpose of diffusing a knowledge of such 

 fruit as may be cultivated out-of-doors in that country, 

 it has already done much toward the extension and improve- 

 ment of fruit-cultivation. Lectures are given in various 

 parts of the country by qualified members of the Associa- 

 tion ; exhibitions are held and tempting prizes given, and even 

 professional advice has been gratuitously afforded to those 

 seeking it. The report of the Association has just been pub- 

 lished, from which it appears that two delegates, Mr. G.Gordon 

 and Mr. Lewis Castle, were sent to Ireland to inquire into the 

 condition and prospect of fruit-culture in that country. Thirty- 

 six papers have been prepared and read by twenty-two of the 



leading growers and authorities during the two years of the 

 Association's existence ; some of these papers have been 

 printed and circulated freely. As an example of how much 

 good may come from work of this kind, it is stated that 

 over two thousand inquiries by letter were answered by the 

 Association last year ; also that the increase in the acreage 

 under fruit-cultivation in England during the last two years is 

 shown by the agricultural returns to be 12,637 acres. 



In an address recently delivered in Vienna upon " Persian 

 Fruit-trees," Dr. Stapf, as reported in Gartenflora, said that Ap- 

 ples, Pears and Cherries flourish in that country only at eleva- 

 tions of from 6,000 to 7,000 feet above the sea. Persian cherries 

 are small, with reddish or yellowish watery flesh, and an insipid, 

 almost bitter taste. The plums, too, are not very good, but, 

 on the other hand, the apricots are far superior to those grown 

 in Europe. The trees often grow to "gigantic dimensions," 

 especially near Shiraz, at an elevation of from 5,500 to 7,500 

 feet; and the fruit is very large and of an "exquisite sweet- 

 ness." Two kinds of peaches are grown, one of the ordinary 

 downy sort and the other a small smooth-coated, delicious 

 variety. Pomegranates are universally seen, being of shrubby 

 habit when wild, but of tree-like size in gardens. One species 

 is devoid of seeds. Walnuts are very widely grown, and near 

 Shiraz an enormous specimen may be seen at an elevation of 

 8,000 feet, while further north, in the Kohrud Mountains, there 

 are fine large plantations at an equal elevation. Even Fig- 

 trees flourish up to an elevation of 5,650 feet, or higher still 

 in the province of Farsistan, and the White Mulberry follows 

 to almost the same height, while the Black Mulberry, of which 

 several kinds are grown, lags 1,500 feet below it. A singular 

 fruit is supplied by the so-called Oil-Willow (Elceagmis angus- 

 tifolia) which, when cultivated, yields a berry resembling an 

 olive in size and shape, but of a "honey-sweet taste." When 

 gardens are not encircled by walls Poplars and Willows are 

 planted as wind-breaks — Populus alba and P. pyramidalis, 

 Salix Persica and S. amophylla being chosen. Plere and 

 there in gardens immense Maples may be seen, and 

 more seldom Elms, among the latter being a remarkable 

 variety {Ulmus campestris, var. umbraculifera), with a thick 

 spherical head. Elms and Celtis-trees and Ashes are planted 

 in front of the mosques, but Planes and Cypresses are the 

 trees best beloved by the people. The former are especially 

 chosen for avenues, where they are often trimmed so that 

 they grow to an immense height, but develop a head of com- 

 paratively small size. The Cypresses are either columnar or 

 spherical in shape, the form with horizontal branchlets never 

 being grown. 



The death is announced of Mr. John Dominy, in his seventy- 

 fifth year. Of the English gardeners who have lived in the 

 present century none has distinguished himself more than this 

 quiet, genial and pleasant man, who by his skill as a hybridizer 

 has created many plants of rare beauty. It is to him that is 

 due the credit or first successfully hybridizing Orchids and 

 Nepenthes, and it is to his skill and patience that the world 

 owes such beautiful garden plants as Cattleya Exoniensis, Ca- 

 lanthe Veitchi and Lcelia Domini. Dominy passed nearly all 

 his active life in the employ of the Veitches, first at Exeter and 

 then at Chelsea ; he was much respected by the horticultural 

 profession, and received in 1880 the large gold floral medal of 

 the Royal Horticultural Society, and when he retired ten years 

 ago from service a substantial testimonial was raised by popu- 

 lar subscription among his friends. He was a man whose 

 works are likely to live long after him and to be admired by 

 generations to whom the name of John Dominy may perhaps 

 be unknown. 



Catalogues Received. 



C. E. Allen, Brattleboro, Vt.; Flower and Vegetable Seeds and 

 Plants, Small Fruits and Fruit-trees. — David Hill, Dundee Nursery, 

 Dundee, 111. ; Evergreen Trees. — Wm. Elliott & Sons, 56 Dey Street, 

 New York ; Flower and Vegetable Seeds. — Ellwanger & Barry, 

 Rochester, N. Y.; Roses.— J. W. MANNING, Reading, Mass.; Hardy 

 Border Plants and Hardy Trees.— Samuel C. Moon, Morrisville, Bucks 

 Co., Pa.; Bulbs, Small Fruits and Fruit-trees, Deciduous, Ornamental 

 and Evergreen Shrubs and Trees. — Parsons & Sons Co., Limited, 

 Flushing, N. Y. ; Hardy Ornamental Trees, Flowering Shrubs and 

 Vines, Rare and Choice Plants. — Josephus Plenty, 144 Pearl Street, 

 New York ; Conservatories, Greenhouses, Vineries, Skylights, etc. — 

 Carl Purdy, Ukiah, Mendocino Co., Cah; California Bulbs. — John 

 Thorpe, Pearl River, N. Y. ; Chrysanthemums. — Siebrecht &. Wad- 

 ley, Rose Hill Nurseries, New Rochelle, N. Y. ; Orchids, Palms, Ferns, 

 Roses. — Schlegel & Fottler, 26 South Market Street, Boston, Mass. ; 

 Flower and Vegetable Seeds, Bulbs and Plants. — P. E. TransonBros., 

 Orleans, France ; Small Fruits, Fruit and Shade-trees, Roses, etc. 



