March 25, 1891.] 



Garden and Forest. 



H3 



of the eggs. The price of this preparation, which is specially 

 manufactured in varying composition by several firms, is $2 

 per 100 pounds. 



Against the " nonne " and other similar caterpillars, which 

 wander up and down trees, a band of insect lime, two inches 

 broad and a quarter of an inch thick, is applied around the 

 trunk, breast-high, after the rough bark has been removed. 

 With improved machines for scraping the bark and applying 

 the glue, and which do the work three to five times as fast as 

 it can be done by hand labor, the cost per acre of Spruce- 

 forest was $1.80, of which $1.25 was for the material ; it is, 

 therefore, a cheap remedy. The bark scraper is a simple 

 instrument of the plane type, and the banding machine, an 

 apparatus to put on the glue quickly and of proper size, does 

 not cost more than 50 cents, if purchased from the inventor. 

 I am prepared to give addresses of the firms manufacturing 

 the insect lime and the machines, if wanted, and further details 

 in regard to their application. The effectiveness of the bands 

 is due to the fact that the caterpillars, be it on account of the 

 disagreeable smell (tar-oil) or of their objection to soiling their 

 coats, are absolutely unwilling to cross the barrier, and can be 

 gathered below the band and killed, or die from starvation. 

 The insect lime must, of course, have the capacity of keeping 

 fresh and maintaining its consistency for two or three months 

 in all weathers, and this is the secret of its preparation. 



The absolute success of this application as a preventive 

 rather than a cure, and its freedom from the objectionable 

 features which attach to the spraying of arsenic and other 

 poisons, etc., certainly recommend it.at least for trial in this 

 country. 



Forestry Division, B. E. FerjlOW. 



Department of Agriculture, Washington. 



Exhibitions. 

 Spring Flower Show at Philadelphia. 



THE exhibitions of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society 

 are always attractive, and the Spring Flower Show, which 

 was held last week, was rather happier in arrangement than 

 usual. Nothing could be much better than the bank of foliage 

 in front of the stage, with the graceful line of Palms rising 

 above masses of green, and just enough of color from flower- 

 ing plants to relieve it from monotony. In front of the stage, 

 but separated from it by a walk, was a considerable space, 

 covered with flowering plants and shrubs, Azaleas, Hydrangeas, 

 Cytisus, etc., which was very effective, both by itself and in 

 connection with its background. Why are not plants on 

 exhibition arranged on the floor oftener than they are ? This 

 is the natural position for the greater proportion of them, and 

 certainly, in this instance, if some of the specimen Palms and 

 Ferns in the great collections had been placed on the floor they 

 would have appeared to better advantage than on the stages, 

 not only because the point of view would have been better, 

 but because the valance around the staging was by no means 

 decorative in itself, and it certainly did not add to the beauty 

 of the plants, either in the way of harmony or contrast. 



Apart from the ordinary plants on exhibition there were two 

 groups which attracted great attention. The first of these was 

 Dr. Williams' collection of dwarfed Japanese trees, oE which 

 much has been written. The specimens exhibited were said 

 to range from fifty to a hundred years old, and yet they were 

 hardly more than two feet high. What was interesting about 

 them was the contorted and weather-beaten look which gave 

 them a really venerable aspect, in spite of their minute pro- 

 portions. One of them was a Pine, and the others seemed like 

 different forms of Thuya. The second group consisted of 

 several wagon-loads of Cactuses which Mr. Blanc had sent 

 down from his immense collection. About 300 varieties 

 were here represented in 500 specimens. Many of them 

 were in flower, although this is not the season for them, and 

 many more were carrying highly ornamental fruit. Besides 

 the Cactuses there were some striking Aloes, Agaves, 

 Euphorbias, and Mesembryanthemums. Among the most 

 remarkable of the plants were two Anhaloniums and the so- 

 called Bishop's Head (Estrofthytum myriostigma). The genus 

 Cereus was represented by some extraordinary and fantastic 

 varieties of C. ftagelliformis, C. formosiis and C. tuberosus. 

 Of Echinocacti the most interesting were E. Arrigens, E. 

 cornigerns, E. turbiniformis, E. Texensis and E. candidics. 

 Of the neat little Mammillarias the best were M. echinata, 

 M. elephantidens, M. lasiacantha, M. micromeris, M. pusilla 

 and M. sanguinea. Many other genera were equally well rep- 

 resented, and' to large numbers of visitors the display was a 

 revelation of the remarkable variety in form and in size and 

 in habit which these grotesque and beautiful plants assume. 



The foyer was bright with blooms of Roses, while of Orchids 

 the best were those of Mr. C. F. Evans, whose plants were 

 hung from the short stumps of branches of a dead Cedar, 

 which was draped with Vines and Ferns. It would be hard to 

 find better Roses than the Ulrich Brunners of Messrs. Pennock 

 Brothers, Edwin Lonsdale and John Burton. In fact, this Rose 

 seemed to justify the reputation which it enjoys about Phila- 

 delphia of being the most perfect of all Roses for forcing. 

 Madame Luizet and Mrs. John Laing seemed to be of equal 

 merit as usual, while the Jacqueminots and Wootons and 

 Baroness Rothschilds were remarkably good. The exhib- 

 itors already named, with Messrs. Kift & Son, Heron & Nisbit 

 took the principal prizes in Roses. Lilium Harrisii was 

 abundantly displayed, and those by W. K. Harris, Michael 

 Sammon and other growers left nothing to be desired. There 

 were but few plants, however, of the more beautiful L. longi- 

 floritm, which always appears to excellent advantage in com- 

 parison with the Bermuda Lily, on account of its much firmer 

 and more gracefully poised flowers. 



The collections of choice and rare greenhouse plants from 

 the gardens of the Messrs. E. W. Clark, George W. Childs, A. 

 J. Drexel and H. A. Dreer were, as usual, the central features 

 of the exhibition of this class of plants. One rarely sees any- 

 thing better than the splendid Pritchardia exhibited by James 

 Long, gardener to Mr. Drexel, or the great Livistona and the 

 Microlepia cristata which Mr. Hughes sent down from Mr. 

 Childs' collection. The premium for a new and rare plant 

 went to the gardener of Mr. Drexel for Spathiphyllum pictum, 

 who also took a premium for Palms and Ferns. 



The Carnations attracted a good deal of attention, and a cer- 

 tificate of merit was justly given to E. G. Hill & Co., of Rich- 

 mond, Indiana, for a remarkable collection of seedlings, many 

 of them of immense size and of clear distinct colors. Mr. H. E. 

 Chitty, of Paterson, Edward Swain, Avondale, and Charles 

 T. Starr, of the same place, all showed new departures in Car- 

 nations, and, undoubtedly, the group, taken altogether, was the 

 finest ever seen in Philadelphia. 



Special mention ought to be made also of the new green- 

 house Azalea, called Vervainiana, which was shown by Mr. 

 James Dean, of Bay Ridge, New York, for the first time. The 

 flower was double and richly variegated from white to deep 

 crimson. Near by these was also a group of hardy Azaleas of 

 especial merit, which were shown, for the first time in this 

 country, by Pitcher & Manda, of Short Hills, New Jersey. The 

 flowers were of good size and of distinct colors, and they 

 promise to be valuable additions to the shrub-border. 



Recent Publications. 



Monographic der Abietineen der Japanischen Reiches. By 

 Heinrich Mayr. Munich, 1890, pp. 1-104, with seven colored 

 plates and analyses. 



Dr. Mayr, who is now well known in this country, where he 

 has traveled extensively, by his remarkable work on the forests 

 of North America, has devoted some part of the last three 

 years, during which he has occupied the chair of Silviculture 

 in the Imperial University of Tokio, to studying in their native 

 forests the various forms of Abietinice, in which they abound. 

 Dr. Mayr, so far as relates to the grouping of the species of 

 these trees, follows in general lines the authors who have 

 written before him on this subject. He proposes, however, 

 several new species detected by him during various journeys 

 made in the Japanese forests. These are Abies umbellata, a 

 tree which appears to resemble the now well-known A. bra- 

 chyphylla, if one may judge from the plate ; Picea Hondaensis, 

 belonging to the group of which P. Ajanensis is the best-known 

 representative ; Pinus pentaphylla, a large and interesting 

 white Pine of the mountains of the central island, where Dr. 

 Mayr discovered it, and related to our Pinits Strobus, but with 

 shorter and smaller cones, as they appear in the plate. A 

 Larch from the Kurile Islands is distinguished as Larix Ktiri- 

 lensis, and the little Pine which has been regarded a variety 

 of the Cembran Pine of Europe is now considered distinct 

 from that widely distributed species under the name of P. 

 pumila. 



The attention which is given to the description of cultivated 

 varieties of different Japanese conifers adds particular value 

 and interest to this work for the cultivators of trees, as descrip- 

 tions will be found in it of many varieties cultivated and 

 esteemed by the Japanese which the tree-lovers of America 

 and Europe now hear of for the first time. Of Pinus Thun- 

 bergii, for example, nine varieties are described ; of P. densi- 

 flora more than twenty varieties are recognized ; of P. parvi- 

 flora six, and of P. pentaphylla two ; in all, some forty varie- 

 ties of Pines, of which more than half have already been 



