Atril i, 1891.] 



Garden and Forest. 



149 



Viburnum dilala.'um * is a stout shrub, growing to the 

 height of eight or ten feet, with spreading, pale, warty- 

 branches, clothed, when young, with short rigid hairs and 

 rather obtuse reddish brown winter-buds covered with 

 thick, pale tomentum. The leaves vary from two to five 

 inches in length, and are often as broad, or broader ; they 

 are orbicular, or orbicularovate, or obovate, coarsely 

 toothed, and often end abruptly in a short obtuse point. 

 They are dark green above, paler below, the two surfaces 

 covered with white hairs, and are destitute of stipules, and 

 borne on short, stout, hairy peduncles. They turn very 

 late in the autumn, here, to a dull yellow color, and remain 

 on the branches until the beginning of winter. The 

 flowers are white, short-pediceled, a third of an inch 

 across, with a pilose calyx with short, obscurely toothed 

 and circular lobes, and a rotate corolla hairy on the back 

 of the lobes ; and are produced in many-branched sessile 



Fig. 27. — Stipules of the Black Maple, var. nigrum. — See page 147. 



or pedunculate hairy cymes, four to six inches broad, and 

 open, in Massachusetts, toward the middle of June. The 

 fruit ripens in September ; it is ovate, much flattened, a 

 third of an inch long, and crowned with the remnants of the 

 persistent calyx and style. It is very abundant in large 

 broad clusters, and is bright red, or red slightly tinged 

 with orange, and remains on the branches here until the 

 beginning of winter. 



Viburnum dilatatum resembles, in general habit, our com- 

 mon eastern Viburnum dentalum. It requires deep, well- 

 drained, rich soil, in which it grows rapidly, soon forming 

 broad masses of handsome foliage. The illustration on 

 page 150 is from a drawing, made by Mr. C. E. Faxon, 

 from one of the plants raised in the Arboretum. 



C. S. S. 



Cultural Department. 



Choosing Varieties of Apples. 



MUCH which is written upon the subject of the choice of 

 varieties for an orchard fails to commend itself fully to 

 my judgment. Of course general recommendations can have 

 no more than a general character ; but, necessarily, such 

 should not be too sweeping or without suggestion of ex- 

 ceptions. 



The most frequent advice given is to plant but a few stand- 

 ard sorts and to avoid setting much early fruit. Such advice 

 is common from those who have most widely erred in both par- 

 ticulars ; but these persons are not likely to view the situation 

 impartially. A good deal of money can be made by the right 

 man, rightly located, in growing choice early varieties as a 

 specialty. There is a large consumption of mild-flavored, 

 mellow, early apples, and this can be indefinitely enlarged 

 by supplying the market with well-grown early fruit in 

 perfect condition. To do this business rightly, and to 

 the best advantage, not only must choice productive kinds 

 be planted and carefully tended, but such apples should 

 be treated as carefully as choice peaches, and a market 



secured in advance. The most careful picking, packing and 

 subsequent handling are essential, and cold storage ought to 

 be provided as a protection against temporary gluts. Even the 

 earliest varieties, if gathered properly at just the right time, 

 may be held without harm in cold storage for several weeks if 

 necessary. But it is rare that this is required with strictly 

 choice fruit. 



Very unwise, it seems to me, is the constant warning 

 against varieties which are not of the highest quality. Many 

 buyers of fruit have no great delicacy of taste, a faculty easily 

 destroyed, when originally possessed, by some prevalent 

 habits, the chief of which is the habitual use of narcotics and 

 stimulants. The delicate, finely flavored apples, favored by 

 connoisseurs, have not "taste" enough for the majority of 

 buyers. Such persons require a degree of acidity which would 

 be called "screeching" by more refined palates. The public 

 generally are attracted by size, color and moderate tenderness 

 of flesh. 



In putting out an orchard we are counseled rightly, as a rule 

 to set only standard sorts, well established in general repute. 

 But there is such a thing as going too far in this direction. I 

 am convinced by much experience and long observation that 

 an orchard of one or two varieties is much less likely to produce 

 full crops than one in which there are a dozen sorts, of different 

 seasons, promiscuously planted. There need not be many of 

 the sorts least in demand, and when we understand the true 

 conditions we may furnish our orchards with abundant pollen 

 without the risk of much unsalable fruit. Popular sorts noted 

 as heavy and regular bearers when planted alone, of which 

 Oldenburgh is a conspicuous instance, are desirable to some 

 extent in every orchard ; but as all varieties are not in bloom 

 at once, the late bloomers which are apt to have a scanty yield 

 of pollen would do best if accompanied by strong bloomers of 

 the same blooming season. Probably the largest orchard in Ver- 

 mont has proved a financial failure, as I believe, by neglect of 

 the precaution here indicated ; and I am inclined to the belief 

 that the few orchards which gave full crops in 1890 did so be- 

 cause they were of mixed varieties, embracing a good share of 

 freely polleniferous sorts covering the whole blooming season. 



While the public is undoubtedly shy of unknown sorts of 

 little exterior attractiveness, it is not necessarily so with a new 

 variety of fine appearance and fair quality. This is shown by 

 the quickness of several new sorts to win approval. The Yellow 

 Transparent is a conspicuous instance of this ; and from my 

 own experience with the Wealthy, I do not believe there will 

 be any difficulty whatever in finding a good market for it. 

 Those to whom this variety was shipped from my orchards 

 last fall seem to be anxious to buy all that can be supplied 

 hereafter. 



It is different with unattractive apples, and I would never 

 advise extensive planting of such, except in the case of a high 

 local repute, gained through a series of years. Some of the 

 choicest dessert apples grown, and among them some sorts 

 well known and widely distributed, and productive withal, 

 have never been easy to dispose of in the general market. 

 Peck's Pleasant is a variety of this sort. 



The vogue of some apples seems entirely unaccountable to 

 many who have written on the subject. The most extensively 

 grown apple in America, Ben Davis, or New York Pippin, is a 

 conspicuous instance. In the valley of the Mississippi and its 

 tributaries it is the omnipresent fruit from December to May. 

 It is large, it is productive, it is handsome, and a good keeper. 

 It can be so grown as to be a fairly good apple, — equal, perhaps, 

 to the average Baldwin ; but, as we find it generally, it seems 

 to well deserve the savage criticism visited upon it, even by 

 men who are growing it for market by the hundred acres. 

 But, as a living dog is better than a dead lion, and as there 

 are few productive, long-keeping apples suited to our great 

 valley, which are, at the same time, attractive to the eye and 

 reliable in productiveness, it is not surprising to find Ben 

 Davis holding its own there, and even intruding, as at present, 

 into our eastern markets. - 



Newport, Vermont. 1 - ■"• riOS kills. 



* Thunberg, "Fl. Jap.," 124. — Siebold and Zuccarini, " Fl. Jap. Fam. Nat.," ii., 

 171. — Miquel, "Prol. Fl. Jap.," 154.— Francliet and Savatier, " Enum. Pl.Jap.,"i., 

 200. — Bot. Mag., t. 6215. — Maximowicz, Bull. Acad. Sci. St. Pe"tersbourg, x., 664. — 

 Forbes and Helmsley, Jour. Linn. Soc, xxiii., 351. 



Points in Chrysanthemum Culture. 



Protecting Plants in Flower. — A few years ago, when 

 I described my so-called "Snug Harbor," I had no idea it 

 would become so generally used as it now is throughout the 

 country during late October and early November. It is sim- 

 ply a frame-work of wood, built on the model of a greenhouse 

 — either equal span, three-quarters span, or half span. Be- 

 fore the plants are in flower, the sides and ends are covered 

 with any kind of burlap, scrim, or other canvas. This is se- 

 cured in position by being stretched tightly, and then held by 



