i54 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 162. 



tenderness, but are growing very rapidly, and making hand- 

 some, symmetrical trees. 



I think it is a tree entitled to a conspicuous place in any 

 good collection of large evergreens. 



It can be propagated by cuttings, although not as readily 

 as some of the other Thuyas ; also by grafting on Thuya 

 occidentalis. 



If grafted, it should be worked low and planted deep, so as 

 to get the tree eventually on its own roots. 



MorrisviUe, Pa. Samuel C. Moon. 



[It is interesting to know that this fine tree exists in the 

 eastern states, and that it can be grown here in sheltered 

 positions. It must be remembered, however, that "a few 

 isolated specimens, a few years old only, do not furnish 

 satisfactory evidence that an exotic tree is capable of adapt- 

 ing itself permanently to new surroundings and of grow- 

 ing to a large size and to old age. There are two or three 

 stunted specimens of the Big Tree of California in Central 

 Park, and there are several larger specimens of the same 

 tree in the city of Rochester, in this state ; it would be very 

 unwise, however, to plant the Sequoia anywhere at the east, 

 except as a curiosity, on the strength of these specimens. 

 Several of the Pacific coast conifers grow very well in the 

 east for a number of years, especially if they can be placed 

 in sheltered situations. None of them, however, are very 

 reliable, and are more than liable to succumb to a succes- 

 sion of severe winters. Exceptions are the Weeping Pinus 

 ponderosa, at Fishkill in this state, of which a portrait ap- 

 pears in our issue for October 10th, 1888 ; the fine plant of the 

 Sierra Nevada White Fir {Abies concolor or Lowiana 

 or Parsonsiana, as it is sometimes called in gardens), at 

 Flushing, on Long Island, and a few plants of the Law- 

 son's and the Sitka Cypresses in the neighborhood of Phil- 

 adelphia. None of these trees are either very old or 

 very large, and their survival through twenty or thirty 

 winters does not prove the value of these species for gen- 

 eral planting in the east. Correspondents in the eastern 

 states will do us and our readers a favor by calling atten- 

 tion to other instances of Pacific-coast conifers proving 

 hardy here. — Ed.] 



The Owl and the Sparrow. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — If, as Mr. Naudin has suggested, our little European 

 owl is introduced into the United States for the purpose of 

 destroying the sparrow, the fact should be borne in mind 

 that there are two of these animals, constituting either distinct 

 species or different races. It is only the representative of 

 these nocturnal birds which inhabits the south of Europe 

 which has established itself in the neighborhood of dwellings 

 to the extent even of building his nest under the eaves of 

 houses. It is this southern bird that modern ornithology 

 designates under the name of Athene meridionalis, and has 

 identified with the owl which accompanied Minerva in 

 her visit to the ancient Greeks. In the central and north of 

 Europe we have in place of this bird the true Stryx passerina 

 of Linnaeus, a rather stronger bird, and very different in its 

 habits. This northern bird does not inhabit cities nor villages 

 or the neighborhood of human habitations. It is much less 

 numerous than its southern relative, and selects for its home 

 wild and uninhabited regions, the borders of forests, unculti- 

 vated slopes, and mountains covered with trees. The logic 

 of events, therefore, removes it decidedly from the domestic 

 sparrow, leaving it to prey upon, if it desires to vary its 

 ordinary diet of mice, the field sparrow, an inoffensive species 

 of which no complaint is made in America. 



If the attempt to acclimatize the cheve'che in America is 

 made, it will be necessary to procure it from Italy, where it is 

 known under the name of "civetta," or from the south of 

 France, and not from England or from Germany where the 

 cheveche is called " steinkauz." And here another question 

 presents itself, Can this bird of southern Europe support the 

 climate of Massachusetts or even that of New York, accus- 

 tomed as he is to the mild winters of the Mediterranean 

 countries ? 



Your correspondent, N. H. C, appears to me to be right. 

 Will the cheveche, once established as an American citizen, 

 show sufficient intelligence to devote its energies to the 

 extermination of the sparrow and leave the native birds alone, 



and then, when he has exterminated the imported sparrows, 

 what is he going to live on ? Videant consules ne quid 

 detrimenti res publica capiat. _ 



Berlin. <--• -DO lie. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Dear Sir. — My little owl does not appear to have had much 

 success with the readers of Garden and Forest. Their 

 fears with regard to it, however, seem to me exaggerated. 

 This little bird is too feeble to attack poultry, and its specialty 

 in the order of nature is to wage war on sparrows and mice, 

 which it pursues into their holes. The truth is, that in Europe, 

 where this bird is found, the damage done by sparrows is 

 greatly reduced ; and that this owl does less damage to 

 ordinary birds than cats, which could often be dispensed with 

 to advantage, as they inflict serious injury on birds, to say 

 nothing of the fact that they sometimes go mad and are then 

 very dangerous. 



Antibes, France. C. Nattdin. 



Viola ocellata. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — In your issue of February 4th appears a cut of Viola 

 ocellata, which bears so close a resemblance to a species 

 found here on the south side of a spur of the Blue Ridge that 

 I am inclined to believe it the same. The cut is good, so far 

 as it goes, but the variety here grows in dense clumps, often 

 twelve inches in diameter by eight inches to a foot in height, 

 covered with hundreds of exquisitely beautiful, cream-white 

 flowers. The perfume is almost imperceptible, but a faint 

 odor is exhaled which a keen scent can detect. Several years 

 ago, being in these mountains, I collected a few plants, brought 

 them home and planted on the east side of my flower-garden, 

 since which time I am forced to destroy them by the hundred 

 every year to prevent their taking entire possession of the 

 ground. My plants bear flowers with long stems, many of 

 them eight inches long, and this renders them valuable for 

 cut flowers. We often mix them with the fragrant Viola odo- 

 rata, and so delude the possessor with the belief that both 

 varieties are odorous. The plants make a beautiful border, 

 and, being evergreen, never lose their attractiveness alto- 

 gether. The flower has a pale, delicate lavender splash on its 

 three lower petals. 



Spartanburg, S. C. /. S. R. Thomson. 



[ Viola ocellata is confined to the Pacific side of the con- 

 tinent, and it can hardly be the plant referred to by our 

 correspondent. This, judged by the young plants, not 

 yet in flower, with which she has favoured us, is probably 

 one of the white-flowered varieties of the European Violet 

 {V. odorata) which has become naturalized, andisnow wide- 

 spread in some parts of the south Atlantic states. — En.] 



Notes from Milton, Massachusetts. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — Although extraordinary care is often given to the propa- 

 gation of tropical plants they may be successfully rooted on 

 a common gravel bed, such as is used for staging plants. 

 During a recent visit to the greenhouses of N. P. Kidder, Esq., 

 Milton, Massachusetts, I observed that the gardener there, Mr. 

 Martin, roots almost everything in this way. Mounds of gravel 

 are pulled together containing a little grit and also some clay, 

 just sufficient to hold the material together and retain mois- 

 ture. At the time of my visit such plants as Crotons, Dra- 

 caenas and Pandanus were being rooted, and many others were 

 shown me which had been propagated in the same way. The 

 cuttings are shaded by plants, and all the water they get comes 

 from syringing. 



I have before referred to the value of deep pits with glass 

 roofs about level with the ground. Further evidence of 

 their great usefulness was given here. All kinds of plants 

 may be stored in them which will endure a night tem- 

 perature of about forty-five. They are mostly used for Cin- 

 erarias, Calceolarias, Ericas, Azaleas, Camellias, Cytisus, and 

 also for the later batches of Holland bulbs. 



The white Epacris palludosa is here grown well. This is 

 probably the best variety for cutting. It is often supposed that 

 imported peat is necessary to grow these well, but Mr. Martin's 

 plants are grown in leaf soil and loam only. His later treat- 

 ment consists in cutting back severely ; abundance of water 

 during the growing season, and a shady place during the 



