April 8, 1891.] 



Garden and Forest. 



159 



The Colonnade in the Pare Monceau, Paris. 



THE Pare Monceau has already been described in Garden 

 and Forest,* so it is needless again to tell how it origi- 

 nated, or to note the general characteristics which, despite the 

 introduction, in inappropriate situations, of an excessive 

 multitude of bedding-plants, make it the prettiest of Parisian 

 pleasure-grounds. We now desire simply to call attention to 

 the picture on page 163, which shows a portion of a long, 

 curving colonnade, shaded by trees and luxuriantly draped in 

 Ivy, that stands on the edge of an oval basin of water. It is 

 the most charming and individual feature of the park, and 

 seems especially interesting when we find that it was not built 

 in willful imitation of a ruin, but is a veritable relic of former 

 days. It dates from the best period of the early Renaissance, 

 though, singularly enough, its exact origin is not known. 

 According to one tradition, it was brought from the destroyed 

 Chateau de Raincy ; according to another, which is more 

 generally held, it was part of a great rotunda which Catherine 

 de Medici commenced to build, north of the Church of St. 

 Denis, to receive her own mausoleum and that of her 

 husband, Henri II., and which was torn down in the begin- 

 ning of the eighteenth century. In his book on "Paris in Old 

 and Present Times," Mr. Philip Gilbert Hamerton writes : 

 " Nothing can be more elegant than this colonnade. . . . 

 In its present situation it seems like a remnant of antique 

 architecture in some graceful picture by Claude, and one is 

 grateful for the good sense that has saved it from destruction. 

 Lalanne once made a very poetical charcoal drawing - of it, 

 which has been reproduced in the series of his charcoals. 

 This is one example ... of the happy combination of 

 architecture with foliage and water. Set up in the British 

 Museum these columns would signify comparatively little ; 

 but with graceful foliage and a mirror of water they are 

 charming." 



Some of the beautifully proportioned columns, with their 

 delicate flutings and rich Corinthian capitals, can be more 

 plainly seen than those which our picture presents ; yet it 

 would be hard to find more charming objects than these. No 

 plant is more classic in its effect or in its historical associa- 

 tions than the Ivy, and it adapts itself as well to the stately 

 simplicity of a piece of classic work like this as to the broad 

 simple rugged masses of a Norman castle-wall or to the 

 slender arches and elaborate carvings of a ruined Gothic 

 abbey. It is a misfortune that, in the dry climate of our north- 

 ern states, Ivy does not grow so well as it does even in the 

 northern parts of Europe. But in sheltered situations, and espe- 

 cially in southern localities, it well repays the gardener's care. 

 It is not so free and spreading in habit as the Virginia Creeper, 

 yet it does not, like the so-called Japanese Ivy, cling so tightly 

 to its supports that it becomes a close-fitting garment rather 

 than a drapery ; and over both of these it has the advantage 

 of keeping its beautiful dark green foliage throughout the win- 

 ter. Moreover, it grows as well when trailing on the ground 

 as when climbing a wall or column, and this peculiarity is very 

 useful when the gardener is trying, as so often is desirable, to 

 connect an architectural feature integrally with its natural sur- 

 roundings. Beautiful borders of Ivy are constant features in 

 European pleasure-grounds, and our picture shows how such 

 a border can serve the artistic purpose just referred to while 

 forming a delightful object in itself. When trees instead of 

 columns are draped with Ivy, and it is then allowed to run out 

 over the grass, whether in a formal or a naturally luxuriant 

 way, the effect is equally charming. 



We would also call attention to the fine effect of the statue 

 on the little island which occupies the centre of the basin. 

 Had it been stood in a commonplace fashion in the middle of 

 the island, it would have been much less impressive than it 

 now is, reflected with its massive pedestal in the silent water, 

 supported by the tree-trunks just beyond it, and backed by the 

 low mass of shrubs. There is no one point where we have 

 more to learn from the French than with regard to the placing 

 of statues in the open air. 



Winter Studies of the Pine Barren Flora of Lake 

 Michigan. — I. 



TT is the common practice of those who study plants in their 

 -l native wilds to observe them mainly during their season 

 of growth. A stroll in the woods in winter, or a botanical ex- 

 cursion when the ground is covered with snow, seems out of 

 place and without adequate reward. But the trees and shrubs 

 in winter, the mosses and lichens which cling to their trunks 

 and limbs or grow beneath their shelter, and the humbler 



* See Vol. II., December u, 18 



plants with evergreen or persistent leaves offer inviting sub- 

 jects for study. Acquaintance with a plant is not complete 

 till it is seen in all its phases. The evergreens may not ex- 

 hibit any essential change of garb in summer and in winter, 

 but they seem more isolated now and contrast more impress- 

 ively with their deciduous-leaved neighbors. The leafless 

 branches of the deciduous trees also show features of form 

 and covering and teach lessons which are concealed when 

 they are thickly clothed with foliage. 



There is also a stillness in the woods in winter which is most 

 impressive. This is due largely to the absence of animal life, 

 and the feeling of loneliness is deepened by the plaintive mur- 

 mur of the wind among the Pines. The cawing of the crow 

 or the harsh cry of the blue-jay almost startles by its sudden- 

 ness. But the sense of loneliness soon passes away, for 

 though the currents of life in the forest-vegetation are in sus- 

 pense the trees themselves are here, ready to furnish lessons 

 and companionship. 



One of the first plants to catch the eye in the Pine Barrens, 

 where the soil has sufficient strength to bear it, is the Climb- 

 ing Bitter-sweet (Celastrus scandens). It does well in the 

 moist sands near the lake, holding to the small trees by its 

 twining, rope-like stems. In the early winter its branches are 

 spangled with fruit, the open valves of the orange-colored pod 

 spreading out like a border and exposing the scarlet aril which 

 covers the seeds. Few sights are gayer at this season than 

 the bright fruit, set in a background of the sombre, leafless 

 branches of the vine and its supporting tree. Near by is an- 

 other climbing vine, the Greenbrier ; its dark green, prickly 

 stems clambering over the shrubs and contrasting with their 

 duller hue like a line sharply drawn across them. 



There are other shrubs with red or yellowish fruit often met 

 with in the sands or beside the sloughs. Among them are 

 four species of Rose, their stems usually red or reddish in the 

 winter, with a hue more pronounced than in the summer. 

 The hips of Rosa blanda and R. humilis are apt to be shriv- 

 eled and dull, not so lasting as those of R. Caroli?ia, which 

 keep their form and colors, being plump and bright, and cling- 

 ing profusely to the bushes in winter. In the wetter ground, 

 where the latter grows, or along the lake-shore, clumps of R. 

 Engelmanni are seen, with its oblong fruit still in good state 

 of preservation and rivaling that of R. Carolina in abundance. 

 The hips are not generally so ruddy, but have a yellowish tinge. 

 Just before Christmas I looked for the scarlet fruit of the Win- 

 terberry (Ilex verticellata), but failed to find any, though it 

 was plentiful on the bushes late in the fall. Probably the birds 

 are responsible for their barren look, for they are fond of the 

 berries. But it is not always thus, for the numerous clumps of 

 Ilex by the borders of ponds will display their red berries in the 

 winter, as the common name affirms. 



Not so tempting nor so worthy of notice are the clusters of 

 small, whitish berries of the Poison Ivy (Rhus Toxicodendron), 

 a common plant in the sands, especially along the roads and 

 cattle-paths. It is almost always the erect form of the plant, 

 a foot or two high, which we see, or the one which runs along 

 on the ground, sending up short branches. It retains its fruit 

 all winter, for this may be found late in the spring, >or well up 

 to the time of flowering again. Doubtless it partakes of the 

 poisonous properties of the plant, so that birds avoid it, for I 

 have never seen it eaten by them. Its dun color does not 

 make it prominent like the bright-colored fruits which allure 

 birds, even if it is edible by them. The Stag-horn Sumach 

 (R. typhind) is a more attractive shrub than its poisonous 

 relative, and quite common by the borders of woods and in 

 their open spaces, its crimson leaves making it one of the 

 most brilliant features of- autumn. The large thyrsoid clusters 

 of fruit, clothed with crimson hairs, still cling to the ends of 

 many of the stout, straggling branches, and serve to make it 

 a conspicuous object in the winter also. The blunt, clumsy 

 branches, dark with sooty bark and hairs, are in marked 

 contrast with those of any neighboring shrub. In handling 

 them one instinctively looks at his fingers to see if they have 

 been blackened by the twigs. The buds are also curious, 

 being deeply set in the midst of a large leaf-scar, and capped 

 by a covering of light russet hairs, thus looking like a blunt 

 cone surrounded by a broad, flat rim. The rudimentary 

 leaves, buried under this copious coating of hairs, seem as if 

 protected against arctic cold. The Fragrant Sumach (R. cana- 

 densis) is frequent on sandy banks and knolls. It usually 

 occurs in patches of a limited area, but thickly covers the 

 space it occupies. It is a dwarf shrub, but a foot or two high, 

 and is a pretty object at anytime of the year — in spring yellow 

 with numerous flowers, in summer clothed with handsome, 

 trifoliate leaves, interspersed with clusters of downy, red 

 fruit ; in autumn showy with richly colored foliage ; grayish 



