April 8, 1891.] 



Garden and Forest. 



167 



other trees tending to show that there is a wide margin of 

 variation in hardiness within the limits of a single species, lam 

 inclined to believe that young trees obtained from these inland 

 localities might be successfully grown in the east. The cir- 

 cumstances appear to indicate that the western Arbor-vitas is 

 not bounded inland by low winter temperatures so much as 

 by aridity of climate. Where the interior climate is dry, the 

 tree is found only in deep humid valleys or ravines. It would 

 thus appear to me to be more than probable that young trees 

 brought, say, from the Selkirk or Gold Ranges of British 

 Columbia, might be successfully established in most sheltered 

 localities even in the eastern states and eastern provinces of 

 Canada. Possibly this experiment has already been unsuccess- 

 fully tried, but, if not, it would seem to be worth trying, as the 

 western Thuya when well grown is certainly one of the most 

 beautiful trees on the continent. 



Geological Survey of Canada, Ottawa. George M. DaiVSOIl. 



[An attempt was made several years ago to establish 

 the western Arbor-vitas in the Arnold Arboretum with seed- 

 lings raised from seed collected in northern Idaho, where 

 the climate is very severe. The plants, although carefully 

 protected, were not able, however, to survive the Massa- 

 chusetts winters. Another attempt to find a form of this 

 tree which will prove perfectly hardy in the east should be 

 made with seeds brought from the Selkirk Mountains and 

 from other regions of British Columbia with extreme cli- 

 mates. Perhaps Professor Dawson can aid vis in this 

 matter. — Ed.] 



Exhibitions. 

 The Boston Spring Flower Show. 



THE spring exhibition of the Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society, which was held in Boston last week, delighted 

 many visitors, who seemed to find their chief interest in two 

 small natural rock-gardens which had been arranged on the 

 floor of the lower of the two halls of the Society, and rilled with 

 forced hardy shrubs, forced bulbs and other perennial plants. 

 The larger of these two collections was set up by Mr. C. J. 

 Dawson, a young gardener in the employ of the horticultural 

 department of the Bussey Institution, and did much credit to 

 his taste and skill in selecting and arranging his material ; the 

 other, in which a smaller variety of plants appeared, was the 

 work of the Botanic Garden at Cambridge, which institution 

 exhibited various hardy shrubs in flower. It is always a ques- 

 tion whether the surprises and pleasures of spring and the out- 

 door garden are not dulled somewhat by advancing the season 

 by bringing into winter the plants whose flowers give to spring 

 its peculiar charm, and whether if one sees Narcissi and 

 Tulips, and the flowers of forced shrubs, Lilacs, Japan Apples 

 and Spirasas all winter long, the keen delight which is felt 

 at the north at the sudden change when winter melts into 

 summer, and myriads of flowers open, must lose something 

 of its delightful freshness. There is, however, one decided 

 advantage in an exhibition of this character. It enables people 

 who wish to make a selection of hardy plants to see them in 

 flower -just at the planting-time and to see what the best plants 

 are for their special purposes. 



It is now very much the fashion to force hardy plants to 

 bloom out of season, and a great show can be made in this 

 way with small outlay of money and without the skill and pa- 

 tience required to bring to perfection winter-blooming trop- 

 ical plants which are now too much neglected, although they 

 really belong to the winter season, and should then furnish the 

 principal decoration of the greenhouse and conservatory. 



Roses and Carnations were shown in large numbers, and, 

 as is the case almost always in Boston, they were of excellent 

 quality. Tea Roses were more abundant than Hybrid Per- 

 petuals, and this, as indicating the return to popular favor of 

 the Tea Rose for winter, is a matter of congratulation. The Tea 

 Rose is the Rose to raise under glass, and no other Rose 

 can equal it in delicate beauty and graceful refinement. 



As examples of good cultivation, no plants in the exhibition 

 equaled the group of Cyclamens and Cinerarias shown by Mr. 

 Kenneth Finlayson, gardener to Dr. C. G. Weld, of Brookline. 

 The Cinerarias were selected from a large collection of these 

 plants which have been the horticultural sensation in the 

 neighborhood of Boston during the past month, and which 

 have attracted many visitors. It is not probable that a collec- 

 tion of better-grown or better-flowered Cinerarias has ever 

 been seen, although, unfortunately, the plants in the exhibi- 

 tion were a little past their best. The collection, as seen three 

 weeks ago in Dr. Weld's garden, was a marvel of horticultural 



excellence. The plants were of a remarkably good strain, 

 bearing a large variety of enormous bright-colored flower:,. 

 It may be of interest to note that the seed from which Mr. 

 Finlayson raised these plants was selected by himself from a 

 strain of his own. 



Indian Azaleas were shown in a number of specimens in 

 considerable variety ; they lacked, however, substance and 

 finish, and showed the effect of having been brought forward 

 in too much heat. Orchids were not up to the standard set 

 in previous Boston exhibitions. Of hardy plants, the most 

 interesting for their novelty was a small group of the beautiful 

 Japanese Primula Sieboldii exhibited by Rea Brothers. 



Recent Publications. 



A Move for Better Roads. Essays on Road Making and 

 Maintenance and Road Laws. Henry Carey Baird & Co., Phil- 

 adelphia. 



This book is one of the fruits of the wide-spread agitation 

 for an improvement in our public highways. These essays 

 are not solely arguments to show how great are the advan- 

 tages of good roads to both town and country, but they enter 

 into details and go carefully into the principles of road-con- 

 struction as well as maintenance, and treat of the legislation 

 which is needed to insure the best and cheapest wheelway the 

 year through. The history of the work is this : In November, 

 1889, Mr. Wm. M. Rhawn offered to contribute, through the 

 University of Pennsylvania, a prize for the best paper on the 

 "Construction and Maintenance of Common Roads." The 

 project received so much encouragement from the Provost of 

 the University and Professor Haupt, the head of the Engineer- 

 ing Department, that the plan was enlarged through the organ- 

 ization of a committee and the opening of a subscription fund, 

 until at last prizes of $400, $200 and $100 were offered by the 

 committee, and the competition was thrown open to all. The 

 first prize was awarded by the very competent Board of Adju- 

 dicators to Henry Irwin, Assistant Engineer of the Canadian 

 Pacific Railway ; the second prize to David H. Bergey, North 

 Wales, Pennsylvania, and the third prize to James Bradford 

 Olcott, of South Manchester, Connecticut. These essays arc 

 collected in this volume, together with five others which re- 

 ceived honorable mention in the competition. To them is 

 added a digest of the contents of the remaining essays offered 

 in competition for the road prizes besides some contributions 

 from other correspondents and some notes by Mr. Rhawn, 

 making altogether a volume of more than 300 pages. The 

 work has a good index and a still better table of contents, 

 and, although little that is new can now be said on the sub- 

 ject, the book certainly presents in accessible form such gen- 

 eral rules of road construction as non-professional readers 

 ought to be interested in studying. The essays are prefaced 

 by a series of resolutions by the committee to the effect : 

 (1) That in the improvements of roads the Macadam system, 

 consisting of small angular fragments of stone in sizes not 

 exceeding from two to two and a half inches in the long- 

 est dimension, according to quality, should be used wherever 

 a stone surface is practicable and justifiable. (2) That the 

 minimum width of the metaled surface for a single track 

 should be a demi-rod, eight and a quarterfeet, and ofsiich depth 

 as the amount of traffic and character of the subsoil may re- 

 quire. (3) That the bed to receive the stone must be so pre- 

 pared that it cannot be saturated with water, and, therefore, 

 great attention should be given to the character and drainage 

 of the subsoil. (4) That the width of the tires of wheels should 

 be regulated by law, and that the minimum width of all heavy 

 draught vehicles should be four inches, to be increased when 

 the capacity of the vehicle exceeds half a ton per wheel at the 

 rate of one inch for each 400 pounds in excess. 



Stone of the proper quality for making a good road-surface 

 is abundant in most parts of the country, and where it cannot 

 be cheaply procured some fair substitute can be found, so that 

 there is no reason why a few sample miles of the best possible 

 road cannot be constructed in every township of the country 

 which is sufficiently populous to justify this expense. This is 

 the first step needed in road-reform. The chief reason why 

 the people of the country do not insist upon better highways 

 is, that they have never seen a mile of good road. When once 

 they learn by experience what advantages are secured to them 

 by the best roads, the}' will not rest until the common roads 

 receive the same attention that is given to railroads. It is to 

 be hoped that this book will have a wide circulation, for it will 

 disseminate just such information as will prove of practical 

 value in hastening' forward the construction of these model 

 bits of highway which must prove beneficial as object-lessons. 



