1 68 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 1G3 



Notes. 



In a portion of our edition last week the article entitled 

 " Points in Chrysanthemum Culture" was not credited to Mr. 

 John Thorpe, as it should have been. 



In a paper on " Ferns," read before the Massachusetts Horti- 

 cultural Society last week, Mr. George E. Davenport said that 

 a single frond of Aspidium Filix-mas is capable of producing 

 18,000,000 plants, and one entire plant 1,000,000,000 seedlings. 



During the census year 267,271 tons of grapes were sold 

 for table use in the United States, and 304,868 were sold to 

 wineries. More than 24,000,000 gallons of wine were made. 

 Besides this 1,372,195 boxes of raisins were produced, each 

 box holding twenty pounds. 



A correspondent of the American Florist suggests the use 

 of red flowering Cannas to supply the lack of scarlet flowers 

 at Easter. Some pots of the bright blooming kinds, with 

 good foliage, would be an admirable addition to the Palms 

 and Lilies so generally used. 



One of the largest wine casks in the world, according to the 

 last census report, is in the Ohio vine region on the 

 shores or islands of Lake Erie, although its exact location is 

 not given. The cask is made of Ohio Oak, is of the finest 

 cooperage, and contains 36,000 gallons. 



The Bride continues to be the leading Tea Rose in the New 

 York flower market. Niphetos, on account of its weak and 

 drooping stems, does not suit the present fashion for Roses 

 which stand up well. The Bride also has the slight pink tinge 

 which relieves it from a dead-white and makes it much more 

 generally serviceable. 



The fourth of the " Farmers' Bulletins," so called, issued by 

 the Department of Agriculture, relates to fungus diseases of 

 the grape and their treatment, and has been prepared by Pro- 

 fessor B. T. Galloway. We have in former issues given most 

 of the information which is contained in this valuable bulletin, 

 in which will be found the facts that have been brought out by 

 the most recent experiments in the Department. Every grape- 

 grower should be familiar with the new methods of treating 

 the four diseases of the grape which are now the most 

 destructive, namely, the downy mildew, the powdery mildew, 

 the black rot and anthracnose. Copies of the bulletin will be 

 sent to any one who applies to the Secretary of Agriculture 

 at Washington. 



The Verbena Mildew, so much dreaded by florists (Oidiictn 

 erysiphioides, probably), has been very successfully com- 

 bated at the Cornell Experiment Station this winter with 

 a solution in water of potassium sulphide, at the rate of a 

 quarter of an ounce- to the gallon. A stock of plants was 

 received in the early winter which was badly infested with 

 the fungus. A part of the plants were occasionally sprayed 

 with* the fungicide, and, while traces of the disease still appear 

 at times, it is rendered practically harmless. Another portion 

 of the same lot of plants, growing under similar conditions, 

 but without the application of this simple remedy, was soon 

 entirely destroyed by the disease. This preparation has also 

 been applied to Cucumbers infested with the same, ora similar 

 fungus, with very satisfactory results. 



In a census bulletin of viticultural statistics, just issued, it 

 is stated that a grower of grapes in what is now known as the 

 Lake Keuka district, in New York state, shipped his first crop, 

 amounting to fifty pounds, to the New York market in 1845, 

 by canal. The commission merchant who handled these 

 wrote encouragingly to the shipper and advised him to send 

 more grapes. The next year the grower was able to ship him 

 between 200 and 300 pounds, but he overdid the matter, and 

 the New York market for grapes broke under this tremendous 

 pressure. Last year, from this same district, there were 

 carried away to different cities 40,000,000 pounds of grapes, 

 while those raised in the Hudson River district of the same 

 state, and the Chautauqua district, where the industry has only 

 been established for ten years, swelled the grand total to 

 98,000.000 pounds from New York state alone, and this does 

 not include the grapes sold for wine, which probably amounted 

 to 25,000,000. 



A recent article in The Grocer says : Vanillin is the odor- 

 iferous principle of Vanilla, which, from a previous paper, 

 our readers know to be the fruit of a plant called Va- 

 nilla aromatlca. Vanillin exists in the Vanilla-pod to the 

 extent of about two per cent. These pods used to be very 



expensive, but new sources of vanillin are being discovered, 

 and it seems likely that (he vanilla industry will soon be 

 extinct. Vanillin, which is the only substance for which the 

 Vanilla-pod is valuable, has been found in asparagus, raw beet- 

 sugar, and assafcetida ; it likewise results from the oxidation 

 of Olive-wood. On a large scale it is prepared from coniferin, 

 a compound which occurs in the sap of the cambium of Pine- 

 trees. The latest source of vanillin has been discovered by 

 Herr Schneegans in the seeds of Rosa canina. These are 

 extracted with ether ; part of the ether is separated by distilla- 

 tion, and the residue is agitated with sodium bisulphite solu- 

 tion, saturated with sulphurous anhydride. Dilute sulphuric 

 acid is then added, and finally, after much washing and 

 drying, a brown oil is obtained, which, in a few days, becomes 

 a mass of crystals. Possibly the vanilla pod will find a new 

 commercial rival in these Rosa canina seeds. 



Although the last Congress failed to pass the law extending 

 the boundaries of Yellowstone Park, it did enact a measure 

 which repealed the Timber Culture Act, and in this repeal was 

 a provision authorizing the President at discretion to withdraw 

 from entry any public timber-lands. In the exercise of his 

 authority, the President has made a proclamation to reserve a 

 belt on the eastern and southern sides of the park, which prac- 

 tically increases its area by one-half. Of course this action is 

 not sufficient to annex to the park permanently all this region 

 so reserved from settlement, but it relieves it from immediate 

 danger from lumbermen, and leaves it under Government 

 control, so that the same provisions for protecting it from fire 

 and other depredations can be made as those which now exist 

 over Yellowstone Park. This new region includes the head- 

 waters of the Madison, Snake and Yellowstone Rivers, and 

 will thus protect the water-supply of the park, and it will also 

 include the breeding region of the elk and other great game. 

 It is not apparent that the railway company which has defeated 

 the bill for eight successive years" have gained any important 

 advantage, because the President's proclamation does not give 

 them the right of way which they have been demanding. 



As it is probable that a larger and larger portion of the 

 world's supply of sugar will come from the Beet, instead of 

 the tropical Cane, it is not surprising that our experiment 

 stations are beginning to investigate the possibility of making 

 beet-sugar in this country. A bulletin from the Michigan 

 Station, prepared by Professor Kedzie, gives two charts, one 

 of temperature, and the other of rain-fall. In the first chart 

 the curve for temperature at Halle, Germany, and at Cambrai, 

 France, shows that the range of the thermometer at these 

 places, which are great centres of beet-sugar industry in 

 Europe, does not differ materially from that of Michigan. A 

 similar chart shows that the rain-fall in Michigan compares 

 favorably with that of the best sugar-beet districts of Europe. 

 Altogether, the climatic conditions in the greater part of the 

 lower peninsula of Michigan are very favorable for the 

 production of good Sugar Beets. That is, there is a moist 

 and growing spring-time, a summer filled with sunshine, and 

 not so wet as to produce a sappy growth, and autumnal 

 weather that will ripen up and round out the growth, which 

 are ideal conditions for raising these Beets. Wherever, in 

 addition to these climatic conditions, there is a sandy loam, with 

 an open, porous subsoil, good crops of Beets can reasonably 

 be hoped for. Many attempts have been made to manufac- 

 ture sugar from Beets in this country, but most of them have 

 been failures. The Michigan Experiment Station proposes to 

 make a fair trial of the industry in that State, and it is desired 

 to secure the services of fifty or sixty farmers to help them. It 

 is suggested that the agricultural societies in various counties 

 or townships will select two or three persons, and to such 

 persons the seed necessary for the experiment will be sent 

 free of expense. 



Catalogues Received. 



P. M. Augur & Sons, Middlefield, Conn. ; Small Fruits, Fruit-trees, 

 Shade trees. Vines and Vegetable Plants. — A. Blanc & Co., Philadel- 

 phia, Pa.; Hints on Cacti. — A. M. C. Pongkindt Coninck, Dedems- 

 vaart, near Zwolle, Netherlands ; Wholesale Trade-list of Coniferae, 

 Fruit-trees, Hardy Perennials and other Hardy Plants. — Gillett & 

 Horsford, Southwick, Mass.; Wild Flowers and Hardy Ornamentals, 

 Evergreen Ferns, Shrubs and Novelties. — Richard Nott, Burlington, 

 Vermont; Choice Vegetable and Flower-seeds.- — Rigby & Burleigh, 

 Houlton, Maine; The Rigby Patent Potato Digger. — J. Sallier Fils, 

 9 Rue Delaizement, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France; New and Rare Plants. — 

 Mrs. Theodosia B. Shepherd, Ventura California ; Plants, Shrubs, 

 Flower-seeds and Bulbs. — Vilmokin-Andrieux & Cie., 4 Quai de la 

 Megisserie, Paris, France ; .Seeds of Shrubs, Trees and Vines for Out- 

 door and Greenhouse Planting;. 



