3io 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 175. 



are gathered by women and children it is necessary to prevent 

 the plants from growing to their full height. To accomplish 

 this it is customary to stop the main stem of the young plant 

 at about two feet from the ground. This causes it to form 

 sev r eral main branches, and these are cut every year in such a 

 manner as to give to the plant the form of a vase, this being 

 the shape best suited to produce the largest quantity of flowers 

 near the ground, the plants being kept down to a height of five 

 or six feet. The plants continue to produce flowers from the 

 middle of summer to the middle of autumn, and a few flowers 

 continue to appear until frost, that is, until the middle of No- 

 vember or the commencement of December. The first flowers, 

 however, those which open during hot weather, are much 

 more valuable than those produced late in the season. For 

 this reason cultivators use every effort to advance the flower- 

 ing period. 



The flowers are always gathered in the morning and are 

 turned over at once to the manufacturers. It is estimated 

 that a fully grown plant in good condition will produce a kilo- 

 gram of flowers during the season worth from five to seven 

 francs, according as the supply is more or less abundant. A 

 hectare (about two and a half acres) produces, on an average, 

 eleven thousand pounds of flowers. 



The flowers are never distilled, the only process used to ex- 

 tract the perfume being that known as "enfleurage." The 

 essence of Cassie is used in the preparation of pomades, to 

 perfume oils or to make extracts of different species, the 

 preparation of which is more or less the secret of the per- 

 fumers of Grasse. The process of " enfleurage " consists in 

 spreading .flowers over glass plates covered with a layer of 

 pure grease three or four millimetres thick. This is turned 

 over two or three times a week, or until it is impregnated with 

 the perfume — a process which usually requires a period of 

 twenty-five or thirty days. The impregnated grease is then 

 distilled in order to obtain the pure essence, a kilogram of 

 flowers producing three or four grams of the essence. The 

 process of " enfleurage " is also performed with hot oil. Olive 

 oil of the best quality is poured into large heated kettles, into 

 which are put the Cassie-flowers. The oil is then heated to 

 the boiling point, or almost to the boiling point. Workmen 

 provided with large wooden spoons keep turning the flowers 

 to prevent them from falling to the bottom of the kettle, where 

 they would burn. When this operation has been continued 

 long enough the whole of the contents of the kettle, flowers 

 and oil, is poured into little sacks, which are compressed 

 under an hydraulic press. In this way the perfumed oil of 

 Cassie is obtained. It is not easy to explain these processes, 

 and they cannot be thoroughly understood unless they can be 

 seen in operation. 



In addition to the typical Acacia Farnesiana a remarkable 

 variety, discovered about fifteen years ago, is now cultivated. 

 This is the Acacia Far7iesia?ia sempervirens. It is said to be 

 much more valuable than the ancient form, and is a larger, 

 more robust and productive plant. It requires, however, 

 more room. Plants of this variety ought not to be set less 

 than fifteen feet apart, and need abundant watering and ma- 

 nuring during the summer. This variety is hardier than the 

 type, and it grows more rapidly. Its principal advantage over 

 the ordinary Acacia Far?iesia>ia is found in the fact that it pro- 

 duces two crops of flowers in a year — the first at the end of 

 the summer, the other in the spring. It is now largely and 

 profitably cultivated in the neighborhood of Grasse. 



Antibes, France. Charles Naildill. 



Forest Fires. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — During the month of May the papers were filled with 

 accounts of forest-fires, but only a fraction of the cases where 

 serious damage is done is ever reported in the press. Where 

 one acre of valuable Pine is destroyed, there are 80 or 100 

 acres burned over of what would be a forest in the future. 

 Whole townships were literally devastated, and a cloud of 

 smoke more or less dense hung over the whole of northern 

 Wisconsin and the upper peninsula of Michigan, as well as 

 the northern part of the lower peninsula of Michigan. From 

 a private source I learned of one lumberman losing 50,000,000 

 feet of standing pine in primeval forests. Numberless camps, 

 with all their outfit, including even the horses in some cases, 

 have been destroyed, with vast quantities of lumber and logs, 

 and dams used for driving logs ; in short, everything which fire 

 can consume is swept away by these conflagrations. They 

 cannot be stopped or checked. Spread over a large area, the 

 induced currents of air become fierce gales, the heat becomes 

 so intense that men cannot bear it ; the sand becomes red- 



hot, and turf and mold and roots of trees — everything burns. 

 Sparks and flaming brands are carried long distances beyond 

 the line where the fire is raging, starting blazes in new places ; 

 rivers and swamps offer no obstructions. Even rain is but a 

 temporary check, and when the next dry time comes, from 

 smoldering embers in decayed trees or from the depth of 

 some body of turf, the flames break out afresh. Smothered 

 fires may keep alive in such places until a heavy mantle of 

 snow finally puts them all out. How are our Pine-woods to 

 have insurance against fire under such conditions ? Gener- 

 ally speaking, our hard-wood forests are proof against fires to 

 the extent, at least, that old forests do not easily suffer. This 

 is not always so, however, and in severe fires like those of the 

 present year mile upon mile of hard-wood timber may be 

 destroyed. 



The lumbermen are careful in all their operations not to 

 allow fire to escape them. Farmers, in clearing the land by 

 burning, and hunters and fishermen are usually the culprits, 

 and timber-owners are helpless to prevent it. " What are we 

 going to do about it ? " 

 Milwaukee, wis. Charles L. Mann. 



Old Fort Erie. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — There is a historic spot in plain view from this city that 

 is curiously favored by nature, and yet but for the near neigh- 

 borhood of an excursion steamer's landing it would be rarely 

 visited. Old Fort Erie is now nothing but a bewildering 

 labyrinth of tumble-down walls and grass-grown embank- 

 ments, a simple pasture-field, with no habitation near, but it 

 has a breezy situation and a wonderfully varied outlook. The 

 soft outline of Lake Erie, and the steady, quiet flow of the 

 Niagara as it leaves the lake, have no suggestions of war, and 

 one is delighted to find the whole slope on which the fort lies 

 sown, as it were, with that old favorite of all lovers of sweet- 

 scented flowers, the thorny Sweet-brier, or Eglantine {Rosa 

 rubiginosa). The heavy turf and unprotected field seems not 

 at all suited to this shrub, yet it is here in profusion on every 

 side of the fort, and when the bright pink blossoms are out, 

 here about the last of June, the air is loaded with fragrance. 



I find Sweet-brier stems close under the remaining walls of 

 the fort at least an inch and a half through, though sheep-pas- 

 turage has kept most of the plants small. New shoots are now 

 coming up of an almost scarlet hue in their luxuriance, and, as 

 they are simple at first, like the Bramble, they are very striking. 

 But for the pasturing the field is subjected to, it would be a 

 wilderness of Sweet-brier, for the moat no longer holds water, 

 except here and there, where the shallow depths are given up 

 to Water Plantain, crawfish and snails. 



As if the Eglantine alone were not considered striking enough 

 for the spot, there are scattered over it two species of Thorn 

 {Cratcegus coccinea and C. tomentosa), the former of which is 

 (June 6th) in full blossom, and the latter just beginning to show 

 bloom. These masses of white flowers, soon to be replaced 

 by the delicate pink of the Sweet-brier, seem a sort of mild re- 

 proach to the nations who within the century made war on 

 each other in this now most peaceful and restful spot. 



Along the river opposite the old fort at this season only two 

 or three wild plants are conspicuous. Cynoglossum officinale, 

 or Hound's-tongue, grows with especial vigor, and the shaggy 

 Henbane {Hyoscyamus niger)' is now in blossom. Later on 

 Datura Stramonium forms thickets on the bank close to the 

 water. 



Buffalo, n y. J. C. 



Recent Publications. 



The Second Annual Report of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 

 St. Louis, 1891, has reached us. It contains the report of the 

 officers of the Board, the second annual report of the director, 

 an account of the proceedings at the first annual banquet 

 given by the trustees to gardeners, florists and nurserymen, 

 which was held in December of last year at the rooms of the 

 Mercantile Club, and finally Professor Trelease's revision of 

 the " North American Species of Epilobium," which is accom- 

 panied with forty-eight lithographed plates. The volume is 

 further illustrated with views, taken in the greenhouses of the 

 garden, of a neglected and of a well-pruned Apple-tree, and of 

 some bunches of Delaware grapes, showing the good results 

 obtained by bagging. Professor Trelease, in his report, shows 

 that solid work is being done in the garden, which is better 

 equipped financially than any similar establishment of its kind 

 in the world, the total receipts of income from September 1st, 

 1889, to December 31st, 1890, having amounted to no less than 



