3i6 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 176. 



method on the ground of economy, both of material and of 

 amusement, for there is no reason why this play should not 

 go on forever, like a Wagner opera. It has its surprises too, 

 in the way of some happy effect that you had not imagined, 

 and again, you are horrilied at the outcome of some arrange- 

 ment that seemed felicitous. We have got our own shrubs so 

 beautifully trained now, that they do not mind moving on the 

 first of May, anymore than an old New York citizen. Up they 

 come, blossoms and all, and never drop a petal, but go on 

 blooming serenely in their new home as if they had always 

 been there. This spring we had a present from a kind friend 

 of a box of rare and beautiful little shrubs, the very names of 

 which it took a day to look up. We knew they were coming, 

 but not what they were to be, so a bed was prepared for them 

 within easy reach of the hose, and, when they came, they were 

 set out carefully, in the midst of an April snow-storm, and a 

 cold wind, which nipped their poor little half-opened leaves 

 most cruelly. 



After they were all arranged, and the weather had moderated 

 sufficiently for one to study the labels, we found that the 

 arrangement would have driven a gardener. wild, future trees, 

 a hundred feet high, having been set side by side with burly 

 little shrubs, which at present look much more important than 

 their (to be) stately neighbors. What with snow one day, and 

 burning heat the next, combined with steady dry weather, 

 those shrubs have had a struggle for existence, in which they 

 have been sturdily abetted by their natural protectors. The 

 hose one minute, and newspapers and branches of trees the 

 next, have been called upon to supply the deficiencies of 

 Nature, who has been more than ever capricious during this 

 extraordinary season, and if at the end of the summer they are 

 all well and firmly established, it will prove what care will do 

 to defy the inclemencies of the season. After a year or two 

 they will have acquired the customs of the place sufficiently 

 to be moved where they will make the best show, but before 

 they reach their final resting-place it is possible that they may 

 have several halts by the way. With a ball of earth attached 

 to the roots, traveling does not seem to hurt them much, 

 though no doubt it retards their growth somewhat, which is 

 all the better if they are to be kept in proper proportion to the 

 place, which is not adapted to anything very gigantic. 



Of one thing I have become certain in this limited experience 

 of landscape-gardening, and that is, that the pleasure is in the 

 doing, in the vision of the mind, in the ever-expanding hope 

 for the future. When the trees have grown too large to move, 

 and the shrubs are irrevocably rooted, we shall surely be no 

 happier than now, when they are viewed in a halo of imagination. 



Hingham, Mass. M. C. RobbhlS. 



The Weeds of California — I. 



TT might be unnecessary to begin a treatise on Weeds with 

 ■J- a definition of the meaning of the word were it not that 

 usage attaches to it two really distinct ideas, having in com- 

 mon only that of a hardy plant that is of no particular use. A 

 weed in one sense bears the reproach of being a persistent 

 invader of the husbandman's realm, difficult to repel ; while 

 in another it means simply a hardy plant thriving under diffi- 

 culties which discourage more useful growths, and therefore 

 obtruding its presence on road-sides and other waste places. 

 It will hardly do to go so far as to attach the opprobrious term 

 to any plant that habitually appears in a place where it is not 

 wanted, despite the analogy of the "dirt" on the goldsmith's 

 apron and the "pay dirt" of the placer miner. 



It has not uncommonly been noted, as a matter of surprise, 

 that the troublesome weeds of any country are rarely aborigines 

 thereof. In reality this is probably but one of the phases of the 

 survival of the fittest under natural conditions ; for neither 

 road-sides and waste places on the one hand, nor cultivated 

 ground on the other, can be classed among such conditions. 

 In order to become a weed a plant must be placed under un- 

 naturally favorable conditions, unlike those which have natu- 

 rally concurred toward the secular co-adaptation of plants, soils 

 and climates. We see the converse process in the complete 

 disappearance of native plants that have formed the predomi- 

 nant growth, as, for example, that of the Buffalo Grass (Buchloe) 

 from the plains of Nebraska and Colorado, not as the result of 

 displacement, but of unsuitable conditions ; while the Thistle 

 on the Pampas, and the Guava on the Hawaiian group, are 

 examples of almost complete displacement of native growth 

 by foreign invaders. In California the progress of the invasion 

 by some of the most common weeds can be currently traced 

 as yet in the more remote regions ; and the influence of climate 

 in modifying the "weed nature" of a number of well-known 

 plants forms an interesting study. 



The broad fact in the premises that first strikes the new- 

 comer in California is that a number of plants that are the sub- 

 jects of careful culture east of the Rocky Mountains, as well as 

 in Europe, and which quickly succumb when deprived of arti- 

 ficial protection there, are here found among the most persist- 

 ent and obnoxious weeds ; while very many of those that are 

 specially abundant and troublesome in the Atlantic region are 

 conspicuously absent on the Pacific side. Foremost among 

 the former class are the two " Mustards," Brasica Rapaand B. 

 nigra, respectively known as White Mustard (or Wild Turnip) 

 and Black Mustard ; and next to these the common Radish 

 {Raphanus sativus, not R. Raphanistrum of the European 

 fields). The first-named is most abundant on the borders of 

 the Bay of San Francisco, and occupies not only abandoned 

 fields, but disputes the ground with the cereals to such an ex- 

 tent that it is often difficult to believe that it has not been 

 planted on purpose ; and were rapeseed oil as much sought 

 after as of yore California could doubtless lead the world in 

 growdng the plant which yields it. The Black Mustard is of 

 more extended prevalence, and both in the coast region and in 

 the great valley takes possession of neglected fields to the ex- 

 clusion of everything else, growing so tall in rich soils as to 

 hide horse and rider, and forming impenetrable thickets that, 

 like the Thistle of the Pampas, serve as a place of refuge for 

 wild animals. In the Santa Barbara region such Mustard 

 patches are often cut for their seed, which is extremely pun- 

 gent ; but the crop often fails in consequence of the over- 

 whelming attacks of an aphide upon the peduncles and 

 forming pods. Apart from this latter drawback, California 

 could probably also defy competition in Mustard-culture. 



The Radish is not quite so overwhelming in its attacks upon 

 cultivated ground ; but large patches of its rose-colored flowers 

 often contrast very prettily with the prevailing yellow of the 

 two Brassicas ; and the extirpation of its roots, equally tena- 

 cious in texture and life, and enduring several years, is no 

 small problem in badly infested fields. Its habit would seem 

 to indicate its derivation from some one of the long varieties 

 of the cultivated plant. 



Of cruciferous weeds the Hedge Mustard {Erysimum offici- 

 nale) is somewhat troublesome at times, and the Shepherd's 

 Purse is well acclimated, but hardly obnoxious. Of native 

 crucifers the only one that maintains its place among culti- 

 vated crops with some tenacity is the Tropidocarpicm gracile, 

 which finds improved conditions of existence in the irrigated 

 districts of the upper San Joaquin Valley. Of other cultivated 

 plants that maintain themselves by road-sides and elsewhere 

 in the open country in suitable ground the Celery, Carrot and 

 Fennel are conspicuous. The tall and dense bushes formed 

 by the last-named plant, even on well-trodden road-sides, recall 

 the mention of Fennel-thickets, dreaded as the lurking-places 

 of wild beasts, by travelers in the coast region of Asia Minor. 

 The Fullers Teasel, likewise, has escaped from cultivation, 

 and forms a serious pest in some places. 



Of weeds conspicuous on the Atlantic side and almost un- 

 known as such in California, the entire series of Polygonums 

 is perhaps the most striking example, excepting only P. avicu- 

 lare, which is probably more troublesome here than anywhere 

 else, the rainless summers being nowise against its full enjoy- 

 ment of life, and, in the prevailing absence of summer culti- 

 vation, enabling it to develop into gigantic wheel-shaped 

 specimens, as much superior in size to their eastern brethren 

 as are the proverbial California pumpkins. It is, however, a 

 more or less acceptable pasture-plant for cattle during the 

 dry season. By ditches and in meadows a few scattering 

 plants of Polygonum lapathifolium, P. Pennsylvanicum and a 

 few others are occasionally seen ; but they do not maintain 

 themselves and do not spread into the cultivated fields. 



Of their near relatives, the Docks, however, there are several 

 that count among the more troublesome invaders. While 

 Rumex sanguineus and A', obtusifolius are hardly more often 

 seen than are the Polygonums, three others — R. crispus, R. 

 pulcher and R. Acetosella — are common and extremely tena- 

 cious of life, sprouting up from their roots, cut by the last cul- 

 tivation in May, at any time during the dry season, and seeding 

 quickly and abundantly. 



Of Amaranths it may in general be said that they flourish 

 in the fields of California as well, or even better, than on the 

 Atlantic side, although somewhat changed in habit. A. retro- 

 flexus, as troublesome in California vineyards as among the 

 Corn and Potatoes of the prairie states, forms here mostly a 

 flat, wheel-shaped mass, from which the ground-squirrel, 

 stooping down, gathers its winter hoard. A. albus maintains 

 very nearly its eastern aspect. 



Of Chenopodiums, C. album and C. Bonus -Henricus 

 are almost, if not quite, as familiar as in the east and in 



