336 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 177. 



Notes. 



A correspondent of the Rochester Post Express states that 

 80,000 plants of Roses, embracing 150 varieties, are growing 

 in one block in the nurseries of Messrs. Ellwanger & Barry, 

 while in another field near by there are 20,000 plants. 



The growers of early fruit in California this year reaped a 

 rich harvest. Early cherries, peaches, apricots and pears 

 brought high prices in eastern markets, and some of the 

 earliest peaches came from the northern part of the state. 



Number one of Median's Monthly was issued on the first of 

 July. It contains a colored plate of Rhododendron maximum 

 and sixteen pages of reading-matter, and resembles very 

 much, in typographical appearance, the Gardeners' Monthly, 

 when under Mr. Meehan's direction. 



Monsieur A. Lothelier, in a note recently laid before the 

 French Academy of Sciences, declared his belief that in 

 Rodin/a Pseudacacia, Ulex Europixus, Bcrberis vulgaris and 

 other plants the formation of spines is dependent upon the 

 action of light. If grown where the light is not strong, plants 

 of this sort show few spines, while when the light is more 

 powerful the spines are more numerous, better developed and 

 more markedly differentiated. 



Les Cypripedium et Genres Affines is the title under which 

 Angiolo Pucci publishes, in Florence, a volumeof 218 pages, a 

 history of Cypripedium, with a description of the species and 

 the methods used for their successful cultivation. It is a 

 French translation, or rather an adaptation, of Veitch's 

 "Manual of Orchids," already noticed in these columns, and 

 will be found interesting and valuable to the cultivators of 

 these popular plants who are not acquainted with the English 

 language. 



•The Societe Nationale d' Horticulture de France, the chief 

 horticultural association of that country, now includes nearly 

 2,500 members, of whom 914 reside in Paris, 379 in the De- 

 partment of the Seine, and 982 in the remaining parts of 

 France, while 175 are foreign associates, some of them living 

 in lands as distant as China. The Society is divided into six 

 committees : one each for fruit-culture, for the culture of 

 ornamental trees, for horticulture proper, for vegetable cul- 

 ture, for artistic gardening, and for garden utensils. 



The famous liqueur called "Chartreuse,"from its makers, the 

 monks of the Carthusian order, is composed of brandy, flavored 

 by a mixture of herbs, the secret of which is carefully kept 

 within the bosoms of the order. The Benedictine monks 

 manufacture a similar beverage which, likewise, is called by 

 their name ; and now, we are told, the monks of Tre Fontane, 

 near Rome, the place which has recently become famous for 

 its vast plantations of Eucalyptus trees, are introducing a 

 liqueur, the characteristics of which are explained by the 

 name selected for it — " Eucalyptica." 



The Proceedings of the American Forestry Association, at 

 its late meetings in Quebec and Washington, have been pub- 

 lished in a neat pamphlet of 112 pages. Summaries of several 

 of the papers have already been given in this journal, but the 

 matter is all well edited and of excellent quality. In a prefa- 

 tory note it is stated that the association does not hold itself re- 

 sponsible for the views expressed at its meetings or published 

 afterward in its reports. Its platform is offered, however, 

 for the discussion of all important questions connected with 

 forestry, and the encouragement of such discussion is most 

 commendable. Indeed, this is the only way to promote the 

 aims of the society, which are (1) Education, or leading the 

 public mind to see the necessity of prompt and thorough re- 

 form in the treatment of American forests, and (2) Legislation 

 for the enactment of proper laws under which to accomplish 

 this reform. The association now has an earnest membership 

 from thirty states and two provinces of Canada, and it is in 

 every way worthy of public support. This report deserves a 

 wide circulation, and persons who are not members of the 

 association can secure copies of it for fifty cents by addressing 

 Charles C. Binney, 218 South 4th Street, Philadelphia. 



Writing from Chicago, with regard to the preparations for 

 the World's Fail', a correspondent of the American Architect 

 and Building News recently said that the work of dredging 

 was being pushed with all speed, so that it was expected that 

 the lagoon would be completed by the end of June, and also 

 the grading which would make the sites ready for the founda- 

 tions of all the buildings. "Over 900 men," he continued, 



" have been at work in this especial department, and three 

 large steam-dredges have been constantly at work. Over 

 100,000 plants have been shipped to the place and are being 

 cared for by a large force of gardeners. The proposed wooded 

 island is already converted into a nursery, while on one part 

 of the island it is proposed to lay out a primeval swamp, such 

 as formerly occupied the site of Chicago, the plants for the 

 purpose being already on the grounds. Three greenhouses 

 have already been built and a stovehouse for Palms, and 

 preparations are being made to receive wild herbaceous and 

 aquatic plants from all parts of the country. Sixty thousand 

 Willow cuttings are already in the ground, 10,000 of them 

 being sent as a gift by the Park Commissioners of Buffalo, 

 New York. Mr. Olmsted has presented the Exposition with 

 Bamboos from Asheville, North Carolina, near to the park he 

 is there laying out for one of the Vanderbilts." 



The new body incorporated in Massachusetts by Chapter 

 CCCL1I. of the Acts of the last Legislature " for the purpose of 

 acquiring and opening to the public, under suitable regula- 

 tions, beautiful and historical places and tracts of land within 

 this commonwealth," has organized by adopting a code of 

 by-laws and electing as its first President the Honorable 

 George F. Hoar, of Worcester. The Honorable William S. 

 Shurtleff, of Springfield, is Vice-President, Mr. George Wig- 

 glesworth is Treasurer, and Mr. Charles Eliot is the Secretary. 

 The direct management of the affairs of the corporation is 

 vested in a Board of Control consisting of Mr. Philip A. Chase, 

 of Lynn ; Mr. Charles S. Sargent, of Brookline, and Dr. Henry 

 P. Wolcott, of Cambridge, with whom are associated the Sec- 

 retary and Treasurer. The corporation is empowered to 

 acquire by gift, devise or purchase, beautiful and historical 

 places in Massachusetts, and to hold the same free of taxes as 

 long as the reservations are open to the public. Under the 

 by-laws any person who subscribes $10 to the funds of the 

 corporation becomes entitled to receive the annual report and 

 an invitation to an annual conference with the Trustees. 

 Clubs and societies may become entitled to send a delegate to 

 the annual conference on the same terms, and it is expected 

 that the Historical and Natural History Societies and the Vil- 

 lage Improvement Societies of the state will in this way b 

 able to assist a cause in which they are naturally interested 6 

 Any man or woman, whether a citizen of Massachusetts or. 

 not, who desires to take part in the work of this corporation 

 may do so by communicating with the Treasurer, Mr. George 

 Wigglesworth, 89 State Street, or with the Secretary, Mr. 

 Charles Eliot, 50 State Street, Boston. 



The last part of the Contributions from the United States 

 National Herbariion, being Volume II., No. 1., to reach us 

 contains the first installment of Professor Coulter's Manual of 

 the Plants of western Texas, and embraces the Polypetalcz. 

 The purpose of the manual, the author tells us, is to bring 

 together and make easily accessible the scattered information 

 which exists concerning the flora of western Texas, a region 

 of great botanical interest as the meeting-place of the plants 

 of the true North American flora with the peculiar forms of 

 northern Mexico. The manual is intended to include all 

 Texas plants found west of the ninety-seventh meridian. The 

 introduction of useful analytical keys, local names, and the 

 mention of the economic uses of the plants, greatly increases 

 the value of the work which has been prepared, not only as a 

 reference-book for botanists, but as a hand-book for Texas 

 students, for which purpose it seems admirably adapted. It 

 is to be regretted that Professor Coulter has not adopted 

 some uniform system of nomenclature, and it is not easy 

 to understand why, for example, if Marshall's name for the 

 Fragrant Sumach, Rhus Canadensis, is to be taken up, his 

 names for the Sweet Buckeye and for the Chicksaw Plum 

 should be passed by in favor of much later ones. The 

 supposition is that an attempt was made to follow the 

 plan of nomenclature adopted in the last edition of "Gray's 

 Manual," of which Professor Coulter was one of the editors, 

 and in which appears a considerable number of plants under 

 names sanctioned by long usage, although not the oldest, and, 

 therefore, in danger of change at the hands of subsequent 

 authors. But even the names of the "Manual" are not always 

 adopted in this new work, for, in turning over the pages very 

 hurriedly, the eye falls on Crataegus arborescens, Ell. — a plant 

 which was correctly referred, by Watson and Coulter only last 

 year, to the Cratcegus viridis of Linnaeus. Such details, of 

 course, do not detract from the working value of a manual of 

 this character, except in so far as they continue and extend 

 the confusion of botanical nomenclature and complicate 

 synonymy. 



