July 29, 1891.] 



Garden and Forest. 



357 



flowers are of rather thin texture, but are fragrant, mostly 

 double, and very satisfactory out-of-doors. The colors are 

 white, red and yellow, and are selfs. Unlike most Carnations 

 in a young state, they do not seem to be at all hardy. This 

 strain is very slightly more dwarf than the first offering. ■ 



Torenia Fournieri is not a new annual, but it is worth noting 

 as having proved very satisfactory out-of-doors, where it does 

 not seem to be much used. It forms neat, sturdy little bushes, 

 with somewhat ruddy stems. Its elegant violet and royal pur- 

 ple flowers always attract attention, and, as it blooms freely, it 

 is useful as a front-row plant, where the color is desirable. 



Gaillardia amblyodon is another annual too seldom seen. It 

 has very attractive single flowers, about two inches in diame- 

 ter, of a rich mahogany-red. It is one of the most distinct of 

 annuals, the coloring being very rich and peculiar. The plants 

 are about eighteen inches high, and should be grown in clumps. 

 Elizabeth, N. J. J.N.Gerard. 



Iris Susiana. — Plants that are fickle in their behavior or that 

 stubbornly refuse to comply with the wishes of growers 

 have a peculiar fascination for determined gardeners, and 

 among such are Iris Susiana and I. Robinsoniana. The 

 latter plant has been grown in this country a number of 

 years, but, so far as I know, it has not yet been flowered. 

 At the Harvard Botanic Garden it has been tried out-of- 

 doors and under glass, in rich soils and poor, in moist, dry 

 and medium situations, in pots and borders, in shade and 

 sunshine, and still no blossom, nor even a, sign of one ap- 

 pears. It grows freely enough, forming vigorous and hand- 

 some specimens, but never a bloom. 



Although rather eccentric, /. Susiana is much more tracta- 

 ble. It is a Levantine species, originally found in Persia, and 

 has been cultivated in western Europe since 1573. It was cul- 

 tivated in England in the time of Gerard, for in his "Herbal," 

 under the name of I. Chalcedonica, it is spoken of as " a rare 

 and beautiful flower to . behold." Parkinson, also, in his 

 " Paradisus Terrestris," speaks of it as " The Great Turkey 

 Flower-de-Luce." The specific name it now bears refers to 

 an ancient city of Persia, and it was the French, I believe, who 

 first gave it the common, and not inappropriate, name of 

 " Mourning Iris." The plant attains a height of from one to 

 two feet, the light green, ensiform leaves being a trifle shorter 

 than the stem, at the top of which appears a single flower, 

 magnificent in size and of weird aspect. Ordinary flowers 

 measure six inches across by eight inches from base to apex, 

 and I have often seen them larger. The ground color is a 

 grayish lilac, indescribably lined, spotted and shaded with rich 

 purple. I have had no experience with the plant in this coun- 

 try, but I know that precautions similar to those described by 

 Mr. Gerard (page 273) are necessary to its successful manage- 

 ment in British gardens. As Mr. Orpet recommends pot cul- 

 tivation in a frame for these plants, I was prepared to consider 

 them not hardy in Massachusetts until my neighbor, Mr. 

 Thomas N. Cook, who manages a small villa garden with 

 consummate skill, invited me to see one of these Irises in 

 bloom on the nth of June. Last October Mr. Cook secured 

 a few roots of the plant, and, not having the protection of a 

 cold frame or greenhouse, he set the roots ten inches deep in 

 a mixture of sand and well-decomposed cow-manure. They 

 occupied an exposed position ten yards away from the house 

 and were slightly mulched with dry litter. The situation was 

 neither particularly wet nor dry. The late winter was not un- 

 usually mild here, and people in eastern Massachusetts may 

 therefore have a reasonable hope for success with this beau- 

 tiful species, if Mr. Cook's method is adopted. 



Cypripedium Lawrenceanum. — This species has bloomed here 

 for more than two months, and is, beyond question, the most 

 decorative Cypripedium in cultivation. The oblong leaves are 

 from six to twelve inches in length, and beautifully tessellated 

 with greenish white and dark green, the colors being irregu- 

 larly distributed in about equal quantity. The foliage excels 

 that of all other Cypripediums in beauty, and the genus is one 

 in which attractive leaves are not rare. The distinctness of 

 the variegation would in itself be sufficient to commend the 

 plant to the notice of growers. The flowers, measuring five 

 inches from tip to tip of the petals, and four and a half inches 

 from the base of the lip to the tip of the dorsal sepal, are borne 

 singly, seldom in pairs, on a scape from twelve to eighteen 

 inches long, erect, hirsute, and of a purplish color. The lower 

 sepal is small, ovate-oblong, greenish, with dark lines, the 

 upper one large, between two and three inches across, almost 

 circular, white, with purple and bright rosy purple lines ; petals 

 ligulate, pale green, tipped green, with little black excrescences 

 of roundish outline and numerous hairs along the margin ; lip 



large, dull purple in front, and pale green behind. Sometimes 

 the flowers retain their full form and color considerably over 

 a month, and they have been kept two weeks in water. The 

 plant succeeds best in a stove temperature. 



There are now many excellent varieties recognized by the 

 trade. Among the best of these are Atro-purpureum, Colo- 

 ratum, Elegantissimum, Expansum, Hyeanum, Majus, Mar- 

 moratum and Superbum. 



Botanical Gardens, Cambridge, Mass. M. Barker. 



The Forest. 



Its Significance as a National Resource. 



UNDER the title of "What is Forestry _?" the United 

 States Department of Agriculture has published a 

 bulletin prepared by Mr. B. E. Fernow, Chief of the Divi- 

 sion of Forestry. Most of the subject-matter, it is stated 

 in the letter of transmittal, has already been presented by 

 Mr. Fernow in the form of public addresses before different 

 bodies like State Boards of Agriculture and the Chamber of 

 Commerce in Rochester, New York, and the interest shown 

 in it suggested the desirability of publishing it to a larger 

 audience. The subjects of forest-management, that is, 

 forestry in a wooded country, and forest-planting, or for- 

 estry for the treeless plains, are both considered in this 

 bulletin. In treating of the first of these general subjects 

 much practical information is given on reproduction, on 

 thinning, on undergrowth, on the influence of light, and 

 other matters of detail in the actual practice of the art of 

 forestry, and, besides this, there is a discussion on the 

 profitableness of forest-management, together with some 

 notes on European government forestry and on working 

 plans for large forest-areas and -the needs of a well-organ- 

 ized administration. All that is set forth on this part of the 

 subject has been derived from experience, and it is a valu- 

 able resume of the most important points in recognized 

 forest-practice. Of course, it is not assumed that what is 

 proper management in one country is proper in all others, 

 and Mr. Fernow lays down the qualifying proposition, 

 which should be borne in mind by every one who takes 

 an interest in the forests of the country, as follows : " Be- 

 fore we may apply the finer methods of forest-manage- 

 ment as practiced abroad, it will be well to begin with 

 common-sense management, which consists in avoiding 

 unnecessary waste, in protecting against fire, in keeping 

 out cattle where young growth is to be fostered, and in not 

 preventing by malpractice natural reforestation." 



Under the head of forest-planting, Mr. Fernow speaks of 

 the necessity of co-operation. He gives a list of such trees 

 as are more liable to succeed, together with some direc- 

 tions how to mix them, and adds some notes on the proper 

 methods of planting. This subject of tree-culture on the 

 western plains is also illustrated by two letters from cor- 

 respondents, who give their experience in tree-planting on 

 the prairies of Dakota, and this record of personal effort is 

 an instructive commentary upon the suggestions of the 

 bulletin. The whole makes a pamphlet of rather more 

 than fifty pages. We quote a portion of the introductory 

 paragraphs, which are found under the title of "The 

 Forest and Its Significance " : 



The forest primeval is our most valuable inheritance. 

 It is the ready cash of nature's bountiful provision for our 

 future. Of all the natural resources reserved for our use 

 it is the most directly useful, for in the forest we find ready to 

 hand, without further exertion than the mere harvesting, the 

 greatest variety of material applicable to the needs of man, 

 the means to satisfy every direct want of life. The accumula- 

 tions of centuries are stored in the tree-growth of the virgin 

 forest and in the forest-floor of decayed foliage. Nature has 

 taken no account of time or space, both of which were lav- 

 ishly at her command ; nor did she care whether the forest 

 was composed of the timbers most useful to man ; tree-growth, 

 whatever the kind, satisfied her laws of development. 



But when man begins to occupy the ground, when a grow- 

 ing nation has need of the soil for agricultural use and for tim- 

 ber, when the forest gives way to the field and meadow, it 

 becomes necessary in time to introduce economy into the use 



