37 2 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 180. 



of Florida is practically out of the way before the California 

 fruit is ready for market, and the orange season in California 

 will probably be prolonged in future, since the growers are 

 planting Valencia Oranges, which do not ripen until July. 

 The Lemon is more sensitive to frost than the Orange, there- 

 fore it can be grown with less difficulty in California than m 

 Florida. 



Beyond question the production of fruit in California will 

 increase out of proportion to the increase of population, but, 

 meantime, fruit is becoming more and more a general neces- 

 sity, and abundance stimulates efforts to find new markets and 

 extend trade. Millions of people in the United States only 

 occasionally see oranges, and many others do not use fruit 

 as a regular article of food, and since Americans are the 

 greatest consumers in the world, producers, dealers and trans- 

 porters will exert themselves to place fruits within the reach 

 of all. Probably prices will be reduced in future, but orchards 

 and vineyards will then have reached full-bearing condition, 

 and their yield will be much greater, without corresponding 

 increase in cost of production, and transportation can be 

 materially reduced as tonnage increases. On the whole, 

 Governor Sheldon thinks that, although Californians have 

 large ideas on the subject of profits, and what, in other coun- 

 tries, would be esteemed as princely they are likely to look 

 upon as moderate, and, perhaps, unsatisfactory, nevertheless 

 their ideas can be considerably modified, and prices can be 

 materially reduced and still leave a satisfactory margin of 

 profit. When fruit-culture does become unremunerative it 

 will be time to discourage it, but it is not probable that this 

 period will arrive within the lifetime of the present generation. 



Notes. 



Elceagnus longipes is proving itself one of the shrubs which 

 thrive well near the sea. 



At the imperial Chrysanthemum festivals in Japan one may 

 see single plants bearing from 200 to 400 blossoms each, 

 which are placed in isolated positions of honor and protected 

 by silken tents. 



Dr. Dieck recently announced the blooming in his arbore- 

 tum at Zoeschen, in Germany, of Robinia Neo-Mexicana with 

 red flowers. It withstands a cold of twenty-four degrees 

 Reaumur, and " otherwise resembles the blue-green small- 

 leaved form of Robinia Pseudacacia." 



A correspondent of the New York Tribune, writing recently 

 from Paris, says that it is estimated that the sale of Lilies of 

 the Valley in that city annually amounts to $160,000, vast quan- 

 tities of the flowers being forced for the winter season as well 

 as brought in from the country in spring. 



A writer in the New Bedford Standard recently suggested that 

 the Massachusetts Society for the Preservation of Natural Scen- 

 ery might well acquire that extremity of the Island of Martha's 

 Vineyard which is known as Gay Head, from the brilliant 

 colors of the stratified clay of which this promontory is com- 

 posed, and which is now threatened with destruction by those 

 who are carrying away its clays and who propose to work its 

 lignite beds. 



A favorite sweet in Japan is midzu ame, or Millet-honey, 

 made from rice or millet which has been soaked, steamed, 

 mixed with warm water and barley-malt, and left to stand a 

 few hours, when a clear yellow liquid is drawn off which can 

 be boiled down to a thick syrup or paste. This paste street- 

 venders blow into odd forms with a pipe for the delectation 

 of children, and it is also made into fanciful flower-shapes, 

 which are used to decorate the dinner-table, even in the em- 

 peror's palace. 



Last year we noted the fact that a species of Begonia with 

 tuberous roots, known as B. Banmanui, had been collected in 

 South America, with flowers which were agreeably fragrant, 

 and it was suggested that this might enable hybridizers to pro- 

 duce a cross which would have perfume and thus give the 

 final charm to these beautiful flowers. We are not aware that 

 any success in this direction has as yet been achieved, but Mr. 

 Thomas Griffin, who has some 20,000 seedlings of tuberous 

 Begonias growing near Westbury, Long Island, claims that 

 one of his plants bears distinctly fragrant flowers. 



The Humboldt Times having stated that California Redwood 

 " comes nearer being fire-proof than almost any other mate- 

 rial of which buildings are constructed," the Commercial News, 

 of San Francisco, replies: "The kindling wood sold by the 



retail coal and wood dealers of this city is redwood ; it is hard 

 to get anything else from them. This ought to prove that the 

 wood is inflammable. That redwood absorbs water like a 

 sponge and that it is free from the resinous quality common 

 to other soft woods enables it to resist fire better than pitch- 

 pine, and once ablaze the flames are more easily extinguished, 

 from the fact that water soaks into the wood. These qualities 

 make redwood valuable as a building material, but it is ab- 

 surd to speak of the wood as fire-proof." 



The Star, of Wilmington, North Carolina, cites the example 

 of Mr. W. H. Dunn, of Newbern, as one who believes in an 

 intensive system of agriculture. He bought sixty acres of 

 land in 1881, paying for it $50 an acre. He values it now at 

 $1,000 an acre, and it has netted, this year, more than twenty 

 per cent, on this valuation. His profits, above all expenses, 

 have been $11,500. He raises everything for which there is a 

 demand in southern markets, but relies mainly on the Irish 

 Potato, with which he finds no danger of overstocking the 

 market. He insists that that man who understands trucking, 

 and knows what to raise, cannot fail to prosper. 



Probably the earliest reference to the cultivation of plants 

 under glass occurs in the writings of Columella. He tells us 

 that the Emperor Tiberius, being in ill health, was ordered to 

 eat cucumbers every day. The Roman gardeners, therefore, 

 cultivated them in frames filled with fermenting manure, ex- 

 posed to the sun at the foot of a wall, mounted on wheels, so 

 that they could be moved about at will, and covered with 

 pieces of talc to protect the vegetables agaist frost and cold. 

 " Thanks to this invention," says Columella, " Tiberius was 

 supplied with cucumbers at nearly every season of the year." 

 Seneca, however, distinctly tells us that Roman hot-houses 

 were heated by artificial means. " Do not those," he protests, 

 "live contrary to nature who require Roses in winter, and who, 

 by the use of hot water and the application of heat, compel 

 the Lily to blossom in winter instead of in the spring ? " 



The New York Journal of Commerce relates this incident to 

 prove that good roads may be a profitable investment : A 

 wealthy prospector, who was looking for a rural home in which 

 to give a safe and pleasant summer outing to a large family of 

 children, returned from a tour of inspection and handed the 

 maps back to the agent who had instigated the quest. When 

 asked about the prospect of a sale he shook his head with a 

 very decided negative. The agent was confounded ; would 

 none of the places suit ? There was no malaria ; there had 

 never been a case of typhus ; mosquitoes were unknown ; the 

 springs of water were abundant and delicious ; the woods 

 waved their leafy boughs in every landscape ; the air in each 

 quarter bore on its wings the fragrance of a thousand flowers ; 

 what could be the objection ? The answer was short and 

 sharp: "There are no drives; I do not own a carriage that 

 would endure for one season on those terrific roads." An 

 unkept highway is worse than the plague to deter investors in 

 rural homes. 



A comprehensive study of the influence of forests on the 

 daily variation of air-temperature has been recently made by 

 Professor Miittrich {Nature, May 21st), the data being from 

 stations in Germany and Austria. Inter alia, this influence is 

 greater in May to September or October than in the other 

 months. In Pine and Fir woods it rises gradually from Janu- 

 ary to a maximum in August or September, then falls more 

 quickly to a minimum in December; but in Beech-woods a 

 minimum occurs in April, then there is a quick rise, till the 

 maximum is reached in July. The daily variation itself is 

 greatest in May or June, both in forest and open country. The 

 influence of the forest is to lower the maxima and raise the 

 minima, and the former influence is in most months greater 

 than the latter ; in December and January, and occasionally in 

 neighboring months, it is less. The influence on the maxima 

 in summer is greatest in Beech-woods, less in Pine, and least 

 in Fir. The absolute value of the influence in woods of a 

 given kind of tree is affected by the degree of density of the 

 wood, being higher the denser the wood. The character of 

 the climate (oceanic or continental) also affects the results. 

 From daily observations in forest and open country, every two 

 hours in the second half of June, it appears that, soon after five 

 A. M. and eight p. M., the air-temperature in the wood was equal 

 to that in the open; that the maximum was about 0.9° lower 

 in the wood, and the minimum o.6° higher ; that in May to 

 September the difference sometimes reached 2.7 ; that the 

 maximum in the wood occurred about half an hour later, and 

 the minimum a quarter of an hour earlier, than in the open ; 

 and that the daily mean air-temperature was about one-third 

 of a degree less in the wood. 



