424 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 185. 



canvas, now effacing a spot, again adding an accent, blending, 

 harmonizing, even destroying, if need be, and beginning once 

 more. Advice you may listen to, but be not over-hasty to 

 accept suggestion. Weigh each idea well before you admit 

 it, look at it from all sides, for it will always have more than 

 one. It is you who will have to live with the picture, and it is 

 your mind that should lend the individuality that will make 

 the scene your own. It is, after all, the personal touch that is 

 worth while. 



A fair woman, who is a summer neighbor of ours, took me 

 the other day through interesting grounds, which her own 

 taste and care had brought into a wild, and yet controlled 

 beauty. Boulders draped with vines, and shrubberies of na- 

 tive growth, lined the long avenue that wound up a wooded 

 and rocky hill-side to a home which overlooks Massachusetts 

 Bay. But the finest feature of the commanding prospect was 

 a glimpse of the rounded hills and silver-shining water of 

 Hingham Harbor, toward which the eye was led over miles of 

 tree-tops. Just in front was a lawn of perfect turf, golden 

 green in the low sunlight, and a little way off, against the blue 

 dome of sky, stood up some heavy Cedars, their black masses 

 of foliage giving just the required force of accent to the fore- 

 ground, throwing far away into the remotest distance the lovely 

 outline of the Blue Hills of Milton. 



Such a picture one cannot forget. Intelligence and taste 

 have added to it the last refining touch. Remoteness is here, 

 and sylvan wildness, contrasted with the gentle charm of well- 

 swept turf, and skillfully subordinated groups of flowering 

 shrubs and plants, that complete, but form no jarring note in 

 the beautiful scene. To me it seemed perfection, but with the 

 eye of the true artist who loves his work, my hostess noted a 

 ledge here, an obtrusive Oak-top there, which, to her fastidious 

 taste, seemed to intrude. For the true lover of nature works 

 forever at his picture, ever sensitive to a new charm, watchful 

 for a fresh effect, rejoicing in each change, painting with a 

 palette of the great Mother's blending, on a canvas of her own 

 contriving, with an impressionism that cannot falsify, and a 

 detail that is never intrusive. In this great school one learns 

 breadth without vagueness, intensity without violence, and 

 softness that cannot be effeminate. The value of atmosphere, 

 the glory of the sky, can never be out of key with the picture, 

 and the "seeing eye," by careful study and patient waiting, can 

 here evolve ideal beauty from material form. 



Hingham, Mass. M. C. Robbins. 



The Weeds of California. — IV. 



THE Rosacea furnish no plant that could properly be classed 

 as a weed in California, save perhaps that the Chamcebatia 

 foliolosa, the procumbent "Tarweed" of the Sierra foot-hills, 

 sometimes persists for some years after the land it covered 

 has been taken into cultivation. 



Of the Onagracece, (Enothera ovata, the stemless Evening 

 (here more properly morning) Primrose, is somewhat per- 

 sistent in pastures, and if not suppressed will gradually shade 

 out the grasses with its dense rosettes of leaves. It plays the 

 same part that the several Plantains do in grass-lawns ; but its 

 beautiful and abundant flowers plead for its toleration as do 

 those of the Dandelion in Europe and the east. Epilobiuin 

 paniculatum locally invades the moister fields, but is not very 

 persistent. 



Of the Ciicurbitacetz, two species of Megarrhiza (vulgo Big- 

 root), occurring both in woods and open grounds in the Coast 

 ranges, retain their hold on cultivated lands as well as pas- 

 tures for a number of years, owing to the enormous tubers 

 which, lying from two to four feet below the surface, can be 

 reached only by laborious digging. Persistent cutting off of 

 the shoots will gradually exhaust the tuber, but if allowed to 

 grow even a short time during each season it will continue to 

 send forth its succulent climbing runners almost indefinitely. 



The Cucurbita fcetida (C. perennis, Gray), the Calabazita of 

 the Mexicans, is common in open grounds in the southern half 

 of the state, and retains a place in the fields with some tenacity, 

 on account of the multitude of its gourds and the protection 

 their hard rind affords to the seeds. It covers the ground in 

 wheel-shaped masses eight to twelve feet across, and, of 

 course, is a very unwelcome visitor in all cultivated grounds. 

 But by cutting off the perennial root-crown and picking up 

 gourds for a season or two it can be readily extirpated. 



Of the large and largely represented family of the Um- 

 belliferce scarcely one can be counted as a seriously obnoxious 

 weed. The Fennel, heretofore mentioned, is a hardy roadside 

 weed, but is easily dealt with in cultivation. The Caraway 

 makes no headway ; the Anise and Coriander retain a place in 

 fence-corners, but do not spread. The Celery seems to have 



escaped from cultivation into wet grounds, and sometimes 

 covers them thickly, but quickly yields before culture. The 

 Carrot is abroad in woodlands and pastures, but is not trouble- 

 some. Of the numerous native species, Sanicula Menziesii 

 and S. bipimiatifida are apt to maintain themselves in pastures 

 for some time, as do certain species of Peucedanum and 

 Caucalis, as well as the large Heracleum lanatum. But none 

 of these can be accounted serious pests in cultivated ground. 



Of the Rubiacece, the native Galiums are quite innocent of 

 harm ; Diodia, so troublesome in the Cotton states, is occa- 

 sionally seen, but makes no headway. Rubia tinctorum, 

 however, spreads energetically in heavy soils, and would 

 doubtless prove a serious pest were it to escape from culti- 

 vation. 



Of the Dipsacece, as stated above, the Fuller's Teasel has be- 

 come a common roadside weed in the Bay region, and runs 

 riot in waste grounds ; it could doubtless be cultivated to great 

 advantage in this genial climate could a market be found for 

 it. The garden Scabious, also, has escaped from the gardens, 

 and frequently occupies the ground on dusty roadsides. 



The Composite family furnishes some of the most obnoxious 

 and interesting weeds, and a considerable number. Broadly 

 speaking, there are five chiefly introduced species that give 

 serious trouble — namely : first, and worst of all, Centaurea 

 Meliteasis and C. solstitialis, introduced from southern Europe, 

 and almost universally diffused under a variety of names ; 

 second, Anthemis Cotula, a comparatively recent arrival ; 

 third, Silbyum Marianum ,- fourth and fifth, the two Cockleburs, 

 Xanthium Canadense and X. spinosum. To these may be 

 added as of less importance, although likewise widely dif- 

 fused, Senecio vulgaris, Sonchus oleraceus and Erigeron Cana- 

 dense. All of these well-known weeds may be seen at their 

 best in the fields and pastures of California, but little changed 

 from their eastern or European habits, but exhibiting a resist- 

 ance to heat and drought that would hardly have been looked 

 for in plants of their native climes. 



The two Centaureas, the Tocalote of the Mexicans and the 

 Napa Thistle and Prickly Tarweed of the Americans, deserve 

 more than a passing notice as being, with the Black Mustard 

 and the Barley Grass (Hordeum murinum), the most for- 

 midable weed pest for both fields and pastures, particularly 

 in the central and northern parts of the Coast ranges. Start- 

 ing in early spring, Centaurea Melitensis especially will 

 mature seeds in May ; these, or any others, will germinate 

 again, under conditions of heat and dryness that will permit 

 no other seed to move ; this second generation again runs to 

 seed rapidly, and may, in its turn, be succeeded by a third, 

 maturing its seed in December. The wiry tap-root, penetrat- 

 ing deep into the soil, requires a sharp tool to cut it. The 

 Tocalote is thus a weed that, unlike almost any other within 

 the state, gives the farmer no summer rest where it is once 

 well established. In pastures it is even a worse pest than in 

 cultivated fields, as it will take possession of the ground so 

 soon as even a casual overstocking occurs, being able to avail 

 itself of any chance that may occur throughout the season. 

 It quickly and completely runs out the native grasses, and 

 it is impossible to restore the grass without previous cultiva- 

 tion. For, although the plant is an annual, if cut anywhere 

 above the root-crown it soon sprouts decumbent branches 

 that will bloom and fruit under the very tread of cattle, and if 

 again cut the same process will be repeated the same or the 

 following year. The slender, sharp spines of the involucral 

 scales (quite strong and long in the true C. Solstitialis) render 

 the plant doubly obnoxious to the pedestrian when dry ; while 

 in the green state the viscous tomentum of stems and leaves 

 soil the clothes. In grain fields it sometimes covers the 

 ground completely after harvest, seeding it thoroughly for the 

 coming season. 



The Anthemis (Mayweed, Dog-fennel) comes next to the 

 Tocalote as the enemy of overstocked pastures. It is not 

 yet widely diffused, and, I think, has reached the eastern 

 borders of San Francisco Bay only within my own recollec- 

 tion, about ten years ago, when I first observed it on the road 

 from Oakland Point to Berkeley, four miles away. Within 

 two years it reached Berkeley, and then, favored by the trade- 

 winds from the west, it quickly ascended the Coast range and 

 now disputes precedence with the Tocalote, up to an elevation 

 of nearly 1,700 feet. As its vegetation is somewhat earlier 

 than that of the Centaurea, it shades out the latter during the 

 early part of the season ; but later the Tocalote takes its turn, 

 and between the two, the hill pastures are left in a sorry 

 plight. The May Weed does not, however, occupy waste 

 places in this region as generally as is the case in the cotton 

 states ; its growth is low, and as there is only one generation 

 each season, it seems that it might readily be kept in check 



