October 14, 1S91.] 



Garden arid Forest. 



49 1 



countless seedlings, which grow very rapidly, but in the inte- 

 rior the dry climate, the browsing of cattle and sheep, and the 

 sensitiveness of the young trees to fire generally prevent the 

 restoration of original forest-growth. In the high mountainous 

 regions of these forests there is much Hemlock or Spruce and 

 small trees of Douglas Fir, which are easily killed by the fires, 

 which readily mount the steep slopes. This mountainous re- 

 gion, except where the soil deprived of the protection afforded 

 by vegetation may have been washed away by rains, is more 

 commonly covered with a new tree-growth than regions of a 

 lesser altitude, although the new growth is not always at first 

 the same as that of the original forest. Fire is very apt to de- 

 stroy in the mountain regions the seeds of conifers, for seed- 

 lings do not appear immediately on the site of a coniferous 

 forest, although trees of the original species gradually appear 

 growing under the shade and protection of bushes, Aspens 

 and other plants which first cover the burnt ground. That fire 

 is the principal cause of this change of forest-composition is 

 shown by the fact that when the original trees are cut and fires 

 are excluded, young trees of the same species appear at once. 



Mr. Brandegee notices that many of the trees which grow in 

 these regions where fires prevail, and doubtless have always 

 prevailed to a greater or to a less extent, have the power of 

 reproducing themselves by root-suckers strongly developed. 

 The Redwood is a conspicuous instance. The Nutmeg 

 Hickory {Torreya Calif ornica), another conifer, does the 

 same thing, and so do the Manzanitas, the Huckleberries 

 and the Madrofia. The California Oaks, the Chinquapin (Cas- 

 tanopsis chrysophylld), the Hazel, and Heteromclis arbutifolia, 

 a beautiful California tree of the Rose family, all renew them- 

 selves in the same manner, and almost all woody plants 

 seem to reappear from their blackened roots. 



The soil loosened by fire and enriched by the ashes of the de- 

 stroyedforests provides excellent seed-beds for the germination 

 of the seeds of many annual and perennial plants, and these 

 California burns often offer the very best botanizing ground in 

 the state ; and several otherwise rather local plants are now ap- 

 pearing in such situations in much greater numbers and growing 

 much more luxuriously than they have ever been known to be- 

 fore. Mr. Brandegee notices, as has already been done before in 

 San Diego County, that the California Poppy (Papaver Cali- 

 fornicuui), such a very rare plant that it was never discovered 

 until a few years ago on the Santa Inez Mountains, near Santa 

 Barbara, is now growing abundantly on burns in two or three 

 localities near San Francisco. Calandrinia Breweri, a rare 

 plant from the southern part of the state, has made its appear- 

 ance on Balinas Ridge and on the sides of the new trails of 

 Mount Tamalpais this year, apparently for the first time, 

 " magnificent plants appearing and spreading over the ground, 

 forming mats three feet in diameter." Silene multinervia, 

 a plant especially abundant on Santa Cruz Island and in a few 

 places in the southern part of the state, has also appeared this 

 year upon the Balinas burn on the southern slopes of Mount 

 Tamalpais. It is not difficult, therefore, to imagine how great 

 an influence this periodical burning of vast areas must have 

 upon the composition and spread of the flora of the region, 

 and such observations as these which Mr. Brandegee here 

 records will some time or other be of very considerable his- 

 torical value as bearing upon the distribution of California 

 plants. 



Pomology. 

 Meeting- of the American Pome-logical Society. — III. 



WE conclude our report of the meeting of the American 

 Pomological Society with a few more extracts, 

 necessarily brief, from the addresses delivered. Many 

 interesting papers we must pass, for the present, without 

 mention, and we may add that there were several impor- 

 tant essays prepared for the meeting which were not read 

 for want of time. Perhaps they could have been heard if 

 the addresses which were delivered had been properly con- 

 densed, or if only such portions of them as were interest- 

 ing to the audience and likely to be discussed had been 

 read. It was suggested that hereafter some preliminary 

 examination of essays should be made by the secretary and 

 only such received as had substantial and permanent value. 

 The Wilder medals for displays of fruits were awarded 

 as follows : to the Virginia State Board of Agriculture, repre- 

 sented by Henry L. Lyman, for 451 plates of different 

 varieties ; to P. J. Berckmans, of Augusta, for eight varie- 

 ties of Japanese Persimmons, one plate of Limonium Iri- 



folialuni, two plates of Kieffer Pears ; to Rev. Lyman Phelps, 

 of Sanford, Florida, for Limes, Japanese Persimmons and 

 a collection of Citrus hybrids and crosses ; to Ellwanger & 

 Barry for 112 varieties of Pears. The bronze medals were 

 awarded as follows : to Charles H. Hedges, Charlotteville, 

 Virginia, for Grapes ; Luther Burbank, Santa Rosa, Cali- 

 fornia, for seedling Quinces ; J. T. Harris, of La Crescent, 

 Minnesota, for Apples ; Wisconsin Horticultural Society for 

 Apples ; The Jewell Nursery Company, of Lake City, Min- 

 nesota, for Seedling Apples ; P. S. Dinsmore, of Riverside, 

 California, for Apples ; J. W. Porter, of Piedmont, Virginia, 

 for Apples ; and J. L. Babcock, of Virginia, for Apples. 



SOME LOCAL PROBLEMS IN POMOLOGV. 



Mr. Charles W. Garfield, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, deliv- 

 ered an address on this subject, in which he attempted to show 

 that success in fruit-growing could only be accomplished by a 

 careful study of the particular conditions of given localities, 

 and that a large proportion of the failures in this business 

 was due to the selections of varieties which were valuable 

 elsewhere, but not suited to the particular spot in which they 

 were planted, and to methods of cultivation which, although 

 they might be the best practice in other parts of the country, 

 were not adapted to local conditions. He concluded his 

 address as follows : 



I would not depreciate the value of our national gatherings 

 in the interest of pomology, but the man who goes a long way 

 from home to get advice as to what varieties to plant or how 

 to manage them, is liable to be misled. His local conditions 

 are the ones to be studied, and hence the great importance of 

 carefully conducted experiments in our own neighborhood. 

 All honor to the men who are willing to be pointed at as 

 theorists, experimenters, book-farmers, etc., whose trials are 

 but a few of them crowned with success, but whose failures 

 are a perpetual help to their neighbors. General habits of 

 thrift and scientific method are of the widest application, but 

 the dealing with an individual's environment, so as to make 

 the best possible use of his opportunities, is a problem which 

 each one must largely work out for himself. He can only 

 learn of his nearest neighbors, and he is greatly blest if these 

 neighbors are broad-minded, careful people, given njore to 

 patient investigation than the elaboration of theories. 



We think a great many things, in relation to fruit-growing, 

 and often think aloud too quickly. We know very little, and 

 even this grows less when we attempt to give it wide applica- 

 tion. I have listened so often to discussions in which the 

 relation of experience has taken a prominent part, and have 

 noted so many false inferences that have brought disaster to 

 those who attempted to utilize them, that possibly I may 

 magnify the importance of varying local conditions, as affect- 

 ing experience and counsel. 



Of course, a successful fruit-grower must be well grounded 

 in general principles in order to most quickly lay hold of his 

 local conditions and manipulate them in his interests ; but, 

 after all, it is of the highest importance that people in a neigh- 

 borhood, and all having similar conditions, should familiarly 

 compare observations and experience, so there will be brought 

 out a body of local doctrine — a consensus^of opinion which 

 can be known and utilized. It is uphill work trying to induce 

 people to have more confidence in the counsel of their neigh- 

 bors than in that of strangers, and often, when asked for ad- 

 vice by one far away, when I have referred the interrogation 

 to the man's own neighbors, I have knocked a foundation-stone 

 from under my fame. Still, I insist that the most serious prob- 

 lems we have to solve in growing fruit are those which are 

 peculiar to our own localities, and these we must solve for 

 ourselves. At all events, we cannot safely rely upon the coun- 

 sel of strangers for their solution. 



The Rev. Lyman Phelps, of Sanford, Florida, delivered 

 an address to show that cross-fertilization affects immediately 

 the quality and commercial value of citrus fruits. Mr. Phelps 

 exhibited a great many oranges which were abnormal in form 

 and in which the character of the skin and color of the pulp 

 had been changed, and these variations were attributed to the 

 fact that the blossoms had been fertilized by pollen from 

 trees which bore fruit differing in size and form and texture. 

 Mr. Lyman was so thoroughly convinced of the immediate in- 

 fluence of pollen that he declared that he had lost $1,500 in a 

 single year from fruit which had been rendered defective by 

 foreign pollen. 



Dr. Erwin F. Smith, of the Department of Agriculture, de- 

 livered an address on the "Chemistry of the Peach Yellows," 



