492 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 190. 



in which he explained the method of study he had practiced 

 ior four years in the investigation of the peach yellows. The 

 rather disheartening conclusions were reached that the cause 

 of the disease yet remains a mystery, that it is transmissible, 

 that so far no remedy has been found for it, and the axe and 

 fire is the only treatment that promises any relief from its 

 ravages. Nevertheless, Dr. Smith's address was most instruc- 

 tive as an example of genuine scientific investigation, in which 

 nothing is taken for granted, and every point is subjected to 

 the crucial test of experiment, and it may be added that even 

 the negative results obtained are of great value since they 

 narrow down to definite limits the field in which further re- 

 searches are to be made. 



Mr. H. S. Williams, of Rockledge, Florida, a well-known 

 grower of Oranges on the Indian River, read an essay to show 

 how thoroughly adapted the mountain region of western North 

 Carolina is to general fruit-culture. A few years ago he passed 

 some time near the village of Bavard, in Transylvania County, 

 which is between 2,500 and 3,000 feet above sea-level. He 

 noticed that the Apple-trees which had been planted there, 

 although very old, were still bearing well. Unpruned Peach- 

 trees, some of them twenty-six inches in diameter, bore abun- 

 dantly on the younger wood, and indicated that this region 

 was exceptionally favorable for the growth of this fruit. A 

 small vineyard on the French Broad River, with ground cov- 

 ered with weeds and vines never trimmed, showed a remark- 

 able display of fruit. He therefore set out a small orchard 

 with Peach and Apple-trees of choice varieties, and a few hun- 

 dred Grape-vines, and passing through the property on his 

 way to the meeting, he found the vines full of fruit and prom- 

 ising well. The Peaches were exceptionally fine, and some 

 of the seedling Apples which he exhibited, and which had 

 grown on the old trees after having been trimmed and cared 

 for, were remarkably beautiful. Mr. Williams concluded that 

 these mountain valleys of western Virginia would be found 

 equal to any other part of-the country for fruit-growing. 



Notes. 



Several leading growers of flowering plants in Europe have 

 already offered to send large collections to the Columbian Fair, 

 and Mr. Thorpe expects to have an extraordinary collection of 

 Orchids ready for the opening of the Exposition. 



The publishers of Popular Gardening announce that that 

 periodical is hereafter to be merged into the American Gar- 

 den. Mr. Long, of the first-named paper, will remain in Buf- 

 falo and continue to edit the new magazine, whose name is 

 not announced, and the business will be conducted by the 

 Rural Publishing Company, of this city. 



An experienced grape-grower recently stated that when 

 vines are forced into luxuriant growth the pruning should not 

 be as close as when only moderate growth is made. In the 

 latter case the best bearing buds are nearest the base of the 

 cane, while in canes that have grown more vigorously the 

 strongest buds are further away, and therefore are lost when 

 the vine is pruned closely. 



It is reported by Consul M'Lain, of Nassau, New Provi- 

 dence, that a machine has recently been invented by an 

 American which will separate automatically the Sisal hemp 

 fibre from the leaves, with ease, at the rate of 180 pounds of 

 fibre in a day. This will remove one of the great obstacles to 

 the profitable cultivation of the Agave, which yields this fibre 

 in Texas, Florida, and perhaps in other portions of the United 

 States. 



Professor Georgeson calls attention to the fact that in Japan 

 there are numerous dwarf varieties of Pines, Firs, Cypresses, 

 Arbor-vitoes and other conifers, which are very distinct, and 

 which differ much in habit of growth, the length of their leaves 

 and their general appearance. The ordinary species are well 

 known here, but these varieties are not well known, and no 

 doubt many of them would prove a substantial addition to our 

 garden trees and shrubs. 



Mr. Meehan, in the monthly which bears his name, repeats 

 his opinion that the disease known as Peach Yellows is caused 

 by the attack of a Mushroom (Agaricus melleus) on the roots 

 of the tree. Dr. Erwin Smith seems to have demonstrated 

 that the disease can be transmitted by inoculation of the limbs 

 of a healthy tree with the sap of a diseased one. It would be 

 interesting to know how any vegetative portion of the fungus 

 is conveyed in inoculation of this kind. 



Mr. Robert Craig writes to the American Florist that he re- 

 gards Marie Guillot as the best out-door Rose, and almost 

 unrivaled as a pot-plant, and he also considers Papa Gontier 

 as an excellent bedding Rose and the best red Tea Rose for 

 out-door planting. Mr. Craig, in the same paper, states that 

 young Palms when planted on benches from thumb-pots grow 

 as fast again as when kept steadily in pots. When they are 

 large enough to be placed in five-inch pots they do not suffer 

 in the least from lifting. 



Mr. Joseph A. Burton, of Mitchell, Indiana, considers mulch- 

 ing better treatment for his orchard than plowing, which is, 

 after all, little more than mulching with surface soil. Under 

 bearing trees it is difficult to plow, and roots are, to a certain 

 extent, mangled ; besides this, orchards on hill-sides after they 

 are plowed are liable to be furrowed into deep gullies by heavy 

 rains. Any waste material will do for a mulch, whether it is 

 straw, sawdust, shavings, weeds, briers or rotten wood. Mr. 

 Burton sows his ground to Clover and mows it, allowing it to 

 remain on the ground as mulch, and when it rots it furnishes 

 a valuable fertilizer. 



The death is announced, in his sixty-second year, of Jean 

 Baptiste Joseph van Vloxem, one of the most accomplished 

 dendrologists in Europe, whose beautiful gardens and park, 

 where he had formed an extensive arboretum and where 

 many large specimens of American trees were to be seen, 

 were one of the most interesting spots to visit in the neighbor- 

 hood of Brussels. Monsieur Van Vloxem traveled extensively 

 some years ago in this country, as well as in Japan, in some 

 parts of Columbia and in the Caucasus. It was by him that 

 the now well-known Tacsonia Vloxemi was introduced from 

 South America, and it was to him also that we owe the intro- 

 duction of the beautiful Caucasian Maple which bears his 

 name. 



A writer in the Gardeners' Magazine, London, speaks of the 

 facility which the Douglas Spruce manifests for accommodat- 

 ing itself to various soils in Great Britain. Some of the best 

 specimens of the tree are found in rich loam or alluvium and 

 in sheltered situations. At Eastnor Castle it drives its roots 

 down through the fissures of the rocks, which are just below 

 the surface soil, and flourishes well on the moisture there 

 found for its support. It grows with great vigor among the 

 slate rocks of North Wales, even up to the very summits of 

 the hills, and seems well adapted to elevated situations where 

 even Spruce will not grow. In favored situations its growth 

 is very rapid in Great Britain, and trees planted only thirty 

 years have in that time reached a height of seventy feet, with 

 a proportionate bulk of stem. 



Mr. Albert Benz, in a late circular, divides Garden Pansies 

 into six classes, according to the manner in which they are 

 colored. The first class comprises self-colored flowers — that 

 is, those which have an even shade spread over the whole 

 surface of each of the petals. They may be white, yellow, 

 bronze, mohogany, brown, purple, lavender, violet and nearly 

 all intermediate shades. They can be depended on more 

 largely than the other varieties to come true from seed. 

 Shaded Pansies constitute the second class, in which the flow- 

 ers have the darkest shade of a given color at the upper end 

 of the upper petals gradually graded down to a lighter shade 

 toward the bottom end of the lower petal. Others of this class 

 are darkest in the centre and shade gradually into a lighter 

 tint toward the edge of all the petals. The Three-spotted or 

 Face Pansies include the flowers which show a distinct mask, 

 or face, in their centre — that is, a dark spot on each side of the 

 side petals, and a broad and larger one on the lower petal. 

 This includes most of the English Pansies and the new French 

 Trimardeau, a remarkable sort for the size of its flowers, 

 which are, however, somewhat deficient in substance and rich- 

 ness of color. The Odier or Five-spotted, Pansies have a 

 white, yellow, blue, crimson, or brown color and a large 

 dark spot on each one of the five petals. To be perfect, these 

 spots, starting from the centre of the flower, should cover two- 

 thirds or three-fourths of its surface, and be of equal dimen- 

 sions on each petal with a well-defined outline. Cassier and 

 Bougnot have succeeded in improving this class materially in 

 size of flowers and growth of foliage. Edged or Border Pan- 

 sies have flowers with a narrow, but distinct, edging around 

 the outside of each petal of a color which contrasts well with 

 the ground-color of the flower. The color of the border is gener- 

 ally white or gold when on blue, purple or bronze flowers, and 

 blue or pinkish on white and yellow flowers. The sixth and 

 last class, called Fancy Pansies, have the marble-striped and 

 naked flowers, which are distinguished by great oddity 

 and beauty in their coloring and marking. 



