5<M 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 191. 



a short notice of such tools and conveniences for horticultural 

 work as have been invented and brought into use. Of course, 

 no two people will agree as to what such a work should con- 

 tain, but the matter presented has been carefully prepared, and 

 the book will be gratefully received by the horticulturists of 

 the country. 



Notes. 



The Chrysanthemum Show of the Massachusetts Horticul- 

 tural Society has been postponed until November 10th. 



The Horticultural Society of Florida has asked for three 

 acres at the Columbian Exposition in which to show an orange 

 grove and make a fruit display. 



Visitors from the east are often surprised at the size of the 

 Geraniums growing out-of-doors in California, where they 

 attain a height of from twelve to fourteen feet, and are cov- 

 ered with bright scarlet blossoms. 



Steam-pipes are said to have been made in England from 

 the ramie fibre. This material is subjected to tremendous 

 hydraulic pressure, and, having the property of being unaf- 

 fected by moisture, will neither shrink nor swell, besides 

 being a non-conductor of heat. The pipes are said to have a 

 tensile strength twice that of steel pipes. 



The ornamental fruits of some plants are hardly appreciated 

 for decorative work as they deserve. A lasting and extremely 

 tasteful combination seen a few days ago was that of clusters 

 of the scarlet fruits of Crataegus coccinea, intermixed with 

 short sprays of the white-berried Symphoricarpus racemosus, 

 with a few green leaves, in a wide, shallow vase of dark blue 

 color. It is worthy of remark that both the plants are natives. 



In a paper on gardening read before a meeting of the Croy- 

 don Gardeners' Association in England Mi". Charles Gibson 

 spoke of steam-power as an agency which has contributed 

 very largely to the enrichment of gardens with plants from all 

 parts of the world. It is the speed with which plants are dis- 

 patched on long journeys which renders the loss so much 

 smaller than what it was formerly, and this change has been 

 brought about by steam. 



English horticultural journals are loud in their praises of 

 Clethra alnifolia and its racemes of sweetly scented blossoms. 

 Of course it is not new in England, but it is spoken of as some- 

 what rare among foreign shrubs. The fact is that it is too 

 rarely planted even in this country, where it is a native. The 

 Sweet Pepper-bush, which blooms from midsummer well into 

 September, is not excelled by any shrub of its season for the 

 fragrance and beauty of its white flowers. 



Mr. Benjamin G. Smith, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, ex- 

 hibited at the meeting of the Horticultural Society, in Boston, 

 on the 10th of October, thirty-four different varieties of grapes, 

 and received the silver medal of the society for his collection. 

 The grapes were all cut from the vines the day before, and no 

 copper salts or other mixture had been used to prevent fungal 

 diseases. The general excellence of the collection was note- 

 worthy, and it spoke well for the skill of amateurs in growing 

 hardy Grapes in Massachusetts. 



According to Downing's Horticulturist, the first specimen of 

 Paulownia imperialis which bore flowers in this country stood 

 in the famous Parsons nursery at Flushing, Long Island, and 

 flowered in 1847. One of the finest Paulownias we remember 

 to have seen must have been planted at about the same time 

 as Mr. Parsons' tree, as it was of great size, and bloomed pro- 

 fusely at least as far back as the year 1858. It stood on the 

 west side of Fifth Avenue, near Sixteenth Street, in front of a 

 house which was torn down to make way for the present 

 Judge Building. 



Mr. H. W. S. Cleveland writes that there are no acorns on 

 the Bur Oaks in Minneapolis and the region thereabout this 

 year. As a rule, the sidewalks in many places in that city at 

 this season are littered with acorns from the old Oaks which 

 were left standing on vacant lots or have been preserved in 

 the yards of private residences. This year not an acorn can 

 be found in the city nor in any of the woods near by. Mr. 

 Cleveland is interested to know how far this failure extends, and 

 since it is a matter of general interest, we should be pleased 

 to hear reports on the acorn-crop from readers in other parts 

 of the country. 



A correspondent of the London Garden speaks of Abelia 

 rupestris as a very valuable shrub for clothing low walls on 

 account of its neat growth, bright foliage and its long flowering 

 season. It is said that while it is hardy in many parts of Eng- 

 land, in others it requires the protection of a wall. It seems to 



flourish well in this country as far north as Philadelphia. In 

 Washington it is one of the most interesting shrubs in autumn. 

 It is planted very largely in the public grounds of that city, and 

 it is covered for months with clusters of pink and fragrant 

 blossoms. It forms a dense bush, and under careful pruning 

 its slender, curving twigs assume a very graceful outline. 



An American Carnation Society was organized at Philadel- 

 phia October 15th, with a membership of about fifty. The 

 following officers were chosen : Edwin Lonsdale, President ; 

 William Swayne, Vice-President ; C. W. Ward, East Moriches, 

 New York, Treasurer ; C. J. Pennock, Kennett Square, Penn- 

 sylvania, Secretary. The meeting adjourned to meet in New 

 York during the Chrysanthemum Show, to be held there next 

 month. The Executive Committee is composed of the officers 

 as elected and three others, namely, Robert Craig, Philadelphia ; 

 R. J. Lombard, Wayland, Massachusetts, and James Hancock, 

 Grand Haven, Michigan. The objects of the society are to im- 

 prove the Carnation, to encourage the production of new and 

 better varieties, and to discourage the dissemination of nov- 

 elties which have no decided value. The society ought to 

 accomplish a useful work. 



Mr. M. A. Thayer, who has demonstrated practically that 

 small-fruit culture can be made profitable in Wisconsin, has just 

 published a report from his fruit farms at Sparta which, from his 

 careful method of keeping accounts and the generous spirit 

 manifested, seems worthy of commendation. Five years ago 

 the question of growing small fruits there was doubtful, and 

 he therefore gives a full account of his outlay and income. 

 The first year he planted eight acres of Blackberries, seven of 

 Raspberries and two of Strawberries, at a total expense of 

 $1,618, with no income. The second year he added eight 

 acres, and his total expenses were $2,462, and his income was 

 $926. The third year he set ten acres more to small fruits ; 

 his expenses were $3,394, and his receipts $4,432, or consider- 

 ably more than $1,000 profit. The fourth year, or 1891, the 

 expenses were $4,500, and the receipts $8,846, with a profit of 

 $4,346. The receipts and expenditures are itemized, and the 

 report concludes with advice to beginners to go slow, doing 

 only as much as can be done well, since nothing but the best 

 production will pay, and it may safely be estimated that, be- 

 sides the land, every acre of small fruit properly prepared, 

 planted and brought to a bearing age will cost from $125 to 

 $150, or their equivalent in honest work at $1.25 a day. Mr. 

 Thayer's concluding counsel is : "Begin modestly, subscribe 

 liberally to good papers, increase your plantation as experience 

 is gained," and he promises to answer questions on particular 

 points by mail or otherwise, or send short, plain instructions 

 for growing small fruits, free, to any one who will send his name. 



" All the world has agreed," said Downing in his Horticul- 

 turist some forty-five years ago, "that there is nothing more 

 perfect of its kind than the rural architecture of England. The 

 cottages of that country are as widely different in effect from 

 those of any other as the Anglo-Saxon race differs from all 

 else, civilized or barbarous. What this difference consists in 

 there are, perhaps, few who take the trouble to analyze. Many 

 persons suppose it to lie in pointed gables and high roofs. 

 Still, these were not originally English, but were borrowed 

 from Flanders, yet the Flemish cottages have little or none of 

 the peculiar beauty which charms us in those of England. 

 Others have imagined that it is something especially becoming 

 in the features of the English landscape itself. Yet this can 

 hardly be true, since we have seen faithful copies of the Eng- 

 lish cottage built in this country in equally picturesque scenery 

 without producing upon the mind the same impression as the 

 original edifice. The secret charm of the English cottage lies, 

 we imagine, in its home-expression and its rurality. . . . The 

 English cottage, even of the humblest class, is surrounded by 

 trees, embowered in vines and creepers and hedged about 

 with shrubs to a degree quite unknown in any other country. 

 The love of trees and flowers is a universal passion in that 

 country, and man, woman and child, among the cottagers, take 

 an especial pride in the green adornments of their home. Slips 

 and roots find their way from the pleasure-grounds of the no- 

 bleman's mansion to the humble garden of the cottage ; and 

 there is a personal and individual care bestowed upon them, 

 even by those who have scarcely any other of the refinements 

 of life, that neither the people of the Continent nor of this coun- 

 try have, as yet, any positive share of. The effect of all this 

 taste is to spread a beautiful drapery about the rural cottages 

 of England that renders what would otherwise be scarcely 

 more than rude cabins little gems of rural and picturesque 

 beauty. Indeed, strip most of the loveliest cottages of Eng- 

 land of their sylvan and floral enrichment and they would ab- 

 solutely lose their whole power of charming." 



