5H 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 192. 



County, and in size is simply immense. In color it is a red- 

 dish black, and the individual berries are nearly as large as 

 very large Damson plums. 



The exhibit of wines from the Scuppernong and its varieties 

 is very fine. There are two large exhibitors — the Tokay Vine- 

 yards, of Craven County, and the Garrett Company, of Halifax 

 County. This last company has an annual output of over 

 80,000 gallons of wine. The Scuppernong wines are rapidly 

 making a name in the markets. The enormous productive- 

 ness of these Grapes, and their capacity for making wines of a 

 high grade, will soon make them the leading feature in the 

 horticulture of eastern North Carolina. The James and the Al- 

 liance Grapes are both later than the old Scuppernong, and are 

 not fully ripe until the middle of October. 



Just outside the buildings of the Exposition the North Caro- 

 lina Agricultural Experiment Station has thirty-seven varieties 

 of Figs growing, and still full of fruit. These late fruits are 

 smaller than the early crop, but show the characteristics of the 

 varieties well. So far the best sorts seem to be the White 

 Adriatic and San Pedro, but these plants have been cut so 

 hard for propagation that their full value in fruit has not yet 

 developed. 



The Oonshin or Satsuma Oranges at this station, on the 

 hardiness of which we base some hope, have made a fine 

 growth this season. We hoped to have specimens of fruit 

 this year, as one of our trees bloomed in the spring, but a 

 deluge of rain at blossoming time destroyed the flowers. 

 The young trees passed one winter without being injured, and 

 should be in a better condition for supporting another winter. 

 Whether they will pass all of our winters unharmed remains 

 to be seen ; but the fact is evident that this Orange is destined 

 to move the Orange-belt a good way north. 



Raleigh, N. c. w. F. Massey. 



Vernon Park, Philadelphia. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — The city councils of Philadelphia passed finally, last 

 week, an ordinance to take possession of the Wister home- 

 stead, in Germantown, as one of its small public parks. This 

 is the third of a series which, under Councilman Median's 

 efforts, have been placed on the city plan, and which the city 

 proposes to take from time to time in the future. The city 

 long ago reached the limit of its legal right to incur indebted- 

 ness. Unfortunately, its loans were created for long periods, 

 and although there is money enough in the sinking fund to 

 pay half its indebtedness, it is considered legally in debt until 

 the bondholders are paid. Philadelphia, therefore, cannot 

 borrow money for small parks, but has to pay for all these and 

 other large public improvements out of a $1.85 tax-rate, and 

 one or two of these small parks a year is all it can ven- 

 ture on. 



The small parks are located under the advice of Council- 

 man Median, as chairman of a committee in charge of the 

 subject, and, so far as possible, those localities are selected 

 which have some historical associations. Last year the cele- 

 brated Bartram's house and garden were acquired, and now 

 Vernon, the Wister homestead, is added. The mansion-house 

 is a fine specimen of colonial architecture, and the six acres of 

 grounds contain many good specimens of trees collected by 

 early botanists in remote localities of our country, as they were 

 at that time. The first specimen of Magnolia macrophylla was 

 brought from North Carolina by Kin, a German botanical col- 

 lector little known, but of wonderful zeal, and the tree is still 

 growing here. There are also magnificent specimens of Oaks, 

 Pines, Ashes, Kentucky Coffee and other trees. This plot, 

 which will be known as Vernon Park, is in the heart of Ger- 

 mantown, which is the twenty-second ward of the city of 

 Philadelphia, and will be a great boon to that community. It 

 is a district now of nearly 50,000 inhabitants, and yet its only 

 piece of public ground was a little plot of about 150 feet square. 

 There was absolutely no place where even a sick child could 

 be taken for an airing except along the public streets. 



It is singular that a city of over a million inhabitants should 

 have miles and miles of brick and mortar with not a solitary 

 open space except the half-dozen small ones plotted by William 

 Penn and his immediate descendants, though its one grand 

 Fairmount Park, of nearly 2,000 acres, is some offset to this 

 surprising negligence. The movement for better things, 

 started by Mr. Median in 1883, is now very popular, and coun- 

 cils are overrun with applications for small parks from all 

 parts of its 200 square miles of territory. This is the third 

 park actually acquired out of ten located, and it is believed 

 some four more will be located before the end of the present 

 session of the city councils. 



Philadelphia has to pay, by order of state legislature, out of 

 annual taxation, nearly a million dollars a year for the huge 

 pile of marble in the centre of the city, known as the Public 

 Buildings. It is believed this heavy expenditure will end in 

 about five years, and there is little doubt, if the present tem- 

 per of the citizens continues, Philadelphia will then rapidly 

 retrieve its reprehensible indifference to open spaces, so essen- 

 tial in these days to the good reputation of a progressive city. 



Philadelphia. 5". A. 



Begonia Vernon. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — In No. 185 (September 9th) of Garden and Forest we 

 find a short note on the Begonia sejnperflorens atropurpurea, 

 or B. Nelsoni. 



We beg to be permitted to remark that that variety having 

 been put upon the market by our firm last year, as you will see 

 by the enclosed novelty list, it is but fair that our right as to its 

 exact name be preserved during the first years at least, and 

 we therefore must protest against the name of B. Nelsoni 

 given in the above notes. 



If you will please refer to the Journal of Horticulture, No. 

 2219, London, 9th April last, you will find a description of that 

 Begonia, of which we beg to send you enclosed a copy, as also 

 its exact name, which is Begonia Vernon, or semperflorens 

 atropurpurea. 



As regards the statement that the markings have not proved 

 constant with Mr. Gerard, "who is inclined to doubt if they 

 will prove so under your hot sun," we presume that that gen- 

 tleman has not got the right sort, or has grown the plants un- 

 der glass or in the shade, in which case they indeed do not 

 show off well their bronzed, purple-tinged foliage. 



The latter is seen in the best of conditions under our cli- 

 mate when the plants are grown in the full sun — that is, in 

 situations where the sun shines upon them during the greatest 

 part of the day. 



Many American florists who saw the plant in our grounds 

 all agreed that it was one of the finest bedding plants intro- 

 duced of late years. 

 Paris. Vilmorin-Andrieux &* Co, 



[Begonia Vernon is the only synonym for B. sem- 

 perflorens atropurpurea, and until attention was called by 

 the above letter I was not aware that it had unconsciously 

 been given another. The correct name was perfectly 

 familiar to me, having had fifty plants labeled B. Vernon 

 before me for months, and I am unable to account for the 

 mental twist which led me to write an irrelevant name in 

 my note. My plants were from Messrs. Vilmorin-Andrieux 

 & Co.'s seeds, and, as suggested, have been grown under 

 glass. It would seem a good plan for the introducers of 

 new plants to note any peculiarities in their offerings, as 

 does not seem to have been done in this case. Had 

 Messrs. Vilmorin printed on their seed-packet or in 

 their list the fact that the leaves of this variety only 

 show their true character in the open, the experiment would 

 have been tried, and probably a less disappointing report 

 have been given. So far the result is, as given by me, a 

 fine form of B. semperflorens rosea, with no indication of 

 leaf-coloring. In my notes the intention is to report faith- 

 fully what I see in my own garden, not what is read or 

 heard. The first hint as to growing this variety in the 

 open came to me too late in the season for trial, from a 

 friend who saw B. Vernon in Paris this summer, and re- 

 ports it as fully bearing out all claims made for it.—/. N. 

 Gerard. ] 



Periodical Literature. 



The fifth number in a series of articles now being published 

 in the New Revietv under the collective title " A Model City ; or, 

 Reformed London," is written by Professor H. Marshall Ward, 

 and called " Trees and Flowers." The main question which the 

 author considers is, "Are cities and towns like London, Bir- 

 mingham, Manchester, Liverpool, etc., so polluted with gases 

 and smoke and so darkened with soot and fog that the exist- 

 ing show of trees and shrubs is the best possible under the 

 circumstances ? " and his answer is, that he thinks he can show 

 cause for believing " that the matter has been considerably 

 exaggerated, and that, if the various local authorities were to 

 take into account all the facts, they would come to the conclu- 



