54o 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 194. 



shown in large vases by Mr. Spaulding. I. Fostermann had a 

 large colleetion of new and promising varieties. 



The most interesting groups of plants were those composed 

 respectively of single masses of Puritan and M. Boyer. Some 

 more ambitious groups emphasized the fact that a casual mix- 

 ture of colors produces spottiness, and not a pleasing effect. 



Table decorations were shown Thursday by Brower Brothers, 

 Siebrecht & Wadley and Charles A. Dards. fn each case very 

 large well-grown flowers were used in lavish profusion, and 

 the tables seemed overloaded, so that the effect was rather heavy, 

 though somewhat toned down by artificial light. 



One of the most interesting exhibits to the Chrysanthemum- 

 fancier was Mr. T. H. Spaulding's collection of new Continental 

 varieties, including some of S. Delaux's new early varieties, 

 the offering of which was the most important event of the year 

 among Chrysanthemum-fanciers. A glance over these showed 

 many promising things. The serious feature of the introduc- 

 tion of so many new varieties is that so few of them are ever 

 seen at their best or grown after a year or two. 



Notes. 



In Orange County, California, a single grower this year has 

 sold 115,000 spikes of Pampas-blooms. 



The estimated cost of the horticultural building for the 

 World's Fair in Chicago, which will measure 1,000 x 230 feet, is 

 $226,890. 



The Danish citizens of Chicago are collecting funds for the 

 erection, in Lincoln Park, of a monument to Hans Christian 

 Andersen. 



The 133 free concerts given in the parks of New York dur- 

 ing the past summer afforded pleasure to scores of thousands 

 of people whose opportunities for refreshment are few, and 

 cost the city the moderate sum of $14,987. 



The care taken to obtain artistic designs for public grounds 

 in Europe is shown by the recent action of the municipality of 

 Breslau, in Silesia, which has offered three premiums, amount- 

 ing respectively to 1,500, 1,000 and 500 marks, for the best de- 

 sign for a small urban park. 



Dr. Wallace writes in The Garden that when he first im- 

 ported Japanese Lilies twenty years ago the bulbs were ob- 

 tained with difficulty, since they were either gathered wild in 

 the mountains, as was the case with Lilium auratum, or 

 picked up one by one in Japanese gardens. Of late years, 

 however, the Japanese have turned their attention to Lilies as 

 an article of commerce, and bulb-farms, like those in Holland, 

 are in successful operation and Lilies are cultivated by tens of 

 thousands. The result of this is that the bulbs, which come 

 over are far better individually, and the varieties are greatly 

 improved on account of careful search and selection through 

 the numerous islands of Japan. 



Circulars were recently sent by the Department of Agricul- 

 ture in Victoria, Australia, to all the schools in non-metropol- 

 itan districts, asking whether their head-teachers would advo- 

 cate the teaching of the elements of agriculture and horticul- 

 ture. The replies showed that eighty-four per cent, of the 

 1,248 teachers in question were in favor of the idea, and that 

 in thirty-four per cent, of the schools such instruction was 

 already being given. In fifty-two cases the scholars were 

 caring for trees or gardens on the school-grounds, and most 

 of the children in 369 other schools were either assisting their 

 parents in horticultural work at home or caring for garden- 

 plots of their own. In 161 schools the pupils were in the habit 

 of making collections of local plants and insects to be subse- 

 quently used as object-lessons in the classes. 



A correspondent of the Evening Post, of this city, recently 

 wrote that, in spite of the scarcity of true Spruce-gum in Ver- 

 mont, resulting partly from forest-fires and partly from the in- 

 crease of saw and pulp-mills, the gum-picker is still a pictur- 

 esque figure in the remoter districts of the state. " The most 

 famous one is Alonzo K. Bishop, of Woodford. In winter car- 

 rying a bag slung over his shoulder, Bishop roams all over the 

 Green Mountains examining Spruce-trees. With a long pole end- 

 ing in a sharp chisel, he detaches the gum. His journeys often 

 take him many miles from human habitations. When the hills 

 are snow-covered, Bishop still pursues his industry, traversing 

 the country on snow-shoes. He sells the gum for fifty cents to 

 $[.50 a pound, according to quality. The purest gum is trans- 

 parent, or of a light amber color, filled with minute bubbles 

 of air. Vermonters who have made new homes for them- 

 selves in the west consume a great deal of the pure article, 

 which is sent to them by friends through the mails." 



Mr. Emory E. Smith, in a paper read before the California 

 horticultural societies, urges the gardeners of that state to 

 give more attention to the improvement of the wild strawber- 

 ries of the Pacific Coast. He considers them among the most 

 promising of wild fruits there, and little has been' done with 

 them in the way of selection or hybridizing. The eastern vari- 

 eties introduced in California nee'd to be constantly irrigated, 

 and it is believed that improved plants of native parentage 

 would be better adapted to the conditions of the climate. One 

 species, Fragaria Californica, often occurs in the driest and 

 most unpromising locations. Besides this, although the east- 

 ern strawberries raised under irrigation are very large and 

 finely colored, they are really flat and flavorless, while the na- 

 tive berry in that climate has a delightful sweetness and 

 aroma. The fruiting season of the California native berries is 

 very long. In favorable seasons in the neighborhood of San 

 Francisco F. Chilensis gives fruit from January until August, 

 and F. Californica in the same section will fruit until the mid- 

 dle of July. 



A correspondent of The Garden, London, invites attention 

 to Clematis graveolens , which he says is rarely met with outside 

 of a botanical garden although it was introduced from Chin- 

 ese Tartary half a century ago. This plant is not so scarce in 

 American gardens, and yet it is one which should be planted 

 more frequently here than it is. It is quite hardy and will 

 climb to a height of ten or a dozen feet, and its single yellow 

 flowers are an inch across and beautiful, although in no way 

 striking. The heads of fruit, with their long silky tails, are, 

 however, highly ornamental and will cling on the plants until 

 the winter. It is, indeed, a matter of surprise that experiment- 

 ers who are now hybridizing so many different species of 

 plants have never taken in hand this and some of the other 

 Clematises. With a plant which, like C. crispa, gives an abun- 

 dance of purple flowers all through the summer and autumn 

 months, and another, like C. graveolens, which also blooms 

 for along time, with C. pa?iicnlata and its abundance of white 

 bloom in September, not to speak of C. coccinea, C. integrifo- 

 lia and many more, remarkable results might be reasonably 

 expected. 



According to a recent writer in Gartenflora the so-called 

 Century-plant {Agave Americana) was introduced into Europe 

 during the first century after the discovery of the New World. 

 The blooming of one specimen is recorded as occurring at 

 Avignon in 1599, and of another at Montpelier in 1647, while 

 even as far north as Wurtemberg a specimen was seen in the 

 latter years of the sixteenth century, the flower-stalk of 

 which measured over twenty-four feet in height and more 

 than two feet in diameter. A story is told of one which, in some 

 town of Languedoc, under the eyes of Louis XIII. and Cardinal 

 Richelieu, threw up a flower-stem twenty-eight "hand-lengths" 

 in height during the space of thirty-six hours, so greatly to the 

 astonishment of the king that he decreed the "bewildering 

 stem " should be painted by "some admirable painter." The 

 first illustration of Agave Americana was published by Lo- 

 belius, who died in the same year as Shakespeare. One does 

 not often realize, perhaps, that in the far-off days of Good 

 Queen Bess American plants were already known in England 

 as well as on the Continent, some of them being almost famil- 

 iar objects, while as yet there were very few Americans ex- 

 cept such as wore red skins. 



Catalogues Received. 



Dammann & Co., San Giovanni a Teduccio, near Naples, Italy; 

 Wholesale Catalogue of Flower and Vegetable Seeds, Farm Seeds, 

 Seeds of Trees and Shrubs, and Flower Bulbs. — Haage & Schmidt, 

 Erfurt, Germany; Novelties in Flower Seeds for 1892. — Hartman 

 Manufacturing Company, Beaver Falls, Pa. ; Hartman Wire Panel 

 Fence, Steel Picket Fence, and Wire Mats. — Harlan P. Kelsey, 

 Linvi lie, North Car.; Wholesale Catalogue of Native Trees, Flower- 

 ing Shrubs, and Herbaceous Perennial Plants of the Southern Alle- 

 ghany Mountains and the Southern States. — E. H. Krelage & Son, 

 Haarlem, Holland; Darwin Tulips.— Thomas Meehan & Sons, Ger- 

 mantown, Philadelphia, Pa.; Ornamental Trees, Vines, Shrubs. — ■ 

 William Paul & Sons, Waltham Cross, Herts, England; New Roses. 

 — Richard Pfau, San Jose de Costa Rica; Trade Catalogue of New 

 and Rare Central American Orchids. — Reasoner Bros., Manatee, 

 Fla.; Tropical and Semi-Tropical Fruit Plants, Economical, Medici- 

 nal and Useful Plants, Aquatics, Palms, Orchids, etc. — Frederick 

 Roemer, Quedlinburg, Germany; Novelties in Flower Seeds for 1892. 

 — f. C. Schmidt, Erfurt, Germany ; Novelties in Flower and Vegetable 

 Seeds. — William Stahl, Quincy, 111.; Excelsior Spraying Outfits. — 

 Stark Bros., Louisiana, Mo.; Wholesale Price List of Fruit, Orna- 

 mental and Evergreen Trees, Small Fruits, Shrubs and Roses. — 

 W. Thompson, 34 and 36 Tavern Street, Ipswich, England ; Flower 

 Seeds. 



