December 2, 1891.] 



Garden and Forest. 



S^S 



GARDEN AND FOREST, 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO. 



Office: Tribune Building, New Yokk. 



Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent. 



ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y. 



NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1891. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 



Editorial Articles :— The Manzanita. (With figure.) 565 



The Dedham Oak in Massachusetts 565 



New England Parks Mrs. J. H. Robbins. 566 



Late Persisting Leaves on Trees J- G. Jack. 567 



The Colors of Flowers.— I ■ E. Williams Hervey. 56S 



New or Little-known Plants :— Rosa Wichuraiana. (With figure.) C.S. S. 570 



Foreign Correspondence : — London Letter W. Watson. 570 



Cultural Department: — Notes on Small Fruits E. Williams. 572 



Apples in 1891 ' E. P. Powell. 572 



Carnations T. D. Hatfield. 572 



Eulalia gracillima univittata, Dahlia imperialis, Montbretias (Tritonias), 



E. O. Orfiet. 573 



Galanthus Octobrensis J. N. Gerard. 573 



Correspondence :— What are the Experiment Stations Doing for Forestry? 



N. H. Egleston. 574 



Winter Weather in North Carolina. Professor W. F. Massey. 574 



The Paulowniain Kansas S.C. Mason. 575 



Winchell and Green Mountain Professor W. F. Massey. 575 



Notes 575 



Illustrations :—Rosa Wichuraiana, Fig. 89 569 



A Manzanita Tree (Arctostaphylos Manzanita), Fig. 90 571 



The Manzanita. 



EVERY one at all familiar with the flora of the east- 

 ern states knows the Bearberry, a delicate plant 

 which often covers rocky and sandy soil with a dense car- 

 pet of long prostrate stems clothed with small, thick, dark 

 green evergreen foliage, and which in early spring covers 

 itself with clusters of handsome flesh-colored flowers, in 

 general form not unlike those of the Blueberries. These 

 are followed in the autumn by red fruit which resembles 

 that of the Cranberry, although it is smaller, less brilliantly 

 colored, and of insipid flavor. This plant is the type of the 

 genus Arctostaphylos, and botanists call it Arctosiaphylos 

 Uva-nrsi. It grows in America from the mountains of 

 Pennsylvania to the Arctic Circle, in the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, on the Pacific side of the continent as far south as 

 northern California, and in the mountains and boreal re- 

 gions of Europe and Asia. There is another species of 

 Bearberry which occurs on the alpine summits of the New 

 England mountains and in British America. This second 

 species is also circumpolar in its distribution, so that east- 

 ern America possesses no endemic representative of the 

 genus, which, although our two species are beautiful 

 plants, makes no great display here, and does not form a 

 conspicuous type of our vegetation. West of the summit 

 of the Sierra Nevada, the Bearberries, or Manzanitas, as 

 they are always called in California, are so abundant, both 

 in species and in the number of individual plants, that they 

 are a feature of California vegetation, often beautiful in it- 

 self, and quite unlike anything seen in other parts of the 

 country. 



There are ten or eleven species of Manzanitas found in 

 California; some are small andsome are tall wide-branched 

 shrubs ; and one species, at least, under favorable conditions, 

 attains the size and habit of a small tree. This is the plant 

 to which the late Dr. Parry, who studied the Manzanitas 

 for many years, and knew them better than any one else, 

 gave the name of Arctostaphylos Manzanita. Like most of 

 the species, and like their near relatives, the Madronas, the 

 bark of this plant is smooth and bright red even on the 



small branches. One of the peculiarities of all the species 

 is that the bark is renewed every year ; in May or June, 

 when the annual growth begins and the branches swell, 

 the outer layer of the bark formed the previous year breaks ' 

 into large loose flakes, which gradually fall and display the 

 pale green new bark, which on exposure to the light soon 

 turns red. It is the smooth red trunk and branches which 

 make the California Manzanitas such peculiar and striking 

 objects, and which excite the astonishment of travelers 

 from other parts of the world. The leaves are ample, 

 obtuse, bright green, and, like those of many of the species, 

 appear vertical on the branches by the twisting of the 

 stalks, a provision of nature by which many shrubs in dry 

 arid regions are saved from unnecessary evaporation. 

 Arctostaphylos Manzanita is one of the earliest of the family 

 to flower, and it is not unusual to see it covered with its 

 clusters of white bell-shaped blossoms at Christmas-time, 

 although at high elevations the flowers do not appear be- 

 fore the month of May. It is a widely distributed plant, 

 and there is still much to learn of its distribution and of that 

 of several of the other species ; but it is known to be abun- 

 dant along the foot-hills of the Coast ranges north of the 

 Bay of San Francisco and in the valley of the Sacramento, 

 extending up the western slope and probably across the 

 Sierra Nevada. At high elevations it is a low shrub ; on 

 the dry barren slopes of the foot-hills it is a tall, wide- 

 branching, usually rather sprawling, shrub, but in favor- 

 able situations, where the soil is rich and water is near at 

 hand, it occasionally attains the size and habit of a small 

 tree. Such a specimen is represented in our illustration on 

 page 571. It is believed to be one of the largest, if not the 

 largest, Manzanita in existence. This wonderful plant is 

 thirty-five feet high, and the branches spread out in one 

 direction to a diameter of thirty feet, and in the other to 

 thirty-six feet ; but the thickness of the short trunk is more 

 remarkable even than the spread of the crown. At the 

 ground it girths eleven and a half feet. This size is main- 

 tained up to the division, which takes place two and a half 

 feet above the surface of the soil, while the two principal 

 branches at their point of separation each girt a little 

 more than seven feet. This tree is growing on the estate 

 of Tiburcio Parrott, Esq., in St. Helena, Napa County, to 

 whom we are indebted for the use of the negative from 

 which our illustration has been made. It stands near a 

 spring in deep rich loam, and close by may be seen other 

 specimens with stout trunks, several of which girt at least 

 six or seven feet. 



A happy chance has preserved this giant of its race which 

 represents, no doubt, the growth of centuries, for the Man- 

 zanitas are usually slow-growing plants. The great scar of 

 the wound made by an axe on its trunk shows how near 

 it once came to death. Years ago a wood-chopper in the 

 employ of the Napa Valley Wood Company had begun to 

 cut it for fuel ; a man passing by purchased its life by the 

 payment of two dollars, and so saved a plant which is, in its 

 way, as interesting as any of the great trees of California, and 

 in doing so earned the gratitude of every lover of trees not 

 only in California but in all the civilized world. It was Dr. C. 

 M. Hitchcock who did this good deed. ' If he is still alive he 

 has perhaps forgotten all about the great Manzanita and the 

 two dollars which he gave to ransom its life. But his 

 connection with it must not be forgotten, and we should 

 like to see placed on the tree a tablet which should recite 

 its history. The preservation of such trees is a matter of 

 public congratulation, and the memory of the men or 

 women who preserve them may well be kept green as an 

 example worthy of imitation by all broad-minded and in- 

 telligent people. 



Our readers remember, perhaps, the portrait of the Red 

 Oak which appeared two months ago in this journal. It 

 represented a tree growing in Dedham, Massachusetts, one 

 of the finest of its race in New England. This tree also 

 owes its life, a correspondent now informs us, to the 

 timely appeal of a man who appreciated its value. This 



