584 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 198. 



many years. It has long lanceolate leaves that are covered 

 with a white powder, and the flowers are quite large, yellow, 

 and produced in whorls on a scape. This species does not 

 relish much water over its foliage, and its beauty fully repays 

 for any care required in its cultivation. 



Holmesburg, Pa. W. H. Taplin. 



A November Garden. 



TT ought to be possible to make our gardens more interest- 

 ■*■ ing in November. Of. course, this is the time of Chrysan- 

 themums, which are apt to overshadow other things. But, 

 however much one may value their useful flowers, it is well 

 to have a few quiet plants in the garden as a relief from their 

 rather dazzling prominence. A well-filled garden should have 

 something of interest at all seasons, if it serve no other pur- 

 pose than to draw us more to the open air. Many of us have 

 managed to stock our gardens with plants which respond to 

 the first indication of warmth, but most of us have relied on 

 the Chrysanthemums to give us our latest pleasures in the open. 



My list of small plants has been lengthening, and they are 

 gradually giving me suggestions which I hope to utilize in the 

 future for providing quiet dainty bits in the border to be 

 enjoyed till the final closing of the garden-year, usually about 

 the first of December in this latitude. Of course, there are 

 few flowers to be had out-of-doors in November. An occa- 

 sional Primrose opens, Bellis perennis is not easily discour- 

 aged, the Globe-flower, Trollius Enropus, gives a few blooms, 

 and, showiest of all, the Marigolds, if in a warm corner, may 

 be depended on for stray flowers. 



The flowers in the November garden must, however, be had 

 mostly from bulbs — the Crocus and Colchicum. The autumnal 

 Crocuses pleased me so much this year that I have an idea of 

 trying for a bright autumnal effect in a border planted also 

 with spring-blooming bulbs. There is a long stretch of time 

 after such a bed is cleared and planted when, to say the least, 

 it is not attractive. It has occurred to me that if, with the 

 spring-flowering bulbs, we planted an assortment of autumnal 

 Colchicums and Crocus, the bed could be made to do double 

 duty and be attractive quite through the month of November. 

 It might be necessary to provide temporary shelter for occa- 

 sional very hard weather, but these flowers will stand a fair 

 amount of severity. The available varieties, both of autumnal 

 Crocus and Colchicum, are numerous, and they vary consid- 

 erably the time of blooming, so that it would not be specially 

 difficult to arrange for such an effect. 



But any one who is really fond of plants finds that flowers 

 are only one of the elements of beauty ; and at this season 

 one finds dainty bits to enjoy among the small hardy plants 

 which, in the presence of luxurious summer growth, are 

 too frequently overlooked. There is a never-failing fascina- 

 tion in some of the little alpine plants. The encrusted Saxi- 

 frages are really jewels, with their attractive rosettes, and 

 always enjoyable even when not in flower. The mossy Saxi- 

 frages, also, may be had in never-ending variety, and when 

 established are mostly gems. The low-growing Sedums are 

 another family among which may be found numerous at- 

 tractive plants. Some of them take on wonderful tints of 

 coloring at times. Mr. Whittall sent me some Cyclamens 

 from Asia Minor, whose leaves are so beautifully marked, 

 and which are so very hardy, that they are even yet attrac- 

 tive. This has induced me to plant other available kinds, 

 of which I find there are about a dozen. In slightly shaded 

 places and well-drained soil I shall probably find a fair num- 

 ber successful. The present plants are as attractive to me as 

 my favorite greenhouse varieties. 



There are, of course, numerous other small things — An- 

 drosaces, Drabas, Arabis, etc. — which will gladden the gardener 

 when well established. Small things are these, and many of 

 them require much skill and care. One who gardens for 

 pleasure does not consider them troublesome, and they are 

 never tiresome. Some plants are like a mathematical dem- 

 onstration, they go on in orderly reliable sequence. There is 

 pleasure in the demonstration, and pleasure, too, in such plants, 

 but seldom so much as in those which require more atten- 

 tion. At this time will often be observed the first signs of the 

 spring harvest — the Muscaris have their foliage developed; in 

 few Narcissus the tips are just evident; the foliage of Spanish 

 and a few other Irises is appearing ; and many interesting 

 things may be noted in the borders. I do not share the fear 

 of some that early developed foliage will suffer by hard frosts 

 and cover nothing except the Oncocyclus Irises. Such foliage 

 is usually developed slowly under hard conditions and is not 

 readily injured. A slight covering of leaves, such as nature 

 and kind winds scatter over the beds, is not objectionable 



and serves a useful purpose in preventing sudden thaws ; but 

 in my case, like that of many others, the demon of tidiness 

 and destruction in the way of the occasional helper, usually 

 carefully removes such evidences of apparent unthrift before 

 one thinks to give warning. The same sometimes useful 

 person also enjoys raking out the crowns of one's favorite 

 plants unless restrained by a strong hand, and I am "afraid he 

 is not the only one who thinks a bare patch of earth an ideal 

 fall and winter garden. 

 Elizabeth, N. J. J.N.Gerard. 



Bacterial Disease of Celery. — There is a bacterial disease of 

 nearly everything, and Celery proves to be no exception to the 

 rule. About a month ago, while in the Celery-fields, near 

 Greenville and Bayonne, New Jersey, looking after troubles 

 of a fungous nature among the truckers, attention was attracted 

 to a peculiar blight of Celery, particularly the variety known 

 as the Golden Plume. The affected leaves were badly blotched 

 with brown, the diseased spots having a watery appearance 

 that suggested the work of nematode worms as much as that 

 of bacteria. A microscopic examination of the infested leaves 

 showed that, while nematodes and all forms of filamentous 

 fungi were absent, there was an abundance of bacteria uni- 

 formly in ail the diseased patches. It was an easy matter to 

 secure these germs free from all others and grow them for 

 purposes of inoculation. Leaves of Celery from healthy plants 

 were then treated to the pure germs, and at the end of three 

 days the disease had spread throughout their whole extent. 

 From these decayed specimens the bacteria were again trans- 

 ferred to the cores of plants, and from these tender centres 

 the disease spread with still greater rapidity, and the whole 

 plant became decayed and worthless. 



In these experiments it was determined that the bacterial 

 decay proceeds most rapidly when the part of the Celery is 

 kept constantly moist, but not wet. Celery-stalks placed partly 

 uncter water, to which bacteria had been added, decayed 

 quickly near the water's surface, and the submerged portions 

 were the last to spoil. The practical lesson from this, so far 

 as our limited knowledge suggests any lesson, is : Keep the 

 Celery dry and cool as possible. 

 Rutgers College. Byron D. Halsted. 



Prolonging the Fruit Season.— A curious fact in Pear-culture, 

 and indeed in fruit-culture generally, is, that if the bulk of the 

 crop is picked when ripening, and a portion of it, say a fourth 

 or less, is left on the tree, the latter will cease to ripen and will 

 remain on the tree in good order for a month longer. I picked 

 some fine solid Buff'um pears that were left on the tree a full 

 month later than the main crop, which was gathered Septem- 

 ber 20th. The most perishable Plums, such as Washington, 

 will behave in the same way. Nature provides in some fruits 

 for a long succession by loosening the ripe ones from the 

 stem. This is peculiarly true of the Gravenstein and Summer 

 Strawberry apples ; but it is often worth our while to follow 

 Nature, and secure a long season of some favorite fruit. 



Morristown, N. J. ■"*. 



The Subjection of Torrents by Reforestation of 

 Mountains. 



IN March of this year, before a special session of the 

 French Association for the Advancement of Science, 

 there was presented a paper so suggestive in connection 

 with efforts now being made to arrest needless forest- 

 destruction in our country, that we reproduce the essential 

 parts of it in translation, kindly furnished by Mr. H. B. 

 Ayres. It was from no less an authority than M. P. De- 

 montzey, Forest Administrator of France, to whose inde- 

 fatigable work for the last twenty-five years or more is due 

 the success in redeeming the devastated mountain regions 

 of southern France. 



The author's vivid descriptions of experiences in the 

 mountains of France remind us of the damaging and dan- 

 gerous floods and erosions not only in the scantily wooded 

 regions of the west, but also in portions of the eastern 

 states, especially in the sandy regions of the south. 



It was in France that the reforestation of mountains was 

 first made the object of legislation. A long time ago, numer- 

 ous statesmen, economists, engineers and woodsmen, far- 

 sighted and impartial observers, acquainted by long residence 

 there with the mountainous regions of southern France, 

 warned the state of disaster and ruin, and unanimously urged 



