December 16, 1891.] 



Garden and Forest. 



589 



GARDEN AND FOREST. 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO. 



Office: Tribune Building, New York. 



Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent. 



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



NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1891. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 



Editorial Articles: — Yellowstone National Park 589 



Books about Nature published in America 590 



Notes of a Summer Journey in Europe. — I J. G. Jack. 590 



The Colors of Leaves E. Williams flervey. 591 



Cacti in Landscape-gardening John De Wolf. 592 



New or Little-known Plants : — Viburnum tomentosum. (With figures.). C. S. S. 593 



Cultural Department : — Deterioration of Varieties T. H. Hoskins, M.D. 593 



Cyclamen Persicum N. J. Rose. 595 



Winter Gardening in the South Professor W. F. Massey. 596 



Cattleya labiata, Scabiosa Caucasica E. 0. O. 596 



Rust of Carnations Professor Byron D. Halsted. 596 



Spiraea Filipendula flore pleno, Thermopsis Caroliniana M. Barker. 596 



The Forest : — The Subjection of Torrents by Reforestation of Mountains. — II. 



M. P. Demontzey . 597 



Correspondence : — The Great Wurtemberg Linden H. Christ. 598 



Damping Off Wm. S. Lyon. 599 



Are Large Strawberries a Modern Production ? E. Lewis Sturtevant. 599 



Periodical Literature 599 



Notes 599 



Illustrations : — Viburnum tomentosum, Fig. 93 594 



Viburnum tomentosum in Bloom, Fig. 94 595 



Yellowstone National Park. 



IN the early clays of the last session of Congress we 

 invited public attention to the necessity of prompt 

 legislative action in regard to the enlargement and better 

 protection and maintenance of the Yellowstone National 

 Park. We expressed at that time a fear that nothing would 

 be accomplished, owing to a persistent and untiring lobby 

 that would prevent the enactment of any law which did 

 not carry with it an exclusive right or franchise for a rail- 

 way through the north-east corner of the park. The event 

 proved that this apprehension was well-founded. No ac- 

 tion was taken by the House of Representatives on the ex- 

 cellent bill which passed the Senate, and which was prac- 

 tically the same bill which had passed that body on four 

 separate occasions. The House, upon receiving the bill 

 from the Senate, referred it to the Committee on Public 

 Lands, and it was by them, after a long delay, reported 

 back to the House with an amendment granting a right of 

 way to the Montana Mineral Railway Company to enter 

 the park and to lay fifty or sixty miles of track to a mining 

 camp lying in Montana outside of the reservation. This 

 amendment was in no way germane to the bill, but a posi- 

 tive injury to the park and the beginning of special privi- 

 leges and jobberies which would in the end hand the park 

 over to corporations who had no generous or patriotic in- 

 terest in it or appreciation of it, and cared only to use it for 

 their own selfish purposes. Those who took the deepest 

 interest in the park preferred the postponement of the pas- 

 sage of such a bill until it could be placed on the statute- 

 books without such an objectionable feature as the Mon- 

 tana Mineral Railway franchise. 



In the last days of the last session, Congress passed a 

 law entitled, "An Act to Repeal Timber-culture, and for 

 Other Purposes," and among its provisions was one to 

 which we have often alluded. It reads as follows : "The 

 " President of the United States may, from time to time, set 

 "apart and reserve in any state or territory having public 



"land bearing forests, in any part of the public lands, or 

 "wholly or in part covered with timber or undergrowth, 

 " whether of commercial value or not, as public reserva- 

 "tions. And the President shall by public proclamation 

 "declare the establishment of such reservation and the 

 "limits thereof." In accordance with this provision the 

 President issued a proclamation setting apart as a public 

 reservation a large tract of country immediately adjoining 

 the Yellowstone Park on the east and south. The boun- 

 daries of this forest-reservation are essentially the same as 

 those laid down in Senator Vest's bill providing for the 

 enlargement of the park. As a matter of fact, we believe 

 the boundaries were taken from the bill. This action on 

 the part of the President was most commendable as it pre- 

 vents the cutting of timber and prohibits settlement within 

 the reservation. But as the President had no power to 

 enlarge the Yellowstone Park it is now all the more important 

 that this reservation should be included in the park by 

 Act of Congress and its care and protection made a part of 

 the duties of the superintendent of the park, with authority ■ 

 to see that the rules and regulations established by the 

 Secretary of the Interior are enforced. At the present time 

 there are no penalties for depredations committed, and no 

 power to enforce them if there were any. 



Secretary Noble, in his last annual report recently pub- 

 lished, calls attention to the needs of the park and takes 

 strong grounds against the admission of any railway. We 

 can do no better than to copy his words : "The Secretary's 

 " opinion, as hitherto expressed, has been that a railroad 

 " would be detrimental to all the purposes for which the 

 "park was set apart. It is earnestly hoped that Congress 

 " will not give up to a private enterprise any part of what 

 "it has set apart for the education and enjoyment of the 

 " whole people. If once such railroad franchise is granted 

 "it will result in the practical abandonment of that region 

 " as a forest and game-reserve. Each year demonstrates 

 " the wisdom of Congress in setting apart this magnificent 

 "domain and the necessity of keeping it under govern- 

 "ment ownership, free from private or corporate intrusion. 

 " It embraces one of the largest forest-bearing districts in 

 "the Rocky Mountains, and contains the head-waters of 

 "some of our greatest rivers. The importance of preserv- 

 ing such tracts, as affecting the water-supply of the coun- 

 "try, has already been discussed in this report." 



Senator Vest, who takes the deepest interest in all mat- 

 ters pertaining to the Yellowstone Park, has for many 

 years earnestly endeavored to obtain favorable action by 

 Congress, and intends introducing the bill of last year in 

 the early days of this session. The tract of country which 

 it is desired to add to the park on the east embraces all the 

 high portion of the Absaroka Range, and is a belt of coun- 

 try between twenty-four and twenty-five miles in width, 

 including all the sources of the upper Yellowstone River. 

 The region is almost wholly made up of volcanic lavas, 

 barren and rugged, but possessing great natural beauty and 

 grandeur. The country which it is proposed to add to the 

 park on the south measures about eight and one-half miles 

 in length, stretching across the entire width of the park 

 and the additional territory which it is proposed to annex 

 to the eastward. It is a somewhat less rugged country 

 than the Absaroka Range, but is equally grand and far 

 more picturesque. It abounds in springs, brooks and 

 lakes, all of them sending their waters westward to the 

 Pacific. The country is one of the best breeding-grounds 

 for elk and deer to be found anywhere in the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, a knowledge of which is becoming only too rapidly 

 known by hunters and sportsmen. For agricultural and 

 grazing purposes this elevated region is useless. The for- 

 est, both in the park and the country which it is proposed 

 to add to it, is essentially coniferous. More than one-half 

 the trees are what are known as Black Pine (Pinus Mur- 

 rayand), which rarely attains any great size, although for 

 economic purposes, for the storing of water, it is quite as 

 serviceable as the more stately trees. The Balsam (Abies 

 subalpina), the Spruce (Picea Engelmanni), cover large 



