59>o 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 199. 



tracts of country, while all three of these species occur 

 more or less mingled. That sturdy and stately tree, the 

 Red Fir {Pseudotsuga taxifolid), in certain localities, stands 

 out grandly conspicuous for its size and the vigor of its 

 growth. Already fires kindled by accident or malice have 

 swept over large areas of this timber, and the forest has 

 no protection against such vandalism in the future. 



Secretary Noble, in his recommendation quoted above, 

 only repeats what has been urged before by Secretaries 

 Vilas and Lamar. The need of extending the park and 

 protecting it from invasion is universally recognized. The 

 Senate Bill interferes with no one's rights, and the new 

 boundaries leave an open highway for all needed traffic to 

 the mines. How long shall we be compelled to admit, in 

 the face of all this, that a little knot of speculators, in the 

 hope of securing special privileges, are strong enough to 

 defeat a measure which is to the evident advantage of the 

 whole country ? 



The appearance of the little book entitled "The Land 

 of the Lingering Snow," which we reviewed last week, 

 suggests anew a reflection which has, no doubt, occurred 

 to many of our readers, and that is one of surprise at the 

 number of books about Nature which are annually pub- 

 lished in America, many of them, too, characterized 

 by delicate feeling and pleasing style. More books of this 

 type are published here than in England, where sentiment 

 and the love of natural objects are believed to flourish 

 much more luxuriantly than in our hurrying, supposedly 

 prosaic and distinctly urban communities. Most of these 

 books, too, are written in New England and about New 

 England scenes and plants and birds ; and this fact has a 

 curious interest. At first sight we may think that it simply 

 means that only in comparatively old communities do men 

 find leisure enough to devote themselves to the harvest of 

 the quiet eye, or are they apt to inherit a culture broad and 

 deep enough to endow them with that literary sense which 

 must go hand-in-hand with a sensitive mind and keen 

 vision if nature is to be worthily interpreted on the printed 

 page. But a little reflection shows that New England is no 

 older than the other communities along our eastern coasts, 

 and also that the sons and daughters of the east have 

 spread themselves abroad to west and south, where, one 

 might fancy, their natural instincts would be more strongly 

 stimulated by the scenes about them than they could be by 

 a climate and a soil like those of New England. Never- 

 theless, it is New Englanders living at home who give us 

 most of those books about nature which are not strictly 

 scientific accounts of dry facts and recondite phenomena. 

 Here are born and here write our prose poets of nature. Is 

 this so because Thoreau chanced by an accident to be born 

 here, and set a local fashion ? Or was Thoreau a natural, 

 typical product, and are his successors likewise natural, 

 typical products of the same conditions — men and women 

 who would have felt and written just as they do if Thoreau 

 had never lived? 



The latter view is, we think, the true one. And, per- 

 haps, it can be interpreted to mean that men always value 

 most highly the gifts which are not too lavishly bestowed, 

 delights which are not too constant and monotonous, 

 pleasures for which they have to work a little and of which 

 they are sometimes unexpectedly deprived. It is the 

 strong contrasts of the New England climate which have 

 filled the souls of her sons with so keen a sense of the 

 beauty of her bright winter days and the loveliness of her 

 sunny summer hours. It is the contrasts which her soil 

 affords — from rocky to verdurous sea-coasts, from high 

 mountains and forest-clad valleys to fertile plains and Elm- 

 bordered rivers — which make their eyes sensitive to each 

 of her changing pictures. It is the length and vigor of her 

 winters that have forced them to study what charms winter 

 as well as summer may present. It is the late shyness of 

 her springs that thrills them with a sense of spring's en- 

 chantment. It is the burning heat of her hottest summer- 

 time which puts a touch of enthusiasm into blood that 



would be chilly but for such a potent quickening. It is the 

 royal splendor of her long-drawn autumn, with its soft 

 Indian summer following almost wintry weeks, that gives 

 them that love for color which we miss by contrast when 

 we turn to books that Englishmen have written. 



An inhospitable land New England may be called by the 

 agriculturist or the man who likes simply to draw his 

 breath without care or trouble or any noting of outward 

 phenomena. But to the true lover of nature there is, per- 

 haps, no other which offers a more generous hospitality 

 and has its hands more profusely laden with rapidly 

 changing, beautifully contrasting gifts. 



T 



Notes of a Summer Journey in Europe. — I. 



HE following notes of observations, made during a few 

 weeks of the past summer spent mainly in seeing some- 

 thing of collections and botanical establishments in Europe, 

 are not intended as studies, but chiefly as a record of impres- 

 sions with the natural comparisons one is apt to draw among 

 new scenes and on coming in contact with examples and prac- 

 tices not commonly met with at home. Very often, too, the 

 meeting of familiar objects proves almost as interesting as the 

 novelties. The short time at command necessitated leaving 

 out many interesting places and specimens even on the line 

 of the journey, and, for the same reason, it was not found pos- 

 sible or advisable to fully write out the notes at the moment. 



Perhaps one of the first things which attract the attention 

 of an American, if he is interested in the botanical side of 

 Nature, on landing on the Continent and traveling through the 

 country is, that vegetation, as shown in harvesting, etc., is 

 generally not so advanced or hurried as it is at the same date 

 in that portion of New England which nearly corresponds to 

 the same latitude. The cooler summers and the generally 

 greater humidity of the air, of course, account for this, be- 

 sides giving those regions nearest the sea the perpetually 

 green appearance for which they are noted. It may be for this 

 reason that hybrid Perpetual Roses appear to be much more 

 truly and satisfactorily perpetual bloomers than they often 

 prove in our gardens, where the heat is much drier and more 

 intense. 



On arrival at Boulogne, the first landing-place, on July 15th, 

 the Hybrid Perpetual Roses were found bearing an abundance 

 of bloom, and the same was true at Paris. The blossoms of 

 these Roses, however, were no better than we commonly 

 grow at home, and, as is too often the case with us, the plants 

 were badly attacked by mildew and infested by aphides. The 

 latter were evidently greatly checked by lady-bird beetles and 

 their larvas, and by small parasites similar to those which we 

 find in America assisting to keep the pests in check. 



One of the most peculiar features in the landscape in crossing 

 certain parts of France, noticeably in the lowlands and as we 

 approach the Swiss frontiers, is the Lombardy Poplars, which 

 loom up everywhere, like decorated telegraph-poles. Very 

 frequently the greater portions of the trunks have been stripped 

 of their branches, which gives them an even more singular 

 appearance than they naturally possess. It may not be gen- 

 erally known that it is the staminate, or male form, of this tree 

 which we commonly find in cultivation both in this country 

 and in Europe. The female, or pistillate form, is very rarely 

 seen. It is said to chiefly differ from the male in being much 

 less pyramidal in its habit of growth and general outline. 



As we approach Switzerland and get among the hills, the 

 Walnut becomes abundant, and it may be seen planted singly, 

 in groves or in orchards, alternately with Apple, Pear or Plum- 

 trees. The size and shape of these Walnut-trees vary greatly ac- 

 cording to the quality of the ground and the exposures to which 

 they are subjected ; but in the good rich soil of the sheltered 

 valleys they assume a handsome rounded or globular form. 

 They do not usually attain a great height, and, except for the 

 color of the foliage, which is also less dense, they might at 

 some distance be mistaken for very large Apple-trees. Wher- 

 ever grown throughout Switzerland, the nuts are largely used 

 for the oil which is extracted from them ; but they are not 

 generally grown in such abundance as they are south of the 

 Alps. 



Although Geneva gets none of the direct modifying influence 

 of the Gulf Stream, is over 1,200 feet above sea-level, and is 

 situated in a latitude somewhat further north than that of Mon- 

 treal, in Canada, its vegetation shows that it enjoys a winter 

 climate generally quite as mild, if not milder, than that of 

 Washington. The last winter was considered an unusually 

 severe one, the Lake of Geneva being completely frozen over, 



