December 16, 1891.] 



Garden and Forest. 



599 



the Middle Ages it was under the shade of Lindens that the 

 people were accustomed to assemble and discuss matters of 

 public interest. 



The age of this tree is believed to be about 700 years. 



The fact that a place which is the capital of a district has the 

 name of a tree added to its official designation, " Neustadt-by- 

 the-Linden," speaks sufficiently for the size of the latter. 



Of the two species, it is T. grandiflora, Ehrh. (syn. T. filaty- 

 phyllos. Scop.), which produces the largest trees, and Wurtem- 

 berg can boast of possessing the very largest of all. Another 

 large Linden is standing near Leukirch, while at Isny there is 

 one thirty feet in circumference and ninety-five feet in height. 

 Such trees are supposed to be more than 600 years old. 



Basle. H. Christ. 



Damping Off. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — This subject, recently (November 18th) discussed in 

 Garden and Forest by Professor Halsted, is of such pro- 

 found interest to propagators and growers that it would have 

 been instructive had he given in his article a synopsis of the 

 methods he employed to determine the existence of the fungi 

 which he discovered in the seeds of Beans that he tested for 

 that purpose the past season. It is clearly of the first impor- 

 tance to know decisively and incontrovertibly if the disease 

 does have its genesis in the seed or in the soil, as the best 

 methods of combating it for one is inapplicable to the other. 

 If in the soil, thorough roasting of the soil of seed-beds, boxes 

 or pans will be all-sufficient. If inherent in the seed, we must 

 have recourse to germicides. 



I have subjected various tree-seeds to close microscopic 

 examination, failing even in the dust which lodges upon rough- 

 coated pericarps to find an appearance of micro-organisms. 

 The same lot of seeds germinated in moistened cotton exhib- 

 ited no fungoid tendency, but, sowed in good loam, damped 

 off at an alarming rate. The recommendation of some works 

 on gardening is to use for seed-starting leaf-molds, peat, rich 

 garden-soils or various composts of the three. 



Such soils, rich in nitrogenous compounds, furnish the best 

 possible vehicles for the rapid development of the disease. 



Another practice much in vogue and equally pernicious, is 

 the " riddling " or fine pulverization of the soil. The necessary 

 sprinkling tends to further disintegrate the fine particles of the 

 soil and resolve the surface into a nearly air-tight skin, preju- 

 dicial to seed-sprouting and favorable to fungoid life. 



The so-called mineral soils, such as limestone, decomposed 

 granite, and even clays, reduced to a proper mechanical con- 

 dition by admixture with sand, I have found excellent media 

 for this purpose. With these, when thoroughly roasted, I 

 have so nearly attained immunity from damping off, that I 

 have small faith in the notion that the disease originates or 

 exists within the seed, except in isolated cases. 



The stress with which Mr. Halsted urges the necessity of 

 having " a healthy soil" for such operations, exactly falls in line 

 with my own observations, and, I think, covers the whole field. 



If his postulate of the inherency of disease in the seed holds 

 good, no amount of health in the soil will help us, not even 

 purification by fire, and we must have recourse to antiseptics. 



California Experimental Forestry Station. Wm. S. Lyon. 



Are Large Strawberries a Modern Production? 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — In the "Ouadripartitum Botanicum," by Simon Paullus, 

 a Dane, in 1708, the author says he has seen a variety of Straw- 

 berry, of the kind Bauhin calls Prune-sized, which produced a 

 fruit nearly the size of a peach. I give the original Latin, on 

 account of the interest : 



" Vidi enim earn Fragariae speciem, quam Bauhinus : Fra- 

 gariam fructic fiarvi firnni magnitudine . . . fructum 

 produxisse, ut fere sequaret magnitudinem mali Persici, 

 nondum perfecte maturi, cui tamen similis altero anno." 



South Framingham, Mass. E. Lewis Stlirtevant. 



Periodical Literature. 



The December number of the Overland Monthly contains 

 an interesting illustrated article on Flower and Seed growing 

 in California. The growing of seeds for commercial purposes 

 is quite a recent industry, and even the California Poppies 

 which have been planted in gardens there were often raised 

 from seeds which have been imported from Europe. This 

 plant, both in eastern states and in Europe, is said to be infe- 



rior in the size and color of its flowers, and hence the Poppy 

 grown from foreign seed in California is not so beautiful as 

 the wild plants in the fields. The bulbs of the Mariposa Lily, 

 or " Butterfly Tulip," however, have been for some time 

 articles of export, a single collector in Ukiah selling 100,000 

 every season. These have not yet begun to return to Califor- 

 nia from the bulb-growers of Europe. However, a glance at 

 the catalogue of European florists shows Scarlet Larkspur and 

 Lobelia, elegant varieties of Dodecatheon, Brodiasa, Mimulus, 

 Ceanothus, Phacelia, Azalea, Rhododendron, Clematis, and a 

 late acquisition— the Scarlet Perennial Pea. Lily-bulbs, too, 

 and many wild plants are collected here for European com- 

 mercial establishments. Californians have discovered also 

 that they can grow seed and bulbs of many plants which are 

 not native, so that Onion-seed and Tuberose-bulbs are sent to 

 the east in carloads. The trade in cut flowers is much more 

 local, but two carloads of Orange-blossoms and Callas were 

 sent to Chicago last April. The stems of the Orange-flowers 

 were first dipped in wax and afterward placed between layers 

 of moist cotton. Thirty-five thousand Calla-blooms were 

 placed in wet sawdust, with their heads supported by damp 

 moss. This suggests a new way of disposing of the flowers 

 of the Calla, which is most prolific here although it is raised 

 chiefly for local ornamentation and for the shipment of its 

 tubers. The picture of a Calla field in bloom reminds one, by 

 its shining whiteness, of the great fields of Lilies in Bermuda, 

 only the Callas are grown here on a larger scale. Another in- 

 dustry is found in the Pampas plantations of Santa Barbara, 

 where this tall grass is grown in rows from ten to fifteen feet 

 apart. The second year each stool will produce from fifteen 

 to a hundred plumes on stalks twenty feet high, and in 1870 

 they were in demand at from $50 to $60 a thousand. The 

 average wholesale price, however, is $30 a thousand. An acre 

 has been known to yield 10,000 plumes a year. England and 

 Germany send the largest orders for these plumes. The latest 

 development of floriculture is seen in the Rosalita Farm in 

 Los Gatos, where the manufacture of the essential oils of Rose 

 and Geranium has been put to practical test with gratifying 

 results. Ten thousand Rose-bushes were imported di- 

 rectly from Grasse, and a still was brought over from 

 France. The essential oil, which floats on the surface of the 

 water from the condensed steam, is the attar of Rose, which 

 needs only settling to be ready for market, while the water 

 accumulated in the reservoir is soft and fragrant and sells on 

 the place for $1.75 a gallon. Besides Roses there are acres of 

 Geraniums, Cassia, and a peculiar species of Orange-tree used 

 only for its flowers. 



The sale of cut flowers in California is very large. The 

 Violet is the most prolific flower which bridges the gap between 

 the fall Chrysanthemum and the early spring firstlings of the 

 nursery. At Sherwood Hall there are five acres of choice va- 

 rieties of Violets growing: thriftily in the rich leaf-mold in a 

 grove of gigantic Oaks. The rows of plants reached up to the 

 very trunks of the trees. The work of picking these flowers 

 is left to Chinamen, who are kept busy for six months of the 

 year, and every morning the crop is sent to San Francisco. 

 Sweet Peas are another specialty in this nursery, and trans- 

 portable flowers, like the Violet, the Aster, Chrysanthemum, 

 Tuberose, with thousands of varieties of Maiden-hair Ferns, 

 are sent to Tacoma, Salt Lake, and even to Chicago. 



Many women in California gain a livelihood by raising 

 flower-bulbs and seeds for market, and many others send huge 

 hampers to San Francisco every day of wild flowers and ferns 

 which have been picked from the neighboring canons. Mrs. 

 Theodosia Shepherd, of Ventura, stands foremost among 

 these successful floriculturists, although only eight years have 

 passed since, without means and broken down in health, she 

 grew her first seeds for market in the old mission town of San 

 Buena Ventura. She now fills orders from prominent eastern 

 florists, with occasional calls from Europe, Australia and the 

 Sandwich Islands. Her gardens comprise eight acres of fer- 

 tile soil, which are under her personal supervision. She grows 

 all the new seedlings among the French Cannas, for example, 

 and one of her own called Ventura, which is said to be as 

 large-flowered as the famous Star of '91. Last year she har- 

 vested 160 pounds of Smilax-seed, which were packed and 

 shipped by Mrs. Shepherd and her three daughters. 



Notes. 



In the address of Mr. James Fletcher, President of the Asso- 

 ciation of Economic Entomologists, it is stated that insects 

 cause the enormous loss of $380,000,000 annually to the agri- 

 cultural products of the United States ; that is, more than a 



