6oo 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 199. 



million dollars every day. It should be added that investiga- 

 tions in economic entomology, during late years, have given 

 the farmers of the country the means of successfully combat- 

 ing the most destructive of these insect pests. 



More- than 200,000 sacks of Lima beans are piled up at Ven- 

 tura, California, waiting for better prices. A year ago these 

 beans brought five and six cents a pound ; this year only two 

 or three cents are offered. 



To a correspondent who asks if the Jerusalem Cherry is a 

 suitable plant for a window-garden, we would say that this fine 

 old-fashioned plant is really one of the very best of house- 

 plants. It is handsome, and can be grown with very little 

 trouble. Visitors at the late flower-show in New York will re- 

 member a row of these plants about the fine mass of Cannas 

 exhibited by Mr. Dean. For a border of this sort, and for 

 many other kinds of decorative work, the Jerusalem Cherry is 

 invaluable. 



On the Experiment Grounds of the United States Govern- 

 ment at Medicine Lodge, Kansas, forty acres of land were 

 plowed and then subsoiled to a depth of eighteen inches 

 and planted with Sorghum cane, and another piece of ground 

 was plowed to the ordinary depth and planted to cane of 

 the same variety without subsoiling. Both fields received the 

 same cultivation, and the subsoiled land yielded eighteen tons 

 of cane to the acre, while the best yield of the other ground 

 was only ten tons. 



When ground is cleared for agricultural purposes in Cali- 

 fornia the standing trees are sometimes removed by the aid of 

 explosives. By removing a little dirt from around the tree 

 the position of the main roots or the tap root can be located, 

 and a hole is driven along the tap root or between the principal 

 roots with a long crow-bar, and this is charged with dynamite. 

 Sometimes dynamite is placed in an auger-hole bored into the 

 main root. After the explosion the tree falls, or the earth 

 around it is so loosened and thrown out that it is not difficult 

 to finish felling the tree. 



A correspondent of the London Garden writes with enthu- 

 siasm of the beauty of a second flowering of Daphne Cneorum 

 in mid-November, and, truly, it is difficult to say too much of 

 the delicate charm of this little plant even in our colder climate. 

 After occasional blooms through the summer its autumn crop 

 of flowers is sometimes quite abundant here also. Even as 

 late as the 12th of December, this year, it was blooming in the 

 neighborhood of New York, opening its flowers perfectly and 

 giving forth a fragrance which seemed even richer than that 

 of its spring bloom. 



The Oak-leaved Hydrangea in Georgia and northern Florida, 

 where it is native, sometimes reaches a height of fifteen or 

 eighteen feet, with a habit almost tree-like. It is not perfectly 

 hardy, however, north of New York, and in cultivation in this 

 neighborhood it rarely attains large proportions, although it is 

 beautiful both in leaf and in flower, and its foliage in autumn 

 turns to a rich claret color. Mr. Meehan states that one of the 

 finest specimens of this plant is growing in the old garden of 

 Washington at Mount Vernon, where it was planted by Lafay- 

 ette. If this is true, this specimen is probably one of the old- 

 est in cultivation. 



The pavilion planned by the State of Florida for the Chicago 

 Exposition grounds will reproduce Fort Marion, supposed to 

 be the oldest structure in the United States, which was built at 

 St. Augustine by the Spaniards in 1620, the year when the Pil- 

 grims landed at Plymouth. The reproduction will be con- 

 structed of wood, but covered on the outside with Florida 

 phosphate rock, simulating the original stone work, this use 

 of the material constituting the phosphate exhibit of the state. 

 The deep moat which surrounds the old fort will also be re- 

 produced, but will be utilized as a sunken garden, in which 

 plants native to Florida may be shown. 



Some twenty-five years ago there was a great impetus to 

 fruit-growing in western New York, and in order to get as 

 much as possible from the ground, Apple-trees were planted 

 at about thirty feet or two rods apart each way. Now that 

 these trees are of full size it is hardly possible to raise a ladder 

 between many of them, and good judges think that much of 

 the imperfection and lack of color in the fruit this year can 

 be attributed to the fact that the proper amount of air and 

 sunlight has been excluded. Mr. Irving- D. Cook, of Geneva, 

 New York, writes to the Rural New Yorker that in the judg- 

 ment of the best growers in that region forty feet, or even 

 forty-five feet, is not too far apart for planting Apple-trees, 

 especially trees of winter varieties, if the best fruit as regards 

 size, color and flavor is to be expected. 



Smith, in his " Dictionary of Economic Plants," makes the 

 following statement : " In a volume containing a miscellaneous 

 collection by Dr. Richard Pocock, in the British Museum, is 

 the copy of a letter written by Philip Herbert, third Earl of 

 Pembroke, Lord Chamberlain, to the Sheriff of Staffordshire. 

 It is as follows : 'Sir — His Majesty, taking notice that the burn- 

 ing of Feme doth draw down rain, and being desirous that the 

 country and himself may enjoy fair weather as long as he re- 

 mains in these parts, his Majesty has commanded me to write 

 to you to cause all burning of Feme to be forborne until his 

 Majesty be past the country. Wherein, not doubting the con- 

 sideration of their own interest, as well as of his Majesty's, will 

 invite the country to a ready observance of this his Majesty's 

 commands, I rest, your very loving friend, Pembroke and 

 Montgomery.' " Here is a hint for some of the rain-makers of 

 our Department of Agriculture. 



It is well known that among the prizes which Egyptian mon- 

 archs brought back from their foreign wars were exotic plants 

 of many kinds, and that even large trees were transported for 

 long distances to be set up in the courts of the temple-palaces. 

 In Miss Edwards' new book, "Pharoahs, Fellahs and Ex- 

 plorers," we may find an account of such transportation illus- 

 trated by interesting pictures copied from the bas-reliefs of the 

 great temple built by Queen Hatasu, near Thebes. In several 

 of the best-preserved pictures we see the Egyptian sailors car- 

 rying half-grown saplings which have been taken up with a 

 ball of earth about the roots, and are being transported in bas- 

 kets slung upon poles, each pole carried by four men. Over 

 the saplings is inscribed Nehet Ana — that is to say, the Syca- 

 more of Ana. Elsewhere we see the full-grown trees. The 

 trunk is massive, the leaf is a sharp-pointed oval, and at the 

 junction of the trunk and the larger branches are seen little 

 copper-colored lumps of irregular form, representing the 

 resinous gum which has exuded through the bark. A pas- 

 sage in Pliny . . . shows that this tree, the odoriferous Syca- 

 more, can be none other than the Myrrh-tree, whose gum was 

 brought by the ancients from the so-called land of the Troglo- 

 dytes, and, especially if of the green sort, was highly esteemed 

 by the ancients as the material from which incense was 

 made. 



A pamphlet prepared by Dr. E. M. Hale, of Chicago, has just 

 been published by the Department of Agriculture on the his- 

 tory and uses of Ilex Cassine (I. vomitoria). It is from this 

 plant that the decoction known as "black drink" was made 

 by the Indians of the Atlantic and Gulf states, and this paper 

 contains much curious information about its ceremonial and 

 economic use by the aborigines. The most interesting point 

 brought out is that an analysis of the plant by Professor Vena- 

 ble, of the University of North Carolina, shows that it contains 

 caffeine, so that this is really an aboriginal North American 

 Tea-plant. Another species of Holly, /. Paraguariensis, fur- 

 nishes the mate, or Paraguay tea, so that it is not surprising 

 that this Yaupon, or Cassena, contains a similar alkaloid. Pro- 

 fessor Venable's analysis of other plants of this family in North 

 America shows no trace of theine or caffeine. Dr. Hale quotes 

 many interesting passages from early writers to show the ex- 

 tended use of the Yaupon by the Indians. The leaves were 

 roasted and kept in dry places, and there can be little doubt 

 that it was an article of commerce, collected by the. savages on 

 the coast of North Carolina and sent to more western Indians 

 and sold. Dr. Hale finds that an infusion of Yaupon-leaves 

 boiled for half an hour gives a dark liquid like strong black 

 tea, with an aromatic odor not like coffee, but more like Oolong 

 tea, although without its pleasant rose odor. The taste is like 

 that of our inferior black tea, quite bitter, and with little deli- 

 cacy of flavor. It is not an unpleasant drink, however, and 

 Dr. Hale thinks that one might become accustomed to it as to 

 mate, tea or coffee. The Indians used to say that the drink 

 prevented hunger and thirst, and the similar effect of Coca- 

 leaves, used by the Peruvian Indians, has brought that plant 

 into medical use. One author states that the Indians trans- 

 planted — -that is, cultivated — this Yaupon. Dr. Hale concludes 

 that a beverage which contains caffeine should fall into disuse 

 and become forgotten is a singular fact. If it has any economic 

 value the plant could be cultivated over a large section of the 

 southern coast country, and would produce an enormous crop. 

 Dr. Hale states that it does not grow more than twenty or 

 thirty miles from the sea-coast, and that its western limit is 

 found about half-way from the Louisiana line to the Rio 

 Grande. A note from Professor Pammell, however, states 

 that he has seen it at least a hundred miles from the coast in 

 Texas, and in the "Silva of North America" (I., iii.) it is said 

 to penetrate the interior to southern Arkansas and the valley of 

 the upper Rio Blanco, in western Texas. 





