December 23, 1891.] 



Garden and Forest. 



611 



their crop, though I recall no complete failure in any of the 

 common species. 



A year ago a group of the Yellow Chestnut Oak (Q. Mnehlen- 

 bergii) practically failed. The trees are small and occupy a 

 limited area. Some of the leaves having been found to bear 

 a strong resemblance to those of Q. Prinus, the acorns seemed 

 necessary in order to be certain of the species, and very dili- 

 gent search on every tree revealed but three or four, just 

 enough to determine the point. The past season plenty of 

 acorns were seen on several of the same trees, as was the case 

 with some in another locality where I had not met with them 

 before. 



On some of the Scarlet Oaks the acorns have been excep- 

 tionally abundant. Small trees, developing from stool shoots 

 ten to twenty feet high and standing in open places, were so 

 covered with fruit as to suggest a different kind, and were 

 doubtfully identified at first. The acorns were borne in 

 bunches, being massed upon the crowded twigs and near 

 the ends of the branches, and the specimens were suffi- 

 ciently exceptional to merit a place in my herbarium with 

 the descriptive note made at the time, " Remarkable for the 

 number of their acorns." Small trees of their habit are very 

 handsome, from their compact rounded top, glossy leaves 

 deeply divided into narrow lobes, and fruit grouped in 

 bunches. 



Another fact relating to the acorn crop here deserves a 

 passing notice. It is the large percentage injured or de- 

 stroyed by the Nut-weevil. Fully fifty per cent, were ten- 

 anted by the grub or had been abandoned after the meat was 

 eaten out. Having traversed a good many miles of Oak forest, 

 more particularly to find out what might be reliable charac- 

 teristics of Q. tine tor ia and Q. coccinea, for their forms must 

 either cross or blend imperceptibly, acorns were every- 

 where taken in hand and examined in various ways, so that 

 the destruction was seen to be very general. The case was 

 even worse with the Shingle Oak and the hybrid, fully three- 

 fourths of the latter, gathered for planting, having to be re- 

 jected. Other kinds were not examined so carefully or 

 extensively, but as far as they were observed they were very 

 badly affected, the Red Oak, of the biennial-fruited species, 

 evidently being the least injured. It shows what havoc the 

 Nut-weevil could work with the profits of an acorn crop, if 

 it should be taken as an economical product, as it may be 

 where mast forms an article of food for domestic animals. 



Englewood, Chicago, III. E. J. Hill. 



Uncommon Varieties of Apples. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Some time ago one of your correspondents asked 

 why farmers and orchardists insisted upon planting so few 

 kinds of Apples to the neglect of other and, in some cases, 

 better varieties, and urged planters of new orchards to get out 

 of the old ruts and introduce a little new blood. Well, the 

 trouble is not wholly with planters. As a matter of fact, it is 

 extremely difficult to get trees ©f any except the old and ap- 

 proved sorts, for which, perforce, there is a steady demand, 

 since a farmer must either take these or nothing. 



For example, this fall I wanted to set out a little orchard of 

 winter Apples, and, bearing in mind your correspondent's sug- 

 gestion, I searched the " FruitGarden" and the "American Fruit 

 Culturist," the best authorities I know on the subject, for new 

 kinds. One of those selected was Cogswell, a Connecticut 

 fruit, which seemed exactly what I wanted. Then began a 

 hunt through the catalogues, which I procured from half a 

 dozen of the largest nurseries in the country. But not one of 

 them sold Cogswell. Another Apple I wanted was Wine- 

 sap, but one of the largest nurseries in western New York 

 could only undertake to supply twenty-five trees. Bailey's 

 Sweet was another kind which they could not furnish at all, 

 although it was included in their catalogue. I have had the 

 same experience with other varieties, and one evident reason, 

 therefore, why we planters don't go outside of the old lists 

 when selecting trees is, that the nurserymen have no other 

 kinds to offer. 



Another Apple I would like to try, principally for its color, is 

 Arkansas Black, which is very highly commended in a recent 

 report of the Agricultural Bureau ; but I can find no trace of 

 it in the catalogues at hand. The same is true of Princess 

 Louise, which has been highly spoken of as a substitute for 

 the Snow Apple. 



By the way, can any of your readers state anything definite 

 about the new Apple, Palouse ? 



New York. N. D. 



Recent Publications. 



Sharp Eyes : A Rambler's Calendar of Fifty-two Weeks 

 among Insects, Birds and Flowers. By William Hamilton 

 Gibson ; Illustrated by the Author. New York : Harper & 

 Brothers, 1892. 



The quotation with which Mr. Gibson prefaces his book 

 says : " In good soothe ye are all blinde except thy minde 

 and eie do see in harmonic . . . Verily, there be those 

 who see not though they doe looke, who, having eies of great 

 bowinge, yet walk abroad in staringe blindness." In the in- 

 troductory chapter we find another quotation, 

 We're made so that we love 

 First, when we see them painted, things we have passed 

 Perhaps a hundred times, nor cared to see, 

 and by these two borrowed statements the purpose and charac- 

 ter of Mr. Gibson's volume are well explained. He has tried to 

 put what his own sharp eyes have seen before his readers, 

 rightly believing that in this way their own will be sharpened to 

 their lasting future delight and improvement. The many little 

 chapters which the book includes — one for each week through- 

 out the year — were written, he explains, in reply to letters re- 

 ceived during ten years or more, chieflyfrom young students of 

 natural history who had been interested by his previously pub- 

 lished works; and they were first printed in the pages of a 

 young people's journal. Nevertheless, the book is not for 

 young people only. It is for all those who are still young in 

 knowledge of the world of nature, and it will be pleasant read- 

 ing even for students of a more serious sort than Mr. Gibson 

 professes himself to be. Following his pretty and suggestive 

 calendar from year's end to end, even the practiced, sharp- 

 eyed naturalist may find some facts that are new to him, or 

 have been observed in a novel way ; and if this is not the case, 

 even so he may find pleasure in living a while outdoors at 

 second-hand when corporeally cooped up in a city's streets. 



A good deal of gentle sentiment is mingled with Mr. Gib- 

 son's recording of minute, evanescent or more obvious phe- 

 nomena ; but this, of course, increases the value of his book to 

 beginners in the gentle art of attentive sauntering. The best 

 results of a developed keenness of sight are a developed intel- 

 ligence and a developed heart ; and, showing how the sights 

 of the outdoor world led him to pretty, tender, fanciful and 

 sometimes poetic thoughts, Mr. Gibson will help to awaken a 

 similar capacity in his readers. Natural history, in the true 

 sense of the term, cannot, of course, be learned from such a 

 book ; but it should inspire one with a desire to learn some- 

 thing at least about some one branch of it, and even if this 

 does not result, it cannot but increase the reader's sharpness 

 of vision and consequently his daily pleasure in existence. 

 Mr. Gibson has been wise in recognizing this as the character 

 of the service which could be rendered with a scheme such 

 as he adopted ; he has been wise in not trying to cram his 

 pleasant talks with scientific terms, or to dwell upon such in- 

 teresting and beautiful sights as can be discovered only by a 

 closeness of sustained observation amounting to strenuous 

 study. He shows us such things as we all may see any day in 

 the woods and fields, if we use, in a simple, natural and easy 

 way, the eyes that nature has given us. Yet he has been 

 equally wise in giving the scientific names of the plants and 

 living creatures he mentions. The insertion-of these names 

 will not bother the most careless reader, while they will greatly 

 help the reader who may desire to follow a subject further. 

 For, it is hardly needful to explain, common names vary so 

 much in different parts of the country that it is often hard to 

 identify a plant by their aid alone. 



"Sharp Eyes" is a large octavo, beautifully printed, prettily 

 bound, and profusely illustrated with photogravure reproduc- 

 tions of wash-drawings in Mr. Gibson's well-known, graceful, 

 delicate and charming if not very vigorous manner. It is a 

 very attractive volume for a holiday gift ; but it surpasses most 

 books of this sort by having genuine value as a volume to 

 read. Perhaps it will not often be read through from end to 

 end. More likely it will be taken up now and again for the 

 sake of two or three of its little chapters. But this merely 

 means that the pleasure it gives will be more prolonged, and 

 that its influence in sharpening the mind as well as the eyes 

 will be all the greater for frequent renewal. In the city it will 

 be a charming reminder of the country, and in the country a 

 charming incentive to outdoor enjoyment. 



Notes. 



In the Philippine Islands, canary seed obtained from Phala- 

 ris Canariensis is ground and made into a most palatable 

 bread, which is in common use among the people there. 



