December, 1915 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



141 



SOME garden lovers are, perforce, 

 entomologists, for the knowledge 

 of how a destructive insect "lives and 

 moves and has its being" is of no small 

 value to him who seeks to vanquish 

 it or check its depredations. But 

 whether our interest in insects is 

 utilitarian or merely recreational, it 

 cannot but be heightened, stimulated, 

 and nourished by the illuminating 

 records left by Henri Fabre, whose 

 death late this autumn left the world 

 poorer by one great scientist. 



In the volumes of translations, now 

 appearing, of his Souvenirs Entomol- 

 ogique, he takes us, as it were, by the 

 hand, gives us of a fairy draught under 

 whose influence we shrink to Lilipu- 

 tian proportions, then leads us into 

 the world of the homely garden insects 

 — the bramble and honey bees, the 

 ants, the wasps, the flies — there to ob- 

 serve the comedies and tragedies of 

 their work-a-day life. In a state of 

 delightful neutrality we watch deadly 

 struggles, amorous courtships, the punc- 

 tilious assumption of maternal responsi- 

 bilities, the unfeeling competition in a 

 world where, literally , only the fittest survive. 

 And as the drama enacts itself, we are al- 

 most too absorbed to realize how clear, how 

 fluent, how perfect is the language in which it 



This Norway spruce, tubed in October, is available for winter trade 



is laid before us. Truly, art as well as science 

 can shroud its head against the pregnancy 

 of its loss; and to both will sympathy be 

 offered by all of us. 



§THAT THERE are nuts and nuts, 

 is clearly apparent to anyone who 

 has gone out into the woods at this 

 season to gather the crops of the native 

 trees. The Department of Agriculture 

 is anxious to secure information con- 

 cerning any tree (native or imported) 

 that bears nuts of superior excellence, 

 and the cooperation of each reader of 

 The Garden Magazine is invited. 



The nuts which are of special interest 

 at this time are the pecans and other 

 American hickories, black walnuts, 

 butternut, chestnut, and hazels, as 

 well as foreign walnuts, chestnuts, and 

 hazels (filberts). It is also important 

 to locate beechnut, chinquapin, and 

 Japanese walnut trees of especial merit. 

 To be worthy of the attention of the 

 Department, trees must be hardy in the 

 section where found, vigorous, prolific, 

 and bear annually: nuts of medium 

 size or above; uniform in size and 

 shape; thin-shelled, easily cracked; 

 kernels plump, rich in quality, pleasant 

 and agreeable in flavor, and easily 

 removed from the shells in halves. 

 If you are the owner of such tree or 



trees and are willing to cooperate in this 



inventory of nut trees, write to Prof. C. 



A. Reed at Washington, D. C, for further 



particulars. 



California Winter Garden— By Elizabeth c. white 



THEIR TYPES, THEIR ATMOSPHERE, THEIR DIFFERENCES FROM EASTERN AND 

 EUROPEAN GARDENS— WHY FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE TOURIST ARE MISLEADING 



CALIFORNIANS always act as 

 if. they owned the sun and 

 rented it to tourists. I am speak- 

 ing of the expensive winter sun 

 to be found only in favored spots in the 

 western Hemisphere, the kind to boast of 

 in letters to the frozen East as, "I have been 

 walking in the garden picking Roses" or 

 "as I sit by the open window," etc. There 



is usually a crushed Violet enclosed or a 

 blackened orange blossom to offer proof. 



As he lives in an agricultural state, a 



real Californian is absurdly enthusiastic 



about the rain. This shocks and disgusts 



the tourist who has invested heavily in the 



advertised sunshine and resents the fraud. 



There is another thing which surprises 



the tourist dislocated from his accustomed 



eastern or European life. Unconsciously 



he expects in California the type of beauty 



he recognizes at home — the charming tree 



shaded streets, the intimate prettiness of 



hardwood forests and placid rivers — and 



is disappointed. It is well to remember 

 California is in a semi-arid belt and the 

 beauty must be of a grander, sterner type. 

 The approach to the West should be a fit- 

 ting preparation, the plains and desert wipe 

 out boundaries and establish new relations. 

 The crude little towns of ugly wooden 

 shacks have no attempt at man made 

 beauty; but raise your eyes to the glory of 



Where the gardener's craft is apparent — well kept, full of precision, though in 

 formal in theme 



