12 



FLORA AND SYLVA. 



white are very fragrant, 4 or 5 inches long, 

 and carried in drooping clusters at the end of 

 every shoot and from the axils of the leaves ; 

 a fine mature plant will bear as many as 200 

 of these clusters, some of which contain forty 

 or fifty flowers. They open from the end of 

 March, throughout April, and when they fade 

 the plant should be well cut back to induce | 

 new growth, which flowers in its turn in the 

 following spring. There are few details of j 

 importance in its culture beyond the cleaning 

 and syringing common to stove plants ; it is 

 well, however, to train the shoots as widely as 

 space will allow, so as to be sure of well- 

 ripened tissues. Cuttings are easily rooted in 

 sand and bottom heat, and from the third year 

 bloom freely, forming plants beautiful as they 

 are rare. Travellers familiar with the luxuri- 

 ance of South American and Indian gardens 

 say that few things in Nature are more im- 

 posing than mature plants of Beaumontia. 

 The Turpentine Forests. — The tree from which 

 turpentine is obtained is the long-leaved Pine (P. pa- 

 lustris). This tree is common in some of the southern 

 United States, but is found only where the original 

 forest has never been felled. When once cut down 

 it never grows again. If the land is allowed to fall out 

 of cultivation it is followed by a growth of Oak, and 

 this in turn by Pines of an inferior kind. The Tur- 

 pentine Pine is tall and straight, from 3 to 5 feet in 

 diameter to a height of 40 or 50 feet. It is without 

 branches except at the top. The turpentine in its 

 crude state is obtained by tapping. About a foot from 

 the ground and parallel with it an incision is made 

 6 or 8 inches deep, forming a ledge or shelf. In the 

 shelf a pocket is scooped large enough to hold a 

 quart or two of sap, which is made to collect in it by 

 scarifying the bark triangularly, with an angle point- 

 ing to the pocket. On large trees three or even four 

 of these cuttings are made, for a strip of bark 3 inches 

 wide between them will keep the tree alive. Each 

 year more and more of the bark has to be removed, 

 but even then a tree lasts usually from fifteen to 

 twenty years. When the pocket has run full, the gum 

 is collected and carried away to be distilled. The 

 turpentine continues of uniform quality throughout 

 thelifeof a tree, but the resin, which is the residuum 

 after distillation, rapidly deteriorates. The first year's 

 resin is far the best, and is known as " pale " or 

 " window glass." That of the second and third years 

 is known as " yellow dip." Common or dark resin 

 is the product of trees worked for four years or more. 

 The work is done by negroes,one man taking charge 

 of 10,000 pockets, which will yield about 200 barrels 

 of crude turpentine in a season. 



THE GARDEN BEAUTIFUL. 

 HOME LANDSCAPE AND HOME 

 WOODS. WHAT TO DO WITH 

 IRON FENCING. 



When our eyes are opened to the ugli- 

 ness, cost, and danger of iron fencing the 

 question arises as to how it can be turned 

 to account in other ways. The danger of 

 wire fencing round pasture fields is the 

 most evident, and its ugliness appalling 

 in the foreground of fair landscapes, 

 where it is far too common. Live fences 

 do away with the need of it in either case, 

 but as there are miles of it in most dis- 

 tricts to be got rid of, the turning of it to 

 some good use is desirable, and the best 

 use for it that I know is the protection 

 of choice young plantations in woods. 

 Most of our country is so infested with 

 ground game that planting becomes al- 

 most impossible unless we protect with 

 wire. It is bad enough to lose Scotch 

 Fir, Larch, and the commoner trees, 

 after having had the trouble and cost of 

 planting them, but when it is a question 

 of the rarer and choicer trees, which are 

 difficult to procure, then we ought to 

 protect thoroughly until they are large 

 enough to take care of themselves, which 

 cannot be before seven years' growth. 

 For common trees we may do what is 

 needed with wire only, but there is the 

 danger that with heavy snow it may be 

 jumped by rabbits (or broken down by 

 stock, gamekeepers, and others) and so 

 fail us at a critical time. In choice plant- 

 ing the best way is to surround our plan- 

 tations with spare iron fencing, and then 

 wire. As we often suppose our own plans 

 to be the best, I may say that I am my - 

 self doing this with a large quantity of 



