FLORA AND SYLVA. 



it would take several thousand years to 

 replace the present groves were they 

 once destroyed. The Stanislaus Grove I 

 is sparingly watered in parts by small 

 perennial spring streams, and as a re- 

 sult shows a few small patches of seed- 

 lings. The constant moisture in the vi- 

 cinity of these streams enables the seed 

 to germinate, but only where big logs 

 and other heavy debris exclude cattle 

 and sheep. To cut this tract would cer- 

 tainly soon affect the drying up of the 

 small water supply, as it has already done 

 elsewhere. The preservation of the race 

 of Big Trees in this locality is unques- 

 tionably dependent on maintaining the 

 present groves intact. One region there 

 is, however, where the Big Trees are re- 

 producing themselves. This is on the 

 South Fork of the Kaweah River, and 

 particularly on both branches of the 

 Tule River, where there are young trees 

 in abundance and of almost every age." 



Those seeking more copious infor- 

 mation about the Big Tree may find it 

 in "Bulletin No. 28" of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture ; an 

 excellent account is also given in C. S. 

 Sargent's "Silva of North America." 



The wood is light, soft, and coarse, 

 and is much used locally for fencing and 

 shingling:. **■ 



The New Witch-Hazel. — Messrs. Veitch 

 have kindly pointed out a slight error in our 

 recent article upon the Witch Hazels. It 

 would appear that the new kind, Hamamelis 

 mo//is,was not introduced through Dr. Henry, 

 but found its way into Messrs. Veitch's col- 

 lection with other Chinese plants, and was 

 first recognised as a new species by Mr. G. 

 Nicholson when visiting Coombe Wood. 



SPRING-FLOWERING CROCL* 



Dean Herbert, about fifty years ago, 

 commenced his history of the species of 

 Crocus by lamenting that only five spe- 

 cies were at that date generally grown 

 in Holland and sold in England,namely, 

 sativus, vermis, versicolor, aureus, and 

 biflorus. We cannot say we have ad- 

 vanced much up to the present time, for 

 sativus is now but little seen in English 

 gardens, and of the five additional spe- 

 cies he mentions as found sparingly in 

 certain nursery gardens, only one, spe- 

 ciosus, can be regarded as even fairly well 

 known ; and three, serotinus, aureusvar. 

 lacteus, and Candidas, are still very rare 

 plants. 



The commonest Crocus is the old 

 Dutch Yellow, a form of C. aureus, and 

 it thoroughly deserves its popularity, for 

 in most English gardens it is the first 

 plant of the year to produce colour in 

 the open, and such a glow of colour, 

 too. For, as Forbes Watson has so well 

 said, " Vividness of colour is the most 

 important point in the expression of the 

 Yellow Crocus." It is always one of the 

 pleasantest days of the year when the sun 

 shines clearly and the atmosphere is dry 

 and warm enough for the Yellow Crocus 

 to open, and the bees can once more 

 deserve good Dr. Watts's eulogium by 

 finding something to be busy over — 

 pollen in plenty there is to gather, even 

 if honey be but scant. In some favoured 

 localities the impish sparrows have not 

 yet acquired the evil habit of pulling 

 Crocus blooms to bits for breakfast, and 

 there they can be enjoyed in their full 

 beauty without the cat's-cradle of black 



With coloured plate of a Crocus group drawn by H. G. Moon at Warley Place, 



