A TALK ON ROAD-MAKING. 



527 



on a trellis or supported with brush in the same fashion 

 that the Japanese train cucumbers. 



CiTRULLUS VULGARIS, L ; Jap., Suika. (The Water- 

 melon ) Watermelons are in common cultivation through- 

 out the country, especially near Tokio and other large 

 cities. They are not shipped to distant markets, as is 

 the case here, but are consumed near the place of pro- 

 duction. They do not appear to be much esteemed. 

 There are but few varieties, and those which have come 

 under my observation are of indifferent quality. The 

 Japanese do not exercise sufficient care in the selection 

 of seed. American varieties have been introduced, but 

 they have not been kept pure, and deteriorate in the 

 course of a few years. The climate is too moist for the 

 best development of the watermelon. 



Lagenaria dasistemon, Miq ; Jap., Togan, KamO' 

 nri. (The Gourd.) A large coarse plant cultivated for 

 its fruits. Vines long and rough ; leaf large, reniform, 

 lobed ; flowers yellow, three to four inches in diameter ; 

 fruit large, rough. There are several varieties, of which 

 the following are grown about Tokio : Tojan, a very 

 common sort. Onaga, or Riukiii, a very large variety. 

 I/ira-togan, a large flattened fruit. The plants are usu- 

 ally trained on a horizontal trellis, and, like other cucur- 

 bits, are often raised on hotbeds and transplanted. The 

 fruit is used in cooking, either fresh or pickled. 



Lagenaria VULGARIS, Ser. (Cuciirbita Lagenaria, L.); 

 Jap., Hyotan, Scnnai-i-hyotan, Hala-fukube. (The 

 Bottle-Gourd ) This vine is similar to the preceding, 

 but its leaf is less reniform and its flowers are white. 

 The male flowers have very long stems and fruit in many 

 shapes, usually contracted in the middle, forming a kind 

 of bottle with two divisions. These fruits are very largely 

 used for keeping and carrying liquids, the rind being very 



hard and impervious. To remove the inside the fruits 

 are buried in the ground for a few weeks soon after they 

 are ripe, until, by the aid of water and a stick, they can 

 be cleaned through an opening where the stem was at- 

 tached. With age the shell turns yellowish, then brown. 

 Polished and decorated, these bottles are common objects 

 all over the country. They are also often represented by 

 artists with paints, imitated in faience, or even in prec- 

 ious metals. The young fruit, sliced and sun-dried, is 

 also used as an article of food, and in this state it is also 

 preserved for soups, etc. 



LuFFA PETOLA, Ser. (Z. fivtida, Sieb. and Zucc ) ; 

 Jap., Hechima. (The Towel-Gourd.) The plant is not a 

 native of Japan, and was probably introduced by the 

 Dutch. It is, nevertheless, quite frequently cultivated, 

 partly for ornament and partly for use. It is usually 

 grown ou a horizontal trellis, or rambling over fences 

 and similar supports 



The vine is rough, pentangular and of great length. 

 The leaf is 5-7 pointed, palmately veined, and has strong 

 tri-fingered tentrils, the middle one being the largest. 

 The flowers are large and yellow. The staminate ones 

 are borne in a long-stalked spike in the axils, only one 

 being opened at a time, and it apparently on the end of 

 the spike ; but the latter continues to elongate and de- 

 velop new flowers, which take the place of those that 

 fade. Pistillate flowers are borne singly in axils. The 

 fruit varies greatly in size and shape ; usually it is club- 

 shaped, and from one to six feet long. The young fruits 

 are used for food, being sliced and sun-dried, as already 

 mentioned. When fully grown the fibrous net-work in- 

 side the fruits is used in many ways. Fig. 2, on opposite 

 page, illustrates fruit, flower and leaf greatly reduced. 



Ka)isas Agricultural College. C. C. Georgeson. 



A TALK ON ROAD-MAKING : 



POINTED AND PRACTICAL. 



ANY OF OUR American parks and 

 garden cemeteries contain excel- 

 lent examples of what a good 

 stone-road suited to our climate 

 should be like. Having observed 

 the fine condition of the drives in 

 Forest Lawn Cemetery, of Buf- 

 falo — a magnificent garden burial-ground embracing near 

 600 acres of land — the writer recently asked Mr. George 

 Troop, superintendent of the grounds, for information 

 about the construction of the roads. To Mr. Troop's 

 kindness the readers of American Gardening are largely 

 indebted for the following valuable information. 



The first question to be determined in road-construc- 

 tion is the proper kind of roadway and the depth of the 

 material. Roads made only of small stone, however care- 

 fully laid and compacted together, are found not to be so 

 durable in this country as they are in Europe, where so 

 many good roads of this class were made by Mr. Maca- 

 dam, who first built them, and built them so systemati- 



cally and extensively, that this kind of pavement is still 

 called by his name even when, as is now generally the 

 case, only the surface coat is built with Macadam stone. 

 In this country the power of the frost is so destructive 

 every winter, and the road-bed becomes so spongy each 

 spring as the frost thaws out, that a pavement of small 

 stones only has little bond. The small stones sink too 

 readily into the soft subsoil under heavy loads, and a 

 corresponding rut is at once made on the surface. The 

 cohesive power of the pavement being once broken, it 

 yields under further travel on the same principle that an 

 arch settles when the keystone is removed. 



For these reasons all good roads of the kind usually 

 known as ' ' Macadam roads " have a carefully laid rubble- 

 stone foundation. This method was at first practiced ex- 

 tensively in England by an eminent engineer named Tel- 

 ford. All our so-called " Macadam " roads of any value 

 are of this class, and are sometimes named "Telford 

 Macadam." Figure i shows a cross-sectional view, in- 

 cluding the gutter and copings, of a portion of Telford 



