1882.] 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



27 



FLOWERS AND FRUITS OF SOUTHERN CALI- 

 FORNIA. 



The habitat of our favorite flowers is 

 always a source of interest to the flower- 

 lover, as well as to the botanist, — but a cli- 

 mate, which will by adoption give home and 

 nurture to the more delicate forms of plant- 

 life, and give results nearly, if not quite, equal 

 to the finest conservatory conditions, is one 

 deserving the attention of amateurs. Below 

 the 35th parallel, 'these results in multitudes of 

 instances are daily witnessed. This is true of 

 the valleys at the foot of the Santa Ynez mount- 

 ains, and the valleys sheltered by the trend of 

 the coast for twenty or thirty miles below from 

 cold north winds and the hot winds of the 

 desert beyond the mountains; especially in 

 the belt of country known as the Santa Bar- 

 bara valley, a strip of land lying on the sea- 

 coast, protected by the outlying islands from 

 ocean winds and storms, rendering the harbor 

 a naturally fine one, where steamers land at all 

 seasons. Then, with the protection on the 

 north and west before noted, a climatic condi- 

 tion may be found embracing the needs of 

 temperate, semi-tropical and many tropical 

 plants. The Stephanotis will climb amicably 

 beside the fragrant Honeysuckle. Tecoma Jas- 

 minoides will intermingle its lovely leaves and 

 flowers, shielding in winter the leafless Wis- 

 taria and rejoicing in the spring over its clus- 

 ters of royal bloom. Rhus Cotinus will pro- 

 duce its wreaths of delicate fringe in the 

 shadow of the Magnolia and Pomegranate. 

 Fuchsias will lift their tall heads from circles 

 of Gladiolus and Tuberoses, none feeling an 

 alien presence or a stinted growth. But over 

 all these will reign a crowned queen — the Tea 

 Rose, and royally she fills the throne. No gar- 

 den is complete without a hundred varieties of 

 Roses ; and with intelligent culture nothing 

 finer in results can be imagined, and all the 

 year around. April and May are, perhaps, the 

 most royal months of bloom, but no season is 

 without Roses, and a morning hour is required 

 for taking off the old Roses, making room for 

 the on coming bud and bloom. A circle of 

 these around a Dicksonia antartica in carefully 

 combined colors, with a border of Diosma alba, 

 is a thing of beauty. You cannot cure the 

 once possessor of such a garden ; the gravita- 

 tion toward it is as certain as the laws of any 

 other gravitation. And the Eastern florist, 

 after a winter among such gardens, will pack 

 many a sigh and regret away in the recesses of 

 trunks and portmanteaus, and with infinite 

 disgust will fight Jack Frost another winter, un- 

 til discretion becomes the better part of valor, 

 and sooner or later the dream of a sunny home 

 and a semi-tropical garden becomes a reality, 

 A commingling of fruits from all zones be- 

 comes also a possibility. Citrus fruits grow 

 side by side with the Apple and Pear, Figs and 

 Bananas with Plums and Peaches. Perhaps 

 nothing financially is of more importance to 

 this valley than the following list of fruits: 

 Apricot, Prune, English Walnut, Raisin Grape, 

 Bartlett Pears, Olives, Egg Plums and Necta- 

 rines. The Peach does well ordinarily, having 

 off-years, and some varieties a curled leaf. 

 These fruits are mostly purchased by the can- 

 nery in large quantities, as also immense quan- 

 tities of Tomatoes. I have seen Tomato vines 

 seven years of age, but young plants produce 



better. Eternal vigilance is the price of or- 

 chards here, as to insects, as elsewhere. But 

 with it the finest results are realized. Olive 

 culture is becoming prominent, and in another 

 letter will be described. Lima Beans have 

 brought, with their present high prices, a bo- 

 nanza to farmers in this valley, in many 

 cases realizing from $75 to $ 125 per acre this 

 season; the land is of course very rich and of 

 many descriptions. Fruits of the leading va- 

 rieties are proved, from the cash-books of pro- 

 ducers, to vary from $200 to $500 per acre, and 

 some instances of Apricots run higher, at 

 six and seven years of age. Most fruits, de- 

 ciduous ones, bear at three years from planting 

 in considerable quantities. 



As a home, with its thoroughly equable cli- 

 mate, neither hot nor cold, nothing can be more 

 desirable than this portion of Southern Cali- 

 fornia, Mrs. N. W. Winter. 



opticultural Siocietie; 



THE WESTERN NEW YORK HORTICULTURAL 

 SOCIETY. 



The annual meeting of this excellent society 

 was held in Rochester on the 25th, 26th and 

 27th of January. 



If there is among the many associations form- 

 ed for similar purposes, one that can be taken 

 as a model, it is undoubtedly the Western New 

 York Horticultural Society. With its head- 

 quarters here at Rochester, one of the most 

 beautiful and prosperous American cities, here 

 at the center of the great nursery interest, at the 

 very Mecca of nurserymen and fruit-growers, 

 animated and presided over by Mr. P. Barry, a 

 gentleman who, by his thorough knowledge of 

 everything pertaining to the objects for which 

 the society was organized, as well as his ready 

 tact and amiable manners is singularly well 

 fitted for a presiding officer, and assisted and 

 supported by Mr. P. C. Reynolds, the efficient 

 and untiring secretary, are elements com- 

 bined which cannot be found in any other 

 section of our country. Where else should we 

 search for such an array of horticultural stars of 

 first magnitude than here, where within a com- 

 paratively small radius, are nestled among 

 fruit trees and flowers the homes of the Ell- 

 wangers, the Barrys, the Hookers, J. J.Thomas, 

 Woodward, Swan, Moody, Hoag, Vick, Harris, 

 Hubbard, Maxwell, Willard, Bronson, Beadle, 

 Babcock, Powell, Little, Frost, Chase, Smith, 

 and many others of hardly less renown. 



The earnestness and business like spirit which 

 pervades the transactions of these meetings is 

 most striking and becomes at once apparent to 

 the attendant, These men are all busy work- 

 ers and cannot afford to spend their time in 

 useless talk. They go to work at once, and the 

 interest in the discussions does not diminish in 

 the least from the beginning to the close. The 

 amount of valuable information, positive facts 

 and actual experiences of men whose sound 

 judgment can be relied upon, which may be 

 gathered here during the three days' session is 

 really surprising, and a month of reading books 

 could not impart the practical knowledge which 

 may be obtained by attending these meetings. 



At present we have space only for a brief 

 mention of some of the papers read, but shall, 

 in future numbers, speak of some of them 

 more in detail. 



President Barry in an able and carefully 

 prepared address surveyed the present and 



prospective horticultural situation of the coun- 

 try. He regards it as a favorable and signifi- 

 cant sign of the times, that a large number of 

 the wealthiest and most influential citizens of 

 New York and other large cities are becoming 

 members of horticultural societies, and that 

 their example and co-operation cannot fail to 

 give horticulture a great impetus. He re- 

 viewed the causes and effects of the last severe 

 winter and the severe drouth of the summer 

 following. He stated the fact and quoted 

 several instances as proof that as a rule the 

 damages were much greater on low alluvial 

 bottom than on high rolling ground. To pre- 

 pare for such severe winters which return 

 more or less at regular periods, the cultivator 

 must endeavor to secure, by situation, soil and 

 treatment, the greatest possible degree of hardi- 

 ness which each class of fruits is capable of at- 

 taining. He spoke of the mistakes in extreme 

 treatment, over-feeding and under-feeding, and 

 of the great evil of over-cropping, which error 

 with Grapes especially, is unfortunately com- 

 mitted not by novices only. Ripening of roots 

 and wood is all essential to hardiness. The 

 means to be employed in securing hardiness 

 may be concisely summed as follows: 



1. Dry soil, absolutely tree from stagnant 

 water. 



2. Sufficient fertility only to produce a mode- 

 rate and healthy growth. 



3. Such treatment of the soil as tends to pro- 

 duce growth early in the season and arrest it 

 in early autumn. Tins precaution becomes of 

 special importance with tender varieties. 



4. Avoiding over-cropping of fruit trees and 

 Grape vines. 



Deep and thorough cultivation are regarded 

 as the most effective means to combat drought, 

 they enable the roots to draw the cool moisture 

 from below. The use of the subsoil plow is 

 highly to be recommended. 



A brief mention of the State Experiment 

 Station which has lately been located near 

 Geneva, and placed under the directorship of 

 Dr. E. L. Sturtevant, so well fitted for the po- 

 sition, closed this excellent address. 



The great usefulness of this Society is evi- 

 dently owing to a masterly system of division 

 of labor. There is no room here for drones, 

 every member who has any work in him must 

 do his share for the common good. In addi- 

 tion to standing committees on all important 

 branches of horticulture, each county repre- 

 sented in the society has a committee whose 

 chairman makes an annual report of everything 

 of interest and value within his domain. The 

 chairmen of most of these committees are 

 among the foremost horticulturists of the coun- 

 try, and naturally their reports differ materially 

 from the general average of such productions. 

 In fact many of those read constitute exhaus- 

 tive and carefully prepared essays upon the 

 subjects in question. 



We regret to have room only to name a 

 few of the most important papers read. Prof. 

 0. C. Caldwell on Bacteria; W. C. Barry on 

 New Native Fruits; Geo. Ellwanger on Orna- 

 mental Shrubs, especially Crataegus; H. B. 

 Ellwanger on Roses; Prof. Comstoek on Scale 

 Insects; Prof. Lintner on Protection against 

 Insects; Prof. Lazenby on Elementary Sub- 

 stances of Plant Food; II. E. Hooker on Prun- 

 ing Grapes; Chas. A. Green on Birds; J. J. 

 Thomas on Relation of Roots to Plants: J. S. 

 Woodward on Fallacies in Fruit Growing; P. 

 C. Reynolds on Farmers Fruit Gardens; A. M. 

 Purdy on Fruit Drying. 



