438 



THE V SA Y. 



Skunk Cabbage vs. Rhubarb.- -In the last issue of 

 The American Garden (p. 315), the skunk cabbage is 

 suggested as an ornamental plant. Let me suggest in 

 its place the coiiiiiion rlmbarh. In European cities this is 

 often seen in the yards, where it is both ornamental and 

 useful. The dark green color of the leaves is quite or- 

 namental, and all know how appetizing the stalks are in 

 the early spring, the plant being the very earliest 

 which we can utilize for food. Where there is no garden, 

 let it be planted on the lawn ; and in the same place, as 

 a plant both ornamental and useful, the asparagus might 

 appear. — G. G. Groff, Pennsylvania . 



New Plant Guard. — The Hartman Company is mak- 

 ing a useful style of tree and flower guard. It is made 

 of steel wire, and is therefore light and durable, and 

 does not harbor insects. It is so made that it accommo- 

 dates itself to the growth of the plant. 



Taste in Gardening. — Why is it that a lady may have 

 good taste as regards dress and trimmings, and yet when 

 she attempts to beautify the garden, make such ridicu- 

 lous mistakes ! For instance, she may paint her boxes 

 or flower pots red, and perhaps grow a geranium with 

 a pink blossom in them, and the attention is sure to be 

 drawn to the glaring color, instead of the plants. Or 

 she may order her house painted green, and thus shame 

 the trees or the grass. Or worse than all, erect in her 

 front yard a gypsy kettle hanging between three poles, 

 and try to grow plants in the iron pot, also painted red. 

 I have seen the stump of a tree turned upside down, the 

 roots in the air, with ferns planted in it. The poor 

 things, torn from their lovely cover in the woods, and 

 put in that abomination, were drooping their graceful 

 heads in shame. Sea shells often border a garden bed 

 or path, but are out of place, in some garden a thousand 

 miles from old ocean. Here is a new field for wo- 

 men : plans for artistic outside adornment. Begin with 

 your own grounds. Read, compare notes, and our gar- 

 dens will be much improved thereby. — Sister Gracious. 



Two Good Plants. — DelpJiinium formosum and Ar- 

 temisia sle/iaris as arranged in large clumps, alternately, 

 in a row 40 feet long, the latter five feet tall, are splendid 

 in their colors of ' ' purple and gold " and make a grand 

 display of contrasting and concordant loveliness. — S. J. 

 Hutchinson, M. D., Michigan. 



Rocky Mountain Red Cedar. — Professor W. F. 

 Massey asks what is meant by Rocky mountain red 

 cedar (May, p. 311). It is merely a marked variety of 

 the common red cedar [Juniperus Vtrginiana). That 

 it is truly indigenous to the Rocky mountains, and of 

 ancient standing, appears to be evidenced by the fact 

 that it is found along the Platte, four hundred miles 

 eastward of the mountains, and on the banks and 

 islands of all the streams that have their head waters 

 in the mountains, but it is not found east of the Mis- 

 souri. Under cultivation in Iowa it is a far more rapid 

 grower than the indigenous cedar of northeast Iowa and 

 Wisconsin, is less subject to fungous troubles, and above 

 all it is handsomer on account of its silvery expression 



at the point of growth. Some of the selected speci- 

 mens are nearly as silvery in foliage as the best speci- 

 mens of the silver spruce {Picca piingens). As an orna- 

 mental and timber tree for the prairies it is superior to 

 our native species, or to any variety I have met with on 

 this continent, — J. L. Budd. 



The Winter Flora of California. — One familiar with 

 the names of California native flowers, on looking over 

 the catalogue of some great eastern flower firm, is surpris- 

 ed to notice how many beautiful flowers this state has 

 given the world. We have scores of the sweetest 

 things yet left, which from the nature of things we must 

 continue to enjoy to the exclusion of the rest of the 

 world. I do not know of any way in which they could 

 be grown, except as they are here in this climate. 



I refer to our mid-winter blooming plants and trees. 

 These I suppose would be called alpine plants ; at least 

 they grow on our lower mountains. While trying to bring 

 to bay, the past winter, certain mountain grey squirrels, 

 jack rabbits, and the lively California valley quail, I no- 

 ticed these things. It causes a lover of flowers to halt, 

 and to forget that it is December or January, to see 

 these sweet, bright and tender things, peeping up at 

 you from the cold wet ground, on a cold raw day when 

 a heavy top-coat is a comfort. They do not care for 

 cold rain or even snow. When the snow has crept down 

 the mountain side, nearly down to the green valley be- 

 low, these little beauties may be found a little further 

 up, enjoying the scenery. 



Stranger still are the trees and shrubs. Here is a 

 fragrant laurel with its dark bright green varnished 

 leaves, bursting freshly into bloom, its spicy fragrance, 

 delighting its whole neighborhood; a rod away is another 

 laurel of the same species, loaded with half grown nuts. 

 Directly beyond is another, dropping its ripe nuts to the 

 ground, to feed the squirrles and cunning mountain rats! 

 The same is true of the manzanita —here a bush loaded 

 with its bright scarlet berries ; the next bush is a mass 

 of the sweetest flowers, too sweet for comfort, and if 

 the day is bright, the swarm of bees around it shows that 

 they appreciate it even if it is January. There is a scarlet 

 flowering currant, a flame of bloom. Next is a goose- 

 berry, bristling all over with sharp spines, and bearing 

 modest drooping sweet bloom. — D. B. Wier, California, 



Tulip Sport. — A neighbor of mine has in blossom a 

 tulip bulb which has on the one stalk, which proceeds 

 from the crown of the bulb, four distinct and well 

 formed double blossoms. The stem is a unit for about 

 four inches from the bulb, after which it divides into 

 four parts, as is common in lilium and is provided with 

 leaves at regular intervals; it is tipped with four per- 

 fect double tulips of fine coloring. Is there any possibi- 

 lity of this freak being propagated, by seeds or dividing 

 the bulblets ? If so, it would prove a decided novelty in 

 the way of spring flowers. — Edward W. Leaming, A^. Y. 



[Your curious sport could probably not be propagat- 

 ed. It is exceedingly interesting as a matter of plant 

 variation. — Ed. ] 



