144 
PARK AND CEMETERY, 
NOTES. 
At the national convention of nurserymen recently 
held in .St. Louis it was predicted that, “if the present 
rate of destruction continues for the next twenty-five 
years the United States will be practically bereft of for- 
ests.” 
* * * 
The Legislature of Iowa has, by formal Act of the 
Assembly, adopted the Prairie Rose as the State flower. 
In former times, the rose was the emblem of rival fac- 
tions in civil war. Let us hope the present selection 
will signify peace and good will. 
Mr. Francis Darwin contends that the teaching of 
our text books, in regard to the method by which Na- 
ture causes water to ascend in trees, is baseless. No 
theory that can command general approval has been 
offered so far. Plants draw water from dry ground at 
times. 
Dr. Tyson, Philadelphia, calls attention to the pain- 
ful sight of fine street trees in that city being decapita- 
ted by the ignorant tree butchers, who make a living 
by this execrable work during the winter. The trees 
are reduced to trunks with a few score of huge stumps 
several feet long in the place where the former beautiful 
branches grew. Much of the trouble comes from the 
ignorance of the original planter in selecting unfit trees. 
The Silver Maple and Canadian Poplar (miscalled Car- 
olina Poplar) are utterly unfitted for street trees. They 
grow rapidly, and are for this reason very useful for ten 
or fifteen years. But they grow too tall soon after, and 
the owner easily falls into the views of the tree butcher 
to give him a job beheading them. 
Unlike many herbaceous plants, undisturbed paeo- 
nies improve with age. In older gardens immense 
bunches are frequently seen, a mass of foliage and 
liberally dotted with huge heads of flowers. Not- 
withstanding the pleasure afforded by large clumps, 
it may occasionally be found desirable to transplant 
and divide them. While it can be done in perfect 
safety to the plants either in fall or spring, the for- 
mer is preferable by causing less disturbances to spring 
growth. It has been found advantageous to divide 
them as early as possible, it being merely necessary that 
the growth should have accomplished its purpose for 
that season, at which time it is really waiting for de- 
structive frost to do what we will in this case do — cut 
it off. To divide them, use a heavy knife or cleaver, 
leaving “eyes” to each division. In the vicinity of Phil- 
adelphia this work, may be usually performed in early 
September. They will thrive in almost any ordinary 
garden soil, yet to have them at their best, plant them 
in a rich loam, low enough to receive full benefit of 
rains. A liberal top-dressing of manure from which 
the straw has not been closely shaken, placed in the fall, 
gives food for strong growth besides retaining moisture 
and keeping the roots cool during the summer — a very 
delight to a paeony. — -Meehan's Monthly for August. 
* * * 
Orchid collectors and growers are well aware that 
amid all the varied shades and colorings which adorn 
these lovely flowers blue has hitherto been conspicuous 
by its absence. The London Daily News says that 
Mons. C. Roevelen, well known as an intrepid and reli- 
able collector, in April last, in an almost inaccessible 
spot in the Philippine Islands, chanced upon a group of 
orchids bearing rich blue flowers. The discoverer, con- 
sidering this new flower worthy to commemorate “the 
longest reign,” has christened it “Dendrobium Victoria 
Regina,” and forwarded a collection to England, where 
they arrived a week before the diamond jubilee, in 
June last. 
* * * 
The largest marine plant, and probably one of the 
highest plants known on this globe, is a gigantic sea- 
weed, the nereocystis, the stem of which has been found 
to grow as much as 300 feet long. It was first discov- 
ered not far from the Alaskan coast, but has since been 
found floating in various parts of the Pacific Ocean 
along the American and Asiatic shores. This seaweed 
grows in a very curious manner. Large quantities of it 
are found at a little distance from shore, and at depths 
not exceeding 300 feet. On loamy bottom large thick- 
ets of this plant take root, and a stem of the thickness 
of ordinary cord grows upward. At its top there is a 
pear-shaped balloon, which grows with the stem, and 
when it reaches the surface of the water it often meas- 
ures 6 feet and more in length, with a diameter of 4 feet 
6 inches. This balloon has, of course, an upward 
tendency, and keeps the stem growing until it floats on 
the surface of the water. From the top of this balloon 
a large tuft of strong, thick, spade-like leaves grow out, 
which originally are not more than two feet long, and 
which grow and split until from the balloon a rose-like 
growth of from fifty to sixty feet in diameter covers the 
water. The gigantic weed grows in such quantities that 
near the shore large meadow-like islands are formed, 
which impede navigation. The natives of the Aleutian 
Islands make manifold usage of this plant. From their 
strong, dried stems they make ropes 250 feet and more 
long, while balloons of this weed furnish them with 
large vessels after they are dried, the smaller ones being 
used in their boats to bail out water. The long leaves, 
after being dried, are cut into narrow strips and used 
for wickerwork, the making of baskets and similar fur- 
niture. — St. Louis Globe- Democrat. 
* * * 
The citizens of Dijon, France, recently voted 
a sum of money for putting a railing around a tree 
standing within the city limits. The tree bears a 
label which informs the sightseer that it is the oldest 
poplar in France. The Town Council has a record 
tracing the history of the tree since the year 722 A. D. 
It is 122 feet in height and 45 feet in circumference at 
the base, 
