May 4, 1912 
FOREST AND STREAM 
567 
Botany in a City Park 
By W. G. 
T he second of the botanical field meetings, 
under the direction of the Brooklyn Insti¬ 
tute of Arts and Sciences, was held at 
Prospect Park on Saturday, April 20. Under 
the leadership of J. J. Levison, M.F., . B.A., 
arboriculturist, Brooklyn and Queens Park De¬ 
partment, New York city, an enthusiastic band 
of some forty institute members and members 
of the American Association for the Planting 
and Preservation of City Trees assembled in the 
early afternoon at the park entrance to study 
trees. It was a glorious spring day. Much pro¬ 
gress had been made by nature during the week 
preceding, and the trees and shrubs of Prospect 
Park were all in the process of rapid develop¬ 
ment. 
The first tree to attract attention was the 
Cryptomeria japonica, otherwise the Japan cedar, 
of which Prospect Park has fourteen examples. 
It is similar to the sequoia of California, al¬ 
though less gigantic in size. Near at hand 
were growing other cedars and arbor-vitses. 
These can be very easily distinguished, the one 
from the other, by remembering that the cedars 
are characterized by sharp leaves, while the 
arbor-vitse leaves are rounded. 
A handsome ornamental tree nearby was identi¬ 
fied as the Colorado blue spruce, now very popu¬ 
lar with tree planters in the Northern States. A 
hedge of this tree may be grown so close that even 
a dog cannot get through. Within its range it is 
used both for fuel and timber. A near neighbor was 
the yew. Thomas Gray makes a well known ref¬ 
erence to the yew in his wonderful Elegy. The 
wood of the yew is very close and heavy, fine 
in grain, and with lovely gradations of color. 
It is extensively used for archery bows, knitting 
needles and rolling pins. The tree forms no 
forests, but occurs scattered with other conifers. 
An Austrian or black pine stood not far away. 
It resembles the Norway pine and is longer lived 
than the Scotch pine. From it may be derived 
much turpentine. This tree was the subject of scale 
attack that will shortly call for protective spraying. 
Next in the order of observation was a Euro¬ 
pean white birch. This differs from the native 
species in having a smoother bark. The tree is 
somewhat smaller than some of the white birches, 
but is popular for ornamental planting. In 
Russia the bark of this tree is used in the tan¬ 
ning of leather. Many parts of the tree are 
also used in pharmacy. 
Passing the Koel reuteria, or varnish tree, of 
which Prospect Park has several examples, the 
party came to a Scotch elm. The leaves of this 
species are somewhat brighter than are the leaves 
of the American elm. Then came some of the 
maples. One of these was the silver maple. Its 
wood is not so hard as the sugar maple, but is 
like it in so far as its seeds go. These take 
winged forms that are sometimes called keys. 
They are windborne in dispersal. The wood of 
BOWDOIN 
this tree is much used for shoe pegs. The tree 
is adapted for a variety of soils and is often 
planted in city streets throughout the country. 
The sugar maples in this group are types of the 
trees from whence we have our maple sugar. It 
is made by evaporating the sap, which is pro¬ 
cured by tapping the trees in early spring, some 
weeks before the buds begin to swell. About 
three or four gallons of sap are usually required 
to make a pound of sugar. Two or three pounds 
of sugar per tree is the average yield. When 
tapping is properly done, it does not seriously 
injure the health of the tree, although tapping 
in the parks is of course never done for sugar¬ 
making purposes. Wood type is made of maple 
wood. It is also used for making furniture, 
drawing instruments, butter moulds, churns, 
handles of tools and clothes pins. 
The hemlock observed next was a tall, grace¬ 
ful tree. It is coniferous. Many of our picture 
mouldings are made of hemlock woods. The 
bark of hemlock enters most extensively into 
the tanning of the best leather. Much of the 
hemlock wood thus used comes from Wisconsin. 
An English hawthorn that grew nearby may 
have been a descendant of the thorny staff of 
the good saint, Joseph of Arimathea, who in 
journeying with the Holy Grail to Glastonbury, 
thrust it into the ground, and it thereupon 
blossomed as a sign of Heaven’s approval, 
thence we have the hawthorn tree. The English 
hawthorn makes the hottest wood fire known. 
Passing a weeping European beech, an Orien¬ 
tal spruce and a black birch, a European copper 
beach was encountered. This variety of the 
beech, if not first “made in Germany,” certainly 
came to England from that country a hundred 
and fifty years ago, and from England here a 
little later. It derives its name from the fancied 
resemblance of its leaves to copper color. 
Then came an ailanthus. This tree is common 
on many city streets. It is o-ften considered very 
objectionable, although its common name is “The 
Tree of Heaven.” Some one has said if it really 
is the tree of the Celestial regions, the other 
place might well be chosen by preference. The 
male is the objectionable tree, since its obnoxious 
smell arises from the odor of its pollination. 
The female tree has no odor. 
Skirting the Long Meadow, the party had 
pointed out to them the red oak, planted there 
to replace the one said to have been cut down 
by General Washington, and called the Dungan 
oak. Then came a white mulberry similar to 
those growing in Trinity church yard. These 
trees are sometimes also called Russian mulberry. 
They were introduced into the western section 
of this country by the Russian Mennonites. The 
leaves of this tree are well adapted to feeding 
the silk worm. Next came some hardy catalpas. 
These trees are very quick growing. Many rail¬ 
roads are planning them along their rights of 
way for use as railroad ties. When a catalpa 
is ten years old, it can be used for tie making. 
Other trees met with were the sycamore, 
mugho pine, blue beech, larch, cypress, Douglas 
fir, ironwood, useful medicinally in homeopathic 
practice, bhotan pine, a Japanese pagoda tree, 
honey locust with spines, yellow locust without 
spines, sassafras. 
Wild cherry, hackberry, dogwood, almost in 
flower; magnolias in full and glorious bloom, 
the Carolina poplar, which is extensively used in 
newspaper making; the Lombardy poplar, the 
American elm, the tulip, the Kentucky coffee- 
tree, one of the rarest forest trees of North 
America; black walnut, yellow-wood, the mock- 
ernut hickory, viburnum, paper birch, one of the 
few woods that burn well when green, and is 
used by the Indians for covering their canoes 
and houses, and for the making of baskets; the 
Camperdown elm, the African larch, the common 
horse chestnut, the cucumber tree, and several 
varieties of willow. 
Some of the trees observed on this trip were 
scarred by woodpeckers, either to obtain insects 
that might have been lurking under the bark or 
for the purpose of storing supplies. 
Because of a fungus disease, all the chestnut 
trees that formerly grew in Prospect Park have 
been eliminated. 
Last winter, because of unusual climatic con¬ 
ditions which prevailed, some 300 trees, mostly 
sycamores and lindens, suffered a contraction of 
fiber. Tree surgery was necessary to save these 
trees from the effects of frost. Steel rods were 
used in this connection, and trees that would 
have split apart and perished were saved by 
means of this comparatively new practice. In 
other cases also where trees are attacked by 
fungus growths it is often possible to save them 
by means of tree surgery. The fungus grovyth 
is scraped out to the necessary depth, which can 
be determined by experts, the excavated and 
scraped portions are cleaned out with corrosive 
sublimate, filled with cement, and the tree wounds 
covered with tar. Trees otherwise doomed are 
thus saved. 
The hickory trees are now threatened by one 
of the ScolytidcB beetles which, unless its ravages 
can be checked, will be a very serious matter. 
In the shady portions of the park have been 
planted many tufts of star of Bethlehem grasses. 
These grow where the shade is unfavorable to 
the growth of grass seed and are very attractive 
in bloom. Many thousands of rhododendrons 
have been planted, and when they come to bloom 
will be magnificent in display. 
Game in the Con^o. 
Most of the natives of the Belgian Congo 
live in the most primitive way, depending upon 
their skill in hunting for part of their food. 
Elephants are killed for food and ivory, which 
has always been an article of exchange among 
themselves and with Arabs and Europeans. 
Leopards and other animals contribute furs and 
hides to native and white hunters. Scientific 
expeditions find here a wealth of natural history 
specimens. According to the new game laws, 
the cost of licenses for white men to hunt have 
been placed at $10 for antelope and smaller ani¬ 
mals, $40 for buffalo, hippopotamus, and smaller 
animals, and $300 for the privilege of killing 
two elephants. 
