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VOL. XXXVIII . MAY, 1937 No. 449 JOURNAL of THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN Published monthly by The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx Park, New York. N. Y. Entered at the Post Office in New York. N". Y., as second- class matter. Annual subscription $ 1.00 Single copies 10 cents Free to members of the Garden JOURNAL OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN CAROL H. WOODWARD, Editor MAY, 1937 ROCK GARDEN WEEK 105 A SIMPLE PROGRAM FOR DISEASE AND PEST CONTROL IN GARDENS B. O. Dodge 106 WESTERN PLANTS IN EASTERN ROCK GARDENS P. J. van Melle 109 COLLECTING EXCURSIONS FOR MYXOMYCETES Robert Hagelstein 112 EXHIBIT OF FUNGI AT PARIS WORLD'S FAIR 115 SOME OF THE PLANTS TO BE SEEN IN THE THOMPSON MEMORIAL ROCK GARDEN DURING MAY 116- 117 PROFESSOR C CONZATTI: A N APPRECIATION W H. Camp 118 TEN COMPLETE SCIENCE COURSE 121 CORN PRODUCTS SHOWN IN NEW EXHIBIT 123 NOTES, NEWS, AND COMMENT 124 REVIEWS OF RECENT BOOKS 125 THE THOMPSON MEMORIAL ROCK GARDEN Established as a memorial to Dr. W Gilman Thompson, a former President of The New York Botanical Garden, the large rock garden secluded between the two ridges east of the Museum Building is serving horticulture in an important way. Visitors who come to view its many thousands of plants during Rock Garden Week and the month or more which follows will find there not only broad drifts of color designed for a pleasing picture, but will be able to observe hundreds of different kinds of plants which have been acquired from countries far and near. Even in the larger plantings of well known material, new or seldom seen varieties and species will be discovered. Other rarities will be found in small groups or single specimens, tucked away where their blooms will appear as pure gems set among the rocks. In planting these carefully chosen subjects, each is given the situation best suited to its growth, whether that be a limestone crevice, a peaty bog, a moraine, a wooded slope, a spot within reach of the spray from a waterfall, a heath or a grassy meadow or any other special location. From all over the world the Botanical Garden has gathered these plants for the rock garden. Through correspondence with collectors and growers and by exchange with other institutions in many countries, new species and others as yet little known in cultivation have been introduced into the Thompson Memorial Rock Garden. Native plants which are suited to rock garden cultivation are brought in from the region around New York. Other natives have been acquired from The New York Botanical Garden's own expeditions into the southern Appalachians and Rocky Mountains. The Botanical Garden is always ready to give information on the source and culture of the plants which it is attempting to introduce for the future enrichment of gardens. JOURNAL of THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN VOL. XXXVIII MAY, 1937 Xo. 449 ROCK GARDEN WEEK The last week in May will be observed as Rock Garden Week at The New York Botanical Garden, because this period is expected to open the season when the Thompson Memorial Rock Garden may be seen at its best. Special announcements are being issued to members and others, inviting them to visit the garden for an exclusive preview May 21 and 22. Rock Garden Week itself will extend from May 23 to 30. Among the showiest plants to be seen during that week will be the first of the many species and varieties of Dianthus, numerous Primula varieties, and many kinds of Arabis, Iberis, Alyssum, and related genera of crucifers, besides hundreds of other rock garden plants which will then be in bloom, some in broad drifts of color, others in small groups or as individual specimens. The season of exuberant bloom will last well into June, and all through the summer and fall there will be plants of interest in the rock garden. The end of May, however, has been selected as the time when the visitor can see the most in flower. The American Rock Garden Society will make a special trip to the Thompson Memorial Rock Garden the day after its annual meeting and show in New York the last of May. Other gardening organizations are also making special arrangements to visit the rock garden, not only during Rock Garden Week, but also at other times throughout May and June. Signs are being erected throughout the grounds to point the way for visitors to the Thompson Memorial Rock Garden, which lies in the glade east of the museum building. The gates will be kept open daily from 10 to 5. 105 106 A SIMPLE PROGRAM FOR DISEASE AND PEST CONTROL IN GARDENS This is the season when home gardeners should be giving some thought to the problems of disease and pest control. Abundant bloom and foliage when the flowers first appear do not necessarily mean their continuance throughout the summer. Annuals, perennials, shrubs, vines, and trees should be watched assiduously for signs of infestation. A few simple measures applied at the beginning— that is, when the first signs of insects or disease appear— will help to keep the garden at the peak of health until the flowers have been taken by the autumn frosts. The brief notes below comprise a summary of a lecture given by the writer at the Botanical Garden last February 13. Four divisions of pests and diseases are recognized here: sucking insects; chewing insects; fungous, bacterial, and virus diseases; and nematode or eelworm diseases. Remedies for each on the common garden plants of the vicinity are given under each division. One of the first rules of all to remember is never to throw refuse from any diseased plant on the compost heap. Handle it carefully and burn it at once. Some common sucking insects: ( 1) Aphids or plant lice. ( 2) Lace- bugs on azalea and rhododendron. ( 3) Mealy- bugs. ( 4) Scale insects. ( 5) Mites causing delphinium blacks and red-spider mites on many kinds of plants in dry weather. ( 6) Leafhoppers. ( 7) White- flies. ( 8) Thrips. Remedies: Use contact spray materials such as nicotine sulphate compounds ( tobacco extracts) or pyrethrum and rotenone preparations. Follow directions on container. Hit the under sides of the leaves. Use a fine spray with high pressure. Keep the sprayer clean. Nicotine dusts are easier to apply but less effective and more expensive. Certain plants infested with sucking insects require different measures of control. Important ones are listed here. For root aphids on asters, iris, etc., dig in tobacco dust around the base of plants. Mealy- bugs on any plant are best controlled by forcibly spraying infested plants with a fine spray from the garden hose. 107 Roses, lilacs, ash- trees, dogwoods, and willows infested with scale insects should be sprayed in the spring, before buds open, with either commercial lime sulphur, 1: 8, or a miscible oil, 1: 16. Japanese cherry, euonymus, tulip- poplar and magnolia harboring scale insects should be sprayed with a miscible oil, 1: 16. Some evergreens, such as Mugho and Scotch pines, harboring the needle scale insects may be sprayed with lime sulphur, 1: 8, while dormant. Summer sprays with the contact insecticides are safer for evergreens in general. Plants such as hollyhock, phlox, evergreens, etc., infested with red- spider mites should be dusted often with a fine dusting sulphur ; or when spraying use high pressure. Leafhoppers ( on dahlias, for example) are repelled by bordeaux mixture. Soak gladiolus corms ( from plants previously infested with thrips) with mercuric chloride 1: 1000, or one ounce to eight gallons of water, for two hours. Spray with contact sprays if necessary later. Chewing insects: ( 1) Caterpillars, bagworms, tent caterpillars and the like. ( 2) Beetles, such as the rose chafer, blister beetle, elm- leaf beetle, willow beetle, May beetle, Japanese and brown Asiatic beetles, etc. Remedies: ( a) Spray plants with arsenate of lead, one ounce to one gallon of water, or 4 to 6 pounds to 100 gallons. The arsenate acts more as a repellent against Japanese beetles. ( b) Beetles on blossom of roses, peonies, marigolds, etc., should be knocked off into a can of kerosene. Beetle traps are useful if the neighbors cooperate by also setting traps. ( c) If grubs of May beetle, Japanese beetle, etc., are killing lawn grasses, apply 10 pounds of arsenate of lead to each 1,000 square feet of lawn. Add sand or dry soil to aid in distributing it evenly; if applied as a spray, wash it in well with water. ( d) In early spring burn all leaves and rubbish on iris beds where plants have been infested with the borer. ( e) Cane borers of lilac and other plants can be killed by inserting a flexible wire; or cut out and burn infested canes. Common fungous, bacterial and virus diseases: ( 1) Powdery mildews on roses, grapes, lilacs, phlox, chrysanthemums, asters, etc. ( 2) Spot diseases such as rose black- spot, hollyhock rust, 108 leaf- spots of phlox, ' mums, dahlias, etc. ( 3) Gray mold on lilies, roses, peonies, etc. ( 4) Delphinium bacterial black- spot, twig-blight of lilac, rhododendron die- back, iris rhizome rot, delphinium root rot, aster and dahlia wilts. ( 5) Perennial rusts on sempervivum and blackberries. ( 6) Virus diseases of asters, dahlias, lilies, etc. Remedies: For plants infected with mildew, dust as needed. Begin early, dust when the foliage is dry, and when there is little wind. Avoid applying too much dust at once. Dust roses once a week with a fine dusting sulphur for black-spot ; the same for hollyhock rust. Plants infected with gray mold should be sprayed with bordeaux mixture. Pull back the mulching on peonies so that the base of the plants will keep dry in the spring. Cut out and burn blighted branches on lilac and rhododendron. Also cut and burn leaves and tops of delphiniums showing black-spot. In the spring spray the ground around delphiniums with bordeaux mixture if they showed black- spot the previous year. Cut out iris rhizomes showing a foul- smelling bacterial soft-rot. Saturate soil with semesan as directed or use some other reliable disinfectant. To sterilize garden plots where wilt diseases and root- rots have been severe, pulverize soil down to ten inches or so. Saturate thoroughly with formaldehyde, 1: 50. If the soil is dry use 1: 100 and use more of the solution. After ten days the plot may be planted. Destroy sempervivum plants and blackberries showing perennial rusts. Do not plant dahlia roots or lily bulbs from plants that showed mosaic ( a virus disease) the previous year. Nematode or celworm diseases and their cures: Phlox and certain other garden plants are attacked by a stem nematode. The worms come up inside the stems and branches, causing dwarfing and deformation of leaves. Dig up and destroy such plants. Garden ' mums are sometimes attacked by leaf nematodes. To avoid them use cuttings from healthy plants. If they appear, contact sprays applied frequently will kill both nematodes and aphids. If plants are diseased, rotate your crops or sterilize the soil. B. O. DODGE. 109 WESTERN PLANTS IN EASTERN ROCK GARDENS If there is one province of gardening in which the precept ' American plants for American gardens" must be taken with a grain of salt, it may well be lowland rock gardening, as in New York and the New England states. Even here, insofar as it contains an urge to explore and appreciate the flora of this and other regions of our country, it is an excellent precept, but as an indication of the comparative practical worth of native and exotic plants it seems hardly acceptable. Difficult as it is to express an estimate of their comparative importance in tangible terms, I venture, nevertheless, to present such a comparison— not by way of a precise statement, but rather as a matter of practical judgment. Out of every hundred first-rate plants for rock gardens in the area indicated, I judge that approximately eighty- five represent Old World materials, twelve eastern United States and three western United States sorts. By the adjective zvestcrn I mean, here, anything west of Ohio; and in the last two figures I am counting only endemic materials. To what extent the ratio here presented may eventually be changed, that is another guess. I rather doubt that it will be very greatly altered. I do not look for new introductions of eastern United States plants in such numbers as to affect the present ratio. As to western plants, the low percentage accorded them here does not represent the comparative number of western plants which are or may be made available, but rather the comparative number of them which prove upon practical trial to be satisfactory, reasonably permanent things for eastern gardens. It seems rather an ironic disposition of nature that the flora of our eastern rock gardens, compared with that of western European gardens, instead of reflecting the great plant- wealth of our western states, should render so poor an account of it. I am not at all willing to admit that this bespeaks ( as has so often been said) a lack of appreciation on our part of the western flora. I believe that the climate of northwestern Europe lends itself far better than ours to the successful cultivation of western United States plants. My experience and observations lead me to the conclusion that not one in fifty western plants available today can be grown successfully— that is, with an assurance of long life— in our eastern 110 rock gardens. A really worth- while rock- garden plant, I take it, must be both attractive and reasonably permanent. My estimate, therefore, excludes many beautiful western things which, though they may last a year or two in our gardens, must be continually renewed. With certain notable exceptions, the adjective western, in my experience, is synonymous with difficult or impermanent. Wishing to miss out on no worth- while discovery, one continues to experiment with these easily accessible western plants. But I have come to set down my trials of them as comparatively unprofitable, pleasurable as they may be. Trials of unfamiliar Old World or eastern United States plants yield a much larger percentage of first- rate materials. As to the suitability of plants from other regions to our eastern rock gardens, we live nearer to the Alps and the Himalayas than to the Rocky Mountains. Illustrations of the comparative difficulty of western plants abound. Who, for instance, finds it difficult to grow any of the hardy species of Sedum from the eastern United States or from the Old World? Yet, how many of the western kinds succeed in our gardens ? Again, in Iris— with the exception of certain notoriously difficult groups, such as the Onocyclus— what hardy Old World or eastern United States species cannot be readily grown in our gardens? But who succeeds for any length of time with the western kinds ? I have, from time to time, grown and flowered a number of them, and yet, there is not a good clump of any of them in my garden today. I find the line clearly drawn even between closely related sorts that look, for all the world, as though they should succeed under similar treatment. The eastern Iris cristata is not at all difficult. /. lacustris, which would seem to be simply a smaller version of it, behaves very poorly for me. Dicentra eximia, our eastern species, thrives and self- sows like a weed in my garden. D. formosa, from the West, simply will not grow for me. I admit that I have seen it thriving here and there, but I cannot seem to make it grow. Shall we say that lewisias, brodiaeas, calochortus and western erythroniums are generally satisfactory plants in eastern gardens? I do not think so. They will not last in my garden. If I would have them, I must plant them again and again. During the time that I have been trying these things without success, excellent bulbous plants have come into my garden from other parts of the world. I l l Undoubtedly other gardeners, more skilled than I, will at times succeed where I have failed with western plants. The common experience may, perhaps, fall out a little more favorably in eastern gardens closer to the seashore than mine. But I feel justified in observing that, as a lot, western United States plants are far from Mahonia Aquifolium, one of the best of western shrubs for eastern culture. Its blossoms, fruits, and shining evergreen leaves which are often reddish are equally beautiful in successive seasons. satisfactory for amateurs' rock gardens in these parts; and that their practical value for eastern rock gardens has been rather seriously exaggerated in late years in our gardening magazines. The glowing accounts of them appearing in such publications have for the greater part come straight from the West, without benefit of practical trial in eastern gardens. A glance at my garden records reveals exceedingly meager net results from trials of western plants. In fact they do not nearly measure up to the humble three percent in my estimate, which allows for a good many plants with which others have succeeded and I have failed. I find today only the following really good and abiding plants of considerable garden merit: 112 Actinea ( Tetraneuris) simplex Malvastrum coccineiim Aquilcgia cacrulca Petrophytum caespitosum Eriogonum umbcllatum Sedum oreganum Eriophylhtm caespitosum Vancouvcria hexandra Mahonia Aquifolium Viola rugulosa Besides these, there are a few plants concerning which I prefer to reserve judgment. They include Polemonium carncum, and the new Talinum Okanoganense— both very beautiful things, which I hope may prove fairly long- lived. But in view of the almost unlimited wealth of lovely abiding things which are available from other sources, I am not inclined to count every beautiful and fleeting westerner among the list of first- rate plants, or even of good plants. Undoubtedly, western plants will continue to intrigue the curiosity of gardeners, and to provide interesting play for skillful experimentation. But as far as any general use or recommendation of them is concerned for amateurs' gardens, I am satisfied that, on the whole, they represent a most difficult and unsatisfactory lot. Let us have " American plants for American gardens"— by all means, in so far as we can find first- rate American plants. But let us, above all, insist on the best only. P. J. VAN MELLE. COLLECTING EXCURSIONS FOR MYXOMYCETES Nearly 1,000 specimens of Myxomycetes have been added to the Herbarium of The New York Botanical Garden during the past year of 1936. A few have been acquired by exchange with other students, but the great majority were collected in the field with the assistance of my associates, Mr. Joseph H. Rispaud and Mr. John D. Thomas. A series of eight separate trips which were made into the mountains of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia required more than 6,000 miles of automobile traveling and more than eight weeks of time during the collecting season from June to November. Among the rare species gathered, several were found for the first time east of the region of the Pacific Coast and one species and one form of another for the first time in North America. 113 An early trip in June to the northern reaches of the Catskills, in Schoharie County, New York, was not productive, as the elusive forms were not yet in fruit, so advantage was taken of the opportunity to visit the State Museum at Albany, and arrange with Dr. H. D. House, State Botanist, for the examination, verification, and boxing of the Museum's collection of Myxomycetes, which has since been done. Excursions to the same region in October and November yielded several interesting species. Among An unusual form of Fuligo scptica found by the author while collecting Myxomycetes in the Catskills last fall. them were numerous developments of a form which so far has not been reported from North America, a phase of the common Fuligo septica ( L.) Weber with the cortex replaced by a brainlike layer of perfected sporangia. The wild, wooded, mountainous regions of Pike County, Penn sylvania, and Sussex County, New Jersey, on opposite sides of the Delaware River, were fruitful fields where more than 90 species were collected over several trips. Cribraria oregana Gilb. was found near High Point, in Sussex County. This species, which bears its spores in a brown net resembling a tiny bird- cage on a pole, was proposed by Gilbert in 1932, and so far has not been reported elsewhere than from Oregon. We also found the rare species, Didymhun anomalum Sturg., recognizable by the white calcareous processes like microscopic pillars connecting the upper and lower layers of the form. This was later collected repeatedly in Pike County, and on one occasion in great abundance. In Pike County were also found several other rare forms: the globular nets of Hemitrichia abictina ( Wig.) List, on slender 114 stalks, the black Hymenobolina parasitica Zukal and the brown Kleistobolus pusillus Lipp., the last two consisting of minute cups covered with glassy lids, beneath which lie many large, loose, shining spores. Licea flexuosa Pers., a form which is sometimes serpentine in outline, of deep brown with bright yellow spores, was likewise collected there. The longest journey, in August, was made through the forests and mountains of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Conditions were not too good because of the long prevailing dry weather, but nevertheless hundreds of developments were found in damp wooded areas, and among them was the black and yellow Trichia cascadensis Gilb., whose spores are intermingled in the cupules with free threads. This species so far has not been reported from eastern North America. An interesting feature of this trip was a visit to the great Ripogenus Dam, built in the deep forest some forty miles north of Moosehead Lake, Maine. The foray of the Mycological Society of America at Mountain Lake, Virginia, in September, was a pleasant affair for the members and friends who took part. The lake is situated at an altitude of nearly 4,000 feet, affording superb mountain views and opportunities for collecting at fairly high altitudes. The party was delightfully located in the cottages and laboratory of the University of Virginia, which maintains a summer station there. Bearing chestnut trees were plentiful in the region, so abundant collections of Arcyria globosa Schw. were made. This species fruits only upon the old burs of chestnut, where it is noticeable because it powders the burs with white dots. Collecting on Long Island, where we reside, was continued during the intervals between the outside excursions. Another new record for Long Island, and at the same time for North America, was the finding of Physarum ovisporum G. List., recognized by its irregular, rough mottling with a deposit of white lime. The sum of the entire season's collecting was 135 species, represented by more than 1,200 fruitings. The majority have been boxed and added to the Garden's Herbarium, and the remainder will be used for exchange purposes. ROBERT HAGELSTEIN. 115 EXHIBIT OF FUNGI AT PARIS WORLD'S FAIR At the World's Fair which opened in Paris the first of May, part of the scientific exhibit shows the work of Dr. B. O. Dodge on sexuality and hybridization among the ascomycetes. The invitation to contribute a display came from Dr. R. Kiihner, Professor of Botany at the Sorbonne. The exhibit, which covers about 9 by 12 feet of wall space, is concerned with three genera with which Dr. Dodge has done special work: Neurospora, Gelasinospora, and Ptenrage. The principal one among these is Neurospora, the bakery mold, which for untold centuries, until present- day sanitation has helped to eradicate it, has been the plague of bakers, and which in every known war has also caused bread in great quantities to become uneatable. Sixty- three mounted photographs in seven series of nine pictures each tell the story of these fungi. There is a master caption for each set and a separate caption for each photograph. The first row shows the morphology and gives the general life history of all three genera. A colored photograph showing striking sex- linked characters is included in this series. In the second set is shown the effect of spermatization on fecundation, followed by pictures taken at six- hour intervals to show the development of the fungus that has been fertilized. Number three contrasts the " normal" fecundation illustrated above with a newly discovered type, brought about by using monilioid conidia. In the row below, phases of fecundation through nuclear migration, without the aid of " male" or " female" bodies are shown. Three stories are told in series number five: The first interspecific hybrids produced in fungi are shown from Dr. Dodge's photographs made during his first research on this subject in 1927. Next is illustrated mendelian segregation of albino types as contrasted with orange- colored wild types; also segregation of sex factors is shown. Third, the effect of lethal factors in producing ascus abortion in Neurospora tetrasperma, a species from Surinam, is illustrated. The sixth set of pictures reveals how the lethal factor may be carried over into another species, through interspecific hybridization, with the same effect as above. This work illustrates for the first time mendelian dominance among the fungi. The seventh series of photographs shows reactions between bisexual and unisexual races in the fungi under investigation. SOME OF THE PLANTS TO BE SEEN IN THE THOMPSON MEMORIAL ROCK GARDEN DURING MAY 1. Houstonia serpyllifolid 2. Campanula cochlearifolia 3. Tulipa biflora. tur\ estanica 118 PROFESSOR C. CONZATTI: AN APPRECIATION On a table in my office, as I write this, are stacked more than seven hundred carefully pressed specimens collected within the last few months by one of the most interesting and remarkable men it ever has been my pleasure to meet. For some years we have been in correspondence concerning certain of the Mexican Ericales but it was not until last winter that I had the pleasure of making his acquaintance. It was one of those warm brilliant days such as Oaxaca knows in December. I had found my way to a street at the edge of town and knocked at a great iron- studded door. During the brief moment I waited, I looked to the north toward El Cerro de San Felipe standing guard over the Valley of Oaxaca. This mountain is a botanical shrine and is the type locality of numerous species. That day its lower slopes were drenched in the golden sunshine of southern Mexico. Its crest, reaching nearly two miles into the air, had caught a passing cloud and was draped in a billowy shawl. Presently I heard the scrape of a latch, and with the creak of old hinges the great door swung open. There was a flash of sunlight on plants blooming in a Mexican patio and then before me with outstretched arms, welcoming me into his house, stood Professor Conzatti. He is slight of build, but with an erect carriage that belies his years. He has a wealth of silver hair, keen eyes, and a radiant smile that matches the sun in his garden. We embraced as old friends in the Mexican manner and I was ushered into his home. I wish that I might describe his patio garden, but the species it contains would fill a book:— fragrant oranges; coffee bushes with red fruit; pots with rare sedums; trees, shrubs, and herbs in profusion, some of them bearing his own name. Nearly a hundred new species are due to his collecting and study, and the caesal-piniaceous Conzattia with its graceful thornless stems and gorgeous flowers, seemingly dipped in the yellow of old gold, is so like him that no more fitting monument could have been chosen by Dr. Rose when he named this genus. Prof. Cassiano Conzatti was born Aug. 13, 1862, at Gvezzano, near Trent, Tridentine Venice, at that time under Austrian rule. 1 In 1865 the family moved to Borgo Sacco near Rovereto. There 1 These essential facts have been taken from a brief autobiography prepared at my request and now on file in the Library of The New York Botanical Garden. 119 he finished his elementary education and in 1876 he entered the Rovereto High School, but was unable to finish because of the death of his father. Approaching the age when he would be forced into military service under the Austrian flag he took advantage of an offer to join an Italian colonization expedition to Mexico, landing at Vera Cruz with his mother and older brother in 1881 after a voyage of 36 days. Photograph of Professor Conzatti taken March 3, 1937, while pressing plants near the " ball- court" of the ancient ruins on Monte Alban, near Oaxaca. They settled in the village of Manuel Gonzalez about four miles from the city of Huatusco and lived there for two years, during which time other members of his family joined the colonists. Moving into Jalapa, he matriculated at a private college and, having mastered the Spanish language, was graduated and later became a teacher at the County School of Coatepec. He was soon transferred to the New Vera Cruz Normal School at Jalapa. In December 1889 he was promoted to the Directorship of the 120 Orizaba Model School and in 1891 was given charge of the Oaxaca Normal School for Teachers. This post he held for nearly twenty years until forced to resign on account of ill health. It was during this period that his interest in plants was crystalized through friendship with such men as the Reverend Lucius C. Smith, who lived in Oaxaca, and Dr. C. G. Pringle, dean of Mexican collectors, who visited the region on numerous occasions between 1894 and 1906. Dr. Pringle was accompanied by Prof. Conzatti on various trips and the recently published notes2 of Dr. Pringle indicate that Prof. Conzatti was a trusted friend. Through the effort of Prof. Conzatti and under the approval of the Department of Agriculture and Public Works, a Botanical Garden was founded at Oaxaca. later supplemented by an Agricultural Experiment Station. Professor Conzatti was appointed Director of the Garden at the end of 1909. For nearly five years he labored at this task against tremendous odds and with a negligible budget. Just as the Oaxaca Botanical Garden was beginning to take shape and the ground becoming green with its hundreds of species of plants, its Director awoke one day to find that some petty official had decided that there was no place for the Garden in the Experiment Station and had plowed it under, ostensibly to plant maize. Today, even the building which housed the Agricultural Experiment Station is a pile of ruins. After this painful reversal. Professor Conzatti in October 1915 was appointed Associate of the Division of Biological Research, then under the direction of Prof. A. L. Herrera. In March 1916 he was promoted to the post of Sectional Head in the Institute of General and Medical Biology, Division of Biological Research, where he labored until December 1918. In January 1919 he was appointed Resident Explorer of Oaxaca for the Division of Biological Research, and held this position until March 1922. In April 1922 he was appointed Chief Technical Inspector for the Installation of New Schools for the State of Oaxaca. He continued in this position until April 1924 when he became Federal Inspector of Schools in the State of Oaxaca. He served in this capacity until December 1927. Thus ended 47 years of continuous public service in official capacities. A truly enviable record. 2 The editor of these notes ( Life and Work of Cyrus Guernsey Pringle by H. B. Davis) has confused the Professor with his son Hugo, who also accompanied Dr. Pringle on several excursions near Oaxaca. 121 I trust that Professor Conzatti will pardon this intrusion into his private life, but it is so much a part of him that I cannot resist recounting certain events as told to me by a mutual friend. His long service with the public schools was rewarded by a pension in the form of bonds. These bonds later were repudiated. The year he retired from public service his house was badly damaged by an earthquake. He rebuilt it. In 1932 a more severe earthquake damaged it still further. He rebuilt again, but this time his financial resources were sadly depleted. The discomforts and trials he has had through these last years are known only to himself. In the same situation many lesser men would have turned their faces to the wall. But not Cassiano Conzatti. Long ago he was cast in a different mold. Others might have failed, but his spirit has not dimmed. I found him in his herbarium, surrounded by his books and specimens, busily at work on the manuscript of " A Revision of the Flora of Mexico." I cherish the hours spent with him collecting in the swamps of the Valley of Oaxaca and among the ancient ruins on Monte Alban where, years ago, he collected with Pringle and Smith. I often think of the laughter we shared, piecing together a conversation with bits of Spanish. English, French, Italian, and Latin— neither of us being fluent in a common tongue. Nor can I ever forget his great personal charm, his genuine enthusiasm and wistful desire that his work might be of some use to the world. It was cold the morning I left Oaxaca, yet he had walked the long distance to the station just to bid farewell and wish me a safe journey. One remembers such things— always. W. H. CAMP. TEX COMPLETE SCIEXCE COURSE Ten students received certificates for completion of the Science Course for Professional Gardeners offered by The New York Botanical Garden in brief exercises conducted April 19 in the rooms of the Horticultural Society of New York, where the weekly lectures have been given. Four of the graduates this year were student gardeners who for the past two years or more have been working full time at the Botanical Garden and attending the Science Course, which is part of their training. One was an exchange student from Kew, 122 England, who received a certificate for the two courses which he completed during his year here, and the other five came from estates around New York. This was the fifth graduation ceremony for members of the course, which was started in 1932. The studies undertaken include systematic botany ( two terms), plant physiology, plant morphology, plant pathology, entomology, soils and fertilizers, and plant breeding. Henry de Forest Baldwin, Vice- president of The New York Botanical Garden, was the first to address the graduating students at their exercises. He spoke of horticulture as an art— a democratic art— which appeals to all civilized mankind, and of professional gardeners as teachers or evangelists who are able to show other men how to produce surroundings of beauty for themselves. " The greatest reward of life," he said, " is found in seeking beauty as an end in itself." To pursue any art, he pointed out, requires discipline; in some arts, exclusive dedication of oneself. But in gardening, substantial and satisfactory results can be obtained when it is followed only as an avocation. Even then, he admonished, it should be approached with sincerity and intelligence, and that is where the background of science becomes useful. " The investment made in this course," he said to the student gardeners, " is an investment which can not be lost. It will accumulate dividends for you as long as you live." Mrs. Dorothy E. Hansell, in speaking for the National Association of Gardeners, pledged the continued support of that organization as long as the Garden should sponsor training for professional gardeners. Two of the first graduates of the course, J. G. Esson and P. J. McKenna, addressed the students, Mr. Esson defining a " skilled gardener" with a century- old quotation from Loudon's Encyclopedia of Gardening: " A skilled gardener is one who is skilled in horticultural production, whether that production relates to utility, ornament, or recreation." Mr. McKenna, in emphasizing the advantages of study, said that had more men in this country previously studied principles such as are taught in the science course, there would be less human suffering today as a result of the misuse of natural resources, with the attendant floods, erosion, and droughts. In defining their 123 profession he said to the student gardeners: " Your factory is the green leaf, and your laboratory the earth. It is your business to work with nature, not against it. Without the fundamentals such as you have been learning, ultimate success in your field is impossible. The profession of horticulture in this enlightened day calls for knowledge, experience, and training." Dr. H. A. Gleason, who presided, closed the ceremonies with a short address in which he pointed to the need of keeping on learning and applying all useful knowledge available to the practice of horticulture. The best gardeners, he concluded, possess three essential qualities: being good plantsmen, being endowed with the gift of leadership, and having a general knowledge which extends beyond the immediate field of horticulture. Certificates were presented by Dr. Forman T. McLean to John Armstrong, Martin James Crehan, John James Harrison, and Franklin C. Moore of The XTew York Botanical Garden and to William G. Cabrey. Jr., Eric Lawaetz, David Penson, Edward W. Robinson, and John Andrew Smith. Charles J. Collins, exchange student from Kew, received his upon his return from a western trip, just before sailing back to England. CORN PRODUCTS SHOWN IN NEW EXHIBIT Commercial products of corn and how they are developed, from the time the seed is planted until the manufactured article is packaged for the market, are shown in a new exhibit on the main floor of the museum building. Maps indicate the principal corn- growing regions of the United States and of the world. Charts in color picture the corn plant and its growth and show details of the structure of the ears and kernels. On the major chart, every process of manufacture is traced from the ripe corn to the finished packages of feed, meal, starch, dextrine, syrup, sugar, and oil. The exhibit has been contributed to the Botanical Garden by the Corn Products Refining Company. Also in the display are shown two measuring devices, one for determining the angle between the leaf and stem in a stalk of corn, the other for recording the length, diameter, and shape of an ear of corn. The leaf- angle indicates the suitability of a variety of corn for a certain locality, an acute angle indicating a drought- 124 resistant quality, Dr. Basil M. Bensin, designer of the apparatus, explains. The second instrument is the one which was used in making measurements for the regional types of corn which are shown in an adjoining exhibit. These were explained in the December Journal. In an additional exhibit, three original charts by Dr. Bensin illustrate ecological studies of corn- plant ecotypes which appear under certain environmental conditions in various agricultural regions. By systematic comparative studies of such types from different parts of the world, Dr. Bensin explains, a basis for standard methods of culture, acclimatization, and introduction of new crop plants could be established for each agricultural region. NOTES, NEWS, AND COMMENT Spring vacation time in universities and colleges brought a number of botanists to The Xew York Botanical Garden for special study. From Michigan came Dr. William C. Steere, extending his work on mosses, Dr. Alexander H. Smith, proceeding with special work on the higher fungi, and Frederick J. Hermann, continuing his studies of the Juncaceae. Prof. H. E. McMinn came from Mills College, Calif., Prof. Erling Dorf from Princeton University, Robert T. Clausen from the Bailey Hortorium at Ithaca, Prof. Bernard S. Meyer from Ohio State University, and Reed C. Rollins and Alan A. Beetle from the Gray Herbarium at Harvard. Dr. Ralph C. Benedict brought a group of students from Brooklyn College. Dr. Helen Purdy Beale of the Boyce Thompson Institute was among other April visitors. * * * At the monthly conference of the staff and registered students of the Garden on April 14, Dr. W. H. Camp spoke ou " Continental Migration and Plant Distribution." * * * Dr. A. B. Stout has been appointed Collaborator of the United States Forest Service, his cooperation to be particularly in the newly developed work in tree breeding, of which Dr. E. J. Schreiner, a former student at the Garden, is in special charge. * * * Walter S. Groesbeck, who had been Clerk and Accountant for The New York Botanical Garden since 1899, retired from active service with the Garden as of May 1. At the same time, Henry Friedman, who had been his office associate for an almost equal number of years, also retired. 125 REVIEWS OF RECENT BOOKS ( All publications reviewed here may be consulted in the Library of The New York Botanical Garden.) HOUSE- PLANTS FOR EYERYOXE1 In his book on growing plants indoors, Allen Wood starts from the beginning—" from scratch," so to speak. He wishes his instruction to be so clear and detailed that " wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein." Most of us who have gardened for years do not want to confess ourselves fools or wayfarers, yet we are always beginners to some extent in this expanding world of flowers and each " house- planter" can find much that is interesting here. If for nothing else, the lists of new or fairly new plants suggest the possibility of many hopeful experiments. Instruction is given for potting, repotting, soils; for giving ventilation, heat, light, water, food; for pruning, for the care of seedlings; suggestions for the home type of greenhouse and terrarium. Bulbous plants are considered, cacti and other succulents, vines, miscellaneous house- plants, insects and much else. A list of plants for decoration is given, with flowering period, color, botanical and common names. One may question some details, and occasionally may not agree with the naming, which is not always in accordance with the Kew Index. One may feel that lists of mesembryanthema should include more of the actual Mesembryanthemum and Lampranthus types, which flower readily and profusely in pots under fairly cool conditions. One may think— having tried it— that Gloriosa superba would not be likely to flourish under house or even most home greenhouse conditions and wonder why the fact was not mentioned that Crinum campanulatum grows in water; but it is easy to find faults in any book of the kind and in this one there is much that is good and the rest is not so important. It will be very helpful to the indoor gardener. SARAH V. COOMBS. BEAUTY ALONG THE HIGHWAY2 " Roadsides, the Front Yard of the Nation," is a textbook for highway departments and their officials, and into the little book Mr. Bennett has managed to crowd a surprisingly large amount of information, including specifications for trees, shrubs, sod, grass and other seeds, formulas for fertilizers, etc. 1 Wood, Allen H. Jr. Grow Them Indoors. 221 pages, illustrated, indexed. Hale. Cushman & Flint, Boston, 1936. $ 1.75. 2 Bennett, J. M. Roadsides, The Front Yard of the Nation. 233 pages, illustrated. The Stratford Company, Boston, 1936. $ 3.00. 126 The handling, planting, and pruning of trees is well taken care of. His definition of parkways, freeways, and highways is excellent and it is easily seen that the book was written by a man with vast experience in the handling of plant material for roadside purposes. Such things as signs, gas stations, and roadside sanitation are discussed at length and with intelligence. Though a great opportunity was lost to bring out the fact that road improvement should begin with its design in relation to the existing landscape and contours, and though rather too little space is given to the design of the planting, it is a book well worth the writing and one extremely useful to anyone connected with highway or parkway improvements. HERMANN W. MERKEL, General Superintendent, Westchester County Park Commission. FINE PHOTOGRAPHS OF TREES3 All who admire trees in their varied aspects from season to season will enjoy Thomas O. Sheckell's picture- book, which contains 82 of his own photographs of trees, made over the years in many parts of the country. Turning the pages at random we find lone trees on rocky heights, dogwood and apple- trees in the fullness of their spring bloom, the eccentric Joshua- tree of the southwestern desert, a Torrey pine on the California coast, the inevitable but always picturesque Monterey cypresses, elms above a flowery meadow in XTew Jersey, snow- laden branches, the dead chestnuts of the East, giant redwoods, and landscapes in which trees predominate. The book carries the reader pleasantly into many regions of familiar scenes. Selections from the original photographs which comprise the book were on view at the Botanical Garden during April. CAROL H. WOODWARD. GARDENS FOR CITY DWELLERS4 One hears so much about the trials of gardens in our large cities, about the dearth of trees, injuries from gas, soot, and improper light, that it is refreshing to find an occasional hopeful note. An attractive new volume tells an encouraging story of backyard and penthouse gardens, and reenforces this with even more attractive pictures of some of the fine gardens of the members of the City Gardens Club of New York, of which Miss McKenny is the able executive secretary. The style of the book 3 Sheckell, Thomas O. Trees. 82 illustrations, unpaged. Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York, 1936. $ 4.00. 4 McKenny, Margaret, and Seymour, E. L. D. Your City Garden. 215 pages, illustrated, indexed. D. Appleton- Centurv Company, New York, 1937. $ 2.50. 127 is graceful and pleasing, more given to interesting anecdotes than to being over- burdened with prosy dictums. Such general suggestions as there are on garden building and care are terse and direct. One suspects this to be the work of Mr. Seymour particularly. Many entertaining items are sprinkled through, like the reference to the Chinese Actinidia- vine, which is apparently a rival of catnip in attracting cats. One wishes that somebody would discover a plant to drive cats away from the garden. The list of plants recommended for city gardens is an extensive one, and one wonders if the picture of flowering rhododendrons and mountain laurels, hydrangeas and honeysuckles, may be a little too roseate. If so, those with courage to attempt gardens amid city skyscrapers need encouragement. Window and conservatory gardens get their share of notice, and most appropriately the city garden clubs, which encourage the city dweller's planting activities, are given their just mead of praise. FORMAN T. MCLEAN. IN THE GREAT SMOKIES5 Reared near the Great Smokies and for the last ten years having spent half of each year in her cottage near Gatlinburg, Miss Thornborough brings to her book sincerity and authenticity. Hers is a genuine enthusiasm for this interesting area, but one detects here and there a bit of nostalgia for the days that are past, for the ghosts of the mountaineers who once peopled the valleys in what is now the Park Area stalk through its pages. The average vacationist will rejoice with the news that so many trails have been opened and graded, but to some of us old reactionaries who like peace even at the price of a bit of discomfort it is disconcerting to find that: " As late as 1932, the ascent ( of Mt. Le Conte) was a true test of one's mountain climbing ability. XTow, modern trails have made the ascent a simple matter, . . . In 1936, instead of a mere handful, the astounding number of ten thousand people climbed Le Conte. . . . " I was one of them, but did not know it was that bad. The jacket tells us that: " This pleasing volume comes near to answering every question the prospective tourist could ask." The book does just that and does it so admirably that I can ( vouching for its authenticity) unhesitatingly recommend it to those who have not yet visited the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and who in the near future intend to do a little " exploring" on its boulevard trails. W. H. CAMP. 5 Thornborough, Laura. The Great Smoky Mountains. 147 pages, illustrated, indexed. Thomas Y. Crowell Company, New York, 1937. $ 2.00. 128 THE ROMANCE OF TEAG The next time you are invited to tea you might pause for a moment and think of the centuries of history that lie behind those crumpled tea leaves. It is difficult for the average person to satisfy the questions that inevitably arise in his mind, for many of the reference books and records are not available, some of them having been long out of print, while others are written in the mysterious characters of China. In " The Romance of Tea," however, Mr. Ukers has brought together the answers to these questions and has presented a complete treatment of the subject couched in understandable terms and told in an interesting way, even to the best recipes for making iced tea. While the sinologues might find fault with the way the fifth and sixth strokes of the character " ch'a" on page 5 are inscribed, the historical account of tea, its legendary origin in the mythical era of the emperor Shen-nung in China, its cultivation first as a medicinal and then as an article of commerce, the quaint story of Daruma, the Buddhist missionary from India to China in 520 A. D., and the systematiza-tion of the knowledge of tea cultivation in the Tea Classic, or Ch'a Ching written by Lu- Yu in 780 A. D., together with the spread of this knowledge through all of Asia, comprise a fascinating picture of romance and adventure. After thrilling descriptions of the great expeditions after tea, from Marco Polo to Robert Fortune in 1843, and the commercial battles of even later years, the technique of planting tea and the different varieties are considered. Then come the social aspects of drinking tea, with reference particularly to its effect on the fine arts, such as oriental ceramics. I wish this treatise could have ended right there; but no, as a concession to the practical side of modern existence we had to be told just how much tannin and caffeine are in tea— interesting, but not nearly so romantic as the story pictured by the Chinese Willow pattern, or glimpses of Dr. Samuel Johnson gulping endless cups of tea in his favorite haunts, or peeking into Mincing Lane to watch the excitement just before one of the China clippers was about to dock. With so much material to compress between the covers of one volume it is no wonder that Mr. Ukers has to battle to keep his story from reading at times like a catalogue, but he does so with admirable success. W. M. PORTERFIELD. 6 Ukers, William H. The Romance of Tea. 276 pages, illustrated indexed. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1936. $ 3. THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN BOARD OF MANAGERS I. ELECTIVE MANAGERS Until 1938: L. H. BAILEY, MARSHALL FIELD, MRS. ELON HUNTINGTON HOOKER, JOHN L. MERRILL ( Vice- president), COL. ROBERT H. MONTGOMERY, H. HOBART PORTER, and RAYMOND H. TORREY. Until 1939: ARTHUR M. ANDERSON, HENRY W. DE FOREST ( President), CLARENCE LEWIS, E. D. MERRILL, and HENRY DE LA MONTAGNE ( Secretary and Assistant Treasurer). Until 1940: HENRY DE FOREST BALDWIN ( Vice- president), CHILDS FRICK, ADOLPH LEWISOHN, HENRY LOCKHART, JR., D. T. MACDOUGAL, and JOSEPH R. SWAN ( Treasurer). II. EX- OFFICIO MANAGERS FIORELLO H. LAGUARDIA, Mayor of the City of New York. ROBERT MOSES, Park Commissioner. HENRY C. TURNER, President of the Board of Education. III. APPOINTIVE MANAGERS TRACY E. HAZEN, appointed by the Torrey Botanical Club. R. A. HARPER, SAM F. TRELEASE, EDMUND W. SINNOTT, and MAKSTOX T. BOGEHT, appointed by Columbia University. GARDEN STAFF H. A. GLEASON, PH. D Deputy Director and Head Curator HENRY DE LA MONTAGNE Assistant Director JOHN K. SMALL, PH. D., SC. D Chief Research Associate and Curator A. B. STOUT, P H . D Director of the Laboratories FRED J. SEAVER, P H . D., SC. D Curator BERNARD O. DODGE, PH. D Plant Pathologist FORMAN T. MCLEAN, M. F., PH. D Supervisor of Public Education JOHN HENDLEY BARNHART, A. M., M. D... Bibliographer and Admin. Assistant PERCY WILSON Associate Curator ALBERT C. SMITH, P H . D Associate Curator SARAH H. HARLOW. A. M Librarian H. H. RUSBY, M. D Honorary Curator of the Economic Collections FLEDA GRIFFITH Artist and Photographer ROBERT S. WILLIAMS Research Associate in Bryology E. J. ALEXANDER Assistant Curator and Curator of the Local Herbarium HAROLD N. MOLDENKE, PH. D Assistant Curator W. H. CAMP, PH. D Assistant Curator CLYDE CHANDLER, A. M Technical Assistant ROSALIE WEIKERT Technical Assistant CAROL H. WOODWARD, A. B Editorial Assistant THOMAS H. EVERETT, N. D. HORT Horticulturist G. L. WITTROCK, A. M Docent OTTO DEGENER, M. S Collaborator in Hawaiian Botany ROBERT HAGELSTEIN Honorary Curator of Myxomycetes ETHEL ANSON S. PECKHAM. . Honorary Curator, Iris and Narcissus Collections ARTHUR J. CORBETT Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds A. C PFANDER Assistant Superintendent PUBLICATIONS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN Books An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, by Nathaniel Lord Britton and Addison Brown. Three volumes, giving descriptions and illustrations of 4,666 species. Second edition, reprinted. $ 13.50. Flora of the Prairies and Plains of Central North America, by P. A. Rydberg. 969 pages and 601 figures. 1932. Price, $ 5.50 postpaid. Plants of the Vicinity of New York, by H. A. Gleason. 284 pages, illustrated. 1935. $ 1.65. Flora of Bermuda, by Nathaniel Lord Britton and others. 585 pages with 494 text figures. 1918. $ 3.50. A Text- book of General Lichenology, by Albert Schneider. 230 pages. 76 plates. 1897. $ 2.50. Periodicals Addisonia, semi- annual, devoted exclusively to colored plates accompanied by popular descriptions of flowering plants; eight plates in each number, thirty- two in each volume. Now in its twentieth volume. Subscription price, $ 10 a volume { two years). Not offered in exchange. Free to members of the Garden. Journal of The New York Botanical Garden, monthly, containing notes, news and non- technical articles. Subscription, $ 1 a year; single copies 10 cents. Free to members of the Garden. Now in its thirty- eighth volume. Mycologia, bimonthly, illustrated in color and otherwise; devoted to fungi, including lichens, containing technical articles and news and notes of general interest. $ 6 a year; single copies $ 1.25 each. Now in its twenty- ninth volume. Twenty- four Year Index volume $ 3 in paper, $ 3.50 in fabrikoid. Brittonia. A series of botanical papers. Subscription price, $ 5 a volume. Now in its second volume. North American Flora. Descriptions of the wild plants of North America, including Greenland, the West Indies, and Central America. Planned to be completed in 34 volumes, each to consist of four or more parts; 81 parts now issued. Subscription price, $ 1.50 per part; a limited number of separate parts will be sold for $ 2 each. Not offered in exchange. Contributions from The New York Botanical Garden. A series of technical papers written by students or members of the staff, and reprinted from journals other than the above. Price, 25 cents each, $ 5 a volume. In the fourteenth volume. Memoirs of The New York Botanical Garden. A collection of scientific papers. Volumes I'VII. Titles on request. Direct all orders to The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx Park, New York, N. Y. DIRECTIONS FOR REACHING THE BOTANICAL GARDEN The New York Botanical Garden is located in the Bronx, immediately north of the Zoological Park at Fordham Road, and at the south end of the Bronx River Parkway. It may be reached by local trains from Grand Central Terminal to the Botanical Garden Station ( 200th Street). To reach the Garden by the Elevated and Subway systems, take the Third Avenue Elevated to the end of the line ( Bronx Park Station); from the East and West Side subways, transfer from the Lexington or Seventh Avenue line to the Third Avenue Elevated at 149th Street and Third Avenue. By Eighth Avenue subway ( Independent system) take a C or CC train to Bedford Park Boulevard ( 200th Street), then walk east to the Garden. To come by motor from the city, drive north on Grand Concourse to Bedford Park Boulevard ( 200th Street), turn east there, and cross the railroad bridge into the Garden grounds.
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Contributor | New York Botanical Garden |
Date | 1937-05 |
Description-Table Of Contents | Rock Garden Week; A Simple Program for Disease and Pest Control in Gardens; Western Plants in Eastern Rock Gardens; Collecting Excursions for Myxomycetes; Exhibit of Fungi at Paris World's Fair; Some of the Plants to be Seen in the Thompsc i Memorial Rock Garden During May; Professor C. Conzatti: An Appreciation; Ten Complete Science Course; Corn Products Shown in New Exhibit; Notes, News, and Comment; Reviews of Recent Books. |
Format | application/pdf |
Format-Extent | 51 v. : ill. ; 25 cm. |
Identifier | 0885-4165 |
Language | eng |
Publisher | Bronx : New York Botanical Garden, 1900-1950 |
Relation-Is Part Of | Journal of the New York Botanical Garden : v. 1, no. 1-v. 51, no. 612 |
Relation-IsVersionOfURI | http://opac.nybg.org/record=b1104879 |
Rights | http://www.nybg.org/library/ |
Subject | Plants--Periodicals; Gardening--Periodicals; Plants, Cultivated--Periodicals; New York Botanical Garden--Periodicals. |
Title | Journal of the New York Botanical Garden |
Volume, Number | Vol. 38, no. 449 |
Type | text |
Transcript | VOL. XXXVIII . MAY, 1937 No. 449 JOURNAL of THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN Published monthly by The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx Park, New York. N. Y. Entered at the Post Office in New York. N". Y., as second- class matter. Annual subscription $ 1.00 Single copies 10 cents Free to members of the Garden JOURNAL OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN CAROL H. WOODWARD, Editor MAY, 1937 ROCK GARDEN WEEK 105 A SIMPLE PROGRAM FOR DISEASE AND PEST CONTROL IN GARDENS B. O. Dodge 106 WESTERN PLANTS IN EASTERN ROCK GARDENS P. J. van Melle 109 COLLECTING EXCURSIONS FOR MYXOMYCETES Robert Hagelstein 112 EXHIBIT OF FUNGI AT PARIS WORLD'S FAIR 115 SOME OF THE PLANTS TO BE SEEN IN THE THOMPSON MEMORIAL ROCK GARDEN DURING MAY 116- 117 PROFESSOR C CONZATTI: A N APPRECIATION W H. Camp 118 TEN COMPLETE SCIENCE COURSE 121 CORN PRODUCTS SHOWN IN NEW EXHIBIT 123 NOTES, NEWS, AND COMMENT 124 REVIEWS OF RECENT BOOKS 125 THE THOMPSON MEMORIAL ROCK GARDEN Established as a memorial to Dr. W Gilman Thompson, a former President of The New York Botanical Garden, the large rock garden secluded between the two ridges east of the Museum Building is serving horticulture in an important way. Visitors who come to view its many thousands of plants during Rock Garden Week and the month or more which follows will find there not only broad drifts of color designed for a pleasing picture, but will be able to observe hundreds of different kinds of plants which have been acquired from countries far and near. Even in the larger plantings of well known material, new or seldom seen varieties and species will be discovered. Other rarities will be found in small groups or single specimens, tucked away where their blooms will appear as pure gems set among the rocks. In planting these carefully chosen subjects, each is given the situation best suited to its growth, whether that be a limestone crevice, a peaty bog, a moraine, a wooded slope, a spot within reach of the spray from a waterfall, a heath or a grassy meadow or any other special location. From all over the world the Botanical Garden has gathered these plants for the rock garden. Through correspondence with collectors and growers and by exchange with other institutions in many countries, new species and others as yet little known in cultivation have been introduced into the Thompson Memorial Rock Garden. Native plants which are suited to rock garden cultivation are brought in from the region around New York. Other natives have been acquired from The New York Botanical Garden's own expeditions into the southern Appalachians and Rocky Mountains. The Botanical Garden is always ready to give information on the source and culture of the plants which it is attempting to introduce for the future enrichment of gardens. JOURNAL of THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN VOL. XXXVIII MAY, 1937 Xo. 449 ROCK GARDEN WEEK The last week in May will be observed as Rock Garden Week at The New York Botanical Garden, because this period is expected to open the season when the Thompson Memorial Rock Garden may be seen at its best. Special announcements are being issued to members and others, inviting them to visit the garden for an exclusive preview May 21 and 22. Rock Garden Week itself will extend from May 23 to 30. Among the showiest plants to be seen during that week will be the first of the many species and varieties of Dianthus, numerous Primula varieties, and many kinds of Arabis, Iberis, Alyssum, and related genera of crucifers, besides hundreds of other rock garden plants which will then be in bloom, some in broad drifts of color, others in small groups or as individual specimens. The season of exuberant bloom will last well into June, and all through the summer and fall there will be plants of interest in the rock garden. The end of May, however, has been selected as the time when the visitor can see the most in flower. The American Rock Garden Society will make a special trip to the Thompson Memorial Rock Garden the day after its annual meeting and show in New York the last of May. Other gardening organizations are also making special arrangements to visit the rock garden, not only during Rock Garden Week, but also at other times throughout May and June. Signs are being erected throughout the grounds to point the way for visitors to the Thompson Memorial Rock Garden, which lies in the glade east of the museum building. The gates will be kept open daily from 10 to 5. 105 106 A SIMPLE PROGRAM FOR DISEASE AND PEST CONTROL IN GARDENS This is the season when home gardeners should be giving some thought to the problems of disease and pest control. Abundant bloom and foliage when the flowers first appear do not necessarily mean their continuance throughout the summer. Annuals, perennials, shrubs, vines, and trees should be watched assiduously for signs of infestation. A few simple measures applied at the beginning— that is, when the first signs of insects or disease appear— will help to keep the garden at the peak of health until the flowers have been taken by the autumn frosts. The brief notes below comprise a summary of a lecture given by the writer at the Botanical Garden last February 13. Four divisions of pests and diseases are recognized here: sucking insects; chewing insects; fungous, bacterial, and virus diseases; and nematode or eelworm diseases. Remedies for each on the common garden plants of the vicinity are given under each division. One of the first rules of all to remember is never to throw refuse from any diseased plant on the compost heap. Handle it carefully and burn it at once. Some common sucking insects: ( 1) Aphids or plant lice. ( 2) Lace- bugs on azalea and rhododendron. ( 3) Mealy- bugs. ( 4) Scale insects. ( 5) Mites causing delphinium blacks and red-spider mites on many kinds of plants in dry weather. ( 6) Leafhoppers. ( 7) White- flies. ( 8) Thrips. Remedies: Use contact spray materials such as nicotine sulphate compounds ( tobacco extracts) or pyrethrum and rotenone preparations. Follow directions on container. Hit the under sides of the leaves. Use a fine spray with high pressure. Keep the sprayer clean. Nicotine dusts are easier to apply but less effective and more expensive. Certain plants infested with sucking insects require different measures of control. Important ones are listed here. For root aphids on asters, iris, etc., dig in tobacco dust around the base of plants. Mealy- bugs on any plant are best controlled by forcibly spraying infested plants with a fine spray from the garden hose. 107 Roses, lilacs, ash- trees, dogwoods, and willows infested with scale insects should be sprayed in the spring, before buds open, with either commercial lime sulphur, 1: 8, or a miscible oil, 1: 16. Japanese cherry, euonymus, tulip- poplar and magnolia harboring scale insects should be sprayed with a miscible oil, 1: 16. Some evergreens, such as Mugho and Scotch pines, harboring the needle scale insects may be sprayed with lime sulphur, 1: 8, while dormant. Summer sprays with the contact insecticides are safer for evergreens in general. Plants such as hollyhock, phlox, evergreens, etc., infested with red- spider mites should be dusted often with a fine dusting sulphur ; or when spraying use high pressure. Leafhoppers ( on dahlias, for example) are repelled by bordeaux mixture. Soak gladiolus corms ( from plants previously infested with thrips) with mercuric chloride 1: 1000, or one ounce to eight gallons of water, for two hours. Spray with contact sprays if necessary later. Chewing insects: ( 1) Caterpillars, bagworms, tent caterpillars and the like. ( 2) Beetles, such as the rose chafer, blister beetle, elm- leaf beetle, willow beetle, May beetle, Japanese and brown Asiatic beetles, etc. Remedies: ( a) Spray plants with arsenate of lead, one ounce to one gallon of water, or 4 to 6 pounds to 100 gallons. The arsenate acts more as a repellent against Japanese beetles. ( b) Beetles on blossom of roses, peonies, marigolds, etc., should be knocked off into a can of kerosene. Beetle traps are useful if the neighbors cooperate by also setting traps. ( c) If grubs of May beetle, Japanese beetle, etc., are killing lawn grasses, apply 10 pounds of arsenate of lead to each 1,000 square feet of lawn. Add sand or dry soil to aid in distributing it evenly; if applied as a spray, wash it in well with water. ( d) In early spring burn all leaves and rubbish on iris beds where plants have been infested with the borer. ( e) Cane borers of lilac and other plants can be killed by inserting a flexible wire; or cut out and burn infested canes. Common fungous, bacterial and virus diseases: ( 1) Powdery mildews on roses, grapes, lilacs, phlox, chrysanthemums, asters, etc. ( 2) Spot diseases such as rose black- spot, hollyhock rust, 108 leaf- spots of phlox, ' mums, dahlias, etc. ( 3) Gray mold on lilies, roses, peonies, etc. ( 4) Delphinium bacterial black- spot, twig-blight of lilac, rhododendron die- back, iris rhizome rot, delphinium root rot, aster and dahlia wilts. ( 5) Perennial rusts on sempervivum and blackberries. ( 6) Virus diseases of asters, dahlias, lilies, etc. Remedies: For plants infected with mildew, dust as needed. Begin early, dust when the foliage is dry, and when there is little wind. Avoid applying too much dust at once. Dust roses once a week with a fine dusting sulphur for black-spot ; the same for hollyhock rust. Plants infected with gray mold should be sprayed with bordeaux mixture. Pull back the mulching on peonies so that the base of the plants will keep dry in the spring. Cut out and burn blighted branches on lilac and rhododendron. Also cut and burn leaves and tops of delphiniums showing black-spot. In the spring spray the ground around delphiniums with bordeaux mixture if they showed black- spot the previous year. Cut out iris rhizomes showing a foul- smelling bacterial soft-rot. Saturate soil with semesan as directed or use some other reliable disinfectant. To sterilize garden plots where wilt diseases and root- rots have been severe, pulverize soil down to ten inches or so. Saturate thoroughly with formaldehyde, 1: 50. If the soil is dry use 1: 100 and use more of the solution. After ten days the plot may be planted. Destroy sempervivum plants and blackberries showing perennial rusts. Do not plant dahlia roots or lily bulbs from plants that showed mosaic ( a virus disease) the previous year. Nematode or celworm diseases and their cures: Phlox and certain other garden plants are attacked by a stem nematode. The worms come up inside the stems and branches, causing dwarfing and deformation of leaves. Dig up and destroy such plants. Garden ' mums are sometimes attacked by leaf nematodes. To avoid them use cuttings from healthy plants. If they appear, contact sprays applied frequently will kill both nematodes and aphids. If plants are diseased, rotate your crops or sterilize the soil. B. O. DODGE. 109 WESTERN PLANTS IN EASTERN ROCK GARDENS If there is one province of gardening in which the precept ' American plants for American gardens" must be taken with a grain of salt, it may well be lowland rock gardening, as in New York and the New England states. Even here, insofar as it contains an urge to explore and appreciate the flora of this and other regions of our country, it is an excellent precept, but as an indication of the comparative practical worth of native and exotic plants it seems hardly acceptable. Difficult as it is to express an estimate of their comparative importance in tangible terms, I venture, nevertheless, to present such a comparison— not by way of a precise statement, but rather as a matter of practical judgment. Out of every hundred first-rate plants for rock gardens in the area indicated, I judge that approximately eighty- five represent Old World materials, twelve eastern United States and three western United States sorts. By the adjective zvestcrn I mean, here, anything west of Ohio; and in the last two figures I am counting only endemic materials. To what extent the ratio here presented may eventually be changed, that is another guess. I rather doubt that it will be very greatly altered. I do not look for new introductions of eastern United States plants in such numbers as to affect the present ratio. As to western plants, the low percentage accorded them here does not represent the comparative number of western plants which are or may be made available, but rather the comparative number of them which prove upon practical trial to be satisfactory, reasonably permanent things for eastern gardens. It seems rather an ironic disposition of nature that the flora of our eastern rock gardens, compared with that of western European gardens, instead of reflecting the great plant- wealth of our western states, should render so poor an account of it. I am not at all willing to admit that this bespeaks ( as has so often been said) a lack of appreciation on our part of the western flora. I believe that the climate of northwestern Europe lends itself far better than ours to the successful cultivation of western United States plants. My experience and observations lead me to the conclusion that not one in fifty western plants available today can be grown successfully— that is, with an assurance of long life— in our eastern 110 rock gardens. A really worth- while rock- garden plant, I take it, must be both attractive and reasonably permanent. My estimate, therefore, excludes many beautiful western things which, though they may last a year or two in our gardens, must be continually renewed. With certain notable exceptions, the adjective western, in my experience, is synonymous with difficult or impermanent. Wishing to miss out on no worth- while discovery, one continues to experiment with these easily accessible western plants. But I have come to set down my trials of them as comparatively unprofitable, pleasurable as they may be. Trials of unfamiliar Old World or eastern United States plants yield a much larger percentage of first- rate materials. As to the suitability of plants from other regions to our eastern rock gardens, we live nearer to the Alps and the Himalayas than to the Rocky Mountains. Illustrations of the comparative difficulty of western plants abound. Who, for instance, finds it difficult to grow any of the hardy species of Sedum from the eastern United States or from the Old World? Yet, how many of the western kinds succeed in our gardens ? Again, in Iris— with the exception of certain notoriously difficult groups, such as the Onocyclus— what hardy Old World or eastern United States species cannot be readily grown in our gardens? But who succeeds for any length of time with the western kinds ? I have, from time to time, grown and flowered a number of them, and yet, there is not a good clump of any of them in my garden today. I find the line clearly drawn even between closely related sorts that look, for all the world, as though they should succeed under similar treatment. The eastern Iris cristata is not at all difficult. /. lacustris, which would seem to be simply a smaller version of it, behaves very poorly for me. Dicentra eximia, our eastern species, thrives and self- sows like a weed in my garden. D. formosa, from the West, simply will not grow for me. I admit that I have seen it thriving here and there, but I cannot seem to make it grow. Shall we say that lewisias, brodiaeas, calochortus and western erythroniums are generally satisfactory plants in eastern gardens? I do not think so. They will not last in my garden. If I would have them, I must plant them again and again. During the time that I have been trying these things without success, excellent bulbous plants have come into my garden from other parts of the world. I l l Undoubtedly other gardeners, more skilled than I, will at times succeed where I have failed with western plants. The common experience may, perhaps, fall out a little more favorably in eastern gardens closer to the seashore than mine. But I feel justified in observing that, as a lot, western United States plants are far from Mahonia Aquifolium, one of the best of western shrubs for eastern culture. Its blossoms, fruits, and shining evergreen leaves which are often reddish are equally beautiful in successive seasons. satisfactory for amateurs' rock gardens in these parts; and that their practical value for eastern rock gardens has been rather seriously exaggerated in late years in our gardening magazines. The glowing accounts of them appearing in such publications have for the greater part come straight from the West, without benefit of practical trial in eastern gardens. A glance at my garden records reveals exceedingly meager net results from trials of western plants. In fact they do not nearly measure up to the humble three percent in my estimate, which allows for a good many plants with which others have succeeded and I have failed. I find today only the following really good and abiding plants of considerable garden merit: 112 Actinea ( Tetraneuris) simplex Malvastrum coccineiim Aquilcgia cacrulca Petrophytum caespitosum Eriogonum umbcllatum Sedum oreganum Eriophylhtm caespitosum Vancouvcria hexandra Mahonia Aquifolium Viola rugulosa Besides these, there are a few plants concerning which I prefer to reserve judgment. They include Polemonium carncum, and the new Talinum Okanoganense— both very beautiful things, which I hope may prove fairly long- lived. But in view of the almost unlimited wealth of lovely abiding things which are available from other sources, I am not inclined to count every beautiful and fleeting westerner among the list of first- rate plants, or even of good plants. Undoubtedly, western plants will continue to intrigue the curiosity of gardeners, and to provide interesting play for skillful experimentation. But as far as any general use or recommendation of them is concerned for amateurs' gardens, I am satisfied that, on the whole, they represent a most difficult and unsatisfactory lot. Let us have " American plants for American gardens"— by all means, in so far as we can find first- rate American plants. But let us, above all, insist on the best only. P. J. VAN MELLE. COLLECTING EXCURSIONS FOR MYXOMYCETES Nearly 1,000 specimens of Myxomycetes have been added to the Herbarium of The New York Botanical Garden during the past year of 1936. A few have been acquired by exchange with other students, but the great majority were collected in the field with the assistance of my associates, Mr. Joseph H. Rispaud and Mr. John D. Thomas. A series of eight separate trips which were made into the mountains of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia required more than 6,000 miles of automobile traveling and more than eight weeks of time during the collecting season from June to November. Among the rare species gathered, several were found for the first time east of the region of the Pacific Coast and one species and one form of another for the first time in North America. 113 An early trip in June to the northern reaches of the Catskills, in Schoharie County, New York, was not productive, as the elusive forms were not yet in fruit, so advantage was taken of the opportunity to visit the State Museum at Albany, and arrange with Dr. H. D. House, State Botanist, for the examination, verification, and boxing of the Museum's collection of Myxomycetes, which has since been done. Excursions to the same region in October and November yielded several interesting species. Among An unusual form of Fuligo scptica found by the author while collecting Myxomycetes in the Catskills last fall. them were numerous developments of a form which so far has not been reported from North America, a phase of the common Fuligo septica ( L.) Weber with the cortex replaced by a brainlike layer of perfected sporangia. The wild, wooded, mountainous regions of Pike County, Penn sylvania, and Sussex County, New Jersey, on opposite sides of the Delaware River, were fruitful fields where more than 90 species were collected over several trips. Cribraria oregana Gilb. was found near High Point, in Sussex County. This species, which bears its spores in a brown net resembling a tiny bird- cage on a pole, was proposed by Gilbert in 1932, and so far has not been reported elsewhere than from Oregon. We also found the rare species, Didymhun anomalum Sturg., recognizable by the white calcareous processes like microscopic pillars connecting the upper and lower layers of the form. This was later collected repeatedly in Pike County, and on one occasion in great abundance. In Pike County were also found several other rare forms: the globular nets of Hemitrichia abictina ( Wig.) List, on slender 114 stalks, the black Hymenobolina parasitica Zukal and the brown Kleistobolus pusillus Lipp., the last two consisting of minute cups covered with glassy lids, beneath which lie many large, loose, shining spores. Licea flexuosa Pers., a form which is sometimes serpentine in outline, of deep brown with bright yellow spores, was likewise collected there. The longest journey, in August, was made through the forests and mountains of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Conditions were not too good because of the long prevailing dry weather, but nevertheless hundreds of developments were found in damp wooded areas, and among them was the black and yellow Trichia cascadensis Gilb., whose spores are intermingled in the cupules with free threads. This species so far has not been reported from eastern North America. An interesting feature of this trip was a visit to the great Ripogenus Dam, built in the deep forest some forty miles north of Moosehead Lake, Maine. The foray of the Mycological Society of America at Mountain Lake, Virginia, in September, was a pleasant affair for the members and friends who took part. The lake is situated at an altitude of nearly 4,000 feet, affording superb mountain views and opportunities for collecting at fairly high altitudes. The party was delightfully located in the cottages and laboratory of the University of Virginia, which maintains a summer station there. Bearing chestnut trees were plentiful in the region, so abundant collections of Arcyria globosa Schw. were made. This species fruits only upon the old burs of chestnut, where it is noticeable because it powders the burs with white dots. Collecting on Long Island, where we reside, was continued during the intervals between the outside excursions. Another new record for Long Island, and at the same time for North America, was the finding of Physarum ovisporum G. List., recognized by its irregular, rough mottling with a deposit of white lime. The sum of the entire season's collecting was 135 species, represented by more than 1,200 fruitings. The majority have been boxed and added to the Garden's Herbarium, and the remainder will be used for exchange purposes. ROBERT HAGELSTEIN. 115 EXHIBIT OF FUNGI AT PARIS WORLD'S FAIR At the World's Fair which opened in Paris the first of May, part of the scientific exhibit shows the work of Dr. B. O. Dodge on sexuality and hybridization among the ascomycetes. The invitation to contribute a display came from Dr. R. Kiihner, Professor of Botany at the Sorbonne. The exhibit, which covers about 9 by 12 feet of wall space, is concerned with three genera with which Dr. Dodge has done special work: Neurospora, Gelasinospora, and Ptenrage. The principal one among these is Neurospora, the bakery mold, which for untold centuries, until present- day sanitation has helped to eradicate it, has been the plague of bakers, and which in every known war has also caused bread in great quantities to become uneatable. Sixty- three mounted photographs in seven series of nine pictures each tell the story of these fungi. There is a master caption for each set and a separate caption for each photograph. The first row shows the morphology and gives the general life history of all three genera. A colored photograph showing striking sex- linked characters is included in this series. In the second set is shown the effect of spermatization on fecundation, followed by pictures taken at six- hour intervals to show the development of the fungus that has been fertilized. Number three contrasts the " normal" fecundation illustrated above with a newly discovered type, brought about by using monilioid conidia. In the row below, phases of fecundation through nuclear migration, without the aid of " male" or " female" bodies are shown. Three stories are told in series number five: The first interspecific hybrids produced in fungi are shown from Dr. Dodge's photographs made during his first research on this subject in 1927. Next is illustrated mendelian segregation of albino types as contrasted with orange- colored wild types; also segregation of sex factors is shown. Third, the effect of lethal factors in producing ascus abortion in Neurospora tetrasperma, a species from Surinam, is illustrated. The sixth set of pictures reveals how the lethal factor may be carried over into another species, through interspecific hybridization, with the same effect as above. This work illustrates for the first time mendelian dominance among the fungi. The seventh series of photographs shows reactions between bisexual and unisexual races in the fungi under investigation. SOME OF THE PLANTS TO BE SEEN IN THE THOMPSON MEMORIAL ROCK GARDEN DURING MAY 1. Houstonia serpyllifolid 2. Campanula cochlearifolia 3. Tulipa biflora. tur\ estanica 118 PROFESSOR C. CONZATTI: AN APPRECIATION On a table in my office, as I write this, are stacked more than seven hundred carefully pressed specimens collected within the last few months by one of the most interesting and remarkable men it ever has been my pleasure to meet. For some years we have been in correspondence concerning certain of the Mexican Ericales but it was not until last winter that I had the pleasure of making his acquaintance. It was one of those warm brilliant days such as Oaxaca knows in December. I had found my way to a street at the edge of town and knocked at a great iron- studded door. During the brief moment I waited, I looked to the north toward El Cerro de San Felipe standing guard over the Valley of Oaxaca. This mountain is a botanical shrine and is the type locality of numerous species. That day its lower slopes were drenched in the golden sunshine of southern Mexico. Its crest, reaching nearly two miles into the air, had caught a passing cloud and was draped in a billowy shawl. Presently I heard the scrape of a latch, and with the creak of old hinges the great door swung open. There was a flash of sunlight on plants blooming in a Mexican patio and then before me with outstretched arms, welcoming me into his house, stood Professor Conzatti. He is slight of build, but with an erect carriage that belies his years. He has a wealth of silver hair, keen eyes, and a radiant smile that matches the sun in his garden. We embraced as old friends in the Mexican manner and I was ushered into his home. I wish that I might describe his patio garden, but the species it contains would fill a book:— fragrant oranges; coffee bushes with red fruit; pots with rare sedums; trees, shrubs, and herbs in profusion, some of them bearing his own name. Nearly a hundred new species are due to his collecting and study, and the caesal-piniaceous Conzattia with its graceful thornless stems and gorgeous flowers, seemingly dipped in the yellow of old gold, is so like him that no more fitting monument could have been chosen by Dr. Rose when he named this genus. Prof. Cassiano Conzatti was born Aug. 13, 1862, at Gvezzano, near Trent, Tridentine Venice, at that time under Austrian rule. 1 In 1865 the family moved to Borgo Sacco near Rovereto. There 1 These essential facts have been taken from a brief autobiography prepared at my request and now on file in the Library of The New York Botanical Garden. 119 he finished his elementary education and in 1876 he entered the Rovereto High School, but was unable to finish because of the death of his father. Approaching the age when he would be forced into military service under the Austrian flag he took advantage of an offer to join an Italian colonization expedition to Mexico, landing at Vera Cruz with his mother and older brother in 1881 after a voyage of 36 days. Photograph of Professor Conzatti taken March 3, 1937, while pressing plants near the " ball- court" of the ancient ruins on Monte Alban, near Oaxaca. They settled in the village of Manuel Gonzalez about four miles from the city of Huatusco and lived there for two years, during which time other members of his family joined the colonists. Moving into Jalapa, he matriculated at a private college and, having mastered the Spanish language, was graduated and later became a teacher at the County School of Coatepec. He was soon transferred to the New Vera Cruz Normal School at Jalapa. In December 1889 he was promoted to the Directorship of the 120 Orizaba Model School and in 1891 was given charge of the Oaxaca Normal School for Teachers. This post he held for nearly twenty years until forced to resign on account of ill health. It was during this period that his interest in plants was crystalized through friendship with such men as the Reverend Lucius C. Smith, who lived in Oaxaca, and Dr. C. G. Pringle, dean of Mexican collectors, who visited the region on numerous occasions between 1894 and 1906. Dr. Pringle was accompanied by Prof. Conzatti on various trips and the recently published notes2 of Dr. Pringle indicate that Prof. Conzatti was a trusted friend. Through the effort of Prof. Conzatti and under the approval of the Department of Agriculture and Public Works, a Botanical Garden was founded at Oaxaca. later supplemented by an Agricultural Experiment Station. Professor Conzatti was appointed Director of the Garden at the end of 1909. For nearly five years he labored at this task against tremendous odds and with a negligible budget. Just as the Oaxaca Botanical Garden was beginning to take shape and the ground becoming green with its hundreds of species of plants, its Director awoke one day to find that some petty official had decided that there was no place for the Garden in the Experiment Station and had plowed it under, ostensibly to plant maize. Today, even the building which housed the Agricultural Experiment Station is a pile of ruins. After this painful reversal. Professor Conzatti in October 1915 was appointed Associate of the Division of Biological Research, then under the direction of Prof. A. L. Herrera. In March 1916 he was promoted to the post of Sectional Head in the Institute of General and Medical Biology, Division of Biological Research, where he labored until December 1918. In January 1919 he was appointed Resident Explorer of Oaxaca for the Division of Biological Research, and held this position until March 1922. In April 1922 he was appointed Chief Technical Inspector for the Installation of New Schools for the State of Oaxaca. He continued in this position until April 1924 when he became Federal Inspector of Schools in the State of Oaxaca. He served in this capacity until December 1927. Thus ended 47 years of continuous public service in official capacities. A truly enviable record. 2 The editor of these notes ( Life and Work of Cyrus Guernsey Pringle by H. B. Davis) has confused the Professor with his son Hugo, who also accompanied Dr. Pringle on several excursions near Oaxaca. 121 I trust that Professor Conzatti will pardon this intrusion into his private life, but it is so much a part of him that I cannot resist recounting certain events as told to me by a mutual friend. His long service with the public schools was rewarded by a pension in the form of bonds. These bonds later were repudiated. The year he retired from public service his house was badly damaged by an earthquake. He rebuilt it. In 1932 a more severe earthquake damaged it still further. He rebuilt again, but this time his financial resources were sadly depleted. The discomforts and trials he has had through these last years are known only to himself. In the same situation many lesser men would have turned their faces to the wall. But not Cassiano Conzatti. Long ago he was cast in a different mold. Others might have failed, but his spirit has not dimmed. I found him in his herbarium, surrounded by his books and specimens, busily at work on the manuscript of " A Revision of the Flora of Mexico." I cherish the hours spent with him collecting in the swamps of the Valley of Oaxaca and among the ancient ruins on Monte Alban where, years ago, he collected with Pringle and Smith. I often think of the laughter we shared, piecing together a conversation with bits of Spanish. English, French, Italian, and Latin— neither of us being fluent in a common tongue. Nor can I ever forget his great personal charm, his genuine enthusiasm and wistful desire that his work might be of some use to the world. It was cold the morning I left Oaxaca, yet he had walked the long distance to the station just to bid farewell and wish me a safe journey. One remembers such things— always. W. H. CAMP. TEX COMPLETE SCIEXCE COURSE Ten students received certificates for completion of the Science Course for Professional Gardeners offered by The New York Botanical Garden in brief exercises conducted April 19 in the rooms of the Horticultural Society of New York, where the weekly lectures have been given. Four of the graduates this year were student gardeners who for the past two years or more have been working full time at the Botanical Garden and attending the Science Course, which is part of their training. One was an exchange student from Kew, 122 England, who received a certificate for the two courses which he completed during his year here, and the other five came from estates around New York. This was the fifth graduation ceremony for members of the course, which was started in 1932. The studies undertaken include systematic botany ( two terms), plant physiology, plant morphology, plant pathology, entomology, soils and fertilizers, and plant breeding. Henry de Forest Baldwin, Vice- president of The New York Botanical Garden, was the first to address the graduating students at their exercises. He spoke of horticulture as an art— a democratic art— which appeals to all civilized mankind, and of professional gardeners as teachers or evangelists who are able to show other men how to produce surroundings of beauty for themselves. " The greatest reward of life," he said, " is found in seeking beauty as an end in itself." To pursue any art, he pointed out, requires discipline; in some arts, exclusive dedication of oneself. But in gardening, substantial and satisfactory results can be obtained when it is followed only as an avocation. Even then, he admonished, it should be approached with sincerity and intelligence, and that is where the background of science becomes useful. " The investment made in this course," he said to the student gardeners, " is an investment which can not be lost. It will accumulate dividends for you as long as you live." Mrs. Dorothy E. Hansell, in speaking for the National Association of Gardeners, pledged the continued support of that organization as long as the Garden should sponsor training for professional gardeners. Two of the first graduates of the course, J. G. Esson and P. J. McKenna, addressed the students, Mr. Esson defining a " skilled gardener" with a century- old quotation from Loudon's Encyclopedia of Gardening: " A skilled gardener is one who is skilled in horticultural production, whether that production relates to utility, ornament, or recreation." Mr. McKenna, in emphasizing the advantages of study, said that had more men in this country previously studied principles such as are taught in the science course, there would be less human suffering today as a result of the misuse of natural resources, with the attendant floods, erosion, and droughts. In defining their 123 profession he said to the student gardeners: " Your factory is the green leaf, and your laboratory the earth. It is your business to work with nature, not against it. Without the fundamentals such as you have been learning, ultimate success in your field is impossible. The profession of horticulture in this enlightened day calls for knowledge, experience, and training." Dr. H. A. Gleason, who presided, closed the ceremonies with a short address in which he pointed to the need of keeping on learning and applying all useful knowledge available to the practice of horticulture. The best gardeners, he concluded, possess three essential qualities: being good plantsmen, being endowed with the gift of leadership, and having a general knowledge which extends beyond the immediate field of horticulture. Certificates were presented by Dr. Forman T. McLean to John Armstrong, Martin James Crehan, John James Harrison, and Franklin C. Moore of The XTew York Botanical Garden and to William G. Cabrey. Jr., Eric Lawaetz, David Penson, Edward W. Robinson, and John Andrew Smith. Charles J. Collins, exchange student from Kew, received his upon his return from a western trip, just before sailing back to England. CORN PRODUCTS SHOWN IN NEW EXHIBIT Commercial products of corn and how they are developed, from the time the seed is planted until the manufactured article is packaged for the market, are shown in a new exhibit on the main floor of the museum building. Maps indicate the principal corn- growing regions of the United States and of the world. Charts in color picture the corn plant and its growth and show details of the structure of the ears and kernels. On the major chart, every process of manufacture is traced from the ripe corn to the finished packages of feed, meal, starch, dextrine, syrup, sugar, and oil. The exhibit has been contributed to the Botanical Garden by the Corn Products Refining Company. Also in the display are shown two measuring devices, one for determining the angle between the leaf and stem in a stalk of corn, the other for recording the length, diameter, and shape of an ear of corn. The leaf- angle indicates the suitability of a variety of corn for a certain locality, an acute angle indicating a drought- 124 resistant quality, Dr. Basil M. Bensin, designer of the apparatus, explains. The second instrument is the one which was used in making measurements for the regional types of corn which are shown in an adjoining exhibit. These were explained in the December Journal. In an additional exhibit, three original charts by Dr. Bensin illustrate ecological studies of corn- plant ecotypes which appear under certain environmental conditions in various agricultural regions. By systematic comparative studies of such types from different parts of the world, Dr. Bensin explains, a basis for standard methods of culture, acclimatization, and introduction of new crop plants could be established for each agricultural region. NOTES, NEWS, AND COMMENT Spring vacation time in universities and colleges brought a number of botanists to The Xew York Botanical Garden for special study. From Michigan came Dr. William C. Steere, extending his work on mosses, Dr. Alexander H. Smith, proceeding with special work on the higher fungi, and Frederick J. Hermann, continuing his studies of the Juncaceae. Prof. H. E. McMinn came from Mills College, Calif., Prof. Erling Dorf from Princeton University, Robert T. Clausen from the Bailey Hortorium at Ithaca, Prof. Bernard S. Meyer from Ohio State University, and Reed C. Rollins and Alan A. Beetle from the Gray Herbarium at Harvard. Dr. Ralph C. Benedict brought a group of students from Brooklyn College. Dr. Helen Purdy Beale of the Boyce Thompson Institute was among other April visitors. * * * At the monthly conference of the staff and registered students of the Garden on April 14, Dr. W. H. Camp spoke ou " Continental Migration and Plant Distribution." * * * Dr. A. B. Stout has been appointed Collaborator of the United States Forest Service, his cooperation to be particularly in the newly developed work in tree breeding, of which Dr. E. J. Schreiner, a former student at the Garden, is in special charge. * * * Walter S. Groesbeck, who had been Clerk and Accountant for The New York Botanical Garden since 1899, retired from active service with the Garden as of May 1. At the same time, Henry Friedman, who had been his office associate for an almost equal number of years, also retired. 125 REVIEWS OF RECENT BOOKS ( All publications reviewed here may be consulted in the Library of The New York Botanical Garden.) HOUSE- PLANTS FOR EYERYOXE1 In his book on growing plants indoors, Allen Wood starts from the beginning—" from scratch," so to speak. He wishes his instruction to be so clear and detailed that " wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein." Most of us who have gardened for years do not want to confess ourselves fools or wayfarers, yet we are always beginners to some extent in this expanding world of flowers and each " house- planter" can find much that is interesting here. If for nothing else, the lists of new or fairly new plants suggest the possibility of many hopeful experiments. Instruction is given for potting, repotting, soils; for giving ventilation, heat, light, water, food; for pruning, for the care of seedlings; suggestions for the home type of greenhouse and terrarium. Bulbous plants are considered, cacti and other succulents, vines, miscellaneous house- plants, insects and much else. A list of plants for decoration is given, with flowering period, color, botanical and common names. One may question some details, and occasionally may not agree with the naming, which is not always in accordance with the Kew Index. One may feel that lists of mesembryanthema should include more of the actual Mesembryanthemum and Lampranthus types, which flower readily and profusely in pots under fairly cool conditions. One may think— having tried it— that Gloriosa superba would not be likely to flourish under house or even most home greenhouse conditions and wonder why the fact was not mentioned that Crinum campanulatum grows in water; but it is easy to find faults in any book of the kind and in this one there is much that is good and the rest is not so important. It will be very helpful to the indoor gardener. SARAH V. COOMBS. BEAUTY ALONG THE HIGHWAY2 " Roadsides, the Front Yard of the Nation," is a textbook for highway departments and their officials, and into the little book Mr. Bennett has managed to crowd a surprisingly large amount of information, including specifications for trees, shrubs, sod, grass and other seeds, formulas for fertilizers, etc. 1 Wood, Allen H. Jr. Grow Them Indoors. 221 pages, illustrated, indexed. Hale. Cushman & Flint, Boston, 1936. $ 1.75. 2 Bennett, J. M. Roadsides, The Front Yard of the Nation. 233 pages, illustrated. The Stratford Company, Boston, 1936. $ 3.00. 126 The handling, planting, and pruning of trees is well taken care of. His definition of parkways, freeways, and highways is excellent and it is easily seen that the book was written by a man with vast experience in the handling of plant material for roadside purposes. Such things as signs, gas stations, and roadside sanitation are discussed at length and with intelligence. Though a great opportunity was lost to bring out the fact that road improvement should begin with its design in relation to the existing landscape and contours, and though rather too little space is given to the design of the planting, it is a book well worth the writing and one extremely useful to anyone connected with highway or parkway improvements. HERMANN W. MERKEL, General Superintendent, Westchester County Park Commission. FINE PHOTOGRAPHS OF TREES3 All who admire trees in their varied aspects from season to season will enjoy Thomas O. Sheckell's picture- book, which contains 82 of his own photographs of trees, made over the years in many parts of the country. Turning the pages at random we find lone trees on rocky heights, dogwood and apple- trees in the fullness of their spring bloom, the eccentric Joshua- tree of the southwestern desert, a Torrey pine on the California coast, the inevitable but always picturesque Monterey cypresses, elms above a flowery meadow in XTew Jersey, snow- laden branches, the dead chestnuts of the East, giant redwoods, and landscapes in which trees predominate. The book carries the reader pleasantly into many regions of familiar scenes. Selections from the original photographs which comprise the book were on view at the Botanical Garden during April. CAROL H. WOODWARD. GARDENS FOR CITY DWELLERS4 One hears so much about the trials of gardens in our large cities, about the dearth of trees, injuries from gas, soot, and improper light, that it is refreshing to find an occasional hopeful note. An attractive new volume tells an encouraging story of backyard and penthouse gardens, and reenforces this with even more attractive pictures of some of the fine gardens of the members of the City Gardens Club of New York, of which Miss McKenny is the able executive secretary. The style of the book 3 Sheckell, Thomas O. Trees. 82 illustrations, unpaged. Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York, 1936. $ 4.00. 4 McKenny, Margaret, and Seymour, E. L. D. Your City Garden. 215 pages, illustrated, indexed. D. Appleton- Centurv Company, New York, 1937. $ 2.50. 127 is graceful and pleasing, more given to interesting anecdotes than to being over- burdened with prosy dictums. Such general suggestions as there are on garden building and care are terse and direct. One suspects this to be the work of Mr. Seymour particularly. Many entertaining items are sprinkled through, like the reference to the Chinese Actinidia- vine, which is apparently a rival of catnip in attracting cats. One wishes that somebody would discover a plant to drive cats away from the garden. The list of plants recommended for city gardens is an extensive one, and one wonders if the picture of flowering rhododendrons and mountain laurels, hydrangeas and honeysuckles, may be a little too roseate. If so, those with courage to attempt gardens amid city skyscrapers need encouragement. Window and conservatory gardens get their share of notice, and most appropriately the city garden clubs, which encourage the city dweller's planting activities, are given their just mead of praise. FORMAN T. MCLEAN. IN THE GREAT SMOKIES5 Reared near the Great Smokies and for the last ten years having spent half of each year in her cottage near Gatlinburg, Miss Thornborough brings to her book sincerity and authenticity. Hers is a genuine enthusiasm for this interesting area, but one detects here and there a bit of nostalgia for the days that are past, for the ghosts of the mountaineers who once peopled the valleys in what is now the Park Area stalk through its pages. The average vacationist will rejoice with the news that so many trails have been opened and graded, but to some of us old reactionaries who like peace even at the price of a bit of discomfort it is disconcerting to find that: " As late as 1932, the ascent ( of Mt. Le Conte) was a true test of one's mountain climbing ability. XTow, modern trails have made the ascent a simple matter, . . . In 1936, instead of a mere handful, the astounding number of ten thousand people climbed Le Conte. . . . " I was one of them, but did not know it was that bad. The jacket tells us that: " This pleasing volume comes near to answering every question the prospective tourist could ask." The book does just that and does it so admirably that I can ( vouching for its authenticity) unhesitatingly recommend it to those who have not yet visited the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and who in the near future intend to do a little " exploring" on its boulevard trails. W. H. CAMP. 5 Thornborough, Laura. The Great Smoky Mountains. 147 pages, illustrated, indexed. Thomas Y. Crowell Company, New York, 1937. $ 2.00. 128 THE ROMANCE OF TEAG The next time you are invited to tea you might pause for a moment and think of the centuries of history that lie behind those crumpled tea leaves. It is difficult for the average person to satisfy the questions that inevitably arise in his mind, for many of the reference books and records are not available, some of them having been long out of print, while others are written in the mysterious characters of China. In " The Romance of Tea," however, Mr. Ukers has brought together the answers to these questions and has presented a complete treatment of the subject couched in understandable terms and told in an interesting way, even to the best recipes for making iced tea. While the sinologues might find fault with the way the fifth and sixth strokes of the character " ch'a" on page 5 are inscribed, the historical account of tea, its legendary origin in the mythical era of the emperor Shen-nung in China, its cultivation first as a medicinal and then as an article of commerce, the quaint story of Daruma, the Buddhist missionary from India to China in 520 A. D., and the systematiza-tion of the knowledge of tea cultivation in the Tea Classic, or Ch'a Ching written by Lu- Yu in 780 A. D., together with the spread of this knowledge through all of Asia, comprise a fascinating picture of romance and adventure. After thrilling descriptions of the great expeditions after tea, from Marco Polo to Robert Fortune in 1843, and the commercial battles of even later years, the technique of planting tea and the different varieties are considered. Then come the social aspects of drinking tea, with reference particularly to its effect on the fine arts, such as oriental ceramics. I wish this treatise could have ended right there; but no, as a concession to the practical side of modern existence we had to be told just how much tannin and caffeine are in tea— interesting, but not nearly so romantic as the story pictured by the Chinese Willow pattern, or glimpses of Dr. Samuel Johnson gulping endless cups of tea in his favorite haunts, or peeking into Mincing Lane to watch the excitement just before one of the China clippers was about to dock. With so much material to compress between the covers of one volume it is no wonder that Mr. Ukers has to battle to keep his story from reading at times like a catalogue, but he does so with admirable success. W. M. PORTERFIELD. 6 Ukers, William H. The Romance of Tea. 276 pages, illustrated indexed. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1936. $ 3. THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN BOARD OF MANAGERS I. ELECTIVE MANAGERS Until 1938: L. H. BAILEY, MARSHALL FIELD, MRS. ELON HUNTINGTON HOOKER, JOHN L. MERRILL ( Vice- president), COL. ROBERT H. MONTGOMERY, H. HOBART PORTER, and RAYMOND H. TORREY. Until 1939: ARTHUR M. ANDERSON, HENRY W. DE FOREST ( President), CLARENCE LEWIS, E. D. MERRILL, and HENRY DE LA MONTAGNE ( Secretary and Assistant Treasurer). Until 1940: HENRY DE FOREST BALDWIN ( Vice- president), CHILDS FRICK, ADOLPH LEWISOHN, HENRY LOCKHART, JR., D. T. MACDOUGAL, and JOSEPH R. SWAN ( Treasurer). II. EX- OFFICIO MANAGERS FIORELLO H. LAGUARDIA, Mayor of the City of New York. ROBERT MOSES, Park Commissioner. HENRY C. TURNER, President of the Board of Education. III. APPOINTIVE MANAGERS TRACY E. HAZEN, appointed by the Torrey Botanical Club. R. A. HARPER, SAM F. TRELEASE, EDMUND W. SINNOTT, and MAKSTOX T. BOGEHT, appointed by Columbia University. GARDEN STAFF H. A. GLEASON, PH. D Deputy Director and Head Curator HENRY DE LA MONTAGNE Assistant Director JOHN K. SMALL, PH. D., SC. D Chief Research Associate and Curator A. B. STOUT, P H . D Director of the Laboratories FRED J. SEAVER, P H . D., SC. D Curator BERNARD O. DODGE, PH. D Plant Pathologist FORMAN T. MCLEAN, M. F., PH. D Supervisor of Public Education JOHN HENDLEY BARNHART, A. M., M. D... Bibliographer and Admin. Assistant PERCY WILSON Associate Curator ALBERT C. SMITH, P H . D Associate Curator SARAH H. HARLOW. A. M Librarian H. H. RUSBY, M. D Honorary Curator of the Economic Collections FLEDA GRIFFITH Artist and Photographer ROBERT S. WILLIAMS Research Associate in Bryology E. J. ALEXANDER Assistant Curator and Curator of the Local Herbarium HAROLD N. MOLDENKE, PH. D Assistant Curator W. H. CAMP, PH. D Assistant Curator CLYDE CHANDLER, A. M Technical Assistant ROSALIE WEIKERT Technical Assistant CAROL H. WOODWARD, A. B Editorial Assistant THOMAS H. EVERETT, N. D. HORT Horticulturist G. L. WITTROCK, A. M Docent OTTO DEGENER, M. S Collaborator in Hawaiian Botany ROBERT HAGELSTEIN Honorary Curator of Myxomycetes ETHEL ANSON S. PECKHAM. . Honorary Curator, Iris and Narcissus Collections ARTHUR J. CORBETT Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds A. C PFANDER Assistant Superintendent PUBLICATIONS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN Books An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, by Nathaniel Lord Britton and Addison Brown. Three volumes, giving descriptions and illustrations of 4,666 species. Second edition, reprinted. $ 13.50. Flora of the Prairies and Plains of Central North America, by P. A. Rydberg. 969 pages and 601 figures. 1932. Price, $ 5.50 postpaid. Plants of the Vicinity of New York, by H. A. Gleason. 284 pages, illustrated. 1935. $ 1.65. Flora of Bermuda, by Nathaniel Lord Britton and others. 585 pages with 494 text figures. 1918. $ 3.50. A Text- book of General Lichenology, by Albert Schneider. 230 pages. 76 plates. 1897. $ 2.50. Periodicals Addisonia, semi- annual, devoted exclusively to colored plates accompanied by popular descriptions of flowering plants; eight plates in each number, thirty- two in each volume. Now in its twentieth volume. Subscription price, $ 10 a volume { two years). Not offered in exchange. Free to members of the Garden. Journal of The New York Botanical Garden, monthly, containing notes, news and non- technical articles. Subscription, $ 1 a year; single copies 10 cents. Free to members of the Garden. Now in its thirty- eighth volume. Mycologia, bimonthly, illustrated in color and otherwise; devoted to fungi, including lichens, containing technical articles and news and notes of general interest. $ 6 a year; single copies $ 1.25 each. Now in its twenty- ninth volume. Twenty- four Year Index volume $ 3 in paper, $ 3.50 in fabrikoid. Brittonia. A series of botanical papers. Subscription price, $ 5 a volume. Now in its second volume. North American Flora. Descriptions of the wild plants of North America, including Greenland, the West Indies, and Central America. Planned to be completed in 34 volumes, each to consist of four or more parts; 81 parts now issued. Subscription price, $ 1.50 per part; a limited number of separate parts will be sold for $ 2 each. Not offered in exchange. Contributions from The New York Botanical Garden. A series of technical papers written by students or members of the staff, and reprinted from journals other than the above. Price, 25 cents each, $ 5 a volume. In the fourteenth volume. Memoirs of The New York Botanical Garden. A collection of scientific papers. Volumes I'VII. Titles on request. Direct all orders to The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx Park, New York, N. Y. DIRECTIONS FOR REACHING THE BOTANICAL GARDEN The New York Botanical Garden is located in the Bronx, immediately north of the Zoological Park at Fordham Road, and at the south end of the Bronx River Parkway. It may be reached by local trains from Grand Central Terminal to the Botanical Garden Station ( 200th Street). To reach the Garden by the Elevated and Subway systems, take the Third Avenue Elevated to the end of the line ( Bronx Park Station); from the East and West Side subways, transfer from the Lexington or Seventh Avenue line to the Third Avenue Elevated at 149th Street and Third Avenue. By Eighth Avenue subway ( Independent system) take a C or CC train to Bedford Park Boulevard ( 200th Street), then walk east to the Garden. To come by motor from the city, drive north on Grand Concourse to Bedford Park Boulevard ( 200th Street), turn east there, and cross the railroad bridge into the Garden grounds. |
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