CONTENTS. ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. General Subject. ART. I. Some Plants of Danvers and Wenham, Essex County, Massachusetts. By John Lewis Russell, Professor of Botany, &c., to Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Horticulture. ART. II. The Averill Apple, its Origin, &c., with a description of the Fruit. By L. P. Grosvenor, Pomfret, Conn.; in a letter to Samuel Walker, Esq., President of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. With an Engraving of the Fruit. By the Editor, 289 296 ART. III. Notice of a New Plum, called the Drap d'Or of Esperin, with an Engraving of the Fruit. By the Editor, 298 ART. IV. A few hints on Summer Pruning Pyramidal Pear Trees. By the Editor, Floriculture. ART. V. ART. VI. On the Cultivation of the Pansy. By Mr. Turner, 300 303 Chalvey, near Windsor. With Remarks by the Editor, 304 ART. VII. Floricultural and Botanical Notices of New and Beautiful Plants figured in Foreign Periodicals; with MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. ART. I......General Notices, ART. II....Foreign Notices, . ART. III... Domestic Notices, ART. IV...Albany and Rensselaer Horticultural Society, 316 Prated by Dutton & Wentworth, No. 37 Congrees St. Boston. THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. JULY, 1849. ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. ART. I. Some Plants of Danvers and Wenham, Essex County, Massachusetts. By JOHN LEWIS RUSSELL, Professor of Botany, &c., to Massachusetts Horticultural Society. MR. EDITOR,-As your magazine purports to treat of botany as well as of horticulture, an account of the results of a pleasant day's excursion in our woods, has been deemed, by those who undertook it, a proper offering to its pages. Should you concur in these views, an insertion of this article would oblige and gratify several amateurs of floral pursuits. The Essex Institute was organized in Salem, Massachusetts, about a year since, by the union of the Essex Horticultural Society with the Essex County Natural History Society. This latter society had, for several years past, offered public exhibitions of fruits and flowers, and many of its members were favorably known, both abroad and through the pages of this magazine, as being successful in this branch of horticultural skill. In arranging the business of the year at the annual meeting, the Essex Institute, on the same liberal plan of fostering a taste for the beautiful and useful, appoints committees, who shall particularly attend to those departments of research assigned to them. Of these, is the horticultural committee, under whose auspices the arrangement of flower and fruit shows will be continued. Another committee, may be mentioned, as pertaining more specially to subjects of natural history, under whose inspection and research the botany of the county falls. The chairman of this committee, with a party of about a dozen gentlemen interested in sylvan wonders, selected the 12th of June, to visit several spots well known for their floral riches, and sacred to the memory of the most enthusiastic and zealous naturalist, the lamented OAKES. The day was particularly favorable, sunny, pleasant, and cool, and the scenery proved unusually attractive. Through the attention of Messrs. S. P. Fowler, of Danvers, and of the venerable Dr. Osgood of the same town, the party were successively introduced to many of the rarer plants of this region and of our county, of which some notice will be taken in the order in which they were seen. The party met by previous appointment at a given spot, and thence proceeded to the locality of VACCINIUM Vitis-Ida'a (L.) of which GEO. B. EMERSON, in his admirable Report on the Woody Plants of Massachusetts, declares, to the best of his knowledge, "occurs in only one spot in" this State, "which is in a pasture in Danvers, where it was found by Mr. Oakes in 1820, or before." This truly beautiful little plant is familiarly known as the "cowberry," and in Maine as the "mountain cranberry," affording to the inhabitants of sections of that state an excellent article of wild fruit, scarcely inferior to the common cranberry of our swamps and bogs. I have specimens, gathered at Eastport and at Dennysville, while visiting that region in September, 1844, and well recollect the pleasant condiment, prepared from its berries, which was served on the table. Those familiar with the plant are puzzled to know why it is described in Dr. Gray's "Botany of Northern United States," p. 260, as "rather bitter, mealy, and barely edible," or in Mr. Emerson's Report, above alluded to, as "austere," the more especially as Mr. E. immediately adds, "in the north of Europe, where it abounds, it is used as the cranberry, but is inferior; formed into a jelly, it is thought superior to currant jelly as a sauce for venison or roast beef, or as a remedy for colds and sore throats." We were surprised to find this hardy denizen of our northern rocky hills and eastern cliffs snugly nestling in a halfshady spot, among some white birches, (Bétula populifòlia AIT.,) in an open pasture, and extending over a limited area of perhaps half an acre of ground. Its average height seemed to be two or three inches, although stems buried in the soil might be gathered of double that length. Its flowers were not very numerous, yet fine specimens were selected by those who had never seen it before, and who considered it quite a floral gem. It was just making its new annual growth, and in this condition afforded a favorable opportunity to critically examine its habits. Specimens, collected at the time, have been submitted to such scrutiny by me, and are lying before me. Its flowers are borne on the tips or ends of the last year's growth, six or more in number, each issuing from the axils of colored scales. The shape of the flower is what is termed campanulate or bell-shaped, the corolla monopetalous, divided on the edge into four points. Its stamens are inserted on the corolla at its base, variable in number, seven or more, each furnished with a flat filament of a pinkish hue, and covered with downy hairs. The anther is tubular, opening at the tip by an irregular fissure. The extreme beauty of the stamens can only be appreciated by the use of the microscope. A most elegant cellular tissue of elongated hexagons compose a net work, making up the tubes of the anther. Every part of the surface of the anther is studded with blunt spine-like bodies, of a transparent single cell, more perceptible on the edges of the anther. Such blunt spines invest, indeed, the filament of the stamen; while superadded, the surface of this part of the stamen is beset with flat and long, crooked hairs, each of four or five joints, while the surface of each of these hairs is also beset in the same manner as is the anther. The style or pistil is simple, curved, and inserted on the centre of the germ. The color of the corolla and calyx is of a pale pink, which, contrasted with the dark green and glossy foliage, adds much to the charm of this unique species. The entire plant, when growing vigorously, appears in dense and crowded patches, composed of prostrate woody stems, described as "angular," though nothing of the sort appears on our specimens; on the contrary, they are round or cylindrical, as are also the short branches which bear the foliage. Where the wood is old, the epidermis peels away and remains in shreds, and forms irregular fissures, which may give rise to such a statement. The foliage, as has been observed, is of a deep-shining green, each leaf of an obovate contour, with its margin revolute or turned back, while beneath may be noticed occasional dark spots, and likewise minute bristles. The dark spots seem to be merely a discoloration of the cellular tissue of the skin of the lower portion of the leaf, which is of a paler green than is the upper surface. The bristles are in reality, (though seemingly simple black bristles,) elaborately executed club-shaped organs, issuing from thickened greenish specks, and inserted on the very surface of the epidermis. The entire contour of each of these club-shaped organs is very similar to what are called antheridia in mosses, and, apart from their situation and habit, would scarcely be distinguished from them. The pedicel or stem of the club seems to divide into two longitudinal parts as the little organ matures; but I think this is merely a deception, and arises from a furrow, which deepens between the two rows of parallel cells, which make up the pedicel. At an early stage of the growth of the young leaf a discoloration of the transparency of the cells takes place, just at the base of the club where it is connected with the pedicel, and something like a joint is the consequence. If this is so, each bristle is two-jointed; if not, then its simplicity of structure, in this respect, allies it the more closely to the antheridia of the flowers of mosses. On the young leaf the bristle is as hyaline as glass, but on the mature leaf it becomes of a rich golden brown color, though apparently black to the naked eye. I scarcely have met with a microscopic subject which has afforded me more gratification than the structure of the cowberry, as specified above. I know not whether any attempt has been made to cultivate this interesting plant, but should think that the Rockwork would admirably suit its habits, and am sure that no one would regret any necessary pains or trouble to secure its presence in his grounds. The topographical history of the subject of our present observations we received on the spot from the lips of Dr. Osgood, who accompanied Mr. Oakes when this individual plant was first noticed by him. It was, we were assured, after a long day's ramble, which had proved so far unprofitable, and when regretting their want of success, they were mutually gratified by such a change of fortune. It certainly |