230 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[^ August, 



apples, all of which are handsome, and well 

 worth cultivnlinjj, not only for tlicir clusters of 

 eweet Howers in Spring, but as well also for their 

 bright red and truly ornamental fruits. The 

 trees themselves may, if cared for, be made to 

 take on highly ornamental forms, lit to occupy a 

 place in any nian's door-yard. One growing on 

 the grounds of the Agricultural College, planted 

 five or si.x years ago, is now an object of admira- 

 tion to all. Its straight trunk rises for c'ght feet 

 without a branch, and then a beautiful top 

 spreads suddenly out in an umbrella-like form, 

 reminding one of some of the trees which grow 

 in far-away lands, and with whose forms most of 

 us are familiar only in pictures. But beauty is 

 not the only value of these trees. Their fruits 

 are valuable, and under proper treatment, they 

 might be made much more so. If cultivated, 

 these little apples are much larger than in the 

 wild state. We have some in our collection 

 which are fully three-fourths of an inch in di- 

 ameter. In taste they are variable, and some 

 trees, even of the same variety are variable in 

 this respect. In general they are considered too 

 small !ind too seedy for use, but from a very con- 

 siderable personal examination, we are con- 

 vincctl, that in these neglected fruits we have the 

 wild form from which, eventually, we siiall de- 

 rive something of value. We shall have some of 

 them tested. — From the "Producer" — Horticulture 

 conducted by Prof. Bessey. 



Darlixgtonia Californica. — The finest speci- 

 men of this singular plant in Britain is, doubtless, 

 that [at Glasnevin, whose flowering for the first 

 time we had occasion to notice somewhere about 

 this time last year; it is just now showing flower 

 again. It was this plant which furnished the 

 splendidly developed pitchers with which the 

 President of the Royal Society illustrated his lec- 

 ture, delivered before the British Association last 

 Autuma at Belfast. Their dimensions will be 

 probably considerably increased this season, as 

 the plant has been transferred from the pot in 

 which it was growing to a pan of large dimen- 

 sions, where it will have a larger feeding ground 

 for its roots. — Irish Farmers' Gazette. 



Hydrangea paniculata. — This Hydrangea, 

 says a correspondent of the Gardener's Magazine, 

 has not had the advantage of much puffing, and 

 perhaps is none the better for that reason ; but 

 if we take it on its merits, it will puff itself, for 

 assuredly it is one of the finest plants of its class 



introduced for many years ptist. In growth and 

 readiness to flower it is a perfect model; it is an 

 acconuiiodating plant to fijrce, and it may bo 

 flowered very late in the year when good things 

 are rather scarce— that is to say, at a time when 

 first-class forced flowers are not up to the mark. 

 It is a somewhat curious plant, though a genuine 

 Hydrangea. The leaves arc like those of a do- 

 citluous Viburnum, or perhaps still more like those 

 of Deutziascabra. The flowers come in great pani- 

 cles, green at first, afterwards white. If well 

 grown, the panicles are of enormous size, and 

 last a long time pure and fresh, and look aa 

 mui'h like freshly and exijuisitely made wax 

 flowers as can be imagined. I have been 

 fortunate enough to secure a good stock of this 

 fine plant, but I really wish I had ten times aa 

 many. 



Californ'iak Conifers. — We were at the height 

 of about 5000 feet above the sea, in the finest 

 zone of the grandest Conifers in the world. 

 There were the Pitch Pine, or Pinus ponderosa, 

 the Sugar Pine (P. Lambertiana), the white 

 Cedar (Libocedrus decurrens), and the Abies 

 Douglasii, the famous Douglas Fir. The Sugar 

 Pine is remarkable for the size of its cones, which 

 I have i)icked up more than 16 inches in length, 

 and which may be well described as hanging 

 like ornamental tassels from the ends of the 

 branches. The timber of this tree is said, upon 

 good authority, to be the best in California, and 

 its size gigantic, being not unfrequently 800 feet 

 high, and from 7 to 10 feet m diameter. — " Over 

 the Sea and Far Away," by T. W. Hinchliff, M. A., 

 F. R. G. S. 



Propagation of Exochorda grandiflora. — It 

 may interest some of your readers who are fond 

 of beautiful flowering shrubs to learn that the 

 difficulty hitherto existing in the propagation of 

 that most graceful growing and ornamental 

 flowering shrub, Exochorda or Spirtea grandi- 

 flora, lias at last been almost overcome by a 

 French horticulturist. Monsieur J. Goujnn, who 

 writes to one of the French horticultural papers 

 to say that the only way satisfactorily to propa- 

 gate this beautiful, hardy shrub, which is not 

 near as often seen in coflection as it should be, ia 

 by grafting bits of it on pieces of its own roots aa 

 in the case of Tecomas, Glycines, &c. The end of 

 winter or commencement of Spring seems to 

 Monsieur Goujon the most suitable time for put- 

 ting in the grafts. — Gardener's Record. 



