yy/A (;.ia'/)/-:.v/:a's Mo.\rni.v 



\ March, 



])urpli>li \vlii(«', and i-cin:iiii for some days. Tlu' 

 plant is luinJy and vij^orous, and iinpnivcs with 

 raivfnl cultivation. It cannot fail to licconic 

 oiu' of till' lint'st of tlu* many hardy licrba(('<»ns 

 j)iTcnnials just now hocominp so i)o])ulai' in 

 Knropi' and .Vmcrica. — J. M. Thorburn. 



Kkyn<{hm LKAVKXwoKTim. — Till' showiest 

 of annuals, with .stem from one to three feet 

 hiilh, aud very branchiiiii. 'i'lie heads are of a 

 l>eanliliil purple. IJranehes cut after the llowers 

 and leaves have matured will la.<t two or three 

 months, makinj; it a valuable addition for Winter 

 l)on(|uets. One of the most valuable i)lant.'< 

 introduced in many years. — J. M. Thorburn. 



SPIH^KA PALMAT.\ ELEGANS. — XEW IlYimil) 



SiMii.EA. — Under the name of Spirtea palmata 

 ele^ans M. Ed. Pynaert lii^ures and describes in 

 the current number of the Revue Je V Horticulture 

 Hp/ire a plant, ius it would seem, of great interest 

 and beauty. The interest resides in the circum- 

 stance that the plant is stated to be a cross 

 between Astilbe barbata and Spira'a palmata, 

 while the inllorescence is intermediate between 

 the two parents. The flowers are very numerous? 

 their pink stamens contnisting well with their 

 clear white petals. Whatever its origin, the 

 plant will probably prove hardy, and will be 

 very useful for forcing and for house decoration. 

 — Gar. Chromcle. 



Daphne fortunei.— This was sent to the 

 Royal Horticultural Society by Mr. P"'ortune, 

 from the Chusan Hills, Ningpo, and Shanghai. 

 It is a small downy-branched bush, with thin 

 deciduous opposite and alternate ovate-oblong 

 leaves, covered with very .soft fine hairs. The 

 flowers, which generally appear very early in 

 Spring, are l)luish-lilac, arranged in clusters of 

 four, upon branches .scarcely beginning to put 

 forth their leaves. They are rather more than 

 an inch long, covered externally with soft, closely 

 pressed hairs, and divided in the border into four 

 roundish, oblong, obtuse, uneven lobes, of which 

 the two inner ones are the smallest. In the 

 inside of the tubes of the calyx are eight nearly 

 sessile stamens in two rows, with narrow sharp- 

 pointed anthers. The ovary, is smooth, stalked, 

 one-celled, with a small fle.shy scale at its base, 

 and a single suspended ovule ; it produces 

 abruptly from its summit a very short cylindrical 

 style, ended by a capitate hairy stigma. No 

 species yet described api)roaches very nearly to 

 this, which has been named after its enterprising 

 discoverer ; the seed being unknown, it can only 

 be conjectured that it belongs to the Mezereum 

 divisions of the genus. It is a izreonhouse or. 



I perhai)s. haU'-hardy shrub, ami i> a charming 

 addition to this chvss of plants, more especially 

 since it appears to be well adapted tor forcing. 

 — (innlen. 



SCR.U\S .IXn 0(7{A'//i.S. 



Stocks K<)|{ (iiiAFTIXO. — (J. ^^. (i.. .Manches- 

 ter, York Co., Pa., writes: "Will yo\i be kind 

 enough to answer the following (jueries through 

 the March number of The Monthly : How 

 and when are the following trees grafted, and 

 what kind of stocks are used for the dilVerent 

 varieties? Is the opeiation jierformed in the 

 same manner as for fruit trees? Such as the 

 finer varieties of .I;ipanese Maples, Weeping 

 Beech, Elm, Ash, AVillow, &c. ; also tlu- new 

 Japanese Persimmon. Your answer to the 

 above will much oblige." 



[The Japan Maples are grafted on Acer stria- 

 tum, the Moose or striped bark maple; Weeping 

 Beech on either the European or the American 

 species ; the Elm on any species ; they intergraft 

 one with another. So also with the Ash, but 

 the European makes the best stock. The Goat 

 Willow is the best stock for Willows; and the 

 common Persimmon does well for the Japanese 

 varieties. They " take " by either cleft or whip 

 grafting, just as fruit trees do. — Ed. G. M.] 



Worm on the Juniper. — A Babylon, N. Y.< 

 correspondent says: "Please ask, through the 

 Gardener's Monthly', of nurserymen, if they 

 know anything of this worm that is destroying 

 my Junipers. It is a quarter of an inch long, 

 and forms a web covering through the winter. 

 I have not observed it in summer. It evidently 

 feeds on the young leaves, while in its active 

 state; the ends of limbs become knotted, and 

 .show such an appearance as fire would produce.'' 



Is Aspidistra lurida Hardy ?— I. C. W., 

 Fishkill,N. Y'., writes : " Mr. John Pettie, a gar- 

 dener of the first water, told me a few weeks 

 since that the Aspidistra lurida variegata was 

 a hardy plant, and should be used in the herba- 

 ceous border. He states that he has tried it at 

 the Kelly Gardens, at Rhinebeck, N. Y., and 

 that it proved hardy then ; and also states it has 

 stood out in England, and went through the 

 winter finely. We have always grown this as a 

 stove or warm greenhouse plant, and supposed 

 it was tender. Do you know of another instance 

 of its standing the winter in the herbaceous bor- 

 der in this country. If it has not been published, 

 would it not be Avell to state the fact through 

 your journal." 



