THE 



GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



AND 



HORTICULTURIST. 



DEVOTED TO HORTICULTURE, ARBORICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS. 



Edited by THOMAS MEEHAN. 



Vol. XX. 



MAY, 1878. 



Number 233. 



Flower Garden and Pleasure Ground. 



COMMUNICA TONS. 



DUTCH BULBS IN THE SOUTH. 



BY M. W. CALDWELL, QUERY'S TURN OUT, 

 MECKLENBURG CO., N. C. 



I am a recent subscriber to the Gardener's 

 Monthly, and am well pleased with it. I have 

 noticed a complaint of Dutch bulbs deteriora- 

 ting in the South after a few years. I have this 

 day sent to your address by express a box of 

 hyacinth blooms for your inspection and judg- 

 ment, and your opinion as to their retrogade 

 movements. I have been cultivating these 

 same bulbs from five to seven years. They 

 were bought of Henry A. Dreer, of your city. 

 Many of the bulbs send up from three to five 

 spikes. The three White Double Pink Eye in 

 the package all grew from one bulb. Should 

 yuu wish to hear about the cultivation, I can in- 

 form you at another time. Many of the best 

 spikes were faded. I have not sent you all the 

 kinds I have. I have a garden of flowers, in- 

 cluding nearly everything desirable to please, 

 that will grow in the open ground. The Hya- 

 cinths were mixed kinds without names. Tu- 

 lips, the same, just beginning to bloom. The 

 Peach blooms are the Double and Italian and 

 Van Buren Dwarf, &c. 



[We have rarely seen finer flowers. They 

 were superior to the average of newly imported 

 bulbs. The offered account of their culture 

 would be very acceptable. — Ed. G. M.] 



THE SLIPPERY ELWI. 



BY MR. J. JAY SMITH, GERMANTOWN, PHILA. 



It is one of the regrets of planters in this 

 region of Philadelphia that we cannot have the 

 grand Elms of our Eastern States, because of 

 the terrible attacks made on them b}' insects. And 

 just here let me ask the wise men who made the 

 nurseries for the " park," if they know of this 

 sad depredation, for we see they are setting out 

 vast numbers of the attacked — and therefore 

 useless for ornament — Elm trees. But this apart, 

 for time is to test the wisdom brought to bear 

 on our park planting. I Avant Mr. Meehan's 

 opinion as regards the freedom of the Slippery 

 Elm, Ulmus fulva, from insects. My own ex- 

 perience is that it is free from attack, and if so, 

 as it has a weeping habit, it will be invaluable 

 in the Middle States. I have a specimen equal 

 to any of the great ornamental Elms of New 

 England, and I learn with pleasure, Mr. Editor, 

 that you also have a perfect tree unattacked by 

 enemies. But more, I hear that you and Mr. 

 Parsons have propagated largely from this, and 

 I want to know all that you know on the subject. 



[The Slippery Elm in this region has its leaves 

 badly riddled by a small beetle — a species of 

 Galeruca — during the latter end of Summer ; 

 but the trees do not look near so shabby after- 

 wards as other species do after similar attacks. 

 Chestnut avenue, Germantown, has its side- 

 walks planted with them. They are now about 

 twenty years old, and are very beautiful. — Ed. 

 G. M.l 



