1878.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



229 



of a Red Horseehestnut at its side. The li^ht 

 green of Cephalotaxus has the dark steel tint of 

 Picea nobilis on one side, and on the other the 

 rich dark uprightness of the Irish Yew. A light 

 Weeping Beech, thirty feet high and forty feet 

 broad, and a dark Nordmann Fir, thirty feet 

 high stand near each other. Light Weeping 

 Hemlock and dark erect Yew stand together. 

 White Lilac and dark Euonymus flank the porte- 

 cochere. A Cutleaved Beech, twenty-five feet 

 high and twenty-five feet diameter, with its 

 symmetrical cone and its exquisite refinement of 

 foliage stand by the darker Dogwood, clothed in 

 white. A Laburnum produces both purple and 

 yellow flowers. Erect Yew and Irish Yew, 

 Picea compacta and Pichta, Pinus monticola 

 and Picea firma go in couples. 



(To be Continued.) 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



The Pines of Japan. — Professor Rein thinks 

 there are only three species of Pinus native of 

 Japan, namely, P. densiflora, P. Massoniana, 

 and P. parviflora. The two' first are favorite 

 trees of the Japanese, and are represented in 

 lacquer and on porcelain ware, and living speci- 

 mens are found in nearly all gardens. Some of 

 the latter are curiously distorted, and from 

 200 to 500 years old, and they are regarded 

 with an amount of veneration bordering on 

 worship. Some of them have very long horizon- 

 tal branches resting on the ground. P. Masso- 

 niana loves a sandy soil, is hardier, and per- 

 haps rather larger than P. densiflora, and con- 

 sequently more generally cultivated. It forms 

 magnificent avenues, its rich dark green, long 

 leaves being very beautiful. It attains a height 

 of 100 feet, with a diameter of six feet. P. parvi- 

 flora belongs to the group with five leaves in 

 each sheath. It is widely dispersed in Japan, 

 and reaches an altitude of 9000 feet, where it 

 becomes shrubby. P. koraiensis is only culti- 

 vated in Japan. — Gardener'' s Chronicle. 



Pkopagation by Layers. — Mr. Geo. Syme, 

 an English gentleman, gives to Messrs. S. B. 

 Parsons & Son, of Flushing, the following bit 

 of information, which will amuse those who are 

 acquainted with the modes of propagation in 

 the best American nurseries : 



" Considering the severity of the winters in 

 the Northern States,and the consequent freezing 



of the soil to a great depth, propagation by this 

 means, of such plants as require to be what is 

 technically known as " down " for two or more 

 years, would be all but impossible, and there- 

 fore not profitable." 



HousTONiA C(ERULEA. — This interesting 

 native plant, the "Quaker Bonnet of Philadel- 

 phia," hitherto supposed not cultivable in Eng- 

 land, is taking a new turn. The Gardener^ s 

 Chronicle says : "On the rockwork at Kew is in 

 flower a beautiful tuft of Houstonia coerulea. 

 Growing at Kew so freely, it is strange to hear 

 that elsewhere it never seems really to flourish, 

 ^thionema jucunda is very charming, and forms 

 a small but neat tuft of pink flowers." 



Neirembergia rivularis.— At a recent visit 

 to Ellwanger & Barry, of Rochester, few hardy 

 herbaceous plants were more striking than this. 

 It was a complete sheet of snowy cup-like 

 flowers. 



NEPV OR RARE PLANTS. 



Double-flowered Eschscholtzi a.— A 

 doubled-flowered California Poppy, is among the 

 latest novelties in England. 



Blood-leaved Norway Maple.— A cor- 

 respondent of the Garden thus refers to Acer 

 Schweidleriana : "This hardy, free-growing, pur- 

 ple-leaved Maple should not be lost sight of by 

 planters. It is a real acquisition, as far as eff'ec- 

 tive contrast is concerned, amongst trees of light 

 green foliage. The leaves of this beautiful 

 Maple are bright reddish-purple when newly 

 unfolded, very brilliant and glossy, and as large 

 as those of the common platanoides, or Norway 

 Maple." 



A fine specimen was in Meehan's Centennial 

 collection, which was purchased for Fairmount 

 Park, and it has proved as well adapted to the 

 American climate as its parent, the common 

 Norway Maple. 



Tovaria Olekacea.— This, by far the most 

 handsome of all the Tovarias or Sniilacinas yet 

 introduced to cultivation, is now in flower in the 

 herbaceous grounds at Kew. It approaches in 

 habit the well-known T. racemosa, being about 

 two feet in height, and the stems arch in the 

 same graceful manner. The flowers are borne 

 in broad racemes (about four inches across) at 

 the apex of the stems, each individual being a 

 half inch across, and produced in large numbers. 



