1878.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



323 



ithan a million. To grow this immense number 

 of plants at least 40,000 square feet of glass or 

 nearly an acre of greenhouses are used ; these 

 are put up in the most substantial manner, and 

 in many of them some exquisitely grown speci- 

 mens of plants are now to be seen, in Crotons, 

 Dracaenas, Marantas and Ferns especially. 



A novel feature, as well as a very ornamental 

 and useful one, of Mr. Hoey's greenhouses is 

 the French lattice shading formed by thin 

 strips of wood one inch in width With half-inch 

 space between ; these are connected by rings and 

 can be rolled up as readily as an ordinary win- 

 clow shade. These shades must soon come into 

 general use, as in a climate like ours they are 

 invaluable, being not only a shading against our 

 tierce Summer suns, but bid defiance to hail 

 storms and materially protect in Winter against 

 cold; they are yet expensive, however, costing 

 nearly twelve cents per square foot, equal to 

 the cost of the whole wood work of a green- 

 house. Another feature observed at this most 

 interesting place was a plan that Mr. Hoey in- 

 augurated to heat the water used in watering. 

 The pipes supplying the water for each house 

 are run along on the heating pipes, so that for the 

 purpose of syringing in Winter, tepid water can 

 always be obtained. Gas jets, with reflectors, 

 are airanged in the principal conservatories, so 

 that in the evening when desired the plants can 

 be lighted up. 



No wonder that the name of John Hoey is a 

 household word at Long Branch. Its thousands 

 of pedestrian visitors are welcome at all times 

 to enjoy the glories of this modern Eden, so 

 lavishly adorned by its munificent owner. At 

 4, P. M., the gates are thrown open for vehicles, 

 and it is no unusual thing to see three hundred 

 carriages at one time driving through the grounds. 

 The classes that visit Long Branch are, many of 

 them, people of means and refinement, and this 

 liberal example of Mr. Hoey's is already doing 

 more to educate our people in matters of this 

 kind than can well be estimated, so that all in- 

 terested in the progress of horticultm-e, whether 

 professional or otherwise, owe him a debt of 

 gratitude that ere long they will not be slow to 

 acknowledcre. 



LILIUM AURATUM. 



BY DAVID M. BALCH, SALEM, M^VSS. 



When this capricious plant finds the surround- 

 ings perfectly congenial to its nature, it is capa- 

 ble of immense development, and on rare occa- 



sions yields results at which we gaze with 

 astonishment. A specimen worth traveling 

 miles to see has this season graced one of our 

 city gardens. Mr. T. Putnam Symonds, of Salem, 

 Mass., planted in 1874, near the south-east side 

 of his residence, No. 65 North Street, four bulbs 

 of the auratum Lily ; they were imported com- 

 mercial bulbs of the first-class, and were set in 

 a row about two feet apart, in soil cool, moist 

 and partially shaded, and prepared with some care 

 for their reception. These bulbs have gone on 

 increasing in size and vigor year by year, and 

 yield in their season a charming picture of floral 

 beauty. 



Bulb No. 3 has given this season, 1878, five 

 main stalks from seven to eight feet in height, 

 bearing respectively, ten,eleven, eleven, thirteen 

 and fourteen flowers, and six minor stalks bear- 

 ing eight flowers, sixty-seven in all; the flowers 

 remarkably large and fine, and the whole plant a 

 model of health and vigor. But the bulb nearest 

 the street, marked, I believe, No. 1, has far sur- 

 passed this; last season, 1877, it yielded three 

 stalks with seventeen, seven and one flowers, 

 twenty-five in all. It is now, August 20th, 1878, 

 carrying the immense number of 173 flowers, 

 thus disposed : there are two main stalks nine 

 and eight and a half feet high, bearing 140 and 

 twenty flowers and buds, and four minor stalks 

 from four to six feet high with thirteen flowers, 

 173 in all. The principal stalk is about three 

 inches in circumference at the base, but quickly 

 becomes fasciate, flattening to tlij.*ee inches iii 

 breadth and about one-eighth of an inch in thick- 

 ness at the apex, where it is cleft ; the upper two 

 feet is crowded with flower buds, interspersed 

 with leaves, 140 in number by careful count. 

 About ten have proved abortive, but the stalk 

 produced some 130 flowers. This was cut and 

 exhibited August 24th, at the rooms of the Mas- 

 sachusetts Horticultural Society, in Boston, 

 where it excited much surprise and admii'ation, 

 and gained for Mr. Symonds the merited reward 

 of the Society's silver medal. 



At the head of this article I have called this 

 plant capricious, and I think their experience in 

 its culture will incline many to agree with me. 

 Often, in spite of all our care, its bulbs, retrogra- 

 ing year by year, end in nothingness, and we 

 cannot imagine why. Quite as often our success 

 is moderate ; we esteem stalks with ten or fifteen 

 flowers excellent, and, in the present state of 

 our knowledge of the plant's habit and require- 

 ments, so they are. 



