1880. 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



101 



Varying Taste in Gardening. — A cor- 

 respondent, writing from an old city south of the 

 Ohio, says : " Twenty odd years ago there were 

 several large nurseries near this city, where one 

 could get full assortments of trees and shrubs, 

 — none of consequence remain. In the place of 

 a love for these nice things, 'bedding plants,' 

 cheap and flashy, is about all the gardening taste 

 that now prevails." 



Grounds of Wm. Gray, Jr., Boston, Mass. 

 These beautiful grounds comprise about forty 

 acres. It is an excellent specimen of lanscape 

 gardening, and gives a great deal of pleasure to 

 visitors who are often kindly permitted to enjoy 

 a ramble through them. 



Winter Gardens. — These are becoming 

 popular, in connection with public parks in Eng- 

 land, and might with much propriety be intro- 

 duced into our own country. Four or five acres 

 are covered by glass, and plants almost hardy, 

 and needing very little fire heat are grown in 

 them. What would be more beautiful in our 

 northern cities than gardens like these with Por- 

 tugal Laurels, Bays, Camellias, Myrtles, and 

 other things of that character, which will even 

 bear some frost without injury, but with a slight 

 protection would be beautiful all the winter long, 

 and afford dry and healthy walking at all times. 



Cotoneaster. — We recently saw a plant of 

 Cotoneaster Simmondsii in a small tub in agreen- 

 house, and full of red berries ; it was remarkably 

 beautiful. In Pennsylvania, this and many 

 species are quite hardy, and yet how seldom do 

 we see them in gardens. They are as striking, 

 in some respects as the Holly, and much easier 

 to grow. 



Ampelopsis japonica. — Under this name, 

 the Gardener^s Chronicle says: "English nur- 

 serymen are cultivating our common poison 

 vine, Rhus toxicodendron." 



Golden Gate Park, San Francisco.— 

 This is praised very highly for beautiful features 

 by some good judges who have recently seen it. 



Spir^a lobata. — There is a great run in 

 Europe, just now on the pretty red Spirsea pal- 

 mata, from Japan. And no doubt the inquiry 

 for it will soon spread to our own land. It may 

 be as well to remind our friends that we have 

 native with us Spiraea lobata, which is as much 

 like the Japan one as "two peas," and that if 

 the Japan species is worth hankering after, our 

 own little Beauty is no less so. 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



Second Flowering of the Horse chest- 

 nut.— M. notes that the Horse chestnut flowered 

 in the fall as well as in the spring last year, 

 and asks if it be explainable ? Many trees which 

 flower in the spring, flower in the fall if their 

 leaves be injured before natural maturity. Pears 

 which drop their leaves early from leaf blight^ 

 almost always flower in the fall. 



Too Many Roses.— Frederick Schneider II., 

 President of the Horticultural and Agricul- 

 tural Society, at Wittstock, Germany, writes to 

 us that he thinks there are too many Roses. It 

 is now too late for the time he fixes on, but it 

 will much interest our readers to note what an 

 intelligent European thinks of so many roses, 

 and how he proposes to reduce the number : 



" The aim of this list is to reduce the four or 

 five thousand different varieties of roses at present 

 grown in the gardens to a limited number of real- 

 ly valuable ones only— to publish the names of 

 these sorts and so to recommend them for pref- 

 erence in cultivation. All answers should be 

 sent in during November and December 1879, 

 post free to my address and must be accompa- 

 nied with the distinctly written signature and 

 full address of the sender in order to make it 

 possible to communicate the result to him. To 

 each variety should be added if possible the 

 name of the raiser and the year of its introduc- 

 tion. The printed result of this election of 

 roses will be communicated gratis and post free 

 to all those horticultural papers and all those 

 correspondents who have taken part in it. 



List of Questions.- Name and occupation of 

 the correspondent. Address and date. I beg to 

 answer the following questions : 



1st. Which are three most perfect roses as re- 

 gards construction and form, substance, shape, 

 habit and scent in the following colors? A.— 

 Hybrid Perpetuals and Bourbon Roses, a, pure 

 white; b, tinted white, blush and flesh color; 

 c, pale pink and light rose ; d, bright pink and 

 deep rose; e, carmine; f, scarlet and vermil- 

 lion; g, purple and crimson; h, dark crimson, 

 brownish and blackish maroon; i, violet; k, 

 striped. 



B.— Teas and Noisettes, 1, pure white or slight- 

 ly tinted; m, blush and pink, rose; n, tinted 

 pink and rose; o, pale and bright yellow; p, 

 yellow tinted. 



