March C. 1909 



HORTICULTURE 



315 



European Horticulture 



.NEW IXTliuDLCTIOXS IN HELIOTROPES 



The earliest to appear in commerce in recent years 

 was Frail van Poschinger of a dark tint whicli soon 

 became a favorite variety for groups and pot culture, but 

 it now has a strong rival in Mathilde Creniieux, a grand, 

 lilac-blue flower, and an excellent plant for pots, win- 

 dow boxes, groups, etc. The variety is of French ori- 

 gin and is of compact habit, and w'ithal very vigorous. 

 Last year the variety was quite unaffected by the long- 

 continued drought in the summer — a proof of its being 

 capable of withstanding the influences of the weather. 

 It is probably the best heliotrope introduced up to the 

 present year. — Karl Ziskoven in "Holler's Deutsche 

 Gartner-Zeitung, No. 7." 



NEW HYBRID ORCHIDS — LAELIO-CATTLEYA FELICIA 



This handsome hybrid was raised by Messrs. Charles- 

 worth & Co., Ltd., by crossing L. C. Haroldiana and 

 Cattleya Triana>, and was awarded a first-class certifi- 

 cate at the Eoyal Horticultural Society's meeting on 

 January 26. The hybrid possesses the grand propor- 

 tions of C. Hardyana with a striking introduction of 

 dark purplish coloring on the edges and front of the 

 side lobes of the labellum, which makes an effective 

 contrast with the silvery white and pink color of the 

 rest of the bloom. 



CYPRIPEDIUM EARL OF TANKERVILLE 



This striking new hybrid was obtained by Messrs. San- 

 der & Son, St. Albans, by crossing C. exul and C. nitens 

 Sander's variety — a plant which received an award of 

 merit at the R. H. S.'s meeting on January 9, 1906. 

 A portion of the original plant passed into the collec- 

 tion of Lieut. Col. G. L. Holford, who exhibited a flow- 

 ering plant on January 26 last. There are numbers of 

 hybrid cypripediums with larger flowers than the Earl 

 of Tankerville variety but a more beautiful bloom is 

 difficult to indicate. The bloom is of waxy consistency, 

 and possesses a pure white dorsal sepal, with a small 

 green base, and it bears dark chocolate purple blotches 

 which change on the upper area to rosy purple. The 

 rest of the flower is of a yellowish tint, tinged with 

 brownish purple. 



CYCAS REVOLUTA 



One of the most valuable plants for decorative pur- 

 poses is Cycas revoluta ; but few persons have seen them 

 in flower. Here on the Riviera the plant has found a 

 second home and as solitary objects in groups in the 

 open ground they are frequently met with. These are 

 chiefly of the fruit-bearing sex, the male plant being 

 rarer. The figures given in No. 7 of "Moller's Deutsche 

 Gartner-Zeitung" show the male and female plants in 

 flower and fniit. The male bloom measured .55 cm. in 

 length, and weighed when removed from the plant 5 kg., 

 and as thick as a man's arm. The fruit on the female 

 plant looked like an enormous Globe Artichoke, and 

 measured 50 cm. in diameter. Each single fruit-leaf 

 concealed four fruits, with, in all, 400 seeds. Cycas 

 revnluta must be artificially fertilized in June and July. 

 The pollen had to be brought in this case several kilo- 

 meters. — G. Schupisser, at Cannes. 



THE PRUS.SIAN HORTICULTURAL AND THE GERMAN ORCHID 

 SOCIETIES 



The immediate effect of the amalgamation of these 

 two societies is to form the much desired National Ger- 

 man Horticultural Society, or at least to steer in that 

 direction, although the orehidists may not be inclined 

 to become Prussianized. Next to the Verein Deutscher 

 Rosenfreunde the only special society for the interest 

 of one class of ffowers eleven years ago, the Deutsche 

 Dahlien gesellschaft came on to the scheme. In spite 



of the zeal witli which this society worked, the members 

 soon saw that the field of work must be extended and 

 pushed on with greater vigor. And similarly with other 

 special societies and clubs in Germany. 



Regarding ''My Maryland'' 



We must live with people to know them and the same 

 is true of roses. Killarney is now the leading rose of 

 commerce and we cannot but remember how it was dis- 

 carded as worthless by more than one expert rose grower 

 when it first came out. With "My Maryland" problems 

 have arisen, but with an understanding of the needs and 

 absolute requirements of this variety, the difiBculties have 

 been overcome and I believe success with the variety will 

 be almost universal where the rose is properly treated. 



As this article is, in a way, a reply to adverse criti- 

 cisms of the variety, and as we believe we have solved 

 the problem, I wish to place before the rose growers of 

 the country a few facts concerning "My Maryland" as 

 it has acted with us. 



Last season we bought heavily and throughout the 

 months of December, January and February we were 

 receiving wood for grafting purposes from the intro- 

 ducer, and without exception this wood was good-sized 

 canes and the flowers, in many cases left on, were of 

 extra fine quality. 



Our planting of "My Maryland" consisted of 4,500 

 grafted plants, no own-root being used, and were divided 

 in three sections of the place. One thousand were 

 bedded in April in a house of mixed roses. From this 

 one thousand plants we cut an average of over thirty 

 flowers per plant up to December 1st. These plants 

 were then cut hard for wood for grafting and have since 

 been thrown out to make room for Easter stock. 



A second one thousand were planted in a house of 

 Bridesmaid and this temperature was entirely unsuited 

 to the variety, and it also was taken out recently to 

 make room for Easter plants. 



At Plant No. 2 a house holding 2,500 Maryland was 

 planted June 15th and up to January 1st it has produced 

 67,000 blooms. From this house we have taken 25,000 

 blind-wood cuttings and 50,000 eyes for grafting since 

 the date mentioned (Jan. 1st). 



We were holding this house 58 degrees to 60 degrees in 

 December and the tendency to stop growing became 

 noticeable, especially so in one bed with poor drainage. 

 Raiting the temperature to 64 degrees resulted in in- 

 creased vigor and the character of the rose changed 

 completely. The house at this date is coming into full 

 crop, in spite of the fact that 2,000 canes have been 

 taken in one day for propagating purposes, and it 

 would be a pleasure to us to show those interested in the 

 rofc the house as it stands today. 



The solution of tlie wiiole problem seems to be heat 

 and by increasing the temperature to at least 62 degrees 

 and not over 65, the rose can be kept productive and 

 profitable in mid-wdnter, and the nature of the plant is 

 such that it will almost grow itself at other times in the 

 year. Almost every Fmall rose grower has a warm cor- 

 ner and this should be for "My Mainland," and the 

 larger grower, with separate houses or sections, if his 

 heating system works, should be the master of the situ- 

 ation. 



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