February 1, 1913 



HOETICULTUKE 



141 



Hamamelis vernalis 



agrees with the Asiatic species and is in fact another 

 link between the floras of the two continents. 



Hamamelis vernalis is perfectly hardy in the Arnold 

 Arboretum and has the distinction of being the first 

 woody plant of the year' to put forth flowers, preceding 

 its Japanese relatives in the matter by fully ten days. 

 The dwarf habit, early and free-flowering qualities and 

 the pleasing fragrance of the blossoms unite in making 

 this newcomer a welcome and valuable addition to our 

 list of hardy shrubs. 



This new Hamamelis and the species from Japan and 

 China, (H. japonica, H. japonica var. arborea, and H. 

 mollis) deserve to l)c much more widely known and ex- 

 tensively cultivated. They are the first of shrubs to put 

 forth flowers, free flowering, perfectly hardy, and ex- 

 cellent subjects not only for planting in parks and gar- 

 dens generally, but especially for town gardens where 

 flowers produced in January, February and March are 

 [)articularly welcome. 



Hamamelis vernalis 

 .V Nt'W ,\inerir:iu >\'itcli-H:izel. 



This new and most interesting Ameracan shrub is now 

 flowering for the first time under cultivation in the 

 Arnold Arljoretum. The first blossoms were open on 

 January 15th, the earliness of the date of flowering 

 being probably due to the phenomenally mild winter 

 experienced to date in New England. The plants are 

 only about "^Vo ft. tall, and were received in October, 

 1908, and cannot be more than six years old. They are 

 quite bushy and the two-year-old wood is densely cov- 

 ered with flowers which have a delicate fragrance and are 

 rather smaller than those of the other species. The 

 inside of the calyx is wine-colored ; the narrow, strap- 

 shaped ])etals are erect-spreading, sonunvliat undulate 

 with the apex inflexed, usually yellow, often golden, and 

 in some flowers stained with wine color. The leaves re- 

 semble tliose of the common American Witch-Hazel, 

 except that they are more hairy and often somewhat 

 glaucesceut on the under surface. 



This new Witch Hazel is native of Southern Missouri, 

 Arkansas and Louisiana, where, Prof. Sargent tells us, 

 "it grows in the gravelly beds and margins of streams, 

 forming great thickets. The habit is stoloniferous, and 

 the plants rarely exceed six feet in height."' That a 

 Hamamelis occurs in these regions has been known since 

 1845, when Engelmann collected specimens. It has been 

 frequently collected since that date, but it was not until 

 1911 that its distinctive characters were recognized and 

 it was described and figured as a new species by Prof. 

 Sargent in his Trees and Shrubs II, part 3, p. 137, tab. 

 156. It is distinguished from the common H. virgini- 

 ana, not only in the season of flowering but also by the ' 

 habit, more persistently hairy branches and leaves, dif- 

 ferent fragrance of the flowers and the wine-colored 

 inner surface of the calvx. In this latter character it 



-^ W \m JU^>-^ 



Massachusetts Boosters 



Well ! well I It is high time. I was glad to see the 

 new move spoken of in your last. Massachusetts has 

 every advantage over California, which I look upon as a 

 humbug land. They have a fine climate, but who can 

 live on climate ? It has been boosted beyond reason. It 

 is the most jutiful and pathetic land I know of — mil- 

 lions of acres begging for water and can't get it. The 

 water supply is exhausted. Last spring hundreds of 

 thousands of oranges lay on the ground knocked off by 

 frosts. Apples are worth more than oranges. Grand 

 old ^Massachusetts is an apple state. You get as good 

 land there for $100 )ier acre as you ])ay one or two 

 thousand for in California. The good Lord attends to 

 the irrigation and don't charge a cent. Nebraska 

 orchardists are netting, cleai' of expense, -$185 per acre — 

 not a bad showing. They don't have to use smudge 

 pots ; they can sleep nights ; so with Massachusetts. Get 

 up a boom and you don't have to lie about it, as the 4000 

 real estate agents of Los Angeles are inclined to do. 



(^SIt€t11vM^ 



Yod; Neb. 



Our Cover Illustration 



We present as a cover illustration this week a view of 

 the interior of the Nepenthes house at the Eoyal Gar- 

 dens, Kew, England. The genus Nepenthes comprises 

 upwards of fifty species, hybrids and varieties, most of 

 which are included in the Kew collection which is the 

 most complete in existence and the picture shows how 

 successfully these interesting plants are cultivated there. 



The Nepenthes are all grown in baskets suspended 

 from the rafters and on the ground beneath them is a 

 miscellaneous collection of stove plants. Directly 

 behind the well-known Dracsena Godseffiana and pan- 

 danus which appear in the foreground may be seen two 

 plants of the curious "'cat's face flower" (Tacca cris- 

 tata). The conunon name of this plant refers to its 

 fancied resemblance when in bloom to tlie face of the 

 domestic cat. 



