1879. 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



■most universal admiration. This golden ap- 

 pearance is retained with hut slight diminution 

 in freshness and heanty tliroughout the year. 

 It is a most valuable acquisition to the list of 

 Golden Conifers. 



R. squarrosa is of a glaucous color, bearing 

 slight resemblance to some of the Junipers, but 

 the foliage is much softer and finer. It is a 

 good grower, and when once established in good 

 •ground, has a tendency to loose its true character. 

 R. obtusa, is one of the most rapid-growing 

 evergreens. It attains a height of twenty or 

 thirty feet in a very few years. The branches 

 are long and spreading, in the style of Norway 

 Spruce, making it a large and stately tree, which 

 may be very properly contrasted with the o^or- 

 way, or substituted for it. It is of a yellowish 

 green color, and does not change during the 

 Winter. "When growing rank in rich soil, it 

 gets open and straggling like the Hemlock, and 

 needs trimming occasionally for the first few 

 3'ears, to make it bushy and compact. 



R. obtusa nana, is a dwarf variety of the pre- 

 ceeding. It is a very singular and beautiful tree, 

 of a dark green color which is retained with re- 

 markable brightness all "Winter. With the as- 

 sistance of an occasional shearing, it makes a 

 singularly neat, compact and handsome speci- 

 men. This, and plumosa aurea, are the gems 

 of the whole collection. 



None of the varieties previously mentioned 

 appear to their best advantage, when growing 

 very rapidly, as they get too tall and straggling. 

 They need occasional trimming to keep them 

 compact and in good shape. 



R. pisifera and pisifera aurea, are quite simi- 

 lar in nearly all points except color. They are 

 more dwarf and dense in habit than any of the 

 preceeding. Pisifera, forms a low rounded head of 

 greenness, while aurea differs from it in being 

 varigated with delicate yellow tips. They are 

 both neat and unique little specimens, well de- 

 serving of a place in every collection. 



R. obtusa nana aurea, is another dwarf gold- 

 ■en variety. It is a feeble grower, and should be 

 grafted on some of the stronger varieties, and 

 needs careful nursing for the first few years, un- 

 til it gets a start in the world. It is then as 

 hardy as any of them, and if grown into a good 

 specimen, will well repay for the pains taken 

 with it. 



R. lycopodioides, is well named, as it bears a 

 striking resemblance to the tree Lycopodiums, 

 and looks more like a hothouse plant, than a 



hardy tree. The branches are covered all over 

 with the thick, dark green, plicate foliage. It is 

 a very singular and beautiful evergreen which 

 must be seen to be fully appreciated. Every 

 admirer of curious trees should have it. There 

 are several other varieties of Retinosporas cul- 

 tivated and offered by nurserymen, all of which 

 ace good and desiral)le trees, and without which , 

 no good collection will be complete. We have 

 only attempted to call attention to a few of the 

 best, which are most desirable for general 

 planting. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Fuchsias and Ivy. By selecting kinds 

 adapted to open air flowering, and associating 

 them with Ivy, an English correspondent of the 

 Garden finds an admirable combination in Sum- 

 mer gardening. 



Japan Bulbs. — These will perhaps take rank 

 in importance with Dutch bulbs. Enormous 

 numbers are already annually imported. Good 

 Lilium auratums were recently sold at auction in 

 New York. 



The Plane as a Street Tree. — It seems 

 strange, considering the number of years the 

 Plane tree has been known in England, that the 

 discovery is but recently made that the Plane is 

 the best of all shade trees for London streets. 



Memorial Trees. — The practice of planting 

 trees as memorials of visits, is common in Eng- 

 land. At a recent visit to the Duke of Rox- 

 burgh, Queen Victoria planted a Deodar Cedar. 



NEW OR RARE PLANTS. 



PusCHKiNiAS.— Of this pretty genus of hardy 

 bulbs the Garden says : 



"The species belonging to this small but 

 beautiful genus of Lily worts much resemble some 

 of the Squills in habit and aspect, but difi'er from 

 them, and, indeed, from all other hardy mem- 

 bers of the Lily family, in having a small, slx- 

 lobed corona springing from the inner base of the 

 divisions of the flower, and united into a short 

 tube, whilst in Scilla the divisions are cleft to 

 the base. Only three species of Puschkinias are 

 known to us, two of which, with one variety, are 

 now in cultivation. Though introduced many 



