54 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[February ^ 



recall to his memory what he had seen on his 

 visit to my brother's garden at about that time, 

 and before Col. Clark could possibly have sent 

 him the seed he mentions. Cercidiphyllum 

 japonicum was among my earliest introductions, 

 either in 18G4 or 1865, and at the time of Prof- 

 Sargent's visit was also growing in my brother's 

 garden, where it is still to be seen, and it seems 

 incredible that so remarkable a plant could have 

 escaped the notice of so enthusiastic an admirer 

 of trees. At about the same time Prof. Asa Gray 

 also saw my collection, and will, I have no doubt, 

 be able to confirm my statement. 



THE CLIMBING HYDRANGEA. 



BY PETER HENDERSON, JERSEY CITY HEIGHTS, 

 NEAV JERSEY. 



In your January number Professor C. S. Sar- 

 gent objects to the Climbing Hydrangea being 

 called a new plant, beause Siebold had figured 

 it in his Flora of Japan in 1839. Surely a plant 

 may liave been so figured and described and yet 

 be "new" when it is actually introduced into 

 another country, and there for the first time 

 have a living existence. In the Flora of Japan 

 referred to, Siebold at that time figured and de- 

 scribed a number of plants new to Europe and 

 America, such as Trochodendron aralioides, 

 Styrax obassia, several hydrangeas, &c., and 

 when they were introduced into cultivation 

 twent)'-five or thirty years afterwards by Mr. 

 Thomas Hogg and other collectors, they were 

 Avelcomed as new plants, just as we welcomed 

 the Climbing Hydrangea (which I was under 

 the impression that Mr. Hogg was the first to 

 introduce). 



But Mr. Sargent makes even a worse charge 

 against the Climbing Hydrangea than its want 

 of novelty, for he says : " if it is new to gardens 

 it is only because it has never seemed worth in- 

 troducing into them before." Jfow the fact that 

 Siebold figured and described it showed that he 

 at least thought it worthy of a place in his work ; 

 for the book does not pretend either to describe 

 or illustrate the botany of Japan, only the con- 

 spicuous and interesting plants — about a hun- 

 dred in all. Mr. Sargent says that he distrib- 

 uted a large number of plants, raised from the 

 seeds given him by Col. Clarke, yet I think I 

 run no great risk in doubting, that in all that 

 large number, if Mr. Sargent has yet seen a single 

 plant in a matured condition to bloom, and if he 

 has not. how does he know that it is not worthy 



of cultivation here ? Against the opinion of 

 Mr. Sargent we have the evidence of Mr. Thomas 

 Hogg, who has made the Flora of Japan a spe- 

 cial study. In all such matters all who know 

 Mr. Hogg, know that no one is less likely to 

 exaggerate than he ; and when I heard him as- 

 sert, that when in company with Dr. Hall they 

 first saw the Climbing Hydrangea in full bloom, 

 festooning the trees on the Hakone Mountains 

 in Japan they were perfectly bewildered with 

 the novelty and beauty of the plant. I for one 

 never doubted that the Schizophragm?f would, 

 before long, become indispensible to our collec- 

 tions here. Our list of hardy climbing plants is 

 by no means large, and we can ill afford to dis- 

 card this one without giving it a fair trial. Evi- 

 dently our brethren of the trade in Europe think 

 the same, for we found that in nearly every Eu- 

 ropean order received last season that the 

 "new" Climbing Hydrangea was wanted, and 

 that too in the face of the very high price we 

 then sold it at. 



CARNIVOROUS PLANTS. 



BY C. W. SEELYE, ROCHESTER, N. Y. 



Mr. Henderson's statement of his experiment 

 with the plants of Dioufea muscipula is not fully 

 satisfactory. So far as the operation aftected the 

 growth and condition of the plants, the opinion 

 of Mr. H. and his numerous friends is decisive, 

 and there he makes a point; the "feeding" did 

 not increase the size or the apparent vigor of the 

 plants. This conclusion does not correspond to 

 that of the Darvvins, father and son, and which 

 was one of the subjects of test by the experi- 

 ment. According to the quotation of Mr. H., 

 there were two positions of the Darwins which 

 he proposed to test; first, "that the so-called 

 carnivorous plants do make use as food of the 

 insects they catch;" and, secondly, "that the 

 difference in growth and final product were very 

 much in favor of the meat-fed plants." 



The second position, as we have seen, was not 

 corroborated by the experiment; but how about 

 the first one ? Mr. H. narrates an incident in 

 connection with his friend Mr. Smith, " a thor- 

 ough believer in the carnivorous plant doctrine, "^ 

 who showed him " beyond question a minute 

 species of shell-snails embedded in almost every 

 one of the closed up leaf-traps of the Dion»as. 

 'There,' says he, 'nature has placed the food — 

 the animal food — directly into the mouths of 

 these insect-eating plants. Can you longer 



