1879.1 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



227 



very severe drought lately, and all the old grass 

 plots lost their color and looked as sere as in 

 August, while my new plot kept green and fresh 

 through it all. There was a great deal of white 

 clover in it and perhaps the shading of the soil 

 had a good deal to do with the freshness. Sod- 

 ding is slow, costly work, but in our uncertain 

 climate seems to be the surest, quickest means of 

 getting a compact even sod. Can you give us 

 the surest and quickest method of sodding ? 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Encouragement for Roses. — As we write 

 the competition for the Rose Premiums of the 

 Massachusetts Horticultural Society is in order, 

 and ought to bring out rivalry. $150 in a 

 silver cup for the best twenty-four hybrid per- 

 petuals is worth trying for. In the shape in 

 which the society oilers this premium it is dif- 

 ferent to the old ways of doing things, for the 

 winner of this premium is likely to i)e well ad- 

 vertised. 



LiLiUM Parkmanni. — This beautiful lily, 

 raised by Mr. Francis Parkman, of Boston, be- 

 tween Lilium auratum and L. speciosum, is the 

 subject of a beautiful colored plate in the Lon- 

 don Garden. The color is much like a ver}'^ 

 rich tinted speciosum, but the flowers are about 

 nine inches across, and in other respects like 

 auratum. 



Hybrid Aquilegias. — These are so numer- 

 ous now that botanists already do not feel sure 

 they can tell a species from a variety in the 

 Columbines. 



Boston Public Grounds.— Boston papers 

 are giving great praise to Mr. Doogue, " Cit}' 

 Forester," for the good work he is doing for 

 that city. 



Care of Gardens. — In our travels the pre- 

 vailing weakness is untidy places. In many 

 cases there is evidently more garden work to do 

 than workers to do it. In others the suflering is 

 from bad management. If there were a dozen 

 at the work there would be little more improve- 

 ment ; for some men are so constituted that they 

 cannot keep ahead with their work. But we are 

 satisfied that great numbers of good gardeners 

 have too much expected of them, and that this 

 is the secret of many slovenly places. 



American Sweet Scented Violet. — It is 

 remarkable that thonLi:li we have numerous 



species of violet in this country, very few are 

 scented. The Viola primulajfolia is exception- 

 ally sweet, and is worthy of the attention of 

 florists with a view to improvement. This spe- 

 cies grows far North, having recently been found 

 in Canada. 



Forsytiiia suspensa.— This beautiful shrub 

 is not as well known as the older Forsytiiia viri- 

 dissima or Golden Bell, but it is capable of 

 making a much finer efVect. If the central stem 

 is trained to a pole or stake it will reacb a hciglit 

 of ten or twelve feet, and the slender pendulous 

 floral branches make a very pretty effect amidst 

 the mass left to grow at will at the base. 



SedUM ACER AUREUM AS A CaRPET PlANT. 



Visitors to the Chiswick Gardens of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society will perceive that ^Ir. Bar- 

 ron has used this most useful Winter and Spring 

 decorative plant in a very serviceable way by 

 employing it as a carpet to Irish Yews, Thuja 

 aurea, and other plants of a similar character 

 which surround the rockwork. The Sedinn 

 flourishes in such a position, and the April 

 showers alternating with bursts of warm sun- 

 shine cause the Stonecrop to flash up with an 

 unwonted brilliancy of color. The dense deep 

 green of the Irish Yew appears to assume a 

 deeper tone against the golden ground below it. 

 One wonders this charming Sedum is so seldom 

 met with. Were it now introduced for the first 

 time it would no doubt become very popuhir. — 

 Gardaier''s Chronicle. 



SCRAPS AND OUERIES. 



Curious Dwarf Rose. — Mrs. M., South 

 Haven, Mich., says: " I send you to day a rose 

 flower. Is it new or old ? It appeared this 

 season for the first time among some liyl)ri(l 

 perpetuals in a friend's garden. It is a very 



I double flower, and of fine form when fresh, but 

 remarkably dwarf in stature as far as the bush 



I is concerned." 



j [It is certainly a hybrid perpetual, and we 

 know of no dwarf among this class. The flower 

 was delightfully fragrant. — Ed. G. M.] 



Japan Maples.— Mrs. L.,asks : "I would like 

 to enquire about the Japan Blood-leaved Maples, 

 wbetlier they grow to be trees of twenty and 

 thirty feet, or whether they are mere shrubs? 



