34 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[February, 



In fact where peaty soil cannot be had, broken 

 stone or gravel, or anything that will keep the soil 

 aerated and moist, will do nearly as well. 



And the lesson is good for all trees, as well as 

 for Heaths, Andromedas, Kalmias, Rhododendrons, 

 and such like trees and shrubs. Nothing likes to I 

 have water about its feeding roots, but insists on 

 having air. Take a tree which grows in or nearly 

 in water, in a state of nature, as a Cypress, an 

 Alder, or Gum tree, and plant it in a swamp, it 

 will not grow, or do very poorly, if at all. Natur- 

 ally, it is only the few larger members of the tap 

 root class that go straight down into the swamp. 

 The feeding roots keep at the surface, through the 

 moss or in the spaces that are moist always but 

 never wet. But in planting we bury the roots of 

 all kinds beneath the water where the air is not. 

 So, if we want to plant a tree in a swamp we bring 

 earth, or throw it up in a hillock, and plant the tree 

 above the level of the swampy surface, and let 

 it send its roots down of its own sweet will. The 

 writer profited by this knowledge in his attempts 

 to cultivate the Mammoth tree of California. When 

 in California himself, he saw that these giants of 

 the forest were originally swamp trees, though 

 through the course of ages the localities had dried 

 somewhat. Hitherto the trees in the East had 

 been planted on ordinary garden ground, except 

 a few in a moist ravine on the grounds of EUwanger 

 & Barry, at Rochester, New York. On the writer's 

 return from California, trees were planted in a 

 swamp so soft that a horse that once wandered 

 into it could be barely got out alive. But the 

 manner of planting was by getting a barrel, taking 

 out the bottom, planting it in the swamp so that 

 a foot or two was above the level, and earth filled 

 in. On these elevations the Mammoth trees were 

 planted, and they have grown like willows. By 

 the time the barrels- rot away, the surface roots 

 will themselves find a way to creep over the sur- 

 face soil. Many good gardeners who have wanted 

 to plant trees on wet ground often ridge the earth, 

 or throw it up into mounds and plant on them — 

 on the ground in some sense, instead of beneath 

 it — and then have surprising success. 



Not only for trees and shrubs, but for flowers 

 and plants of every kind, the first essential of 

 success is an aerated spongy soil. This is often 

 naturally the case ; but when not so, nothing is 

 usually more easy than to make it so. Even piles 

 of corn stalks, brushwood, or similar material, 

 buried deep in the soil, will often help to keep a 

 flower bed or bed of shrubbery open and porous 

 when nothing better is at hand. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



LOPHOSPERMUM SCANDENS. 

 BY CHARLES E. PARNELL. 



The climbing or ^candent Lophospermum, 

 Lophospermum scandens, is a very interesting half- 

 hardy perennial climbing plant belonging to the 

 natural order Scrophulariaceas. It is a plant of 

 vigorous growth, attaining a height of from twelve 

 to sixteen feet, having cordate ovate pointed 

 leaves which are clothed with soft spreading vis- 

 cid hairs, and the beautiful rosy purple foxglove- 

 like flowers are produced in the greatest profusion 

 during the plant's season of growth. This variety 

 is considered by all to be the best of the Lophos- 

 permums, and as its roots are thick and fleshy it 

 can on this account be easily kept over during 

 the winter season. It is a native of Mexico from 

 whence it was introduced in 1835, having been 

 raised from seed by Mr. Shepard, of the Liverpool 

 Botanical Gardens. 



This Lophospermum is a plant easily cultivated. 

 In the flower border it delights in an airy sunny 

 situation, a deep, well enriched soil, and an occa- 

 sional watering during seasons of drought. Sup- 

 port should be given the plants before they com- 

 mence to run, and care must be taken as to train- 

 ing the young and tender shoots. If all is well, 

 and the plants were strong and healthy when 

 planted out, they will commence to flower about 

 the first of July and continue until frost. In the 

 flower garden it will be found to be of great 

 value for training up trellises, lattice work, etc., 

 and it is equally as valuable for greenhouse culti- 

 vation. 



When grown as a greenhouse or window gar- 

 den plant, young plants should be obtained about 

 the middle of June and potted into three-inch pots, 

 using ordinary potting soil. As soon as the pots 

 become well filled with roots shift into five-inch 

 pots; at the same time pinch back all the leading 

 shoots and continue this re-potting and pinching 

 back until the first of September, when the plants 

 should be brought inside and placed in their res- 

 pective positions. By this time one will have 

 nice, compact, well rooted specimens, which if 

 given a light sunny situation and an average tem- 

 perature of 55°, with an occasional application of 

 liquid manure water, will reward us with bloom 

 in profusion. Inside, the plants should be syringed 

 occasionally, at the same time slightly fumigated 

 with tobacco in order to destroy the green fly, to 

 which pest the plant is unfortunately very subject. 



