68 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[March, 



color imag^inable, bold round buds which open 

 out gradually into great semi-double flowers of a 

 rosy crimson color, or with broad guard petals of 

 a delicate salmon-rose tint around a mass of 

 creamy white or sulphur-tinted petals in the cen- 

 ter of the flower. That they are fragrant also is 

 another recommendation apart altogether from 

 their showiness. When cut in the bud stage and 

 brought indoors, the flowers of these late Pasonies 

 are most charming ; no Cattleya Mendeli could 

 be more pure or more delicate in color, and no 

 painting could well do them justice, albeit that M. 

 Fautin has a lovely group of these identical flow- 

 ers in the Academy exhibition. Although now 

 and then seen in old-fashioned gardens on warm 

 soils, they are not nearly so common as a sight of 

 their beauty would lead one to expect. Of what 

 species or ra'ce comes these tall, late Psonies ? 

 They are quite distinct from the early-blooming or 

 P. officinalis set, and even more beautiful. — The 

 Garden. 



LiLiuM Leichtlini, Hook. fil. — A very lovely 

 species from Japan, admirably represented in Bot. 

 Mag., t. 5673. Stem ij^ — 3 feet high, brownish, 

 clothed with narrow lanceolate leaves, pointing 

 upwards — racemose at the top. Flowers from i — 6 

 in number ; perianth segments 3 — 4 inches long, 

 clear lemon, copiously spotted with claret-colored 

 well defined spots, sharply reflexed, the flower al- 

 most assuming a globular form. The slender 

 stems have a curious habit of running under the 

 surface of the soil, and if you place a bulb in the 

 center of a pot it is quite likely to appear near the 

 side. I find this species also dehghts in a mixture 

 of peat and leaf soil, my finest specimen being in 

 a damp bed planted in such a compost. It is 

 flowering very freely this season, and the individual 

 blooms are very fine. It is evidently very plenti- 

 ful in Japan, as it can be secured in quantity large 

 enough to make it much more plentiful than it is ; 

 of course the high figure which has up to the pre- 

 sent been asked for it has deterred many from se- 

 curing it. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 



The Japanese, or Ram anas Rose. — Of all 

 single roses in flower, this is just now the best and 

 the sweetest. It is distinct and beautiful alike m 

 leafage and in blossom. Planted in good deep 

 rich soil, it spreads rapidly, throwing up strong 

 sucker shoots from its underground stems, and 

 these flower freely all the summer months, and 

 the flowers are succeeded by large oblate fruits or 

 hips, quite an inch in diameter, and of a bright 

 glossy lacquer-like red color wlien ripe. Its deep 



green leaves, netted like those of Salix reticulata, 

 are much used by our lady friends to wear with 

 the half opened buds of China, Banksian, Tea and 

 other roses, or with the rich deep rosy buds of 

 this Japan rose itself. Cut in the bud state, its 

 flowers open out fresh and fair in water, and pos- 

 sess a singularly rich and piquant attar-like per- 

 fume. The snow-white variety is not quite so 

 common, but is, if possible, even more beautiful. 

 1 am sorry to hear that when the white variety is 

 obtained, it reverts to the red type sometimes ere 

 it blooms. — The Garden. 



Iris juncea There is no Iris, except perhaps 



the common I'seudacorus, that has such rich yel- 

 low flowers as this rare species, blossoms of which 

 have been sent to us by Mr. Edward Wallace, 

 ' from the New Plant and Bulb Company's Nursery, 

 at Colchester. The flowers are about the same 

 size as those of the common Flag, but different in 

 form. It grows about the usual height of the 

 Spanish Iris, and the leaves, as the specific name 

 I implies, are Rush-like. When sent the flower-spike 

 I bore one expanded flower ; after this faded another 

 \ appeared from the spathe valves, and has lasted 

 three days in good condition in a cool room. 

 There are but few flowers in cultivation which 

 possess such a clear rich yellow as that of this 

 Iris. — The Garden. 



Horticulture as an Element in Progress. 

 — Miss Viola Smith, Summit county, O., remarks : 

 " What can horticulture do towards making happy 

 homes for children ? Let us imagine a house 

 built on a plot of bare, plowed ground. Let noth- 

 ing be planted there, let nothing grow there, ex- 

 cept the weeds and briers which naturally spring 

 up. Let a family of children be reared in that 

 house and what will they be ? It is almost cer- 

 tain that they will develop one of two phases of 

 character. Either they will live in perpetual dis- 

 cord with their surroundings, hating their desolate 

 abiding-place and improving the first opportunity 

 to escape from it, or they will sink to the le%el of 

 their circumstances and be content in their degra- 

 dation. A child which could be patient with 

 such a situation in life, and yet refined in its na- 

 ture, would be one of those of whom wc say 'Not 

 long for this world.' There may have been a "few 

 such children, but they never need long graves. 



" Now what can horticulture do for such a place? 

 First, it can make grass grow. It can change the 

 ' rough clods, half-covered with dock and plantain, 

 to a well kept lawn, as green as emerald and al- 

 most as smooth as velvet. And who can estimate 



