1885.J 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



269 



[It is correctly named, Begonia Feastii, and, 

 as our correspondent remarks, one of the most 

 beautiful yet. One of its parents was an old 

 species, B. hydrocotylaefolia. But we do not re- 

 member that we ever knew the other parent. — 

 Ed. G. M.] 



NEW OR RARE PLANTS. 



Cypripedium cenanthum superbum (see cut). — 

 Messrs. Veitch, of Chelsea, near London, continue 

 the work begun by their father thirty years ago, 

 hybridizing orchids, and are continually raising 

 new ones quite as distinct and beautiful as original 

 species. Of the one which we now illustrate they 

 send us the following account: 



"One of the most striking of the hybrid cypri- 

 pediums raised in our nursery. It was obtained 

 by crossing C. Harrisianum with C. insigne Maulei. 



" The plant is of vigorous growth and has foliage 

 like that of C. insigne, but of deeper hue. The 

 flowers are large with a lustrous varnish surface. 

 The color of the dorsal sepal is deep claret-red 

 with broad lines of blackish-purple spots that are 

 confluent. It has a very broad, white margin, and 

 where the spots enter it, they are of a beautiful 

 mauve-purple. The lower sepal is greenish. 



with lines of blackish spots on the basal half. 

 The petals are vinous-red with deeper veins, ex- 

 cept at the base and apex, where it shades off 

 into pale green. On the inferior side of the basal 

 half are from 10 to 12 blackish worts. The lip is 

 deep vinous-red, shaded with brown ; the staminode 

 buff-yellow tinged with red. 



" We know of no cypripedium that presents such 

 a remarkable combination of colors as is seen in 

 the flower of this beautiful hybrid." 



Rose, "Her Majesty." — Messrs. Charles F. 

 Evans and Craig Bros., of Philadelphia, have 

 bought the entire stock of this rose which was 

 raised by Mr. Henry Bennett, of Shepperton, 

 England, who considers it his finest production. 

 It is a cross between the hybrid perpetual Mabel 

 Morrison and tea Canary. Its immense size, 

 perfect symmetry, and exquisite coloring, combine 

 to make it popular ; it is the largest and finest 

 rose ever introduced. It will be of special interest 

 to florists who grow roses for the cut blooms ; the 

 grand flowers of Baroness Rothschild, Paul Neyron, 

 I Anna de Diesbach, Mad. Gabriel Luizet, and others 

 ' of this class produced of late years, have developed 

 a taste for very large roses which will be abund- 

 antly gratified by " Her Majesty." It is of most 

 vigorous growth and entirely hardy. 



Fruit and Vegetable Gardening. 



SEASONABLE HINTS. 



The great progress which market gardening has 

 made in cheapening the cost of producing fruit, 

 has not been favorable to that excellence which 

 the lovers of good fruit usually aim at. But even 

 as a matter of profit it has come to be recognized 

 that he who produces the best fruit makes the most 

 money. This is especially true in regard to fruit 

 in season, when fruit is a drug in the market. First- 

 class fruit even then sells and always with a good 

 profit. Hints, then, looking towards excellence, 

 may not be out of place at this season. 



To our mind much of the pleasure of fruitgrow- 

 ing lies in learning all about fruits, — not merely 

 the names of the varieties, but of the habits and 

 wants of each thing we grow, and a very plea- 

 surable part of one's garden would be that set 

 apart for cultural experiments. There is no reason 



why strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, cur- 

 rants, grapes, and other things, may not be tried 

 on different cultural plans, — and the knowledge 

 derived will be fully equal to the pleasure derived 

 from the experiments themselves. For instance, in 

 our last there was a note about the benefits the old 

 gardeners found from cutting off the leaves of 

 strawberries as soon as the fruit is mature. It 

 would give great zest to a gardener to have a dozen 

 plants under such a treatment side by side with a 

 dozen under regular garden treatment; and many 

 things do well only by special care. If, for instance, 

 we ask the average fruit-grower why he has not 

 such delicious raspberries as Brinkle's Orange, 

 Hornet, or Herstine, he will tell you that they are 

 too tender, — but if we go into the garden of the 

 amateur fruit-grower who grows fruit because he 

 loves to grow it, we find him not objecting to lay- 

 ing the canes down and covering with earth, and 



