358 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[December, 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



Dark-leaved Mountain Ash. — Mr. Charles 

 Freundsays: "The oak-leaved Mountain Ash, I 

 which your correspondent, Mr. Robert Dougla?, i 

 speaks of, is a seedling and orisiinated with a I 

 then well-known nurseryman, Mr. P. H. Gump- '■ 

 per, of Stuttgart, Germany. It flowered first 

 about 1854. Mr. Gumpper had it lithogra[)hed, 

 flower and leaf, and published in -several of the 

 leading horticultural journals. About that time 

 Mr. G. sent a number of young trees to the 

 Messrs. EUwanger & Barry, of Eochester, N. Y." 



Clkrodendron Bungei.— " R. D. G.," Reading, 

 Pa., writes : " Please tell the name, in the Gar- j 

 dener's Monthly, of this plant which comes up 

 in a neighbor's garden profusely, and the seed of 

 which, she thinks, a bird must have dropped." i 



[Clerodendron Bungei, a native of the North 



of China, and introduced into American gar- 

 dens, in 1857, from Belgium by the writer of 

 this. The stems are destroyed by frost in this 

 part of the United States, but the creeping roots 

 survive, except in very severe winters, and the 

 young shoots usually terminate by a large head 

 of rosy purple flowers, which is very showy. It 

 makes an admirable tub plant, as, when pro- 

 tected from frost, the plant in a few years makes 

 a bush several feet high, and bears innumerable 

 heads of flowers. It is remarkable that while 

 the flowers are delightfully sweet-scented, the 

 leaves, when rubbed, are malodorous; and this 

 suggested to Bunge the name of C. foetidus, 

 which, however, had been appropriated already 

 by another rank-smelling species. 



Your friend's plant was probably introduced 

 by a piece of root brought, with some other 

 plant in the past, from some other garden. — 

 Ed. G. M.] 



Greenhouse and House Gardening. 



SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Most coal contains sulphur, and when burn- 

 ing the sulphurous flames injure plants. In like 

 manner there is some sulphur in illuminating 

 gas, and it is given off during burning. Much 

 of what is supposed to be the injury from dry 

 air in rooms and greenhouses comes from sul- 

 phurous fumes. We have only to note how 

 plants grow in the dr}' summer air when they 

 get food and moisture enough at the roots, to 

 understand that a dry atmosphere is not unfav- 

 orable to good plant growth. Many persons 

 are disgusted with plant growing from a preva- 

 lent belief that the atmosphere has to be as 

 damp as a Brazilian swamp. In dry air, how- 

 ever, red spider, the most destructive of plant 

 enemies, is apt to flourish. It is so small that 

 one is not apt to see it nntil great damage is 

 done. They are no larger than needle points, 

 and are generally found on the under surface of 

 the leaf. They are called "spiders" because 

 they make webs like a true "arachnoid," as the 

 learned call those insects which belong to the 

 spider tribe. If one has but a few plants this 

 troublesome insect may be easily kept down by 

 ■continual examination, and crushing with finger 



and thumb. There are, however, some planta 

 which have leaves that will not admit of this 

 sort of handling. It is, therefore, a good plan to 

 place the plants on their sides occasionally and 

 syringe them with water warmed to about 130°. 

 Soapy and other washes often recommended are 

 also great aids in this washing process. 



In watering plants much judgment is required, 

 as plants suflTer much more from over-watering 

 than from any other cause. No one can teach 

 exactly how to water plants. The knowledge 

 must come from experience. The practiced eye 

 detects by the color of the earth whether it needs 

 water or not. Whatever may be the color of the 

 earth employed in potting plants it is always 

 paler when dry than when wet. Again, the 

 practiced plant-grower learns to tell by the 

 weight alone. By lifting the pot the weight tells 

 if too dry. If too wet it will be much heavier 

 than it ought to be. 



Basket plants often suffer from too much or 

 too little water. If from too little, the leaves 

 curl or fall, and the plants have a dried-up ap- 

 pearance. If too much, they get yellow and 

 drop off". As a rule, a basket in a warm room, 

 should be taken down once a week, and soaked 

 in a bucket of water, then drained and hung up 



