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THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[April, 



Croton Lea\es in Flower Glasses.— Any- 

 one who has a number of flower glasses to keep 

 supplied with cut flowers during the winter and 

 spring months, often finds it more difficult to 

 obtain a supply of fresh fern fronds than flowers, 

 especially during the spring, as the fronds are cut 

 as soon as they appear, and they keep fresh for a 

 very short time in such a young state. For the 

 last few years in filling our flower glasses we have 

 always furnished a few with Croton leaves of dif- 

 ferent varieties, and find them both useful and 

 effective. Large, trumpet-shaped glasses, with a 

 few arching leaves of Croton Warrenii, give a 

 graceful appearance, and for smaller glasses the 

 leaves of the old variegatus section answer well, 

 and save both ferns and flowers. The plants that 

 we denude of their foliage for this purpose are such 

 as have been used for room-decoration. Those 

 plants when put back to their old quarters, the 

 stove, generally lose all their leaves by degrees, 

 and it is best to cut them down and let thein start 

 afresh. — Datnd Murray in Jour, of Horticulture. 



The "Smilax," — JMyrsiphyllum aspara- 

 GOIDES. — We note by the English papers, that the 

 English florists begin to believe that possibly the 

 American taste which makes use of such large 

 quantities of this plant is perhaps not at fault, and 

 that it possibly might be worth while for English 

 florists to go and plant some. 



Popular Cut Flowers in France. — We note 

 by a French paper that it is reckoned that the 

 daily sale of natural flowers in Paris realizes about 

 $20,000. The flowers most in fashion at present 

 are the gardenia, which sells at five francs each 

 flower ; the lily of the valley, worth ten francs 

 the pot ; the queen rose and the purple rose, the 

 Spanish carnation and the violet. Of the latter a 

 large number come from Nice ; but they have not 

 the perfume of those grown around Paris. The 

 camellia, at one time so m.uch prized, is now quite 

 out of fashion, just as it is in our country, though 

 there are signs that it will regain here some at 

 least of its lost popularity. It may be as well to 

 note that the French franc is worth about twenty 

 cents of our money. 



Rose Caroline Goodrich. — This, we suppose, 

 tea rose, was raised by Mr. T. Walsh, gardener to 

 F. Goodrich, Esq., Riverdale, New York. The 

 flowers are of a deep red color, remarkably fra- 

 grant, and about two and a half inches in diam- 

 eter when fully expanded. Mr. Henderson says 

 it is unsurpassed in fragrance, the only deficiency 

 being in the form of the expanded flower. 



The Double White Bouvardia in Europe. — 

 The yournal of Horticulture ?>3iys: "The Double 

 White Bouvardia Alfred Neuner is becoming a 

 great favorite with the florists and bouquetists in 

 Covent Garden, and the flowers are now quite 

 abundant in the windows there. It appears to be 

 greatly appreciated for button-holes, and for this 

 purpose the flowers are admirably adapted either 

 associated with rose buds, violets, the single scar- 

 let and pink bouvardias, and similar flowers. 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



Curcuma Roscceana. — " B. T.," Reading, Pa., 

 asks: "Will some one who knows, of your many 

 subscribers, give the treatment of Curcuma Ros- 

 cceana ? I have been growing it for the last four 

 years, and have not been able to bring out its 

 beautiful bracts which are so highly spoken of. I 

 have grown it in a warm greenhouse, and outside 

 in the hot sun. The growth has been large but 

 the bracts would not come." 



Rose Etoile de Lyon. — Specimens from 

 Nanz & Neuner indicate that this beautiful yellow 

 tea rose is fully the equal of Marechal Niel in 

 beauty. A good tea of this character, but without 

 the rampant and often shy blooming character of 

 the Niel, ought to be an unusually valuable intro- 

 duction. 



Carnation from "L. W. E.," Poughkeepsie, 

 N. Y. — A seedling, said to be distinct in shade 

 from all colors under cultivation, was sent to us, 

 but packed in dry cotton, and so shrivelled that 

 we could not determine the characte'. 



NEW OR RARE PLANTS. 



Crinodendron Hookerianum. — Messrs. Veitch 

 say of this plant that it is one of the most beautiful 

 hard-wooded greenhouse plants of recent introduc- 

 tion. It is a dwarf evergreen shrub, native of 

 Southern Chili, where it is quite rare. 



The plant is of bushy habit, and furnished with 

 rather narrow-pointed, bright green leaves, sharply 

 toothed at the upper half. 



It is remarkably free-flowering ; the flowers 

 either singly or in pairs, are produced from the 

 axil of nearly every leaf towards the ends of all 

 the shoots. They are about the size of a walnut, 

 and pendulous from rather slender footstalks, two 

 to three inches long ; the petals are of thick, 

 waxy texture, like those of Lapageria rosea, and of 

 the same brilliant scarlet-crimson color. 



A colored engraving of the plant is given in the 



