1883.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



297 



stems are closely set with stalked spreading leaves. 

 The blade of the leaf is cordate-ovate acuminate, 

 with a yellowish-green costa, banded with a dark 

 green and silver gray upon a dark green foliage. 

 The back of the unrolled leaves is a pale reddish 

 or wine color. 



" One of the most distinct and beautiful plants I 

 have ever handled," once said Robert Buist. 



I find it thrives best in two parts of loam to one 

 of peat and sand, with good drainage. It loves 

 shade, heat and moisture. It can be propagated 

 from cuttings under the following treatment : use 

 single eyes with the full leaf on, which support 

 with a small stake. They are then inserted in a 

 propagating bed under double glass, where there 

 is a temperature of 85 to 90^ bottom heat ; then 

 thoroughly watered and sprinkled three or four 

 times a day. In about four weeks they are ready 

 to pot off. Top cuttings make the best plants. 

 Great care should be taken not to allow water to 

 remain in the center of the cuttings while in this 

 temperature, as they would be apt to rot out. 

 When it becomes necessary to water or sprinkle 

 they should be covered. Small pieces of paper, 

 conveniently at hand, will answer the purpose. A 

 batch of these cuttings, put in January 9th, 1883, 

 and treated as above, were rooted February 9th 

 and potted by the 20th. On April i6th they were 

 put into three-inch pots, and by June 2nd were 

 ready for another shift. 



NOTES FROM NEW ORLEANS. 



BY W. H. LESTER, 

 GARDENER TO PROF. RICHARDSON. 



Herewith I send you some flowers of Hydrangea 

 Otaxa, to see how they compare with those in 

 Philadelphia ; also two pieces of Bignonia, the 

 names of which have been lost. The one in bloom 

 is covered with whorls of bloom at every joint and 

 is a delightful object. 



Have you ever seen a Magnolia grandiflora 

 thirty to forty feet high, with a bare stem for about 

 half the distance covered with a Rhyncospermum 

 jasminoides breaking out through the top, flow- 

 ered from the ground and hanging in garlands 

 all over the Magnolia, also in bloom and bud ? 

 If not, all I can say is, up to the present time 

 you have missed one of the grandest sights 

 in nature. 



Gardens in this city, that have been taken care 

 of, have been and are looking very gay. Garden- 

 ers appear to be all busy, and have got all the 

 evergreens shaved, etc. The natural soil in this 



section is a kind of a cross between brick-clay 

 and shoemakers' wax, and every pound of potting 

 soil I use, has to be hauled from New Jersey, ex- 

 cept some Mississsippi mud, called by courtesy, 

 sand ! All the heat-loving Orchids do well here, 

 Cattleyas, Dendrobiums, Oncidiums, Phalaenopsis, 

 .'Erides, Angraecum and several of the Mexican 

 varieties as Laelia, Chysis and Lycaste. With 

 Odontoglossums we cannot do much, — cannot get 

 a place cool enough for them. 



The palm-house is occupied by such varieties as 

 Acanthorhiza Warzcewicsii, Astrocaryums, Atta- 

 lea, Carludovica palmata, Caryota urens, Areca 

 Verschaffeltii and lutescens, nearly all the Chama;- 

 dorea, and Cocos, Kentia, Livistonia, Pritchardia 

 macrocarpa, Thrynax, Ptychosperma, Calamus, 

 Oreodoxa regia, Geonoma gracilis, and several 

 others, too numerous to mention. We have speci- 

 mens outside to remain, of such " trash" as Phoenix 

 dactylifera, P. sylvestris, P. tenuis, P. reclinata, 

 Sabal Blackburniana and palmata, Cocos Australis, 

 Jubsea spectabilis, Chamaerops Fortunii, and 

 excelsa, Latania Borbonica, Chamaedora scandens 

 and several others. 



In the fern-house — but I will not talk of that at 

 present, for if I commenced to tell you about my 

 Alsophila Australis carrying twelve fronds from 

 12 to 14 feet long, and Cibotium regale worse 

 still, with Pteris serrulata and Davalha pyxidata, 

 and all my Adiantums and hundreds of others, I 

 should never end — and then my C\ anophyllums, 

 Diffenbachias, Nepenthes, Alocasias, Anthuriums 

 with Crotons and Draecenas, till I cannot rest day 

 or night, or "I run so far behind" that I do not 

 know what to commence first. But I have every 

 modern facility and convenience for doing the 

 work, including a small boy to break pots, plants, 

 and glass, play with the cats, give us an "over 

 the garden wall " solo, and attend to all such im- 

 portant matters. 



I omitted to say I counted forty-seven flowers on 

 one side of the Hydrangea, and then I got mixed 

 up and lost my temper, after counting thus far. 

 Also, if you recognize the Bignonias would like to 

 have the name, through the magazine. But you 

 must not think by this that I have got all the plants 

 in this neighborhood, although having the largest 

 and best private collection in this section, to take 

 care of. I believe some of my neighbors have 

 better plants than I, of some of the same varieties, 

 and I am very glad of it, but I can't help it just 

 at present. 



[This pleasant letter was written on the 7th of 

 June, but laid over till the Editor's personal return, 



