THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



795 



EUCHARIS AMAZONIEA. 



llv W. Morrow. 



This well-known choice exotic is so seldom seen in any 

 private or commercial places where fine flowering stock is 

 grown that one would think the growers considered it 

 unworthy of the little attention that would make its cul- 

 tivation a success, and yet what have they got in the way 

 of a white flower that could be called superior to the 

 eucharis, or one that would better repay the grower for 

 the room it takes up, whether on a large or small scale ? 

 A few pots or pans in the corner of a bench is all you will 

 see in most of the places, and from these only one crop 

 a year is all they get, or even expect — ^besides, there is too 

 much work attached to this mode of culture, in the way 

 of repotting, sponging, etc., to keep mealy bugs and other 

 insects in check, that they barely pay for the trouble. In 

 bench culture, where the\- can be allowed to remain for 

 a number of years, all this e.Ktra work is done away with. 

 A side bench in a palm house, where they will have some 

 shade and bottom heat, will suit them nicely. They would 

 also do well on the back bench of a rose house, but a 

 cheese cloth shade would be necessary in such a place. A 

 bench three feet wide, made of cypress boards six inches 

 wides by I74 inches thick, placed half an inch or more 

 apart, so as to insure good drainage, seems to suit them. 

 This bench should get a good coat of lime whitewash, 

 with a good shake of sulphur mixed in it. This will pre- 

 serve the wood and keep down fungus. When this is 

 dry, two inches of roughly chopped fibery sod with part 

 of the soil shaken out should be spread over the boards 

 or bench bottom and pressed down level with the back of 

 a spade. The bench can then be filled to the top with 

 chopped sod and leaf mold or old manure in equal parts, 

 with a good cast of sheep manure and crushed charcoal 

 well mixed in. This ■ compact will subside an inch or 

 more after being planted and watered. The bulbs can be 

 set in rows across the bench about nine inches apart in 

 the row and 16 inches between the rows. This may seem 

 rather wide at first, but during the second year the space 

 will nearly all be taken up, thev make sidings so fast. 



There ought to be room for the hand with the hose to 

 get in to spray the under side of the leaves. This is im- 

 portant, as it is the only cleaning to keep down insects, 

 and should be done right along, except when the flowers 

 are open. \Vhen the bench has been filled with roots an 

 occasional dose of manure water .should be given during 

 the six weeks of their growth. When the last leaf is al- 

 most full size and no new ones coming up, it is time to 

 withhold water from the bench, except what they get in 

 the way of spraying of the leaves, which will general!\ 

 keep the soil damp enough. 



Care should be taken not to let the soil get <lust dry 

 at any time, even when resting, which will take five or 

 six weeks. As soon as they begin to send uj) a few 

 flower spikes the bench should get a thorough watering. 

 Two days after give another, this time with sheep or 

 cow manure. The temperature need not be over 55 at 

 night and better spikes of flower will be obtained than if 

 more heat is given. In the growing period the heat had 

 better be kept up to 60 or more. The first year one good 

 crop of flowers is all that should be expected, but after 

 that two or three good crops a year, with a few stragglers 

 between times, can be had. 



A bench planted this way. three feet wide and 30 in 

 length, will give over 300 spikes at one crop after the 

 first year. And a house w-ith several such benches could 

 be kept producing almost continuously witii a little 

 juggling in growing and resting at different periods. 



CULTIVATED VARIETIES. 



Regarding the forms of creation Linnaeus wrote that 

 "there are as many different species as the Infinite Being 

 created in the beginning" and this idea has largely pre- 

 vailed in the public mind to the present day. It is a mis- 

 take, however, to assume that species are unchanging or 

 that new forms appear only at long intervals. As a 

 matter of fact, such forms arise annually. One has only 

 to visit the nearest large area of plants in flower to dis- 

 cover many of them, and the principal reason they do not 

 persist and become distinct species is because the type 

 from which they spring is better adjusted to the sur- 

 roundings than they are. If one will take the trouble to 

 protect these aberrant forms they may be continued in- 

 definitely and their peculiarities accentuated. It is such 

 care and cultivation that have given us the many forms 

 of garden flowers, often a hundred or more from' a single 

 original species. The catalogue of any seedsman will 

 present much evidence on this point.. If you have a fa- 

 vorite flower of which you would like a new variety, 

 sow plenty of seeds, select your own variety and breed it 

 up. — Exchange. 



KRASCHENINNIKOWIA MAXIMOWICZIANA. 



The nun-botanical are wont to observe that the sci- 

 entific names of plants are "fearfully and wonderfully 

 made"' and the name which stands as the title of this 

 paragraph goes far to substantiate the statement. It also 

 serves to illustrate the lack of perception in the typical 

 scientist. Who, except the scientific man, too deeply en- 

 grossed in his work to see the humor of the situation, 

 could give a pretty- and delicate plant such an uncouth 

 name as this ? However, it is possible that in carping at 

 this name we may be following the example of the ignor- 

 ant who are prone to smile at unfamiliar words. Were 

 we Russians the name of the plant might sound at least 

 as smooth as Pipersiiiitltii, A^atioiialf^arlcensis and a few 

 others of equal mellifluousness put over on this side- of 

 the world. Kraschcniniiikozi'ia Ma.viiiwz>.'icciaiia is a 

 small herb belonging to the pink family and by many is 

 known simply as StcUaria bidbosa. A Russian named 

 Turczinow made the diabolical genus name under which 

 the plant is now placed, but a Frenchman is responsible 

 for the tongue-tangling specific name. Fortunately for 

 us, the plant is a Japanese species and we may let our lit- 

 tle brown brothers worry over the pronunciation of the 

 scientific cognomen. It probably sounds a good deal like 

 it would look printed in Japanese characters. — American 

 Botanist. 



TODAY IS OURS. 



There's many a sign-post that men say 

 I'oints out the path to a happy day. 



Some sound very simple : some read like tome : 

 Some guide us aright ; some lead us to roam. 



T offer another whose wisdom I've tried, 

 .After trving some others and wandering wide. 



If vou follow this sign, you will seldom go wrong: 

 Get vo-tir fun out of life as you s^o a/o;i.c.' 



— Arthur Wallace Peach. 



THE MARCH NUMBER 



of the 



GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



Should not escape the advertiser. 



