200 



GARDEI\ERS' CHRONICLE 



Opuntia — Indian Fig 



RICHARD ROTHE 



OF the hardy Cacti knuwn to endure the severest of 

 our Middle Athmtic Winters by far the most are 

 natives of our rountrv. Of the genus Opuntia the 

 species: arciiaria, cainaiicliica, fragilis, vicsacantha, 

 ph<cacantha and polyacaiitlia are all well known to botan- 

 ists and collectors. " Abounding within the mountain re- 

 gions of Central Colorado they are reported nestling 

 along dry sunny slopes of upward of 5,000 feet altitude 

 noted for minimum temperatures as low as 20 degrees 

 below zero. 



Under cultivation they require an open sunny exposure 

 in well drained or outright dry ground. According to 

 popular belief Opuntias — or, as they are also called, 

 pricklv pears — grow among rocks in the poorest soil 

 imaginable. In realitv, hov.-ever, they need a fair amount 

 and depth of decidedly fertile soil containing humus of a 



Opuntia RaAncsquci. 



coarse te.xture for r;ii)id normal gruvvtli and free flow- 

 ering. 



Hardy Opuntias prove valuable subjects for dry-walls 

 facing south. In rockgarden arrangements we reserve 

 arid slopes facing south and southwest for ])lantations of 

 the hardy Indian Fig Cacti and subsequently enjoy their 

 add picturesque evergreen forms and their aljimdance of 

 attractive yellow flowers during the early Summer 

 months. 



Of the few species li-ted by the trade Opuntia Rati- 

 ncsqiici is the best known. I5eing a rapid grower of re- 

 markably free flowering habit i)ro(UK-ing its large deep 

 sulphur-yellow blossoms during June and early July 

 plantation.- of adequate size add in maintaining a vivid 

 color efl'ect of a rockery at a time when ihc climax of 

 the vernal glory is past. 



All the Indian Fig Cacti mux be easily jjropagated In- 

 inserting cuttings of the flat compressed l)ranches into 

 sand or light soil, licware of numerous little sijines ai 

 the joints when handling cutlings. Winter covering. 

 even in Xorthcn .States, should be of a nature allowing 

 free access of air to plantations. 



plant in our article on "Sweet Scented Flowers." 



It was the Roman poet Horace, if we remember cor- 

 rectly, who wrote : "A critic is a whetstone upon which 

 others may sharpen their wits." Far be it from us to 

 fail to embrace the lessons to be learned from fair-minded, 

 intelligent criticism, or in other words to sharpen uur wits 

 upon its whetstone. 



We welcome T. A. Weston's criticism for two reasons, 

 first because it will lead us to take a strong sniff of what- 

 ever Miiniiliis moschatos plants we see hereafter, and sec- 

 ondlv because, we have the pleasure of telling Mr. Weston 

 where he and all other good Englishmen either this or the 

 other side of the Atlantic, and Americans, too, apparently 

 can buy seed of the Scented Miiiiuliis moschatos. In that 

 comprehensive and reliable, we think, catalog of Watkins 

 & Simpson, Ltd., London, 1922, page 55, we read under 

 seeds : 



"ATiniulus moschatos (musk) 

 Mimulus moschatos 

 True Sweet Scented." 

 All other English and American catalogs at hand say 

 simply Minmhis moschatos (]\Iusk), but in Gray's Xcz\.' 

 Manual of Botany revised by Robinson & Fernald we 

 read on page 724 the following description of this plant : 

 "Mininlus uwscliatos, INIusk Flower, Villous and Viscid, 

 musk-sccnicci, damp soil. Newfoundland to N. Y.. E. Pa.. 

 Ont., and Alich., abundant in Rocky Mountains whence 

 perhaps introduced." 



Perhaps T. A. Weston has not been this side of the 

 "Pond" long enough, or even if so, has been too bu.sy a 

 man with his pen and his beloved New Jersey garden to 

 smell of such musk plants — no runout Uritish type — as 

 Prof. Gray describes. 



Mr. Weston's criticism lirings into lair mind two f|ues- 

 tions, which I doubt not w ill interest him as well as l-'lorum 

 Amator. namely : Does a scented plant, whether the scent 

 is pleasant or disa.greeable become in one year or a hun- 

 dred years or a thousand, scentless? Secondlx- — Is it pos- 

 sible there is now and always has been a Miinulus mos- 

 chatos entirelv devoid of scent, and a Mimulus niosclmtos 

 odorafa wliich is now, and ever has been scented? 



w 



on 



SCENTED MIMULUS MOSCHATOS 



Florum Amator Replies to T. A. Weston 



L note in the June i.-<suc of Tin; G.XRDiiNiiK's Chron- 

 irr.F. 01" Amkrica. T. A. Weston's courteous criticism 

 our listing of Mimuhis moschatos as a scented 



T. A. WESTON ON BUDDED VERSUS OWN 

 ROOT ROSES 



IUST a note re those roses. Arthur Smith talks of 

 grafted plants, and Mr. Craig, like myself, is probably 

 talking of budded plants. There is a vast deal of differ- 

 ence between grafting and budding. The bulk of the 

 roses raised in Europe are field-budded : only those grow- 

 ers who have glass and who want to make the most of 

 novelties do inside grafting, unless one exce])ts the 

 I'rench, who do a big lot of dormant gr;ifting during the 

 \\ inter, and plant tlte stocks in the .S|)ring. 



drafts do not avera.ge so good a union as buds. \'\\(\- 

 iling is the practice adopted in California ;uid -New Jer- 

 sey by those firms who .-ire catering to the demand for 

 .good field-grown roses. Deep ])lanting of budded roses 

 d(ie> nut necessarily mean rooting above the union. I 

 have always made it a practice to lift dwarf m.'^es every 

 two or three years, but rarely h;i\T T found roots above 

 the bud 



1 might add thai last Winter m_v 11. 'I'.'s had no pru- 

 tection whatever, not even earthed up: only cme died and 

 that becrmse it was w:ilkcd upnn when under snow. 



