272 



UOUTlUULTUilK 



IV'l.riiary 26. 1916 



Actinidia arguta 



Tlll~ liMiiM-,.in. I«iim.- Vine, iia- 



tiNo of Mniuliuria ami Jajian is now 

 ttfll known as ono of tlie ino-i 

 -t, vigorovL- and altnfrctlK-r sat- 

 isfattivrv plants for covciinfr arbor-. 

 Iri'lliscs and otluT plairs where . 

 fast •rrowing iiardv eliuilier is dr 

 .•.ir.'d. Its value as a hedge subjei t 

 has n<it hwn so generally renlize<l. 

 however, and we therefore take 

 pleasure in sliowing tlie aeeompanx • 

 jng pieture vvliieh will undoubtedly 

 interest many of our readers. Ae- 

 tinidia arguta is one of several 

 ?|HHiw of varying luirdiness, and 



i« jierfeetiy hardy in New Eng- 

 land. The foliage is very dark rieli 

 gieeu and the tlowers wliieli appear 

 in i)rofusion in early summer an 

 very handsome a n A delieiously 

 seented but are of very short duration. The fruit is special care except to keep its raiu|>ant growtlm wiihin 

 .<weet and is said to make a fine jelly. It rfc|Min- im buimds and is practically free from inse<;t pestii. 



Magnolia salicifolia 



My attention lias been called, to the illustration of 

 M'n/iii)lia salicifolia on the cover of the issue of Horti- 

 n LTLiiE for January 8, and I have been asked if this 

 identical plant exists in the Arnold Arboretum. The 

 note at the foot of the photograj)h gives that inii)res- 

 sion. which is erroneous*. Mnyiiolia salicifolln lias iin- 

 foitiinately, not so far grown as we niiglit have expected 

 at the .\rl)oretum. The original plants in the Arboretum. 

 grown from seed collected by Professor C. S. Sargent 

 in Japan, in 1893, have long since died without flower- 

 ing, and the plants now in the collection were either 

 grafted from the original lot or are importations from 

 a nursery in Holland. Probably some of the original 

 seedlings still exist in establishments to which they were 

 distributed from the Arboretum. 



The illustration in question was taken from a jilant 

 growing in Kew Gardens in England, and was publislied 

 in The Ganlen for April 18. 1914. AVhetbor tliis plant 

 was one of the original Sargent collection of 1892. or 

 was a plant bought from a Japanese nursery in 190G, 

 cannot be definitely stated by me, but it seems probable 

 that it had the latter origin. At least this definite 

 statement is made in the Botanical Magazine, for March, 

 1913, in connection with a pretty colored figure of the 

 fiowers there given. It is there stated that tlie flowers 

 from which the figure was made came from plants jiur- 

 chased for Kew from a Japanese nursery in 190(1, thai 

 a few flowers were borne in the spring of 1911, while 

 a profuse crop of blossems was produced in the spring 

 of 1912. A photograph of a flowering i)rancli of tliis 

 was promptlv given in The Gardeners' Chronicle for 

 April 6. 1912. 



In view of the above and other facts the statement 

 by Mr. E. (). Orpet. in Hortictltlre for January 29, 

 that "all the plants in cultivation today are from seed- 

 lings raised by Jackson Dawson," from seed collected by 

 Professor Sargent in 1892, is certainly incorrect and 

 misleading to those who care for facts or reliable data 

 in the history of horticulture in America. Poetical 

 license in writing makes pleasant reading and has its 

 place in literature. But we already know too little about 



the actual dales of introduction of many of our jilants 

 to be patient with misleading statements which many 

 might accept as authoritative. Certainly the first known 

 record of introduction is through seeds eollec-ted by 

 Professor Sargent in 1892, but, as already stated, they 

 have not furnished "all the plants in cultivation today." 



With reganl to the flowering of this interesting mag- 

 nolia, it may be stated that two or tiiree flowers were 

 jiroducei], on a small grafted jjlant, for the first time in 

 the Arnold Arboretum, in the spring of 1915. So far 

 as known the first flowers in this country were produced 

 in April, 1910, on tlie estate of Mr. T. E. Proctor at 

 Topsfielil. Mass. These plants were ))rocured from the 

 ^'eitc]l nurseries in England, in 190.'5, and are now about 

 eight feet high. These are prol)abiy plants propagated 

 from some of the original lot raised at the Arnold Ar- 

 boretum and sent to Yeitch, who had failed to raise 

 them from the same collection of seed. Mr. E. H. 

 Wilson states that lie saw a single flower, the first 

 known in England, on this magnolia in the Yeitch nur- 

 sery in 190."). but there appears to be no published rec- 

 ord of this fact. 



It may interest readers of Houticulture to know 

 that this interesting magnolia is ofl'ered by Japanese 

 nurseries, doing a large business with America, by the 

 hundred at 20 to 25 cents each, in Yokohama. I saw 

 them in such nurseries over ten years ago and know 

 they were true to name. 



This note is wn-itten because, to quote Mr. Orpet, in 

 "niaking horticultural liistory" and "should the annals 

 ever be written" it is desirable to have that history as 

 nearly correct as possilde. 



J' 



East Walpole, Mosv. 



♦Only a careless reader or one ignorant that "Kng." 

 after "Kew Green" is an abbreviation for "England," could 

 get tlie impression that the identical plant pictured in Hokti- 



