628 



H ORTI CULTURE 



November 4, 1911 



attention to three: C. tibeticum, C. 

 Franchctii and C. luteum. All three 

 are hardy, good growers and well 

 worth growing. The first-named grows 

 6 to 10 inches tall and has very large, 

 dark red flowers. The second grows 

 15 to 20 inches tall and has rosy-pink 

 flowers in the way of the Siberian C. 

 macranthon. The third is a yellow 

 spectabile. 



Lilies. 

 Lilies — some forty species of these 

 favorite flowers are known from China 

 and quite a number are now in culti- 

 vation. During the past season Messrs. 

 Farquhar & Co., of this city, have ex- 

 hibited, on several occasions, two of 

 these new Chinese lilies, namely, L. 

 Sargentiae and L. myriophyllum. Both 

 are quite hardy, of vigorous constitu- 

 tion, and revel in loam and sunshine. 

 I would draw your attention to two 

 others having reflexed, not tubular 

 flowers. Lilium sutchuenense and L. 

 Duchartrei are their names. Here are 

 illustrations of them, drawn from 

 plants which flowered with Messrs. 

 Veitch a few years ago. The first named 

 is a refined tigrinum with slender, 

 elegant foliage and bright scarlet flow- 

 ers. It likes loam and sunshine and 

 having a small bulb, will flower well 

 the second year from seed. L. Duch- 

 artrei is the only peat-loving lily I 

 know of in China; the flowers are 

 white spotted and splashed with vin- 

 ous purple. Its constitution is not so 

 vigorous as the others and it requires 

 careful cultivation, though its hardi- 

 ness, since it comes from 9,000 to 11,- 

 000 feet altitude, is assured. 



New Greenhouse Plants. 



So far I have dealt with hardy 

 plants, but some of you are growers 

 interested only in greenhouse plants 

 of decorative value. These hardy 

 plants are not in your line exactly, 

 but I have reserved a final half dozen 

 for your especial line of business. 

 Here they are with an extra one 

 thrown in: Rehmannia Henryi, Cory- 

 dalis Wilsonii, Buddleia asiatica, B. 

 officinalis, Jasminum primulinum, Par- 

 thenocissus Henryana and Clematis 

 Armandii. 



Most of you are, by this time, fam- 

 iliar with Rehmannia angulata; R. 

 Henryi is its white-flowered counter- 

 part only it does not exceed 18 inches 

 in height. By crossing and selecting 

 from the progeny, a new type of early 

 spring flowering plants may be 

 evolved far* exceeding the parents' 

 form in beauty and general useful- 

 ness. 



The Corydalis is a golden-yellow 

 fume-wort, with glaucous much di- 

 vided foliage and erect racemes of 

 flowers — an admirable subject for pot 

 or basket culture, flowering in Febru- 

 ary and March. 



Buddleia asiatica has pure white 

 flowers, B. officinalis rosy-lilac col- 

 ored flowers, produced in January and 

 February. Cuttings rooted in the 

 spring and grown on in 5 to 6-inch 

 pots will flower the following winter. 

 A liberal diet, plenty of water and 

 full exposure to the light are the 

 essentials. The flowers are borne in 

 terminal, caudate panicles as in B. 

 variabilis, so the pinching back must 

 be done early in the season. The 

 flowers are delightfully fragrant and 

 for table and house decoration gener- 

 ally, they are admirably suited. 



The Jasmine is fairly well known 



further south but it is worth the glow- 

 ers' attention here. The large yellow 

 flowers are borne axillary on the cur- 

 rent season's wood. Cuttings rooted 

 in sprint; ami grown on in 5 to 6-inch 

 pots will make nice stuff for table 

 'decoration in t he winter months — 

 January and February. The vine has 

 five foliolate leaves, some 5 inches 

 long and 6 inches wide, with a pure 

 white stripe down the primary and 

 secondary veins. In the late autumn 

 the green parts assume wonderful 

 shades of crimson and scarlet if kept 

 in a frost-proof greenhouse. Cuttings 

 rooted in the spring and grown on in 

 6-inch pots will make plants, 4 ft. 

 high, with many stems and dense 

 masses of foliage. For decorative 

 work at Thanksgiving and Christmas 

 this plant has a great future before it. 



The New Zealand Clematis indivlsa 

 is well known to you all. Clematis 

 Armandii is a similar but better plant. 

 Grow this newcomer in the same way 

 as our old friend from "down under" 

 and you have something worth while. 

 There are two forms of this Armandii, 

 one with white, the other with rosy- 

 red flowers, both flower in March and 

 April. 



All these plants are of simple cul- 

 ture requiring only the ordinary at- 

 tention of cool greenhouse plants. 

 Give them not too much root room, 

 feed them well, keep them near the 

 light in winter and the results are 

 assured. 



With exception of the willows. Sty- 

 rax Hemsleyanus and five of the 

 conifers, the plants above mentioned 

 are all purchasable or will be, in the 

 spring. In several groups 'twould be 

 easy to increase the number very con- 

 siderably but time and space forbid. 

 If any of you take up six of the sixty 

 enumerated here and do them justice, 

 they themselves will force you to 

 take up as many others as you can 

 acquire. 



If you purchase from a seedsman 

 a packet of seeds in the ordinary way 

 and they fail to germinate, damp off 

 or die, you can, by purchase, obtain 

 the same thing again with little, 

 trouble and expense. If you buy or- 

 dinary plants the same obtains. 



It is otherwise with plants culled 

 from the wilds. The time and ex- 

 pense involved in obtaining new 

 plants from remote regions are not 

 the only reasons for taking good care 

 of them when they arrive. I should 

 like to draw your attention to a fact 

 that few realize the seriousness of — 

 and this has especial reference to trees. 

 China is practically deforested and no 

 attempt at reafforestation is being 

 made and every year trees become 

 more scarce. The life of many species 

 hinges on a comparatively small num- 

 ber of individuals and axe and fire 

 may destroy them at any moment. Ten, 

 twenty, or a hundred years may elapse 

 before some of these rare trees and 

 shrubs are again introduced to our 

 gardens and some may be utterly 

 wiped out of existence before the next 

 collector has opportunity of visiting 

 their present haunts. 



Gentlemen, my task is done, I have 

 spoken frankly and earnestly on be- 

 half of those who so far have not, in 

 this country, had a fair opportunity 

 given them to speak for themselves. 

 How far the time has been well or ill- 

 spent depends upon you and others 

 truly interested in horticulture. 



BRITISH HORTICULTURE. 



The Sweet Pea Trials. 



The National Sweet Pea Society has 

 recently published the official report 

 of the trials of new varieties. A first 

 class certificate has been awarded to 

 Thomas Stevenson, sent by Dobbie & 

 Co., of Edinburgh, also to Barbara, 

 sent by Robert Holmes, of Tuckswood 

 Farm, Norwich, the raiser being H. A. 

 Perkin, of Reigate, Surrey. The fol- 

 lowing is a list of varieties receiving 

 awards of merit, together with the 

 names of the senders: F. Seymour Da- 

 vis — F. Seymour Davis, Farnham. 

 Mauve Queen — Dobbie & Co., of Edin- 

 burgh. Red Star— A. Malcolm, Duns. 

 Berwick. May Campbell — Messrs 

 Dobbie. Mrs. B. Gilbert— Gilbert & 

 Son, Dyke, Bourne, Lincolnshire. The 

 Committee of the Society has ap- 

 proved a set of recommendations for 

 the arrangement of the trials next 

 year. It has been decided to have a 

 duplicate set of trials on heavy soil 

 at least 100 miles north of London. 

 The Floral Committee will pay one 

 visit to each set, point each stock, and 

 make its awards on the results thus 

 arrived at. Under these conditions a 

 scale of points 'will be prepared prior 

 to the first visit, and all stocks ob- 

 taining a certain aggregate of po ; nts 

 will be voted upon. The Floral Com- 

 mittee has also rendered a useful 

 service in preparing a revised list of 

 up-to-date varieties, classified under 

 their respective colors, and also a 

 classification of too-much-alike varie- 

 ties. Not more than one of the brack- 

 eted varieties is to be shown on the 

 same competitive stand at any of the 

 Society's exhibitions. With the multi- 

 plicity of new sorts this list is very 

 necessary. 



Early Chrysanthemums. 

 The first show of the season of the 

 National Chrysanthemum Society at 

 the Crystal Palace early in October 

 was not a large one. A bigger dis- 

 play will be made in the second show 

 in November. There was an interest- 

 ing array of new varieties, first-class 

 certificates being awarded to the fol- 

 lowing: Bronze Goacher, a bronze 

 sport from Goacher's Crimson, a popu- 

 lar variety on this side, shown by W. 

 Wells & Co.. of Merstham, Surrey. 

 Miss E. Finch, a terra-cotta single, 

 shown by M. F. Brazier, of the Nur- 

 series, Caterham, Surrey. Emperor, a 

 decorative variety, with bright crim- 

 son petals, and bronze reverse, shown 

 by Lowe & Shawyer, of Uxbridge. 

 The same firm received a commended 

 award for Eskimo, a creamy white 

 decorative variety. H. W. Thorp, of 

 Durrington. Worthing, Sussex, re- 

 ceived commended awards for Round- 

 about, golden bronze decorative va- 

 riety, and Phoebe, a Japanese variety, 

 with silvery pink petals. 



A correspondent of the Gardeners' 

 Chronicle states that Ficus pandurata 

 is incorrectly named, the proper desig- 

 nation being Ficus lyrata. a name giv- 

 en to it previous to its introduction 

 by Sander as F. pandurata. We think, 

 however, it is pandurata for keep^ so 

 far as the trade is concerned. 



