268 



The Horticidtunst and Journal. 



superior, with a large, broad, .spreading calyx 

 attached to it. This species of Mock Orange 

 is one of the finest and most showy of the 

 genus, and it deserves a place in every collec- 

 tion of shrubs, however limited, on account of 

 its producing its flowers in great profusion, 

 and at a season when nearly all other shrubs 

 have done blooming. It is sometimes mis- 

 named Fhiladtlphus calif or nicii>^. The length 

 of a full-sized leaf is three inches, including 

 the footstalk, which is not more than half an 

 inch long, and the breadth is two inches. 



Weeping Trees. 



' R. MEEH AN makes the following remarks 

 on the weeping classes of ornamental 

 trees : 



" Of late, people take the common Euro- 

 pean larch, train it up to eight or ten feet, and 

 then cut its head off, and at the same time 

 trim up the side branches to a single course at 

 the top. It seldom starts out a new leader, 

 and the vigor of the whole tree being thrown 

 into the single set of side branches, they droop 

 grandly. In weeping ashes we have still but 

 the old green leaved and the golden barked ; 

 the last is rather more tender than the other, 

 but when it gets to grow well, is a striking 

 object on the lawn. In weeping poplars there 

 are two forms — one of the English aspen with 

 rather small leaves, though larger than the 

 American aspen — ^the other of the large tooth- 

 leaved American popular, Populus grandi- 

 dentata. In willows the Kilmarnock and the 

 Fountain are still the best. The former is a 

 delicate grower, and is an excellent thing for 

 small corners, or limited spaces on lawns. 

 The weeping mountain ash is very easily prop- 

 agated by budding, and would be immensely 

 popular only for its suffering so from a hot 

 summer, or borers near the ground at any 

 time. Notwithstanding the many sold, we 

 have never seen a specimen of any size. Along 

 the cooler climate of the lake country, we 

 have been told it does charmingly. The weep- 

 ing hawthorn suffers in the same way from 

 similar causes. Weeping elms are always 

 beautiful. They suffer much by having the 



leaves skeletonized in July by the leaf-slug, 

 but the American forms are more free from 

 this evil than the European ones. As a gen- 

 eral rule American trees have not given us 

 many weepers as yet. So far as we know, 

 there is not a single maple of a decided weep- 

 ing habit ; nor a weeping oak, among so many 

 species. It is worth watching for among our 

 wild trees. 



The White Lobelia The English flor- 

 ists are enthusiastic in their praises of the new 

 white Lobelia, named White Perfedion. A 

 correspondent of the Journal of Horlicidture 

 writes as follows : " A really good white- 

 flowering bedding plant is a great desidera- 

 tum, whether it be a Geranium, Verbena, 

 Lobelia, or anything else. We are still very 

 deficient of white flowering plants for the flower 

 garden, though of white foliage we have plenty ; 

 but in cold wet situations like mine, it seems 

 wonderful that this Lobelia should have done 

 so well. It is what may be called a white 

 strain of Lobelia speciosa, and much praise is 

 due to the Messrs. Veitch, of Chelsea, for 

 sending out such an excellent variety. Never 

 did the Committee of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society award a better mei'ited certificate. It 

 is not to be expected that so great a flirt as 

 the Lobelia is, should be in this instance, 

 quite constant to color from seed ; yet, not- 

 withstanding a few true blues which put in an 

 appearance, it is remarkably pure — none of 

 your half pink, half blue, and half-a-dozen 

 other shades, but a white, as its name denotes, 

 to perfection. Nothing can be more even in 

 growth, standing from five to six inches high, 

 of a semi-erect habit, and the whole mass a 

 sheet of pure white. I certainly had some 

 misgivings until I saw the first blooms, but 

 then with nmch gratification I beheld a gen- 

 uine white Lobelia." 



An old Acacia, brought from America to 



Paris by Vespasian Robin, arborist to Louis 



13th, 237 years ago, is sending out a new 



shoot from its trunk, having resisted the dis- 



' astrous effects of last winter's extreme cold. 



