20 



• GARDENING. 



Oct. T 



you will notice them with tall stout stems 

 and umbrella-like topsof fronds towering 

 over the luxuriance of greenery that 

 clothes the space below. 



Mr. Robert Londstrom, the florist in 

 charg of the great palm house here at 

 Schenley Park was in Chicago last week 

 and speaks most highly of the beauties of 

 the Chicago fernery. "To what do you 

 attribute the fine health of the ferns there, 

 Robert?" we asked. "To the soil," he 

 replied, "they have been very particular 

 about that, and have gotten the very 

 thing — a dark, free, vegetable soil, that 

 ferns seem to delight in; and they are very 

 careful about the watering, especially 

 overhead watering; and then their house 

 is free from drip. The whole place is 

 alive with ferns, and they have used very 

 few other plants and not much selaginella, 

 but, my! it is grand." He gives us the 

 following list of fernsasthe ones he noted 

 as growing in that fernery. 



Alsophila australis. 



Acrostichum scandens. 



Cyathea dealbata. 



Cibotium regale. 



C. princeps. 



C. Schiedii. 



Bleclmum Braziliense. 

 Asplenium nidus. 



A. biforwe. 

 A. Belangeri. 

 Cr\tomium lalcatum. 

 Davallia platyphylla. 

 Dicksonia antarctica. 



D. darallioides. 

 Davallia bullata. 

 D. Fijiensis. 

 Lastrxa aristata. 

 L. Richardsii. 

 Lomaria gibba. 

 Nepbrolcpsis exaltata. 

 N. darallioides. 



N. d. furcans. 



N. rufescens tripinnati/ida. 

 Nepbrodium iiiolle. 

 Miciolcpis hirta cristata. 

 Nepbrodium birtipes. 

 Onychium Japonicum. 

 Pellxa rotundifolia. 

 Polypodium aureum. 

 P. irregulare. 

 Pteris argyrea. 

 P. Victoria: 



P. crctica and varieties. 

 P. leptopbylla. 

 P. hastata. 

 P. longifolia. 



P. serrulata and varieties. 

 Platycerium alcicorne. 

 Woodwardia Japonica, and many oth- 

 ers, common and rare. 



Orchids. 



ORCHIDS. 

 Vanda Ccerui.EA. — I have this season 

 had a surprisingly large crop of this fine 

 orchid. My plants were well ripened by 

 November 15 last year, having been hung 

 in a dry, fciry position through the fall 

 months, and wintered in a temperature of 

 from 48° to 55°, the thermometer on a 

 few occasions during winter falling to 38° 

 and 40°. On thecommencement of spring 

 the plants were carefully looked over and 

 all decaying material washed thoroughly 

 from the roots by hose and a pretty 

 sharp force of water; the pots carefully 

 washed inside and out, every particle of 

 decay removed from the roots; the plants 

 were then put back into pots and broken 

 pieces of pots shaken into and around the 

 roots from the bottom to within Va inch 

 ot the top of the pot, and then a thin 



layer of tough sphagnum moss from the 

 margin of the woods laid just over the 

 mass of potsherds. No potting material 

 of any kind except the latter was used. 

 The plants were then removed to a mod- 

 era elv warm, moist house and hung 

 closely to the roof; the house kept moist 

 by syringingover floorand under benches, 

 and a free circulation of fresh air was 

 running morning and night. We also 

 had just enough heat in the pipes at night 

 to cause a healthy, buoyant atmosphere. 

 The plants have made splendid growth 

 and have produced an extraordinary 

 crop of bloom of fine quality, and on look- 

 ing over stock to-day to trim the mass 

 aud remove a few weeds that have grown 

 up, I find most ot the plants that flow- 

 ered early are again showing buds, aud 

 it looks safe to say that I shall have two 

 crops of this lovely flower this season. I 

 also find the same experience with Vanda 

 tricolor and suavis. A long rest in win- 

 ter, a moderate temperature, and not 

 much water at roots will produce heavy 

 crops of flowers during spring and sum- 

 mer season. 



All the members of the Lrelia family will 

 now enjoy all the light you can give them 

 and plenty of water if the plants are in 

 proper condition as to drainage, etc. No 

 epiphytal orchid will do well if the roots 

 cannot get a free circulation of air through 

 the potting material. I have found noth- 

 ing better than perforated pots or clean 

 baskets filled to the brim and a very thin 

 layer of tern roots washed out and per- 

 haps a few specksof short sphagnum, but 

 this must not be allowed to rot and re- 

 main long if you wish to have good, 

 healthy stock. 



Now is a good time to look after cock- 

 roach and small snails. Coarse bran in 

 which a little Paris green is mixed will 

 be a splendid trap for them. Ants should 

 at all times be exterminated as they are 

 great propagaters of insect pests on small 

 palms, orchids, etc., by carrying the 

 coccus egrs and the scale eggs from in- 

 fected plants to clean stock. I have found 

 beef and ham bones a great attraction 

 for ants, and with a little perseverance 

 they may be soon exterminated. 



Utica, N. V. YVm. Mathews. 



The Flower Garden. 



TrIE BOSTON PUBLIC GARDEN 

 Being in Bost n a few days ago we 

 paid a hurried visit to the public garden, 

 that garden so dear to the heart of every 

 Bostonian. The weather for some time 

 before then had been moist and favorable 

 forgarden purposes and everything looked 

 beautifully green and thrifty. But there 

 seemed to be a change in the general 

 tenor of the flower beds from what we 

 remember as being there in former years, 

 especially marked was the absence of 

 strictly carpet beds. As regards the fill- 

 ing of the beds, we entered the following 

 notes in our memorandum book on the 

 spot, and we give them to you in the 

 order in which we wrote them as we went 

 up one walk and down another. 



Big rhododendrons, bordered with de- 

 ciduous azaleas, and edged with orna- 

 mental leaved beets. We didn't like the 

 beets. 



Big green-leaved draca?na in centre, 

 then some hollies and spruces, then cro- 

 tons, and edged with red alternanthera. 



Large latania palm in middle with tall 

 green draeama, ficus, acalypha, hibiscus, 



bordered with yellow alternanthera and 

 edged with echeveria; also santolina and 

 white torenia next border. 



Roses bordered with yellow colcus. 

 We didn't like the coleus associated with 

 roses. 



Rhododmdrons bordered with agera- 

 tum. 



Rhododendrons bordered with decidu- 

 ous azaleas and ed^ed with ageratum. 



Roses bordered with red coleus. 



Iron boundary fence draped with Vir- 

 ginia creeper and pipe vine. 



Broom corn, castor beans, edged with 

 acalypha and lined inside with salvia and 

 some pineapple. 



Crotons thickly planted, a few acalv- 

 phas, and edged with dwarf cockscomb. 



Tall ficus, palms, hibiscus and bougain- 

 villea lined with lesser ficuses, palms and 

 acalvphas, bordered with white torenia, 

 then dwarf cockscomb and edged with 

 yellow feverfew. 



Long wavy bed filled with Pandanus 

 Veitcbii, lined with Rex and Vernon bego- 

 nias, bordered with yellow alternanthera 

 and edged with echeveria; the angles of 

 the waves madeupof small agaves, aloes, 

 variegated echeveria, dyckia, African 

 sempervivums, variegated sedum, etc. 



A bed on either side of a gate, filled 

 with tall cocos palms, ficus, hibiscus, then 

 tall crotons and acalypha, then lesser 

 ficus, with a lining of Vernon begonias, 

 then a belt of yellow alternanthera with 

 a few breaks in it of variegated echeveria 

 and edged with echeveria. 



Banana in middle, with big lautanas, 

 crotons, aralia, monstera, aud cotton, 

 and edged with Vernon begonia. 



Big cycas in center, banded with coty- 

 ledon, with a lining of variegated sedum 

 studded with small agaves, aloes, kleinia, 

 and pineapple; with more cotyledon, 

 variegated echeverias and sedum, and 

 haworthias. 



Raised mound bed with grass banks, 

 mass of tall hibiscus, then purple vinca 

 and red acalypha, edged with red alter- 

 nanthera. 



An undulated bed filled with tall cereus 

 cactus, lined with billbergias and pine- 

 apples and a few Euphorbia splendens, 

 opuntias and yuccas, then red alternan- 

 thera and yellow mesembryanthemum, 

 and edged with echeveria 



1'nder a tall stemmed, thin headed ehn, 

 a mass of palms and hibiscus, then a belt 

 of young ficus, next a belt of white tore- 

 nia and yellow feverfew, then red alter- 

 nanthera edged with yellow feverfew. 



Succulent bed raised at back and slop- 

 ing to front contained a mass of fine 

 agaves, a few aloes and yuccas, lined with 

 billbergias and bordered with red alter- 

 nanthera and edged with yellow feverfew. 



Around a small elm, a mass of hibiscus 

 and acalypha, bordered with white tore- 

 nia and edged with sweet alyssutn. 



Crotons thickly planted, then a few 

 acalypha, and an edging of cockscombs 



Acalyphas, strobilanthes and eucalyp- 

 tus edged with variegated anthericum. 



Raised bed in a shady place, tree ferns 

 lined with lesser ferns, then belt of dief- 

 fenbachias, small palms, crotons, small 

 eucalyptus; bordered with variegated 

 anthericum and edged with red alternan- 

 thera. 



Shrubbery bed consisting of retinospo- 

 ras, holly, box, aucubas, a few red-leaved 

 castor beans, lined with small aucubas 

 and aspidistras, belted with snapdragon, 

 and edged with dark-leaved iresine. We 

 didn't like the tender soft-wooded plants 

 in company with the shrubs. 



Another of retiuosporas, yews, spruces, 

 hollies, aucubas, castor beans, lined with 

 euonymus and aspidistras, with a few 



