i8 97 . 



• GARDENING. 



261 



SPECIMEN CALCEOLARIA COLOR PURE DEEP YELLOW. [SEE PAGE 262 ] 



attention ot florists and others is called 

 tr. the matter. 



HUSPERIS MATRONALIS FLORE PLENA 



alba. — For many years I have in vain 

 sought in the catalogues for this fine 

 double flowered Sweet Rocket, and when 

 procured it has invariably proved single 

 Some parties do not have and probably 

 never have had the plant, although in 

 their catalogues. Why will not some of 

 our enterprising florists import and 

 propagate this fine herbaceous plant? 

 From the inquiries that 1 have heard 

 made for it, it would undoubtedly sell 

 well. Geo. S. Conover. 



Geneva, N. Y., Mav 5, 1897. 



In this position some of the vines of Hal- 

 leana, where protected somewhat by 

 its hardier companions, have lived over 

 winter, but as a rule it dies to the ground, 

 comes up and blooms. In order to feel 

 perfectly satisfied that my plants were 

 L. Halleana I ordered three strong plants 

 of the Farsons & Sons' nursery in the 

 spring of '95. I grew these in "the wild 

 garden under moderate culture, letting 

 them trail upon a bank, where the situa- 

 tion in winter is more favorable than if 

 exposed upon a trellis. The next winter 

 and the one just passed killed them to the 

 roots. W. C. E. 



NARCISSUS-TULIPS. 



ALSTR0MERIA-0XAL1S. 



Mr. R. M. Wills asks: 'How far apart 

 should alstromeria and Oxalis floribunda 

 be planted and how long will they 

 bloom?" 



The alstromeria should be planted a 

 foot to fifteen inches apart and about six 

 inches deep. Plant in a well drained shel- 

 tered part of the garden. As this plant is 

 not rtliably hardy it is well to put a box 

 or a few boards over it to shed the rains, 

 although with us it proves hardy with no 

 protection. It comes in flower in June 

 and lasts into August, sometimes giving 

 a few flowers in September. 



Oxalis floribunda we generally grow as 

 a winter blooming plant, but if your 

 plants have been kept dry over winter 

 they will bloom nearly all summer if 

 planted in the garden. Select a warm, 

 sunny spot and plant about a foot apart 

 Don't plant in a shady place, as the flow- 

 ers won't open except when the sun is 

 shining on them. David Fraser. 



Mrs. C. D. Watermann asks: "Should 

 narcissus and tulip bulbs be left in the 

 ground all summer, or should they be 

 taken up and stored away till next fall?" 



If your bulbs have been planted in beds 

 which are to be filled with summer bed- 

 ding plants it is well to lift them, but let 

 them remain in the beds as long as vou 

 can. When you do lift them cut the heads 

 off a little and plant them out in a line in 

 some out-of-the-way place where they are 

 to remain till the foliage dies; they then 

 can be taken up and stored away in some 

 airy place till planting time. Again il 

 they are planted in a herbaceous border 

 we would advise leaving them alone fora 

 few years. Some people take up all their 

 bulbs every year, but we don't, as we 

 think they are better in the ground. A 

 point to note is not to mulch bulbs of 

 this sort that have been left in the ground, 

 as this causes them to grow in the fall; in 

 fact we never mulch any of our bulb beds 

 and our success with them could not be 

 better. David Fraser. 



HARDINESS OF 10NIGERA HALLEANA. 



This sweet flowering honeysuckle is so 

 often recommended for a permanent vine 

 that my experience with it may be inter- 

 esting. I have had it for some five years 

 planted in among some of the common 

 Dutch monthly and L. Periclymenuw 

 (European Woodbine) on a wire fence. 



S1GANA ODORIFERA. 



This comparatively little known mem- 

 ber of the gourd family belongs to the 

 intertropical regions of South America. 

 It was described by J. M. de C. Vellozo in 

 Flora Flaminensis (Rio de Janeiro) as 

 Cucurbita odorifera and by Naudin, a 



French botanist, in Ann. De. Nat. Hist. 

 Ser. 4 xviii. L. 8. under the name Sicana 

 and to him it is credited by Bentham and 

 Hooker, Genera Plantarum. 



It is a smooth tender annual with most 

 of the characteristics of the gourds. 

 Leaves 5 to 9 lobed, smooth and shining. 

 Flowers of two kinds, fertile and sterile, 

 large and yellow. Fruit oblong-ovate, 

 edible and fragrant. 



It may prove an acquisition in cultiva- 

 tion as many of our common cucurbita- 

 cea? originated in hot countries 



J. Higgins. 



Trees and Shrubs. 



fl BEEGH TREE OVER 700 YEARS OLD. 



The accompanying engraving is from a 

 photograph of a beech tree known to be 

 over 700 years old. It is one of the col- 

 lection known as Burnham Beeches, near 

 London, England. Owing to the peculiar 

 form of this veteran tree it is popularly 

 known as "The Elephant." 



NOTES ON SHRUBS AND TREES. 



One reads so much of the nuisance of 

 the sassafras because of its suckering 

 habit that but comparatively few persons 

 plant it as an ornamental tree. It should 

 be known that it does not sucker at all 

 unless it be chopped down, in which case 

 numerous suckers will appear. Plant a 

 tree of it and let it grow on undisturbed 

 and not a sucker will be seen. To me the 

 sassafras appears one of the most orna- 

 mental of trees. The late Jean Van 

 Volxem, a nurseryman of Belgium, told 

 me once that this tree was much valued 

 in his country for its peculiar beauty of 

 foliage. When full of its light yellow 

 flowers, as trees here are as I write, April 

 30, it is one of the most attractive trees 

 of the season. 



Both the American and the Japanese 

 Judas trees are now in flower. I was sur- 

 prised to hear a lady say to-day that she 

 preferred the native one. This has lighter 

 pink flowers than the Japanese. It is a 

 taller and a freer grower as well. The 

 Japanese is but a shrub, in fact, while the 

 native one is quite a small tree. Those 

 who have visited the battlefield of Get- 

 t3-sburg at this season of the year will 

 remember the display made by some 

 large specimens of the native sort at "The 

 Devils' Den." 



A native shrub but rare in collections, 

 as indeed it is in its wild state, is Fother- 

 gilla alnifolia. It bears small white flow- 

 ers, in a dense, almost round head, and 

 in great abundance. It is closely related 

 to the witch hazel. The flowers are in 

 good display at the present time. 



I think but few persons know of the 

 great variety existing of the Pyrusjapon- 

 ica. The common red one is in all gar- 

 dens, but there are all shades of color 

 from orange to crimson; as well as pink 

 and white ones. A white one, known in 

 collections as P. nivalis, is a particularlv 

 attractive shrub at this time. 



Every year when the Magnolia obovata 

 is in flower, as it is now, 1 think that it 

 does not seem to be known as much as it 

 deserves to be. On an average the blooms 

 of M. conspicua and Soulangeana are 

 frozen off every other year by a late freeze. 

 It happened this year, and in 1895, and 

 often before that. The obovata does not 

 open as early, and the week or ten days 

 later, which it is, seems always sufficient 

 to ensure it from freezipg. W T hat appears 



