292 



* ' * GARDENING. 



June 75, 



have on the college grounds at Ames the 

 typical lietula amurensis. It is like the 

 cut-leaved in all respects except that its 

 leaves are entire. The cut leaved variety 

 is defiant to heat and cold and trees 30 

 years old grow more beautiful each year. 

 But in the moist climate of West Europe 

 it fails in the top when the native white 

 birches, much older, are perfect. 



All the shrubs and trees we have from 

 the valley of the Amur are perfect in our 



Perhaps the most showy of the styraxes 

 is japonica. It certainly is the most pro- 

 lific ot bloom of all known hardy sorts. 

 The flowers are clustered along the 

 branches on long stems, all hanging 

 downward, and being white, as the flow- 

 ers of all the species are, they are not 

 unlike cherry flowers in appearance. So 

 profusely ate the flowers usually dis- 

 played that its leaves are almost hidden 

 from view, which I think a disadvantage, 



LILAC CHARLES X. 



climate. They come into leaf and flower 

 very early in spring yet a severe freeze 

 does not hurt them. As an example we 

 have known the Siberian almond in bios 

 som in March to be caught by a freeze 

 that made quite thick ice. Yet it gave a 

 crop of almonds in August. Hence I am 

 hopeful that Prof. Hansen will discover 

 in the valley of the Amur and North Cen- 

 tral Asia many plants, grains, and 

 grasses, that will be valuable additions 

 to our lists." 



BEAUTIFUL STYRAXES. 



In the natural order styracaceae are 

 some of the most prized of ornamental 

 trees, more especially since the introduc- 

 tion lrom Japan of some worthy members 

 of it. I refer chiefly to the species found 

 in symplocos, styrax, halesia and ptero- 

 styrax. At the present time it is my 

 intention to refer to but the styrax and 

 pterostyrax, as they exist in collections 

 in this country. The members of these 

 two genera are flowering now, giving an 

 opportunity to see the good points in the 

 various species. 



as a good appearance of green would set 

 oft' the white flowers to better advantage. 

 This species is usually catalogued as a 

 shrub, but it generally forms a single 

 stem, and might be deemed a small tree. 

 Fortunately it seeds freely, which permits 

 of its easy propagation. 



There is in collections a species called 

 Obassia, which promises to become a val- 

 uable tree. It has very large foliage, 

 unlike any other tree I know, and it bears 

 drooping racemes of white flowers, some 

 six inches in length. This one flowers 

 before any ot the others. From the ap- 

 pearance of the few that I have seen, I 

 think it promises to become a treeof good 

 size. This was in flower two to three 

 weeks ago. 



There are two native species, some- 

 times, though but rarely, met with in cul- 

 tivation. I refer to americana and gran- 

 difolia. Both are flowering now. Amer- 

 icana is a weak grower of a somewhat 

 straggling habit. The racemes of flowers 

 contain but two or three flowers in a 

 cluster, usually; still when in a flourish- 

 ing condition it displays a great many 



flowers at this season, and is far from 

 being unattractive. The other one, gran- 

 difolia, is well named, as its foliage is 

 much larger than that of any other one, 

 which adds much to its value. Besides 

 this its flowers are large, and altogether 

 it is an attractive large shrub. It is a 

 pity that these native shrubs are so rare 

 and so hard to propagate. It does not 

 seem possible to procure them from any 

 collector, though they are said in botanies 

 to grow wild, from Virginia to Florida. 

 The specimens that I have seen were from 

 near Atlanta, Georgia. 



Pterostyrax hispidumh the name under 

 which a beautiful tree came to us from 

 Japan. At the present time the Kew 

 authorities make it a halesia. But save 

 for its wood, which certainly has much 

 of the halesia look about it.no one would 

 think it was one. The leaves are quite 

 large, and it evidently is a tree of good 

 size. At the present time the flowers are 

 a great attraction. They are produced 

 in pendulous racemes of six inches or 

 more in length, the flowers creamy white, 

 small, but very numerous. Clustered 

 among the large green leaves, the whole 

 forms a beautiful picture. This fine tree 

 seeds freelv andean be propagated from 

 seeds very well. Joseph Meehan. 



Philadelphia. 



OUR NATIVE STUARTIAS. 



The stuartia and gordonia are the only 

 representatives of the order camelliaceie 

 in our country. The stuartia of which I 

 now wish lo speak, exists in two species, 

 virginica and pentagyna and in their 

 wild state are found from Virginia to 

 Florida. At the present writing virginica 

 is in flower, and a more beautiful shrub 

 than it is would be hard to find. The 

 flowers are large, two to three inches in 

 width, white with a cluster of purple 

 stamens at base, adding to their beauty 

 very much. The resemblance to the flow- 

 ers of the gordonia is easily discerned 

 and both lead one to think of a single 

 flowered camellia. 



Ifbut large bushes of this fine shrub 

 could be had its propagation would not 

 be difficult, as seeds grow freely, but it 

 seems to be exceedingly rare in cultiva- 

 tion. It is said to be not as hardy as the 

 other species, pentagyna, but of this I 

 cannot say. With us in Philadelphia it 

 it perfectly hardy. At the present time it 

 is is in full flower, and one bush, six feet 

 high, which I saw to-day, had on it up- 

 wards of fifty flowers. 



This one leads pentagyna in flowering 

 by about one month. Besides this its 

 foliage and flowers are unlike the other, 

 being better, I think. But pentagyna is a 

 handsome shrub, and being less scarce 

 than the other, can be and should be 

 added to collections where it is now a 

 stranger. Besides flowering later, in 

 many dozens of specimens of the shrub 

 which I have seen, there is an entire 

 abscence of the purple stamens in the 

 white flowers which distinguishes vir- 

 ginica. Mr. William Falconer once wrote 

 me that he had under his charge pen- 

 tagyna with purple stamens. 



Besides these two beautiful native sorts 

 there is now in cultivation another, from 

 Tapan, called pseudo-camellia, also with 

 white flowers, and a most desirable 

 shrub. Joseph Meehan. 



Philadelphia. 



RE-INVIGORATING LARGE OAKS AND 

 CHESTNUTS. 



What can be done to start growth in a 

 grove of oaks and chestnuts, mostly 20 

 to 24 inches in circumference and 40 feet 



