244 



GARDENING. 



May /, 



for work which was as well done by the 

 American. 



So much for the past. As to the future 

 I know that one American is now grow- 

 ing stock of a variety which is as distinct 

 a departure in color as Cupid was in 

 form, being a true blue, a color hitherto 

 unknown in this flower. It is hinted that 

 in the opening year of the twentieth 

 century an American grower will enrich 

 our gardens with an entirely distinct class 

 of half dwarf or bush sweet peas, superior 

 in both beauty and usefulness to either 

 the tall or dwarf sorts. 



It has been said that our American sorts 

 are 'not the result of horticultural skill, 

 but chance sports, the outcome of the 

 large areas planted in this country and 

 the consequent immense number of indi- 

 vidual plants produced. But no one who 

 has had an opportunity to know the care- 

 ful study and earnest work of some of our 

 American growers will deny that their 

 work is well done and worthy of praise. 

 While it perhaps does not illustrate this 

 point, the history of two American sorts 

 may be of interest. Some forty years ago 

 a woman in Northern New York noticed 

 and saved the seed of a particularly 

 bright flowered plant of the old Painted 

 Lad}'. She planted them in her garden 

 and each succeeding year saved and 

 planted seed of what she thought were 

 the best plants. She did not raise many, 

 some years not more than a dozen plants, 

 and never more than could be grown in 

 three square yards. She was the wife of 

 a quarry man, and her garden was always 

 over limestone ledges, where the soil, 

 though fertile was very thin, often not 

 over a foot in depth, and gradually her 

 plants became more compact and sturdy, 

 until after some ten or twelve years she 

 ceased to "bush" them, simply letting 

 them support themselves. After she had 

 ■ raised them in this way for some twenty- 

 five years a seedsman noticed their beauty, 

 obtained about 100 seeds and from them 

 has come the Blanche Ferry. This poor 

 woman was not a scientist, her little 

 garden and cottage were not at all an 

 ideal trial ground and seed laboratory — 

 but no scientist has suggested a better 

 plan for the development and fixing of 

 the qualities which make the Blanche 

 Ferry the most practically useful variety 

 we have than that which her love for the 

 beautiful and herconditions of life lead to 

 her carrying out so faithfully and 

 patiently." The Extra Early Blanche 

 Ferry was not the result of the selections 

 of the earliest flowers, but it was developed 

 on the theory that the time (from the 

 sowing of the seed) of a plant coming 

 into flower was quite as largely affected 

 by conditions of growth as by constitu- 

 tional tendency, but that the period in 

 the development of the plant when it first 

 showed bloom was more a matter of con- 

 stitutional tendency than of growth con- 

 ditions. Accordingly in breeding for 

 early flowering, plants which produced 

 flowers from the lowest nodes, rather 

 than those which first showed flower, 

 were selected, and the results show the 

 correctness of the theon'. It seems to me 

 that what Americans have done in the 

 development of this flower suggests pos- 

 sibilities with others, and that we ought 

 to look forward to the production of our 

 own flower seeds of all kinds. 



Will W. Tracy. 



in rich alluvial soils, either on rather 

 moist river borders or in shallow waters. 



From the immense roots rises a dense 

 mass of large shining, deep rich green, 

 calla-like leaves, highly ornamental in ap- 

 pearance, rendering it a very beautiful 

 plant. The flowers are not showy but 

 very curious. The flower stems (like the 

 leaf stems) rise directly from the root, 

 each bearing a dense spadix of small 

 flowers enclosed in a long, slender, very 

 odd-looking green spathe, opening on one 

 side, the white margins bordering this 

 opening curiously toothed. 



A large plant of this species becomes a 

 mass two feet or more high, and two or 

 three feet across, sure to be admired by 

 all who see it. It starts rather late in the 

 spring, flourishing all summer. Highly 

 recommended as a bog plant or aquatic. 



W. R. 



TAB WATER ARUM. 



vember to January, and is thus easy to 

 be had in bloom around Christmas. The 

 bulbs this year will be offered in greater 

 quantity than heretofore. 



RHEUM PALMATUM TANGUTICUM FLORE 

 ROSEO. 



A new variety of the true crown rhu- 

 barb, the flowers of which are rose- 

 colored instead of yellow. The true 

 crown rhubarb, once very much favored 

 as the best sort, was cultivated in Europe 

 in the beginning of this century, but with- 

 out knowledge of its true value. After- 

 wards when the Canton rhubarb (Rheum 

 officinale) appeared in commerce the 

 Rheum palmatum disappeared. It was 

 the well known Russian traveler Przewal- 

 ski who detected again the true form ot 

 the crown or Kiachta rhubarb and 

 brought home seeds of it. The late 

 Director E. Regel of the Imperial Botanic 



GALA.NTHUS CI0IU0DS 



New and Rare Plants. 



The water arum (Peltandria Virginica), 

 highly deserves more attention as an or- 

 namental plant, particularly for parks 

 and large grounds. Naturally it flourishes 



TWO NEW AARDY PLANTS. 

 GALANTHUS C1CILICUS. 



This new snowdrop was found by Mr. 

 Siehe, of Mersina, in the Cilician Taurus, 

 Southeast Asia Minor. It differs from all 

 its allies by its enormous size; but for 

 gardening purposes it has a still greater 

 recommendation. While all the other 

 snowdrops bloom after New Year's and 

 cannot be or are with difficulty forced, 

 this species flowers naturally from No- 



Garden at St. Petersburg cultivated it 

 and found it a new variety of Rheum 

 palmatum, viz., var. tanguticum. He 

 showed also that the cultivated root 

 gives after some eight years' cultiva- 

 tion a drug which cannot be distinguished 

 from the true crown rhubarb. Besides 

 this the plant is most valuable as a dec- 

 orative garden perennial. The leaves 

 differ widely from those of other species of 

 rheum. They are lobed, long petioled, the 

 blade having a diameter of one foot. The 

 color of the leaves is a purplish green. 

 The leaf rosette has a diameter of about 

 three feet. From the middle of this 



