326 



GARDENING. 



July 15, 



ited For instance, I have a cystoptens 

 from Blackford's Ford, Virginia, an 

 Aspidium warginale from Big Round 

 Top Gettysburg, and a Woodwardia 

 onockoides from the National Cemetery 

 at Arlington, Virginia. 



While all ferns are beautiful, I am cer- 

 tain that my three osmundas attract 

 more attention than all the rest. Their 

 fertile fronds are so conspicuous that they 

 well merit their name of flowering fern. 

 As is generally known, 0. cinnamomea 

 sends up fertile fronds quite distinct from 

 the barren ones. My largest plant is 

 always attractive, but this season it sur- 

 passed all previous efforts, having no 

 less than twenty-two fertile fronds with 

 fifteen barren ones, both lots at one time, 

 as is al wavs the case. As the fertile ones 

 come to perfection they change from 

 green to a cinnamon color, from which 

 comes its name, cinnamon fern. The 

 other two species, one of which is the 

 well known king fern, with the cinna- 

 mon, are fully equal to flowering plants 

 in the interesting display'they make in 

 early spring. The Aspidium warginale 

 is one ot the noblest ot our hardy ferns. 

 It is the most "bird's nest" looking 

 one of all we have. The fronds arise 

 from around a central crown, arching 

 outward as they grow. Then, too, it is 

 evergreen, in which respect it has for 

 company its fellow species, 0. acrostt- 

 choides, A. spinulosum and A. cristatum. 

 In regard to soil, I have not found it at 

 all important. I have found that the 

 plants like manure, a top dressing of this 

 material adding to the size and the deep 

 green of the fronds. With a little care to 

 get a ball of earth with them, they can 

 be transplanted at almost any time. 

 When to be removed from their wild 

 state, the work must be performed before 

 the fronds decay, or the plants may not 

 be found when wanted. 

 Philadelphia. Joseph Meehan. 



ventilation cannot be given with the ven- 

 tilators at hand, it would be well to 

 remove a pane of glass here and there 

 along the sides. 



All plants intended as specimens for 

 exhibition should be given their final 

 potting now, taking care to pot firmly 

 with ample drainage. Do not water 

 heavily until the plantshavehad achance 

 to take hold of the new soil, which takes 

 a week or thereabouts, and never pot a 

 plant when it is dry; better water it thor- 

 oughly first, and allow it to drain off by 

 standing a while. Fine coal ashes banked 

 up around the pots where the sun strikes 

 them will keep the roots cool and encour- 

 age growth. The shoots should be 

 pinched before they get too long, other- 

 wise it will be difficult to produce shapely 

 plants. C.W.Johnson. 



The Greenhouse. 



ing through the skin of the leaf and in the 

 rupture, usually oval in outline, develop- 

 ing a number' of stiff black hairs like 

 minute eye lashes, and between them are 

 produced the multitude of spores free 

 upon the surface of the rift. 



The writer dwells upon this spore 

 formation for palm growers are some- 

 times inclined to think that, if there is 

 any fungus, it plays no primary part. It 

 may be true that the colletotrichum 

 thrives usually while the palms are small 

 or when the" house is under conditions 

 most favorable for it; but it nevertheless 



PALM LEAF BLIOflT. 



For several years my attention has 

 been called to a leaf blight upon palms. 

 Recently in passing through a large palm 

 house it was observed that many of the 

 leaves of some sorts of palms, and par- 

 ticularly the fan-leaved species, were 

 badly blighted. Fig. 1 shows a much 

 reduced view of a badly diseased leaf of 

 Livistona rotundifolia made from a pho- 

 tograph. This leaf was almost wholly 

 blighted and the boundary between the 

 dead portion and the part still alive, 

 although indistinct in the engraving, may 

 be seen near the base of the leaf. Fullv 

 three-fourths of the leaf was brown and 

 worthless, and more than that was 

 the place where countless numbers of the 

 germs of the fungus were being propa- 

 gated. 



If the persons interested in this trouble 

 will look closely at the upper portions of 



GnRYSflNTHEMUM NOTES. 



Plants set out two weeks ago should 

 now be growing rapidly, and care must 

 be taken that they are never allowed to 

 dry out too much. Neither should they 

 be'given too much water for if kept too 

 wet they will make a soft growth, which 

 quickly wilts and burns on exposure to 

 the sun. Remove all the weeds from the 

 soil as soon as they are large enough to 

 handle, and keep the surface of the soil as 

 even and firm as possible. 



Some varieties will throw out lateral 

 shoots at every leaf when they begin to 

 make rapid growth and these must be 

 rubbed out as soon as possible. A num- 

 ber of other sorts, from early struck cut- 

 tings, will set a bud at this time, which 

 also should be removed, allowing one of 

 the shoots which spring from its side to 

 remain. In order to keep down the red 

 spider and black aphis, as well as to 

 insure luxuriance of growth, a free use of 

 the syringe is absolutely necessary in 

 bright weather. 



Do not neglect to stake and tie the 

 plants as they require it; timely attention 

 to this will save many valuable shoots. 

 We have found it impossible to grow fine 

 chrysanthemums under heavily shaded 

 glass. Our houses run north and south 

 and yet we do not shade at all, maintain- 

 ing the proper temperature so far as prac- 

 ticable by frequent syringing and strict 

 attention' to the ventilation. If adequate 



the leaf when it is already brown or ash- 

 colored he will find many small specks. 

 These specks are not easily shown in an 

 engraving of a whole leaf, but in the en- 

 larged piece shown in Fig. 2 they are 

 more distinctly seen. These specks do 

 not come until the fungus, a member of 

 the genus colletotrichum, has practically 

 destroyed the leaf at that spot. They 

 are specks produced by the fungus break- 



needs to be remembered that the blight 

 is positively contagious and may become 

 a serious pest if left unchecked. Plants 

 that are badly diseased should be ex- 

 cluded from a house of healthy palms, and 

 all blighted leaves like the one shown in 

 Fig. 1 should be picked off and burned. 

 It is not profitable in any way to let them 

 remain on and spread the trouble to 

 other leaves of the same plant or to 

 furnish spores to be carried to other 

 plants by the process of watering. The 

 beauty of a palm is in its strictly healthy 

 foliage, and therefore it should be cared 

 for accordingly. Byron D. Halsted. 



NOTES ON 0D0NT0GL0SSUM5. 

 It has been said that Odontoglossum 

 crispum is the queen of orchids. Cer- 

 tainly there are more plants of it 

 grown than of any other kind, and 

 the more one has the more one wants, 

 chiefly because there are no two that 

 flower alike, and indeed the same plants 

 vary a great deal each year. It is a cool 

 house species, one that needs very little 

 heat as it grows just below the frost line 

 on the Andes in Colombia. The best 

 situation for it is in a north house such as 

 is used for propagating in winter; one 

 that is kept at about 50° will suit it 

 admirably, as most of the growth is 

 made in' winter. The plant blooms in 

 spring and early summer and the sprays 

 are exquisite for all decorative purposes. 

 Whether cut or used in pots, to see them 

 arching out over a bank of adiantums is 

 to see one of the prettiest combinations 

 possible. We have used them very suc- 

 cessfully in this way during the past few 

 weeks. 



Another good species is O. Rossi, a 

 Mexican plant wi h which maybe classed 

 also O. Cervantesii, as both are very 

 much alike. These are winter kinds, 

 easilv grown in a cool house in summer, 

 with a little more warmth among the 

 cattleyas in winter. In this way we have 

 brought around some very sick plants, 

 making bulbs as large as hen eggs. The 

 flowers are invaluable for boutonnieres 

 for either sex and last well when made 

 up. O.citrosmum is also another valuable 

 Mexican kind for cut flowers, and it may 



