266 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



September 



An Abnormal Growth of the Petunia: 

 Fasciation. 



The singular form of growth, known as 

 Fasciation, is herewith shown in a most 

 curious shape as affecting a Petunia. Our 

 illustration was originally made from a 

 photograph of the actual plant, and which 

 had no less than thirty-four expanded flow- 

 ers and forty-three buds at one time. These 

 together formed the head to a stout stem, 

 composed of very many small stalks grown 

 firmly together. Among fast growing plants 

 formations of this kind, in the foliage or 

 flowers, are not unknown, but we do not 

 recall anything quite equaling this caise. 



As to the cause of this peculiar style of 

 plant growth, it formerly was thought to be 

 due to over luxuriance, or a high degree of 

 vitality; but more recent investigations 

 serve to quite reverse the above opinion. 

 It is now believed to result rather from 

 a lowering of vital power, as various 

 phenomena conceded to come from low 

 vitality are, also, inseparably connected 

 with fasciation, the essential feature of 

 which might be said to be the produc- 

 tion of an extraordinary number of buds, 

 with a corresponding ab.sence of inter- 

 mediate or internodal spaces. 



It is interesting to note that in trees 

 upon which some form of fasciated 

 branches appear, it has been noticed that 

 the more natural branches endure longer 

 than those havmg fa.sciated growth; in 

 fact, the latter in severe winters are 

 quite apt to die, while the former sur- 

 vive. A similar slate of things is 

 known to also attend inflorescence; a 

 familiar example being the short-lived 

 quality of flowers compared with the 

 leafy growth, though exceptions in which 

 this rule is reversed do exist, but in gen- 

 eral the principles stated are received 

 with favor. 



While fasciation is in most cases really 

 an abnormal fomi of growth, all fascia- 

 tion is not abnormal as may be instanced 

 in the case of the floral arrangement of the 

 Sweet Williams and Cockscomb, the leaf ar- 

 rangement of some Evergreens, the tubers 

 of the Dahlia and similar forms. Here fas- 

 ciation is clearly the normal state of growth. 



Water Lilies: Their Hardiness and 

 some other Points. 



OEOBGE RICHAHDSON, TRUMBULL CO., O. 



My pond of choice Water Lilies has this 

 season bloomed beyond my expectation. 

 An idea of their hardiness may be gained 

 from a trial they had last fall when I drained 

 my pond to get the carp out. The weather 

 being so dry that I could not get it refilled 

 before winter set in, the ground in the 

 bottom had frozen six inches deep, when 

 I got water in it; some of my plants were 

 injured but none killed outrightly. 



The Sacred Lotus (Nclumhium specio- 

 s-um) was injured more than any of the 

 others, but still is growing well. The Japan 

 Lotus (Nclumbimii nucifcrum roscwn) is 

 doing best of all and has spread over a space 

 twenty feet by forty feet. They commenced 

 to bloom the last of June and will con- 

 tinue for about a hundred days. The flowers 

 are of a bright cherry pink color, delightful- 

 ly fragrant, from eight to twelve inches 

 across, rising on foot stalks from three to 

 six feet high. The leaves are often two feet 

 across, one has even measured thirty inches 

 and are high above the water, like the flow- 

 ers. From this one patch alone we pick 

 from ten to sixty blossoms every day. 



Many people from Warren and Youngs- 

 town come here to see my Lilies, and, Lotuses 

 being rare, it has become fashionable for the 

 wealthy to have the blooms combined with 

 leaves at their parties and receptions. 

 While at first I had no intention of charg- 

 ing anything for blossoms still they insisted 



on my being paid. The pink and yellow 

 Ijilies also attract great attention, but when 

 people see the large Lotuses they have eyes 

 for nothing else. The Lotuses would be a 

 grand thing for summer resorts. 



These plants, like everything else, have 

 their enemies. Insects and worms will eat 

 the leaves, and we find it necessary once a 

 month, and sometimes oftener to spray them 

 with Tobacco water with a very little London 

 purple in it, using five cents' worth of 

 plug Tobacco with a tablespoonful of the 

 poison to a pail of water. 



To those who think of getting any kind of 

 water plants, either choice or common, I 

 would advise getting them in June or July, 

 as earlier in the season or later as I have found 

 by experience is not to be recommended. 



plants are not at all so obstinate as these 

 people would lead anyone to understand. 

 They require neither force nor persuasion, 

 but simply permission to grow — that is to 

 say, they are only too happy to do their own 

 growing, if no insuperable obstacles are 

 placed in their way. It is the work of the 

 cultivator to find out what these (obstacles 

 are, and to remove them. When he has done 

 this the plants will grow and thrive without 

 the aid of any exterior assistance. 



A RemarlcaKle Petunia.— Example of Fasciation. 



Successful Eucharls or Amazon Lily 

 Culture. 



CHARLES B. WELLS, ALLEGHANY CO., PA. 



Inagarden which loften visit there are sev- 

 eral pots of Eucharls grandiflora, which are 

 the healthiest and best I have yet seen. They 

 are growing in a loamy compost in twelve 

 and sixteen inch pots, which are so full of 

 bulbs that they are literally crowding each 

 other out. They are well furnished with 

 dark green leathery leaves, some of which 

 measure upwards of two feet from base of 

 petiole to apex of blade, and eight or nine 

 inches across the latter. They bloom pro- 

 ftisely twice and sometimes thrice a year. 



These plants have not been potted for five 

 or six years, and being very much rootbonnd 

 require and receive liberal supplies of water. 

 They also each occasionally receive a hand- 

 ful of dry sifted manure from the fowl house. 

 During the winter they are kept in a tem- 

 perature ranging from .50''to(W^,and through- 

 out the summer months they have no artifi- 

 cial heat whatever. In a great measure they 

 are left to take care of themselves, and they 

 appear to do it very well indeed. 



Undoubtedly the Eucharis in course of 

 time, to some extent, adapts itself to the con- 

 ditions by which it is surrounded— in a word, 

 it makes the best of its opportunities, and 

 thus affords to mankind generally a very 

 salutary lesson. This remark applies to all 

 cultivated plants, whether temperate or trop- 

 ical, indigenous or exotic. 



Apparently some gardeners, in their zeal 

 to grow a plant well, fail to grow it at all. 

 They seem, if one may .iudge by the way in 

 which they treat the subject, to be imbued 

 with the idea that growing a plant is an 

 operation analogous to making a fire, requir- 

 ing much personal attention and much fus- 

 sing and poking about. As a matter of fact, 



A Look at the " Kimball Orchids". 



W. F. LAKE, ERIE CO., N. Y. 



Being an admirer and a somewhat suc- 

 cessful cultivator of Orchids, it was a great 

 treat while passing through the city of 

 Rochester, N. Y., not long since, to be shown 

 through the greenhouses containing 

 the widely celebrated Kimball collection 

 of these remarkable plants. 



The houses are located about a twenty 

 minute walk west from the business por- 

 tion of the city, and also can be reached 

 by the Caledonian line of street railway. 

 Each visitor is requested to register, and 

 also by the printed signs not to touch 

 the flowers. From shortness of time, 

 between trains, I could make but a ha-sty 

 examination, while to enjoy so large and 

 fine a collection considerable lime is 

 required. 



The hot houses are entered first from 

 the entrance room, the temperature at 

 2 P. M. being 100° Fahr. following which 

 are the somewhat cooler Orchid houses 

 in which are now contained over '2M 

 species and varieties, and are constantly 

 being added to, the gardener in attend- 

 ance saying that several shipments are 

 often received each week. When asked 

 how many plants in all there were in the 

 collection he expressed his inability to 

 say, there being so many of the same 

 kind, and the constant additions made 

 it ditificult to keep account. 

 The forms of the varieties are of the finest 

 to be produced, and the plants are magnifi- 

 ciently grown. There is a house of Odon- 

 toglossum all of which are very fine 

 healthy plants of all sizes and grown in 

 different ways. 1 noticed all the leading 

 kinds in profusion, but of these the most 

 attractive at the time of my visit w ere O. 

 Alexandrae from Bogota; O. cirrhosum 

 from Equador; O. nebulosum, a Mexican 

 native, and O. crespenum. 



In the other houses were hosts of beauti- 

 ful varieties, notably among which were 

 elegant groups of Lycaste Skinneri, Cypre- 

 pediums in large numbers of kinds, and of 

 each variety separately. Cattleya Mossiiv, 

 of which there were many finely expanded 

 blooms on plants grown in different ways 

 was about at its best. Cattleya Gaskeliana 

 from Brazil was new to me and very beau- 

 tiful in the warm rooms. 



The Lielias, which with the Cattleyas are 

 far the most gorgeous kinds, easy of growth, 

 blooming freely, played an important part 

 in the display at that time. 



Some elegant specimens of Oncidiums 

 were very attractive, one O. pulvinatum 

 which I had never met before was a perfect 

 sheet of yellow in the most exquisite shade 

 imaginable. This is another Brazilian. 



Aside from the more attractive forms in 

 bloom there was much interest to be taken 

 in those at rest, the difference looking to the 

 various forms of growth, etc. 



The attraction of the premises does by no 

 means end with the Orchid houses, as there 

 are several houses of ordinary greenhouse 

 plants, also one of water plants which was 

 to me really as interesting as the Orchids as 

 it contains many rare aquatics, among 

 which was the Egyptian Lotus with several 

 expanded blooms and lots more buds com- 



