62 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



December, 



2,09". Parsley in Winter. There is no easier 

 method of securing a home s\ippiy of Parsley in 

 winterthan that of boring holes in a nail kegr all 

 over the sides B or 8 inches apart. The roots 

 should be placed in the keg with the leaves, 

 commence at the bottom and till up with soil as 

 you put in the roots, planting 3 or 4 on top. By 

 this meaus we secured a good supply for home 

 use through last winter. Water must be care- 

 fully applied.— C. O. O. 



2,115 Fruit Trees for Koad Side. In many 

 parts of Europe the public highways through 

 the country are nothing more nor less than 

 avenues of Cherry trees, which often extend in 

 straight unbroken lines as far as the eye can 

 reach. There we find the early and the late, the 

 sweet and the sour cherries, and they seldom 

 fail to yield full 

 crops. It has always 

 seemed to us that 

 trees along the road- 

 side were much 

 healthier, general- 

 ly, freer from in- 

 sects, and give larg- 

 er and better yields 

 than the trees plant- 

 ed out in orchards 

 as we came across 

 them occaionaUy. 

 We see no reason, 

 why we should not 

 follow the good ex 

 ample, and line our 

 roads with Cherry 

 trees also. All we 

 have to do is to plant 

 them, give them a 

 good start, protect 

 them while young 

 in some simple way 

 against injury by 

 domestic animals, 

 and then leave them 

 to themselves, to 

 reward us with 

 bountif u I crops year 

 after year. Thus we 

 might have tine 

 cherries in abund- 

 ance for young and 

 old, and whata bles- 

 sing it would be, es- 

 pecially for Young 

 America ! Why not? 

 Why should we con- 

 tinue to plant Maple 

 and Elm avenues, 

 when (j'herries give 

 us as much shade, as 

 much beauty, and 

 the choicest fruit 

 besides V Occasion- 

 ally the Pear, more 

 rarely the Plum and 

 the Apple are used 

 for roadside trees in 

 Continental Europe. 



The reason is obvious. The Apple is of too 

 spreading growth (or this purpose, while neither 

 Pear nor Plum ha\e the beauty of form, nor the 

 utility as a shade tree possessed by the <,'herry. 1 

 Some of our Nut trees would also make adm irab'le 

 roadside trees. From New Jereey and Pennsyl- 

 vania southward, in the coast states, the English 

 Walnut might be tried, and the Pecan, wherever 

 it succeeds. The Chestnut is perhaps objection- 

 able on accounts of its low spreading growth 

 when planted singly. The Black Walnut and 

 Hickory are fine for the roadside, and in some 

 sections the Persimmon might be tried.— G. R. 



3,113. Eelworms Affecting Violets. There can 

 be but little doubt that the sickly plants are ' 

 affected by the same or similar root gall worm, 

 which attacks the roots of Clematis, the Peach, 

 the Orange, and many other plants. Dr. Byron 

 D. Halsted's investigations have brought out the 

 fact that the "disease" is by no means an un- 

 common one. Almost all Violet growers suffer 

 more or less injury from this source. This eel- 

 worm or root-gall worm ( Heterodera) was illus- 

 trated and fully described on pp. im and 157 of 

 last volume. We are unable to suggest a prac- 

 tical remedy. 



2,U15. Seeds of Haiden Hair Fern Tree. Seeds 

 are offered for sale by J. M. Thorburn & Co., 15 

 John street. New York.— C. E. P. 



2,097. Parsley in Winter. A good way is the 

 following: Get a nail keg, and bore holes, one 

 and a halt inches in diameter, and three or four 

 inches apart through the slaves all around the 

 upper half. Next fill with good soil, inserting a 

 good strong Parsley plant through each hole, 

 and imbedding the roots firmly into the soil. 

 Treat thus unlil all are planted, and the keg filled 

 up to the top with soil. Then set a half dozen 

 good i>lants into the keg from the top. If the 

 keg is kept in a cellar, near a light window, or in 

 the kitchen, or other reasonably warm place, 

 and supplied with water as needed, but not in 

 excess, the household will be well provided with 

 all the Parsley that can possibly be wanted for 

 home use.- H. W. E. ! 



2,054 HoyaasTree. HoyaCarnosa will flower 

 equally well, whatever the fashion of training 

 may be, provided it receives plenty of sun-light 

 to ripen the growth made. It is best placed out 

 of doors in summer.— C. O. O. 



2,053. Trees near Dwelling Houses. It would lie 

 very unwise to plant a thick grove of trees closely 

 around a dwelling house, or to build a house and i 

 leave it surrounded by tall trees. Air and sun- j 

 shine are necessary for us if we desire to remain 

 in best health. It is a great mistake to screen 

 out every bit of direct sunlight, whether this is 

 done by shade, and curtains inside or outside 

 trees. Still we like to have a few trees near the 

 house, not only to please the eye, and pro^^de 



ORCHID FLOWERS. 



1, Udonfocrtossum Na:vium; 2, Cattlcya Outtata; 3, Cypripedium caudatum; 

 4, Tlmnia Benaonice. 



comfortable shade for certain portions of the 

 house and its immediate vicinity in summer, but 

 also to absorb waste and impure matter that may 

 find its way out of the house to the surrounding 

 soil, to purify the latter, and relieve it of ex- 

 cessive dampness. By all means have a few 

 trees within a rod or two from the house, and a 

 few shrubs still closer, and flowers and grass up 

 to it.— G. R. 



What is an Orchid? 



(Abstract of lecture by Shirley Hlbberd, Eilltor of the 

 Gardener's Magazine, at Bath, England, Floral Fete.] 



An Orchid is a plant of the endogenous 

 class, allied to the Burmanniads and the 

 Apostasiads, of herbaceous growth, peren- 

 nial, often epiphytical producing leaves 

 with straight veins, flowers irregular as to 

 arrangement but on a deflnate plan of con- 

 struclion, and a nioiioctyledonous embryo, 

 the germination of which is endorhizal. 



You are evidently not satisfied with the 

 short reply ; nor am I, although it is strictly 

 accurate. I will therefore ti-y again, but I 

 inust be more diffuse. Orchids are plants, 

 that is certain. 



Orchids are plants that seem to be brought 

 near to us when we liken them to Irises. 

 The Irises, as you know, have tuberous or 

 fibrous roots, leaving usually flag-like and 

 flattened, though sometimes rush-like and 

 rounded, and the flowers are of a curious 

 pattern, opening out into si.x bold divisions, 

 the true nature of which is not apparent to 

 a casual observer. The large lip-like di- 

 visions, three in number, that are generally 

 the most richly coloured in an iris are the 

 sepals, the upright divisions within them 

 are the petals, and the three flat leaves like 



petals that press down on the throat of the 

 flower, and are usually two lobed at the 

 point, are the pistils, beneath which may 

 be found in the throat of each, one long, 

 well-developed stamen. 



Usually an Iris flower is perfect, while an 

 Orchid flower is usually imperfect, for 

 Nature is really iu a fantastic, or playfully 

 mischievious temper when producing Or- 

 chids, and appears to have fashioned them 

 quite as much to perplex man, as to please 

 herself. But a perfect Orchid flower is 

 formed on nearly the same plan as that of 

 an Iris, and in such case the reproductive 

 apparatus consists 

 of .5 sets of organs, 

 numbering 3 in a 

 set, making 1.5 in 

 all. Thus we have 

 three sepals, three 

 petals, three sta- 

 mens, three stig- 

 mas, and a three 

 celled ovary con- 

 taining many 

 seeds. In the Iris 

 the stamens and 

 petals are sepa- 

 rate, in Orchids 

 they are conjoined 

 in a central organ 

 called the column. 

 Thus we say the 

 Iris is triandrous, 

 having three sepa- 

 rate stamens, but 

 the Orchid is 

 gynandrous, the 

 stamens and the 

 style being con- 

 solidated, and 

 forming a con- 

 spicious adorn- 

 ment of the lip. 

 And about the lip 

 a word should 

 here be said, for 

 the Iris has three 

 great lips that are 

 richly coloured, 

 and we have called 

 them ^pals. The 

 matter of impor- 

 tance now to observe is that in the Iris the 

 sepals are presented as coloured lips, as it 

 were, without an effort, but in the Orchid, 

 one of the petals is altered expressly for the 

 purpose, and as we may say, by an effort 

 on Nature's part to accomplished an extra- 

 ordinary construction for a business that 

 demands it, the very continuance of Orchids 

 on the globe depending on the form and 

 color of the labellum. 



Let us now take a geueral view of the 

 Orchid. It is always an herb, for although 

 the Vanilla climbs like a vine or a small- 

 leaved flg, and the Vandas and Sobralias 

 form tree-like masses, yet they are always 

 herbaceous, true wood is not produced, and 

 the growth is from within or endogenous, 

 as in the Palms, l^ilies, and tirasses. In a 

 general view, perhaps the roots will attract 

 attention, for although in some Orchids, 

 called "Terrestrial,,' they hide themselves 

 in the earth iu a respectful manner, in 

 others they are displayed like clusters of 

 grey or white snakes or the far-reaching 

 arms of Octopoda, or as worms that crawl 

 about and have great power of grasping. 

 Very many of these lerial or epiphytal 

 Orchids appear to be entirely independent 

 of soil for their bodily subsistance. By the 

 term epiphytal is meant that they grow 

 upon trees; they employ the trees to hold 

 them aloft, for they want but little of them 

 beyond such mechanical aid ; all the food 

 require they can obtain with ease from the 

 moisture-laden atmosphere. 



{To be Continued.) 



