January 15, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



27 



the larger ones from California. After the flowers are cut we 

 place the boxes under the benches and gradually withhold 

 water. About the middle of July we shake the soil out and 

 pick the bulbs out in two sizes ; the smaller ones, like garden 

 peas, are sown broadcast, rather thickly ; these make fine 

 flowering bulbs for the next season. For use in the conserv- 

 atory, Freesias grown in pots or pans are very effective, their 

 delicate Odor and free-flowering properties making them in- 

 dispensable. By sowing seed in pots or pans and thinning 

 them out (as the seedlings cannot be successfully transplanted) 

 good flowering bulbs may be had the second season, but bulbs 

 of good quality are now so cheap that few go to the trouble of 

 raising them in this way. Freesia refracta alba is the most 

 largely grown and popular of the three sorts in commerce. 

 F. Leichtlinii, with creamy yellow flowers, may be added ; 

 stray bulbs of it are usually to be seen mixed in with those of 

 F. refracta alba. 



Taunton, Mass. W. N. Craig. 



Oxalis versicolor. 



T'HE trouble with most of the species and varieties of Oxalis 

 -*■ lies in the fact that their flowers remain closed for a con- 

 siderable portion of the day ; especially is this the case in mid- 

 winter, when some of them only open in clear sunny weather. 

 Few of the species are very attractive unless they are in full 

 flower. The species known as O. versicolor, however, is a 

 notable exception to this rule, as the flower-buds and closed 

 flowers are quite as attractive to many people as the fully 

 opened ones. The petals, when closed, are so arranged that 

 they overlap each other to a certain extent, the overlapping 

 edges of the under surfaces being a reddish pink color, and 

 the remaining part white and greenish yellow at the base, and 

 this combination of color in the closed flower makes it very 

 attractive. When expanded the flowers are about an inch in 

 diameter, and upper surface of the corolla is pure white. This 

 species is not of robust growth ; the leaves, which are small 

 and divided into three linear leaflets, do not spring directly 

 from the bulb ; long slender stalks are first produced, which 

 form bunchy growths at the apex, from which spring an aston- 

 ishingly large number of leaves and flowers. The plant is 

 particularly well adapted for planting in baskets, as the 

 branches hang over the sides. It begins flowering here about 

 the middle of December, and continues for at least three 

 months ; this is in a house where the temperature is kept just 

 high enough to prevent freezing. The pear-shaped bulbs are 

 small, and in starting I set them singly in thumb-pots, using 

 peat loam and sand in equal parts. When the growths are an 

 inch or two high they are transferred to baskets lined with 

 sphagnum-moss, when a richer soil is used, and in this they 

 are planted rather closelv. 



Botanic Garden, Washington, D. C. G. W. 0. 



Notes from Harvard Botanic Garden. 



TN a greenhouse here, where the temperature ranges from 

 ■*■ forty to forty-five degrees, there is a showy group of plants 

 of Senecio Petasites which invites special attention. This plant 

 is an old inhabitant of gardens, having been grown for more 

 than three-quarters of a century, but it is seldom seen now. It 

 is of special value at this season for those who have large con- 

 servatories to be kept gay during the dull months of winter. 

 The plants are seldom kept more than one year, but if large 

 specimens are desired the old plants may be cut back late in 

 spring, and when the weather is favorable in early summer 

 they may be planted out in the garden. They need plenty of 

 room, as the old branches soon break and make large hand- 

 some specimens. Cuttings struck in spring make the most 

 useful plants for us. When the plants are through flowering 

 one or two are kept for stock plants. They are cut back, and 

 in a few weeks they make young shoots, which make the best 

 cuttings when they are three or four inches long. It takes 

 them about two weeks to make good roots in the cutting- 

 bench. After they are well rooted thev are put into three-inch 

 pots, and in May they are planted out in the garden. They 

 soon begin to grow, and about the first week of July they are 

 cut back so as to make them branch. They generally make 

 three or four stems, but those stems are never cut back during 

 the remainder of the season. If extra-large panicles are 

 wanted, the young plants should be grown to a single stem. 

 Just before there is danger of frost the plants are lifted, and 

 are large enough now for eight-inch pots. As they are gross 

 feeders they need a rich compost, and before they blossom 

 weak liquid-manure is very beneficial. 

 This Senecio is a stout, erect plant with round stems, which 



attain a height of three or four feet or more. The stems are 

 clothed with large circular leaves, which are cordate at the 

 base and dark green above and paler beneath. The leaves are 

 from six to twelve inches broad, and their petioles are nearly 

 a foot long. The large terminal panicles measure a foot and 

 a half in length and are developed in November, but the 

 flowers do not open until the second week in December, or 

 sometimes later. The flower-heads measure more than an 

 inch across, and the color of the disk florets are brownish, and 

 those of the ray are of a bright yellow. When the plants are 

 in full bloom they are very attractive, for not onlv are the 

 flowers showy, but they are also fragrant. It is a Mexican 

 plant, and when first introduced was known as Cineraria 

 Petasites. 



Half a dozen large plants of the showy Cestrum elegans are 

 blooming freely now in pots. These plants make handsome 

 objects when planted out in a lied or border in a cool green- 

 house and trained to a pillar. In such a position, if properly 

 treated, they blossom nearly all the year round. Two or three 

 year old plants, grown in pots, we find most serviceable, as 

 they branch more freely and are more graceful than younger 

 plants. The season of blossoming of plants grown in pots is 

 regulated by the time the plants are rested and pruned. When 

 they are through flowering we find they do much belter after 

 a long rest. This rest is brought about by withholding water, 

 and it helps to ripen the soft wood. In June they are pruned 

 close to the old stem, leaving only one or two buds of the 

 previous year's growth. They are then turned out of the pots, 

 and after most of the exhausted soil is removed they are 

 planted out in the garden. If syringed regularly they soon 

 make young branches, and their naked and ragged steins are 

 soon hid with green leaves. When they are taken up in the 

 fall they need plenty of pot-room and good rich soil. They 

 begin to blossom in December and continue for two or three 

 months. The purplish red, tubular flowers are produced in 

 dense terminal cymes on long, graceful branches a yard or 

 more in length. 



Eranthemuin tuberculatum is a handsome species intro- 

 duced from New Caledonia in 1863. At this time its pure 

 white star-like flowers, which are about one inch across, 

 are produced plentifully on the thick, bushy plants. They are 

 about a foot high, branching freely into slender twigs which 

 are thickly covered with small oval leaves. This Eranthemum 

 is grown as a stove plant here, and after blossoming it is cut 

 back and kept slightly dry for a short time. In spring it is 

 potted in a rich open soil and the plants are placed afterward 

 near the roof-glass, which induces them to makeshort, healthy 

 growth. Cuttings made from the young growth root easily if 

 given slight bottom heat, and they soon make nice little plants 

 if given good treatment. 



Botanic Garden, Harvard University. R- Cameron. 



Ardisia crenulata is one of the prettiest of all berried plants 

 for winter decoration. The berries are vermilion-red, and 

 one crop holds over until another is ripe, so that it is an avail- 

 able plant at all seasons. It is a shrub of very slow growth, 

 taking four years to make a specimen a foot or eighteen inches 

 high. This is the most useful size, since the plants afterward 

 become leggy and need cutting down and restarting in fresh 

 soil in slightly smaller pots. They are easily raised from 

 seed, and usually enough self-sown seedlings are found under 

 the benches. Ordinary greenhouse temperature is sufficient 

 after the fruit is set, but during the blooming season a slightly 

 higher temperature is advantageous in securing a good setting 

 of berries. Good peaty soil and firm potting is essential, as 

 the plants will remain in good condition for two or three years 

 in the same pots. The plants are subject to scale as a 

 and it is only by frequent syringing with a decoction of 

 tobacco-water and fir-tree oil or kerosene emulsion that they 

 can be kept clean. 



Wellesley, Mass. J - ' '• ™. 



Reinwardtia trigyna. — This good old plant is now a blaze of 

 beauty in the warm temperate house. It is rather remaikable 

 that one so rarely meets with this plant either in private oi 

 commercial collections, yet it is just upon one hundred years 

 since it was first discovered and sent to England. It is a sub- 

 shrub, though it perhaps is best to take cuttings each year 

 (unless large specimens are wanted and throw away tin 

 plants. The leaves are ovate, rutin', and about one inch in 

 length, alternately disposed on the branches. The flowers are 

 of a rich golden yellow, about tin a silver dollar, soli- 



tary in the axils of the leaves in the lower parts of the brani 

 but crowded at the upper ends of the branches. The ; 

 are fugacious, which is the only drawback to the commercial 



