38 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 413. 



Planted out for the summer, with unrestricted root-room, it 

 had made strong canes four feet long and very stout, without 

 blooming, having been used for tropical effect, for which it is 

 extremely well adapted. It lifted well, ripened the stout wood 

 it had made and bloomed profusely all winter long. This year 

 I thought to make neater specimens by growing them in pots, 

 but results prove the plants have not the stamina fora good show 

 of bloom. The panicled cymes are very large, drooping from 

 near the ends of the branches, and if the branches be long, as 

 when the plants are grown out-of-doors, they have a somewhat 

 leggy appearance. These branches root easily any time dur- 

 ing the summer, develop the panicles which show in the bud 

 state when the cuttings are taken, and make neat little speci- 

 mens which can be planted out the succeeding summer. The 

 individual flowers are very large. The whole flower, includ- 

 ing the large winged ovaries, are bright coral-red, from which 

 we may probably trace its parentage, on one side, to the old 

 B. (rubra) corallina. 



Ferdinand de Lesseps is another of these large hybrids into 

 which the blood ol the bronzy leaved Begonia olbia has been 

 some way infused. This is evident in the short, almost hid- 

 den cymes, and in the reddish bronze under-surface and mar- 

 gined leaves. This, also, is better for a season out-of-doors, 

 needing age and well-ripened growth to bloom well. 



Wellesley, Mass. T. D. Hatfield. 



Siegesbeckia orientalis. — Last June we received from the 

 Royal Botanic Gardens, Buitenzorg, Java, a large number of 

 packages of seeds, principally natives of that island. I sowed 

 the greater portion as soon as they arrived, and have been 

 much interested in watching their developments. The above- 

 named plant was in the collection, and though by no means 

 ornamental, it is interesting botanically. My first impression 

 of the plant when it began to flower was a miserable weed. 

 It is an annual, and belongs to Compositas. The leaves are 

 cordate, with coarsely serrated margins, four inches long by 

 two inches wide. The flowers are small and yellow, and 

 rather inconspicuous, but the flower-heads have, in addition 

 to the scales with which Composites are surrounded, five 

 spreading, rather long, involucral scales, which are covered 

 with glandular hairs, each having a drop of viscid fluid at the 

 tip. These hairs catch insects, apparently with the same ease 

 as Droseras, as there are numbers of small insects caught on 

 the plants we have here. Whether these insects are of any 

 use to the plant after being caught is a problem for botanical 

 students to solve. I do not know of any insectivorous Com- 

 posite, and possibly the viscid glandular hairs are for a pro- 

 tection for the flowers from small insects, yet from their 

 spreading position and the smallness of their number this is 

 hardly probable. Mjny plants have sticky hairs on the stems 

 and flower-stalks, to prevent ants and other insects climbing 

 and stealing the nectar ; as, for instance, Browallias, Cupheas, 

 Primulas, Plumbagos, etc., but I do not remember ever 

 seeing them hold insects, as this plant does. S. orientalis is 

 by no means a rare plant, as it is largely distributed through 

 the tropics, under the name of S. droseroides, apparently 

 from the resemblance of its involucral scales to the leaves of 

 Drosera. It is well worthy of a place in botanical collections, 

 and I find it does best in the warm temperate house. 

 Northampton, Mass. Edward J. Canning. 



Cytisus racemosus. — This is a common greenhouse shrub, 

 and one of tew plants with yellow flowers which are available 

 to any extent for winter and spring decorations. It can be had 

 in bloom from January onwards. By regularly pruning into 

 bushy shape, plants may be grown for many years and make 

 large specimens. This is practiced only in private places ; for 

 commercial use new stock is annually raised. Cuttings are 

 taken from half-ripened wood and put in pots filled with sandy 

 peat, or in a cool propagating-bed to callous. Afterward, a 

 bottom-heat of sixty-five degrees, Fahrenheit, will induce new 

 roots, and the cuttings should be ready for potting off in two 

 or three weeks. They should be grown continuously in small 

 pots for the first season, as it is almost impossible to lift plants 

 which have not previously formed a ball of earth. Small plants 

 rooted last spring and grown to a single stern in four and five 

 inch pots are perfect pyramids from one to two and a half 

 feet high, showing bloom for nearly the entire length of the 

 stem. 



Wellesley, Mass. i- ■ D. H. 



Ccelogyne cristata. — Next to Cattleya Trianae, this is the most 

 useful Orchid of the midwinter season. The abundance of its 

 snowy flowers, its dwarf habit and dark glossy foliage make it 

 truly beautiful at this season. The flowers, which measure 



about four inches across, are produced in loose racemes rest- 

 ing on the foliage. Except for the rich golden-yellow fringes 

 inside the lip, the color is pure white. The bracteate peduncle 

 springs from the base of an oblong, shining, bright green 

 pseudo-bulb of a walnut's size. The pseudo-bulbs are formed 

 on creeping stems, and bear one or two long strap-shaped 

 leaves of a dark green color. A cool well-ventilated house in 

 a northern position is best in summer, and during the flower- 

 ing season the plants should be kept in the coolest part of the 

 greenhouse. While growing they need frequent syringing and 

 watering and occasional fertilizing with weak liquid-manure. 



Newark, N. J. N. J. R. 



Correspondence. 



The Pepper-tree for House Culture. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Your recent article on the Pepper-tree leads me to add 

 that it is readily grown from seed and makesa pleasing window 

 plant. I have a plant now over five feet high, with the char- 

 acteristic drooping branches. Daily showering seems to in- 

 duce floriferousness. It has thus far never borne fruit. It is 

 peculiarly free from all insects save the scale, which 

 seems to have a special liking for it. I have tried in vain to 

 discover why the apparently spontaneous movement of the 

 leaves in water is at times so much more marked than at 

 others, and suspect your statement that " in wet weather the 

 leaves emit a pungent odor," has given me the clew. 



Klinger Lake, Mich. B. L. Putna7H. 



Meetings of Societies. 



Horticulture in Pennsylvania. 



"THE thirty-seventh annual meeting of the Pennsylvania 

 -*- Horticultural Society was held in West Chester last week. 

 In the interesting report of the Fruit Committee it was said 

 that in the south-eastern counties of the state the fruit crop 

 was unusually abundant, being in many sections the heaviest 

 known, while in the greater part of the state there was a slen- 

 der crop, owing to late spring frosts and a dry summer. In 

 the north-eastern part of the state the Pear blight was more 

 destructive than it has been for twenty years. Peaches only 

 yielded from one-tenth to a quarter of a crop ; Cherries in the 

 south-east gave a small crop, Early Richmond, Montmorenci 

 and Napoleon Biggareau being the best varieties. Of black- 

 berries there were practically none, and but few raspberries 

 and strawberries. It was reported also that the San Jose' scale, 

 which seems to have established itself securely in the east, 

 had already been found in half a dozen different parts of the 

 state. 



The subirrigation of Strawberries was discussed in a paper 

 by Mr. Martin Brinser, of Middletown, who stated that there 

 were two ways of practicing this. One was by supplying water 

 through tiles laid underground, and the other by subsoiling, so 

 as to hold the rain-water. This last method is quite satisfac- 

 tory where there is a compact soil beneath. Deeper plowing 

 makes a deeper reservoir, which holds more of the winter and 

 early rains. After plowing deeply the land can be subsoiled so 

 as to loosen the soil to a point sixteen inches below the sur- 

 face. In this way Mr. Brinser had produced excellent crops of 

 cherries during the last dry year. In addition to the subsoil- 

 ing, Mr. Brinser used frequent shallow culture, which furnished 

 a dust mulch, so that during the dry weather moisture could 

 always be found an inch below the surface. Mr. Ingraham.of 

 West Chester, said that he had tried subsoiling several rows 

 of Strawberries at the foot of a hill, and the beneficial results 

 were plain. Mr. H. M. Engle argued that while some lands 

 were aided by this practice, he had found that in loamy open 

 subsoils not much benefit was derived. Mr. H. D. Van Deman, 

 formerly Pomologist for the United States Government, 

 thought that subsoiling was one of the very best practicable 

 methods of storing up water for crops. A layer of finely pul- 

 verized soil resembles a sponge, and if it were three inches 

 thick it would hold half as much as one six inches deep, and 

 one one-third as much as one nine inches deep. Subsoiling 

 has the practical effect of under-draining — that is, it makes a 

 wet soil drier and makes a dry soil wetter. The deeper a hard 

 soil is loosened up the more moisture it will hold, and plants 

 require all they can get in this latitude. The object is to hold 

 the winter rains in a reservoir rather than to allow them to run 

 off. Professor Heiges told of some scions he had received 

 from Oregon with their buds all started. He grafted them and 

 then planted them in ground from which the surface soil was 



