January i, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



and potted in the fall and stowed away in cool frames, or a 

 frame may be placed over the plants where they grow in 

 the open ground. Where there are only a few plants hand- 

 glasses are useful. Plants will flower earlier when potted, 

 partly because they may be kept more fully under control. 

 A cool and moist place in a Carnation-house is also a very 

 good place for forcing Christmas Roses. 



Among the varieties Helleborus niger angustifolius is the 

 smallest as well as the earliest. The flowers of this form 

 are slightly greenish during the first days, at least, and 

 gradually assume a reddish tint. This form differs but 



Cultural Department. 

 The Garden in Winter. 



DECEMBER is the one month in the year when the garden 

 in this latitude is most nearly at rest. We are apt to think 

 that our plants are perfectly quiet at this season, when frost 

 and snow usually prevail, yet a garden is never at rest if 

 planted with hardy plants and bulbs which flower at different 

 seasons. The summer rest is, perhaps, the only one many of 

 the hardy bulbs know. They start into growth when the cool 

 rains fall in autumn, and it is as natural to many of them to 

 flower in frosty winter or early spring as for others to bloom in 



Fig. 1. — Opuntia arborescens on the Tucson Desert.— See page z. 



slightly in appearance from the type, but the flowers are 

 smaller. H. niger maximus, or altifolius, is the largest as 

 well as the purest white of the varieties. It must be re- 

 membered when the plants are forced for house decoration 

 that the foliage must be preserved in its full beauty. The 

 leaves in themselves are very handsome deep glossy green 

 and of an elegant habit. They contrast beautifully with 

 the white flowers and form a pleasing background to 

 them. The calyx, which is the showy part of the 

 flower, is persistent ; it does not fall, but fades gradually 

 into a reddish gray as the carpels develop. 



summer warmth. Such hardy plants— to speak of the com- 

 mon ones— as Primulas, Saxifrages, Aralias, A nbrietias, Spanish 

 Irises, Muscari.Sedums and even Crocuses, show green leaves 

 all winter, and though these are often prostrated by frost, 

 a few hours of sunshine starts them up vigorously. If a bulb 

 is in the habit of flowering at a certain tune it may be depended 

 on to start into growth in due season and make constant 

 progress toward maturity under very adverse conditions. 1 

 energy expended in growth develops warmth, so that even in 

 a frozen investment there is some progress. It is only solidly 

 frozen earth which will keep many ot the Snowdrops under 

 ground after this time of year, and they will always appear 

 after two or three mild days in January. Looking over the 



