Garden and Forest. 



[Number 410. 



to bottom with mauve-purple flowers two inches across. 

 It is planted out in a bed of light soil in a sunny position in 

 a large stove, and it has grown to its present size from a 

 small plant in about two years. Grown in a pot this plant 

 is scraggy in habit and flowers only indifferently ; it is 

 evident, therefore, from the success met with at Edinburgh 

 that liberal treatment gives exceptionally good results. 

 This is equally true of Pleroma (Lasiandra') macrantha, 

 which, for several months, has been a sheet of flowers in a 

 sunny greenhouse at Kew, where it is planted out and 

 trained along wires close to the roof, exactly as if it were a 

 Gloire de Dijon Rose. Melastoma Malabathricum is a 

 native of India, where, according to Sir Joseph Hooker, it 

 is called by the English "Indian Rhododendron," being 

 common from sea-level up to 6,000 feet. It is a variable 

 plant, as is shown by Mr. Bentham, who included under it 

 no less than twenty-four species of another botanist, Naudin. 



Red-barked Willow. — A beautiful winter effect is ob- 

 tained at Kew by planting this Willow on the margin of 

 the lake in a conspicuous place, so that the glow of its 

 shining crimson stems gives warmth of color quite equal 

 in effect to that produced by the Siberian Dogwood. This 

 Red Willow is said to be a red form of the common White 

 Wiljpvv, Salix alba. It forms a handsome bush, but to get 

 the full value of its color in winter it requires to be well 

 pollarded every spring. It is a first-rate garden plant. 

 Here it is called Sanguinea. 



Yellow-barked Willow.' — This is another variety of the 

 White Willow, and is known at Kew as Salix alba vitellina. 

 It is used in the same manner as the red-barked variety ; in 

 fact, the two are planted together, so that the golden yellow 

 wands of the latter heighten the effect of the red shoots of 

 Sanguinea. 



White-barked Willow. — This is a variety of Salix 

 daphnoides which is grown by Mr. A. Waterer in his Knap 

 Hill nursery as S. acutifolia. It is remarkable for the white- 

 flour-like bloom which clothes the stems and makes them 

 look as if it had been whitewashed. These three Willows 

 should be in every garden where shrubs are valued. 



Red-stemmed Dogwoods. — There are several varieties of 

 Cornus alba which are remarkable for the shining red color 

 assumed by the bark of the younger shoots in winter. The 

 best of them is one which at Kew bears the name of C. 

 alba variegata, the stems of this being as red as sealing- 

 wax. What is generally grown under the name of C. 

 Sibirica (really a variety of alba) is a shade or two darker 

 in color, and therefore less effective. It may not be gen- 

 erally known that to obtain a plentiful crop of red-barked 

 shoots on these plants the old stems must be cut out level 

 with the ground every spring ; this induces the develop- 

 ment of long sucker-stems, and these always assume a rich 

 color in winter. The difference between a specimen thus 

 treated and one left unpruned is so great that they do not 

 appear to be of the same species. At Kew these Dog- 

 woods are planted in large masses in open sites on the 

 lawns, and the color they give all through the winter is 

 most valuable. They are planted in large round beds, and 

 among them are placed spring-flowering bulbs with flow- 

 ers whose colors harmonize with the red of the Dogwoods. 

 Other red-stemmed Dogwoods grown at Kew are C. amo- 

 murri, a native of North America, which has purplish 

 shoots ; C. stolonifera, also American, with red-purple 

 shoots, and C. Baileyi, a Canadian species, with brownish 

 red bark. This last was figured in Garden and Forest, 

 1890, page 465. 



Commercial Fibres. — The importance of fibre-yielding 

 plants is shown by the fact that in 1S93 the value of raw 

 fibrous material imported into the United Kingdom alone 

 was ^50,000,000, and of the goods manufactured from this 

 material ^"74,000,000. It is also shown by the corre- 

 spondence conducted at Kew in relation to fibre-yielding 

 plants, and the information published from thence in the 

 Kew Bulletin. The Assistant Director, Dr. D. Morris, C.M.G., 

 whose experience both at Kew and in the colonies consti- 

 tutes him an authority upon the subject, has told the whole 



story of commercial fibres in a series of lectures delivered 

 before the Society of Arts, and since published in an illus- 

 trated pamphlet of forty-two pages.* The history and 

 origin of fibre industries, the character aiid value of the 

 various fibres, the nature and peculiarities of the plants 

 that yield them, with other interesting information, are set 

 forth with that care and thoroughness which characterize 

 all Dr. Morris's work. The pamphlet will, therefore, be the 

 recognized referee upon all fibre questions for some time to 

 come, and, consequently, it will be valued by all who are 

 interested in fibres commercially or botanically. As an 

 instance of what Kew has done and continues to do in fos- 

 tering plant industries the following is an example : The 

 closing of the ports in Madagascar consequent upon the 

 war with France sent up the price of Raffia bast, hitherto 

 obtained only from that island. Several species of Raffia 

 likely to yield a fibre are known to be abundant on the 

 west coast of Africa. The curators of the botanical sta- 

 tions in our colonies were therefore advised from Kew to 

 look into the matter, and, if possible, collect and send 

 home samples of the fibre from the Palms there. The 

 result has been the important discovery that Raffia as 

 valuable commercially as the best hitherto obtained from 

 Madagascar can be had in any quantity from our posses- 

 sions in west Africa. ljr TIT 

 London. "• Watson. 



Plant Notes. 



Cattleya Trian/e. — This noble and most popular of all 

 Orchids is now in season. Wherever Orchids are grown 

 it will be seen in its full beauty during the Christmas and 

 New Year's season in an infinite number of varieties, from 

 the costly forms with pure white flowers through all the 

 delicate shades of blush and rose and crimson. There is 

 great variety in the coloring of the lip, the throat being 

 generally yellow or orange, while the apex of the lip is 

 more or less intensely colored in purple, bright rose, violet 

 or magenta. This species is becoming more and more 

 popular every year, and as it is inexpensive and easy of 

 culture it will, no doubt, soon be one of the most useful of 

 midwinter flowers. The flowers are lasting and the plant 

 will keep beautiful in a dwelling-house much longer than 

 almost any other flowering plant. Orchids will undoubt- 

 edly be useful as house-plants when they become more 

 generally known. 



Helleborus niger. — The Christmas Rose is the only 

 hardy herbaceous plant flowering in midwinter, and as 

 such deserves to be widely known and cultivated. The 

 buds, as in the case of many other herbaceous plants, are 

 formed during the preceding summer, ready to burst into 

 flower during the earliest warm spell in midwinter. The 

 flowers open more readily during the Christmas season 

 if there has been a severe frost during the preceding 

 months, but even with hardly any frost it is gener- 

 ally possible to have a rich supply of Christmas Roses 

 during the holidays. Any failure in this respect is usually 

 due to a lack of moisture. The freshness and snowy purity 

 uf the large-flowered Christmas Rose, H. niger altifolius, is 

 unrivaled when forced under glass. Protected against all 

 destructive winds and droughts in December the buds will 

 soon swell and develop if the plants are kept moderately 

 cool and moist and in a sunny position. The foliage and 

 buds must be kept constantly wet, for if the buds are 

 allowed to dry but a little, the beauty of the flow- 

 ers will be marred. This need of moisture explains 

 why the flowers expand and develop so remarkably well 

 under the snow. When the warm rays of the sun in Feb- 

 ruary melt the snow which snugly covers the leaves and 

 buds, there is a constant moisture which seems to be essen- 

 tial for the preservation of the leaves and for the unchecked 

 growth of the buds. All the varieties of H. niger may be 

 forced, either in pots, when large clumps should be lifted 



* William Trounce, Gough Square, Fleet Street, E. C. Price, one shilling. 



