February 12, 1S96.] 



Garden and Forest. 



67 



more intrinsic ornamental value than this new intermediate 

 form, which partakes of. the characters of both. 



Berberis pruinosa. — This recent introduction from Tibet, 

 through the French missionaries, proves to be a neat and 

 attractive little shrub, the new growth, the underside of the 

 leaves and the abundant berries being- all pure white and the 

 flowers sulphur-yellow. Here it flourishes in full sunshine, as 

 does its antarctic congener, Berberis Darwinii, from southern 

 Chile and Fuegia. A fine bush of the latter, literally covered 

 with its rich orange blossoms, is just making a suggestive con- 

 trast with the numberless bunches of the crimson-flowered 

 tropical Passiflora princeps, which covers an extensive trellis 

 close by. 



Polygonum elegans. — This is a half-shrubby Buckwheat, grow- 

 ing about two feet high and twice as much across, with nearly 

 leafless wiry stems and myriads of small white flowers. 

 It makes a first-rate plant for the rockery or the herbaceous 

 border, besides being useful for cut flowers. It is a native of 

 Mount Gargano, in southern Italy, and will prove satisfactory, 

 even if grown in pots. 



Tagetes lacera. — This is one of a large number of new plants 

 lately discovered by Mr. Brandegee in the extreme south of 

 the peninsula of California. It makes a pretty compact bush, 

 four to five feet high, well furnished to the base with 

 finely cut metallic-green foliage, having the peculiar smell of 

 other Marigolds, and bears a profusion of yellow flowers, 

 mostly produced in winter. Small plants can be well bloomed 

 in pots. 



Pittosporum phylliraeoides. — This is a striking species from 

 the desert regions of Australia and quite distinct in habit 

 from all others with which we are familiar. It resembles an 

 evergreen Weeping Willow, with yellowish, rather small soli- 

 tary flowers in the axils of the leaves, succeeded by far more 

 conspicuous vellow elliptical fruits. 



Santa Barbara, Calif. F. Francheschl. 



Crassula quadrifida. — This plant is now in full bloom in the 

 succulent house, and is one of the best of the species. The 

 leaves are thick and leathery, ovate spathulate in form, at first 

 sessile, afterward forming a short petiole, and arranged decus- 

 sately on the stems. The flowers are borne in terminal pani- 

 cles ; the under sides are bright pink and the upper a very 

 light pink. The parts of the flower are all in fours. The indi- 

 vidual flowers do not exceed half an inch in diameter, but the 

 quantity produced makes it a very attractive plant. It is, 

 moreover, well adapted for a hanging basket, as the lower 

 branches droop gracefully round the pot in which it is grow- 

 ing. It is also an excellent window-plant, as the leaves are of 

 good texture, well able to withstand a dry atmosphere and at 

 the same time it requires but little water. 



Cotyledon gibbiflora. — This plant is now in full bloom in the 

 same house and is better known under the name of Echeveria 

 metallica. The fleshy leaves are about six inches long by two 

 wide, arranged alternately round the top of a short thickened 

 stem, and of a metallic color. The flower-stalks, which are 

 some two feet in height, grow from the axils of the lower 

 leaves and are clothed with small leaves alternately disposed. 

 The flowers of this plant are singularly beautiful, and are what 

 are termed perfect flowers, all the parts being present. The 

 calyx is composed of five spreading sepals, much the same 

 color as the leaves. The corolla is of a rich salmon, and com- 

 posed of five upright petals. There are ten stamens and five 

 pistils. 



Perhaps it may be added, in this connection, that one of the 

 best ways of drying succulent plants for herbariums is to dip 

 the specimen in very hot water, when it may be pressed with 

 as much ease as any ordinary plant, and the flowers will retain 

 their color. 

 Northampton, Mass. Edward J. Canning. 



The Pleiones. — This group of very dwarf, large r flowered 

 Orchids is now generally included under the genus Ccelogyne. 

 The plants, although quite beautiful, are seldom seen in this 

 country, but deserve to be grown even in choice collections. 

 They are natives of Assam, Nepaul and Sikkim, and 

 plants with shriveled pseudo-bulbs close to the ground and 

 deciduous foliage of a membranous texture. The flowers are 

 produced in great abundance, but are almost sessile and soli- 

 tary white or rose-colored, with or without yellow veins in the 

 lip. Some are exceedingly showy, others are chiefly of botani- 

 cal interest. All flower freely under cultivation — almost 

 resembling certain varieties of Crocus when seen at a distance. 

 The flowers appear before the leaf, or. in other words, during- 

 the period of rest, which occurs at different times for different 

 species. Most comnfon is Pleione lagenaria. The sepals and 



petals of this species are of a rosy lilac, the lip being pure 

 white, with yellow and crimson bars and veins. The leaf is 

 solitary, membranous and plaited, springing from a peculiar 

 wrinkled, bottle-shaped pseudo-bulb. P. humilis is another 

 common kind, with flowers smaller than those of the first- 

 named species, almost white, with the lip marked with brown 

 and crimson or yellow. The flowers are numerous and ap- 

 pear late in fall. P. maculata is one of the finest of all, with 

 pure white sepals and petals and In barred with crimson and 

 yellow. The flowers appear late in fall. P. Hookeriana is one 

 of the smallest of the section, very dwarf, with rose-colored 

 flowers produced in spring, at the same time as the leaves. 

 P. Wallichiana has large, sweet-scented flowers of a bright 

 rose-color. All the species do best in shallow pans, in equal 

 parts chopped peat, sphagnum and silver sand and an addition 

 of well-decayed cow-manure. A cool, airy position is most suit- 

 able to them. During thegrowingseason an abundanceof . 

 should be given, and then gradually withheld as the young 

 bulbs have reached a normal size. The plants should then be 

 allowed to rest until the buds besrin to appear. 



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



Correspondence. 



Old Stone Bridges in Pennsylvania. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest: 



Sir, — Your picture of an English stone bridge again reminds 

 me that such bridges are numerous in south-eastern Pennsyl- 

 vania — one over the Pickering Creek, just above where it 

 empties into the Schuylkill River, in Schuylkill township, 

 Chester County, forming part of the old highway to Phila- 

 delphia, along which the armies of Washington and Howe 

 encamped and marched in the autumn of 1777. Valley Forge 

 is two miles below. There are stone bridges, some of them 

 with several arches, over the Perkiomen, the Manatawney, the 

 Brandywine and other streams in south-eastern Pennsylvania. 

 The one over the Perkiomen, in Montgomery County, built in 

 the last century, partly with money raised by a lottery, is the 

 subject of these appreciative lines which I find in " The Per- 

 kiomen Region " : 



The bridge of old-time masonry, intact, 

 Untouched by passing flood or rising tide, 



A monument unshaken, stanch, compact, 

 Standing so firm and strong, to pick our pride, 



Asks us, who builds to-day, with conscience pure, 



The sterling structures that shall still endure ? 



But, besides the poetess, the county commissioners and 

 judges of Chester and Bucks Counties have lately been draw- 

 ing a comparison between the durability of the old stone 

 bridges and the new and ugly iron bridges. This investiga- 

 tion shows that the iron structures cost tor repairs, painting, 

 etc., every year, more than the stone bridges have cost in half a 

 century. 

 Philadelphia. Pa. Isaac R. Penny packer. 



Training Tomatoes. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Referring to the Tomato-trellis described on page 37, 

 I would say that for several seasons I have used wire netting 

 in my garden for training Tomatoes in preference to stakes 

 and strings. Netting three feet wide, securely tacked to strong- 

 stakes set at intervals of three and a half or lour feet apart was 

 formerly used, but greater width is desirable. This forms a 

 perpendicular trellis about four feet high, as the wire should 

 be placed ten or twelve inches from the ground. Stakes two 

 by four inches are heavy enough if braced the first season, 

 although I have used three-inch hard-hack fence-posts. A 

 light strip of wood may be run across the top for staying the 

 upper edge of the wire, but this is not essentia] unli 

 blankets are to be used for protection against light frosts in 

 autumn. Raffia, once used for tying the vines to the wire, 

 will never be superseded by strings ; it is always soft, pliable 

 and strong, never stretching in wet weather or slipping 1! 

 properly tied. 



This method of training Tomatoes admits air on all si 

 and does not interrupt the sun's rays. The fruit ripens evi 

 is easily picked and readily protected on cold nights. 



An ideal trellis of this sort was developed m a neighbor's 

 garden the past season. Ten-foot stakes ami netting two lei I 

 wide were used. But the growth of the I 

 nomenal, and two other strips of netting were- added, with a 

 space of a few inches between them. The result was a hand- 

 some screen fully eight feet high, thickly dec. irated with crim- 

 son fruits. The aspiral the vines, however, 



