March iS, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



117 



cut, and their character fits them to replace such flowers as 

 the tiny blue Statice and the lace-like Gypsophila paniculata, 

 which are invaluable for furnishing the misty, delicate veil 

 indispensable to good flower arrangement. Besides these two 

 succulents, others in bloom were Kalanchce crenata, Mesem- 

 bryanthemum heterophyllum, Cotyledon clavifolia," C. paehy- 

 phytum and another Cotyledon that was unnamed and seemed 

 to be between C. stolonifera and C. retusa, C. strictiflora, C. 

 agavoides, Aloe variegata, which is highly decorative when 

 in flower, and A. macrocarpa in bud. 



Among many fine species in this very complete colleclion 

 the rare Aloe elegans, A. umbellatum and A. brachystachys, 

 var. minor, with spines scattered all over the under side of the 

 leaves, were noted. A pleasing feature of this unexpectedly 

 satisfying house was the Nasturtiums trained along the rafters 

 on the southern side, all in full flower. They seemed a happy 

 choice, having themselves a succulent look, and they were 

 sufficiently removed from the plants beneath to prevent an 

 unpleasant contrast between the blue-green tone prevailing here 

 and the less agreeable yellow-green of their own foliage. 

 With varieties of Nasturtiums having blue-green leaves the 

 effect would have been perfect. 

 Brighton, 111. Fanny Copley Seavey. 



The Sundews. 



A COLLECTION of Droseras, carefully grown, are not only 

 -**- highly interesting on account of their carnivorous habits, 

 but they are beautiful plants to look at. The kinds most fre- 

 quently seen in our greenhouses are principally natives of the 

 northern hemisphere ; these, while very showy, cannot com- 

 pare in beauty with some of the species from the Cape of Good 

 Hope, New Zealand and Australia. The leaves of all the spe- 

 cies are closely covered with glandular hairs, the apices of 

 which, while the leaves are in a healthy state, are continually 

 covered with a thick fluid which serves as a kind of tanglefoot to 

 gnats and mosquitoes. This fluid is liable to become dried up 

 during the heat of the day if the plants are exposed to the hot 

 burning sun, but next morning they are as heavily coated as 

 before. If kept in an open place, where the insects have free 

 access to the foliage, it becomes unsightly in a short period 

 from the enormous numbers of insects entrapped ; these in- 

 sects are conveyed by the sensitive hairs to the middle of the 

 leaf, in which position they are left to decay. 



Drosera dichotoma, under favorable conditions, will grow 

 over a foot high. It is the handsomest of all the Sundews, a 

 well-furnished plant making a gorgeous display, owing to the 

 reflected glitter from the innumerable little globules of fluid, 

 especially when the plants are under the electric light. 

 There is an allied form, whether or not a distinct species 

 I am unable to say, which has leaves divided into two 

 primary lobes, and these again into four. It is a stronger 

 grower than the above, with the leaves not so highly 

 colored. Both of these plants are propagated by the roots cut 

 up into small pieces, covered with chopped sphagnum and 

 placed in heat where they will sprout in a few weeks. D. Ca- 

 pensis is one of the showiest of the species in which the leaves 

 are arranged in the form of rosettes. This plant has quite a 

 stout stem above ground, and as it persists in sending out 

 one or more thick strong roots from this stem yearly it must 

 be lowered in the pot as the stem elongates. D. spathulata 

 forms a very showy rosette of leaves. It keeps quite dwarf ; in 

 fact, it grows almost level with the material in which it is 

 potted. All through the summer and late into the fall the 

 hairs are bright red in color. If kept in too hot a place they 

 will turngreen. This kind is easily raised from seed, of which 

 each plant bears annually an abundant supply. The flowers 

 are pink, arranged at the ends of very long stems. A good 

 way to grow this species is to pot the seedlings into thumb- 

 pots, using very porous soil. After they have made a few 

 leaves they should be top-dressed with live sphagnum and a 

 number of them plunged in a large seed pan, with gravel be- 

 tween the pots, and the whole finished oft' with moss. 



Botanic Garden, Washington, D. C. G. IV. Oliver. 



Cuphea strigulosa. — This is one of an attractive genus, popu- 

 larly represented by the Cigar-plant, Cuphea platycentra. All 

 the cultivated kinds are natives of the New World, the majority 

 belonging to Mexico. C. strigulosa comes from the Andes. 

 It forms an attractive little bush and is an interesting addition 

 to winter-blooming greenhouse plants. Our plants were raised 

 from seed sown last spring and planted out for the summer. 

 The plants grew about one foot high. The branches are wiry 

 andclothed with opposite shortly petioled, ovate leavesabout an 

 inch long. Curiously, the leaves become alternate from the point 



where the flowers appear. Tin- flowers are orange-red, pen- 

 dent, in short panicled cymes, and, though never in profusion, 

 continue all winter long. The showy part of the flower is the 

 tubular, spurred calyx. It is slightly labiate, with a curved, 

 pouch-like lower lip, from which an uneven lot, or bundle, of 

 purplish filaments and anthers protrude with pleasing effect. 

 The petals in some species of Cuphea are abortive, or 

 reduced to mere points. In the species under notice they 

 are represented by two short maroon-colored limb-like append- 

 ages, which look like the standards of a papilionaceous flower. 

 Cuttings root easily, and, no doubt, the plant will prove useful 

 for outdoor decoration. 



Wellesley, Mass. T. D. Hatfield. 



Correspondence. 



A Home Acre in Southern California. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — It would, perhaps, be interesting to eastern readers lo 

 know how we treated the acre of land which constitutes our 

 home grounds. We bought this little tract in South Pasadena, 

 California, twenty-one months ago, being attracted to it by the 

 great Live Oaks on and about it, trees that were not started in 

 tin cans and set out with geometrical precision, but specimens 

 which grew from chance acorns dropped fifty or a hundred 

 years ago. Four of these great Oaks, standing just where they 

 ought to be, give our place its name of "Four Oaks." One 

 of these trees is especially dear to the family Druids for hav- 

 ing mistletoe upon it. On the border of these Oaks, and partly 

 in their summer shade, stands our comfortable dwelling- house. 



As late as the middle of April we began tree-planting, there 

 being only one late Peach and three large Apricot trees on the 

 acre, beside a little leafless tree some three feet high, which 

 we could not then identify. We set out twelve budded 

 Orange-trees, four Lemon, four Olive, a Grape-fruit and a 

 Citron-tree, fifteen deciduous fruit-trees, a hedge of Black- 

 berry and Raspberry plants, a large bed of Strawberries, four 

 Guava bushes and eight Grapevines, and laid out a general 

 kitchen garden, including a large herb bed. 



The returns of the first year were something marvelous. 

 The Strawberries bloomed a little and fruited ; the red Rasp- 

 berries bloomed freely and surprised us with much fruit ; the 

 Blackberries fruited quite a little in the fall and winter. The next 

 spring the deciduous fruit-trees, after being pruned, were three 

 and four feet across and became white with bloom, and eight 

 to ten fruits were allowed' to set and ripen on each of the 

 Peach-trees. The Orange and Lemon trees bloomed freely, 

 and six to twelve oranges were left to set and ripen on two 

 Washington Navel-trees. The Olive-trees are eight and ten 

 feet high. 



The Strawberry bed proved a failure when winter rains set 

 in, as the crowns were set too low and rotted. Subsequently 

 plants were set in slightly elevated rows, and in four weeks 

 one single stem bore forty-eight berries, and many stems held 

 up twenty-five. The fruiting of the Grapevines in their second 

 year, seventeen months from planting, surprised us also. 

 From two Muscat vines we gathered full\»two pecks of fruit. 

 The Mission vines did nearly as well, and all of them bore a 

 little fruit. We give our vines long pruning to grow them over 

 a trellis for want of room to grow them in bush form, as is 

 common in California. In limited grounds the vines are 

 trained over a trellis and the arbor in turn becomes useful as 

 a substitute for a lath-house. In our climate, where the atmos- 

 phere is so dry, a great many plants require lath-house protec- 

 tion, and space must be spared for this shelter. The Strawberry 

 Guavas fruited heavily during the second autumn after their 

 planting. 



In the ornamental grounds a Loquat-tree has no: yet fruited, 

 but has increased its size threefold since plantin 

 sian Mulberry-tree, forty feet high, has developed from the 

 leafless and unknown withe, three feet high, when we bought 

 the acre. It fruited heavily, but its fruit is so much coveted 

 by the many beautiful birds that we did not try to harvest any. 

 Other trees thriving are a Persea gratissima (Alligator Pear , 

 an Aralia papyrifera (Chinese Paper tree , a Eugenia Mitchelli 

 (Surinam Cherry), a Camphora Officinarum (Camphor-tn 

 Jacaranda mimosifolia, a Eucalyptus ficifolia (Red-flowi 

 "Eucalyptus), and a Ceratonia Siliqua (St. John's Bread-tre 



In anticipation of ripe fruit the year around, we ha. 

 Orange anil Lemon trees. These fruits are always on the tree 

 ready tor use, if allowed to remain, the old fruit getting a little 

 dry before the new is fully ripe. We have early peaches and 



apricots to ripen in June, and son- 



(Pickwick Late) ripens in the latter part ot November. Necta- 



