130 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 422. 



at the base of the petals. Trailing Arbutus is also becoming 

 quite abundant. The greater proportion of it now comes from 

 North Carolina. 



According to a correspondent of The Gardeners' Chronicle, 

 the most interesting collection of Coleus ever made has been 

 on exhibition this year at the Royal Botanic Garden, in Portici, 

 Italy. The plants are of the most varied dimensions, from 

 dwarf forms a foot high to the gigantic varieties six feet in 

 height, with branches covering a circle ten feet in circumfer- 

 ence and stems five inches in girth. The leaves of some of 

 the plants are as much as eighteen inches long and thirteen 

 inches wide, and they have broken into a wonderful variety of 

 colors. 



At the recent Fruit-Growers' meeting at Worcester, Massa- 

 chusetts, complaint was made that the Japanese Plums were 

 short-lived and not hardy, and that the cold this winter had 

 killed all the fruit-buds and many of the limbs on some of the 

 trees. To this it was replied by Mr. Hale that when these 

 Plums were first sent out they were budded on Peach stocks, 

 and this may be a reason for their lack of hardiness and their 

 liability to disease. Nevertheless, it is not wise to plant these 

 Plums very largely in central and northern New England until 

 more thorough tests of their value have been made. 



In a list of 106 varieties of Sweet Peas tested at the Cornell 

 Experiment Station last year the few classified as " very good " 

 are said to have some superlative merit — that is, they are better 

 in some points than those which have attained the accepted 

 standard of excellence in the modern improved Sweet Pea. 

 The varieties in this list are these: Adonis, Apple-blossom, 

 Blanche Ferry, Boreatton, Butterfly, Captain of the Blues, Car- 

 dinal Wolsey, Countess of Radnor, Duchess of Marlborough, 

 Emily Henderson, Empress of India, Improved Painted Lady, 

 Isa Eckford, Lemon Queen, Mrs. Gladstone, Tangier Scarlet. 



The prices of California oranges have advanced somewhat 

 with the greater scarcity of the West India fruit, and Navel 

 oranges from the Pacific coast sell readily for $3.00 to $4.00 a 

 box at wholesale, seedlings commanding $2.50 to $3.25. Ja- 

 maica oranges bring $9.00 to $10.00 a barrel, repacked, and the 

 few now coming from Havana sell for $5.00 to $6.00 a barrel, 

 in original packages. Of oranges from the Mediterranean, 

 Catanias now bring $3.00 to $3.50 a box, and Valencias $4.75 to 

 $6 00 a case. The stock of California Navel oranges, it is esti- 

 mated, will be exhausted by about the middle of April. A small 

 lot of Florida oranges which arrived here the latter part of last 

 week sold for 55.00 to $6.00 a box. 



In the new Hand List of Orchids, published at Kew, after some 

 preparatory statement as to the modern practice of cultivating 

 these plants, the writer adds that after all a considerable num- 

 ber of species submit to horticultural conditions with great 

 reluctance. Among these are Cattleya citrina, Dendrobium 

 Maccarthiae and many species of Oncidium. That the proper 

 method of cultivating these plants will be discovered in the 

 future there is little doubt, since species which are generally 

 difficult prove amenable to treatment in special cases, as, for 

 example, Diacrium bicornutum is generally found intractable, 

 and yet it is grown at Kew with little trouble, while it seems 

 impossible to grow Disa grandiflora there with anything like 

 the success attending its cultivation in Edinburgh and Chats- 

 worth. 



The Gardeners' Chronicle gives a picture of a new hybrid 

 Rhododendron which has been raised at Veitches' Chelsea Nur- 

 series and named Eos (The Dawn), perhaps because it is the 

 forerunner of a new race of warm greenhouse Rhododen- 

 drons. It differs from the beautiful race obtained by crossing 

 Rhododendron Javanicum upon R. jasminiflorum in the bright 

 carmine and scarlet color of its flowers, as well as in their 

 form, their profusion and their persistency, since they last 

 from three to four weeks in perfection. The pollen parent is 

 R. Malayanum, a species widely distributed over Malaysia. 

 Besides the three species already named, the new hybrid has 

 among its ancestors on the female side R. Lobbii. From the 

 table of its pedigree given, it appears that besides the four 

 species named, there are four hybrids among its progenitors, 

 and since all these plants are in cultivation, an interesting 

 opportunity is offered to trace the influence of each in the suc- 

 cessive crossings. 



A bulletin on Chrysanthemums from the Cornell Experi- 

 ment Station is interesting, not so much from its choice of 

 varieties among the older sorts or its test of novelties as it is 

 for certain suggestions for reformation in classification, nomen- 

 clature and the like. Everybody agrees that no flower should 

 receive a vulgar or a bombastic name, and the naming of 

 plants after Mrs. Judge This or Field Marshal That should be 



discontinued. Particularly interesting is the study of variation 

 in the forms of florets and some attempt to get rid of the con- 

 fusion in catalogues about the way they are described. For 

 example, it is important to know whether these florets of a 

 given variety are ligulate or whether their margins are in- 

 curved, because single, intense, vivid colors are best displayed 

 by a ligulate floret. In the variety Crimsona the general effect 

 is red, but in Miss Helyett, which is of a similar shade, the 

 margins are turned in so as to show the under side, and 

 this produces a different effect altogether. There is an inter- 

 esting discussion on problems of color, with notes about cul- 

 tivation, and, altogether, the pamplet is a neat monograph, 

 which, while it contains nothing that is new, will encourage 

 observation and study on the part of growers and lovers of 

 these flowers. 



The efforts of Secretary Morton to stop the shameful waste 

 of money in the distribution of seeds have been brought to 

 naught by a joint resolution of Congress which directed him 

 to go on, as in former years, and spend $150,000 for the pur- 

 chase and distribution of seeds, bulbs, plants and cuttings 

 through the various members of Congress. In accordance 

 with this, Secretary Morton has sent out a circular to seeds- 

 men, giving directions about putting up the seeds, which 

 must be true to name and up to a certain standard of purity 

 and germination, and free from smut, ergot, eggs and larvae of 

 insects, and seeds of certain specified weeds. The seeds will 

 altogether weigh some 300 tons, and they are then to be 

 divided among the members of the House and Senate into 

 450 separate packages. A few of the items are 1,300,000 

 packets of Lettuce, 130 packets to the pound; 1,200,000 pack- 

 ets of Radish, 60 packets to the pound ; 1,040,000 packets of 

 Beets, 400,000 packets of Cucumbers, 460,000 packets of To- 

 matoes, 320,000 packets of Garden Peas, 1,000.000 packets of 

 flower seed of not less than seventy-five choice varieties, aver- 

 aging 300 packets to the pound, with full cultural directions and 

 description of growth to accompany each variety. The joint 

 resolution became a law without the President's signature so 

 late in March that it was not possible to undertake the dissemi- 

 nation of certain kinds of seed. The list selected includes 

 such kinds only as could probably be purchased and distrib- 

 uted in time for planting throughout the country. With each 

 item a percentage of purity and germination is given, and the 

 seed will be tested by some employee of the Division of Botany 

 in the Department of Agriculture, and Secretary Morton 

 reserves the right to reject any lot which falls below the 

 standard. 



The cost of the seed is but an inconsiderable fraction of the 

 cost of a vegetable garden, but the quality of the seed is a 

 matter of too great importance to be neglected. It may look 

 bright and plump and yet be worth little for planting. As a 

 rule, our seedsmen are as particular as other tradesmen, but, 

 after all, the planter is too often disappointed in his seed. In 

 older countries legal restrictions have been thrown around 

 this business, and in Germany alone there are forty seed-con- 

 trol stations, and many more in other European countries, and 

 the quality of seed is said to have improved steadily since these 

 stations were established. In order to obtain a clear idea of the 

 actual condition of the garden seeds sold in Rhode Island, the 

 Experiment Station of that state made some careful studies on 

 the subject last year, and the report of the tests made 

 appears in a bulletin just issued. A standard variety of 

 each of thirteen common vegetables was selected and a 

 sample of each was bought of nineteen different dealers in 

 March last. The seed was generally clean and there was no 

 indication that impurities had been intentionally introduced. 

 In nearly two-thirds of the samples these impurities 

 amounted to no more than one per cent. The seeds 

 were then subjected to sprouting tests to ascertain their 

 germinating power. In sixty-four out of 233 samples only five 

 per cent, or less of dead seed was found, but in twenty-three 

 others half of the seeds failed to germinate, and in twenty, 

 three-fourths of the seeds were useless. This shows thai 

 some seeds are much better than others, and the buyer 

 has no means of knowing the quality of the article he is get- 

 ting, while the dealer who sells seeds of standard vitality and 

 purity gets no advantage in price over his careless or con- 

 scienceless competitor who sells seed which is comparatively 

 worthless. In several of our states the quality of commercial 

 fertilizers is tested, and buyers now are more likely to secure 

 the worth of their money in plant-food than they were before 

 chemical manures were subject to inspection. Honest manu- 

 facturers, too, get the benefit of a state guarantee. It seems 

 possible that some official guarantee of the quality of vege- 

 table seeds could be devised which would protect the buyer 

 and the careful seedsman in the same way. 



