1 84 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 428. 



Wendlandii, are remarkable for their numerous flowers and 

 bright colors, but they are unpopular with cultivators be- 

 cause of their ungainly leaves. The hybrids between 

 these and the multi-leaved species, such as S. Rexii and S. 

 Galpini, have several leaves, but they also are more or less 

 one-sided. Three years ago Kew introduced a species 

 with numerous large leaves and many-flowered scapes, 

 known as S. Fanninii. This was crossed with other sorts, 

 and from the hybrids thus obtained Messrs. Veitch have 

 bred some most promising seedlings. It is impossible to 

 say how far breeders may go with these plants. Already 

 we have great variety of color, size and quantity of bloom, 

 but it is evident that there are still better results within 

 reach. The plants are very easily managed ; they may be 

 had in flower at any time of year, and their flowers are 

 useful in various ways. Messrs. Veitch grow them by 

 thousands planted out in frames facing south and heated 

 to the temperature of an ordinary greenhouse. In the 

 spring they are lifted and potted up to flower. 



Hippeastrums. — These plants continue to occupy the atten- 

 tion of skillful cultivators and breeders, but 1 question if 

 much improvement has been made in them in recent years. 

 Certain changes in form, size or color blending have been 

 made, but the flowers are often what may be justly termed 

 inartistic, notwithstanding the satisfaction of the breeder 

 when he produces a flower with broader segments or more 

 fantastic colors. It is easy to carry these so-called improve- 

 ments too far, as witness the dumpiness and total lack of 

 elegance in the Chinese Primrose and Cineraria as now 

 admired by fanciers. The Camellia was spoilt in the same 

 way, so that we have gone back to the once despised sin- 

 gles and semidoubles. In my opinion, Hippeastrums 

 may be too large in flower, and they may also be too for- 

 mal in shape. I have lately seen new varieties valued at 

 ten and even twenty guineas, which, although perhaps 

 coming nearest the ideal of the florist, were less pleasing to 

 the layman than varieties valued at as many shillings. 

 Color improvement is after all the principal desideratum in 

 the Hippeastrum ; its original form is good enough. Several 

 amateurs are now working with a view to better color, 

 among them being the Right Honorable Joseph Chamber- 

 lain, M.P. 



Caladiums. — These plants have grown in popularity in 

 recent years. This is, no doubt, due to the improved varie- 

 ties raised, chiefly, I believe, in France and Belgium, and 

 also to their being wonderfully well grown by the two 

 nursery firms which make a specialty of them, namely, 

 Messrs. J. Laing & Sons, Forest Hill, and Messrs. J. Veitch 

 & Sons, Chelsea. I saw a large houseful of them in the 

 latter place a few days ago. The plants were in twelve- 

 inch pots and were simply great globose masses of large, 

 richly colored leaves of the most varied hues. Among the 

 best of them were some new seedlings raised by the late Mr. 

 C. F. Bause, one of the most skillful of breeders in England. 

 These seedlings are remarkable for brilliancy of color and 

 dwarfness of habit. They are named Her Majesty, Lady 

 Mosley, L. Bause, Sir Henry Irving, etc. There are eleven 

 of them altogether, and I see they are offered by Messrs. 

 Veitch at prices varying from half a guinea to a guinea. Is 

 it generally known that Caladiums are excellent plants for 

 the tropical aquarium ? Planted in a bed of mud, or in pots 

 partially submerged in a tank of warm water they grow 

 vigorously and color superbly. 



Daffodils are now by far the most popular of all spring- 

 flowering bulbous plants. Our public gardens are painted 

 yellow with them, lawns as well as flower-beds being dec- 

 orated with their flowers. New sorts are appearing almost 

 weekly, and several specialists are devoting their gardens 

 wholly to the cross-breeding of Daffodils. A conference 

 and exhibition of Daffodils was held this week in the gar- 

 dens of the Royal Botanic Society, Regents Park. Mr. 

 Baker, F. R.S., presided, and addresses were given or 

 papers read by such well-known authorities as Mr. F. W. 

 Burbidge, M.A., Mr. W. Robinson and the Rev. S. Bourne. 

 Magnificent collections of the flowers came from Messrs. 



P. Barr & Sons, the leading growers of Daffodils among 

 nurserymen, Mr. T. Ware, Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons, and 

 numerous amateur growers. Cups and medals were 

 awarded for new varieties. Mr. Baker, in opening the con- 

 ference, spoke of the enormous increase in the popularity 

 of the Daffodil within the last twenty years, due, no doubt, 

 largely to the fact that it was a democratic flower, respond- 

 ing to the attention of growers of the most limited means 

 and yielding freely its flowers, which in form and color 

 were artistic and pleasing. The reign of the Daffodil is 



assured. TTr 



London. W. Watson. 



Plant Notes. 



Acer cissifolium. — This Japanese Negundo has been 

 fruiting in this country for many years, and we have in- 

 vited attention to it in every volume of Garden and Forest, 

 and yet in half a dozen catalogues of the leading nurseries 

 of the country, which we have just examined, we do not 

 find it offered for sale. We may add that the same is true 

 of other trees and shrubs whose merits have been proved 

 long ago in the Arnold Arboretum and made known again 

 and again in these columns. This Box Elder is beautiful 

 at all seasons, and being somewhat formal in habit and 

 comparatively small, it is one of the limited number of 

 desirable trees for planting as single specimens on a lawn. 

 It is a compact round-headed tree with a gray trunk, slen- 

 der, light green leaves in summer, which turn to brilliant 

 orange and red late in autumn. The young shoots have a 

 habit of growing and producing new leaves all summer, or, 

 at least, long after other trees have finished their yearly 

 growth ; and these young leaves at the extremity of the 

 branches, showing the delicate shades of red and pink 

 which characterize spring foliage, give a peculiar sprightli- 

 ness to the general expression of the tree. It grows rapidly 

 and is more hardy than the Japanese Maples, which are 

 varieties of Acer Japonicum and A. palmatum. 



Andromeda Japonica. — Recent English horticultural papers 

 speak of the beauty of this shrub as exhibited at the spring 

 flower shows, and a correspondent of The Garden writes of 

 great masses of it in flower at the Knap Hill Nurseries of 

 Mr. Anthony Waterer and of a fine group of it by the Palm- 

 house lake at Kew. In vol. vi. of Garden and Forest, page 

 254, Professor Sargent writes that the plant is a tree in its 

 native home, where he had seen specimens thirty feet high 

 with stout well-formed trunks six or eight feet in length. In 

 our north-eastern states it grows rather more freely and has 

 a more graceful habit than our native Andromeda flori- 

 bunda, which is closely related to it, and when at its best, 

 with its broad, drooping panicles of large white bell-shaped 

 flowers, it is one of the most interesting of evergreen 

 shrubs. It cannot be trusted to bloom, however, in our 

 climate, although it is perfectly hardy, for the flowers open 

 so early that they are almost certain to be killed by cold 

 weather. Farther south, where it would flower in February, 

 it would certainly be a most desirable shrub. 



Rosa Lawrenceana. — The Fairy Rose, as this plant is 

 appropriately called, is uncommon in cultivation, and 

 Herr Leichtlin has but recently distributed it among plant 

 fanciers. It is a double form of the white-flowered Rosa 

 Indica minima, and while it may, perhaps, not prove per- 

 fectly hardy in this latitude, it is well worth cultivation by 

 those who fancy dainty rather than big flowers. The plants 

 make many-branched bushes, with very small leaves and 

 dainty little pure white flowers less than an inch in diameter 

 when expanded. 



Cultural Department. 



Vegetable Garden Notes. 



THE month of April, 1896, must go on record as one of the 

 most remarkable ever experienced for sudden changes of 

 temperature. Unlil the 10th instant we were unable, owing to 

 cold weather, to do any outdoor work, such as seed-sowing. 

 A week of phenomenal heat followed, when the thermometer 



