May 20, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



209 



advance of the "improved " varieties. There is also a set of 

 double Primroses, common in English gardens, the colors 

 varying from rich deep red to lavender, yellow and pure white. 

 We have never been able to get the red-flowering sort, but 

 we have the other colors and grow them in quantities in frames 

 for early spring flowers, treating them the same as Violets. 

 They have proved as hardy as the Polyanthus during the past 

 winter and quite as satisfactory in the open border, under the 

 same treatment. These are true Primroses, having one flower 

 only on each stem, this being the point in which they differ 

 from the Polyanthus or many-flowered Primrose. 



All the yellow-flowered Narcissus are past, and we have only 

 the Poet's varieties left, but these are very beautiful now, 

 planted in the grass under Apple-trees in an orchard. This is 

 the proper place for the stellate-flowered kinds, without doubt. 

 Not only are the rich borders unfitted to them, but the flowers 

 to be seen at their best need a green setting such as the grass 

 affords, and under trees the grass is thin and is allowed to grow 

 until hay-time, when the Narcissus have about matured their 

 foliage, and may be cut off without injury to the bulbs. All of 

 the Poeticus section, also Barrii, Leedsii and incomparabilis 

 are eminently adapted to this mode of culture, and I am not 

 sure that some of the large yellow Trumpet kinds would not 

 do better under this system, but this is a matter for further 

 trial. Some Narcissi dwindle away and some thrive in rich 

 soil. Those that disappear probably have good reason for 

 doing so, and it is fair to assume that, provided they are hardy, 

 it must be from uncongenial soil. 



Mertensia Virginica has been beautiful for two weeks past, 

 and is still as blue as the Myosotis. It is one of the best spring 

 flowers we have, and as a companion for it may be recom- 

 mended Corydalis nobilis, the noble Fumitory, a near relative 

 to the Dicentras, with foliage similarly cut, and large clusters 

 of flowers of bright yellow, with dark brown centres. It is a 

 difficult plant to transplant, owing to the nature of the root- 

 stock. Any one who has moved roots of the old Bleeding- 

 heart will remember the half-decayed state of the thickened 

 roots, and the same peculiarity applies to Corydalis nobilis, so 

 much so that it takes a year or two for the plants to fully re- 

 cover from a removal. But it is a valuable plant for spring 

 blooming and a fitting companion for Dicentra eximia, the 

 best form of this being now in full bloom. It is one of the 

 best native plants we have for the open border, though it 

 comes from Tennessee and Georgia. 



Trollius Europaeus and T. Asiaticus have proved so well 

 adapted to this climate that a trial of the other cultivated sorts 

 has been made, and a complete set of those grown in Euro- 

 pean gardens were obtained last year. These are now in 

 bloom, with the exception of T. patulus and its white variety, 

 the plants of which did not live. The double T. Japonicus 

 is a real gain, owing to the brilliance of its orange-yellow color, 

 and so is T. napellifolius, which is a fine large flower, but the 

 improved garden forms sent are no better than those raised 

 here from seed of T. Europaeus and T. Asiaticus, and are not 

 so well suited to our climate. It is desirable when a good 

 form from seedling plants appears in the garden to save seed 

 from it. Plants raised in this way often have exceptional 

 value, and some of the best globe flowers we now have we 

 secured by this means. 



Paeonia Wittmanniana is now in flower. It comes in before 

 P. tenuifolia, and has single cup-shaped creamy white flowers, 

 with abundant yellow anthers and traces of purple at the base 

 of the cup. It is interesting as a species, and also on account 

 of its early flowering season. P. tenuifolia will be in bloom in 

 a day or two, and there are few more desirable garden plants 

 than the early-flowering Paeonies, including the tree varieties, 

 and they come at a season when there are no rosebugs to 

 devour them. 



South Lancaster, Mass. E. O. Or pet. 



Carex Japonica variegata. — This is one of the most elegant of 

 the dwarf Grasses and is perfectly hardy in this latitude. The 

 narrow leaves are twelve to eighteen inches long and deeply 

 channeled, and vary in color from nearly pure white on poor 

 soil to those with interlinings of white and green on moregen- 

 erous nourishment. It flowers in April or May on triangular 

 stems, which are long and pendulous and scatter the abundant 

 golden pollen in every breeze. But the plant increases rapidly 

 by underground shoots. It is especially desirable for a front 

 row in the border, and would be very attractive in a green- 

 house if grown in shallow pots for decorations. 



Allium Margaritanicum. — This is a rather uncommon Onion 

 from Asia Minor, which is a distinct and hardy species well 

 suited to the rockery. Its rounded leaves are about six inches 

 high and the flowers are clustered in a globe of about an inch 

 diameter, forming a hairy-like white ball. Like all the hardy 



Alliums this species seeds freely and will maintain itself under 

 adverse conditions. 



Elizabeth, N.J. J.N.G. 



Correspondence. 



Why 



do Blossom-buds Winter-kill ? 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest: 



Sir,— In your issue of May 6th, Mr. Willard is quoted in a 

 note as saying that the failure of the plum crop proves that the 

 fruit cannot endure a temperature of twenty-two degrees 

 below zero. Mr. Willard has had more experience than I, but 

 it seems to me that he is only considering one of the factors 

 in hardiness of plants. The fact that fruit does not endure a 

 certain degree of cold one winter is no proof that it may not 

 endure even a lower degree under different conditions. 



Here, we ordinarily think of fourteen or fifteen degrees 

 below zero as fatal to the peach crop, and as we often have a 

 lower temperature than that but few Peaches are planted. 

 During the winter of 1894-5 the thermometer several times 

 ranged below twenty, and once sank to twenty-five below zero, 

 and yet only half the Peach-buds were killed, and the trees 

 produced a good crop the season following. Last winter, 

 with a minimum temperature of only five degrees below zero, 

 fully one-third of the Peach-buds were killed. I do not know 

 just what conditions made the buds more hardy one season 

 than another, neither do I know why part of the buds on a 

 tree should be more hardy than the rest. Even in the axil of 

 the same leaf one bud may be killed and the other live. 



Other organic substances show the same differences. In a 

 half-bushel basket of potatoes exposed to the cold in a cellar, 

 I have often found frozen tubers scattered through the basket 

 and the rest not frozen. In the blossom-buds of the Cherry 

 and Plum one or more may often be found killed, while the 

 rest have escaped. 



When we first began to spray our Peach-trees to prevent the 

 fruit from rotting, the Bordeaux mixture used was not prop- 

 erly prepared, and as a consequence a large part of the leaves 

 on the sprayed trees fell off prematurely. The next spring it 

 was found that there was a larger [proportion of live buds on 

 the trees from which the leaves had fallen than on the rest of 

 the same variety. My explanation at the time was that the 

 buds become less hardy in proportion as they are more devel- 

 oped. We know this is true in the spring. The question at 

 once arises, at what stage in the development of a bud is it 

 the most hardy, and how can we best control that develop- 

 ment ? This seems to me a promising field for some careful 

 study. 



Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station. G. W. McCluet. 



A Destructive Scale in the Marquesas Islands. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Mr. Craw sends me part of a Cocoanut-leaf and a leaf 

 of some tree called "Vee," from the Marquesas Islands, 

 thickly infested by a scale insect. He received the specimens 

 from Mr. J. Wilkinson, of Tanata, who reported the insect as 

 very destructive, remarking that " it breeds faster and attends 

 to business better than anything else in our little world." The 

 scale proves to be the Aspidiotus destructor of Signoret, de- 

 scribed in 1869 from specimens received from the island of 

 Bourbon, where it was very destructive to Cocoanut Palms, 

 and also infested Guava and other plants. In 1891 Maskell 

 recorded it on Cocoanut in the Laccadive Islands, and I have 

 shown that it is common in the West Indies. Mr. Wilkinson 

 thought it had reached the Marquesas from California or New 

 Zealand, but it is not known in either of these localities. Care 

 should be taken that it is not introduced into southern Cali- 

 fornia or Florida. 



Agric'l Experiment Station, New Mexico. f. D. A. Cockerel!. 



Recent Publications. 



The second part of the botanical series of the publica- 

 tions of the Columbian Museum of Chicago contains an 

 account of the plants of West Virginia, by C. F. Millspaugh, 

 curator of the Department of Botany, and Lawrence W. 

 Nuttall, prefaced by a short account of the topographical 

 and climatic features of the state, its botanical history and 

 an account of the special features of the flora. Two thou- 

 sand five hundred and eighty-four species, varieties and 

 forms of plants have been detected in the state, including 

 more than a thousand species of Fungi and Lichens, and 



