;i6 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 441. 



will provide desirable shade to the tender subjects beneath. 

 It is decidedly a stove-house plant and will stand plenty of 

 heat. The species is clean and not subject to any disease nor 

 the attacks of any insect, so far as I have noticed — very desir- 

 able features in hot-house climbers. _, 

 Norway, p a . Alex. Machlwee. 



The Davallias. 



THIS extensive genus of stove and greenhouse Ferns sup- 

 plies many beautiful and interesting; varieties suited to 

 different uses, as they range from a few inches to more than 

 three feet in height. They look the best and are most at home 

 in the rockery, where they creep and twine over and about the 

 rocks ; but all of them are more or less suited to pot-culture, 

 while quite a number are well adapted for growing in hanging 

 baskets or on blocks of cork. They are, generally speaking, 

 plants of easy culture. They succeed better in a rather light 

 situation than under heavy shading, but should always be pro- 

 tected from the direct rays of the sun. Probably the most 

 practicable method of propagation is by division. Raising 

 from spores is a somewhat delicate matter with a majority of 

 the varieties. Even some of the more robust growers, such 

 as Davallia Mooreana, are hard to procure by this method, 

 while D. Fijiensis plumosa, though less robust and much finer 

 in texture, comes much more readily. All the varieties, how- 

 ever, can be easily increased by division. The surest method 

 is to procure fair-sized rooted portions of the rhizomes. Noth- 

 ing is gained by making the divisions too small, with a view 

 to procuring more plants, as the rate of loss is certain to be 

 larger, while those that grow take much longer to become 

 useful plants. If ihey once get into a stunted state it is gener- 

 ally difficult to bring them into healthy growth again. If 

 grown as they ought to be, in a fibrous compost, the divisions 

 can generally be removed with part of the compost adhering 

 to the roots, and should be potted firmly in small pots half- 

 filled with crocks, in a mixture of fibrous peat and sphagnum. 

 For the first few days a close shady situation should be pro- 

 vided and frequent sprinklings will help to keep them up until 

 fresh growth has started. For the next shifts pans are prefer- 

 able to pots, as they allow of freer drainage and prevent stag- 

 nation, trom which Davallias suffer readily. For use in rock- 

 work, well-established plants are required and great care must 

 be taken that ample drainage is provided in pockets or 

 crevices where they are to be placed. The compost for filling 

 these pockets may be composed mainly of fibrous loam and 

 peat in about equal parts, with a little leaf-mold and rough 

 sand. The addition of a few broken pieces of charcoal and 

 sandstone is of advantage, as they keep the whole as rough and 

 porous as possible. The difference in the height of the many 

 varieties provides plants suitable for almost any position in the 

 rockery, the larger, of course, being suitable for the background 

 and the smaller for the foreground. Watering is an important 

 detail in the cultivation of these plants. In the rockery, espe- 

 cially, this is often carelessly done, the hose being turned on and 

 an indiscriminate drenching given. By using the watering- 

 pot moisture can be supplied in more suitable quantity and to 

 the plants which need it. Davallias must never be allowed to 

 suffer for want of water, but overwatering is equally hurtful. 

 The compost named above is equally well suited for potting 

 purposes. ,,,.,,. 



Tarrytown, N. Y. William Scott. 



Midsummer in the Flower Garden. 



HOLLYHOCKS are still in beautiful bloom. We find that 

 we can keep up a succession of these flowers by trans- 

 planting some of them in May just before the formation of the 

 flower-buds. This checks their growth, and it takes some 

 time for the plants to become reestablished. By break- 

 ing off the tops of the flower-stalks the flowers are increased 

 in size, and sometimes undercareful cultivation they will, it so 

 treated, throw out branches which later on will be loaded with 

 bloom. 



Pardanthus Sinensis has been blooming for a fortnight in a 

 group with tall orange and red Lilies, with which it harmonizes 

 perfectly. In the same company can be seen the white Snow- 

 drop-like bells of Hyacinthus (Galtonia) caudicans and some 

 large blue Campanula-flowers, and the whole mass makes 

 a charming picture against a background of climbing Roses, 

 now out of bloom, scrambling over a young Mulberry in the 

 wild garden. 



Another showy group for a wild garden is made up of bright 

 scarlet Lychnis, deep red Monarda didyma and white Achillea, 

 the Pearl, which last has the merit of holding its blossoms for 

 several weeks. The ground here is carpeted with a little blue 



Lobelia. Bare spaces of earth are not desirable in the borders, 

 and it is necessary to spend some thought on the best selec- 

 tion of carpet plants. The most satisfactory plants for this 

 purpose are not rampant growers, and they are better if they 

 liave rather inconspicuous bloom. Such plan's as the old- 

 fashioned small-flowered sweet Mignonette, Woodruff, annual 

 Candytuft, Sweet Alyssum and the dainty little perennial 

 Tunica saxifraga are good for this purpose. . Portulaca makes 

 a fine display on dry soils, but its bright many-colored blos- 

 soms do not always blend harmoniously with their sur- 

 roundings. 



Tall perennial Phloxes are coming into flower, and, while 

 they are all showy plants, should be used by the planter with 

 great discrimination. Some of the magenta and solferino 

 colored Phloxes are in accord with few other flowers and ought 

 to be weeded out wherever they appear. But a judicious selec- 

 tion of the many handsome white, light-colored, bright-eyed 

 and carmine varieties make a showy bed, and these plants are 

 particularly useful at this time for cut flowers. A mass of these 

 is used by us against a background of limestone-rocks, and 

 here the effect is good. 



Rose Brake. W. Va. D. D. 



The Oak-leaved Hydrangea.— Our native Hydrangea querci- 

 folia is one of the best of the Hydrangeas, although the large- 

 flowered panicled Hydrangea from Japan is much more often 

 seen in American gardens. Our native species resembles in 

 its mode of flowering H. paniculata rather than its variety 

 grandiflora, having a long thyreoid panicle which carries on 

 spreading branches a few clusters of perfect flowers and large 

 sterile flowers at their extremities, which change slowly from 

 white to a dull red. The Oak-leaved Hydrangea is a good 

 shrub here all the year around, and in autumn its deep plum- 

 colored foliage is very attractive. In Georgia and Florida, 

 where it is found wild, it reaches a height of fifteen feet and 

 becomes almost tree-shaped. Here it is rarely more than four 

 feet high, a broad spreading graceful shrub, which flowers 

 every year. It is not reliably hardy much north of this latitude, 

 but another native, H. radiata, found in the Appalachian region 

 of North Carolina and Tennessee, endures even New England 

 winters, and it is a striking shrub for the snowy down which 

 covers the under side of its leaves. 



The Cornelian Cherry.— Cornus Mas is one of the oldest of 

 cultivated Cornels and it is one of the best of exotic Cornels 

 for American planting. Our native Dogwoods are all admira- 

 ble shrubs or small trees, but none of them are so showy in 

 very early spring as the Cornelian Cherry when it is covered 

 with compact clusters of little bright yellow flowers disposed 

 throughout the entire length of its branches. These flowers 

 appear even before those of our native Spicewood, which, 

 although it flowers with equal profusion, is not as bright in 

 general appearance. The Cornelian Cherry, however, is a 

 beautiful plant at the present season also for its mass of clean 

 foliage, and later for its bright-colored fruits. Altogether it is 

 one of the most satisfactory of small trees for American plant- 

 ing which come from central and southern Europe. 



New Brunswick, N. J. •S. 



Correspondence. 



An Old Novelty. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — One of the novelties offered in flower-seeds last spring 

 was Coreopsis Japonica. Those who have sown this seed will 

 be likely to be disappointed when their plants blossom. We 

 procured seed from two reliable seedsmen, and expected to 

 add another species to our collection of Coreopsis. The 

 plants are in bloom now, and prove to be a native species that 

 has been grown in gardens for many years, and known as 

 Helenium tenuifolium. It is an annual plant, and in Gray's 

 Synoptical Flora of North America is said to grow fr.om 

 Arkansas to Mississippi, Florida and Texas, becoming a 

 naturalized weed throughout the southern Atlantic states. It 

 would be interesting to know if these seeds were collected in 

 Japan or if some one has deceived American and European 

 seedsmen. We had one package of seeds from a reliable seeds- 

 man in England and another from one in Boston. The plants 

 from the two packages, which were kept separate, are now in 

 bloom, and they are exactly alike. Means should be taken to 

 find out where this seed came from originally last spring. A 

 way to guard against an evil like this would be to put the 

 author's name after the specific name — that is to say, when a 

 person offers a novelty and calls it a new species he ought to 

 give his name, and this should be put on every packet of seed 

 sent out. Another novelty sent out in seeds last spring is 



