August 12, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



327 



until some scattered Oaks come into leaf. The bulbs, how- 

 ever, will have flowered and commenced going to rest before 

 the Oaks are in full leaf. 



Tender plants for greenhouse decoration during winter are 

 making good growth. Stevias and Bouvardias are kept 

 pinched in order to have them bushy. Superfluous eyes and 

 root growths are cut away from tender Hydrangeas, and only 

 such growth left as will be required to bloom next winter and 

 spring. Some will be grown to four shoots and some only one. 

 The heads produced in this way are immense, and if the plants 

 are properly regulated with regard to height they will be fairly 

 uniform. To have well-flowered plants next spring requires 

 attention now, and the growth must be restricted, so that the 

 wood which is made will properly ripen ; in this way very little 

 pruning will be necessary next spring. 



Wellesl'ey, Mass. T.D.Hatfield. 



Achimenes. 



T N this neighborhood most of the varieties of Achimenes are 

 ■*■ useful summer plants, both for greenhouse decoration and 

 for rock-work. It is somewhat strange to see Achimenes 

 growing in company with Silenes, Dianthus and the like, but 

 the list of hardy herbaceous and alpine plants suited for rock- 

 work, and which survive our hot summers, is so small that we 

 are driven to the necessity of utilizing plants from warmer 

 countries. By the beginning of August the majority of hardy 

 plants are out of bloom, and the Achimenes serve to brighten 

 things up considerably. For use in the rockery the tubers are 

 started as late as possible, say, about the beginning of May. 

 We use five-inch pots, filling them with a compost consisting 

 of leaf-soil, sand and old manure which has been passed 

 through a half-inch sieve, to within an inch and a half of the 

 rims. About ten of the tubers are placed at equal distances 

 from each other over the surface, which is finished off with 

 about three-quarters of an inch of finely sifted soil. Placed 

 near the light they will in a few weeks be ready to take the 

 places of plants in the rockery which are past for the season, 

 such as Pansies, native Violas, at least those kinds which re- 

 produce themselves freely from seed, the annual Silenes, 

 Delphiniums, Dianthus and a host of others. I find it the best 

 plan to plunge the pots, instead of planting them out, as in this 

 way the tubers are easily lifted in the fall. All that is neces- 

 sary is to lift the pots and store them in a warm dry place 

 under the greenhouse bench. While they are out-of-doors 

 they should, of course, never be allowed to suffer for want of 

 water during dry spells. The tubers which are formed out-of- 

 doors are much superior to those formed in the greenhouse, 

 and it is advisable to use those grown outdoors for greenhouse 

 work the following season, saving the previous season's green- 

 house tubers for the rockery. By this method they increase 

 very fast. In starting the plants for the greenhouse all that is 

 needed is to cut away the old stems from the plants in the five- 

 inch pots, scrape away a little of the surface soil, give them a 

 thorough drenching and afterward a top-dressing of sandy 

 soil, water with a fine rose and put them near the light in a 

 warm house. As the plants need more pot room they should 

 be potted in eight-inch seed-pans as the final shift, using the 

 same mixture as already stated, with abundance of drainage. 

 If the shoots grow too close together a few twigs placed amon<* 

 them, bending the outer ones toward the sides, will be found 

 to answer well. A great deal of time may be spent in tying 

 each shoot to small sticks ; this is necessary if very symmetri- 

 cal specimens are desired, but they look much more graceful 

 when allowed to grow in a natural way. Those intended for 

 indoor use can be started so as to have' them in bloom almost 

 at any season of the year. A great many varieties are in culti- 

 vation ; the colors of the flowers are principally rose, white, 

 orange, purple, crimson and scarlet. Those varieties with 

 rose and purple flowers are the strongest-growing. 



Botanic Garden, Washington, D. C. 67. IV. Oliver. 



Some Novelties. — I. 



TSJ" OT the least interesting portion of the year's work in the 

 1>l garden is the testing of the novelties offered by the deal- 

 ers. Every season most of them have to be taken on trust 

 from the great European growers, from whence manv are 

 derived, and others are of American origin, and it is satisfac- 

 tory to note the increasing value of the latter over those of 

 foreign origin, and as well as their better adaptation to our 

 needs and that of the climate. It may be worth while to speak 

 of some annual and perennial plants which have been tried 

 here from various sources. 

 The Imperial Japanese Morning Glories are among the more 



remarkable novelties of last year, and it is surprising that they 

 have not been introduced from Japan before ; there is won- 

 derful variety among them, quite as much as promised, the 

 foliage of many being beautifully mottled with white, and these 

 when separated at planting-time and placed together make a 

 very beautiful effect, not unlike the variegated Hop that came 

 out with such a flourish a year or two ago and proved to be 

 such a weed. I have heard complaints as to the germinating 

 qualities of the seeds of these Ipomceas, and also that they did 

 not grow so freely as might be desired ; we found no trouble 

 in getting the seeds to grow after carefully drawing a sharp 

 knife round each and soaking them in water for a few hours 

 and planting a few at a time as fast as they became distended 

 with moisture ; if they did not swell we used the knife again 

 and the young plants were above the soil in a very few hours' 

 after planting. We did find that the plants grew slowly in 

 pots, and no progress was made until they were set out in 

 warm weather, and I fancy it would save time and trouble 

 another year to keep the seeds until the end of May, soak and 

 sow out-of-doors where they are to remain. We have set 

 them round bean poles in the border, and these are already 

 clothed to the top and flowers are coming rapidly of exquisite 

 colors, some having the appearance of being double owine 

 to the way they are ruffled. b 



Madame Gunther's Hybrid Nasturtiums are being treated 

 similarly as to poles, and it is surprising how beautiful an 

 object is a group of climbing Nasturtiums when they have a 

 chance to climb. The flowers are shown off to the best advan- 

 tage, the plants do not overrun other things in the border and 

 as this strain is really a fine one, the effect is pleasino-'and 

 promises to last until severe frosts put an end to this display 

 The Sweet Pea Cupid, to say the least, has enjoyed a cr 00 d 

 entrance into garden life, and is also all that has been claimed 

 in advance, but I fail to see in it any practical value as com- 

 pared with others that are tall. Its stems are so short as to be 

 of no value when cut, and there are many better plants of 

 dwarf habit that seem to be more useful than Cupid even if 

 one could get the seeds to grow freely. There seems to be 

 either a constitutional weakness about white-flowered Pea 

 seeds, or something more difficult to explain. Seeds of Emily 

 Henderson germinated very poorly under exactly the same 

 conditions as the others that came as well as could be desired 

 Possibly when the stock grown is larger we shall get more of 

 them to grow. It is singular that this same dwarf Pea should 

 have occurred also in two different parts of Europe as well as 

 m California. Blanche Ferry is a kind much in favor, and we 

 have for years saved our own seeds of it ; we think ours must 

 be specially good, for they came into flower sooner and are 

 really better than the Blanche Ferry Improved, tried this year 

 for the first time. Katherine Tracy, we believe of the same 

 origin as the last, is altogether one'of the best. It must be a 

 selection from Blanche Ferry, for we have seen it so <*rown 

 by a florist in this state who found the beautiful shade ot clear 

 pink the same color as the Daybreak Carnation, very much 

 appreciated in the Boston market, and he grew a quantity of it 

 last winter in the greenhouse, but he had not quite got it fixed, 

 and there was still a tendency to sport, none of which is appa- 

 rent in Katherine Tracy as we have it now. The season has 

 been very favorable for Sweet Peas ; no watering was neces- 

 sary, owing to the frequent showers, and they are better than 

 we remember to have seen them. 



We shall soon have as many varieties of Zinnia as of Asters ■ 

 each year adds to the number, and all have merit, for, consid- 

 ering their utility and easy culture, there is nothing to equal 

 them ; there are tall ones and dwarf, and now we have the 

 Lilliput to use as a front row of all, and of the three I rather 

 think that the little ones will be most liked for cutting when 

 better known. There is a refinement and finish about these 

 little gems that all others lack, and the colors, too, are good 

 and well defined. In a long border devoted to annuals the 

 three kinds of Zinnia are a distinct success. Hitherto it has 

 been difficult to get an annual that would tone down from the 

 dwarf Zinnia to the plants used for a margin. 



Campanula Japonica was a surprise when seen in the seed- 

 lists. We had no knowledge of Japanese Campanulas, and our 

 knowledge has not been increased in this direction, for we 

 were led to expect great things of a perennial Campanula that 

 flowered the first year from seed, the flowers being of an in- 

 tense glossy blue, semidouble, and produced in great profu- 

 sion. All of this has proved true except the name, which 

 should have been Platycodon Mariesii, and we should then not 

 have purchased the seeds. 



Another name, Coreopsis Japonica, had a rather interesting 

 look in the seed-list. I had an idea that this genus was a 

 purely North American one, and no authority that we have 



