September 



•! 



Garden and Forest. 



355 



Considerable improvement both in habit of growth and 

 size and color of flowers has been made recently by 

 breeders of Phloxes, the difference in these characters of 

 newer sorts, compared with the old ones, being; most 

 marked. No floral picture in the open air surpasses a bed 

 filled with the best varieties of Phlox, and no picture is 

 more easily made. The plants are supplied small in pots 

 for a few pence each in spring by Dobbie&Co. , Rothesay ; 

 Lemoine, of Nancy, and other nurserymen who make a 

 specialty of them, and these, if planted in well-manured 

 soil in a sunny position, grow rapidly and flower freely the 



series, has faith in old favorites, no nurserymen in England 

 doing so much to keep them before the public or to revive 

 a taste for them, should they have gone out of favor, as he. 

 When Verbenas were neglected Mr. Cannell took them in 

 hand and soon brought them into favor by means of won- 

 derful exhibitions of their flowers at almost all times of the 

 year He has done equally valuable work with Zonal 

 Pelargoniums, Primulas, Coleuses, Cannas, Dahlias and 

 Begonias. Recently he has paid particular attention to 

 Cockscombs, and his exhibition of them at the late meet- 

 ing of the Royal Horticultural Society will, no doubt, cause 



Fig. 47. — The White Spruce (Picea alba) on the Maine Coast.— See page 351 



first year. The stems should be staked early, otherwise 

 they are apt to be twisted off by wind ; they must also be 

 watched against mice, which are fond of nibbling the bark 

 off all round the base of the stems and so destroying them. 

 The plants are at their best the second or third year after 

 planting. A bed filled with one good variety, such as 

 /Etna or Coquelicot (flame-red), or Sylphide or Lawrence 

 (pure white), or Carillon or Toreador (beautiful clear pink), 

 is most pleasing in effect and makes a display during the 

 greater part of the summer. 



Cockscomb Celosia. — Mr. Cannell, of the Swanley nur- 



many horticulturists to devote a frame or two to the culti- 

 vation of these most extraordinary plants. Grown in live- 

 inch pots, with stems less than six inches high ami combs 

 nine inches by four inches, colored almost ever)- shade 

 from white to deep crimson, Cockscombs are decidedly 

 decorative as well as interesting. The feathered form of 

 this Celosia, sometimes called Pyramidalis, is equally 

 useful. In the London parks it is used as a bedding-plant, 

 and at Kew it is one of the most effective plants in the con- 

 servatory in July and August. 



London. W. WalSOtl. 



