September 16, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest 



375 



distinct and handsome, all virtues and no vices, so far as I 

 know, and I handled the first two or three tiny bulbs of it 

 that reached this country from China. L. Formosanum is 

 flowering- in the open now, and it would deserve to 

 rank with the best of the genus were it not for its bad 

 habit of generally dying after flowering. 



Zephyranthes Candida. — This is one of the most delightful 

 little plants in the garden. It grows freely as a substitute 

 for Box edging ; indeed, a long border now edged with it 

 used to be edged with Box, and the Zephyranthes was 

 planted a few inches inside the box and in front of Bella- 

 donna Lilies. Here it grew and multiplied rapidly, eventu- 

 ally killing the Box which it has supplanted. The edging 

 is now about a foot wide, and consists of a dense array of 

 dark green rush-like leaves six or eight inches long, which 

 in August and September are accompanied by thousands 



sunny border out-of-doors. I do not know if they will 

 bear severe frost, but intend to try them this year. A third 

 species, Natalensis, has yellowish, fragrant flowers. 



Colchicums. — No picture in autumn surpasses an Eng- 

 lish meadow studded all over with the pale purple 

 Crocus-like flowers of the Meadow Saffron. A similar 

 effect may be produced in the garden by planting the 

 bulbs thickly in grass on sloping banks near water, or 

 where a fair supply of moisture is available. They are 

 employed in this way about the lake at Kew, and also in 

 the wild garden. C. speciosum, C. Parkinsoni and C. 

 Sibthorpii are not sufficiently plentiful to be used in this 

 way, but it would pay any bulb grower to work up a large 

 stock of these three large-flowered handsome species for 

 planting on a large scale. 



Crocuses. — The species of Crocus which flower in the 



Fig. 50. — Nelumbo lutea, the Water Chinquapin, in a Massachusetts pond. — See page 373. 



of pure white star-like flowers three inches across. The 

 plant is not injured by frost and it transplants as easily as 

 Chives. 



Tigridias. — All the Tigridias of the Pavonia or Grandi- 

 flora section are excellent plants for beds to flower in 

 August and September. They are beautiful with us now, 

 white, cream, yellow, orange and variegated varieties, 

 which have names, but no two dealers' names agree, and if 

 one orders white he will probably get orange or yellow. 

 Still, they are all beautiful, and mixed beds of them are 

 very showy at this time of year. We lift them early in 

 winter and store them in dry sand, replanting in May. 



Tulbaghia alliacea and violacea are two elegant little 

 Cape plants with narrow leaves and tall slender scapes 

 of lavender or rose-purple flowers. They flower freely 

 during summer and autumn, and are perfectly happy in a 



autumn have not yet come to be used in the garden as 

 their congeners, the spring-flowering species, are, but some 

 of them are certain to become popular for this purpose 

 when once they are procurable in quantity. C. nudiflorus, 

 the autumn Crocus, a native of English meadows, is a 

 perfect plant for the purpose. 



London. 



W, Watson. 



Plant Notes. 



Morus rubra. — Our native Red Mulberry is larger and 

 more handsome than any other species of the genus which 

 grows in a temperate climate. An old tree growing on the 

 estate of Mr. P. J. Berckmans, in Augusta, Georgia, some 

 years ago had a diameter of seven feet, three feet above the 

 ground, but this was of exceptional size. The stout trunk 

 rarely exceeds three or four feet through, and the tree 



