October 7, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



407 



feet in form, magnificent in build and livelier in color-tone 

 than the flowers of either parent. Its habit indicates that it 

 will be sufficiently lloriferous. Mr. Tailby is equally fortunate 

 in the possession of a good scarlet, E. G. Hill x Florence. 

 It is quite equal to Portia, and more robust in habit. To displace 

 Portia it must have good staying qualities, for this standard 

 old variety is as yet without a peer on the market in the matter 

 of productiveness. William Scott still holds first place among 

 rose-colored varieties now in cultivation for profit. But for 

 one defect, a rather serious one for the retail florist, it would 

 be perfect. Its rich pink tones quickly fade to purple, and 

 this often happens before the retailer disposes of his stock. 

 The old Grace Wilder, once the favorite, but now out of con- 

 stitution, when at its best was equal, if not superior, to any- 

 thing we have ever had. The flowers were salable as long as 

 they remained fresh. 



Donald Macrea, of Framingham, Massachusetts, has the 

 white-flowered William Scott, which, if it holds true to the few 

 flowers now open, promises to be an acquisition. Corsair, a 

 fine crimson, also looks promising. 



Wellesley, Mass. I ■ D. Hatfield. 



Violet Culture in Pots. 



THE growing of Violets in pols for winter flowering is not a 

 new method, but it is not so extensively employed as its 

 general utility deserves. Since adopting this system we have 

 been enabled to produce blooms superior in size and color to 

 any we ever had from plants grown on benches, and, what is 

 of more importance, the plants have yearly increased in gen- 

 eral vigor and exemption from disease. Being in a portable 

 condition, they can be kept in pits or frames until Chrysanthe- 

 mums and other fall-flowering plants are gone, and as by that 

 time they will be well established in the pots and blooming 

 freely, they will continue to do so in the greenhouse under 

 proper cultural conditions. 



The plants are set in the field to make their summer growth 

 in rows eighteen inches apart each way ; they are kept scru- 

 pulously free of weeds and useless runners. About the last of 

 September the best plants are lifted and placed in well-drained 

 seven, eight or nine inch pots, according to their size. On 

 taking them up the soil is well shaken from the roots, as it is 

 desirable to have as much fresh compost in the pots as pos- 

 sible in a lumpy state, and lightly firmed with the potting lath. 

 When potted they are taken to the frames and are given a 

 thorough watering, the sashes, lightly shaded, are put on, air 

 is admitted freely day and night while mild weather continues. 

 When dry they are watered, and they get an occasional syring- 

 ing on bright, mild days and are covered with mats and shut- 

 ters to exclude frost. All these details are carefully and 

 persistently attended to until the plants are transferred to 

 the greenhouse. 



The Marie Louise is the principal variety used, and as an 

 early and prolific bloomer is unequaled. TheFarquhar, Lady 

 H. Campbell and Swanley White are also grown, and it is 

 worthy of mention that all these varieties, growing side by side 

 and receiving identical culture from the cutting to their flow- 

 ering state, are in a uniformly vigorous and healthy condition. 



South Framingham, Mass. A. McKay. 



Some Autumn Flowers. 



Zinnia Haageana. — All the Zinnias bloom late into the season, 

 but this species is superior to any of the common large-flow- 

 ered kinds. It is of compact dwarf habit, each plant forming 

 a little bush twelve inches in height, densely studded with its 

 orange-yellow blossoms. It is not as coarse a plant as our 

 ordinary Zinnias. The leaves are much smaller ; the flowers 

 are only an inch and a quarter in diameter, but they are very 

 double, and make up in numbers what they lack in size. In 

 many respects I prefer Z. Haageana to the less shapely kinds 

 with larger blooms. It is decidedly one of the best of the late- 

 flowering annuals, thriving satisfactorily in even the poorest 

 kinds of garden soil. 



Anemone Whirlwind. — No flowers are more useful than the 

 Japanese Anemone, and in addition to the single forms of this 

 plant, the variety with semi-double flowers has greatly added 

 to their importance. Whirlwind is a semi-double form of the 

 old white variety of Anemone Japonica, and although not 

 more decorative than the older kinds as a garden plant, the 

 cut flowers are more lasting. It is now showing its first blos- 

 soms, and with continued mild weather will provide flowers 

 for cutting until the middle of November. 



Clematis paniculata. — This now well-known plant is annually 

 becoming more and more popular. It is generally grown as a 

 trellis climber, and there is nothing to equal it for this use at 



this season. Its creamy white blossoms completely obscure 

 the foliage, and they persist for weeks. I have lately seen the 

 plant used with good effect in covering unsightly tracts of 

 rubble and barren soil. The roots, of course, were well taken 

 care of, the site and soil being specially prepared for them, 

 and from the stems spread rapidly in all directions. The un- 

 earthed roots and stumps of old trees, piled in an oblong or 

 irregular mound, make a picturesque groundwork for this and 

 other climbers. 



Caryopteris mastacanthus. — One must search a long time to 

 find a more attractive little shrub at this time of year than 

 this rare old Chinese plant. It is very dwarf and bushy, 

 making a compact little mass from two to three feet high. 

 The notched leaves are deep green on the upper sur- 

 face, and whitish beneath. The small pale blue flowers are 

 borne in conspicuous axillary clusters, and they are produced 

 so freely that the plant is now a mass of bloom. There is, too, 

 an indescribable daintiness and elegance about the arrange- 

 ment of the stems and flowers. That so good a plant has 

 escaped general attention for so many years is a mystery. It 

 is now, in the last days of September, a perfect picture. To 

 its charms it adds the merit of hardiness, and its cultural 

 requirements are quite ordinary. Isolated on the lawn, or 

 mixed with other dwarf plants in the shrubbery, it is alike 

 effective. 



Floral Park, N. Y. M. Barker. 



Correspondence. 

 Additional Notes on Compass Plants. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — It is evident from the statements of the note in Garden 

 and Forest of August 19th about the usefulness of the leaves 

 of the Compass Plant for determining in a general way the 

 direction of a north and south line, that they would furnish no 

 help to distinguish north from south. The plant would only 

 be of use as a compass when the sun is hidden by clouds, for 

 on a clear day the sun itself would be a better guide. When 

 most needed the leaves might utterly fail in usefulness if a 

 traveler lost his initial direction, which is very easy, and is 

 readily increased by the well-known tendency of a bewildered 

 person to move in a circular direction. Hence, he might soon 

 be taking a direction directly opposite the one he wished to 

 take. But there is another habit of the Compass Plant which 

 might be used to correct this. Dr. Engelmann says in the 

 article referred to in my former note: "The large flower- 

 heads, on short and very thick peduncles, are almost invaria- 

 bly turned eastward." This is the only allusion I have seen 

 to a habit which I have often observed and verified, nor have 

 I any information that any use has been made of it in practice. 

 A person standing on the east side of a field of Compass Plants 

 and facing the west sees a mass of yellow before him ; let him 

 change to the west side, and the diminished intensity of color 

 at once becomes apparent. When the plants are examined 

 individually it is seen that nearly all of the flowerdieads face 

 him in the former case, and that the south is to the left hand. 

 There is about the same reliability to be placed on this east- 

 ward turning of flower-heads as on the north and south trend 

 of the leaves. It is quite general, but not definite in many 

 cases of individual heads. Hence, during the floral stage of 

 a Compass Plant, it is not difficult to distinguish north from 

 south. 



I have not been able to find a satisfactory reason for the 

 curvature of the peduncles which turns the heads to the east- 

 ward. Light and gravity, resulting in heliotropism and geo- 

 tropism, are now given as the main causes of such tendencies. 

 Heliotropism, or the bending toward the direction of the inci- 

 dent rays of light, may be the primary cause here, but it does 

 not explain why the turning is eastward rather than westward, 

 unless we assume that the rays of the morning sun are more 

 potent than those of the afternoon sun. The flowers, like the 

 leaves, place themselves so that the largest surface is perpen- 

 dicular to the direction of the longest continued light. A leaf 

 with its surfaces in a vertical plane directed north and south is 

 in an attitude to receive light more evenly on both sides 

 throughout the day than leaves ordinarily placed with an 

 upper and an under side, and there results from it in Compass 

 Plants a more equal distribution of stomata on the two sur- 

 faces, so that, though structurally with ventral and dorsal 

 surface, they are practically without it. Heliotropism is taken 

 by Stahl and others to explain this leaf position. 



The heads do not follow the sun. The short and thick 

 peduncles, three-fourths of an inch to an inch and a half long, 

 are too stiff to allow much daily turning. Nor is the eastward 



