October 28, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



439 



leaves are peltate and the much-branched panicles bear lovely 

 carmine-pink flowers. It is more useful for cutting than the 

 commoner tuberous kinds, since the female flowers are numer- 

 ous and persistent. It is seldom one sees it as well grown as 

 recently in a Massachusetts garden, where one whole side of 

 a small greenhouse was made radiant with them. Gloire de 

 Lorraine is a new Socotrana hybrid, and one of the prettiest we 

 have seen. The flowers in form and color resemble those of 

 B. Socotrana. The leaves are more irregular and the habit 

 quite shrubby. 



Wellesley, Mass. T. D. Hatfield. 



Correspondence. 



Notes from Germantown. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Just now the grounds here are singularly beautiful with 

 autumn foliage and bright fruits. Individual trees of the 

 American Hornbeam vary greatly in the autumn coloring of 

 their leaves, but in large collections some of them are a flam- 

 ing red. The European species hardly color at all here. 

 About Germantown the Liquidambar, or Sweet Gum, is now 

 surprisingly beautiful. It delights in a situation where it can 

 have full sunshine, and it ought to be in a damp place to 

 insure its best growth and richest color. The Japanese Snow- 

 ball, Viburnum plicatum, has been largely planted for its 

 flowers, but it has a variety known here as rotundifolium, 

 which is now strikingly handsome. The plant blooms rather 

 earlier than the type and its flowers are rather larger, but at 

 this season the leaves turn to a singular yellowish scarlet and 

 give it a high value among shrubs used for autumn color. 



The leaves of Photinia villosa turn to a bright scarlet, but in 

 well-established plants the fruit is also very showy at this sea- 

 son. The berries are not large, but they are very abundant, 

 and they ripen to a deep scarlet and remain in this condition 

 for a considerable length of time. Our common Chokeberry, 

 Pyrus arbutifolia, is an attractive shrub in spring for its clus- 

 ters of white flowers, but it is equally beautiful in autumn 

 when covered with its clear red fruit. It is one of the plants 

 that improve wonderfully under cultivation, and one who has 

 only seen it in the woods will hardly recognize it when planted in 

 good rich soil and well cared for. It becomes a compact bush 

 and produces fruit much more freely. This is also true of our 

 wild Roses, R. Carolina and R. lucida, which, when cultivated, 

 are loaded with their bright hips. This year they have out- 

 done themselves, and their branches are fairly weighted down 

 with fruit. 



The violet-colored berries of Callicarpa purpurea are now 

 very striking in plants which have been properly treated — that 

 is, when placed in an open situation in damp rich soil and cut 

 nearly to the ground in spring. This compels them to throw 

 up strong shoots which are now loaded with fruits. Lyces- 

 teria Formosa is still showing its pendent racemes of reddish 

 berries and is a first-rate ornamental shrub, although it is 

 somewhat tender here. Its tips winter-kill, but when it is cut 

 back it flowers freely in late summer from the shoots it throws 

 up from below. The creeping Daphne, D. Cneorum, is in 

 flower from spring to fall, and just on the verge of freezing 

 weather it seems to be as full of bloom as ever. Its roots are 

 very slender and they seem to like to wander in light soil and 

 can find nourishment in almost clear sand. The flowers when 

 cut now display their characteristic odor. 

 Germantown, Pa. Joseph Meehaii. 



Smilax for Florists' Use. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — In your excellent article on the "Change of Fashion in 

 Flowers" you omitted to speak of Smilax, Myrsiphyllum 

 asparagoides, and I beg the privilege of calling your attention 

 to it as a plant of comparatively recent discovery for florists' 

 use. It was in the early seventies that Smilax first came into 

 prominence for use in cut-flower work. Its use in festooning 

 the handles of baskets, filling in bouquets, and the ground- 

 work of baskets of flowers was one of the most potent factors 

 in changing the set, stiff arrangement to the natural and grace- 

 ful manner that obtains to-day. Long before its introduction, 

 fault was found with the prevailing method of arranging 

 flowers, but the material was not at hand to effect the desired 

 purpose ; Smilax supplied the want, and so the florists were 

 enabled to make light, graceful bouquets and baskets. 



It is interesting to note the rivals which have arisen in oppo- 

 sition to Smilax. First, the Climbing Fern, Lygodium scandens, 



then Asparagus tenuissimus, and later A. plumosus, the first 

 two having passed out of existence because they wilted too 

 rapidly after being cut, but the third mentioned has obtained 

 a foothold and divides the field with Smilax to-day. Maiden- 

 hair Fern, Adiantum cuneatum, has also been called into use 

 for many purposes for which Smilax was originally used, and 

 so, while (he quantity of Smilax grown is getting larger an- 

 nually, because of the increased market, yet its development 

 is not in proportion to the market because of the place filled 

 by other plants. 

 New York. Patrick 0' Mara. 



Orchids on Mount Desert. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — I found two interesting Orchids abundant in woods and 

 fields of Mount Desert in early October. The first is Good- 

 yera repens, more commonly called the Rattlesnake Plantain, 

 with curiously reticulated white-veined, blue-green, velvety 

 leaves and slender greenish flower-spikes and dainty cream- 

 colored, waxy flowers. The plants were thickly set among 

 trailing Snowberries, shining Mitchellas and yellowing Ferns, 

 and wearing thatairof aloofness which distinguishesall Orchids 

 from the cheerful familiarity of Asters and Golden-rods. The 

 author of Orchids in New England says he seldom sees the 

 Rattlesnake Plantain in flower, and cites an experienced bota- 

 nist who had searched in many different places and never 

 came across a flowering plant in three years ; but I found 

 them on the island flowering in great profusion. I was for- 

 tunate, too, in transplanting them not only into window-boxes 

 and baskets, but into the shady corners of a garden, where 

 they have rewarded me by flowering bountifully. 



The second autumnal Orchid, Spiranthes cernua, Nodding 

 Ladies' Tresses, is much more conspicuous and more posi- 

 tively beautiful. In the meadows of eastern Massachusetts I 

 have often seen it close to the exquisite blue-fringed Gentian. 

 Although most common in damp meadows it sometimes 

 grows on uplands among Pennyroyal and Sweet Fern, or 

 makes a conspicuous setting for the purple cross-leaved Poly- 

 gala. The very roadsides in some parts of Mount Desert are 

 white with their flowers, and the honey bees find them delight- 

 ful to the very last day of their existence and often follow them 

 into a sunny room, where, in water, they last for a fortnight, 

 and if set against a background of brilliant Maple-leaves, the 

 gleaming berries of the Hobble-bush or Wild Mountain Ash, 

 they are charming indeed. 

 Andover, Mass. Annie Sawyer Downes. 



Recent Publications. 



Hoio Birds Affect the Farm and Garden. By Florence A. 

 Merriam. 



This is a little pamphlet of thirty odd pages, which sets 

 forth, as the sub-title announces, a series of facts deter- 

 mined by investigation of the food habits of our common 

 birds, showing their character as insect destroyers and their 

 value as allies of the farmer and fruit grower. There are 

 many sentimental reasons which can be urged against the 

 slaughter of birds which do so much to enliven our landscapes 

 with their beauty of form and color and their grace of 

 movement, and to fill the air with their melody. These rea- 

 sons ought to suffice to make every woman of sensibility 

 shudder at the thought of being in any way a pariiceps 

 criminis in the murder of these innocents for the sake of 

 their plumage for the ornamentation of bonnets. There are 

 economic considerations, however, besides the others, and 

 the studies of ornithologists have demonstrated that our song 

 birds and, indeed, all except the English sparrow, are essen- 

 tial to prosperous agriculture and horticulture for their aid 

 in suppressing noxious insects. Miss Merriam has brought 

 together a great mass of testimony collected by the Division 

 of Ornithology at Washington, and by naturalists in the 

 various experiment stations, who have been studying 

 the relations of birds to insect life, to show how tirelessly 

 and efficiently these allies of man help to protect his fields 

 and gardens and orchards and vineyards from insect rav- 

 ages. The paper was originally published in Forest and 

 Stream, of this city, and it will be supplied for distribution 

 from that office at cost. Single copies of the pamphlet can 

 be had for five cents, and it ought to be placed where every 

 farmer's boy in the country can read it. 



