November iS, 1S96.] 



Garden and Forest. 



467 



could not tell which series they belonged to and solved the prob- 

 lem by pulling them up so that they should belong to neither. 

 The best Lemoinei kind I have ever seen I flowered this year, 

 having just purchased it from Monsieur Lemoine ; its name 

 is Domino Rose. It is an immense rose and white flower, 

 larger, I think, than any Nanceianus kind I have seen. 



Victor Lemoine's bluish kinds (he abstains from calling 

 them blue) are Lemoinei hybrids, and are all very striking 

 and very good. I prefer the two called Senateur Volland and 

 Firmament. It is curious to observe that when the time 

 comes the same sport will occur in widely separated places. 

 For example, some years ago a Dahlia came up in the spring 

 in my garden. It was one of a row of seedlings and in some 

 way was overlooked when the rest were lifted, and was cov- 

 ered so deeply that the winier did not kill it. That spring I 

 imported and flowered the fine kind, Mrs. Gladstone ; it 

 was absolutely identical with my seedling. Single Cactus 

 Dahlias appeared among my seedlings the very year they began 

 to be noticed in England, and this year I had a blue Gladiolus, 

 of as decided a color as any of Lemoine's, raised from seed 

 planted before I had even seen one of his varieties. Gladioli 

 have done as poorly everywhere in my neighborhood as with 

 me, but Mr. J. W. Clark, of Millis, about fifteen miles away, 

 made as good a showing at Horticultural Hall on prize day as 

 ever. One of his spikes was the best I ever saw or heard of, 

 as far as length of spike is concerned ; it had twenty-two flow- 

 ers, all fully opened and all perfect. 



My stock is all lifted at last, though some of the bulbs were 

 in the ground at least two weeks too late. All ought to be out 

 of it by the twentieth of October, for when the ground gets 

 cold, especially if there should be much rain, the bulbs begin 

 to rot, the largest going first. When we leave bulbs in the 

 ground to try whether they will be hardy if covered, we gen- 

 erally find that they do not come up in the spring, the fact 

 being that they were dead and rotten before winter began. 



I will add a note which will be an addition to our verv 

 meagre knowledge as to the vitality of flower seeds. Nine years 

 ago I gave a gentleman some Dahlia seeds. He planted a part 

 of them and put the rest into a dated paper bag. To-day he 

 has told me that he planted the remainder this spring, and 

 that to the best of his belief not one failed to grow. 



Canton, Mass. W. E. Endicott. 



Indoor Work. 



"\iyORK under glass is now chiefly of a routine character, 

 * * but even this is not without interest, for each successive 

 season gives a better understanding of the peculiarities and 

 requirements of the plants. It took several years' experience 

 to show that Lapageria rosea does not need a stove temper- 

 ature, and, in fact, will not flourish under this condition, and 

 that Odontoglossums do not need coddling in a warm house. 

 The private gardener should keep up a good stock of flower- 

 ing plants for cutting, and also for conservatory and house 

 decoration. While Chrysanthemums will continue to occupy 

 a prominent place for a few weeks, other plants must be borne in 

 mind, and among these Roses are important. Cleanliness must 

 always be observed in the Rose-house, and the more we learn 

 of fungoid diseases and insects the greater the necessity ap- 

 pears for absolute cleanliness. Staking and tying should be 

 done in the neatest possible manner, and all decayed leaves, 

 weeds and rubbish promptly removed. Carnations need simi- 

 lar attention, a support of some kind being required by nearly 

 all the varieties. It large flowers aredesired, disbudding must 

 be practiced to some extent, and abundant light and ventila- 

 tion, in accordance with the weather, are essential. The mat- 

 ter of temperature for Carnation-growing has been much 

 agitated of late years, and, doubtless, some varieties give better 

 results in a comparatively high temperature. But in a general 

 way it may be stated that the flowers produced in a tempera- 

 ture of fifty degrees are usually of a much more lasting char- 

 acter than those grown at fifty-eight to sixty degrees, the latter 

 extreme being the practice of some growers. Bulbs for forc- 

 ingshould be planted in pots, pansor flats according to theuse 

 to which they are to be put, this operation being done just as 

 soon as possible after the bulbs are received. The best place 

 for their storage after planting is a cold frame or pit. Lily-of- 

 the-valley of this season's crop is not satisfactory for very early 

 forcing, on account of the tendency to produce flowers with- 

 out much foliage ; but after New Vear the foliage and flowers 

 will develop together with proper treatment. 



A pleasant indication of advance toward a greater variety of 

 winter-flowering plants is noted in the offering of several 

 varieties and species of Ericas among the siock of the florists' 

 shops, as mentioned in a recent issue of Garden vnd Fori r. 



\ 



and these same species should find a more extended use 

 among private growers. Among the best of the Heaths for 

 this purpose are Erica hyemalis, E. Wilmoreana, E. persoluta 

 in its various forms and E. hybrida, all of which are reasona- 

 bly easy to manage and very free-flowering. Cuttings of the 

 Heaths rooted during the latter part of winter or early in 

 spring, potted on as they need it, and later in the season 

 plunged outdoors in coal ashes, will usually make a substan- 

 tial, well-ripened growth and flower freely the following winter 

 or spring. The Boronias and Chorozemas are also valuable 

 flowering plants for the greenhouse, and easily grown under 

 much the same conditions as Ericas. A few pot-grown ever- 

 greens — for example, Retinospora plumosa aurea, Cryptomeria 

 Japonica and R. leptoclada — are often useful for the decora- 

 tion of a dark hall or other unfavorable location for plants. A 

 few cuttings may now be put in for this purpose. If a suffi- 

 ciently cool place cannot be had in the greenhouse, the cut- 

 tings should be put in a cold frame, moderately shaded and 

 protected from severe frost, and they will be nicely rooted by 

 spring if properly cared for. 



Holmesburg, Pa. W. If. Tap/in. 



Autumn Snowdrops. 



N spite of the mild days lately prevailing, the earth has 

 become so cold as to check floral growth, and, exceptafew 

 odd belated blooms, there are no other seasonable flowers in 

 the borders than the Snowdrops. While we are accustomed 

 to associate the Snowdrops with the opening of the floral sea- 

 son, the Grecian forms of Galanthus nivalis, Olgse and Octo- 

 brensis as naturally mark the close of the year. Of these 

 forms the first-named is the earlier, and usually appears in 

 September, to be followed by the latter, as its name indicates. 

 Under the prevailing low temperature their blooming period 

 is prolonged, and they still ornament the border. They both 

 have the light-colored stripe down the midrib of the leaves, 

 which is a characteristic of all autumnal Snowdrops yet found. 

 This stripe is formed by the exposure of the interior spongy 

 cells of that portion of the leaf, and, like the analogous coloring 

 in the Cyclamen-leaf, is not a variegation as usually under- 

 stood. The leaves of Algas are broader than those of Octo- 

 brensis, and the bulbs and flowers rather superior in size, but 

 they are both very good forms of the ordinary G. nivalis. The 

 autumnal Snowdrops were long very rare plants, and all the 

 examples of Octobrensis in cultivation were for a number of 

 years the progeny of a single bulb found by an English Am- 

 bassador. If such a plant "grows wild somewhere," some 

 enthusiast may be expected to find its haunts, no matter how 

 obscure, and lately Max Leichtlin, and perhaps others, have 

 made the Albanian Snowdrops comparatively plentiful. In this 

 prosaic age there are still people who are not absorbed in finan- 

 cial questions and who will go to great lengths to collect a 

 few plants and incidentally add to the happiness of mankind. 

 Only the other day a friend sent me a few seeds of a rare plant, 

 a fair share of the result of a private expedition of many miles 

 into the southern Peloponessus, the treasure-trove giving 

 him more happiness than many brokerages. 

 Elizabeth, N.J. J.N. Gerard. 



Correspondence. 



Apple-twig Blight. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest: 



Sir, — In examining the trees in the experimental Apple 

 orchard here with the object of removing all parts affected 

 with twig or fire blight, Micrococcus amylovorus, it is inter- 

 esting to note the wide difference in the extent to which differ- 

 ent varieties are affected. Some will be almost, or entirely, 

 free from it, while others will be so badly affected that in order 

 not to leave my of the diseased parts it is necessary to remove 

 almost the whole top of the tree, and this in spite ot the fact 

 that twice during the earlier part of the season all affected 

 parts were carefully removed. 



Among the sixty varieties in (he orchard those most severely 

 attacked are Lowell, Cooper's Early White, [sham Sim et, 

 Smith's Cider and Yellow Transparent, while among those 

 showing little, it any. damage are Celestia, Buckingham, Mam- 

 moth. Black Twig, White Winter Pearmain, Winesap and Hen 

 Davis. The last-named variety is, perhaps, as nearly exi 

 from the disease as any other sort. Trees of this variety are 

 scattered throughout the orchard in close proximity to badly 

 affected sorts and in all the different oils which the orchard 

 affords, and which are quite variable, yet nowhere is it sc- 

 i 1 ti <i. and usualh II. Wheth 1 \ iriety 



