476 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 457. 



do this it is too warm and will smother the plants if put on 

 thickly, so that they come out in the spring blanched and 

 sickly. Straw of oats, wheat or rye has good points and is 

 nearly always available, but it is objectionable because it con- 

 tains seeds of weeds, and the grain itself is a weed in a Straw- 

 berry bed. Where good marsh hay can lie found which con- 

 tains no foul seed, it makes an admirable covering, for it is 

 not easily blown off and can be allowed lo remain as a safe- 

 guard against early frosts and as a summer mulch. Dry 

 leaves are also good and they are almost always to be had. 

 They should be scattered thinly over the bed and then held. 

 in place by a few corn stalks or pea brush. They, too, can 

 remain during the summer, and when they decay will add fer- 

 tility to the soil. In Maine the boughs of Spruce and Pine- 

 are sometimes used. They hold the snow in place, are 

 sufficiently thick to be a non-conductor, and yet are not so 

 dense as to prevent the circulation ot air. In the southern 

 mountain regions where there are Pine forests, the needles 

 furnish an ideal material. They are clean and easy to apply, 

 they lie so close to the ground that the wind does not move 

 them, and yet are sufficiently open to give good ventilation, 

 and even if they chance to be heaped up in places by the wind 

 more thickly than needed they do little harm. Besides this, 

 their resinous quality is said to repel insects. Indeed, so many 

 things are available for protection that any gardener, unless 

 he totally lacks ingenuity, can find something to serve his pur- 

 pose. The time to apply the cover is after the ground has 

 frozen hard, so that a cart or wheelbarrow will not cut into the 

 surface. 

 Montclair, N.J. o. C. 



Chrysanthemums. 



RECENTLY, a committee from the Massachusetts Horti- 

 cultural Society paid a visit to the greenhouse belonging 

 to William Nicholson, a commercial grower, of Framingham, 

 Massachusetts, to inspect his Chrysanthemums. Space is 

 valuable, and not an inch of room under glass is wasted here. 

 Everything is creditably clean. Like all progressive florists, 

 the owner knows the value of order and cleanliness. We 

 did not look for exhibition blooms. The trade does not 

 require such. Yet we found blooms which would grace any 

 exhibition board, although double the number is planted in 

 the space required for such blooms. Smaller flowers — that is, 

 smaller than they ruled some years ago — are the rule ; but, 

 unfortunately, the same stiff character prevails. The florist 

 must grow flowers which pack and carry well. The retailer 

 requires, in addition to these qualities, that they keep and ship 

 well, and are easily handled. It will be some time yet before 

 we shall see the artistic types, without which grace, beauty 

 and harmony of arrangement cannot be secured. Even in 

 Horticultural Hall, Boston, where the greatest latitude is al- 

 lowed, the monotonously rigid arrangement prevails. 



Decided colors are the rule. Mrs Perrin is declared to be the 

 best true pink-colored variety yet introduced. Ada Spaulding, 

 with pink and yellow shadings — a finely built, incurved bloom 

 — is yet a favorite. Stiffness also is its prevailing good quality. 

 W. H. Lincoln, a remarkably good yellow bloom of the re- 

 flexed Japanese type, though discarded by many growers for 

 lack of size, is considered one of the most profitable. It cer- 

 tainly is a satisfactory one to buy. Few yellow blooms last as 

 long when cut. S. T. Murdock is a reflexed pink, and one of 

 the best late varieties of its color. There is something peculiar 

 about the appearance of the blooms under bright light. The 

 upper surface of the florets glistens and refracts sunlight. Under 

 these conditions the blooms appear faded, but when the sun is 

 down they are fairly luminous. For parlor decoration it is the 

 ideal. John Shrimpton, a maroon of recent introduction, fills 

 a gap among varieties of its color. Up to the time of its intro- 

 duction, four years ago, the only really good dark-colored 

 variety was Cullingfordi. We had had others, notably G. W. 

 Childs, which was superb where it succeeded. It is now dis- 

 carded as a cut-flower variety on account of the unexplainable 

 habit which is best termed "burning," though this occurs as 

 well in shade as sunshine. Mr. Brydon once said of another 

 recent introduction, William Seward, of nearly the same shade, 

 that it would burn in a cellar. John Shrimpton, when well 

 grown, produces a bloom almost as large as G. W. Childs, and 

 does not " burn." Moreover, it is dwarf and can be grown 

 on side benches with from three to four feet head-room. 

 Minnie Wanamaker was introduced less than ten years ago, 

 but is now rated as an old variety. It holds favor from the 

 fact that it is one of the best late white-flowered kinds that ship 

 well. It may be cut before fully matured, and has some value 

 on that account. Mrs. Henry Robinson is unsurpassed in 

 elegance of form and in every other way to all true lovers of 



the beautiful. The florist, however, wants a stiff stem. All 

 other qualities prevailing, weakness in this particular affects 

 its value in the market, and this it lacks. In our display at 

 Welleslev the blooms are allowed to bend and turn with free- 

 dom so long as they do not obstruct the path. Here Mrs. 

 Robinson is seen becomingly. Helen Bloodgood is a fit com- 

 panion for the last-named, and, like it, its deep, perfect blooms 

 of glistening rose-pink lack a rigid stem. Cullingfordi is yet 

 indispensable, for, while John Shrimpton comes near to it in 

 color tones, it is not quite equal. 

 Wellesley, Mass. 7. D. Hatfield. 



Broad-leaved Evergreens. 



/^vUR experience with broad-leaved evergreens has not been 

 ^— ' very satisfactory. Aucubas of different kinds, both the 

 plain green and the spotted-leaved varieties, live out-of-doors 

 with us, surviving the coldest winters, but they grow so slowly 

 that they cannot be counted on to make large bushes. Their 

 tops are often killed by severe frost, and thus they are apt to 

 lose in winter all that they gain by a summer's growth. Also 

 our summers seem to be too dry for them. Mahonias do 

 better. They increase slowly, and do not winter-kill so badly, 

 though the foliage is usually damaged more or less by the 

 cold. The handsomest of them here is M. Japonica, but none 

 of them flourish with us as they do in Washington. When I 

 saw, some years ago, how these beautiful shrubs were used in 

 decorating "the public grounds in Washington I bought num- 

 bers of broad-leaved evergreens for our home grounds. Very 

 few of them have made satisfactory growth. The most beau- 

 tiful little tree of this class at Rose Brake is Osmanthus ilici- 

 folium, which seems perfectly hardy without winter protection, 

 and grows faster than our native Holly, which it resembles in 

 foliage. 



A group of Evonymuses of different kinds, both deciduous 

 and evergreen, is now exceedingly interesting. Of these the 

 finest was obtained some years ago from John Saul under the 

 name of Evonymus Sieboldii. This has far outstripped the 

 commoner Japanese evergreen variety in growth, and is now a 

 round, bushy shrub, four feet in height, with broad leaves, 

 lighter in color than those of E. Japonicus. Its foliage is sub- 

 evergreen in characterand usually remains upon the branches 

 until Christmas in this climate. The fruit, as I once saw it in 

 Washington, is a brilliant red. My own specimen has not 

 fruited as yet. Its chief attraction up to this time has been its 

 foliage and its flowers. The blossoms of most Evonymuses 

 are small and insignificant, and they come at a time when so 

 many showy plants are in bloom that they pass unnoticed. 

 This is not the case with E. Sieboldii. Late in August of this 

 year, when scarcely any other shrubs were blooming, it was 

 covered with conspicuous cream-colored flowers larger than 

 those of any other Evonymus known to me, and so abun- 

 dantly produced that the little plant presented a most beauti- 

 ful appearance and made one of the chief attractions of the 

 garden at that time. The flowers are of great duration, and 

 even as late as the middle of October fresh buds were opening 

 every day. The failure to set fruit was possibly due to the 

 very dry weather which endured through the months of Au- 

 gust, September and October. I can heartily recommend this 

 little shrub to all lovers of beautiful plants. It seems hardier 

 than the common Japanese evergreen Evonymus, whose 

 foliage turns yellow afler severe cold weather, although it 

 Dersists upon the branches until pushed off by the new growth 

 in spring. The tops of the branches also winter-kill, which 

 does not seem to be the case with E. Sieboldii. Farthersouth 

 this variety is said to be evergreen. 



Rose Brake, W. Va. Ddliske Dalldridge. 



Correspondence. 



Notes from the Arnold Arboretum. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — The Ilexes are fruiting with uncommon abundance 

 this year ; the yellow-fruited form is singularly beautiful just 

 now, and is admired by every one who sees it. The Evony- 

 muses are still beautiful, especially E. atropurpureus and the 

 variety Coccinea of E. Europeus. There is another variety 

 with white capsules, which make a striking contrast with the 

 scarlet arils. Pyrus arbutitolia and P. nigra are covered with 

 red and black fruit, making both plants as interesting at this 

 season as they are beautiful in flower. Celastrus paniculata 

 still holds its fruit, and if its branches were cut early they 

 would be useful for decorative purposes, as the brilliant fruit 

 hangs on all winter. The blue-black fruit of Memispermum 



