480 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 457. 



Notes. 



Sixteen car-loads of grapes from California were sold here 

 last week, the varieties being Flame Tokay, Cornichon and 

 Verdell. Tangerine and Mandarin oranges, from Florida, are 

 occasionally seen, and, more abundantly, grape-fruit of good 

 quality, from that state and from Jamaica. 



Vegetables Under Glass is the title of a little pamphlet just 

 issued by Henry A. Dreer, Philadelphia, giving the essential 

 directions for vegetable gardening in winter, and explaining 

 how to make the most of hot-beds, cold frames and forcing- 

 houses in order to raise all the ordinary garden crops for home 

 use or for market. The book is clearly written and well illus- 

 trated by reproductions of photographs. It contains some- 

 thing like ninety pages, and costs only twenty-five cents. 



Akebia quinata is one of those climbers which holds its 

 foliage fresh and green long after freezing weather has set in, 

 so that wherever a screen is needed it is one of the very best 

 of plants to use. Its beautiful five-pointed leaves persist 

 nearly all winter in sheltered places, so that it is practically an 

 evergreen in such situations. The foliage starts early in 

 spring, and the oddly shaped chocolate-colored flowers are 

 very interesting. In short, few climbers have a greater num- 

 ber of good qualities. 



Mr. Eckford, who has produced so many interesting varie- 

 ties of Sweet Peas, is offering his novelties for the season of 

 1897 at twenty-five cents a packet, instead of sixty cents for a 

 packet of twenty seeds. Many enthusiasts in the cultivation of 

 Sweet Peas have been disappointed at the weakness of some 

 of these high-bred seedlings and at their lack of distinctness 

 when compared with other varieties, and a decreased demand 

 may be one reason for the reduction ; but, no doubt, another 

 reason is that California has such a favorable climate for grow- 

 ing Sweet Peas that a large stock of any novelty can be quickly 

 worked up on our Pacific coast. 



The last number of The Gardeners' Chronicle which has 

 reached us gives a portrait of the inflorescence of Camoensia 

 maxima, the noble tropical climber which Mr. Watson re- 

 ports in his London letter in another column of this journal, 

 as flowering simultaneously at Kew and in two private gar- 

 dens in England. The large milk-white petals with their frilled 

 edges of gold are of thin texture and therefore quite fugacious, 

 and the ornamental rim soon turns to a dingy brown. Of 

 course, the flower has less value in the gardener's eyes on 

 account of these circumstances, but as they appear abundantly 

 in clusters and open in succession, a large plant in bloom is a 

 striking object and justifies the eulogium which Welwitsch 

 bestowed upon it as lie saw it growing in Angola. 



Roman Hyacinths and the Paper-white Narcissus are just 

 beginning to appear in the decorations of the florists' windows, 

 which have been unusually beautiful during the Chrysan- 

 themum season now passing away. Of course, there wiil be 

 Chrysanthemums in the market until the holidays, but it is evi- 

 dent from the appearance of the flowers that a great majority 

 of them have passed their prime, and they have lost the crisp 

 look they wore a week ago. The season has been perceptibly 

 shortened by the high temperature and bright sunshine which 

 prevailed during the early part of November. Of the varieties 

 used for show purposes in the windows, Maud Dean has been 

 the favorite, while the new Rose, Souvenir du President Carnot, 

 is also used in almost every shop in the fashionable quarter of 

 the city, primarily because it is new, perhaps, but it seems to be 

 considered by the florists a variety of much promise. A west- 

 ern correspondent writes us, however, that this Rose, as shown 

 at the St. Louis exhibition, was not very favorably received. 

 It was criticised for a lack of decision in color and of fullness 

 in flower. 



Writing of the autumn colors of certain plants, Mr. Joseph 

 Meehan says that Vitis Coignetias, which turns to such rich 

 autumnal colors in its Japanese home, and which in some 

 parts of the country has lived up to its reputation, has failed 

 altogether to show any beauty in its foliage at Germantown. 

 The leaves behave exactly like our own fruiting Grapes — that is, 

 they turn brown and fall to the ground. Mr. Meehan also has 

 a good word to say of oursomewhat neglected Rhus (aromatica) 

 Canadensis, which is so useful where a low growth is needed. 

 It changes to beautiful colors in mid-November after the leaves 

 have fallen from all our other Sumachs. The Asiatic Rhus 

 semialataOsbeckidoes not coloratallinGermantown, although 

 its autumn foliage is said to be beautiful in Japan. We may 

 add that in this vicinity its leaves turn brown, or, rather, shrivel 

 up, and fall so early that one suspects that they are preyed 



upon by some fungous disease. Its large, cream-colored 

 flower-clusters, which appear very late in the season, give it 

 some value at that particular time, but there are many more 

 desirable trees. 



Considering the large importations of Jamaica oranges 

 which have been selling slowly and at a loss almost all of the 

 season, the untimely haste of California orange growers in 

 shipping their fruit east seems unwise. The idea of the 

 California growers appears to be that the loss of the Florida 

 crop has made a scarcity which has not been supplied. 

 There has been intense rivalry in the orange-growing sections 

 of California in the matter of making the earliest shipment, 

 and the first car-load was forwarded from the foot-hills near 

 Glendora, in the southern part of the state, on November 8th, 

 and from Porterville two days later, with shipments to follow 

 daily. Recent rains and cool nights are said to be favoring 

 the ripening and coloring of the fruit, but there can be little 

 doubt that these oranges are not matured and properly ripened 

 and that the fruit is thus at a disadvantage. Florida oranges 

 are now regularly in trade here, consignments of several hun- 

 dred boxes having been received during the past few weeks, 

 besides a car lot. The crop of that state is estimated at 125,000 

 boxes. From Jamaica 127,784 barrels have already reached 

 this port, besides Mexican oranges, the first car-load of which 

 was sold here last week. New Messina and Valencia oranges 

 are already on the way to this country, these shipments marking 

 the opening of the season for Mediterranean oranges. 



The displays of vegetables for the Thanksgiving season, 

 while not unusual in any respect, are not only varied and 

 beautiful, but instructive, as showing the resources of the 

 country at this season, for almost all the offerings are from the 

 United States. Hot-house tomatoes, from Pennsylvania and 

 Massachusetts, sell for thirty-five cents a pound, and these are 

 now supplemented by the field-grown product lrom Key West, 

 which brings twenty cents a pound. Selected Florida cucum- 

 bers sell readily for five cents each, and perfectly grown ones 

 from hot-houses near Boston, where the cultivation of this 

 vegetable is a specialty, cost ten cents. Eggplants, from the 

 south, are less plentiful than they have been, but can be had 

 for fifteen and twenty cents apiece. Cauliflower, owing to the 

 open season, is abundant and excellent in quality, and ranges 

 from ten to twenty-five cents each, according to'size. Celery, 

 from near-by points, western New York and Michigan, is 

 within easy reach of buyers, costing forty cents to $1.00 for a 

 dozen stalks. String-beans, from South Carolina, Georgia and 

 Florida, vary largely in quality, and consequently in price ; 

 bright iresh wax-beans, carried by express, bring fifteen and 

 twenty cents a quart. Peas have advanced in price on account 

 of recent frosts, some shipments from Virginia having been 

 badly frozen. The best cost seventy-five cents a half-peck. 

 Pumpkins prove perishable in the dealers' hands, and are kept 

 with difficulty beyond this time of year. Those now in stock 

 cost twenty to forty cents each. Hubbard and Boston Marrow 

 squashes, from this locality, cost ten to twenty cents each, and 

 white summer squashes, from Florida, ten to fifteen cents. 

 Other staple vegetables, cheap and plentiful, are parsnips and 

 carrots, which cost twenty cents a dozen, and oyster-plant, ten 

 cents a dozen. Potatoes are in large supply, but the quality is 

 said to be under the average, much of the stock being rough 

 and coarse. Choice smooth varieties, in sound condition, bring 

 thirty-five cents a peck. Sweet potatoes, from Virginia and New 

 Jersey, sell for twenty-five cents a half-peck. Red and white 

 onions cost seven to ten cents a quart, and the large sweet 

 Spanish onions, sixty cents a dozen. Jerusalem artichokes find 

 slow sales at filteen cents a quart. The true and more highly 

 appreciated artichokes now coming fromFrance maintain the 

 uniform price of twenty-five cents apiece. A vegetable offered 

 now by some of the best greengrocers, and a comparative 

 rarity here, is the cardoon, the stalks of Cynara Cardunculus, 

 originally from southern Europe. While not largely cultivated 

 in England or America, this vegetable is highly esteemed on 

 the continent of Europe as a wholesome esculent ; the blanched 

 stalks and inner leaves are prepared as asparagus is, or used 

 for salads and in soups. The tall plants cost seventy-five cents 

 each. Okra, from Louisiana and Florida, may be had for fifty 

 cents a hundred, and peppers, from the south, at forty cents a 

 dozen. Turnips, white and yellow, cost twenty cents a half- 

 peck ; domestic Brussels sprouts, fifteen to twenty cents a 

 quart, and those from France, twenty-five cents a pound ; 

 beets, five cents a bunch, and cabbage, ten cents a head. 

 Radishes, parsley, chervil, chives, mint, watercress, horse- 

 radish, escarolle, corn salad, lettuce, spinach, kale and curled 

 endive, sold as chicory, are included among greens and condi- 

 ments in season now. Cranberries cost fifteen cents a quart. 



