49° 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 458. 



prices for roads actually constructed, and a list of impor- 

 tant works of a popular character on highway construction. 



Notes. 



A temperature in the seventies is unusual the last week in 

 November, and therefore it is not surprising that the trees 

 started into leaf, that the lawns hereabout were starred with 

 Dandelions and other spring flowers, and that many early- 

 flowering shrubs showed abundant bloom. This was espe- 

 cially true of the Bush Honeysuckles, Lonicera fragrantis- 

 sima and L. Standishii, whose white flowers appear before the 

 leaves in spring. Many of these bushes in Central Park dis- 

 played a fairly good crop of fragrant flowers. 



As a rule, the production of Orchids from seed is a long 

 process, but with some species it would seem that the grower 

 may not be obliged to wait an unreasonable time for new 

 plants. A correspondent of The Orchid Review writes that 

 on the 28th of March, during the current year, he applied the 

 pollen of Phaius granditolius to the stigma of Bletia catenu- 

 lata, from which a pod ripened and burst on the 10th of May. 

 The seeds were planted the same day, and" on the 4th of 

 June a batch of seedlings were up, and are now nice little 

 plants — that is, the whole period from the application of the 

 pollen to the germination of the seed was only a little more 

 than nine weeks. 



A correspondent, Mr. F. K.Steele, writes from the Ozark Hills 

 in praise of the beauty of Tahnum teretifolium, a low, leafy- 

 stemmed, succulent plant belonging to the Purslane family. 

 It is, indeed, a pretty little plant, bearing on stems about five 

 inches long a cyme of pink and rose-purple flowers which 

 keep succeeding one another from June until August. It is 

 said to be a perennial, but Mr. Horstord, in an account of it in 

 this paper a few years ago, stated that it flowered the first year 

 from seed, but did not survive the winter. This, however, 

 may have been owing to the open winter. It does well in 

 shade, and in the Ozark Hills it grows where the soil is only a 

 few inches thick above the rock. 



Dr. Halsted calls attention to a serious trouble with Chrys- 

 anthemums in the shape of a blight which spots the flowers 

 as soon as they are fully developed, and sometimes before. 

 The trouble starts with small circular dark specks on the 

 corolla of the florets, which are darker than flowers of the 

 lighter shades and lighter than the maroon-colored ones. 

 These spots have a watery appearance at first, which is 

 shortly lollowed by a dry condition and a white mildewy 

 growth which finally turns olive and brown and entirely de- 

 stroys the flowers. Sometimes there are half a dozen start- 

 ing points of the blight, and then the destruction is very rapid. 

 Skillful growers say that the life of the plant is shortened at 

 least one-third of its natural length. The fungus is a member 

 of the genus Alternaria. The spores are produced abundantly 

 upon the surface of the blighted mass, and as they germinate 

 quickly a house once attacked is quickly overrun. 



From a treatise on American Vines in France, lately pre- 

 pared by Messrs. P. Viala and L. Ravaz, it appears that our 

 Vitis rotundifolia possesses the greatest immunity from the 

 attacks of phylloxera, and in a list of Vines where the Number 

 20 represents absolute freedom from attack this species is 

 rated at 19. Atter this comes V. riparia, which is marked 18, 

 and in the same grade we find various hybrids between V. 

 rupestris, V. corditoha and V. riparia. The first plant in the 

 grade, numbered 17, is V. Berlandieri, which is followed by 

 some hybrids. It seems from the list that many of the hybrids 

 are better adapted to resist the attacks of the phylloxera than 

 either of the parent species. Of course, the American Vines 

 are not entirely exempt from phylloxera, but they do not yield 

 to the attacks as the European kinds do, so that the introduc- 

 tion of our plants to be used as stocks upon which the European 

 varieties are grafted has saved thousands of acres of vineyards 

 in France from destruction. This report gives many interest- 

 ing facts in regard to the methods of grafting and of cultivating 

 the vines and the adaptation of the different American species 

 to various soils and exposures. 



Mr. W. G. Johnson, the Entomologist of the Maryland Ex- 

 periment Station, declares in a recent bulletin that it is some- 

 what difficult for an average observer to detect the San Jose" 

 scale unless it is very abundant. When a twig is badly in- 

 fested the entire surface appears under a hand lens as if it 

 were a continuous mass of minute shells from the size of a 

 pin's head downwards. If one of the larger scales is raised with 

 the point of a knife, a small, waxy-looking mass may be seen, 

 and this is the insect. During the summer young orange- 



colored lice can be seen crawling over the twigs, but they are 

 mere specks. When the branch of a tree loses its foliage 

 before the rest of the tree, or when a twig appears as if it had 

 been covered with ashes, it should be carefully examined, 

 and when the bark of infested twigs is scraped with a knife 

 the numerous insects cause an oily yellowish liquid to appear 

 on the surface. In Pear-trees particular attention should be 

 given to the extremities of the twigs, especially if the leaves 

 turn brown. In infested fruit of the Pear an encircling band 

 of reddish discoloration is seen around each insect. A little 

 lady-bird beetle about the size of a pin's head is often seen 

 running about on infested trees, and wherever it appears on 

 trunk or branches a careful search should be made for the 

 scales on which it feeds. 



W. H. Lincoln and Mayflower are still among the best 

 chrysanthemums seen in the flower-shops this week, with 

 some especially good blooms of the golden-yellow Mrs. 

 Grant, brought from Philadelphia. Other chrysanthemums 

 yet in the trade are the yellow Challenge, said to be a good 

 keeper, the pink Erminelda, George W. Childs, Sunrise, bright 

 terra-cotta tinged with gold, and Niveus. Among the 

 highest-class carnations of many varieties now in season are 

 the bold white flowers of Storm King, Maud Dean, white 

 ground, shaded' and splashed with rosy pink, and the hand- 

 some Lillie Dean, very double, delicately striped and edged 

 with bright red, and delightfully fragrant. After these in popu- 

 lar favor and price come the showy Portia and the dark 

 maroon Anna Webb, Daybreak and the rosy Tidal Wave. 

 Somewhat more plentiful and cheaper are William Scott and 

 Lizzie McGowan, while Alaska and Mrs. Fisher are other varie- 

 ties noted. The new President Carnot roses command $6.00 a 

 dozen ; Bride and Bridesmaid, $4.00, and American Beauty, 

 $12.00. The window of one of the Broadway establishments, 

 where a few odd and rare flowers are almost always to be 

 seen, yesterday contained some plants of Sarracenia purpurea 

 (wild Pitcher-plants), giant spikes of Mignonette, flowers of 

 blue Centaurea, lily-of-the-valley, Violets, white and pink Bou- 

 vardia, Bermuda lilies, jessamine, stevia, paper-white narcis- 

 sus, flowering Roman narcissus, well-berried sprays of holly, 

 and Cyclamen-plants in flower. Anthuriums and Cypripediums 

 were striking features in other window decorations, as were 

 luxuriantly flowered Heaths, Otaheite Orange and low, compact 

 Azaleas. In one display thickly berried, leafless branches of 

 Ilex verticillata gave brightness to a drapery of Asparagus 

 plumosus. 



Anthony Waterer died at Knap Hill Nurseries, at Woking, in 

 Surrey, on the 16th of November, after a short and' painless 

 illness, in the seventy-fifth year of his age. He is most widely 

 known as the originator of many of the best hybrid Rhodo- 

 dendrons in cultivation, and he and predecessors in his family 

 did more than any other firm to popularize the cultivation of 

 Rhododendrons, Azaleas and other hardy shrubs of this class. 

 The Knap Hill Nurseries, which had long been notable, grew in 

 size, importance and reputation under Mr. Anthony Waterer's 

 successful management, and at the time of his death had be- 

 come probably the greatest nursery of hardy plants in the world, 

 although a larger number of species of plants were cultivated 

 in others. For Rhododendrons, however, hardy Azaleas, to 

 which of late years Mr. Waterer gave special attention, and 

 the choicest conifers it had no rival. Anthony Waterer had 

 many correspondents in the United States. His connections 

 here date from the time of Downing, who imported plants 

 from Knap Hill for the Capitol grounds at Washington. After 

 Downing's death the unpaid bill for these plants was found 

 among his papers by his executor, Henry Winthrop Sargent, 

 of Fishkill. Mr. Sargent was a classmate of Charles Sumner, 

 and through his assistance he succeeded in obtaining from 

 Congress an appropriation to pay this bill. From this sprung 

 the friendship which existed for years between Mr. Waterer 

 and Mr. Sargent, who for many years was one of the principal 

 horticulturists of the United States. From this friendship 

 others sprung, until gradually all the principal cultivators of 

 hardy trees and shrubs in the United States became friends 

 and clients of Anthony Waterer, who of late years has devoted 

 special attention to breeding Rhododendrons capable of 

 supporting the climate of this country. In 1876, when the 

 Knap Hill Nursery made a special exhibit of Rhododendrons 

 in Philadelphia, Mr. Waterer visited the United States. A man 

 of the highest integrity, rough in manner, but kind of heart, 

 Mr. Waterer was a type of the English cultivator of the old 

 school not often seen now. We all owe him a debt of grati- 

 tude for the plants he has produced for us, and those who 

 have had the advantage of his friendship will never forget his 

 strong and interesting personality. 



