I04 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 262. 



go through a score of greenhouses without finding one of this 

 order, except, perhaps, a variegated Pine-apple. I have culti- 

 vated Billbergia Bakeri for the last twenty years with much 

 satisfaction, it never having failed in that time to blossom at 

 the proper season. At this time, February 15th, every 

 new growth is sending up its thick clusters of buds, although 

 on our coldest morning the water in the deep vases of its 

 leaves was skimmed over with ice, showing a remarkable de- 

 gree of hardiness in a Brazilian plant. 



Billbergia Bakeri has a tufted habit of growth, the leaves, to 

 the number of si.x or eight, springing up together from the 

 surface of the soil and clasping each other at the base so 

 closely as to form water-tight vases. These leaves are about 

 twelve inches long and two broad, as stiff to the touch as 

 parchment, dark green changing to dull red at their edges, and 

 covered externally with a whitish dust. If kept in a warm 

 house the flower-spike will show itself as early as the first of 

 January at the bottom of the leaves, the buds wrapped in the 

 rose-colored bracts, forming a mass as thick as a man's 

 thumb. 



When fully developed this plant is a very beautiful object, 

 with its four or five large rosy bracts and its dense pendulous 

 cluster of tubular blossoms, bright green with violet tips, and 

 twisted orange anthers. The cultural requirements of the 

 plant are simple. Like most of the order, it lives, apparently, 

 on the moisture of the air and the water in its vases. It has 

 no need of a pot except as a base to stand on. I have had as 

 many as six spikes in bloom at once on a plant in a two-inch 

 pot, and, of course, no repotting is necessary. Beyond giving 

 an abundance of water, almost the only care needed is to cut 

 off the old leaves when the flowers have faded and the new 

 growth is about six inches high. W. E, Endicott. 



Canton, Mass. 



Roses. 



THE month of February usually includes a number of dull 

 days and much damp weather in this latitude. Great care 

 in watering, ventilating and heating Rose-houses is therefore 

 necessary, for while the rays of the sun are becoming stronger 

 each day the changes are sudden and frequent. Light top- 

 dressings of manure should be given from time to time. If 

 the Roses are in a good growing condition such an application 

 will be beneficial once in six weeks ; not more of the fertilizer 

 than a depth of one inch should be applied. The fertilizer 

 most in favor among large Rose-growers is a mixture of horse 

 and cow manure, short and well-rotted. Special fertilizers 

 have been tried by some growers, and occasionally with good 

 results. Nitrate of potash and nitrate of soda are among the 

 most satisfactory, but I think in most instances they have been 

 more effectual when combined with ttie soil than when given 

 in surface applications. Bone-dust continues in favor and is 

 an excellent and lasting plant-food, providing it is the natural 

 bone, ground up, and not the mere fibre of the bone from 

 which various oils have been extracted, this having very little 

 value for indoor-gardening. This fertilizer may be used to 

 advantage by mixing a moderate quantity in the compost in 

 which the Roses are planted, and also as a top-dressing, 

 though in the latter case it is well to inix the bone with some 

 soil, or the fertilizer may be thinly spread over the surface of 

 the bed and then covered with a very thin coating of stable- 

 manure. Droppings from the hen-house make a quick and 

 powerful fertilizer, but must be applied with caution, and are 

 better mixed with some fine soil. 



Methods and measures of heating still prove interesting 

 topics among Rose-growers, and especially so at this season 

 of the year, for the quality of the flowers produced largely 

 depends on the care given to this particular. Among com- 

 mercial growers steam-heating is quite general, from the fact 

 that it is more easily regulated ; but its economy as compared 

 with a good system of hot-water heating has not been 

 thoroughly proved ; and, in fact, the weight of evidence, where 

 comparative tests have been made, has been in favor of hot 

 water on tiie score of economy. For small establishments 

 and private growers the latter system is best, as a night man is 

 not required. 



The difference in temperature required by different varieties 

 make a careful selection of varieties for forcing needful ; it 

 will readily be seen that, among Roses, Meteor, a variety that 

 furnishes good flowers in a temperature of sixty to sixty-five 

 degrees cannot be successfully grown in company with Papa 

 Gontier, because the latter gives its finest blooms in a night 

 temperature of fifty-three to fifty-five degrees ; when grown 

 in a warmer temperature it usually fails before the end 

 of the winter. Madame de Watteville is another Rose of 

 peculiar behavior when forced, and also seems to be most 



satisfactory in a comparatively high temperature and in 

 rather light soil ; Madame Cusin is of somewhat similar char- 

 acter, both these being admirable varieties when well grown,, 

 but having little beauty unless properly managed. Madame 

 Testout has been receiving some adverse criticism as a com- 

 mercial variety during this, its second season, the fault most 

 noted being the comparatively weak stem on which the large 

 flowers are produced ; but as the requirements of this variety 

 are better understood better results will probably be secured. 

 Some other varieties now considered standard have passed 

 through just such criticism in the first years of their introduc- 

 tion. Empress Augusta Victoria seems to be gaining in favor ; 

 the flowers are large, full and borne on stout stems well 

 clothed with handsome foliage. The claim of the introducers 

 seems to be warranted that this variety would prove a decided 

 acquisition to the list of white, or nearly white, Roses. 



Mr. Burton's new pink Rose, American Belie, is, in my esti- 

 mation, superior to its parent, American Beauty, in one respect 

 at least, that its color is clear and pleasing. American Beauty 

 is seldom clear except when freshly cut, whereas flowers of the 

 American Belle, kept in water for several days, continue in good 

 color to theend. Inhabitof growth it would be almost impossi- 

 ble to distinguish American Belle frohi the parent variety, ex- 

 cept that, at present, it appears slightly weaker ; this may be 

 due to overpropagation, and will probably be remedied by a 

 few seasons of careful growing. 



The latest Mermet sport placed upon the market, and now 

 recognized under the name of Bridesmaid, is a handsome 

 Rose ; it is best described as a dark Catherine Mermet, the 

 lovely form of the original flower being faithfully reproduced. 

 This sport seems now to be much more promising than its 

 predecessor on the same line, Waban, the latter having failed 

 as a forcing variety in most places, though at times producing 

 some very handsome flowers. 



Holmesburg, Pa. W. H. Taplin. 



Cultivated Palms in California. 



NOTHING in the whole range of vegetation so impresses 

 the traveler from less-favored climes than the presence of 

 lofty Palms. At the residence of Mr. Kinton Stevens, of Mon- 

 tecito, Santa Barbara County, can be seen a pair of Cocos 

 plumosa, less than eleven years old, over twenty feet high, 

 with well-defined trunks. In the same gardens are thrifty 

 specimens of Seaforthia elegans and Jubaea spectabilis, the 

 Coquito, or little Cocoanut of Chili, the latter a very hardy 

 Palm ; there is also a good collection of fan-leaved Palms, 

 including Sabal Palmetto, of Florida. At the residence of Mr. 

 Sheffield, in Santa Barbara, is a fine Seaforthia, which has 

 already produced ferhle seeds. 



In Los Angeles, at the home of Mr. E. Germain, flourishes a 

 thrifty plant of Kentia Forsteriana. This plant has been in the 

 open three winters and is a model of health and beauty. Few 

 species can surpass Kentia Forsteriana ; it ultimately attains a 

 height of forty feet ; it is indigenous in Lord Howes Island. 

 At Mr. H. Jevne's place a smaller example of the same species 

 seems well established. Near Rosedaie cemetery, in a privatp 

 garden, a good young specimen of Cocos plumosa occurs ; 

 this has been planted out for several seasons. Mr. Forester, on 

 Seventh Street, and Mr. Declez, on Sand Street, also havegood 

 plants of Seaforthia elegans, out several years in the open 

 ground ; at Coronado Beach, beautiful plants of Areca Baueri, 

 Kentia Forsteriana, Seaforthia elegans and Cocos plumosa can 

 be seen. There yet remains a number of good Palms to be 

 introduced to open-air cultivation, notably Kentia Belmoreana, 

 K. Canterburyana, K. sapida, Areca Baueri, Cocos flexuosa, 

 C. australis, C. coronata, C. Yatai and C. Romanzoffiana, Ce- 

 roxylon Andicola, Caryota urens and Ptychosperma Alexan- 

 drise, all of varying degrees of hardiness. In some particularly 

 sheltered and warm places along the foothills, it is not improb- 

 able that Oredoxa regia would flourish. 



We know comparatively little of the Andean Palms of Bo- 

 livia, or the remoter alpine regions of Venezuela, while Para- 

 guay is almost a botanical terra incognita. Count Castleman, 

 during his great Brazilian expedition, records having seen 

 many Palms on the confines of Paraguay; of only a few of these 

 is anything known. Spruce, in his valuable essay on the Palms 

 of the Amazons, alludes to several genera and species as 

 occurring at considerable altitudes. Iriartea ventricosa and 

 I. exorhiza ascend the Andes to 5,000 feet. According to Hum- 

 boldt, Ceroxylon Andicola, the famous Wax Palm of Columbia, 

 was found growing in the Cordilleras, near the pass of Quindiu, 

 between Ibague and Cartago, at from 7,900 to 10,000 feet, in 

 company with Podocarpus-trees and Quercus Granatensis, not 

 very far from the snow-line. From the temperate mountain 

 regions of subtropical Mexico are known, among others. 



