198 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 271. 



fountain-basin of the Botanic Gardens. But while the Vic- 

 toria regia may be available for the embellishment of large 

 places, or public parks, it will never be used to any great ex- 

 tent by the owners of small gardens. 



Scarcely less striking in appearance is Nelumbium specio- 

 sum, the so-called Egyptian Lotus, which any one can grow in the 

 open air with no other preparation than a water-tight tank. 

 Although a native of the East Indies, it can be flowered any- 

 where in the middle or New England states, provided the 

 roots are kept from freezing in winter. It is immaterial 

 whether the water is drawn off the tank or not, on the approach 

 of winter ; all that is needed is to keep the mud from freezing. 

 The late L. H. Meyer, of Staten Island, never drew the water 

 from his tanks, and his Lotuses never failed to grow as soon 

 as the spring sun warmed the water. This does not mean that 

 the Lotus will thrive in running water, such as a pond, with a 

 brook running through it. When the late Thomas Hogg lived 

 in Japan he sent to Isaac Buchanan several varieties of this 

 charming plant, which were all lost through being planted in a 

 running brook that skirted his nursery at Astoria, Long 

 Island. 



About sixteen years ago I received some seeds from Japan. 

 I sowed them in tepid water, after filing away part of the outer 

 husk of the seed, which is so hard that a long time is required 

 to soften it unless the water is allowed to get at the core. 

 When the plants were large enough, an oval tank of brick and 

 cement was made about fifteen feet long by nine feet wide and 

 three deep. A foot of compost was then spread on the bot- 

 tom, and the young plants put in, and these same plants have 

 flowered every year since. The roots are occasionally thinned 

 out, and the tank has been enlarged repeatedly. The roots 

 spread so fast that they need to be walled in to prevent their 

 crowding out other aquatics planted in the same water. Some- 

 times the water has been drawn off in winter, at other times 

 not, but rough boards are laid across, and litter or rubbish is 

 placed upon them, as much to prevent the frost from cracking 

 the cement, as to protect the roots. The most charming effect 

 can be made with these plants if advantage can be taken of a 

 natural depression, such as an old pond or swamp or the foot 

 of any rocky ledge, not shaded by trees, for it must be borne 

 in mind that aquatics need all the sunshine they can get at all 

 times. In some of the lakes near the Washington Monument in 

 the national capital, the Lotus has been naturalized for some 

 time, and has taken complete possession of the pockets con- 

 taining the richest mud, just as it has done in a natural pond 

 in New Jersey, where it takes care of itself, and bids fair to 

 crowd out many of the native aquatics. 



The best effect I ever produced with these plants was in 

 making an otherwise objectionable mass of rocks do duty as 

 an accessory to an aquatic garden. This was accomplished by 

 uncovering'and laying bare more rocks, which formed a natu- 

 ral basin. All the fissures were filled up with cement, and a 

 wall of the same rocks was built on the lower side, without any 

 marks of the hammer, and finished off with the grass level at 

 the edge of the basin. A water-pipe was introduced at the. 

 highest point, and when wanted to fill up the basin, to make up 

 for evaporation or leakage, the water was allowed to trickle 

 over the natural rocks, and produced a very pleasing effect, 

 besides furnishing moisture for the various plants in the 

 pockets prepared for them, where they were introduced to 

 carry out in the surroundings the tropical effect. 



Another very effective use I have made of aquatics was last 

 summer, in laying out the grounds of Vassar Brothers' Hos- 

 pital, near Poughkeepsie. Here was a depression that had 

 formerly been a swamp. This was partially cleared out and a 

 tank made, about sixty feet long, by twenty-five feet wide, and 

 kidney-shaped, to conform to the natural slope of the bank in 

 the rear. The sides were built of rocks blasted out of other 

 parts of the grounds, and laid in cement, and the bottom con- 

 creted, as menfioned before. All the water required is furnished 

 by a spring. This was planted with a variety of the choicest 

 aquatics about the first week in June. These established them- 

 selves at once, and were very greatly admired. The Nelum- 

 biums were planted in the middle, and before the end of the 

 season they had produced more than five hundred flowers. 

 The Nymphasas, Lymnocharis, Pontederias, Sagittarias, etc., 

 were equally profuse in blooming. 



Where there is not space enough for a tank, or only a few 

 Nymphaeas are wanted, quite a display may be made by saw- 

 ing kerosene barrels across the middle and sinking them 

 level with the grass in the lawn, or any other place desired, 

 filling them half full of rich earth, and planting the aquatics 

 as early as the weather gets warm enough. If the hardy varie- 

 ties are grown they can be left in the same position all winter; 

 but if protected from frost in winter by covering with any 



kind of rubbish, they will be ready to start growing earlier in 

 spring and thus prolong the season of flowering. If the ten- 

 der varieties are wanted, they can be bought at a reasonable 

 rate from growers who make a specialty of these plants, but 

 any one having a greenhouse can sow the seeds in shallow 

 pans in January or February, plunging them in water at a tem- 

 perature of about seventy degrees. They can have plants 

 large enough to set out in the tubs or tanks outside, by the 

 time the weather is warm enough to receive them, which will 

 be about the end of May. 



William Tricker, of Dongan Hills, Staten Island, is now 

 growing all his aquatics in very shallow tanks, where the water 

 warms more quickly, and the plants bloom much earlier in the 

 season than when planted deep. He has a multitude of seed- 

 lings from fertilized flowers, of both the tender and hardy va- 

 rieties, coming along. He saves very few of the old plants 

 over winter, but prefers sowing seeds early in the year, and 

 having plants large enough to plant in the tanks by bedding- 

 out lime, or earlier, if only the hardy kinds are used. 



Many experiments in hybridizing aquatics are now in pro- 

 gress, both in this country and in Europe, and, beyond doubt, 

 these plants are destined to play a more important part 

 in the ornamental gardening of the future than they have done 

 in the past. 



West New Brighton, N. Y. Sainuel Henshaw. 



Maple-sugar. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest: 



Sir, — As the owner of a Maple-sugar orchard in Vermont, 

 whose products are marketed in the city, I have been greatly 

 interested in Mr. Wheeler's articles on sugar-making, and hope 

 to profit by his practical suggestions. But, as a city-dweller 

 and a consumer of maple sugar and syrup, I wish to defend 

 the city people of the imputation of complete ignorance which 

 Mr. Wheeler seems t© put upon them. Of course, he is right 

 in saying that pure maple-sugar is not to be distinguished from 

 cane-sugar ; and while city people undoubtedly want maple- 

 sugar that is pure in the sense that it is not adulterated, they 

 do not want the kind of pure maple-sugar that is white. "There 

 is no reason whatever to buy this when cane-sugar is to be 

 had at five cents a pound. They like the flavor of the maple, 

 and they are perfectly right in objecting to too much refine- 

 ment of the article. This maple flavor may be due, as Mr. 

 Wheeler says, to impurities in the sap, but they are natural im- 

 purities, and are to be desired, in proper proportion, in the man- 

 ufactured article. The sap of nearly every tree, I suppose, has 

 a certain proportion of sugar, but the sap of each kind of tree 

 has a flavor of its own. In the case of the maple, this flavor 

 is good ; it is what has given maple-sugar its value over cane- 

 sugar. 



I have had the experience, as a maker of syrup, of having my 

 product objected to because it was too light in color. I knew 

 that the syrup was perfectly pure. I could not deny that other 

 syrup, which I knew was also free from any kind of adultera- 

 tion, and which was darker than that made on my place, had 

 more of the maple flavor, and was more delicious to the 

 palate. I began to wonder whether the expert sugar-makers 

 up in Vermont are as well advised about the business as they 

 suppose themselves to be. Some persons make sugar from 

 the sap of Butternut-trees and impute to it medicinal qualities. 

 If I believed with them that butternut-sugar was especially good 

 for the health, sugar with the butternut flavor would be ex- 

 actly what I should want. And if the people of our cities want 

 the maple flavor, why should they not have it in proper meas- 

 ure, since it is in the trees ? If sugar is wanted that is sim- 

 ply sweet, we can get it much cheaper from cane or beets. 

 Boston. J- E. C. 



Blue Flowers. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Will you be kind enough to give me the names of some 

 plants which bear blue flowers ? a n 



Syracuse, N. Y. -A. (a. 



[Flowers of a true blue are somewhat rare, although those 

 in which red appears to make up a purple are quite abun- 

 dant. Among our native wild plants every one will recall 

 among those of the early season the beautiful blue bell- 

 shaped flowers of the Lungwort, Mertensia Virginica, while 

 almost at the end of the flowering-season, in late September, 

 comes the Fringed Gentian, which is a clear blue when 

 growing in the shade, and rather darker blue when found 



