May lo, 1893.] 



Garden and Forest. 



209 



that one wishes they might never grow any bigger. And the 

 Cat-brier leaves are not merely emerald green, changing at the 

 ends of the shoots into brightest bronze. They are absolutely 

 like emeralds in quality as in tint. They do more than shine — 

 they glow. When, driving late in the afternoon toward the 

 west, the sunlight filters through them, and it seems as though 

 the woods had been sprinkled with gems, blazing and scintil- 

 lating with a gold-green radiance of their own. 

 New York, N. Y. M- G. Van Rensselaer. 



Spring Coloring. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir,— A note in Garden and Forest, April 26th, on the beauty 

 pf spring foliage, suggests another phase of spring beauty not 

 often commented on, though it may be widely noticed. Our 

 autumn foliage is justly celebrated for the brilliance and 

 variety of its coloring, as is observed in the paragraph referred 

 to, and the delicacy and variety of color in spring foliage is not 

 far behind ; but the spring color of vegetable-stems will bear 

 comparison for interest and beauty with either. Taken in com- 

 bination with the flowers of the various catkin-bearing plants 

 now in bloom, some of these color-effects are wonderful. In 

 a recent ride by rail down the Merrimac valley this fact was 

 forcibly brought to my attention. In one place a close-set 

 thicket of Poplars, in full bloom, made a soft gray cloud in the 

 landscape, faintly tinted with green from the tree-stems, and 

 offering besides a hint of pink, probably from the red so con- 

 spicuous at short range in the anthers at one stage of their 

 development. Birches set thickly in the pastures made broad 

 patches of clear reddish brown, and Alders spread a purple 

 mantle over the swampy lands. The Maples showed clear 

 gray stems, shading gradually toward their tips into a red, in 

 some cases almost as vivid as that of their blossoms, now un- 

 folding. Willows were of all shades between green-brown and 

 golden. 



Each tree of the orchard and forest has its color, as distinc- 

 tive to the initiated as its foliage ; but at no other time of the 

 year does that brilliancy appear which is to be observed now, 

 especially in a soft, slow rain, when the moisture brings out 

 vividly the color, not only of the bark, but of every Moss and 

 Lichen adorning it. 



Some of the Willows show marvelous color-effects. One now 

 in mind has at all seasons a clear golden bark ; but some time 

 in February, occasionally not until March, a change is appa- 

 rent, subtle, indefinable, but unmistakable. From being just 

 golden, and very beautiful, too, it becomes alive and shows to 

 every onlooker that spring is on the way and sap has started, 

 though snow covers the ground, and neither robin nor blue- 

 bird has shown himself. 



Manchester, N. H. M. A. M. 



Exhibitions. 



The New York Flower Show. 



MADISON SQUARE GARDEN was rather large for the 

 Flower Show held there last week. On Friday, when the 

 table and mantel decorations were in place, and when the fine 

 weather brought out a large attendance, the garden looked fairly 

 well filled ; but, as a rule, the exhibition, although it contained 

 many fine plants, looked meagre in the broad vacant spaces. 

 There were fewer large decorative plants than usual, chiefly be- 

 cause exhibitors who are usually depended on for contributions 

 of this sort had sent away great specimens by the car-load to 

 Chicago ; and yet the most liberal contributors to the Colum- 

 bian Exhibition occupied a large portion of the space at the 

 show. Again, it was too late in the season for many green- 

 house-plants and too early for outdoor flowers, and this helps 

 to account for a smaller exhibition than usual. 



Of the Ferns, a collection of ten plants, shown by Richard 

 Brett, gardener to J. B. Colgate, included good specimens 

 of Scolopendrium pinnatum and Gymnogramme Martensii. 

 There were also notable plants of the golden Davallia Moore- 

 iana, and the darker D. Fijiensis major. In a large group 

 of decorative plants, arranged for effect, for which J. M. 

 Keller received first prize, some Kentias, a superb Phoenix rupi- 

 cola and other Palms contrasted well with Pandanus Veitchii 

 and the darker P. utilis, the only break in the body of green 

 being the red Holly-like berries of Ardisia crenata and the 

 flowers of Chrysanthemum frutescens. A perfect plant of 

 Licuala grandis was shown by Messrs. Siebrecht & Wadley, 

 and so was a fine specimen of the so-called golden variety of 

 the Bourbon Palm. A mound of Rhododendrons, near the 



entrance, was contributed by W. Bayard Cutting. The plants 

 were in vigorous health andcovered with well-opened flowers, 

 and they served an excellent purpose in giving the visitor that 

 first good impression which goes far to make any flower show 

 successful. 



The Columbian Exposition has made heavy drafts on the 

 great Orchid collections near this city, so that the display in 

 this department was much smaller than it has been in former 

 years. The plants were furnished mainly by Pitcher & Manda 

 and Siebrecht & Wadley, although there was a small group of 

 cut flowers brought by Mr. George Savage, gardener to W. S. 

 Kimball, Esq., of Rochester, which were remarkable for size 

 and perfection of form and color. Among these were Den- 

 drobium macrophyllum and D. Findlayanum, one of the best 

 of the early-blooming sorts ; Maxillaria Sanderiana, one of the 

 handsomest of the genus ; and the rare Cypripedium Wallisi, 

 often called the White Caudatum. Here, too, was a spray 

 of the white Cattleya Skinneri, a fine variety of Cymbidium 

 Lowii and of Phalsenopsis grandis, Schiller's variety of Laelia 

 elegans, and the rare little Epidendrum bicornutum. Among 

 the plants was an admirable specimen of the beautiful African 

 Ansellia, a Chysis bractescens with its wax-like flowers, and a 

 remarkable plant of Cypripedium caudatum. The new Cypri- 

 pedium Greyanum was well grown, and makes an attractive 

 plant, and near it was the native C. Californicum, which was 

 figured in the first volume of Garden and Forest. Other 

 notable plants were a fine specimen of Cattleya Mossise Wag- 

 neri, C. Gravesiana and Dendrobium thyrsiflorum. Near these 

 Orchids were some Anthurium seedlings which had been 

 raised by Mr. A. P. Meredith, gardener to Colonel Cutting, of 

 Pittsfield, Massachusetts. They were remarkable for the firm 

 texture of the spathes and the depth of their coloring, which 

 was a dark lustrous crimson. 



- Besides Mr. Cutting's group of Rhododendrons, a great deal 

 of rich color was furnished by greenhouse Azaleas and Pitcher 

 & Manda's exquisite group of Azalea mollis. Brighter still 

 were the large beds of the common garden varieties of Hya- 

 cinths, Tulips and Narcissus. This part of the exhibition 

 would have been more instructive if some of the species of 

 Tulips had been shown, and some of the newer forms of Nar- 

 cissus, which are so popular in Europe. But none of these 

 were seen, nor did we observe any of the neat little Fritillarias 

 or the late introductions among Irises. One of the most attrac- 

 tive exhibits was a group of Calceolarias, grown by Mr. Charles 

 A. Webber, gardener of J. Hood Wright, Esq. These plants 

 were very compact and vigorous, and covered with flowers 

 having singular richness of color and delicacy of marking. 



Perhaps the most valuable feature of the show, from an edu- 

 cational point of view, was a collection of hardy plants in 

 flower. They were contributed by Messrs. Pitcher & Manda and 

 Siebrecht & Wadley, but the two competing groups were massed 

 together and surrounded by an edging of variegated Funkia. 

 In the centre were some tall-flowering shrubs, a white flow- 

 ered Azalea, a Forsythia and some of the early-flowering Mag- 

 nolias. About the large white Azalea were some gorgeous 

 red Paeonies, and the Forsythia was surrounded by tall Irises 

 and Doronicums, which are the most effective among large 

 early yellow flowers. After these came flowers of more 

 humble habit, with low-growing or creeping plants at the 

 border. The tasteful arrangement included at least a hun- 

 dred different kinds of the most useful of the spring-flowering 

 plants, like Primulas and Polyanthus of many colors, Iceland 

 Poppies, two or three varieties of our native Trilliums, Birds'- 

 foot Violets, masses of the prostrate yellow Alyssum saxatile 

 and trailing Phloxes, P. subulata and P. amcena, hardy Candy- 

 tuft, Rock Cress, the fragrant Daphne Cneorum, Gaillardias, 

 Globe flowers, Saxifrages, Columbines, Spirreas and Hellebores, 

 or Lenten Lilies, in variety. Altogether, it was a most inspiring 

 suggestion of a May garden, interesting in itself, and doubly so 

 as showing what might he accomplished in this direction with 

 a little time and study and effort. 



Besides those already noted, some of the principal prizes 

 were awarded as follows : 



To Pitcher & Manda for Tree Fern, group of flowering 

 plants, Azalea Indica, Orchids, Hyacinths, Tulips and group of 

 hardy flowering plants ; to Siebrecht & Wadlev for Palms, 

 Cycads, Nepenthes and Cannas ; to J. B. Colga'te for Palms, 

 Crotons and Ferns ; to W. Siebrecht for Lilies and Dutch 

 bulbs; to Ernst Asmus for several classes of Roses, Tulips 

 and Carnations ; to Dailledouze Brothers for Carnations and 

 Mignonette ; to T. J. Slaughter and John Anderson for Roses. 

 A certificate of merit was awarded to J. Tailby & Sons for the 

 new yellow Carnation, Henrietta Sargent, and Messrs. Waren- 

 dorff & Son were successful in the competition for table 

 decorations. 



