258 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 277. 



Gladiolus with pink flowers— purplish pink when first opening. 

 This flowers on erect spikes at about eighteen inches high and 

 is a very welcome and attractive gain to the borders. It suc- 

 ceeds in flower the purplish and blue forms with lax scapes 

 sent out by Herr Leichtlin as G. Kotschyanus, but, I believe, 

 determined to be G. Armeniacus. 



The larger Water-lilies are now inblooom, after some stirn- 

 ulus of warm weather. Established plants of N. alba candi- 

 dissima and N. albida opened their flowers together this morn- 

 ing. The former variety has long been esteemed as one of 

 the best white flowering kinds. Watching the latter as it ex- 

 panded from a beautiful cup-shaped bud to its perfect stage, 

 I am confirmed in my opinion, formed last season, that it is 

 quite the handsomest of hardy white Nymphaeas, 

 Elizabeth, N.J. J.N.Gerard. 



Barrenworts. 



THE Epimediums, or Barrenworts, possess so many points 

 of merit in foliage and flower, and are so easy of culture, 

 that it is surprising that they are neglected so generally. The 

 genus has representatives in Europe, Asia and Africa, with one 

 doubtful American species. They are all of medium size, sel- 

 dom exceeding one foot in height, with underground stolons by 

 means of which broad matted tufts are formed. All of the 

 species bloom in spring or early summer, the flowers appear- 

 ing in some cases just in advance of the foliage, and with the 

 fresh young leaves in others. The foliage of these plants is 

 interesting and beautiful and varies much in form, color and 

 texture with the different species. In all of them, however, 

 the leaf-stalks are stiff and wiry, and in early spring as the 

 leaves are expanding the general effect of the plants is almost 

 as graceful as that of the Maidenhair Ferns. The young leaves 

 are particularly striking in the variety of their color, combining 

 as they do rich shades of flesh-color, purple and red, with the 

 light greens. They gradually assume a deeper shade of green 

 with age, although they are often margined with flesh-color 

 and red throughout the summer. 



The flowers are usually star-shaped, the outer petals falling 

 soon after they open, and the inner ones, which are convex on 

 the reverse side, spread out horizontally above the outer petal- 

 spurs, so as to give the effect of a star within a star. Epime- 

 dium alpinum, a European species, bears from twelve to 

 twenty flowers of white and crimson in a lax panicle in May, 

 each panicle borne on a stem nearly a foot long. The 

 flowers expand with the foliage, and their depth of color is in- 

 tensified by the contrast in color. E. niveum during the latter 

 half of May bears dense panicles of pure white flowers, and 

 its variety, Roseum, is showily tinged with pink. The flowers, 

 though smaller than those of E. alpinum, are lifted well above 

 the leaves. E, macranthum, the earliest to bloom, produces 

 the largest flowers of all, some of them being an inch across, 

 with the outer petals a lavender-purple and the inner ones 

 French pink. The plant in full bloom produces a very re- 

 markable effect. E. sulphureum blooms later and is at its 

 best in early June, bearing deep lemon-colored flowers in 

 dense panicles, which are gracefully overarched by the foli- 

 age. The Epimediums do not seem to be particular about 

 soil, but they thrive best in sandy loam and in partial shade, 

 and they are particularly effective when massed in a rockery. 



Reading, Mass. J ■ Woodiuard Manning. 



Correspondence. 

 From a Garden in Northern California. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — California has seldom had a more backward spring 

 than this year, and many garden-plants have done poorly. 

 Bulbous plants have, however, prospered under the cool 

 ■weather and frequent rains, and Hyacinths, Narcissus and 

 Tulips did wonderfully well, as also the great variety of Cah- 

 fornian bulbs in my garden. For the native bulbs, with but 

 few exceptions, a porous, not overstimulating, soil, first-class 

 drainage, and not too much watering, are essential. I have 

 had two partial failures this spring, one due directly to poor 

 drainage, the other to attacks of a mildew. Calochortus splen- 

 dens, from an arid locality, was killed to the ground by the 

 fungus. Other forms of C. splendens from a cooler climate 

 were little injured, and C. luteus and C. Weedii from places 

 close at hand were untouched. In previous years other Calo- 

 chorti from the arid regions, such as C. Nuttallii and C. macro- 

 carpus, were attacked. C. venustus, asa rule, is mildew-proof; 

 also the Calochorti of the C. pulchellustype (Cyclobothras). As 

 the fungus clearly comes on the bulbs, it would, I believe, be 



a wise precaution to use some wash, such as sulphate of cop- 

 per, to disinfect them before planting. 



For the first time I have been successful with Fritillaria pu- 

 dica. The soil is a sharp river sand and loam, and the drain- 

 age is good. My experience has been that no soil equals a 

 sharp sandy one for all of the Calochorti like C. pulchellus, C. 

 albus, C. lilacinus, C. Benthamii and others. C. amoenus flow- 

 ered for the second season this year. It is between C. albus 

 and C. pulchellus, and its satiny dark pink flowers are charm- 

 ing. Indeed, there is no more exquisite coloring in any Calo- 

 chortus. 



I have long looked upon our native Cypripedium montanum 

 as rather hard to grow, but must reverse this opinion. A large 

 number of clumps, some collected last fall and some a year 

 ago, have all bloomed freely, and will compare with the best 

 plants in their native homes. The soil is a rather heavy clay, 

 with sand and mold mixture, the situation cool and for the 

 greater part of the day shady. 



The popular flower festivals in the southern portion of our 

 state are held at a time when we could scarcely show a Rose 

 in this section. The Banksia Roses do finely throughout the 

 state, and just now are beautiful. These Roses will quickly 

 clamber over a house. The Noisettes are highly satisfactory 

 here ; also Mar^chal Neil and Cloth of Gold. The old favorite, 

 Gloire de Dijon, and the equally good Reine Marie Henrietta 

 do splendidly, and among the climbers there are many more 

 of the same class that are hardy and beautiful. 



Ukiah, Calif. Carl Purdy. 



New Cypripediums. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Of more than 500 plants of the noble Cypripedium 

 Chamberlainianum which I have seen, the variety Magnificum 

 is the finest and largest both in foliage and flower. The plant 

 measures two feet four inches across, and the leaves, which 

 are faintly tessellated, are three inches broad. The polyflorous 

 scape is pubescent ; the flowers are borne one at a time, and 

 each one measures over four inches across the petals. The 

 dorsal sepal is an inch and a half across, pale green, shading 

 to primrose-yellow on the margin, with ten dark brown rays, 

 and pilose on the reverse side. The inferior sepal is pale 

 green, with brown rays. The petals are pale apple-green, with 

 rows of brown-purple dots, and are twisted in a reverse direc- 

 tion. The lip is two inches long, crimson, with the infolded 

 lobes, base and the border of the aperture a pale yellow, the 

 whole specked with carmine. The staminode is a deep glossy 

 green. The plant of C. Germinyianum aureum resembles the 

 type, but the flowers are larger ; the dorsal sepal an umber- 

 brown, bordered with dull orange, petals vinous-purple on the 

 superior half, and dull orange on the inferior half, dotted with 

 red near the base ; the lip a sombre orange, dotted inside 

 with brown, the staminode yellow. „ , ,, ^ 



Orange, N.J. Robert M. Grey. 



Marica Northiana. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Apropos of Mr. Gerard's recent valuable notes on the 

 Iris family, it may be interesting to note that Marica Northiana 

 has been in flower here for the last two months, and it proves 

 a good bloomer in a cool greenhouse, without special culture. 

 Its flowers are fugacious, lasting only a day, but are of exqui- 

 site beauty and fragrance, and produced in great numbers. 

 The habit of growth is exceedingly graceful, and it seems a 

 desirable plant for amateurs to cultivate. 



My plant came from the Bermudas, where it was called the 

 Bermuda Iris, but it was originally introduced into England 

 from Brazil about 1790. ^ . . ^ 



Braintree, Mass. CurtlS A. Perry. 



Recent Publications. 



The Hawks and Owls of the United States in their Rela- 

 tion to Agriculture. Prepared under the direction of Dr. C. 

 Hart Merriam, Ornithologist of the United States Department 

 of Agriculture, by A. K. Fisher, M. D., Assistant Ornithologist. 

 Washington, 1893. 8vo, 201 pp., 25 colored plates. 



The Department of Agriculture has done wisely in present- 

 ing so attractively in Bulletin No. 3 of the Division of Oi'ni- 

 thology and Mammalogy the results of Dr. Fisher's studies on 

 the food of a class of birds usually reckoned as the enemies 

 of the farmer, but which actual investigation shows to be his 

 best friends. By careful examination of the contents of the 

 stomachs of 2,700 specimens of the different hawks and owls 

 of the country, it is proved beyond a doubt that by far the 



