26? 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 278. 



and has slaty white flowers, not nearly so effective, while the 

 habit is the same. I. Monnieri is a fine yellow form of the 

 same group, which is a good companion to I. ochroleuca. I. 

 Caroliniana, now in flower, is a favorite for its distinctness. It 

 has very light purple fiowers, veined on the falls with white 

 and yellow markings and brown stems. The leaves are sword- 

 shaped and somewhat large. I. cuprea deserve:s mention for 

 its quaintly colored dull coppery flowers. I. pseudo-acorus 

 and several of the Spuria group are also in flower, but call for 

 no remark. 



Mr. Cameron's note on the culture of the beautiful little I. 

 cristata interested me, as it grows with me under exactly oppo- 

 site conditions from those noted by him. In a raised dry bor- 

 der of sandy loam, fully exposed to the sun, it thrives perfectly. 

 It has been there three seasons, I believe. It is evidently a 

 plant of an accommodating habit, but with a neighbor of mine 

 it fails continually in a sandy loam. At the same place, I. 

 verna, a plant which constantly disappears with me, grows 

 like a weed. 



The Brodiasas are at present very attractive. B. coccinea, 

 the quaintest, has dark red tubular flowers, tipped with green, 

 in clusters. B. laxa is the showiest of the purple kinds, with um- 

 bels of upright bell-shaped flowers, somewhat Agapanthus-like 

 in effect. On B.congesta the flowers are borne closely. B. Minor 

 is a gem ; unlike the other species, which have stems over a 

 foot long, the plant carries its deep bright star-like purple 

 flowers only a few inches high. B. lactea has large umbels of 

 pure white flowers, with green bands. The flowers have short 

 petals and are somewhat cup-shaped. The first leaves of this 

 plant are twice the width of the later ones. These bulbs have 

 wintered without protection in a moist, heavy border without 

 losses. 



There are few prettier hardy plants in foliage and flower 

 than the Pyrethrums, or the colored Daisies, as they are aptly 

 termed. The finely-cut foliage looks delicate, but the plants 

 are perfectly hardy. A packet of seed will usually give one a 

 good assortment of colors, ranging from the faintest pink to a 

 bright carmine. Some of them show the disagreeable bluish 

 red", but these can be discarded. I prefer the single ones about 

 the size of the Daisy, as most useful for cutting. The Ane- 

 mone-like double forms ornament the border and are striking 

 flowers in a way, but are rather formal for bouquets. This 

 reminds me that Galium aristatum is now in flower. This is 

 the earliest of the fine mist-like flowers, so indispensable for 

 floral arrangements. The plant is of a rather weedy habit, but 

 furnishes a great amount of useful sprayS to arrange with 



bolder flowers. ~ at /- 



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



Correspondence. 

 The Wild Garden. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — This is the season for replenishing the wild garden. 

 Only a few plants can be transplanted safely during the dower- 

 ing season, which comes in April or May for most of the desira- 

 ble species, and after midsummer many of them, especially the 

 bulbous species, have disappeared for the year. It is very 

 interesting to gather a large sod or ball of soil with a plant, 

 for that not only insures its safe removal, but there is prospect 

 of securing something else along with it. I have obtained sev- 

 eral prizes in that way, among them Monarda didyma (Bee 

 Balm) and Thalictrum Cornuti (Meadow Rue). 



Wild plants may be cultivated or not, as a rule, just as one 

 chooses. They must be looked after, if they have been gath- 

 ered without previous knowledge of their habits, for some will 

 turn out to be rampant growers and destroy the others. The 

 large leaves of the Bloodroot, the running habits of some 

 Asters and Lysimachias, or the spreading in a mass of Phlox 

 subulata are examples. Wild plants that have taken to the 

 woods have not always done so from choice. They are merely 

 such as will not thrive in sod, or are unable to make headway 

 against it. Phlox subulata remains in the open, for it forms 

 its own sod and holds its ground, while Phlox divaricata hardly 

 forms a sod and is found in open woods. Flowering late in 

 spring, it cannot endure heavy shade, and is thus restricted to 

 groves. 



I find this delicate Phlox, and also the Monardas, both M. 

 didyma and the less striking M. fistulosa, far from hardy in the 

 wild garden. They winter-kill in spite of every care. The 

 old favorite, Aquilegia Canadensis, or wild Red Honeysuckle, 

 as it is improperly called, often degenerates in cultivation, and 

 there are not a few perennial plants of especial desirability that 

 appear to depend largely on seed for perpetuation. For this 



reason it is quite desirable to preserve the natural surround- 

 ings of wild plants, and these are not shade so much as ab- 

 sence of sod. If the soil is light, to begin with, all they will 

 need is a mulch of leaves sufficient to keep down grass. A 

 spreading tree adds to the desirability of the location, as the 

 late-flowering sorts can be planted on the south side of the 

 plot. 



There are many pleasant surprises in the gathering of plants 

 for a wild garden, which should be carried on every year. In 

 searching for specimens every plant that piques the curiosity 

 should be taken, if size permits. In my experience, a tuft of 

 light green leaves developed into Teasels, whose seedHng ap- 

 pearance I had forgotten, and the graceful Thalictrum dioicum 

 was secured unnoticed. The numerous species of Violets, 

 from the minute, white, fragrant V. blanda to the stemmed 

 species, should be gathered entire. 



In reading articles that undertake to enumerate plants desir- 

 able for a wild garden, one is always disappointed that so few are 

 mentioned and so many favorites are left out. It is, therefore, 

 best to take the rational as well as educational plan of choos- 

 ing all accessible plants that appear available, whether they 

 are known or not. The process of becoming acquainted will 

 be very valuable. We really know little of the possibilities or 

 limitations of a species till we have it under daily observation. 

 The Trilliums, for instance, multiply rapidly in semi-cultiva- 

 tion, but the Daisy with me is no longer a rampant weed, as 

 its flowers are fairly devoured by an insect resembling the 

 pea bug. 

 Buffalo, N. Y. Johfi Chamberlain. 



The Kumquat Orange in Florida. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — I observed in a late number of Garden and Forest 

 that the so-called Kumquat orange has been sold in New York 

 under the name of Too-kin-kan. I have had this fruit under 

 cultivation for about ten years. .It came to us from China, by 

 way of California, and, I think, fruited on my farm among the 

 first places in this state. I exhibited the fruit and the trees in 

 fruit, planted in tubs, at the Sub-tropical Exposition in Jackson- 

 ville in 1885 or 1886. 



At that timethefruitwas known bybutfewpersonsinFlorida, 

 but, believing it worthy of cultivation, I planted fifty or more 

 trees. The tree is dwarfish in habit, usually six to eight feet 

 high, though one tree, budded ten years ago, is ten feet high, 

 with a spread of ten feet, and bore 8,000 fruits during the sea- 

 son just past. 



All the fruit we have raised has sold readily at home and in 

 Jacksonville and St. Augustine. The retail price in these 

 cities has been fifty to seventy-five cents a dozen. We have 

 trees of the globe-shaped variety, but these have not yet 

 fruited. The Chinese name which we have received for the 

 oblong variety is Too-kin-kan, and for the globe-shaped va- 

 riety Kin-kan. In China the preserved fruit is called Kum- 

 quat, and this name was commonly given to the fruit after the 

 preserve was brought to this country and Europe by sea-cap- 

 tains. 



We have preserved the fruit whole and made jelly and mar- 

 malade of it, with excellent results, and have shipped quite a 

 number of trees to all parts of the United States, and some to 

 Canada. The trees in fruit are very beautiful. During last 

 season one tree produced 800 oranges, and the whole top 

 could have been enclosed by a two-bushel basket without 

 crowding the limbs or disturbing the fruit. We use sour 

 Orange stock for budding, and give the same cultivation that 

 we give to Orange-trees. ^ ^ r> 



Ormond-on-the-Halifax, Fla. C. A. BacOH. 



The Virgilia. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — The Yellow-wood, or Virgilia-trees (Cladrastis lutea), 

 are flowering profusely in this neighborhood this year. Last 

 year the trees here produced no flowers at all. It would be 

 interesting to know if the cultivated trees in other parts of the 

 country have this habit of blooming only on alternate years, 

 and, if this is their usual, habit, whether this is the year for all 

 parts of the country to flower. Possibly some of your corre- 

 spondents may be able to throw some light upon this subject. 



If any of your readers do not know this delightful tree they 

 should make its acquaintance. The forests of America do not 

 contain a more desirable tree for the decoration of a lawn or 

 garden. Although exclusively a southern tree, and one of the 

 rarest and most loved of all trees, it is perfectly hardy as far 

 north as Canada ; it grows rapidly ; it is free of insects, and 



