288 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 280. 



one foot high, of a lovely hvender-blue shade. Phyteuma 

 Charmelli is a lovely campanulaceous plant with compact 

 heads of deep blue flowers and neat deep green tufted foliage. 

 The Rocky Mountain Columbine (Aquilegia ccerulea) does not 

 seem to be more tlian a biennial with us, and it is necessary to 

 keep up our stock by raising seedlings every year. Potentilla 

 tridentata occupies several clefts of rocks, and is admirably 

 suited for such positions. t r\ is 



Wellesley, Mass. 1. L). H. 



Plants ill Bloom. 



AMONG the notes from Lily fanciers there seems to be litde 

 mention of Lilium longiriorum and L. Harrisii except for 

 forcing, yet these are among the best of the varieties for the gar- 

 den, for they are the most manageable of all Lilies, and flowers 

 can be had in constant succession at most, if not all, seasons. 

 Every one who has a greenhouse, or any facility for forcing 

 plants, now grows Easter Lilies, and tries especially to secure 

 flowers from Christmas till Easter, and their treatment for this 

 purpose is well understood. They are equally satisfactory at 

 other seasons, and with only slight extra care in forwarding or 

 retarding, the flowers may be had at about any date desired. 

 These bulbs may be considered reasonably hardy in this lati- 

 tude, by which! mean that there is a fair chance of their living 

 over winter with the protection usually given to all Lilies. 

 L. longiflorum will sometimes thrive in gardens for years and 

 then die suddenly some winter under special conditions. In 

 this respect it is like many other plants classed as hardy. It is 

 better, however, where plants require special treatment, to 

 grow them under conditions where they may be somewhat 

 controlled. The Lilies which are now flowering with me were 

 potted up late last fall and plunged out-of-doors, under a cover- 

 ingof leaves. They werefrozen up most of the winter and made 

 no progress at the top. They were removed to cool quarters 

 under glass in February or March and made a start, the forc- 

 ing being of the mildest. On the approach of moderate weather 

 they were plunged in the border, where the different plants 

 have been coming into bloom for several weeks, and the last 

 of the little lot will flower in July. With a stock of these bulbs 

 in pots, some of which may be kept in the open without even 

 this trifling forcing, and retarding early by extra dryness and 

 later by cool quarters, I do not see why the season cannot be 

 extended quite into the fall. Some bulbs of the variety For- 

 niosanum of L. longiflorum, which I potted up late in Feb- 

 ruary, came into flower in about no days with no forcing, and 

 seem to be of quicker growth than either the type or L. Harrisii. 

 If that proves to be its constant habit it may be found a good 

 variety for the earhest forcing. 



The first of the Japanese Irises are now in their glory, their 

 form and colorings quite distinct from that of other species of 

 the family. These are thoroughly satisfactory and hardy 

 plants, and I am glad to see that the plantsmen have awakened 

 to their usefulness, so that they are becoming fairly common. 

 Lately the plant-agent has been going his rounds with Japa- 

 nese albums glowing with dazzling pictures of Kaempfer's 

 Irises in every possible combination of color which a trained 

 imagination could conceive. The colorings of these Irises are 

 generally rather sombre, usually in maroons and purples. The 

 pure white variety, Pearly seems to me to be the handsomest 

 of all these varieties, and, in fact, the most charming of white 

 Irises. The petals have a crape-like texture, slightly veined 

 with only an. obscure dash of yellow, nearly veiled by the 

 standards. As the rhizomatous Irises, German hybrids, etc., 

 have finished flowering, it will be well to separate and replant 

 those which require moving. This is the best season for that 

 purpose, as they soon will make a new growth and become 

 well established before winter if moved in July. If allowed to 

 make this second growth before moving they do not take hold 

 well when moved later, and their flowering the next year is 

 but a feeble one. 



One disadvantage of a small garden is that one cannot have 

 an acre or so of Poppies, the gayest and most blithesome of 

 flowers. Though forced to content myself with a few plants 

 here and there from seed scattered in the fall or winter rather 

 promiscuously, I very much fancy the whole family. The mod- 

 est litde Papaver nudicaule always greets one cheerfully early 

 in the year, and is a persistent bloomer through the summer 

 if not neglected. P. orientale quite speaks for itself in season, 

 and is scarcely over when the beautiful Shirley Poppies show 

 their modest form. With the daintiest, purest tints, and petals 

 as light as air, they are true types of the joyous summer. The 

 Tuhp Poppies (P. glaucum) are a welcome addition to the gar- 

 den. The flowers are selfs of a deep pure scarlet. There are 

 two large petals which form a perfect circle when extended. 



The two inner petals are smaller, and usually form a cup in- 

 side the outer ones. Black blotches occur only on the smaller 

 petals. 



Alstromeria hasmantha is also a flower of which we have too 

 few. This variety of the Chilian Lily has outer petals of the 

 purest baby-pink. The narrower inner ones are lined with 

 blood-red on a ground of yellow bordered with pink. Most 

 exquisite flowers these, of the choicest character, and very use- 

 ful for cutting. The plants seem as hardy as any of the family, 

 doing well in a warm border. I have always promptly lost 

 Alstromerias when I coddled them. 

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



The Cultivation of Sweet Corn. 



AFTER many years of experiments with varieties of Sweet 

 Corn, lam still in doubt as to which varieties are the best. 

 The introduction of the Cory, a few years ago, marked a de- 

 cided advance in the early sorts. A great many other varie- 

 ties have since been sent out as superior to the Cory, but I 

 still plant it almost exclusively for earliest use, although its 

 quality is not as good as we demand in later kinds. Its earli- 

 ness and the comparatively large size of the ear have thus far 

 made it indispensable in my garden. As a medium-sized sort 

 for home use I have always preferred the Black Mexican to all 

 others. Its quaUty is above reproach, but it must be used, to 

 be at its best, before the kernels begin to color. It is not suit- 

 able nor profitable for market. For late use I continue to plant 

 quite largely of Stowell's Evergreen. It is good for home use 

 as well as for market, and can be made to yield heavily. This 

 year I have planted most largely the variety sent out by seeds- 

 men as Mammoth Sweet Corn. I think highly of it, also of 

 the variety recently introduced as Shoe-peg and Country Gen- 

 tleman. This latter lias a good-sized ear, with kernels that run 

 deeply into the cob, and is of fine quality. 



I find that soil, season, and, perhaps, culture, have consid- 

 erable influence upon the quality of all varieties. Usually the 

 sweetest and tenderest corn is grown on sandy soil and in a 

 warm season, while on heavy clay soils, or in wet cold sea- 

 sons, the same variety may be greatly inferior. Good treat- 

 ment as to manure, and especially in the application of phos- 

 phatic fertilizers, also seems to improve the quality. 



Well-grown sweet corn is usually a salable article, and, con- 

 sequently, its cultivation promises better financial results than 

 field corn. I invariably plant in drills, leaving the plants 

 nearly twice as close together as in the case of ordinary field 

 varieties. On good soil the sweet varieties stand a little crowd- 

 ing quite well, and when rather thickly planted have always 

 given me the most satisfactory returns. Of the earliest sorts, 

 like Cory, there may be a plant every two or three inches in 

 the row, the rows two and a half to three feet apart. The me- 

 dium varieties, like Black Mexican, may stand four or five 

 inches apart in rows three feet apart, and the later varieties, 

 like Evergreen and Shoe-peg, six inches apart in rows four feet 

 apart. To provide for a supply late in the season, Evergreen, 

 or other varieties of that class, should be planted as late as 

 July or August, according to lafltude. 



La Salle, N.V. ^ T. Gremer. 



Correspondence. 



Dutch Bulbs in America. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Garden and Forest, and other gardening papers as 

 well, have published numerous articles upon the possibility of 

 raising Dutch bulbs for commercial purposes in the United 

 States, the most desirable part of the Union for the purpose, 

 in the opinion of many of the writers, being North Carolina. 

 A week or two ago Texas was mentioned as especially fitted 

 for the purpose. 



Why not add Massachusetts to the list, and, indeed, nearly 

 every state in the Union, for Dutch bulbs can be raised, no 

 doubt, in nearly every one ? Massachusetts would appear to 

 be better adapted to the needs of some bulbs than Texas, for 

 it appears, by a recent letter, that the Tazetta varieties of Nar- 

 cissus are frequently injured by late spring frosts in that 

 state, and that the varieties of N. poeticus do not succeed unless 

 planted in the shade, neither of which is true in Massachusetts. 



As for the Hyacinth, I have experimented with many varie- 

 ties and have raised from offsets bulbs which gave as fine 

 spikes as newly imported specimens of the same varieties 

 bought for the sake of comparison. The Roman Hyacinth in 

 all its forms and colors — white-skinned and red-skinned, white, 

 pink, blue and yellow-flowered — succeeds very well with slight 



