350 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 286. 



in the great Tree Ferns and giant Stag-horn Ferns from New 

 South Wales (2, 2, 2,2)', which extend, like a forest, down the 

 middle of the building, and the curious dwarfed trees of the 

 Japanese garden (3). The foreground of this curtain is flanked 

 by a tasteful group of Palms and other tropical plants sent by 

 Ontario (4) and under the charge of Mr. Gilchrist. At the 

 extreme end (i, i) Trinidad interposes a bold group of Palnis 

 and Bamboos. Roses and Azaleas are shown on the west side 

 by Germany (5) and Belgium (6) ; and Mexico balances Ontario 

 with a very' remarkable collection of Cacti (7). As seen from 

 the north gallery of the dome, this wing produces a most 

 gaudy and bewildering effect because of the individuality of 

 the groups and the profuse use of banners and pendants by 

 the New South Wales exhibit. The Japanese garden is the 

 unique feature in the curtains and is worth a detailed de- 

 scription. 



Although there are some details in these plant curtains 

 which seem to jar with the spirit of the design — especially the 

 booths and sales-stands — the general effect is good, especially 

 when it is considered how hastily the collections were pro- 

 cured and the many difficulties which are met with in carrying 

 out so great an enterprise. It is to be regretted that there are 

 not more individual growers and firms concerned in the ex- 

 hibits, and that the educational features have often been over- 

 shadowed by attempts at mere decoration. The dome-piece is 

 the feature open to mostserious criticism, and this is altogether 

 bad. It is but just to say that the dome is too immense to 

 allow of wholly satisfactory treatment at a temporary exhibi- 

 tion, and the fault lies in trying to fill it. The side-curtains, on 

 the other hand, are of such shape that they give a long per- 

 spective and readily lend themselves to good effects. 

 Chicago, HI. L. H. Bailey. 



Notes. 



Our correspondent, Mr. Charles H. Shinn, has lately been 

 appointed inspector of the two California Forestry Stations 

 which are to be reorganized under his direction and which 

 promise increased usefulness. 



Monsieur H. L. de Vilmorin, the head of the house of Vilmo- 

 rin, Andrieux & Co., of Paris, and one of tlie most learned and 

 distinguished horticulturists in Europe, has recently arrived in 

 this city on his way to Chicago to attend the Horticultural 

 Congress, at which he is to read a paper upon seed-raising. 



Primula imperialis, which was raised and flowered success- 

 fully at Kew several years ago, ripened plenty of seeds, not one 

 of which, however, has germinated, and the old plants have 

 now all died. If any one who obtained plants or seeds of this 

 species from Kew has succeeded in keeping and multiplying 

 it the Director would be glad to hear from him. 



Hymenocallis calathinum,byno means new, would be much 

 more widely cultivated if its value as an out-of-doors summer 

 flowering plant were better known. The bulbs can be kept 

 over winter as easily as those of the Gladiolus. In midsummer 

 the display of its clear white Eucharislike flowers on their tall 

 scapes is unusually handsome. They are specially useful 

 as cut flowers in large vases. 



Cypripedium Nicholsonianum has been recently sold by the 

 Messrs. Sander & Co. as a distinct Cypripedium, from the 

 little-known island of Palawan. In habit it is somewhat inter- 

 mediate between C. Rothschildianum and C. Sanderianum, 

 but quite distinct in its blunt-pointed leaves, which are of a 

 clear shining green with gray tessellations. The plants are 

 sturdy, and apparenUy free both in growth and flower. Mr. 

 Watson writes that it will not be surprising if when they flower 

 they prove to be identical with the beautiful C. Rotiischildi- 

 anum, or a variety of it. 



In the Japanese section in the Forestry Building at Chicago 

 there is a beautiful exhibit of starch made from the roots of 

 the Pueraria Thunbergiana, which seems to be an article of 

 common use throughout Japan. The stems of the vine are 

 used for binding firewood, and its leaves as food for animals. 

 P. Thunbergiana, described in Garden and Forest, vol. v., 

 p. 574, has been largely distributed in this country as Dolichos 

 Japonicus. It is a rampant grower, and, although it rarely 

 flowers in the northern part of New England, is useful wher- 

 ever a vine is needed to cover a trellis rapidly. 



Among the species of Gladiolus, seekers after quaint and 

 curious flowers will find many interesting plants, some of 

 which are also very handsome. Gladiolus sulphureus, now 

 in flov/er, is one of the most striking of these. The spike is 

 closely set, with moderate-size flowers of a pale sulphur-yel- 



low, which are tinged with green on first opening. This is a 

 species from Mount Kilimanjaro, where it was found at a 

 height of 5,000 feet, and it does not seem to be much in culti- 

 vation. The G. sulphureus usually offered by the florists is a 

 variety of G. tristis, a South African species and not nearly so 

 deeply colored, though a good cool-house plant to flower with 

 Cape bulbs in the early spring. 



The Gardeners' Chronicle, in a recent issue, comments, in 

 the following words, upon the academic honors lately con- 

 ferred by Harvard and Yale upon Frederick Law Olmsted 

 and Horafio Hollis Hunnewell : "Academic recognition of 

 this character is of far higher value in such cases and much 

 more appropriate than are the titles given by the state to pol- 

 iticians as a reward for party services, or to men of business 

 merely because they have been successful in amassing wealth. 

 The two American Universities have followed the lead of their 

 older sisters in England, and it is not long since Trinity Col- 

 lege, Dublin, conferred the honorary degree of M. A. on a 

 distinguished gardener, Mr. Burbidge, the author of one of 

 the most useful books in the gardeners' library, Cultivated 

 Plants, their Propagation and Improvement." 



In the year 1886 a society was organized in Holland to make 

 plans for the draining of the Zuyder Zee. It now officially re- 

 ports that three-fourths of the soil covered by these 900,000 

 acres of water is as fertile as surrounding districts, and proposes 

 a scheme of drainage which will leave 300,000 acres in the cen- 

 tre as a lake, while the rest will be redeemed at a rate that will 

 annually render from 12,000 to 15,000 acres habitable. The 

 cost of the enfire work is estirhated at $76,000,000. The largest 

 enterprise of the same sort hitherto carried out has been the 

 draining of the Haarlem Lake, which, after thirty-nine months 

 of labor, added 46,000 acres to the solid soil of Holland. When 

 the Zuyder Zee was formed by an inundation, in the thirteenth 

 century, some 80,000 lives are believed to have been lost, and 

 this fact gives an idea of the profit which will result from its 

 redemption. 



The only new fruit of importance in market this week are 

 nectarines, which have been coming from California in such 

 abundance that they are found on the sidewalk fruit-stands, 

 where they sell for twenty cents a dozen. The nectarines 

 which have thus far arrived are small, and do not approach in 

 quality the fruit grown under glass. Crawford and Mountain 

 Rose peaches have been coming in from Delaware for ten 

 days past. The best of these peaches sell for two dollars and 

 fifty cents a basket, a fair quality being offered for a dollar a 

 basket, and an inferior quality as low as fifty cents. California 

 peaches continue to arrive, as also California plums and prunes, 

 among which are the Columbian, Washington andOuackenbos 

 gages and the Gros prune, five-pound boxes of which sell for 

 one dollar. Choice Bartlett pears from California continue 

 plentiful. A supply of this fruit is also being received from 

 the Hudson River section of New York state, and sells at one 

 dollar and a half to a dollar and seventy-five cents a keg at 

 wholesale, the California fruit bringing a dollar and twenty-five 

 cents for the same quantity. Muscat Alexander and Hamburg 

 grapes, from Newport hot-houses, are a dollar and twenty-five 

 cents a pound. 



At the late Convention of Florists in St. Louis, Mr. Patrick 

 O'Mara read a paper on the saving of labor in floriculture. 

 One device to facilitate watering has proved most successful 

 this year, when, on account of the very dry weather, it has 

 been necessary to water outside grounds almost constantly. 

 Mr. O'Mara said : " We use city water, metered to us, and have 

 our grounds piped with hydrants at convenient distances 

 throughout. Instead of having a man to hold the hose and 

 distribute the water, we have pieces of hose connected with 

 a'Y.' These are inserted at the end of every twenty-five 

 feet of hose, one arm of the ' Y ' serving to connect the 

 lengths, while to the other arm is fastened a 'Water Witch' 

 lawn-sprinkler. We use one-inch hose and have force of wa- 

 ter sufficient to operate five of these sprinklers on one stretch 

 of hose, so that we can water a surface of 125 feet by twenty- 

 five, without any labor but the stretching of the hose and 

 turning on the water. Two hours is found sufficient to water 

 one spot, and then the hose is moved. In our loo-foot houses, 

 when first erected, a hydrant was placed at one end, but some 

 years ago we changed the system and now have the hydrants 

 in the centre of the houses, one on each side of the middle 

 bench. In our 300-foot houses we have the hydrants at inter- 

 vals of fifty feet, so that the whole place out-of-doors and under 

 glass is supplied with conveniently located hydrants. The 

 amount of labor saved in one year by this method more than 

 paid the entire expense of the alteration, besides the great sav- 

 ing in hose, which in itself is a considerable item." 



