378 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 289. 



Of plants in flower in the nursery nothing was so beautiful 

 and interesting as Gordonia Altamaha, the rarest of all North 

 American trees. Discovered long ago in Georgia by the Phila- 

 delphia botanist, Bartram, it has not been seen growing 

 naturally for nearly a century, and has only been preserved 

 through cultivated plants. Mr. Meehan grows it extensively, 

 fully appreciating its value and the beauty of its large, fragrant, 

 white flowers, which resemble those of a single-flowered Ca- 

 mellia, and continue to open for a long time in succession at 

 midsummer, and of its large lustrous leaves which in autumn 

 assume the most brilliant scarlet tints. Great masses of this 

 plant may be seen near Horticultural Hall, in Fairmount 

 Park, where it appears perfectly at home. It is strange 

 that it is so rarely found in our gardens. No other sum- 

 mer-blooming hardy shrub or small tree at all equals it in 

 beauty. 



The comparatively new Rose, Madame Georges Bruant, I saw 

 in flower here for the first time ; it is a hybrid, raised at Poitiers 

 by a nurseryman named Bruant, between the Japanese Rosa 

 rugosa and the Tea-rose, Sombreuil. It is a vigorous-growing 

 plant, with clustered, fragrant white flowers and pale glaucous 

 foliage ; it is very distinct from other hybrids raised from Rosa 

 rugosa, and as it appears to be a free and constant bloomer it 

 may be expected to prove a decided acquisition. 



Among the Conifers, which are much less grown than de- 

 ciduous-leaved plants, were two of much interest ; one of 

 these was a large plant of Retinospora squarrosa, a plant which 

 deceived such a good botanist as Maximowicz, who considered 

 it a species, but which here has entirely grown out of its juve- 

 nile squarrose-leaved form with the exception of two lower 

 branches, and displays its true character, showing that it is 

 only a juvenile form of Retinospora pisifera. The second was 

 a plant of the so-called Retinospora ericoides growing into its 

 mature form and showing that this plant, which has been 

 weighed down with a dozen names, is only a juvenile state of 

 the common Arbor-vitce (Thuya occidentalis). 



A stroll through the well-planted streets of Germantown 

 shows the lover of trees that it is a town with special attrac- 

 tions. A hundred years ago, and through the early years of 

 this century, Philadelphia was a centre of active botanical and 

 horticultural interest, and the first good collections of trees 

 made in the United States were made in its suburbs. In all 

 the old Germantown gardens fine trees abound. Just by the 

 high architectural fence which encloses the grounds of the 

 Germantown Cricket Club — the best-housed of all such clubs — 

 stands the first Virgilia tree, Cladrastis flava, planted in the 

 United States, and near it grows a plant of Magnolia acuminata, 

 which, perhaps, is not surpassed in size by any other planted 

 specimen of this species ; it must be nearly eighty feet high, 

 with a trunk which girths over ten feet. In spite of its age, 

 this noble tree is in perfect health and beauty, and worth a 

 long day's journey to see. Interesting, too, is a tall Pecan 

 Hickory in a neighboring garden, raised from a nut brought 

 by Thomas Nuttall from Arkansas ; and not less interesting 

 is the first Magnolia macrophylla planted in this country ; 

 it stands in Vernon Park, one of those small parks for 

 which the people of Philadelphia are indebted to the zeal and 

 industry of Thomas Meehan. This little pleasure-ground is 

 distinguished by the presence of the most remarkable Papaw 

 trees (Asimina triloba) it has been my good fortune to see. 

 They are some forty feet tall, with trunks ten or twelve inches 

 in diameter and broad pyramidal heads of dark foliage. 

 As it grows here the Papaw is an ornamental tree of high 

 value. 



Returning from Germantown to Philadelphia by the Wissa- 

 hickon and Fairmount Park, one cannot help being struck 

 with the difference in the appearance and condition of the 

 trees growing on the grounds of individuals in Germantown 

 and those growing on land belonging to the people of Phila- 

 delphia. These last are in a dangerous and discreditable con- 

 dition. Many are dead ; others are filled with dead branches 

 and in a fair way to destruction ; some are overcrowded, and 

 others need the protection of neighboring trees ; some 

 are starving to death, and many are infested with noxious 

 insects. In this great park of nearly two thousand acres there 

 are many noble and beautiful trees. They are less abundant, 

 however, than those which need care and attention, and it is 

 quite within bounds to say that, at the present time, there is 

 no other large public park in the United States in which the 

 trees show greater evidence of indifference, neglect and bad 

 management. On the other hand. Horticultural Hall, which a 

 few years ago was in a deplorable condition, is now in excel- 

 lent order, and filled with well-grown and well-selected plants ; 

 it would be a credit to any garden. 



Philadelphia, Pa. S. 



Orchids at North Easton, Massachusetts. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Visitors to Langwater Gardens, at North Easton, Mas- 

 sachusetts, the summer residence of F. L. Ames, Esq., will 

 always find some rare and beautiful Orchids in bloom, for in 

 the number and value of its individual specimens this collec- 

 tion is unrivaled, and many of the plants are unique. 



A few Miltonias continue in bloom, and I was particularly 

 fortunate in seeing the lovely and unique M. vexillaria Amesi- 

 ana in its full beauty. The flowers are of the largest size, and 

 conspicuous at the base of the labellum is a large maroon 

 blotch. They somewhat resemble those of M. superba, but 

 with deeper radiating lines, and in this respect differing from 

 all other varieties of this species. 



The flowers of the variety Statteriana of Laelia elegans 

 Turneri are violet-purple, with an intensely deep purple lip. 

 The variety Littleana is a robust grower, bearing immense 

 spikes, often with ten flowers. The color of the whole flower 

 is clear purple, with a rich violet-purple lip, and white, or 

 nearly white, inner lobes. This, too, is a unique specimen. L. 

 elegans Tenebrosa is the deepest-colored form of L. elegans 

 known, the bright purple coloring being carried well back into 

 the throat. 



Cattleya Warscewiczi Roehelliensis, originally known as the 

 White Gigas here, is the only plant known. It is a magnificent 

 specimen, in itself worth traveling a great distance to see. C. 

 Schofieldiana is a form of C. granulosa very rarely seen, and 

 the specimen here is distinctly elegant, the markings are 

 striking and the flowers large. The ground-color is a beauti- 

 ful tawny yellow, the middle lobe is covered with rich ma- 

 genta-purple papulae. In C. Calummata, a hybrid between C. 

 Acklandiag and C. intermedia, the coloring and markings par- 

 take of the former parent, which are chocolate-brown sepals 

 and petals, barred and striped with yellow. The lip is deep 

 rose. In form it resembles C. intermedia. Laelio-Cattleya 

 Nyssa is a new hybrid between baslia crispa and Cattleya gigas, 

 and one of the most beautiful in color. It is in the way of L, 

 Exoniensis, with a deep, rich, reddish purple, fringed lip, and 

 golden throat. 



Sophro-Cattleya Batemaniana is the first bigeneric hybrid, 

 the result of crossing Sophronites grandiflora with Cattleya 

 intermedia. The flowers are of a soft, pleasing, warm shade, 

 and somewhat intermediate in character. A still more re- 

 markable bigeneric hybrid is between Epidendrum radicans, 

 a plant growing from three to five feet tall, and Sophronites 

 grandiflora, growing only as many inches. Epiphronites 

 Veitchii is a name suggestive of its parentage, and of Messrs. 

 Veitch as the raisers. In general habit it resembles Epiden- 

 drum, growing about one foot high. The bright reddish scar- 

 let coloring of its flowers is of a richness unsurpassed by 

 any other Orchid. The plants bloom in a very small state, 

 and remain a long time in perfection. 



Cypripedium H. Ballantyne is a hybrid raised by Messrs. 

 Veitch between the beautiful C. purpuratum and the dainty C. 

 Fairrieanum, and named in honor of Baron Schroder's gardener, 

 at the Dell, Egan, Windsor, England. C. nitidissimum is a 

 chaste and lovely hybrid in the way of C. grande, and, although 

 not so stately, it is graceful and distinct. 

 Wellesley, Mass. T. D. Hatfield. 



Nature's Landscape-gardening in Maine. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Every lov«r of nature must have noticed how beautiful 

 the edge of a wood is in early summer, when the dark branch 

 of an evergreen throws out the paler green of some deciduous 

 neighbor. In the clearing and planting which are necessary 

 on some places every year, should we not try to get like 

 effects ? In driving along the wooded roads in the district 

 where the grounds lie which are to be developed, one who 

 notes which are the handsomest of the native trees can 

 get an idea as to which ones to plant and how these should be 

 grouped ; but the appropriate massing of foliage, so as to secure 

 the best effect from soft harmonies or bold contrasts of color, 

 requires much study andcritical knowledge. After the varieties 

 have been decided upon comes the serious question of group- 

 ing for contrasting color, and the arrangement of those colors 

 for different seasons of the year and varying lights demands 

 close observation and study. The White Pine makes an ex- 

 cellent background for the Red Oak (0. rubra), which in spring 

 emphasizes the gray tree bearing its " candles," as the country 

 children call the new white growth, while in the autumn the 

 Pine retires to its place as foil tor the Oak, which is first gor- 

 geous in red and fades into brown as it prepares for the win- 



