September 20, 1893.] 



Garden and Forest. 



391 



GARDEN AND FOREST. 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO. 



Office: Tribune Building, New York. 



Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent. 



ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y. 



NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1893. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PACE. 



Editorial Articles : — Frederick Lothrop Ames 3gi 



Hardy Herbaceous Plants 391 



A New Forage Plant 392 



Botanical Notes from Texas. — XI E. N. Plank. 392 



Foreign Correspondence: — London Letter W. Watson. 393 



New or Little-known Plants : — Hydrangea vestita, var. pubescens. (With 



fiRure.) .. 394 



Cultural Department : — ^Timely Hints on Lilies E. O. Orpet. 394 



Tuberous Begonias y. N. Gerard. 395 



Rock-garden and Border T. D. Hatfield. 395 



Some Greenhouse Plants W. H. Taplin. y)-j 



Clematis paniculata T. D. H. 397 



Hardy Annuals , Samuel Hensharu. 397 



Correspondence : — How to Identify Certain Conifers and Oak's. Albert Salisbury, y^-j 



Heating Ponds for Water-lies JV. IV. Lee. 398 



Thb Columbian Exposition: — Stone-fruits, Brevities Professor L. H. Bailey. 398 



Notes 400 



iLLt/STRATiON : — Hydrangea vestita, var. pubescens. Fig. 60 396 



Frederick Lothrop Ames. 



FREDERICK LOTHROP AMES, one of the founders 

 and owners of this journal, died suddenly last week 

 during a journey from his home in Massachusetts to this 

 city. Mr. Ames was one of the most liberal patrons of 

 horticulture America has produced, and his collection of 

 Orchids was a great source of pride to every one interested 

 in the progress of the art in which he found his principal 

 pleasure. This great collection, begun many years ago, 

 has gradually grown and improved until it surpasses all 

 other collections of these plants in America, and in num- 

 bers, variety and condition has not a superior. Mr. Ames' 

 love of nature was real and profound, and his exact and 

 comprehensive knowledge of the plants in which he was 

 particularly interested has given him an international repu- 

 tation among orchidologists. Through his liberality the 

 Arnold Arboretum, to which he has always given generous 

 support, and the Botanical Department of Harvard College, 

 in which he was specially interested, have been able to ex- 

 tend their usefulness. For nearly thirty years Mr. Ames 

 was an active member of the Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society ; he has long been one of its Vice-Presidents, and as 

 a member of the Finance Committee has rendered it in- 

 valuable service. 



Outside the world of horticulture this death brings irrepa- 

 rable loss to many persons and to many important interests. 

 Institutions of education and of organized benevolence will 

 miss his wise counsels and open-handed liberality ; many 

 of the largest business enterprises of the continent will miss 

 his sound judgment in counsel and his firm hand in con- 

 trol. Those who were closest to him and knew him best 

 are bereft of a friend whose sympathy and loyalty never 

 failed. Frederick Lothrop Ames was one of those rare men 

 in whom the sense of duty to the public was not dulled by 

 the possession of great wealth. A keen and abiding sense 



of duty, born of the old New^ England stock of which he 

 came, was the strongest trait of his character ; it was this 

 which filled his life with labors of love and at last brought 

 it to an untimely end. Careful of every trust imposed 

 upon him, considerate of every man and woman and little 

 child with whom he was brought into contact, he was a 

 spendthrift of his own powers and wasted his health and 

 strength w^here it seemed to him to be his duty to do so. 



The name of Frederick Lothrop Ames has been asso- 

 ciated with those of a number of Orchids now well known 

 in our gardens ; these, as long as the annals of botany and 

 horticulture endure, will preserve sweet and green the 

 memory of a strong, true and enlightened man. 



Hardy Herbaceous Plants. 



A CORRESPONDENT writes that for several successive 

 summers he has planted seven or eight beds of what 

 are known as bedding-plants (Coleus and the like) on his 

 lawn, which, of course, he has had to renew each year, and 

 as he has no space or convenience for raising such plants 

 he is put to considerable annual expense. He adds, that 

 having observed in horticultural papers and florists' cata- 

 logues that hardy herbaceous plants are recommended for 

 bedding purposes, he therefore desires to be informed as 

 to the proper varieties to use for this purpose, when 

 they should be planted and how long they should be 

 cared for. 



To these inquiries it may be said in a general way that hardy 

 perennial plants cannot fill the place of bedding-plants ; that 

 is, if one desires a ribbon-line of various colors or a set 

 geometric parti-colored pattern, Coleus, Alternanthera and 

 certain other bedding-plants are the best things he can use 

 for the purpose. Of course, there are a few hardy peren- 

 nial plants well adapted to this formal use, but there is 

 nothing better than the well-known bedding-plants which 

 can be kept by chpping to exactly the same form and show 

 the same picture all the season through. It is true, also, 

 that if one wants a bed of constantly blooming red flow- 

 ers, for example, there is nothing better than the Scarlet 

 Geranium. When a pattern is once developed by the 

 growth of these plants, it can be kept unchanged and remain 

 as constant as the figures on an oil-cloth all through the 

 summer, until the frost destroys it. There are places in 

 connection with the lines of walls and terraces, where such 

 rigid patterns are not inappropriate. To many people, 

 how^ever, their very sameness makes them tiresome. In 

 actual practice gaudy and striking colors are too often se- 

 lected instead of quiet, neutral tints, and these are often at 

 discord with each other and with their surroundings. The 

 beds, when good in themselves, are not infrequently set in 

 open lawns, where they are never seen to the best advan- 

 tage, for a stretch of turf with an irregular border is not a 

 satisfactory framework for them, while on the other hand 

 the beds break up the turf into bits and destro)' that sense 

 of spaciousness and quiet which is the highest charm of 

 well-proportioned lawn. 



One strong point in favor of hard}' plants is that there 

 are hundreds of them to select from against dozens of ten- 

 der bedding-plants, and a hardy herbaceous border has the 

 charm of constant change and renewal. Long before the 

 Coleus-picture has grown into its perfect form the Snow- 

 drops and Daffodils and Irises and Violets have been 

 making the herbaceous border a new creation every day, 

 while Asters and Sunflowers and scores of delightful plants 

 will prolong its beauty until late autumn, long after the 

 frost has made the pattern-bed a desolation. Of course, it 

 requires skill and knowledge to preserve this continuity of 

 interest. It requires good taste to arrange the various 

 plants so that the flowers which are in bloom at an}-- 

 given time shall group well in form and color. It requires 

 study and forethought to plant for all the different seasons. 

 It requires care and labor to remove what is unsightly 

 w'hen its growth is over, and have its place filled by 



