September 20, 1893.] 



Garden and Forest. 



397 



micoides, nearly allied to our pretty little A. ericoides, is 

 another desirable kind, and sprays of this make up very neatly 

 in bouquets. Veronica longifolia, var. subsessilis, a late- 

 blooming Speedwell, deserves to be more generally cultivated. 

 Its long, handsome spikes are an intense blue, exceeding in 

 lustre any known variety. Chelone Lyoni, though not really 

 handsome, is an effective border-plant. It is an ally of the 

 Pentstemons. The upper limb of the corolla being extended 

 obliquely over the mouth gives it the appearance of being 

 closed. The flowers are pink and carried in clusters near the 

 tops of the stems, which, in moist soils, grow to the height of 

 four feet. Naturally a plant for moist situations, it is a fit com- 

 panion for the Cardinal-flower along the margin of a lake or 

 pond. The handsome Galtonia candicans can be recom- 

 mended as a thoroughly hardy plant in proper situations. 

 High and dry in a bed of Ghent Azaleas it has been killed sev- 

 eral winters, while it has survived in the Rhodendron bed, 

 which is moist at all times and really wet in winter. It is now 

 fully six feet tall. It is of easy culture ; seeds sown in spring 

 germinate as readily as Onion-seeds and bloom the second 

 year. The lovely Japanese Funkia subcordata is handsome. 

 Here in Massachusetts it does not start into growth early 

 enough to be injured by spring frosts, as often happens farther 

 south. The complaint comes from Virginia that it is likely to 

 sun-burn in that climate. Their handsome flowers rival in 

 beauty and fragrance those of the Eucharis. To-day I made 

 up a most effective basket of these flowers, with a few Grasses 

 and Maiden-hair Fern. Japanese Anemones are also too rarely 

 seen. Every year I grow a number of specimen plants for 

 piazza decoration, and their chaste beauty never fails to draw 

 forth praise from the true lover of plants. After Sunflowers, 

 which usually wind up the season gorgeously, we shall pick a 

 few blooms of Violets, which have never left us since early 

 spring. 



Wellesley, Mass. T. D. Hatfield. 



Some Greenhouse Plants. 



A New Abutilon. — Among the novelties still uncommon 

 is variegated Abutilon, introduced by a French firm under the 

 name Souvenir de Bonne. This variety somewhat resembles 

 A. Thompsonii in habit, though apparently more slender in 

 growth. The leaves are about the same size, of a dark green 

 color, with a broad and irregular margin of white. A. Souve- 

 nir de Bonne flowers quite freely, and if the variegation stands 

 exposure to the full sunshine, it will doubtless prove a valua- 

 ble plant for summer bedding and for conservatory decoration. 



DraCjENA Sanderi. — Another novelty of European origin is 

 being disseminated under the name of Dracaena Sanderi, but 

 this title is possibly incorrect, for the plant resembles a Cordy- 

 line rather than a Dracaena. It is of moderate growth, and has 

 narrow leaves, with a tendency to recurve ; the color is light 

 green in the centre of the leaf, with a margin of white. The 

 plant may be increased readily from cuttings, and, so far as 

 can be judged from a short acquaintance, it is likely to be a 

 useful variety for indoor use at least. 



Swainsona galegifolia.— The white-flowered variety of 

 this species is a handsome plant, and its flowers, while not 

 a novelty, are uncommon and not generally known, as ap- 

 peared when they were used as cut flowers by florists last 

 winter. The Swainsonas are chiefly Australian plants, and en- 

 joy greenhouse treatment — that is, a temperature of about fifty 

 degrees at night. The most satisfactory method of growing 

 the variety Albiflora is to plant it out in a bed of good light 

 loam in the conservatory, where it will produce an abundance 

 of long racemes of pure white pea-shaped blossoms during 

 the winter and spring. From its semi-scandent habit this 

 plant requires some support — a strong stake or two, or, bet- 

 ter still, to be tied to a pillar, if such is available. Cuttings root 

 readily in spring if made from young wood and kept mod- 

 erately close for a time. 



Holraesburg, Pa. W. H. TapHtl. 



Clematis paniculata. — The first flowers of this Clematis opened 

 August 27th, a week later than usual, and the flowers will 

 be at their best about the 15th of September. It is surprising 

 that such a magnificent climber should so long have remained 

 comparafively unknown, forC. paniculata was introduced into 

 English gardens more than a century ago. In a sunless au- 

 tumn in England the growth rarely hardens enough to set the 

 flower-buds in time to open, and it seldom blooms in that 

 country. For many years plants were in possession of the 

 Arnold Arboretum, Jamaica Plains, Massachusetts, under the 

 name of C. robusta, and of Messrs. Woolson & Co., Passaic, 

 New Jersey, under the name of C. paniculata, a name which 



is now accepted. Nothing, however, seems to have been done 

 toward increasing and distributing the plant until Mr. Orpet, 

 then with Woolson & Co., succeeded in grafting it upon stocks 

 of C. Virginiana and C. Stans. It is a Japanese plant, and was 

 naturally supposed to be tender, the precaution being taken 

 at the Arboretum to protect every winter the vines, which 

 when exposed were frequently injured. The plants at the 

 Passaic Nursery were more or less injured every winter, al- 

 though protected by considerable natural shelter. Seeds sown 

 in the autumn and wintered over in a frame or cool green- 

 house, commence to germinate in spring, rather sparsely at 

 first, but in larger numbers as the season advances. By this 

 method thousands are raised annually, and, being acclimatized 

 as seedlings, they are more vigorous, longer-lived, and make 

 far better plants. Our plants are now six years old, with 

 a girth of stem at the base of nearly five inches, and each 

 plant covers over two hundred square feet. With us, however, 

 their growing area is limited. At the Eastman Cottage, belong- 

 ing to the Wellesley College, a plant was photographed last 

 year which covered nearly the whole of one side of a gable 

 roof and more than four hundred square feet, besides being 

 trained around the porches on the first story. The myriads of 

 white star-shaped flowers, an inch or more in diameter, are 

 produced in such abundance as almost to hide the foliage, and 

 they have a delicious Hawthorn fragrance. The flowers are 

 succeeded later by an effective mass of red seeds, surmounted 

 by a gray pappus. -r n tj- 



Wellesley, Mass. V . -D. n. 



Hardy Annuals. — Many of these can be treated as biennials 

 if sown now in a sheltered spot or in any vacant places 

 along the herbaceous border that may need filling. I always 

 make a sowing of Alyssum, Eschscholtzia, Calliopsis, Cen- 

 taurea Cyanus, Mignonette, and many others that are usually 

 sown in spring. The only drawback to this plan is that they 

 are apt to be forgotten when the borders are spaded up. 

 Those I sow in the herbaceous border are covered with a 

 thin coating of well-rotted manure, as are all the other plants. 

 This is not disturbed until everything has commenced grow- 

 ing, when there is no danger of turning them over. The 

 manure is not raked off, but carefully forked in around the 

 plants late in spring. Such plants as Petunia, Portulacca, 

 Larkspur, Poppy, Aquilegia, Candytuft and Dianthus can be 

 left to take care of themselves, for, if allowed to ripen their 

 seeds, they will sow themselves and come up the following 

 summer, when they can be thinned out, and allowed to fill the 

 same places again. It is not too late to sow some of the hardier 

 biennials. They will start growing in spring as early as any of 

 the weeds begin to show, and be much more hardy than if 

 sown in spring. The same is true of some vegetables. New 

 Zealand Spinach, for example, rarely vegetates if sown in 

 spring ; for many years I have sown it at the end of October, 

 and it always comes up as soon as the soil gets warm the fol- 

 lowing summer. 



West New Brighton, N. V. Samuel He7isna'w. 



Correspondence. 

 How to Identify Certain Conifers and Oaks. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Will you be good enough to point out the differences 

 between Chamaecyparis and Thuya, so that they can be recog- 

 nized by one not an expert botanist ? Are Chamaecyparis 

 sphaeroidea and Thuya occidentalis found in the same habitat .'' 

 Does the former grow wild in Wisconsin ? 



Will you also perform the same service respecting the Black 

 Oaks, Ouercus coccinea, O. rubra and O. tinctoria ? How can 

 they be distinguished from each other? 07-1 



Whitewater, Wis. Albert Salisbury. 



[Chamaecyparis and Thuya resemble each other so closely 

 in most important botanical characters that by some bot- 

 anists the two genera are united, although American authors 

 have generally maintained the two distinct. In Chamcecy- 

 paris there are only one, or occasionally two, narrow- 

 winged seeds under each scale of the little cone, while in 

 Thuya the scales of the larger cone bear two seeds sur- 

 rounded by broad wings. The stouter branchlets, the 

 broader bright green leaves and larger cones well distin- 

 guish Thuya occidentalis from Chamaecyparis spha?roidea, 

 or, as it is more correctly called, Chamaecyparis thuyoides, 

 which is of a dark blue-green color and remarkable in its 

 very slender branchlets. The two species probably rarely 



