4IO 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 292. 



times it is a troublesome plant to get through the winter, but 

 if it survives at all, it otten gathers strength for a season of 

 autumn flowering, which makes it worth nursing through the 

 summer, and yet it is a pity that it is not a little less suscepti- 

 ble to injury from cold, for it is one of the most desirable of 

 all dwarf trailing shrubs. 



The citizens of Plainfield, New Jersey, and visitors to that 

 town have just now an admirable opportunity to judge of the 

 decorative value of Clematis paniculata. The Casino in that 

 town is beautifully draped and festooned with this rampant 

 climber, the pillars of the porch being wreathed with the 

 fragrant white flowers, which extend to the roof, where, in 

 great profusion, they lie in relief against the dark shingles. 



Mr. E. S. Carman, of the Rural New Yorker, thinks that the 

 Nectar Grape, one of Caywood's introductions, is too little 

 known. In this latitude it ripens with Moore's Early, which is 

 about the first week in September. The vine is spoken of as 

 very hardy and a stronger grower, with great resistant power 

 against fungi. The quality of the fruit is excellent, and it has 

 no foxiness. The berries have a firm black skin, with a heavy 

 bloom. They are larger than those of the Delaware, and cling 

 well to the stem. Mr. Caywood used to call this Grape the 

 Black Delaware. 



An admirable perennial plant for autumn flowering is Aconi- 

 tum autumnale, which is now in bloom. Its branched spike 

 of very dark blue or purple flowers, which continue in bloom 

 for a long time, rises to a height of three feet, and the deep 

 color shows particularly well just now if these plants are used 

 as a background for the white-flowered Japanese Anemone. 

 This Aconite is also a good companion plant for the lower- 

 growing Sunflowers, as their colors harmonize well. It is 

 perfectly hardy, and it has tuberous roots, which are easily 

 divided. In good seasons it ripens seed here, and if this is 

 planted at once it will germinate more certainly than imported 

 seed. 



Mr. Louis Spath, of the Rixdorf Nurseries, Berlin, sends us 

 flowering and fruiting specimens of Berberis Fremontii, an 

 evergreen species from western Colorado and Utah, where it 

 sometimes attains a height of eight or ten feet. It is a species 

 with glaucous pinnate leaves, bright yellow flowers, and bright 

 orange-red fruit three-quarters of an inch in diameter. So far 

 as we know, the plants at Rixdorf are the first which have pro- 

 duced fruit in cultivation ; indeed, the size and color of the 

 fruit do not appear to have been known before. It was first 

 described as dark blue, and later by Mr. Watson, from collec- 

 tions made in southern Utah by Dr. Edward Palmer, as 

 "greenish" yellow. If this beautiful species thrives in our 

 gardens, it will be an important addition to the rather short 

 list of broad-leaved evergreens which can be grown here. 



We have just seen a large mass of the white-flowered variety 

 of Rosa rugosa, and the dark green foliage was starred with a 

 good many flowers. Indeed, there has been hardly a day, even 

 through the driest weather of this summer, when these plants 

 were entirely without bloom. In a few weeks their rich green 

 foliage will turn to brilliant crimson and orange, and their 

 abundant fruit is already deeply colored. No doubt, many 

 useful hybrids will be raised from this species, but it will be 

 fortunate if any of them possesses as many qualities which go 

 to make a valuable garden-plant as the parent plant. It is un- 

 fortunate that many plants have been sold as Rosa rugosa 

 which are probably hybrids of some inferior Rose. If they are 

 a variety of this species they are greatly inferior to the type. 

 Buyers should be careful to know that they get plants of the 

 best strain. 



From Monsieur Maurice L. de Vilmorin, of Paris, the Arnold 

 Arboretum has recently received seeds of one hundred spe- 

 cies of trees and shrubs collected last autumn in Szechuen, a 

 province of western China, by the French missionaries resi- 

 dent there. Szechuen is one of the richest temperate regions 

 in the world in trees and shrubs, and as comparatively few of 

 them have ever been cultivated in American or European gar- 

 dens, it is probable that this collection contains some valuable 

 novelties. Among the seeds are those of a Cercidiphyllum, 

 a genus heretofore only known in Japan in a single species. 

 The existence of this same species in western China would not 

 be remarkable, as it is now known that many Japanese plants 

 have an extended continental range ; or it may prove to be a 

 second species of this most interesting genus. 



Fire and Water recommends that Willow-wood be used for 

 floors in this country, as it is in England, because it is of slow, or 

 not ready, combustion. It contains no resin or essential oil, is 



fine-grained and takes a smooth finish, and so is suitable for 

 inside work and would make good sheathing. It may be said 

 that it is not available here because we have but little Willow. 

 It is true we have no native varieties of any size, but the Eng- 

 lish White Willow is naturalized here. It is easily propagated 

 by cuttings and does not require a wet soil, as many suppose. 

 There has been a prejudice against its wood, owing to its sup- 

 posed lack of durability when exposed to the weather, and be- 

 cause it is soft and was not needed when white pine was abun- 

 dant. Now, however, as our forests are being rapidly cut off, 

 and we are looking for something to take their place, the value 

 of the Willow is worth considering. It is a rapid grower, and 

 our foresters might well give their attention to it. 



The large and handsome Spanish onions, which have been 

 coming to this city in increasing quantities for the last half- 

 dozen years, are now cheaper than they have ever been known 

 here. These vegetables are grown mainly near Valencia, in 

 Spain, and the first shipments this year, which came by the 

 way of England, were harvested too early and were therefore 

 watery. Being liable to quick decay they were hurried upon 

 the market and sold for low prices. The first direct importa- 

 tion was also off-grade in quality, and this set the price for the 

 season very low, so that in many auction sales the price has 

 barely covered the freight and duty, to say nothing of the com- 

 missions and cost of packing. The duty of forty cents on a 

 bushel of fifty-six pounds, together with the freight, commis- 

 sion and cost abroad, brings the actual value to the importer 

 a\)out eighty cents a crate laid down, and, therefore, when 

 prices range from fifty-five cents to $1.00 a crate the trade has 

 been a disastrous one. Together with what has already ar- 

 rived and what is expected, the imports this year will amount 

 to 150,000 crates, or about 87,500 bushels. Attempts to raise 

 this Spanish Onion in California and other parts of the coun- 

 try from seed purchased in Spain have generally proved un- 

 successful, as the vegetables when grown here do not differ 

 much from the ordinary domestic onion. It seems thataCas- 

 tilian climate and soil is necessary for the production of this 

 delightful product. For this reason, and also because these 

 bulbs do not come into conflict with home vegetables, a strong 

 effort is now on foot to have the duty decreased to a more rea- 

 sonable rate. 



The supply of peaches continues abundant, choice Morris 

 Whites and Smocks selling for seventy-five cents a basket, 

 while good fruit is to be had at fifty cents. Clairgeau and Bosc 

 pears, if of first quality, bring four dollars and a half a barrel, 

 and so do choice Bartletts ; but as most of these are coming 

 from cold-storage houses, the quality is often inferior. Plums 

 of various kinds from California, including delicious Kelseys 

 and other Japanese sorts, confinue as plentiful as ever. From 

 this state, only the varieties used for canning and preserving 

 are seen in this market, and as quality is not important in 

 this class of plums they are not quoted by name. Plums from 

 western New York of high flavor, like Reine Claude and 

 Peters' Yellow Gage, are taken by the Philadelphia market, 

 where ten-pound baskets bring a dollar each. Mr. E. S. Wil- 

 lard, of Geneva, reports the plum crop of that section as not 

 more than twenty per cent, of a full yield. Beautiful Flame 

 Tokay grapes from California, with Black Malvoise, Purple 

 Cornichons and White Malagas are selling on sidewalk-stands 

 almost as cheap as Delawares. The first quinces are appear- 

 ing, and can be had for a dollar a basket. A few boxes of 

 Florida oranges, forerunners of the regular crop, and known 

 as "drops," came in last week. The fruit is small, and sells 

 at two dollars a box wholesale, while splendid pineapples from 

 the same state, said to be grown under glass, are in eager de- 

 mand at fifty cents each wholesale. Red nectarines, of larger 

 size and better quality than the earlier arrivals, are selling at 

 forty cents a dozen. They come from California, and this state 

 is also sending fresh figs, which are quite inferior to the fruit 

 grown under glass in the east and seen occasionally in the 

 fancy-fruit stores. 



The death is announced of the famous rosarian, Jean Bap- 

 tiste Guillot, of Lyons, in his sixty-sixth year. Monsieur Guillot 

 was one of the most successful breeders of Roses of our day, 

 and from his seed-beds sprang such well-known Roses as 

 Catherine Mermet, Madame de Watteville, Madame Hoste, 

 Ernest Metz, Gloire Lyonnaise, La France, Etoile de Lyon, 

 Horace Vernet and Mademoiselle Eugenie Verdier. He came 

 of a family of Rose-growers, and it was his father who, fifty 

 years ago, produced the Rose G^ant des Batailles, which in its 

 time was as great a triumph as that of La France and Catherine 

 Mermet. 



