Pecember 27, 1893.] 



Garden and Forest. 



537 



they have increased four to five fold, many of the new 

 bulbs being large enough to bloom during the current season. 

 The smaller ones can be planted rather strictly in boxes, the 

 majority of them making very fair bulbs in one season. 



Primula Forbesii is a recent addition to the few winter- 

 blooming species, and comes from the Celestial Empire. The 

 plant forms a somewhat dense tuft of oblong, coarsely crenate 

 foliage, more or less covered with silky hairs, from which are 

 thrown up numerousslenderscapes.bearlngeach several whorls 

 of delicate rose-colored flowers, quite fragrant, and about half 

 an inch in diameter, with a yellow centre. It is a continuous 

 bloomer, having been in flower here since last July, and may 

 be increased either by seeds or division. P. floribunda, from 

 the Himalayas, is another tufted, winter-flowering species 

 which is not as well known as it should be. The numerous 

 dense whorls of small yellow flowers are produced in such 

 abundance as to be quite effective, especially at this season 

 of the year. It may be easily raised, either by seeds or 

 division. 



Streptosolon Jamesoni is a handsome greenhouse ever- 

 green, with orange-colored flowers, borne in loose panicles at 

 the ends of the branches. It is more or less in bloom during 

 the entire winter. In shape the flowers resemble a small 

 Petunia-bloom, to which family it belongs. The cultivation is 

 quite easy. Cuttings taken in spring should be grown on contm- 

 uously in pots, and these form nice specimens by autumn. 

 This plan is preferable to planting out, for, as they grow enor- 

 mously large, it is difficult to take them up and establish them 

 in pots. Plants held over two ypars may be trained into neat 

 standards, and when in bloom the branches hang in a perfect 

 umbrella form. 



Christmas Roses, Helleborus niger, force nicely for decora- 

 tion at this season. It is customary to import roots, as their 

 successful culture here has proved difficult. Intending im- 

 porters should bear in mind thatif these are received later than 

 November they are apt to have commenced growth in the hold 

 of the vessel, and this renders them useless as decorative plants 

 for the first season. 



We find Brompton Stocks verv serviceable for winter- 

 blooming pot-plants. They are preferable to the East Lothian, 

 which, being hardier, do not force so well. Another advan- 

 tage is, they generally bloom on the leading shoot early in 

 summer, and if the flowers are of the desired color the shoot 

 is cut out and the plant, which afterward makes good bushy 

 growth, is marked for lifting later on. 



Abutilon Eclipse is one of the best additions to this very or- 

 namental family of greenhouse evergreens during recent years. 

 It is of dwarf bushy habit, with handsomely variegated foliage. 

 The flowers are comparatively large, deep orange-yellow, pen- 

 dulous, and borne in great profusion during the whole season. 

 It is evidently a hybrid form of A. megapotamicum, and is also 

 a very handsome bedding-plant. Among the few Ericas which 

 can be grown with any degree of success in this country are E. 

 melanthera and E. Caffra. These make neat bushy specimens 

 and bear small flowers in great profusion, the former with 

 short open corollas and black protruding anthers, the latter 

 with white globular flowers. They are of very easy culture, 

 and do well planted outdoors in summer. 



Libonia Penrhoensis has proved to be one of the most use- 

 ful small decorative plants we have grown. Cuttings strike 

 very readily in spring, and may he planted out for summer. 

 Wnen lifted in the autumn they are about one foot in diame- 

 ter, and perfectly hemispherical. With an abimdance of neat, 

 shining, dark foliage, they are effective at any time, but par- 

 ticularly when clothed with a profusion of orange-colored 

 flowers. 



Begonias, as usual, occupy a prominent place, and none 

 have given us so much satisfaction as B. Bismarcki. This isa 

 very robust shrubby variety, doing equally well out-of-doors 

 in the full sun in summer-time. It is a perpetual bloomer, 

 bearing large panicles of lovely rose-colored flowers. B. go- 

 gaensis, a rhizomatous species from Sumatra, with handsome 

 foliage and delicate panicles of white. These and the many 

 varieties of B. semperflorens make a very useful list. 



Wellesley, Mass. T. D. Hatfield. 



Asparagus retrofractus arboreus. — This is a distinct form of 

 this useful plant, and its habit of growth is unique and quite 

 dissimilar to the ordinary forms of greenhouse Asparagus. As 

 implied by the varietal name, it is tree-like in habit. The firm, 

 ivory stems are upright and much branched, with many ram- 

 ifications, and are well furnished with numerous puffs of bright 

 green foliage, which is light-colored in the young stage. My 

 plant has shown no tendency to climb, but simply forms these 

 beautiful light masses of foliage which are very useful for 



bouquets— in many cases more useful than pieces of the flat 

 A. plumosus. I have not yet tested this plant for its keeping qual- 

 ities when cut. Asparagus has of recent years taken a fore- 

 most place among greenhouse foliage-plants for its ornamen- 

 tal growth and for sprays for cutting, which arrange well with 

 cut flowers, and are the most lasting of any foliage for this 

 purpose. The best and hardest grown Fern has, when cut, a 

 very limited life in comparison with Asparagus. For nice 

 decorations, A. plumosus seems to have put the popular Smilax 

 quite in a secondary place, its lengths of lace-like leaves being 

 extremely graceful and delicate. A. tenui>simus is more cloud- 

 like in effect and lighter in color. These plants are indispen- 

 sable in the smallest collections of plants, and the new variety, 

 to which attention is called, is evidently again. 



Stevia odorata. — This is the name of a recent introduction, 

 which does not seem an improvement on the ordinary Stevia 

 (S. serrata) of the greenhouse. The strongly fragrant white 

 flowers are double, and produced very freely in flat, rather 

 close, corymljs. It can be readily grown from seed, but 

 greenhouse space can be more profitably used for the single 

 Stevia, whose light sprays are so useful at this season either 

 alone or in compositions with other flowers. 



Iris stylosa. — The beautiful flowers of this jjlant are now 

 nestling in the grass-like foliage. The tvpe of this Iris is pur- 

 ple, but there is also an albino form. This species is hardy, 

 but it is not a satisfactory plant unless grown under cover, as it 

 does not seem to flower under adverse conditions, as do some 

 of the bulbous Irises. Some of these are already making 

 growth, and will early in the year expand their flowers at the 

 first opportunity of moderate weather. In my trials of I. sty- 

 losa in the open I have found it to simply remain dormant 

 during the winter and to have its foliage badly cut, but not 

 otherwise injured. The particular plant, now the first of the 

 varieties to flower, wintered out last year safely during a 

 specially hard season. 



The Lselias. — The experts do not seem to write much about 

 these Orchids, presumably because they are rather common 

 things and do their own growing, or, in other words, are so lit- 

 tle trouble as to be quite uninteresting. As with my moderate 

 cultural skill, these plants flower successfully at their proper 

 season, I am led to call attention to them as satisfactory plants 

 of easiest cultivation, while they may be obtained at a very low 

 price. L. autumnalis Arnoldiana has just furnished me'with 

 strong spikes of large flowers, red, shading to white, with an 

 agreeable vanilla-like fragrance. L. albida, the little white- 

 flowered form, is just coming into flower, and is a thriftv kind 

 always, making numerous new pseudo-bull)s and consequent 

 spikes of flowers. These are both lasting flowers, and a plant 

 in a living-room, if well attended to as to moisture, will re- 

 main in good form for a long time. There is no disguising the 

 fact that one's friends express more gratification at a gift of a 

 few Orchid-flowers than of any other kind one can offer, and the 

 plants seem to them a never-failing source of interest, though 

 the ordinary visitor has very shadowy ideas as to what an 

 Orchid really is. The cultivation of at least a few Orchids 

 should be undertaken even in the smallest house, as they in- 

 evitably interest the grower's friends and visitors as well as 

 himself. Even the commonest kinds, which can be bought 

 very cheaply, are quite as pretty as some of the most expen- 

 sive, and these are really rare in the sense of not being plenti- 

 ful as other flowers, and are still practically unknown to the 

 general public. 



Elizabeth. N.J. J. X.Gerard. 



Correspondence. 



Japa 



nese Morning-glories. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — During the past two years a Japanese student at the 

 University here has been cultivatiig on the college farm some 

 Morning-glories from seed sent to him from Japan. These 

 plants have interested all who see them. They are more vig- 

 orous growers than our common Morning-glory, and have 

 larger stems and leaves. Both leaves and stem are quite 

 hairy, and the former were usually palmately three-cleft. 

 Often the leaves were nearly as large as those of the Moon- 

 flower. The seed-pods are usually three-celled, with two seeds 

 in a cell. What makes the plants particularly interesting is 

 the variety of color in the flowers. The range of shades and 

 markings is most striking, varying from the blossom of solid 

 color to one of three or four colors. The delicacy of coloring 

 also notably surpasses that of the American species. I give 

 brief descriptions of a few of the most distinct flowers, (i) A 



