January i, 1890.] 



Garden and Forest. 



Lalia Gouldiana, like the preceding-, is a natural hybrid, 

 having for parents L. anceps and L. autumnalis, but it does not 

 betray its origin in so marked a degree. Its vegetative organs 

 vary very little from those of L. autumnalis, except that the 

 bulbs are more slender and furrowed. The leaves are long 

 and narrow — either one or two on a bulb. The flowers par- 

 take of the characters of both parents, but the petals are 

 broader than those of either, more resembling Dawson's variety 

 of L. anceps. The lip is shaped like that of L. anceps, with the 

 lobes purple-crimson and a bright yellow crest. The sepals 

 and petals are of a very dark rose, intensified at the tips. The 

 scape is about eighteen inches long and bears four to six flow- 

 ers. It is a very handsome Orchid, but, unfortunately, it has 

 inherited the repugnant odor of L. autumnalis. L. Gouldiana 

 is an American introduction, having been found among a batch 

 of Mexican Orchids imported by Messrs. Siebrecht & Wadley 

 three years ago. It is now fairly plentiful. Another species 

 of this series has recently flowered in a New York collection, 

 and it is evidently a hybrid between L. autumnalis and L. albida. 

 I am told the growth is very like the former, but I have only 

 seen one flower, which I thought very pretty, and which 

 seemed intermediate between its supposed parents. This 

 plant is not as yet named. 



Miltonia (Odontoglossum) Rcezlii is nearly always - in flower 

 with us, and we find it very useful for cutting, as it lasts quite 

 a long time in water. We always found it difficult to grow so 

 long as we treated it as a cool Orchid. It would gradually 

 dwindle away and be eaten up with thrips, and we seldom saw 

 a flower. We now grow it in the hottest corner of the Phalse- 

 nopsis house, with the glass extra shaded even in winter. We 

 keep the plants very wet and syringe them two or three times 

 a day. Under this treatment they grow like weeds, making 

 leaves sixteen inches long by one inch broad, and fine, stout 

 bulbs, which improve every year, and produce two or three 

 racemes apiece. Thrips are never seen now. The soil we 

 use consists of equal parts of sandy peat and moss, using 

 small well drained pots. Miltonia Rcezlii was discovered in 

 the warmer regions of Columbia in 1873. The bulbs are some- 

 what compressed, ovate-lanceolate, two or three inches long, 

 surmounted by one or two linear-lanceolate leaves, and from 

 the base of the bulb spring pairs of long leaf-like bracts which 

 enclose the three to four flowered racemes. The whole plant 

 is of a uniform pale green color. The flowers are large, and 

 pure white, excepting a blotch of rich crimson-purple at base of 

 the petals. The lip is large and flat, comprising two-thirds of 

 the flower, pure white, stained with yellow at the base, from 

 which radiate narrow lines of brown. The variety Alba is in- 

 ferior to the type, from which it differs in having no blotch at 

 the base of the petals. The value of the flowers is enhanced 

 by a very pleasing fragrance. F. Goldring. 



Kenwood, N. Y. 



Christmas Roses. — It is to be hoped that the two interesting 

 articles on Hellebores, in Garden and Forest of December 

 18th, will lead to discussion and additional notes from culti- 

 vators. The best varieties of Christmas Roses are perhaps the 

 largest and most attractive flowers which bloom at so low a tem- 

 perature, and they are very desirable in gardens if established 

 in suitable locations. They are Alpine plants, and naturally 

 bloom as soon as melting snow exposes their buds to the sun's 

 influence. Planted on a rockery with a northern exposure no 

 doubt they would follow out their natural course; but we wish 

 them to bloom during the winter with as little protection as 

 possible, for they need protection in an ordinary season in this 

 latitude. Mr. Orpet's record of successful bloom in the open 

 ground probably could not be often repeated; this season having 

 been remarkable for its freedom from binding frosts, by which 

 these plants are promptly made dormant. Hellebores have 

 excited much interest in recent years, and rather divergent 

 cultural directions have been given, as in the notes spoken of 

 one advises light soil, the other retentive. Both recommend 

 shade.while Mr. H.Correven("LesPlantesdes Alpes") says they 

 require a deep, heavy soil and exposure to the sun. As usual, 

 when such varying directions are given, it will be found that 

 plants will grow any way if given a fair chance. Hellebores 

 appear less amenable to good treatment than any plants which 

 have come under my observation, and pursue the cycle of 

 their growth with little deviation, so far as I can see, from any 

 extra care. As to division, my best flowers this season were 

 from plants divided in June. The problem is not so much 

 how to grow them, but how to bloom them as is done in Eng- 

 land and Ireland during the winter, so that one can enjoy them. 

 The climate in my locality will not usually admit of their open- 

 air culture after December 1st, and I keep them in a warm 

 cold frame ; but my floral enthusiasm does not go so far as to 



enjoy flowers blooming in a frame. A cold house from which 

 frost is excluded would probably meet their requirements ex- 

 actly. This year noticing that some bits of Madame Fourcade, 

 which happened to be in the greenhouse, grew away vigor- 

 ously when heat was started, I have tried the experiment of 

 blooming a few plants there in the coolest part. H. abchasi- 

 cus albus and H. purpurascens (which are usually known as 

 Lenten Roses) bloomed very well. H. Caucasicus gave me 

 beautiful flowers, while the buds of H. ruber and H. angustifo- 

 lius are still unmoved. New leaves are starting, and I am 

 interested in the result of the experiment next season. One 

 authority says I shall lose my plants, another that I shall lose 

 my flowers. As plants growing vigorously do not seem in 

 great danger of death, perhaps the next blooms may appear 

 when due. A number of consignments of Hellebores are re- 

 ceived and sold in New York annually. They are usually 

 Lenten Roses, often Dutch Hybrids. The major part proba- 

 bly perish promptly from wet and rot when planted out, vic- 

 tims of the tradition that Hellebores bloom in the snow at 

 Christmas. 

 Elizabeth, N. J. J- N. Gerard. 



The Forest. 

 Forests and Floods. 



T N connection with the propositions of the Forestry Congress 

 *■ at Philadelphia and the American Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science in Toronto recommending the estab- 

 lishment of a Commission to inquire into the relation of the 

 forest areas on our western mountains to the water supply of 

 those regions, it will be of interest to note two publications 

 just issued from official sources in Europe. The one is the 

 draft of a bill for a new forestry law in Austria, accompanied 

 by a detailed report setting forth the reasons for the provisions 

 of the law; the other is the report of a royal commission of 

 Baden, appointed to investigate the connection of the forest 

 conditions of a section in the Black Forest with the disastrous 

 floods of the Rhine in the winter of 1882. 



The first report, from the able pen of the Imperial Privy 

 Councilor and well known meteorologist, Dr. Lorenz von 

 Liburnau, discusses briefly and in general our present knowl- 

 edge in regard to forest influences on climate and water flow, 

 reaching the conclusion that, while many of the popular ideas 

 on these subjects are derived from imperfect observation and 

 are, therefore, without foundation, or, at least, unproved, 

 nevertheless the evidences from scientific investigation that 

 these influences do exist are sufficient to warrant a conserva- 

 tive forest policy on the part of the government. 



The report of the Royal Commission of Baden concerns 

 itself with a special case and is of unusual interest, as it pre- 

 sents for the first time a thorough, though only partial, inves- 

 tigation into the relation of forests and floods. That the ver- 

 dict in this case is negative does not detract from the value of 

 the report, as showing the method by which this question 

 must be treated; nor does it follow — and the commission 

 takes pains to make this statement — that a generalization or 

 final settlement of the question has been reached by this inves- 

 tigation. 



This commission was composed of an officer of the Central 

 Bureau for Meteorology and Hydrography, an officer of the En- 

 gineer Department, and an officer of the Forestry Department. 

 The work of this commission was called forth by the disastrous 

 floods of the Rhine and its affluents in 1882-3. These led, 

 also, to the appointment by Prince Bismarck, as Chancellor 

 of the Empire, of a commission for the purpose of studying 

 the Rhine, to determine whether there had been such a deteri- 

 oration in its water conditions as might justify reforestation 

 and the construction of reservoirs, or the adoption of some 

 other plan than correcting the river-bed in the upper por- 

 tions of the affluents. The Baden Commission made a very 

 careful survey in that part of the Black Forest which forms 

 the watershed of the Alb River, one of the smaller affluents 

 of the Rhine. 



Such a survey comprises not only the geographical, climatic 

 and geognostic conditions of the water-shed, but more specially 

 gives detailed descriptions of the various kinds and uses of 

 the soil, whether under tillage or in pasture, meadow or 

 forest, swamp land or moorland. It explains the systems of 

 water-courses, the utilization of the waters by mills, etc., and 

 the damage done by floods and other unfavorable conditions 

 of waterflow. A few of the data, which together give a com- 

 prehensive view of the region, may be of interest for the un- 

 derstanding of the conclusions reached. The watershed dis- 

 cussed comprises 93.5 square miles, the larger part (fifty per 

 cent.) with slopes varying from ten to thirty degrees. The 



