8o 



Garden and Forest. 



[February 12, 1890. 



operation is best performed in spring, as early as possible, 

 when the plants may be taken up, care being taken to secure 

 roots to each portion of the plant. These may then be re- 

 planted and the operation will prove beneficial if carefull per- 

 formed. Pyrethrums may also be easily raised from seed if 

 it is fresh and of a good strain, such as sent out by the large 

 European seed-growers. All of the plants will not produce 

 double flowers, still the single ones are exceedingly pretty and 

 useful, and indeed some growers are making a specialty of 

 single varieties. Some of the older double varieties named 

 below are still as good as any that can be found either in 

 catalogues or gardens. The two best white varieties are 

 Mount Blanc and White Aster, while Captain Nares, Emilie 

 Lemoine and Progress are among the best reds, and Ne plus 

 ultra, Iveryana, Dr. Livingstone and La Vestal are all good 

 shades of pink and lilac ; J. N. Swerdy is a brilliant red and 

 good. All of these we have grown and find them as good as 

 the best. Each year adds new kinds to the already long list. 



Passaic, N. J. Q. 



Perennials from Seed. — III. 



A FTER the seeds have germinated and are large enough to 

 ■**- handle — that is, when there are at least two fully developed 

 leaves besides the seed-leaves — the time has arrived for trans- 

 planting or pricking out into boxes or pots. This is a critical 

 period in the life of the plant, and inattention then often re- 

 sults in a weak or spindly growth, which necessitates weeks of 

 nursing and care to strengthen and enable it to stand the hot 

 sun sufficiently to bear planting out permanently. This is 

 especially true when, as sometimes happens, the seeds come 

 up thickly in the pan. If the rougher portion of the soil has 

 been used as drainage to the seed-pan, the young plants can 

 be separated easily without injury to a single root, but when 

 moss or leaves are used there is great difficulty in disen- 

 tangling the roots, and the young seedlings receive a severe 

 check. Three-inch pots are the most suitable size if the plants 

 are. of strong, robust habit, such as Delphinium, Coreopsis, 

 Hollyhock, Papaver and Lathyrus. In pots of this size the 

 young plants will grow strong and form a mass of roots that 

 will defy any period of dry weather that may ensue if they are 

 well watered before planting. The best soil is two-thirds good 

 loam and one-third leaf-mould. Should the plants be natur- 

 ally tender-rooted, it is best to place them at the side of the 

 pot instead of in the centre, for the young roots love to feel 

 the side of the pot, and when they find the way around it is 

 the time when the plant seems to enjoy life the most. For all 

 small, dwarf-growing plants of alpine character two-inch pots 

 are large enough. After potting, the young plants will need 

 careful watering, although water should never be given until 

 they really need it, and during bright sunshine a sheet of 

 newspaper should be thrown over them until they have be- 

 come well established. The temperature should be the same 

 as that in which the seeds were raised — fifty-five to sixty de- 

 grees by day and fifty by night — until the plants have filled the 

 pots with roots, when they may be kept cooler and gradually 

 hardened off. The final planting out may be done as soon as 

 possible after the departure of frost and when the soil is in 

 good working order. Their permanent places should be de- 

 termined beforehand, and the soil made rich with fine manure. 

 Where large collections of hardy plants are grown it is always 

 found best to set apart a piece of ground, away from the 

 flower-garden proper, for use as a reserve ground or nursery, 

 where seedlings can be cared for until they reach their normal 

 size and strength. From this they may be moved to any de- 

 sired situation without any fear as to their ultimate success. 

 This is a plan that should be adopted by all who can spare the 

 space, for gaps are sure to occur in the borders every season, 

 and one has only to turn to the reserve ground to fill them all up, 

 andif afriend wishes to exchange, a young thrifty plantis always 

 available for that purpose. Should any new or rare plants be 

 received, and they are planted among established plants, the 

 food provided for their nourishment is speedily devoured by 

 their hungry neighbors, whereas if nursed by themselves, with 

 others newly planted, all have an equal chance. The reserve 

 ground will be found useful, too, when cut flowers are wanted, 

 and this saves the border from depletion. When planting we 

 make a trench with the spade, put manure in the bottom, and 

 cover with an inch or so of soil. Then we place the plant 

 against the side of the trench, and if the roots have not been 

 confined in a pot we spread them out and cover first with the 

 finer soil, and when sufficient soil is in, press sidewise with the 

 foot until it is firm. When the roots start they will be attracted 

 downward by the manure, where they will remain out of the 

 reach of harm from dry weather or other trying climatic con- 



ditions. When the plants have balls of soil attached to the 

 roots they may be planted in the same way, but care should be 

 taken that the balls of soil are not broken. When treated as 

 we have advised hardy perennials may be raised from seed as 

 easily as annuals, and there is no reason why they should not be 

 grown in every garden. 

 Passaic, N. J. F. 0. Or pet. 



Orchid Notes. 



Oncidhim curtum. — It is not often one meets with this re- 

 markably showy species in cultivation, and perhaps less often 

 is it seen in a fine condition. When well grown it is the equal 

 of such handsome and popular plants as 0. Gardneri, 0. cris- 

 pum and 0. pratextum, and is one of the most attractive 

 Oncidiums known. 



The "crop-eared" Oncidium, as Dr. Lindley designates 0. 

 curtum, first found its way into cultivation in the year 1847 

 through Messrs. Veitch, of Exeter, through whom it first flow- 

 ered, but who at the time gave no information respecting its 

 native country. After this it appears to have become very 

 scarce or altogether lost; and it is only of late years that it 

 has been imported from Brazil, but still not in large quantities. 



The botanical characteristics of 0. curtum are its oblong- 

 ovoid, much compressed pseudo-bulbs, which become more 

 or less furrowed with age. One or two oblong-lanceolate 

 leaves are borne on the summit of each, and from the base 

 arises the branching scape, which attains a length of one and 

 a half to two and a half or more feet. Several flowers 

 closely arranged are produced, and measure about two inches 

 across. The upper sepal is oblong-elliptic, wavy, with a few 

 transverse rich brown blotches on a pale, greenish yellow 

 ground. The two lower sepals are connate beyond the middle, 

 and are colored and blotched like the upper one. Thebroadly- 

 obovate petals are rich chestnut-brown, with a conspicuous 

 irregular border of bright yellow. This latter color predomi- 

 nates in the large reniform lip, which is deeply cleft in the 

 centre, and adorned with a row or two of irregularly shaped 

 chestnut-brown blotches all round the undulated margin. At 

 the base is a dark red-brown zone surrounding the dark purple 

 warty protuberances which form the crest, on each side of 

 which is a golden yellow auricle. 



During December last several good specimens of this spe- 

 cies were flowering here, some of them carrying as many as 

 sixty and seventy blooms on a spike ; but the average num- 

 ber was about thirty. This is not the usual season, however,, 

 for 0. curtum to produce its flowers, but about April and May. 

 The plants in question were imported ones, and flowered from 

 their native pseudo-bulbs. Plants which have been thoroughly 

 established in cultivation begin to make new pseudo-bulbs in 

 January, and as the weather becomes more genial the growth 

 becomes more rapid, and is fully made about June or July, 

 after which they begin to ripen. Up till this time the plants 

 may be freely watered, beginning with small quantities and 

 gradually increasing them according to the vigor of the growth. 

 As the winter approaches the supply of. water is gradually 

 diminished, until the plants require very little, and at rare 

 intervals. The temperature during this latter season may 

 vary from sixty to sixty-five degrees Fahr., rising to seventy to- 

 seventy-five degrees in the summer months. 



St. Albans, England. John Weathers. 



Miltonia cuneata is a very desirable Orchid, belonging to a 

 much neglected genus, if we except those species that until 

 recently were called Odontoglossums. The subject of this 

 note has been known to gardens since 1843, in which year it 

 was introduced from Mexico. This plant evidently enjoys 

 great heat and much water during the growing season, and it 

 thrives best in small baskets, with very little potting com 

 post, which may consist of very sandy peat. It is an erect 

 growing plant, with conical bulbs, and pale green, thin, leath- 

 ery leaves about a foot long. The erect scapes spring from 

 each side of the base of the bulb, and bear seven to nine hand- 

 some flowers distantly placed along each side of the rachis. 

 The narrow sepals and petals are dark chocolate, tipped and 

 barred with yellowish green ; the wedge-shaped lip is pure 

 white, tinged with pink near the base. The flowers last quite 

 a long time in water, and are very suitable for cutting. 



Kenwood, N. V. - F. Goldrhlg. 



Anemone blanda and Iris Bakeriana — Both these are excel- 

 lent winter-blooming plants. If potted at intervals from 

 August to September and housed afterward in a greenhouse 

 they may be had in flower from November to February. 

 Anemone blanda, a near relative of A.Apennina, is a native of 

 the Levant, and has the advantage over the latter of flowering 



