148 



Garden and Forest. 



[March 19, 1890. 



the other species of the genus in its strongly twisted anthers, 

 approaching in this way the European Erythrcea. It was 

 introduced into England by seeds collected in south Africa by 

 Mr. William Watson in 1887. 



CYPRIPEDIUM Rothschildianum, t. 7102; a native of New 

 Guinea, whence it was imported by the Messrs. Sander & Co., 

 of St. Albans, a few years ago. The editor, Sir Joseph Hooker, 

 discussing the antiquity of the genus Cypripedium and the 

 variability of individuals of the same species, takes occasion 

 to say : " The subject of the antiquity of a genus or group of 

 plants is a very attractive one, and far too complex to enter on 

 here. Such antiquity, when leading to extinction, is supposed 

 to result in fixity of type, in rarity of individuals, and in the 

 restriction of these in area. In respect of it I may allude to 

 the singular fact that though Cypripedium is one of the few 

 tropical genera of Orchids that inhabit both the eastern and 

 western hemispheres, it has not hitherto been found in Africa 

 or Madagascar, countries which have on plausible grounds 

 been held to have been the most recently peopled with 

 plants." 



Notes. 



The annual spring exhibition of the Pennsylvania Horticul- 

 tural Society will begin at Horticultural Hall, Philadelphia, 

 Tuesday evening, March 25th, and continue until Friday. 



At a recent meeting of 700 under-gardeners held in Berlin 

 a unanimous vote was given in favor of an eight-hour labor 

 law, and of setting apart the first of May as an annual work- 

 ing-men's festival. 



The most interesting "congress " that will form a feature of 

 the great horticultural exhibition to be held in Berlin this 

 spring will undoubtedly be the meeting of students and growers 

 of conifers which is announced for the 28th of April. 



Jasminum nudiflorum has been opening its blossoms spar- 

 ingly nearly all winter in Central Park, and last week the long 

 wands thickly studded with blossoms could be seen in many 

 places above the snow. While the plant at this season lacks 

 foliage, the contrast of the flowers with the dark green color of 

 the bark is very pleasing. 



One of the best known flower painters in Europe, Anton 

 ■Hartinger, died recently at Vienna in his eighty-third year. 

 His chief work was the preparation of water colors for repro- 

 duction in costly books, the last upon which he was engaged 

 being an atlas representing the flora of the Alps to accompany 

 the text of Professor Delia Torre. 



Mayor Hart, of Boston, has written to city forester Doogue 

 requesting him to make flower-beds on the Common and in 

 the Public Garden which shall imitate in form and color the 

 United States flag, the Massachusetts coat of arms, the seal 

 of the City of Boston, and the badges of the Loyal Legion, the 

 Woman's Relief Corps and the Sons of Veterans. And yet it 

 has been asserted and believed that Boston is a city of culture 

 and refinement. 



The Department of Agriculture has recently issued a circu- 

 lar, prepared by Mr. Fernow, which is sent out with the tree 

 seeds that are distributed. The circular gives in brief such 

 suggestions as to the raising of forest-tree seedlings as will 

 be helpful to those not familiar with the practice. Of course 

 the entire theory of raising trees from seed cannot be given 

 in three pages, but the elementary principles seem to have 

 been carefully elucidated so far as the space will permit. The 

 care of seedling-trees in the nursery is to form the subject of 

 another circular. 



To illustrate how Peas are influenced by the soils in which 

 they grow, Professor Bailey, in a late bulletin, gives these 

 facts concerning a plot of Golden Gem Peas in the garden of 

 the Cornell University Experiment Station. The rows began 

 in a good rich loam and ran into a stiff and strong clay. A 

 good sod had been turned under a few days before the Peas 

 were sown. The ends of the rows were so dissimilar at pick- 

 ing-time that they appeared to be planted with different vari- 

 eties. The average height of the plants in loam was eighteen 

 inches ; average number of pods to the plant, five and a half; 

 all the pods, except sometimes the very uppermost ones, 

 were ripe, and there were no flowers. The plants on 

 clay were larger, deeper green, with more bloom, and a ten- 

 dency, not apparent in the other case, to produce two pods on 

 a peduncle. The average number of pods to a plant was 

 seven; only about two-thirds of the pods were ripe, and there 

 were still some flowers. 



A young Englishman, in business in Manilla (one of the 

 Philippine islands), interested himself at odd times in growing- 

 Orchids, collecting Phaluenopsis and yErides from the wilds, 

 and fastening them to a tree-trunk in his garden. He 

 sent small pieces to his friends, but only partial success 

 attended these distant exportations. He therefore determined 

 to cut down a tree and export the trunk with these epiphytes 

 thickly growing all around it. The trunk came to England 

 safely, with the clinging little plants all about it, full of life, after 

 a journey of some 10,000 miles, and it may now be seen in the 

 stove greenhouse of Mr. J. Andrews, Manilla Lodge, Fallow- 

 field, standing five feet high and three feet in girth, as a trophy- 

 column to the tact and discrimination of this young amateur. 

 A correspondent of the Northern Gardener, who tells this 

 story, adds that the handsome leaves and thick roots almost 

 hide the bark of the trunk ; and for general healthfulness he 

 doubts whether anything in the country can equal it. 



Dr. Fisher expresses a doubt whether the bee is at best the 

 enemy or the friend qf the seed-grower, as he is largely both, 

 for without his work in carrying pollen the fruits of dioecious 

 plants would not be fertilized, and without it, also, his mischief 

 in mixing new varieties with inferior sorts would not be ac- 

 complished. It is true that he will give a dose of cucum- 

 ber flavor to a crop of cantaloupes, if the two sorts of 

 Cuciirbitacetz happen to be planted near neighbors; but, then, 

 he offsets his bad work by producing new varieties which are 

 sometimes of very great value. This work may be better and 

 more wisely done by the horticultural philosopher, who acts 

 designedly by combining size and hardiness on the one side 

 with delicacy and productiveness on the other. This form of 

 lottery has a few grand prizes, but a far greater number of 

 small ones and blanks ; the uncertainty of the drawing adds to 

 the interest of the investment. The farmer oftener than the 

 philosopher offers a new variety which the little bee has helped 

 him to produce the year before, and of which he has known 

 nothing until his eye has discovered the distinguished stranger 

 arnong his melons, cucumbers or other ground fruits. 



In a recent bulletin from the Cornell University Experiment 

 Station, Professor Bailey states that the Crandall Currant, which 

 was supposed by its disseminator to be a hybrid between the 

 Missouri Currant and the common Red Currant, is really a 

 variety of the Buffalo or Missouri Currant (Ribes atireum), with 

 no indications of hybridity. It does not appear to be a well 

 fixed variety, some of the bushes on the experiment-grounds 

 yielding berries but little larger than the common Red Cur- 

 rant, while others bear fruit five-eighths of an inch in diameter. 

 The plant seems variable also in its time of ripening. The 

 bushes are vigorous growers, need more room than ordinary 

 Currants, and seem now more free from insect depredations. 

 The fruits are fair, polished, bluish black, easily separated 

 from the stem, and therefore picked singly like gooseberries 

 or cherries. Their flavor is agreeably sweet, but lacks charac- 

 ter, but has none of the grossness of ordinary black currants. 

 This currant is good for culinary purposes, both when green 

 and ripe, and for jellies it is preferable to the ordinary kinds. 

 The variety is quite distinct, representing a new type of small 

 fruit, and when further selected and improved must become a 

 staple. 



The portrait of a splendid specimen of Eucharis Ainazonica 

 with 220 blooms is published in a late issue of the Gardeners' 

 Chronicle. It was grown in the gardens of Mr. G. F. Linden, 

 of Birmingham, and shows such exceptionally good cultiva- 

 tion of a plant which is often difficult to grow successfully, 

 that the methods under which it was produced are worth at- 

 tention. The specimen was grown in " soil composed of good 

 loam, a little leaf-soil, some broken sandstone, and a few half- 

 inch bones, with plenty (quite six inches) of drainage to allow 

 water to escape freely." The roots were found to adhere to 

 the sandstone and evidently derived benefit from it. "The 

 plant was kept through the winter and spring in a temperature 

 of sixty to sixty-five degrees, but was removed when it flow- 

 ered to a cooler house, in which, if kept too long, however, 

 the foliage suffers and decays. Very little water, and that 

 manure water, is used directly on the soil, and then only 

 in hot weather; but the foliage is frequently syringed with 

 clear manure-water, used freely in the grovvingseason, and the 

 plants are never allowed to dry off." Mr. Bluck, the gardener 

 who produced this specimen, thinks that too much soil in the 

 pots and too much water at the roots is injurious to Eucharis, 

 and he trusts more to the copious syringings with weak ma- 

 nure-water than to anything else to secure these results. Dis- 

 eased bulbs of Eucharis, sent to this garden, were washed and 

 placed in a pan of sand with sphagnum at the bottom, when 

 they grew freely and were soon restored to health. 



