April 9, 1S90.] 



Garden and Forest. 



179 



named. At that time Jefferson, Pocklington and Duchess had 

 a fictitious reputation, gained by much advertising. I myself 

 considered the Jefferson a Grape of great promise. Now I 

 would like to change every vine I have. The true value of a 

 really good Grape is not established in three or four years. 

 The Worden, for instance, has been three times as long in 

 obtaining its present standing. Four years later the same So- 

 ciety, balloting for the three best Grapes for general use, one of 

 each color, decided in favor of the Brighton, red; Worden, 

 black; and Niagara, white ; and few Grape-growers in the state 

 would to-day make any alteration in the list. The amateur 

 who demands grapes of the highest quality, though fewer of 

 them, and is willing to take extra care to obtain them, might 

 need another list embracing the best of those named above 

 and a few not mentioned here; but for the great majority of 

 the people the list will give entire satisfaction and all the varie- 

 ties can be grown with ordinary care. 

 Montclair, N.J. E. Williams. 



garden, which are, nevertheless, as unknown in horticulture 

 as the Stapelias. 



The objections urged against the admission of Stapelias into 

 the garden are: (1) that most of them have flowers which smell 

 disagreeably; (2) that they are, as a rule, dingy and unattrac- 

 tive in color; (3) that they are not easily kept in health in the 

 garden. With regard to the first I am afraid that nothing can 

 be said in palliation of the unpleasantness of the odor, except 

 that it is not obtrusive, and people need not smell it unless 

 they like. But both the first and second objections are of small 

 account when weighed in the balance against what can be said 

 in favor of these plants. Their fiowers are large, they are 

 often produced in abundance, rarely failing if the plants are 

 in anything like health. Inform the flowers are most remark- 

 able, in structure they are full of interest for the botanist, 

 whilst the colors, although quiet, are not wanting in attractive- 

 ness, being, as a rule, a mixture of yellow and purple-brown. 

 They cannot be used in the making up of bouquets, nor would 



The Parterre, Fontainebleau. — See page 174. 



Stapelias. 



T N the March number of Hooker s Icones Platttarum, Mr. 

 ■*• N. E. Brown, of the Kew Herbarium, figures and describes 

 twenty-nine species of Stapelia and allied genera; he also adds 

 in a supplemental chapter some interesting notes on Stapelias 

 in general, and those collected by Sir Henry Barkly when Gov- 

 ernor of the Cape of Good Hope in particular. The plants 

 figured in the Icones are not, as a rule, of any horticultural in- 

 terest, but amongst these Stapelias are some which are already 

 known in cultivation, and others which, in our opinion, 

 deserve to become generally known and grown. 



Stapelias, however, receive next to no notice from horticul- 

 turists ; indeed, one might safely say that the number of gar- 

 dens in which they are grown and the number of gardeners 

 who know anything about them might be counted on one's 

 fingers. To most people this will look like conclusive evi- 

 dence of the worthlessness, in a garden sense, of all Stapelias. 

 This is true only to a certain extent. It would not be difficult 

 to name many plants of undoubted beauty and fitness for the 



any but the eccentric think of wearing one in his button-hole. 

 But there is, or should be, a place in the garden for the ano- 

 malous, the strange and the wonderful amongst plants as well 

 as for the pretty, the gaudy and the fragrant. The Titanic 

 Amorphophallus, which last year created so much excitement 

 amongst horticulturists as well as botanists, is not a plant to 

 grow "for cut-flower purposes." There are many Orchitis, 

 too, of even less beauty and interest than Stapelias, but which 

 find a place in almost every collection. The horticulturist 

 who failed to see anything to admire and long for in 5. gigan- 

 tea, with its huge, shaggy star a foot across, and colored yellow 

 with brown blotches, must have a very narrow and unenviable 

 taste for flowers. There are dozens of species of Stapelia 

 with flowers as interesting if not quite so large as this giant of 

 the genus. 



The odor was designed by nature to serve the purpose of 

 the plant, man's fastidious senses not being taken into account. 

 Insects are needed to bring about fertilization in Stapelias and 

 that it attracts them is evident enough even here, where flies 

 visit them in large numbers to deposit their ova. Probably, 



