April 9, 1890.] 



Garden and Forest. 



183 



there are varieties or forms, as yet but little known, of many 

 of our most familiar flowers, which possess, in a practical 

 and aesthetic point of view, all the interest and value of an en- 

 tirely new species, and which are well worthy of the attention 

 of lovers and cultivators of wild Mowers. 



Fairview, Hancock Co., W. Va. W. h. Hill. 



A Chart of Standard Colors. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest: 



Sir. — Mr. C. R. Orcutt (vol. ii., page 622) points out a want 

 very much felt by every one having to describe flower colors. 

 It is, however, a fact that, owing to a difference in the construc- 

 tion of the eye, certain colors have a different appearance to 

 one or the other observer. It would be a great advantage to 

 science in general to have such a standard chart. If it be un- 

 dertaken, it ought to be compiled by a commission of scientific 

 men, including some good authorities. The large work of the 

 French chemist, Chevreuil, might form the basis to work 

 upon. A few years ago there was also a very exhaustive arti- 

 cle in the Gardeners' Chronicle, which would be valuable in 

 that matter. It apparently came from a competent authority. 



Baden-Baden. Max LeichtlUl. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — Mr. C. R. Orcutt pleads (vol. ii., page 622) for a chart of 

 standard colors. Such a chart is certainly a desideratum to all 

 naturalists. But the difficulties in the way of its preparation 

 and publication are very great, and I do not look for such a 

 chart in many years, if ever. 



In my own practice I use for this purpose an agent's sample- 

 case of spool silks. The Brainerd & Armstrong Company, of 

 New York, make a very neat and compact pocket sample-case 

 which contains 220 named colors. This affords the best means 

 which I have found of securing uniformity in observation and 

 nomenclature between myself and assistants ; and, in fact, it 

 leaves little to be desired. 



Ithaca, N. Y. L. H. Bailey. 



Easter Flowers. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — The most beautiful display of Easter flowers made by 

 any New York florist this year filled the windows of a large 

 shop on Broadway between 27th and 28th Streets. On Thurs- 

 day the principal window showed a line of potted Hyacinths, 

 chiefly pink and lilac, set in a mass of Ferns. Behind these 

 stood, in the centre, a large crimson Azalea with a Cytisus on 

 either side, and beyond Roses, smaller plants of Cytisus and 

 Lilies, all in baskets tied with ribbons of harmonizing colors. 

 Back of this line were large Azaleas of paler pink varieties 

 and a mass of Lilies and Bush Daisies, while lilac Cattleyas 

 hung in baskets from the top of the window. The general 

 effect was pink and white and green with dashes of yellow and 

 lilac, and the window, as a whole, was both brilliant and har- 

 monious. On Saturday the arrangement was somewhat 

 changed ; more white flowers, chiefly Lilies, being used with 

 pink Hydrangeas, and more baskets of Orchids, some of them 

 very beautifully grown and arranged. Inside the shop the 

 most remarkable feature was Lilium auratum, in large num- 

 bers and excellently grown. 



In other shop-windows less care had been paid to the 

 arrangement of the plants. But I noted one place, tem- 

 porarily hired by a florist of upper Sixth Avenue, where a 

 very beautiful effect had been achieved in the interior. Rows 

 of staging ran along the walls and down the centre of the long 

 room, and supported, on the top shelves, files of large plants 

 of Cytisus, making two little avenues of brilliant yellow, be- 

 neath which the other plants were grouped. There seemed 

 few novelties among either potted plants or cut flowers. As 

 was the case last year, many Orchids could be found ; but the 

 main reliance for plants was placed on Lilies, Hydrangeas, 

 Spiraeas, Cytisus, Bush Daisies and Azaleas, and for cut 

 flowers, on Roses. The Hydrangeas were splendid, and the 

 Azaleas, most often grown as standards with wide, round 

 heads, had reached their highest point of perfection. Lilacs 

 were few and very inferior, and spring bulbs were not con- 

 spicuous, Daffodils being more plentiful than other sorts, but 

 poor as contrasted with last year. The Lilies were fine, but 

 universally marred by the loss of their anthers. Of course 

 there is an excuse for this removal, but no one will deny that 

 it greatly injures the beauty of the flowers, and to some per- 

 sons it totally destroys their charm. Without the bright yel- 

 low sparks they seem flat, stale and unprofitable to the eye. 

 There is no flower so much in demand as this for the adorn- 

 ment of churches. It is the accepted symbol of innocence 

 and grace, and, moreover, has a peculiar consecration in 



Catholic minds from its time-honored dedication to the Vir- 

 gin. But to take off its anthers destroys its ecclesiological 

 signification for Catholics — though perhaps in this prosaic 

 time and land they are not aware of the fact. They do not 

 need to be told that the Lily is the Virgin's flower because 

 " the pure white petals signify her spotless body and the 

 golden anthers her soul sparkling with divine light " ? How- 

 ever, if a Lily is purchased with some of its blossoms in bud, 

 these at least will ultimately delight the possessor with both 

 spotless petals and sparkling anthers. 



New York florists complained that the damp, dark season 

 had reduced their supply of flowers, but they must have done 

 well with what they had from the empty look of their shops on 

 Saturday night. Easter has, in fact, at least in this city, taken 

 the place lately held by Christmas, and before that by New 

 Year's Day, as the florist's busiest time. His trade then is 

 largely with potted plants, of course ; but gifts of cut flowers 

 and even set pieces are now the rule, not the exception, and 

 every parlor is abloom before the sun of Easter Sunday has 

 set. Perhaps the profits of the Easter trade are not so great 

 as those of the midwinter festival, but certainly its volume is 

 getting to be surprisingly great. 



New York. <$• 



Recent Publications. 



The Horticulturists' Rule Book. By L. H. Bailey. New York 

 Garden Publishing Company. 



This little compendium embraces in its 200 pages much in- 

 formation which a gardener needs in his daily practice, to- 

 gether with some statistics and miscellaneous matter, which 

 are interesting enough but foreign to the purpose of a hand- 

 book of this character. The best part of the work will be 

 found in the first four chapters, which treat of insects injurious 

 to plants and plant diseases, with the approved remedies for 

 each. In no department of horticulture has the advance in 

 knowledge been so rapid as it has been in this particular field 

 during recent years. Discoveries have followed each other in 

 such quick succession that the fruit-grower or gardener who 

 reads the current literature of his art is quite bewildered by 

 the variety of treatment recommended to prevent or cure the 

 injuries from insects and fungi. The sufferers from these 

 enemies have reason to thank Professor Bailey for having 

 brought within the compass of fifty pages all the well estab- 

 lished facts on these subjects that will prove of immediate 

 practical service to them. This digest of the results of so 

 much study and experiment is well arranged and indexed so 

 that any one of ordinary intelligence can inform himself as to 

 the character and composition of all the most deadly insecti- 

 cides and the safest and most effective way of applying them. 

 And the same is true of the remedies and preventives of fun- 

 gous diseases. In no other work with which we are acquainted 

 can there be found so much information on these subjects, in 

 a compact and accessible form, and embodying the most 

 recent experience. 



While this is the best feature of the book, there are many 

 other collections of tables, rules, recipes and directions for 

 practice which help to make it a singularly useful manual for 

 convenient reference. 



Recent Plant Portraits. 



Botanical Magazine, March : 



Zamia Wallisii, t. 7103 ; a short-stemmed or nearly acau- 

 lescent species from Guatemala. 



Satyrium membranaceum, t. 7104 ; a beautiful terrestrial 

 Orchid, with bright carmine flowers, deepening to crimson on 

 the back of the lip, from the neighborhood of Port Elizabeth, 

 in South Africa. 



Aris^ema Wrayi, /. 7104; a native of the Malay Peninsula. 



Lathr^ea clandestina, t. 7106 ; a beautiful parasite of 

 southern Europe, now successfully cultivated at Kew, where, 

 planted on the roots of a Willow, it has increased, and flowered 

 profusely. 



Papaver rupifragum, var. Atlanticum, /. 7107; a native of 

 the Great Atlas south of the City of Morocco, where it grows 

 at an elevation of from 6,ooo to 7,000 feet. 



Allium Kansuense, Gartenflora, March 1st. 



Allium cyaneum, Gartenflora, March 1st. 



Bilbergia X Perringiana (B. nutans X Liboniana), Garten- 

 flora, March 15th. 



Eupatorium probum, Gardeners' Chronicle, March 15th ; 

 a soft-wooded greenhouse plant, a native of Chili, whence it 

 was introduced into England several years ago by the late Mr. 

 Wilson Saunders, although not previously described, as pointed 

 out by Mr. N. E. Brown, who now gives characters for it. 



