April 30, 1890.] 



Garden and Forest. 



217 



Hydrangeas.-— It is common to see large specimen plants^ 

 of H. hortensis, but small ones are rare. Few greenhouse g 

 plants are so easy to grow and so useful in a small state. Cut- t 

 tings taken in spring from half matured shoots root readily !> 

 almost anywhere. Superfluous shoots broken off will some- 

 times take root on the benches. When rooted they can be 

 planted out-of-doors, where, with abundance of water and 

 sometimes a little liquid manure, they will make nice plants 

 by the fall. They may be taken up and potted into six-inch 

 pots, and if kept cool and moderately dry they will ripen their 

 wood, in which state they may be kept until wanted, say in 

 February, for forcing. A night temperature of fifty-five de- 

 grees is sufficient, with abundance of water and a light posi- 

 tion. 



Wellesley, Mass. "• 



Seasonable Hints. — Most forehanded gardeners in this latitude 

 are well along with their early spring work and yet those who 

 have been delayed by unfavorable circumstances can still begin 

 with every assurance of good returns for their labor. Where 

 early vegetables are appearing the crops should be thinned 

 out as soon as the plants are large enough. Novices too often 

 forget that each plant requires room for development, and 

 that a square foot of soil will support only a certain amount of 

 vegetable life. Radishes should be thinned until they stand 

 two inches from centre to centre. Beets should stand four to 

 six inches apart ; Onions three inches ; Lettuce from six to ten 

 inches, according to the size of the variety; Carrots from three to 

 four; Spinach, for the spring crop, three to four inches; Turnips 

 four to six inches. Of course Peas and Beans do not require 

 thinning, while Cabbage, Cauliflower and Celery are to be 

 transplanted, and the first two should stand in rows three feet 

 apart and eighteen inches apart in the row. Stirring the soil 

 should begin as soon as the plants make their appearance. 

 This is not only to pulverize the clods and make all the plant 

 food available to the young roots, to admit air into the soil 

 and to open it so that it will drink in the rain, but it is the only 

 time when the weeds can be successfully subdued. When 

 the weed-seeds have just germinated a little disturbance and 

 exposure will destroy them and make after-cultivation much 

 more easy. Successional crops of Peas,- Beans, Lettuce and 

 other vegetables sown earlier should be put in, but it is yet too 

 early to plant Corn, Lima Beans, Melons or any other tender 

 vegetables in the open ground. The conditions of early spring 

 have lingered so long that small fruits may yet be planted. 

 They should be severely pruned, because the rapidly increas- 

 ing temperature will hurry forward the leaves before the roots 

 are prepared to supply them with adequate moisture. Tobacco 

 dust mixed with half its bulk of insect powder and sifted on 

 Grapes, Currants, Raspberries, and in fact on all the shrubs of 

 the garden which are developing foliage, will help to keep 

 away numerous insect pests. The dusting should be done 

 while the dew is on the leaves. 



The Flower Garden. — The season is still young enough for 

 planting hardy shrubs'and herbaceous plants, if the precaution 

 is observed to head in shrubs more severely than is necessary 

 earlier in the year. Be in no haste to set out tender plants. 

 Those which are purchased are generally taken from under 

 glass, where they have not been hardened off, and a raw wind 

 or a chilly night will give them a shock from which they will 

 not recover all the season. In selecting varieties, novices 

 should confine themselves to old and well-tested kinds. So 

 called "common" flowers and shrubs have become well 

 known because their merits have been established after years 

 of trial and selection. They are invariably good and effective, 

 and they are usually better than more recent introductions. 

 The testing of novelties is one of the pleasures of gardening, 

 but the experimenter will be disappointed if he hopes that 

 many of these new acquaintances will be as worthy of care as 

 the old and standard occupants of the garden. 



Bergen, N.J. "~ P. 0. 



Correspondence. 

 The Noxious Primrose. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — Perhaps a few notes on the irritation of the skin by 

 Primula obconica may still be in order. The plants on which' 

 my observations were made were fully developed specimens, 

 and had been propagated by division of last year's plants — 

 not raised by sowing seeds after the more natural method. 

 About five hours after the work of picking dead leaves and 

 flowers from about a hundred of them, the backs of the hands 

 and portions of the arms began to itch, and a slight swelling 

 of the parts affected was noticeable some five hours later. 



^he swelling disappeared in twenty-four hours, but the irrita- 

 tion was not wholly gone until the seventh day. It was very 

 slight at its most acute stage, while the swelling caused no 

 inconvenience whatever. The application of soap and water 

 to the affected parts hastens and increases the irritation. 

 Moisture appears to aid the injurious propensities of the plant, 

 for it is noticeable that the irritation and swelling are more 

 severe when either the skin or the plant is wet. 



A good botanical dissecting microscope fails to reveal any 

 trace of vegetable hairs in the skin after contact with the 

 plants; and this fact suggests the belief that the plant secretes 

 a poisonous fluid. The irritation differs from that caused by 

 minute spines entering the flesh. In the latter case a sharp 

 sense of pain is experienced, and, guided by it, each indi- 

 vidual spine may be located ; but in the former, larger sur- 

 faces appear to be affected. I have consulted with several 

 persons who have grown the plant in quantity, and a few 

 others have experimented at my request, so that I have 

 information concerning its effect on thirty-nine persons. 

 From the facts, I have calculated that about fifty per cent, 

 of those who work among the plants are subject to their 

 peculiar effects. Temperament and complexion appear to 

 be unimportant factors in the matter; but two colored men 

 whom I persuaded to test the plants remained wholly un- 

 injured after prolonged contact with them. The expe- 

 riences of some white gardeners and florists are similar to 

 those of these two colored men, no amount of contact with 

 the plants affecting them in the slightest degree. The irritation 

 varies in intensity, and in some cases it is extremely slight. 

 It is generally confined to the arms and backs of the hands, 

 but there are important exceptions to this rule. Mr. K. Finlay- 

 son, a gardener at Brookline, Massachusetts, had his eyelids 

 affected, though no part of his face had come in direct contact 

 with the plants. He had been cleaning a number of plants, 

 and his hands, he says, which were also affected afterward, 

 may have been brought in contact with the face while that 

 operation was proceeding. Mrs. M. H. Hutchins, a florist of 

 North Cambridge, Massachusetts, had a similar experience. 

 Mr. Finlayson believes that the hairs which clothe the flower- 

 stalks are in some way the cause of the injury, and says: 

 " My belief in this is strengthened when I remember that 

 I can handle all other parts of the plant with impunity." 

 Plants raised from seed appear to be less injurious than those 

 propagated by division of the old plants ; indeed, I have yet to 

 find a case in which the irritation can be traced to one-year- 

 old seedlings. Perhaps the hairs grow harder and sharper, or 

 more virulent, as the plants grow older ? It is somewhat diffi- 

 cult to get reliable information on this point, as the plants are 

 propagated by both methods and mixed in most establish- 

 ments. Seedlings do not injure Mr. Finlayson, though he is 

 particularly liable to be affected by the older plants. Some 

 further information on this phase of the question would be 

 very desirable. 



Botanic Garden, Cambridge, Mass. M. Barker. 



Nepenthes and a Gardeners' Problem. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — Mr. Burbidge's interesting note on the exact climatic 

 conditions in which he found N. Rajah and N. villosa serves a 

 double purpose. First it proves that I was in error when I 

 stated that N. villosa was in cultivation, the plant grown in 

 gardens under this name being, as he points out, N. Vietchii. 



In the second place, the particulars given by Mr. Burbidge 

 in regard to N. Rajah form, when placed by the side of what 

 was stated recently in Garden and Forest (see p. 108) and 

 what I have since learned in England in relation to the culti- 

 vation of this Nepenthes, the strongest possible testimony to 

 the truth of the statement that botanical science (including, of 

 course, geographical botany) affords little information as to the 

 best methods of cultivation for many plants. It is clear from 

 what Mr. Burbidge says that in a state of nature N. Rajah 

 grows only at high elevations and in conditions such as he 

 says clearly indicate that under cultivation a lower temperature 

 is necessary for this species than for the others. Mr. Moore's 

 own story of his success with this plant, as quoted by Mr. 

 Barker in Garden and Forest (see p. 146), proves that cool 

 treatment is not disagreeable to it. But it appears now that while 

 we here have been struggling to overcome the difficulties at 

 first attendant on the cultivation of N. Rajah (it is just possible 

 that some knowledge of the natural conditions put most people 

 here on the wrong tack !) you in America have had it 

 " flourishing for several years in stove-houses along with 

 other Nepenthes, forming pitchers freely and flowering, no 

 trouble bavins: ever been found in its management." 



