May 7, 1890.] 



Garden and Forest. 



225 



Bicolor. — Empress, Horsfieldi, Grandis, Dean Herbert and 

 J. B. M. Camra. 



MOSCHATUS. — Of this white ilovvered group Mr. Walker did 

 not speak highly, their flowers being too soft and not standing 

 well enough lor market purposes; he finds the following the best 

 in this group, Mrs. Burbidge, Cernuus and Cernuus pulcher. 



INCOMPARABILIS. — The best of all the many varieties included 

 in this section is the giant Sir Watkin, and its nearest rival, Lady 

 Watkin, of which Mr. Walker possesses the entire stock. 

 Next to these he places Gloria Mundi and Princess Mary. 



Barri. — Maurice Vilmorin, General Murray, W. Ingram 

 and Duchess of Westminister. The last named is large flow- 

 ered, of excellent form and almost pure white. 



BURBIDGEI. — The pick of this section Mr. Walker found in 

 Constance, Falstaff, John Bain and Mary. 



Poeticus. — All the forms in this section were, he said, of 

 great value as market plants, whilst the best of them were 

 Grandis, Recurvus and Poetarum. From the double-flowered 

 kinds he selected Sulphureus (Codlings and Cream), Aurantius 

 plenus (Butter and Eggs), and Telamonius plenus (Great 

 Double Daffodil). 



From this selection of kinds Mr. Walker is able to keep the 

 market supplied with flowers from the end of January to the 

 middle of May. 



No one grows these flowers more perfectly or in greater 

 numbers than Mr. Walker, who has close upon a hundred 

 acres planted with them in his nursery near Petersham. His 

 group of flowers at the exhibition was remarkable for its uni- 

 form excellence, not one of the hundred or so varieties it in- 

 cluded being weak. 



The principal exhibitor was of course Mr. Peter Barr, 

 " King of Daffodils," as he is termed. Mr. Barr has done 

 more than any one to bring Daffodils into popularfavor, and he 

 knows more about the cultivated forms than any other living 

 man. He exhibited large groups of flowers of some two hundred 

 named varieties and was awarded the gold medal of the 

 Society. Kew sent flowers of one hundred and fifty named 

 sorts. The great vinery at Chiswick was filled with the flow- 

 ers, and presented a most beautiful picture, such as had never 

 been seen in any one place before. IV. Watson. 



London. 



Cultural Department. 



Early Blooming- Shrubs and Trees. 



T) OSSIBLY on account of the unusual amount of snow on 

 ■*■ the mountain ranges west of the prairies our spring is late 

 and but few ligneous plants are yet (April 25th) in bloom. 



Of our indigenous shrubs under cultivation Dirca palustris 

 (the Leather-wood) is first to expand its flowers, and our native 

 Amelanchier (the Juneberry) follows closely and in advance of 

 any of our varieties from Europe. 



Of European and Asiatic plants some species of the Prunus 

 family take the lead in earliness of bloom. A Manchurian Bird 

 Cherry, Prunus Padtis, expands its handsome foliage in ad- 

 vance of all our native and foreign species, and is now loaded 

 with its really beautiful white racemes. As obtained from dif- 

 ferent parts of east Europe it runs into marked varieties. In 

 beauty of tree and flowers a variety from Arel, in central 

 Russia, excels all others I have yet seen. 



Prunus virgata and Prunus tomentosa bloom with us at the 

 same time, but are not equally hardy as to fruit-bud. While the 

 tree itself is hardy enough, we rarely have the fine double 

 flowers of the P. virgata in perfection. On the other hand, 

 P. tomentosa is hardy in fruit-bud, and its blossoms will en- 

 dure severe frosts. 



The Siberian Apricot is now white with bloom, but it rarely 

 fruits with us, as the flowers do not endure frosts or early spring 

 storms as perfectly as do those of P. tomentosa, P. Padus and 

 the Siberian Almond. In our climate the Siberian Almond 

 (Amygdalus Sibirica) blooms with astonishing freedom and 

 regularity. Three years ago it was loaded in early April with 

 its pretty pink flowers during a frost that froze water an inch 

 thick in a wate'ring trough near it, yet the flowers were fol- 

 lowed by a heavy crop of almonds, from which we grew hun- 

 dreds of seedlings the next spring. 



Of our collection of Barberries, B. Thunbergii and B. 

 Amurensis come earliest into bloom, yet are not liable to be 

 injured by frost or storms. Forsythia suspensa is now well 

 laden with its yellow flowers, and, taken all in all, is the hand- 

 somest and best of its genus for our climate. Of the Elder- 

 berries, Sambucus racemosa, from Devil's Lake, Wisconsin, 

 is in bloom with plants of this species from central Asia, while 

 native individuals and those of west Europe are much later in 

 fioweriner. 



Of the Birches now in bloom, Betula fruticosa and B. 

 Gmelina are the most interesting. The catkins are long, 

 pendulous and peculiar, attracting much attention. Of the 

 Willows now in flower, Salix aurea, of central Asia, is the 

 most attractive. The long, yellow catkins, with the shining, 

 half-developed foliage and bright vellow bark, give a pleasing 

 expression not equaled by any Willow or Poplar in our col- 

 lection. In the Pyrus family the wild Pear of the Altai Moun- 

 tains is the most interesting. Its large, pure white flowers are 

 in clusters at the points of growth, and form a fine contrast 

 with the half formed silvery leaves. Worked at standard 

 height on the common Pear of east Europe, Pyrus salici- 

 folia forms one of our most desirable small trees of pen- 

 dulous habit for the lawn. In a general way, I may add that 

 eastern shrubs and trees of given species flower with us 

 earlier than our indigenous plants. As an instance, Prunus 

 serotina, from Massachusetts, blooms several days earlier 

 than our native form'of the species. t 



Agricultural College, Iowa. J . L. hlldd. 



Notes After a Mild Winter. 



'T'HE unusual mildness of the past winter in the eastern part 

 ■*■ of America has again demonstrated some things regarding 

 the plants of our gardens which have not infrequently come 

 under the notice of horticulturists. The almost uniformly 

 mild temperature (not touching zero at Boston) of the entire 

 winter has been very favorable to many herbaceous plants 

 which are ordinarily considered tender or but half-hardy. 

 Anemone Japonica, with very slight protection, was quite un- 

 injured, and the short stems of the rather tender St. John's 

 Wort, known in England as the Rose of Sharon {Hypericum 

 calycinum), with little protection, show very slight injury. 

 It is among some of the woody plants that the effects of the 

 mild winter are most noticeable. Most remarkable is the fact 

 that our native trees and shrubs are rarely lured by warm mid- 

 winter days into exposing their buds and blossoms to the frosts 

 which suddenly and surely follow ; but it is a common expe- 

 rience with many foreign species, natives of milder or other- 

 wise dissimilar climates, that the flower-buds are pushed in 

 mild weather beyond the limits of safety, and the result is that 

 when spring comes the buds and half-opened flowers are dead. 

 Here and there a few late buds escape and produce scattering 

 flowers and perhaps fruit. In such cases one can imagine that 

 the late blossoms developing into fruit might in the course of 

 natural selection produce an acclimated race of the species, ; 

 which having acquired the habit of late flowering, would not 

 advance the buds too far until a comparatively safe season 

 had arrived for expansion and development. 



One lesson which has again forced itself on the attention of 

 amateur planters is that soil and situation are often very im- 

 portant considerations affecting the vigor and endurance of 

 some foreign plants. Even an exposed situation, where the 

 soil is well drained, and not too rich, so that all parts of the 

 plant become thoroughly ripened before autumn frosts, is 

 apparently much more conducive to the hardiness of such 

 trees and shrubs than when they are planted in rich, moist 

 soil, where growth is continued until late in the season, and, 

 in consequence, the plants are not fully matured and at rest 

 before all activity is violently stopped by cold weather. 



The Altheas (Hibiscus Syriacus) and the Weigelas are fa- 

 miliar plants which particularly illustrate the advantage of 

 planting on a sloping bank or in a dry situation. In such 

 positions they are usually as hardy as could be desired; hut 

 in rich, moist soils they are very liable to be killed to the 

 ground. Deutzia scabra and its garden varieties and many 

 species and varieties of Clematis are among the plants which 

 are subject to severe injury in winter if grown in too wet and 

 too highly cultivated situations. The buds of the tree Preony 

 (P. Moutaii) are usually much advanced in the autumn, so 

 that the leaves are plainly seen throughout the winter. These 

 in some places have been killed, and it is noticeable that the 

 injury is much less where the soil is warm and dry. The 

 fragrant, early flowered, Asiatic Honeysuckles, Lonicera 

 Standishii and L. fragrantissima, on low grounds lost most 

 of their flower buds, and Pyrus yaponica sustained similar 

 injuries except" in much sheltered places. This plant, and 

 the Honeysuckles to a lesser extent, are usually provided with 

 some flower buds which are less advanced than the others, 

 so that unless the stems of the plants are killed a few flowers 

 are produced. The North American Berberis (J/a/ionia) 

 Aquifolium is not a satisfactorily hardy plant about Boston ; 

 but here again a comparatively dry situation, added to a 

 northern exposure with partial shade, gives the best result. 

 Among plants which had many of their flower-buds killed . 



