3 o8 



Garden and Forest. 



[June 25, i£ 



for the extermination of the Gall Fungus upon the infested 



Cranberry-boy. In this case it will mean not simply the burn- 

 ing or drowning of the diseased Cranberry-vines, but the de- 

 struction of those species of shrubs along the shore of the bog 

 that are attacked by the galls. A mildew, quite fatal to Cu- 

 cumbers under glass, was recently found within the state, and 

 this may prove to be another case that can be successfully 

 handled under the new law. In like manner, within the past 

 fortnight, the station botanist has found a parasitic fungus 

 unknown before in this country {Peronospora Rubi, Rabenh.) 

 upon the cultivated Raspberry. This will need careful watch- 

 ing, and if found destructive, and, at the same time, limited to 

 one garden, it can be eradicated. A larger held is already 

 open for the exercise of the law ; for example, the destruction 

 of Plum and Cherry-trees already worthless from the ravages 

 of the black knot, especially of those growing half wild in the 

 roadways. 

 Rutgers College. Byron D. Halsted. 



Plant Note. 



Hybrid Firs. 



Monsieur E. Bailly, writing in the Revue Horticole, describes 

 under the nanve of Abies insignis and Abies Nordmanniana 

 speciosa two hybrid Firs which have appeared in European 

 gardens. The first originated in the nurseries of Monsieur 

 Rennault of Bu!gne"ville, in France. It was raised from 

 seeds of a tree of Abies pectinata grafted with Abies Pinsapo 

 in 1848-49. The remarkable appearance of some of the seed- 

 lings raised from this tree led their owner to suppose at first 

 that the graft had been effected by the stock, and that they 

 were really the result of a graft-hybrid. Afterward, however, 

 it was remembered that a tree of Abies Nordmanniana grow- 

 ing at a distance of four or five hundred feet produced male 

 flowers, so that it is not improbable that the belief that the hybrid 

 is the result of a cross of the flowers of A. Pinsapo, impregnated 

 by the pollen of A. Nordmanniana, is correct. Perhaps not the 

 least interesting part of the matter is that the hybrid plants 

 have proved hardier than plants of A. Pinsapo growing with 

 them. Speaking of the plants, Monsieur Bailly says "the 

 affinity of the hybrid with Abies Nordmanniana and A. 

 Pinsapo does not appear to be doubtful. It unites the two 

 species by its botanical characters and establishes between 

 them a sort of union. The habit of the trees, the arrange- 

 ment of the branches, the color and the arrangement of the 

 leaves, recall those of A. Nordmanniana, but the thickness of 

 the leaves and their coriaceous consistency are rather those of 

 A. Pinsapo. The arrangement of the leaves is intermediate 

 between those of the two parents. In form their apex is not 

 acuminate or often mucronate, like that of the mother-plant; 

 nor truncate, like that of the pollen parent, but is subacute or 

 obtuse. From an ornamental point of view this hybrid is not 

 without value. It is, on the contrary, a very handsome tree, 

 elegant and vigorous, of good habit, and one to which I wish 

 to invite the attention of lovers of conifers." 



The second of these hybrids, Abies Nordmanniana speciosa, 

 was produced by Monsieur Croux, the nurseryman, of Aulnay, 

 near Sceaux, in the neighborhood of Paris, who fertilized 

 female flowers of A. Nordmanniana with the pollen of A. 

 Pinsapo in 1871 or 1872, care having been taken at the time to 

 remove from the plant of A. Nordmanniana operatedonall the 

 male flowers before they reached maturity. Another hybrid 

 Abies exists in the garden of Monsieur H. de Vilmorin — a cross 

 between A Pinsapo and A. Cephalonica. Monsieur Bailly asks, 

 in view of the rapid and vigorous growth of these three hybrids, 

 if there may not be an advantage from an economic point of 

 view in using them or other hybrids in forest plantations on a 

 large scale. It is not, of course, improbable that a hardier, 

 more vigorous and more valuable race of timber-producing 

 trees may be obtained by hybridization, although until such a 

 race could be fixed by long cultivation it will be necessary to 

 resort to grafting in order to secure plants of the mixed breed. 



New or Little Known Plants. 



Cypripedium Philippinense. 



OUR photograph of this interesting species on page 309 

 was made from a plant in Mr. Hicks Arnold's collection 

 in this city, where it flowered in March of the present year. 

 This handsome species was introduced from the Philippine 

 Islands by Mr. John Gould Veitch many years ago, and 

 long remained rare in cultivation. It is now more com- 

 mon, having been found by Roeberlen, a collector of 



Sander & Co., in a region which has not been made public. 

 The plant is generally sold and known in gardens as 

 Cypripedium Roebelenii, although there is apparently little 

 doubt of its identity with the species from the Philippine 

 Islands, which was, of course, described much earlier. 

 The flowers, which are about three inches across from tip 

 to tip of the upper and lower sepals, are distinguished by 

 a broadly ovate, pointed, whitish upper sepal striped with 

 dark brown-purple, by a lower sepal, white with green 

 veins, and by ribbon-like, pendulous petals furnished with 

 short hairs and five or six inches long. They are twisted, 

 yellow at the base, and dull, reddish purple along most of 

 their length, with the exception of the apex, which is purple. 

 The buff-yellow lip is faintly streaked with brown. 



This species grows in one of the hottest regions of the 

 world in the full blaze of a tropical sun and exposed to the 

 force of tropical storms. It is therefore interesting to find 

 that it adapts itself to cultivation, and that it will flourish 

 when transferred to a city greenhouse, like the one in 

 which Mr. Arnold grows his collection and which contains 

 several fine specimens of rare plants, and which is instruc- 

 tive and interesting as showing what can be accomplished 

 in a comparatively small greenhouse in which it is impos- 

 sible to give to each plant the peculiar conditions of heat 

 and light which are supposed essential to its welfare. The 

 fact that a plant which theoretically ought to be as difficult 

 to cultivate as Cypripedium Philippinense flourishes in con- 

 ditions which seem equally favorable to a number of other 

 plants which grow naturally under very dissimilar climatic 

 conditions, and which are usually considered difficult to 

 manage, shows very conclusively that the cultivation of 

 Orchids is not such a delicate matter as many persons sup- 

 pose, and that any one with a moderate sized greenhouse 

 can grow successfully a large variety of the very best of 

 them. 



Mr. Arnold will, we trust, pardon us for thus calling at- 

 tention to his greenhouse and its contents. Our excuse 

 for doing so is our desire to point out that there are a great 

 many people living in cities who are fond of flowers and 

 have the means for gratifying their love for them who can 

 with the aid of a small glass structure placed on one of the 

 outbuildings of their dwellings gratify their tastes by culti- 

 vating many interesting plants. There certainly can be 

 no more delightful adjunct to a city mansion than a small 

 greenhouse or conservatory, and the pleasure it is capable 

 of affording will increase in proportion as the owner him- 

 self understands his plants and studies their requirements. 



Foreign Correspondence. 

 London Letter. 



TSJ YMPH/EAS are especially attractive now at Kew. A cir- 

 *■ ' cular tank thirty-six feet in diameter is filled with the 

 leaves and flowers of a large number of kinds. Best of all is 

 N. Zanzibarensis, one of the Stellata section, but much supe- 

 rior to any other in the group. Its flowers are ten inches in 

 diameter, and are in the form of huge cups colored deep 

 purple-blue, the base shaded with crimson and the centre oc- 

 cupied with golden anthers. It is about five years since this 

 plant made its d^but at Kew, but its full dimensions have 

 never been seen in England before this year, the enormous 

 size of the flowers being the result of allowing the plant a bed 

 of rich soil three feet across by two feet deep, instead of grow- 

 ing it in a large pot as hitherto. Almost as striking in size and 

 color is the beautiful yellow-flowered N. tuberosa flavescens, 

 its blooms as large, as fragrant and charming in color as the 

 most perfect of Mardchal Neil Roses. N. Lotus, var. rubra, 

 with huge flowers colored rose-crimson, and N. dentata 

 (white), N. Ortgiesiana (pink), N. albo-pygj/uea (white), and the 

 various forms of A^. stellata, from pure white to blue, are all 

 flowering freely, and in the morning at about eleven o'clock 

 they form a magnificent picture. An aquarium well stocked 

 with the best aquatic plants is about as charming as any- 

 thing in the way of in-door gardening. At any rate, the Water 

 Lily house at Kew is an exceptional attraction to visitors during 

 the summer. 



The Azalea garden at Kew is one of its most delightful fea- 

 tures during the month of June, when the plants are in bloom. 



