June 25, 1890.] 



Garden and Forest. 



309 



A large open space, surrounded by magnificent trees, in 

 groups or isolated, with long vistas terminating in views of 

 the lake or of some handsome building, and carpeted with the 

 softest of lawns, is filled with large specimen Azaleas, whose 

 prototypes are wild in your country, but whose colors and fra- 

 grance are beyond description. This year the display has 

 been grander than ever. The wisdom of clearing away some 

 large trees which overshadowed the Azaleas, re-forming the 

 beds and replanting the specimens in good soil is now show- 

 ing itself in a wealth of bloom and intensity of color unequaled 

 by anything else in the garden either in-doors or out. I am 

 told that even in America these Azaleas do not meet with the 

 appreciation which, as seen at Kew, they abundantly merit. 

 Compared with them the garden Rhododendron is stiff and 

 gaudy, whilst in fragrance they are only equaled by our native 

 Honeysuckle. We are immensely proud of our garden of 

 American Azaleas. Amongst them are specimen trees of 

 Magnolias such as Af. Umbrella, M. auriculata, M. Soulange- 

 ana, M. conspicua and M. cordata. Some of these are in flower 

 now or are just over. Mr. Gumbleton, of Cork, informs me 

 that M. Campbelli, the Himalayan species with enormous 

 flowers colored rich crimson on the outside, would certainly 

 be hardy at Kew. It is one of the grandest of the genus, 

 but hitherto it has been grown under glass in England, 



Fig 43. — Cypripedium Pliilippinense. — See page 308. 



although in the south of Ireland there are magnificent speci- 

 mens in the open air. 



Musa Japonica is the name given to a plant which Messrs. 

 Veitch & Sons introduced about ten years ago from Japan, 

 and which has proved capable of out-door cultivation in their 

 nursery at Coombe Wood. A plant of it at Kew, in the winter 

 garden, is now in flower. It is of more than ordinary interest, 

 as it appears to be the M. Basjoo of Japanese authors, of which 

 hitherto very little was known. It has a stem ten feet high, 

 leaves as long, a stout, drooping inflorescence, the most con- 

 spicuous character in which is the large size of the oval-con- 

 cave bracts and their tawny brown color. A Musa, which has 

 all the striking appearance of M. sapientum and which may be 

 grown in a temperature as low as that of an ordinary situation 

 in the south of England, is likely to prove of value horticul- 

 turally. The only Musas that are ever planted out-of-doors in 

 England are M. superba, and its ally, M. Ensete, but these are 

 too tender to bear a temperature approaching frost, and must, 

 therefore, be taken in-doors during winter. A second Musa, 

 likely to bear a lower temperature than many of the spe- 

 cies, is grown at Kew as an unnamed species indigenous in 

 Hong-Kong. Both these Musas form suckers freely, and, in 

 positions suitable to them, they would soon form a large clus- 

 ter of handsome foliage. 



An exhibition of plants organized by the Royal Horticultural 

 Society, and held last week in the Temple Gardens, adjoining 

 the Strand, was remarkable in many ways. Hitherto the ex- 

 ceptional efforts of this Society to get together a big display of 

 plants, and to induce a big crowd to go and see them, 

 have been spoilt by bad weather or some other circumstance 



beyond control. This time, however, the weather and every- 

 thing else appeared to smile on the Society, the result being 

 one of the most successful gatherings of plants and people 

 ever seen in London. A peculiarity of the exhibition was the 

 total absence of money prizes — the awards being only cups or 

 medals. It was feared by many that this new departure would 

 prove a mistake. Instead, however, of its effect being a thin 

 show it was, on the contrary, an unusually full one. The 

 nurserymen did wonders, both in respect to number and 

 quality of their exhibits and in the skillful cultivation they 

 displayed. The power and numbers of the nurserymen 

 of England were very strongly revealed in this show. A few, 

 who must be set down as short-sighted, disparaged the exhibi- 

 tion on this account, arguing that it was from purely commer- 

 cial motives that the nurseryman exhibited. Probably that is 

 true, but the motive of the private gardener or amateur ex- 

 hibitor who craves for money prizes cannot be much less self- 

 ish than that of the nurserymen. 



The chief features of the show were the collections of Or- 

 chids, Clematis, Rhododendrons, Filmy and other Ferns, hardy 

 herbaceous plants, Mowers and fruits. It would be impossible 

 to mention here a tithe of the interesting things shown; indeed, 

 almost every plant of the thousands there had something spe- 

 cial to commend it. H. R. H. the Prince of Wales opened 

 the exhibition and spent a considerable time in inspecting the 

 plants and flowers. He afterward expressed his unqualified 

 delight with all he saw. Those who sympathize with the So- 

 ciety in its efforts to win back the influence for good that it 

 possessed some years ago will know how to appreciate the 

 work of the present Council. 



Mr. Bull's annual exhibition of Orchids has become an insti- 

 tution in London. Mr. Bull was, I believe, the first to devote 

 a portion of his nursery to an artistic arrangement of Orchids 

 and foliage plants on the same lines as govern ordinary plant- 

 shows. All regular customers and persons interested are 

 invited by card to inspect the show, which continues two or 

 three months in summer. The ordinary time-killer is ex- 

 cluded by a charge for admission, an arrangement found 

 necessary to prevent the houses from being filled with idlers 

 and those people who rush to see anything and everything. 

 The collection of Orchids in Mr. Bull's nursery is one of the 

 richest in England. There are, also, many rare and beautiful 

 Palms, Aroids, Ferns, Bromeliads, etc., to be found in his es- 

 tablishment. With the aid of these Mr. Bull is enabled to make a 

 most attractive display of flowers and foliage. It is, of course, 

 a trade advertisement simply, but it is a most charming pic- 

 ture, nevertheless, for those who are interested in plants, and 

 who find pleasure in looking at a well grown specimen of a 

 beautiful plant, whether in a nursery or in a private garden. 



London. IV. WatSOH. 



Cultural Department. 

 Notes on Shrubs. 

 HTHERE are no hardy Viburnums which possess more beau- 

 *■ tiful or interesting flowers than the native Cranberry-tree 

 {V. Opulus), also indigenous to Europe and the northern part 

 of Asia. Specimens in the Arboretum raised from seed col- 

 lected in the mountains about Pekin, China, do not show any 

 sufficiently marked variations from our own to entitle them to 

 a separate specific or varietal name. 



The large, sterile, marginal flowers in the flat cymes become 

 conspicuously white a few days before the perfect flowers open, 

 which, in ordinary situations in gardens, occurs here about the 

 1st of June. It is always remarked that the natural species 

 seems much less liable to attack by Aphides than the Snow- 

 ball or Guelder Rose, which is but a monstrous form of the 

 Cranberry-tree. This susceptibility to injury may be because 

 the sterile Snowball, being perpetually propagated by cuttings, 

 layers or similar modes of division, is less robust and less able 

 to overcome attacks by insects than the fruit-bearing type, 

 which is generally renewed by seed. Where Snowball-bushes 

 are much infested by Aphides the thorough application of 

 kerosene emulsion or a strong decoction of Tobacco will be 

 effectual in destroying them. But it is very important that the 

 insecticide should be sprayed upon the under side of the 

 leaves with considerable force, so that it will penetrate into the 

 folds of the twisted leaves, where the insects are concealed and 

 the work of injury is carried on. 



The Japanese Snowball {V. plicatum) is to be recommended 

 for its freedom from disfigurement by these troublesome in- 

 sects ; but aside from this quality, it is valuable for its own 

 peculiar beauty. The common Snowball is a more graceful, 

 freer growing plant, which bears its balls of flowers on some- 

 what pendulous branches, while V. plicatum is a rather formal 



