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Garden and Forest. 



IJUI.Y 23, 189O. 



feet high, two feet through at the base, and it bears an enor- 

 mous head of fronds, each about twelve feet long, with large, 

 leathery gray-green pinnules. The base of the rachis is clothed 

 with long silky scale-hairs of a deep golden brown color, a 

 character which led to the plant's being mistaken for D. chryso- 

 tricha. Young plants show an equally well marked individu- 

 ality. It is becoming quite evident, to meat any rate, that a large 

 number of Ferns, and especially arborescent Ferns, are culti- 

 vated in much warmer houses than they require or even than 

 is good for them. The finest collection of Tree Ferns is pro- 

 bably that in the Brussels Botanical Gardens, where species 

 from all parts, temperate as well as tropical, are cultivated in a 

 large house wherein the conditions are those of a warm green- 

 house rather than a stove. 



A fine glass structure about 100 feet long by forty feet wide, 

 and about twenty feet high, is used as a.promenade and exhi- 

 bition hall, at Birmingham. Stages run all round the sides, 

 and these are filled with plants, chiefly ornamental, whilst 

 from the roof hang creepers of various kinds. A band stand 

 at one end of the structure is partly hidden by a group of 

 Palms, Musas and other fine leaved plants. The entire range 

 of the stages along one side of this house was at the time 

 of my visit filled with a collection of Fuchsias, some of them 

 trained a little way up the roof, others hanging gracefully over. 

 The effect was particularly good — an irregular wall of masses 

 of flowers all hanging elegantly as Fuchsias only do hang. In 

 addition -to such fine varieties as Golden Avalanche, Mrs. 

 Marshall, Earl of Beaconsfield, Mrs. G. Rundell and Monarch, 

 such handsome species as F. Corymbosa and F. arborea were 

 conspicuous. In another house were some beautifully grown 

 examples of F. triphylla, the pretty Mexican species which 

 was brought into notice by Kew some six years ago. It is the 

 species upon which the genus was founded, but so little was 

 known of it that botanists began to suspect that the type of the 

 genus was not a Fuchsia at all ! Mr. Latham obtained a plant 

 of it from Kew, as also did many others, but whilst they and Kew 

 have been struggling with the plant in a greenhouse and grown 

 it but poorly, here at Birmingham it has grown very freely, 

 forming perfect specimens two feet through and profusely 

 covered with large clusters of its bright scarlet, long-tubed 

 flowers. The secret of Mr. Latham's success with this plant is 

 stove instead of greenhouse treatment. 



Mitraria coccinea is grown well as a wall plant in a lofty 

 greenhouse. The brilliant color and elegant form of the flow- 

 ers of this easily grown plant merit better recognition for it 

 than it receives at present. It is grown in pots at Kew and 

 forms handsome specimens. 



■ Clerodendron fallax is exceptionally well managed at Bir- 

 mingham. As a rule it is straggly and thin in habit, but here 

 it is fully a yard through, thickly clothed with large dark green 

 leaves, whilst each of the eight or ten branches bears a head 

 eight inches through of bright scarlet flowers. The plants 

 continue in bloom at least two months. At Kew there is a 

 white-flowered variety (C. fallax alba) of this fine old-fash- 

 ioned stove plant. 



The collection of Orchids comprises not a few choice and 

 rare kinds amongst a fairly comprehensive lot of popular gar- 

 den sorts. Instead of growing them in houses by themselves, 

 Mr. Latham mixes them with miscellaneous flowering plants 

 and Ferns, an arrangement which enhances the beauty 

 of the Orchid flowers and improves the appearance of the 

 plants. 



Callicarpa purpurea is splendidly grown by Mr. Latham. 

 Whilst it is hardy enough to grow in a cold greenhouse, this 

 shrub is never seen at its best unless when grown in heat. At 

 Birmingham it occupies the central stage of a house where 

 Gloxinias, Aristolochia e I egans and /Soya globulosa areathome, 

 the Callicarpa forming shrubs six feet through with branches 

 fully four feet long, leafy from base to point, and with a cluster 

 of flowers or small berries in every leaf axil. In autumn the 

 berries will be about the size of Peas and colored bright ma- 

 genta. 



Platycerium Stemmaria is a very striking Fern when grown 

 well, as it is at Birmingham, where some large examples oc- 

 cupy a portion of a house devoted to choice Aroids, Crotons, 

 Dracaenas, etc. In the greenhouse, along with the Camellias are 

 two enormous masses of P. alcicorne. Apparently this species 

 is perfectly happy in a greenhouse. Ouvirandra, Nymphaeas, 

 Todagas and other Filmy Ferns, Stapelias, Cacti and some of 

 the most important of economic plants are also in this collec- 

 tion. Altogether the Botanical Gardens of Birmingham must 

 play a not unimportant part in the education of the people of 

 the town, as well as affording a very pleasant resort for leisured 

 people at all times of the vear. 



Birmingham, En». Visitor. 



Cultural Department. 



The Endurance of Orchards. 



IT is a very common remark that our modern orchards do 

 not live so long as the orchards of our fathers and grand- 

 fathers. There is truth in the statement. Those old orchards 

 were usually seedling trees, picked up in the fence corners, 

 planted in sod, sparingly pruned, slow to come into bearing, 

 and to a very large extent ungrafted, and producing little 

 other than cider apples. I was reared in a ten-acre orchard 

 of this sort, and having followed fruit-growing nearly ever 

 since, I think I can explain why our modern orchards are 

 shorter lived than those of our forefathers. 



Those old seedling trees, picked up wherever the scattered 

 seeds found a hospitable spot, were rarely transplanted to the 

 orchard until six or seven feet high — which means at least as 

 many years of age. Set out in sod, they re-established them- 

 selves slowly and grew slowly, so that few of these orchards 

 came to full bearing in much less than twenty years. In those 

 days there was little market even for good fruit, and butfew trees 

 were grafted with the better kinds in cultivation — hardly more 

 than enough for home use. Cider and cider brandy were the 

 objects sought by the orchardist then. 



The old-time orchardist was not a skillful pruner; his imple- 

 ment was the axe; but he only pruned to get rid of limbs that 

 were in his way. Land was cheap and the trees were allowed 

 plenty of room. The soil was fresh and they grew thriftily — 

 such wounds as they received healing quickly. Selection had 

 given only the most vigorous of the abundant seedlings a 

 place in the orchard, while the winters had sufficient time, 

 before these were transplanted, to winnow out the weaklings. 

 So the old orchards, started with strong trees, in good soil and 

 widely spaced, grew up with but slight pruning under the 

 very best conditions for a long existence. 



Contrast all this with our present method of planting an 

 orchard. Beginning with two or three-year-old trees from a 

 highly enriched nursery, we find nearly all but the few skilled 

 professional orchardists planting these trees in the grass, as of 

 old. The papers are full of advice about pruning fruit-trees, and 

 the jack-knife and saw are allowed free play on these younglings 

 before they have got fairly to growing. The injury in cutting 

 a tree is in direct proportion to the amount of wood removed, 

 relatively to what is left, and it too often happens that the 

 ignorant pruner administers a life-long check to his tree in the 

 first years of its life. Such a tree struggles along feebly, it 

 may be for many years, but at last dies without ever yielding 

 any profit to the planter. 



On the other hand, it may be that the would-be orchardist 

 sets his trees in an enriched piece of tilled land. This is right, 

 if his selection of varieties is right. But the ease with which 

 trees can be had from a distance, and the persistence with 

 which new varieties are pressed upon the public, too often 

 lead to a heterogeneous collection of sorts, few of them well 

 suited to the place in which they find themselves. There are 

 very few cosmopolitan Apples. Many sorts are very local, and 

 however fine or profitable in the right spot they are unthrifty 

 in every other. The old orchards were native to the spot and 

 their trees were well winnowed by the seasons before they 

 were admitted to cultivation. 



We must admit that the old orchards were vigorous and 

 long lived, and for the times and uses when and for which 

 they were planted, they were profitable. A modified form of 

 the old method still continues in many places. Most of the 

 commercial orchards of Maine are grafted upon seedlings 

 selected and set out as above detailed, and the practice is not 

 confined to Maine. It is in many places, especially in the 

 north, better than purchasing from nurseries, because the 

 stocks are tested for hardiness before the grafting is done. 

 Many of our best market Apples are too tender in Maine to be 

 profitable, unless top-worked upon stocks more hardy than 

 themselves. 



This brings one to another reason why orchards in many 

 places, though productive for a while, are not enduring. 

 These orchards consist of sorts not quite hardy enough for the 

 spot where they grow. Top-worked upon native seedlings, 

 they do well for a while ; but severe test winters, in conjunc- 

 tion with heavy crops of fruit as they come into full bearing, 

 weaken the vitality of the grafts; and with a hard winter, imme- 

 diately following a large yield of fruit, the orchard is found in 

 a bad, and often an irrecoverable condition. There is nothing 

 in such a result that should be unexpected to an intelligent 

 cultivator. If he wants a long-lived orchard he must plant 

 only such long-lived varieties as are quite capable of enduring 

 the severest extremes of the locality. But I believeitwilloften 

 pay sufficiently well to practice the other method, though 



