AUGtfST 13, 189O.] 



Garden and Forest. 



397 



like so many of the finest of the Maiden-hairs, is of South 

 American origin, being found in Colombia. 



A. Aneitense is a fine addition to the genus, made within a 

 few years. It is evergreen, of free and rapid growth, and soon 

 becomes a shapely specimen. Its fronds have some resem- 

 blance to those of A.fulvum, but are stiffer and harder, and 

 more lasting when cut. This species seeds very freely and 

 the spores germinate quickly, so that it is as easily multiplied 

 as the ever popular A. cuneatwn. A. Aneitense averages about 

 eighteen inches to two feet in height and thrives in a tempera- 

 ture of fifty degrees. 



A. curvatum should not be omitted in any good collection, 

 though it has not an excellent reputation for free growth, being 

 often considered difficult to manage. The fronds are large, 

 tripinnate, and very bright green in color, with stipes more or 

 less hairy, the pinnules being curved back to such a degree as 

 to give them almost a sickle shape. This is a stove species 

 and requires heavy shading to encourage its growth, and the 

 soil I have found most satisfactory for it is nothing but rough, 

 fibrous peat, broken into lumps that may be only limited in 

 size by. the pot to be used. With this soil and abundant drain- 

 age material in the bottom of the pot or pan I have always se- 

 cured fine plants. 



Perhaps it should be said that the Adiantums of more deli- 

 cate habit have been omitted from these notes, not from 

 any lack of appreciation, but simply because this arbitrary 

 classification is convenient. 



Holmesburg, Pa. W. H. Taplhl. 



Cattleya Warneri is one of the best of summer-flowering 

 varieties. Its relation to the Labiata section can easily be per- 

 ceived in growth and habit. The flowers are large, most of 

 them measuring seven inches in diameter, and the lip is from 

 two to two and a half inches across. The sepals and petals are 

 of a most beautiful rose color, the best varieties having a rich 

 magenta-crimson lip, very finely fringed. We have a few 

 plants with such a lip, but the greater portion of them vary 

 much, both in color and form. In the many plants we have 

 there are very few with a lip of the same shade, every variety 

 being distinct. The durability of the flowers is surprising, 

 some lasting five weeks in perfection. We have had a display 

 of this most magnificent Cattleya for ten weeks, the last flower 

 having just faded. 



We grow it in glazed pans about five inches deep and made 

 with holes dotted here and there in them. The glazing seems 

 to help the plants in many respects ; for instance, they need 

 no washing, and therefore the roots never get damaged from 

 this process, and they always keep sweet and clean. We fill 

 them within an inch of the top with potsherds, and cover these 

 with a layer of moss; then the plant is firmly potted in a com- 

 post of fibre and sphagnum moss and charcoal, taking care to 

 have it well up above the top of the pan. 



We never allow our plants to remain dry for any great length 

 of time, as they make their growth in winter and an abundance 

 of roots in summer. They are suspended from the roof, where 

 they get all the light possible, and at all times, except when 

 in rlower, when they are put in a more shady place to preserve 

 the flowers as long as possible. 



These plants never fail to flower with this treatment, and 

 most of the spikes carry three and four flowers. 



Staatsburgh-on-Hudson. F. AtkillS. 



Cytisus scoparius Andreanus. — This beautiful new variety of 

 the common Broom received a first-class certificate of merit 

 at a recent exhibition of the Royal Horticultural Society. I 

 recently saw the plant in bloom at the nurseries of Messrs. 

 Temple & Beard, at Cambridge, and it certainly deserves this 

 honor. In habit the plant resembles the common Broom, to 

 which Linnasus is said to have rendered homage on first see- 

 ing it in bloom. In the typical plant the blossoms are clear 

 bright yellow, but in this variety the lower part of the flowers 

 are of a rich crimson-brown, which gives it a very distinct 

 appearance when in bloom. It is said to have been found 

 some five years ago in Normandy, and it has proved per- 

 fectly hardy in English gardens, where the typical plant and a 

 white-flowered variety are often cultivated for their beauty as 

 garden shrubs. Cytisus scoparius has been found to be per- 

 fectly hardy in New Jersey, and this being so, we may reasona- 

 bly hope that Andre's variety will eventually be added to the 

 list of beautiful plants for New England gardens; and the list 

 will never be too long to admit novelties of such merit as 

 this one possesses. 



Achillea serrata plena. — The old Achillea ptarmica has long 

 been valued in gardens for its pretty clusters of double white 

 flowers, and florists often cultivate it on account of the dura- 



bility of the flowers when cut ; but the introduction of the 

 double Achillea serrata will almost certainly result in the dis- 

 carding of A. ptarmica. This latter has smaller (lowers, and 

 fewer of them, and is of a sprawling habit. A shower of rain 

 bespatters the flowers with mud and renders them useless. 

 Achillea serrata grows fully four feet high, and fully three feet 

 of the stem produces useful side branches, with terminal heads 

 of pure white, very double flowers, fully twice the size of those 

 on the older plant. The quantity produced on the stems 

 renders them top-heavy, and a stake is necessary to keep 

 them erect. We have been cutting for the past month from 

 this plant, and shall continue to do so for a week or two more, 

 so that it can be easily seen that the plants hold out well, even 

 in dry weather such as we have recently experienced. It may 

 not be generally known that these Achilleas are readily propa- 

 gated from the underground shoots or stolons. After flower- 

 ing in fall the plants may be lifted and placed in soil until 

 January, when the stolons may be taken off, curled around 

 in three-inch pots and covered with soil; they will commence 

 to grow at once, making strong plants for the garden in April, 

 and will flower abundantly during summer. When these 

 double Achilleas get old it is always best to take them up and 

 raise young stock. This treatment will always pay for the 

 trouble involved. 



South Lancaster, Mass. F. O. Orpet. 



Dianthus semperflorens Marguerite. — This interesting Carna- 

 tion, first offered in seeds and plants this season, is a new 

 strain of Remontants originated by M. Boncharlet Jenne, the 

 well known French horticulturist. Seldom does a floral nov- 

 elty so fully bear out the claims made for it, for this proves to 

 be a valuable race, with remarkably good points. The plants 

 are rapid, vigorous growers, with good foliage and good habit, 

 of medium height, and may readily be had in bloom in be- 

 tween four and five months from seed. The flowers are of 

 fair size (sometimes of thin texture), often well fringed and 

 fragrant. The seeds are said to produce ninety per cent, of 

 double flowers, but no single ones have appeared among my 

 plants. My flowers are very double, scarlet and rose. It is 

 said there are pure white and striped ones in the race. The 

 plants have every appearance of being of a "perpetual," free- 

 flowering character, though it is not, of course, possible to re- 

 port on this without further experience. It is scarcely neces- 

 sary to say that such a race of Carnations is a great gain, 

 enabling every one to readily secure a supply of most valua- 

 ble flowers for the summer decoration of the garden. The 

 usual " florists' varieties " of Remontants seem to be of not 

 much value for garden purposes, as commercial growers have 

 naturally given their attention to those most serviceable for 

 blooming under glass and producing long stems. 



Elizabeth, N.J. G. 



The Forest. 

 The Sihlwald.— III. 



"DEGINNING in rights of usage rather undefined until the 

 iJ opening of the fourteenth century, the rights of property 

 of the tree City of Zurich in the Sihlwald extended in 1309 to 

 complete ownership in the forest, and have since been dis- 

 puted only at the time when, following upon the events of 

 1798, the free city changed its government to that of a munici- 

 pality under the confederation. But therights of the municipality 

 of Zurich in the Sihlwald were definitely confirmed by the so- 

 called Mediation Act of 1803, and the possession of the forest 

 was assured to the city which had so long enjoyed it. Evi- 

 dences of the care which the burghers bestowed upon it are 

 found in the series of ordinances which, beginning in 1309 



with a rule that no forester might cut wood in the Sihlwald 



clear proof that a forest-police existed at that early date — con- 

 tinued in unbroken succession to that of 1417, under which 

 the foundation of the present organization was laid, and finally, 

 in 1697, reached the first technical working-plan. It is curious 

 to note as an indication of the view of the nature of its inter- 

 est in the forest held by the city, that the policy of adding to 

 the public forest-property by purchase, recently inaugurated 

 by the Legislature of the State of New York, was begun by the 

 free City of Zurich nearly two centuries before the discovery 

 of America. It is true, however, that the propertv has been 

 diminished at times through sales and especially through 

 grants of land for the extinction of servitudes; but the purchase 

 of over four hundred acres during the last fifty years leaves no 

 doubt of the tenacity with which Zurich holds "to its forest-in- 

 heritance. 



The administration of this historical bit of woodland is sub- 

 ject, in common with that of the forests of communes, public 



