5'6 



Garden and Forest. 



[October 22, 1890. 



him that Narcissi would not push their way through nine 

 inches of red clay soil. With a wet, heavy soil it is best to 

 prepare a plot for bulbs by adding plenty ot sand, using also a 

 good handful at' the base of each bulb. Tritonias (Kniphofias), 

 Arundo donax, Eulalias, Anemone Japonica and any plants of 

 doubtful hardiness should be lifted now and wintered in soil 

 in the cellar ; the plants are always the better for it next year 

 if planted out early in newly enriched soil. 

 South Lancaster, Mass. E. 0. Orpet. 



Dahlias. 

 PHERE are no more useful, showy and satisfactory flowers 

 -*■ in the late summer and fall than the Dahlias. Continuing 

 in bloom till cut off" by the frost, they furnish a constant sup- 

 ply of bold, handsomely colored flowers until the Chrysanthe- 

 mums come on. Probably no flower has been more subject 

 to popular caprice, for the flower-loving public alternately 

 takes up and discards the various forms. In some gardens the 

 old double forms are still grown, but in most gardens one 

 notes a change to the Pompons, Single, and lately to the Cac- 

 tus forms. The latter are, of course, merely a reversion to 

 the more natural types and such as readily come from seed. 

 While the very double Dahlias are noble flowers, and mostly 

 of pure colors, there is a formality about them which is not 

 pleasing to many, especially when they are cut with short 

 stems. So common is this habit of cutting that for someyears 

 I would not admit the flower to the garden, so firm was the 

 impression of stiffness received from seeing the blooms at ex- 

 hibitions. Probably many others are as unduly prejudiced. 

 The Pompon Dahlias are a very satisfactory strain. The habit 

 of the plants is dwarf ; they are also free bloomers, with small 

 flowers of a very useful size. A few years since some bright 

 cultivator took advantage of the preference for single flowers 

 of all kinds and reintroduced the single Dahlias as a new de- 

 parture. These are generally brilliant in color and free-flower- 

 ing, and they at once secured attention, and have become estab- 

 lished favorites. Their merits are certainly great, for they are 

 excellent for bouquets, though fading rather soon, and they 

 are showy and free from stiffness. As garden plants they 

 are ornamental, with the fault of bearing too many seed, 

 and the necessity of keeping these cut off" makes them 

 somewhat of a care. The forms of single Dahlias now offered 

 are innumerable, and it seems scarcely worth while to name 

 them, as from a packet of seeds sown early in the year a great 

 variety may readily be had. Latterly the Cactus varieties, as 

 the semi-double kinds are called from their fancied resem- 

 blance to Cactus blooms, have been finding special favor, be- 

 cause, while free from the formality of the double kinds, they 

 are more lasting, and do not so quickly go to seed as the single 

 ones. Of these, Juarezii seems to remain the best of the dark 

 red or crimson ones, though a somewhat shy bloomer. Con- 

 stance and A. W. Tait are the best whites; the latter, a variety 

 from Portugal, is an especially distinct flower, with serrated, 

 graceful petals, more resemblingagood, full, reflexed Chrysan- 

 themum than a Dahlia. Mrs. Hawkins is a pleasing kind, 

 with cream centre, shading to a delicate salmon-pink. Wil- 

 liam Pearce is a free, fine yellow. There are numerous varie- 

 ties of Cactus Dahlias, but the above are kinds which may be 

 had of most growers making a specialty of these plants. Men- 

 tion might also be made of Gracilis Dahlias, a strain of single 

 flowers with wonderful stripings, spots and variations, and well 

 worth growing from seed. 



Newark, N.J. ' /■ 



Notes on Native Ferns. 



Aspidiicm cristatum is a good Fern for cultivation in any 

 light soil that never becomes very dry. A fine loam suits it 

 well, or clay and peat will answer. Its natural home is usually 

 moist, low grounds in a peaty soil. It seems to prefer the 

 sun, and is frequently found near and about old stumps or 

 decaying logs in low pastures or meadows. Its fertile fronds 

 are tall and narrow and die early in autumn. The sterile ones 

 are shorter and often almost survive the winter. Its variety, 

 Clintonianum, is a much larger form, and grows mostly in 

 Ash swamps. It is much like the typical species, except in 

 size and in its preference for the shade. It is a handsomer 

 Fern than the true cristatum on account of its size. 



Aspidium Thelypteris grows in locations similar to those in 

 which A. cristatum delights, but is much more abundant. Its 

 stems are usually longer than the fronds. The fronds are of a 

 delicate texture.and quickly wilt when cut, or die with the 

 first frost. It spreads rapidly, and a few plants soon form a 

 thick bed. It will thrive well in shade, but, when growing 

 naturally, the best plants are frequently in the sun. It is one 

 of the easiest Ferns to grow. 



Aspidium aculeatum, var. Braunii, is a rare Fern, but not so 

 rare as the preceding, nor is it difficult to grow. It seems to 

 thrive in any ordinary garden-soil, in shade, and is a fine plant 

 when well established. Small specimens are the best for 

 planting, and they will soon attain full size. This Fern is 

 found along the margins of.cold mountain-brooks and in cool 

 mountain-ravines of northern New York and New England. 

 Its height varies from a few inches in small plants to more 

 than two feet in the largest specimens ; the dark green fronds 

 have a chaffy stem. 



Aspidium Xovuboracense has medium sized fronds a foot or 

 more in length, and three or four inches wide at the middle, 

 from which they taper to both ends. They are of a light green 

 color, thin, wilt quickly when cut and are killed by the first 

 frosts. This species is most commonly found in moist, 

 thickly shaded places, and it requires a light, moist, well 

 drained soil and more shade than most kinds. It is easy to 

 manage when properly placed. 



Aspidiicm fragrans. — The Fragrant Fern is one of our 

 rarest natives, and its natural home is always a peculiar one. 

 It seems to require a situation where it can obtain the very 

 small amount of moisture it needs principally from the sur- 

 rounding atmosphere. Dry, shaded cliffs are its choice, with 

 an atmosphere rather moist. Among the mountains there are 

 fogs that rise and fall about such cliffs, and where the right 

 conditions, so far as shade, etc., exist, it is sure to grow. But 

 these conditions are rare. At Bolton Falls, Vermont, there 

 are dry, shaded cliffs just above or near the falls. Here this 

 Fern is found, and at a low elevation ; for the mist from the 

 falling water is just what is required to cool and moisten 

 the atmosphere, and is no doubt essential to the existence of 

 the plants. On the dry cliffs of theSaguenay River, in Canada, 

 the Fragrant Fern grows larger and more abundantly than in 

 any other place I have seen it. Here the plants are often more 

 than twice as large as specimens from New England. It is a 

 handsome evergreen plant, with numerous fronds from three 

 inches to a foot in length by half an inch to two inches wide. 

 The dried fronds have an agreeable odor, hence its name. I 

 have never grown it, and I judge from its peculiar habitat that 

 it is not easy to manage out-of-doors. 

 Southwidt, Mass. F. H. Horsford. 



The Borsdorfer Apple. 

 T N discussing the varieties of winter fruit among our im- 

 -*■ ported Russian Apples, the one numbered 402 in the De- 

 partment list has often been referred to. I received cions of it 

 from Mr. Aaron Webster, of East Roxbury, Vermont, some 

 fourteen years ago, and with it a sample fruit, which exactly 

 resembled a small Ben Davis. Mr. Gibb, in his careful review 

 of the Department list of Russian Apples, printed in the Report 

 of the Montreal Horticultural Society for 1883, quotes what I 

 had written to him of this sample, and gives no other descrip- 

 tion, though he gives the favorable opinions of Mr. Sias, of 

 Minnesota, and Mr. Tuttle, of Wisconsin, on the hardiness of 

 the tree. 



My trees of this variety were planted in an unfavorable place, 

 not only for rapid growth, but also for getting any fruit, being 

 set by the roadside; but I found with the first fruiting that it bore 

 not the least resemblance to Ben Davis. The variety is a slow 

 grower at best and disposed naturally to form a round, bushy 

 head, requiring frequent pruning to produce that openness 

 essential to high coloration of the fruit. This year I have had, 

 and was able to gather, a good number of characteristic speci- 

 mens; and it happened, as some of them lay upon the writing 

 table before me, that in turning over the leaves of Down- 

 ing's " Fruit Trees " the name of "Borsdorfer" arrested my 

 eye, and reading the description, I was pleased to find this to 

 be the very Apple in question. 



Borsdorfer, as given in Downing, presents the infallible 

 mark of wide distribution and general popularity in the num- 

 ber of its synonyms. In England it has received the names of 

 King George III, Garret Pippin, Queen's and King. In France 

 it is called Reinette Batard and De Misnie, also Le Grand Bo- 

 hemien Borsdorfer. It has several German names, in all 

 amounting to ten ; and Downing, without saying whether it 

 had then been brought to America, calls it "a celebrated Ger- 

 man Apple," and gives this description : " Roundish oval, 

 narrowing at the eye ; skin pale yellow, with a full red cheek, 

 sprinkled with a littie russet ; flesh yellowish white, very firm 

 and crisp, with a rich, brisk perfumed flavor ; November to 

 February." 



This agrees exactly with my Apple in every particular; but 

 Downing onlits so many other points which he always gives 

 in describing a fruit he has seen, that it is fair to assume that 

 it first reached this country in the Department importation. 



