October 22, 1890.] 



Garden and Forest. 



517 



The cavity and basin of this apple are small and shallow, with 

 some russet about both. The stem is slim, and about an inch 

 long. Basin corrugate, calyx closed. A marked characteristic 

 is the large, but not numerous dots, brown on the yellow skin, 

 dark on the colored part. Core medium, seeds short, plump 

 and light colored. The high piquant flavor is notable, even 

 before the fruit becomes mellow enough to be eatable. I 

 think the season will be December to April in New England — 

 and here we have, if not a Russian, at least an iron-clad apple 

 of high quality and a good keeper. Being so fair and hand- 

 some, and little, if any, smaller than Fameuse, I do not see 

 why it will not be a good commercial apple. The rather 

 dwarf habit and compact growth of the trees make it a 

 good garden variety. 



Newport, Vt. . 



T. H. Ho skins. 



Strawberries. — Character of growth has to be considered in 

 our estimate of Strawberries to a greater degree than has been 

 my practice at least. My favorite late berry is the Summit. 

 But it makes runners so very slowly that I find it hardly possi- 

 ble to keep up a bed of them. On the other hand, Crystal 

 City is such an enormous multiplier that it makes very quickly 

 a solid mat and is unable to produce good fruit. Going over 

 my beds to select what I should call really good growers, 

 making rows readily, but not too rampant, I should select 

 Bubach No. 5, Cumberland and Haverland. Sharpless is on 

 my soil generally a model, but not always ; I am obliged to 

 renew them oftener than I like. I can report on the growth 

 of some of the newer berries as follows : Mrs. Cleveland 

 makes fine growth on clay soil ; Michel's Early fine ; Eureka 

 perhaps better yet ; Lady Burk as good. Gypsey makes me- 

 dium plants, and Crawford, Viola and Warrield are no more 

 than medium. Luella has shown up poorly. Of Thompson's 

 seedlings I have 4, 52, 54, 7, 9, 51. These are all making 

 thrifty growth. 



Clinton, N. Y. "• 



Hymenocallis macrostephana is the most robust as well as the 

 most beautiful and fragrant of all the species of the genus. 

 The large, pure white, deliciously scented flowers are arranged 

 in dense umbels raised well above the leaves, which are about 

 two or two and a half inches long, oblanceolate, and bright 

 green, and in themselves exceedingly decorative even when 

 the plant is not in flower. My plant, received a few years ago 

 from B. S. Williams, of London, blooms regularly every year 

 in September. The bulb has attained a large size, but as yet 

 has made no offsets. It is grown in a compost consisting of 

 equal parts of well rotted stable manure, leaf mould and 

 sand. All the Hymenocallis in my possession — namely, H. 

 speciosa, H. ovata, H. littoralis, H. Caribcea, H. expansa, 

 H. crassifolia and H. Galvestonensis — grow and flower in a 

 living-room as freely as Geraniums. H. macrostephana ex- 

 ceeds them all in vigor and in ease of management. The 

 flower-stem, which is thrown up from the heart of the bulb, 

 reached this year the height of seventeen inches, and pro- 

 duced an umbel consisting of seven flowers, each eight and a 

 half inches long, with a cup three inches broad and segments 

 four and a half inches long. Their vanilla-like perfume is so 

 strong that one flower scents a large room and a flowering 

 umbel an entire house. No one seems to know where this 

 species, the best of the genus, comes from. Mr. Baker, of the 

 Kew Herbarium, who has devoted a great deal of attention to 

 the study of these plants, is of opinion that it may prove a 

 hybrid between H. speciosa and H. (fsmene) calathina. I grow 

 my plant in summer in the open air in a half shady situation, 

 and bury the pot to the rim in coal ashes. 



Milwaukee, Wis. ■"■ Nehrltng. 



Dendrobium aqueum. — This species has been in cultivation 

 almost fifty years, having been first imported from Bombay in 

 1842 by Messrs. Loddiges, of Hackney, in whose nurseries it 

 flowered the following year. It extends southward in greater 

 or less quantities along the mountains of the Malabar coast, 

 growing on the trunks of trees and bushes. It is not often, 

 however, that plants are seen in collections, and the reason is 

 difficult to explain, because when well grown D. aqueum, or, 

 as it is perhaps more popularly known, D. album, presents an 

 attractive appearance. In the beginning of September a line 

 specimen was exhibited by Mr. T. Staffer at the Royal Horti- 

 cultural Society, and almost every stem bore several white 

 flowers, each one being a half to two inches across, and ar- 

 ranged either singly or in fascicles of two and three. The upper 

 sepal is oblong-acute, the lower ones more or less triangular, 

 while the ovate petals are somewhat broader. The lip is 

 three-lobed, the anterior segment being finely toothed on the 

 margin, and having a downy pubescence on the upper surface, 



which is tinged with yellow at the base. The stems, which 

 are more or less decumbent, are from one to two feet long, 

 yellowish green when young and having an oblong-lanceolate, 

 deep green, leathery leaf about three or four inches long at 

 each node. 



D. aqueum may be grown equally well in baskets or in pots 

 well drained with clean crocks. The usual compost is rough 

 peat, with a little moss and charcoal added. Plenty of water 

 may be given when the growths begin to develop rapidly, and 

 as much light as possible, without exposing the plants to the 

 direct rays of the sun on very hot days. The temperature in 

 summer during the day-time may range from seventy to 

 eighty degrees Fahr. and a few degrees lower at night, while 

 in winter, when the plants are taking a short rest, a tempera- 

 ture of sixty to seventy degrees Fahr. will be found sufficient 

 until the new growths show signs of breaking. 



Isieworth, London, w. John Weathers. 



Hardy Perennials from Seed. — As I have succeeded so much 

 better of late years with seeds of hardy herbaceous plants 

 sown in late fall or winter than when sown in spring, I have 

 determined to sow all the seeds of these plants in November. 

 I shall allow them to freeze and then cover with mats and 

 shutters, and not open -them until early spring. I have been 

 led to do this mainly by the uncertain way a large number of 

 species of hardy-plant seeds germinate when sown in spring. 

 Too often we are disposed to say, when seeds fail to come up 

 in six weeks or two months, that the seed is bad ; but if we 

 note the straggling way in which many kinds of spring-sown 

 seeds come up all through the ensuing summer, and that 

 many do not germinate in any quantity until the spring fol- 

 lowing, we cannot help thinking there is a reason. In the case of 

 Pseonies, Hellebores, Clematis, Cimicifugas, Actaeas, perennial 

 Adonis, Thermopsis, Petalostemon, Baptisias, some Pentste- 

 mons, Liliaceous plants generally, and Gentians, we should 

 conclude that they might better be sown as soon as ripe. 

 These are the worst cases of slow germination ; but even in 

 the case of others, which ordinarily come well, I think it bet- 

 ter to sow in fall. As it is only by experience that we find just 

 which kinds to sow early in the season, I have decided to went 

 until freezing weather. Alyssum saxatile, Aubrietias, Campa- 

 nulas, Cheiranthus, Delphiniums, Dianthus, Iberis, Lychnis, 

 Papavers, Silenes and many others if sown before freezing 

 weather would germinate and be lost. 



By this plan time is saved. The work of seed sowing in spring 

 is too often deferred, for one reason or another, until well on in 

 March. By that time the sun has attained considerable power, 

 necessitating frequent watering, so detrimental to germinating 

 seeds. I prefer to use square, shallow pans ; space is saved, as 

 well as its being easier to divide up the pans for two or four lots of 

 seeds should it be desirable. Ordinary loam, free from manure 

 or other decaying vegetable matter, is best. The finest seeds 

 should not be covered and the larger ones slightly, pressing all 

 down, after sowing, with a brick. Plunge in sand, certainly not 

 in litter or other decaying matter liable to the development of 

 Fungi or the harboring of vermin. There will be no necessity 

 to open, except for inspection, before the middle of February. 

 Then give air every bright day, and we shall be surprised to 

 find how soon seedlings will begin to appear. 



A Reserve Garden. — This is a necessity where hardy plants 

 are grown. It may be an experimental garden as well. Odd 

 corners are generally utilized; but a handy square patch, laid 

 out in sections, with water convenient, would be better. Just 

 as soon as any seedlings become large enough to handle they 

 could be pricked off into other pans or shallow boxes, after- 

 ward to be transferred to the open ground. It is always a 

 pleasure to know a stock is at hand to fill up gaps in spring. 

 There is no doubt they will occur as long as inexperienced 

 men are employed to "dig up" borders. I have often regretted, 

 through press of other work, having to forego the pleasure of 

 going over the borders myself. I am opposed to digging. An 

 overhauling, or taking of stock, is all that is necessary, except 

 every four or five years, and then trench and replant. 



Welleslcy, Mass. T. D. Hatfield, 



The Autumn-Bearing Raspberries.— The fact that fruits are 

 most abundant at this season is, perhaps, the reason why 

 Raspberries that fruit in the autumn have not become more 

 popular; and as many amateur fruit-growers may not know 

 that we have varieties of this fruit which bear freely in autumn, 

 I state that a few sorts of the Red Raspberry, under ordinary 

 culture, mature two crops of berries during the season, the 

 first at the usual time for Raspberries, and the second during 

 September and October. The new growth of these varieties 

 commence to bloom late in summer. The fruit from these early 



