533 



Garden and Forest. 



[November 5, 1890. 



which is now admitted to be one of the most beautiful and 

 stately bulbous plants known. 



In the species themselves there is much that deserves ad- 

 miration. There are thirty-five in cultivation at Kew, and of 

 these only about one-fifth are what one would call difficult to 

 manage. The easiest to grow and the most gigantic are 

 among those species which do not lose their leaves annually 

 and require plenty of water all the year round. C. Asiaticum, 

 C. defixum and C. pedunciilatit/n have large bulbs with very 

 thick stem-like necks, leaves four feet long by from four to six 

 inches in width standing out like the leaves of Fourcroyas. 

 The individual flowers of these species are comparatively 

 small, but they are borne in great numbers on stout, erect 

 scapes ; they are white with red tinged stamens, and are very 

 fragrant. C. angustum and C. amabile are almost as large as 

 the first named in leaf and habit, whilst their flowers are large, 

 deep rosy red and deliciously scented. Then there is C. 

 giganteum, an excellent plant for stove borders, flowering 

 freely, the flowers pure white, six inches across, with broad, 

 spreading segments. C. Careyanum is like it, while in C. 

 podophyllum we have its dwarf representation. The large 

 flowered C. Zeylanicum, C. Kirkii, C. latifolium and C.scabrum 

 are as easy to cultivate as Eucharis, and their many flowered 

 heads are common ornaments in the stoves at Kew. They 

 have somewhat urceolate flowers six inches long by about four 

 broad at the mouth, and they are white, more or less tinged 

 or streaked with crimson. 



Distinct from all the foregoing in the form of their flowers, 

 which are erect, with tubes six inches long, narrow, long, 

 radiating segments and anthers standing erect, are the 

 species of the section called Platyaster by Baker. Of these we 

 grow C. Hildebrandtii, white ; C. erubescens, deep crimson; C. 

 Americanum, C. Commelyni, C.angiistifolium, all white; C.amus- 

 num, and the rare C. purpurascens, from west tropical Africa. 

 This last named is said to be almost wholly aquatic in its habits. 

 We find it likes abundance of water and a tropical temperature ; 

 with these it grows very freely, sending out its long stolon- 

 like suckers from the base of the bulb in every direction. 

 C. brachynema has the most beautiful snow-white, waxy flow- 

 ers, in umbels of about twenty on scapes a foot long ; each 

 flower is three inches across, the segments overlapping, as in 

 the Zephyr flower, and the stamens only just showing above 

 the narrow tube. If this species would but behave a little 

 better under cultivation it would deserve to rank amongst the 

 first half dozen stove bulbs. It is a native of Bombay, from 

 whence it was introduced and flowered at Kew thirteen years 

 ago. It has recently again been brought into prominent notice. 



C. Moorei is one of the noblest of our greenhouse plants. Its 

 stately scapes of large rosy flowers are scarcely ever absent 

 from the conservatory in summer. Out-of-doors the common 

 African species C. Capense {longifloYuiri) is quite at home, flow- 

 ering and fruiting abundantly all the summer through. 



Kew. W. Watson. 



Cultural Department. 



Rose Notes. 



T EAN DUCHER is a pure Tea Rose, sent out in 1874, that 

 J notable year in our Rose calendar, which also gave us 

 Perle des Jardins and Marie Guillot. Jean Ducher is one of 

 those exquisitely colored Roses which captivate the eye at once, 

 a soft, silvery salmon, with heart of glowing, rosy peach. It 

 has not been sufficiently experimented with in our country to 

 be thrown aside, though it must be confessed that under 

 ordinary treatment it does not open its buds well with us. Its 

 very attractive coloring should win for it a more careful 

 trial. 



Another beautiful Rose in this same line of rich coloring is 

 Princess Beatrice (Tea), which proved such a lamentable fail- 

 ure as a forcing variety, but which, we believe, has never had 

 a careful enough trial as a border Rose. Its foliage, habit and 

 good constitution would all point to it as an ideal bedder, 

 while its coloring is as unique as it is beautiful. 



And speaking of fine bedders, probably no Rose is quite so 

 perfect in this line as the lovely white Tea, Marie Guillot, 

 mentioned above. So long as fine white Roses are as highly 

 appreciated as at present this grand variety should be planted 

 in profusion. Its flowers are very double and of a most 

 beautiful clear white shade just touched with lemon, and very 

 easily produced. 



Ethel Brownlow (Tea) produces a bud and flower too small 

 for popularity in our country ; doubtless if it were carefully 

 thinned out and only a few buds allowed to the plant, as is 

 usual in England, it would make a better showing, as it cer- 



tainly can be seen in fine form across the water; but with us it 

 is a very slim, straggly grower. 



Rubens (Tea) is an extremely fine white Rose, quite similar 

 to its parent, Devoniensis, save that the bud is not quite so 

 long as in that variety. It is more double, too, and a stronger 

 grower; it can be found growing in many a garden under the 

 label " Devoniensis," for it has been sent out in place of that 

 variety in a great many cases, being so similar to it, and the 

 dealer has doubtless excused himself by the thought that he 

 was sending " something really better than was ordered." 

 It is an early bloomer and a grand Rose in every way. 



I am asked if there is any better white hybrid Perpetual than 

 Merveille de Lyon. We believe it to be unsurpassed, though 

 White Baroness is probably as good, and Mabel Morrison has 

 only an occasional touch of color to mar its pure whiteness. 

 These three white hybrid perpetuals and Baroness Rothschild 

 (pink) are so absolutely perfect in form and color and texture 

 that they can never be outdone in these respects. But in our 

 northern and western country they are next to useless as out- 

 door Roses, owing to their liability to attacks of what florists 

 call Black Spot, a fungoid disease fearfully prevalent among 

 Roses grown in the open air. 



When a Rose begins to drop its leaves and shows brown 

 spots on their surfaces, we know that the Black Fungus is 

 present. Scientific investigation has proved that the tissue 

 between the upper and lower surfaces of the leaf is the point 

 attacked, hence the difficulty of applying any solution effect- 

 ively. We believe that nine-tenths of all the failures in Rose- 

 growing in the sections named are due to this scourge. With 

 all our investigations and' experiments no remedy has as yet 

 been found that will successfully check its development in the 

 open ground. Sudden changes in temperature, excess of 

 moisture, or the lack of Tt, seem to cause its development. 

 Like other insect or fungoid pests, it will doubtless run its 

 course and disappear, and there are even now indications 

 pointing in this direction. It is a very fortunate thing indeed 

 that many of the hybrids are of strong enough constitution to 

 be able to withstand its attacks, though the very finest varie- 

 ties seem to succumb first, and were it not for the fact that this 

 disease is pretty well under control in our greenhouses, we 

 should no longer be able to show perfect blooms of Baroness, 

 Merveille de Lyon or of their very aristocratic sisters. 



We have been very glad to discover a rather new variety, 

 quite as fine as the four referred to, not absolutely white, but 

 very delicately tinted pink, which, so far, seems proof against 

 black spot. This variety is Madame Joseph Desbois, sent out 

 by Guillot in 1886, a strong, free-growing variety, carrying 

 superb blooms, very fine in the open air. 



Heinrich Schultheis (a cross between Mabel Morrison and 

 E. Y. Teas) was sent out by Bennett in 1882, and is a grand 

 Rose in every respect, a strong grower, bearing large, double, 

 sweet flowers of a delicate rose shade. It should be much 

 more extensively grown in our country. 



Our Madame Georges Bruant, planted two years ago in the 

 open ground, has been in fine condition during the season, and 

 shows no signs of mildew. It bears its flowers in about four 

 crops, the first bloom, of course, being the most profuse. We 

 value this Rose highly, and think that as it becomes estab- 

 lished it loses its liability to mildew. Its clusters of immense 

 snow white flowers are very distinct and beautiful. 



Richmond, Ind. E. G. Hill. 



Notes on Shrubs. 



"THE common Dwarf Chestnut or Chinquapin (Castanea 

 *■ pumild) is a plant rarely met with in cultivation at the 

 north, though it possesses qualities rendering it desirable both 

 for ornament and utility. Its extreme northern limit of spon- 

 taneous growth is given as southern Pennsylvania and Ohio ; 

 but when transplanted to the region about Boston it is quite 

 hardy and seems to find a climate well suited to its require- 

 ments as regards healthy growth, although it does not attain 

 large size. Well established plants never show the least injury 

 in the most severe winters here. 



In its most favorable southern and south-western home the 

 Chinquapin sometimes becomes a small tree and grows to a 

 height of forty or forty-five feet, with a stem from one to two 

 feet or more in diameter, so that its timber is of use for posts, 

 fencing, or even for railroad ties. In sterile or exposed situ- 

 ations, or when it is brought north out of its natural habitat, 

 it appears to be in about its best period of growth and devel- 

 opment when from five to eight feet high, at which time the 

 spread of the branches is usually greater than the height, as a 

 number of stout stems usually arise from the same base at the 

 root. The habit of growth of the plant is very similar to that 



