November 12, 1890. 



Garden and Forest. 



55i 



of them except P. pracox, which thrives best when grown in 

 a warm house. When the flowers are opening the soil should 

 be at once saturated and afterward kept just moist. Many 

 people err with these plants by trying to grow them in a high 

 temperature and by failing to give them a rest in a dry, sunny 

 house from the time when the leaves fade until the flowers 

 open. 



Renanthera coccinea, the Chinese Air-plant, is one of the 

 most gorgeous Orchids, but it requires a considerable amount 

 of head room to persuade it to flower. In tropical countries it 

 is a favorite plant for verandas or to grow in masses in sunny 

 positions. The stems grow almost as long as the Vanilla, and 

 the stronger and longer the stems the larger the inflorescence 

 will be. About six years ago a few newly imported small 

 pieces of this Renanthera were fastened to a dead Fern-trunk, 

 which was placed in a sunny position in the Palm-house at 

 Kew. One of these pieces is now nine feet long, and it bears 

 a raceme of about sixty large, rich orange-crimson flowers. 

 Compared with what is produced by well cared for plants in 

 the tropics this is small, still the flowering of this plant in 

 glass houses is of rare occurrence. By training the stems 

 horizontally it is possible that they may be induced to flower 

 even in small houses. The plant revels in sunshine and 

 moisture. rrr 



Kew. W. IViltsOll. 



New or Little Known Plants. 

 Celastrus articulata. 



ALTHOUGH discovered by Thunberg and first pub- 

 lished more than a century ago, no figure, it seems, 

 has appeared before of this handsome Asiatic species, 

 which possesses very considerable value as a garden plant. 



Celastrus articulata* in cultivation, is a stout, rapid-grow- 

 ing and very vigorous, leafy plant, with twining stems, 

 growing to a height of ten or fifteen feet. The bark is light 

 brown or ashy gray, and is conspicuously marked with 

 numerous small, pale, wart-like excrescences. The leaf 

 is obovate, orbicular or oval, coarsely crenulate-serrate, 

 contracted at the apex into a short, broad point, and at the 

 base into a long, broad petiole. It is membranaceous, 

 with a prominent midrib and primary veins and rather 

 conspicuous reticulated veinlets, and is often, when fully 

 grown, four or five inches lonir and two and a half to three 

 inches broad. It is dark yellow-green on the upper, and paler 

 on the lower surface. The small yellow-green flowers are 

 produced in short axillary three-flowered clusters less than 

 half the length of the petioles, and appear when the leaves 

 are rather more than half grown. The fruit is globose or 

 sometimes obovate, and pale green when it first ripens. 

 Later and after opening, the pod turns bright, clear yel- 

 low, making a handsome contrast with the brilliant orange- 

 colored aril of the seed. It is produced in great profusion 

 often on short, spur-like, lateral branches, and does 

 not disappear until late in the autumn or until long after 

 the falling of the leaves, which, as long as they remain on 

 the plants, nearly hide it from view. 



Celastrus articulata is apparently widely distributed 

 through northern and central China and through the 

 northern parts of Japan. It shows, however, considerable 

 variation in the form of the leaves, specimens collected by 

 Dr. Henry (Nos. 5640 and 59S6) in western China, and re- 

 ferred to this species by Professor Oliver, having ovate- 

 acuminate leaves, slightly and remotely serrate only. 



Celastrus articulata has been cultivated for several years 

 in the Arnold Arboretum, where it was first sent by Mr. S. 

 B. Parsons, of Flashing, New York, in 1879. It nas a ^ so 

 been raised here from seed collected by Dr. Bretschneider in 

 the neighborhood of Pekin. It is perfectly hardy, and 

 grows with the greatest rapidity and vigor, and has been 

 found useful in covering rocks, walls and waste places ; 

 and late in the year, after the leaves have fallen, it is ex- 

 ceedingly ornamental. 



*Celaslrus articulata, Thunberg, " Fl. Jap.," 97. — Bunge, " Enum. PI. Chin. Bor.," 

 97. — Maximowicz, " Mel. Biol.," xi., 20c. — Franchet, "Pi. David.," 70. — Forbes & 

 Hemsley, Jour. Linn. Soc, xxiii., 122. 



Articulata, the specific name in the " Flora," is, as Maximowicz has pointed out, 

 a misprint for orbiculata, the name used by Thunberg in his preliminary catalogue 

 of Japanese plants I. c. xlii. 



Although much more vigorous, and a larger and more 

 rapidly growing plant, it is less beautiful than the North 

 American species, Celastrus scandens, the Climbing Bitter- 

 Sweet or Roxbury Waxwork, in which the flowers are not 

 axillary, but are produced in long, raceme-like clusters, 

 terminating the branches, so that the fruit is raised above 

 the leaves, and is a conspicuous and handsome object all 

 through the early autumn, when that of the Asiatic species 

 is hardly noticeable. The fruit of the American species is 

 moreover rather larger and more brilliantly colored. 



The figure on page 550 is from a drawing made by Mr. 

 Faxon from one of the plants growing in the Arboretum. 

 C. S. S. 



Cultural Department. 

 Late Irish Potatoes in the South. 



TTHE late fall crop of Irish potatoes in the south is annually 

 *■ becoming a more important matter as its proper treat- 

 ment is better understood and the conditions for success are 

 known. 



Formerly, this late crop of Irish potatoes was the most 

 uncertain of all, now it is as certain as any. Just at this date 

 (October 25th), when northern Irish potatoes are retailing in 

 Raleigh for sixty cents per peck, the outcome of the late plant- 

 ing is specially important. Experience has demonstrated that 

 in this latitude the best time to plant this crop is about August 

 15th. In late autumns they may mature planted later, but this 

 is about the most certain period. The practice of our best 

 growers is to bed the small potatoes from the early crop as 

 soon as dug in a single layer, so they do not just touch each 

 other, cover with an inch or so of soil, and leave them until 

 planting time. By mid-August all the immature tubers will 

 either have rotted or dried up and the good ones will have 

 begun to sprout. These are then planted in well prepared land, 

 and only covered with about one inch of soil, which is rolled 

 compactly. This shallow covering is one of the most impor- 

 tant points, as it is found that if covered deeply they will not 

 grow so rapidly. The crop planted August 15th will be ma- 

 tured by October 31st or a little later. Last fail (1889) was un- 

 usually late, and potatoes planted the second week in Septem- 

 ber made a good crop, the tops not being killed by frost until 

 November 28th ; but in an ordinary autumn it is desirable to 

 be ready for killing frost early in November. 



This late crop in this latitude can be left where they grow 

 and covered with straw to prevent freezing. They can then 

 be dug at any time in winter and will sell as new potatoes 

 at a good round price. One grower in this state sold his entire 

 crop last winter at the same price as new Bermudas, and made 

 a very good thing of it. But the great advantage of this late- 

 fall crop of potatoes is that they keep unsprouted all winter 

 and late into spring, and will easily take the place of northern- 

 grown old potatoes in spring when their quality is better 

 known. The ease and certainty with which this crop is now 

 grown will be a great inducement to southern farmers to ex- 

 tend the cultivation of late potatoes. 



Raleigh, N. C. II . F. J/ctSSej'. 



The Rot Among Late Potatoes. 



MANY specimens of rotting Irish potatoes have been re- 

 ceived at the Agricultural Experiment Station within 

 a week. A large number of the Potato-growers of Salem and 

 Cumberland Counties, of this state, will lose their entire crop. 

 In a recent visit to the regions most affected I have seen 

 many fields that would have yielded 100 bushels per acre 

 abandoned as not worth the cost of harvesting. The rot has 

 been unusually serious in southern New Jersey. One cause, 

 unmistakably, has been the protracted rains. The Phytopni- 

 thora infestans thrives in moist weather; and while it ap- 

 pears more or less every season, it is only found in low places 

 in dry seasons, although abundant enough to furnish a con- 

 stant supply of spores for future outbreaks when weather 

 favorable to it occurs. The Fungus first attacks the leaves 

 and afterward works its way down the juicy stems into the 

 tubers. Mildew may reach the potatoes by the spores 

 on fallen leaves being washed into the soil by rains. Tin's 

 Fungus grows with surprising rapidity. A decayed potato, 

 brought from near Bridgeton, was cut into halves this morn- 

 ing at eight o'clock, and each piece placed under a bell-jar 

 standing upon a plate holding water to produce a moist cham- 

 ber. At twelve o'clock spots of white mould were visible 

 upon the cut surface, and, when subjected to microscopic 



