6oo 



Garden and Forest. 



[December io, li. 



variety, Early Victor, is about as near worthless with me as 

 any of the list. The vines are vigorous and healthy enough, 

 and the grape itself is good, but the cluster and berry are too 

 small. In this respect it falls below the Delaware, and any- 

 thing below or equaling that in size must be of superior excel- 

 lence to become popular. 



Of recent introduction, Munson's Brilliant is among the 

 promising red ones. The cluster and berry are of good size, 

 and the quality seems up to the standard. 



Montclair, N. J. 



Tritonias. 



E. Williams. 



THOUGH the Tritonias are less graceful than the Ixias and 

 less brilliant than the Sparaxis, they are, I think, the most 

 desirable for general cultivation of the smaller Cape bulbs. 

 They are more vigorous than the Ixias, and never, like them, 

 damp off when half grown. They lack the vivid contrast of 

 scarlet, yellow and black with which some kinds of Sparaxis 

 dazzle us, but they will give three flowers for every one Spar- 

 axis yield, and these are quite showy enough, ranging from 

 vivid orange-crimson to pure white. With Ixia and Sparaxis 

 failure is fully as probable as success, but with Tritonia no 

 one need miss a bountiful supply of flowers. 



As in other genera of the Iris family, there is much confu- 

 sion as to the species of Tritonia ; probably more than half of 

 those who have T. crocata call it the orange Ixia, while other 

 sorts have been ranked with Gladiolus, Montbretia, etc. It is 

 to be hoped that Mr. Baker's long-promised work on this 

 family will soon be issued, so that we may have an authori- 

 tative guide. I have cultivated many of the species of this 

 genus, and find most of them to vary much from seed without 

 hybridizing, which, all will agree, adds a new charm to a plant, 

 for no one will dispute as to the pleasure with which we see a 

 new flower unfold whose counterpart no one has ever beheld. 

 Some of these are so lovely that I shall name a few of them 

 after speaking of the species as far as I have knowledge of 

 them. 



T. crocata is the best known of all, and, with its spike of 

 brilliant orange flowers nearly two inches across, is showy 

 enough to suit the most exacting. Like the other kinds it is 

 excellent for cutting, as all buds will open, one by one, in a 

 vase of water ; this kind looks particularly bright and attractive 

 by artificial light. T. miniata and T. deusta differ but little, 

 horticulturally speaking, from T. crocata. T. hyalina of Linnas- 

 us is generally found in the Dutch catalogues under the name 

 of T.fenestrata, given to it by Jacquin. Both names are ap- 

 plicable, and have reference to the fact that, at the base of the 

 segments, color is lacking, and the tissues are transparent like 

 windows. The general color of this species is lighter in shade 

 than that of the other kinds. T. squalida is a very beautiful 

 sort; its color is white, shaded at the tips with rose. This is 

 regarded as a distinct speciesby all the botanists, and distinct 

 it must therefore be, yet I have repeatedly raised it from pure 

 seed of T. crocata. T. scillaris is less vigorous than the other 

 species, but is very beautiful, bearing numerous bright rosy 

 flowers, which, however, are much smaller than those of other 

 kinds. 



The plant called by some T. aurea, and by others Crocosma 

 aurea, may as well be mentioned in this place. It is probably 

 well known to nearly everybody; but, for the benefit of a pos- 

 sible few, I may say that it is a summer blooming kind, best 

 treated as we treat Gladiolus. Aurea is a singularly inappro- 

 priate adjective to apply to its deep orange blossoms. It makes 

 its new conns at the end of underground runners several 

 inches long. When the bulbs are lifted they will be found to 

 have more or less of these runners, without any bulbs at the 

 end, but looking much like the pestiferous Witch Grass. These 

 ought by no means to be removed, for they will retain their 

 vitality until planting-time, and will then go on without delay, 

 whereas had they been cut off there could have been no blos- 

 soms except from the old corm until new runners had grown, 

 which would have shortened the flowering term two or three 

 weeks. It is commonly said that in the autumn, when we lift 

 the corms, the old ones, those we planted in the spring, ought 

 to be discarded because they will never grow again. This is 

 an error; they will grow again, but their growth will be com- 

 paratively unproductive of flowers. There are two varieties of 

 this plant, Maculata, which, I believe, grows wild in Cafitaria, 

 and Imperialis, which we owe to the zeal of Mr. Max Leichtlin, 

 or, rather, shall owe, when it is generally distributed. 



T. crocata varies in its wild state, four or five well marked 

 varieties being recognized by botanists. It varies even more 

 in cultivation, some of the best sorts being Copper Chief, a 

 very strong growing variety of a coppery red; Lady Rose, pink 

 salmon ground, flecked with crimson ; Maculata, flesh color, 



with deep crimson centre ; Rubens, white, with carmine cen- 

 tre ; Striata, pink segments, with median stripes of scarlet ; 

 Brenda, beautiful shade between rose and salmon ; Bellala, 

 segments alternately flesh color and scarlet; Hermosa, bright 

 rose centre with salmon scarlet tips ; Galatea, white, flecked 

 and marbled with light purple ; Fue^o, fiery scarlet ; Peach 

 Bloom ; Fenestrata speciosa, very light buff, externally light 

 orange. Many others might be named, but enough has been 

 said to show between what limits the colors may vary and to 

 give an idea of the desirability of the genus. Some years ago 

 I hybridized the white form of Freesia refracta and Tritonia 

 crocata. Singularly enough the resulting plants bore flowers 

 which were Freesia pure and simple, though the Tritonia was 

 the seed parent. 



Canton, Mass. W. E. ElldlCOtt. 



Cattleya maxima. 



THIS species, although by no means common, is neverthe- 

 less frequently seen in collections. It flowers from October 

 to November, and is a fitting companion for the late flowering 

 forms of Cattleya labiata. The pseudo-bulbs are more or less 

 club-shaped and compressed, varying in length from six inches 

 to two feet, and are furnished with a single oblong leathery 

 leaf six to twelve inches long and about two inches broad. 

 Some specimens are now flowering in the collection of Mr. 

 R. H. Measures, of Streatham, bearing two or three flowers 

 on a peduncle which springs from the top of the pseudo-bulb, 

 enveloped at the base by a large sheath. I remember, how- 

 ever, seeing several plants in bloom in October of last year, 

 and some of the peduncles had as many as ten large flowers 

 on them. The lanceolate-acuminate sepals and the much 

 broader, oval-oblong, wavy petals are of a beautiful satiny 

 rose color, through which the netting of the veins may be 

 seen, thus adding a further adornment to their appearance. 

 The lip is tubular, much crisped at the edges, and having the 

 same ground color as the sepals and petals, but beautifully 

 marked with a network of deep, rich purple lines, which are 

 closely arranged on each side of the bright yellow band, which 

 extends down the throat and is very conspicuous. 



For more than a hundred years Cattleya maxima has been 

 known to scientists through the labors of Ruiz andPavon, two 

 Spanish botanists, who first met with it near Guayaquil, on the 

 Andes of Peru, about the year 1777. It was not, however, 

 until 1842 that C. maxima found its way alive into Europe. 

 This was accomplished by the Royal Horticultural Society, 

 who had sent their collector, Theodor Hartvveg, out to South 

 America in search of new plants. He first met with C. max- 

 ima near the banks of the Rio Grande de Melacatos, in Ecua- 

 dor, where it was growing on rocks and trunks of trees. 

 Plants were sent home, and the first flowers appeared in the 

 Society's gardens at Chiswick in the year 1844. From this 

 time until 1855 no trace of the plant is to be found until a pale- 

 flowered form appeared in the collection of Mr. W. G. Farmer, 

 of Nonsuch Park, Cheam, Surrey, and formed material for 

 a figure in the Botanical Magazine. Since this period, thanks to 

 the importations of Veitch, Backhouse, Low, Sander and 

 others, C. maxima has become an established plant. 



There are a few varieties known, such as Alba, having 

 white flowers with purple reticulations on the lip on each 

 side of the median yellow band ; Aphlebia, rarely seen, and 

 characterized by the absence of the purple lines on the lip ; 

 the variety Peruviana, commonly spoken of in gardens, which 

 comes from Peru, and is noted for its deeper colored flowers, 

 with more numerous and darker lines on the lip. 



The cultivation of C. maxima (which, by the way, the late 

 Professor Reichenbach once called an Epidendrum) is not 

 difficult. The plants like a warm, moist house, such as Den- 

 drobiums grow in, and will thrive in the usual compost of 

 rough peat and sphagnum in well drained pots. They begin 

 to grow in the autumn, at the same time as the flowers are 

 borne on the previous year's pseudo-bulbs, and will conse- 

 quently require attention as to watering during the winter 

 months. According as the new growths appear, and the new 

 roots begin to push through the soil, the quantity of water 

 may be correspondingly increased. In the summer, when 

 the growths are ripening, as much light and air as is consistent 

 with safety should be given, so as to have the plants thoroughly 

 mature by the autumn. _, , TTr J7 



Isleworth, London. John Weathers. 



Lonicera quinquelocularis, a native of northern India and the 

 Himalayas, can hardly be called a highly ornamental plant 

 when there are so many others possessing greater merit ; but 

 it is interesting on account of the profusion of fresh, clear, 

 almost transparent fruit which it bears in the late autumn 



