Garden and Forest. 



[January 2, iJ 



Asparagus. — Mr. Gardner forces a good deal of Asparagus, 

 but does not begin with it so early as November. He uses 

 tour-year-old plants. These plants are grown expressly for 

 forcing, and on the surface plan— that is, they are not planted 

 deep in the ground as if for permanent beds.' As good Aspar- 

 agus comes in from Florida long before the winter leaves us, 

 whatever money is to be made with this vegetable must be 

 made before February is over. Asparagus-roots that have been 

 forced are of no further use ; strong, healthy, young stock is 

 too easily raised to make it worth while to keep over enervated 

 roots or to try to recuperate them. 



Cucumbers.— These are grown in the small span-roofed 

 structures, a row being planted on either side and trained up 

 on trellises under the glass. A temperature of about 60° is 

 maintained, and there is full provision for bottom heat. The 

 Telegraph and Blue Gown are grown as the main crop, but 

 the White Spine is largely forced also. The first two are Eng- 

 lish, long-fruited varieties, extremely prolific and long-lived, 

 and there is a good sale for them in the Boston and Philadel- 

 phia markets, but very little demand for them in New York. 

 Taking everything into consideration, the Telegraph is yet 

 looked upon as the most desirable and profitable of the Eng- 

 lish varieties, while in the New York market there is a marked 

 preference for what are known as American, or short, thick 

 Cuciuiibers, although the whitish color of the skin that often 

 af)pears near the end of the fruit in these sometimes gives diem 

 the appearance of having been kept too long. An effort is 

 being made to get a short Cucumber that shall have a deep 

 green skin, without any pale tinge or marking near the end. 



Pea,s.— Large quantities of these are grown and all in boxes. 

 American Wonder is the variety used. It is very dwarf, a fair 

 cropper, and has good sized Peas of excellent flavor. The 

 l)oxes in which they are grown are long, narrow and trough- 

 like, four to five inches wide and six inches deep, and of 

 lengths to suit the spaces in which they are grown, say four to 

 six feet long. The earth used is common garden soil en- 

 riched with rotted manure. A single row of Peas is sown 

 along the middle of each box. After sowing and undl the 

 Peas are well up, they are kept as cool as possible, without 

 subjecting them to frost, but after a good growth is made, a 

 httle higher temperature is maintained. In the green-houses 

 the boxes are set about six inches apart from each other, and 

 laid across the benches— that is, the Pea boxes are placed 

 north and south in houses running east and west. This is to 

 admit of a free circulation of air under, between and over them. 



Snap Beans.— These are forced in abundance and are grown 

 mainly in boxes, but, in some cases, also in temporary 

 troughs on the benches. The boxes are six inches wide, six 

 deep, and twenty or twenty-four inches long, and the soil 

 used is the same as that used for Peas. Sion House, an 

 English variety, is the only one grown, and this selecdon 

 has been made after testing all other leading varieties. The 

 Beans are sown in three-inch pots, and vvhen the plants 

 are four or five inches high, they are transplanted into the 

 boxes, eight or ten plants in each box. The boxes are then 

 placed on the benches in the warm green-houses, usually in 

 the Tomato houses, crosswise, and each box distant from the 

 other about six inches 



Glen Cove, N. Y. W»i. Falconer. 



The Francoas. 



The Garden, of London, calls attention to the value of the 

 Francoas as ornamental flowering garden-plants. They are 

 all natives of Chili, and are perennial herbs, with white, pink 

 or red Saxifrage-like flowers, produced in slender, graceful 

 racemes. Francoa rainosa, which is very delightfully figured 

 in The Garden, has been in cultivation for more than half a 

 century, but none of the species are very often seen in Amer- 

 ican gardens, where this genus is pracflcally unknown. It was 

 named in honor of a Valentian, Dr. F. Franco, who promoted 

 botany in the sixteenth century, and it belongs to the Saxifrage 

 family. The following direcdons for the cultivadon of these 

 plants are quoted from The Garden : 



"As in the case of many Chilian plants, Francoas are impa- 

 tient of wet, needing, if they are grown in the open, a dry, 

 sheltered position and a light loamy soil. We can occasion- 

 ally see them in old cottage windows, where they often flour- 

 ish amazmgly. The best way is to raise the plants from seed, 

 which can be sown at any time between the month of Febru- 

 ary and midsummer, but it is better to commence as early as 

 possible, so that the plants will have a long season of growth 

 before the winter. Sow the seed in a well-drained pan, and 

 use a peaty soil mixed with sufficient sand to make it fairly 

 light, and before sowing give it a careful watering and place a 



sheet of glass over the pan, so as to promote quick germina- 

 tion. When the seedlings appear, remove the glass at once, 

 and give water if necessary, placing the pan in a light position 

 so as to keep the seedlings strong and healthy. After a time 

 the seedlings may be pricked off into other pans filled with the 

 same soil as recommended above, and be taken to the green- 

 house or a cold-frame. It is essential to give air freely to pre- 

 vent the plants becoming drawn. When of sufficient strength 

 transfer them to five-inch pots, still keeping them in the green- 

 house or frame. By the end of the summer some of the 

 plants will commence to bloom if the seed was sown early, 

 but if first-class specimens are wanted, it is better to pinch out 

 the first spikes, so as to obtain an abundant supply the second 

 year, ^^hen the plants will be much stronger. When the plants 

 require repotting, give them pots one inch or two inches 

 larger, and in the second year when the flower spikes are 

 commencing to appear a few applications of weak liquid ma- 

 nure will be helpful. The seed may also be sown when it is 

 ripe, which it will be at _this season, and the young plants 

 potted off in the spring. We have given a somewhat detailed 

 description of the culture, because it is not every one who has 

 grown the Francoa, and many consider it difficult to bring to 

 perfection. There are many poor specimens in gardens, 

 which often have the bottom leaves absent, but this is due in 

 a great many instances to an over-supply of water. If there 

 is one thing that the Francoa detests, it is a soil that is kept too 

 moist. Francoa rainosa is the best of the three, and has spikes 

 of great length, and the flowers are pure white. The leaves 

 are something like those of a turnip, and of a paler shade of 

 green. F. appendiculata has the petals of a soft reddish color, 

 enriched near the base by a deep blotch. This is well worth 

 growing, but the blooms are not so pure as those oiF. rainosa. 

 F. appendiculata is sometimes confused with F. sonchifolia, 

 but this is different, its flowers being of a purple shade. Al- 

 though to obtain the finest specimens it is necessary to grow 

 the plants in pots, the Francoas may somedmes be seen in 

 splendid condition on the rockery." 



Plants for a Trying Climate. 



"rpiGHT or nine years ago Professor Sargent kindly sent us 

 -'---' seeds of Berberis Ainurensis andoi Lonicera splendens. 

 The seedlings of the Amur Barberry were planted in a row 

 from the seed-bed, and have made a compact hedge with- 

 out pruning, which a prairie steer could not penetrate. They 

 have proved far more rapid in growth than any of the Bar- 

 berries in our large collection, and their foliage has not been 

 troubled with the cluster-cup fungus. When loaded with the 

 oblong, scarlet fruit this section of hedge is much admired. 

 As it proves perfectly hardy in the far North-west, and grows 

 well where the rainfall is very light, I believe it will prove 

 very valuable for hedging and also for planting as a large 

 shrub upon the lawn. 



The seedlings of Lonicera splendens were also set about 

 two feet apart in a hedge-row. The uniform expression of the 

 row indicates that L. splendens is a good species, or, at least, 

 a strain quite distinct from L. Tatarica. The flowers vary in 

 size, and from wliite to dark pink, and the berries vary from 

 red to yellow, but as propagated from cuttings they all have 

 the graceful, rounded habit of growth, and delicate, light 

 green foliage of the typical L. splendens. Without exception 

 tliese seedlings are an improvement for lawn planting or for 

 screens on the Tartarian Honeysuckle or its seedlings. 



At the West, what is known as the Wisconsin Weeping 

 Willow, is our only hardy form of the old list common to 

 the nurseries. This led us to introduce Salix Napoleonis, of 

 which we saw hundreds of fine specimens on the steppes of 

 east Europe, top-worked on Salix aurea, one of the yellow- 

 est of the Yellow Willows, that seems to be indigenous to 

 east Europe and central Asia. S. Napoleonis has long, thin 

 twigs that move with the breeze, showing to good advantage 

 its blue-tinged foliage, forming a fine contrast with the 

 bright golden-barked stock, on Avhich it is worked. The 

 stock from S. aurea is a rapid, upright grower from cuttings, 

 and .S. Napoleonis works readily upon it by either budding 

 or grafting. It will prove specially valuable in the West, 

 and, I think, generally in the Northern States. 



Eleagnus hortensis is not hardy with us, but it is less a 

 matter of regret, as we consider E. angustifolia a hand- 

 somer tree — larger in growth, and with more fragrant flow- 

 ers. When favored by the breeze, the fragrance of its flowers 

 has been noticed at a distance of forty rods. It is perfectly 

 hardy up to the forty-fourth parallel in Minnesota and Da- 

 kota on dry soils, and it thrives where the rainfall is too light 

 for most of our indigenous trees. It was introduced into 



