Fkhruarv 20, 1SS9. 



Garden and Forest. 



91 



made in regard to Gladioli. As a general conclusion this 

 may be said to be emphatically incorrect. The limitations of 

 hybridization, as regards what species may be crossed by 

 what other species or even genera, are entirely unknown, 

 and this is now the most invidng field for horticultural ex- 

 periment. A keen pleasure is assured to the individual who 

 shall strive to break the bonds of varietal variation, and by 

 infusing new blood gain valuable and novel plants for the 

 cultivator, and a furtherance of our knowledge of the condi- 

 tions and effects of hvbridization. 

 Boston. ' Robert T. Jackson. 



Window Plants. — This is the season when complaint is most 

 often made that window plants look sickly and that their 

 leaves turn yellow and fall. Insects often cause the trouble, and 

 in some cases it is because leaves are not kept clean. But more 

 commonly too much water is given. When the pots are in- 

 sufficiently drained the water remains stagnant about the roots. 

 Roots need air, and when this is excluded no food is absorbed. 



dividing a stemless crown much fewer plants could have been 

 obtained. But we still had the crown to divide, in addition to 

 the long trunks, so that one plant made many rooted sets. 



This method gives four or five times as many young plants 

 as the ordinary one, and why can it not be applied as well to 

 such herbaceous plants as Delphiniums, Hollyhocks, Aconites 

 and Clematis ? Of course it would be advisable to cover them 

 in gradually as the stalk grew up, and not all at once, a method 

 which might kill some plants. F. L. Temple. 



Somerville, Mass. 



Orchid Notes. — Cwlogyne cristata. This is one of the best 

 known of the tropical Orchids, and is a general favorite every- 

 where. It can be successfully grown and flowered in almost 

 any kind of green-house, or in any soil, provided it be well 

 drained. We grow large numbers of these Orchids, and they 

 are now making a wonderful display of bloom. The flowers 

 will last a long time when cut, add gracefulness to the 

 heavier kinds when used in a vase, and relieve the rich colors 







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The Gore Place, Waltham. — See page 



the reserve material in leaf and stem is soon exhausted, and 

 the plant is starved. Window-plants should have no water 

 when the soil is damp. A plant is in a healthy condition when 

 it is allowed to dry out until water is needed, and this demand 

 should be made twice a week or oftener, according to the size 

 of the pot and of the plant, the rapidity of transpiration and of 

 evaporation from the soil. An aerated soil is essential to suc- 

 cess with window plants, and it is just as necessary for the 

 health of shrubs and trees. Last June a dam built across a 

 litfle brook which runs through my meadow raised the water 

 level of a pond, half a dozen square rods in extent, about two 

 feet. A thrifty Tulip tree stood ten feet from the bank, but in 

 a few days every leaf turned yellow and fell. So many of its 

 feeding roots were shut out from air by the water that satu- 

 rated the soil about them diat the tree died of starvaflon. 



Trenton, N.J. S. 



Propagating Herbaceous Paeonias. — Four vears ago some 

 frames in the nursery were built where there' had been a bed 

 of herbaceous Pasonias, and after the frames had been filled with 

 rich and light soil some weak shoots of Paeonias were seen 

 pushing up from roots left in the soil. These plants were left 

 for three years, when they were dug up and found to be set 

 eighteen inches deep. 



They had pushed a stalk through all this covering, and the 

 stem, which in plants set near the surface would have been an 

 annual one and would have died back to the crown of roots 

 m autumn, had become a perennial trunk, full of axillary buds, 

 and having strong roots directly under and feeding these buds[ 

 while the crown of roots at the bottom was also strong, but 

 not so strong as when planted near the surface. 



The benefit to the propagator from this retnarkablc change 

 of habit of the plant is that a long stem full of buds and roots 

 is produced which has only to be cut into short sections with 

 the shears to furnish a large number of well-rooted plants. In 



of the more showy. When grown in baskets, the plants are 

 useful for hanging in the dwQlling-house. It is very litfle 

 trouble to grow this plant, which needs to be repotted only 

 once in three or four years, though it is benefited by an annual 

 top-dressing of chopped leaves and moss. We grow them in 

 a cool house, where the sash is kept down from June till Sep- 

 tember, and they are treated to a good drenching of water 

 once or twice a day, until the bulbs are matured. The plants 

 make fine stout bulbs, thoroughly ripened, and sure to give 

 good spikes of bloom. The pure white variety'. Alba, is at 

 present somewhat rare, but, happily, it grows as freely as the 

 type, and bids fair to become very plentiful in a few years. 

 Another good variety, named Citrina, has long, narrow bulbs, 

 more slender and bronzy green foliage. This flowers fully a 

 month later than the species, and on that account it is a valu- 

 able kind, as it prolongs the flowering season till early spring. 

 If possiljle it is more floriferous than the type ; one plant with 

 us has 1 12 spikes, which will yield some 600 flowers. 



Dendrobiuin Endocharis is a charming little plant, the result 

 of a cross between D. Jqponicum and D. aiireuvi [Jieterocar- 

 pum). The flowers, freely produced from the sides of the 

 bulbs in twos or threes, are milk white, with a purplish striated 

 blotch at the base of the lip. It has a delightful primrose frag- 

 rance, and grows freely in a pot or basket filled with a mixture 

 of fibrous peat and moss. It requires a cool house, and should 

 be kept moderately dry after growth is matured. 



Kenwood, N. Y. F. Goldrutg. 



Doronicums as Pot Plants. — Although the proper place for 

 these showy Compositive is the hardy flower-garden, they are 

 also suitable for use as winter-flowering plants. If lifted with 

 care in autumn, potted, and placed in a cool house, in the 

 earlier months of spring an abundance of bright yellow flow- 

 ers will be the result. Besides their beauty, the flowers have 

 the additional value of lasting well when cut. With the above 

 treatment we now have Doronicum Caucasicurn in full bloom. 



