138 



Garden and Forest 



[March 20, iS 



■will then be but little waste of the liquid, and this preparation 

 of the stakes will pay. It is of no use to dip them unless they 

 are dry enough to absorb the oil. An impervious coat of 

 paint would keep the sap in the wood, and thus hasten decay. 



It is needless to set a stake to each vine. A stake every twelve 

 feet is enough. Tie the vines to the wire. The canes will 

 fasten of themselves. On this single wire may be carried as 

 much fruit as the vines can mature. Twenty pounds is 

 enough. I have had forty pounds, but then the fruit may fail 

 to ripen. 



The merits of this style of trellis are, first, cheapness ; next, 

 convenience. The vines are easily pruned and easily sprayed, 

 which last operation will be necessary. The fruit is readily 

 gathered, and the trellis is low enough to permit one to cross 

 the vineyard in any direction. One need not creep under the 

 rows or walk to the end of one to get on the other side of it. 

 The grapes are near the ground, where they ripen better, and 

 the vines trained low are less exposed to damage from winds. 



Wire trellis is essential to the prosperity of the Grape-vine. It 

 wants something which it can cling to and climb or run along, 

 and it will treble its length of growth of cane if this congenial 

 support be provided for it. The tendrils of the vine indicate that 

 nature intends it to climb, just as plainly as the fins of a fish 

 show that it is made to swim. We may notice how a 

 Grape-vine will run when it gets into a tree-top, and can catch 

 on to twigs and branches. 



Another merit of the style of trellis described is that on it 

 the vine may be preliminarily trained to stand alone by itself, 

 if need be. I have many vines which, trained thus for years, 

 can now stand hke little trees. I keep them on the trellis for 

 the sake of the advantage of the wire, but they are able to do 

 without it. ^ ^,^ ^ 



Vineland, N.J. A. W. Pear SOU. 



Some Useful Decorative Plants. 



ASPIDISTRAS. — Foremost among those plants to which 

 special attention is invited are the most useful Aspidis- 

 tra elatior and its variegated form. Admitting that they are 

 old-fashioned and comparatively common, still they possess 

 much beauty. The long, graceful, dark-green foliage of the 

 type, or the leaves of the variegated variety, striped with 

 creamy white, both present most pleasing effects, and for en- 

 durance under adverse circumstances, as in the dry heat of a 

 dwelling-house or in a dark hall, they are unequaled. They 

 may also be used to advantage in sub-tropical bedding during 

 the summer. As to cultivation, it is most simple, as when 

 potted in good loam, given an abundance of water, and 

 a temperature of from fifty to sixty degrees, with a partial 

 shade during the summer, no further attention is necessary. 

 Propagation is effected by division of the rhizomes, which 

 operation maybe performed at any time of the year, but pre- 

 ferably in the spring, the divided portions making a new 

 growth in a short time at that season. 



COPROSMA Bauriana variegata. — This charming garden 

 form of Coprosma Bauriana originated in Europe a number of 

 years ago from seed collected in New Zealand, and makes a 

 very ornamental shrub either for cool-house culture or for out- 

 door work in the summer, its glossy green leaves, with their 

 broad marginal bands of yellow presenting so bright an ap- 

 pearance as to be specially noticeable. This is also an easy 

 plant to grow after the young plants are once established, and 

 with judicious pinching of the tips of the shoots will soon 

 make a shapely shrub. The chief difficulty with some grow- 

 ers, however, has been found in rooting the cuttings, by which 

 method the propagation of this variety is effected — the cut- 

 tings having a great tendency to damp off, unless carefully 

 watered and ventilated. The best cuttings are small side 

 shoots, such as those usually produced by an old plant that 

 has been brought into a warm-house for a few weeks, and 

 these shoots should be taken off with a small portion of the 

 hard wood attached so as to form a heel for the cutting. Much 

 care should also be taken to avoid any exposure of the cut- 

 tings to tlie full sunlight, as when wilted, even very slightly, 

 they seldom recover sufficiently to produce roots. 



EURVA LATIFOLIA VARIEGATA.— This charming plant is un- 

 doubtedly one of the best variegated plants for green-house 

 cultivation, and it deserves to be more widely distributed than it 

 has been. It grows freely in a Camellia-house, or in cool green- 

 house temperature, and being naturally somewhat inclined to 

 a pyramidal form, it soon becomes a highly ornamental speci- 

 men. Its foliage, somewhat similar in general outline to that 

 of a Camellia, is beautifully marked with creamy-white, and in 

 the young growth is frequently tinted with pink, and this, com- 

 bined with a graceful habit, makes it a most attractive object. 

 A moderately light, well-drained soil, containing a liberal 



quantity of peat, is preferable for it, and in its growing season 

 it enjoys plenty of water both overhead and at the root. It is 

 propagated by cuttings, which should be made of about half- 

 ripened wood, and placed on a slight bottom heat, in a close 

 frame, with only air enough to prevent damping. At best 

 the cuttings take a considerable time to root, but with proper 

 care a fair percentage of plants can be secured. In all proba- 

 bility this plant would prove hardy in some of the Southern 

 States — at least in those localities where Camellias are found 

 to do well out-of-doors — and if so, it would prove a decided 

 addition to the shrubs for open-air planting. 

 Holmesburg, Pa. . W. H. Taplm. 



Notes from a Northern Fruit Garden. 



"PJ^ROM the fact that I not unfrequently see grapes grow- 

 -•■ ing and ripening in orchards and gardens where 

 the vines are more or less in the shade, I am inclined 

 to question the belief that grapes need all the sun they can 

 get. If they need it anywhere, they do in northern Vermont 

 and in Canada; yet I cannot discover that a moderate amount 

 of shade retards ripening at all, except in the case of the 

 Brighton, which, although a very early grape, does not even 

 color here in dry, hot seasons when Delaware, Salem, Moore's 

 Early and Eumelan ripen. 



The practice of laying down Grape-vines and covering them 

 for winter, is not universal ; yet, with most varieties, in 

 nearly all of New England this treatment pays. Growers 

 find that even when the buds of uncovered vines all start 

 well, the covered vines give a better crop, and ripen it 

 earlier. If vines are planted against the south side of a light 

 fence, laying them on the ground will be all the protection 

 needed in a snowy country, as a deep drift will form in such a 

 spot. Such a drift will not waste away for a long time where 

 there is snow enough for pretty steady sleighing. 



At the recent winter meeting of the Fruit Growers' Associa- 

 tion at Montreal, which I had the pleasure of attending, it was 

 the general testimony that the Wealthy apple, as grown about 

 Montreal, or anywhere near the level of the St. Lawrence 

 river, keeps no better than the Fameuse— that is, only up to 

 the holidays. My Wealthys are sound and good now (Feb- 

 ruary 15th), though Fameuse apples were gone soon after New 

 Year, and this has been my experience in the dozen years that 

 I have had the Wealthy in bearing. It keeps well until the vernal 

 equinox ; and the same is true of Mcintosh Red, which, also, 

 is complained of at Montreal as a poor keeper. My place is 

 sixty or seventy miles south of Montreal, but it is nearly 1,000 

 feet higher. Still, I do not ascribe the better keeping of 

 my apples entirely to the altitude of my land. The Wealthy 

 matures with me, so far as I can see, as early as it does about 

 Montreal — say about the middle of September. As soon as it 

 is well colored it begins to drop, but growers do not seem to 

 take the hint and gather it at once. If this is done, and the 

 early part of the day if sunny chosen, the fruit if removed at 

 once to a cool, dark cellar, will keep better than if it had been 

 allowed to feel the many warm and even hot days of late Sep- 

 tember and early October. These are what hurry it on to over- 

 ripeness and bring on early decay. It seems to me that this 

 principle is applicable to all apples, as much so as to pears. As 

 soon as the fruit will part readily from the tree it is ready to be 

 gathered, and delay in this particular is at the expense, not 

 only of keeping, but of quality. Wide alternations of temper- 

 ature every day — at noon a burning sun, at night coolness 

 even to frost — can have no other effect than to deteriorate 

 quality and hasten decay. 



Newport.'Vt. 



Orchid Notes. 



Cymbidium Lowianum is a very handsome variety of the 

 well-known C. gigattteian, which produces stout, arching 

 racemes nearly four feet long and bears about a score of large 

 greenish-yellow flowers. The lip is particularly attractive. It 

 is of pale yellow, the front lobe being of a uniform deep ma- 

 roon, with streaks of the same color in the throat. This va- 

 riety, like the type, when well grown is a fine ornamental plant 

 even though out of bloom, and it can be grown with the gen- 

 eral collection of green-house plants. It is a very vigorous and 

 strong-rooting kind. It should be grown in rich loam, with 

 leaf-mould and sand. It requires abundance of water, and it 

 should at no time be allowed to get very dry, as it is nearly 

 always in active growth. The flowers will last in perfection 

 nearly four months if kept in a cool-house, and when cut they 

 will last longer than any other Orchid I know. It is a native 

 of Burmah. 



Ccelogyne flaccida. — This is a very attractive species, grow- 

 ing and producing its flowers very freely. It has oblong fur- 



7. H. Hoskins. 



