164 



Garden and Forest. 



[April 3, ii 



season. Such perennials as may have been raised from seed, 

 should, when large enough to handle, be pricked out in pots, 

 and when well rooted be planted in their permanent positions. 

 Seedlings of many kinds when treated in this way flower well 

 the first year. 

 Passaic, N.J. -£". O. Or pet. 



Orchid Notes. 



Lalia bella. — This is the most magnificent hybrid yet pro- 

 duced, combining the excellent qualities of Cattleya labiata 

 vera and Lalia ptirpurata, both of these being the best repre- 

 sentatives of their respective genera. In richness of color it is 

 far superior to both. The habit and general appearance of the 

 plant greatly resembles C. labiata, but the bulbs are more 

 slender and the leaves longer and narrower. The flowers are 

 about nine inches across, and of a uniform rosy purple. The 

 large handsome lip is a rich amethyst purple, deepening to a 

 much darker shade towards the front, while the orange throat 

 is beautifully penciled with crimson. They exhale a delightful 

 primrose fragrance. This very rare hybrid first flowered with 

 the raisers, Messrs. Veitch & Sons, in 1884, and I believe only 

 two plants are as yet in this country. 



In strong contrast to the foregoing is the pretty dwarf-grow- 

 ing L. Lijtdleyana, a plant seldom seen, and which is probably 

 somewhat rare in its native habitat in southern Brazil. The 

 slender bulbs usually have two very thick, leathery and narrow 

 leaves, light green and dotted with purple. The short pe- 

 duncle bears 3-4 flowers about four inches across, with nar 

 row, pure white segments, blotched and spotted with rosy 

 purple, the front lobe of the lip being of the same color. This 

 plant does well in an intermediate temperature, and thrives 

 best in a basket with very little soil about the roots, enjoying 

 abundance of water during the growing season. 



Another Lselia from the same region as the preceding, and 

 now in full bloom is L. harpophylla. This Orchid was, until 

 the last few years, very rare, but large importations have now 

 rendered it within the reach of all. It is a very showy plant, 

 producing from the apex of its slender stems clusters of some 

 half dozen orange-scarlet flowers. These are about two 

 inches across, with narrow segments. The long, narrow, front 

 lobe of the lip is recurved, edged with white, and has a very 

 crisp margin. Ti)is Orchid will be found very useful for cut- 

 ting purposes, and a few plants of it with its rare and showy 

 color assist greatly in brightening the more sober tints of its 

 congeners. It requires about the same treatment as L. Lind- 

 leyana, except that it is more suitable for pot culture, and 

 should be constantly syringed, as it is somewhat subject to the 

 attacks of yellow thrips. 



Lalia Pitcheriana is another garden hybrid, now prettily in 

 bloom. It is the result of crossing Lalia Perritiii wMh Cattleya 

 crispa. The character of its growth is intermediate between 

 these two, but the flowers are very much like those of the 

 Cattleya. They are of wavy outline, white, flushed with rose, 

 and the lip is white with a large purplish blotch on the anterior 

 lobe. The variety Alba (also in flower) is devoid of this blotch 

 on the lip. This plant grows freely with us among the general 

 collection. It is still very rare, although it was first flowered 

 in 1868. 



Angracuvi cryptodojt. — This rare plant resembles in habit 

 and foliage A. Sanderianum, producing a loose raceme about 

 one foot long, bearing about a score of flowers. The narrow 

 sepals are of cinnamon color, terminating in a spur of the 

 same color about three inches long, the broader petals and 

 ovoid lip being pure white. This peculiar combination of 

 color renders the Orchid very interesting as well as attractive. 

 It is a native of Madagascar, and like other species from that 

 country luxuriates in strong heat, with a maximum of moist- 

 ure, and it may be grown in a basket filled with charcoal and 

 moss. 



Cochlioda (Odontoglossum) rosea is an attractive little Peruv- 

 ian Orchid, with drooping racemes, which bear a score of rosy, 

 carmine flowers about one inch across, the top of the colunni 

 being white. It grows in dense masses, and bears abundant 

 flowers, which last a long time. The cool-house suits it best, 

 with a liberal supply of water at all seasons. F. Goldring. 



Kenwood, N. Y. 



Propagating the Weeping Sophora. — It is well known to nur- 

 serymen and landscape-gardeners that no adequate supply of 

 good, clean specimens of this beautiful and useful weeping 

 tree has yet been accessible, and the sole reason for its scarc- 

 ity has been the difficulty of getting straight andsmootli stems 

 of sufficient height upon which to graft the drooping variety. 

 No trouble whatever is met in grafting or in getting a strong 

 growth of the top, when once a stem tall enough to use is se- 



cured. We have learned, by accident, as many such useful 

 things are learned, to produce tall, clean, unbranched stems, 

 of six to nine feet, in one season, at little expense, by the fol- 

 lowing method : The Sophora, like most Japanese plants, 

 loves a moist atmosphere, and will grow extremely fast in a 

 close, moist place. In spring, after the green-houses are 

 emptied, plant dormant Sophoras, about three-fourths of an 

 inch in diameter, in the earth-bottom of the house, which 

 should be made fairly rich. Cut them back to the crown and 

 set them one foot apart each way, and by December ist they 

 will be out of the top of the house, and as smooth as willows. 

 Then lift and keep them protected in a cellar or frame, or heel 

 them deep in a well-drained place till spring, when they can 

 be planted in nursery rows and grafted at the same time, with 

 most gratifying results. 



Cambridge, Mass. F. L. Te7nple. 



Plant Notes. 



Cytisus capitatus. — This charming little compact-habited 

 bush, with its dull green, hairy, trifoliolate leaves and terminal 

 corymbs of yellow flowers, has attracted the notice of some 

 continental nurserymen who have worked it on tall stems and 

 exported it to England under the name of Cytisus nigricans 

 nana. C. nigricans is a taller-growing plant, with long, erect 

 racemes. C. capitatus is found wild in some of the mountain 

 districts of southern France, Switzerland and in central and 

 eastern Europe. It flowers in England from July onwards, 

 and, according to Loudon, was first introduced to cultivation 

 in 1774. 



Genista virgata. — One of the most beautiful of all the 

 showy leguminous shrubs in the Kew Arboretum is, without 

 doubt, the subject of this note. Although a native of Madeira, 

 it seems Avith us quite as hardy as our native Broom {Cytisus 

 scoparius). In spite of its merit the species is far from com- 

 mon ; it has small leaves and slender branchlets, every one 

 of which is terminated in July with an upright, golden ra- 

 ceme. There are numerous old specimens at Kew from six 

 to eight or ten feet high and as much through, and these 

 must have successfully passed through many winters which 

 left their mark on not a few of our indigenous trees and 

 shrubs. In some gardens G. virgata is cultivated under the 

 name of G. elata, which really represents a widely different 

 plant, and is nothing more than a vigorous form of the Euro- 

 pean G. tinctoria, a pretty perennial with a woody base. 



Royal Gardens, Kew. G. Nickolson. 



Principles of Physiological Botany as Applied to 



Horticulture and Forestry. 



XIV. — Reproduction in the Higher Plants. 



T) Y means of the multiplication of cells and their increase in 

 -•-' size, all growth takes place in the vegetable kingdom. 

 This process of growth can take place, under certain condi- 

 tions, in parts which have been completely separated from tlie 

 plant, for instance, as cuttings, tubers and many other under- 

 ground structures. Moreover, as is well known, it is possible 

 to transfer certain separated parts to otlier plants with which 

 they imite, after which, both the stock and scion, continue to 

 grow as one. That which is common to the growth of such 

 separated parts, whether they are placed in the ground, as in 

 the case of cuttings, or grafted or budded on some other plant, 

 is this : all the individual peculiarities of the parent plant from 

 which the fragment was derived, are perpetuated with little or 

 no change. In other words, all these fragments have carried 

 their ancestral peculiarities with them, and, as the cells of which 

 their buds are composed multiply and increase in size, they 

 obey all the traditions of their parentage. Hence, in general, 

 propagation by means of buds is a sure way to continue the 

 cultivation of a special variety, and for this reason we perpet- 

 uate our choice varieties of fruits preferably by grafting or 

 budding. We recognize the fact that with the planting of the 

 seed we are very likely to obtain some deviation from the 

 straight line in which the desirable variety has come down 

 to us. 



It must not be thought, however, that there can be no varia- 

 tion in propagation by buds. It occasionally, though rarely, 

 happens that a bud or a shoot will manifest a capricious diver- 

 gence from the ancestral traits ; and, what is harder still to 

 understand, in some cases the scion may be affected by the 

 stock on which it is grafted. In still others, however, it may 

 affect the stock. Biit these cases are exceptional in the high- 

 est degree, and do not invalidate to any extent the general 

 statement that the bud is relied upon to keep the variety true, 

 while it is to the seed tiiat we look for variation. 



