1 84 



Garden and Forest. 



[April 17, li 



ophylla was shown superbly by Messrs. Veitch. Whatever 

 may be the opinion of horticulturists generally with regard 

 to Boronias, there can be no question of the great beauty of 

 this species. It forms a compact, globular little bush, a foot 

 high, and every branch is heavily laden with bell-like flowers 

 as large as peas and bright rosy-purple in color. For the intro- 

 duction of this plant to English gardens we are indebted to Miss 

 Marianna North, who, when in Australia about seven years 

 ago on a sketching expedition, sent seeds of the Boronia to 

 Kew, where it was successfully grown and flowered. It after- 

 wards passed into the hands of Messrs. Veitch, who have been 

 wonderfully successful in its propagation and culture. B. 

 heteropylla is as delightful a garden plant as Erica Iiyemalis. 

 Amongst the Orchids exhibited were Brassia pictiirata, Den- 

 drobium Brymeriayium, Neottia corallina ( N. speciosa), Lcelia 

 cinnabarina, a very fine variety, the flowers fully three inches 

 across and of the brightest scarlet. These were sent by 

 Messrs. Sander & Co. From the collection of Messrs. Veitch 

 came a fine specimen of Calanthe vestita gigantea, a variety 

 which ought to be in every collection where Calanthes are 

 grown. Dendrobiiim Sclineiderianum, the hybrid referred to 

 in my last letter, and D. splendidissiinuin were also shown. 

 The newest feature in the exhibition was the Clivias, of which 

 Mr. B. S. Williams sent a collection of good sorts. A group of 

 the old C. mmiafa spoke well for the type, and also showed 

 what progress had been made in the improvement of this 

 plant, some of the varieties shown by Mr. Williams having 

 flowers twice as large as the type, as full as a Vallota, and 

 much brighter in color. Perhaps I ought to mention that 

 Clivia is the correct name for the plants commonly known as 

 Imantophyllums. ,,, „^ 



March 22. W. Watson. 



New or Little Known Plants. 

 Hypericum aureum. 



IT was in the month of July, 1776, that the younger 

 Bartram discovered this plant upon the bank of Pat- 

 se-Lega Creek, a branch of the Flint River, in Georgia, and 

 the account of this discovery, which he afterwards pub- 

 lished in his "Travels," gives an excellent idea of it as it 

 now appears in cultivation. "I observed," he says, 

 "growing on the steep, dry banks of this creek, a spe- 

 cies of shrub Hypericum of extraordinary show and beauty 

 {Hypericum aureum). It grows erect, three or four feet 

 high, forming a globular top, representing a perfect little 

 tree ; the leaves are large, oblong, firm of texture, smooth 

 and shining ; the flowers are very large, their petals broad 

 and conspicuous, which, with their tufts of golden fila- 

 ments, give the little bushes a very splendid appearance." 

 Afterwards the plant was found to extend from South 

 Carolina to Alabama and to eastern and central Tennessee, 

 although nowhere very common ; but its merits as a 

 garden plant were overlooked until a few years ago, when 

 seeds were sent to the Arnold Arboretum by Dr. A. Gat- 

 tinger, of Nashville, who thus writes of its distribution in 

 Tennessee, where it is more common than in the Atlantic 

 States : ' ' The Hypericum aureum is addicted to rocky situ- 

 ations in the Cedar-glades and on bluffs and cliffs along 

 the Cumberland River and its affluents. It is also on the 

 base of Cumberland Mountains as far up as the carbonifer- 

 ous lime-stone reaches. It is not found in silicious or 

 argillaceous soils or in swamps, but prefers such situations 

 where the moisture is longest retained and shade is pro- 

 vided. It associates in the Barrens with Rosa humilis, 

 Forestiera ligus/rina, Ptelea trifoliata, Rhus arom.aiica, Rham,- 

 nus Caroliniana, Cra/cegus suhvillosa, Gonolobus obliquus, 

 Nemophila microcalyx, etc. It is generally not very flori- 

 ferous, but I have found on the rocky ledges near the 

 water-line on the Cumberland River, specimens with a 

 great profusion of flowers. It grows three to five feet 

 high." 



Hypericum aureum is by far the showiest in flower 

 among the considerable collection of Hypericums in the 

 Arnold Arboretum, where it is perfectly hardy. It begins 

 to flower about the twentieth of July, and continues in 

 bloom during several weeks. 



The branches are angled, covered with thin exfoliating 

 red bark and widely paniculate near their upper extremity. 



The leaves are simple, rather coriaceous, oblong-obtuse 

 nearly entire, tipped with a minute mucro, and pale on 

 the lower surface. The flowers are an inch and a half to 

 two inches across when expanded, with coriaceous, re- 

 flexed, orange-yellow petals, which are longer than the 

 ovate, unequal sepals and very numerous, golden-colored 

 stamens. The capsule is red, ovoid conical, and acumi- 

 nate with the connate styles. 



There are few dwarf shrubs better worth a place in the 

 garden. Mr. Faxon's drawing is from a specimen grown 

 in the Arnold Arboretum. C. S. S. 



Cultural Department. 

 Cultivation of the Bermuda Easter-Lily. 



ON the Island of Bermuda, which lies 700 miles directly 

 south-east of New York, 800 miles due east of Charleston, 

 South Carolina, and 100 miles east of the Gulf Stream, where 

 the yearly range of temperature is from 54° in winter to 85° in 

 summer, there has grown up lately an industry which will soon 

 change the character of the trade between Bermuda and the 

 outer world. 



A few years ago an American gentleman. General Russell 

 Hastings, who had grown to like this equable climate because 

 of its benefit to a constitution impaired by wounds received in 

 the war for the Union, began to experiment in the cultivation 

 of the Bermuda Easter-Lily, which he found growing there 

 most vigorously in everyone's flower-garden. The natives 

 looked upon him as a dreamer for supposing that anyone 

 would buy so common a bulb as "our Easter-Lily." And 

 how could a large market be built up for a mere flower 

 which no one could eat or wear .? But the most sleepy Islander 

 now begins to see that the Onion has a rival, for in the richest 

 corner of every little farm a patch of Bermuda Easter-Lilies 

 can be seen, while on larger farms acres are devoted to the 

 same purpose, as may be seen from our illustration on page 

 187. 



A market is readily found for the hundreds of thousands of 

 these bulbs, and the supply has never equalled the demand. 

 The Lily blossoms from January to May ; the bulbs ripen in 

 July and August, and can be put down in New York, London 

 or Paris by the middle of August, where florists and amateurs 

 by potting them immediately and forcing them hard under 

 glass can obtain flowers for the holidays, or by potting later and 

 at different periods flowers can be had all winter, and especially 

 for the Easter decoration of churches. An effort has been made 

 to utilize the flowers by shipping them to New York, and a box has 

 been invented with a pasteboard receptacle for each flower, 

 but the three-days' sea voyage damages the flowers, and when 

 placed by the side of those grown in the northern green-house 

 they make a poor show. General Hastings does not recom- 

 mend the shipment of flowers, first, because they do not arrive 

 at their destination in good order, and next, because it is bad 

 business policy to offer bulbs to the northern florist, and then 

 go into the market to compete and disturb it with inferior 

 flowers. 



It seems as if the perfume of the millions of blossoms 

 grown here each winter might be utilized in some way. It is a 

 delightful, though rather powerful, odor, and during the flow- 

 ering season the whole island is fragrant with it. Sailors say 

 they can smell Bermuda when far at sea. 



The Bermuda Easter-Lily, sometimes known in the United 

 States market as L. Harrisii (which is a misnomer), is a well- 

 known Japanese plant, botanically named L. longiflorum exini- 

 ium. The flower is pure white, bell-shaped, with the segments 

 well bent back at the extremity. The perianth is about six 

 inches long, the root is a scaly bulb, the stem herbaceous and 

 simple, from two to four feet high, bearing the flowers at 

 the summit, which number from eight to forty, though one 

 monstrosity grown here in 1882 produced 145 perfect flowers. 



The method of cultivation is very simple. First, very rich 

 red soil, with an enormous amount of well-rotted stable ma- 

 nure is a necessity, as the Lily does not take kindly to any of 

 the artificial fertilizers yet tried. It is a voracious feeder, as 

 long roots are sent out from the base of the bulb, and another 

 set of feeding roots come out from the stalk above the bulb. 

 For successful cultivation these roots must at once strike 

 into rich feeding ground. The bulbs are planted in August, 

 September and October, the large bulbs in rows eighteen 

 Inches apart, and the smaller bulbs in beds like Onions. The 

 flower-stalks appear above ground in November, and from 

 time of planting until harvest the grower has to keep constantly 

 weeding during every one of the twelve months of the year. 



