196 



Garden and Forest. 



[April 34, i5; 



vary such designs and secure a corresponding degree of excel- 

 lence is not a task which the client should assume himself or 

 should confide to the average stone-cutter. They are excellent 

 and attractive not because they are simple, but because their 

 simplicity is artistic ; and it is artistic because an artist was em- 

 ployed to make them. Yet this fact need not deter any individ- 

 ual'or association, however modest the sum of money at com- 

 mand, from attempting to secure their like. The task is one 

 for an artist, but for an artist it is not a very difficult task. There 

 are many young architects in America who could design good 

 gravestones now that Mr. Schweinfurth has pointed out the 

 direction which their efforts should take ; and their fees 

 would doubtless not be large for a single stone, or even for a 

 number sufficient to serve as a sample stock, so to say, for the 

 trustees of a rural burial-ground. An architect, be it remem- 

 bered, and not a sculptor, is the proper person. Quite apart 

 from the fact that well-trained architects are more frequently 

 found in this country than well-trained sculptors, it may be 

 explained that a sculptor's training does not prepare him to 

 deal with formally-shaped blocks of stone, much less with or- 

 namentation of an architectLU'al character, such as incised bands 

 of decoration, and especially profiled bases and cornices. The 

 better sculptor he is, the more certain he will be to recognize 

 this truth. Indeed the best sculptors make no secret of the 

 fact that whenever an architectural element, no matter how 

 small and simple, occurs in their work, they call upon an 

 architect for assistance. 



If Mr. Schweinfurth's designs excite the interest they should, 

 if they stir up those who purchase monuments to demand 

 something better than the stone-cutter's clumsy and mechani- 

 cal wares, and inspire his professional brethren with a wish to 

 show what they can do in the same direction, the puljlic will 

 owe a great debt to him as well as to the Brookline Trustees 

 who employed him. We believe that only in very exceptional, 

 isolated instances has an artist hitherto been called upon to 

 design a simple headstone for a grave ; and we are certain 

 that no series of such memorials, designed by an artist, has 

 hitherto been published. 



New or Little Known Plants. 

 New Japanese Chr3^santhemum, Wm. H. Lincoln. 



T N this new Chrysanthemum, another of the interesting Mrs. 

 -»• Alpheus Hardy collection, we have a combination of quali- 

 ties seldom displayed in one variety. The habit is strong and 

 bushy, the foliage fine ; the flowers are of enormous size, 

 and of a desirable rich yellow color, similar in shade to those 

 of the variety Jardin des Plantes ; they are supported liy un- 

 usually stout stems, which always hold them in an upright 

 position. The petals are long, tubular for about half their 

 length, the outer portion nearly flat, with slightly incurved tips. 

 The illustration shows a flower considerably less than natu- 

 ral size. A. H. F. 



Foreign Correspondence. 



London Letter. 



"DITING north-east winds, with sharp frosts now and again 

 -D in the early morning, are causing fruit-growers a little 

 anxiety, but the sunshine is calling forth flowers in all sorts of 

 nooks and corners, and the Daffodils are almost in their full 

 glory. Amongst a host of varieties, big and little, distinct and 

 not distinct, there are several which are delightfully good. 

 Among these are N. cyclamineiis, one of the Calathinus group, 

 whose history appears to be almost as romantic as that of 

 the Shortia, N. minimus, a pretty little flower, and N. Santa 

 Maria, one of Mr. Barr's discoveries, and the darkest yellow 

 I have yet seen. The flowers of the latter are very large, 

 and not unlike the Major variety of Pseudo-Narcissus. Ery- 

 throniums of various sorts, chiefly of E. dens-cants, although 

 your E. grandiflorum is also well represented, are beautiful 

 both in leaf and flower. Primitla denticiilata, Chionodoxa Sar- 

 densis and C. LncilicE, the two last being sheets of the brightest 

 blue, and the old Scilla Sibirica are almost, if not quite, as 

 pretty. These three plants are largely used at Kew for out- 

 door effect in early spring, the Scilla greeting one in beds and in 

 the grass in all parts of the garden. Anemone blanda is still 

 beautiful with flowers ; as also are the Hepaticas. Primulas 

 of many kinds are in bloom, most of them in pots in a frame 

 or cold green-house. 



Daphne 7nezereum is now at its best, several large beds of it 

 at Kew being just now a great attraction. Planted in a peaty 

 soil in a moist, somewhat shaded, position, this Daphne be- 

 comes a large shrub, and flowers most profusely. Prunus 



divaricata is in full bloom, a large, spreading tree of it being 

 a prominent feature on one of the lawns. 



Drosera cestijiora is at last flowering at Kew, and bears out 

 all that has been said and written in its praise as a beautiful 

 flowering plant. The stem is erect, five inches high, with linear 

 leaves two inches long and covered with reddish, glandular 

 hairs. The flower is terminal, saucer-shaped, two inches 

 across, and colored a brilliant poppy-scarlet. Godwinia 

 gigas, an enormous-flowered, tuberous-rooted Aroid, is also in 

 flower at Kew. The spathe is boat-shaped, two feet long, very 

 stout, and colored deep vinous purple. The plant is a native 

 of Nicaragua. 



The Hyacinth, its history and cultivation, was the subject of 

 three papers read before the last meeting of the Horticultural 

 Society, two of the papers being by well-known Dutch growers 

 of these plants, the third by Mr. Douglas, a noted grower and 

 exhibitor of Hyacinths in England. Amongst much that was 

 of interest, nothing particularly new was started, except a fresh 

 theory as to the origin of the garden Hyacinth, and the sug- 

 gestion that there does not appear to be any good reason why 

 the Dutch should hold a monopoly of the Hyacinth trade. At 

 Kew some experiments in Hyacinth cultivation have been and 

 are still being made, and as' far as they have gone they show 

 unmistakably that these plants, like the Tulip, Crocus and 

 Daffodil, may be grown year after year with as good results in 

 some cases as anything from Holland. Miller preached , this 

 practice a hundred and fifty years ago, and it is true several 

 attempts have been made since then by English horticulturists 

 to wrest at least a portion of the Hyacinth trade from the 

 Dutch, but they failed because of the prejudice in favor of the 

 Holland bulbs. The natural conditions which in Holland are 

 said to be exceptionally favorable to the Hyacinth and other 

 bulbs are not really so. I mean, that so far as the real wants 

 of the bulbs are concerned the conditions are just as favorable 

 in many parts of England, and probably in America also. It 

 is simply a question of labor and prestige. There are some 

 even now who recommend Dutch" Narcissi before English 

 grown, in spite of the superiority of the latter, as has been 

 shown again and again. We know that tulips can be grown 

 at least as well here as in Hofland. But the Hyacinth has yet 

 to be grown here. There is sometlu'ng peculiar about the life- 

 history of the latter which I do not yet understand. As a 

 rule, after the bulbs have been once flowered in England tliey 

 are considered of no further value. Mr. Douglas, in liis paper, 

 recommended distributing them among the poor. Is there 

 any reason why the garden Hyacinths should not grow on and 

 improve from year to year, as, for instance, Lilies, Narcissi, 

 and many other similar plants do ? At Kew we find that 

 tlie bulbs of many of the sorts after flowering develop two to 

 four crowns, so that there are several spikes, smaller ones, 

 naturally, the year following. In such cases it is likely that the 

 crowns should be pulled apart and grown on as if they were 

 young bulbs. All the garden Hyacinths have sprung from 

 Hyacintkus orientalis, a comparatively poor plant, not much, 

 if at all, better than our wood Hyacinth, and, like it, blue- 

 flowered. It is remarkable that, although the first record of 

 the cifltivation of the Hyacinth was about the year 1585, there 

 was a white variety in 1602, all colors in 1614, and in 1657 

 double-flowered forms were known. In 1725 no less than 

 2,000 named varieties were in cultivation. There appears to 

 have been a Hyacinth, as well as a Tulip mania, such sums as 

 ^133 Zs ^d having been given for one large and eight small 

 bulbs of a double, blue variety. Nowadays a shilling is a 

 good price to pay for a good Hyacinth. 



In Holland the Hyacinths are grown in fields, which are well- 

 manured with cow-dung, cropped once with potatoes, and then 

 the bulbs are planted in September. As soon as the flowers 

 expand the spikes are cut off, and in June the bulbs are lifted, 

 dried and stored till the following September. This is done 

 annually till the bulb is large enough for the market. They 

 are propagated from bulbils produced at the base of old bulbs, 

 which have been cut several times across the bottom or the 

 base scooped out. It takes from four to six years to grow a 

 fifll-sized bulb from one of these bulbils, and about eight years 

 from seeds. The latter, however, are never employed except 

 by breeders. I wonder what the Dutch growers do with the 

 matured bulbs which remain on their hands unsold ? This 

 year Hyacinths have been below the average, owing, no doubt, 

 to the absence of sunlight and warmth during the early part 

 of last summer. Those who have a quantity of bulbs on hand 

 after they have flowered in pots should plant them on lawns 

 or grassy banks in a sunny position. They will take care of 

 themselves and make a beautiful display in spring. There is 

 a bank of them in the wild garden at Kew, and they are, at 

 least, as great an attraction as the thousands of Daffodils and 



