June 19, 1889.] 



Garden and Forest. 



299 



with individual trees said to liave been among its first inhal)i- 

 tants. 



In the grounds at " Clifton Park," Baltimore, the property of 

 Johns Hopkins University, are a number of large specimens of 

 Magnolia conspicua, probably as large as any of this variety in 

 the' country. It is greatly to be feared that the fine trees in 

 this park, of nearly four hundred acres, are doomed, as it is 

 said that the financial needs of the university require that it be 

 divided into city blocks and sold. The founder of the univer- 

 sity intended this park for its site, but its managers have 

 thought it better to buy and tear down brick blocks in the heart 

 of the city on which to locate its buildings, and now will sell 

 their useless but extremely valuable park, and sacrifice its 

 wealth of trees. „, „ ,^ 



Crozei, Va. W. F. Mussey. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — Here is an old sun-dial motto which seems to me pret- 

 tier than any of those you recendy quoted, and which I do not 

 find in Mrs. Gatty's book. I have, however, only the first 

 edition : 



"I am a Shade : 



A Shadovve, too, art thou : 

 I marke the Time : 

 Saye, Gossip, dost thou so .■' " 



New Haven, Conn. F. L. M. 



The United States Nurseries. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — Some ten miles inland from Newark, New Jersey, 

 where the Watchung Mountain I'ange falls away sufficiently to 

 allow a railroad to pass over it to the west, lies the town of 

 Short Hills. It is a high and breezy situation, and the town is 

 practically a spacious park, with villas scatterred among the 

 trees. Here for some years has been the home of Mr. James 

 R. Pitcher, and his place has become famous for its interesting 

 collection of plants, and particularly of Orchids. Not long 

 since Mr. Pitcher determined to make his private collection 

 the ruicleus of a commercial nursery, and in this business 

 venture he associated with him ten months ago Mr. W. A. 

 Manda, who was at that time head gardener of the Botanic 

 Garden in Cambridge. Unlike the other establishments which 

 I have recently visited, the United States Nurseries have no 

 history. They did not grow up from small beginnings, but 

 started fully equipped for operations on a grand scale. Here 

 are twenty-one green-houses, constructed in the most 

 substantial manner, and stocked with Orchids, Palms, 

 Ferns, Draca-nas, Amaryllises and other ornamental plants, 

 while seven acres of ground are entirely occupied with the 

 best of hardy herbaceous plants. The first catalogue of the 

 firm was devoted exclusively to Cypripediums, and it not only 

 attracted attention for the beauty of its mechanical execution, 

 but for the remarkable richness of the collection it offered. The 

 catalogues of special classes of plants which have followed 

 have been equally sumptuous, and tiie variety and complete- 

 ness of the lists offered prove that tiie entire field, which the 

 house proposes to occupy, has been carefully studied and pro- 

 vided for. 



In a letter like this only general impressions can be given, 

 for a detailed description of the noteworthy plants in any one 

 of the houses would more than consLUiie the space allotted to 

 me. But a house full of Anthuriums makes a dazzling display, 

 even when no close inspection is made of the nice shades of 

 distinction among the twenty-five varieties that are in flower. 

 In the Cool-Orchid house, too, where 3,000 Masdevallias are 

 showing every tint of color, from vermilion to crimson and 

 purple, the eye finds delight in the combined effect of the 

 mass, even Ijefore time is taken to study the particular charms 

 of individuals which represent seventy-five species and varie- 

 ties. On the opposite stage of the same house are 6,000 plants 

 of Odontoglossitm Alexandrce, not all in l)loom, but many of 

 them white with flowers, and every one thrifty and promising. 

 It would be difficult to find elsewhere as many Cypripediums 

 in one collection. The list includes sometiiing like 400 spe- 

 cies and varieties, while the number of individual plants aji- 

 proaches 20,000. Among them are many forms of the stately 

 C. Lawrenceanuin ; a plant of C. superbiens, carrying eleven 

 flowers, and admirable specimens of C. SchrwdercE, C. grande 

 and C. bellatulum. Among other Orchids of conspicuous 

 excellence in bloom I noted a variety of Lalia purpitrata,\\'\W\ 

 petals and sepals, of deep rose, while the lip shows the intense 

 purple of the species, and near it was a striking variety of 

 Oncidiwn crispiim, with flowers of an indescribable copper 

 color. 



Immense cases of imported Orchids are constantly arriving, 

 but Mr. Manda is ambifious to originate some Cypripediums 

 of his own, and the process of raising hybrid seedlings is inter- 

 esting to amateurs. After the pollen has been transferred from 

 the anther of one flower to the stigmatic surface of another 

 flower of a different species, from six to twelve months elapse 

 before the seed is ripe. The seed is fine as dust, and Mr. Manda 

 sows it on the pots and among the moss where his plants are 

 growing, so that it has the same temperature and moisture which 

 the plants enjoy. The seeds do not begin to germinate until 

 from four to six months after they are sown, and then the 

 grower must wait patiently from four to twelve years for his 

 plant to bloom. The species with thick leaves, as a rule, are 

 longer coming into flower than others. Faith and hope are 

 plainly virtues essential in one who would raise seedling 

 Orchids. 



Passing through a large Palm-house, where the most inter- 

 esting specimen to me was a great Encepha/artos {Zainia) 

 pungens, we came at last to a house set full of Chrysanthe- 

 mimis, and chiefly of the famous Mrs. Hardy. Messrs. Pitcher 

 & Manda paid a larger sum for this plant than was ever given 

 before in this country for a similar plant of this class. But 

 no other plant of the year has attracted so much attention or 

 has been talked about so much since its figure appeared in the 

 first number of Garden and Forest. Without doubt the en- 

 terprising purchasers have received already much more money 

 than they paid for the plant, and even if they had not done so 

 the Mrs. Hardy would have proved exactly the kind of advertise- 

 ment which the new firm needed. The plants here look strong 

 and vigorous, and seem to indicate that strength of constitu- 

 tion which was always claimed for this variety. Chrysanthe- 

 mums, by the way, are one of the specialties of these nurse- 

 ries, and all the more promising new kinds, including select 

 importations from Japan, are here on trial. 



Among the hardy herbaceous perennials I observed a large 

 block of l^ieonias. Mr. Manda finds that there is a growing 

 demand for these plants, and he is gathering as rich a collec- 

 tion as possible. Tree-Pieonies, too, receive much attention, as 

 do the Poppies, Phloxes, Primulas, Single Dahlias and Alpine 

 plants. Hardy Orchids form another featiu^e of special inter- 

 est, and one must go far to fhid a better collection of native 

 species. These native Orchids and other American plants, 

 and with them certain Mexican and Japanese plants are now 

 sent to Europe from these nurseries in very considerable 

 quantities. 



As was said at the beginning of this letter, these nurseries 

 have their history yet to make; there are few places in the 

 country, however, which can show collections of plants better 

 worth visiting, and the very fact that such an establishment 

 has been created within a few months is a striking illustration 

 of the faith of forward-looking men that the gardens of the 

 coinUry will absorb an almost unlimited supply of the best 

 material. Ten years ago an enterprise of this magnitude 

 would have been looked upon as a venture of the wildest 

 character. S. 



Short Hills, N. J., June 15II1. 



Recent Plant Portraits. 



Botanical Magazine, May. 



LICUALA VErrCHH, /. 7053 ; a handsome dwarf Palm (the 

 Pritchardia grandis of Veitch's Catalogue), a native of Sara- 

 wak, in Borneo. 



Smilax OFFICINALIS, t. 7054 ; the plant which supplies the 

 true Sarsaparilla of the British Pharmacopoeia. 



Pentstemon rotundifolius, /. 705s ; a shrubby Mexican 

 species discovered by Mr. Pringle and figured in Garden and 

 Forest, i., f. 73. 



Saxifraga latepetiolata, /. 7056 ; a rare biennial species, 

 being known to grow only on a single Spanish mountain, the 

 Sierra Sta. Maria, one of the Cerro de Chiva, in Valentia ; and 

 remarkable owing to the great breadth of the petioles 



Laportea moroides, /. 7057; one of the " virulently sting- 

 ing Nettles that infest the humid forests of eastern tropical and 

 sub-tropical Australia" — a shrub or small tree clothed with 

 very fine virulently stinging hairs. 



Phillyrea Vilmoriniana, Revue Horticole, May ist ; a 

 frin'ting branch of this well-known broad-leaved evergreen 

 shrub of the Orient. 



Ampeeovitis Davidii, Revue Ho/'ticole, May ist; this, the 

 Vitis Rojiiane/i of some authors, is an interesting hardy plant 

 from the north of China, of very considerable ornainental 

 value. 



Hippeastrum reticulatum, Gartenflora, May ist. 



