August 7, 1889.] 



Garden and Forest. 



381 



— such as Miltonia vexillaria likes — suits this species well, and 

 a moderate supply of water, which, however, must be reduced 

 in quantity while the plants are in flower, and for sometime 

 afterwards, also. When the new growths appear, the plants, 

 if necessary, should be repotted or top-dressed, and the 

 compost should consist of rough fibrous peat, with a little 

 sphagnum and charcoal mixed. 

 St. Albans, England. Joh7t Weathers. 



JErides Lobbii. — This is a handsome and useful Orchid, 

 flowering profusely at a season when flowers in variety are 

 scarce. It may be grown with little trouble in a warm, moist 

 house, suspended in a basket filled with moss and charcoal. 

 The lorate, leathery, deep-green leaves are about a foot long, 

 and from the axils of these are produced densely-flowered 

 racemes, from one to two feet long, and often branched. The 

 flowers are white and rose, prettily dotted with amethyst. 

 When placed in a cool, dry atmosphere, these flowers will last 

 in perfection quite a long time. There are several varieties in 

 cultivation, though none are particularly distinct. The type 

 was introduced from Moulmein in 1868. 



Another Orchid profusely in bloom just now is Rhyncostylis 

 retusa, popularly known as Saccolabium guttatum. This is an 

 old plant introduced from Java nearly seventy years ago. The 

 short, stout stems are clothed with distichous, leathery, deeply- 

 channeled leaves, about a foot long, and dark green. The 

 cylindrical racemes are drooping, closely set with small white 

 flowers, spotted and blotched with rosy-purple. There are a 

 great many varieties of this fine Orchid. One of the rarest and 

 best is Holfordianum, now in flower with us, a much stronger 

 plant than the type, with longer and broader leaves, larger in- 

 florescence, and a lip of rich crimson. Giganteum is not 

 much inferior to this. These plants thrive in the warmest 

 house, with abundance of water, if placed in pots, baskets or 

 cylinders in a compost of peat, moss and chopped leaves. 

 Without abundant sunlight good spikes need not be expected, 

 but care should be taken that the leaves do not get burned. 



Oncidiuvi luridum. — This is not a very showy Orchid, but, if 

 it lacks in quality, it certainly does not in quantity, for its flowers 

 are produced by the hundred even on quite small plants. 

 They last a long time in perfection, and are welcome at this 

 season. It is an old plant, having been introduced in the early 

 part of this century from Mexico, but some choice varieties 

 have since been found in the West Indies. It is a bulbless 

 Orchid, with large, very thick, carinate leaves, more than a 

 foot long, dull green or nearly reddish-brown, and much 

 spotted. The panicle is produced from the base of these ma- 

 tured leaves, and is from six to nine feet long. The flowers, 

 nearly an inch across, are olive-green, blotched and spotted 

 with brown. In the variety Dodgsonii the ground color is 

 yellow ; in Morrenii it is rose, spotted with crimson and 

 tipped with yellow ; Roseum is mottled with white and bor- 

 dered with yellow. This Orchid is very easily grown in small 

 pots and little soil, which should be rich and open. After 

 growth is finished the plants should be put in a dry, airy 

 house, with a good exposure to sunlight, and should be kept 

 pretty dry through the winter, but while growing they require 

 the maximum of heat and moisture. 



Dendrobium crystallinum. — This is a fine simimer-blooming 

 Orchid, which we have had in flower for several weeks. It is 

 a Burmese species, with long, slender, upright stems, from the 

 sides of which the flowers are freely produced. These are 

 white, tipped with magenta, the lip being orange at the base. 

 They last a long time m bloom. This is an ea.sy plant to grow, 

 with the ordinary Dendrobium treatment. F. Goldring. 



Some Native Plants. 



/^NE of the Gentian family {Frasera CarolUiensis) is now 

 ^— ^ worthy of notice. A remarkably fine plant, seven feet high, 

 was found here in full bloom early in July. The stem about two 

 inches through is a dark-purple color, with the oblong pointed 

 leaves growing in whorls; these are light-green, smooth and 

 glossy. The compound panicles of flowers follow the same 

 arrangement as the leaves; in color greenish- white marked 

 with dark spots, and with a fringed gland on each petal. The 

 stately bearing and subdued color of this plant render it a 

 pleasing object among gayer flowers and darker foliage. 

 Moisture favors its growth, though it will live in dry situations. 

 For brilliancy of color the Asclepias iuberosa, already spoken 

 of in Garden and Forest, is now the most conspicuous 

 of our wild flowers. It is not unusual to see upon one plant a 

 mass of bloom two yards or more in circumference. All 

 shades of orange are represented on dilferent plants. Several 

 of the Milkweed family have more attractive foliage than this, 



but none with us equal it in Vjrightness and profusion of flowers. 

 Among others, the slender A. vcrticillata is found here, and 

 its threadlike leaves and tiny flowers are in strong contrast 

 with its coarse relatives. 



A pretty vine is Dioscorea villosa, on which the inconspicu- 

 ous flowers are giving place to racemes of three-winged seed 

 vessels of great beauty. Notwithstanding the angularity of 

 these pods, the slender stems by which they hang admit 

 of a very graceful arrangement, and their pale-green 

 color and glossy surface add to their beauty. Of 

 these clusters, containing from five to nine pods each, 

 I have counted twelve on two feet of vine. The 

 twining habit of this vine leads it into higher places than it 

 could reach by the support of shrubs. In the instance noted 

 it is so closely wound about a Smilax as to be scarcely 

 distinguishable from it at a casual glance, the leaves of the 

 two plants somewhat resembling each other in shape, color, 

 and veining. The Smilax, with its profusion of tendrils, has 

 climbed a rail-fence and grasped an overhanging apple bough, 

 carrying with it the weaker neighbor. Both these vines would 

 be valuable in the wild garden, though, perhaps, their mission 

 is better fulfilled in this tangle by the roadside, where, shaded 

 by a thicket of Hazels, they help to form one of Nature's 

 charming masses of verdure. 



Parnassia Caroliniana is an interesting little plant just coming 

 into bloom upon the low wet ground. The flowers, which 

 last well into autumn, are of a creamy-white color marked with 

 delicate lines of green. The symmetrical arrangement of the 

 stamens surmounted by little spheres is most noticeable, being 

 in rows of three opposite each petal. It makes an admir- 

 able addition to the bog-garden or water-border. 



Klinger Lake, Mich. DorcaS E. ColltllS. 



The Pyramidal Saxifrage, — During the last few years the great 

 value of this alpine plant for culture has been fully recognized 

 by the London market florists, who were the first to bring it 

 out of the obscurity of botanical collections. Its scientific 

 name is Saxifraga Cotyledon pyraniidalis, but is well known 

 now as the Pyramidal Saxifrage. It belongs to that large sec- 

 tion of the genus having fleshy-incrusted leaves, arranged in 

 symmetrical rosettes. The rosette of a full and well-grown 

 plant of this variety measures quite nine inches across, and 

 from its centre springs the tall flower-spike, which rises from 

 sixteen inches to twenty-four inches high and about half as 

 much in diameter. It is minutely branched and bears thou- 

 sands of white flowers about half an inch across, and these 

 remain in perfection for several weeks if the plant is kept out 

 of doors or in an airy green-house. The exquisite beauty of 

 this Saxifrage makes it a great favorite with window-plant gar- 

 deners, and I have seen plants of it in window-boxes that came 

 into bloom a month ago still in perfection and with more flower- 

 buds to expand. Though it is a perfectly hardy plant and 

 grows and flowers well on an open rockery, it is only by care- 

 fvd pot culture it can be flowered to perfection. The plants 

 require to be grown in good, rich, loamy soil, and every runner 

 picked from the main rosette as soon as it appears, otherwise 

 the plant .exhausts itself in feeding the runners instead of 

 gathering strength for the production of a fine flower spike. 

 Unheated frame culture is the best treatment for it, and a 

 runner, if strong, taken off and rooted this year will flower the 

 next ; but, as a rule, three-year plants flower best. If this 

 plant is not already known with your marlcet florists, they 

 should get it, as it would always repay culture. It sells as well 

 as anything we have in Covent Garden at the present time. 



Kew. W. G. 



Turnips.— Many persons, in their fear of an early freezing, 

 sow seed of the Flat Dutch and Purple-Top Strap-Leaf Tin-- 

 nips too early. These Turnips can be grown very quicldy, and 

 are only good when so grown, like a Radish. If sown early 

 they grow too large for table use, and are worthless for any 

 purposes but stock feeding, and only a little short of worthless 

 for that. Flat Turnips, grown rapidly in the cool autumn 

 weather, to about the size of an ordinary biscuit, are good 

 enough for any one. When grown on a large scale, I have 

 never found it profitable to sow in drills or rows. For sow- 

 ing broadcast, I plow the ground and give it a heavy coat of 

 manure on top, then harrow so as to slightly mix the manure 

 with the surface soil, sow the seed and roll. The most difli- 

 cult thing is to sow the seed imiformly without getting it too 

 thick. This is best accomplished by roasting a lot of old and 

 worthless seeds of Kale, Cabbage or Turnip in an oven until 

 certainly dead. One part of good seed is then mixed, and 

 mixed thoroughly, with about ten parts of the dead seed. This 

 seed is then sown as uniformly as possible all over the 

 ground at the rate of about ten (10) pounds of the mixture to 



