428 



Garden and Forest. 



[September 4, 1889. 



variety, which is apt to occur when a tree gets into full bearing. 

 The pear is the easiest of all our fruit trees to graft success- 

 fully, and the merest tyro need not fail in so simple an opera- 



Mo'ntciair. i^- Williams. 



The Wild Garden in August. 



SEVERAL clumps of Clethra in my wild garden fill the air 

 with their delicious fragrance, and Clematis Virginiana is 

 one mass of bloom. A tall, cedar post was set in the ground, 

 and crooked, gnarled Grape-vine stems were nailed to it, 

 which makes a support for its leafstalks, where they can clasp 

 and climb in all directions. Long, pendulous branches are 

 drooping from every side, loaded with white blossoms, which 

 attract numerous butterflies and other honey-loving insects. 



A very showy Sunflower has been in blossom since the 

 middle of June. I found it on an island on the New Jersey 

 coast, some four or five years ago, where it attracted my atten- 

 tion with its wonderful amount of bloom. I have called it a 

 form of Helianihiis Icetiflorus. But June is early for this or 

 any other Sunflower to i)lossom. Its leaves are quite thin and 

 smooth, not at all like the normal H. Icetiflorus. It is now full 

 of flowers, and will continue so until frost, and when I look at 

 this beautiful plant I am not surprised that so many persons 

 favor its adoption as the national flower. The Narrow-leaved, 

 Pine-barren Sunflower (//. angiistifoliiis) is just coming into 

 bloom. This is also a pretty species; but to do well it 

 must be grown in a damp spot, which can be easily secured 

 in any desirable place in the garden by sinking a tub in the 

 ground and filling it with good soil and keeping it moist. 

 My plan is to get oil-barrels and saw them through the mid- 

 dle, thus securing two good receptacles from one barrel. 

 After they are sawed I set fire to the inside and burn out the 

 oil and slightly char them, which makes them last an indefi- 

 nite time. Groups of many of our most charming swamp- 

 plants can be grown in these tubs as easily as a Morning 

 Glory at our window. 



One of the most remarkable plants in my collection is a 

 Rudbeckia. At the base of each ray is a dark-brown spot, 

 making the flower very handsome. It was brought to me in 

 a bouquet this summer, and the young lady collector, having 

 excellent observing powers, could tell exactly where it grew. 

 On going to the spot we found the plant held several flowers, 

 all marked in the same way, so we carefully removed it and 

 planted it in one of the tubs in the garden, where it continued 

 in bloom a long time, attracting much attenfion. It grew in 

 a swamp, and has undivided leaves and a dark-purplish disk, 

 but, according to Gray, this division of Rudbeckia ought to 

 grow on dry soil. 



The white and yellow fringed Orchids {Habeitaria blepha- 

 riglottis and H. ciliaris and H. cristata) are very beautiful 

 through July and August. What is more attractive than a 

 group of these plants in a half-shady nook, surrounded by 

 low, cool-looking Ferns ? This use of the sunken tub enables 

 us to grow them in any desirable spot. 



One of the most stately groups in my garden, among these 

 wild swamp-plants, is of sedge {Scirptis Eriophorum). It is 

 five feet in height, and each stem is surmounted with a large, 

 graceful, drooping, umbel-like panicle of flowers. This sedge 

 is lovely from April — when it first begins to throw out its long, 

 rather broad, grass-like leaves — until November, when it is 

 crowned with its persistent, drooping panicles of fruit. 



The Arrow-head (Sagittaria) and Pickerel-weed (Pontederia) 

 are among the bog-plants now in bloom. So is the bright 

 orange-colored Polygala lutea, which flowers all summer. 

 This species is the most showy of the Polygalas, and deserves 

 a place in every garden. 



Among upland plants the Eupatoriums are now quite 

 showy with white and purple bloom. The Butterfly-weed 

 {Asclepias tuberosa) is still brilliant with orange-red flowers, 

 attracting hosts of butterflies. Many wild plants not in flower 

 are lovely now in their mature foliage. The Sumachs are 

 specially fine. The Staghorn Sumach {Rhus typhind) was 

 stripped of its flowers in June by the almost omnivorous Rose- 

 bug, but I never saw its foliage more beautiful than now, 

 while the Dwarf Sumach (/?. copallina) is strikingly handsome, 

 with perfect, smooth, shining leaves. 



The blossoms of the Holly met the fate of the Stag-horn Su- 

 mach, but the prickly leaves were left intact.and their shining 

 verdure will be a joy during the winter. The Bayberry and 

 Sweet Fern are still handsome with perfect, fragrant leaves, 

 which one cannot help noticing in this season of unusual 

 insect-devastation. 



The smooth Alder {Alnus serrulata) and A. maritima are 

 both handsome shrubs which grow finely in my garden, and the 



latter makes a small tree from eighteen to twenty feet in 

 height. Their smooth, straight-veined leaves are as hand- 

 some as those of the Beech, which tree, to my regret, does 

 not succeed in oiu" soil, so the next best thing are these Al- 

 ders, which grow luxuriantly and are attractive, even in win- 

 ter, with their clean-looking bark and clusters of small, per- 

 sistent, cone-like fruit. 

 Vineland, N. J. Mary Treat. 



The Ismenes. 



ISMENE is now considered to be simply a sub-genus of 

 Hymenocallis of the Amaryllis family. It differs, how- 

 ever, from the rest of the genus to such a degree that the old 

 name is likely to stand for a long time among horticulturists. 

 It is very desirable that plants should be known by their right 

 names, for correct nomenclature is necessary to intelligent 

 gardening, therefore, though the name of the sub-genus heads 

 this article, I shall call the species by their proper generic title. 

 Coimting H. deflexa, there are seven species. Of three of 

 these I write from experience. 



All of the Hymenocallis have a central cup surrounded by 

 six radiating segments, the cup in sub-genus Ismene being 

 very much larger proportionally than in the rest of the genus. 

 All of the species are natives of the Andean chain, from Ecu- 

 ador to Bolivia. 



H. Macleana is a very pretty species. Its flowers are of a 

 decided green color, and give the species a distinctness which 

 is very satisfactory to those who prize individual character in 

 plants as well as general effect. The flower-stalks are al)out 

 twenty inches tall, and bear frequently as many as ten flowers, 

 the average being about six. As in the other species, these 

 do not all open together, but at intervals of a day or two, so 

 that the same cluster often presents fresh flowers for nearly 

 two weeks. This species increases very rapidly by offsets. 

 Last autumn I selected twenty strong bulbs and stored them 

 in a cellar where the temperature averaged 42°, falling occa- 

 sionally to 38°. Dahlias and Gladioli, stored in the same cel- 

 lar, are now doing well, but the bulbs in question, planted on 

 the same day with the bulk of my stock, wintered under a 

 green-house bench, were fully ten days later in coming up ; 

 not one bloomed, and they now present a stunted and feeble 

 appearance. I conclude, therefore, that cool wintering is not 

 at all to their taste. I have never been able to get good 

 seed from this species, which is the Ismefie undulata of 

 catalogues. 



H. calathina is a much larger plant than the foregoing in all 

 its parts. In the whole range of summer-flowering bulbs I do 

 not know a more noble and stately one. The large cup is 

 white, a little marked with green ; the flowers are nearly as 

 numerous in the cluster as in H. Macleana and last as long ; 

 their perfume is very pleasing to most persons, though a little 

 too strong if brought into a close room. The foliage is so 

 green, vigorous and erect that a row or cluster of the plants is 

 ver.y beautiful even after the flowers are gone. By careful 

 fertilization seeds may be obtained, which are of the peculiar 

 bulb-like nature observable in those of Nerine, Brunsvigia 

 and Amaryllis Belladonna. They are of the color of a pea a 

 little too old to cook, and of very different sizes, the largest 

 being the size of a sparrow's egg. They are best sown on the 

 surface of a pot of earth without any covering. In a short 

 time a shoot is sent out which turns down into the earth and 

 presently sends up the young foliage. June is the flowering 

 time of both these kinds. 



H. Amancaes is also a remarkably beautiful species, its broad 

 flowers being of a strong deep yellow, somewhat striped with 

 green, and very fragrant. It is a rare bulb, rated at a high 

 price in catalogues, and usually not to be had if ordered. With 

 me it is late to start and late to bloom. At the present time, 

 August loth, it is less than a foot high and shows no sign of a 

 flower-stalk. The seeds of this species often make no growth 

 above ground, but form a bulb as large as a swallow's egg, 

 with no foliage at all until the second year. A lemon-colored 

 hybrid has l^een produced by crossing this with Calathina. 

 The "Botanical Register" contains an animated account of 

 the annual fiesta in Lima, when great throngs of people, on 

 foot or horseback, go out upon the hill of Amancaes to gather 

 the blossoms of this bulb and spend the day in amusements. 



H. Quitoensis H. Andreana, H. deflexa and H. nutans 

 are known to me only by figures and descriptions. They 

 are all white-and-green-flowered, and not much unlike Mac- 

 leana in general appearance. H. deflexa is ranked as a 

 species by Mr. Baker, though it is a natural hybrid ; Colonel 

 Trevor Clarke has produced it by crossing H. calatlmia and 

 Eli sen a longipetala. 



Canton, Mass. W. E. Endicott. 



