OcruuEK i6, 1889.] 



Garden and Forest. 



499 



Paul & Soil, the sorts consisting- chi'eHy of Tea varieties, 

 among them being tlie new Sappho, the Bride and Corinna, 

 all first-rate for summer and autumn bloom. Among the 

 best of the perpetuals were Mrs. John Laing, Marchioness of 

 Lome, Pride of Waltham, Ella Gordon and Uirich lirunner. 



The National Chrysanthemum Society last week held a 

 meeting and conference, but the early Chrysanthemums were 

 outnumbered by the Dahlias, which really gave the color to 

 the otherwise dull show. The papers read were mostly of a 

 practical nature, and difficult to epitomize. They contained 

 nothing new. 

 Lundon. "-^. Goldring. 



Cultural Department. 



Rose Notes. 



THE summer of 1889 will be long remembered among the 

 Rose-growers of the Atlantic States for its excessive rain- 

 fall and the unusual prevalence of dull weather. Naturally 

 the greatest injury has been inflicted upon out-door Roses 

 and especially upon Hyljrid Perpetuals that were in prepara- 

 tion for winter forcing. These varieties suffered severely in 

 some localities from the heavy rains, it having been almost 

 impossible to get them dry enough to ripen the wood. This 

 is, of course, a great drawback to the successful forcing of 

 Roses of this class, for, unless the growth is well ripened, 

 failure is almost certain if an early crop is attempted, and, for 

 that matter, matured wood is necessary for the production of 

 a good crop at any time. 



In regarci to the ripening of Hybrids, an old but good prac- 

 tice is to lay the pots containing the Roses on their sides on the 

 ground, and then to place sashes over them, merely raising 

 them enough at one end to throw off the rain, so that the 

 Roses are kept dry imtil the wood is sufficiently Iiardened. A 

 convenient method of growing Hybrids has been adopted by 

 some commercial growers, who plant them out in boxes, 

 about three feet in length by eighteen inches in width, and only 

 four inches deep, and containing about a dozen plants. Boxes 

 of this size are eas)- to handle and economical in regard to 

 space occupied, and they may be conveniently brought into 

 heat from time to time, so as to secure a succession of bloom. 

 Tiiese boxes cost but little to manufacture and can be put to- 

 g^ether by any man capable of using a hatchet and saw, and, 

 if whitewashed inside and out, or given a good painting with 

 crude petrolemn, will last for several seasons. The crude oil 

 is an excellent preservative for wood- work, though the objec- 

 tion has been made to it that the nails draw out of the wood 

 when it has been penetrated l)y the oil. 



This method of growing I-ioses in boxes may be used not 

 only for Hybrid Perpetuals, but also for other classes, and 

 will' be found very convenient where the space can only be 

 occupied by Roses for a portion of the season, as the boxes 

 are readily removed from one house to another. La France 

 Roses can be grown to advantage in this manner, and after a 

 crop of flowers has been cut (say in December), the boxes 

 can be placed in a cold frame and kept rather dry for a time, 

 until the plants are in a good condition to be brought into heat 

 and started afresh for a spring crop. Meanwhile the room in- 

 side can be utilized for the growth of other plants, so that 

 green-house space can be kept constantly occupied. 



The earliest Hybrids are already in growth, and some of 

 them as early as the last week of September had shoots from 

 one to two inches in length, the most forward sorts being 

 Anna Alexieff and Magna Charta. But such earlv forcing as 

 this requires much care in regard to temperature, for when 

 kept too warm the growth soon weakens and frequently fails 

 to produce any l^loom worth mentioning, and, even under the 

 most favorable circumstances, the quantity of fiowers pro- 

 duced will not bear comparison with that of later crops. 



Which is the favorite Rose ? continues to be a hard question 

 to decide, and can perhaps be best answered by individual 

 growers, each for his own locality. There is considerable 

 diversity in popular favor, though the liking for large Roses 

 seems to be quite general, and therefore American Beauty 

 will undoubtedly receive its full share of attention during the 

 coming winter. And yet, in some of the largest Hower-mar- 

 kets, as, for instance, in New York and Philadelphia, Madame 

 Cusin and Madame de Watteville, both pretty, tliough neither 

 notably large or of specially fine form, are extremely popular 

 and consequently in large demand. 



A passing glance at a number of commercial places and also 

 some private establishments shows that Tea Roses in general 

 have not suffered greatly from the dull, damp weather, and 

 the prospect, for the first crop of fiowers at least, is a promis- 



ing one. Wootton has been planted largel)' and will undoubt- 

 edly be thoroughly tested this season. I lately saw a bench, 

 about two hundred feet in length, filled with this variety, and 

 it presented a fine appearance, though many of tlie plants 

 showed " black spot " on the foliage, but since there was in 

 the same house a large bench of American Beauty suffering 

 from a bad attack of the " spot," the condition of the Woottons 

 could be easily accounted for. 



Holinesbiirg, Pa'. ^- n. TapUn. 



Richardias. 



nPHE Richardias are a group of five species forming a genus 

 -^ of the great family of Aroidece. They are all natives of 

 the southern half of Africa, and have a thick, lumpy root, and 

 more or less elongated arrow-shaped leaves. The i)est of 

 them, by far, for garden purposes, is the R.^-Ethiopica, so well 

 known and widely cultivated under the name of "Calla Lily " 

 or "Arum Lily." In a wild state this plant grows frequently 

 in such numbers as to almost exclude all other vegetation 

 from the ground it occupies ; a correspondent of the Garden- 

 ers' CJironicle mentions seeing an island of about twenty acres 

 in Saldanha Bay completely covered with it, and all the plants 

 in bloom. 



It is best treated as an evergreen plant, turning the pot con- 

 taining it on its side in a shady place during the summer, and 

 furnishing water again in the fall. It will retain its leaves dur- 

 ing this period of rest, and will grow and blossom with re- 

 newed vigor when again watered. It may be treated as a 

 deciduous plant, the root being kept perfectly dry during the 

 winter, like Gladioli, etc., but it suffers much from such usage, 

 and, besides, most persons desire to have it blossom in the 

 winter. If the fiower-stalk be carefully cut away, after the 

 spathe has withered, another fiower-bud will usually be found 

 at its base, which, with proper treatment, will grow up and 

 blossom. Through ignorance of this fact the whole stalk is 

 generally cut off, young bud and all. There is a variety of 

 this species whose leaves are splashed and mottled with white, 

 but it is a very poor thing, growing very feebly and never How- 

 ering. Very vigorous plants sometimes have two spathes, one 

 on each side of the spadix, but such developments detract 

 \'ery much from the stately simplicity of the normal form. R. 

 .Hthiopica very rarely yields seed. 



R. albo-inaciilata, R. hastata-M\(l R. melaiioleiica dift'er much 

 in nature from the foregoing, for they are all best treated as 

 summer-blooming plants, tliough the first named will grow 

 very well in pots in the winter. The tubers of these three 

 kinds may be lifted in October, and kept perfectly dry in the 

 winter, and again planted out at the beginning of May. A long 

 row, or a large bed, of strong plants of R. albo-inaculata is a 

 very beautiful siglit, with its profusion of dark green, white- 

 spotted leaves, and its abundance of white spathes, each with 

 a purple spot at its base. Every Hower-spathe, after-a week 

 or two of beauty, turns greenish, Ijows its head and bends 

 over toward the earth, and by the middle of September will 

 have ripened a large number of seeds, whitish, round, and'as 

 large as small peas. If these be planted in January (under 

 glass, of course), they will show aljove ground in two weeks, 

 and will make tubers as large as a filbert the first year, and the 

 second year will bloom. Propagation may also be effected 

 by cutting the old tubers in as many pieces as it has l)uds. 



R. hastata and R. inelanoleiica are less vigorous, and not 

 infreciuently rot when planted. I have no doubt that they need 

 more heat than R. albo-iiiaciilata. Their flowers are vellow, 

 with dark spots at the base ; those of R. hastata being of a 

 deeper shade than those of R. melanoleuca. The leaves of 

 both are faintly spotted with gray. 



CaiUuM, Mass. 



W. E. Endkott. 



Orchid Notes. 



Vanda Kiinballiaiia. — The Orchid-growing world is indebted 

 to the enterprise of .Messrs. Low & Co., of Clapton, for the 

 introduction of this remarkable species to cultivation at the 

 beginning of the present year. It has been dedicated to Mr. 

 w! S. Kimball, of Rochester, New York, by the late Professor 

 Reichenbach, Init no information respecting its native country 

 has yet been divulged by its importers. 



Plants of this species have lately flowered in various collec- 

 tions in England, and from one which 'flowered here in the 

 nursery I have been enabled to make the following tlescrip- 

 tion : The stem is terete, about as tiiick as an ordinary lead- 

 pencil, dull green, with numerous dark purplish spots. It is 

 furnished with over a dozen sub-distichous, dull green, more 

 or less drooping leaves, whicii are from six to twelve inches 

 long, gradually tapering to a subulate point, and deeply 



