October i6, 1889.] 



Garden and Forest. 



501 



will help to mature the pseudo-bulbs, which, if well-developed, 

 should produce a good crop of flowers. John Weathers. 



St. Albans, Enf;., September j8, 1889. 



Phalcenopsis rosea. — A great many plants of this pretty 

 Orchid are now in bloom with us. It grows very freely, pro- 

 ducing leathery lanceolate leaves, eight inches to one foot 

 long, dark green in color. The racemes are branching, and 

 bear about thirty flowers, but will continue to grow and Bower 

 from the apex for many months. The flowers are about an 

 inch across, with lanceolate sepals and petals, white, tinged 

 with rose. The ovate-acuminate lip is of a beautiful violet-pur- 

 ple, with an orange disc. We find the warmest part of the 

 house suits this Orchid best, and it can scarcely have too 

 much water. Small, shallow baskets should be used, though 

 we have about a dozen doing well on some horizontal rafts of 

 wood, but these require a good deal more water, and, conse- 

 quently, more care than those in baskets of living moss. P. 

 rosea, P. LowiiaudP. Esmeralda are the three species that are 

 in flower in quantity at this season, and will keep the Phalse- 

 nopsis house gay until the standard kinds are in bloom. 



Phalcenopsis violacea is a showy plant, with round, leathery, 

 deep green leaves. The spike is very short, producing one or 

 two flowers at a time. These are about two inches across, 

 white, deeply suffused with deep violet on the basal half of the 

 segments. The lip is of a rich violet-crimson, with a golden- 

 yellow callus. This Orchid was introduced in 1861. Since 

 then three good varieties have been discovered — Schroederi, 

 with flowers of uniform violet-rose ; Murtoniana and Bour- 

 ingiana both have yellow flowers, but vary in the markings 

 and intensity of color. F. Goldring. 



Kenwood, N. Y. 



Catasetum Hunger othii. — Too much cannot be said in praise 

 of this lovely Orchid, a plant that everybody should grow, and, 

 from all appearances, one that everybody can grow. A bas- 

 ket seems to be the best receptacle for it, and very little pot- 

 ting material should be used, as the roots dislike being buried. 

 Give it the warmest corner and abundance of water, and it will 

 soon give a good account of itself. After growth is matured 

 it should be put in a cooler house and water gradually with- 

 held, but the bulbs must not be shriveled. The large, showy, 

 pure white flowers last quite a long time in perfection in a cool, 

 dry house. Since the introduction of this plant, two years ago, 

 from South America, two excellent varieties have cropped up, 

 the first appropriately named Aureum; the other, called 

 Pottsianum, has the flowers prettily marked with purple, the 

 lip also spotted with same color. 



Notes on Hardy Plants. — The present season has been no- 

 ticeable for the abundance of moisture and the total immunity, 

 thus far, from frost, conditions, taken on the whole, very favor- 

 able for the strong growth and flowering of hardy plants. 

 Anemone Japonica and its varieties have never made so fine 

 a display as that of the past weeks, the pure white form, 

 Horiorine Joubert, being most beautiful in its snowy-white 

 petals and conspicuous yellow anthers. The pink form, known 

 as Hybrida, is of a lovely shade of bright pink, a most 

 suitable companion plant to the white one. It appears that 

 the proper name of this hybrid Anemone is Elegans, but 

 in the trade lists this name is very seldom used. We are also 

 growing what is known as the type A. Japonica, and, if this is 

 correctly named, it is singular how much more robust and 

 beautiful the varieties are than the parent plant. The flowers 

 of ,the latter are semi-double and of a dark rosy-carmine, a 

 pretty color enough, but the plant sadly lacks the constitu- 

 tional vigor so characteristic of the other two varieties. Of 

 Kniphofias (since the generic name, Tritoma, is doomed to 

 slow death), K. grandis has proved itself worthy of the name 

 by its majestic autumnal beauty. These plants have shown 

 to better advantage this year than ever before. K. grandis 

 is now bearing niunerous grand flower-spikes five feet 

 high ; and its bright red and yellow flowers make it the most 

 showy plant in the garden. It is the best of the tall-growing 

 kinds, and is the more valuable on account of its late-flow- 

 ering habit. This plant has always been known as Tritoma 

 grandis, but it appears that we must hereafter call it K^ii- 

 phofia aloides ?naxinia. K. carnosa is a pretty, remarkable 

 and distinct species; pretty, in that its flower-spikes do not ex- 

 ceed eighteen inches and are most useful for cutting pur- 

 poses ; remarkable in its flowers, which, unlike all other spe- 

 cies that have come under our notice, commence to open at 

 the apex of the spike and continue to flower downward; and 

 lastly, distinct in being a native of Abyssinia, while most of 

 this genus hail from South Africa, and also in being strictly 



deciduous, the foliage dying down in the fall to a thick, fleshy 

 rootstock, which should then be lifted and potted, and given 

 plenty of heat in spring to induce it to start early. When nicely 

 started it should be planted out in a warm position in good 

 rich soil. Treated in this manner, its liability to be damaged 

 by early frosts is considerably lessened. It is singular that, 

 with all our care and solicitude, we have never been able to 

 obtain a single seed of this plant. All other kinds seed freely 

 with us, and prove only too suscepdble to hybridization. We 

 are hoping for good results from the use of pollen of K. car- 

 nosa on species of the evergreen section. ,^ ^ ^ 

 Passaic, N. J. E. O. Orpet. 



Eichornia crassipes. — This fine aquatic has been in bloom in 

 the open air, in several of the basins and lakes of the public 

 squares and parks of New York, the past season, and has 

 _made the handsomest display, next to the Water Lilies, of any 

 plant in the collections. It comes from South America, and is 

 a floating plant that sails about the surface of the water as the 

 wind drives it. In general appearance of foliage it is much 

 Hke the Calla Lily, and forms broad, dense masses of stems 

 and leaves, in one basin, covering a space six by eight feet. 

 The base of the leaf-stems is inflated with air, like small blad- 

 ders, while the white roots hang down in the water. The 

 flowers are in spikes of five or six, as large as a half-dollar, of 

 a purplish-blue, borne twelve to eighteen inches above the 

 water on stout stems, the whole expression of the inflorescence 

 suggesting a spike of huge Hyacinth blossoms. It is very 

 easily grown. All that is needed is to anchor a clump in the 

 water with a stone, or allow it to drift about as the winds will, 

 and the plant will take care of itself. It has bloomed very 

 freely this year, and remains open at night also. A good mass 

 of this plant, covered with itsspikesof showy blossoms, is some- 

 thing easily had, and sure to be much enjoyed through July 

 and August. F. L. Temple. 



Cambridge, Mass. 



Two Good Perennials.— Among hardy, herbaceous plants m- 

 troduced in recent years, Platycodon Mariesii and Polygonuiii 

 sphcerostachyum hold a prominent rank. Both are beautiful, 

 floriferous and very hardy, qualities which make them desir- 

 able for our flower-gardens as standard plants. Platycodon 

 Mariesii was sent to Europe, from Japan, by Mr. Maries, then 

 in the employ of Messrs. James Veitcli & Sons, about eight 

 years ago. It is a dwarfed iorvn oi Platycodon graiidijiorwyi, 

 small plants only a few months old, and scarcely two inches 

 high, producing one or two large, starry, flat, cup-shaped 

 flowers of a bright blue color. Some botanists merge Platy- 

 codon into Wahlenbergia, others into Campanula. Polygonum 

 sphcsrostachytim is also a small plant only about a foot in 

 height ; it flowers during May and June very profusely, and 

 the rosy-crimson spikelets are very showy among the bright 

 green, graceful foliage. After two months of rest they come 

 forward again and bloom as abundantly as before until the 

 frost in November kills them. The plant is a native of the 

 Himalayas and makes a sort of tuber. It is very hardy. 

 Baden Baden. Max Leicktlin. 



Resetting in Peach Orchards. — It is a practice of doubtful 

 expediency to set new Peach-trees after an orchard has been 

 planted three years. Peach-trees are short-lived, and an or- 

 chard cannot be kept full of trees with profit, imless the trees 

 are all nearly of the same age. If new trees are constantly set 

 in, when the body of the orchard becomes unprofitable, there 

 are still a few straggling and younger trees which the owner 

 dislikes to sacrifice, and which are yet practically of almost no 

 value. Land can be put to better use than to be tilled for the 

 purpose of supporting a few scattering and indifferent trees. 

 But even the more immediate value of trees which are filled 

 in is trifling and seldom worth the trouble they give. They 

 are checked by their well-established neighbors, and yield 

 little. I have had experience for many years in this direction, 

 and have yet to see such an experiment in the Peach-orchard 

 which paid. In Apple-orchards it is frequently profitable, but 

 Apple-trees are set fiu'ther apart, and the trees are sufficiently 

 long-lived to allow all the trees to even up. I am confident 

 that most growers allow their Peach-orchards to get too old. 

 There should be no sentiment in a matter-of-fact operation 

 like the growing of peaches, and when tiie trees cease to be 

 profitable on accoimt of age, they should be uprooted. I have 

 seldom known Peach-orchards to be profitable after they were 

 twelve years planted, particularly when they have had good 

 culture and have borne heavily. It is sometimes true that 

 they cease to be profitable at an earlier age. But whenever 

 the time comes, cut them down, root them out, and plant 

 anew, with the same thought for profit that leads you to cut 



