540 



Garden and Forest. 



[November 6, 1889. 



season several charming- l)anks are arranged on tlie benches, 

 with here antl there a gem. Such a i)lant is Lcelia Eyeriiianni 

 alba, the only individual known. Vanda Sanderiana and V. 

 cwrulea, in fine form, are, however, plants which would better 

 satisfy the ordinary eye. Cypripediums are to be seen in 

 api)arently countless profusion, they being a great specialty 

 here. Nepenthes, too, are abundant, while great masses of 

 Palms and decorative plants fill every spare space, and all 

 seem in robust health and carefully grown. 



A new Cupliea, whose varietal name I did not learn, was 

 shown in a great mass— an almost startling combination of 

 scarlet and purple with white stamens. It is said to be an 

 e.xcellent bedder. 



Aside from the flowers one could not but notice the 

 remarkable order, neatness and care everywhere evident, and 

 the vigorous health of all growing things. 



Short Hills, N.J. G. 



Notes. 



A meeting of influential citizens in the upper San Joaquin 

 Valley has been held to take steps toward securing a large 

 reservation in the Pine and Sequoia forests of the Sierra in the 

 Fresno and Tulare region. The subject will be pressed at the 

 approaching convention of fruit growers in Fresno. 



An agricultural and forestry exhibition, under the auspices 

 of the Imperial Agricultural Society of Vienna, will be held in 

 that city next summer, from the 15th of May to the 15th of 

 October. Forest products of Austria and Hungary only will 

 be admitted, but foreigners are invited to exhibit machinery 

 and tools used in cutting timber and manufacturing lumber, 

 and to contribute memoirs on scientific subjects relating to the 

 forest. 



The autumn exhibition of the Hampden County Horticultural 

 Society will l)e held at Springfield, Massachusetts, on Novem- 

 ber I2th-i5th, when it is expected that one of the best collec- 

 tions of Chrysanthemums ever seen in New England will be 

 dis])layed. The Connecticut Valley Florists' Club offers a 

 year's subscription to Garden and Forest for the best new 

 seedling Chrysanthemum, shown this year for the first timeby 

 the grower and having real merit. 



Berberis Thimbergii was, last week, the most beautiful shrub 

 in the Arnold Arboretum to many persons. The plants still 

 retained their foliage, which had turned to the most brilliant 

 scarlet, and were loaded with the bright red fruit, which hangs 

 on the branches until the appearance of the new leaves in the 

 spring. There is certainly no shrub more attractive in the fall 

 of the year than this Japanese Barberry, and none which retains 

 its autumn brilliancy for a longer period. It has proved an 

 introduction of first rate merit. 



One of the most beautiful of all shrubs in the color of its 

 autumn foliage is the Japanese Euonymus alata, which just 

 now is at its very best. The leaves of this plant turn bright 

 rose colored, something unknown in other plants, or certainly 

 very unusual. The broad, corky wings which grow on the 

 branches give interest to this species, but the flowers and fruit 

 are small and inconspicuous. The beauty of its autumn fol- 

 iage, however, compensates for this ; and this Euonymus 

 should find a place in every garden in which shrubs are 

 grown. 



Zanthorhiza apiifolia, the Yellow-root of the Alleghany 

 Mountains, a low under-shrub with spreading root-stocks and 

 handsome pinnate foliage, is one of the last plants in the gar- 

 den to take on its autumn colors, which are brilliant orange 

 and scarlet. This alone would make the cultivation of the 

 Yellow-root desirable. The habit of the plant, moreover, is 

 good ; the foliage is always attractive, and, as it grows well 

 under trees and spreads rapidly, it is a desirable subject for 

 covering shaded banks and slopes, in spite of the fact that 

 neither the flower nor the fruit is at all conspicuous. 



A combination of autumn colored foliage, which has come 

 under our notice this season, is worth recording. A European 

 Beech and a Scarlet Oak are growing next to each other in a 

 large circular group of treesonthelawnof asul)urban villa near 

 Boston. Three or four of the large branches of the Oak have 

 grown througli those of the Beech and protrude several feet 

 beyond them. The leaves of the Beech are still as bright and 

 green as they were in midsummer, while those of the Oak 

 have turned brilliant scarlet. The effect of color produced by 

 the contrast of these two trees standingsideby side is splendid, 

 and it is greatly heightened by the scarlet branches of the Oak 

 growing as it appears directly out of the green Beech. 



The New Hampshire Forestry Commission met at Concord, 

 October4th, and organized by electing Joseph B. Walker, of Con- 

 cord, President, G. Byron Chandler, of Manchester, Treasurer, 

 and J. B. Harrison, of Franklin Falls, Secretary. The commis- 

 sion will endeavor to stimulate popular interest in the preser- 

 vation of the characteristic scenery of the state and to make a 

 thorough examination of the present condition and methods 

 of treatment of the mountain-forests. As New Hampshire has 

 no state lands, nothing can be accomplished for the preserva- 

 tion of the forests except by the intelligent co-operation of pri- 

 vate land-owners and lumbermen. 



Two years ago a Mr. Barber tried the experiment of planting 

 Pampas Grass on five acres of land in San Bernardino County, 

 California. A few weeks ago he cut from the five acres 70,000 

 plumes, which he sold for three and a half cents each, or 

 $2,450 for the crop. The expense of caring for the five acres 

 has not been in excess of $450, and the crop has netted him 

 $400 an acre. Next season he expects to net $500 an acre, as 

 the plants will then be three years old and in full bearing. The 

 demand for the plume of the Pampas Grass is constantly in- 

 creasing and it has been demonstrated that it can be profitably 

 grown on high-priced land. 



The number of Orchids of good varieties, and the quality of 

 the specimens which are now seen in the florists' windows in 

 this city, shows, more clearly than anything else, the great ad- 

 vance which has been made in the general cultivation of these 

 plants in this country and the appreciation in which they are 

 held for decorative purposes. High-class plants like Vanda 

 ca;rulea and other Orchids occasionally seen in the windows of 

 New York flower-sellers will not now be found, it is safe to 

 say, in similar establishments in any other country in the 

 world ; while in matters of taste, as shown in the arrange- 

 ment of the plants and flowers offered for sale in these estab- 

 lishments, the American florist has no equal. The most 

 expensive plants, especially Orchids, are found in New York ; 

 greater variety of material, however, better Roses and the 

 best taste in arrangement are now seen in the florists' 

 windows in Boston. 



The prizes awarded to exhibitors at the Paris Exhibition 

 were distributed on the 29th of September. The ancient and 

 distinguished house of Vilmorin, Andrieux & Co. received 

 two Grand Prizes — one for flowering plants and one for vege- 

 tables. The Forest Department of France received a Grand 

 Prize for its exhibition already described in these columns. 

 Grand Prizes were awarded, among others, to Croux & Fils, 

 and to Honore Defresne, for their collections of hardy trees 

 and shrubs. A gold medal, the highest award in its class, was 

 given to the Revue Horticole, which, in the sixty-seven years 

 of its existence, has exerted an immense influence in shaping 

 and developing French horticulture, and has contained, in the 

 long list of its editors and contributors, the names of the most 

 distinguished botanists and horticulturists France has pro- 

 duced during the last half century. The small assistance 

 France received from foreign nations appears in the fact that 

 only forty-eight awards were made to foreigners for horticul- 

 tural exhibits ; of these only four were English. The United 

 States apparently was not represented in the horticultural 

 exhibition ; at least, no award comes to this country. 



M. Lemoine, the successful and distinguished hybridizer of 

 Nancy, has produced in his new Gladioli the most striking 

 novelty of recent years among garden plants, and one which, 

 if the early promise of his seedlings is sustained, will give to 

 our gardens a decorative plant of the very first order. As 

 the readers of Garden and Forest already know, the new 

 hybrid is to be known as Gladiolus Nancianus. It was ob- 

 tained by crossing the hybrid G. Lemoinei, one of Lemoine's 

 earlier triumphs, with the scarlet flowered G. Sajidersii. 

 Too much, certainly, has not been said of the vigor of the 

 plants, or of the beauty of the flowers of this new hybrid. 

 Plants in Lemoine's garden during the past summer were 

 fully five and a half feet high, with long, compact spikes of 

 broad flowers with spreading segments. They vary in color 

 from the deepest scarlet to pale, clear rose, and all are marked 

 with the conspicuous spot, which is the prominent characteristic 

 in the coloring of the flowers in G. Lemoinei. The new race 

 flowers in July or early in August ; that is, rather earlier than 

 most garden Gladioli. A few varieties have been so far tried 

 and propagated as to permit their being put upon the market 

 this autumn ; but among the newer seedlings there are sev- 

 eral which now appear more promising than any which have 

 already received names. M. Lemoine received a gold medal 

 at the Paris Exhibition for a collection of cut spikes Of his new 

 hybrid. 



