548 



Garden and Forest. 



[November 13, 1889. 



seasons as early as the end of July. It is the only species in 

 which the previous year's leaves live until the autumn tlower- 

 ing-tinie. The flowers are of good size, deep orange and very 

 attractive. It is a native of the north-west Caucasus ; its scar- 

 city being somewhat remarkable, seeing that it grows inter- 

 mixed with the more common C. vallicola. It increases very 

 slowly. C. vallicola follows closely,. and is usually in flower 

 about the beginning of September. Balansa says that in its 

 native home, the Alps of Trebizond and Lazistan, it flowers as 

 early as July. The dowers are usually of a pale cream color, 

 and it is the only species in which the segments have ttne, 

 thread-like appendages at their summit. 



C. nudiflorus follows ne.Kt, being rarely later than the begin- 

 ning of September. It is a very hardy^pecies, naturalized in 

 several counties in England, notably Nottmgham, where we 

 believe it is plentiful still. It is the old C. Pyrenceus o£ Parkin- 

 son, with large, unstriped, bluish purple flowers, the tubes 

 unusually long, and, unless supported, very liable to be de- 

 stroyed with heavy rains. The corms throw out long stolons, 

 and where not confined sometimes become troublesome. The 

 pure white variety is very desirable, common about Biarritz, 

 Astureas and in the Pyrenees. 



C. zonatiis, which we also find in gardens as C. Kotschyanus, 

 is one of the newer species, discovered in 1855 in tiie moun- 

 tainous districts of Cilicia, to the north of Taurus. It is one 

 of the early ones, but not so regular as some of the others. It 

 is one of the freest dowering and most useful of the autumn 

 species, increasing with rapidity and very hardy. The flowers 

 are lilac or rosy lilac, veined on the inside with five to seven 

 purple lines, and with a bright orange base and yellow fringed 

 stigmata. 



C. iridlflorus {Byzantinns of Parkinson) is a very remarkable 

 species, intermediate almost between a Crocus and an Iris, 

 and on this account Schur proposed the generic name of 

 Crociris iridlflorus. It is the tallest, and, with the exception of 

 C. ineditis, the largest of the genus. The outer segments, 

 of a clear, rich purple, are almost twice the size of the pale 

 lilac inner ones, forming a very odd and remarkable flower. 

 A native of Transylvania, flowering late in September. 



C. speciosus is perhaps the commonest and most serviceable 

 of all the autumn species. Its geographical distribution 

 ranges from northern Persia to the Caucasus and Transylvania, 

 and there is a record of its occurrence in central Asia Minor, 

 where it was gathered by Kotschy in November, 1859. It pro- 

 duces, in great abundance, large, rich, bright lilac flowers, the 

 inner surface feathered with numerous, dark purple, much 

 branched lines fi'om base to summit of segments. It multi- 

 plies rapidly by cormlets formed at the base of the old corms, 

 as many as a dozen to each. 



C. pulchelliis follows the last very closely, and may be 

 readily mistaken for C. zonatus, the color of their flowers be- 

 ing very similar. It usually begins to flower about the middle 

 of September, and in mild autumns continues to flower imtil 

 near Christmas; outer segments self-colored, on outside pale 

 lilac, the inner surface faintly marked with purple lines, the 

 anthers white, stigmata orange. There is also a rare white 

 variety. Native of the Bosphorus, where it is found in heathy 

 thickets. 



C. Astiiricus and C. Clusii are very nearly allied, both hav- 

 ing purple flowers and leaves appearing at flowering-time. 



C. ochroleiicus, a charming little white flowered species, 

 flowering from about the middle of October to December ; 

 creamy white with bright yellow throat ; from northern Pal- 

 estine and Syria. 



C. medius is one of the most delightful of the autumn Cro- 

 cusus, producing abundantly large, bright purple flowers, with 

 huge spreading masses of bright scarlet stigmata, very hardy and 

 increasing rapidly. It is found on the Riviera, atMentone, etc. 



C. longiflorus is a very neat species ; the flowers are lilac 

 veined purple, the stigmata nearly entire and of a bright scar- 

 let. It increases very rapidly. A native of southern Europe. 



C. Salzmanni has varied purple flowers, and C. Icevigatus 

 creamy color striped purple flowers. C. Cambessedesii, the flow- 

 ering season of which varies under cultivation from October to 

 April, has pale buff flowers with purple featherings on the out- 

 side. C. serotinus, C. Hadriaticus, C. cancellatus and lastly C. 

 sativus and its numerous very fine varieties, Cartwrightianus, 

 white, with scarlet stigmata, are all effective. These are all in 

 cultivation in English gardens, and are much appreciated. 

 Could a home be found for them in America, where the sum- 

 mer is hotter and the chances of ripening more certain than 

 it is with us, they would be worthy though humble com- 

 panions to your Michaelmas Daisies and other late autumn- 

 flowering plants. 

 Kew. . D. Dewar. 



Notes on Forcing. 



'T'HIS is an important part of the winter work of gardeners,, 

 -»• and pj-eparation for it now demands attention so that the 

 stock may be ready for an early start and a proper rotation. 

 And although, in the forcing of Dutch bulbs, Lilies-of-the-Val- 

 ley, etc., to which attention is now invited, the details are 

 familiar to most plant-growers, yet it may be of benefit to some 

 novices to have a few hints in regard to this interesting, though 

 not specially intricate process. The first essential is to buy 

 good stock — sound, solid bulbs, or large, plump pips, as the 

 case may be — and to store them away in pots, pans or boxes as 

 soon as received, so that a good foundation of roots may be 

 grown by the time the bulbs are required to be brought intO' 

 heat. 



In regard to Lily-of-the-Valley there has been some slight 

 difference of opinion as to where the best roots are produced 

 for forcing, but in my experience those grown in the vicinity 

 of Berlin have proved far superior to any Holland-grown pips, 

 both in size and quality of bloom, and they can also be forced 

 earlier than the latter. For late forcing the difference is not 

 material, though even in that case the Gernian pips usually 

 produce the finest flowers. When grown in pots, the undi- 

 vided roots or clumps may be used, and, as they generally 

 throw up more leaves in proportion than the selected or 

 separated pips, they are more eftecfive, though the latter offer 

 one advantage in allowing a more regular arrangement of the 

 spikes of bloom, and particularly when the plan used by some 

 of the London market-growers is adopted. This plan is to 

 force the pips in a bench of sand or light soil, over a strong 

 bottom heat to start them, keeping them there until the flow- 

 ers are almost ready to open, when they are taken up and 

 potted. After keeping them for a day or two, to enable them 

 to overcome the shock, they are sent into market. 



The ordinary method of forcing Lily-of-the-Valley for flow- 

 ers is to pot the pips or box them as soon as received, taking 

 care to keep the points of the shoots well above the surface of 

 the soil. After this a good watering should be given to them, 

 when they should be placed in a cold frame, where it will be 

 found best to cover them at first with a thin layer of long lit- 

 ter, or straw from the manure-heap, and over this to spread 

 from one to two inches of soil ; the litter is put on first, so 

 that the pots may be more readily cleaned off afterward when 

 the soil becomes frozen, the straw preventing the soil from 

 sticking to the pips. 



On bringing them into the house in which they are to be 

 forced, the boxes should be placed on a bench, to which a 

 steady bottom-heat of from eighty-five to ninety degrees can 

 be applied ; and by covering the pips with a layer of sphag- 

 num and enclosing the bench in a sort of box or cover made 

 of sashes, shutters or oiled muslin, as may be most conven- 

 ient, so as to exclude a portion of the light and at the same 

 time to confine the heat, a more regular temperature can be 

 preserved. By this system the flower-spikes may be suffi- 

 ciently drawn to stand well above the foliage, though more 

 light should be admitted before the flowers begin to open, else 

 they become thin and flimsy in texture and consequently do 

 not last long. In fact, at this stage they may be taken out of 

 the forcing house and put in a cooler one to harden off and 

 open their flowers. The time occupied in forcing Lily-of-the- 

 Valley on this plan is from twenty-one to twenty-four days, 

 according to the time of the year in which the operation takes 

 place, and it is therefore easy to gauge the time of bringing 

 in fresh installments of the pips to Insure a steady succes- 

 sion of flowers. 



Tulips, Hyacinths, Narcissi, etc., for forcing, should be 

 potted as early as possible, and for this purpose good, light, 

 rather sandy loam is preferable, if it contains a fair mix- 

 ture of manure. In potting the points of the bulbs should 

 be kept well above the surface of the soil. They should then 

 be placed in a frame and buried to a depth of three to 

 four inches in coal ashes, sand or light soil, the ashes being 

 preferable because they are somewhat repellent to earth- 

 worms. 



After the bulbs are well rooted they may be brought into 

 heat as required, and in the case of the Tiflips it is well to 

 shade them enough at first to draw the flower-stems up to a 

 fair length, as otherwise some of the varieties are liable to 

 grow too short in the stem to be effective either for cutting or 

 for decorating. 



Hyacinths and many of the Narcissi force easily and do not 

 require much heat ; in fact, they are frecjuently forced under- 

 neath the benches in green-houses, from whence they are 

 brought into prominence as the flowers appear. 



Holmesburg, Pa. W. H. TapUn. 



