6o6 



Garden and Forest. 



[December i8, 1889, 



favorable to the development of autumn tints has the past sea- 

 son been that scarcely a tree or shrub out-of-doors was lack- 

 ing" in attractiveness of this kind. Here we require a mild, 

 moist, simny autumn to make the leaves of deciduous trees 

 and shrubs assume beautiful colors before falling. If we 

 could be ensured of this, then English landscapes might 

 be made as glorious as the best in America by the use of 

 those trees which in a favorable season put on these glowing 

 colors. But next year and the ne.xt may be as unfavorable as 

 this has been favorable. Some plants never fail even here, as, 

 for instance, some of the Maples, the Oaks and Ampelopsis'; 

 but it is only rarely that we get such pictures as hardy vegeta- 

 tion generally presented this year. 



Gymnogrammas. — The illustration of G. schizophylla, var. 

 gloriosa, published in Garden and Forest for November 6th 

 (p. 533), is a beautiful representation of a- Fern which must be 

 extremely difficult to represent on paper. The species is pop- 

 ular with Fern-growers in England, as indeed are a consider- 

 able number of the hundred or so species at present known. 

 Forty of them are represented at Kew, and of this number 

 about two-thirds are sufficiently ornamental to rank among 

 the choicest of garden Ferns. G. schizophylla was known in 

 Jamaica a long time before it was successfully introduced 

 into England, although many attempts were made to get it to 

 Kew. The plant is so very delicate that it soon perished 

 when subjected to the adverse conditions of a long sea voyage 

 in a Wardian case. It came at last in surprising condition, 

 luck having favored it all the way, and we had the pleasure of 

 opening the Wardian case, which contained about a score of 

 beautiful plants in fair health. It arrived about the same time 

 at the nurseries of Messrs. Veitch, who soon afterward dis- 

 tributed it. The variety gloriosa was distributed in 1885. It 

 is not- of garden origin, as stated in Garden and Forest, but 

 is an exceptionally strong form which was imported from 

 Jamaica. The species is somewhat variable in the size, form 

 and substance of the fronds, some of the forms being as 

 weak and attenuated as that named gloriosa is strong and full. 

 The cultivation of Gymnogrammas is not difficult, if their 

 liking for direct sunlight is remembered. I know from ex- 

 perience that a position which is shaded is much less agree- 

 able to these plants than one which is not shaded at all. The 

 Kew collection is placed on aside stage with a south exposure, 

 and when all the rest of the house is shaded with the blind 

 this is left unshaded. The difference in the vigor and health 

 of the plants thus treated and those grown in a shaded 

 house is most marked. Of course the atmosphere is kept 

 saturated and the plants are freely watered at the root, except 

 in winter, when the soil is kept moist only. 



Amongst the rarer species, which are sufficiently orna- 

 mental to rank with the most select garden Ferns, the follow- 

 ing are noteworthy, viz. : G. Mulleri, fronds erect, pinnate, 

 about a foot long on well grown plants ; pinnae roundish or 

 oblong, an inch long, rather leathery in texture, and covered 

 on both sides with silvery scales. It is a native of Australia. 

 G. vestita, something like the last, but with more flaccid 

 fronds and stalked pinnae. It is a native of the Hima- 

 layas, and thrives in an ordinary green-house. G. rufa ■ is 

 another of the same section as the two already named. It is 

 distinct, covered with soft, silky hairs rather than scales ; the 

 fronds, too, are longer and more herbaceous. G. Pearcei, var. 

 robiista, is an exceptionally strong and attractive variety which 

 we owe to the Messrs. Veitch, who distributed it last year. The 

 type, also introduced by Messrs. Veitch in 1864, is an elegant 

 Fern, but too delicate to find much favor ; whereas this new 

 form of it develops into a strong, well furnished plant under 

 ordinary treatment. All the forms of G. calonielanos, includ- 

 ing several new ones, are first-class decorative Ferns. G. tri- 

 foliata maybe called a climbing species, the fronds sometimes 

 attaining a length of five feet by six inches in width, and re- 

 quiring to be supported. Except as a very extraordinary spe- 

 cies of Gymnogramma, it has little to recommend it. 



Ferns do not receive as much attention in England now as 

 they did a few years ago. It is only rarely that anything like 

 a collection of them is formed, a few of the most useful for 

 decorative purposes being grown in great numbers. The 

 example set by Kew about seventy years ago, when the then 

 curator, Mr. John Smith, commenced to form a collection by 

 means of spores taken from specimens of Ferns sent to Kew 

 by collectors, was followed in all large gardens in England, 

 and Fern-collections were almost as fashionable as Orchid- 

 collections are now. Although not in fashion, yet the whole 

 order is one of the most delightful among garden plants, and 

 few occupations could be more fascinating than the cultiva- 

 tion of a good collection of Ferns, beginning with spore- 

 sowing and ending at big specimens. 



Orchids. — At this dme of year the Orchid-houses are much 

 gayer with flowers than the rest of the in-door department. 

 Already Odontogiossiim crispiim is well in fiower. A very fine 

 variety, not yet named, is in bloom at St. Alljan's, in Mr. San- 

 der's nursery. It is remarkable for the size of its flowers and 

 for a large chestnut colored blotch on each of the segments. 

 Another new Odontoglossum, probably a natural hybrid, and 

 of which O. luteopiirpureum may be one of the parents, is also 

 in fiower with Mr. Sander. Its most striking character is in 

 the labellum, which is rather long and narrow, crisped, white, 

 with blotches of rosy violet, and the raised lines in the throat 

 terminating in a thin filament. Vanda Ainesiana is flowering 

 freely in the nursery of Messrs. Low & Co., of Clapton. The 

 principal fact now to be recorded in connection with this fine 

 Vanda, noted by me last year, is that it appears to thrive better 

 in a cool house than in a tropical one. Such, at all events, is 

 the result of experiments made in the Clapton Nursery, where 

 there are some tliousands of it in cultivation. Its near ally-, 

 V. Kimballiana, is also coming into flower. A plant at Kew 

 has a spike two feet high, but the fogs have proved fatal to 

 most of the buds. It is remarkable that fog proves to be 

 more injurious to Vandas, Saccolabiums and Angraecums 

 than to other Orchids. Lcelia aiitumnalis is in fiower, as also 

 is Cattleya Bowringiana and C. biilbosa. Several species of 

 Platyclinis (Dendrochilum) are fiowering in the cool house. 

 It appears from a note which accompanied the picture of P. 

 filifor^ne, recently published in Garden and Forest, that these 

 plants are successfully grown in a tropical house, such as suits 

 Phalaenopsis. But here they are grown in a cool house along 

 with the cooler Cattleyas, and they are in perfect health. 

 Some Orchids thrive in a wide range. of temperature, and, 

 apparently, Platyclinis should be numbered amongst them. 



Masdevallias.— The publication of Messrs. Veitch's beau- 

 dfully executed monograph of Garden Masdevallias occurs at 

 a time when it is likely to do some good by rousing Orchid- 

 fanciers to the merits of many of the species as ornamental 

 Howering-plants, and to the interesting nature of the genus as 

 a whole. For it has to be admitted that in England at all 

 events the Masdevallias have fallen out of favor, or, adopdng 

 the expression in the Orchid market with regard to them, there 

 is nothing like the money in the majority of the species that 

 there was a short time ago. This is a sordid view; but when 

 one observes a glut in the market of established healthy 

 plants, it is a safe conclusion that they are not much in de- 

 mand. Next year may bring a revival of the love for Masde- 

 vallias. Certainly there is no genus in the whole Orchid- 

 family which is so peculiarly suited to the ordinary cultivator, 

 as well as to the specialist, as this ; and for the following 

 reasons : they are, as a rule, easily procured; they may be kept 

 in health much more easily than most Orchids; they flower 

 freely, many of them being rarely out of flower, and their 

 flowers are extremely varied in size, in color and in form. If 

 fantastic flowers are wanted they are abundant among Masde- 

 vallias, while richly colored, elegantly .formed or "micro- 

 scopically beautiful " flowers are equally well represented. 

 Possibly the fact that these plants are not difficult to keep in 

 gardens accounts for their depreciation in value here. But in 

 your country I suspect they are not so abundant, nor so cheap, 

 and to any one in search of an interesting and delightful 

 specialty, the Masdevallias may be recommended. "Calypso" 

 has called attention to the botanical and arfistic merits of ' 

 Messrs. Veitch's manual; permit me to add that the cultural 'di- 

 rections are equally excellent, and that for any one wishing for 

 directions as to what is best worth growing ahd how best to 

 gr©w it, this book contains everything that is necessary. 



Ficus elastica variegata is a handsome stove plant 

 which was introduced into English gardens about five years 

 ago and is now popular. It is simply the well known "India 

 rubber plant " with the outer half of the leaves colored clear 

 shining cream-yellow — not a smudge-like variegation, nor yet a 

 sickly pallor such as one sees in many new variegated plants, 

 but a healthy, attractive yellow. Plants at Kew three feet high 

 have leaves down to the pot and every leaf has the variegation 

 well developed. It is much admired and will certainly be- 

 come a general favorite. The plant was not received at first 

 with much favor, and this was owing to there being two forms 

 of it, one much inferior to the other. It is just as easy to mul- 

 tiply and cultivate as the green form. Possibly, however, the 

 variegation would not be so marked if the plant were grown in 

 a green-house ; I am only able to speak of it from its behavior 

 when treated as a stove-plant. 



LiLiUM auratum. — The number of bulbs of this Lilium 

 which are imported, sold and killed in the gardens of this 

 country is incredible. Weekly sales, commencing long before 

 Christmas and ending about March, are conducted in London, 



