December 25, 1889.] 



Garden and Forest. 



617 



rendered too hard for planting so early as the beginning of 

 December. Already the enormous collection of Berberis 

 here has been lifted and replanted so as to afford more space 

 to each plant. Many of these plants are very impatient of dis- 

 turbance at the root, so that unless lifted with a good ball of 

 soil they are almost certain to suffer severely. What a num- 

 ber of garden names there are in the genus Berberis ! And 

 that it is not easy to reduce the names to botanical order is 

 shown by the fact that those best qualified to do it fight shy of 

 the work. Probably a considerable number of these garden 

 forms are really hybrids or accidental crosses of some kind, 

 and their parentage cannot be traced. In the autumn, when 

 clothed with their bright scarlet, orange, yellow, purple or 

 black berries, a collection of large plants of Berberis, such as 

 these at Kew or in the Botanic Garden at Cambridge, presents 

 a most beautiful picture. The birds, however, soon rob the 

 plants of their charm, and at Kew, where the birds are pro- 

 tected, they clear the bushes of all fruits in an incredibly short 

 time. A large group of bamboos, which has just been planted 

 on the side of one of the lakes, promises to be a magnificent 

 feature next year. For purposes of this kind no plants are better 

 suited than the hardy kinds of Bamboo. In the gardens on 

 the Riviera they form a feature at least as striking in beauty 

 and elegance as the Palms, also largely used there. 



Palms for in-door decoration (see p. 559) are almost uni- 



too rare in gardens, while seeds of them are not yet i)rocur- 

 able. In the four hundred and odd species of Palms repre- 

 sented at Kew there are many which are greatly admired on 

 account of their elegance and other attractions, but they are 

 not in the trade. In tropical countries, as, for instance, in 

 Ceylon, Calcutta, Brazil, Brisbane, etc., collections of Palms 

 are being gathered and planted with a view to the supply of 

 seeds for the European market, and the seeds of many Palms 

 which are now rare will soon be ]>lentiful. Evidently popular 

 taste runs just now on Palms, many of the growers for the Lon- 

 don market devoting themselves almost exclusively to these 

 plants. 



A Perfect Plant Label is still a desideratum, here, as 

 well as in America. Mr. R. T. Jackson's paper on " Methods 

 of Labeling Trees and Plants," read before the Massachusetts 

 Horticultural Society last year, is interesting and suggestive. 

 In it Mr. Jackson appears to have come near to what we have 

 foimd the most useful label at Kew, both for in-door and out- 

 door plants. For temporary labels, such as are used for an- 

 nuals and small nursery stock, there is nothing better than 

 wood; but for permanent labels intended for collection plants, 

 something more durable than wood is required, and the best 

 material appears to be zinc. Iron, tin, slate, porcelain and 

 teak have been and are still in use at Kew, but on the whole 

 they are not as satisfactory as zinc. As Mr. Jackson says, 



Pliiladelplius Leiiioiiioi X — See page 6i6. 



versally preferred before everything else. In England there are 

 scores of nurseries where these plants are grown by tens and 

 even by hundreds of thousands and disposed of to market 

 dealers. Mr. Taplin omitted to mention the several kinds of 

 Kentia (so called), which, in England, are very largely grown ; 

 one nurseryman alone sells about ten thousand of them annu- 

 ally. K. Fosteriana, K. Babnoreaiia and K. Canterburyana are 

 the three which are most used, the last named being less pop- 

 ular than the other two. These plants bear the exposure and 

 hard treatment incidental to decorative uses better than any 

 other Palm, not even excepting the Livistona {Lataiiia Borbo- 

 nica). They are raised from seeds imported from .\ustralia, 

 Java, Brazil, etc., and grown in tropical houses until large 

 enough for use, when they are hardened by exposure to a 

 lower temperature. Their elegant, bright green, pinnate foli- 

 age and their graceful • habit are just what is most 

 desired for the decoration of tables, side-boards, window 

 recesses, etc. Other Palms grown largely here are Cocosflex- 

 uosa ox plumosa, Geonoma gracilis, Phanix riipicola, a most 

 elegant Palm, SeafortJiia elegans, Thrinax graniinifolia and 

 Hyophorbe Verschaffeltii. These are all popular and abundant. 

 It would be easy to add the names of a great number of Palms 

 which would prove quite as serviceable as these, which every 

 one knows and grows, but unfortunately many of them are 



zinc "is reasonaljly imperishable, cheap and veiy easily 

 handled." The chemical ink recommended for writing upon 

 polished zinc, namely, a solution of chloride of platimim, or 

 chloride of copper, or other patent mixtures of a similar nature, 

 have not, however, [)roved a success, no matter how applied. 

 Varnish rubbed over the face of the label after the ink has 

 dried, preserves it from oxidation for a year or so, but as a 

 rule the names are almost unreadable after a year's exposure 

 outside. An improvement on this ink is the use of enamel 

 paint, applied as follows: The labels are cleaned with emery 

 paper and then coated on the face with white enamel paint. 

 This is allowed to get quite dry, and then over it is painted a 

 coat of the l)lack enamel paint. The writing must be done while 

 the black paint is wet, using for the purpose a pointed stick, 

 such as a bit of bamboo shaped like a pen. In writing, the 

 black paint is simply removed by the point of the stick. 

 With a little practice the letters are as easily and clearly formed 

 as if with pencil on white paint. The label should be thor- 

 oughly dried before being exposed to moisture. For trees 

 and shrubs such as the labels can hang upon, the form pre- 

 ferred is a piece of zinc from three to four inches square, half 

 an inch at the top to be bent over at an acute angle to afford 

 protection from the weather; one or two holes should be made 

 near the top, for wire or nails. For pots and herbaceous plants 



