34 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 361. 



New or Little-known Plants. 



Protea cynaroides. 



SOME account of cultivated Proteas, with a figure of 

 P. nana, one of the small species of the genus, was given 

 in Garden AND Forest, vol. iv.,p. 412. The figure on p. 35 

 is from a photograph of a specimen of the largest-flowered 

 species, which is grown in a sunny, dry greenhouse at Kew, 

 along wilh Agaves, Aloes and other succulent plants. Here 

 it is planted out in a bed of gravelly soil, and it is now 

 eight feet high, with half-a-dozen stems, each an inch in 

 diameter, clothed half-way down with bright green leathery 

 leaves, not unlike those of a Griselinia. The flower-heads 

 are large, the largest like the flower-heads of Artichoke, 

 Cynara Scolymus, and colored bright pink. They last a 

 long time, several months, and are very attractive, both in 

 form and color. When 1 was in South Africa in 1887 I saw- 

 thousands of these plants growing wild on the sides of hills, 

 their roots among the large stones which were thickly 

 strewn among the gravelly soil and their stems four or five 

 feet high. I never saw one as tall as the plants at Kew, 

 and this is to be accounted for by the stems breaking off at 

 the base easily if unsupported. At I^ew they are supported 

 with a stake, consequently stems which have flowered push 

 into fresh growth at the top and flower again. 



The inflorescence of Protea is composite, a large number 

 of small flowers being aggregated in a head and sur- 

 rounded by colored leaves on bracts. When the heads of 

 P. cynaroides first open they are full of honey and are 

 known to the Boers as honey-pots. This honey is collected 

 and made into a kind of sugar. I saw large bushes of other 

 species of Protea in the neighborhood of Grahamstown, 

 some of them in flower, and they were quite as effective as 

 big specimen Rhododendrons are when in bloom. They 

 all grew in fairly exposed situations on the hill-sides, and 

 often in positions where there was very little soil for the 

 roots. They ripen seeds freely. Proteas would be excel- 

 lent shrubs for the gardens of the southern United States. 

 There are about sixty species of them, all African, and all 

 sufficiently attractive in flower to be worth a place in the 

 garden. Once they were popular in English gardens, but 



now they are practically unknown here. „^ ,,^ , 



London. W. Walsoji. 



Plant Notes. 



RiCHARDiA Elliottiana. — This Calla, as we saw it in the 

 Temple Garden Show, in London, last spring, was a most 

 interesting plant, with its spathe of clear rich yellow and its 

 foliage mottled like that of Richardia albo-maculata. Com- 

 paratively few plants have yet been imported into this coun- 

 try, but last week we saw them flowering in one of the 

 houses of Messrs. Pitcher & Manda at Short Hills, New 

 Jersey, and our good opinion of the species was con- 

 firmed. Three years ago an account was given in our 

 London letter of the sale of the stock of this plant at 

 au'ction by Captain Elliott, who had originally raised it 

 from seed which he had received as that of a red-spathed 

 Calla. He increased the stock by seed and offsets until he 

 had some two hundred and fifty plants, and he sold these 

 at auction for more than $2,000. The plant had already 

 received the first prize as the best new plant in bloom at 

 the Liternational Horticultural Exhibition at Earl's Court, 

 in London. It differs from the yellow-flowered R. Pent- 

 landii, which is tinged with purple at the base of the spathe 

 on the inside, and which does not have the finely mottled 

 leaves of R. Elliottiana. As observed at Messrs. Pitcher & 

 Manda's, the plant seems quite as vigorous and floriferous 

 as the ordinary Calla, although the leaves appear some- 

 what more dwarf, so that the flowers stand higher above 

 the foliage. The tuber resembles that of an ordinary Cala- 

 dium, and every tubercle, if removed and carefully attended 

 to, will grow into a flowering size in less than two years. 

 There can be little doubt that this yellow Calla will soon 



find its way into every collection of plants and every 

 florist's establishment throughout the country. 



Coreopsis grandiflora. — An excellent colored plate of 

 this, the best of all garden Coreopsis, is published in a re- 

 cent issue of the London Garden, and it reminds us to 

 repeat what we have already stated more than once, that this 

 plant was long distributed in this country, and is now 

 largely known in gardens here as C. lanceolata ; that is, a 

 better plant was sent oiit in the place of an inferior one, 

 the true C lanceolata being a good perennial, but not nearly 

 as showy since the flowers are much smaller. The plant, 

 however, is much hardier, since the crowns of C. grandi- 

 flora are quite often killed by New England winters if it is 

 left outdoors. The latter is more inclined to a tufted habit, 

 and when grown in pots for early spring decoration it is a 

 most useful plant. The difference between the two plants 

 is easil}' recognized, even in" the seeds, those of C. grandi- 

 flora being larger and not so dark in color as those of C. 

 lanceolata. The true C. grandiflora has been distributed 

 as Coreopsis " Harvest M'oon," and will be readily recog- 

 nized under this fanciful though inaccurate name. In the 

 length of its flower-stalks, the size of its flowers and the 

 freedom with which they are produced, C. grandiflora is 

 the best of the garden Coreopsis, and its liability to winter- 

 kill m the north is not so much of a drawback as would be 

 expected, owing to the freedom with which young plants 

 are produced from self-sovvn seed in the borders. These 

 are hardier than two-year-old plants, and live through the 

 first winter, flower the next year, should then be replaced 

 by self-sown plants or by some that have been protected 

 over winter in cold frames. 



Chorozema varium, var — A correspondent writes of a 

 seedling from a variety of Chorozema varium which seems 

 to have a more compact habit than the parent plant, and is 

 now covered with racemes of richly colored flowers, which 

 are almost as large as those of a garden pea. This is much 

 larger than these flowers usually are, but they vary much, 

 and European nurserymen now offer garden varieties said 

 to be much superior to the old kinds. Many of the old 

 kinds are excellent plants, and not really difficult to man- 

 age if they are hard cut in after they have done flowering, 

 repotted firmly and allowed abundance of air and light 

 always. They seem to do better here in the open air 

 during summer, so that the new growth will become 

 thoroughly ripened. The Chorozemas are Australian hard- 

 wood shrubs, and the flowers are most of them red and 

 yellow in different shades and mixtures. Most of the 

 flowers are much smaller than those of the variety noted, 

 but what they lack in size they make up in abundance, and 

 in late winter and spring they are excellent for decorating 

 conservatories. In southern Florida, like many other of 

 the Australian shrubs which can endure dryness at the 

 root for some time, they do admirably in the open air. 



Cultural Department. 

 Peach Yellows. 



PROFESSOR L. H. BAILEY, of Cornell University, has 

 been making a careful examination of Peach orchards 

 in western New York, vi'here there have been complaints of 

 the yellows, and has been publishing some notes on the 

 subject under the direction of the State Commissioner of 

 Agriculture. Some of his conclusions are these : 



The yellows is a distinct disease, attacking the Almond, 

 Apricot, Japanese Plum, as well as Peach, and it attacks thrifty 

 as well as feeble trees^ It lias been recognized as a disease 

 for a century ; is communicable from tree to tree; is incura- 

 ble, and the termination is always fatal. Its cause is wholly 

 unknown, and no fertilization of the soil will cure it or check 

 its spread. Tlie one very unmistakable symptom by which it 

 can be recognized is the red-spotted character of the fruit, the 

 flesh being marked generally by red lines or blotches beneath 

 the spots. These peaches generally ripen prematurely the 



