January 9, 1895.] 



Garden and Forest. 



^7 



high, and its flowers are large, trumpet-shaped, and of a deep, 

 intense violet-blue, with white tIn-oat. Violacea semi-plena 

 is a poor, half-double sort, of which the less said the better. 

 Haageana and Ami Van Houtte belong to the Longillora varie- 

 ties, but escaped my notice when I dealt with that group ; the 

 first is simply the typical LongiHora, but the other is very dis- 

 tinct, with its deep yellow eye contrasting with its rich deep 

 purple surface. Dr. Buenzod is a flat flower, of a bluish- 

 purple cast, not very distinct ; no one need care for it. La 

 Belle Cracovienne is flat, purple, with white eye ; not needed. 

 Unique is purple-magenta, with orange eye ; superfluous. 

 Loveliness is much like the last and deserves the same ad- 

 jective. 



This finishes my account, for, though I have many other 

 kinds, they are either not now in the catalogues or not yet 

 sufficiently described in my note-books. The lovely plant we 

 had twenty-five years ago under the name of Achimenes 

 picta, was a Tydea, and therefore does not belong here ; the 

 same may be said of the two Dicyrtas, Candida and War- 

 scewiczii. If any reader of these notes can send me a 

 rhizome of the A. picta just mentioned, I shall be glad to send 

 in exchange any of the Achimenes I have named, except 

 Nisida and Ignescens, of which my stock is exceedingly 

 small. 



Canton, Mass. tV. E. Endicott. 



Notes on Lilies. 



VirHEN once fairly established, Lilium auratum, theGolden- 

 ' • rayed Lily, is an easy plant to manage, and I believe it 

 may be made as permanent as any of the Lilies. It often hap- 

 pens, however, that it flowers but once after the bulb is set. 

 This is as much owing to the manner of planting as to any- 

 thing ; if the bulb is perfectly free from rot, the soil well 

 spaded and enriched to a good depth beneath it, and nothing 

 but sand or a light loam is allowed to come in contact with it, 

 a good root-growth at its base is ordinarily assured. When 

 this is the case the plant will not only bloom the second year, 

 but will produce much larger flowers, and the bulb itself will 

 increase in size. I have seen bulbs which produced good 

 stalks and flowers whose root-growth beneath the bulb was 

 almost nothing. Above the bulb was a dense growth of roots 

 from the surface of the ground to the bulb, and these sus- 

 tained the stalk and flowers. The bulb, however, degenerated 

 instead of improving, and would not bloom the second year. 

 Not only should the soil be enriched beneath the bulbs, but 

 the surface should also be well fertilized, in order to feed the 

 many roots along the stem above the bulb. It is surprising 

 what an enormous root-growth one of these large healthy 

 bulbs will make if properly set ; and, compared with the ordi- 

 nary size, it is astonishing how large the plant maybe made to 

 grow with extra care. 



Lilium Philadelphicum, the Wild Orange-red Lily, though 

 usually found in very poor soil, responds to high fertilization 

 as quickly as any species. It requires, however, a light well- 

 drained soil, and it seems useless to attempt to grow it in clay. 

 When a light sand or loam is used it is as easy to grow as L. 

 Canadense. It is a very striking plant when it attains its maxi 

 mum size and is in full flower. Its height, under the most 

 favorable conditions, is more than double that of the ordinary 

 wild plant, and the number of flowers is greatly increased. 



The new and rare Lilium Grayi of the southern Allegheny 

 Mountains is, I believe, destined to become a popular species, 

 if it ever becomes common enough to be sold at reasonable 

 rates. The bulbs more than double in size in the first sea- 

 son of cultivation. The best collected bulbs I have yet been 

 able to get were poor compared with those that had been cul- 

 tivated for one season. L. Grayi is a fine Lily, and grows two 

 or three feet high, with two or more dark orange-red flowers, 

 spotted inside. In shape and color the flower is not very 

 unlike L. Bolanderi, of Oregon, but it is larger ; the plant also 

 is much larger and is more easily grown. In size and shape a 

 good bulb of this species is very like that of an ordinary 

 Meadow Lily. It may be propagated from scales like the 

 Meadow Lily. 



Few Lilies may be grown with as little care in the prepara- 

 tion of soil and other particulars as Lilium Wallacei. It is not 

 a tall species, seldom growing more than fifteen inches high, 

 but its erect salmon-colored flowers, three or four inches 

 across, are very showy. It seems to be one of the reliable 

 hardy kinds which every one should try. It increases fast, and 

 two or three bulbs soon form a mass of bulbs and stems. 

 Although it is easy to grow, it responds to extra treatment, and 

 a mulch of straw-manure in autumn is a good stimulant for it. 

 It likes a little heavier soil than some other species, and when 



set in sand is benefited by a mixture of clay and leaf-mold or 

 peat under the bulbs. It transplants well in spring or autumn. 

 Last spring I had twenty-five good bulbs, and the llower-buds 

 were well formed. The place in which they were planted was 

 not sufficiently well drained, so tliat it was necessary to trans- 

 plant them. They did not suffer in the least from this treat- 

 ment, but grew much faster, and were the best plants of L. 

 Wallacei in my collection. 

 Chaiiotte, vt. F. H. Horsford. 



Lffilia autumnalis. 



MEXICAN ORCHIDS take kindly to our system of cultiva- 

 tion under glass. They flower freely, make satisfactory 

 progress each year, and in many instances the bulbs made 

 here are superior to those made in their native land. There 

 are but few exceptions to this rule, Cattleya citrina being, per- 

 haps, the most noticeable. Lselia autumnalis is one of our 

 best autumn-flowering Orchids, and, among Lffilias, ranks 

 next in importance to the varieties of L. anceps. A few years 

 ago a white-flowered form of L. autumnalis was unknown, 

 but there is now a fine plant in thecollection of C. G. Roebling, 

 Esq., of Trenton, New Jersey, and as it appeared the other day 

 it is worth going a long distance to see. There were two 

 spikes bearing six flowers each, their color pure white, with no 

 tinge of pink. This collection is especially rich in white forms 

 of Cattleyas and Laelias, and no opportunity is lost to make it 

 as complete as possible. Perhaps the best of the colored 

 forms of Laelia autumnalis is the one known as L. atrorubens. 

 This is a rich carmine, and fades less than the commoner 

 kinds. They are all worth growing, since they last so long on 

 the plant, although when cut the flowers of L. autumnalis and 

 L. anceps keep poorly, presumably on account of the wiry 

 nature of their stems. When left on tlie plant they may be 

 enjoyed for three or four weeks. 



Laelia Arnoldiana seems to be little more than a well-marked 

 form, probably geographical, of L. autumnalis, which it closely 

 resembles. It flowers at the. same time of year. All of these 

 Laglias may be had in bloom at Christmas-time without any 

 trouble. 



Mexican Lselias like plenty of light in the growing-season; a 

 very light coat of white lead, thinned with kerosene, and, if 

 desireti, tinted with chrome-green, is a good shading medium, 

 as it comes off readily in the fall. A green-tinted shade is not 

 so conspicuous in the landscape as a white one. If shade has 

 to be provided early in the year, it is better to thin the white 

 lead with turpentine, as this dries rapidly, and is not liable to 

 be washed off by rain or evaporated moisture, as may hap- 

 pen when kerosene is used. In summer, when the kerosene 

 dries quickly, this objection to its use does not hold. 



We use no material but Fern-root for these Mexican Orchids. 

 The resting period in winter, and the consequent drying out 

 of the material, soon kills moss, if it is used, and makes it 

 unfit for the roots, but if Fern-root alone is used, water 

 can be abundantly applied all through the growing season, 

 and with an airy house there is no trouble in growing these 

 Orchids and in producing bulbs as large as are made in Mexico. 



South Lancaster, Mass. E. O. Orpet. 



Luculia gratissima. — This is one of the oldest of garden- 

 plants, but, like many other beautiful greenhouse subjects, it 

 has been pushed to one side lately for some reason, possibly 

 owing to the rage for Orchids. It is the first exotic plant whose 

 name I mastered as a child, and I well remember how a speci- 

 men planted out in a warm house by my father used to fill the 

 house with the fragrance of its abundant flowers at Christmas- 

 time. For a few weeks past the Luculia has been a conspicu- 

 ously beautiful object here, and it is only repeating what it has 

 done for several successive years. A correspondent tells me 

 how beautiful it is in the gardens of Mr. Sturtevant, in Califor- 

 nia, where it thrives in the open air. It would, no doubt, 

 prove a fine subject for outdoor planting in the climate of 

 Florida, wherever the Poinsettias live outdoors, as they do 

 in the Orange belt. It will endure any amount of sun-heat, 

 and will thrive here in the cool house in winter, so that Lucu- 

 lia will flourish wherever the Orange grows well. It is a hand- 

 some plant for the greenhouse, and can be cut back after flow- 

 ering every year so as to keep it in reasonable shape and 

 bounds. L. gratissima is hard to propagate, or at least bears 

 that reputation, but if cuttings are put in after the flowers have 

 been cut off, and rooted in a cool house, success is fairly certain. 

 In a warm propagating-house red spider is too likely to attack 

 the plants. 



Euphorbia jacquiniseflora is the older and best-known name 

 for a fine old winter-flowering plant now known as E. fulgens. 



