1 14 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 369. 



Orchid, Fern, Palm, etc. We have Cactus societies, Cactus 

 journals. Cactus shows and Cactus collections. What are 

 ihey to do for a name? I argue the question solely from 

 the standpoint of convenience, and I claim for the old 

 arrangement the right to stand which long usage and suit- 

 ability give it. Mamillaria is an excellent generic name, as 

 it points out a character peculiar to the genus, namely, the 

 mamma:', or nipple-like tubercles which clothe the stem. It is 

 not easy to persuade horticulturists to drop a well-estab- 

 lished plant name, but I fancy you might as well ask us to 

 find some other name for the Rose as to ask that we shall 

 call a Cactus something else. 



Colonial Fruit. — Our horticultural and agricultural 

 friends at the antipodes promise to supply the English 

 market with fruit in as great abundance, and consequently 

 as cheap, as the beef and mutton which now come from 

 there. Tasmania announces that a shipment of apples for 

 England will be made every week for thirteen weeks, be- 

 ginning on February 25th, and that the grand total of cases 

 intended for us will be close upon 200,000. We are also 

 informed that a few thousand cases " only " will be shipped 

 from Victoria and other Australian colonies. Three steam- 

 ers, bringing large cargoes of fruit from the Cape, have 

 lately arrived here, but owing to bad management much of 

 the fruit arrived in an unsatisfactory condition. Grapes, 

 peaches, nectarines, greengages, plums, melons, pears, 

 apples and tomatoes were the principal consignments. I 

 believe the chief cause of failure with such fruit as this is 

 the cold of the "cool chamber." Shippers should try 

 warmer and drier treatment for fruit grown under tropical 

 or subtropical conditions. 



London. 



W. Watson. 



Plant Notes. 

 The Cherokee Rose. 



WE not long ago published a note on this Rose, and, 

 indeed, we have often spoken of its attractive 

 qualities, but it is one of those plants which it is difficult to 

 overpraise. In one of the earlier volumes of Garden and 

 Forest (see vol. i., page 235) there was an illustration of a 

 hedge of this plant in Florida, with some of its long pen- 

 dulous branches cut away to keep it within reasonable 

 bounds. In the present number (seepage 115) we pub- 

 lish an illustration of a flowering branch in which the 

 quality of the individual flowers is brought out more 

 clearly. The practice of spending a part of the winter in 

 the southern states has become so general that most 

 northern people are now familiar with this plant, but those 

 who have never seen it can get a fairly good idea of 

 the character of the flowers from the illustration, when it 

 is remembered that they are considerably reduced, each 

 one being two or three inches across, of a clear white, 

 which appears to the best advantage against the dark 

 evergreen leaves. The plant was naturalized in this 

 country so early that Michaux pronounced it indigenous 

 more than one hundred years ago. But, although we have 

 no record when it was first introduced or how it broke 

 away from the garden and made itself at home in Georgia 

 and spread through the other southern states, botanists 

 usually agree that it is an Asiatic species. It has become 

 so thoroughly naturalized in the land of its adoption, how- 

 ever, that it is seen along the highways, forming high 

 hedges which become at length lofty thickets twenty or 

 thirty feet thick, and absolutely impenetrable. It is as 

 much at home, in fact, as the wild Orange in Florida, or 

 the Barberry on the New England coast. No more beau- 

 tiful spectacle can be imagined than a long vista bordered 

 with these plants, with their rampant growth and profusion 

 of flowers. 



Of course, the Cherokee Rose is tender in the north, and 

 it is such a vigorous grower that it does not give much 

 satisfaction as a pot plant. It is well worth setting out, 

 however, in any large cool greenhouse, where it can be 

 planted in a border in rich well-drained soil, and trained to 



the rafters and walls. It needs full sunlight and all the 

 air it can get during the warm weather, and, when once 

 well established, it should be cut back almost as closely as 

 a grape-vine. Hardwood cuttings taken in autumn will 

 make a plant fit to set out in the open border the following 

 June, and, if well grown, it will be large enough to flower 

 the next January. Severe pruning will not be needed the 

 first year, but, afterward, the old wood should be cut out 

 every year in March or April to encourage new shoots, 

 and it should always be well fed when it is growing. In 

 its native state it blooms in April, but by proper pruning 

 the time of flowering can be somewhat regulated, and it 

 can be kept in bloom from January to March. Occasion- 

 ally flowering branches of the plant are seen in florists' 

 windows, but it would hardly pay here as a commercial 

 plant, since it needs a long time to become established, 

 takes a great deal of room, and then bears but one crop, 

 and not a very long one, every year. It is, however, a 

 most desirable ornament for any large cool house. 



The illustration on page 115 is from a photograph by 

 Miss i'dith Eliot, of New Bedford, Massachusetts. 



Asparagus retrofractus arboreus. — This plant, introduced 

 to cultivation by Messrs. Lemoine in 1890, seems very dis- 

 tinct from other species of Asparagus. The stems are light 

 colored, as large as a Rye straw, but solid and almost 

 woody, the specimens we have seen under ordinary cul- 

 ture reaching a height of six or seven feet. The chief 

 peculiarity, however, is in their so-called leaves, which are 

 borne on numerous short side stems. These leaves are thin 

 and are arranged in clusters like those of a Pine-tree. Their 

 color is li.ght green. The leaves are attractive and lasting 

 for use in foliage effects with delicate flowers, and will be 

 appreciated as a change even from the beautiful Asparagus 

 plumosus. The plant would also be attractive for foliage 

 decorations. Perhaps this species may not be readily in- 

 creased so as to make it a plant of commercial value, but it 

 will, we think, be appreciated in private greenhouses. 



BiGNONiA VENUSTA. — Where one has plenty of head-room 

 m a cool or intermediate house there is nothing better than 

 this good old Brazilian plant for winter blooming. It be- 

 gins to flower during the dull season, November and 

 December, and continues until the middle or end of 

 March ; the warmer the house the earlier the flowers. 

 They are borne in thick clusters in long pendulous 

 racemes, often three feet or more in length, and are of good 

 size and of bright orange-yellow color. Very few green- 

 house plants show such immense and showy masses of 

 bloom as this Bignonia. Unfortunately, the flowers are 

 not very usefid for cutting ; they fade quickly unless they 

 can be kept wholly or partially submerged in water ; occa- 

 sionally, however, they can be used v\'ith good effect in 

 large decorations where they need last for an hour or two 

 only. It is for greenhouse adornment that this plant is 

 principally useful, where there is a back wall or high gable 

 to be covered, or where a quantity of pendent vines will 

 not interfere too much with the plants growing below. It 

 should be planted in a well-drained border, in rough soil, 

 rotted sods and peat, and care must be taken to keep the 

 roots somewhat confined — that is, too much root-space is 

 undesirable. The strong growth is during the summer 

 months, terminating with the flowers in early winter. 

 After flowering, the plant should rest ; the leaves will fade 

 and fall, and water must be given sparingly. The last of 

 May, or in early June, a severe pruning should be given ; 

 all the new v\'ood, now fully ripened, should be cut back to 

 two eyes, unless it is desired to extend the amount of space 

 occupied by the plant, when enough for such purpose 

 should be saved. The weak wood should be re- 

 moved, and any superfluous older stems cut out. Water 

 should now be given, and the vine should be syringed 

 daily. It will break freely and grow rapidly ; any weak 

 growths should be pinched out, and the stronger ones care- 

 fully trained, but never headed in, for it is on the ends of 

 these shoots that the flowers will come. To check the 



