1 66 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 374. 



found in a few private gardens in the United States, and 

 commercial florists liave not yet learned its value ; or, 

 perhaps, its rarity here is due to the supposed difBculty of 

 cultivating hard-wooded Australian plants. This Boronia 

 is a delicate-branched shrub with small leaves, divided 

 into from three to five narrow rigid leaflets, and small 

 axillary subglobose flowers, maroon color on the outer 

 surface of the petals and yellow on the inner. The value 

 of the plant is in the delicate and delightful fragrance of 

 the flowers, a small specimen perfuming a whole house. 

 Plants are usually propagated from cuttings of half-ripened 

 wood, which must be carefully watered and shaded, as 

 they are extremely sensitive to bright sunlight or excessive 

 root or atmospheric moisture. Plants may also be raised 

 from seed, which can be obtained from German or Aus- 

 tralian seed dealers, large quantities being collected from 

 wild plants in the Australian bush. The most successful 

 cultivators here plant the young plants in the open ground 

 in summer, but are careful to shade them with lath frames 

 from the direct rays of the sun, and in winter grow them 

 in a low temperature, bringing them gradually forward in 

 greater heat when they are wanted to flower. They are 

 planted out again during the second summer, and, after 

 flowering again the following winter or spring, when the 

 plants should be about two feet high and as much through, 

 they are thrown away and replaced by younger speci- 

 mens. A plant placed in an ordinary living-room when 

 the flowers are opening should remain in good condition 

 for two or three weeks, filling it with a delicate fragrant 

 odor which is slightly pungent, like that of most other 

 flowers ot the Rue family, to which Boronia belongs. 

 London florists find their profit in selling bushy well- 

 flowered two-year-old plants for five shillings each, and 

 in this country many people, if they once knew this 

 Boronia, would gladly pay two or three times five shillings 

 for e(iually good plants. 



Cultural Department. 



Flower Garden Notes. 



THE unusually late spring makes garden work a week or 

 two later than in ordinary seasons. Though planting can- 

 not be done now, the preparation of the soil can go on, and 

 when herbaceous plants show signs of activity changes can 

 then be quickly made. The delay caused by the late spring 

 enforces what lias been advised before — tliat fall planting is 

 always preferable for this class of plants, since in most cases 

 one can judge better of the habits and height while the tops 

 are on the plants. We find each year that some kinds will 

 outdo themselves in vigor, and need to be moved further 

 back, divided or thinned. If there is doubt now as to how the 

 alterations should be carried out it is better to wait until 

 another year, and make careful note during the growing 

 period, so that the necessary changes may be made in the fall. 



The planting of shrubs and conifers should be done now if 

 they have already been lifted to prevent an early start of the 

 buds. If this provision has been taken there need be no risk 

 in planting until a month later. When planting is well done 

 it is done for all time, and it is best to have the ground well 

 dug at least eighteen inches deep. This can be accomplished 

 by trenching or double digging the soil and mixing the manure 

 well into the bottom, for if the roots are encouraged to go well 

 down there is much less danger of injury from drought in hot 

 weather ; besides, trees and shrubs take hold more quickly 

 and thrive better. 



Magnolias should be planted in the spring. Tliey are often 

 difficult to establish, but when well started are among the best 

 of flowering trees. It often happens that only small plants 

 are obtainable, especially of the rare forms. It is well to grow 

 these on in pots for a year until they are well rooted, and then 

 transfer them to the places assigned to them. The soil should 

 be good to a depth that will make future transplanting un- 

 necessary, for Magnolias are the most impatient of root-dis- 

 turbance of all our trees. Hot drying winds in exposed 

 places make sad work with newly moved trees. 



Young trees or conifers planted in rows to grow on for later 

 use should be moved at least once in two years to insure a 

 good number of young fibrous roots in a compact mass. 

 Young stock grown in this way is worth twice as much as 



stock that has not been transplanted, and if the room can be 

 spared to shift them, the labor is not too great when the re- 

 sults are considered. We find that this biennial moving does 

 not in the least interfere with the season's growth of ever- 

 greens. The check given to the growth of deciduous trees 

 and shrubs benefits tliem by making well-balanced heads, with 

 fewer strong shoots that have to be pruned out later on. Those 

 who wish to add to their collections new and interesting nov- 

 elties as they appear, realize the value of this reserve nursery, 

 and know, also, that newly purchased or rare trees are often 

 too small to plant at once in permanent positions. If these 

 are allowed a year or two in a temporary place, so as to become 

 acclimated and of larger size, an opportunity is meanwhile 

 afforded to select the best place for their permanent planting, 

 and the planting of a tree needs careful consideration with a 

 view to its maturity. 



A reserve border of herbaceous plants is also desirable, 

 made up of kinds recently raised from seed, and which will 

 not flower for a year or more ; of duplicates, others that are 

 on trial as to hardiness or desirability, and new and unknown 

 sorts, as a lot recently raised here from seeds received from 

 Asia Minor. These unfamiliar plants should be kept where 

 they are not likely to be rooted out by those unfamiliar with 

 their appearance when the borders are weeded. We have to 

 mourn the loss of many plants in this way, but a straight row 

 in the reserve border is comparatively free from this danger. 

 Such a border is useful, too, to fill up losses. 



Narcissi are coming on better this year than usual, and we 

 shall soon be able to cut the first flowers from the borders. 

 Hardy Narcissi are more useful than is generally supposed. 

 They provide the first outdoor cut flowers ; they have a 

 strength and beauty all their own, and last much longer than 

 those forced indoors, for the sorts that are best as hardy plants 

 are too valuable to be grown for forcmg. They have also 

 more substance, with distinct contrasts in coloring. They are 

 for the most part of garden origin, the result of the hybridist's 

 skill, and not mere wild forms, although the wild forms have 

 much to recommend them. The substance of Horsfieldii, 

 Empress, Emperor, M. Foster, Henry Irving and Golden 

 Spur constitutes the value these species have when cut for use 

 indoors. The continued cold of the past winter seems to have 

 suited the Narcissi well. There has been no early start, with 

 succeeding chills, such as occurred a year ago, and the tops 

 have none of the seared look that they took on then. A good 

 display of flowers is promised soon, and a healthy growth 

 of the bull)s afterward. 



The newly introduced Spanish forms of Narcissi have dis- 

 appeared almost to a bulb ; they proved unsuited to our 

 climate, while, as already stated, the garden hybrids have the 

 best constitutions and multiply most quickly. 



South Lancaster, Mass. E. O. Orpet. 



A Few Desirable Plants. 



A REMARKABLY handsome specimen of the Crimson 

 -^^~^ Rambler Rose is now in bloom in one of the greenhouses 

 belonging to H. H. Hunnewell, Esq., Wellesley, Massachu- 

 setts. There can be no doubt that this Rose is a de- 

 cided acquisition. It has been thoroughly tested during 

 the long and severe winter just past, and it has come through 

 in even better condition than the majority of hybrids. It 

 appears to belong to the robust Japanese form of Rosa mul- 

 tiflora, and is hardier than the Polyantha type. It is a 

 Rose of exceptional value as a pot-plant, judging from 

 the specimen grown here. It is trained in pyramidal form 

 and is completely covered with handsome clusters of deep 

 crimson flowers. Evidently the current season's bloom is 

 produced on the previous year's growths, which now are rap- 

 idly stretching out and promise to attain five or six feet in 

 length on an undeveloped specimen. Strong plants are said 

 to form shoots from ten to twelve feet long. On a pot-plant 

 these shoots will be far too rambling in character, and in order 

 to keep the plants in convenient shape for handlmg, they will 

 need a little training — say, into balloon, fan or pyramid form, 

 according to the grower's fancy. 



Another climbing Rose now competing for favor is the 

 Dawson Rose (R. multiflora, var. Japonica X General Jacque- 

 minot), raised by Mr. Jackson Dawson, of the Arnold Arbo- 

 retum, Boston. The flowers are deep pink, almost red, borne in 

 clusters, and a trifle larger than those of the Crimson Ram- 

 bler, to which it will be a fitting companion. 



A few days ago I saw a i)lant of Muhlenbeckia complexa 

 used as a basket-plant in the conservatories belonging to F. 

 Simpson, Esq., of Saxonville, Massachusetts. I observed many 

 years ago a plant of M. complexa which grew along the house 



