April 24, 1895.] 



Garden and Forest. 



167 



of Mr. J. C. Niven, curator in the old Botanic Gardens at Hull, 

 England. It was diffuse rather than climbing, and had to be 

 tied up to prevent its getting into the driveway. It made a 

 pleasing border, the long, black, slender, shining branches 

 spreading in all directions. As a basket-plant it is unique. In 

 the specimen seen in Mr. Simpson's conservatory the branches 

 drooped gracefully, and on the maturer side of the stems were 

 bunches of its peculiar glistening, wax-like flowers. In the 

 centre of the flower is a black trigynous seed-capsule, charac- 

 teristic of the Buckwheat family, to which it belongs. It is a 

 native of New Zealand. 



A little more than a year ago I made reference in Garden 

 AND Forest to a fine collection of some two hundred plants of 

 the large-flowered Christmas Rose, Helleborus niger maxi- 

 mus, growing in a set of cold frames at Mr. Powers' place at 

 South Framingham. These are now in full bloom and make 

 a beautiful show. There can be no doubt that this is the most 

 satisfactory way to grow these plants. When treated as per- 

 fectly hardly plants they are a failure, and even if they endure 

 the winter they seldom bloom. As their natural blooming 

 season is early winter, any flower-buds which move, as they 

 will do during a spell of mild weather, will be sure to be 

 killed. Very little protection has been given these plants of 

 Mr. Powers. They have simply been kept from moving. The 

 foliage is perfect, and, being evergreen, it is essential that it 

 should be preserved. Our plants, exposed on the rock garden, 

 are cut down every year. Since no foliage holds over 

 to sustain the plants when making their spring growth they 

 simply go back more and more, making it only a question of 

 a year or two when they will dieout entirely. 



Wellesley. Mass. 7. D. Hatfield. 



The Earliest Daffodils. 



'T'HE first Daffodils appeared during Easter week. Always wel- 

 ^ come flowers these, yet with their appearance there comes 

 the thought that the first flush of the resurrecflon of plant- 

 life is passed, for these blossoms markthe beginning of a second 

 season and the flowering of the more showy plants than those 

 of the early year. Nature performs her operations on a grand 

 scale, and sometimes rather noisily, but there are none of her 

 changes more impressive than the annual awakening of plant- 

 life. A rare sight is the awakening, when one considers how 

 seldom it can be enjoyed during an ordinary lifetime. I think 

 it has been said that if Nature would usher in the spring-time 

 with a brass band or some such noise mankind would struggle 

 with each other to behold the sight. 



Narcissi do not flower in constant order in my garden ; it is 

 partly a matter of location as to when they open. N. bicolor 

 and its variety. King Umberto, were the first this year, with 

 Henry Irving second. There are others — N. pallidus praecox, 

 N. obvallaris and N. nanus — in flower now. N. nanus is a 

 pretty little dwarf variety with long trumpets, which should 

 grow out of a carpet made by some low plant, or it might do 

 well in grass. The minute N. triandrus has established itself 

 in the grass on one of my borders, and has not lately failed to 



flower. ^ ,T ^ , 



Elizabeth, N. J. J- N. Gerard. 



Christmas Roses. 



HELLEBORUS NIGER is the oldest and best known Christ- 

 mas Rose, but several other species and many garden 

 hybrids and varieties are now cultivated under this common 

 name. H. niger and its nearest allies bloom in late No- 

 vember and December in favorable seasons, but if there is 

 much dull and cold weather then, as there generally is, the 

 flowering is deferred until spring. It is also true that, even 

 after a fairly good autumnal and early winter bloom, many 

 buds are left which will open in early spring; this is most 

 likely to occur with old and well-established plants. Alto- 

 gether it is quite fair, in the average New England season, to 

 count the black Hellebores among our early spring-blooming 

 plants. Several fine specimens of the type and its progeny 

 are just now passing out of flower. They are not easy plants 

 to establish — just why it is difficult to tell ; it is probable that 

 the trouble comes from our hot and dry suminer weather. 

 The plants are received from foreign nurseries in Decem- 

 ber. They should be planted in pots of moderate size and 

 kept in a cool greenhouse during winter ; here, if well 

 grown, they will flower. The growth begins after flow- 

 ering and continues into late spring and early summer ; 

 while growing they require plenty of water and a partially 

 shaded position. After growth stops they should be plunged 

 out-of-doors for the summer, still kept shaded during the 

 middle of the day and well supplied with water. With 



this treatment they make excellent plants for forcing, giv- 

 ing abundant flowers during November, December or Jan- 

 uary, in a cool greenhouse, pit or frame. This method of 

 handling, too, seems to be the best to secure good plants for 

 the open ground — that is, they arrive too late in the season for 

 fall planting, but by growing them a year in pots good speci- 

 mens are procured, which can be planted in September or 

 early October. In this way a larger proportion are likely 

 to live and continue in satisfactory condition. They 

 should be given good soil, a partly shady place, and 

 kept well watered in July and August; a rock-work, with a 

 northern exposure, is by no means a bad position. Almost 

 all the garden varieties are good, and give many shades 

 in color, from pure white to dull purplish red ; none of 

 the reds are very bright. Propagation Is effected by division 

 and by seeds ; both these methods present difficulties not 

 easily overcome by the amateur ; it is best to import plants or 

 to procure newly imported plants from the dealers. 



Jamaica Plain, Mass. B. M, Watsotl, 



Pot Bulbs for Early Spring. 



Early Tulips for Forcing.— It was once held that only 

 the early Tulips were suitable for forcing, but with me the 

 Bizarres and Byblcemens have proved well adapted to pot- 

 culture. There can be no question that the later ones, with 

 their long flower-stalks and large cup-like flowers, are much 

 the most effective as pot-plants. A little weak manure-water 

 applied once a week after the buds show induces even larger 

 and finer flowers than are borne on garden-grown plants, 

 while the characteristic feathering and flaking, that in the 

 later Tul'ps reaches perfection, make them especially beautiful. 



IxiAS.— These plants, together with their allied compan-ons, 

 Sparaxis and Babianas, are also admirable for late winter and 

 early spring flowers. Desirable as they are for lengthening 

 out the nearly spent season of bloom 'under glass, there is 

 considerable complaint that they are too uncertain in flower- 

 ing to be satisfactory. The foliage often turns sickly and yel- 

 low, and frequently the plants do not show a single bloom. 

 I am inclined to think that haste in forcing is the cause of 

 three-fourths of these failures. A judicious lelting-alone dur- 

 ing the first few months of their growth is wholesome for 

 them. Under the benches or beneath a flower-shelf, where 

 they have fairly good light, but not enough to stimulate rapid 

 expansion, is a suitable place through early and midwinter. 

 Then, as the season of their flowering draws near they need to 

 be brought to the light and watered more freely than before. 

 Under this treatment they always give fine flowers and plenty 

 of them. 



PineviUe, Mo. X, 



Double English Primroses. — For several years we have grown 

 in the cold frames a few sashes of these flowers for early use 

 in spring, and have been much pleased with them. Bunched 

 like Violets with their own foliage, they are among the most 

 beautiful of early flowers, and would, doubtless, prove almost 

 hardy in sheltered places, though as yet we have not tried 

 them. There are a number of varieties of double Primrose, 

 but these are not to be classed with the Polyanthus, the former 

 having but one flower on a stem, and these double varieties 

 cannot be raised from seed as can the single kinds, but are 

 easily increased in autumn by division. There are many 

 double kinds cultivated in English gardens, all of which would 

 be appreciated here if better known. Hitherto we have only 

 grown the double white, but there are as many as ten or twelve 

 kinds altogether, most of them of very old garden origin, espe- 

 cially the old double Velvet Crimson, which was almost lost 

 to cultivation until recently. The treatment that suits the com- 

 mon single varieties of Polyanthus in summer will also suit the 

 double Primroses. They need a moist shady place in the hot 

 months, division in September in good soil, and protection in 

 winter. If put in a dry place in summer the plants are liable 

 to be a prey to red spider. 



South Lancaster, Mass. E. O. Orpct. 



Cyrtopodium punctatum. — This is one of the most useful of 

 the Orchids now iri bloom, and it is so easily managed that no 

 one need hesitate to undertake its culture. Fibrous loam, 

 well-rotted manure and rough sand suit it exactly. The flower- 

 stalks are from two to two and a half feet high, with large 

 panicles of yellow flowers spotted with brown. The flower- 

 spikes and the new pseudo-bulbs begin growth simultane- 

 ously. In the fall, after the growths have become thoroughly 

 ripe, the plants should be allowed to rest until they show signs 

 of activity in the early spring. While making growth the plants 

 are much benefited by frequent doses of weak liquid-manure. 



Washington, D. C. O. 



