2IO 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 378. 



and rather more handsome than llie double-llowered form, 

 ahhough the latter is very beautiful. These plants need noth- 

 ing but fairly rich and deep soil antl they will continue to flower 

 year after year. 



During the tirst week in May two hundred and twenty-four 

 car-loads, amounting to nearly 64,000 boxes, of oranges, were 

 sent from Riverside, in southern California. It is estimated 

 that the value of the entire orange crop of the section which 

 ships fruit from tliis town will sell for $750,000. 



The first small shipment of Peen-to peaches, from Florida, 

 arrived last Friday, and regular supplies are expected this 

 week and hereafter during the season. Fine Early Alexander 

 peaches, grown under glass in Massachusetts, bring fifty cents 

 each, and hot-house melons cost a dollar and a half apiece. 

 The finest Porto Rico pineapples retail for one dollar each. 

 Muscat grapes, from Cape Colony, are still coming in Hmited 

 quantities, but the clusters are small, and persons who are will- 

 ing to pay for grapes at this season prefer the more showy 

 products of the hot-house. 



In a paper on Cannas, read by Mr. James I. Donlan before 

 the New York Florists' Club last week, he speaks of the 

 American seedling Columbia as being of a new and distinct 

 type and altogether a noble plant. It grows only from two to 

 three feet high and is of a stocky habit, with large dark green 

 foliage of leathery texture. The tlower-spike often branches 

 so as to give the effect of three or four trusses of bloom at 

 once, each of these appearing as a separate spike. The color 

 is a rich cardinal-red with a scarlet gloss toward the end of the 

 segments, and the immense trusses of red flowers l)orne on 

 plum-colored stalks give the plant a very distinguished ap- 

 pearance.- 



The first sweet corn of the season came from Bermuda by 

 Monday's steamer, and was offered by Mr. Kelly, the leading 

 dealer in Washington Market, at seventy-five cents a dozen. 

 It was well grown, and after tlie voyage of thirty-six hours the 

 husks and kernels looked as fresh as they usually do in warmer 

 weather when coming from neighboring gardens. Parsnips, 

 sweet potatoes and other winter vegetables of good quality 

 may still be had, and, besides fresh products from the south, 

 kohl-rabi and most delicate cauliflower are brought in from 

 neighboring hot-houses. All early spring vegetables are now 

 in good supply, but the best asparagus, green peas and wax 

 beans, with new squashes and cabbage from Florida, still com- 

 mand high prices. 



The second annual exhibition of native flowers collected by 

 'the Science Class of the Normal College of this city, was made 

 in the library of this institution during three days of last week. 

 The collection was tastefully arranged on a half-dozen long 

 tables, many species and varieties of wild flowers from eighty- 

 two ilifferent genera being represented. The display of flow- 

 ers was not only beautiful in itself, but it was also interesting 

 and instructive m the scientific accuracy with which the flow- 

 ers were arranged, each order being grouped by itself and 

 each specimen being carefully nameij. Not the least interest- 

 ing table was the one bearing specimens of Grasses, Mosses, 

 Ferns and branches of trees in blossom. The exhibit was 

 altogether creditable, and, besides its value to the students and 

 collectors, showed to the visitors, what many of them had 

 never realized before, the beauty and great variety of the native 

 flowers now in bloom hi this locality. Most of the specimens 

 came from Pelhamville and Staten Island. An admission fee 

 of fifteen cents was charged and this was to be for the benefit 

 of the Alumnae Kmdergarten. 



On the sidewalks the itinerant dealers are busy selling 

 branches of Pinxter-flower, Dogwood and Black Haw, and 

 even the expensive flower-sliops-are decorated with Mandrake, 

 Podophyllum peltatum. Commercial flowers are very al>un- 

 dant, but they are of poor quality, and it is hard to get first- 

 class roses and carnations. The best Madame Cusin roses 

 bring only $1.00 a dozen; Brides and Bridesmaids, $1.50 a 

 dozen ; American Beauty, $1.00 to $5 00 ; Baroness Rothschild 

 and its white sport, Mabel Morrison, $3,00 to $4 00 ; Ulrich 

 Brunner, $3.00 to $5 00, and General Jacqueminot, which are 

 more scarce than some other sorts, $2.40 to $4.00 ; Moss rose- 

 buds are seen in most of the best stores, and these cost $2.00 

 a dozen. Well-grown carnations of the Helen Keller, Dean 

 Hole and Albertma varieties bruig seventy-five cents a dozen, 

 but the average price for good flowers of other varieties is 

 fifty cents, and fairly good carnations may be bought on the 

 street for thirty-five cents a dozen. A few pjeonies have come, 

 and some forced gladioli. Of Dutch bulbous plants a few 

 Parrot tulips and late Poets' Narcissus are all that are left. 

 One of the prettiest flowers now sold is the yellow Sweet Sul- 



tan. Sweet peas and lily-of-the-valley are favorites, and in 

 special demand at this season, and lilacs are offered at prices 

 that are merely nominal. 



A Fanners' Bulletin, just issued by the United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture, gives many interesting facts about 

 the cultivation and use of Sweet Potatoes. The most northerly 

 state where this crop is extensively cultivated is New Jersey, 

 altliough crops have matured at the experiment stations in 

 ^Lincoln, Nebraska, and Geneva, New York. The Sweet Po- 

 tato is most commonly propagated by means of buds from 

 roots planted in hot-beds, and the shoots as they develop are 

 planted in the field. Cuttings from these vines are often rooted 

 and transplanted for the main crop. The plant rarely matures 

 seed in the United States. Ninety days after the sets are trans- 

 planted early varieties will be ready to dig for use. The best 

 growth is made in warm, sandy, well-drained, and even dry, 

 soil. The greatest care in harvesting is necessary to prevent 

 liruising the roots in handling, for the skin is very tender 

 and wounded roots are sure to decay. They are best preserved 

 by being kept in a temperature of seventy-five degrees for a 

 fortnight after digging, and then lowering the temperature and 

 keeping it during the winter at from fifty to sixty degrees in a 

 dry atmosphere. Rather more than two-thirds of the weight 

 of the Sweet Potato root is water. Three pounds of the roots 

 afford as much dry matter as one pound of corn, but only 

 about half as much protein. On sandy soil, however, more 

 dry matter to the acre can be secured with a crop of Sweet 

 Potatoes than with a crop of Corn. The young leaves and 

 tender sprouts of the plant are sometimes prepared and eaten 

 like spinach, and the vines, although they are usually left to 

 decay in the field, can be profitably used as food for cattle. 

 They are better fed green than cured into hay, and they cannot 

 be successfully made into ensilage. 



In Bulletin No. 87 of the Cornell Experiment Station, Profes- 

 sor Bailey presents a study of the Dwarf Lima Beans which 

 have become so popular. These Beans have been derived 

 from three types of the Pole Lima. The first of these types 

 is the so-called Sieva or Bushel Bean, Phaseolus lunatus. 

 Henderson's Dwarf Lima is a sport from this, the original 

 plant having been found more than twenty years ago by a 

 negro along a Virginia roadside. The Lima Bean of American 

 horticultural literature comes from the variety macrocarpusof 

 P. lunatus. There are two types of this Bean, the one known 

 as the Potato Lima, with tumid or nearly spherical seed, the 

 other as the Flat Lima, with large, soft, veiny seeds, tall growth 

 and late maturity. The Thorljurn, Kumerle or Dreer Dwarf 

 is a form of the Potato Lima, and the Burpee came from a 

 dwarf plant of the large White or Flat Lima. There is a fourth 

 Dwarf, the Barteldes, from Colorado, which has little to recom- 

 mend it for cultivation here. It is derived from P. multiflorus, 

 the Scarlet Runner or Painted Lady, which is cultivated gen- 

 erally as an ornamental plant here, although the >oung pods 

 and ripe beans are excellent for the table. These dwarf Limas 

 are all valuable, since they are from two weeks to a month 

 earlier than the Pole varieties. They are so productive that in 

 the north it is possible to secure a greater total yield per acre 

 from them than from the old varieties, since the plants require 

 less room. We have often spoken of the relative value of 

 these Beans. Henderson's is the earliest. The plant is com- 

 pact, the most productive, and continues the longest in bearing, 

 and the small, flat, clear white beans are of as good quality as 

 any Sieva Bean, though not so rich and buttery as the true 

 Lima. The pods also escape the mildew, which is often se- 

 rious upon the late thick-podded sorts, and its comljination 

 ot merits insures a place for it in every garden. Another Dwarf 

 known as Jackson's Wonder is also of the Sieva type, differing 

 from Henderson's in having the beans brown-speckled, the 

 plant being rather less dwarf and compact and a trifle later. 

 The Thorburn, Kumerle or Dreer Dwarf is a bush-plant with 

 no tendency whatever to climb, only moderately productive, 

 and rather late, its white tumid beans having the excellent 

 qualities of the Potato Lima, which by many people is consid- 

 ered superior even to the large white Lima from which Burpee's 

 Bush Lima is descended. 'This last is a true Lima, somewhat 

 taller than the Thorburn, occasionally reaching a height of two 

 feet, the Hat seed as large as those of the Pole Lima ; season 

 medium to late, or about three weeks later than the Hender- 

 son, and about the same as that of the Burpee, and rather 

 more productive than that variety. Mr. T. Greiner considers 

 the Dreer Bush Lima as the best bean in quality, but he 

 notices as a drawback to the usefulness of the plant that the 

 pods grow so closely together and so near the ground that they 

 are in danger of becoming soiled and rotted before the beans 

 are fit to use. 



