276 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 385. 



and render a public service by talcing up this plant and 

 making it abundant, and almost every year since then we 

 liave spoken of it ; nevertheless, it remains a rare plant in 

 American gardens. 



Nymph^ea liliacea and N. Robinsoni. — From Mr. J. Bry- 

 don, of Yarmouthport, Massachusetts, we have received 

 two other flowers of the rare Nymphseas originated by 

 Monsieur Marliac, and now first flowered in this country. 

 These are of the same series as N. Laydekeri, N. flammea 

 and N. ignea, previously described, and are the progeny of 

 a cross between the N. rubra of the tropics and some hardy 

 Nymphasas whose identity has not been disclosed. N. 

 liliacea is about the size of N. Laydekeri, but with much 

 wider and less-pointed petals. The sepals are dark green, 

 with brownish shadings and margined with pale rose. The 

 ])etals, eighteen in number in the specimen received, are 

 suffused with magenta-red on a white ground on the outer 

 row, and the inner petals are nearly self-colored of a darker 

 shade. The stamens are closely clustered, deep orange, 

 with yellow tips. The flower is particularly brilliant under 

 artificial light. N. Robinsoni has long pointed sepals and 

 petals. The former are pale olive-green, lined with prim- 

 rose and rose. The petals are as numerous as in N. liliacea, 

 and have a touch of yellow in their red, it being, we under- 

 stand, one of the crosses with a yellow species. These are 

 welcome additions to our hardy Nymphai-as, and will be 

 especially valuable if they possess the free-ilowering habit 

 of N. Laydekeri and can be propagated. 



Kniphofia pauciflora. — This Natal species is very dis- 

 tinct and quite unlike the usual "Poker-plants" in habit 

 and flower. The leaves are narrower and slightly chan- 

 neled. The small flowers are tubular, with spreading 

 notched lobes, which are creamy white, the tubes being 

 bright yellow. The flowers are borne sparsely on one side 

 of a short erect stem. 



Senecio Japonicus. — Among hardy herbaceous plants of 

 a bold character there are few more effective than this 

 Groundsel. It has stems about five feet tall and palmate 

 leaves deeply lobed. At this time its flowers, which are 

 composite, are open. They are yellow, some three inches 

 in diameter, with bold rays. It is for its foliage, however, 

 that this plant is specially adapted, and in a rich moist soil 

 it becomes highly ornamental. Though introduced to cul- 

 tivation long since, it does not seem to be much known. 



Cultural Department. 

 Garden Work for Early July. 



SEED should be now sown for the earliest lot of Cinerarias. 

 We usually sow it in a cool house, but cold frames answer 

 the same purpose. The soil for the seed-pans should be light. 

 A compost of half-sifted leaf-mold and loam, with a handful of 

 sand, is most suitable. The seed is small, so that scarcely any 

 covering will be required. If it is sown on a rather uneven 

 surface, and the pan or box is given a shake afterward, it will 

 be sufficiently covered. As frequent waterings, even with a 

 fine sprayer, disturb the seed, we partly submerge the pans, 

 wetting the soil on the subirrigalion plan. For all fine seeds 

 this is by far the better way. The seed should germinate in 

 less than two weeks, and in the course of a month the seed- 

 lings should be ready for small pots. We shift by easy stages, 

 using slightly heavier soil each time, making the final shift 

 some time in October into seven or eight inch pots. 



Our last lot of Gloxinias are now in bloom. Following our 

 usual plan, we shall sow a box of seed this week, and the 

 plants will make small bulbs before the winter. Started again 

 next spring they will give us a lot of medium-sized plants, 

 which we grow in six-inch pots to about a dozen blooms. For 

 all purposes, except for exhibition, these are the most conve- 

 nient size. We hold them another season, making our largest 

 specimens in eight-inch pots, and many of them measure two 

 feet across, with nearly a hundred open flowers at one time. We 

 have selected our lilooms for seed with care, so that now we 

 have a strain of our own with flowers of moderate size and 

 striking colors, on plants which are floriferous and of good 

 habit. 



Our Chinese Primulas have been shifted into four-inch pots, 

 and by easy stages they will be put into six or seven inch pots 



as their vigor demands. Slightly heavier soil may be used, 

 although I have seen very fine Primulas grown in a soil com- 

 posed almost wholly of leaf-mold. Cold frames with an east- 

 erly exposure are best suited for these plants, with slight shade 

 and abundance of air day and night. When flowers appear on 

 any plants, as will happen in September, they should be taken 

 out as soon as the first flower opens, and all which show infe- 

 rior color should be discarded. The sowing of herbaceous 

 Calceolarias had better be deferred until the end of July. 



Shrubby Begonias for winter blooming can be grown along 

 in successive shifts. Generally seven-inch pots are large 

 enough to conveniently handle when required for decorations. 

 Nearly all Begonias naturally make good specimens ; B. incar- 

 nata, however, is often disposed to bloom prematurely, and in 

 this case we take out the tips and pick off the blooms, to en- 

 courage a better development of the plant for blooming later. 



Small plants of Cytisus racemosus are better grown in pots. 

 If planted out, it has been our experience that they grow too 

 large and are difficult to lift. Small plants, neat in sliape, 

 about eighteen inches high and a foot through, are a very ser- 

 viceable size, and in order to have plenty of these at hand we 

 raise a new set every year. Young growths now breaking 

 away from old plants which have been " cut in " and taken 

 with a heel are more likely to root than cuttings of the ordi- 

 nary kind. 



Euphorbia fulgens, with long graceful stems clothed with 

 bright orange-scarlet flowers, is a cheerful oljjectinthe green- 

 house in winter when it is cut in long sprays and largely used 

 for decorations. The plants are now making good growth, 

 and later on will be benefited by weak applications of liquid- 

 manure. A plan followed with this, as also with the showy 

 E. pulcherrima, commonly called Pointsettia, is to plunge the 

 plants for the summer in a spent liot-bed, and a luxuriant growth 

 is usually made. Where bottom-heat is at command, some 

 growers take off the tips of the Pointsettia, and rooting these 

 late in the season they form low stocky plants, which in Eng- 

 land are very largely used for church decorations. Deutzias 

 in pots may have a little liquid-manure once a week. One lot 

 struck this spring from soft wood were recently planted out- 

 doors. They are not expected to flower this winter, but with 

 another season's growth they will be neat plants, ready for six- 

 inch pots. Those who wish to adopt this practice should now 

 take soft cuttings from plants outdoors ; they will root easily 

 and will make good plants another season. Indian Azaleas 

 which flowered early should now have made their growth. 

 Those in pots would be benefited by a little ferfilizer. 



Cuttings of Zonal and fancy Pelargoniums for winter and 

 spring flowering are better if rooted now. Bouvardias, Stevias 

 and Pans Daisies should be regularly and closely pinched in, 

 and Carnations also until the end of July, and even later, if not 

 required to flower early. Pansy seed should be sown this 

 month, and IVIyosotis for next spring's bedding. Canterbury 

 Bells, Foxgloves and Sweet Williams, which are required for 

 border work, should be transplanted into nursery beds. Fox- 

 gloves and Canterbury Bells we find of great service for 

 piazza decoration, and always pot a number every autumn for 

 this purpose, storing them in a cold frame. Brompton and 

 Autumnal Stocks, as they bloom, may be marked and have 

 the flower-stems cut away. These will make good plants later, 

 and we shall be certain of knowing which are double and of 

 good color. Plants of Hydrangea Otaksa, which have been 

 used for spring decoration, can be cut into four eyes on the 

 strongest shoots. These should break and make good shoots 

 before the autumn. The value of this plan of restricting the 

 growth will be found next spring, when fewer but larger heads 

 of flowers on self-supporting stems will be the result. The 

 common Snapdragons, as winter-blooming plants, have given 

 so much satisfaction lately that all who have a few of the 

 dwarfer kinds should take plants up this autumn. For win- 

 ter blooming it is not yet too late to sow seed. Frequent 

 applications of Bordeaux mixture may be applied to Violets 

 as a preventive of disease. At least, mine escaped the sick- 

 ness, and I attribute this to timely spraying. 



Lately I made a nursery bed of young hardy plants raised 

 from seed this spring, and shall go over the rock-garden and 

 fake out a large number of seedlings to hold as a reserve. In 

 a large garden, where borders have to be continually replen- 

 ished, the value of a reserve garden cannot be overestimated. 



Wellesley, Mass. T. D. Hatfield. 



Notes on Lilies. 



THE flowering season for most hardy perennials has been a 

 haphazard one this year. The late frosts seem to have 

 changed things. No idea of the usual succession of flowers 

 can be had from this year's experience. Many of the Lilies 



