296 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 387. 



hills near Sapparo, in Yezo, it is a tree often forty feet in 

 height, with a trunk eighteen inches in diameter. It is 

 distinguished from Carpinus Carpinus by its larger winter- 

 buds, which are nearly an inch long, by its thinner broadly 

 ovate and deeply cordate leaves, which are often six or 

 seven inches long and three or four inches wide, and by 

 its much larger clusters of fruit, frequently five or six 

 inches in length and an inch and a half in width. 



The seeds of this beautiful and distinct tree, which is 

 one of the most interesting inhabitants of the forests of north- 

 eastern Asia, which I gathered in Yezo three years ago, 

 unfortunately did not germinate, and it is not yet, I believe, 

 introduced into our gardens. Judging by the fact that its 

 associates in the Yezo forests are all hardy here, it may be 

 expected to flourish in New England. C. S. S. 



Plant Notes. 



Heherocallis minor. — This plant, which appears in 

 gardens under several names, as Hemerocallis Thunbergii, 

 H. Sieboldii and H. graminea, is a native of eastern 

 Siberia and Japan. It is less stately, perhaps, than H. fiava, 

 which flowers early in June, but it is a very beautiful plant, 

 with its long grass-like leaves and pale yellow fragrant 

 flowers clustered on slender stems two feet or more tall. 

 It has been in bloom now for the last two weeks and is one 

 of the best and hardiest of summer-flowering herbaceous 

 plants, alike suitable to decorate a border in the flower- 

 garden or to naturalize in some half-wild woody glade. 

 The flowers, when cut, last a long time and are well 

 suited to arrange in large vases for the decoration of the 

 house, like those of H. flava, to which we lately called 

 attention in these notes (p. 264), where another early-flow- 

 ering species, H. Middendorfii, by a typographical error 

 appeared under the name of H. Dumortieri. 



LoNiCERA RupRECHTiANA. — Several of the so-called Bush 

 Honeysuckles are not surpassed as hardy shrubs in north- 

 ern gardens. They are very hardy; they grow to a large 

 size, and with room in which to develop become shapely 

 specimens ; they flower profusely, and the fruit, which 

 ripens in summer when there are few conspicuous fruits in 

 the shrub garden, is very showy. There is a great bank of 

 these plants in the Arnold Arboretum by the side of one 

 of the drives, and just novir, when the plants are covered 

 with berries of all shades of red, scarlet and orange, it is 

 very effective, as it was in May when the plants were in 

 bloom. When covered with fruit, the Manchurian Lonicera 

 Ruprechtiana is, perhaps, the most showy of these plants ; 

 it is a shrub eight or ten feet high and broad, with ashy 

 gray branches, small pale blue-green leaves and scentless 

 flowers, which quite cover the plant early in May, and are 

 white when they unfold, but turn light yellow in fading. 

 The fruit, which ripens rather later than that of the Tar- 

 tarian Honeysuckles, and is now just beginning to color, 

 is, when fully ripe, bright scarlet and almost transparent ; 

 it is so bitter that birds do not eat it, and it remains for a 

 long time in perfection on the plant. L. Ruprechtiana is 

 easily raised from seeds like the other Bush Honeysuckles, 

 and it may be propagated by cuttings made in summer ; 

 it grows rapidly in good soiU requires no particular care, 

 and will probably, like several other plants of this class, 

 grow to a great age. For gardens in Canada and northern 

 New England, on the shores of the great lakes, and in the 

 northern plain region, it may be expected to be as hardy 

 and satisfactory as the Tartarian Honeysuckles. 



Taxus cuspidata. — The value of this Japanese Yew as an 

 ornamental plant in the northern United States becomes 

 more evident every year as it is better known and more 

 generally planted. It is the only Yew of tree-like habit 

 that is absolutely hardy in New England, and there is no 

 reason why it should not be as generally used in this coun- 

 try as the European Yew, Taxus baccata, is in England. 

 In the forests of Yezo, where it often grows to the height 

 of sixty feet, T. cuspidata is a pyramidal tree with a tall, 

 straight, thick trunk, covered with beautiful, bright red 



liark ; but in this country, where it has been growing for 

 nearly twenty-five years, it has not yet lost its juvenile habit 

 and appears as a dense, broad-based shapely bush, occa- 

 sionally fifteen or twenty feet tall and broad. The foliage 

 is slightly tinged with yellow, and the aspect of the plant 

 is more cheerful than the European Yew, which grows 

 much more slowly. In Japan the Yew is frequently planted 

 in gardens and is often cut into fantastic shapes ; it would 

 make an excellent hedge-plant in this country, and is 

 adapted, of course, to all sorts of topiary work. 



Abies Cilicica. — This, with the single exception of the 

 blue form of Abies concolor from the Rocky Mountains of 

 Colorado and New Mexico, is, perhaps, the most beautiful 

 of the Silver Firs that are perfectly hardy and satisfactory 

 in the north-eastern states. The Cilician Fir can be seen in 

 great beauty in Mr. Hunnewell's pinetum atWellesley, Mass- 

 achusetts, where there are a number of specimens ; in Dr. 

 Hall's garden, near Bristol, Rhode Island, and in the 

 Hoopes' pinetum at West Chester, Pennsylvania. Some of 

 these trees are now forty feet high, and are compact sharp- 

 pointed pyramids clothed to the ground with pale silvery 

 foliage. Unfortunately, this fine tree is difficult to obtain, 

 and still rare in collections. It does not thrive in western 

 Europe, where the young shoots, which appear very early 

 in the spring, like those of many other alpine trees, are killed 

 by late frosts, and European nurserymen, therefore, do not 

 propagate it. Seeds from wild trees are not easily pro- 

 cured. The trees cultivated in this country have not 

 produced seeds yet, so that there is no way of increasing 

 this Fir but by means of grafts, and grafted conifers are 

 always unsatisfactory and usually short-lived. A. Cilicica 

 inhabits the Taurus and Anti-Taurus Mountains, in the 

 ancient Cilicia, and the Lebanon, and is said to form great 

 forests at elevations between three thousand and seven 

 thousand feet above the level of the sea. Good fresh seeds 

 gathered at high elevations in its native forests would com- 

 mand good prices in this country, where comparatively 

 few distinct Silver Firs can be satisfactorily grown. 



Cultural Department. 



Some July Flowers. 



T^HE earliest Gladiolus to bloom this year, as well as last, is G. 

 -'■ Leichtlinii, a small-llowered species, with bright scarlet flow- 

 ers shading to crimson in the centre, and with yellow blotches on 

 the lateral lower petals. It is pretty and interesting, but not showy. 

 Some of the Gandavensis kinds are showing a little color, but 

 will not be open for some days. They promise to be remark- 

 ably fine this year, growing with unusual vigor and displaying 

 a deep and strong verdure. Those raised from seed last year 

 will nearly all bloom this year, if I may judge from their 

 present appearance, and I even expect three or four of this 

 year's seedlings to do so. This strength of growth has become 

 manifest only during the last three weeks, which have given 

 us abundant rains, and copious dews on fair nights. 



Several years ago I stated that Gladiolus purpureo-auratus 

 proved perfectly hardy here, and had established itself in one 

 of my mowing-fields. If still continues to come every year, 

 but the scythe cuts it off before it can blossom. I also find G. 

 Saunderii equally hardy. A year ago, while walking in a place 

 I seldom visit because of its rough condition, it being too stony 

 for cultivation, I came upon a plant of this species of a more 

 robust growth than m my cultivated fields, and bearing sev- 

 eral of its beautiful and showy flowers. Upon examining it I 

 found the old stalks of two previous years. I left the plant, of 

 course, and it is now in full growth, and will flower well. It 

 has had no protection whatever in all the time it has been 

 there ; indeed, its presence there at all is a mystery to me. 



A long row of many hundred spotted Callas, covered with 

 their white spathes, is showy just now. Many of the blooms 

 are past, and many are yet to open. Among them are many 

 with two spathes together, the so-called double-ttowered form. 

 Such cases occur every year, and I saved some seed last year, 

 and am trying to establish a race which will always produce 

 two spathes. The yellow Calla, Richardia Elliottiana, seems 

 to be of slow growth. My specimen is still alive and healthy, 

 but I fear will not flower. A few days ago I visited Mr. Tailby's 

 garden at Wellesley, and found his specimen with a beautiful 

 golden-yellow spathe and with another stalk bearing a fine 



