July 24 1895.] 



Garden and Forest. 



297 



head of seed. He told me that Mr. Veitch, who called a few 

 weeks ago, said that no tuber of it had ever produced more 

 than one flower in England. Mr. Tailby is a most jsersistent 

 hybridist, and has a large stock of plants raised from Richardia 

 Little Gem, fertilized with pollen of R. EUiottiana. 



Hymenocallis calathinum is another feature in my garden at 

 the present time. A week ago I counted the flower-stalks then in 

 sight, and found seventy-seven ; to-day I find that many others 

 are showing, so that the entire number will probably reach one 

 hundred and twenty. I have never seen the humming-birds 

 visit these flowers, but many insects do, and have acquired the 

 habit of making a hole near the base of the tube instead of 

 creeping down into it. Some years ago I fertilized the late- 

 flowering H. Amancaes with pollen of H. calathinum. I got three 

 seeds, all of which grew and made bulbs, two of which were 

 lost last winter ; the third is yet alive, and may bloom some day. 



Seedling Dahlias are now showing a few flowers, but a July 

 Dahlia, especially a single one, is not good tor much, and I 

 cut them off as fast as they open. Not until August will tliey 

 show their true character. nr r- c- 



Canlon, Mass. IV. h. hllilicott. 



Hardy Perennials. 



THE tallest species of the Globe Thistle is Echinops com- 

 mutatus, from Austria, which attains a height of seven 

 feet, branching from about two feet above the ground. Though 

 a much more stately plant than E. Ritro, it has not so striking 

 a flower. The heads are nearly white and about two inches in 

 diameter. It seems to attract more honeybees at this time 

 than any other flower, for the heads are covered with these 

 little workers most of the day. 



Among the Campanulas now in flower, the C. latifolia is as 

 attractive as any. It is a native of Great Britain, attains a 

 height of two feet in good soil, bearing several white or blue 

 flowers two and a half inches long. It is a trifle later in bloom- 

 ing than the Peach-leaved Campanula, C. persicsefolia, which, 

 though not entirely past bloom, has been in flower for more 

 than a month. Both species have two colors, white and blue, 

 which, when growing together, are quite pretty. They are of 

 easy culture and quite hardy. 



Morina (elegans) longifolia, a native of Nepaul, attains a 

 height of two feet or more. Before flowering it so closely 

 resembles a Thistle that the workmen are inclined to pull it for 

 a weed. It belongs to the natural order of Dipsaceas. The 

 flowers are crowded in whorls in the axils of the leaves, and are 

 nearly white when iirst appearing, but change with age to a 

 delicate pink and finally to crimson. It is a plant that requires 

 more time to attain the flowering stage than most perennials ; 

 it took two years here. It is apparently perfectly hardy, but 

 likes a little shade. 



Gentiana cruciata needs more moisture than most common 

 garden-soil affords. On this account it may not always suc- 

 ceed. When the roots can always find moisture it is an easy 

 plant to grow. The pale blue flowers are crowded in the axils 

 and are also terminal. I like much better to grow the Wind- 

 flowered Gentian of Great Britain, G. pneumonanthe, because 

 it seems to do well in ordinary soil and the flowers are a much 

 deeper blue. 



Gentiana Thibetica is also blooming at the same season, 

 but the nearly white flowers are less attractive than most Gen- 

 tians. This, however, is compensated in the finer foliage, 

 which is the best I have seen in a Gentian. The flowers open 

 only in the sunshine. In cloudy weather or late in the after- 

 noon they close. 



The Tartarian Sea Lavender, StaticeTatarica, which blooms 

 about this time, is a pretty species, and quite hardy so far as 

 I can see. It is, when in flower, about a foot high. The rigid, 

 branching, diftasely spreading stem is covered with pale red 

 or nearly white flowers. Its foliage is all at the base of the 

 stem, close to the ground. With me it did not bloom until the 

 second year from seed. 



Charlotte, Vt. F. H. Horsford. 



Fancy Caladiums. 



'T'O the commercial florist these plants are of little service, 

 A but in private gardens they are useful for the decoration 

 of the greenhouse during the summer months, when they are 

 apt to be left somewhat bare on account of the removal of 

 such plants as Palms, etc. They occupy but little room dur- 

 ing the spring when the greenhouse space is often taxed to 

 the utmost. Sometimes they are started early and forced for 

 Easter decoration, but only a few of the hardier varieties are 

 suited for this purpose, and the practice is by no means gen- 

 eral. One of the best for this use is the old Argyrites. Prob- 



ably the best time for starting the general stock is in March, 

 if a temperature of sixty to sixty-five degrees can be main- 

 tained, but if not they had better be left dormant a month 

 later. A general custom is to place them first in sphagnum 

 moss and pot them on after they have started a little, but we 

 find they do equally well and are less troublesome wlien 

 placed at once in small pots in a compost of two parts leaf- 

 mold and one part each of sand and sc>d-earth. Sliould any 

 of the tubers show signs of rotting, a little powdered charcoal 

 should lie rubbed on the infected parts. Tliey start Ijest in a 

 brisk bottom-heat, and as they root quickly require frequent 

 shifting, but large shifts must always be avoided. The potting 

 compostshouki belightand porous, moderately enriched with 

 well-rotted manure. They should be shaded from strong sun- 

 light and syringed daily in bright weather. Toward the end 

 of September, when the foliage begins to show signs of 

 dying down, water should be gradually withheld, and when 

 thoroughly dried out the tubers maybe shaken out and stored 

 in dry sand and set in a dry place, where the temperature will 

 not fall below fifty-five degrees. 



The varieties are so numerous that any attempt to describe 

 or enumerate them is useless, and new varieties are con- 

 stantly being added. The principal aim of the raisers of these 

 new varieties appears to be fineness of texture, which is in 

 most cases accompanied by delicacy of constitution, and this 

 makes the newer varieties decidedly harder to handle than 

 the old bright-colored and more robust ones. Attempts have 

 been made to use some of the hardier varieties of Fancy 

 Caladiums for bedding out, but they have never proved a 

 success. 



Tarrytown, N. Y. Ivitliaill ScOtt. 



Papaver bracteatum. — I remember reading some time since a 

 controversy as to whether the dark form of the Oriental Poppy 

 was a mere seed variation or a well-marked species. It was 

 so long ago that I forget the decision, but it has recurred to 

 me of recent years when seeing them growing together in the 

 garden. I decided to save seed and see whether there was 

 any tendency to reversion to the common scarlet varieties 

 among the plants raised. It lias been the impression among 

 growers that the peculiarity of having bracts just under the 

 flowers was nothing to be guided by, that the rich dark color 

 was not constant, that the plant itself could only be propa- 

 gated by its own roots, and that seedlings raised therefrom 

 would revert to the common Papaver orientale. There is, 

 however, a decided difterence in the habit of the two plants, 

 and they can easily be distinguished when not in bloom. 

 P. bracteatum has foliage that is much more rigid and aculeo- 

 late than P. orientale, while the flower-stems are perfectly 

 rigid even when in bloom, so that apart from the color there 

 seem to be good grounds to suppose that it is something 

 more than a mere seed variation, or even selection. The results 

 here have emphasized this opinion, for out of a large numljer 

 of P. bracteatum raised from seed saved without any special 

 protection against insect agency, and growing side by side 

 with the other variety, not one has shown any tendency to 

 revert, but all are true dark-flowered P. bracteatum. P. ori- 

 entale does vary a great deal from seed; of the many in the 

 garden here no two are alike, some having four petals and 

 some more, as many as eight, while the spots at the base of 

 the petals are eliminated in some cases altogether, and vary 

 greatly in others. Of the two, this variety has proved to be 

 much less constant than P. bracteatum. It is not safe to as- 

 sume which is the species, and the authorities differ. P. ori- 

 entale was introduced some time prior to P. bracteatum ; hence 

 the former is generally regarded as the species. 



Dipladenias. — These have been noted before as among the 

 finest of summer-flowering climbers for the greenhouse, and 

 they are now at tlieir best, blooming with great freedom in full 

 sunshine. It is not often that seeds are produced under culti- 

 vation, but a plant last season matured a fine seed-pod here, 

 from which we have now some three dozen young plants 

 growing rapidly, and we hope to bloom them next year. 

 There is a wonderful variation even now in the young plants ; 

 no two seem to be aliSce in foliage, and either the shape or tint 

 is different in most of them. We hope to get some good varie- 

 ties from these. The seed parent was Dipladenia profusa, 

 crossed with pollen of D. Brearleyana. Judging from present 

 appearances, we shall get all the forms known in gardens from 

 this lot of plants. Dipladenias are natives of Brazil. There 

 are but two that are pink and regarded as species. All the 

 others, more than a dozen in number, are of garden origin. 

 The great value of these plants lies in the fact that flowers are 

 produced from the same stems for months in succession. We 

 have picked flowers in June, and as late as October from the 



