322 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 390. 



lier spikes and clusters of bloom, and which seem to cover 

 the ground, can be interspersed among the taller ones, 

 intermingled with plants whose foliage is of such shades 

 as will accord well with the color of the flowers. 



By careful study of the times of blossoming a glowing 

 and harmonious effect can be produced at slight expense 

 of money, though of much time and loving thought. A 

 result, pleasing and varied, can be obtained in the tiny 

 square of a cottage garden by grouping the humblest 

 and least expensive flowers, and where there are broad 

 spaces to be filled, with great frames of foliage to enhance 

 the beauty of the scene, a picture can be painted by an 

 artistic hand which will afford unfailing delight. These 

 broad rules laid down do not exclude a happy contrast 

 here and there, but it should always be remembered that 

 contrasting colors should be of a similar key. Deep blues 

 can be opposed by vivid cardinal or fiame color, the ceru- 

 lean tints by tender rose or pale yellow, purple by gold 

 and green ; but intense contrasts should be seldom indulged 

 in, and require great discretion in their use. 



It is far easier to theorize than to carry out one's theories, 

 as all philosophers find to their cost, but the study of the 

 color problem is one of unfailing interest to the gardener, 

 and when it is successfully solved the result may truly be 

 considered a triumph. The same problem confronts the 

 landscape-gardener, and its difliculties have often been con- 

 sidered in these columns. Forms as well as tints are an 

 essential feature to be dealt with in considering final effects, 

 and to succeed perfectly requires an artist in line as well as 

 in color. The true gift to discern is not given to all, but 

 each according to his light should seek to give individual 

 expression to his fancy. 



Notes from a Botanic Garden. — II. 



IN trying to grow certain plants the manager of the gar- 

 den is constantly thwarted by drought, excessive rains, 

 cold, sunshine, shade or by unsuitable soil, and is con- 

 stantly sent back to marsh, ravine, sand, loam or clay bank 

 to study the favorite location of each species, and with each 

 such effort a few more plants are made to thrive in the 

 garden. In this way we have learned to grow well many 

 Ferns, Hepaticas, Cohosh, Violets, some of the Mints, 

 Sedges and Grasses, while Golden Seal we now grow to 

 perfection. We are still experimenting on Columbo, Dwarf 

 Thistle, Harbinger of Spring, some Gentians, Houstonia 

 and many more. 



Perhaps it was fifteen years ago that we received Sola- 

 num tuberosum from the Harvard Botanic Garden. It was 

 said to be a fresh arrival from Mexico. After a few years, 

 instead of tubers an inch or less in diameter, we grew 

 some three inches long. For ten years, perhaps, we have 

 been growing S. Jamesii, from Arizona. For the past three 

 years more especially some of the tubers have nearly 

 doubled in size, while the outside has changed from the 

 brown, warty surface to a clear color resembling our 

 smoothest potatoes in general cultivation. 



In most cases, by selecting a spot of suitable size espe- 

 cially favorable for the plants of a given family, we are 

 enaliled to keep them near each other, but no attempt is 

 made to plant allied families next to each other or to 

 arrange species in an artistic manner. In the Calla or 

 Arum family, for example, the Sweet Flag, Golden Club, 

 Wild Calla and Arrow Arum are grown in the mud in shal- 

 low water, and just on the adjacent bank are grown Indian 

 Turnip, Green Dragon and Skunk Cabbage. On a small 

 inaccessible island we grow Poison Sumach and Poison 

 Ivy, while on the neighboring bank are six other species 

 of Rhus. The Ferns are on the north side of a moist bank 

 and at the base of it, more or less shaded by trees and pro- 

 tected from winds. In a large space sunk a foot into the 

 black soil of the creek-bottom Cardinal-flowers grow to 

 perfection, while a mound near by is well covered by a 

 group of Harebells. Among the Geraniums, a depression 

 is made extending to a soil perpetually wet, and here they 



find a congenial home. So with the Marsh Marigold, some 

 of the Sedges, a patch of Holly Grass and some species of 

 Glyceria ; and for the Heath family, a depression in the 

 muck grows two sorts of Cranberries, several sorts of 

 Huckleberries, the Leatherleaf, a species of Kalmia, and 

 Labrador Tea, while those needing drier soil are near 

 at hand. 



Near one of the ponds, and on a bog about twenty-five 

 by forty feet, we are experimenting. The space is nearly 

 enclosed by Arbor-vitte or a temporary artificial screen to 

 prevent any sweep of air and to keep out the sun, while 

 raised on posts ten feet high is a screen of slats to check 

 the force of the sun from above. Here we are growing 

 Mosses from the swamp, including other things found in 

 such places. Calypso borealis has flov/ered here for two 

 years in succession. It is too soon to pronounce it a suc- 

 cess in every particular. 



Some plants, like Violets and Euphorbias, as their pistils 

 ripen, shoot seeds in every direction, often from three to 

 eight feet. On this account we scatter the roots of Violets 

 around among the crucifers, and must scatter the Euphor- 

 bias to prevent hopeless confusion of seedling plants. 

 Root-stocks of Arrow-head, Juncus, Bur Reed, Cat-tail Flag, 

 Scouring Rush and others spread so rapidly in the ponds 

 and bogs that they soon become mixed. We are planning 

 now to give each species with this habit a small bog to 

 itself, where nothing can intrude and where it can hold full 

 sway. In the fall of the year the large terminal buds of 

 Myriophyllum and Bladdervvort sever themselves from the 

 parent plant and sink to the bottom to rise the next spring 

 and drift away from home, starting many new colonies. 

 We hope to provide for keeping these plants within bounds 

 in a similar way. 



In the place where we wished to grow the Mints, Pulse 

 family and a few others the ground was rather too hard. 

 We covered the soil with about six inches of sand, which 

 serves as a mulch and works easily. We have a dry sand 

 bank sloping to the south which grows species of Sedum, 

 Cacti, Tanacetum Huronense, Solidago rigida and a few 

 other things to perfection. We are doing pretty well with 

 species of Gooseberries and Currants, Sedges, Viburnums 

 Hawthorns, Willows, Honeysuckles, Composite', Grasses, 

 and weeds. We grow the last two lots in a formal way, 

 each occupying about five by six feet, with a narrow grass 

 path between. 



In the older portion of the garden the paths consist of a 

 little gravel and loam, with borders of small field stones ; 

 in the newer portion the paths consist of well-mown grass. 

 All weeds of much size, if any are found, are carried away 

 to the rubbish-pile. In this way, after about three years, 

 all those which are troublesome come from seeds of plants 

 in cultivation. 



By doing much of the spring work the fall previous, such 

 as transplanting, weeding, etc., one man with a little help 

 tends the whole three acres alone, and this without any 

 opportunity to use a horse-cultivator. 



Agricultural College, Michigan. 



W. J. Beal. 



Foreign Correspondence. 



London Letter. 



Crinum Roozenianum. — This was described as a new spe- 

 cies by Mr. J. O'Brien in 1891 (Gardeners' Chronicle, ix., 

 p. 701), when it flowered ui the rich collection of Sir C. 

 Strickland, at Malton, in Yorkshire. It was introduced 

 from Jamaica by Messrs. A. Roozen & Son, of Haarlem. 

 A plant of it is now in flower in the Palm-house at Kew, 

 and by its side, also in flower, are plants recently brought 

 from Jamaica by Mr. A. Worsley, who proposed for it the 

 name of Ci"inum Jamesense, suggesting at the same time 

 that it might be a white form of C. erubescens, which is 

 common in tropical America. Mr. Baker says it is the 

 C. erubescens, van minus, of Herbert, a bad name for it 

 anyhow, as it is the most robust and handsomest in flower 



