400 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 397. 



makes one of the most beautiful of flowering plants ; 

 and Mr. Patrick O'Mara, in the same strain, objects 

 to estimating the value of varieties simply with regard 

 to their fitness for cut flowers. "Horticulture," he writes, 

 " is broader than the cut-flower market," and there is room 

 without crowding out the cut-flower varieties for others 

 with pompon flowers, single flowers, tasselled flowers and 

 other quaint forms. It is true that the most perfect flowers 

 and plants can only be raised under glass, but there are 

 still many varieties which will endure the chill of early 

 frosts, and we agree with Mr. O'Mara that there is no more 

 suitable ornament for the outdoor garden than these sturdy 

 varieties, vi^hose flowers of yellow and white and pink and 

 bronze harmonize so perfectly with the autumn colors 

 about them. 



Notes. 



Good plants of the Rose Madame Georges Bruant are now 

 bearing their pure white flowers with considerable freedom, 

 and, indeed, there has hardly been a day throughout the sum- 

 mer when this plant did not show some flowers. Few people 

 who are acquainted with it will dissent from the opinion ex- 

 pressed in Meehiifts' Monilily that this iiybrid ot Rosa rugosais 

 one of the best horticultural acquisitions of recent years. 



Mr. Merritt Fernald, of the Gray Herbarium, prints, in the 

 Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, a sup- 

 plement to the catalogue of the plants in that state published 

 in 1892. Sixteen hundred and fitty-six species and varieties of 

 flowering plants and ferns, native and naturalized, are now 

 credited to the flora of Maine. In the last edition of the Maine 

 catalogue 1,578 species were included ; from these Mr. Fernald 

 now drops seventy-seven species and adds 155 species not 

 credited before to the state. 



Last week the Rhode Island Horticultural Society celebrated 

 its fiftieth anniversary with fitting exercises, both social and 

 literary. Mr. Amasa M. Eaton read an historical paper ot perma- 

 nent value, giving, in addition to sound counsel as to the legiti- 

 mate purpose of such a society, a brief sketch of the work 

 which it ha<l already accomplished in various fields, with some 

 account of the many public-spirited men and women who 

 have helped to make it useful. Governor Lippitf, Professor 

 Henry L. Parker, of the Worcester County Horticultural Asso- 

 ciation, Miss Sarah Doyle, Hon. John N. Washburne, of the 

 ICingston College, and others made suitable addresses. 



Dr. Ephraim W. Bull, the originator of the Concord Grape, 

 died at Concord, Massachusetts, on the 27th of September, in 

 his ninetieth year. Dr. Bull studied and practiced medicine in 

 the city of Boston until failing health compelled him to re- 

 move to Concord, where he lived the remainder of his life. 

 He will long be remembered as the introducer of the Concord 

 Grape, which he exhibited for the tiist time in 1S53 at the 

 twenty-fifth annual exhibition of the Massachusetts Horticul- 

 tural Society, and which has become the most popular grape 

 in America. While not a Grape of the finest quality, its hardi- 

 ness, vigor, productiveness, appearance and adaptability to 

 various soils and situations have caused it to be planted so 

 generally that more Concord grapes are grown and marketed 

 than all other sorts combined. The Cottage, Esther, Rockwood 

 and Una are other varieties of merit for which the grape-grow- 

 ers of the country are indebted to Dr. Bull. 



An exhibition of Cannas was made by the New York Flor- 

 ists' Club on Monday evening of last week, and it proved 

 very interesting in spite of the hot weather under which 

 the flowers refused to stand up any length of time. All the 

 standard varieties were displayed in excellent form. Among 

 the newer kinds of superior quality which we observed was 

 Mrs. Fairman Rogers, exhibited by Mr. James F. Cowles, of 

 Newport, which had a singularly compact truss of bright scar- 

 let flowers with yellow-edged petals. Eldorado and F. R. 

 Pierson were the best of those exhibited by F. R. Pierson & 

 Co., and there was an unnamed seedling with exceedingly 

 dark-colored leaves. Among the seedlings shown by James 

 Dean, of Bay Ridge, the bright yellow Orienta attracted the 

 most attention, although Defender and Embla were strikingly 

 good. Peter Henderson & Co. also made a fine display, as did 

 Siebrecht & Wadley, and John White, of Elizabeth, New Jer- 

 sey, whose seedling Golden Queen, with richly variegated 

 leaves, is distinct and beautiful. 



The latest plums of the season, now nearly ended, are Iclc- 

 worth Imperatrice, a purple fruit with irregular streaks of 

 fawn color, one of the best for shipping and keeping qualities, 



the greenish yellow flesh being sweet and rich in flavor ; Sil- 

 ver prune, large, almost translucent, and valued highly for 

 drying ; the large German prune, its purple skin covered with 

 abundant blue bloom, and Coe's Late Red, which is seen here 

 as late as February. Bilyeus Late October peaches, large 

 white-flesh free-stones, are now coming from California, with 

 Salways and Honey Clings. With the season for Bartletts 

 ended, Doyenne du Comice, Forelle, Winter Nelis and P. 

 Barry now make up the California shipments of pears. The 

 Forelle, known also as the German Trout pear, is especially 

 beautiful, full-grown specimens being long, bell-shaped, the 

 color a clear bright-yellow, with brilliant red cheek. Choice 

 Majori lemons have recently realized the extreme price of 

 $12.50 a box, so that the retailers' price of $1.00 a dozen is not 

 excessive. Grape-fruit, in considerable quantities and of good 

 quality, is coming from Jamaica, and retails at ten cents each. 



Monsieur Lemoine, of Nancy, sends us photographs of a 

 new Deutzia raised by him by crossing D. gracilis and. D. 

 parviflora, and described as D. Lemoinei in the Bulletin of the 

 National Society of France, which awarded to it in August last 

 year, when it was first exhibited in Paris, a certificate of merit 

 of the first class. In 1891 Monsieur Lemoine fertilized the 

 flowers of D. parviflora with the pollen of D. gracilis and ob- 

 tained from this cross a number of individuals which have 

 proved perfectly hardy during the last three winters. They 

 torm dense bushes now more than two and a half feet high, 

 with erect branches which cover themselves with flowers early 

 in May. D. Lemoinei is described as intermediate between 

 the two parents ; the branches are more erect and solid than 

 those of D. gracilis, the pollen parent, and are more regular, 

 shorter, and more numerous than those of D. parviflora, the 

 seed parent. The flowers, which are produced more regularly 

 than on D. parviflora, are borne in hemispherical or cone- 

 shaped panicles, composed of from fifteen to twenty-five flow- 

 ers nearly an inch in diameter when expanded. The petals are 

 large, oval, with undulate margins, and pure white. It is sug- 

 gested that D. Lemoinei will be an excellent subject for forc- 

 ing. It is probable that this interesting plant has not yet been 

 tried in this country. The photographs with which Monsieur 

 Lemoine has favored us show plants covered with flowers and 

 of good habit. 



About five years ago Professor H. L. Bolley demonstrated 

 that Potato scab was caused by a minute vegetable parasite, 

 and although Dr. Thaxter a short time later announced the 

 discovery ot another organism, Oospora scabies, which was 

 capable of producing scab and which is considered the chief 

 cause of the trouble, the practical conclusions drawn from 

 Professor Bolley's studies were valid, and they were note- 

 worthy as an example of a proposed remedy based strictly on the 

 scientific investigation of the cause of the disease. Tliis disease 

 attacks the crop through infected tubers, and Professor Bolley 

 showed that if these are immersed in a corrosive sublimate 

 solution of the strength of one in a thousand, that is, two 

 ounces to fifteen gallons of water, the crop will be essentially 

 free from surface blemishes and have a greater market value. 

 Dr. J. C. Arthur, botanist of the Purdue Experiment Station, 

 has lately issued an interesting bulletin on this subject, giving 

 the result of three years' trials of the corrosive sublimate 

 treatment, and these trials, taken separately or collectively, 

 establish the efflcient character of the remedy. The treatment 

 is easy and cheap. The poison should be dissolved in a small 

 amount of hot water in an earthenware dish and the solution 

 added to the water in a wooden cask. The bath should be 

 about an hour and a half long, although some variation in the 

 time is immaterial. A glass or earthenware vessel may be 

 used for disinfecting a few tubers, but vessels of iron, tin or 

 copper should never be used. The solution may be poured 

 off and used over and over again as dirt does not injure it. 

 Of course, great care must be exercised with so deadly a 

 poison. It ought to be added, perhaps, that Dr. Arthur makes 

 no mention of the researches of Professor Hopkins, which 

 seem to have shown that certain fungus gnats are able to in- 

 flict injuries upon potatoes which resemble the scab, and that 

 he considers it probable that much of the loss from imperfect 

 potatoes is due to them. Without making a study of the 

 causes of this disease. Professor Halsted has also been experi- 

 menting on the New Jersey Agricultural College farm with 

 sulphur as a remedy, using upon one plot the flowers of sul- 

 phur at the rate of three hundred pounds per acre. The 

 freshly cut tubers used for seed were rolled in sulphur, and 

 the rest of it was sprinkled in the open row at planting tinie. 

 In this plot the potatoes came out practically free from disease, 

 while in the adjoining plots, treated in exactly the same way, 

 except that the sulphur was omitted, all or nearly all of the 

 potatoes were scabbed. 



