456 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 403. 



written and published a standard work on the cultivation of 

 the Grapevine and some valuable statistics and cultural 

 information on the Apple. The Royal Horticultural Society 

 propose to provide him with a liberal pension, and his 

 many friends and admirers have started a testimonial fund 

 as an expression of their feelings toward him. I am not 

 aware if a successor to Mr. Barron has been found, though 

 the society advertised for one a few weeks ago. I believe 

 it is proposed to reorganize the Chiswick gardens and con- 

 duct them on somewhat different lines from those hitherto 

 followed. 



Mr. C. F. Bause died on October 23d, after a long and 

 painful illness. He has long been recognized in England 

 as one of the cleverest cultivators and hybridizers of indoor 

 plants. He was a German, and came to England in 1863, 

 soon afterward entering Chiswick, where, in 1866, he 

 raised some beautiful Coleuses, six of which were pur- 

 chased by Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons for 11,250 (/'250). He 

 also raised many fine Caladiums, and was the first to suc- 

 ceed in artificially hybridizing Ferns — namely, Adiantum 

 Bausei, A. rhodophyllum, A. reflexum, Nephrolepis Bausei, 

 etc. His wonderful success in raising new forms of trop- 

 ical Dracaenas, Cordyline terminals vars., was, perhaps, his 

 greatest or, at any rate, most profitable achievement in this 

 line. I never saw better cultivation than he accomplished 

 with all kinds of stove-plants. He was a modest, quiet, 

 lovable man, always ready to impart useful information 

 and to encourage young men. For some years he con- 

 ducted a large market nursery at South Norwood, where 

 only two years ago he raised a batch of new Caladiums 

 which were secured by Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons. 



London. ________ '^' ^^^^071. 



Plant Notes. 



Ginkgo biloba. — The Ginkgo is certainly one of the best 

 of the trees for which our parks and gardens are indebted 

 to Asia. It is not known in its wild state, but about the 

 temples of Tokyo broad-branched specimens a hundred 

 feet high, with trunks six or seven feet in diameter, are as 

 interesting as any of the trees which one sees in Japan. 

 Some of the trees which were planted in this country early 

 in the century, notably the fine specimen planted by Dr. 

 Hosack at Hyde Park, have taken on the peculiar form 

 which they assume at maturity, in which the curved and 

 partly pendulous branches assume an entirely different ap- 

 pearance from the rigid and formal look of the tree when 

 young. This rather strict haliit prevents the tree while young 

 from grouping with otlier trees, but especially adapts it for 

 association with architecture and makes it very valuable as 

 a street-tree. Besides this, the tree grows rapidly ; its drupe- 

 like fruit, hanging at the end of long stems, makes a strik- 

 ing ornament ; it has few fungal diseases and it endures 

 the dust and smoke of a city exceptionally well. Its autumn 

 coloring, however, is the point which we wish to empha- 

 size at this season. In one of the streets of Jersey City 

 there is a healthy young Ginkgo, some thirty feet high, and 

 while the leaves have all been swept from the neighboring 

 trees by the winds and rains, the foliage still adheres to 

 this one, and it is a rich, clear )'-ellow, and the tree, as it 

 glows in the sunshine, is certainly a magnificent object. 



Photinia villosa. — Two forms of this variable plant have 

 been figured in Garden and Forest (see vol. i., page 67, and 

 vol. iv., page 377). In their minor characters, such as the 

 shape of the leaves, the character and amount of their 

 pubescence and the size of their flowers, the extreme forms 

 of this species differ quite widely, but they are all interest- 

 ing for their white Hawthorn-like flowers, which appear in 

 corymbs in June, for the bright red oblong fruit in Octo- 

 ber and for the glowing scarlet of their foliage, which per- 

 sists well into November. In fact, these latter qualities 

 give a distinct value to this shrub or small tree, and in 

 even a select list of trees and shrubs selected for their 

 appearance at this season, the Photinia would be included. 

 The form with smooth and comparatively narrow leaves 



sometimes loses the ends of its branches in the winter in 

 New F^ngland, but it seems to be perfectly hardy in this 

 latitude, and its fruit and autumn foliage are rather brighter 

 in color than the form with broader and more pubescent 

 leaves. The flowers are smaller, however, and the habit 

 is less compact, and, altogether, it is hardly as desirable a 

 garden-plant as the stouter form. 



Dichdrisandra thysiflora. — This is an old and inter- 

 esting Brazilian plant of the natural order Commelinacese, 

 nearly related to the Tradescantias. It is as beautiful as 

 it is rare, and deserves to be better known, especially as it 

 is easy to grow. Like the Tradescantias, it is well adapted 

 to house-culture. It blooms during fall or early winter, 

 and the large showy flowers remain long in perfection. 

 The leaves are sessile and sheathing at the base, about ten 

 inches long, oblong, with an acute apex, very dark green, 

 with a metallic lustre ; alternate and crowded at the top of 

 the shoots. In October, or sometimes later, the flowers 

 appear in a terminal thyrsoid raceme; they are of a deep, 

 pleasing blue color, with showy yellow anthers. The plant 

 is one of the best of the family for flowers, growing to a 

 height of four or five feet, or even more, branching at the base 

 and forming fine masses of foliage. It grows well in a 

 rich vegetable soil and a temperature of about seventy 

 degrees. The propagation by means of cuttings is as easy 

 as that of most Tradescantias. 



Cultural Department. 

 Fern Notes. 



C MALL plants of Ferns for decorative purposes are in in- 

 '-' creasing demand, and the gardener often finds it no easy 

 matter to keep up the supply. The most convenient method 

 of propagation is by spores. It is true that it is difficult to 

 raise some varieties by this means, and some cannot be raised 

 from spores at all, but these varieties, as a rule, are too delicate 

 for decorative use, and there is quite a good selection of suit- 

 able sorts. A few of these are Adiantum cuneatum and its 

 varieties, A. decorum, A. pubescens and A. Pacottii. The 

 neat and compact habit of the latter variety makes it especially 

 valuable when small. Cyrtomium falcatum, which is some- 

 times called the Ivy Fern, on account of the resemblance of 

 its first course of fronds to that of Ivy leaves, makes useful 

 plants in small pots. Many of the Lastreas may be utilized. 

 L. Richardsii multifida is one of the most useful. Gymno- 

 gramma chrysophylla (golden) and G. tartarea (silver), Loma- 

 ria Gibba, Nephrolepis acuta and N. exaltata are all well 

 adapted. To the Pteris family we are probably indebted for 

 more good decorative varieties than to any other, and they 

 probably stand more rough handling than any Ferns we have. 

 P. serulata and its crested variety P. serulata cristata, P. 

 Cretica nol)ilis, P. Cretica alba lineata, and the newer crested 

 and variegated P. Cretica Nayii may all be used to advantage. 

 P. tremula is, perhaps, a little coarse, but a few plants of it can 

 always be used in collections. The crested variety P. trem- 

 ula Smithiana, on account of its more compact and bushy 

 habit, is preferable to the old form. Although it does not yield 

 spores as freely, one can generally find a few fertile fronds 

 on the two-year-old plants, but it seldom throws spores the 

 first year. In selecting the spore-bearing fronds it is neces- 

 sary to watch them pretty closely 'to catch them at the right 

 tinie. The surest indication of ripeness is when a few of the 

 spores can be shaken from the frond. After being cut, the 

 fronds should be wrapped closely in paper and laid aside in a 

 dry warm place for about two weeks, when the spores can be 

 readily shaken from the fronds and sown as required. Most 

 spores will keep for several months, providing they are prop- 

 erly wrapped up and not subjected to dampness. We gen- 

 erally sow a few pans at this season for the main supply for 

 next summer and for larger plants for winter use. Adiantums 

 from this sowing will give nice bushy plants in five-inch pots 

 by next fall, while Pteris serrulata and its allied varieties will 

 give plants twelve to fourteen inches high in six-inch pots. P. 

 tremula, being stronger-growing, would fill seven-inch pots 

 and give plants eighteen inches high during the same period. 



The plants in being used for house decoration suffer more 

 or less severely, and we usually throw them away after they 

 have been thus used, finding it better and easier to keep up a 

 stock of young plants than to try to revive the old ones. 



It is desirable to keep the plants as compact and bushy as 



