December 



1895.] 



Garden and Forest. 



497 



of sap. This a good keeping variety, and may also be used, if 

 desired, in a late liouse, but for late work, either for marketer 

 home use, it is hard to find two better grapes than Barbarossa 

 and Gros Colman. For Iceeping qualities, Lady Downes is 

 probably the best late grape ; it is also an excellent table grape, 

 but both bunch and berry are small compared with the two 

 foregoing varieties. 



Tarry town, N. Y. 



IVilliam Scott. 



Notes from the Missouri Botanical Garden. 



ON a two-year-old seedling stock of Robinia Pseudacacia 

 from the nursery a cion of R. hispida was cleft-graf-ted 

 two years ago, and it now shows four strong, sturdy branches, 

 each four feet in length. Last spring the profusion of large, 

 deep rose-colored Howers made a splendid spectacle. We find 

 R. Pseudacacia an excellent stock to work on, because it con- 

 tinues a gradual growth from spring until the fall, and then 

 ripens up properly before winter. The only objection is that 

 in exposed situations the growths are apt to be broken offdur- 



Fig 63 Philadelphus Falconer!.— See page 494. 



ing summer or fall by the wind. It would seem to be suitable for 

 forcing as a greenhouse-plant, where staking would overcome 

 this. It lasts in bloom from two to three weeks. Naturally 

 early-blooming plants are sought for forcing, but while this is 

 not quite as early as Deutzias or -Syringas by trom five to thirty 

 days, according to season, still its delicacy ot bloom, its foli- 

 age and possible ease of culture recommend the trial we intend 

 to give it. 



The English horticultural journals, especially, have been 

 recommending the planting of early spring-flowering bulbs in 

 the lawn for years, but few persons here seem to adopt the 

 idea. We have always found it a good plan, and these spring 

 Howers are never more pleasing than when seen in the grass, 

 among the shrufiberies or along the fences. Eight or ten in a 

 comparatively close group, here and there connected by others 

 wider apart, and now and then several boldly showing them- 

 selves scattered still further apart anti leaving the general 

 group still further, is an effective way of planting. We attempt 

 to avoid all regularity and give a perfectly natural appearance. 

 When two kinds of bulbs are mixed together they frequently 



give a pleasing effect. Crocus and Hyacinths, Colchicumsand 

 Ixias, Narcissus and Arums, losing themselves in each other, 

 are very charming, while Poet's Narcissus and Scilla campan- 

 ulata are fit companions amid the tall grass at their season of 

 bloom. Some of the spring bulbs and rhizomes we use for 

 this purpose, in addition to the above, are Eranthis, Cliiono- 

 doxa, Erythronium, Galanthus, SciUa and Claytonia. Our 

 method of planting is to force a crowbar into the soil, fill in one- 

 half or one inch of previously prepared soil of about the 

 consistency of that under the grass, place on the bulb, 

 fill in with the same soil and step on it to complete the opera- 

 tion. Where the ground is well drained, leaf-mold is sometimes 

 used, but the stiff, almost impervious, clay that abounds here- 

 about forms a small water-trap in almost every such instance, 

 and consequently discourages this idea. In more thoroughly 

 drained or lighter soils half an inch of leaf-mold or sand 

 below the bulb would hasten root-growth. 



Protecting for winter is now the main operation out-of-doors. 

 Nearly all herbaceous plants have a covering of from five to 

 eighteen inches of pine-needles. This is omitted when we 

 want to test the hardiness of any' plant, and where 

 large areas are taken up by one well-established and 

 hardy species. But, even in the last instance, it does 

 no harm, and often prevents plants from being lifted 

 by the frosts, especially small and late-planted ones. 

 October was exceptionally dry, so much so that 

 the leaves of many shrubs and trees, instead of ripen- 

 ing and dropping as usual, shriveled and hung on to 

 the last moment. A heavy rainfall two weeks ago 

 and several warm and rainy days since have caused 

 many buds to swell, and one Silver Maple is almost 

 ready to burst into full bloom. This untimely forcing 

 must exert a bad influence upon the plant and re- 

 duce its vitality. Where the weather becomes gradu- 

 ally and steadily colder, plants may be protected as 

 soon as the average maximum temperature ranges 

 between twenty-five and forty degrees, according to 

 the individual subject. Covering too soon favors 

 undue activity of the sap, and a sudden and very 

 low drop in the temperature does the harm which a 

 covering is used to prevent ; its sole object being to 

 insure a comparatively uniform temperature and 

 avoid sudden changes from one extreme to the 

 other, the proper time to apply it is when set- 

 tled cold weather comes. Here at St. Louis, for 

 instance, I have seen for several days at a time a 

 summer temperature in January. Such weather, 

 especially when preceded by a good heavy rain, 

 tends to excite shallow-rooted plants into growth. 

 Thus far it has not been advisable to protect Roses. 

 Bedded-out bulbs have been mulched with an inch 

 or two of decomposed horse-manure to encourage 

 continuous root-action by preserving the warmth in 

 the soil. In spring, after the bulbs are removed, 

 this is dug in. In a few weeks, however, pine- 

 needles serve as the real winter mulch. Last win- 

 ter Genista Andreana died down to the snow- 

 level where unprotected. Magnolia fretida and 

 Xanthoceras sorbifoha usually have their branches 

 tied together, and are then wrapped in burlapping 

 or straw, always lightly to permit the air to freely 

 circulate through the branches, but still keeping them 

 as dark as possible. Xanthoceras does well here 

 without any protection, but occasionally the plants die 

 off mysteriously, like many Japanese plants. The 

 southern Magnolia is a shy bloomer out-of-doors 

 When protected as above and allowing it to stand 

 erect or bending down, and covered with Pine-needles, just as 

 Grapes are sometimes protected, is the usual method of attend- 

 ing to this. If left unprotected during winter it drops its 

 upper leaves under the warm spring sunshine. ., ,,. , 



Si. Louis, Mo. E""' Misc/ie. 



Spra3'ing by Steam-power. 



SINCE spraying against insect and fungous enemies of plants 

 has come into practice, numerous devices have been used 

 for applying liquid poisons lo trees and plants, but not until 

 recently has steam-power been tried to any extent. The 

 hand and power pumps now in use answer fairly well for 

 the orchard and garden, but the ravages of the Elm-leaf 

 beetle make necessary the use of powerful pumps to spray 

 the foliage of our giant Elms, for we must spray the Elms here 

 at the north if we wisii to preserve them. In the southern 

 states, where the summer season is longer, defoliation, though 

 enervating to the trees, does not kill them, because another 



here. 



