January 13, 1892.] 



Garden and Forest. 



19 



states Department of Agriculture, writes tliat rather more than 

 a year ago he had received from Professor Taft, of the Michi- 

 gan Agricultural College, Carnation-sprigs Ijadly affected with 

 this fungus, and he then wrote that, so far as known, Uromyces 

 had never before been found in the United States. He added 

 that it might prove troublesome if it once gained a foothold, 

 and therefore he thought it well to call the attention of florists 

 to it. We learn of it in Michigan, OhiO) the vicinity of Pliila- 

 delphia and other parts of Pennsylvania, and in the neighbor- 

 hood of Boston. 



Little can be added to what has already been said as to the 

 effects produced on the plant by this fungus. In order to make 

 it easy of identification we herewith reproduce two figures 

 from Briosi and Cavara's work on the Fungi of Cultivated 

 Plants, which Professor Galloway has been kind enough to 

 send us, so that all growers may bealjle to identify the disease. 

 On page 18, Fig. 5 shows a sprig' of Carnation affected with tlie 

 rust, with the pustules appearing on the leaves and stem. A 

 thin cross-section through a leaf-pustule is represented in 

 Fig. 6, from which it will be seen that the spores {a) are 

 borne on short stalks. 



Fig. 6. — Uroniyc'S caryopliyllinus. — See page 18. 

 Cross-section ot pustule, rt, Spores. 



Wliere Carnations are kept cool and dry — that is, with abun- 

 dance of light and air — it does not spread so rapidly nor grow 

 as vigorously as it does imder other circumstances. It is 

 worse* in those portions .of the greenhouse where the pipes 

 are hottest. Some varieties are much more susceptible to the 

 disease than others. Mr. E. G. Hill, of Richmond, Indiana, 

 finds that the heavy-growing and fleshy-leaved varieties suffer 

 the most. Mr. Lonsdale advises that great care should be 

 taken in selecting cuttings for next year's plants, and these 

 should be treated to a dip in some fungicide, like a weak solu- 

 tion of the Bordeaux mixture, before they are inserted in the 

 propagating-sand, and they should be sprinkled once or twice 

 a week afterw'ard to keep it in check. Of course, such ordi- 

 nary precautions as picking off the diseased leaves, removing 

 diseased plants, and keeping young plants as far as possible 

 from old ones which are supposed to be infected, should not 

 be neglected. One grower writes that he fears that the Bor- 

 deaux mixture will poison his soil, a possibility which has been 

 suggested by Colonel A. W. Pearson in this journal. But 

 Colonel Pearson also suggested that the copper mixture could 

 be used for Grape-rot in a much more diluted form, and it is 

 not improbable that experiment woidd show the same to be 

 true in the case of this fungus. Besides this, it is not likely that 

 the soil in the pots or benches would become sterilized by the 

 cautious use of copper within three or four years, even if there 

 was a genuine danger from this source, and as greenhouse 

 soils are frequently changed, this danger should not forbid the 

 use of the copper mixtures. 



Fuchsia, Dunrobin Bedder. 



T T is a great gain to secure for the garden a dwarf hardy 

 -'■ Fuchsia, free, compact and useful either as an edging to 

 large beds or by itself to form a distinct group on the grass. 

 We have such an acquisition in the variety Dunrobin Bedder, 

 a form of the popular F. Riccartoni, one of the hardiest and 

 most beautiful of Fuchsias ; it was raised by Mr. Melville, who 

 has charge of the interesting gardens at Dunrobin Castle, 

 Sutherland. He hybridized F. Riccartoni with the greenhouse 

 varieties, and out of about one hundred seedlings which he 

 managed to bloom this was selected for its unusual dwarfness, 

 compactness, vigor and freedom of bloom. I first noticed it 

 in the gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society, Chiswick, 

 ■where it had been sent for trial, and was impressed by its dis- 

 tinctness and beauty. It is perfectly hardy here — at least it has 

 withstood the trials of ten winters in Sutherland. In seasons 

 of exceptional severity the plants are cut down to the ground, 

 but not killed, and they grow freely again with the quickening 



warmth of spring. Its great charm is as a bedder, and it may 

 be used for edging or as a groundwork to a bed of taller 

 Fuchsias. Mr. Melville propagates this Fuchsia in the same 

 way as ordinary bedders — that is, by putting in several cut- 

 tings in a five-inch pot in August or September. To obtain an 

 early display of flowers the cuttings are potted off singly in the 

 following March, and a quick return in the way of bloom is se- 

 cured. The old specimens will also provide a feast of color if 

 they are lifted before touched by frost, placed closely together 

 in a cold frame, and pruned a little in the late spring before 

 again occupying their place in the garden. Many uses for a 

 dwarf, hardy, vigorous plant like this will suggest themselves, 

 and we have seen it used to advantage as a window-box plant, 

 also in large vases. 

 Cliiswiclc, England. Vincent Cook. 



Hybrid Violas. — Now that the owners of gardens are making 

 preparations for the spring and summer allow me to suggest 

 the trial of hybrid Violas, or, as they are sometimes known, the 

 Tufted Pansies, which do not seem as much cultivated as their 

 merits deserve. These plants are hybrids of various alpine 

 Violets with some admixture with the florists' Pansies. While 

 some of the varieties have the tufted habit which has led to 

 the naming of the race, this habit is not universal, and most 

 growers favor the " Hybrid Violas" as a more correct name. 

 The [)resent race of Pansies is the result of long-continued se- 

 lection, having always in view, as one of the main points, the 

 increase of size. While mere size is not objectionable, a large 

 proportion of modern Pansies are coarse, with colors very 

 much blurred or run. Of course, there are fine collections of 

 Pansies with pure clear colors well defined and very satisfac- 

 tory in every point of view. The hybrid Violas, while much 

 resembling Pansies in foliage and growth, are quite distinct in 

 effect, having a beauty of a daintier order. The flowers, sim- 

 ilar in form to good Pansies, are usually about half the size, 

 and are, in good varieties, without a trace of coarseness in 

 texture and of the most satisfying purity of color, to which 

 good qualities many of them have in addition a delicate yet 

 distinct fragrance. They are very free-flowering and make 

 capital bedding plants. They can be planted out as early in 

 the season as tlie ground can be made ready, being as hardy 

 as the Pansy. They may be secured from any English hardy- 

 plant nursery, and it is well in ordering to arrange for their 

 coming by mail, a much surer plan for soft plants than the 

 express, with the long delay at the customs. Some of the best 

 kinds in cultivation are Countess of Kintore, Quaker Maid, 

 Ariel, Skylark, Violetta, Countess of Hopetoun, Duchess of 

 Sutherland, Sir Joseph Terry, Archie Grant, Puritan, Ardwell 

 Gem, King of Yellows. 



Primula floribunda. — This Himalayan Primrose is one of the 

 brightest of greenhouse flowers, and much more attractive 

 in color than P. obconica. Nothing brightens up a garden as 

 much as masses of good yellow flowers, and the color of this 

 Primrose is of the clearest deep golden hue. As its name 

 implies, it flowers freely and continuously. While the scapes 

 are not as hard and rigid as those of P. obconica, it is useful 

 for cutting for dainty flower-arrangements. It is readily grown 

 from seed, which germinates rapidly, and seems to thrive in a 

 moderate warmth and not too moist an atmosphere. Some plants 

 in cooler quarters have not been quite happy, and probably 

 from fifty degrees to sixty degrees Fahrenheit is a suitable 

 temperature. The type of this plant has small flowers, but 

 there is a variety with large ones of the same color. It was 

 with regret that I threw out P. obconica, after becoming a vic- 

 tim to its irritating spicules, though, curiously enough, I had 

 grown it several years and had not been affected till attention 

 was called to its properties. Aside from this one fault, it is 

 one of the most valuable minor plants, being always covered 

 with pretty, useful flowers. In the hope of filling its place, I 

 am watching carefully a pan of hybrids, P. obconica X P. cor- 

 tusoides amoena, from which, I am assured, there will be 

 plants with larger flowers and a range of colors from white to 

 red. This seems a promising cross, though there is more 

 than a suspicion that there will be some of those dreary blue- 

 reds of P. cortusoides to weed out. My principal wish is that 

 the cross may ameliorate the structure of the foliage so that it 

 may prove innocuous. With such foliage and flowers larger 

 than the type there would be a gain indeed. 



Elizabeth, N.J. J.N.G. 



Galanthus nivalis, var. Octobrensis. — This Snowdrop flowers 

 here from the beginning of October until November, and is 

 then succeeded by Galanthus Corcyrensis, thelatteropening the 

 first flowers in the first week of November, and continuing for 

 about six weeks. There is not much difference in the flowers. 



