142 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 213. 



Every season we are apt to esteem peculiar, in spite of in- 

 exorable records that show general and particular likeness, 

 and it may be unwise to insist too strongly upon the abso- 

 lute novelty of sudden change such as is here recounted, but 

 in the memory and records of one observer it stands alone. 

 Whenever this change does come, and whether gradually or 

 suddenly, it is one of the most affecting beauties of all the year. 

 The mist of tender color is moreenchanting than the gorgeous 

 beauty of which it is the prophecy. And it is not only in itself 

 beautiful, but a marvel and a mystery — a mere hovering haze 

 that flies before one and evades approach; ghost-like, as 

 though it were the spiritual part of flowers first arrived, and 

 waiting uneasily for bodies yet to be. ~ r- t- j 



New York. 7- ^- Learned. 



A Freak of a New England Orchid. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — It was on the first day of August, in the course of an 

 idle tramp of an hour or so, in the midst of a shady mosquito- 

 haunted bog, where the smaller purple-fringed Orchids were 

 blooming in abundance, that I was almost electrified by the 

 sight of a stately spike of brilliantly white flowers just before 

 me. With the eagerness of an amateur botanist I gathered 

 this solitary specimen, jumping at the conclusion, as usual 

 in such cases, that it was certainly something never before re- 

 ported in this locality. On examination, it bore a rather humil- 

 iating resemblance to the Habenaria psychodes, in whose 

 company it was found ; but the height — two feet nine inches — 

 and length and diameter of the spike far exceeded those of 

 any of its humble relatives. It was a magnificent specimen, 

 in perfect flower, and the petals and sepals were certainly 

 larger than those of any of the orthodox H. psychodes. Then, 

 too, the lip was in a horizontal position, at right angles with 

 the erect upper petals. With these exceptions, the flower was 

 identical, even in odor. It is to be remembered, of course, 

 that it was pure white. 



The question is. What was it ? If the fringing of the lip had 

 only been capillary and the spike a little looser, it would have 

 passed for H. leucophsea, as described in Gray's Manual. 

 I am told by good authorities that the fact that it was white 

 counts for nothing, and the fact that it was growing in com- 

 pany with H. psychodes is presumptive evidence that it was 

 simply an albino of that species. Other good authorities say 

 that, while this is the natural supposition, it is possible that it is 

 a hybrid — perhaps of H. lacera and H. psychodes. I have seen 

 white Pogonias, heard of white Cypripediums (acaule), but 

 never heard of a white Habenaria psychodes. Of course, they 

 are found in deeper and lighter shades of purple, but has any- 

 body ever found one pure white ? ty y 



Norwich, Conn. _ J • -^ • 



Periodical Literature. 



In a paper recently read before the Torrey Botanical Clul), 

 in this city, and reprinted in the Bulletin of the club for March, 

 Professor Byron D. Halsted says that durmg the past two years 

 a large number of variegated plants have been examined with 

 reference to the presence of parasitic fungi, attention having 

 first been called to the subject " by a study of the foliage of a 

 variegated Ash, which had its leaves badly spotted with a spe- 

 cies of Coniothyrium, while ordinary Ash-trees were free from 

 the same fungus." He gives an alphabetical list of fifty gen- 

 era, including more than a hundred species of variegated 

 plants, both hardy and grown under glass, which had been 

 found specially subject to the attacks of fungi. The author 

 says that it is not his purpose to'enter into the causes of etio- 

 lation or variegation, or to draw well-defined conclusions from 

 the facts which he presents. But he adds that the ordinary 

 green forms of many species have also been studied, with the 

 result of showing that they are much less frequently attacked 

 than the variegated sorts. Furthermore, in some plants the 

 etiolated part occupies large portions of the leaf, and, as a rule, 

 the portions without the chlorophyl are the most susceptible. 

 In the Aspidistra, for example, the one-half of the long leaf 

 may be green and the other white, in which case the latter is 

 with few exceptions the only one attacked. In the Hydrangea 

 the middle of the leaf is etiolated, and here the blight first be- 

 gins its destructive work. In other plants, where the white 

 is distributed in blotches near the margin of the leaf, the decay 

 due to the fungus produces a ragged edge. And when the 

 variegation is q'uite evenly distributed over the leaf the para- 

 site is widely scattered and the whole leaf decays, as in Dieften- 

 bachia and Abutilon. The author concludes : " There seems 

 to be no question that the variegated leaves are more suscep- 



tible to parasitic fungi, and that likewise the etiolated parts 

 are the ones first attacked. The absence of green in a leaf is 

 a source of weakness. Speaking generally, a variegated plant 

 lacks capacity for the best work, and the gardener, in propagat- 

 ing a variegation, no matter how it may have originated, is 

 propagating a weakened plant in so far as it has had its normal 

 amount of chlorophyl reduced. It is a pity that so many of 

 our choicest variegated plants blight easily ; it is, however, 

 natural that they should do so. Even a fungus parasite will 

 take the line of least resistance." 



We may add to this interesting communication that it does 

 not seem a great pity that variegated-leaved plants should 

 have characteristics which may gradually discourage that love 

 for them which is so marked among amateur horticulturists, 

 and, unfortunately, among some landscape-gardeners as well. 

 Except as curiosities to be preserved in a greenhouse or used 

 in the decoration of a room, variegated forms are seldom as 

 attractive as the more normal forms from which they have 

 originated, or, we may truthfully say, deteriorated; and their 

 excessive use out-of-doors is one of the evils against which 

 true lovers of landscape beauty have to protest. In formal 

 gardening arrangements a discreet taste can employ them with 

 good effect ; but in the naturalistic arrangements, which are 

 much more common in the present day, very discreet, indeed, 

 must be the taste which can use them without injury to the 

 repose, harmony, unity and simplicity that should characterize 

 a landscape. In most European countries they are still more 

 profusely employed than here ; but even here we too often see 

 lawns and plantations disfigured with many crude spots of va- 

 riegated color where the eye would be far better pleased by 

 the gentler variety which different shades of green can give. 



Recent Publications. 



The Formal Garden in England. By Reginald Blomfield 

 and F. Inigo Thomas. London : Macmillan & Co., 1892. 



There has long been great need of a good book in the Eng- 

 lish language on formal gardening. The one which Mr. 

 Blomfield has recently written, and which Mr. Thomas has 

 illustrated, is interesting, and in certain respects is instructive ; 

 but it will not adequately fill the empty place on our shelves. 

 It will do little to convince narrow devotees of the "natural 

 style " of gardening that the formal style has its merits also, 

 and still less to explain to those who already believe this fact 

 under what conditions each style is appropriate, or even what 

 is the essential difference between them. This is because its 

 author has written not in an impartial spirit, or even as a fair- 

 minded advocate. He stoutly denies that there is or ever has 

 been such an art as landscape-gardening, and implies that in 

 the nature of things there can be no such art. Formal gardens, 

 he says, are designed ; grounds treated in other ways are not 

 designed, and only make a pretense of being designed. He 

 condemns the narrowness of landscape-gardeners, and proves 

 himself narrower than any of them. He carefully notes their 

 follies in act and word, but as carefully abstains from any men- 

 tion of their worthy work or even of the problems which af- 

 ford them their best opportunities. He perpetually goes out 

 of his way to assert that landscape-gardeners have ruined 

 whatever they have touched, but he never explains how their 

 larger undertakings might be better managed. The only pas- 

 sage in his book which even grudgingly admits that the land- 

 scape-gardener as well as the designer of formal gardens has 

 his place in the world, is the one where, after saying that formal 

 gardens do not need to be very large, he adds, " If either style 

 wants room, it is the landscape, for unrestricted space is of the 

 essence of natural scenery ; and, indeed, the only places where 

 its use appears tolerable are gardens such as those of Chats- 

 worth, where the grounds are so large that there is a real sugges- 

 tion of sc&n&rj stii gejieris , as of a wood in which clearings have 

 been made and the grass kept carefully trimmed." In short, 

 Mr. Blomfield's preferences are so narrow, his temper toward 

 everybody and everything unapproved by tliese preferences 

 so bitter, his arguments so one-sided, and his descriptions of 

 the aims and ideas of the landscape-gardener so disingenuous, 

 that his book is likely to do more harm than good to the cause 

 which he has so warmly at heart. He could have pleaded the 

 cause of formal gardening design much more effectively had 

 he shown us first where and how landscape-gardening can 

 produce good results and then where and how it cannot, in- 

 stead of assuming that it has never produced a really good re- 

 sult, and in the nature of things never can. 



The historical passages of his book are interesting when one 

 can ignore the writer's underlying mood. They give in a com- 

 pact shape a great deal of information hitherto scattered 



