1 66 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 215. 



The best plant of C. Veitchii produced a spike wliicli bore 

 forty-seven flowers, and tlie others were proportionately good. 

 Many grand plants of the stately Phajus grandifolius arc in 

 full bloom, and one of Cattleya Trian;B can hardly be excelled. 

 The numerous plants of Lielia harpophylla, with their bright 

 orange-scarlet flowers, have a cheerful effect amid the prevail- 

 ing green, while the fragrant drooping racemes of fDendro- 

 chilum glumaceum and D. Cobbianum give a final touch of 

 grace and elegance to the scene. 



Cinerarias and Cyclamens are the principal attractions at Dr. 

 C. G. Weld's place, one large house being filled to overflowing 

 with splendid specimens of these plants. The seeds of Cin- 

 eraria were obtained from plants of Raymond's California 

 strain. The flowers are of good size, and rich in variety and 

 shade of color. There are some handsome double varieties 

 among them, which may possess decided merit for cutting 

 purposes, but they are not nearly as attractive as the single 

 kinds. To obtain these fine plants the gardener, Mr. Kenneth 

 Finlayson, sows the seeds early in summer, keeping the plants 

 as cool as possible and shaded throughout the hottest months. 

 A mixture of rich loam and leaf-mold, in equal parts, with a 

 moderate addition of sand, is used for potting when the plants 

 are young, and as they require larger pots the compost is gradu- 

 ally made stronger and richer by adding old cow-manure and 

 more loam. Liquid-manure is given once or twice a week 

 when the final pots are filled with roots. Several of Dr. Weld's 

 houses are devoted to Roses, and there is one full of Carna- 

 tions in pots. Among the latter, Annie Webb, Florence, Lizzie 

 McGowan and Silver Spray were considered reliable. The 

 bareness of the bench-walls in the Rose-houses was relieved 

 by large hanging tufts of Abutilon vexillarium, and numerous 

 pots of Oxalis lutea, full of its large canary-yellow flowers, 

 hung from the roof. The clear scarlet flowers of Anemone 

 fulgens are very showy and conspicuous, and the plants are 

 blooming freely and seemed to thrive well in pans of moderate 

 depth. Iberis sempervirens is a perfectly hardy plant, but 

 it is used here for forcing in pots. The specimens are 

 dwarf and compact, and covered with the pure white flowers. 

 A recently imported piece of the famous Cattleya labiata 

 bears a single flower, large, beautiful and fragrant, with sepals 

 and petals soft purple, lip white with conspicuous markings 

 of deep purple. Trichopilia laxa is also in bloom, and is inter- 

 esting on account of its comparative rarity. The racemes are 

 of drooping habit, the flowers odorous and pure white, the 

 broad lip yellow at the base. , r. t 



Cambridge, Mass. M. Barker. 



Wild Flowers in Cultivation. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Every student of nature must have observed the changes 

 made in our native plants by domestication. A simple change 

 in environment is sometimes sufficient to make a radical change 

 in the habits of growth and flowering of such plants. One of 

 the showiest wild flowers of southern Missouri is Verbena 

 Aubletia. In its wild state it commences to bloom very early 

 in the spring, and for nearly two months is a mass of reddish 

 pvu-ple blossoms, so bright as to catch the eye at a long dis- 

 tance. After the regular spring flowering is over, however, 

 one rarely sees a wild plant in flower, and at the most but a 

 few spikes at a time. Wild plants transplanted to the home 

 grounds immediately make an astonishing growth, each plant 

 reaching two or three times the size of its wild companions, and 

 remaining constantly in flower from early spring until Octo- 

 ber. In ten years' experience with them I have found this an 

 invariable rule. I give my plants no cultivation further than 

 to plant in mellow soil and to keep free from weeds. The 

 flowers in size and color remain true to the type, the change 

 being solely in increased luxuriance and continuity of bloom. 

 Can any one suggest the reason for this change of blooming 

 period or how it is brought about ? 



Even more striking is the change in Viola pedata, the beau- 

 tiful Bird's-foot Violet, whose natural time and duration of 

 blooming is about the same as that of Verbena Aubletia. I 

 have transplanted Bird's-foot Violets by the hundred, giving 

 them such after-culture as I give ordinary flowers. The blos- 

 soms of cultivated plants are no larger than those on wild 

 plants, perhaps not quite as large, but during their regular 

 blooming period they are borne in remarkable abundance, and 

 give irregular but less profuse crops the whole season there- 

 after. My last summer's garden notes show that there was not 

 a day between the middle of April and first of November when 

 I could not find plants of this Violet in bloom. 



In one bed I have several plants of the rarer Viola pedata 

 bicolor, the three lower petals of whicli are a satiny blue, while 



the two upper ones seem stamped out of royal purple velvet. 

 This spring lialf a dozen plants gave blossoms whiose lower 

 petals were dotted, splashed or striped with the purple of the 

 upper petals. Sometimes the variegation was slight, but every 

 bloom throughout the season showed it. Tire season before 

 a bed of choice Pansies grew near the Violets. Was this a 

 case of accidental hybridizing ? It seems almost incredible 

 that cultivation alone should cause such sporfing, for the wild 

 ones are always true to type. 



Piiieville, Mo. 



Lora S. La Mance. 



Exhibitions. 



The Spring Flower Show at Philadelphia. 



'X'HE exhibition of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society last 

 -•■ week was more successful in point of attendance than any 

 spring flower-show in I^hiladelphia for many years. There 

 was no staging in the large hall and all the plants were taste- 

 fully grouped on the floor, giving the general effect of a well- 

 arranged garden. The great private collections in the city and 

 its neighborhood, as usual, contributed liberally from their 

 treasures, and the show was rich with choice specimens from 

 the greenhouses of Miss Baldwin, Mr. Drexel and Mr. Childs. 

 Two plants from Mr. Childs' collection, well known for their 

 size and beauty, a superb Livistonia and a Cibotium regale, 

 of truly regal proportions and expression, were seen for the 

 last time here, as they have been contributed by Mr. Childs to 

 the Horticultural Department of the Chicago Exposition. 



A group of Palms and other decorative plants from Mr. 

 Drexel was remarkable for high average value of its individual 

 specimens and their admirable condition. Mr. Thomas Long, 

 the gardener who cares for these select specimens, received 

 the first premium for a new and rare plant with a variety of 

 Araucaria excelsa glauca, which was quite distinct from the 

 type in its larger and broader leaves and more robust habit. 

 The group of twelve Ferns, also sent by Mr. Drexel, it would 

 be difficult to match for size and perfection of form. It con- 

 tained Davallias, Gleichenias, Cibotiums, the variety Major of 

 Pteris serrulata cristata, the crested Microlepia hirta, Nephro- 

 lepis davallioides, and an exceptionally good plant of Adian- 

 tum Williamsi. Wm. Joyce, gardener to Miss Baldwin, also 

 received prizes for Palms and decorative plants which added 

 much to tlie general effect of the exhibition. John M. Hughes, 

 gardener to Mr. Childs, received special premiums for the 

 same classes of plants. The Girard College gardens seemed 

 to be the most liberal contributor. Palms, "Tree Ferns, Cro- 

 tons, Dractenas, with Azaleas, Cytisus, Deutzias and other 

 hardy shrubs forced into bloom. Pitcher plants and spring 

 flowers in variety were banked against the stage most effec- 

 tively, and Mr. George Huster, superintendent of these gardens, 

 well deserved the silver medal awarded to him for taste in 

 arrangement as well as the special premium for his plants. 



As this was a spring show, the lack of bulbous plants in 

 flower was noticeable. Of Bermuda Lilies, usually so abun- 

 dant, there were very few ; of Liliuni longiflorum none. All 

 the Tulips, Hyacinths and Narcissi would have been lost in a 

 collection of ordinary size, and of the rarer Daffodils in which 

 amateurs take such a lively interest, only a few of the varieties 

 were represented. This was unfortunate, for certainly this 

 class of plants is worth growing and showing, and a spring 

 flower show is the place where they ought to be seen. 



In the foyer the Carnations attracted most attention, the 

 point of special interest being the competition for the Craig 

 Cup for the best twelve blooms of a variety not disseminated. 

 Among the leading competitors for this was E. G. Hill, of 

 Richmond, Indiana, with Edna Craig, a very light pinlf, now 

 the most fashionable color. The flower is very large, with a 

 stiff stem, a perfect form, and a calyx which never splits. Ed- 

 win Lonsdale, in the same class, showed Grace Battles, a pink 

 flower of a shade deeper than that of Edna Craig, and a first- 

 class flower in every way. J. W. Colflesh exhibited another 

 pink flower, Mrs. Colflesh, still deeper in color than Grace 

 Battles — that is, about the color of Grace Wilder at its best. 

 Tliese flowers are larger and bolder than Grace Wilder, and 

 shown on stems eighteen inches long they were very striking. 

 Sentinel was called a crimson-scarlet, which means that it is 

 about the same color as Hector, with a good stem and calyx. 

 These four varieties were most notable as showing in a marked 

 way the recent advance in Carnafions. There is still room for 

 a new dark crimson which will be as great an improvement on 

 King of Crimsons as the new pink kinds are beyond the old 

 ones. A good yellow is still needed. Golden Gate bursts 

 badly ; sometimes into utter raggedness. Of the better-known 

 varieties, Lizzie McGowan showed very well even alongside 



