174 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 216. 



the universal comment was, "much like a cantaloupe." 

 There is, however, an agreeable acidity which is very 

 distinct. 



It seems certain that the Pepino will prove a valuable 

 acquisition if we can determine the proper conditions for 

 fruiting it under glass. 



Maine state College. W . M. MunSOn. 



Foreign Correspondence. 

 London Letter, 



Ranunculus cortus.efolius. — A flowering specimen of 

 this plant, which was described by Sir W. Hooker forty 

 years ago as "unquestionably the handsomest of all the 

 Buttercups," was a special attraction at the last meeting of 

 the Royal Horticultural Society. It was sent by Lord 

 Hylton, of Merstham House, in Surrey, where I am in- 

 formed it grows well in the open air with a little protection 

 in winter. It is a rare plant in English gardens, notwith- 

 standing its introduction forty years back and the unques- 

 tionable beauty of its flowers. It has a large fleshy, 

 tuberous root-stock, an erect stem as thick as a man's little 

 finger, and sometimes four feet high, freely branched above. 

 The leaves are a foot across, slightly lobed and tootheij, 

 hairy, as also are the stems. The flowers, which are in 

 large, broad, crowded corymbs, are erect, two inches or 

 more across, golden yellow, varnished or shimmering, as 

 in all Buttercups, the petals of good substance, the fra- 

 grance strong and pleasant. The Rev. E. J. Lowe, vi^riting 

 of i\iis^\a.\\im Hooker s Journal 0/ Bolany (vol. ix., 69), says it 

 is a very striking, large and handsome plant, of almost 

 gigantic size and stature in its genus and of a noble ap- 

 pearance. Its enormous Buttercup-like flowers are con- 

 spicuous at considerable distances oil the ledges within the 

 clefts of high rocks or cliffs in the ravines in Madeira. It 

 is also found in the Canary Islands. Another name for it 

 is R. grandifolius. At Kew the plant is not hardy, but the 

 late Mr. Giles Mundy grew it well in his little garden at 

 Farnham. It is curious, too, that, while Mr. Smith stated 

 in the Botanical Magazine, under tab. 4625, that it required 

 the protection of a frame or handlight in winter, Sir W. 

 Hooker says in the same place that "it is quite hardy. " In 

 favored localities I know it thrives in England. It is worth 

 growing as a pot-plant for the sake of its handsome fra- 

 grant flowers which open in March. 



ScHizocoDON soLDANELLOiDEs. — A living example in flower 

 of this very interesting little Japanese plant has lately been 

 sent to Kew by Captain A. Torrens, who collected it while 

 in Japan, and in whose garden in Kent it has flowered 

 probably for the first time in Europe. Its interest lies in 

 the fact that it is very closely related to Shortia galacifolia, 

 which, I believe, has been found wild in Japan as well as 

 in North America, and used to be known as Schizocodon 

 uniflorus. There is a close family resemblance between 

 this new-comer and the Shortia, but the former has a short 

 decumbent stem, shining green ovate, cordate leaves 

 about an inch long, and a two-flowered scape. The flow- 

 ers are like those of the Shortia, but more cupped, and with 

 linear instead of scale-like staminodes. A figure of the 

 plant has been prepared for publication in the Bota?iical 

 Magazine. 



Dendrobium Phal.enopsis Schrcederianum. — The plants re- 

 cently introduced by Messrs. F. Sander & Co. are proving 

 exceptionally rich in variety both of color and size of 

 flower. At the last meeting of the Royal Horticultural So- 

 ciety a group of about a dozen plants, all in fiower, was 

 shown by an amateur, Mr. E. M. Mundy, and among them 

 was one with almost pure white segments, another with 

 mottled segments, and one with flowers of the deepest 

 colors, and exceptionally large in size, measuring four 

 inches across. These flowers were all produced from 

 newly made growths, a fact which proves that under culti- 

 vation this Dendrobium will grow well — far better than 

 most of the Dendrobiums from the same region. We have 



plants of it growing freely in a hot moist house, such as 

 suits Phalaenopsis, but unshaded. 



Cocos Weddelliana. — This is the most popular of all the 

 Palms which are grown here for the decoration of rooms, 

 dinner-tables, etc. It is easily grown, assumes an elegant 

 appearance from the first, and it always sells well. Over 

 one hundred thousand seeds of it were sold by auction in 

 London a few days ago. Although discovered by Dr. Wed- 

 dell in i83iitwas not introduced into cultivation until 

 about thirty years afterward, when L. Van Houtte, of 

 Ghent, distributed it under its present name. A few years 

 later it again appeared under the name of Leopoldinia 

 pulchra, and at a still later date as Glaziova elegantissima. 

 There is a figure of it in Wallace's Palms 0/ Brazil, where 

 it is called Leopoldinia pulchra, and described as an elegant 

 Palm, with a stem eight to twelve feet high and two inches 

 in diameter with leaves seven feet long, which, on certain 

 saints' days, are used for the decoration of altars and sim- 

 ilar sacred purposes. It is so abundant in some parts that 

 its stems are commonly used for making fences. The seeds 

 are ovoid and one and a half centimetres in diameter. 



G. insignis, otherwise known as Glaziova insignis, is 

 almost as elegant a plant, the fronds being a little 

 broadeT hi the pinnae and the stem perhaps a little thicker, 

 otherwise it is quite as strikingly graceful. It has the merit, 

 too, of being satisfied with the temperature of an ordinary 

 greenhouse. There is a good example of it in the winter 

 garden at Kew, which has borne the minimum tempera- 

 ture of forty to forty-five degrees for the last two winters 

 without suffering in the slightest. It would certainl)' thrive 

 in the open air in the warmer states ; for instance, in south 

 ■California. It is a native of Brazil. 



A Bamboo Garden. — This is the latest addition to the spe- 

 cial gardens at Kew. Hitherto the hardy Bamboos have 

 been scattered over the garden or grown in a position ill- 

 adapted for some of the kinds. The new garden is about 

 a quarter of an acre in extent and is oval in form, with 

 sloping banks and a large depressed central area. The 

 garden is surrounded by trees, to which an informal belt 

 of shrubs has been added. Beside Bamboos it is proposed 

 to grow in this place all the large hardy Moniacotyle- 

 donous plants, such as hardy Palms, Yuccas, Gyneriums, 

 Arundos and Eulalias. The species of Bamboo known to 

 be hardy at Kew are the following: B. Metake, B. Simoni, 

 B. viride glaucescens, B. Quilloi, B. palmata, B. tessellata, 

 B. Fortune!, vars., B. nana (Hort. ), B. nigra, B. mitis, B. 

 quadrangularis, B. Kumasaca. 



Shrubs for Forcing. — Flowers out of season have an at- 

 traction for most people. Plants that may be made to pro- 

 duce their flowers at a time when there is a dearth of bloom 

 are of special value in the garden. To know what plants 

 will force well is to be well equipped for emergencies in 

 flower demand. There are, of course, numerous old 

 stagers, such as the old white Azalea, Camellias, Azalea 

 mollis, Roses, grandest and most useful of all, and now 

 not considered out of season at anytime of the year. Then 

 we all force Hyaciirths, Dicentra, Spiraea (Astilbe), Daffo- 

 dils, Tulips, etc. There are beside these numerous other 

 plants of special value to force, and some of the best of 

 these are shrubs. We use Forsythia suspensa, a beautiful 

 plant when forced; Prunus Pissardi, P. triloba; Pyrus 

 malus, var. floribunda, whose beautiful wands of white 

 flowers are rendered more beautiful by the rich crimson 

 color of the unopened buds. Staphylea Colchica is now as 

 well known as Deutzia gracilis, still one of the best of 

 white-flowered plants for this purpose. Lilac, too, is becom- 

 ing common, and so is Daphne Genkwa, the blue Japa- 

 nese species. The red-flowering Currants are charming 

 greenhouse-plants when forced so that their branches are 

 wreathed in flowers in February. The large-flowered 

 Laurestinus, known as lucidus, is beautiful when forced. 

 Nothing could be more beautiful than pot specimens of the 

 double-flowered Peaches when forced into flower by the 

 end of February. Well managed, the branches are laden 

 with large Stock-like blooms, beautiful in the mass, and 



