178 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 216. 



bloom, and the Persian Lilac nearly so. I saw the beautiful 

 St. Bridget Anemones in full blossom over a month ago. Self- 

 sown plants of Drummond Phlox are now in blossom. A 

 striking- feature of the spring blooms in California are some of 

 the Australian Acacia-trees. Common here is A. molissima, 

 specimens of which a month ago were great masses of yellow 

 bloom, scenting the air for blocks around. 



Wild flowers are over a month ahead of time. In February 

 the Manzanitas were in full flower. These bushes are a feature 

 of our scenery, growing in uplands and mountains in large 

 dense masses, and this year they made an unusual display. 

 Ceanothus di varicatus, very com mon in the chapparal growth, is 

 now white with blossoms, and the Madrofia is in bloom at this 

 very early date, although May is nearer its proper season. In the 

 open fields our common Buttercup is flowering in masses, and 

 Nemophilas common. Castilleia parviflora, a dark red Painted 

 Cup, is plentiful in the woodland. Everywhere the bright yellow 

 flowers of Calandrinia can be seen peeping through the grass. 

 Of Erodiums two species are very common here, and their 

 pink flowers are everywhere. Within a week I have seen 

 some flowers of our state emblem, the Eschscholtzia, or Cali- 

 fornia Poppy. There is a second species of Ranunculus now 

 blossoming plentifully in wet lands. In leaf and root it very 

 closely resembles the garden varieties, but the flowers are yel- 

 low. Oinothera ovata, one of the sessile species, is flowering 

 abundantly. The seed-pods of this species are formed several 

 inches below the ground-level. I have seen several blooming 

 plants of theScarlet Larkspur, and a large plant of this in a wild 

 bed is one of the prettiest things I have in flower now. In a 

 cool situation and loose rich soil, few plants will give better 

 satisfaction. In rock-work it is perfectly at home, and chffs 

 all aglow with its flowers are among the brightest Californian 

 scenes. 



One of the prettiest early flowers is Mimulus Douglasii, a 

 tinyannualwith a flower nearly two inches long. In my garden 

 the native bulbs are unusually precocious. The first to bloom 

 was Scoliopus Bigelowii, which was full of bloom at Christmas, 

 and in a spot where it scarcely received the sun at all. The 

 numerous flowers are produced on slender scapes, and are 

 lined with brown and purple — more odd than pretty. The 

 leaves, which at blooming are quite small, develop later till 

 they are five or six inches long by two to three broad. The 

 Trilliums — T. sessile, var. Californicum, and T. ovatum — were 

 in blossom very early. The first is truly a beautiful plant. A 

 specimen at hand shows petals three inches long, with the leaf 

 five inches across. With us the petals are white, with more or 

 less purple in the throat. Near San Francisco all range from 

 rose-color to purple. I have never seen one here of a rose 

 or purple color until this season. A plant which last year was 

 pure white, but which stands where it did, under the shade of a 

 Cypress-hedge, and is never reached by tlie sun, is now rose- 

 purple. It is common for this species to throw up several 

 stalks from one root, making a fine clump. T. ovatum is pure 

 white, and very near to the eastern T. grandiflorum. 



I bloomed three Erythroniums this season. E. grandiflorum 

 (E.giganteum, according to iVIr. Watson's revision of the genus 

 published last spring) is a very free bloomer and easily grown. 

 I find shade necessary to secure the finest flowers. This sea- 

 son I had a bed of E. Hartwegii, a rather rare species. The 

 flowers are much the same as those of E. giganteum, but 

 instead of being in a raceme each is borne on a slender scape, 

 giving a very pretty effect. Smith's variety of E. grandiflorum 

 is always beautiful in flower, but one could wish its blooms 

 were borne more abundantly. As far as I have seen, it is a 

 strictly one-flowered species. It is at first pure white, becom- 

 ing rose-colored. A soil composed of equal parts of chip, 

 or leaf-mold, and sand suits these Erythroniums perfectly ; 

 and if planted in a sunny position, the shade of a lath-frame 

 or cloth sash will bring out the flowers in fine shape. 



The Fritillarias have all done well in a loose soil of sand and 

 mold. I blossomed a rather striking variety of F. lanceolata 

 this season called Gracilis. The blossoms are more open than 

 in the type, and the segments acuminate. It is very dark, 

 many of the blossoms being nearly black. Held to the light it 

 shows wonderfully rich colorings in dark red and purple. F. 

 biflora is a species which takes especially well to cultivation, 

 thriving in any loose rich soil and blossoming freely. The 

 blossom, unlike those of most Fritillarias, is not mottled, but 

 the coloring is in fine lines. But of the Californian Fritillarias 

 none approach F. recurva, some specimens of which have 

 borne thirty-five of its scarlet blossoms to the stalk, and are 

 worthy to be compared with the Lilies for beauty. 



But one Brodiaea is in blossom so far, the violet-headed one. 

 Nearly all are budded at this very early date. Last year I gave 

 the readers of Garden and Forest my methods of growing 



Calochortus. We learn by experiment, and last year taught 

 me one valuable lesson. I had been giving C. venustus ocu- 

 latus rather good loose soil, but one lot was planted in a poor 

 yellow clay loam, a soil that baked like a brick. That lot e.x- 

 celled all others, giving fine stalks, large flowers and perfect- 

 ing large bulbs. This season all my plants of that variety 

 are in a clay loam, sifted, and I have never seen a finer growth. 

 The same treatment should apply to all the varieties of C. ve- 

 nustus and to C. luteus and C. splendens. In richer soil I find 

 the bulbs do not ripen in a healthy way. 

 Ultiah, Cal. Cari Purdy. 



Notes on Grafting. — III. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — It has been shown that for successful grafting a suffi- 

 cient number of cions should be set to sustain a free circula- 

 tion of sap and to keep all sides of the stump alive. The 

 grafts, cut in February or iVIarch, and kept in moist earth in a 

 cellar, should not be set until growth begins in springandbuds 

 are bursting. The waxing of all cut surfaces, clefts and abra- 

 sions must be complete, and for this purpose liquid wax is 

 preferable. To make this, take, say, one pound of rosin, one- 

 fourth pound beeswax, one gill linseed-oil. Melt these together 

 and mix. The wax should be of such temper that when cold 

 it will be hard, yet tough — that is, not liable to fracture, as will 

 pure rosin. It may be tested for use by dropping some of the 

 melted wax on a chip and letting it cool. If it then prove too 

 soft, add a little more rosin ; if too hard, a very little more oil. 

 The wax may be kept in a small iron kettle. 



After setting, say, fifty grafts, warm the wax until liquid, but 

 not scalding hot, and apply with a small paddle or a cheap 

 paint-brush. Cover all wounds and the upper ends of the cions. 

 It is a simple thing to shave a graft's lower end like a 

 wedge and stick this into the cleft in the stock so that the inner 

 barks of graft and stock may meet. If carefully waxed it will 

 almost surely grow. I have set a thousand grafts a day, not 

 using any especial care, except in the waxing, and had every 

 graft grow. In my Pear-orchard are grafts which I set by 

 simply driving a quarter-inch chisel slanting downward into 

 the side of a limb and driving a wedge-shaped cion into the 

 opening made by the chisel as one would drive in a peg, and 

 then waxing. After a year's growth of the graft the limb can 

 be sawed ofT above it in May or June, sloping downward be- 

 hind the graft. The cut surface, if waxed or painted, will soon 

 heal over. I have grafted Grape-vines successfully by boring 

 a hole downward in the stock with a bit slightly smaller than 

 the cion ; then driving this into the hole as a peg, far enough 

 for bark of graft and stock to join. Cover with moist earth, 

 or, if high on the stock, with wax. After the graft has started 

 saw off the vine. 



Thousands of Apple and Pear-trees have been planted which 

 have been grown from grafts set in root-cuttings, or from 

 grafts or buds set upon the sprouts which spring up from the 

 lateral roots of orchard trees where these roots have been torn 

 by deep cultivation. Around a tree disposed to send up these 

 sprouts from its lateral roots may be found several hundred 

 of such growths springing up over a circle, say, twenty feet in 

 diameter. 



When there was large demand for nursery stock, and it was 

 needful to have grafted trees as soon as possible, on account 

 of the money they would bring, I have seen nurserymen's 

 agents grafting or budding these root-sprouts by wholesale. 

 Next year they were dug, separated, planted into nursery-rows 

 and soon marketed as "grafted stocks." 



Trees thus grown from the lateral roots of the parent tree 

 are apt to be only superficially rooted ; they will never have 

 tap-roots penetrating deeply into the subsoil, but will stand 

 flat-footed on top of the ground. They are apt to be injured 

 by winds and droughts and cannot be durable, because they 

 lack a good foundation. These defective trees may be known 

 in the orchard by their tendency to throw up sprouts from their 

 roots. 



Sometimes trees in the orchard are damaged by sun- 

 scald on the southerly exposure of their trunks. Many of my 

 grafted Apple, Pear and Cherry-trees have succumbed to this 

 injury. On uprooting them I have found them all flat-footed, 

 having no tap-roots. This observation led me to examine the 

 roots of those trees that had escaped this damage, standing in 

 the same orchard and subject to the same conditions. These 

 trees all had tap-roots reaching deeply into moist soil, and thus 

 sustaining vitality during intense surface-droughts. 



The teaching of this is to plant only trees grafted on seed- 

 ling stocks. The seedling naturally develops a tap-root and 

 tends to renew it when it is cut off. A tap-root will never 



