200 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 218, 



bulbs do not always display vigor in constitution. Golden 

 Spur, one of the earliest to bloom ; Countess of Annesley, 

 Edward Leeds, Princeps, and the lovely little Tenby Daffodil, 

 N. obvallaris, may also be named. Of the Incomparabilis sec- 

 tion the varieties chiefly grown are Cynosure, Gloria Mundi, 

 Lady Watkin, and Sir WatUin, the boldest of the four. Of the 

 Barri group, Maurice Vilmorin, Conspicuus and Mr. Ingram 

 are more largely grown than any others, while of the beau- 

 tiful Leedsii forms those selected comprise Gem, Duchess of 

 Westminster, a beautiful flower, chaste, sweetly scented and 

 admirable for cutting, Minnie Hume and Madge Matthews. 

 It is necessary to say little respecting the white trumpet Daffo- 

 dils, as they seem to find little favor, although the varieties 

 display tones of lemon and cream as subtile and pretty as in 

 the choicest exotic. Those that have a good place are Mrs. 

 Thompson, which increases more quickly than the others, 

 Pulcher, Cernuus and Mrs. F. W. Burbridge. The Burbridgei 

 forms are also more for the Daffodil fancier than the grower 

 for market. The flowers are the essence of grace, and most 

 delightful in their delicate shades, but require more than ordi- 

 nary care to preserve them in true character. Of the Poeticus 

 group Ornatus holds first place, the flowers always, by reason 

 of their earliness and sweetness, commanding a good sale, and 

 many would name this as the most popular Narcissus grown 

 in England. N. Poetarum and N. recurvus form a succession, 

 the list closing with the lovely Gardenia-flowered double N. 

 poeticus, fl. pi. Mr. Walker has tried to force this variety, but 

 without success. Other varieties grown largely consist of 

 Odorus, Odorus Nigilobus, the double flowers like Codlings 

 and Cream, and the old Orange Phoenix. 



In the season scores of busy workers can be seen in the 

 large packing-house getting the blooms ready for the market, 

 bunching them together in twelves. The Daffodil seems an 

 ideal market-flower, as it bends at right angles to the stem, 

 thus facilitating bunching or conveyance in boxes to distant 

 places. There are few things that travel so well, keeping fresh 

 for even several days when carefully packed. It is important 

 to gather the flowers before they fully expand. At Ham they 

 are gathered when about half-open, and in the case of Ornatus 

 still earlier, but they open in fresh and perfect condition. 

 Kesv. V- C. 



Hardy Ferns. 



A BED of Ferns will certainly afford the real lover of plants 

 -^^~^ as much satisfaction as he can derive from an equal area 

 devoted to any other use. The hardiest species will grow in 

 almost any partly shaded place, but even these do much better 

 where their needs are carefully attended to. A border along 

 the north wall of the dwelling is usually a suitable location. 

 The bed should be deeply dug, and the soil, even when sandy, 

 mixed with half-decayed leaves for something more than mere 

 porosity. Last year I witnessed an illustration of the benefits 

 of thoroughly overturning tlxe soil. One end of my fernery is 

 filled with the beautiful Ostrich Fern (Struthiopteris Ger- 

 manica). The group of plants, each with its vase-shaped fun- 

 nel of leaves, was the especial admiration of visitors, and I 

 never wearied of watching the plume-like fronds unfold in 

 spring, each pinna down-curling at the tip like the veins of the 

 feather from which the Fern takes its name. But two years 

 ago a drain had to be laid right under these plants at no small 

 hardship to the Fern-roots. It would have been no wonder 

 had they all died after such rough usage, yet they made a fair 

 show that summer ; and last year, so rich and rampant was 

 the growth that we felt we had gained a new conception of the 

 capabilities of a much-prized plant. 



In addition to the kind mentioned above, I would recom- 

 mend the little Bladder Fern (Cystopteris fragilis), which 

 makes a low growth under the Ostrich Ferns and is useful for 

 bouquets ; the Christmas Fern ; the finer forms of Aspidium 

 spinulosum ; Clayton's Fern, with its hint of variegation and its 

 odd habit of fructification, and, above all, our common Maiden 

 Hair, which the author of that somewhat rare EngUsh book, 

 My Garden, calls " one of the most lovely of all Ferns." There 

 are many other useful species, though one needs to be care- 

 ful or the border might be filled with plants whose fronds 

 perish early, hke those of the Cinnamon Fern, and leave a 

 vacancy behind. 



An edging of cobble-stones makes a suitable line of separa- 

 tion between a Fern-bed and grass. A similar row can be 

 placed at the right distance from the wall to catch the pelting 

 fall from the eaves if water-spouts are lacking, and will also 

 prove a welcome protection to the roots of some delicate 

 plants. Of course, the bed can be beautified by introducing a 

 few other modest plants, whose flowers will help by contrast 



to heighten the soft effect of the green fronds, and, therefore, 

 between the Ferns and over the gray stones of the border, 

 Violets can grow and any other wildling one especially likes. 

 Trillium grandiflorum is very handsome through May. A re- 

 cent addition to my collection, CoUinsia verna, was charming 

 last spring. The wild Ginger (Asarum Canadense), though 

 brought home in the first place for further study of its curious 

 flowers, would not be spared now on account ,of the decora- 

 tive value of its leaves. 



As my own fernery serves more as a botanical Snug Harbor, 

 where plants can be kept under surveillance, than as a pleasure- 

 garden, not all its inhabitants would be of general interest. 

 Yet, even with that drawback, it is rarely without some special 

 attraction apart from the constant beauty of the Ferns, from 

 the first twinkling of the snowy stars of Blood-root to the last 

 heads of Eupatorium. I have not, as yet, had success with 

 Cypripediums or any Orchid, but the pleasures of the place 

 depend little on doubtful ventures. Most hardy shade-loving 

 or woodland plants will thrive, some of them in unexampled 

 luxuriance, when removed here from the hard competition of 

 wild life. And no part of one's demesne is likely to yield 

 greater satisfaction than the plot wherein grow roots of one's 

 own collecting. 



Geneva, o. . S. F. Goodrich. 



Shading Greenhouses. 



T T will not be many days before the annual question of 

 -'■ greenhouse-shading must be considered in all houses 

 where summer flowers are grown. In fact, shading to some 

 extent is required at most times when seedlings are coming 

 on and propagation of any kind is attempted. The annual 

 vsrhitewash always seems to me a crude operation and a make- 

 shift, one of the followings'of precedents which is so much 

 easier than the striking off into new paths. New paths do not 

 always bring one safely through, but if the old one has known 

 difficulties it is better to venture the new sometimes on chance 

 of gain. It has become a habit to cover the glass of green- 

 houses as soon as the sun becomes powerful with a film of 

 lime-wash, white-lead in benzine, or some similar coating, to 

 reinain through sunny and dull weather until shortening days 

 allow its removal. In large ranges this is, no doubt, the quick- 

 est, cheapest and handiest way to protect the contents of a 

 house from scorching, but it is not an ideal one. When 

 the air is clear and the sun is shining with power the translu- 

 cent glass will admit light enough to keep the plants in fair 

 health, but most plants would be more vigorous if a certain 

 amount of sunlight could reach them. No substitute has yet 

 been found for sunlight which will keep man or plant in good 

 heart. But if the plants suffer somewhat in bright weather, they 

 deteriorate rapidly in long spells of wet, gloomy weather, 

 especially when a little cool and evaporation is slow, for at 

 such times rust quickly gathers and mildew often appears. 



Perhaps in large establishments no improvement could be 

 made on the present economical procedure, but it does not 

 follow that the amateur with a small house should content 

 himself with imitating the operations of his commercial neigh- 

 bors. Aside from the imperfections noted above, applying a 

 wash to the glass of a house is a distinctly unpleasant opera- 

 tion, only equaled by the temper-wearing labor of thoroughly 

 removing the same at a later period. Cotton cloth has seemed 

 to me worth a trial. By tacking the cloth to frames of the right 

 size the greenhouse can be covered quickly and effectively, 

 and it makes a good shading, though not very durable. Cot- 

 ton cloth is not dear, and even at the additional expense this 

 method seems an improvement on the wash. 



Looking around for some suitable material for shading I 

 found at a Japanese goods store some Bamboo-screens, made 

 of narrow strips of Bamboo, woven together with thread or 

 cord. These are very cheap, and should be fairly durable. 

 The screens are to be had in different sizes, those of three by 

 six feet being most useful for me. In using them I run cop- 

 per wires from the ridge to the lower wall three inches from 

 the glass, and work the screens by the simple expedient of 

 drawing them up with a cord and allowing them to drop out 

 of the way by gravity. A neater arrangement would be to 

 fasten them on spring rollers, which would probably need to 

 be well oiled at first to prevent rusting. The wires would be 

 required with these also to keep the shade at the right dis- 

 tance from the glass. Now, when I wish shade in any part of 

 the house, it is a simple matter to slip in a roll and pull it up 

 to its place, and it is as quicklydroppedout of the way. Where 

 hanging plants are grown, it will be necessary to hang them 

 from the girders. If the vines are properly tied out from the 

 glass the screens will work well above them. This is not an 



