252 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 222. 



of the New York Florists' Club, and will be held from Novem- 

 ber ist to the 6th inclusive. Six thousand five hundred dollars 

 in premiums are already offered, and it is probable that a sup- 

 plementary prize-list will be issued later. We are glad to 

 observe that preparations are being made for a spring show 

 next year, and that exhibitions both in the spring and in the 

 autumn may be expected every year hereafter. 



Flowering specimens of Bechtel's double-flowered American 

 Crab have been sent to us by E. A. Bechtel's Sons, of the 

 Staunton Nursery, Staunton, Illinois. It is a double-flowered 

 variety of the western form of Pyrus coronaria, which botanists 

 have called variety Icensis, and is said to have originated in 

 the neighborhood of Staunton. The flowers are pink, very 

 double, and, like those of all the native Crabs of eastern 

 America, delightfully fragrant, in this respect being far supe- 

 rior to any of the double-flowered Crab-apples in cultivation. 

 The fact that the flowers are not produced until the leaves are 

 almost fully grown, and much later than those of any other 

 Apple-tree, adds decidedly to the value of this novelty, which, 

 judging by the specimens before us, is one of the most beau- 

 tiful hardy plants of recent introduction. 



A writer in the Boston Evening Transcript declares that the 

 plantations made by the Boston and Albany Railway Company 

 around its suburban stations have had a decided influence in 

 improving the horticultural taste of the people living along its 

 lines, and that good plants, like Forsythia Fortunei and other 

 hardy shrubs, have been made common and popular in this 

 way. The scheme under which these plantations are made 

 has already been described in these columns. The station- 

 grounds are decorated with trees and the best hardy shrubs, 

 preference being usually given to native species, as being 

 more hardy and generally more satisfactory than exoflc plants ; 

 no bedding or tender plants whatever are used, the effect being 

 obtained from well-kept lawns, skillfully arranged shrubberies, 

 in which it has lieen aimed to secure a succession of flowers, 

 handsome fruit and brilliantly colored autumn leaves. 



A correspondent of Gartenflora, writing from Orizaba, in 

 Mexico, says that one of the most beautiful flowering plants to 

 be seen there is Datura arborescens. " It is a native of Peru, 

 but flourishes finely here. Where sufficient room is given, it 

 develops as a broad shrub some fifteen feet in height, and at 

 almost every season of the year is covered with a profusion 

 of large, dazzling white flowers. The burden of these flowers 

 weighs down the branches, but the beauty of the plant is 

 merely increased by this fact. The double sort grows even 

 more luxuriantly. Native Mexicans usually train these plants 

 as standards with a flat, wheel-shaped head, from the under 

 side of which depend the many blossoms. But, to me, their 

 natural manner of growth is even more attractive." This tree- 

 like shrub is sometimes cultivated in our conservatories, but to 

 those who have not seen it there the description we quote will 

 scarcely suggest its intimate relationship to D. Stramonium, 

 our common Thorn-apple or " Jimson-weed." 



We received last week a large package of cut Orchid-flow- 

 ers, mainly Cypripediums, from the collection of Mr. T. F. 

 MacFadden, of Cincinnati, Ohio. Among them were several 

 spikes of C. Rothschildianum, each with four well-expanded 

 flowers, and one splendid form with three flowers of great size 

 and extraordinarily rich coloring. Unlike many other Cypri- 

 pediums, the blossoms of this one remain on the spike until 

 all the buds are opened, which makes it very desirable. There 

 was also a six-flowered spike of C. leucorrhodum, with a superb 

 variety of C. selligerum majus carrying three flowers. Among 

 other handsome flowers were some of C. Schroderse splen- 

 dens, fine examples of C. grande and C. albopurpureum, sev- 

 eral distinct and unusually richly colored flowers of C. Cur- 

 tisii, with good examples of C. almun, C. macropterum, C. 

 niveum, C. bellatalum and many others. The flowers, as a 

 class, showed unusually good care and cultivation, and re- 

 flected great credit on Mr. John Rose, the gardener, who has 

 this fine collection in charge. 



We received last week from E. O. Orpet, South Lancas- 

 ter, Massachusetts, a collection of Narcissus-flowers in some 

 forty varieties, representing the choicest kinds in all sections.- 

 The flowers were well grown, and formed beautiful, graceful 

 masses. All the leading kinds were represented, and there 

 were many interesting ones seldom seen and not often found 

 here. IntheAjax section, P. R. Barr was noted as a very bold, 

 full, yellow flower. Of the Discolors, James Walker and Mi- 

 chael Foster were beautiful and distinct. The collection was 

 rich in the Incomparabilis section. Some distinct kinds were 

 Barr's Conspicuus, Orphge and Maurice Vilmorin, all with 



deeply stained orange cups. Hume's Giant was an extra dis- 

 tinct flower with broad-sjjreading cup and a good clear yellow. 

 The forms of Burbridgu's hybrids, the connecting link between 

 N. poeticus and N. incomparabilis, were very charming, and 

 were represented by a selection of the best kinds — Crown 

 Princess, pure white perianth, canary cup, edged scarlet, a 

 rare and distinct kind; Constance Falstaff; John Bain, a charm- 

 ing flower with citron cup and white perianth, and the rare 

 Princess Louise, with widely expanded deep orange-scarlet 

 cup and large white perianth. 



Among the many schools for summer study which are 

 promised for the present year will be a course of instruction 

 in horticulture at the Bussey Institute, beginning on July 6th 

 and ending on August 3d. A synopsis of the lectures which 

 are to be delivered by Mr. B. M. Watson, Jr., shows that the 

 instruction will cover a wide range of subjects which will be of 

 scientific and practical value to students of horticulture. These 

 subjects will include soils, propagation of plants by various 

 methods, grafting, construction of glass-houses, insects and 

 fungi, hybridizing, priming, and others of equal importance. 

 Supplementary lectures will be given from time to time, when 

 the exercises will be held in the open air, and illustrated by 

 visits to the more miportant classes of plants in ordinary cul- 

 tivation, such as conifers, flowering shrubs, herbaceous plants, 

 garden-annuals, house-plants, grasses. Rhododendrons, Roses, 

 Chrysanthemums and Lilies. In addition to the instruction in 

 the theory and practice of gardening and the tield-talks already 

 spoken of, there will be opportunity for practical work in both 

 greenhouse and garden. About eight hours a day will be de- 

 voted to work of different kinds, and the course will be open 

 to women as well as men. The collection of trees and shrubs 

 at the Arnold Arboretum will give ample opportunities for 

 illustrating this course, which is one of the new undertakings 

 to which all those interested in horticulture will wish the high- 

 est success. 



In addressing the Association of American Cemetery Super- 

 intendents at Chicago last autumn, Mr. Eurich, of Toledo, Ohio, 

 said, with regard to plants that can be used to cover the ground 

 beneath trees where grass will not grow, that he had experi- 

 mented successfully with two "sod-forming" plants, Herniaria 

 glabra and Veronica repens. The first-named, he explained, 

 "is a moss-like, creeping plant which covers the ground in a 

 very short time, and surpasses a grass-sward in beauty. A 

 strip of ground was planted in April with one hundred such 

 plants set apart, and in less than two months the entire surface 

 was covered closely. The plants were thinned out so that we 

 obtained more than twice the original number, and an adjoin- 

 ing new piece was planted with the same result. This pro- 

 cedure was repeated in August, and Ijefore winter set in we 

 had a beautiful greensward of Herniaria growing. A very cold 

 winter followed, and the plants were tinged slightly brown, but 

 by April were again charmingly green. H. glabra will thrive 

 in any soil in the open sun or in the shade." Veronica repens, 

 the speaker said, "has somewhat larger leaves of shining 

 green and generally the same characteristics as Herniaria 

 glabra. A grave-mound planted widi it in August was com- 

 pletely covered by fall, and with a slight protection during the 

 winter was brighter and fresher than the mounds covered with 

 Myrtle (Vinca) and Ivy. The special feature of this plant is 

 that in May it is completely covered with very light blue flow- 

 ers as low as the plant itself." 



Edward von Regel, the venerable Director of the Imperial 

 Botanic Garden at St. Petersburg, died on the 27th of April, in 

 his seventy-seventh year, he having been born at Gotha on 

 August 13th, 1815. Regel was first established at Zurich, but 

 many years ago was called to the directorship of the St. Peters- 

 burg garden, which he has labored assiduously to bring to its 

 present state of efficiency. He was the author of a large num- 

 ber of botanical works devoted mostly to the description of 

 plants collected by Russian travelers in central Asia. He was 

 the founder and for many years the editor of the Gartenflora, 

 and in the Acts of the St. Petersburg garden are many papers 

 upon garden-plants from his pen. To Regel, more than to any 

 one else, is due the success of the International Horticultural 

 Exhibition held at St. Petersburg in 1869; and he has eru-iched 

 the gardens of America and Europe by his liberal distributions 

 of the seeds and plants gathered by his correspondents in all 

 parts of the vast Muscovite empire. No one has surpassed him 

 in this or in his desire to serve his associates, and to the intel- 

 ligent zeal and broad-minded liberality of this active and in- 

 dustrious man is due the introduction of many of the best 

 plants which have been brought into gardens during the last 

 twenty-five years. 



