320 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 228. 



and if should be remembered also that the soil should not be 

 rammed very hard in the pots, and that the pots should be 

 well drained. 



Caladiums should now be in full growth, and if fine speci- 

 mens are desired they should be potted on into large-sized 

 pots or pans before the roots become stunted. A liberal quan- 

 tity of dry cow-dung should be used in the potting soil, and, as 

 soon as the pots become well tilled with roots, an application 

 of liquid-manure about three times a week will improve both 

 the size and coloring of the foliage. And here may be an 

 appropriate place to say that no collection of Caladiums is 

 complete without C. argyrites, whose small, silvery-marked 

 leaves are admirable either on a specimen plant or for cutting 

 to use in table decorations. 



One of the handsomest stove-plants of recent introduction 

 is Phrynium variegatum, and though it grows best in a warm 

 moist house, yet it seems to have enough endurance to stand 

 very well for table decoration. It may be readily propagated 

 at this season by means of cuttings formed from the young 

 shoots or suckers taken off below the surface of the soil, which 

 will soon form roots when placed in sand in a warm house. It 

 is not too late to put in cuttings of Azalea Indica, though 

 when the weather is very warm such cuttings require some 

 care to guard against damping-off. The cuttings should not 

 be taken from plants that are standing outdoors for the sum- 

 mer, for such growth is too hard to root readily. 



The best wood for Azalea-cuttings is found in the form of 

 soft young shoots from two to three inches in length, and 

 taken oft' with a heel of the older growth attached, these being 

 inserted in pots filled very firmly with light sandy soil, peat be- 

 ing preferable for this purpose. The pots should be plunged 

 in a pro paga ting-frame where they can be given some bottom- 

 heat. The cuttings should not be exposed to strong sunshine, 

 for if they are allowed to " flag" they seldom recover enough 

 to make roots. 



Many members of the Gesneraceae help to make the green- 

 house bright at this season, among which the Gloxinias are 

 very prominent, and various Gesneras, Tydias, Achimenes, 

 etc., vie with them in beauty and brilliancy of coloring. It 

 should be remembered that all the plants of this family enjoy 

 good living — that is, they should be well supplied with manure 

 in the compost in which they are potted, and when the flower- 

 ing period begins liquid-manure may be added quite freely. 



Holmesburg, Pa. W. H. Taplin. 



Actinidia polygama. 



WHEN visiting the Amherst Agricultural College recently, 

 Professor Brooks pointed out two fine specimens 

 of the true Actinidia polygama growing on his dwelling-hoiise, 

 which he brought home with him on his return from Japan 

 after a twelve years' sojourn there. It appears that the species 

 of Actinidia now in commerce, and called A. polygama, is A. 

 arguta, a very different plant from the one here noted. A. 

 arguta is a rampant grower, and when used on a dwelling- 

 house soon shuts out all sunlight from the piazza, and then 

 gets on the roof and displaces the eave-troughs in a way which 

 renders continual cutting necessary to keep it within reasonable 

 limit. When this plant was introduced into this country it was 

 said that cats were very partial to A. polygama in Japan, but 

 the American cat was found to be sublimely indifferent to A. 

 arguta. The true species, however, Professor Brooks has 

 found it necessary to protect about the base with wire guards, 

 for, in his words, it out-Catnips Catnip as an attraction for 

 these animals. This may be a peculiar way of verifying a 

 species, but the evidence certainly seems admissible and to 

 the point. 



In appearance the plants have nothing in common. A. 

 arguta is a vigorous grower, with heart-shaped foliage of a 

 deep olive-green, and flowers that are polygamous, a feature 

 which, perhaps, first caused the mistake in nomenclature. The 

 plants of A. polygama, which Professor Brooks has, are not 

 rampant, but vigorous enough for any decorative purpose 

 where a twining plant is required, the principal beauty being 

 in the foliage, which is for the most part of a beautiful pea- 

 green, while about one-third of the foliage is suffused (not 

 variegated) with an indescribable silvery lustre, often covering 

 the whole leaf, but sometimes only a part of it, and beginning 

 always at its base. When I first saw the plants with the sun 

 shining on them and glistening in the light, I was compelled 

 to ask if this was caused by the sunshine, but was soon shown 

 that the color was permanent. Were the whole of the foliage 

 silvered in this way the effect probably would not be half as 

 beautiful. 



The flowers of A. polygama are about the size and color of 



an Orange-blossom, but with a sweet perfume peculiarly their 

 own. It is much to be regretted that the nomenclature of 

 Japanese plants gets so badly mixed up, as years will pass 

 before the names of the Actinidia can be trusted as correct 

 in catalogues. The plants of Professor Brooks are certainly 

 of great ornamental value. 



Among other things brought over by the Professor are a 

 fine young specimen of the Japanese Lacquer-tree (Rhus 

 vernicifera) and many beautiful varieties of Japanese Maples, 

 especially the cut-leaved kinds. Some very dwarf forms of 

 Retinosporas were here also — peculiar reminders of a peculiar 

 country. r- ^ ^ 



South Lancaster, Mass. E. O. Orpet. 



The Garden in June. 



AIT'HEN a garden has been stocked with a selection of plants 

 • '' to produce a succession of flowers, their blooming fur- 

 nishes continual surprises. As the weeks advance, each with 

 its varied flowers, it sometimes appears as if the flowers were 

 spontaneous productions, so little care have the plants re- 

 ceived. At the end of June the Larkspurs. Foxgloves, Holly- 

 hocks, Lychnis, Coreopsis, Perennial Peas, Campanulas, 

 Spirasas, Ascension and Golden-banded Lilies and Clematis 

 are brightening all the borders with a wealth of bloom, to- 

 gether with the flamboyant Japanese Irises, and the dainty 

 Gypsophila and Galium. The first of the annuals are in the 

 flush of beauty. These are by no means ordinarily sponta- 

 neous flowers, except those like Calliopsis, Poppies and an- 

 nual Chrysanthemums, which are usually self-sown. The 

 charming Shirley Poppies, with their delicately formed and 

 colored flowers, now coverthe nakedness of the early bulb-bed. 



Sweet Peas are now in full vigor. These plants have always 

 bothered me, my soil being heavy and hard to work early in 

 the year, when the seeds should be planted, besides which, as 

 work is pressing at that time, they were often neglected. By 

 planting seeds in thumb-pots in the cool house I have had 

 much more satisfactory results. The pots were plunged in the 

 earth slightly, and the roots penetrated the soil. In May they 

 were carefully lifted when the tops were a foot higfi, the 

 pots were broken oft', and they were transplanted outside. 

 Owing, perhaps, to their being planted at a suitable distance 

 apart, they have grown away better than any plants I have 

 raised outside, and are producing first-rate crops of flowet's. 

 Blanche Ferry (it is hard to get too many pink flowers) and pure 

 white Peas cover my wants in these desirable plants. The 

 perennial Peas (L. latifolius), white, pink and red, are orna- 

 mental low climbers with a profusion of flowers, valued by 

 some for cutting. They are strong plants, needing care to 

 keep within proper bounds. Mr. Orpet's note on Lathyrus 

 tuberosus reminds me that there are a number of these strong 

 plants which we sometimes feel like posting in the garden 

 Index Expurgatorius, yet which, after all, should have only a 

 note of warning attached. A plant ruthlessly destroyed in one 

 garden may be highly valued in another. A list to be com- 

 mended to those people who love flowers, but for wliom they 

 will not grow, might contain such things as these. It would 

 be curious and interesfing to see a garden filled with plants 

 which are difficult to exterminate when once they had gained 

 a foothold. 



Hardy Carnations are now in full flower. It is interesting 

 each year to sow with the annuals seeds of Carnations of a 

 good strain. When small they can be transferred to the bor- 

 der, where they will prove reliably hardy the first winter. They 

 bloom profusely, and will at least furnish a profusion of flow- 

 ers for cutting, and sometimes there will be kinds to save. 

 After the first season the stems become hard, and they are apt 

 to be destroyed by winter frosts. The border Carnations, 

 mostly English strains, are not safe plants to leave out in this 

 latitude, especially when well grown, and it is well to pot them 

 in the fall and keep them in a frame. Such kinds as the old 

 Crimson Clove and its dwarf variety, Paul Engleheart, Sou- 

 venir de Malmaison, Mrs. Reynolds Hole, etc., are well worth 

 the care required. Mrs. Reynolds Hole is an especially beau- 

 tiful and distinct flower of an apricot shade. The popular Mal- 

 maison is perhaps better for the protection of glass at all times, 

 as its massive flowers are rapidly rotted in wet seasons. 



In the water-garden this is the time of the hardy Nymphasas, 

 though nothing there makes such rapid advance as Nelum- 

 bium speciosum, whose wonderfully beautiful leaves expand 

 almost visibly. Some Callas which had been kept growing, 

 but rather dry in the greenhouse during the winter, were 

 plunged in the tank in the spring, and prove rather interesting. 

 The foliage is much shorter and sturdier than under glass, and 

 the flowers have come freely, and prove very lasting. They 



