September 7, 1892.J 



Garden and Forest. 



429 



sand to keep the mass porous. Great care should be exer- 

 cised in watering, as the plant invariably "goes ofl" if the soil 

 becomes sour to the smallest extent through excessive mois- 

 ture, though it may be speedily replaced,' as seedlings grow 

 rapidly, and the seeds arc freely matured. 



Solanum jasminoides is another good cool-house plant. It 

 is a free grower, and makes a singularly elegant covering for 

 columns or rafters. The (lowers, borne in large pendent clus- 

 ters, are bluish white, often pure white, with a showy bunch 

 of yellow stamens in the centre of each. The plant will 

 make satisfactory progress in any ordinary potting soil, but 

 preference should be given to that of a loamy character. 



Stephanotis lloribundii is an old and deservedly popular oc- 

 cupant of our stoves. The large oval leaves are opposite, 

 leathery in texture, and of deep green color. The tidjular 

 flowers, with spreading five-lobed liml), borne profusely in 

 large axillary clusters, are pure white, of waxy substance, and 

 deiiciously fragrant. It is an admirable plant for any purpose 

 in which a climbing plant may be utilized, and grows well in 

 any compost, the chief constituent of which is rich loam. 

 When grown in pots — for which purpose it has no rival in 

 beauty — it should be rested in winter and pruned sparingly, 

 removing, however, all superfluous material. After repotting 

 in spring, the old stems and branches should be carefully 

 trained l;o a trellis, allowing the young shoots, when they ap- 

 pear, to twine around strings attached to the roof of the house. 

 It flowers more freely where this system is followed, and the 

 new branches can be taken down and attached to the trellis, 

 just before the flowers expand, without serious trouble. 



Stigmaphyllon ciliatum, the Golden Vine, a somewhat un- 

 common but very attractive plant, requires an intermediate 

 temperature. It soon covers a large ai'ea, its cordate, ciliate, 

 pale green leaves forming a close mass. The large Oncidium- 

 iike flowers are of deep golden-yellow color, and freely pro- 

 duced in clusters of fair size. It thrives vigorously in a mix- 

 ture of loam, peat, leaf-mold and sand. 



Tacsonia Van Volxemii is a magnificent plant, with flowers 

 resembling in shape those of the Passion Flower, to which, 

 indeed, it is closely related. They are from four to five inches 

 in diameter, and deep rich crimson. The plant should 

 be trained in the same manner as Rhodochiton volubile, 

 and thrives satisfactorily under the same conditions, adding 

 peat to the compost. », r> ? 



Cambridge, Muss. M. barker. 



Roses. 



AT this season there is but little to be done among outdoor 

 Roses, except to give the usual attention to cultivation and 

 watering, the latter being of no value unless done thoroughly, 

 while the cultivation is especially necessary during dry weather. 

 As the nights become cooler the Teas will produce better 

 flowers, but it should always be remembered that outdoor 

 flowers, as well as those grown under glass, will be much im- 

 proved by being cut early in the morning and immediately 

 placed in water. This method improves both the size and color 

 of the flowers, besides making them more durable. 



Hybrids for early forcing will now be ripening their growth, 

 and will naturally need less water in order to hurry this process, 

 for it will be remembered that the earliest crops require much 

 more time for their development than those that more nearly 

 approach the natural flowering season. 



The most serious pest the Rose-grower of the present day 

 has to contend with appears to be the nematodes, or eel-worms, 

 to which frequent reference has been made during the past 

 year in Garden and Forest and other horticultural journals. 

 Unfortunately, no specific has thus far been discovered for 

 this pest, the various so-called remedies having all failed under 

 the careful tests of specialists. The most reasonable sugges- 

 tion that has been offered for their destruction is that of baking 

 or cooking the soil before placing it in the Rose-beds ; but 

 this is an operation of considerable magnitude even in a small 

 establishment, and where Roses are largely grown it becomes 

 a very formidable undertaking. It has been suggested that a 

 portable oven of large size and heated by means of steam- 

 pipes would solve the difficulty ; but the expense of such an 

 arrangement would work against it in many establishments, 

 especially in those in which the present heating apparatus is 

 not suitable for such purpose. 



Lime in various forms has been given thorough tests in sev- 

 eral places during the past season and apparently has no eft'ect 

 whatever on the eel-worms, and tobacco extract (which has 

 also been recommended) has not proved any more effectual. 



The beautiful Tea-rose Cornelie Koch is more rarely seen 

 since the advent of the Bride, which is a much freer bloomer. 



During hot weather the Bride is of little value, however, and 

 then Cornelie Koch proves quite useful. In the winter Cor- 

 nelie Koch, though producing large and fine flowers, is not to 

 l)e compared with the Bride. 



At least one of the new American pedigree Roses has at- 

 tracted some attention from cut-flower growers, for I recently 

 saw a bench one hundred feet long filled with Golden Gate. 

 The grower seemed well pleased with it, and claimed it to be 

 of about the quality of Safrano. The flowers of Golden Gate 

 are not very large, but are pretty in the bud, and the plant 

 is generally well spoken of as an outdoor beddcr. 



Another new l^ose of much promise, though not of Ameri- 

 can origin, is Empress Augusta Victoria, a hybrid Tea that was 

 slightly tested last winter, and will have more extended trial 

 during the coming season. In color, this rose is white, and the 

 flowers are shaped somewhat like those of the Bride, the petals 

 having good substance, and in addition to this the blooms are 

 delightfully fragrant. The growth of this variety seems strong 

 and the foliage is of good texture, while much is claimed for 

 its free blooming. 



It seems unfortunate that so promising a variety as Waban 

 once appeared to be should have proved so unsatisfactory 

 as it has done. It is possible that all the fault did not 

 lie with the variety, as it is more than probable that over- 

 propagation so enervated the stock as to injure what might 

 otherwise have been a useful variety. 



Holm.3sburK. Pa. W. H. Fapltn. 



Iris Lorteti. 



THIS most beautiful Iris, belonging to the Oncocyclus sec- 

 tion, was discovered some years ago between Meis and 

 irlounin, in South Lebanon, by Dr. Lortet, the accomplished 

 naturalist of Lyons. It was described by Barbey,//i?ri5or/jn/z'o«j 

 an Levant, p. 178, 1882, who there gives a large colored figure 

 of it. Thanks to the unwearied zeal of Mr. Max Leichthn, a 

 considerable stock of roots has recently been imported from 

 Palestine. 



The Oncocyclus group of Irises is best known through Iris 

 Susiana, which has been in cultivation in western Europe for 

 more than two hundred years, and is still more widely grown 

 than any other member of the group. I. Susiana has its home 

 in western l^ersia, and stretching away toward the Caucasus 

 lives the next best-known, I. Iberica. This part of the world 

 may, indeed, be regarded as the centre of the group, and as 

 we pass westward along the southern regions of Asia Minor 

 we find several forms, more or less closely allied to I. Susiana, 

 all of them beautiful. Near Mardin grows the lovely I. Gatesii, 

 not far oft" the striking I. Heylandiana, more to the west, in 

 Cilicia, the handsome I. Saari, and in Palestine is found an Iris 

 which, sent to me from the neighborhood of Nazareth, I ex- 

 hibited at the Royal Horticultural Society some two or three 

 years ago under the provisional name of I. Saari, var. Nazarena. 



Iris Lorteti, in general features, comes very close to I. Saari, 

 and especially, perhaps, to I. Nazarena, but its wonderful 

 coloring puts it by itself as, perhaps, the most beautiful Iris in 

 the world. In the specimens gathered by Lortet, the outer 

 segments are described and figured as showing a very pale 

 blue ground covered with crimson spots, which, scattered 

 sparsely over the marginal parts of the fall, are concentrated 

 into a dark crimson patch or "signal" in the centre beneath 

 the end of the style ; the inner segments, or standards, are 

 similarly described as being of a delicate pale rose. In a plant 

 flowered this summer by me, the falls showed a creamy yellow 

 ground marked with crimson spots, concentrated at the centre 

 into a dark crimson signal, while the standards were nearly 

 pure white, marked with very thin violet veins hardly visible 

 at a distance. 



I learn that the plants imported by Mr. Max Leichttin show 

 considerable variation in color ; apparently, however, the 

 "note" of the plant is a peculiarly charming combination of 

 crimson spots, and blue or violet veins, on a white or creamy 

 yellow ground. 



The flower figured by Barbey is as large as that of an ordi- 

 nary, or rather smaller I. Susiana. It is perhaps hardly neces- 

 sary to add that the flower has the characteristic features of 

 its allies; an oval fall convex from side to side as well as re- 

 flexed vertically, bearing a loose beard of scattered hairs, an 

 orbicular, erect standard, and a nearly horizontal style lying 

 close on the claw of the fall, and bearing conspicuous semi- 

 circular crests. 



Barbey describes the leaves as being very narrow, though 

 his figure somewhat contradicts this, and in the plants grown 

 by me the leaves are very distinctly broader and more ample 

 than in I. Susiana; indeed, it appears to me to promise a 

 larger foliage than is possessed by any other Oncocyclus Iris. 



