September 21, 1S92.] 



Garden and Forest. 



449 



have named bleu dVuil, eye-blue. White Howers are also 

 found. 



All of these plants are easy to cultivate, and, if not already in 

 the garden, deserve a place there. Trials with Phlox pilosa show 

 that the Howers increase in size and number, and in richness 

 of color, when transferred to a garden-soil. The wide range of 

 soil and exposure to which it adapts itself in its natural condi- 

 tion is also greatly in its favor. They are mostly plants o£ the 

 open Held, delighting in the full sunlight, though some, like P. 

 divaricata and the Greek Valerian, need or do best in partial 

 shade, the former bearing that which is quite dense. Since 

 all spontaneously bear white Howers, the range of color be- 

 tween white and the red and cyanic series show the possibili- 

 ties of variation in the hands of the skillful gardener. This has 

 not only been demonstrated in the Te.xan annual. Phlox 

 Drummondii, whose beauty and endlessly varied colors all 

 admire for a bedding-plant, but is shown in the northern per- 

 ennial, P. paniculata, and its variety or synonym, P. decussata 

 or acuminata, and the crosses between these and P. pyra- 

 midalis, which the best authorities identify with P. maculala. 



Englewood, Chicago, 111. E. J . Hill. 



Foreign Correspondence. 



London Letter. 



THE exhibitions and conferences at the Royal Horti- 

 cultural Gardens at Chisvv'ick on Begonias, hardy 

 Ferns, Apricots and Plums, were succeeded b}' a large and 

 important exhibition of high-class fruit at the so-called In- 

 ternational Horticultural Exhibition at Earl's Court, where 

 a horticultural display, strangely enough, was united with 

 the "Buffalo Bill" show. 



An exhibition such as that at Chiswick, with the remark- 

 able gathering of Begonias and Ferns, could hardly be seen 

 anywhere but in London. An enormous collection of 

 species of cultivated Begonias came from Kew, with 

 splendid productions from the two great Begonia raisers, 

 Messrs. Laing and Messrs. Cannell. Probably never be- 

 fore have so many species, well grown and correctly 

 named, been seen at one exhibition. But, interesting as this 

 collection of species was, attention was centred in the small 

 group of species which constituted the primitive forms. 

 From these have been created, with phenomenal rapidity, 

 the-splendid races of double and single tuberous Begonias, 

 perhaps, at the present day, the most popular class of green- 

 house-plants in this country. Mr. Veitch, in an able ad- 

 dress embodying the more salient points in the history of 

 florists' Begonias, gave an account. of how the race had its 

 origin in the now neglected B. Boliviensis, a species of 

 gracefulgrowth and brilliant flower color, and the small 

 B. Pearcei, with bright yellow flowers and exquisitely 

 mottled foliage. From South America came B. Veitchi 

 and B. rosasflora, which were immediately seized upon by 

 hybridists, and the intercrossing continued until the fea- 

 ,tures of the original parents became so blended that now 

 it is a difficult matter to trace the peculiar characteristics 

 .of the primitive species. The contrast between these and 

 •the finest productions of Laing and Cannell fully justified the 

 remark that the Begonias of to-day are among the most 

 conspicuous triumphs of English floriculture. And this 

 triumph is peculiarly English, for no foreigner took an ac- 

 tive part in its production during the early experiments. 

 The exhibits of Cannell and Laing, who both had marvelous 

 displays of flowers and plants, showed the florists' Begonia 

 up to date, for they both had their latest seedlings in 

 doubles and singles. It is probable that the range of 

 possible tints in Begonias has been exhausted, but Mr. 

 Laing is sanguine of extending the gamut of hues by per- 

 sistent crossing, and he hopes, moreover, to get a strain 

 with variety of petal markings. He has already Picotee- 

 edged single varieties, and one specimen at Chiswick had 

 broad pure white petals broadly edged with carmine, a 

 most striking variety. While many think that the Begonia 

 is not improved in being cultivated into " six-inch singles " 

 and "Hollyhock doubles," as long as the public admire 

 them and buy them the florists will continue to supply 

 these novelties. 



What is now wanted is a new species that will blend 

 with the present race of hybrids and add to it new charac- 

 ters, and such a desideratum may be expected among the 

 new discoveries in Africa and other unexplored regions. 

 When, a few years ago, the island of Socotra yielded its 

 solitary Begonia through Professor Balfour to the English 

 florist, it was immediately put to use in hybridizing, the 

 result being a race of very pretty varieties, especially valua- 

 ble, as they flower through the winter, those named John 

 Heal and Winter Gem being among the first raised. The 

 fine-foliaged Begonias have of late years had more atten- 

 tion paid to them, and the Continental hybridists ha\'e pro- 

 duced some distinct and handsome kinds, such as Arthur 

 IMalet. There is an astonishing range of variation in the 

 Begonias of the Rex or fine-foliage type, and in all proba- 

 bility we may see soon the gorgeous flowers of the tuberous 

 section combined with ornamental leafage. Nor has the 

 fibrous-rooted section of the genus, which comprises the 

 bulk of the species, been worked upon much, and some 

 good things may come from their influence. Mr. Watson 

 told us, in introducing the paper he had prepared on the 

 cultivated species, that there are about 400 species of Be- 

 gonia known, and about half the number are in cultivation 

 at Kew, a large proportion of them being shown on this 

 occasion. 



The gathering of highly cultivated specimens of hardy 

 Ferns has seldom, if ever, been surpassed in excellence at 

 a London show, and this was mainly brought about by the 

 well-known hardy Fern specialist, Mr. E. J. Lowe, who 

 was instrumental in bringing the unique collection from 

 the Clifton Zoological Gardens, many of the plants in 

 which were in huge pots, and the plants measuring a yard 

 or more across. I had never before seen such a fine col- 

 lection, and never before realized the fact that the finest 

 forms of hardy British Ferns are in no respect inferior to 

 tropical kinds we admire in hot-houses. Some, indeed, are 

 equal in elegance and texture of frond to the Todeas, 

 among Filmy Ferns, and others, such -as the variety of 

 Polypodium vulgare called Trichmanoides, as fine as 

 some of the Trichomanes and Hymenophyllums, apart 

 from their transparency. The wonderful amount of 

 variety among the forms of Scolopendrium vulgare 

 (Hart's-tongue), Lastreea filix-mas (Male Fern) and 

 Athyrium iilix-fasmina (Lady Fern) seemed to surprise all 

 who were not specialists in hardy Ferns. The collecting of 

 these varieties has been done for the most part by ama- 

 teurs in a very quiet way, particularly in the western coun- 

 ties, so that Londoners have not had an opportunity of 

 seeing what a wealth of beauty there is in hardy Ferns. I 

 can see that it is quite possible to have in an unheated 

 fernery all the beauty of form possible in a tropical fernery, 

 not even excepting the delicate I\Iaiden-hair Ferns, for the 

 forms of Adiantum Capillus-veneris are quite as beau- 

 tiful as the tropical kinds, while miniature Tree Ferns may 

 be made of some forms of Lastrsea, as some specimens 

 with clear stems of a foot or more were shown on this 

 occasion. 



The late-flowering trees and shrubs, of which we have far 

 too few, now begin to give glints of color to the arboretum, 

 and at Kew the old trees of Sophora Japonica are snowy 

 vi^ith bloom, as is also Catalpa bignonioides, which, though 

 it flowers well on the dry gravelly soil, is not nearh' so 

 fine as further down the Thames valley. In the neighbor- 

 hood of Pope's Villa at Twickenham there are some mag- 

 nificent groups of the tree in full bloom, their great branches 

 leaning over and almost touching the water. Some of the 

 trees are forty feet high, and have as fine heads as any I 

 have seen in southern Europe. C. speciosa is becoming 

 widely distributed, but as yet our tree-planters are not as 

 familiar with its merits as you are in America. 



The Paulownia imperialis is not a tree for general plant- 

 ing in England, except, perhaps, along the south coast ; 

 but I saw the other day some fine effects obtained by treat- 

 ing it as a "sub-tropical" plant, as is sometimes done in 

 America ; the foliage of the strong young shoots was very 



