October 12, 1892.] 



Garden and Forest. 



485 



"Water is used, in a proper quantity, at a proper temperature, 

 wliich he himself determines ; the oil is poured back and forth 

 a proper number of times, when that seems the proper thing 

 to do. The Signorine must find all these details very dry, and 

 he asks their pardon for troubling them." The Signorine know 

 at all events when questions are useless, and with an exchange 

 of compliments take their leave. 



When the oil comes out of the magician's black cave, it is 

 ready for the market, but it is usually kept on hand for a time in 

 a store-room, the floor of which slopes toward a central hole, 

 under which a great earthen jar is set. If no breakage occurs, 

 the only further care the oil receives is to be trans-vased as a 

 precaution against fermentation when the great summer heats 

 begin in June ; otherwise it simply stands and waits its market. 

 About thirty-five per cent, duty, ad valorem, is paid on it when 

 it enters the city gates, and the shop-keeper doubtless takes 

 his profit, but even so, the finest quality costs the house-keeper 

 twenty-seven or twenty-eight cents a quart, and the finest 

 quality is used, not only for the table and in cooking, where it 

 admirably replaces lard and butter for frying and basting — but 

 even in the tall classic lamps. " Anything but the very best 

 always has an evil odor," the servants say, and they are doubt- 

 less rigiit, but it always pains my New England thrift to see 

 the beautiful greenish golden liquid put to so base a use. 



Sienna. Italy. Loitise Dodge. 



New or Little-known Plants. 

 New Orchids. 



Pleurothallis subulata, Rolfe. — A species allied to P. 

 cardiothallis, Rchb. f., with cordate-oblong leaves and 

 dark lurid purple flowers, from the collection of Baron 

 Henby, of Peckau, Bohemia. Its native country has not 

 been recorded. — Kew Bulletin, p. 137. 



Restrepia Ecuadorensis, Rolfe. — An Ecuadorean species 

 allied to R. antennifera, Kunth, but with shorter lateral 

 sepals and other differences, though with a general resem- 

 blance in coloration. It was imported by Messrs. F. Sander 

 .t Co., of St. Albans, and flowered in their collection. — 

 Kew Bulletin, p. 138. 



Restrepia Shuttleworthii, Rolfe. — A small brightly 

 colored species, imported by Messrs. Charlesworth, Shut- 

 tleworth & Co., of Heaton, Bradford, and flowered both in 

 their collection and at Kew. It is allied to the Guatemalan 

 R. xanthophthalma, Rchb. f. , but, besides other differences, 

 the flowers are more heavily marked with crimson-purple 

 blotches. — Kew Bulletin, "1^. 138. 



Dendrobium platycaulon, Rolfe. — A very singular species, 

 introduced from the Philippine Islands by Messrs. F. San- 

 der & Co., of St. Albans, with whom it flowered. It is al- 

 lied to D. lamellatum, Lindl., but the flowers are twice as 

 large and the lip quite different. The pseudo-bulbs are 

 curiously flattened, and bear three to five leaves near the 

 apex, and racemes of three to six straw-colored flowers. — 

 Kew Bulletin, p. 139. 



BuLBOPHYLLUJi DENSiFLORuii, Rolfc. — A Small species allied 

 to B. triste, Rchb. f., but with a long raceme of yellow in- 

 stead of deep purple flowers. It is a native of the eastern 

 Himalayas, and was sent to Kew for determination by Mr. 

 N. Campany, The Gardens, Thedden Grange, Alton, 

 Hants. — Kew Bulletin, p. 139. 



Eria CRIST ata, Rolfe. — A pretty little species, allied to E. 

 marginata, Rolfe, and, like all other species of the section 

 Cylindrolobus, having large petaloid bracts. The flowers 

 are white, with some yellow markings on the lip and a 

 hairy crest at the base of the front lobe of the same. It is 

 a native of Moulmein, and was sent to Kew by Mr. C. 

 Peche. — Keiv Bulletin, p. 139. 



Odontoglossum auriculatum, Rolfe. — A pretty little spe- 

 cies allied to O. Lindleyanum, Rchb. f , but differing in its 

 hastately-trilobed lip, whose disk is light purple instead of 

 brown. It was imported by INIessrs. F. Sander & Co., of St. 

 Albans, together with O. Noevium, Lindl. The name is 

 given in reference to the ear-like side lobes of the lip. — 

 Kew Bulletin, p. 140. 



Odontoglossum guttatum, Rolfe. — An interesting species 

 allied to O. odoratum, Lindl., and O. proestans, Rchb. f., 



with light yellow flowers irregularly blotched with choco- 

 late. It is a native of Ocana, and flowered with G. R. 

 le Doux, Esq., of East Molesey, in March of the present 

 year. — Kew Bulletin, p. 140. 



Spiranthes olivacea, Rolfe. — A north Peruvian species, 

 with olive-green leaves, marked with a few white spots, 

 and light olive-green flowers tipped with faint pink, and a 

 whitish lip. — Kew Bulletin, vi. 141. „ „ , 



Kew. R. A. Rolfe. 



Foreign Correspondence. 

 London Letter. 



Tree-pruning. — I refer to this subject because two Ameri- 

 can gardeners who lately visited England publicly found 

 fault with what is done in good gardens here to keep young 

 trees shapely. There are, apparently, people who take an 

 interest in hardy trees and shrubs who object to pruning 

 of every kind, holding that all plants should be allowed to 

 grow their own way from the seedling stage to maturity. 

 To prune, they say, is to interfere with nature and to de- 

 stroy the distinctive character of the tree. With plants 

 growing under natural conditions there can be little need 

 for the cultivator's interference, but the conditions of every 

 garden must be more or less unnatural for the bulk of the 

 plants grown in it, and for them the gardener's art must be 

 exercised. In every badly managed garden one sees crip- 

 pled, one-sided, rickety, misshapen trees and shrubs which 

 are distressing enough to the man who looks for health, 

 vigor and true form in all the things of the garden. I know 

 that unless young trees in the garden are looked after — that 

 is, made to grow upright, form a backbone and keep in 

 balance — the bulk of them will soon grow otherwise. Many 

 people who are responsible for trees pay no attention what- 

 ever to their development, leaving the branches to form 

 and take whatever direction they please, with the result 

 that they often grow into something totally unlike what 

 they are under favored natural conditions. My view is 

 that the man who allows his young trees to grow one- 

 sided, or the lateral branches to develop out of all propor- 

 tion to the leader because he considers it an outrage on 

 nature to prune, is just as wrong as one who would allow 

 his child to become bow-legged for want of a little support, 

 or round-shouldered for want of gymnastic exercise. Even 

 nature will produce cripples, but we want none of them in 

 the garden. To keep a tree shapely and in proper balance 

 by judicious pruning is one thing ; to clip it into a form un- 

 like what it assumes naturally is another. There must be 

 pruning, a good deal of it too, in all well-kept gardens. 



Pruning CoNiFERiE. — In many gardens coniferous trees 

 become thin and scraggy owing to the excessive and un- 

 even growth of the lateral branches. This, we find, can be 

 rectified by pruning, the long, thin branches being short- 

 ened, in early spring preferably. It is surprising how soon 

 the trees right themselves under this treatment, the "back" 

 growth produced by the cut branches and the better de- 

 velopment of the shorter ones filling up and furnishing the 

 tree in a season or two. All conifers, both indoors and 

 out, are improved in this way. 



School or Forestry. — There has been some talk of a 

 school of forestry for England for some years, and now at 

 last it is announced that something of the kind is to be 

 started in the Royal Botanic Garden at Edinburgh. The 

 prospectus states that the scheme is intended to offer an 

 opportunity to gardeners and foresters to study the sciences 

 underlying the practice, as well as the principles of horti- 

 culture and forestry. It is proposed to extend the course 

 over two and a half years and to find employment in and 

 around Edinburgh for men desirous of taking advantage 

 of the scheme, so that while supporting themselves by the 

 practice of their profession, they could continue the course 

 of special study at the Botanic Garden at such times as 

 shall not interfere with the usual hours of labor. There 

 will be no charge for the course. Only practical gardeners 



