November 2, 1S92.] 



Garden and Forest, 



525 



Thrips are to be found at any season of the year, and will 

 spread much more rapidly on Ferns that are kept in too warm 

 a temperature. The best remedy for them is tobacco-water, 

 into which the foliage affected should be dipped. The decoc- 

 tion should not be too strong if there are young fronds on the 

 plant under treatment. Even weak tobacco-water is very dis- 

 tasteful to these insects, and, when used with reasonable care, 

 there is little fear of injuring the foliage, except on such ten- 

 der species as some of the Clieilanthes and Gymnogrammes. 



To dispose of slugs the camphor method is best, as this gum 

 can be spread among the plants in small pieces, or thrown into 

 the centre of the crown of a plant without any likelihood of 

 injury. It proves to be the most satisfactory remedy I have 

 tested as yet. A special instance of the value of this treatment 

 was brought to my notice last winter in a cut-flower establish- 

 ment, where a Carnation-house had become badly infested 

 with snails. The grower dosed a space of fifty feet in length 

 with camphor, and, as a result, secured several thousand 

 flowers from the plants in this area, while the remainder of 

 the house was a total loss, owing to the work of the snails. 



Holmesburg. Pa. IV. H. Taplitl. 



Magnolia Soulangeana.— It is, perhaps, noteworthy that this, 

 one of our earliest and best Magnolias, is now ripening an 

 abundance of fruit, and the large scarlet seeds are very con- 

 spicuous as they burst their covering. The plants also bear a 

 fine crop of flower-buds, promising a rich floral treat next 

 spring. This is undoubtedly the best early-flowering Magnolia 

 we have, though its appearance lacks finish in the total ab- 

 sence of foliage at the time of flowering. The plant is of neat 

 and compact habit, and the large, purple-tinted, white flowers 

 are sweetly fragrant. The flowering season extends from 

 February to May, inclusive, and it is early or late as the 

 weather is mild or inclement. M. Soulangeana is of hybrid 

 origin, having been raised in France by Monsieur Soulange- 

 Bodin from a seed obtained by fertilizing the Chinese M. con- 

 spicua (the Yulan) with the pollen of M. obovata, a native of 

 Japan. It is an improvement upon both parents, and perfectly 

 hardy and reliable in our climate. A few successive warm 

 days in early spring will sometimes induce the flowers to ex- 

 pand, and then they are easily injured on the return of frost, 

 as was the case last season. A piece of light canvas or sheet- 

 ing thrown over the trees in such an emergency will go a long 

 way in protecting the flowers against serious injury. 



Cestrum aurantiacum. — The bright orange-yellow blossoms of 

 this species are very striking and attractive in the greenhouse at 

 the present time. The plants were plunged in the open gar- 

 den early in summer, where they flowered profusely during 

 the first part of the season. They then made free growth, and 

 were taken up and placed under cover a few weeks ago. C. 

 aurantiacum is a native of Guatemala, and has been in culti- 

 vation since 1844, when it was introduced by Mr. Skinner, an 

 English gentleman. It is of erect habit, and the alternate 

 leaves are oval, pointed, of rich green color, margins wavy, 

 and, with two-inch petiole, about eight inches long. The ses- 

 sile flowers are tubular, with five reflexed segments at the 

 apex, where they measure almost half an inch across. Their 

 length slightly exceeds one inch, and they are produced in 

 panicles. This plant is easily cultivated, and does well in any 

 soil in which rich loam predominates. In winter it requires 

 only sufficient heat to exclude frost, but established plants like 

 all the light and sunshine they can get. Propagation may be 

 effected by means of cuttings, which should be kept close and 

 shaded until rooted. 



Phygelius Capensis. — This is one of our most charming 

 perennials, and one that will be popular when it is better 

 known. It is treated in this country as an herbaceous plant, 

 but is in reality a dwarf shrub of compact, bushy habit, and 

 about three feet high. The reddish stems and branches are 

 densely furnished with opposite, light green, ovate leaves, the 

 edges of which are serrate. The leaves diminish in size from 

 the base of the stem upward ; the blade of the largest meas- 

 ures about four inches, and the petiole two inches in length. 

 The drooping flowers are curved and tubular, an inch and a 

 half long, mouth of five-pointed, spreading segments three- 

 fourths of an inch in diameter, bright red on the outside, and 

 orange-yellow within. They are borne very profusely at the 

 extremity of the shoots in large, erect, tapering panicles, 

 which often exceed twelve inches in length by nine inches 

 through at the base, and the plant blooms continuously from 

 early summer until cut down by severe frosts late in the 

 autumn. P. Capensis is a native of Kaffirland, South 

 Africa, where it grows by the sides of streams in the 

 mountainous regions. It was introduced in 1855, ^Y t'^s 



Messrs. James Veitch & Sons, of London, England. It is a 

 good border-plant, thriving well in any good garden-soil, and 

 if a thick covering of leaves is apphed before the winter sets 

 in the lower parts of the branches, with the roots, will remain 

 uninjured by frost, sending up in springslioots more vigorous 

 than those of the preceding season. In the warmer sections 

 of the country, witli a little encouragement in the form of 

 richer soil and frequent supplies of water in dry weather, it 

 will doubtless grow freely and flower abundantly during the 

 greater part of the year. Cuttings of the young wood root 

 quickly in summer if they are inserted in pots containing 

 sandy soil, placed in a frame under glass and kept close, moist 

 and shaded. The young plants should be grown in a cold 

 frame until the following spring, w'hen, on startingintogrowth, 

 they may safely be planted in an open border. Seeds are ob- 

 tainable from flowering plants in large quantities, and they 

 should be sown during the spring months. A little heat is 

 necessary in raising seedlings, which should afterward be 

 treated in the same manner as cuttings. 



Cambridge, Mass. M. Barker. 



Hardy Ever-blooming Roses. — My attention was recently 

 called to a very fine specimen of the Gloire de Dijon Rose. 

 It was growing alongside a house, and had reached the second- 

 story window. Its beautiful rosy salmon-colored flowers were 

 still abundant, as they had been all summer long. It ought to 

 be more generally known that this climbing Tea Rose is one 

 of the hardiest of its class. It needs no prelection at all here. 

 Speaking of climbing Roses, why is it that the Crimson Bour- 

 sault is so seldom seen ? It is true that it blooms but once a 

 year, but many less handsome ones do no more. Its crimson 

 flowers are most beautiful, and then, as with all Boursaults, it 

 is almost free from thorns. Among Tea and Bengal Roses 

 which live out with little or no protection here are the follow- 

 ing kinds : Archduke Charles, rosy crimson ; Malmaison, flesh 

 and fawn ; Sombrieul, creamy white ; Homer, salmon and 

 rose, beautiful in the bud ; Hermosa, rosy pink, and Marie 

 Ducher, salmon-rose. We plant these sorts in sheltered places 

 near dwellings, or in borders where hedges protect them a 

 little, and this is all the care they get in winter. Their tops are 

 frozen down more or less, but as these Roses want a good 

 pruning in spring this does not hurt them. 



Germantown, Pa. Joseph Meehaii. 



Correspondence. 



Rambling Notes from the Ozarks. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — One of the features of the Ozark Hills is the essentially 

 local character of many of the trees and plants growing there. 

 In the course of considerable wandering over half a dozen 

 counties of south-west Missouri and north-west Arkansas, all 

 in the Ozark Mountain region, I have foimd Gentian puber- 

 ula, Cypripedium spectabile and parviflorum and an unidenti- 

 fied species of Tillandsia in widely detached localities, though 

 often quite abundant in those places. I know of but two 

 places in our county where the beautifid yellow Dog-tooth 

 Violet is to be found, and of but one locality each where 

 Lilium Canadense and the common Cat-tail are indigenous. 

 Within a radius of one hundred and fifty miles of this place I 

 have but once found Beech, Pecan, Shag-bark Hickory, Lin- 

 den and Liquidamber, among trees; Black Alder, Wahoo 

 (Evonymus), Leatherwood, Celastrus scandens. Clematis 

 Pitcheri, C. coccinea and C. crispa and Wild Hop, among 

 shrubs and vines ; CEnothera Missouriensis and CE. speciosa, 

 Viola pedata alba, Clitoria Mariana, Iris hexagona, Hepatica 

 triloba and Cypripedium candidum, among herbaceous plants ; 

 and Nelumbo lutea, Nymphsea odorata and Nuphar advena, 

 among water-plants. Of course, there are many species of 

 trees and plants that are common to all this region, but this 

 but emphasizes the fact that other species, seemingly as robust 

 and capable of dissemination, are to be found only within cir- 

 cumscribed limits, often but a few rods in extent. Probably 

 the geographical position of this range explains the matter, ex- 

 tending as it does between the northern and southern portions 

 of our great country. A close observer notices that many 

 species common in the north are only occasionally to be found 

 here, while there is quite a sprinkling of species generally 

 found considerably farther south. The flora of the Ozarks has 

 been very imperfectly collected. The lax cattle laws have 

 caused many rare plants to be lost in the thicker settlements 

 by the incessant browsing and trampling to which they have 

 been subjected, but in the wilder mountain regions it is prob- 

 able many valuable intermediate species can yet be found. It 



