November 2, 1892.] 



Garden and Forest. 



527 



may gain an idea as to the mass of color. This same mass of 

 color is usually the principal thing one finds to criticise at a 

 Chrysanthemum show. Even when furnished with good 

 foliage and helped by backgrounds and separating foliage- 

 plants, the profusion of flowers and glare of color are apt to 

 produce bewilderment and confusion rather than a well-defined 

 enjoyment. In the upper house the plants were arranged for 

 effect in a very tasteful way with sloping, irregular side ter- 

 races, and the mam floor occupied by specimen plants, ar- 

 ranged cunningly, so that as far as possible as one followed 

 the winding paths the beauty of each specimen could be en- 

 joyed separately. And while the house was filled with flowers 

 by the thousand, at no point of view was the scene oppressive. 

 Two houses were filled with the new seedlings of the year 

 under trial. There were said to be 30,000 of these, apparently 

 a not excessive claim, as they were grown to single stems and 

 planted in boxes at six inclies apart. The lower range con- 

 tained a selection of plants in readiness for the Madison Square 

 Exhibition, where, no doubt, they Will be heard from. 



There was much to interesta Chrysanthemum-expert. In the 

 first place it may be said that the plants were never grown so 

 well here before. Good, strong, fine wood and well-developed 

 foliage was the rule. It is always interesting to find new mar- 

 vels, but one finds equal interest in observing how the marvels 

 of former years are doing. It was pleasant to see so many of 

 the former introductions of this nursery still showing their first 

 form. To mention a few. Miss Annie Manda is a pure white 

 incurved hairy kind, having the depth which the Mrs. Alpheus 

 Hardy lacks. The Hicks Arnolds are again great balls of 

 golden yellow. Mrs. E. D. Adams has improved each year, 

 and is a massive white. A. G. Ramsey, when well grown, is a 

 fine reflexed carmine, very telling. Mrs. Lewis is a very charm- 

 ing reflexed flower of a very pure clear yellow of medium 

 depth. The great bronze Harry May was not seen in its former 

 profusion. Mrs. Grace Hill, Mrs. W. A. Kimball and Mrs. 

 Hood Wright seem to be a few of the other kinds which will 

 probably stay. 



One does not often have a chance to examine 30,000 new 

 flowers, and the two houses occupied by these afforded a 

 very striking illustration of the sportiveness of the Chrysan- 

 themum. We are familiar with the fact that of so many thou- 

 sands of human beings no two will be found exactly alike in 

 appearance. We are not so familiar with the fact that we have 

 a flower, of which two identical seedlings will hardly be found 

 among many thousands. And this is the case even when 

 many of the seedlings have the same parent. Of the seedlings 

 here, a record had been made of the seed-bearing parent, and 

 the fiats of plants all bore pedigree-labels. Presuming this had 

 been done with accuracy, the results were remarkable, each 

 lot showing the widest possible diversities both in color and 

 form, and often with no trace of likeness to the special va- 

 riety from which it had sprung. A large number of hairy 

 kinds in all colors and forms were seen, probably hybrids from 

 Mrs. Alpheus Hardy, the female parent of very many of the 

 new seedlings. Mr. Manda also claims to have secured from 

 this variety many of his most distinct or fancy colored flowers, 

 which he had in large numbers. Looking over the various 

 flowers one could realize why each season so many new va- 

 rieties are offered, for there seemed to be literally hundreds of 

 first-rate flowers which any one would hesitate to discard. The 

 new selections of the season were as yet unnamed, but some 

 of the most promising numbers were No. 8, a fine spotted va- 

 riety ; No. 92, light yellow, reflexed ; No. 42, incurved, white ; 

 No. 74, Stars and Stripes, white, striped red ; No. 60, incurved, 

 yellow ; No. 78, salmon-pink ; but it seems useless to detail 

 under dry numbers the flowers which, no doubt, will soon be 

 christened into the feminine gender. 



The exhibition is primarily one of Chrysanthemums, because 

 Chrysanthemums are just now in season, but no visitor to the 

 nurseries will leave without at least walking through the great 

 house where, under an acre and a quarter of glass, there are 

 enough Palms to stock the Horticultural Building at Chicago 

 if each one had all the room it needed. Two hundred and 

 thirty species and varieties are represented here, and some of 

 them are truly magnificent specimens. Here are Arecas, 

 Kentias, Thrinaxes and many more with stems twenty feet 

 high ; besides Tree-ferns, a hundred of them, and many with 

 trunks at least as long as the Palms, and several of them two 

 feet in diameter. Under the broad and arching foliage of these 

 Palms and Ferns and Cycads, of which there are some twenty- 

 seven species and varieties, the visitor walks as if in the dusk 

 of a tropical forest, while at the bases of the stems are masses 

 of rare Ferns and other shade-loving tropical plants. 



On either side, and opening into the Palm-house, are long 

 ranges filled witti stock plants in wonderful variety and in such 



abundance as one rarel}? sees. One house is filled with Kenfia 

 Belmoriana, another with K. Fosteriana, a third with Areca 

 lutescens, and a fourth with Cocos Wedelliana. Another still 

 contains Marantas, Crotons and other stove foliage-plants, 

 while the next gives space to nothing but Anthuriums, and the 

 one beyond shows Alocasias, Nepenthes and the like. The 

 house of Dracsenas was conspicuous not only for the great 

 number of well-grown plants it contained, but for the magnifi- 

 cent Stag-horn Ferns which ornamented its entrance, one va- 

 riety in particular with a splendid shield being one of the most 

 attractive plants in the whole collection. No one realizes the 

 full decorative value of the Auracaria until a mass of it 200 feet 

 long is seen ; and beautiful as is a specimen plant of Adiantum 

 Farleyense, a long house with both the centre and side benches 

 completely covered with its soft foliage, gives one a new idea 

 of its delicate and airy grace. 



Of course, there are Orchids in bewildering profusion in the 

 three ranges, each 500 feet in length. One is not surprised to 

 learn that there are 2,800 seedling Cypripediums alone, and 

 that the house which is filled with Cypripediums for flowering 

 is 130 feet long. Just now the rare and beautiful little C. 

 Fairreanum is in flower, and it seems to have a particularly 

 tender place in Mr. Manda's regard, not only for its beauty, 

 but because it seems gradually to be dwindling out of cultiva- 

 fion. He is fortunate in having among his prizes in bloom a 

 hybrid between this species and C. Spicerianum. Of the other 

 Orchids in flower which cannot be omitted are two distinct 

 and charming varieties of Vanda Sanderiana, many fine 

 examples of Vanda cerulea and the rare and beautiful hybrid 

 Cattleya Exoniensis. 



New York. JC. 



Periodical Literature. 



An interesting article in the Ocio\ie.r Biilhtin of the Torrey 

 Botanical Chtb, written by Mr. William T. Davis, describes the 

 discovery on Staten Island of what he believes to be a new 

 hybrid Oak. Near Watchogue, he says, grow numbers of the 

 Black Scrub Oak (Ouercus ilicifolia), associated, especially in 

 the drier situations, with many Black Jack Oaks (O. nigra). 

 These species are easily distinguishable. O. ilicifolia is not 

 usually a tree, but a shrub. But, accompanying many normal 

 specimens of both species, Mr. Davis noted many others, 

 which, " when taken together, form a series leading from one 

 species to the other, and apparently are hybrids resulting 

 from the cross-fertilization of the two. Though these trees 

 vary considerably, individually they resemble O. nigra in 

 being erect and rigid in growth, in their short, abniptly taper- 

 ing branches, and in having the leaves rusty pubescent be- 

 neath. They resemble O. ilicifolia in being small, in their 

 smooth, light-colored bark, and in the retention of their dried 

 catkins in abundance throughout the summer. . . . One of the 

 trees that bears the greatest resemblance to O. nigra is erect 

 in growth and about eight feet high, and the' leaves vary in 

 shape from the nigra form to that of ilicifolia. Thev are more 

 rusty pubescent beneath than those of O. nigra, and the tree 

 has a lighter appearance, owing principally to the color of its 

 bark. Only two or three partly broken cups of last year's 

 acorns remained on its branches, for it bore no fruit this 

 year, but it retained its dried catkins in abundance. 



"Another tree, that is about six feet tall and has the 

 under surface of the leaves rusty pubescent, bore two abortive 

 acorns this year, but retained its catkins. Still another tree, 

 near by, is erect, about six feet tall, and has the leaves whiter 

 beneath than the last. It bore no acorns, but, like the other 

 trees, retained its catkins. None of the remaining trees so far 

 discovered, the tallest of which is fourteen feet high, bore any 

 fruit at all this year. 



" At the other end of the island, at Rossville and Tottenville, 

 O. nigra grows abundantly, but Q. ilicifolia is absent, and a 

 dfligent search at these places resulted in the discovery of no 

 such trees as those to be found at Watchogue." 



In the list of hybrid Oaks contained in the last edition of 

 Gray's Manual, two hybrids are described and named of which 

 O. nigra is a parent, and one of which is the offspring of O. 

 ilicifolia. But no hybrid between these two species is noted, 

 and, therefore, as it is recognizable enough to deserve a name, 

 Mr. Davis proposes to call it Ouercus Brittoni, "after Dr. N. l! 

 Britton, who was born on thelsland, and who, with Mr. Arthur 

 Hollick, has done so much in making known its flora." 



Notes 



We rarely hear the Forsythias spoken of on account of the 

 beauty of their autumn coloring, yet these shrubs, although 

 they begin to turn early to a rich chocolate-brown, hold their 



