March 14, iSSS.l 



Garden and Forest. 



33 



Cultural Notes. 



Chrysanthemums. — Those who would have good Chrvsan- 

 themunis next fall must now pay attention to tlieir stock.' No 

 puny plants will ever give good tiowers, neither will plants 

 which have been excessively projiagated. Strong- cuttings put 

 in now and grown along without becoming pot-bound or 

 starved, will make nearly as line plants and flowers as those 

 propagated earlier. Plants now in small pots should be re- 

 moved into pots two sizes larger and subjected to fire-heat 

 only suificient to keep out the t'rost. Use at all times soil that 

 will permit water to pass freely through it. All newly-pottetl 

 plants, from the cutting benches, should be carefully shaded 

 from the sun for a few days, until new root action is estab- 

 lished. If it is the intention to grow very large flowers the 

 plants should be topped as soon as they reach the height of 

 from 6 to S inches, selecting the three strongest shoots to form 

 the base of supply. If specimen plants are required, four 

 shoots at least should be allowed to grow and each one 

 should be tied down to a position nearly horizontal. These 

 same shoots will require stopping again as soon as thev ha\'e 

 6 to S leaves formed. If the soil is rich no additional fertilizer 

 will be required until the summer is advanced. Purchasers 

 would do well to obtain plants that have been grown cold and 

 are not pot-bound. Plants should be sliipped by express. 



John Thorpe. 



Asparagus plumosus. — Propagated by division, this plant is of 

 less value to florists than Smilax. But propagated from cut- 

 tings, it makes bushy plants from six to twelve inches high, 

 which are hardly equaled in beauty or usefulness for deco- 

 ration. A. plumosus grown in this way is superior to A. 

 tenuissiinus, which resemljles it very much, but is too thick. 

 A. plumosus nanus must be propagated by seed, which is not 

 easily obtainable. While every side shoot of A. tenuissiinus, 

 cut with a bit of the main shoot, will root easily, A. plumosus 

 refuses to do so. It makes roots only when a bud starts into 

 growth in soil or sand, and this is the whole secret. A young- 

 shoot firstgrows nearly to its full length before the side-shoots 

 are developed, and those on the top develop first. There- 

 fore, cut the whole shoot as soon as the upper side shoots and 

 all those which have started about the same time with them 

 have reached their full development — which is indicated by 

 the darker green color — and lay the whole shoots about half 

 an inch deep in sand in the propagating house, taking care 

 not to bury any side shoots. After six or'eight weeks most of 

 the dormant eyes will grow and forn-i one plant each. Let 

 them stand undisturbed until three or four little shoots have 

 made their appearance, when they should be potted in very 

 sandy soil. When these plants are about six inches high they 

 are excellent material for fvu-ther propagation, and a large 

 stock can easily be obtained in a short time, each shoot \-ieid- 

 ing from one to five young plants. A. plumosus and A. plu- 

 mosus nanus are prettiest when young and before they change 

 into their climbing habit. But the dwarf species seems to pro- 

 duce all its side shoots at the same time, the lower part of the 

 stem remaining bare even with quite old plants. I succeeded 

 once by cutting the end of a shoot away and laying the whole 

 shoot in sand without separating- it from the old plant, but the 

 result was not entirely successful. C. Jiriner. 



Chamascyparissus obtusa is one of the most beautiful and 

 graceful of the Japanese Conifers. We have some old plants 

 that had fallen into a dilapidated condition, and some years 

 ago we cut them in hard and planted them by the side of a 

 well enriched border in dry sandy land. They have recovered 

 splendidly and now are vigorous, bushy specimens. Others in 

 a similar condition were also cut in and removed to a 

 well-sheltered spot in a thinly-planted piece of woodland, and 

 where the ground is moist and good. The result has Iteen 

 fully as satisfactory as in the previous case. 



Magnolias. — We had a group of choice Magnolias, including 

 M. Thurberi and M. stellata, in dry sandy land, and where the 

 subsoil was deep sand, but they appeared to be very luihappy. 

 The surface soil in the bed was good enough ; indeed, it was 

 good hazel loam introduced for their benefit. A few years ago 

 we ren-ioved the Magnolias, some to our nursery ground, 

 where the land is deep, dark and moderately i-i-ioist, and some 

 to a sheltered place on tlie lawn, and in which the soil is ex- 

 cellent. In both cases their recovery is very marked. We 

 also have large isolated specin-iens of the Yulan Magnolia, 

 some in poor, some in good soil, and in vigor of plant and pro- 

 fusion of bloon-i the balance is greatly in favor of those grow- 

 ing in the good soil. ' IV. F. 



Covering Bulbs — If Crocuses, Snowdrops, Winter Aconites, 

 Siberian Squills and other early flowering bulbs planted last 

 fall were covered over with a mulching of tree leaves or rank 

 litter in order to protect them from frost, they are now trying 

 to thrust their whitened leaves and flowers up through' the 

 covering. If we remove the niulching we expose the 

 weakened shoots to the piercing winds and in this way 

 render worse what before was bad enough. These bulb's 

 need no winter mulching, neither do Tulips, Hyacinths, 

 Crown Imperials nor the host of other early flowering' bulbous 

 plants we set out in our gardens, except it niay be a'mulching 

 of rotted leaves or rotted manure, vyhich is meant to remain on 

 the ground permanently, and is applied more with the view of 

 preventing the bulbs from being heaved out of the earth by 

 frost than as a protection against frost. It is when these plant's 

 are appearing above ground that they need protection n-iost, 

 but the ordinary way of treating theni, is to striji them just at 

 this time. 



Strcptnsolen Jamesonii. 



nPHIS is one of the best and most easily cultiyated winter- 

 -'- bloon-iing- green-house plants we have. It is a native of 

 South An-ierica, and was introduced to cultivation sonie forty 

 years ago but soon disappeared fron-i our gardens and was 

 not seen again till a few years ago, when it -was reintroduced. 

 It is now quite generally distributed. 



It is a si-nall-leaved, evergreen, slender shrub, or rather 

 shrubby vine, of vigorous growth. Its flowers are orange or 

 flame-colored, and disposed in drooping-, terminal, cvmose 

 panicles ; every branch is tipped with a bvmch of flowers. Its 

 flowering- period is from January to April, according to condi- 

 tions under which it is grown, but usually it is in its finest con- 

 dition in February. A few scattering flowers n-iay be produced 

 all summer long, but never a full crop nor handsome panicles. 



It ripens' seed freely, but the best way of propagating it is 

 from cuttings of the young wood; these cuttings strike as 

 readily as do those of Heliotropes or other soft-wooded plants, 

 and if struck in spring and grown on in sumn-ier n-iake fine 

 blooming plants 4 to 6 feet high by the next winter. I raise a 

 fresh lot of plants in this way every year, and keep over some 

 of the old plants till they are two or three years old, but not 

 more, as they grow too big for our green-houses. 



I grow then-i in pots during the summer n-ionths, and 

 plunge them out-of-doors. Were they planted out the plants 

 would grow so rank and root so much that they could not 

 be lifted safely in autun-m. They are gross feeders. In potting 

 them I use good loam, with about one-fourth part in bulk of 

 rotted manure, and after the plants are brought in-doors 1 

 mulch them with rich farn-i-yard manure. 



We winter our plants in the Carnation-house, where they are 

 grouped together in a mass. The right ten-iperature is about 

 50°. They get and enjoy full sunlight. 



Although gorgeous plants for conservatory decoration, the 

 cut flowers must be used in masses to be effective. In wan-u 

 roon-)s they do not last very well. iV. F. 



[This fine plant, a native of New Grenada, was figured in 

 the Botanical Magazine, t. 4605, many years ago as Bruiv- 

 allia, a genus from wliich it chiefly differs in habit of growth. 

 It is also figured by Miers, the fomuler of the genus Strrp- 

 losolen {Illuslralious, I. 55). — Ed.] 



Mulching- Shrubbery Beds. 



AS soon as the snow is all gone and the weather is not 

 frosty we go into the woods, rake up and cart lionie a 

 large quantity of tree leaves for n-iulching shrubbery, and more 

 especiallv our Azalea bed. The leaves are then beginning to 

 soften and decay, and if at all moist, we can pack .at least twice 

 as many into a load as we could in fall. Why was this not done 

 last fall ? For two reasons : Hardy trees and shrubs have no 

 need whatever of any niulching over winter, and it niay be so 

 much work lost, but this is not all ; for in the second place, it 

 may be the cause of much mischief by affording a lodgment 

 for field mice, which are the most destructive rodents we have 

 to contend with. They are especially destructive to coniferous 

 and rosaceous trees and shrubs by gnawing away the bark 

 around the stem at the ground level ; in this way they have 

 killed many of our Pines and Spruces. But 1 have never 

 known them to attack evergreen Rhododendrons, even where 

 these shrubs have been heavily mulched with dry leaves over 

 winter. 

 The earlier we mulch our Azaleas now, the better. It de- 



