i6 



Garden and Forest. 



[March 7, 1888. 



of earnest students. His delivery was not marked liy any 

 rlietorieal elegance, but his lectures were crammed with facts, 

 and his remarks were always to the point and full of sugges- 

 tions. His laboratory was a resort of special students from 

 both sides of the Atlantic, and the list of younger professors 

 who now point with pride to the fact that they were once liis 

 pupils, is a very l^^rge one. Earnestness and thoroughness 

 characterized his work both as a teacher and an investigator, 

 and his geniality and sprightliness made him a great favorite 

 with all who knew him. JV. G. Farhrm. 



Winter in Mobile. 



IN ordinary years the waves of low temperature from the 

 north are felt to some extent through the coast regions of 

 the Gulf States. Heralded by a northern blast which clears the 

 sky, come a few clear frosty days, or occasionally a slight fall 

 of evanescent snow; then plant life takes a brief rest, and the 

 landscape, for a space, assumes a wintry look. Usually the 

 departure of the last Rose of summer, which lingers till mid- 

 December in our gardens, is followed by a rest in vegetation, 

 which awakes again under the breath of spring in late Janu- 

 ary. This year, however, the mean daily temperature of De- 

 cember was 50° and we had but two slight frosts. The an- 

 nual garden weeds, like (Enothera hiu!iifiisa,Ch\c\^\^eei\, Pep- 

 pergrass,and intruders like Vcroiiica peregyiiiaM\(xLaininin aiii- 

 plexicaule, kept up lu.xunous growth all winter long, and the 

 low Speargrass (Poa annua) covered waste places with its 

 sward of lively green, without any interruption. Several of 

 our late autumnal plants, like some species of Chrysopsis and 

 Aster, under cover of the woods, were found blooming long 

 after New Year's. The Japanese plum, Eriobotrya Japonica, 

 began to bloom in early November, and continued to unfold 

 its panicles of fragrant white flowers until the close of the 

 year, mingling their perfume with that of the flowers of the 

 Sweet Olive {Olea fragrans). Violets, Candytuft, Sweet 

 Alyssum and Daisies bloomed abundantly, as did the Sweet 

 Olive and all varieties of the Camellia. Among the forest 

 trees, the White Cedar was in full bloom on the first day of 

 December, and the leaves of deciduous trees were still vivid 

 with their autumnal tints. Festoons of different species of 

 Smilax, loaded with berry clusters of gleaming scarlet or purple 

 black, were clambering over the broad leaved evergreens, 

 giving to the midwinter woodlands a tropical beauty, in the 

 presence of wliich it was hard to realize that our northern States 

 were swept by blizzards. In fact, it seemed that autumn joined 

 hands with spring, the year passing almost imperceptibly 

 from one to the other. 



The January weather was still more remarkable, showing 

 the mean temperature to be only 54°. Before the end of its 

 second week, \'iburnuni proten.stiin, one of our hardiest exotic 

 shrubs, taking the lead among the harbingers of spring, was 

 followed promptly by an early Honeysuckle, with its fragrant 

 pale rose flowers, while Narcissus and Hyacinths were 

 adorning our flower be(is. Later in the month the thermometer 

 fell to 20°, and the mean temperature for five days was 

 46°. But the slight injury caused to vegetation quickly 

 vanished with the sunny days that followed and plant life 

 proceeded without a check until the present time. 



In January, too, the Japan Quince blazed with scarlet bloom 

 and the Forsythia lumg out its golden bells, and in the last 

 week of the month our southern Bluets, Hotistonia patens, 

 were smiling in the pastures and pine barrens. In the forests, 

 the Cypress, tlie Red Cedar and the Swamp Maple were in full 

 bloom, as was the Alder along the banks of the streams, while 

 climbing over the bushes the loveliest of our wild vines, 

 the Yellow Jessamine, had begun to unfold its flowers. 



Mobile, February 15th. Karl JMollr. 



Foreign Correspondence. 



London Letter. 



Lselia albida, a lovely little Mexican Orchid, with its ivory 

 white and fragrant flowers, is one of the best of all winter 

 flowering Orchids, and especially valuable because it can 

 always be relied on for Christmas bloom. A single spike is 

 beautiful, but imagine a mass of it three feet across, carrying 

 no fewer than 400 flowers ! Such is the sight I enjoyed the 

 other day in Sander's Orchid nursery. There were two masses 

 of almost equal size growing on flat rafts, and suspended o^'er 

 a water tank, surrounded by great blocks of artificial rock, in 

 a large intermediate Orchid-house. The two plants have to- 

 gether over 800 flowers, a charming mass of delicate white and 

 pink, for the lips of all the flowers are rose-tinted. The fra- 



grance, too, of such a cjuantity of bloom was delicious, and 

 pervaded the whole house. Both masses were in the same 

 state as when imported, and are supposed to be the largest 

 ever Ijrought to England alive. This Lslia is not only one of 

 the prettiest of winter Orchids, but is one of the easiest to 

 grow, merely requiring to be placed on wood blocks or in bas- 

 kets, in what we call here a cool house, one in which the sum- 

 mer temperature ranges from 60- to 70'^, and not falling belov/ 

 45° on winter nights. , 



A nev/ Angrsccum, which proves to be one of the prettiest 

 ever introduced, was lately exhibited here for the first time by 

 the Messrs. Sander, under the name of A. Sanderianum, and 

 won the highest certificate of merit. It is small in growth, 

 having a few lolig, thick leaves of deep green, and about two 

 inches wide. The flower spike is about a foot long of a soft 

 fawn color and thickly beset with flowers. These are about 

 an inch across, with snow-white sepals and petals, and slen- 

 der white spurs some three inches in length. The flowers be- 

 ing so numerous, and of such purity, and the spikes so grace- 

 ful, the eftect of the flowering plants is charming. I saw the 

 same plant in the St. Albans Orchid nursery by the hundred, 

 every one being in bloom, with two and three spikes on each. 

 It is therefore very floriferous, and is considered one of the 

 easiest to manage. The thicket of white flower spikes, all 

 gracefully drooping from suspended plants, was one of the 

 most pleasing sights I have seen among Orchids. 



Percival's Cattleya, one of the newer varieties ol the poly- 

 morphous C. labiata, heralded the flower season of this genus 

 Those who confine their collection of Orchids to the most 

 select must include this one, as it is not only the earliest 

 flowering of all, but one of the most beautiful. When 

 introduced a few years ago it was said to be autumn 

 flowering, but it has not pi-oved to be so here, although 

 I am told tiuit in America it flowers some weeks before 

 it opens here. At Sander's nursery about holidays this 

 Cattleya was the chief feature, hundreds of plants be- 

 ing in bloom, exhibiting a great variation of color, some being 

 many sliades darker than others. It is what one would call a 

 medium-sized Cattleya. The sepals and petals are a deep rose 

 pink, and the lip is invariably adorned with an intensely deep 

 blotch of maroon crimson, which looks like velvet. It is a very 

 free flowering kind, and with us is not at all difficult to grow 

 well. 



The Snowy Masdevallia tovarensis and the fiery-looking JM. 

 ignea are two invalualjle winter Orchids, both being in bloom 

 now. I have recently seen a plant of the white carrying sixty 

 flowers in twos and threes on each spike,- and another of /)/. 

 ignea whose flowers are orange scarlet, lined with crimson, 

 with forty flowers, evidence of how these gems of the South 

 American Andes flourish in England. I suspect that Ameri- 

 can Orchid-growers have some difficulty in growing tliesecool 

 mountain Orchids on account of your hot and dry summers, 

 but in any place where they succeed the two I have named 

 here should be grown in gardens as larg-ely as their owner's 

 accommodation and pocket can alTord. 



A beiutiful green-house climber named Oxera pulehella, from 

 New Caledonia, and entirely new to European gardens, was 

 shown here recently for the first time by Sir George Macleay. 

 The plant is nearly allied to Clerodendron and in habit of 

 growth resembles the climbing species of that genus. It has 

 long, slender branches, ^\ith deep green shining leaves, like 

 those of Stephanotis. The flowers are large, tubular and 

 wide-mouthed, pure white and \vidi two protruding stamens. 

 They are borne in large, dense clusters, a score or more to- 

 gether from the leaf axils. It is extremely floriferous, as a 

 ilower cluster is borne from almost every leaf point. It is 

 looked upon as a most vahudile addition to green-house 

 plants, more particularly as it flowers habitually in the depth 

 of winter, when most appreciated. It will become a popular 

 climber, and the gardener who grew the specimen 

 exhibited, assures me that it is easily cultivated. He 

 grows it in an airy green-house trained to a rafter of the 

 roof. It was brought from a garden in Algiers. The genus 

 Oxera has been hitherto unknown to English gardens, and 

 till recently botanists knew but one species, but now they 

 number ten. This climber is, unquestionably, one of the 

 most remarkal^le plants exhibited of late years. 



Kennedya Marryattse (A'. p>rosfrafa, var. major, D. C), an 

 Australian climbing plant of the Pea family, has been for some 

 time the glory of one of the green-houses in Kew Gardens, 

 and yet it is to be found in few private gardens, though it is 

 such an old plant and so beautiful. I should be glad to hear that 

 it was more generally appreciated in America. No other green- 



