May 2, iSSS.] 



Garden and Forest. 



115 



long stake, and over these set three barrels, bottomless and 

 headless, one on top of the other, and kept in place by being 

 lashed between three long stout stakes. When uncovered, 

 about (he ist of April, the branches were living to the tips, 

 and nowhere does the tree show the least sign of injury from 

 the winter. It has now been trans]:>lanted to a permanent 

 position, as an isolated specimen, on the lawn, and conse- 

 quently was cut in severely. It has not yet blossomed with 

 us. But its handsome foliage and the bright red tinge of its 

 leaf stalks and venation render it a desirable plant, even with- 

 out llowers. 



" It is in Alabama a small, wide branching tree, nine to ten 

 metres in height, with a trunk sometimes 0.30 metre in diame- 

 ter; on limestone benches from 700 to goo feet elevation, in 

 dense forests of Oak, Ash, Maple, etc.; local and very rare; not 

 rediscovered in Arkansas or the Indian territory, in Alabama 

 nearly exterminated." 



Ourspecimen has been grown in an open sunnv exposure and 

 has not shown the least injiu'y from full sunshine. //'. F. 



Hsuchera sanguinea. — This new and handsome introduction 

 from Mexico is likely to liecome the most popular of the 

 genus as at present known. All Heucheras have elegant 

 foliage. H. pitbescens is generally grown for this reason alone. 

 Last fall, with a view to increase our stock of H. sanguinea, 

 which was limited to one small plant, all the crowns were cut 

 off close to the rootstock. Placed in sand in a cool ]jit they 

 rooted easily. We thus obtained a dozen plants which have 

 bloomed persistently nearly all winter. We have also a 

 number of seedlings, and, if we are fortunate enough to save 

 them, in the course of time clumps in sufficient t^uantitv can 

 be obtained for forcing, like Astible Japonica, for winter 

 blooming. The plants are in 4-inch pots, and ha\-e been 

 grown in a night temperature of 40° to 45°. The flower stems 

 are wiry, and self-supporting, blooming from 3 to 5 inches of 

 their length, in a one-sided racemose cvme of red, tuliular 

 flowers of considerable substance, which have the excellent 

 quality of being handsome in bud, and of lasting two or three 

 weeks in a cool house. T. IX Hatfield. 



Myosotis dissitiflora splendens is a variety of a verv beautiful 

 perennial Forget-me-not with flowers fully double the size of 

 the common species (J/, palustris). They are pink or shaded 

 with pink when first open, but soon change into a beautiful 

 clear blue. This plant is not quite hardy, l>ut is well worth the 

 protection of a cold-frame in winter. If seed is sown in June or 

 July, the young plants will be strong enough by autumn to 

 come through the winter safely, and can be transplanted into 

 the open border, where they will bloom profusely during the 

 month of May. Plants taken from the frame in February 

 or March, and introduced into moderate heat, bloom freely in 

 a few weeks, and a pan of this plant in flower is one of the 

 most beautiful objects imaginable. This plant was sent to this 

 country several years ago by Herr Leichtlin. 5. 



Sempervivums. — Tliese form pretty and appropriate patches 

 and mats about the stones in the rockery. Thev like an open 

 and comparatively sunless situation, as on the northern 

 slopes, but very much dislike to be shaded overhead by trees, 

 shrubs or other plants. Most of the species are quite hardy. 

 Semperviviim globiferuni, S. niontanicm, S. tomentosnm, S. 

 triste, S. calcareuin, S. sobolifericm, S. arenarium, and some of 

 the varieties of S. tectoruin, are as good as any. The prettiest, 

 perhaps, is the white cobweb 5. tonientoswn ; S. triste is dark 

 crimson, and S. calcareuin — often, but erroneously, called 6'. 

 Californicitm — :is a little tender. None of the Cape of Good 

 Hope species are hardy. Now is a good time to transplant 

 them; use the small or middle-sized heads onlv, as the large 

 ones will bloom in a month or two, then die off and leave the 

 place ragged. 



"Dutch" Bulbs, such as Hyacinths, Tulips and Narcissus, that 

 have been forced, should lie stored close together in some 

 lightly shaded place out-of-doors and kept watered so long as 

 the leaves remain green. When the leaves die off stop water- 

 irig altogether, shake out and gather the bulbs, keeping each 

 kind by itself, and keep them in-doors till next August or -Sep- 

 tember, when they may be planted thickly in rows in the gar- 

 den.^ Next spring they may yield a few 'flowers, but of poor 

 quality. The Tulips, after a few years, may recover their 

 original strength, but the Hyacinths will only produce sec- 

 ond-rate spikes at best. They are of no use vvhetever for 

 forcing a second time. 



Liliitm candidum, if forced this year, should be planted out 

 or thrown away, as to force the same bulb again next year would 



be labor lost. But L. longiflorum and its varieties mav be 

 grown along and forced year after year and do well every'sea- 

 son. Keep them well watered and in vigorous growth as long 

 as the leaves stay green, then dry them off and keep them per- 

 fectly dry, but still in the earth in the pots, till next fall, 

 when re-pot them, keeping the large Ijulbs in pots by them- 

 selves, and the small ones in pots by themselves, and care- 

 fully preserve every little bulblet found along the joints 

 of the underground stems. In the Harrisii form most all 

 these little bulbs, even in three or four inch pots, will liloom 

 next spring. 



Spring Flowers. — Many of our earliest flowering plants grow 

 well in shady places. They start into growth early and bloom 

 before the trees l.)egin to shade them. Their growth is rapid, 

 and before midsummer they have completed their season's 

 work and gone to rest. Among these are Anemones, Violets, 

 Twin-leaf, Bloodroot, Winter Aconite, Trilliums, Rue .Ane- 

 mones, Spring Orol)US, Pulmonaria, Liuigwort, and many 

 bulbous plants. At the same time we must bear in mind that 

 Moss Pink, Rock Cress, Aubretia, evergreen Candytuft, and 

 a good many others, if grown in shady places, will' dwindle 

 and die out after awhile. A safe rule to observe is, grow the 

 short-lived deciduous kinds in shady places, and the ever- 

 greens mostly in sunny exposures. 



Cutting Asparagus. — It is the practice of most gardeners 

 to cut the large shoots of Asparagus only and leave the weaker 

 ones to grow for the purpose of making strong roots and 

 therefore strong shoots next year. A better custom is that 

 adopted by Long Island gardeners, who cut everything clean 

 every day. When the plants are all allowed to grow after the 

 cutting season is over the strong plants assert themselves, 

 overshadow the weaker ones and set the buds for next year's 

 crop. This gives a larger percentage of strong buds every 

 year. 5. 



Andromeda floribunda is now in good bloom. While it suc- 

 ceeds well in moist ground and on the north side of a wooded 

 belt, it seems to dislike any open, sunny exposure or dry 

 groiuid. A. yaponica is far more accommodating, but as it 

 liowers so earlv, it is of little use in the North as a flowering 

 shrub. 



Pansies. — If these are to be kept in good bloom for a long- 

 time, they should be watered copiously and kept moderately 

 thin by pulling out the poorest plants. After the middle of 

 May a lath shading placed over, but a few feet above the beds, 

 will help them considerably. The Bugnot, Cassier "nd Im- 

 proved Trimardeau strains are as fine as any. W. F. 



Effect of the Winter on Evergreens. 



T^HE past winter was not unusually severe. During the 

 -'- summer we had abundant rain, and the ground was well 

 soaked before frost set in ; trees and shrubs made capital 

 growth and the wood ripened up well. There was fine open 

 working weather till the middle of December, and about the 

 end of the month some rough cold weather. January began 

 with wind and rain, but after New Year's, -and till the 

 middle of the month, tliere was fine, but somewhat cool weather; 

 on the i6th there were 19'' of frost, and from that time till the 

 end of March we have had the most trying weather — cold, wet, 

 stormy, changeable, icy — that I have any record of or remem- 

 ber. But while we had zero weather two or three nights, only 

 once did the temperature fall as low as 3^ below zero. Atsome 

 one time during each of the four preceding winters the tem- 

 perature has fallen to 6° below zero, but never for more than 

 one night at a time, and usually only once, never more than 

 twice the same season. But our trees suffer a good deal from 

 ice storms. There is often a drizzling rain, and 6° to 10° 

 of frost at the same time ; this coats the trees completely with 

 ice, and the branches break under the load. If a bright or 

 warm day succeeds this icing, trees escape pretty well, but 

 should it freeze harder, and a brisk north-west wind set in, a good 

 deal of damage is done by the branches lashing against each 

 other and breaking. Every succeeding- year it becomes n-iore 

 and more apparent that in order to have the many beautiful 

 trees and shrubs that will thrive in our clin-iate, in perfection, 

 we must afford them shelter. Wherever the trees have been 

 well sheltered, there all that we would expect to be hardy have 

 wintered well, but wherever there is insufficient shelter, 

 there even hardv trees have suffered. It is not the intensity 

 of the cold so niuch as the biting winds that injure trees and 

 shrubs 



Pinus niitis has a yellow, unhapjw look, but otherwise 



