i6o 



Garden and Forest. 



[May 30, 188&. 



O. Rossii, and was considered worthy of a certificate, inas- 

 much as it is pretty and distinct iVdni oilier varieties. It 

 does not differ much iii growth from the typical U. Rossii, 

 but the form of the flowers and their color is different, the 

 lateral sepals being a pale lemon yellow, with reddish 

 brown blotches at the base, the other sepals coffee- 

 brown, the lip pale yellow, crest yellow, and column 

 purple It is a good deal like one called O. aspersiuii, 

 and, in fact, may prove identical with it. Though not 

 a new Orchid, Angrcecum arciiatuDi received a certificate, 

 apparently because of its rarity. It cannot be called a 

 first-rate Orchid, many species of Angrixcum being much 

 more showy. Its flowers are white, borne in short spikes 

 and sweetly scented. It is quite a specialist's plant, and 

 certainly did not merit a certificate in comparison with 

 the others shown. The greatest novelty among Cat- 

 tleyas that has been seen this year is a form of C. Triance 

 named Cou/iaiihluuia. It is a good deal in the way of 

 Backhouse's variety, but more remarkable. The flowers 

 are above the average size and of good form. The sepals 

 and petals are pale pink, heavily barred with the richest 

 carmine crimson down the centre of each petal; but the 

 bars are made up of freckles and spots, and not of one 

 heavy dash, as in Backhouse's variety. The lip, loo, is 

 very rich in color, so that altogether it is a remarkably 

 showy Orchid. It cropped up out of an importation and 

 was first exhibited by ]\'Ir. Courtauld (an Orchid grower in 

 Esse.x) at the great international show at Ghent. Orchid 

 novelties just now are not as plentiful as they have been. 

 The chief demand is for new Cypripediums and every nurs- 

 eryman is searching for them. I lately saw a handsome 

 new hybrid in Sanders' nursery named C. Lemoinierii, which 

 may be best described as bearing resemblance to C. ca- 

 liiniin, also a hybrid of the Sedeni iy^e. But C. Lemoinierii 

 is a much finer plant, more vigorous in growth, with 

 larger flowers and more richly colored, the tints being of 

 a bright reddish pink. This, too, was exhibited in Ghent, 

 and was the admiration of the Continental Orchidists, who 

 are also infected with the Cypripedium mania. 



London, April 22d. Wm. Goldfing. 



A Garden in Shanghai. 



T N tliis place it is an easy task to transform a flat, dreary- 

 •*■ looking piece of ground into a flourishing garden filled 

 with a great variety o"f flowering shrubs. The country for 

 miles around has l)een made by the silting up of the Yangtzse 

 River. Aliout tliree hundred years ago the sea washed against 

 the walled city of Quinsan, which is now thirty miles inlandfrom 

 here, rising from Ihe plain like a miniature mountain, topped 

 by its picturesque pagoda and left far away from any intercourse 

 with foreign civilization. The alluvial plain for one hundred 

 and fifty miles about Shanghai formed from the sittings from 

 the Yangtzse River gives strong nourishment to all shrubs and 

 other plants; the dampness and great heat act as a forcing- 

 house, and they grow as if by magic. 



Before beginning to plant a garden the land must be raised 

 several feet Ijy making artificial ponds, the excavated earth serv- 

 ing as an excellent fertilizer, and around the ponds there is room 

 for landscape gardeningin miniature. At a short distance out in 

 the country good grass soils (of a species of Poa) are found, and 

 these, well laid in November, will give a beautiful lawn the follow- 

 ing summer, if rolled and cut once a week, always leaving the 

 cuttings, which serve the two-fold purpose of protecting the 

 roots from the sun and of enriching the ground. Specialcare 

 must be taken to keep out the BambiSo Grass and Clover, 

 both of which grow rapidly and soon kill out the grass ; but 

 the expense of doing this is moderate, as small coolies are to 

 be had for fifty or one hundred cash a day, the equivalent of 

 five or ten cents. 



The approach to our garden is through a pretty lane 

 bordered on either side hy Ligus/riim hicidum, real Privet, 

 which makes with its deep green leaves a good hedge, if con- 

 stantly clipped, 'otherwise it grows into small trees from fifteen 

 to eighteen feet high, which when in flower fill the air with a 

 heavy, sickening odor. The entrance is through an archway 

 made by two old Willows, whose lopped branches serve as a 

 trellis-work about which a Wistaria winds itself with a 

 pytlion-like embrace, and every spring sheds a lilac-colored 

 veil over these skeleton trees. Such is the profusion 



of theflowers, that in time the weight of the creeper will break 

 down the tree. 



Near by are Locusts from seeds sent more than twenty 

 years ago from the United States. They have flourished well. 

 In spring the trees are bent with the graceful clusters of white 

 flowers. 



Stiff Yuccas growing in clusters from the same stem ; fan- 

 shaped Palms ( Cliamarops huiiiilis); Bananas, not strong- 

 enough to bear the hard frosts without a straw covering; Can- 

 nas, which make themselves comfortably warm underground 

 and spring up fresh every year — all these, with a background 

 of Pittosporum Tobira and Ilex cornuta or Chinese Holly, 

 with its horn-shaped leaves, give a variety of green coloring 

 most restful to the eye during the blazing heat of summer. 



Tlie so-called Rose of Sharon [Hypericum caiyci?iitin) grows 

 in profusion, covered with golden blossoms, and close at hand 

 are several varieties of Gardenia, loading the air with strong 

 perfume from their pure white flowers. English Ivy, 

 Japanese Honeysuckle, Clematis (commonly called Passion- 

 flower), Bigiioiiia Si/w/isis, and several Roses, among them the 

 Banksia, introduced into England from China many years ago, 

 the Gloire de Dijon and Yellow Tea, are among the hardy 

 creepers, but the lovely Moon-plant, a kind of exaggerated 

 Convolvulus,withitsperfect white disk-shaped flowers, droops at 

 the earliest frost. Its seeds must be sown in March, and the 

 seedlings kept under glass until June, for it belongs to the 

 tropics. On first flowering, the long, spiral buds unfold as the 

 sun goes down, closing before sun-rise and ending their 

 ephemera! existence ; later on, as the days become shorter and 

 cooler, the tlowcrs keep open during the morning. 



Skirting the lawn ;ire fine Fir trees, and the Cypress, always 

 graceful, whether in the russet coloring of winter or when the 

 soit spring air is calling forth its young, light green tips. The 

 Tallow tree {S/i/li/igia sebifera) colors its heart-shaped leaves 

 \\'ith bright tints in autumn, and these, with the golden tones 

 of the Saiisbiiria adiantifolia, or Ginkgo tree, give a slight 

 suggestion of New England October scenery. However, this 

 home-dream vanishes as the eye falls on a cluster of feathery 

 Bamboos, on the Fragrant Olive the Kwei-hua of the Chinese, 

 and on the Eriobotrya yaponica or Loquat, with wool-covered 

 flowers, made lovely only when the branches are bending with 

 clusters of yellow fruit. These shrubs are over-topped by the 

 Melia Azedarach, a good-sized tree, commonly called the 

 Pride of India, which has fine heliotrope-colored blossoms in 

 clusters. Below this is the Alagnolia grandijiora. Much more 

 stately and far prouder it looks with its glossy dark leaves 

 and rich, large, creamy flowers. 



On one side of the pond is a tangled copse filled with Privet 

 {Nandina doniestica), Rose of Sharon, Pittosporum, Palms and 

 Bamboos, of which last there are sixty-three chief varieties in 

 China. They are more valuable to her than her mines, and 

 yield, next to rice and silk, the largest revenue. 



There is no month in the year when some shrub may not be 

 found in flower ; for, although the range of the thermometer 

 is great, reaching the high nineties in July and August, and 

 falling to twenty-two and lower, often giving twelve degrees 

 of frost, Fahrenheit, for several days at a time, still the cold is 

 soon tempered by the force of the sun, which has been known 

 to produce sunstroke in February ; a rare occurrence, how- 

 ever. During the early winter months, large feathery branches 

 of the Heavenly Bamboo, -with brilliant bunches of scarlet ber- 

 ries drooping from the slender stems, are hawked about the 

 streets. "These are followed by Cherry and Almond blossoms. 

 The Edgeworthia or Yellow Daphne decks its stifl', bare, brown 

 stalks with soft yellow flowers before the frost has gone, and 

 as the spring comes forward the 3lagnoiias burst into bloom. 



Pliotina serrulata, with its young red leaf-buds unfolding 

 from amid the old, dark, evergreen leaves, gives theefiect, at a 

 distance, of a flowering shrub. Daphne odora, lirought here 

 from the hills at Ningpo many miles to the south, flourishes 

 well, but must be protected from the scorching summer sun, 

 as well as from the strong north-west winds. This is easily 

 done by planting it on a bank which faces east and amid taller 

 shruljs and trees. The flowers of the Peach, of the great 

 Magnolia, of Althoea, and of the Albizzia, with fluffy pink blos- 

 soms, follow in quick succession ; and before these have 

 faded Gardenias and the Fragrant Olive are in bloom. After 

 ■which winter is approaching, and again the Nandina doinestica 

 is to be seen. 



Tulips, Hyacinths, Sweet Peas, Mignonette, Pansies, Salvias, 

 Hollvhocks, Sunflowers, Zinnias, Canterbury Bells, Nastur- 

 tium's, Phlox — in fact, all garden flowers from the United 

 States and Europe — have been introduced ; many, however, 

 must be treated in rather a reverse method from that usually 

 employed on the other side of the planet. 



