May 30, 1S88.] 



Garden and Forest. 



161 



Tulip and Hyacinth bulbs should be planted in October, and 

 not left in the ground later than June, otherwise the rain and 

 heat will rot them. Sweet Peas tlirive best in large tubs, the 

 seeds sown in September for spring flowering. The seeds 

 of Canterbury Bells sown in the spring make a few leaves 

 during the first summer; afterwards they may be transplanted 

 in the autumn, and the following spring they are in perfection. 



Mignonette does better in pots, although it will flower for a 

 short time in the open before the damp heat comes. 



The glaring red Salvia is well suited to endure the summer 

 heat. This, planted out in the spring, comes to its greatest 

 beauty in October, notwithstanding it had been in flower 

 throughout the summer. 



Each year new flowers are to be found in the dilTerent gar- 

 dens ; but the great question is, what will best stand the mid- 

 summer heat on this alluvial plain ? 



My experience shows that different varieties of Japanese 

 Lilies are more satisfactory, and are grown with less 

 trouble than other flowers during the damp heat of June, 

 July, August and September, giving a succession of flowers 

 during these months. <y r- a 



Shanghai, February, 1SS8. /• -C-- ■^• 



New or little Known Plants. 

 Heliconia Choconiana.^- 



IN discussing a proposed trip to Guatemala in the spring 

 of 1885 I was told of wild Bananas and wild Pine- 

 apples as growing in the forests of that region, and I was 

 curious to learn what they might in reality be. The true 

 Pineapple is indeed found there growing by the roadsides 

 and in fence-corners, where the discarded crowns of de- 

 voured pines have taken root, and do their poor best to 

 bear fruit again. But the so-called wild Pineapple I 

 found to be the Bromelia Pinguin, which is planted for 

 hedges and bears an edible berry. The " Bananas " were 

 all species of Heliconia, of which I saw a considerable 

 number growing on river banks, and in other damp places. 

 Some were chiefly notable for their conspicuous inflores- 

 cence, formed of large brightly-colored bracts in close 

 double ranks and enclosing the clustered flowers. Others 

 were taller, with very large leaves and a decidedly 

 Banana-like habit, but their resemblance to the Banana 

 goes no farther and the fruit is never eatable. 



Several of these were common on the banks of the Cho- 

 con River, but that which pleased me most was one with 

 numerous smaller, bright green, and glossy leaves, which 

 I discovered in a deluge of rain, and of which I afterwards 

 secured the roots. This has recently bloomed in Cam- 

 bridge, and appears to be a previously unknown species. 

 The top of a stem and a single leaf of the natural size are 

 here figured. (See page 162.) The clustered stems grow 

 to a height of three or four feet, and are covered with the 

 sheathing petioles of the apparently sessile leaves. The 

 inflorescence is nearly sessile at the summit, declined, and 

 consists of about half a dozen large, scarlet bracts, each 

 enclosing a fascicle of long, pale yellow flowers. The 

 segments of the triangular perianth are mostly coherent, 

 only one of the sepals separating sufficiently to set free the 

 anthers and the style. The fruit is about the size of a pea, 

 roundish and truncate, three-celled and three-seeded, but 

 indehiscent. .S. W. 



Cultural Department. 



A List of Roses. 



"pOR those who care to cultivate but a few Roses and are not 

 -'- familiar with the many varieties now offered, the list below 

 is given as embracing the best of the several types in com- 

 merce to-day. Of course there are many more varieties of 

 almost equal merit which could be added to this list, but the 

 difference between many of them is so slight that only an ex- 



* Heliconia Choconiana, Watson, Proc. Am. Acad., xxiii. 284. Glabrous through- 

 out, the stems sheathed with numerous leaves : blades of the leaves sessile on llie 

 sheaths, narrowly oblong-lanceolate, six to ten inches long by two wide, acu- 

 minate, shining; inflorescence deflexed, shortlv pedunculate: spathes scarlet, 

 lanceolate, two inches long, the lower empty and leaf y tipped ; flowers yellowish, 

 equalling the spathes. the lower sepal tree, the lateral connate with the petals ; 

 sterile stamen short, ovate, abruptly acuminate. 



pert could distinguish them when blooming together. Those 

 enumerated below are all distinct representative Roses. All 

 are fragrant and all are more or less continuous bloomers, for 

 while among those classified here as hardy the Hybrid Per- 

 petuals are not strictly speaking continuous bloomers, yet 

 with liberal treatment, as described in the last issue, they will 

 reward the owner with some fine flowers at intervals all sum- 

 mer. Those described as tender — including types of Tea, 

 China and Bourbon Roses — will, if carefully attended to, give 

 flowers the whole summer from June till late October in the 

 latitude of New York, and in all sections south of that line. 

 In more northern parts of the country the season is somewhat 

 shorter. 



Do not be induced to try small plants if you want them to 

 bloom in the open air the first season. For this purpose only 

 good fair-sized plants can be depended upon. Many lovers of • 

 Roses have been discouraged because this precaution was 

 neglected. It is a waste of money to buy cheap, small plants. 

 By the time such plants have fairly started to grow October, and 

 frosty weather overtake them, and a very few flowers of poor 

 quality is the only reward for a summer's work and waiting. 

 Procure strong plants and on their own roots if possible. Budded 

 plants often throw up suckers from below, and the inex- 

 perienced are in many cases not able to detect the difference 

 between the two until the finer kind is weakened and ruined 

 by the more robust growth from the stcjck. 



The following are hardy : 



White. — Coquette des Blanches, Columbia (new). 



Pale Shaded Pink. — La France, Madlle. Eugene Verdier, 

 Queen of Queens. 

 ~ Clear Pink. — Madame Gabriel Luizet, Mrs. John Laing. 



Rose Color. — Anna de Diesbach, John Hopper. * 



Bright Red. — General Jacqueminot, Ulrich Brunner. 



Deep Velvety Red. — La Roserie, Jean Liabaud. 



Of tender varieties, the following stand our trying summers 

 remarkably well and give as much satisfaction as any I have 

 tried. 



White or Flesh Color. — Madame Joseph Schwartz, Marie 

 GuiUot, Malmaison. 



Yellow. — Coquette de Lvon, Etoile de Lyon. 



Pink, of Various Shades.— Marquis de Vivens, Grace 

 Darling, Edmund de Biazant, Duchess de Brabant (improved). 



Red of Different Shades. —Meteor, Queen of Bedders, 

 Queen's Scarlet or Aggripina, PierreGuillot. •,' nj 



Summit. N.J. /<'/;« l\ . May. 



Polyanthuses. 



T 



HESE are variously colored florist's flowers that bloom in 

 loose umbelled heads, and with flowers of all shades of 

 white, yellow, rose, purple, maroon and crimson. While 

 they can be grown successfully as hardy border-plants by 

 protecting them with a light covering of evergreen branches 

 or forest leaves in winter, it is only' when treated in winter 

 as cold-frame plants that they can be reasonably expected to 

 flower in profusion and perfection from March till the end 

 of May. They are useful as cut flowers in the same way as 

 Pansies or Forget-me-nots, and they always appear more 

 attractive when their own leaves are used as the green accom- 

 panying them. 



They are true perennials, and in order to perpetuate special 

 varieties we must treat them as perennials and increase them 

 by division. A common way of treating them is to lift, divide 

 and replant in some cool, moist spot out-of-doors as soon as 

 they have done blooming, leaving them there till next fall, 

 when they can again be fitted and replanted in cold-frames. 

 But this is bad practice in one particular. I always have had 

 the best success with Polyanthuses when divided in fall, and 

 not in early summer. 



Still, we now get such splendid varieties from seed, and so 

 easily, except in the case of uncommonly choice sorts, that it is 

 hardly worth while to bother with them as perennials, anditia 

 better to treat them as annuals. Seeds sown now, or any time 

 before August, should give capital plants for blooming next 



There are two disdnct kinds of Polyanthuses— namely, the 

 gold-laced, and the large-flowered, showy varieties. The gold- 

 laced are beautiful flowers, with dark, velvety brown, maroon 

 or crimson blossoms, whose petals are richly bordered with a 

 distinct golden edging. The large-flowered varieties are the 

 most robust, profuse, showy and useful, and include all the 

 shades of white, yellow, rose-purple and crimson found in the 

 race, and from a packet of choicest mixed seed we may get 

 some of each sort. But as mixed seed does not give the best 

 quality of flowers, it is better to buy the colors separately, say 



