220 



Garden and Forest. 



[July 4, iS 



blossom being so much like that of the Orange, though it 

 lacks the perfume. It is not thoroughly hardy, but as a 

 wall shrub is excellent, the more so because evergreen. 



The Snowdrop tree {Halesia tetraplcra) flowers timidly at 

 Kew, but this is, I think, because the dry, sandy soil does 

 not suit it. I imagine it would do better planted near the 

 edge of a lake or stream in the same position as one would 

 plant a Catalpa or Deciduous Cypress. It is extremely 

 pretty in bloom, the name Snowdrop tree being most ap- 

 propriate. One of the Viburnums ( V. prunifoHiuii), called, 

 I think. Black Haw by Gray, is a showy shrub at Kew, 

 the large, while flower-clusters being like that of Laures- 

 tinus. I consider it a good ornamental shrub. The Amer- 

 ican Judas tree (Cercis Cniadciisis) is poor compared 

 with the European Judas tree (C. Siligtias/rtan), so that I 

 will not attempt to extol its merits. C. Chhiensis is also 

 flowering side by side with the other two, but it is like- 

 wise inferior. The common Judas tree is one of the 

 prettiest spring flowering trees we have, being now literally 

 smothered with brisk bloom. Other American trees that 

 help to make our lawns and shrubberies beautiful now are 

 the Red Buckeye {^'Escidus rnbicunda), the Amelanchier, 

 some of the Thorns {Cra/iTgiis), Magnolia acuminala and 

 M. Fiaseri, the latter being scarcely inferior to the noble 

 l\t. grandiflora of the southern States. The glorious race 

 of Hybrid Azaleas and Rhododendrons are scarcely at 

 their best, being fully three weeks behind their usual date 

 of flowering this year. W. Goldring. 



London, June ist- 



The New York Flower Mission. 



'T^HE eighteen years' work of the Flower Mission has denion- 

 ■•■ strafed to those interested the usefulness of flowers 

 among the sick, poor and degraded. 



The New York Flower Mission was established three months 

 after the one in Boston, which was founded by members 

 of the congregation of Rev. Mr. Hays, in 1870. A Flower 

 Mission in San Francisco, California, has been in operation 

 several years, organized on plans sent from the New York 

 Mission. Americans living in Japan, who were interested 

 in the work here, have one in successful operation there. 

 And now children of the Tokio Flower Mission, the children 

 of high-class Japanese officials, in company with tlieir little 

 American and European cousins, go out to distribute among 

 hospital patients the flowers that have a healing influence. 



The mission was originally established to distribute flowers 

 among the hospitals, but soon there were requests for nose- 

 gays from the Homes for the Aged, the Insane Asyhuns and 

 from the sick and poor in tenements. And now nurses, bible- 

 readers and all sorts of missionaries call at the Mission rooms 

 for a basket of bouquets to give out at the dispensaries, or to 

 carry to those in distress. 



Flowers come m from all directions within a radius of a 

 hundred miles of the city. They come from private gardens, 

 from Sabbath-school societies, from guilds, and King'sDaugh- 

 ters. They are carefully assorted and packed, and are 

 Tirought free of cost by express companies. The room of the 

 Mission is furnished by All Souls' Church, and the total ex- 

 penses last season of the New York flower mission from May 

 until November was but $30. 



The distribution of flowers takes place on Mondays and 

 Thursdays, when the flower girls are anxiously awaited at the 

 institutions and places where they are expected. There is an 

 endeavor made to please the fancies of those in conflne- 

 ment by selecting for them flowers for which they have a pre- 

 ference. The blind choose the blossoms that are strongly per- 

 fumed, such as Lilacs, Tuberoses and Honeysuckles. Colored 

 people prefer the gaudiest flowers, while children beg for 

 wild flowers, fruit blossoms, Field Daisies and Sweet Clover. 



Germans make requests for Geraniums, which they propa- 

 gate ; Peonies, Tradescantias and Ivy ; strawberry boxes filled 

 with growing Ferns give great delight to persons of this na- 

 tionality, as do Pfingster blossoms. The French ask for 

 Violets, Pansies and Mignonette. 



Men have their share of the flowers taken to hospital pa- 

 tients. They are received by them with the same eager- 

 ness shown by women. Flowers are particularly requested 

 when important operations are to take place, as they are 

 known to give fortitude and hope. Their influence upon 

 the insane has been so soothing, that the keepers of the 



mad-house on Blackwell's Island made especial request last 

 season that their annex for the raving patients should receive 

 flowers as often as possible. Insane men were formerly neg- 

 lected, but this year a particular request has been made that 

 flowers lie sent to them as well as to the women. 



It has in many instances been shown, when slips and plants 

 have been given to the poor in tenements, that they have 

 awakened an interest and given healthful occupation to some 

 intemperate member of the family, who has in this way been 

 diverted from drink, and it appears that the love for flowers is 

 a strong remedial force when mind or body is weakened or 

 diseased. 



The ofticers of the mission propose to extend their work 

 through the winter season if they can enlist the aid of florists, 

 to supply them with growing plants during the time when 

 the cut flower distribution would be impracticable. They 

 would give out cuttings and small plants from depots establish- 

 ed in localities where the poorest people live. They would give 

 printed instructions how to treat the plants and offer a prize 

 for the best results with these plants in the spring. The 

 wholesome effect of plant-culture, it is hoped, might work a 

 beneficent influence in the homes of the vicious. It is pro- 

 posed to give an exhibition for the licnefit of the mission of 

 the plants presented by it and grown in humble homes. In 

 time this project will undoubtedly be carried out. 



It has l)een observed that the poor Germans who beg for the 

 " Flowers of the Fatherland," to grow in their windows, as 

 reminders of home, show the most interest in their cultivation, 

 and are tlie most successful growers. In tlie German hospital, 

 flie sick have dried their flower liunches and made paper bags 

 to preserve them in. Those who are hopelessly ill have asked 

 that their flowers be buried with them. In the day nurseries, 

 the little toddlers forsake their toys for a flower, and betray 

 extreme delight when one is given to them. It is said that 

 flowers are better than monitors to keep the children in good 

 order. F. A. Benson. 



Plant Notes. 



Notes Upon Lilacs. 



LILACS, especially many of the garden varieties of 

 Syringa vulgaris, are met with where\"er hardy 

 shrubs are cultivated ; but there are several species of the 

 genus, which, although possessing ornamental qualities of 

 the highest order, are rarely seen in gardens. It is pro- 

 posed to figure from time to time a number of these in 

 these columns when proper material can be obtained for 

 the purpose, in order that they may become better known 

 and their beauty appreciated. 



The genus S_yri?iga is composed of about a dozen spe- 

 cies of shrubs or shrub-like trees distributed from south- 

 vi'estern Europe through central Asia and the Himalayas 

 to Mongolia, northern China and Japan. They have op- 

 posite entire or rarely pinnately-divided, smooth or 

 slightly pubescent, deciduous, or in one species persistent 

 leaves, a terminal thyrsus of small, generally fragrant, 

 lilac or white, regular, monopetalous flowers, with a cam- 

 panulate, irregularly dentate calyx; a corolla, with a longer 

 short cylindrical tube and a four-lobedlimb, revolute in the 

 bud ; two stamens inserted below the mouth of the tube, 

 with short included, or subulate exserted, nearly extrorse 

 anthers ; an included style, with a slightly or deeply cleft 

 stigma ; a two-celled ovary, with two minute suspended 

 ovules in each cell, a subterete oblong capsule flattened 

 contrary to the narrow partition, two-vah'ed, the valves 

 almost conduplicate ; and pendulous compressed seeds, 

 with slightly v^-inged margins, a thick membranaceous coat, 

 fleshy albumen and flat cotyledons. 



The species may be grouped as follows : 



§ ElISYRINGA. 



Tube of the corolla long; Jlowers purple. 

 * Leaves green on both sides. 

 I. S. vulgaris, L. Leaves smooth, long-petioled, cordate 

 or ovate-cordate, contracted into a slender point ; inflor- 

 escence often in pairs from the ends of the branches ; calyx 

 irregularly four-tubed, glandular puberulous; limb of the 

 corolla concave, the lobes cymbiform ; anthers included ; 

 fruit smooth, ovate. 



