294 



Garden and Forest. 



[August 15, 1888. 



and Germany, where they are raised in lai-.sje quantities easily 

 and cheaply. A mistake often made is importing- too late in 

 the season. They should not be sliipped later than tlie ist of 

 November, or the flower stems push in transit, which is most 

 unrlesirable. On arrival, the crowns, with leaves yet on, 

 should be boxed and stored in frames and slightly shaded 

 until the ist of December, when they may be taken indoors 

 and kept under benches free from drip until the flowering 

 stems appear, when they may be exposed to full sunlight. 

 A night temperature of over thirty-two degrees, Fahrenheit, 

 is sufficient, with plenty of air during day-time. Thus treated 

 the flowers wih come clean, and with that natural and charm- 

 ing pink tinge which is so desirable. 



Christmas Roses may also be planted in frames slightly 

 covered with leaves, and kept from freezing by an abundance 

 of outside packing, in addition to mats and shutters. But in 

 this way ■there is difficulty in giving light and ventilation. 

 Sometimes light and air cannot be admitted for days together. 

 And the flowers do not come so fine, so abumlantly, nor in 

 such good condition, being often spotted. A pit with a false 

 bottom and having a single pipe l)eneath would, I think, an- 

 swer the purpose for forcing well. Treated as ordinary hardy 

 subjects, having only the protection of a few leaves, Christ- 

 mas Roses never bloom until spring here, and then very 

 poorly. 



Lychnis. — This genus is widely distributed throughout the 

 northern hemisphere, and includes some of the oldest culti- 

 vated plants ; all are of easy culture. Lychnis alpina is a dwarf, 

 neat and pretty plant for the rock-garden, forming cushions 

 about six inches high, surmounted by corvml>s of rosv flowers. 

 Although naturally perennial, it is little better than an annual 

 liere, usually dying after having ripened its seeds. Seedlings, 

 self-sown, flower the following year. L. Chalcedoiiica is a fine 

 border plant. It will hold its own almost anywhere. Seed- 

 lings bloom well the first year, antl during the course of two or 

 three years form large clumps. This is one of the few scarlet- 

 flowering, hardy p>lants, and on that account is an attractive 

 and prominent oljject wherever planted, when in tiloom. L. 

 coronaria is a very free, prettv, pink-flowered, border biennial. 

 It is rather straggling in h.-ihit, but has handsome, grayish- 

 white foliage, and remains in bloom a long time. It sows it- 

 self freely. L. diurna (Bachelor's Button) is a common 

 plant, growing wild in Europe everywhere. The double form 

 oifly is worth cultivating. It is propagated by division. L. 

 Flos-ciiculi (Cuckoo Flower, Ragged Robin) is a well known 

 plant, growing wild in moist meadows throughout the north- 

 ern hemisphere of the old world. The double form is an ex- 

 cellent border plant. L. fulgens, v. Haagc'ana,.\s, a very hand- 

 some plant for either border, rock-garden or for bedding. The 

 flowers are v>'heel-shaped, often two inches across, in color 

 varying from scarlet to wliite and purple. If the seed-pods or 

 capsules are kept picked off it will bloom all summer. Seeds 

 sown now, or later, and tlie plants taken into the gi^een-house 

 in fall, and kept pinched for a wliile, \vill make bushy plants 

 and bloom well during the winter. L. vi'spcrtina is a com- 

 mon wild plant in Europe and Asia. The ilouble form only is 

 worth growing, and a very desirable plant it is. This variety 

 does not admit of division, forming but a single root-stock, and 

 must be propagated by cuttings, a slow and tedious process in 

 this case, as the pipings are hollow. It is only young shoots, 

 taken from the main stem in spring, which will grow. This 

 plant is a continuous bloomer. It is in flower now, and will 

 remain until frost, and if taken up carefully and housed would 

 bloom most of the winter. The double flowers are the piu'est 

 white and night scented. They are largely used for bouquet 

 work in England. It grows eighteen inches high. 



f. D. Hatfield. 



Ripen the Wood, — Professor Johnson, in "How Crops Grow," 

 lays down . the fimdamental principle that "the amount 

 of food assimilated is not related to any special times or peri- 

 ods of development, but depends upon the stores of food ac- 

 cessible to the plant, and the fax'orableness of the weather to 

 growth." The farmer, and more particularly the tree planter, 

 can control the conditions favorable to growth in large meas- 

 ure, and he should so manage his cultivation of trees as to 

 encourage early growth, leaving a long season for the matur- 

 ing of the year's wood. Throughout the west, as a rule, the 

 early spring is marked by frequent rains, followed in early 

 summer by comparatively dry weather. Constant cultivation, 

 however, will keep the soil moist and in fine condition for 

 growth during- the month of June and well into July. The 

 habit of measm-ing cultivation by the nuniber of plowings 

 given is a bad one. Cultivation is only thorougli when it 



keeps the soil immediately below the surface moist, wfiether 

 two or a dozen plowings are necessary. 



During this season of rapid development the tree is assimi- 

 lating more food than is needed for immediate use. After 

 culture has ceased, a portion of the extra food thus prepared 

 will be used in maturing the delicate shoots — the cell walls of 

 such parts will be thickened and strengthened, or, in common 

 parlance, the wood will becon-ie well ripened. The greater 

 part of the surplus food will be stored in the young growth, 

 ready for the use of the Ijuds when they begin to develop in 

 spring. 



It is a prime necessity that the tree's store-houses be secure 

 — that the new wood be well ripened. Late cultivation pro- 

 longs the period of growth, and hence retards the maturation 

 of the shoots produced. If growth be too much prolonged 

 tlie tree has no opportunity to n-iature the young wood, and 

 winter killing is the resiflt. Throughout- the north-west cultiva- 

 tion of orchards and young forest plantations should cease by 

 the middle of July, or the first of August at the latest. 



Kalcota Agricultural College, Broolcings, July 25tli. CliaS. A. Keffer. 



Orchids in Bloom. — Angrcccnm Scottiamim is a comparatively 

 new species, dift'ering froni the other members of the gennsin 

 possessing narrow, terete leaves and stem. The slender pe- 

 duncles spring from the axils of the leaves, and bear two to 

 three pure white flowers. The spur is vellowish and four to 

 five inches long. This plant does well with us in the Phala'- 

 nopsis-house in a fiasket of moss, being liberally supplied with 

 water all the year. It is- very free flowering, and lasts a long 

 tinie in perfection. 



Cypripedium Stonci is a superb and very distinct species, and 

 was imtil recently somewhat scarce, but is now quite plentiful, 

 and n-iany fine specimens may be seen. The flower scapes are 

 often two to three feet long, and bear three to four very hand- 

 some flowers. It not only should be in every collection, but 

 would be found very useful to the florist for cut flower pur- 

 poses. There are two or three good forms of this species, but 

 the choicest is the very rare variety, p/a/ytisiiiiiin. This we 

 have never yet succeeded in bringing to bloon-i, but we find 

 the plants grow best in a coii-ipost consisting of equal parts of 

 loam, peat and n-ioss, and being native of the warmest parts 

 of ISorneo, they should have strong heat, with plenty of water, 

 and should not be overshaded. 



Oncidiitni Papilio ?najics. — This variety is a vast improvement 

 on the type both in color and in size of flower. The narrow 

 upper segments on some now in blooni are- fully four and a 

 half inches long. The yellow lip is two and a half inches wide, 

 with a very broad, orange-red band. It is a native of Trinidad, 

 and grows equally well with us in both the cool and warm 

 house on blocks of wood. The oUl flower spikes will continue 

 to produce flowers for many years. 



Kenwood, N. V. 



F. Goldrhi'- 



Surface Tillage. — At no season of the year is cultivation be- 

 tween the ro^vs of growing crops more important than during 

 the driest and hottest of summer weather. The chief reason 

 for stirring the surface now is that this operation preserves 

 the supplv of soil-water for use by the rapidly growing crops. 

 Incidentally the weeds are killed, and one great injury in- 

 flicted by weeds themselves is robbing the crops of the water 

 they need. Deep cultivation is harmful now, not only because 

 the ground is full of roots which would be mangled by the 

 plow, but because it throws up the moist soil fron-i below, 

 and exposes it to the influence of sun and drying winds. But 

 many experinients have proved that a shallow stirring of the 

 surface tends to jjrcvent evaporation from the soil. Evapora- 

 tion talces place at the surface, and it goes on n-iore rapidly in 

 compact ground, because, as is supposed, of the continuous 

 capillary connection between the surface and the deep soil- 

 water, which is constantly rising. A shallow hoeing of the 

 surface breaks the continuity of this capillary system and cov- 

 ers the oi:>en mouths of the tubes with loose earth, which acts 

 as a mulch and prevents the escape of the water into the air. 

 Whether this generally accepted theory is true or not, it is 

 certain that the experience of every farmer and gardener has 

 proved that surface tillage is a great help to crops in time of 

 drought. In our climate crops could utilize much more water 

 than the average supply during- the growing season, and it is 

 of prime importance to see that all waste is prevented. .5". 



Celery of anv kind, whether self-blanching or not, is much 

 mi;)re crisp and tender if banked with earth. A good way of 

 preventing the e.arth from sifting ii-i aniong the stalks, is to 

 wra]> each i)lant in a strip of butcher's paper, say from eight 



