336 



Garden and Forest. 



[September 5, 1888. 



flowers of a Viljurnum, but with digitally compound leaves, 

 for which a new genus, Actinotinus, is proposed (Hook, Ic. 

 pi. .wiii, /, 1740). No less than si.x new species of Lonicera 

 are described, of which one at least, L. fuchsioides [t. 9), 

 recalling in general aspect some of the Andean species of 

 Fuchsia, should prove a real addition to garden shrubs. 



There are interesting additions, too, to RubiacecE and 

 Valerianacece, although proportionately less numerous than 

 those already mentioned, and of much less horticultural in- 

 terest. The publication of this catalogue cannot fail to stimu- 

 late the study of botany and the collection of plants by 

 European and American residents in China, where, with the 

 single exception of central Africa, there is now certainly more 

 to learn about plants than in any other part of the world. 



Notes. 



Petunias and Drummond's Phlo.x are 

 ding at New England sea-side resorts, 

 seem to flourish in the salt air. 



used largely in bed- 

 Both of tliese plants 



M. 



Naudin fuids that Eucalyptus coccifera, E. anigcra and 

 E. cordata are the hardiest of the great collection of Euca- 

 Ivptus tested by him in the gardens of the Villa Thuret. 



It is said that Mr. Gladstone owns a large tract of land on 

 the Canada shore, commanding a Hue view of Niagara Falls, 

 which he refused to sell wlien the Canadian Reservation was 

 formed. 



It is stated in Nature that one of the largest Pine trees (P. syl- 

 vestris) ever grown in Sweden has recently been cut. It meas- 

 ured over 120 feet in heiglit, and was 13.5 feet in diameter two 

 feet from the ground. 



The fact that tlie (fried fruit product of California has in- 

 creased from 5,070,000 pounds in 1S83 to 26,605,000 pounds in 

 1887, gives some idea of the marvelous de\-elopment ot the 

 fruit-growing industry of the State. 



The Wisconsin .State Horticultural Society offers liberal 

 premiums for seedling Apples which will endure the trying 

 climate of that region, and energetic search for chance seed- 

 lings that may be hardy is being made, with efforts t(j learn 

 their history. 



Hieraceiuii auyantiacum, the European species, which has 

 proved a troublesome weed to farmers in some parts of this 

 State, especially in the neighborhood of Albany, has now 

 appeared in Marion, on the shores of Buzzard's Bav, in 



Massachusetts. 



A correspondent, writing to an English horticultural journal, 

 describes a specimen of Hydrangea hortensis that he saw at a 

 flower-show at Chichester. It was growing in a twelve-inch 

 pot, and bore 100 heads of bloom, many of them as large as 

 those commonly seen on single-stemmed market plants. 



From the last annual report of Sir R. Schomburgh, director 

 of the Botanic Garden at Adelaide, in South Australia, just re- 

 ceived, it appears that the so-called Japan Clover {Lespedeza 

 striata), now such an important and valuable forage crop in 

 our south Atlantic States, does not promise to be valuable in 

 south Australia, where the climate, doulitless, as it is in the 

 Mediterranean Basin, is too dry for it. 



The discovery of two new enemies of the Asparagus beetle 

 is announced in the Ajinales de la Societe Entomologiijue de 

 Erance — one of them an internal pai'asite, whicli doubtless has 

 had an important influence in controlling the numbers of the 

 beetle. In malcing a note of this in Insect Life, the editors sav 

 that up to the present time not a single natural enemy of this 

 insect has been discovered in America, although the beetle is 

 doing much damage and extending its work over a larger area 

 every year. The obvious suggestion is made to import this 

 parasite from France and give it a chance to prev upon the 

 beetled 



As one might expect, a poet who loves nature, often, in a 

 word or two, depicts the character of a tree or flower more ef- 

 fectively than do pages of commonplace description. For ex- 

 ample, Un speaking somewhere of the Larch, Wordsworth 

 notes the beauty of its vivid light green in earlv summer and 

 then remarks upon the contrast this offers to that "death-like 

 character in winter" which is so peculiarly its own. Certainly 

 if we \\'ere to choose from the vegetalile world an image not 

 of deadness nierely but of death itself, no tree would be so ap- 

 propriate as the Larch. But it took a poet's eye and pen to 

 see and record the fact. 



At a recent meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society, we 

 read in The Garden, Dr. Masters showed ripe friuts of a 

 curious monstrosity known as the Plymouth Strawberry. "It 

 is an alpine Strawberry, in which all tlie parts of the flower are 

 more or less represented by leaves. The plant was mentioned 

 by old botanical writers, but afterwards disappeared, or was so 

 completely overlooked, that its very existence was assumed to 

 be a myth. Of late years, however, the plant has reappeared 

 in several gardens, and the correctness of the old writers has 

 been vindicated." 



Florists are learning that arrangements formed of a single 

 kind of flower, or of two or three kinds at most, are often in 

 better taste than those in which many varieties are combined. 

 But in disposing of our garden and wild flowers in summer we 

 too often fail to recognize this fact. Once in a while, however, 

 one sees an arrangement that could not be bettered. For ex- 

 ample, an old lady recently delighted her neighbors in a Boston 

 horse-car by the beauty of an open basket she carried. It was 

 filled exclusively with white and pale pink Sweet Peas, not too 

 closely crowded together, above which rose a cloud of the 

 tinv, delicate white blossoms of the garden (raliuni. 



Tlie current number of Insect Life gives an experiment 

 which seems to prove that the white grub, so destructive of 

 lawns, can Ije easily controlled bv tlie ordinary kerosene 

 emulsion. A white grub (larva of Allorhina nitida), had lieen 

 killing tlie grass on the Capitol grounds at Washington. The 

 soil was infested to such a degree that an average of six worms 

 were found to ex'ery square foot of surface. The ground was 

 treated with the kerosene emulsion, diluted fifteen times, and 

 kept soaked for some days. The result was the destruction of 

 the grubs, with no injury to the grass. No doubt the ordinary 

 white grubs (larvae of Lachnosterna) would be affected in the 

 same way. 



Mr. A. A, Crozier writes to Agricultural Science to advise 

 the growing of samples of grasses and other forage plants in 

 hills, rather than in small plats or short rows, as is usually 

 done. This brings the kinds near together for comparison, 

 yet leaves them distinct so as to readily catch the eye. The 

 quantity is suflicient to identify the species, and as the plants 

 have better opportunity to develop, the habit of growth is 

 better shown. The hills shoukl be far enough apart to per- 

 mit horse cultivation, for land is cheaper than labor. The 

 kinds planted will be likely to be so prominent in the hills 

 that ordinary hands may be entrusted to weed them. As 

 usually grown, grass plats become so filled with \veeds that 

 their value to tlie public is greatly impaired. It is well in 

 planting to leave vacant spaces for kinds to be afterward ob- 

 tained. These may be occupied temporarily with duplicates 

 or with other crops. 



The exhibition of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society 

 on August 25th was notable for the display of seedling Gladi- 

 oli, which has probably never been equaled in the Lhiited 

 States. Mr. J. Warren Clark showed a large collection of his 

 new seedlings, in which were a remarkably large proportion 

 of light colors, and the much-sought-for yellows. This 'col- 

 lection showed, \.Q a marked degree, tb.e influence of the 

 blood of G. piirpureo-auratus, or rather of its offspring, the 

 so-called Lenioine race, in the handsome, dark-colored blotch 

 on the lower segments of the perianth, which has always been 

 supposed to mark the descendants of that species. Mr. 

 Clark's collection was remarkable for uniformity of excel- 

 lence and striking variety of color. Mr. W. E. Endicott, of 

 Canton, exhibited eight Gandavensis and four Lemoin seed- 

 lings, with flowers of extraordinary size and beauty. In a 

 small collection staged by Mr. H. B. Watts, of Leicester, was 

 a seedling raised from a Lemoine variety crossed with a Gan- 

 davensis which showed no trace of the dark Ijlotch which has 

 heretofore been an unfailing indication of the potent Purpureo- 

 auratus blood — an exception worthy of record. Mr. R. T. 

 Jackson, of Dorchester, showed a number of seedlings ob- 

 tained by crossing varieties of G. Gandavensis with G. draco- 

 cephalus, a species from the Cape of Gt)od Hope, with brown- 

 ish-yellow flowers. This new race, although hardly " fixed " 

 as yet, is full of promise. The plants are wonderfully vigor- 

 ous, growing to a much greater height than either of their 

 parents, and flowering freely. The coloring of the flowers is, as 

 a rule, brilliant ; and they all show the Dracocephalus parentage 

 in the hood-like upper divisions of the perianth, and in the 

 long, narrow, central lobe of the lo\ver division. The im- 

 provement of the Gladiolus and the raising of new seedlings 

 now largely occupies the attention of some of the most in- 

 telligent and progressive horticulturists of New England. 



