September 12, 



•] 



Garden and Forest. 



339 



enters very extensively into all forms of Japanese art and 

 decorative work. 



The Iris is also a favorite among favorites, and a well- 

 known tea-house-g-arden atlMokujuma, near Tokio, is cele- 

 brated for its annual display of these flowers. The plants 

 are grown here in beds and ditches, somewhat below the 

 surface and partly filled with water. 



Flowers are distributed among the people by means of 

 perambulating flower-sellers, and by flower-fairs. The 

 seller goes about the streets carrying two huge bamboo 

 baskets swung from a pole across his shoulders. These 

 baskets (see illustration, page 343) are divided into a 

 number of different compartments, each containing a dif- 

 ferent variety of cut flowers or leaves. The carrier is 

 sometimes almost hidden by the great mass of flowers 

 and foliage he bears. Yet the construction is light, easily 

 carried, and, like all the articles produced by this people, 

 at once simple, practical and artistic. The common people 

 are the vender's patrons as well as the rich, for, as I 

 have said, the most indigent will buy a few fresh flowers 

 with which to beautify their humble homes. 



The flower-fairs or shows take place at fixed dates alter- 

 nately in the various wards or districts of the city and are 

 held at night. Throughout the preceding afternoon one 

 may see great numbers of farmers and gardeners from the 

 suburbs and the country dragging in their carts filled with 

 all kinds of flowers in pots, as well as with large trees and 

 shrubs with their roots roughly tied up in coarse sacking. 

 When they reach the site of the fair their wares are ar- 

 ranged as temptingly as possible on either side of the street, 

 trees and shrubs at one end and flowers at the other. In- 

 numerable lanterns and torches illuminate the scene. With 

 twilight the first customers straggle along, and by night 

 the streets are crowded with a good-natured, happy throng 

 of men, women and children. Then the bargaining be- 

 gins, for it is well known to every purchaser that it is the 

 custom to ask from five to ten times as much for the ob- 

 jects offered as the seller expects ultimately to obtain. 

 When the price of a dwarfed Cherry-tree covered with a 

 mass of buds is asked, the gardener answers promptly 

 "one yen, fifty sen" (a yen is divided into ico sen). The 

 customer shows no surprise, but gravely offers twenty sen. 

 And after many exclamations of "Impossible, honorable 

 master," feints of departure on the part of the would-be 

 buyer, offers to accept intermediate sums, and enthusiastic 

 praises of the beauties, visible and invisible, of the speci- 

 men, it is sold, perhaps, for twenty-five sen. Plants are 

 very cheap on these occasions and for a modest sum one 

 can get enough to stock a small garden. But opportuni- 

 ties for the enjoyment and purchase of flowers are not the 

 only attraction of these fairs. Booths for the sale of candy, 

 cakes and children's toys ; performances by trained mon- 

 keys, birds and dogs ; jugglers, musicians and sellers of 

 refreshments surround one until the head is in a confused 

 whirl. But amid all this crowding, noise and bustle the 

 greatest good nature prevails and a more orderly crowd 

 cannot be imagined. As they return to their homes, each 

 person with his burden of sweet-smelling flowers, accom- 

 panied by joyous laughing children, one feels that they are 

 indeed the happiest people in the world. 



New York. Theodore Wores. 



A Protection for Artificially Fertilized Flowers. 



T7ASCINATING as is the work of cross-fertilizing flowers, 

 ■'■ there are some annoyances in it that destroy a consid- 

 erable part of the pleasure. One of the worst of these is the 

 difficulty of inclosing the flowers in sacks after they have been 

 operated upon. The small paper sack, such as seedsmen 

 use, is made of such stiff paper that it is sometimes difficult 

 to tie it about the stem of a flower without injuring some of 

 the delicate organs. Then, after it is attached, it is so heavy 

 that it not infrequently breaks the flower stem, particularly in 

 windy weather. It is quite trouljlesome, also, to untie the 

 string when it is desirable to remove the sack for the 

 poUenation. Sacks made of tissue paper obviate some of 

 the objections, but they introduce another — the thin paper 



is so readily wet through by the rain that it will not last. 

 Some of these difficulties are obviated by the following de- 

 vice : Make small sacks of a very thin, oiled paper, such as 

 nurserymen use for wrapping plants to he sent by mail. Cut 

 them out after a small seedsman's package, as a pattern, leav- 

 ing the little lappel at the top which, in the ordinary package, 

 is used for sealing it up. Then place a short piece of fine 

 copper wire across the sack, just at the base of the lappel, and 

 paste the latter back over it, as shown in the drawing. This 

 wire serves as a substitute for the string. After the sack has 

 been slipped over the flower, draw the two sides of it 



together with the thumb 

 and finger of the left hand, 

 so that the stem of the 

 flower is directly between 

 the thumb and finger. 

 Then, with the right hand, 

 bring the edges of the 

 sack together and with- 

 draw the left hand, and 

 pinch the neck of the sack 

 snugly about the stem, 

 thus closing it, while the 

 wire prevents it from 

 opening. Then fold down 

 the corner of the sack. 

 The operation requires 

 considerably less time 

 than it takes to descrilje 

 it, and less than half as 

 Fig. 53.-Sacic for Pn.te. ting Ariificiaiiy long as it takes to tie a 

 Fertilized Fiouers. String about the neck of 



the sack. This sack can be taken off as readily as it is put 

 on ; it is very light, so that the wind does not cause it to 

 break the peduncle of the most delicate flower ; it does not 

 become wet by the rain, and it possesses the additional ad- 

 vantage that the paper being translucent, by simply looking 

 through the sack toward the sun, one can readily see whether 

 or not the ovary has commenced to swell, and thus detect if 

 the operation has been successful. Different sized sacks 

 should be provided to accommodate ditterent sized flowers. 

 For the smallest flowers the sacks need be Init an inch wide 

 and two inches long. 



I corresponded with a well-known manufacturer of paper 

 bags in New York, to see if such sacks could be cheaply 

 made. In reply, I received some very nicely made duplicates 

 of the sample sent, with tlie wires inserted, and with the in- 

 formation that they could be furnished at $1.25 per thousand. 



Geneva, N. Y. £■ ■?■ '"l^ 



Foreign Correspondence. 

 London Letter. 



BARON SCHROEDER sent some flowers from a few of 

 his choice Orchids to the exhibition of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society to-day. One of these was the ex- 

 tremely rare Saccolabium Healhii, which, until lately, was 

 quite unique in cultivation. It is a white variety of 6". 

 B/umei, from which it differs in no way except in the 

 snowy color of its flowers. The spike shown measured 

 fully fifteen inches in length and every tiny white bloom 

 looks like a miniature bird. The perfume is delightful. 

 This rarity came to view a year or two ago by a chance 

 in an importation of the ordinary .$■. Blumei, and the lucky 

 possessors of it, Messrs. ?Ieath, of Cheltenham, sold it to 

 Mr. W. See, of Downside, Leatherhead, and he disposed of it 

 to Baron Schroeder, retaining, however, a small piece in 

 his possesion. This small piece has been secured, I hear, 

 for one of your great American Orchid growers, so that 

 there will be one" plant of this Orchid in Europe and one 

 in America. I cannot adequately describe to you the 

 chaste purity of the flower, and, though I am not an Orchid 

 enthusiast, I greatly admire this one. Another choice 

 Orchid from tlie Baron's garden was LcElia callisloglossa, 

 one of Messrs. Veitch's finest hybrids, it being a cross be- 

 tween L. purpuratd and Catlkya Gigas, and I have no hesita- 

 tion in saying that it is the most splendid La;lia or Cattleya 

 in cultivation. The flowers are larger than those of any 

 C. Gigas I have seen; the sepals and petals are broad and 

 do not curl, as in L. Jnirpiira/a, anil in color are a soft 



