September ig, 1888.] 



Garden and Forest. 



359 



The new variety of Magnolia parviflora is now blooming' 

 for the second time this season. For it the word exquisite is 

 no exaggeration. Fancy the pure wliiteness and the outer 

 petals ol: Eucliaris amazonica, with a closely clustered centre of 

 stamens of briglit carmine. Add to this a strong perfume of 

 Magnolia glauca, tempered with banana, and the result will 

 justify the epithet. Spiraa bullata is now blooming here 

 for the second time this season. The foreign papers are 

 just pronouncing upon its petite beauty, and yet it has been 

 in the market here for thirteen years, having been introduced 

 by Thomas Hogg. 5. B. Parsons. 



Flushing, N. Y., Sept. ist. 



Recent Publications. 



A Manual of Orchidaceous Plants. — Part III. Dendrohiuin. 

 Bidbophylhim and Cirrliopctaluni. James Vcitch & Sons, 

 London, 1888. 



The third part of this import;int work is devoted to an 

 account of the different species of the genus Dendrohiuin, oc- 

 cupying gl of the 102 pages, the remainder treating of the two 

 small allied genera, Bulbopliyilum and Cirrhopctaluni. Like 

 its predecessors, this part contains numerous illustrations 

 both of individual flowers of many of the species and of fine 

 specimen plants. Maps of south-eastern Asia, including the 

 islands of the East Indian Archipelago and of Australia, show at 

 a glance the geographical distribution of the principal si^ecies 

 of Deudrobiuni, an essentially old world genus, of which Epi- 

 dcndruin may be taken as the new world representative. The 

 genus, following Bentham in the Genera Plantarum, is divided 

 into seven sections, only the fifth and seventh of which 

 contain plants of horticultural value, most of the showy 

 flowered species seen in gardens belonging to the seventh 

 {Eudendrobiuins). A hundred species, arranged alphabeti- 

 cally, with many varieties, are described, as well as fourteen 

 artificial hybrid Dendrobiums ; for many of these last Orchid- 

 lovers are indebted to the Veitches' indefatigable enterprise and 

 patient experiments, as we have had occasion to remark of 

 another genus in an earlier notice of this publication. 



The present part closes with cultural instruction, based upon 

 long and unrivaled experience, and contains much interesting 

 matter relating to the discovery and introduction into cultiva- 

 tion of many of the species described. Its value, however, as a 

 working manual for the botanist or the horticulturist, would lie 

 greatly increased were the species numbered, if each part were 

 not paged separately, and if reference numbers had been 

 added to the illustrations. As now printed it will be practi- 

 cally impossible, almost, to quote this work in subsequent 

 publications. 



Quince Culture. — An illustrated hand-book for the propaga- 

 tion and cultivation of the Quince, with descriptions of its 

 varieties, insect-enemies, diseases and their remedies by W. 

 W. Meech. New York ; Orange Judd & Co. 1888. 



This little manual, as the author explains in his preface, is 

 intended " to furnish all needed information for the profitable 

 cultivation of Quinces in all places where they will grow." 

 That the author has accomplished this task satisfactorily 

 all will agree with us in thinking who read the plain and prac- 

 tical information upon the sul)jects which he undertakes to 

 discuss. And the public will heartily endorse Mr. Meech's 

 wish " that this fruit, for which there is no substitute, be no 

 longer only a luxury within the means of the rich, Ijut become 

 so common and abundant that it may be enjoyed by all." It 

 is certainly a remarkable fact that so little attention, compara- 

 tively, has been given to the cultivation of this useful fruit in 

 the Onited States, and that when it has been grown, so little 

 care has been paid to the proper management of the trees, 

 that will repay generous treatment as to soil and careful prim- 

 ing. And yet, Quince culture is so simple a matter that its 

 essentials were all comprised in a brief article in this journal 

 on the 1 8th of July last. That there are not now, however, 

 more tlian a dozen varieties of the Quince worth cultivating 

 (of these three or four of the best are of African origin) is 

 not due to the fact that attention has not been devoted to 

 the improvement of this fruit, l)ut rather to its fixed char- 

 acter, which Mr. Meech seems to liave overlooked. The 

 Quince, of all the fruits cultivated by man during the past 

 twenty or thirty centuries, is the least modified from its wild 

 state; indeed, the flavor of the wild Quince of Persia varies 

 but little from the best varieties of western gardens. 

 Whether it is ever to lose its harsh flavor and become a 

 dessert fruit is a question whicli future generations of 

 Pomologists must decide. The improvement of the Quince 

 offers a useful field for horticultural effort. 



Periodical Literature. 



'T~"HE city of Ghent has long been famous as one of the great 

 ■*- horticultural centres of the world, and its people are now 

 chiefly known for their love of flowers and their successful and 

 profitable cultivation of them. The following historical facts 

 relating to the early horticultural development of tliis Belgian 

 city, which owes much of its present prosperity to horticulture, 

 collected by the Revue de I' Horticulture Beige, and published 

 at the time of the great cpiinquennial exhibition, lately held 

 in that city, has, therefore, more than a local interest : 

 1366. On March ist, 1366, tlie Burgomasters passed an order 

 that the flower merchants' stands should be placed in 

 the seed market. (The gardeners of Ghent were not an 

 independent guild, but are supposed to have been con- 

 nected with tlie fruiterers' corporation. At Bruges there 

 was a guild of market gardeners.) 

 1464. Hector de Costere, a Captain from Ghent, on his return 

 from a crusade against the Turks, brought the first 

 Shallots from Escalon, and also the Convolvulus tricolor. 

 1518. Isabella, wife of Christian II., King of Denmark, and sis- 

 ter of Charles V., sent gardeners from Ghent to teach 

 the Danes how to sow seeds and cultivate plants and 

 flowers. 

 1537. After the conquest of Tunis, Charles V. had a collection 

 of Cappadocian Tulips, and one of Roses, among which 

 was the purple Rose of Tunis, planted in the garden of 

 the Cour du Prince in Ghent. 

 1569. A young monk, P. dc Rijcke, brought a collection of 



new and rare plants from South America. 

 1596. P'ritillaria i//iperialis (The Crown Imperial) and Lilium 

 candiduni were introduced and cultivated for the first 

 time in Ghent. 

 159S. William de Blascre, Burgomaster of tlie city of Ghent, 

 and owner oi the best known collection of Orange trees 

 in the sixteenth century, introduced the cultivation of 

 Cucumbers. He built the first hot-houses which are 

 mentioned as having been glazed and heated in the 

 country. 

 1600. When in 1600 the Archdukes made their grand entry into 

 Ghent, the Abbe d'Ername presented to them, among 

 other gifts, two magnificent Chanicerops liuinilis. These 

 trees were planted later in the botanical garden, where 

 one was still alive at the beginning of the present cen- 

 tury. The trunk of this tree enabled Morren to il- 

 lustrate the peculiar structure of Palm-stems, and is 

 still in the botanical laboratory of the L^niversity at 

 Li(^ge. 

 1675. The monk Reyntkens, from the Abbey of St. Peter at 

 Ghent, a great lover of flowers, went to Lille to buy 

 plants. They asked him over sixty-five francs, an enor- 

 mous sum at that time, for a root of Cyclamen Persicum. 

 In one of his works Reyntkens credits the moon with 

 being the cause of the rise of sap in plants. 

 1742. The Gazette de G(7«(^ announced the first public sale of 

 plants. Anemones, Ranunculus, Hyacinths and Tulips 

 were sold. 

 1749. A French nurseryman from Orleans came to Ghent with 



a great variety of fruit trees to sell. 

 1763. R/iadodc?idron. ponticum, imported from Gibraltar, was 

 planted at Ghent for the first time. 



1772. A gardener named Tontje Verstuyft exposed his llowcrs 

 for sale on a Sunday in June in the Place d' Amies. He 

 returned the next Sunday, and was followed by others. 

 From this period dates the flower market, held in the 

 Place d' Amies every Sunday during the sunmier season. 



1773. Up to this time the auction sales of plants and flowers, 

 which took place regularly, rarely attracted others than 

 local horticulturists and amateurs, but when in 1774 a 

 gardener, Judocus Huytens, went to Engkmd and re- 

 turned with new plants, others, inspired liy his exam- 

 ple, did the same. 



1797. On the presentation of a report Ijy Charles van Ilulthcm 

 and Dr. Bernard Coppens the government and munici- 

 pality established a botanical g"arden on the spot occu- 

 pied by the kitchen garden of the monks of St. Benedict 

 in the Abficy of Bandeloo. 



In C/iaiiihers' Journal iov August, a chapter on "Eucalyptus 

 Honey" says; "Tlie existence of this particular lioney was 

 made known in 18S4 by a French traveler, M. Guilmeth, wlio, 

 while exploring the island of Tasmania, noticed at the summit 



