402 



Garden and Forest. 



[OCTOHER 17, 1888. 



pey, or Victuals-and-Drink Apple, was a great favorite liere 

 years ago, and would be as welcome to-day as ever, but I do 

 not know of a tree in existence in this neighl>orhood, and it is 

 doubtful if it could be had in any nursery. Other varieties are 

 disappearing in the same way, and the loss seems all the more 

 annoying when it is easy with a few buds or grafts from one of 

 these old trees to put a new head on a young tree and preserve 

 the old friends. E. Williams. 



Montclair, N.J. 



Tlie Flower Garden. 



NOTWITHSTANDING the sharp frosts last week our gar- 

 den still shows many bright flowers. The Meteor variety 

 of the Pot Marigold, from summersowings.isin capital bloom, 

 and likely to last for a month to come. Sweet Alyssum is as 

 white and fragrant as ever; so, too, would be the Mignonette 

 were it not for the very wet September just passed. The 

 double white Feverfew is in good liloom a second time, and 

 Tritomas will remain in full glow till Thanlcsgiving. Half tlie 

 crop of buds of the handsome Japanese Anemones have not 

 yet opened. What a pity this plant is not earlier and hardier. 

 Sedum Sieboldii is perfectly hardy here, and its best bloom is 

 in October. Sweet Violets are beginning to bloom, and the 

 Eschscholtzia will display its golden flowers till snow comes. 

 Maximilian's Sunflower is the finest species of its race at this 

 time of year. 



Hardy herliaceous perennials may now be transplanted. 

 Tuberous-rooted species, like the Pseonias, Liatris and Monks- 

 hood, may be planted now as well as in the spring, and early 

 spring flowers, like Moss Pink, Aubrietia, Saponaria ocymoides 

 and bulbous plants do better planted in fall than in spring. Col- 

 umbines, in particular, do lietter when planted in the fall. But 

 summer and fall blooming plants, like Veronicas, Phlo.xes, 

 Helianthuses, Japanese Irises, White Day Lily and the like, 

 should be planted in spring, especially if these plants are to 

 \x divided, with the view of increasing the stock or reducing 

 the size of the parent clump. Somewhat tender plants, like 

 Japanese Anemones, Conoclinum, Acanthus and Oenothera 

 speciosa, should never be distiu'bed in fall except to be re- 

 moved to a cold-frame or other favorable quarters. If they 

 have any chance at all of surviving the winter, it is as estab- 

 lished roots, and not as newly-planted stock. . 



Lon^; Islaod. Cr. C. 



Japanese li"is (Iris lasvigata) from Seed. 



A LTHOUGH this Iris may no.w be inTported direct from 

 -^^ Japan in a multitude of beautiful varieties, the raising 

 of new ones from seed may Ije made profitable as well as in- 

 teresting. When left to their natural development they pro- 

 duce but little seed, and the varieties obtained from this are 

 ordinarily no better and usually not as good as the originals, 

 but when carefully hand-fertilized nearly every flower so 

 treated will produce its pod of seed, and a large percentage of 

 the flowers will be better and most of them quite as good as 

 the parents. By actual count it has been found that of seed- 

 lings from hand-fertilized flowers, forty per cent, were varie- 

 ties worth preserving, while of plants from seed produced 

 naturally but six per cent, were g'ood. It is desiraljle to have 

 some varieties to flower earlier in the season, and this may be 

 accomplished by a careful selection of seed from those that 

 first come into bloom. Already we have plants which begin 

 to flower in the latter part of June, and we still had fresh 

 flowers on the loth of August. Few garden flowers can boast 

 of a much longer period of bloom than this. 



That the raising of seedlings is not only interesting to the 

 amateur, but may be made 'profital;>le to the nurseryman, is 

 quite evident from the quantity of seed produced, which will 

 average, from well fertilized flowers, about fifty in each pod, 

 and when properly treated the young plants will be large 

 enough to flower the second year, and a large stock may be 

 secured in this way with much less labor than it can by divis- 

 ion. The process of hand-fertilization is quite simple after 

 one has carefully studied the flower and located the essential 

 organs. Upon examination, the Iris flower, in its normal form, 

 will be found to be composed of nine distinct pieces or divis- 

 ions, arranged in rows of three divisions each, one within the 

 other. The two outer rows make up the six divisions of the 

 perianth, the three outer are spreading or drooping and 

 the three inner are smaller and stand erect. Inside of these 

 again are three inore divisions resembling somewhat the 

 petals in form, but as close examination shows in reality the 

 styles, with the stigmas near the apex in the form of a thin lip, . 

 the surface of which is covered with minute hairs. By pull- 



ing back the petal-like tips of these styles the lip-like stigmas 

 will be readily seen. Lying close beneath the styles, but con- 

 nected at the Ijase by the short and stout filaments with the 

 tube of the perianth, will be found the antliers, which are long-, 

 lance-shaped organs, with the pollen contained in narrow 

 cells along their margins. Nature, in providing for cross-fer- 

 tilization, has so arranged the flower that the pollen is ready 

 for use and gone fully a day before the stigmas are in proper 

 condition to receive it ; in fact, the pollen is ready for use 

 before the petals begin to unfold, and it is a wise plan for the 

 operator, after deciding what pollen he wishes to use, to take 

 the flowers just as soon as they begin to open and cut out the 

 anthers with a sharp pointed pair of scissors or small pen- 

 knife, lay them away in folded papers or envelopes, marked 



with the name of 

 the variety from 

 which they were 

 taken, and keep 

 them for future 

 use; the pollen can 

 be kept in perfect 

 condition in this 

 way for a week at 

 least, and an abund- 

 ance of pollen may 

 thus be had when 

 the stigmas a re 

 ready to receive it. 

 This is an import- 

 ant precaution, for 

 a very small native 

 bee (a species of 

 Halictus) is on hand 

 as soon as the 

 flower shows the 

 smallest opening, 

 and will have the 

 anthers well clean- 

 ed of pollen by the 

 time the flower is 

 fully expanded. It 

 would look as if the 

 flower was made to 

 be fertilized by the 

 b u m b 1 c - b e e ■ or 

 some similar in- 

 sect, but in this 

 'country, at least, 

 the flowers are sel- 

 dom visited by the 

 larger bees, hence 

 the scarcity of seed 

 when the plant is left to itself. When the flower first opens, 

 the stigma will be found closely folded back against the style; 

 but by the second day the upper edge will have been de- 

 tached, and falling downward, the upper surface will be ex- 

 posed and is now ready to receive the pollen. A small 

 camel's-hair brush will be found the most convenient instru- 

 ment with which to apply the pollen, which is done by simply 

 taking oft" a quantity with the tip of the lirush and lightly dust- 

 ing the upper surface of the stigma. 



The figure represents a flower with the perianth cut away, 

 showing the three styles, one of the stigmas (S) and one of 

 tlie antliers (A). 



The good eft'ects of this fertilization will Ijc noticeable very" 

 early, for not only is it apparent in the flower when produced, 

 but the pods are usually much finer and larger than when 

 accidentally fertilized. The seeds germinate quite freely if 

 planted, as soon as ripe, in good soil and carefully watered. 

 For soil in which to plant the seeds I prefer well decayed 

 leaf-mould in shallow lioxes, from which the young plants 

 are transplanted to the open ground the following spring. 

 Newton, Mass. Arthur H. Fewkes. 



Fig;. 65. — Flower 

 reniovpil. A 



of iris laevigata, with tlic perianth 

 anther. P, pollen cells. O, ovaiv'. 

 S, stigma. 



C h r}' san t h e mil ni s . 



WE grow these largely for cut flowers and for out-door dec- 

 oration. They "are raised from cuttings rooted in the 

 green-house in spring and planted out in May, in well ma- 

 nured ground, in rows three feet apart by two and one-half 

 feet apart in the row. In summer they are cultivated, watered 

 now and then in very dry weather, and tied up with one stake 

 to each plant. About the end of August or in September we 

 select and pot the plants most desirable for furnishing good 

 flowers and late ones in the green-house. Our largest supply 



