428 



Garden and I'orest. 



[OCTOLKR 31, iSaH: 



them, and it is safer to lift them with good halls of earth, and 

 keep them in cold-frames or pits. WallHowers, Hollyhocks 

 and Canterl)ury Bells are among the commonest Howers in 

 European gardens, but rare in ours because they are not quite 

 hardy. True, with a mulching of dry leaves we may preserve 

 them fairly well, and it sometimes happens that they sur- 

 vive the winter unprotected ; but in order to preserve tliem 

 surely and in good condition the frame must be re- 

 sorted to, especially in the case of Canterbury Bells. The 

 |ilace in which a plant is growing in the garden often has a 

 great deal to do with its hardiness. Double-flowered Daisies 

 and Primula Japoiiica, for example, growing in open, exposed 

 situations, would probably be winter-killed, whereas if grown 

 in somewhat sheltered places, as in the neighborhood of light- 

 rooting shrubs, they would be hardy enough. But in any 

 case the frame is the safest place for them. In ill-kept gar- 

 dens and in wild places many plants will survive tlie winter 

 that would surely perish in [irim, well-kept gardens. In 

 neglected gardens, after the glo^' of simimer is over, the 

 plants are disregarded and the weeds allowed to grow; the 

 iild stems are not cut over from the Pa-onias, Larkspurs, Ve- 

 ronicas or Pentstemons, and when the tree-leaves fall the\ 

 gather and compact themselves around these plants, and are 

 there retained by the stems broken and bent over them by 

 the winds. This is the best and most natural protection, for 

 the stems arising from the crown of the plant prevent the 

 leaves from becoming a solid, wet mat over the crown in 

 winter. This is the way wild plants are preserved. But in 

 tidily-kept gardens where an accumulation of dead stems anil 

 loose tree-ieaves is not tolerated, the hardy plants, after be- 

 ing cut over, must be mulched with a dressing of rotted man- 

 ure, or a thin layer of thatch or sedge, while Santolinas, Acan- 

 thuses, scarlet Anemones, Gibraltar Candytuft, Myosotis dissi- 

 tiflora, Helianthus iniiltiflorus, Alstrcemerias, young Snap- 

 dragons, Stokesia cyaiiea, herbaceous Erythrina, Seneclo pul- 

 cher. Salvia Pitcheri, LiL)ertias and Zauschneria, and all others 

 of whose perfect hardiness there is any question, should be 

 removed to cold-frames. 



These frames should be in a warm, sunny, sheltered part 

 of the garden, and on slightly rising ground, with a south or 

 south-east facing slope, so situated as to drainage that no wa- 

 ter can lodge about them or run towards them. For such 

 frames pine plank or hemlock boards are liest ; spruce rots 

 out in a couple of years. As hemlock warps and slivers, the 

 upper board all around should be pine plank, and imder that 

 hemlock will answer. Pine cross-bars drilled along the 

 middle should be used for the sashes to rest on. Tlie three- 

 by-six-feet sash is the best and handiest made, and for this 

 sash the frame should be five feet nine inches wide inside; 

 this allows a solid rest for the sash, and the water can run 

 off witliout wetting the frame. For ordinary use a cold-fram'e 

 need not be deep, twenty inches at the back and ten inches in 

 front is a serviceable depth ; but even this should not all be 

 .above the ground level — twelve inches at the back and six 

 inches in front is high enough above the outside level, and 

 e\'en then the frame should be banked up solid to the top 

 with earth or ashes to keep all snug and warm. The more 

 ]iitch the frame contains, the lietter will it shed the water and 

 the warmer will it be m winter. 



In filling these frames plant thickly, keeping the tall-grow- 

 ing and evergreen plants towards the Isack, and the low- 

 growing ones near the front, and use light rather than rich 

 soil. This is merely a winter store-house, and not a place to 

 encourage growth and blossoms, as is the case with frames 

 filled with Pansies, Primroses, Forget-me-nots, Crown Ane- 

 mones and Violets, which are to grow and bloom during the 



winter months. ,,,.,,. ,. , 



(;len Cove, N. y. Williavi l^alconer. 



Orchid Notes.- 



Caltleya Bowringiana. — This comparatively new species is 

 now becoming (topular, and is likely to prove a great ac- 

 (-luisition by filling the gap between the summer blooming- 

 Cattleyas and the early Percivaliana or Triana". In growth 

 and inflorescence it somewhat resembles the old C. Skinneri. 

 liut the flower, though a little smaller, is much superior in 

 color, while the lip is enriched with a Ijroad band of darl; 

 purple. The flowers appear before the growths are quite 

 matured and last three weeks in perfection. It is a free 

 grower, emitting a perfect mass of roots from the peculiai- 

 swollen b.'ise of the bulb. It should ha\'e strong heat and 

 abundance of water during growth, but requu-es a long rest 

 in a cool house, and should be started as late as jiossible 

 in the sprnig, so that llie Howei's may appear in the early win- 

 ter months. 



The rarest Orchid in flower with us now is Angrceciiin can- 

 datum, a native of Sierra Leone. Though not at all showy, 

 tlie greenish brown of the flowers, contrasting so beautifully 

 with the snowv whiteness of the lip, and the grotesque ar- 

 rangement of the long-tailed flowers on the raceme, render it 

 attractive and interesting. It is of erect growth, with thin, 

 drooping leaves, aliout one foot long; it is growing freelx 

 here with the Vandas (which, by the way, we accord more 

 heat than is usually recommended foi' them), in a basket filled 

 with moss and charcoal. Black thrips will soon disfigure the 

 foliage, unless care is taken to keep it well supplied with 

 water at root and copiously syringed during favorable 

 weather. 



Another species from the same locality is in flower, Angra- 

 Liiii! distichum, one of the smallest of the genus, producing 

 stems about six inches Ifi.gh, with very short, fleshy, deep 

 green, imbricate leaves, from the axils of which the flowers 

 appear. These are very small and pure white, but so numer- 

 ous that a well grown plant will often be one mass of bloom. 

 Basket culture is l.iest suited to tliis plant, with a compost of 

 half peat and moss. Peggingdown the stems will cause them 

 to l)reak freely at the heel, and so qinckly make a bushy 

 plant. 



^Erides quinqiicvulnerum. — Though nearly half a century 

 has elapsed since the introduction of this Orchid, it has never, 

 until recently, been plentiful. It grows more freely than 

 many of its congeners and may lie depended upon every year 

 to produce its handsome racemes of flowers. It is probably 

 the showiest of the whole genus. The flowers are yellowish 

 white, much speckled with purple, with five large blotches of 

 the same color, which suggests tlie name. The flowers are 

 also fragrant. A very rare variety, named Farmeri, is en- 

 tirely devoid of any markings. This plant is from the Philip- 

 pine Islands, and, consequently, should have heat and water 

 liberally given. To avoid spot, care should be taken that 

 the temperature be not low when the plant is wet. 



Kenwood, N. Y. F. Goldriug. 



Native Asters as Garden Plants. 



IT is only within the last few years that our native Asters 

 have been considered fit subjects for the herbaceous gar- 

 den, although ill England they have been long appreciated, 

 and Michaelmas Daisies, as they are there commonly called, 

 form a part of the stock of the best nurseries. Flowering as 

 they do, very late in the season, it cannot l>e denied that their 

 decorative value is of the highest order, for they defy cold 

 weather, and are but little injured by the fall rains. Long 

 after their more tender rivals liave succumbed to the severe 

 frosts these Asters bloom away as though they rejoiced in the 

 chilly weather, and seem many times more beautiful from the 

 contrast with their brown and frost-bitten neighbors. If we 

 have made a judicious selection of species and varieties, and 

 exercised proper judgment in planting them, the garden will 

 be a source of pleasure for a long time after the more costly, 

 and often less beautiful, exotic summer plants have been cut 

 away. 



But the value of these plants does not lie entirely in their 

 sturdiness and their ability to prolong the season of flowers, 

 for they have an intrinsic beauty that compels our attention. 

 Few people question the beauties of the perennial Phloxes as 

 they are now grown, but wit have to look Ijack Ijut a few years 

 to find these much-admired plants represented by a few dull 

 purplish-pink and white varieties, with small flowers and nar- 

 row petals. In their wild state the flowers of PIilox paniculata 

 and P. macula/a (the parents of our garden varieties) are C|uite 

 inferior to many of the wild Asters, which undoubtedly are 

 fully as capable of improvements, for, naturally, most of the 

 Asters vary to a surprising degree, and, by careful searching, 

 one may find varieties far superior to the types, and these 

 should be carefully transplanted to the garden. It is best to 

 collect them while in flower, for the best varieties may then 

 he selected, and by transferring them to nursery rows they can 

 be tested before placing them in a permanent position. 



Out of the great number of species native to the Lhiited 

 St.ites the following are among the most useful : Aster A'o'c'ce- 

 . /;/£,'■/;>(", with large, deep blue-purple flowers, when g-iven good 

 cultivation, is a grand plant, growing to the height of six or 

 seven feet, and literally smothered with its showy blossoms. 

 Its variety, Roseus, is identical in every Avay except color, 

 which is a liriglit rosy pink. A. la-vis has deep violet flowers, 

 lik'e small Cinerarias, and will grow to the height of five feet. 

 .■/. Novi-Belgii is very variable, both in habit and flowers, the 

 best varieties being very handsome and useful. In color the 

 flowers vary from pure white to deep purple. A, turliiullus 



