October 31, 1888.] 



Garden and Forest. 



429 



is very graceful in haljit, with slender, much-branched stems, 

 the large lilac-colored flowers appearing late in the season. 

 Other satisfactory kinds are A. Shortii, A. luidulatus, A. cordi- 

 foliiis, A. patens, A. spectabilis, A. oblongifolius, A. amethysti- 

 nus, A. ptivrinicoides, A. linarifoliiis, with its white variety, .i. 

 ericoides, A. vimineus, A. multijlorus and A. dumosus. 



They need about the same treatment as would be given to 

 the perennial Phlox, many of them doing much better when 

 thinned out annually, as they are suliject to mildew if grown 

 too thickly, especially if they are somewhat shaded. 



Newton Highl.inds, Mass. Arthur H. Fczvkcs. 



Mildew on Roses. 



TTOW best to prevent mildew, or to clear the Roses of this 

 ■»■ A troublesome fungus after it has made its appearance, is 

 a question that often confronts the grower, and particularly at 

 this season of the year, when tlie sun is still strong at mid-day, 

 and so heating the houses that considerable ventilation is 

 necessary to reduce the temperature. This operation often 

 results in an attack of mildew upon such plants as may have 

 been e.xposed to a cold draught. 



Among the many reniedies for mildew, sulphur, in one or 

 another of its many forms, is always found most efficacious, 

 and it is used in a variety of ways. The flour of sulphur has 

 been used for many years for this trouble by dusting it over 

 the mildewed plants. This mode of using sulphur is undoulit- 

 edly good at times, but in my experience a better way is this : 

 Take of moderately strong tubacco-water, one gallon ; add to 

 it four ounces of sulphur, then boil the mixture for thirty 

 minutes or a little longer. After it has cooled add one part of 

 water to every three parts of the mixture, and syringe the 

 affected plants. In bad cases a second or even a third appli- 

 cation may be necessary on successive days. This mixture 

 also tends to keep down green fly, thereby doing double duty. 



Another mixture in great favor with some growers is sul- 

 phate of lime. A good recipe for this compound is the follow- 

 ing : Take of fresh lime, five pounds; of sulphur, five pounds, 

 and of water, six gallons. This shoLild be boiled down to two 

 gallons. After which it should be allowed to settle, and only 

 the clear liquid should be used at the rate of half a pint of the 

 sulphate to an ordinary watering-pot of water. The plants 

 should be syringed with the latter mixture on two or three 

 successive afternoons. 



Sulphate of potassium has also been highly recommended, 

 in the proportion of half an ounce of the sulphide to two gal- 

 lons of water, and applied in the same manner as the preced- 

 ing mixture. The unpleasant odor of the potassium solution 

 may sometimes prove to be an objection, however. 



Still another way of using the ordinary sulphur is by 

 sprinkling or painting it on the pipes, the heat from which 

 causes more or less of the sulphur to pass off into the atmos- 

 phere in the form of vapor. This latter method is hardly to 

 be recommended for general use, for, unless used with great 

 discretion, the vapor may be strong enough to bleach the 

 flowers of many of the pink Roses, such as Catherine Mer- 

 met. La France and Bon Silene, and in this way may do almost 

 as much harm as the mildew. As the above-mentioned Roses 

 are also affected by tobacco-smoke, the mixture of tobacco- 

 water and sulphur previously mentioned will be found par- 

 ticularly useful in just such cases. 



Holmesbuig, Pa. /f. H. Taplin. 



Very few so-called hardy perennials are sufficiently hardy to 

 endure a northern winter without protection of some kind. 

 This is what should be expected where many kinds we grow 

 come from southern latitudes as well as from the temperate 

 regions of the Old World. Truly herbaceous plants, such as 

 tall Phloxes, Delphiniums, Asters and Helianthus, which die 

 down completely, need the protection of stable manure, since 

 in gardening operations, for the sake of neatness, we must 

 remove from the ground the tops, or refuse, of the plants, which 

 are their natural protection. Others, again, mostly biennials, 

 such as Foxgloves, Sweet Williams and other species of Dian- 

 thus, Gaillardias, Geums, Canterbury Bells and Pansies, retain 

 their foliage natin-ally, and when not removed to frames 

 should be protected by leaves or pine needles to pi'event alter- 

 nate freezing and thawing. The same plan should be adopted 

 with alpine plants, some ofvvhich are truly herbaceous, such 

 as Adonis vernalis and Ranunculus of different kinds, while 

 the majority are evergreen, such as dwarf Phloxes, Veronicas, 

 Cerastiums, Arenarias and Iberis. 



There are also many kinds, of which stock is required, 

 which can be taken up and propagated during the winter. All 

 such as we can push into growth and get cuttings from, we 



bring into the green-house about February ist. Others we 

 divide up and pot about March ist, keeping them in the green- 

 house only long enough to start them, and then place them 

 in frames until the ground is open for planting. The cut- 

 tings — Phloxes, Veronicas, Silene rupestris, Salzna Greggi, 

 Onothera Missouriensis, Monardas, etc. — we put into boxes, 

 partly filled with sand, and covered with a sheet of glass ; 

 when rooted we gradually harden them off to be planted later 

 in nursery beds. 



Wellesley, Mass. T. D. Hiltfuld. 



The New Tea Rose, Madame Hoste, is likely to prove the best 

 of the year for cut flowers in winter, under glass, and suitable 

 both for the amateur and the commercial grower. It is a 

 French Rose, and it was sent out for the first time last Novem- 

 ber, and has, therefore, had no very extensive trial in this 

 country. It plainly possesses all the good C[ualities of a Rose 

 for winter blooming. It is very large, though opening freely, 

 and has not the least suggestion of coarseness. Its form is of the 

 best, and its color is the only thing to be urged against it. It 

 is neitlier yellow nor white, but may he described as cream 

 color, deepening to a darker shade towards the centre of the 

 flower. It is so beautiful in every other respect that it must 

 work its way into public favor. The plant is a vigorous 

 grower and a free bloomer, and we may expect it to do well 

 out-of-doors in some parts of the country, since it is well 

 spoken of by Englisli horticulturists who have tried it in that 

 climate. 



Philadelphia. E. L. 



Callicarpa purpurea is particularly handsome just now ; 

 indeed, it is the only time of the year when it is. The 

 flowers are so very small as not to be worth considering, but 

 following them are berries in clusters of about twenty to thirty 

 each, which in September and October are of a violet-purple 

 color. As every leaf axil has a bunch, and the branches are 

 sometimes two to three feet in length, bending over with the 

 weight of fruit, it is an uncommonly beautiful sight. 



The most strikingly beautiful tree, in flower at the present 

 time in the vicinity of Philadelphia, is the Franklinia {Gor- 

 donia pubescetis). It flowers when but a few feet high, com- 

 mencing in August, and continuing until freezing weather 

 stops it. There are many fine specimens hereabouts; one of 

 the largest, a layer from the original tree in the Bartram gar- 

 den, is at William De Hart's, Fifty-fourth Street and Woodland 

 Avenue, Philadelphia. It is about twenty feet high, and at the 

 present time (early October), loaded as it is with its large, 

 single, white. Camellia-like flowers, it is an unusual and beau- 

 tiful sight. The tree can be increased by layering. If good 

 soil be placed about it, and the layer not disturbed for two 

 years", a strong, well-rooted plant results. 



Referring to the notes sent you in the spring in regard to 

 the hardiness of the Loblolly Bay [Gordonia Lasiani/tus), I 

 would now add that one of the plants flowered September 

 15th. May not this be the first instance of its flowering- 

 out-of-doors so far north ? The blooms, while in general 

 appearance like the better known G. pubcscens, are but about 

 half the size. The leaves are thick and shining, and not 

 unlike those of Pkotinia serrulata. Nearly all of the twenty- 

 five plants set out last year survived the winter, though 

 injured more or less. Having now become better estab- 

 lished, they will doubtless get through the next winter more 

 easily. 

 Gormanlovvn. Joseph Alee ha It. 



The Forest. 



The Forest Veg'etation of North Mexico. — \'lll. 



PiiiHS inacrophylla, Enge/in., the species which, next to 

 P. Chiliuahuana, grows at the lowest elevation, is the first 

 tree to claim our attention as we proceed to consider in 

 detail the composition of the forests of the Cordilleras. 

 On all the ranges about the divide we have seen it scat- 

 tered ^vith the species last mentioned ; but in some locali- 

 ties among these ranges it must be more multiplied, since 

 there are several saw-mills in the region. About the base 

 of the mountains on the foot-hills and in the valleys 

 amongst these it is by far the most abuntlant Pine ; 

 whilst over the gravelly plain bordering the foot-hills it 

 spreads out for a few miles to the exclusion of most 

 other trees. Because it makes a larger growth and 

 yields clearer lumber than P. Cliihualiuaiia, is more ac- 

 cessible than P. Arisonica, and far more common than P. 



