November 21, 1888.] 



Garden and Forest. 



467 



Periodical Literature. 



TN a recent number of A'fz/Kri' arc summarized a series of 

 ^ articles, written for Lcs Missiojts Ca/ho/iques, of Lyons, in 

 which IVI. Armand David, a Lazarist missionary and distin- 

 guished man of science, recounts tlie scientific gains whicli 

 have accrued to the world through the labors of Catholic 

 ecclesiastics in the East. Few persons realize how great 

 these gains are — how much self-sacrificing energy has been 

 spent by missionary priests in studving the flora and fauna of 

 the regions where their proselytizing work is carried on. In 

 China especially their labors have been invaluable. To speak 

 of botany alone, the first work of importance on the flora of 

 China, published this year at the expense of the French gov- 

 ernment, in two finely illustrated quarto volumes, describes M. 

 David's own collections, and is called " Planta: Davidiancc." 

 Although it contains only a small proportion of the plants 

 native to the empire, it deals pretty fully with those of the 

 northern provinces and the iVIongoIian mountains, and adds 

 largely to the list of the discoveries of English and Russian 

 explorers. Many important European genera — like the Tre- 

 foils, for example — are not found in China, but many Ameri- 

 can plants have their representatives which are not repre- 

 sented in Europe — as Pavia, Bignonia, Aralia and Dielytra. A 

 pretty plant {Xanthoccras sorbifilia), much cultivated in Pekin, 

 M. David found growing wild in Mongolia, and successfully 

 introduced into France. Another find was Davidia involu- 

 crata — a comparatively tall tree with large leaves, for the in- 

 troduction of which, we are told, a considerable reward has 

 been offered by an English amateur. M. Delavay is another 

 missionary who, inspired by M. David, and, like him, helped 

 with government money, is exploring with much success. 

 His residence in the almost unknown province of Yun-nan 

 gives him a good field for work, and the collections he has 

 sent to France are the most important yet received, and will 

 soon be published with M. Frauchet as editor. Where only 

 one Chinese Primrose was formerly known, M. Delavav has 

 raised the list to more than thirty. Instead of four or five 

 Chinese Rhododendrons, forty-five have been made known 

 through his labors and those of M. David. Several new 

 species of Vine have also been discovered, among them one 

 (Spinovitis Daiddiand) found in a wild state in the central 

 mountains of Tsin-lin, is noteworthy as having its stems 

 covered with spines. Many other priests devote much of 

 their time to forming collections for tlie French museums, 

 and it would be difficult to overrate the sum total of their 

 services, which, moreover, have been as great with regard 

 to the fauna as with regard to the flora of the East. 



Horticultural Exhibitions. 



The Philadelphia Chrysanthei:num Show. 



T^HE Chrysanthemum Show of the Pennsylvania Korticul- 

 -'■ tural Society, held in Philadelphia last week, was espe- 

 cially sti'ong in the number and quality of the plants exhibited. 

 The floor of the spacious hall was filled, and almost every 

 plant was worthy of mention for its healthful appearance and 

 its abundance of well-developed flowers. The general effect 

 of this mass of color was admirable, and it was heightened by 

 the garlands of Laurel, the Palm branches, the evergreen 

 boughs, the bright-colored autiunn leaves and berries, the 

 bunting and Japanese lanterns, with which the walls and bal- 

 conies, stairway and stage had been decorated by the Florists' 

 Club of the city. There were fine examples of plants struck 

 in summer and carrying a single bloom, but they were com- 

 paratively few. The cut flowers were of excellent quality, and 

 while no single fifty equaled Judge Benedict's collection in 

 New York, there were many more of them, all told, and the 

 general average was better. 



The finest plants in the hall were specimens of Marvel, Gran- 

 diflorum, Lucrece (new), Mrs. Frank Thompson, Mrs. C. H. 

 Wheeler, Mrs. A. Blanc, Cullingfordii, M. Freeman, Robert 

 Cranford, Bride (new), Mrs. William Bowen (new, brighter in 

 color than Mrs. C. H. Wheeler, but resembling tliat fine 

 variety), Mrs. William Singerly, Mrs. Joyce and Puritan. All 

 these make the strong growth needed for exhibition speci- 

 mens. Some of the varieties with most beautiful flowers, 

 like Mrs. J. J. Bailey and Mrs. J. Wanamaker, do not grow 

 large enough. 



Among the noteworthy seedling plants exhibited was an 

 unnamed variety grown by H. Sin^man, gardener to Mr, E. W. 

 Clark. It is an improvement on his seedling, Mrs. E. H. 

 Clark, which won the highest premium in 1887 ; a second was 

 shown by William Jamison, and a third by Robert G. Carey, 



gardener to Mr. J. C. Price, of Chestnut Hill. The finest seed- 

 ling plant was a specimen of the Mrs. W. K. Harris, the flower 

 of which has been mentioned. 



The most notable cut blooms exhibited here for the first 

 time, and remarkable for size, color and quality, were Mrs. 

 Alpheus Hardy, which has already been descriljed in these col- 

 umns ; Mrs. William K. Harris, shown by Mr. Harris — of great 

 size and substance, and probably the finest vellow Chrysan- 

 themum yet produced ; L. Canning, pure white, Mrs. 'M. J. 

 Thomas,^ bhisli white, and E. H. Fitler, bright bronze yellow, 

 incurved and distinct inform — the last three shown by Craig & 

 Brother; Lilian B. Bird, the largest flower with tubular florets, 

 and Kioto, chrome yellow, shown by E. L. Fewkes, Newton 

 Highlands, Massachusetts ; Wootton, white, shown by John M. 

 Hughes, gardener to Mr. George W. Childs ; and Mrs. Car- 

 negie, John Thorpe's wonderful variety, for which a gold 

 medal was awarded. The silver medal went to Robert Craig, 

 for Mrs. Isaac C. Price, a beautifid yellow of large size and dis- 

 tinct form. 



The premiums were very liberal. A prize of $100 was 

 awarded to J. W. Colflesh for the twelve best plants. A 

 second prize of $85 went to John Kinnear, gardener to Mr. J. 

 J. Bailey ; a third of $65 to Gordon Small, gardener to Mr. 

 William H. Singerly, and a fourth of $50 to Mr. W. K. Harris. 

 There were many other special money prizes, gold and silver 

 medals and silver cups. The principal awards, besides those 

 already named, were made to William Tricker, gardener to 

 Judge Benedict, of Staten Island, William Dewar, P. Conlan 

 and Gebhard Huster, gardener to Mrs. Heyl. 



The attendance was unusually large, and altogether the 

 exhibition can safely be described as the most successful of 

 its kind in the history of this venerable society. 



Chrysanthemums at Boston. 



A T the exhibition of the Massachusetts Horticultural Soci- 

 ■'-^ ety, which opened in Boston on Wednesday of last 

 week, prizes were offered for Chrysanthemums alone, and yet 

 both lialls of the Society were well filled with plants and cut 

 flowers. On the stage at the farther end of the large upper 

 hall was displaved a collection of sixty plants from Edwin 

 Fewkes, arranged in a sloping bank, the colors being admira- 

 bly blended and contrasted. Along the entire length of the 

 front of the stage was a bright terrace of cut flowers. In the 

 centre of the hall were the various plants in competition for 

 the prizes for specimens, while around the sides were the large 

 groups in the twenty-plant class. Altogether, the scene pre- 

 sented to one looking down from the gallery was really bril- 

 liant. As a rule, the plants were not remarkable. They were 

 fairly good, however, and were commendably free from arti- 

 ficial training and unnecesary staking and tying. One of the 

 most remarkable plants in this hall was a seedling of an un- 

 usually deep orange color shown by Dr. Walcott, who also 

 contributed flowers froni other seedlings of conspicuous 

 merit. Several of these were from seeds of Mrs. Wheeler, 

 and one, a sport from Nil Desperandum, was a large, full, 

 creamy white. 



The' cut specimen flowers surpassed, in size, variety and 

 beauty, the best shown at any former exhibition. Two lots 

 of twelve, contributed by Miss Simpkins, of Yarmouth, were 

 superior in uniformity of excellence to anything in their class, 

 and won both the first and second prizes. 



Very striking were some of the novelties shown by Fewkes 

 & Son, of Newton Highlands, especially those from the Japan- 

 ese collection sent originally to Mrs. Alpheus Hardy, and 

 including the famous variety named for her. 



These'^flowers have attracted much attention in other exhi- 

 bitions this year, and some of them rival the Mrs. Hardy in 

 beautv, although not in novelty of form. A seedling- from 

 Mrs. Wheeler was shown by Mr. E. A. Wood, which is even 

 richer in color than that admirable flower, and which has the 

 additional advantage of being very double to the centre. Of 

 the cut.Howers in vases, mention shoifld be made of some 

 blooms of Cullingfordii and Jardin des Plantes. They were 

 grown by Mr. C. j. Power, of South Framingham, and as dis- 

 played on long, strong stems, they showed a grace of form 

 and richness of color which nothing short of the most intelli- 

 gent cultivation could produce. 



The principal prizes, except those alreadv mentioned, were 

 awarded to E. W. Wootl, Mrs. F. B. Hayes," Joseiih H. White, 

 Mrs. E. M. Gill and P. i\Ialloy. 



A superb specimen of Cypripiuiium iiisii^iu: was exhibited 

 by W. H. Martin, gardener to Mr. N. T. Kiilder, of Milton. 

 The plant bore ninety (lowers, and perhaps no liner one was 

 ever grown. 



