474 



Garden and Forest. 



[November 28, 18S8. 



New Hardy Hybrid French Gladioli. 



HAVING again, during tlie summer and autumn now draw- 

 ing to a close, grown, for study and comparison with 

 older varieties, the set of ten new hybrids of the Purpureo- 

 auratus crossed with Gandavensis race, distributed towards 

 the close of last year by M. Victor Lemoine, of Nancy, some 

 notes as to their respective merits and beauties may perhaps 

 induce others to cultivate these beautiful and easily-grown, 

 hardy, bulbous plants. The comparatively cold and almost 

 sunless summer we have had this year has in no way inter- 

 fered with, but has indeed been far more suited to the growth 

 and perfect blooming of these plants than the torrid season 

 and long drought to which they liad to submit last year, which 

 prevented many of the varieties of that year from coming to 

 perfection at all. The ten varieties belonging to 1888 are : 



BoussiNGAULT. — This commenced to bloom on August ist, 

 and is a very strong grovver, producing three flowering bulbs 

 from one. It has medium-sized, creamy yellow flowers, with 

 most distinct and beautiful, clearly-marked lower petals, the 

 outer half of which is deep canary yellow, the inner half 

 deeply feathered maroon. This beautiful variety, also Louis 

 Van Hoiitte and Oriflamme, were well figured on the colored 

 plate appearing in the Vixns Ren 11 e Horiicoleiov May i6th, 18S8. 



De Humboldt is a vigorous-habited variety with good- 

 sized flowers opening well together on the spike, and thus 

 showing a good many flowers in full beauty at the same time. 

 The color is a deep rosy salmon, with clear yellow under- 

 petals, distinctly blotched with light maroon. 



Emile Galle is rather a slender-growing variety which, in 

 the bud state, promised to be of quite a novel shade of violet 

 not hitherto met with in these hybrids, but on the expansion 

 of the flowers they proved to be washy and pale in color, thin 

 in texture and deficient in form. Only the lower petals are 

 beautiful, being of a deep shade of violet with a thin line of 

 gold down their centre. It is quite possible, however, that 

 this, being quite a new break in color, may prove the parent 

 of many beautiful varieties in years to come. 



Eugene Lequin is a variety of medium height, with pale 

 lemon-colored flowers distinctly marked on the lower petals 

 with broad blotches of velvety carmine, and is altogether an 

 extremely pretty flower. 



E. V. Hallock is a vigorous growing variety, and one of the 

 most beautiful of the whole series, with large fully opened 

 flowers of a clear, pale shade of canary yellow, the three 

 lower petals clearly and evenly blotched with pale carmine. 

 This should be in every collection. 



Le Horla. — A rather weak-growing variety, with flowers 

 under the medium size, of a pale shade of red. The three 

 lower petals are yellow, distinctly blotched with carmine, and 

 the centre one edged with pale red. The flowers of this 

 variety may come larger on a stronger plant. 



MiRABEAU. — A rather weak grower, with large, well-ex- 

 panded tfowers of a somewhat dull shade of yellow, faintly 

 flamed with carmine, and with broad and most distinctly 

 marked blotches of deep maroon on the lower petals. 



Louis Van Houtte. — This is a rather dwarf-growing variety, 

 with medium-sized, well-expanded flowers of a pale yellow 

 shade of color, faintly blotched with carmine on the lower 

 petals. The flowers open well together on spike. 



Oriflamme. — A vigorous, tall-growing variety, with branch- 

 ing flower-spike, and producing deep rose-colored flowers, 

 blotched with carmine on the lower petals. 



Victor Masse. — This is a washy, indistinctly colored and 

 worthless variety, which did not, I think, deserve a name. 



The seven varieties distributed at the end of 1886, and 

 which I was unable to describe adequately last year, were ; 



MoNS. A. Thiers. — This is a very pretty variety, of rather 

 vigorous habit, with medium-sized, well-opened flowers, which 

 are rather far apart on the spike, of a' clear shade of deep rose, 

 flaked with carmine. The lower petals are clear canary 

 yellow, edged with rose and blotched with maroon. 



Marquis de Saporta is a variety with medium-sized scar- 

 let flowers, with a lighter throat, and are closely set on the 

 spike and open well together. The lower petals are rather 

 indistinctly flaked with maroon-yellow. 



Montesquieu is a tall and vigorous grower, with large, 

 well-expanded, light red flowers, flaked with carmine. The 

 lower petals each bear a distinct and pretty flame of deep rose 

 color tipped with yellow. 



De Cherville. — This is a vigorous grower of medium 

 height of spike, with flowers rather under medium size, of a 

 rather dull shade of deep rose color, somewhat indistinctly 

 flaked with maroon and yellow. 



Braconnot. — A variety of medium height and not very 



vigorous habit of growth, with medium-sized blooms of a 

 deep shade of scarlet, prettily flaked with canary-yellow on 

 the lower petals. 



Gounod. — A rather weak-growing variety, with flowers of a 

 rather dull shade of yellow, faintly shaded with rose color. 

 The two lower petals are evenly divided between deep velvety 

 maroon and clear canary-yellow, the latter outside. 



Jean Jacques Rousseau. — A variety with pale orange- 

 scarlet flowers distinctly blotched with carmine on the lower 

 petals ; each blotch is edged with pale yellow. This is an 

 exceedingly pretty variety. 



M. Lemoine again sends out this winter fifteen more varie- 

 ties of this race of hybrids. He has not, however, yet been 

 able to get up sufficient stock of the beautiful new race of 

 hybrids he has obtained by crossing G. Satcndersi SKj)e?-btis 

 with some of his own Purpureo-auratus race ; of these he 

 hopes to be able to distribute one or two varieties towards 

 the end of next year. Another foreign nurseryman, M. Otto 

 Frcebel, of Zurich, has also obtained some bright and pretty 

 hybrids between G. Saiindersi stiperbxis and G. Gajidavensis 

 which he hopes to distribute shortly. 



IV. E. Gwnbleton, in The Garden, London. 



Ferns for the Window Garden. 



ONE of the most common causes of failure in window gar- 

 dening is unsuitable selection of plants. In fact, this is 

 the principal cause, for, where man can live, some species of 

 plants will thrive. After the Chrysanthemum is out of bloom, 

 scarlet Pelargoniums, or some other flowering plants with 

 bright colors, are generally selected for the window-garden. 

 These cannot succeed where we cannot or will not allow- 

 clear, full sunshine. The living-room rarely affords this sun- 

 shine, which is necessary to the production of vivid color. 



Most plants that have reveled in full light and pure air 

 during the summer soon lose the bloom of health when 

 brought into the living or sleeping room ; they lose their 

 strong, fleshy leaves, they become emaciated, and sicken 

 and die. 



For rooms where there is but little light, where the sun 

 makes only a formal call once a day, Ferns will thrive luxu- 

 riantly, and the more beautiful species appear to thrive the 

 best. As a family the Adiantums surpass all the others in 

 graceful beauty, and of the species few can compare with the 

 noble A. Farleyense or the delicate A. gracilis. These two I 

 have grown with perfect success in the room of an invalid, 

 when at times there would be but little light and hardly any 

 full sunshine during the entire winter. So well did they suc- 

 ceed, that in spring they would have been given a prominent 

 position at a Fern exhibition. In the same situation no flow- 

 ering plants could be induced to grow ; in fact, none were 

 wanted, for none are as cheerful or restful to the weary eye as 

 the delicate Adiantums. Some of the Adiantums make charm- 

 ing basket-plants; conspicuous among them is A. Edgeworthi, 

 whose delicate fronds, when young, wear a lovely pinkish hue, 

 gradually shading into a pale grayish-green. 



If a climbing plant is wanted for the house, the Fern family 

 will furnish this, too, in the Lygodium scandens, and a more 

 beautiful plant, or one more easy of management, cannot be 

 found. While it is a favorite in the green-house, and most 

 useful for decorative purposes, it is well adapted to house- 

 culture, as it requires but little light, and is not injured by gas 

 or furnace heat, so fatal to most plants. It is a rapid grower, 

 and with proper management can be made to complete its 

 growth in summer, after which it can be introduced into any 

 moderately cool room in the house, where it will remain an 

 object of beauty the entire winter. There are scores of Ferns 

 besides those named that are adapted for the house during 

 winter ; in fact, most Ferns do well, but none, I think, are as 

 beautiful as the ones noticed. In using Ferns for the window 

 one caution must be observed. Well-established plants must 

 be secured to begin with. In their young and growing state 

 they require a more humid atmosphere than the house 

 affords, a condition that is not essential when the plant is fully 

 developed. „ ^ ... 



Garden City. N. Y. C. L. Alien. 



Cosmos hybridus.— This valuable plant was introduced some 

 years since into this place and is now a conspicuous ornament 

 of many humble cottage gardens. It is, perhaps, a hybrid of 

 C. tenuissimus, but, more probably, only a garden variety. This 

 plant grows here to a height of six or seven feet, but I have 

 seen specimens at least eight feet high. The finely cut leaves 

 are very attractive. The flowers— pure white or pale rose 

 colored and single — are about two and one-half inches in 



