JECEMBER fg, 



Garden and Forest. 



5if 



summer the pots containing- the bulbs are exposed to full 

 sunshine on a dry shelf. This is the secret of growing and 

 flowering the White Hoop-Petticoat. 



Mr. Moore, of the Glasnevin Botanic Gardens, near Dub- 

 lin, has added another to the half dozen or so excellent kinds 

 of Eucharis already in cultivation. The new one is a very 

 distinct variety of E. Amasonica (£. grandiflora of botanists), 

 characterized by the purity of its flowers, those of the type 

 having a green tinge on the inside of the tube ; there is also 

 a difference in the form of the three inner segments of the 

 perianth. The foliage is much shorter and tliicker in texture 

 in the new one than in the type. Mr. Baker has named the 

 variety Mooreana. We ha\-e now, in addition to the two 

 mentioned, E. Sandcri, E. Mastersi, E. Candida and E. subi:- 

 dentata, all of them large-flowered and of great value on 

 account of the freedom with which their flowers are pro- 

 duced under ordinary treatment, it being by no means un- 

 usual for these plants to flower three or four times in the 

 same year. The once dreaded mite, which is often found 

 on the bulbs of these plants, has proved much less deadly than 

 it was supposed, to be; at all events, one rarely sees bulbs 

 which are unaffected by it, and hosts of other bulbs besides 

 Eucharis are just as much subject to it. A famous Dutch 

 bulb-grower, on being asked if the mite did him harm, 

 replied that it had been on his bulbs ever since he knew 

 them, which was more than forty years, but it did no harm. 

 If a bulb sickened the mite increased, but strong bulbs were 

 unaffected by it. So far as my experience goes, this is true. 



Cypripedium insigiie SandercB is the last sensational Orchid, 

 a small plant, with a single growth and one flower, having 

 brought seventy guineas at an auction sale on the i6th inst. 

 It differs from the type in being devoid of spots, the pouch 

 and petals being yellow and wax-like, the dorsal sepal yel- 

 low below and white above. It was imported among a 

 batch of C. insigne by Mr. Sander. 



Two of the best Orchids flowering here now are Lcelia 

 autiunnalis, with its variety atroriibens, and L. anceps in all 

 its numerous forms. These two species are Orchids for the 

 million, as they are easily grown, they are permanent 

 stayers when once established, and they flower freely every 

 autumn, lasting about six weeks in perfection. 



Novemljer 23a, 1SS8. Jf ' IVatSOH. 



The Washington Oak at Fishkill. 



A LL strangers who visit Cambridge, in Massachusetts, look 

 -^~^ with interest upon the remnants of the venerable Elm 

 tree under which Washington sat when, on the 3d of July, 

 1775, he assumed command of the Colonial Army. Not less 

 interestingfrom its association withtheGeneralof the American 

 Army, although much less well known, is the Oak which is 

 represented in our illustration upon page 510. 



Washington's headquarters remained on the west bank of 

 the Hudson, between Newburgh and New Windsor, from the 

 spring of 1782 to August l8tli, 1783; and during this time he 

 crossed the river frequently for the purpose of visiting the 

 troops in camp upon P~ishkill Plain, near the village of that 

 name. Tlie most convenient landing-place on the east bank 

 was upon a long, low point of land formed to the north of the 

 mouth of Fishkill Creek, known as " Presqu' He," and 

 here, according to the tradition of the locality, imder two 

 large Oak trees, Washington always mounted and dismounted 

 from his horse as he started and returned from the camp. 



One of these trees appears in our illustration ; its com- 

 panion was blown to the ground on the loth of August, 

 1881. The story of Washington's connection with these two 

 Oaks seems to be abundantly substantiated. The Commander- 

 in-Chief was often accompanied on these excursions from 

 his headquarters to the camp at Fishkill by his Adjutant-Gen- 

 eral, William Denning, whose son, also William Denning, 

 at that time fourteen years of age, was sometimes allowed to 

 join the party. The impressions made upon the boy by the 

 incidents of this period were not effaced ; and many years 

 later, in 1822, after a life of travel and adventure, he returned 

 to the Hudson and purchased from a member of the Verplank 

 family the point of land, and the old Oaks, still associated in 

 his mind with the Commander-in-chief of the American Army 

 and the first President of the United States. The daughter of 

 the second William Denning, to whom we are indebted 

 for these facts, still inhabits the old mansion built on 

 "Presqu'ile" m 1813 ; and her life and that of her father span 

 the years which separate us from the days of Washington 

 and the Colonial Army. 



The tree is a Chestnut Oak {Qiiercus Prinus of botanists), still 

 healthy and vigorous, and standing directly at the top of the low 



river-bank. The trunk girths, at the present time, twenty-one 

 feet, and, judging from the age of its companion, which was 

 blown down seven years ago, eiglit Or ten centuries may 

 have passed since the acorn from which it sprang fell to the 

 ground. 



Our illustration is from one of a series of photographs of 

 the old trees and the historical country places of the Hudson 

 River, made by Mrs. Winthrop Sargent. The photograph 

 brings out admirably the striking character of the bark of this 

 particular species of Chestnut Oak. It is dark brown, and, on 

 old trees, very thick and deeply furrowed, with broad, rounded 

 ridges; while on all other American White Oaks (that is. Oaks 

 which have the lobes of the leaves rouniled without the 

 slender bristles found on the leaves of the Black Oaks, and 

 whose acorns ripen in one season), the bark is thin, light- 

 colored, or, on some species, almost white, not furrowed, but 

 separating into thin, flaky plates or scales. 



Cultural Department. 



New Chr3'santhemums. 



'X'HE published lists of Chrysanthemums in recent years 

 -•■ have contained the names of so many new varieties that 

 the experience of any grower who has tried, so far as possi- 

 ble, all the new kinds, may be of some interest to those who 

 are wise enough to limit their collections of this plant to the 

 well-tested varieties. It has been possible for me, up to the 

 present time, in a garden of moderate, size, to try all the 

 new foreign varieties and the larger part of those raised in 

 this country. But the steadily diminishing number of reallv 

 good novelties, and the pleasant lottery of raising seedlings, 

 have convinced me that a more rigorous selection than that 

 hitherto practiced must be henceforth made. 



Lemoine, of Nancy, who publishes a list of the most desira- 

 ble new varieties of Continental origin, gives the names of 

 sixty-eight Chrysanthemums new in 1887. Cannell's list for 

 the same year numbers fifty-seven; and the various American 

 growers add at least fifty names to these. 



Of the fifty-three Continental varieties of 1887, which 1 have 

 tried, coming from such successful growers as Uelaux. Lassali, 

 Etienne Lacroix, Audiguier, De Reydellet and others, fouronly 

 seem worth growmg again ; not that the rest are all bad, far 

 from it, but they are either unsatisfactory in growth or not suf- 

 ficiently distinct from existing kinds. The four selected are : 

 (I) Lord Mayor (D^laux), styled in the introducer's description 

 a large-flowered variety ; tlie plant is of moderate size and a 

 most profuse bearer of well-shaped, recurved, full flowers of 

 white color, suffused with rose-violet. (2) Alcyon (Lacroix), a 

 Japanese variety, with large flowers, the broad petals being 

 rose-carmine, striped with white, and the centre of the petals a 

 rose color. This variety is quite distinct from existing kinds, 

 and is, moreover, of vigorous growth. (3) Louis Wieille 

 (Audiguier) is a very early flowering Japanese kind, of good 

 growth, well covered with large mauve-violet flowers, with a 

 lighter centre. (4) Superbe flore (Lacroix), Ja]'anese, appears 

 to me the best recent introduction of its scirt. It has very 

 much of the habit of that always good variety, M. DtJlaiix. 

 The rose-carniine, globular flowers are borne on stiff', erect 

 stems, and are somewhat lighter toward the centre; the petals 

 are twisted, and white on the reverse siile. It comes into 

 flower early and remains fresh for many weeks. 



Charles Delmas (Lassali), sent out as a large-flowered variety, 

 is very like Robert Walcott in form and color, but does not 

 appear to me equal to the latter. Mr. Cannell sent out in 1887 

 some varieties imported from Japan. Of these, Edwin Moly- 

 neux, Mr. H. Cannell and Mrs. H. Cannell are well woi'th grow- 

 ing. The first has broad petals, partially incurved, of the Mrs. 

 Wheeler tvpe — rich brown inside and yellow on the outside; the 

 second, in the way of the well-known old variety, Grandifiorum, 

 is of a rich, deep yellow; Mrs. Cannell is of rather dwarf 

 growth, anil has large, pure white, incurved petals. Ralph 

 Brocklebank, a golden sport from the old variety, Meg Mer- 

 rilies, has proved a very successful prize-winner in the English 

 shows of this year, but did not do well with me. Avalanche, 

 a pure white Japanese variety, also a great success this year 

 in England, I have not grown and have not seen. 



A number of importations in recent years direct from Jajjan 

 has given our American growers an advantage which has 

 been qnickly improved. The new^ varieties are very dis- 

 tinct from those previously in cultivation, and their influence is 

 already noticeable in a number of seedlings well worth pre- 

 serving. Of an importation of Japanese ChrysantluMuums, 

 which flowered for the first time in this country in 1884, Mrs. 



