January 6, 1897.] 



Garden and Forest. 



of which many members show marked improvements on the 

 original. It is a native of Nepaul, introduced early in the cen- 

 tury, and now has over forty named varieties. One of the finest 

 of these forms which we now have in flower is C. insigne Col- 

 sonianum, sent out from the Short Hills nursery. The very 

 large dorsal sepal is the feature of the flower, the breadth and 

 purity of its white margin being especially noticeable ; in fact, 

 nearly one-half of it is of this color, the base having the char- 

 acteristic apple-green tint with prominent brown spots, the 

 petals gracefully undulated, with the abundant spots disposed 

 in a regular horizontal alignment. Of quite a different type is 

 the dwarf variety Eyermannianum. Its dorsal sepal is of a trans- 

 parent greenish-yellow tipped with white, the petals and pouch 

 also pale, unspotted, faintly lined, but the staminode is of a con- 

 spicuously rich yellow hue. C. nitens, a hybrid between parents 

 C. insigne Maulei and C. villosum, is handsome and blooms 

 freely. Its bold chocolate-spotted dorsal sepal shows the blood 

 of C. Maulei ; light brownish yellow petals, glistening like those 

 of its other parent, are faintly lined with brown, infolding 

 toward the polished light brown lip. Forms of the well-known 

 hybrid C. Leeanum are now numerous and most interesting. 

 The characteristics of C. Spicerianum predominates in all 

 these forms so much that there is little apparent trace of C. 

 insigne Maulei, or the other parent C. Maulei. The best of the 

 several forms we have is that known as Masureelianum, which 

 was also sent out from the Short Hills nursery, and now has 

 several fine flowers open. Its dorsal sepal is very large and 

 of elegant curvature, recurving at the base till the edges over- 

 lap, and looking at the dorsal sepal from behind it is in shape 

 a perfect miniature of the Arum Lily, in pure white. In front 

 it is marked with broken lines and dots of light purple, but 

 there is a broad margin of purest white. The insigne influ- 

 ence is apparent in the petals which, gracefully undulated along 

 their edges, are brownish yellow, spotted with a darker brown 

 pouch of a similar hue, but its inner surface pitted with 

 innumerable tiny red dots. Other good forms of C. Leeanum 

 in flower are Giganteum, Burfordense and Superbum, all suf- 

 ficiently distinct to justify their varietal names, while Pulchel- 

 lum is quite a little gem with a neat flower, the dorsal sepal 

 much contracted, green tinged and lightly spotted, the petals 

 narrow and decidedly drooping, the pouch short, with a widely 

 expanded aperture, while the staminode differs in color from 

 the previous named forms and attracts notice in consequence 

 by reason of its exquisite mauve color, the yellow protuber- 

 ance in its centre standing out in rich contrast. 



Cypripedium macropterum, a Veitchian production, is a 

 hybrid between C. Lowi and C. superbiens. We have a noble 

 scape of this, carrying two fine flowers and a bud yet to expand. 

 The open flowers with their long horizontally poised petals mea- 

 sure nearly six inches across. The dorsal sepal is of a quaint 

 shade of gray-green, lined and suffused with brown at its base. 

 The petals are long, making a flower ot graceful outline, as they 

 depend somewhat at their tips, describing quite a semicircle. 

 They are somewhat narrow at the base ot attachment, but 

 broaden toward their extremities, the broader half being of a 

 light glistening, uniform mauve-purple, while the anterior por- 

 tions are heavily dotted with shining black spots. The pouch 

 is light brown. C. Harrisianum is as well adapted to grow in 

 quantity for cutting as C. insigne, while some of its forms are 

 highly conspicuous, as, for example, Superbum, a truly superb 

 form in every respect. This has a very large dorsal sepal of 

 exquisite coloring, a kind of nuhogany-red in vertical lines 

 running up the sepal over alighter shade of purple-red diffused 

 through the sepal, save a well-defined narrow margin of white. 

 The petals are a rich purple-red in the upper half, but the lower 

 portions much paler-tinted and faintly lined with green. The 

 lip is prominent, of a claret-purple shading toward green at 

 its tip. The variety Pitcherianum shows distinctive traits com- 

 pared with its immediate relative. 



Cypripedium Lawrenceanum, a Bornean species discovered 

 by Burbidge in 1878, is a noble Cypripedium, as beautiful in 

 leaf as in flower. It is represented in our collection by a very 

 fine form, indeed, named Giganteum. Though a small plant, 

 it carries an immense flower on a stout stem over one foot 

 high. Its dorsal sepal is a study of rich coloring. Mainly 

 white, it shades to light green at the base, while broad vertical 

 lines of claret-purple of varying length streak the sepal, and 

 their color is faintly diffused through the white body-ground. 

 The petals are light green, ciliated along their edges, while 

 half a dozen black spots are distributed along the upper and 

 lower borders of both petals. The pouch is large, of a light 

 brownish green, pitted inside with dark purple dots. C. Niobe 

 Shorthillense flowers with great freedom, a plant in a three- 

 inch pot carrying six perfect flowers. The influence of one of 

 its parents, C. Spicerianum, is most marked in the dorsal sepal. 



which is white, heavily lined and suffused with purple, the 

 base of the sepal a brownish green. The petals have the 

 graceful undulations and show characteristics of its other 

 parent, C. Fairreanum. They are lined and suffused with 

 chocolate on a greenish yellow ground, the short pouch 

 glistening as though polished, being of the same tone of 

 color. Another dainty gem of Spicerianum parentage is C. 

 Hebe, which was raised at Short Hills; a tiny plant has two 

 perfect flowers. It has a broad dorsal sepal, mainly white, but 

 with a distinct band of purple right down the centre, and a few 

 spots and suffusions of the same tint on the white ground 

 color. It has short, narrow, wavy petals spotted with brown on 

 greenish yellow, a short, broad pouch with infolding lobes, 

 externally light chocolate, internally profusely red-spotted. C. 

 Arlhurianum is a lovely hybrid with C. insigne and C. Fairre- 

 anum for its parents. It is a dwarf grower, neat and free in 

 flowering, its dorsal sepal bright green, tipped with pure white 

 and penciled with brown in broken lines. Its wavy, drooping 

 petals impart to the flower a graceful expression. They are 

 lined and spotted with brown, the pouch also similarly tinted. 

 OtherCypripediumsof interest also in flowerareC. concinnum 

 transparens, quaintly colored in rosy purple and white, with a 

 peculiar transparent lustre; C. regale, of marked distinctness, 

 noteworthy for its clean-cut, regular form, its dorsal sepal 

 tipped with white and streaked with dark olive-green, petals 

 and pouch colored in a pretty harmony of brown and green ; 

 C. luridum in two forms ; C. Mrs. Edward Warren Hook, with 

 a polished purple-red flower of bright and attractive color- 

 ing, and C. Tonso-villosum, a comparatively colorless hybrid 

 with fine flowers in subdued tones of brown, green and 

 yellow. 



Madison, N.J. A. Ht'mng/on. 



Nepenthes. 

 "DITCHER-PLANTS are for the most part more interesting 

 ■*■ than showy. The flowers being inconspicuous, their chief 

 beauty is in what is commonly called the pitchers. The genus 

 comprises a considerable number of species and varieties, and 

 the form or color of the pitchers constitutes the chief distinc- 

 tion, though they vary considerably in size, texture of leaf and 

 vigor of growth. They are generally considered plants of easy 

 culture, but this greatly depends upon the facilities. It is 

 almost useless to attempt to grow them in an unsuitable house 

 or in one in which the proper' atmospheric conditions cannot 

 be maintained. They require abundant atmospheric moisture 

 at all times, but fresh air is also necessary. I have seen them 

 grown in a house with a northern elevation, but one with a 

 southern elevation is preferable, though, of course, it will 

 require slightly more shade. This shading should in no case 

 be overdone, for, in our experience, they have stood a greater 

 amount of light than is usually allowed. It is only necessarv 

 to break off the strong sun rays, and for this purpose light 

 muslin or cheesecloth is useful. The usual means of propa- 

 gation is by cuttings. Several methods of striking are adopted, 

 but the simplest and most convenient is to firmly insert the 

 cuttings made from well-ripened one-year growths, singly, in 

 small pots filled with sharp clean sand. These are plunged in 

 a propagating-case where a good bottom-heat can be main- 

 tained, and kept liberally sprinkled with water heated to the 

 same temperature as that of the case. We make the cuttings 

 from single joints, with leaf attached, cutting from one to two 

 inches below and one inch above the leaf. The longest of the 

 leaves are sometimes shortened to save space, but otherwise 

 this is not necessary. Alter striking, the first shift is made into 

 three-inch pots ; the principal material used is fibrous peat, 

 with a surface covering of sphagnum-moss, and the whole 

 should be firmly packed in the pots or baskets. We prefer to 

 plant in baskets after the plants have attained sufficient size. 

 The moss on the surface helps to retain the moisture, for lack 

 of which they should never be allowed to suffer. If plenty of 

 water is not given, the pitchers will become shriveled at an 

 early stage of their formation, and the leaves will lose their bright 

 green color and assume a reddish tint. During the summer 

 months syringing will be required three or four times aday. In 

 winter less syringing will answer, but hard firing will necessi- 

 tate the frequent application of water to the pathwaysand brick- 

 work of the house to guard against a drying atmosphere. This 

 syringing and damping also serves to keep down red spider, the 

 most dreaded insect enemy. We try to maintain a night tem- 

 perature of about sixty-five degrees during the winter months, 

 allowing a rise of about ten degrees by day. For the summer 

 months, of course, it is impossible to lay down a hard and fast 

 rule. As Nepenthes grow rapidly we find it desirable to 

 shorten back or cut them down every season. They break 

 very readily. If allowed to run they incline to produce flowers 



