8 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 463. 



raised from canes that were laid in a shallow pond outdoors 

 in the summer. 



Pandanus Veitchii roots now, and a point worth remem- 

 bering about Pandanus cuttings in general is, that they root 

 more quickly when kept a little on the side of dryness and 

 only have water enough to prevent shriveling. This rule also 

 applies to cuttings of variegated Pineapple and to various 

 other Bromeliads. 



The reference to Dracaena canes suggests the hint that nice 

 top cuttings of these plants can usually be rooted without loss 

 of foliage by nicking the stem with a sharp knife and then 

 mossing up the wound, imitating the treatment often given to 

 Ficus elastica. Strong, brightly colored Croton tops may be 

 managed to advantage in the same way. To have finely col- 

 ored Crotons it is wiser to select the cuttings to some extent, 

 for while some varieties seem to color up well without special 

 selection, yet there are others that cannot be relied on unless 

 the cuttings are well-marked growths. With both Dracaenas 

 and Crotons the best results are obtained from strong young 

 plants that have not been stunted in any way, but grown on 

 rapidly by good feeding. 



Fatsia papyrifera and F. Japonica, both of which are useful 

 in the conservatory and in the outdoor garden, may be in- 

 creased by means of short sections of the stronger roots, 

 buried to a depth of half an inch in sand or light soil in a mod- 

 erately warm greenhouse. These plants also come freely from 

 seeds, but where the stock is small the roots are more readily 

 obtainable. Root-cuttings, too.offera practical way to propagate 

 some of the Clerodendrons and Bignonias, for by this means 

 a stock may be obtained with less trouble than by top cuttings. 

 Cuttings of Roses, and of Tea Roses particularly, are just now 

 in order, and the wisdom of a proper selection of good healthy 

 growth for this purpose will be apparent to every one who 

 makes the experiment. 



If suitable roots of Clematis flammulaorC. Vitalba are at 

 hand they may now be used for stocks on which to graft some 

 of the finer varieties, and a little work of this character will 

 furnish a pleasant variety in the routine of the season. The 

 roots used for this purpose should be stout, clean and free 

 from bruises, and the scions made from firm clean wood. 

 Cleft-grafting is the most convenient method. After grafting, 

 the plants should be buried in sand in slight bottom-heat until 

 the union has taken place, after which they may be potted up 

 into small pots. 



slender stems. The Ivy-leaved Geranium has a rich glossy 

 foliage and clustered flowers of a great many colors. It is as 

 easy to grow as the common Geranium, and can be trained on 

 cords, but it is better to droop around the edges of the vase or 

 from a hanging basket. 



Orange, N.J. J. A. Don. 



Holmesburg, Pa. 



W. H. Tap tin. 



Climbing Plants for Indoor Decoration. 



ONE of the very best of this class of plants to train about a 

 window is Maurandia Barclayana, a native of Mexico, 

 with showy blue or purple flowers shaped like those of an 

 Antirrhinum, although the tube of the corolla is not enlarged 

 at the base and the so-called palate is not so prominent. These 

 plants are easily grown from seed and can be lifted from the 

 open ground early in autumn, or they can be planted in good- 

 sized pots and sunk out-of-doors during the summer. They 

 are easily supported on cords, about which they twist their 

 petioles, and they have delicate hastate leaves which are most 

 attractive. They bloom abundantly all winter long. 



Another good plant is Cobaea scandens, which has pinnate 

 leaves with tendrils and large greenish-purple flowers, which 

 are bell-shaped and very abundant. It can also be grown from 

 seed and treated like an annual. It grows very rapidly and 

 can be carried away from the light along the ceiling of a room, 

 and in this position, out of the direct sunshine, the flowers are 

 bleached white and very interesting. Solanum jasminoides is 

 another admirable plant for this purpose, producing clusters of 

 pure white flowers, which in the variety known as grandiflorum 

 are an inch across. This plant will grow out-of-doors in the 

 summer-time perfectly well, and there is no better one for the 

 decoration of verandas at that season, or of windows in the 

 winter, as it seems to endure the dry heat of a house much 

 better than most others. It belongs to the same family as the 

 Potato, as any one can see by a single glance at its flowers. It 

 was introduced from South America more than fifty years 

 ago, and recently it has become quite common. Manettia 

 bicolor is another good plant of this sort, with lance-shaped 

 leaves and flowers with tubes of bright scarlet and yellow seg- 

 ments. A good annual plant is Thunbergia alata, which can 

 be propagated from seeds like the Maurandia. It has white or 

 buff-colored, salver-shaped flowers, often with a dark throat. 

 The Butterfly Vine, Stigmaphyllum, with heart-shaped leaves 

 and bright yellow flowers, is rather harder to manage than the 

 others, but it is a beautiful plant for sunny places, and it 

 flowers abundantly in small pots. It is a graceful plant with 



Correspondence. 



Denclrolene. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — The communication from Mr. Troop, in the number of 

 Garden and Forest for December 2d, requires a statement 

 from me. 



In Bulletin m of the New Jersey Experiment Station, I 

 gave the results of a season's (est of " Raupenleim " and 

 " Dendrolene." Raupenleim, an old German preparation, is 

 too expensive in the United States to be of practical value to 

 our farmers, and the effort was made to obtain a native sub- 

 stance that would answer the same purposes at less cost. 

 Professor F. L. Nason, to whom I suggested the matter, 

 thought he could get a material that would answer as well 

 and would be essentially the same as the European product. 



Professor Nason was not then and never has been con- 

 nected with the New Jersey Experiment Stations, and the Den- 

 drolene was not in any sense the result of any investigations 

 made by the Station, nor are we responsible for the statements 

 of any advertisement. The results of my experiments, as 

 given in Garden and Forest, were exceedingly satisfactory, 

 and those results were accurately stated. Up to the time of 

 publication of my annual report for 1895 no injurious effects 

 were observed on any of the trees under observation in New 

 Jersey. It is to be noted, however, that in my record of experi- 

 ments only two young trees were treated. On page 10 of Bul- 

 letin in, the condition of these trees on September 3d is 

 noted, and it is stated that the European material was the one 

 employed on them. The effect of the material on very young 

 trees, therefore, was not a matter of direct or special experi- 

 ment. It is certain that none of the older bearing trees in the 

 Durand orchard were in any way injured by the material 

 applied. Early in the present year (March or April), the 

 Messrs. Durand informed me that the two young trees which 

 were coated the entire season of 1895 were still healthy. 



On the White orchard of Peach-trees, where the material 

 was applied to keep out the Peach borer, and where hundreds 

 of trees were treated, so sign of any injury was to be seen at 

 the time my bulletin went to press. In the spring of 1896 it 

 was found that there had been considerable penetration 

 through the thin bark of the youngest trees and and an appa- 

 rent check in growth. The injury did not extend to the inner 

 bark, but was taken as a caution and no new coating was 

 applied. It was found, on examination, that the Dendrolene 

 had gradually penetrated the bark tissue of the younger trees, 

 killing the cells as far as it went, and, of course, interfering 

 with the proper circulation of the sap. In the most extreme 

 cases there was a perceptible constriction of the trunk, as if 

 made by a tight band ; but this was only found on a few of 

 the youngest trees, not yet in bearing. On the larger Peach- 

 trees no harm resulted, and apparently the material did not 

 get through the dry and hard outer tissue. The Bowker Com- 

 pany was notified of these facts before the beginning of May, 

 and was requested to caution purchasers of their material on 

 these points — especially those intending to use it on Peach- 

 trees, and to discourage a continuous application in any case. 

 It was intended during the season of 1896 to make a thorough 

 test of Dendrolene, mixed with a variety of substances that 

 would reduce its penetrating power, but the experiments were 

 not carried out, on account of my absence. 



Dendrolene, so far as I know, contains no caustic and no 

 acid. It is absolutely neutral to all ordinary tests, and the 

 injuries, so far as any have been caused by it, are due to the 

 fact that it very gradually penetrates into thin, active, growing 

 tissue, especially where it gains nutriment of any kind from 

 without. In no case was fully matured outer bark penetrated 

 by the material ; only the very young, growing tissue. Fur- 

 thermore, so far as my observation extended, the penetration 

 is extremely slow, not being noticeable on the young Peach- 

 trees until almost a year from the date of the application. I 

 am yet confident that the material is a good one and that it will 

 serve a useful purpose, though more widely different than I 

 had supposed from the Raupenleim. It will require, however, 

 much more experiment before its true place is ascertained, and 

 its range of usefulness will probably be much more restricted 

 than I hoped at first, and believed. At all events, it will be 



