i6 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 464. 



Cultural Department. 



Tender Sub-aquatic Plants. 



EICHORNEA CRASSIPES and E. azurea succeed well in 

 soil which is continually soaked with water, and it the 

 soil be enriched with cow manure the display of bloom after 

 midsummer is much superior to that on floating plants. Self- 

 sown seeds of these two species germinate out-of-doors here 

 after lying in the ground all winter, and the seedlings in their 

 turn ripen seed, so that in places where the surroundings are 

 favorable they may become naturalized. Another plant which 

 does best where there is a continual supply of moisture is the 

 Parrot's Feather, Myriophyllum proserpinacoides. It has 

 rather inconspicuous flowers ; the foliage, however, is of such 

 a pleasing shade that it is always welcome. When grown in 

 water, the foliage under the surface is much finer or thread- 

 like than that above. Last summer I saw some plants of it 

 grown in tubs of moss mixed with manure, the bottoms of the 

 tubs just resting in the water of a lily pond ; it was during the 

 middle of June, and even at that early date the sides ot the 

 tubs were entirely covered with the long feathery growths. 

 Although a native of Brazil it is perfectly hardy here. 



We have several desirable species of Cyperus, and among 

 the dwarf kinds we find C alternifolius and its variegated form 

 the best for margins of lakes, where, if planted early, they 

 make a fair show before the summer is far advanced. The 

 variegated form is slower in growing than the other. C. 

 Papyrus, known also as Papyrus Antiquorum, although often 

 successfully used as an aquatic, will do well where the soil is 

 fairly moist. In positions of this kind the stems are stouter 

 and better able to withstand high winds. Both of these are 

 tender and require greenhouse protection during winter. C. 

 Papyrus often ripens seeds, and these, if sown as soon as ripe 

 in finely chopped sphagnum moss, kept moist and placed in 

 heat, germinate freely. 



Gunnera scabra and G. manicata are desirable for their 

 foliage on the margins of ponds. They will not endure much 

 frost, however, and are a trifle difficult to raise from seed. A 

 plant much easier of cultivation, with almost as handsome 

 foliage, is the Chinese Rice Paper Tree, Aralia papyrifera 

 (Fatsia), which will grow ten feet high from strong roots or 

 crowns in a single season. It is not reliably hardy north of 

 Washington. In most places ashes or rough litter over the 

 crowns will preserve it. It is propagated from cuttings of the 

 root about the thickness of one's finger and two or three inches 

 long. It these are put in pots in a cool propagating-house, 

 they will make full-sized plants the following season. Two 

 species of Thalia, T. divaricata and T. dealbata, do admirably 

 where they can have a little extra attention in the shape of 

 good soil. P. divaricata is the larger of the two, having leaf- 

 blades nearly a foot long and six inches broad on stalks two 

 to three feet long. The small purple flowers are borne on 

 scapes from three to five feet high. The foliage ot both resem bles 

 that of some species of Carina, to which genus they are closely 

 related. Stromanthe sanguinea, belonging to the same family, 

 has proved fairly satisfactory, the past two seasons, in situa- 

 tions partly shaded from the sun. Two of the best-known 

 Colocasias, C. esculenta and C. odorata, give quick results 

 where broad tropical foliage is needed. C. esculenta is 

 stemless, with the leaves pointing to the ground. C. odorata 

 has the foliage more upright and is the more rapid-growing of 

 the two. It has thick succulent stems, sometimes six feet 

 long. Where color is wanted the fancy-leaved Caladiums are 

 quite at home where they have rich damp soil to grow in. 

 Those Winds lately introduced with very highly colored leaves 

 should be avoided, as they do not succeed nearly as well as 

 some of the older sorts, such as Bicolor, Dr. Lindley, Rossini, 

 Duchartre Cannartii, Beethoven, Uranus and Pictum. The 

 bulbs should be started indoors and put in their summer 

 quarters late in May or early in June, as when put out earlier, 

 they are apt to get a check from which they need some time 

 to recover. 



Botanic Garden, Washington, D. C. Cr. IV. Oliver. 



Seasonable Work. 



SILENE pendula is among the showiest of early-blooming 

 plants useful for spring bedding. It is a biennial, and 

 naturally would sow itself one season and bloom the next. 

 Under cultivation our summer-sown seedlings have invariably 

 died during the succeeding winter, although protected, while, 

 curious to note, such as were self-sown stood unprotected. We 

 do justas well by making asowingindoors, during late January 

 or February. The seed germinates in about three weeks, and 

 the seedlings are transplanted as soon as large enough to 



handle. Unless well aired they damp off easily, and we place 

 the flats on shelves near the glass. They remain here until 

 the end of March, when we shift them into cold frames to 

 harden, a few weeks before planting time. The plants com- 

 mence blooming early in May and remain in full beauty for 

 the whole of the month. One merit of S. pendula as a bed- 

 ding plant is that it never looks untidy. 



Vinca rosea and its white variety make an attractive mixture 

 for summer bedding. It is slow work to get a stock of it, 

 for it germinates slowly, and even then almost stands still, 

 and not until we can give it a little bottom-heat does it make 

 any growth to speak of. It is one of the most beautiful plants 

 for a summer display, and helps greatly to vary the too fre- 

 quent repetition of Colens and Geranium. 



Spring is already approaching, and what can be done now 

 is so much gain of time. Unless it lie the dwarf variety 

 of Salvia splendens, which must be propagated from cuttings 

 to keep it even in growth and in time of blooming, plants of 

 Salvia may be raised from seed with less trouble. Solatium 

 capsicastrum, otherwise known as the Jerusalem Cherry, al- 

 though a native of Brazil, is a very ornamental berry-bearing 

 plant. Seeds should be sown early to have the plants make a 

 good setting outdoors before autumn. We have a good strain, 

 which always comes true. Much of the store seed is mixed, 

 and therefore many growers select a well-berried and neatly 

 bushy plant for propagating bv means of cuttings. The 

 seeds should be put in now. Seeds of Dracasna australis 

 come quite freely, and when sown early and planted out in 

 rich soil, under good culture, they make neat plants for 

 winter decoration-. The following season we use them for 

 subtropical gardening, and afterward throw all but a few of 

 the best away, having meanwhile raised a new lot. Grevillea 

 robusta we treat in the same way. One-year-old plants are 

 exceedingly pretty, averaging from one to two feet in height. 

 They come in handy the following season for bedding pur- 

 poses, and as centre plants nothing is more graceful. Euca- 

 lyptus globulus is another of this class, but its usefulness 

 usually ends with one season. It may be used the following 

 winter for grouping, where its blue-green leaves have a strik- 

 ing effect, but it loses its leaves badly and soon becomes un- 

 sightly. Seed of single Dahlias should be sown early to have 

 bloom in good season. Mirabilis Jalapa, Marvel ot Peru, is 

 an exceedingly showy border plant. That it is common, or 

 once was, should be nothing against it. A month or six weeks 

 may be gained by sowing the seeds now. Maurandya Bar- 

 clayana is a pretty little climber, and an equally beautiful plant 

 for gracing the edges of vases and of hanging baskets, where 

 there is plenty of sunshine. Its large Pentstemon-like flowers 

 of violet and white are exceedingly pretty. The showy peren- 

 nial, Gaillardia giandiflora, is more satisfactory when treated as 

 an annual sown early. The single forms of Pyrethrum roseum 

 make splendid border plants and are among the most useful 

 for cutting. In the Old Country large collections of named 

 varieties, mostly double, are kept up. The climate there is more 

 favorable than ours, and they grow readily. They stand our win- 

 ters better than the summers, and usually die out altera year 

 or two. A continuous display of the single forms is main- 

 tained more easily by sowing a lot every spring. Those who 

 like the perennial Lupines will be pleased with some of the 

 annual kinds. Lupinus nanus is low-growing and pretty. 

 Lobelia cardinalis and L. fulgens Victoria bloom abundantly 

 all through the autumn troni spring-sown seed. These hand- 

 some plants naturally grow in wet soils, but we have had 

 them do quite well in dry positions. Campanula Carpathica 

 blooms abundantly from July onwards, when sown early, as 

 do Larkspurs, Antirrhinums, Pentstemons and Violas. 



At the place of H. H. Hunnewell, Esq., there are several small 

 bushy specimens of Bougainvillea Sandenana. This handsome 

 novelty resembles, in the color, shape and arrangement of its 

 flowers, the older B. glabra, and like it has a more con- 

 tinuous period of bloom than the still older and coarser B. 

 spectabilis. Though quite as spiny as B. spectabilis, it is 

 in no sense a climber. The habit is erect; the plant is short- 

 jointed and blooms on the ends of all the shoots. Mr. Harris 

 trimmed off the side shoots from one plant, with the intention 

 of making a standard of it. Fresh shoots appeared all along 

 the stem, and each one was full of bloom, although but a 

 few inches in length. The Socotrana hybrid Begonia, Gloire 

 de Lorraine, noted five weeks ago, is still in perfect bloom. 

 It is, without doubt, the loveliest winter-flowering Begonia ever 

 raised. Clematis indivisa promises to be better than ever this 

 season. It will cover nearly four hundred square feet of the 

 roof. No better place could be found for this handsome 

 winter-flowering Clematis from the antipodes. It has a cool 

 place in summer, quite free from the stimulating effects of 



