April 21, 1897.] 



Garden and Forest. 



159 



Gorse, Ulex Europagus, an allied plant, is not to be despised. 

 It at least reminds Old World gardeners o£ home. A few 

 Imantophyllums remain in bloom. One of the best is from a 

 set of seedlings sent here for trial by Messrs. Veitch, of Lon- 

 don. It is much superior in size and color to the type. A 

 well-flowered bush of Franciscea confertifolia, with salver- 

 shaped flowers of light and dark blue, is very attractive. It is an 

 interesting specimen, and one of the good old plants of which, 

 in this age of commercial rotation, we see fewer every year. 

 Gloneria (Psychotna) jasminoides is another of these. It is a 

 bush of slow growth, and this specimen is about six feet high 

 and probably twenty years old. It belongs to the Rubiacese, 

 and its opposite leaves and umbellate arrangement of narrow- 

 tubed four-limbed corollas remind one of the more common 

 Ixoras which belong to the same order. A grand specimen of 

 Lomaria gibba has just furnished itself with a new set of 

 fronds — the second set this winter. It has a clear stem three 

 feet long and a spread of six feet — a specimen such as one 

 seldom sees. Here, too, is an extensive collection of hybrid 

 Hippeastrums, new and old, and some of them are carrying 

 gorgeous flowers. H. vittatum, though one of the oldest, is 

 among the best. Olympia has blooms of orange-red seven 

 inches in diameter, and H. Masters!, though small, is free- 

 flowering, with early deep red blooms. I have a batch of seed- 

 lings from across between H. Johnsoni and H. Mastersi, and 

 although H. Johnsoni is the seed parent the majority of the 

 seedlings, as far as they have flowered, show a decided leaning 

 toward the pollen parent. As H. Mastersi is earlier than H. 

 Johnsoni, does this account for the preponderance of the for- 

 mer among the seedlings which first show flower ? 



Wellesley, Mass. T. D. Hatfield. 



Notes from Germantown. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Our early-flowering shrubs have done uncommonly 

 well this spring. Such plants as Jasminum nuditlorum and 

 Lonicera fragrantissima were very full of flowers, and none of 

 the buds were injured by cold. Chimonanthus fragrans flow- 

 ered in a desultory way with us, beginning with a few blos- 

 soms in February, then came others in March, and I notice a 

 few opening to-day, as late as the 15th of April. I am told that 

 the flowers of Chimonanthus expand about Mobile in January, 

 and that it bears seed there freely. Next to the three shrubs 

 mentioned, Daphne Mezereum flowered, a much-neglected plant 

 and hardy severa-1 degrees north of this latitude ; then followed 

 Cornus mas, an excellent shrub because it continues in flower 

 a long time, and as I write, on the 15th of April, the flowers 

 are still opening rapidly. Besides this, it is beautiful in fruit 

 and foliage. Prunus Davidiana followed the Cornus closely ; 

 Forsythia suspensa is now in full display a little in advance of 

 the variety known as viridissima, and with larger and lighter- 

 colored flowers. Our native Spice-wood is in full bloom ; 

 Magnolia stellata is in its prime, and the flowers of M. Kobus 

 are beginning to open a little in advance of those of M. con- 

 spicua, which is itself a day ahead of M. Soulangeana. 



I have rarely seen our Swamp Maples so beautiful as they 

 are now. Some of them are a perfect mass of brilliant red 

 flowers. There is a great difference in the color of the flowers 

 on individual trees, and this point ought to be considered in 

 propagating varieties. The flowers are dropping from the 

 Elms and Soft Maples, and as no frosts have occurred since 

 they opened, we shall undoubtedly have an abundance of seed. 



Germantown, Pa. Joseph Meehan. 



Recent Publications. 



Diseases of Plants Induced by Cry ptogamic Parasites. 

 By Karl Freiherr von Tubeuf, translated by William G. 

 Smith. Pp. xv., 598, 8vo. with 330 figures. Longmans, 

 Green & Co., London and New York. 



This treatise is one of the best general works on fungi 

 which cause diseases of plants which have yet been pub- 

 lished. The original German edition appeared only in 

 1895, and it is unusual for an English translation of so 

 large a book to be prepared in so short a time. This is, 

 perhaps, due to the fact that Dr. Smith, the translator, was 

 at one time a pupil of Dr. von Tubeuf, and was on that 

 account the better able to present his views to the English- 

 speaking public. The translation follows the original 

 closely in most respects, but in some cases, as in the 

 accounts of the genera Exoascus and Gymnosporangium, 

 the subject has been revised and extended by the author so 



as to embody the results of recent investigations. In form 

 the treatise is encyclopaedic, a general enumeration and 

 description of all the principal parasitic fungi which are of 

 interest to the vegetable pathologist being prefaced by 

 short chapters on the nature of parasitism, the effects of 

 fungi on their hosts, their relation to the substratum, and 

 similar topics on which the non-professional reader needs 

 information before proceeding to the consideration of 

 special fungi. There is also a short account of preventive 

 and combative measures, and two chapters on symbiosis. 

 The author has shown good judgment in his management 

 of these topics, and, although brief, is clear, and he has 

 avoided entering upon lengthy discussions of questions on 

 which authorities differ. 



By far the larger part of the book is devoted to descrip- 

 tions of different species of parasitic fungi, including not 

 only European fungi, but many species from North America 

 andotherparts of the world. The author has summarized the 

 very large number of papers relating to fungi which cause 

 diseases of plants which have appeared in recent years, and 

 few books on a subject in which new facts are brought out 

 monthly, and almost daily, have the appearance of being so 

 well up to date as the present work. The fungi are arranged 

 by their orders, beginning with the lower, and under each 

 order are given the more important genera and species 

 pathologically considered. Then follow chapters on path- 

 ogenic slime-fungi, bacteria and algas. The pathogenic 

 bacteria are very summarily treated, but the plan of the 

 author evidently did not require a full treatment of these 

 forms, which, at the present day, are usually relegated to 

 special treatises. At the end are a very convenient index 

 of parasites and an index of host-plants. We know no book 

 on the subject which presents so attractive an appearance. 

 The text is unusually clear and well arranged. The numer- 

 ous figures, are, in nearly all cases, well executed. Those 

 taken from other works are well selected and do not have 

 the time-worn look often found in treatises on this subject, 

 and there are also many original and characteristic habit- 

 pictures. The figures in the translation, however, are not 

 so well executed as those in the German edition. In short, 

 the book is one which should be in the working library of 

 all students of economic fungi. 



As a supplement to the manual entitled Vegetables under 

 Glass, Mr. Henry Dreer has just issued a similar work on 

 Vegetables Grown in the Open Air. The plants are grouped 

 according to their botanical affinities, an arrangement 

 which has many advantages, but which we have never 

 before seen followed in a manual of this sort. This study 

 of plants which are botanically related affords an opportu- 

 nity to give certain descriptions of the general character- 

 istics and cultural requirements of the entire group, and the 

 specific differences can be explained in connection with 

 the general resemblance which they bear to each other. 

 The subjects of drainage and fertilizing, irrigation, spray- 

 ing and storing the crops are treated in a practical way, 

 and the cultural details contain abundant quotations from 

 practical growers upon specific points. Altogether, it is a 

 good little book, and the same may be said of Grasses and 

 Clovers, another one of this series which is generally 

 known as Dreer's Library. This is a little handbook on 

 forage crops, with a chapter on lawn-making and lawn 

 management. We have been trampling grasses under our 

 feet all our lives, and yet perhaps there are few plants 

 about which we really know so little. This little treatise 

 will be found useful to any one who is beginning the study 

 of this interesting family. But besides the Grasses, legu- 

 minous crops are made the subject of a discriminating 

 essay, and farmers everywhere are urged to experiment 

 with the Cow Peas, the Clovers, Vetches, Tares, Beans and 

 other plants of this family on account of their special power 

 of transferring the free nitrogen of the air to the soil and 

 thereby enriching it with the most expensive element of 

 plant-food. These manuals cost only twenty-five cents each. 



