September i, 1897.] 



Garden and Forest. 



345 



fruits of the Snowberry, Symphoricarpus. Both seeds and 

 plants of it are now to be had from the nurserymen. 



Eriopsis Helens. — This is a new species, according to 

 Dr. Kranzlin, who describes it as the largest flowered yet 

 found in the genus, resembling at first sight E. biloba, 

 but more than twice as large. The pseudo bulbs are 

 sixteen inches long, with one long and three short inter- 

 nodes, and the leaves twenty inches long by one inch in 

 width ; the scape is as long as the leaves, and bears a 

 nodding raceme of yellow flowers with purple margins, 

 and the lip is densely spotted with the same color. It has 

 been imported from Peru by Messrs. F. Sander & Co., St. 

 Albans, with whom it has lately flowered. The genus is 

 not one of the most popular with English cultivators, the 

 species hitherto grown being shy of flowering. Possibly 

 this new species may prove more satisfactory. Dr. Kranz- 

 lin says "it is undoubtedly the finest species of this small 

 genus." 



British Ferns. — The numerous varieties, many of them 

 very beautiful, of British Ferns now in cultivation, and for 

 the origin of which we are indebted to the careful cultivation, 

 selection and, it is said, cross-breeding of a few enthusi- 

 asts, have increased in favor, especially among amateurs. 

 We have now a society devoted to them, calling itself the 

 British Pteridological, and having for its objects the dis- 

 semination of a wider knowledge of the merits and 

 beauties of British Ferns and their varieties, a regulation of 

 their nomenclature, the encouragement of their general 

 culture by providing a means, at least once a year, for an 

 exhibition of them and the meeting of their finders and 

 raisers under one roof for the exchange of cultural knowl- 

 edge and specimens. Mr. E. J. Lowe, F. R. S. , has raised 

 some most extraordinary varieties, especially among 

 Scolopendriums, and he has written several interesting 

 volumes upon the peculiarities of growth and variation 

 among ferns generally under artificial cultivation. The 

 president of the society is Dr. Stansfield. 



London. 



W. Watson. 



Cultural Department. 



Gooseberries. 



WHILE this season has not been altogether favorable to 

 some fruits it has suited Gooseberries to a nicety. The 

 cool, showery weather in May and June swelled out the fruits to 

 more than double the size to which we usually grow them, 

 and the bushes bore such an enormous crop that they were 

 severely thinned when about half-grown, this green fruit prov- 

 ing acceptable for sauce and pies. We have only found one 

 or two varieties to be thoroughly reliable. Of the foreign or 

 English sorts, Whinham's Industry is easily the best we have 

 tried ; some sorts bear larger berries, but for heavy annual 

 crops, free growth and a total absence of mildew we consid- 

 ered Industry the best foreign variety. From bushes planted 

 in the fall of 1894 we gathered an average of twelve quarts of 

 ripe fruit from each plant, besides the green fruit picked early 

 in the season and that which burst during the wet weather. 

 We find this variety succeeds best when not planted in a fully 

 exposed place, but where the plants get sunshine about half 

 the day. Full sunshine during all of the day causes some of 

 the berries which are most exposed to be scorched and to 

 drop off. 



Among American varieties we think highly of Columbus, 

 sent out by Ellwanger & Barry, of Rochester, New York, four or 

 five years ago. The fruit is much larger with us than that of 

 Industry ; skin greenish yellow and smooth, and the foliage is 

 large and smooth. It is a heavy cropper and the most robust 

 grower of any sort we have tested. Triumph is a large golden- 

 yellow variety of size similar to Columbus, and is an equally 

 robust grower and great cropper. Both these varieties have 

 very thick skins, and thick skins seem to be an essential 

 quality of any gooseberry which is of use in America, as thin- 

 skinned sorts are literally cooked on the bushes by scorching 

 heat from the sun in July. Downing is an old reliable sort, 

 much smaller than Triumph and Columbus, but a reliable 

 cropper, and the fruit ripens some days earlier than that of 

 any other kinds we have tried. 



Gooseberries prefer a cool and rather moist climate. We 

 always mulch our bushes after growth commences and leave 



this surface-dressing on until fall, when it is removed. The 

 bushes are then oruned and a coating of good rotten manure 

 is given them. Like all small fruits, Gooseberries have large 

 quantities of fine fibrous roots near the surface of the soil and 

 no digging should be done among them. Stirring with a hoe 

 to keep down weeds and to loosen the surface is all the culti- 

 vation needed. During the growing season we give our 

 bushes several soakings of liquid-manure after heavy rainfalls, 

 and this labor is fully repaid by increased size of the fruit. 



Gooseberries can be propagated in a variety of ways, but 

 cuttings make the most shapely bushes. The strongest and 

 best ripened shoots should be selected. We prefer cuttings 

 about a foot long after the top has been shortened back. We 

 rub off all lower eyes and leave only four to five at the top of 

 each cutting. If it is not desired to plant them out in the fall 

 they can be heeled into a cold frame ; they should be tramped 

 firmly and never allowed to become dry. By April 1st they 

 will be found to have callus formed and can be planted out in 

 any good garden soil, and a moist location should have the 

 preference. In dry weather water must be given or few of the 

 cuttings will grow. Propagation by layers and suckers will 

 give larger bushes in a short time, but the bushes are never 

 shapely and constantly send up suckers from the base. We 

 prefer fall planting for Gooseberries, and, indeed, for nearly 

 all other fruits, and move them as soon as they shed their 

 foliage. 



Taunton, Mass. W. N. Craig. 



Fern Notes. 



"T^EW Ferns require repotting at this season, except seedlings 

 -*■ or young stock that is much root-bound and may be 

 needed for use in Fern-pans, or for table or mantel decora- 

 tions during the winter. Young plants of the common species 

 used for these purposes, for example, Adiantum cuneatum, 

 varieties of Pteris, Anychia Japonicum, Davallia tenuifoha 

 stricta and several of the Aspidiums, may be potted on at any 

 season of the year when grown in a temperature of sixty 

 degrees, and will grow away freely, while old plants of the 

 same species grow but little during the fall and winter months, 

 and may receive a severe check from having their roots dis- 

 turbed too late in the season. 



Watering should be done early in the morning at this season, 

 as the night air is damp, and plants watered late in the day 

 have no chance to dry off, so that damping of the foliage fol- 

 lows. Abundant ventilation, both day and night, is essential, 

 and even tropical species require plenty of fresh air. For 

 many species of Ferns the soil is of much less moment than 

 the condition of the atmosphere, though good drainage is 

 necessary for the health of the roots. For the ordinary deco- 

 rative species referred to, a good soil is a light loam enriched 

 with some thoroughly rotted manure from an old hot-bed. 



The sowing of Fern-spores of any delicate species after this 

 time of year is ill-advised, as there is greater risk of the tender 

 young plants damping off during the shorter days of early 

 winter than in the spring. Their growth is at best quite slow 

 in winter, and but little time is gained by fall sowing. As an 

 instance of the facility with which Fern-spores may be carried 

 from place to place I recall a greenhouse which had contained 

 no Ferns, and where no less than twenty-six species and varie- 

 ties were growing beneath the benches within eighteen months 

 from the time of building the house. The nearest Fern-house 

 to the house in question was fully one hundred feet distant, 

 and the spores were doubtless transferred in the clothing of 

 persons who passed from one house to the other. 



Of course, all Ferns cannot be grown with equal success in 

 the same house, for many cool-house Ferns are unresponsive 

 in a high temperature, and others from a tropical habitat do 

 not flourish when kept too cool. The medium temperature of 

 fifty to fifty-five degrees, maintained throughout the winter, 

 will make it possible to grow with satisfaction quite a large 

 and varied collection of these plants, and a house of this 

 character well cared for will prove one of the must enjoyable 

 in an establishment. 



The so-called Boston Fern, a form of Nephrolepis exaltata, 

 has become a great favorite for the window garden as well as 

 the greenhouse during the past two or three seasons, and de- 

 serves the distinction. It is a plant of easy culture and rapid 

 growth, and makes an interesting specimen in a pot six inches 

 or more in size. In common with the other Sword Ferns, this 

 Nephrolepis enjoys good living, and grows finely in strong 

 loam. When pot-bound it is benefited by watering with weak 

 liquid manure about once a week. N. cordata compacta and 

 N. davallioides furcans are also largely grown for decorative- 

 purposes ; the first-named is probably the better house plant, 



