364 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 499. 



Cultural Department. 



Colchicums. 



COLCHICUMS have a curious habit of pushing rapidly up 

 from the bare earth and expanding their glowing Mowers 

 without a hint of foliage. However often seen these flowers 

 are a surprise each season, as they give no token of their com- 

 ing. While they are interesting plants in the garden, filled 

 though it may be at this time with the tall and brilliant flowers 

 of the season, their best effect is had from clumps planted in 

 the meadows or on the borders of grass lands. For the wild 

 garden they are invaluable and very effective. They maintain 

 themselves and increase fairly in rather light, moist soil. As 

 the bulbs are dormant only in June, July and August they 

 should be moved at that time. The color effect is their prin- 

 cipal value in such places, and C. speciosum, the bright red- 

 dish purple species from Asia Minor, is best for such plantings, 

 especially as it is plentiful. For the more contracted garden 

 one may indulge in some of the other species whose_ beauties 

 bear closer examination. One of the handsomest is C. Sib- 

 thorpii, a large-flowered form which has glowing reddish 

 purple flowers with some trace of white on the inside of petals, 

 checkered with red. This is a free-flowering species, and, 

 perhaps, the most attractive of the family. 



Another species will soon appear, Colchicum Parkinsoni, a 

 small-flowered Grecian form with purple bars and checkerings 

 in a white ground. This species has not done well in my 

 borders. 



Much later than these and flowering late in October usually, 

 is the white form of Colchicum autumnale. A double form 

 of this species which has flowered regularly here for some 

 years has a distinct flower with many narrow strap-like petals. 

 It generally has a rather hard time of it, owing to the usual 

 inclemency of the weather, but might appeal less to one's 

 sympathies it grown under a mat of foliage or in some thin 

 grass. There are about two dozen species of Colchicum, some 

 of which flower in the spring-time. 



Colchicum bulbs contain a virulent poison, but have been 

 a favorite prescription for rheumatism for untold generations. 

 I do not know whether they are a remedy or a tradition. 



Elizabeth, N. J. J- N. Gerard. 



Notes on Gladioli. 



THE flowering season of Gladioli is nearly past for this year, 

 with the exception of young seedlings and bulbs planted 

 late for the production of late blooms. The season has been, 

 in this part of the country at least, much better than in 1896, 

 both as to the quality of the flowers and the general vigor of 

 the plants. 



It is sometimes said that the Gladiolus has reached as high 

 a degree of excellence as can be attained, but those who by 

 raising seedlings and in other ways keep themselves informed 

 will not agree that such is the case. There is a constant in- 

 crease in the length of the spikes and the size of the blossoms, 

 and we now look upon the varieties of even five years ago as 

 inferior and hardly worth cultivating. 



Speaking for myself, I notice year by year an improvement 

 in the substance of the flowers, so that often the fifteenth and 

 sometimes the twentieth flower expands while the first is still 

 in good condition. That the colors improve I am not prepared 

 to say ; we have not yet a single good yellow hybrid of any 

 shade, from straw-color to. orange, and until we have good 

 ones of every shade there is still work for the admirers of this 

 noble flower. No doubt some will dispute the statement I 

 have just made, but to my mind no yellow flower which is 

 streaked with purple, as they all are, can be called good. 

 There is no Gladiolus yet of the very dark shade found in 

 Africaine and Victory which will withstand the sun as well as 

 the lighter sorts ; here is another thing to try for. The blue 

 Gladiolus is yet to be raised. Monsieur Lemoine has given 

 us several beautiful and striking varieties which he modestly 

 calls bluish, not blue. These are very fine under some con- 

 ditions, but they are all Lemoinei varieties of the sparsely 

 flowering section and a dash of rain reduces the flowers to a 

 miserable state. 



Of the different classes of Gladiolus I value the Ganda- 

 vensis most highly. This strain has finer spikes and more 

 varied colors than any other, as might be expected from the 

 much longer time it has been in cultivation. The Lemoinei 

 race, descended from G. purpureo-auratus crossed with Gan- 

 davensis varieties, seems to divide itself into two sections, 

 much unlike each other, one having tall arching stems with 

 few flowers, and those of the hooded shape peculiar to G. 



purpureo-auratus, and with usually very vivid blotches on the 

 iower petals ; the other with flowers as open as the Ganda- 

 vensis sorts, and in many cases not to be distinguished as of 

 the Lemoinei strain, except by the slenderness or the curva- 

 ture of the stalk, yet this section has a few kinds with straight, 

 erect spikes of flowers almost equal to any Gandavensis, yet 

 plainly showing their hybrid origin. The Nancianus class, 

 raised between G. Saundersi and the Lemoinei varieties, is 

 remarkable tor the size and striking appearance of its flowers, 

 but there is not enough variety in their hues and too few are 

 open at once. As for the Childsi class (I call it so with reluc- 

 tance), which has been raised from G. Saundersi and the Gan- 

 davensis class, I am compelled to say of it, as I have said 

 before, it must be much improved belore it will be worthy of 

 cultivation. There are, it is true, a few very good kinds which 

 were worth naming. I have three such, but the bulk of them 

 are in no respect better than eighty per cent, of the seedlings 

 which we raise by the thousand. There must be a great self- 

 denial on the part of those who raise seedlings of this strain, 

 or it will fall into the obscurity which has swallowed up that 

 California strain of which we had such glowing accounts a few 

 years ago. When I expressed a similar judgment as to the 

 Childsi class last year I received some letters of remonstrance, 

 but I must speak of them as I find them, fully convinced that 

 they may be made a distinct and valuable class, but only by 

 using great caution in dignifying the seedlings with names. 



I mark such of my seedlings as seem worthy of farther trial 

 by tying a label to the stalk pretty tightly, and 1 find that these 

 stalks give me more seed than others. Has any one noticed 

 the same occurrence ? I have before mentioned that Gladiolus 

 Saundersi is hardy here. The clump which has endured sev- 

 eral years is now again in full flower, a dense tuft of foliage 

 with nine flower-spikes three feet long pushing boldly up 

 from the turf, and giving me more pleasure than the thou- 

 sands which I labor over so much. 



Canton. Mass. *V. h. EndlCOtt. 



A New Double Hollyhock. 



A GENERATION ago the single Hollyhock, Althaea rosea, 

 was one of the commonest cultivated flowers, and its 

 rose-colored blossoms were the most conspicuous decoration 

 of many country dooryards. But the large plain flower, bold 

 and stately though it was, failed after a time to satisfy the 

 public taste. The ravages of the Hollyhock rust in Great 

 Britain have prevented its being extensively grown there since 

 the middle of this century. However, the dissemination of 

 the more attractive double varieties in this country and the 

 hope in England that the fungus pest has done its worst and 

 can now be successfully combated, has reawakened interest 

 in this old-time favorite. 



The Hollyhock lends itself readily to the production of new 

 varieties, and a large number are offered. There are now 

 growing on the grounds of the Vermont Experiment Station, 

 and were exhibited at the Vermont State Fair this fall, speci- 

 mens of a new double variety originated by Mr. A. E. Wohlert, 

 gardener to the Pennsylvania Railroad at Altoona, Pennsyl- 

 vania. Several years ago Mr. Wohlert was in need of a flower 

 for planting among shrubs which should make a good effect 

 at a distance for a long period and yet look well near at hand. 

 The common Hollyhocks were tried, and fulfilled the first re- 

 quirement, but the blossom was too precise and geometrical 

 when closely examined. Mr. Wohlert commenced breeding 

 for a better style of flower by crossing selected specimens of a 

 common single variety with Chater's Best and obtained a 

 fringed, well-formed, semi-double flower. A seed sport from 

 this was crossed with a large semi-double variety found 

 growing in a farmer's dooryard, and produced a fine double 

 strain, which Mr. Wohlert has introduced this year as the 

 Alleghany Hollyhock. 



The inner petals of the common double Hollyhocks make a 

 compact mass ot plain floral leaves all of the same length, but 

 shorter than the true petals, which form only one whorl, as in 

 the single varieties. On account of this arrangement and pe- 

 culiar difference in the lengths of the petals there is produced 

 an impression of disproportion between the heavy-appearing 

 centre and the delicate wall. In this double Hollyhock the 

 suggestion of formality and disproportion is absent, and the 

 effect is more unconventional. For this reason it is more 

 desirable for planting among shrubs. The reverted stamens 

 are curled and fringed and not closely laid together. In the 

 type they are of the same length as the petals, forming a large, 

 full, well-rounded flower, light and graceful. The colors range 

 through all gradations from pink to black-red. 



The Alleghany is variable, and has already developed within 



