September 22, 1897.] 



Garden and Forest. 



375 



are terminated by large, showy rose-colored flower-heads 

 measuring; four inches in diameter. It is at home on the plains 

 of Arkansas and Louisiana to Arizona. 



Harvard Botanic Garden. Cambridge, Mass. Robert Cameron. 



The Cultivation of Dutch Bulbs. 



THE time for planting Dutch bulbs has now arrived. The 

 first planting of Roman Hyacinths is already made ; they 

 are forced in large quantities by florists, and although rather 

 common during the holiday season, these charming flowers 

 are always favorites. 



While Hyacinth culture is easy, there are some constitu- 

 tional requirements which must be heeded. The Hyacinth is 

 essentially a hardy plant, and cannot be forced quickly into 

 bloom. Between the time of planting and the appearance of 

 leaves there must be a root-forming period. The conditions 

 of pot-culture differ from those in the open ground. In pots 

 the bulb can barely be covered unless very large pots are 

 used, and the consequence is, as many amateurs have found, 

 that the roots in striking earthward become confined and force 

 the bulbs out of the pots. Added pressure will keep them 

 down, and after the pots have had a good watering the surface 

 may be covered with two or three inches of sand or coal-ashes. 

 Our plantings will be kept under the bench of a cold house, 

 mostly for convenience. Cold frames answer as well, but 

 must be well protected by mats and shutters during winter and 

 have a banking of leaves or litter on the outside. We protect 

 the cold frames well so that pots may be taken out at any 

 time during the winter. If the Hyacinths are not wanted 

 until spring a little freezing is beneficial rather than otherwise, 

 providing the sun does not strike them. Roman Hyacinths 

 naturally bloom earlier and force more readily than the show 

 varieties, and therefore do not require so long a rooting 

 period. The show varieties should not be unearthed until the 

 flower-stem shows well among the leaves. In the meantime 

 the plants will probably require one good watering, especially 

 if the groufid on which they are set is dry. A good indication 

 in this respect is the drying out of the covering. My bulbs 

 are so placed that I do not find it necessary to water them after 

 potting time. Show varieties come on slowly and they are 

 always better for a good start. Even though apparently drawn 

 they quickly assume their natural green color on exposure to 

 light. It is beneficial to stand the pots in a cool house for a 

 few days before the plants are forced. A shorter and better 

 proportioned flower-spike is obtained when the plants are 

 forced slowly. Really no forcing is required if there is time 

 to wait for the flowers, and they will come along well in a night 

 temperature of forty-five degrees, Fahrenheit. These cultural 

 remarks apply, with scarcely any variation, to all forced Dutch 



uult)S - t n u tJ ; i) 



Wellesley, Mass. - 1 ■ L> ■ Hatfield. 



Russellia juncea. — Though not one of the showiest of our 

 greenhouse plants, this is certainly worthy of a place in every 

 collection. It is specially serviceable where hanging plants 

 are required, and owing to its pendulous habit it can only be 

 shown to advantage in this way. The flowers, which are 

 trumpet-shaped about one inch long and of a brilliant scarlet 

 color, are freely produced nearly all the year through. The 

 numerous long, rush-like, branching stems are clothed with 

 small linear or lanceolate leaves. It is a plant of compara- 

 tively easy culture ; it can be grown either in pots or baskets, 

 and delights in a light, moderately enriched soil. A house 

 where a night temperature of fifty-five to sixty degrees is main- 

 tained during the winter months will suit this plant well. The 

 most convenient method of propagation is by cuttings made 

 from the little branchlets taken off with a heel. These root 

 readily in sand or sandy soil in a propagating-case with gentle 

 bottom-heat. 



Tarrytown, N. Y. William Scott. 



Garden Plants in Autumn. — An effective subtropical bed in 

 the flower garden on the estate of H. H. Hunnewell, Esq., is 

 made up with several large plants of Eucalyptus globulus 

 for the centre, and these grow twelve feet high. Grevillea 

 robusta, Rubber-plants, Cannas with colored foliage, Acaly- 

 phas, Alocasias and Abutilons are massed about these, 

 with a circle of Coleus Verschaffelti and Cineraria mari- 

 tima for an edging. Desmodium penduliflorum makes a 

 good autumn-flowering plant for the herbaceous or shrub- 

 bery border. By the graceful way its willowy branches 

 fall away on all sides to the ground I should think it a 

 first-rate plant to use for separate specimens on grassy slopes. 

 Its distinctly Pea-like purplish flowers are borne on short 

 racemes toward the ends of the branches, in the same way as in 



our garden Cytisus. Amaranthus caudatus is a good hardy 

 annual, but, like many other excellent border plants, it would 

 soon become a weed if allowed to spread. Persons seeing 

 this plant for the first time are always impressed with its 

 beauty. It is very effective in the subtropical border, where 

 its purple plumes sometimes grow to the height of six feet. 



Wellesley, Mass. T. D. H. 



Correspondence. 



Notes from the Ozark Fruit Regions. 



Sir, — These notes were mostly made at the Olden Fruit Farm, 

 in Howell County, Missouri, on the southern slope of a spur 

 of the Ozark range and about twenty-five miles from the 

 Arkansas line. But the methods advocated and largely prac- 

 ticed there, while advanced in some respects, are practically 

 the same that obtained throughout the Ozark fruit region. 



On so large a fruit farm, comprising 3,000 acres, every 

 department ot the work is on a correspondingly large scale. 

 Thus, in the propagation of young stock, peach stones that 

 have not been allowed to heat or sour are sown broadcast in 

 October on the surface of ground that has been fertilized (after 

 having been previously used for the same purpose) by the 

 cultivation of Cow Peas — the so-called salvation of the Oz.irks 

 — for one year. The proportion of seed used is from three to 

 four hundred bushels on a space sixty feet square — the seed 

 being literally shoveled onto the ground — and then plowed 

 under to a depth of from two to four inches. These sprout 

 the following spring, coming up as thickly as grass. While 

 the seedlings are very small they are transplanted into nursery 

 rows three and one-half feet apart and about three inches apart 

 in the rows. The following August they are budded, as close 

 to the surface of the ground as it is possible to work, with any 

 variety the grower chooses, and the Elberta is the usual choice, 

 although thoughtful growers begin to doubt the wisdom of the 

 universal cultivation of one variety, no matter how fine, the 

 simultaneous marketing of the great Elberta crop of this year 

 having seriously demoralized prices. The following spring 

 the seedling tops are cut off and the bud nurtured through the 

 season. The next spring, the root then being two years and 

 the bud one year old, the trees are ready to set in orchards, 

 and are considered better for the purpose than when older; 

 indeed, any left after the next spring are rooted out and 

 destroyed. 



Peaches are always planted on the highest ground as a pro- 

 tection from late spring frosts, and the best results follow 

 the use of ground that has been cleared of timber and brought 

 under subjection by the cultivation of one or two crops of 

 beans, potatoes, or even corn, though a low crop is considered 

 preferable to corn. But if quick results are wished the stock 

 is set at the rate of one hundred and sixty trees to the acre on 

 new ground that has been cleared of native growth, the wood is 

 burned, the clearing is grub-plowed, the worst of the stumps 

 are picked off and also burned and the soil is harrowed. Corn 

 is then grown in the orchard until the trees are three, and in 

 some instances, four years old, after which, for the best results, 

 the ground is cultivated each year until midsummer; but 

 some growers omit this cultivation to the detriment of the 

 crops. Peach orchards on such virgin soil need no fertilizing 

 for at least ten years, but when new orchards are established 

 on old, worn-out land Cow Peas are used to regenerate the 

 soil, being sown in drills and cultivated. If the ground at any 

 time shows great deterioration the crop is turned under, but 

 usually simply growing and cultivating a crop of Cow Peas is 

 accounted sufficient, and in most cases hogs are turned in to 

 harvest the crop. 



Peaches bear at three years and are profitable at from four 

 to six years of age, and the oldest trees at Olden, now four- 

 teen years old, still bear heavily. In a good peach year four- 

 year-old trees will average two bushels each, but ordinarily 

 one bushel is a fair average. The 1 rop is less certain than 

 that of Apples. There have now been three heavy crops in 

 succession in Howell County, and in fourteen years there has 

 been one instance of two successive years ol crop failure. 



No known case of either Yellows or Rosette has occurred 

 in the Ozark region, and insects are less troublesome than in 

 older orchard countries. Peaches were sprayed this year at 

 Olden for the first time and with satisfactory results. The 

 first spraying was done immediately after the fall ol the bloom 

 and was repeated three times at intervals of ten days. A 

 preparation of arsenate of lead made and applied under the 

 direction of Professor Stedman, of the Missouri Experiment 

 Station, was used on every alternate live rows throughout a 

 forty-acre orchard, which thoroughly disposed of the tent- 



