384 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 501. 



this week by Messrs. Veitch. It is named in compliment 

 to their grower of Nepenthes, Mr. Tivey. It is a hybrid 

 between N. Veitchii and N. Curtisii. and resembles the 

 latter, but the pitchers are paler in color and have the wide 

 rim of those of N. Veitchii. It was awarded a first-class 

 certificate. „ r ... 



London. W. JUliSO?!. 



New or Little-known Plants. 

 Rhus trichocarpa. 



RHUS TRICHOCARPA* (see illustration on page 383 

 of this issue) is a slender tree frequently twenty-five 

 feet in height and a native of Japan, where it is a common 

 forest plant in Yezo and in the mountain regions of central 

 Hondo, where it also often springs up in hedgerows. The 

 leaves are eighteen or twenty inches long, unequally pin- 

 nate, with dark red-purple midribs and usually thirteen 

 broadly ovate, long-pointed, short-stalked membranaceous 

 leaflets, hirsute below, especially on the stout midribs and 

 primary veins, from three to five and a half inches long 

 and from an inch and a half to two inches wide. The 

 flowers are produced in narrow erect panicles, appearing 

 in early summer, and are soon followed by the pale prickly 

 fruit borne in loose drooping clusters. The habit of this 

 tree is not particularly good, and its flowers and fruits are 

 not attractive, but in the autumn it lights up the Japanese 

 forest with splendid tints of orange and scarlet which are 

 not surpassed in brilliancy by those of many other plants. 

 Introduced into the Arnold Arboretum five years ago, Rhus 

 trichocarpa has proved perfectly hardy up to this time in 

 eastern Massachusetts, and this year has flowered and pro- 

 duced its fruit for the first time. C. S. S. 



Cultural Department. 



Raspberry, Bunyard's Superlative. 



I WAS surprised to find two years ago how good a fruit this 

 is as grown in English gardens, and was at once ambitious 

 to try it in the conditions of our New England climate. A 

 hundred young canes were obtained and these we have fruited 

 in the past two seasons. We are satisfied that there are few, 

 if any, Raspberries to equal this for size and flavor. This im- 

 pression also finds favor with Messrs. Ellwanger & Barry, who 

 have about 40,000 plants ot this Raspberry in their grounds, 

 soon to be distributed. The canes are very stout and rigid, 

 so that no staking seems to be required ; the berries are abun- 

 dant, and so large that they are often coxcomb-shaped like 

 some strawberries. The fruit bears transportation better than 

 that of many of the smaller varieties. Messrs. Ellwanger & 

 Barry assure me that this variety is as hardy as any they grow, 

 and much hardier than some others of native origin. This 

 statement is reassuring, for we have covered our canes with 

 earth eacli winter to make sure of them, as is necessary in this 

 section with all the other varieties to obtain a crop. Many 

 kinds are under trial here to find out which is the best. We 

 have most interest in a lot that are the result of two large 

 berries taken when ripe in the summer of 1S96, rubbed out in 

 fine dry sand and sowed at once. The seed pans were frozen 

 early last winter and brought into warmth the beginning of the 

 year, when the seeds at once came up. From this seed we 

 have now more than two hundred fine young canes, averaging 

 four feet in height and still growing. These plants, we think, 

 are the result of a cross between theCuthbert and Superlative 

 Raspberries, as these two kinds grew together and bees were 

 plentiful. Great variation is apparent in the habit of the seed- 

 ling canes, and we shall watch with interest their fruiting next 

 summer. There is yet much scope for improvement in Rasp- 

 berries ; none are hardy enough, the habit of many, especially 

 the new Columbian, is very distressing when one has to pick 

 the fruit, and afterward when the new growth is so far 

 advanced as to become prostrate. 



As already stated, Raspberry canes require protection in this 

 section by laying them down and covering them with earth in 

 the fall. One season the frost came early and continued, and 

 the canes could not be laid down in the usual way. Loose 



* Miquel./4*». Mus. Bat. Lugd. Bat., ii., 84 (1865) {Prol. Fl Jap., 16).— Franchet & 

 Savatier, Enum. PL Jap., i., 93. — Engler, Dl- Canrfolle Moiwgr. Phaner., iv., 379. — 

 Sargent, Forest Fl. Jap., 34. 



straw litter was strewed over them after they were laid on the 

 level. This plan was only tried once, as the field mice con- 

 gregated apparently from the whole county, and in spring not 

 one cane was left ungirdled. There were no Raspberries that 

 summer. 



South Lancaster, Mass. E. O. Orpet. 



The Cultivation of Carinas. 



T T is interesting to look back a decade and note the progress 

 -*■ made in the cultivation of Cannas. The development of 

 the Crozy type, from which almost every high-class variety has 

 come, is most interesting. In no class of plants can less credit 

 be claimed by the hybridist, for the best Cannas have resulted 

 from careful selection. The arrangements for close fertiliza- 

 tion are so complete that it is almost impossible, if fecunda- 

 tion is secured, to thwart Nature. It was predicted when the 

 large-flowered giants of the Flaccida type, Italia and Austria, 

 were introduced that they would supersede the Crozy type. 

 Both these types are continuous bloomers, but what is lacking 

 in the blooms of all Cannas, durability of texture, is still more 

 lacking in the Italian varieties. The flowers are extremely 

 fugacious, and what I have seen of the half a dozen or more 

 new colors in this section they all have the same defect. The 

 American variety of this type, the Burbank, is no better in this 

 respect; in appearance it resembles the variety named Austria. 

 As pot-plants for foliage effects Cannas are highly effective, 

 and under glass, with shade, the flowers are more durable. 

 This is true of all Cannas ; under glass the flowers have better 

 individual development and last long enough to fill out a good 

 round truss. Canna specialists hesitate to judge a variety by 

 its behavior under glass ; the supreme test is out in the open 

 air. Paul Briant is superb under glass, but of little use under 

 direct sunlight. For a bedding Canna a compact truss is a 

 strong recommendation. Among medium growers, Queen 

 Charlotte and its "improved " variety are the finest. The flowers 

 are widely banded with yellow and durable. An effective 

 combination in a circular bed may be made with plants of 

 Queen Charlotte in the middle and Mrs. Fairman Rogers, a 

 fine form of the Crozy type, as an edging. Mr. Denys 

 Zirngiebel.of Needham, Massachusetts, who makes a specialty 

 of Cannas, considers President Cleveland, a salmon-scarlet, 

 the finest bedding Canna of its color yet introduced. It is very 

 compact, and in vividness of coloring it outshone all others in 

 a large patch containing sixty varieties. It was raised by Mr. 

 Pfister, gardener at the White House. This list comprises 

 scarcely half a dozen first-class varieties, if the dark-leaved 

 sorts are excluded. Bismarck, a recent variety, showed up 

 well ; it has a dwarf habit and compact and full-flowered truss 

 of crimson flowers. Robeit Christie is a beautiful salmon- 

 red and a splendid pot-plant ; Ami Pichon is a good maroon 

 with deeper spots ; Leonard Vaughan is a fine dark-leaved 

 kind with scarlet flowers ; J. D. Cabos has orange-scarlet 

 blooms ; President Carnot lias luxuriant foliage. 



Wellesley, Mass. T. D. Hatfield. 



Notes on the Orchid-flowering Cannas. 



WE have been greatly interested in the new Orchid-flower- 

 ing Cannas since their first announcement, and have 

 taken some pains to grow most of the varieties offered for 

 sale. A note regarding the variety America was sent to 

 Garden and Forest some weeks ago (see vol. x., page 178), 

 and a completer account has been more recently published in 

 the Tenth Annual Report of the Vermont Experiment Station, 

 page 119. Since that report went to press we have brought 

 two new varieties of these Cannas into blossom. These are 

 Bavaria and Burgundia, both from the lists of Dammann & Co., 

 the originators of Italia, Austria and America. 



We are somewhat disappointed in these two newest varieties, 

 not because of bad qualities, but on account of their close re- 

 semblance to Italia. Italia is a beautiful Canna, to be sure, 

 perhaps the best one of this class yet introduced, but Bur- 

 gundia and Bavaria are so much like it that a careless observer 

 would pass them by as all of the same kind. 



Both varieties are, however, of smaller stature than Italia 

 and have smaller foliage. The flowers in all three are of a 

 brilliant canary-yellow upon which two shades of rich apricot- 

 red are successively overlaid. In Italia the red colors are run 

 together in the throat to make somewhat regular solid blotches 

 bordered with very deep bands of the clear yellow,, like an 

 exaggerated Queen Charlotte. In Bavaria there is very little of 

 the darker red shade, while the lighter red is scattered in small 

 dots well out upon the petal-like staminodia, giving an effect 

 more like that of Florence Vaughan. Burgundia is almost a 

 medium between Bavaria and Italia, with more of the dark 



