January 17, 



•] 



Garden and Forest. 



25 



incapable of supplying the desired improvement. After nu- 

 merous experiments, I at last succeeded in obtaining a hybrid, 

 the flowers of which are of the same color as those of the 

 tropical N. rubra, the plant, moreover, possessing the inval- 

 uable property of bearing seed — a property all the more pre- 

 cious from the circumstance that it does not yield any offsets. 

 As I had anticipated, this hybrid could not be sent out, as its 

 seedlings could not be relied upon to resemble it ; in fact, it 

 has produced seedlings the flowers of which exhibited a whole 

 scale of intermediate shades of color, from soft pink to the 

 deepest red. Those varieties, however, which it is impossi- 

 ble to render permanent through the failure of their stems to 

 yield offsets, have proved very useful for hybridizing choice 

 varieties of the stoloniferous and proliferous kinds, and it is 



introduced to the public, the first of them which flowered be- 

 ing named after the editor of The Garden. 



The blending of the Nymphaeas of the Caslalia tribe, which 

 are found in various northern countries, with the Lotuses of 

 the tropics, is now an accomplished fact ; but another impor- 

 tant task remains in the hybridizing of theCastalias with plants 

 of the Cyanea section, which includes a great number of su- 

 perb blue-flowered Nymphaeas. This is a work which is well 

 calculated to stimulate the enthusiasm of hybridizers. 



In conclusion, I have to say that, notwithstanding my very 

 great partiality for the Nymphaeas, I can appreciate the stately 

 beauty of the Nelumbiums, and I have endeavored, by making 

 repeated sowings, to obtain some hardier and more tree-flow- 

 ering forms of these plants than those of exotic growth. N. 



Fig. 3, — A Red Mu'berry-tree, Moms rubra, in Alabama. — See page 23. 



from hybrids of this kind that I have obtained the series of 

 those hardy novelties which, during six months of the year, 

 embellish the waters of pleasure-grounds with a never-failing 

 display of their splendid flowers. Most of these new plants 

 are already catalogued under the names of N. Robinsoni, 

 N. Seignoureti, N. Laydekeri rosea, N. liliacea, N. fulgens, 

 N. Marliacea ignea, N. Marliacea rubra punctata and N. Mar- 

 liacea flammea. Others lessbrilliant will soon be added to the 

 list, several of them having been already described. 



The acquisition of a red-flowered hybrid Nymphasa which 

 yields seed has opened up a new prospect by affording the 

 means of crossing with the yellow-flowered kinds, the result 

 being the production of a legion of Nymplueas bearing flowers 

 with singular shades of coloring, such as orange, vermilion 

 and gold. Some of these splendid kinds have been already 



Osiris, one of my seedlings, possesses these two important 

 qualities, and I think it is destined to prove a powerful aid and 

 factor in effecting this desirable improvement. 



Cultural Department. 



Spraying Apple Orchards. 



WE have so often urged the advantages of spraying to 

 protect the fruit and foliage of orchards from insects 

 and fungi, and have so often given the details of tin- 

 practice, that little remains to be said, and yet thousands <>: 

 trees in private as well as commercial orchards yield only 

 part of a crop every year because this precaution is 



