86 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 314. 



Of the trees of northern regions known to botanists, and 

 not yet brought into our gardens, Pyrus Miyabei is one of 

 the most promising. C. S. S. 



Cultural Department. 



Eucharis Amazonica. 



THE perfection to which this plant can be brought is not 

 generally realized. In good establishments poor, starved 

 specimens are often seen in some out-of-the-way corner, 

 where, having failed to flower satisfactorily, they have 

 been put aside to make room for other plants. And yet 

 I know of no plant that will better reward the grower if 

 he handles it properly. Proper potting, of course, is the first 

 essential. If the plants are in an unhealthy condition, the soil 

 must be shaken from them entirely, and they must be repotted 

 in a mixture of three parts good fibrous loam, one of dried 

 manure, one of leaf-mold and one of coarse sand. They are 

 best placed in a corner of the stove where they can have 

 plenty of light and at the same time be shaded from the strong 

 rays of the sun. It is important not to give too much water 

 until they have begun to grow. They will soon make roots 

 freely, and once the pots are well filled they will require 

 manure-water two or three times a week, a weak solu- 

 tion at first, increased in strength as the plants become more 

 vigorous. The plants should not be allowed to flower until 

 they are in a strong, healthy condition, and no plant is more 

 easily brought into flower at a fixed time than the Eucharis. 

 Exactly twelve weeks from the time when it is desired to have 

 them in bloom they should be removed to a cool, shady house 

 and kept thoroughly dry for six weeks, when they should be 

 returned to the stove and supplied with all the water they re- 

 quire. Flower-spikes will soon begin to show, and by the end 

 of six weeks from the time they were brought in the flowers 

 ought to be at their best, providing a stove temperature of sixty 

 degrees at night and seventy to seventy-five by day has been 

 steadily maintained. If the heat is apt to be a little low, as is 

 often the case, it is safer to allow a week longer. After the 

 flowers have been cut, the plants should be fed freely. They 

 may be dried off at the end of three months and flowered 

 again, giving thus two crops a year. But this is not generally 

 necessary. Their waxy white flowers are most prized during 

 the winter months, and it is better to have two sets of plants, 

 bringing the one in for Christmas and the other for Easter. A 

 whole season is thus afforded them to make their growth, and 

 the plants are thereby preserved in a more vigorous condition. 

 They must not be allowed to become severely pot-bound, as 

 the growth of the bulbs would be interfered with. The best 

 time for repotting, when this is necessary, is after the last 

 flowers have been cut. 



When the plants have grown large enough to fill fourteen- 

 inch pots and require shitting, it is advisable to break them 

 up, as this size is large enough for all general purposes, and 

 they are difficult to handle if much larger pots are used. From 

 a pot of that size ten to fifteen spikes can be regularly cut. The 

 plants should be broken into three pieces and each section 

 placed in a nine-inch pot. If they are kept growing freely for 

 a season and placed in ten-inch pots during the following 

 spring, they will be established by the succeeding fall and may 

 be flowered when required. 



New Dorp, Staten Island. rV. Scott. 



Flowering Plants for the Conservatory. 



AMONG the notably good plants that one too rarely sees in 

 the average conservatory is Luculia gratissima, with its 

 abundant corymbs of rosy and deliciously fragrant flowers. 

 Few greenhouse-plants which flower in winter equal this when 

 properly grown. The very best specimen of this plant that I 

 have seen was planted out in a Camellia-bed, and subjected to 

 the same conditions as the Camellias in every respect, except 

 that after the Luculia had finished flowering it was allowed to 

 become somewhat dry at the root, in order to ripen the growth 

 before being pruned. After a rather close pruning, a top- 

 dressing of fresh soil was applied, and the plant was started 

 into growth by thorough watering and syringing. The tem- 

 perature of the house was kept during the winter between 

 forty-five and fifty degrees, probably averaging forty-eight de- 

 grees, and it was ventilated freely whenever the weather would 

 permit it. L. gratissima is propagated by means of cuttings, or 

 by seeds when these are procurable, and the cuttings are best 

 made from rather weak growths, as the strong sappy growths 

 do not root readily. Aphis and thrips are the insects most 

 likely to trouble this plant, and they should be removed by 



syringing with tobacco-water, as the Luculia does not take 

 kindly to fumigation. 



Lapagerias are among the finest of cool-house creepers, and 

 can be managed very well under similarconditions of tempera- 

 ture and atmosphere to those recommended for Luculia. If 

 the conservatory isso situated that the Lapageria can be planted 

 in the shade of a north wall so much-the better, for this plant 

 requires the coolest possible treatment during our torrid sum- 

 mers. A rather deep brick-walled bed, with a considerable 

 quantity of broken brick and charcoal for drainage, and filled 

 with a coarse mixture of loam and peat, suits this plant. There 

 should be more peat than loam in the soil, and during the 

 growing season the water-supply should not be scanted. The 

 young shoots should be carefully trained on wires, and will 

 need close watching against slugs, which are particularly fond 

 of them. 



Both Lapageria rosea and its white form are very desirable, 

 and they show to advantage when grown together, so that their 

 beautiful bell-shaped flowers in contrasting colors are mingled. 

 Lapagerias, while not strictly winter-flowering plants, can be 

 treated so as to prolong their blooming season, and old-estab- 

 lished specimens show more or less bloom through nearly the ' 

 whole year. Layering is the best method of propagation, but 

 is a somewhat slow and uncertain operation. 



Erica persoluta alba is one of the best midwinter-flowering 

 plants for the cool-house, though, like most of the Heaths, it 

 requires a cautious management, and specially objects to lime 

 water and to a close atmosphere. A peaty soil and firm pot- 

 ting are essential for this plant, and during the summer it can 

 be best managed when plunged outdoors in a partly shaded 

 frame, where free circulation of air can at all times be had. 



Daphne Indica alba is not a showy plant, but its trusses of 

 fragrant Jasmine-like flowers are useful for cutting. It grows 

 and flowers better planted out in a cool-house than when pot- 

 grown. Some of the Acacias, like A. pubescens, A. Riceana, 

 A. Drummondii and A. armata, can hardly be dispensed with. 

 Their flowers are not excelled in gracefulness, and their clear 

 yellow is a favorite color. 



Holmesbur S , Pa. W. H. Tllplin. 



Hybrid Perpetual Roses for Forcing. 



~\\ 7ELL-GROWN hybrid Roses are always appreciated, 

 * * especially when they are to be had early in spring from 

 plants that have been grown for a limited number of first-class 

 flowers. If we want good Roses, disbudding must be prac- 

 ticed as rigidly as with Chrysanthemums. A plant is often 

 willing to attempt more than it can possibly pertorm well, and, 

 therefore, the cultivator should confine the efforts of the 

 plants within the limits of their powers. To do this effectually 

 all weak wood must be cut out at pruning time, leaving only 

 the strong, well-ripened shoots, and these again must be dis- 

 budded and no more than one shoot allowed to grow from 

 each branch, unless the old wood is very vigorous. Roses for 

 forcing are generally pot-grown. Sometimes they are planted 

 out to make their growth in summer, and often they are allowed 

 to remain in thepots all summer in a more or less starved con- 

 dition, and are then expected to flower well year after year. 

 Roses of this class will give good returns for an indefinite 

 period if treated well, and it is almost impossible to treat them 

 too well. The time when they most need attention is after the 

 flowering season, when the growth is being made which is to 

 produce the crop of the following year. I have found that to 

 do them well with the least labor, it is best to grow them in 

 boxes six inches deep and wide enough to hold two rows of 

 plants, the length being determined by circumstances; our 

 boxes hold eight plants each. Roses grown in this way require 

 less attention as to watering, both in summer and spring; the 

 plants make better growth, which may be ripened off at 

 the pleasure of the grower by simply placing the boxes on 

 edge in the fall when the wood needs ripening, and there is no 

 comparison between the flowers of these plants and of Roses 

 grown in pots. This is a good time to start Roses in boxes, 

 for they may give a crop this spring, before making the growth 

 that is to flower a year from now. All things considered, 

 budded Roses are better than those on their own roots, as 

 they grow much stronger and yield better if the union is 

 buried under the soil. They should be planted in good strong 

 loam and bone-meal, and no other stimulant will be required the 

 first year. After this we rely on a top-dressing every spring 

 and frequent applications of manure-water during the grow- 

 ing period. When warm weather comes the boxes are placed 

 out-of-doors, where they remain all summer until they are 

 pruned and placed in the houses after the removal of the 

 Chrysanthemums. If the growth is vigorous and well-ripened 



