io8 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 316. 



summer. The sashes will be used when the heavy dews and 

 rains of August and September set in, for these start the spot. 

 A near-by market friend follows this plan, and his plants are 

 spotless and the blooms are excellent. As frames are much 

 in demand for other crops during the early summer months, 

 manv growers will be slow to make this experiment unless 

 strong proof can be given of the benefits to be derived. 



Taunton, Mass. lV - N. Craig. 



Imantophyllum miniatum. 



THIS is a plant more often seen in old gardens than in those 

 of recent origin ; in other words, it is considered an old- 

 fashioned plant. There are too many such that we rarely 

 meet, although they are sometimes made popular by a sudden 

 freak of fashion, and every one then sees how real merit has 

 been unsuspected or forgotten. Clivia nobilis and C. miniatum 

 are very old garden-plants, and under these names were much 

 grown atone time, then almost forgotten, until a set of hybrids 

 of improved color and size appeared to awaken fresh interest 

 in them. Clivia is still the correct name, but as Imantophyl- 

 lum has become so well fixed in gardens, it has been retained 

 for every-day use. 



The newer varieties are as yet quite rare, owing to the slow 

 means of propagation, by division only, and the consequent 

 high price. It also happens that as soon as they become 

 known, the demand equals the supply, and this helps to keep 

 the price high. It is easy to raise seedlings of a plant impreg- 

 nated with its own pollen when in flower; ittakesaboutayear, 

 however, to mature the seed, and three or four years more to 

 get the plants to flowering size, but it is interesting work, and 

 gives one something to look forward to. The Imantophyllum 

 belongs to the Amaryllideae, but will not cross with the Ama- 

 ryllis proper. At least, such has been my experience, while 

 others have succeeded in raising hybrids from Eucharis and 

 Urceolina, both genera of the same order. 



As decorative plants the Imantophyllums rank high. The 

 broad, dark green, strap-shaped foliage is ornamental at all 

 seasons, while the bright orange-red of the flowers, which are 

 produced in the early spring months, are most useful, owing 

 to their lasting qualities, distinct color and long stems. An or- 

 dinary greenhouse temperature of fifty degrees is best suited 

 to these plants, though young ones may be nursed along in a 

 warmer house. Strong sunshine is injurious even at this 

 time of the year, and causes the foliage to lose its healthy dark 

 green color and to become a sickly yellow. A shady position 

 is, therefore, essential. We sometimes place them under the 

 benches when not in active growth. Repotting is best done 

 in spring, but the plants should not be disturbed often at the 

 roots. A good sound potting-soil is best — a mixture of loam, 

 made porous with powdered charcoal and sand, with a little 

 bone-meal added as a fertilizer of long-lasting properties. 

 Young growing plants require repotting annually, but those of 

 flowering age may be examined once in two years, and this 

 will be found often enough, unless the drainage is found to be 

 at fault. 



South Lancaster, Mass. £■• O. Or pet. 



Orchid Notes. 



WE are living in a time which may be looked back upon 

 some day as the palmy days of Orchid-culture. It does 

 not seem possible that these plants could be more popular 

 than they are at present, nor that they can hold many more 

 surprises in store for us. When, however, the collector fails 

 us with new and startling Orchids, we shall still have the hy- 

 bridist to depend upon, and with the abundant material at his 

 command we may confidently hope that new plants of real 

 merit will still be produced. 



As they have flowered, the merits of most of the recently in- 

 troduced Orchids have been noted here, and now another is 

 in bloom with us for the first time. As a distinct Cypripedium, 

 C. Chamberlainianum has some merit, though more, perhaps, 

 for the hybridist than for the ordinary cultivator. Last fall I 

 saw a plant in bloom in a celebrated collection, and was told 

 that this was an excellent variety, and this opinion is now con- 

 firmed by the plant in bloom here. The slipper is very differ- 

 ent from that of any other member of the family, being bright 

 rose-colored, covered with minute spots. It is the redeeming 

 feature, the dorsal sepal being green, with ill-defined black 

 lines, and the lateral petals are slightly twisted and also spotted 

 with black or very dark brown. C. Chamberlainianum is a 

 very free grower, but requires the moist heat of the warmest 

 house. Thus far, only one flower has opened at a time on the 

 many-flowered stem, and the distance between the open 

 flower and the next succeeding bud is considerable — too much 



to warrant us in expecting to see more than one flower open 

 at the same time. 



In the collection of Mrs. F. L. Ames at North Easton, Mas- 

 sachusetts, there has flowered during the past two seasons 

 Cypripedium insigne Sanderse, admitted to be the most beau- 

 tiful of all Cypripediums by all who have seen it. C. insigne 

 Sanderse is but a form of a very old Orchid, but one more 

 lovely does not exist in cultivation. The green and brown of 

 C. insigne is wholly absent, and the upper sepal is a clear 

 bright yellow, with a pure white apex. This variety is a 

 chance introduction among the ordinary forms of C. insigne, 

 and is, of course, very valuable. It is hoped, however, that 

 more plants of the variety will appear, as the great quantities 

 of C. insigne which have been imported with this end in view, 

 come into flower. Should there be no more forthcoming 

 from their native wilds we have still the satisfaction of know- 

 ing that, under the skillful treatment of Mr. W. Robinson, at 

 North Easton, the plant increases twofold each year. Of course, 

 it is very rare in commerce at present. 



Eoston. 



Plant sman. 



Annual Flowers from Seed. — V. 



'"TORENIA FOURNIERI is oneof those flowers "withanaris- 

 *■ tocratic and high-bred air" which will always attract atten- 

 tion in the largest collection. It can be unreservedly recom- 

 mended as a garden- plant, especially to those who are fond of the 

 less garish and obtrusive flowers. The plants are small, much- 

 branched, usually under a foot high, and every shoot has one 

 or more flowers, velvety rich royal purple, shading to blue, 

 with yellow throats. There are also Torenias with white and 

 with yellow flowers. It is usual to raise these plants from seed 

 sown in the greenhouse, but as I have had abundant crops of 

 plants from self-sown seed in the open, I think that seed sown 

 in a frame outside would germinate successfully. The seeds 

 are very small, and should have the merest trifle of covering. 



In sharp contrast to these we have lastly the Zinnias, "such 

 coarse flowers." There is not much delicacy of petal or grace 

 of form in the Zinnia, but there is nothing else among the 

 annuals which will give sucli a wealth of color in a garden as 

 a well-grown plant of Zinnia. Marvelous colors mark some of 

 them, in tints not seen in other flowers, and these colors are 

 no mere suggestions eluding one, but are laid on the petals in 

 honest solid masses. I like the Zinnias, and like them big. 

 They are not only cheerful in the garden, but cut in bold 

 pieces they lighten up the dark corners of a room finely, 

 though, perhaps, they are hardly in keeping with a senti- 

 mental corner. 



From the list I have given, individual readers will miss some 

 favorite annuals, but those reviewed seem to me in most points 

 the more desirable ones for general cultivation. Those omit- 

 ted mostly appeal to some special fancy. I have made little 

 note of two things on which inquirers usually dwell with some 

 persistence ; these are fragrant flowers and plants for foliage — 

 "greens" in the vernacular. As to the first, there are, of 

 course, other fragrant flowers, as the Stocks, which are lumpy 

 stuff, but a fair proportion of the flowers are more or less fra- 

 grant, and if others are not, and a touch of odor is desired, it 

 seems better to add a piece of the inconspicuous Mignonette 

 rather than add some flower of a conflicting form of beauty ; 

 several odors blended seem to me a crude mixture in a 

 bouquet. 



Nature does not seem to have adapted any annual plants to 

 the wants of bouquet-makers, or at least there are none which 

 are especially desirable for this purpose. Those who must 

 have some foreign foliage for their flowers must continue to use 

 Iris leaves with their Fuchsias or some such abominable com- 

 bination as is customary in otherwise civilized communities. 

 Of course, every one knows how to arrange flowers, and noth- 

 ing seems to trouble the color-blind less than the composition 

 of a bouquet, providing the assortment of flowers is suffi- 

 ciently large. We have all seen the process, commencing by 

 reducing anv inordinate length of stem and ending with chaos. 

 Arrangements of one kind of flower, and not many different 

 tones of these, or at most of two species of flowers of comple- 

 mentary colors and harmonious forms, will furnish difficulties 

 which will sufficiently tax the artistic capabilities of most of us. 

 Beyond this is safe ground only for those with a trained appre- 

 ciation of the value of form and color. Vulgarity and bad 

 taste may be expressed by flowers as well as by other things 

 which appeal to our sense of form and color, and the key-note 

 of flower arrangements should be simplicity. Grow all favorite 

 flowers in abundance, and if each variety is gathered with a 

 generous share of stem and foliage they quite arrange them- 

 selves. We are apt to overdo bouquets in the way of foliage, 

 that gathered with the flowers being often sufficient. Where 



