April 4, 1894.] 



Garden and Forest. 



133 



received a very fine species with somewhat cordate leaves, 

 which are glossy green, as if varnished. It comes from 

 Japan. It is finer and more graceful in every respect than 

 V. odoratissimum. 



There are quite a number of other shrubs and trees that 

 thrive" admirably in the sandy soil of Florida. Malvavis- 

 cus arboreus grows luxuriantly in almost any position. 

 Camellia Japonica is one of the most beautiful shrubs in 

 the gardens of Tallahassee and Pensacola, but in south 

 Florida it needs much attention and coaxing to make it 

 grow and blossom. In Mrs. Herndon's garden, at San- 

 ford, I saw, late in November, a shrub of the double white 

 Camellia literally covered with exquisite waxy white flow- 

 ers. The specimen grew in a half-shady place and was 

 at all times carefully attended to. Doubtless the Camellia, 

 as well as the Azalea (hybrid of Azalea Indica), will flour- 

 ish luxuriantly in rich peaty soil in the gardens of south 

 Florida and in the shady hummock-woods. The Tea-plant, 

 Camellia Thea, should also be included among the orna- 

 mental shrubs. Its deep evergreen leaves, dense habit and 

 fragrant white flowers entitle it to a place in every garden 

 where choice evergreen shrubs are grown for their beauty 

 and fragrance. It grows well in sandy soil. 



Schinus molle, the well-known California Pepper-tree, 

 does not thrive in the sandy soil, but likes a heavy 

 loam. The Camphor and Cinnamon trees, Laurus Cam- 

 phora and L. cinnamomea, make beautiful objects and 

 grow well in the poorest sandy soil. Eriobotrya Japonica 

 also makes a handsome ornamental tree and should be in 

 every garden, however small. 



Of deciduous trees and shrubs I shall only mention a 

 few. Kcelreuteria paniculata grows well wherever it is 

 planted. Paulownia imperialis makes a good growth if 

 fertilized a little. Lagerstroemia Indica and Melia Azederach, 

 var. umbraculiformis, Grape Myrtle and China-tree are 

 everywhere successfully grown. 



We find, as a rule, that the trees and shrubs of China 

 and Japan, as well as those from southern Europe and 

 Chili, grow well in Florida, while those of Australia 

 and Mexico are rather precarious. Most of the Austra- 

 lian shrubs do not find the soil congenial, while many from 

 the sub-tropical regions of Mexico and the Himalayas find 

 the summer too warm and the winter too cold. Judging 

 from my experiments, the trees and shrubs of New Zealand 

 do not grow at all in Florida, while a large number from 

 southern Brazil and the Organ Mountains flourish admir- 

 ably. There are quite a number of exceedingly beautiful 

 California shrubs which should be tested in Florida. The 

 Manzanita (Arctostaphylos glauca), the Madrona (Arbutus 

 Menziesii) and the California Laurel (Oreodaphne Califor- 

 nica) are especially worthy of an effort to introduce them 

 as ornamental shrubs into the gardens of the south Atlantic 

 and Gulf states, and especially of Florida. 



Milwaukee, Wis. 



H. Nehr lino-. 



Foreign Correspondence. 

 London Letter. 



N, unusually large number of new and interesting 

 plants were among the exhibits which crowded the 

 exhibition hall at the last meeting of the Royal Horticul- 

 tural Society. There were also many fine specimens of 

 popular Orchids, including a grand example, beautifully 

 flowered, of Dendrobium nobile-nobilius, and another of 

 D. splendidissimum, var. grandiflorum. A single pseudo- 

 bulb of D. Wardianum giganteum, about two feet long and 

 carrying over fifty large richly tinted flowers and a well-flow- 

 ered specimen of the distinct and beautiful hybrid, D. Aspa- 

 sia (Wardianum X aureum), first flowered in 1890 by its 

 raisers, Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons, were among the most 

 striking representatives of this genus, as exhibited by 

 Mr. Statter, of Manchester. D. atroviolaceum was also 

 shown in flower. A new hybrid, named D. Virginia, of 

 Veitchian origin, which obtained a first-class certificate, is 

 a cross between D. Bensoniee and D. Japonicum. Although 



but a small plant with a single pseudo-bulb eight inches 

 high, upon it there were ten flowers, each nearly two inches 

 across, in form intermediate between the two parents, and 

 in color milk-white, with a blotch of dull purple and a tinge 

 of emerald green on the lip. Phalsenopsis Vesta, the hy- 

 brid raised by Messrs. Veitch from P. rosea, var., and P. 

 Aphrodite, was shown and obtained an award of merit. It 

 is better in color than P. rosea, the flowers over an inch 

 across, pale rosy-mauve, the front lobe of the lip trowel- 

 shaped, with a pair of short antenna? at the apex and col- 

 ored dull purple, the side lobes paler, with numerous red 

 dots. Cymbidium eberneo-Lowianum, bearing two flow- 

 ers, also came from the Veitchian establishment. 



An attraction of a special kind was a group of Dendro- 

 bium Phalsenopsis shown by Messrs. F. Sander & Co. The 

 exquisite beauty and variety of form and color revealed in 

 this grand Orchid are such as to have won for it already a 

 place among the very best of garden Orchids. Grown in 

 a hot moist house, it has proved quite easy to manage. 

 Several well-flowered plants of Cypripedium Rothschildia- 

 num, a beautiful variety of Lycaste Skinneri, named Mrs. 

 H. Ballantine, which was awarded a certificate on account 

 of its large size and pure white segments and rich rosy-pur- 

 ple of its labellum ; Dendrobium Imperatrix, with stout tall 

 pseudo-bulbs and erect spikes of white flowers, suggestive 

 of D. undulatum or D. stratiotes, Spathoglottis aurea, which 

 is grown exceptionally well at St. Albans, and a magnificent 

 example of Odontoglossum Edwardii — these were con- 

 spicuous in the St. Albans exhibit ; but the most remark- 

 able of all was a new hybrid Phaj us, called Marthae, the 

 result of crossing P. Blumei and P. tuberculosus, and which 

 may be described as a P. Cooksoni, with sepals and petals 

 colored pale buff-yellow. It is a decided acquisition. 

 Baron Shroeder sent a spike of his Odontoglossum crispum 

 apiatum, which is, perhaps, the most strikingly beautiful 

 of all the many forms of this grand Orchid. The spike 

 measured two feet in length, and it bore thirteen flowers, 

 each of which was fully four inches across, the sepals and 

 petals an inch wide, very crisp and wavy all round the 

 edges, while the colors, white, with large blotches of rich 

 chocolate-brown, and a tinge of yellow about the crest of 

 the lip, were perfection. It is such flowers as this that jus- 

 tify the use of such terms as "queenly" for Orchids. The 

 Society awarded it a gold medal. Vanda Cathcartii was 

 represented by four spikes of its large, fleshy chocolate- 

 brown zebra-marked flowers, all from the garden of the 

 Earl of Cork, at Frome, where this rarely flowered Vanda 

 is exceptionally well grown. Trichopilia sauvis, in a nine- 

 inch basket, bore no less than thirty-seven of its large fra- 

 grant white and rosy-mauve flowers. 



Ccelogyne Mossia:, said to be a new introduction from 

 Ceylon, was awarded a first-class certificate, and was ac- 

 cepted as a new species. It is in the way of C. ochracea, 

 having short ovate pseudo-bulbs, lanceolate leaves six 

 inches long, and a short curved raceme of six flowers each, 

 nearly two inches across, well formed and pure white, 

 with a blotch of yellow on the lip. It is a distinct and 

 pretty little plant. 



Masdevallia Gargantua, a rare species, with the foliage 

 of M. elephanticeps, and a large fleshy flower of unattrac- 

 tive form and color, was shown in bloom, and while its 

 maw-like yellow and crimson-purple flowers arrested at- 

 tention, they were generally called ugly. In addition to 

 its unpleasing appearance, it has also a strong repellant 

 odor. Still, for a Masdevallia, it is a most remarkable 

 plant, deserving to rank with Stapelias. Next to it stood a 

 fine example of the elegant Cirrhopetalum picturatum, car- 

 rying four scapes, each supporting a whorl of about ten 

 flowers. Both of these were exhibited by Sir Trevor Law- 

 rence, who also sent a plant of Bnlbophyllum Sillenianum, 

 which was described by Reichenbach in 1SS4 from a plant 

 introduced from Burma, but is still very rare. It has 

 roundish pseudo-bulbs an inch long, leaves five inches 

 long by half an inch in width, and slender one-flowered 

 scapes as long as the leaves, the flower being over an inch 



