April 18, 1894.] 



Garden and Forest 



157 



through all right, as did also Rose Geranium stumps and 

 stumps of Lantana. Erythrina crista Galli, with a mound of 

 sawdust over the stump and the protection of a paper hay- 

 cap, would certainly come through an eastern New York win- 

 ter, and these old undisturbed stumps make a wonderful 

 growth and bloom in summer. 



Tall paper hay-caps of a conical form, made especially for 

 plant-protection, would afford excellent shelter for the dwarf 

 sorts of Tea Roses, and they could be safely wintered under 

 them in the winter when these plants are tender. The caps 

 would also be useful to protect garden-plants from sudden 

 cold in early spring. The amount of cold these thick water- 

 proof manilla covers will keep out is surprising. I do not 

 know how long they will last, but the paper caps I have used 

 during two winters are uninjured. They could be made of 

 any required height and size and sold in nests. 

 Raleigh, N. c. W. F. Massey. 



Tuberous Begonias as Bedding-plants. 



SUCH marked improvement has been made in the quality 

 of tuberous Begonias during recent years, and they are 

 grown in such large quantity, that good tubers of the best 

 strains are now as cheap as ordinary Zonal Pelargoniums. 

 From seed sown late in January we can have by the end of 

 May good flowering plants which will make a fine show when 

 bedded out. Dormant tubers, if they are not already started, 

 should at once be placed in boxes of light sandy soil and barely 

 covered. They should be watered sparingly until growths ap- 

 pear, for too much moisture will cause some of the tubers to 

 rot. When the plants are nicely started they may be potted off 

 or planted out close to the glass in a frame. We find that bet- 

 ter plants are obtained in this way, and as these Begonias are 

 easily lifted they sustain but a slight check when bedded out. 

 In this latitude we set them out by the end of May in beds 

 which have been heavily manured in the fall, as the Begonia 

 needs strong feeding. They are happiest in a light, rich and 

 moist soil. 



Many attempts have been made to grow these plants in full 

 sunshine, but this is rarely satisfactory, since few moisture- 

 loving plants are comfortable when baking' under the mid- 

 summer sky. I have always had the best success with them 

 in beds partially shaded by trees during the hottest part of 

 the day, but last summer some of our plants did grow well in 

 the full sun. It is useless to hope for the best flowers unless 

 the plants are kept well-watered. Our beds receive a thorough 

 soaking three times a week during the warmest part of the 

 year. Mulching with finely decomposed manure is beneficial. 

 The plants will root up into this, and more than one coating 

 can be given with safety during the growing season. When 

 they are well advanced it is advisable to give some support 

 to the main stem, or such tornadoes as the one which swept 

 over this region in August last year snap off their succulent 

 stems. After the plants are cut down by frost we remove a 

 part of the stem and spread the roots on a shelf in a dry shed, 

 and the tubers, after the stems have been separated from them, 

 are placed in boxes of dry sand in the cellar where the tem- 

 perature is little above freezing, where they keep in good con- 

 dition until lime for starting again. 



These Begonias have been superseding Geraniums in Great 

 Britain as bedding-plants for several years. Last summer was 

 exceptionally warm, but from friends who grow them by the 

 thousand in that country I learned that they were superb. 

 One of my correspondents stated that they could endure all the 

 sun that ever shone in that country if they were kept moist 

 enough at the root. In comparing Pelargoniums with Bego- 

 nias, we may say, in favor of the latter, that they can be more 

 easily stored in winter ; that they are covered with bloom until 

 the frost cuts them ; that the flowers of a good strain will 

 average from four to six inches across ; that after a heavy rain- 

 storm, when Pelargoniums are dashed to pieces, they look as 

 fresh as ever. 



Taunton, Mass. W. N. Craig. 



Ferraria atrata. 



TN 1870 I received a few bulbs of Ferraria undulata from 

 ■*■ E. H. Krelage, and have cultivated them ever since. During 

 all this time I have seen but one flower, and am considering 

 whether to try them any longer. This unsatisfactory experi- 

 ence had caused me to look askance at the whole genus, but 

 accident has changed my mind. A few years ago I obtained 

 a quantity of bulbs, not cultivated, directly from the Cape of 

 Good Hope ; these were supposed to be Gladioli, Homerias, 

 Galaxias, Tritonias and Ixias, and were labeled as such. Taken 

 in a wild state, they were encased in very dense and thick en- 



velopes, the remains of several years' growth, so that the dif- 

 ferent kinds of bulbs were about" identical in outerappearance. 



The bulbs were relieved of their old husks and planted, and 

 in the course of time dried off without flowering the first year. 

 When removed from the pots they had more than doubled in 

 size, and I found that there were two kinds in some of the pots. 

 The intruders, being evidently of the same species, were 

 potted separately, and when again turned out, still without 

 flowering, were "found to be larger than was natural for any 

 bulbs of the species I had ordered, the largest being as large 

 as an English walnut or Madeira nut. They were of a dark 

 red color, irregular in shape, and much resembled pebbles in 

 their general appearance. I had never seen any bulbs like 

 them, excepting those of Ferraria undulata, which, however, 

 are much smaller. Had I thought of the likeness at the time, 

 I should, no doubt, have thrown them away. Last winter, 

 having attained a flowering size, they blossomed profusely, and 

 this year again they are in full flower. As soon as I saw the 

 blossoms I saw that I had a new species of P'erraria, one, this 

 time, as free-flowering as F. undulata is shy. 



By the help of Mr. Baker's monograph I have identified the 

 species as F. atrata. The leaves are narrow, thick, and of a 

 darker green than is' common in those of Cape bulbs. They 

 curve outward and overtop the flower-stalk by an inch or two. 

 The latter are about fifteen inches high and branch freely, the 

 branches being short, and all terminating in flower-spathes, as 

 does also the main stalk. These spathes are produced also 

 along the sides of all of the branches, and are about two and 

 one-half inches long, bright green, with a nearly white edge, 

 and much inflated. 



Even without a flower the plant, with its spathe-laden stalk, 

 has a very unusual and attractive appearance. The blossoms, 

 like those of the nearly allied Tigridias and Rigidellas, are in- 

 dividually short-lived, but are produced successively for some 

 time from the same sheath. They have a diameter of about 

 two inches, and consist of six triangular segments of a deep 

 crimson color, and "trimmed," so to speak, with a curious 

 edging which looks like olive-colored chenille. The anthers, 

 arranged in three pairs, are orange in hue and conspicuous, 

 and the pistil resembles a dense bush with yellow-tipped 

 wings. The flower has a fragrance as odd as its appearance. 

 Some consider it to be like vanilla, but the resemblance is not 

 apparent to me. There is nothing in particular to say about 

 the cultivation of the plant ; the treatment usually given to 

 Cape bulbs suffices. 



Take it all in all, the plant is well worth the space it occu- 

 pies, and I shall now proceed to get as many of the species of 

 Ferraria as I can find. 



Since writing this notice I have learned, by the blowing open 

 of the greenhouse door in the night that this Ferraria is killed 

 by an amount of cold which has no effect upon Tritonias, 

 Ixias, Oxalis, Sparaxis and Babianas. 



Canton, Mass. W. E. EtldlCOtt. 



Tecophilea cyanocrocus, the Chilian Crocus, is a charming 

 little gem of the purest, deepest gentian-blue. The flowers 

 are borne on short scapes, and the six petals form an erect, 

 partly spreading flower about two inches long, dark blue, with 

 white markings at the base. Herr Leichtlin has, I believe, de- 

 veloped other forms with more white in the petals. It is diffi- 

 cult to see how the typical form could be improved. It is of a 

 rare color in flowers, and much easier than a Gentian to estab- 

 lish. I regret not having tried these bulbs before, especially 

 as they seem likely to prove hardy here. On that point there 

 may possibly be some doubt, though (his season they took 

 their chances on a south border among Irises of the Reticulata 

 group, and seem to have suffered not at all either in foliage or 

 flower from hard frosts. It will probably be prudent to keep 

 the bulbs thoroughly dry through the summer, lifting them if 

 necessary. T. cyanocrocus is not a recent introduction, but is 

 still scarce enough to be classed among those bulbs with which 

 growers do not care to try hazardous experiments, and hence 

 its extent of hardiness is not fully known. In Nicholson's 

 Dictionary of Gardening it is rated as a greenhouse bulb. 



Iris Sindjarensis, now in flower, is a bulbous Iris from Meso- 

 potamia. It is botanically one of the Juno Irises, of which I. 

 Persica and I. Caucasica "are the best-known representatives. 

 The leaves are lance-shaped, channeled, bright green, and 

 stem-clasping. The flowers, which are borne in pairs, are oi 

 a slaty lilac on the styles, shading to a faint tinge of lilac on 

 the falls, which are slightly dotted greenish blue. There is a 

 slight trace of yellow on the ridge of the fall. This species of 

 Iris is perfectly hardy with me on an exposed border. Pro- 

 fessor Foster notes that it does not "spear" with him till tin- 

 winter frosts are over. Myspecimen, for which 1 am indebted 



