April 25, 1894.] 



Garden and Forest. 



167 



rior in its rich' yellow, and so much more free in flower, that it 

 is greatly the best garden-plant. 



Anemone blanda has been very late in flowering this season, 

 scarcely giving a sign till early March. It has sometimes 

 shown color in the first week in January with me, and usually 

 appears after the first few sunny days of the year. The beau- 

 tiful star-like flowers, expanded over the bronzy, finely cut 

 leaves, are among the most cheerful blossoms of the early 

 year. Among them are pure whites and various shades of 

 blues, or, properly, purples. The deep, pure-colored, Violet- 

 blue form is usually most valued. 



The winter Aconite, Eranthis hyemalis, has also been late 

 this year, to the extent of not flowering at all. In fact, there 

 seems but a bit of it left in the border. Perhaps this is a relia- 

 ble flower in many places, but it is never happy with me, and 

 rapidly disappears. The newer E. Cilicica appears, in less 

 sunlight, to be making some progress, but has not flowered 

 this season. Yellow flowers are so bright and cheerful that 

 those which appear in the early year are especially valuable, 

 and the winter Aconite could never be too plentiful in the 

 border. 



Other low-growing plants which are now in flower are 

 Aubrietia Leichtlini, Arabis alpina, hybrid Primroses and 

 various Grape Hyacinths. The trailing plants of Aubrietia are 

 so pretty and bright at this season that it is a pity that their flow- 

 ers so soon fade in the sunlight. Hybrid Primroses have been, 

 of course, in flower sparsely from the late fall, but at this sea- 

 son the clustered leaves are being gradually hidden under the 

 charming flowers — that is, the flowers are charming if a care- 

 ful selection has been made from the seedlings and the weak 

 dull-colored ones are resolutely discarded. 

 Elizabeth, N. J. J. N. Gerard. 



Carinas. 



F'EW flowering plants combine so many good qualities as 

 the modern French Canna. The introduction of Madame 

 Crozy marked a decided advance and placed them among the 

 most useful plants, euher for the garden in summer or the 

 greenhouse in winter. Several varieties plantedout last spring 

 had bloomed continuously during the previous winter without 

 a rest or check of any kind, and continued to do so through- 

 out the succeeding summer, increasing in size and vigor. 

 When the autumn frost came they were potted and placed in 

 the greenhouse again, and kept at a night temperatureof fifty- 

 five degrees, Fahrenheit. Here they have since made a mag- 

 nificent display, without any abatement. No rest seems 

 necessary for these Cannas, as was required by the older 

 kinds. Madame Crozy is still, in my opinion, the best Canna 

 of its color yet distributed for all purposes. Its general habit, 

 free-blooming qualities and compact panicles of scarlet and 

 gold flowers altogether make up a standard of excellence by 

 which future introductions will surely be judged. 



A clear yellow Canna with large flowers is still wanting, but 

 this need will doubtless be filled. According to reports of the 

 new Charles Henderson, its flowers will eclipse that superb 

 crimson, Alphonse Bouvier. President Carnot has bloomed 

 very freely all winter. It is one of the best dark-leaved varie- 

 ties. The flowers are unusually large for this class and of a 

 good salmon-red color. I have only one plant, but at no time 

 during the winter has it been without some bloom, although 

 dark-leaved varieties are generally considered shy bloomers. 

 Among recent introductions no variety has attracted so 

 much attention as Paul Marquant. The flowers are very 

 large, of a salmon-red shade, with a pleasing satiny lustre. 

 The habit is very dwarf and free, and it makes one of the best 

 pot-plants, every shoot bearing flowers. Captain Suzzoni, 

 light yellow, spotted, and Florence Vaughan, dark yellow, 

 spotted, are with me of about equal value, and the best for 

 outdoor planting of these shades. Souvenir de Francois 

 Gaulin, of less recent introduction, of the yellow type, is the 

 best winter-blooming variety of this class which I have found. 

 The flowers are smaller and not quite so lustrous, but still 

 effective when seen in quantity. 



Wellesley, Mass. T. D. H. 



Begonias. 



BEGONIAS are in general favor as winter-blooming plants 

 for their grace, beauty and diversified character. We 

 find it more practicable to raise a new stock every spring than 

 to hold over old plants, which often become leggy. Cuttings 

 made now will root freely. They should be grown along dur- 

 ing the summer in under-sized pots, with a generous shift late 

 in the autumn, for if grown to their limit from the start the 

 plants become less compact and are larger than it is desirable 



to have them. A good light compost, not very rich, suits 

 them well. When the natural soil is heavy a little leaf-mold 

 and sharp sand should be added. 



I find that the most useful varieties are : Incarnata, a bushy 

 plant with pink flowers. Bismarck is rather shrubby, tall, with 

 clear pink flowers. It is a continuous bloomer from the cut- 

 ting-bench onward. Paul Bruant has short, succulent stems 

 and handsome foliage, and makes a good pot-plant about a 

 foot high. The flowers are bright pink, the male flowers ex- 

 tremely fugacious, and the handsome female flowers persistent 

 and arranged in drooping panicled cymes with green-winged 

 capsules. Verschaffeltii is a rather coarse-growing hybrid with 

 a thick, succulent stem. It is a seasonal bloomer, akin to 

 Manicata, and is at its best in January. The erect branching 

 cymes are often more than three feet long, a perfect mass of 

 pearly-pink flowers, and it is a striking object in bloom ; all 

 the Semperflorens group are free bloomers. Sutton's Perfec- 

 tion is an extremely handsome white, and is a splendid bedder. 

 Of the more or less ornamental-leaved varieties, Crestneri, 

 Olbia, Scharffiana, Argentea-guttata, the variegated Manicata, 

 President Carnot and Madame De Lessepsare all excellent. 



Our old plants are pruned and used very effectively for odd 

 shady corners, and some very nice work can be done with 

 them. An attractive group of a sub-tropical character can be 

 made with Bismarck, Guttata, Metallica, Diadema and two or 

 three varieties of Semperflorens, including the yellow-leaved 

 variety, some Fuchsias, notably the yellow-leaved Wave of 

 Life and Sun-ray, with a few Dracaenas of either the Draco, 

 Australis or Fragrai.s type, a few Grevilleas and Abutilon 

 Eclipse. 



Wellesley, Mass. T. D. H. 



Hydrangeas on single stems. — This is a useful way to grow 

 Hydrangeas, and this is a good time to strike the cuttings. 

 Strong young shoots, with no appearance of flower-buds on 

 them, should be selected, and when rooted should be placed 

 in three-inch pots and shifted on until they are in seven-inch 

 pots. They must be kept growing freely all the time in a green- 

 house temperature, and they do best in a mixture of two parts 

 loam, one of leaf-mold and one of sand, with a little dried 

 manure or ground bone added. All side shoots should be 

 removed as they appear, and when the flower-buds are set 

 the plants should be fed until the blooms are about half-ex- 

 panded. The result should be nice, useful plants, from four- 

 teen to eighteen inches high, with single flower-heads measur- 

 ing, in many cases, over thirty inches across. 



Azalea Indica. — These plants are now past flowering, and pot- 

 ting should be attended to at once if it has not already been 

 done. They should be thoroughly cleaned before beginning 

 to pot them, although this work may be done afterward. 

 Thrip and red spider, the enemies of Azaleas, can be kept in 

 check by occasional syringing with a solution of Fir-tree oil. 

 Mealy bug and scale often lurk beneath the loose bark, which 

 should be carefully scraped off with a small piece of wood or 

 some substance not apt to injure the under bark. The pots, 

 also, should be perfectly clean. The plants require to be well 

 drained, and in shilting the roots of the plant should be dis- 

 turbed as little as possible. A. Indica does best in a mixture 

 of two parts fibrous peat, well broken, two parts leaf-mold and 

 one of sand, the fresh soil packed firmly about the plant. With 

 the house kept moderately warm and the atmosphere moist, 

 growth will be encouraged, and gradually more air should be 

 admitted, as the plants become established and started. A 

 little training greatly increases the beauty of Azaleas, and if 

 regularly attended to every season this work is but little trou- 

 ble. Of many forms into which the plants can be trained, I 

 like a half-ball the best, as this form shows more of the plant 

 at one time. After the growths are made and the buds set, the 

 plants should be plunged out-of-doors in a bed of ashes ; the 

 holes should be made large enough for pieces of brick to be 

 placed in the bottom, to ensure free drain:) 



New Dorp, x. y. William Scott. 



Winter Apples. — Proportionally few of the seedling apples 

 which appear from time to time are long keepers. It is a cu- 

 rious fact that, desirous as growers and consumers in all sec- 

 tions are for these late-maturing fruits, we have collected, 

 from foreign and native sources together, considerably less 

 than 200 varieties which can be classed as winter fruit in any 

 part of the country, while the apples, otherwise valuable, 

 which will keep until April south of New Jersey, hardly reach 

 thirty named kinds. And yet the ready critics are loudly at- 

 tacking the Russian Apples which have been imported within 

 the past twenty years, because no large number of them have 

 yet shown themselves to be all-winter fruit. It will require at 



