May 2, iS 



Garden and Forest. 



177 



sogdiana, T. lanata and T. Sintinisii, which, on account of their 

 earliness, are all welcome additions. 



Among Snowdrops I find Galanthus Caucasicus grandis the 

 very best ; it is early enough, of purest white, and a most ro- 

 bust and healthy grower. 



Muscari Freynianum must be named among the best Grape 

 Hyacinths ; it is a very large form of M. lingulatum, with tur- 

 quoise-blue flowers. M. Szovitsianum subcaeruleum is a 

 showy variety with pale sky-blue flowers. M. polyanthum, 

 with bright ultramarine spikes of very large size, I consider 

 as one of the best of all. An ultramarine-colored Bellevalia 

 was very showy, and is a most interesting plant, the broad 

 leaves carefully close and protect the buds from frosts. 



Fritillarias, although lacking in bright colors, are, neverthe- 

 less, attractive. The first to come out was F. Raddeana, from 

 the slopes of the Kasbeck. It belongs to the Imperialis group, 

 and has straw-yellow flowers of a different form from those of 

 the type. This is likely to cause a revolution in the Impe- 

 rialis strain when once it is carefully hybridized. F. Kotschy- 

 ana affinis is a remarkably showy species ; it is a dwarf plant 

 with flowers two inches across of a dark vinous-red color, with 

 paler markings. F. alpina is small, but very pretty, the bells 

 being chocolate, with a bright yellow rim, and yellow inside. 

 I am wondering what a new species will turn out from the 

 Black Mountains in India. It belongs to the Macrophylla 

 group, and has leaves an inch broad by nearly four feet long. 

 Neither must F. minor be despised ; I have here specimens 

 two feet and a half high which attract attention by their sombre 

 blackish bells. The Major form of F. Meleagris alba is a 

 fine plant, some individuals having stems three feet tall. 



Baden-Badc-n. Max Leichtlill. 



Chrysanthemums. 



SPECIMEN plants are now well established in six-inch pots, 

 and are plunged in sand in a cold frame and freely exposed 

 during fine weather. Here they make healthy growth for the 

 flowering season. A consideration no less important than an 

 abundance of good flowers, is fine foliage well down to the 

 pots. Plants which have been forced in a close atmosphere, or 

 unduly excited by stimulants during the earlier stages, never 

 finish well. We use only moderately rich soil and trust to the 

 judicious application of stimulants when the pots are filled 

 with roots, toward the end of August. Even then the amount 

 and frequency of application is varied according to the needs 

 of particular varieties. Some, like Hicks Arnold, G. W. Childs 

 and Joseph H. White, can take stimulants two or three times a 

 week, while Ivory and Cullingfordii are overdone with more 

 than one application. 



About the middle of May we shall transfer the plants to the 

 blooming pots. Our soil is a rather light and moderately rich 

 loam. Lime in some form should be an ingredient, and bone- 

 meal, lime-rubbish or wood-ashes will supply this requirement 

 very well. We pot light, as in the earlier stages there is less 

 dangerof overwatering, a risk to be carefully avoided, since a 

 serious loss of foliage is sure to follow ; and later, when stim- 

 ulants are applied, the plants will become waterlogged, unless 

 the drainage is good, an equally unfavorable circumstance. 



Stopping is an important operation not generally well under- 

 stood. No regular periods can be named for this work, but it 

 should be done almost every day, _as soon as a shoot is ob- 

 served outgrowing the others. The idea is to keep the plants 

 evenly balanced. It should never be necessary to stop a plant 

 " hard," as the shoots do not thus break as well as when merely 

 the tips are taken. Neither can any date be named to discon- 

 tinue this operation. Golden Ball, Ivory, Duchess of Con- 

 naught, L. Canning and W. H. Lincoln naturally make good 

 specimens, and need scarcely any attention after July, while 

 G. W. Childs, Hicks Arnold, Mr. H. Cannell, Fascination, Cul- 

 lingfordii and Mrs. W. G. Newitt should have run-away shoots 

 stopped as late as the end of August. It need hardly be stated 

 that a few stakes should be put about the plants to steady them 

 against severe wind, and rain storms. 



We always give all new varieties an equal chance with the 

 tried kinds until their transfer into blooming pots ; with 

 the old varieties as a guide, we seldom fail in selecting 

 from the new kinds those most suitable for specimens. The 

 following new or recent kinds we shall give an extended trial : 

 Iora, Mademoiselle Therese Rey, Amber Queen, Madame 

 Octavie Mirabeau, Mrs. J. G. Ills, Sans Peur, Temptation, Eda 

 Prass, Ernst Rieman, Achilles, Laredo, Prairie Rose, Major 

 Bonnafon, A. H. Fewkes, Mrs. M. W. Redfield, Gloriana, Fas- 

 cination and Clinton Chafaut. Duplicates of all the newer 

 varieties rooted since distribution can be sufficiently tested in 

 six or seven-inch pots and stopped to about ten blooms, and 



many will make very neat specimens. Florists find such 

 plants very salable ; and plants of this size are convenient for 

 keeping over for stock. 



Cuttings for exhibition blooms should be put in at once, but 

 for general decorative purposes toward the end of the month 

 is early enough. Some florists, who have a good home trade 

 for blooms of moderate size, find it pays better to root the plants 

 in June. They are planted later, and correspondingly closer. 

 The soft tips are preferable and should not be allowed to wilt, 

 but should be put in, lot by lot, and well watered and shaded. 



Cuttings should be kept saturated and shaded in the day- 

 time, but aired at night for about ten days, when they should 

 be in a fair way for rooting. But even then they should not be 

 allowed to wilt. When rooted, it has been our practice to pot 

 into three-inch size, but a very successful grower, Mr. Brydon, 

 of Yarmouthport, Massachusetts, tells me he has better suc- 

 cess by putting them in flats, as they can be moved with their 

 roots in better condition for taking hold of the soil than when 

 they are pot-bound. We shall give his plan a trial. We use 

 the same compost as for pot plants and feed them much in the 

 same way. For exhibition blooms ten inches apart is not too 

 much to allow ; for later planting less will do. 



Wellesley, Mass. T. D. Hatfield. 



Caladiums. 



AMONG greenhouse-plants grown for their foliage alone 

 none are more beautiful than the ornamental-leaved 

 Caladiums. They are most serviceable as house-plants during 

 summer, as they last well, and do not require the constant 

 changing that flowering plants do when used in the dwelling- 

 house. The more recent varieties of Caladiums, known here 

 as the Brazilian kinds, are most beautiful, and I never remem- 

 ber seeing better ones than those exhibited at Chicago last 

 year. Some of the sorts have little green in the leaves, the 

 texture being thin and transparent, delicately tinted with rose- 

 color on pale creamy white grounds. These are very hand- 

 some, but liable to injury by exposure to the direct rays of the 

 sun in the greenhouses. In Florida, I am told, these plants are 

 hardy, and it seems that where Crotons can be used as sum- 

 mer bedding-plants, Caladiums may also be expected to do 

 well and to make a good effect, if given a shady position and 

 rich moist soil. In this state neither the Crotons nor Cala- 

 diums are a great success as outdoor plants, and cannot be 

 grown as I saw them in Washington last year, where, in the 

 Botanic Gardens, they were as happy outdoors as they are in 

 greenhouses here. The nights are too cool here, even in 

 summer, for them to be used successfully to any great extent. 

 This is a good time to obtain good dry bulbs of these plants 

 if they can be started in a nice warm house and be grown on 

 without a check. But if a good heat cannot be had early in the 

 year, it is better not to start them until later on. A rich light 

 soil is desirable ; loam and the material from a spent Mush- 

 room-bed, made porous with sand, makes a rich soil that these 

 plants delight in. They will be greatly benefited by manure- 

 water later in the season. In the fall, when the leaves begin 

 to decay and show signs of ripening off, is a critical period, and 

 the plants then require the same careful attention or the bulbs 

 will not ripen properly. They must have a good sunny position, 

 even when no longer ornamental and when all the leaves 

 have died off. I find it is best to shake the bulbs outandsto're 

 them away in dry sand in a warm place. Last year they were 

 put in the boiler cellar, and they came out in fine condition 

 this spring. A temperature below fifty-five degrees for any 

 length of time is fatal to these highly colored and delicate va- 

 rieties of later introduction. 



Soulh Lancaster, Mass. E. O. Or pet. 



Double-flowered Nelumbiums. 



"THE list of cultivated varieties of Nym.phaea in this country 

 ■^ has been increasing very rapidly for some years. This 

 has not been the case with Nelumbiums. Besides our native 

 Nelumbo lutea, only four or five desirable kinds are found in 

 our gardens. Beautiful double-flowering varieties undoubtedly 

 exist in Japan, but they seem difficult to obtain. Very soon 

 after I began to make aquatic plants a specialty I made stren- 

 uous efforts to add them to my collection. Many times I have 

 imported tubers, but on flowering they proved to be single, 

 and no improvement on those already in cultivation. I have 

 seen the statement somewhere that the Japanese are loath to 

 send their best varieties of these plants out of the country. 

 My experience would seem to show that there may be some 

 ground for believing this to be true. A few years ago I ob- 

 tained some seeds from the collection of an American ama- 

 teur in Japan, and among many seedlings raised from these 



