August i, 1S94.] 



Garden and Forest. 



303 



come. The Ground-nut, Apios tuberosa, twines and 

 clambers in masses over the wayside shrubbery wher- 

 ever the ground is moist. Cassia Chamaecrista, some- 

 times called the Partridge Pea, and C. nictitans, the wild 

 Sensitive-plant, are both common, as are many other less 

 noticeable plants in this family. 



Other families also give us showy hardy plants, as the 

 Butterfly-weed, Asclepias tuberosa, with large umbels of 

 deep orange flowers. But one of the most striking dis- 

 plays in gorgeous yellows that I ever saw was this sum- 

 mer near an old country road. This was a kind of Tickseed, 

 Coreopsis auriculata, and the plants stood so thickly that 

 they had crowded out everything else for a number of 

 rods. They were in fall flower, and ran from the road 

 along the edge of the woods which skirted an old deserted 

 field. Examination showed that this was once the site of 

 a garden, as was proved by a gnarled old Apple-tree and a 

 stunted Lilac-bush which still remained. No doubt, the 

 original Coreopsis had been planted here as part of the 

 old-time flower-garden, and had proved its vigor by occu- 

 pying and possessing this abandoned territory. 



The Swamp Rose, Rosa Carolina, is seen everywhere in 



damp grounds, blooming all summer, as does also the 



dwarf R. lucida. Many handsome plants in the Heath 



family may still be seen along the country roadsides — 



Clethra and the Andromedas and Kalmias. , r _ 

 vineiand, n.j. Mary Ireat. 



Foreign Correspondence. 

 London Letter. 



"Les Orchidees. " * — The comprehensive work on Orchids 

 which I stated last year was in preparation by Monsieur 

 Lucien Linden, the managing director of L'HorticuIture 

 Internationale, Brussels, is now published, and from what 

 I have been able to see, in a hurried glance through its 

 thousand and odd pages, it is likely to more than fulfill 

 the expectations of those who know Monsieur Linden and 

 his capabilities as a writer upon and cultivator of the great 

 Orchid family. The history of the early collecting exploits 

 of Monsieur Linden, pere, the well-known John Linden — 

 who, by the way, is still actively interested in the work of 

 the famous Brussels nursery— is both useful and entertain- 

 ing, as also are the particulars of the natural conditions 

 under which many of the most important Orchids grow 

 wild. There is plenty of botany as well as history in the 

 book, which consequently contains much instructive mat- 

 ter for those who are only interested in Orchids botanically. 

 Probably, however, its chief value as a contribution to the 

 literature of Orchids is in those parts which deal with the 

 cultural requirements of these plants. On account of the 

 position he has held and the extraordinary success he has 

 achieved as a grower of Orchids, Monsieur Lucien Linden 

 is pre-eminently qualified to speak with authority on their 

 cultivation. The general principles which govern the cul- 

 tivation of all plants are pretty much the same in all coun- 

 tries, although in matters of detail there is often consider- 

 able difference. But every cultivator can find useful in- 

 formation in the chronicles of others, just as he does in 

 observing their methods, and in the details given by Mon- 

 sieur Linden the most experienced Orchid-grower in other 

 lands than Belgium cannot fail to find valuable hints. The 

 work is well illustrated and printed on good paper, its price 

 being twenty-five francs. 



Vanda Roeblinyiana. — This is a new species now flower- 

 ing in the nurseries of Messrs. H. Low & Co., Clapton, by 

 whom it has been introduced, and who have named it in 

 compliment to the Hon. C. F. Roebling, of New Jersey. It 

 has the habit of V. ccerulea, and bears several slender droop- 

 ing scapes about nine inches long, each with half a dozen 

 flowers about an inch and a half in diameter; pedicels two 

 inches long, sepals and petals equal spreading narrow an 

 inch long and colored chocolate-brown, with yellowish 



' Les Orchidees Exotiques ct leur Culture en Europe. 



lines and spots; lip spathulate, with a long narrow claw, 

 broad at the apex, which is flat, two-lobed, fringed and 

 colored like the petals, paler on the basal lobes. It is dis- 

 tinct from all other species in its long, slender, stalk-like 

 claw and the flat spreading apex of the lip. Although not 

 attractive in color, it is not without interest horticulturally. 

 It was awarded a botanical certificate on Tuesday. 



L#xio-Cattleya Timora. — Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons ex- 

 hibited this week and obtained a first-class certificate for a 

 new hybrid under the above name, which they had raised 

 from Cattleya Luddemanniana crossed with Laelia pumila 

 Dayana. It is a dwarf plant ; indeed, it might almost be 

 called an exceptionally vigorous L. pumila, with flowers 

 half as large again of a deeper color, and the large lip of a 

 deep maroon crimson. It is a very handsome and worthy 

 production. 



Disa Diores. — This is a hybrid between D. grandiflora 

 and D. Veitchii, also exhibited by its raisers, Messrs. J. 

 Veitch & Sons, and although it did not obtain any special 

 notice, it is likely to come into prominence as a cool-house 

 Orchid ; its large flowers are pale in color, with an orange- 

 red tinge on the lower sepals. The plant shown was small 

 and weak and bore only one flower. 



Sonerila Mrs. H. Walter. — This hybrid between S. 

 maculata (orientalis of gardens) and S. Hendersoni, a seed- 

 ling form of S. margaritacea, was shown this week in fine 

 condition by Messrs. F. Sander & Co., and was awarded a 

 certificate for its large richly variegated foliage, in which 

 respect it rivals the Bertolonias. Its leaves are six inches 

 long and four inches wide, dark olive-green, thickly spotted 

 all over with white. Although a common plant in various 

 parts of India, S. maculata does not appear to have ever 

 been in cultivation until it was introduced and distributed 

 by Mr. Bull under the name of S. orientalis. It is a pretty 

 little foliage-plant, and, in addition, is attractive when in 

 flower. It grows to a height of about nine inches and 

 blooms profusely in early winter, the color of the flowers 

 being bright pink. The cross between it and the well- 

 known S. Hendersoni is a very promising plant. 



Philadelphus Lemoinei. — If this plant is not grown in 

 American gardens — and I do not see it mentioned in Mr. 

 Jack's interesting notes on cultivated species and varieties 

 of Philadelphus — permit me to give it a strong recom- 

 mendation as a shrub which is quite hardy at Kew, grows 

 freely and flowers most profusely in June and July. It was 

 raised by Monsieur Lemoine, of Nancy, about six years 

 ago from P. coronarius and P. microphyllus, and it is as 

 attractive and useful a little shrub as one would expect 

 from such a union. We have several beds of it at Kew, 

 and it has flowered almost too freely for its own good this 

 year. P. microphyllus has done well here also, and, in 

 my opinion, is a most delightful little plant for a small bed 

 or group in a sheltered sunny position. It was severely hit 

 by a heavy frost experienced at Kew two years ago. 



Rosa gigantea. — Mr. E. D. Sturtevant is to be compli- 

 mented on being the first to flower this Burmese beauty 

 among the many expert growers who have essayed its cul-' 

 tivation. But there is a hitch somewhere, the smallness of 

 the flowers produced in America being disappointing. We 

 must, however, bear in mind that in Burma this Rose is a 

 gigantic climber, covering large trees with its stout 

 branches ; probably, therefore, the undersized flowers 

 borne by Mr. Sturtevant's plant are the aborted product of 

 a weakling in too great a hurry to reveal its flowers. Cer- 

 tainly the dried specimens of this Rose bear out the state- 

 ment of those who have seen it in the Shan states and 

 describe its flowers as large shallow cups, pure white and 

 six inches across. At Kew the plants grow with great 

 vigor, but they show no signs of flowering, and the same 

 is true of a plant in the garden of Mr. Thomas Hanbury, at 

 Ventemiglia, near Mentone. 



Cotinus Cotinus atropurpurea. — This shrub is attractive 

 with us now, the purplish color of its feathery-like flower- 

 heads being much more striking than the type, in which 

 the flower-heads are green. It was distributed several 



