Septemeer 5, 1894.] 



Garden and Forest. 



353 



These artificial low temperatures, besides their uses in 

 arresting the decay and retarding- the maturity of fruits and 

 vegetables, are applied to other purposes connected with 

 horticulture. Nursery-stock has been kept in a cool tem- 

 perature in good condition for three years, with the roots 

 plump and ready for growing when taken out. Hardy 

 plants which are intended for forcing are often frozen after 

 they are lifted, so as to give them their needed experience 

 of a winter, after which they will push forward with healthy 

 energy. Imported pips of Lily-of-the-valley are largely held 

 in cold storage, not only to preserve them, but because 

 they start more quickly and strongly after having been 

 frozen. Bermuda Lily-bulbs and other stock of this sort are 

 also treated successfully in this way. 



Refrigerator cars have made it possible to transport Cal- 

 ifornia fruit to New York, and some of the freezing pro- 

 cesses on shipboard have been so perfected that perishable 

 fruit can soon be sent all over the world. Unsound fruit 

 cannot be saved by cold storage, but it can be kept in 

 good condition if it is sound and not too ripe when first 

 placed there. Cold warehouses in fruit districts have been 

 advocated for storing the products of a neighborhood, so 

 that they can be held for shipping until a time when the 

 demand would make it profitable. To a certain extent this 

 is practicable, but, as a rule, it is not safe to ship fruits 

 after they have been a long time chilled, and, in a majority 

 of cases, it seems preferable to transport the fruit directly 

 from the orchard or the vineyard to its destined market, 

 and then, after carefully selecting and packing that which 

 is not overripe, to hold it until the time of demand. Many 

 of the grape growers of this state will ship directly from 

 their vineyards a part of their crop this year, to be refriger- 

 ated in this city. It is claimed that the fruit keeps better 

 when treated in this way than when it is stored in cold 

 houses at home and shipped to this city afterward. 



New York. M. B. C. 



Nature's Planting Plans. 



THE best suggestions for planting are often found by 

 wood-borders and waysides, where combinations of 

 color in nature produce effects which we may not be able 

 to copy literally — indeed, any attempt at exact imitation 

 is only a counterfeit of nature and is spurious art — but which 

 certainly ought to furnish motives and hints that can be 

 made useful when we are growing plants, not so much for 

 the purpose of displaying them individually as of grouping 

 them in arrangements which will have a pictorial effect. A 

 point to be noticed in natural combinations is that there is 

 usually a great deal of green of one shade or another in 

 them all, so that while we often see considerable masses 

 of the brightest colors, they always appear against a green 

 background where they show to best advantage. 



On a recentjourney through New Jersey I observed the 

 railway-banks bright with the orange flowers of Asclepias 

 tuberosa, and these seemed brighter still because of the 

 meadow which stretched beyond them ; and in. this same 

 meadow, farther on, the lilac-purple of the Liatris, 

 standing in the grass and softened by the distance, was 

 very pleasing. Another pretty combination was a field of 

 Cat-tails with the rose-colored flowers of the Swamp 

 Rose Mallow glimmering behind and through them. In 

 the pure sand of The Barrens, Cassia chamsecrista often 

 stretches along the track like a band of gold, and one 

 can ride by it for miles # and never tire, so long as the 

 green grass and foliage beyond serve as a foil and con- 

 trast. 



One picture of which I caught a brief view as we rolled by 

 was that of a brackish pond surrounded with high Sedges, 

 and among these were groups of pink and white Rose Mal- 

 lows. As a relief to the monotonous level of the place 

 there were two hummocks upon which strong masses of 

 Clethra had grown and were then in full flower. In front 

 of these, toward the edge of the pond, were lower Marsh 

 Grasses, overtopped with the white heads of Cotton Grass 



and the white flowers of Eupatorium, and these again were 

 pierced here and there with the intense purple spikes of 



fachson Dawson. 



Vernonia. 



Arnold Arboretum. 



Foreign Correspondence. 

 London Letter. 



THERE were more new and interesting plants than 

 usual exhibited at the meeting of the Royal Horticul- 

 tural Society held on Tuesday last. In addition to those 

 here described there were new varieties of Gladiolus from 

 Messrs. Kelway, of Langport, whose development of this 

 genus from the point of view of horticulture is marvelous. 

 Dahlias also were largely exhibited and some were 

 awarded certificates. A group of Crotons, comprising fifty- 

 seven varieties, all represented by perfectly grown, richly 

 colored little specimens about two feet high, was sufficiently 

 attractive to recall cultivators to the value of these plants, 

 now fallen into comparative neglect. New Caladiums, 

 new Cannas, a group of Cockscombs, from Mr. Cannell, 

 showing twelve distinct shades of color, with large groups 

 of choice herbaceous plants, were principal features among 

 the exhibits. 



Disa nervosa. — Although described by Lindley forty 

 years ago from specimens collected by Drege at the Cape, 

 this distinct and handsome-flowered species has only re- 

 cently been introduced into cultivation, plants sent to Kew 

 from Natal last year being now in flower. The whole plant, 

 including the spike, is two and a half feet high ; the leaves 

 are linear - lanceolate, ten inches or less in length, 

 bright green tinged with red at the sheathing base. The 

 scape is erect, leafy, and it bears two dozen flowers, form- 

 ing a spike five inches across and high. The pedicels are 

 over an inch long, the bracts linear and nearly as long ; 

 segments of the flower an inch long, curved, the dorsal 

 sepal arched and concave, the base prolonged into a straight 

 slender spur nearly an inch long ; lip very small, concave, 

 and attached to its base is a slender filament an inch long, 

 which stands straight out from the flower, and is slightly 

 curved and thickened at the tip. The whole flower is 

 colored bright rose-pink. The genus Disa is a very vari- 

 able one, and it is difficult to see at a glance the generic 

 relationship of such species as the above and D. grandi- 

 flora and D. graminifolia. 



L.elio-Cattleya Broomfieldensis. — This is a new hybrid 

 between L. preestans and C. aurea. It has the general 

 habit of the Laslia slightly modified, the flowers being larger 

 and the lip very handsome, intermediate in size and form, 

 and colored rich maroon-crimson, with orange veins at the 

 base. It was awarded a first-class certificate and was gen- 

 erally considered to be one of the best of recent hybrids. 

 It was shown in flower by Mr. W. Wells, of Broomfield, 

 Sale. 



Cypripedium W. R. Lee. — This hybrid between C. super- 

 biens and C. Elliottianum was raised by Mr. Lee, of Man- 

 chester, who showed it in flower this week and obtained for 

 it an award of merit. It is in the way of C. Morganiae, but 

 the flowers are larger, coarser and duller in color, being 

 greenish white and dull brown-purple, the petals dotted 

 with black-purple. It is only fair to say that there were 

 good judges who considered it one of the handsomest and 

 most striking of hybrid Cypripediums. 



Cypripediuii Charlesworthii. — Messrs. H. Low & Co. ex- 

 hibited this week a group of over sixty plants of this in 

 flower, which showed considerable variety in the shade of 

 mauve or rose-purple and in the shape of the dorsal sepal. 

 It is a first-rate Cypripedium, and is said to be as sturdy as 

 C. Spicerianum, which is now generally grown in a cool 

 house along with C. insigne. 



Cattleya Ashtoniana. — This new hybrid between C. Har- 

 risoniag and C. Warscewiczii (gigas) has the pseudo- 

 bulbs and foliage of the former and flowers like those of 

 the latter parent, but smaller, and colored pale-mauve, ex- 

 cept the broad labellum, which is deep crimson with purple 



