374 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 343. 



A quite remarkable feature is the enormous length of the 

 burrows, one of them, measured along all its windings, 

 exceeding eight feet. 



The larva is white, flat, the segments strongly marked 

 and of nearly equal width, except that the thoracic seg- 

 ment just behind the head is greatly enlarged and almost 

 circular. When full grown it is from one to nearly one 

 and a half inches in length, and then bores a small cham- 

 ber in the solid wood, where it changes to a pupa, and 

 soon after to a beetle. This beetle, the product of a larva 

 one and a half inches long, fed in a gallery eight feet in 

 length, does not exceed three-eighths of an inch, and has a 

 diameter scarcely more than one-sixteenth of an inch. It 

 is cylindrical, parallel or of nearly even width throughout, 

 and of a metallic bronze-brown color, somewhat dulled by 

 the fine dense puncturing of the surface. 



The beetle lays its eggs in June or early July ; the young 

 larva becomes evident in July, and continues feeding until 

 the sap ceases to circulate, resumes feeding as soon as the 

 tree begins to thrive, and in May or June becomes full 

 grown. There is, apparently, some irregularity in the de- 

 velopment, because I found mature beetles early in June, 

 and late in July found larvae that were not yet full grown 

 when the little ones of the new brood were already begin- 

 ning their work of destruction. 



There is some doubt of the specific identity of the in- 

 sect, only one sex having been obtained ; but it will prob- 

 ably prove to be Agrilus acutipennis. 



Concerning remedies it is as yet impossible to speak 

 definitely, because the feeding habits of the beetle have 

 not been observed. T 7 __, „ . , 



Rutgers College. / 01171 -». Smith. 



Foreign Correspondence. 

 London Letter. 



Vellozia elegans. — Mr. Endicott, in a note on this plant 

 pulished in Garden and Forest, states that its native coun- 

 try is not known with certainty and that it has never been 

 collected since its discovery. It is a native of Natal, 

 where, undoubtedly, wild specimens of it were collected 

 by Cooper, by Gerrard, and more recently by Mr. Medley 

 Wood. Some notes on the cultivated Vellozias and their 

 allies, the Barbacenias, will be found in Garden and Forest 

 (vol. iv., page 77). 



Lilium Lown magnificum. — One of the most distinct and 

 pleasing of the newer Indian species of Lilium is L. Lowii, 

 which was introduced in 1891, when I noted it in Garden 

 and Forest (page 352). It is related to L. Nepalense, 

 along with which and L. sulphureum it is found wild in 

 Upper Burma, differing from that species, however, in its 

 less reflexed flower-segments, which form a wide bell and 

 are white, with a few pale purple spots on the inside. The 

 variety now in flower in the Clapton nurseries has a nod- 

 ding flower three inches across, white, thickly spotted and 

 blotched with dull crimson, suggesting in its marking the 

 flower of Maxillaria Sanderiana. It is to be hoped that the 

 possessors of these new and beautiful Lilies will look after 

 their seeds and work up a stock of plants for distribution. 

 It cannot be too widely known that nearly every Lilium 

 ripens seeds freely, and flowering bulbs can be raised from 

 them easily in from two to four years. 



New Orchids. — The following new Orchids were exhib- 

 ited at the meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society held 

 last Tuesday : 



Cattleya Kilnastiana : This is a hybrid between C. aurea 

 and C. speciosissima, both of them forms of the labiata 

 section of the genus. The plant shown had sturdy pseudo- 

 bulbs and leaves, and the raceme bore two flowers with 

 narrow pale rose-colored sepals, the petals broad,, wavy, 

 rose-lilac, with paler veinings, and the lip large, crisped 

 and wavy, purple-red, with a large patch of golden yellow 

 veined with white, the margin being lilac. It is difficult to 

 describe the colors, but they are decidedly handsome, and 

 the hybrid may be reckoned among the best raised by its 

 exhibitors, Messrs. F. Sander & Co. 



Cypripedium J. H. Yeitch : The parents of this fine hybrid 

 are C. Stonei platytcenium and C. Curtisii. It is in the way 

 of C. Morgania?, but the flowers are larger and the shades 

 of color slightly different. The most striking features of 

 both parents are to be seen in the hybrid, which is certain 

 to become a favorite with admirers of big-flowered Cypri- 

 pediums. It was raised by Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons. 



Habenaria Susannas : Messrs. F. Sander & Co. intro- 

 duced this plant last year, and they now have it in flower. 

 It is an old, though long lost, garden-plant, for it was in 

 cultivation sixty years ago, when a picture of it was pub- 

 lished in the Bolankal Magazine under the name of H. 

 gigantea. It has fleshy green ovate leaves and a stem two 

 teet or more long, bearing at the top a few large fragrant 

 white flowers, in which the segments are spreading, the 

 dorsal sepal broad and the side lobes of the lip deeply 

 divided and comb-like. It is a native of various parts of 

 India and China. 



Lselia Owenise, a supposed natural hybrid in the way of 

 L. Perrini, bearing a spike of seven handsome dark rose- 

 red flowers, the lip not unlike that of L. Perrini, was 

 awarded a certificate. L. elegans has been suggested as 

 the other parent. 



Lycoris aurea is a plant which ought to become as great 

 a favorite in the garden as the Scarboro Lily, Vallota pur- 

 purea, or the Guernsey Lily, Nerine sarniensis. It is a 

 much more ornamental plant than is supposed ; indeed, 

 until the bulbs lately received from Hong Kong flowered 

 at Kew I had no idea of its great beauty. The secret is, 

 of course, in the proper cultivation of the bulbs already 

 referred to by me in a recent letter, and I believe if bulb- 

 growers in the southern states would grow this plant in 

 quantity and ship the bulbs annually to the north to flower 

 in autumn they would do themselves and horticulture gen- 

 erally a good turn. Bulbs received at Kew three weeks 

 ago and potted, three in a five-inch pot, are now a beau- 

 tiful picture, the stout scapes a foot or more long, each 

 bearing a large umbel of flowers, like Nerines, but very 

 much larger than the largest, and the color deep yellow, 

 with a lustre like a new English sovereign. This is the 

 handsomest bulb in flower with us now. 



Rose Crimson Rambler. — The behavior of this plant has 

 been highly satisfactory this year, the comparatively wet and 

 sunless weather having in no wise interfered with its free 

 growth nor affected the display of flower, except possibly 

 to increase it. In some gardens the shoots have grown 

 ten feet in length and they have been sheaves of bright 

 crimson flowers for the past month or more. It is a Rose 

 for the million, and as it grows freely on its own roots, is 

 easily propagated from cuttings and is not particular in 

 regard to soil, it is sure to become common. 



Spir^a Anthony Waterer is another star plant. We have 

 a bed of it at Kew, and it attracts everybody's attention, 

 the flowers being a rich crimson color, in large corymbs 

 and borne thickly on the plants, which, although not ex- 

 ceeding a foot in height, have flowered freely and contin- 

 uously since the beginning of summer. Mr. Waterer says 

 it is as good in its way as a bedding Geranium, and some 

 people would say it is better. 



Fuchsias as Bedders. — Three of the most attractive beds 

 on the large lawns at Kew are filled entirely with Fuch- 

 sias corallina, gracilis and globosa, each with a bed to it- 

 self. In another part of the garden there is a series of 

 beds filled with a mixture of garden Fuchsias, and al- 

 though these are good to look at they are less pleasing in 

 effect than these three beds of the tall, graceful, dark-flow- 

 ered species mentioned. Simple arrangements such as 

 this are preferable to the mixed bedding which used to pre- 

 vail here, and although many visitors compare the simple 

 method of bedding at Kew unfavorably with the more 

 complicated arrangements at Hampton Court and other 

 popular resorts, people of taste prefer the one plant to each 

 bed arrangement which predominates at Kew. The Fuch- 

 sias are admirable for the purpose as they soon furnish the 

 beds and they flower freely all through the summer. 



