September 26, 1894.] 



Garden and Forest. 



387 



poeticus serves very well, with one or two exceptions. No 

 separation need be made between the sections incomparabilis 

 and Barri, for both commonly arise from the same cross and 

 the very same pod of seed. And N. montanus should cer- 

 tainly be included under N. Leedsi, for it comes, as they do, 

 from the intercrossing of white Trumpet kinds and N. poeti- 

 cus. N. Leedsi, var. Gem, is merely a larger form of N. 

 montanus, and I have raised flowers from this cross which 

 practically reproduce them both. 



The great value, from the point of view of our gardens, of 

 these hybrids is their great vigor, which they owe to Narcissus 

 poeticus. It commonly happens among my own seedlings that 

 a delicate Trumpet Daffodil, difficult to increase or even keep 

 in health in my garden, will produce a vigorous form of 

 incomparabilis, strong and prolific. The beautiful Leedsi 

 Daffodils are a striking example of this infusion of the stronger 

 blood into the weaker. The white Trumpets — N. cernuus, 

 albicans, etc. — are notoriously fastidious about soil and other 

 conditions. In my own garden, for instance, they will scarcely 

 keep alive. But most ot their progeny by intermarriage with 

 N. poeticus, notably such flowers as Leedsi type, Duchess of 

 Brabant, Amabilis and others, flourish here and everywhere 

 like weeds. 



To Narcissus poeticus we also owe the beautiful orange, 

 and sometimes almost scarlet coloring, which its hybrids ex- 

 hibit in the edge of, or occasionally suffused throughout, their 

 crowns. To what extent this coloring matter will be trans- 

 mitted is always most uncertain. The very same pod of hy- 

 bridized seed will yield flowers with deep red cups or crowns, 

 and flowers without a trace of such color. A remarkable 

 instance of this uncertainty came under my own observation. 

 One of my finest and most brilliantly colored seedlings is Alba- 

 tross, which came from the well-known poeticus ornatus, by 

 pollen of Empress, the great bicolor Trumpet. The hybrid 

 remains almost a pure poeticus in plant and bloom, save a 

 great increase in size, the flower sometimes measuring five 

 inches across, and a somewhat enlarged crown, which has a 

 sharply defined ribbon-edge of intensely bright orange-scarlet. 

 But from the same pod came another flower, Seagull, almost 

 the counterpart of Albatross, except that the ribbon-edge is 

 deep yellow and not red. 



The most vividly colored of all hybrid Narcissi known to 

 me is Lulworth. It is not large, nor is the perianth so 

 shapely and firm as in some varieties. But the cup is of deep 

 chrome-yellow, broadly edged and suffused with glowing red, 

 and the flower has a luminous " red-hot " quality which makes 

 it quench all other red-cupped kinds set side by side with it. 

 I am acquainted with several other Narcissi which, looked at 

 separately, appear to have more red in them than Lulworth, 

 but the latter quite "snuffs them out" when they are brought 

 together. 



Narcissus poeticus itself is capable of much improvement, 

 and it has always appeared to me strange that the earlier 

 workers at raising seedling Narcissi have made no attempt in 

 this direction. To enlarge the flower and deepen the crimson 

 of the eye should be the aim. For many years I have raised 

 a very large number of seedlings between N. poeticus ornatus, 

 which has been the existing standard of form, by reason of its 

 circular flower with broad overlapping petals, and N. poeticus 

 poetarum, which has a deep crimson eye, but flimsier petals 

 and a worse constitution than ornatus. Thus I have obtained 

 some very fine flowers of increased size and substance, round 

 in shape, and having the eye colored deeply to its base. Such 

 a flower is Horace, large, very broad-petaled, and with a 

 richly colored eye. It gained the medal for the best new Nar- 

 cissus shown at the Royal Horticultural Society meetings dur- 

 ing the present year. I am hopeful of a further improvement 

 in size and color of this lovely Narcissus.— G. H. Engleheart, 

 in The London Garden. 



I 



The Water-garden. 



N my scheme of gardening many of the favorite plants of 

 one season are apt, for one reason or another, to disappear 

 the next, especially if they are plants which flower after the 

 early summer. The Nymphaeas, however, one and all, have 

 a charm of which one never wearies, and the water-garden is 

 the one feature of my little pleasance which could not be 

 spared. In this very dry season it has been a joy and comfort 

 at all times, and, singularly enough, insect enemies were 

 never fewer, and though there was no general replanting of 

 varieties, flowers have been very plentiful. 



Water-lilies are universal favorites, and no flowers are more 

 beautiful in their setting of lush green leaves, especially if 

 these are surrounded by ample spaces of limpid water, with, 



perhaps, a foil of Grasses, Sedges, Irises and other plants to 

 complete the picture. As it has been often said, this is a pic- 

 ture possible to make in any sunny garden, and one sure to 

 interest and please every one. This is a statement which, in 

 my experience, could not be made about any other family of 

 plants. My garden friends have very diverse tastes, and I 

 learned long since to expect appreciation only in spots, as it 

 were, for my passing fads, but the water-garden is unani- 

 mously approved. By this I do not mean my special garden, 

 but the water-gardens in general, which are now becoming 

 more numerous. There seems to be a hesitancy, I find, to 

 undertake the cultivation of Water-lilies, and a desire to know 

 the sunny side of such a garden ; to be informed as to its 

 drawbacks ; to know the exigencies and enemies the plantsare 

 subject to, and the difficulties of their cultivation. 



First, as to its healthfulness : A tank or pond supplied with 

 vegetation and animals, in the way of fish and frogs, should 

 prove a real aquarium where conditions of life are so balanced 

 that animals and plants shall be healthy and the water remain 

 limpid. All this can be realized in a pond if it is kept clear of 

 vigorous weeds and does not receive foul surface-drainage. 

 In artificial tanks or ponds bad weeds are not likely to become 

 established, and one has only to fight the minute Algae which 

 so quickly form masses and choke up the pores of larger 

 plants. These Algae do not appear every year. This season 

 none have troubled me. In my tanks, which are suitable in 

 size for a small garden, the water will sometimes become foul 

 in winter from being kept too closely covered in moderate 

 weather, and in March the water is siphoned off as soon as the 

 coverings are removed. If planting is done, the manure used 

 will stain the water for a while, but this soon disappears. My 

 tanks are supplied with sewer connections and a hose is con- 

 venient, but, as a rule, this is only used to make up evapora- 

 tion or to clear the water from floating particles which will 

 sometimes gather. During a spell of abnormally hot weather 

 fresh water is supplied liberally every day, using the hose every 

 half-hour, and aerating the tank water by elevating the noz- 

 zle of the hose above the surface. This care may not always 

 be necessary, but it is prudent with a small tank. Aphides are 

 fond of aquatic plants, and in getting rid of these pests nothing 

 is so simple and serviceable as a dusting of tobacco-powder. 

 This is allowed to remain a day or two, and then washed off. 

 Various other forms of insect-life are found on or among the 

 plants, but these are usually not harmful, and they are acci- 

 dental, rather than annual, visitors. The fish and frogs will 

 take care of many of them. Nature here supplies another 

 destroying element, the house cat having an unbounded 

 appetite for my special breed of light green frogs, and giving 

 about the only anxiety connected with the tanks. 



To make a water-garden complete one should have an arti- 

 ficial bog, which in this connection could be easily supplied 

 with moisture. One can scarcely imagine an addition to a gar- 

 den which would be more interesting, and in which one could 

 cultivate more beautiful plants. 

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



For the Perennial Garden. 



[ FIND nothing more satisfactory in a sunny border than 

 ■*■ the perennial Scarlet Phlox, which flowers from July until 

 frost, and forms a superb mass of glowing color against a 

 background of shrubs that have finished flowering. These 

 flaming masses, here and there broken into by the large blos- 

 soms of the white variety, or alternating with them, are bril- 

 liantly effective. This Phlox requires little care and succeeds 

 with moderate watering. If the terminal bunches are removed 

 as they cease to flower the laterals will continue to bloom 

 until very late in the season. Tall Larkspurs, cut down after 

 their first flowers are past, reappear in autumn with shorter 

 spikes of blue, which combine well with other colors, notably 

 with the sunny disks of the perennial Sunflower, which is as 

 good for cutting as it is ornamental in the border. I have 

 likewise a partiality for the old-fashioned Bee Balm. Its masses 

 of rich cardinal-colored flowers continue for two months or 

 more if the flowers are kept cut when their rays fall. Here 

 the June blossoms, both of shrubbery and border, are so 

 mangled by the Rose-chafer that we do not try to care for 

 their defaced and blackened forms, but all gay flowers that 

 come after the tenth of July are gladly welcomed, the Balm 

 among them. 

 Hingham, Mass. Mary C. Robbins. 



The Reine Claude Plum.— Those who are planting Plums 

 should not overlook the Reine Claude, or Bavay Green Gage, 

 as it is also known. This plum is peculiar in many respects. 

 It is much larger than the common Green Gage, but otherwise 



