396 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 345. 



plants in cultivation, although there is a slight agreeable 

 odor. C. graveolens requires no unusual cultivation ex- 

 cept a rich, warm, well-drained soil, and may be propa- 

 gated by seeds, layers or cuttings. Layers should be par- 

 tially severed before being covered with soil and should be 

 kept moist. Cuttings maybe made of young shoots placed 

 in sand and loam in gentle heat. 



Anemone Japonic a, Whirlwind. — This is a recent intro- 

 duction which varies from the well-known white Japanese 

 Anemone, Honorine Joubert, only in having more numerous 

 petals, the extra ones being rather small and irregular. The 

 form, in fact, is similar to the semi-double reddish purple 

 Anemone, which has never met with much appreciation as 

 a garden-plant. The chaste simplicity of the white-flow- 

 ered Japan Anemone has endeared it to all lovers of fine 

 garden-plants, and it is questionable whether a change in 

 the way of doubling is an improvement or a tendency to 

 be encouraged. No doubt, there are collectors and growers 

 who consider any such variation as a great gain, but we 

 apprehend that the desire for mere freaks and oddities is 

 passing away under the influence of a more refined taste. 



Cosmos sulphtreus. — A yellow Cosmos, from seed received 

 with those of other New Zealand plants, proves to be a 

 variety, or, possibly, a species, distinct from C. sulphureus, 

 Cav., as figured or shown in an herbarium specimen from 

 Mexico, collected by Pringle, which has solitary heads on 

 long naked peduncles ; less finely divided leaves and the 

 entire stem hirsute, pubescent and more rigid. By the way, 

 this specimen has very attractive reddish orange flowers. 

 The variety said to be from New Zealand, flowering in August 

 from spring-sown seed, is an annual with numerous weak, 

 smooth, branching stems. The flowers are borne on short 

 peduncles, are five-petaled and a deep clear yellow in color 

 and one inch to one and a half inches in diameter. Planted 

 out, this Cosmos forms a low-growing attractive plant, use- 

 ful for a front border. 



Cultural Department. 



Michaelmas Daisies. 



"THE hardy Asters at this time are in full flower in every wild 

 *■ field and neglected roadside. Familiarity with these com- 

 mon wild flowers, especially in the eastern states, has often 

 caused their cultivation in the garden to be neglected, and it 

 cannot be said that they are among plants generally cultivated. 

 The determination of the different species has puzzled the 

 botanists for many a year. The artist and the poet have often 

 indicated the sentiment which is felt by the New Englander 

 for these flowers, but the value of good forms in the garden 

 seems to be known only to the hardy-plant fancier. At this 

 time, even in small gardens, they show a distinctness and 

 beauty quite unique, and they are a welcome foil to the pre- 

 vailing yellow flowers of autumn. In larger plantations they 

 are invaluable, for there the plants have larger scope to prove 

 their effectiveness. On large estates, in a semi-wild park, out- 

 side the lawns and cultivated grounds, fine forms of Asters 

 would be very effective at this season, and in public parks they 

 would be attractive and pleasing in the woodlands. There are 

 Asters in Central Park, but many better forms should be 

 grown in the leading park of the country. This leads me to 

 say that while Asters are much alike to careless observers, 

 there is really a wide range of kinds in our American species 

 and their numerous hybrids. In flower they range in coloring 

 from white, pink, rose, red-purple to shades of blue-purple 

 or light lavender. These flowers are sometimes minute stars, 

 but vary in diameter to two inches. The plants are sometimes 

 trailed for a rockery ; others, again, stand six or seven feet high. 

 The foliage varies, but is not notable when the plants are in 

 flower. The form or habit of the plants also varies much. 

 Some plants are covered with dense masses of starry flowers, 

 while others are much more branched and open. 



One may be quite familiar with the Asters of the field and 

 not have seen this great variation, for even good forms are not 

 often found in the wild state in good condition. They appre- 

 ciate cultivation in deep, well-manured, somewhat damp soil. 

 Fanciers of hardy plants are well aware how difficult it is to 

 secure correctly named species of Asters. Every nursery 

 seems to be a law unto itself in naming these plants, and I 

 know of no family of which one could buy more species under 



the same name or in which more names are given to one spe- 

 cies. This confusion seems to prevail abroad as well as in 

 this country, or has done so heretofore, though there is pros- 

 pect of an improvement. The English have always enjoyed 

 these plants thoroughly, and Asters have thriven in their gar- 

 dens, and many excellent hybrids have been produced. In 

 view of the confusion of names, the Royal Horticultural 

 Society collected all available kinds in their Chiswick garden 

 four or five years ago ; they have there been compared and 

 studied by the most competent growers and observers and 

 carefully named. The species have been determined and the 

 garden varieties have been given common English names. It 

 is to be hoped that the Chiswick names will become the 

 standard ones, universally recognized by growers. There are 

 a great number of garden forms, varying to a great or lesser 

 extent, for they hybridize in cultivation as freely as the Colum- 

 bines, so that constantly varying forms may be expected from 

 seedlings. It is said that a large proportion of Asters in Eng- 

 lish gardens are crosses between A. lsevis and A. Novi-Belgii. 

 A large garden would be required for all the named Asters, 

 but probably few would care for more than a dozen distinct 

 kinds. I have been interested this season in about three 

 dozen kinds, plants of which were received early in the year. 

 They have been rather crowded, and in the absence of careful 

 cultivation scarcely show their true form. It is not easy to 

 describe the differences, but it may be allowed to name a few 

 distinct kinds. A. cordifolius, var. Elegans (syn. undulatus), 

 has a great numberof very small lilac flowers, and is erect 

 and bushy. A. ericoides has linear leaves and small white 

 flowers, very distinct. Of the lasvis hybrids, Pygmalion, light 

 lilac, flowered in August ; Flora is a darker lilac, while Apollo 

 is more sparingly branched and has larger flowers with few 

 petals. A. Novas Angliae pnecox is the reddish purple Aster 

 of our fields. The variety known as roseus is a pure rose 

 form of very satisfactory color. Pulchellus is a large- 

 flowered plant, with rather thin curling incurving petals. I 

 saw this plant in a nursery lately labeled roseus. Of the Novi- 

 Belgii hybrids, good lilac forms are Archer Hind, Harpur 

 Crewe and Robert Parker ; the latter is especially good. Of 

 the white forms of Novi-Belgii, John Wood and Purity are both 

 excellent. A. puniceus pulcherimus flowered early and was 

 one of the most effective. The plant was much branched, the 

 foliage more prominent than usual, and the flowers a pretty 

 light lilac. A. versicolor Antigone and Themis are small 

 white-flowered kinds, good in a collection, though white-flow- 

 ered Asters are the least effective of the family — at least, here 

 where the Daisies of spring-time and the wild Carrots of sum- 

 mer are succeeded in equal profusion by the small white 

 Aster vimineus. Our foreign friends sometimes remark on 

 our lack of appreciation for many of our native plants, but 

 some of them are in their true place outside of our gardens, 

 especially autumn-flowering kinds, which, in the broad 

 meadows, make a scene of beauty, beside which our con- 

 tracted gardens are dull and humble, indeed. 

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



Work for the Season. 



'"PHE housing of tender plants is an important part of the 

 ■*• work of this season. This should not be delayed, for, even 

 if such plants have not been checked by cold, they are liable 

 to injury from the heavy rains that may be expected at this 

 time. The various stock plants that will be needed to supply 

 cuttings for next season's bedding-plants should at once be 

 secured if this has not already been attended to, and it is a 

 good plan to put in a few boxes or pans of cuttings, for these 

 early-rooted plants will furnish an extra supply of cuttings in 

 the spring. Where formal bedding is practiced, such plants 

 as Alternantheras, Feverfew, Coleus, Cotyledons and Kleinia 

 repens will be required, and an abundance of stock plants 

 must be provided for this purpose, excepting in the case of 

 the Feverfew, which is readily obtainable from seed. The 

 proper disposition of these various stock plants is quite a 

 serious question where the greenhouse area is restricted, and 

 a heated pit or frame is a great convenience in such cases. 

 Part of this should be quite shallow, in order to keep Alter- 

 nantheras and other low-growing plants near to the glass, 

 wdiile the remainder of the pit should be deep enough to ac- 

 commodate Azaleas, Carnations, Cytisus and other cool-house 

 plants until they are needed to be brought on for conservatory 

 or house decoration. A structure of this character fifty feet 

 long and six feet wide is comparatively inexpensive, and can 

 be heated with one line of pipe around it, and will make room 

 for a quantity of plants, many of which are especially difficult 

 to provide for during the Chrysanthemum season. 



